Vol. 2, Issue 4 - Jan. 28, 2016

ON THE FROSTBITTEN EDGE OF LOCAL REPORTING

JAN. 28, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM V.

2 / N.4

A 24-hour diary of living homeless in Knoxville WORDS AND PHOTOS

BY CLAY DUDA

NEWS

Residents Voice Fears of Gentrification at Magnolia Streetscape Forum

JACK NEELY

Readers Provide Clues for a Secret History of Knoxville Rock Shows

MUSIC

Del McCoury Remains the Last of the Old-Time Bluegrass Pickers

JOE SULLIVAN

What’s Gone Wrong With the Lady Vols Basketball Program?

LMU Professors Selected for International Workshop When Dr. Paul Nader and Dr. Bob Henry were contacted to work on preserving the world’s largest heart from a 76.5-foot blue whale, they knew this would be no ordinary whale tale. The Lincoln Memorial University-College of Veterinary Medicine (LMU-CVM) anatomy professors are working with international partners from Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) including Interim Director and CEO, Dr. Mark Engstrom and Jacqueline Miller along with Dr. Gunther von Hagens of Gubener Plastinate GmbH in Germany to preserve the blue whale’s heart using a process called plastination. The process involves

preserving biological tissue by replacing water or fat with a polymer like silicone to produce a preserved specimen for anatomical study.

“Dr. Henry and Dr. von Hagens (inventor of the plastination process) are the leading experts on animal plastination in the world,” said Nader. “I explicitly wanted to come teach at LMU to work with Dr. Henry because he is a specialist in plastination.”

The biggest discovery during the project has been the size of the blue whale heart. It has always been believed that the

approximate size of a blue whale heart, was that of a car. However, when they removed the heart, they found it to be much smaller than common literature suggests. The heart measured five feet wide and five and a half feet tall, and its collapsed state fit into a household chest deep freezer. Though not as large as what was expected, it is still the largest heart Dr. Nader and Dr. Henry have ever worked on.

Once the plastination process is complete, the blue whale heart with the skeleton of the animal is scheduled to be on display at the ROM in Summer 2017.

vetmed.LMUnet.edu 2

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

Photo by Samantha Phillips, ROM Biodiversity

Jan. 28, 2016 Volume 02 / Issue 04 knoxmercury.com

CONTENTS

“ If one’s life is simple, contentment has to come.” —The Dalai Lama

14 A drift

COVER STORY

For nearly two years now, Drew Krikau, 45, has lived homeless on the streets of Knoxville. He’s had two “permanent” living arrangements during that time, although when you’re living outside you quickly learn nothing is permanent—fortunes often ebb and flow with daily changes, and few things come easy. Both of his more permanent homes were self-made campsites erected in the dense brush of vacant lots close to the city’s core. But his camp and most everything he owned went up in flames on Christmas day, and since then he’s been hunting for a new safe place to rebuild. Clay Duda follows him for 24 hours to deliver a small peek into what it’s like to be homeless in Knoxville.

ON THE COVER: Two homeless men walk under the Interstate 40 overpass north of downtown Knoxville after their nearby camp was razed by local officials on Dec. 18, 2015. Photo by Clay Duda.

NEWS

12 ‘Whitewash’?

Last week, city officials brought out their consultants to present a detailed vision for refinishing Magnolia Avenue east of downtown, plans that were met with some concerns and skepticism from people in the 70-person crowd gathered at the John T. O’Connor Senior Center Thursday evening, as Clay Duda reports.

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DEPARTMENTS

OPINION

A&E

4 Letters 6 Howdy

8 Scruffy Citizen

20 Program Notes: Will we see

Start Here: Roadside Sketches

by Andrew Gresham, Believe it or Knox!, Public Affairs, Quote Factory

38 ’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

Jack Neely finds the library doors locked during last week’s snow, so he resorts to Plan B.

10 Perspectives

Joe Sullivan expresses his exasperation over the Lady Vols’ season thus far.

CALENDAR Knoxville’s newest performance venue unveiled at Big Ears?

26 Spotlights: Yonder Mountain

String Band, Knoxville Seven

21 Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson investigates a sighting of the Redcoats.

22 Music: Matthew Everett talks

bluegrass with Robbie McCoury.

23 Classical Music: Alan Sherrod

reviews KSO’s latest candidate for musical director.

24 Art: Chris Barrett gets in touch with fiber artist Nick DeFord.

25 Movies: April Snellings is both impressed and creeped out by Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa.

January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3

LETTERS Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015

THE LESSONS OF BROADBAND

Seventeen years ago, the Tennessee Legislature reluctantly passed into law the right for municipal electric utilities to offer fiber optic high-speed broadband and other services to their electric power customers, in direct competition with very vocal and well funded opposition from the legacy providers, AT&T, Comcast and others.

The law was necessary because these carriers were simply not doing what Tennesseans needed. But the legislators, many of them beholden to their corporate donors, made sure to protect the carriers’ interests by making sure the utilities could serve only their electric utility customers.

Not all utility providers were willing or able to take on the daunting and expensive challenge but seven did— Bristol, Morristown, Chattanooga, Clarksville, Jackson, Tullahoma, Pulaski—and they have all prospered beyond their wildest dreams. Thousands of new jobs came to Tennessee, many of them high tech/high pay.

Chattanooga added some 2,800 new jobs. The city attracted innovative young entrepreneurs who started new businesses, and venture capital to fund them. Pulaski—tiny Pulaski, population 7,800—attracted an innovative Italian manufacturer of automotive lighting, drawing in over 1,000 new hires. Morristown landed Sykes, an inbound call center, with a forecasted need for over 500 workers.

Indeed, thousands of new jobs came to Tennessee, but most to the cities with high-speed broadband— and therein lies the lessons. Where there is broadband, there are jobs.

But the lessons failed to resonate with all but a few of the state’s legislators. It’s not that the rest were ignorant, or deaf. Not at all. They knew well how the broadband communities were faring, but their ears belonged to lobbyists with different music—and pockets of money. And money talks.

It is incumbent on Tennessee’s citizens to call out the legislators whose self-interest runs contrary to the needs of their constituents and, indeed, the entire state. I am one of those citizens.

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

There are bills in the Legislature that will allow utilities to expand broadband service by deleting the “within its service area” language of the previous law. I now know which of the members of the House and Senate committees who receive the bills (HB1303 and SB1134, introduced by Rep. Kevin Brooks and Sen. Janice Bowling respectively) and decide whether to pass them along for a floor vote is receiving thousands of dollars in contributions to influence a No vote, and who in the House and Senate are receiving similar contributions with the expectation that their votes, too, will be negative.

I and the thousands like me are going all-out to educate our fellow citizens, and we’re in this to win it.

Many people just don’t get it that the successes of the seven cities represent a model for the potential success of the state. Tennessee is one of 20 states that are controlled by the giants and, as a result, are self-limiting their abilities to compete on a global basis. If we, like Alabama, break out of this model, the entire state stands to attract and secure new businesses, attract new innovators and entrepreneurs, grow the businesses we have, better educate our students, and provide much-needed medical care at much lower prices.

Tennesseans stand to prosper if the bills pass into law. It remains to be seen who our legislators work for.

Joseph Malgeri Dandridge

NEW ENGLAND JAZZ

The lead paragraph of your piece on Regina Carter has me baffled—the assertion that New England Conservatory didn’t have a jazz program in the 1980s. [“First String” by Matthew Everett, Jan. 21, 2016] NEC most definitely had a jazz program in the 1980s—Gunther Schuller started it in 1969, I believe, and George Russell taught there from its inception until 2004 when he retired. Jaki Byard was also teaching there in the 1980s, as was Ran Blake. In the early 1980s,

Miroslav Vitous was teaching bass there, and a few years later, Dave Holland was on the faculty. (There were plenty of other notable jazz faculty whose names escape me at the moment, but I’m a bass player, so I’d remember Vitous and Holland.)

I never studied there, but I accompanied a few Masters’ recitals between ‘83 and ‘93, and they were all definitely jazz. It may be that for a time the program was called “contemporary improvisation,” instead of “jazz,” and there was definitely a “Third Stream” department (Schuller’s influence), but there was plenty of jazz to be studied at NEC in the ‘80s.

By the way, this won’t be Regina Carter’s first visit to Knoxville. I saw her play with the String Trio of New York at KMA’s Alive After Five in early 1995.

Bill Morrison East Lyme, Conn.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR GUIDELINES

• Letter submissions should include a verifiable name, address, and phone number.

We do not print anonymous letters.

• We much prefer letters that address issues that pertain specifically to Knoxville or to stories we’ve published.

• We don’t publish letters about personal disputes or how you didn’t like your waiter at that restaurant.

• Letters are usually published in the order that we receive them.

Send your letters to: Our Dear Editor Knoxville Mercury 706 Walnut St., Suite 404 Knoxville, TN 37920 Send an email to: editor@knoxmercury.com Or message us at: facebook.com/knoxmercury

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

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

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

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Charlie Finch Corey McPherson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

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Ben Adams Matthew Foltz-Gray

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

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

Historic February The weather’s unpredictable and often unpleasant, and festival season hasn’t started yet.

History offers several things to celebrate.

Feb. 5 is the day Knoxville kicks off its 225th Anniversary series of events. It’s also the 267th birthday of Col. David Henley, the U.S. War Department agent for whom Henley Street and Bridge are named. In 1797, he played a key role in investigating former Gov. William Blount for a bizarre treasonous conspiracy to make the Louisiana Territory a British colony.

Feb. 6 is the 220th anniversary of one of the most significant things ever accomplished in Knoxville, the completion of the original Tennessee Constitution. It was signed by 55 delegates from across the Southwestern Territory, among them Andrew Jackson, James Robertson, and W.C.C. Claiborne, and about nine others who have counties named for them--in Knoxville’s most capacious office, that of David Henley, at the southwest corner of Gay and Church.

Knoxville. He was killed in a horse-cart accident in 1904; Staub’s Opera House, later known as the Lyric Theatre, was demolished in 1956 for a department-store project that was never built. Serving only as a parking lot for about 20 years, it eventually became the site of Plaza Tower.

Jazz and blues singer and songwriter Ida Cox (1896-1967) only occasionally performed in Knoxville during her prime, but she spent her later years here, living near Five Points, during which she recorded her only album. She’s buried at New Gray Cemetery on Western Avenue.

Feb. 25 is the 203rd birthday of Perez Dickinson (1813-1901). Born in Amherst, Mass., Dickinson had a younger cousin named Emily who wrote poetry, but he was best known here as a prosperous “merchant prince.” His Island Home, the getaway built for his bride who died before she ever saw it, still stands on the campus of the Tennessee School for the Deaf, and inspired the name of the adjacent neighborhood. The nearby island, now the site of an airport, is known as Dickinson Island.

All of February is Black History Month, but Feb. 26 is the 120th birthday of Ida Cox Ask your favorite Vol fan if they know (1896-1967), who was one of the great jazz the importance of Feb. 17–and give them a and blues singers of the 1920s and ‘30s. Born hard time if they don’t. It’s the 124th birthday in tiny Toccoa, Ga., Cox was different from Photo courtesy of Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound. of Gen. Robert Neyland (1892-1962), the her contemporary rivals in that she wrote Texas-born, West Point-trained coach who most of her own songs, like “Wild Women brought a mediocre regional college football Don’t Have the Blues.” She performed in team to national prominence, including at least one national championship Knoxville only occasionally, but moved here after a stroke in the late 1940s to (depending on whose polls you follow) and two Rose Bowls. Though he’s the live with her daughter, and spent the last 20 years of her live singing in the subject of a large statue at the stadium named for him, he’s buried under a choir of the Patton Street Church of God. While she lived here, she flew to New simple soldier’s stone at National Cemetery on Tyson Street.

York to record her only album, Blues for Rampart Street, with the Coleman Hawkins Quintet. She died of cancer in 1967 at Baptist Hospital.

Feb. 21 is the 141st birthday of newspaperman Alfred Sanford (1875-1946), who hired the famous Olmsted Brothers to design what was known as the Few people are born on Feb. 29, the date that comes around only every Sanford Arboretum, for 20 years a wonder to behold along the river near the four years, but it’s the shared birthday of two both associated with Gay intersection of Kingston Pike and Cherokee Boulevard. It contained an example Street. Gioacchino Rossini, who never came to America but who is celebrated of every known tree and shrub indigenous to Tennessee. Unfortunately, it did each spring with the Knoxville Opera’s Rossini Festival, turns 224 that day. not long survive his death, and was subdivided into residential lots.

It’s also the 180th birthday of Thomas O’Conner, the prosperous banker, president of Mechanics Bank & Trust, who shot erratic businessman/ Feb. 22 is the 189th birthday of Peter Staub (1827-1904), the Swiss immiphilanthropist Joseph Mabry to death on Gay Street in 1882, and then died grant who established Staub’s Opera House, the city’s first big auditorium, in in a shootout with Joseph Mabry Jr. Today, the Rossini Festival covers the 1872. Later U.S. consul to Switzerland, Staub was twice elected mayor of area where all three men died within moments of each other.

Source: The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection

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

Learn more on www.facebook.com/knoxvillehistoryproject • email jack@knoxhistoryproject.org January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5

Illustration by Ben Adams

HOWDY

Believe It or Knox!

BY Z. HERACLITUS KNOX One of the first non-produce businesses to open on Market Square, by 1859, was Peter R. Knott’s BOWLING SALOON! Perhaps Knoxville’s first bowling alley, it was in the vicinity of today’s Tomato Head and Café 4.

Roadside Sketches by Andrew Gresham (agreshamphoto.com)

Much of the distinctive signage in the subway systems of New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., was manufactured by Knoxville’s Cherokee Porcelain! The factory is now located in the Forks of the River area, on the east side of Knoxville, but the company was originally in the Homberg Place area of Bearden, where it thrived until the 1990s.

Ironically, Knoxville itself still lacks a subway!

The McClung Collection, McClung Museum, and UT’s McClung Tower, ARE NAMED FOR THREE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MCCLUNGS.

QUOTE FACTORY “ We were wiped out clean.”

—Cruz Contreras, lead singer of the Black Lillies, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle about the Monday morning theft of the Knoxville band’s equipment van. It contained about $70,000 worth of gear and instruments, including Contreras’ 1952 Gibson J 45 guitar. A rally.org campaign for the band raised $32,000 by Tuesday morning.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

1/28 COUNTY COMMISSION CANDIDATES 1/30 LLOYD BRANSON DOCUMENTATION 1/31 GRAND OPENING: THE SCHWARZBART 2/1 MEETING: MANHATTAN PROJECT PARK FORUM DAY GALLERY THURSDAY

6:30 p.m., Emporium (100 S. Gay St.). Free.

Catch some primary fever! Commission candidates in Districts 1, 2, 4, and 6 will be taking part in this League of Women Voters forum sponsored by the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville and the NAACP. Candidates in Districts 2 and 5 will participate in a forum on Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m. at Pellissippi State Community College (1610 E. Magnolia Ave.).

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

SATURDAY

10 a.m.-noon, 1-2 p.m., East Tennessee History Center (601 South Gay St.). Free.

Got a painting by Lloyd Branson in your attic? The East Tennessee Historical Society would like to know about it.

They’re conducting a survey of works associated with Knoxville’s “native genius.” Bring in what you’ve got to be photographed or scanned by ETHS staff and entered into a database of Branson’s known works. Plus: Andrew Hurst will talk about caring for your paintings at noon.

SUNDAY

3-5 p.m., Arnstein Jewish Community Center (6800 Deane Hill Dr.). Free.

The late Arnold Schwarzbart—famed Judaic artisan and Knoxville community leader—receives a permanent tribute to his artwork. His creations, based on Jewish ritual items and texts, can be found in homes, community buildings, and Jewish houses of worship throughout the world. Knoxville Jewish Alliance president Adam Brown will dedicate the gallery at 3:30 p.m.

MONDAY

5:30-7:30 p.m., Oak Ridge High School food court (1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge). Free.

The National Park Service and the Department of Energy are seeking public input on planning for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Got any thoughts about the key stories and interpretive ideas related to the park? Share them!

Win Tickets to the

Clarence Brown Theatre!

TITUS ANDRONICUS TICKET GIVEAWAY 2 pair of tickets available for the Feb. 17th performance.

Who wrote Titus Andronicus?

Send your answer to: contests@knoxmercury.com 2 winners chosen at random will be notified on Feb. 8th.

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January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7

SCRUFFY CITIZEN

Plan B When the library’s closed, we can always reminisce about rock shows

BY JACK NEELY

L

ast week, I was stuck in World’s Fair Park with no legally advisable way to get out.

Downtown construction and infrastructure repair is wreaking havoc on my parallel-parking habit.

Until lately, there has always been a cheap metered spot open somewhere, just a matter of finding it. I park all day for seat-cushion change. Lately, though, with so many meters bagged with tow-away warnings, I’ve had to improvise.

On days when I think I can get my downtown work done quickly, I patronize the four-hour free parking at the north end of World’s Fair Park.

Despite the previous day’s modest snow, it was wide open and parking was easy.

Part of its charm is that it makes a pleasant walk by a playground and war memorial and fountains. You can even see art through the windows of the art museum. On a sunny day, going to work is a stroll in the park.

But that day, the 41 stairs up to the Clinch Avenue viaduct were “Closed Due to Ice.” I walked to the long set of doors to the Holiday Inn lobby and escalators. Open to the public for decades, they now require a room key to access. I don’t always carry one of those.

Okay, I thought, have it your way, I’ll just take the big concrete steps by the convention center. They were

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

open, on the bottom level. Judging by the footprints in the snow, a couple of hundred people were ahead of me.

There was ice, but there were railings.

The main trick is to be partly sober.

But the steps curve between the Sunsphere and the Knoxville Convention Center, and only when I was halfway up could I could see that there was stern yellow tape across the top. No advisory, or suggested alternate route. Just the tape. Perhaps the mere existence of a nickel’s worth of yellow caution tape protects a city from a costly lawsuit.

If ice is a hazard, a tape at the top of a set of icy concrete steps, at waist level, adds to the hazard considerably, especially for a fellow over 50.

But the important thing to lawyers is its message: “You can’t say we didn’t warn you. You can walk back down the icy steps and back across the park to the parking lot, and drive your car back out. To some other city perhaps.”

I climbed over it without arrest.

Finally downtown, my destination, the library, was closed. The History Center was closed, too. They were closed the next day, too, and the next.

The snow was conspicuous for one day. The libraries were closed for four.

Newcomers routinely ascribe Knoxville’s skittishness to the fact that it’s in “the South,” and therefore snow is a bizarre and frightening concept. I blame it on the 1970s, when

the city and county school and library systems were consolidated, and the threshold for closing lowered.

Countywide, there are lots of sharp turns and steep hills, and things can seem treacherous, even while things in town, give or take a few caution tapes, are pretty easy.

I could complain, but I still had a column to write, if maybe not the one I was going to research in the library.

Hence I now turn to the Reader Mailbag. As it turns out, a lot of recent reader response is about what folks talk about on bar patios: legendary pop-music performances.

Last fall, I wrote about the barely remembered Knoxville concert of Nina Simone, a brief reference to which startled some who saw the recent documentary about the iconic pianist and vocalist. With the help of a couple of witnesses, we nailed down that it was at the university’s Alumni Hall in November 1964, right after an Ole Miss game. A couple of witnesses agreed that something went wrong with the show—one recollecting that it was woefully underattended, one that it was so short it may have been only two or three songs.

Attorney Greg O’Connor was a UT student then. His memory differs from those who recall a scantly attended show. “What I remember is that there were quite a few people there. She played for a while, and then she got mad.” She stood up and blessed the audience out for not paying attention.

He thinks she played one full set—more than a couple of songs—and then, at what would have been intermission, walked off stage and didn’t come back.

“She was a tough lady,” he concludes.

Other remarks about shows pertain to last week’s column about the Civic Coliseum, which I think witnessed mostly Anglo-American

pop culture of the postwar era.

Correspondent David Myers, who often has an interesting perspective on things, remembers that Rolling Stones show—which, judging by the mention of it in Keith Richards’ memoir, was memorable even for the lads themselves. David added a detail that the opener was 22-year-old Stevie Wonder. Any other contenders for the best rock show in Knoxville history?

But he has another, foggier memory, of seeing Otis Redding, who died in a plane crash in 1967, at the Coliseum, too. He doesn’t remember exactly when. I’ve never run across that, though someone once sent me a surprising account of Redding performing for a radio-station event in a field on the outskirts of town.

Anyone remember any of those?

A couple of folks asked me whether David Bowie ever performed here. His riskiest work would have fit in at Big Ears, but I regret Bowie’s Knoxville show probably never happened. A couple of his close collaborators have performed in Knoxville, including punk godfather Iggy Pop and experimental guitarist-composer Brian Eno, sometimes in surprisingly small venues—the former at Hobo’s on the Strip in 1982, the latter at the short-lived Old City phenomenon known as Ella Guru’s. Eno has also played at the Bijou.

Stephen, another reader, recalls that Bob Dylan’s 1965 Coliseum show was half acoustic, half electric.

Regarding the recent death of Glenn Frey, I was keeping an eye out for whether the Eagles performed there, but didn’t notice it in the files. However, Stephen recalls seeing the Eagles there at their height, in 1977.

So there. The library’s open now.

I’ll finish that column and run it next week. ◆

I could complain, but I still had a column to write, if maybe not the one I was going to research in the library.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

BISTRO AT THE BIJOU THE BACK STORY...

Did you know?

When you walk into the Bistro, you walk into one of the most historic public spaces in Knoxville, and you can feel it right away.

The popular restaurant and bar, together with the lobby of the Bijou Theatre, form the ground floor of an old hotel once known as the Lamar House. It turns 200 this year, and is one of Knoxville’s oldest buildings.

And the Bistro is downtown Knoxville’s oldest restaurant.

It’s been there for more than 35 years. But it’s in a space that has been a restaurant of one kind or another for most of the last 160 years. It has witnessed gunfights, presidential speeches, surprising celebrities, and, reportedly, some restless ghosts.

The Bistro honors its history with a menu and ambiance unlike any other restaurant or bar in town.

In the coming months stay tuned for more history, happenings and surprises from the Lamar House/Bistro’s past!

Details about this unique event coming soon.

807 South Gay Street Knoxville, TN 37902 (865) 544-0537 www.thebistroatthebijou.com

January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9

PERSPECTIVES

Fouling Out What’s gone wrong with the Lady Vols?

BY JOE SULLIVAN

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

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

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

hen Holly Warlick was named Lady Vols basketball coach in 2012, I despaired for her. Not that Warlick wasn’t well qualified for the job.

What better preparation than the 27 years she had spent as a player and assistant coach under Pat Summitt, whose 1,099 wins and eight national championships had made her legendary?

But the diagnosis of early onset dementia that had forced Summitt into early retirement made for an awkward transition. And trying to follow in the footsteps of a legend can put a monkey on the back of anyone, under any circumstances.

Consider the travails of the man who followed the legendary John Wooden as UCLA men’s basketball coach when Wooden retired in 1975 after winning his 10th national championship. In his two years at the helm, successor Gene Bartow took the Bruins to the Final Four and then the Sweet Sixteen. But that wasn’t good enough to stop incessant sniping from boosters and the media, which led to Bartow’s resignation in 1977.

(Fortunately, he went on to an illustrious career as coach and then athletic director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.)

Making matters yet more difficult for Warlick, she faced the loss of four senior starters from Summitt’s final team, three of whom went on to play in the WNBA. So 2013 looked like a rebuilding year.

Yet, in her first season, Warlick not only exceeded expectations but

she also bettered Summitt’s record during her final season. The Lady Vols moved up from a 12-4 second place finish in the SEC to a 14-2 conference championship. And they also matched Summitt’s Elite Eight finish in the NCAA tournament, which was as far as any Lady Vol team had gotten since Summitt’s last national championship in 2008.

Warlick also got off to a good start on the recruiting front, aiming to fortify the team for the years ahead.

Her prize catch in 2013 was Mercedes Russell, a 6-foot-6-inch post player from Oregon who was rated the top college prospect in the land. Then in 2014 she attracted a transfer from North Carolina, Diamond DeShields, who had just been named the national college freshman of the year. The roster also included another tenacious post player, Bashaara Graves, who’d been named 2013 SEC freshman of the year. And there were a pair of promising perimeter players, Andraya Carter and Jordan Reynolds.

However, Russell was hampered as a freshman by orthopedic problems with both feet, leading to a succession of surgeries that forced her to miss the entire 2014-15 season. And DeShields had to sit out that same season per NCAA transfer rules.

Coming into the 2015-16 season, though, the prospects looked very good for the Lady Vols to make it back to the Final Four, as attested by their number four preseason ranking. But it soon became apparent that their performance wasn’t living up to

expectations. At the season’s halfway mark, the team already has as many losses (six) as in the entirety of each of the two preceding seasons, including an ignominious defeat to Arkansas, which had a 6-10 record.

In a televised pregame pep talk at the beginning of the season, Warlick exhorted her players to be “relentless.”

Following the Arkansas game, she characterized their performance as “lackadaisical.” The team did manage one all-time record in that game: 24 turnovers, including seven by DeShields. When asked by the media post-game, “How do you get this fixed?” Warlick responded, “I don’t know. We’ve got great kids. They play hard one game and then they don’t.”

What may prove even worse than their downslide on the court is a precipitous decline in recruiting. This year, for the first time in memory, the Lady Vols didn’t sign a single prospect. Adding insult to injury, the number three ranked high school senior in the nation is from Murfreesboro, and she’s going to Connecticut.

I’m sure it’s not for lack of trying that Warlick has repeatedly failed to fill the most conspicuous hole in Tennessee’s roster: namely, another post player to go with Russell. A season ago, the two top-rated high school post players in the South (one from Miami and the other from New Orleans) made a joint recruiting trip to Knoxville but then committed as a tandem to go to Baylor.

But all was not lost because a 6-foot-4inch Nigerian native who had emerged at a Florida junior college was being courted into the summer months. After visiting Knoxville, though, she went on to Lexington where she signed with Kentucky and is a double-digit scorer as well as the team’s leading rebounder.

Also, last June, a 6-foot-3-inch former teammate of DeShields at North Carolina announced that she was transferring. Tennessee was on her short list, but Ohio State won out. The two top-ranked players in this year’s high school senior class both happen to be post players from Texas, and both of them made recruiting trips to Knoxville before committing elsewhere.

As much as I hate to say it, the likeable Warlick just doesn’t have the charisma or intensity of Summitt in her prime. And the Lady Vols brand has plainly lost its luster.

As many times as she’s whiffed of late, I’m afraid Warlick may be on the verge of striking out. ◆

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January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11

Photo by Clay Duda

A rendering provided by the city of Knoxville, at left, illustrates what Magnolia Avenue could look like following an amibitious streetscape project.

Knoxville native Amelia Parker, above, opposed those plans during a public meeting on Thursday, saying she fears local black culture could be eroded through gentrification if they move forward.

‘Whitewash’?

Fears of gentrification are voiced at city’s presentation of its Magnolia streetscape project

BY CLAY DUDA

I

f you thought the city’s plans to churn up and rework inner-city roadways would stop with Cumberland Avenue, or even N. Central Street, think again. Last week city officials brought out their consultants to present a detailed vision for refinishing Magnolia Avenue east of downtown, plans that were met with some concerns and skepticism from people in the 70-person crowd gathered at the John T. O’Connor Senior Center Thursday evening.

The city wants to revamp the roadway and sidewalks with finishings not unlike those currently going in along Cumberland in Fort Sanders: a raised median, more benches and bike racks, and fancy new traffic lights, crosswalks, and turn lanes.

Magnolia may also feature a “gateway” close to downtown, two 14-foottall brick and mortar pillars meant to represent the start of the East Knoxville community.

12

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

“When you have a gateway into the community it’s a point of pride,” city redevelopment director Dawn Michelle Foster told the crowd. The idea behind this streetscaping project is a “build it and they will come” model to attract more private investment to the area. Foster pointed to the millions of dollars being spent on or near Cumberland Avenue, though she also noted (as the Mercury has reported) that much of that was already underway before streetscape improvements began.

“The whole intent of this meeting is to talk about community pride and some of those tangible benefits to the community,” Foster says afterward.

“We try to do things that will create a sense of ownership for new investment in the community.”

Yet, many local residents and some business owners voiced concerns and frustrations that the city’s vision would squeeze out the rich,

mostly black culture that has long thrived in the neighborhoods flanking Magnolia Avenue. With revitalization could come gentrification, a point one person in the audience said was evident in the city’s rendering of the new streetscape, which included nearly all white people walking and biking a stretch of road now central to Knoxville’s black community.

“Any time I hear urban revitalization I hear ‘whitewash,’” said Xavier Jenkins, a 40-year-old resident of East Knoxville. Jenkins points to areas like the Old City and commercial corridors along N. Central Street that used to house minority businesses, but now either sit vacant or have white owners.

“A community like this doesn’t need a facelift, it needs access to low-interest loans.”

Foster noted that some local businesses have taken advantage of the city’s Facade Improvement Program, a grant program to help

offset costs for building improvements in businesses in some city-designated redevelopment districts (including the Magnolia Avenue Warehouse District).

Pointing to other examples of activity in the area, city project manager Bryan Berry noted the $2.5 million White Lily Flats revamp and $1.6 million on the former Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon building (now to open as a Lonesome Dove Bistro) both in the Old City, the $1.6 million Overcoming Believers Church on Harriet Tubman Street, and the $1.4 million Knoxville Area Transit maintenance facility off Magnolia.

“The economic development of East Knoxville is not solely in the hands of the city, but this is one of the ways the city can spur economic development in the area,” explains Doug Minter, a board member of the East Knoxville Business and Professional Alliance and business development manager for the Knoxville Chamber. “But keep in mind that it is what it is. It’s infrastructure, which is valuable to the aesthetics and value of the community, but it’s one of many steps in the right direction for economic development. It’s going to have to work in concert with private development and community buy-in [to prove successful].”

Amelia Parker sees things differently. The 36-year-old Knoxville native says that, for her, the project marks a crisis moment. She currently lives in northeast Knoxville and says

“The economic development of East Knoxville is not solely in the hands of the city, but this is one of the ways the city can spur economic development in the area.”

—DOUG MINTER, East Knoxville Business and Professional Alliance

she has strong cultural and personal ties to the East Knoxville community.

“There’s no plan to actually recognize the (black) culture on this side of town, and it seems like it keeps becoming a smaller and smaller space,” she said during the city’s public meeting. “I’m just outraged tonight. I can’t believe this is the conversation we’re having.”

Foster says it isn’t the city’s intent to railroad existing East Knoxville residents or change the demographics of those communities. Instead, she says the streetscape work should help empower locals and spur investment.

“It goes back to meeting the needs of the community and providing the quality of development that will meet the needs of the community,” Foster says when asked about the potential gentrification of the area.

“The city has factored that in, and that’s part of the reason why the mayor decided to move forward with this streetscape project a few years back. People were saying, ‘well what about East Knoxville? What are you going to do here?’”

Others in the audience questioned if the money that would go toward the streetscape project, an estimated total of $6-$8 million, could be better spent helping the community in other ways, like relocating some of the public housing complexes in the area, providing low-interest business or home loans, or even offering incentives for a grocery store to open in the community. Streetscape work along Magnolia will be completed with public funds from the city, unlike some other roadway projects that include money from state or federal agencies.

The city plans to ultimately redo the streetscape of a six-block area of Magnolia Avenue closest to downtown, from Jessamine Street to N.

Bertrand Street, but will segment the work into two phases. Foster says she’s requesting funding during the upcoming budget year, which starts in July, for phase one of the project, between Jessamine to Myrtle streets.

If the city earmarks the estimated $3-$4 million needed for that section it could go out to bid before year’s end with construction starting in early 2017. Phase two construction would depend on available funds in the city’s FY 2017-18 budget. Each phase would take 12 to 18 months to complete.

Work has been well underway on a similar project with similar goals along Cumberland Avenue in Fort Sanders. Work on the Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2017.

Meanwhile the city is working to acquire some easements and line up utility upgrades ahead of streetscape work on N. Central Street from the Old City through Happy Holler. That project could go to bid this year with construction starting in early 2017 as well, meaning two main thoroughfares northeast of town could undergo heavy construction around the same time.

The whole idea is to use infrastructure as a catalyst to build on the redevelopment momentum seen downtown in recent years, installing streetscape improvements in hopes of spurring continued investment along major arteries outside of Knoxville’s urban core, Foster says.

Folks have two weeks, until Feb. 4, to offer suggestions or comments on the city’s plans for Magnolia Avenue. Last week’s presentation and detailed design plans can be found online at knoxmercury.com or on the city’s website at knoxvilletn.gov/ redevelopment. Comments can be emailed to Dawn Michelle Foster at dmfoster@knoxvilletn.gov. ◆ January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13

A 24-hour diary of living homeless in Knoxville WORDS AND PHOTOS

BY CLAY DUDA

14

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

5:57 P.M.

It’s just after dusk when Drew Krikau appears at a trolley stop on a deserted street east of downtown, his small frame silhouetted by the graying sky, bundled up for the cold night ahead. A faded black jacket overlaps his army-green hoodie, the hood pulled up as temperatures begin a sharp descent with the onset of nightfall. A cheap camouflage tent and a few blankets are tucked in a reusable shopping bag slung over his right shoulder. He’s waited until dark to make his move, so no one can see where he’s heading, as he looks for a place to stake out as his own. A place, he hopes, hidden enough not to draw unwanted attention—from the police or anyone else out wandering the streets—until dawn, when he’ll break camp and move on before the sun rises to the east.

Krikau rubs the salt-and-pepper stubble of his beard as he heads uphill toward an overgrown, tree-covered lot, weighing his options. Trails lead into the darkness, into this urban thicket dimly lit by the distant glow of sodium street lights and downtown’s skyline, overshadowed by a towering public housing complex, and visible in the periphery of the Knoxville Police Department headquarters in the distance. He’s thought it through, he says, and this place is a best bet for him and his fiancée, Stacy, to hole up for the night.

“When there’s so many people on the street every night, finding a safe place to sleep by yourself, they’re few and far between,” he says as he begins unfurling his tent in near-complete darkness among the sticks, stones, and trampled Styrofoam cups on this trash-strewn hillside. The area is covered by night, but the trees have dropped their leaves for winter, which means using a lantern or even a flashlight may prove too bright to avoid detection. He can’t risk it.

For nearly two years now, Krikau, 45, has lived homeless on the streets of Knoxville. He’s had two “permanent” living arrangements during that time, although when you’re living outside you quickly learn nothing is permanent—fortunes often ebb and flow with daily changes, and few things come easy. Both of his more permanent homes were self-made campsites erected in the dense brush of vacant lots close to the city’s core,

Drew Krikau, 45, pitches a tent on a vacant lot east of downtown, where he and his fiancée will spend the night. Krikau has been homeless in Knoxville for nearly two years.

“When there’s so many people on the street every night, finding a safe place to sleep by yourself, they’re few and far between.”

—DREW KRIKAU near services and resources that, at times, he’s come to rely on. But his camp and most everything he owned went up in flames on Christmas day, and since then he’s been bouncing around, unsure of where he’ll sleep one night to the next as he hunts for a new safe place to rebuild.

His life story, the chain of events that left him homeless after getting out of jail in 2014, and his daily struggles are personal and unique, but they’re not unlike the trials faced by hundreds of others Knoxvillians in similar situations.

Krikau still can’t believe he’s been homeless for two years. After a while, he says, the days start to blur together.

For the first year and a half he was overly ambitious and optimistic, he says, searching almost every weekday for some type of job to get him a leg up and back into an apartment. But as

days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years, his resolve wore down. Now, he spends some days idling in a suspended state, mostly unemployable, limited by his electronic ankle monitor and his criminal past, and wondering when— or if—things will take an upswing.

“It’s the glamorous life of being homeless: always looking for a place to lay your head and wondering if you’re going to get picked up [by the police] for something,” he says.

This may be a day like any other.

This is a day in the life of Drew Krikau.

7:15 P.M.

It gets dark early in January. Krikau sits on the forest floor, enveloped in darkness, smoking hand-rolled

cigarettes and texting a few friends and his fiancée on the government-issued cellphone he got through the food-stamp office. “That way I can at least leave a phone number when I go apply for a job,” he says.

It’s been about three weeks since his tent and most of his worldly belongings burned in the fire. (He had his ID and other important documents with him at the time.) December was unseasonably warm, making things that much easier, but rains kicked up and temperatures plummeted in the new year. Luckily, Krikau and his fiancée found temporary reprieve from the cold. Over the previous week, a friend of his fiancée’s has been letting the couple sleep on the floor of his one-bedroom apartment, which he shares with his wife and dog, Chance, in a public housing complex nearby. The friends have been homeless before and offer to help out with a place to stay when they can.

But this run of good fortune is coming to an end. The apartment’s landlord now knows Drew and Stacy have been crashing there, and since they’re not on the lease they have to go.

When he has a more permanent campsite, Krikau says he usually wakes up, gathers the few things he’ll need for the day—cellphone, identification, jackets, and other items—and heads for a food pantry in search of breakfast. Depending on the day, he may head to the career center on Middlebrook Pike to search for jobs and fill out applications, or otherwise try to find a spot to stay “out of sight and out of trouble,” which often means a regular shuffle between different areas downtown. But most all of his moves are tied to electronics. Every 12 hours he must find an outlet to recharge the electronic ankle monitor, issued by his probation officer to track his whereabouts, or risk violating the law. Many go-to places and resources for the homeless are off-limits because of his conviction. He can’t go to the library, nor within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, daycares, or many other locations kids may frequent.

Krikau is a convicted sex offender, an ominous title he says he earned more than five years ago with a few January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15

ill-fated clicks on the computer. Court records, at least in part, bear that out.

In 2008, he was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, class C felonies for possessing child pornography. (He was later convicted.) According to the Loudon County indictment, he “did unlawfully and knowingly possess material which includes computer generated photograph(s), of more than twenty five in number, depicting a minor engaging in sexual activity.”

Two similar charges were dismissed in court.

Originally from South Chicago Heights, a small town just south of Chicago, Krikau moved to Loudon County in the early 1990s and has been in East Tennessee ever since. He claims to have unknowingly ran afoul of the law when using a service called LimeWire in 2008, a peer-to-peer network that allows people to search and download content available on other people’s computers around the world (similar to Napster, but not limited to music files). He was using it to seek out pornography, he admits, but says he had no way of knowing the pictures he downloaded were of people underage or illegal. For the law, it didn’t much matter whether he did so knowingly or unknowingly.

He ended up spending 16 months in jail and was then released on probation for four years. He moved to Knoxville soon after, in 2011, to search for work. He’s no longer allowed to use the Internet without restriction. In 2012, he violated his probation and was arrested after he says his probation officer learned he was playing Big Barn World on his cellphone, a social farming game he didn’t realize was connected to the Internet. Before that he had an apartment and a decent job as a floor salesman at Knox Rail Salvage, he says. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was work and helped keep a roof over his head. After violating his probation things went downhill. He’s been homeless and largely unemployed ever since.

“My felony charges and restrictions make it extremely difficult to get a job,” he says. He often resorts to selling food stamps or hand-rolled cigarettes, usually 12 for $1 to whoever is willing to pay, in efforts to make a few bucks here and there. (On his most profitable day he made $30 from selling cigarettes, though it took nearly 12 hours of work.) He’s worked as a 16

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

Drew Krikau, top left, and fiancée Stacy Holloway smoke hand-rolled cigarettes just before dawn on a cold January morning. The couple woke up early to break down their campsite and left the vacant lot where they spent the night before daybreak to avoid detection.

vendor, and then a distributor overseeing other vendors, selling The Amplifier, a newspaper dealing with homeless issues usually sold on the street by homeless men and women for a $1 donation. But the stress of that job, technically a volunteer position, became more headache than it was worth and he eventually gave it up.

According to his court-ordered sentence, Krikau’s probation was scheduled to end in January 2015, but because of his offense and homeless status he’s been bound to the system by his ankle monitor and continuing probation. It costs him $45 each time he visits his probation officer, which is required at least monthly and sometimes more frequently because he is homeless, Krikau says. Every Tuesday evening he attends sex offender treatment classes, $30 each session,

and he must also pay an annual fee of $150 to be included on the Tennessee Sexual Offender Registry. He finds out this week if he will finally have his ankle monitor removed and his probation terminated, but his convictions will stay.

“Even people guilty of armed robbery and things like that don’t have the same restrictions I do,” he points out. “They can still look for work anywhere, but for me, a lot of people aren’t going to hire a sex offender.

Others who are willing to work with me are often too close to a school or playground or library. There’s always an issue. Some days I wake up and just say, ‘Why bother?’”

Dr. Roger Nooe says it’s tough for homeless folks struggling with any number of circumstances, especially those with the status of sex offender.

Over the past 30 years Nooe has worked with, and in many ways pioneered, research into local homeless issues and trends as part of his work with Knoxville/Knox County Homeless Coalition.

“Once someone is on the sex offender registry, you’re talking about a real difficult situation there,” Nooe says. “One of the things they face is often housing barriers, both in terms of location, policy, and who will rent to them. Of course they’re also barred from a lot of shelters, like KARM (Knox Area Rescue Ministries) and others who won’t take them. Then there’s the job situation. Any type of felony is often a difficulty in finding employment, but when you put sex offender registry on there it makes things even more difficult. And when you’re homeless it’s even more difficult because you’re sort of at the bottom of the barrel trying to figure out how to get up.”

Since 1986 Nooe has helped lead the coalition’s biannual survey of the homeless to collect data on underlying issues, the complex web of factors usually contributing to a person’s homelessness, along with a slew of demographic, geographic, and family information to help better understand and track trends within Knoxville’s homeless community. The next survey is slated for the last week of January, when roughly 40 volunteers will fan out to conduct more than 200 interviews, offering $3 to each person willing to answer all 141 questions.

The most recent report from 2014 does not include statistics for sex offenders living on the street, but 13 percent of people interviewed cited criminal behavior or past convictions as their main causes of homelessness.

Nineteen percent said they’d been denied housing because of past illegal activity. Loss of job (25 percent) and drug or alcohol addiction (38 percent) were cited by people most as root causes of their homelessness. Only 6 percent of those interviewed said mental illness was the primary cause, although 62 percent of people said they had been treated for a mental

illness within the past year.

“You can draw lots of conclusions from the data, and for me there are two things that really stick out. Our last study (in 2014) showed there were a number of people who have been treated for mental illness, and that has increased every year. Sort of paralleling that is an increase in drug addiction. Alcohol has always been a problem, but what we’ve seen in recent years is more prescription drugs on the streets,” Nooe says. “You have so much homelessness, substance abuse, and the criminal justice system that are intertwined. Jails and correctional facilities have become the new asylums of today. The jails are the largest housers of mentally ill, and mentally ill homeless people are more susceptible to that. It really draws your attention to that population.”

Krikau says all he really needs at this point is a job. He doesn’t drink or do drugs anymore, having quit in 2009 after his arrest. He says he used to be an alcoholic, smoked marijuana, and was addicted to pornography—not child porn, he quickly notes. “That was by accident!” In 2012 he graduated from a year-long program to treat his porn addiction at Angelic Ministries in Happy Holler, which helped him get on his feet after he got out of jail. That is, until he was re-arrested on a probation violation for playing Big Barn World and landed back on the streets two years ago.

“By now I expected to have a job and be in an apartment,” he says. “I just want a decent job so I can have a place to get me and my fiancée off the street, and hopefully a big enough place to help some of my friends out who are homeless with a place to stay.”

6:27 A.M.

“We’ve got to get up,” Krikau says to his fiancée, Stacy Holloway. She didn’t make it to camp until late, around 1 a.m., after finishing work at an occasional gig she has cleaning up arenas, the convention center, and other auditoriums around town after big events. Last night the Lady Vols played. She made $20 for two and a Drew Krikau skims trash bins in Market Square in search of anything good, a meal or, perhaps, a few extra smokes.

half hours of work, enough to buy a Dr. Pepper, pay $3 toward gas and a ride to camp, return $10 she owed her mom’s boyfriend, and put $5 in her pocket. “It was a good night,” she says.

A sheet of gray clouds loom overhead in the predawn twilight, a hangover from the night’s rain that took temperatures down into the 30s.

It didn’t dip below freezing, but make no mistake, this water-logged January morning is frigid.

“Oh, it’s cold!” Holloway shrieks from inside the tent. The hard, rooty ground doesn’t bother her anymore, she says, but she didn’t get much sleep on account of the cold. Krikau sets their blankets on top of a bright blue tarp to keep them dry and starts knocking water from the outside of

the tent before breaking it down, fingers numb.

In two and a half hours Krikau needs to be in “Tent City,” his nickname for the expansive encampments under Interstate 40 near the KARM rescue mission in North Knoxville. For more than a year now he’s helped organize weekly meetings of the Homeless Collective, a hodgepodge group of currently and formerly homeless individuals set up by the East Tennessee Peace and Justice Center to deal with issues affecting their community. Its next meeting is today at 9 a.m. But first he needs to charge his ankle monitor or risk violating the law yet again. He heads for a friend’s place in the apartments nearby who’s agreed to let them hang for the hour or so it

“You have so much homelessness, substance abuse, and the criminal justice system that are inter twined.

Jails and correctional facilities have become the new asylum s of today.”

—DR. ROGER NOOE, KNOXVILLE /KNOX COUN TY HOMELESS COALITION

takes to recharge. Stacy nods off to sleep again on the couch.

9:03 A.M.

Krikau makes his way past the posted “no trespassing” signs and across the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks toward some tents scattered in the brush along the edge of the lot.

Waiting for his ankle bracelet to fully charge put him behind schedule. (“You’re not supposed to disconnect it until it’s done charging,” he explains.)

He’s hoofed it across town, noting he could take the trolley part of the way, but figuring it faster to walk the back alleys and cut-throughs he regularly uses to move around the center city.

“I’m old-school in my beliefs. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” he declares during the walk, unprovoked. “Now that the U.S. has approved gay marriage, in my mind, it’s Sodom and Gomorrah. I’m just waiting for the fire and brimstone.”

Eleven people are sitting around a campfire under I-40 when Krikau arrives. Most are perched in camping chairs, worn and torn. One guy sits on a busted office chair with only three wheels, caked in soot and dust. This wing of “Tent City” is an expansive spread that no fewer than a dozen people call home, and possibly many more on any given night, with sleeping pallets and camping domes spread out along Second Creek. As the meeting starts, a pair of feet stick out a neighboring tent, unmoving, just a short stretch from the fire. The canvas of the feet-owner’s tent is torn, one pole half busted and jutting out to the side. A small black cat named Houdini sticks his head out the next tent over, a half-eaten cookie in his jowls. He’s one of the many camp cats that live here, free to scavenge any morsel he can from the scattered pop-tops and trash-strewn scenery.

What’s said in these meetings is confidential, explains the Rev. Pat Ramsden, a volunteer with the Peace and Justice Center who serves as secretary for the Collective. Today she records on shaky cellphone members of the group reading from the Homeless Bill of Rights they have been working on, a set of 12 basic rights and principles they say every person deserves regardless of their housing status. Those include rights to “use, rest, and move freely” in public spaces, sleep in a motor vehicle January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17

(provided it’s legally parked), access medical care, and have 24 hours to recover any personal items stored on private property, among other things, “This is not something that has come down from up high,” Ramsden says. “It’s something this collective did, and the plan is to present it to City Hall, but I don’t know when yet.”

The city of Knoxville hasn’t sat idle on issues of homelessness, though some people who are homeless and some homeless advocates question some of its tactics and contend more could be done to get people into housing. The area’s first long-term plan to address those challenges took shape in 2008 with the approval of the Knoxville and Knox County Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, a thick guidebook put together over several years by advocates, officials, and service providers that sought to change the approach to serving homeless in the area.

“We created that plan to focus on chronic homelessness and begin to implement a sort of housing-first approach,” says Michael Dunthorn, head of the city’s Office on Homelessness and a former chair on the task force that developed the Ten-Year Plan. “Housing-first is the idea that, particularly for chronically homeless folks, the graduated system—from street to shelter to program to, eventually, something more stable, like permanent or transitional housing—doesn’t really work for that population.” Instead, a more successful model has been getting people into housing first, then providing access to supportive services, he says.

With that shift in focus came a push to develop more supportive housing, places to live like apartments or townhomes that usually include a caseworker or access to needed services to help an individual get off the street first and receive the support they need, whether it be for substance abuse, mental health issues, or whatever underlying issues may be contributing to their homelessness. It’s an approach Dunthorn says is proving successful, though not always popular.

Public and political pushback after the construction of two such developments, Manvilla Manor north of downtown and Flenniken Landing in South Knoxville, eventually led to the Ten-Year Plan being shelved in 2012.

“The Ten-Year Plan had some 18

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

Knoxville Police Sgt. Sammy Schaffer, top left, tells a group of men and women camping under the Interstate 40 overpass that their tents and any other debris will be cleared from the area in the coming weeks. A convoy of city officials and law enforcement arrived in the area just as a weekly meeting of the Homeless Collective, at bottom, was wrapping up.

great accomplishments, like Manvilla, but then it got really controversial,” says Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero. “That taught us the benefit of working together, and when I became mayor I wanted to pull everyone back together on a positive note so we could develop a comprehensive plan for Knoxville that didn’t address just chronic homelessness.”

Since then, the city has developed a new set of guidelines, expanding its focus beyond just issues facing chronically homeless individuals but still maintaining its housing-first approach, Dunthorn says. Rogero formed the Office on Homelessness, which Dunthorn now oversees, and convened the Mayor’s Roundtable on Homelessness, a quarterly meeting of advocates and service providers

aimed at discussing issues, keeping everyone on the same page, and working toward common goals. It met most recently in January, where representatives with Cherokee Health Systems outlined plans to add a dozen respite-care beds to accommodate people just released from the hospital in need of continued care or recovery.

It expects construction to be complete by year’s end.

Through collective efforts, the city and a long list of nonprofit and faith-based service providers have been working to better track the delivery of services through the Knoxville Homeless Management Information System, a statistical database separate from the biannual homeless survey that is maintained by the University of Tennessee, and

establish clear paths for folks looking to get off the streets. But supportive housing programs like Manvilla and Flenniken are still in short supply and high demand, and for someone like Krikau those programs may not be an option due to his criminal past.

Dunthorn says there’s currently no plans to build out similar developments.

However, now that the state of Tennessee, under direction from Gov. Bill Haslam (who, while mayor of Knoxville, formed a task force that ultimately developed the Ten-Year Plan) has renewed a long-stalled push for a statewide plan dealing with homeless issues, there may be more funding and other options in the near future. But that remains to be seen.

From Krikau’s vantage point, he says he’s seen more of a crackdown on the homeless than improved efforts to help out.

“The mayor talks about the revitalization of downtown and Old City, but what she doesn’t talk about is the ‘clean up’ going on behind the scenes—‘clean up’ meaning removing the homeless people,” he says. “Over the past six months I’ve seen more citations and notices to the homeless than I have in the past two years. The criminalization of the homeless has increased.”

10:11 A.M.

Just as the Homeless Collective gets ready to part ways, a convoy of city workers and law enforcement pull up to camp. Everyone jumps to their feet and begins to shuffle, chattering about the arrival, wondering if someone called the law or if this encounter will means their days are numbered, that soon their temporary homes under the freeway will be razed and they’ll be forced to pick up what they can carry and seek shelter elsewhere.

This land belongs to three separate agencies, Knoxville Police Sgt. Sammy Shaffer explains: the city of Knoxville owns portions, so does

Norfolk Southern, and the state of Tennessee is in charge of any ground under an interstate highway. These folks don’t have permission to camp here and soon they’ll have to go.

“We [the police] don’t take the initiative on this sort of thing unless there’s a lot of crime, then we’ll say ‘enough is enough.’ We come in response to complaints,” Shaffer tells a group gathered to ask what’s going on. “Bottom line is, in the next couple of weeks we’re going to have to clear this one out.”

Norfolk Southern Special Agent Blake Barham says there have been issues with drugs and an increasing number of calls about this camp, one the railroad had left alone up until this point, along with another nearby they soon plan to raze. Knoxville Public Service workers Alex Neubert and Chad Weth snap pictures of the tents with a small point-and-shoot camera.

“They’ve been doing this to us for years and it needs to stop,” says Martha Allred, a resident for several weeks.

“We ain’t got nowhere else to go.”

Shaffer tells the group he can’t give anyone permission to camp on someone else’s property. All he knows is they can’t stay here. The police cleared out 58 illegal camps last year, he says. A lot of those complaints come in during the colder months, once trees and brush drop their leaves for winter and more passersby can see into the often forgotten corners of vacant plots and industrial backlots.

In two weeks he’ll be back with written notice of the impending clean up. That will give these folks 72 hours to collect what they can and vacate.

“Other than a little trash around, we’re not hurting anyone, but they still say we have to go,” Krikau says as the police pull away and he heads toward downtown. “This is just one example of the things we have to deal with on a daily basis.”

11:47 A.M.

Market Square hasn’t quite awakened from its morning slumber. It still feels early on this brisk, overcast day.

Krikau sees two people belonging to Drew Krikau and Stacy Holloway pose for a portrait.

The couple has been together, homeless in Knoxville, for more than a year.

the collective who missed the morning meeting sitting on stage, listening to Smash Mouth on a small flip phone.

“I got into some brownies last night,” and overslept, the young man says with a big grin, unapologetic.

Krikau circles the Square peeking in trash cans, keeping a watchful eye for police who he fears may charge him with a crime for rummaging through the waste bins. He picks up a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes, shakes it to see if there’s anything inside, and tosses it back in the bin. No luck.

He walks east, back towards his friend’s tiny apartment to meet up with his fiancée. He’s learned he’ll have a place to sleep for at least two more nights, through the weekend, while the apartment office is closed and no one is the wiser. It’s welcomed news.

Forecasters say the coming days will be cold, dipping below freezing at night and barely reaching 35 degrees on Monday, when they’ll be back out again

looking for a place to go.

The overgrown lot where Krikau spent the night does not look so overgrown in the daylight, his campsite of late clearly visible from the now-bustling roadway. As he passes, about a dozen people on the Knox County Sheriff’s Office inmate work crew make their way onto the property, chainsaws in hand, to start cutting down trees and clearing undergrowth. Once this place is gone he’s not sure where he’ll go, but he’ll figure it out, he supposes. It’s just part of living on the streets.

1:47 P.M.

Back at the apartment, his friends sticks a DVD of Jackie Chan’s Project A into a dusty old Playstation 2 and presses play. In this 1983 kung-fu thriller, Chan is a lieutenant in the 19th-century Hong Kong marines. He’s fighting pirates. It runs for 106 minutes.

“Other than a little trash around, we’re not hurting anyone,

but they still say we have to go.”

—DREW KRIKAU

2:11 P.M.

Krikau opens a red bag of Doritos and starts eating. Chan is confronting a corrupt naval official. Another hour passes sitting on the couch. Stacy lays her head on Drew’s shoulder and nods off. Drew leans over on Stacy and falls asleep to the movie sounds of chops, kicks, and cracks.

4:25 P.M.

“Bored to tears yet?” Krikau asks jokingly. The movie is over. Stacy is still asleep. For the past 10 minutes he’s been standing in the kitchen packing cigarettes into his rolling machine, a cheap plastic contraption that helps roll even smokes every time. He places the cigarettes, all facing in one direction, inside a small Tupperware container he carries in his pocket.

4:58 P.M.

CHiPs is coming on.

5:10 P.M.

Krikau grabs the charger for his ankle monitor and plugs it in. He needs to juice up if they’re going to make it back downtown by 7 p.m. for a dinner meal from a group called Room at the Table.

His friend starts talking about his grandmother’s cooking. You know, the good old Southern staples most locals grew up with. But for Krikau, from Illinois, it’s not second nature. The friend, who asked to remain anonymous, starts in on how his grandma taught him to cook cornbread (but never gave up her secret bread pudding recipe), how to clean a catfish, and the perks of meat sauce and sweet tea. He promises a feast for tomorrow night, one he’s already started on now—soaking black eyed peas and thawing fatback. A taste of that down-home cooking.

At least for the next two days, Drew and Stacy have a roof and some good eats. Then they’ll have to find a new place to camp or figure other arrangements to get them out of the cold. Currently they have no leads.

He’ll keep trying for a job to get off the streets, unwilling to give up, he says, even if he feels odds are slim and the deck is stacked against him. What else can you do? ◆ January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19

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P rogram Notes

Freeway Blues Tour robbery could cost the Black Lillies $70,000

F

or most of the past several years, the road has been friendly to the Black Lillies. The titles for the band’s second and third albums, 100 Miles of Wreckage and Runaway Freeway Blues, hinted at their road-dog reputation. But now the Lillies are facing one of the worst things that can happen to a band on tour: the theft, earlier this week, of their van and a trailer full of gear.

Early Monday morning, after the band’s show in Conroe, Texas, near Houston, their tour van and trailer— containing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of instruments and other equipment—was stolen from a motel parking lot. It was the final night of the band’s most recent run of tour dates; Cruz Contreras and company discovered the theft when they went out to the parking lot at 6 a.m. to start

the drive back to Knoxville.

The damage is significant—about $70,000 in total, according to Lillies’ manager Chyna Brackeen. That’s counting the van and trailer and the equipment, plus CDs, vinyl, and other merchandise as well as personal items and clothing. The band had insurance on the van and gear, but Brackeen says it won’t cover the full loss of the equipment, which included several vintage guitars that are basically irreplaceable.

To make up the difference, Brackeen launched an online fundraising campaign at rally.org. At press time, after just a little over 24 hours, the campaign had raised more than $35,000 of its $40,000 goal.

“One major issue is that a vintage instrument doesn’t have the same value to an insurance adjuster as it does to a

musician,” Brackeen wrote on rally.org.

“The insurance adjuster wants to replace things at the lowest cost. … But when you have a 1952 guitar that’s one of a kind, that has a soul and a sound that you can’t just go out and buy, that sounds the way it does because of how it has been played over the years and how it has worn through and cracked and been put back together again … well, you can’t just find the cheapest price and replace it.”

Security cameras in the motel parking lot captured footage of a black SUV pulling up next to the Lillies’ van at 2:30 a.m. A person got out of the SUV, broke in, and drove off in less than two minutes. The van was recovered on Tuesday, about a mile from the motel, minus the trailer and gear. Brackeen has posted a full list of the stolen equipment, with dozens of accompanying photos, on Facebook.

She asks that anyone with information about the theft or the current location of any of the equipment call the police and email band@theblacklillies.com.

—Matthew Everett

Hallelujah!

DOWNTOWN CHURCH BUILDING ADDED TO BIG EARS

L

ast fall, when the first news about this year’s Big Ears festival was announced, there was some speculation that the still-to-be-identified fifth venue on the schedule would be First Christian Church, on Fifth Avenue near Gay Street. The four spaces used last year are still on the schedule—the Bijou and Tennessee theaters, the Standard, and the Square Room—with one more listed as “new venue TBA.” As it turns out, the church sanctuary will indeed be part of the festival, as a space for one of a pair of large-scale sound installations. But it’s not the new performing space, which remains a mystery for at least a little while longer.

The church, which developers David Dewhirst and Mark Heinz bought in 2015, will host Veils and Vesper, an immersive six-hour soundscape created by Big Ears composer in residence John Luther Adams.

“We were looking for the right space for this John Luther Adams installation—it’s a very spiritual,

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Inside the Vault: The Redcoats

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

22

contemplative piece, where a church sanctuary is the optimal setting,” says Ashley Capps, president of festival organizer AC Entertainment. “It’s something a person can spend as much time with as they choose. The experience of the piece shifts as you move through the space.”

Live performances to complement the installation will likely be scheduled, too. “For the most part, they’ll be quiet and contemplative.”

Dewhirst has discussed the possibility of developing the church building as a music venue— he’s referred specifically to the Ryman Auditorium, in Nashville, as a precedent—but cautions that the Big Ears installation isn’t necessarily part of that process.

“It’s awaiting development,” he says. “We’re working on a long-term use for the church that fits in with the community and town. As you can imagine, in the land where you’ve got historic theaters that are out there, they’re tough to get programmed and get them done and make them bankable and make them Music: Del McCoury Band

23

work. But we’re committed to seeing a really great use for that place.”

As for its current condition?

“Hey, it’ll be a 100-year-old, pretty neat sanctuary space that’s pretty special,” he says. “It hasn’t been gummed up or made to look like 1970.

You walk in it and you think, wow, this place is 100 years old. And it’s got that charm. What we’re

Classical: KSO 2016 Masterworks Series

24

Art: Nick DeFord

trying to do is to do the lightest touches to it that bring its infrastructure up and useful for the next 100 years while keeping all the authenticity and the original charm.”

Capps says the other new venue will be announced soon. Big Ears is scheduled for March 31-April 2. For information, visit bigearsfestival.com.

—M.E.

25

Movie: Anomalisa

Inside the Vault

The Redcoats Are Coming (Back) One of Knoxville’s most popular ’60s cover bands is rediscovered on film

BY ERIC DAWSON

A

few weeks ago, an interesting piece of film footage turned up at the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound. Opening on a close-up of a bass drum emblazoned with the words “The Redcoats,” the camera pulls back to reveal a group of nervous teenagers in matching sport coats performing James Brown’s “Hold It.” The footage is black and white, so we have to assume the coats are red, and the wood paneling behind them suggests they’re in somebody’s basement. After a cut, the camera angle changes to focus on the group’s organist, a smiling young blonde woman rocking a Farfisa. There are a few shots of a guitar solo, then a close-up of feet in shiny leather shoes that start to move vigorously as the opening notes of the Rolling Stones’

“Satisfaction” are played. A young man in a Beatles bowl haircut dances up to the mic and belts out the song, barely able to control his teenage voice. You believe he can’t get satisfaction, and would really like some.

The year is 1965, when the Redcoats were one of Knoxville’s most in-demand cover bands, popular at fraternity parties and sock hops.

They’re still causing a stir years later.

We put the clip on Vimeo and shared it via Facebook, and it has been one of our most popular pieces of footage we’ve ever posted.

The group’s origins lie in West Haven Elementary School in 1963, when John Anderson (drums), Mike Clark (rhythm guitar), and Max Hazlewood (rhythm guitar and vocals) climbed on a stage in the school’s

gymnasium and knocked out a few Beatles tunes. They loved the experience, so they began to learn more rock and pop songs.

Practicing in Anderson’s living room, they soon had a large enough repertoire to play sock hops at the West Haven rec center. By the summer of 1964, they had added Chris Fox on saxophone, Max’s sister-in-law, Nancy Hazlewood, on keyboards, and Stacy Kinlaw on bass.

John’s brother Harry, a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, after agreeing to manage them, convinced them to don red sport coats and change their name. Soon they began gigging at fraternity parties and on the Strip, at places like the Twinlight Lounge and the Pump Room. There were several garage bands playing covers around town at this time, but what seems to make the Redcoats unique is the fact they started out so young, kept playing in some form or fashion for several years, and went through several stylistic changes.

Hazlewood remembers one night in particular when things began to change for them.

“One afternoon—Jan. 30, 1965— we were called and asked if we could play that night for UT’s Nahheeyayli homecoming dance because their scheduled act was snowed in at Charlotte,” Hazlewood recalls. “They asked us to play from 8 until midnight, or until the group could get there.

That group was James Brown and the Famous Flames. We played for an hour and 15 minutes and his group arrived. We got to meet him and some of the band while they set up. Up to

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that point, we had been a rock and standards-type band, playing songs like ‘Moonlight in Vermont,’ ‘You Can’t Sit Down,’ ‘Louie Louie,’ ‘She’s About a Mover,’ Beatles tunes, and others. But after staying and watching James Brown, our interest immediately changed to soul music. After that point in time, we did James Brown, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett.

We added horns and changed our name to the Martiniques. We continued to play around Knoxville and the surrounding area until late 1969 and the group went separate ways.”

Later that year, Jim Early of WBIR gathered the band in his basement to shoot footage for a piece he was producing on garage bands. The news story never materialized, and the raw footage was given to Anderson, who recently donated it to TAMIS. Nancy Arp (formerly Hazlewood) lives in Walland now and was quick with Redcoats memories when I called her up. She was 22 at the time of the film, a few years older than the boys who were then attending West High School. Arp found she had a natural ability for music at an early age, surprising her family by playing “Love Lifted Me” on the piano at age 2. Before the Redcoats, she appeared on Cas Walker’s television show as a member of the Happy Three vocal group. She remembers the band gigging frequently and playing a lot of fraternities.

The band members all live outside Knoxville now, but aside from Anderson, who is based in Nashville, all live fairly close. Anderson says there’s been talk of getting the band back together. ◆

What seems to make the Redcoats unique is the fact they started out so young, kept playing in some form or fashion for several years, and went through several stylistic changes.

January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 21

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Music

New Traditionalist The Del McCoury Band carries classic bluegrass into the 21st century

BY MATTHEW EVERETT

N

ot long ago, Del McCoury’s manager offered the iconic bluegrass singer a suggestion.

McCoury will turn 77 next month; he’s been playing music professionally almost his entire adult life, either full-time or balancing blue-collar jobs as a truck driver and logger with weekend gigs.

“He said, ‘How about 25 shows this year, Del?,’” says Robbie McCoury, who’s played banjo in the Del McCoury Band since the early 1980s.

“And Dad said, ‘How about 50?’

Which turns into about 60, or maybe more.”

The McCoury Band may not play as many dates as some other hard-touring bands, or release as many albums—it’s been more than two years since The Streets of Baltimore was released, in 2013—but the group has pretty much set the standard for high-quality traditional bluegrass for more than 25 years. And don’t mistake a two-year gap between albums for semi-retirement. The band has just started recording the official follow-up to Streets of Baltimore, and another unexpected project is finished and ready to be released sometime this year.

“It’s all Woody Guthrie songs,” Robbie McCoury says. The McCoury Band performed at two celebrations for Guthrie’s centennial celebration in 2012, in Tulsa, Okla., and Washington, D.C. “We did those, and Woody’s daughter, Nora, said she had lyrics that her dad wrote but there’s no music to them. She asked Dad if he’d be interested in putting melodies to them.”

That partnership with Guthrie

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

highlights two subtle skills that have been keys to the Del McCoury Band’s success. First is collaboration— they’ve recorded interesting albums and toured with Steve Earle and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, among others. The second is song selection.

Over the years, they’ve recorded songs by Tom Petty, Robert Cray, Richard Thompson, Mark Knopfler, and Steve Earle—songs that stretch the boundaries of the bluegrass repertoire without breaking them.

(Another recent album, from 2011, featured Del’s favorite Bill Monroe songs—not unexpected, perhaps, but almost all first rate.) Picking the right songs requires open ears, good instincts, and a lot of work.

“Sometimes you don’t really know,” Robbie says. “Sometimes you’ll hear a song and think aw, you could do that bluegrass, no problem.

But there’s others, it’s like, that’s a really good song, but you’ve got to work at it to figure out what you can do with it to kind of ’grass it up, if you will.

“Once, we were at Jerry Douglas’ house rehearsing—at that time, Jerry was producing us. We were working on a Tom Petty song called ‘Love’s a Long Road,’ trying to get it going, listening to it and trying to figure things out. Jerry said he didn’t think it was going to work. Then he got a phone call and left the room. When he came back, we had it going by then, and he said, ‘That song is going to work!’ It turned out to be, for us, a pretty big song. People love that song.”

It’s tempting to think of Del McCoury as one of the last of the first generation of bluegrass players, but he’s a decade or so younger than the men who first mixed up old-time mountain music, country, gospel, and string jazz in the 1940s. But McCoury is about as old-school as anyone whose last name isn’t Stanley or Monroe. He learned to play banjo by

listening to Earl Scruggs in Bill Monroe’s band in the 1940s, and did a stint with Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys himself in the mid-1960s. And for the last 40 years, first with the Dixie Pals and now with the Del McCoury Band, he’s stayed true to the format established by Monroe and faithfully carried traditional bluegrass into the 21st century.

“If we do one of those old traditional tunes, we’re all such students of it—everybody in the whole band is—that we try to do it the same way as the original,” Robbie McCoury says. “If it’s a fiddle kickoff or a banjo kickoff or a mandolin kickoff, you emulate it as closely as you can. You try to get the same tempo and play the same arrangement. All of that is what made that music so great, so if you’re going to attempt to do those songs, you need to do them that way, if you can.

“There’s nothing wrong with changing it up. With the jam bands, they’ll take some of those songs and do things with them—that’s been happening for years. Newgrass Revival did that. But very few bands can take those old songs like that and change them up where they’re still great.” ◆

WHO

WDVX World Class Bluegrass: The Del McCoury Band with Sierra Hull and Emily Ann Roberts

WHERE

Clayton Center for the Arts (502 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy., Maryville)

WHEN

Saturday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m.

HOW MUCH $30-$40

INFO

claytonartscenter.com

Classical

Winter Wonderland KSO survives a threatening forecast to kick off its 2016 Masterworks calendar

BY ALAN SHERROD

W

hat is even more powerful than a snowstorm? Apparently, in Knoxville, it is the fear of a snowstorm. Many of the usual Knoxville Symphony Orchestra audience members who would have normally jammed the Tennessee Theatre for an important concert surrendered to excessive caution and stayed home last week. As it happened, however, those dedicated music lovers who did turn out were treated to the most articulate and impassioned Masterworks Series performance by the orchestra so far this season.

Taking the baton for this concert was the 29-year-old Aram Demirjian, the third of six guest conductors vying for the vacant position of KSO’s music director and principal conductor.

Demirjian, who is currently the associate conductor of the Kansas City Symphony, scored high marks for choosing a compelling and diverse program—a reverse chronological journey through works by John Adams, György Ligeti, Max Bruch, and Ludwig van Beethoven. And for those tasked with judging the candidates on their skill in communicating with the audience, Demirjian offered a reassuring, intelligent, and engaging preface to the evening’s music.

Having checked off a box or two on the metaphorical audience scorecard, Demirjian launched into John Adams’ Lollapalooza, a short opener piece from 1995—and one not without its risks. Happily and rhythmically, the work belches and snorts brass and percussion statements in repetitive patterns, all the while dancing a bit caustically with pungent strings. The work is a beat- and measure-counting exercise for musicians, but one that the orchestra pulled off without serious incident.

Following the Adams piece,

Demirjian took up Ligeti’s Concert Românesc, a four-movement concerto for orchestra from his early period in 1950s Communist Hungary. The work, bristling with Romanian folk-song idioms, is surprisingly lyrical compared to the composer’s later works.

Only in the final movement does Ligeti reveal the tangles and thorns of modernist tonality that he would later be known for. Before that, however, its distinctive orchestration provided a lot of exposed moments for instrumentalists. Principal horn Jeffery Whaley led the way, followed by a beautifully haunting moment from English horn player Ayca Yayman. Contrasts came from principal oboe Claire Chenette and concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz.

Violinist Philippe Quint has been dividing his time recently between his tango nuevo ensemble, the Quint Quintet, and his numerous solo appearances in the warhorses of Romantic-period violin concertos. As such, he was an ideal choice for guest violinist in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a frequent vehicle for him and one that he recorded a couple of years ago along with the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Romances.

In the Bruch, we saw Demirjian’s skill as a conductor emerge as he carefully sculpted an exquisite

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balance between the orchestra and Quint’s gorgeous vocal-like phrasing and tone. Both violinist and conductor understood perfectly the alternating bold violin and orchestral statements that inhabit the opening movement.

However, the second Adagio movement carries the Romantic heart of the concerto where Quint’s judicious balance of lushness and melody was poignant and striking.

The second half of the concert was devoted to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, a work that is less about beautifully crafted melodies and more about movement and rhythm. In fact, compared to Beethoven’s other symphonies, the themes are relatively simple and mostly exist to give tangible form to the symphony’s pulse and drive.

Tempo and the motion of volume dynamics are everything for the second movement, an Allegretto, one that Demirjian built carefully and strategically around the opening and closing A minor chords that lead rather than resolve. For the final movement, Demirjian injected a sense of controlled wildness into the orchestra, one that underlined the sense of spinning and swirling in what can only be termed a musical illusion. That illusion made the sudden final statement all the more startling.

In what is turning out to be a season of surprises, Demirjian made a compelling case for his candidacy.

But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Weather emergencies, whether real or imagined, can draw us inside ourselves, to a place where anxiety and calm coexist. And in this case, it was a place where real music was made by the KSO. ◆

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January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23

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Ar t

A Stitch in Time Knoxville fiber artist Nick DeFord steps up production

BY CHRIS BARRETT

K

noxville fiber artist Nick DeFord is creating art that is terrifically representative of this chunk of the 21st century. He acknowledges the past by making backgrounds of deep history—like artifacts detailing the zodiac or the history of the occult or the lore of the Bermuda Triangle. Then he interrupts himself with something too clever or lovely to ignore, often the intricate intrusion of colored yarn or thread deftly knotted, in a way that contradicts or obliterates what you may have perceived as the whole point from a few steps further back. You can decide for yourself: DeFord will have new work in Knoxville as part of two overlapping shared exhibitions beginning next week.

“The type of work I make is not the kind of thing I can speed up,” says DeFord. “It goes at the pace it goes.

It’s stitching. I can only do so many stitches.

“The label of ‘fiber arts’ is important, the same way having a genre is important. It puts you in a canon. It gives you context. So if I’m poking holes in gameboards and sticking sequins to them, there’s not really a genre for that. So when I say it’s fiber arts, because it’s stitching, it’s because I want you to look at this the way you would embroidery. Even though it’s not traditional embroidery, you should look at it that way.”

“Babble (Reflection)” is the largest DeFord piece (44 inches high by 28 inches wide) on display through Feb. 4 at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Kingston Pike.

Most of the works combine familiar methods of written communication in ways that somehow frustrate or compromise all of them. “Babble” consists of die-cut cardboard letters

24

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

randomly arranged and stapled together and spray-painted chrome silver. It’s a striking image—some glitz in an otherwise dim and whispery church antechamber—and a fitting challenge to attempt a definition of fiber art.

“The only thing that unifies fiber arts, if you include basketry and weaving and knitting and embroidery, is that it’s modular,” DeFord says. “It’s one thing made up of tiny parts. And it’s repetitive. Whatever the motion is that you do is repetitive. So if it’s throwing a shovel back and forth, if it’s purling and knitting—stapling a bunch of letters together is genreless. It doesn’t really have a genre beyond art.

So I would categorize that as fiber art, because I have to categorize things.”

DeFord has multiple art and education degrees from the University of Tennessee and Arizona State University. He’s a writer and published poet. For three years he lectured on drawing in the art department at UT, and he is currently program director at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, where he has led

workshops within sundry creative disciplines. A fiber artist lecturing college students on drawing is only curious until you learn how DeFord taught himself to draw.

“My parents owned a fabric store while I was growing up,” he says. “So I grew up around all these rolls of fabric. After they stopped doing the store, we had boxes and boxes of fabric in the basement. I thought it was just normal and just background.

“I started using fabric to make my drawings, and I taught myself embroidery. I started doing something very clever, which was stitching pieces of fabric together and calling it collage.

Then you realize there’s a whole history of that. Then you feel really ignorant. Then you go to school for it.”

This conversation took place during a visit to the artist’s Knoxville home studio in the final week of 2015.

Rather than kicking back after opening the TVUUC show in mid-December, DeFord was busy preparing for Fictitious Additions, a joint show with Jason Bige Burnett that opens next week at Central Collective. He also has impending exhibitions at Coastal Carolina University and the Houston Center for Craft. DeFord says he doesn’t mind sending less-than-fresh work to the out-of-town shows. But back-to-back hometown exhibitions, where folks know and study and buy his art, means a lot of new work.

“It’s a good stress,” he says. “I’d rather be in high demand than no demand.”

DeFord makes a living using himself as an effective and encouraging example to aspiring artists. He lectures. He demonstrates. He mentors. He exhibits. His work is painstakingly detailed and highly crafted and is often bright and underhandedly optimistic. DeFord is talented and learned and accomplished in all manner of studio art-making. And his disarming good humor allows his advice or observations to resonate with aspirants half his age or twice his age.

He says that he thinks his work often reveals his own anxiety. But it has an undeniable levity to it, like the hopeful scavenger in Kafka’s “The Bucket Rider.”

“Because I have this full-time administrative job, I feel like I don’t have time to make mistakes,” DeFord says. “A lot of art is happy mistakes.

You explore, you experiment, you play.

And through play you find things that work and things that don’t work. You learn from mistakes.

“I would tell people who want to create things that you need to find the best medium. The media matters. The technique is part of the communication, as well as an image or the final object. So if I do a bunch of blanket stitches the fact that I have done that is part of it.” ◆

WHAT

Nick DeFord and Jason Bige Burnett: Fictitious Additions

WHERE

Central Collective (923 N. Central St.)

WHEN

Friday, Feb. 5, from 6-10 p.m.

HOW MUCH Free

INFO

thecentralcollective.com

Movies

The Canny Valley Charlie Kaufman’s technically dazzling Anomalisa is weighed down by misanthropy and self-pity

BY APRIL SNELLINGS

S

ince Anomalisa, a technically wondrous but thematically frustrating meditation on loneliness and isolation, is written and co-directed by Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich), there are a lot of assumptions you can make before the fi rst image fl ickers on screen: A male character will commit merciless acts of introspection as he wrestles with some sort of identity crisis, and a woman will offer him a shining thread that might lead him out of the labyrinth of his own head.

Like many of Kaufman’s characters, the ones in Anomalisa are metaphorical puppets, going through motions that seem dictated by some force other than their own needs and desires. This time, though, they really are puppets—stop-motion ones crafted with 3D printers and animated

by Starburns Industries, the studio behind Adult Swim’s Moral Orel and

Rick and Morty.

Though there are at least a dozen speaking roles, Anomalisa’s cast comprises only three actors. There’s David Thewlis as the voice of Michael Stone, the fi lm’s lonely, self-absorbed protagonist; Jennifer Jason Leigh as the young woman who might help him reconnect with the world around him; and Tom Noonan as everybody else.

Noonan is such a busy guy because everyone in Michael’s world— his wife, his ex-girlfriend, his young son, the people he encounters on a business trip—sounds alike to Michael, and he finds himself unable to emotionally connect with any of them.

That’s ironic, because he’s a renowned motivational speaker whose shtick is customer service; he travels the country encouraging customer-service reps to listen carefully to their clients and treat them as individuals.

When he’s not on stage, though, Michael spends his time moping

through a vaguely sinister middle-American hell of airports, hotels, and convention centers, wallowing in self-pity and his self-imposed alienation. He’s really not a fun guy.

Anomalisa plays out over a 24-hour period that fi nds Michael traveling from his Los Angeles home to a Cincinnati business convention where he meets Lisa (voice of Leigh), a young woman whose voice somehow, miraculously, penetrates his fog of self-absorbed despair. He meets her at the Fregoli Hotel, a place that borrows its name from the Fregoli delusion, a rare psychological condition marked by the belief that all other people are simply one person wearing constantly changing disguises. The question is whether Lisa will lead Michael toward an emotional breakthrough, or if he’ll drag her into his own Kafk aesque horror show.

Visually, Anomalisa, which is co-directed by stop-motion vet Duke

A&E

Johnson, is stunning. There’s never been anything quite like it, but it’s safe to say that other animators will soon be borrowing from its box of tricks.

Rather than ramping up the uncanny valley effect by smoothing over the artifice of their work and turning their characters into creepily precise approximations of humans, Anomalisa’s fabricators take the opposite approach. The puppets are imperfect and asymmetrical, with hinged faces that constantly hint at their mechanical armatures. The movie’s most ingenious conceit is to sell an illusion by showing us all the parts that other artists work to keep hidden.

Sometimes it’s remarkably effective, particularly during the now-famous sex scene that marks the fi lm’s halfway point. By the time we get there, we’ve nearly forgotten we’re watching puppets. The scene is striking, not for its technical wizardry, but for its ability to capture the awkwardness and humanity of such encounters.

If only the fi lm didn’t spend so much time asking us to empathize with a man who has no empathy for the people around him. Ultimately, the real creep factor of Anomalisa isn’t the puppetry, or the fact that so much of it is set in an increasingly eerie, corporate America version of The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. (For my money, the Fregoli is the movie’s most compelling character.) Rather, there’s something intensely discomforting about spending so much time watching the existential struggles of a man who comes across as spoiled and selfish at best and borderline sociopathic at worst.

Outstanding puppetry aside, Michael is a Kaufman character minus the pathos, distilled to pure, concentrated jerkwaddery. Viewers may fi nd that 90 minutes is far too long to spend in his company. There are flashes of warmth and insight, mostly thanks to Leigh’s too-short stint as the title character. They’re few and far between, though, and mostly we’re left with a frustratingly myopic story that never acknowledges the main character’s complicity in his own misery. ◆ January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25

CALENDAR MUSIC

Thursday, Jan. 28 SCOTT H. BIRAM • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Something heavy is happening to Scott H. Biram. There he is, eyes rolling back in his head, arms outstretched, consumed with bliss, exhaustion, or guilt, being consigned to the old crimson river. In this moment, being baptized in blood might be Biram’s dark epiphany, the 12 songs of Nothin’ But Blood a conduit for an emotional fight or flight, relaying a deep personal grapple between the pure and the impure, good and bad, the beautiful dream and an ugly reality. What in the past has been expressed through reeling irreverence and spirit-lifting profanity (which he’s still got in spades; don’t worry) is here a more penetrating, and chilling, version of The Dirty Old One Man Band-- self-examining and penitent, yet still as crazy as a jack-eyed preacher. On his ninth album (and fifth for Bloodshot Records) ‘blood’ is many, often inherently contradictory, themes: life, death, suffering, evil, commitment, legacy, atonement. Even in its title, ‘Nothin’ But’ could mean ‘all encompassing’ or ‘it’s no big deal.’ Literally, all or nothing. • $10 DALE ANN BRADLEY • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM DEADBEAT SCOUNDRELS WITH THE VALLEY OPERA, SOUTHERN CITIES, THE AUTOMATIC-STOPS, AND DOC ISAAC • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8 p.m. • A tribute to David Bowie. All ages. • $8 THE DIRTY DOUGS • Bourbon Street Whiskey Bar • 6PM WDVX 6 O’CLOCK SWERVE: KNOX COUNTY JUG STOMPERS • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • The Knox County Jug Stompers come from all kinds of backgrounds—bluegrass, rock, acoustic blues, country music—but have settled on a more or less authentic reproduction of the jug music made popular throughout the South nearly a century ago

by Gus Cannon and the Jug Stompers and other bands with similar names, like Clifford Hayes’ Old Southern Jug Band, the Dixieland Jug Blowers, and the Seven Gallon Jug Band.

A LIVE ONE • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • A tribute to Phish.

CARY MORIN WITH THROWING PLATES • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE WARREN PINEDA & JON MASON • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM REBELUTION • The International • 9PM • “Too blessed to be stressed,” is one of many key song lyrics from Rebelution’s new album Count Me In. The California band’s fourth full-length release on its own label 87 Music, and partnering for the first time with Easy Star Records, marks its tenth year together. And while surely every band has its share of stress, Rebelution feels they have been “too blessed” to have much time to worry about it. 18 and up. • $22.50-$39.50 THROWING PLATES • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

Friday, Jan. 29 THE BAILSMEN • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 5PM • The bailsmen play hot jazz and gypsy swing, drawing from the inspiration of Django Reinhardt’s driving rhythm and the excitement of prohibition-era luminaries Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. • FREE THE MARK BOLING/MIKE BAGGETTA QUARTET • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • A double guitar-led modern Jazz quartet featuring UT Jazz Department coordinator Mark Boling’s Trio Life band. Featuring fellow UT Jazz department faculty Jon Hamar on Bass and Keith Brown on Drums, 26

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

with special guest, NYC guitarist and improviser, Mike Baggetta. Performing original music and new versions of other songs. • $5 ALIVE AFTER FIVE: DONALD BROWN AND EVELYN JACK • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Evelyn Jack and Donald Brown and their outstanding band return for a 3rd installment to what has become a series of “Tributes to the R&B Classic Hits. Their first “Tribute” in November, 2014, focused on the music of Donny Hathaway, and it was such a success, they followed up with tribute to a variety of R&B performers last summer that was also very well received. With a veritable cornucopia of R&B classic hits to delve into, this “Tribute” is sure to be another spectacular evening of music. • $15 CIRCLE OF THE SONG FEATURING ED JURDI, SETH WALKER, AND EDWARD DAVID ANDERSON • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • As far back as we can remember, humanity has been compelled to gather around song.

Whether as a centerpiece for celebration, a reflection on loss or a calling to inspire community; in the form of ballads, blues, spirituals and countless other variations, timeless songs have been integral to the narrative of their times. With that idea in mind, three of this generation’s most devoted artists to the art of the song: Ed Jurdi, Seth Walker and Edward David Anderson will once again head out on the road together to perform in the round, share their extensive bodies of work with one another, pick on a few classics and celebrate…The Circle Of The Song.

THE CRANE WIVES WITH THE MICHAEL TOMAN MUSIC GROUP • 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 CRANE WIVES • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • 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 JEANINE FULLER • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz.

• FREE THE GEE BEES AND NICK LUTSKO’S PUPPET PEOPLE • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM • 21 and up.

HAIR OF THE DOG • Waterfront Bar and Grill • 9PM • Classic rock.

JACK’D UP • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM KEVIN MCGUIRE • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM CARY MORIN • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

ODD FUTURE FIESTA • Longbranch Saloon • 9PM • Some members of the Odd Future hip-hop gang from Los Angeles will be gathering in Knoxville later this month for a show at the Longbranch Saloon on Cumberland Avenue. Don’t expect headliners like Tyler, the Creator or Frank Ocean at the Friday, Jan. 29 performance, though— the Odd Future Fiesta, as it’s listed on the club’s online concert calendar, will include founding member Left Brain and peripheral Odd Futurists Papa E-Pill and Larry Dog, according to the website Knoxville Music Warehouse. Left Brain, aka Vyron Turner, was one of the original members of the provocative hip-hop collective in 2006, along with Tyler, Hodgy Beats, and a handful of other rappers and producers. He’s produced songs on nearly all the dozens of Odd Future albums, singles, EPs, and mixtapes released over the group’s existence, including “Off Top” from Earl Sweatshirt’s 2015 major-label debut, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, and “Transylvania” from Tyler, the Creator’s 2011 album Goblin.

• $15-$20 SMOOTH DIALECTS WITH VESSEL • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

KNOXVILLE SEVEN Knoxville Museum of Art (1050 World’s Fair Park Drive) • Jan. 29-April 17 • Free • knoxart.org

In the spring of 1963, a group of seven Knoxville artists showed their work in a group exhibition at the University of Tennessee’s new Frank H. McClung Museum Art Gallery, which had opened in late 1961. It was the local equivalent of the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art at the New York Armory, where Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 shocked and scandalized the collecting community. The reviews of the Knoxville Seven show were scant but scathing; the Knoxville News-Sentinel put “art” in quotation marks in its review the day after the opening, suggesting that whatever these selected pieces were, they weren’t art.

The seven artists—Robert Birdwell, Richard Clarke, C. Kermit “Buck” Ewing, Joanne Higgs, Philip Nichols, Walter Stevens, and Carl Sublett—shared a modern and cosmopolitan sensibility more than any particular aesthetic affiliation. They were in touch with both the major trends of the early 20th century and giants of the era like Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol. It’s hard to imagine that their work, which ranged from abstracted landscapes to satirical pop art paintings and industrial sculpture, could ever have been considered scandalous.

But it was probably the first significant modern art created in East Tennessee, and Knoxville was a different place in 1963—its influential citizens and civic organizations were more interested in adopting the streamlined anonymity of the mid-century suburbs than celebrating the city’s distinctiveness.

The Knoxville Museum of Art, on the other hand, shows just how much has changed in the last 50 years with this long-overdue exhibit of work by the Knoxville Seven, some of which was included in the notorious McClung show from 1963. Drawing on the museum’s own collection, UT, and loans from collectors around the country, curator Stephen Wicks has compiled more than 70 pieces showcasing the breadth and accomplishment of the Knoxville Seven and filling in a neglected chapter of local art history. (Matthew Everett)

29

Spotlight: Yonder Mountain String Band

CALENDAR SWINGBOOTY • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM WAVE TRANSFORM FESTIVAL • Bijou Theatre • 7PM • The WaveTransform Festival presents artists from Knoxville’s WaveTransform Recording Studios (www.wavetransform. com). The festival features events which cover several styles of music, and which include both local artists and international musicians who have performed in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit the festival website at www.wavetransformfestival.com. • $15.50 Saturday, Jan. 30 MARK BOLING • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE DALE ANN BRADLEY • Laurel Theater • 8PM • “I grew up in a tar and paper covered shack right near Loretta Lynn’s childhood home,” reflects Dale Ann Bradley on her origin in east Kentucky as a preacher’s daughter. In the 1980s she was performing as a solo artist at Renfro Valley then joined the New Coon Creek Girls in the 1990s. Her latest album Pocket Full of Keys is nominated for a 2016 Grammy. Along the way Dale Ann also received five IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year awards, the latest in 2012. • $13 KANE BROWN • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • 18 and up. • $10 THE CRANE WIVES • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 4PM • The Crane Wives are a home grown indie-folk outfit from Grand Rapids, Michigan. They utilize three-part vocal harmonies, eclectic instrumentation, and a passion for song-craft to create organic music that is both accessible and innovative. Each live show features contagious energy as well as original music that ranges from whisper quiet ballads to danceable grooves. • FREE EXIT 60 • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM KATY FREE • Red Piano Lounge • 6PM GUY MARSHALL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Guy Marshall is a folksy five-piece band, whose main members, husband and wife Adam and Sarrenna McNulty, have been a staple in Knoxville’s Americana scene for the past five years. Armed with an infectious stage presence and an earnest arsenal of songs that touch on themes of whiskey and wallowing, the pair, backed by a rotating cast of musicians, have played gigs that range from providing a soundtrack to beer-soaked attendees of Knoxville’s Brewer’s Jam to securing a spot on the main stage of the 2015 Rhythm N’ Blooms festival.

• $5 CHRIS JAMISON’S GHOST WITH TROUT STEAK REVIVAL • 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 PAUL LEE KUPFER • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE WDVX WORLD-CLASS BLUEGRASS: THE DEL MCCOURY BAND WITH SIERRA HULL AND EMILY ANN ROBERTS • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7PM • For more than 50 years, Del McCoury’s music has defined authenticity for hardcore bluegrass fans as well as a growing number of fans among those only vaguely familiar with the genre. McCoury is something special, a living link to the days when bluegrass was made only in hillbilly honky-tonks, schoolhouse shows and on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, yet also a commandingly vital presence today, from prime time and late night talk show TV to music festivals where audiences number in the hundreds of thousands. • $25-$40 • See story on page 22.

PHANTOM HARPS WITH ASHES OF LAKESHORE, SEVENTH SERVANT, AND FINAL FIGHT • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • All ages. • $7

SMOOTH SAILOR • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM MICHAEL TOMAN • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM TURRENTINE/LEE DUO • Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan • 7PM • Zebulon Turrentine and Chris Lee play an eclectic mix of music that includes selections from the standard classical guitar repertoire and a variety of less expected sources. • $20 WAVE TRANSFORM FESTIVAL • Bijou Theatre • 7PM • For more information, visit the festival website at www. wavetransformfestival.com. • $15.50 YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND WITH TROUT STEAK REVIVAL • The International • 8:30PM • Yonder Mountain String Band has always played music by its own set of rules. Bending bluegrass, rock and countless other influences that the band cites, Yonder has pioneered a sound of their own. With their traditional lineup of instruments, the band may look like a traditional bluegrass band at first glance but they’ve created their own music that transcends any genre.18 and up. • $25-$40 • See Spotlight on page 29.

Sunday, Jan. 31 THE BROCKEFELLERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM JASON ELMORE AND HOODOO WITCH • The Grove Theater (Oak Ridge) • 4PM • Voted ‘Best Blues’ 2012 by the prestigious Dallas Observer Music Awards, Jason Elmore is a Dallas, TX-based guitarist/singer/songwriter that is turning heads in the blues/rock guitar world with his devastating guitar chops and vocals. Whether fronting his high-energy touring band ‘Hoodoo Witch’ or performing as a solo acoustic act, Elmore is able to bring together elements of American music in his performances that seem to bridge the gap between blues, rock, 60’s soul, vintage country, and jazz. • $8 REV. HORTON HEAT WITH UNKNOWN HINSON, NASHVILLE PUSSY, AND IGOR AND RED ELVIS’S • The Concourse • 8PM • Loaded .38s, space heaters, and big skies. Welcome to the lethal, littered landscape of Jim Heath’s imagination.

True to his high evangelical calling, Jim is a Revelator, both revealing & reinterpreting the country-blues-rock roots of American music. He’s a time-travelling space-cowboy on an endless interstellar musical tour, and we are all the richer and “psychobillier” for getting to tag along. • $20 SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE Monday, Feb. 1 ALEX GUTHRIE WITH MOUNTAINS LIKE WAX • 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 JACK AND THE BEAR • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM MIGHTY MUSICAL MONDAY • Tennessee Theatre • 12PM • Wurlitzer meister Bill Snyder is joined by a special guest on the first Monday of each month for a music showcase inside Knoxville’s historic Tennessee Theatre. • FREE Tuesday, Feb. 2 CRISTIANE AND THE STRAYS WITH CRANSTON DEAN • 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 January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27

CALENDAR THE LOST FIDDLE STRING BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM Wednesday, Feb. 3 WALLACE COLEMAN WITH CAROLINE DOCTOROW • 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 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 PHIL HARDISON • Bourbon Street Whiskey Bar • 6PM KJO JAZZ LUNCH • The Square Room • 12PM • On the first Wednesday of every month, Knoxville Jazz Orchestra presents Jazz Lunch. Every month we will bring you a new performance to serenade you with a mix of classical and modern Jazz music. The schedule includes a tribute to Gene Harris with pianist Keith Brown (Oct. 7); Spirko & Boyd play the music of the Adderley Brother(Nov. 4); a tribute to Woody Shaw with Alex Norris (Dec. 2); Kayley Farmer sings the Rodgers and Hart songbook (Jan. 6); a tribute to Ethel Waters with Tamara Brown (Feb. 3); a tribute to Ahmad Jamal with Justin Haynes (March 2); and Mike Baggetta plays Patsy Cline (April 6). • $15 TENNESSEE SHINES: RED SHOES AND ROSIN WITH STAN SHARP • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Knoxville’s own newfangled string band Red Shoes & Rosin takes inspiration from old-time, traditional and folk music as well as old houses, home-cooked food, odd jobs and weird neighbors. Band members Shawna Cyphers (fiddle,

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

vocals, guitar), Jessica Watson (banjo, guitar, vocals), Meade Armstrong (fiddle, guitar, vocals) and Daniel Kimbro (bass) perform songs from the group’s CD, Longleaf Pines. Opening the show is special guest Stan Sharp, who calls square dances and plays his original songs on acoustic guitar. • $10 SIMO WITH THE HUMBLE • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Retro bluesy improv rock from Nashville.

All ages. • $7 Thursday, Feb. 4 ERICA BLINN • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 4PM • Erica Blinn constructs American rock songs one earnest melody at a time. She forces Midwestern air through beat-up harmonicas and hammers out honest words that stretch and twist through her tunes. She bends the rules of the blues and knocks down the walls of pop music to create a blue collar “whiskey rock” sound that everyone can stand up for and be proud of. • FREE THE JONNY MONSTER BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Originally from the Hudson Valley in New York but now based out of Knoxville, TN, Jonny Monster’s original mix of acoustic blues and hard dynamic electric guitar are not to be missed! Having opened for greats like Johnny Winter, Lucky Peterson, and Booker T. Jones, Jonny Monster has headlined his own shows down the Eastern Coast from Burlington, VT to Naples, FL, as well as released a self-titled record, and an exciting follow up “Bad Times Before” with a full band.

Jonny Monster’s high energy aggressive guitar style continues to captivate audiences and make JMB a

must-see act.

CALEN PERKINS WITH THE SOCIAL ANIMALS • 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 TUNE JUNKIES WITH SUSAN ROSE • 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 CHAD VOLKERS • Bourbon Street Whiskey Bar • 6PM Friday, Feb. 5 VANESSA CARLTON • The Concourse • 8PM • An unusual light shines through Liberman, Vanessa Carlton’s fifth album. Its ten songs, built on ethereal melodies and lush orchestration, seem to climb out of the shadows, each resonating with a sense of haunting positivity. 18 and up.

• $25 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. • $5 DIRTY POOL • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE KIRK AND MEREDITH • Twisted Mike’s • 8PM • Acoustic duo.

BRISTON MARONEY WITH THE VALLEY OPERA AND MAYFEST • Open Chord Brewhouse and Stage • 8PM • Local singer/songwriter Briston Maroney released his album Reason to Shake in November. All ages. • $7

5

$

at the door tthursday, Friday, and s saturday aturday

MISERY AND GIN • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE R.B. MORRIS • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Knoxville’s own poet, songwriter, and sometimes playwright and actor R.B. Morris returns to the stage of the Laurel Theater with some of Knoxville’s finest musicians, Greg Horne and Daniel Kimbro, to play songs new and old. Lucinda Williams called him “the greatest unknown songwriter in the country.” • $11 PROJECT WOLFPACK • Just 1 More Bar and Grille • 7PM ALIVE AFTER FIVE: ROUX DU BAYOU • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Led by Paul Gregoire from Dulac, Louisiana, Roux du Bayou plays authentic cajun, zydeco, swamp pop, mardi gras music, and more. Their high energy style has brought them repeated engagements at a variety of venues all across the country. The band has been together for fifteen years, and in 2010, they won the prestigious 1st Runner-Up award in the category Prix de Hors Nous, for best cajun band outside of Louisiana, from the Cajun French Music Association. Everyone is encouraged to wear purple, gold, and/or lime green to add to the “Big Easy” merriment as we laissez les bon temps roulez. • $10 YARN • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Brooklyn-based Americana/Alt-Country band Yarn’s sound owes as much to Gram Parsons and Earl Scruggs as to Jerry Garcia and Exile On Main Street-era Rolling Stones.

Much like its name, the band Yarn weaves country, rock, blues and more into a genre-defying blend that has captured the attention of fans and critics alike. Following in a fine tradition that includes forward thinking roots bands like The Flying Burrito Brothers and New Riders of

www.waynestock.org

all proceeds benefit knoxville girls rock camp

6 RX

Thursday January 28

RELIX VARIETY T H E A T R E

7pm Jonathan Sexton & Jamie Cook 8pm The Jank 9pm Handsome & the Humbles 10pm Hellaphant

28

KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

1208 N. Central Ave. 865.898.0066

for thE

love of d

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Friday january 29 7pm 8pm 9pm 10pm 11pm 12am

The Pinklets The Lonetones Kevin Abernathy Tim Lee 3 Psychic Baos Senryu

7pm 8pm 9pm 10pm 11pm

Saturday January 30

EmiSunshine Jennifer Niceley Lonesome Coyotes Heiskell Knoxville Tells Reunion featuring Todd Steed & the Modified Sons of Phere

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

The Purple Sage. Yarn weaves roots music idioms into a fresh sound that turns on hipsters and fans of country music alike, with technically impressive song-crafting and universal tales from the road of life. • $5 Saturday, Feb. 6 WALLACE COLEMAN • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Growing up in East Tennessee, Wallace Coleman was captivated by the sounds he heard late at night from Nashville’s WLAC. It was on WLAC that Coleman first heard his greatest musical influences: Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters. Coleman left Tennessee in 1956 to find work in Cleveland. He began playing professionally with Cleveland’s Guitar Slim and caught the ear of audience member Robert “Jr.” Lockwood, joining his band in 1987. Still based in Cleveland, Wallace has been leading his own band since 1997. • $13 HAIR OF THE DOG • Paul’s Oasis • 10PM • Classic rock. 21 and up. • FREE KELSEY’S WOODS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • The new album from Kelsey’s Woods, When the Morning Comes Around, has the full complement of roots-rock signifiers, from pedal-steel guitar, Hammond organ, and mandolin to songs about the open highway and references to Merle Haggard. And, of course, there’s more than one drinking song. Its country roots are evident, but there’s plenty of heartland rock—think Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and John Mellencamp—in the mix, too, as well as echoes of everything from Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones to the Black Crowes. • FREE CHRIS LONG WITH SOUTHERN CITIES • 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 MIDDLEFINGER • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 10PM WHITEY MORGAN AND THE 78S WITH TONY MARTINEZ • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Whitey Morgan is an American Honky Tonk artist from Flint, Michigan. • $5 LAUREL WRIGHT • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 8PM • At the age of 19 East Tennessee native Laurel has single handedly written more than 100 songs, of which several air on the nation’s largest radio broadcast, country giant WIVK.FM and Renegade Radio Nashville. She has also performed at numerous venues with such artists as Kix Brooks, Sara Evans, Leanne Rimes, The Band Perry, Josh Thompson, Frankie Ballard, James Wesley, Blaine Larson, Troy Olsen and Katie Armiger, to name a few. • FREE Sunday, Feb. 7 SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE SUPERB OWL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM

OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS

Tuesday, Feb. 2 OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Hosted by Sarah Pickle. • FREE PRESERVATION PUB SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7 p.m. • 21 and up. • FREE Wednesday, Feb. 3

CALENDAR

TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. at the Time Warp Tea Room. All instruments and skill levels welcome.

BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. • FREE Thursday, Feb. 4 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. • FREE

DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS

Saturday, Feb. 6 OLD CITY MARDI GRAS PUB CRAWL • The Old City • 8PM • Dancing in the streets, feathers, beads, and masks… what more do we need to have a blast? Knoxville may not have a Bourbon Street, but that doesn’t mean we can’t laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll) like

YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND The International (940 Blackstock Ave.) • Saturday, Jan. 30 • 8:30 p.m. • $25-$40 • internationalknox.com • 18 and up

Take a quick glance through Yonder Mountain String Band’s discography and you’ll figure out their creative priorities: The Colorado progressive-bluegrass band has released nearly as many live albums (five installments of their popular Mountain Tracks series) as they have studio LPs (six), a testament to their inimitable stage prowess.

Formed in 1998 from the ashes of the excellently named Bluegrassholes, mandolinist Jeff Austin and banjo player Dave Johnston aimed to expand beyond the genre’s basic quick-picking parameters toward a more expansive style, incorporating country, blues, folk, and alternative rock into heavily improvised stage shows. Though they’re capable of flamboyant soloing, the members of Yonder—currently Johnston, bassist Ben Kaufmann, guitarist Adam Aijala, mandolinist Jake Jolliff, and fiddle player Allie Kral—rise above many of their jam-band contemporaries with the clarity of their songwriting, relying as much on melody and interplay as on showboating.

In the studio, Yonder Mountain String Band has expanded in unexpected ways, too, adding drums and leaning closer to traditional rock sounds with the aid of producer Tom Rothrock. The band’s latest album, last year’s self-produced Black Sheep, is their first with Kral on fiddle, pushing the band closer toward a traditional bluegrass set-up. But with Yonder, “traditional” is never quite accurate.

With Trout Steak Revival. (Ryan Reed)

January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29

CALENDAR the French do. One wristband gets you into all seven participating venues for only $7 in advance. Advance wristbands can be purchased online at carleoentertainment.com and picked up the night of the pub crawl starting at 8pm at either Davincis Pizzeria or NV Nightclub.The pub crawl is a 21 and up event. VIP sections are available. Call (865)414-6050 to reserve your section now. Participating venues: Southbound Knoxville, NV Nightclub, Carleo’s Lounge & Nightclub, Hanna’s Old City, Wagon Wheel, The Bowery, and 90 Proof.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Thursday, Jan. 28 KSO VERY YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT • Tennessee Theatre • 9:30AM • Very Young People’s Concerts are created especially for students in pre-school through the second grade. This year’s concerts explore how music can tell a story with the help of the KSO’s animated friend, Picardy Penguin. Picardy will help students learn how music can emphasize important parts of a story or define character.

Students will join the KSO in the concert theme song Music Can Make Your Life Complete, create a musical story in Lucas Richman’s The Birthday Present, explore how music emphasizes plot in Richman’s Playground Escapades, and Picardy will narrate Prokofiev’s beloved Peter and the Wolf which many students study in first and second grades! Other repertoire includes: the traditional folk song Blow the Man Down, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, and Mozart’s Overture to

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

the Marriage of Figaro. • $8 Friday, Jan. 29 KSO VERY YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 9:30AM • Very Young People’s Concerts are created especially for students in pre-school through the second grade. This year’s concerts explore how music can tell a story with the help of the KSO’s animated friend, Picardy Penguin. Picardy will help students learn how music can emphasize important parts of a story or define character. Students will join the KSO in the concert theme song Music Can Make Your Life Complete, create a musical story in Lucas Richman’s The Birthday Present, explore how music emphasizes plot in Richman’s Playground Escapades, and Picardy will narrate Prokofiev’s beloved Peter and the Wolf which many students study in first and second grades! Other repertoire includes: the traditional folk song Blow the Man Down, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, and Mozart’s Overture to the Marriage of Figaro.

MARYVILLE COLLEGE CHOIR FESTIVAL • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 6PM • Featuring Paul Phoenix of the King’s Singers. • $5 Saturday, Jan. 30 TURRENTINE/LEE DUO • Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan • 7PM • Zebulon Turrentine and Chris Lee play an eclectic mix of music that includes selections from the standard classical guitar repertoire and a variety of less expected sources. • $20 Sunday, Jan. 31

OAK RIDGE COMMUNITY BAND/WIND ENSEMBLE SHOWCASE CONCERT • First Baptist Church Oak Ridge • 3:30PM • This concert will showcase small groups including the Tanasi Winds, a tuba-euphonium ensemble, the ORCB Trombone Quartet, the Secret City Winds Quintet, a couple woodwind trios, and others performing a variety of music with jazz, classical, swing, novelty, and show tunes. Admission is $5 for adults over 18. For more information visit www.orcb.org or call 865-4823568. • $5

THEATER AND DANCE

Company kicks off it’s 26th annual New Play Festival with Staci Swedeen’s House Rules. Swedeen’s play is the first of seven new plays appearing in this year’s festival.

Swedeen’s play is about two brothers who confront the intertwined nature of hatred and love and learn that all truths kept silent become poisonous. Jan. 21-31. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15

Thursday, Jan. 28 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Captain Crewe leaves his young daughter Sara at a school for girls, while he goes abroad to claim his fortune in jewels.

The school is run by a strict head-mistress named Miss Minchin, who takes special care of her wealthy new student, until a stunning twist of fate changes the destiny of everyone in the school and throughout the neighborhood. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story remains one of the world’s most popular books for children, despite being written over 100 years ago. It is a timeless tale of rags-to-riches, and Sara Crewe has become a role model for grace-under-pressure and undefeatable hope.

Jan. 22-Feb. 7. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘HOUSE RULES’ • Historic Southern Railway Station • 8PM • Tennessee Stage

Friday, Jan. 29 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Jan. 22-Feb. 7. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: BORN YESTERDAY • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • In this classic comedy, vulgar, egotistical “junkman” Harry Brock, along with his “dumb” but charming girlfriend, Billie Dawn, arrives in Washington to make a few “deals” with powerful political big-wigs. Increasingly embarrassed by Billie’s lack of knowledge and social graces, Harry hires an idealistic young magazine reporter to educate the former showgirl.

Billie not only learns to appreciate history and politics, but along the way, discovers the depths of Harry’s crooked activities. Jan. 29-Feb. 7. Visit www.orplayhouse. com.

TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘HOUSE RULES’ • Historic Southern Railway Station • 8PM • Jan. 21-31. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 Saturday, Jan. 30 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • Jan. 22-Feb. 7. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

L.A. THEATRE WORKS: ‘DRACULA’ • Niswonger Performing Arts Center • 7:30PM • This gothic horror is a classic for all time and still holds its place as one of the greatest horror stories ever told. In Charles Morey’s acclaimed adaptation, Count Dracula slips quietly into Victorian London with a cargo of his native Transylvanian soil, necessary for rest between his victims. The city seems helpless against his frightful power and only one man, the smart and resourceful Dr. Van Helsing, can stop the carnage. To do this, he must uncover the vampire’s lair and pierce Dracula’s heart with a wooden stake; setting up an epic confrontation of good vs evil. Under the leadership of Producing Director, Susan Albert Loewenberg, L.A. Theatre Works has delighted audiences with its unique live radio theater style performances. • $30-$40 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: BORN YESTERDAY • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • Jan. 29-Feb. 7. Visit www.orplayhouse. com.

TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘HOUSE RULES’ • Historic Southern Railway Station • 8PM • Jan. 21-31. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 MARBLE CITY PERFORMANCE COMPANY: WTF? VARIETE SHOWCASE • The Bowery • 9:30PM • A variety and burlesque show. For more information visit us at: www.

MarbleCityPerformers.com. 18 and up. • $10 DOLLYWOOD ENTERTAINMENT AUDITIONS • Dollywood • 11AM • Dollywood Entertainment will be holding auditions in Pigeon Forge, Saturday, January 23rd, 11:00am-2:00pm, at Dollywood, 2700 Dollywood Parks Blvd. Casting singers who move and actors who sing and move. Registration begins at 9:00am. Must be at least 17. For more information, including audition requirements, pay rates and benefits, go to www.dollywoodauditions.com.

Sunday, Jan. 31 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Jan. 22-Feb. 7. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 TENNESSEE STAGE COMPANY: ‘HOUSE RULES’ • Historic Southern Railway Station • 3PM • Jan. 21-31. Visit tennesseestage.com. • $15 Thursday, Feb. 4 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Jan. 22-Feb. 7. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: BORN YESTERDAY • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • Jan. 29-Feb. 7. Visit www.orplayhouse. com.

Friday, Feb. 5 PRIMARY PLAYERS CHILDREN’S THEATRE GROUP: ‘THE LITTLE MERMAID’ • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7PM • Forty young actors sing and dance their way through this Disney classic. Feb. 5-7. Visit primaryplayers. com. • $16 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Jan. 22-Feb. 7. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: BORN YESTERDAY • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • Jan. 29-Feb. 7. Visit www.orplayhouse. com.

Saturday, Feb. 6 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • Jan. 22-Feb. 7. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 PRIMARY PLAYERS CHILDREN’S THEATRE GROUP: ‘THE LITTLE MERMAID’ • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 2PM and 7PM • Forty young actors sing and dance their

CALENDAR

way through this Disney classic. Feb. 5-7. Visit primaryplayers.com. • $16 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: BORN YESTERDAY • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • Jan. 29-Feb. 7. Visit www.orplayhouse. com.

GO! CONTEMPORARY DANCE WORKS: ‘IN THE SHADOWS OF PINE MOUNTAIN’ • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • GO! Contemporary Dance Works’ 14th season continues with its newest full length contemporary ballet, In the Shadows of Pine Mountain: the Scots-Irish exodus from Ulster to the hills of Appalachia. Blending Irish and Scottish dance into both classical and contemporary dance, GO! intertwines generations with visually stunning Irish and Scottish scenes in act one and life in Appalachia after the Scots-Irish exodus in act two. Learn more by visiting gocontemporarydance.com and follow on Facebook. • $22-$27 Sunday, Feb. 7 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘SARA CREWE: A LITTLE PRINCESS’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Jan. 22-Feb. 7. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 PRIMARY PLAYERS CHILDREN’S THEATRE GROUP: ‘THE LITTLE MERMAID’ • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 2PM • Forty young actors sing and dance their way through this Disney classic. Feb. 5-7. Visit primaryplayers. com. • $16 OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: BORN YESTERDAY • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 2PM • Jan. 29-Feb. 7. Visit www.orplayhouse. com.

GO! CONTEMPORARY DANCE WORKS: ‘IN THE SHADOWS OF PINE MOUNTAIN’ • Bijou Theatre • 3PM • GO! Contemporary Dance Works’ 14th season continues with its newest full length contemporary ballet, In the Shadows of Pine Mountain: the Scots-Irish exodus from Ulster to the hills of Appalachia. Blending Irish and Scottish dance into both classical and contemporary dance, GO! intertwines generations with visually stunning Irish and Scottish scenes in act one and life in Appalachia after the Scots-Irish exodus in act two. Learn more by visiting gocontemporarydance.com and follow on Facebook. • $22-$27

COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD

Sunday, Jan. 31 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

Monday, Feb. 1 QED COMEDY LABORATORY • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • QED ComedyLaboratory is a weekly show with different theme every week that combines stand-up, improv, sketch, music and other types of performance and features some of the funniest people in Knoxville and parts unknown.

It’s weird and experimental. There is no comedy experience in town that is anything like this and it’s also a ton of fun. Pay what you want. Free, but donations are accepted. • FREE Tuesday, Feb. 2 OPEN MIC STAND-UP COMEDY • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM • Come laugh until you cry at the Longbranch every Tuesday night. Doors open at 8:30, first comic at 9. No cover charge, all are welcome. Aspiring or experienced comics interested in joining in the fun email us at longbranch.info@gmail.com to learn more, or simply

come to the show a few minutes early. • FREE EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Einstein Simplified Comedy performs live comedy improv at Scruffy City Hall. It’s just like Whose Line Is It Anyway, but you get to make the suggestions. Show starts at 8:15, get there early for the best seats. No cover. • FREE CASUAL PINT (HARDIN VALLEY) • 7PM • A monthly comedy showcase at Casual Pint-Hardin Valley featuring a mixture of local and touring comedians.

Friday, Feb. 5 FIRST FRIDAY COMEDY • Saw Works Brewing Company • 7PM • Atlanta comedians Mo Arora and Brian Emond headline the February lineup of this free monthly comedy showcase. Local comedians Angela Garrone, Sean Simoneau, and Matt Chadourne will also perform. • FREE Sunday, Feb. 7 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic.

FESTIVALS

Friday, Jan. 29 SMOKY MOUNTAIN SNOWDOWN: A WINTER FESTIVAL • Townsend • 10AM • A weekend full of activities is on tap at the second annual Smoky Mountain Snowdown: A Winter Festival, Jan. 29-31, 2016. The three-day event takes place at 16 locations in Townsend, including the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, the Townsend Visitor Center, Cades Cove Cellars, Tremont Lodge & Resort, Apple Valley, Wood N Strings Dulcimer Shop, Dancing Bear Lodge, Little River Outfitters, Little River Railroad Museum, Talley Ho Inn and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The festival is a celebration of East Tennessee history, Appalachian traditions and the natural beauty of Townsend, Cades Cove and the national park. For a complete schedule of events, times and registration info, log on to www.snowdownfest.com.

Saturday, Jan. 30 SMOKY MOUNTAIN SNOWDOWN: A WINTER FESTIVAL • Townsend • 10AM • A weekend full of activities is on tap at the second annual Smoky Mountain Snowdown: A Winter Festival, Jan. 29-31, 2016. The three-day event takes place at 16 locations in Townsend, including the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, the Townsend Visitor Center, Cades Cove Cellars, Tremont Lodge & Resort, Apple Valley, Wood N Strings Dulcimer Shop, Dancing Bear Lodge, Little River Outfitters, Little River Railroad Museum, Talley Ho Inn and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The festival is a celebration of East Tennessee history, Appalachian traditions and the natural beauty of Townsend, Cades Cove and the national park. For a complete schedule of events, times and registration info, log on to www.snowdownfest.com.

Sunday, Jan. 31 SMOKY MOUNTAIN SNOWDOWN: A WINTER FESTIVAL • Townsend • 10AM • A weekend full of activities is on tap at the second annual Smoky Mountain Snowdown: A Winter Festival, Jan. 29-31, 2016. The three-day event takes place at 16 locations in Townsend, including the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, the Townsend Visitor Center, Cades Cove Cellars, Tremont Lodge & Resort, Apple Valley, Wood N Strings Dulcimer Shop, Dancing Bear Lodge, Little River Outfitters, Little River Railroad Museum, Talley Ho Inn and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The festival is a celebration of East Tennessee history, Appalachian traditions and the January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31

CALENDAR natural beauty of Townsend, Cades Cove and the national park. For a complete schedule of events, times and registration info, log on to www.snowdownfest.com.

Thursday, Feb. 4 YMCA GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT • Lindsay Young Downtown YMCA • 5PM • A girls’ night out of pampering, health screenings and lectures. Keynote speaker Dr. Christen Fleming of UT Medical Center will present tips on women’s health and heart disease at 6 p.m. Knox County health professionals Amy Rowling, Kerri Thompson and Khrysta Baig will address violence prevention, tobacco prevention and nutrition. Pampering includes free manicures, bang cuts and more from Paul Mitchell School, 10-minute chair massages by Sandra Corbitt and others for $5 and Nail Art by Andrea for $5. Health screening services are planned for bone density and blood pressure. About 40 vendors will be on hand. Y class demonstrations will include MOSSA Fight and yoga. Join the Y that night and the $30 joining fee will be waived.Contact Information: Community Wellness Director Sara Prinzi, sprinzi@ ymcaknoxville.org, 865.522.9622. • FREE Friday, Feb. 5 TUNE JUNKIE WEEKEND • The Grove Theater (Oak Ridge) • 6:30PM • Tune Junkie Weekend is a weekend of Irish music and fun featuring sessions, workshops and a concert. Visit us on the web at www.tradknox.com or join us on Facebook. • $14-$35 Saturday, Feb. 6 MARDI GRAS NIGHT: OPTIMIST CLUB OF KNOXVILLE 10TH

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

ANNUAL BENEFIT DINNER AND AUCTION • University of Tennessee • 6PM • On the UT campus, Neyland Stadium, in the Tennessee Terrace (at Gate 19). Food provided by Rothchild Catering. Cash Bar. Proceeds (from the event auctions/online auction, ticket sales receipts above food costs and donations), go toward financing the opportunities that the club offers to hundreds of children in our local community. Questions: brstaton@coca-cola. com or 865-789-6181.

CASA OF EAST TENNESSEE RED SHOE GALA • Lighthouse Knoxville • 7PM • CASA of East Tennessee’s annual Red Shoe Gala fundraiser will be February 6, 2016 at Lighthouse Knoxville (6800 Baum Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919). The evening will start at 7pm and includes exceptional food, signature cocktails, and a silent auction, all while enjoying live music from local band The Pop Rox. All proceeds will go to CASA of East Tennessee’s mission to advocate for children in abused and neglect cases at Knox County Juvenile Court. $100 for single tickets, $180 for couples. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.casaofeasttn.org or call 865-329-3399. • $100 TUNE JUNKIE WEEKEND • The Grove Theater (Oak Ridge) • 12PM • Tune Junkie Weekend is a weekend of Irish music and fun featuring sessions, workshops and a concert.

Visit us on the web at www.tradknox.com or join us on Facebook. • $14-$35 Sunday, Feb. 7 TUNE JUNKIE WEEKEND • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 1PM • Tune Junkie Weekend is a weekend of Irish music and fun

featuring sessions, workshops and a concert. Visit us on the web at www.tradknox.com or join us on Facebook. • FREE

FILM SCREENINGS

Monday, Feb. 1 THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. • FREE Tuesday, Feb. 2 TWIN PEAKS VIEWING PARTY • The Birdhouse • 7PM • Bi-weekly viewing parties for every single episode of the cult TV series. Attendees encouraged to dress as their favorite characters. Trivia, Twin Peaks-themed giveaways, donuts and coffee, plus some surprises. Trivia begins at 7:00pm with viewing to follow at 8:00pm. • FREE PUBLIC CINEMA: ‘THE ROYAL ROAD’ • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • A cinematic essay in defense of remembering, The Royal Road offers up a primer on Junipero Serra’s Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, the pursuit of unavailable women, butch identity and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo — all against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes, and featuring a voiceover cameo by Tony Kushner.This bold, innovative film from acclaimed San Francisco filmmaker Jenni Olson combines rigorous historical research with lyrically written personal monologue and relates these seemingly disparate stories from an intimate, colloquial perspective to tell a one-of-a-kind California tale. Visit publiccinema.

Business

org. • FREE

SPORTS AND RECREATION

Thursday, Jan. 28 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • Join Cycology Bicycles every Thursday morning for a road ride with two group options. A Group does a 2 to 3 hour ride at 20+ pace; B group does an intermediate ride at 15/18 mph average. Weather permitting. cycologybicycles.com. • FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 6PM • Join us every Thursday night at our store for a fun group run/walk. We have all levels come out, so no matter what your speed you’ll have someone to keep you company. Our 30 - 60 minute route varies week by week in the various neighborhoods and greenways around the store, so be sure to show up on time so you can join up with the group. All levels welcome. fleetfeetknoxville. com. • FREE NORTH KNOXVILLE BEER RUNNERS • Central Flats and Taps • 6PM • Meet us at Central Flats and Taps every Thursday night for a fun and easy run leading us right through Saw Works for a midway beer. • FREE RIVER SPORTS THURSDAY EVENING GREENWAY BIKE RIDE • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Every Thursday night from 6 to 7:30 join River Sports Outfitters on an easy paced, beginner friendly Greenway Ride. Bring your own bike or

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016 WUOT_Ad_5.5x4.25_WhyWUOT_KnoxMerc.indd 1

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rent one for $15. Lights are mandatory on your bikes from September through March. After ride join us at the store for $2 pints. riversportsoutfitters.com/events. • FREE WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Join us for everything from Candy Land to chess, and feel free to add a pint and a pizza. • FREE KNOXVILLE BICYCLE COMPANY THURSDAY GRAVEL GRINDER • North Boundary Trails • 6:30PM • Join Knoxville Bicycle Company every Thursday evening for their gravel grinder.

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

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

Must have lights. Weather permitting. cedarbluffcycles. net. • FREE Friday, Jan. 29 RIVER SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT GREENWAY RUN • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Greenway run from the store every Friday evening from 6-7:30 pm. Work up a thirst then join us for $2 pints in the store afterwards. riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE Saturday, Jan. 30 RUN 4 THEIR LIVES 5K • Market Square • 10AM • Run 4 Their Lives is a Freedom 4/24 event that raises awareness and funds to bring sexually exploited women and children into freedom. Visit freedom424.org. • $30 Sunday, Jan. 31 KNOXVILLE HARDCOURT BIKE POLO • Sam Duff Memorial Park • 1PM • Don’t know how to play? Just bring your bike — we have mallets to share and will teach you the game.

• FREE Monday, Feb. 1 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 BEARDEN BEER MARKET FUN RUN • Bearden Beer Market • 6:30PM • Come run with us. Every Monday year round we do a group fun run through the neighborhood. Open to all levels of walkers and runners. Everyone who participates earns a $1 off their beer. Visit beardenbeermarket.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 Tuesday, Feb. 2 CYTOLOGY BICYCLES TUESDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10:30AM • Join Cycology Bicycles every Tuesday morning at 10:30 am for a road ride with 2 group options. A Group does a 2 to 3 hour ride at 20+ pace; B group does an intermediate ride at 15/18 mph average.

Weather permitting. cycologybicycles.com. • FREE WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Join us for everything from Candy Land to chess, and feel free to add a pint and a pizza. • FREE HARD KNOX TUESDAY FUN RUN • Hard Knox Pizzeria • 6:30PM • Join Hard Knox Pizzeria every Tuesday evening (rain or shine) for a 2-3 mile fun run. Burn calories. Devour pizza.

Quench thirst. Follow us on Facebook. • FREE

CALENDAR

Wednesday, Feb. 3 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 FOUNTAIN CITY PEDALERS SHARPS RIDGE MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE • Fountain City Pedaler • 6PM • Join us every Wednesday evening for a mountain bike ride from the shop to Sharps Ridge. 6-10 mile ride with plenty of bail out points. Regroup as necessary. Lights required, call the shop if you need them. Visit fcpedaler.com. • FREE

ART

Thursday, Feb. 4 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • Join Cycology Bicycles every Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. for a road ride with two group options. A Group does a 2 to 3 hour ride at 20+ pace; B group does an intermediate ride at 15/18 mph average.

Weather permitting.• FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 6PM • Sometimes, a group of workout buddies is just what you need to get out there run! Join us every Thursday night at our store for a fun group run/walk. We have all levels come out, so no matter what your speed you’ll have someone to keep you company. Our 30 - 60 minute route varies week by week in the various neighborhoods and greenways around the store, so be sure to show up on time so you can join up with the group. All levels welcome. • FREE NORTH KNOXVILLE BEER RUNNERS • Central Flats and Taps • 6PM • Meet us at Central Flats and Taps every Thursday night for a fun and easy run leading us right through Saw Works for a midway beer! • FREE RIVER SPORTS THURSDAY EVENING GREENWAY BIKE RIDE • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Every Thursday night from 6 to 7:30 join River Sports Outfitters on an easy paced, beginner friendly Greenway Ride. Bring your own bike or rent one for $15. Lights are mandatory on your bikes from September through March. • FREE WHOLE FOODS GAME NIGHT • Whole Foods • 6PM • Join us for everything from Candy Land to chess, and feel free to add a pint and a pizza. • FREE KNOXVILLE BICYCLE COMPANY THURSDAY GRAVEL GRINDER • North Boundary Trails • 6:30PM • Join Knoxville Bicycle Company every Thursday evening for their gravel grinder.

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

Bring lights! Regroups as necessary. Call shop for more details. Weather permitting - call the store if weather is questionable.

CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY GREENWAY RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:30PM • Join us every Thursday evening for a greenway ride at an intermediate pace of 14-15 mph.

Must have lights. Weather permitting. • FREE

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

Friday, Feb. 5 RIVER SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT GREENWAY RUN • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Greenway run from the store every Friday evening from 6-7:30 pm. Work up a thirst then join us for $2 Pints in the store afterwards. http:// www.riversportsoutfitters.com/events/ • FREE Sunday, Feb. 7 KNOXVILLE HARDCOURT BIKE POLO • Sam Duff Memorial Park • 1PM • Don’t know how to play? Just bring your bike — we have mallets to share and will teach you the game.

• FREE

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

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MARCH / 15 / 2016

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. JAN. 5-31: Artwork by Lil Clinard and Julia Malia. FEB. 2-28: heART 2 heART, a Valentine’s exhibit. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Feb. 5, at 5:30 p.m.

Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 Broadway JAN. 8-FEB. 2: Paintings by Hannah Harper. FEB. 5-MARCH 1: Alley Cat by Marianne Ziegler. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Feb. 5, from 5-9 p.m.

Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. FEB. 5-27: Artwork by Larry Brown. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Feb. 5, from 5-9 p.m.

Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. DEC. 4-JAN. 29: Arts and Culture Alliance Members Show. JAN. 8-29: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission Exhibition, featuring artwork by African and African-American artists from Knoxville and works about social justice and civil rights. FEB. 5-26: Knoxville Photography Collective exhibit and National Juried Exhibition 2016. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Feb. 5, from 5-9 p.m.

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

2015-16 SPONSORS

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

Maryville, TN 37804

BOX OFFICE: 865-981-8590 ClaytonArtsCenter.com

Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Blvd.

JAN. 14-FEB. 18: UT Artist-in-Residence Biennial, featuring work by Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Aliza Nisenbaum, Caitlin Keogh, and Dominic Terlizzi.

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

Liz-Beth and Co. 7240 Kingston Pike JAN. 1-30: Feminine Icons With an Attitude, paintings by Cynthia Markert inspired by the free-thinking women of the early 1900s.

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

Westminster Presbyterian Church Schiller Gallery

THE DEL MCCOURY BAND with Sierra Hull

Saturday, January 30, 7 p.m.

Clayton Center for the Arts For reserved seats, call 865-981-8590 or visit ClaytonArtsCenter.com January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33

CALENDAR 6500 S. Northshore Drive JAN. 12-FEB. 28: Paintings by Jennifer Brickey.

LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS

Tuesday, Feb. 2 UT HUMANITIES CENTER CONVERSATIONS AND COCKTAILS SERIES • The Grill at Highlands Row • 6PM • Offered in collaboration with the Grill at Highlands Row, the series provides the community an opportunity to interact with guest scholars as they discuss history while enjoying special dinner and appetizer selections. All discussions are free. Dinner reservations are required and seating is limited. A reservation can be made by calling the Grill at Highlands Row at 865-694-1600. Thomas Burman, professor of history and Riggsby Director of the Marco Institute: “Ignored Model, Admired Enemy: Islam and Christian Europe.”

FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS

Thursday, Jan. 28 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

Friday, Jan. 29 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between.

Materials will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For grades K-5. • FREE PEPPA PIG LIVE! • Tennessee Theatre • 6PM • More fun than a muddy puddle! Peppa Pig, star of the top-rated TV series airing daily on Nick Jr., is hitting the road for her first-ever U.S. theatrical tour, Peppa Pig’s Big Splash! By popular demand, the live stage show will visit nearly 100 cities starting this November. Peppa Pig’s Big Splash! promises to be the perfect theatre show for all pre-schoolers! • $32-$42 Saturday, Jan. 30 SATURDAY STORIES AND SONGS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • A weekly music and storytelling session for kids. • FREE COVENANT KIDS RUN KICKOFF • Knoxville Zoo • 12PM • East Tennessee children will kick off the Covenant Kids Run with a one-mile event at the Knoxville Zoo in January and end it on the 50-yard line at Neyland Stadium in April. The start at the Knoxville Zoo will be held Saturday, Jan. 30, at noon. Children in eighth grade and younger are eligible to participate in the Kids Run.In the event of inclement weather, the Kids Run kickoff at the Knoxville Zoo will be held on Saturday, Feb. 6. For more information, visit www.knoxvillemarathon.com or call 865-684-4294. • $15 MCCLUNG FAMILY FUN DAY: THE MAYA AND THEIR TEXTS •

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 1PM • Join us for free a free Family Fun Day featuring activities, crafts, tours, and more. We’ll explore Mayan texts in our special exhibition, Maya: Lords of Time. All materials will be provided. The program is free and open to the public.

Reservations are not necessary. • FREE Tuesday, Feb. 2 PRE-K READ AND PLAY • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • Pre-K Read and Play is a pilot program specifically designed to prepare children to enter kindergarten. While the format of the program will still feel like a traditional storytime with books, music, and other educational activities, each weekly session will focus on a different standard from the Tennessee Department of Education’s Early Childhood/Early Learning Developmental Standards.

• FREE BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • LEGO Club will take place in the children’s library. Kids will complete different themed and timed LEGO Challenges, as well as have some time for free building. The library will provide the LEGOs, so all you have to bring is your imagination • FREE EVENING STORYTIME • Lawson McGee Public Library • 6:30PM • An evening storytime at Lawson McGhee Children’s Room to include stories, music, and crafts. For toddlers and up. • FREE Wednesday, Feb. 3 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 10:20AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For ages 3 to 5, must be accompanied by an adult.

• FREE Thursday, Feb. 4 BABY BOOKWORMS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • For infants to age 2, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. • FREE Friday, Feb. 5 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between.

Materials will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For grades K-5. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 6 SATURDAY STORIES AND SONGS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 11AM • A weekly music and storytelling session for kids. • FREE

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Thursday, Jan. 28 PLANET MOTION WORLD DANCE FITNESS • Champion Ballroom Center • 10AM • All levels fun dance workout incorporating dance and music styles from around the world.

GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley

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CALENDAR Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. • GOODWILL NETWORKING WITH LINKEDIN CLASS • Goodwill Industries • 1PM • Learn how to use LinkedIn, a professional social media platform, to grow your career.

Goodwill will teach you how to set up a profile, use the platform for networking, discover valuable content to help you learn more about your field and apply for jobs. It is recommended that you bring your resume to this training so you can easily fill out your profile. This session is free of charge and open to the public. No registration is required. • FREE BLOUNT COUNTY LIBRARY BASIC COMPUTER CLASSES • Blount County Public Library • 2PM • Basic computer classes are offered, free, at the library Jan. 6-March 10. • FREE GOODWILL FINANCIAL LITERACY CLASS • Goodwill Industries • 5:30PM • Whether you want to get out of debt, build up your savings or plan for a big purchase, money can be tricky to manage. Fortunately, Goodwill will be offering a free financial literacy class to help address these issues and answer difficult questions about money. It is recommended that participants attend both class sessions, though not required. This session is free of charge and open to the public. No registration is required. This two-part class will be held on Thursday, Jan. 21, and Thursday, Jan. 28. • FREE SEYMOUR FARMER’S MARKET FREE GARDENING WORKSHOPS • Seymour Branch Library • 7PM • This program is part of the library’s quarterly special interest series. • FREE HIKING THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL: FOOD AND EQUIPMENT • REI • 7PM • Considering a hike on the Appalachian Trail?

Whether you are thru hiking or just taking a short weekend trip, REI Outdoor School can help you prepare for the trail. In this class, we will discuss details of food and equipment selection, including picking the right clothing/layers, and gear details. Registration required at www.rei.com/knoxville. • FREE BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 Friday, Jan. 29 GOODWILL RESUME WORKSHOP • Goodwill Industries • 1PM • Make a good first impression with a thoughtful resume.

Learn how to make a solid and effective resume to highlight your strengths and catch the employer’s eye.

Classes will take place in Goodwill’s Computer Lab. We recommend bringing your current resume, or as much information about your employment history as possible.

This session is free of charge and open to the public. No registration is required. • FREE INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS • Goodwill Industries • 1PM • Not sure how to use a computer? Goodwill can help.

Meet in the Bearden Goodwill’s computer lab to get hands-on experience and step-by-step instructions to learn the basics of using a computer. From turning it on to creating your own e-mail address to writing a Word document and using your first Excel spreadsheet, we’ll answer all your computer questions. This session is free of charge and open to the public. No registration is required. • FREE Saturday, Jan. 30 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE BEGINNING GENEALOGY • East Tennessee History Center • 1PM • Instructor: Ann Blomquist, MEd. How to begin your family search using family, governmental, library, and

electronic resources. Call 865.215.8809 beginning Jan 19 to register.The 2016 Saturday Free Genealogical Courses at the East Tennessee History Center are co-sponsored by the East Tennessee Historical Society, the McClung Historical Collection – Knox County Public Library, and the Knox County Archives. All courses in the series are free and open to the public. • FREE KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: PRUNING 101 • Bearden Branch Public Library • 2:30PM • Confused about what to prune, when to prune, how to prune? Join Master Gardener Marsha Lehman for a presentation on the basic rules and tools of pruning. You will also learn how to find reliable information on pruning specific plants.This free public event is offered on Saturday, January 30, from 2:30-3:30pm at the Bearden Branch Library, 100 Golf Club Rd, Knoxville 37919, phone 865-588-8813 or knoxlib.org. • FREE ANDREW HURST: “CARING FOR YOUR PAINTINGS AND ARTIFACTS” • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • Do you own a piece of art made by Knoxville artist Lloyd Branson? If so, the East Tennessee Historical Society would like to know about it. In the decades after the Civil War, Lloyd Branson rose from a precocious sketcher on his family’s East Tennessee farm to become an accomplished artist and Knoxville’s most popular portraitist. Lloyd Branson completed hundreds of paintings, but unfortunately we have no detailed original records listing his artistic production. To document the breadth of Branson’s career, ETHS is conducting a survey of works associated with Knoxville’s “native genius.” The public is invited to bring Branson paintings, photographs, and other materials to the East Tennessee History Center to be photographed or scanned by ETHS staff and entered into a database of Branson’s known works. At noon, Andrew Hurst, a retired professional from the University of Tennessee’s McClung Museum, will conduct a program on caring for your paintings and other artifacts. For more information about the Branson Documentation, please call Michele MacDonald, curator of collections, at 865-215-8829. • FREE INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 1:30PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. We focus on keeping students engaged while learning West African drum and dance and culture in a fun and safe environment. Drum classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. Dancing classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. • $10 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 2:30PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. We focus on keeping students engaged while learning West African drum and dance and culture in a fun and safe environment. Drum classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. Dancing classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. • $10

Can an old bakery have a romantic past?

Find out in the first of our Historic Happy Hour series with Knoxville’s resident historian and Knoxville Mercury columnist, Jack Neely.

He’ll tell us all about the surprisingly romantic past of one of the oldest buildings on Market Square.

The historic Kerns Building today houses Tupelo Honey Cafe, the Oliver Hotel, and Oliver Royale, which will also be stops on the tour.

Monday, Feb. 8 5:30-7:30 pm Tupelo Honey Cafe (in the historic Kerns Building on Market Square) Scratch-made, delicious Southern food provided by Tupelo Honey Cafe.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Sunday, Jan. 31 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY MINDFULNESS BASED STRESS REDUCTION • Cancer Support Community • 4:30PM January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35

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

Monday, Feb. 1 NIA CARDIO-DANCE WORKOUT TECHNIQUE CLASS • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 10AM • Email emilybryant24@yahoo.com. Blending dance arts, martial arts, yoga and healing arts in a 55-minute mindful fitness fusion.

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

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

Whether it was sudden or was years in the making, we all need to heal our hearts, rebuild trust and get on with the rest of our lives. You have a choice: you can either go through divorce or you can grow through divorce. The format includes both a large and small group presentations by trained leaders. Attend Divorce Recovery to begin reframing and moving on with your life. Cost for

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

the 14-week course is $75, which includes a book and workbook. • $75 KMA WINTER ADULT WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 10AM • All classes are held at the KMA with easy access and plenty of free parking. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Classes and workshops are taught by professional artists, living and working in the East Tennessee area. For a full description of classes and registration information, visit www.knoxart.org.

INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • #N/A • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. We focus on keeping students engaged while learning West African drum and dance and culture in a fun and safe environment. Drum classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. Dancing classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. • $10 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • #N/A • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. We focus on keeping students engaged while learning West African drum and dance and culture in a fun and safe environment. Drum classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:45 p.m. to

Celebrate & Save!

In Honor of Sunset Bar’s 1st Birthday!

Any gourmet burger & fries plus a draft beer $12

6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. Dancing classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. • $10 Tuesday, Feb. 2 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted.

BLOUNT COUNTY LIBRARY BASIC COMPUTER CLASSES • Blount County Public Library • 2PM • Basic computer classes are offered, free, at the library Jan. 6-March 10. • FREE OMNI VISIONS FOSTER CARE TRAINING • Omni Visions Inc. • 6PM • Omni Visions is in need of foster and adoptive families as well as families that will provide respite care.

Omni Visions Treatment Parents receive financial reimbursement for each day a child lives in your home, as well as 24/7 support from our staff. Join us for our free PATH (Parents As Tender Healers) Training and open your heart and home to a child in need. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Rebecca Horton at (865) 524-4393 ext 1204 or rhorton@omnivisions.com. • FREE KMA WINTER ADULT WORKSHOPS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 8AM • All classes are held at the KMA with easy access and plenty of free parking. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Classes and workshops are taught by professional artists, living and working in the East Tennessee area. For a full description of classes and registration information, visit www.knoxart.org.

Wednesday, Feb. 3

NIA CARDIO-DANCE WORKOUT TECHNIQUE CLASS • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 6PM • Email emilybryant24@yahoo.com. Blending dance arts, martial arts, yoga and healing arts in a 55-minute mindful fitness fusion.

AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Oak Ridge Senior Center • 9:30AM • For registration and information, call (865) 382-5822.

INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • #N/A • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. We focus on keeping students engaged while learning West African drum and dance and culture in a fun and safe environment. Drum classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. Dancing classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. • $10 NIA CARDIO-DANCE WORKOUT TECHNIQUE CLASS • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 6PM • Email emilybryant24@yahoo.com. Blending dance arts, martial arts, yoga and healing arts in a 55-minute mindful fitness fusion.

INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • #N/A • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

•Viet Wednesday •Comfort Thursday •Falafel Friday •Saturday & Sunday

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13 Market Square • 865-246-2270 • trio-cafe.net 36

ENJOY THESE GREAT WEEKLY SPECIALS AT BOTH HOLLY’S LOCATIONS. •Meatless Monday Vegan & Vegetarian specials •Tijuana Tuesday Good Golly Tamale & other South of the

Border inspired Goodness Pho, Bahn Mi, & other Southeast Asia inspired Goodness Old favorites like Meatloaf, Chicken & Slicks, Mashed Spuds, Mac & Cheese How many kinds of Falafel can we invent?

Waffle specials, Egg specials and other creative ways to get you to come enjoy all day Goodness with us!!

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Thursday, Jan. 28 - Sunday, Feb. 7

drumming and dancing. We focus on keeping students engaged while learning West African drum and dance and culture in a fun and safe environment. Drum classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. Dancing classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. • $10 Thursday, Feb. 4 PLANET MOTION WORLD DANCE FITNESS • Champion Ballroom Center • 10AM • All levels fun dance workout incorporating dance and music styles from around the world.

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

BLOUNT COUNTY LIBRARY BASIC COMPUTER CLASSES • Blount County Public Library • 2PM • Basic computer classes are offered, free, at the library Jan. 6-March 10. • FREE BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Oak Ridge Senior Center • 9:30AM • For registration and information, call (865) 382-5822.

SEYMOUR FARMER’S MARKET FREE GARDENING WORKSHOPS • Seymour Branch Library • 7PM • This program is part of the library’s quarterly special interest series. • FREE Saturday, Feb. 6 IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 1:30PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. We focus on keeping students engaged while learning West African drum and dance and culture in a fun and safe environment. Drum classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. Dancing classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. • $10 INDIGENOUS VIBES STUDIOS AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE CLASS • Indigenous Vibes Studios • 2:30PM • Our drum and dance classes are specifically designed toward making the drum and dance experience as easy and fun as possible to those with little to no background in drumming and dancing. We focus on keeping students engaged while learning West African drum and dance and culture in a fun and safe environment. Drum classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. Dancing classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. • $10 Sunday, Feb. 7 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY MINDFULNESS BASED STRESS REDUCTION • Cancer Support Community • 4:30PM • This 8-week training program, developed by Dr. Jon Kabat- Zinn from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is a systematic practice that involves focusing attention, relaxing the body and integrating the mind and body to reduce stress. Evidence shows that this program

CALENDAR

can be effective for controlling anxiety, depression and stress. Must attend the January 10 orientation in order to participate in the series, which runs from January 17-March 6 from 4:30-6:30pm. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

MEETINGS

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

Conductors are Matt Wilkinson and Ace Edewards.

Prospective members, especially string players, are encouraged to contact Alicia Meryweather at ScruffyCityOrchestra@gmail.com for more information. • FREE Saturday, Jan. 30 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Al-Anon’s purpose is to help families and friends of alcoholics recover from the effects of living with the problem drinking of a relative or friend. Visit our local website at farragutalanon.org or email us at FindHope@ Farragutalanon.org. • FREE Monday, Feb. 1 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.

Wednesday, Feb. 3 COMITE POPULAR DE KNOXVILLE • The Birdhouse • 7PM • A weekly meeting of the local immigrant advocacy organization.

Thursday, Feb. 4 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 SCRUFFY CITY ORCHESTRA • First Baptist Church • 7PM • A new venue for musicians from the greater Knoxville metropolitan area, Scruffy City Orchestra, kicks off with regular rehearsals on Thursdays beginning January 28th from 7:00 until 9:00 at First Baptist Church on Main Street.

Conductors are Matt Wilkinson and Ace Edewards.

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

KNOXVILLE WRITERS’ GUILD • Central United Methodist Church • 7PM • Hip-hop spoken word artist and six-time nationally ranked slam poet Black Atticus will present, “The Art of Flow” - a spoken word presentation smoothed out on the R&B tip with hip hop-appeal to it. This will include his newest book and CD, “Park City Pedestrian”. The event, which will be open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m., Thursday, February 4 in Central United Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall, 201 E. Third Ave. CUMC is a new venue for monthly KWG programs and attendees should enter off of the large parking lot behind the church. A $2 donation is requested at the door. The building is handicapped accessible. This program will be a great preview of his Feb. 6 workshop entitled “Writer or Die”, where Atticus will walk attendees through the thought process and techniques he’s used to coach, both regional & national poetry slam teams. . Black’s merchandise will also be available for purchase at this program and workshop. For more information about Atticus, visit his website: http://blackatticus.wix.com/ officialhomepage#!biography.

Saturday, Feb. 6 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 SEEKERS OF SILENCE • Church of the Savior United Church of Christ • 9AM • Knoxvillian Jim Harb, long-time promoter of peace in the Middle East, will speak on “The Crisis in Religion in Our Time: The Historic Transformation of the Three Great Monotheistic Religions” at the Seekers of Silence meeting Feb. 6 at the Church of the Savior, 934 North Weisgarber Road. All are welcome. SOS is an ecumenical and interfaith group seeking closer communion with God through silent prayer. The meetings are free and all are invited. Website: sosknoxville.org. • FREE

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

ETC.

Thursday, Jan. 28 LITTLE RIVER TRADING CO. PINTS WITH A PURPOSE • Little River Trading Co. • 5PM • The next Community Partners Pints for a Purpose, which is set for 5pm -9 p.m.

Thursday, January 28th, at Switchback Craft Beer Tavern/ Little River Training Co., 2408 E Lamar Alexander Parkway, will benefit Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont (www.gsmit.org) .Sponsored by Blount Partnership, Osprey Packs and Smartwool. Thanks to opur sponsors 100% of the nights beer sales proceeds goes to the advocate. Featuring Yeehaw Brewing Co. and Tootsie Truck.

BURNS SUPPER • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 6PM • The Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems. There will be food, music, poetry and more. Drinks at 6PM and food at 7PM. • $40

Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37

’BYE

R estless Nat ive

Breaking News The night the newsroom was the news

BY CHRIS WOHLWEND

T

he episode that led to the newsroom being set on fire began with a prank and ended with ax-wielding firemen running up the stairs and bursting into the second-floor quarters of The Knoxville Journal.

Involved were several copy editors, the wire editor, the news editor, the political reporter, and, most prominently, the city-hall reporter.

The result included scorched ceiling tiles, half-burned stories that were destined to run in the paper and were now thoroughly drenched by the contents of a fire extinguisher, an empty gallon rubber-cement can, and a half-soaked political reporter. And, after the fire department’s departure, an embarrassed telephone call to the managing editor.

The episode occurred in the late 1960s, an era at the Journal when the staff consisted of grizzled newspaper characters augmented with college kids willing to work cheap. I was one of the latter.

The veterans included city-hall reporter Ron McMahan, notorious for keeping a desk overrun with newspapers, clippings, wadded carbon paper, Blue Circle bags and shriveled fries

left from weeks-old meals, an ashtray full of cigarette butts, and other unidentifiable bits of detritus.

McMahan’s office domain was next to the horseshoe-shaped copy desk, the hub of the newsroom, which was peopled primarily by the aforementioned grizzled veterans. Coffee fueled most of the staff, and on any given night, at least two of the copy editors would augment the caffeine with beverages containing alcohol.

The news editor sat in the slot of the copy desk, with six editors seated around the outside edge. The wire editor, Bob Adams, occupied the seat at the end closest to the room where the Associated Press machines clattered out the latest world developments.

The copy editors and some of the reporters periodically admonished McMahan to clean up his desk, pointing out that the cockroaches housed in the empty hamburger bags were widening their food-search circles to include the neighboring work stations.

Most of the time McMahan ignored his neighbors’ comments, but a couple of times a year the mess would become unbearable even to him. He would then delegate a copy

BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY

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KNOXVILLE MERCURY January 28, 2016

www.thespiritofthestaircase.com

clerk to clean up his desk. “Throw away everything except the clippings,” he would say.

The fire episode followed one such tidy-up. As McMahan beamed at his newly cleaned desk, he compared it to the mess of the copy desk, covered with stories and ripped-up newspaper pages and pica poles and glue pots.

Then he went to dinner. And the copy editors went to work.

Within minutes, McMahan’s desk was trashed: wadded up newspaper pages, carbon paper, rubber cement puddles decorated with shavings from pencil sharpeners and the contents of ash trays. The copy clerk who had cleaned the desk tried to stop the desecration, but finally fled to the Blue Circle up the street, wisely deciding to take a dinner hour of his own.

When McMahan returned he took one look at his desk and walked back to the storage closet, returning with a one-gallon can of rubber cement. He uncapped the can, climbed on top of the copy desk and walked around it pouring rubber cement over everything, including wire photos and stories destined for the upcoming Four Star edition.

Just as McMahan jumped down, Adams emerged from the wire room and saw the glint of the rubber cement on the desk in front of his chair. And someone said, “Whatever you do, Bob, don’t strike a match.”

Naturally, that’s what he did.

The glue went all around the horseshoe and, in an instant, so did the flames.

As everyone jumped back, one reporter had the presence to phone the fire department and another grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall and started working on the flames. Political reporter Ralph Griffith, seeing humor in the situation, began laughing in his annoying high-pitched cackle. He, too, was hosed with the extinguisher.

By the time the firemen arrived, the flames were out and the copy desk crew was trying to salvage what they could of the Four Star stories and photos.

And the slot man, news editor Byron Drinnon, was busy on the phone with managing editor Steve Humphrey. He had the difficult task of explaining to Humphrey why his hand-delivered copy of the Four Star was going to be late. ◆

“Whatever you do, Bob, don’t strike a match.”

Naturally, that’s what he did.

’BYE

BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY

CLASSIFIEDS

Place your ad at store.knoxmercury.com

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

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

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

NORTH KNOXVILLE’S PREMIER RENTAL HOMES pittmanproperties.com

COMMUNITY

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

JOBS

$5 NEW YEAR’S SALE, local and handmade, unique and modern, repurposed vintage beads, hand-painted geometric necklaces, and more. etsy.com/shop/triciabee

HOUSING 1BR APARTMENT IN PARKRIDGE - $425.

Take half off rent for first month, available for February leasing.

865-438-4870

WANT TO FIND A COPY OF THE KNOXVILLE MERCURY?

We’ve got a map for that!

It’ll be updated as we add more locations.

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

ANGEL IS A 4-YEAR-OLD medium-sized female black and tan Shepherd/ Rottweiler mix looking for her forever home.

Angel will be spayed, microchipped and fully vetted when adopted.

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

DOLLYWOOD IS HIRING EXPERIENCED THEATRICAL AUDIO TECHNICIANS AND LIGHTING TECHNICIANS FOR THE 2016 SEASON. At least one year experience required. College degree a plus. Pay starts at $10/hr.

Exceptional benefits package. Please bring resume and letter of interest to interview, Saturday, Jan 30th, 11:00am - 2:00pm, at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. Questions?

Please send an email to “auditions@dollywood.com”.

DOLLYWOOD ENTERTAINMENT WILL BE HOLDING AUDITIONS IN PIGEON FORGE, Saturday, January 30th, 11:00am-2:00pm, at Dollywood, 2700 Dollywood Parks Blvd.

Casting singers who move and actors who sing and move. Registration begins at 9:00am. Must be at least 17. For more information, including audition requirements, pay rates and benefits, go to www. dollywoodauditions.com.

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January 28, 2016

KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39