Vol. 2, Issue 10 - March 10, 2016

WELL, THAT WAS FUN. DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR?

MARCH 10, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM V.

2 / N.10

For nearly 40 years, UT’s fraternities have been beating each other up at Boxing Weekend.

But there’s much more on the line than just bragging rights and parties. BY BRIAN CANEVER • PHOTOS BY CLAY DUDA

NEWS

What Hyperlocal Weather Data Reveals About Knoxville Neighborhoods

JACK NEELY

The Donald Trumps Tennessee’s Historical Voting Patterns

INSIDE THE VAULT

The Underappreciated Career of Knoxville Folk Singer Joy King

OUTSIDE INSIDER

Obed Wild and Scenic River’s “Climb with the Ranger” Program

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

March 10, 2016 Volume 02 / Issue 10 knoxmercury.com

CONTENTS

“ You throw your best punch, otherwise don’t do it.” —Don Rickles

NEWS

12 Hotter in Your

14 H aymakers

’Hood?

COVER STORY

For almost 40 years, University of Tennessee fraternity members have headed to an East Knoxville gym to learn how to pummel each other in a boxing ring. Why? Every year, they pit fighters against each other in a fight to the finish that is now called Boxing Weekend—a massive, bloody party. But it’s also the main funding source for Ace Miller’s Golden Gloves Gym, the longtime beacon for inner-city youths. Brian Canever takes us behind the scenes of this unlikely relationship.

Join Our League of Supporters!

It is supercharged with fun! Find out how you can help at knoxmercury.com/join.

Since July 2014, small weather boxes have been collecting information from six urban neighborhoods. They’re recording things like temperature, humidity, air quality, and wind information. They’re all part of an ambitious and expanding experiment aimed at better understanding how variations in weather from neighborhood to neighborhood—on a hyperlocal scale—tie in with other factors like asphalt cover, development, tree canopy, and green space to impact local residents and their quality of life. Clay Duda reports.

DEPARTMENTS

OPINION

A&E

4 Ed. Note 6 Howdy

8 Scruffy Citizen

20 Program Notes: Ashley Capps and

24 Spotlights: Pentagram

21 Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson

OUTDOORS

Start Here: Believe It or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory

INTRODUCING: “Ghosts in the Machine” by L. M. Horstman, an illustrated history of the St. James Sessions—the music recordings made at Knoxville’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930.

36 ’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 analyzes the disruptive power of Donald Trump on Tennessee’s voting patterns.

10 Perspectives

Joe Sullivan looks ahead to Phase 1 of new public-housing construction in Five Points.

CALENDAR David Dewhirst unveil Knoxville’s newest live-performance venue.

traces the career of underappreciated Knoxville folk singer Joy King.

22 Music: Ryan Reed discusses

Yonatan Gat’s fight against the fear of improvisation.

34 Outside Insider

Kim Trevathan gets some climbing tips at the Obed Wild and Scenic River’s “Climb with the Ranger” program.

23 Movies: April Snellings achieves Zootopia.

March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3

EDITOR’S NOTE Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015

EDITORIAL

P.S.: If you missed the show but would still like to contribute to our effort, just go to knoxmercury.com/join or drop on by the office!

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

KELLE JOLLY

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

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

INTERNS

Hannah Hunnicutt Kevin Ridder

DESIGN KATHRYN FRADY MARVEL

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

BRENT THOMPSON

Ben Adams Matthew Foltz-Gray

DIXIEGHOST

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

RED HICKEY AND ELI FOX

ROBINELLA

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.

THE CHILLBILLIES

CORRECTION

In a story in last week’s issue about Cutthroat Shamrock’s last show, we gave the wrong credit for the photograph of the band. The photo was taken by Bill Foster.

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

MARILYN KALLET

KNOX COUNTY JUG STOMPERS

Photo courtesy of Roger Harb

Thank you to all the musicians, poets, comedians, hosts, and speakers who made Knoxtacular such a special event. It was heartening to see and hear the amazing depth and breadth of Knoxville’s creative community all in one place: the hallowed stage of the Bijou Theatre. We truly appreciate the time and energy you contributed to our cause!

Also, we would like to give a big shout-out to our coordinators: Paige Travis, who wrangled the lineup, Mark Arnold and Amanda Starnes, who managed all the staging details for us, the entire staff of the Bijou Theatre, and the amazing people at WDVX and their marketing ringleader, Roger Harb. None of this could have happened without their skills behind the scenes.

Then there are our sponsors, whose donations made the entire event possible: the Bistro at the Bijou, Dazzo’s Pizzeria, Frussie’s Deli, Hard Knox Pizza, Knox Heritage, Rik’s Music and Sound/Applied Audio Solutions, Saw Works Brewing Co., Sugarlands Distilling Co., the Tomato Head, and Yee-Haw Brewing Co. And let’s not forget our door-prize donors: AC Entertainment’s Big Ears Festival, Bliss, Clarence Brown Theatre’s South Pacific, KMA’s Alive After 5, Raven Records & Rarities, Dogwood Arts’ Rhythm N’ Blooms, and Stanley’s Greenhouse.

Knoxtacular turned out to be a true community-wide effort—from our sponsors to the artists, from the technicians to the audiences at the theater and at home. Everyone wanted to make this a unique and important event for Knoxville. And all of us at the Knoxville Mercury and WDVX are grateful for your support.

—Coury Turczyn, ed.

Photos by Clay Duda

A KNOXTACULAR TIME!

© 2016 The Knoxville Mercury

HUDSON K

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THANK YOU! The Knoxville Mercury and our partners WDVX and the Knoxville History Project are grateful to our wonderful, caring, and compassionate community, sponsors, performers, volunteers, and partners in making our first ever Knoxtacular fund drive an instant classic!

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: Bijou Theatre Knox Heritage Yee Haw Brewing Bistro at the Bijou Bliss Dogwood Arts / Rhythm N’ Blooms

Tomato Head Hard Knox Pizza Dazzo’s Pizzeria Frussies Deli Raven Records & Rarities AC Entertainment / Big Ears

Clarence Brown Theatre KMA / Alive After Five Stanley’s Greenhouse Sugarlands Distilling Co. Saw Works Brewing Co. Rik’s Music and Sound / Applied Audio Solutions

IT’S NOT TOO LATE! If you missed the event you can always support the paper by donating directly to the Knoxville Mercury, non-deductibly, or with a tax deductible donation to the Knoxville History Project, which helps the Mercury. Visit knoxmercury.com/join.

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March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5

HOWDY QUOTE FACTORY

GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE BY L. M. HORSTMAN

Here’s my message to the Republican Party leaders: Focus more on listening to the American people and less on trying to stifle their voice.

—U.S. Sen. Bob Corker in a statement affirming his belief that the voice of the people is a strip-club owner who brags about his penis size. But not to worry—he also found a way to blame President Obama, saying that the embrace of Donald Trump is due to anger over “the overreach of the Obama administration.”

I

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

3/10 SCREENING: ‘CHICANO!’ THURSDAY

3/12 2ND ANNUAL COMMUNITY-WIDE CLEAN UP SATURDAY

8 p.m., Indigenous Vibes Studios (748 N. 4th Ave.). Free.

A four-part PBS documentary series, Chicano! examines the Mexican American civil rights movement, which previously has received little media attention. Presented

by Knoxville For Tuition Equality.

Info: facebook.com/KnoxTuitionEquality.

3/11 5TH ANNUAL CIRCUS EXTRAVAGANZA FRIDAY

7:30 p.m., Clayton Performing Arts Center (Pellissippi State Community College). $10-$12.

Dragonfly Aerial Arts Studio presents Knoxville’s own hometown circus featuring local acrobats performing in the air and on the ground. Proceeds go to circus programs for at-risk youth, promoting improved self-esteem, physical agility, and social skills. Other performances: Saturday, March 12 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 13 at 2 p.m.

Tickets: app.arts-people.com.

9 a.m.-noon, Harvest Center Plaza (2410 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.).

Five Points Up, a community group that promotes quality of life initiatives in East Knoxville, is gathering neighborhood organizations, churches, businesses, and citizens to clean things up. Gloves, bags, tools, and safety equipment will be provided.

3/17 LECTURE: NIKKI GIOVANNI THURSDAY

6 p.m., Pellissippi State Community College (1610 E. Magnolia Ave.). Free.

Knoxville ex-pat Nikki Giovanni is, simply, one of the nation’s leading poets: winner of seven NAACP Image awards and a Grammy nomination, a New York Times bestselling author, and a finalist for the National Book Award. She will discuss “On My Journey Now: Looking at African-American History Through the Spirituals,” which studies the heritage of music as a means to escape the injustice and harshness of slavery. Book signing afterward.

Believe It or Knox!

BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX

school, no business—until decades after Admiral Farragut’s death, and about 96 years after the Farragut family had left Tennessee!

Illustration by Ben Adams

Union naval hero Admiral David Glasgow Farragut was born in West Knox County, but his family left the area forever when he was about 7.

Nothing was named for Farragut—no town, no

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

August 27-31, 1929 & March 29-April 7, 1930

Henley Street is named for David Henley, the federal agent based in Knoxville who, in 1797, discovered that former Gov. William Blount was involved in a treasonous plot to make the Louisiana territory a British colony! Today, the Henley Street Bridge leads to Blount County!

Knoxville’s two tallest office towers, Plaza Tower and Riverview Tower, were built by brothers Jake and C.H. Butcher—both of whom were involved in launching the 1982 World’s Fair, and both of whom were, soon afterward, convicted of bank fraud!

n the fall of 1929 and the spring of 1930, two of the last great field recording sessions of the era took place in Knoxville at the St. James Hotel on Wall Avenue, producing what some consider the finest examples of old-time music on record.

During the sessions, banjo pickers, fiddlers, guitarists, and singers ambled into the St. James, through the lobby, and upstairs to the WNOX studio on the second floor.

There, they saw the heavy recording equipment-1,600 pounds of it--set up by the Brunswick Record Company. It must have seemed like magic to them, how their music would be captured and released on a round piece of shellac.

This is the story of a few of those musicians-some local, some not, some famous, some obscure. The music was good, but the timing was bad: the Great Depression lurked.

To be continued…

Knoxville’s Irish St. Patrick’s Day is an old holiday in Knoxville.

Irish immigrants and their families have played a major role in Knoxville history. Several of the city’s early founders were Irish immigrants.

At least two delegates to the Constitutional Convention that formed the state of Tennessee in 1796 were Irish immigrants, as were at least three of the first seven members of Knoxville’s Board of Aldermen in 1816.

Many but not all Irish immigrants to Knoxville were the Scots-Irish Presbyterians from the part of Northern Ireland known as Ulster. Presbyterians are rarely associated with Irish nationalism today, but they were the largest part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, a revolt against the British crown led by Protestant leader Wolfe Tone.

The British repressed the rebellion violently, forcing some revolutionaries from the country.

One of those exiles made it to Knoxville. Captain John Nevin, a leader of the Society of United Irishmen, was celebrated in an Irish ballad.

According to a slightly erroneous tribute on a large clay memorial jug on display in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, near the famous Bushmill’s Distillery, Nevin “was by the Foes of Reform Banish’d from his Native home in June 1798. He lived in a state of Exile...and departed this life in Knoxfield Tennissee ye 19th of May 1806.”

Although local records do refer to Nevin, the site of his Knoxville grave is unknown.

became, surprisingly, Knoxville’s most famous pro-slavery secessionist, editor or a journal called the Southern Citizen. Eventually moving to Richmond, Mitchel supported the Confederacy. After the Civil War, he returned to Ireland, when it was still a part of Great Britain. Still famous as an Irish nationalist, Mitchel was elected to Parliament, to represent Tiperrary.

However, the former Knoxvillian died unexpectedly, at age 59, before he could take his seat.

Irish immigrants began celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Knoxville as early as the 1850s, often with late-night balls at the Lamar House, the hotel building that now houses the Bistro at the Bijou.

Born in County Kerry, Irish immigrant Patrick Sullivan (1841-1925) came to town to work on the railroad, but after the Civil War, opened a downtown saloon. He built this grander building at Jackson and Central in 1888. Once handy to Knoxville’s Irish Town, Sullivan’s was unusual in that it welcomed men and women, blacks and whites together. Undergoing a renovation, it’s the centerpiece of the Old City historic district.

By 1869, St. Patrick’s Day was a significant local public holiday. The Irish nationalist group known as the Fenians organized a small chapter here, and on Mar. 17, they marched around downtown Knoxville with red caps and green jackets, bearing a banner emblazoned “God Save Ireland.” Also parading with them was the larger St. Patrick’s Benevolent Society. Despite some anxiety that it might stir violence, the local paper, the Press & Messenger, reported, “Nothing calculated to mar the pleasure and harmony of the day occurred.... Our Irish fellow citizens will long have reason to remember with pleasure the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, 1869.”

Several of Knoxville’s early Irish were were Image courtesy of Knox Heritage Catholics, including original Alderman James By the 1880s, the Irish were a major part of knoxheritage.org Dardis. However, because East Tennessee lacked a Knoxville society, and had settled in large Catholic church, and saw only occasional visits from a priest, many moved away. numbers on the north side of downtown, along what’s now Fifth and Park (now Magnolia) Avenues, the main part of what became known as Irish Town. In late 1887, as immigrant Patrick Sullivan was building his grand Irish Catholics began arriving in Knoxville in larger numbers after the new saloon at Jackson and Central, Knoxville elected an Irish Catholic potato famine of the 1840s. Hundreds helped build the new railroad into named Martin Condon to be mayor. town. Largely to serve the mostly new Irish immigrant population, Immaculate Conception Church opened in 1855, the first Catholic church in East Tennessee, on a hilltop overlooking the railroad.

Knoxville’s most famous Irish immigrant was John Mitchel (1815-1875). A Irish nationalist journalist, he was charged with sedition and treason, and sent to the penal colony at Tasmania. After escaping, Mitchel settled for a time in Knoxville, living on First Creek, just east of the Old City. Here he

In years to come, the Knoxville chapter of the Hibernian Society would plan St. Patrick’s Day parades and dances, which remained a tradition until the early 20th century, when many of the original immigrants were dying off. In 1949, newspaper columnist Lucy Templeton interviewed widow Kate Leahy Ammons. She lived on what’s now the 200 block of Magnolia, and was believed to be the last resident of Irish Town.

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 March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7

SCRUFFY CITIZEN

The Unifier?

Donald trumps Tennessee’s historical voting patterns

BY JACK NEELY

S

ay what you will about the guy, but last week Donald Trump accomplished something that Tennessee politicians have been trying and failing at for a couple of centuries now. He also spoiled one of my favorite proofs of the relevance of distant history.

For years, really since before the Civil War—and some have traced it all the way back to the spat between East Tennessean John Sevier and Middle Tennessean Andrew Jackson in 1803—East Tennessee had voted differently from the rest of the state.

The divide was sharpest in 1861, when several counties of East Tennessee considered seceding from Tennessee, because Tennessee was seceding from the Union.

Appomattox didn’t end the rift.

Immediately after the Civil War, and for more than a century, East Tennessee was Republican, Middle and West Tennessee Democratic. Here it wasn’t always a liberal-versus-conservative split. Sometimes, especially during the early days of civil rights, the conservationist movement, progressive federal regulations, and a tendency to steer clear of foreign wars, it was the Republicans who were analogous to modern liberals.

East Tennessee has always liked its Republicans both ways.

In my youth, the only predictably Republican parts of Tennessee were the old Unionist parts. The Democratic counties were the old Confederate counties. That membrane seemed to erode with Reagan’s election, when Tennessee started tilting Republican.

However, if you paid closer attention to

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

the returns, during the Republican primaries every four years, old Unionist East Tennessee was often still distinct.

In 2008, the old Unionist counties favored McCain, the low-key fiscally careful Republican, while the old Confederate counties favored Huckabee, the fellow who preferred to talk about banning abortion and gay marriage.

It was fascinating to me. The 2008 Republican primary map was a ghost image of the Civil War, a demographic fossil. It was less obvious in 2012, when Tennessee as a whole favored Santorum, the values Republican, over Romney, the old-school conservative.

Most of East Tennessee liked Santorum, but it was closer. Romney did better here than in most Middle and West Tennessee counties.

Last week, though, even on the Republican primary level, it’s hard to tell the grand divisions of Tennessee apart by how we voted. Tennessee loves Donald Trump.

Knox County offered one of the state’s lowest portions for Trump, at 32.4 percent. The more urban counties liked him less: Nashville’s Davidson, at 31 percent, and Memphis’s Shelby, at 29.9 percent. Chattanooga’s Hamilton, which is next in line in density, is also less Trumpish than most, at 32.9 percent. The more rural counties of Tennessee favor Trump with percentages of 40 or more. Are city folks by nature less impressed with big-city folks than country folks are?

Last week only one Tennessee county preferred someone else to the Donald: Affluent, educated Williamson

County, part of suburban Nashville, picked Rubio over Trump, who got only 27.4 percent of the vote there. It’s not an urban county, but it’s a rich one.

Maybe multi-millionaires are less impressive to other multi-millionaires than they are to non-multi-millionaires.

Most of East Tennessee likes Trump just fine. In fact, in a few familiar counties, like Union, Grainger, Campbell, and Claiborne, more than half of Republican voters picked Trump over all other GOP contenders combined. It looks like rural Middle and West Tennessee, where some places like Lake and Grundy Counties offered him more than 55 percent, may be just a shade more enthusiastic about the short-fingered vulgarian than East Tennessee is, but basically it appears that Donald Trump is unifying Tennessee in ways that many Tennesseans tried and failed.

Why Trump, a New Yorker’s New Yorker, moreover one who’s not much of a churchgoer, has a stronger appeal in the more rural areas of Tennessee than in the cities will puzzle historians for years to come.

No major-party nominee in history has been married as often.

(Approaching his 70th birthday, Trump doesn’t know what it’s like to be married to a woman older than 45.)

He’s profited from casinos and strip clubs. He’s a rude showoff who boasts about the size of his penis. Trump is the embodiment of the South’s unfairest stereotype of a Yankee.

He doesn’t evoke the family values Republican that rural Middle and West Tennessee recently favored.

He doesn’t suggest the low-key fiscal conservative Republican that East Tennessee used to prefer.

His appeal comes from somewhere else. And it may undermine some of our longstanding assumptions about ourselves.

Last week I heard a poignant radio interview with a Southern evangelical who sees in Trump’s triumphs reasons to doubt whether self-identified Southern evangelicals are even Christians. He questioned, before a national audience, whether his flock was nearly as big as he’d assumed it was all these years.

The Bible Belt is a concept created in the 1920s by Baltimore editor H.L. Mencken to ridicule the South. The term, if it’s useful at all, requires multiple footnotes. Surveys indicate Southerners go to church more regularly than say, Midwesterners, but only by a few percentage points. Not always mentioned is the fact that a big part of that difference is the traditional centrality of the church to the South’s black community. And the same polls used to make the South appear distinctly religious also point out that most Southerners don’t attend church regularly (58 percent of Tennesseans don’t, according to a 2015 Gallup poll). In each of the 50 states, church attendees constitute a large two-digit minority (except in Utah, where they’re a slim majority).

Of course, church attendance isn’t the same thing as faith. I’ve often suspected that the South has learned to use religion as a sort of cosmetic to make common ugly opinions look righteous.

A faith that warns its followers about material possessions and boastfulness, about judging not lest ye be judged, would seem unlikely to lead voters to Donald Trump.

But maybe organized religion and Trump both appeal to a certain personality type characterized by an attraction to rules and certainty and authority figures and the thrill of sweeping denunciation. They may want God, but when God is elusive, they settle for Trump. ◆

Trump’s appeal comes from somewhere else.

And it may undermine some of our longstanding assumptions about ourselves.

March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9

PERSPECTIVES CLASSICAL TICKETS start at just $15

MARCH

Phase 1 Five Points’ revitalization is finally underway

BY JOE SULLIVAN

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 Dalen Products & Bass Berry + Sims

APRIL

JARVI

Music Director candidate

DVORÁK CELLO CONCERTO

Thursday, April 14 • 7:30 p.m.

Friday, April 15 • 7:30 p.m.

Tennessee Theatre Steven Jarvi, conductor Susie Yang, cello A. SCHOENBERG: Finding Rothko DVORÁK: Cello Concerto ELGAR: Enigma Variations Sponsored by Partners

CALL: (865) 291-3310 CLICK: knoxvillesymphony.com VISIT: Monday-Friday, 9-5 10

KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

A

complete makeover of what’s long been Knoxville’s most rundown public housing project is fi nally getting underway. Construction of the fi rst phase of a four-phase replacement of the Walter P. Taylor and Dr. Lee B. Williams homes in the Five Points area of East Knoxville is due to start next month.

Pursuant to a Five Points Area Revitalization Master Plan, some 330 new dwellings are slated to go up in the 33-acre site that once contained 500 barracks-like units. Erection of the new will be sequenced with demolition of the old to minimize dislocation of tenants. (Many former residents have already been relocated to other properties, most notably the nearby 85-unit Residences at Eastport, to clear the way for demolition of the 183 units that have already come down.)

Orchestrating all of this is Knoxville’s Community Development Corp., and it’s doing so at a time when funding for new public housing is much harder to come by than it was in the 1990s when KCDC got a $23 million federal grant to transform its drab College Homes housing project into the attractive Mechanicsville neighborhood that exists today.

With such grants a thing of the past, KCDC has had to take a slower, more circuitous route to getting funding for the Five Points Area Revitalization it’s striving to foster.

That route involves the use of a longstanding provision of the federal tax code for what are known as Low Income Housing Tax Credits that are awarded annually to each state per a formula based on its population. In Tennessee, these tax credits are allocated to local housing authorities such as KCDC on a competitive basis

by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.

While $1.1 million is the most that can be allocated to a single project in a given year, these credits have a 10-year life. So when KCDC got such an allocation for Five Points in 2015, that added up to $11 million over 10 years for which a syndicate of investors was willing to pay 97 cents on the dollar in order to use the credits as offsets against their income taxes.

These proceeds will pay for nearly all of Phase 1 of the Five Points plan, which is a 90-unit apartment building for low-income senior citizens. The lustrous three-story building to be known as the Residences at Five Points is going on the footprint of a demolished part of the Dr. Lee B. Williams Senior Complex. When remaining Williams residents move in upon completion in 2017, they will be getting many amenities they didn’t have before. In addition to all-new energy efficient appliances, these include central air conditioning, a dishwasher, a meeting room with computer stations, and laundry facilities.

Construction of subsequent phases is contingent on THDA tax credit allocations that have yet to be awarded. But KCDC’s Executive Director, Art Cate, is “99 percent confident” of getting one this year and another in 2017. That will permit work to start on Phases 2 and 3 in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Phase 2 will consist of 84 family units with from one to four bedrooms, spread among 10 new buildings on a previously demolished portion of the site. These will offer residents to be moved from Walter P. Taylor the same amenities as the senior apartments,

along with a playground and a walking trail. A $3 million bank loan will supplement the tax-credit sales proceeds in covering its cost. In addition, the city of Knoxville has committed $2.5 million for streetwork adjoining the site. Bethel Avenue on its eastern perimeter, which is presently little more than an alley, will become a two-lane street with sidewalks, and Kenner Avenue will be extended.

Phase 2 has yet to be named, but each of the subsequent phases will get one. The name Walter P. Taylor, which has become synonymous with inner-city blight and crime in the minds of many, will be relegated to the history books.

Plans for Phases 3 and 4 are less concrete at this point. But Phase 3 will probably bear a lot of resemblance to Phase 2 while Phase 4 will likely put more emphasis on housing for seniors and the handicapped.

Work on both these phases can only commence after their sites have been cleared by demolition following relocation of tenants from Williams and Taylor respectively upon completion of Phases 1 and 2.

Total cost of the Five Points Revitalization are expected to exceed $80 million. These also include the $14.5 million that went into the 85-unit Residences at Eastport that opened in 2012 on the nearby site of the former Eastport Elementary School. Much of that funding came from the massive federal stimulus program known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) during the Great Recession.

But KCDC was also creative in tapping other sources of fi nancing.

KCDC also deserves a lot of credit for its conduct of the planning process that led to the formulation of the Five Points Area Revitalization Plan. Numerous tenant input sessions and public forums preceded formation of a master plan team led by Johnson Architecture. And the 2014 master plan has been the subject of several subsequent workshops.

To be eligible for public housing, tenant household income can’t exceed 60 percent of the area median, and the rent can’t exceed 30 percent of income. KCDC has gained awards under a new federal Department of Housing and Urban Development program known as Rental Assistance Demonstration to cover the balance of its operating expenses. ◆

March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11

Photo by Clay Duda

Hotter in Your ’Hood?

Hyperlocal weather data offers glimpse at how tree cover affects different Knoxville neighborhoods

BY CLAY DUDA

D

rew Howe pulls a scruffy green stepladder from the back of his Nissan Xterra parked along Gay Street, props it against a KUB utility pole across the street, and climbs up toward a small gray box stapled overhead. For a year and a half now this has been part of his monthly routine, attending to these obscure plastic boxes scattered around town.

The only things that hint at the contents inside, or its purpose, is a small anemometer (a device used to measure wind speed) sticking out the top and an orange and white University of Tennessee sticker pasted on its cover. Drill in hand, Howe unscrews the plastic face exposing a tangle of wires inside, a small battery pack, and a dangling cord he plugs into a small Dell laptop to download the latest data.

“Are y’all installing a new camera?” a lady asks passing by, assuming any unmarked box posted downtown must be for security or surveillance. This box is recording, but it’s not logging the lives of us ordinary citizens. It’s one of 10 weather stations strategically placed

by UT researchers in urban neighborhoods around Knoxville, attended to by a small army of students, like Howe. They’re all part of an ambitious and expanding experiment aimed at better understanding how variations

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in weather from neighborhood to neighborhood—on a hyperlocal scale—tie in with other factors like asphalt cover, development, tree canopy, and green space to impact local residents and their quality of life.

Since July 2014 these small weather boxes have been collecting information from six urban neighborhoods. There is one on Gay Street downtown, another at Ijams, and two boxes at different locations in Lonsdale, Burlington, West Hills, and Vestal. They’re recording things like temperature, humidity, air quality, and wind information, which researchers from various backgrounds—geography, sociology, and engineering—will analyze and couple with feedback gathered from residents during in depth interviews and focus groups.

The modest data sampling and qualitative input from locals is already helping paint a picture of issues facing some communities, though UT professors are hopeful that future funding will allow the project to expand this year to include up to 100 sensors, collecting more and varied data, connected to an app for easy and near-instantaneous access to hyperlocal weather data about neighborhoods around town. But it could be up to six months before they learn if grant applications that would allow such an

expansion are approved or denied.

“Some of the things we’re looking at now are extreme heat and heat exposure, and also air quality in Knoxville, which is known for having pretty bad air quality,” explains Kelsey Ellis, a UT geography professor heading up the project along with two other professors, Jon Hathaway, in engineering, and Lisa Reyes Mason, focused on social work. “We think it’s beneficial for people to understand air quality on a neighborhood level instead of what’s just coming out of the Knoxville Airport,” where more general, city-wide weather data is recorded.

Preliminary findings, for the most part, have showed what they expected: neighborhoods with less tree coverage get hotter than other parts of town, and many low-income neighborhood lag in canopy coverage when compared to their more affluent peers. But it also revealed that while trees help keep neighborhoods cooler during the daytime hours, they didn’t cool the same neighborhoods at night as expected because many blacktop surfaces absorbed and retained heat. And some tree-heavy neighborhoods actually boasted a higher heat index than others on really hot days due to the moisture captured in soil and grasses there.

The biggest variations in recorded temperatures between neighborhoods were about 1.5 degrees Celsius (roughly 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) within a three-month period, though students and researchers are still working to make sense of all the data. That may not seem like much, but given that all weather stations are within a 7-mile radius, and this particular sample spans only 90 days, it’s a pretty significant range, Ellis says.

“During the hottest parts of the year, and during heat waves over the summer especially, that’s probably when you’re going to see the biggest impacts,” she explains. “People who live in neighborhoods like West Hills [which is more affluent and has ample tree coverage] will be able to cope with things pretty easily. They have a lot of trees and air conditioning. People in poorer communities have less tree cover and they’re hotter, and those residents may not have the resources they need to cope with that.”

So far, the impact of this research have been mostly academic, but the idea is that this type of information and data analysis could eventually help better inform local city officials,

arborists, and planners as they look to invest limited resources in things like parks and urban tree plantings.

Ultimately, it could help bolster health, livability, and the attractiveness of various communities in town.

The city of Knoxville already has an idea of which neighborhoods are the greenest and which could use more trees, though Knoxville Urban Forester Kasey Krouse says neighborhood-level data on things like air quality could help fine-tune its approach.

“We know where the majority of our tree coverage is throughout the city, but if there are areas where the sensors show low air quality, and that matches up with areas that have low tree coverage, that would be a no-brainer for us,” Krouse says. “There’s a lot of correlation between public health and the benefits trees provide. The major benefits we get from trees include CO2 intake, reductions in heating and cooling costs, increased property values, and reductions in stormwater runoff. And all of those benefits are correlated to being able to maintain larger canopy trees.”

Knoxville overall averages about 40 percent tree cover—not bad, says Krouse—but some neighborhoods lag behind others, and maintaining such a vast network of leafy branches overhead wouldn’t be realistic in some urban neighborhoods and downtown, he says. Some studies suggest 15 percent coverage downtown is realistic, with 25-30 percent in the most urbanized neighborhoods and 50 percent in suburban areas.

The city has an annual tree-planting budget of about $70,000, made up of a mix of state and local dollars. It uses those limited resources to plant in neighborhoods below the 40 percent threshold, recently putting down roots in Parkridge and along some streets in Oakwood-Lincoln Park.

Knoxville’s most barren districts include most all of downtown, Fort Sanders, the Old City, Old North Knoxville, Fourth and Gill, and Town Center, all which have less than 20 percent tree coverage, according to data from the city. The Cherokee Farm and Woodlawn areas in South Knoxville, and portions of Fountain City to the north, have the most tree cover, upward of 60 percent, the same data shows. To see how your neighborhood compares, check out a map at knoxmercury.com or on the city’s website at knoxvilletn.gov/trees. ◆

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13

For nearly 40 years, UT’s fraternities have been beating each other up at Boxing Weekend.

But there’s much more on the line than just bragging rights and parties.

BY BRIAN CANEVER • PHOTOS BY CLAY DUDA

@KNOXMERCURY.COM Go to knoxmercury.com for a Boxing Weekend photo gallery.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

T

he first sign that a big show is about to happen are the large, yellow school buses pulling off Clinton Highway one by one and reassembling in a line on the curb outside the cavernous Knoxville Expo Center. This is usually a place where buyers and traders gather on weekend afternoons for gun shows and flea markets. But it is 7:30 p.m. on a cold Saturday night in February, and these buses aren’t filled with bargain hunters looking to cut a deal.

Stumbling out of the buses in a raucous deluge, dozens of fraternity brothers and sorority sisters head toward the entrance, followed closely behind by thousands of other onlookers flooding the parking lot and stretching its 1,200 car spaces to near capacity. The event staff at the doors is soon overrun as the crowd pushes and squeezes its way inside to a scene illuminated by overhead industrial lights: food and drink vendors to the left, port-a-potties in the distance, and bleachers encircling a red-and-white boxing at the center of it all.

It is finally time.

Boxing Weekend, a tradition of fraternity boxing more than 30 years in the making and self-proclaimed by Southeastern fraternities and organizers as “the biggest party weekend in the South,” is nearing its climax. For the next two hours, fraternity brothers

LEFT: Two-time fraternity boxing champion Mitchell Sexton enters the ring for a qualifying bout. CENTER: An enthusiastic attendee screams following a title match, one of more than 6,000 people that attended this year’s Boxing Weekend, a record turnout.

from 14 of the 17 IFC chapters at the University of Tennessee will thrash and pound each other’s faces before dispersing with the crowds for after-parties around the city.

After two evenings of elimination bouts, the 65 boxers who started the tournament are whittled down to only a fraction of that number. In a curtained-off area in the corner of the Expo Center, the boxers pace anxiously, only a few feet away from the spectators who are finding their spots on the concrete floor, in the bleachers, and along the sides of the ring. Most of the boxers have their earbuds plugged into their phones, listening to music.

Some are hitting mitts or shadowboxing—the typical sort of preparation that combat-sports fans see all the time on television broadcasts. But these boxers don’t quite look to be muscle-bound destroyers like Mike Tyson or George Foreman; they actually come in all shapes and sizes, from 125-pound featherweights to 200-plus-pound super heavyweights. What they don’t share in appearance, they share in nerves, which are obvious in the quiet of their pre-fight rituals.

At 8:09 p.m., longtime ringmaster Chuck Cavalaris enters through the ropes of the ring and takes center stage, microphone in hand. At the same time, a handful of the 30 police officers patrolling the tournament clear pathways toward the back of the packed building, where spectators block the flow of human traffic. The crowd rumbles as it squeezes in closer, pressing against the metal barricades that seperates the enthusiastic hordes from the ring.

“When we first did the tournament, Dad thought this would never last. But the people always came back and the support kept growing.”

—TRACY MILLER-DAVIS, ACE MILLER GOLDEN GLOVES GYM “Welcome to the championship night of fights at the 36th Ace Miller Memorial Boxing Tournament!”

Cavalaris shouts, his voice almost instantly muted by the roars and chants that fill the arena.

After the national anthem, the speakers play “Rocky Top” and the thousands in the crowd bellow loudly in unison. These are the only two times of the night the men and women standing on the 10 sets of bleachers sectioned off for the different fraternities in the tournament shout with and not at each other.

As the boxers make their way to the ring, there are cheers of encouragement from their fraternity brothers: “You’ve got this,” and “Fuck him up”—as well as a torrent of middle fingers and derogatory chants shouted from those of different fraternal bloodlines. The tension grows with each win as one of the fraternities gets closer to the coveted place of overall tournament champion.

But there’s a lot more on the line here than title belts and bragging rights. While Boxing Weekend’s great appeal to both fighters and spectators may be its three nights of action and after-parties, the fraternity boxing tournament is also the improbable champion of a longstanding beacon of hope for inner-city Knoxville youths:

the Ace Miller Golden Gloves Arena.

Jerry “Ace” Miller, for whom the tournament has been named since his passing on the opening day of the 2012 tournament, took control of Knoxville’s chapter of the national Golden Gloves organization back in 1971. A renowned local boxing aficionado, Miller was in Tate’s corner the famous night that he won the WBA Heavyweight Championship belt in 1979. One year later, three members of the local Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) chapter approached Miller with the unusual request to start a boxing tournament at his gym.

“When we first did the tournament, Dad thought this would never last,” says Tracy Miller-Davis, who took over as tournament director and general manager of Ace Miller Golden Gloves Arena when her father died.

“Each year as the crowds got bigger he would look at my Aunt Regina [Odom] from ringside and say, ‘This is my last year. We’re never gonna be able to do it again.’ But the people always came back and the support kept growing.”

By the time she was 12 years old, Miller-Davis already helped to sell popcorn and Coca Colas at the

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tournament. She shadowed her dad, unknowingly preparing herself to take up the reigns when he died of a heart attack at the age of 72.

“It’s an all family affair,” says Miller-Davis, who runs the tournament alongside her mother, Dianna Miller, who’s in charge of bookkeeping and registrations, and Aunt Regina, chief clerk.

“My dad loved these college kids so much and this tournament was a big highlight for him every year. He had everything set-up on autopilot.

The family just kicked it into gear and kept going.”

As the Miller family plays a key role in the tournament, the fraternities also play an important part in keeping Knoxville Golden Gloves alive.

Miller-Davis prefers not to talk numbers, but she acknowledges that even with the support the gym receives from the city of Knoxville Parks and Recreation Department, which provides the building and pay for trainers, it could not survive without the boxing tournament.

An excerpt from the letter she wrote for the event guide on Thursday night reads: “Without the benefits of this tournament, the ‘Ace’ Miller Golden Gloves Gym could not continue to fund the mission statement that my dad lived more than 45 years striving to accomplish…He wanted to provide [kids] a safe place to go and assure them that when they were there, they were important and loved…[a] place where they could go for FREE so that everyone was welcomed without being turned away. Thanks to the support

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from this special tournament, BOXING WEEKEND, all of his dreams will continue to come true.”

With its annual profits, the tournament raises enough money buy new equipment, support three other boxing clubs in Newport, Wartburg, and Monroe County, and to register and travel a team of 12 boxers and their trainers from the region—East Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia—to the national Golden Gloves tournament in Las Vegas each year. Most importantly, it keeps the local boxing program free for 50 male and female boxers who range in age from 8 to 34 years old. And for six weeks every year, the gym is invaded by comparatively affluent fraternity members, a sharp juxtaposition to Golden Glove’s everyday boxers, but a welcome addition that helps prop up the program year-round.

Many of these kids come from difficult backgrounds. There are the threats of gang activity, crime, and poverty. The closest high school, Austin-East, is among the lowest performing in Knox County, with more than 60 percent of students rated at “not proficient” in the subjects of Algebra and English by the U.S. News and World Report’s education rankings.

Boxing is an outlet and a place of hope and success for youth like LeMichael Moulden, a 14-year-old with 12 amateur bouts who trains at the gym and who says he “wants to go far so he can make a better life for his family.” Miller-Davis says seeing the UT students train at the gym provides the kids in the program with the

inspiration to stay in school and earn college degrees. A handful of the teenagers are even in the boxers’entourages as they enter the ring during the tournament.

Charlie Lindeman, executive director of Boxing Weekend, says that the 2016 goal for the entire event is to break last year’s record of 4,000 in attendance and $206,000 gross revenue (all of which is donated to Golden Gloves Charities). By championship night, he says more than 6,000 people bought tickets and revenues easily top $250,000.

By that point the tournament can already be considered a success for the Boxing Weekend and Golden Gloves staff. But even with the signs of good things to come outside of the ring, there are still 13 champions left to be crowned inside of it.

Three weeks before the tournament, the boxers gather together in a weekly ritual at Ace Miller Golden Gloves Arena for a typical night of training.

Trainers start workouts with four rounds of jumping rope to condition the boxers’ bodies for the three rounds they’ll put in on each night of the tournament. Shadowboxing follows, with boxers throwing punches, shifting their weight, and dodging imaginary fists in front of mirrors to make sure that they don’t lose balance and trip over themselves. In the corners hang speed bags and heavy bags where they work a variety of attacks: jabs, crosses, hooks, uppercuts, combinations.

The bags are where the gap in

knowledge is most obvious, as many of the fraternity boxers swing too hard and lose their footing or tire quickly and forget to bring their hands back to protect their faces. It is okay then since the bags don’t hit back, but in sparring—practice bouts to test the skills they’ve accrued and see how they work under pressure—the ones who don’t cover up gift their jaws as landing strips for their partner’s punches.

Garrett Froula, a biosystems engineering major and member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, walks from one set of bags to another and pounds into the vinyl with his muscular, bodybuilder’s arms. His physique and power tells of some experience, but he is actually competing in the tournament for the first and last time.

“I just wanted to step up to the plate as a senior and represent my fraternity the best I can,” Froula says.

“I want to show what Lambda Chi really means in terms of our toughness and our work ethic.”

Many of the boxers repeat similar lines. They fight for their fraternities, not for themselves.

Colin Skinner, a real estate agent with Realty Executives and member of the suspended Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, competed in the tournament in 2011 and says boxing for the honor of one’s symbols is expected for fraternity brothers. It is a sentiment passed down LEFT: Drew Dickson of Sigma Chi is blooded during the first fight of Boxing Weekend. CENTER: Sam Dean, in orange shorts, and Major Morgan go mitt-to-mitt for a chance to advance in qualifying rounds. Neither would make it to the finals. RIGHT: A boxer rests between rounds.

from generation to generation.

“Before and during the tournament, the older brothers are guiding you the entire way,” Skinner says.

“And they teach you how important it is to uphold the name on your chest, not the name on the back of the shirt.

When we trained, it was really obvious that this was something much bigger than just us.”

In Skinner’s opinion, this boxing inheritance is partly the reason for the intensity of the chants heard on fight nights. While shouts of “He’s a pussy” or “Fuck [insert fraternity name]” are ubiquitous and generic, there are more complex chants that unaffiliated spectators miss.

“Some of these guys have no actual idea what Kappa Sig or Lamda Chi were like 10 years ago,” Skinner says. “But the boxing tournament preserves the stories and stigmas and clichés. If it weren’t for the tournament, those histories just get lost.

There are legends that get passed on, like college football for the SEC—the tournament does the same for the Greek community.”

Being in Pi Kappa Alpha, which was suspended in 2012 following the infamous “buttchugging” allegations, Skinner empathizes with the frustrations shared by Froula and two other members of his fraternity who must LEFT: Sigma Chi’s Mitchell Nguyen, in blue, and Chris Letsinger of Sigma Nu face off during a featherweight championship fight. Letsinger claimed the title. CENTER: Alex Ariola of Sigma Chi, in blue, takes a punch from Spencer Hinton of Delta Kappa Epsilon.

Ariola goes on to win the match. RIGHT: Hundreds of fans line up for the first night of Boxing Weekend.

“Boxing is relaxation to me. It’s like a man going out and playing golf. It unwinds me at night.”

—JUDGE HILL, VETERAN TRAINER AT GOLDEN GLOVES GYM box independently in the tournament after the Lambda Chi Alpha board of directors decided to suspend the UT chapter for five years in February.

“For many of these fraternity brothers, it’s the first time they’ve found an identity, so it’s hard when you have that plucked away,” Skinner says. “But it’s incredible how guys bond together when the chips are down. I’m sure these Lambda Chi guys will grow closer and be better for it. PIKE [Pi Kappa Alpha] is still something that lives deep within me, beyond what the university or what the public thinks.”

Despite everything at stake, not every boxer views the glory of potentially becoming a champion the same.

There are some like Trent Bibee, the defending middleweight champion from Alpha Gamma Rho, who was one of the few competitors to knock his opponent out cold last year.

“I blinked and the guy wasn’t standing in front of me anymore,” Bibee explains, politely adding “sir” at the end of his sentences. “When I looked down the crowd just erupted.

That was almost a better feeling than when I won.”

Bibee keeps a photo of the championship belt as the wallpaper on his cell phone, displaying it with pride to whoever asks. He started training back in October to make sure he was ready to prove last year’s title

was no fluke. In the gym, he offers advice to his two fraternity brothers as they run through drills, mimicking his trainer Jay Dudley, who he says reminds him of the Mickey Goldmill character from the Rocky films.

(Bibee will later lose to Chase Davidson of Alpha Tau Omega during a qualifying round Friday night, a major upset.)

Longtime trainers like Dudley and Jack Rose number about a dozen in total, and provide vital wisdom and experience for these mostly new boxers.

One of the veteran trainers, Judge Hill, has taught boxing at Golden Gloves since the 1970s. Hill worked the first fraternity event in 1980, then called simply the SAE Boxing Tournament. Like “Ace” Miller, Hill was in the corner of former Olympic bronze medalist John Tate, who trained at the same gym off Magnolia Avenue, when he won the heavyweight title against Gerrie Coetzee in South Africa.

“Take it easy, Big John,” Hill was quoted saying to Tate in a 1979 Sports Illustrated article. “Don’t get all fired up. Don’t forget the battle plan.”

Although the words are different now, Hill speaks in the same manner to his latest protégé, Mitchell Sexton of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, as he spars in the ring with a fraternity brother.

“Boxing is relaxation to me,” Hill says, taking a break from softly shouting instructions to Sexton, but

still keeping his eyes on the boxer.

“It’s like a man going out and playing golf. It unwinds me at night.”

Sexton is SAE’s great hope in the tournament and one of the boxers competing for a chance at entering the Hall of Fame. Since 1986, there have been 29 men to earn this exclusive honor, reserved for boxers who win three tournaments in at least two different weight classes.

But, unlike Bibee, Froula, and Mitchell Nguyen (who says winning a belt for Sigma Chi “is everything” for him) Sexton is remarkably cool about it all. The lanky light heavyweight is kind of a goofball and almost unconcerned about collecting his third championship.

“I went to the tournament freshman year and it seemed kinda… wait, can I take my mouthpiece out?”

Sexton asks, still in his headgear and gloves from sparring a few minutes earlier. “It looked pretty fun.”

But Sexton’s unruffled demeanor should not be mistaken for dullness.

Sexton is an industrial and systems engineering major, but in the ring he looks like a killer, using his long arms to hit his opponent with stinging punches, leaving them with their gloves up to protect their chins as he bounces around picking his next shot. When Hill shouts a direction, he responds instinctually, a trait even more noticeable at the tournament itself.

Sexton didn’t put his championship belts anywhere special like Bibee. They’re both in the playroom at his house back in Memphis. He doesn’t watch any boxing, either, but he saw Conor McGregor of Ultimate

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Fighting Championship (UFC) fame fight in the summer and thought he was entertaining. If Bibee ends most of his sentences with “sir,” Sexton ends them with “I don’t know,” followed by a wide grin.

“Winning is honestly more of a relief than anything,” Sexton explains.

“Ahh, it’s over finally. You’re up there in front of a lot of people and, you’re not necessarily nervous, but you’re anxious. When you win it kinda relieves the anxiousness and you can get back to focusing on school and everything else.”

The honesty and vulnerability in Sexton’s words is somewhat surprising. There’s no bravado, even though he’s way ahead of most other boxers in terms of skill and composure in the ring.

At weigh-ins the Sunday before the tournament, Sexton’s delivery is much the same.

Most fighters are dehydrated as they undergo physicals with Golden Gloves staff and step on the scales to make weight. One boxers wears a garbage bag as he runs on a treadmill to sweat out the final 2 pounds he needs to make his original weight class, even as trainers urge him to just accept that he’ll need to move up one division.

In most combat sports, weight cutting is a staple. A combatant sheds anywhere from 10 to 30 pounds through intense dieting and intentionally dehydrating themselves hours before stepping onto the scale to give themselves a size advantage against their opponents. The idea is to maximize a height and natural weight advantage by fitting into a smaller

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

fighter’s division, then rehydrating up to your natural weight by fight time.

This is no different when it comes to fraternity boxing—another tradition that is passed down from older brothers along with links to online instructions like “How To Lose 20-30 Pounds In 5 Days: The Extreme Weight Cutting and Rehydration Secrets of UFC Fighters.”

Nguyen cut 25 pounds in twoand-a-half weeks to make the 125-pound featherweight limit and felt so bad that he consulted a doctor who told him he had ate away much of his muscle and practically “destroyed his body.” Back in 2011, Skinner cut 30 pounds and was so exhausted by the process that he could barely make it up The Hill to get to class in the cold winter weather.

Sexton looks fine at weigh-ins, but he also dropped from 200 pounds to 182 in six weeks and hasn’t eaten a single thing since morning when he makes weight at just after 2 p.m. The first thought on his mind is to get some of the Thin Mints at a nearby table in his body as soon as possible.

He also has eyes on the spaghetti and banana pudding provided by Golden Gloves staff.

When asked if he’s even more excited to compete now that losing weight is no longer a concern and he can just focus on boxing, Sexton responds, “Yup…it’s all downhill from here.”

Surely he means the opposite: it’s all uphill from here?

“I don’t know, man. I’m just hungry, I guess,” he says before filling his plate.

As championship night starts, the late “Ace” Miller’s black leather jacket— emblazoned with large golden gloves—hangs on the back of a chair once reserved for the godfather of Knoxville boxing.

Cavalaris makes the introductions and the first two boxers, featherweights Chris Letsinger of Sigma Nu and Mitchell Nguyen of Sigma Chi, walk toward each other and let the haymakers fly. By the end of the first round, both men are exhausted from swinging wildly. Even though these are the championship bouts on the card, the quality is not much different than on the first two nights: dozens of missed punches, exhausted boxers falling all over the ring and pushing back into each other to stop themselves from falling forward. It’s not the best technical boxing, but it is entertaining. The crowd doesn’t distinguish between Tysons and tomato cans—the chants are just as vociferous for the worst boxers as they are for the best.

Even with 13 bouts on the card, the night progresses smoothly with most fights ending in judges’ decisions after three 1-minute and 30-second rounds. Wearing headgear to protect against concussions, the fighters need to have a lot of power to actually knock out an opponent.

The crowd is already rowdy by the time Letsinger’s hand is raised as the first of the night’s champions. A handful of the police officers working security escort intoxicated spectators

out of the building for throwing things at the ring or for trying to spark their own fights in the audience. Empty airplane bottles of Fireball and Smirnoff line the murk of the port-apotties on the far side of the building.

Even though alcohol is not sold at the tournament, the main sponsor is Budweiser, and Boxing Weekend directors provide Buds to spectators in the VIP section—a collection of tables a few rows deep on each side of the ring. Other attendees try and fail to sneak in their own alcohol, much of which is confiscated by officers at the entrance.

“Please do not throw anything in the arena. You will be ejected and you may go to jail,” announces Cavalaris over the microphone, trying to calm the crowd after Jonathan Cain of Sigma Chi defeats Alpha Gamma Rho’s Jay Robinson in one of the welterweight finals. Pandomonium erupts from the crowd as it slings Solo cups and water bottles in a shower of cheers.

During all of this, Sexton sits in the back waiting for his turn to make the walk to the ring. In an orange fleece, with his boxing trunks sticking out of his gray sweatpants, he listens to music: Yo Gotti, Dire Straits, artists that couldn’t be more different. A student walks in the back and bows his head with Sexton, speaking to him in what looks like a prayer. It is his LEFT: Afroman headlines a Boxing Weekend after-party at the International. CENTER: Josiah Brandt of Delta Tau Delta makes his way to the boxing ring. RIGHT: Max Pressley of Kappa Sigma, in grey, fights Andy Elliott of Alpha Tau Omega.

opponent from the night before, Garrett Smith of Beta Theta Pi. “It’s not about you, Mitchell. This tournament isn’t everything. There’s something greater than this tournament and you know what it is,” Smith tells him.

Two fights before he goes into the ring himself, Sexton walks out of the curtained-off room and stands in the queue next to Hill. The boxer who isn’t a boxer and trainer who couldn’t be more of a trainer share words. Hill wears a special SAE vest with “Judge” imprinted on the back, entrusted by the fraternity to lead its boxers to glory.

“You know what you have to do tonight,” Hill says to Sexton. “Don’t change anything. Stay with the jab. The uppercut is gonna be there for you.”

After losing two championship fights earlier in the night, SAE is looking to Sexton to win its only belt of 2016. There is so much pressure: the Hall of Fame, the belt, a chance to gain the vital point to give SAE the overall victory for the tournament.

Hill and Sexton walk in toe to the corner as Cavalaris announces his name and that of his opponent, Charles Walton of Sigma Nu. As Sexton climbs each of the six steps on the ladder leading up to the ring, Hill takes his place in the corner LEFT: Chris Letsinger, of Sigma Nu, throws up peace signs after being declared featherweight champion.

CENTER: Victors pose for a photo after receiving their title belts, marking the end of Boxing Weekend.

RIGHT: Senior Jonathan Cain, of Sigma Chi, shows off his other Boxing Weekend championship belt, which he won as a freshman.

“Winning is honestly more of a relief than anything.

Ahh, it’s over finally. When you win it kinda relieves the anxiousness and you can get back to focusing on school and everything else.”

—MITCHELL SEXTON, 2016 LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON with Moulden, as well as two other young boxers from the gym. Hill is showing them the ropes, guiding them as he has done for Sexton over the last six weeks. “On fight nights, we all become one,” Hill says.

Sexton bounces around on his toes and takes a proper stance, one foot behind and diagonal to the other.

Walton charges him and Sexton unleashes a flurry of jab and cross combinations. His punches collide into his opponent’s skull and crunch into his rib cage. Hill screams “Relax, Mitchell” as Sexton pulls away and starts to work the trademark jab, keeping Walton at a distance and hugging him in a clinch when he get too close.

By the second round, Walton tires and Sexton takes advantage to knock him on his backside. One minute into the third and final round, Sexton traps Walton in a corner and pummels him with big straight-rights and uppercuts, forcing the referee to jump in and call an end to the fight. Shouts of “Hall of Fame” rise deafeningly from the SAE section of the crowd and now beer from the Solo cups soars high above their heads as Sexton, veins bulging from his arms, breathes a big sigh of relief.

Onsite doctors inspect Sexton after he steps out of the ring and, after being told he is okay, he walks to the back to get changed into his street clothes.

“Can you please mention something about giving glory to God?” Sexton asks as he puts away his gear.

It’s not him trying to be cliché. It is that vulnerability again, not wanting to sound like a phony. Sexton is the kind of guy who makes a person rethink all the fraternity stereotypes in movies like Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds.

“This means a lot for Judge,” Sexton says. “He is such a calm guy.

He’s made me so calm and confident.

All of the guys—they’re such great guys.

It’s such a relief to win this for them.”

By 10:30 p.m., barely two hours after the fights started, Sexton and rest of the champions reassemble on stage to claim their belts. Miller-Davis, who has been scurrying around the Expo Center all night with her staff, says it has been an “emotional, unreal” tournament. One of the trainers walks by and says to no one in particular, “another one bites the dust,” and he and Hill chat about having to come back on Sunday to tear down the ring.

Despite entering the Hall of

Fame, scoring two technical knockouts, and winning the tournament for SAE, Sexton isn’t given the award for best boxer. But he doesn’t seem to care. With a big grin on his face, he poses while his older brother, a military man who drove from Virginia to see him compete, takes pictures from behind the ropes.

Barely anyone is left in the audience by the time the belts are awarded.

Outside of the tournament, Boxing Weekend’s main attractions are the after-parties thrown by the different fraternities for the thousands who come in from other universities throughout the Southeast. The big Saturday night after-party takes place at The International, hosted by SAE, Sigma Chi, Phi Sigma Kappa, and Kappa Sigma, which brought in rappers Juicy J and Afroman of “Because I Got High” fame to entertain the crowds.

Some of the boxers make their way through growingly inebriated groups of people dancing badly as Afroman gets on stage around midnight. As he sings “Colt 45” while sipping his own Colt 45, the crowd continues to get bigger while the lines outside dwindle. One of The International staff says they’ve been told the party will go until 2 a.m., although she isn’t expecting to leave that early.

Sexton isn’t at the party.

“I sold my tickets,” he says in the curtained-off room hours earlier. “I’ll probably just go to a bar and hang out with my brother and some friends.

Drink a Budweiser. Soak this all in one last time. I don’t know.” ◆

March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19

Ashley Capps and David Dewhirst unveil a novel new downtown music venue

O

n Tuesday afternoon, at a press event announcing the opening of the Mill and Mine, a new venue and event space on West Depot Avenue, Mayor Madeline Rogero described the developers of the project as a “dream team of visionaries.” That might be overdoing it, but it’s true that developers David Dewhirst and Mark Heinz and music impresario Ashley Capps have seen possibilities all around downtown Knoxville over the last two decades that others have overlooked (or couldn’t afford). Now they’ve announced a new project that will combine their specialties—Dewhirst’s knack for restoring historic buildings and Capps’ canny instinct for music programming. They say the bold new performance space will fill in important cultural and geographic gaps in Knoxville’s center city.

The new 20,000-square-foot venue is based on a model established by three other mid-sized spaces around the region that Capps’ company, AC Entertainment, books on a regular basis: the Orange Peel, in Asheville, N.C.; Track 29, in Chattanooga; and Marathon Music Works, in Nashville.

“My team, a week didn’t go by when they didn’t say, why can’t we be doing this in Knoxville?” Capps told the assembled crowd of TV and newspaper reporters, bloggers, and city officials.

Set to open at the end of this month, when it will host 15 performances as part of the Big Ears festival, the Mill and Mine’s main room will hold 1,200 people, with a permanent elevated stage and a balcony. An adjacent room, available for rental for weddings, receptions, and other special events, will have

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Inside the Vault: Joy King

KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

capacity for 500 seats; the developers say a restaurant may eventually go there. A 5,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard will hold even more people.

According to the press release, the club will be equipped with state-ofthe-art sound and lights and “will be a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional experience unique to Knoxville.”

Capps referred to the Mill and Mine—the name, according to Heinz, comes from the most recent tenant of the building, the Industrial Belting and Supply Company, which used the sloagan “for mill and mine”—as a “missing link” in downtown’s landscape, in more ways than one. In size, it’s in between the Bijou and Tennessee theaters, which AC Entertainment also books and manages. The lack of permanent seating means that it will be available for shows that might not be suited for seated theaters.

“As we’ve noticed booking the Orange Peel, there’s been a missing component,” Capps said. “Many artists were skipping Knoxville, and we were tired of that.” (The Orange Peel’s current online calendar lists a handful of performers who are coming through Knoxville around the same time or who have played here recently, including Big Ears acts Kamasi Washington, Yo La Tengo, and Bombino. But big-name artists like Animal Collective, Tortoise, and Josh Ritter, who are not currently scheduled to appear in Knoxville, are also on the schedule there.)

The Mill and Mine is also another example of significant downtown development outside the official borders of the Central Business Improvement District, especially north of downtown. It’s located next to the Public House and near several

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Music: Yonatan Gat

Renderings courtesy of Dewhirst Properties

Stage Show

Photos by Clay Duda

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P rogram Notes

other recent or upcoming projects— Regas Square, the Historic Southern Railway Station, and the Mews, a condo development on Magnolia Avenue. (It’s also worth pointing out that the new venue is just a few blocks away from the International and Concourse, a music venue that is roughly equivalent to the Mill and Mine in size; AC Entertainment occasionally books shows there.)

“This literally helps fill in a gap in the downtown map,” Rogero said.

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Capps, Dewhirst, and Heinz are partners in the project, but Capps says AC Entertainment “will be very involved.” The city extended a 10-year payment in lieu of taxes deal and a $100,000 façade grant for the development.

While the Mill and Mine will host shows for Big Ears starting on Thursday, March 31, through Saturday, April 2, Capps says the club won’t have a full concert schedule for several months. ◆

Movies: Zootopia

Inside the Vault

Photo courtesy of Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound

Joyful Noise The underappreciated career of folk singer Joy King

BY ERIC DAWSON

L

ast week, Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound archivist Bradley Reeves and I paid a visit to Joy King at her South Knoxville home, which her family built in the 1860s.

King is part of a prominent Knoxville family whose roots in the area go back to the 18th century, when her French ancestors settled here. Her uncle I.C. King has a park named after him in South Knoxville. The much-admired Knox County superintendent and school reformer Mildred Doyle was a cousin. Her grandfather was a politician, her father a lawyer, and her mother a concert pianist.

But Joy chose a more unconventional path. She went into show business, and for more than five

decades entertained audiences with folk and country music, as well as her amazing yodeling. Reeves and I agree that Joy King has one of the finest voices Knoxville ever produced.

We paid her a visit in part to interview her, but we also had something for her: a recording from a part of her career that she had all but forgotten.

King’s grandmother recognized her talent as a child and asked Joy to sing at various club meetings and luncheons at which she spoke. She remembers her grandmother encouraging her to ask for money: “If you want to be in show biz, you need to learn how to make money at it.”

At 17, King started performing at the Tennessee Barn Dance and

Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round. Impressed with her voice, Chet Atkins tried to persuade her to move to Nashville and cut records, but WNOX’s Lowell Blanchard convinced her to finish school. She studied music at the University of Tennessee with David Van Vactor, then the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s music director, and her voice teacher was the revered Mrs. Bruce Leslie, who also taught Mary Costa. After graduation King headed to Dallas, where she played with the Big D Jamboree. There she recorded “How Should I Your True Love Know,” surely one of—if not the only—record based on a Shakespeare passage to feature yodeling. For a time she worked as a singer and straight woman for comedian and musician Panhandle Pete at Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley, N.C. In 1964, at the age of 26, King learned that she had a following at the Hootenanny Coffee House in Miami and temporarily settled there. It seems to have been typical of folk coffee houses of the 1960s, but what makes it more than a footnote in that history is that it served as a sort of home base for Vince Martin and Fred Neil, popular folk singers who had cut an album for Elektra around the time of King’s arrival. Neil, of course, would go on to wider success, especially after writing the hit “Everybody’s Talking,” famously covered by Harry Nilsson and featured in the film Midnight Cowboy.

Fred Berney ran a recording studio down the street from the Hootenanny and recorded live performances at the coffee house to be aired on the FM radio station WEDR. Several months ago I came across a few of these recordings online, including an unaired one that features her and Neil together.

The two performed together frequently at the time and were apparently audience favorites, based on the emcee’s introduction: “Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Joy King and Mr. Freddy Neil. Nothing more need be said.” Their performance is a jovial and casual affair, with lots of chatter and jokes, and it probably couldn’t have been aired without heavy editing.

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Neil makes several asides on the loose nature of the performance, and at one point King is surprised to find the tape rolling.

When they sing, though, it’s pure professionalism. King and Neil duet on a romp through “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” then Neil’s unmistakable guitar accompanies her on a sublime reading of the bluegrass standard “Ruby (Are You Mad at Your Man).” The audience is rapturous after “Tennessee Yodel Polka,” a song showcasing King’s marvelous yodeling skills.

We played this recording back for King without telling her where and when it was recorded. It took her a few minutes to place it. Looking off in the distance, she asked, “Who’s that singing with me?” Moments later she exclaimed, “That’s Freddy! Old Fred.

We had great times together. All we did was act silly. I’d forgotten all about that. We opened up a coffeehouse ourselves in Miami. We just fell in love with each other.”

In 1965 Fred Berney produced a small-budget film co-written by Hootenanny owner Carl Yale, which was shot in and around the coffeehouse. Hootenanny a Go Go, aka Once Upon a Coffee House, was barely screened outside of the Miami area, but it has become something of a cult classic, featured in The Onion A.V. Club’s Films That Time Forgot series in 2012. Neither King nor Neil is featured in the film, which can be viewed online, but some of the other Hootenanny regulars, like Vince Martin, are, and you can get a highly fictionalized, very skewed idea of what that scene might have been like.

By the time the movie was made, King had returned to Knoxville, where she opened up her own popular coffeehouse. She would continue traveling, performing, and recording for the next few decades.

To be continued.

Inside the Vault features discoveries from the Knox County Public Library’s Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, a collection of film, video, music, and other media from around East Tennessee. Visit TAMIS’s Facebook page to hear Joy King recordings.

March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 21

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Music

Let Chaos In

Yonatan Gat fights the fear of improvisation

BY RYAN REED

F

or six years, the Israeli-born guitarist-composer Yonatan Gat toured the world with Monotonix, a garage/noise-rock band known more for their abrasive stage antics (destroying equipment, jumping off balconies) than their music. Gat’s solo project harnesses a similar energy in concert. Working as the leader of a genre-melding rock trio, alongside bassist Sergio Sayeg and human battering ram/drummer Gal Lazer, he improvises manic material in the center of his audience.

“A lot of people look at improvisation as the supreme proof of talent or something—only a really talented musician can improvise—but I’m not sure I agree with that,” says Yonatan Gat. “I think white people are very afraid of improvisation. But it’s not only for the most talented. The first music ever made was a person singing to himself or his family or friends, banging on a piece of wood. That’s improvisation. People are afraid of it. They’re trained against it. It’s like capitalism: Learn what you do best, and that will be your expertise and what you do for the rest of your careers.”

This free-form energy also

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

translates to Gat’s recordings, which are created through a complex process of conceptualization, light rehearsal, improv recording, and exhaustive editing that he compares to the groundbreaking late-’60s work of Miles Davis and Teo Macero on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew.

Gat employed the Davis-Macero technique extensively on the 2015 album Director, on which the guitarist pared down hours of psychedelic surf-rock grooves, vamps, and riff excursions into a half-hour of music he dubs “alien space music that has nothing to do with reality.” The strange editing style creates a “weird dynamic that really fucks with your head,” with many songs that “start in the middle then cut to the end or beginning.”

But Gat’s creative process mutated with the trio’s latest EP, the mind-melting Physical Copy. He envisioned a specific sound: “Afrobeat guitars, sliding bass that sounds like a synth-bass, and drums influenced by electronic music.” The band brought this conceptual playbook into Chicago’s Electrical Audio studio, working with famed recording engineer Steve Albini for a lightning-rod three-hour

session—one so physically intense that the band was only able to play in two-minute spurts.

“A lot of our records are very dynamic,” Gat says. “We play very soft and then very hard. But this one is not. We stay in the higher register of dynamics most of the time. The drum parts are so busy, so virtuosic that Gal couldn’t play more than 90 to 120 seconds. We just knew going into the studio that we had to play those two minutes of improvisation and figure it out afterwards.”

The two pieces, “0” and “1,” thrive on this mayhem, with the trio pummeling their instruments into submission. “The songs could not have been played straight by us, but when we edited it, we put it together like a mixtape,” Gat says. “You actually get to hear six minutes straight, turning us into some kind of superhuman band.”

It was a bold move bringing this instinctual approach into top studio with an iconic engineer—a so-so session could have proved a costly waste of time. But Gat never doubted his methods.

“I go into the studio, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘If it’s an EP, that’s fine; if it’s an LP, that’s fine. If we only come up with one good song, then that’s great, too,’” Gat says. “The idea is to not get married to an idea of exactly what you come up with, to really go into the moment. I don’t think about the studio costs.”

Improvisation isn’t common in

popular rock music. And, as Gat points out, there’s a difference between jamming and true improv.

But his unconventional craft shows that it’s possible for rock artists to celebrate the magic of chaos.

“People think we improvise because it’s fun,” Gat says. “And it is really fun. It’s really hard for me to go on tour and play the same songs over and over every night. I did that for years with Monotonix, and I just don’t want to do that right now. But the main reason we improvise is because I think it’s another great way to write songs. Improvisation always exists.

It’s letting chaos in. And when you let chaos in, anything can happen.” ◆

WHO

Yonatan Gat with A Certain Zone and Hellaphant

WHERE

Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave.)

WHEN

Sunday, March 13, at 9 p.m.

HOW MUCH $8

INFO

thepilotlight.com

Movies

Hopps & Wilde Zootopia reimagines the buddy cop film as an action-oriented social parody

BY APRIL SNELLINGS

I

’ve always been a little bothered by the predator/prey relationships in The Lion King. Yes, I know—it’s a cartoon movie about singing animals and I’m probably over-thinking it, but isn’t it a little creepy that the less murder-y animals are forced to celebrate the birth of someone who’s probably going to eat at least one of their kids someday?

Apparently I’m not the only one, because now Disney has given us an entire movie dedicated to exploring and subverting those very dynamics— and it’s absolutely terrific.

In the witty, engaging, and entertaining Zootopia, mammals have built a society that seems embarrassed and more than a little horrified by the Circle of Life. They’ve apparently done it very quickly—elders still remember the bad old days of eat-orbe-eaten, but younger critters enjoy a world that has ditched such primitive notions about species.

But has it really? Zootopians might have evolved beyond the predator/prey distinctions that saddled their ancestors, but their attitudes about inclusion and conformity could still use some work. Hence the obstacles faced by one Judy Hopps (voice of Once Upon a

Time’s Ginnifer Goodwin), an idealistic country rabbit who dreams of becoming Zootopia’s first bunny cop. Judy’s parents try their best to dissuade her from such a trailblazing pursuit—they’d rather see her stick with the relative safety and complacency of farm life, along with her two-hundred-and-something siblings.

But you don’t get to be a Disney heroine by peddling carrots at a roadside produce stand, so as soon as Judy comes of age, she’s off to the Zootopia Police Academy. She graduates at the top of her class, only to face yet another seemingly insurmountable obstacle: Her hulking new boss, a cape buffalo named Captain Bogo (Idris Elba), doesn’t think bunnies are meant to be cops and assigns Judy to parking-ticket duty while her colleagues investigate a string of disappearances.

Undeterred, she forms an uneasy alliance with a wily fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), and Zootopia goes a little Chinatown as the unlikely duo scours the underbelly of the city in search of a missing otter, uncovering a twisty conspiracy in the process.

The contortions of Zootopia’s plot are only the tip of the proverbial

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iceberg. As it zips along from one beautifully animated set piece to the next, the movie plays with a series of nimble shifts in scale, visual style, and structure that always keep it feeling fresh and surprising.

Part of the challenge for Judy—and an endless opportunity for the filmmakers—is that the little rabbit rarely fits into her surroundings. There’s a wondrous foot chase that sees her pursuing a thief through neighborhoods that shift dramatically and abruptly in scale—one minute she’s bolting down a rabbit-sized street, and the next she’s stomping through a miniaturized rodent district, wreaking as much havoc as she’s trying to stop.

Much has already been written about Zootopia’s message of inclusion and empowerment, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Though it’s been in development for years, the film is a fortuitously timed takedown of the racist and xenophobic rhetoric that’s so prevalent right now. What elevates Zootopia above the ranks of similarly well-meaning stories, though, is the way even its most progressive characters are eventually forced to confront deep-seated prejudices. Judy scoffs at her father’s warnings about foxes, but she still carries a can of fox repellent on her duty belt, and the slightest move from Nick sends her reaching for it.

The two also have different relationships with the stereotypes thrust upon them. Judy is constantly working to prove she’s not “just some dumb bunny,” while Nick embraces the “sly fox” shtick everyone expects of him.

If it sounds heavy-handed, Zootopia is anything but. Social subtext aside, it’s a fast-paced and gorgeously realized action-comedy that works remarkably well as both a police procedural and a buddy movie. The voice performances are uniformly excellent, with Goodwin and Bateman working up a level of chemistry that’s all too rare when actors are on screen, let alone confined to a sound booth. It’s also very funny—a show-stopping visit to a DMV staffed by sloths deserves to go down as one of the decade’s great comedy routines.

Kids’ movies rarely get better than Zootopia. Luckily for parents, neither do movies aimed at adults. ◆ March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23

CALENDAR Thursday, March 10 IRA WOLF WITH BIG SHOALS • 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 WARREN PINEDA AND JON MASON • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM ZACK AND KOTA’S SWEET LIFE • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM JOHN MAYALL • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • After Britain’s ten year traditional jazz boom had about run its course, a new generation was ready for something new. Out came the amplifiers, guitars and harmonicas and out came young enthusiasts from all over the country eager to sit in and form their own groups. This was all the encouragement thirty-year old John needed and, giving up his graphic design job, he moved from Manchester to London and began putting musicians together under the banner of The Bluesbreakers. • $28 STEVE BROWN AND HURRICANE RIDGE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM LUCETTE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM ANCIENT WARFARE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

DEE DEE BROGAN • Bourbon Street Whiskey Bar • 6PM JESSICA MARTINDALE • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE DJ WIGS AND MR. KOBAYASHI • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM Friday, March 11 THOM JUTZ AND MILAN MILLER WITH BRETT HARRIS • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE GIBSON BROTHERS WITH THE LONESOME RIVER BAND • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • The Gibson Brothers were voted Entertainers of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Association’s World of Bluegrass awards show in 2012 and 2013. Since its formation 34 years ago, Lonesome River Band continues its reputation as one of the most respected names in Bluegrass music. For more information, visit WDVX.com. • $32-$37 URBAN PIONEERS WITH TYLER LLOYD EMERY AND THE JEFF COUNTY BOYS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Mix one part Texas fiddle and one part Tennessee banjo, add doghouse bass and a splash of guitar and you have a delicious cocktail for your ears known as the Urban Pioneers. All ages. • $5 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE SAUL ZONANA • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

THE T. MICHAEL BRANNER CONCEPTET • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE SIDECAR SYMPOSIUM • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM IAN THOMAS AND THE BAND OF DRIFTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM THE DONNA HOPKINS BAND • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE THRIFTWORKS WITH COSMOORE • The Concourse • 10PM • Experimental electronic music. 18 and up. • $10-$12 MIKE MCGILL WITH VAN EATON AND BRANDON FULSON • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM THE WILD THINGS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

KEITH BROWN • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM MISS TESS AND THE TALKBACKS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE LINSEY SHARP • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • Linsey Sharp is 24

KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

an up-and-coming artist from Maryville, Tn. With a background of bluegrass, blues, and country, music has always been a vital part of her life. Backed by a band of blues all-stars, she brings to you an eclectic mix of timeless favorites and modern classics. • $5 HENRY GIBSON WITH ERIC GRIFFIN, DEREK JONES, JOSHUA MANIS, AND STEVIE MILLER • Pilot Light • 9:30PM • 18 and up. • $5 Saturday, March 12 WORKING CLASS HUSSYS WITH HIROYA TSUKAMOTO • 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 KIRK AND MEREDITH • Meksiko Cantina • 6PM • Acoustic Americana from two-thirds of the local trio Freequency.

BIRD IN HAND • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE BEARTOOTH WITH SILENT PLANET, GHOST KEY, VIA VERA, AND FAULT LINES • The Concourse • 7PM • Beartooth shares equal inspiration with brutal metalcore as with old-school punk like The Ramones and the bombastic theatricality of Queen. All ages. • $12-$15 THE FREIGHT HOPPERS • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Those who had the pleasure to see the fabled Freight Hoppers perform from 1992 to the band’s lay-up will certainly know what a sight and sound it is to witness the fiddle and banjo combination driven by David Bass and Frank Lee. The current line-up is Barry Benjamin on fiddle, Frank Lee on bottleneck guitar, and vocals, Mclean Bissel on guitar and vocal and Bradley Adams on string Bass.

Their latest album Mile Marker was released in 2010. • $13 WHISKEY ‘N’ WOOD • AC Band • 8PM • FREE IS THAT A HAWK? WITH THE WORN OUT SOLES AND MIRO • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • $5 DYNAMO • Preservation Pub • 8PM GET THE LED OUT: THE AMERICAN LED ZEPPELIN • The International • 9PM • 18 and up. • $20-$25 LOCASH • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • As the LoCash Cowboys, the duo has enjoyed hits with songs such as “Keep In Mind” and “The Best Seat In The House,” and have written such hits as the chart-topping “You Gonna Fly” for Keith Urban and “Truck Yeah” for Tim McGraw. 18 and up. • $10 THE WILL YAGER TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE BURNIN’ HERMANS • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM MAIL THE HORSE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM ELLIS DYSON AND THE SHAMBLES • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE THE NATTI LOVEJOYS • Bar Marley • 10PM • Soak up the island vibe with East Tennessee’s favorite reggae band. • FREE THE WORKING CLASS HUSSYS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM SOULFINGER WITH PORCH 40 • Preservation Pub • 10PM JAZZSPIRATIONS LIVE • Red Piano Lounge • 7:30PM • A monthly contemporary jazz concert series hosted by radio personality and recording artist Brian Clay. Brian performs and welcomes regional and national artists to perform with him. • $20 CONAN WITH SERIAL HAWK • Pilot Light • 9PM • Caveman battle doom from England. 18 and up. • $12-$15 Sunday, March 13 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

Photo by Keith Hyde

MUSIC

Thursday, March 10 – Sunday, March 20

PENTAGRAM The Concourse (940 Blackstock Ave.) • Sunday, March 13 • 8 p.m. • $18/$20 day of the show • 18 and up • internationalknox.com

Here’s an example of how messy the history of Virginia doom metal pioneers Pentagram is: The band’s first album was recorded in 1982—11 years after the band first got together—and released as a demo tape called All Your Sins. Three years later, a remixed version with new vocals was released under the title Pentagram; in 1993, the original All Your Sins version was reissued, this time on CD, as Relentless. Besides that, the band had already had more than a dozen members by the time that ’82 demo was recorded, and they had switched names from Pentagram to Death Row and back again, and their fiendishly charismatic frontman and mastermind, Bobby Liebling, was waging one of the most grandiose campaigns of hardcore drug abuse in the history of heavy rock, which is saying something.

Given all that—and the rest of the lineup changes, bad business, and hard partying that followed—it’s no wonder that you might not have heard of them. But few legendary underground bands deserve their cult reputations as much as Pentagram. Most of that distinction rests on the shoulders of Liebling and guitarist Victor Griffin, a Morristown native who moved to Alexandria in 1980, still a teenager, to join Pentagram. (Griffin, who’s now a born-again Christian, has been living back in Knoxville for the last decade and a half, playing off and on in the rejuvenated and mostly substance-free 21st-century version of Pentagram and also leading his own Christian metal band Place of Skulls.) Together, they took the blueprint laid down by Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Deep Purple, and Judas Priest to new heights—or lows, really, since Griffin is often credited with being the first metal guitarist to use a drop-D tuning, which is now standard among the slow and heavy subgenre known as doom that Pentagram helped invent.

Over the last five years, Pentagram has started to see some of the success that eluded them for so long—Griffin rejoined after a decade-long absence in 2010, leading to two of the band’s most accomplished albums, Last Rites (2011) and Curious Volume (2015). They’ve toured the U.S. and Europe and played SXSW and major metal fests. The 2011 documentary Last Days Here, tracing the band’s rediscovery by superfan/metal label exec Sean “Pellet” Pelletier and Liebling’s subsequent recovery from addiction, capped the band’s comeback.

With King Giant, Summoner’s Circle, and Wampus Cat. (Matthew Everett)

CALENDAR Sunday. • FREE PENTAGRAM WITH KING GIANT, SUMMONER’S CIRCLE, AND WAMPUS CAT • The Concourse • 8PM • Bobby Liebling & Pentagram have been churning out widely admired hard rock / doom metal for over four decades. Within its first, this D.C. band is largely regarded as pioneering not one but two subgenres of hard rock. At the onset of the 1970’s, they helped procreate a behemoth called, “Heavy Metal.”

Nine years on, they’d be planting the dark seed of what would grow to be known as “Doom.”18 and up. • $18 • See Spotlight on page 24.

PALE ROOT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Aaron Freeman’s taste for contemporary songwriters like Ryan Adams and Darrel Scott provides a balance to Jordan Burris’ penchant for bluegrass and traditional folk. As Pale Root, they’ve quietly settled into their own spot in Knoxville’s crowded Americana scene.

TREE TOPS AND THE ENIGMATIC FOE • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM YONATAN GAT • Pilot Light • 10PM • See story on page 22.

THE MOTH AND THE FLAME WITH SENRYU AND FAR FAR AWAY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7PM • Founded in the high desert of Provo, Utah but currently based in Los Angeles, The Moth & The Flame arrived in 2011 and quickly earned devoted fans and critical acclaim for their brand of lush, atmospheric rock. All ages. • $5 KATY FREE • Red Piano Lounge • 7PM THE ROAD TO ‘ROO BATTLE OF THE BANDS • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A band competition with the grand prize being a chance to play before tens of thousands of people at the Bonnaroo Music Festival this summer. Four bands will compete at Preservation Pub on March 8th followed by another four on March 13th and 20th, with the winners meeting on March 23rd to determine who gets the “Golden Ticket”. Come cheer them on.

Monday, March 14 MATT REYNOLDS WITH CHARLIE HEDGEPATH AND ROBBY HECHT • 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 THAT 1 GUY • The Concourse • 8PM • 18 and up. • $7-$10 RED MOUTH • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM ROACH EATERS WITH THE COWBOYS AND KARL MOUNTAIN • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • $5 CHAD MELTON • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

Tuesday, March 15 JULIET SIMMONS DINALLO WITH RYAN SHELEY • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-aweek lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE MARBLE CITY 5 • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM PITCHBLAK BRASS BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • PitchBlak Brass Band is a Brooklyn-based 10-piece band whose style and sound represents hip-hop from the 1980s to present day. A collective of young musicians, composers and artists, PitchBlak embodies the contemporary and vibrant undercurrents of New York City.

MOON HONEY WITH PLEASES AND EX-GOLD • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • $7 Wednesday, March 16 KAITLYN BAKER • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana,

folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 6:30PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE TENNESSEE SHINES: CHRISTOPHER PAUL STELLING • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • With the June 2015 release of his third acclaimed album, Labor Against Waste, singer-songwriter Christopher Paul Stelling proved he is a force of nature. His fast and melodic finger-style guitar picking is as jaw-droppingly unreal as the ideas presented in his lyrics. • $10 THE CASEY GREEN TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • Live jazz. • FREE PORTALS WITH THE MENACE FROM EARTH, FETZ LANE, AND TRASHBIN SOUVENIRS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • The Open Chord’s pre-St. Patrick’s Day party. • FREE TIGUE • Pilot Light • 9PM • 18 and up. • $5 Andrew Leahey and the Homestead • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

Thursday, March 17 ST. PADDY’S DAY ON MARKET SQUARE • Market Square • 5PM • Sevier County Celtic rockers Cutthroat Shamrock play for the very last time, ending a 13-year run of punked-up Scottish and Irish music. Ian Thomas the the Band of Drifters and Amethyst Kiah and Her Chest of Glass open the show on the Market Square stage. • FREE THE ROYAL HOUNDS WITH FOUR LEAF PEAT • 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 WARREN PINEDA AND JON MASON • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM SARAH CLAPP AND THE CATT MOKER TRIO • Bourbon Street Whiskey Bar • 6PM STOLEN RHODES • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 7PM • $5 FOUR LEAF PEAT • The Square Room • 8PM • Knoxville’s finest purveyors of traditional Irish music.

MR. ILL’S ST. PATTY’S DAY BIRFDAY BASH! • Star of Knoxville Riverboat • 8PM • Come celebrate Mr. ILL’s birthday and St. Patrick’s Day on the Star of Knoxville Riverboat with the Verns, Spaced Out and Vocci, with support by Earl Grae, Soultron, Secret City Cyphers and other surprise guests. • $15 THE YOUNG FABLES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM THE JAG AND LASSO SPELLS WITH CREASE READER • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

RYAN SHELEY WITH JACK GRELLE AND RYAN KOENIG AND MATT WRIGHT • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM MOONSHINE BANDITS • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • “California’s country hip-hop rebels.” 18 and up. • $10 GUY MARSHALL • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM • Guy Marshall’s main members, husband and wife Adam and Sarrenna McNulty, have been a staple in Knoxville’s Americana scene for the past five years. Armed with an infectious stage presence and an earnest arsenal of songs that touch on themes of whiskey and wallowing, the pair, backed by a rotating cast of musicians, have played gigs that range from providing a soundtrack to beer-soaked attendees of Knoxville’s Brewer’s Jam to securing a spot on the main stage of last year’s Rhythm N’ Blooms festival.

SAME AS IT EVER WAS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Knoxville’s best—and only—Talking Heads tribute band. • $5 THE BEARDED AND CLEARBRANCH • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25

CALENDAR 10PM • FREE Friday, March 18 KELLE JOLLY WITH MIKE CULLISON • 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 KIRK AND MEREDITH • Meksiko Cantina • 6PM • Acoustic Americana from two-thirds of the local trio Freequency.

KEVIN MCGUIRE • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM ALIVE AFTER FIVE: WOMEN IN JAZZ JAM FESTIVAL BAND STOMP • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • A showcase of Knoxville’s finest jazz musicians and vocalists who also happen to be female in performance for the opening of the Women in Jazz Jam Festival. • $5-$10 JACK GRELLE AND RYAN KOENIG • Sugarlands Distilling Co. • 7PM • FREE MARC BROUSSARD • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • In 2004, Marc Broussard, then a precocious 22-year-old singer/ songwriter, released his major-label debut; he called it Carencro, after the Louisiana town where he was born and raised, and its thematic centerpiece was a hickory-smoked slab of Bayou soul called “Home.” That album and the three that followed revealed Broussard as an old-school Southern soul singer blessed with a rarefied gift and innate stylistic and emotional authenticity. • $23-$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 ZUZU WELSH • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

ANNANDALE WITH 3 QUARTERS DEAD AND AMONG THE BEASTS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM JAKE AND THE COMET CONDUCTORS WITH THE ROYAL BUZZ AND DUSTIN SELLERS • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM THE ROYAL HOUNDS • Preservation Pub • 9PM • 21 and up.

KEITH BROWN AND THE KB3 • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM SHIMMY AND THE BURNS WITH HANDSOME AND THE HUMBLES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM KNOX COUNTY JUG STOMPERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • The Knox County Jug Stompers come from all kinds of backgrounds—bluegrass, rock, acoustic blues, country music—but have settled on a more or less authentic reproduction of the jug music made popular throughout the South nearly a century ago by Gus Cannon and the Jug Stompers and other bands with similar names, like Clifford Hayes’ Old Southern Jug Band, the Dixieland Jug Blowers, and the Seven Gallon Jug Band. • FREE BLOOD, SWEAT, AND BASS TOUR 2016 • The Concourse • 10PM • Featuring Downlink, Dieselboy, Ede Gee, and Skinny B. 18 and up. • $15-$20 PROJECT WOLFPACK • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM WOMEN IN JAZZ JAM FESTIVAL • The Women in Jazz Jam Festival will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, March 18th-20th, 2016. March is Women’s History Month and Music in Our Schools Month. The purpose of the festival is to uncover the stories of women in all aspects of the jazz genre, throughout the jazz community. Visit womeninjazzjamfestival.com for a complete schedule and information on venues and performers.

Saturday, March 19 LIZANNE KNOTT WITH JACK GRELLE AND MIKE KOENIG • 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 ROCK AGAINST DEMENTIA • The Square Room • 3PM • World Rocks Against Dementia - Knoxville is coming 26

KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

Thursday, March 10 – Sunday, March 20

together and will feature the Blair Experience, Cameron Sutphin and Clyde Fulmer, with a special guest appearance by Emily Roberts. • FREE KATY FREE • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM THE KELCY MAE TRIO • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

ERNIE HALTER WITH STONE BROKE SAINTS AND STEVEN SWICEGOOD • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Influenced by some of the legendary names of pop and soul, such as the Beatles, Elton John, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder, Californian Ernie Halter first began to make waves for himself with the release of his 2005 collection, Lo-Fidelity. All ages. • $12-$15 THE CHUCK MULLICAN JAZZ BONANZA • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE SWINGBOOTY • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • Come join us for a night of gypsy swing, dancing, and fun. • $5 SUNSHINE STATION • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM • Bring your dancin’ shoes and hand drums and join trippy-hippy folk band Sunshine Station for a high energy show.

THE DAVID MAYFIELD PARADE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • David Mayfield may be one of the most original performers on the Americana scene. Known for his bombastic stage presence as much as his virtuosic guitar talent and songwriting prowess. • $5 THE MUCKERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE DAVID AND VALERIE MAYFIELD • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM BROTHER MOSES WITH AMBROSE WAY • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

WOMEN IN JAZZ JAM FESTIVAL • The Women in Jazz Jam Festival will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, March 18th-20th, 2016. March is Women’s History Month and Music in Our Schools Month. The purpose of the festival is to uncover the stories of women in all aspects of the jazz genre, throughout the jazz community. Visit womeninjazzjamfestival.com for a complete schedule and information on venues and performers.

Sunday, March 20 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 LONETONES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM THE ROAD TO ‘ROO BATTLE OF THE BANDS • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A band competition with the grand prize being a chance to play before tens of thousands of people at the Bonnaroo Music Festival this summer. Four bands will compete at Preservation Pub on March 8th followed by another four on March 13th and 20th, with the winners meeting on March 23rd to determine who gets the “Golden Ticket”. Come cheer them on.

WOMEN IN JAZZ JAM FESTIVAL • The Women in Jazz Jam Festival will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, March 18th-20th, 2016. March is Women’s History Month and Music in Our Schools Month. The purpose of the festival is to uncover the stories of women in all aspects of the jazz genre, throughout the jazz community. Visit womeninjazzjamfestival.com for a complete schedule and information on venues and performers.

OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS

Thursday, March 10 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM •

Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.

• FREE OPEN CHORD OPEN MIC NIGHT • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • It’s time once again for Open Mic Night!

This time we’re welcoming both solo performers AND bands to perform. 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 Friday, March 11 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, March 13 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, March 15 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, March 16 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 JAZZ JAM SESSION WITH WILL BOYD • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM Thursday, March 17 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. • FREE Saturday, March 19 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, March 20 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, March 19 TEMPLE DANCE NIGHT • The Concourse • 9PM • Knoxville’s long-running alternative dance night. With DJ Darkness, Sir Diddimus, and DJ Fallen. 18 and up. • $5

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Saturday, March 12 OAK RIDGE CIVIC MUSIC ASSOCIATION: AN AMERICAN SALUTE • Oak Ridge High School • 7:30PM • The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra will be joined by Sound Company: Children’s Choir of Oak Ridge to perform songs by Copland and beloved music from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. The concert will conclude with Dvorak’s thrilling Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’, which was heavily influenced by American landscapes, as well as Native American and African-American melodies.

Subscription and individual tickets may be purchased online at www.ORCMA.org or by calling (865) 483-5569. • $25 KSO POPS SERIES: THE 5TH DIMENSION • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 8PM • In 1967, a little-known vocal group called The 5th Dimension recorded a song called “Up, Up and Away” which turned out to be one of the biggest smash hits in musical history. Join The 5th Dimension as they perform dozens of hits with the Knoxville Symphony including “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep,” and “Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In.” Thursday, March 17 KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • March presents a dance-like and whimsical program beginning with John Adams’ The Chairman Dances or “Foxtrot for Orchestra.”

The program also includes Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14 featuring a return performance by Elena Urioste and concludes with Maurice Ravel’s arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a suite in 10 parts composed in memory of Mussorgsky’s friend and fellow artist Viktor Hartmann. • $15-$89 Friday, March 18 KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • March presents a dance-like and whimsical program beginning with John Adams’ The Chairman Dances or “Foxtrot for Orchestra.”

The program also includes Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14 featuring a return performance by Elena Urioste and concludes with Maurice Ravel’s arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a suite in 10 parts composed in memory of Mussorgsky’s friend and fellow artist Viktor Hartmann. • $15-$89 Sunday, March 20 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, March 10 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • The unforgettable Pulitzer Prize-winning novel comes to life on the KCT stage, with its unique mix of warm nostalgia and frank realism. The lives of young “Scout” Finch and her big brother Jim are about to change forever, when their father Atticus, a lawyer, is appointed to defend a black man accused of attacking a white teenage girl. Feb. 26-March

CALENDAR 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘A LESSON BEFORE DYING’ • Carousel Theatre • 7:30PM • It’s 1948 in a small plantation community in the heart of Cajun country. A young man, jailed for a murder he did not commit, will soon lose his life and has lost his self-respect. A young teacher, with most of his life ahead of him, has lost respect for the situation in which he lives. Both men teach each other the lessons they need to face their very different futures with dignity and strength. Feb. 24-March 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘THE CAST LIST’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • TSC closes its annual New Play Festival with a world premiere of Gayle Greene’s play about a director’s worst nightmare. March 4-20. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 BLUE MAN GROUP • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Blue Man Group is comedy, theater, rock concert and dance party all rolled into one. This wildly popular phenomenon delivers an unforgettable multi-sensory experience. It’s an outrageous evening of entertainment you’ll never forget. Don’t miss the show that has captivated 35 million people worldwide. Blue Man Group - enemy of monotony, remedy for boredom, promoter of overjoy and elation.

Dare to live in full color. • $59.50-$77 Friday, March 11 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Feb. 26-March 13.

Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘A LESSON BEFORE DYING’ • Carousel Theatre • 7:30PM • Feb. 24-March 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘THE CAST LIST’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • March 4-20. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 ENCORE THEATRICAL COMPANY: ‘SPAMALOT’ • Walters State Community College (Morristown) • 8PM • Lovingly ripped off from the motion picture, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, Spamalot is the outrageous musical comedy that tells the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail. Rude Frenchmen, cancan dancers, the Lady of the Lake and her Laker Girls, Killer rabbits, catapulting cows, and the somewhat odd Knights who say “ni” are just part of the adventures and dangers awaiting King Arthur and his knights. • $12-$22 Saturday, March 12 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • Feb. 26-March 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘A LESSON BEFORE DYING’ • Carousel Theatre • 7:30PM • Feb. 24-March 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com.

TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘THE CAST LIST’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • March 4-20. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 ENCORE THEATRICAL COMPANY: ‘SPAMALOT’ • Walters State Community College • 8PM • March 11-20. • $12-$22 Sunday, March 13 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Feb. 26-March 13.

Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘A LESSON BEFORE DYING’ • Carousel Theatre • 2PM • Feb. 24-March 13.

TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘THE CAST LIST’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • March 4-20. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15

ENCORE THEATRICAL COMPANY: ‘SPAMALOT’ • Walters State Community College • 2PM • March 11-20. • $12-$22

o i ! d A r e g e l l o c T r o p sUp

Tuesday, March 15 ‘MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET’ • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Million Dollar Quartet is the high voltage Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, inspired by the phenomenal true story of the famed recording session that brought together rock ‘n’ roll icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and only time. • $36.50-$62.50 Thursday, March 17 TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘THE CAST LIST’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • March 4-20. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 HEAD OVER HILLS’ • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 8PM • In this comical journey to find love, a beautiful young professional falls for a smooth talking bad boy and soon learns there is more to being in love than just chemistry.

• $45.50-$51.50 Friday, March 18 TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘THE CAST LIST’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • March 4-20. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 ENCORE THEATRICAL COMPANY: ‘SPAMALOT’ • Walters State Community College • 8PM • March 11-20. • $12-$22 Saturday, March 19 TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘THE CAST LIST’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • March 4-20. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 ENCORE THEATRICAL COMPANY: ‘SPAMALOT’ • Walters State Community College • 8PM • March 11-20. • $12-$22 Sunday, March 20 TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘THE CAST LIST’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • March 4-20. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 ENCORE THEATRICAL COMPANY: ‘SPAMALOT’ • Walters State Community College • 2PM • March 11-20. • $12-$22

COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD

Sunday, March 13 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

Monday, March 14 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, March 15 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

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March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27

CALENDAR

Thursday, March 10 – Sunday, March 20

Simplified Comedy performs live comedy improv at Scruffy City Hall. It’s just like Whose Line Is It Anyway, but you get to make the suggestions. Show starts at 8:15, get there early for the best seats. No cover. • FREE

8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

Thursday, Feb. 17 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. • FREE

Thursday, March 17 ST. PADDY’S DAY ON MARKET SQUARE • Market Square • 5PM • Sevier County Celtic rockers Cutthroat Shamrock play for the very last time, ending a 13-year run of punked-up Scottish and Irish music. Ian Thomas the the Band of Drifters and Amethyst Kiah and Her Chest of Glass open the show on the Market Square stage. • FREE

Friday, March 18 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.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN STORYTELLERS WORLD STORYTELLING DAY • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • Smoky Mountain Storytellers will celebrate World Storytelling Day on Friday, March 18. This year’s theme is “Strong Women.” Tall tales, tales of magic, traditional tales, heroes and sheroes, and outright lies performed by professional storytellers. Laughter appreciated. Come see Kathleen Mavournin, Lew Bolton, Sheri Liles, Susan & Stephen Fulbright, and Millie Sieber. Donations gratefully accepted. Visit www.smokymountaintellers.org.

Sunday, March 20 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub •

FESTIVALS

Friday, March 20 WOMEN IN JAZZ JAM FESTIVAL • The Women in Jazz Jam Festival will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, March 18th-20th, 2016. March is Women’s History Month and Music in Our Schools Month. The purpose of the festival is to uncover the stories of women in all aspects of the jazz genre, throughout the jazz community. Visit womeninjazzjamfestival.com for a complete schedule and information on venues and performers.

Saturday, March 19 ETTAC: A NIGHT IN OLD HAVANA FUNDRAISER • Lighthouse Knoxville • 6:30PM • The East Tennessee Technology Access Center will hold their 5th annual “A Night in Old Havana” fundraising event at the Lighthouse Knoxville.

Tickets will include a dance showcase by Dance Tonight dance studio and an authentic Cuban dinner. Poker, a silent auction, a cigar and high spirits bar and more are available for purchase or donation. The March Madness

game will be broadcast at this event. Proceeds will benefit people with disabilities in East Tennessee. • $25 EAST TENNESSEE KIDNEY FOUNDATION LUCKY KIDNEY RUN AND IRISH FESTIVAL • Market Square • 10AM • The 5th annual 6K run and 6K/2K walk start from Market Square at 10 a.m., progressing from downtown to the Fourth and Gill neighborhood and back. Registration is now open at http://www.etkidney.org and costs $35 through March 9 and $40 thereafter.New for 2016 is the Irish Festival, which is 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in Market Square. The event will feature live music, dancing and vendor booths, and kids will enjoy large inflatables and midway games. Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House will be selling green beer and Guinness. Festival admission is free; tickets for children’s entertainment are available online during race registration or at the event. • FREE-$40 MARBLE SPRINGS ARBOR DAY CELEBRATION • Marble Springs State Historic Site • 1PM • In recognition of Arbor Day, Marble Springs will be having an Arbor Day celebration on March 19th from 1pm until 5pm. The arboretum will be open for self-guided tours throughout the event as well as guided tours happening on the hour.

Stock Creek Task Force Education Committee will also be present with children’s activities and information on water quality in our community. This event is free.

Donations are appreciated with all proceeds going towards educational programing at Marble Springs. For more information please visit our website at www. marblesprings.net, call (865) 573-5508, or email info@ marblesprings.net. • FREE WOMEN IN JAZZ JAM FESTIVAL • The Women in Jazz Jam

Festival will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, March 18th-20th, 2016. March is Women’s History Month and Music in Our Schools Month. The purpose of the festival is to uncover the stories of women in all aspects of the jazz genre, throughout the jazz community. Visit womeninjazzjamfestival.com for a complete schedule and information on venues and performers.

Sunday, March 20 WOMEN IN JAZZ JAM FESTIVAL • The Women in Jazz Jam Festival will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, March 18th-20th, 2016. March is Women’s History Month and Music in Our Schools Month. The purpose of the festival is to uncover the stories of women in all aspects of the jazz genre, throughout the jazz community. Visit womeninjazzjamfestival.com for a complete schedule and information on venues and performers.

FILM SCREENINGS

Monday, March 14 THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. • FREE Tuesday, March 15 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

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

CALENDAR Wednesday, March 16 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.

Friday, March 18 CRESTHILL CINEMA CLUB: ‘THE STRIPPER’ • Windover Apartments • 7:30PM • Topping our March bill will be The Stripper (1963), in which Joanne Woodward finds herself getting kicked in the face by life. Based on A Loss of Roses, the 1959 Broadway play by William Inge, The Stripper afforded the incomparable Joanne one of her very best roles. Woodward plays Lila Green, a vulnerable, aging showgirl who returns to her Kansas hometown after being abandoned by a brutal boyfriend and dumped by a second-rate theatrical act. Our location: The spacious clubhouse of the Windover Apartments. The journey there will take you to Cheshire Drive (off Kingston Pike, near the Olive Garden); going down Cheshire, turn right at the Windover Apartments sign, then go to the third parking lot on your right, next to the pool. There, the building that houses the clubhouse and offices of the Windover will be just a few steps away. • FREE Sunday, March 20 PUBLIC CINEMA: ‘MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART’ • Knoxville Museum of Art • 2PM • The new film from Mainland master Jia Zhang-ke jumps from the recent past to the speculative near-future as it examines how China’s economic boom has affected the bonds of family, tradition, and love.China, 1999. In Fenyang, childhood friends Liangzi, a coal miner, and Zhang, the owner of a gas station, are both in love with Tao, the town beauty.

Tao eventually marries the wealthier Zhang and they have a son he names Dollar. 2014. Tao is divorced and her son emigrates to Australia with his business magnate father. Australia, 2025. 19-year-old Dollar no longer speaks Chinese and can barely communicate with his now bankrupt father. All that he remembers of his mother is her name. Visit publiccinema.org. • FREE

SPORTS AND RECREATION

Thursday, March 10 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 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 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

would like to send you to the:

Friday, March 11 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, March 12 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: AVENT CABIN • 8AM • This loop hike will begin at the Elkmont Nature Trail parking area. The hike is about 10 miles and rated moderate. Meet at the Alcoa Food City ready to leave by 8:00 a.m. Leaders: Billy Heaton, bheaton8@yahoo.com and Tim Bigelow, bigelowt2@mindspring.com. • FREE Sunday, March 13 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 Monday, March 14 KTC GROUP RUN • Mellow Mushroom • 6PM • Visit ktc.org.

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

What is the name of the Main Stage?

Send your answer to: contests@knoxmercury.com 5 winners chosen at random will be notified on Apr. 1st!

Tuesday, March 15 THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS • Thompson-Boling Arena • 7PM • Throughout their history, the Original Harlem Globetrotters have showcased their iconic talents in 120 countries and territories on six continents, often breaking down cultural and societal barriers while providing fans with their first-ever basketball experience. Proud inductees of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Globetrotters have entertained hundreds of millions of fans—among them popes, kings, queens, and presidents. • $22.50-$123.50 CYTOLOGY BICYCLES TUESDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10:30AM • cycologybicycles.com. • 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, March 16 KTC GROUP RUN • Runner’s Market • 5:30PM • Visit ktc.org.

• FREE FOUNTAIN CITY PEDALERS SHARPS RIDGE MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE • Fountain City Pedaler • 6PM • Visit fcpedaler.com. • FREE

*Disclaimer: Winners will be chosen at random by the Knoxville Mercury from weekly submissions. Winners will be notified in advance. (1 pair of tickets per winner.) NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited.

Must be a legal U.S. resident, 18 years of age or older, and not be a sponsor or an employee, family member, or household member of a sponsor. Once notified, winner has 24 hours to respond. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Sponsor: Knoxville Mercury, 706 Walnut Ave., Suite 404, Knoxville, TN 37902.

Thursday, March 17 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29

CALENDAR 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 KNOXVILLE BICYCLE COMPANY THURSDAY GRAVEL GRINDER • North Boundary Trails • 6:30PM CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY GREENWAY RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:30PM • FREE

ART

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

Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. MARCH 1-27: Artwork by Lynda Best and Ron Smith.

Bliss Home 24 Market Square MARCH 4-31: Artwork by Lindsey Teague.

Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 Broadway

Thursday, March 10 – Sunday, March 20

MARCH 4-27: Peep Show!, featuring figure work by local artists.

Central Collective 923 N. Central St. MARCH 4-29: Just Blousing, new paintings by Beth Meadows.

Clayton Center for the Arts 502 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway MARCH 1-25: Peace Is Patriotic: A Soldier’s (mis) Remembrances, new works by Mark Runge (a reception will be held on Friday, March 25, from 6-8 p.m.) and A Phrenology Study of a Mad Man by Mark Hall (a reception will be held on Monday, March 21, from 4-6 p.m.).

Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. MARCH 4-26: Artwork by Allison Berkoy and Jonathan Lukens.

East Tennessee History Museum 601 S. Gay St. THROUGH MARCH 20: Celebrating a Life in Tennessee Art: Lloyd Branson 1853-1925 Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. MARCH 4-25: Artwork by Melanie Reid; Three Views of Reality, new paintings by Brandon Douglas, Catherine Haverkamp, and Seth Haverkamp; and artwork by the

Knoxville Watercolor Society.

Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Blvd.

FEB. 29-MARCH 21: UT Student Art Competition. A reception and awards ceremony will be held on Monday, March 29, at 6 p.m.

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.

Liz-Beth and Co. 7240 Kingston Pike FEB. 23-MARCH 12: Contemporary American Folk Art, featuring work by Mike Ham, Steven McGuvney, Bill Cook Jr., Leslie Whitaker Evans, and Deb Guess.

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.

LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS

Thursday, March 10 TOMIKO BROWN-NAGIN: “THE HONOR AND BURDEN OF BEING FIRST: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY” • University of Tennessee • 5:30PM • The Fleming-Morrow Distinguished Lecture in African-American History kicks off with a look into the life of Constance Baker Motley, the first black woman appointed to the federal bench.T omiko Brown-Nagin, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law and professor of history at Harvard University, will deliver the address “The Honor and Burden of Being First: The Life and Times of Constance Baker Motley.” • FREE ARIEL LAWHON: ‘FLIGHT OF DREAMS’ • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Book signing and Reading with Ariel Lawhon author of the new novel, Flight of Dreams • FREE PALMYRE PIERROUX: “MEDIA DESIGN FOR MUSEUM EXPERIENCES: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE” • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 7:30PM • Palmyre Pierroux will discuss trends in the design of digital media for visitor use in museums, and reflect on the implications for encounters with art, design and cultural heritage as a part of UT’s Art + Architecture Presented by

at the Clayton Center for the Arts Haslam Family Flexible Theatre

Fri March 18 - 7:30 PM Sat March 19 - 2:00 PM Sat March 19 - 7:30 PM Sun March 20 - 7:30 PM

$13.00* $13.00* $13.00* $13.00*

Tickets on sale at the Clayton Center Box

Office at (865) 981-8590 or online** at www.ClaytonArtsCenter.com/events. *Clayton Box Office will add a $1 ticket printing fee **Additional charge if ordered online.

www.FoothillsCommunityPlayers.com

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA and SPIRITED AWAY from the creators of

AN ANIMATION MIRACLE!”

“

– PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE

a film by

ISAO TAKAHATA general producer HAYAO MIYAZAKI

EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT STARTS FRI. 3/11 30

KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

REGAL DOWNTOWN WEST CINEMA 8 1640 DOWNTOWN W BLVD (865) 693-0505 KNOXVILLE

Knoxville Mercury Wednesday, 3/9 1/8Pg(4.625x2.5)

CALENDAR Lecture Series.. Learn more about her research on her website: www.uv.uio.no/iped/english/people/aca/palmyre.

• FREE Saturday, March 12 JOAN CRONAN: “SPORT IS LIFE” • Chico’s • 11AM • Former University of Tennessee women’s athletic director Joan Cronan will greet customers and offer her new book for sale.

Sunday, March 13 ROBERT CRANNY • Union Ave Books • 2PM • Poetry reading with Irish poet Robert Cranny. • FREE Tuesday, March 15 WOMEN’S PAY EQUITY FORUM • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 6:30PM • The American Association of University Women believes that “pay equity and equal opportunity are a matter of simple fairness.” Statistics reveal that despite civil rights legislation, workplace discrimination still persists. On average, women in Tennessee who work full-time earn about 78 cents for every dollar a full-time male worker earns. Moderator: Wanda Sobieski, President of Sobieski, Messer & Assoc., Attorneys-at-Law.The event is sponsored

by AAUW Knoxville, AAUW Maryville, AAUW Oak Ridge, League of Women’s Voters of Knoxville and Oak Ridge, YWCA Knoxville, and the East Tennessee Women’s Leadership Council. • FREE MELVILLE MADNESS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 6:30PM • Moby-Dick is arguably the greatest literary masterpiece of 19th century America, and its author, Herman Melville (1819-1891) is one of most imaginative and influential of American storytellers. This March, Knox County Public Library is pleased to partner with UTK’s College of Arts and Sciences, department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literature to present “Melville Madness.” This discussion is part of UTK’s Melville Festival to be held April 7-8. The public is invited to take part in a guided discussion of Moby-Dick at Lawson McGhee Library on March 15, 22, & 29. • FREE CELIA LOTTRIDGE: “STORIES FROM OUR FAMILIES” • Seymour Branch Library • 7PM • Author and storyteller Celia Lottridge will present “Stories from our Families” at the Friends of Seymour Library meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 15 at Seymour Branch Library, 137 West Macon Lane. She will tell her family stories and encourage others to think of their own. A short business meeting will precede her talk. For more information, please call the library at 865-573-0728.

Wednesday, March 16 NORMAN SHAW • Bleak House • 2:30PM • Shaw, the founder of the Association of Sultana Descendants and Friends of the Sultana, will discuss the Civil War-era sinking of the Sultana. • FREE Thursday, March 17 NIKKI GIOVANNI • Pellissippi State Community College (Magnolia Avenue Campus) • 6PM • Magnolia’s Beyond the Common Book Club presents Women’s History Month Guest Speaker, Ms. Nikki Giovanni, writer, poet, activist and educator. Featured Literature: ON MY JOURNEY NOW, an assortment of African American songs passed down from a people who used these songs as a means to escape the harsh life of injustice and slavery. Giovanni uses these songs to tell their story. • FREE

FAMILY AND

KIDS’ EVENTS

Thursday, March 10 KSO MUSICAL STORY TIME • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • As a special treat for the youngest patrons, a Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Quartet will provide a performance for children and their parents in the Main Gallery of the library. • FREE DR. SEUSS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION • Maryville College • 4PM • The celebration is scheduled for 4-6 p.m. in Bartlett Hall’s Isaac’s Café on the Maryville College campus. The party will include activities such as puzzles, games, coloring, reading Dr. Seuss stories and singing songs.

Birthday cake will be served. The event is organized by Maryville College’s Student Literacy Corps (MCSLC), whose goal is to promote literacy in Blount County.

MCSLC is also partnering with MC’s chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, a national theatre honor society, and the Maryville College Theatre Department, which is preparing for a performance of the musical “Seussical” at the Clayton Center for the Arts April 15-17. • FREE Sunday, March 13 KMA ART ACTIVITY DAY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 1PM • Every second Sunday of each month, the KMA will host free drop-in art activities for families. A local artist will be on-site to lead hands-on art activities between 1pm and 4pm on the second Sunday of each month. • FREE TUESDAY, MARCH 15 Friday, March 18 DISNEY LIVE: MICKEY AND MINNIE’S DOORWAY TO MAGIC • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 2:30PM • Open the door to reveal mesmerizing worlds of unforgettable Disney moments and grand illusions with Disney Live! Mickey and Minnie’s Doorway to Magic! Join Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and the comical duo of Donald and Goofy as 25 of your favorite characters surprise and captivate at every turn of the knob! See the Fairy Godmother transform Cinderella’s rags into a beautiful ball gown in a split second; the Toy Story gang defy the dimensions of Andy’s toy box with the help of the green army men; and the spectacular stage debut of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider as they rise into the sky amidst the floating lanterns.

With special appearances by Snow White, Tinker Bell and Aladdin’s Genie, you never know what to expect or who might join in the fun. In Disney Live! Mickey and Minnie’s Doorway to Magic you hold the ultimate key to unlocking your imagination. • $21-$51

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Thursday, March 10 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 • For more information about the VITA program at UT Law, contact

Morgan at 865-974-2492 or rmorgan2@utk.edu. • FREE AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER COURSE • Karns Senior Center • 11:30AM • Call (865) 382-5822.

MARCH YOGA MADNESS • The Central Collective • 5:30PM • All levels welcome, limited props and mats provided. • $80 KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: READY, SET, SOW • Humana Guidance Center • 3:15PM • Join Master Gardener Barb O’Neil to learn about direct seeding peas, potatoes, spring greens and annual flowers, plus setting out seedlings in your garden. Call 865-329-8892. • FREE Friday, March 11 LETTERPRESS BASICS WORKSHOP: “MICROFICTION: SIX WORD STORIES AKA THE HEMINGWAY CHALLENGE” • Striped Light • 6:15 p.m. • Learn all about the fine craft of letterpress printing while exploring a very concise set of writing rules. There will be a six word limit, punctuation of your choice, and a goal of telling a compelling story.

Example: “For sale: baby shoes, never used.” This course will cover all the basics of typesetting and introduce you to printing on our flatbed cylinder proof presses. All necessary materials will be provided. For a complete list of classes visit stripedlight.com/classes/ • $65 Saturday, March 12 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10:30AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 1:30PM • $10 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 2:30PM • $10 KNOX HERITAGE PRESERVATION NETWORK • Knox Heritage • 10AM • Preservation Network is a series of free workshops held once every month on the second 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. Knox Heritage preserves, restores and transforms historic places. For everyone. Forever. The nonprofit organization was founded in 1974 and now serves the entire 16-county Knoxville region. For more information visit www. knoxheritage.org. • FREE GOURD BIRDHOUSE CLASS • Ijams Nature Center • 1PM • Learn how to make a birdhouse out of a gourd! Call 865-577-4717 ext. 110 to register. • $20 THAI YOGA PARTNER MASSAGE RETREAT • Shanti Yoga Haven • 9AM • Join us at Shanti Yoga Haven from 9 A.M - 1 P.M. to learn simple and very effective Thai Yoga Partner Massage techniques, lead by Shanti and Donna-Lisa, for ease of stress, increase of feel-good hormones, improvement of emotional connection, relief of pain, and enhancement of whole body & soul healing. Yummy Lunch is included!Bring a friend, spouse, partner, family member to share this healing retreat where together you will take part in and enjoy a relaxing, fun and educational getaway without going away. • $49 KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: PRUNING ROSES • All Saints Catholic Church • 10:30AM • Join Master Gardeners Carolyn Kiser, Carolyn Noey, and Marsha Lehman for a hands-on workshop where we will prune nine KnockOut roses. Bring your own pruners, gloves, and kneeling pads if you have them. Check www.knoxcountymastergardener.org for cancellation due to weather. Call 865-215-2340.

• FREE Monday, March 14

March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31

CALENDAR GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 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 • $10 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 6:45PM • $10 WITH HOPE IN MIND CLASS • First Farragut United Methodist Church • 6:30PM • With Hope in Mind provides families the basic education and training needed to cope with caring for loved ones who are diagnosed with a mental illness. The course includes coverage of medications, resources, and how to better communicate with someone who has bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, or other mental illnesses. To register, contact Cookie Spillers, 865-671-0703, or Joyce Judge, 865-966-4731. • FREE

Thursday, March 10 – Sunday, March 20

Tuesday, March 15 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted.

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 Wednesday, March 16 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 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, March 17 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted.

BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 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 MARCH YOGA MADNESS • The Central Collective • 5:30PM • Join Leslie every Thursday in March for March Yoga Madness. Leslie of Yogini is a Dancer will lead a fun flow class inspired by basketball and the teams that are in the madness. Brackets will also be filled out with prizes to be won. So wear your team colors and have fun with your yoga practice. All levels welcome, limited props and mats provided. • $80 INTRO TO ANCESTRY.COM COMPUTER CLASS • Blount

County Public Library • 2PM • Would you like to know more about your ancestors? Are you curious about the lives of those who came before your grandparents and impacted their lives? Blount County Public Library Reference Librarians Melinda Rust and Brennan LeQuire, both with Masters degrees in Library Science, are offering a computer class to help you start your exploration on Ancestry.com. Ancestry provides access to more than 16 billion historical records, which can seem overwhelming to the novice researcher. While Ancestry.com requires a paid subscription, free access to it is available within the library building. There is no fee for the class, but pre-registration is required and space is limited. Call Blount County Public Library Reference Desk, 865-982-0981 x4, to register. Those completely new to computing should sign up for the prerequisite course, “Meet the Mouse,” which will be taught at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17. • FREE

MEETINGS

Thursday, March 10 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

DISCOVER DISCOVER

T HTEH A E RAT RS T S

2015-16 SEASON

THE SALVATION ARMY

FIND FIND US • FOLLOW US • LIKE US • FOLLOW US • US LIKE US

cordially invites you to join us for the SECOND ANNUAL

FACEBOOK FACEBOOK

Presented by:

DISCOVER T H E 7:30

PM

CITY OF HOPE

Gala

TWITTERTWITTER

FIND US • LIKE US ClaytonArtsCenter.com ClaytonArtsCenter.com FOLLOW US

ARTS

MARCH / 15 / 2016

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016 AT 6 P.M. Knoxville Marriott Guests will enjoy dinner, testimonials of those who have received hope from The Salvation Army and an inspirational message from special guest speaker Former Vietnam POW, Retired Capt.

William (Bill) Robinson. Bill is the longest-held enlisted prisoner of war in American history. He was one of the first enlisted members to receive the Air Force Cross in addition to being awarded the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, POW Medal and two Purple Hearts.

For tickets or more information, visit: SalvationArmyKnoxville.org

A high voltage Tony® Award-winning Broadway musical, inspired by the phenomenal true story of the famed recording session where Sam Phillips, the “Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll” brought together icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for one unforgettable night.

Funds raised through the City of Hope Gala help sustain the local programs and services of The Salvation Army.

2015-16 SPONSORS

CLAYTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS on the campus of Maryville College 502 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy.

Maryville, TN 37804

BOX OFFICE: 865-981-8590 ClaytonArtsCenter.com

32

KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

ADVERTISING EQUALS SUPPORT. Thanks to our advertisers for their help in keeping our presses running. Let’s return the favor by supporting them.

CALENDAR SCIENCE CAFE • Ijams Nature Center • 5:30PM • We will be discussing the “COP21 Climate Summit in Paris” that concluded in December with the broad agreement by most of the world’s nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our guest scientist is Melissa R. Allen, Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Computational Science and Engineering Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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.

Saturday, March 12 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.

Sunday, March 13 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 WONDER CLUB: PARENTING BEYOND BELIEF • Nostalgia on McCalla • 7PM • Wonder Club is a discussion group that meets the second Sunday of each month for lively talks about a wide range of fun, interesting and sometimes controversial topics.

Monday, March 14 GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • We hold facilitated discussions on topics and issues relevant to local gay men in a safe and open environment. Visit gaygroupknoxville.org.

Tuesday, March 15 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 Wednesday, March 16 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, March 17 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 THE SOUTHERN LITERATURE BOOK CLUB • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Union Ave Books’ monthly discussion group about Southern books and writers. • FREE

ETC.

Thursday, March 10 KNOXVILLE SQUARE DANCE • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Jubilee Community Arts presents Knoxville Square Dance with live old-time music by The Helgramites and calling

by Stan Sharp, Ruth Simmons and Leo Collins. No experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. (No taps, please.) • $7 CAC AMERICORPS FAIR • John T. O’Connor Senior Center • 1PM • CAC AmeriCorps is calling all students or young adults between the ages of 18-25 who are interested in participating in a year national service focusing on environmental advocacy, conservation and sustainability to join us on March 10th for our first Opportunity Fair. This is a great chance to learn about the unparalleled sites CAC AmeriCorps has to offer including positions in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Ijams Nature Center, City of Knoxville, and University of Tennessee. • FREE

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Sunday, March 13 ST PATRICK’S DAY BALLROOM DANCE PARTY • Flynn Dance Center • 6PM Thursday, March 17 EAST TENNESSEE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER CELEBRITY BARTENDING • Echo Bistro and Wine Bar • 4:30PM • Join the fun as celebrity bartenders, including Davis Tarwater, Olympic gold medalist, and Marshall Stair, At-Large Member of City Council, serve as guest bartenders to benefit the East Tennessee Community Design Center.

This event is free, but the generous tips for our bartenders will be donated to the ETCDC. Proceeds from a special appetizer will also be donated to the ETCDC by Echo Bistro. Visit www.communitydc.org. • FREE POP UP DINNER WITH JONATHAN ZARAGOZA • The Central Collective • 7PM • The Central Collective’s second Pop-Up Dinner will feature a five course meal by Jonathan Zaragoza, traveling from Chicago, Illinois to share his love of food with the Knoxville community. • $65

specials sunday march 13

BRUNCH 10:00AM - 3:00PM CREEKSTONE SHORT RIB

CAULIFLOWER & SWEET POTATO

fresh tomatillo, grilled jalapenos & onions, cider gastrique, sunny side-up circle v egg, roasted fingerling potatoes

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grilled tofu, blackened tomatoes, parmesan cheese, scrambled eggs CHICKEN ROMESCO

Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com

JACK’S BACON OMELET

jalapeno, jack cheese, tomatoes, roasted onions, red salsa, fresh fruit, rosemary biscuit specials available all day

poached eggs, cheddar grits, benton’s bacon, asiago STRAWBERRY PANCAKES

whipped cream, smoked bacon, home fries

2200 Cumberland Ave sunspotrestaurant.com 865.637.4663 March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33

Photos by Kim Trevathan

OUTDOORS

Out side Insider

Hold On Tight Learning the ropes at Obed Wild and Scenic River’s “Climb with the Ranger” program

BY KIM TREVATHAN

H

ow does one go about learning a sport like rock climbing? As in other outdoor sports in which failure carries high-stakes consequences—hang gliding and base jumping, for example—rock climbing for beginners seems intimidating because of perceived and actual risks.

But if you’ve seen photos of people clinging to an expanse of sun-bleached sandstone and like the notion of the adventure, the challenge, the fitness, and yes, the view, there is a safe and fun way to become acquainted with the sport. It’s called “Climb with the Ranger” at the National Park Service’s Obed Wild and Scenic River on the first Saturday of each month, starting at 11 a.m.

Most of us have climbed at some point in our lives: up trees and boulders, over swing sets, monkey bars, and fences. A few decades ago I

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

fell in with a hardcore group in New Mexico who took me rock climbing a couple of times. I remember the extreme physical and psychic exertion. I remember getting yelled at for stepping on a rope. One night, after a couple of beers, I accompanied one of them about halfway up a radio tower. As he ascended to the blinking red lights at the top, I wished him luck and descended with cold, benumbed hands.

I was thinking that there would be 10 or so people at the March Climb with the Ranger and I could make up for the radio tower failure. At 10 o’clock, a time designated for “Coffee with the Ranger” at Lilly Bridge, rangers Noel Mays and Thomas Hall were laying out gear in the parking lot: ropes and carabiners and harnesses and shoes and helmets—a complicated tangle of gear that made

kayaking seem simple by comparison.

But they were relaxed and friendly, even as they sorted with some urgency, as if expecting a crowd.

Mays, who is deputy chief ranger at Big South Fork, told me whitewater paddling is his sport of choice, but he also loves climbing because, like paddling, it offers an adrenaline rush and complex strategic challenges.

Climb with the Ranger, which has been offered for three years, allows people of all ages to try out the sport in a safe setup among experts, he said.

Everything you need is provided. It’s free and all you have to do is show up.

After a while, volunteers began to arrive—climbers who help out each month because they want to introduce people to a sport they love. Everybody was in a good mood and anxious to gather gear and get to the routes. Still, there were only a few people, and the

sun had burned through the fog, making it a decent late winter day.

At about 10:30, I hiked up to the wall, about a tenth of a mile, to watch one ranger and a couple of volunteers set the leads on the routes. The kids would climb from 11 to around noon, Mays told me, and then the adult kids could play until about 3.

As I approached the bluff from the trail for the first time, I thought, well, that’s a good-sized piece of rock, and as I got closer and could see better through the hemlocks, I realized I was only seeing the lower half of it. It imposed itself. It blocked the sky. And I felt small and a little dizzy.

Kelly Brown, author of The Obed: A Climber’s Guide to the Wild and Scenic, captures the allure of this climbing mecca that contains over 400 sport routes (about 50 at Lilly Bluff alone): “If steep is what you like, the Obed has it; routes that overhang with superb quality rock featuring holds so honkin’ big that you can’t believe your hands are opening up.”

Ranger Rick Ryan and the two volunteers scaled three different routes and looped ropes through the bolts at the top. A ranger or volunteer, also wearing a harness, would secure

OUTDOORS

one end of the rope with a belaying device (Grigri), while the other end would be knotted to the climber’s harness. If you fell off the rock, as most would, at some point, the ranger would “brake” with the Grigri and catch you. When climbers were ready, belayers would ease them down by releasing rope.

Tribes of kids, from age 7 or so on up, began to trot and skip up the trail. They did not seem at all intimidated by the giant crag emerging from the forest. Back at the parking lot there were more kids, all of them getting geared up in harnesses, helmets, and climbing shoes. Many of them were repeat participants that the rangers greeted by name.

Hall gave a short safety talk, starting with this: “The most dangerous thing you’ve done is the drive here.

The second most dangerous is the hike up here. Climbing is the third.”

At around 11, all the routes were occupied, not just the two kids’ climbs about 25 feet up to a little cave, but also up Lounge Lizard and Rocking Chair, what volunteer Dr. Bill Campbell told me were moderate climbs (5.11 and 5.9 on the Yosemite rating scale). I craned my neck and squinted

at the top bolt of Lounge Lizard, 80 feet above and over me, an overhang at the pinnacle of the route. “Moderate” was not my first thought.

Most of the routes were straight up, of course, and the kids used the knobs and cracks and ledges to clamber up them as the belaying rangers shouted encouragement and advice from down below. Parents aimed cell phones at their rock-climbing kids and cheered as if at a basketball game (except nobody kept score).

By 1 p.m., people were still arriving; kids stood in line for a repeat climb. Mays estimated 100 to 125 climbers showed up that day. He said he’d seen more there. When I left, the adult climbers had begun to take over and they were waiting in lines for each route, including Tarantella (5.10a) whose “crux,” near the beginning of the route, was reducing some experienced climbers to emotional rubble. One slender woman was cursing laughingly in French as she tried again and again to get past the first overhang: “Merde!”

I figured I’d come back in April, hoping for a slimmer turnout, but seeing the joyousness of the climbers and spectators, I doubted that would be the case. Climb with a Ranger won the National Park Service’s Keeper of the Light Award for Interpretive Support in 2015.

There are climbing walls at River Sports Outfitters (2918 Sutherland Ave.) and at the University of Tennessee (Vol Wall), but as Mays said, “This is more real, and you get a better feel for the rock.”

It also looked like a lot more fun.

In Kelly Brown’s book, Ranger Rob Turan exhorts us to “Take a kid climbing. Better yet, take several….

Give the kids a sense of athletic self-worth they probably have not experienced.” ◆ How to get there: Take Highway 62 West out of Oak Ridge and stay on it through Oliver Springs and Wartburg. A few miles outside of Wartburg, 62 will split left from 27. Take that left through the small community of Lancing and after a few miles look for Ridge Road on your left. On Ridge Road go 3.2 miles and you will descend into the gorge to Lilly Bridge and Clear Creek.

There is parking on both sides of the bridge.

UNCLE LEM’S MOUNTAIN OUTFITTERS

9715 Kingston Pike Knoxville, TN 37922

865-357-8566 - unclelems.com March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35

CLASSIFIEDS

Place your ad at store.knoxmercury.com

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

FOR SALE

HOUSING

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

1BR APARTMENT, $425 PER MONTH. - 5 minutes to UT and on the busline.

New paint and carpeting, nice neighbors in a divided house with several units.

Off street parking available.

In Parkridge, near Winona Street and the ball fields.

Application & credit check required. (865)438-4870

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

J. DAVID REECE, Master 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.

PLACE YOUR AD AT STORE.KNOXMERCURY.COM

BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY

COMMUNITY

SABRINA - is a gorgeous 2 y/o pit mix waiting for her forever home at our Village Location! She is microchipped, spayed, & UTD on shots. Take her home today! Visit Young -Williams Animal Center or call 865-215-6599 for more information.

OLIVER - is just 4 months old & a sweet male terrier mix who is microchipped & UTD on shots. He will be neutered before he goes home.Visit Young-Williams Animal Center or call 865-215-6599 for more information.

’BYE

MAVERICK - is a beautiful 1 y/o female looking for a loving home! She is spayed, microchipped, & UTD on shots. You can take her home from our Division St. location! Visit Young-Williams Animal Center or call 865-2156599 for more information.

SKIP - is a playful 1 y/o male tabby looking for his forever home! He is microchipped, neutered, & UTD on shots so he is ready to go home from our Division St. location!

Visit Young-Williams Animal Center or call 865-215-6599 for more information.

WANT TO FIND A COPY OF THE KNOXVILLE MERCURY?

March Workshop s

Join us Saturday mornings at 10:30 for worksh ops on: • Biochar March 12 • Community -sup po agriculture March rted 19

Now open Sundays 1-5pm

Stanley’s Greenhouse 3029 Davenport Road | 865.573.9591 M-F 8-5pm | Sat 9-5pm | Sun 1-5pm www.stanleysgreenhouse.com

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

We’ve got a map for that!

It’ll be updated as we add more locations.

If you’ve got suggestions, let us know. knoxmercury.com/find-us

March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37

’BYE

At This Point

Undercover Introvert Shying away from the task of socializing

BY STEPHANIE PIPER

S

ometimes I think that I have spent my life under deep cover. Most of it, anyway. There may have been a handful of early years when I was my true self, a brief interval before I got the memo about introverts and their dismal social prospects. I can just about remember the hours of solitary play, the blissful time alone with a book. And then, the insistent chorus of voices: What are you doing here, all by yourself? Go and join the other children. Go and find someone to talk to. You’re a bright girl. Get out there and shine.

I recall some well-meaning adult telling me that shyness was a form of selfishness, a kind of spiritual hoarding, keeping one’s gifts hidden. The idea that my natural preference for solitude was a defect of character and a source of disapproval took root, and I began the arduous task of constructing a perky, outgoing persona.

It was trial and error at first, watching the popular girls and trying on their ways of being in the world.

But faking a passion for dodgeball and laughing at the boys’ lame jokes and shunning the geeks who used to be my occasional friends felt like uphill work. And the nonstop whispering and chattering took its toll. Was it really necessary to talk all the time?

Did they never stop to refuel?

Eventually, I became an accomplished chameleon. I learned to take on the protective coloration of the group, to blend in and keep my eccentric craving for peace and quiet and way too much poetry under wraps. Even so, I shrank from large gatherings, avoided big, jolly groups of strangers who all seemed to know each other and to share a talent for small talk.

Blind dates in college were a particular form of torture. You’ll like

BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY March 10, 2016

www.thespiritofthestaircase.com

him, the pretty blonde matchmaker from my dorm would insist. He’s got a great sense of humor. And maybe he did, before downing half a quart of bourbon and passing out at Tommy’s Briar Patch Inn while I escaped to the Ladies’ Room and willed myself to disappear. The extroverts on my floor would shrug when I told them this story. Laugh it off, they advised. Go talk to some cute guy at the bar. Snake your roommate’s date. Lighten up.

Right.

Like many introverts, I found a safe place in the theater. My fear of crowds did not extend to the faceless audience. Creating a character and telling the story was a kind of mission, a way to translate the language of an interior life. On stage, I could be anyone and everyone. For a few hours behind the footlights, I was real again.

Writing, I have discovered, presents another paradox. The most solitary of pursuits, it is also the most

crowded and often the noisiest. The voices of memory, the catalogue of observations fill the quiet room with sound and color. Scenes emerge in vivid detail. On a good day, it’s an introvert’s paradise: lively solitude.

I’ve been shedding my chameleon skin for a while now. It has become too heavy and confining for daily wear. At this point, it’s time to make peace with who I am: an introvert with finely honed social skills. I will almost certainly never be the life of the party. I will always hate dodgeball and blind dates with sloppy drunks and I will always hesitate at the threshold of large cocktail receptions, scanning the crowd for one familiar face. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Still, I wish I could have five minutes with that long-ago lady who chided me about spiritual hoarding.

My interior rooms may be crowded, but I have learned that there is more than one way to share. ◆

Writing, I have discovered, presents another paradox.

The most solitary of pursuits, it is also the most crowded and often the noisiest.

Miranda v. Arizona 384 U.S. 436 (1966)

LMU-DUNCAN SCHOOL OF LAW PRESENTS

Celebrating 50 Years of Miranda v. Arizona: Past, Present, and Future Frida y, April 1, 2016

Knoxville, TN • DSOL Cour troom • 10am-2pm Speakers include: exonerated for mer defendant Damon Thibodea ux; Tulane University Law School Pro fessor Herbert Larson; President of John E. Reid Associ ates and co-author of Essentials of the Reid Technique : Criminal Interrogation and Confessions Joseph Buckley.

MIR AND A WAR NING

Other speakers include: Detective Roger Wehr; 8th District Attorney General Jared Effler; local defense attorneys, Wade Davies and Joshua Hedrick ; and Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Kelly Tho mas.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT. ANYTHING YOU SAY CAN AND WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU IN A COURT OF LAW. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY. IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD AN ATTORNEY, ONE WILL BE PROVIDED FOR

$25 for CLE credit (lunch included), YOU CAN DECIDE AT ANY TIME TO EXERCISE THESE RIGHTS AND NOT $10 for lunch only, ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS OR MAKE ANY STATEMENTS. and admission is free to the public.

601 West Summit Hill Drive | Knoxville, Tennessee 37902

For more information or to RSVP, contact Kathy Baughman at 865-545-5301 or email Kathy.Baughman@lmunet.edu

March 10, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39

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