Vol. 2, Issue 18 - May 5, 2016 by Knoxville Mercury

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Knoxville Stomp celebrates the collected recordings of jazz, hillbilly, and gospel music made in a downtown hotel nearly 90 years ago

NEWS

Disparities in Knox County Schools Are at the Forefront—Again

JACK NEELY

Can We Learn From the TVA Headquarters Experience?

MUSIC

The Sword’s Loose Approach to Hard Rock Pays Off

ELEANOR SCOTT

An Old City Landlord Makes Some Unpopular Decisions

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

May 5, 2016 Volume 02 / Issue 18 knoxmercury.com

CONTENTS

“Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” —George S. Patton

16 St. James Serenade COVER STORY

Press Forward 2016

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OPINION

A&E

4 6

Letters to the Editor Howdy Start Here: Believe It or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory PLUS: “Ghosts in the Machine” by L. M. Horstman ’Bye Finish There: Sacred & Profane by Donna Johnson, Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray PLUS: Kaliscopes by Kali Meister

Scruffy Citizen Jack Neely traces the decisions that led to TVA’s towers and the resulting removal of a city thoroughfare. Possum City Eleanor Scott looks at the music community’s reaction to an Old City developer’s recent choices.

23 24 33 34

NEWS

12 KCS’s Lost Decade A number of recommendations made nearly a decade ago to help Knox County Schools address glaring disparities in discipline and academic achievement were unveiled, yet again, last Thursday evening during a presentation by a newer task force appointed by the school district to tackle those very same issues. Clay Duda reports on the plan and the community reaction.

CALENDAR Program Notes: A new music exhibit and Three Star Revival’s new EP. Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson tells the story of how The Knoxville Sessions box set came to be. Music: Mike Gibson feels the Sword. Classical: Alan Sherrod revels in Knoxville Opera’s unusual production of Tosca.

Spotlight: Cypress Hill

OUTDOORS

Voice in the Wilderness Kim Trevathan gets competitive at the Powell River Canoe and Kayak Regatta.

Movies: April Snellings digs the guys in Everybody Wants Some!! May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3

LETTERS Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015

JACK NEELY: STAY OUT OF CUBA, MERCURY

I’m trying hard to like the Knoxville Mercury. I enjoyed its predecessor very much. But I find this version increasingly ponderous and overly self-impressed. Part of this seems to be because of the over-reliance on Jack Neely. I find Jack Neely interesting on occasion, and I learn a lot about Knoxville from him. But his footprint on this weekly is too large. His recent column that is allegedly about Cuba is a case in point. [“Our Man in Havana: James Agee’s One Drink at Sloppy Joe’s,” the Scruffy Citizen, March 31, 2016] With all the important changes occurring in Cuba, James Agee’s trip there in 1937 is probably the least important thing that anyone could write about. And it clearly all leads up to Neely’s punchline in the third to last paragraph where he brings up his own stereotypical criticism of Cuba as a dictatorship and having been subjected to decades of Soviet domination. The latter is simply untrue—the Soviets never “dominated” Cuba, but had significant relations with them when the U.S. was trying to topple it through economic warfare. For the former charge, I don’t want to get into the debate about the Castro brothers. But to float that criticism, without recognizing that many nations that U.S. economic forces did indeed dominate were dictatorships with much worse records than Cuba, is old Cold War nonsense. President Obama left Cuba for Argentina, revealing at least some of U.S. history with an atrocious regime that we supported for years while it was killing its own citizens. The same could be said of Chile, Paraguay, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and others. Finally, Neely’s last paragraph about Knoxville being more stable than Cuba is just a silly comparison. So if the Knoxville Mercury wants to cover Cuba—great, cover Cuba. But allow someone who knows something about it to write about it. There are plenty of Knoxvillians who know something about Cuba’s past and present. But the strategy of pretending that all things historically Knoxville is relevant or useful is 4

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

EDITORIAL

tiresome. And Jack Neely would probably write better if he wrote less.

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

Jon Shefner Knoxville

HATERS GONNA…

Thanks for publishing J.O.’s hateful letter [“Good News: Hate Is (Nearly) Nonexistent in Knoxville”] about Clay Duda’s article of March 3, 2016 [“Hateful TN”]. Can you say, “Me thinks thou dost protest too much?” Looks like Clay might be on to something. Craig Wrisberg Knoxville

SYLVAN ESSO

CORRECTION

A photo caption in the Program Notes section of last week’s issue incorrectly identified one of the bands announced for the new Mill and Mine music venue. The article’s far left photo identified as Sylvan Esso was actually Silversun Pickups. (There were two photos of the band on the page.) Sylvan Esso (above) was not pictured.

CLARIFICATION

A story in last week’s issue about the new Mill and Mine music venue [“Mill Town”] referred to an April 24 article in The Tennessean that suggested Nashville club owners Chris Cobb and Josh Billue were planning to open another new venue in Knoxville. The unnamed club in the Tennessean story was actually the Mill and Mine—Cobb and Billue consulted with Ashley Capps and his partners on the new venue.

Chris Barrett Donna Johnson Ian Blackburn Rose Kennedy Brian Canever Dennis Perkins Patrice Cole Stephanie Piper Eric Dawson Ryan Reed George Dodds Eleanor Scott Lee Gardner Alan Sherrod Mike Gibson April Snellings Carey Hodges Joe Sullivan Nick Huinker Kim Trevathan Chris Wohlwend

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR GUIDELINES

• Letter submissions should include a verifiable name, address, and phone number. We do not print anonymous letters. • We much prefer letters that address issues that pertain specifically to Knoxville or to stories we’ve published. • We don’t publish letters about personal disputes or how you didn’t like your waiter at that restaurant. • Letters are usually published in the order that we receive them. Send your letters to: Our Dear Editor Knoxville Mercury 706 Walnut St., Suite 404 Knoxville, TN 37920 Send an email to: editor@knoxmercury.com Or message us at: facebook.com/knoxmercury

INTERNS

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

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

May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5

HOWDY QUOTE FACTORY

GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE BY L. M. HORSTMAN

They’ll take a bus to Erotic City, also known as Knoxville... —Nashville WZTV Fox-17 sports anchor Dan Phillips, whose April 21 broadcast—peppered with references to Prince songs—resulted in his termination (according to his post on Facebook).

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

5/7 5TH ANNUAL KNOXVILLE LET’S MOVE! 5/11 READING: STEPHANIE PIPER SATURDAY

WEDNESDAY

10 a.m.–2 p.m., Victor Ashe Park (4901 Bradshaw Rd.). Free. Knoxville’s Parks and Recreation Department is hosting this family-friendly event intended to, well, get families moving. There will be 75 nutrition and activity stations focused on educating families to eat healthier and exercise more outside. Info: LetsMoveKnox.com.

5/10 LECTURE: NARROW RIDGE EARTH LITERACY CENTER TUESDAY

5-6 p.m., Health Information Center at Preston Medical Library (University of Tennessee Medical Center). Free. Once a month, Stephanie Piper graces our pages with her column At This Point. It’s a personal highlight for the editor (as well as many readers). She rarely makes public appearances, so we advise you to put this Literary Rounds reading engagement on your smartphone calendar. Info: Donna Doyle, 865-305-8776.

5/12 OPENING: THE POPPY PROJECT

6-8 p.m., Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum (2832 Boyd’s Bridge Pike). Free. East Knoxville’s glorious botanical garden is celebrating its new welcome center with an opening reception for the art exhibit The Poppy Project, featuring the works of David Denton (virtual reality), Norman Magden (video), and Margaret Scanlan (painting). The show runs through May 19. Info: knoxgarden.org.

…and then it was over.

s one of the last great location recording sessions of the era came to a close at Knoxville’s St. James Hotel, George Reneau and Charlie Oaks were left in its wake, largely ignored.

streets. For a year or two he was one of Vocalion’s most prolific artists, recording over 50 songs. But, as with Oaks, his singing technique was out of style at the time of the St. James sessions.

when she was growing up and she spent most of her youth in other states.

Both were local street musicians. Both were respected old-time guitarists who had recorded for Vocalion in 1924, making some of the first country music recordings in the U.S. Both were blind.

Dogwoods are among the most welcome signs of spring in Knoxville today and the inspiration for a big annual festival. However, according to arborists, they weren’t a common sight in suburban lawns here until the 1920s or ’30s! They grew naturally in the countryside and their wood was used for industrial spindles, but the trees themselves had such crooked limbs and ragged bark they were not considered beautiful enough for planting in residential neighborhoods.

For years, Charlie Oaks had been a familiar face at county fairs, events, train stations, and on Knoxville street corners, playing guitar and hooting a harmonica. At 50, he recorded for Vocalion and enjoyed a bit of fame for a time, but he never made it to broadcast radio, and his rough singing style was eventually outshined by slicker artists.

After the sessions, many of the participating musicians ended their music careers, taking regular jobs after the Great Depression took hold. Folks with dwindling bank accounts had a hard time seeing why they should pay for records when they could hear music for free on the radio. Both Charlie Oaks and George Reneau returned to busking. It’s not known what later became of Oaks. Reneau died of pneumonia in 1938 at the age of 32. But their recordings live on.

Believe It or Knox!

Illustration by Ben Adams

Christina Hendricks, the actress known for Mad Men and sometimes listed among the 100 sexiest women in the world, was born in 1975, in Knoxville! However, her family moved frequently KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

Charlie Oaks

THURSDAY

7 p.m., Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (2931 Kingston Pike). Free. The Harvey Broome Group of the Sierra Club hosts this look at Narrow Ridge, an off-the-grid community/ nonprofit organization in Grainger County that was established over 25 years ago to study, teach, and demonstrate sustainable living. Director Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener speaks. Info: Mac Post, mpost3116@aol.com.

George Reneau

BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX

Sequoyah Hills was once known as Looney’s Bend! Riverboatmen still use the term for that peninsula in the river.

George Reneau was in his twenties when he was discovered while playing guitar and harmonica on Knoxville

Fame can be a fleeting thing. Still, the soul of art and --finis music endeavors. To hear the music of these artists performed live, go to Knoxville Stomp May 5-8, brought to you by the Knoxville Public Library’s Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound.

Historic May This month is known for flowers, graduations, and history. editor of the Journal until his sudden death of appendicitis at age 89.

Wednesday is the 120th birthday of journalist Bert Vincent (1896-1969), whose popular Knoxville News Sentinel column “Strolling” debuted in the late 1920s. He was a lover of musicians, hucksters, tall tales, and oddities of both city and country. Vincent’s birthday coincides with the annual opening of one of his favorite subjects, the Market Square Farmers Market, open every Wednesday and Saturday until fall, featuring farmers selling produce on the old square just as they have every growing season since 1854. On Friday, May 6, Knox Heritage offers another “Behind the Scenes” tour, this one of the newly renovated late-Victorian commercial buildings known as the Daniel on West Jackson, for KH members. (It’s not too late to join. See knoxheritage.org.)

May 12 is the 161st birthday of Calvin Morgan McClung (1855-1919), wholesale magnate whose C.M. McClung & Co. was once a major regional hardware business, and historical scholar whose personal collection was the basis of the modern Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Knoxville’s best reference library of local and regional history. (And the source of most of the information on this page!)

Union veteran William Rule’s career as a prominent Knoxville journalist lasted for over 60 years. Twice mayor of Knoxville, he wrote and edited the Standard History of Knoxville (1900), a thorough and comprehensive resource still used today.

Charles Cansler (1871-1953), born 145 years ago on May 15, was a black educator who was principal of several public schools in Knoxville. He wrote a book of African-American history, Three Generations: the Story of a Colored Family of Eastern Tennessee (1939). He’s buried at Crestview Cemetery on Keith Avenue, the subject of a current historical interpretive effort.

May’s biggest historic event is this weekend’s first-ever Knoxville Stomp festival, celebrating Image courtesy of theCalvin M. McClung the release of The Knoxville Sessions, the eclectic Historical Collection. http://cmdc.knoxlib.org music recordings made at the St. James Hotel in On May 16, tickets for Knox Heritage’s 1929-30. The Stomp will celebrate the box set popular, imaginative, and always different with lectures, panel discussions, film, a music-history walking tour (on Summer Suppers series go on sale to the general public. Saturday, May 7, led by Jack Neely of the Knoxville History Project), and concerts. Read more about the Knoxville Stomp in this issue of the Mercury, and May 17 is the 152nd birthday of arts matron Eleanor Audigier (1864see the associated interactive exhibit “Come to Make Records,” about early 1931), the grande dame of the influential late-Victorian cultural organizarecording of area musicians, at the Museum of East Tennessee History. tion known as the Nicholson Art League, which mounted important shows of impressionists and realists in Knoxville. May 7 is also the 165th birthday of Knoxville’s most famous feminist, Lizzie Crozier French (1851-1926), a young widow who promoted women’s rights with speeches and writings beginning in the 1870s. She lived long enough to see her home state make the difference in passing the 19th amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote to women nationwide. May 7 is also the day of Vestival, Vestal’s annual all-day neighborhood party on the grounds of the historic Candoro Marble building, an extraordinary Tennessee-marble showplace built in 1923 at the corner of Candoro Avenue and Maryville Pike. See candoromarble.org for more. May 10 is the 177th birthday of longtime editor and onetime Knoxville mayor William Rule (1839-1928). A Union veteran and Republican, Rule was known as an uncommonly objective editor in a volatile era. He remained

May 18 is the 100th anniversary of the death of Jay Agee. His son, James Agee (1909-1955), remembered the early car-accident fatality on Clinton Pike near Beaver Creek in a novel, A Death in the Family, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and has been interpreted in a successful Broadway show (All the Way Home) and four motion pictures, in which his character, called Jay Follett, has been portrayed by actors Robert Preston, Richard Kiley, William Hurt, and John Slattery. May 19 is the 130th birthday of Bernadotte Schmitt (1886-1969), who grew up on White Avenue, graduated from UT, earned a Rhodes Scholarship, and wrote a book called The Coming of War, about World War I, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize for History. Last year his childhood home was moved out of the way of a university construction project; the Victorian house now stands on Clinch Avenue.

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 May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7

SCRUFFY CITIZEN

A Cautionary Tale Can we learn from the TVA headquarters experience? BY JACK NEELY

he Tennessee Valley Authority’s headquarters is for sale. For years, the presence of a couple of giant blank buildings that aren’t generally open to the public, and are empty most of the time, was a challenge to Market Square development. About 15 years ago, a visiting urban-design expert declared Market Square would never work with overlarge office buildings squatting on a corporate campus where street access to the north should be. The Square’s modern revival has succeeded in spite of it. Or, as I’ve lately grudgingly wondered, because of it. The weirdness of this modernist hard stop on one end of Victorian Market Square seem secluded, distinctive, and perhaps endearingly odd. But the sale is also a cautionary tale about the major concessions a city makes to even the most promising developers. When it was built, just 40 years ago, TVA was among Knoxville’s biggest employers and the life of downtown’s party. In the ’70s nobody wanted to live downtown. Few wanted to venture downtown after dark. The movie theaters were closing, retail was suffering. Thank God TVA was there, 3,000 people coming to work daily, if only weekdays, and at least keeping the luncheonettes busy. Downtown retailers, which previously had offered evening and weekend hours, started to imitate TVA hours. Some claimed 90 percent of their business came from TVA. At the time, TVA was hinting it might one day employ more than 5,000 at its headquarters. But for years, there

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

had also been hints that TVA might move, to the suburbs or to Muscle Shoals. Despite its reputation for massive building projects, during its heroic era, TVA had always operated out of old downtown buildings. After four decades of international fame, TVA was finally ready to plan its first custom-built headquarters, and Knoxville wanted it. The city laid a table for them. We closed a whole street, the northern couple of blocks of Market Street, cutting off Market Square from the direct access it had for a century. If downtown had a throne, it would be the hill we offered TVA. It even made old Market Square seem like a corporate amenity. And then, to clear the site, Knoxville tore down lots of historic buildings. Wall Avenue looks almost suburban today, with lots of shrubbery, but a century ago, it was a dense, teeming place of big buildings, each one different from the next. Wall Avenue changed with every step. To see what was destroyed for the TVA buildings, have a look at a new album cover. This weekend, Bear Family Records is releasing a big box set called The Knoxville Sessions. The cover grabs the attention of everyone who sees it. “Where the hell is that?” they ask. It’s a busy block of tallish Victorian commercial buildings, several stories each, with marble facing, elaborate brickwork, contrasting colors, lots of arches. Most of them were torn down to build the big buildings TVA doesn’t want anymore. This weekend we’re celebrating the recordings made in 1929 and ’30

at the St. James Hotel. It was one of Wall’s more conservative buildings, built mostly of reinforced concrete a decade later than some of its brick and stone Victorian neighbors. There, in WNOX’s radio studios, Vocalion recorded dozens of country, jazz, blues, and gospel performers. Though it had declined as a hotel by the ’70s, the St. James was a solid building, reportedly one of the toughest demolition projects in memory. Through the first few blows, the wrecking ball just bounced off it. Other buildings on Wall that were in the way of TVA, or just its landscaping, include the old Stratford Hotel, where elderly millionaires lived late in life when they found themselves alone, and some of the earliest headquarters for Knoxville institutions like H.T. Hackney and Mayo’s Seeds. Wall hosted cobblers, barbers, grocers, dentists, opticians, butchers, milliners, jewelers, boarding houses, even a piano dealer. In 1930, the two blocks from Gay to Walnut—not counting Market Square—supported 41 businesses and multiple residences. Those buildings fascinated me even as a kid. The dozen buildings along the north side of Wall were in decline in the ’70s, but were bigger and more elaborate than the buildings on Market Square, with big arches and almost bulbous bay windows projecting out over the sidewalk for attention. I’m not sure how much we can blame TVA’s building project for a simultaneous project called Summit Hill Drive. It leveled the beloved 1915 library, Cal Johnson’s once-famous Lone Tree Saloon, and the lovely old Commerce Street Firehall, whose approval to the National Register of Historic Places arrived in the mail a

few weeks after it was demolished. Not to mention most of Knoxville’s only park at the time, and most of Commerce Street. It was a city project, but the city cited TVA’s proud new headquarters as a main motive. All of that was not too long ago, if you think about it. Columbo was on TV, Sunday nights. Mel Brooks was making politically incorrect movies. Desk-top computers were showing up in offices. Rap and punk were beginning to stir. And 40 years isn’t very long for architecture. The Kern bakery building, down the Square, is exactly one century older than the TVA buildings. A durable and versatile building, it houses two busy restaurants and a hotel. But things change. The grand new modernist TVA buildings that dominated the skyline were only four years old when Ronald Reagan, running for president, spoke on Market Square, assuring us that he wouldn’t sell TVA. And he didn’t. But his choice for TVA chairman, “Carvin’” Marvin Runyon, set about to simplify and downsize TVA. By the end of the Reagan administration, the Knoxville headquarters staff had been cut by 65 percent. Staff has shrunk a little more in recent years. The twin towers, never used to full capacity, haven’t been mostly full since the 1980s. All the cool buildings we sacrificed for it are still gone, and are going to stay that way, I’m afraid. If it were still intact, Wall Avenue would be worth millions, and might be kind of famous. But Wall Avenue can’t support 41 businesses anymore. Great buildings and street plans can last for centuries. Businesses, even the biggest utility in America, aren’t that durable. ◆

It was a block of tallish Victorian commercial buildings, several stories each, with marble facing, elaborate brickwork, contrasting colors, lots of arches. They were torn down to build the big buildings TVA doesn’t want anymore.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9

mural. Surprised, Zenni asked why. The mural is listed in the City of Knoxville Public Arts Committee’s collection, and was featured on the Visit Knoxville mural walk. Burch replied that it looked “tired and faded,” Zenni says. Zenni offered to restore or relocate the painting (which was on a detachable panel) at no cost to Burch, but never heard back from him. She was shocked to learn he had painted over the mural. Savannah Moore, Leigh Burch’s property manager who is also acting as his spokesperson, describes Zenni’s comments as “inaccurate information” and says “we don’t know where she’s coming from with that.” In a News Sentinel article, Burch said the mural had been destroyed beyond repair by vandals. “The community has been deprived of the opportunity to see this alleged damage, to repair it, refresh it, or relocate the mural,” Zenni says. In a public post on the News Sentinel’s Facebook page, Keep Knoxville Beautiful wrote, “We do not believe that graffiti was the real issue in this case… We condemn Mr. Birch’s [sic] blatant disregard for countless hours of work by the artist, Walt Fieldsa, the artist-assistants from Laurel High School, the four historians who researched the content, the staff of Keep Knoxville Beautiful, and the numerous monetary and in-kind contributions from so many individuals, organizations, and businesses in our community.” Burch could not be reached for comment regarding the mural, but I spoke to him in March regarding

POSSUM CITY

Tone Deaf Old City landlord makes decisions unpopular with Knoxville’s music community

n April, workers hired by landlord/ developer Leigh Burch III, of Terminus Real Estate, unceremoniously painted over the Knoxville Music History Mural on the side of the brick building he owns at 118 East Jackson Ave., leaving a blank panel where a colorful tribute to local musicians had formerly been. The mural, a Keep Knoxville Beautiful project, was designed and painted by Laurel High School students and artist Walt Fieldsa. It depicted over 40 significant players in Knoxville’s vibrant music history, from country star Dolly Parton to jazz pianist Donald Brown and indie/ alternative poet R.B. Morris. Early country music pioneers Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins were there, along with country rock ’n’ rollers the Everly Brothers. The mural portrayed the string band the Tennessee Chocolate Drops and blues singer Leola Manning, musicians recorded in the 1929-1930 Knoxville sessions at the St. James Hotel and celebrated this May with the Knoxville Stomp Festival of Lost Music. The 2000 dedication ceremony and concert drew a big crowd, with many of the honored musicians in attendance, including Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong, and was covered by Bill Landry for The Heartland Series. In

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

later years, the mural was best contemplated from the patio of Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria, where beer-sipping locals tried to pick out figures they recognized. Twenty years ago, Burch was a powerful force in the redevelopment of downtown, with a hand in converting the single-use residential Sterchi Lofts, Learner Lofts, and, more recently, the lofts in the Commerce Building on West Jackson Avenue. But the erasure of the music mural is the latest, and most public, of some unpopular changes to the 100 block of East Jackson Avenue since Burch took ownership of most of it in October 2014. When people learned the mural was no more, the reaction was near-universal dismay. The deluge of comments on social media expressed incredulity that a piece of public art could be destroyed by a single citizen without community input. Photographer Gary Heatherly wrote, “This was an icon of our musical heritage. … It is morally wrong to cover this up without reaching out to arts groups and discussing alternatives first.” Liza Zenni, director of the Arts and Culture Alliance, says Burch contacted her a few months ago saying he wanted to “get rid” of the

Photo by Eleanor Scott

BY ELEANOR SCOTT

other controversies affecting a smaller, if no less vital, constituency of Knoxville’s cultural scene. In October 2014, Burch’s LLC Old City Amigos bought three slightly shabby properties on East Jackson: the one with the mural and two housing the Knoxville Pearl, a family-owned cereal bar, and Hot Horse, an indie music store. The Pearl closed soon after their building changed hands. An Inside of Knoxville blog post said owner Jamie Johnson decided to close after Burch bought the buildings and “things generally throughout the Old City started to feel different.” Hot Horse closed this March under contentious circumstances. “Us and the Pearl aren’t as slick looking, and aren’t the ritzy clientele that [Burch] wants,” says Hot Horse owner Ian Lawrence. The only building on the block not owned by Burch is home to Pilot Light, an indie/experimental music venue in a small yellow brick storefront. Since 1999, Pilot Light has served as a destination for unique touring acts and as a mixing pot and performance space for local musicians. Burch says he tried to buy Pilot Light’s building as well. Given the fate of the Pearl, Hot Horse, and now the music mural, some find Burch’s attempt to buy the Pilot Light building ominous. Lawrence says Burch forced Hot Horse to close in March due to “emergency construction.” He says Burch unexpectedly did not renew his lease and gave him only a few days to move.

“He was trying to put us out deliberately so he could rent it out to someone more lucrative, even though we paid our rent, never had problems with the business,” Lawrence says. In response, Burch says, “[Lawrence] was not current on his lease. We were not aware that he wanted to renew.” In 2010 Pilot Light owner Jason Boardman opened Hot Horse next door to his music venue. At the time, Brad Johnson (no relation to Jamie) owned the Hot Horse building and two adjacent properties. Burch approached Johnson about buying the buildings, and eventually, Johnson agreed to part with them. Lawrence bought Hot Horse from Boardman in February 2015, a few months after Burch purchased the building. Lawrence crafted an aesthetic and focus for Hot Horse informed by his experience in Knoxville’s independent music community. Lawrence is a longtime fixture on the Pilot Light scene both on and off the stage. His early 2000s band the Cheat and current project Burning Itch often performed there. Lawrence bought records for Hot Horse directly from the musicians performing next door and ordered records with Pilot Light audiences in mind. Given the close relationship with Pilot Light, Lawrence says success in a new location may be difficult. Last winter, an anonymous caller reported a codes violation on Pilot Light, and city inspectors briefly closed the sidewalk in front of the venue. The Robinson family has owned Pilot Light’s building since the 1930s and show no interest in selling. The owners made the recommended facade repairs and Pilot Light remains in business. Nevertheless, the incident gave Pilot Light regulars a little jolt of fear. Musician Dylan Dawkins, bass player for the Knoxville indie group Royal Bangs and other bands, recently wrote on Facebook (and in a subsequent message), “Many moments that changed my life … happened at Pilot Light, my home away from home. I’ve watched people grow into amazing musicians, provocateurs, taste makers, and most importantly, friends. One word to encapsulate the way Pilot Light has made me feel every time I walk through its doors: Family.” Burch’s Old City nightclubs,

which he runs with his business partner Duane Carleo, are different animals from Pilot Light. Carleo’s Lounge bills its atmosphere as “an upscale nightlife experience … where Southern elegance meets New York decadence.” Southbound’s website advertises “dozens of flat screen TVs” and “everything from 80s to Country to Top 40 Hits.” 90 Proof is named after the alcohol content of some liquor. The Wagon Wheel website features young women wearing white bras, cowgirl hats, and the American flag promoting “good country music and endless red solo cups on Thursdays.” “[They are] three very successful businesses,” Burch says, “These businesses are economically viable because we found a need. People go to the Old City for entertainment at night.” Within the dark, grubby interior of Pilot Light there are no TVs, the bar serves low-end canned or bottled beer, and the main focus is on the sound quality of the music. Nevertheless, regulars like Dawkins prefer it. “I’m pretty appalled by [Burch’s] establishments,” Dawkins says. “They lack a sense of history or culture. They aren’t real places, they are fabricated attractions to try and rake in as much cash as possible.” Burch is currently renovating the three properties on East Jackson. Future plans for the buildings include a children’s consignment store and a hookah bar. He says the Old City has always been his personal favorite part of town. “I like the originality of it,” he says. “I like how it is not touristy. I like the architecture and feel. There’s a lot of history. I’d like to see more restoration, construction that fits with the neighborhood.” Burch’s freshly painted brick storefronts, top-40 nightclubs, and empty 12-foot by 60-foot panel now available for signage do shave off the rough edges, perhaps making the Old City more palatable to casual visitors, weekend partiers, and middle-class shoppers. Meanwhile, history is effaced and authentic character is squandered. It is impossible to manufacture the soul of a place. Ironically, this situation is the quintessential struggle between authenticity and commerce found in places like Gatlinburg, Miami Beach, and tourist traps everywhere. ◆ May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11

Jessica Nelson, at right, offers input on draft recommendations presented by the Disparities in Educational Outcomes Task Force during a working session on Thursday, April 28, 2016.

Photo by Clay Duda

KCS’s Lost Decade Rehashed plans to address disparities in Knox County Schools are at the forefront—again BY CLAY DUDA

number of recommendations made nearly a decade ago to help Knox County Schools address glaring disparities in discipline and academic achievement were unveiled, yet again, last Thursday evening during a presentation by a newer task force appointed by the school district to tackle those very same issues. Year after year, since at least 2004, black students in Knox County schools have been suspended at about three times the rate of their white peers, the school system’s own data shows. More than 100 people scattered among the auditorium seats at Vine Middle Magnet School on April 28 to check out the first public draft of proposals from the Disparities in Educational Outcomes Task Force, or DEO Task Force, a 31-member panel that will take its final recommendations to the Knox County Board of Education in May. After a brief presentation, attendees formed small

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

working groups to offer their thoughts and feedback on the plan. The tentative recommendations are broken down into four overarching categories emphasizing the need for staff training, more robust programming, a revision of existing policies and practices, and enhanced recruitment and retention efforts to both improve minority academic performance and address variations in how discipline is applied. Specific action items include: • Ongoing training in cultural competency (all staff); classroom management and professional development (teachers); and dealing with social, emotional, and mental health issues (school resource officers). • An expansion of school programs such as Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) and restorative justice practices; student mentoring and student advisory councils; and resources and respons-

es for students who have experienced personal trauma. In the community, it calls for more behavioral and mental health supports. • A review of policies and practices around discipline; more detailed data gathering and tracking of all disciplinary actions, school arrests, and academic performance; forming a partnership with law enforcement to reduce in-school arrests; the creation of a stakeholder (parents and students) bill of rights; matching each student with at least one caring adult; enhancing family and community engagement; and ensuring culturally responsive classroom instructions. • A focus on personnel, including more minority recruiting; development of activities to attract, support, and retain minority and male instructors; establishing minority professional mentoring and networking opportunities; researching ways to increase the number of school counselors, behavior liaisons, and other support personnel; and ensuring students have access to highly-effective teachers. The group plans to make final revisions based on feedback collected during Thursday’s meeting and written comments emailed to EducationTaskForce@knoxschools. org before its next meeting May 12. It will then present a final report to the school board on May 25, which must vote on whether to adopt and act on the plan. While not summarized in the same format, many of those same recommendations highlighted Thursday were included in a final report issued in 2007 by the Racial Disparity in School Discipline Task Force, a strikingly similar group with 11 members brought together the previous year to examine issues related to higher suspension and expulsion rates of African-American students, trends that have held over the past decade, schools records show. That same data, compiled by the school system, was the grounds for a 2014 federal complaint filed against Knox County Schools by the University of Tennessee School of Law Education Law Practicum. UT professor Dean Rivkin, who attended

Thursday’s public meeting, filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights alleging disproportionate disciplinary practices against black students and students with disabilities, citing the school system’s data. A few weeks later, Superintendent Jim McIntyre announced the formation of the DEO Task Force to look into the matter. (The OCR declined to pursue a formal investigation against KCS, in part because no specific plaintiff was named in Rivkin’s complaint.) “This is an important conversation about equity in education and an important conversation about the future of our children,” McIntyre said during opening remarks on Thursday. “Like many other school districts we have witnessed achievement gaps and we’ve also experienced disproportionate discipline outcomes”—”RACISM!” someone in the crowd yelled. McIntyre paused briefly before continuing his speech. He went on the say the school system has been aware of the issues “for more than a year” now, although they’ve been a topic of discussion since before his tenure as superintendent began in 2008. In 2007, the original task force made recommendations to provide ongoing training in cultural competency and laws related to discrimination (among others); creating “know your rights” brochures for parents; putting in place a system to intervene and redirect student misbehavior in efforts to cut down on the use of suspensions; collecting more robust data on discipline and academic benchmarks and making them directly available to the public; reviewing policies to clearly define some catch-all offenses such as “Conduct Prejudicial to Good Order,” a vague term cited in some suspension and expulsion cases; and forming future task forces to track the implementation of those goals. All of those recommendations, in whole or in part, are included in the most recent proposals from the DEO Task Force. (The original task force did made two other specific recommendations not included this round, such as establishing a reentry plan for students suspended more than 10 days and partnering with UT to help with data collection and tracking.) “All of this shows me how far behind Knox County Schools really Continued on page 14.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13

Did you get your copy ?

You can still pick up a print copy of our Top Knox Readers’ Poll at any Knox County Public Library branch, while supplies last! And you can always find out who are Knoxville’s favorites at: knoxmercury.com/ topknox2015

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

“All of this shows me how far behind Knox County Schools really is.” —ALEXANDER PARKS, Coalition to Stop School Pushout

is,” says Alexander Parks, a member of the Coalition to Stop School Pushout, a loosely affiliated group that has been tracking these issues and the progress of the DEO Task Force. Parks notes that both cultural competency training and PBIS strategies—major components in the DEO Task Force’s recommendations—have been around for decades and are considered best practices among many school systems. So why did it take a rehashed task force a year and a half to come up with these general recommendations? Most concerns voiced during the meeting centered on the broad nature of the recommendations and the lack of timeline to implement them, But DEO Task Force Co-Chair Elizabeth Alves, chief academic officer for the school system, says measurable goals and timeframes will be included on the final report. “I think I can speak for everyone on the task force when I say there’s an extreme sense of urgency around this work,” she said. “But this isn’t a one-year plan, it’s going to be a five-year plan. A lot of what we do this first year is going to be foundational.” Alves said that if adopted by the school board in June, cultural competency training—learning skills to identify and interact with people of different cultural backgrounds—the first action item likely to be implemented, could start taking place before the end of the next academic year. Other systemic changes could take longer. In the lead-up to Thursday’s announcement, the Coalition to Stop School Pushout issued its own set of alternative recommendations it hopes the school system will act on. Most all of those were covered by various recommendations made by the task

force, though the coalition often used stronger language or called for more to be done sooner. “I like every single one of these recommendations [from the task force], but they seem like they’re from another planet,” Rivkin, the UT professor that filed a complaint against the school system and member of the coalition, said during a working group Thursday. “All of these are good recommendations, but they’re not all implementable in any sort of reasonable time frame. So there’s going to have to be some priorities set.” Valerie Bachmann, a third grade teacher at Maynard Elementary School, wondered aloud how making time for student mentors would fit into the school’s daily schedule—it would likely cut into recess or lunch time. “It’s hopeful that we have this plan, but it just needs to be implemented,” she said. “We only have 15 minutes of encore time [each day], so where does it fit in?” Another high school teacher at the presentation said he supported the principles behind PBIS, but his school lacked the current resources to fully implement the strategy. “If you’re going to give us hope, something needs to be done [to make it feasible],” he said during a group discussion. The school board has tentatively penciled in $56,000 in next year’s fiscal budget, which totals more than $450 million, to fund cultural competency training, an amount critics and some task force members contend is likely too low. Only one member on the DEO Task Force served on the original task force in 2006-07. Project Grad Knoxville Executive Director Vrondelia “Ronni” Chandler, has helped both recommendations take shape.

“I am cautiously optimistic about the final recommendations that have emerged,” Chandler says via email following the meeting. “We have been to this point before (of having substantive recommendations),” but there are a few keys difference between the two task forces, she says. One, the present incarnation has a much more diverse selection of members, including people in an out of the school system, than the original 11-person group formed in 2006. This year’s final report will also include “a plan with overarching goals and specific implementation strategies including accountability that, if adopted [by the school board], can help ensure the report does not get lost in the transition of leadership and shelved,” she says. “Again, I am cautiously optimistic!” Chandler writes in closing. Earlier recommendations were basically shelved during a transition in leadership in the mid-2000s. The school board voted unanimously in February 2007 to end its contract with then-Superintendent Charles Lindsey, and McIntyre wasn’t seated as his replacement until 2008, a year after the task force wrapped its work. Now, for some, it’s a moment of déjà vu. McIntyre has announced he will resign his post effective in July, having taken a job with UT’s Center of Educational Leadership, an organization that trains new principles, after a somewhat tumultuous tenure with the school system. (He announced in January his intent to step down because he had become a divisive figure in the community and distracted from the district’s focus on education.) Interim Superintendent Buzz Thomas stepped up to the podium Thursday night, saying he wasn’t planning to make a speech but wanted to reassure folks things would keep moving forward under his temporary leadership. “You have every reason to sit where you are tonight and wonder if anything is going to come from what we’ve done because there’s about to be a change in leadership,” Thomas told the crowd. “Will this be easy? Ha! It will be terribly difficult and challenging work. We have a lot of folks in Knox County and probably some in our school system that don’t even think this is a problem,” but it is, he said, calling the recommendations made by the task force “mission critical” for the school system. ◆

DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE: ROOCHIE TOOCHIE & THE RAGTIME SHEPHERD KINGS * KELLE JOLLY & THE WILL BOYD PROJECT * BILL & THE BELLES * & MANY OTHERS

Plus: JOE BUSSARD

STOMP ON THE SQUARE

78RPM RECORD SHOW

Enjoy a screening of the documentary Desperate Man Blues followed by a Q&A.

A free concert on Market Square presented by Visit Knoxville & WDVX. Dozens of musicians!

Featuring rare 78 records and other goodies. Presented by Raven Records and Rarities.

DOM FLEMONS / Friday MAY, 6, at 7 PM / Bijou Theatre AN EVENING OF LIVE & RECORDED OLD TIME MUSIC * TICKETS: KNOXSTOMP.COM

May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15

STOMPING GROUND

An introduction to the Knoxville recording sessions of 1929-30 and the new deluxe box set commemorating them

BY MATTHEW EVERETT

Knoxville Stomp celebrates the collected recordings of jazz, hillbilly, and gospel music made in a downtown hotel nearly 90 years ago

THE KNOXVILLE SESSIONS

Photos courtesy of the Tennessee Archive of Moving Images and Sound

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

In the summer of 1929, representatives from a New York record label teamed up with the Knoxville-based furniture company Sterchi Bros. to build a recording studio inside the St. James Hotel, on Wall Avenue, overlooking Market Square. The record business was booming, and labels were scouring the rural South, desperate to keep up with nationwide demand for hillbilly acts, blues singers, and hot jazz combos. Dozens of musicians came to the St. James that fall and the next spring. There were string bands, swing bands, old-time bands, gospel quartets, and hillbilly singers; they had names like the Cumberland Mountain Fret Pickers, Baker’s Whitley County Sacred Singers, the Perry Mountain Music Makers, and the Tennessee Farm Hands. Most of them were from East Tennessee, many from Knoxville. Some came from Middle Tennessee, Alabama, and Virginia. Sessions like this were typically segregated, differentiated by marketing tags—either “old-time” or “hillbilly” or “race” sessions. But Knoxville before the Depression was a cosmopolitan outpost in the middle of Appalachia, and that was reflected in the St. James studio. Many of the performers who came were professional musicians— or aspiring pros, anyway. Some of them headlined lavish ballroom dances and appeared at theaters, but

others were more accustomed to busking on street corners or providing accompaniment at square dances. Few of them had significant experience in a recording studio. Nobody did back then—getting sounds onto shellac with enough fidelity that people would pay to listen to it was a brand-new blossoming technology. The businessmen behind the Knoxville sessions didn’t get any hits. By the time they released any of the St. James records, the Depression had hit and the record industry had collapsed. But they had done something they weren’t even aware of—they had documented one of the last great location sessions of the era, and by some important standards one of the most remarkable.

THE MUSICIANS

There were 40 acts—groups and solo artists—at the St. James sessions. What they all had in common was enthusiasm—the records they made vary in quality as much as they do in style, but there’s a depth of feeling, a sense of possibility, that runs through the music they made then. • Knoxville has a reputation as an incubator of modern country music, but the most popular musical act in town in the late 1920s was Maynard Baird’s jazz orchestra, the Southern Serenaders. But their slick, somewhat sentimental take on hot jazz didn’t appeal to record collectors in the 1950s and ’60s the way hillbilly bands and blues singers did; the crowd-pleasing dance band and its smooth leader have faded from popular memory. • One of the most mysterious figures from the Knoxville recording sessions is Will Bennett, a blues singer from Georgia. Born in the late 1870s, Bennett had an eventful life, to say the least, according to Bennett family lore. When he was around 10 or 12 years old, Bennett, who was black, was attacked by a lynch mob and left for

dead. Later, he traveled with a circus, ran bootleg whiskey, and served in the Spanish-American War. • The most famous artist, by far, who went to the St. James Hotel to record was banjo maestro/comedian/ early Grand Ole Opry star David Harrison Macon, aka Uncle Dave Macon, who was already nearly 60 when he showed up in Knoxville in the spring of 1930. But none of his recordings from Knoxville have survived— there’s speculation that technical difficulties or a dispute over money might have sabotaged his sessions. • Gospel blues singer Leola Manning recorded some of the most distinctive songs of the Knoxville sessions in 1930, particularly “The Arcade Building Moan,” a dramatization of a then-recent downtown building fire, and “Satan Is Busy in Knoxville,” a vivid moral tale about sin and murder. The six songs Manning recorded then were the extent of her career as a professional singer; for the rest of her life, most of her singing was done in church. Members of her family only recently learned about the handful of records she made in her 20s. • The Tennessee Chocolate Drops—a jazz-and-blues string trio familiar around Knoxville, featuring Howard Armstrong (fiddle), his brother, Roland (guitar), and Carl Martin (bass)—entered the St. James studio just a few days after Macon’s aborted session. They recorded “Knox County Stomp” and “Vine Street Rag.” Armstrong—a charismatic performer and talented visual artist—later gained renown as the subject of Louie Bluie, a documentary by Terry Zwigoff.

THE BUSINESSMEN

Stuart Adcock set the stage for the Knoxville sessions in 1921 when he founded WNAV, the fi rst radio station in Knoxville, and started promoting local and regional talent live on the air. A few years later, he changed the call letters to WNOX and moved the station’s broadcast studio to the mezzanine level of the St. James Hotel. Then, in 1928, he sold the station to Sterchi Bros. The company—at the time, one of the largest furniture retailers in the world—had a partnership with the Brunswick and Vocalion labels in Chicago. (Furniture companies liked to have records for sale, to convince customers to buy record players.

Record companies liked to have 78s in furniture stores, where people bought the record players.) Radio and phonograph department manager Gustav (or Gustave) Nennstiel had sent several East Tennessee musicians—George Reneau, Charlie Oaks, and Uncle Dave Macon—to New York in the mid-1920s to record for Brunswick-Vocalion. (He had left the furniture company to open his own downtown record store by the time of the St. James Sessions.) Brunswick sent Dick Voynow, a former member of Bix Beiderbecke’s Wolverines who had also helped launch the career of Hoagy Carmichael, to Knoxville to manage the 1929 and ’30 recordings. The two Knoxville sessions were part of a barnstorming location recording tour Voynow led through the South around that time.

KNOXVILLE STOMP FESTIVAL OF LOST MUSIC WHAT

Knoxville Stomp is a four-day, city-wide festival celebrating the release of The Knoxville Sessions, a collection of recordings made at Knoxville’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930. Events range from live music performances to panel discussions to a record collectors’ show.

WHEN

Thursday, May 5-Sunday, May 8

WHERE

THE RECORDS

When the Depression hit in late 1929, the bottom fell out of the booming music industry. Record players had already been big-ticket luxury items; by the time the St. James records were released, they were out of the fi nancial reach of most Americans. Many people who already owned players couldn’t afford to buy new records after the crash. Most of the recordings from the St. James recordings were commercially released, but in smaller print runs than might have been pressed a couple of years before. They disappeared from the market almost immediately, ending up in warehouses and basements or, more likely, destroyed. Then, in the 1950s, just as LPs replaced 78s, a bunch of industrious— some might call them obsessive—young men, mostly white, mostly college-aged, started collecting those old records, particularly ones by obscure blues musicians but also by old-time groups

Downtown Knoxville, including Market Square, the East Tennessee History Center, the Bijou Theatre, and assorted performance venues.

HOW MUCH Mostly free!

MORE INFO

See the festival guide in this issue, or visit knoxstomp.com. and string bands. They traveled all over the South, visiting old record company offices and furniture stores. The most diligent of them went house to house, asking if the residents had any old records for sale. There were some startling discoveries—forgotten artists were rediscovered, and artists who were relatively unknown when they recorded, like Robert Johnson, became cult heroes among collectors and folk-music aficionados. (Joe Bussard, a legend among 78 collectors, will appear at the Knoxville Stomp Festival of Lost Music this weekend; so will Amanda Petrusich, a writer for Pitchfork and May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17

The New Yorker, who documented the world of collectors in the 2014 book Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78 rpm Records.) Some of the records that were rediscovered were from the St. James sessions.

THE MIDDLE OF AMERICA WHAT WAS KNOXVILLE—AND AMERICAN CULTURE— LIKE WHEN THE ST. JAMES HOTEL SESSIONS WERE RECORDED IN 1929 AND 193Ô?

THE BOX SET

Richard Weize fell in love with American music as a teenager in Germany in the late 1950s and early ’60s, eventually amassing thousands of LPs, 78s, 45s, and CDs. He also founded, in 1975, Bear Family Records, a label specializing in deluxe reissues of country, early rock ’n’ roll, jazz, pop, folk, blues, and R&B. Two of the label’s biggest recent achievements have been box sets collecting the recordings from the 1927 location recordings in Bristol—where the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers launched their careers—and sessions in Johnson City the following year. Now Bear Family’s completing its survey of those East Tennessee recordings with The Knoxville Sessions: 1929-1930. The company’s brand-new four-CD box set collects all of the existing sides from the St. James recording sessions—99 songs in all—presented in the order they were recorded, from the Tennessee Ramblers’ “Garbage Can Blues” to the four-part dramatized history narrative “The Great Hatfield-McCoy Feud.” The original 78s were collected from around the world, from private collections (including Bussard’s), the Country Music Foundation, and the University of North Carolina. There’s a 156-page hardbound book, with extensive text by country-music researchers Tony Russell and Ted Olson (See Q&A on page 20), a complete discography, and hundreds of photos.

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

BY JACK NEELY

hen Dick Voynow, who’d once been the piano player for one of the most popular jazz bands in the world, arrived in Knoxville in the fall of 1929 to make some recordings, the sooty, crowded town noisy with streetcars and ever More automobile traffic could almost pass for a typical American city. Not exactly Southern or Northern, Eastern or Western. Appalachian mainly in theory. There were Knoxvillians who’d grown up in the mountains, but they were outnumbered by the majority of Knoxvillians who had never seen the mountains up close. After years of work, the Smoky Mountains were almost open to the public, but a trip to the mountains was not yet a casual thing. Hundreds of Knoxvillians, including old Mr. Sterchi, who was a key part of the experiment, were children and grandchildren of immigrants who’d never had much association with the hills. For a lot of folks, Knoxville was just one of those places where America passes itself on the way somewhere else. Its architecture often came from Chicago. Its vaudeville entertainment from New York or at least Cincinnati. Its accents came from all over. In the cafes people who spoke Greek served you versions of the cuisine of Italy, Mexico, Germany. Cross-country railroad lines intersected here. The new cross-country automobile highways crossed here, too. Hundreds of fresh strangers were downtown every day. The place

was maybe a little shabbier than it used to be, maybe, and not as proud a city as it had been 20 years earlier. There wasn’t much new in town, economically, just the old businesses in textiles and hardware and furniture. But radio was new. The city had about three stations by then, and depending on when you tuned in, you were likely to hear almost anything. That and some new construction, including the grand Tennessee Theatre and the tallest building ever built in East Tennessee—a new hotel called the Andrew Johnson—masked the impression that the city’s best days were behind it. There was a fond hope that tourism to the soon-to-open Great Smoky Mountains National Park would give Knoxville a much-needed boost. Up until about then, the university in town had rarely been an obvious part of Knoxville’s civic life and culture. That was changing as the rage for college football grew with the size of the bleachers at Shields Watkins Field, but most Knoxvillians had never seen a college football game, or had any other reason to set foot on University of Tennessee’s tiny hilltop campus. In 1930, only a few older folks remembered when Wall Avenue had been better known as Asylum Avenue. But located at the head of Market Square, it was a busy street of dozens of businesses and hotels. The St. James was never Knoxville’s biggest or most luxurious hotel, and certainly wasn’t in 1929, when the Farragut and the Atkin worried about how the giant new

Andrew Johnson Hotel would affect business. But it was a clean, respectable place in its early years. Built of concrete, it was hailed as “Fireproof.” Almost always an exaggeration with regard to buildings, the term reflected the anxieties of its earliest years. It was planned just after a famously fatal hotel fire, the “Million Dollar Fire” of 1897, hardly a block away. If travelers stopped here for the night, perhaps staying at the St. James, the culture they found in Knoxville was mainly American culture. The year-old Tennessee Theatre, like the older Riviera, showed the latest movies from Hollywood—almost instantly, sometimes even before their official release date—along with a bill of traveling vaudeville that had constituted most of Knoxville’s diet of live music for almost half a century. Vaudeville typically offered four performers presented in succession on stage. In 1929, it was assumed that audiences would get restless if they had to watch the same performer for more than 15 or 20 minutes, even if he were a big radio star like Gene Austin, the crooner who appeared on the Tennessee’s stage several times. So they’d switch him out for a magician, an acrobat, a comedian, an animal act. In its fi rst year in business, the Tennessee Theatre, which featured a house organist and, in its early months, a house jazz band, had hosted more than 100 musical acts. Not one of them was a country band. One thing that made Knoxville

different from, say, Akron or Des Moines or Tucson or Providence was something that locals encountered just occasionally, when they went to the train station or shopped on Market Square. Singers and fiddlers and guitarists and harmonica players, many of them blind, playing old-time laments about horrible murders and senseless disasters, for buffalo nickels. Some were from the hills, and some of their songs seemed very old, even when they were unfamiliar. Lately, more and more people— maybe by 1929 most people—had radios, and listened to America’s ever-changing soundtrack at home: Jazz dance music, Broadway show tunes, the Gershwins, Jolson, Louis Armstrong, Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter—and if you tuned in at the right moment, some of them could also hear some country, now and then. In 1929, since the popular Victor recordings in Bristol two years earlier, there was more country music for sale on 78 than ever before in history.

It would be hard to argue that the St. James Hotel sessions of 1929 and 1930 were influential. The few that were commercially released were never broadly popular. They were almost forgotten. Even some of the musicians themselves forgot, or never mentioned to their family and friends, that they once made a record. It’s possible that some musicians of the 1930s heard one or more of them—like Ballard Cross’ early version of “Wabash Cannonball,” one of the fi rst-ever recordings of the iconic country song—and built on them. However, the St. James cuts weren’t well known even in their own time. They have almost certainly greeted more ears in the last 20 years, by the dozen or so that made it onto CD compilations of historically interesting music, than they were in the 20 years after they were recorded. But the sessions form a rare core sample of American culture in a critical time and place. Popular music as we know it today was hardly more than a toddler. Radio was less than a decade old. Phonographs had been around for decades, but record companies, which originally concentrated on classical, opera, and religious music, had begun releasing

blues and country recordings just five or six years before. Common terms like “country music,” “swing,” “bluegrass,” and “rhythm and blues” were unfamiliar in the popular-music market. These were concepts still developing. They’d be known soon, but were strangers in 1929. Jazz was still new, a genre mainly concerned with dance music. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were its young practitioners. The “big band era” had not begun, but bands were getting bigger, sure enough. Maynard Baird’s tuxedoed Southern Serenaders were a smooth, upbeat orchestra popular at the country clubs and hotel ballrooms and at weekend shows at the Riviera. They sometimes toured the north, where they had fans even in New Jersey who, late at night, could pick them up on Knoxville’s WNOX. Country music existed, but it was usually called “hillbilly” or “folk.” Everybody knew of it, but it had only occasionally been recorded. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter family, still new names to most folks, were making successful records. The Grand Ole Opry, until recently known as “WSM Barn Dance,” had existed as a Nashville show broadcast from a small studio at WSM since 1925, but it wasn’t yet well known as far away as Knoxville. Nashville, the Athens of the South, had no reputation as a recording center. Banjo player Uncle Dave Macon, who’d often played vaudeville stages in Knoxville, and was already something of a star on the minstrel circuit, was becoming a regular on WSM. But when he wanted to make a record, he dealt with Knoxville’s Sterchi Bros. Furniture. And even he came to see Mr. Voynow at the St. James. In 1929 nobody had ever heard of Bob Wills or Ernest Tubb. Hank Williams and Chet Atkins were little kids. Even Roy Acuff ’s name was unfamiliar—except in Knoxville, where, at 26, he was best known as a former baseball player who’d lately been having some health problems. He didn’t show up at the St. James Hotel to make records. He was just learning to sing and play fiddle. It would be a couple more years before he was ready to play for a general audience. The St. James sessions caught American popular-music culture just at the brink of major change. If these recordings had been made five years later, they would have sounded

THE ARM STR ONG BRO THERS, FEA

TURING HOWARD ARM STO NG

different. Things were changing fast, and the sessions caught a moment or two like a high-speed camera.

Knoxville, despite its cherished reputation for remoteness, was right in the middle of all of it—the East and the West, the North and the South, the old and the young, the black and the white, the rich and the poor, the city and the country. They often opposed each other, set themselves apart from each other, but sometimes they combined. The city’s population in 1929 was denser than it is today. The city’s westernmost neighborhood was the brand new and still developing subdivision called Sequoyah Hills. Cherokee Country Club was still in the country, outside of city limits. But all 105,000 of those people who called themselves Knoxvillians lived south of Sharp’s Ridge, east of Bearden,

west of Chilhowee Park. People lived closer and encountered each other more often. All classes, from the working folks to the moneyed elite, rode the streetcar. Though segregation was the law, blacks and whites often encountered each other, perhaps more than today. It’s not surprising that Willie Seivers, a young white woman who played an unusual style of lead guitar for a family band, would have learned the blues from a young black man playing on the sidewalk at Central and Jackson. That’s a story we know only because she and Howard Armstrong, who half a century later would be subject of documentaries, both lived long enough to tell it. Most of the performers who tried the microphones at the St. James didn’t live that long. Some vanished altogether, leaving us to guess what became of them. For dozens of musicians, and for some strains of music, these recordings are rare evidence. May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19

HILLBILLY HERITAGE MUSIC HISTORIANS TED OLSON AND TONY RUSSELL DIG DEEP TO UNCOVER THE STORIES BEHIND KNOXVILLE’S ST. JAMES SESSIONS

BY COURY TURCZYN

he Knoxville Sessions, 1929-1930: Knox County Stomp from Bear Family Records isn’t just a CD collection of old-time music recorded at the St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930. It also comes with a vital book of music history written by Ted Olson and Tony Russell, illustrated with dazzling photos collected by the Knox County Public Library’s Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound. This isn’t your typical box-set pamphlet—this is an oversized, hardback book that’s not only beautifully designed but also painstakingly researched, offering the history of an important (if previously little-known) chapter in American music. Olson is a professor in the Appalachian Studies program at East Tennessee State University while Londoner Russell is the author of Country Music Records 1921–1942 and Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost. Via an email interview, we asked them about their long-distance collaboration and what they discovered about Knoxville’s contribution to early recorded music.

THE KNOXVILLE SESSIONS IS ACTUALLY THE THIRD SUCH BOX SET YOU’VE WORKED ON, INCLUDING THE BRISTOL AND JOHNSON CITY SETS. HOW DID THIS TRILOGY OF EAST TENNESSEE MUSIC ORIGINALLY GET STARTED? Ted Olson: The Knoxville Sessions box set from Bear Family Records is the inevitable fulfillment of some formative research into the long overlooked Brunswick/Vocalion recording sessions held in Knoxville in 1929 and 1930. In the early 1970s, music historian Charles K. Wolfe began publishing articles he had written on some of the Knoxville Sessions acts in Old-Time Music, a British periodical owned and edited 20

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

by another pioneering country music scholar, Tony Russell. I suppose that a second catalyst for the set can be traced to October 2009 when, quite out of the blue, I sent an email to Richard Weize of Bear Family Records to see if he might be interested in my help in compiling the complete recordings from the legendary location recording sessions held by Victor Records in Bristol, Tenn., in 1927. Earlier that decade I had worked with Charles Wolfe on an edited collection of essays exploring the impacts of the Bristol Sessions, and that book brought renewed attention to Victor producer Ralph Peer’s 1927 field session in Bristol and his “discovery” of such immortal recording acts as the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. By 2009 I had concluded that too many people were writing about and talking about the 1927 Bristol Sessions without having heard many of the actual records, and it seemed like it was time for all of the Bristol Sessions recordings to be released and interpreted. Richard Weize immediately gave the green light for a complete Bristol Sessions project, and he and I both agreed that we should include on a box set all of the recordings from Peer’s return trip to Bristol in 1928. As such, the project was too large for one person. But since Charles had passed away in 2006, there was only one person on Earth who knew the story of the 1928 Bristol Sessions, and that was Tony Russell. So Tony and I began

East Tennessee State University professor Ted Olson (left) and music historian and author Tony Russell have collaborated on a series of box sets by Bear Family Records devoted to early recordings made in East Tennessee.

collaborating on the complete Bristol Sessions box set, and its release in 2011 inspired a city-wide celebration in Bristol; that release was widely and well reviewed and garnered two Grammy Award nominations.

WHERE DID YOUR RESEARCH TAKE YOU NEXT? Ted Olson: With that project finished, Richard, Tony, and I acknowledged that there was much more to say about pre-Depression-era commercial music in Appalachia. For instance, just down the road from Bristol, there occurred other location recording sessions in Upper East Tennessee, and those sessions, held in Johnson City during 1928 and 1929 by the Columbia label, became the subject of a second box set from Bear Family Records. Tony and I collaborated on that set as well. Because little research had been conducted on the Johnson City Sessions, this project proved to be a more difficult research effort than the one documenting the Bristol Sessions, but the end result was in many respects more illuminating, as the Johnson City Sessions set unequivocally demonstrated that there was much more influential old-time country music from Appalachia than what had been recorded at the Bristol Sessions. The Johnson City set, upon its release in the Fall of 2013, received enthusiastic responses from music aficionados around the world, and Richard, Tony, and I immediately embarked on what was clearly the logical next step in documenting pre-World War II music and culture in Appalachia: the even more obscure Knoxville Sessions from 1929-1930. To make this third box set possible, we collaborated with the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound. That Knoxville-based organization

was itself planning to publicly reissue some of the Knoxville recordings in another form, but TAMIS soon agreed it would be best to collaborate with Bear Family Records on a complete Knoxville Sessions release. Accordingly, Bear Family’s Knoxville Sessions set benefitted from invaluable research support from Brad Reeves, Eric Dawson, Jack Neely, and others (including the original musicians’ family members).

HOW WERE THESE RECORDINGS ORIGINALLY DISTRIBUTED? WERE THESE SORTS OF RECORDS EVER PLAYED ON THE RADIO? Tony Russell: The recordings would have been sold in music stores or the music departments of furniture stores, which were where many people in this period purchased phonographs and phonograph records—in theory, anywhere in the U.S. where there was known interest or specific orders, but probably mostly in the South, the primary market for old-time country records. We know that some of the Knoxville releases were advertised in newspapers by stores as far away as Texas. In Knoxville itself they would have been readily available in the record department of Sterchi’s furniture store and in some or all of half a dozen music stores on Gay Street, plus at least three other downtown locations. That said, the scarcity of the Knoxville releases, compared with those made by Columbia in Johnson City and by Victor in Bristol, suggests that they were pressed in smaller quantities, or less widely distributed, or both. Many survive in only a handful of known copies. Some are known from only one or two examples.

“Although most of the recordings Richard Voynow oversaw in Knoxville did not sell well as 78 rpm releases (the Depression, of course, had something to do with that), we today are the direct beneficiaries of his eclectic tastes in music.” —Ted Olson Radio? There’s a myth that old-time country records were never played on radio in the ’20s and ’30s. In fact, many stations had record shows, and some small ones had little else. KWKH in Shreveport, La., one of the most widely heard and popular stations in the South, had numerous record shows, some certainly embracing old-time country music. I think it’s not unlikely that WNOX and other Knoxville stations may have played at least some of the Knoxville-sessions releases on air.

sessions recordings are different in part because the sessions were held in urban Appalachia, but Voynow had the final say as far as what was and what wasn’t recorded, and he obviously didn’t have a narrow view of what he thought should be recorded. Although most of the recordings Voynow oversaw in Knoxville did not sell well as 78 rpm releases (the Depression, of course, had something to do with that), we today are the direct beneficiaries of his eclectic tastes in music.

WERE THE KNOXVILLE SESSIONS MUCH DIFFERENT FROM THE BRISTOL AND JOHNSON CITY SESSIONS?

WAS THIS MUSIC PART OF LONGTIME CULTURAL TRADITIONS, OR SOMETHING THE ARTISTS WERE ADVANCING/CREATING ON THEIR OWN?

Ted Olson: The Knoxville sessions drew a more diverse group of musicians and thus yielded a broader range of recordings than the other East Tennessee location sessions. Whereas his two predecessors—Victor Records’ Ralph Peer at Bristol and Columbia Records’ Frank Walker at Johnson City—concentrated on recording “hillbilly” talent, Richard Voynow, the A&R (Artists and Repertoire) producer for the Brunswick-Vocalion labels, was interested in many types of music, and his sessions in Knoxville from 1929 and 1930 resulted in country, gospel, blues, and jazz recordings. Refuting widespread stereotyped notions of Appalachia’s musical heritage, Voynow’s work in Knoxville suggests that prewar Appalachia possessed a more varied society than generally acknowledged. Voynow was certainly cut from different cloth than Peer and Walker—the latter two men were arguably more business- than music-minded, whereas Voynow, a leading jazz musician before becoming a record producer, clearly was not bound by the ever-narrowing genre- and sales-driven restrictions imposed by the record industry.  The Knoxville

Ted Olson: Location recording sessions—whether the Bristol sessions, the Johnson City sessions, or the ones Voynow held in Knoxville in 1929 and 1930—were inherently commercial enterprises, and record companies’ primary rationale for subsidizing temporary location sessions was to draw in and capitalize upon talent in far-flung places. To varying degrees, the music recorded in Bristol, Johnson City, and Knoxville (and at other recording sessions conducted elsewhere in Appalachia during this era) was music consciously crafted to appeal to mainstream audiences. That said, traditional music formed the backdrop for many of the recordings at Bristol, Johnson City, and Knoxville. Ralph Peer in Bristol was particularly successful in making records that sounded “modern,” though traditional music was at the core of the copyrightable “new” material he sought from his artists. Frank Walker maintained an open-tent approach to recording, and much of what he recorded in Johnson City was infused by traditional material and styles; the Johnson City Sessions recordings were thus consistently raw and edgy. The recordings made by

Voynow in Knoxville ran the gamut, capturing musicians with sophisticated, urbane styles as well as musicians whose musical expressions held close to tradition.

HOW MUCH WAS KNOWN ABOUT THE KNOXVILLE MUSICIANS BEFORE YOU UNDERTOOK THIS PROJECT? Tony Russell: Research by the late Charles K. Wolfe in the early ’70s led to his groundbreaking 1974 article on the Knoxville sessions for my English-published magazine Old Time Music. Wolfe also wrote articles on the Tennessee Ramblers and the Perry County Music Makers (from Central Tennessee), who recorded during the Knoxville sessions. Ted and I built upon this basis in two main ways: Ted through interviews with descendants of the Knoxville recordists, many of them found by TAMIS, and myself (several thousand miles away in London) by spending hundreds of hours on online genealogical and public-records sites, gathering information on people we knew to have recorded in Knoxville, and then trying to track them through ancient radio logs, newspaper archives, and the files of trade publications like Billboard, Radio Digest, Talking Machine World, etc. When we started work on the Knoxville set in 2013, a few of the Knoxville recordists were well known—Macon, Mac & Bob, Hugh Cross—while others were familiar chiefly to collectors of 78s and to the owners of LP/CD reissues of those 78s: artists like the Tennessee Ramblers, Ridgel’s Fountain Citians, Perry Co. Music Makers, etc., whose records, on the rare occasions they turn up, can fetch hundreds of dollars. But artists whose records didn’t happen to appeal to most collectors were practically holes in the air, biographically speaking, and these were some of our more interesting challenges. The project complete, we can say with some confidence that we have written the first biographical accounts of the Wise String Orchestra, Will Bennett, Haskell Wolfenbarger, the University of Tennessee Trio, Maynard Baird & His Orchestra, Cal West, the Smoky Mountain Ramblers, the Gibbs Brothers & Claude Davis, Louis Bird, and Bess Pennington. We have also

expanded what was known about Leola Manning, Odessa Cansler, Gace Haynes, Eugene Ballinger, the Southern Moonlight Entertainers, and numerous other performers. And I found evidence that Uncle Jimmy Thompson, a venerable figure in country music history and in the story of the Grand Ole Opry, falsified his age to enhance his celebrity.

DID ANY OF THE MUSICIANS IN PARTICULAR APPEAL TO YOU ON A PERSONAL LEVEL—EITHER FOR THEIR MUSIC OR THEIR PERSONAL STORY? Ted Olson: All the Knoxville sessions recordings have their charms, but I find myself especially mesmerized by the title track, “Knox County Stomp,” by The Tennessee Chocolate Drops/ The Tennessee Trio (Howard Armstrong, Roland Armstrong, and Carl Martin). It’s as unique as string-band music gets, with a remarkably full, exuberant sound emanating from a youthful trio that had never made a record before. As roots music fans learned in subsequent decades, Howard Armstrong and Carl Martin were larger-than-life talents, but this three-minute performance constitutes the earliest documentation of their bold fusion of white and black styles and sensibilities—a musical approach that these three young men had crafted on the streets of downtown Knoxville, now resonating brilliantly through the years because of one brief recording session in Knoxville’s St. James Hotel in 1930. Tony Russell: I have a special fondness for Willie Sievers Sharp, probably the first seriously talented female guitarist in recorded country music. Also for Leola Manning, not yet well known but surely due to be recognized as one of the leading African-American singers of her day, whether in blues or gospel music. Also for the ethereal sound of the zither as played by Nonnie Presson of the Perry County Music Makers—its only recorded appearance in old-time country music. Also for the high lonesome sound of Hays Shepherd, “The Appalachia Vagabond,” in the mountain banjo song “Hard For To Love.” (I could go on.)

@KNOXMERCURY.COM

For the full-length interview, go to knoxmercury.com. May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 21

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P rogram Notes

The Story of Knoxville Music B

“That’s when we had so many entertainers coming out of here and going on to Nashville, unfortunately. But for about 25 years, we really had something special,” Reeves says. “Knoxville was exceptional if you think about all the great artists that came out of here and are still coming out of here. I’m proud of Knoxville. I’m proud of our music history. I’m proud of our exceptional talent, now and then.” Reeves’ favorite display at the exhibit is a small one—a shrine of artifacts devoted to the little-known but immensely significant Knoxville songwriter Arthur Q. Smith. Under a glass case, you can see a demo disc for a song he wrote, “Missing in Action,” and the receipt for the music rights, which he often sold off at the Three Feathers Tavern on Gay Street for food and drink. (“Missing in Action” became a hit for Ernest Tubb.) “Knowing what talent he had and all the great music he created but never got credit for, it’s almost my mission to get this man some attention,” Reeves says.

That effort may see more headway this fall, when Bear Family Records is due to release a two-CD set of Smith compositions, along with a book, which Reeves and News Sentinel music writer Wayne Bledsoe collaborated on. Come to Make Records runs through Oct. 30 at the Museum of East Tennessee History. —Coury Turczyn

It is pretty awesome playing with a nine-piece live—I have been dreaming of doing it for a while. It would be great if we could venture with it to other cities in the future.

You’ve got a new EP out this week—it definitely goes in some jazzier/funkier/jammier directions. I think our sound is going to be going away from our first album, but not in the direction this EP went. The second album will still focus on more meaningful lyrics, with slower and more upbeat

tunes. We are planning to weave a little more blues, jazz, funk, and jamminess into this next album to account more for how our live show is. We have had these songs around for a while—since we first started playing together—but we weren’t sure what to do with them. Although we had the ideas for all the songs down, lyrics hadn’t really been written yet for any of them; we were just playing around with sounds and seeing how they flowed live. We knew we had fun playing them, but we knew none of them would fit the scope of what we will be going for on our next album. It is more of a mixed bag of songs that we just had a lot of fun playing, and we didn’t really have the money to record a full album, so we figured, why not release a sort of genre-less EP?

It sounds like the three of you got a little help. Is the band getting bigger, or did you recruit some friends to sit in? The pool of talent in Knoxville for musicians really is incredible, and everyone just wants to play and create music. We are extremely lucky we have these guys around to come help us on projects like this. This list will definitely grow for the next full-length. The band is definitely growing. We are in a bit of a transitional period, but we are really happy with the lineup we have now. Garrit Tillman is filling in on the drum duties, and Jack Willard of Tree Tops is on bass. Chuck Mullican plays sax with us whenever we can get him, and at Volapalooza we even had Joe Jordan and Tylar Bullion come up to fill out the horns section with Chuck. Aaron Mastin, who plays with another great local group called Electric Darling, even hopped up with us on keys. All of them will also be joining us for the CD release May 6.

What’s the plan once the EP is out? After the May 6 show at Scruffy City we will definitely be paying more local shows. I know we will be joining Electric Darling June 4 at Scruffy City Hall for a show I am very excited about. I believe the plan is to have a big superjam at the end, which is always my favorite thing about groups playing together. But starting in the fall, we are trying to focus more on out-of-town shows, but you can be sure we will still be back often. Knoxville people just know how to get down a little harder than everywhere else. We are also planning on a lot of writing so that we can get back in the studio and get to work on this next album.

etween shows at Knoxville Stomp, you may also want to check out a new exhibit at the Museum of East Tennessee History, Come to Make Records. Subtitled “Knoxville’s Contributions to American Popular Music,” its displays track the evolution of the city’s early music history, from the fiddling contests that first appeared in the 1880s to the radio stars on WNOX’s Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round in the 1940s. For Bradley Reeves, director the Knox County Public Library’s Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, it’s also his best opportunity yet to show off all the cool music-related stuff he’s been collecting since starting TAMIS, plus some rare items he’s managed to borrow. “It’s the culmination of 15 years of interest in the Knoxville sessions themselves, and it’s been an adventure going out and finding this stuff,” he says. “This is years and years of going to thrift stores and having fun with serious 78 collectors.” Actual discs made from the 1929-30 Knoxville sessions at the St.

James Hotel are very difficult to find—they didn’t have a lot of buyers during the Depression, and they weren’t the blues-based musicians that collectors started coveting in the 1950s. Today, however, they’re recognized as valuable collectibles, so Reeves had to canvas 78 collectors around the globe to bring some examples in for display. One of the discs on loan belongs to Terry Zwigoff, director of Crumb and Bad Santa. Meanwhile, Reeves also managed to locate a wide range of instruments, mostly by tracking down descendants of the musicians and knocking on their doors. Then there are more glamorous items, such as the matching rhinestone-encrusted Western suits worn by Carl and Pearl Butler; designed by famed California tailor Nathan Turk, each suit displays the Mexican coat of arms. The husbandand-wife country music duo most probably met during Carl’s days on WNOX, a wellspring of local talent that still makes amateur historians muse over what could have been.

Revival Meeting The local Americana band Three Star Revival is in the process of expanding its lineup, just as their new EP, Change It Up, expands the group’s sound. The band’s celebrating the release of Change It Up at Scruffy City Hall on Friday, May 6. We traded emails with frontman Ben Gaines to discuss the show, the new EP, and Three Star Revival’s new direction. Visit knoxmercury. com for the full interview. —Matthew Everett

Inside the Vault: The Knoxville Sessions

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

Music: The Sword

Classical Music: Tosca

Movie: Everybody Wants Some!!

Inside the Vault

Afterlife of the Knoxville Sessions How a German record label, a Maryland collector, and a local archive saved the St. James sessions BY ERIC DAWSON

f you’ve read this week’s cover story, you know about The Knoxville Sessions: 1929-1930, the CD box set that’s the inspiration for the Knoxville Stomp festival this weekend. It’s a beautiful piece of work, four discs holding 102 recordings made in downtown Knoxville’s St. James hotel in 1929 and 1930, accompanied by a 156-page book by music scholars Ted Olson and Tony Russell. The set exists thanks to the German label Bear Family, which since 1975 has been peerless in producing high-quality reissues of American music. Richard Weize, Bear Family’s founder, has been traveling to Knoxville since the 1970s, fascinated with much of the music that originated here. He befriended, among others, Red Rector and his wife, Parker, and his company has released numerous CDs of Knoxville artists such as Carl Story and Carl and Pearl Butler. It may seem peculiar that someone from the small German village of Holste-Oldendorf is more interested in aspects

of our city’s culture than most Knoxvillians are, but Weize and his team are preserving this music and making it accessible to an extent that archives and universities could envy. And The Knoxville Sessions is far from Bear Family’s final word on the city’s music. The Knoxville sessions recordings have had an interesting history. Released on the cusp of the Great Depression, they never sold well and were largely forgotten. There was some interest among hardcore 78 collectors in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until country music historian Charles Wolfe, in 1974, wrote an article in Russell’s U.K.-produced journal Old Time Music that wider attention was brought to the sessions. Wolfe’s article—and several related pieces that followed—and his interviews with artists from the sessions remain invaluable sources of information about the recordings. In Knoxville, Jack Neely wrote about the sessions for Metro Pulse in

the 1990s and ’00s, referring to them as the “St. James sessions.” That name still holds for a lot of people. Around the same time Jack started writing about the recordings, singer Nancy Brennan Strange became obsessed with the blues and gospel singer Leola Manning, a performer from the sessions, and tracked down her daughter. Manning’s song “Satan Is Busy in Knoxville,” which is among the few recordings from the sessions to circulate on CD compilations, is one of the more widely known records from the sessions. The title alone invites interest, but it’s Manning’s voice that keeps drawing in listeners. Up in Washington, D.C., in the early 2000s, Knoxville expat Bradley Reeves, a recent graduate of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, was working at the Library of Congress. One weekend he and some colleagues took a trip 50 miles north to Frederick, Md., to meet the eccentric, excitable 78 collector Joe Bussard, who would spend hours and hours playing old records for visitors in his basement. Reeves asked Bussard if he had anything from Knoxville; Bussard produced a disc by Ridgel’s Fountain Citians. He kept putting Knoxville records on the turntable. Reeves was floored. A few years later Reeves moved back to Knoxville and started the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound with his wife, Louisa Trott, a fellow archivist. Bussard had made tapes of everything he had from the 1929-30 recordings—he doesn’t do CDs, much less digital files. Eventually, Reeves collected around 90 songs. When he digitized them, Jeff Bills

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posted dozens of the mp3s, along with Neely’s Metro Pulse articles, to his Lynn Point Records website. In 2008, New Jersey’s WFMU, considered by many music heads to be one of the best radio stations in the country, posted links to the recordings on its blog. Forgotten, rarely heard records from Knoxville, made more than 75 years earlier, could now be heard around the world. In February 2014, Weize told Reeves that Bear Family was releasing The Knoxville Sessions. He asked if TAMIS had any relevant materials for the project. Quite a bit, as it turns out—Reeves had been contacting relatives of the recording artists and collecting photographs, letters, newspaper articles, and ephemera for years. There was still a good deal out there to be uncovered, though, and a few mysteries to be solved. By this time I was working at TAMIS, and Reeves and I got in touch with more family members and tracked down as much material as we could. Olson and Russell came to town, conducted more interviews, and looked beyond East Tennessee to solve further mysteries. Many other mysteries about the sessions remain unsolved. But we now have an exhaustive, durable physical document of the St. James/Knoxville sessions. It’s difficult to imagine a better one. It should be considered a gift to the city and its people, from a longtime German admirer. 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.

Bear Family is preserving this music and making it accessible to an extent that archives and universities could envy.

May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23

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Music

Ride the High Country The Sword’s loose approach to hard rock pays off on High Country BY MIKE GIBSON

hen Austin, Tex.-based rock outfit the Sword released its fifth album, High Country, in 2015, some fans groused that the band was selling out, having jettisoned the doom-y proto-metal vibe of earlier platters in favor of a more relaxed brand of traditional blues rock, a sound redolent of 1970s-style AOR. Guitarist Kyle Shutt has heard the whining, but he says he and his fellow Swordsmen have no regrets. “I’m not the 21-year-old who recorded Age of Winters [the band’s first record, from 2006] in our bass player’s kitchen,” says Shutt, who joined with singer/guitarist J.D. Cronise in forming the band in 2003. “If someone says, ‘I’m you’re biggest fan, but I hate your new record,’ my

feeling is that, well, you missed the boat. “We’re not doing this to make everybody happy. We’re doing this because this is what we do. It seems that people either love this record or they hate it. And to me, that’s a sign we probably did it right.” The truth is that High Country is not such a radical departure from the rest of the band’s recorded output. Frontman Cronise’s hoarse, incantatory vocals still define the record as distinctively Swordian, as does Shutt’s vintage tonal palette. And each of the band’s preceding four albums has been possessed of a character and a complexion all its own, while still remaining of a piece with the rest of the Sword’s oeuvre;

note the sludgy Sabbath-isms of Age of Winters, for instance, giving way to the early ’80s thrash allusions on the follow-up Gods of the Earth. Shutt says the changes from one album to the next were never really planned—at least not until it came time to begin work on what would become High Country. “In the past, we never really discussed any specific intent,” he says. “We always just seemed to know what we needed for a particular record. “We all live in different places, geographically, so usually we wrote songs independently, came in with songs ready, and then somehow knew what we wanted to do. This is the first time we sat down and discussed it, where we each brought in ideas that

weren’t necessarily developed yet. We didn’t have a blueprint for this one. We bounced ideas around a lot, talked about it, said, okay, what do we want to do now?” Shutt notes that band also took a looser approach in laying tracks for High Country. “We used to put down the parts over and over again, until we thought it was perfect,” he says. “This time, we didn’t care if it was perfect. We just wanted it to sound cool.” But for all the lamentations of doom-rock diehards, the Sword must be doing something right, as their international profile has grown with each successive release. Its last two records, High Country and 2012’s Apocrypha, both hit the top 30 of the Billboard 200, and High Country marks the first time the band has charted outside the U.S. and the U.K. “We couldn’t have done it without some luck, and without taking advantage of every opportunity,” Shutt says. “But I also think our success has something to do with the fact that we always did exactly what we wanted to do. And we’ll keep on doing what we want to do. We’re just a group of real guys who worked hard, did it our way, and built from the ground up.” ◆

WHO

The Sword with Monster Truck and Purson

WHERE

The International (940 Blackstock Ave.)

WHEN

Friday, May 6, at 8:30 p.m.

HOW MUCH

$15/$18 day of the show

INFO

internationalknox.com theswordofficial.com

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

presented

Greater

Knoxville

Honda

Dealers

M AY 5 -8 , 20 1 6

INSIDE:

K N O X S T O M P. C O M

ARTISTS X SCHEDULE X SPECIAL EVENTS X MAP

Under beds, in attics, in dark corners of closets – sometimes, treasures can be found in the most seemingly mundane of places. And then sometimes, the only surviving copy of a record made in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1929 is found around the world in Australia more than eight decades later. In 1929 and 1930, the Vocalion record label took advantage of new technology that made recording equipment portable and traveled to Knoxville. Vocalion set up a studio downtown in the St. James Hotel and recorded more than forty artists who played not just old-time, but jazz, blues and gospel. Having been released during the Great Depression, however, sales of these records were dismal and the recordings languished in obscurity for eighty years. Now, after a decades long search, every one of the 102 commercially released Knoxville Sessions tracks has been recovered, and they are being released this spring in a boxed set called Knox County Stomp: The Knoxville Sessions 1929-1930 by Germany’s prestigious Bear Family Records. In Knoxville, this is a great reason to throw a party. The Knoxville Stomp “Festival of Lost Music” is a celebration of these recordings, the artists who made them, and the dedicated collectors and archivists who recovered them. The Stomp will be one-of-a-kind weekend, bringing a diverse array of musicians, writers, scholars and collectors together in Knoxville, Tennessee, from May 5-8, 2016. Join us in downtown Knoxville for live performances of the Knoxville Sessions songs, along with other music from the era, panel discussions, film screenings, a 78rpm record collector show, square dances and more. The Knoxville Stomp is presented by the Greater Knoxville Honda Dealers and produced by Knox County Public Library’s Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, WDVX Radio, the East Tennessee Historical Society and Visit Knoxville.

UPCOMING CD AND BOOK RELEASE OF KNOX COUNTY STOMP

The Knoxville Sessions 1929-1930 Bear Family Records will release an exclusive CD box set of remastered recordings from the Knoxville Sessions held at downtown Knoxville’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930. The four-CD set will be accompanied by an exhaustive book packed with rare archival photos, written by respected scholars Dr. Ted Olson and Tony Russell, who also authored the books accompanying the Bear Family’s releases of the Bristol and Johnson City Sessions.

speakers & presenters

RICHARD WEIZE Richard Weize founded Bear Family Records, which produced the CD box set Knox County Stomp: The Knoxville Sessions 1929-1930. His dedication to the preservation and reissuing of American vernacular music has assured the ongoing survival of countless rare recordings.

LANCE LEDBETTER Lance Ledbetter and his wife April make up the Grammy Award-winning team responsible for publishing more than sixty rare, essential albums, books and films. The mission of their record company, Dust-to-Digital, is to produce highquality, cultural artifacts.

JOE BUSSARD America’s most high-profile 78rpm record collector, Bussard maintains one of the world’s largest collections of American music from the 1920s and 1930s. He was an instrumental figure in the recovery of many St. James Sessions recordings and is the subject of Edward Gillan’s 2003 documentary Desperate Man Blues. John Fabke is a performer, educator, radio host and archivist/historian. Fabke has worked at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and at the Center for Popular Music at MTSU (Murfreesboro, TN) as an archivist and researcher. He played major roles in organizing and researching My Homeland Tennessee, The History of Political Songs and Jingles in Tennessee and The Charles K. Wolfe Collection.

AMANDA PETRUSICH Amanda Petrusich is a current Guggenheim Fellow and the author of Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records (2013). She is a writer for The New Yorker and an editor at The Oxford American, and her music and culture writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Spin, BuzzFeed, and elsewhere.

Joe Bussard

JOHN FABKE

Amanda Petrusich

TONY RUSSELL

Jack Neely

JACK NEELY

Tony Russell is a historian of old time music, based in London, England. His books include Country Music Records 1921–1942 and Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost. He coauthored, with Ted Olson, the book accompanying the boxed set of the Knoxville Sessions, as well as the Bear Family’s The Bristol Sessions 1927–1928 and The Johnson City Sessions 1928–1929.

Marshall Wyatt

MARSHALL WYATT Marshall Wyatt is a native Tar Heel, a Grammynominated writer and producer, and the founder of Old Hat Records, an independent label that researches and reissues traditional American music of the prewar era. He also collects vintage 78rpm records and related ephemera, with an emphasis on North Carolina artists.

Local historian Jack Neely is executive director of the Knoxville History Project, and a weekly columnist for the Knoxville Mercury. He’s currently at work on a comprehensive history of Knoxville’s Old City district, in which popular music figures prominently, with cameos from some of the St. James’ recording artists.

Jerry Zolten

JERRY ZOLTEN

Martin Fisher

MARTIN FISHER Martin Fisher is Curator of Recorded Media Collections at MTSU, where he is charged with preserving, maintaining and augmenting the Center’s sound recordings collection, assisting researchers in locating copies of recordings, and conducting acoustical “wax” cylinder recording demonstrations as part of the Center’s outreach.

Ted Olson

Elijah Wald, photo by Sandrine Sheon

TED OLSON

ELIJAH WALD

Ted Olson teaches Appalachian Studies at ETSU. He co-authored, with Tony Russell, the book accompanying the boxed set of the Knoxville Sessions, as well as the Bear Family’s The Bristol Sessions 1927–1928 and The Johnson City Sessions 1928–1929. He also recently produced and wrote liner notes for a Bear Family compilation of Tennessee Ernie Ford’s early recordings, Portrait of An American Singer.

Elijah Wald has been performing American roots music since the 1970s and has written a dozen books about American and world styles. Wald recently wrote the companion book for PBS’s American Epic, a historical music project exploring the pivotal recording journeys of the early twentieth century, which for the first time captured the breadth of American music and made it available to the world.

Jerry Zolten is an educator, musician, author, speaker, producer, and public radio program host. He was a contributor to Third Man’s The Rise and Fall of Paramount, Vol. 1 & 2, and his most recent writing celebrates the centennial of the iconic Martin Dreadnought Guitar. He also appears on screen in the forthcoming documentary The Ballad of the Dreadnought produced by C.F. Martin & Co.

Live Music

Film

SATURDAY, M AY 7

Lectures

All events are free and open to the public except Dom Flemons “A Few of My Favorite Records” and Peter Stampfel.

(EVENING) MARKET SQUARE STAGE

4:00 PM 4:15 PM

SCRUFFY CITY HALL

BOYD’S JIG AND REEL

5:00 PM

F RI DAY, MAY 6 KNOXVILLE VISITORS CENTER

12:00 PM 12:15 PM 12:30 PM 12:45 PM 1:00 PM

WDVX Blue Plate Special with Matt Kinman, Brad Reeves, & Roochie Toochie & the Ragtime Shepherd Kings

EAST TENNESSEE HISTORY CENTER

SAT U RDAY, M AY 7

12:30 PM

BIJOU THEATRE

KNOXVILLE VISITORS CENTER

10:30 AM

11:15 AM

Ted Olson: “Documentary Field Recording in the Great Smoky Mountains”

Films from the TAMIS Vaults

11:45 AM

Matt Kinman

12:00 PM

Elijah Wald: “Location Recordings in the 1920s”

Walking Tour with Jack Neely (meets at the north end of 11:30 AM Market Square)

12:15 PM

2:30 PM 2:45 PM

Films from the TAMIS Vaults

1:00 PM

3:00 PM 3:15 PM

12:30 PM 12:45 PM 1:15 PM

Hunter Holmes & Guests

4:00 PM

1:45 PM

Panel: Knoxville Folk on the Knoxville Sessions

2:00 PM 2:15 PM

4:15 PM 4:30 PM 4:45 PM

2:30 PM

Hunter Holmes & the Down Hill Strugglers

3:00 PM 3:15 PM

5:15 PM

3:30 PM

5:30 PM

3:45 PM

5:45 PM

6:45 PM

4:15 PM

Schedule subject to change. For the latest updates, please visit:

7:30 PM 7:45 PM 8:00 PM 8:15 PM 8:30 PM 8:45 PM 9:00 PM

6:15 PM

Panel: “Preserving Regional Musical Culture”

Matt Kinman Panel: “The Roots of the Roots” with Dom Flemons

2:00 PM

ETSU Old Time Pride Band

2:30 PM

An Evening with Joe Bussard: Q&A Discussion Footage of Gid Tanner with performance by Matt Downer

3:15 PM

Silent Stomp with live accompaniment by Todd Steed

3:45 PM

8:15 PM

The Bearded with The Knoxville Banjo Orchestra

Georgia Crackers

3:30 PM

4:15 PM

8:45 PM

5:00 PM

9:30 PM

Streamliners Swing Orchestra

“A Few of My Favorite Records” with the Dom Flemons Trio & the Knox County Jug Stompers Tickets required: knoxstomp.com

Bill & the Belles Elijah Wald & Sandrine Sheon Market House Fiddle Contest Mother’s Day Square Dance with Uncle Shuffelo & His Haint Hollow Hootenany

Matt Downer “The Old Time Traveler”

Down Hill Strugglers Alex Leach & Spencer Branch True House of God Chorus / Leola Manning Tribute

Tennessee Stifflegs

John Myers Acoustic Band

4:30 PM 4:45 PM

9:15 PM

Matt A. Foster

Frog and Toad’s Dixie Quartet

5:15 PM

Corn Potato String Band

5:30 PM 5:45 PM

9:45 PM

6:00 PM

10:00 PM

6:15 PM

Square Dance with Knoxville Stomp Big Band

Corn Potato Stringband with Stan Sharp (1:30)

10:15 PM

The Mumbillies with Leo Collins (2:30)

11:00 PM

7:15 PM

THE PILOT LIGHT | 4 -7 PM

11:15 PM

7:30 PM

The legendary fiddle player, violinist, and singer-songwriter Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders will perform at the Pilot Light. $5 cover

10:30 PM 10:45 PM

Down Hill Strugglers

12:30 AM

4:45 PM

12:45 AM

Carolina Cud Chewers

6:45 PM

7:45 PM 8:00 PM 8:15 PM

Matt Kinman’s Back Porch: Matt Kinman

Film: “Shake ‘Em on Down: The Blues According to Fred McDowell”

6:30 PM 7:00 PM

Uncle Shuffelo

12:15 AM

4:30 PM

Matt Kinman’s Back Porch: Tennessee Stifflegs

Matt Kinman’s Back Porch: Georgia Crackers

11:30 PM 11:45 PM

SCRUFFY CITY HALL

4:00 PM

8:30 PM 9:00 PM

Gammon, Horton, and Reynolds

2:45 PM

7:00 PM

8:00 PM

The Hellgramites with Ruth Simmons (12:30)

1:45 PM 2:15 PM

7:45 PM

Beginners Dance Class (12:00)

1:30 PM

6:45 PM

12:00 AM

Georgia Crackers

Roochie Toochie

Film: “Desperate Man Blues” (part of An Evening with Joe Bussard)

3:00 PM

7:30 PM

SWEET P’S DOWNTOWN

1:15 PM

6:00 PM

7:15 PM

The Emporium Square Dance-a-Thon

1:00 PM

Eli Fox

8:30 PM

PETER STAMPFEL

Film: Reel to Reel Screening of “Louie Bluie,” introduced by Bill Claiborne

Jazz Me Blues Night: Tennessee Sheiks

8:45 PM 9:00 PM 9:15 PM

7:00 PM 7:15 PM

Elijah Wald & Sandrine Sheon

4:00 PM

6:00 PM 6:30 PM

Amanda Petrusich: “Do Not Sell at Any Price”

2:45 PM

5:00 PM

6:15 PM

WDVX Blue Plate Special with Carolina Cud Chewers, author Tony Russell Jerry Zolten: “Voices from the & SURPRISE GUESTS! 78rpm Groove”

1:30 PM

3:30 PM 3:45 PM

EMPORIUM CENTER FOR THE ARTS

6:30 PM

11:00 AM

Down Hill Strugglers (with a Stomp welcome from Matt Morelock)

2:15 PM

5:45 PM

10:45 AM

1:45 PM 2:00 PM

EAST TENNESSEE HISTORY CENTER

Panel: “Tennessee Trilogy: The Tennessee Recording Sessions 1927-1930” (with an introduction by Bradley Reeves of TAMIS)

1:15 PM 1:30 PM

(AFTERNOON)

MARKET SQUARE STAGE

12:45 PM

5:15 PM 5:30 PM

12:00 PM 12:15 PM

South Knox Elementary students & Sean McCollough

4:30 PM 4:45 PM

SUN DAY, MAY 8

9:30 PM 9:45 PM

Jazz Me Blues Night: Kelle Jolly presents the St. James Sessions and Vocal Jazz

Knoxville Stomp Record Collectors’ Show & Sale SATURDAY - EAST TENNESSEE HISTORY LOBBY | 10 AM - 4 PM The Knoxville Stomp Record Show is presented by Raven Records and Rarities and will feature a fantastic selection of collectible 78s and other goodies.

KNOXVILLE BANJO ORCHESTRA

FROG AND TOAD

CORN POTATO STRINGBAND ROOCHIE TOOCHIE

DOM FLEMONS

CAROLINA CUD CHEWERS ELI FOX

HUNTER HOLMES GEORGIA CRACKERS

BILL AND THE BELLES

DOWNHILL STRUGGLERS

KNOX COUNTY JUG STOMPERS

musicians THE BEARDED A Knoxville staple since 2003, The Bearded indulge their love of old time rhythms and mountain blues.

BILL AND THE BELLES With striking three-part harmonies and masterful instrumentation, Johnson City’s Bill and the Belles skillfully breathe new life into the sounds of early country music, and bring to the stage an uplifting show unlike any other, full of humor, high spirits, and all-around revelry.

CAROLINA CUD CHEWERS Asheville’s Carolina Cud Chewers are at their best when performing the yodeling “white country blues” of Jimmie Rodgers and “rural ragtime” of the mountains and the Piedmont. Influenced by great Carolina string bands of the 1920s, the Cud Chewers play a variety of historic songs from traditional and popular sources.

CORN POTATO STRINGBAND The Corn Potatoes delight audiences with their driving fiddle tunes, harmonious singing, and dedication to continuing the music and dance traditions of the Central and Southern US.

DOWN HILL STRUGGLERS The Down Hill Strugglers is an old time string band based out of Brooklyn, NY. They have released an

album on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and are featured on the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film, “Inside Llewyn Davis” produced by T-Bone Burnett.

ETSU OLD TIME PRIDE BAND Part of ETSU’s department of Appalachian Studies, the band focuses each semester on a collection of music, or a region of Appalachia to more deeply study the music itself either directly from commercial 78s, or from field recordings. Since Fall of 2015 the band has been learning and performing Knoxville Sessions material to great local acclaim.

DOM FLEMONS Dom Flemons is the “American Songster,” pulling from traditions of old-time folk music to create new sounds. Focusing very much on creating music that is rooted in history but taking a contemporary approach, Dom hopes to reexamine what traditional music can become.

MATT A. FOSTER Knoxville-based banjo and guitar songster Matt A. Foster brings audiences Appalachian-tinged renditions of various songs and ballads in between country blues-fused originals.

ELI FOX At 16 years old Eli Fox is already a seasoned

acoustic multi-instrumentalist and emerging songwriter who is on his way to becoming an American roots music all-star.

FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET Led by third generation jazz musician Jason Thompson, Frog & Toad play jazz with a broad range of musical influences.

GEORGIA CRACKERS The Crackers are dedicated to presenting and preserving a treasury of music by Georgia artists from the early days of recorded music, many of whom were pioneers in their respective genres.

HUNTER HOLMES A 6th generation southern musician, Holmes focuses primarily on the music from the “Golden Era” of Hillbilly and Blues music.

JOHN MYERS BAND From the Four Pennies to the Hearts of Stone to his present-day lineup with a group of Knoxville Americana musicians, eighty-year old John Myers is as dynamic a performer as ever.

MATT KINMAN Kinman has performed with acts such as The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Hackensaw Boys, Leroy Troy, Marty Stewart

KELLE JOLLY AND THE WILL BOYD PROJECT Vocalist Kelle Jolly and Saxophonist Will Boyd are two of East Tennessee’s most celebrated jazz musicians. Their Knoxville Stomp performance will include original music and classic jazz standards with a lot of soul!

KNOX COUNTY JUG STOMPERS The Knox County Jug Stompers is a traditional acoustic band strongly influenced by the string bands, jug bands, songsters, and bluesmen of 1920’s and 30’s. The Stompers enjoy paying musical tribute to musicians native to their region of East Tennessee.

KNOXVILLE BANJO ORCHESTRA The Knoxville Banjo Orchestra made its debut at the 2015 WDVX Meadowlark Festival and has continued as the KBO Flash Mob — a spontaneous changing lineup of banjos in all its varieties.

KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego is a Knoxville-based acoustic ensemble that plays hot jazz inspired by the music of legendary French Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.

Come to Make Records ALEX LEACH WITH SPENCER BRANCH & PHILLIP STEINMETZ

SEAN MCCOLLOUGH WITH SOUTH KNOXVILLE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

When not touring with Ralph Stanley II, multi-instrumentalist Alex leach hosts The Bluegrass Special every Tuesday night on WDVX. Joining Alex will be Spencer Branch, a young traditional band from high atop Whitetop Mountain, and three time National Old Time Banjo Champion Phillip Steinmetz.

WDVX, South Knoxville Elementary School and the Arts and Heritage Fund have teamed up to share the music and history of the Knoxville Sessions with a group local students and to then bring those students to the Knoxville Stomp festival to perform with Kidstuff radio host and teaching artist Sean McCollough.

THE MUMBILLIES

TODD STEED

Alleged to be the oldest continuing band in Knoxville, the Mumbillies have stuffed old time fiddle tunes and banjo riffs into every crack in the Laurel Theater’s walls for the last quarter century and more.

A fixture on the Knoxville music scene from the 80’s punk scene to present time, Steed’s latest passion is instrumental and ambient music. For The Knoxville Stomp, he’ll create a soundtrack for a silent film created by the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound.

OLD TIME TRAVELER Matt Downer, from Chattanooga TN, performs traditional old time music on fiddle, banjo and guitar. His most recent album was recorded without electricity, directly to wax cylinders, on a 1906 Edison Gramophone at the MTSU Center For Popular Music.

TENNESSEE STIFFLEGS

ROOCHIE TOOCHIE AND THE RAGTIME SHEPHERD KINGS

UNCLE SHUFFELO AND HIS HAINT HOLLOW HOOTENANNY

New Orleans’ Roochie Toochie and the Ragtime Shepherd Kings perform the weirdest songs from the early days of tin pan alley. They aim to mine the zaniest and most obscure songs from the early 20th century and present them for a new audience.

Uncle Shuffelo and His Haint Hollow Hootenanny is a seven-piece old-time string band from Rover, TN with a mission: to relieve stress, give off good vibes and cause a general feeling of wellbeing in all people, while promoting the awesomeness of old-time music.

Combining the musical stylings of western swing with the humble disposition of hillbilly jazz, the Stifflegs create a highfalutin honky-tonk habitat that beckons boots to the dance floor.

e l l i v x s o r n e K l a r e e D t a a e d r G Hon da da Hon Hon wn t r po ion to nda Air toNat orris e Ho Au nda M allac Ho sty W Ru

April 11 - October 30 Museum of East Tennessee History 601 South Gay St. 865-215-8824 www.eastTNhistory.org

An exhibit celebrating the rich musical history and heritage of Knoxville, Tennessee. From the popular fiddling contests of the 1880s, the seminal old time, jazz, blues, and gospel recordings produced at the St. James Hotel during 1929 and 1930, up through the groundbreaking 1940s-era country music radio programs that spawned legendary performers such as Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins, and many more, Knoxville has contributed a diverse wealth of regional music. The exhibit will feature memorabilia, artifacts, and vintage musical instruments. Some gems you can expect to see include Cal Davenport’s banjo, a guitar belonging to Chet Atkins, Roy Acuff’s fiddle and Carl and Pearl Butler’s Nudie-designed stage outfits! The exhibit will include listening and viewing stations where visitors can listen to original recordings from the Knoxville Sessions and view rare footage of Knoxville performers in performance.

LECT U R E SE RI E S

F I LM S E RI ES

Tennessee Trilogy: The Tennessee Recording Sessions 1927-1930 A discussion of the Bristol, Johnson City and Knoxville recording sessions and the Bear Family’s Tennessee Sessions CD boxed set trilogy. Featuring Ted Olson, Tony Russell and Richard Wieze, moderated by WDVX’s Charlie Lutz. Friday, May 6 | 12pm | East Tenn. History Center

Voices from the 78rpm Groove:

Films from the TAMIS Vaults

Silent Stomp

Presented by Bradley Reeves The story of the Knoxville Sessions is told through rare archival footage and scenes from WBIRTV’s Heartland Series and includes interviews and musical performances from the Tennessee Chocolate Drops’ Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong and Willie Seivers, of the Tennessee Ramblers. Friday, May 6 | 1:30pm | East Tenn. History Center

Local musician Todd Steed performs a selfcomposed ambient score to accompany views of Knoxville during the Roaring Twenties, told through archival photographs and silent home movies, culminating with the BrunswickVocalion sessions. Saturday, May 7 | 7:30pm | Scruffy City Hall

Knoxville Folk on the Knoxville Sessions

The World of Collecting 78rpm Records

P R ESENT ED BY FRIE NDS OF THE LIBRA RY

Historian Jack Neely, archivists Bradley Reeves and Eric Dawson, and musician Nancy Brennan Strange discuss the Knoxville Sessions and the story of their recovery eight decades later. Moderated by Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Friday, May 6 | 3:30pm | East Tenn. History Center

Documentary Field Recording in the Great Smoky Mountains

Before & After the National Park Ted Olson relates lessons learned while preparing and promoting two albums featuring historical musical performances from the Joseph Hall collection of field recordings from the Smoky Mountains. He’ll also discuss two 2016 albums featuring new performances by contemporary roots musicians inspired by those recordings. Saturday, May 7 | 11am | East Tenn. History Center

The Knoxville Sessions & Location Recordings in the 1920s Author Elijah Wald discusses the proliferation of on-site recordings in the 1920s— pivotal recordings that captured the breadth of American music for the first time—and the Knoxville Sessions’ place within the trend. Saturday, May 7 | 12pm | East Tenn. History Center

Tracking Down the Artists Who Made the Records Author and musician, Jerry Zolten, discusses the artists he uncovered while doing research for Third Man Records’ Grammy-winning Rise and Fall of Paramount Records and other projects. Saturday, May 7 | 12:30pm | East Tenn. History Center

Author Amanda Petrusich reads from her book Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records. Saturday, May 7 | 1pm | East Tenn. History Center

Preserving Regional Music Culture Reissue record labels have rediscovered, preserved and disseminated countless recordings that would otherwise be lost. Join label heads John Fabke, Lance Ledbetter, Richard Wieze and Marshall Wyatt as they discuss their work to preserve American musical treasures. Moderated by Tony Russell. Saturday, May 7 | 2pm | East Tenn. History Center

The Roots of the Roots Musician Dom Flemons and Archeophone Records producers Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey take a look at the technology and repertoire that came before the great sounds of the ‘20s and ’30s. Saturday, May 7 | 3pm | East Tenn. History Center

An Evening with Joe Bussard Enjoy a screening of the documentary Desperate Man Blues followed by a Q&A with the film’s subject, legendary 78rpm record collector Joe Bussard. Saturday, May 7 | 5pm | Scruffy City Hall

A Brunswick/Vocalion recording studio at the St. James Hotel

PR ES ENT ED BY KNOX V IL LE F I LM O F F I CE

Desperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music part of An Evening with Joe Bussard Tells the story of self-proclaimed “king of record collectors” Joe Bussard, who has amassed one of the greatest collections of 78rpm recordings of country, blues, jazz, cajun and gospel music. Saturday, May 7 | 5pm | Scruffy City Hall

Rare Footage of Old Time Musician Gid Tanner presented by Matt Downer Old-time musician and historian Matt Downer presents the only known footage of legendary fiddler Gid Tanner (Skillet Lickers), from an 8mm home movie. Downer discusses his preservation work and performs a selection of Tanner favorites. Saturday, May 7 | 7pm | Scruffy City Hall

Shake ‘Em on Down: The Blues

According to Fred McDowell introduced by filmmaker Scott Barretta Rare footage of the life and music of Tennessee native and so-called godfather of the North Mississippi blues, Fred McDowell. Fred’s unique style influenced generations of major musicians including The Rolling Stones. Look for some familiar faces as well as Stomp participants Dom Flemons and Tony Russell. Sunday, May 8 | 5pm | Scruffy City Hall

Louie Bluie

introduced by Bill Claiborne Acclaimed director Terry Zwigoff ’s first film, Louie Bluie, provides a window into the world of Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong, the most prominent of the St. James recording artists. Sunday, May 8 | 6:30pm | Scruffy City Hall

F RE E LI VE M USIC A N D DA N C I N G ! Square-dance-a-thon

Mother’s Day on Market Square

presented by Knoxville Arts & Culture Alliance Featuring some of East Tennessee’s best callers with live accompaniment from The Mumbillies, the Hellgramites, and the Corn Potato String Band. Beginners, come at noon for a free lesson! Saturday, May 7 | 12-4pm | Emporium Center

Treat your mom to a day of old time music, gospel, and blues from Bill and the Belles, True House of God Chorus, the John Myers Band and even a fiddle contest! Sunday, May 8 | 12-6pm | Market Square Stage

Stomp on the Square presented by Visit Knoxville and WDVX A foot-stomping evening of live music! Hear modern versions of songs from the Sessions by the Streamliners Swing Orchestra, The Bearded, and Roochie Toochie and the Ragtime Shepherd Kings. Saturday, May 7 | 4pm | Market Square Stage

Kinman’s Back Porch The party continues in the Old City with Matt Kinman as he welcomes the Georgia Crackers, the Tennessee Stiff Legs and others. Saturday, May 7 | 10pm | Boyd’s Jig & Reel

Jazz Me Blues Night Celebrate the jazz and blues musicians of the Knoxville Sessions with Kelle Jolly and the Will Boyd Project. They’ll be joined by the Leola Manning, Knoxville Tennessee Sheiks Sessions recording artist and Frog & Toad’s Dixie Quartet. Sunday, May 8 | 8pm | Scruffy City Hall

Classical Music

Risk and Reward Knoxville Opera’s daring production of Tosca pays off BY ALAN SHERROD

et’s be honest—playing it safe is often accepted, but rarely applauded. But risky ideas, if they succeed, can reward opera companies by bolstering current audiences and attracting new ones. Just such a risky idea was championed by Knoxville Opera last Saturday as its audience found itself on an adventure in the form of Puccini’s Tosca. This production, conjured up by the company’s executive director, Brian Salesky, was performed not in a theater but in three separate locations in downtown Knoxville, one for each act, spread out over the afternoon and evening. Although it would conceivably be possible to perform the opera in the actual locations in Rome, Knoxville isn’t Rome, and it’s 2016, not 1800, the year when Tosca is set. Nevertheless, the Gothic Revival architecture of Church Street United Methodist Church on Henley Street was stunningly successful as the setting for Act I, the Roman church Sant’Andrea della Valle. Church Street’s voluminous interior of stone and dark wood created the perfect ambiance, while the space’s natural light and reverberative acoustics made entrances down the aisles possible—and dramatically compelling. The orchestra, off in a side alcove area, projected warmly and crisply into the nave. Downtown Knoxville has nothing remotely resembling the settings for Acts II and III—the Palazzo Farnese and the fortress Castel Sant’Angelo. Salesky and KO were forced to create an Act II stage of bare minimum theatricality and a seating area of uncomfortable folding chairs inside the older trade show space at the Knoxville Convention and Exhibition Center near World’s Fair Park. Act III took place a short walk to the south,

on the stage of the covered—but open-sided—Tennessee Amphitheater, with equally minimal sets and lighting. But there was nothing minimal about the rainstorm that raged throughout Act III. The slightly dampened audience, yanked from their theater seats, deprived of translated supertitles, and forced to absorb the opera from an alternative perspective, apparently adored this Tosca. Reasons for their enthusiasm aren’t difficult to identify: a cast as vocally and dramatically exciting as any yet heard by Knoxville Opera audiences, and a performance by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra that resonated with solid artistry and consummate professionalism, despite the unusual conditions. Leading the splendid cast was the perfectly matched pair of tenor Jonathan Burton as Mario Cavaradossi and soprano Kerri Marcinko in the title role. Burton, who impressed as Manrico in last season’s Il Trovatore, was the ideal Cavaradossi: confident yet charmingly vulnerable. He demonstrated an expansive range that flows naturally through warmth,

A&E

clarity, and detail—a voice capable of sending chills up the listener’s spine. Marcinko was an equally impressive Floria Tosca, with a voice that was both powerful and beautifully delicate. Her rendition of the Act II aria “Vissi d’arte”—possibly the most dramatically perfect one I have ever experienced live—was a showcase of emotional strength and vocal control. Baritone Scott Bearden has become a welcome face and voice to Knoxville Opera audiences. As Baron Scarpia, he sang boldly, with dramatic power, and acted with appropriate totalitarian disdain. The evil of his character hung like a spider’s web over Act II until he received his just demise at the hands of Tosca and a purloined letter opener. Salesky did not skimp on casting secondary roles. Three of them went to baritone Geoffrey Hoos, who gave the Sacristan in Act I an impressive, rich voice and an engaging comic presence. Ian McEuen was appropriately nasty as the police agent Spoletta. The on-therun escapee Angelotti was sung with engaging intensity by KO veteran bass Peter Johnson. The shepherd boy in Act III was sung by Kacie Kenton, and Burt Rosevear appeared as a sergeant. The obvious question now is how does Knoxville Opera top this experience? Should it try? Although there are lessons to be learned from this production, the company loves opera and understands how to build and satisfy its audience. And it also seems to understand that there is virtue in doing what it does best. ◆

The slightly dampened audience, yanked from their theater seats, deprived of translated supertitles, and forced to absorb the opera from an alternative perspective, apparently adored this Tosca.

May 5, 2016

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A&E

Movies

Get Some The cool aspirations of Richard Linklater’s coming-of-age sex comedy Everybody Wants Some!! BY APRIL SNELLINGS

rowing up is more about lateral expansion than forward motion in Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, a film that expertly juggles the goofy raunch of college sex comedies and the glowing insight of the director’s best work. Its young hero hasn’t grown or changed much by the end of the movie, but his world is infinitely bigger. This time Linklater is dealing with the cusp of two eras—Everybody Wants Some!! is set in 1980, and it’s very much concerned with all the pop-culture shifts that year implies— and with the brief stint of time when childhood and adulthood seem to overlap. There’s hardly any of the melancholy or sense of impending loss that infuses many of his films;

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

this is Linklater at his sunniest— loose, fun, and impossible to resist. The director has described it as a “spiritual sequel” to his 1993 masterpiece Dazed and Confused, and that’s accurate in ways. But while the characters in the earlier film were facing the end of an era—the end of high school, and of childhood—Everybody Wants Some!! homes in on the beginning of one: a young man’s first weekend at college, where he’s more concerned with sketching out a new place for himself than mourning the loss of whatever golden-boy status he’s left behind. For the kid, Jake (Blake Jenner), the transition from high school to college is a time of hope and endless possibility. He arrives at a fictional

Texas university on a baseball scholarship with a crate full of records in his backseat and “My Sharona” blasting from the stereo of his sleek Oldsmobile 442. Jake is quickly installed in one of two houses reserved for the school’s high-profile baseball team, where his housemates include fast-talking Finnegan (Glen Powell), stoner Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), and high-strung team captain McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin). As a freshman pitcher, Jake faces only the most casual hazing before getting ushered off on a weekend-long quest to cram as much partying as possible into the last weekend of summer vacation. An on-screen timer frequently pops up to count down the hours until classes begin.

A lot happens in the movie, but little of it is of any consequence as far as plot is concerned. Jake and his new pals go to a lot of parties, skimming along the surface of numerous social scenes. They’re up for anything, and whether it’s line dancing at a country dive or wading into the pit at a punk show, they’re embraced wherever they go. They’re intensely tribal in their commitment to one another as buddies and teammates, but they’re also aware, at least instinctually, that part of growing up is reaching beyond the niches that might have once defined them. There’s something coolly aspirational about the way cliques are dismantled and cultural barriers are ignored, even if it’s all in the name of getting snockered, stoned, or laid. During the film’s opening scenes, you can be forgiven for wondering if you really want to spend two hours with these guys. They’re essentially reproductive organs with feet and porn ’staches—so committed are they to drinking beer and seducing women that you wonder why they even bother zipping their pants in the morning. It would be easy to turn them into punchlines, or to allow their relentless masculinity to assume more troubling shapes. By the time Jake sets his sights on a theater major named Beverly (Zoey Deutch, whose sweet level-headedness recalls the grounding touches that her mom, Lea Thompson, lent to Back to the Future), her relative maturity is almost beatific. But Everybody Wants Some!! is far too good-natured and humanistic to let us write off its central characters as obnoxious jocks. They are both of those things, but by the time the film reaches its sweet, sleepy finish, we’re sorry to say goodbye to them. It’s not that the guys change over the course of the movie—when things wrap up on the first morning of classes, it’s clear that the weekend’s debauchery was a tone-setter for the coming school year and not any sort of last hurrah. We’ve simply gotten to know them, and in both Linklater’s films and his worldview, everybody is worth getting to know. ◆

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CALENDAR MUSIC

Thursday, May 5 KNOXVILLE STOMP FESTIVAL OF LOST MUSIC • Downtown Knoxville • The Knoxville Stomp is a four-day festival celebrating the re-mastering and release of a newly recovered collection of recordings made at Knoxville, Tennessee’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930 known as the St. James Sessions. The citywide festival will highlight Knoxville’s varied musical heritage and the diverse voices that contributed to the city’s musical history. Dom Flemons headlines this exciting event, which also features a museum exhibition, record show, panel discussions and lots of live music. Visit knoxstomp. com. • See cover story on page 16. RUSSELL JAMES PYLE WITH THREE STAR REVIVAL • 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 WARREN PINEDA AND JON MASON • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM FILTER WITH ORGY, VAMPIRES EVERYWHERE, AND DEATH VALLEY HIGH • The Concourse • 7PM • 90s rock second-rans Filter and Orgy team back for the Make America Hate Again tour. Get it? It’s like Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan, except it’s “hate” instead of “great.” Good stuff. 18 and up. • $17 KITTY WAMPUS • Silver Dollar Bar and Grill • 7PM • Classic rock, blues, and R&B. KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 38 SPECIAL • Back Porch on the Creek • 7PM • After more than three decades together, 38 Special continue to bring their signature blast of Southern Rock to over 100 cities a year. And at each and every show, thousands of audience members are amazed by the explosive power of the band’s performance. • $22-$32 THE PO’ RAMBLIN’ BOYS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM ROMANNIS MATTE WITH GRACELESS AND PALATHEDA • Pilot Light • 9:30PM • 18 and up. • $5 Friday, May 6 KNOXVILLE STOMP FESTIVAL OF LOST MUSIC • Downtown Knoxville • The Knoxville Stomp is a four-day festival celebrating the re-mastering and release of a newly recovered collection of recordings made at Knoxville, Tennessee’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930 known as the St. James Sessions. The citywide festival will highlight Knoxville’s varied musical heritage and the diverse voices that contributed to the city’s musical history. Dom Flemons headlines this exciting event, which also features a museum exhibition, record show, panel discussions and lots of live music. Visit knoxstomp. com. • See cover story on page 16. MATT KINMAN WITH ROOCHIE TOOCHIE AND THE RAGTIME SHEPHERD KINGS • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE CHRIS LONG • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • FREE THE MALLETT BROTHERS BAND WITH THESE WILD PLAINS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • With songs that can range from alt country, to Americana, honky-tonk, jam or roots rock, theirs is a musical melting pot that’s influenced equally by folk and singer/ songwriter influences as it is by harder rock, twang and 36

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

Thursday, May 5 - Sunday, May 15

psychedelic sounds. • FREE JOHN MCCUTCHEON • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Legendary performer John McCutcheon is known for his interpretation on banjo and hammer dulcimer of Appalachian standards as well as for original songs such as the historical ballad “Christmas in the Trenches,” topical songs and children’s material. Early in his musical career he was active in exploring the folklore of East Tennessee, bringing traditional fiddlers, ballad singers, dancers and Old Harp singers to the Laurel Theater and associated venues as the first music director of Jubilee Community Arts. • $19 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE AUTOMAGIK • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. • FREE THREE STAR REVIVAL • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Local band Three Star Revival celebrates the release of its debut EP. • See Program Notes on page 22. ONE-HOUR PHOTO • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Good Guy Collective presents One-Hour Photo, unveiling the new video for “Slop,” from the upcoming EP Candlelight Vigilante. The show will feature performances by Mr. ILL, J-Bush, Black Atticus, and DJ Wigs. All ages. • $5 THE SWORD WITH MONSTER TRUCK AND PURSON • The International • 8:30PM • Since first emerging with 2006’s Age of Winters, the group has been extolled by everyone from Rolling Stone and The Washington Post to Revolver and Decibel. Metallica personally chose them as support for a global tour, and they’ve earned high-profile syncs in movies including Jennifer’s Body and Jonas Åkerlund’s Horsemen. However, High Country is the band’s biggest, boldest, and brightest frontier. 18 and up. • $15 • See story on page 24. THE JEFF JOPLIN BAND • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM KITTY WAMPUS • The Rocks Tavern • 9PM • Classic rock, blues, and R&B. BETHANY AND THE SWING SERENADE • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • $5 PAPERWORK WITH THE NEW ROMANTICS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM STYLES AND COMPLETE WITH DJ NEVY, EDE GEE, FRESHCUTT, AND KWIKFLIP • The Concourse • 10PM • Styles got his start in music playing in bands in high school and then began making hip hop beats for rappers. At the same time DJ Complete was becoming one of the more well known DJs in the region. In 2010 they connected through mutual friends and in 2011 they discovered electronic music and were inspired to merge their Southern hip hop sound w/ the EDM sound that was taking over in the US. 18 and up. • $10-$15 THE SLOCAN RAMBLERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE THE WILD THINGS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $5 KATY FREE • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE RICK RUSHING • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM BRIAN DOLZANI • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM Saturday, May 7 VESTIVAL • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 11AM • “Then and Now” is the theme of the 16th Annual Vestival, South Knoxville Arts and Heritage Festival, sponsored by Candoro Arts & Heritage Center. Visitors will be delighted by the birthday theme featuring balloons and birthday cake to collaborate with the 225th Birthday of Knoxville, Tennessee. Every spring, visitors flock to this wildly

imaginative festival. There are two stages of local musicians all day, children’s activities, an old-timey cake walk. Admission is by donation; a $5-$10 per person/ family donation is requested to help support the programs of Candoro Arts & Heritage Center. For more information, visit CandoroMarble.org. KNOXVILLE STOMP FESTIVAL OF LOST MUSIC • Downtown Knoxville • The Knoxville Stomp is a four-day festival celebrating the re-mastering and release of a newly recovered collection of recordings made at Knoxville, Tennessee’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930 known as the St. James Sessions. The citywide festival will highlight Knoxville’s varied musical heritage and the diverse voices that contributed to the city’s musical history. Dom Flemons headlines this exciting event, which also features a museum exhibition, record show, panel discussions and lots of live music. Visit knoxstomp. com. • See cover story on page 16. THE CAROLINA CUD CHEWERS WITH UNCLE SHUFFELO AND HIS HAINT HOLLOW HOOTENANNY • 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 KATY FREE • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM

SPARKLE MOTION • Last Days of Autumn Brewery • 7PM PEE SCHLEGEL • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • FREE JARED HARD • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • The music that Jared creates has the undeniable red dirt stain of the Oklahoma prairie with the echoes of foothills and mountain roots, and if you listen real careful you might just hear the faintest whisper of a cornfield way back there somewhere. • FREE STEVE MOAKLER • The Square Room • 8PM • Moakler’s highly embraced album, Wide Open, follows the success of his previous records, Watching Time Run and All the Faint Lights. • $12 CYPRESS HILL • The International • 9PM • With its stoned beats, B Real’s exaggerated nasal whine, and cartoonish violence, the group’s eponymous debut became a sensation in early 1992, several months after its initial release. The singles “How I Could Just Kill a Man” and “The Phuncky Feel One” became underground hits, and the group’s public pro-marijuana stance earned them many fans among the alternative rock community. Cypress Hill followed the album with Black Sunday in the summer of 1993, and while it sounded remarkably similar to the debut, it nevertheless became a hit, entering the

CYPRESS HILL The International (940 Blackstock Ave.) • Saturday, May 7 • 9 p.m. • $30-$75 • internationalknox.com or cypresshill.com

Cypress Hill earned a cult following after its 1991 self-titled debut album, establishing the foundation of a decades-spanning career with a pro-marijuana message, rolling bass-anddrum loops, and what has evolved to be a near-comical depiction of Los Angeles street violence. Over the years the group has proven so successful at parroting its own unique style of stoned funk and rock-hop fusion that it occasionally borders on self-caricature. The Hill boys long ago cemented their place as an influential force of 1990s hip-hop and rock, but now, six years since dropping their last album, they seem content to ride the same lingering bong rip they’ve been toking for more than two decades. This 25th anniversary tour is likely to be marked by foggy nights of nostalgia you’re sure to remember but soon to forget, at least in the short-term. (Clay Duda)

CALENDAR album charts at number one and spawning the crossover hit “Insane in the Brain.” 18 and up. • $30-$75 • See Spotlight on page 36. MOJO: FLOW • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM TRAVIS BOWLIN • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • $5 FREAKBASS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Despite growing up in the same Cincinnati/Dayton funk hotbed that produced James Brown’s pioneering King Records catalog and Bootsy Collins and the Ohio Players, he’s produced a 21st century style over the course of six releases that meshes traditional elements of funk with decidedly more modern soundscapes. • $5 ABBEY ROAD LIVE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • A tribute to the Beatles. 21 and up. • $5 HAROLD NAGGE AND ALAN WYATT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE ROSCOE MORGAN • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9:30PM YAK STRANGLER WITH SENRYU AND CRISWELL COLLECTIVE • Pilot Light • 10PM • Local prog-punk band Yak Strangler celebrates the release of its new album. 18 and up. • $5 Sunday, May 8 KNOXVILLE STOMP FESTIVAL OF LOST MUSIC • Downtown Knoxville • The Knoxville Stomp is a four-day festival celebrating the re-mastering and release of a newly recovered collection of recordings made at Knoxville, Tennessee’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930 known as the St. James Sessions. The citywide festival will highlight Knoxville’s varied musical heritage and the diverse voices that contributed to the city’s musical history. Dom Flemons headlines this exciting event, which also features a museum exhibition, record show, panel discussions and lots of live music. Visit knoxstomp. com. • See cover story on page 16. 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 JON WHITLOCK TRIO • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • FREE LAWSON GARRETT AND THE LOVE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 MISSY ANDERSEN • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 6PM Monday, May 9 ADAM JACO • 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 VIENNA COFFEE HOUSE JAZZ TRIO • Vienna Coffee House • 5PM • FREE LOSING SEPTEMBER WITH BLAMING HOLLYWOOD AND RELICSEED • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • $5 MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ • Pilot Light • 9PM • 2015 had been a year of major change for Matthew Logan Vasquez. He moved with his wife, Marthe, from Brooklyn to Austin, he saw the birth of his first child Thor, and after a decade since founding his critically acclaimed band, Delta Spirit, he finally decided to go it alone for the first time, with his solo debut, The Austin EP, released November, 2015, and a the full length LP, Solicitor Returns February, 2016, that shortly followed. 18 and up. • $10 BRIAN DOLZANI • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • FREE THE MALLETT BROTHERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 Tuesday, May 10

SHAWNA CASPI • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE MARK MANDEVILLE AND RAIANNE RICHARDS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards are clearly inheritors of a timeless legacy, creating music that is both original and evocative of a rich tradition. • FREE BRIAN CLAY • Red Piano Lounge • 7PM MARBLE CITY 5 • Market Square • 8PM • Live jazz every Tuesday from May 3-Aug. 30. • FREE CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM SUNSHINE NIGHTS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 LEE BAINS III AND THE GLORY FIRES • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • $6 Wednesday, May 11 NATE CURRIN WITH BRAD AUSTIN • 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 GROOVE THERAPY • Red Piano Lounge • 7PM THE DESLONDES • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • The Deslondes are a New Orleans-based band, whose raw, stripped-down sound springs to mind a country-meets-Southern-R&B hybrid rooted partly in the Texas singer/songwriter tradition, partly on the weathered floor of a Louisiana dance hall. • FREE TENNESSEE SHINES: BIG SANDY AND HIS FLY-RITE BOYS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys are beloved by many, with 14 albums of undiluted joyful music pulled from rockabilly, rock & roll, honky-tonk, rhythm & blues, soul and doo-wop. What A Dream It’s Been, out August 27 on Cow Island Music, is a collection of the band’s favorite original numbers--all acoustic, reinterpreted with fresh new arrangements, rhythms, and instrumentation. • $10 THE DENNIS DOW TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE BRAD AUSTIN BAND WITH NATE CURRIN • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 Thursday, May 12 THE NEW 76ERS • 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 HALEY MCGINNIS AND STAN GIBERT • The Orangery • 6PM OTEP WITH SEPTEMBER MOURNING, THROUGH FIRE, AND DOLL SKIN • The Concourse • 7PM • Otep Shamaya’s music is formed from the poetic marrow of creative intercourse. Art for art’s sake. 18 and up. • $20-$22 JACOB THOMAS JR. • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • In a world full of wanna-be good guys, Jacob Thomas Jr is content to be a villain... at least as far as his debut album, Original Sin, is concerned. Over the course of 11 songs, he shines a light on the darker side of human nature, playing the sort of crooked crooner you’d want to keep far away from your mother. • FREE KITTY WAMPUS • The Rocks Tavern • 7PM • Classic rock, blues, and R&B.

www.TennesseeTheatre.com

May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37

CALENDAR

Thursday, May 5 - Sunday, May 15

KELSEY’S WOODS • Market Square • 7PM • Combining equal parts of roots, country, folk and a little rock and roll, Kelsey’s Woods boasts four-part harmonies, interchangeable lead singers and all original songs. • FREE WILL CARTER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM DYLAN SCOTT • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • A native of the small northeastern Louisiana town of Bastrop, Dylan Scott grew up with a passion for music in general, and country music in particular, and a deep and profound love and respect for the outdoors. More than anything else, those two traits define who Dylan Scott is and what gives him direction and purpose in life. Dylan’s father, a former guitar player for country legends Freddy Fender and Freddy Hart, taught Dylan at an early age the basics of singing and playing guitar and thus introduced him to the world of music. • $10 PHANTOM POP WITH DYNAMO • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM THE NEW 76ERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The New 76ers are an acoustic folk “family” trio. Our sound comes from a collective respect for acoustic and electric music. • FREE

BIG SANDY AND HIS FLY-RITE BOYS TENNESSEE SHINES AT BOYD’S JIG AND REEL WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 AT 7 P.M.

Photo by LACE Photography

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

Friday, May 13 LACY GREEN • 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 ALIVE AFTER FIVE: THE STACY MITCHHART BAND • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • The Stacy Mitchhart

Band is widely recognized as the best show in Nashville, as the house band for the famed Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar on historic Printer’s Alley for many years and also frequent appearances at B.B. King’s Blues Club. • $15 WENDEL WERNER • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM DAVID CHILDERS AND THE SERPENTS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • Throughout his 20-year career as a singer, songwriter and bandleader, Childers has written about the tension between secular and religious impulses. His albums have always included songs of wild hedonism and uplifting faith but, as his new album, Serpents of Reformation,evolved, he found himself drawn to themes of salvation and repentance. • FREE MS. NIKKI • The Alley • 7PM • Enjoy the sultry sounds of Ms. Nikki and her jamming band. SHAUN ABBOTT • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE BLACK JACKET SYMPHONY: ‘WISH YOU WERE HERE’ • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • The Black Jacket Symphony offers a unique concert experience by recreating classic albums in a live performance setting with a first class lighting and video production. A selected album is performed in its entirety by a group of hand-picked musicians specifically selected for each album. With no sonic detail being overlooked, the musicians do whatever it takes to musically reproduce the album. Following the album and a brief intermission, the Black Jacket Symphony returns

CALENDAR to the stage to perform a collection of greatest hits by the evening’s artist. The Black Jacket Symphony returns to perform Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here “ live--note for note, sound for sound. • $28 SHIMMY AND THE BURNS • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. • FREE BELLEVILLE WITH TINDERBOX CIRCUS SIDESHOW, LA BASURA DEL DIABLO, AND THE BILLY WIDGETS • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Things are gonna get spooky Friday the 13th. The night will feature an album release by Bulletville and a real sword-swallowing, fire-eating circus sideshow act. All ages. • $5 FRIGHTENED RABBIT WITH CAVEMAN • The International • 9PM • Frightened Rabbit are proudly Scottish, and adored on native soil, but their songs also seem to take on greater resonance and power the further from home they travel. Ideas might have come on any one of the ten or so US tours undertaken by the band, each bigger, noisier, rowdier, more special than the last – there aren’t many British bands who can match Frightened Rabbit, formed by this thoughtful former art student nine years ago, for the level and intensity of their American success. 18 and up. • $15-$18 COUNTY-WIDE • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM PLANKEYE PEGGY WITH SWINGBOOTY • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM JEANINE FULLER • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • $0 SOULFINGER • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM WILL BOYD • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • $5 CAUTION • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Caution gives audiences the ultimate jam music experience, covering legendary jam bands like the Grateful Dead, Phish and Widespread Panic. Since 1996, Caution has been turning crowds on to jam music with a mass appealing, in-your-face approach to the jam band style. • $5 ANGELA PERLEY AND THE HOWLIN’ MOONS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE ANNABELLE’S CURSE WITH THE MCLOVINS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 MATTHEW HICKEY • Barley’s (Maryville) • 10PM

clarinet, violin, and highly-arranged vocals. We have performed at large music festivals and two singles from our most recent album have been in rotation on many national radio stations. 21 and up. • FREE EXIT 60 • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM THE CHUCK MULLICAN JAZZ BONANZA • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE JOEY PIERCE PROJECT • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM ALL THEM WITCHES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Heavy, heady and hypnotic, All Them Witches concoct a powerful and potent psychedelic sound that fuses bluesy soul, Southern swagger and thunderous hard rock. With their transfixing releases, 2012’s Our Mother Electricity and 2014’s Lightning At The Door, and a jam-filled live show where no two shows are the same, the band has amassed a devoted following and have become something of a sensation in the underground rock scene. • $5 THE VIBRASLAPS • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM THE BURNIN’ HERMANS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $5 MILES NIELSEN AND THE RUSTED HEARTS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE PARTY THIEVES WITH FALSE PANIC • The Concourse • 10PM • 18 and up. • $10-$15 MOJO: FLOW • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 10PM

Saturday, May 14 COMMUNITY CENTER WITH SCOTT SOUTHWORTH • 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 DOYLE LAWSON AND QUICKSILVER WITH LARRY CORDLE AND LONESOME STANDARD TIME • Bijou Theatre • 7PM • WDVX’s World Class Bluegrass concert series presents two of East Tennessee’s most beloved bluegrass bands. For more information, visit WDVX.com. TERRAPLANE DRIFTERS • Last Days of Autumn Brewery • 7PM THE NEW APOLOGETIC • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • FREE JAZZSPIRATIONS • Red Piano Lounge • 7:30PM KNOXVILLE HYDROCEPHALUS AWARENESS ROCK CONCERT • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • We are going to rock the night away in support of people with a condition called Hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus aka, water on the brain, is a condition where too much cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the membrane that protects the brain. Visit hydroangelsoveramerica.org. COMMUNITY CENTER • Preservation Pub • 8PM • Community Center’s live show has been winning over diverse audiences with storytelling songwriting and a live set that features saxophone, accordion, cello,

Sunday, May 15 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 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.

OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS

Thursday, May 5 VIENNA COFFEE HOUSE OPEN MIC NIGHT • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • Visit viennacoffeehouse.net. • FREE IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. • FREE OPEN CHORD BREWHOUSE BLUES JAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Join Robert Higginbotham and the Smoking Section for the Brewhouse Blues Jam. Bring your instrument, sign up, and join the jammers. We supply drums and a full backline of amps. Sign-ups begin at 7 p.m. before the show. • FREE Sunday, May 8 EPWORTH MONTHLY OLD HARP SHAPE NOTE SINGING • Laurel Theater • 6:30PM • Visit jubileearts.org. • FREE SING OUT KNOXVILLE • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7PM • A folk singing circle open to everyone. • FREE Tuesday, May 10 PRESERVATION PUB SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7PM

OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Hosted by Sarah Pickle. • FREE Wednesday, May 11 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 ACOUSTIC OPEN MIC NIGHT • Asia Cafe West • 7PM • Bring an acoustic guitar and a few songs every Wednesday. Sign-up sheet available 30 minutes prior to 7 p.m. start. Three songs or 10 minutes per performer. • FREE OPEN CHORD OPEN MIC • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • We’ve lost so many great musicians this year, it’s only right to pay tribute to all of them through an open mic night tribute event. Both solo performers and bands are welcome to perform. Sign up for a three-song slot at 7 p.m. We’ll supply everything you might need backline-wise - just bring your guitars and your cover tunes. • FREE Thursday, May 12 VIENNA COFFEE HOUSE OPEN MIC NIGHT • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • Visit viennacoffeehouse.net. • FREE SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. • FREE

DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS

Friday, May 6 LUDDITE BALL • Pilot Light • 10PM • Featuring DJ Mini Tiger and J.S. Bowman. A fundraiser for Striped Light. 18 and up. • $5 Sunday, May 8 LAYOVER SUNDAY BRUNCH • The Concourse • 12PM • Enjoy good eats, refreshing libations, and the most appropriate afternoon tunage in the company of this city’s most dedicated loafers. We’ll be serving our normal brunch in all it’s glory, courtesy of Localmotive. Musical accompaniment by the likes of Slow Nasty, Psychonaut, and a rotating list of special guests. All ages. • FREE Friday, May 13 HOUSE IS WHERE THE HEART IS • The Concourse • 7:30PM • A monthly community-oriented event consisting of yoga, flow, dance, and play, with music by Gregory Alan Tarrants and J Mo and yoga by Meryl Kerns. Sunday, May 15 LAYOVER SUNDAY BRUNCH • The Concourse • 12PM • Enjoy good eats, refreshing libations, and the most appropriate afternoon tunage in the company of this city’s most dedicated loafers. We’ll be serving our normal brunch in all it’s glory, courtesy of Localmotive. Musical accompaniment by the likes of Slow Nasty, Psychonaut, and a rotating list of special guests. All ages. • FREE

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Thursday, May 5 KSO: SYMPHONY ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7:30PM May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39

CALENDAR • This family-friendly springtime tradition features classics and pop tunes by the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Concertgoers are encouraged to arrive early and bring blankets and/or chairs to enjoy the concert. Admission is free. (Rain location: Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street) • FREE Friday, May 6 CHRISTIAN LANE • Westminster Presbyterian Church • 8PM • Come enjoy a recital by Christian Lane, one of the brightest stars in the new generation of American organists. His wide-ranging program includes works of Buxtehude, J.S. Bach, Rorem, Locklair, and Mendelssohn, among others. Admission is free, and a nursery is provided. • FREE Saturday, May 7 ASPEN STRING TRIO AND EUGINIA MOLINER • Pollard Technology Conference Center (Oak Ridge) • 7:30PM • Moliner will join the Aspen String Trio for an exciting and eclectic program, featuring delightful flute quartets by Mozart and Rossini. The Aspen String Trio will also perform string trios by Beethoven, Richard Strauss, and Gideon Klein. Subscription and individual tickets may be purchased online at www.ORCMA.org or by calling (865) 483-5569. • $25 KSO POPS SERIES: KENNY G • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 8PM • With more than 75 million albums sold world-wide, saxophonist and smooth jazz sensation Kenny G is the top-selling instrumentalist in history. Enjoy “Songbird,” “Silhouette,” and more, live with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Thursday, May 5 - Sunday, May 15

Thursday, May 12 KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • The KSO’s 80th season concludes with one of Richard Wagner’s best known works, Ride of the Valkyries. James Fellenbaum conducts the orchestra in Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, followed by the Tennessee premiere of a new Christopher Theofandis piece. The KSO joined the New Music for American consortium of American orchestras to commission this work. The program concludes with highlights from Wagner’s The Ring. Friday, May 13 KSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • The KSO’s 80th season concludes with one of Richard Wagner’s best known works, Ride of the Valkyries. James Fellenbaum conducts the orchestra in Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, followed by the Tennessee premiere of a new Christopher Theofandis piece. The KSO joined the New Music for American consortium of American orchestras to commission this work. The program concludes with highlights from Wagner’s The Ring. Sunday, May 15 MARBLE CITY OPERA: ‘SWEETS BY KATE’ • Knoxville Museum of Art • 3PM • Sweets by Kate, a new opera by Griffin Candey, is a story of love, friendship, acceptance, and new beginnings. This 80-minute opera will pull at the heart strings of a modern audience while keeping them entertained through comedy and drama. This story

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THEATER AND DANCE

Thursday, May 5 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘SOUTH PACIFIC’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • From the haunting “Bali Ha’i” to the exquisite “Some Enchanted Evening,” this Rodgers & Hammerstein classic features some of the most beautiful music ever composed for the theatre. The Pulitzer Prize and 10-time Tony Award winner is set on a tropical island during World War II and tells the romantic tale of how the happiness of two couples is threatened by the realities of war and prejudice. April 20-May 8. V isit clarencebrowntheatre.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘BETRAYAL’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Harold Pinter’s play tracks the course of an affair, but it does so backwards: it opens with a meeting between the two lovers some years after the affair ended; it finishes with the first erotically charged encounter between the two, nine years earlier. April 22-May 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13-$15 Friday, May 6 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • The play’s subtitle is “Prince Ferris’ Day Off,” because the play is a witty and clever mashup of the Grimm fairy tales of Snow White and Rose Red, as well as the iconic 1980s

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Mon-Wed • 8 am - 10 pm | Thurs-Sat • 8 am - 11 pm 211 W. Young High Pike Knoxville, TN 37920 • 865.573.1320 • Follow us on

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. May 6-22. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘SOUTH PACIFIC’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • The Pulitzer Prize and 10-time Tony Award winner is set on a tropical island during World War II and tells the romantic tale of how the happiness of two couples is threatened by the realities of war and prejudice. April 20-May 8. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: ‘URINETOWN’ • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • This funny show with the funny name is a hilarious side-splitting take on greed, love, revolution - and musicals! Set in a time when water is worth its weight in gold, a Gotham-like city is facing a 20-year drought that leads to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. April 22-May 8. Visit orplayhouse.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘BETRAYAL’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Harold Pinter’s play tracks the course of an affair, but it does so backwards: it opens with a meeting between the two lovers some years after the affair ended; it finishes with the first erotically charged encounter between the two, nine years earlier. April 22-May 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13-$15 Saturday, May 7 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM a nd 5PM • The play’s subtitle is “Prince Ferris’ Day Off,” because the play is a witty and clever mashup of the Grimm fairy tales of Snow White and Rose Red, as well as the iconic 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. May 6-22. Visit

CALENDAR knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘SOUTH PACIFIC’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 7:30PM • The Pulitzer Prize and 10-time Tony Award winner is set on a tropical island during World War II and tells the romantic tale of how the happiness of two couples is threatened by the realities of war and prejudice. April 20-May 8. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: ‘URINETOWN’ • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • This funny show with the funny name is a hilarious side-splitting take on greed, love, revolution - and musicals! Set in a time when water is worth its weight in gold, a Gotham-like city is facing a 20-year drought that leads to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. April 22-May 8. Visit orplayhouse.com.. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘BETRAYAL’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Harold Pinter’s play tracks the course of an affair, but it does so backwards: it opens with a meeting between the two lovers some years after the affair ended; it finishes with the first erotically charged encounter between the two, nine years earlier. April 22-May 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13-$15 Sunday, May 8 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • The play’s subtitle is “Prince Ferris’ Day Off,” because the play is a witty and clever mashup of the Grimm fairy tales of Snow White and Rose Red, as well as the iconic 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. May 6-22. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘SOUTH PACIFIC’ • Clarence Brown Theatre • 2PM • The Pulitzer Prize and 10-time Tony Award winner is set on a tropical island during World War II and tells the romantic tale of how the happiness of two couples is threatened by the realities of war and prejudice. April 20-May 8. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: ‘URINETOWN’ • This funny show with the funny name is a hilarious side-splitting take on greed, love, revolution - and musicals! Set in a time when water is worth its weight in gold, a Gotham-like city is facing a 20-year drought that leads to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. April 22-May 8. Visit orplayhouse.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘BETRAYAL’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Harold Pinter’s play tracks the course of an affair, but it does so backwards: it opens with a meeting between the two lovers some years after the affair ended; it finishes with the first erotically charged encounter between the two, nine years earlier. April 22-May 8. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $13-$15

Saturday, May 14 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM a nd 5PM • The play’s subtitle is “Prince Ferris’ Day Off,” because the play is a witty and clever mashup of the Grimm fairy tales of Snow White and Rose Red, as well as the iconic 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. May 6-22. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: RAGTIME • Tennessee Theatre • 3PM and 8PM • At the dawn of a new century, everything is changing…and anything is possible. The stories of an upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician unfold - set in turn-of-the-century New York - all three united by their desire and belief in a brighter tomorrow. • $37-$77 Sunday, May 15 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • The play’s subtitle is “Prince Ferris’ Day Off,” because the play is a witty and clever mashup of the Grimm fairy tales of Snow White and Rose Red, as well as the iconic 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. May 6-22. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 BROADWAY AT THE TENNESSEE: RAGTIME • Tennessee Theatre • 1:30PM • At the dawn of a new century, everything is changing…and anything is possible. The stories of an upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician unfold - set in turn-of-the-century New York - all three united by their desire and belief in a brighter tomorrow. • $37-$77

COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD

Friday, May 6 FIRST FRIDAY COMEDY • Saw Works Brewing Company • 7PM • A monthly showcase featuring local and touring stand-ups comics. • FREE THE OOH OOH REVUE VOL. 2 • Cocoa Moon • 10PM • Knoxville’s new monthly fun and sexy variety show. Come celebrate and round out your evening with a fabulous show filled with guys and dames, fun and games. This show features some of Knoxville’s best and emerging talent: singers, dancers, comedians, spoken word poets, burlesque artists and four chances each show to win some swanky prizes. It’s a variety show where each cast member brings a different sizzling act each month to entertain, delight, surprise and more. 18 and up. • $10 Saturday, May 7 LEANNE MORGAN • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Leanne’s style of comedy combines her southern charm and hilarious story telling about her own life into an act that keeps them coming back for more. • $25

Thursday, May 12 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • The play’s subtitle is “Prince Ferris’ Day Off,” because the play is a witty and clever mashup of the Grimm fairy tales of Snow White and Rose Red, as well as the iconic 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. May 6-22. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12

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

Friday, May 13 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • The play’s subtitle is “Prince Ferris’ Day Off,” because the play is a witty and clever mashup of the Grimm fairy tales of Snow White and Rose Red, as well as the iconic 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. May 6-22. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12

Monday, May 9 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. Free, but donations are accepted. • FREE ON THE MIC WITH MIKE • Scruffy City Hall • 7PM • Bee

Valley Productions and Scruffy City Hall are proud to present an attention-deficit, topsy turvy take on the late-night talk show format. Visit beevalleyproductions. com/comedy/onthemicwithmike. Tuesday, May 10 EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Einstein Simplified Comedy performs live comedy improv at Scruffy City Hall. It’s just like Whose Line Is It Anyway, but you get to make the suggestions. Show starts at 8:15, get there early for the best seats. No cover. • FREE OPEN MIC STAND-UP COMEDY • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM • 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 long branch.info@gmail. com to learn more, or simply come to the show a few minutes early. • FREE KNOXVILLE POETRY SLAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • All ages. • $5 Thursday, May 12 PIZZA HAS • Pizza Hoss • 8PM • On the second Thursday of the month, Pizza Hoss in Powell hosts a showcase featuring sets from some of the best comedians in East Tennessee along with selected up-and-coming talent. • FREE Sunday, May 15 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

FESTIVALS

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 41

CALENDAR musicians all day, children’s activities, an old-timey cake walk. Admission is by donation; a $5-$10 per person/ family donation is requested to help support the programs of Candoro Arts & Heritage Center. For more information, visit CandoroMarble.org. KNOXVILLE STOMP FESTIVAL OF LOST MUSIC • Downtown Knoxville • The Knoxville Stomp is a four-day festival celebrating the re-mastering and release of a newly recovered collection of recordings made at Knoxville, Tennessee’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930 known as the St. James Sessions. The citywide festival will highlight Knoxville’s varied musical heritage and the diverse voices that contributed to the city’s musical history. Dom Flemons headlines this exciting event, which also features a museum exhibition, record show, panel discussions and lots of live music. Visit knoxstomp. com. • See cover story on page 16. Sunday, May 8 KNOXVILLE STOMP FESTIVAL OF LOST MUSIC • Downtown Knoxville • The Knoxville Stomp is a four-day festival celebrating the re-mastering and release of a newly recovered collection of recordings made at Knoxville, Tennessee’s St. James Hotel in 1929 and 1930 known as the St. James Sessions. The citywide festival will highlight Knoxville’s varied musical heritage and the diverse voices that contributed to the city’s musical history. Dom Flemons headlines this exciting event, which also features a museum exhibition, record show, panel discussions and lots of live music. Visit knoxstomp. com. • See cover story on page 16.

Thursday, May 5 - Sunday, May 15

Friday, May 13 INTERNATIONAL BISCUIT FESTIVAL • Downtown Knoxville • 6PM • The International Biscuit Festival was begun in 2009 by a group of local Biscuit lovers who wanted to share Knoxville’s Biscuit heritage with the world. What started as a fun gathering for friends and family has grown into a nationally recognized food festival. In 2012, the Southern Food Writing Conference was added to the schedule to bring together authors, chefs, publishers, publicists and others who love Southern food and those who write about it. Each year, the Conference brings together a stellar group of speakers in an intimate setting to share their passion for writing about food in the South. Visit biscuitfest.com for info and a complete schedule. Saturday, May 14 ST. BRENDAN’S DAY ORTHODOX CELTIC FESTIVAL • St. Anne Orthodox Church (Oak Ridge) • 11AM • This will be a free community festival ($3 suggested donation), featuring food from St. Andrews Square, Big O’s BBQ, and Razzleberries; music and dance performances by Red Haired Mary and the Rowena Ryan Irish Dance Academy; vendors selling handmade Celtic jewelry and crafts, chainmail designs, and Orthodox icons and books; kids’ activities; presentations by St. Anne Orthodox rector Father Stephen Freeman and syndicated columnist Terry Mattingly; and Celtic games and church tours. Visit stanneorthodoxchurch.com. • FREE INTERNATIONAL BISCUIT FESTIVAL • Downtown Knoxville • 9AM • The International Biscuit Festival was begun in 2009 by a group of local Biscuit lovers who wanted to

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“Bonnaroooooo!” shout out, or register at Central Flats & Taps in Happy Holler through May 11th for chances to be one of our 90 final Bonnaroo or Bust final qualifiers, making you eligible for our reverse drawing on May 17th to win a pair of guest access passes to Bonnaroo 2016!

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

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share Knoxville’s Biscuit heritage with the world. What started as a fun gathering for friends and family has grown into a nationally recognized food festival. In 2012, the Southern Food Writing Conference was added to the schedule to bring together authors, chefs, publishers, publicists and others who love Southern food and those who write about it. Each year, the Conference brings together a stellar group of speakers in an intimate setting to share their passion for writing about food in the South. Visit biscuitfest.com for info and a complete schedule. TENNESSEE MEDIEVAL FAIRE • Tennessee Medieval Faire • 10AM • The festival will come to life on May 14 and run the last three weekends in May, including Memorial Day. This year’s festival is portraying the historical year of 500 after the fall of the Roman Empire. Visitors can cheer on their favorite knight at the live-action jousts, laugh with comedic characters and thrill to warriors’ chess. For more information, please visit www.TMFaire.com or like them on Facebook. • $16.95 SPRINGTIME IN THE SMOKIES CAR SHOW • Townsend • 11AM • The 29th annual Springtime in the Smokies car show is open to all British and European cars and motorcycles with proceeds contributed to charity. ROCK TO BACH MUSIC FESTIVAL • Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church • 10AM • As the name suggests, Rock to Bach features performances by artists from a wide variety of genres and from across East Tennessee. Doors open at 10:00 AM and over 18 acts will be presented on two stages throughout the day. The 2016 line-up includes the Mt. LeConte Jug Band, Concord Brass, Kukuly Uriarte, Kelle Jolle, Arte Musica, Silver Winds, and many more.

More information is available online at www.ORCMA.org or by calling (865) 483-5569. • $12-$30 Sunday, May 15 OPEN STREETS KNOXVILLE • 1PM • Open Streets Knoxville turns a mile of Central St. between the Old City and Happy Holler into a mile-long pop-up park, where you can walk, skateboard, and bike in a traffic-free environment. Enjoy free games, demo classes, and activities. From yoga and pickleball to live music and kids play zones; there’s something for everyone! For more info, including how to get there, where to park (for free), and the schedule of activities, go to www.openstreetsknoxville.com. • FREE TENNESSEE MEDIEVAL FAIRE • Tennessee Medieval Faire • 10AM • The festival will come to life on May 14 and run the last three weekends in May, including Memorial Day. This year’s festival is portraying the historical year of 500 after the fall of the Roman Empire. Visitors can cheer on their favorite knight at the live-action jousts, laugh with comedic characters and thrill to warriors’ chess. For more information, please visit www.TMFaire.com or like them on Facebook. • $16.95

FILM SCREENINGS

Friday, May 6 CRESTHILL CINEMA CLUB: ‘A MAN CALLED PETER’ • Cresthill Cinema Club • 8PM • One of the very best films ever made about a clergyman, A Man Called Peter is beautifully executed on every level. It tells the true story

CALENDAR of Peter Marshall, the young Scottish Presbyterian minister who, in January 1947, was appointed chaplain of the United States Senate. 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 PEACE OFFICER • THE BIRDHOUSE • 7:30PM • Join us for a free screening of Peace Officer with filmmaker Brad Barber. Presented by Independent Lens, East Tennessee PBS and the birdhouse Walk-in Theater. Peace Officer explores how the increasingly tense relationship between law enforcement and the public is seen through the eyes of someone who’s been on both sides: a former sheriff who established Utah’s first SWAT team, only to see the same unit kill his son-in-law in a controversial standoff 30 years later. • FREE Monday, May 9 THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. • FREE Tuesday, May 10 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

SPORTS AND RECREATION

Thursday, May 5 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 Friday, May 6 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, May 7 TIE DYE DASH 4K COLOR RUN • West Side YMCA • 8:30AM • The West Side Y is hosting a Tie Dye Dash 4k color run for runners of all skill levels and ages. The Tie Dye Dash 4k will start at the West Side Y lower parking lot and run through West Hills Park along the Jean Teague Greenway. Register now at your local Y or online. The Tie Dye Dash is great for families who are looking for a fun, active event to do together. Throughout the 4k course, you’ll be showered with clouds of bright color. All proceeds from the Tie Dye Dash 4k Color Run benefit the Y’s Annual Campaign to provide Y programs and services to those in our community who need us most. • $20-$90 MUDDER’S DAY MADNESS 5K • Montvale • 10AM • Join us for the 2016 Mudder’s Day Madness 5K and enjoy new obstacles, reduced pricing, new trails, food trucks, and kid friendly activities. Proceeds from the Mudder’s Day Madness 5K benefit Harmony Family Center and their service to children through foster care, adoption, and post adoption counseling and programs. Challenging 5K course with many hills and obstacles along the way, as well as rocky, slippery, uneven terrain throughout. Need more information? Please contact Beverly Gonzalez at 865-981-3953 or via email at beverly@harmonyfamilycenter.org. • $35-$45 KTC WILD HANN JIVIN’ IN THE DARK TRAIL RACE • Urban Wilderness • 8:45PM • Being a spring race rather than fall, we’ll head into the woods at the odd hour of 8:45, eleven minutes after sunset, for a six mile tour of the Helix section of the Urban Wilderness. And although the course will be unusually well marked, it will not be illuminated, so runners will be required to carry a flashlight or wear a headlamp. A one mile Kids Trail Race will precede the adult race. SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: MCCLOUD MOUNTAIN • 8AM • This is a section of the Cumberland Trail that will be officially opening later in 2016 but already has a nice, easy trail that runs right along the top of the mountain above the town of Lafollette. Meet at Cracker Barrel, 5001 Central Avenue Pike, at 8 am, or at McCloud Mountain at 9 am. Leader: Missy Kane, missyfitandfun@gmail.com. • FREE Sunday, May 8 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, May 9 KTC GROUP RUN • Mellow Mushroom • 6PM • Visit ktc.org. • FREE BEARDEN BEER MARKET FUN RUN • Bearden Beer Market • 6:30PM • Visit beardenbeermarket.com. • FREE Tuesday, May 10 CYCOLOGY 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, May 11 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 Thursday, May 12 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 Friday, May 13 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, May 14 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: CUMBERLAND TRAIL • 7:30AM • The best way to explore this long and beautiful section of the Cumberland Trail is a hike using a key swap. One part of our group will start at Rock Creek Campground near Nemo Bridge, while the other will begin at the trailhead near Devil’s Breakfast Table at Daddy’s Creek. We’ll exchange car keys mid-hike. Hike: 14 miles, rated difficult. Meet at Oak Ridge Books-a-Million, 310 South Illinois Avenue, at 7:30am. Leaders: Hiram

UPCOMING EVENTS

SLOCAN RAMBLERS

MAY 6

KNOXVILLE STOMP FESTIVAL

MAY 7-8

TENNESSEE SHINES PRESENTS:

BIG SANDY & HIS FLY-RITE BOYS

MAY 11

ANGELA PERLEY & THE HOWLIN’ MOONS

MAY 13

MILES NIELSEN & THE RUSTED HEARTS

MAY 14

FULL EVENTS CALENDAR AT JIGANDREEL.COM 865-247-7066 May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 43

CALENDAR Rogers, hiramrogers@yahoo.com, & Mark Shipley, mark. shipley@townoffarragut.org. • FREE Sunday, May 15 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

ART

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts 556 Parkway (Gatlinburg) MARCH 19-MAY 14: Not to Scale, artwork by Arrowmont artists in residence Charlie Ryland, Drew Davis Johnson, Julia Gartrell, Sarah Rachel Brown, and Skye Livingston. APRIL 27-JUNE 25: Arrowmont staff exhibit, featuring artwork by Jeda Barr, Nick DeFord, Kelly Sullivan, Vickie Bradshaw, Bill Griffith, Kelly Hider, Jennifer Blackburn, Ernie Schultz, Heather Ashworth, Laura Tuttle, Bob Biddlestone and Jason Burnett. Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. MAY 3-28: An exhibit by the Tennessee Watercolor Society. An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 6, at 5:30 p.m. Bliss Home 24 Market Square

Thursday, May 5 - Sunday, May 15

MAY 6-31: Artwork for the International Biscuit Festival by Hannah Holder. An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 6, from 6-9 p.m. Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 Broadway MAY 6-31: Body as Art, featuring clay figure work by Annamaria Gundlach. An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 6, from 5-9 p.m. The District Gallery 5113 Kingston Pike APRIL 22-MAY 31: Along the Way, oil paintings by Kathie Odom. Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. MAY 6-28: Artsource 2016, featuring artwork by Knox County art educators. An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 6, from 5-9 p.m. East Tennessee History Center 601 S. Gay St. APRIL 16-OCT. 30: Come to Make Records, a selection of artifacts, audio and video recordings, and photographs celebrating Knoxville’s music heritage and the 1929-30 St. James Hotel recording sessions. Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. MAY 6-27: Recessive, photographs by Abigail Malone; photography by Rachel Quammie; and International

Latino Art Exhibition. An opening reception for all three shows will be held on Friday, May 6, from 5-9 p.m. Envision Art Gallery 4050 Sutherland Ave. APRIL 22-MAY 20: Find Ourselves, paintings and drawings by Sarah Moore. Knoxville Museum of Art 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive MAY 6-AUG. 7: Full Stop, a large-scale installation by painter Tom Burkhardt, and Contemporary Focus 2016, with artwork by installation/video/sound artist John Douglas Powers. 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 APRIL 28-MAY 21: Paintings and photography by Ursula Brenner, Elaine Clark Thomas, Jillie Eves, Ted Borman, and Ann Allison-Cote. 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.

LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS

Thursday, May 5 MARGARET BAKER: ‘FEEDING WILD BIRDS IN AMERICA’ • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Book signing with Margaret Barker, one of the authors of Feeding Wild Birds in America: Culture, Commerce, and Conservation • FREE SCOTT SCHLARBAUM: “TENNESSEE WILDERNESS—WHAT IS REALLY BEING PROTECTED” • University of Tennessee Arboretum (Oak Ridge) • 7PM • Co-sponsored by the Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, the talk, “Tennessee Wilderness – What Is Really Being Protected,” will be given by Dr. Scott Schlarbaum, director of the UT Tree Improvement Program. A faculty member of UT’s Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries since 1984, Dr. Schlarbaum has served in a variety of professional positions and committees regarding forest and health genetics. To learn more about this event or the UT Arboretum Society, go to www.utarboretumsociety.org. For more information on the talk, call 483-3571. • FREE Friday, May 6 KNOXVILLE STOMP PANEL DISCUSSION • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • The Knoxville Stomp Festival of Lost Music (May 5-8) celebrates the release of the Bear Family Records’ boxed set The Knoxville Sessions, 1929-1930: Knox County Stomp. The festival opens to the public on Friday, May 6, at the East Tennessee History

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

CALENDAR Center with a panel discussion featuring old-time music scholar Dr. Ted Olson, historian Tony Russell, and Bear Family Records founder and CEO Richard Weize. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www. EastTNHistory.org. • FREE Saturday, May 7 COURTNEY LIX: ‘WOMEN OF THE SMOKIES’ • Union Ave Books • 1PM • Book signing with Courtney Lix, author of Women of the Smokies: No Place for the Weary Kind • FREE Sunday, May 8 WILLIAM MORRIS: ‘MEMPHIS BAR-B-KREWE’ • Union Ave Books • 2PM • Book signing with William Morris, author of Memphis Bar-B-Krewe • FREE Wednesday, May 11 STEPHANIE PIPER: “ORDINARY TIME” • University of Tennessee • 5PM • Knoxville Mercury columnist Stephanie Piper will take part in Literary Rounds: Where Medicine Mingles With the Muse, a monthly series that seeks to integrate the arts and medicine. The series is free and open to the public. Complementary parking is provided. Held at the Health Information Center-Preston Medical Library at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. • FREE Thursday, May 12 SCOTT MCCREERY: ‘GO BIG OR GO HOME’ • LifeWay Christian Store • 6PM • ACM, BMI and CMT Award winning country music singer/songwriter Scotty McCreery, who first captured America’s hearts when he won “American Idol” Season 10 five years ago at age 17, is now an author. The multi-Platinum-selling sensation will be appearing locally as part of his 14-city tour for his new book Go Big or Go Home: The Journey Toward the Dream. McCreery’s book is his travelogue, sharing stories of growing up in small town America with a big dream and the perseverance that led him to his country music success today. More details on the tour can be found at ScottyMcCreery.com/Tour. • FREE Sunday, May 15 RHETA GRIMSLEY JOHNSON: ‘DOGS BURIED OVER THE BRIDGE’ • Union Ave Books • 2PM • Book signing with Rheta Grimsley Johnson reading from her new book, Dogs Buried over the Bridge : A Memoir in Dog Years. • FREE

FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS

Saturday, May 7 FAMILY FUN DAY: MOTHER’S DAY CELEBRATION • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 1PM • Join us for free a free Family Fun Day featuring activities, crafts, tours, and more. We’ll celebrate moms this month with a Mother’s Day Celebration. All materials will be provided. The program is free and open to the public. Reservations are not necessary. • FREE Sunday, May 8 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 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. • FREE Tuesday, May 10

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY KID TO KID: FUN WITH A PURPOSE • Cancer Support Community • 3:30PM • Your children will gain coping skills and have opportunities to talk about a loved one’s cancer diagnosis while also having fun. Please call before your first visit and RSVP. 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. Saturday, May 14 EAST TENNESSEE YOUTH PRIDE FEST • First Presbyterian Church (Oak Ridge) • 12PM • All youth ages 12-20 (and their families) are invited to the third annual East Tennessee Youth Pride Festival. Students from Oak Ridge High School GSTA (Gay-Straight-Trans Alliance) and members of Oak Ridge PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) are leading the planning of the Youth Pride Fest. Youth, parents, and guests will have the opportunity to participate in a rotation of life-enhancing seminars, as well as outdoor games, music, and informational booths. The event will end with an open mic coffee house and a performance by the Knoxville Gay Men’s Chorus. More info can be found at http://www. youthpridefest.weebly.com. • FREE

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Thursday, May 5 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 AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER CLASS • Buckingham Retirement Center • 9AM • Call (865) 382-5822. AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER CLASS • Oak Ridge Senior Center • 9:30AM • Call (865) 382-5822. CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: KNIT YOUR WAY TO WELLNESS • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • Whether you are a novice knitter or an old pro, you are invited to bring your own project or join others in learning a new one. Special attention will be provided to beginners interested in learning how to knit and experience the meditative quality of knitting. Supplies provided. Call 865-546-4661. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • This class is an hour of student-led training and review of Capoeira skills and exercises. Come prepared to sweat. Visit knoxvillecapoeira.org. • $10 WHAT EMPLOYERS WANT • Goodwill Industries • 5:30PM • As part of National Goodwill Week, Goodwill Industries-Knoxville is hosting four free workshops to help you grow in your career! Join for one or all of these free sessions; learn more at www.goodwillknoxville.org. This session will share employment information gathered from local and national employers. It will specifically address the skills and qualities which are of interest to employers and often make the difference between an entry level and advanced level position within a company. This training is free and open to the public; no registration is required. • FREE Saturday, May 7 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10:30AM • A

weekly improv comedy class. • FREE PAINTING WITH JOE PARROTT • Blount Mansion • 10AM • Come and join us for a day of painting with Knoxville’s own Joe Parrott. We will be offering a box lunch at noon for those that RSVP. Sunday, May 8 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us every Sunday morning for yoga instruction from Angela Gibson. This class can be tailored to each individual’s ability level. For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE CIRCLE MODERN DANCE BALLET BARRE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 1PM • This open-level barre class is designed to help students build and maintain strength, flexibility, and coordination for ballet technique. This is a great class for beginning and experienced students alike. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL MODERN TECHNIQUE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 2PM • This class is open to all. Teachers cover basic technique and vocabulary for modern and contemporary dance. The class includes floor and standing work to build proficiency in alignment, balance, initiation and articulation of movement, weight shift, elevation and landing, and fall and recovery. Instruction is adjusted to meet the experience and ability of those in attendance. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE IMPROVISATION CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 3:30PM • Our improv classes offer an introduction to dance improvisation as a movement practice, performance technique, and a tool for creating choreography. Class involves both structured and free improvisations aimed at developing creativity, spontaneous decision-making, freedom of movement, and confidence in performance. No dance experience is necessary—only the desire to move. • $10 Monday, May 9 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. NIA CARDIO-DANCE WORKOUT TECHNIQUE CLASS • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 10AM • Email emilybryant24@yahoo.com. Blending dance arts, martial arts, yoga and healing arts in a 55-minute mindful fitness fusion. MARBLE SPRINGS STARGAZING WORKSHOP • Marble Springs State Historic Site • 7AM • Conducted by Gary Noland, adjunct instructor of astronomy at the University of Tennessee. This workshop will feature the relatively rare astronomical event of Mercury’s transit across the sun. This event is free, but donations are appreciated. Details are subject to change. For more information please call (865)573-5508, email info@marblesprings. net, or visit our website at www.marblesprings.net. • FREE NUTS AND BOLTS OF HIKING THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL • REI • 4:30PM • Listen to local author and AT through hiker Gary Sizer present on planning and preparing for an Appalachian Trail thru-hike, as well as discuss alternate itineraries for an adventure of a lifetime. Two classes, at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Visit rei.com/stores/knoxville. • FREE Tuesday, May 10 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021

Knoxville’s BEST live music venue 6 nights a week!

Happy Hour 3pm to 8pm Huge selection of Craft, Import & Local beer Locally roasted coffee

thurs may 5 • 8pm free • 18+

the Brewhouse Blues Jam w/ Robert Higginbotham & the Smoking Section ( blues )

fri may 6 • 8pm $5 • All Ages

Video Release Party

one-hour-photo w/ mr. ill, j-bush, black atticus & dj wigs ( hip hop )

Sat. May 7 • 8 PM $5 • All ages Briston Maroney w/Robinson Park and The Valley Opera

( alt rock )

mon may 9 • 8pm $5 • 18+

losing september w/ Blaming Hollywood, Relicseed, & more ( rock ) "Coolest venue in town! Not too big, not too small. Great sound system and audio engineers. Lights show, good food, cold beer and a music store in the back. Oh, and they give lessons, too. Seriously? I still can't believe this place is real." -Austin Hall of Sam Killed The Bear

Knoxville’s Best Musical Instrument Store

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

May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 45

CALENDAR or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • Capoeira originated in Brazil and is a dynamic expression of Afro-Brazilian culture. It is an art form that encompasses martial arts, dance, and acrobatic movements as well as its own philosophy, history, culture, music, and songs. Visit capoeiraknoxville.org. • $10 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY NUTRITION AMMUNITION • Cancer Support Community • 12PM • Call (865) 546-4611. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. Wednesday, May 11 NIA CARDIO-DANCE WORKOUT TECHNIQUE CLASS • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 6PM • Email emilybryant24@yahoo.com. CIRCLE MODERN DANCE INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED MODERN TECHNIQUE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • A rotation of core members and guest artists of Circle Modern Dance teach this class. They present a variety of modern and contemporary styles, including Bartenieff and release-based techniques. This class is primarily designed for students with a basic knowledge of modern dance technique and vocabulary, but is open to any mover who is willing to be challenged. CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL BALLET CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 7:30PM • This is a basic ballet class open to students of all levels of experience and ability. Students will learn new steps, build coordination and flexibility, and learn choreography.

Thursday, May 5 - Sunday, May 15

• $10 CLIMBING FUNDAMENTALS • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Come learn the basics of climbing every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Space is limited so call 865-673-4687 to reserve your spot now. Class fee $20. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com/events. • $20 Thursday, May 12 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 2PM • Portrait and life drawing practice at Candoro Art & Heritage Center. $10. Call Brad Selph for more information (865-573-0709). • $10 KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • This class is an hour of student-led training and review of Capoeira skills and exercises. Come prepared to sweat. Visit knoxvillecapoeira.org. • $10 AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER CLASS • East Tennessee Medical Group • 8AM • Call (865) 382-5822. AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 12PM • Call (865) 382-5822. CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: HEALING THROUGH ART • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • No experience necessary. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no

cost to individuals affected by cancer. KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: GROW VEGGIES ANYWHERE • Humana Guidance Center • 3:15PM • Join Master Gardener Amy Haun to learn how you can grow organic herbs and vegetables in containers - finding space on your deck, patio or even a windowsill. Call 865-329-8892. • FREE Friday, May 13 AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 12PM • Call (865) 382-5822. Saturday, May 14 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10:30AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE 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 KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: GROW VEGGIES ANYWHERE • Bearden Branch Public Library • 1:30PM • Join Master Gardener Amy Haun to learn how you can

grow organic herbs and vegetables in containers - finding space on your deck, patio or even a windowsill.Call 865-588-8813 or knoxlib.org. • FREE Sunday, May 15 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us every Sunday morning for yoga instruction from Angela Gibson. This class can be tailored to each individual’s ability level. For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE I BIKE KNX OPEN HOUSE BIKE CLASSES • Earth Fare (Bearden) • 2PM • At our Open House sessions, you can choose from: Biking for Beginners, Getting Back on a Bicycle, Learning to Ride: Adults, and Freedom from Training Wheels: Children. Classes will be held on March 6, April 3, May 1, May 15, and June 5. Meet us at Third Creek Greenway trailhead near Earth Fare in Bearden. Adults are $20; kids are $10. (Your kids are welcome to come ride around while you are in class, even if they aren’t taking a class. There is a parking lot behind the shopping center with no traffic.)• $20 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE BALLET BARRE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 1PM • This open-level barre class is designed to help students build and maintain strength, flexibility, and coordination for ballet technique. This is a great class for beginning and experienced students alike. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL MODERN TECHNIQUE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 2PM • This class is open to all. Teachers cover basic technique

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How humanistic motivations draw people to religion and how love still works to help others after religious faith dies.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

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CALENDAR and vocabulary for modern and contemporary dance. The class includes floor and standing work to build proficiency in alignment, balance, initiation and articulation of movement, weight shift, elevation and landing, and fall and recovery. Instruction is adjusted to meet the experience and ability of those in attendance. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE IMPROVISATION CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 3:30PM • Our improv classes offer an introduction to dance improvisation as a movement practice, performance technique, and a tool for creating choreography. Class involves both structured and free improvisations aimed at developing creativity, spontaneous decision-making, freedom of movement, and confidence in performance. No dance experience is necessary—only the desire to move. • $10

SEEKERS OF SILENCE • Church of the Savior United Church of Christ • 9AM • The May 7 Seekers of Silence Contemplative Saturday Morning meeting will be the annual Bookshare and Roundtable Discussion at which participants will discuss spiritual books and poetry they have read. The meeting is from 9 a.m. to noon at the Church of the Savior, 934 N. Weisgarber Road. All are welcome. The ecumenical and interfaith group’s semiannual organizational meeting will be held following the program. Website: sosknoxville.org. • FREE GERMAN TREFF • GruJo’s German Restaurant • 2PM • Whether you have lived in Germany and would like to share some memories, would like to explore your roots, practice the language, or if you are just curious and like to meet new people, this monthly meeting, held on the first Saturday of each month, is a great opportunity to have a wonderful time. • FREE

MEETINGS

Sunday, May 8 NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us for our Silent Meditation Gathering on Sundays. The gatherings are intended to be inclusive of people of all faiths as well as those who do not align themselves with a particular religious denomination. For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@ narrowridge.org. • FREE THREE RIVERS! EARTH FIRST! • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 7PM • Three Rivers! Earth First! is the local dirt worshiping, tree hugging, anarchist collective that meets every Sunday night on the second floor of Barley’s in the back room (when its available) to organize against strip mining, counter protest the KKK and Nazis, to clean up Third Creek and to fight evil corporations in general. Open meeting, rotating facilitation, collective model. Y’all come. Call (865) 257-4029 for more information. • FREE SKEPTIC BOOK CLUB • Books-A-Million • 2PM • The book club of the Rationalists of East Tennessee meets on the second Sunday of every month. Visit rationalists.org. • FREE

Thursday, May 5 SCRUFFY CITY ORCHESTRA • First Baptist Church • 7PM • A new venue for musicians from the greater Knoxville metropolitan area, Scruffy City Orchestra, kicks off with regular rehearsals on Thursdays. Conductors are Matt Wilkinson and Ace Edewards. Prospective members, especially string players, are encouraged to contact Alicia Meryweather at ScruffyCityOrchestra@gmail.com for more information. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY FAMILY BEREAVEMENT GROUP • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • CSC is committed to providing bereavement services to those who have lost a loved one to cancer. Please contact our clinical staff before attending. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY BREAST CANCER NETWORKER • Thompson Cancer Survivor Center West • 6PM • This drop-in group is an opportunity for women who have or have had breast cancer to come together to exchange information, offer support, education and encouragement. Bring your favorite seasonal snack to share. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. NAACP • Beck Cultural Exchange Center • 6PM • The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. Join the fight for freedom by becoming a member of the NAACP. Regular individual annual membership rates vary. KNOXVILLE WRITERS’ GUILD • Central United Methodist Church • 7PM • The Knoxville Writers’ Guild exists to facilitate a broad and inclusive community for area writers, provide a forum for information, support and sharing among writers, help members improve and market their writing skills and promote writing and creativity. A $2 donation is requested. Additional information about KWG can be found at www. KnoxvilleWritersGuild.org. Saturday, May 7 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

Monday, May 9 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, May 10 ATHEISTS SOCIETY OF KNOXVILLE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 5:30PM • Weekly atheists meetup and happy hour. Come join us for food, drink and great conversation. Everyone welcome. • FREE KNOXVILLE COMMUNITY STEP UP • Beck Cultural Exchange Center • 11AM • Do you have an incarcerated relative, friend, or loved one? Do you need a support system to keep your relative, friend, or loved one from going or returning to prison? Then come and join us! Our goal is to connect ex-offenders to established organizations offering the needed services that will provide the support and resources to prevent them from re-entry into the prison system. Membership is a one-time fee of $5. KNOXVILLE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE • Bearden Banquet Hall • 7PM • David Powell has published numerous articles on historical simulations of different battles. For the past decade David’s focus has been on the battle of Chickamauga and is recognized nationally for his writings on that battlefield. The lecture will begin at 8 PM, Tuesday, May 10th, 2016, Bearden Banquet Hall, 5806

COMMUNITY Being a positive force in our community is a huge part of our mission. One of the ways we do that is by hosting our monthly Pints for a Purpose fundraiser. On the fourth Thursday of each month, we choose a local non-profit, environmental or grassroots organization. We raise money for them by bringing in a craft brewery for a tap takeover at our Switchback Tavern. We also bring in vendor sponsors for the event to help with the donations. In three years, we have raised over $18,000 for organizations like: The Tremont Institute, Appalachian Bear Rescue, Blount County Habitat for Humanity and The Little River Watershed, just to name a few. In addition to our pint nights, we have also created a network with locally owned businesses within our county to create a community support system. As we stand at the cusp of our 20th year, we can look back and feel good about the path we have walked. Join us as we look forward to a bright future with our community.

Get ready for your next outdoor adventure here! 2408 E Lamar Alexander Pkwy 725 Watkins Road Maryville Maryville Store Hours: M-Fri 9-7pm Store Hours: M-Sat 10-7pm Sat 9-6pm • Sun 12-6pm Sun 12-6pm 865.681.4141 865.983.8095 www.littlerivertradingco.com May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 47

CALENDAR Kingston Pike. Lecture only cost $5, students free. Dinner at 7PM, $17 including lecture. RSVP BY NOON Monday May 9th, 865-671-9001. • $5-$17 HARVEY BROOME GROUP OF THE SIERRA CLUB • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7PM • The Sierra Club is a national, member-supported environmental organization that seeks to influence public policy in Washington D.C., in the state capitals, and locally through public education and grass-roots political action. As one of five Groups within the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Harvey Broome Group is based in Knoxville and focuses on Knox County and 17 surrounding counties in East Tennessee. • FREE Thursday, May 12 SCRUFFY CITY ORCHESTRA • First Baptist Church • 7PM • A new venue for musicians from the greater Knoxville metropolitan area, Scruffy City Orchestra, kicks off with regular rehearsals on Thursdays. Conductors are Matt Wilkinson and Ace Edewards. Prospective members, especially string players, are encouraged to contact Alicia Meryweather at ScruffyCityOrchestra@gmail.com for more information. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY 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

Business

Thursday, May 5 - Sunday, May 15

cost to individuals affected by cancer. Saturday, May 14 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, May 15 NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us for our Silent Meditation Gathering on Sundays. The gatherings are intended to be inclusive of people of all faiths as well as those who do not align themselves with a particular religious denomination.For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@ narrowridge.org. • FREE THREE RIVERS! EARTH FIRST! • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 7PM • Three Rivers! Earth First! is the local dirt worshiping, tree hugging, anarchist collective that meets every Sunday night on the second floor of Barley’s in the back room (when its available) to organize against strip mining, counter protest the KKK and Nazis, to clean up

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

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Third Creek and to fight evil corporations in general. Open meeting, rotating facilitation, collective model. Y’all come. Call (865) 257-4029 for more information. • FREE RATIONALISTS OF EAST TENNESSEE • Pellissippi State Community College • 10:30AM • The Rationalists of East Tennessee focus on the real or natural universe. The group exists so that we can benefit emotionally and intellectually through meeting together to expand our awareness and understanding through shared experience, knowledge, and ideas as well as enrich our lives and the lives of others. The Rationalists do not endorse or condemn members’ thoughts or actions. Rather it hopefully encourages honest dialogue, analytic discussion, and responsible action based on reason, compassion, and factual accuracy. Visit rationalists.org. • FREE

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Thursday, May 5 KNOXVILLE SQUARE DANCE • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Jubilee Community Arts presents Knoxville Square Dance with live old-time music by The Helgramites and calling by Stan Sharp, Ruth Simmons and Leo Collins. No experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. (No taps, please.) • $7 Friday, May 6 SCARECROW FOUNDATION KENTUCKY OAKS PARTY • Silo Cigars • 4PM • Join the Scarecrow Foundation on May 6th at Silo Cigars for this limited ticket fundraiser for Second

Harvest. Contact Jimmy Bucker for tickets or more information (865) 250-3313. • $40 NOSTALGIC NIGHTS OUTDOOR MARKET • Nostalgia on McCalla • 6PM • Nostalgia on McCalla will be hosting a First Friday event on Friday, May 6 from 6:00pm till 9:00pm. Join us for a day after Cinco de Mayo party with taco bar and beverages.During the festivities the Nostalgic Nights Outdoor Market will be open. Shop local artisans, vintage, retro, industrial, repurposed, shabby chic, and antique booths. Call 865-622-3252. • FREE Saturday, May 7 ROTARY CLUB OF KNOXVILLE JOCKEYS AND JULEPS DERBY PARTY FUNDRAISER • Historic Southern Railway Station • 3PM • In its second year, the popular and growing event will include a red carpet arrival, races projected on a 15-foot TV, a ladies’ fancy hat contest, a gentlemen’s bowtie contest, and more. Proceeds from the event go directly to benefit the Rotary Foundation of Knoxville’s charitable work and are used to fund many of Rotary’s projects at home and abroad. Tickets are now on sale for $100 each and can be purchased through the Rotary Club of Knoxville’s Facebook page or by visiting www. knoxvillerotary.org. • $100 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • The MSFM, a project of Nourish Knoxville, is an open-air farmers’ market located on historic Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. We are a producer only market – everything is either made, grown or raised by our vendors all within a 150 mile radius of the MSFM. Products vary by the season and include

CALENDAR ornamental plants, vegetable and herb starts, produce, dairy, eggs, honey, meats, baked goods, jams/jellies, coffee, & artisan crafts. Every Wednesday from 11a.m. to 2p.m. and Saturday from 9a.m. to 2p.m., May 4 – November 19, 2016. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE BEARDSLEY COMMUNITY FARM COMMUNITY WORKDAY • Beardsley Community Farm • 9AM • We ask that volunteers come dressed for working outside, wear closed-toed shoes, and bring a water bottle. Wearing layers is a good idea this time of year. Our Saturday Workdays are open to the community, so there is no need to sign up in advance. Come for the whole morning or just come for an hour. We look forward to working with you! If you have any questions email us at beardsleyfarm@gmail.com. • FREE MAD, BAD, AND DANGEROUS KNOXVILLE • Historic Southern Railway Station • 11AM • Mad, Bad, & Dangerous is a movement, a belief, a space where women and girls discover the inspiration, power, and tools to become bold entrepreneurs. This free entrepreneurial conference for women, girls, and the men who support them will be sponsored by the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center. Join us as we ditch expectations and start something. Register at knoxville.getyourmbd.com • FREE CANDLE LIGHT SERVICE FOR THE MENTALLY ILL • Grace Lutheran Church • 5PM • In support of children and adults affected by the challenges of mental illness, in substance use disorders or other brain disorders. Free child care. Call 483-3787. • FREE Tuesday, May 10 TURKEY CREEK JOB FAIR • Turkey Creek • 4PM • More than two dozen stores are hiring and are encouraging job hunters to stop by during this time to apply and interview for the hundreds of open positions. Applicants are asked to bring resumes and stop by each individual store they are interested in working for. For more information or for interview opportunities, please call Kiley Niles at (865) 755-8502 or log online to www.TurkeyCreek.com. • FREE Wednesday, May 11 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 11AM • The MSFM, a project of Nourish Knoxville, is an open-air farmers’ market located on historic Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. We are a producer only market – everything is either made, grown or raised by our vendors all within a 150 mile radius of the MSFM. Products vary by the season and include ornamental plants, vegetable and herb starts, produce, dairy, eggs, honey, meats, baked goods, jams/jellies, coffee, & artisan crafts. Every Wednesday from 11a.m. to 2p.m. and Saturday from 9a.m. to 2p.m., May 4 – November 19, 2016. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE UT FARMERS MARKET • University of Tennessee • 4PM • Since 2010, the UT Farmers Market has provided a venue for area producers to sell healthful, local food to the greater Knoxville area. This year the market is expanding its community offerings. The UT Farmers Market is free and open to the public every Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. in the UT Gardens off Neyland Drive. Market activities will be scheduled through Oct. 19. For more information about the UT Farmers’ Market you can visit the market website: vegetables.tennessee.edu/utfm.html or find it on Facebook. • FREE

experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. (No taps, please.) • $7 Friday, May 13 PAWS AMONG THE BLOOMS • Stanley’s Greenhouse • 5:30PM • The sixth annual fundraiser for Knox PAWS (Placing Animals With Seniors). Join us for a relaxing evening of flowers, plants, hors d’oeuvres, silent auction, and live music from the Y’uns Jug Band featuring Michael Crawley. Dogs on leashes are welcome. More about Knox PAWS at knoxseniors.org. More info at 524-2786. • $30 Saturday, May 14 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • The MSFM, a project of Nourish Knoxville, is an open-air farmers’ market located on historic Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. We are a producer only market – everything is either made, grown or raised by our vendors all within a 150 mile radius of the MSFM. Products vary by the season and include ornamental plants, vegetable and herb starts, produce, dairy, eggs, honey, meats, baked goods, jams/jellies, coffee, & artisan crafts. Every Wednesday from 11a.m. to 2p.m. and Saturday from 9a.m. to 2p.m., May 4 – November 19, 2016. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE BEARDSLEY COMMUNITY FARM COMMUNITY WORKDAY • Beardsley Community Farm • 9AM • We ask that volunteers come dressed for working outside, wear closed-toed shoes, and bring a water bottle. Wearing layers is a good idea this time of year. Our Saturday Workdays are open to the community, so there is no need to sign up in advance. Come for the whole morning or just come for an hour. We look forward to working with you! If you have any questions email us at beardsleyfarm@gmail.com. • FREE MECHANICSVILLE COMMUNITY YARD SALE • Danny Mayfield Park • 9AM • Mechanicsville Community Association (MCA) would like to invite you to attend their yard sale. If you would like to buy a space sell your items, all spaces are $15. If you don’t want to buy a space, you may donate the items you don’t use to the MCA. • FREE

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Thursday, May 12 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 May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 49

OUTDOORS

Voice in the Wilder ness

Photos by Kim Trevathan

Speed Boater Our man in the water competes in the Powell River Canoe and Kayak Regatta BY KIM TREVATHAN

may have had a bad attitude about my first canoe and kayak regatta because the idea of racing in a kayak is counter to the reason I paddle in the first place: to slow down and go with the flow, to admire the scenery, in short, to loaf and daydream. But I’d never been on this portion of the Powell River, I’d never been in a race, and I wanted to see if I could at least avoid a last-place finish. The Powell River Canoe and Kayak Regatta was up in Claiborne County near Tazewell, above the river’s confluence with the Clinch at Norris Lake. The starting line was at the Well-Being Conference Center, run by Patty and Don Oakley, the organizers of the race. I knew several other entrants from having spoken at the Soggy Bottom Kayakers club at the Tellico Yacht Club earlier that week. They seemed like a friendly bunch, but there had been trash talk about

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

sabotage and the like, and I couldn’t tell if they were kidding or not. I was entered in the age 55 and over solo kayak group, which was to embark at 12:15 p.m., and when I got there around 10 in the morning, I met two Kentuckians who would be racing a tandem canoe. Bryan Stewart from Bell County was the champion of a Cumberland River race that started near Barbourville. In the stern was Randy Orchard from Richmond. They started off at 11 and I would never see them again that day. As winners of the Double Kayak or Canoe Open category, they finished the 12-mile course in a little over two hours and were probably back in Bell County with their feet up by the time I crossed the finish line. I began to notice that most of the boats were these long, sleek kayaks, at the very least 15 feet long. My 10-foot-long touring kayak, by compar-

ison, looked sort of blocky and slow like a bathtub. One woman, starting in the 11:50 group, had a sit-on-top fishing kayak, and another was in a stubby whitewater boat about 6 feet long. Surely, I thought, I could beat them, even though they would have a half-hour head start. I would never see them again that day. Somebody started calling our group “the geezers,” and the volunteer who was supervising the put-in had to keep announcing the start time in an effort to get us to move faster to get into the water. We waited behind a line of buoys, paddling to stay in place in current that was pushing us forward. One guy, Neal Sanders, wore a helmet with his entry number duct-taped to it. He had duct tape all over his boat, so much so that I commented on it, complimenting his foresight in having taped the map of the race course to his deck for quick reference. He told me that he’d just won a canoe race on the New River. Unlike most everybody else, who kept saying they didn’t care if they won, Sanders had an intense look about him that said otherwise. In each category there was a cash prize of $150 for first place and $50 for second place. No matter how much a tree-hugger you are, everybody’s

motivated by cash and glory. I chased one guy with a blue shirt and red kayak the whole 12 miles. No matter how fast I paddled, I could not close the gap. I kept thinking I could catch him because my short boat was a little more maneuverable over ledges and shoals, of which there were many, because the water was low. I did not pause to take pictures, and I wish I had because it was a beautiful river, almost completely undeveloped, woodlands and pasture throughout. I remember a blue heron, some buzzards overhead, and bluebells beginning to bloom, though it’s all a blur. No one passed me, I can say that. And I passed six boats. Two of them, canoes, were on the bank. Three kayakers I passed were so engrossed in conversation that they didn’t even notice my huffing and puffing to get around them. And in the last canoe I passed the guy in the stern was fishing, not paddling. At the finish line, the volunteers blared the Rocky theme from loudspeakers and cheered on each entry as if it mattered. And at the put-in and take-out, they steadied our wobbly boats while we embarked or disembarked and helped us carry them to waiting trailers for a shuttle back to the starting line. Soggy Bottom kayaker Steve

OUTDOORS

Lancaster says the race was “incredibly well-organized and a great weekend.” Don Oakley, founder and president of the Well-Being Foundation, whose motto is to “promote harmony with nature, wellness of body, and peace of mind,” says he organized the event to “get people outside interacting with nature and testing their physical limits.” He also wants people in the area to enjoy a clean, free-flowing river that’s underappreciated. Proceeds from the race (which had a $30 entry fee for single kayaks, $50 for canoes and tandem kayaks) go to the Powell River Blueway Project. The long-term goal, Oakley says, is to improve access to the Powell, which has no public access in the 70 miles that it winds through Claiborne County. Oakley says 54 people volunteered to help at the race, most of them Claiborne Countians, but many from as far away as Asheville, Knoxville, and Nashville. Among the sponsors was River Sports Outfitters of Knoxville. Last year, 49 boats participated, this year 82. The fastest time was 1:47:56 by 60-year-old Rick Carter, from Eutawville, S.C. He was in the “racing kayak” category for boats longer than 18 feet. I didn’t come in last in the geezer division, as I had predicted, but only

because these three guys from Knoxville must have stopped for a picnic lunch and ended up finishing almost an hour behind me. Neal Sanders, who I was feeling sorry for, thinking he was behind me, ended up finishing third, over a half hour in front of me. Two Soggy Bottom boys, Barry Brandt (two hours and five minutes) and Lancaster (2:04), finished second and third in the 55 and over. A couple in a fiber glass canoe had sprung a leak in the stern, the water spouting up like a geyser the last 2 miles. They had a better time than me. The guy in the blue shirt that I was chasing for 12 miles was Tom Schemberger, also a Soggy Bottom kayaker. It was his first race ever, he said, and he “had no clue” that I was pursuing him the entire race. Next year, I think I’ll take Lancaster’s advice and rent a longer sleeker kayak from Riverside Rentals at the takeout. After all, finishing so far out of the money had to be my boat’s fault, right? ◆ A writing instructor at Maryville College, Kim Trevathan is the author of Paddling the Tennessee River: A Voyage on East Water and Coldhearted River: A Canoe Odyssey Down the Cumberland. He will teach an outdoor writing workshop on May 21, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church (201 E. Third Ave.). Info: knoxvillewritersguild.org. May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 51

’BYE

Sacred & P rofane

Mother Don’t Go

Remembering the person she was before she left BY DONNA JOHNSON

n the hall of a very expensive nursing home in Middle Tennessee, an old woman sits slumped over in her chair. It is a portrait of utter hopelessness. Another woman walks up and down the hall carrying a baby doll, singing to it in a monotone as though it were a real baby. The floors are so shiny you can almost see your reflection in them, and there is a pervasive smell of disinfectant at all times here. As nursing homes go, this is a good one—but let’s face it, there are no good nursing homes, really. I ask at the front desk how I might find my mother’s room, and they point to the disheveled woman in a ragged bathrobe. “She was trying to get out again,” the nurse tells me, shaking her head, as though my mother were a willful child who must be punished. I think it’s punishment enough to be in this place with its false cheer and signs that read “Today is Sunday. The season is WINTER.” I am afraid of the progression of deterioration I might find in this sad person that my mother has become, and remember the competent, vivacious woman she had been and how she would go up and down the aisle of the grocery store piling her cart high with my favorite foods when I came to visit.

My mother’s decline began when we took the keys to her car and told her she couldn’t drive anymore. Though she agreed, after running into the ditch a couple of times, I could see the look of consternation and loss on her face as she handed over her car keys. It was the beginning of many losses. Soon after, it was decided by the family that she should give up her home and the things in it and move to an assisted-living facility. My mother balked mightily at this, and though my sisters did everything they could to make her little apartment look like the home she had just reluctantly given up, my mother was angry, sad, and confused. What next? she might have been thinking. To have one’s independence taken away is not a small thing. To be rendered powerless, whether by the diminishing state of one’s mental and physical capacity or because others have decided they know what’s better for you than you do, the result is the same. You are trapped and there is no way out. My mother was just a little older than I am now, 64, when she started pretending to remember things that

BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

www.thespiritofthestaircase.com

she, in fact, did not. I have noticed myself beginning to do the same thing. So many people come up to me and continue conversations we have allegedly begun before that I have no recollection of. Whether this is a result of too many drinks or a beginning dementia, the result is alarming. Today I approach my mother slowly, to avoid startling her. “Mom,” I say softly. “Mom.” I touch her gently on the shoulder and bend down to kiss her soft white hair. “Hello, Donna,” she says and looks at me with weak, blue eyes. Instead of her usual lilting, feminine voice, it’s so deep on this visit that it might be that of a man’s. I roll my mother back into her room and put her in a chair, where she stares out the window. On the walls are photographs—many photographs. Photographs of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, children on ponies, children in birthday hats; photographs of people taking photographs. Then there are stuffed bears, vases of

flowers, bottles of perfume, with a beautiful homemade quilt on the bed. At the foot of my mother’s bed is a picture of her, along with her name, that looks so like me that I wonder for an instant if is me. I take my mother’s hand but she soon drops mine and gazes into a place I cannot comprehend. Her expression is other-worldly, vacant, yet seeing something that causes her to turn to me suddenly with an urgency to get things said, have a record, perhaps, or just to hear her own voice and confirm to herself that she is still alive. From the nurses’ station nearby I hear from the radio that an elderly woman’s body has been found floating against the rocks at the Sequoyah Hills lake. I imagine her lifeless body floating to and fro, to and fro, against the rocks in the gentle waves, drops of rain falling gently on her face. She is someone’s daughter, someone’s mother, sister, cousin, friend. She is someone. I stroke my mother’s hair and ask her, “What do you feel, Mom? She folds her gnarled hands in

I think it’s punishment enough to be in this place with its false cheer and signs that read “Today is Sunday. The season is WINTER.”

’BYE her lap. “I don’t feel much of anything anymore,” she says listlessly. “Are you afraid?” I ask. “Do you feel peaceful?” “No,” she says, leaning forward and whispering to me. “I’ve been connecting with people we knew in the distant past.” I am happy to see some animation on her face. “Helen and Ross,” she says. These are family friends we had over 60 years ago. My mother goes on, making direct eye contact with me. “It is not by phone,” she says with an urgency to make me understand. “It’s not even exactly with words. “That’s okay, Mom. The best things cannot be expressed in words.” I totally believe that my mother is communicating with her old pals, who have passed on, in some telepathic

BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY

way most people cannot comprehend. She falls asleep soon after this and I tiptoe out, knowing the end is near.

My mother passed on shortly after this, and on the day of her burial, a brilliant red cardinal lit on her grave then flew rapidly away. The dark clouds of the morning suddenly parted as the preacher spoke his last words, and the rays of the sun made me feel my mother was telling me she was okay. With my father, with her God, with her sisters, with no need of a body but now could sail free as a pure, heavenly spirit that has joined with all the sentient beings of the universe. And I bowed my head in gratitude for all that was and is my mother. ◆

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DANE KRISTOF, The popular Nashville psychic and clairvoyant that the tabloids call,” the Seer of Music Row,” is accepting appts. for when he is in Knoxville this month. One Nashville paper said, “This guy’s the real deal. He starts by telling you little known things that only you could know not to impress you but to add validation to the reading.” Call (615)4294053 for a Knoxville appt. – www.DaneKristof.com. PLACE YOUR AD AT STORE.KNOXMERCURY.COM

ONYX is an 8 year old female Shepherd mix. She’s such a sweet heart and loves treats. VISIT YOUNG-WILLIAMSANIMAL CENTER OR CALL 865-2156599FORMOREINFORMATION.

MOLLY is a champion snuggler! She’s a 2 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix. She’s a big goofball with an even bigger heart. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center or call 865-215-6599 for more information.

BLANCO is a 10 year old male senior. HE LOVES THE OUTDOORS. In fact, would be good with an active family that is always outdoors. He also love tennis balls, and loves swimming / water.

WILSON is 3 years old! He’s a quick learner who’s already getting better while walking on a leash J he’s such a goofball and LOVES everyone. He gets excited easlily and would be better with an active, energetic family! He’s very affectionate. He is treat motivated while training.

SELL YOUR STUFF AND HELP SUPPORT THE MERCURY AT THE SAME TIME! Order classified ads online from the comfort of your own home or mobile device. No need to talk with any humans! Just $10 for 200-characters or $14 for 400-characters. Listings will run in print and online for one week.

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May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 53

’BYE

Kaliscopes

May: Retrograde Response Astrological Horoscopes That Reflect You BY KALI MEISTER ARIES

Mercury will be in retrograde until the end of the month. This will affect every sign for the month of May, but it will especially stress you out. Aries likes to fly by the seat of their pants and this is not the time to do that. Mercury in retrograde means slow and steady wins the race—especially since this time it is in Taurus, a sign known for being methodical. Having to slow down and double-check all your work and personal exchanges will wear on your patience. But this is not the month for you to put your foot in your mouth. Saying the wrong thing this month could have negative effects that follow you through the rest of the year. Think. Assess. Think again, and then act.

TAURUS

Happy birthday, Taurus. This retrograde will not hinder your confidence this month. In fact, until around the 22th you will feel as if no obstacle could hold you back. However, know there is in a retrograde. Don’t make any impulsive decisions this month—practice your methodical Taurus nature. You should take this confidence as a time to let your creative side come out and play. Let the ideas flow out of you with the knowledge that you will get a great deal accomplished after the 22nd, but make sure not to take on too much or things could easily fall apart.

GEMINI

May is a month about slowing down and making a very detailed schedule for yourself, Gemini. You tend to be the sign that can slap a project together and sell it to anyone. May is not the month to do this. Once you have created your schedule, make an effort not to stray from it because your projects, events, and relationships 54

KNOXVILLE MERCURY May 5, 2016

could spiral out of control. Also, keep the debates and disputes friendly. This is not the month to bite off a battle of the wits with someone because it could easily could turn into a full-scale war.

CANCER

Love is in the air for you, Cancer. This is the month for you to communicate your affection for the people you love. Don’t worry about grand speeches because right now is the time for simple expressions that pack the blow of a Shakespearean soliloquy on the stage of Market Square. The second half of May will have you serving as a mediator for many misunderstandings caused by this retrograde. Your diplomacy will help even out the two weeks of communication chaos.

LEO

Try not to be disappointed with the people in your life this month. You’d like to get to the heart of all issues right now but nobody seems to be on the same page in regards to how they are communicating with you. Be careful about the stances you take because what you see as a disagreement might just be you arguing the exact same point as your opponent. Listen to those around you to make sure you truly comprehend what the people around you are trying to say. You have an important meeting at the end of the month that will be beneficial for you if you listen to what is really going on as opposed to what is being said.

VIRGO

Oh, poor sweet even-keelcraving Virgo, this is going to be a trying month for you. I want to reassure you that things will get better though they feel like they will not. You feel like a 78-rpm

album being played at 45 rpm. Nothing seems to be moving at the pace you would like and that is making you very agitated. It is because of this that you may need to be careful with all written communication. You tend to be better at expressing yourself through writing then by speaking, so you tend to opt for email and social media communication. There will be a breakdown in communication and talking to people may suit your goals better. Be gentle and kind with your words even when you may not feel them.

LIBRA

You are full of energy and ideas right now, Libra but that feels more like a curse than a blessing. If you are not feeling heard you are not crazy. This is an odd month for communication. However, you will get nothing accomplished from having a pouting fit. You need to be cautious of coming off as juvenile and compulsive when you feel nobody is listening. You are, in fact actually alienating your cause. Breathe and practice the most mature and stoic approach to communication you can muster. You will get more accomplished that way.

SCORPIO

You get to honor your inner Prince because May is the month you get to party like it’s 1999. This is a month when you need to be truly selfish. Don’t worry about asking anyone’s opinion because you realize that nobody would understand. It’s a month of following your intuition and being kind to your needs as a sensitive being. It is time for your head and heart to become balanced with each other. But try not to concern yourself with how aloof you may come off. Don’t let the opinions of other people change your path of self-care.

SAGITTARIUS

Change is a big word for you this month. If you want to try something new, or even something that you have tried before but failed at, this is the time to set solid habits. If you need to change your diet for the better, now is the time. If you want to begin a workout regime,

you will create habits that will last you a lifetime. Now is not the best time for teamwork. But know that you are the only sign that seems to be able to communicate with everyone. As long as you tell it like it is you will do well at work and on any team project right now.

CAPRICORN

You need to focus on your health right now. Spring has you vulnerable to sinus infections, colds, and breathing issues. You are feeling a lack of energy and you need to be considerate of where you focus your energy. This is not the month to extend yourself or to push your limits too far. You need to be calculated in the work you do and the company you keep. This is a time to focus on intimate relationships with individuals than going to parties and socializing in large groups.

AQUARIUS

You are feeling the retrograde, but you need not alienate yourself. If you can ignore other people’s behavior and just focus on the moments, you have the opportunities to address some serious truths that other people seem to ignore. This is actually a perfect time for you to be outspoken and say what nobody else is saying. Avoid anger at all costs. If you can speak from a place of truth without becoming emotional, you can bring about some major change in your environment.

PISCES

You hate to argue but right now you are the closest you have ever been to stirring up a mess of anger. You feel someone is gas-lighting you by telling you your reality is not the truth. Pisces, you are the most intuitive sign of the zodiac, so if you feel like your reality is being diluted then it is almost certain someone is trying to fill with lies. The question now is to understand their motive. Most people are disingenuous when they feel they are going to hurt someone through their words or actions. If you can focus on the logic, the emotions will cool down.

SOMETIMES DISCOVERY STARTS WITH A PATH. Right outside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is your own o u t d o o r a m u s e m e n t p a r k . We o ﬀe r m i l e s o f g re e nw a y s p a c e s t o unwind and enjoy everything the outdoors has to oﬀer. From stream side trails, wilddower elds, forests, waterways and open spaces; all loc located within just a few minutes of quaint neighborhoods and downtown. Walk , run or c ycle, the options are endless in the Peaceful Side of the Smokies. You’ll discover that you’re going to need a longer stay.

Got Kilt? You really don’t need one

May 21–22 At Maryville College

Bring Your Whole Family and join us for a weekend of authentic Scottish Highland festivities right here in the East Tennessee highland– the Great Smoky Mountains. Kids under 16 get in FREE!

FOR TICKETS AND SCHEDULE VISIT

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smokymountaingames.com May 5, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 55

New and Improved

Downtown FREE Trolley Routes starting May2nd! WW W. K A T B U S . C O M

Now serving many fun and unique destinations including:

To the Old City

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U.S. Post Office

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History Center

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To the Coliseum

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Tennessee Theater

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Downtown Library

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Theater

First Tennessee Bank BB&T Bank

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Dwight Kessel Garage

Andrew Johnson Building

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Hampton Inn

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Hilton

To UT and University Commons

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Charles Krutch Park

Elevator access to Worlds Fair Park

Knoxville Convention Center

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UT Conference Center

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Walnut Street Parking Garage

Holiday Inn

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Market Square

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Summit Towers

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Mast General Store

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Take a look at our map and plan a Park FREE trip with us starting May 2nd.

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Visitors Center

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Upgraded and extended service hours that include weekday service until 8pm and Friday and Saturday service running until 10pm! Cal

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• The Old City • Worlds Fair Park •The University of Tennessee

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City-County Building

Blount Mansion