Issue 33 - October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE’S LONG AND WINDING PATH TO INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

OCT. 22, 2015 KNOXMERCURY.COM

1 / N.33

V.

ning for the next 10 years of greenways const n a l p s i ructio ille n.

Where will these new trails take us?

Knoxv

BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN

JACK NEELY

Fort Sanders’ Pickle Mansion Appears Doomed

CLASSICAL MUSIC

KSO’s Search for Lucas Richman’s Successor

JOE SULLIVAN

The Ignominious Demise of Community Health Alliance

FOOD

Quality Turkish Market’s Not-So-Secret Deli

Earning a master’s degree in public administration opens the doors to a wide range of public service careers, including government administration, community or nonprofit management, and government relations.

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Designed for working professionals with online and evening classes.

Available in Knoxville, classes held at the LMU-Duncan School of Law. www.LMUnet.edu AHSS@LMUnet.edu 1.800.325.0900, ext. 6203 2

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

Oct. 22, 2015 Volume 01 / Issue 33 knoxmercury.com

CONTENTS

“ Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home.” —John Muir

16 Greenways Frontier

COVER STORY

OPINION

12 Health Problems

The city and the Greenways Commission have spent about a year reviewing and tweaking routes for as many as 13 potential greenway extensions, totaling more than 20 miles. But the final version of this plan won’t be complete until sometime around April, when city officials will consult the commission and the public on which to build first. But with less than half a mile of new greenways added since Mayor Madeline Rogero took office four years ago, some greenways supporters are growing impatient.

When might we see these new greenways, and how might they make for a better city? S. Heather Duncan finds out.

Joe Sullivan offers a postmortem on the sudden death of Community Health Alliance, a co-op health insurance provider based in Knoxville.

Join Our League of Supporters! It’s the right thing to do! Find out how you can help at knoxmercury.com/join.

DEPARTMENTS

OPINION

A&E

4 Letters 6 Howdy

10 The Scruffy Citizen

22 Program Notes: There’s this music

28 Spotlights: Knoxville Horror Film

23 Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson

FOOD & DRINK

Start Here: Roadside Sketches

by Andrew Gresham, Believe It or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory PLUS: Words With …

Kelley Segars

44 ’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

Jack Neely gives a last look back at Fort Sanders’ Pickle Mansion.

12 Perspectives

Joe Sullivan examines Community Health Alliance’s sudden passing.

14 Small Planet

Patrice Cole wonders what can be done for East Tennessee’s abandoned coal-mining communities.

CALENDAR festival called Big Ears coming next year, with an interesting lineup of artists.

listens to Lance Owens’ personal recordings.

24 Music: Mike Gibson does the math with Louisville’s Young Widows.

25 Classical Music: Alan Sherrod

reports on KSO’s search for a new director.

26 Movies: Chris Barrett delves into the

Festival, KSO’s guest conductor, and the Marble City Opera

40 Dirt to Fork

Rose Kennedy shares some pumpkin products you can enjoy without shame.

42 Home Palate

Dennis Perkins visits the Quality Turkish Market and tucks in for some donër kebab.

Public Cinema’s showing of Horse Money.

October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3

LETTERS Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015

YOU’RE FIRED!

Many thanks to Jack Neely for his story about Scripps, in all its unholy iterations. [“The Shapeshifter,” The Scruffy Citizen, Oct. 15, 2015] I am especially grateful to hear details about the mean-spirited draconianism with which Scripps laid off Jack and his merry band of Pulsers. They were punished, it seems, for the crime of being loyal and productive employees.

In the shallowness of my experience, I had imagined that a surreal spectacle some two decades before that might have gotten more than a passing mention on Jack’s List of Lousy Layoffs. On that day, a passel of us were required to sing “Happy Birthday” to an upper boss before being ushered back to our work stations to receive our walking papers. As eerily foreshadowing of the cake scene from the movie Office Space as that was, I realize now that, in the realm of handing employees a smelly mitten, Scripps is most certainly in a class by itself.

Brooks Clark Knoxville

UT IN REALTORLAND

Plaudits to George Dodds for his cogent assessment of the challenges and opportunities facing the university in its quest for a built environment that meets its changing needs and offers an engaging and pleasing setting for the academic and recreational life of the students, faculty, staff, and visitors. [“Modern Architecture and Politics (Part 2),” Architecture Matters, Oct. 8, 2015] He’s spot-on in pointing out that the existing footprint of the campus offers all that is really needed for the creation of the desired setting. And some of the spaces around which buildings can be placed, to create the “walls” of outdoor rooms are already there. They include the quasi-quadrangle bordered by Henson, Greve, and Dunford halls, the courtyard between Greve Hall and Massey Hall, the long panel of lawn fronting the south side of Ayres Hall, and the intimate 4

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

corridor along Melrose Place, between Presidential Court and Hodges Library. There are others. Although the present master plan does not really fulfill this vision, the makings of what might be called a more courtly combination of pathways and enclosed spaces that will offer students the invitation to stroll, explore, and wander in a playful and inviting environment are already present.

There is no need to engage in the deleterious practice of barging into the Fort Sanders residential neighborhood, scooping up properties, demolishing historic structures, and generally stomping around bullying the neighbors. The Fort, although many may not know it, is a family neighborhood, with a significant number of single-occupant dwellings within its bounds. Some university faculty and staff live in the Fort, as well as many students. The students are part of the neighborhood family.

Other professionals and paraprofessionals call the Fort “home.” It offers them convenient access to both downtown and the campus. It’s a charming place, and the university can do the Knoxville community a service by cooperating in enhancing the best interests of the neighborhood.

Nick Wyman Knoxville

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

This is no surprise. [Top Knox 2015 Readers’ Poll] Different owners same results. Your readers’ poll is a joke.

It’s funny all the winners are downtown and advertise with you. That’s why your ads downtown make up 99 percent of your customers. Everyone else in Knoxville knows how you play.

What a joke.

Breanna Countryman Knoxville

EDITOR’S NOTE: Out of all the categories, here’s the breakdown of where Top Knox winners (not runners-up) are situated around town: West: 26 percent Downtown: 24 percent

Multiple Locations: 16 percent North: 12 percent South: 6 percent UT/the Strip/Fort Sanders: 5 percent Other (including category winners

without locations): 9 percent East: 2 percent My guesstimate is that this roughly corresponds with the density of businesses in each of those areas—parts of town with more businesses will have more winners. This also means that 76 percent of the winners are not located downtown.

While we’re at it, let’s take a look at the distribution of the Knoxville Mercury. Here are the percentages for where we place our papers: West: 41 percent South: 25 percent Downtown: 13 percent North: 10 percent UT/the Strip/Fort Sanders: 7 percent East: 4 percent So, 87 percent of our potential readers pick up the Knoxville Mercury outside of downtown. As we expand our distribution network, that number will go even higher.

Do “all the winners” advertise with us? Not yet.

But if our readers did indeed keep our advertisers in mind when they filled out their ballots, we’d say that’s a strong argument for taking out ads with us—it will earn your business a healthy mindshare among the smartest, savviest group of consumers in town.

—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

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 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 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

Parkridge This Sunday, the 25th, is the annual Parkridge Home Tour.

Although the city attempted to annex Park City as early as 1891, it was not permanently part of Knoxville until 1917.

Parkridge is a long neighborhood of almost 3,000 residents between Magnolia Avenue and what’s now Interstate 40, from Winona Street on the west to Cherry Street on the east.

It was a thriving community for decades, energized in part by nearby industry like Standard Knitting Mills. Caswell Park became the site of Knoxville’s baseball stadium in 1917.

Part of the western part of Parkridge was once included in a community called Shieldstown. Knoxville’s first suburban community, Shieldstown was developed in the 1850s, with its own street grid and a distinctive biracial population in the hundreds. It eventually evaporated with little trace, absorbed by a new community called Park City.

Around 1938, the Park Theatre was built on the edge of Parkridge. By the 1960s, people from all over the Knoxville area would come to Parkridge to see new releases at the Park.

Named for Chilhowee Park, Knoxville’s biggest attraction in the era, Park City became especially popular after 1890, when Knoxville’s first electric trolley connected downtown to the park, alongside the developing neighborhoods. (Modern Parkridge is the northern portion of Park City.)

All historic neighborhoods boast of their architecture. In Parkridge’s case, the neighborhood’s best-known architect was also its best-known resident.

George Barber (1854-1915) is probably the best known architect who ever lived in Knoxville.

But by then, affluent families were leaving for more distant automobile-oriented suburbs.

The Park Theatre closed in the late ’70s.

The 1890 George Barber house at 1618 Washington Ave. features an unusual circular bay window, and was a model for one of the architect’s nationally advertised designs. Renovated by preservationist group Knox Heritage, it’s now a private residence.

Photo courtesy of Knox Heritage. knoxheritage.org

Parkridge is a modern name, little-known before the 1980s. The suffix “ridge” may seem surprising. Most of Parkridge is not on a ridge, and the neighborhood is less hilly than many Knoxville neighborhoods. The name was coined to combine Park City with Chestnut Ridge, an old name for a predominantly black community on the hill along the northern edge of the neighborhood. Today, Parkridge is one of Knoxville’s most racially diverse neighborhoods.

Originally from Dekalb, Illinois, just west of Chicago, Barber moved to Knoxville in 1888. He and partners led the development of the area soon to be known as Park City, through a company called the Edgewood Land & Improvement Co. Part of the western portion of Parkridge, north of Caswell Park, is still called Edgewood.

A loose neighborhood group began publishing a newsletter in 1980, and the Parkridge Community Organization formed in 1982. Soon after, Krisopher Kendrick began work on a residential conversion of the old Park Junior High School on Bertrand Street, a large 1927 school building he called a “mini-palace.”

That upscale condo development was a success that took 1980s Knoxville by surprise.

Barber lived most of his professional life on Washington Avenue in Parkridge, and designed many of the houses in the neighborhood around him. He was the father of Charles Barber, who grew up in Parkridge and co-founded Barber McMurry Architects, which is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year.

A major initiative to give the neighborhood historic-overlay protection arrived in 1996, with leadership from Knox Heritage. The Edgewood-Park City Historic District was approved by the Metropolitan Planning Commission and City Council the following year.

George Barber was most famous for his elaborate Victorian flourishes.

The recent architectural reference book, A Field Guide to American Houses (Knopf, 2013) refers to Barber’s “exuberant spindlework designs.” Barber designed scores of houses in Knoxville, but also designed many across the nation that he never even saw. He was one of America’s first successful mail-order-design architects. Today George Barber houses are prized from Oregon to Texas to Massachusetts.

Since then, the advantages of historic-zoning conversions and near-adjacency to a reviving downtown have brought new attention to Parkridge, which recently added an eye-catching mural at a common gateway to Parkridge, the interstate underpass on 6th Avenue. The community is contemplating an expansion of its historic district, new signage, and the establishment of its own “downtown” section on the 1500 block of Washington Avenue.

Parkridge, which contains about 30 known Barber houses, represents the world’s best surviving collection of his work.

This Sunday’s Parkridge Home Tour has one of the annual series’ latest themes: the World War II era, featuring war-era memories, memorabilia, Swing-era music, and houses built before 1945.

For more information about the neighborhood and this Sunday afternoon’s tour, see parkridgecommunity.wordpress.com.

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 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5

Illustration by Ben Adams

HOWDY

Believe It or Knox!

BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX

Roadside Sketches by Andrew Gresham (agreshamphoto.com)

QUOTE FACTORY “ A lot of media people have written a whole lot saying Tennessee is going to put the whole state up for sale, which is so far from true.”

—Gov. Bill Haslam in a Chattanooga Times Free Press interview, cautioning yet again that his administration has made no final decision in further outsourcing state management or services. However, a previous Times Free Press story revealed the governor made presentations to New York bond-rating agencies, citing future cost savings that included “Facilities Management Outsourcing.”

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

10/22 LOCATE ARTS CROWDFUNDING 10/23 LECTURE: ‘HISTORIC PRESERVA10/24 SUMMIT TOWERS ART SHOW PARTY TION, ECONOMICS, AND QUALITY OF LIFE’ THURSDAY

8 p.m., Striped Light (107 Bearden Place). $10.

LOCATE Arts is a new nonprofit, state-wide organization that aims to connect Tennessee’s art communities and art lovers. It plans to launch a website this year that will “make finding contemporary art in Tennessee as easy as clicking on a map.” Thus, it’s launching a Kickstarter campaign with this party featuring music by DJ MiniTiger and food from MagPies and Cafe 4, Info: locatearts.org.

6

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

FRIDAY

10-11:30 a.m., Regal Riviera Theater (510 S. Gay St.). $85 for full conference.

It’s the SXSW of historic preservation! The 2015 East Tennessee Preservation Conference is a weekend-long confab of preservations and the people who love them.

Keynote speaker Donovan Rypkema will discuss the relationship between historic built environments and fostering local economies. Info: knoxheritage.org/etpa.

SATURDAY

10 a.m.-2 p.m., Summit Towers community room (201 Locust St.). Free.

Meet the residents of downtown’s biggest apartment complex as they share their creative talents in this arts and crafts show. There will be everything from knitted and crocheted wares, paintings, and original jewelry to psychic readings, piano and voice performances, and baked goods. Stop by to meet your neighbors!

Island Home is named for the “Island Home” of Perez Dickinson, the prosperous merchant whose primary home was downtown, on Main Street. Born in Massachusetts, Dickinson was an older cousin of poet Emily Dickinson, whom he knew. In the 1850s, he married another woman from Massachusetts, Susan Penniman, and according to the story, he had meant to surprise her with a second home on the south side of the river, near Dickinson Island. However, she died of a fever before ever knowing about the gift.

Although he lived another 50 years, the grief-stricken Dickinson never remarried, AND NEVER SPENT A NIGHT IN HIS ISLAND HOME! He did sometimes use it for entertaining. It still stands, as part of the campus of the Tennessee School for the Deaf.

English-born author Frances Hodgson Burnett lived in Knoxville in her youth. Her mother, Eliza, was buried at Old Gray. Her older brother John, a sometime bartender, musician, and jeweler, stayed in Knoxville for many years. The author then famous for Little Lord Fauntleroy grew estranged from her brother, reputedly an alcoholic unable to care for his wife and child. At the time he died in 1904, his famous sister declined to pay for his burial. Hodgson was buried in the same grave his mother was buried in 34 years earlier!

10/25 1945-ERA HOME TOUR SUNDAY

1-6 p.m., park at Ashley Nicole Park (620 Winona St.). $12.

It’s swing time in Parkridge. While the neighborhood is known for its Victorian-era George Barber houses, this tour of eight homes and three condos in Park Place focuses on post-World War II life in the area. After visiting the homes and hearing from “living historians” (plus a walking tour of 20 homes not open to the public), there’ll be swing dancing in the Park Place gymnasium!

Info: parkridgecommunity.wordpress.com.

Photo: Matthew Murphy

www.TennesseeTheatre.com October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7

HOWDY WORDS WITH ...

Kelley Segars

BY ROSE KENNEDY me as we celebrate a community of giving on November 12.

Kelley Segars (pictured here with daughter Lily) is a principal planner with the

Metropolitan Planning Commission and lead organizer of the Open Streets event Philanthropy is what we are all about. We devote our careers to bringing about meaningful change, teaching and empowering hosted by Bike Walk Knoxville from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. For those hours,

Friday, November 13, 2015

at the Knoxville Marriott • 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Central Street between the Old City and Happy Holler (from the Crown & Goose to the Original Freezo) will be closed so people can enjoy the streets for walking, bicycling, dancing and other activities. Cars will be able to cross Central at four intersections: Baxter, Broadway, 5th, and Magnolia.

our community.

HONORING THESE INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Legacy Award Recipient

Dr. Joe Johnson

President Emeritus of the University of Tennessee

Outstanding Corporate Philanthropist

DENSO Manufacturing TN Outstanding Foundation

Women’s Fund of East TN

Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy

Meredith Maroney

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: amjones@alz.org • 865-765-9208

You’ll See a

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of Differ en orld W

BURNS

DESIGN PRINT

MAILING & PRINTING, INC. MAIL

United Way of Greater Knoxville

I kind of wish it would be longer than three hours because I’m really worried we won’t be able to get to everything. But the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club is doing something on the block of the White Lily building. They always do just incredible work, so I just want to see what they come up with. And Magpies is having a cakewalk and a cupcake race, which will be like an egg and spoon race only with cupcakes.

Do you expect a lot of hula hoopers?

Yes—almost 2,000 have responded on Facebook saying they’ll be here, and I think a lot of the “yeses” are families, so we should have lots of bikes and hula hoops. There will also be yoga, tai Please confirm the names of your attendees on the attached form. chi, free arts and crafts, a laser obstacle course, pickleball—every kind of imaginable way to enjoy Outstanding Philanthropist the closed-off streets.

Betsey Bush

Angelia Jones

SPONSORED BY:

What are you looking forward to most?

Might this lead to more events like this?

I think it definitely will. The excitement is just overwhelming, and based on the Facebook responses I am calculating around 8,000-9,000 attendees.

Are there practical details people should be aware of?

We will have porta-potties along the route. Dogs are welcome, if they are friendly and on leashes. There will be some bikes for rent along the route and some free bus passes for rides home. There’s not much you need to bring. There will be food available from food trucks and restaurants along the corridor, and they are the only thing that costs money unless you see something you just have to have at one of the stores like Raven Records and Rarities.

What is the goal here?

Open Streets Knoxville is part of the global Open 8

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

Streets Project. They seek innovative ways for cities to achieve environmental, social, economic, and public health goals. Part of it is a broader effort to encourage regular physical activity in the community and build support for more and safer transportation choices.

Also, we are focused on promoting local businesses along and close to the corridor. Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization and the city of Knoxville are two of the biggest supporters, and Three Rivers Market, AMBC, Old North Knoxville, and the Knoxville Track Club are sponsors. The feeling is that we need to turn our streets into places our kids feel safe being; into places, not just places where people driving cars go by.

Have you been working on this a long time?

We’ve been considering it for years, eight years maybe. But I am very pragmatic and I knew how many resources it would take and it just seemed daunting. Then Gil Penalosa, who was once the commissioner of parks in Bogotá, Colombia, and is now a consultant, came here in April as the keynote speaker for the Tennessee Bike Summit. He got everyone—including Mayor Rogero—excited about a similar concept, CicLAvia, the street closing in Bogotá.

BikeWalk Knoxville really pushed for it to happen and the mayor opened the path. But we didn’t get the green light until July, so it happened really, really fast.

When we went to an Open Street summit in Atlanta, we learned that a normal time to plan a new event is at least a year. We’ve done it in three months.

That’s awesome.

No, it’s insane!

For more information: openstreetsknoxville.com

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ProjectBrandAid.com | #ProjectBrandAid October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9

SCRUFFY CITIZEN

Farewell to a Ruin General Pickle’s “Fort Sanders Hall” is apparently doomed

BY JACK NEELY

T

he Pickle Mansion is dying hard.

Since it was gutted by a fire in the summer of 2003, when we were all a dozen years younger, the big house at 1633 Clinch Ave. has existed only as an intriguing ruin. Before that, though, it was one of Fort Sanders’ most eye-catching Victorians, an 1899 three-story brick house with elaborate carved stone and a metal dome atop a corner turret, and a broad comfortable-looking wraparound porch.

Barring a miracle, none of it will be standing next year.

Its builder, George Wesley Pickle, was an East Knox County native who enlisted in the Confederate army at age 16 but spent much of the conflict as a prisoner. When people called him Gen. Pickle, though, it had nothing to do with the war. He attended Princeton and studied law in Indiana before returning to Tennessee to build a reputation as one of the region’s ablest prosecutors. In 1886, he became state attorney general, and despite the fact that much of his work was in Nashville, he settled in Knoxville. The second-longest A.G. in Tennessee history, “General” Pickle was in office when he built this house within the still-obvious ramparts of an eroding old fort.

Perhaps regarding his Confederate adventure as a youthful indiscretion, Pickle honored the Union fort in the name of his house, and called it Fort Sanders Hall.

In November 1863, U.S. Fort Sanders saw the fiercest 20 minutes of fighting in East Tennessee—north of Chattanooga, at least. The main

10

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

assault, where hundreds of Confederates were killed or wounded, was about a block west of this site. The rebel attackers never got quite as far as the future site of Pickle’s house. He may have enjoyed the irony that he finally arrived peacefully at a spot his old allies failed to reach with heavy cannon bombardment and a violent charge.

At the time, the neighborhood was not known as Fort Sanders, but as “West Knoxville.” Long before the hospital, or the school, or the neighborhood itself, Pickle’s “Fort Sanders Hall” may have been the first thing ever named for Fort Sanders—other than the fort itself, that is. In the 1890s, Fort Sanders was a tourist attraction. The street later known as 17th Street was then known as Fort Sanders Avenue, not because it bisected a neighborhood called Fort Sanders, but because it led directly to a fort by that name. But Fort Sanders’ last earthen ruins disappeared when Gen. Pickle’s house was about 20 years old.

Fort Sanders Hall was grand, even by the grand standards of its day.

It may have been Knoxville’s last building with a corner-turret dome. As the mortar was drying on this house, Queen Victoria still reigned, but the styles associated with her name were evaporating.

Gen. Pickle abided here with his wife, Minnie, and their stepdaughter, Minnie, until his death at the house in 1917. His funeral at Fort Sanders Hall was a celebrity occasion, attended by Tennessee’s legal royalty, including

longtime Mayor Sam Heiskell and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Edward Terry Sanford.

In the 1920s, the house became a frat house—marking the university’s first incursion into the block—then an apartment building sometimes known as Westover. Developments like that might doom a lesser Victorian, but somehow the basic house and its essential grandness survived.

For decades, the 1600 block of Clinch—the highest point of mile-long Clinch Avenue, which stretches a mile and a half from the east side of downtown—always seemed Fort Sanders’ single most gracious block.

With huge oak trees, it’s probably the shadiest part of the neighborhood.

Editor-Mayor-historian William Rule, one of the wisest and most beloved Knoxvillians of all time, lived on this block until his death in 1928. Fort Sanders Manor, with its elegant courtyard, was a cut above most apartment-building construction at the time. On the 1600 block of Clinch, there was even a Fort Sanders Manor Tea Room. When I lived in Fort Sanders, 30-something years ago, there were still some elegant older ladies living here on this block, like Evelyn Miller with her grand piano— defiant survivors of the era when this neighborhood wasn’t dominated by a aggressive institutions, willing it to retain its old grace. At the time, there were also several artists and musicians living here, including R.B. Morris, when he was billing himself purely as a poet.

The block seemed somehow exalted. If you were wandering around drunk after the bars had closed, you tried to be quiet about it when you walked down these sidewalks.

The 2003 fire destroyed the roof and the famous metal dome, but left the grand walls and carved stone mostly intact.

After the fire, the owners wanted to tear the place down altogether. I wrote a eulogy for it back then. But preservationists got on the case, led

by Knox Heritage, and the house became the first use of the city’s new demolition-by-neglect ordinance. After a demolition permit was denied, the original owners relinquished the property and found a buyer. For a while it was owned for several years by a young, smart, and well-meaning preservationist developer who worked hard—but, eventually distracted by serious illness, it went very slowly.

Still in his 30s, he died before getting a full roof on the house.

Meanwhile, the house, still open to the elements, deteriorated. A resourceful preservationist team, that of Jon Clark and Ron Turner, thought it still worth salvaging, and bought it.

They worked on it for almost two years, but encountered disappointments, one of them was the National Park Service’s assessment that the house had deteriorated too much to be considered for the National Register of Historic Places. They still own it, and will remove it mainly for safety, to replace it with something that befits its neighborhood.

Personally I’ve never taken on a major renovation effort, and when seasoned preservationists say something’s beyond hope, I can’t argue much. But I sometimes wish we were a culture that respected ruins. If this were alone on a green hilltop in Scotland, it would probably just be left there and become an illustration for postcards and calendars, a landmark. ◆

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October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11

PERSPECTIVES

Health Problems The ignominious demise of Community Health Alliance

BY JOE SULLIVAN

I

’ve seldom, if ever, been so misled by anyone as I was by the president of Community Health Alliance, Jerry Burgess, when I met with him on Oct. 9. I’d sought him out for input on a column heralding the Nov. 1 opening of enrollment for 2016 on the government health care exchange and assessing CHA’s readiness for same.

Burgess assured me that CHA was well prepared to be a major provider of coverage on the exchange in 2016 despite concerns expressed earlier this year by Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak that the fledgling insurance co-op might become overextended by its rapid growth at low rates. In January, McPeak had suspended CHA enrollment for 2015 when it hit the 40,000 mark, up from about 2,000 in 2014. Then, in July, she mandated a 44 percent rate increase for 2016, which was more than CHA was seeking but commensurate with a 36 percent increase on the part of its principal competitor, Blue Cross Blue Shield, which has about 160,000 enrollees in the state.

While Burgess acknowledged that CHA would sustain further losses this year atop the $22 million it lost in 2014, he insisted that these were expected growing pains in a market

12

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

that was providing coverage to older, sicker people, most of whom were previously uninsured. He predicted that CHA would break even in 2016 with 40,000 enrollees and earn a profit in years thereafter at rates that would stabilize and also enable it to start repaying the $73 million in federal loans that had been invested in its start-up.

I was glad to hear all this because I was partial to our homegrown insurance company, which represented the largest new business launched in Knoxville in several years. With 100 employees in well-paying jobs at its headquarters in the Miller’s Building on Gay Street, CHA has been making a meaningful contribution to the local economy.

I was also supportive of its organization as an enrollee-governed co-op. The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) had provided for the creation of such an entity in every state to serve people signing up for coverage on the act’s signature exchanges where (and only where) those with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line can get subsidies in the form of tax credits to make their health insurance more affordable. But co-ops only got started in 23 states, and I was pleased that Tennessee was one of them.

Then, on Oct. 14, like a bolt out of the blue, I received a terse email announcing that CHA wouldn’t be enrolling anyone for 2016 and is going out of business at year’s end. Burgess cryptically stated that, “Last week’s announcement of a risk corridor reimbursement of just 12.6 percent cast doubt on the collectibility of over $17 million of risk corridor receivables and led to an unavoidable outcome.”

So what the heck is going on and what on earth are risk corridors?

The highly simplified answer to the latter question is that the corridors are intended to cushion the losses of health plans whose enrollees turn out to be riskier and more costly than a norm, with reimbursements from plans that incur costs lower than the norm. To accomplish this, the federal department of Health and Human Services sets a “target amount” of “allowable costs” for every insurer on every exchange nationally. Plans whose costs run more than 3 percent below the target make payments to HHS, while those whose costs that run more than 3 three percent above get paid a portion of the overage.

But unlike other forms of insurance risk adjustment payments that net to zero, for a three-year “transitional period” through 2016, Obamacare allowed for these risk corridor payments to exceed collections.

By 2014, it became apparent that the unexpectedly high risk of enrollees on most exchange plans was going to cost billions. So Congress jumped in at the end of last year and stipulated that the risk corridor provisions be made budget neutral.

When the final returns for the year were completed recently, collections of $362 million were only 12.6 percent of insurer claims of $2.87 billion. And on Oct. 1, HHS announced that it would only be paying out the 12.6 percent.

But note that this announcement preceded my meeting with Jerry Burgess by eight days. Also note that in the meantime the co-op in Kentucky, which had been one of the most successful in the nation in terms of market share, announced that it was folding for the same reason, to be followed by the one in Colorado. And all of this was foreshadowed by Standard & Poors, which predicted in May that claimants were unlikely to get more than 10 cents on the dollar.

One has to suspect that there was a considerable amount of gamesman-

ship or attempted gaming of the system going on in the generation of these claims. CHA’s claim of a $20 million entitlement for a year in which it only had 2,000 enrollees looks particularly suspicious.

By setting their rates low in “transitional” years to gain market share with risk corridor protection, insurers could then jack them up in subsequent years with taxpayers rather than enrollees bearing the additional premium cost.

That’s because of the workings of the premium subsidies, which provide that no one should have to pay more than a specified percentage of their income on a sliding scale that starts at 2.03 percent for those below 133 percent of FPL and goes up to 9.66 percent for those above 300 percent of FPL. The tax credit is the amount by which the premium for a health plan exceeds the income threshold—but not just any plan. In an exchange world where there are a multiplicity of plans in four categories classified as bronze, silver, gold, and platinum, the amount of the tax credit keys to the cost of the second-lowest silver plan offered by any insurer in a state.

Even with rate increases of 44 percent and 36 percent respectively for 2016, CHA and Blue Cross were likely to remain at or near the lowest across Tennessee. With CHA out of the picture, Blue Cross may now be the one to reap the benefit of collecting the additional revenue purely at taxpayer expense. So instead of setting in motion what’s termed a death spiral that often occurs when escalating insurance premiums give rise to increasingly adverse selection, the occult workings of Obamacare can beget a subsidy spiral.

Whether CHA could have gotten the 40,000 enrollees for 2016 that Burgess envisioned is problematic in any event. After hitting that mark before the freeze last January, the number had dwindled to 27,000 in September. And CHA’s mishandling of the freeze has left a bad taste in the mouth of many brokers and advisors on whom insurers depend for referrals.

“They didn’t even tell our applicants that they had been cut off,” gripes Knoxville insurance broker Gary Watson.

“I’m petrified of them,” adds Tatum Allsep, executive director of Music Health Alliance in Nashville.

So maybe it’s good riddance. ◆

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13

SMALL PLANET

Our Mining Legacy East Tennessee’s abandoned coal-mining communities deserve reclamation, too

BY PATRICE COLE

F

ew environmental catastrophes are as photogenic as the recent accidental release of garish yellow water from a Colorado gold mine to the Animas River. There was a lot of drama, with riverside landowners demanding restitution for temporarily losing use of the river and groundwater. What we didn’t see in the news coverage was that the same environmental insult has been trickling along for decades largely out of the public eye in Colorado and elsewhere. It turns out that about the same amount of acidic, metals-laden water that gushed from the Gold King mine on Aug. 5 has been quietly leaking into Colorado rivers and streams every two days from another 230 or so abandoned gold mines.

And the same eye-popping problem we saw in Colorado has been going on at a slower rate but much longer time frame in the Tennessee coal fields a mere hour’s drive from Knoxville.

Coal, like gold and other mined minerals, is found in rock formations that contain many heavy metals.

Sulfur deposits in these rocks form sulfuric acid when exposed to air and water. The acid dissolves the metals, which then make their way to groundwater and streams. When acid mine drainage hits more neutral water, the

14

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

metals can precipitate to form a sludge colloquially known as “yellow boy.” That’s the color we saw in the Animas River on Aug. 6, the color of the sludge left behind after the plume of brightly colored water dissipated in a few days. That’s the color that can be seen in many small streams tucked away in Appalachian coal country.

Coal mining is unavoidably damaging to the environment.

Surface mining removes the soil and rock, along with all forms of life, that lie above a coal seam. After the coal is removed, reclamation replaces the overburden and attempts to re-contour and re-vegetate the site. Underground mines tunnel into coal seams.

Both methods involve explosives that can damage groundwater aquifers, sometimes causing wells to go dry or become so contaminated as to be unusable.

Abandoned mines, and those where reclamation attempts failed, can continue to release acid mine drainage to local streams and groundwater indefinitely. Lost wells and creeks too polluted for cattle to drink from, let alone for fish to live in, are only part of the sad story. Highwalls and open vertical shafts, as well as dangerous equipment left behind, are safety hazards, especially to children. Add landslides and subsid-

ence to the mix, and you have a recipe for long-term economic distress.

Before passage of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977, coal mining was conducted with little regard to the damage inflicted on the environment or people. Since 1977, there have been stringent controls on how mining is conducted, with particular attention to surface water and groundwater impacts. Mine operators must put up bond money intended to cover the cost of post-mining reclamation in case they go out of business or simply abandon the mine. But most mines that operated prior to 1977, and “wildcat mines” that operated without a permit after 1977, remain unreclaimed unless and until the Abandoned Mining Lands program steps in. The AML program is the responsibility of the federal Office of Surface Mining, and according to OSM there are about 5,200 abandoned coal mines yet to be fully reclaimed in the U.S. Funding for the AML program has historically come from a fee on current coal production, the idea being that the coal industry would ultimately pay for its environmental legacy. Funds are distributed to states and tribes who then coordinate reclamation, but those distributions are based on current coal production within a state or tribal boundary. Coal mining has shifted to the west in recent years, while most of the remaining AML problems are in the eastern coal fields, so the money isn’t going where it’s most needed. Adding to this inequity is the fact that most of the coal mining job losses have occurred in the east.

A recent publication of the

Appalachian Law Center estimates that something like 6.2 million acres of land and water ravaged by abandoned coal mines remain to be remediated, at a cost of almost $10 billion. That’s a lot of money, but consider that American taxpayers have spent $14 billion over the past 10 years just to shore up hurricane protection for New Orleans.

AML funding comes from coal mining, not taxes, and should be distributed according to need and reauthorized beyond 2021 when the program is scheduled to end. The AML program generates thousands of jobs, and if focused in areas most in need of reclamation, could help replace jobs lost when coal companies moved west. Long-term economic benefits could follow reclamation as business opportunities in agriculture, tourism, recreation, and renewable energy production take advantage of restored lands and waterways.

Remediation of abandoned coal mines brings streams and rural communities back to life. Scott, Campbell, and Anderson counties have the most AMLs in Tennessee, but there are plenty of others in Bledsoe, Cumberland, Grundy, Hamilton, Marion, Rhea, Roane, Sequatchie, Van Buren, and White counties. Some of those are among the poorest counties in the state, and their residents have suffered greater losses than anyone in the path of the Colorado gold mine disaster. If we don’t see them demanding that their lands and waters be restored by the industry that took their coal and left them environmental and economic devastation in its place, it’s only because it is old news and doesn’t photograph well. ◆

The AML program generates thousands of jobs, and if focused in areas most in need of reclamation, could help replace jobs lost when coal companies moved west.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15

ning for the next 10 years of greenways const n a l p s i ructio ille n.

Where will these new trails take us?

Knoxv

BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN

16

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

J

ump on your bike in East Knoxville and ride all the way to Lakeshore Park, or even to Cedar Bluff, completely on greenways: Golden-tinged leaves rustling overhead, laughing children in the parks you pass, the burble of a creek nearby.

Or maybe you’d like to race a train from downtown, outside the bustle of traffic on Jackson Avenue, then continue east through the new urban forest to the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum?

That idyllic vision is possible— with, perhaps, some more realistic swerves onto the road along the way—if Knoxville pushes forward with a greenway design project being assembled by landscape architect Ross Fowler.

The city and the Greenways Commission have already spent about a year reviewing and tweaking routes for as many as 13 potential greenway extensions, totaling more than 20 miles. But the final version won’t be complete until sometime around April, when city officials will consult the commission and the public on which to build first.

But with less than half a mile of new greenways added since Mayor Madeline Rogero took office four years ago, some greenways supporters are growing impatient.

“We’ve been planning for well over a year,” says Will Skelton, who retired as Greenways Commission chairman in 2007. “The bottom line from my personal standpoint is: I want to see some greenways built.”

Under former Mayor Victor Ashe, Skelton negotiated most of the right-of-way for more than 30 miles of greenways built over about 15 years.

Now, greenway supporters argue that an expanded greenways map is also a map to Knoxville’s future.

Rogero and city tourism promoters have begun to pin the city’s identity on outdoor recreation. Greenways can weave together parks and urban wilderness trails, which draw a growing number of physically-active tourists. A more connected city can not only better accommodate visitors but also ease commutes, improve public health, reduce air pollution, and even attract big corporations.

The greenway options being considered now are likely to determine where these paths take root—or don’t—over the next two decades, says

Bridgette Boudreaux, at front, leads her family along the Will Skelton Greenway in South Knoxville.

Lori Goerlich, city greenways coordinator. If your community is slated for a new connection, you could be racing ahead to new recreational and commuter opportunities—and even a boost in property values. Those that don’t make the list are more likely to straggle at the back of the pack.

So where can these potential new trails take us?

WHAT’S AT STAKE

From the beginning in the early 1990s, Knoxville built greenways across the city, and the proposed new corridors continue that approach.

Cities like Chattanooga, which developed a single, centerpiece greenway as a major attraction along its river, have chosen to harvest dollars from their greenways. It could be argued that Knoxville has chosen to harvest healthier neighbors.

Rogero calls expanding and better connecting parts of the greenway system “a key part of our overall efforts to encourage healthy living” and sustainability, along with actions like adding bike lanes and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. These paths to better public health can improve quality of while reducing taxpayer costs in a state where 30 to

ABOVE: The popular greenway ballfields and playground at Lakeshore Park could be linked to the larger greenway system with a new greenway along Northshore Drive.

35 percent of residents are considered obese by the federal Centers for Disease Control.

National studies demonstrate trails and greenways also boost property values. A 2007 Charlotte, N.C. study published in Southeastern Geographer showed median-priced homes within 5,0000 feet of a greenway increased in value an average of $3,200. Trails come second only to highway access in importance to home buyers, according to a 2002 survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors.

Trails offer businesses and communities broader economic benefits, too. A 2013 Furman University study showed businesses near a Greenville, S.C. trail almost doubled their sales after the trail opened. A recent study of a potential West Knoxville-to-Oak Ridge regional trail highlighted local successes in attracting corporate headquarters with trails: downtown Maryville scored Ruby Tuesday’s headquarters in 1999 partly because the site was on the Maryville-Alcoa Greenway, and ProNova Solutions located their headquarters and research labs at Pellissippi Place directly accessible to

a greenway. Local media have reported that Regal Entertainment is being offered financial incentives from state and local governments to move its corporate headquarters to the South Waterfront, where the city is building a new riverwalk greenway and a park.

“At first we had a lot of problem convincing people (greenways) were good things,” says Skelton. “They fought them, actually. And that’s totally switched now.”

Today neighborhoods clamor for greenways. At last week’s Greenway Commission meeting, David Price was there to ask for a Northshore Drive greenway, potentially over the area where the Knoxville Utilities Board is already digging up right-of-way to install a gas line. Price says he’s forming a non-profit called the Northshore Scenic Drive Action Committee to advocate for safer and more beautiful pedestrian paths along the road.

Skelton cultivated this attitude among Knoxville residents after traveling to other cities and jogging on their greenways, wondering, “Why can’t we have this?”

But for all their perceived value, Knoxville’s path to greenway expansion practically hit a dead end in the past decade. So Rogero ordered up a October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17

Railroad right-of-way that runs behind homes, with recreation and commuter potential.

“That would be awesome,” says Katherine Johnson, president of the Vestal Community Organization. The community demonstrated its enthusiasm for greenways earlier this year, yanking up underbrush to increase the length and safety of the existing greenway.

After vetting the greenway routes foot by foot for the past year, the Greenways Commission last week drafted a letter to the mayor with its compiled comments. Suggested changes, many already incorporated into the designs, most often dealt with avoiding steep inclines and preventing greenways from becoming glorified sidewalks.

WHAT’S A GREENWAY?

ABOVE: An old railroad bed on Second Creek between downtown and Baxter Avenue is one of the corridors that may become a new greenway. menu of greenways, which include rough budget figures based on realistic estimates of right-of-way and engineering costs. These are meant to serve not only recreational joggers, bikers, and dog-walkers, but also families and bike commuters, Goerlich says, stressing that no user group is favored.

Initially, the $197,900 greenway design contract with Fowler was for 12 greenways, with an emphasis on weaving isolated greenways into a thriving web. But later, city officials decided East Knoxville was underrepresented and added $12,500 to cover planning another greenway in northeast Knox, Goerlich says.

Originally, the contractor was also supposed to prioritize the projects, but Goerlich says instead she wants to hold public sessions next year to solicit feedback from residents. Still, the choice will ultimately be up to Rogero.

Rogero budgeted $1 million for greenways during each of the last several years. The city has about $4 million in its Greenway Capital Fund.

Only three of the proposed greenway sections have budget estimates as low as about $1 million; the remainder run from $1.5 million to $13.1 million.

18

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

Edmundo Menacho, 21, of Knoxville, walks along a segment of the Third Creek Greenway that follows Sutherland Avenue in West Knoxville.

CULTIVATING CORRIDORS

The greenways being considered extend like tendrils of a green, living organism, from downtown across the city map. They would connect isolated, short greenways—some that are currently, let’s face it, little more than park paths—and extend longer ones.

A few of the proposed greenways take advantage of railroad easements— some that have been abandoned and trackless for years, and others that would run alongside active tracks.

Brian Hann, Greenways Commission chairman, is excited about the city buying an abandoned CSX rail spur running from World’s Fair Park to Baxter Avenue. Goerlich notes that it runs through post-industrial brownfields areas, which should lower the CSX appraisal while boosting city redevelopment efforts. Plus, it could serve the Lonsdale and Belmont areas, which are “kind of a recreational desert,” she says.

Closer to downtown, it is harder to discern the CSX right-of-way from the tangle of other railroad routes. But at Bernard Avenue, its path north closely follows Second Creek. There’s no doubt you are still in an urban environ-

ment, with the hiss of the BESCO gas plant and the beeping, clanking, and grinding motors across the creek.

But pavement soon gives way to a grassy, wide path only 6 feet from the bell-like tones of the bubbling creek.

Robins, woodpeckers, and cardinals skip from branch to branch. A cabbage white butterfly and a scrap of a monarch bounce with abandon among the late daisies. South of Bernard, a new bridge would be needed to cross Second Creek, but the old railroad bed visible beyond is covered in an invitingly thick layer of verdant grass.

Another railroad corridor greenway could run beside the active Norfolk Southern tracks connecting First and Second creeks through the Old City and the Jackson Avenue warehouse district.

“It will be hard, but the benefit will be so great,” Goerlich says of her favorite proposed route. “A lot of people who bike would use this… It provides more safety, and by the railroad tracks, you’re on a different level from the city. It’s an opportunity for a unique experience.”

A Vestal would take advantage of portions of the old Smoky Mountain

Some of the greenways identified, such as many portions of downtown and First Creek Greenway corridors, might be more accurately called “designated pedestrian routes” because they’d travel on roads for more than half their length.

“I would say every effort has been exhausted with providing an off-street experience,” Goerlich says. But she says in some cases, it’s just not possible. Factories and warehouses were built overhanging creeks, with no extra space to run a trail. Railroad tracks and highways, particularly Interstate 640, create choke points.

“All the routes were more on-street before the commission saw them,” Hann says. For example, the contractor’s original route to the Knoxville Botanical Garden was all on-street but is now slated to run through the city’s Williams Creek Urban Forest and land owned by the Knoxville Community Development Corporation, he says.

This is just one of the routes that remains in flux. Goerlich says the commission members seemed most unhappy with the “mush” of how routes exit downtown to go north and east. “It’s the most perplexing,” she concedes.

When greenways do become street-ways, Goerlich says, they won’t just be a sidewalk with a sign. These “on-street connectors” will have extra-wide sidewalks (usually 8 feet), if possible set back from the street with planted parkway trees and landscaping, Goerlich says. Streets with these connectors will have lower speed limits and either a bike lane or a painting of a bike with arrows on

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COST ESTIMATE $1.5 million $3.2 million $2.6 million

PARKS HIGHWAYS STREETS

PROPOSED GREENWAYS UNDER STUDY MILEAGE Jean Teague Greenway to Weisgarber Greenway 1.4 miles Weisgarber Greenway to Victor Ashe Greenway 2.75 miles Weisgarber Greenway to 2 miles Bearden Greenway & Lakeshore Park Baxter Avenue to Second Creek Greenway 1.1 miles DR. Second Creek Greenway to First Creek Greenway 1.3 milesAHAN LL First Creek Greenway to Williams Creek Greenway 1.6 miles CA Mineral Springs Avenue to Edgewood Park 1.3 miles Fulton HS to First Creek Greenway .4 miles Caswell Park to Morningside Greenway 1 mile James White Greenway to Will Skelton Greenway 2 miles James White Greenway to Holston River Greenway 2.3 miles Mary Vestal Greenway to Gary Underwood Park 2.5 miles Loves Creek Greenway to New Harvest Park 2 miles (approx.)

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October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19

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the street to keep Greenway riders on the right path. Although these will basically be sidewalk and street improvements, they’d still have to be funded using greenways money.

Yet, Hann (who is also president of the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club) says these aren’t greenways at all. “These are great multimodal routes, but these aren’t greenways,” he says. “We’re not purists. But if you’re going to call it a greenway plan, let’s make sure you’re trying to do as many greenways as possible.”

Hann argues that blurring that line can be dangerous.

“From a safety standpoint, you’re going to take your child who’s 8 years old and let them ride the greenway out in front or behind you, because you’re surrounded by grass and trees and parks,” he says. “You can’t call these things (on the road) greenways, because it isn’t as safe…. If you tell your kids stay on the greenway, they can be riding on a heavy street and still say, ‘Hey, I stayed on the greenway.’”

Greenways Commission member Monika Miller made similar arguments at commission meetings. She says a greenway should be separated from a road by at least a 10-foot strip of plantings, similar to the Bearden Greenway as it passes Highland Memorial Cemetery.

Amy Midis is president of the homeowners’ association in Forest Heights next to the cemetery. “When I think about where I feel safe riding my bike with my kids, it makes such a big difference for me to have that division from the street—at least a few feet of grass or shrubs or something,” she says. “I love to see my daughter and how empowered she feels being able to get on her bike and ride someplace.”

Miller says greenways that follow streets, such as large portions of the First Creek Greenway corridor around Broadway, should be put on the back burner until more property owners next to the creek allow the greenway to follow the water instead.

In some cases, even local governments aren’t accommodating.

On one stretch, the First Creek greenway corridor was drawn to pass through property Knox County had acquired through condemnation, but the county wouldn’t allow the greenway through because it wants to sell the land, Goerlich says.

Sometimes the off-street ideal is a 20

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

A golfer practices his swing near the newly completed but not-yet opened Knox-Blount Greenway off Alcoa Highway while turtles bask in the sun on a log in the Tennessee River nearby.

challenge because of Knoxville’s hilly terrain. Attaching a greenway to a steep hill is expensive and can cause erosion that harms the creek, Goerlich notes. To prevent increased flooding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency must sign off on any trails built in a creek’s 100-year floodplain.

Goerlich is excited that the city may have found a way to avoid this problem on a possible greenway linking Jean Teague Greenway and Victor Ashe Park. The city will propose to close Third Creek Road, buying some undeveloped property to do it. The former road can become the greenway that Goerlich thinks will be “the most pastoral and beautiful” of the proposed routes.

HOW TO CHOOSE?

At last week’s greenways commission meeting, Robin Hill of Farragut asked who would be responsible for prioritizing the projects. “There are things here you might call low-hanging fruit, but those don’t necessarily connect to everything else,” she observed. She says she’d like priority placed on building greenways slated for rapidly redeveloping areas, before new

projects interfere with those plans.

Many factors could decide which greenways are built first: The easiest and cheapest to finish, the ones providing the best commuter routes, those opening up under-served areas of the city (like East Knoxville)—or even the prettiest.

City communications manager Eric Vreeland says the city will use information about trail use, gathered from using laser counters on the greenways starting last year, to help prioritize. For example, the counters found that Sequoyah Greenway was the city’s most heavily used last year, with an average of 4,450 people using it weekly—many more than previous estimates had guessed.

Goerlich and Hann say they think the first priority should go to greenways that can be built with partnerships that require faster action or provide partial funding. “When you’re able to synchronize efforts, you’re able to get more bang for your buck,” Goerlich says.

For example, TDOT can provide transportation enhancement grants to

cover 80 percent of construction costs for greenways constructed in tandem with state road projects. About $600,000 of the First Creek Greenway segment from Fulton High School to Edgewood Park will be covered this way and is expected to be built by the end of next year, Goerlich says.

The route connecting Victor Ashe Greenway to Weisgarber would cross an intersection of Western Avenue that TDOT is reworking, and the city is talking with the state about a pedestrian bridge there, Goerlich says. The city has also met with TDOT in an effort to get a greenway easement through the I-640 interchange project at Broadway, although the reception has been less promising.

Luke Grieve, owner of the Fountain City Pedaler, says he knows many more cyclists would commute from the Fountain City area to downtown if there was a safe way.

Grieve describes a torturous route he takes between his shop at Old Broadway and his home near Fountain City Elementary.

“I already watch people every day (bike) through here,” Grieve says.

“Imagine if it was obvious and easy to use.”

On the opposite side of town, Tennova offers a promising partnership possibility, Goerlich says. One proposed greenway extension would run through the back of the company’s new hospital property off Middlebrook Pike.

After taking advantage of partnerships, Goerlich says she’d like the city to use its capital funds to build the greenways that would likely be used most, with the first few projects balancing commuter and recreation users.

Miller wants to focus on greenways between major destinations, such as the connector between Bearden Greenway and Lakeshore Park, and a corridor to better link downtown with urban wilderness trails in South Knoxville.

The soccer and softball fields and brand-new playground at Lakeshore Park are too far down the unsafe bottleneck of Northshore Drive for Midi to let her kids bike there. “I think it would be wonderful to open up that Lakeshore Park area for the kids in the area,” she says.

Hann says he thinks some routes are obviously low priorities. One corridor would follow the Tennessee River on bridges and overhanging boardwalks. Although this sounds

like an amazing recreation experience, Hann thinks the $13 million project is a pipe dream.

“Everyone on the commission was like, ‘Wow, that’s like a million dollars a foot. That’ll never get built,’” Hann says.

SEED PLANTED, WATERING REQUIRED

Some of these proposed greenways through downtown and along railroad tracks can be hard to imagine as the kind of green tunnel of natural beauty the word “greenway” calls to mind.

But for the past 25 years, the city has been lucky enough to have some residents who had a superhero talent to rival X-ray vision: They saw the future possibilities—and, in some cases, the past beauty—of forgotten corridors near Knoxville’s hidden urban creeks.

As the first chairman of the Greenways Commission when Ashe created it, Will Skelton was the original.

“Under Mayor Ashe, we were opening 2 miles average of greenways every year, and it hasn’t come close to that since then,” says Skelton, noting that the city had less than 3 miles of greenway when Ashe took office. “(Mayor Bill) Haslam basically finished the greenways that Mayor Ashe had started, and Mayor Rogero came in and for the first few years, nothing happened on greenways at all, basically.”

Although less than half a mile of greenways were built during Rogero’s first term, 3 miles are in the design-to-construction phase and should be completed in the next year or so, Goerlich says in an email. The city has also repaired or enhanced greenways and has pending contracts to repair 1.5 miles more during the next year.

Vreeland says the Greenways Commission had essentially fallen dormant before Rogero appointed new members and revived it.

“Expanding our greenway system and making better connections is a key part of our overall efforts to encourage healthy living,” Rogero says in a prepared statement. “Working with the Greenways Commission, we are developing a comprehensive plan for a connected greenway system. We’re laying the groundwork for alternative transportation and outdoor recreation for the next 20 years.”

Ashe, who recalls opening 4 miles of greenway a year, criticizes the slow pace of the current process.

“Too much time has been wasted on process and form,” says Ashe, who lives on Third Creek Greenway. “I think there’s an effort to talk the talk, but we’re not yet—no pun intended— walking the walk.”

Ashe says Rogero, while billing herself as a green mayor, has failed to make greenways a priority. That would include using her close relationship with Gov. Bill Haslam (her former boss) to eliminate TDOT red tape stalling greenways projects, he says.

Ashe opened more greenways, but it was easier and cheaper back then, city officials say.

Ashe started funding greenways in 1992, spending an average of about $162,000 ($240,000 when adjusted for inflation). More grants were available in the 1990s, so less local money was needed, Vreeland says.

Vreeland adds that the city now foots the entire bill for most greenways.

Rogero has spent an average of $612,500 per year during her administration, or about 2.5 times what Ashe spent annually. (Haslam spent an average of $130,700 a year, or $144,500 in 2015 dollars.)

Ashe complains that Rogero is slow to open the greenways she does fund, like the section of the Knox Blount Greenway from Buck Karnes Bridge to Marine Park that has been

complete for five months. (Skelton notes that he got approval from the governor for that section 10 years ago.)

When he was mayor, Ashe says, “We opened (greenways) the day the asphalt was dry.”

Goerlich says the city has been waiting for its contractor to finish the trail to the bridge, where positive changes to the route created a long TDOT approval delay. The contractor resumed work last week, and the greenway should be open by Thanksgiving, Goerlich says.

Ashe does credit Rogero for a “masterful” job killing the James White Parkway Extension during her first term, thus protecting the city’s popular urban wilderness trails and the greenway named for Will Skelton.

Skelton says that when he was in charge of greenways, his strategy was simply to build the easiest first. “We did cherry pick,” he says. “Back then, it was a little easier, because we had the whole city to work with,” including a lot more property that was already publicly-owned.

Given that their price tag has risen, Miller wants to see the city invest more in greenways.

“One million dollars a year doesn’t buy a lot of greenways,” Miller says. “I would like to see a bigger push on this.” ◆

Greenlit Greenways Here’s all the greenways construction action going on now.

GREENWAYS FINISHED IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS: CityView Greenway – 353 linear feet (2013) Loves Creek Greenway extension – 0.4 miles (2013)

NEW GREENWAYS ALREADY BEING BUILT (WITH COMPLETION ESTIMATE): Knox/Blount Greenway – 1.8 miles (by Thanksgiving) Neyland Greenway, along the Kuwahee Wastewater Treatment Plant – 0.27 miles (this winter) South Waterfront Riverwalk (Suttree Landing Park project) – 0.4 miles (summer 2016) First Creek Greenway, from FHS to Edgewood Park – 0.6 miles (winter 2016) Fort Dickerson Greenway (Fort Dickerson Entrance Enhancement project) – 490 linear feet (2016) South Waterfront Riverwalk, along Island Home Avenue near Maplewood Drive (Island Home Riverwalk project) – 0.15 miles Marion/Blackstock Street Greenway, from Fifth Avenue to Baxter Avenue (I-275 Business Park project) – 0.6 miles (2017-2018) South Waterfront Riverwalk, from Henley Street to Gay Street (Bridges at Riverwalk project, Blanchard and Calhoun) – 0.2 miles

GREENWAY REPAIRS/ENHANCEMENTS:

Third Creek Greenway bridge replacement and trail resurfacing project – 0.4 miles (2013) Third Creek Greenway realignment project, near Tobler Lane crossing – 650 linear feet (2014) Neyland Greenway boardwalk replacement project – 300 linear feet (2014)

GREENWAY REPAIRS/ENHANCEMENTS UNDER WAY:

Construction efforts to shape the South Waterfront will include a new greenway segment north of Sevier Avenue.

Will Skelton Greenway stabilization project – 515 linear feet (this winter) Northwest Greenway resurfacing project – 1.0 miles (2016) Mary Vestal Greenway resurfacing and extension project – 0.4 miles (2016)

October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 21

A&E

P rogram Notes

Contemporary Ensemble CIRCUIT DES YEUX

JOHN LUTHER ADAMS

BOMBINO

he next edition of Big Ears, the polyglot festival of contemporary classical and other outside-the-mainstream music staged in downtown Knoxville by AC Entertainment every spring, promises to be just as impressive as previous versions.

The just-announced lineup for the next fest, scheduled for the last weekend in March, includes one of the most accomplished American composers of the 21st century and a couple of dozen of the most acclaimed artists from around the world, many of them already living legends.

John Luther Adams, who has won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy for his large-scale orchestral works inspired by the grandeur of the Arctic, has already been announced as composer-in-residence for the festival.

His major new piece, Become Ocean, will be performed by Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and conductor Steven Schick, and other works will be performed during the weekend.

Besides Adams, it’s a typically loaded lineup, headed by a handful of genuinely legendary performers: “dream music” pioneer Tony Conrad and krautrock band Faust will perform their seminal 1972 collaboration Outside the Dream Syndicate, and Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass will perform a special piece that will be making its American debut.

They’re joined by all-star rock acts (Yo la Tengo, Joe Henry), world-class jazz (Anthony Braxton, Marc Ribot, Kamasi Washington, Mary Halvorsen, Vijay Iyer), avant-garde folk (the Gloaming, Andrew Bird), contempo-

rary composers (Nico Muhly, Ólafur Arnalds), and more than a dozen other artists who defy easy categorization.

Big Ears runs March 31-April 2.

(That’s Thursday through Saturday—a change from previous Friday-Sunday schedules.) Tickets go on sale on Friday, Oct. 23, at noon at bigearsfestival.com.

The complete lineup: Knoxville Symphony Orchestra with guest conductor Steven Schick and guest cellist Maya Beiser; the Gloaming; Yo La Tengo; Andy Stott; Tony Conrad; Wolf Eyes; Marc Ribot; Xylouris White; Zeena Parkins and Tony Buck; Olivia Chaney; Mamiffer; Andrew Bird; Anthony Braxton Tentet; Faust; Nicolas Jaar; Vijay Iyer; Wadada Leo Smith; eighth blackbird with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Bryce Dessner; Lambchop; Shabazz Palaces; Bombino; Joe Henry; Phantom Orchard; Chris Abrahams; Molly Nilsson; Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass; Sunn O))); Nico Muhly; Ben Frost; Sam Amidon; Valgeir Sigurðsson; the Necks; Kiasmos (Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen); Angel Olsen; Anthony Braxton Trio; Kamasi Washington; Mary Halvorson; Hieroglyphic Being; Circuit des Yeux; Ikue Mori; and nief-norf. (Matthew Everett)

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Biggest Ears Yet Big Ears announces an impressive and enticing 2016 lineup

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Inside the Vault: Lance Owens

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

Music: Young Widows

Classical Music: KSO Masterworks Series

UT STAGES ITS OWN FESTIVAL OF 21ST-CENTURY MUSIC Big Ears isn’t the only local music festival that explores the outer reaches of modern music.

The University of Tennessee’s first Contemporary Music Festival will bring a program of challenging, and sometimes surprisingly accessible, 21st-century music to campus and downtown this weekend.

The festival begins on Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Haslam Music Center on campus, with the UT Contemporary Music Ensemble performing the post-minimalist music of guest composer Marc Mellits. On Friday, Oct. 23, the ensemble will play at the Emporium Center on the 100 block of Gay Street with the young Philadelphia-based composer Joo Won Park, who is known for his use of found sound and electronic manipulation. The festival concludes back at the Haslam Music Center on Saturday, Oct. 24, with a performance by the Contemporary Music Ensemble and Mellits of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. For two decades after its premiere in 1976, the minimalist masterpiece was rarely performed—Reich had composed the music but never written it down. As a graduate student in the 1990s, Mellits spent two years working with Reich to create a score for the piece.

“Since then, we’ve been seeing a lot more performances of the piece pop up, because it’s in a score format where people can rent it and play it,” says UT percussion professor Andrew Bliss, founder of the Contemporary Music Ensemble and one of the organizers of this weekend’s festival. “He took these event-based musical moments in the recording and laid it out in a way that could be reproduced by other people without Steve Reich in the room.”

For more information and a complete schedule, visit music.utk.edu/events. (M.E.)

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Movie: Horse Money

Inside the Vault

Memories of You Lance Owens’ tape archive reveals a lifetime in jazz

BY ERIC DAWSON

A

few years ago, saxophonist Lance Owens gave the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound temporary access to a bag full of audio cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes. Owens recorded only one album, in 2012, when he was 89 years old, so these tapes, which we transferred to digital files, are particularly important documents of one of Knoxville’s most respected jazz musicians, along with many other musicians who died without recording an album.

An hour-long 1966 set from Willie Gibbs and the Illusioneers, one of Owens’ early bands, at downtown’s Place Elegant consists primarily of standards, including a few instrumentals and a lot of slow ballads such as “What Is This Thing Called Love” and “You’ll Never Know.” Catherine Imes is the singer; she would later marry her Illusioneers bandmate, saxophonist Rocky Wynder. The sound is a bit rough—there are a few dropouts and some crowd noise—but it’s pretty good for a live bootleg from 1966. Owens’ gorgeous sax comes through clearly.

It’s interesting to compare this performance to his playing almost half a century later on his self-titled CD. Another recording, from Deane

Hill Country Club in 1984, offers a glimpse at a very relaxed and casual group of musicians, joking on the bandstand before what sounds like a fairly small crowd. Kenny James stands out on guitar, as do Fayte Rutherford on keyboard and an unidentified vocalist singing “The Man I Love.”

There are a few other recordings from unidentified clubs and one made at the Old City’s legendary Annie’s in the 1980s. Unfortunately, there was not much documentation on the tapes themselves, and Owens’ memory is a bit hazy, which is understandable given the number of clubs at which he played and the number of musicians who played with Gibbs’ band over the years.

Included in the tapes was a fascinating conversation between Owens and his friend and colleague, the late saxophonist Bill Scarlett.

Owens explains that he started playing violin at the age of 6. As a child, he could only listen to religious music; popular music was forbidden. In 1931, his family got a radio, but the only two stations they could pick up were WNOX, barely, and WOPI, out of Bristol. Those was still enough to change his life.

“The first band I ever heard was

A&E

Benny Goodman,” Owens says on the tape. “And when I heard Benny Goodman the first time I thought, this is it!

And I started out playing the clarinet.”

Scarlett saw Goodman at the 1939 San Francisco World’s Fair and was similarly affected. “This is the wildest coincidence, because when I saw Goodman, I thought, god almighty, something is going on up there that I’ve got to get into. And then I started playing clarinet.”

Then Owens and Scarlett heard Artie Shaw and pretty much stopped listening to Goodman.

“I started out on a metal clarinet, then got a wooden one,” Owens says. “In 1939, I got in a fight in a beer joint and tore that clarinet up, and soon started focusing more on playing saxophone. At first I didn’t know one note from another.

I was just up there making $2.”

Scarlett’s first paying gigs were playing in Mormon churches. “When we got up to making $2, I thought that was big time,” he says.

Owens also recollects how important records were in his musical education.

“The first 78 I had was ‘Harlem Shout,’ by Jimmy Lunsford,” he says.

“You could use nails as needles, but cactus needles were better. They wouldn’t ruin your records. The first time I saw a jukebox, I went to pieces.

I saw it in a place where I didn’t have any business. I heard ‘One O’Clock Jump’ on it.”

To which Scarlett replies, “Did you know that song was originally called ‘Blue Balls’ before Basie changed the name? They were going to play it on a radio station in Arkansas and Basie had to change the name on the spot. At least that’s what I’ve been told.”

Unfortunately, the batteries on the recorder ran out about 20 minutes into the conversation, just as Owens was relating anecdotes of early life on the road, leaving much of their history still unrecorded. We’ve made arrangements to visit Owens soon and fill in some of the gaps.

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 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23

A&E

Music

No Pain, No Gain Louisville’s Young Widows find soul in jagged riffs on Easy Pain

BY MIKE GIBSON

L

ouisville rock trio Young Widows has forged an impressive nine-year career—including four fine fulllength albums and an unwieldy armload of split releases—by finding order in chaos, beauty in cacophony.

Formed by members of erstwhile Louisville math-rock outfit Breather Resist, the band brings to bear a clangorous mix of left-of-center musical influences, goth and math rock and shoegaze and, most conspicuously, Dischord Records-style noise and punk. Co-frontman Evan Patterson says he and his fellows naturally gravitated toward playing noisy yet cerebral music because it afforded broader creative license.

“We were into heavy math rock and the hardcore punk of the late 1990s,” Patterson says. “I was always attracted to that music when I started playing guitar. It seemed like there were no limits to what you could do. I grew up going to all-ages shows in Louisville, punk and noise rock, and that world seemed like it was creatively the best for me to explore what I wanted to do on my instrument.”

The Widows’ aesthetic was probably best expressed on their second release, 2008’s Old Wounds, on Temporary Residence records. A fan favorite, Old Wounds is a seething, scabrous affair, full of torturous riffs and jarring textural shifts and vocals

that weave through alternating fits of melody and dissonance. But Patterson says the Widows have evolved as they’ve gotten older. And their latest release, 2014’s Easy Pain, stands as their most focused and accessible record to date.

“At some point, I realized you didn’t need 60 riffs in a song,” Patterson says. “You need one riff that can create a mood, that has some soul to it. I’ve always been a fan of traditional choruses, traditional pop and rock songs. And I’ve never strayed too far from that formula. It’s still a matter of finding that element that is wonderful and catchy on some level.”

To be sure, no one will mistake the music on Easy Pain for light-hearted power pop. Still redolent of Dischord influences and marked by the occasional math-y turn of phrase, Easy Pain is a challenging record by most ordinary reckonings. But the rough edges on the latest platter are buffered, smoothed out by a polish that wasn’t present on earlier records, and the skronkier moments more often find a resolution that satisfies the ear without ever quite placating it.

Having served as the band’s primary songwriter for most of the Widows’ career, Patterson says he

shared songwriting chores with bassist/vocalist Nick Thieneman and drummer Jeremy McMonigle in creating Easy Pain. The result, he says, is an album that is not only more cohesive and focused but was easier for the band members to record.

“The record before that was tough,” Patterson says, referring to In and Out of Youth, from 2011. “I had very specific ideas for how I wanted songs and arrangements, and it was very intense to work on. There were long rehearsals, and work that went on for weeks. For Easy Pain, it was much more straightforward and collaborative, so even though the music is sometimes harsh and abrasive, the record itself was a more relaxing experience.”

Patterson seems to feel the Young Widows are just getting started, nine years in. “I’m still finding new ways to use my voice,” says Patterson, who had never sung before the making of the Widows’ debut, Settle Down City, on Jade Tree Records in 2006.

“This record, I got to spend more time really figuring out what to do with my voice. My approach to songwriting, the specifics of how parts work together—the whole process has gotten more enjoyable.” ◆

WHO

Young Widows with Reverse the Curse

WHERE

Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave.)

WHEN

Thursday, Oct. 29, at 9 p.m.

HOW MUCH $10

INFO

thepilotlight.com

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

Classical Music

A&E CLASSICAL TICKETS start at just $15

New Direction KSO’s search for Lucas Richman’s successor enters its final stage

by Alan Sherrod

A

year from now, in the fall of 2016, the next music director and principal conductor of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will begin his or her tenure as the eighth music director in the orchestra’s 80-year history. That’s the plan, anyway. Nothing is simple, quick, or assured in the circuitous process that symphony orchestras go through to choose a new music director; for KSO, it’s been going on since September 2013, when Lucas Richman, who had been the orchestra’s director since 2003, announced he would step down following the 2014-15 season.

“I wish I could say the process doesn’t take long, but it does,” says Rachel Ford, KSO’s executive director. “It is what it is. By the time you know the date of a conductor’s last concert, you will already have one more year programmed, and so you’ve got to look two years out. The people you want to engage already have their music lives programmed as well.

They’ve got gigs and commitments.”

By February 2014, a 23-person committee comprising KSO musicians, board members, and staffers and members of the community narrowed a list of 150 applicants down to 30 contenders.

“At every stage of the process, we’re looking at a few main things,” says Gabriel Lefkowitz, KSO’s concertmaster and a selection committee member. “First, does this applicant have the experience to even be considered for the job? Then we watched their submitted performance videos. You can’t glean from a video how they interact with people, but you see what their musicianship is, their technique,

and their craft as a conductor.”

A few months later, the committee chose six fi nalists, each of whom has been booked for a guest conductor spot in KSO’s Masterworks series for the 2015-16 season. Each spot includes a week of rehearsals and performances with the orchestra and a soloist chosen by the conductor and a post-performance interview. (Each fi nalist was required to choose, in collaboration with the KSO staff, his or her own audition concert program and soloist.) The fi nalists are Marcelo Lehninger, who appears this weekend (see the calendar for more info), plus Shizuo “Z” Kuwahara, Aram Demirjian, Eckart Preu, Jacomo Rafael Bairos, and Steven Jarvi. In addition to the six, three guest conductors from the 2014-15 season were interviewed during their time in Knoxville and are also being considered: Sameer Patel, Lawrence Loh, and Vladimir Kulenovic.

For committee member Jeffery Whaley, KSO’s principal horn player, the videos and Skype interviews were essential in selecting the fi nalists. But he admits that there is an obvious limit to what one can learn from them.

“It is far more telling to have them stand before us on the podium and sit across a conference table from us. …

In the rehearsals, we are able to see how each conductor interprets his score and communicates musical ideas to the orchestra. Was the rehearsal environment tense and stressful or relaxed and casual? Did the music improve throughout the week or did the performance sound very similar to the fi rst rehearsal?”

So what are the criteria for a new

KSO music director?

One need only eavesdrop on a few lobby conversations at KSO concerts to come away with the general critical view among KSO’s supporters that the orchestra made enormous progress during the tenure of Lucas Richman and, with the right artistic leadership, could be poised for an even greater reputation.

“The ideal candidate must represent so many different things—a good musician, a good stick technician, a good director, a good facilitator,” Lefkowitz says. “If you’re really fortunate, you can fi nd one person who does all of those things well.”

That means the next director will also be involved in the orchestra’s education and outreach efforts.

“A majority of our work is outside the Tennessee and Bijou Theatre concerts, out in the community,” Ford says. “We couldn’t exist in this form if a few concerts were all we did. We have to reach out to people. We need a music director who wants to be involved in the community, and, particularly in Knoxville, someone who is also committed to education and outreach, because that’s what we do.” ◆

MARCELO LEHNINGER Music Director candidate

PINES OF ROME TONIGHT & TOMORROW 7:30 p.m.

TENNESSEE THEATRE Marcelo Lehninger, conductor Gabriel Lefkowitz, violin SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 1 RAVEL: Tzigane DEBUSSY: Two Preludes RESPIGHI: Pines of Rome

WHAT

Sponsored by Harper Auto Square & UT Federal Credit Union

KSO Masterworks Series: The Pines of Rome

WHERE

Tennessee Theatre (604 S. Gay St.)

WHEN

Thursday, Oct. 22, and Friday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m.

HOW MUCH

TCHAIKOVSKY PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 Thursday, Nov. 19 • 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 20 • 7:30 p.m.

Tennessee Theatre Shizuo “Z” Kuwahara, conductor Stewart Goodyear, piano Sponsored by Circle of Friends

$13-$83

INFO

knoxvillesymphony.com

CALL: (865) 291-3310 CLICK: knoxvillesymphony.com VISIT: Monday-Friday, 9-5 October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25

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Movies

Costa Brava Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa offers extreme unction for linear storytelling in Horse Money

BY CHRIS BARRETT

T

here is a delightful scene, early in the film Horse Money, during which the characters Ventura and Vitalina (also the names of the actors) discuss the fate and current status of Vitalina’s husband, Joaquim. She has been told by numerous authorities that her husband is dead. Ventura says no; he has seen Joaquim. The conversation takes place without eye contact in a nondescript space resembling a hospital room, where light is limited just enough to flatter the black skin of these two people. As she speaks, Vitalina arranges strings of black beads on a Formica tabletop. The beads click upon contact, and then swish as she slides them to form various shapes—from spread wings to cruciforms—searching for meaning.

Those sounds would be hypnotic enough. Added to them is Vitalina’s musical voice, reciting in voice-over the pro forma government correspondence informing her of Joaquim’s demise.

Vitalina ponders the beads, nods at their message, and then quietly shuffles them, hoping for something better.

Rather than creating scenes that move a script from one plot point to another, Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa brings together actors (often amateurs or non-actors), realistic scenery that is usually jarring and rarely a comfort to the eye, and captivating photography that makes use of subtle and unnatural angles to prevent any sense of complete familiarity. He makes scenes that he can arrange and rearrange like Vitalina’s beads. The order of these scenes is not crucial to their meaning.

And if you insist upon deciphering a timeline, you will find that it moves in multiple directions.

Over the course of Horse Money, Ventura shuffles barefoot among the alleys of the Lisbon immigrant slum Fontainhas—a favorite setting for

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

Costa, and where you met Ventura if you’ve seen Colossal Youth (2006)— and a dehumanizing array of haunted institutional spaces. (A favorite chirp among sensitive folks is a distaste for fluorescent lighting. It seems far more troubling to be trapped in these chambers lined with fluorescent fixtures that are turned off.) There is precious little light in front of the camera. What little exists is almost hidden, like stolen property. Low light on dark-skinned people, shot against mostly dark scenery, eliminates many of the lines we use to distinguish and separate people from place. More than once we see Ventura walk out of himself, announcing himself in advance with his bare feet treading rough surfaces.

Ventura is interviewed by bureaucrats who have the most vague trappings of the medical professional, though they clearly have no interest in his well being. Also present intermittently are apparitions of characters who might have peopled Ventura’s past. Their abstract reminiscences sometimes reveal deep connections, and sometimes reveal a void where Ventura had imagined a connection.

There are precedents for film as a venue for self-conversation and self-examination. Robert Bresson’s Diary of a Country Priest and A Man Escaped are examples, and masterpieces of the form. Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki employs a charming conceit in many of his films, where characters simply speak to themselves aloud and those nearby make use of the information, whether romantically or criminally. When Vitalina first encounters Ventura, she asks him, “What do you do here?” “I speak to the walls,” he says.

Most who have seen Bresson, and many who have not, would recognize

self-dialogue as some cousin of confession.

Costa presents something like hope in a neutral context, neither encouraging nor discouraging.

Ventura’s restlessness suggests that he is hopeful of accomplishing something: perhaps reconciling some past, to which several are referred, perhaps exiting this fever-dream slumber. As dim as the light in this purgatory is, it must have a source. Less than a year old, Public Cinema strides boldly into its second season of adventurous and laudable programming. Learned organizers Paul Harrill and Darren Hughes are grappling with the reality of what Knoxville audiences want to see and what they want Knoxville audiences to see.

The opportunity to view this film is something uncommon. This film itself is something uncommon. Spread those things before you like black beads on a white surface. What you see there may provide useful information. ◆

WHAT

The Public Cinema: Horse Money

WHERE

Knoxville Museum of Art (1050 World’s Fair Park Drive)

WHEN

Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m.

HOW MUCH Free

INFO

publiccinema.org

October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27

CALENDAR MUSIC

Thursday, Oct. 22 DAVE BARNES • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • When Dave Barnes first showed up on the music scene 12 years ago, he was the guy hitting the college circuit with limitless energy and an equally unrestrained expectation for the future.

Since then, the singer-songwriter has written and released seven albums, played hundreds of cities each year, and formed deeper relationships in the industry than his 23-year-old self could have dared hope. • $21.50-$23.50 PAT BOONE • Oak Ridge High School • 7:30PM • The classic pop singer, known for his mainstream-friendly interpretations of early rock ‘n’ roll and R&B hits, will be backed by the local big band/swing orchestra the Streamliners. Proceeds benefit the Oak Ridge High School music department. • $20-$75 CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM ANTONIA COVE WITH JIMMY DAVIS AND LEFTOVER SALMON • WDVX • 12PM • FREE JIMMY DAVIS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM FALLOIR WITH FRAGILE SEEDS • Pilot Light • 9PM • Falloir sails through proggy waters with tricky time signatures and dynamic shifts, knotty, cascading dual-guitar riffs, and dense, pummeling percussion. 18 and up. • $5 FUTURE THIEVES • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 KNOXVILLE’S FINEST BAND • Market Square • 7PM • Our friends in blue at the Knoxville Police Department will provide fun and entertainment with a variety of pop music hits, proving that they are indeed “Knoxville’s Finest.” • FREE JOEL LEVI • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE THE LONELY BISCUITS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Blending soul, funk, and pop with rap; The Lonely Biscuits have created a unique sound that has appealed to a wide array of people.

PULLMAN STANDARD • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM SECRET CITY CYPHERS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Join Secret City Cyphers at the Open Chord as MCs, poets, singers, musicians and dancers all come together to perform and preserve real hip-hop. Artists interested in performing please message the Secret City Cypher Page in advance. This is an all ages event, so remember the three SCC rules: no disrespecting women, no violence, and limited vulgarity. • $3-$5 THE PRESTON SHIRES TRIO • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM SOULFLY WITH SOILWORK, DECAPITATED, AND SHATTERED SUN • The International • 6:45PM • All ages. • $25-$28 THE THIRST QUENCHERS • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM • The Ps and Qs house band.

Friday, Oct. 23 THE 9TH STREET STOMPERS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE CRUMBSNATCHERS WITH THE JEFF HASKELL BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM • Full of brain-scrambling jumps between punk assaults and catchy indie-rock choruses, the band’s sound is equal parts chaotic and contrived. 21 and up. • $5 DIARRHEA PLANET • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • In a world of unintelligible lo-fi recording, reverb drenched vocals, and tuneless guitars, Diarrhea Planet aims to put the backbone back into rock and roll. • $16.50 DIVIDED WE STAND WITH ELISIUM, SPLIT TUSK AND AUTUMN REFLECTION • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage 28

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

• 8PM • Local metal and hard rock. All ages. • $10 FREEQUENCY • Cru Bistro and Wine Bar • 8PM • 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 JACK’D UP • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM JENNY AND TYLER • Saw Works Brewing Company • 8PM • Indie folk-pop husband and wife duo Jenny & Tyler sign with upstart record label Residence Music and will team up to release Of This I’m Sure on October 16, 2015. Vast, lush and soaring at times, their easy voices blend in harmonies that suggest a deep hope and a deep ache intertwined. • FREE DEVAN JONES AND THE UPTOWN STOMP • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE K CAMP • The International • 9PM • K.Camp is the voice of the north side of Atlanta—Marietta, to be precise—whose regional hit “All Night” has won support in Atlanta, Alabama, and the Carolinas. 18 and up. • $20-$80 KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Homegrown hot jazz inspired by Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. • FREE AMY LYNN WITH LAUREL WRIGHT AND RICKY MITCHELL • Sun Dance Farm and Event Center • 7PM • Local singer-songwriter and country music artist will release her debut EP album, Bulletproof, on Friday, October 23.

Tickets can be purchased at www.amylynnmusic.com and all tickets must be purchased in advance (no tickets sold at the gate). • $15 JAMEL MITCHELL • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM MOJO FLOW • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM ASHLEY MONICAL WITH THE 9TH STREET STOMPERS • 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 JOHN NÉMETH • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • John Németh has 9 Blues Music Awards nominations and is the winner of the 2015 Best Soul Blues Male Artist. • $15 ODD FUTURE FIESTA • Longbranch Saloon • 9PM THE POP ROX • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE THE PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND AND THE TRAVELIN’ MCCOURYS • The Standard • 7:30PM • Join WDVX for an evening of World Class Jazz & Grass with the Travelin McCourys and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. • $30-$40 DAVE SLACK TRIO • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Instrumental and vocal jazz standards.

THE STOOGES BRASS BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Stooges Brass Band has earned their rank as one of the elite brass bands in New Orleans. The band consistently provides a welcome blast of true New Orleans spirit engaging audiences with their innovative blend of traditional New Orleans brass sounds, contemporary jazz and hip-hop beats.

SUPATIGHT WITH BASEBALL THE BAND • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM UNLIMITED GRAVITY WITH PROJECT ASPECT AND CUDDLEFISH • The Concourse • 10PM • Presented by Midnight Voyage and WUTK. 18 and up. • $5 WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM Saturday, Oct. 24 ALL HALLOW’S FELLOWSHIP BENEFIT • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • A fundraiser for Chris Scum, featuring Red as Blood, Todd Steed, and more. 21 and up.

APPALACHIAN SURF TEAM WITH ELORA • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. • FREE JOSIAH ATCHLEY AND THE GREATER GOOD • The Shed at

Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6PM • $5 BETHANY AND THE SWING SERENADE • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM KENT GOOLSBY AND THE GOLD STANDARD • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE KINCAID • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM NOT A PLANET WITH ROMAN REESE AND THE CARDINAL SINS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $5 OVER THE EFFECT • Longbranch Saloon • 9PM THE PUNKNECKS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE THE RERUNS • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Knoxville’s premier TV band plays your favorite television themes.

BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • FREE JOSH TURNER • Niswonger Performing Arts Center (Greeneville) • 7:30PM • Multi-platinum MCA Nashville recording artist Josh Turner is one of country music’s most recognizable hit-makers. With a rich, deep voice and distinctive style, Turner is a disciple of traditional country music and one of the youngest members of the Grand Ole Opry. • $50-$60

TWISTED WITH BLAZE, BOONDOX, PROZAK, AND SCUM • The Concourse • 9PM • A potent concoction of hardcore hip-hop, rock, horror cinema and theatrical styling is the formula brewed by Twiztid – the diabolical duo of Jamie Madrox and Monoxide, who rose from the Detroit underground to seize the world by the throat with their sinister lyrics and infectious beats. 18 and up. • $23 THE WAR AND TREATY WITH NOT A PLANET • 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 WILL YAGER TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 25 BAD IDOLS WITH BOYS, SCARLET VICTORY, FIRE AT THE MARQUEE, AND THE NIGHT CAP • Longbranch Saloon • 10PM THE BROCKEFELLERS WITH CHRISTABEL AND THE JONS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM

KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 and Scruffy City Hall (32 Market Square) • Friday, Oct. 23-Sunday, Oct. 25 • $15-$60 • knoxvillehorrorfest.com

Knoxville’s grand celebration of gruesome cinema gets bigger and better every year. Now in its seventh year, the annual splatterfest can legitimately claim to be the anchor of East Tennessee’s movie scene, with a program that includes exclusive screenings of big national features (this year’s lineup includes the anthology Tales of Halloween, with entries directed by Neil Marshall and Lucky McKee, the heavy-metal horror flick Deathgasm, and the descent-into-madness festival favorite Sun Choke), an extensive program of international horror shorts, and the Grindhouse Grind-Out, a fake-horror-movie-trailer showcase for local filmmakers. This year also looks back at the beginnings of modern horror movies with a screening of a newly restored version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The quality varies, as does the tone—there’s almost as much tongue-in-cheek material as straight slasher jump scares—but no other local film fest offers as concentrated a dose of movie magic as KHFF has, year in and year out. The organizers (including Mercury contributor Nick Huinker) take their gross-out fun very seriously. (Matthew Everett)

30

KSO Conductor Candidate Tryout

33

Spotlight: Marble City Opera

CALENDAR MIDNIGHT RERUNS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 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.

SLOW BLIND HILL WITH THE TERRAPLANE DRIFTERS • Ijams Nature Center • 4PM • The “Ijams Has the Blues” series concludes with two local favorites playing the blues outdoors on an early autumn evening. • $5 SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE Monday, Oct. 26 THE BLUEPRINT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Local pianist Keith Brown’s cool jazz combo.

PLAIN WHITE T’S WITH MATT MCANDREW AND BETA PLAY • The Concourse • 8PM • $18.50-$22 SUSTO • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 THE VALLEY OPERA WITH CHRISTOPHER BELL • 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 Tuesday, Oct. 27 THE 9TH STREET STOMPERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The 9th Street Stompers are an outfit of well-dressed no-counts chopping on acoustic instruments and singing about life, death, love, and liquor. Hailing from Chattanooga, Tennessee, they cull up the musical scenery of an era when the lines between swing, gypsy jazz, blues, rockabilly, and tango weren’t nearly as hard and fast as the drinking and dancing.

Steering clear of much of the novelty and kitsch associated with pre-war music, they choose to demonstrate the modern relevance of their chosen medium.

BIRCH STREET WITH A BRILLIANT LIE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

CHRISTABEL AND FRIENDS WITH DAVID LANGLEY • 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 THE OH HELLOS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • The Oh Hellos are Maggie and Tyler Heath, intentionally-independent self-produced music-making siblings hailing from the great state of Texas. Their influences range from Los Campesinos! and The Lumineers to Sufjan Stevens and The Middle East, bending and blending styles and genres into a unique mixture of eclectic folk rock. •$17.50-$19.50 SHELLSHAG WITH THE SNIFF • Pilot Light • 9PM • 18 and up.

•$5 TWO HOUSES WITH SCARLET VICTORY • Longbranch Saloon • 10PM Wednesday, Oct. 28 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 TENNESSEE SHINES: GUY MARSHALL • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Enjoy a spooktacular visit with Knoxville’s own Americana rockers Guy Marshall. They’ll play new CD, “The Depression Blues,” plus Halloween classics for the season of mischief. •$10 IWRESTLEDABEARONCE WITH VANKALE, INSIGHTS, AND CARCOSA • The Concourse • 7:30PM • $12-$15 • All ages MARK MANDEVILLE AND RAIANNE RICHARDS WITH

Watch the Vols with us!

PELLISSIPPI STATE BLUEGRASS • 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 MARK MANDEVILLE AND RAIANNE RICHARDS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • • FREE BEN RECTOR • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • The singer-songwriter’s newest album marks a return to the spirit of his youth, when he was a music-crazed teenager playing guitar in his Tulsa bedroom. Its message is both sincere and humble, anchored by songs that are honest and meaningful. It’s pop music with a purpose. • $22.50-$32.50 HUNTER SMITH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • Live jazz. • FREE SPECTRUM ELECTRIC JAZZ ORCHESTRA • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM Thursday, Oct. 29 JAY CLARK • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM THE FRITZ • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 ANNA HAAS • 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 HANDSOME AND THE HUMBLES • Market Square • 7PM • Handsome and the Humbles play old-fashioned heartland country-rock record, inspired by Uncle Tupelo, the Drive-By Truckers, Ryan Adams, and the Hold Steady, specializing in a kind of three-chord wistfulness. • FREE THE HOWLIN’ BROTHERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM •The Howlin’ Brothers are a Nashville based string band composed of Ian Craft, Ben Plasse and Jared Green.

Anchored in a bed of old-time blues and bluegrass, their upbeat shows are heavy with original and traditional music, featuring the sounds of slide banjo, harmonica and old-time fiddle.

MIDNIGHT MONSTER MASH CRUISE • Star of Knoxville Riverboat • 9PM • The Secret City Cyphers host a floating Halloween party, with more than 30 local musicians and MCs. CHUCK MULLICAN JAZZ BONANZA • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM THE NEW APOLOGETIC WITH BRISTON MARONEY AND MOJO FLOW • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Join The New Apologetic to celebrate the release of “You’re Gonna Be Okay,” their second EP. • $5 QUARTJAR AND EVIL TWIN • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Quartjar and Evil Twin will co-headline the “Downtown Randall Brown Halloween Spooktacular” at Scruffy City Hall. The event will seek to conjure the spirit of the 1976 Paul Lynde Halloween Special, which was notably the first network TV appearance of KISS. Knoxville bon vivant Ricky Moon will channel Paul Lynde for the evening.

Comedians Shane Rhyne and Tyler Sonnichsen will be funny. Rus Harper of Evil Twin has offered to portray Witchie Poo for the occasion. Costumes encouraged.

Cover will probably be $5. •$5 THIRD EYE BLIND • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Since 1997, San Francisco’s Third Eye Blind have recorded four best-selling albums and assembled one career retrospective. •$35-$45 THE THIRST QUENCHERS • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM • The Ps and Qs house band.

A THOUSAND HORSES • Cotton Eyed Joe • 10PM • A Thousand Horses is a fresh fusion of classic sounds – a hybrid of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, Black Crowes and Exile on Main Street-era Rolling Stones, wrapped up in a modern-country context. •$10

OCTOBER 24, 2015 • 2-9pm Musik, Art, Brats & Bier!

A Fantastic Time under the Big Tent!

RAIN OR SHINE!

60 Art Vendors LIVE MUSIK:

2-4 p.m.

Knoxville Polka Kings 4-6 p.m.

Misty Mountain String Band 6-9 p.m.

Uptown Stomp One free beverage with $10 advanced tickets available at:

www.artoberfestknox.com Kids 12 and under FREE!

LOCATED AT THE CORNER OF GRATZ & MORGAN STREETS IN KNOXVILLE BEER BY

THANKS TO MEDIA SPONSOR

October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29

CALENDAR YOUNG WIDOWS WITH REVERSE THE CURSE • Pilot Light • 9PM • Disregarding all boundaries and pushing forward with a masterful command of post-punk, noise rock, pseudo industrial, experimental doom, and goth, Young Widows emit the intimidating force of a 10-piece with the heart and soul of a classic power trio. •$10 Friday, Oct. 30 BACKUP PLANET WITH THE GREAT BARRIER REEFS • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM THE PAT BEASLEY BAND • Big Fatty’s Catering Kitchen • 6:30PM BOYS’ NIGHT OUT • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Come in costume or as you are for a Carolina Beach Music party. •$15 KEITH BROWN • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM DIRTY POOL • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM FREEQUENCY • Mulligan’s Restaurant • 8PM • Acoustic Americana trio.

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE THE GEE BEES • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $5 KITTY WAMPUS • Rooster’s Sports Bar • 9PM • Classic rock, blues, and soul.

LIL IFFY • The Concourse • 10PM MARBLE CITY SHOOTERS • Casual Pint (Fountain City) • 7PM MISERY AND GIN • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • • FREE NIGHT OWL O’WEEN • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Featuring Summoner’s Circle, Mass Driver, Among the Beasts, Amour, and the Guild. All ages. •$10 BARRY ROSEMAN • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE DAVE SLACK TRIO • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Instrumental and vocal jazz standards.

WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM TENNESSEE SHEIKS • Laurel Theater • 8PM • The Sheiks

THIS WEEK’S KSO CONDUCTOR CANDIDATE

TRY-OUT

NAME: Marcelo Lehninger AGE: 36 CURRENT POSITION: Music Director of the New West Symphony in Los Angeles (since 2012) PREVIOUS POSITION: Associate Conductor of the Boston Symphony (2010-2015) EDUCATION: Conductor’s Institute at New York’s Bard College, master’s

BIRTHPLACE: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil RESIDENCE: Sarasota, Fla. HONORS: 2014 recipient of the Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras.

2008 recipient of the First Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship.

WEBSITE: marcelolehninger.com “I’ve just completed a five-year tenure with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, first as assistant and then associate conductor, have served as music director of the New West Symphony in the Los Angeles area, and have been fortunate enough to enjoy a very active guest conducting schedule.

These experiences have given me the opportunity to travel the world, working with incredible musicians and making music at an extraordinary level. Now I am ready and enthusiastic to bring that experience to Knoxville, to work collaboratively with KSO management and musicians to bring the level of music making to its highest potential.

“I’m eager to get to know the community, to help grow the KSO’s presence in Knoxville, and to visit schools, helping build our next generation of classical musicians and music lovers. The KSO provides so much to the community already—classical and pops concerts, young people’s concerts, and concerts for underserved communities throughout Tennessee. What better way to get to know Knoxville than through music, both new and old, and helping lead the KSO through its next chapter of excellence.”

—Alan Sherrod

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

are mandolinist Don Cassell, singer Nancy Brennan Strange, lead guitarist Don Wood, bassist Will Yager, guitarist Barry “Po” Hannah, and percussionist Ken Wood.

Taking inspiration from the great Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, they describe their music as “acoustic swing.”

The Sheiks are known individually for their work with area bands and musicians for over 20 years working in bluegrass, old-time, jazz and swing idioms, including the Dismembered Tennesseans and Strange Company.

•$13-$14 TRAVIS PORTER WITH DJ DIRTY AND DJ A-WALL • The International • 10PM • Comprised of three unique 20-year-old MCs—“Strap” (Harold Duncan), “Quez” (Donquez Woods) and “Ali” (Lakeem Mattox)—the Atlanta rap trio is packing club-ready hooks, intricate rhymes, and down south swagger. • $10-$20 VOLATOMIX BREAKDANCE • Relix Variety Theatre • 8PM • Knoxville’s very own breakdance crew, with a mission to create an atmosphere that fosters self-expression, creativity, and originality. The crew performs with accompaniment by Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego and Swingbooty. •$7 THE WHISTLES AND THE BELLS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Whistles and the Bells is the redirection of artist Bryan Simpson. The forthcoming eponymous debut was engineered by multi-Grammy winner Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Thile, Keb Mo, Jars of Clay).

Saturday, Oct. 31 JOHN CONDRONE • 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 FREAKIVAL • The International • 9PM • The International opens up both venues for its second annual Halloween blowout, featuring Herobust, Huglife, Paerbaer, and many more. 18 and up. • $10-$40 HARRISON ANVIL WITH THE COVERALLS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $5 KITTY WAMPUS • Billiards and Brews • 8PM • Classic rock, blues, and soul.

OPEN CHORD HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7PM • Featuring music by La Basura Del Diablo , celebrating the release of their new EP, Mistress of the Dark, Deconbrio, The Jank, and burlesque with The Chica Negra. Plus a costume contest and more. • $5-$10 PILOT LIGHT HALLOWEEN MASQUERADE SHOW • Pilot Light • 8PM • Local bands pay tribute to their favorite local bands at this annual Halloween costume show. • $10 THE RERUNS • Pero’s on the Hill • 7PM • Knoxville’s premier TV band plays your favorite television themes.

SHIFFTY AND THE HEADMASTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria •10PM • A 10-piece tour de force covering the gamut of classic mid ‘70s to ‘80s rock.

BEN SHUSTER • Bearden Field House • 9PM • • FREE SIDECAR SYMPOSIUM • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. • FREE SOUTHBOUND • Two Doors Down (Maryville) •10PM VANCE THOMPSON • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE TINA TARMAC AND THE BURNS WITH HUDSON K • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM • On its self-titled debut EP, released in December, Tina Tarmac and the Burns offer a survey of classic ’70s and ’80s rock—proto-punk, punk rock proper, power pop, arena-ready hard rock. You can hear echoes of the Ramones, Kiss, the Runaways, Patti Smith, the Dictators, Sonic Youth, and Cheap Trick in the Burns’ hardcharging, melodic riff rock. A cover of the Shangri-Las’

deep cut “Heaven Only Knows” gets a treatment that’s halfway between early Clash and Joan Jett. It’s so straightforward and accessible that it defies description beyond just “rock ’n’ roll.” 21 and up.

UNKNOWN HINSON WITH THE SQUIDBILLIES • World’s Fair Park • 7PM • While singing his own hilariously politically incorrect songs, Unknown Hinson plays guitar in a style incendiary enough to have Satan himself reaching for the antiperspirant. But don’t dismiss him as a novelty act.

He’s one hell of a talent and has the music to prove it. A benefit for Second Harvest.

THE WILL YAGER TRIO • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM Sunday, Nov. 1 BIG SHOALS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 THE RANSOM NOTES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Drawing inspiration from genres such as bluegrass, folk, Americana, and Celtic fiddling, The Ransom Notes has enthralled audiences for nearly two decades 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 YOUNG THE GIANT WITH WILDLING •Tennessee Theatre •8PM •Young the Giant’s sound is as uniquely diverse and eclectic as its five members. Sameer Gadhia, Payam Doostzadeh, Jacob Tilley, Francois Comtois and Eric Cannata hail from, surprisingly, Newport Beach, California. An assembly of international names and assorted backgrounds that combine to produce a refreshing brand of sun soaked Indie rock. With lush experimental compositions complimented by subtle yet infectious pop hooks and unique, soothing vocals, it is a sound all their own. • $28

OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS

Thursday, Oct. 22 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.

• FREE Friday, Oct. 23 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OPEN SONGWRITER NIGHT • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Songwriter Night at Time Warp Tea Room runs on the second and fourth Friday of every month. Show up around 7 p.m. with your instrument in tow and sign up to share a couple of original songs with a community of friends down in Happy Holler. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 27 PRESERVATION PUB SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7PM • A weekly open mic.

OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Hosted by Sarah Pickle. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 28 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 LONGBRANCH ACOUSTIC OPEN MIC NIGHT • Longbranch Saloon • 9PM OPEN CHORD OPEN MIC • Open Chord Brewhouse and

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

Stage • 8PM • Join us on the last Wednesday of each month for Open Mic Night. Come show off your skills or come practice with your band. We supply the backline, you supply the talent. Sign up when you arrive and claim your slot—three songs or 10 minutes.

Friday, Oct. 30 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OPEN SONGWRITER NIGHT • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Songwriter Night at Time Warp Tea Room runs on the second and fourth Friday of every month. Show up around 7 p.m. with your instrument in tow and sign up to share a couple of original songs with a community of friends down in Happy Holler. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 1 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.

DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS Friday, Oct. 23 RETRO DANCE NIGHT • Hanna’s Old City • 9PM • 80s and Top 40 hits with DJ Ray Funk.

Saturday, Oct. 24 RETRO DANCE NIGHT • Hanna’s Old City • 9PM • 80s and Top 40 hits with DJ Ray Funk.

Sunday, Oct. 25 LAYOVER BRUNCH • The Concourse • 12PM • Brunch food

By Localmotive. Music on the patio. Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions. All ages. • FREE Friday, Oct. 30 RETRO DANCE NIGHT • Hanna’s Old City • 9PM • 80s and Top 40 hits with DJ Ray Funk.

Saturday, Oct. 31 RETRO DANCE NIGHT • Hanna’s Old City • 9PM • 80s and Top 40 hits with DJ Ray Funk.

Sunday, Nov. 1 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. 22 UT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL • University of Tennessee • The University of Tennessee’s music department offers a weekend of workshops, performances, lectures, and master classes focused on music of the 20th and 21st centuries. The performance schedule includes concerts by Marc Meltis (Thursday, Oct. 22) and the Terminus Ensemble (Friday, Oct. 23) at the Haslam Music Center; Joo Won Park and the UT Contemporary Music Festival (Friday, Oct. 23) at the Emporium Center at 100 S. Gay St.; and the UT Contemporary Music Ensemble playing Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians (Saturday, Oct. 24) at the James R. Cox Auditorium in the Alumni Memorial Building. Visit music.uk.edu for more information. • FREE KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: PINES OF ROME • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • The October Masterworks concert, conducted by Marcelo Lehninger, will open with Shostakovich’s famous Symphony No. 1 followed by Ravel’s Tzigane, which features KSO Concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz. Also on the program is an orchestration of Debussy’s Two Preludes and Respighi’s Pines of Rome.

CALENDAR

Friday, Oct. 23 UT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL • University of Tennessee • Visit music.uk.edu for more information. • FREE KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: PINES OF ROME • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM Saturday, Oct. 24 UT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL • University of Tennessee • Visit music.uk.edu for more information. • FREE TATYANA RYZHKOVA • Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan • 7PM • Prize-winner of various competitions in Belarus, Russia, Poland and other countries, participant at international festivals in Poland, Germany, Italy, Tatyana took master-classes by the leading guitarists of Europe, such as Carlo Marchione, Pavel Steidl, John Dearman (LAGQ), Olaf van Gonnissen, Giampaolo Bandini, Darko Petrinjak, Tomasz Zawierucha, and Kurt Rodarmer, among others. Visit www.knoxvilleguitar.org. • $20 Sunday, Oct. 25 KNOXVILLE EARLY MUSIC PROJECT • Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church • 3PM • The concert will feature music for soprano and instrumentalists by Alessandro Scarlatti. It will also feature instrumental music for harp, theorbo, baroque guitar, cello, harpsichord, and violins. For more information about the venue, call (865) 483-6761 or visit the church online at http://www.oruuc.org/. Visit KEMP online at the group’s Facebook page or at its website, http:// knoxearlymusic.weebly.com/index.html. • $15 Monday, Oct. 26 UT OCTUBAFEST • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • Octubafest is a three day celebration of all things tuba/euphonium. Concert I features the UT Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble, Concert II features student soloists, and Concert III features UT faculty member Alexander Lapins with pianist Yu Jung Park. Visit music.utk.edu/events for a complete schedule and more information. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 27 UT OCTUBAFEST • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • Visit music.utk.edu/events for a complete schedule and more information. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 28 UT OCTUBAFEST • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • Visit music.utk.edu/events for a complete schedule and more information. • FREE Friday, Oct. 30 UT VIOLA CELEBRATION • University of Tennessee • The Viola Celebration is a weekend workshop of master classes, recitals and ensemble performances with renowned guest violists. Registration and fee are required. For more information and to register, see: music. utk.edu/violacelebration.

UT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: “KNOXVILLE: SUMMER OF 2015” • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Symphony Orchestra is poised to present the academic premiere of “Knoxville: Summer of 2015,” a musical sequel to Samuel Barber’s famous “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” which featured lyrics borrowed from James Agee’s prose poem of a similar name. The concert is a collaboration of the School of Music and the Department of Theatre and will feature instrumental, vocal and text performances. •$20 Saturday, Oct. 31 UT VIOLA CELEBRATION • University of Tennessee • For

more information and to register, see: music.utk.edu/ violacelebration.

Sunday, Nov. 1 UT VIOLA CELEBRATION • University of Tennessee • For more information and to register, see: music.utk.edu/ violacelebration.

KSO CHAMBER CLASSICS: MOZART AND MORE • Bijou Theatre • 2:30PM • The Chamber Orchestra will perform Mozart’s Serenade K. 525, known as “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” The program continues with Wagner’s Seigfried Idyll and will conclude with two Mozart pieces, Serenade No. 12 and Symphony No. 35, “Haffner.”

THEATER AND DANCE

Thursday, Oct. 22 RISING SUN THEATRE: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE •Rising Sun Theatre •7:30PM •Two charming and innocent ladies who populate their cellar with the remains of socially and religiously “unacceptable” roomers; the antics of their brother who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt; another brother who is a drama critic (who hates the theatre) and another brother who cringes when people say that he resembles Boris Karloff. A tried and true comedy. Oct. 22-31. Visit risingsuntheatre.com. • $15 Friday, Oct. 23 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: QUOTH THE RAVEN: TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Knoxville Children’s Theatre will present Quoth The Raven: Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, a stage adaptation of the writings of Edgar Allan Poe for children and families, especially for Halloween. Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: DIAL “M” FOR MURDER • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Tony Wendice has married his wife, Margot, for her money and now plans to murder her for the same reason. He arranges the perfect murder. Unfortunately, the murderer gets murdered and the victim survives. Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit theatreknoxville. com. • $15 I AM MY OWN WIFE • Clarence Brown Theatre • 8PM • I Am My Own Wife is the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play by Doug Wright. The play tells the true story of Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf, an East Berlin antique collector and transgender person who survived both the Nazi and Communist regimes in part by acting as a Stazi informant. She became a national icon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This one-man show will be performed by Brian Gligor under the direction of John Sipes; Gligor will play 35 different characters, including Charlotte herself. For more information please visit iwifeknoxville.com. • FREE RISING SUN THEATRE: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE • Rising Sun Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 22-31. Visit risingsuntheatre.com. •$15 Saturday, Oct. 24 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: QUOTH THE RAVEN: TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre. com. • $12 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: DIAL “M” FOR MURDER • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 I AM MY OWN WIFE • Clarence Brown Theatre • 8PM • For more information please visit iwifeknoxville.com. • FREE RISING SUN THEATRE: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE • Rising Sun Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 22-31. Visit risingsuntheatre.com. •$15

October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31

CALENDAR Sunday, Oct. 25 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: QUOTH THE RAVEN: TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 I AM MY OWN WIFE • Clarence Brown Theatre • 2PM • For more information please visit iwifeknoxville.com. • FREE THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: DIAL “M” FOR MURDER • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13 RISING SUN THEATRE: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE • Rising Sun Theatre • 2PM • Oct. 22-31. Visit risingsuntheatre.com. • $15 Monday, Oct. 26 THE WORDPLAYERS: PILGRIM’S PROGRESS • The Square Room • 7:30PM • A musical adaptation of John Bunyan’s allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress, will be presented as part of The WordPlayers’ Staged Reading series. Composed by Ted Nichols in the form of a short opera, it was first performed at the Seventh Annual Religious Music Festival in Helsinki, Finland, in 1977. For more information, please call 865-539-2490 or visit wordplayers.org. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 28 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • It’s the end of everything in contemporary America. A future without power! What will survive? In post-apocalyptic Northern California, a group of strangers bond by recreating an episode of “The Simpsons.” From this meeting, memories of Marge and Homer become the basis for shaping a new society as the play travels

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

decades into the future. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

Oct. 28-Nov. 15.

Thursday, Oct. 29 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: QUOTH THE RAVEN: TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. •$12 RISING SUN THEATRE: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE • Rising Sun Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 22-31. Visit risingsuntheatre.com. • $15 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. Oct. 28-Nov. 15.

THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: DIAL “M” FOR MURDER • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. •$15 Friday, Oct. 30 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: QUOTH THE RAVEN: TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. •$12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. Oct. 28-Nov. 15.

RISING SUN THEATRE: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE • Rising Sun Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 22-31. Visit risingsuntheatre.com. • $15 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: DIAL “M” FOR MURDER • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. •$15 Saturday, Oct. 31 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: QUOTH THE RAVEN: TALES

OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. Oct. 28-Nov. 15.

RISING SUN THEATRE: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE • Rising Sun Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 22-31. Visit risingsuntheatre.com. • $15 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: DIAL “M” FOR MURDER • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. •$15 Sunday, Nov. 1 LET IT SHINE •Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) •2PM • Let It Shine is a play to raise your hearts and spirit in song and fellowship. Nov. 1-8. Visit www.claytonartscenter.com. •$14 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 2PM • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. Oct. 28-Nov. 15.

KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: QUOTH THE RAVEN: TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: DIAL “M” FOR MURDER • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 23-Nov. 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15

COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD

Sunday, Oct. 25 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

Monday, Oct. 26 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. 27 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 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 SPIKE COLLAR COMEDY FUNDRAISER • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8:30PM • Featuring J.C. Ratliff, Larry Fulford, Alex Luchun, Jay Kendrick, Lance

Friday October 30 7:30 p.m.

Tennessee Theatre 604 S. Gay St. Knoxville, TN Tickets

Join us for a celebration of Knoxville, featuring: Samuel Barber’s KNOXVILLE: SUMMER OF 1915 Aaron Copland’s THE TENDER LAND the academic premiere of Ellen Reid and Royce Vavrek’s KNOXVILLE: SUMMER OF 2015 and other music and readings that honor our region.

MUSIC.UTK.EDU/SUMMER2015 32

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

$20 adults, $15 seniors 60+, $5 students with school ID and youth 18 and under.

Tennessee Theatre box office 865-684-1200 ext. 2, or ticketmaster.com

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

Adams, Tyler Sonnichsen, John Lee Grogan, and John Andrew Miller in support of the Widows and Orphans Fund. Donations accepted. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 1 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic .

FESTIVALS

Thursday, Oct. 22 TECH CARNIVOL • University of Tennessee • Students with a penchant for tinkering have an opportunity to shine thanks to Tech Carnivol, an engineering festival designed and organized by UT students to help spotlight STEM education and its impact beyond engineering. For more information or to register a team, visit http://web.utk. edu/~carnivol/index.html • FREE TENNESSEE THEATRE ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • The statewide conference for the Tennessee Theatre Association provides opportunities for theatre artists and theatre lovers to see high school and community theatre productions, participate in workshops, attend master classes, network, and socialize. Anyone can register to attend the entire conference at tn-theatre.com. Our guest artist, Cherry Jones, is a five-time Tony Award nominee (most recently

CALENDAR

in 2014’s revival of The Glass Menagerie).

Saturday, Oct. 24 ARTOBERFEST • Fourth and Gill • 2PM • In the spirit of the original Oktoberfest, Fourth and Gill hosts a one-day outdoor celebration of community fun, art, and a bit of bier in Knoxville, Tennessee. The festival has something for everyone, with a sculpture exhibition, homemade crafts, delicious grilled brats, activities for the whole family, and live music all day long. Visit http:// artoberfestknox.com for information and tickets. •$10 HISTORIC RUGBY GHOSTLY GATHERING • Historic Rugby • 6PM • Enjoy a homemade chili dinner with dessert at the Historic Rugby Community Building, followed by candle and oil lamp tours of several historic buildings dating back to the early 1880s. During the tour, guests meet the “ghosts” of some of Rugby’s earliest residents and hear their stories, along with stories about the village’s numerous other ghosts (what would a Victorian English village be without a few good ghosts?) Learn more about the history of Rugby and its unique attractions at www. historicrugby.org. • $20 Sunday, Oct. 25 UT GARDENS HOWL-O-WEEN POOCH PARADE AND PET EXPO • University of Tennessee • 1PM • Catering to dogs and dog lovers, this event will promote the invaluable resource of the UT Gardens and the College of Veterinary

MARBLE CITY OPERA: GHOSTS OF CROSSTOWN Scruffy City Hall (32 Market Square) • Thursday, Oct. 29 • 7 p.m. • $20 • marblecityopera.com

The abstract idea that a building of stone, steel, and concrete can assume a personality and a life will come as no surprise to those of us who love downtown Knoxville. With some exceptions, buildings of a certain age become part of the family—a wise grandfather or, perhaps, an eccentric uncle. We luxuriate in their companionship, respecting the ways in which they give us comfort and define our existence. We also mourn their passing when it is their time and, if possible, find ways to give them a rebirth.

The art deco Sears Crosstown Building in Memphis is one of those structures that, in having a life, has affected many other lives. Built in 1927 as a high-rise distribution center and retail store for Sears, Roebuck & Co., it operated until 1993, when the company shut down the distribution center. In 2010, after sitting unused for 17 years, the building began to see a new life with the formation of Crosstown Arts, an organization with the goal of resurrecting the building using arts and culture as a catalyst for creating “a mixed-used vertical urban village” called Crosstown Concourse.

The effect that the building had on lives was the basis for The Ghosts of Crosstown, a cycle of five short operas created in 2014 under the auspices of Opera Memphis. The libretti for all five pieces was written by Memphis writer Jerre Dye and tell stories of people who worked in, shopped in, or lived near the majestic old building. Each short piece has a different composer.

Knoxville’s Marble City Opera visits that history and examines those lives with its own production at Scruffy City Hall of three of the five operas: Movin’ Up by Zach Redler, Abandoned by Kamran Ince, and Mitch and the Moon by Jack Perla. Singers for Marble City include bass-baritone Brandon Gibson, contralto Julie Bélanger Roy, and soprano Lindsay Cunningham. (Alan Sherrod)

Medicine as well as many other dog-related nonprofits and businesses in the Knoxville area. Admission is free to the event with a fee for parade participants. Contact Beth Willis at ewillis2@utk.edu for additional information.

OPEN STREETS KNOXVILLE • The Old City • 1PM • Central Street between the Old City and Happy Holler will be filled with people of all ages and abilities. The event provides them with a chance to walk, ride bicycles, hula hoop, zumba in the streets — all in a setting that is fun and safe. All games, classes and activities are free. • FREE HISTORIC PARTRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD 1945-ERA HOME TOUR • Parkridge • 1PM • This tour features a variety of homes with a focus on occupants during the Swing era, immediately after WWII. Learn about this history as you tour 8 open houses and 3 homes in the Park Place condominiums. Parking is available at the Ashley Nicole Park. Tickets may be purchased in advance at K-Brew, Saw Works Brewery, Three Rivers Market, www. parkridgecommunity.wordpress.com, or tickets may be purchased until 4:00pm the day of the tour at Ashley Nicole Park. Information available at historicparkridge@ gmail.com, or 865-951-6614. •$10-$12 HAITI FEST 2015 • Immaculate Conception Catholic Church • 5PM • Come experience Haitian culture with music, food and family fun all while supporting our sister Parish in Fond des Blanc, Ayiti (Haiti). • $15-$20 Thursday, Oct. 29 EAST TENNESSEE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER 2015 AWARDS CEREMONY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 5:30PM • The East Tennessee Community Design Center (ETCDC) will present the Bruce McCarty Community Impact Award to Ashley Capps at its 2015 Award Celebration. The Bruce McCarty Community Impact Award is granted to individuals the ETCDC believes have demonstrated a commitment to building a better future for this region.

The award is a tribute to the legacy of architect Bruce McCarty and the contributions he made to this region through his vision as the leading founders of the ETCDC, through his professional accomplishments, and the many lives he touched throughout his career. Mr. Capps will join past recipients of the award, which include David Dewhirst, Randy and Jenny Boyd, Carol Evans, and Paul James. •$150 Saturday, Oct. 31 CAC BEARDSLEY COMMUNITY FARM HARVEST FESTIVAL • CAC Beardsely Community Farm • 1PM • Enjoy free food, children’s activities, live music, garden classes and tours of the farm and Habitat Urban Garden nurseries. Come dressed in your Halloween costumes!Please checkbeardsleyfarm.org and our Facebook page for updates. Call 865-546-8446 or email beardsleyfarm@gmail.com with questions. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 1 EAST TENNESSEE CHILI COOK-OFF • World’s Fair Park • 12PM • Second Harvest Food Bank, Bush Brothers & Company and Kroger will partner for the 10th Annual East Tennessee Chili Cook-Off. Over 30 amateur cooking teams will whip up their tastiest recipes to compete for the best chili in town. For more information, please contact Blaire Hall at blaire@secondharvestetn.org.

FILM SCREENINGS

Friday, Oct. 23 KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FEST • Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 • The Knoxville Horror Film Fest will present its

Open Chord®®

music Live store

We’re blowin’ the doors open for you!

Open Chord All Things Music®

Open House SATURDAY Oct. 24 • 12pm-4pm

Watch as different artists paint our outside wall in their signature styles. Enjoy free live music & BBQ straight out of the smoker.

Enter to win a free guitar!

THURS 10/22 • 8pm / $5

Secret City Cyphers ( HIP HOP )

FRI 10/23 • 8pm / $10

Night Owl Music Presents Divided We Stand / Elisium / Split Tusk / Autumn Reflection ( METAL )

8502 KINGSTON PIKE (865) 281-5874 openchordmusic.com

October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33

CALENDAR seventh annual weekend of scare-friendly cinema on October 23-25, bringing the genre film festival experience to East Tennessee with a slate of premier indie horror features and a barrage of unique shorts from around the region and around the world. This year’s festival will kick off Friday night at Regal Downtown West, return for an all-day marathon of screenings on Saturday, then wrap up across town on Sunday afternoon with a special throwback double feature followed by an awards ceremony & 80’s-horror themed costume party at Market Square’s Scruffy City Hall. Further information is available at knoxvillehorrorfest.com or on KHFF’s Facebook page.

Saturday, Oct. 24 KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FEST • Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 • The Knoxville Horror Film Fest will present its seventh annual weekend of scare-friendly cinema on October 23-25, bringing the genre film festival experience to East Tennessee with a slate of premier indie horror features and a barrage of unique shorts from around the region and around the world. This year’s festival will kick off Friday night at Regal Downtown West, return for an all-day marathon of screenings on Saturday, then wrap up across town on Sunday afternoon with a special throwback double feature followed by an awards ceremony & 80’s-horror themed costume party at Market Square’s Scruffy City Hall. Further information is available at knoxvillehorrorfest.com or on KHFF’s Facebook page.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW • Tennessee Theatre • 11PM • Come dressed to impress as your favorite Rocky Horror character. The movie begins at 11:15pm, complete

34

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

with a live shadow cast, leading fans in audience participation. • $10 Sunday, Oct. 25 KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FEST • Scruffy City Hall • The Knoxville Horror Film Fest will present its seventh annual weekend of scare-friendly cinema on October 23-25, bringing the genre film festival experience to East Tennessee with a slate of premier indie horror features and a barrage of unique shorts from around the region and around the world. This year’s festival will kick off Friday night at Regal Downtown West, return for an all-day marathon of screenings on Saturday, then wrap up across town on Sunday afternoon with a special throwback double feature followed by an awards ceremony & 80’s-horror themed costume party at Market Square’s Scruffy City Hall. Further information is available at knoxvillehorrorfest.com or on KHFF’s Facebook page.

THE PUBLIC CINEMA: HORSE MONEY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 2PM • Pedro Costa’s latest collaboration with a community of Cape Verdean immigrants in Lisbon opens with a silent montage of still photos by Jacob Riis, a muckraking journalist and social reformer who documented the lives of the working poor in turn-of-thecentury New York City. Costa is himself something of a muckraker, and the images in Horse Money are similarly sublime, haunted and material. • FREE Monday, Oct. 26 THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. • FREE CINEHOLA: EL CIELETO •Scruffy City Hall •7PM •The YWCA

partners with film group Cine HoLa for a special screening of “El Cieleto/Little Sky” and a discussion about domestic violence in the Latina community. Part of the YWCA’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month. • FREE

sign, then go to the third parking lot on your right, next to the pool. There, the building that houses the clubhouse and offices of the Windover will be just a few steps away.

Tuesday, Oct. 27 TWIN PEAKS VIEWING PARTY •The Birdhouse •7PM •Bi-weekly viewing parties for every single episode of the cult TV series. Attendees encouraged to dress as their favorite characters. Trivia, Twin Peaks-themed giveaways, donuts and coffee, plus some surprises. Trivia begins at 7:00pm with viewing to follow at 8:00pm. • FREE

Saturday, Oct. 31 KNOXVILLE TRANSIT BEAMS: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW • Relix Variety Theatre • 9PM • The Knoxville Transit Beams present a live shadow cast performance of the Halloween cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Come take part in a Halloween tradition with some pelvic thrusting, some insult hurling, and some thrills and chills that are guaranteed to fulfill you. Doors will open at 9 p.m. $10. Preshow festivities, performances, games, and other surprises to follow. Show begins at midnight. •$10

Wednesday, Oct. 28 SCRUFFY CITY CINE-PUB • Scruffy City Hall • 7PM • Free Wednesday movie screenings. • FREE Friday, Oct. 30 CRESTHILL CINEMA CLUB: ALICE IN WONDERLAND AND EARTHBOUND • Windover Apartments • 7:30PM • Halloween is fast approaching – and the CCC will once again be offering an October evening of other-worldly film fare for your viewing pleasure. It’s a knockout double feature of mind-bending fables – and it begins with one of the most famous of all time: Alice in Wonderland.

You’re going to be dazzled by the now almost-obscure, 1933 live-action version of Alice, followed by Earthbound (1940), another unusual exercise in phantasmagoria. Our location: The spacious clubhouse of the Windover Apartments. The journey there will take you to Cheshire Drive (off Kingston Pike, near the Olive Garden); going down Cheshire, turn right at the Windover Apartments

SPORTS AND RECREATION

Thursday, Oct. 22 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 Saturday, Oct. 24 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: COVE MOUNTAIN LOOP • 7:30AM • This moderate hike is 12 miles with a car shuttle. Meet at Alcoa Food City (121 North Hall Rd) at 7:30 AM to arrive at the Sugarlands Visitor Center at 8:30 AM

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

for car shuttle to Laurel Falls. Leaders: Mary Brewer, emiebrewer@gmail.com and John Smiley, johnsmiley55@bellsouth.net. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 27 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. 29 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 Saturday, Oct. 31 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: BOOGERMAN LOOP • 8AM • What better way to spend Halloween than on the Boogerman Trail. Come join us for a leisurely hike on what some call the prettiest trail in Cataloochee. Hike: 10 mile loop rated moderate. Meet at Comcast, 5720 Asheville Highway, at 8:00 AM. Leader: David Smith, dcshiker@bellsouth.net • FREE Sunday, Nov. 1 VMC DUNKIN’ DONUTS 5K AND RUN AND EAT 5K RACE • Hardin Valley Elementary School • 2PM • Monies raised help fund VMC’s two-fold mission of preventing and ending homelessness.

ART

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.

Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 Broadway OCT. 2-28: Artwork by members of the Fountain City Art Center.

Clayton Center for the Arts 502 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway (Maryville) OCT. 3-31: Townsend Artisan Guild: A Sense of Place. A closing reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 30, from 6-9 p.m.

The District Gallery 5113 Kingston Pike OCT. 2-31: In My View, new oil paintings by Bill Suttles.

Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. OCT. 2-31: Artwork by sculptor and installation artist Lorrie Fredette and painter Larry Brown.

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.

CALENDAR

Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Blvd.

OCT. 5-31: infra_eco_logi urbanism, an exhibition of speculative urban design. .

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.

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.

Zach Searcy Projects 317 N. Gay St. OCT. 2-31 : Phantom Buoy, new paintings by Thomas Wharton.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church 2931 Kingston Pike SEPT. 11-DEC. 3: An exhibit of artwork by TVUUC members.

LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS

Thursday, Oct. 22 UT HUMANITIES CENTER DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERIES • University of Tennessee • 3:30PM • Michele Salzman, a professor of history at the University of California, Riverside, will examine the downturn of ancient Rome in a University of Tennessee Humanities Center Distinguished Lecture. For more information, visit uthumanitiesctr.utk.edu. • FREE MARY M. BARROW: A CHILD’S MEMORIES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Book signing and reading with Mary M. Barrow author of Small Moments: A Child’s Memories of the Civil Right’s Movement. • FREE JACK SHAHEEN: “ARABS AND MUSLIMS IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 6PM • Shaheen is an author, lecturer and film consultant specializing in addressing stereotypes of Middle Easterners. • FREE Friday, Oct. 23 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. Free and open to the public, each Science Forum consists of a 40-minute presentation followed by a Q-and-A session. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch or purchase it at the cafe in Thompson-Boling Arena. For more information about the UT

Science Forum, visit http://scienceforum.utk.edu. • FREE Monday, Oct. 26 ROBERT B. CHURCH III MEMORIAL ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN LECTURE SERIES • University of Tennessee Art and Architecture Building • 5:30PM • Internationally recognized architects and designers will visit the University of Tennessee this year to talk about the latest ideas in the field during the Robert B. Church III Memorial Lecture Series. The series, which is free and open to the public, features lectures, films and exhibits. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 27 THE SIDDIQI LECTURE IN ISLAMIC STUDIES • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 7PM • The Siddiqi Lecture in Islamic Studies, launched in 2014, brings top scholars in the field of Islamic studies to campus in order to foster a greater understanding of Islam in East Tennessee. With controversies such as the protests calling for depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in Texas and tragedies like the attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical paper in Paris, much confusion surrounds the place of freedom of expression in Islam and Muslim societies. For more information on the Siddiqi Lecture Series, visit http://religion.utk.edu/news/siddiqi.php. • FREE GWYN DAVIES: “THE LATE ROMAN FORT AT YOTVATA, ISRAEL” • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 7:30PM • The East Tennessee Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the McClung Museum present Gwyn Davies of Florida International University, and the 2015 Linda G. Feinstone Lecturer, giving the talk “The Late Roman Fort at Yotvata, Israel.” • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 28 BOOKS SANDWICHED IN • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • Knox County Public Library’s monthly book program features Knoxville Police Department deputy chief Nate Allen on 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman by Adam Plantinga (Aug. 19); attorney Rob Frost on John Feinstein’s Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball (Sept. 16); Knox County Public Defender Mark Stephens on Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (Oct. 28); and James Gray, co-founder and executive director of the East Tennessee Permaculture Research Institute, on Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation

by James Howard Kunstler (Nov. 19). For more information, contact Emily Ellis at (865) 215-8767 or eellis@knoxlib. org.. • FREE HOWARD BAKER MEMORIAL LECTURE: FORMER JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER YASUO FUKUDA • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 5:30PM • Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda • FREE Thursday, Oct. 29 BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 2PM • Widely known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” Nye is the creator and host of the Emmy Award-winning children’s television show of the same name, which aired on PBS from 1992 to 1998. A scientist, engineer, comedian and inventor, Nye has authored five children’s books about science. His mission is to make science entertaining and accessible and to foster a scientifically literate society by helping people understand and appreciate the science that makes the world work. • FREE Friday, Oct. 30 UT SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35

CALENDAR 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. Free and open to the public, each Science Forum consists of a 40-minute presentation followed by a Q-and-A session. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch or purchase it at the cafe in Thompson-Boling Arena. For more information about the UT Science Forum, visit http://scienceforum.utk.edu. • FREE

FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS

Thursday, Oct. 22 TODDLER’S YOGI YOGA • Shanti Yoga Haven • 9AM 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 KIDS IN ACTION! • Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge • 11AM • Frances Gross will lead the kids in games that provide a good workout. These classes are free with paid admission or museum membership. Details are available at http://childrensmuseumofoakridge.org/classes/. For

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

preschoolers 3-5 years old.

Friday, Oct. 23 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. 24 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 COSTUMES AND CLASSIC CARTOONS OPEN HOUSE • Tennessee Theatre • 11AM • Join us for costumes, cartoons, and tours! This open house pays homage to the memorable Saturday morning clubs of our history that offered children’s programming, movies, and cartoons.

Children (ages 12 and under) are welcome to come dressed in their family-friendly Halloween costume. A short reel of Warner Bros. cartoons will be shown at intervals between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. • FREE UT GARDENS TRICK OR TREES • University of Tennessee Gardens • 1PM • Hike through the garden and enjoy trick-or-treating at different activity stations. Children must be accompanied by an adult. This event will take

place rain, shine, or zombies. Due to limited capacity, advance registration is required. Register online at http:// utgardens.tennessee.edu, or call 865-974-7151, or email dstowell@utk.edu by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 22.

All proceeds will benefit the UT Gardens. For more information and a complete schedule of the weekend’s activities, please visit: http://utgardens.tennessee.edu . • $6 Monday, Oct. 26 TODDLER’S YOGI YOGA • Shanti Yoga Haven • 9AM 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. 27 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. 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

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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 KIDS IN ACTION! • Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge • 11AM • Frances Gross will lead the kids in games that provide a good workout. These classes are free with paid admission or museum membership. Details are available at http://childrensmuseumofoakridge.org/classes/. For preschoolers 3-5 years old.

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. 28 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. 29 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. • FREE TODDLER’S YOGI YOGA • Shanti Yoga Haven • 9AM

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

Friday, Oct. 30 SMART TOYS AND BOOKS ART CLASS • Smart Toys and Books • 10AM • Reservations and payment are required in advance. Class fees are non-refundable. Ages 2+. • $10 Saturday, Oct. 31 CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 10AM • FREE SATURDAY STORIES AND SONGS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • A weekly music and storytelling session for kids. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY FAMILY FUN ON HALLOWEEN • Cancer Support Community • 11AM • Wear your Halloween costume and join Kathleen and other families for some Halloween fun and games. With cancer in your family chances are there is more STRESS for everyone. This Saturday Family Fun Day is sure to “scare away” the stress at least for a few hours! Lunch provided.

RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

BOO AT THE BARN • Horse Haven of Tennessee • 1PM • Dust off your pointy hat and broomsticks, because it’s time for Horse Haven of Tennessee’s Boo at the Barn.

Activities include: Trick-or-Treating in the Main Barn; Pony Kissing Booth; Horses in Costume; Face Painting; Paint a Pony; Donuts, Popcorn, and Candy; A Pony Carousel; A Petting Zoon; Spooky Storytelling; Halloween Music; S’more making by the Campfire; Halloween Games; Barn of Terror - enter if you dare!

FALL FESTIVAL AT FIRST • First United Methodist Church Maryville • 2PM • Before the children head out for trick-or-treating Halloween night, they’ll be able to enjoy a couple of hours of free fun at First United Methodist Church – Maryville. This is one of the biggest free events in Maryville with more than a thousand people coming out to enjoy the inflatables, games, hot dogs, popcorn, trunk-or-treating and more. • FREE

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Thursday, Oct. 22 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted.

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: HEALING THROUGH ART • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • Get creative with a Halloween pumpkin. CSC will provide the pumpkins and art supplies; you provide the creative juices. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

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 BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 GOODWILL MANAGEMENT TRAINING •Goodwill Industries •9:30AM • Goodwill’s Careers in Retail Initiative is a unique, FREE program designed to equip experienced, entry-level employees with the skills and credentials to advance to in-demand, mid-level retail positions.

Registration is not required, though you may contact the Careers in Retail staff with questions through our website

CALENDAR

at www.gwiktn.org/cir or by calling 865.588.8567. • FREE Friday, Oct. 23 YOGA AND QI-GONG BASICS • Shanti Yoga Haven • 6PM Saturday, Oct. 24 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: MINDFULNESS IN EVERYDAY LIFE • Cancer Support Community • 10AM • Call 865-546- 4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: DON’T TREAT YOUR SOIL LIKE DIRT •All Saints Catholic Church •10:30AM •Join Knox County Extension Master Gardener Barbara O’Neil to learn how to collect soil samples, submit them for testing, and interpret the results. You’ll also learn how much organic fertilizer is needed to improve your soil. Call UT Extension at 865-215-2340. • FREE UT ARBORETUM OWL PROWL • University of Tennessee Arboretum (Oak Ridge) • 6:30PM • Kathy Strunk and Katie Cottrell will bring live owls for display and will give information about their natural history. Participants are encouraged to bring flashlights if they plan to participate in the “owl prowl” in the woods. To learn more about the Arboretum Society, go to www.utarboretumsociety.org.For more information on the Owl Prowl call 865-483-3571 or email Katie Cottrell at katiecottrelltn@comcast.net. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 25 MINDFULNESS TOO SERIES: CULTIVATING WELL-BEING • Cancer Support Community • 5PM • This mindfulness series will focus on the empirically validated findings from positive psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology that suggest that 40% of our felt sense of wellbeing can be enhanced by learning and engaging in simple habits and behavioral practices. It will explore exercises from both mindfulness and positive psychology which, if regularly practiced, increase our experience of happiness and other positive emotions. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

Monday, Oct. 26 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted.

GOODWILL MANAGEMENT TRAINING • Goodwill Industries • 12PM • Goodwill’s Careers in Retail Initiative is a unique, FREE program designed to equip experienced, entry-level employees with the skills and credentials to advance to in-demand, mid-level retail positions. Registration is not required, though you may contact the Careers in Retail staff with questions through our website at www.gwiktn. org/cir or by calling 865.588.8567. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 27 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 • Classes and Workshops Wednesday, Oct. 28 FLOW AND GO YOGA • Illuminations Alternative and Holistic Health • 12:15PM • Call 985-788-5496 or email sandylarson@yahoo.com. • $10

BELLY DANCING CLASS • Illuminations Alternative and Holistic Health • 7PM • Call 985-788-5496 or email sandylarson@yahoo.com. • $15 GOODWILL MANAGEMENT TRAINING • Goodwill Industries • 9:30AM • Goodwill’s Careers in Retail Initiative is a unique, FREE program designed to equip experienced, entry-level employees with the skills and credentials to advance to in-demand, mid-level retail positions.

Registration is not required, though you may contact the Careers in Retail staff with questions through our website at www.gwiktn.org/cir or by calling 865.588.8567. • FREE MEDICARE CHANGES FOR 2016 • Blount County Public Library • 11AM • Joani Shaver, Blount County Office on Aging Director, will explain the ins and outs of the multiple choices of plans related to Medicare as part of the Focus on Seniors series of programs co-sponsored by the library and the Blount County Office on Aging.. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY COOKING CLASS • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • Guest Chef: Viren Lalka.

Learn new ways to prepare healthy vegetarian/vegan meals with spices that wake up the senses. Indian vegetarian cook Viren Lalka will demonstrate how to prepare two of his favorite dishes: Moong Dal Khichdi, a lentil and rice dish and Upma, a hot, thick porridge of dry roasted semolina, both cooked with enticing Indian spices. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

Thursday, Oct. 29 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted.

BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING PRACTICE SESSION • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 2PM • Portrait practice session. Call Brad Selph for more information 865-573-0709. • $10 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 12PM • Call (865) 382-5822.

KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: WINTER’S COMING • Humana Guidance Center • 3:15PM • Cold temperatures and winter weather are just around the corner, but there is plenty the smart gardener can do now to ease the garden into winter. Come learn how to clean up, improve, protect and prepare the garden for a fabulous year ahead! Join Extension Master Gardeners Don Cathey and Brian Townsend for great inspiration. 865-329-8892. • FREE

BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY

LECTURE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 7:00 P.M. THOMPSONBOLING ARENA Parking is available in G-10 garage.

Lecture is intended for an adult audience.

Friday, Oct. 30 YOGA AND QI-GONG BASICS • Shanti Yoga Haven • 6PM AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 12PM • Call (865) 382-5822.

Saturday, Oct. 31 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE NARROW RIDGE SOLAR WORKSHOP • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9AM • In this workshop, participants will observe and assist with the installation of a simple photovoltaic system for an off-the-grid home located in one of the three community land trusts held in conservation by Narrow Ridge. $20 per participant for workshop instruction and a tasty lunch. Overnight accommodations are available for an additional $20 per person. Deadline for registration is Friday, October 23 at 5:00 p.m. For more information contact Mitzi Wood-Von October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37

CALENDAR Mizener at (865) 497-3603 or community@narrowridge. org. •$20 LEARN TO MEDITATE WORKSHOP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 2PM • Led by Michael Wright, author of 800 Stepping Stones to Complete Relaxation. Info & 3-easy meditations, email: mikewright102348@gmail.com or call 865-851-9535. • FREE

MEETINGS

Thursday, Oct. 22 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 NAMI KNOXVILLE ANNUAL MEETING •St. James Episcopal Church •6PM •The plight of persons with a mental illness being incarcerated in jails and prisons will be the theme when NAMI Knoxville, National Alliance on Mental Illness, holds its annual meeting. To register online go to https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/nami-knoxville-annual-meeting-tickets-18657139005. For more information, call 865-566-6566. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 24 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Al-Anon’s purpose is to help families and friends of alcoholics

Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

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. 25 SILENT MEDITATION SUNDAYS • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us for our Silent Meditation Gathering on Sundays at Narrow Ridge. The gatherings are intended to be inclusive of people of all faiths as well as those who do not align themselves with a particular religious denomination. For more information contact Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener at 865-497-3603 or community@narrowridge.org. • FREE SUNDAY ASSEMBLY • The Concourse • 10:30AM • Sunday Assembly is a secular congregation without deity, dogma, or doctrine. Our motto: Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More. We meet the fourth Sunday of every month. To find out more, visit our web page (http://knoxville-tn. sundayassembly.com), like our public Facebook page or join our Meetup group or email saknoxville.info@gmail. com. • FREE Monday, Oct. 26 ASPERGER’S SUPPORT GROUP • Remedy Coffee • 6PM • Are you an adult with asperger’s and looking for others who have the same strengths and challenges in life? Contact Saskia at (865) 247-0065 ext. 23. • FREE GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • We hold facilitated discussions on topics and issues relevant to local gay men in a safe and open environment. Visit

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

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APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN BIKE CLUB •Central Flats and Taps •7PM •Interested in getting involved with the mountain biking community here in Knoxville? The Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, meet the 4th Monday of each month. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 28 COMITE POPULAR DE KNOXVILLE • The Birdhouse • 7PM • A weekly meeting of the local immigrant advocacy organization.

KNOXVILLE WRITERS’ GROUP • Naples Italian Restaurant • 11AM • Newberry Award- winning author Vince Vawter will speak on his book “ Paperboyâ€?. Luncheon cost $12.

For information and reservation call Mary McKinnon at 865-983-3740 by October 26.

THE BOOKAHOLICS BOOK GROUP • Union Ave Books • 12PM • Union Ave Books’ monthly book discussion group. • FREE Thursday, Oct. 29 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 Saturday, Oct. 31 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 EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION ANNUAL LUNCH BANQUET • Bearden Banquet Hall • 11:30AM • The Experimental Aircraft Association EAA 17 will have their Annual Lunch Banquet Saturday October 31. Guest speaker Paul Dye has over 40 years of aviation experience as an aerospace engineer, builder and pilot.

He retired from NASA in 2013 as their longest-serving Senior Flight Director in U.S. history. Cost:$24.00 per person ($20.00 under 18) in advance. Please pre register at: banquet@eaa17.org or call 865-789-0899 for information. •$24

ETC.

Thursday, Oct. 22 EAST TENNESSEE PRESERVATION CONFERENCE • East Tennessee History Center • This popular gathering emphasizes solutions for securing the future of our historic homes, commercial buildings, downtowns and sites while also capitalizing on our cultural heritage.

Attendees may register online at www.knoxheritage.com/ etpa. There is also a mail-in registration form online or phone registration is available at 865-685-5958. • $50-$85 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • The New Harvest Park Farmers Market will

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Thursday, Oct. 22 - Nov. 1

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 PINTS FOR A PURPOSE • Little River Trading Co. (Maryville) • 5PM • The next Community Partners Pints for a Purpose, benefit Appalachian Bear Rescue. Sponsored by Blount Partnership and Keen Footwear. Blue tick Brewery will be the tap sponsor—we have collaborated with Bluetick Brewery on a special one off production of an Alt Beer that will be tapped for the first time the night of the event. An Alt Beer is a smooth German style beer that’s a clean, malty, copper ale that finishes with hints of fruit.

Food will be offered by the Tootsie Truck. • FREE

strawberries, peaches, sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes. • FREE UNION COUNTY FARMERS MARKET • Maynardville • 4PM • Fridays through October at 1009 Main St. Downtown Maynardville 4 to 7 pm. More info call Union Co. Extension Office at 865-992-8038. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 24 EAST TENNESSEE PRESERVATION CONFERENCE • East Tennessee History Center • The East Tennessee Preservation Alliance and Knox Heritage will be hosting the 7th annual East Tennessee Preservation Conference in Knoxville. This popular gathering emphasizes solutions for securing the future of our historic homes, commercial buildings, downtowns and sites while also capitalizing on our cultural heritage. Attendees may register online at www.knoxheritage.com/etpa. There is also a mail-in registration form online or phone registration is available at 865-685-5958. • $50-$85 OAK RIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • FARM vendors will offer a wide variety of spring bedding plants, fresh produce, grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, artisan bread and cheese, local honey and fresh eggs. As the season goes on, they offer the freshest produce possible, including just-picked strawberries, peaches, sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes.

AUTISM EDUCATION CONFERENCE • University of Tennessee Conference Center • 8:30AM • Presented by the Autism Society of East Tennessee, this year’s conference will focus on giving parents and educators the tools they

Friday, Oct. 23 EAST TENNESSEE PRESERVATION CONFERENCE • East Tennessee History Center • This popular gathering emphasizes solutions for securing the future of our historic homes, commercial buildings, downtowns and sites while also capitalizing on our cultural heritage.

Attendees may register online at www.knoxheritage.com/ etpa. There is also a mail-in registration form online or phone registration is available at 865-685-5958. • $50-$85 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • FARM vendors will offer a wide variety of spring bedding plants, fresh produce, grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, artisan bread and cheese, local honey and fresh eggs. As the season goes on, they offer the freshest produce possible, including just-picked

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"So you say it's your Birthday"

need to improve the lives of all affected by autism.

MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • The MSFM is a producer only market; everything is either made or grown by the vendor in our East Tennessee region. Products vary by the season and include ornamental plants, produce, dairy, eggs, honey, herbs, meat, baked goods, jams/jellies, coffee, & artisan crafts. • FREE SECRET CITY CYPHERS: THRILL THE WORLD • Market Square • 3PM • Thrill The World is friends, families and other local residents who each year join together with thousands of other people around the globe to break the world record for the largest simultaneous dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” TTW is more than just dancing to a 6 minute song– the broader goal is unity among all the peoples of the world, humanitarianism and environmental stewardship. • FREE OUTSTANDING SEMINAR 2015 • Knoxville Convention Center • 9AM • OUTstanding is an annual conference exploring gender and sexual diversity at the University of Tennessee. Janet Mock is this year’s keynote speaker. • FREE THE TRAVELING BAZAAR •Elizabeth Claire’s •10AM •Antique and vintage goods from local artisans and shabby chic treasures. https://www.facebook.com/ events/155265508149399/ • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 27 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS’ MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • FREE

MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • FREE Thursday, Oct. 29 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • The New Harvest Park Farmers Market will be open every Thursday through November from 3 to 6 p.m. The market features locally-grown produce, meats, artisan food products, plants, herbs, flowers, crafts and much more. • FREE Friday, Oct. 30 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS’ MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • FARM vendors will offer a wide variety of spring bedding plants, fresh produce, grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, artisan bread and cheese, local honey and fresh eggs. As the season goes on, they offer the freshest produce possible, including just-picked strawberries, peaches, sweet corn and heirloom tomatoes. • FREE UNION COUNTY FARMERS MARKET • Maynardville • 4PM • Fridays through October at 1009 Main St. Downtown Maynardville 4 to 7 pm. More info call Union Co. Extension Office at 865-992-8038. • FREE

Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com

Wednesday, Oct. 28

THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES PRESENTS THE SECOND ANNUAL SIDDIQI LECTURE IN ISLAMIC STUDIES

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SALE Thank you Mercury readers for voting us TOP Record Store!

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CDs • Vinyl • Movies • T-shirts • Turntables • Posters Tapestries • Sunglasses • Incense • Glassware Bring this coupon or show us the ad on your smart phone Local & Sale Items Excluded. Sale runs from Thurs. 10-22-2015 - Sat. 10-24-2015

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TUESDAY,

October 27, 2015, 7:00 p.m.

JAMES R. COX AUDITORIUM, UT ALUMNI MEMORIAL BUILDING

Speaker: JONATHAN

A. BROWN

Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service, Director of the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding, and associate professor, Georgetown University

religion.utk.edu

2615 Chapman Hwy | 573-5710 | discexchange.com Just South of the Henley St. Bridge Across from Shoney’s Mon-Thurs 11a - 7p • Fri & Sat 10a - 9p • Sun 12p - 7p Follow Us On Facebook & Twitter | Tickets Unlimited Outlet October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39

Ho me

FOOD

D ir t to Fork

Gourd Yourself Put a little pumpkin into your life

BY ROSE KENNEDY

I

blame it on Harry Potter. All that pumpkin juice and soups ladled from whole pumpkins and pumpkin pasties. To me it seems the young wizard and his Hogwarts pals led the charge when pumpkin starting becoming a real ingredient, not just the ceremonial nod to the original Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

But in the past few years, it’s gotten a little overwhelming.

There’s pumpkin lots of things, from breakfast cereal to shortbread, sold in gourmet stores and restaurants like Cracker Barrel, and many other places that are neither fancy nor pedestrian.

Maybe because manufacturers can’t summon a pre-baked puree with the flick of a wand—or maybe because they feel the mystique will make us so senseless we won’t read the ingredient list—many of these “pumpkin” treats and snacks have almost no pumpkin at all.

I am not sure why they even bother to invoke the pumpkin spirit on the label in some cases. Like this “pumpkin cheesecake fudge” I sampled at store-that-shall-not-be-

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

named at the Island in Pigeon Forge.

A more accurate name would have been “white butter and confectioner’s sugar with a crusty orange stripe of something on top.”

And seriously, Fiber One 90 pumpkin bars, as seen at the Chapman Highway Food city? I’m no nutritionist, but a quick scan of the label reveals pumpkin flakes as an ingredient—16 down on the list, just after “water” and way behind “chicory root extract.”

I must note, however, that there are some nice, neat, products in the region, already made, almost as simple as waving a wand (see list at right). Trader Joe’s is leading the charge in this area, obsessed with pumpkin as our California-based buddies are. I counted no fewer than 20 edible pumpkin items in their most recent “Fearless Flyer,” and I am not kidding—they include pumpkin tortilla chips, mochi ice cream, and dog treats. Some of my favorites have way more pumpkin content than the two mentioned above, but are still not what you’d call “pumpkin rich.”

For that, with the exception of

Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter and Magpie’s pumpkin tarts and cupcakes (see list again, look for “best in show”), you might have to make your own. That’s what I did, and I have several very nice recipes of a sentence or two each to show for my many trials and errors.

Mostly, I was attempting to get all that lovely vitamin A and fiber from “real” pumpkin, but I was also trying to experience this fine winter squash in a way I could taste. It wasn’t enough to have a ghostly whisper of pumpkin spice; I demanded robust, moist, pumpkiny taste (or at least roasted pepitas richness).

Before we get out the kitchen equipment, though, I want to clarify a few things: 1. I do not mean “pumpkin spice” anything, not latte or cookies or motor oil (as the Facebook joke making the rounds would have you believe). I mean edibles you can make that feature pumpkin, not some slanderous conglomeration of spices used to pimp sales in October.

2. To cook with raw pumpkin, you must purchase pie pumpkin, not jack o’ lantern pumpkins, or it will be way too watery. These are fairly widely available in Knoxville. I saw them at Three Rivers Market in a mix of winter squashes selling for $1.49 a pound, coming from nearby Van Buren County, and at the Market Square Farmers’ Market Mountain Meadows booth for

about the same price. You can also buy them at Trader Joe’s (though they are doubtless Pacific Northwest pumpkins) and, er, Lowe’s. And the produce stand on Sutherland Avenue.

3. Most stuff worth cooking with real pumpkin is okay to cook with canned pumpkin. Three Rivers Market has a great buy on cases of organic pumpkin from Oregon, though you have to be a member. And seriously, even Peggy Hambright, owner of Magpies, uses canned pumpkins for their pumpkin layer cakes and cupcakes, which are 25 percent pumpkin by weight.

As I was in Magpies mid-Saturday afternoon talking to her about this very topic, and marveling that she now starts selling pumpkin tarts as early as Oct. 3, in sauntered three tall people in full costume. They were, I don’t know, enchanted princesses?

Wicked stepsisters? Mages?

In any case, as I was sinking my teeth into the succulent pumpkin cake—not too spicy, very moist—and its sinful cream cheese swirl, they announced that they were doing a dry run, making sure all would be well for Halloween.

“This,” said the tallest, peeling off a full-length glove to make a purchase, “was our first stop.”

“Peg,” said the counter attendant.

“That was our last pumpkin cupcake…”

Like I said, favorite of magic folk everywhere. ◆

D ir t to Fork

FOOD

Pumpkin Picks If you don’t have a wand handy, you can put a little pumpkin magic in your life with my personal list of products available in Knoxville, which I chose loosely based on their taste and affordability. It’s by no means exhaustive, so do let me know if someone else has a pumpkin product worthy of the name: TRADER JOE’S PUMPKIN O’S: So yeah, it’s cereal, and pumpkin is listed as an ingredient after brown sugar. But this is tasty in a toasty, whole-grain brown rice and oat way, and affordable. Very nice in Cruze Farm 2 percent milk, or—and I know I’m weird—as the cereal base for Rice Krispie treats (instead of the Rice Krispies, yep).

PUMPKIN CUSTARD, CRACKER BARREL: A “seasonal special” dessert that’s eggy and sweet and served with real whipped cream. Warm is best!

CRUZE FARM PUMPKIN PIE ICE CREAM: Dense and creamy, not too sugary, no heavy spices but tastes like, well, super rich, cold pumpkin pie. If you’re lucky, they’ll have it at Three Rivers Market, Whole Foods, or their food truck at the Market Square Farmers’ Market.

TRADER JOE’S PITA CRISPS WITH CRANBERRIES AND PUMPKIN SEEDS: Made by an artisan bakery in Canada, these aren’t super nutritious but they are crunchy, with trademark wholesome TJ ingredients like filtered water and rosemary extract. They are sublime with a smear of cream cheese topped with blue cheese crumbles.

WHOLE FOODS PEPITA BRITTLE WITH DARK CHOCOLATE: crispy and light, with just a touch of salt and enough melted dark chocolate to sweeten it up a bit—and add those health benefits.

BEST IN SHOW: PUMPKIN CAKES AND CUPCAKES FROM MAGPIES BAKERY. Sometimes they have cream cheese icing, sometimes caramel. Always tasty in a cake, not muffin, way—rich but not overly spicy.

Easy Pumpkin Recipes SPICED PUMPKIN SOUP Combine 1 can solid pack pumpkin, 4 cups chicken broth, 1 medium onion, chopped, 3 Tbs. light brown sugar, 1 Tbs. ground cumin, 1 tsp. chili powder, 1/2 tsp. ground coriander, 1/4 tsp. ground chipotle, and 1/2 tsp. salt in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low setting for about 7 hours. From Slow & Easy by Natalie Haughton (Wiley, 2009) EASY PUMPKIN BREAD Make Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Bread Mix according to directions, using olive oil in place of the vegetable oil for a fruity taste, and adding 1/2 cup each roasted pepitas, chopped walnuts, and shredded coconut before baking.

PUMPKIN DIP Beat 6 oz. cream cheese with 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar until well blended. Add 1/2 cup mashed cooked pumpkin, 2 tsp. maple syrup, and 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon. Refrigerate and scoop with animal crackers or cut fruit. From Hometown Cooking in New England (Yankee Books, 1994) SIMPLE PUMPKIN SIDE DISH Cut a pie pumpkin into 1/2-inch thick slices like a melon, leaving the peel on but taking out the seeds.

Smear about a teaspoon of butter over each slice, sprinkle each with a teaspoon of brown sugar and 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon, and roast in a pan or baking sheet at 325 degrees until the pumpkin peel is soft and the sugar melted, usually about 45 minutes.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 41

FOOD

Home Palate

Turkish Delight A visit to Quality Turkish Market’s not-so-secret deli

BY DENNIS PERKINS

F

or years, Downtown West Boulevard and its environs have been a strange oasis in the vast stretch of Knoxville that extends westward from West Hills.

Although the boulevard is not a cul-de-sac, it has the feel of a private drive that leads somewhere that you have no business being without good reason. As a commercial center it seems to house as many empty storefronts as occupied, which, with the suggestion of comparatively low rent, may account for the wealth of interesting experiences that you’ll find there.

If you can make sense of the entrances, exits, directional signs, and various arrows painted on the pavement leading through the suite of shops along the north end of the boulevard (between Ray Mears Boulevard and Kingston Pike), you’ll find a handful of worthwhile food adventures. Bida Saigon is, perhaps, the most well-known food landmark in these suites, and if you can find that

then you’re already near another interesting place to eat: Quality Turkish Market. The word deli isn’t officially tacked onto the name just yet, but it’s the deli part that makes it really worth the hunt.

A.J. and Mualla Sazil own and operate the market, which started as just that—a market for great olives and other essentials of Turkish cuisine. But A.J. (who was one of the original owners of the once-lauded and now defunct Ephesus on Cumberland Avenue) says, “We wanted to put some food over here, some specialty food.” Which they did just a little over a year ago.

The menu here is compact with only 12 items and some recurring specials that make irregular appearances, usually on the weekends. But the star of the show, A.J. says, is donër kebab: “That’s our specialty. It looks like gyro, its principal is the same, the way you cook it and all—but it has totally different spicing.”

way of cooking them can be different.

“The idea is the same, but the spicing can be totally different,” A.J. says.

“Our baba ghannouj, for example, we don’t use tahini.”

Fridays or Saturdays often bring special additions to the menu. One of the most popular is the lahmacun, perhaps better known as Turkish pizza.

“It’s ground beef, tomato, onion, parsley all mixed together. Authentically, you make it round, squeeze some lemon on it, roll it and eat it like that,” he explains, adding that they serve it as a pita.

Chicken tava, a traditional Turkish stew, also makes occasional appearances, and soon the market will start serving lentil soup.

The place is small—there are only four tables and a few stools at a small counter. It’s a bright, clean space and there’s still good shopping available, from olives to Turkish tea sets; but the focus now is food service. It’s definitely worth the effort to find, and the Sazils are friendly hosts who you’ll be glad to know. But don’t expect them to give up their secret recipes. ◆

Kebab, in this instance, isn’t a skewer. The meat—a conical conglomeration of seasoned lamb and beef—is cooked, like the gyro, on a vertical spit and shaved for wraps and platters. A.J. points out that the shape of the donër he’s cooking is irregular, it’s not a perfect cone. “It’s hand-made,” he says.

“I don’t make it here, but I have people making it for me.” That’s the reason, he says with wink and nod, why he can’t tell me what the spices are.

“You can go online and they’ll say this is what you need to add, but it never turns out,” he says. “There’s always a secret little pinch of spice.”

The donër is quite good—tender, very flavorful, and savory. I eat most of mine plain before remembering the side of tzatziki sauce. The donër platter comes with a sizable salad of lettuce and tomatoes that’s dressed with a magical and secret combination of oregano, mint, lemon, garlic, and olive oil. At least, that’s what A.J. says is in there (again with the wink and nod). It’s very tasty, as is the pilav—tender, white, long-grain rice and strands of vermicelli.

Other items on the menu are mostly familiar Middle Eastern fare: tabbouleh, grape leaves, and baba ghannouj, as well as a veggie wrap that A.J. recommends. But the Turkish

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Photos by Justin Fee

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 43

’BYE

Sacred & P rofane

Broken Image What did Lilly see in her mirror, and why?

BY DONNA JOHNSON

N

ear the door that leads into the basement floor of Isabella Towers in East Knoxville is a tall, red candle that has burned steadily through the night, a large vase of pink and yellow plastic flowers, and a picture of the recently deceased. Lilly was just 40 years old. Everyone knew her, with her bright red page-boy pulled back into a pony tail, her fashionable clothing, and her kindness. One saw her often down by the river feeding the feral cats or building homes for them for the cold winter ahead. I knew Lilly through a friend who lived in the same housing project.

Though Lilly frequently made self-deprecating remarks about herself, she appeared to be confident. She strode about in her red cowboy boots as fierce as the feral cats she fed, looking each person dead in the eye when conversing with them. She seemed ready to take on the world. But looks can be deceiving, and a mirror that gives one a false image can be deadly.

Lilly was severely anorexic and basically starved herself to death in the apartment she rented on the fifth floor overlooking the Tennessee River.

While people came and went down the dingy halls, passing her door with their groceries, leading frolicking grandchildren for a weekend visit, or just sleeping peacefully in their apartments a few doors away, Lilly was becoming bone thin, so weak she couldn’t get off the bed as the light of her TV screen flickered eerily against the living room wall.

What was it in Lilly that made her see a fat person in the mirror where none existed? I have heard that people with eating disorders are trying in the only way they know how to gain some control over their lives.

Lilly rarely let anyone into her

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

home, but on one occasion, after we had visited the feral cats together, she invited me into her tiny, one-room apartment. Against the wall was a large upright piano, dark and massive, which spoke of times past. Old photographs, mostly black and white, sat on the piano, as well as an ancient pair of high-top, laced boots.

“Can you play?” I asked Lilly.

“No, I can’t, but I just like looking at it here,” she said, flipping her red hair out of her eyes. She opened a window and fresh, cool air blew the filmy white curtains back. A solitary, yellow leaf floated almost up to the window, then disappeared.

She put her arm around my shoulders and said, “My whole life is in this room.”

“No, it isn’t,” I replied. “I see you all the time riding on the bus.”

“That’s true,” she said. “Sometimes I ride the bus just so I can watch the people.” She lit a cigarette and handed me one. “You know, sometimes there will be a little boy or girl riding the bus for the first time and they get so excited.”

“People on buses are fascinating,” I said. “The other night I was riding the last bus of the evening home, and there was a woman in a wheelchair who told me, ‘I’ve been on and off this bus seven times today. I’m 93 years old.’ ‘Really?’ I asked. ‘You don’t look it.’ She didn’t. She looked about 103!"

Lily threw back her head and laughed.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. “I’m starving!”

“Me, too,” I said, and watched as Lilly whipped up a bunch of pancakes and poured thick, brown syrup over them. “Eat up!” she said, and I ate. We shared the same plate as the purple light

of dusk stole over the room. I noticed that Lilly only ate one or two bites.

“I thought you were hungry,” I commented.

“I have to watch my figure,” she said as she got up and strode around the room, her cowboy boots making a click-click sound on the bare floor.

“Cowboy boots make you feel powerful, don’t they?”

“You bet,” I agreed. “You’re bone thin, Lilly. You should eat more.”

“You’re one to talk,” she said, brushing off my comment. And then, “I’m not nearly thin enough,” which caused me some concern, but I took my leave and forgot about it.

When I visited a couple of weeks later, I asked my friend, Graham, if he had seen Lilly.

“No, now that you mention it, I haven’t,” he said, unconcerned. “She used to ask me for rides once in a

BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY

while to go to the store, but I haven’t seen her lately. And the cats act like they are starving.”

I should have gone to check on her but did not. A few people noticed her absence and asked the management to open her door and check on her, but it was many days before anyone found her. A life that could have been saved was not. An indomitable spirit that graced the planet for a short while has now vanished.

I happened to be there when her family was removing her belongings.

The big old piano, the photographs, all evidence that Lilly had lived on the Earth. A photo of Lilly fell to the ground then sailed up into the bright autumn sky, and I felt that Lilly was giving me a sign that she was okay. I heard her bright voice saying, just as she used to greet me on the bus, “Hey, you. What’s up?” ◆

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IT’S TIME FOR A LITTLE TRASH TALK.

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world, and they are often found in outdoor recreation areas, where they become toys or food for our children, pets, and wildlife.

Tobacco litter is one habit we have to quit.

For information on community-wide clean up programs, contact the Knox County Health Department at 865-215-5170.

Thank you Knoxville for voting McGaha Electric Co. Top Knox Electrician.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 45

’BYE

Spir it of the Staircase

BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY

46

KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 22, 2015

www.spiritofthestaircase.com

v i x l o l e n , K k t h e e r t ’ o u p o !

Y y Thanks to everyone who helped make the Top Knox readers’ poll a success. We appreciate you.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR WINNERS AND RUNNERS UP!

special thanks to our sponsor:

October 22, 2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 47