Vol. 2, Issue 1 - Jan. 7, 2016

JAN. 7, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM

OKAY, BACK TO WORK V.

2 / N.1

Turning Points PERSONAL STORIES OF HOW LIVES CAN CHANGE IN UNEXPECTED WAYS

NEWS

The City Wants to Give You Money (for Community Projects)

JACK NEELY

Save Our Cultural History: Buy an Advertisement!

OUTDOORS

Up a Creek With No Name—and Paddling Against the Current

FOOD

A Visit to the Honduran Hideaway of Sabor Catracho Latin Cuisine

Knoxville City Council Bicentennial The Board of Aldermen, forerunner of Knoxville City Council, began meeting 200 years ago.

Although Knoxville was considered a city as early as 1791, when it was the capital of the United States government’s Southwest Territory, and home of a biweekly newspaper called the Knoxville Gazette, it did not need a formal city-style government in its earliest years. The relatively few decisions that needed to be made for the city were made by a commission set up by the territorial government, which met here. During early statehood years, an elected commission met irregularly.

Park, a merchant who also sometimes wrote for the local newspaper, built a brick house at the corner of Walnut and Cumberland in 1812, and lived there. It now serves as the headquarters of the Gulf & Ohio Railroad. Park served as Knoxville’s second (and fourth!) mayor.

Coincidentally, both aldermen had sons of the same name as their fathers, and both became prominent clerics.

James Park, the younger, was a Presbyterian minister. Thomas Humes, the younger, was a journalist who became an Episcopal minister—and, later, president of the University of Tennessee.

Humes Jr. was also, arguably, Knoxville’s first historian.

After the city was more formally incorporated, the first municipal council was known as the Board of Aldermen. It first met 200 years ago next Wednesday, on Jan. 13, 1816. Its members were Thomas Emmerson, Thomas McCorry, Rufus Morgan, James Park, Thomas Humes, James Dardis, and John Cullen.

In those days the mayor was elected by the Board of Aldermen, and in 1816 their choice was Thomas Emmerson (1773-1837), a lawyer and judge originally from eastern Virginia. The position came with no salary, and the Board met every January, just after their own elections, to pick a new mayor.

A meeting of Knoxville City Council in 1926, 110 years after the first meeting of the Board of Aldermen. Meetings sometimes went late. According to the clock on the wall, it’s almost 10 p.m.

Photo courtesy of the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection cmdc.knoxlib.org

Two of the original aldermen are obscure; details of the background of McCorry and Cullen are elusive. Of the five we know about, none were from Tennessee. Rufus Morgan (1781-1826) was born in Connecticut.

At least three of Knoxville’s first aldermen were immigrants from Ireland. Park was from County Donegal, Humes from County Fermagh, and Dardis from County Westmeath. Dardis, a merchant who kept a store on Cumberland Avenue, was Catholic, and tried without much success to start a Catholic congregation in Knoxville.

Aldermen Park and Humes have something else in common besides their Irish accents. Both are noted for buildings still standing in downtown Knoxville. Humes built the Lamar House, which we now know as the front part of the Bijou Theatre, including the lobby, the upstairs gallery, and part of the Bistro. Long operated as a hotel, it was completed in 1816. Unfortunately, Humes died when he was about 48, only eight months after he began serving as an alderman.

In its early years, the Board of Aldermen met in the Knox County Courthouse, located across Main Street from the current courthouse.

The city built a City Hall in 1868, a three-story brick building that stood on the north end of Market Square, about where the stage is today.

It was there that Knoxville’s first black aldermen went to work. Elected by public vote in early 1869, Isaac Gammon and David Brown served as two of 19 aldermen. They were among the first blacks elected to public office in the South.

City Council met on Market Square for more than half a century. The building was eventually connected to the Market Hall, and all of it was torn down in 1961.

The board was becoming known as City Council by the time city government moved into the former School for the Deaf building. Built in 1848, it was already a historic building when the group began meeting there in 1924. The building was known for about 55 years as City Hall. Now one of central Knoxville’s oldest buildings, it’s the current location of Lincoln Memorial University’s School of Law. City Council moved to the current City County Building, designed by architect Bruce McCarty and his firm in 1979. Now composed of nine elected members, the group meets there every other Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.

Source: The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection.

The Knoxville History Project, a new nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of and education about the history of Knoxville, presents this page each week to raise awareness of the themes, personalities, and stories of our unique city.

Learn more on www.facebook.com/knoxvillehistoryproject • email jack@knoxhistoryproject.org 2

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

Jan. 7, 2016 Volume 02 / Issue 01 knoxmercury.com

CONTENTS

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” —George Bernard Shaw

12 Turning Points COVER STORY

NEWS

10 New Year, New

Every new year is greeted with vows of personal change—but change is something that is often unpredictable.

You might start with one goal in mind and find yourself reaching an entirely different one, whether it’s your health, your family, your avocation, or your fate. We asked some of our favorite writers to share the moments when they felt their lives took a new direction.

Opportunities

Whatever ill-fated New Year’s resolution you may be grappling with as you attempt to work off that hangover of holiday cheer, fear not. The city of Knoxville has some opportunities (or at least some money) for folks looking to make a difference and do some good in their neighborhoods and communities in 2016.

Clay Duda shares the wealth.

Join Our League of Supporters!

It costs money to do this. Find out how you can help at knoxmercury.com/join.

DEPARTMENTS

OPINION

A&E

4 5

6

18

38

Letters Howdy Start Here: Roadside Sketches

by Andrew Gresham, By the Numbers, Public Affairs, Quote Factory ’Bye Finish There: Sacred and Profane

by Donna Johnson, Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray

8 9

The Scruffy Citizen Jack Neely finds a secret history that may be waning in the digital age: advertising.

Small Planet Patrice Cole has got a hot tip for birders: sandhill cranes converging on the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.

Guest Ed. Catherine Landis, local Planned Parenthood board member, wonders why our legislators are still up in arms over those discredited videos.

19 21 22

CALENDAR Program Notes: Odd Future comes to the Longbranch, and locals say happy birthday to Dolly.

Shelf Life: Chris Barrett shares some inspiring movies from the public library’s collection.

Music: Matthew Everett talks with the Dune-obsessed heavy metal rockers Realm.

Movies: April Snellings feels for Carol.

25

Spotlights: Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young and X__X

OUTDOORS

32

Voice in the Wilderness Kim Trevathan finds himself up a creek with no name.

FOOD & DRINK

34

Home Palate Dennis Perkins discovers an interesting mess of food at Sabor Catracho Latin Cuisine.

January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3

LETTERS Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015

CREATING CLONES

It seems to me that a faction among the citizens of our country is essentially advocating policies intended to homogenize the United States. They narrowly define “good Americans” and “patriotic Americans” as belonging to one political party, one religion, and one race, thereby eliminating the cultural diversity that has been the bedrock of the greatness of this nation.

They seek to create an America that exactly matches what they see in the mirror, simultaneously espousing “free will” but only within the limits of their own beliefs, and supporting the “truth” of these beliefs and their ideology by highly selective interpretations of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Bible while ignoring some of the 10 Commandments and the Golden Rule.

Many are intentionally ignorant and dismissive of cultures and beliefs other than their own, promote ignorance in their followers, and seek to disenfranchise those who think otherwise. They tolerate neither diversity nor enlightened dissent.

Unfortunately, included among them are a majority of the members of the Tennessee state Legislature, many of whom profess a belief in limiting governmental intrusion in the lives of citizens except where those “intrusions” are beneficial to those who look, behave, and believe as they do. As neither they nor their core followers support diversity, they are now seeking to limit, by legislative action, the ability of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to provide for its students an understanding of and sensitivity to the ways in which human cultures are similar to or different from our own, and the origins of the differences. [“Legislative Action Could Impact University’s Accreditation,” news feature by Clay Duda, Dec. 17, 2015] Their efforts have descended into unwarranted personal attacks on the university’s Chancellor, Dr. Jimmy G. Cheek. I believe that Dr. Cheek’s goal, and that of his administration and faculty, is to make certain that our graduates are prepared for success in an increasingly integrated and complex global society. Please support him in achieving that goal.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

EDITORIAL

We cannot be successful by creating clones of members of any race, religion, or political persuasion.

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

Arthur C. Echternacht Knoxville

HIGHWAY ROBBERY

Yay for Joe Sullivan’s column, “#1 for Income Inequality” [Perspectives, Dec. 17, 2015], lamenting Tennessee’s lead among all the states in regressive taxation. Without a state income tax, Tennessee taxes every conceivable commodity and service, barring haircuts (as yet). The house you own or rent, the clothing you buy, the food you eat—Tennessee takes a bite out of every necessity. Taxes on food are the most egregious, as Joe pointed out, and looky looky: another regressive tax is being ballyhooed by Gov. Haslam and interested parties. In fact, Joe wrote in favor of it a while ago in “Gas Taxes Aren’t Keeping Up With Highway Funding Needs” [Sept. 2, 2015].

Funny, but Joe and everyone else promoting the increase failed to mention that gasoline taxes are as regressive as you can get—as much or more than food (which you may be able to grow some of, yourself).

Gasoline is a necessity in our world, not a choice. If you work, you have to get there. There are no public transportation services in the counties surrounding Knoxville, and I doubt there are any outside a half dozen cities in the state. People who live in rural areas often have to drive great distances to work. To and from anywhere, come to that. (Note: bus fares will go up with any jump in gas taxes, so the tax increase will slap city bus riders as well as drivers.)

Rich man, poor man, we all pay the same price per gallon for gasoline, but what is of little consequence to the rich man will be a hit to the poor man’s disposable income, assuming he has any income that could be so described. Regressive taxes are reprehensible. There’s highway robbery for you, in fact and in deed.

Joan Worley Maryville

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

DESIGN

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Go to: store.knoxmercury.com.

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We do not print anonymous letters.

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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

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

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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. © 2016 The Knoxville Mercury

HOWDY

BY THE NUMBERS

Knoxville’s Leaf Game

80

The number of city employees assigned exclusively to “Leaf Season” pickups from November through January each year.

$546,881

The average amount the city spends each

year on leaf collection.

Roadside Sketches by Andrew Gresham (agreshamphoto.com)

QUOTE FACTORY “ We stand today at sort of a strange place where educationally we are more successful than ever, yet politically there seems to be more negativity and noise.”

—Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre, announcing his resignation on Monday, effective July 8. Despite gains in testing scores, McIntyre did not enjoy much popularity among teachers or Knox County Commission, which voted last month not to support his contract extension, a symbolic gesture that nevertheless indicated community disgruntlement with his administrative abilities.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

1/7 KNOXVILLE SOUP DINNER THURSDAY

6 p.m., Vestal United Methodist Church (115 Ogle Ave.). $5 donation.

This South Knoxville Alliance quarterly micro-funding event supports creative projects as well as local artists. Got a great idea that needs backing? Or are you an artist who needs exposure? The deadline for proposals for the next Knoxville SOUP is March 31.

Apply at KnoxvilleSOUP.org.

1/8 BROWN BAG LECTURE: FRIDAY

‘KIDNAPPING THE KAISER’

Noon, East Tennessee History Center (601 S. Gay St.).

Free.

Tennessee National Guardsmen were part of a plot to kidnap the German Kaiser in a quest for justice in the aftermath of World War I? Waaaaa? Sounds like a fascinating lecture by National Guard historian Darrin Haas.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Tennessee State Parks’ living history group will be portraying soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force in Krutch Park.

1/9 LEGISLATIVE BREAKFAST SATURDAY

9-11 a.m., News Sentinel Building, Knox Room (2332 News Sentinel Drive). Free.

The League of Women Voters of Knoxville/Knox County has invited our state senators, Richard Briggs, Becky Massey, and Randy McNally, to answer questions about the upcoming 109th Tennessee General Assembly. What new ways can we make it easier for anyone at all to acquire firearms and wield them in public? Find out!

4,935

Tons of leaves collected by Christmas Day 2015, about 9.8 million pounds. A total of roughly 7,000 tons, or 14 million pounds, is collected each year (mostly all during the three-month “Leaf Season”).

4th

Ranking officials say citizens give to leaf pickup services, placing it just behind police, fire, and garbage collection on surveys conducted by the city.

1

Pile of leaves that has been sitting in front of my neighbor’s house in Old North Knoxville since November.

—Clay Duda

1/12 CONVERSATIONS AND COCKTAILS: JAMES AGEE, MOVIE CRITIC TUESDAY

6-7:30 p.m., the Grill at Highlands Row (4705 Old Kingston Pike). Free.

UT’s Humanities Center kicks off its series of scholarly mixers with “‘That’s What You Think’: James Agee as Movie Reviewer,” a conversation with UT cinema prof Charles Maland. He will explore how Agee responded to some of the famous films of his era. Dinner reservations are required: 865-694-1600.

January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5

SCRUFFY CITIZEN

Be Immortal.

Advertise.

Some observations about a paradox

BY JACK NEELY

L

ast month I attended a holiday event in Holly’s 135 upstairs. As I was offering a short presentation to a dinner crowd, I was asked about a large mural on the wall behind me.

Partly obscured, it appears to say, in large, bold letters, H.G. Mead & Co. I should know that sort of thing, but didn’t. It’s peculiar to see a large advertisement on the inside of a building. You’d figure it was once on the outside of the building next door, the presumably older building that now houses Cru Bistro. Surely it was once taller than whatever was at 135. The letters are big enough that passengers at the train station could have read it.

It took a while, but using some old advertising-based print sources at the McClung Collection, I think I figured it out. The sign is even older than I thought. Homer G. Mead opened a wagon, carriage, and agricultural machinery dealership in the middle of this block in the 1880s.

Considering Mr. Mead moved around the corner, to Jackson Avenue, around 1890, and subsequently went out of business, this big sign can be safely estimated to be about 130 years old.

I’d never heard of H.G. Mead & Co. before. It went out of business before any of my grandparents were born, years before the invention of the radio or the airplane, even before J.P. Morgan created Southern Railway.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

But here it is, still proudly announcing its location.

Advertising assures immortality.

Paint on brick is durable. Newspapers, saved by public libraries and often photographed for microfilm or digitized, are even more so.

Every Christmas since 1993 I’ve written about the holiday in Knoxville 100 years ago, and two-thirds of my story always comes from old advertisements. They tell us what people were buying, what people were eating, what people were reading, the new technologies they were excited about, how they were spending their evenings. They suggest a good deal of the style and spirit of the era. Advertisements give us a richness of detail, unavailable from any other source, about how Knoxvillians of the past lived.

I’ve used advertising so much in my research that I’ve come to the conclusion that if you don’t advertise, people of the future may not know your business ever existed.

What will people of 2116 know about Knoxville in 2016? A little less, I suspect, than they’ll know about Knoxville in 1916. Non-print data fades, often in sudden and unexpected ways.

In recent months and years, I’ve learned more about “link rot” than I wanted to know. We still don’t have any idea how much, if any, of the text and images of the Internet as we know it will survive us.

But link rot, or something like it, was happening to most forms of non-print media even before the Internet—especially when new communications technologies were involved. In the 1920s, movies were the major cultural phenomenon.

Americans, especially Knoxvillians, watched movies more then than now.

Today we can see only about one-quarter of the movies our ancestors saw. It’s estimated that 70-90 percent of all the silent movies ever made no longer exist. Included in the lost-film list is the first movie ever shown at the Tennessee Theatre, The Fleet’s In. It was a major release of 1928, starring Clara Bow, and Paramount sent scores of copies to cinemas across the world. But after its profit potential faded, no one felt any motive to keep one copy of it in a safe place.

On the other hand, pretty much all the newspaper advertisements from the era—including big display ads for The Fleet’s In—still exist in readable form, in multiple places.

Locally, most of the local radio and TV ads ever aired since broadcasting began in Knoxville in 1921 are no longer accessible. They just don’t exist anymore. From the same 95-year era, you can still see pretty much all the newspaper ads.

The Internet enables saving many old things, but makes things even more ephemeral. Daily announcements are automatically deleted. You can tell where any rock band is playing next month, but where they played last night becomes, quickly, a mystery.

Very much of what we know and love about Knoxville today might expect a similar fate.

That is, if newspapers weren’t still there.

So, for immortality, advertise.

There are some other reasons, too.

Early last year, well over 1,000 people donated money to start a newspaper. We couldn’t have launched the Mercury without them.

But what will sustain the paper in the long run has to be advertising.

Starting a local paper like that, zero to 60, was a move that would have seemed ambitious in any era.

You may remember Metro Pulse in 1991. It was just a flimsy little letter-size paper packed with casual freelance submissions. Only slowly did it evolve into something more important.

Back then, we could build an advertising base slowly, because some of us had day jobs and were willing to write for little or nothing. To build up its advertising base to make it a full, thick, big-paged paper that had a full-time staff and came out every week—and won awards for superior journalism every year—took three and a half years.

With the Knoxville Mercury, we needed to skip that awkward adolescence. We had no choice. We were unemployed, and this is what we do.

The Internet’s wonderful, and maybe in the new year somebody on the Internet will come up with a way to pay for local journalism. For now, the viable business model for in-depth local journalism, here in Knoxville and almost everywhere in 2016 America, is still print advertising. Our advertisers tell us it still works.

And we know for sure that it works for supporting journalism. Knoxville has had advertising-based local journalism without a pause since 1791.

So Happy New Year, and take note of those advertisers you see in this issue, and others in months to come. Support them, and thank them, because they’re keeping local journalism alive. ◆

What will people of 2116 know about Knoxville in 2016?

A little less, I suspect, than they’ll know about Knoxville in 1916.

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January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7

other refuges in Georgia and Florida, but many thousands will stay in and around Meigs and Bradley counties until spring when they migrate back to their summer breeding grounds. The biggest crowds of cranes occur in January while both transients and winter residents are present.

To celebrate the occasion, TWRA is sponsoring the 26th Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival, Jan. 16-17.

Each of those days, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., free shuttle buses will transport crane fans from the Birchwood Community Center and the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park to the refuge’s viewing area. The usual festival components of food concessions, merchandise vendors, live music, children’s activities, and other special programs will be ongoing.

For a view from the water, you can reserve a seat on the River Gorge Explorer for a two-hour cruise around the wildlife refuge beginning at either 10 a.m. or 2 p.m., Jan. 8-10 and Jan. 15-18. Cruises depart from the Sale Creek Marina, and passengers can choose between open and climate controlled areas of the boat. Naturalists will be on board to talk about the history and ecology of the area, and they will point out eagles, whooping cranes, white pelicans, and other locally-rare birds that might be sharing the space with the sandhills.

Tickets are $35 for Tennessee Aquarium members and $45 for non-members. All cruises sold out last winter.

Flooding from heavy Christmas rains caused the aquarium to cancel

SMALL PLANET

Craning for a View Now’s your chance to witness sandhill cranes converging on the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge

O

ne of the most spectacular wildlife migrations in the Southeast is occurring just south of Knoxville, and you can get a good two-hour view of it from the water for about the price of a restaurant meal.

As thousands of sandhill cranes converge on the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, scientists from the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga are preparing to lead crane cruises aboard the River Gorge Explorer.

These birds are striking in appearance, being up to 4 feet tall and soft gray in color with deep red foreheads, white cheeks, and long pointed beaks.

As a species they’ve been around for at least a few million years, older than most birds alive today. Some say they are the oldest surviving bird species.

There are three subspecies that live year-round on the Gulf Coast, Florida, and Cuba, respectively. By far, though, most sandhill cranes migrate from Canada and the northern states of Wisconsin and Michigan to southern states and Mexico to spend the winter eating a varied diet of plants and small animals.

They are social birds that tend to live in pairs or family groups all year, and during migration and winter months these groups band together, foraging and roosting by the thousands in open wetlands and fields. For

8

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

our local flocks, the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge is a welcomed winter home, including 2,500 acres with interspersed food plots planted just for them with corn, milo, and millet.

It’s easy to think that sandhill cranes are rare like their cousins the whooping cranes, but they’re not.

Although there were only about 50 sandhill cranes left by the 1920s due to habitat loss and over-hunting, the population has rebounded remarkably to hundreds of thousands of birds.

The reason so many people have never seen or heard a sandhill crane has more to do with the habitat requirements for this species that gathers in such huge numbers for months at a time. As a nation we have drained, filled, farmed, and developed most of our wetland acres. Finding a large enough open wetland to accommodate several thousand big, ground-feeding birds at one time is a tall order in the lower states. Fortunately, we have just that in the form of the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge managed by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Starting in the early 1990s, cranes discovered the wildlife refuge where the Hiwassee River joins the Tennessee River, and they’ve been coming back every year since in ever larger numbers. Many will continue on to

Photo by Donna Bourdon

BY PATRICE COLE

the first crane cruises scheduled for Jan. 1-3. But on the first Sunday afternoon of 2016, several birders with binoculars and spotting scopes are getting a good look at cranes from the refuge’s viewing area at the end of Priddy Lane in Meigs County.

Hundreds of cranes stand in a field as if planted there. More line the shore, watching the shallow water for potential food. Others fly overhead, chortling their unique rolling, trumpeting call that can be heard a mile away. Birders like to share what they see and know, and one gentleman has trained his scope on a couple of bald eagles sitting side by side in a tall far-away tree and invites us to take a look. Another man has four different duck species in his lens, and he names them for us as we peek through his scope. As the sun begins to set, vast numbers of Sandhill cranes fly in to roost for the night.

The Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge is one of just a few places in North America considered critically important to sandhill cranes, and it highlights the importance of maintaining large tracts of wetlands and other wild places. Giving our political and financial support to acquiring more public lands for wildlife management is one of the best gifts we can give future generations so they have a chance to witness spectacles like the sandhill crane migration. ◆ Patrice Cole taught biology, ecology, environmental planning, and sustainability at the University of Tennessee and Pellissippi State Community College.

Small Planet examines local issues pertaining to

GUEST ED.

One Person’s Lie Why are our legislators still investigating Planned Parenthood over discredited videos?

BY CATHERINE LANDIS

I

magine I infiltrate the SEC Football organization as a jersey vendor.

Then, after a couple of years secretly recording conversations with players, coaches, and athletic directors, I strategically edit the footage and release videos revealing that the SEC regularly supplies alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes to athletes for parties.

Once everybody quits having a fit, and my videos are shown to be maliciously edited to prove something that is not true, I suspect they would lose their power. But if, despite the blatant falsehood of the videos, Congress or a state legislature were to form a committee to investigate the SEC, would you continue to hear from the news media that the investigation was launched in response to videos purporting to show SEC officials buying prostitutes for quarterbacks?

No, you would not. Purporting is not nearly a strong enough word to characterize a shameless lie. Instead, you would hear that the investigations were cynically launched in response to soundly discredited videos produced as propaganda tools to destroy SEC football.

But Planned Parenthood is not SEC football.

The allegation that Planned Parenthood was planning to sell fetal tissue for a profit is a lie. It doesn’t

matter. The Center for Medical Progress that released videos claiming that lie is linked to anti-abortion extremists who have advocated violence and whose leader dishonestly posed as a biomedical research company representative. It doesn’t matter. Analysis of the videos reveals they were extensively edited to portray Planned Parenthood representatives as inferring things they never said. It doesn’t matter. So far, at least five states and three Congressional committees have investigated Planned Parenthood and found no illegal activity. It doesn’t matter. A handful of Planned Parenthood clinics did offer patients the opportunity to donate tissue for medical research on such things as cancer and Parkinson’s disease, but they accepted only nominal processing fees. It doesn’t matter.

Tennessee clinics have never offered patients this option. It doesn’t matter.

This lie is too valuable to give up.

As a member of the board of directors of Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee, I have seen the damage, the danger, and the hypocrisy caused by it.

The House of Representatives has set up a select panel headed by Tennessee’s own Rep. Marsha Blackburn to investigate Planned Parenthood in response to “recent

videos exposing the abortion-for-baby parts business.” Also in response to the videos, Gov. Bill Haslam plans to introduce legislation to “strengthen accountability and transparency for surgery centers performing abortions.”

No doubt our current crop of legislators will vote for it. These are the same legislators who voted an informed consent requirement forcing clinic abortion providers to tell patients that, after 24 weeks, physicians must take steps to preserve the child even though state law already requires abortions after 16 weeks be performed in hospitals rather than clinics. Why not make them also include the price of milk? It’s just as relevant. These are the same folks who claim to abhor government overreach.

Why then are they going to waste valuable time, energy, and taxpayer money to fix a problem that does not exist?

Because they want to criminalize abortion. If they can’t do that, they want to make it as inaccessible as possible. Shut down the clinics.

Harass abortion providers. Drive desperate women into back-alleys. But of far more value to Ms. Blackburn, Mr. Haslam, and our esteemed state legislators is the fact that any action against abortion is like candy. They cannot help themselves from gorging on free votes based on hysteria drummed up by the anti-abortion movement.

Nationwide, one in three women will have an abortion before she is 45.

In your church pews, in your office, on your PTSO board, in your neighborhood, in your family, among the “pro-life” protesters, there are women who, for countless personal reasons have terminated a pregnancy, but you will never know it because of the stigma fueled by cynical politicians.

Erroneously investigating Planned Parenthood for “selling baby parts” is not the same as killing three people in a Colorado clinic but it legitimizes the propaganda and that puts the actual lives and actual safety of actual human beings at risk.

It is time to stop using a lie to justify actions that compromise the health of women and families. ◆

or

When you want to reach the local market, advertise in Knoxville’s best local and independent newspaper.

For more information, call 865-313-2048 or email sales@knoxmercury.com

Catherine Landis lives in Knoxville and is the author of two novels, Some Days There’s Pie (St. Martin’s Press) and Harvest (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press).

Currently she serves on the board of Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee.

January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9

This 12-foot by 7-foot rectangle in the 500 block of Gay Street is one of three spaces around downtown Knoxville slated for a mural through a city-backed grant program. The city is currently seeking artists’ proposals.

Photo by Clay Duda

New Year, New Opportunities City seeks proposals for neighborhood, public art grants

BY CLAY DUDA

W

hatever ill-fated New Year’s resolution you may be grappling with as you attempt to work off that hangover of holiday cheer, fear not. The city of Knoxville has some opportunities (or at least some money) for folks looking to make a difference and do some good in their neighborhoods and communities in 2016.

Two programs looking to fund interesting ideas for boosting neighborhoods and the city’s urban streetscape have upcoming deadlines.

One is seeking proposals from neighborhood groups for projects to beautify or spruce-up their respective ‘hoods, and there’s also a call for applications from artists to complete any or all of three public murals planned to be inked before year’s end.

There’s different criteria and expectations for each, of course, but pretty much any Knoxvillian neighborhood groups, residents looking to start a

10

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

neighborhood organization, or those with artsy credentials can apply.

NEIGHBORHOODS

A little more than a year ago, the stone outbuilding behind Christenberry Elementary School in North Knoxville was primarily being used as an oversized storage shed. But with a bit of elbow grease and a few thousand dollars from the city’s coffers, the once underutilized structure has been transformed from a dusty relic to a bustling clubhouse and gathering place for the Oakwood-Lincoln Park neighborhood.

“We found some stuff in the closets that had to be 30 years old or more—stuff so old that it’s cool again, it’s vintage,” Molly Conoway says with a laugh. It was about this time last year that Conoway, a member of the Oakwood-Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association, started work on the

group’s application for the city’s Neighborhood Small Grants Program, a newly relaunched annual fund divvying out between $500 and $3,000 to neighborhood groups with bright ideas. Oakwood-Lincoln Park landed $2,500 to get its club house up and running, covering the costs for some major cleanup work, minor building fixes, and furniture for the old schoolhouse annex.

“We absolutely wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without that grant money,” she says. “The money was really important, but it’s also a way for us to see that the city really wants our neighborhood to flourish.”

Originally launched by the East Tennessee Foundation more than a decade ago, the Neighborhoods Small Grants Program started getting city funding in 2009, but both agencies decided to put the program on hiatus in 2011 to focus on other priorities. It was relaunched last year, divvying up a total of $22,900 to 12 neighborhood groups across the city, according to David Massey, neighborhood coordinator for the city of Knoxville.

This year it’s back with as much as $43,000 it hopes to fork out to community organizations, but there’s a catch. Each project must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis by the community with donations of goods and services, labor, or money pledged from other sources. At least one-third of that match must be volunteer labor, a requirement meant to build camaraderie and community amongst neighbors, Massey says.

“It’s that participation among neighbors, working together to improve the community, that we’re really looking for,” he says. “It’s through that communication, that camaraderie, and working together that they build the capacity to do bigger and better things.”

Last year a number of grants went to put up neighborhood signs, although some were more unique.

Examples include the Oakwood-Lincoln Park club house, and $2,500 to help the Fourth & Gill neighborhood host Artoberfest (which cost $10 per ticket) and construct a tool shed behind the Birdhouse Community

Center. The Burlington Residents Association received $2,100 to conduct a survey on neighborhood needs, host workshops, and put on a “Burlington Community Day” event.

In 2016 the city is hoping to see proposals geared more toward creating a sense of place, adding character, or addressing some underlying issue within communities looking to apply, Massey says.

“For example, if there’s a lot of idle youth in the neighborhood, how might the community engage with them?

Another idea is the whole issue of placemaking. What can a neighborhood do to promote a sense of place? What can a neighborhood do to make an alley more appealing or safer?” he says.

Massey continues: “It’s clear from a number of ways you can look at it that strong residential neighborhoods make it easier to recruit corporations to your community, it means a more robust economy, a strong and more stable tax base, and generally a higher quality of life. We believe one of the vehicles for achieving that is resident-led, resident controlled organizations.”

The final application deadline is not until March 14, but there are two upcoming deadlines in January that interested neighborhood groups must meet. To be eligible, a member of your neighborhood group must contact the city’s Office of Neighborhoods at 215-3232 no later than Jan. 13.

Someone must also attend one of two mandatory workshops scheduled for later this month, Thursday, Jan. 14 and Wednesday, Jan. 20, both at 5:30 p.m. in the Cansler Family YMCA (616 Jessamine St.).

NOTE: Only neighborhood organizations or residents seeking money to form a neighborhood organization are eligible to apply.

Contact David Massey at 215-3232 with any questions or for additional information. Visit knoxmercury.com for links to applications and guidelines online, or search the city’s website at knoxvilletn.gov/neighborhoods.

STREET ART

Another city-funded project is looking to add a splash of color (although it could very well be black and white) to some barren walls of the inner city. For the first year, the city is backing the completion of three murals on different “canvases” around downtown, issuing a Request For Proposals (or RFP) in December. There have been other

public art projects in the past, of course (the large neighborhood murals under Interstate 40 just north of Parkview, along with the postcard-esque feature on the side of Visit Knoxville’s building off Gay Street), but those were funded independently or through different means.

“This is the fi rst time to my knowledge the city has put out an RFP for public art,” says Liza Zenni, executive director of the Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance and member of the city’s Public Art Commission. The PAC must approve any public art done on city property.

This year the plan is to have three installations completed. By far the largest is slated for a series of 11 concrete retaining walls lining Volunteer Landing Lane near the Outdoor Knoxville Adventure Center in south downtown. The two other locations are on Gay Street; one is a rectangle above an archway next to Nama Sushi Bar in the 500 block, the other a brick wall of the Lerner Lofts at the corner of Gay and Wall Avenue one block north.

The city has a whopping $460,000 tucked away for public art projects, though not all of that may go into these three murals. That money was saved up over the past two budget years, according to city assistant purchasing agent Janice McClelland.

“We don’t know if there’s going to be any more money [for public art] in next year’s budget or not,” she says.

“That budget is still being worked on.”

Knoxville’s Office of Purchasing has put together a 33-page RFP detailing the requirements for artists to apply. Zenni says she hopes artists won’t be intimidated by the thickbound guidelines, which is mostly fi ne-print but does lay out in detail what’s expected and how applications will be judged.

“The contracted project will include design, materials, and installation of three designs,” the fi rst page reads, later noting that all applications most include an itemized list of materials and prices. There also needs to be a one-page letter of interest, a resume detailing your artistic awesomeness, mock-ups or renderings of the art you’re hoping to bestow on the city, and 10 high-resolution copies of previous work along with brief descriptions. There are a ton of other specific requirements, so be sure to read the full RFP, which is

Small Neighborhood Grants Program Awards of $500-$3,000 for neighborhood groups seeking funding for community projects.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES: JAN. 13: A member of your neighborhood organization must contact the city’s Office of Neighborhoods at 215-3232 prior to Jan. 13.

JAN. 14 OR JAN. 20: A member of your neighborhood organization must attend one of two scheduled workshops, both scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Cansler Family YMCA, 616 Jessamine Street, on Jan. 14 and Jan. 20.

MARCH 14: Final deadline for proposals.

Funds to be awarded in June.

Request For Proposals —Mural Program Awards variable amounts for completion of one or all of three murals on designated spaces in downtown.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES: FEB. 8: Any questions must be submitted in writing to the city’s Office of Purchasing by this date.

FEB. 15: Final proposals due (must turn in 17 hard copies and a CD or thumb drive with digital files!) to the city’s Office of Purchasing.

linked online at knoxmercury.com and is available on the city’s Office of Purchasing website at knoxvilletn.gov/purchasing.

The deadline for completed proposals 11 a.m. on Feb. 15. If you have questions, they need to be directed to the Office of Purchasing in writing no later than Feb. 8. Mail or deliver them to Office of Purchasing Agent (City County Building, Room 667-674). Zenni notes that she cannot answer any questions directly due to legalities with the RFP process.

“We really wanted to give artists two months to respond, then we will not take long at all to determine which of the proposals we’ll go with,” she says. “Just be patient and don’t be intimidated by the whole packet. You’ll fi nd what you need throughout the document, but most is probably contained in about two pages of information.”

Zenni says all of the murals should be complete well before the end of 2016, with hopes at least one will be done in time for Statehood Day on June 1. ◆ January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11

Turning Points PERSONAL STORIES OF HOW LIVES CAN CHANGE IN UNEXPECTED WAYS

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

E

very new year is greeted with vows of personal change—but change is something that is often unpredictable. You might start with one goal in mind and find yourself reaching an entirely different one, whether it’s your health, your family, your avocation, or your fate. We asked some of our favorite writers to share the moments when they felt their lives took a new direction.

CHAPTER 1

Finding a Voice STEPHANIE PIPER In the spring of my 21st year, I carried a brand new Samsonite suitcase through the doors of a country hospital in rural Virginia. One week later, I walked out the same doors carrying a blue-wrapped bundle. In the seven days between my entrance and exit, two births had occurred: a healthy, perfectly formed baby boy, and the tentative rough draft of a grown woman.

I walked in with a head full of notions about motherhood, focused mostly on lullabies and hand-embroidered buntings. As a teenage babysitter, I had learned to swaddle and rock infants and place them carefully in bassinets for long, peaceful naps. But these children belonged to adult mothers, efficient paragons in twinsets and pearls who swooped in after a few hours to pay me and wave me on my way.

Back in our student apartment, I settled the baby in the borrowed crib.

My husband and I stood and looked at him for a long time. Glancing up, I caught my own eye in the mirror. I

had dressed up for the trip home from the hospital, wearing a roomy flowered outfit and my 18th birthday pearls. But there all similarity between me and the real-life mothers seemed to end. The curtain was rising, and I didn’t know the lines. I would not be leaving with a 10-dollar bill in my purse, headed out to meet friends for lunch in the city. The swaddled bundle was here to stay, and so, it appeared, was I. In a burst of nesting fever, I had made some baby clothes, stitching them by hand and trimming them with ribbon. Now they looked better suited to a doll. The sleeves were too narrow, the fabric too flimsy. My stitches came apart with the first washing. Holding up the sorry-looking kimonos, I felt like a fake. Who do you think you are, asked the voice in my head. Donna Reed?

It was a question I asked myself often in the months that followed, one that persisted even after I mastered the basics and stopped panicking at every hiccup. What makes you think

you know how to do this?

There were guide books, of course. In those pre-Internet days, my battered copy of Dr. Spock assured me that I knew more than I thought I did. But the mothers on the playground bench formed a chorus of conflicting opinions. Let the baby cry.

Pick the baby up. Sterilize everything.

Sterilize nothing.

Every day presented a daunting new test. Fevers. Ear infections.

Teeth. I floundered, took copious notes in the pediatrician’s office, threw myself on the mercy of the pharmacist at the all-night drug store.

A student and a writer, I believed that the answers lay in research and constant revision. If I could only organize the information, polish the draft, I would surely pass.

This promising approach proved to be a bust. A screaming infant, I learned, has no interest in research.

There came a night when the baby moaned and writhed in his crib.

Nothing could comfort him. We had been to the doctor that very week, and all appeared to be well. I stood by the phone and hesitated, cringing at the prospect of a false alarm, another rookie call. And then I dialed.

It was pneumonia. With prompt treatment, my son recovered and thrived. Fortysomething years later, that night breaks through to me in moments of startling clarity: the race to the emergency room, a nurse’s brisk appraisal. Mothers know, she said.

I did not become Donna Reed that night, or even Dr. Spock’s prize pupil. But I was no longer a teenage babysitter, or a shaky novice blown this way and that by the prevailing sentiment from the playground bench.

Motherhood, I had discovered, is like writing. It is isolating, and demanding, and occasionally euphoric. It requires many drafts and frequent failures. And to succeed, you must find your own voice.

Motherhood, I had discovered, is like writing.

It is isolating, and demanding, and occasionally euphoric.

January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13

CHAPTER 2

Trying a New Tack JACK NEELY I never intended to be the Knoxville history guy. I majored in history in college, but avoided anything that seemed local or regional. My concentration was foreign policy. I was a man of the world. I had ridden trains through Mexico. I was planning a backpacking adventure in Europe. I read Time magazine.

This isn’t the whole story. It was the first hard shove in an unexpected series of nudges in this direction.

It was one of the first nights of the 1980s. I was a rare non-journalism major at the University Tennessee’s Daily Beacon. I had answered an ad for part-time assistant copy editor.

Occasionally I wrote an album review.

I had dreams of becoming a rock critic, or a foreign correspondent, or an investigative reporter, or a novelist.

All those things at once, preferably, maybe more. But being as I was a non-journalism major, thanks to my phobia of electronic typewriters—facility with the IBM Selectric II was a prerequisite at UT’s J school, and lots of newspapers required a J-school degree—any actual career in journalism was looking like a long shot.

Working at the copy desk with the hilarious young copy editor, whose name was Betsy Pickle, and three or four other assistants, was fun for a while. But it seemed a very slow way to get my tennis shoe in the door. In those days when newspapermen were considered heroes, a lot of people liked the idea of working at the Daily Beacon, the eighth-biggest daily 14

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

newspaper in Tennessee. But its staff was tiny. For the real name-in-themasthead, put-it-on-your-resume jobs, there was a selection process, and it favored journalism majors. Probably not this year, I was told.

Then we returned from Christmas break to discover the wire editor, a quiet, remote fellow no one knew very well, had disappeared altogether. He just didn’t come back to school. We heard that he joined the Army. Then we heard that he had died. What we knew for sure was that his chair in the corner was empty. The wire machine in the closet was still churning out copy, chokchokchokchokchok. Somebody had to change the paper and the ribbons and read all those yards and yards and yards of yellow copy.

There was no time for the usual search, no time even to announce an opening. I told the editor I thought I could do the job, even though I was just a liberal-arts major, and had worked at the Beacon for only a few weeks, and had never even spoken to last guy who’d done the job, the missing wire editor. The main job was reading the day’s wire copy and deciding what was important and relevant enough to interest the readership, which was basically a college campus of 30,000. In preparation for my career as a foreign correspondent, I read Time and Harper’s and the Atlantic. I knew what was going on. Iran, Afghanistan, all that business.

However, the position came with

one oddity I wasn’t warned about. In the equitable division of labors, it had become the wire editor’s job to write filler copy for the editorial page. It was a short-short bit, not even a column, of variable length, often just about 6 inches.

It was called Old News. Somebody had decided that the easiest way to fill extra space was with some easy nostalgia for the alumni: UT stories from exactly five years ago, 10 years ago, 25 years ago. Anything older would be confusing, I guess. I’d never paid much attention to it. Old News was mainly there in preference to white space. It was a little expansion joint to compensate for young editorial columnists who hadn’t yet learned to write to fit.

I didn’t like the sound of it. What could a kid say about things that happened before his time? The Daily Beacon was read by people three times my age, maybe even four times.

Professors, even. Journalist legend John Hohenberg was more than half a century older than me, had known Hemingway and interviewed President Harding. And he read the Daily Beacon.

What could I tell him about history?

I was much more confident about the new news. In the Daily Beacon office I could read it before anybody else did, even before it got on CBS News.

Breaking news coming constantly off the teletype machine seemed much easier. And it was obviously, or so I thought, more important.

But I was given a key and told it fit a supply closet wherein were stored lots of bound copies of years of Daily Beacons, and, before it, years of the old weekly, the Orange and White.

“Just write up one of the front-page stories from each day,” they said.

My first day pretending to be a wire editor was a Sunday. As is always the case on the first day of a job, everything took longer than expected.

All the other staffers were used to their old jobs. I struggled with my new one.

Reading yellow wire copy, writing headlines, cutting bits of it with scissors, pasting it onto paper for the typist, who input it all into the typesetting machine—this being before student staffers were trusted with expensive word processors. All my fellow campus journalists drifted away, to dates or parties or TV or bed, leaving me alone in that big windowless basement room, with a nightfull of work and that odd little key on my desk.

There was lots of news: the Soviets in Afghanistan, Carter’s grain embargo, Indira Gandhi back in charge of India, and of course the hostages in Tehran, not to mention the U.S. election and whether we could take this sentimental old actor Ronald Reagan seriously. At the time, George Bush, the former CIA director, seemed the more credible Republican candidate, though John Anderson and local favorite Howard Baker seemed smarter than Reagan and Bush both.

It was assumed Ted Kennedy could topple President Carter in the primaries, but I had friends who were rooting for Jerry Brown. The new news kept me busy.

But by 10 p.m., everybody else had gone home, and I still had damnable Old News to go. When I finally finished the wire copy, I picked up that key and, following directions, ventured through the building’s subterranean corridors. I don’t know whether anyone notices it any more, but the Communications Building,

I had dreams of becoming a rock critic, or a foreign correspondent, or an investigative reporter, or a novelist.

All those things at once, preferably, maybe more.

modern in so many ways, had a distinctive smell in its early years, something like radial tires sautéed in olive oil.

I found the supply closet. The key did not fit the knob. I checked the number on the door, and tried it again, upside down. It still did not fit. I tried a couple more doors, with no luck. I just couldn’t get in. I learned later that an administrator was displeased with my mysterious predecessor’s untidiness with the old newspaper volumes, and, without telling anybody, changed the locks. But that night, I thought I’d done something wrong, that I’d misheard the directions, or the door number, or that I’d picked up the wrong key.

I experienced that lonesome panic known only to the incompetent.

There must have been a security guard somewhere on the premises, but that chilly night I felt like the only human on the whole dark campus. I could not write Old News, at least, not as it was prescribed to me.

So I walked to my apartment. It was a cozy nook of an old house on Laurel Avenue, up on top of Fort Sanders’ ridge, at the end of a long boardwalk from the street, and it was full of books. All sorts of books.

Habitually I picked up books everywhere I went, hundreds of secondhand paperbacks from sidewalk sales, and that odd little book shop up at the top of the hotel fire escape off Cumberland. I had big 19th century Russian novels and little modern French novels. I had my freshman Western Civ tome, and my big sophomore American history tome, and a World Almanac, and other books about historical figures and events, the Civil War, the Depression, jazz. I figured I could cobble together something.

By the light of a 40-watt floor lamp, I sat on the linoleum floor and pored over them, looking for anything that happened in early January, so I could announce it, with honesty, “X Years Ago Today.” I didn’t have the luxury of making it local-only, or just a neat 5, 10, 25 year progression. But I’d have something. And I knew it had to be damn interesting to justify the unannounced break in format.

I was hoping it would be good enough that readers would forgive me for skipping their customary morning nostalgia. But that first day, and several afterward, I found incidents of gratuitous violence and inspired

weirdness, sometimes hundreds of years ago instead of five, 10, or 25.

And it was a hit. For two academic quarters, nobody ever commented on my carefully edited, up-to-date wire stories. But everybody loved Old News.

There was little art in my writing.

Most Old Newses were just little blocks of 150 or 200 words with declarative sentences. No style, no analysis, no byline. Sometimes the stories of assassinations of czars, of Britain’s quagmire in Afghanistan, of dark-horse presidential candidacies, suggested something of the background for a lot of the anxieties of 1980.

But mostly I was just digging up random bones. And at parties and bars, people talked about it. They applauded it, questioned it, laughed at it, quoted it. It was an unsigned column, and nobody had a clue I was associated with the thing. Gorgeous girls who wouldn’t talk to me personally talked about it. It felt great.

I learned a few things that winter.

One was that people, even young people, really, really like history if you don’t try to make it solemn and

ponderous. They crave it. Maybe they even need it. I also learned that history was relevant, more than I expected or intended it to be.

That was a revelation to me. And so were some of the things I found when I did look into local stories, things I’d had no clue about. I’d grown up in Knoxville, but had never thought much about the dull old place that my friends fled every weekend for the mountains or lakes. It turned out to be a good deal more surprising and sometimes exotic than I’d imagined when I was daydreaming of escaping to Beirut.

It did not change my life overnight. I wrote Old News only during my five-month tenure as wire editor.

In the 12 years after that, I wrote hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines, but few historical pieces. Most of my employers were doggedly modern.

In fact, until just recently, I’ve always been a general-assignment reporter, albeit one with known historical tendencies.

But Fate keeps prodding me in that direction. She must have a point.

CHAPTER 3

Rediscovering Goodness in the Aftermath of Violence BRIAN GRIFFIN You reach a certain age and everything seems to even out. Somebody might say, “Hey, Brian, describe a turning point in your life,” and you might not be stumped exactly, but you might be puzzled. Puzzled as in curious. Surprised. In a flash your life

shatters into jigsawed fragments that bear little relation to the whole, and just as suddenly it all reassembles. So you blink and grin and say, “Hey, everything has evened out. Everything is okay now.” All that pain and sorrow and butting of heads has become a

comfortable mouthful of pudding. Life is vanilla with a bit of lemon.

But that’s a lie, of course. Because at night you wake and there it is again.

The bad movie that doesn’t end.

For example, there’s the scene from 1968 when the Baptists ordained your older brother as a Minister of the Gospel at age 18, and he goes off to the university with a Bible in one hand and an ROTC rifle in the other. He’s bright and ambitious and full of the Holy Spirit and he’s one of us, and bigod he’s gonna march onto that college campus with The Cross before him and Satan behind him and dadgummit he’s gonna save hisself some souls for Jesus. And he did, too. Right away he comes home for the weekend with a black guy whose soul he saved. Then on Sunday morning the two of them march into the Baptist Church like it’s the most natural thing in the world, so half the church gets up and walks out, muttering something about n-words taking over, and there you are, age 11, watching men and women you love and admire reduced to quivering fleshy gelatins of petty racist anger before your wide and innocent eyes. One of them even keels over dead later that day. And the ones that don’t keel over dead? Well, they start their own church in an abandoned garage just down the road, and they act like lily-white asses for the rest of their lives.

One lady even calls your Momma and says, “Where do you Griffins come off bringin n-words to church?” and Momma says, “That warn’t no n-word, he’s from Nigeria,” and the lady says, “It’s the same dang thang, you moron. If I was 10 years younger I’d come out there and whoop your sorry butt,” and Momma says, “Well, take your Geritol and come on, darlin, I’m ready for you.”

And then there’s the time decades later when you’ve finally gotten over the heart-broken pseudo-atheism that for years you had embraced in the absence of the faith that shattered before your wide little eyes in 1968, trampled beneath the feet of Christians fleeing the n-word and the Saviour hisself, and finally, after a long sojourn in the wilderness (with beer and weed and Dylan and the Rolling Stones) you’ve become a kinda hippie-ish Unitarian Universalist educator at a really cool church, and you actually get paid to teach kids how to avoid growing up to be hypocritical racist jerks, and life has January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15

all evened out. It’s all a big pudding.

Vanilla with a hint of lemon.

Then one Sunday the kids are producing a play for a youth-led worship service when an angry right-wing ditto-head pulls a shotgun from a guitar case and opens fire randomly into the sanctuary, killing any “librul” he could kill, a guy pissed off about n-words and other alien things, a guy who thinks of himself as a latter-day Confederate soldier on a mission from Fox News and talk radio. Blood spatters sanctuary walls.

You see a friend die in Sunday light.

You see blood-stained children with eyes wide and innocent, wider and more innocent than your own must have been that Sunday in 1968 as you stood on the church steps watching your Sunday school teacher storm across the parking lot in a fit of Ku-Klux anger.

So you have these two pieces of the puzzle, pieces that don’t fit well into any life. But dangit there they are. Neon and flashing. And you are tempted to say, Gosh darn it, folks. Life sucks. I

mean, really. It just plain sucks.

But you don’t. Well, you do, but then you take it back and apologize.

You take it back and apologize because there were people who didn’t lash out in fear and hatred and violence. You take it back because there were people who didn’t keel over dead. There were people who stayed, people who didn’t give up, people who kept faith, people who took that Nigerian guy into their lives and lifted him up, just a little, toward something better. They made Jesus proud. There were people who kept hope alive, people who didn’t get cowed and give in. There were people who cleaned up the Sanctuary, people who picked up the broken souls and tried to be true.

People who didn’t give up, who didn’t accept the anger, who managed to fit something back together again, as best as could be hoped for. There were people who were just good, that’s all.

Decent people. Doing decent things. That’s what it all boils down to, really. Damn, I would trade all my pudding to be like those people.

CHAPTER 4

Understanding That You Don’t Always Know Best S. HEATHER DUNCAN I’ve always hated those Americans who travel to another country and spend the entire time comparing it to home, usually unfavorably. That’s why, any time an American asked me for directions while I was living in Prague, I pretended I didn’t speak English. I knew enough Czech to say I didn’t 16

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

understand. Then I’d rush on, plowing through the hordes of teenagers wearing identical velveteen jester hats, which for some reason were wildly popular souvenirs around the Charles Bridge. What a trick: Getting obnoxious foreigners to give you money in order to self-identify as fools.

I didn’t want to be associated with that. I was studying in Prague because although my dream was to be a foreign correspondent in Eastern Europe, I wanted to make sure I was cut out for it. I was pretty sure the answer would be a resounding yes.

But it was harder than I expected.

At the time, almost no one in Prague spoke English. These were the days before cell phones (or, in the Czech Republic, even email), and I talked to my parents just once every few weeks and to my boyfriend a couple of times the entire semester. The simplest conversation in Czech was hard work, and I felt isolated.

I’m very organized. The ungenerous, including myself, might call me a Type A personality—which just doesn’t fly in Eastern Europe. It’s a “go-with-the-flow” culture. If someone doesn’t show up for an interview, you can’t get upset. Deadline or not, you just call and see when they’d like to try again. Everything in Prague, even physical objects, seems flexible. You can wake up one morning and take the same route to work as you have a hundred times before—and look up to find yourself in an alley you’ve never seen before, lined with shops full of dusty marionettes and blown-glass goblets straight from the same Middle Ages that spat out the twisted streets and red-tile roofs.

To further complicate daily life, I lived with a Czech family named Vackovi in a little village outside the city. They spoke no English, although the father and I both spoke a little Russian. That proved only confusing, precisely because Russian is too similar to Czech. Example: my Czech family waited several months to tell me the Russian word I was using for “girl” means something much more insulting in Czech. (They thought it was “cute.”)

Their house was so far away I had to take an inter-city train to get to classes or work, so I spent more time with them than I did at Prague’s famous jazz clubs and kavarnas. They lived on a dirt road. There was a chicken coop under my window. (One of the first sentences I learned to say in Czech was, “Chickens are stupid.”)

I am an only child who grew up in a quiet house. The Vackovi family were boisterous, friendly yellers; Mama Elena would stand across the tiny kitchen and throw raw bacon at the hot skillet while my 12-year-old

host brother (Mali Tonda, or “Little Tony”) ran around brandishing his hand-woven Easter whip. (One of the first phrases I learned in Czech was “crazy boy.”) My host father, Velky Tonda (that’s right, “Big Tony”), was a dead ringer for Santa Claus. He taught me to polka while ho-ho-hoing, his bowl full of jelly bouncing between us.

Bewildering as they were to me, I loved them. But I got sick of their cooking. There was salami in everything! Vegetable soup had little hunks of salami swimming in it; breakfast was hot dog buns toasted with cheese and salami; lunch was macaroni and cheese… with salami.

I decided that I’d cook a meal for my Czech family: pasta dish full of vegetables, with real marinara sauce.

(That was the other thing—they ate pasta with ketchup. Straight out of the bottle.) I thought this meal would be a treat for them.

I’ll give them this: They ate it politely.

But the entire time, my host brother stared across the kitchen.

Finally, I followed his gaze and realized his longing was directed toward the giant ketchup bottle. I realized something else, too. In my own way, I had been thinking like those Ugly Americans. I had been assuming my way was better.

I had made other assumptions, too.

The Vackovi had often told me I was rich. I denied this accusation with some degree of outrage. But Velky Tonda had to supplement his high school teacher’s salary with a weekend job servicing those machines full of stuffed animals waiting to be snatched up by a mechanical claw. Shortly before I was to return home, we were sitting around a bonfire in the backyard, eating shish kebabs of peppers, onions, speck (fat), and (you guessed it) salami. Mama Elena warned Velky Tonda he’d better enjoy the food while it lasted. I was confused.

“The meat, the salami,” she explained. The supply would dry up when I left.

It all became clear: They were salami-wild not because it was a staple of their diet, but because it wasn’t. Without the small (to me) stipend they received for housing me, they couldn’t afford meat.

That night I presented a my host brother with the American thing he

most coveted, a Minnesota Vikings football jersey. And I admitted to myself that I was rich.

We all cried a lot before I went home. I cried because I would miss them so much—but also because it’s so hard to admit when you are wrong about what you believed would make you happy, whether a job, a city, or a

relationship. I knew that I wasn’t going to move to Prague after graduation to work freelance reporting jobs.

I wasn’t coming back, except maybe as one of those American tourists.

But at least I know how to polka a little and order a beer in Czech. I will eat goulash with abandon. And I will never wear one of those jester hats.

CHAPTER 5

Knowing When to Quit ROSE KENNEDY Eight simple words.

Upon hearing them, I recognized my true self with a certainty I have not experienced a second time in this life. And they set me on a course as a quiet labor maverick, a walk-the-walk life philosopher, maybe even a feminist of sorts.

“What mean did Micky do to you today?”

One minute I was your ordinary dissatisfied American working mom, the next, that life was no longer an option for me.

The words dropped matter-of-factly from the mouth of my 3-year-old daughter. Comfortably settling in for a chat as we reached home, her from a family day care, me from a hip publishing company, she turned to me expectantly.

“What mean did Micky do to you today?”

I could not answer. I could not believe it. She was 3! And just by listening as my voice rose and fell, recounting my thorny workplace situation to her father each workaday evening and well into the weekends, she knew.

Even my three-year-old, especially my 3-year-old, knew that I was in a situation that could not continue.

She grasped the names, and the unhappiness, and had begun to think it normal.

How, I wondered, had I reached the point where a young child knew I must move along without realizing it myself?

It just happened. As the company projects dwindled, I’d been assigned to work for a peer, when before I’d been in charge. I did most of the heavy lifting while this peer jaunted off to long lunches and whatnot and then swooped in on long-past-deadline projects to make expensive, contrarian changes, just so a presence could be felt. There were half truths, and closed doors, and shoddy work, and people working beside and under me who I could not protect, either.

As per company, and personal, standards, I’d brought my woes to the attention of higher ups, in ascending order, without jumping or end-running.

And yet—nothing. They could not or would not make changes that

would keep me from wasting most of my working hours and our group from issuing substandard work with stupid mistakes.

I heard only from a 3-year-old, one who had just me and her father to set the pace, the tone, for her life.

She’d never earned a paycheck or walked into a conference room, indeed, she’d been on earth just over 1,000 days, but she knew me, heard me, and told me this was not the way the world should be.

I knew all at once I did not want this for her. I’d been so caught up in this fast-paced career climb that I’d just accepted a deadening workplace experience, talked about it, then ignored it.

My child did not need the example of a mother who accepted a demeaning, energy-sucking, no-solutions role in exchange for a paycheck.

Who could not solve things at work, so instead brought them home to define a 3-year-old’s frame of reference. And then the second thunderbolt: I didn’t need that, either.

“What mean did Micky do to you today?”

She caught me completely with those words, in a way the Womens Studies literature of my university years and the Ms. magazines could not. They had told me I could be equal, break glass ceilings, do meaningful work in a liberated world.

But this was not about being a working woman, or demanding equal opportunity, or balancing child care and work duties.

It was about making myself miserable and not taking steps to correct my situation.

I little realized that my reaction to my daughter would make me sort of an oddball, if an inspirational one, the rest of my life.

Because I did it. I quit. Quit my job.

I don’t remember the exact words exchanged, only that the boss-of-a-boss who accepted my resignation was genuinely concerned that I didn’t quite understand what I was doing. With my English major and several very successful years at the company, the career was a good fit for me, and I was the wage earner as my husband finished a college degree, a proper little product of the women’s movement.

But none of that mattered as much as never hearing these words again: “What mean did Micky do to you today?”

I’d been so caught up in this fast-paced career climb that I’d just accepted a deadening workplace experience, talked about it, then ignored it.

January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17

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P rogram Notes

Dear Dolly A bunch of local artists are celebrating Dolly Parton’s 70th birthday this month with a party at the Bijou Theatre to support the East Tennessee country-music legend’s Imagination Library, which provides free books to children under the age of 5. The tribute show will feature more than a dozen artists performing Dolly songs, a reading by Circle Modern Dance founder Mark Lamb of his story, “A Boy and His Dolly,” and film clips of Parton’s performances in Knoxville during the 1950s and ’60s.

The show, set for Tuesday, Jan. 19 (that’s Parton’s actual birthday), will feature Nancy Brennan Strange accompanied by Robinella,

Future Shock S

ome members of the Odd Future hip-hop gang from Los Angeles will be gathering in Knoxville later this month for at least one show at the Longbranch Saloon on Cumberland Avenue. Don’t expect headliners like Tyler, the Creator or Frank Ocean at the Friday, Jan. 29 performance, though—the Odd Future Fiesta, as it’s listed on the club’s online concert calendar, will include founding member Left Brain and peripheral Odd Futurists Papa E-Pill and Larry Dog, according to the website Knoxville Music Warehouse.

Left Brain, aka Vyron Turner, was one of the original members of the provocative hip-hop collective in 2006, along with Tyler, Hodgy Beats, and a handful of other rappers and producers. He’s produced songs on nearly all the dozens of Odd Future albums, singles, EPs, and mixtapes released over the group’s existence, including “Off Top” from Earl Sweatshirt’s 2015 major-label debut, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, and “Transylvania” from Tyler, the Creator’s 2011 album Goblin.

The Longbranch is hosting a “Rap Battle Contest!” to name three

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Shelf Life: Uplifting Films

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

local openers for the show. Winners of each round on Jan. 11, Jan. 13, and Jan. 20 will be added to the Jan. 28 bill. For more info, visit the Longbranch Saloon’s Facebook page.

Tickets for the show are available at eventbrite.com. Admission is $15 ($20 at the door) and all ages, but anyone under 18 has to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Doors at 8 p.m., music starts at 9 p.m.

If the show sells out, promoters say a second show may be added on Jan. 30.

Nathan Barrett, Angel Collins, Michael Crawley, Mischa Goldman, Christina Horn, Kelle Jolly, Laith Keilany, Ben Maney, Jodie Manross, Sean McCollough, and Sarah Pirkle.

“I am so honored to pay tribute to the living legend Dolly Parton on her 70th birthday at the Bijou Theatre,” Lamb says in a Facebook post. “My story is not only a personal take on her positive influence on my life, but has a universal message told through Dolly’s lyrics about love, kindness, and acceptance.”

Tickets are $20 and are available at knoxbijou.com, the Tennessee Theatre box office, or by calling (865) 684-1200.

—Matthew Everett

featuring musicians

featuring musicians

roBin ella Bailey

kelle jolly

nathan Barrett

laith keilany

angel Collins

Ben Maney

MiChael Crawley

jodie Manross

MisCha goldMan

sean MCCollough

Christina horn

sarah Pirkle

I am so honored to pay tribute to the living legend Dolly Parton on her 70th birthday at the Bijou Theatre.

—MARK LAMB

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Music: Realm

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Movies: with special thanksCarol to Rick Fox and Ralph Cianelli

CAKE provided by Magpies

Shelf Life

A&E

Positive Tip A short list of uplifting films available at Knox County Public Library

BY CHRIS BARRETT

T

he theme for this column was intended to be films that might effectively cheer and brace one to meet a new year. The films that volunteered for the job seem to be especially well suited for 2016, which is beginning amid great unease and hostility and with tolerance and empathy in too short supply. Be the tree that rises above this frail and divided world.

LE HAVRE (2011)

This fantastic film features an intriguing cast of displaced persons and refugees. An African boy named Idrissa, the fugitive we come to know best, arrives in Le Havre as contraband, living in a freight container. He escapes capture and is helped toward his mother, living undocumented in London, by a flat-broke bootblack named Marcel. Marcel’s radiant dignity is such that his neighbors, equally poor, join forces to conceal the child while raising the enormous sum necessary to smuggle him across the channel.

Subplots involve a rockabilly fundraiser concert and a cure for cancer, after all.

Le Havre is not necessarily what you’d call a message movie. Unless, perhaps, the message is that the foundation of all heroism is impeccable manners.

SOUL KITCHEN (2009)

Director Fatih Akin knows what’s in a film title, and in a restaurant name.

Set in Hamburg, this food flick has one of the best soul-music soundtracks I’m aware of. Zinos is a German-Greek chef/restaurateur. He hopes to follow his girlfriend to Japan, so he sets to work establishing new management for Soul Kitchen. The palate of the new chef is weak on ploughman’s lunch fare but strong in after-hours aphrodisiacs. And Illias, brother of Zinos, to whom Zinos has transferred ownership of Soul

Kitchen, is a pathological gambler on work release from prison. As with so many perfect plates, the recipe is more complicated than the simple, satisfying result.

BOB AND THE MONSTER (2011)

Bob Forrest founded the L.A. band Thelonious Monster in the early 1980s.

The other monster to which the title alludes is Forrest’s addiction to heroin.

This doc features tons of crappy VHS small-club concert footage, with Forrest fronting the Monster and demonstrating how he led critics to coin the phrase “drunk rock.” Forrest failed to kill himself over a 20-year span of trying. In the words of Fishbone bassist Norwood Fisher, Forrest pulled a 180 in 1996. Since then, Forrest has made himself available in person, by phone, and via modern media to people going through what he went through. Forrest says that the only way to give value to his own suffering is to “give hints to what’s possible” to those who suffer similarly.

Near the film’s end, Forrest is a cook/ busboy/dishwasher in a Hollywood greasy spoon that is gridlocked because he’s on the pay phone. The

sympathetic owner asks him what he’s doing on the phone. He answers, “Saving lives, Iris, saving lives.”

TICKETS (2005)

Over a day’s train ride through Italy, three great directors—Italian Ermanno Olmi, Iranian Abbas Kiarostami, and self-ordained Scotsman Ken Loach— imagine the experiences of three disparate groups of travelers. Olmi’s silver-haired businessman writes a letter containing the words he wishes he had spoken to the beautiful young woman who arranged his travel.

Kiarostami sympathizes with a young man who wishes to exchange the obnoxious older woman who arranged his travel. Those two daydreams do nothing to prepare you for the bluntforce trauma at journey’s end, where Loach’s three teenage soccer-fan hooligans mature more in the time it takes to walk the length of the train than many sheltered Westerners ever will. Through the plight of an Albanian family, the world makes these boys aware of exactly what it needs from them. They surprise everyone—especially themselves—by spontaneously inventing ways to deliver. ◆

Did you get your copy ?

You can still pick up a print copy of our Top Knox Readers’ Poll at any Knox County Public Library branch, while supplies last!

And you can always find out who are Knoxville’s favorites at: knoxmercury.com/ topknox2015

January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19

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Music

Metal for the Masses The stoner-rock sci-fi nerds in Realm reach out for a wide audience

BY MATTHEW EVERETT

W

hen the members of Realm got together in late 2014, it didn’t seem like the start of anything special. Drummer Nick Leichtweis hadn’t played in a band for seven years; guitarist Jake Lonas’ jam band, the Jojax, was slowly dissolving; bassist and keyboard player Kurt Bell was fiddling around with digital production and solo electronic pop on his computer. But after a single practice, all three knew that they had landed exactly where they wanted to be.

“We knew what we wanted to do,” Lonas says. “It’s not like we really had to go find our sound. The first time we met up, we knew exactly how we

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

wanted it to sound, the tones we wanted, and what we wanted to write about. It clicked, and we figured we should keep on doing this.”

What they wanted to do was simple: heavy, head-nodding psychedelic rock that even people who don’t generally like heavy psychedelic rock would get into. And songs about Dune. (“There’s only two songs we’ve ever written that aren’t Dune-related,” Lonas says. “And they both have a Blade Runner theme.”)

Easy to define, but not necessarily easy to execute. Lonas and company wanted to make music heavy enough to give them credibility among

local metal fans but accessible enough for a more general audience. And nerdy enough to satisfy their own sci-fi obsessions without alienating people who haven’t read Frank Herbert or Philip K. Dick. They sometimes sound like missionaries for marginalized music. It can be a treacherous path to navigate.

“It’s off-putting sometimes,” Leichtweis says. “As soon as you put that badge on it, that it’s a metal band, people are like, oh, I don’t like metal.

People do the same thing with country. The whole idea was to make it as weird and confusing and heavy as we can and then let’s find our way back to what’s just fun. What can you bob your head to? What can you have fun to? We don’t make a ton of money, we’re never going to get signed or go on a huge European tour. We’re just trying to have fun.”

Lonas adds: “The first time we played Preservation Pub, all the hipsters and barflies who are always there, dancing around to a jam band, they were right up front, headbanging with everybody else. That’s what were aiming for. We want to appeal to everybody.”

Now, after a year of increasingly significant shows, including recent opening slots for Intronaut and Whitechapel, Realm is releasing its first album, a self-titled collection of stoner-rock sci-fi anthems that places them near the top of a burgeoning local scene of like-minded bands (Mass Driver, Summoner’s Circle, and O’Possum).

“I figured we’d be able to play a show here and there but that we’d have to step out to Bristol, Chattanooga, Asheville, Nashville, whatever, because there just isn’t that big a calling here for heavier bands,” Leichtweis says. “But it’s actually larger than I thought it was.”

The new album will satisfy all but the most prickly fans of bands like Electric Wizard, Monster Magnet, Clutch, and Sleep—subterranean riffs, gut-punching bass, and walloping drums combine with spaced-out guitar solos and occasional moments of melody and grace. It was recorded almost entirely live (only Lonas’

vocals were tracked separately) on the third floor of the Concourse so there was nothing on it that couldn’t be reproduced onstage.

“We wanted to keep it organic, to make it obvious that it’s us playing this music, not a laptop that we’ve got set up,” Lonas says.

The result, engineered and mixed

by Brandon Cagle, who runs sound at the International and for Whitechapel, actually turned out better than the band members expected.

“The album came out a little crisper and cleaner than we really wanted,” Leichtweis says. “So we went back and asked Brandon if he could shitty it up a little.”

Now, with an album finished and a year’s worth of local shows behind them, Realm is looking ahead—to its first shows outside of Knoxville, new audiences in town, and new songs for the next record.

“We’ve definitely been putting it to the grindstone,” Leichtweis says.

“As soon as we knew this could go somewhere, we were like, okay, we’re going to write a song a month, play a show a month, set up some goals. We got the demo recorded and then got the album done as soon as we could. I think it’s the most committed I’ve been to a band ever.” ◆

WHO

Realm with O’Possum, Summoner’s Circle, and Mountain King

WHERE

The Concourse (940 Blackstock Ave.)

WHEN

Saturday, Jan. 9, at 8 p.m.

HOW MUCH $10

INFO

internationalknox.com

Movies

Manhattan Melodrama Carol is the most beautiful movie of 2015­—and much more

BY APRIL SNELLINGS

C

arol, the hotly anticipated romantic melodrama from director Todd Haynes, begins with the kind of cinematic sleight of hand that only becomes truly impressive in retrospect: We follow an almost but not quite dapper young man across a wintry New York street and into a cozy restaurant, where he happens upon two women who might be sharing something as simple as an afternoon cocktail. He recognizes one of the women and inserts himself into the conversation, promptly whisking one of its participants off to a party.

We know there’s more to it, of course, but it’s not until we revisit the same scene at the end of the film that we

really grasp the momentous impact of what seemed like a casual encounter.

The young man is only a bit player—one of many such people throughout the film who will wonder about the relationship between the two women but, this being 1952, either will not or cannot acknowledge it in any but the most oblique fashion.

The women themselves don’t even have the language to articulate the intense attraction that blossoms between them when Carol (Cate Blanchett), an elegant soon-to-be divorcée, becomes infatuated with the much younger Therese (Rooney Mara), a bohemian shop girl who’s working a department-store doll

counter during the Christmas rush.

Carol forgets her gloves after buying a gift for her young daughter—or does she deliberately leave them behind for Therese to find?—and thus begins a tantalizing courtship that slowly, dreamily spirals into the swooniest big-screen love story in recent memory.

Their courtship takes them from smoky Gotham cafes to chintzy roadside diners, from paper-walled motor courts to swanky Chicago hotels, as they try to define exactly what’s going on between them. I’m reluctant to give away much more of the plot, since Haynes and screenwriter Phyllis Nagy take such pleasure in teasing out the

A&E

details of the story, which is based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel The Price of Salt.

The dynamics of the film’s romance are constantly shifting— sometimes the more worldly Carol appears to hold all the cards, and at other times she seems to be drifting along in the younger woman’s wake— but Haynes delights in the art of seduction, from the film’s opening sequence through its final, deliciously ambiguous shot. In a time when Game of Thrones presents graphic sex scenes with all the eroticism of a rancher artificially inseminating his cattle, it’s easy to forget the electric power of a lingering touch or a sleepy-eyed gaze. Carol has something much steamier than sex—it has sexiness, and it has it in spades.

It’s visually ravishing, to be sure.

Carol is a tapestry of texture and color, from the title character’s sculpted ruby lips and buttery leather gloves to the white steam that boils up from beneath New York’s slick December streets.

Haynes takes an almost fetishistic delight in evoking the frayed-at-theedges urban glamour of the era, and Carol is, for my money, last year’s most beautiful movie. Haynes must keep a Ouija board in his trailer to help him channel the flair of his acknowledged idol, German melodrama master Douglas Sirk.

But Carol is so much more than a sensual valentine to a time gone by, and its story soars high above the “lesbian romance” tag that will inevitably be assigned to it. It necessarily deals with the repression and conservatism of its time, not to mention the difficulties that came with being anything other than a straight white male in mid-century America.

But more than that, Carol is a grand, wistful love story that belongs on lists with the best of its genre—it’s both heartbreaking and hopeful, and it unfolds at a dreamlike pace that implores us to savor the details of falling in love. It’s a poignant, starry-eyed reminder that a love story can be every bit as thrilling as a space fantasy, and that a cinematic event can involve pyrotechnics of a very different kind. ◆ January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 21

CALENDAR MUSIC

Thursday, Jan. 7 THE GRANT GARLAND TRIO • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM MADDISON GRIGSBY WITH TRAE PIERCE AND THE T-STONE BAND • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. * FREE IMPALE THE BETRAYER WITH FILTH • Longbranch Saloon • 7PM • North Carolina deathcore.

THE NAUGHTY KNOTS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM AL SCORCH • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Grafting literate, character-driven song craft and Mid-American roots with a post-punk DIY attitude, Chicago-based songwriter, performer and instrumentalist Al Scorch charts a new musical topography with a five-string banjo.

SPADES COOLEY • Pilot Light • 10PM • Spades Cooley is an indie-rock duo that has been active since 2008. The band features Graham Smith (guitars, vocals) and Tom Finn (drums). Spades Cooley has recorded two EPs and one full-length album (“God Is Moving On Me” in 2011). 18 and up. • $5 THE CHARLES WALKER BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

Friday, Jan. 8 THE AFRO-DISIACS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Afro–disiacs are a 10 piece Disco/Funk band playing music by James Brown, Earth Wind and Fire, Michael Jackson and many more classic artists.

They have a 5 piece horn section with members of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, Shifty and the Headmasters, Baseball (The Band) and Big Pink. Their rhythm section includes members of Big Pink, Bearfight, and Shifty and The Headmasters. • $5 AFTAH PARTY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • The winter series of “Alive After Five” premieres with the R&B, Soul, and Funk of smokin’ hot, 8-member Aftah Party. • $10 WILL BOYD • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM THE DEAD RINGERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

KATY FREE • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Free FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE FUJIWARA WITH ADRENALINE KID, BELLEVILLE, AND THE PARAGON PROJECT • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Fujiwara is a high energy, crowd engaging three piece punk rock band based out of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Both their performances and off stage personalities have earned them legendary status in the east coast surf and skate community. Fujiwara has opened shows for Agent Orange, The Misfits, The Angry Samoans, The Candysnatchers, ASG, Guttermouth, Unwritten Law, FFU, The Supersuckers, and more. All ages. • $5 KENT EUGENE GOOLSBY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

THE HOOTEN HALLERS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg)• 4PM • The Hooten Hallers are a blues, soul, and rock n’ roll band from Columbia, MO. Known for their raucous live shows and influenced heavily by the canon of American roots music, this hard touring band does everything in their power to bring that music to you. They have produced a number of self-releases 22

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

since forming in 2007, but most recently released Greetings from Welp City(2012) and Chillicothe Fireball(2014) on Big Muddy Records. With another release brewing for 2015, The Hooten Hallers have every intention of driving ‘til the wheels fall off. * FREE BRANDON WILL LINDY WITH ZACH RUSSELL • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM KYLE MEGNA AND THE MONSOONS WITH THE DEADBEAT SCOUNDRELS • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM THE NATTI LOVE JOYS • Two Doors Down • 10PM BEN STALETS WITH THE JANK • 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 VAL AND YO MAMA • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM WHISKEY ‘N’ WOOD • Just 1 More Bar & Grille • 7PM • Knoxville classic rock duo cover hits from The Allman Brothers to ZZTop and practically everyone in between ... except Nickelback (we hate Nickelback). • FREE Saturday, Jan. 9 CHARGE THE ATLANTIC WITH MASSEUSE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

BRIAN CLAY • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM JONNY MONSTER AND THE JUKE JOINT DRIFTERS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM KATE AND COREY • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM * FREE KELSEY’S WOODS • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM • The new album from Kelsey’s Woods, When the Morning Comes Around, has the full complement of roots-rock signifiers, from pedal-steel guitar, Hammond organ, and mandolin to songs about the open highway and references to Merle Haggard. And, of course, there’s more than one drinking song. Its country roots are evident, but there’s plenty of heartland rock—think Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and John Mellencamp—in the mix, too, as well as echoes of everything from Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones to the Black Crowes.

K-TOWN MUSIC • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM THE MOTOWN EXPERIENCE • Niswonger Performing Arts Center (Greeneville) • 7:30PM • The Motown Experience is an all-star lineup of world class vocalists drawn from the ranks of the legendary The Motown Experience is an all-star lineup of world class vocalists drawn from the ranks of the legendary groups that made these hits timeless classics. This dynamic vocal group is assembled from members of The Capitols, The Miracles, and from former members of The Temptations. The show is jam-packed with impeccable harmonies, dazzling choreography, and those timeless Motown grooves that everyone knows and loves. You can choose to dance, sing along, or just sit back (if you can) and watch the show as they perform all of their greatest hits from the likes of The Temptations, The Miracles, The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. Every performance contains that unmistakable Motown stamp, including flashy suits, great singing and dancing, and a polished show that has set the bar for every vocal artist since the late 1950’s. The backup band is made up of seasoned performers who have been the musicians of choice for hundreds of Motown, Nostalgia, Classic Rock and Doo Wop shows around the country. They have both live performance and recording credits with a veritable who’s who of popular music artists from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.groups that made these hits timeless classics. This dynamic vocal

group is assembled from members of The Capitols, The Miracles, and from former members of The Temptations.

• $20-$30 NERVOUS REX WITH EX GOLD, ZACH AND KOTA’S SWEET LIFE, NICE TRY, AND YELLOW LINES • The Birdhouse • 9PM • Profits go to refugee resettlement in Knoxville and

Chattanooga. • $5 REALM WITH O’POSSUM, SUMMONER’S CIRCLE, AND MOUNTAIN KING • The Concourse • 8PM • Local doom metal band Realm celebrates the release of its first album by headlining a stoner/doom showcase. 18 and up. • $10 • See story on page 20.

THE BARKLEY MARATHONS: THE RACE THAT EATS ITS YOUNG Relix Variety Theatre (1208 N. Central St.) • Thursday, Jan. 14 • 6 p.m. • $10-$15 • barkleymovie.com

For years, the Barkley Marathons was the best-kept secret in the world of ultramarathons—no website, no press coverage, no public profile at all, really, outside of a handful of connoisseurs of extreme endurance and suffering. The race, a 100 or so-mile trek, mostly off trail, up and down the woody mountains in Frozen Head State Park, in Wartburg, Tenn., is considered one of the most difficult such events in the world; since it was established in 1986, only 14 people have finished.

(The course record at the Barkley is 52 hours. By contrast, the record at the prestigious Western States Endurance Run in California, another 100-mile race, is under 15 hours.)

In the last decade, more and more people have learned about the Race That Eats Its Young, as the Barkley is often called. Stories about the race have appeared in the Washington Post, The Believer, and dozens of outdoor-sports and running publications. (There was a Metro Pulse feature in 2011.) And now the Barkley is the subject of a feature-length documentary that’s winning festival awards and critical praise. The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young , directed by Annika Iltis and Timothy James Kane, looks at the 2012 race, when two-time winner Brett Maune set the race record, and features interviews with the race’s victims, a few of its conquerors, and founder Gary Cantrell, aka Lazarus Lake, an eccentric former runner from West Tennessee who gleefully expounds on the cruelties of his creation. Cantrell will be at this screening of the new movie, along with associates with names like Raw Dog and Danger Dave, for a Q&A. Proceeds benefit Frozen Head State Park. (Matthew Everett)

28

Spotlight: X__X

CALENDAR RED HONEY • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 5PM • From the rolling mountains of Western North Carolina, Red Honey brings an original brand of rockin’ surfabilly to the forefront of the music scene. A 4-piece band led by the soulful voice of songstress Erika Jane, Red Honey has been described as “the secret lovechild of Johnny Cash and Grace Slick.” Drawing influences from surf rock, classic country, blues, and 60’s psychedelia, they have shared the stage with the lines of Grace Potter, Hardworking Americans, Wanda Jackson, Jim Lauderdale, Dex Romweber, and more. • FREE RYE BABY WITH HOPE GRIFFIN • 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 CHRIS STAPLETON • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • Chris Stapleton’s been aiming for this moment for a while—it seemed clear all the way back when he was fronting the Grammy-nominated Nashville bluegrass band the SteelDrivers, from 2008 to 2010, that he was headed for a solo career. It’s taken him a while to get there, but the wait has been worth it. Stapleton’s debut album, Traveller, released in early May, is a ragged but fully realized collection of traditional country, classic rock, and bluesy blue-eyed soul that recalls early Waylon Jennings, Otis Redding, Delbert McClinton, and Bob Seger. And it’s made Stapleton the toast of Nashville—he won Best Male Vocalist, New Artist of the Year, and Album of the Year at this year’s Country Music Association Awards. In the last few years, leading up to Traveller, Stapleton wrote or co-wrote hits for Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, and Josh Turner, but Stapleton’s very obviously not following their paths. This is country music for the long haul. It may have taken Stapleton 37 years to get this far, but expect him to stick around.

TIME SAWYER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Time Sawyer is interested in “real people and real songs” and that’s just what the listener finds in their music – a sense of realness. Time Sawyer blends a grassroots feel with heart-felt lyrics to put on a high-energy, entertaining show.

VINCENT, DEACON, AND SHIFFLETT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE X_X WITH OBNOX • Pilot Light • 9:30PM • X__X has shared the stage with artists like Plastic Crimewave, Timmy’s Organism, Home and Garden, Major Stars, Corn Mo, Gondoliers, Estrogen Highs, Stark Raving Lu Lu, The Gizmos, Cellular Chaos, Anderson/Hoffman/Chase, Blues Control and Silk Purse. CMJ New Music Monthly reviewed the band’s live performance in New York last Fall and wrote “A reprise of No Non ¢s had the crowd howling for more. And during the set-ending anti-anthem Cleveland Sucks, even Morton, high priest of fuck you, couldn’t suppress a smile.”X__X was formed by John D Morton (electric eels, Johnny and the Dicks) in Cleveland, Ohio in 1978. The New York Times recently featured the band explaining “back in the early 1970s, with only the Stooges and the Velvet Underground as role models, [Morton] and his colleagues turned their youthful alienation into a brazenly experimental, loudly confrontational and proudly antisocial roar that forged a new and distinct style.”The band is John D Morton on guitar, vocals, Theremin, didgeridoo and electric sitar; Andrew Klimeyk on guitar and vocals; Craig Willis Bell (Rocket From The Tombs) on bass; multi-instrumentalist Lamont “Bim” Thomas on percussion.18 and up. • $10 Sunday, Jan. 10

GAS HOUSE GORILLAS WITH JAKOB’S FERRY STRAGGLERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

ERNIE HALTER WITH MOJO: FLOW AND EVAN STONE • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Influenced by some of the legendary names of pop and soul, such as the Beatles, Elton John, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder, Californian Ernie Halter first began to make waves for himself with the release of his 2005 collection, Lo-Fidelity. By 2007 -- and his next release, Congress Hotel (on Rock Ridge Music) -- he had built up quite a buzz, and the staunchly indie Halter could be seen touring throughout much of the United States. All ages. • $12-$15 HEIGHT WITH GAVIN RILEY AND DAVID DALTON • Pilot Light • 9:30PM • 18 and up. • $5 KOTTONMOUTH KINGS WITH MARLON ASHER, WHITNEY PEYTON, AND CHUCKY CHUCK • The Concourse • 9PM • 18 and up. • $15-$20 SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE STELLA VEES WITH THE TERRAPLANE DRIFTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 6:30PM SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE Monday, Jan. 11 FLASHBAND MEET AND GREET AND JAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7:30PM • Flashband kicks off in Knoxville with its first showcase. 40+ musicians, most of whom haven’t met before, will form temporary bands on the night of the meet & greet on Jan. 11. Then on Jan. 28, each band will do a fifteen minute set of all ‘90s music with one original song written as a band since they formed at the meet and greet. Register for the meet and greet/jam at flashband.org.

THE KERNAL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM VILLA*NOVA • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

HAILEY WHITTERS WITH FIRESHIPS • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE Tuesday, Jan. 12 CHAD ELLIOTT WITH THE PAISLEY FIELDS • 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 MARBLE CITY 5 • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM MY BROTHER THE BEAR • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Cincinnati, Ohio native My Brother the Bear’s music comes with a flourish and flair and a touch of whimsy. My Brother the Bear (Daniel Bayer) takes an introspective and often autobiographical approach to songwriting. A musician from childhood, Bayer’s songwriting pulls from an eccentric life history.

Wednesday, Jan. 13 BEN DE LA COUR WITH THE ANDERSON STRING QUARTET • 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 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 THE MATT NELSON SOUND • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • FREE TENNESSEE SHINES: ANDREW LEAHEY AND THE

Live Music | Dancing | Spirits | Food & Fun! 865-525-6101 • KNOXART.ORG ALIVE AFTER FIVE - KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF @RT

SELECTED FRIDAYS @ 6:00 - 8:30pm 2016 WINTER SERIES

January 8th featuring Aftah Party January 15th featuring Wallace Coleman Band January 22nd featuring Tennessee Sheiks January 29th featuring “Tribute to the R&B Classic Hits, Part 3” with Evelyn Jack & Donald Brown February 5th featuring “Fat Friday Mardi Gras” with Roux Du Bayou February 12th featuring The BlairXperience February 26th featuring “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” with Crystal Shawanda

January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23

CALENDAR HOMESTEAD • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Andrew Leahey & the Homestead are a Nashville-based American rock & roll band, evoking the energy and undaunted spirit of their musical godfathers: Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty. Leahey wrote the band’s latest set of songs in the wake of an emergency brain surgery operation that nearly wiped out his hearing. Skyline in Central Time, produced by Wilco’s Ken Coomer, will be released in April. • $10 TRAVELING BROKE AND OUT OF GAS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

Thursday, Jan. 14 THE APPLEBUTTER EXPRESS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The band’s story begins in 2004, when Kyle Biss met his future wife Shannon while working at a record store in Bradenton, Florida. Still a focused bass player, Kyle picked up a ukulele in 2010 and began to write songs, with the idea of singing with Shannon (his then girlfriend) for fun on the couch. Pretty soon the duo began making a name for themselves among the open mic community; in no time, the eclectic, tuneful duo – now known as The Applebutter Express – were the talk of Tampa, Fl. Kyle and Shannon married in 2011, and in 2012 added Joe Trivette on the fiddle. Newest member, Zach Rogers (bass) joined in 2015.

NICK DITTMEIER WITH CICADA RHYTHM • 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

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

GHOST EAGLE • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM • Ghost Eagle is a high energy, Appalachian roots trio consisting of drums, telecaster and amplified harmonica.

MARADEEN • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

WDVX 6 O’CLOCK SWERVE: THE MELUNGEONS • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM Friday, Jan. 15 A BODY DIVIDED WITH AMOUR, ILLUSTRIOUS, INSIGHTS, AND THE GUILD • The Concourse • 7PM • Local metal band A Body Divided plays its final show. All ages. • $10 ALIVE AFTER FIVE: WALLACE COLEMAN • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Harmonica ace and vocalist Wallace Coleman returns to his native East Tennessee to play some Chicago-style electric blues. • $10 CICADA RHYTHM • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

THE DARNELL BOYS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE TYLER FARR • Cotton Eyed Joe • 10PM • Tyler Farr’s a thinker, an observer of the human condition, a man in the middle of a surging testosterone country movement in today’s Nashville who insists on digging a little deeper, getting a little realer and owning how hard it can be. On Suffer In Peace, the son of a Garden City, Missouri farmer opens his veins and examines the pain that comes from being truly engaged with living. • $15 IAN FEATHERS • 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 JOE FLETCHER • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 5PM • Joe Fletcher is a midwestern born, New England

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

raised singer-songwriter living in East Nashville, TN. He released his third independent record, You’ve Got the Wrong Man, in October of 2014. This intimate solo album is a departure from his previous efforts with his band The Wrong Reasons (White Lighter and Bury Your Problems).

Made up of his gritty original songs as well as covers by his peers Brown Bird and Toy Soldiers, it was recorded live over a few months on a mobile recording unit in Rhode Island, Georgia, and Tennessee in the spirit of some of Joe’s favorite records by Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Jimmie Rodgers, Bruce Springsteen, among others. • FREE FREEQUENCY • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE KINCAID • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM JOEY KNEISER AND KELLY SMITH WITH JOE DUNN, WILL CARTER, AND LEW CARD • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Members of the indie-rock band the Glossary head out on their own for a solo performance.

All ages. • $7-$10 JAMEL MITCHELL • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM NICK MOSS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Distinct, honest, and intense — a blend of traditional blues and progressive, jam-oriented blues rock.

Face-melting guitar solos that rise above the crowded field of pretenders, and a versatile band that brilliantly delivers unparalleled improvisational jams to packed houses night after night, city after city. • $5

ANDY SNEED • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • Andy Sneed has been writing and performing music for nearly 30 years. Sneed’s songs can be funny, thought-provoking and touching all at the same time.

STEEP CANYON RANGERS • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • From Asheville, NC, Steep Canyon Rangers are an acoustic Bluegrass group. In 2013 the band’s 8th record “Nobody Knows You” won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.

Before embarking on a world tour backing comedian/ banjoist Steve Martin, the Rangers were also nominated for 2 International Bluegrass Music awards including Album of the Year “Lovin’ Pretty Women” (2007). Steep Canyon Rangers were also named ‘Emerging Artist of the Year’ in 2006 at the IBMA awards ceremony in Nashville, TN. The group performs heavily in the Bluegrass and Americana music world at festivals like MerleFest, Telluride, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Grey Fox, DelFest and RockyGrass. Abroad, Steep Canyon Rangers have performed in Sweden, Ireland, England, Germany, Switzerland and Canada. • $20 GREG TARDY • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE TREETOPS WITH VAGABONDS • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM Saturday, Jan. 16 KEITH BROWN • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • Keith Brown’s new solo release The Journey is ostensibly a jazz record, to be released on Space Time Records, a jazz label. But Brown’s musical footprint is much larger than the tag would seem to imply.A composer, bandleader, and pianist/keyboardist nonpareil, Brown is one of the busiest

HELP CLEAR THE AIR IN KNOXVILLE.

JOIN FORCES WITH LOCAL HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS & PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO MAKE MORE OF KNOXVILLE SMOKE-FREE. Meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month at noon at the Knox County Health Department (Community Room in the basement).

All guests must RSVP to attend. Lunch is provided.

For more information, contact Kerri Thompson at kerri.thompson@knoxcounty.org or 865-215-5445.

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

players in town. His involvement as both a leader and a sideman include soul-rock outfit Aftah Party, jazz combo the BluePrint, and sideman gigs with Vance Thompson projects Five Plus Six and Marble City Five.

CUMBERLAND STATION • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM FECKLESS FEAR DEARG • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE FOURTH ANNUAL BIJOU AWARDS • Bijou Theatre • 7PM • Our 4th annual Bijou Awards showcases the talent of high school students in and around Knoxville. Local teenagers will have the opportunity to not only show off their performing arts and create writing skills, but also to turn a $5 entry fee into a $1,000 individual scholarship and a $500 award for their school. Auditions began this fall and the top five contestants in each category will perform in front a panel of celebrity judges at our 2016 Bijou Awards Gala January 16 on the U.S. Cellular Stage at the Bijou Theatre. • $12 KATY FREE • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM J. LUKE • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM THE JAILHOUSE REVIEW • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM ANDREW LEAHEY AND THE HOMESTEAD • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 4PM • An American rock & roll band, Andrew Leahey & the Homestead make music for city highways and open horizons, for pop fans and roots rockers, for the heart as well as the heartland. It’s the kind of anthemic, guitar-driven sound that’s been blasting out of car stereos at 65 mile per hour ever since God created FM radio. Written in the wake of an emergency brain surgery operation that nearly wiped out Leahey’s hearing, the upcoming Skyline in Central Time is the band’s collective rallying cry, an album that funnels desperation and gratitude and heartbreak -- as well as a lot of Tom Petty-worthy melodies -- into eleven tracks produced by Wilco co-founder Ken Coomer. It’s also the band’s label debut, due out on Thirty Tigers in April 2016.

• FREE HAROLD NAGGE AND ALAN WYATT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE ORCHARD FIRE WITH JAKE BOOK • 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 PAISLEY FIELDS • Pilot Light • 9PM • The Paisley Fields are a queer country band unapologetic about pushing boundaries and seeking inspiration in the unexpected. 18 and up. • $5 REALM WITH MASS DRIVER • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

ROUX DU BAYOU • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Accordionist Paul Gregoire from the town of Dulac in South Louisiana leads this Nashville based band Roux du Bayou, always a treat for Cajun dance enthusiasts. On guitar and vocals is South Louisiana native Wade Bernard; Jerry Prevost on drums and rounding out the group on fiddle, lead guitar and trumpet, from Nashville, Jimmy Clark. • $12 ZIGADOO MONEYCLIPS • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

Sunday, Jan. 17 THE AMERICANS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Los Angeles band The Americans perform original rock & roll with deep roots in traditional American music. They have performed on the Late Show with David Letterman, twice joined Grammy and Oscar winner Ryan Bingham on national tours, and played the first dance at Reese Witherspoon’s wedding. They have backed up Nick Cave, Tim Robbins, and Lucinda Williams. The Americans appear throughout American Epic, a four hour primetime

CALENDAR

PBS / BBC special produced by Jack White, Robert Redford, and T Bone Burnett, featuring Nas, Elton John, Alabama Shakes, and Willie Nelson (coming spring 2016).

• FREE KELLY RICHEY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 7PM SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE

OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS

Thursday, Jan. 7 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month.

FREE BREWHOUSE BLUES JAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Join Robert Higginbotham and the Smoking Section for the Brewhouse Blues Jam. We supply drums and a full backline.

Friday, Jan. 8 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OPEN SONGWRITER NIGHT • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Songwriter Night at Time Warp Tea Room runs on the second and fourth Friday of every month. Show up around 7 p.m. with your instrument in tow and sign up to share a couple of original songs with a community of friends down in Happy Holler. • FREE Sunday, Jan. 10 EPWORTH OLD HARP SINGERS • Laurel Theater • 6:30PM • Call 673-5822. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate in this East Tennessee singing tradition. * FREE SING OUT KNOXVILLE • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7PM • A folk singing circle open to everyone. * FREE Tuesday, Jan. 12 OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Hosted by Sarah Pickle. • FREE PRESERVATION PUB SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7 p.m. • 21 and up. • FREE Wednesday, Jan. 13 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. at the Time Warp Tea Room. All instruments and skill levels welcome.

BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. • FREE Thursday, Jan. 14 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.

• FREE Saturday, Jan. 16 OLD-TIME SLOW JAM • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 4PM • A monthly old-time music session, held on the third Saturday of each month. • FREE Sunday, Jan. 17 FAMILY FRIENDLY DRUM CIRCLE • Ijams Nature Center • 3:30PM • Ijams monthly Family Friendly Drum Circle has moved indoors for the winter months. Join us inside at

the Miller Building the third Sunday of the month. Bring a drum or share one of ours. All ages from toddlers to great-grandparents welcome. Follow us on Facebook: Drumming@Ijams. • FREE

DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS

Saturday, Jan. 16 TEMPLE DANCE NIGHT • The Concourse • 9PM • Knoxville’s long-running alternative dance night. 18 and up. • $5

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Sunday, Jan. 10 KSO CHAMBER CLASSICS: PRINCIPAL QUARTET • Bijou Theatre • 2:30PM • The KSO Principal Quartet will perform the following musical selections: Schubert’s Quartettsatz in C minor; Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 2 in F; and Brahms’ String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat.

Wednesday, Jan. 13 KSO CONCERTMASTER SERIES • Knoxville Museum of Art • 7PM • Gabriel Lefkowitz, violin, and Kevin Class, piano, perform Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 in A minor, Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Dvorak’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major.

Thursday, Jan. 14 KSO CONCERTMASTER SERIES • Knoxville Museum of Art • 7PM • Gabriel Lefkowitz, violin, and Kevin Class, piano, perform Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 in A minor, Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Dvorak’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major.

Saturday, Jan. 16 KNOXVILLE OPERA: ‘HANSEL AND GRETEL’ • Blount County Public Library • 11AM • “Hansel and Gretel Opera (by Humperdinck)” will be performed as a full opera by the Knoxville Opera Company under the direction of Brian Salesky, Conductor and Executive Director. Parents and teachers are encouraged to bring children/students to enjoy this fairy tale brought to life in song and dramatic action. The performance will be at the Reading Rotunda end of the Main Gallery of the library. • FREE KSO POPS SERIES: FANTASIA LIVE! • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 8PM • Enjoy one of Disney’s crown jewels of feature animation accompanied by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, showcasing scenes from the 1940 film Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. This concert features Paul Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”– with Mickey Mouse’s hilarious foray into magic – and Beethoven’s “Pastorale” Symphony with mythical unicorns and winged horses.

UT VIOLIN FESTIVAL • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 8PM • Workshops, lectures, master classes, and performances, highlighted by the Violin Festival Concert on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 8 p.m. and the Violin Festival Closing Gala on Sunday, Jan. 17, at 3 p.m. • FREE Sunday, Jan. 17 UT VIOLIN FESTIVAL • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 3PM • Workshops, lectures, master classes, and performances, highlighted by the Violin Festival Concert on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 8 p.m. and the Violin Festival Closing Gala on Sunday, Jan. 17, at 3 p.m. • January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25

CALENDAR FREE

THEATER AND DANCE

Friday, Jan. 8 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: RABBIT HOLE• Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Becca and Howie Corbett have everything a family could want, until a life-shattering accident turns their world upside down and leaves the couple drifting perilously apart. Rabbit Hole charts their bittersweet search for comfort in the darkest of places and for a path that will lead them back into the light of day. Jan. 8-24. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Saturday, Jan. 9 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: RABBIT HOLE• Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Jan. 8-24. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 FOOTHILLS COMMUNITY PLAYERS: AUDITIONS FOR ‘TWELVE ANGRY JURORS’ • Salvation Army (Maryville) • 2PM • Auditions for FCP’s production of Twelve Angry Jurors by Reginald Rose will be held on Saturday, January 9, 2016, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Monday, January 11, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at The Salvation Army (1414 Sevierville Rd., Maryville, TN, 37804). Auditionees can come either day. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Auditionees should bring a resume and headshot to the audition. A digital photo will be taken before sign-in for those who don’t bring a headshot. All auditionees should be prepared to list any conflicts that

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

may exist during the rehearsal and performance period at the auditions. Once the show is cast, actors will be given a schedule of the actual dates and times for rehearsal. Performances will be March 18-20, 2016 at the Clayton Center for the Arts, in Maryville, TN. Nicci Grigsby will direct the production. • FREE Sunday, Jan. 10 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: RABBIT HOLE• Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Jan. 8-24. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13 Monday, Jan. 11 FOOTHILLS COMMUNITY PLAYERS: AUDITIONS FOR ‘TWELVE ANGRY JURORS’ • Salvation Army (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE • See Jan. 9 listing for details.

THE WORDPLAYERS: ‘LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC’ • The Square Room • 7:30PM • The WordPlayers present a staged reading of ‘Last Train to Nibroc’ by Arlene Hutton.

Christmas, 1940. A soldier. A schoolteacher. A train. All aboard for a surprising and engaging portrait of two young people searching for happiness and navigating the mysteries of courtship. Visit www.wordplayers.org. • FREE Tuesday, Jan. 12 SHEN YUN • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Back after last year’s sold out run in many cities globally and to kick off their 2016 world tour, Shen Yun brings to life 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through classical Chinese dance and music in an exhilarating brand new show you will never forget. For more information, please visit ShenYun. com or call 888-974-3698. Presented by Tennessee Falun

Dafa Association. • $62-$152 Wednesday, Jan. 13 SHEN YUN • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Back after last year’s sold out run in many cities globally and to kick off their 2016 world tour, Shen Yun brings to life 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through classical Chinese dance and music in an exhilarating brand new show you will never forget. For more information, please visit ShenYun. com or call 888-974-3698. Presented by Tennessee Falun Dafa Association. • $62-$152 Thursday, Jan. 14 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “RABBIT HOLE” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Jan. 8-24. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Friday, Jan. 15 BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler, this new production is a reimagining of the Biblical story of Joseph, his eleven brothers and the coat of many colors. • $37-$77 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “RABBIT HOLE” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Jan. 8-24. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Saturday, Jan. 16 BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT • Tennessee Theatre • 2PM and 8PM • Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner

Andy Blankenbuehler, this new production is a reimagining of the Biblical story of Joseph, his eleven brothers and the coat of many colors. • $37-$77 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “RABBIT HOLE” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Jan. 8-24. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Sunday, Jan. 17 THEATER AND DANCE • January 17 • Theatre Knoxville Downtown: “Rabbit Hole” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Jan. 8-24. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13

COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD

Friday, Jan. 8 FIRST FRIDAY COMEDY • Saw Works Brewing Company • 7PM • First Friday Comedy moves to the Second Friday for January, giving you plenty of time to get over your New Year’s Day hangover. Our headliner and feature this month are Greenville, SC’s Craig Holcombe and Carrie Adams. Knoxville Mercury’s Top Knox comic Jeff Blank is also performing, along with Matt Chadourne and Shane Rhyne. There will be food from Willy’s Butcher Shop available, also.* FREE Sunday, Jan. 10 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

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26

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

WUOT_Ad_5.5x4.25_WhyWUOT_KnoxMerc.indd 1

9/7/15 9:52 AM

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

Monday, Jan. 11 QED COMEDY LABORATORY • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • QED ComedyLaboratory is a weekly show with different theme every week that combines stand-up, improv, sketch, music and other types of performance and features some of the funniest people in Knoxville and parts unknown.

It’s weird and experimental. There is no comedy experience in town that is anything like this and it’s also a ton of fun. Pay what you want. Free, but donations are accepted. • FREE Tuesday, Jan. 12 OPEN MIC STAND-UP COMEDY • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM • Come laugh until you cry at the Longbranch every Tuesday night. Doors open at 8:30, first comic at 9. 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 KNOXVILLE POETRY SLAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • $5 Wednesday, Jan. 13 FULL DISCLOSURE COMEDY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Knoxville’s long-form improv comedy group.

Friday, Jan. 15 THE FIFTH WOMAN POETRY SLAM • The Birdhouse • 6:30PM • The 5th Woman Poetry slam is place where all poets can come and share their words of love, respect, passion, and expression. It is not dedicated solely women but is a place where women poets are celebrated and honored. Check out our facebook pages for the challenge of the month and focus for our poetry every month.

Sunday, Jan. 17 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

FILM SCREENINGS

Friday, Jan. 8 CRESTHILL CINEMA CLUB: ‘FLESH AND FURY’ • Windover Apartments • 7:30PM • This New Year’s program will be paying homage to mean, evil and all-around despicable women. Our feature: Flesh and Fury (1952), starring Tony Curtis, Jan Sterling and Mona Freeman. A blistering boxing exposé, Flesh and Fury presents the alluring Sterling at her rottenest; she plays a heartless, gold-digging tramp who exploits rising, deaf-mute prizefighter Curtis for all he’s worth.Violence will also be evidencing itself in “Man Killer,” the opening segment of our January wicked-woman tribute. A December 1961 episode of ABC-TV’s iconic crime series The Untouchables, “Man Killer” stars sultry Ruth Roman in one of her deadliest roles: the conniving Georgiana Drake, manager of a cab company that works as a front for a major Chicago heroin-trafficking operation. Our location: The spacious clubhouse of the Windover Apartments. The journey there will take you to Cheshire Drive (off Kingston Pike, near the Olive Garden); going down Cheshire, turn right at the Windover Apartments sign, then go to the third parking lot on your right, next to the pool. There, the building that houses the

CALENDAR

clubhouse and offices of the Windover will be just a few steps away.* FREE Monday, Jan. 11 THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. • FREE Wednesday, Jan. 13 PUBLIC CINEMA: ‘UNCLE KENT 2’ • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • In a desperate search to create a follow-up to Joe Swanberg’s 2011 film Uncle Kent, Kent Osborne travels to a comic book convention in San Diego where he loses his mind and confronts the end of the world. Reuniting in the Gremlins 2 of “Indie” sequels, Joe Swanberg, Jennifer Prediger and Tipper Newton return in a surrealist look into Osborne’s madness. Written by Osborne and passing the directors’ torch over to Todd Rohal, Uncle Kent 2 plays out like an absurdist successor that bends the rules of sequels and the minds of the audience. Visit publiccinema.org. • FREE Thursday, Jan. 14 THE BARKLEY MARATHONS: THE RACE THAT EATS ITS YOUNG’ • Relix Variety Theatre • 6PM • Every year, 40 runners from around the world descend upon a small town in Tennessee to test their mental and physical limits against the Barkley Marathons. Devised as a mockery of James Earl Ray’s historic prison escape gone awry, the race has seen only 10 finishers in its first 25 years. The race’s co-founder Lazarus Lake is as weird, unpredictable and irresistible a character as is the idiosyncratic event he has created. With a secret application process, unknown start time, and treacherous terrain, the Barkley has gained cult-like status with ultra-runners and amateurs alike. This award-winning, oddly inspiring, and wildly funny documentary invites you to the sports world’s most guarded secret; where pain has value and failure is spectacular. • $10-$15

SPORTS AND RECREATION

Thursday, Jan. 7 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE• Cycology Bicycles• 10AM• Join Cycology Bicycles every Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. for a road ride with two group options. A Group does a 2 to 3 hour ride at 20+ pace; B group does an intermediate ride at 15/18 mph average.

FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK• Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville• 6PM• Sometimes, a group of workout buddies is just what you need to get out there run! Join us every Thursday night at our store for a fun group run/walk.

We have all levels come out, so no matter what your speed you’ll have someone to keep you company. FREE NORTH KNOXVILLE BEER RUNNERS• Central Flats and Taps• 6PM• Meet us at Central Flats and Taps every Thursday night for a fun and easy run leading us right through Saw Works for a midway beer! FREE RIVER SPORTS THURSDAY EVENING GREENWAY BIKE RIDE• River Sports Outfitters• 6PM• Every Thursday night from 6 to 7:30 join River Sports Outfitters on an easy paced, beginner friendly Greenway Ride. Bring your own bike or rent one for $15. Lights are mandatory on your bikes from September through March. FREE KNOXVILLE BICYCLE COMPANY THURSDAY GRAVEL GRINDER• North Boundary Trails• 6:30PM• Join Knoxville Bicycle Company every Thursday evening for their gravel

grinder. Meets at 6:30 pm at North Boundary in Oak Ridge, park at the guard shack. Cross bikes and hardtails are perfect. Bring lights! Regroups as necessary.

CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY GREENWAY RIDE• Cedar Bluff Cycles• 6:30PM• Join us every Thursday evening for a greenway ride at an intermediate pace of 14-15 mph. Must have lights. Weather permitting. FREE WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT• Whole Foods• 6PM• Join us for everything from Candy Land to chess, and feel free to add a pint and a pizza.* FREE Friday, Jan. 8 RIVER SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT GREENWAY RUN• River Sports Outfitters• 6PM• Greenway run from the store every Friday evening from 6-7:30 pm. Work up a thirst then join us for $2 Pints in the store afterwards. FREE Saturday, Jan. 9 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: LEAD COVE/BOTE MOUNTAIN/FINLEY CANE TRAILS • 9AM • This hike is planned as a counterclockwise loop with the steep climb first to get warmed up on a chilly day. Starting on Lead Cove Trail, we will climb 1200 feet in the first 1.8 miles to reach the Bote Mountain Trail. After a short break, we will follow the ridge downhill, with some nice views of Thunderhead Mountain on our right. After 2.5 miles on Bote Mountain, we will finish our hike on the Finley Cane Trail for total mileage of 7.1 miles. This hike is rated moderate due to the strenuous climb at the beginning.

Meet at Alcoa Food City at 9:00 AM or 9:45 at the Lead Cove trailhead. Leaders: Cindy Spangler, spangler@utk. edu; Keith Mertz, keithmertz@hotmail.com. • FREE Sunday, Jan. 10 KNOXVILLE HARDCOURT BIKE POLO• Sam Duff Memorial Park• 1PM• Don’t know how to play? Just bring your bike — we have mallets to share and will teach you the game. FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: I.C. KING PARK • 1PM • Meet at the IC King Park, North Entrance Parking Area, 3440 Alcoa Highway, at 1 PM . Hike: 5 miles, rated Easy.

Leader: Cindy Spangler, spangler@utk.edu • FREE Monday, Jan. 11 KTC GROUP RUN • Mellow Mushroom • 6PM • Join Knoxville Track Club every Monday evening for a group run starting at the Mellow Mushroom on the Cumberland Avenue strip on the University of Tennessee campus. http://www.ktc.org/GroupRuns.html • FREE BEARDEN BEER MARKET FUN RUN • Bearden Beer Market • 6:30PM • Come run with us. Every Monday year round we do a group fun run through the neighborhood. Open to all levels of walkers and runners. Everyone who participates earns a $1 off their beer. Come be a part of Knoxville’s active beer culture. http://www.beardenbeermarket. com/-activebeerculture.html • FREE Tuesday, Jan. 12 CYTOLOGY BICYCLES TUESDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10:30AM • Join Cycology Bicycles every Tuesday morning at 10:30 am for a road ride with 2 group options. A Group does a 2 to 3 hour ride at 20+ pace; B group does an intermediate ride at 15/18 mph average.

Weather permitting. http://www.cycologybicycles.com/ • FREE 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 CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES TUESDAY GREENWAY RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:30PM • Join us every Tuesday evening for a greenway ride at an intermediate pace of 14-15 mph.

UPCOMING EVENTS

KATE & COREY

JAN 9

ANDREW LEAHY & THE HOMESTEAD

JAN 13

DARNELL BOYS

JAN 15

FECKLESS FEAR DEARG

JAN 16

THE DUPONT BROTHERS

JAN 20

FULL EVENTS CALENDAR AT JIGANDREEL.COM 865-247-7066 January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27

CALENDAR Must have lights! Weather permitting. http://cedarbluffcycles.net/ • FREE HARD KNOX TUESDAY FUN RUN • Hard Knox Pizzeria • 6:30PM • Join Hard Knox Pizzeria every Tuesday evening (rain or shine) for a 2-3 mile fun run. Burn calories.

Devour pizza. Quench thirst. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Hardknoxpizzeria?fref=ts. • FREE

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

looking to get more involved, this is the place to start! A festive and relaxed group get-together occurs every Wednesday afternoon at 5:30 pm at Runners Market, 4443 Kingston Pike Avenue, Western Plaza. During Daylight Savings Time, the run usually takes place on the Third Creek Greenway/Bike Trail. When darkness forces the courageous misfits off the trail, leaders generally head for the nearby Cherokee Boulevard/Sequoyah Hills neighborhood for a comfortably paced run of 5-6 miles.

Afterward, cool beverages and good company are shared by participants. http://www.ktc.org/GroupRuns.html • FREE FOUNTAIN CITY PEDALERS SHARPS RIDGE MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE • Fountain City Pedaler • 6PM • Join us every Wednesday evening for a mountain bike ride from the shop to Sharps Ridge. 6-10 mile ride with plenty of bail out points. Regroup as necessary. Lights required, call the shop if you need them. http://www.fcpedaler.com/ • FREE

Wednesday, Jan. 13 CLIMBING FUNDAMENTALS • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Come learn the basics of climbing every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Space is limited so call 865-673-4687 to reserve your spot now. Class fee $20. http://www.riversportsoutfitters.com/events/ • $20 KTC GROUP RUN • Runner’s Market • 5:30PM • If you are visiting Knoxville, new to town, new to the club, or just

Photo by Jim O’Bryan

X__X Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave.) • Saturday, Jan. 9 • 9:30 p.m. • $10 • 18 and up • thepilotlight.com

Every history of the rock scene in Cleveland describes the city in the 1970s as a cultural, economic, and political wasteland. But it was also home to one of the most combustible American music communities of the decade—in a burst of creativity fueled by drugs, free jazz, and the feeling that they had nothing to lose, a handful of like-minded young musicians either invented or discovered something very much like punk rock before punk really existed. Rocket From the Tombs, whose members went on to form Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys, is that scene’s emblematic band, and the band’s founding guitarist, Peter Laughner, is the scene’s patron saint.

But John D. Morton was equally instrumental in the origins of Cleveland rock; his band, the electric eels, was one of the first groups in the city to connect rudimentary three-chord garage rock with avant noise and confrontational imagery and lyrics, and few of the band that followed them ever matched the eels’ unbridled audacity. Like Rocket From the Tombs, the electric eels never recorded an album, but the five shows they played between 1972 and ’75 shaped, in a small but significant way, the history of American punk.

Morton’s final contribution to Cleveland rock was X__X, which existed for a few months in 1978.

With drummer Anton Fier, X__X added slightly more advanced musicianship to the electric eels’ sound, building a provocative blend of agitprop, art rock, and funk that would soon be familiar in British bands like the Fall, Wire, and Public Image Ltd. When a Finnish label released X__X’s two singles and some rehearsal recordings last year, Morton was inspired to reform the band and record the first proper X__X album. Albert Ayler’s Ghost Live at the Yellow Ghetto, released last year, may not have the prophetic urgency of the band’s archival recordings, but it’s a powerful restatement of what made Cleveland rock, and a welcome return for one of American music’s unsung legends.

With Obnox, Ex Gold, and the Cancelled. (Matthew Everett)

Thursday, Jan. 14 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • Join Cycology Bicycles every Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. for a road ride with two group options. A Group does a 2 to 3 hour ride at 20+ pace; B group does an intermediate ride at 15/18 mph average.

Weather permitting. http://www.cycologybicycles.com/ • FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 6PM • Sometimes, a group of workout buddies is just what you need to get out there run! Join us every Thursday night at our store for a fun group run/walk. We have all levels come out, so no matter what your speed you’ll have someone to keep you company. Our 30 - 60 minute route varies week by week in the various neighborhoods and greenways around the store, so be sure to show up on time so you can join up with the group. All levels welcome. http://www.fleetfeetknoxville. com/events/runwalk-groups • FREE NORTH KNOXVILLE BEER RUNNERS • Central Flats and Taps • 6PM • Meet us at Central Flats and Taps every Thursday night for a fun and easy run leading us right through Saw Works for a midway beer! After you have taken part in 10 runs, you will receive the super stylish North Knox Beer Runners Running Shirt. https://www.facebook.com/ groups/1431579107058289/ • FREE RIVER SPORTS THURSDAY EVENING GREENWAY BIKE RIDE • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Every Thursday night from 6 to 7:30 join River Sports Outfitters on an easy paced, beginner friendly Greenway Ride. Bring your own bike or rent one for $15. Lights are mandatory on your bikes from September through March. After ride join us at the store for $2 pints. http://www.riversportsoutfitters.com/events • FREE 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 KNOXVILLE BICYCLE COMPANY THURSDAY GRAVEL GRINDER • North Boundary Trails • 6:30PM • Join Knoxville Bicycle Company every Thursday evening for their gravel grinder.

Meets at 6:30 pm at North Boundary in Oak Ridge, park at the guard shack. Cross bikes and hardtails are perfect.

Bring lights! Regroups as necessary. Call shop for more details. Weather permitting - call the store if weather is questionable. http://www.knoxvillebicycleco.com/ CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY GREENWAY RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:30PM • Join us every Thursday evening for a greenway ride at an intermediate pace of 14-15 mph.

Must have lights. Weather permitting. http://cedarbluffcycles.net/ • FREE Friday, Jan. 15

28

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

RIVER SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT GREENWAY RUN • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Greenway run from the store every Friday evening from 6-7:30 pm. Work up a thirst then join us for $2 Pints in the store afterwards. http:// www.riversportsoutfitters.com/events/ • FREE Saturday, Jan. 16 PENGUIN PLUNGE 2016 • Volunteer Landing • 10AM • We’re ringing in the new year by plunging into the Tennessee River, and we want you to join in on all of the fun! By participating in our Penguin Plunge, you’ll be Freezin’ for a Reason. This event is all about having fun and helping improve the lives of children. You can be a corporate sponsor, a plunger, a designated plunger, or you can support your favorite plunger with a donation. However you choose to support, your help goes directly towards helping children of East TN become matched with caring Big Brother and Big Sister volunteers. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: LAUREL FALLS/COVE MOUNTAIN • 8AM • The hike starts on Laurel Falls Trail, one of the most popular destinations in the park. In just over 1.1 miles, we will arrive at the 60-foot falls, and spend some time looking around. We will cross the falls, climbing through old growth forest, past the Little Greenbrier Trail intersection. A left turn leads to an old fire tower and the summit of Cove Mountain. The tower is now an air quality monitoring station. The trail parallels the park boundary as we head down to the Sugarland Visitor Center. Along the trail, we will see the ski lift, the top of a chair lift, houses, and Cataract Falls. This moderate car shuttle hike is 12 miles. Meet at Alcoa Food City at 8:00 AM. Leaders: Mary Brewer, emiebrewer@ gmail.com; David Smith, dcshiker@bellsouth.net. • FREE Sunday, Jan. 17 KNOXVILLE HARDCOURT BIKE POLO • Sam Duff Memorial Park • 1PM • Don’t know how to play? Just bring your bike — we have mallets to share and will teach you the game. https://www.facebook.com/KnoxvilleHardcourtBikePolo • FREE

ART

Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. JAN. 5-31: Artwork by Lil Clinard and Julia Malia. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Jan. 8, at 5:30 p.m.

Bliss Home 24 Market Square JAN. 1-31: Artwork by Ocean Starr Cline.

Central Collective 923 N. Central St. JAN. 8: A First Friday exhibit of photos and sculptures by Victoria Buck starts at 6 p.m.

Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. DEC. 4-JAN. 16: You Call That Art?, an exhibition of editorial cartoons by Charlie Daniel.

Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. DEC. 4-JAN. 29: Arts and Culture Alliance Members Show. Jan. 8-29: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission Exhibition, featuring artwork by African and African-American artists from Knoxville and works about social justice and civil rights. An opening reception

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

will be held on Friday, Jan. 8, from 6-9 p.m.

Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Blvd.

JAN. 14-FEB. 18: UT Artist-in-Residence Biennial, featuring work by Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Aliza Nisenbaum, Caitlin Keogh, and Dominic Terlizzi. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, Jan. 14, from 5-7 p.m.

Knoxville Museum of Art 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive NOV. 27-JAN. 10: East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition. 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 JAN. 1-30: Feminie Icons With an Attitude, paintings by Cynthia Markert inspired by the free-thinking women of the early 1900s.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture 1327 Circle Park Drive ONGOING: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier.

Westminster Presbyterian Church Schiller Gallery 6500 S. Northshore Drive JAN. 12-FEB. 28: Paintings by Jennifer Brickey.

LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS

Friday, Jan. 8 DARRIN HAAS: “KIDNAPPING THE KAISER: TENNESSEANS IN THE GREAT WAR” • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • In cooperation with Fort Loudoun State Historic Area and the Tennessee Great War Commission, the East Tennessee Historical Society will be commemorating East Tennessee’s contributions to the First World War on Friday, January 8, with a lecture and living history encampment. At noon in the East Tennessee History Center auditorium, National Guard historian Darrin Haas will speak on the 1919 plot by American officers, including Tennessee National Guardsmen, to kidnap the German Kaiser in a quest for justice in the aftermath of World War I. The lecture anchors an all-day encampment in Krutch Park and the History Center, where visitors can interact with members of the Tennessee State Parks’ living history group portraying soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force. Stations will explore topics including soldiers’ daily life, the role of new technology, and famous Tennesseans in the war (including Sergeant Alvin C. York). • FREE Sunday, Jan. 10 PEN TO PODIUM: SAFTA READING SERIES • Lawson McGee Public Library • 3PM • The award-winning SAFTA reading series welcomes George David Clark & Jeni Wallace. • FREE Tuesday, Jan. 12 UT HUMANITIES CENTER CONVERSATIONS AND COCKTAILS SERIES • The Grill at Highlands Row • 6AM • The annual

CALENDAR

“Conversations and Cocktails” series provides the community an opportunity to interact with guest scholars as they discuss history while enjoying special dinner and appetizer selections. Dinner reservations are required and seating is limited. .The first discussion of the series will feature UT scholar Charles Maland, J. Douglas Bruce Professor of English and Cinema Studies. The discussion is titled “’That’s What You Think’: James Agee as Movie Reviewer” and will explore how Agee responded to some of the famous films of his era.

Wednesday, Jan. 13 ADAM ALFREY: “AN INSIDE LOOK AT LLOYD BRANSON” • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • Adam Alfrey, exhibits curator for the East Tennessee History Center, will discuss the life and work of Knoxville artist Lloyd Branson, whose work is the subject of a major exhibition at the Museum of East Tennessee History. Celebrating a Life in Tennessee Art: Lloyd Branson, 1853-1925, features an unprecedented gathering of more than 40 paintings highlighting the ambitions and achievements of the artist and his region. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org. • FREE

FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS

Thursday, Jan. 7 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE Friday, Jan. 8 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between.

Materials will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For grades K-5. • FREE Saturday, Jan. 9 SATURDAY STORIES AND SONGS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • A weekly music and storytelling session for kids. • FREE Sunday, Jan. 10 KMA ART ACTIVITY DAY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 1PM • Every second Sunday of each month, the KMA will host free drop-in art activities for families. A local artist will be on-site to lead hands-on art activities between 1pm and 4pm on the second Sunday of each month.* FREE Monday, Jan. 11 MCCLUNG MUSEUM STROLLER TOUR: DISCOVERING FRESHWATER MUSSELS • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 10AM • Join us for a morning out as our museum educator leads engaging gallery tours for parents and caregivers and their young ones. Crying and wiggly babies welcome! This month we explore freshwater mussels. The event is free, but limited, and all attendees must register to attend online. Registration opens a month in advance and closes the day before the tour. Visit mcclungmuseum.utk.edu. • FREE Tuesday, Jan. 12 PRE-K READ AND PLAY • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • Pre-K Read and Play is a pilot program specifically

designed to prepare children to enter kindergarten. While the format of the program will still feel like a traditional storytime with books, music, and other educational activities, each weekly session will focus on a different standard from the Tennessee Department of Education’s Early Childhood/Early Learning Developmental Standards.

• FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY KID TO KID: FUN WITH A PURPOSE • Cancer Support Community • 3:30PM • Your children will gain coping skills and have opportunities to talk about a loved one’s cancer diagnosis while also having fun. Please call before your first visit and RSVP. 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • LEGO Club will take place in the children’s library. Kids will complete different themed and timed LEGO Challenges, as well as have some time for free building. The library will provide the LEGOs, so all you have to bring is your imagination • FREE EVENING STORYTIME • Lawson McGee Public Library • 6:30PM • An evening storytime at Lawson McGhee Children’s Room to include stories, music, and crafts. For toddlers and up. • FREE Wednesday, Jan. 13 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, Jan. 14 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE Friday, Jan. 15 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between.

Materials will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For grades K-5. • FREE Saturday, Jan. 16 SATURDAY STORIES AND SONGS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • A weekly music and storytelling session for kids. • FREE

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Thursday, Jan. 7 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com.

Donations accepted.

PLANET MOTION WORLD DANCE FITNESS • Champion Ballroom Center • 10AM • All levels fun dance workout incorporating dance and music styles from around the world.

BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance. com. • $12 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: KNIT YOUR WAY TO WELLNESS • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • Whether you are a novice knitter or an old pro, you are invited to January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29

CALENDAR bring your own project or join others in learning a new one. Supplies provided. 865-546-4661. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

BLOUNT COUNTY LIBRARY BASIC COMPUTER CLASSES • Blount County Public Library • 2PM • Basic computer classes are offered, free, at the library. Jan. 6-March 10.

Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE HANDS-ON CAMP STOVES AND WATER FILTRATION • REI • 6PM • In this hands-on course, you will sample advanced camp stoves and water filtration tools. We will discuss how to use and maintain different stoves, water filters and water purifiers. You will leave this class knowing which equipment is right for you and how best to use the tools you already have. Registration required at www.rei. com/knoxville. • $20-$40 Saturday, Jan. 9 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE Sunday, Jan. 10 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY MINDFULNESS BASED STRESS REDUCTION • Cancer Support Community • 4:30PM • This 8-week training program, developed by Dr. Jon Kabat- Zinn from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is a systematic practice that involves focusing attention, relaxing the body and integrating the mind and body to reduce stress. Evidence shows that this program can be effective for controlling anxiety, depression and stress. Must attend the January 10 orientation in order to participate in the series, which runs from January

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

17-March 6 from 4:30-6:30pm. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

Monday, Jan. 11 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted.

LEAVE NO TRACE AWARENESS COURSE • REI • 7PM • Are you aware of the Leave No Trace principles that are so critical in protecting our environment? Want to ensure you are disposing of waste and food correctly when camping? Come join the fun. Registration required at www.rei.com/knoxville. • FREE Tuesday, Jan. 12 KMA WINTER ADULT WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 8AM • All classes are held at the KMA with easy access and plenty of free parking. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Classes and workshops are taught by professional artists, living and working in the East Tennessee area. For a full description of classes and registration information, visit www.knoxart.org.

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY NUTRITION AMMUNITION • Cancer Support Community • 12PM • Call (865) 546-4611.

All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

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

BLOUNT COUNTY LIBRARY BASIC COMPUTER CLASSES •

Blount County Public Library • 2PM • Basic computer classes are offered, free, at the library. Jan. 6-March 10.

Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE LIGHTWEIGHT BACKPACKING: EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUES

BY BRYAN DELAY • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7PM • Bryan Delay will discuss the differences between lightweight, ultra lightweight and super-ultra lightweight backpacking, using base weight as the distinction between each class. He will discuss the big 3 items for reducing the most weight and then items for reducing weight further. He will present the equipment he uses along with other equipment choices. And finally some techniques for comfortable lightweight backpacking will be discussed. Brian is a Knoxville area real estate developer who spends around 100 nights a year in the backcountry of the southern Appalachians and western US. From sleeping under a tarp tent to his personal method of bear bagging, he will provide a wealth of information to any backpacker. • FREE Wednesday, Jan. 13 WINTER CAMPING BASICS • REI • 7PM • You like to camp, but have only tried it in the spring, summer & fall? Learn how to plan, stay warm, select winter appropriate gear and what to expect when setting up camp and during your overnight. Registration required at www.rei.com/ knoxville. • FREE Thursday, Jan. 14 PLANET MOTION WORLD DANCE FITNESS • Champion Ballroom Center • 10AM • All levels fun dance workout incorporating dance and music styles from around the

mid century

world.

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 • No experience necessary, just a willingness to enjoy the creative process. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

BLOUNT COUNTY LIBRARY BASIC COMPUTER CLASSES • Blount County Public Library • 2PM • Basic computer classes are offered, free, at the library. Jan. 6-March 10.

Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 Saturday, Jan. 16 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE INTRODUCTORY INTERNET GENEALOGY • East Tennessee History Center • 1PM • Instructor: Eric Head, BA, Knox Co. Archives and/or Dr. George K. Schweitzer, PhD, ScD. Students use individual computers to explore the five major genealogical sites: Ancestry, Family Search, Roots Web, Google, Genealogy in Time. Participants should bring birth dates and birth places of parents and grandparents.

Pre-registration and a valid email address, as well as good internet searching capabilities, are required to attend. Call 865.215.8809 beginning Jan 4 to register.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

Thursday, Jan. 7 - Sunday, Jan. 17

CALENDAR CLASSICAL TICKETS start at just $15

Sunday, Jan. 17 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY MINDFULNESS BASED STRESS REDUCTION • Cancer Support Community • 4:30PM • This 8-week training program, developed by Dr. Jon Kabat- Zinn from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is a systematic practice that involves focusing attention, relaxing the body and integrating the mind and body to reduce stress. Evidence shows that this program can be effective for controlling anxiety, depression and stress. Must attend the January 10 orientation in order to participate in the series, which runs from January 17-March 6 from 4:30-6:30pm. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

MEETINGS

Thursday, Jan. 7 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 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY FAMILY BEREAVEMENT GROUP • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • CSC is committed to providing bereavement services to those who have lost a loved one to cancer. Please contact our clinical staff before attending. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

KNOXVILLE WRITERS’ GUILD • Central United Methodist Church • 7PM • The Knoxville Writers’ Guild’s Thursday, Jan. 7 program will feature Laura Still & Brent Minchey of Celtic Cat Publishing. The event, which will be open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 7, at Central United Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall, 201 E. Third Ave. CUMC is a new venue for monthly KWG programs and attendees should enter off of the large parking lot behind the church. A $2 donation is requested at the door. The building is handicapped accessible. In early 2015, Laura, a member of the KWG Board of Directors, and Brent Minchey purchased Celtic Cat Publishing from its founder Jim Johnston. They will be speaking to the guild about their experience running a local independent publishing company. For more information email Tyler Lewelling at tyler.kwg@gmail. com.

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY BREAST CANCER NETWORKER • Thompson Cancer Survivor Center West • 6PM • This drop-in group is an opportunity for women who have or have had breast cancer to come together to exchange information, offer support, education and encouragement. Bring your favorite seasonal snack to share. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

Saturday, Jan. 9 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY PROSTATE CANCER NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 10AM • This drop-in group is an opportunity for men to network with other men about their experiences with prostate cancer.

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

Sunday, Jan. 10 LARK IN THE MORN ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCERS • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Call 546-8442. 17th-18th Century Social Dancing with live music. Beginners welcome, no partner

is required. Also Rapper Sword dance group meets most Sundays at 7:00. Free.

SKEPTIC BOOK CLUB • Books-A-Million • 2PM • The book club of the Rationalists of East Tennessee meets on the second Sunday of every month. Visit rationalists.org. • FREE Monday, Jan. 11 KNOXVILLE CONTRA DANCERS • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Call 599-9621. Contra dancing to live acoustic music. No experience or partner required. • $7 GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • We hold facilitated discussions on topics and issues relevant to local gay men in a safe and open environment. Visit gaygroupknoxville.org.

Tuesday, Jan. 12 KNOXVILLE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE • Bearden Banquet Hall • 8PM • Aaron Astor, Associate Professor of History at Maryville College , has written numerous articles, conference papers, and book chapters on the Civil War era especially focusing on the Upper and Border South.

He also has authored several books on these subjects and others aspects of the Civil War. Astor who holds a PH.D, will lecture on The Civil War Along Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau at 8 PM Tuesday, January 12th ,2016, Bearden Banquet Hall, 5806 Kingston Pike. Lecture only cost $5, students free. Dinner at 7PM, $17 including lecture. RSVP BY NOON Monday Jan. 11th, 865-671-9001.

Wednesday, Jan. 13 KNOXVILLE SWING DANCE ASSOCIATION • Laurel Theater • 7PM • Call 224-6830. Dedicated to the purpose of promoting swing dance. Lessons at 7 p.m., open dance at 8 p.m.

COMITE POPULAR DE KNOXVILLE • The Birdhouse • 7PM • A weekly meeting of the local immigrant advocacy organization.

Thursday, Jan. 14 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 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY LEUKEMIA, LYMPHOMA, AND MYELOMA NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • This drop-in group is open for those with leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and myeloproliferative disorders and their support persons. Participants will be able to exchange information, discuss concerns and share experiences. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

KNOXDEVS QUARTERLY MEETUP • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 6:30PM • Bringing together Knoxville area software developers of all skill levels under one roof to network and learn. Whether you’re a student or a senior specialist, come get inspired, build some new relationships, and help make an impact in the local software development community.

Sunday, Jan. 17 LARK IN THE MORN ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCERS • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Call 546-8442. 17th-18th Century Social Dancing with live music. Beginners welcome, no partner is required. Also Rapper Sword dance group meets most Sundays at 7:00. Free.

RATIONALISTS OF EAST TENNESSEE • Pellissippi State Community College • 10:30AM • The Rationalists of East Tennessee focus on the real or natural universe. The

group exists so that we can benefit emotionally and intellectually through meeting together to expand our awareness and understanding through shared experience, knowledge, and ideas as well as enrich our lives and the lives of others. The Rationalists do not endorse or condemn members’ thoughts or actions.

Rather it hopefully encourages honest dialogue, analytic discussion, and responsible action based on reason, compassion, and factual accuracy. Visit rationalists.org. • FREE

ETC.

Thursday, Jan. 7 KNOXVILLE SOUP • Vestal United Methodist Church • 6PM • Sponsored by The South Knoxville Alliance, Knoxville SOUP is a community dinner and micro-funding project designed to raise money for creative projects that are proposed, voted on, and enacted by members of the community. Proposals can be anything that will benefit the community or society in general. For more information or to submit a proposal, visit KnoxvilleSOUP. org. • $5 Tuesday, Jan. 12 TEA-DUCATION • FLOW: A Brew Parlor • 5:30PM • An introduction to tea brewing, featuring samples. Hosted by local tea-maker Reclaiming Your Roots.

Thursday, Jan. 14 FRIENDS OF THE BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY PRE-OWNED BOOK SALE • Blount County Public Library • 12PM • A fundraiser for the library where more than 50,000 books are available—$1 for soft cover and $2.50 for hard cover, plus movies (DVD & VHS), audiobooks and specially priced rare books, collectibles and others--by the Friends of the Blount County Public Library (FOL).• Thursday, January 14, 12 noon until 6 p.m.: Members-only sale, an opportunity for FOL members to purchase books before other members of the public are admitted to the sale. FOL memberships are available at the elevator doors, before accessing the Library lower level.• Friday & Saturday, January 15 and 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., open to the public in the Library lower level. • FREE KNOXVILLE SQUARE DANCE • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Jubilee Community Arts presents Knoxville Square Dance with live old-time music by The Helgramites and calling

by Stan Sharp, Ruth Simmons and Leo Collins. No experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. (No taps, please.) • $7 Friday, Jan. 15 FRIENDS OF THE BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY PRE-OWNED BOOK SALE • Blount County Public Library • 9AM • See Jan. 14 listing for details. • FREE Saturday, Jan. 16 FRIENDS OF THE BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY PRE-OWNED BOOK SALE • Blount County Public Library • 9AM • See Jan. 14 listing for details. • FREE

DEMIRJIAN

Music Director candidate

BEETHOVEN & BRUCH Thursday, Jan. 21 • 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 22 • 7:30 p.m.

Tennessee Theatre Aram Demirjian, conductor Philippe Quint, violin ADAMS: Lollapalooza LIGETI: Romanian Concerto BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7

PREU

Music Director candidate

MOZART PIANO CONCERTO NO. 20 Thursday, Feb. 18 • 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 19 • 7:30 p.m.

Tennessee Theatre Eckart Preu, conductor Alon Goldstein, piano R. STRAUSS: Don Juan MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20 HIGDON: Blue Cathedral PROKOFIEV: Selections from “Romeo and Juliet” Sponsored by Thermal Label Warehouse

Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com

CALL: (865) 291-3310 CLICK: knoxvillesymphony.com VISIT: Monday-Friday, 9-5 January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31

OUTDOORS

Voice in the Wilder ness

Photos by Kim Trevathan

Up a Creek With No Name Seeking still water amid turbulent currents

BY KIM TREVATHAN

I

had reached that stage of holiday exhaustion where too much consumption and stimuli had veiled me in a narcotic mist of fatuous inertia.

Nothing would restore my senses like an excursion into the wilderness, where, as Wendell Berry writes, one may “rest in the grace of the world.”

I launched my kayak on an island just outside Knoxville. While islands are normally places of quiet refuge, this one happened to have a small air strip, perhaps not what Berry had in mind when he wrote his poem, “The Peace of Wild Things.” No matter. An intimate little boat ramp, narrow and tunneled over with trees, led down to a channel of the Tennessee River that scooted between Dickinson Island and South Knoxville, a good portion of it washing against the wooded bluffs of Ijams Nature Center.

I had the vague goal of getting to Burnett Creek off the French Broad, but I underestimated how the rains of

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

recent days had swollen the rivers with crazy eddies, careening flotsam, and a big-shouldered brute of a current.

After 30 minutes of paddling to get out of the half-mile long chute beside Dickinson Island, I had sweated through two shirts. Where was the tranquil “still water” of Berry’s poem?

It was trying to push me back to the ramp, away from my creek, back to land and the frenzy of American holidays. I fought it with constant paddling and veered to the left of Otter Island, away from the crowded trails of Ijams Nature Center, not wanting anyone to see if I happened to capsize in this cold, muddy current with few places to crawl up on the bank.

At the point of Otter Island, the junction with the main channel got devilish. Something below stirred with its own giant paddle and lit flames to boil the water in places that appeared and disappeared, jerking first my bow, then my stern one way and another. As

I huffed and grimaced, the world went on as usual. Kids screamed with delight on the trails of Ijams. A train whistled. And it seemed like there was some kind of air show going on with so many small planes droning about.

Out in the main channel, the big green and red navigational buoys seemed drunk as they were listing so violently, the current here just as patchwork, just as strong, as it had

been in the Dickinson Island chute.

People on the Ijams boardwalk built out over the river pointed and stared as I windmilled the paddle trying to make progress. At this point, Burnett Creek was out of the question. I would aim for the creek mouth upstream of the storage tanks at Ergon Paving and Asphalt, a creek where I had seen a beaver dam from a bridge over Will Skelton Greenway. I’d never been there by boat, and I’d always wanted to see how far up it I could go.

Every time I glanced up from my work, the boardwalk and the people staring were in the same place. Some were aiming cell phones at me. I finally angled toward the north side of the river, away from the spectators, to the inside of the bend at Goose Neck Shoals.

Even though there were dams upstream on the French Broad and the Holston, both them likely controlling the discharge of water, this river was flexing its muscles like in the old days, before the dams, and it was carrying the weight of its authority against my feeble will. A hawk perched on a fencepost just a few feet away from me, but I could not pause in my paddling long enough to take a picture. I told him to wait there for me so I could photograph him on the float back.

I leaned back and lost myself in the trees that formed a skeletal arch above me.

Truly, this is what my fellow Kentuckian Wendell Berry meant by the “grace of the world.”

OUTDOORS “We started seeing all kinds of views and hits on our Facebook page and realized it was because we were mentioned

Back on the south side of the river, at the mouth of the creek, everything changed from turbulence to calm. People passed up above me walking, running, biking, talking and having a great time. I was like a troll down there, but my slow, stealthy progress up the creek with no name (that I knew of) was just the medicine I’d been looking for.

The water was so high, I could scoot over the beaver dam and farther away from the trail, into the utter isolation of the urban wilderness.

Nothing but squirrels and songbirds in the heavy brush around me. I leaned back and lost myself in the trees that formed a skeletal arch above me. Truly, this is what my fellow Kentuckian Wendell Berry meant by the “grace of the world.” Here was that still water.

Just as I was getting drowsy and about to nod off, panic and chaos erupted from the left bank. I’d been so stealthy that I startled a deer bedded down among the privet. Never have I seen a deer move so awkwardly and disappear so quickly.

Back on the main channel, I angled toward the hawk but overshot it in the strong current and had to

work to get back to the place I could get my camera out. He was still there, all fluffed up in the sun. Still there, still there… until I got to the place where I could shoot between bushes, and he serenely glided up to the next fence post, out of range.

I was back at the ramp faster than I wanted to be, but refreshed from the exertion and the discovery of a new place. At home, I searched for the name of this creek that I had just explored for maybe a quarter of a mile of peace.

Google, USGS, TDEC, TVA, Outdoor Knoxville, Tennessee Gazetteer: they all showed it, but they didn’t name it.

I started to like this idea of a nameless creek; how much deeper could you be immersed in the wilderness than to explore something unnamed by humans, where you had penetrated beyond the natural barrier that beavers had built? Maybe I would name it: “Crazy Deer Creek” seemed pretty cool, to me at least.

I posted a query on social media, along with photos. People knew this creek but none by name. I got more and more excited about naming it: Berry Creek, after the writer?

That’s when I made a mistake. I went for a hike the next day. To the bridge over the creek. And there beside the bridge was a memorial, etched in stone, which thanked the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency for its easement over “Red Tail Hawk Creek.” ◆

in the Knoxville Mercury readers’ poll.”

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January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33

FOOD

Home Palate

BALEADA ESPECIAL

Photos by Justin Fee

POLLO CON TAJADAS

Honduran Hideaway Sabor Catracho Latin Cuisine’s menu may be simple but it’s worth seeking out

BY DENNIS PERKINS

D

espite the difficulty it makes for giving directions to friends, let alone strangers, I’m a little enamored of the way that roads change names. For example, if you leave Happy Holler by way of Central Street and head north and across Sharp’s Ridge, the name of the road becomes Bruin Road just after an intersection with Dutch Valley Drive.

If, perchance, you have issues with name changes and opt to avoid this one by turning left onto Dutch Valley, you’ll be confronted with your issues again in mere seconds when Dutch Valley morphs into Central Avenue Pike as it bends out of its easterly direction and turns to the north.

Aside from the name changes, it’s an interesting drive, and a much more pleasant and navigable way to reach Merchant’s Drive than the course that

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

Interstate 75 affords. This section of Central Avenue Pike is an interesting strip dotted with businesses housed in mostly aging buildings that live in stark contrast to the shining and well-lit commercial mass just up the road that surrounds the entrance and exit ramps for the interstate. In the midst of these businesses lives Sabor Catracho Latin Cuisine. It sits in a section of the pike that includes a handful of Latino businesses that haven’t much in the way of signage to attract much more than destination traffic. In my visits, I seemed to be the only stranger in the house.

It’s not a restaurant that will grab your attention, and if it does you may well be bewildered about where to park, but both of the neighboring businesses are friendly about sharing their spots. At any rate, it’s not hard to

PUPUSAS miss and dismiss the place owing to its lackluster appearance. There is, however, one tiny bit of verbiage on its little sign that makes it worth the effort to stop: Honduran Home Cooking.

Honduran food isn’t a particularly exotic cuisine. Like much of Central American cooking, the raw ingredients are familiar with a handful of interesting, but hardly exotic, foods like plantain and cassava. Honduran food, at least as expressed at Sabor Catracho, is earnest and essential without aspirations beyond a desire to feed you well.

That said, the menu only has a handful of Honduran dishes alongside a particularly famous dish from El Salvador and a whole page of Mexican favorites. It seems to be a safe and calculated decision that thankfully doesn’t leave the traditional dishes swimming in an inauthentic pool of Monterey Jack. Still, I’d love to see more Honduran dishes show up.

(After researching the subject, I’m desperate to try Honduran tamales.)

Notwithstanding my desires, the food that’s there is good, especially the Baleada Especial. This very traditional breakfast and street food consists of a large flour tortilla stuffed with a mix of ground beef, refried beans, scrambled eggs, slices of avocado, and crema. Crema is like sour cream, but it’s creamier, perhaps a touch more salty, and not quite sour.

SABOR CATRACHO 4705 Central Avenue Pike 865-686-3221 Monday–Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m.

It struck my palate as more luxurious in taste and texture than traditional sour cream but with similar effect.

The dish itself tasted exactly like what it was, but with an unusual pop of savory flavor from the refried beans.

Honduran frijoles refritos aren’t much like the standard mushed pinto beans that get sloshed about town.

These start as kidney beans that are cooked, mashed, and cooked and cooked again until they become a dark and glossy paste that’s nearly caramelized. It adds an umami-like savor to everything it touches.

The beans also work as an excellent companion to a traditional breakfast plate that includes carne asada, scrambled eggs, a pile of soft, fried ripe plantains, a bit of what appeared to be queso fresco, and a healthy dollop of crema right in the middle. There was also an interesting bit of sausage; it tasted like kielbasa, but it had been cut and fried in the shape of a floret. On the whole it was hearty, simple food, but the generous application of those refried beans— more like a sauce than a side dish— added a very satisfying level of unexpected flavor and richness that often comes from careful reduction.

Sabor Catracho also serves Pollo con Tajadas, which is basically fried chicken with fried green plantain and Honduran slaw. This is a mess but one that won me over despite the

Home Palate

FOOD Knoxville

While the simplicity may not make for a fancy date night, the straightforward, even plain décor is an honest representation of the food’s ethos.

stack of napkins I required to eat it.

Here the plantains are like very crisp, starchy fries. At least they start out that way because they sit underneath the even crispier fried chicken, which, in turn, rests beneath a mountain of cabbage dressed with some secret sauce that permeates everything. It’s a mountain of food—and the real challenge is that the chicken is fried on the bone. This pollo is a dish that comes with a dress code or at least an insouciant attitude about wearing your meal on your clothes.

Despite the mess and my initial confusion, I loved it. Eating it required a freewheeling and dexterous collaboration of fork and fingers that was both challenging and fun. The chicken is fried pretty hard, so there were plenty of super-crisp bits to stand up to the goop of the cabbage salad. The plantains added more texture and crunch, which, along with their pillowy interior, gave the plate a lot of contrast that was both delectable and delightful.

El Salvador is represented by the noble pupusas—they’re thick corn

tortillas stuffed with cheese and chicharron and served with a little curtido (a Salvadoran version of slaw).

It’s a simply presented dish that, like most of these offerings, is flavorful and fi lling. The stuffi ng is rich and beautifully offset by the little tang from the curtido.

The restaurant is owned by the same folks who run Campbell Station’s La Cabana Cuban Flavor, and while the quality of the food is as good, the places couldn’t be more different. At Sabor Catracho, the dining room is about as divey as they come. The lighting is garish and the décor is dominated by a big-screen TV situated on the rear wall and a monstrous jukebox in the front corner.

Still, while the simplicity may not make for a fancy date night, the straightforward, even plain décor is an honest representation of the food’s ethos. Like much of Central American cuisine, the food here is hearty and comforting and not cheesy or remotely spicy, though there is hot sauce on every table if you need some heat. ◆ January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35

’BYE

Sacred & P rofane

Life As We Know It A message from a stranger never met

BY DONNA JOHNSON

“We cannot lose what is our own, even if we throw it away.”

—The I Ching

O

ne morning, while trying to light my pipe in the blustery wind at Lawson McGhee Library, a young man watching me finally said, “Would you like to have a cigarette?”

“Yes, I would,” I said, gratefully accepting his hand-rolled cigarette.

His hands were long and slender, and he carried himself with the grace of a concert pianist despite his clothing, which was cheap and ragged. His dark hair was unkempt and he wore a knapsack on his back. He looked to be in his early 20s, yet already had an air of sadness.

“Thanks for the smoke,” I said.

“Not too many people are giving away their cigarettes these days. They’re so expensive now.”

He continued to stand there, saying nothing.

“It’s the worst of many bad habits I’ve acquired in my 64 years,” I continued. I often babble like this when the person I’m talking to does not respond in the socially acceptable, often inane fashion I expect.

He shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m homeless,” he replied.

His eyes were so full of sadness that I could hardly bear to look into them, as if his sadness were a contagious illness I might catch.

“Are you homeless, too?” he asked.

“No,” I replied. “But I’ve been close. I’ve been evicted no less than five times in the last seven years. I like to paint murals on the walls of subsidized housing apartments so I’m

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

definitely not a favorite with landlords.”

At this he smiled, so I put out my hand. “I’m Donna,” I said.

“I’m Peter,’ he said, shaking my hand.

“Where are you from?” I asked.

“I came with my girlfriend, Anna, last week from Montreal. She had been admitted to the graduate program at UT in social work and was studying the phenomenon of homelessness in different regions.”

“And where is Anna today?” I asked.

“She was murdered last week at the campground where we were staying,” he said, with no more emotion than if he were describing his favorite color. I wasn’t sure if I had heard him right.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“She was stabbed in the dark when she went out to go to the bathroom,” he replied, looking up at the sky, as though he might see her or the reason for the violent crime that had taken her from him. Could this story be true?

He opened his wallet and took out a photograph of himself and a tall girl with delicate features and long, blonde braids. They had their arms around one another and the girl had her other hand up, forming a peace sign.

“She was beautiful,” I murmured, and found myself believing him.

“She was so beautiful,” he agreed, gazing wistfully at the photograph. “And she was full of goodness and light. She was murdered for her beliefs, basically.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, staring up at the clouds in the sky that

seemed now full of foreboding. Still reeling from what the young man had disclosed to me in his dispassionate way, I pondered the meaning of existence itself. If a young girl so full of promise could be murdered, what chance did the rest of us have?

“It’s really all in how you look at it,” Peter said, taking the flask I offered him and pouring a shot of whiskey down his throat in one gulp. I followed suit and we began walking towards Market Square, like old comrades, which perhaps we were, on some level.

Peter abruptly stood still and cocked his head, as though he were listening to a voice in the wind, which now blew fiercely.

Peter laughed out loud, then returned to our conversation.

“It’s strange, we communicate all the time,” he said. “It’s not in words exactly, but something deeper than that. She tells me I need to forgive the people that killed her because they actually helped her by showing her that the body is really only a vehicle for the soul, and that our true essence can’t be touched by anything or anyone.

“Anna was too pure for this planet. If they hadn’t of killed her, she would simply have chosen another way to transcend. You see, Anna’s love and acceptance of people of all races was like a reproach to them. Because they hold on so tightly to rage and hatred and destruction, when she tried to teach them differently, they had to destroy her in order to keep their own evil ways.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Evil is only a consequence of ignorance, but ignorance can do vast damage.”

Before we parted, we shared

another shot of whiskey and a cigarette. A heavy rain began to fall but Peter and I just grinned when he put up his oversized umbrella and we turned our backs against the wind.

The rain let up after only a few minutes and Peter said: “She is giving me a message for you.”

“Really?” I said. I wasn’t too sure about these messages coming from the so-called other side, but since I seemed to be screwing up a fair amount lately, I was ready to listen to anything.

“Anna is telling you to stop wasting so much time on people you don’t even like, who don’t like you either. Be more selective, and above all, spend more time alone. That’s where the real gifts of the spirit can be found.”

This wasn’t exactly new information, but it had been a long time since I had heard it, and an even longer time since I had practiced it. Much of my life recently has just flitting in and out of places and people’s lives, ones with whom I have no connection.

As I passed by the Church of Immaculate Conception on Summit Hill, I went in, kneeled, did a hasty Hail Mary, and vowed to repent and change my ways in the new year.

Seclusion seemed about the most promising thing I could think of in the moment.

It’s hard to say whether I’ll succeed in a new and improved life, with a cleaned up and made-over attitude. Sometimes I’ll win, sometimes I’ll lose, but I’ll never know what I can do if I don’t try as hard as the radiant girl from Montreal. ◆

I wasn’t too sure about these messages coming from the so-called other side, but since I seemed to be screwing up a fair amount lately, I was ready to listen to anything.

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’BYE

Spir it of the Staircase

BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY

38

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 7, 2016

www.thespiritofthestaircase.com

’BYE

BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY

CLASSIFIEDS

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FOR SALE BLUE VINTAGE NORTHFACE HIKING BACKPACK, aluminum external frame.

Early 1980's or so, about 90 liters. Great condition for its age, but some wear. $100 OBO. 678-313-7077

NORTH KNOXVILLE’S PREMIER RENTAL HOMES pittmanproperties.com

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FUN AND FESTIVE JEWELRY , local and handmade, unique felted or modern faceted beads, hand-painted geometric necklaces, and more. etsy.com/shop/triciabee

HOUSING 1BR APARTMENT IN PARKRIDGE - $425. 2BR $465. Take half off rent for first month, for December or January leasing. 865-438-4870

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FOCUS ON HEALTH, HARMONY AND PROSPERITY IN 2016 with Feng Shui remedies in your home or workplace.

Presentation with Nancy Canestaro at Knoxville Soap Candle and Gifts, 5201 Kingston Pike.

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ANGEL IS A 4-YEAR-OLD medium-sized female black and tan Shepherd/Rottweiler mix looking for her forever home. Angel will be spayed, microchipped and fully vetted when adopted. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center or call (865) 215-6599 for more information.

EIRWEN IS A 5-YO DOMESTIC MEDIUM HAIR MIX who is ready to be adopted. He is a large cat and will be UTD on vaccinations, neutered and microchipped when adopted.

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MARYVILLE’S FAIR TRADE SHOP. Unique gifts from around the globe. Hours: Wednesdays 2-8 pm and Sundays 8:30-9:15 am and 11:30 am-12:15 pm. Monte Vista Baptist Church 1735 Old Niles Ferry Road. For more information call 865/982-6070.

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January 7, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39

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