Vol. 2, Issue 6 - Feb. 11, 2016

COMING MARCH 5:

Knoxtacular! An All-Day, All-Live, All-Local Variety Show BEST DAMN QUESTIONNAIRES IN THE BUSINESS

FEB. 11, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM V.

2 / N.6

A VOTER’S GUIDE TO THE CANDIDATES

PRIMARY REASONS 2016 KNOX COUNTY PRIMARY ELECTIONS Who’s running?

Why are they running?

Where do they stand on local issues?

What are their big ideas?

2016

JACK NEELY

Visiting KMA’s ‘Knoxville Seven’ and the Store of Tomorrow

MUSIC

Local Teenage Punk Trio Hellaphant Grows Up Fast With Its New EP

STEPHANIE PIPER

The Weather Puritan: Does Knoxville Ever Really Earn Spring’s Return?

OUTDOORS

Camping Near the Obed Wild and Scenic River When It’s Really Cold

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Inventor-in-Chief

Fascinated by logic and complexity of machines, Abraham Lincoln invented an axleless wagon and a device for increasing the buoyancy of riverboats. In 1849, at the age of 40 and while serving in the U.S. Congress, Lincoln applied for and was granted a U.S. Patent for the latter invention. In reality, the design would never prove to be functional. The combination of guides, block and tackles and air chambers completely consumed the cargo space of the riverboat, making it economically unfeasible. Nonetheless, Lincoln is the only U.S. President to hold a patent.

Years later, his interest in technology would serve him throughout his presidency when he approved the production and purchase of several new weapons. President Abraham Lincoln spent much of his time in the Telegraph Office of the War Department, pouring over telegrams from his generals so he could better understand the methodology of warfare.

Modern weapons such as ironclad ships, repeating rifles and breech-loading cannons increased the capability of one side to inflict damage on the other. Wooden ships in Navy fleets around the world were rendered obsolete when the ironclads U.S.S. Monitor and C.S.S. Virginia battled in early March 1862.

Railroads increased the logistical capabilities of both North and South, and Samuel Morse’s telegraph created an almost instantaneous means of communications between armies and governments.

Home to treasures like this model of Lincoln’s patented riverboat design, the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum is located on the historic campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. It houses one of the top five Lincoln and Civil War private collections in the world.

Free Admission Fridays and Saturdays in February.

Museum.LMUnet.edu

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

Feb. 11, 2016 Volume 02 / Issue 06 knoxmercury.com

CONTENTS

“ Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

2016

10 Voter’s Guide: 2016 Knox County Primary

COVER STORY

Early voting has begun for the March 1 Knox County primary elections, and we’ve surveyed all the candidates with the best damn questionnaires you’ll find anywhere. We asked them about actual, specific issues! So get the rundown: which elections could be decided in March, what do all these would-be Knox County officials stand for, and what you need to know before taking to the polls. Voters will decide on filling seven positions on County Commission, electing a new Knox County law director and property assessor, and seating four on the Board of Education. The law director and property assessor races are so contentious, in fact, that we had S. Heather Duncan try to explain them.

The print version of this story includes only candidates in contested races. Go to knoxmercury.com for questionnaires from candidates in the non-contested races, too.

Join Our League of Supporters! So did you read that letter to the editor this week? Find out how you can help at knoxmercury.com/join.

DEPARTMENTS

OPINION

A&E

4 Editor’s Note 6 Howdy

8 Scruffy Citizen

20 Program Notes: William Wild’s

26 Spotlights: PechaKucha

21 Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson

OUTDOORS

Start Here: Roadside Sketches

by Andrew Gresham, Believe It Or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory

38 ’Bye

Finish There: At This Point by Stephanie Piper, Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray

Jack Neely finds the connection between the KMA’s Knoxville Seven show and the Store of Tomorrow.

9 Perspectives

Joe Sullivan explains how Knox County’s primary may disenfranchise Democrats who want a vote in races that feature only Republicans.

CALENDAR new EP. Plus Knoxtacular!

traces the career of country-music journeyman “Little Robert” Van Winkle.

22 Music: Matthew Everett is mightily impressed by recent high-school graduates Hellaphant.

36 Voice in the Wilderness

Kim Trevathan decides to give winter camping a shot at Rock Creek Campground.

24 Movies: April Snellings hails the Coen brothers’ Hail Caesar!

February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3

EDITOR’S NOTE This Publication Is Not Free

A

little over a year ago, we completed a successful Kickstarter campaign to launch the Knoxville Mercury. We raised over $60,000 from 645 backers—not just ones living in Knoxville, but from all over East Tennessee and beyond. Combined with donations from a few hundred other people, we were able to assemble enough funding to start the presses: almost $200,000.

That alone is an amazing achievement for Knoxville, and perhaps an unprecedented one: A lot of its citizens agreed that an independent alternative to corporate-owned media is important enough to fund themselves. It didn’t take an outside media company to start a professionally reported and designed paper in Knoxville—it took lots of people with a belief that local in-depth journalism still matters.

So we dived in: We set up an office downtown, bought computers and software, found a high-quality printer, established a distribution network, created a logo and overall publication design, hired a part-time reporter and freelance contributors, signed up sales people, and set a publication schedule.

Along the way, we established a new sort of ownership structure for a newspaper: a not-for-profit company governed by a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit, the Knoxville History Project.

It has been an exhausting, frantic, and rewarding year.

How have we done so far?

Editorially, we have striven to report stories that you won’t find elsewhere, providing a unique perspective on Knoxville and its surrounding area, from its culture to its people to its history. We also invested a lot of time and effort into writing in-depth stories that go beyond daily headlines to give context and nuance to important issues.

Our part-time reporter, Heather Duncan, has worked more hours than a full-time staffer, recently completing a three-part cover series on the Knoxville Police Department that provides more insight into how it operates and how it relates to Knoxville’s black community than any other story I can remember,

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ever. Our full-time reporter, Clay Duda, came on board in August and quickly immersed himself into Knoxville life and governance, not only examining how public policy can go adrift (such as the contentious hillside and ridgetop plan) but also people’s lives, shadowing a homeless person for 24 hours to give a street-level view of a problem that policy-makers continue to struggle with.

Business-wise, we still have a way to go. In the real world of start-ups, $200,000 doesn’t exactly provide you with a long runway to get your company up into the air. We faced the daunting task of trying to achieve a nearly vertical take-off, and we’ve had our ups and downs since then. While citizens financed the Knoxville Mercury’s launch, local businesses play a critical role in continuing its publication through their advertising dollars.

Grassroots journalism requires ongoing community support.

Although we’re a niche publication with a distribution of 25,000 weekly copies, we believe our readership is truly valuable—we can deliver an audience of Knoxville’s most active, most passionate, most involved consumers. Rather than a scattershot approach, we can help local businesses target exactly the sorts of people they need to reach: the ones who actually respond to what they read, whether it’s stories or ads. And we’ve got the success stories of ad campaigns that made a difference to prove it. But we found that some business owners’ early vows of support were more theoretical than realistic, while others decided that our competition’s suddenly slashed ad rates were a better deal for them. On the other hand, we’ve also discovered new clients who believe in us and our ability to help deliver their messages.

We need more of them.

Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015 In the meantime, we’ve appealed to donors again, and established our League of Supporters. One of the perks for joining up is party passes for an annual fundraising concert—and I’m happy to announce it’s here.

On Saturday, March 5 at the Bijou Theatre, the Knoxville Mercury, the Knoxville History Project, and public radio station WDVX will present a day-long variety show in support of Knoxville’s independent voices. It’ll be a free show, broadcast live on WDVX 89.9 FM, featuring all-local talent: a true Knoxtacular.

(See the poster on the opposite page, and look for the lineup next week.)

We’ll be appealing to you to make donations to our endeavors. It’s still a tumultuous time for journalism as even national corporations grapple with finding viable business models.

On the local level, independent print publications such as the Mercury need to take a few lessons from public radio stations like WDVX, WUOT, and WUTK. Our efforts require ongoing community support. It’s a route that grassroots news organizations in cities around the country are taking as traditional papers have waned and coverage has become more homogeneous: community investment in homegrown, truly local efforts.

So if you’ve appreciated any of the stories we’ve presented in the past year, now is the time to donate—either during our concert (details to be announced) or at our website, knoxmercury.com/join.

If you’re a business owner who keeps meaning to advertise with us, now is the time to give our sales team a call: 865-313-2048 If you’re a company or foundation with an interest in underwriting journalism in Knoxville, now is the time to discuss it with me: 865-313-2052.

When Metro Pulse was suddenly terminated in 2014 by corporate decree, a common public refrain was, “I would’ve paid for it.” Although the Knoxville Mercury is similarly a free paper, it is not free to produce. We pay the talented people who assemble this publication because we feel their efforts are worth it. We hope you agree.

—Coury Turczyn, editor

EDITORIAL EDITOR Coury Turczyn coury@knoxmercury.com SENIOR EDITOR Matthew Everett matthew@knoxmercury.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jack Neely jack@knoxhistoryproject.org STAFF WRITERS S. Heather Duncan heather@knoxmercury.com Clay Duda clay@knoxmercury.com CONTRIBUTORS

Chris Barrett Ian Blackburn Patrice Cole Eric Dawson George Dodds Lee Gardner Mike Gibson Carey Hodges Nick Huinker Donna Johnson

Rose Kennedy Dennis Perkins Stephanie Piper Ryan Reed Eleanor Scott Alan Sherrod April Snellings Joe Sullivan Kim Trevathan Chris Wohlwend

DESIGN ART DIRECTOR Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Charlie Finch Corey McPherson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

David Luttrell Shawn Poynter Justin Fee Tyler Oxendine CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS

Ben Adams Matthew Foltz-Gray

ADVERTISING PUBLISHER & DIRECTOR OF SALES Charlie Vogel charlie@knoxmercury.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Scott Hamstead scott@knoxmercury.com Stacey Pastor stacey@knoxmercury.com

BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Scott Dickey scott.dickey@knoxmercury.com

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 706 Walnut St., Suite 404, Knoxville, Tenn. 37902 knoxmercury.com • 865-313-2059 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR & PRESS RELEASES editor@knoxmercury.com CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS calendar@knoxmercury.com SALES QUERIES sales@knoxmercury.com DISTRIBUTION distribution@knoxmercury.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Terry Hummel Joe Sullivan Jack Neely Coury Turczyn Charlie Vogel The Knoxville Mercury is an independent weekly news magazine devoted to informing and connecting Knoxville’s many different communities. It is a taxable, not-for-profit company governed by the Knoxville History Project, a non-profit organization devoted to exploring, disseminating, and celebrating Knoxville’s unique cultural heritage. It publishes 25,000 copies per week, available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. © 2016 The Knoxville Mercury

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT:

Live from the Bijou Theatre

Saturday, March 5

$10 suggested donation Broadcast live on WDVX.com/89.9 FM Performer announcements next week!

February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5

Illustration by Ben Adams

HOWDY

Believe It or Knox!

BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX Magnolia Avenue is lined with more than 100 magnolia trees—yet the street is not named for the tree, but for a woman, Magnolia Branner, who was mother of a Knoxville mayor. However, Walnut Street has no walnuts at all!

Roadside Sketches by Andrew Gresham (agreshamphoto.com)

QUOTE FACTORY “ Pack your supper.”

—State Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, when asked by the Chattanooga Times-Free Press whether there would be a “war” on the House floor over the school voucher bill he’s sponsoring. However, he pulled the bill on Monday when nearly two dozen amendments were proposed before it was even discussed.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

2/11 DARWIN DAY KEYNOTE SPEAKER THURSDAY

7 p.m., Cox Memorial Auditorium, UT Alumni Memorial Building (1408 Middle Drive). Free.

A more exact name might be Darwin Week as UT has been brazenly celebrating the birthday of Charles Darwin right under the noses of Republican legislators.

Famed paleontologist Neil Shubin will cap off the festivities by speaking on “the 3.5-billion-year journey of evolution on Earth” during his lecture, “Your Inner Fish.” There will also be a birthday party at the McClung Museum from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday.

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2/12 CLASS: LOVE POTIONS FRIDAY

6-8 p.m., Central Collective (923 N. Central St.). $25.

Okay, so they’re really cocktails, but we could use a few before Valentine’s Day hits. Central Collective co-founder Dale Mackey (of fried pie fame!) will lead a class all about infusions, syrups, and cordials—inspired by love.

Peter Staub, the Swiss-born tailor who became mayor of Knoxville and U.S. Consul to Switzerland, and who established the city’s first big venue, Staub’s Opera House, died in downtown Knoxville at the age of 77—IN AN ACCIDENT CAUSED BY A RUNAWAY HORSE! Unlike most Southern cities, Knoxville has never had a Civil War monument downtown! The city was so divided in its loyalties, a monument for one side or the other would have caused problems. When Union and Confederate monuments were finally planned, in the late 1800s, they were placed in out-of-the way spots where they didn’t have to be seen by citizens who weren’t looking for them.

2/13 KPD CHILD SAFETY SEAT CHECKPOINT 2/16 MEETING: CITY’S ONE-YEAR PLAN SATURDAY

10 a.m.-1 p.m., 917 E. Fifth Ave. Free.

Child seats are complicated. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, 80 percent of all child restraints are used incorrectly. So why not have certified car-seat technicians inspect or install your child seats correctly?

TUESDAY

6 p.m., Middlebrook Pike United Methodist Church (7234 Middlebrook Pike). Free.

The Metropolitan Planning Commission is taking public input on proposed changes to the city’s One-Year Plan, which charts land-use policies for the next 12 months.

This meeting is for the West and Northwest sectors. The East, North, and Central sectors meet Feb. 11 (Burlington Branch Library, 6 p.m.); and the South Sector on Feb. 23 (Flenniken Landing, 6 p.m.).

St. Valentine’s Day Knoxville has celebrated Feb. 14 for generations, but sometimes with pranks

“When on your bicycle you’re but a clown; You rouse the jeers and laughter of the town.

An awkward gawk you are as e’er was seen, You can’t crack your skull, it is too green.

You often get a ‘header,’ so sell the thing at once.

Twas made for men of brains, not an awkward dunce.”

Its origin with the beheading of a Christian martyr is mysterious, and may have something to do with an odd Roman festival called Lupercalia, but Valentine’s Day was celebrated in England by the 1400s.

Tennessee’s first settlers probably didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. However, Gov. John Sevier’s father, grandfather, brother, and nephew were all named Valentine Sevier.

The family tradition ended when the youngest Valentine Sevier was killed in an Indian attack in 1792.

Knoxvillians have observed Valentine’s Day with cards since the decade before the Civil War. Back then, valentines were sometimes romantic, but were often pranks.

The prank card, known as the “penny funny valentine” remained a tradition for decades. As a local reporter remarked in 1908, “The number of true valentines that are sent out do not begin to compare with the thousands of [cards with] comical and grotesque pictures”.

In 1906, Chilhowee Park offered a penny arcade, with multiple games and stereoscopic viewers. One machine, featuring a robotic Cupid, was called “Post Office.” It announced, “There is a letter at this office for you from your sweetheart.” Below were separate slots for “Gent” and “Lady.”

Some young lovers chose Valentine’s Day for a wedding date. However, it does not seem to have been a day for going out on a date with a sweetheart. Heart-shaped Valentine chocolate boxes first appeared in the 1890s, and “conversational” sugar candies with love notes on them first appeared in 1901.

“To-day...everyone is at liberty to make love to, or poke fun at, in a sly way, somebody else,” according to an unsigned article in a Knoxville paper on St. Valentine’s Day, 1856.

“To-day, many a trembling hope will be changed Photo courtesy of the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection to sweet assurance by some love-winged cmdc.knoxlib.org missive—but there is a dark side to the In the late Victorian era, a few affluent picture.” The writer then mentioned “those Knoxvillians hosted Valentine’s Day luncheons horrid burlesques, whose gilded exteriors hold a rapturous promise to the and parties. The Baptist Young People’s Union hosted formal public debates on eye but break the heart!”

Valentine’s Day, on subjects such as whether “under some circumstances, a lady ought to propose.”

In 1898, a Knoxville reporter toured downtown greeting-card shops. Some valentines were elaborate lovers’ notes, with images of cupid. But several cards The volume of mail was such that it was tiresome to postal clerks. “We have ridiculed various groups of people with verse, perhaps akin to the “horrid run into a regular snowdrift of valentine mail,” said Chief Mailing Clerk John burlesques” of 40 years earlier. One “valentine” showed a cartoon of a uniformed Kidd in 1901. The post office was then in the building now known as the East policemen in uniform secretly getting beer from the side door of a saloon, with Tennessee History Center. He estimated postmen handled about 6,000 extra the following poem: letters, and 4,000 extra packages that week. “I suppose it is a delightful “You sneaky, worthless rascal! How did you get a place On the force of public guardians, with such a thievish face.

You haven’t got a particle of conscience or soul And anyone that wants to can buy you with a bowl.”

Bicycling was at its height of popularity in 1898, and one “valentine” showed a bicyclist taking a tumble:

custom, but we can’t appreciate it here perhaps as we ought to,” Kidd said. “We like Groundhog Day better than any of the feast or fast days, because it is one of the days that everybody talks about but don’t write about.”

It was, mostly, a holiday for being silly, and perhaps a day one could be forgiven for insults and pranks, as long as they were on a funny card. Substantial gifts and personal dinners or dates became popular only recently.

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 February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7

SCRUFFY CITIZEN

When We Were Modern The Knoxville Seven, and the Store of Tomorrow

BY JACK NEELY

I

f you’re curious, after a while you’re likely to run across something about a group of defiantly modern artists called the Knoxville Seven. You might see a surprising abstract here or there, in a gallery or a friend’s house.

For the first time in about half a century, you can see their work at once, in context. The Knoxville Seven is the subject of the Knoxville Museum of Art’s latest show.

The reference may call for some justification. They didn’t shamelessly crib the name of the alleged riot provokers known as the Chicago Seven. The Knoxville Seven were first. Nor are they a subdivision of the Knoxville 22, the counterculture demonstrators arrested on UT’s campus in early 1970—although I gather it’s safe to say that some of the Knoxville Seven sympathized.

Kermit “Buck” Ewing came to UT in 1948 and founded the university’s art department. UT had been a practical college for most of its history, but in the 1930s and ’40s, the college tripled in size, and liberalized—considering heretofore unprofitable studies like drama, music, and art. Originally from Pittsburgh, Ewing was a charismatic force of nature and a local champion of modern art.

By 1959, art was changing in controversial ways, and Ewing prodded Knoxville’s artists forth into the fray. He cobbled together a group of talented artists with an interest in the modern.

Five of the Seven, including Ewing, Philip Nichols, Carl Sublett,

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Walter Stevens, and Richard Clarke, were UT faculty members. Joanna Higgs Ross, a Middle Tennessean who was attracted to the Smokies as a subject, lived in Knoxville for only a few years.

The most Knoxvillian of the Seven is still a Knoxvillian today, and attended the opening of this show.

Robert Birdwell was a professional artist who was attracted to urban scenes and architecture of downtown Knoxville, where he once kept his studio. Now in his early 90s, Birdwell cuts a striking figure in a black beret, In 1963, at their height, the Seven threw a landmark party at UT’s then-new McClung Museum, then one of Knoxville’s most modernist buildings. Their April 1963, show shocked some viewers, as was their intention.

This winter’s show is their first retrospective. Included are several paintings from that one, as well as some interesting pictures and reactions from the time.

Every visitor will view it differently.

It’s a reflection of the time, of an era when affluent Americans kept up with the latest trends in modern art, the time just after Pollack and just before Warhol.

These artists were influenced by the contemporary masters of abstract expressionism and Pop Art, a term and concept that soared in popularity in the early 1960s. They aspired to match the best of their era, and not just locally: “Seven Knoxville Artists of America,” as their McClung Museum exhibit was billed.

But this KMA show is more

particularly a rare window on Knoxville during a time when the city was urgently, fiercely, self-consciously, nervously, desperately trying to reinvent itself, and to become Modern. In 1947, we’d been called, credibly, the ugliest city in America. In the 1950s, the city suffered its steepest population decline.

And it was the era of urban renewal. You could argue that the sweep of urban renewal was modernism writ large. It took a cluttered, intricate, old-fashioned, decorative landscape and powerwashed it, leaving us an almost-blank canvas to ponder.

Maybe it’s forgivable to take special interest in the Knoxville scenes of Ewing, Sublett, and Birdwell. Sublett painted bridges over the river. Birdwell created some pretty fascinating views of Gay Street, one much more abstract than the other.

One of the oldest in the show is Ewing’s affecting portrayal of an eccentric downtown newspaper vendor in 1949.

I was surprised as the title of a rectangular Ewing semi-abstract oil, called “George’s-Rich’s from Broadway.” I’d heard of George’s, the old-line Knoxville department store that was on Gay Street. Older folks remember it. And I’d heard of Rich’s, the trendy, upscale Atlanta-based department store that built a modernist palace in downtown Knoxville, between Henley and Locust Streets. I had to go to the library files to see what Ewing meant by “Georges’s-Rich’s,” that uneuphonious pairing of the two possessive proper nouns. George’s and Rich’s merged in 1954. By the time they opened the big new Knoxville store in August, 1955, the result was known only as Rich’s. It was known as George’s-Rich’s for only a few months during the construction of the Henley Street store. Ewing’s

painting likely depicts that moment.

It was the most dramatic architectural opening in Knoxville history.

Rich’s promised “suburbia brought downtown.” Designed by Stevens & Wilkinson of Atlanta, with local assist from Barber McMurry, it would include “parks” on both sides, designed by Garrett Eckbo of Los Angeles, one of America’s foremost landscape designers of the 1950s. The interior would be done by the industrial designers Raymond Loewy and William Snaith, of New York, famous for automotive designs.

It was to be “ultramodern,” the “Store of Tomorrow.” It had glass stairwells and an undulating white marquee. It won a national architecture award and was written up in the New York press as “eye-popping.”

The ribbons across its entrances couldn’t be merely snipped. That was old-school.

Mayor George Dempster, inventor of the Dumpster, had been born in 1887, when electric lighting was new.

But he was the one who pushed the button that activated a little gift from Oak Ridge, a capsule of Iodine 131.

The atomic charge sent a white cloud into the air, and it drifted over 5,000 cheering civilians. It was not, as far as I can tell, a mushroom cloud. It effectively severed one of the ribbons, but had trouble with the other.

Rich’s was not “ultramodern” in one respect. Its fabulous dining facilities were racially segregated. The building, renowned in 1955 for its architecture, may be most famous to history as the backdrop for photographs of civil-rights picket lines in 1960. It closed in 1961 and became downtown’s second Miller’s. Now, of course, it’s UT’s Conference Center.

See the show at the KMA, and let me know what you think. ◆

By 1959, art was changing in controversial ways, and Kermit “Buck” Ewing prodded Knoxville’s artists forth into the fray.

PERSPECTIVES

Ballot Imbalance March 1 primary voting is inequitable

BY JOE SULLIVAN

T

he way in which presidential primaries and primaries for county elected offices are combined in the upcoming March 1 election deprives Knox voters of what should be their rightful choices.

That’s because voters can only opt to get a Democratic or Republican ballot for both primaries, whereas it’s clear that a large number who support a Democrat for president still want to have a say in county elections that are all but sure to be decided in the Republican primary.

The last time there were real contests for presidential nominations in both parties in 2008, 51,851 votes were cast the Republican primary and 38,585 in the Democratic primary in Knox County. By contrast, in the most recent primary purely for county offices in 2014, there were more than 23,000 votes on the Republican side and fewer than 3,000 on the Democratic.

Several conclusions can be drawn from these disparities: • Far more people care about the presidency than are concerned enough about local government to bother voting.

• The disproportionately low participation in purely local Democratic primaries is evidence that many voters of a Democratic disposition recognize that Knox County has become such a Republican stronghold that only winners of its primaries stand a chance of getting elected to countywide offices and vote accordingly.

• The turnout in local primaries, which are held in May in non-presidential years, is reflective of the body of citizens who are more conversant with the workings of county government than the much larger ranks of presidential voters. As heretical as

this may sound to promoters of big turnouts, I’ll take a small electorate that’s well informed about candidate qualifications and positions over one that gets inflated by people who scarcely know who’s running.

So what can be done to rectify this inequity that’s disenfranchising civic-minded citizens who want to vote in the presidential primary of one party and the local primary of another?

One possibility is to have two separate ballots and let voters choose one of each. However, Knox County’s able Administrator of Elections Cliff Rodgers says that state law precludes such “split primaries.” Rodgers also points to an obscure provision of state law stipulating that voters in a party’s primary must either be a “bona fide member of and affiliated with the party” or “declare allegiance to the party” prior to voting. While he acknowledges that “I’m only aware of two or three times in Tennessee history” when this provision has been invoked, it admittedly seems a stretch for someone to cast ballots in two different party primaries at the same time in the same voting booth.

Another approach would be to move the county primary in presidential years back to the first Tuesday in May when it’s held in other years. State law would allow this, but the Knox County Charter poses an impediment.

The charter calls for the county primary to be held on the same date as the presidential primary. However, it allows County Commission by ordinance to move it to “such date as the County Commission determines shall be most economical and convenient for the citizens of Knox County.”

Unfortunately, there’s no mention of what’s most equitable, and there’s no denying that it’s more economical

for the county to hold the two primaries in conjunction.

That’s because the state covers the cost of the presidential primary whereas the county picks up the tab for all other elections, even including November’s when only federal and state offices are on the ballot.

Rodgers reckons that it costs on the order of $250,000 to $300,000 to conduct a countywide election; and he also insists it’s more convenient, at least for him, to only hold three such elections in a year rather than the four that would result if the county primary were held separately in presidential years.

It’s instructive that of the 12 other states that are holding their presidential primaries on Super Tuesday, as March 1 is being billed this year, only three hold their state and/or local election primaries on the same date.

It seems clear to me that Knox County voters other than straight party-line Republicans would be better served to have their local primaries held later as well.

ABSENTEE BALLOTS FOR VOTERS OVER AGE 60

Tennessee law allows anyone age 60 and above to vote by absentee ballot, and Rodgers is urging them to do so.

The reason is he’s fearful that the complexities of the Republican presidential primary will create long lines and confusion at the polls.

In addition to voting for a candidate, Republican primary voters also face a plethora of choices for delegates to the Republican National Convention.

More than 170 would-be delegates are on the ballot competing for 14 at-large and three Congressional district slots.

Most of them are pledged to one of the 10 candidates but some are uncommitted. Marco Rubio supporters have 33 delegates to choose from. Donald Trump’s have 27 and the choices diminish for the other candidates, down to one for Chris Christie.

Republican voters don’t have to make delegate selections, but they may be in the voting booth for a long time if they do. By contrast, Democratic primary voters only pick a candidate, leaving it to party officials to select the delegates.

Absentee ballots can be obtained by submitting an application form by Feb. 23 to the Knox County Election Commission either by mail, fax, or email.

More info: knoxcounty.org/ election. ◆

ENTER TO WIN! Drop by Three Rivers Market by February 15th for your chance to win a pair of seats to all Big Ears performances at the Tennessee Theatre!

Thursday 3/31: Knoxville Symphony Orchestra with Steven Schick performing the music of John Luther Adams, Bryce Dessner, & Philip Glass Friday 4/1: Andrew Bird & eighth blackbird with Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Bryce Dessner Saturday 4/2: An Evening with Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass

local, organic, and natural food

Open daily 9 am - 10 pm 1100 N. Central St. Knoxville, TN 37917 www.threeriversmarket.coop February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9

A VOTER’S GUIDE TO THE CANDIDATES

PRIMARY REASONS 2016 KNOX COUNTY PRIMARY ELECTIONS Who’s running?

Why are they running?

Where do they stand on local issues?

What are their big ideas?

2016

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

E

arly voting for the upcoming primaries kicked off this week, on Feb. 10, and will run through Feb. 23. The general elections are still months away, but the fi rst real electoral test comes March 1, when folks across the nation and here in Knox County will take to the primary polls to narrow the field of state and national candidates, and presidential hopefuls.

While there are high-profi le national races grabbing headlines, a number of key local slots are also up for grabs, some of which may be defi nitely voted on during the primary cycle well ahead of general elections on Aug. 4. So here’s the rundown: which elections could be decided in March, what do all these would-be Knox County officials stand for, and what you need to know before taking to the polls.

Ultimately, voters will decide on fi lling seven positions on County Commission, electing a new Knox County law director and property assessor, and seating four on the Board of Education. All of these races except the BOE are partisan, which means candidates declare a political party and the top vote-getter from each (Republican, Democratic, and Independent) advances toward a fi nal vote in the general elections. However, only Republicans are vying to fi ll openings as law director and property assessor, so whoever takes the primary in each race will be a shoo-in for the nomination (barring an unforeseen write-in upset that likely will never happen).

With the BOE, things work a little differently. It is run as a non-partisan race, and that affects how the primaries play out. The top two candidates with the most votes move on to face off in the general elections unless one of them pulls more than 50 percent of the vote during primaries, in which case he or she wins the seat out right.

Not all the vacancies on the BOE or County Commission are contested, however, and some partisan races only have one candidate from each party running. The primaries will not impact those races, so we’re not going to waste your time with them here—go online to knoxmercury.com to see responses from most all the candidates!

Knox County Commission CANDIDATES IN CONTESTED RACES

District 1

EVELYN GILL PARTY: Democratic AGE: No response FAMILY: Married HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? 19 years JOB: Special education teacher, Knox County School System

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in Political Science; Master’s in Public Administration, Rutgers University; Leadership Class, Hauser Institute for Civil Society at Harvard University POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Candidate for State Senate, District 6, and County Commission, District 1

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

I am interested in making my community a better place to live.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

Blighted properties. Integrated infrastructure improvement for the 1st District along with economic investment.

In two sentences, describe your approach to business and development growth in the county: The five ways in which government can have the most positive effect are by making capital more accessible, facilitating business education, promoting entrepreneurship, simplifying the regulatory process, and supporting intellectual property innovation.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

The County Commission approves the budget for the school system. Both entities must have a professional and respectful working relationship. I support a property tax increase if monies are allocated to support teachers, technologies, and classrooms.

Do you support the Midway business park?

Why or why not?

I do not support the Midway business park. I support agricultural sustainability in East Knoxville and maintaining a healthy and balanced ecosystem for the French Broad River.

RICK STAPLES

positive change happening around them, allowing for sorely-needed opportunities for internships and job trains, and giving our youth hope for their futures.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

State law has set the boundaries for County Commission’s involvement with the school system.

There is only so much that can be done. I’m for staying competitive with other counties in recruiting and retaining the best educators. Taxes may have to be increased at some point over the next three years.

Do you support the Midway business park?

Why or why not?

The Midway business park has been voted on and passed by the Commission. As a supporter of business recruiting, I’m always excited to see jobs come to our area. I feel the business park would stimulate business interest in District 1.

District 2

PARTY: Democratic AGE: 45 FAMILY: Three children HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? Entire life JOB: communications and project management for Castles of Choice Realty, Development and Lead Abatement Firm EDUCATION: No response POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Candidate for City Council District 4

MICHELE CARRINGER PARTY: Republican AGE: 53 FAMILY: Husband, Dr. Michael Carringer, and two adult children

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

Being raised in District 1, I was formed by its rich and diverse culture. I refer to it as the “Diamond District.” I want to work towards restoration of its once former glory with thriving businesses, strong entrepreneurial spirit, and proud neighborhoods.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected? In two sentences, describe your approach to business and development growth in the county.

In response to both questions above: Business recruiting must be the top priority for District 1. My district is plagued by blight, neglected neighborhoods, and schools in disrepair. Strong businesses once thrived for decades in District 1, and those days must return. With an individual who is willing to serve and who is a product of the powerful history of this great district, actively working with our Chamber of Commerce and State Business recruiting. An ambassador for the District 1, which has no rival in all of Knox County, with its unique infrastructure. We were built for growth, able to sustain progress. With the arrival of business comes growth and development, which produces a firm tax base and creates partnerships. Our young people would finally see

HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? Entire life JOB: Homemaker EDUCATION: Central High School (1980); attended University of Tennessee College of Communications (1980-81) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Knox County Commission, Seat 7B (2009-2010)

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

I was raised in a family that was always very active in the community and I was taught to seek out opportunities to help and serve others. Because of this I have has a lifelong passion for service, from being a volunteer mom with two children attending our public schools or serving on numerous civic boards and organizations. I believe that Knox County Commission provides an excellent platform from which to serve the community that I love.

During my two years on the Commission, I was able to provide assistance to numerous individuals with a variety of problems, from zoning issues to trash cleanup. I was proud that I helped push through approval for building a new Carter Elementary School and also sponsored the creation of the Knox County Insurance Committee, which has proven to be one of the most important standing committees in Knox County February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11

that has resulted in substantial savings for taxpayers.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

The two most important issues we face in Knox County are: (1) to support our schools with the resources they need to provide high-quality education for our children and grandchildren. (Notably, school funding represents over 60 percent of the Knox County budget.) (2) to maintain the kind of business climate in Knox County that encourages growth and expansion so our children have the opportunity to find good-paying jobs right here at home. To accomplish these objectives we have to maintain fiscal discipline in our county government and we have to continue to expand our tax base so that raising taxes is our last resort, not the first.

In two sentences, describe your approach to business and development growth in the county: We are already experiencing significant economic growth in our county. To build on this progress we need to continue to invest in the education and training of a skilled workforce, continue to keep taxes low and neighborhoods safe, improve our infrastructure, and encourage responsible development which respects the environment and property rights of others.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

By law, County Commission’s responsibility is to fund the schools (at least at the level of the prior year’s funding), but they are not allowed to dictate how the funds are spent, which is the job of the school board and superintendent of schools. I think this system works, but it requires that each body be held accountable by the voters. In the end, all stakeholders need to focus on what is best for our students, teachers, and parents. As stated above, my preference regarding increases in tax revenues is to increase the tax base, not marginal tax rates.

Do you support the Midway business park?

Why or why not?

I believe the Knox County Commission made the right decision on Dec. 21, 2015, when it voted to approve rezoning the property. This allows the county to take the next steps toward determining the best utilization of the property. However, it is imperative that the Commission maintain close scrutiny of the situation to assure that the final use of the property is consistent with the best interest of the taxpayers of Knox County.

JOHN N. FUGATE II PARTY: Republican AGE: 72 FAMILY: Married, with three adult children HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? 10 years 12

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

JOB: Vice president of Commercial Bank and manager of the Fountain City branch EDUCATION: B.S. in Secondary Education, East Tennessee State University; Masters in Administrative Supervision, East Tennessee State University; Certificate in real estate POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Three months on the Board of Education.

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

When I served on the school board, that kind of spurred my interest. I’m at the age where I’m going to retire one of these days and I’m in good health physically and—knock on wood—mentally as well, and I want to serve my community and stay engaged.

My wife is the same way. We’re going to stay engaged and active as long as we can.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

I want to be an advocate for small businesses so they can grow and increase their income, and that way it increases the county revenue through sales tax.

That’s the best driver of income (for the county). Right now, today, we’ve got this issue of crime in our community. Zaevion Dobson getting killed was a terrible tragedy, but sometimes it takes a tragic event so that we can address the real problem. Hopefully the community won’t forget about that tragedy and it will serve as an awakening to address some of these issues that need to be addressed in our communities.

We also need an advocate for our seniors, our physically and mentally challenged people, our veterans and police and firefighters. We need advocates for all those groups.

In two sentences, describe your approach to business and development growth in the county: We need to be sensitive to our businesses by providing an atmosphere where they can thrive and where they can meet the needs of the community as well as their own needs. We need to make sure we get all the rules and regulations off stymied businesses, we need to provide adequate access to business so people can get in and out (especially in busy areas), and we need to make sure businesses are accessible by the customers.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

Let me give you a little formula: The Commission’s job is to pass the budget and prioritize the money where it’s most needed. The beauty of the Board of Education is that they’re the controlling body for the school system. They set the rules and they set the standards, and then it’s the superintendent’s job to follow the directive of the school board. So my job as commissioner is to make sure I’m aware of what’s going on in schools, and when the budget comes to

make sure I understand what’s in the budget and make sure the money is going to the right areas, and then our job is to pass the budget.

I am against the idea of a property tax increase up front until we really study the budget and see where our money is being spent. We have close to $460 million going into the school budget. I feel like before we raise any taxes we need to make sure that money is going where it needs to go and it’s prioritized in the right places, making sure it makes it to the classrooms and the kids and not the upper echelons. I think right now we’re out of balance there.

Now if we’re balanced and need more money, I wouldn’t be opposed to a property tax increase, but I’m really reluctant to put more taxes on the property owners because they’re just about got all the burden they can stand.

Do you support the Midway business park? Why or why not?

Yes. I feel like that is one area where this county could really grow. We need some kind of attraction in that area that will get motels and restaurants built along with the industrial park to kind of piggyback off that Pigeon Forge attraction. If we had something out there that could get someone to stop and spend the day or spend the night, just think about what that could do for our sales and real estate taxes. That’s the only interstate interchange that has not been developed in this county.

District 4

HUGH NYSTROM PARTY: Republican AGE: 48 FAMILY: Wife, Angelia, and one son HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? 34 years JOB: Director, Childhelp Tennessee EDUCATION: Webb School of Knoxville (1985); B.S. in Finance, University of Tennessee (1989) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: None

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

In my job at Childhelp, I have had the opportunity to be “all in!” on serving our community for the past 10 years. The important work of protecting abused children and finding adoptive homes for children in the foster care system has shaped my view of our community and has provided insight into the importance of protecting our most vulnerable citizens. I have also been fortunate to have served our community through Leadership Knoxville, as well as service on a diverse group of boards (Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking, The Muse Children’s Museum, Knox County’s Sheriff’s Department Community Alternative to Prison Program,

TN Alliance for Children and Families, Junior League Advisory Board, and the Executive Committee for the 2014 Congressional Medal of Honor Society Convention). Frankly, the time I have devoted to serving our community (and its most vulnerable citizens) has inspired me to give back even more by serving in an elected capacity, specifically representing the 4th District on our County Commission.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

Many residents in the 4th District have discussed with me the importance of communication between the school board and Knox County Commission. As our County Commissioner, I will meet frequently with my counterpart on the school board so we each have a first-hand idea of the current challenges and opportunities facing each body. I dislike surprises, and I anticipate that frequent communication will help ensure that we are each representing the views and values of the 4th District in a cohesive manner.

Secondly, a vital business community is key to our community’s continued success. I will work hard to be sure that Knox County continues to be a great place to own a business and grow jobs for our community.

In two sentences, describe your approach to business and development growth in the county: Be pro-growth so we can bring new quality employers to our community. Be proactive in helping our existing employers grow and add additional jobs.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

I would prefer for the Knox County school board to handle all management issues related to Knox County Schools. Knox County Commission’s role is to appropriate the budget for Knox County Schools. I would like to keep County Commission limited to that capacity. By meeting frequently with my counterpart on the school board, my goal will be to avoid any surprises when budget time comes.

At this time, our state senators and state representatives are reviewing a current Basic Education Program funding model. My hope is that changes to the formula, or an increase in state funding for schools, will result in additional funds for the Knox County School System.

Increased funding at the state level combined with local growth in tax revenue should increase our funding for schools. This combination of revenue growth should prevent the immediate need for a tax increase. Do you support the Midway business park? Why or why not?

I support the Midway business park 100 percent. The Midway business park’s location and amenities will be a driver of new jobs in our community for the

next 20 years. The reliable TVA power station and connection to KUB waste system will be major selling points for future employers. The plans also include extensive areas of preserved natural land and wildlife corridors that will be enjoyed by both people and wildlife. Additionally, the Employment Center Zoning that has been proposed for the park will provide specific permitted uses and standards for the property.

To ensure the Midway Business Park is a win-win, I would advocate for Knox County to invest in the natural amenities that are in the nearby community. The Seven Islands State Birding Park and the French Broad River are beautiful. Our county should plan to promote these areas for tourism.

There will be new growth and development in the area immediately surrounding the Midway exit.

However, with proper planning, we can keep the natural character of the overall area. We have the Urban Wilderness adjacent to downtown Knoxville. I think we can do it on a similar scale in the Midway Community.

JEFFREY CARL OWNBY PARTY: Republican AGE: 48 FAMILY: Married, with five children How long in Knox County? Entire life (except for time in the military) JOB: Realtor, Realty Executives EDUCATION: West High School (1985); Bachelors in Political Science/Government, Ashford University (2013) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Current County Commissioner for District 4 (6 years)

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

I decided to run six years ago to serve my community and to be the voice for my district because I felt that a lot of elected officials don’t listen to the citizens but instead listen to the special interests.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

One is mental illness. When the state closed Lakeshore [Mental Health Institute], it put a burden on the county and caused our mentally ill to be on the streets or in our jail and not getting the help they so desperately need. We need to have a Safety Center built so that we may address the mentally ill needs and it would also relieve the jails for mentally ill inmates that do not need to be there.

The other issue is the lack of training and funding for our special needs children in our county and schools. I will continue to fight for additional funding for training our teachers and for more tools to help teach our special needs children.

In two sentences, describe your approach to

business and development growth in the county: I believe smart development and growth is essential to our community to keep taxes down and bring good paying jobs to our county.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

I believe in our agreement with the school board that they run the school and we stay out of telling them how to spend the money, but I do believe that we should give our opinions as taxpayers and the funding body. I would look at any tax increase and gauge whether it is needed at the time or not. If I knew the money would make it to the classrooms, I would seriously look at it.

Do you support the Midway business park? Why or why not?

I voted against it the first time because of the way I felt it was being ran down the taxpayers’ throat. I did support it the second time because it was more open and I felt that the sewage issue I had with it before had been addressed.

JANET TESTERMAN Party: Republican AGE: 47 FAMILY: Husband Joey Creswell, two stepdaughters; she’s also the daughter of two-term Knoxville mayor Kyle Testerman.

HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? Entire life (except eight years to attend university and post-grad work) JOB: Manager, Corporate Communications at Scripps Networks Interactive EDUCATION: Webb School of Knoxville (1987); B.A., Southern Methodist University (1991); Masters in Strategic Communication, American University (2016) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Treasurer for Bob Thomas, Knox County Commissioner At-Large.

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

I’ve been working toward this endeavor for the past six years or so, and have been approached over the years by a number of people across the community about running for public office. More importantly, I’ve been immersed in the community both professionally and across a number of diverse organization and am ready to now take my experience and leadership into the government sector and help guide Knox County into the future.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

I think the Safety Center is top of mind for a lot of residents and the overcrowding of our jail system. We

have a growing and pervasive issue with our inmates who suffer from mental illness, and the county is spending more than $1.2 million just transporting and providing needed medication to that specific inmate population with no viable long-term plan in place to deal with this escalating issue. The proposed location next to Helen Ross McNabb and that agency’s willingness to step up to manage the facility is a good start, but we need to build out a sustainable plan given this would be the only mental health facility in East Tennessee since Lakeshore [Mental Health Institute] closed.

The second issue would be to create better communication channels between our neighborhood associations, developers, and the county. Often times we want the same outcome but disagree—or are not armed with the full scope of information—on how to get there. I think there are opportunities to break down some of the silos and generate a productive cross-pollination of ideas about where we want to see our county in five and 10 years.

In two sentences, describe your approach to business and development growth in the county: Support and create opportunity for private enterprise.

Build a solid infrastructure for long-term growth, which includes our roads, schools, and energy and land resources.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

There is no question we need a healthy and collaborative working relationship between County Commission, school board, and the director of schools. There is a fiduciary responsibility from each of these parties to work together toward the overarching goal of supporting and providing our children with the tools, productive environments, and human resources to succeed. To accomplish that, there must be ongoing dialogue between each vested group, which also includes parents, in order to manage expectations and avoid surprises. I also think it’s critical to create a brain trust between members of each entity and encourage commissioners and school board members to spend more one-on-one time to share perspectives, insights, and goals.

Part of my platform is to prepare our kids for success with the highest quality education; therefore, it is extremely important to me that our Knox County schools attract, hire, and retain the highest quality teachers to support that mission. In order to do that we have to have the resources to do so. Part of my platform is also to keep taxes low. That said, taxes are a reality, and if we are going to keep them low, yet continue to pursue the highest standards, then as a community we have to get creative about building our tax base through both efficient spending and fostering economic growth to expand that tax base.

Do you support the Midway business park? Why or why not?

Yes, I do. This goes back to my platform to foster economic growth; however, Knox County is becoming depleted in buildable land, and we have to be strategic about how we utilize our remaining land resources. I am sensitive to the fact that perception is reality, and residents do not want another “concrete jungle” descending in the “space.” However, the plan for Midway is to create an environment that is an “extension of” and not “a departure from” the existing community. Some of the architectural features include green space, trails, down-lighting, and building codes that make the Midway business park an attractive place for companies to call home.

District 6

BRAD ANDERS Party: Republican AGE: 43 FAMILY: Wife, Jennifer, and one daughter HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? 32 years JOB: Lieutenant, Knoxville Police Department EDUCATION: Holston High School (1991); B.S. in Organizational Management, Tusculum College (2007) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Elected to County Commission for a partial term and then reelected in 2010

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

I had been observing local government for some time and had grown tired of the way Knox County was moving. I have been on Commission since 2008 and served in leadership for four years. I feel we are now viewed as much more professional and have made progress in several areas. I would like to continue to represent our district as we continue to grow and prosper.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

I think the two most important issues we face are school budget and infrastructure needs. I have been addressing capital needs in our district and have been successful in getting several projects either started or in the queue that will make our area much safer.

We have constructed a sidewalk on Steele Road, placed traffic circles in high-accident intersections on Bob Gray, funded Karns Valley extension and Schaad Road extension.

The schools continue to be a work in progress. As the school board chooses a new leader, the focus will need to be on setting a course of success in the classroom. We need to prepare our students to be successful no matter what career path they choose.

We will continue to make sure more money is focused on classroom instruction.

February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13

In two sentences, describe your approach to business and development growth in the county: I have been very active with the Knoxville Chamber, participating in the economic development process to recruit and grow businesses. I have also worked with local businesses, helping them navigate county government in order to get their businesses started.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

I think a commissioner should have a good working relationship with the school board and a good understanding of school programs. I do not think a commissioner should be over-reaching in handling board matters to the point he or she is focusing on day-to-day operations of the schools. That is the role of the school board.

I am not opposed to raising the budget of the school board. We have increased the schools’ budget almost $80 million since I came into office. If we have to raise taxes, I do not favor only raising them for education. We must have a plan to meet the needs of all the departments and hopefully sustain us like the last increase in 1999.

Do you support the Midway business park? Why or why not?

I did support Midway and I think it will pay benefits in the future for job growth in the east part of the county. Being as engaged as I am with economic development, I have seen the effects of being land-deficient, and the negative impact it has making the short lists for relocating or expanding companies.

warning signs, and street slang being used today.

Bottom line is I want to help the community in any way I can.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

We have a major need for updated roads due to the rapid growth within District 6. I will work with the mayor and engineering department to come up with a plan as to how to fund these projects and as to what roads are the worst based on the studies that have been done. Mental health is a major concern as well in our county. Their needs to be a plan in place to help get the mentally ill the help they need in order to get them back to the normalcy they once had. We have hundreds of mentally ill patients now homeless and in our jail system that with a little help could be working and giving back to Knoxville. This program could be implemented with a good, effective anti-drug campaign that educated teachers and parents on the signs of either a mental health issue or drug addiction.

In two sentences, describe your approach to business and development growth in the county: I plan to hold open forums and meetings at local businesses to help promote growth within our local businesses. I want to grow our community in a more strategic way that it makes sense, so that we are not overcrowding our residential areas with big commercial buildings.

What degree of involvement in decisions involving public schools do you think is appropriate for the County Commission? What is your position on approving increased public budgets if that entails some property tax increase?

PARTY: Republican AGE: 36 FAMILY: Wife, Danielle, and one son and one daughter HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? Entire life JOB: Sales Consultant, Inova Payroll EDUCATION: Bearden High School (1998); A.S.,

I feel that County Commission should have influence with the public schools, but the ultimate decision will have to be with the Board of Education, which is why they are elected. I am not in support of a tax increase and I feel we can work out the needed funds with what we currently have. I am all for funding our public schools, whatever they need, as long as those funds are being used appropriately and benefit our students and teachers. We will have to all (County Commission and BOE) work together to come up with a plan that works within our means.

Pellissippi State Community College (2009); B.S. in Business Management, Tusculum College (2011) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: None

Do you support the Midway business park? Why or why not?

JOHN ASHLEY

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

Growing up in a politically-involved family as a child, I have always had a passion to help others. Being in sales for 10+ years and getting to know the businesses within the district, I have seen and heard of some issues I felt I could try to improve on. If elected I will be the commissioner that is involved in the community, listening to what the people have to say, committed to a full four-year term, and I will support a more effective anti-drug campaign to help better educate teachers and parents on the dangers, 14

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

I am in support of the Midway business park at this point due to more strategic planning with the community’s involvement. I feel growth is always a good thing, as long as it’s done strategically and with a purpose. We have to entice businesses to come here. By doing that it will keep our unemployment low and our taxes low. I will work with the Knoxville Chamber to help make this happen and stay on track.

Note: Some answers were edited for length. Go to knoxmercury.com to read full responses from both contested and uncontested candidates, as well as a bonus question about protective zoning.

Knox County Board Of Education CANDIDATES IN CONTESTED RACES

District 2

JENNIFER OWEN AGE: 48 FAMILY: Husband, Robert Owen HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? 20 years JOB: Former teacher, Knox County Schools EDUCATION: B.S. in education, University of Tennessee (1991)

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: No response What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

Knox County School system has the potential to be an education leader in our state and region. However, the district has become mired in a culture of distrust and finger-pointing that hampers its ability to make real progress. I want to help our school district rebuild trust with students, parents, staff, and the community to enable us to begin to be the great district we can be.

What are the two most important issues for you, and how will you address them if elected?

1) Put the focus on students and let our teachers teach: Students are much more than data, and board members must demand that they are treated as such. As a board member I will continue advocating for students by speaking with county commissioners, legislators, the community, and our business partners to help them understand the complex needs of students and public schools. I will insist that petty squabbles or any discussion that takes away from issues of importance to our students is not conducted in board meetings.

2) Repair community relationships by being representative, accountable, and transparent: Government systems must be representative, accountable, and transparent at every level. A board that functions with any kind of voting bloc is none of those. We must end us-against-them games and work together. As an involved voter, I know you expect elected officials to act with integrity and fiduciary responsibility. To do that, the board must also be open and transparent in all actions.

Are you thumbs up or thumbs down on Superintendent Jim McIntyre’s departure?

Thumbs down to the circumstances around Dr. McIntyre’s departure. There has been a great deal of discussion about what the “new board” will do in the future without anyone asking potential new board members whether any of the speculation is true. As a result, this very unfair and unfounded soothsaying has cost the taxpayers a great deal of money that could have been used much more responsibly.

What are the three characteristics you believe are most important in the next superintendent?

The next direct of schools must: (1) have extensive experience in public schools; (2) be able to understand and relate to the community with skills to enhance, rather than impede, the flow of information; and (3) have a child-centered philosophy which puts the well-being of students above all else.

Testing and relationships between teachers and the administration have been a source of local controversy over the last few years. What, if anything, would you change about the district’s approach on either of these topics?

The source of controversy has been less about the existence of these problems and more about the district’s refusal to acknowledge problems in any meaningful way.

There is a deep culture of mistrust, which will be difficult to overcome. As a board member, my first responsibility would be to work to create actual transparency.

Transparency is a great buzz word, but when parents call the central office regarding a test and they are told that it is mandated by the state, and they call the state’s Department of Education about the same test and are told that it is mandated by the district, and then they call the school and are told it’s a federal mandate, it is completely meaningless. I expect to be given real and accurate information and for that information to be shared openly and honestly with the public. Nothing less is acceptable.

GRANT STANDEFER AGE: 59 FAMILY: Wife, Rhoni, and three adult children HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? 24 years this March JOB: Executive director, Compassion Coalition EDUCATION: B.A. in Bible, Lubbock Christian University (1978); M.A. in Biblical and related studies, Abilene Christian University (1981); doctor of ministry in missional

and spiritual formation, Lipscomb University (2015) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: None

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

I have had a concern for, and a commitment to, public education for many years. The nonprofit I lead has always placed an emphasis on public-schools engagement as a great place to have a positive impact in our community. Education is critical to the future of our children and our community, and the Knox County Board of Education is responsible for establishing good policy for our public schools.

Serving on the board, therefore, is a logical place to have a positive impact on the future of Knox County.

Much of the testing done in our schools is federaland state-mandated. With the new ESSA legislation at the federal level there should be more control at the state and local levels, although there is considerable uncertainty about what that looks like at this time.

The new superintendent and the Knox County BOE must look closely at the amount of testing that is being done beyond what is required at the federal and state levels and determine if there is too much testing and, therefore, too much teaching to the test. There still needs to be, however, good ways to measure the progress and effectiveness in our classrooms. A balance must be achieved.

District 5

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

1) The state of Tennessee has made good strides in academic growth and achievement in recent years.

Knoxville has set the standard for other communities in Tennessee. The most important issue for me is continued growth in student success. We have made progress, but we still have much work to do.

2) There has been a great deal of conflict surrounding public education in Knoxville. My work in the community has been to bring those from broadly divergent perspectives together to address and engage some of the most pressing issues of our community. My desire is to be a consensus builder in this context, too. My goal is to be someone that helps bridge some of the divides so we can take positive steps forward. This is about the well-being of our children and the future of Knoxville. We have to keep our eyes on the most important thing, the children.

LORI ANN BOUDREAUX AGE: 49 FAMILY: Son, Brandon HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? 13 years JOB: Volunteer counselor and researcher EDUCATION: Doctor of education in educational leadership, University of the Cumberlands (expected 2016); master of education in educational leadership, University of North Florida (2003); master of science in counselor education, Florida International University (1998); bachelor of science in secondary education, Millersville University (1988) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: I am an educator, not a politician

Are you thumbs up or thumbs down on Superintendent Jim McIntyre’s departure?

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

The decision has been made. Dr. McIntyre will be leaving in July. It is, I believe, counterproductive to focus on the past. Dr. McIntyre did some very good things for Knox County Schools and for our community.

That was not, however, without controversy. Referring to my answer to the previous questions, I will work in a spirit of cooperation with other board members and select the best possible superintendent and forge a positive path forward.

As an educational leader and student advocate with over 15 years of teaching and counseling experience, I want to take the next progressive step to enhance the student learning experience. I feel a connection with the students and families of the Knox County school system as I served as a school counselor at Farragut Middle School, Hardin Valley Elementary, West View Elementary, Bearden Middle School, Powell High School, and Bearden High School. Additionally, I’m currently conducting dissertation research pertaining to the qualifications of school board members and how these qualifications relate to student achievement. Finally, on a personal note, I’m a grandparent with a vested interest in making the Knox County School District a program of excellence.

What are the three characteristics you believe are most important in the next superintendent?

I am looking for a person committed to academic excellence for all of our children. Our new superintendent should be able to communicate clearly, cast vision, and work with others in a way that they consider themselves an important part of making that vision a reality. It is also critical that this person be someone that is able to listen, gather critical data, and make hard decisions regarding what is best for our children.

Testing and relationships between teachers and the administration have been a source of local controversy over the last few years. What, if anything, would you change about the district’s approach on either of these topics?

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

Two issues that require immediate attention include hiring a new superintendent and school board member relations. These issues are most important because they set the tone of the entire program.

These issues would be addressed by working collaboratively with the Board to select the best superintendent to move the district forward and by enforcing professionalism and collegiality among board members by providing mediation in-services

and workshop training on successful board relations.

Are you thumbs up or thumbs down on Superintendent Jim McIntyre’s departure?

If a superintendent wants to resign then it is in the best interest of the district or him to leave. If he is not totally committed and passionate about his work then the school and students will suffer. Since he initiated his resignation, I am in favor of his departure as he was discontent in serving as superintendent.

What are the three characteristics you believe are most important in the next superintendent?

Specific training and experience give me a unique advantage in selecting the next superintendent.

Progressive and multi-disciplinary education has provided me with a diverse background from the classroom to the boardroom. Over 15 years of hands-on experience in the school system in a variety of roles has enabled me to consider student, teacher counselor, parent, and administrative perspectives.

In terms of characteristics, a successful superintendent should have the ability to establish rapport with diverse populations. He should be responsive and accountable. In terms of qualifications, he should have proven leadership skills and a minimum of five years of progressing experience at the building level.

Testing, and relationships between teachers and the administration, have been a source of local controversy over the last few years. What, if anything, would you change about the district’s approach on either of these topics?

Decisions pertaining to testing should be based on research that pertains to the validity and reliability of the testing. It is important to note, however, some decisions are made at the state and federal levels with mandates that limit board level decisions. As a board member, I would seek clear answers regarding the costs of TNReady/TCAP testing in order to gain a clear understanding of the financial impact on schools. Some needed information would include the number of test-taking students in Tennessee, the number of test-taking students in Knox County, the amount Tennessee spent on developing a computer delivery system from North Carolina Company, etc. Other implications that must be considered would include an analysis of the effects of the testing on students, the amount of teaching time devoted to these tests, and the technology purchased to support testing to name a few.

My approach would be an informed and collaborative approach. The relationship between teachers and administration should be one of professionalism and collegiality. A true leader doesn’t gain followers, but rather develops other leaders.

Administrators should practice methods of andragogy rather than pedagogy when dealing with teachers.

SUSAN HORN AGE: 44 FAMILY: Husband, Brad, two daughters

HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? 22 years JOB: Elementary education coordinator, Christ Covenant Church EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree, University of Tennessee (1993) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: None

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

In 2006, my older daughter began kindergarten at Farragut Primary School and I discovered a love for serving as a PTA volunteer. Since then, I have held various positions in the Farragut PTAs and PTSOs. I served as PTA president at both Farragut Primary and Farragut Intermediate, and I currently serve on the PTSO Board of Managers at Farragut Middle and Farragut High schools. I served on the Knox County Schools District Advisory Council 2011-2013.

Having been in these positions, parents often come to me when school policies or situations arise that concern them. Over the last several months, some of these same parents have encouraged me to run for the school board. Like them, I believe in public education and want to see the viewpoints of the 5th District’s students, teachers, and taxpayers represented on the board. My desire has always been to support teachers and administrators so that they have the needed resources to provide the high-quality education our children deserve.

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

At the top of my list is the environment of testing and the negative impact of an assessment-driven school system. Quality instructional time is being exchanged for test prep, practice testing, and changes made to schedules during the testing window. I will recommend students be given the minimal number of state-mandated tests and advocate that the current TNReady test be replaced.

Another issue facing our schools is the perception of a lack of a cohesive agenda between the school board, the superintendent, and the community. The Board of Education and the superintendent must work together to set goals for the district that are always student-focused. For every decision I will ask the question, “How does this impact and help our students and teachers in the classroom?”

Are you thumbs up or thumbs down on Superintendent Jim McIntyre’s departure?

I think Dr. McIntyre made the right decision by stepping down. Our focus needs to be on educational excellence for every student. My hope is that a new board and new superintendent will bring about an atmosphere of harmony and partnership that has been missing for some time now.

What are the three characteristics you believe are most important in the next superintendent?

A superintendent must possess strong leadership and communication skills. He or she must have the ability to collaborate with and satisfy the demands of the school board, central office staff, administrators, February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15

teachers, parents, and community stakeholders. I believe we need someone with vast classroom and administrative experience who has a vision of providing students with a stimulating, engaging education that encompasses all areas of a child’s learning experience, from academics to art, music, and athletics.

Testing, and relationships between teachers and the administration, have been a source of local controversy over the last few years. What, if anything, would you change about the district’s approach on either of these topics?

As I stated earlier, I’m very concerned about the environment of testing and the effect it has had on our students and teachers. It is a shame that teaching has become so demanding that talented teachers have chosen to leave Knox County Schools over the last few years. A highly qualified, happy teacher in every classroom is key to student success! To attract and keep top teachers, Knox County must increase the teacher pay scale, provide for autonomy in the classroom, and respect teachers as the professionals they are. Honest educator feedback must be welcomed and encouraged so that a harmonious team effort can be utilized to fix the problems in our schools.

REUBEN PELOT NICKNAME: Buddy AGE: 52 FAMILY: Wife, Judith Pelot, three daughters HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY? Entire life (lived about five years in Chattanooga and moved back in 1996) JOB: Attorney and shareholder, Egerton, McAfee, Armistead & Davis, P.S. EDUCATION: Bearden High School (1982); B.A., University of Tennessee (1986); M. Ed. in Policy Development and Program Evaluation, Vanderbilt University (1987); J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law (1991) POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: None

What stoked your interest in running for this political office?

I am a firm believer in the importance of a good public education system to all facets of our society.

My wife and I have been very active participants with our three daughters’ schools. My wife has been president of the parent/teacher organizations at each of our kids’ schools multiple years, currently on her third year leading Bearden’s PTSO. I have spent the last seven years on Bearden’s Foundation Board as vice president and chair of the Grant Committee. With our children beginning to leave the nest, and with the recent contentious atmosphere surrounding our schools, I felt I had the temperament and professional background to be a positive influence on the deliberation of the important issues facing our schools. Offering to serve on the school board is a logical next step for serving our community in a meaningful way.

16

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

What are the two most important issues for you and how will you address them if elected?

Obviously, a high priority for the next school board will be selecting a new superintendent while also working with an interim superintendent to provide the best leadership possible to continue the progress being made in the Knox County Schools. If elected, I plan to listen to the input from parents, teachers, administrators, and students in the 5th District and advocate those interests in the search and selection process.

Improving student proficiency across the board. If elected, I look forward to the report being prepared by the Disparities in Educational Outcomes Task Force and would continue to seek the input from parents, teachers, administrators, and students, and work with the superintendent and board on developing the best policies to improve student proficiencies and achievement for all Knox County students.

Are you thumbs up or thumbs down on Superintendent Jim McIntyre’s departure?

I prefer to look forward and not back, except for the purpose of learn from where we have been. While I do not have a thumbs up or down on Superintendent McIntyre’s decision to resign, I believe Knox County has a great opportunity to take the lessons learned over the last few years and continue to improve Knox County Schools as it selects new leadership going forward.

What are the three characteristics you believe are most important in the next superintendent?

A passion and vision for achieving excellence in public education based on significant experience in education.

Proven experience of the ability to effectively lead a large, complex group of teaching professionals and administrators in a way that enables Knox County to recruit and retain the best educators and administrators. The ability to balance and administer a budget the size and complexity of Knox County Schools’.

Testing, and relationships between teachers and the administration, have been a source of local controversy over the last few years. What, if anything, would you change about the district’s approach on either of these topics?

While the local system has to work within state-mandated testing and evaluation requirements, Knox County has the opportunity going forward to address the issues that have led to much contention. If elected, while working with the interim superintendent, I would work to meet with all stakeholders to listen to the issues being raised on all sides to ensure those concerns are communicated and addressed at the board level. In the search for a permanent superintendent, I would look for an applicant with a vision and plan for affirmatively addressing and resolving those issues in a way that empowers Knox County to recruit and retain the best educators and administrators and serves the best interests of Knox County students.

Note: Some answers were edited for length. Go to knoxmercury.com to read full responses from both contested and uncontested candidates, as well as a bonus question about whether they want to switch to a balanced-calendar school year.

KNOX COUNTY PRIMARY:

Property Assessor Accusations fly in a contentious three-way race

BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN

ANDREW GRAYBEAL JOB: Real estate broker since 1993 AGE: 43 HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY: Entire life EDUCATION: Fulton High School, Bachelor of Science in electronic engineering

PRIOR POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Ran for Knox County assessor in 2008; briefly a candidate for Knox County Board of Education (7th District) in 2014 but withdrew before election in favor of Patty Bales FAMILY: Wife, Trish Graybeal, and three children

T

he three-way Republican primary for the Knox County property assessor job is shaping up to be a heated showdown, hinging on the accuracy of the appraisals that determine how much residents pay in taxes—and how big Knox County’s budgets can be.

Two of the candidates, former assessor John Whitehead and real estate agent Andrew Graybeal, say the appraisals are wildly inaccurate. But Jim Weaver, who is the current chief deputy in the office, says they are mostly correct. He says the office has reduced errors and improved technology since he came on board under current assessor Phil Ballard.

But there is another level of accusation, and in some cases a bitter history, among these candidates.

Graybeal says the office has basically always been run as “a fiefdom,” with the job being handed off among buddies to the benefit of their own.

Whitehead claims the current office has a practice of exchanging favorable appraisals for campaign contributions, but Graybeal says ethical problems in

JIM WEAVER JOB: Chief Deputy Assessor. Previously, worked for Tennessee State Comptroller of the Treasurer for 30 years AGE: 68 HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY: Since early 1970s EDUCATION: Two-year degrees from Cumberland College, bachelor’s in business administration from Austin Peay State University PRIOR POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: None FAMILY: Wife, Rochelle Weaver (a retired Beaumont Academy teacher), and three sons

the office go back to Whitehead’s days.

Whitehead won the property assessor job twice before hitting term limits in 2008 (you cannot serve more than two back-to-back four-year terms at a time), when Ballard, who had been a protégé and friend, was elected. But that relationship soured, and Whitehead and Graybeal both ran against Ballard in 2012—Graybeal as a Democrat. Ballard prevailed, but this year, it’s his turn to hit the term limit. And this year, the primary is a winner-take-all affair, since no Democrats are running.

Before becoming Ballard’s right-hand man, Weaver spent a full career in the State Comptroller’s Office helping assessors in counties across East Tennessee. He says his wider perspective helped bring the office into the 21st century in terms of training and technology.

Although Graybeal is the only candidate with no experience in the assessor’s office, he sees that as an advantage. “It’s been a torch-bearing office,” he says. “The next in line

JOHN WHITEHEAD JOB: Semi-retired. Worked in assessors office 1972-2000 in a variety of jobs, including commercial appraisals and as chief deputy AGE: 67 HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY: Entire life PRIOR POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Won Knox County Property Assessor in 2000 and 2004, but couldn’t run in 2008 because of term limits. Ran and lost to successor Phil Ballard in 2012 FAMILY: Wife, Levera, and four grown children EDUCATION: Carter High School, associate degree from Knoxville Business College inherits, and then it’s just status quo.

They haven’t had a fresh set of eyes in 20 years.”

ACCURACY AND ACCESS

Graybeal says he’s back for another round because of the slim margin of his loss to Ballard, despite Ballard being backed “by the Republican political machine.” Graybeal switched parties shortly afterward.

As a real estate broker, Graybeal says he has seen many inaccurately-high

appraisals in the tax assessor’s records.

He says some of them are due to a poor transfer of information to a new computer system, creating patterns of errors in data related to square footage and the number of rooms in a house. But he also blames appraisers for making too few trips to look at buildings in person. In West Knox County, he says he has seen homes appraised at more than twice their value.

“They’re not just off by a small portion. It is grossly off,” Graybeal says. “I’m sure we owe money to the taxpayers.” He says Weaver has been in a position to correct these problems, but hasn’t.

Like Graybeal, Whitehead finds the appraisals riddled with errors, which he blames on the computer system transfer. For example, he says wood-veneer houses transferred as vinyl and vinyl houses transferred as wood.

“If I had been in (Weaver’s) position, I would have been all over that quality control,” Whitehead says.

“The main thing is no matter how fancy that computer gets, it still goes back to: garbage in, garbage out.”

Weaver called the claims about problems with the computer conversion “a political ploy,” saying there were a few bumps but none that much affected values. He says every year since 2009, no more than 2 percent of property owners asked for their valuations to be reviewed or appealed, showing almost all the appraisals have been correct.

For his part, Weaver points a fi nger back at Whitehead, saying the former assessor left so many errors, they took more than one term to fi x.

The new computer system made Knox County’s assessments available online for the first time, Weaver points out, making it far easier for property owners to get information they need to file appeals. “Knox was the last county in the state to put their assessments

“They haven’t had a fresh set of eyes in 20 years.”

—ANDREW GRAYBEAL

“No matter how fancy that computer gets, it still goes back to: garbage in, garbage out.”

—JOHN WHITEHEAD

“Previous administrations … didn’t want to train and then have someone come up and run against them.”

—JIM WEAVER February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17

online,” he says. “Prior to that, there was no transparency here.”

Weaver vows to continue the office’s current emphasis on training.

He says that under Whitehead, the office provided less than 300 hours of training over eight years, while employees have received more than 6,600 training hours since Weaver came on board, much of it paid for by the state.

“I think the more training we do, then when I leave office… someone may come out of here to be the next assessor. And I’m not afraid of that,” Weaver says. “Previous administrations I think were afraid of that, because they didn’t want to train and then have someone come up and run against them.”

KNOX COUNTY PRIMARY:

Law Director Incumbent Armstrong faces a challenger as well as his own controversies

BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN

ETHICS ACCUSATIONS

Graybeal questions the fact that Weaver’s campaign treasurer is Archie Johnson, chairman of the Knox County Tax Equalization Board. The board is a group of citizens, appointed by the city and county mayors, who hear appeals when citizens disagree with their property appraisals. A person unsatisfied with Weaver’s handling of their appraisal could find themselves arguing his case before Weaver’s former campaign treasurer. (Weaver acknowledges that Johnson is also a campaign donor, although his $100 donation was not high enough to meet the reporting threshold.)

Weaver says he sees no confl ict of interest. “Somehow that’s implying he and I could control something, and that’s just not true,” says Weaver, who says Johnson isn’t a personal friend.

Graybeal and Whitehead say they have both represented taxpayers appealing assessments before the equalization board, and both claim they have won every case—although not necessarily at the county level.

Whitehead says most of his were won when he appealed past the county board of equalization to the state.

He and Graybeal both claim the assessor’s office is refusing to help people who don’t offer something in return.

“You shouldn’t have to contribute to his campaign in order to have somebody listen to you in your office,” Whitehead says.

Ballard calls accusations of special-interest influence “campaign fodder” and Weaver calls them “totally absurd.” Weaver says property owners can call or see him any time. ◆ 18

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

RICHARD ARMSTRONG NICKNAME: Bud JOB: Knox County Law Director AGE: 65 HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY: Entire life EDUCATION: Carter High School, Bachelor’s in quantitative economic geography & Masters in curriculum (same focus as undergrad), both from University of Tennessee. Doctorate in education from Columbia University, Doctor of jurisprudence from Nashville School of Law PRACTICING LAW: 8 years PRIOR POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: One term as law director (incumbent), Knox County Commission two years representing 8th district (election to fill a vacancy). Ran for an at-large county Commission seat in 2010 and lost to Ed Shouse FAMILY: Wife, Patti Jo Armstrong COMMUNITY: Board of trustees for VFW 1733 Auxiliary.

President-elect of Tennessee County Attorneys Association

T

he Knox County law director race pits the incumbent Richard “Bud” Armstrong, who promotes his management ability, against challenger Nathan Rowell, who offers longer experience in government law.

Although both are running in the Republican primary, the differences in their approaches to the job run deep.

With no Democratic challenger, the winner of the primary will effectively take the job.

NATHAN ROWELL JOB: Partner in firm Watson, Roach, Batson, Rowell and Lauderback AGE: 46 HOW LONG IN KNOX COUNTY: Entire life EDUCATION: West High School. Bachelor’s of Science in communications from University of Tennessee, law degree in 1995 from UT College of Law PRACTICING LAW: 19 years PRIOR POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: None FAMILY: Father was dean of the UT college of education, mother a retired teacher COMMUNITY: Chairman of board of trustees at Church Street United Methodist, VP/President-Elect of Board of Directors of the Community School of the Arts, board of directors of City People, and on selection committee for UT Educator’s Hall of Honor

The county law director provides legal advice and representation to the Knox County Commission, the Knox County Sheriff ’s Office, and the Knox County Board of Education. It seems straightforward, but controversy over Armstrong’s legal advice about the fi nal contract of outgoing schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre has proven the office can be as influential—and politically charged—as any other on the local ballot.

Rowell, a partner in the law fi rm Watson, Roach, Batson, Rowell and Lauderback, has been an attorney for more than two decades. He says he has spent most of that time representing cities and counties across East Tennessee.

“I am more qualified than most attorneys who don’t practice in this rather unique area of the law,” Rowell says.

Armstrong, on the other hand, has been an attorney just eight years, following a three-decade career at the Tennessee Valley Authority. There, his duties were split between managing environmental compliance and developing curriculum and research in labor-force development related to advanced manufacturing.

Armstrong faced criticism in December from school board members after a divided board voted to extend the superintendent’s four-year contract by two years. Armstrong argued that this continued the contract beyond the time frame allowed by state law. He also says the contract’s lump-sum “liquidated damages” payout was not allowable under government law. The board amended the suggested contract Armstrong had provided, changing these elements against his recommendation, and passed it a month before superintendent McIntyre resigned.

But Armstrong’s advice again came into play when the contract came before the County Commission in December: He hand-wrote the word “not” before the phrase “legal in form and correctness” on the signature page.

When asked why he chose that method of conveying his legal opinion, Armstrong says, “I could either write a dissertation as to why it’s in legal form, or write the word ‘not’ on there.” He pointed out that he would not have raised the issue again if the Commission hadn’t voted on the contract—although its 9-11 defeat had no practical effect, since the Commission can’t legally dictate how the school board spends money that’s already appropriated.

School board Vice President Tracie Sanger released a statement calling Armstrong’s method of conveying his opinion “the worst kind of passive-aggressive political games,” and board member Doug Harris said he paid an independent attorney to review the contract because he doesn’t have confidence in the law director.

Armstrong’s previous stint in office as a county commissioner (for two years, representing the 8th District) has complicated his relationship with some board members.

“They think everything I do was politically-motivated because I was on Commission, and we had to pass their budgets and I had to ask a lot of hard questions,” Armstrong says. “If you want to say there are politics going on, there probably is, but I don’t think it’s coming from the law director.”

Armstrong says another attorney in his office was the primary contact for the school board until September.

“I went over there… when the new board came on because I could see the tension was mounting and I thought it was my job to take the heat,” he says. “I have been attacked coming and going from both sides at times, and I’ve lived through it. When we have a highly split board… it doesn’t matter what you say, you’re going to make somebody mad.”

The situation stirred an old debate about whether the law director can represent all the government bodies it is supposed to—without conflicts of interest. In fact, the Board of Education filed a lawsuit 15 years ago seeking to sever itself from representation by the law director in favor of hiring its own attorney.

Coincidentally, Rowell was the attorney representing the school board in the matter. (Armstrong was not law director at the time.)

Back then, a Chancery Court judge ruled against the school board, which appealed. But the case was settled in 2003 with an agreement that if a conflict of interest arises between the law director and the board of education, the law director will appoint an outside attorney to represent the board. (If there is no agreement about whether a conflict exists, the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility will decide.)

Rowell says the law director’s office has been representing multiple

“I have been attacked coming and going from both sides at times, and I’ve lived through it.”

—RICHARD ARMSTRONG

“The law director should be a neutral office, more so than any other elected office.”

—NATHAN ROWELL

parties in cases where there is a conflict of interest, instead of hiring an outside attorney, although his example involved the Sheriff’s Office and some of its employees.

Rowell also disagrees with Armstrong’s legal opinion on McIntyre’s contract. “What they’ve done every year is vote to offer a new contract for four years. That terminates the previous contract,” making it legal, he says. He added that Oak

2016 Primary Financial Disclosures (as of 1/15/16) KNOX COUNTY PROPERTY ASSESSOR ANDREW GRAYBEAL Balance on hand: $3,458.05 Total contributions: $3,475 Contributions of $100 or less: $725 Spent this period: $16.95 Loans by candidate to campaign: None

JIM WEAVER Balance on hand: $44,294.92 Total contributions: $55,907.47 Contributions of $100 or less: $2,907.47 Spent this period: $12,334.17 Loans by candidate to campaign: $2,000

JOHN WHITEHEAD Balance on hand: $87,475 Total contributions: $13,625 Contributions of $100 or less: $2,475 Spent this period: $11,150 Loans by candidate to campaign: $85,000

KNOX COUNTY LAW DIRECTOR BUD ARMSTRONG Balance on hand: $44,676.60 Total contributions: $50,0598 Contributions of $100 or less: $8,095 Spent this period: $10, 211.35 Loans by candidate to campaign: $32,245

NATHAN ROWELL Balance on hand: $59,240.47 Total contributions: $66,420 Contributions of $100 or less: $1,100 Spent this period: $7,179.53 Loans by candidate to campaign: $7,000

A lot of local politicians and attorneys have been attracted to the law director race, with lots of movers and shakers backing Armstrong, including: State Representatives Roger Kane, Harry Brooks, and Jason Zachary; Knox County Property Assessor Phil Ballard and his chief deputy Jim Weaver; former Knox County Criminal Clerk Joy McCroskey; Knox County Commissioner Dave Wright; state judge Telford Fogerty Jr.; Knox County school board members Danny Sanders and Patti Lou Bounds; businessmen Jim Haslam II and Bill Weigel; Elect (Knox County Mayor Tim) Burchett, and (U.S. Rep. John J.) Duncan for Congress.

In addition, Armstrong received donations from a handful of Knox County Sheriff’s Office employees and Knox County District Attorney office lawyers. He received $1,600 in donations from employees of Priority Ambulance, a company that edged out Rural/Metro for the contract to provide ambulance service to Loudoun County last year. As law director, Armstrong helped county officials negotiate with Rural/Metro last year over whether the ambulance provider was meeting its contractual obligations for response times and ambulance availability.

Nathan Rowell also received many donations from attorneys as well as business owners associated with housing (such as George Wallace of Wallace & Wallace realty, Philip Lawson with Lawler Wood). Like his opponent, he received a contribution from the Haslam family ($3,000 to Armstrong’s $1,000). Knoxville Mercury columnist Joe Sullivan III gave $1,500.

—H.D.

Ridge takes the same approach.

Rowell points out that Armstrong voiced no objections to the superintendent’s previous contract extension, which was structured the same way.

(Armstrong says he did not review that contract, but the school board specifically requested him to do so this time.)

Rowell calls Armstrong’s handling of McIntyre’s contract “unprofessional” and deems his opponent “a career politician who has politicized that office for his agenda or someone else’s agenda. The law director should be a neutral office, more so than any other elected office.”

Armstrong says he pursued a law degree after retirement because of an interest in juvenile law, but his brief stint on County Commission ignited his interest in the law director’s job.

He says he prefers it and doesn’t miss being a decision-maker on the Commission. “I’m an advisor and counselor and try to stay out of the policy end of it,” he says.

Although his legal career has been short, Armstrong says he provides management and process knowledge that Rowell and previous law directors lacked.

The result, he says, is a streamlined, more effective office that has implemented a new third-party administration program for worker’s compensation and developed a program to manage delinquent tax collection for the Knox County Trustee. Many of his efforts have saved county taxpayers money, Armstrong says. For example, he says his office has reduced settlement costs and outside counsel costs by about $1 million each, and successfully pursued repayment of money taken from county coffers through false claims (such as illegal payouts by the Knox County Trustee’s office to “ghost employees” who did no work). ◆ February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19

A&E

P rogram Notes

Support Local Media!

Announcing Knoxtacular, an upcoming all-day, all-local concert and variety show

W

ell, we’ve made it this far—it’s been almost a year since we published the first issue of the Knoxville Mercury, and that seems like an occasion worth celebrating. So in a few weeks we’re teaming up with WDVX to host Knoxtacular, an all-day, all-live, all-local variety show promoting the many varieties of Knoxville art, culture, and entertainment—and supporting local independent media.

Yes, Knoxtacular, scheduled for Saturday, March 5, at the Bijou Theatre, is a benefit for WDVX, the Mercury, and the Knoxville History Project. (Knox Heritage donated the use of the theater for the night to our cause.) It seems like we’ve been asking for money in one form or another— through Kickstarter, other donations, advertising, sponsorships, our League of Supporters program—since Metro Pulse was shut down in 2014. It’s a new dimension of the newspaper business for most of us here. The Mercury model—a not-for-profit publication supported by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, in our case the

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Inside the Vault: Robert Van Winkle

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

Knoxville History Project—is an unusual one. The way we work now has more in common with public radio than with traditional for-profit magazines and newspapers.

Our readers have responded, enthusiastically—we raised more than $60,000 through Kickstarter to help get the paper up and running, and gifts large and small have continued to come in since we started publishing. But your support is still needed!

Fundraising efforts like Knoxtacular are an essential part of how newspapers like ours work now. If you value local independent media, make plans to attend Knoxtacular next month.

We’ll have a full day of music and more on the Bijou’s historic stage—all local, of course. (We’ll announce the lineup soon.) If you can’t make it, tune in to WDVX that day—they’ll be broadcasting live from the Bijou for most of the day and will accept donations online and by phone.

We’ll be asking for a $10 donation at the door. (Feel free to give more, of course.)

—Matthew Everett

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Music: Hellaphant

Wild Style T

he sensitive-folk guys in the local band William Wild are preparing to unleash a new EP of Avett/ Father John Misty/Bon Iver-style acoustic rock next month—the six-track Steady Now will be released

by Randm Records on March 4.

“Hazy guitars, dusty keys, and blurry pedal steel illuminate the recordings of weighty songs immersed in loss, fear of failure, and the worthiness of human existence,” reads a press release about the new EP. “With plush nostalgic pop sensibilities, Steady Now radiates tranquility. … Continuing with the layered vocals, lush strings, dark tones of the debut album, Steady Now explores [the] search for peace while

23

wrestling with self-pity, guilt, and materialism.”

Nobody in the band is named William Wild. Or William. Or Wild.

Singer/guitarist/songwriter Garrett Sale and drummer Aaron Hill—who get help from various area musicians on Steady Now—take the name from an unidentified local homeless man who they say calls himself William Wild.

Sale and Hill will celebrate the release of the new EP with a show at the Bijou Theatre on Friday, March 4.

Andrea Marie will also perform.

Tickets are $19.50 and are available at knoxbijou.com. Visit williamwildband.com for more info.

—M.E.

Movies: Hail, Caesar!

Inside the Vault

An Uncommon Talent The forgotten career of country-music journeyman “Little Robert” Van Winkle

BY ERIC DAWSON

N

ot too many people remember country-music entertainer Robert Van Winkle today—Google his name and you’ll get the other Robert Van Winkle—but he’s mentioned in the biographies of Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins, and Dolly Parton. Pictures of “Little Robert” turn up frequently in archival collections of many Knoxville music stars of the 1940s and 1950s.

He was something of a mystery here at the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound for years, until Van Winkle’s granddaughter Robin Bradley sent a collection of audio

featuring her grandfather picking and singing, solo and with his family. In recent weeks, Bradley sent even more newly discovered audio tapes, and film footage from the 1950s featuring Van Winkle.

Born in Kingston, Ky., in 1923, Van Winkle was the eighth of 12 children. A rare birth defect meant his legs remained abnormally short, and he had only three toes on each small foot. When he was old enough to enter school, his family moved to Bethel, Ohio, where he was apparently so teased and bullied by classmates that

his parents removed him and sought a private teacher. The family moved to Williamsburg, Ohio, where he returned to public school, carted there in a wagon or carried by his brothers. A life-changing moment occurred when a group of old-time string-band musicians performed at his school; they so enthralled Van Winkle that he decided to become a musician. He started out on the banjo, soon picked up guitar, and showed an aptitude for playing almost any stringed instrument.

At 18, Van Winkle moved to a coal-mining camp in Kirksville, W.Va., where he entered an amateur music contest hosted by Speedy Krise and his Blue Ribbon Boys. He was soon performing on a radio show in Beckley, W.Va., and moved on to a succession of other stations in the area. He joined up with Ralph Lawson and the Pioneer Pals as they performed throughout the mountains of West Virginia and North Carolina, eventually winding up playing with the Osborne Brothers when they were starting out at WCYB in Bristol.

Toward the beginning of his career, Van Winkle crossed paths or played with a number of country and bluegrass greats. A memory he cherished his entire life was sharing a stage with Hank Williams, a year before the hard-living honky-tonk star passed away. Bill Monroe was so taken by Van Winkle’s song “Close By” that he recorded it in 1954, and it has since become a bluegrass standard.

A promotional pamphlet about Robert “The Biggest Little Man in the World” Van Winkle around this time described him this way: “Robert is 39 inches tall, weighs 85 pounds, black hair, brown eyes, sunny disposition, and is always energetic.” While a skillful picker, he also used his height for comedic effect. One popular routine was a staged boxing match with Bill Carlisle, aka “Hotshot Elmer,” in which the two would trade off victories each night.

By the late 1940s, Van Winkle had made the move to Knoxville, where he appeared on various radio stations and played a fair number of road shows, often with his wife Margaret, who also sang. Carl and

A&E

Pearl Butler were particularly fond of playing with him, and he appears on stage with them at several points in their silent 8mm home movies. He was an emcee on Cas Walker’s WROL show and would later speak of helping Dolly Parton get her start on Walker’s program. Robin Bradley remembers an oft-told story of her grandfather and his family visiting Parton’s family for Sunday supper at their home—one of Van Winkle’s daughters had a crush on the same boy as Dolly.

A 1952 log book documenting Van Winkle’s gigs shows that he was working regularly, at times five days a week, most frequently for Walker at WROL, where he received $40 a week. For out-of-town shows he noted the miles he traveled and money received for gigs in towns such as Del Rio, Loudon, Morristown, Lexington, Ky., and Robbinsville, N.C. On Thursday, Sept. 25, he played with Bill Monroe in Sneedville. He’d play theaters such as the Gem in Chattanooga but also courthouses, high schools, and for Cas Walker’s Republican rallies at area elementary schools.

Van Winkle seemed to have had a mostly happy and successful life in Knoxville; the city directory listed him as a “WROL radio star.” There were some tough times, though. In a 1981 interview for the Star-Republican newspaper out of Blanchester, Ohio, where he had relocated in the 1960s, Van Winkle talks of wrecking a Cadillac that turned over multiple times, then crawling out of a hole that “didn’t look like a rat could come through.” A distraught bystander thought his legs had been cut off when she saw him walking around. The wreck is noted in the log book on Oct. 5 with the terse note, “wrecked our Cadillac.” An entry less than three weeks later reads, “Dad broke his back.”

Even more bad luck was coming Little Robert’s way, in the form of a scandalous shootout at his East Scott Avenue home, which resulted in the death of one of his close friends and a police officer. ◆ Inside the Vault searches the TAMIS archives for nuggets of lost Knoxville music history. Next week: The shootout at Little Robert’s and life after Knoxville.

February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 21

A&E

Music

Teen Spirit Teenage punk trio Hellaphant grows up on Family Man

BY MATTHEW EVERETT

I

t’s not a surprise when a bunch of teenagers thrash out some convincing, enthusiastic punk rock. But it is notable when a trio whose members are fresh out of high school produces a record that’s both pugnacious and multidimensional, balancing the snotty aggressiveness of basement punk with emotional depth and unexpectedly savvy songwriting.

That’s what local threesome Hellaphant—singer/guitarist Alex Ferguson, bassist Henry Pack, and drummer Trevor Burkett—did late last year with Family Man, the band’s second EP. Hellaphant’s self-titled debut EP, from 2014, was a charming collection of three-chord anthems that hinted at the influence of the SST roster, Jawbreaker, and more contemporary bands like Cloud Nothings,

22

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

FIDLAR, and Wavves. But Family Man is an advance in every way, from the quality of the production to the confident performances and all-around more well-crafted songs. (Check out hellaphant/bandcamp.com for evidence.)

“A few of the songs off the first EP

were songs Alex and I had written a few years before we started Hellaphant,” Pack writes in an email interview. “Family Man was our first release to include songs we had written together as a full band. …

Between those EPs we started playing out a lot more and getting way more comfortable. So I guess we got more in sync with each other and matured with our songwriting.”

The stand-out track on Family Man is “Local Scene,” an exercise in classic college rock that fits chiming guitar chords, a punchy chorus, and an almost psychedelic interlude all together in less than three minutes.

(It’s the band’s longest song.)

“I think it highlights our eclectic nature as musicians,” Pack says. “We all love punk rock, but with ‘Local Scene,’ it showed we weren’t just blasting through songs, kicking and screaming.”

Pack, Ferguson, and Burkett have had some advantages. They’ve all known each other since middle school, where they took a music class together for three years, and played together in various low-key bands during high school. And Pack’s father is Stewart Pack, whose bands the Pegclimbers and the 1-900s were at the forefront of Knoxville’s early-’90s indie-rock scene. Pack has continued making music, most recently with former Superdrag leader John Davis and hard-rock super-producer Nick Raskulinecz in the skate-punk band Epic Ditch, which inspired his son to write songs and to take an interest in recording and producing. The younger Pack engineered and mixed both of his band’s EPs in his own home

studio, with a little help from his dad.

“Growing up in that musical environment jump-started my ambition to pursue music,” he says.

In the year and a half that Hellaphant has existed, the band has played at just about every show they could. With Family Man out and another EP on the way soon, they plan to slow down and schedule their performances more strategically.

They’re coming off a couple of relatively high-profile shows: WUTK’s end-of-semester Exam Jam in December with Senryu and Handsome and the Humbles and the all-star benefit fest Waynestock in late January.

“We get so many offers to accept now, which is extremely flattering,” Pack says. “We would love to play them all but with our work and school schedules, it doesn’t work out sometimes. We want to start playing out of town, but as of now we haven’t.”

Pack says the expected next step—a full-length album—may not happen for a while.

“We have a tendency to write four to six songs at a time, so we might just start putting out a handful of those over the course of this year,” he says. ◆

WHO

Hellaphant with Adrenaline Kid, the Enigmatic Foe, and Ghosts of the Kodiak

WHERE

Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage (8502 Kingston Pike)

WHEN

“We all love punk rock, but with ‘Local Scene,’ it showed we weren’t just blasting through songs, kicking and screaming.”

— HENRY PACK

Friday, Feb. 12, at 8 p.m.

HOW MUCH $5

INFO

openchordmusic.com

Movies

Star System The Coen Brothers pay lightweight but effervescent tribute to Hollywood’s fading Golden Age

BY APRIL SNELLINGS

T

ime seems to have mellowed Joel and Ethan Coen, at least where Hollywood is concerned. Their new ensemble comedy, Hail, Caesar!, finds the brothers returning to the same fictional movie studio that provided the setting for 1991’s audaciously dark Barton Fink. The satirical edges are still here, but Capitol Pictures is an altogether nicer place this time around, with the Coens waxing nostalgic about the same Hollywood studio system they so effectively crucified 25 years ago.

This is the brothers at their frothiest, and while it feels too minor to join the ranks of their best films, it’s certainly one of their most endearing ones.

Hail, Caesar! belongs to the cycle of movies the Coens have called their “numskull” comedies, a loose trilogy that also includes 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? and 2003’s Intolerable Cruelty. I guess that makes George Clooney their numskull of note, and it’s a term that definitely applies to his character in Caesar—a charming libertine doofus of a movie star named Baird Whitlock who gets himself drugged and kidnapped by a mysterious group known as “the Future.” The kidnapping—or, more specifically, the reason behind it—provides the backbone of Caesar’s overstuffed plot, but it’s also the movie’s least interesting component.

Clooney is fun, but the guy to watch is Josh Brolin, who stars as Capitol Pictures exec Eddie Mannix. His dangling cigarettes and cocked fedoras might peg him as a noir detective type, but Mannix deals with smoking guns of a different sort: the potential scandals and crises that are constantly bubbling beneath the surface of every production on Capitol’s sprawling back lot, from its newest “prestige” drama to its upcoming (and giddily homoerotic) sailor musical.

Mannix stays busy defusing situations that threaten to tank, or taint, Capitol’s

productions and its stable of movie stars.

Mannix has his hands full even before Capitol’s biggest star is nabbed.

For starters, million-dollar mermaid DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) is having trouble fi nishing the studio’s latest aquatic ballet; it seems her rubber fishtail will no longer fit over the unmarried actress’s baby bump.

Then there’s singing cowboy Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich), whose rocky transition from goofball westerns to drawing-room melodramas leads to a showstopper of an exchange with aristocratic director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes).

Mannix also has to dodge twin-sister gossip columnists Thora and Thessaly Thacker (Tilda Swinton on both counts), who are threatening to dredge up some old gossip concerning Whitlock’s extracurricular activities.

Hail, Caesar! moves along in fits and starts, with all of its subplots outshining the scheme at its center.

Occasionally it’s brilliant—there are a few scenes that rank as some of the Coens’ best work in years. It’s at its best when Mannix is hopping from set to set, giving the filmmakers a chance to poke

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gentle fun at classic Hollywood genres.

There are a half dozen movies-within-a-movie, including the historical epic that lends the film its name. Some of them, like an elaborate song-and-dance number featuring Channing Tatum as a Gene Kelly redux named Burt Gurney, are as good as the movies they’re spoofing; others, like the turgid melodrama that poor Hobie gets dumped into, are awful, but they’re all hoots. The classic Hollywood references are fast and twisty, and it’ll be fun to untangle them all during future viewings.

Whenever it cuts away to Whitlock’s time with his kidnappers, though, Hail, Caesar! loses some of its momentum. Clooney does his part, mugging and stammering his way through a typically off-kilter Coens conspiracy.

But his character is the least interesting of the batch, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that all the good stuff is happening back at the studio.

We always get back to that good stuff soon enough, though, and Hail, Caesar! is too entertaining to be undone by a little dead weight. It works up a bit of thematic heft as it bobs along—Mannix is wrestling with a crisis of faith, but not the kind that’s typified in the cornball religious epic he’s trying to usher onscreen—but it’s mostly a lightweight, affectionate nod to the studio system that was already in decline in the 1950s. The film’s characters don’t all realize it, but they’re swimming, singing, and tap-dancing their way through the end of an era, and Hail, Caesar! is a sparkling tribute to those halcyon days. ◆

CLASSICAL TICKETS start at just $15

FEBRUARY

PREU

Music Director candidate

MOZART PIANO CONCERTO NO. 20 Tonight and Tomorrow 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

MARCH

BAIROS

Music Director candidate

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

Thursday, March 17 • 7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 18 • 7:30 p.m.

Tennessee Theatre Jacomo Rafael Bairos, conductor Elena Urioste, violin ADAMS: “The Chairman Dances” BARBER: Violin Concerto MUSSORGSKY/RAVEL: Pictures at an Exhibition Sponsored by Bass Berry + Sims & Dalen Products

CALL: (865) 291-3310 CLICK: knoxvillesymphony.com VISIT: Monday-Friday, 9-5 February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23

MUSIC

Thursday, Feb. 11 BRANDON FULSON • 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 NANCY STRANGE • Bourbon Street Whiskey Bar • 6PM HEISKELL • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM WARREN PINEDA AND JON MASON • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM DALLAS BRASS • Niswonger Performing Arts Center (Greeneville) • 7:30PM • Founded in Dallas, Texas in 1983

by Michael Levine, Dallas Brass has become one of America’s foremost musical ensembles. The group has established a unique blend of traditional brass instruments with a full complement of drums and percussion, which creates a performing entity of extraordinary range and musical challenges. • $20-$30 THE LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN DEVILS WITH GENKI GENKI PANIC AND TRASHBIN SOUVENIR • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • $5 EMI SUNSHINE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM FAMILY AND FRIENDS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Inspired by a life worth living, the Fam and Pals remained rooted with three ambitions in heart, mind, and soul: the people, the music, the memories.

THE ORANGE CONSTANT • Preservation Pub • 10PM JUSTIN FEDOR AND FRANK BRONSON • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM Friday, Feb. 12 THE WAR AND TREATY • 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 SONGS OF THE FALL • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 5PM • In the digital age we live in, music is still the one thing that can grip and infect us with raw energy and emotional passion that we can’t easily find in our modern, static society. Songs of the Fall, comprised of Stetson Adkisson and Cia Cherryholmes, is a Nashville based Americana duo with a love of music and communicating it to people on a very personal, relatable level. • FREE ALIVE AFTER FIVE: THE BLAIR XPERIENCE • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Larry Blair’s wide range of vocals has been described by many as” velvety and sultry”. • $10 WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM ERICK BAKER • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • $25 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE THE BLACKFOOT GYPSIES WITH STRUNG LIKE A HORSE • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • The Blackfoot Gypsies’ new album, Handle It, isn’t perfect, or close to it. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. For starters, the Gypsies—a Nashville four-piece inspired by Exile on Main St., the first three Led Zeppelin albums, Canned Heat, and ZZ Top, among others—don’t play the kind of music that gets described as “perfect.” This is exuberant, rough-hewn, ragged folk-rock and trippy-dippy, foot-stomping country blues, boozy and belligerent and backwoods-bred, closer in spirit to the Flat Duo Jets and Hasil Adkins than Imagine Dragons.Handle.

LAWRENCE TRAILER • Preservation Pub • 8PM HELLAPHANT WITH ADRENALINE KID, THE ENIGMATIC FOE, 24

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

AND GHOSTS OF THE KODIAK • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Hellaphant’s self-titled debut, from 2014, was a promising belt of short-fuse basement punk, a thrashy, noisy little collection that made room for both ’90s pop-punk hooks and rifftastic guitar grooves. The brand-new Family Man, released late last year, lives up to the promise of its predecessor—the production, by bassist Henry Pack, is a big step up from Hellaphant’s bedroom-recording quality without sacrificing immediacy or urgency, and singer/guitarist Alex Ferguson sings more than he yells. The songs are still mostly ragers—there’s even one 32-second nugget called “Rage!!!”—but there’s more going on than just full-speed abandon; “Distance,” “Under Current,” and the title track reveal classic power-pop charm to go along with the punk attitude and volume. All ages. • $5 • See story on page 22.

FAIRVIEW UNION • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • 18 and up. • $10 WILL BOYD • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE BETHANY AND THE SWING SERENADE • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • $5 DALE T. SHARP • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM DIXIEGHOST • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • Knoxville band Dixieghost is pushing back against what it means to be a folk band. The band’s lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Jason Hanna, a Knoxville native, is trying to distance his band from mainstream radio-friendly folk groups like Mumford and Sons while staying true to his and his bandmates’ traditional folk and Appalachian roots. • FREE THE WILD THINGS • Preservation Pub • 10PM THE BIG WOOLY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM THE YOUNG FABLES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM TOMMIE JOHN AND VAL • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 9PM FAUX FEROCIOUS WITH NUDE PARTY AND BIG BAD OVEN • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • $6 Saturday, Feb. 13 CARSON MCHONE WITH JORDY SEARCY • 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 HARP ENSEMBLE VALENTINE’S CONCERT • Blount County Public Library • 2PM • This will be a unique concert of multiple, full-size harps and multiple harpists from throughout East Tennessee. • FREE JUSTIN FEDOR • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 4PM • NC’s Justin Fedor has been singing songs and traveling the US both solo and with Alt-Country Rockers, The New Familiars, for nearly a decade. The band’s founding member, he’s worn many hats both as a singer-songwriter and also as a multi-instrumentalist; playing guitar, mandolin, and banjo in the studio. A lover of The South, his songs dangle between Appalachian Roots and Texas Outlaw Country, while his vocals carry the grit that only growing up southern can teach. • FREE WINTER JAM 2016 • Thompson-Boling Arena • 5PM • Founded and hosted by Grammy-nominated NewSong and promoted by Premier Productions, the blockbuster Winter Jam Tour Spectacular annually ranks among the top first-quarter tours in the world and has helped provide a powerful platform for the Gospel in major arenas around the country since 1995. Making history earlier this year, Winter Jam 2015 played to more than 600,000 people at a total of 47 shows across the country, shattering the tour’s previous attendance records. Artists scheduled to perform include for King & Country, Matthew West, Crowder, RED, Sidewalk Prophets, Lauren

Daigle, NewSong, Trip Lee, KB, Stars Go Dim, We Are Messengers, and guest speaker Tony Nolan. • $10 KIRK AND MEREDITH • Meksiko Cantina of Farragut • 6PM • Acoustic Americana.

JAZZSPIRATIONS • Red Piano Lounge • 7PM ERICK BAKER • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • $25 JORDY SEARCY WITH CHELSEA STEPP • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • All ages. • $5 HAROLD NAGGE AND ALAN WYATT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE BURNIN’ HERMANS • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM FOUR LEAF PEAT • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • Knoxville’s finest purveyors of traditional Irish music. • FREE K-TOWN MUSIC • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM BACKUP PLANET WITH CBDB • The Concourse • 10PM • A high energy, experimental rock/funk band from Nashville, Tennessee. 18 and up. • $10-$12 NICK KANE AND THE GOOD ROUTES • Preservation Pub • 10PM COL. BRUCE HAMPTON • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Bruce Hampton (born Gustav Valentine Berglund III, April 30, 1947 in Knoxville, TN) is a surrealist American

musician. In the late 1960s he was a founding member of Atlanta, Georgia’s avant-garde Hampton Grease Band.

Adopting the moniker Colonel Bruce Hampton, Retired, and sometimes playing a sort of dwarf guitar called a “chazoid”, he later formed several other bands. Some of those band names include The Late Bronze Age, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Fiji Mariners, The Codetalkers, The Quark Alliance, Pharaoh Gummitt, and Madrid Express. • $5 HAYDEN GARBER AND WHISKEY ROAD • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM TALL PAUL • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM PROJECT WOLFPACK • Paul’s Oasis • 9PM • FREE Sunday, Feb. 14 JUDAH AND THE LION • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • The old school sincerity of Southern gospel and soul, the energy of rock and the time-tested pop of classics and hits from the past. • $17-$22 Tree Tops • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM THE JEFF SIPE TRIO • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM

PKN #17, NOV. 12

Photo by Texture Photo

CALENDAR

Thursday, Feb. 11 - Sunday, Feb. 21

PECHAKUCHA Bijou Theatre (803 S. Gay St.) • Thursday, Feb. 11 • 7:20 p.m. • Free • pechakucha.org

If we lack Mardi Gras, we have PechaKucha. It’s a Japanese term (the emphasis goes on both -chas) for a series of high-speed slide shows that has become an international sensation, a way to make a point that’s more entertaining than your average rock show. PechaKucha Knoxville’s first event was held exactly five years ago and since then it’s snowballed, becoming maybe this century’s most surprising way to spend an evening out.

So far they’ve been mostly in big bars and event spaces, but this one, the 17th in the series, promises to be the biggest one yet, with the 107-year-old Bijou Theatre as the venue. Presenters this Thursday include, as always, a motley assortment across ages, perspectives, and disciplines: designers, artists, a pie-maker, historians, a doula; by name, Chris McAdoo, Jody Collins, Barbara Steppe, Dale Mackey, Kellen Catani, Dean Novelli, Julie Jack, Matthew Cummings, Sean and Sara Alsobrooks, and, in full disclosure, a couple of Mercury contributors, photographer Shawn Poynter and me.

They rule is you show 20 slides, none of them for more than 20 seconds each. Some of the gatherings have the character of a minor revolution. If you find a way to be bored at a PechaKucha show, you may well probably be boring yourself. (Jack Neely)

CALENDAR ROBINELLA • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM SHIFFLETT’S JAZZ BENEDICT • 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 TREE TOPS • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM Monday, Feb. 15 DAVID AND VALERIE MAYFIELD • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 12PM • If you are into the Americana/roots music scene, you probably know David and Valerie Mayfield’s kids, David Mayfield and Jessica Lea Mayfield.

If you’re a little deeper into their music, you probably know that both of the Kent-based siblings began their professional music careers playing with their parents in a touring bluegrass band called One Way Rider. The parents now perform as a duet, proudly billing themselves as “The Parents of David Ray Mayfield of The David Mayfield Parade & Jessica Lea Mayfield.” • FREE JUDAH AND THE LION • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • $17-$22 THE MATT NELSON SOUND • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM GUTTER BLOSSOMS • Pilot Light • 9PM • 18 and up. • $5 SPONGECAKE AND THE FLUFF RAMBLERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

VIOLET DELANCEY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM ZACHARY LUCKY WITH SPONGECAKE AND THE FLUFF RAMBLERS • 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, Feb. 16 WELLINGTON INTERNATIONAL UKULELE ORCHESTRA • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 7:30PM • The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, hailing from New Zealand, are skilled performers who live to entertain, making sure audiences forget their troubles and sing their hearts out. • $10 THE MARBLE CITY 5 • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM SHALLOWPOINT WITH BULLETVILLE AND DUST AND DECAY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • This benefit will provide much needed financial assistance for a family member of Malcolm Dawkins who is fighting cancer. This family member is going in for surgery very soon. Thoughts/Good Vibes/Prayers are appreciated for the family throughout this time. • $6-$8 PAUL LEE KUPFER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Originally from the Mountains of West Virginia, Paul Lee Kupfer has travelled as a solo performer and band leader since 2006 while living in Philadelphia, California, Tennessee, Montana and towns in between.

ANDREW LEAHEY AND THE HOMESTEAD WITH DUSTIN PRINZ • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

DUSTIN PRINZ WITH BLOND BONES • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE Wednesday, Feb. 17 JAMEL MITCHELL • Bourbon Street Whiskey Bar • 6PM 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 R5 WITH RYLAND • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 7PM • After an incredible year and a half of touring the globe; playing 150 shows to packed-house crowds from North America to Australia and everywhere in-between (21

countries at last count), pop-rock quintet R5 are ready to move one step closer to world domination with the release of their much-anticipated first single, “Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight,” off their upcoming sophomore album due this summer.

TENNESSEE SHINES: THE STRAY BIRDS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • The Stray Birds (multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Maya de Vitry, Oliver Craven, and Charlie Muench) hail from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. All three are classically trained musicians who’ve been making music of all kinds since childhood. Their self-titled debut CD landed on NPR’s 10 Best Folk/Americana Albums of the Year in 2012, and their latest release, Best Medicine, reveals a trio even more experienced at singing together, writing together and melding their unique voices into a new/old folk sound. • $10 THE CASEY GREEN TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • Live jazz. • FREE EXCISION: THE PARADOX • The International • 9PM • EDM superstar Excision brings his new state-of-the-art stage show to Knoxville, with Figure and Bear Grillz. 18 and up.

• $30-$55 RADIO BIRDS AND WHITE VIOLET • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

CARMEN BRANDY WITH VIOLET DELANCEY • 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, Feb. 18 CINDI ALPERT • Bourbon Street Whiskey Bar • 6PM WARREN PINEDA AND JON MASON • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM THE JANK • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM DALLAS BAKER AND FRIENDS • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • “Roots-grass” from Charleston, S.C. • $3 DAVE COLEMAN AND THE COAL MEN • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM DANIEL MILLER • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

SECRET CITY CYPHERS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Come witness some of Knoxville’s finest local talent collaborating and performing together. Who’s ready to get their art out to the world? This is Knoxville’s premier open mic-style event that allows mcs, poets, singers, musicians, dancers, comedians, visual artists, and others to not only have a place to showcase their talent, but a place to network with other artists, and build their fan base. You can choose to perform either with a backing track or with our live band. Signups start at 7:30, and are first come, first serve. All ages. • $5 ZOOGMA AND TURBO SUIT: ZOOT SUIT TOUR • The Concourse • 10PM • Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions. 18 and up. • $10-$15 WOODY PINES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • If you’re wondering where the music of Nashville troubadour Woody Pines comes from, look to the streets.

It was on the streets as a professional busker that Woody first cut his teeth, drawing liberally from the lost back alley anthems and scratchy old 78s of American roots music, whether country blues, jugband, hokum, or hillbilly.

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

SHAUN ABBOTT WITH GRASS2MOUTH • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE Friday, Feb. 19 WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM February 11, 2016

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CALENDAR VANN WITH MICHAEL MCQUAID • The 1400 • 6PM • 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 JERICHO WOODS • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

THE JUKE JOINT DRIFTERS WITH THE CODY BLACKBIRD BAND AND FILIBILLY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • All ages. • $5 KEITH BROWN • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM BARRY ROSEMAN • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE RED WINE HANGOVER WITH SUMILAN • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM THE 44S • Brackins Blues Club ( Maryville) • 9PM 9TH STREET STOMPERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE NUTHIN’ FANCY • Two Doors Down • 10PM G. JONES WITH BLEEP BLOOP • The Concourse • 10PM • Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions and Full Circle. 18 and up. • $10-$15 CHARLES “WIGG” WALKER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Charles is one of the few remaining original soul singers from back in the day when old school R&B/soul was brand new on the music scene. There has recently been a resurgence of this style of music, and it is finding a younger audience while rekindling memories for the old school crowd. Wigg is still delivering this style of music at a very high level, and his experience and maturity in the field of soul music gives him a perspective that is unmatched.

RED AS BLOOD WITH POWERKLAW • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • $5

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

THE DEAD RINGERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

THE CODY BLACKBIRD BAND WITH DALLAS BAKER • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-aweek lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 20 THE CREE RIDER FAMILY BAND • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 4PM • The Cree Rider Family Band is rooted in a country music sound, with elements of folk, americana and rock n’ roll. One part Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, one part Neil Young and Crazy Horse, the Family Band stays true to its own instincts to create a modern honky-tonk country sound that is rooted in tradition but firmly planted in the here and now. • FREE KATY FREE • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM BALSAM RANGE • Niswonger Performing Arts Center (Greeneville) • 7:30PM • Balsam Range is a group of five outstanding acoustic musicians and singers from North Carolina. For their band name, they thoughtfully and respectfully adopted the name of a majestic range of mountains that surround part of their home county of Haywood, NC where the Smokies meet the Blue Ridge, the Balsam Range. • $15-$25 BÉLA FLECK AND ABIGAIL WASHBURN • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Sure, in the abstract, a banjo duo might seem like a musical concept beset by limitations. But when the banjo players cast in those roles are Abigail Washburn and Béla Fleck—she with the earthy sophistication of a postmodern, old-time singer-songwriter, he with the

virtuosic, jazz-to-classical ingenuity of an iconic instrumentalist and composer with bluegrass roots—it’s a different matter entirely. • $37 ON WILLIAMS • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • They came to call Don Williams “the Gentle Giant” in the decades he was a dominating country hit maker because of his unique blend of commanding presence and that laid-back, easy style. His latest album, Reflections, was released on Sugar Hill Records in March 2014. • $34.50-$84.50 QUARTJAR WITH SOMETHING WICKED AND THE VILLAGE GREEN PEOPLE • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • $8 MARTY AND TRACE • Mind Yer Ps and Qs Craft Beer and Wine Lounge • 8PM JOE NICHOLS • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • 18 and up. • $10 SWINGBOOTY • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • Local gypsy jazz. 21 and up. • $4 THE CHUCK MULLICAN JAZZ BONANZA • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE CAROLINA CEILI • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE AVENUE C • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM THE HONEYCUTTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Appalachian honky-tonk.

CANEY CREEK COMPANY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM MEOB WITH MATT HONKONEN AND ZACH AND KOTA’S SWEET LIFE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

COSMIC CHARLIE • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM THE CREE RIDER FAMILY 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 Sunday, Feb. 21 SHIFFLETT’S JAZZ BENEDICT • 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 THE BEACH BOYS • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • You can capsulize most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they’ve had and how many millions of albums they’ve sold. But these conventional measurements fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys. To be sure, this band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the tens of millions. But its greater significance lies in the fact that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly that every pop act since has been in its debt. • $54.50-$250 WEBB WILDER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Webb Wilder is ageless. He’s been the “Last of the Full Grown Men” since the late ’80s, when he rose out of the depths of Nashville during one of its crappier musical eras. At the time, rockabilly revivalists were mostly from out of state and looked cool—think Stray Cats when they were lean and mean. Wilder debuted a different, nerdier approach that was less about tattoos and ducktails and more about flying saucers and wire-frame glasses.

Wilder is a true believer in the purity of rock ’n’ roll, and we need as many of those as we can find. • $5 TRAVIS TRITT • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Experience this rare

CALENDAR opportunity featuring the multi-platinum artist in an intimate solo-acoustic setting where his powerful voice and his guitar are the subject of the spotlight. • $47-$57 MILO WITH SIGNOR BENEDICK THE MOOR • The 1400 • 8PM • $10

OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS

Thursday, Feb. 11 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.

• FREE Friday, Feb. 12 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OPEN SONGWRITER NIGHT • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Songwriter Night at Time Warp Tea Room runs on the second and fourth Friday of every month. Show up around 7 p.m. with your instrument in tow and sign up to share a couple of original songs with a community of friends down in Happy Holler. • FREE Sunday, Feb. 14 EPWORTH MONTHLY OLD HARP SHAPE NOTE SINGING • Laurel Theater • 6:30PM • Visit jubilee arts.org. • FREE SING OUT KNOXVILLE • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7PM • A folk singing circle open to everyone. • FREE Tuesday, Feb. 16 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, Feb. 17 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. at the Time Warp Tea Room. All instruments and skill levels welcome.

BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. • FREE OPEN-MIC NIGHT: JUST FOR BANDS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Come 30 minutes early to sign up for a slot. Are you tired of having band practice in your basement? This is the perfect chance to practice with your band on a real stage in front of a real audience.

We’ll supply everything you might need backline-wise - just bring your guitars. • FREE Thursday, Feb. 18 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 20 OLD-TIME SLOW JAM • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 4PM • A monthly old-time music session, held on the third Saturday of each month. • FREE Sunday, Feb. 21 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, Feb. 13 PRE-VALENTINE DJ DANCE PARTY • Pilot Light • 10PM • Featuring DJ No Sex. 18 and up. • $5 Saturday, Feb. 20 TEMPLE DANCE NIGHT • The Concourse • 9PM • Knoxville’s long-running alternative dance night. 18 and up. • $5

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Friday, Feb. 12 CANTUS: THE FOUR LOVES • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • In time for Valentines Day, Cantus, one of the nation’s few full-time vocal ensembles, brings their distinctive approach to a new show, The Four Loves.

CHRISTOPHER HOULIHAN • Westminster Presbyterian Church • 8PM • The acclaimed organist Christopher Houlihan performs a as part of Westminster Presbyterian Church’s annual series of organ recitals, Musica Organi. Critics have applauded Christopher Houlihan for his “world class chops” and “marvelous ear, “ and The Los Angeles Times proclaimed him dazzling and seductive. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 13 KSO POPS SERIES: CELEBRATING RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 8PM • A celebration of the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, this evening not only celebrates the collaboration of these two geniuses, but also includes songs of Hammerstein’s collaboration with Jerome Kern (Showboat) as well as Rodgers’ collaborations with Lorenz Hart. This wonderful evening includes show-stopping Broadway tunes such as Climb Every Mountain, Oklahoma, Some Enchanted Evening, All The Things You Are, and many others! This concert will feature three fabulous Broadway stars and the A Capella Choir from Carson-Newman University.

Sunday, Feb. 14 KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA WINTER CONCERT • Tennessee Theatre • 3PM • The Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Association consists of five orchestras and 300 students. • FREE Oak Ridge Community Band/Wind Ensemble Valentine’s Day Concert • Oak Ridge High School • 3:30PM • This is the perfect opportunity to take your special someone to hear a afternoon program of romantic favorites from stage and screen. Directed

by Dale Pendley and assistant conductor Lisa Michaels, the Community Band’s Valentine concert will be a treat for all ages. Admission is $5 for all adults over 18. For more information, visit www.orcb.org or call 865-482-3568. • $5 UT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 4PM • FREE Monday, Feb. 15 KNOXVILLE YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONCERTO CONCERT • Tennessee Theatre • 7PM • The Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Association consists of five orchestras and 300 students. This performance will feature solos by the winners of the 2015-2016 Concerto Competition. • $0 KEVIN CLASS: BRAHMS’ COMPLETE CHAMBER MUSIC WITH PIANO, PROGRAM VII • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 8PM • FREE Wednesday, Feb. 17

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY BRASS QUINTET • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 8PM • FREE Thursday, Feb. 18 KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: MOZART PIANO CONCERTO NO. 20 • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • In February, the Orchestra will be led by conductor Eckart Preu and joined by pianist Alon Goldstein for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20. Other pieces include Richard Strauss’ Don Juan, Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral, and selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet. • $15-$89 Friday, Feb. 19 KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: MOZART PIANO CONCERTO NO. 20 • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • In February, the Orchestra will be led by conductor Eckart Preu and joined by pianist Alon Goldstein for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20. Other pieces include Richard Strauss’ Don Juan, Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral, and selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet. • $15-$89 Saturday, Feb. 20 OAK RIDGE STRING QUARTET • First Baptist Church Oak Ridge • 7:30PM • The Oak Ridge String Quartet returns to the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s Chamber Music Series. The Quartet includes Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra musicians Karen Kartal and Susan Eddlemon on violin, Sara Matayoshi on viola and Stacy Nickell Miller on cello. The program will feature string quartets by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Grieg. • $10-$25 Sunday, Feb. 21 THE EVELYN MILLER YOUNG PIANIST SERIES • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 2:30PM • Join us in our 36th season for a series of three recitals by three internationally acclaimed pianists: Josh Wright (Feb. 21), Mayuki Miyashita (March 20) and Jiayan Sun (April 24). Programs include classic and contemporary offerings for all audiences, from Bach and Beethoven to Chopin and Rorem. • $25

THEATER AND DANCE

Thursday, Feb. 11 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7PM • Is revenge justice? A victorious general returns home, having already lost many sons in the war, only to find political chaos and the emperor marrying his enemy. This sets into motion a cycle of violent and bloody revenge in which the general and his foe lose more than either one could ever imagine. For mature audiences. Feb. 10-28.

THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 8PM • An episodic play written by playwright and activist Eve Ensler addressing women’s sexuality and the social stigma surrounding rape and abuse.

Tickets are $5 cash only for general public and can be purchased one hour prior to show. All profits will be donated to the Sexual Assault Center of East TN. • $5 Friday, Feb. 12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7PM • Feb. 10-28. • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER - THE MUSICAL • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • The iconic story of Tony - the kid from Brooklyn USA - who wants to dance his way to a better life, is back. And back in an all-new production that shares Tony’s love for dancing in spectacular new ways. Fueled by the vintage Bee Gee hits, this contemporary retelling of the classic story captures the energy, passion and life-changing moments that have February 11, 2016

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CALENDAR thrilled movie audiences since 1977. Now, a new generation of dancers meets a new generation of playgoers to explore the soaring sounds and pulsating rhythms of this coming-of-age Disco fantasy. • $37-$77 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “THE LAST FIVE YEARS” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • An emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The show’s unconventional structure consists of Cathy, the woman, telling her story backwards while Jamie, the man, tells his story chronologically; the two characters only meet once, at their wedding in the middle of the show.

Feb. 12-28. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 7AM • An episodic play written by playwright and activist Eve Ensler addressing women’s sexuality and the social stigma surrounding rape and abuse.

Tickets are $5 cash only for general public and can be purchased one hour prior to show time. All profits will be donated to the Sexual Assault Center of East TN. • $5

Sunday, Feb. 14 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 2PM • Feb. 10-28. • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “THE LAST FIVE YEARS” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Feb. 12-28. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13

Saturday, Feb. 13 BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER - THE MUSICAL • Tennessee Theatre • 2PM and 8PM • $37-$77 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7PM • Feb. 10-28. • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “THE LAST FIVE YEARS” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Feb. 12-28. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15

Friday, Feb. 19 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7PM • Feb. 10-28. • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “THE LAST FIVE YEARS” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Feb. 12-28. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15

Wednesday, Feb. 17 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7PM • Feb. 10-28. • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

Thursday, Feb. 18 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7PM • Feb. 10-28. • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “THE LAST FIVE YEARS” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Feb. 12-28. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15

Saturday, Feb. 20 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7PM • Feb. 10-28. • Visit

clarencebrowntheatre.com.

THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “THE LAST FIVE YEARS” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Feb. 12-28. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 TANASI 1796 • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7PM • This is a story of Captain Black and Attakullakulla from the time period 1756 with the construction of Fort Loudon during the French and Indian War through the adoption of the Constitution for the prospective entry of Tennessee as the 16th State of the United States. The Story will be augmented by period music from the Cherokee flutist, Randy McGinnis,and by early fiddle and dulcimer renditions by the Scot Irish heritage of Blount County. Living history performance by Robert Rambo as Attakullakulla, Chief of the Cherokee and featuring the exquisite period art of acclaimed artist David Wright. • $10 Sunday, Feb. 21 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘TITUS ANDRONICUS’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 2PM • Feb. 10-28. • Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: “THE LAST FIVE YEARS” • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Feb. 12-28. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13

COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD

Thursday, Feb. 11 COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD • February 11 • PechaKucha

20X20 • Bijou Theatre • 6:30PM • PechaKucha 20x20 is a presentation format where Knoxville creatives show 20 images, each for 20 seconds, telling the stories of what they do in Knoxville. Visit pechakucha.org/cities/ knoxville. • FREE • See Spotlight on page 26.

Sunday, Feb. 14 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

Monday, Feb. 15 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, Feb. 16 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,

CHICKEN FRIED LOVE Business

Product awareness

AT TUPELO HONEY

Company goodwill

springs from the heart... and the wings, legs and thighs.

So, we're celebrating Valentine's weekend with a fried chicken and champagne special and live banjo music.

Reservations online for up to 5 people; for 6 or more, call the restaurant at 865-522-0004

There’s never been a better time to “go public.”

PRESIDENT’S DAY

AT TUPELO HONEY Open at 9 AM • Monday February 15th and serving brunch till 3 PM Reservations available

1 Market Square Knoxville, TN 37902 865.522.0004 tupelohoneycafe.com/location/knoxville

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

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CALENDAR get there early for the best seats. No cover. • FREE Thursday, Feb. 18 THIRD THURSDAY COMEDY OPEN MIC • Big Fatty’s Catering Kitchen • 7:30PM • We will showcase local and touring talent in a curated open mic of 6 to 8 comics. The event starts at 7:30, and there is no charge for admission. The kitchen will be open as well as their full bar. • FREE Friday, Feb. 19 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.

FESTIVALS

Friday, Feb. 12 CHARLES DARWIN BIRTHDAY PARTY • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 4PM • Come celebrate Charles Darwin’s 207th birthday at the McClung Museum on February 12th, 2016! This event is part of a celebration of evolutionary science on The University of Tennessee’s campus. There will be free cake provided, guided museum tours, party games, and so much more! Check out darwindaytn.org for a full list of events happening the week of February 9th-12th. The party is free and open to the public (all ages welcome). • FREE

DOGWOOD ARTS HOUSE AND GARDEN SHOW • Knoxville Convention Center • 10AM • HGTV personalities are Knoxville-bound for the 2016 Dogwood Arts House & Garden Show. Matt Blashaw, licensed contractor and host of HGTV’s Vacation House for Free and featured carpenter on season 2 of Ellen’s Design Challenge, and Tiffany Brooks, designer and host of HGTV Smart Home 2016, are coming to Knoxville to share their expertise on house renovation, real estate and interior design at the 38th annual House & Garden Show. For more information on the House & Garden Show, including how to be a part of the action, visit dogwoodhouseandgarden.com • $10 Saturday, Feb. 13 DOGWOOD ARTS HOUSE AND GARDEN SHOW • Knoxville Convention Center • 10AM • For more information on the House & Garden Show, including how to be a part of the action, visit dogwoodhouseandgarden.com • $10 Sunday, Feb. 14 DOGWOOD ARTS HOUSE AND GARDEN SHOW • Knoxville Convention Center • 11AM • For more information on the House & Garden Show, including how to be a part of the action, visit dogwoodhouseandgarden.com • $10

FILM SCREENINGS

Friday, Feb. 12 CRESTHILL CINEMA CLUB: ‘WIVES AND LOVERS’ • Windover Apartments • 7:30PM • A thoroughly witty romp, Wives and Lovers is what those swinging sixties were all about.

Romantic fireworks abound everywhere in this devastatingly funny take on showbiz A-Listers: The spacious clubhouse of the Windover Apartments. The journey there will take you to Cheshire Drive (off Kingston Pike, near the Olive Garden); going down Cheshire, turn right at the Windover Apartments sign, then go to the third parking lot on your right, next to the pool. There, the building that houses the clubhouse and offices of the Windover will be just a few steps away.

Monday, Feb. 15 THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. • FREE Tuesday, Feb. 16 NOKNO CINEMATHEQUE: ‘LAYER CAKE’ • The Central Collective • 6:30PM • Layer Cake is a 2004 crime drama starring Daniel Craig about a cocaine dealer who faces two tough assignments just before he retires. NoKno Cinematheque is a free monthly film screening series held at The Central Collective and curated by Jody Collins. We’ll be curating a variety of films across all genres. Following along, and receive alerts, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NoKnoCinematheque. • FREE TWIN PEAKS VIEWING PARTY • The Birdhouse • 7PM • Bi-weekly viewing parties for every single episode of the cult TV series. Attendees encouraged to dress as their favorite characters. Trivia, Twin Peaks-themed giveaways, donuts and coffee, plus some surprises. Trivia begins at 7:00pm with viewing to follow at 8:00pm. • FREE Wednesday, Feb. 17 SCRUFFY CITY CINEPUB • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM • A

weekly program of movie screenings from the Scruffy City Film and Music Festival, Knoxville Horror Film Festival, and more.

Thursday, Feb. 18 BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION’ • Indigenous Vibes • 7PM • A free advanced screening of the new documentary about the Black Panther Party, featuring perspectives from police, FBI informants, journalists, and supporters and detractors. • FREE Sunday, Feb. 21 PUBLIC CINEMA: ‘IN THE SHADOW OF WOMEN’ • Knoxville Museum of Art • 2PM • Iconoclast and long-time bête noire of French cinema Philippe Garrel evokes the glories of the Nouvelle Vague in this beautifully modulated film about the ups and downs of bohemian life. Shot in lustrous black-and-white, the film floats us back to the Paris of the 1960s — a city of side streets, bars, and tiny apartments where people live and love, sometimes well and sometimes badly. • FREE

SPORTS AND RECREATION

Thursday, Feb. 11 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • Join Cycology Bicycles every Thursday morning for a road ride with two group options. A Group does a 2 to 3 hour ride at 20+ pace; B group does an

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29

CALENDAR intermediate ride at 15/18 mph average. Weather permitting. cycologybicycles.com. • FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 6PM • 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. fleetfeetknoxville.com. • 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. After ride join us at the store for $2 pints. 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. 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. cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE Friday, Feb. 12 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. riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 13 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: HIWASSEE WILDLIFE REFUGE • Smoky Mountain Hiking Club • 8AM • Expect to see hundreds of majestic Sandhill Cranes at Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. Then hike a section of the National Recreation Trail to 80-foot-high Laurel Falls in Laurel Snow Pocket Wilderness. Hike: 6 miles, rated moderate.

Meet at Lenoir City Cracker Barrel, Exit 81, 325 Fort Loudon Medical Center Drive, at 8:00 AM. Drive 165 miles RT. Leader: Steve Madden, smadden@aaasouth.com • FREE Sunday, Feb. 14 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: EAST LAKESHORE TRAIL • Smoky Mountain Hiking Club • 12:30PM • Join us to check out a new section of the East Lakeshore Trail along

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Tellico Lake. This hike is rated moderately strenuous due to the climb. Meet at Lenoir City Cracker Barrel, Exit 81, 325 Fort Loudon Medical Center Drive, at 12:30 PM or at the trailhead at 1:00 PM. Drive: 10 miles RT. (Trailhead Directions: I-75 to Exit 81, Lenoir City, then Hwy 321 south for 5.1 miles. Right on Jackson Bend Road. Trailhead is approximately a half mile from the turn.) Leader: Andy Zimmerman, andyzim@gmail.com • FREE

RIDE • Fountain City Pedaler • 6PM • Visit fcpedaler.com. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: SCHOOLHOUSE GAP/ TURKEY PEN/FINLEY CANE/BOTE MOUNTAIN TRAILS • Smoky Mountain Hiking Club • 8AM • Nine miles, rated moderate. Meet at Alcoa Food City, 121 North Hall Road, at 8:00 AM. Drive: 50 miles RT. Leader: Ron Brandenburg, ronb86@comcast.net • FREE

Monday, Feb. 15 KTC GROUP RUN • Mellow Mushroom • 6PM • Visit ktc.org.

• FREE BEARDEN BEER MARKET FUN RUN • Bearden Beer Market • 6:30PM • Visit beardenbeermarket.com. • FREE

Thursday, Feb. 18 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 6PM • All levels welcome. • 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 • 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 CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY GREENWAY RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:30PM • FREE

Tuesday, Feb. 16 CYTOLOGY BICYCLES TUESDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10:30AM • 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 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. • FREE CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES TUESDAY GREENWAY RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:30PM • cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE Wednesday, Feb. 17 KTC GROUP RUN • Runner’s Market • 5:30PM • Visit ktc.org.

• FREE FOUNTAIN CITY PEDALERS SHARPS RIDGE MOUNTAIN BIKE

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Open on Valentine’s Day Sunday , Feb. 14th 3 convenient locations 2314 N. Broadway 8205 Chapman Hwy. 865-523-5121 865-573-0137 700 S. Gay St. 865-522-4825 View flowers & order online www.knoxvilleflowerpot.com bettysknoxflowers.com

CALENDAR Crafts 556 Parkway (Gatlinburg) JAN. 16-MARCH 11: Touch: Interactive Craft, Arrowmont’s biannual national juried exhibition.

Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. FEB. 2-28: heART 2 heART, a Valentine’s exhibit.

Bliss Home 24 Market Square JAN. 1-FEB. 29: Artwork by Ocean Starr Cline.

Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 Broadway FEB. 5-MARCH 1: Alley Cat by Marianne Ziegler.

Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. FEB. 5-27: Artwork by Larry Brown.

East Tennessee History Museum 601 S. Gay St. THROUGH MARCH 2: Bud Albers Art Recollections: Works From Life and Travels; THROUGH MARCH 20: Celebrating a Life in Tennessee Art: Lloyd Branson 1853-1925 Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. FEB. 5-26: Knoxville Photography Collective exhibit and National Juried Exhibition 2016.

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.

Flow: A Brew Parlor 603 W. Main St. FEB. 5-29: Artwork by Saul Young.

Knoxville Museum of Art 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive JAN. 29-APRIL 17: Knoxville Seven, an exhibit of artwork by an influential group of Knoxville artists from the 1950s and ’60s, including Buck Ewing, Carl Sublett, and more. ONGOING: Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in Tennessee; Currents: Recent Art From East Tennessee and Beyond; and Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture 1327 Circle Park Drive JAN. 23-MAY 22: Maya: Lords of Time. ONGOING: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church 2931 Kingston Pike FEB. 12-MARCH 30: Artwork by Heather Hartman and Jessica Payne.

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

LECTURES, READINGS,

AND BOOK SIGNINGS

Thursday, Feb. 11 NEIL SHUBIN: YOUR INNER FISH • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 7PM • Dr. Neil Shubin, best selling author of Your Inner Fish and star of the PBS series is giving a lecture about paleontology and the incredible evolutionary history of transitional fossils that have been discovered on earth. Will be held in the Cox Auditorium of the Memorial Alumni Building on The University of Tennessee’s campus. Book signing to follow.

• FREE UT HUMANITIES CENTER VISITING SCHOLAR LECTURE SERIES • University of Tennessee • 3:30PM • Akeel Bilgrami will give a talk titled “Agency, Value and Alienation” in the Lindsay Young Auditorium of John C. Hodges Library, 1015 Volunteer Blvd. His lecture is free and open to the public. Bilgrami is the Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. His research focuses on philosophy of mind and language, political philosophy and moral psychology.

In his lecture, Bilgrami will discuss the relationship between the values we espouse and our agency—the capacity that each of us has to live our own life and determine our own actions. • FREE Friday, Feb. 12 UT SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • The Science Forum is a weekly brown-bag lunch series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation.Free and open to the public, each Science Forum consists of a 40-minute presentation followed by a Q-and-A session. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch or purchase it at the cafe in Thompson-Boling Arena. The Science Forum, sponsored by the UT Office of Research and Quest magazine, is an initiative to raise awareness of the research, scholarship and creative activity happening on campus. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 13 BLIND DATE WITH A BOOK • Barnes & Noble • 2PM • Come celebrate your love of reading this Valentine’s Day weekend as we host a variety of local authors. • FREE Monday, Feb. 15 UT COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN 2016 LECTURE SERIES • University of Tennessee Art and Architecture Building • 5:30PM • The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Architecture and Design will host internationally renowned architects and designers as guest lecturers during the 2016 spring semester. • FREE Tuesday, Feb. 16 CARROLL MCMAHAN: “THE HISTORY OF MOONSHINE” • Seymour Branch Library • 7PM • Sevier County Historian Carroll McMahan will give a free talk on “The History of Moonshine” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16 at Seymour Library, 137 West Macon Lane, Seymour. The talk is part of the “How We Live: Then and Now” series sponsored by Friends of Seymour Library which explores the people and culture of East Tennessee. For more information, call Colleen Shannon at 609-9656. • FREE CHARLES FINNEY: “CAVE OF REMEMBERED DREAMS: RECORDING CULTURAL RESOURCES IN THE CUMBERLAND GAP CAVE SYSTEM” • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 7:30PM • The East Tennessee Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the McClung Museum present Charles Finney of ORNL lecturing on “Cave of Remembered Dreams: Recording

Cultural Resources in the Cumberland Gap Cave System.”

Lectures are held at 7:30 p.m. in the McClung Museum Auditorium and are open to the public and free of charge.

A reception will follow each. • FREE Wednesday, Feb. 17 BOOKS SANDWICHED IN • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • Knox County Public Library’s 2016 book-reading series begins with a presentation by Renée Hoyos, executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network, on Cool It! The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming by Bjørn Lomborg, • FREE Thursday, Feb. 18 PAMELA SCHOENEWALDT: ‘UNDER THE SAME BLUE SKY’ • University of Tennessee Medical Center • 5PM • Pamela Schoenewaldt, USAToday bestselling author, discusses her latest novel, Under the Same Blue Sky, and her research on the health and healthcare-related consequences of “the war to end all wars.” A historical novel set on the home front of World War I, Under the Same Blue Sky gives a unique perspective to timeless issues of the Healing Touch, caregiver stress, and shell shock (known to us as PTSD). • FREE TOM AND TONY BANCROFT LECTURE • University of Tennessee Art and Architecture Building • 7PM • Former Disney animators Tom and Tony Bancroft will be presenting a lecture at 7pm in the Art and Architecture Building room 109 on Feb. 18. • FREE Friday, Feb. 19 UT SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • The Science Forum is a weekly brown-bag lunch series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation. Free and open to the public, each Science Forum consists of a 40-minute presentation followed by a Q-and-A session. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch or purchase it at the cafe in Thompson-Boling Arena. The Science Forum, sponsored by the UT Office of Research and Quest magazine, is an initiative to raise awareness of the research, scholarship and creative activity happening on campus. • FREE

FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS

Thursday, Feb. 11 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE Friday, Feb. 12 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between.

Materials will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For grades K-5. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 13 SATURDAY STORIES AND SONGS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • A weekly music and storytelling session for kids. • FREE Sunday, Feb. 14 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 February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31

CALENDAR and 4pm on the second Sunday of each month. • FREE Tuesday, Feb. 16 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 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, Feb. 17 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, Feb. 18

BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 20 UT ARBORETUM FATHER-DAUGHTER HIKE • University of Tennessee Arboretum • 9AM • Are you looking for an opportunity to spend some father-daughter quality time outdoors? Come out to the University of Tennessee Arboretum for a fun, short trail hike (1 to 1.5 hours) on Saturday, February 20. For more information on the program, call 483-3571. • FREE SCOTT HAMILTON AND FRIENDS ON ICE • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 5PM • This one-of-a-kind production featuring Scott Hamilton, Olympic Gold Medalist, a dozen World or Olympic Champion figure skaters and Michael W. Smith, one of the world’s most renowned Christian entertainers and 3-time Grammy Award Winner who has recorded 31 #1 hits, live in concert. To learn more about the Ice Show, Celebration Dinner and how to purchase tickets or become a sponsor, Call (865)321-4589. All net proceeds from this event will go to support education, health, wellness, research, and patient assistance programs managed by the Provision CARES Foundation and the Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation. • $22-$52.50

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS Thursday, Feb. 11

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

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. • FREE SEYMOUR FARMER’S MARKET FREE GARDENING WORKSHOPS • Seymour Branch Library • 7PM • This program is part of the library’s quarterly special interest series. • FREE BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • East Tennessee Medical Group • 8AM • For registration and information, call (865) 382-5822.

CURESEARCH FOR CHILDREN’S CANCER ULTIMATE HIKE • REI • 6PM • Learn how you can Hike 28.3 miles of the Foothills Trail in one day, all while helping to tell children’s cancer to take a hike, make new friends, get active, and make a difference. Visit rei.com/stores/ knoxville. • FREE UT COLLEGE OF LAW FREE INCOME TAX PREPARATION ASSISTANCE • University of Tennessee • 5PM • As part of the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, students will offer free tax preparation help to members

of the community. The program runs through Thursday, April 14, on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Suite 157 of the College of Law. For more information about the VITA program at UT Law, contact Morgan at 865-974-2492 or rmorgan2@utk.edu. • FREE Friday, Feb. 12 LOVE POTIONS COCKTAIL CLASS • The Central Collective • 6PM • Learn how to create three love-inspired cocktails from Dale Mackey, co-founder of The Central Collective.

Participants will learn about infusions, syrups, and cordials, and will sample each of the three cocktails we create. • $25 Saturday, Feb. 13 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 1:30PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. • $10 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 2:30PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. • $10 KNOX HERITAGE PRESERVATION NETWORK • Knox Heritage • 10AM • Preservation Network is a series of free workshops held once every month on the second

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CALENDAR Saturday. The monthly workshops feature guest speakers who are specialists in windows, flooring, roofing, stained glass, tile, plumbing, electrical, and more. Other guest speakers have included those in real estate sales and appraisals, or city codes and zoning officials discussing historic overlays and building requirements. For more information visit www.knoxheritage.org. • FREE THRU-HIKING THE AT MINISERIES PREP CLASS • REI • 9:45AM • Thru-hiking the AT soon? Thinking about how you should prepare for your long distance hike? Join us for some mini-sessions that will cover a wide range of topics. The more prepared you are... Visit rei.com/stores/ knoxville. • FREE Sunday, Feb. 14 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.

Monday, Feb. 15 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-577-

2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted.

DIVORCE RECOVERY WORKSHOP • Cokesbury Center • 6:30PM • Divorce can be a life-shattering experience.

Whether it was sudden or was years in the making, we all need to heal our hearts, rebuild trust and get on with the rest of our lives. You have a choice: you can either go through divorce or you can grow through divorce. The format includes both a large and small group presentations by trained leaders. Attend Divorce Recovery to begin reframing and moving on with your life. Cost for the 14-week course is $75, which includes a book and workbook. • $75 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 5:45PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. • $10 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 6:45PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. • $10 KMA WINTER ADULT WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 10AM • 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

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CALENDAR registration information, visit www.knoxart.org.

Tuesday, Feb. 16 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. • FREE OMNI VISIONS FOSTER CARE TRAINING • Omni Visions Inc. • 6PM • Omni Visions is in need of foster and adoptive families as well as families that will provide respite care.

Omni Visions Treatment Parents receive financial reimbursement for each day a child lives in your home, as well as 24/7 support from our staff. Join us for our free PATH (Parents As Tender Healers) Training and open your heart and home to a child in need. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Rebecca Horton at (865) 524-4393 ext 1204 or rhorton@omnivisions.com. • FREE UT COLLEGE OF LAW FREE INCOME TAX PREPARATION ASSISTANCE • University of Tennessee • 5PM • As part of the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, students will offer free tax preparation help to members of the community. The program runs through Thursday, April 14, on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Suite 157 of the College of Law. For more information about the VITA program at UT Law, contact Morgan at 865-974-2492 or rmorgan2@utk.edu. • FREE 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.

AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER COURSE • Larry Cox Senior Center • 12PM • Call (865) 382-5822.

HANDS-ON BIKE MAINTENANCE • REI • 6PM • Visit rei.com/ stores/knoxville. • $65 Wednesday, Feb. 17 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 5:45PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. • $10 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 6:45PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. • $10 FINANCIAL PLANNING FOR ARTISTS WORKSHOP • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 12PM • We will discuss topics such as taking control; keeping personal and artistic finances separate; budgeting for artistic projects and personal life; how to track deductible expenses; paying yourself first; calculating what one’s time is worth; and protecting the things and people you care about. The presentation is FREE for members of the

e n joy

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

Arts & Culture Alliance and $5 for non-members. Please register in advance via PayPal at knoxalliance.com, at 865-523-7543, or by e-mail to sc@knoxalliance.com. • $5 AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER COURSE • Larry Cox Senior Center • 12PM • Call (865) 382-5822.

UT VOL COURT PITCH COMPETITION • University of Tennessee • 5:15PM • Vol Court is a six-week entrepreneurial speaker series hosted by UT’s Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation that culminates in a pitch competition. Vol Court will meet from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. every Wednesday beginning Feb. 17 in Room 104 of the Haslam Business Building. Anyone who participates in the March 30 pitch competition must have attended four of the five series meetings.

Thursday, Feb. 18 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. • FREE BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 UT COLLEGE OF LAW FREE INCOME TAX PREPARATION ASSISTANCE • University of Tennessee • 5PM • As part of the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, students will offer free tax preparation help to members of the community. The program runs through Thursday,

April 14, on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Suite 157 of the College of Law. For more information about the VITA program at UT Law, contact Morgan at 865-974-2492 or rmorgan2@utk.edu. • FREE

MEETINGS

Thursday, Feb. 11 SCRUFFY CITY ORCHESTRA • First Baptist Church • 7PM • A new venue for musicians from the greater Knoxville metropolitan area, Scruffy City Orchestra, kicks off with regular rehearsals on Thursdays beginning January 28th from 7:00 until 9:00 at First Baptist Church on Main Street.

Conductors are Matt Wilkinson and Ace Edewards.

Prospective members, especially string players, are encouraged to contact Alicia Meryweather at ScruffyCityOrchestra@gmail.com for more information. • 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.

SCIENCE CAFE • Ijams Nature Center • 5:30PM • This is a group discussion where you have the opportunity to ask the expert your questions. The topic for this meeting is

CALENDAR “The Physics of Proton Therapy”, and our guest scientist is Dr. Niek Schreuder, VP and Chief Medical Physicist from the Provision Center for Proton Therapy in Knoxville.

Please RSVP by calling Ijams Nature Center at (865)577-4717 extension 110 or by sending an e-mail message to rsvp@knoxsciencecafe.org. • FREE

local gay men in a safe and open environment. Visit gaygroupknoxville.org.

SCRUFFY CITY COMMUNITY ACTION TEAM TACOS AND BOWLING NIGHT • Senor Taco • 6PM • Come eat, drink, and bowl badly with a fun group of feminists. Tacos at Senor Taco at 6:00PM; Bowling at Fountain Lanes at 7:30PM.

Saturday, Feb. 13 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Al-Anon’s purpose is to help families and friends of alcoholics recover from the effects of living with the problem drinking of a relative or friend. Visit our local website at farragutalanon.org or email us at FindHope@ Farragutalanon.org. • FREE 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.

Tuesday, Feb. 16 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

Sunday, Feb. 14 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, Feb. 15 GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • We hold facilitated discussions on topics and issues relevant to

Wednesday, Feb. 17 COMITE POPULAR DE KNOXVILLE • The Birdhouse • 7PM • A weekly meeting of the local immigrant advocacy organization.

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY WOMEN WITH ADVANCED CANCER NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 1:30PM • Join other women who are living with cancer as a chronic illness to discuss feelings and experiences that are unique to women with advanced cancer. Please call before your first visit. Call 865-546- 4661 for more info.

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

ORION ASTRONOMY CLUB • The Grove Theater (Oak Ridge) • 7PM • ORION is an amateur science and astronomy club centered in Oak Ridge that was founded in April 1974 by a group of scientists at the United States Department of Energy facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We serve Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and the counties of Anderson, Knox, and Roane.We meet on the third Wednesday of each month

for coffee and conversation, and our program begins 15 minutes thereafter. • FREE Thursday, Feb. 18 SCRUFFY CITY ORCHESTRA • First Baptist Church • 7PM • A new venue for musicians from the greater Knoxville metropolitan area, Scruffy City Orchestra, kicks off with regular rehearsals on Thursdays. Conductors are Matt Wilkinson and Ace Edewards. Prospective members, especially string players, are encouraged to contact Alicia Meryweather at ScruffyCityOrchestra@gmail.com for more information. • 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.

THE SOUTHERN LITERATURE BOOK CLUB • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Union Ave Books’ monthly discussion group about Southern books and writers. • FREE

ETC.

casual. (No taps, please.) • $7 BLUE RIDGE YOGA CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY BENEFIT • Blue Ridge Yoga • 4PM • Please join Blue Ridge Yoga for a fun evening of Self-Care to benefit local nonprofit Cancer Support Community East Tennessee. Featuring a yoga or mediation session and a reception with wine & hors d’oeuvres, makeovers, massages, essential oils and much more. Register at cancersupportet.org or call (865) 546-4661 for more information.

Saturday, Feb. 20 NOURISH KNOXVILLE WINTER FARMERS’ MARKET • Central United Methodist Church • 10AM-2PM • The Winter Farmers’ Market, held in the Historic 4th and Gill neighborhood, will host farm & food vendors selling pasture-raised meats, eggs, winter produce, honey, baked goods, artisan foods, and more. Outside, food trucks will be serving up lunch from locally sourced ingredients.

Visit nourishknoxville.org. • FREE

Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com

Thursday, Feb. 11 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

mid century

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February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35

OUTDOORS

Voice in the Wilder ness

Photo by Kim Trevathan

The Big Freeze Camping at Rock Creek Campground in the middle of winter tends to be rather cold

BY KIM TREVATHAN

W

hy anyone would consider camping in the middle of January is beyond me, but it was something I’d never done, so one Friday afternoon I began to consider it. I probably would have talked myself out of it by Saturday morning, but I made the mistake of texting my colleague Drew Crain, who teaches biology at Maryville College. Almost immediately, he agreed to go, and I was committed.

Was I prepared? I had a tent, a pad, a tarp, and a White Stag sleeping bag inherited from my father, who probably had purchased it in the 1950s. Crain borrowed a sleeping bag from his friend with a “rating,” he said, of 25 degrees, almost exactly the forecasted low for my winter camping debut. The White Stag label had no temperature rating but said “superior

36

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

warmth,” which seemed to me (at the time) a better estimation of quality than an arbitrary number. I had a military surplus parka that had kept me warm on hikes in single-digit temperatures. Finally, Crain loaded what seemed to me an adequate amount of oak into the back of my Subaru. Would we be warm? We thought so.

I picked the destination, Rock Creek Campground, on the Emory River, near its confluence with the Obed. We planned on fishing the Emory and hiking on the Cumberland Tail, a work in progress that, when finished, will run along the plateau from Signal Mountain near Chattanooga to Cumberland Gap in Kentucky.

I had not seen The Revenant before our camping trip, and I am glad. In it, Crain said, is the most

realistically depicted bear attack he’d ever seen in a movie. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, based upon early 19th century trapper and guide Hugh Glass, comes between two grizzly cubs and their mama and suffers what seems an interminable mauling, hyper-realistic and gruesome in its detail. I highly recommend the movie but not before camping.

Crain did not think our dinner of bacon and homemade bread with rosemary would lure bears from the rugged wilderness of the Obed Wild and Scenic River area. Black bears in this area don’t exactly hibernate, he said, but they tend to stay put in their dens when it gets below freezing. “If it was in the 50s, I might not cook bacon,” he said.

Somewhat ominously, the campground not only had those metal bear-proof trash receptacles, but also metal storage compartments for food and cooking implements. And despite his convincing reassurances about slumbering inactive bears, I found out that Crain, like me, had brought along bear repellent.

Wildlife biologist Jay Clark, who has done extensive research on bears, told me later that it was unlikely we’d see a bear on our trip for two reasons: their inactivity in the winter and the scarcity of humans who don’t clean up and store food properly after cooking, something that Crain and I would be certain to do.

We fished hard from mid-afternoon to near dark. In spite of getting no bites, it was fun to scramble along the rocky banks of the Emory and cast into the deep pools outside the rapids.

The river had a green tint to it and it flowed under two bridges, one of them Nemo Bridge (Catoosa Road), the other a beautiful iron-truss bridge, built in 1929, that has been preserved as a pedestrian crossing between the campground and Nemo Landing, a picnic area.

Just before dark, four kayakers emerged from the river at Nemo, exhilarated after from their run from Lily Bridge, a few miles upriver on the Obed. One of them had taken an unplanned swim at some point.

Suddenly, winter camping didn’t seem all that edgy; neither of us could imagine being on or in this water, drysuit or not.

This wasn’t exactly the Rocky Mountain wilderness that Hugh Glass had to crawl and limp across after the bear mauling. We parked right next to the campsite within sight of Catoosa Road, and there was a concrete picnic table, a fire ring, and a pit toilet, thanks to the National Park Service. There were, however, no other campers.

We got the fire blazing before dark and Crain fried the bacon in a cast-iron skillet that he lay on the fire.

Remembering the campfires of his younger days, Crain was able to recite from the label of some strong spirits

OUTDOORS

Photo by Drew Cain

someone always brought along: “Yukon Jack is a taste born of hoary nights, when lonely men struggled to keep their fires lit and cabins warm.”

It was a hoary night indeed. The wood ran out about 10:30 p.m., and having already scavenged neighboring campsites for derelict logs and having resorted to collecting twigs in the dark, we retired to our tents to test out how well outfitted we were for the conditions.

Crain was snoring within seconds, and he kept snoring while I lay awake and listened to the river roar a few yards below us and then the whistle of a train every couple of hours, the wrack-wracking of the iron wheels hauling freight between Cincinnati and Chattanooga. For a while, it was lovely, and I felt privileged and grateful to be there.

After an hour or two, though, dwelling on our solitude and isolation, I couldn’t stop thinking of the bear movies I’d seen; all of them seemed to be set in the winter. In The Edge, with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, a bear surprises three men at their campsite and stalks them for a few days (would not happen, said Clark).

It would be difficult to hear one approach us with all the noise: the damn river, the annoying train, and Crain’s snoring. How was he sleeping? As is my habit when unable to sleep, I began an inventory of worries and grievances. I let it roll on like a

badly made documentary I could not turn off, the sleeping bag pulled over my head, fur-lined parka piled on top of that.

Finally, I got warm enough in the White Stag to drop off and dream of malevolent park rangers who began to string up a barbed wire fence between our campsite and the river for some reason they refused to explain.

The next morning, we hiked a ways up the river along a white sand beach on the Nemo Landing side. Even with the railroad track at the top of the gorge somewhere and the highway less than a mile downriver, it seemed like wilderness, the river crashing by on one side, the dark wall of the gorge rising from a beach punctuated with jagged boulders and briars.

I fished a little, mostly to stay warm. Fortunately, we weren’t dependent on our fishing skills for survival. At one point in The Revenant, DiCaprio’s character snatches up a small fish from a makeshift dam and devours it raw (Oscar worthy!). For me, it was a matter of reeling in my line, loading the gear, and driving the hour and half back to Maryville to concoct a hearty macaroni and cheese casserole.

Still, the winter camping experiment was well worth it, much better than sitting at home watching football, though the next time we’ll need more wood, a 21st century sleeping bag for me, and better research on the fishing there. ◆ February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37

’BYE

At This Point

Weather Puritan The price of spring

BY STEPHANIE PIPER

T

he groundhog has slated us for an early spring. This may be good news.

Or not, depending on how much of a weather puritan you happen to be. In my book, spring follows winter. Winter includes snow and ice and chains on tires and long, cold nights. Spring is like a rich dessert. You have to earn it.

That’s how it seemed to me, anyway, growing up in the chilly Northeast. My childhood home sat on top of a steep, winding hill half a mile from the school bus stop. From Thanksgiving to Easter, towering drifts bordered the road and sand trucks and plows lumbered up and down day and night. Snow rarely closed school; anything under 8 inches was considered a dusting.

Weather reports on our black-andwhite TV were short and to the point.

It’s winter here in New York. It snows

a lot. Keep calm and shovel on.

There was an occasional bit of weather-related drama. My younger brother was born during a historic January ice storm that made our hill impassable to any vehicle but the village fire truck. My mother went to the hospital on a bright red hook-andladder, sirens blaring. We awoke the next morning to a world coated in glass and the sound of our next-door neighbor rattling around in the kitchen. She had slipped and slid her way through the trees and across the lawn to stay with us while my parents were otherwise engaged.

I got to be good at winter, learning to drive on skiddy streets and to heat soup over a Sterno-fueled chafing dish when the power went out. My skills served me well when we moved to Chicago, just in time for the Blizzard of ’79. Two days and two

BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY 38

KNOXVILLE MERCURY February 11, 2016

www.thespiritofthestaircase.com

nights of non-stop snow piled drifts higher than our porch railing. On day three, my children clambered out the front door and began tunneling.

Knoxville was a revelation, an uncharted territory where everything slammed shut at the first hint of a snowflake. We packed away our sub-zero down parkas and watched in amazement as panic set in at a rumor of wintery mix. We marveled at the sight of robins in February and daffodils in early March. By April, it was nearly summer.

Weather puritan that I am, I kept waiting for some grim reckoning, an epic storm that would even the meteorological score and justify the blossoms and birdsong. Once in a while it actually happened: a threeday whiteout in March of ’93, burying the blooming forsythia; an April deep-freeze in 2007.

But mostly, then as now, spring sounds its opening notes before the Valentines are gone from the greet-

ing-card aisle. On the college campus where I work, students trade boots for flip-flops at the first hint of a thaw.

Hammocks for impromptu lounging appear on tree branches. I used to think they were rushing the season, but thirtysomething years in East Tennessee have nibbled away at the edges of my dogmatism.

I consider the groundhog’s prediction, wonder what it will mean for the redbud and the flowering quince and those little star-shaped white flowers I have learned to look for every year while most of the country is still wrapped in frost. They may be out next week, poking through dead leaves under trees that are still bare but full of promise.

I wander around my yard, examine the swelling buds and the white tips of crocus. It comes to me that spring here is like grace, arriving in its own time, abundant, generous, surprising.

And nearly always, unearned. ◆

Knoxville was a revelation, an uncharted territory where everything slammed shut at the first hint of a snowflake.

’BYE

BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY

CLASSIFIEDS

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Support the Knoxville Mercury and sell your stuff by purchasing an ad in our classifieds section.

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

FREE RENT THRU FEBRUARY! Move in NOW and enjoy Valentine’s Day in your 1BR furn. apt. near UT/hospitals/ downtown. $500/mo inc. utilities. Free wi/fi, cable, W/D, fitness center, hot tub. Underground parking avail. Looking for female renter, but you don’t have to be a student!

865-640-3018.

COMMUNITY MARYVILLE’S FAIR TRADE SHOP. U nique 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.

SERVICES $5 NEW YEAR’S SALE, local and handmade, unique and modern, repurposed vintage 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

J. DAVID REECE, M aster Electrician. State of Tn. and City of Knoxville licensed. Insurance and references. Over 25 years experience. Commercial and residential service and repair, remodeling, and new construction.

CCTV, home theater, generators. Residential and commercial electrical design, inspections and consulting. 865-228-8966.

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VIXEN- is a Catahoula Leopard dog/retriever mix that’s also been with us since Dec. He is very smart, & is learning new tricks! We’ve taught him basic manners & he would be perfect in an active home. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center or call 865-215-6599 for more information.

SISSY- she’s a 10 year old senior lady Shepherd Mix who needs a loving home to retire in. She’s been here since early December. She is up to date on all vaccinations & preventions. Visit Young -Williams Animal Center or call 865-215-6599 for more information.

SAMSON & EMMA ARE BEST FRIENDS. They are both 7 year old Boxer/mixes. They need someone to love them.

They are so sweet, & very active! They need to go home together. Visit Young -Williams Animal Center or call 865-215-6599 for more information.

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February 11, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39