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AUG. 4, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM
THE HILLS HAVE GRAPES V.
2 / N.30
Grapevine enaıssance
Traveling the Great Valley Wine Trail in search of East Tennessee’s wine culture B Y S . H E AT H E R DU NC A N
NEWS
Will the Shove Heard ’Round District 18 Affect the GOP Primary?
JACK NEELY
Now’s the Time to Partake the Delights of Cherokee Purples
INSIDE THE VAULT
Seeing Knoxville Through the (Finally) Obsolete VHS Format
CHRIS WOHLWEND
Revisiting the Nearly Forgotten Lolly Madonna War of Union County
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
August 4, 2016 Volume 02 / Issue 30 knoxmercury.com
CONTENTS
“Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.” —Benjamin Franklin
14 Grapevine Renaissance COVER STORY
NEWS
12 The Shove Heard
While Tennessee legalized wine production back in 1977, the industry has been slowly growing into an agritourism powerhouse. In East Tennessee, one man is leading the charge to squeeze more value from the grapes grown in the area between the Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains: Rick Riddle, founder of the Great Valley Wine Trail and the driving force behind its effort to attain national recognition for the “9 Lakes” that frame the core of the region. S. Heather Duncan hits the trail in search of our growing wine culture.
Top Knox 2016 Ballot It’s back: the best-of survey you can trust to give you the real skinny
’Round District 18
Will the on-air altercation between GOP candidates Martin Daniel and Steve Hall affect the primary? It probably hasn’t helped either of them, according to local pundits, but we’ll find out soon enough on Aug. 4. Thomas Fraser reviews the brouhaha.
on what’s worthwhile in Knoxville. Take a look at the categories starting on page 23 and vote at topknox.knoxmercury.com
DEPARTMENTS
OPINION
A&E
4 6
8
28
46
Letters to the Editor Howdy Start Here: By the Numbers, Public Affairs, Quote Factory PLUS: A sample from “Photo Recollection: 8th of August Jubilee,” a new show at the East Tennessee History Center by Holly Rainey. ’Bye Finish There: Restless Native by Chris Wohlwend, Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray
10
Scruffy Citizen Jack Neely shares his enthusiasm for the Cherokee Purple—and his lack of excitement over new parking ticket policies downtown. Small Planet Patrice Cole goes on patrol with Tennessee River custodian Jake Hudson.
29 30 31
CALENDAR Program Notes: Public Cinema announces its fall program. Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson examines some VHS remnants of Knoxville.
32
Spotlights: Eighth of August emancipation celebrations, the rocking’ Castle, and the art show Who, What, Where.
Music: Mike Gibson carries on with New Orleans sludge survivors Crowbar. Movies: April Snellings likes the grizzled Jason Bourne.
August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3
LETTERS Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015
WE TOOK A WEEK OFF AND THIS IS THE ONLY LETTER WE GOT
Re: World Championship of Cornhole XI. I am amazed at the name of the game and that no senior citizens, after all these years, have told the meaning of the word from back when they were young. It meant anal sex!!! So if someone were to tell me they were going cornholing I’d be taken aback. Now I wonder what participants in the game will think when they read this? “Oh, we love cornholing.” Joe C. Copeland Oak Ridge
We’re in the process of expanding our sales team, and we’ve made our first hire: Michael Tremoulis. Michael comes to us from Home Tour of N.C., a real estate publication. Before that, he was a social media assistant at Ripley PR in Maryville, an assistant account executive at Paper Systems in Knoxville, and an advertising intern at Moxley Carmichael. He graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2015 with a degree in public relations—so he’s a relative youngster! What’s he doing here with us? Find out!
Why were you drawn to sales as a career?
I majored in public relations, and I’ve always enjoyed to write—but I went down the sales route because per4
KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
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
Why did you apply for the position here—you do know that the Mercury is a print publication, right?
I was a fan of the Metro Pulse growing up in Knoxville, and when I heard that it was going to continue under a new name, I was very happy. I applied because I believe the paper’s values align with mine. I believe pursuing the truth is so important, and the Mercury does that. Knoxville needs another voice in print, and the Mercury appealed to me for that reason.
What will you bring to the paper?
NEW HIRE: MEET MICHAEL TREMOULIS!
EDITORIAL
sistence has always been my strongest attribute. Growing up, I was pretty good at persuading my friends to trade baseball cards to me even if they were hesitant, so now persuading businesses to invest in advertising isn’t much different. My father is a salesman and his father was a salesmen, so it runs in my genes.
It’s been nearly over a year since I graduated from The University of Tennessee. I know I’m relatively young, but I have lived in the Knoxville area my entire life, and I know I can bring fresh ideas to the table that would help students and younger professionals in the city pickup and read the paper.
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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 618 S. Gay St., Suite L2 Knoxville, TN 37902 Send an email to: editor@knoxmercury.com Or message us at: facebook.com/knoxmercury
Chris Barrett Ian Blackburn Brian Canever Patrice Cole Eric Dawson George Dodds Lee Gardner Mike Gibson Carey Hodges Nick Huinker Donna Johnson
Rose Kennedy Catherine Landis Dennis Perkins Stephanie Piper Ryan Reed Eleanor Scott Alan Sherrod April Snellings Joe Sullivan Kim Trevathan Chris Wohlwend
INTERN Josh Witt
DESIGN ART DIRECTOR Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Charlie Finch
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
David Luttrell Shawn Poynter Justin Fee Tyler Oxendine CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS
Ben Adams Matthew Foltz-Gray
ADVERTISING PUBLISHER & DIRECTOR OF SALES Charlie Vogel charlie@knoxmercury.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Scott Hamstead scott@knoxmercury.com Stacey Pastor stacey@knoxmercury.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Michael Tremoulis michael@knoxmercury.com
BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Scott Dickey scott.dickey@knoxmercury.com
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 706 Walnut St., Suite 404, Knoxville, Tenn. 37902 knoxmercury.com • 865-313-2059 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR & PRESS RELEASES editor@knoxmercury.com CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS calendar@knoxmercury.com SALES QUERIES sales@knoxmercury.com DISTRIBUTION distribution@knoxmercury.com
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Terry Hummel Joe Sullivan Jack Neely Coury Turczyn Charlie Vogel The Knoxville Mercury is an independent weekly news magazine devoted to informing and connecting Knoxville’s many different communities. It is a taxable, not-for-profit company governed by the Knoxville History Project, a non-profit organization devoted to exploring, disseminating, and celebrating Knoxville’s unique cultural heritage. It publishes 25,000 copies per week, available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. © 2016 The Knoxville Mercury
Historic August Summer’s last month offers lots of opportunities to celebrate Knoxville’s historic past. The Olympic Games have begun, and the fact that America has been involved from the beginning has a lot to do with Knoxville native Ebenezer Alexander (1851-1910), a classics professor who loved the ancient athletic tradition, and strongly supported the effort, both as U.S. ambassador to Greece at the time of the first modern Olympics, in 1896, and as the first financial donor to the movement. He’s buried at Old Gray Cemetery on Broadway. This weekend, the East Tennessee Community Design Center is offering downtown home tours emphasizing unusual reuses of historic spaces. It starts on Friday Aug. 4 at 5:30. The general tour is $30 and takes place on both Friday and Saturday evenings, but free for those who join the ETCDC at a $50 level. It includes multiple homes downtown, most of them in historic buildings. Those who purchase a $125 ticket are treated to several additional perks, including a visit to a new retail space at the 1912 Holston at 531 Gay Street, on Friday evening. Retired professor and Knoxville-history author Bruce Wheeler will give a talk on Knoxville history, and later Tennessee Theatre organist (and retired university chancellor) Bill Snyder will play piano. The evening will include a food and wine tasting, and a rare tour of a new residence at the recently renovated Elliott, the ca. 1907 apartment building on Church Avenue near State, not included on the regular tour. For more information, see www.communitydc. org/home-tour.
Discus thrower Robert Graves was one of only 13 U.S. athletes competing in the Athens Games of 1896. That first American team was recruited with the help of Knoxville native Ebenezer Alexander, former UT classics professor who was then Minister to Greece. Professor Alexander was enthusiastic about reviving the ancient Games and assisted the movement on several levels. According to one story passed down in Alexander’s family, the American athletes, having studied the original Olympics, practiced in the nude, assuming the modern Games would be just like the ancient ones. But as they were working out in Athens, the athletes were politely told they should put some clothes on.
August 8 is traditional Emancipation Day, as celebrated in East Tennessee for more than a century. There’s some mystery about its origin, but according to legend, it’s the day in 1863 that future president Andrew Johnson freed his slaves. Over the years, it’s most frequently been celebrated in Chilhowee Park, which was until 1948 the one day blacks were allowed to have free reign in the park. In those days musical entertainment at the park’s auditorium was often impressive—Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton and many other jazz and blues greats performed in Chilhowee Park for the Aug. 8 event. Recently revived with the help of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, the Eighth of August Jubilee is now celebrated all week, with a “Libation Ceremony” at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7; an exhibit opening at the Beck (1927 Dandridge Ave.) on Aug. 8; a ticketed ($50) reception and documentary premiere at the Tennessee and Regal Riviera Theaters; an “Illumination Tribute” at Oddfellows Cemetery on Friday, Aug. 12, at 7:30 p.m.; and the big show, “Jubilee in the Park” on Saturday the 13th, at Chilhowee from 10 in the morning to 9 at night. This year, the headliner is Grammy-nominated bassist-songwriter Alvin Garrett, with assist from comedian Spanky Brown. For more, see www.beckcenter.net
Irish immigration had a major impact on Knoxville, as hundreds of Irish immigrants arrived in the 1850s, in the wake of famine at Image courtesy of Wikimedia.org home, many of them coming to work on the railroads. They brought with them the faith of Catholicism, and their Irish customs. Enjoy them on Saturday, Aug. 13, East On August 7, Church Street United Methodist Church, which celebrates Tennessee’s oldest Catholic Church hosts its annual Irish Fest on the Hill, its bicentennial this year, is offering free tours of its building on Henley Street with lots of Irish food and music, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. $5 admission. between Cumberland and Hill Avenues (they’ll explain the oddity of its name). Built in 1930, its design was a collaboration between local architect Charles Barber and nationally known architect John Russell Pope, it’s sometimes described as Knoxville’s most beautiful building. Jack Neely will give a talk in the Nave (the main hall) at 2:30 on the subject of architecture in Knoxville. It will be the first of four Sunday-afternoon talks including the subjects of Knoxville literature (Aug. 14), immigration (Aug. 21) and music (Aug. 28), at the same location. For more, see www.usampm.com
And Aug. 20 is the annual East Tennessee Historical Society History Fair, a family-oriented festival with dozens of events, including a Davy Crockett birthday bash, the History Hound costume contest, lots of re-enactors in various uniforms and, this year, a Knoxville History Project urban hike of Irish Town and Cripple Creek areas. For more, see easttnhistory.org.
Source: Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection
The Knoxville History Project, a new nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of and education about the history of Knoxville, presents this page each week to raise awareness of the themes, personalities, and stories of our unique city. Learn more on www.facebook.com/knoxvillehistoryproject • email jack@knoxhistoryproject.org August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5
Photo by Tricia Bateman
HOWDY
BY THE NUMBERS
The Grapes of Math
67 30+ 650 $881 7 2
wineries in Tennessee. Varieties of grapes grown in Tennessee.
As part of Knoxville’s 8th of August emancipation events, Holly Rainey has a documentary photo exhibit at the East Tennessee History Center, Aug. 1-8: Photo Recollection: 8th of August Jubilee. (loveh865.com)
—Patrick Birmingham, the Knoxville News Sentinel’s publisher, addressing the social-media brouhaha that erupted after a classified ad from Cedar Springs Christian Store was mistakenly rejected by a “software problem.” The FOX News website picked up on the story and commenters vociferously questioned the paper’s commitment to Christianity.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
8/4 FUNDRAISER: ETCDC PREMIER PARTY 8/5 MAST’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
Total number of Tennessee wine trails.
—S. Heather Duncan
“ We publish Billy Graham’s column daily.”
5:30-7:30 p.m., The Holston (513 S. Gay St.). $125. The East Tennessee Community Design Center is offering a preview of its Urban Home & Garden Tour (Friday, Aug. 5, 5:30-8 p.m., and Saturday, Aug. 6, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.) as well as the soon-to-open retail space of the Holston. Enjoy some wine pairings and a talk by Dr. Bruce Wheeler, then tour the historic Elliot Building. Price includes a ticket to the tour. Info: communitydc.org.
million estimated economic impact of grape and wine industry in the state.
Northeast Tennessee wine trails: the Rocky Top trail (five wineries in 12 miles) and the Great Valley trail (five wineries in 145 miles).
QUOTE FACTORY
THURSDAY
acres for grape cultivation.
FRIDAY
Starting at 10 a.m., Mast General Store (402 S. Gay St.). We can point to several different turning points in downtown Knoxville’s ongoing renaissance, but one of the most crucial was the arrival of Mast General Store to Gay Street 10 years ago. It turned the tide of shopping back toward downtown in a big way—and the store is celebrating this achievement all weekend long. (Check out the very nice coupon glued to this week’s cover!)
8/6 CHARITY: SHOES FOR SCHOOL SATURDAY
8 a.m.-12 p.m., Caswell Park (620 Winona St.). $10 donation requested. The Knoxville Area Urban League presents this annual event to provide new shoes and school supplies for more than 1,200 area children, ages 5 to 12. Stop by to drop off school supplies or make a donation—Knoxville’s kids deserve these basic necessities. Info: thekaul.org.
Source: Tennessee Department of Agriculture; U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau;
8/7 EIGHTH OF AUGUST LIBATION CEREMONY SUNDAY
6 p.m., Knoxville College, Freedmen’s Mission Historic Cemetery. Free. This ceremony kicks off a week of Eighth of August events celebrating emancipation. Slaves buried in this historic cemetery—some freed on August 8, 1863—will be remembered. There will also be a roll call of Knoxville’s deceased youths and a community prayer. See Spotlight in Calendar.
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7
SCRUFFY CITIZEN
The Economies of Summer Cherokee Purples, and after-hours parking tickets BY JACK NEELY
I
t was 13 or 14 years ago, on Market Square of course, that I first heard the phrase Cherokee Purple. It was in reference to an irregularly shaped object that looked lumpy and bruised, like the head of a Martian after a serious beating. “Are you sure that thing’s ripe?” I asked the farmer. In fact, parts of it looked unripe, parts overripe. She assured me it was ripe, and something special. As it turned out, it was that. I always liked tomatoes okay, in a salad or on a pizza or a bacon sandwich. Before the Cherokee Purple, I never thought of tomatoes as a main course. That first one, like every one since, had a complex taste you’re more likely to associate with the flesh of creatures. There’s an interesting story about them, as you’d expect, that sounds like a fairy tale. That it once existed only as heirloom seeds, then for a century or more only in a secluded patch in Sevier County, a secret oddity that family lore claimed was a legacy of the Cherokee who once valued them. That sunny Saturday on Market Square, they changed my life. I eat them alone or on a whole-wheat sandwich, with a little mayonnaise and salt, and maybe fresh basil, but that’s all. After a hot day, two or three sandwiches make a fine supper.
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
They don’t last long on the kitchen counter. You need to eat them tonight. I have turned down dinner invitations because I had Cherokee Purples that would have gone to waste. People complain they’re expensive. You can get tomatoes for half the price at the supermarket. But nobody’s going to go broke paying $3 a pound for tomatoes. When folks spend over $1,000 a year to carry smart phones, $25,000 a year, on average, for family health care—can $3 for a pound of perfect tomatoes ever be a real problem? Word has gotten around. The phrase, which Google suggests didn’t exist in the English language until Reagan’s second term, has been soaring. Now the tomatoes are even showing up in quantity in groceries, a little cheaper than they are on Market Square. It’s not a good thing. They look different from other tomatoes, with that trademark greenish-purple cast, but the grocery-story Cherokees look too uniform in shape. I bought some. They were as tasty as the average Boy. They weren’t real Cherokee Purples. A farmer on the Square knew exactly what I was talking about, and explained it. Cherokee Purples are such a fleeting joy, he said, that to
transfer them by truck to the grocery or supermarket, they have to be picked before they’re ripe. When that happens, they’re no big deal. Anyway, this is the time of year to get them. Market Square is the place.
If it ever happened, I’ve always said, I would write about it. For years, I rarely had to deal with parking tickets. Now I’m in charge of a nonprofit called the Knoxville History Project. Every morning I think, for a moment, “Maybe I’ll ride the bus today!”—then I remember there’s a check to be signed over there, or a meeting way over there. I no longer have the distinct luxury of riding the bus. I miss the jolly camaraderie, and the opportunity, when such camaraderie is lacking, to read a book. I also miss the impossibility of parking tickets. It was my last regular day in the Walnut Building. After some business in West Knoxville, I had a late meeting in the Old City at 4:30. I thought I’d check in at the office quickly before I went home. It was 5:34. I don’t mind walking a couple of blocks, and that time of day, it’s easiest to find spaces in the part of downtown south of Cumberland and east of Locust, the government district. The courts, the post office branch, city and county offices are there, plus a bank or two. Parking is both expensive and strictly short-term. Then everything closes. Park there after 4:30, even 4:15, nobody bothers you. Until this summer, at least. I’d read in the Mercury about the city’s sudden new strictnesses. But seriously: at Main and Walnut, all the buildings visible to me were closed
and locked. The street was empty. Mine was the only car parked on its block. I did not bother the meter. Partly to save a couple quarters, but partly because I didn’t want to be the naive doofus seen putting money in a meter on a vacant street at 5:34. When I returned to my car after half an hour, I found a surprise. It’s been so long, I didn’t recognize it. It was an orange ribbon, like some Go Vols confetti. At 5:36 a diligent officer had written me a ticket. I could have challenged it. It described my car as “beige.” My ancient sedan is, for the record, a subtle, aged cream. You could call it a blanched almond or a light goldenrod—or perhaps when it’s dirty, a Tuscan. It is not beige. Based on the description in the little orange warrant, I’d have a case. Fortunately for the officer, I am not a litigious fellow. There are of course worse problems than one $11 ticket, though you can buy 3 pounds, 10 ounces of Cherokee Purples with that. I do have one serious point. Not all parts of downtown are equal. In this government section, demand for parking is extremely high every weekday, until it ceases soon after 4, when everything starts closing. Even the post office locks the doors at 5:30. Of course, it’s like that all day Saturday. But meters don’t notice how lonesome it is. They’re still keeping us on a short-leash timer, just as they did at lunchtime. Nobody pays a dollar an hour to park beside closed buildings. The practical result of a blanket enforcement policy, for a couple of hours every weekday and all day Saturday, is wasted spaces. ◆
They don’t last long on the kitchen counter. You need to eat them tonight. I have turned down dinner invitations because I had Cherokee Purples that would have gone to waste.
History of Knoxville Sundays, August 7, 14, 21, and 28 Church Tours 1-2:30 p.m. Lectures 2:30-3:30 p.m.
900 Henley at Main Across from the Knoxville Convention Center 865-524-3048 www.churchstreetumc.org
Over 10 Unique Wines! Wine Tastings Free Winemaking Tours Offered at: Sugarlands Cellars Winery, Hillside Winery & Mountain Valley Winery
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ALL LOCATIONS OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK! FREE PARKING! Toll Free 888-745-8119 • RockyTopWineTrail.com August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9
from fighting the fire got into Second Creek at the Foundry and killed about a thousand shad. Barely submerged trees, or parts of trees, pose a particular hazard to boaters and skiers, so Jake is always on the lookout to haul those to shore. He’s also had to haul a few dead cattle. Dead people are an infrequent find that prompts a 911 call. Abandoned watercraft might also become a navigation hazard, and this day we investigate a report of a boat-like thing lingering near Dickinson Island. It turns out to be a jet-ski platform that’s been tied to a tree. They decide to leave it there a few more days in hopes the owner will retrieve it. As we make our way downriver past Third Creek, Jake talks about a man he often sees fishing there, and often catching a lot of fish. That’s been a popular angling spot for a long time, but it seems to get more popular as water quality improves. And according to our eyes on the lake, water quality has noticeably improved in the past decade. That has also meant more people recreating on the lake. Along with ski boats and other motorized craft, paddlers are an increasingly common sight. Jake swears he once saw a woman doing yoga poses, even head stands, on a paddle board in the middle of the river. We pass beneath the Alcoa
SMALL PLANET
The Caretaker A day with Jake on Fort Loudoun Lake
J
ake Hudson knows he has the best job in town. He once owned a bar on the Strip, where he was shot three times on one occasion. After that he worked for some years in construction, having been involved with the building of UT Hospital, the Kuwahee Wastewater Treatment Plant, and other iconic structures around town. Then he was with city engineering for 20 years, accomplishing among other things the first mapping of Knoxville’s storm sewer system. But Jake’s not quite ready to retire, and for the past 10 years he’s been our eyes on Fort Loudoun Lake. He let me tag along one gorgeous June morning. The Fort Loudoun Lake Association was created about a decade ago to improve conditions on the stretch of the Tennessee River that flows through downtown, past the UT campus, and along Sequoyah Hills. That’s a small section of the 50 miles of waterway from Forks of the River to Fort Loudoun Dam, but it’s a high-visibility, highly-valued piece of water. Laws and regulations have curbed most of our intentional use of rivers as sewers, but stuff still makes its way to the lake, much of it carried by stormwater flushing trash out of ditches. So Jake was hired by Fort Loudoun Lake Association to get in a boat and look for whatever might threaten public health and safety, not to mention the aesthetics of the river. Jake and his AmeriCorp helper for the day, introduced to me as “AJ,” pick me up at Calhoun’s and we head upriver. Jake explains that donations
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
from riverside landowners paid his salary for the first several years. Since 2014 he’s been employed by Ijams Nature Center, which receives money from Knoxville city government for that purpose. The boat he uses also comes from the city. His beat is from Forks of the River to the downstream end of Sequoyah Park. As we talk, the men are constantly scanning the water’s surface for things that shouldn’t be there. Jake steers the boat alongside the errant plastic bottle, lawn chair, cooler lid, or chunk of Styrofoam while AJ scoops it up with a long-handled net and drops it into either the trash can or the recycling bin. They joke about Weigels cups and Mountain Dew containers being especially well-represented among the floating debris. TVA has special trash dams to keep debris from entering the hydroelectric turbines, but the collected trash is simply released downstream of the dam. A lot of trash makes its way to the river from the 9,000 square miles of watershed that begins near Roanoke, Va. and Asheville, N.C. Some of that trash collects behind floating booms at the mouths of First, Second, and Third creeks, and removing it is one of the least enjoyable parts of the job. Those tributaries can also be conduits for spills and illegal discharges that can cause fish kills in the river’s main channel. Fortunately, local fish kills are rather rare these days. The last notable one was right after the fire that finished off the McClung Warehouses in 2014. Runoff
Photo by Jake Hudson
BY PATRICE COLE
Highway bridge and I learn who lives in each of the grand houses on the north shore bluff. For someone who has been away from Knoxville for most of the past seven years, the sight of all that new “student housing” looming on the south shore is a bit disconcerting. Then there’s some comic relief when we linger briefly in front of a tiny house that’s a monument to kitsch, with UT logos alongside statues of Florida wildlife. As we complete the loop, Jake comments on the decades-long “experiment” that is the TVA reservoir system. TVA manages the system for flood control, among other things, by dropping water levels in winter and raising them in summer. That’s the opposite of what nature does in “normal” waterways. We wonder aloud what the ecological effects are, and whether TVA is studying that. TDEC and other agencies periodically report on progress toward the Clean Water Act’s goal of fishable, swimmable waters. But the more compelling evidence is the actual swimming and fishing of those waters, and locally we see progress. ◆ Patrice Cole taught biology, ecology, environmental planning, and sustainability at the University of Tennessee and Pellissippi State Community College. Small Planet examines local issues pertaining to environmental quality and sustainability.
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August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11
The Shove Heard ’Round District 18 Will the on-air altercation between GOP candidates Martin Daniel and Steve Hall affect the primary? BY THOMAS FRASER
W
hen former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe was a young incumbent state senator making a run for a second term in 1976, he said he was pushed by his opponent, Carl Warner, during a press conference. “He came up and shoved me,” Ashe says. “It was videoed. I just laughed it off.” Ashe, who was ambassador to Poland following his mayorship and is now a political commentator, said Warner, now deceased, “later acknowledged he was trying to get some media attention.” He believes former Knoxville City Councilmember and state representative Steve Hall should have also turned the other cheek following an altercation between him and incumbent state Rep. Martin Daniel that was broadcast live on the Hallerin Hilton Hill Show on WOKI-FM on July 21. Multiple witnesses contend Daniel shoved hall after his opponent called him a liar during the live political forum. Hall filed a police report and complaint that led to a court summons for Daniel, who is set to be booked in General Sessions court Aug. 10 and will have a trial date set to answer the assault complaint, according to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. It was the latest twist in what has turned out to be a tense Aug. 4 primary for the GOP 18th District seat; Daniel beat Hall, a two-term representative, by a mere 165 votes in the 2014 primary. “The incident hurt Daniel; the legal action hurt Hall,” Ashe says of
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
last month’s broadcast brouhaha. “I’ve been called a lot worse than a liar.” And it has breathed additional life into the campaigns of dark-horse candidates James Corcoran and Bryan Dodson. “Steve [Hall] would have had this thing running away,” says Dodson, a GOP political consultant who has spent less than $1,500 on the primary race. “But because they both lost their cool,” he says, the race has been “affected dramatically.” As for Corcoran, the incident could have propelled him to victory, Ashe says, “if Corcoran had any money and was more politically savvy.” But Corcoran—who believes Daniel will merely be given a judicial diversion of some sort—says he has seen a 600 percent uptick in hits on his campaign website and Facebook page since the altercation. “I think it will affect both of them,” Corcoran says, citing “huge numbers of people saying they couldn’t vote for either of those gentlemen.” Corcoran, a juvenile court attorney, says Hall was antagonistic, but Daniel’s actions met the legal definition of assault. “I was surprised no one could hold their emotions in until the people of West Knoxville weren’t listening on the air,” he adds. Daniel referred questions this week about the incident to his attorney, Greg Isaacs, who didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Daniel, 59, admitted in a statement immediately following the
incident that he reacted “strongly” to Hall, 60, following a heated exchange on the show—but stopped short of saying he was the actual shover. Hall, Hill, and others—also listed in the police complaint—said live on air that Daniel shoved Hall in the chest as he rose from his chair after Daniel threw off his headphones, advanced toward Hall, and “hovered” over him. Daniel described it differently. “The show, as many friends who were listening confirmed, became incredibly tense,” Daniel wrote in his press release. “In the midst of this, I tried to respond to my opponent’s criticism and the argument escalated. As many of you heard, what ensued could only be described as chaos. Mr. Hall began to rise from his seat, and, fearing confrontation, I created distance between myself and my opponent, at which point our host and staff intervened in the situation.” Hall says Daniel—whom Hall says he feared was “about to go berserk”— left him a voicemail later that evening “and expressed an apology.” “Part of me really thinks he has a problem with anger management,” Hall says of Daniel, who became irate after Hall challenged his assertion that he was “the only businessman” in the race. “I called him a liar,” says Hall, who operated Interior Finishing Corporation for nearly two decades. Daniel is a nonpracticing attorney who owns Elevation Outdoor Advertising. Hall says this week that Daniel’s statement soft-pedaled the incident, and that reinforced his desire to file charges. “He tried to make me the aggressor, like he was in fear of me hitting him,” Hall says. “He has a problem with the truth.” Daniel rebuffed Hall’s call for him to abandon his campaign.
During his political career, Hall says, he has attended numerous events during which “people talk about mamas, sisters, wives, and nobody ever came to blows. “This thing could’ve really escalated into something,” had producer Chris Marion, listed as a witness on the police report, not intervened, says Hall, who likely won’t drop the charges even if he wins. “I think there needs to be a lesson taught there that sometimes saying ‘I’m sorry’ is not good enough,” Hall says. He says the main beneficiaries of the dust-up are Dodson and Corcoran. “They’ve gotten a lot of attention they wouldn’t have gotten,” Hall says. “I actually think it’s hurt both of us. I wish it hadn’t happened.” Corcoran demurred when asked whether he would have filed charges, but notes the “shove” was more violent than described. Still, he says he was “surprised” Hall filed the assault complaint. Dodson says he, too, has received a bump in support following what he described as the “Thrilla on Hallerin Hilton Hilla.” Dodson, who was animated and upbeat about his upset chances during an interview this week, likens the two men’s actions to Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner’s inexplicable late-game fumble in 1998 that allowed the Tennessee Volunteers football team to escape with a win en route to an eventual national championship. Asked if he would have filed charges, Dodson says: “Absolutely not.” “Resentment,” Dodson says, “only hurts the person who holds it.” ◆
“I actually think it’s hurt both of us. I wish it hadn’t happened.” —STEVE HALL, 18th District GOP candidate
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August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13
Grapevine enaıssance
Traveling the Great Valley Wine Trail in search of East Tennessee’s wine culture B Y S . H E AT H E R DU NC A N
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Photos by Tricia Bateman
Photos by Tricia Bateman
I
t’s funny how long a mile of winding road is. It’s sure as hell more than a mile. Zigzagging toward Luttrell, I have plenty of time to ponder the equation. Inside the asphalt curve: A trailer. Swerve to the opposite side, next curve: Fireworks shack. Next curve: Field of sun-kissed blue flowers, rippling like water. I picture overloaded, souped-up liquor buggies zooming over this same road in the dark of night, and wonder how they ever made it. If, in fact, you’re going to be pondering alcohol as you loop through East Tennessee, it’s probably going to be moonshine. After all, you can stop at any tourist trap from Gatlinburg to the Kentucky line and buy an (empty) little brown jug painted with a snoozing hillbilly gripping his own little brown jug, helpfully labeled with X’s. But today, I’m driving toward a different tipple. It’s not exactly associated with hillbillies. Would you have guessed I’m in wine country? A day trip from Knoxville can, in fact, take you along several East Tennessee wine trails. Today I’m exploring the longest, most spread-out wine trail I’ve ever heard of–five wineries in 142 miles. Yet it aims to
Rick Riddle, right, checks the open clusters of wine grapes growing on the hillside at the Winery and Seven Springs Farm outside Maynardville. become the first federally-designated American Viticultural Area within Tennessee. One man is leading the charge to squeeze more value from the grapes grown in the area between the Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains: Rick Riddle, founder of the Great Valley Wine Trail and the driving force behind its effort to attain national recognition for the “9 Lakes” that frame the core of the region. An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a region where the climate, soil, and typography create wines with a unique identity. Riddle’s family owns the Winery at Seven Springs Farm near Maynardville. It’s one of the five wineries, all only a few years old or younger, on the new trail stretching from Seven Springs to Watauga Lake Winery in Butler. In between, the trail curves past the wineries of Spout Spring in Blaine, Eagle Springs in Kodak, and Goodwater Vineyards in Mosheim. (Initially, Knoxville’s Blue Slip Winery was involved too, but it bowed out, Riddle says.)
TO CUMBERLAND GAP
TO BRISTOL
TAZEWELL TO LEXINGTON MAYNARDVILLE
75
26
Seven Springs Farm
11W
Spout Springs Estates
61
33
75
KNOXVILLE TO NASHVILLE & CHATTANOOGA
25E
81
EXIT 15
40
Eagle Springs Winery
321
ELIZABETHTON
340
EXIT 407
40
JOHNSON CITY
Goodwater TO ASHEVILLE Vineyards
Watauga Lake Winery
66
TO GATLINBURG
TO ASHEVILLE
Great Valley Wine Trail
Created last fall, the Great Valley Wine Trail has already undergone an identity crisis. Ironically, it was originally branded based on its moonshine heritage, dubbed the Thunder Road trail because Seven Springs winery is on the old “Thunder Road” and Watauga Lake Winery is close to Copperhead Road. Both routes were memorialized for fast cars running untaxed liquor to Knoxville. Some of the wineries still advertise the Thunder Road name, but the branding is swiftly changing because an American Viticultural
Area must be associated with an existing, regionally-recognized geographic area, Riddle says. It’s expected to give a much-needed economic boost to this region among the Tennessee Valley Authority lakes. In the Tennessee portion of the Great Valley, which stretches into other states, 10 of the 16 counties fall under the USDA Designated Persistent Poverty Strike Force because more than 20 percent of the population lives in poverty; five are considered “distressed” by the Appalachian Regional Commission. August 4, 2016
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Photos by Tricia Bateman
The Winery at Seven Springs Farm sits across the road from the former location of the A.J. Woods distillery. It was one of three large whiskey producers that helped form the backbone of the Union County economy before Prohibition, which Riddle argues hit Appalachia worse than anywhere else. (Woods was the grandfather of famous Fountain City moonshine runner and “whiskey mechanic” Eddie Harvey.) Riddle’s family has an adversarial history with alcohol—his uncle was a sheriff in Claiborne County, Kentucky, and his father was “a revenuer.” (If y’all ain’t from around here, that’s a government agent who arrested entrepreneurs who made and sold untaxed liquor.) But before Prohibition lured poor mountain corn farmers to the profits of whiskey, wine helped float the Tennessee alcohol industry. U.S. Census records just before Prohibition show that 208,000 gallons of wine were being produced in Tennessee, as well as 5 million pounds of table grapes. In the late 1800s Tennessee was actually a national leader in winemaking. “Our state is going through a renaissance in wine production,” Riddle says. 16
KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
HOW SWEET IT IS
A 2011 study showed that Tennessee’s annual wine production is worth $35 million to $40 million, with a total economic impact from the industry of $880 million, says David Lockwood, wine specialist for UT Cooperative Extension. Even if you don’t sample the fruit of the vine, you might want to toast its profits. “The grape and wine industry is the brightest spot in Tennessee agritourism,” says Tammy Algood, marketing specialist for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. “The grape industry has provided a real shot in the arm, for not only the establishment of new wineries but restaurants and jobs and shops that have really helped diversify local economies while keeping the land in agricultural production.” In fact, according to a USDA grant application by Rick Riddle, the state’s wine industry grew sharply from 2013 through the first half of 2015, with associated employment and wage increases outstripping national industry rates as well as those in surrounding states. But it took a long time to get there. Tennessee only started allow-
ing wineries again in 1977, and economic barriers continued to keep growth slow. Tennessee’s state and local taxes on wine are among the highest in the country, Algood says. Plus the state adds an extra luxury tax on sparkling wine, port, and fortified wine. Those “sin taxes” are a cultural legacy. Winery owners and Lockwood attribute this partly to old-time religious opposition to alcohol, an aftertaste that remains despite the contradictory view of old-time moonshiners as renegade heroes. But wine has advantages from an economic development perspective because it is so tied to a sense of place, Algood says. “Unlike a manufacturing or service enterprise, you can’t pick up a vineyard and move it to a better area for cheaper labor or a tax incentive or a better climate,” she notes. And grape growing is a long-term commitment, because it can take up to four years from planting to a grape crop. Wineries also buy a lot of other fruit, further expanding the benefits to Tennessee farmers. Almost all the wines at Eagle Springs have a fruit element, from lemon blueberry to mango to strawberry kiwi.
Award-winning wines are available for sampling in a tasting room that doubles as a store for Seven Springs Farm to sell its beef, vegetables, and blueberries. “Blackberry wine in particular seems to be a very strong seller in Tennessee,” Algood says. The popularity of these sweet sips has wineries constantly casting about for new fruits. At Spout Spring, it’s Japanese wineberries. These have gone feral at the farm, growing thickly between an open field and the woods. They look like raspberries with red stalks, fuzzy pointed pods and yellowish leaves. Spout Spring uses them in a higher-alcohol, port-style wine. Gene Poland, whose family owns Goodwater Vineyards, says he’d be more interested in making carbonated blackberry cider or other carbonated fruit wines. “We’re really into pushing the boundary and making something that no one’s ever had before,” he says. Sweet wine fermented from native muscadines—which are actually berries—is a guaranteed seller. Spout Spring co-owner Alice Belt didn’t want to make it, but she says the demand was too great to ignore. “The tourist industry is huge, and a lot of people coming through here
Photos by Tricia Bateman
want something that’s uniquely Tennessee,” Algood says. “And let’s just face it, the South is known for muscadines. It’s probably something you don’t see on the shelves in Minnesota. So it’s novel and unique.” Algood says Tennessee wineries will also likely benefit from a change in Tennessee law approved this spring, allowing wineries to make hard cider. The cider rules are still being written because the state has been busy with the July roll-out of wine sales in grocery stores. But when the Tennessee wine industry holds its annual meeting in February, a huge portion will be dedicated to teaching members about apple and pear hard cider, Algood says. It’s a natural match for wineries because they already have the equipment, barrels, bottling capacity and labs to handle it, she says. And the alcohol level of hard cider is roughly equivalent to wine.
A FAMILY AFFAIR
At Seven Springs Farm, grapes grow on trellises high on a slope above the wood-cabin style store and wine tasting room, its porch cooled by breezes exhaled from a holler. In
between are greenhouses full of tomatoes and a huge field where neighbors in floppy hats pick blueberries beneath a haze of netting that keeps the birds away. The farm produces 18 different blueberry varieties, some as big as your thumb. Many grape growers and wine makers say the industry is benefiting from the national farm-to-table trend driving demand for locally-made products. Seven Springs Farm is a prime example. It sells shares in its produce through a CSA that keeps locals stocked with veggies and sells its cucumbers, beans, potatoes and tomatoes at the New Harvest and UT farmers’ markets in Knoxville, among others. Behind the wooden bar of the tasting room, the wines are lined up with medals around their curvy little necks like proud women with gaudy jewelry. The popular “Southern Belle” is elaborately sweet, of course. The James’ Peach hearkens back to the classic Road Dahl children’s book, except the person dwarfed by the peach on the label looks suspiciously like Rick Riddle. Other labels bear pictures of Union County historic buildings like the courthouse, painted by a local artist, and the winery has
donated a percentage of profits to preservation efforts. In the gift shop, you can buy elk salami, “wine clutches” (resembling handbags equipped with bottle openers), and baby onesies proclaiming: “Vintage 2016: Perfect Growing Conditions.” A slushie machine slowly churns frozen drinks made with wine. Like many of those on the Great Valley Trail, the farm is a family affair. Rick met his wife Donna at Central High School in Knoxville. The two put themselves through the University of Tennessee by farming tobacco and cattle on rented land off Tazewell Pike. Later Rick entered the U.S. Air Force, but after his retirement as a colonel the couple returned with the plan of farming again. Rick has an education that belies the farmer stereotype, with an undergraduate degree in animal science, a veterinary degree from UT, and a masters in public health. In fact, many of the Great Valley winery owners have something in common: They are owned by highly-educated couples who have gone into business together as a second career. At Seven Springs, Donna and her son Jim manage the fruit and vegetable operation, farm store and CSA. Rick
The view from Spout Spring Estates makes a popular setting for wedding receptions. (who more recently earned yet another degree, in enology—that’s the study of wine) oversees the cattle and helps his daughter and wine maker, Nikki. Nikki began by making wine in a garage with her aunt Alice at what is now Spout Spring. A trained biomedical engineer, Nikki has organic chemistry chops that give her an edge in the winery lab, which looks like a kitchen except for the test tubes and the antique ebulliometer that measures alcohol volume of the wine. Wine made from out-of-state grapes ferments in 500-gallon stainless steel vats in a temperature-controlled, shiny white room. This year the farm will harvest its own grapes for the first time. Under a blazing sun that has caused all his freckles to run together, Rick shows off the vineyard’s Concord grapes, still the size of an adult pinkie finger. Seven Springs has chosen grape varieties that grow in open clusters, avoiding the fungus and mildew that plague the type of grapes which clutch the Southern humidity inside their tight bunches. But drive down the road a piece, and those are exactly the kind of grapes grown at Spout Spring. The route takes me past R.J.’s Barbecue in August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17
Photos by Tricia Bateman
Blaine (with its reputation for the second-best fried bologna sandwich in Tennessee) and roads with names like Tater Hollow. The final twists curl past a home machine shop on Easy Street, and skirt the collapse zone of a barn slanted so far as to defy gravity. Drive through Spout Spring’s imposing iron gate up a steep drive to the tasting room, where a huge shaded patio overlooks breathtaking mountain views. Rick’s sister Alice Belt and her husband Chuck—retired mechanical engineers from West Knoxville—built the winery where they now live. They had been selling grapes since 2012 and making their own wine in the garage for a decade before they started bottling and selling small batches about a year ago. Early on, hand-picking the grapes was an extended family project that took 12 days and a bevy of aunts and uncles. “The average age of our pickers was 65,” says Alice. Unlike Seven Springs, Spout Spring specializes in “Old World”style wine. That means both traditional, mostly European, grape varieties and a hands-off winemaking style. Chuck doesn’t adjust the acids or have a big lab like Nikki’s. The wine ages in oak barrels in a basement that’s not even air conditioned. Unlike many Tennessee wineries, Spout Spring can clearly vintage its wine because it doesn’t mix grapes from different 18
KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
harvests or regions. “The wine changes constantly,” says Chuck. “We think it’s a science, but it’s an art.” An easy-going, grizzled man in a ball cap, jeans and sandals, Chuck grouses at his wife as she interrupts him repeatedly. Alice bugs him until he uncorks a barrel and pulls wine new wine from the top into a test tube. “This is called a wine thief,” she confides, holding out a glass while he makes a face at her. The Belts ride a golf cart among the gnarled, fat vines of chianti and chardonnay. The bark shags off the root stock, from which emerging tendrils are festooned with tight bunches of green grapes the size of bb’s. After soaking up both the view and the wine, I set out again under a brilliant, hot sky.
SEVIER COUNTY’S WINE TRAIL
One of the challenges of the Great Valley trail is that most of it is so country, it’s hard to even find a place to eat. (I suggest bringing some fancy bread with you and buying some cheese and fruit at Seven Springs to tide you over.) The exception is when I arrive in Kodak from Spout Spring, rounding a swell straight from pasture to the visual chaos of Dollywood sprawl. Here you are following not only the wine trail but a grape trail: Grapes
Co-owner Alice Belt samples wine straight from the cask at Spout Spring Estates, which uses “Old World” wine-making techniques and grape varieties. that aren’t used to make the wine at Spout Spring travel this route to be used by the Collier Wine Group, which runs (with various partners) the wineries on the Rocky Top Wine Trail in Sevier County. The newest of these sister wineries is Eagle Springs, overlooking Interstate 40 in Kodak. It’s the only winery to belong to both the Rocky Top and Great Valley wine trails. The Rocky Top wineries have different specialties, although all lean toward sweet wine and don’t grow their own grapes. Eagle Springs’ wines are mostly honey-based (called “stickys” on the tasting sheet), which require daily involvement in the fermenting process, says general manager Chasity Grogan. The wines have eagle-inspired names like “Red Feather” and “Wohali Legend” (from the Cherokee word for eagle). But the day I was there, their “Courage” had sold out. “I wonder if you could make pies with this?” a woman speculates after a swallow in the tasting room. The employee behind the bar doesn’t understand her Southern accent, which drawls “pies” into “paaas.” The vibe at Eagle Springs is very different from the first two wineries.
An electronic sign aimed at the interstate lights up with moving letters: “Free tastings!” Customers arrive in waves, and the two tasting bars can be packed two deep. If you have to wait, you can sift through a bin of plastic moose or buy one of those little brown jugs with a drunken hillbilly on it. Racks of jelly beans and gummy worms perch on the tasting counter. This is my third winery of the day, and I can see I’m not going to make it farther. Although I enjoy both sweet and dry wine, I am totally sweeted out. Off in the distance, the remaining Great Valley wineries provide further variety in the personality of both the wine and the vintners. Goodwater Vineyards, for example, is run by a family team of Gene and Laura Poland and their four kids. Gene, the winemaker, had a degree in physics and past career stints in international modeling and Gatlinburg real estate. Their winery,
The Great Valley Wine Trail Winery tasting rooms have varying hours based on time of year—call first. THE WINERY AT SEVEN SPRINGS FARM winerysevenspringsfarm.com 1474 Highway 61 East, Maynardville 865-745-2902 Tastings: Range from 50 cents a glass to $5 to taste everything and take home a wine glass. Visitors can buy wine by the glass for $5.75 to sip on the porch, at the bar or at covered picnic tables. About 10 wines (bottles range from about $13.50 to $15.50) from grapes grown in other states. Photos by Heather Duncan
where they offer catered picnics in the vineyard, is the largest on the trail and provides the official wine of the Tennessee Smokies baseball team. Goodwater recently added a second tasting room in Hartford. Watauga Lake Winery was opened by Wayne and Linda Gay after they retired from the Italian import business. The grapes are grown next to the couple’s mountaintop Italian-style villa, while the wine is produced in the old gym of a repurposed schoolhouse.
UNCORKING PROFITS
The Great Valley wineries are pursuing the AVA designation because it allows certain kinds of labeling and marketing that cause the wine, and the dollars, to flow. Riddle recently received a $25,000 USDA grant to hire Patricia McRitchie, a consultant who worked on the highly successful Yadkin Valley AVA in North Carolina, to develop an AVA petition for 9 Lakes. The process can take two to four years. I come from the Yadkin Valley that McRitchie helped enrich. My nearby hometown was once the recognized moonshine (and then marijuana) capitol of North Carolina. Dilapidated factories spat out furniture, textiles, and packaged chicken parts; tobacco and poultry ruled; and our NASCAR track was the center of cultural pride.
When wineries started popping up while I was away at college, I admit I saw it as a wonderful joke, a raspberry blown in the face of The Cultured. Wine? In Hicksville? Today no one is laughing. Since the AVA designation, the number of wineries in the valley increased from 14 to 42. “It really increased the income to the region,” Lockwood says. Algood says that happened partly because when states like North Carolina and Kentucky received tobacco settlement installments over the last 15 years, they used a significant portion to help tobacco farmers switch to new types of crops, including wine grapes. Tennessee put its settlement money in the state’s general fund. Some of it went to protect farmland from development as tobacco became less profitable, but at times it was used to prop up the state budget. North Carolina also invested wine tax revenue into educating farmers and promoting the industry. The result is that today, North Carolina has three American Viticultural Areas within the state, as well as one shared with Georgia, and over 100 established wineries to Tennessee’s 67. Lockwood is helping identify the key features of 9 Lakes wine for the AVA application. Riddle says East Tennessee wine is more acidic, fruitier, and lower in alcohol than wine from more familiar growing
Visitors make notes on their favorite wines at Eagle Springs Winery in Kodak, where candy and hillbilly mountain souvenirs are also for sale. regions like California. The 9 Lakes is geographically modeled on one of the few long-established AVAs on the East Coast, New York’s Finger Lakes. Riddle has partnered with the Middle East Tennessee Tourism Council, which is re-branding itself and its website from “Vacation East Tennessee” to “9 Lakes of East Tennessee,” says council chair Anne Ross. Algood wants to link the state’s seven existing wine trails to create a network that runs across the entire state. The wineries promote each other, which is especially important on a trail as long as Great Valley’s. Riddle expects more wineries to join. He says a new winery is planned just outside Tazewell and he anticipates another in Greene County. After the AVA is approved, Riddle hopes wineries within its footprint will partner in a large regional wine festival. “It’s going to be absolutely awesome,” Ross says of the trail and AVA. “Everyone likes to do these kinds of off-the-beaten-trail things.” You know you’ve hit a curve when the (beautiful) middle-of-nowhere becomes “off the beaten trail”… a curve not unlike the graceful silhouette of a wine glass. ◆
SPOUT SPRING ESTATES WINERY AND VINEYARD spoutspringestates.com 430 Riddle Lane, Blaine 865-719-7485 Tastings: $4 to taste five wines, but the price is waived if you buy a bottle (range: $14.99 to $19.99). About seven varieties, mostly “Old-World” style, all from grapes grown on-site. Specializes in hosting weddings and receptions at covered-porch event space with expansive mountain views. EAGLE SPRINGS WINERY eaglespringswine.com 119 W. Dumplin Valley Rd., Kodak 865-465-3186 Tastings: Free, most bottles between $16.49 and $17.49. About a dozen varieties (specializing in “sticky” honey wines), plus rotating seasonal selections, made mostly from grapes farmed elsewhere in East Tennessee. GOODWATER VINEYARDS goodwatervineyards.com 1865 Goodwater Rd., Mosheim 423-608-3249 Five wines from grapes grown on the property or in East Tennesee, plus new varieties under production; about $14 to $18 a bottle. Tasting rooms periodically hold party-style events open to public. Second tasting room at 3112 Big Creek Rd., Hartford. WATAUGA LAKE WINERY wataugalakewinery.com 6952 Big Dry Run Rd., Butler 423-768-0345 Tastings: $5 for eight wines, includes a souvenir glass, in historic Big Dry Run schoolhouse. They offer 17 wine varieties, with a wider selection of reds than is typical in East Tennessee. Nearby vineyard specializes in hosting weddings.
August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19
e w t ’ Don u o y w o n k from ? e r e h w e m so y e v r u s / m o c . y r u c knoxmer
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
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VOTE NOW!
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August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
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August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27
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P rogram Notes
Warehouse Songs and Stories RHYTHM N’ BLOOMS TEAMS UP WITH LOCAL MUSIC WEBSITE FOR SECRET CONCERTS
THE FITS
LO AND BEHOLD
Handmade Movies The Public Cinema series announces its fall lineup
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year and a half ago, Paul Harrill and Darren Hughes quietly launched the Public Cinema, a series showing recent independent movies from around the world. It began with a modest program of eight free screenings at the Knoxville Museum of Art’s newly upgraded ground-floor auditorium. Since then, Harrill and Hughes have dramatically expanded their schedule, hosting more than 20 events between August and May at a handful of venues all around downtown, and featured new movies by renowned directors like Chantal Akerman, Pedro Costa, Guy Maddin, and Apitchatpong Weerasethakul. In the spring, they partnered with the Visit Knoxville Film Office and showed more than a dozen movies as part of the 2016 edition of Big Ears. Now Harrill and Hughes have just announced their fall program, with 14 movies scheduled between August and December at KMA, Scruffy City Hall, Pilot Light, and the University of Tennessee’s Art and Architecture Building. The fall session of the Public Cinema starts next week, with a screening of The Fits, Anna Rose
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Inside the Vault: VHS
KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
Holmer’s magical-realist coming-of-age story about a girl in Cincinnati who trades boxing for a dance team. (That’s at Scruffy City Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 10, at 8 p.m.) The rest of the schedule includes film essays, low-budget comedies, dramas, and sci-fi thrillers, art-house documentaries (including Werner Herzog’s Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World), and a movie that’s been described as the Purple Rain of Niger. “We’re pleased with the state of the Public Cinema right now,” Hughes says. “Paul and I often pitch ideas to each other for how we might expand the project further, but we have to balance our ambitions with our resources. This is still very much a handmade thing.” Booking a full program of worthwhile movies—up to four a month—isn’t easy with a limited budget and full-time jobs. Harrill is a filmmaker—his short “Gina, an Actress, Age 29,” won the jury prize in short filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001, and his debut feature, Something, Anything, made the festival rounds in 2014—and teaches in the University of Tennessee
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Music: Crowbar
HOMO SAPIENS cinema studies program. Hughes is a film critic and communications professional at UT. “Art cinema works on a calendar: Sundance in January, Berlin in February, SXSW in March, Cannes in May, and then Venice, Toronto, and New York in the fall,” Hughes says. “I’ve been aware of this for years as a critic, but programming the Public Cinema has given me a new perspective on how the calendar shapes what the rest of us see and when we get to see it. … I already have my eye on a half-dozen films that premiered at Cannes this year for our next program. Our fall lineup is heavy on young filmmakers and new discoveries in part because that’s what the release schedule dictated.” Harrill says the limits of the schedule pushed him and Hughes to make unusual choices that he thinks will pay off. “A lot of the higher-profile American indies got released in the summer, which means they would be released digitally before we’d have a chance to show them,” he says. “And some of those higher-profile films frankly just weren’t very good. That seemed like a problem at first, but in fact it led us to some really interesting and out-of-the-box choices. Every film we’re showing is so utterly unique and never would make it to Knoxville otherwise.” Visit publiccinema.org for more info and a complete schedule. (Matthew Everett)
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Another local series is expanding this month—the Knoxville Music Warehouse website has announced an official partnership with Rhythm N’ Blooms and Dogwood Arts for its upcoming slate of secret shows through the fall. Tickets for all four upcoming shows— the Christian Lopez Band (Aug. 19), Caleb Hawley (Sept. 27), David Ramirez (Oct. 12), and Daniel Ellsworth and the Great Lakes (Oct. 13), all veterans of RN’B— are available at knoxvillemusicwarehouse.com. But each show will be at a different venue—and that won’t be announced until a day before the show. “The locations will continue to be atypical places to see live music,” KMW’s Kent Oglesby says. Previous secret show locations have been the Pretentious Glass Company, Bird on the Wire Studio, and the shed behind Hops and Hollers on North Central Street. The series has been an unofficial collaboration between KMW and Dogwood Arts since the beginning—Oglesby and Dogwood’s Garrett Thomson started the project together—but the new partnership means more marketing and a bigger budget. “We get to extend the Rhythm N’ Blooms brand outside of the festival,” Oglesby says. “For KMW, it’s a big responsibility, and an honor to now be a part of RN’B, since it’s meant so much to me for the past several years.” It also means a technology upgrade. “As part of this deal we got a new sound system that sounds amazing and allows us to handle louder rock shows if we want to,” Oglesby says. (M.E.)
Movie: Jason Bourne
Inside the Vault
Knoxville Rewind Seeing Knoxville through the (finally) obsolete VHS format BY ERIC DAWSON
Y
ou may have read recently that Funai Electric, the only company still manufacturing VCRs, will soon stop production of the machines. The fact that they were still being made might have surprised you. It certainly surprised me to find out that Funai sold 750,000 of the units last year. After all, VHS tapes are a nigh obsolete format, collected and watched primarily by movie buffs nostalgic for their 1980s and ’90s heyday. We should be grateful that anyone cares enough to collect them, because some of these movies were straight-tovideo releases that might not ever receive the Blu-ray or streaming treatment. A lot of these tapes are low-budget genre films that, to be honest, most people probably wouldn’t sit through, but they’re a record of our culture worth preserving. These collectors are serving as citizen archivists. If you doubt that, consider Pieces of Darkness, a 1989 horror anthology
filmed on videotape in Knoxville and released by the California company Legacy Home Video. The copy donated to the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound is a former rental from Movie Gallery in Bearden; the thin paper box is cut at the top and side to fit into a sturdier plastic case, and the tape itself bears a “Be Kind Please Rewind” sticker. It looks as though it saw quite a few viewings over the years, probably by teenagers drawn in by the tagline: “A macabre medley of sci fi terror. Don’t miss it—if you dare.” The first short, “The Bootmaker,” is a convoluted tale of a Vietnam veteran caught up in “a wicked web strung with adultery, deceit and mutilation.” “Choice Cuts” is the tale of a pair of bickering butcher brothers and a winsome young lady customer. In “That’s Showbiz,” a young thespian cuts a deal with the devil, with the inevitable gruesome results. If this doesn’t sound like your
thing, the VHS tape may still be of interest for the glimpses of Knoxville it offers. I’m not sure what part of Knoxville is being passed off as the jungles of Vietnam in the first segment—there are plenty of lush wooded areas around that might fill that role. Most of “Choice Cuts” takes place in and around what looks like Chicken City on North Central Street. The final film reveals the most, with multiple downtown locations, including Market Square and a few now-defunct diners and restaurants. I don’t think there is a shortage of photographs or moving images of any of these places, but the film does offer unique views of how they looked around 30 years ago. Just as there is a current interest in downtown’s past— the city and Visit Knoxville recently paid good money to camouflage a blank parking garage exterior with giant photographs of downtown Knoxville in less parking garage-ridden times—it’s likely that, a few decades from now, some folks might be interested in what Knoxville looked like in the 1980s. Plus, it’s kind of fun to see a local stab at the horror genre from that era. (A few copies of Pieces of Darkness are available on Amazon for around $10.) TAMIS is also fortunate to have several one-of-a-kind VHS tapes that are important documents of Knoxville’s culture. Anna Mae Denton was a local lay pastor known for her decades of work assisting and feeding low-income families and the homeless. (Oddly, she’s mentioned in a 1994 book on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.) Denton founded Ministry as Word Faith
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church, which for a while broadcast out of the old WNOX auditorium on Whittle Springs Road. We have a couple of VHS tapes of Denton preaching there in 2003, a few years before she died. Denton appeared on television on and off for about 20 years, but so far this is the only footage we have of her. After reading about the impending demise of VCRs, Ed White thought it might be time to find a secure long-term location for a few of his tapes. One is a document of the 1992 Knoxville Pride rally, which starts off in Market Square and heads up Gay Street, ending with a series of speeches and testimonials in front of the City County Building. White says that there had been gay pride rallies in Knoxville in the 1970s and ’80s but 1991 was when an annual Pride Week with accompanying parade was launched, so this captures the moment early on. The parade is longer than you might have guessed for Knoxville in 1992, though there aren’t nearly as many people lining the streets for it as there are now. It was also the first year an official proclamation from local government was issued for Pride Day—and the last one for many years. Credited to Knox County Executive Director Dwight Kessel, it was read at the rally: “In the true fashion of America, people of diverse views can air their views and pursue their beliefs.” Though petitioned, Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe declined to issue a proclamation. ◆ Inside the Vault searches the TAMIS archives for nuggets of lost Knoxville music and film history.
A lot of leftover VHS tapes are low-budget genre films that most people wouldn’t sit through, but they’re a record of our culture. These collectors are serving as citizen archivists.
August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29
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Music
The Low-End Thing New Orleans sludge survivors Crowbar carry on BY MIKE GIBSON
T
wenty-seven years is a long time to endure the grind of being in a touring rock outfit, and never mind the grind of playing the type of deafening, bottom-heavy metal music plied by Kirk Windstein’s Crowbar. Yet Windstein—the band’s singer/ guitarist and, prior to the recent return of bassist Todd Strange, its only remaining original member—has persevered, staying the course even as like-minded but better-known bands have fallen by the wayside. “There have been a lot of ups and downs, a few times when I was literally the only guy in the band,” says Windstein, speaking from the road during Crowbar’s current jag with
British death-metal quartet Carcass. “But the thought of stopping has never crossed my mind. Quitting was never an option.” Founded in 1989 by Windstein and fellow New Orleans residents Jimmy Bower (drums) and the now-deceased Mike Hatch (guitar), Crowbar was one of a handful of groups that popularized so-called sludge, a snarling and ferocious brand of heavy metal played on detuned, slack-stringed guitars. For better and worse, bands like Crowbar, Pantera, and Eyehategod cleared a path for whole new generations of ultra-heavy rockers, from the nu metal mavens of the middle and late
played together, and we still do it today. And we always worked together, trying to build something. I’m not sure what it is about New Orleans that’s made our scene work—maybe it’s the food.” Though Crowbar has never exactly been a household name—a couple of infamous ’90s-era Beavis and Butt-Head spotlights notwithstanding—and though he’s often had to watch some of the lesser tag-along outfits reach heights of arena-rock glory in his wake, Windstein says he’s happy with the way the band has endured, and steadily flourished, through 10 albums and nearly three decades. “I’ve been blessed to watch so many genres and god knows how many bands come and go,” he says. “It’s tough out there. We’ve just continued to build—gradually. “When I think of how I want my career to be, I like to think of Lemmy Kilmister and Motörhead. Motörhead was never huge. But when Lemmy passed away, Motörhead was bigger than they had ever been. If you continue to kick ass and treat your fans with respect, your fans will stay with you.” ◆
1990s to 21st-century sludge success stories such as Mastodon and Kylesa. “We had our influences, too,” says Windstein, in a crusty drawl that sounds a good deal like his guitar tone. “We took after guys like Carnivore and the Melvins, even Trouble. But for the most part, there were very few bands doing that low-end thing when we started doing it. “It’s a great feeling, having influenced so many other bands. There were lots of times when bands younger than us got a lot more popular than we were. It was kind of ironic. ‘We influenced them, but we’re opening for them.’” Windstein’s native New Orleans has been a locus of sorts for the Southern brand of sludge. It’s home to Eyehategod founder Bower, Pantera and Down vocalist Phil Anselmo, and earlier Crescent City sludge icons like Graveyard Rodeo and Soilent Green. Windstein describes the metal scene in New Orleans as close-knit, almost to the point of being hermetic. “We’ve all known each other, jammed with each other, and been in each others’ bands for so long,” he says. “It’s just been this certain group of guys who have always hung out and
WHO
Crowbar with Summoner’s Circle and Cemetery Filth
WHERE
The Concourse (940 Blackstock Ave.)
WHEN
Monday, Aug. 8, at 8 p.m.
HOW MUCH
$13/$15 the day of show
INFO
Photo by Zack Smith
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
internationalknox.com crowbarnola.com
Movies
Black-Ops Basics Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass reunite for the familiar but effective Jason Bourne BY APRIL SNELLINGS The world is a vastly different place than it was in 2002, when Matt Damon first took up the mantle of Robert Ludlum’s amnesiac superspy Jason Bourne. Damon was only 32 then, with a face so boyish he could pass for a college student when he wasn’t leading black-ops agents on breathless chases across Europe. Fourteen years and five movies into the Bourne franchise, time has provided a twist more poignant than anything a screenwriter could concoct. Damon has returned to the series for the first time since 2007’s Bourne Ultimatum, and the difference is striking. His hair graying, his face lined, his body an imposing wall of muscle that seems constantly in a state of flex, Damon makes no attempt to simply pick up where he left off nearly a decade ago. In Jason Bourne, his superspy has spent the intervening years living off the grid, earning cash as a bare-knuckled boxer drifting from one illegal bout to the next. Time
has taken a toll on him; he seems tired and defeated, even as he moves through one set piece to the next with his trademark lethal efficiency. The movie is bleaker, too, though this franchise has always been the anti-Bond—a somber and paranoid rebuttal to 007’s glibness and glamour. By the time his former CIA colleague Nicky Parsons ( Julia Stiles) comes calling with new information about Bourne’s past, he seems irreconcilably out of step with the new world of cyber-spying and data-mining that has taken over. Once the CIA’s most sophisticated weapon, now his makers just see him and his kind as an archaic (if sometimes necessary) nuisance. Bourne’s counterpart and main adversary, a relentless assassin known only as the Asset (Vincent Cassel), is so expendable he doesn’t even have a name. Bourne has long since pieced together the most intriguing facets of his own puzzle, so the latest install-
ment saddles him with a quest that’s inherently less interesting: figuring out what role his father played in Treadstone, the top-secret program that weaponized Bourne and cooked his brain all those years ago. So Jason Bourne’s plot doesn’t offer anything particularly notable, other than myriad excuses to push Damon’s compelling antihero into explosive, bone-crunching confrontations as he makes his way back to the U.S. to face a future that’s as uncertain as his past. But if Jason Bourne can’t conjure the drive of early installments where its story is concerned, it makes up for it with the twitchy, paranoid tension that crackles through almost every scene. Bourne isn’t the only one whose place in the world is uncertain. There’s friction between old-school spooks like the CIA director, Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones), who just wants rid of Bourne, and techie Agency upstart Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), who thinks Bourne could be brought back into the CIA fold if Dewey would stop sending people to shoot him. And then, of course, there are director Paul Greengrass’ breathtakingly staged action sequences. Greengrass co-wrote the movie with its editor, Christopher Rouse—an approach to action filmmaking that I find intensely appealing for both its efficacy and its honesty.
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Greengrass and Rouse bookend the film with a pair of genuinely thrilling action set pieces, and everything that comes between feels, for better or for worse, exceedingly familiar. There are some game attempts to update the Bourne formula, and the new film has some narrative and thematic tics that are definitely of the moment. Public safety and personal privacy are seen as mutually exclusive luxuries in the world of Jason Bourne, and characters choose sides based on which they think should be sacrificed in service of the other. Edward Snowden’s name is dropped several times; Julian Assange’s isn’t, but his specter is nonetheless present. The CIA isn’t the least bit concerned with foreign threats this time around; its biggest worry is that incriminating information might be leaked to the American public by vengeful hackers or a billionaire social-media mogul. But its au courant themes are mostly window-dressing. Jason Bourne feels like a throwback, and that’s not a bad thing. Bourne, like the franchise that bears his name, might be worn at the edges by now, and he has few surprises left up his sleeve. But Damon imbues him with irresistible pathos, and Greengrass can craft an action scene like few other directors. It’s hard to complain about the same ol’ thing when it’s a thing that worked so well in the first place. ◆ August 4, 2016
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CALENDAR Thursday, Aug. 4 EVAN TAYLOR JONES WITH RYAN SHELEY • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE DEAD RINGERS • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson • (Maryville) 6PM • FREE HOT SUMMER NIGHTS CONCERT SERIES • Blount County Public Library • 7PM • Thursdays in August, sponsored by the Blount County Friends of the Library. The performers will be 12-year-old Madisonville country singer Emi Sunshine (Aug. 4); jazz duo Wendel Werner and Alan Eleazer (Aug. 11); Nashville vocal family band Spencer’s Own (Aug. 18); Nashville country duo the Young Fables (Aug. 25); and Knoxville Opera’s preview of the 2016-17 season (Sept. 1). • FREE WONKY TONK • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE BIRD IN HAND WITH HAZEL AND SUNSHINE STATION • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • An evening of folk and synth-pop. • $3 MATT HICKEY • Wild Wing Cafe • 8:30PM • FREE EVAN TAYLOR JONES • Preservation Pub • 10PM • The Voice contestant Evan Taylor Jones is hitting the road this summer on his first North American tour, The Sunray Sessions Tour, in support of his new EP The Sunray Sessions Live. Jones’ incredible eight piece band is set to bring his vibing, soul-rock aesthetic to stages across the country. 21 and up. STEPHEN SIMMONS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM DADDY ISSUES • Pilot Light • 9:30PM • 18 and up. • $5 Friday, Aug. 5 STEPHEN SIMMONS • 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 STREAMLINERS SWING ORCHESTRA • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Knoxville’s premier swing band was formed as a smaller band over 17 years ago years ago by bassist Mischa Goldman and trumpeters Mike Spirko and Thomas Heflin. The Streamliners soon blossomed into the fabulous 17-piece unit that they are today. This swingin’ big band plays the classics of Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Peggy Lee, with a little Louis Jordan and Louis Prima mixed in for extra fun. • $15 SHAUN ABBOT • Wild Wing Cafe • 6PM • FREE BAREFOOT SANCTUARY • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 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 MAGNOLIA MOTEL WITH INDIGHOST • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • All ages. • $5 DIRTY POOL • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM THE DONNA HOPKINS BAND • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE WILD WOOD • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE THE MARTINI PUNKS • Just 1 More Bar and Grille • 8PM • FREE SWINGBOOTY • Casual Pint (Fountain City) • 8PM • Local Gypsy jazz. • FREE JERRY GARCIA BIRTHDAY BASH • Preservation Pub and Scruffy City Hall • 9PM • The 11th annual edition of this 32
KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
FISH STICKS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM HANDSOME AND THE HUMBLES • Sugar Mama’s • 8:30PM
psychedelic celebration features Caution, Grandpa’s Stash, Llama Train, Jescoe, and Deadphish Orchestra at Preservation Pub and Scruffy City Hall. $10 admission to both venues. • $10 TAMARA BROWN • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE SHIMMY AND THE BURNS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM PORCH 40 • Brackins Blues Club • 9PM PALE ROOT • Sugar Mama’s • 8:30PM Saturday, Aug. 6 ERIN MCLENDON WITH THE BAND CONCORD • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE SOUTHERN DRAWL BAND • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE JANGLING SPARROWS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE DENNY LAINE WITH THE CRYERS AND JOHN SALAWAY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7:30PM • Denny Laine played guitar in one of the great guitar bands of the 1970s. A founding member of the Moody Blues and a London scene journeyman through the late ’60s, Laine joined Paul McCartney in 1971 to form Wings, and, with McCartney’s wife, Linda, remained one of that band’s core members throughout its existence. His biggest credit during those years was co-writing “Mull of Kintyre,” Wings’ pastoral holiday ballad from 1977, but his distinctive guitar-playing on the band’s signature hits—“Band on the Run,” “Jet,” “Live and Let Die”—are an even more credible stake for rock immortality. • $20-$40 1964: THE TRIBUTE • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Since the early 80s, 1964: The Tribute has been thrilling audiences all over the globe with what Rolling Stone Magazine has called the “Best Beatles Tribute on Earth.” “1964” …The Tribute takes their audiences on a musical journey to an era in rock history that will live in all of our hearts forever. • $27 CYPHER: A HIP-HOP SHOW • The Birdhouse • 9PM • Open mic for the first half of the night, then two featured artists to close out the night. 18 and up. EXIT 60 • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM MOTEL MIRRORS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • A few years ago, John Paul Keith joined Amy LaVere, a Memphis singer known for her Mississippi River Gothic style of Americana, and drummer Shawn Zorn for an old-fashioned duet record under the name Motel Mirrors. Their self-titled debut album, also released in 2013, wouldn’t sound unfamiliar to fans of either Keith or LaVere. But Keith says the collaboration—the first time he’d worked with another songwriter since his time in the Viceroys—brought out new dimensions of his songwriting. • FREE THE JON STICKLEY TRIO • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE AUNT BETTY • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE ROSELIT BONE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • Gothic, cinematic country and western music influenced by Lee Hazlewood, swampy post-punk bands like the Gun Club or Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, mariachi/ranchera music, and midcentury singing cowboys like Marty Robbins and Roy Rogers. 21 and up. • $5 THE WILL YAGER TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE PAPERWORK WITH YUNG LIFE, MEOB, AND EX GOLD • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM
Sunday, Aug. 7 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 ROBINELLA • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 7PM 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—intimate,
confessional music grounded in tradition. At various times, the duo’s music recalls Neil Young, Jackson Browne, the Everly Brothers, and the Avett Brothers. It’s a surprisingly full and mature sound from just two people. • FREE NONEED • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 Monday, Aug. 8 MARGO CILKER • 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 CROWBAR • The Concourse • 8PM • Crowbar began in 1988 as the brainchild of Windstein and multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Bower (also of Eyehategod and Down), with an eye to playing slow and—most importantly—low. 18 and up. • $13 • See Music story on page 22.
photo by Earsplit PR
MUSIC
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
CASTLE Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave.) • Tuesday, Aug. 9 • 9 p.m. • $6 • 18 and up • facebook.com/CastleSF
Singer/bassist Elizabeth Blackwell and guitarist Matt Davis, the principals of the San Francisco band Castle, wandered through the dark corners of ’60s flower power and ’70s FM hard rock on their most recent albums together, Blacklands (2012) and Under Siege (2014). On Welcome to the Graveyard, released in July, Blackwell and Davis continue down the same gloomy, psychedelic left-hand path, but with a refined sense of clarity and purpose that should land them near the top of today’s heap of retro denim-and-leather guitar rock revivalists. The band’s epic and sometimes murky ambitions have been streamlined on the new disc. The songs on Welcome to the Graveyard are lean and efficient; Davis throws down some of the best (and most economical) guitar solos of 2016, and Blackwell’s husky, burnished vocals cut through the power chords with a precision she hasn’t quite shown before. Where earlier albums showed Castle alternating between spaced-out occult atmosphere and chugging biker rock, Welcome to the Graveyard is all forward momentum—Motörhead meets Steppenwolf, maybe, with hints of Blue Öyster Cult, Deep Purple, and Dreamboat Annie. With Mountain King and White Stag. (Matthew Everett)
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Spotlight: Who, What, Where
40
Spotlight: Eighth of August
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
THE SOGGY PO’ BOYS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The beauty of New Orleans music is that it’s celebrated and appreciated everywhere. From the street corner, to the communing pub, to the theater. The Po’ Boys are doing their part to spread the tasteful soundtrack of the greatest music on the planet from their roost in the Northeast and while out on the road touring the country. The Soggy Po’ Boys – so fresh, so clean (not too clean…), so rich. Some of the sexiest sounds alive. A brass fueled swinging jazz band that will indeed stand the test of time and transcend the bounds of geographic pigeonholing. • FREE WALKER LUKENS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 Tuesday, Aug. 9 2 COUNTRY 4 NASHVILLE WITH PAPER WINGS • 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 MARBLE CITY 5 • Market Square • 8PM • Live jazz every Tuesday from May 3-Aug. 30. • FREE CASTLE • Pilot Light • 10PM • Welcome To The Graveyard sees Castle merging their doom-powered riffing with soaring 1970s rock. 18 and up. • See Spotlight on page 32. TARA TERRA • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • FREE MVT • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3 Wednesday, Aug. 10 TARA TERRA WITH JOE KAPLOW • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 6:30PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE TENNESSEE SHINES: FOUR LEAF PEAT WITH JACK NEELY • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Knoxville’s finest purveyors of traditional Irish music and the Mercury’s Scruffy Citizen perform for WDVX’s weekly live-broadcast roots-music showcase. • $10 THE CASEY GREEN TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • Live jazz. • FREE JELLY ROLL WITH WHITNEY PEYTON • The Concourse • 9PM • Checking in at six feet one inches and over 350 pounds, not to mention covered in tattoos, it’s impossible to ignore Jason “Jelly Roll” DeFord in a room. And that’s before his booming country-twanged voice enters the conversation. “I’m just a regular fat piece of white trash with some real people that relate,” he loudly explains with a wide grin, sending everyone else within earshot into riotous laughter. For the 27-year-old Jelly, a nickname he picked up from his mother and kept to honor an incarcerated friend, humor has always been a way to cope with the struggle he would go through in life. Growing up in the rougher areas of Nashville, TN, particularly the Southside city known as Antioch, Jelly got an early taste for street life and fast cash. 18 and up. • $10-$15 Thursday, Aug. 11 ROY BOOK BINDER WITH OUTLAW RITUAL • 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 HOT SUMMER NIGHTS CONCERT SERIES • Blount County Public Library • 7PM • Thursdays in August, sponsored by the Blount County Friends of the Library. The performers
CALENDAR
will be 12-year-old Madisonville country singer Emi Sunshine (Aug. 4); jazz duo Wendel Werner and Alan Eleazer (Aug. 11); Nashville vocal family band Spencer’s Own (Aug. 18); Nashville country duo the Young Fables (Aug. 25); and Knoxville Opera’s preview of the 2016-17 season (Sept. 1). • FREE THE GRAND OLE UPROAR • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE MUSIC • August 11 • Madball with Homewrecker, Coldside, and Will to Die • The Concourse • 7:30PM • Ask any two people to describe what Hardcore is all about, especially in 2014, and the volume of responses will blow your head clear off of your shoulders. Neither Ian MacKaye; nor Mike Muir, nor any member of the Bad Brains would even want to try to explain it. This scene of ours is misunderstood to the nth degree, and all too often, the wrong party is left trying to school the uninitiated as to its characteristics. Attempting to put New York Hardcore into its proper context may be even tougher. Regardless, most will agree that the NYHC sound - the one most often associated with its scene - begins with Agnostic Front, and if you don’t already know the kinship between Madball and AF, you should probably do the knowledge. All ages. • $12-$15 CHRIS WEST • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM THE WHISKEY SHIVERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM Friday, Aug. 12 MICHAEL RENO HARRELL WITH UNSPOKEN TRADITION • 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 CAROLINA STORY • Campbell Station Park • 6PM • Part of the Lawn Chair Concert series. • FREE ALIVE AFTER FIVE: ORI NAFTALY AND SOUTHERN AVENUE • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Based in Memphis, Ori Naftaly and Southern Avenue brings infectious rhythms, soulful guitar sounds, and soulful vocals to the stage. • $15 BRIDGES • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE THE MILL CREEK MULESKINNERS • Seymour Public Library • 7PM • Old-time bluegrass. • FREE 10 YEARS WITH FINGER ELEVEN AND EVAN STONE • The International • 8PM • There are few noises as powerful as the sound of confidence. After a decade of trials and tribulations, hit singles and music industry politics, 10 Years have emerged stronger than ever, freed by their own independence (both creatively and professionally), with a hard rock sound as steadfastly resilient as the salt-of-the-Earth fans relentlessly packing clubs to see them play. A 10 Years album is a celebration of strength through adversity. All ages. • $22-$50 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE LIL WYTE WITH MARK JAMES • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Independence is the name of the game for veteran rapper Lil Wyte. After more than a decade in the spotlight, the Memphis songwriter has amassed legions of fans worldwide, and consistently attracts new listeners from his catalog of intense solo and collaborative albums. • $15 COLT FORD • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • Answer to No One: The Colt Ford Classics collects 13 tracks from those five – and one from the 2010 Mud Digger compilation – for the most complete collection yet of his revolutionary mash-up of good old boy country and the rhythms of
hip-hop, a groundbreaking combination. • $10 REBEL MOUNTAIN • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE PROJECT WOLFPACK • Swifty’s Atomic Bar and Grill (Oak Ridge) • 9PM • FREE JOE KAPLOW • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM STATE STREET RHYTHM SECTION • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM SHIFFTY AND THE HEADMASTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Covering the gamut of classic mid ‘70s to ‘80s rock, you can expect to hear a wide spectrum of indelible music including: Van Halen, Steely Dan, Styx, Rick James, Journey, and the like. • $5 UNSPOKEN TRADITION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE Saturday, Aug. 13 KARTHICK IYER • Bijou Theatre • 5PM • What is it about good music that strikes such a deep chord with us - no matter where it comes from? Is it the genre, the beat, the instruments, the notes, the voice or something else? Exploring answers to this question has been a rewarding 20-plus year journey for Karthick Iyer, culminating in the creation of his own unique style of music called IndoSoul. • $25 KITTY WAMPUS • Concord Park • 6PM • Part of Knox County’s Second Saturday Concerts series at the Cover at Concord Park. • FREE UNKNOWN HINSON • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 6PM • Psychobilly meets surf, country, classic rock and Universal horror monsters. • $20 CLARK PATERSON • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE U CAN’T TOUCH THIS: ROCK HITS OF THE ‘90S • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 7:30PM • The summer show for Knoxville’s School of Rock features performances by the school’s Rock 101 group and students from the performance program. They’ll be playing songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins, Black Crowes, and more. All ages. • $8-$10 THE TEMPER EVANS BAND • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM THE CHUCK MULLICAN JAZZ BONANZA • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE GRAND OLE UPROAR • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM FEW MILES ON • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM MICHAELA ANNE • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE SAME AS IT EVER WAS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Knoxville’s best—and only—Talking Heads tribute band. • $5 THE COVERALLS • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM • Knoxville’s long-running bar/wedding/special event favorites are masters of mood—they know what an audience wants, whether it’s Top 40 hits, Motown, classic rock, or jazz standards, and they deliver, on time, every time. Sunday, Aug. 14 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 JASON D. THOMPSON • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • With a voice of a possessed preacher, and a beat up old guitar, Jason is known to captivate audiences with his unique blend of Punk & Country Blues. He is a true storyteller and songwriter carrying on a family tradition August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33
CALENDAR passed down to him during his childhood, growing up in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. • FREE THIEVES OF SUNRISE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. • $3
OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS
Thursday, Aug. 4 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. • FREE BREWHOUSE BLUES JAM • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Join Robert Higginbotham & the Smoking Section at the Open Chord 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. Held the first Thursday of every month. Tuesday, Aug. 9 PRESERVATION PUB SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7PM OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Hosted by Sarah Pirkle. • FREE Wednesday, Aug. 10 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday. All instruments and skill levels welcome. BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club ( Maryville) •
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. • FREE Thursday, Aug. 11 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. • FREE Friday, Aug. 12 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OPEN SONGWRITER NIGHT • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Songwriter Night at Time Warp Tea Room runs on the second and fourth Friday of every month. Show up around 7 p.m. with your instrument in tow and sign up to share a couple of original songs with a community of friends down in Happy Holler. • FREE Sunday, Aug. 14 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
DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS
Saturday, Aug. 6 REWIND • The Concourse • 9PM • Featuring Z Is Not a DJ, DJ Darkness, and more. 18 and up. • $5
Friday, Aug. 12 HOMIE HOEDOWN • El Pulpo Loco • 9PM • Featuring DJs Cheers, B2B, PDoddy, Snazzy, and Stinky Igloo. 18 and up. • $5
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Sunday, Aug. 7 OAK RIDGE COMMUNITY BAND SUMMER CONCERT • Alvin K. Bissell Park • 7PM • With guest performers Lettie Andrade De La Torre, Brandon Gibson, Tim Michaels, and Knoxville-based swing and salsa dance groups. Visit orcb.org or call 865-482-3568. • FREE
THEATER AND DANCE
Thursday, Aug. 4 SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly Thursdays through Sundays outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. This year, Shakespeare on the Square presents The Merry Wives of Windsor, featuring one of Shakespeare’s funniest and most unique characters, the dissolute knight Sir John Falstaff, in what may be the original situational comedy, as Falstaff attempts to court two women at the same time behind their husbands’ backs; and King Lear, the classic tragedy
of an aging and weary British king who divides his kingdom among his three daughters and realizes—all too late—that love is found in actions, not in words. Visit tennesseestage.com. • FREE-$15 Friday, Aug. 5 SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly Thursdays through Sundays outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. July 14-Aug. 14. Visit tennesseestage.com. • FREE-$15 Saturday, Aug. 6 SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly Thursdays through Sundays outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. July 14-Aug. 14. Visit tennesseestage.com. • FREE-$15 Sunday, Aug. 7 SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly Thursdays through Sundays outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. July 14-Aug. 14. Visit tennesseestage.com. • FREE-$15 Thursday, Aug. 11
Win a Deluxe Night Downtown, Friday Aug. 19th! - 2 tickets to Umphrey’s McGee at The Tennessee Theatre - A custom dinner for two at Kaizen - A night stay at The Cook Loft Bed & Breakfast condo
TO QUALIFY, BE THE CORRECT CALLER WHEN ONE OF OUR DJ S ASKS YOU TO CALL IN, OR FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES. VISIT WWW.WUTKRADIO.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION. GRAND PRIZE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THE AIR, MONDAY AUGUST 15TH AT 6PM
COOK’S LOFT 34
KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly Thursdays through Sundays outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. July 14-Aug. 14. Visit tennesseestage.com. • FREE-$15 Friday, Aug. 12 SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly Thursdays through Sundays outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. July 14-Aug. 14. Visit tennesseestage.com. • FREE-$15 Saturday, Aug. 13 SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly Thursdays through Sundays outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. July 14-Aug. 14. Visit tennesseestage.com. • FREE-$15 Sunday, Aug. 14 SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE • Market Square • 7PM • Shakespeare on the Square annually features two of the magnificent plays of Williams Shakespeare, comedies, tragedies and histories, rotated nightly Thursdays through Sundays outdoors on Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. July 14-Aug. 14. Visit tennesseestage.com. • FREE-$15
COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD
Friday, Aug. 5 FIRST FRIDAY COMEDY • Saw Works Brewing Company • 7PM • A monthly showcase featuring local and touring stand-ups comics. • FREE THE OOH OOH REVUE: ‘DESIRE: WHAT DO YOU CRAVE?’ • Cocoa Moon • 10PM • Classy cabaret, comedy, song, dance and bedazzling burlesque. Visit oohoohrevue.com. • $10 Sunday, Aug. 7 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic. Monday, Aug. 8 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. Mike Bartlett created the show as a way of marrying his passion for music and comedy; the purpose is to showcase the abundance of talented artists in the Knoxville music scene. Each episode features unique interviews and performances from Knoxville’s best artists, as well as sketches, segments, games, and more. Upcoming guests include Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego (June 27), Maps Need Reading (July 11), Blond Bones (July 25), Rossdafareye (Aug. 8), and Electric Darling (Aug. 22). Visit beevalleyproductions.com/comedy/onthemicwithmike. QED COMEDY LABORATORY • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • QED ComedyLaboratory is a weekly show with different theme every week that combines stand-up, improv, sketch,
CALENDAR
music and other types of performance and features some of the funniest people in Knoxville and parts unknown. It’s weird and experimental. There is no comedy experience in town that is anything like this and it’s also a ton of fun. Pay what you want. Free, but donations are accepted. • FREE Tuesday, Aug. 9 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 • Come laugh until you cry at the Longbranch every Tuesday night. Doors open at 8:30, first comic at 9. No cover charge, all are welcome. Aspiring or experienced comics interested in joining in the fun can email us at longbranch.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, Aug. 11 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. Each month one of the hosts of Rain/Shine Event productions (Shane Rhyne, Matt Chadourne, Tyler Sonnichsen, and Sean Simoneau) serves as your guide to introduce you the best of our region’s comedy scene. • FREE Friday, Aug. 12 JIM GAFFIGAN • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 7PM • In 2015, Jim became one of only ten comedians in history to sell out the famed Madison Square Garden arena for the finale of his “Contagious” tour, he opened for Pope Francis in front of one million+ people in Philadelphia, and his television show, “The Jim Gaffigan Show,” debuted on TV Land to enormous ratings and reviews - with season two slated to premiere this summer. • $48-$58 Sunday, Aug. 14 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.
FESTIVALS
Thursday, Aug. 4 ETCDC URBAN HOME AND GARDEN TOUR PREMIERE PARTY • The Holston • 5:30PM • Join the East Tennessee Community Design Center to kick off the Urban Home and Garden Tour. Attendees will enjoy summer “samplings” created by a local chef and paired with select wines. Dr. Bruce Wheeler, University of Tennessee professor emeritus and historian, will be on hand to share historical insights of The Elliot and discuss Knoxville’s 225th birthday. After Dr. Wheeler finishes, attendees will be able to tour one of Knoxville’s finest private homes in The Elliot, a historic downtown building at State Street and Church Avenue. A premier party ticket will also include a ticket to the Urban Home and Garden Tour (a $30 value) on Friday, Aug. 5, and Saturday, Aug. 6. All proceeds will benefit the ETCDC. • $125 Friday, Aug. 5 ETCDC URBAN HOME AND GARDEN TOUR • Downtown Knoxville • 5:30PM • The East Tennessee Community
Design Center (ETCDC) is hosting an Urban Home and Garden Tour on Friday, Aug. 5, and Saturday, Aug. 6. Starting with the check-in station at the historic Phoenix Building(418 S. Gay St.), the tour will offer an opportunity to visit amazing downtown Knoxville homes with extraordinary outdoor spaces. Tickets for the event are $30 each, and all proceeds will benefit the Design Center. This self-guided tour of downtown will allow individuals to see creative outdoor features in downtown Knoxville that will inspire participants to imagine the possibilities for the outdoor areas around their own homes and see what downtown has to offer as a residential option. Volunteer guides will be stationed at each property to direct guests around the tour. • $30 Saturday, Aug. 6 A MAROON AND WHITE AFFAIR • Bridgewater Place • 6:30PM • A fundraising galley for the Zaevion Dobson Scholarship—organizers hope to raise enough money for an endowment for the scholarship, which is named in memory of Fulton High School student and 2016 ESPN Arthur Ashe Courage Award winner Zaevion Dobson, who was killed by gun violence in 2015. • $50 ETCDC URBAN HOME AND GARDEN TOUR • Downtown Knoxville • 11AM • The East Tennessee Community Design Center (ETCDC) is hosting an Urban Home and Garden Tour on Friday, Aug. 5, and Saturday, Aug. 6. Starting with the check-in station at the historic Phoenix Building(418 S. Gay St.), the tour will offer an opportunity to visit amazing downtown Knoxville homes with extraordinary outdoor spaces. Tickets for the event are $30 each, and all proceeds will benefit the Design Center. This self-guided tour of downtown will allow individuals to see creative outdoor features in downtown Knoxville that will inspire participants to imagine the possibilities for the outdoor areas around their own homes and see what downtown has to offer as a residential option. Volunteer guides will be stationed at each property to direct guests around the tour. • $30 Sunday, Aug. 7 EIGHTH OF AUGUST LIBATION CEREMONY: A COMMUNITY REMEMBERS • Knoxville College • 6PM • An hour-long Libation Ceremony entitled A Community Remembers will kick off the week of Eighth of August events. During the ceremony, original slaves, some of whom are buried in this historic cemetery that were freed on August 8, 1863, will be remembered. Moreover, there will be a remembrance and a roll call of the names of each deceased youth from the community and a community prayer will be offered. The ceremony will take place at the Freedmen’s Mission Historic Cemetery on the Knoxville College campus. • FREE Monday, Aug. 8 BECK CULTURAL EXCHANGE CENTER EIGHTH OF AUGUST EXHIBIT OPENING • Beck Cultural Exchange Center • 7:30AM • From 7:30-10 a.m., Beck will offer a free continental breakfast as guests enjoy a preview of a new permanent exhibit and commemorate this significant day in our Tennessee history: The Eighth of August, the day Andrew Johnson freed his slaves. • FREE EIGHTH OF AUGUST GLITZ AND GLAM RED CARPET EVENT • Tennessee Theatre • 6PM • Beck will premier its Eighth of August Glitz and Glam Red Carpet Event. At 6:00, there will be a formal reception at the Tennessee Theatre with live entertainment followed by a stroll down the red carpet at the Regal Riviera Cinema where guests will be greeted by flashing cameras. After having a photo opportunity, guests will stroll into the theater where the August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35
CALENDAR feature presentation will start at 8:00 p.m. Beck, in partnership with East Tennessee PBS and East Tennessee Historical Society, will feature a special one hour Eighth of August Documentary and Panel Discussion. • $50 Saturday, Aug. 13 EIGHTH OF AUGUST JUBILEE • Chilhowee Park • 10AM • The week of Eighth of August events will conclude with the Jubilee at Chilhowee Park. The celebration will kick-off at 10 a.m. with a parade reminiscent of days of old in which participants paraded into the park. The parade will include vintage vehicles, dancers, music, community groups and much more and will be a visual and audible display of community spirit. The parade will commence on Magnolia Avenue and stroll into the park where the Opening Celebration will begin. There will be a full day of activities for the entire family including food vendors, merchandise vendors and games. The Jubilee will conclude with an exciting Closing Explosion of entertainment, comedy, music, fashion stomping and much more including a multi-generational soul train line. • FREE IRISH FEST ON THE HILL • Immaculate Conception Catholic Church • 4PM • Join us downtown for Irish Fest on the Hill. This year we’ll have even more authentic Irish food (corned beef and cabbage, reubens, bangers, Irish grilled cheese), more authentic Irish beer and lots more Irish music from great local bands on two stages with Red Haired Mary, Red Willies, Four Leaf Peat, Joseph Sobol, Knoxville Pipe and Drums and Nancy Brennan Strange and the Tom Billies. We’ll also have the Tennessee Irish
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
Dancers, the Knoxville Area Dulcimer Club, tours of the historic church, delicious Irish desserts, a silent auction and activities for kids. We’re off Summit Hill, so any of the public parking lots near Market Square are close. Admission is $5, but kids and dogs are free. • $5
traveler whose journey ends in the notorious “shower scene.” First a private detective, then Marion’s sister (Vera Miles) searches for her, and the horror and suspense mount to a terrifying climax where the mysterious killer is finally revealed. • $9
FILM SCREENINGS
Sunday, Aug. 14 GANDHI • Lawson McGee Public Library • 1PM • On the eve of India’s Independence Day anniversary on Aug. 15, we will show this acclaimed biographical drama which presents major events in the life of Mohandas Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), the beloved Indian leader who stood against British rule over his country. Viren Lalka, organizer of the Knoxville group “Namaste, Welcome to India,” will introduce the film. • FREE SUMMER MOVIE MAGIC: ‘PSYCHO’ • Tennessee Theatre • 2PM • Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark masterpiece of the macabre stars Anthony Perkins as the troubled Norman Bates, whose old dark house and adjoining motel are not the place to spend a quiet evening. No one knows that better than Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), the ill-fated traveler whose journey ends in the notorious “shower scene.” First a private detective, then Marion’s sister (Vera Miles) searches for her, and the horror and suspense mount to a terrifying climax where the mysterious killer is finally revealed. • $9
Monday, Aug. 8 THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. • FREE Wednesday, Aug. 10 THE PUBLIC CINEMA: THE FITS • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Toni trains as a boxer with her brother at a community center in Cincinnati’s West End, but becomes fascinated by the dance team that also practices there. Enamored by their strength and confidence, Toni eventually joins the group, eagerly absorbing routines, mastering drills, and even piercing her own ears to fit in. As she discovers the joys of dance and of female camaraderie, she grapples with her individual identity amid her newly defined social sphere. Visit publiccinema.org. • FREE Friday, Aug. 12 SUMMER MOVIE MAGIC: ‘PSYCHO’ • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark masterpiece of the macabre stars Anthony Perkins as the troubled Norman Bates, whose old dark house and adjoining motel are not the place to spend a quiet evening. No one knows that better than Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), the ill-fated
SPORTS AND RECREATION
Thursday, Aug. 4 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+ mph pace; B group does an intermediate ride at 15/18 mph average. Weather permitting. cycologybicycles.com. • FREE CLIMBING AT IJAMS CRAG • Ijams Nature Center • 5PM • Come top rope with us at Ijams Crag. Monday and Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Cost is $10 per person. Gear will be included (we provide helmet, harness, rope). Please wear appropriate shoes, comfortable stretchy climbing apparel and bring water. Pre-registration is advised. You can register online or by calling 865-673-4687. riversportsoutfitters.com/events/. • $10 BILLY LUSH BOARD SHOP SUP AND SUDS • Billy Lush Board Shop • 5:30PM • Each Thursday at 5:30 p.m. May through August. Join us for your choice of a group paddle or SUP yoga class followed by cold beer from our taps at the shop. We will launch from the dock for a one-hour group paddle or yoga class then meet back in the shop for suds. Rentals are $19 for the group paddle and $25 for the yoga class and includes a complimentary beer. Those who join the group paddle with their own board get $1 off pints till close. • $19-$25 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
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
Bearden
Tennova Turkey Creek
Crossville
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
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 BEARDEN BIKE AND TRAIL LAPS ON CHEROKEE BOULEVARD • Bearden Bike and Trail • 6PM • Join us every Thursday evening at 6 p.m. to ride laps on Cherokee Boulevard. Pace is at 14-18 mph - divides into groups. Leaves the store promptly at 6:30 p.m. Visit beardenbikeandtrail.com. • FREE FOUNTAIN CITY PEDALER THIRSTY THURSDAY ROAD RIDE • Fountain City Pedaler • 6PM • This no-drop Thursday evening ride utilizes a 25-mile loop on scenic North Knoxville back roads and rolls east towards House Mountain. Ride starts at 6 p.m. from the shop. Road bikes with front and rear lights are recommended. Other bikes such as cyclocross, touring, fast hybrids, or mtb’s with high pressure street tires are also acceptable. This ride is not a race and Luke will ride “sweep” behind the groups to make sure no one gets left behind.Post ride: Bring a camping chair, something to cook on the grill, and beverage(s) of choice. The Grill & Chill is a social gathering at the shop after the ride. Visit facebook.com/ Fountain-City-Pedaler-Bike-Shop. • FREE CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES BEGINNER ROAD RIDE • Sequoyah Park • 6:20PM • Join us every Thursday evening at Sequoyah Park for a beginner’s no-drop ride. Riders can ride at their own pace on Cherokee Boulevard and do as many laps as they choose. Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY NIGHT RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:20PM • Join Cedar Bluff Cycles for their Thursday evening road ride. The Thursday night ride is made up of a combination of the A and B riders from Tuesday night. This is a great opportunity for less experienced riders to push their limits a bit. A lot of the A riders are getting a last ride in before the weekend race. Their goal is to keep an even paced ride at a good tempo. This helps the less experienced rider to become familiar with road etiquette. The average speed for this ride is 19-22 mph depending on group dynamic. Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE Friday, Aug. 5 RIVER SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT GREENWAY RUN • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Greenway run from the store every Friday evening. Work up a thirst then join us for $2 pints in the store afterwards. riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE YMCA SOCIAL RUN • Lindsay Young Downtown YMCA • 6:30PM • Weekly social run meeting in the lobby of the downtown YMCA. We will be running through downtown and greenways, ending at Sugar Mama’s with $2 off of the first craft beer for runners. • FREE Saturday, Aug. 6 BIKE ZOO SATURDAY MORNING RIDE • The Bike Zoo • 9AM • Join us every Saturday for a three-hour ride of 50 miles or more, usually at a fast pace of 18-20 mph. Visit bikezoo.com. • FREE RUNNER’S MARKET SATURDAY GROUP RUN • Runner’s Market • 9AM • Every first Saturday of the month at 9:00 am, join us for a relaxed-pace run of 3 to 5.5 miles or beyond along the Third Creek and Sequoyah Hills Greenways. Afterwards, enjoy coffee and refreshments provided by the gang at Runner’s Market. Visit
CALENDAR
runnersmarket.com. • FREE CATALYST ADAPTIVE CLIMB • River Sports Outfitters • 10AM • Join us the first Saturday of every month as we climb with Catalyst Sports. This event is for anyone with physical disabilities. All ages are welcome to come and climb our rock wall. • $10 TENNESSEE ASSOCIATION OF VINTAGE BASE BALL • Historic Ramsey House • 12PM • Vintage base ball, played according to the rules and customs of 1864, returns to Tennessee for its fourth season, offering 55 regular season matches in 2016. • FREE PIGEON FORGE MIDNIGHT 8K ROAD RACE • Midnight • New for 2016 is the KTC Summer Series including the Pilot Fireball Moonlite Classic 5K, Shawns.com Carter Mill 10K Splash, and the Pigeon Forge Midnight 8K in downtown Pigeon Forge. Register using the bundled, discount pricing at ktc.org. Run two of the three and volunteer for at least one to earn a special prize to be distributed at the Hal Canfield Milefest in September. Sunday, Aug. 7 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: NORRIS LAKE SOCIAL PADDLE • Smoky Mountain Hiking Club • 8AM • Enjoy the wonderful countryside as we drive to a beautiful and secluded destination on Norris Lake. The SMHC has been given permission to launch our crafts on a private and remote beach only 37 miles from the meeting place. The paddle is on flat water and so no technical skills are needed. The intended route is about 6 miles/3-4 hours round trip, but feel free to explore, fish, take pictures and paddle more or less if you desire. If you do not own your own canoe or kayak, you can rent one from River Sports Outfitters: 2918 Sutherland Ave., Knoxville, 865-523-0066. These boats must be reserved in advance. This outing is totally dependent on the weather so pre-registration is required by emailing Billy Heaton at bheaton8@yahoo. com. Meet at the Fountain City Kroger, 5201 N. Broadway, at 8 AM. The paddle is rated easy to moderate. • FREE Monday, Aug. 8 CLIMBING AT IJAMS CRAG • Ijams Nature Center • 5PM • Come top rope with us at Ijams Crag. Monday and Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Cost is $10 per person. Gear will be included (we provide helmet, harness, rope). Please wear appropriate shoes, comfortable stretchy climbing apparel and bring water. Pre-registration is advised. You can register online or by calling 865-673-4687. riversportsoutfitters.com/events/. • $10 KTC GROUP RUN • Mellow Mushroom • 6PM • Join Knoxville Track Club every Monday evening for a group run starting at the Mellow Mushroom on the Cumberland Avenue strip on the University of Tennessee campus. Visit ktc.org. • FREE TVB MONDAY NIGHT ROAD RIDE • Tennessee Valley Bikes • 6PM • The soon to be famous Monday night road ride happens every Monday. We usually split into two groups according to speed. Both groups are no-drop groups. The faster group averages over 17 mph and the B group averages around 14 mph. • FREE BEARDEN BEER MARKET FUN RUN • Bearden Beer Market • 6:30PM • Come run with us. Every Monday year round we do a group fun run through the neighborhood. Open to all levels of walkers and runners. Everyone who participates earns $1 off their beer. Visit beardenbeermarket.com. • FREE Tuesday, Aug. 9 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES TUESDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10:30AM • Join Cycology Bicycles every
Tuesday morning at 10:30 am for a road ride with two group options. Weather permitting. Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES TUESDAY GREENWAY RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:30PM • Join us every Tuesday evening for a greenway ride at an intermediate pace of 14-15 mph. Must have lights. Weather permitting. cedarbluffcycles. net. • FREE HARD KNOX TUESDAY FUN RUN • Hard Knox Pizzeria • 6:30PM • Join Hard Knox Pizzeria every Tuesday evening (rain or shine) for a 2-3 mile fun run. Burn calories. Devour pizza. Quench thirst. Follow us on Facebook. • FREE Wednesday, Aug. 10 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: THOMAS DIVIDE • Smoky Mountain Hiking Club • 8AM • We will take the Thomas Divide trail to Newton Bald and return. Hike: 11.3 miles, rated moderate. Meet at Alcoa Food City, 121 North Hall Road, at 8:00 am. Leader: Ron Brandenburg, ronb86@ comcast.net. • FREE KTC GROUP RUN • Runner’s Market • 5:30PM • If you are visiting Knoxville, new to town, new to the club, or just looking to get more involved, this is the place to start. A festive and relaxed group get-together occurs every Wednesday afternoon at 5:30 pm at Runners Market. Visit ktc.org. • FREE TVB EASY RIDER MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE • Ijams Nature Center • 6PM • On Wednesday nights we hit the local trails for an easy-paced mountain bike ride. Riders of all skill levels are welcome, and if you would like to demo a mountain bike from our shop this is a great opportunity to do so. Rides are weather permitting. If the trails are too wet, we do not ride. Check out our Facebook page or give us a call at 865-540-9979 for more info. We meet near Mead’s Quarry. • FREE Thursday, Aug. 11 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • cycologybicycles.com. • FREE CLIMBING AT IJAMS CRAG • Ijams Nature Center • 5PM • Come top rope with us at Ijams Crag. Monday and Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Cost is $10 per person. Gear will be included (we provide helmet, harness, rope). Please wear appropriate shoes, comfortable stretchy climbing apparel and bring water. Pre-registration is advised. You can register online or by calling 865-673-4687. riversportsoutfitters.com/events/. • $10 BILLY LUSH BOARD SHOP SUP AND SUDS • Billy Lush Board Shop • 5:30PM • Each Thursday at 5:30 p.m. May through August. Join us for your choice of a group paddle or SUP yoga class followed by cold beer from our taps at the shop. We will launch from the dock for a one-hour group paddle or yoga class then meet back in the shop for suds. Rentals are $19 for the group paddle and $25 for the yoga class and includes a complimentary beer. Those who join the group paddle with their own board get $1 off pints till close. • $19-$25 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
Knoxville’s BEST live music venue 6 nights a week!
Happy Hour 4pm - 8pm | mon - fri Huge selection of Craft, Import & Local beer Locally roasted coffee
thurs aug. 4 • 8pm
Brewhouse Blues Jam w/ Robert Higginbotham & the Smoking Section free • all ages ( blues )
fri aug. 5 • 8pm
Magnolia Motel, indieghost, chess club & new apologetic $5 • all ages ( rock )
sat Aug. 6 • 7:30pm
Denny Laine ( From The Moody Blues/ Paul McCartney & Wings ) w/ the cryers, & John Salaway $20 G.A. | $40 VIP All Ages ( rock )
wed aug. 10 • 8pm
Full disclosure comedy long-form improv free • all ages ( comedy ) "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
August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37
CALENDAR night for a fun and easy run leading us right through Saw Works for a midway beer. • FREE BEARDEN BIKE AND TRAIL LAPS ON CHEROKEE BOULEVARD • Bearden Bike and Trail • 6PM • Join us every Thursday evening at 6 p.m. to ride laps on Cherokee Boulevard. Pace is at 14-18 mph - divides into groups. Leaves the store promptly at 6:30 p.m. Visit beardenbikeandtrail.com. • $0 FOUNTAIN CITY PEDALER THIRSTY THURSDAY ROAD RIDE • Fountain City Pedaler • 6PM • This no-drop Thursday evening ride utilizes a 25-mile loop on scenic North Knoxville back roads and rolls east towards House Mountain. Ride starts at 6 p.m. from the shop. Road bikes with front and rear lights are recommended. Other bikes
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
such as cyclocross, touring, fast hybrids, or mtb’s with high pressure street tires are also acceptable. This ride is not a race and Luke will ride “sweep” behind the groups to make sure no one gets left behind.Post ride: Bring a camping chair, something to cook on the grill, and beverage(s) of choice. The Grill & Chill is a social gathering at the shop after the ride. Visit facebook.com/ Fountain-City-Pedaler-Bike-Shop. • FREE CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES BEGINNER ROAD RIDE • Sequoyah Park • 6:20PM • Join us every Thursday evening at Sequoyah Park for a beginner’s no-drop ride. Riders can ride at their own pace on Cherokee Boulevard and do as many laps as they choose. Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE
WHO, WHAT, WHERE Art Market Gallery (422 S. Gay St.) • Aug. 2-28 • Free • artmarketgallery.net
Local artists’ views of Knoxville and its inhabitants will be featured in a combination exhibit and puzzle game at Art Market Gallery in August. The gallery has partnered with the East Tennessee History Center to revive the Who, What, Where show and contest first staged several years ago. All artwork will be related to either a familiar person of East Tennessee (“who”), a familiar East Tennessee item (“what”), or a familiar place or landmark from the region (“where”). They will be labeled only by category; customers may guess what each one shows. The person with the most correct answers will win a gift certificate at the end of the month. Continuing the theme of offering a local artist’s view of Knoxville, ’Round Knoxville, an exhibit of watercolors by Kate McCullough, will also be featured at the gallery in August. Many of McCullough’s Knoxville subjects are stylized in their coloring and strong shapes, conveying an emotional relationship between the viewer and the streetscape. Others are almost realistic in their depiction of the ordinary: graffiti on box cars or industrial tanks south of the river. “Sundown in the City” uses rich salmons and blues to depict Gay Street at dusk beneath the prominent Babalu sign. McCullough’s work, on display Aug. 1-28, is paired with the work of Venetian-style glassblower Johnny Glass. There’s an opening reception on Friday, Aug. 5, at 5:30 p.m., with music by Patrick Milligan. (S. Heather Duncan)
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY NIGHT RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:20PM • Join Cedar Bluff Cycles for their Thursday evening road ride. The Thursday night ride is made up of a combination of the A and B riders from Tuesday night. This is a great opportunity for less experienced riders to push their limits a bit. A lot of the A riders are getting a last ride in before the weekend race. Their goal is to keep an even paced ride at a good tempo. This helps the less experienced rider to become familiar with road etiquette. The average speed for this ride is 19-22 mph depending on group dynamic. Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE Friday, Aug. 12 RIVER SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT GREENWAY RUN • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Greenway run from the store every Friday evening. Work up a thirst then join us for $2 pints in the store afterwards. riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE YMCA SOCIAL RUN • Lindsay Young Downtown YMCA • 6:30PM • Weekly social run meeting in the lobby of the downtown YMCA. We will be running through downtown and greenways, ending at Sugar Mama’s with $2 off of the first craft beer for runners. • FREE Saturday, Aug. 13 BIKE ZOO SATURDAY MORNING RIDE • The Bike Zoo • 9AM • Join us every Saturday for a three-hour ride of 50 miles or more, usually at a fast pace of 18-20 mph. Visit bikezoo.com. • FREE KTC HAW RIDGE TRAIL RACE • Haw Ridge Park • 5:30PM • Since its inception the race has been contested at 5:30pm on the hottest Friday afternoon of the summer (TGIF!) but in 2013, for the first time, we changed that. No, not the 5:30 part, but the Friday part. so we moved to Saturday and — voila! — still tons of fun! Plan on maximum trail fun! A one mile Kids Trail Race will precede the adult race. The course will traverse a clockwise “loop” through the park and offer the youngsters a taste of the fun the grownups will be having thirty minutes later. Postrace festivities typically last till dusk, with plentiful food and drink available. Sunday, Aug. 14 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: CHARLIE’S BUNION • Smoky Mountain Hiking Club • 8AM • This is a classic club hike along an iconic stretch of the Appalachian Trail. The hike starts at Newfound Gap parking lot, a high elevation, making this an ideal August hike. The hike includes an approximate 1,100 ft. elevation gain with several nice views. Hike: 8 miles, rated moderate. Meet at Alcoa Food City, 121 North Hall Road, at 8:00 am, or at Newfound Gap at the AT Trailhead at 9:00 am. Leader: Pete Berntsen, peteberntsen@gmail.com. • FREE
ART
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts 556 Parkway (Gatlinburg) MAY 21-AUG. 20: Arrowmont’s annual instructor exhibit. JUNE 29-AUG. 4: 2016-17 Artists-in-Residence Exhibit. Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. AUG. 2-28: Paintings by Kate McCullough, glass art by Johnny Glass, and Who, What, Where, a member exhibit focused on East Tennessee people and places. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Aug. 5, at 5:30 p.m. See Spotlight
Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 N. Broadway AUG. 5-27: Mixed-media artwork by Renee Suich. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Aug. 5, from 5-9 p.m. Central Collective 923 N. Central St. THROUGH AUGUST: Double Take, a collection of Instagram images by Jason Brown, An opening reception will be held on Friday, Aug. 5, from 7-10 p.m. Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. JUNE 3-AUG. 19: Through the Lens of Ed Westcott, an exhibition of photos taken by the official photographer for the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge. 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. AUG. 1-7: Photo Recollection: Eighth of August Jubilee, an exhibition of photos by Holly Rainey of Emancipation Day celebrations in Newport and Greeneville. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Aug. 5, from 5-9 p.m. Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. AUG. 5-26: A Plen Air Show, featuring paintings made outdoors by the Tuesday Painters group; Expressions, abstract paintings and urban landscapes by Terina Gilette; The Wonder of Birds, featuring photos by Melinda Adams and woodcarvings by Marjorie Holbert; A Gathering of Goddesses, mixed-media artwork by Sheryl Sallie; and Glasslike Surfaces, glass art by Yvonne Hosey. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Aug. 5, from 5-9 p.m. Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Boulevard JULY 15-AUG. 28: Encore, an exhibit of artwork by 11 University of Tennessee graduates living in Nashville. Knoxville Arts and Fine Crafts Center 1127B Broadway AUG. 1-OCT. 31: Whimsical Creatures, paintings and photographs by Lela E. Buis. A reception will be held on Friday, Aug. 19, from 5:30-8 p.m. 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. THROUGH JULY 31: An exhibit on human trafficking by members of the Central High School National Art Honors Society. ONGOING: Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in Tennessee; Currents: Recent Art From East Tennessee and Beyond; and Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture 1327 Circle Park Drive JUNE 4-AUG. 28: Dinosaur Discoveries: Ancient Fossils, New Ideas. JULY 12-OCT. 19: Land, Sea, and Spirit: Alaska Native Art From the 19th and 20th Centuries. ONGOING:
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier. Westminster Presbyterian Church 6500 Northshore Drive JULY 1-AUG. 31: An exhibit of contemporary quilts by Melissa Everett.
FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS
Thursday, Aug. 4 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30 a.m., “Little Learners,” recommended for ages 3-5. Interactive sessions focus on language acquisition and pre-literacy skills incorporating stories, music, motion, play, crafts and more. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 1PM • For middle and high school students, with coach Tom Jobe. • FREE LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • LEGO Club will take place in the children’s library. Kids will complete different-themed and timed LEGO Challenges, as well as have some time for free building. The library will provide the LEGOs, so all you have to bring is your imagination. • FREE Friday, Aug. 5 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • For grades K-5. Every week will be a different adventure,
from science experiments to art projects and everything in between. Materials will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. • FREE Saturday, Aug. 6 CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 10AM • For middle and high school students, with coach Tom Jobe. • FREE BLOUNT COUNTY NERD GROUP • Blount County Public Library • 3PM • Starting this summer, students can learn the basic principles of computer programming, also known as coding. By participating in the newly-formed Blount County Nerd Group, students seventh grade and up can learn skills such as making simple games, developing professional websites and creating mobile apps. Participating students are encouraged to bring their own technologies including a laptop. However, students who do not have adequate technology will be provided a laptop by the library when necessary. • FREE Tuesday, Aug. 9 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30 a.m., “Little Learners,” recommended for ages 3-5. Interactive sessions focus on language acquisition and pre-literacy skills incorporating stories, music, motion, play, crafts and more. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY KID TO KID: FUN WITH A PURPOSE • Cancer Support Community • 3:30PM • Your children will gain coping skills and have opportunities to talk about a loved one’s cancer diagnosis while also having fun. Please call before your first visit and RSVP. 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support
CALENDAR
Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. Wednesday, Aug. 10 BABY AND ME • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Recommended for ages 2 and under. These lapsit sessions for baby and caregiver feature short stories, action rhymes, music and pre-literacy tips and tricks for caregivers. It is also a great time for caregivers and babies to socialize. • FREE Thursday, Aug. 11 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30 a.m., “Little Learners,” recommended for ages 3-5. Interactive sessions focus on language acquisition and pre-literacy skills incorporating stories, music, motion, play, crafts and more. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 1PM • For middle and high school students, with coach Tom Jobe. Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • LEGO Club will take place in the children’s library. Kids will complete different-themed and timed LEGO Challenges, as well as have some time for free building. The library will provide the LEGOs, so all you have to bring is your imagination. • FREE Friday, Aug. 12 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • For grades K-5. Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between. Materials will be limited and available on a
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first-come, first-served basis. • FREE Saturday, Aug. 13 CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 10AM • For middle and high school students, with coach Tom Jobe. Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE BLOUNT COUNTY NERD GROUP • Blount County Public Library • 3PM • Starting this summer, students can learn the basic principles of computer programming, also known as coding. By participating in the newly-formed Blount County Nerd Group, students seventh grade and up can learn skills such as making simple games, developing professional websites and creating mobile apps. Participating students are encouraged to bring their own technologies including a laptop. However, students who do not have adequate technology will be provided a laptop by the library when necessary. • FREE Sunday, Aug. 14 KMA ART ACTIVITY DAY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 1PM • Every second Sunday of each month, the KMA will host free drop-in art activities for families. A local artist will be on-site to lead hands-on art activities between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. • FREE
LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS Thursday, Aug. 4 DAN ZAK: ‘ALMIGHTY: COURAGE, RESISTANCE, AND
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4534 Old Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919 (865) 584-3341 • asheswines.com M-Th: 9AM - 9:30PM | Fr-Sat: 9AM-10PM Sunday: Closed email: thad@asheswines.com
August 4, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39
CALENDAR EXISTENTIAL PERIL IN THE NUCLEAR AGE’ • East Tennessee History Center • 7PM • Zak will discuss his new book, Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age, which begins in 2012 on the night when a trio of elderly peace activists infiltrated the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge to draw attention to a costly military-industrial complex that stockpiled deadly nukes and drones. The book re-examines the 70-year history of America’s nuclear weapons program and worldwide weapons proliferation. • FREE Sunday, Aug. 7 DANIEL J. TORTORA: “CAROLINA IN CRISIS: CHEROKEES, COLONISTS, AND SLAVES IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHEAST, 1756-63” • East Tennessee History Center • 2:30PM • Daniel J. Tortora will discuss his book Carolina in Crisis: Cherokees, Colonists, and Slaves in the American Southeast, 1756-1763. Tortora’s innovative research
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
explores how the Anglo-Cherokee War reshaped the political and cultural landscape of the colonial South. The book chronicles the series of clashes that erupted from 1758 to 1761 between Cherokees, settlers, and British troops, which would have included the Tennessee country that was then a part of the North Carolina colony. • FREE Tuesday, Aug. 9 KNOXVILLE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE • Bearden Banquet Hall • 7PM • Featuring notable historians and other Civil War experts. Call (865) 671-9001 for reservations. • $3-$17
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
EIGHTH OF AUGUST There are two major dates associated with the end of slavery in the United States—Jan. 1, 1863,
the day Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and Dec. 18, 1865, the day the 13th Amendment went into effect. Through the 19th and 20th centuries, though, black communities in East Tennessee—and eventually all around the Southeast—have commemorated Aug. 8 as Emancipation Day. That’s the date, in 1863, when Andrew Johnson, then the military governor of the state, freed the slaves who worked his farm near Greeneville. By the 1920s, Emancipation Day celebrations were major events—in Knoxville, in the first half of the 20th century, it was the one day a year when blacks were allowed into Chilhowee Park. But the occasion lapsed in recent decades. The Beck Cultural Exchange Center revived Aug. 8 celebrations in 2015, and this year, they’re turning it into a week-long event, starting on Aug. 7 and running through Aug. 13. The celebration starts on Sunday with a libation ceremony at the Freedmen’s Mission Historic Ceremony near Knoxville College, to honor the memory of the people buried there as well as young black men and women who have died recently. The Eighth of August Jubilee in the Park, at Chilhowee Park, concludes the week. In between, on Monday, Aug. 8, there’s the Glitz and Glam Red Carpet Event at the Regal Riviera and Tennessee Theatre on Gay Street, a $50 ticketed fundraiser for the Beck Center that concludes with a screening of the new PBS documentary Eighth of August. For a full schedule of events, visit beckcenter.net. The East Tennessee History Center is also hosting some Eighth of August events: an exhibit of Holly Rainey’s photographs of Aug. 8 celebrations in Newport and Knoxville is on display through Aug. 7, with a First Friday reception on Aug. 5 that will include a screening of the PBS documentary. (Matthew Everett)
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
Thursday, Aug. 4 AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER COURSE • Oak Ridge Senior Center • 9:30AM • Call 382-5822. GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. 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 THIRSTY (FOR KNOWLEDGE) THURSDAY • Old City Wine Bar • 6:30PM • Join our sommelier, Matt Burke, every Thursday in the cellar of the Old City Wine Bar for our ongoing wine education series. Free to listen and only $20-$25 to partake in the libations. • $20-$25 BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 STANDUP PADDLEBOARDING 101 • Sequoyah Park • 6PM • Have you been wondering where you can get a few tips on how to stay standing on one of those “surf board things”? We have you covered. Come learn to paddle with us every other Thursday at 6 p.m. We meet at Sequoyah Hills Boat Ramp. Cost is $35. Paddle board is included. Just show up and learn. You’ll be paddling around in no time. You must register for this event so we know to bring you a board. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • $35 SUP YOGA • Concord Park • 6PM • Yoga on a SUP board? Come join us every Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Cove. We will meet at the River Sports Outfitters building. Cost is $25 and includes board, paddle and PFD. Register at barrebelleyoga.com/class-schedule. • $25 SUP YOGA • Ijams Nature Center • 6PM • Yoga on a paddleboard! Meet us at the Meads Quarry every Thursday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m. Cost is $25 and includes board and PFD. Personal boards are not permitted on the quarry. Get a great core workout and expand your flexibility.Register at barrebelleyoga.com/ class-schedule. • $25 PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 12:30PM • Portrait and life drawing practice at Candoro Art & Heritage Center. $10. Call Brad Selph for more information (865-573-0709). • $10 Saturday, Aug. 6 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us every Saturday 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 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10:30AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE MARBLE SPRINGS BEEKEEPING WORKSHOP • Marble Springs State Historic Site • 11AM • Marble Springs State Historic Site will be hosting a beekeeping workshop run by local beekeeper Lynda Rizzardi, president of the Knox County Beekeepers, and will cover the basics on how to start keeping your own strong and healthy bees. Rizzardi
will bring equipment to show guests what they will need and how to use it. No bees will actually be present. Details are subject to change. Participation in this event is $20. For more information or to register for this event please email info@marblesprings.net, call (865) 573-5508, or visit our website www.marblesrprings.net. • $20 SUP YOGA • Ijams Nature Center • 9AM • Yoga on a paddleboard! Meet us at the Meads Quarry every Thursday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m. Cost is $25 and includes board and PFD. Personal boards are not permitted on the quarry. Get a great core workout and expand your flexibility. Register at barrebelleyoga.com/ class-schedule. • $25 SUP 101 • Outdoor Knoxville Adventure Center • 10AM • We cover all the basics of standup paddleboarding in this introductory class. No experience required. We will teach you: equipment overview, safety and awareness of the conditions, balancing, correct stance, four different paddle strokes, steering and turning, proper paddling form and more. All instructors are PaddleFit and WPA (World Paddle Association) certified. Classes are offered every Saturday at 10 a.m. through September. • $45 Sunday, Aug. 7 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. Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $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. Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $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. Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 BEGINNING BRIDGE LESSONS • Knoxville Bridge Center • 1:30PM • The Knoxville Association of Bridge Clubs is offering an in-depth, 17-week course on duplicate bridge, with a focus on learning the modern two over one bridge system. Taught by certified instructors, these lessons are a fun and informative way to learn the basics of modern bridge. The cost is $5 per lesson (the first 2 lessons are free).Two class sessions are offered. The first begins Sunday, July 17 at 1:30 p.m. The second begins Tuesday, July 18 at 6 p.m. Bring a partner or we can provide one for you. Contact Jo Anne Newby at (865} 539-4150 or email KnoxvilleBridge@gmail.com. • $5 Monday, Aug. 8 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: QUICK AND TASTY COOKING • Cancer Support Community • 12PM • Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. Tuesday, Aug. 9 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 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 ACROYOGA • Dragonfly Aerial Arts Studio • 6PM • Fly with us! Each class is beginner friendly, incorporating intermediate options for more experienced fliers. New content is explored each week while reviewing components taught in previous classes, providing a space for students to form strong foundational skills in flying, basing, and spotting. Each session ends with therapeutics or Thai massage. Please bring a mat, close fitting long pants, and water. No partner needed. • $15 BEGINNING BRIDGE LESSONS • Knoxville Bridge Center • 6PM • The Knoxville Association of Bridge Clubs is offering an in-depth, 17-week course on duplicate bridge, with a focus on learning the modern two over one bridge system. Taught by certified instructors, these lessons are a fun and informative way to learn the basics of modern
bridge. The cost is $5 per lesson (the first 2 lessons are free).Two class sessions are offered. The first begins Sunday, July 17 at 1:30 p.m. The second begins Tuesday, July 18 at 6 p.m. Bring a partner or we can provide one for you. Contact Jo Anne Newby at (865} 539-4150 or email KnoxvilleBridge@gmail.com. • $5 Wednesday, Aug. 10 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. Visit circlemoderndance.com. 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. Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $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, Aug. 11 AARP SMART DRIVER DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Karns Senior
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Center • 11:30AM • Call 382-5822. GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: HOW TO CULTIVATE IRISES IN EAST TENNESSEE • Humana Guidance Center • 3:15PM • Join Master Gardener Christine Jessel to learn all about irises: growing, dividing, common pests, etc. Call 865-329-8892. • FREE 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 SIX-WEEK STRENGTH AND BALANCE WORKSHOP • Ijams Nature Center • 6PM • Join Erik Andelman and Stephanie Leyland, certified Onnit instructors with South Knox Healing Arts, for a six-week course featuring bodyweight workouts combining yoga, calisthenics, flexibility training and traditional exercise forms from around the world. All ages and levels of fitness are welcome. Join us for an hour every Thursday evening from Aug. 11-Sept. 15. $100 for the full course or $20 for drop-in students. • $20-$100 THIRSTY (FOR KNOWLEDGE) THURSDAY • Old City Wine Bar • 6:30PM • Join our sommelier, Matt Burke, every Thursday in the cellar of the Old City Wine Bar for our ongoing wine education series. Free to listen and only $20-$25 to partake in the libations. • $20-$25 BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 G K I D S
BEAUTIFUL,
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ORIGINAL, AND EXTREMELY FUNNY!”
Saturday, Aug. 13 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us every Saturday 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 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
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Industry Technology Demos FIRST Robotics Challenge Demos FIRST Lego League Demos Lego Creative Build Challenges SPHERO Chariot Challenge ORNL Travelling Science Fair SUMO Bot Robot Arena Lego Landscapes, Trains, STEAM-filled Fun Great Ball Contraptions BAXTER the Robot with with with TN Valley Lego Club Bertelkamp Automation The Muse
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Friday, Aug. 12 AARP SMART DRIVER DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Karns Senior Center • 11:30AM • Call 382-5822.
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PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 12:30PM • Portrait and life drawing practice at Candoro Art & Heritage Center. $10. Call Brad Selph for more information (865-573-0709). • $10 SUP YOGA • Concord Park • 6PM • Yoga on a SUP board? Come join us every Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Cove. We will meet at the River Sports Outfitters building. Cost is $25 and includes board, paddle and PFD. Register at barrebelleyoga.com/class-schedule. • $25 SUP YOGA • Ijams Nature Center • 6PM • Yoga on a paddleboard! Meet us at the Meads Quarry every Thursday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m. Cost is $25 and includes board and PFD. Personal boards are not permitted on the quarry. Get a great core workout and expand your flexibility. Register at barrebelleyoga.com/ class-schedule. • $25
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CALENDAR 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 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10:30AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: HOW TO CULTIVATE IRISES IN EAST TENNESSEE • Bearden Branch Public Library • 1:30PM • Join Master Gardener Christine Jessel to learn all about irises: growing, dividing, common pests, etc. Call 865- 588-8813 or visit knoxlib.org. • FREE BEARDSLEY COMMUNITY FARM WORKDAYS AND GARDEN CLASSES • Beardsley Community Farm • 9AM • CAC Beardsley Community Farm Saturday Workdays are from 9 a.m.-noon, followed by a garden class from 12:15-1:30 p.m. The upcoming schedule includes “Beat the Bugs … With Bugs” (July 23); “organic Disease Control” (Aug. 13); “Preserving the Harvest” (Sept. 10); and “Green Manure: Build Your Soil With Cover Crops” (Oct. 8). For more information visit beardsleyfarm.org, email beardsleyfarm@gmail.com or call 865-546-8446. • FREE SUP YOGA • Ijams Nature Center • 9AM • Yoga on a paddleboard! Meet us at the Meads Quarry every Thursday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m. Cost is $25 and includes board and PFD. Personal boards are not
42
KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
permitted on the quarry. Get a great core workout and expand your flexibility. Register at barrebelleyoga.com/ class-schedule. • $25 SUP 101 • Outdoor Knoxville Adventure Center • 10AM • We cover all the basics of standup paddleboarding in this introductory class. No experience required. We will teach you: equipment overview, safety and awareness of the conditions, balancing, correct stance, four different paddle strokes, steering and turning, proper paddling form and more. All instructors are PaddleFit and WPA (World Paddle Association) certified. Classes are offered every Saturday at 10 a.m. through September. • $45 Sunday, Aug. 14 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. Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $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. Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $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. Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 BEGINNING BRIDGE LESSONS • Knoxville Bridge Center • 1:30PM • The Knoxville Association of Bridge Clubs is offering an in-depth, 17-week course on duplicate bridge, with a focus on learning the modern two over one bridge system. Taught by certified instructors, these lessons are a fun and informative way to learn the basics of modern bridge. The cost is $5 per lesson (the first 2 lessons are free).Two class sessions are offered. The first begins Sunday, July 17 at 1:30 p.m. The second begins Tuesday, July 18 at 6 p.m. Bring a partner or we can provide one for you. Contact Jo Anne Newby at (865} 539-4150 or email KnoxvilleBridge@gmail.com. • $5
MEETINGS
Thursday, Aug. 4 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. 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. TRANSGENDER DISCUSSION GROUP • Maryville College • 6:30PM • Join us for fellowship and conversation and help guide a new dialog within the LGBT community of Blount County by sharing your story with friends and allies. This group will meet biweekly June 23-Aug. 18 at the Clayton Center lobby at Maryville College. • FREE 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
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
information about KWG can be found at www. KnoxvilleWritersGuild.org. Saturday, Aug. 6 SEEKERS OF SILENCE • Church of the Savior United Church of Christ • 9AM • Seekers of Silence is an ecumenical and interfaith gathering of men and women who come together to listen. We listen to presenters speak on spirituality topics; we listen to God in silent prayer; we listen to each other in small group sharing. Participants come from a variety of religious traditions. Members of several denominations as well as followers of other faiths come from all over East Tennessee to attend. All are welcome. Our meetings are on the first Saturday of each month (except July). Meetings start with 20 minutes of silent meditation, followed by a talk and small group discussions. We end with another 20-minute meditation and a shared lunch. The meetings are open to all and free of charge, although donations are accepted. Visit sosknoxville.org. • FREE 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 NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us for our Silent Meditation Gathering. 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 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 Sunday, Aug. 7 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 REFUGE RECOVERY • Losel Shedrup Ling • 8:30PM • A peerled weekly group gathering to supplement your dedicated practice (AA, NA, Smart Recovery, etc.) for recovery from addictions of all kinds. Buddhism recognizes a non-theistic approach to spiritual practice. The Refuge Recovery program does not ask anyone to believe anything, only to trust the process and do the hard work of recovery. All are welcome to join us in investigating the practices of mindfulness, compassion, forgiveness, and generosity to heal the pain addiction has caused in
CALENDAR
our lives and the lives of others. Contact David at 865-306-0279 for any further questions. • FREE Monday, Aug. 8 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, Aug. 9 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 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. The Harvey Broome Group undertakes important conservation issues, offers year-round outings to enhance appreciation of the outdoors, and presents monthly programs that range from experts in environmental issues to entertaining speakers who have explored our world. • FREE Thursday, Aug. 11
CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY LEUKEMIA, LYMPHOMA, AND MYELOMA NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • This drop-in group is open for those with leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and myeloproliferative disorders and their support persons. Participants will be able to exchange information, discuss concerns and share experiences. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. Saturday, Aug. 13 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. 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 NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us for our Silent Meditation Gathering. 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. •
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 43
CALENDAR FREE Sunday, Aug. 14 SKEPTIC BOOK CLUB • Books-A-Million • 2PM • The book club of the Rationalists of East Tennessee meets on the second Sunday of every month. Visit rationalists.org. • FREE 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 REFUGE RECOVERY • Losel Shedrup Ling • 8:30PM • A peerled weekly group gathering to supplement your dedicated practice (AA, NA, Smart Recovery, etc.) for recovery from addictions of all kinds. Buddhism recognizes a non-theistic approach to spiritual practice. The Refuge Recovery program does not ask anyone to believe anything, only to trust the process and do the hard work of recovery. All are welcome to join us in investigating the practices of mindfulness, compassion, forgiveness, and generosity to heal the pain addiction has caused in our lives and the lives of others. Contact David at 865-306-0279 for any further questions. • FREE
ETC.
UT CULINARY PROGRAM Get the skills to start your professional culinary career. This full-time 12-week, 400-hour course prepares you for entry-level positions in restaurants, hotels, catering, and sales. Fall classes start Sept. 12.
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
Thursday, Aug. 4 MARBLE SPRINGS SHOPPING AT THE FARM FARMER’S MARKET • Marble Springs State Historic Site • 3PM • Marble Springs State Historic Site is proud to present the sixth season of Shopping at the Farm, the Marble Springs Farmer’s Market for our South Knoxville community. The market will be held Thursdays from 3-6 p.m. beginning on May 19 and continuing weekly through Sept. 22. All vendors will be selling fresh, locally-produced products, and artisan crafts. This year we will be allowing the addition of antiques vendors.• FREE ETCDC URBAN HOME AND GARDEN TOUR PREMIERE PARTY • The Holston • 5:30PM • Join the East Tennessee Community Design Center to kick off the Urban Home and Garden Tour. Attendees will enjoy summer “samplings” created by a local chef and paired with select wines. Dr. Bruce Wheeler, University of Tennessee professor emeritus and historian, will be on hand to share historical insights of The Elliot and discuss Knoxville’s 225th birthday. After Dr. Wheeler finishes, attendees will be able to tour one of Knoxville’s finest private homes in The Elliot, a historic downtown building at State Street and Church Avenue. A premier party ticket will also include a ticket to the Urban Home and Garden Tour (a $30 value) on Friday, Aug. 5, and Saturday, Aug. 6. All proceeds will benefit the ETCDC. • $125 Friday, Aug. 5 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • Offering a wide variety of hand-picked produce, artisan breads, grass-fed beef, natural pork and chicken,
farm fresh eggs and farm-based crafts. • FREE DOGWOOD ARTS OPEN HOUSE • Dogwood Arts Festival • 5:30PM • Visit the Dogwood Arts Festival’s new offices at 123 W. Jackson Ave. in the Old City during August’s First Friday celebration. • FREE ETCDC URBAN HOME AND GARDEN TOUR • Downtown Knoxville • 5:30PM • The East Tennessee Community Design Center (ETCDC) is hosting an Urban Home and Garden Tour on Friday, Aug. 5, and Saturday, Aug. 6. Starting with the check-in station at the historic Phoenix Building(418 S. Gay St.), the tour will offer an opportunity to visit amazing downtown Knoxville homes with extraordinary outdoor spaces. Tickets for the event are $30 each, and all proceeds will benefit the Design Center. This self-guided tour of downtown will allow individuals to see creative outdoor features in downtown Knoxville that will inspire participants to imagine the possibilities for the outdoor areas around their own homes and see what downtown has to offer as a residential option. Volunteer guides will be stationed at each property to direct guests around the tour. • $30 Saturday, Aug. 6 A MAROON AND WHITE AFFAIR • Bridgewater Place • 6:30PM • A fundraising galley for the Zaevion Dobson Scholarship—organizers hope to raise enough money for an endowment for the scholarship, which is named in memory of Fulton High School student and 2016 ESPN Arthur Ashe Courage Award winner Zaevion Dobson, who was killed by gun violence in 2015. • $50 SEYMOUR FARMERS MARKET • First Baptist Church
Seymour • 8AM • Open from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday from June to the second Saturday in October. Locally grown fruits, vegetables, eggs, honey, baked goods and crafts sold by the person who produced it.• FREE OAK RIDGE FARMERS MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • The market offers seasonal vegetables, herbs, fruits and berries, honey, artisan bread and cheese, grass-fed beef and naturally raised chicken, pork and lamb, farm-based crafts, flowers and potted plants. • FREE 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. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE HIROSHIMA NAMES AND REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY • Y-12 National Security Complex • 6AM • Solemn remembrance of the bombing of Hiroshima by the United States on Aug. 6, 1945. • FREE ETCDC URBAN HOME AND GARDEN TOUR • Downtown Knoxville • 11AM • The East Tennessee Community Design Center (ETCDC) is hosting an Urban Home and Garden Tour on Friday, Aug. 5, and Saturday, Aug. 6. Starting with the check-in station at the historic Phoenix Building(418 S. Gay St.), the tour will offer an opportunity to visit amazing downtown Knoxville homes with extraordinary outdoor spaces. Tickets for the event are $30 each, and all proceeds will benefit the Design Center. This self-guided tour of downtown will allow individuals to see creative outdoor features in downtown Knoxville that will inspire
LEARN MORE You’re invited to attend a free information session at the UT Conference Center in downtown Knoxville. Please call 865-974-3181, e-mail utnoncredit@utk.edu, or go online to make your reservation. Thursday, August 11, 6-7 p.m. Course # 16SUCULIN-2
www.utculinary.com Financing & flexible payment options available.
Light it Up! We are refurbishing our iconic marquee and vertical sign this summer and need your help. Help us shine brighter! Buy a bulb or purchase limited edition merchandise to help support the project! To learn more or to donate, visit tennesseetheatre.com/marquee
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
Thursday, Aug. 4 - Sunday, Aug. 14
participants to imagine the possibilities for the outdoor areas around their own homes and see what downtown has to offer as a residential option. Volunteer guides will be stationed at each property to direct guests around the tour. • $30 GAMBLING WITH THE FUTURE RALLY • Alvin K. Bissell Park • 12PM • A rally and concert for peace and nuclear disarmament. Explore the risks presented by ongoing nuclear-weapons production at Y-12 in Oak Ridge, site of the worst excess high-risk facility in the country. Followed by a two-mile March for Disarmament from Bissell Park to Y12 and a “rainbow chain of peace” at the facility. All events nonviolent in tone as well as action. • FREE Monday, Aug. 8 BECK CULTURAL EXCHANGE CENTER EIGHTH OF AUGUST EXHIBIT OPENING • Beck Cultural Exchange Center • 7:30AM • From 7:30-10 a.m., Beck will offer a free continental breakfast as guests enjoy a preview of a new permanent exhibit and commemorate this significant day in our Tennessee history: The Eighth of August, the day Andrew Johnson freed his slaves. • FREE EIGHTH OF AUGUST GLITZ AND GLAM RED CARPET EVENT • Tennessee Theatre • 6PM • Beck will premier its Eighth of August Glitz and Glam Red Carpet Event. At 6:00, there will be a formal reception at the Tennessee Theatre with live entertainment followed by a stroll down the red carpet at the Regal Riviera Cinema where guests will be greeted by flashing cameras. After having a photo opportunity, guests will stroll into the theater where the
feature presentation will start at 8:00 p.m. Beck, in partnership with East Tennessee PBS and East Tennessee Historical Society, will feature a special one hour Eighth of August Documentary and Panel Discussion. • $50 Tuesday, Aug. 9 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • The market offers hand-picked produce in season, artisan breads and cheese, grass-fed meat and farm fresh eggs. • FREE Wednesday, Aug. 10 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. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE OAK RIDGE FARMERS MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 3PM • The market offers seasonal vegetables, herbs, fruits and berries, honey, artisan bread and cheese, grass-fed beef and naturally raised chicken, pork and lamb, farm-based crafts, flowers and potted plants. • FREE UT FARMERS MARKET • University of Tennessee • 4PM • 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 Thursday, Aug. 11 MARBLE SPRINGS SHOPPING AT THE FARM FARMER’S MARKET • Marble Springs State Historic Site • 3PM • Marble Springs State Historic Site is proud to present the
CALENDAR
sixtth season of Shopping at the Farm, the Marble Springs Farmer’s Market for our South Knoxville community. The market will be held Thursdays from 3-6 p.m. beginning on May 19 and continuing weekly through Sept. 22. All vendors will be selling fresh, locally-produced products, and artisan crafts. This year we will be allowing the addition of antiques vendors. • FREE KNOXVILLE SQUARE DANCE • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Jubilee Community Arts presents Knoxville Square Dance with live old-time music by The Helgramites and calling by Stan Sharp, Ruth Simmons and Leo Collins. No experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. (No taps, please.) • $7
FREE 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. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE
Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com
Friday, Aug. 12 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • Offering a wide variety of hand-picked produce, artisan breads, grass-fed beef, natural pork and chicken, farm fresh eggs and farm-based crafts. • FREE Saturday, Aug. 13 SEYMOUR FARMERS MARKET • First Baptist Church Seymour • 8AM • Open from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday from June to the second Saturday in October. Locally grown fruits, vegetables, eggs, honey, baked goods and crafts sold by the person who produced it. • FREE OAK RIDGE FARMERS MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • The market offers seasonal vegetables, herbs, fruits and berries, honey, artisan bread and cheese, grass-fed beef and naturally raised chicken, pork and lamb, farm-based crafts, flowers and potted plants. •
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 45
’BYE
R estless Nat ive
Hollywood Comes to Washburn Revisiting the now nearly forgotten Lolly Madonna War, shot in Union County BY CHRIS WOHLWEND
I
n the 1970s, before Burt Reynolds became a movie bandit, before his recent Knoxville presence generated daily media over-coverage, an earlier generation of aging male actors were in East Tennessee filming a low-budget movie. Rod Steiger and Robert Ryan were spending time near Washburn in Union County on set for a film called, at the time, The Lolly Madonna War. It was the story of a pair of feuding hillbilly clans. Lolly Madonna was the name of the woman who was central to the movie’s plot. And, thanks to my being employed by the Knoxville Journal, she provided me with the opportunity to become a pornographer. An opportunity, I should add, that did not work out despite my best efforts. Unlike the present-day Burt barrage, Knoxville didn’t seem to take much notice of the celebrity presence.
I’m sure that had much to do with the set being on the far edge of civilization. Or maybe Knoxvillians had become blasé to such Hollywood royalty—we had, after all, hosted Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman only a couple of years earlier as they filmed a movie in Sevier County. But Lolly Madonna’s publicist was working to change that. Or at least seemed to be as he took to hanging out at the Journal office, mostly around a female reporter with whom he had established a rapport. The Journal published a handful of stories—but, as I recall, the two veteran stars were savvy enough to avoid the publicist and whichever media representatives he had trailing him. So he came up with a plan to garner some national ink. He was, he told those of us who would listen, buddies with someone at Penthouse magazine, the upstart challenger to
BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 4, 2016
Playboy. And that person, he was sure, would welcome a photo feature involving a comely female wearing little or nothing. His plan was to find such a subject, make her an assistant script girl, and then have a photographer take pictures on the set that Penthouse would publish, providing pulchritudinous publicity. The Journal’s veteran photographers, blessed with the clear-eyed skepticism that experience brings, would have nothing to do with his plan. So, at the suggestion of his female friend, he approached me, a burgeoning photographer. And I of course agreed to see if I could find a star-struck subject. Several phone calls later, I realized that the girls I knew—UT students— were too smart for such a scheme. And none of them had any interest in meeting Rod Steiger or Robert Ryan— after I had explained to them who they were. I realized that most children of the ’60s had little knowledge of stars from the days of black-and-white films. And I had to admit that I had little interest in yet another project exploiting the stereotypical ignorant hillbilly—though I certainly had encountered a few. Once, on another story in Washburn, I had stopped in a country grocery seeking directions back to Knoxville. The teen-aged girl behind the counter—I would guess her age at 16 or 17—said she didn’t know and confessed to never having traveled farther from home than Luttrell, which was only 10 miles away.
So I didn’t get around to visiting the movie set and soon forgot about the movie, which garnered little attention when it was released. But a month or so ago, Turner Classic Movies aired Lolly Madonna XXX—the title had been changed, with the Xs meant to represent kisses. Unfortunately, the triple X’s gave the impression that the movie was pornographic. Maybe the publicist from the early 1970s had suggested the name change. So I watched it. And discovered that it is certainly worth a couple of hours of time, the two stars and their fellow actors delivering excellent performances following a credible and well-written script. The supporting cast, a mixture of veteran Hollywood character actors and newcomers, included three boys who went on to make big-screen names for themselves, names that would have been recognizable to any girls I might have contacted if I was seeking an assistant script girl a generation or so later: Jeff Bridges, Gary Busey, and Randy Quaid. And Lolly Madonna? She existed in name only—the “signer” of a prank postcard that set off a murderous hillbilly rampage. ◆ Chris Wohlwend’s Restless Native addresses the characters and absurdities of Knoxville, as well as the lessons learned pursuing the newspaper trade during the tumult that was the 1960s. He now teaches journalism part-time at the University of Tennessee.
’BYE BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY
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Lincoln Memorial University HARROGATE, TENNESSEE
“They are loyal, there, General, they are loyal.� - President Lincoln to Gen. O. O. Howard on September 27, 1863 Following the Civil War, General Oliver Otis Howard assisted in the foundation of two educational institutions aimed at providing opportunities for underserved populations. First he helped secure land and financial resources in Washington, D.C., for a University to train African-American ministers and the institution was named in his honor. Later, recalling his last meeting with President Abraham Lincoln, when the Commander in Chief gave him a survey map of the area he was heading and remarked on the need to do something after the war for the loyal people of the region, he joined a group of educators building schools for underprivileged mountain families. Founding the institution as a living memorial to the fallen President, Lincoln Memorial University was chartered on February 12, 1897.
www.LMUnet.edu