NOVEMBER 10, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM
IS IT OVER YET?
JACK NEELY
Hillary and Donald: the Oddest and Oldest Pair of Nominees in History
MUSIC
The Ever Hard-Rockin’ Supersuckers Won’t Quit After 28 Years
Inside the struggle I gle against sex trafficking in i Knoxville K e
2 / N.44
U N C H A I N E D
V.
ELEANOR SCOTT
Conserving Nature in the Ditches and Hedgerows of the Inner City
NEW PUZZLE!
Introducing the Mulberry Place Cryptoquote by Joan Keuper
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
smart phone and iPad app.
Nov. 10, 2016 Volume 02 / Issue 44 knoxmercury.com
CONTENTS
“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government—except for all those other forms.” —Winston Churchill
8 Unchained COVER STORY
Sex trafficking is a very old crime. But treating it as a crime is new. Simply put, sex trafficking involves using force, fraud, or coercion to get someone else to sell sex. Sex trafficking victims are mostly local girls turned sex slaves, although most don’t see themselves that way. Until recently, no one saw them that way. Since 2011, Tennessee has become a national leader in the effort to uncover and punish sex trafficking. Yet Knoxville—the only major city in the state with no safe house for trafficking victims—lagged in understanding the problem until the last 18 months or so. Since then, there have been more arrests of pimps and men who pay for sex, an expansion of support services for victims, and a push to open a safe house in 2017. S. Heather Duncan gets the firsthand view of one local sextrafficking victim, and reports on how law enforcement is adapting to the problem.
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DEPARTMENTS
OPINION
A&E
5 Howdy
6 Scruffy Citizen
14 Program Notes: Public art’s coming
Start Here: By the Numbers, Public Affairs, and PechaKucha Knoxville—each week, we run a slide from an interesting local presentation.
30 ’Bye
Finish There: That ’70s Girl by Angie Vicars. Plus Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray, and our new puzzle: Mulberry Place Cryptoquote by Joan Keuper
Jack Neely can’t help but make one historical observation on the presidential candidates: They’re both really old.
7 Possum City
Eleanor Scott explains her recent brush with the law: unconstrained brush.
CALENDAR to Cumberland Avenue, and Paul Lee Kupfer releases a new album.
15 Inside the Vault: Eric Dawson
19 Spotlights: Carl Sublett’s The Lure of Maine, Kelsea Ballerini, Dillinger Escape Plan
concludes his foray into early Vols filmography.
16 Music: Mike Gibson talks with
Eddie Spaghetti about his long run with the unstoppable Supersuckers.
17 Classical Music: Alan Sherrod
previews UT Opera’s production of Claudio Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses.
18 Movies: Nathan Smith visits Hotel Dallas, a documentary from filmmaking couple Livia Ungar and Sherng-Lee Huang.
November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3
Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015
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 CONTRIBUTORS
Friday, November 18, 2016
at the Knoxville Marriott • 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM HONORING THESE INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Chris Barrett Ian Blackburn Patrice Cole Eric Dawson George Dodds Thomas Fraser Lee Gardner Mike Gibson Nick Huinker Donna Johnson Tracy Jones Catherine Landis
Dennis Perkins Stephanie Piper Ryan Reed Eleanor Scott Alan Sherrod Nathan Smith April Snellings Joe Sullivan Kim Trevathan Chris Wohlwend Angie Vicars Carol Z. Shane
INTERNS
Hayley Brundige Maria Smith
DESIGN ART DIRECTOR Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Charlie Finch
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
David Luttrell Shawn Poynter Justin Fee Tyler Oxendine
Legacy Award Recipient
Sharon Pryse
Chairman & CEO of The Trust Company
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS
Matthew Foltz-Gray
ADVERTISING PUBLISHER & DIRECTOR OF SALES Charlie Vogel charlie@knoxmercury.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Scott Hamstead scott@knoxmercury.com Stacey Pastor stacey@knoxmercury.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Michael Tremoulis michael@knoxmercury.com
BUSINESS Outstanding Philanthropist
BUSINESS MANAGER Scott Dickey scott.dickey@knoxmercury.com
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY
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Consolidated Nuclear Systems Outstanding Foundation
The Butterfly Fund & The Clayton Family Foundation
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Fundraising Professional of the Year
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jack Neely Coury Turczyn Joe Sullivan 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
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
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HOWDY
BY THE NUMBERS
Sex Trafficking
Photo by Josh Wolitzky
PECHA KUCHA NIGHT KNOXVILLE THREE BEARS COFFEE CO. | Jeff Scheafnocker | Presented Nov. 12, 2015 Jeff Scheafnocker shares how Three Bears Coffee Company is focused on supporting the most conscientious coffee growers and roasting their coffees for the enjoyment of the greater Knoxville community. This is the story of how Three Bears came into being and where they’re headed. | Watch the 6-minute presentation at pechakucha.org/cities/knoxville
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
11/10 SEMINAR: ‘BRIDGING THE AMERICAS’ THURSDAY
6-8 p.m., SEEED Knox (1617 Dandridge Ave.). Free. Part of a six-city tour and hosted locally by Black Lives Matter Knoxville, this seminar features Afro-Colombian community leaders discussing their efforts to transform their neighborhoods into “peace zones” and to overturn systemic barriers and injustices. Info: amelia@pbiusa.org.
11/12 SECOND SATURDAY SOUTH SATURDAY
9 a.m.-7 p.m., South Knoxville The South Knoxville Alliance assembles a monthly mini-festival of great experiences to be found south of the river. In this installment, you can enjoy a Birding Brunch (10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Ijams Nature Center), hear some tall tales by Laura Still (noon to 3 p.m. at Tea & Treasures), and more. Info: facebook.com/SoKnoxAlliance.
94 48 90 83 22 7 13
Number of children trafficked online in Tennessee in any given month Hours it takes for one-third of runaways to be trafficked after they leave home Percentage of runaways who ultimately end up in the commercial sex trade Percentage of U.S. sex trafficking victims between 2008-2010 who were U.S. citizens Percentage of states that protect minor victims from prosecution
Average years of life of a commercial sex slave, once trafficked The average age of a child sold for sex
—S. Heather Duncan Sources: Coalition Against Human Trafficking (ccaht. org), rights4girls.org, demandingjustice.org, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
11/15 ROUNDTABLE: ‘A CALL TO ACTION’ 11/16 RIBBON CUTTING: SUTTREE LANDING PARK TUESDAY
6:30 p.m., The International (940 Blackstock Ave.). Free. This public discussion features KPD Chief David Rausch and PARC Executive Director Clarence Vaughn III, and aims to build a better rapport between the community and its leaders.
WEDNESDAY
1 p.m., Suttree Landing Park (901 Langford Ave.). Free. The city’s first new park in 12 years is officially unveiled. (Yeah, it’s named after that guy in that novel!) Be prepared to see festival lawns, a playground, picnic tables, and a kayak put-in. But that’s not all! There’s also the brand-new Waterfront Drive, and it’s got sidewalks and landscaping.
November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5
SCRUFFY CITIZEN
The Fault in our Stars Hillary and Donald, the oddest and oldest pair of nominees in history BY JACK NEELY
F
irst I should own up to the fact that I don’t know what we decided on Tuesday. This column is going to press as they’re counting the ballots. But I know it would be hard to get your attention with anything else this week, so I thought I’d bring up a demographic oddity that in any normal election cycle might have gotten more attention from the pundits. If Hillary and Donald are the oddest couple to face each other in any presidential election, they’re also the oldest. When Ronald Reagan campaigned for president in 1980, a major issue raised by Democrats was his advanced age. When he campaigned in Knoxville, with a parade down Gay Street and a speech on Market Square, he was a long-ago California governor, and an even longer-ago Hollywood actor, from the black and white era. I watched him roll by in a convertible as I was eating a Blaufeld’s Deli sandwich. To me, he seemed ancient. He was 69. Back then, the pundits expressed concern that Reagan, well beyond what was then the mandatory retirement age in many corporations, was too old to take on such a big job and guarantee that he would be able to do it for four years. No one Reagan’s age had ever been elected president. The closest was William Henry Harrison, who was 68. He died after just one month in office. (By the way, Harrison’s earlier rival and Knoxville’s only resident presidential
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
candidate, Hugh Lawson White was, at 63, among the oldest ever to seek the office. White died during what would have been his first term.) Reagan’s opponents, a little unfairly I thought, often portrayed him in cartoons as a California raisin, his face a gross mess of wrinkles. As president, Reagan relished defying expectations with his health and vigor and quick wit. That is, until the latter part of his second term, when he was reportedly showing the early effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Somehow Donald Trump doesn’t get the wrinkle treatment in cartoons. Still, Trump is eight months older now than Reagan was at the time of the 1980 election. Hillary Clinton, now 69, isn’t much younger. Previously in American history, the old guys always ran against younger guys. Both times Reagan ran for the office, his opponents were more than a decade younger. Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale were both 56 when they were the Democratic nominees. Martin Van Buren was 58 when old man Harrison beat him. Bob Dole was 73 when he lost to 50-yearold Bill Clinton. John McCain was 72 when he was the Republican nominee against Barack Obama, who was just 47. This time, we had a 69-year-old running against a 70-year-old. The United States has never seen so great an average age for its major-party nominees. What does that mean? Ordinarily we don’t expect our elders to be the
outrageous, combative, shameless, irreverent, profane ones of our society. Or the indefatigable ones. This election is inspiring in exactly one respect, that maybe we don’t have to slow down at 65. Even if, in some cases, we should. And it’s an irony that this campaign of America’s oldest-ever candidates is, by far, the most electronic-media driven election in U.S. history. In a weird way, that may not be a coincidence. The nominees are both people we’ve been hearing about for a long time. More relevant than their combined biological age may be the fact that each nominee has been a national celebrity—or “a star” as Mr. Trump prefers—for more than a quarter century. Not since the days of the Founding Fathers have both presidential nominees been people whose names had been familiar to most Americans 25 years earlier. We’ve always had at least one choice who was, if not a dark horse, a fresher face, and to some extent an unknown quantity. We’ve always had the option of believing that maybe this less-familiar person will rise to the challenge, grow into the job. Unfamiliarity gives us hope, even though we know they’re human beings (and, even worse, human beings dealing with Congress), and will always disappoint us. Still, every four years, we do like to believe. You’d think that decades in the public spotlight might offer an advantage, that long acquaintance might give Americans a chance to get to know these folks who want to lead us. But maybe we know these two particular folks too well. We know their names, but we know them in
part because we’ve also seen them made fun of on late-night talk shows, in Doonesbury, on Saturday Night Live, since the 20th century. I was a very young man when Trump first emerged, without any obvious political ideology, as a ridiculous caricature of the Yankee mogul. He was, during the Reagan administration, the “short-fingered vulgarian.” It wasn’t long after that that I heard people making fun of Hillary Clinton as a cookie baker, and making comparisons of her with Tammy Wynette. That was all a long time ago. We knew Hillary and Donald by first name even before most people had email, even before we’d ever seen a cell phone. Maybe an irony of the fast-paced Twitter culture is that names don’t command the attention of modern voters unless they’re extremely familiar. Until they’ve been in the national public eye long enough to be associated with multiple rumors and scandals. Twitter is new technology, but it’s not a place to learn about new political leaders with new ideas. Online political discourse relies on familiar hot buttons, familiar punchlines, quick-read caricatures. Unless you already have a profile, you’re unlikely to make an appearance there. In 2016, our discourse is mostly thus: OMG. LOL. Emoji. Next subject. Trump makes a big splash on Twitter. Lincoln, the ungainly country lawyer, would not have. He required paragraphs. Hillary and Donald have both graduated through pop culture to the highest status of popular culture. They have been around long enough to become emojis. And, therefore, nominees. ◆
Not since the days of the Founding Fathers have both presidential nominees been people whose names had been familiar to most Americans 25 years earlier.
says Marris in a TED Talk. According to her, an inner-city lot overgrown with invasive trees of heaven and non-native Queen Anne’s lace is a thriving ecosystem that supports life, therefore a natural area worth cherishing. In the interest of preserving species and strengthening ecosystems, Marris suggests conservationists should divide their land into thirds. One area should be restored to pre-development conditions, planting natives and removing non-natives the way the government manages federal parks like Yellowstone. In the second area, gardeners should experiment with a variety of native and hardy non-native plants, such as blight-resistant Asian chestnuts that can take the ecological niche of the nearly-extinct American chestnut. The third area should be left alone and observed. What beautiful things will happen to an area left untended? The biggest surprise of my unmowed hedge was the large praying mantis population, and their famous courtship rituals we were able to observe up close. Ignoring a codes violation notice from the city is expensive. If a property owner fails to cut back overgrowth, the city will, and charge you for equipment and labor. If the owner doesn’t pay the bill, the city places a lien on the property. After that, penalties escalate to misdemeanors, court costs, and imprisonment. A neighbor who ignored the codes enforcement letters lost two young peach trees to the city’s chipper this year and paid hundreds of dollars in
POSSUM CITY
City Life Conserving nature in the ditches and hedgerows of the inner city BY ELEANOR SCOTT
in a Post-Wild World, argues that in our humanized landscape we should expand our concept of nature to include any scrap of land where life thrives. If we want children to care about nature, they should be allowed to explore the bugs and plants that exist in small, unintentional micro-nature preserves in their own neighborhoods. “Some of the places my kids love the most are empty lots and little unmown strips along a commercial building or along the side of the road,”
Eleanor Scott is a freelance writer and columnist living in East Knoxville. Possum City tells small stories of wildlife and people thriving on the edges of the city.
I was surprised Neighborhood Codes Enforcement had allowed my experiment to continue for as long as it did.
Photo by Eleanor Scott
W
hen you champion wildlife in the city, you sometimes run afoul of codes enforcement. In late summer I received a letter from the city about the ditch along my side yard. The letter stated that I had violated Section 13-143 of the city code (overgrown lot) and ordered that I “cut the overgrowth back from the street.” I had been expecting this letter for a while and was surprised Neighborhood Codes Enforcement had allowed my experiment to continue for as long as it did. I am grateful for the months the city permitted an untamed hedge of mugwort and small-flower white aster to grow in the ditch between the road and my fence, along with a drift of volunteer zinnias and a clump of invasive blue dayflower sprouting from the moist soil at the mouth of the culvert. These low-growing plants did not pose a safety risk; the violation was a matter of aesthetics. The profusion of plants—native and imported, wild and cultivated—could not be mistaken for a formal flower garden by even the most generous codes enforcer. All summer, the hedge buzzed with a variety of bees. Butterflies floated from flower to flower, and praying mantises crept along stems. Emma Marris, author of The Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature
fees. While it lasted, that strip of sidewalk felt exciting and special. Enormous sunflowers bent over the sidewalk. The branches of the peach trees growing in the verge met above the heads of pedestrians. In the front yard, a thicket of orange cosmos stood taller than a man. When I got my letter, the mugwort was in bloom. Mugwort is an Old World import traditionally used in brewing. The plant is prized by herbalists as a mild psychotropic, and drinking mugwort tea is said to enhance one’s dreams. The flowers are tiny and pale. The stems are woody and ungainly. I clipped them all down with hand pruners leaving tiny stumps. I wanted to save the small-flower white aster, not yet blooming in September. This native wildflower is excellent for wildlife. In bloom, each plant has many clusters of small white daisy-like blossoms providing forage for orchard bees, metallic sweat bees, and other small native pollinators. White asters are late-blooming, extending the foraging season, and supplying food for bees preparing for winter. I staked the asters and shoveled a ring of wood chips around each plant. The ditch looked mangled, but it looked intentional, subject to human control. Codes enforcement was satisfied. The asters are blooming now. ◆
November 10, 2016
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
Inside the struggle I gle against sex trafficking in i Knoxville K e
U N C H A I N E D
F
or a woman who lived most of her life in a very dark place, Destiny beams light. Her hair is scraped back tightly to reveal bright eyes shining from a round face and a smile that flashes like a lighthouse beam. But her bubbly demeanor can mask other emotions close to the surface. It’s a daily struggle to trust others and to forgive herself and her family for the manipulation, addiction, and
prostitution that dominated her life until a year ago. Today, Destiny (who chose a pseudonym for this article) is working her first legit job as a hostess at a popular local family restaurant. Her career goal is to be a chef on a cargo ship, because she loves to feed people using her own recipes. (Her jerk chicken, she says, is renowned). Until recently, Destiny could not
have imagined such a future, or even her life today: A paycheck to spend as she chooses. A quiet evening at home. A bed that is hers alone. Destiny’s history is not unusual. It is typical of the devastation wrought by sex trafficking, a crime that is only now gaining broader recognition. Simply put, sex trafficking involves using force, fraud, or coercion to get someone else to sell sex.
Traffickers have many faces: A mother who threatens abandonment. A “boyfriend” who beats up his girl if she won’t sell herself. A trafficker might trick someone into traveling to a strange town for a job, then trap them into prostitution. Coercion might involve deliberately getting a girl addicted to drugs, then withholding them if she doesn’t comply. Many cases involve more than one of these. Sex trafficking victims are mostly local girls turned sex slaves, although most don’t see themselves that way. Until recently, no one saw them that way. Sex trafficking is a very old crime. But treating it as a crime is new. Since 2011, Tennessee has become a national leader in the effort to uncover and punish sex trafficking. Yet Knoxville—the only major city in the state with no safe house for trafficking victims—lagged in understanding the problem until the last 18 months or so. Since then, there have been more arrests of pimps and men who pay for sex, an expansion of support services for victims, and a push to open a safe house in 2017. “It’s not dissimilar from the paradigm shift that occurred 30 years ago for domestic violence or drinking and driving,” says Margie Quin, special agent at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Those behaviors were long viewed as victimless confl icts or personal choices. Now they are deplored in our culture and aggressively pursued by police. Police didn’t often use anti-pimping laws on the books because they believed pimps were merely fi xers, with prostitutes driving the trade. The perspective is shifting to a viewpoint that women would not generally choose to be prostitutes if they were not exploited by pimps. New laws about trafficking go beyond existing “promoting prostitution” charges to emphasize the power of the pimps and the buyers. “We’re learning more about how this crime occurs, who is committing this crime, and what the demand looks like,” says Quin, who supervises TBI’s statewide human trafficking unit. The unit worked with local law enforcement to arrest 32 people in a Knoxville trafficking sting in May. “Is [the prevalence of trafficking] as overwhelming as the experts and pundits and nonprofits would tell you? What we have found is—” she pauses.
“Yeah.” She packs a combination of awe and nausea into that syllable. “When we post three ads on [the online classified site] Backpage and we have 400 different men contact us in three days, that’s demand,” Quin says. At any one time there are about 50 such online ads running for the Knoxville area, she says. Do the math: That adds up to around 6,650 Knoxville-area men seeking to buy sex on a single weekend. Recent Knoxville arrests show these “johns” often have an interest in teenagers. Destiny was a teen when she was steered into The Life in her own home. She was raised by a drug-addicted mother whose male “friends” often hung out at the house. Starting when she was around 13, Destiny remembers, “Mom used to have guys messing with me to support her habit.” Sometimes Destiny and her sister would live with her grandmother while her mom was in jail, but they returned as soon as she was released. Destiny began to feel that no one cared. She wanted to try the drugs she saw her mother use, and her mom shared. “I used to run away all the time,” Destiny recalls. When she was about 15, one of many attempts ended back at her mom’s house. Destiny felt like killing herself, and told her mother. She was shocked and frightened when she found herself sent to a mental institution for teens. She was released after nine months to a series of group homes, until she turned 18 and ended up on the street. “When you’re out there, you’re just so vulnerable,” she says. “It’s a very cold and dark world.” She didn’t have a high school education and had learned the only way to survive was to trade in sex. “I knew if I wanted somewhere to stay, I would have to give up something,” she says. “My mama always told me that. One time I had this guy who was really into me, and I liked him. She wanted me to talk to this other guy because he sold drugs, but I didn’t like him. I remember her saying harsh words to me. “I knew from that moment: If I want something, that’s how I bought it. That’s the only thing I knew.”
WHO ARE THE VICTIMS?
Victims of sex trafficking are often not who most Americans imagine. They
WHO TO CALL FOR HELP • Report trafficking via the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline: 888-373-7888
• Reports can also be made by emailing nhtrc@polarisproject.org, submitting a tip through the online tip reporting form at traffickingresourcecenter.org. • Tennessee trafficking hotline: 855-558-6484
This year alone, 5,748 sex trafficking cases had been reported by the end of September via the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline, including 80 in Tennessee.
aren’t foreigners in massage parlors or scantily-clad women on street corners. They are American citizens, often being sold from home or from perfectly nice hotels (although truck stops are also a hot spot) using online classified ads. Kate Trudell, executive director of the Knoxville nonprofit Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking (CCAHT), says 80 percent of the victims her organization helps are white women from East Tennessee, mostly between the ages of 19 and 23—although most were sold for sex starting at age 14 or 15. Many johns—men who buy sex— are middle-class, white, married men who use Paypal to settle their tab, according to the TBI. Based on research that 1 in 43 American men have bought a prostitute, TBI estimated in 2013 that 433,566 men in Tennessee have done so. Police and trafficking experts say criminals have figured out that running guns or selling drugs is a risky endeavor: Get caught, and you’re faced with clear physical evidence and tough mandatory sentences. On the other hand, selling people is harder to
recognize and often relies on verbal testimony. And unlike other products, people can be sold repeatedly. For example, Knoxville police recently uncovered an online human trafficking ring after a woman told police that gang member Roger Ernest McClain Jr. had regularly assaulted her and injected her with heroin if she refused to sell sex as often as 25 times a day. He was sentenced to 10 years in April. TBI has made trafficking busts this year in Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, Brentwood and Jackson, resulting in 143 arrests on various prostitution-related charges. But that probably hasn’t made a dent in the state’s sex trafficking networks, Quin says. In 2015, state law enforcement agencies reported making 38 arrests for sex trafficking, five in Knox County. “I think it’s the tip of the iceberg,” Quin says. “The (TBI) director has told me not to stop. He has said, basically, ‘Pedal to the metal. Go, go go.’” Human trafficking is the second most lucrative criminal industry November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9
worldwide, after drug trafficking, bringing in approximately $32 billion annually, according to the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Destiny exhibited some of the most common risk factors for trafficking victims: poverty, childhood sexual abuse, and drug abuse. Like many victims, Destiny was also a runaway. But most runaways are trafficked for the fi rst time when they leave home. Last year, Knoxville had about 600 runaways (including some who ran more than once), says David Kitts, who heads the KPD Special Crimes Unit, which focuses on crimes like sex trafficking, child abuse, and missing persons cases. He notes that Knoxville’s only shelter for runaway youth folded a few years ago, further reducing options for runaways and police. “Now if we pick up a runaway who doesn’t want to go home, they go short-term to a foster family,” Kitts says. Trudell says that is no solution, because many trafficked girls have “Stockholm Syndrome,” a coping mechanism that causes them to become emotionally attached to the person controlling them. As a result, they will often run back to their trafficker immediately, often taking other foster children with them, she says. Kitts says the Knoxville Youth Homelessness Council, created by the Knoxville/Knox County Homeless Coalition this summer, is looking to start a short-term shelter with a case manager to help homeless teens and young adults stabilize for 60 to 90 days. “If they have a safe place to go, hopefully they have less chance of being pimped on,” he says. But youth escaping troubled homes aren’t the only ones at risk. The CCAHT has helped everyone from Destiny to an A-student from West Knoxville—she was trafficked for years by a trusted member of her extended family without her parents’ knowledge. And sex trafficking isn’t just an urban problem. In 2011, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued a report based on surveys distributed to court officials, law enforcement, and social service employees. In 78 of 95 counties, at least one human trafficking case was reported. Knox County was one of four in the state to report more than 100 cases of sex trafficking among 10
KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
WARNING SIGNS A victim of trafficking may...
• Be inappropriately dressed. • Have injuries, appear malnourished, or be branded, or marked with a tattoo. • Have few personal possessions and wear the same clothes, regardless of weather or circumstances. • Not have identification. • Fear authority figures. • Claim to be an adult, though their appearance suggests adolescence. • Not have control over their own money. • Not be allowed to come and go independently. • Be accompanied by someone who controls their every move. • Carry hotel keys or key cards. • Frequently moves from place to place. • Talks about an older boyfriend or sex with an older man or boyfriend. • Has a prepaid cell phone. • Have inconsistencies in their story. • Has an unexplained sudden increase in money, clothing or goods. Source: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
minors and 100 among adults. The subsequent TBI report on the geography of trafficking found that, of the 21 counties with the highest trafficking rates, 17 were rural. Among the four reporting more than 100 adult and 100 juvenile victims was rural Coffee County, home to the Bonnaroo Music Festival as well as four DCS group homes, and where the TBI identified an above-average number of meth-lab seizures. Meth seizures also tend to correlate to poverty, a major driver behind rural trafficking, according to the report. In small towns, family members are almost always involved in the trafficking, Quin says, often in exchange for drugs or drug money.
CLOSE TO HOME
Most Knoxville residents were unfamiliar with sex trafficking until the CCAHT was created by local
residents who mostly met through church-based organizations that had been working on international anti-slavery initiatives. The coalition’s fi rst big accomplishment, says founder Jonathan Scoonover, was a training on recognizing trafficking with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, and other regional law enforcement officials. The coalition operated for four years as volunteers, educating public health and emergency room employees, truck stop managers, hotel owners, pest control and cable technicians (who have access to people’s homes), and many more about how to recognize and report trafficking. Within six months of hiring Trudell as its fi rst executive director in 2014, the coalition was helping three times the number of victims as in the previous three years combined, Scoonover says.
It had identified only one trafficking victim in 2014, but helped 23 last year and 46 so far this year, Trudell says. She emphasized that the number of victims isn’t growing. “We’re just doing a better job identifying what’s already going on,” she says. Trudell says Knoxville is attractive to traffickers: It’s an interstate hub close to Atlanta (ground zero for sex trafficking in the U.S.), close to lots of truck stops on Interstate 40, and a stop for visitors headed to the Smoky Mountains, University of Tennessee football games, and Bristol races. The coalition also works closely with law enforcement, especially the Knoxville Police. When the TBI released the results of its human trafficking survey in 2011, many law enforcement officials were puzzled or skeptical. In almost half of counties with sex trafficking activity, law enforcement respondents didn’t know about it, the survey found. Police were no more aware of cases involving children: In 30 of the 68 counties with known instances of trafficking minors, law enforcement officials reported none. Those had been identified by people providing services to victims. Two-thirds of Knox County survey respondents said their agency wasn’t adequately trained to deal with sex trafficking cases. Kitts says when a superior at KPD told him the 2011 report indicated Knox County had more than 100 cases of human trafficking, Kitts asked, “What’s human trafficking?” He says he was given the order to “get your arms around this,” and KPD soon benefited from training offered by the coalition, then TBI. The coalition also coordinated law enforcement and social services task forces that began meeting both separately and together. “KPD, especially, has been really good about evolving how they think about these girls,” Scoonover says. KPD now brings along coalition members when conducting prostitution-related busts, so women can be offered support services immediately, Trudell says. Three of the five women arrested for prostitution in the May sting immediately accepted help and were taken to protective housing, according to the TBI. Last year, KPD reported 12 human trafficking cases, although not
all of those resulted in charges, Kitts says.
CHANGES IN THE LAW
The 2011 TBI survey galvanized the state Legislature, which passed almost 20 new laws in 18 months tightening protections for child trafficking victims and increasing punishments for traffickers. Shared Hope International, an anti-trafficking organization that ranks states on how well they protect children from sexual exploitation, gave Tennessee a grade of 93.5 in 2013—the highest in the nation. The state has since been surpassed by Louisiana but remains one of only six with an “A.” Last year, Gov. Bill Haslam identified TBI as the lead agency to tackle human trafficking and established four special agents to coordinate these efforts. Quin says TBI requested oversight because it wants to pursue traffickers across county lines. “The nature of trafficking involves movement,” she says. “When we’ve got a trafficker that’s sold a girl, we want to prosecute him in every jurisdiction where he’s committed that crime. But local law enforcement doesn’t have that mission.” A recent example of a trafficker caught moving a girl around the state is Tavarie Anthony Williams, a Nashville man arrested this summer for taking a 12-year-old from Texas and trafficking her in Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville. “The Legislature has done an incredible job in giving us the laws and the policy to go out and tackle this type of crime,” Quin says. Among them were laws placing pimps (and more johns) on the sex offender registry, boosting penalties for pimping a minor, extending the statute of limitations for underage trafficking prosecutions, and barring pimps and johns from using “I didn’t know she was under age” as a defense. But perhaps the most ground-breaking change in state law came fi rst: In 2011, the Legislature clarified that because juvenile girls are under the age of consent, they cannot be charged with prostitution. This prevents child victims from being stuck with criminal records. At the same time, buying sex from a juvenile went from being a misdemeanor to a felony. Anyone
arranging a sex act with a child under 18 can be charged with the most serious felony classes, which carry jail terms of up to 30 or 60 years. But Kitts sees a downside. “In the past, with the prostitution charge, we had hooks in (the girls),” he says. “The judge could order them to do things like enter a drug recovery program.” It also gave police the power to place a girl in a secure facility away from her trafficker, although Quin argues delinquency charges that can be used for that. “We’re getting it figured out with juvenile court,” she says. “We don’t have to charge a 13-year-old with prostitution. We can do better than that.” Kitts says police have also lost leverage against pimps. In the past, a plea bargain could be offered to young women charged with prostitution in exchange for their testimony against the pimp. “We have to convince girls: You got out, but we have to get this guy off the street to keep him from doing it to other girls,” Kitts says. Until this year, the state Department of Children’s Services also didn’t have the authority to separate a girl from a trafficker who wasn’t her parent. That changed this summer when DCS expanded its defi nition of guardianship, Quin explains. Also new this year: DCS is required to
report cases of potential trafficking of local minors to CCAHT it can offer victims more services.
DESTINY: TODAY
After Destiny left home, she kept selling herself to get by. She hung out on street corners. She was thrown out of a car, had a gun pulled on her. She saw people beaten and raped. After many years, someone she met through her drug dealer referred her to a woman in New York who could help her earn more. The woman had kids, attended college, volunteered for charities… and pimped prostitutes. Destiny had been working for her for about a year when Destiny was arrested in a police bust that also picked up a girl who turned out to be 16. (Destiny says she had met the girl that day, when they were sharing a hotel room.) After Destiny made bail, she was arrested again on worse charges: Police accused her of helping manage her boss’s prostitution ring, including selling the 16-year-old. “I was going crazy because I was scared. They wanted stuff out of me I didn’t know!” Destiny recalls through tears. After she had spent seven or eight months in jail, police dropped the charges in exchange for her testimony against her former boss, whose prosecution continues. When she was released, Destiny
headed home, right back to the old life. “The third day I was walking to get another fi x. And I felt like if I stayed, I was going to die. I prayed to God: ‘Let me know what you want me to do.’” She pulled out her phone and called the national human trafficking hotline for help. In 30 minutes a team arrived to pick her up from the street corner and take her to a shelter. Destiny couldn’t turn to family or friends, because they were in the middle of the same lifestyle. So she called an ex-boyfriend’s dad, who lived in public housing in Knoxville. He told her to come on over from North Carolina. She hopped a bus and called the Coalition Against Human Trafficking before she even arrived. Trudell arranged for Destiny to go to a transitional housing and treatment program run by a Christian organization in Atlanta. But even there, Destiny says, she faced a stigma and was deliberately isolated from the other women. She left early, but not before getting clean. “I did a lot, a lot, a lot of crying,” Destiny says. “It was good though.” And she took a culinary course there, with a chef who encouraged her. “He seen something in me I didn’t even see in myself,” she says, and became a reference for her fi rst job. She returned to Knoxville,
NUMBER OF CRIMES IN KNOX COUNTY OFFENSE TYPE
Commercial Sex Acts Prostitution Prostitution Assisting/Promoting Purchasing Prostitution
2013
2014
2015
-
-
5
127
149
137
8
8
3
100
30
36
Source: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
Of johns found guilty: 26 percent served no time. Of the remaining, 69 percent of sentences were suspended by an average of 85 percent. Source: sharedhope.org
November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 11
TASK FORCE
Members of the Anti-Trafficking Task Force CASA of East Tennessee Childhelp Children’s Center of East Tennessee Department of Children’s Services Department of Safety and Homeland Security District Attorney’s Office Federal Bureau of Investigation Florence Crittenton Agency Helen Ross McNabb Center Hope Resource Center Knox County Health Department
Knox County Sheriff’s Office Knoxville Police Department Legal Aid of East Tennessee National Safe Place Network Safe Space of East Tennessee Sexual Assault Center of East Tennesse Tennessee Bureau of Investigation U.S. Attorney’s Office Youth Villages YWCA Knoxville
Source: Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking
DESTINY: THE FUTURE
HIGHLIGHTS OF TENNESSEE LAW • Patronizing prostitution from a person younger than 18 is a felony.
• Restitution must be paid to victims, by defendants, for the offenses of patronizing prostitution, trafficking for commercial sex acts, solicitation of a minor for sexual purposes, and enlisting or paying a minor to engage in child pornography. • Promoting the prostitution of a child is the most serious class of felony. moving in with a friend. She took small steps. The coalition helped her establish medical care, get long-term counseling, and develop a kind of resume. Her new boss helped her set up her fi rst bank account. Letting people help her is a big step. As Trudell puts it, Destiny had learned to see every human relationship as a transaction with a price. “If somebody wants to do something for you, it’s not always because they want something from you,” Destiny says. “Everybody’s not out to hurt you: That was the biggest thing for me! I’m still learning that.”
WHAT’S MISSING
The biggest need in upper East Tennessee is a residential facility where trafficking victims can flee and receive counseling, addiction treatment, legal aid, and help finding work. “What’s hurting us here in East Tennessee is we’re having to ship our victims across the state to a safe house,” Kitts says. Many leave behind local friends and family that could form a support system. Scoonover says that when the coalition fi rst researched local needs, they were told a shelter wasn’t among 12
KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
them. Responders have since realized the scope of the problem is much larger than originally understood. The coalition launched a campaign at its annual dinner event Oct. 27 to raise $2 million for opening a safe house and operating it for the fi rst year. Pilot Flying J and the Haslam Family, who own truck stops, have committed $500,000, Trudell says. CCAHT’s budget is covered by donations and grants. Although the TBI asked the coalition in 2015 to become the official “single point of contact” for all East Tennessee trafficking victims from 25 counties, the coalition receives no state funds. It is nevertheless ramping up other new initiatives. One is a curriculum teaching men about the harms of prostitution, fi rst used this summer as a court-mandated training for 19 johns who were arrested in the TBI trafficking sting. Trudell says she hopes the course, which aims to make men allies in the fight against sexual exploitation, will eventually be offered to young men in high school and college, too. Another program, Hands Across the City, is attempting to establish
up creating a PowerPoint presentation for Central’s national art honor society. Its members created art reflecting what they had learned, which was displayed at KMA for a month this summer. “Some of it was hard to look at,” Butler says. “I was really impressed by how serious they took it… They’re peers of the people this is being done to. It’s powerful.” Howard says she hopes the exhibit inspires similar projects at other schools. “Mostly the students got educated about it, and that was the whole point—so they know what to look for in their peers, and they know what not to fall into,” she says.
neighborhood-level groups to educate others about human trafficking through holding events like fi lm screenings and book clubs. And the coalition has already developed a more personal program called “Allies for Change,” pairing a volunteer with a trafficking survivor to provide emotional support. Sharada Nizami, a social worker and motivational speaker, is interested. “In my faith tradition, we are admonished to care for the neediest in our society,” says Nizami, a devout Muslim. “Specifically, that list includes freeing slaves.” She sought out the coalition online and is exploring a variety of ways that she and other Muslim friends could help. As the catastrophe of human trafficking gains exposure, more Knoxville residents like her have become activists. After Central High School student Anna Howard saw an exhibit about sex trafficking in the Atlanta airport last year, she approached David Butler, executive director of the Knoxville Museum of Art, about displaying something similar. He suggested she approach her school’s art teachers, and she ended
Destiny wants to help with that, too, by sharing her story and mentoring younger women. Difficult as her life has been, many of her goals—like cooking for the homeless at a shelter—involve helping others. But she has more personal goals, too. She’d like to have a healthy romantic relationship. Intimacy is a struggle. “I still have a lot of self-esteem problems,” she admits. “I don’t feel like I’m worth it. It’s sad, because I push a lot of people away.” The days when she talks to her mom on the phone are especially tough. Her mother doesn’t acknowledge what happened to Destiny in her own home. “But I feel like if I hadn’t forgiven her, I’d still be doing what I was doing,” Destiny says. Some days she feels overwhelmed by all the new skills and behaviors she is expected to know, things most people absorbed unconsciously growing up. “I have to tell my boss sometimes, ‘Look, it takes me some time,’” Destiny says. “I have days where I don’t catch onto things as fast.” Yet she recognizes that she has been lucky, too. She could be dead, or very sick, or in jail. “Now I’m happy,” she says. “I like looking in the mirror at myself.” Not every minute, not every day. But somehow joy seems to be in Destiny’s nature. She exudes it, beaming as she talks about the simple pleasures of her everyday interests: cooking, creative nail designs, her English bulldog. “You can be normal and still have fun. See, I didn’t know how to do that,” Destiny says. “My past don’t have to be my future.” ◆
WHO ARE THE CRIMINALS?
Police target more pimps and johns and fewer prostitutes as their understanding of sex trafficking grows
H
ow do you tell the difference between a prostitute and a trafficking victim? Or are all prostitutes trafficking victims? David Kitts, who heads the KPD Special Crimes Unit, says some women freely choose prostitution. But Kate Trudell, executive director of the Knoxville nonprofit Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking, says almost every trafficking victim initially claims she is acting on her own, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Besides “Stockholm syndrome,” women may refuse to turn on a pimp because she gets beat up if he gets busted, Trudell says, “or the other girls will be punished for her transgressions.” And since many of these women have past arrests, they don’t view cops as protectors. “Is every prostitute a trafficking victim? No, but most are,” says Margie Quinn, the special agent who supervises the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s statewide trafficking unit. “As to how you tell the difference, I haven’t met a woman yet in prostitution that hasn’t been beat up. I haven’t yet met a woman in prostitution that hasn’t been raped…. They aren’t treated well by johns, I can tell you that.” Trudell says 95 percent of prostitutes don’t want to be selling sex, and even adult prostitutes generally began as child victims of sexual abuse or trafficking. “Prostitution and human trafficking are two sides of the same coin,” she says. “The common and long-standing stigma towards prostitutes won’t change overnight, but our goal is to work with institutions at all levels in order to help shift
public attitudes that oversimplify a very complicated issue.” One complication is how to treat women who are “promoted” to managing younger girls for a pimp. These women, often referred to as “bottom bitches,” act as enforcers once they get too old—in their 20s—to be as attractive to johns. “They’re former victims, but they made their own choices,” Trudell says. “How do you deal with them?” This summer the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that 25-year-old Jodi Robiceaux, who began selling sex at age 16 at the insistence of a pimp “boyfriend” who fed her drug addiction, received a minimum sentence for her role in recruiting underage runaways to the sex trade. Seeing prostitutes as victims is a change for police. Starting in January, TBI began providing two hours of training to all Tennessee law enforcement officers about how to recognize and prosecute human trafficking. “When I’m training, I can actually see them changing their minds—the expressions on their faces the instant they get it,” Quin says. “Once they know, police officers can be fiercely protective of kids and of victims. So I don’t think it’s been hard to change hearts and minds.” Statewide, the number of prostitution arrests dropped by more than half between 2010 and 2015, from 2,360 to 1,154. The number of people charged with assisting or promoting prostitution—basically, pimping— more than doubled, from 73 in 2010 to 167 in 2015. The shift isn’t universal. Unlike underage girls, adult trafficking victims often face prostitution charges. Quin says the TBI consults survivor specialists who frequently recommend it. “Even though they’re cited, it’s really not for punishment reasons, but as leverage to keep them in contact with folks who could offer them services,” Quin says. Nashville diverts these
women through a human trafficking court, which operates much like a drug court, aiming to stabilize the offender rather than just punish her. Based on Knox County Sheriff ’s Office data, the number of its prostitution arrests has actually increased slightly in recent years, from 20 in 2012 to 32 in 2015. Generally those have outstripped the number of men the Sheriff ’s Office charges with purchasing sex, except for a spike in 2013. FBI Knoxville’s Child Exploitation and Safe Streets Task Force led local law enforcement in an October operation that netted five prostitution-related arrests in Knoxville, Cleveland, and Johnson City. Three of those women were referred for victim services, according to an FBI press release. It stated that the operation helped identify pimps as part of an ongoing investigation. Disagreement remains about fi ling charges against such women. Kitts says one of the women arrested in the TBI bust was a prostitute working alone. But Trudell sees that woman as victim who acknowledged that her boyfriend told her about using the online classified ad site Backpage to fi nd johns and had “his baby momma” listed there. “I’m frustrated that because she wasn’t ready to choose (victim) services, she was punished and criminalized,” Trudell says. “I think we are just now beginning to recognize we don’t fully understand how to address that.” Quin says it’s time to shift focus to the buyers. “Historically, law enforcement has concentrated on the women involved in prostitution stings,” Quin says. “If that strategy is not working, then perhaps we need to change our strategy.” In the Knoxville bust, most of those arrested were johns—including two ministers—who responded to fake ads on Backpage. Knoxville Police are targeting johns online, too. In early
October, the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children’s Task Force arrested three men after they separately arranged online to have sex with someone they believed to be a 14-year-old girl. KPD’s task force is the lead in the state; all other local task forces are affi liates of it, says spokesman Darrell DeBusk. Many anti-trafficking groups identify Backpage as the biggest platform for trafficking minors. “The ultimate freak to make you weak!” touts a typical post. The ads involve a lot of emojis and semi-nude photos of women in suggestive positions, most claiming to be in their 20s. Craigslist had a similar adult entertainment category that it retired in 2010 after 17 state attorneys general fi led lawsuits charging the company with promoting prostitution. In early October the Backpage CEO and two biggest shareholders (who ran the company previously) were arrested on felony pimping charges, when California’s attorney general accused Backpage of being “purposefully and unlawfully designed” to be an online brothel. Trudell calls it a fleeting victory. “For traffickers there is a lot of money at stake, and it would be naive of us to think they’d just pack up and go quietly into the night,” she says. “Ultimately, they will just find another way.” Demand is strong, perhaps at least partly because a misdemeanor “purchasing prostitution” charge and $500 fine don’t amount to a big penalty, Trudell says. According to research compiled by Shared Hope, even johns who are arrested tend to get off lightly. Although the most common charge against them is sexual exploitation of a child, 26 percent of those convicted are released with no time served. When time was served, 69 percent of sentences were suspended by an average of 85 percent. Most of the johns arrested in the Knoxville sting in May received pretrial diversion on certain conditions. The social stigma could be a more significant factor than legal punishment. “The men in our communities who are paying to have sex with women (or men)—a lot of these men have a lot to lose,” Quin says. “If they think law enforcement is going to get more active on that side, maybe that’s a deterrent. Maybe that’s a way we can reduce demand.” —S.H.D. November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13
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P rogram Notes
Stairway to Somewhere City art committee seeks input on World’s Fair Park stair project
K
noxville’s Public Arts Committee is taking concrete steps to provide a $15,000 aesthetic upgrade to a pedestrian staircase near World’s Fair Park. It’s one of a handful of current projects in the works for the committee—the first major projects it’s undertaken since it was formed in 2008. The committee is also working to redesign the park at the corner of Summit Hill Drive and Gay Street and to develop a citywide mural program. The plain concrete staircase runs from Cumberland Avenue near 11th Street up to an overpass with quick access to World’s Fair Park, the
Clinch Avenue Viaduct, the Knoxville Convention Center, and the Second Creek Greenway. It’s used by University of Tennessee students and faculty and joggers and bicyclists. “This is a heavily used corridor, and these stairs are a key pedestrian connection,” Mayor Madeline Rogero says in a press release. “People using these stairs can get to the Second Creek and North Waterfront greenways, to UT facilities, to World’s Fair Park, and to the western entrance to downtown. I’m eager to see what great ideas will be submitted to transform these plain stairs into something
special. This is an opportunity for an artist or team of artists to really make a statement about Knoxville.” The Public Arts Committee has announced a request for qualifications from artists interested in beautifying the staircase. The deadline is Nov. 21. Finalists will have until Jan. 17 to submit proposals for the project, which will have a budget of $15,000. According to the press release, “designs that reflect the Knoxville community, its history and topography are especially welcome.” “Public art is intellectually stimulating, and in the case of these stairs at Cumberland and 11th Street, it’s a matter of putting fresh eyes of a piece of infrastructure that’s functional but a little drab, and transforming it in a way that creates a fun, lively and unique sense of place,” says Liza Zenni, director of the Arts and Culture Alliance and liaison with the committee. For details and application information, visit knoxvillepublicart. com. (Matthew Everett)
Spring Fever Festival season is still a few months away, but Rhythm N’ Blooms is swinging into 2017 action now—the first round of tickets for the Dogwood Arts Festival’s Americana/pop/folk throwdown goes on sale this week. The Early Bird Weekend Pass will be available Friday, Nov. 11, at 10 a.m. at rhythmnbloomsfest.com. Through Dec. 31, weekend passes are $65 for general admission, $150 for VIP. (VIP passes get a T-shirt, access to meet-and-greets with the artists, reserved seating, a T-shirt, and more.) From Jan. 1-April 6, weekend passes are $75/$190; after April 6, passes are $90/$190. Single-day tickets will be available when the lineup is announced. Rhythm N’ Blooms will be held on April 7-9 at venues throughout the Old City. Last year’s lineup included Mutemath, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the Mavericks, the Old 97’s, and locals the Black Cadillacs. (M.E.)
BLACK CADILLACS
15 14
Inside the Vault: Vintage Volmania
KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
16
Music: Supersuckers
17
Classical Music: The Return of Ulysses
Blowin’ in the Wind Paul Lee Kupfer is from a lot of different places—a West Virginia native, he lived in Pennsylvania, California, and Montana before settling in Knoxville. When he’s not on the road as a solo singer-songwriter, Kupfer is one-third of the Bus Driver Tour, with fellow country-folkies Ian Thomas and Danny Freund. (Thomas is also based in Knoxville; Freund lives in Montana.) It’s an itinerant life for an itinerant musician. Somewhere along the way, though, Kupfer managed to stay in one place long enough to record Where the Wind Goes, his debut solo album. It’s a collection of unreconstructed folk in the style of early Bob Dylan, John Prine, and Arlo Guthrie, recorded at Wild Chorus Studio here in Knoxville with Jamie Cook, Robert Richards, Evie Andrus, and Josh Oliver. The songs range from quiet melancholy (“Highway to the Coast”) to shuffling blues (“Riverbank Blues”) and vibrant, fiddle-fueled road anthems (“Where the Wind Goes”). The first copies of the CD were available in September, at Kupfer’s performance at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion music festival, but Kupfer has kept it under wraps since then. You can buy a copy at an upcoming show (there’s nothing scheduled, but he never takes too long between local shows) or paulleekupfer.bandcamp.com. (M.E.)
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Movie: Hotel Dallas
Inside the Vault
Vintage Volmania A 1983 history of Coca-Cola provides insight into the Vols’ colorful 1940 Rose Bowl trip BY ERIC DAWSON
S
everal years ago, a VHS transfer of some old 16mm film came to the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, courtesy of a member of the local Coca-Cola bottling Roddy family. It’s an hourlong assemblage of footage documenting the Tennessee Vols trip to Pasadena to take on the USC Trojans in the 1940 Rose Bowl, accompanied by a group of some of Knoxville’s more well-heeled fans. On Dec. 21, 1939, 1,500 people turned up at the Southern Terminal depot to see the team off. The Volunteer Special made several stops on the way to California, allowing the team members to stretch their legs and practice. (The Jim Thompson collection also has a few glimpses of the train journey. Presumably more was filmed but has been lost.) Much of the Roddy film is dedicated to the Rose Parade, sightseeing around Hollywood, and a visit to Clarence
Brown’s ranch. The quality of the VHS image leaves something to be desired, but it’s still a unique look at an event that merited weeks of News Sentinel coverage. We’re lucky to have it in any form. TAMIS cofounder Bradley Reeves (who no longer works at the archive) still keeps an eye out for film, audio, and other items of historical value he thinks we might be interested in. Recently he stopped by with a book, 75 Years of Refreshment, by Pat Roddy Jr., a history of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company published in 1983. The text contains much more than an insider’s look at the soft-drink bottling business. It’s full of photographs and history pertaining to 20th-century Knoxville, including several pages about the Rose Bowl excursion and the author’s filming of it. Roddy was an avid amateur filmmaker who shot Vol football games, edited the footage, and
screened the films around town. Color films of the games, shot by Roddy from the press box at Neyland Stadium, were a regular Coca-Cola promotional item. The films usually began with a message from the company and included frequent shots of the scoreboard, which sported a Coke logo. Film shot on Saturday would be processed in time for Monday night screenings for a group of 10-12 friends, then it would make the civic club and public school circuit. Seventy-Five Years of Refreshment provides some background information on some of the shots from the 1940 Rose Bowl: the gathering with Clarence Brown took place on Christmas Day, at a party at his ranch in the Arroyo Seco Mountains, 40 miles from Pasadena, with starlets from Paramount and Warner Bros. in attendance; and other locations in the film include the El Paso Sun Bowl, Juarez, Mexico, the MGM backlot, and a boat trip to Catalina Island. Roddy’s screenings were accompanied by 78 rpm records. He spent hours in his basement “splicing the film to time the music with the action.” He titled this particular film “Westward Ho! With the Volunteers” and held multiple screenings at his home, with new guests coming night after night. Months after the game, Roddy was still presenting the film to various clubs and civic groups, hauling a screen, projector, film reels, two turntables, and a stack of 78s around. Between 300 and 400 people viewed the film at the ballroom of the Cherokee Country Club. The screenings kept Roddy busy. News Sentinel sports
A&E
reporter Bob Wilson ran into Roddy buying a peppered beef and gristle sandwich one morning. “I’ve been going to so many luncheons showing the Rose Bowl pictures that I don’t have time to have a good lunch,” the harried motion-picture exhibitor said. There’s no footage of the actual game in the copy of the film we have, but Roddy writes that game footage takes up one of the feature’s three reels. It’s probably still out there somewhere. Two other 16mm reels documenting the trip and the game turned up a year or so ago. The daughter of famed local wrestling coach Bob Maher found them in an attic, but she isn’t sure who filmed them—maybe an uncle, she says. The films hadn’t been screened in decades. They’re in great condition, with sharp Kodachrome color. We see with much more clarity up-close footage of the Vols practicing, Hollywood studio backlots, and Clarence Brown and Hollywood starlets hobnobbing with Robert Neyland and the Vols. The details in Roddy’s book illuminate not just the murky VHS footage, but Maher’s pristine film as well. There’s even black-and-white footage of the game. Tennessee lost the 1940 Rose Bowl to USC 14-0, after an undefeated regular season. I’m sure it was a disappointment to everyone who made the trip, but you can’t feel too bad for them. If you go to the tape, you’ll see everyone having a grand old time. ◆ Inside the Vault searches the archives of the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound for nuggets of lost Knoxville music and film history.
Months after the 1940 Rose Bowl, Pat Roddy Jr. was still presenting film of the game to various clubs and civic groups, hauling a screen, projector, film reels, two turntables, and a stack of 78s around. November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15
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Music
Got It Together Somewhat famous, but not too well known, the ever hard-rockin’ Supersuckers won’t quit after 28 years BY MIKE GIBSON
I
f Supersuckers frontman Eddie Spaghetti was indeed born with a tail—as suggested by the title of one of the band’s better-known songs— then he keeps said appendage carefully tucked between his legs when addressing the ups and downs of the band’s 28-year career. Spaghetti, 49, speaks with an odd mix of bravado and humility, giving props to his long-running outfit while acknowledging the band is not exactly a household name. “Our plan? Keep putting out records that no one will buy, and being awesome in a way that no one will notice,” Spaghetti says with a hearty chuckle, speaking from the road during the band’s current tour. “What we won’t do at this point is quit.” Founded in 1988 in Arizona, the Supersuckers have changed a time or three since first taking their grungy country-punk-rock act onto a Tucson stage, with nearly a dozen members having passed through the ranks since day one. Lead singer, chief
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
songwriter, and bassist Spaghetti is the only member who has persevered through the entirety of that run, though guitarist Dan “Thunder” Bolton has come close, having taken a couple of brief hiatuses from the band. And Spaghetti is adamant in insisting that the band’s current lineup, also including guitarist “Metal” Marty Chandler and drummer “Captain” Christopher Von Streicher, is its best yet. That lineup is largely responsible for the band’s last two records, 2014’s Get the Hell and 2015’s Holdin’ the Bag, both on Acetate Records. “The changes have been difficult at the time they happened, and sometimes you struggle with the public perception of that,” Spaghetti says. “But I feel like the lineup now is the best it’s ever been, that this is what it should have been from the start. “Our last couple records have been our best records yet. Everyone’s dialed in, and there’s no drama. It’s fun to come to work every day.”
That’s a big statement, given that the ’suckers’ catalog includes such gems as 1995’s The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers and 1997’s foray into full-on country, Must’ve Been High, both on Sub Pop. The latter, says Spaghetti, nearly threatened to derail the band’s career. “It was such a radical departure into country, it was kind of like, ‘What have we done?’” he says, laughing again. “We thought we’d totally alienated our fan base. And we don’t have too many fans to alienate. Now, though, that may be our best-selling record.” Currently, the band is still touring in support of the aforementioned Holdin’ the Bag. “We didn’t get a chance to hit in full last year, so we’re still flogging that thing,” Spaghetti says. In the spring, though, he hopes to take the band off the road and start work on what would be the band’s 11th full-length studio album. “We’re too good to stop,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun being in this band, and everyone still enjoys what we’re doing. “Truthfully, no band has a right to be this good this late in the game.” ◆
WHO
The Supersuckers with Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and Jesse Payton
WHERE
Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (200 E. Jackson Ave.)
WHEN
Saturday, Nov. 12, at 10 p.m.
HOW MUCH $5
INFO
barleysknoxville.com or supersuckers.com
Classical Music
Opera Evolution UT Opera tackles a once obscure work from 1640, Claudio Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses BY ALAN SHERROD
M
ention the term “17th-century opera” to the occasional operagoer and you’re likely to see the quizzical look of someone imagining quaint ancient music emerging from a dusty score recovered from a forgotten corner of some ancient archive. The early progenitors of opera, such as Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli, worked in vastly different musical and theatrical styles than the more familiar operatic composers of later centuries like Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner. In the last 45 years or so, revived interest and scholarship in early opera have moved those dusty scores off the shelves and into modern productions that have intrigued contemporary audiences. A notable example from opera history reappears this weekend at the Carousel Theatre, courtesy of the University of Tennessee Opera Theatre: Claudio Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses), from 1640. Although opera as an art form had begun to coalesce in the years around 1600, the earliest works were done not for the public theater but for the courts of Florence and Mantua. This began to change dramatically in Venice in 1637 as public theaters were constructed for commercial operatic productions. The well-known 70-year-old Monteverdi, who had been working in Venice since 1613 as the maestro di capella at St. Mark’s Basilica, was soon lured back into the burgeoning Venetian opera world. In the four years before his death in 1643, he composed three new works for the Venice theater, the first of which was Ulysses.
Following the performances in and around 1640, Ulysses fell into obscurity until the score was rediscovered in the Vienna National Library in 1881. The music, a pre-Baroque evolution from earlier Renaissance intermezzo forms, often requires fi rst-time listeners to make an adjustment to the different concepts of melody and harmony found there. However, once acquainted with the style, listeners generally fi nd the subtleties and complexities of the form’s vocal expression and instrumental flavor a revelation. The libretto of Ulysses, by Giacomo Badoaro, was taken from the last portion, books 13-23, of Homer’s The Odyssey. In that section, Ulysses returns home to the island of Ithaca only to discover dangerous suitors attempting to gain the hand of his wife, Penelope, and his throne and fortune. Disguised as a beggar, Ulysses plans his revenge, slays the suitors, and eventually convinces Penelope of his identity. While the scholarly enlightenment of rarely seen works is one reason for tackling operas such as Ulysses, UTOT director James Marvel fi nds there are other motivations. One is the large casts of early opera, which offer a lot of roles for student singers. “This is the first year since my arrival in 2011 that we have not done a Mozart opera,” Marvel says. “The voice faculty expressed an interest in doing earlier music—Handel, in particular. Neither [UTOT music director and conductor Kevin Class] nor I has ever done Handel so we decided to put the idea of that off for another year or two.
A&E
… Due to its lighter orchestration, early music is ideal for younger voices. However, despite being light, it does require a fair amount of technical virtuosity. We have lighter voices in the program this year so early music seemed like a wise choice. Furthermore, I had done a very successful production of Ulysses for Wolf Trap Opera in D.C. a number of years ago and felt like we could make a success of it here as well.” Another major plus for Marvel and UTOT was the availability of an existing set that can support a modern visual treatment. “The physical set is the same as the recent CBT production of The Crucible in the Carousel Theater, partly because we didn’t have enough money for a set or set designer,” Marvel says. “However, we have covered the back walls with projection fabric because we are bringing back S. Katy Tucker to design video projections. Katy did our The Rape of Lucretia, La Boheme, Cosi fan tutte, The Medium, and Suor Angelica.” For audiences wishing to explore the evolution of opera in the theatrical comfort of a modern visual context— and immerse themselves in the pre-Baroque wonders of Monteverdi— Ulysses should be one of the mustsees of the season. ◆
ARAM
The
from ERA:BetheThere Beginning! New Music Director Aram Demirjian will conduct these upcoming concerts!
NEXT WEEK
APPALACHIAN SPRING MIDKIFF MANDOLIN CONCERTO Thursday, Nov. 17 • 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18 • 7:30 p.m. TENNESSEE THEATRE Sponsored by Circle of Friends
A CLASSICAL CHRISTMAS Sunday, Nov. 27 • 2:30 p.m. Pellissippi State Variations Choir BIJOU THEATRE Sponsored by Asbury Place Continuing Care Retirement Communities Presented with support from the Aslan Foundation
MARCH 2017
WHAT
UT Opera Theatre: Ulysses
WHERE
Carousel Theatre (1714 Andy Holt Ave.)
WHEN
Thursday, Nov. 10Sunday, Nov. 13
HOW MUCH
LEFKOWITZ PLAYS BRAHMS Thursday, March 16 • 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 17 • 7:30 p.m.
TENNESSEE THEATRE Sponsored by Brogan Financial Retirement & Legacy Planning
CLASSICAL TICKETS start at just $15!
$20
INFO
music.utk.edu/opera
CALL: (865) 291-3310 CLICK: knoxvillesymphony.com VISIT: Monday-Friday, 9-5 November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17
A&E
Movies
Dream Sequence Slippery documentary Hotel Dallas ponders J.R. Ewing, communism, and memory itself BY NATHAN SMITH
I
n 1978, Dallas, one of the longest-running American primetime drams, premiered on CBS. The show became a hallmark of 1980s television, one of the most iconic of the era’s many primetime soaps. For 14 seasons, Dallas charted the exploits and entanglements—business, familial, romantic, and otherwise—of the Ewings, a wealthy Texas oil family. American viewers weren’t the only ones to follow the Ewings closely through all their dirty deeds, dream seasons, and cliffhanger episodes. In 1979, Dallas premiered in Romania, a country then struggling to stake out its own identity between the twin poles of Western and Eastern influence. Despite the strict limits set on the influx of Western cultural products by Romanian Communist Party leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, communist Romania enjoyed the importation of
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
American TV programs until the early 1980s. Dallas played on Romanian television for four seasons, until living conditions in the country plummeted and funding for rights to the series dried up. After Romania opened back up to the West in the 1990s, Dallas aired in full and uncensored, once again becoming a massive hit with Romanian audiences. In particular, the scheming and dirty dealing of J.R. Ewing resonated with Romanian businessmen, many of whom modeled themselves after their favorite American robber baron. The new documentary Hotel Dallas, from filmmaking couple Livia Ungar and Sherng-Lee Huang, focuses on Dallas’ impact and influence on Romania. The titular “Hotel Dallas” is the Hermes Ranch, a luxury resort designed by corrupt vegetable-oil tycoon Ilie Alexandru,
the so-called “J.R. of Romania,” who was imprisoned for fraud and tax evasion in 2000. In addition to a replica of the Southfork homestead from Dallas, his ranch also includes a scale model of the Eiffel Tower. The story of the Hermes Ranch and its owner are only a departure point into deeper subjects for Ungar and Huang. The couple runs a little loose with the facts, reinterpreting key scenes from Romanian history in the style of Dallas and casting Ungar’s father in the role of Ilie Alexandru. Though the film includes interview segments with Romanian citizens about their memories of both Dallas and life under communism, Hotel Dallas is less concerned with a strict recreation of the past than it is with how we remember and commemorate it. Hotel Dallas might be better described not as a documentary, but as a dream journal, a record of half-remembered recollections of a country and time that no longer exist. Hotel Dallas feels specifically cathartic for Ungar, who was born in Romania the same year that Dallas premiered there. In 2004, after winning the United States’ annual green-card lottery, she moved to New York City; eventually she married Knoxville native Sherng-Lee Huang, her creative partner. To have grown up in a country that, for all intents and purposes, no longer exists, to have a feeling of a place but not a clear view of it, is an experience that’s hard to comprehend. The intimate nature of Hotel Dallas allows for a greater understanding of that emotional and mental state. Dreams are essential not only to Hotel Dallas but to Dallas itself; Bobby Ewing, the noble and beloved younger brother of J.R., was brought back from the dead after season nine of the series was revealed to have been a dream. In order to retell her own journey, Ungar and Huang cast Patrick Duffy, who played Bobby, as a version of himself. As Ungar guides Duffy across Romania, the two move backward in time, Duffy attempting to find his way home to Dallas. We weave in and out of different eras, formats, languages, and film genres
on the journey. Duffy’s appearance might be odd and unexpected, but the familiarity of his voice lends the film an added poignancy, while also underscoring its more surreal qualities. Hotel Dallas is a number of things, but a strict or standard work of documentary film is not one of them. It is simultaneously an ode to a gilded TV drama from a now bygone age, a conversation about life under communism, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a musical about vegetable oil. In the film’s most successful sequence, Ungar and Huang even remix and recontextualize footage from the 1947 John Wayne Western Angel and the Badman. But more than all this, Hotel Dallas is a film about the slippery nature of our own memories. Ungar and Huang attempt to look at not only the larger world, but the private sector of their own experiences, through more than the stained-glass television set we often recall our lives through. Memories are like the food in your mouth; the taste only lasts while you’re chewing. Hotel Dallas tries to hold on to the flavor a little longer. ◆
WHAT
The Public Cinema: Hotel Dallas
WHERE
Knoxville Museum of Art (1050 World’s Fair Park Drive)
WHEN
Sunday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m.
HOW MUCH Free
INFO
publiccinema.org
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
MUSIC
Thursday, Nov. 10 APPALACHIAN MUSIC AND FOOD CELEBRATION WITH RICKY SKAGGS • The Mill and Mine • 7:30PM • Celebrate an evening of Appalachian food and music while benefiting Carson-Newman University with award winning American Country and Bluegrass singer, musician, and songwriter, Ricky Skaggs. Enjoy Appalachian cuisine from local chefs while Ricky and his band, Kentucky Thunder, perform a full concert set with special guest Carson Peters, a 12-year-old fiddle player who has appeared on The Tonight Show and the Grand Ole Opry. Proceeds from the event will go to the Ricky Skaggs Student Scholarship and the Women of Vision at Carson-Newman University. This is a general admission, family friendly, non-alcoholic event. Any patrons under the age of 18 must be accompanied by guardian. Carson-Newman University is a Christian liberal arts University located in Jefferson City, TN. Visit themillandmine.com. • $100 DOGWOOD TALES WITH THE VALLEY OPERA • 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 PINKLETS • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • Part of Wayne Bledsoe’s weekly Six O’Clock Swerve show on WDVX. • FREE KODA AND MARIE • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE ZZ TOP • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • ZZ Top have been together for over 40 years and never once has their line up changed—they are one of the only bands with a career span of this magnitude to be able to lay claim to this distinction and boy does it show. Since the 80s they have had a string of massive hits, spawning some of the best and most instantly recognizable singles within the Hard Rock genre – ‘Gimme All Your Loving’, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’, ‘La Grange’ and ‘Legs’ to name but a few. • $79.50-$99.50 JIMMY DAVIS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM • • 20:00:00 • 11/10/2016 20:00:00 • Jimmy Davis • 365 • BIG GIGANTIC WITH ILLENIUM • The International • 9PM • Big Gigantic established themselves as pioneers of live electronic music with the band’s inception in 2008. Now, almost 10 years later, they continue to shape the genre by moving it forward with each new release. 18 and up. Visit internationalknox.com. • $26-$46 THE HENHOUSE PROWLERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Henhouse Prowlers recently released their album Breaking Ground which was produced by Grammy Nominated Greg Cahill (Special Consensus). While the album features many guests what shines most is the obvious cohesion of a band that has perfected their skills over years of playing on the road and at home. THE ROSS COOPER BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM SMOKY MOUNTAIN BLUES SOCIETY SARA JORDAN BIRTHDAY BASH • The Open Chord • 7PM • Before her untimely death in May 2001, Sara Jordan was known as Knoxville’s “Queen of the Blues”, and to this day her crown remains unclaimed. Seven regional bands are set to perform, including Terraplane Drifters, Mystic Rhythm Tribe, Mighty Blue, Filibilly Band, Crawdaddy Jones, Mojo Tweed, and Private Stock. All proceeds raised will be deposited into an ongoing fund to help musicians in need. Friday, Nov. 11 SWINGBOOTY • Red Piano Lounge • 8PM • 21 and up. • $5
THE THOMAS CASSELL PROJECT • 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 ROSS COOPER • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE MOMMA MOLASSES • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • FREE CLARENCE BUCARO • Royal Oaks Event Center (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Bucaro, a Cleveland Ohio native, spent periods residing in New Orleans and Los Angeles before settling in Brooklyn, NY. With years of touring history under his belt and nine studio albums, Bucaro has delivered his most diverse and mature album to date in Pendulum, a collection that feels both timeless and fresh. Visit storiesbeyondthemusic.com. • $15 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE KELSEA BALLERINI WITH MORGAN EVANS • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Kelsea Ballerini’s breakout hit, “Love Me Like You Mean It,” is just a taste of the country-pop sound in her imaginative catalog. The Knoxville, Tennessee native has dedicated the better part of the last decade to creating inspiring music, based on her life, to motivate others to live without fear of their emotions. Visit tennesseetheatre.com. • $25-$49 • See Spotlight on page 22. CHARGE THE ATLANTIC • Preservation Pub • 8PM TYLER FARR • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • Tyler Farr’s a thinker, an observer of the human condition, a man in the middle of a surging testosterone country movement in today’s Nashville who insists on digging a little deeper, getting a little realer and owning how hard it can be. • $15 NUTHIN’ FANCY • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM KIMBRO, HANNAH, AND DEACON • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE KITTY WAMPUS • Spicy’s • 9PM THE PEA PICKIN’ HEARTS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM THE GROOVE ORIENT • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM JEFF JENSEN • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM THREE STAR REVIVAL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Jazzy, jammy, funky Americana. THE LAWSUITS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE THE POP ROX • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE CAPTAIN IVORY • Preservation Pub • 10PM ALIVE AFTER FIVE: BOYS’ NIGHT OUT TRIBUTE TO C. VAUGHN LESLIE • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Guest vocalists Kathy Hill and Bill Capshaw join in with the band to honor the recently deceased lead singer of this 11-member Carolina Beach Music band. • $10-$15 CINEMA NOVO WITH EPHEMERAL AND THE SACRED • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • FREE APASHE WITH PAERBAER • The Concourse • 10PM • Apashe is a 21 year old electronic music producer from Brussels who’s now established as a professional sound designer in Montreal. He’s been making music since 2008 with different media such as digital and analog hardware. With a Breakcore/Frenchcore background, his style is a fusion of all bass music and more. 18 and up. • $10-$15 Saturday, Nov. 12 FRONTIER WITH STUART WICKE • 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 CHRISTIAN LOPEZ • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE THE VALLEY OPERA • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) •
CALENDAR
7PM • FREE THE JEFF JOPLING BAND • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM KODA KERL AND MARIE BORGMAN • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM HAROLD NAGGE AND ALAN WYATT • The Bistro at the Bijou
• 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE DYNAMO • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM THE SUPERSUCKERS WITH REV. PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND AND JESSE DAYTON • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • An evening of beer-sotted brand of hell-bound grunge-icana. • $5 • See preview on page 16.
THE LURE OF MAINE Ewing Gallery (1715 Volunteer Boulevard) • Through Dec. 11 • Free • ewing-gallery.utk.edu
Carl Sublett was one of the original members of the University of Tennessee art faculty, recruited by Kermit “Buck” Ewing in the 1950s, and part of the Knoxville Seven, the loose confederation of local artists who introduced contemporary art to Knoxville in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Sublett’s artistic sensibility stretched from naturalism to abstraction and pop art—his provocative and subtly subversive 1963 statement painting “Pop Goes My Easel,” a protest against segregation, was a centerpiece of the Knoxville Museum of Art’s recent Knoxville Seven show. But Sublett, a Kentucky native, had a special affinity for the coastal landscape of Maine, where he and his family spent their summers, frequently traveling with fellow Knoxville Seven and UT faculty members Richard Clarke and Walter Stevens. Sublett’s paintings from Maine follow the arc of his career, evolving from expressive but straightforward representation to almost pure abstraction, with rocks and waves presented in flat planes and deep earth tones. Stevens and Clarke similarly mixed representation and abstraction in their Maine paintings, in ways that developed over time. This month, UT’s Ewing Gallery—named after Buck Ewing—will display paintings from those Maine summers by all three artists, drawn from the university’s collection. (Matthew Everett)
22
Spotlight: Kelsea Ballerini
24
Spotlight: Dillinger Escape Plan November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19
CALENDAR KING KONG WITH FROGBELLY AND SYMPHONY • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • $7 FOREVER ABBEY ROAD • The Open Chord • 8PM • Forever Abbey Road is a group of five professional musicians in Nashville who perform the music of the Beatles with sincere gratitude, heart and accuracy. Forever Abbey Road’s fun and exciting live show features a wide variety of songs from the Beatles’ entire career. All ages. • $15 ANDREW LEAHEY AND THE HOMESTEAD WITH HANDSOME AND THE HUMBLES • Preservation Pub • 10PM THE DONNA HOPKINS BAND • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE Sunday, Nov. 13 SHIFFLETT’S JAZZ BENEDICT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE • 12:00:00 • 11/13/2016 12:00:00 • Shifflett’s Jazz Benedict • 398 • Live jazz. • FREE SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE • 12:45:00 • 11/13/2016 12:45:00 • Sunday Jazz Brunch • 14395 • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN WITH O’BROTHER, CAR BOMB, AND CULT LEADER • The Concourse • 7PM • All ages. • $18 • See Spotlight on page 24. PALE ROOT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM THE ZAK HERMAN BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM Monday, Nov. 14 MOMMA MOLASSES WITH JASON HEATH AND THE GREEDY SOULS • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE ANDY FERRELL • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE THE GRAHAMS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM THE FUSTICS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Tuesday, Nov. 15 MICHAEL KOPPY WITH PEEWEE MOORE • 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 PISTOL CREEK CATCH OF THE DAY • Wild Wing Cafe • 5:30PM • FREE BLUES TRAVELER WITH RIPE • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • After selling millions of records and logging thousands of miles on the road, Grammy award-winning band Blues Traveler continue to chart new musical directions evident on their upcoming record Blow Up The Moon. A clever collaboration between various artists, Blow Up The Moon sees Blues Traveler keep an open-minded perspective on making music and enlists an eclectic mix of songwriters influenced by the band’s remarkable 25+ year career. • $29 THE NINTH STREET STOMPERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM THE JAUNTEE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Wednesday, Nov. 16 RANDY STEELE WITH BETWEEN YOU AND ME • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-
Bach or Basie? Your music, your choice. Your classical and jazz station.
FIX THIS BASTARD 20
KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
WUOT_Ad_4.625x5.25_ClassicalJazz_KnoxMerc.indd 2
9/17/16 5:00 PM
week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 6:30PM • Jason Thompson’s band doesn’t play bebop, the mainstay of the American saxman for more than half a century. He prefers to do something different. Frog & Toad can sound more old-fashioned than bebop, with Dixieland and ragtime tunes. But then, in the same set, they’ll sound more modern than bebop, with funk or fusion, or something original he wrote last week. • FREE THE CASEY GREEN TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • Live jazz. • FREE TENNESSEE SHINES: NICK DITTMEIER AND THE SAWDUST’S • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Louisville, KY’s Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters have hit their stride with their gritty, upbeat 2016 release, “Midwest Heart/Southern Blues.” These toe-tapping Americana rock songs feature characters who were developed while staring over the dash of a beat up Ford van cruising through towns in the South and Midwest whose better days are in the rearview mirror. Part of WDVX’s weekly Tennessee Shines series of live-broadcast concerts. • $10 THE MEDITATIONS • Bar Marley • 8PM • FREE FAR FROM ROYAL WITH EPHEMERAL AND THE VALLEY OPERA • The Open Chord • 8PM • All ages. • $5 MIKE SNODGRASS • Wild Wing Cafe • 8:30PM • FREE THE PUNKNECKS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Thursday, Nov. 17 BRETT RATLIFF WITH THE MILAGRO SAINTS • 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 SOUTHERN CITIES • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • Part of Wayne Bledsoe’s weekly Six O’Clock Swerve show on WDVX. • FREE BRETT RATLIFF • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM THE MILAGRO SAINTS WITH ZUZU WELSH • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. MR. BILL WITH CIRCUIT BENT • The Concourse • 10PM • The best way to describe the music associated with this project is a mix of unlatched, glitchy breakbeats, heavy, swung-out bass lines and flawless edits with a large dash of palatable melodic content. 18 and up. • $10-$15 Friday, Nov. 18 BOY NAMED BANJO WITH KATA HAY AND DAN O’ROURKE • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE ALIVE AFTER FIVE: LEFTFOOT DAVE AND THE MAGIC HATS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • French-horn infused blues and boogie. • $5-$10 ANDY SNEED • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • FREE JOSHUA POWELL AND THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY • Sugarlands Distilling Co. • 7PM • FREE DARRELL SCOTT • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Darrell Scott is a
CALENDAR Grammy-nominated performer and recording artist, a highly demanded multi-instrumentalist (he plays 13 instruments!), and an ASCAP songwriter of the year. Darrell delivers his soulful performances in solo, duo, trio, band, and string quintet configurations, all equally dynamic and powerful. Darrell will be touring in 2016 in support of his new CD “Couchville Sessions.” Songwriting credits include the Grammy Award winning “Long Time Gone” and “Heartbreak Town.” When not on tour with his own shows, Darrell plays in Robert Plant’s Band of Joy.• $25 NIK TURNER’S HAWKWIND WITH HEDERSLEBEN • The Open Chord • 8PM • Nik Turner, the inexhaustible saxophone and flute-playing co-founder of space rock legends Hawkwind, will return for another US tour this Fall accompanied by up-and-coming kraut/prog rock band Hedersleben. All ages. Visit openchordmusic.com. • $12-$15 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • FREE SEMINAL WITH CALABASH AND MICAH SCHNABEL • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM COMMUNITY CENTER • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. KINCAID • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM KUKULY AND THE GYPSY FUEGO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE JUKE JOINT DRIFTERS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM THE CARMONAS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE THE NICK MOSS BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • $5 THE BLAIR EXPERIENCE • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE Saturday, Nov. 19 DUANE RUTTER WITH THE WAR AND TREATY • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE NICK DITTMEIER AND THE SAWDUSTERS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE GIRL POWER: CELEBRATING WOMEN IN MUSIC • The Open Chord • 7PM • Join us for the second night of our three-part Girl Power series, celebrating women in music. Featuring Mojo:Flow, hudson k, Hazel, Luchadora, and Kristen Ford. All ages. • $8 ADEEM THE ARTIST WITH DAJE MORRIS, LUKE BROGDEN, AND KIELY SCHLESINGER • Central Collective • 7:30PM • Each artist will perform a Joni Mitchell song along with a short set of originals. $1 from each ticket goes toward the Sioux tribe at Standing Rock. Visit adeemtheartist.com. • $6-$8 COUNTY-WIDE • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM TOM JOHNSON • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE BURNIN’ HERMANS • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM DIVIDED WE STAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM LETTERS TO ABIGAIL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM ELLIS DYSON AND THE SHAMBLES • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE GUY MARSHALL WITH MEOB • Pilot Light • 10PM • Guy Marshall’s full-length debut, The Depression Blues, is an earnest arsenal of country-folk songs that touch on themes of whiskey and wallowing. 18 and up. THE DOWNRIGHT BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. TWO TONS OF STEEL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria •
10PM Sunday, Nov. 20 SHIFFLETT’S JAZZ BENEDICT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE THE NICK MOSS BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 7PM • All ages. • $6 STEVE VAI • Bijou Theatre • 7:30PM • Steve Vai is a virtuoso guitarist, visionary composer, and consummate producer who sculpts musical sound with infinite creativity and technical mastery. He’s touring in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his 1991 album, Passion and Warfare. • $39.50-$59.50 CICADA RHYTHM • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM WU FEI WITH SHANE PARRISH • Pilot Light • 8PM • Can’t quite wait ‘til March for the Big Ears goodness? Fear not. In just 2 weeks, we’ll be at Knoxville’s beloved Pilot Light for another Big Ears Preview event, featuring guzheng master Wu Fei, with Ahleuchatistas member Shane Parish performing pieces from his new solo album, Undertaker Please Drive Slow. 18 and up. • $5 ANDREW TUFANO • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.
OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS
Thursday, Nov. 10 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • A proud tradition, Scots love nothing more than music and drink. The drink is strong and the music is steeped in the history of the green highlands and rocky cliffs. Whether lyrics or no lyrics, every song tells a story. The hills of East Tennessee are a home away from home for this style. Pull up a chair to listen or play along. Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 13 EPWORTH MONTHLY OLD HARP SHAPE NOTE SINGING • Laurel Theater • 6:30PM • Visit jubileearts.org. • FREE SING OUT KNOXVILLE • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7PM • A folk singing circle open to everyone. • FREE Tuesday, Nov. 15 OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • The musicians sit together and pick and strum familiar tunes on fiddles, guitars, and bass. Open to all lovers and players of music. No need to build up the courage to join in. Just grab an instrument off the wall and take a seat. Hosted by Sarah Pirkle. • FREE OPEN CHORD OPEN MIC NIGHT • The Open Chord • 8PM • It’s time once again for open mic night. This time we’re welcoming both solo performers and bands to perform. Come 30 minutes early to sign up for a 15-minute slot. • FREE PRESERVATION PUB SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7PM Wednesday, Nov. 16 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday. All instruments and skill levels welcome. BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. • FREE
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 21
CALENDAR Thursday, Nov. 17 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 20 FAMILY FRIENDLY DRUM CIRCLE • Ijams Nature Center • 3:30PM • Drumming for kids of all ages on the third Sunday of the month. Bring a drum or share one of ours. Bring a blanket or chair. Open to drummers of all ages and levels. Free and fun. • FREE OLD-TIME SLOW JAM • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 4PM • A monthly old-time music session, held on the third Sunday of each month. • FREE
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS Saturday, Nov. 19
TEMPLE DANCE NIGHT • The Concourse • 9PM • Knoxville’s long-running alternative once night. 18 and up. • $5
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Thursday, Nov. 10 SCRUFFY CITY ORCHESTRA • First Baptist Church • 7PM • A
KELSEA BALLERINI Tennessee Theatre (604 S. Gay St.) • Friday, Nov. 11 • 8 p.m. • $25-$49 • tennesseetheatre.com or kelseaballerini.com
Never mind bro country—these are heady days for female artists in Nashville, even if songs about dudes drinking beer in pickup trucks are still choking the airwaves. Miranda Lambert has emerged as country music’s most consistently compelling songwriter and performer of the 21st century, and Brandy Clark, Ashley Monroe, and Kacey Musgraves have all released albums that push against the constraints of mainstream Nashville but also affirm country music’s abiding traditions. Knoxville native Kelsea Ballerini’s debut album, The First Time, might not rank with such distinguished company—the 23-year-old singer and songwriter tends toward unambiguous romantic statements and pop ballads, more like Carrie Underwood than Lambert or Musgraves— but it’s an impressive start. Purists might not approve of the Top 40-friendly production, but the 2015 album has already produced three number-one singles (“Love Me Like You Mean It,” “Dibs,” and “Peter Pan”) and it’s full of big hooks, big feelings, and clever writing. It’s the kind of breakthrough opening act that can be hard to follow, but Ballerini’s set herself up for a long run in Nashville, and you never know what that can lead to. (Matthew Everett)
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
new venue for musicians from the greater Knoxville metropolitan area. Scruffy City Orchestra kicks off with regular rehearsals on Thursdays beginning Aug. 25. Conductors are Mat Wilkinson and Ace Edewards. Prospective members, especially string players, are encouraged to contact Alicia Meryweather at ScruffyCityOrchestra@gmail.com for more information. • FREE APPALACHIA PIANO TRIO • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 6PM • Faculty and guest artist recital. Appalachia Piano Trio: Chih-Long Hu, piano; Miroslav Hristov, violin and Nathan Jasinski, cello will perform an all Dvorak program with guest artists David Kovac, viola from ETSU and Caroline Chin from Bowling Green State University. • FREE UT OPERA THEATRE: ‘ULYSSES’ • Carousel Theatre • 8PM • Mention the term “17th-century opera” to the occasional operagoer and you’re likely to see the quizzical look of someone imagining quaint ancient music emerging from a dusty score recovered from a forgotten corner of some ancient archive. In the last 45 years or so, revived interest and scholarship in early opera have moved those dusty scores off the shelves and into modern productions that have intrigued contemporary audiences. A notable example from opera history reappears this weekend at the Carousel Theatre, courtesy of the University of Tennessee Opera Theatre: Claudio Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses), from 1640. Visit music.uk.edu/opera. • $20 • See preview on page 17. Friday, Nov. 11 SCRUFFY CITY ORCHESTRA VETERAN’S DAY CONCERT: A MUSICAL CELEBRATION IN HONOR OF OUR HEROES • First Baptist Church • 7:30PM • Scruffy City Orchestra’s Veteran’s Day concert will feature local radio personality and Anything is Possible host Hallerin Hilton Hill performing the narration to Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait.” The concert will also include performances of “Armed Forces Salute”, “Ashokan Farewell” (from Ken Burns’ Civil War) and other selections to honor our heroes. Visit facebook.com/scruffycityorchestra. • $5 MACIEJ GRZYBOWSKI • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 8PM • Maciej will perform solo piano music from Bach to Lutoslawski, representing a selection of standard repertoire as well as works from outstanding contemporary Polish musicians. UT OPERA THEATRE: ‘ULYSSES’ • Carousel Theatre • 8PM • Visit music.uk.edu/opera. • $20 • See preview on page 17. Saturday, Nov. 12 TRILLIUM • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7PM • Founded in January of 2014, Trillium, an ensemble of strings and piano, has engaged numerous audiences with its expressive interpretations at the heart of the piano trio literature, in addition to performances of quartets and quintets. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 13 UT OPERA THEATRE: ‘ULYSSES’ • Carousel Theatre • 2:30PM and 8PM • Visit music.uk.edu/opera. • $20 • See preview on page 17. Monday, Nov. 14 THE ASSEMBLY QUARTET • University of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 8PM • The Assembly Quartet is a professional chamber music ensemble whose mission is to promote music education and expand the enjoyment of music for people of all ages. Formed in 2003 by graduate students at the University of South Carolina, the Quartet’s principal objective was, and remains, to engage with audiences in public schools and communities, working
with students and audiences that often have limited experience with chamber music or with the music of our time. • FREE Thursday, Nov. 17 KSO MASTERWORKS: APPALACHIAN SPRING • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • Join the KSO for fabulous music of Copland and a little ditty on the mandolin. Jeff Midkiff will bring life to the Tennessee Theatre stage with his Mandolin Concerto, “From the Blue Ridge,” plus Copland’s Appalachian Spring. • $13-$83 Friday, Nov. 18 KSO MASTERWORKS: APPALACHIAN SPRING • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • Join the KSO for fabulous music of Copland and a little ditty on the mandolin. Jeff Midkiff will bring life to the Tennessee Theatre stage with his Mandolin Concerto, “From the Blue Ridge,” plus Copland’s Appalachian Spring. • $13-$83 Saturday, Nov. 19 UT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: ‘THE NUTCRACKER’ • Oak Ridge High School • 8PM • Visit music.utk.edu. Sunday, Nov. 20 UT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: ‘THE NUTCRACKER’ • Oak Ridge High School • 2PM • Visit music.utk.edu. KNOXVILLE CHORAL SOCIETY: APPALACHIAN TALES AND TUNES • Tennessee Theatre • 6PM • This concert pays tribute to our life in the mountains. The program is comprised of musical pieces, including Nelly Bly, Light of a Clear Blue Morning, Old Joe Clark and Cindy. The singing is interwoven with the masterful storytelling of Bill Landry and Charles Maynard. Traditional instrumental music is provided by the Trinity Boys. For more information, please visit www.knoxvillechoralsociety.org. • $20
THEATER AND DANCE
Thursday, Nov. 10 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Three strangers volunteer to accompany Dr. John Montague in an investigation of Hill House, a mysterious mansion with a reputation for being haunted. While the four are there, supernatural events drives them to the edge of sanity and pushes one toward a terrible end. Oct. 28-Nov. 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THIS IS OUR YOUTH’ • Clarence Brown Lab Theatre • 7:30PM • Strikingly funny, arrestingly fresh, caustic, and compassionate. Three wayward adolescents on the cusp of adulthood navigate Reagan-era New York, recreating their broken homes in their dysfunctional friendships and bungled attempts to find love. Oct. 26-Nov. 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. MOMMA’S DEAD: THE GRIEF AND GREED OF A SOUTHERN FUNERAL • Clayton Center for the Arts • 7PM • Momma’s dead. Her will turns MurRuth and SurLou’s worlds upside down and threatens their lifelong friendship. Throw in a couple of NY entertainer twins, a husband-hunting femme fatale, and a whole town’s worth of characters, and hilarity ensues. The sixth in a series of plays set in vintage small-town Maryville, Tennessee, “Momma’s Dead” is written by local hairdresser Mike Everett and directed by David Dwyer. All proceeds from the production will go to the Clayton Center for the Arts on the Maryville College campus. Nov. 9-13. • $14
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
Friday, Nov. 11 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Oct. 28-Nov. 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THIS IS OUR YOUTH’ • Clarence Brown Lab Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 26-Nov. 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. MOMMA’S DEAD: THE GRIEF AND GREED OF A SOUTHERN FUNERAL • Clayton Center for the Arts • 7PM • Nov. 9-13. • $14 THEATRE OBSOLETE: THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER • Ijams Nature Center • 8PM • Theatre Obsolete brings Washington Irving’s 1824 tale to life as Pritchard S. Hemlock pushes his remedies and cures on the audience. The production involves music, songs and puppetry. Some parts may be considered too scary for some young children. • $10 Saturday, Nov. 12 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 1PM and 5PM • Oct. 28-Nov. 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 MOMMA’S DEAD: THE GRIEF AND GREED OF A SOUTHERN FUNERAL • Clayton Center for the Arts • 2PM and 7PM • Nov. 9-13. • $14 Sunday, Nov. 13 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Oct. 28-Nov. 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THIS IS OUR YOUTH’ • Clarence Brown Lab Theatre • 2PM • Oct. 26-Nov. 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. MOMMA’S DEAD: THE GRIEF AND GREED OF A SOUTHERN FUNERAL • Clayton Center for the Arts • 2PM • Nov. 9-13. • $14
COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD
Thursday, Nov. 10 PIZZA HAS • Pizza Hoss • 8PM • On the second Thursday of the month, Pizza Hoss in Powell hosts a showcase featuring sets from some of the best comedians in East Tennessee along with selected up-and-coming talent. Each month one of the hosts of Rain/Shine Event productions (Shane Rhyne, Tyler Sonnichsen, and Sean Simoneau) serves as your guide to introduce you the best of our region’s comedy scene. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 13 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic. Visit scruffycity.com. Monday, Nov. 14 FRIENDLYTOWN • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • A weekly comedy night named after the former red-light district near the Old City. Visit facebook.com/friendlytownknoxville. 18 and up. • FREE Tuesday, Nov. 15 EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Einstein Simplified Comedy performs live comedy improv at Scruffy City Hall. It’s just like Whose Line Is It Anyway, but you get to make the suggestions. Show starts at 8:15, get there early for the best seats. No cover. • FREE OPEN MIC STAND-UP COMEDY • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM • Come laugh until you cry at the Longbranch every Tuesday night. Doors open at 8:30, first comic at 9. No cover charge, all are welcome. Aspiring or experienced
CALENDAR
comics interested in joining in the fun can email us at longbranch.info@gmail.com to learn more, or simply come to the show a few minutes early. • FREE Thursday, Nov. 17 THIRD THURSDAY COMEDY OPEN MIC • Big Fatty’s Catering Kitchen • 7:30PM • We will showcase local and touring talent in a curated open mic of 6 to 8 comics. The event starts at 7:30, and there is no charge for admission. The kitchen will be open as well as their full bar. • FREE Friday, Nov. 18 THE FIFTH WOMAN POETRY SLAM • The Birdhouse • 6:30PM • The 5th Woman Poetry slam is place where all poets can come and share their words of love, respect, passion, and expression. It is not dedicated solely women but is a place where women poets are celebrated and honored. Check out our Facebook pages for the challenge of the month and focus for our poetry every month. Saturday, Nov. 19 SMOKY MOUNTAIN STORYTELLERS • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 7PM • FREE Sunday, Nov. 20 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic. Visit scruffycity.com.
FILM SCREENINGS
Sunday, Nov. 13 THE PUBLIC CINEMA: HOTEL DALLAS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 2PM • In the 80s, Dallas is the most popular TV series in communist Romania. Presented as a cautionary tale about Western greed, the show’s vision of wealth and glamour instead enthralls the struggling country–including Ilie and his daughter Livia. Visit publiccinema. org. • FREE • See review on page 18. MATEWAN • University of Tennessee • 6PM • The Platypus Affiliated Society (Knoxville) presents John Sayles’ 1987 classic Matewan, about a labor strike in 1920s West Virginia that brings coal miners into violent conflict with the power of big business. Based on the historic Battle of Matewan. Followed by an open discussion with Dr. Bob Hutton of the University of Tennessee history department. Hutton is currently researching the private security industry in Progressive Era Appalachia, with special emphasis on the relationship between Jim Crow and southern capitalism. At the John C. Hodges Library auditorium. • FREE Monday, Nov. 14 UT OUT FILM SERIES: HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE • University of Tennessee • 6PM • How to Survive a Plague is the story of two coalitions—ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group)—whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Part of the OUT Film Series at the John C. Hodges Library. • FREE THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. Visit birdhouseknoxville.com. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 20 NOKNO CINEMATHEQUE: ‘PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES’ • Central Collective • 7PM • A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving with an obnoxious slob of a shower curtain ring salesman as his only companion in John Hughes’ holiday comedy classic starring Steve Martin and John Candy. • FREE
SPORTS AND RECREATION
Thursday, Nov. 10 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • Join Cycology Bicycles every Thursday morning for a road ride with two group options. A Group does a two- to three-hour ride at 20-plus mph pace; B group does an intermediate ride at 15-18 mph. Weather permitting. Visit 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. Visit 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 I BIKE KNX PINT NIGHT • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Join us the first Tuesday of every month to help raise money for all of the great charities we’re partnering with and support all of our wonderful sponsors, all while having a great time. For the 2016 Pint Night season, the first 200 folks will get a custom pint glass for a $5 donation. Your $5 also includes the first fill-up of your custom glass plus a ticket for a refill. Extra refills and all first fills after the first 200 will be a $5 donation. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE RIVER SPORTS GREENWAY RIDE • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Join us every Thursday night from 6-8 to ride the greenway with our bike shop staff. Riding is free, and bikes are available to rent for $10. Test out our bikes or bring your own and then enjoy a cold $2 pint back at our store afterwards. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE Saturday, Nov. 12 KTC NORRIS DAM HARD TRAIL RACE • 7AM • The Norris Dam State Park and Norris Municipal Watershed provides miles and miles of scenic and challenging single-track trails and off-road jeep trails to the delight of avid and competitive trail runners. Choose between 25K and 50K races. Visit ktc.org. • $25-$40 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: ABRAMS FALLS • 8:30AM • For this classic and beautiful Smokies hike, we will meet at the Abrams Creek Ranger Station. We will hike a short distance on Cooper Road Trail, then pick up Little Bottoms Trail until a very short stretch on Hatcher Mountain Trail, and then on to the Abrams Falls Trail. This is the “less- traveled” way to see the Falls, and a beautiful hike. Rated moderate due to distance of 11 miles. Meet at Alcoa Food City, 121 North Hall Road, at 8:00 am, or at Abrams Creek Ranger Station (off Happy Valley Road) at 8:30 am. Leader: Diane Petrilla, petrillad@gmail. com. • FREE Monday, Nov. 14 KTC GROUP RUN • Mellow Mushroom • 6PM • Visit ktc.org. • FREE TVB MONDAY NIGHT ROAD RIDE • Tennessee Valley Bikes • 6PM • FREE BEARDEN BEER MARKET FUN RUN • Bearden Beer Market • 6:30PM • Visit beardenbeermarket.com. • FREE YOGA FOR RUNNERS • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 7PM •
Knoxville’s BEST live music venue 6 nights a week!
Happy Hour 4pm - 8pm | mon - fri Huge selection of Craft, Import & Local beer Locally roasted coffee
wed nov. 9 • 8pm
Full disclosure comedy long-form improv free • all ages ( comedy )
thurs NOV. 10 • 7pm
Sara Jordan Birthday Bash! w/ Teleplane Drifters Mystic Rhythm Tribe Mighty Blue, Filibilly Band Crawdaddy Jones Mojo Tweed, Private Stock donations accepted all ages ( blues )
fri NOV. 11 • 8pm Elisium W/ Shallowpoint Bent To Break victims of euphoria $10 • All Ages ( hard rock )
sat NOV. 12 • 8pm
Forever Abbey Road: A Tribute To The Beatles $15 • All Ages ( rock ) "Coolest venue in town! Not too big, not too small. Great sound system and audio engineers. Lights show, good food, cold beer and a music store in the back. Oh, and they give lessons, too. Seriously? I still can't believe this place is real." -Austin Hall of Sam Killed The Bear
Knoxville’s Best Musical Instrument Store
8502 KINGSTON PIKE • (865) 281-5874 openchordmusic.com
November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23
CALENDAR Join us on the second and fourth Monday of every month for our Yoga for Runners session with Shaheen Dewji, a certified yoga instructor and an experienced runner, with the knowledge and experience to help you improve your running through yoga. Sessions are free for current training program members, and $5 for everyone else. Visit fleetfeetknoxville.com/training/yoga-for-runners. • $5
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
2016 CHARITY CLASSIC POKER AND BLACKJACK TOURNAMENT • Club LeConte • 6PM • Entry fee grants a guest ticket and an optional spot at the poker or blackjack table. Enjoy $1 cocktails (all proceeds will be donated) and complimentary hors ‘d oeuvres throughout the event. Compete for final table and final three prizes. Including a cash prize for the winner. 100% of the proceeds will benefit: Knoxville Center of the Deaf, Augie’s Quest, and Employee Partners Care Foundation. • $50 FLEET FEET WEDNESDAY LUNCH BREAK RUN • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 12PM • Visit fleetfeetknoxville.com. • FREE KTC GROUP RUN • Runner’s Market • 5:30PM • Visit ktc.org. • FREE TVB EASY RIDER MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE • Ijams Nature Center • 6PM • Call 865-540-9979 or visit tnvalleybikes. com. • FREE
Tuesday, Nov. 15 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES TUESDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 9AM and 10:30AM • Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE HARD KNOX TUESDAY FUN RUN • Hard Knox Pizzeria • 6:30PM • FREE Wednesday, Nov. 16
Thursday, Nov. 17 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE NORTH KNOXVILLE BEER RUNNERS • Central Flats and Taps • 6PM • FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 6PM • Visit fleetfeetknoxville.com. • FREE RIVER SPORTS GREENWAY RIDE • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE Photo by The Windish Agency
DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN The Concourse (940 Blackstock Ave.) • Sunday, Nov. 13 • 7 p.m. • $18/$20 day of the show • 18 and up • internationalknox.com or dillingerescapeplan.org
In 1999, when the Dillinger Escape Plan released its dizzying debut album, Calculating Infinity, the New Jersey band was part of a movement, along with similarly minded tech/metal/experimental/ hardcore groups like Botch, Coalesce, and Cave In. It didn’t take long for DEP to separate from the rest of the pack; by the time they released their second album, 2004’s Miss Machine, the band had a new vocalist, Greg Puciato, and was incorporating jazzy breaks, ambient interludes, and groovy rhythms alongside the burly breakdowns and fretboard freakouts. Ire Works, Option Paralysis, and One of Us Is the Killer established DEP as the vanguard of extreme music, as the band stretched the limits of hardcore and metal without betraying their fundamental commitment to aggression and volume. On Dissociation, the band’s brand-new sixth album, DEP offers what might be its definitive statement. On what the band has announced will be its final album, they’ve found a balance between their instinct for ferocity and their creative ambition. On songs like “Surrogate” and “Honeysuckle,” the hardcore heroics and eggheaded explorations are woven so tightly together, there’s no way to distinguish them as separate elements—it’s just the sound of Dillinger Escape Plan. With O’Brother, Car Bomb, and Cult Leader. (Matthew Everett)
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
Saturday, Nov. 19 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: SIX CEMETERIES HIKE • 9AM • Hike about 9.7 miles, rated moderate; over five miles are road or trail, and nearly all the rest is good manway. Meet at Comcast on Asheville Hwy, 5720 Asheville Highway, at 7:45 AM for carpool or at Greenbrier Ranger Station at 9:00 am. Note that leaders will not be at the Comcast meeting location, but will meet everyone at Greenbrier. Leaders: Frank March, frankamarch@gmail. com and Robert Lochbaum, relochbaum@comcast.net. • FREE SECRET CITY HALF MARATHON AND 5K • Melton Lake Park • 8AM • Oak Ridge, a bustling city created virtually overnight in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, was shrouded in secrecy for most of the 20th century; only appearing on maps in the mid-1960’s. Today, Oak Ridge is on the map as a thriving city rich in cultural and recreational opportunities not to mention the cutting edge science and technology research for which the city is internationally known. Come to Oak Ridge and experience for yourself a one-of-a-kind Tennessee half-marathon and 5K event. Sunday, Nov. 20 HUMANA 5K • World’s Fair Park • 2PM • Come rock a free 5K—Humana and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series have teamed up to create a 5K Tune Up Run Series this fall that is 100 percent free. Each race will include all the things you love about Rock ‘n’ Roll: bling, music, and loads of fun. Great things are ahead of you when your health is ready for them and Humana encourages you to #StartWithHealthy by running or walking a 5K. Visit runrocknroll.com/humana/humana-knoxville-5k/. • FREE
ART
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts 556 Parkway (Gatlinburg) OCT. 20-DEC. 13: Pigment of Our Imagination,
mixed-media jewelry by Sam Mitchell and Aric Verrastro. NOV. 14-JAN. 14: Piecing Together a Changing Planet, a juried exhibition of 25 quilts highlighting climate change in America’s national parks. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, Nov. 17, from 6-8 p.m. Visit arrowmont.org. Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. NOV. 1-DEC. 2 : Paintings by George Rothery and jewelry by Jenifer Lindsey. Visit artmarketgallery.net. Bennett Galleries 6308 Kingston Pike NOV. 4-26: Nothing Is Ordinary, paintings by Christine Patterson. Visit bennettgalleries.com. Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 N. Broadway NOV. 4-26: Hope and Intuition, paintings by Jessica Payne and fiber art by Bailey Earith. Visit broadwaystudioandgalleries.com. Carson-Newman University Omega Gallery 1646 Russell Ave. (Jefferson City) OCT. 29-NOV. 30: Here and There, recent photos by Andrew Gresham. Visit cn.edu. The District Gallery 5113 Kingston Pike NOV. 4-26: States of Matter, pottery by Lisa Kurtz and paintings by Ginger Oglesby. Visit thedistrictgallery.com. Downtown Gallery 106 S. Gay St. NOV. 4-23: Guts Coming and Going, new video, sculpture, and installation work by Jessica Ann. Visit downtown.utk. edu. East Tennessee History Center 601 S. Gay St. NOV. 19-APRIL 30: Rock of Ages: East Tennessee’s Marble Industry. Visit easttnhistory.org. Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. NOV 4-23: The Variety and Beauty of Friends, a group show featuring artwork by Mike C. Berry, Steve Bryan, Tina Curry, Eun-Sook Kim, Cynthia Markert, and Ericka Ryba; fiber artwork by Eun-Sook Kim; Here, There, and Beyond, photos by Marta Goebel-Pietrasz; photography by Brian R. McDaniel; and artwork by Marty Elmer. Visit knoxalliance.com. Ewing Gallery 1715 Volunteer Boulevard NOV. 7-DEC. 11: The View Out His Window [and in his mind’s eye]: Photographs by Jeffrey Becton and The Lure of Main: Work by Carl Sublett and Holly Stevens. An opening reception will be held on Monday, Nov. 14, from 6:30-8 p.m. Visit ewing-gallery.utk.edu. See Spotlight on page 19. Knoxville Museum of Art 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive ONGOING: Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in Tennessee; Currents: Recent Art From East Tennessee and Beyond; and Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
1327 Circle Park Drive SEPT. 17-JAN. 8: Knoxville Unearthed: Archaeology in the Heart of the Valley. ONGOING: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier. Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike (Oak Ridge) NOV. 6-30: Artwork by Gary Dagnan. Visit oucc.org. Pioneer House 413 S. Gay St. NOV. 4-DEC. 31: Folk art, clothing, Nativa American artifacts, and more from the personal collection of Marty Stuart. Visit pioneer-house.com. Striped Light 107 Bearden Place NOV. 4-18: Amity, photos by Asafe Pereira. Visit stripedlight.com.
FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS
Thursday, Nov. 10 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Recommended for ages 3-5. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 1PM • Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE
LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • FREE Friday, Nov. 11 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • For grades K-5. . • FREE Saturday, Nov. 12 CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 10AM • Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE BLOUNT COUNTY NERD GROUP • Blount County Public Library • 3PM • Starting this summer, students can learn the basic principles of computer programming, also known as coding. • FREE WDVX KIDSTUFF LIVE • WDVX • 10AM • Sean McCollough’s weekly kids’ music show hosts a live studio audience on the second Saturday of each month. Visit wdvx.com. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 13 KMA ART ACTIVITY DAY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 1PM • Every second Sunday of each month, the KMA will host free drop-in art activities for families. A local artist will be on-site to lead hands-on art activities between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. • FREE MCCLUNG MUSEUM FAMILY FUN DAY: A SOLDIER’S DAY • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 1PM • Join us for free a free Family Fun Day featuring activities, crafts, tours, and more. This month we will tour the museum’s Civil War exhibition with curator Joan Markel focusing on a soldier’s experience of the war. All materials will be provided. The program is free and open to the public. Reservations are not necessary. • FREE
CALENDAR
Tuesday, Nov. 15 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Recommended for ages 3-5. Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE Wednesday, Nov. 16 BABY AND ME • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE Thursday, Nov. 17 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Recommended for ages 3-5. Interactive sessions focus on language acquisition and pre-literacy skills incorporating stories, music, motion, play, crafts and more. Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 1PM • For middle and high school students, with coach Tom Jobe. Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE Saturday, Nov. 19 B.R.A.K.E.S. TEEN DEFENSIVE DRIVING PROGRAM • Chilhowee Park • 8AM • B.R.A.K.E.S. (Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe), a non-profit offering free defensive driver training to teens and their parents, announced its scheduled visit to Chilhowee Park, Tennessee, November 19-20. B.R.A.K.E.S. classes are four hours, beginning with a classroom session followed by behind-the-wheel driving exercises including panic braking, crash avoidance and car control, and distracted driving avoidance, all free of
charge and taught by professional instructors. Visit putonthebrakes.org. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 10AM • For middle and high school students, with coach Tom Jobe. Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE BLOUNT COUNTY NERD GROUP • Blount County Public Library • 3PM • Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • For grades K-5. Every week will be a different adventure, from science experiments to art projects and everything in between. Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE JULIE SALAMON • Cedar Bluff Branch Library • 1PM • Julie Salamon, an American journalist and New York Times best-selling author, is the guest speaker for Jewish Book Month, an annual program sponsored by the Knoxville Jewish Alliance. For more information, please contact Deborah Oleshansky at (865) 690-6343 or doleshansky@jewishknoxville.org. For author biography and information: http://juliesalamon.com/. • FREE KNOX LIT EXCHANGE • Central Collective • 11:30AM • The Knoxville Literary Exchange is a free, monthly poetry and prose writing workshop open to high school age students. For further information, please contact organizer Liam Hysjulien at KnoxLitExchange@gmail. com. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 20 B.R.A.K.E.S. TEEN DEFENSIVE DRIVING PROGRAM • Chilhowee Park • 8AM and 1PM • Visit putonthebrakes.org. • FREE
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MON. - FRI. 4 PM - 1:30 AM • SAT. - SUN. 11 AM - 1:30 AM (21+ AFTER 9PM UNLESS CHILD WITH PARENT) KITCHEN NIGHTLY UNTIL 12:30 AM MAPLEHALLKNOX. COM
November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25
CALENDAR LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
Thursday, Nov. 10 RENATO CRUZ DE CASTRO: “THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 4PM • Castro, a senior professor of international studies at De La Salle University in the Philippines, will deliver the Baker Center’s Global Security Lecture, “The South China Sea Dispute: U.S.-Philippines-China Security Relations.” • FREE BRIDGING THE AMERICAS: BLACK LIVES MATTER EVERYWHERE • SEEED Knox • 6PM • In April 2014 a courageous Afro-Colombian community took a stand against violence that controlled their lives for over 15 years and transformed their neighborhood into a peace zone. The same year, the Movement for Black Lives ignited in the United States, vividly drawing national attention to an epidemic of state violence against Black communities. Join this critical conversation with Black community leaders from Colombia and the U.S. demanding respect for their lives, lands and rights. Contact amelia@pbiusa.org with questions. • FREE
Tuesday, Nov. 15 A CALL TO ACTION COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION • The International • 6:30PM • To continue building a more solid rapport between the community and its leaders as well as prevent any future acts of violence and injustice through awareness, education, and concrete solutions. Guests include Chief Rausch, Chief of Knoxville Police Department, Clarence Vaughn III, Executive Director of Parc, and featured speaker Abraham Dudley. • FREE UT WRITERS IN THE LIBRARY SERIES • University of Tennessee • 7PM • The University of Tennessee’s annual Writers in the Library series features novelists, poets, and nonfiction writers from around the region and visiting writers at UT, reading from and discussing their work in the auditorium of the John C. Hodges Library. The 2016-17 schedule includes Christopher Hebert (Aug. 29); Leah Stewart (Sept. 19); Tawnysha Greene and Kristi Maxwell (Oct. 3); Angela Floury (Oct. 24); Bret Anthony Johnston (Nov. 7); Garrett Hongo (Nov. 15); Joy Harjo (Jan. 23); Austion Kodra and Linda Parsons Marion (Jan. 30); LeAnne Howe (Feb. 6); Ocean Vuong (Feb. 20); Maggie Shipstead (March 6); Kathering Smith and Tanque Jones (march 20); Bobby Caudle Rogers and Maria James-Thiaw (March 27); Manuel Gonzales (April 10); and graduate student award winners (April 17). Visit lib.utk.edu/writers/. • FREE
Friday, Nov. 11 UT SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • The University of Tennessee Science Forum offers a weekly lecture on current science, medical, or technology developments. Visit scienceforum.utk.edu. • FREE
Thursday, Nov. 17 ZHAO MA: “FOREST MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 1PM • Ma is an associate professor of forestry and natural resources at Purdue University. •
Join Friends of the Tennessee Theatre
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604 S Gay St. Knoxville, TN 37902 | 865.684.1200
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
FREE Friday, Nov. 18 UT SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • The University of Tennessee Science Forum offers a weekly lecture on current science, medical, or technology developments. Visit scienceforum.utk.edu. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 20 JULIE SALAMON • Arnstein Jewish Community Center • 3PM • Julie Salamon, an American journalist and New York Times best-selling author, will discuss her books and the craft of writing as part of Jewish Book Month, an annual program of the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, which celebrates Jewish authors who write on a variety of topics. The program is free and open to the community. For more information, please contact Deborah Oleshansky at (865) 690-6343 or doleshansky@jewishknoxville.org. For author biography and information: http://juliesalamon. com/. • FREE
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
Thursday, Nov. 10 AARP SMART DRIVER DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • East Tennessee Medical Group • 8AM • Call (865) 382-5822. PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 12:30PM • Portrait and life drawing
practice at Candoro Art and Heritage Center. $10. Call Brad Selph for more information (865-573-0709). • $10 KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • This class is an hour of student-led training and review of Capoeira skills and exercises. Come prepared to sweat. Visit knoxvillecapoeira.org. • $10 KNOXVILLE PERSONAL TRAINING PILATES • Beaver Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church • 6:30PM • Every Tuesday and Thursday. First class is free. Call (865) 622-3103 or visit knoxvillepersonaltraining.com. • $4 BEGINNING ACROYOGA • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 7:30PM • This beginner level class is for those either brand new to AcroYoga or just starting out. Each class explores the foundations of the AcroYoga practice. • $15 BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail. com. Donations accepted. CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: HEALING THROUGH ART • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • No experience necessary. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. Saturday, Nov. 12 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • Narrow Ridge invites you to join us every Saturday morning for yoga instruction from Angela
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
Gibson. This class can be tailored to each individual’s ability level. For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE • KNOX HERITAGE PRESERVATION NETWORK • Knox Heritage • 10AM • Preservation Network is a series of free workshops held once every month on the second Saturday. The monthly workshops feature guest speakers who are specialists in windows, flooring, roofing, stained glass, tile, plumbing, electrical, and more. For more information visit www.knoxheritage.org. • FREE MARBLE SPRINGS PAINTING WORKSHOP • Marble Springs State Historic Site • 11AM • This workshop will be taught by local painting teacher Kristi Bailey. Guests will get to participate in a beginning step-by-step paining, creating a landscape image of the scenic historic site. Previous painting experience is not required. • $35 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FORUM • Knoxville Botanical Garden • 8:30AM • Join us for concurrent sessions on youth gardening and environmental studies. Both tracks include expert presentations, hands-on activities, and teacher testimonials. Light refreshments will be provided at registration, and a delicious lunch will be catered by Austin East High School’s Culinary Arts Program. Let’s grow together. • $35 Sunday, Nov. 13 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE BALLET BARRE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 1PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL MODERN TECHNIQUE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 2PM •
Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE IMPROVISATION CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 3:30PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 ACROKNOX FOUNDATIONAL ACROYOGA • World’s Fair Park • 5:30PM • Visit acroknox.com. • $5 Monday, Nov. 14 BEGINNER MODERN BELLY DANCE • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 6PM • Tribal fusion belly dance is a modern blend of traditional belly dance infused with hip-hop, modern dance, and more to create a new, unique dance form. • $13 MOONRISE RESTORATIVE YOGA • Central Collective • 6PM • Did you know that the Full Moon is the perfect time to go within, release the negative energy inside and start over with a clean slate? The moon also brings about a sense of peacefulness and nurturing which pairs well with Restorative Yoga. In Moonrise Restorative Yoga we will practice on the deck of the Central Collective surrounded by candlelight and the moonrise. • $15 KNOXVILLE PERSONAL TRAINING BOOT CAMP • Beaver Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church • 6:30PM • First class is free. Call (865) 622-3103 or visit knoxvillepersonaltraining.com. • $15 INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM • 7PM • Hosted by Unity Transformation. Facilitated by Sharada Nizami, therapist, life coach, and a spokesperson for the Muslim community of Knoxville. Held at Knoxville Executive Suites, Building D (9111 Cross Park Drive). Visit unity transformation.org.
CALENDAR
GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 7PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail. com. Donations accepted. BEGINNING CHEN-STYLE TAI CHI • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 8:15PM • An eight-week introductory-level training with Shifu Russell Sauls in the original form of Tai Chi. Chen style is significantly more dynamic than most other styles while expressing the mindful, fluid movement for which Tai Chi is famous. No experience necessary for this beginners’ series. Begins Monday, Oct. 10. $120 for the eight-week series. Visit breezewayyoga.com or email russellsauls@gmail.com for more info • $120 Tuesday, Nov. 15 OPEN PROFESSIONAL-LEVEL CONTEMPORARY DANCE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 9:30AM • Taught by Harper Addison. First class is free. Class is designed to develop a well-rounded set of technical skills as well as encourage individual artistic expression. Her movement style and choreography highlight dynamic quality changes, level changes, and movement through space. • $10 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail. com. Donations accepted. ARTS AND CULTURE ALLIANCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ARTISTS’ SEMINARS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 5:30PM • The Arts and Culture Alliance’s 2016-17 series of professional development seminars for artists and other creative people includes Social Media for Artists and Creatives with Lisa Gifford Mueller (Sept. 13);
Writing From Dreams with Marilynn Kallet (Oct. 25); Research and Apply for Juried Shows with Kelly Hider (Nov. 15); Lessons From Ansel Adams in the Digital Age with Steve Zigler (Jan. 10); the Power of Video and Photo to Tell Your Story with Mueller (Feb. 7); and Social Media and Branding with Dale Mackey (April 11). Visit knoxalliance.com. • $8-$12 KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • Visit capoeiraknoxville.org. • $10 KNOXVILLE PERSONAL TRAINING PILATES • Beaver Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church • 6:30PM • Every Tuesday and Thursday. First class is free. Call (865) 622-3103 or visit knoxvillepersonaltraining.com. • $4 AFFORDABLE CARE ACT HEALTH CARE ENROLLMENT • Blount County Public Library • 9AM • A qualified navigator will be at the library to meet with individuals and families to help with registration for the Affordable Care Act on the third Wednesday of every month. An appointment is required by calling 1-844-644-5443, or you can visit www.GetCoveredTenn.org/commit. • FREE Wednesday, Nov. 16 AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER CLASS • John T. O’Connor Senior Center • 12PM • Call 865-382-5822. KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY WINDOWS 10 COMPUTER WORKSHOPS • Cedar Bluff Branch Library • 1PM • Knox County Public Library is pleased to announce a new series of computer workshops based on Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system. The new workshops, which will be held in addition to the ongoing workshops based on Windows 7OS, will be taught using Windows 10
Thank you Knoxville for voting McGaha Electric Co. Top Knox Electrician.
McGaha Electric Co. is a family owned business serving the Knoxville Community for over 35 years. We are a full service company with trained and insured technicians that can handle all your electric and audio needs:
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• Industrial and Manufacturing • Retail and Commercial • Worship Centers and churches • Structural wiring and cable management
Contact us and find out why Knoxville voted us Top Knox! 1409 N. 6th Avenue Knoxville, TN 37917 865.523.8373 • mcgahaelectric.com November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27
CALENDAR tablet/laptop hybrids with touchscreen, hardware keyboard with touchpad, and mouse/stylus inputs. All classes are free and open to the public. Reservations are required and can be made by calling (865) 215-8723. • FREE CIRCLE MODERN DANCE INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED MODERN TECHNIQUE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • A rotation of core members and guest artists of Circle Modern Dance teach this class. They present a variety of modern and contemporary styles, including Bartenieff and release-based techniques. This class is primarily designed for students with a basic knowledge of modern dance technique and vocabulary, but is open to any mover who is willing to be challenged. Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 BEGINNER MODERN BELLY DANCE • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 6PM • Tribal fusion belly dance is a modern blend of traditional belly dance infused with hip-hop, modern dance, and more to create a new, unique dance form. Each class will include an invigorating warm-up designed to increase flexibility and strength followed by an overview of posture, isolations, and basic footwork. At the end of class we put the moves together in a fun and simple combination. No dance experience is necessary. • $13 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL BALLET CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 7:30PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CLIMBING FUNDAMENTALS • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Come learn the basics of climbing every first and third Wednesday of the month. Space is limited so call
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
865-673-4687 to reserve your spot now. Class fee $20. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com/events. • $20 Thursday, Nov. 17 AARP DRIVER SAFETY SMART DRIVER CLASS • John T. O’Connor Senior Center • 12PM • Call 865-382-5822. GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail. com. Donations accepted. PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 12:30PM • Portrait and life drawing practice at Candoro Art and Heritage Center. $10. Call Brad Selph for more information (865-573-0709). • $10 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: KNIT YOUR WAY TO WELLNESS • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • Call 865-546-4661. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • Visit knoxvillecapoeira.org. • $10 KNOXVILLE PERSONAL TRAINING PILATES • Beaver Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church • 6:30PM • Every Tuesday and Thursday. First class is free. Call (865) 622-3103 or visit knoxvillepersonaltraining.com. • $4 ADULT COLORING SESSIONS • Blount County Public Library • 7PM • FREE BEGINNING ACROYOGA • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 7:30PM • This beginner level class is for those either brand new to AcroYoga or just starting out. Each class explores the foundations of the AcroYoga practice. • $15 BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. •
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
MELINDA GRIMAC AFFILIATE BROKER
$12 Saturday, Nov. 19 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: MINDFULNESS IN EVERYDAY LIFE • Cancer Support Community • 10AM • Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. Sunday, Nov. 20 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE BALLET BARRE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 1PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL MODERN TECHNIQUE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 2PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE IMPROVISATION CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 3:30PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 ACROKNOX FOUNDATIONAL ACROYOGA • World’s Fair Park • 5:30PM • Visit acroknox.com. • $5
MEETINGS
Thursday, Nov. 10 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY LEUKEMIA, LYMPHOMA, AND MYELOMA NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer
TERRA MADRE W O M E N
I N
C L A Y
Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS/DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES • The Birdhouse • 6PM • A 12-step meeting for adults who grew up in alcoholic or dysfunctional homes. The group offers a safe space for emotional healing. Contact Laura at 706-621-2238 or lamohendricksll@ gmail.com for more information or visit the international ACA website at adultchildren.org. • FREE AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon. org. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY LEUKEMIA, LYMPHOMA, AND MYELOMA NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. Saturday, Nov. 12 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY PROSTATE CANCER NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 10AM • Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit our local website at farragutalanon.org or email us at FindHope@ Farragutalanon.org. • FREE NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE
Thursday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 20
Sunday, Nov. 13 SKEPTIC BOOK CLUB • Books-A-Million • 2PM • The book club of the Rationalists of East Tennessee meets on the second Sunday of every month. Visit rationalists.org. • FREE AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 5PM •Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE Monday, Nov. 14 GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • We hold facilitated discussions on topics and issues relevant to local gay men in a safe and open environment. Visit gaygroupknoxville.org. KNOX REVOLUTION WOMEN’S CYCLING CLUB • Casual Pint (Farragut) • 7PM • The Knox Revolution Women’s Cycling Club is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to promoting the sport of cycling among women. Visit knoxrevolution.com or facebook.com/KnoxRev. • FREE Tuesday, Nov. 15 ATHEISTS SOCIETY OF KNOXVILLE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 5:30PM • Weekly atheists meetup and happy hour. Come join us for food, drink and great conversation. Everyone welcome. • FREE DER GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS STAMMTISCH • Los Amigos • 6PM • A weekly gathering for Germans and anyone interested in German culture and the German language. • FREE AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 7PM • Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon. org. • FREE THREE RIVERS! EARTH FIRST! • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Three Rivers! Earth First! is the local dirt-worshiping, tree-hugging, anarchist collective. Call (865) 257-4029 for more information. • FREE Wednesday, Nov. 16 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon. org. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY WOMEN WITH ADVANCED CANCER NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 1:30PM • Call 865-546- 4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. THE SOUTHERN LITERATURE BOOK CLUB • Union Ave Books • 6PM • Union Ave Books’ monthly discussion group about Southern books and writers. Visit unionavebooks.com. • FREE ORION ASTRONOMY CLUB • The Grove Theater (Oak Ridge) • 7PM • FREE FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION EAST TENNESSEE CHAPTER • Earth Fare (Turkey Creek) • 7PM • The Freedom From Religion Foundation East Tennessee Chapter will hold its monthly meeting in the community room of EarthFare in Turkey Creek. Non-members are welcome to attend. We will be discussing local actions and violations, as well as discussing what classifies as a violation. You do not need to be a member to attend. • FREE Thursday, Nov. 17 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY FAMILY BEREAVEMENT GROUP • Cancer Support Community • 4:30PM • Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS/DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES • The Birdhouse • 6PM • Contact Laura at
CALENDAR
706-621-2238 or lamohendricksll@gmail.com for more information or visit the international ACA website at adultchildren.org. • FREE AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 6PM • Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon. org. • FREE BLACK LIVES MATTER • The Birdhouse • 7:30PM • #BlackLivesMatter is working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. Visit blacklivesmatterknoxville.org. • FREE Saturday, Nov. 19 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon. org. • FREE NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE Sunday, Nov. 20 RATIONALISTS OF EAST TENNESSEE • Pellissippi State Community College • 10:30AM • Visit rationalists.org. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN CISV FUN DAY • Central United Methodist Church • 3PM • CISV educates and inspires action for a more just and peaceful world. Come learn more about CISV at our Fun Day. Join us for food, games, and more on our educational, volunteer, and travel opportunities. Contact smokymtncisv@gmail.com or visit www.smokymtncisv.org for more information. • FREE AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 5PM • Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon. org. • FREE
ETC.
Thursday, Nov. 10 KNOXVILLE SQUARE DANCE • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Jubilee Community Arts presents Knoxville Square Dance with live old-time music by the Helgramites and calling by Stan Sharp, Ruth Simmons and Leo Collins. No experience or partner is necessary and the atmosphere is casual. (No taps, please.) Visit jubileearts.org. • $7 Friday, Nov. 11 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 2PM • Offering a wide variety of hand-picked produce, artisan breads, grass-fed beef, natural pork and chicken, farm fresh eggs and farm-based crafts. • FREE TERRA MADRE HOLIDAY POTTERY SHOW AND SALE • Bridgewater Place • 5PM • The show will feature the handmade pottery and clay art of over 30 members of the group. Terra Madre is an eclectic group of artists with diverse approaches to clay. Unique additions to the home and distinctive gifts for the season will be featured including functional, sculptural, traditional, contemporary and whimsical works of clay art. For more information about the Terra Madre: Women in Clay members and shows see the group on Facebook at facebook.com/ TerraMadreKnoxvilleTN/. • FREE Saturday, Nov. 12 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • The MSFM, a project of Nourish Knoxville, is an open-air farmers’ market located on historic Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE FREE THE NIPPLE PROTEST • Downtown Knoxville • 1PM •
Come join your fellow sisters and brothers on Gay Street in downtown Knoxville to participate in a Free The Nipple Protest. Let’s band together, peacefully protest our basic human rights of equality. Women are done sacrificing our comfort for the comfort of society. If this is something that resonates you please join, the more people, the more powerful our collective voice. • FREE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CRAFT FAIR • Immaculate Conception Catholic Church • 6PM • After all weekend masses Nov. 12 (6 - 8 pm) and Nov. 13 (8 am - 2 pm), the decorated church hall will be filled with local and visiting vendors with jewelry and gifts, beautiful baskets as well as home baked goodies for the holiday season. Visit icknoxville.org. • FREE TERRA MADRE HOLIDAY POTTERY SHOW AND SALE • Bridgewater Place • 10AM • The show will feature the handmade pottery and clay art of over 30 members of the group. Terra Madre is an eclectic group of artists with diverse approaches to clay. For more information about the Terra Madre: Women in Clay members and shows see the group on Facebook at facebook.com/TerraMadreKnoxvilleTN/. • FREE
2543 SUTHERLAND AVE. 865-523-9177 • dive@skiscuba.com
Try Scuba Diving! Tuesday Nov. 22 6-9pm It’s your chance to discover unknown worlds, make new friends, and enjoy a unique passion. Call to sign up today!
Sunday, Nov. 13 HARVEST MOON BALLROOM DANCE • Square Dance Center • 6PM IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CRAFT FAIR • Immaculate Conception Catholic Church • 8AM • After all weekend masses Nov. 12 (6 - 8 pm) and Nov. 13 (8 am - 2 pm), the decorated church hall will be filled with local and visiting vendors with jewelry and gifts, beautiful baskets as well as home baked goodies for the holiday season. Visit icknoxville.org. • FREE BELLUNO DINNER • Central Collective • 7PM • Brian Balest (owner of the Northshore Brasserie) and Matt Mowrer will present their second pop-up dinner. Join these good friends as they prepare a seven-course dinner with their innovative take on the traditional cuisine of Italy’s Veneto mountain region. The menu will include handmade pastas and breads, autumnal produce, homemade cheese, preserved vegetables, and a variety of meats. Dinner is BYOB. • $55 Tuesday, Nov. 15 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • FREE Wednesday, Nov. 16 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 11AM • FREE Thursday, Nov. 17 THE SPINS • The Open Chord • 8PM • Vinyl Me, Please presents a monthly record night with giveaways, a preview of a newly released record, and live music performances. Visit openshordmusic.com. • FREE Friday, Nov. 18 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 2PM • FREE GOOD SPORT NIGHT • Central Collective • 7PM • Visit thecentralcollective.com. • $20 Saturday, Nov. 19 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • FREE
Send your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com
SOLUTION TO CRYPTOQUOTE As near as I can tell, history and journalism are both, roughly, the study of everything…. If there is a difference between historians and reporters at all, it’s that historians have much bigger file cabinets. — Jack Neely, Secret History, Stories about Knoxville, Tennessee II November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29
’BYE
That ’70 s Girl
I’m Every Woman The ultimate showdown between the Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman BY ANGIE VICARS
W
hen I was a kid, I wanted to be the Bionic Woman. She was everything I was not—a tall, blond TV star, whose bionic implants made her super strong. The Bionic Woman never got a stitch in her side in gym class. When she chased bad guys in slow motion with sound effects, you knew she would catch them. The Bionic Woman never fell off the monkey bars because her arms got tired. She swung her bionic arm into the fembots’ fake faces and exposed their underlying electronics. The Bionic Woman never got in trouble for not listening to her mother. Her bionic ear heard evil scientists plotting miles away while we saw a close-up of her ear with sound effects. But although I admired her remarkable qualities, I had to admit the Bionic Woman had drawbacks. She died because her body rejected her bionic implants. She wound up with amnesia after her doctor revived her. She couldn’t remember her engagement to the Six Million Dollar Man, and that lame
doctor never gave her any bionic memory. Her bionic body parts wouldn’t even tan, making her an outcast among ’70s super models. All she had to look forward to was teaching middle school and working as an undercover government agent. One night in search of a new TV star, I saw a bespectacled brunette secretary in a Navy uniform spot a bad guy and start spinning around until she caused a small explosion. When she raced from the smoke in a stars-and-stripes unitard and lassoed the loser to the tune of her own theme song, I must tell the truth: I was hooked on Wonder Woman. She was a talented twirler, from her costume changes to her near-cowboy capabilities with that golden lasso that caused villains to spill their evil secrets. No other ’70s superhero was such a fashion icon either. Wonder Woman could block bullets with her golden bracelets and rush to Steve Trevor’s rescue in her red earrings and go-go boots, yet her golden tiara never slipped over her eyes.
BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY
30
KNOXVILLE MERCURY November 10, 2016
www.thespiritofthestaircase.com
Plus, she was the pilot of her own invisible plane. Sure, that clear plastic plane looked clunky on TV, but Wonder Woman didn’t have to ride in the back of her parents’ land yacht with her older brother snaring her in noogie headlocks when she wasn’t looking. Was it ever rough being Wonder Woman, I wondered. Were there times when she would stop mid-spin and ask herself, Was I better off when I was just an Amazon princess? By the third season of pretending to be Diana Prince, did she catch herself looking at Steve Trevor and thinking, I left Paradise Island for this? But Wonder Woman was quite a leap for a scrawny, 8-year-old tomboy like myself to portray when my friends and I played Justice League. The only claim I had to her was my dark hair. Spinning made me dizzy because I dissed ballet class. My borrowed bracelets were so big they fell off my wrists so I kept getting shot. I did have decent lasso skills, but every time I caught Jason he cried and
claimed I gave him rope burn. One day, I decided it was time to take a stand. “The Bionic Woman deserves to be a super hero,” I announced. “She can do things that are just as cool as Wonder Woman.” I expected a lengthy debate, but Martha, who had red hair and got to be Bat Girl, just looked at me and shrugged. “Makes sense to me. Buffy has long blond hair. She can be the Bionic Woman.” “No,” I argued as Buffy made slow motion, bionic sound effects while she chased Jason. “It was my idea. Why don’t I get to do it?” “You’re already a super hero,” Martha said. “What have you got to complain about?” Who needs bionic implants? I mean, really. Angie Vicars writes humorous essays and seriously good Web content for UT. In a former incarnation, she authored My Barbie Was an Amputee, Yikes columns for Metro Pulse, and produced the WATE website.
Did Wonder Woman ever catch herself looking at Steve Trevor and thinking, I left Paradise Island for this?
CLASSIFIEDS
’BYE
Support the Knoxville Mercury and sell your stuff by purchasing an ad in our classifieds section.
BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY
JOBS
Crooked Street Crossword
Gridiron
across 1 5 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 21 22 23 24 25 27 30 31 34 38 39 40 41 42 44 47 48 51 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63
Robo-call specialty Repub. opponent, Tuesday Victor over Tenn. in Oct. Sequoyah Hills' ___ Field, where Vols practiced in '38 The Volunteer, for one Football score in Manchester 1976 war movie, ___ High South Pacific route in World War II, "The ___" Chill out Victor over Vols last month Wrestler's turf Final play of Game 7 last week “Or ___.” Oft-mispunctuated possessive First spelling word, often Short drive Unwelcome injury symptom Defunct Strip bar, The ___ Room Vols' conquest, last week Large Asian beast Noted thief tricker Baba Radiohead's "All I ___" Sautee Iconic Summitt Pearl Harbor's island ___ Leaf Cluster, veteran's distinction Staple in 44 Across Vols' conquest in September Like drugstore shot Neyland Stadium purchase Like some thermometers Dawn goddess 2013 Taylor Swift title: "We Are Never ___...." Big French party Trendy whiskey Iniquity sites 1981 book 101 ___ for a Dead Cat
down 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 19
Paroxysm Nuts prefix, in 1929 Marx Brothers title Eskimo's island cousin Hipster: "I dig it the ___!" Olympic Frisbee? Brilliant presentation Othello, for one 1945 slogan, "___ Berlin!" Forge fixture Financial encumberances Pond scum Nashville's ___ chicken
PUZZLE 0244 • JACK NEELY & IAN BLACKBURN • GRID@KNOXWORD.COM
20 Former Vol opponent Washington and ___ 24 1942 film, Holiday ___ 25 Johnny Cash 1969 hit, "A Boy Named ___" 26 Dir. to Charlotte 27 Home of the Razorbacks? 28 Type of soup or coat 29 This black stuff 30 Penultimate Greek letter 31 Vols' 1998 champ QB Martin 32 Knoxville pilot Bruce Holloway, for one 33 UTK faculty qualification 35 1739 War of Jenkins' ___ 36 Stone or Stallone
37 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 52 53 54
Place your ad at store.knoxmercury.com
U.S. ammo, sometimes Trapper's quest Cell-phone forerunners Francis Marion, ___ The Swamp Fox The Godfather's specialty Metal mixture East Knox County's ___ Mountain Like old bucket of old song Epidermal cavities Pontificate Archipelago components Like some Vol ankles Hawk opponent, in Congress Sunspot's Jerk ___
MULBERRY PLACE CRYPTOQUOTE BY JOAN KEUPER Each letter takes the place of another. Hint: In this solution, “I” replaces “G”.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ NF YVNL NF G TNY AVJJ, MGFAPLK NYQ ________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ UPBLYNJGFW NLV HPAM, LPBCMJK, AMV _____ _ _ __________ . . . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ FABQK PR VIVLKAMGYC.... GR AMVLV GF N __________ _______ __________ ___ QGRRVLVYTV HVADVVY MGFAPLGNYF NYQ _________ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _ ’ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ LVXPLAVLF NA NJJ, GA’F AMNA MGFAPLGNYF _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. M N I V W B T M H G C C V L R G J V T N H G Y V A F. — _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ — U N T Z Y V V J K, F V T L V A M G F A P L K, F A P L G V F _ _ _ _ _ _________, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ NHPBA ZYPEIGJJV, AVYYVFFVV GG
COMMUNITY
POTBELLY SANDWICH SHOP - is coming to downtown! We are hiring all team members to bring our “good vibes and great sandwiches” to Knoxville. $9/hr starting wage. Vacation & sick pay accrual. Flexible hours. Clean, fun, high energy environment. We will be interviewing Tuesday, Nov. 15th, Wednesday, Nov. 16th, and Friday, Nov. 18th from 9-5 at the Knoxville Chamber Of Commerce located at 17 Market Square. Please call 865-679-6450 for more info. WHOLE FOODS PREP PERSON NEEDED - NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. 865-588-1010. Sprouting, fermenting, dehydrating skills helpful. Flexible PT schedule. PLACE YOUR AD AT STORE.KNOXMERCURY.COM
NOW HIRING! - Knoxville’s Largest Wine, Spirits and Craft Beer store is now hiring positive, enthusiastic individuals for PT and FT Stock, and Supervisory positions. All Shifts available. $10+/hr. Send resume to matt@ mcscrooges.com
FOR SALE 1993 FORD RANGER 4X4 Auction on November 20th, 2016 @ 10:30 a.m 10092 Chapman Highway Seymour
TIMMIE - is a 10 year old Terrier who was surrendered when an owner could no longer afford him. We want to place in the best home possible. He has so much energy and is a blast to be around! Visit Young-Williams Animal Center / call 865-2156599 for more information.
HOUSING
NORTH KNOXVILLE’S PREMIER RENTAL HOMES pittmanproperties.com
CASEY - is 3 month old DSH / tabby mix who loves to play! She’s a fun loving kitty who deserves a permanent home. Visit Young- Williams Animal Center / call 865-2156599 for more information.
VENUS & MEKA- are best friends and must go home together. Meka is a senior and the leader of the pack! Venus copies everything she does. Venus is a 5 year old Border Collie, and Meka is a 7 year old hound/ mix.! Visit Young -Williams Animal Center or call 865-215- 6599 for more information.
coming in time for the holidayS
SHOP KNOX
e id u G g in p p o h S y a d li o H ation, For advertising inform ail call 865-313-2059 or em m sales@knoxmercury.co
November 10, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31
Sharp’s Ridge Memorial Park Established as a war memorial about 70 years ago, the ridgetop park is drawing new interest. Sharp’s Ridge, Knoxville’s highest summit, straddles the northern part of town. Despite the difference in spelling, it’s believed to be named for the Sharpe family who once lived there. (It’s sometimes spelled without an apostrophe, but the city’s Parks and Recreation Department uses one.) It was always familiar to Knoxvillians, even those who never climbed its steep slopes. It’s clearly visible from downtown, and in the background of many photographs of Knoxville from the Civil War. It was sometimes referred to as Knoxville’s “northern rampart.” A few people lived on the ridge. Among them, for a short time in the 1860s, was a family of Jewish immigrants from Bavaria. Julius Ochs, who was a Union veteran, built a hillside home he called Ochsenburg. His oldest son, Adolph, would become famous as the most influential publisher of the New York Times.
Knoxville Business Men’s Club began collecting donations for a built an elaborate memorial at the ridge’s highest peak, with an observation tower that could be climbed by interior stairs. Also proposed was an elaborate auditorium for outdoor concerts. The first automobile road to the top of the ridge was completed in October, 1944, mainly to serve the war-memorial project. That same year, the city was persuaded to sell part of its acquisition. Stuart Adcock, Knoxville’s leading broadcast innovator, who 22 years earlier had introduced radio to the city, wanted to build a tower at the top of the ridge for radio station WROL. He announced he intended to broadcast television from that spot after the war. Known for its steep slopes, Sharp’s Ridge has been used for recreation since the 1800s, but its expansive city park was dedicated as a war memorial in 1953.
One leader of the Sharp’s Ridge Memorial Park fundraising effort was inventor-businessIn the late 19th century, Sharp’s Ridge was man Weston Fulton, whose big factory, Fulton popular for hunting, and even developed a Bellows, had been important to American efforts Image courtesy of google maps. tradition for a Christmas-morning hunt. in both world wars. Fulton died in 1946, before From 1917 until the annexation of Fountain the project was completed. Prominent horticulCity 1962, Sharp’s Ridge formed the northern turist Lee McClain spearheaded the effort boundary of the city of Knoxville. after that. He was there on July 4, 1953, along with Mayor George Dempster, Though still privately owned, it was commonly used by the public. when the park was dedicated as a memorial to soldiers of all wars, with a large Bird-watchers flocked there for its diversity of warblers. Horseback riders, stone marker that remains there today. some of them staying at nearby Whittle Springs Hotel, followed its steep trails. By the 1920s, it was a common hiking adventure for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, as well as a family picnic spot. Its rare views of the Smokies and of downtown In 1953, WROL went on the air, as did rival station WTSK, and these first Knoxville drew sightseers. television signals in East Tennessee were broadcast from towers on Sharp’s Wildfires once visited Sharp’s Ridge “several times a year,” according to a Ridge. In the early days, television studios, hosting wrestling matches, dance 1935 report. They were blamed on cigarette butts and “the unextinguished fires parties, and national celebrities, were located atop the ridge. of wiener supperers.” Inspired by the success Chattanooga’s Missionary Ridge, speculators repeatedly proposed residential development there. But in 1929, real-estate developer William C. Terry proposed trading 140 acres of the ridge’s southern slope to the city, with the intent of establishing a public “skyline park.” The excitement about his plan led to proposals for a ridgetop baseball diamond and tennis and basketball courts. That deal didn’t work out, due to the cost, but throughout the 1930s, there was more and more talk of making it a public park. World War II suggested a theme, and a new impetus. By 1943, the city was maneuvering to purchase the land as a war-memorial park. The North
Recreational use of the ridge began to decline about 50 years ago, as it was criticized as a magnet for various sorts of crime. However, recent improvements in Sharp’s Ridge, including new bike trails sponsored by the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, and trash pick-ups by the Tennessee Ornithological Society, have made it more popular in recent years. Another group called Veterans Heritage Site Foundation supports maintenance and improvements to the park, through fundraising events like last Saturday’s “Ridge Run.” Sharp’s Ridge Memorial Park is accessible from Broadway, off Ludlow Street, about two miles north of downtown.
Source: Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection
The Knoxville History Project, a new nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of and education about the history of Knoxville, presents this page each week to raise awareness of the themes, personalities, and stories of our unique city. Learn more on www.facebook.com/knoxvillehistoryproject • email jack@knoxhistoryproject.org