Vol. 3, Issue 7 Mar. 23, 2017

OFFICIAL

GUIDE

Schedules, Bios, and More SO MUCH AWESOMENESS, SO LITTLE TIME

March 23, 2017 knoxmercury.com V.

3/ N.7

BIG EARS ORNL Scientists Forge Ahead With Climate Change Research

Q&As

Ashley Capps Aram Demirjian The Public Cinema PROFILES

Magnetic Fields Matmos Anna Meredith

Was Roy Acuff the Music Industry’s Original Punk?

H.A.B.I.T. Utilizes the Power of Pets to Help People Cope

A Full-Body Workout at Big South Fork’s Honey Creek Loop

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March 23, 2017 | Volume 03: Issue 07 | knoxmercury.com “Without music, life would be a mistake.” —Friedrich Nietzsche

6

HOWDY Local Life

8

OPINION Scruffy Citizen

by Marissa Highfill

Jack Neely traces Roy Acuff’s early career—and rowdy behavior—in Knoxville.

9 Perspectives

Joe Sullivan has several words to share about the Republican health care bill, foremost of which: sickening.

A&E

22 Program Notes

Peak Physique prepare to unleash their new album. Plus: White Stag.

24 Classical Music

Alan Sherrod takes in KSO Concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz’s farewell performance.

25 Movies

Nathan Smith reviews the increasingly timely James Baldwin documentary I Am Not Your Negro.

2016 BIG EARS

COVER STORY

14 The Minds of Big Ears Big Ears is back. AC Entertainment’s swank homegrown festival of forward-thinking international contemporary music and film takes place for the sixth time this weekend, with the largest lineup yet. We’ve got interviews with Big Ears guru Ashley Capps and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra music director Aram Demirjian, and Big Ears film maestros Paul Harrill and Darren Hughes, plus profiles of Magnetic Fields’ Stephin

NEWS 10 Political Climate Change

It’s too early to tell how President Trump’s proposed budget might affect the ORNL Climate Change Science Institute, but it’s no secret the former reality TV star doesn’t worry much about global warming.

But scientists at ORNL persist, as Thomas Fraser reports.

PRESS FORWARD 12 H.A.B.I.T.

This nonprofit program at UT’s vet school utilizes the power of pets to help people cope. Rose Kennedy talks with director Karen Armsey.

CALENDAR 26 Spotlights

HappyHealthySmart Symposium, and more.

OUTDOORS

40 Voice in the Wilderness

Kim Trevathan dares to tackle Big South Fork’s Honey Creek Loop.

’BYE 44 That ’70s Girl

by Angie Vicars

45 Sacred & Profane

by Donna Johnson

46 Spirit of the Staircase

by Matthew Foltz-Gray

47 Crooked Street Crossword

by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely

47 Mulberry Place Cryptoquote

by Joan Keuper

SPECIAL INSERT

Big Ears Official Guide Everything you need to know about the adventurous music and film festival’s program. Everything!

Merritt, Matmos, and Anna Meredith.

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 3

“This is a devastating article. The author needs [to be] commended for doing a very detailed and thorough job on it.

I have no answers, but feel devastated for the community.”

— Rich Kuser

commenting at knoxmercury.com on “The Workers Integral to Gatlinburg’s Tourism Industry Are On the Verge of Homelessness” by S. Heather Duncan, March 10, 2017

THE SAD IRONIES OF HISTORY In the 1770s, one of my ancestors was in a Virginia jail. He and other men were imprisoned for the crime of being Baptists.

It is a forgotten chapter of American history and, apparently, Baptist history—that the idea of our nation being a land of religious liberty was not quite as cut and dry as you might think.

To be a Baptist in the American colonies was to be a member of a minority—a religious group whose outsider status was frightening to the mainstream, whose beliefs were often misunderstood or misinterpreted, and whose very existence was criminalized.

Baptists preachers like my ancestor went to jail for writing and preaching the Gospel without a government license from Virginia, a license the Baptists believed was an unjust religious test.

I have no record if my ancestor was subjected to the same punishments that other Baptists met in those days. In the colonies it was not unheard of to subject a Baptist to the lash or to “baptize” them by holding them underwater to the point of drowning until they recanted their beliefs. (Waterboarding is not a new invention.)

These Virginia prisoners found a lawyer who took pity on their plight.

His name was James Madison.

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It is suggested that Madison’s memory of these men was very much on his mind when, more than a decade later, he wrote the text that has guided so much of our nation’s history: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The current administration seems dead-set on pushing Madison’s vision for the First Amendment right up to the breaking point. Religious testing and banning of immigrants to our country based on the predominant religion of their nation is in direct opposition to what so many of my, and your, ancestors stood for over the past two and a half centuries. It is un-American.

It appears that in addition to their sense of history, my Baptist brothers and sisters have also lost their sense of irony. Why else would so many of them gleefully cast aside their legacy as fighters for religious liberty and instead willingly play the role of Virginia jailer?

Shane Rhyne Knoxville

THE LONG WAIT So, now I know. [“A Green Shoot,” Scruffy Citizen by Jack Neely, Feb. 23, 2017] As a lifelong Loudon resident and UT grad (’76), I have watched and marveled at Knoxville’s slow growth west toward my home town. Actually, I remember boldly stating to my buddies that one day it would spread all the way to Farragut. Even though I worked out of state for 30+ years, I always made at least one trip from Loudon to the UT campus via Highway 11 and Kingston Pike, while visiting family. Now retired and home in Loudon County, I still make this trip often.

I can’t remember when I first noticed it, but it was way back when: that field, that big nice level field just sitting there right on Kingston Pike. It was overgrown at times but well-

groomed on other occasions. Then I noticed the houses up in the trees a couple hundred yards from the road.

It looked like two or three modest homes sitting in there. The trees were thick and the homes were tightly set in there, blocking any good views of them. And of course my curiosity got to me. Now, why would someone stay in there and not just sell the property, which was worth a fortune?

So I kept close watch on it several more years and, at some point, the homes seemed to be going into disrepair. Once, I actually went up to the gravel driveway which exited onto Cedar Bluff, with the intention of driving into those woods to see who, if anyone, still lived in there. But there was more than one neatly kept mail box right by the driveway, so I decided against it. And all the while the new developments were slowly surrounding the property.

Now, we all know that the field is covered with concrete, pavement, and several nice businesses. And those unkept homes—along with most, if not all, the trees—are also gone. I knew this was going to happen, but I never knew why it took so long. But now, thanks to the Mercury and the excellent due diligence of Jack Neely, I know who owned the property and lived in those trees near the back of that beautiful field on Kingston Pike.

RIP Kaptola McMurry.

Sam Stevens Lenoir City

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 Chris Barrett Joan Keuper Ian Blackburn Catherine Landis Hayley Brundige Dennis Perkins Patrice Cole Stephanie Piper Eric Dawson Ryan Reed George Dodds Eleanor Scott Thomas Fraser Alan Sherrod Lee Gardner Nathan Smith Mike Gibson April Snellings Carey Hodges Denise Stewart-Sanabria Nick Huinker Joe Sullivan Donna Johnson Kim Trevathan Tracy Jones Chris Wohlwend Rose Kennedy Angie Vicars Carol Z. Shane MULTIMEDIA ASSISTANT Jeffrey Chastain DESIGN ART DIRECTOR Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Charlie Finch CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS David Luttrell Shawn Poynter Justin Fee Tyler Oxendine CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS Matthew Foltz-Gray PHOTOGRAPHY INTERN Marissa Highfill ADVERTISING PUBLISHER & DIRECTOR OF SALES Charlie Vogel charlie@knoxmercury.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Scott Hamstead scott@knoxmercury.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Michael Tremoulis michael@knoxmercury.com BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Scott Dickey scott.dickey@knoxmercury.com KNOXVILLE MERCURY

“Brilliant! I was thumbing through my Knox Schools coupon book today, and there was the DE Coupon.

I almost wept. Now this post. Stock that upcoming GBV. I’ll be there.”

—Brad Finkbeiner

commenting via Facebook on “Magnolia Records Set to Open North of Downtown in Time for Big Ears” by Matthew Everett, March 14, 2017.

618 South Gay St., Suite L2, Knoxville, TN 37902 knoxmercury.com • 865-313-2059 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR & PRESS RELEASES editor@knoxmercury.com CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS calendar@knoxmercury.com SALES QUERIES sales@knoxmercury.com DISTRIBUTION distribution@knoxmercury.com BOARD OF DIRECTORS Robin Easter Tommy Smith Melanie Faizer Joe Sullivan Jack Neely Coury Turczyn Charlie Vogel The Knoxville Mercury is an independent weekly news magazine devoted to informing and connecting Knoxville’s many different communities. It is a taxable, not-for-profit company governed by the Knoxville History Project, a non-profit organization devoted to exploring, disseminating, and celebrating Knoxville’s unique cultural heritage. It publishes 25,000 copies per week, available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. © 2017 The Knoxville Mercury

THRU

SEPTEMBER 17

SEPTEMBER 27 thru OCTOBER 15 OCTOBER 25 thru NOVEMBER 12

AUGUST 30

A Play by

Rick Elice

Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Three SisTers ANTON CHEKHOV By A New Version by LIBBY APPEL

by CRAIG LUCAS

NOVEMBER 22 THRU DECEMBER 10

A Christmas Carol

JANUARY 31 THRU FEBRUARY 18

Adapted by Edward Morgan and Joseph Hanreddy

Southeast Premiere

Music and Lyrics by

Mark Hollmann

Book and Lyrics by

Greg Kotis

MARCH 28 thru APRIL 15

FEBRUARY 21 thru MARCH 11

CBT-Commissioned World Premiere

NED LOCALLY OW ED T A AND OPER ARS YE FOR OVER 7

APRIL 18 thru MAY 6

Orders received by APRIL 21, get an extra Early Bird Discount!* *Adult 6-Show Package

A WAR D WI NNI N G C OM P ET IT IO N S T Y LE NE IG H BOR H OOD BB Q FRESH NEVER FROZEN | BBQ & MORE CATERING AVAILABLE | VOL CARD ACCEPTED 3621 SUTHERLAND AVE. (ACROSS FROM UT REC SPORTS FIELDS) 865-212-5655 March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 5

DUMPSTER highlights DIVE Weekly from our blog GATLINBURG FIRE VICTIMS HELP OTHERS The historic wildfire that leaped out of neighboring Great Smoky Mountains National Park Nov. 28 left many people’s homes in rubble. Yet a remarkable number of those people walked away from their own ashes to help someone else sweep up theirs, literally or figuratively. Here’s how they’ve been helping other victims.

ROGERO, RAUSCH MARK “DAY OF IMMIGRATION ACTION” Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero met Tuesday with representatives of about 20 organizations that serve or advocate for Knoxville’s immigrant communities and then proclaimed “a Day of Immigration Action,” a nationwide observance organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. She and KPD Chief David Rausch declared the city would not get into immigration enforcement policing.

LOCAL LIFE Photo Series by Marissa Highfill

The 5th Annual St. Patrick’s Day 5k paradoxically enticed runners with pizza and beer from Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria in the Old City on Sunday, but it was all for a great cause: Emily’s Power For A Cure. EPFAC is a foundation with a mission to raise funds and awareness for neuroblastoma research.

ELKMONT: GHOST TOWN OF THE SMOKIES Photographer Chet Guthrie visited the “lost town” of Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to document many of the buildings that will be torn down this month.

Check out his gallery at knoxmercury.com.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

3/25 SOUTH KNOXVILLE CLEANUP SATURDAY

9 a.m.-1 p.m., Sam Duff Memorial Park (4060 Chapman Highway, behind the Krystal). Free.

South Knoxville is Keep Knoxville Beautiful’s “Community of the Year,” and it’s marshaling over 300 volunteers to pick up litter in local roads and neighborhoods. Info: keepknoxvillebeautiful. org. Plus: If that’s sold out, there’s the Fort Dickerson Quarry Lake Monthly Clean Up the same day, starting at 11 a.m. Info: facebook.com/ SoKnoxAlliance.

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3/26 FUNDRAISER: BRIDGE REFUGEE SERVICES SUNDAY

2-6 p.m., Crafty Bastard Brewery (6 Emory Place).

Here’s a way to make your craft-beer habit pay off: For every beer purchased at Crafty Bastard, a dollar will go directly towards helping refugee families in the Knoxville area. You can also meet the staff and friends of Bridge Refugee Services, and see photos of their efforts. Info: bridgerefugees.org.

3/27 FORUM: EMPLOYMENT FOR THOSE 3/29 HAPPYHEALTHYSMART SYMPOSIUM WITH DISABILITIES MONDAY

6-8 p.m., Holiday Inn West (9134 Executive Park Dr.). Free.

The Mayor’s Council on Disability Issues and the Knoxville Area Employment Consortium host this progress report on their strategies to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities in Knoxville. Guest speaker is Michael Hingson, author of Thunder Dog: The Story of a Blind Man, A Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero.

WEDNESDAY

5:30-8 p.m., East Tennessee History Center (601 S. Gay St.). Free.

The East Tennessee Community Design Center is gathering local and national experts in mobility, urban design, and smart cities technology to discuss “finding new and better ways to connect people and places, with a focus on what makes a happier, healthier and smarter region.”

Info: communitydc.org.

“STICK” MCGH EE (1918-1961) F r i d ay, M a r c h 2 4 i s t h e 9 9 t h b i r t h d ay o f a n e a r ly p i o n e e r o f r o c k ’ n ’ r o l l .

Granville Henley McGhee was born in Knoxville 1918 (some sources say 1917, but available government records favor the later date). His older brother, Brownie McGhee, who became a famous blues singer and guitarist, was unable to walk well due to polio, and rode around in a wagon. Granville got the nickname “Stick” for the fact that he was known to push Brownie’s wagon with a stick. (Sometimes he’s called “Sticks.”)

The term “rock ’n’ roll” did not yet exist, and it was considered a “ jump blues” record in 1949. Although there are several claimants for the title, some scholars have proposed that McGhee’s “Drinkin’ Wine” was the first rock ’n’ roll recording.

McGhee’s “Drinkin’ Wine” was the first big hit for Atlantic Records. A younger white performer, piano player Jerry Lee Lewis, was just a teenager when he st a r ted doi ng h is ow n ver sions of McGhee’s song. Lewis later recorded it for Sun Records in Memphis, and it became one of his signature numbers.

The brothers’ father moved frequently for work, and they spent parts of their childhood in Maryville and Kingsport.

Granville “Stick” McGhee, at right, sharing a fun However, Stick McGhee returned to evening with his brother, Walter “Brownie” McGhee, at Knoxville as a young man, probably in left, with guitar, probably around 1950. In this photo Mea nwh i le, St ick’s older brot her, the late 1930s. He lived in a rooming Brownie McGhee (1915 -1996), who found in Knoxville by TAMIS, the location and other house on Henley Street, near where played guitar on the “Drinkin’ Wine” people are unidentified, but notes on the back suggest it Cheseapeake’s is today, while he worked session, became better k now n as a was Stick and his wife Frances’s anniversary. for a tire company. He later got a bluesman, often w it h h is long t ime perhaps better job as a waiter at the par t ner, har mon ica player S on ny popular Manhattan Cafe, at Central Ter r y. He worked for yea r s a s a and Jackson. He might recognize it today as Boyd’s Jig and Reel. guitarist for folksinger Woody Guthrie. Occasionally he was even an actor. He and Terry performed at the 1982 World’s Fair.

He got married here in 1940, to a woman named Amanda Barker. He and his wife settled at 318 Patterson Street, a street on the east side of downtown Much of Stick McGhee’s life is less well known. He had just one more hit, that no longer exists. Here he had a chance to see several of the great black the instrumental “Tennessee Waltz Blues.” It’s assumed that he spent most musicians of the era. In the early 1940s, jazz and R&B artists Cab Calloway, of his later life in the New York area, and he remarried. A cigarette smoker, Count Basie, Fats Waller, and the Ink Spots performed for black audiences he died in 1961, at the age of 43, reportedly of lung cancer. He was buried at downtown dance clubs, a short walk from the McGhees’ home. in Long Island. However, at the time of his death, his widow, Lillie Frances McGhee, lived at 911 East Vine, along what’s now the eastern part of Summit McGhee was drafted into the army during World War II, and served in the Hill Drive.

Signal Corps. He and his fellow soldiers worked up a humorous chant to pass the time. After the war, he cleaned up the lyrics a little and put it to music with his guitar. He called it “Drinkin’ Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee.” Stick recorded two versions of it. One version, for the Harlem label in 1947, We’ve heard from many of you, but still need help! To fund did not make a big impact. this History Page for another year, please send tax-deductible donations to the Knoxville History Project, 516 West Vine Ave., #8, Knoxville, 37902, or check knoxvillehistoryproject.org.

He liked the song, though, and kept working on it. In 1949, he recorded a harder-driving, uptempo version with electric guitar.

Source The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Lawson McGhee Library Image courtesy of Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound • knoxlib.org/local-family-history/tennessee-archive-moving-image-and-sound

T h e K n ox v i l l e H i s to ry P r o j ec t, a n o n p r o fi t o r g a n iz at i o n d e vot e d to t h e p r o m ot i o n o f a n d ed u c at i o n a b o u t t h e h i s to ry o f K n ox v i l l e , p r e s en t s t h i s pag e e ac h w e e k to r a i s e awa r en e s s o f t h e t h em e s , p er s o n a l i t i e s , a n d s to r i e s o f o u r u n i q u e c i t y.

L e a r n m o r e at

knoxvillehistoryproject.org

o r em a i l

jack@knoxhistoryproject.org

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 7

Scruffy Citizen | Perspectives

Crazy Tennesseans In downtown Knoxville, Roy Acuff started more than a career

BY JACK NEELY

T

hey were well-named. It was a crazy, unexpected thing that happened here, right about 81 years ago.

Country music wasn’t always popular here. In those days that was mainly fiddle music, and it was an esoteric pursuit, rarely encountered on actual stages. Maybe Knoxvillians encountered more of it than the average American did, from buskers at the train station or annual fiddling contests on Market Square. Still, it was easy to avoid.

In the 1920s and early ’30s, Knoxville radio offered only occasional short “hillbilly” shows, a half-hour here or there, often peppered with humor. Knoxville’s two leading stations, WNOX and WROL, offered much more orchestral music and dance jazz, both from national and local sources, than country music.

Despite the Depression, or maybe partly because of it, America tried hard to be elegant. It was the era of Bing Crosby’s hits and Astaire-Rogers musicals shown at the Tennessee or the Riviera. When a man sang a song into a microphone, on film or in person on the stage at the Tennessee, he crooned, and he wore a suit and tie, if not a tuxedo. When you per-

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formed in front of people, regardless of the audience, you got dressed up.

Of course you did.

Your backup band was called an “orchestra,” regardless of its size, and it generally included cornets, clarinets, perhaps violins. American popular music was like that in the ‘30s. Pop bands were orchestras. The small string band, guitar, banjo, fiddle, whatever, was a ragged folk curiosity.

Roy Acuff fomented a rebellion.

He was an authentic rebel.

Making trouble came naturally.

Born in Maynardville, he had moved to Fountain City with his family as a teenager. Before he was a professional musician, Roy Acuff was mentioned in the Knoxville papers for two things. One was his aggressive prowess on the athletic field. A fearsome competitor in football, and basketball, sometimes boxing, and especially baseball, he was such a good hitter he drew the attention of some big-league scouts. His fair skin didn’t get along with the sun, though. After a collapsing a few times, his doctor told him it was safer to come out at night.

Of course the nighttime has its own hazards. The other thing Acuff was known for was a small-time crime.

He was occasionally arrested for

gambling, bootlegging, and fighting. In July 1930, at the Green Lantern Tea Room on Hotel Avenue, he was shot and wounded in the arm during a fight with a fellow former footballer. In trial, the gunman was freed; it was justifiable self-defense. A lot of folks were afraid of Roy Acuff.

He found a healthier indoor activity when began working seriously on his fiddling and his high, clear singing. His first band was called the Three Rolling Stones. A larger band, formed in Lonsdale, was called the Tennessee Crackerjacks. He added a few more fellows, including Smokies native Clell Summey, who was making sounds with a dobro no one had ever heard before, and his band became the Crazy Tennesseans. There was no better name for them.

They opened a new vein in popular music, unleashing raucous, hard-driving, uninhibited string-band music. People had heard country fiddlers before, but had never seen anything like this. They weren’t suave, they weren’t well-practiced, they weren’t even good looking. Country bands are supposed to be small, but in their early days, the Crazy Tennesseans’ fiddlers, guitarists, and harmonica players sometimes numbered 14.

Sometimes they wore work clothes— blue jeans, even—right on stage.

Audiences went wild. In a carefully ordered society, they were a welcome bit of anarchy, a bracing daily riot.

First on WROL, in late 1935 they switched to playing live noon shows on WNOX. That winter the Crazy Tennesseans exploded as a local phenomenon. They represented not just a new kind of music, though much of their music was new and different, but a new kind of subversive, propriety-shattering fun. Maybe it’s a stretch to compare it to the impact, 40 years later, of punk rock.

By February 1936, their audiences were too big for the studio atop the Andrew Johnson Hotel. They were evicted, by some accounts. They had to move into a space in an old newspaper building on the corner of Church and Gay. The stage was a former boxing ring. Crowds outgrew that space, too, and they had to move again, to the 1,500-capacity Market

Hall on Market Square. Their success may have been the inspiration for a new noon variety show on WNOX, soon to be called the Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round.

Local movie theaters protested.

The Crazy Tennesseans were so popular they were hurting cinemas’ matinee crowds, and they didn’t like the fact that the city seemed to be supporting it by letting them use the public hall.

Sometimes the Crazy Tennesseans were superheroes. In May 1936, they were credited with preventing a race riot in Oliver Springs by distracting the populace.

Acuff and his band quit WNOX that spring and went to WROL, that summer inaugurating a concert series of Monday evening shows at North Knoxville’s Arlington Open Air Theater.

They went to Chicago to make records, including one called “The Great Speckled Bird,” extraordinary for its imagery and instrumentation.

Most folks had never heard dobro before. It was the beginning of their national fame, but they had some more time to spend in Knoxville. By early ’37, now styled “Roy Acuff and the Crazy Tennesseans,” they were doing midnight shows at the Strand on Gay Street.

The band Acuff took to Nashville was smaller than it had been, and he dropped the Crazy. It became Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys.

It made the Opry, and country music, a national phenomenon.

Roy’s boys led the way, and some of their crazy survived. They began something maybe bigger than country music. Within 15 years, the stringband combo, as opposed to the brass orchestra, was becoming the model for pop music, and performers didn’t have to dress up anymore. Acuff’s innovations are mentioned in some histories of rock ’n’ roll. A new madness was loose in the world.

Jack Neely is the director of the Knoxville History Project, a nonprofit devoted to exploring, disseminating, and celebrating Knoxville’s cultural heritage. The Scruffy Citizen surveys the city of Knoxville’s life and culture in the context of its history.

Scruffy Citizen | Perspectives

Critical Care The House Republican health care bill is sickening

BY JOE SULLIVAN

B

oth substantively and procedurally, the Republican health care bill that’s being railroaded through the House of Representatives is a monstrosity. Even the stark reductions in resultant insurance coverage projected by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office don’t begin to capture the full magnitude of the atrocities that will be perpetrated, especially on older, poorer people who will be most hurt.

It’s true that the bill grants them a two-year reprieve from the axing of the subsidies that have made health insurance affordable to them under the Affordable Care Act since 2014.

But beginning in 2020, there would no longer be any income-based affordability standards for premium tax credits, which would become purely based instead on age and be applicable to households with higher incomes. Nor would these new credits make any allowance for big differences in the cost of health care (and resultant insurance costs) in different parts of the country.

For a 60-year-old couple with a $25,000 income, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that the national average tax credits would shrink from $20,606 to $8,000. (Note: Knox County costs are some 20 percent above the national average so the affordability shortfall would be even greater here.) And these differ-

entials don’t take into account additional ACA cost reductions to help cover deductibles and co-pays for people with incomes of less than 250 percent of FPL that would also disappear in 2020.

Yet the Trump administration’s secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, had the temerity to proclaim on NBC’s Meet the Press that, “I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we’re going through.” Just as preposterously, Price went on to say that, “I’ll tell you right now, there are a lot of people that are worse off right now when they’re paying for health care and they aren’t getting the care that they need. Again, the premiums are up and the deductibles are up.”

In fact, the vast majority of the some 12 million people who are getting coverage on the ACA exchanges have been insulated from any premium increases over the past three years. That’s because the tax credits are constructed so that they cover the full amount by which insurance costs, including any increases, exceed a scaled percentage of recipient income.

The House Republican bill also repeals, effective immediately, a key provision of the ACA that was intended to hold down costs. That’s the mandate for nearly all individuals to be insured or pay a penalty. But not enough younger, healthier people

have bought in. And the older, sicker mix of people who have selected coverage are adversely pushing premiums (before tax credits) up at double-digit rates.

Of the 14 million people whom the CBO foresees becoming uninsured next year, most are expected to be younger people who drop their coverage (not just on the exchange) when the mandate goes away. As a result, the CBO predicts a further 15 percent to 20 percent premium increase next year as the pool of exchange enrollees becomes even more adversely selected.

House Speaker Paul Ryan likes to talk about a “death spiral” afflicting the ACA, but he seemingly wants to accelerate it rather than reverse it.

Fortunately, wiser heads in the Senate don’t share this destructive bent. Our own Sen. Lamar Alexander chairs the Senate committee with health care jurisdiction, and his take has been that, “I think of it as a collapsing bridge….You send in a rescue team and you go to work to repair it and you start to build a new bridge, and only when that new bridge is completed and people can drive safely across it do you close the old bridge.”

A panel assembled at a committee hearing to address repairs included Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak who has warned that the state’s exchange is “very near collapse.” That’s because most of the insurers who had been offering coverage have pulled out after incurring losses, leaving only Blue Cross in large parts of the state. And even it has pulled out of the Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville markets, leaving a total void in Knoxville for 2018 after Humana announced that it would be withdrawing at the end of this year.

Most of the prospective fixes are too technical to describe within the space constraints of this column. But two that stand out are: (1) to widen the unduly narrow (from an actuarial standpoint) three-to-one differential in premiums based on age that the ACA presently allows; and (2) to ease the very stringent set of Essential Health Benefits that it presently imposes on all insurance offerings.

Yet under the cockamamie set of

procedures under which Ryan and the Trump administration are trying to whisk through ACA repeal, such changes in its underpinnings probably aren’t allowable. To avoid having to get an unobtainable 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate, they are resorting to a process known as “reconciliation,” which is really the antithesis of same. It allows legislation that solely deals with revenues and/or expenditures to be adopted with a simple majority vote. But changing things like premium age bands and insurance benefit requirements don’t fit. And in any event, a much more deliberative process is needed before Congress fundamentally changes the nation’s health care structure.

One element of the House Republican bill that actually does have merit and could clearly be enacted via reconciliation provides for the creation of a $100 billion (over nine years) Patient and State Stability Fund. This fund would go for things like reinsurance to insulate insurers from the humongous claims of the catastrophically ill. Tennessee would get on the order of $330 million a year from this fund, which should go a long way toward restoring stability to the insurance exchange and bringing carriers back to Knoxville.

The Republican whackers can toot over the CBO’s finding that their bill would reduce the federal deficit by $337 billion over the next decade, but this is false economy. It very nearly equals the difference between a $673 billion cost of the existing income-based premium subsidies and the $361 billion cost of the new age-based tax credits (all per CBO estimates). That difference is just about covered by the ACA surtaxes on households with incomes in excess of $250,000 that would be repealed.

I’m not a big fan of Nancy Pelosi, but speaking as someone who has been pleased to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year in such taxes, I concur with her assessment that this is a “reverse Robin Hood stunt.”

Joe Sullivan is the former owner and publisher of Metro Pulse (1992-2003) as well as a longtime columnist covering local politics, education, development, health care, and tennis.

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 9

Political Climate Change In a warming world—and a politically unstable time— scientists continue to pursue hope at ORNL

BY THOMAS FRASER

T

he planet is warming and natural systems are failing, and our children’s children are already guaranteed a different Earth.

But it’s not too late to stem the effects of climate change, according to scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the site of multiple research projects and experiments delving into increasingly complicated climate science.

In the world of politics, however, climate change is not an imminent threat and may not even be occurring—at least according to one of President Donald Trump’s campaign planks, and Trump’s initial budget promises potentially deep cuts to scientific research.

But it’s too early to tell how the budget might affect the ORNL Climate Change Science Institute, Director Jack Fellows says in an interview earlier this month.

The prolonged nature of some of the institute’s experiments—some last

10 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

as long as 10 years—could buffer the program against deep cuts to the institute, which has a budget of about $50 million and a research and support staff of about 140. Each of the nation’s seven national labs participates in climate research, ranging from sea-level rise to economic impacts and, in the case of ORNL, affects on the land and ecosystems.

“In the scientific community, it’s overwhelmingly believed that not only is climate change occurring, but it is driven by humans,” Fellows says.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA concluded earlier this year that 2016 was the warmest year since climate records were first collected in 1880. Locally, high temperatures broke 60 for a weeks-long stretch in February, prompting early budding of some plants—later frozen when seasonal temperatures returned in mid-March. Most of the state is still in some level of drought, and deadly

wildfires erupted across East Tennessee last year, including the Smokies conflagration that killed 14 and devastated parts of Gatlinburg and Sevier County.

The institute at ORNL—run by the Department of Energy—is involved in experiments that calculate how increased temperatures will affect Appalachian mountain forest ecosystems; the potential for the release of massive amounts of additional carbon dioxide from peat bogs along the Canada-U.S. border; and how construction design, and even road materials, may have to adapt. And that’s just a sampling of the institute’s

Photo by Marissa Highfill

ORNL SCIENTIST OMAR ABDELAZIZ

work. By early next decade, the institute will have access to the world’s largest supercomputer, capable of breaking down the entire planet to scales of 2.5 miles. The plots will be accompanied by a vast trove of climate data collected around the globe and processed through the computer.

“One of the biggest issues is persistent heat,” Fellows says. Currently, there are about five to six days with temperatures above 95 degrees annually in the Knoxville area.

Climate projections and modeling indicate that between 20 and 80 days with such high temperatures will become the norm, he says.

Conversely, the number of days when the temperature drops below freezing will decline significantly.

That means “a lot of pests will survive winter, and will attack forest foliage.”

Natural systems have developed defenses over tens of thousands of years vs. the roughly 100 years of human-induced warming. “If you go through many cycles of that, you can damage trees,” he says.

On a more practical note, such soaring temperatures can also affect productivity and will stress electrical plants.

Members of the institute have met with industry and business leaders, and some have actually inferred “we’re just going to turn up the air conditioning,” Fellows says. It’s not that simple; power plants may not be able to meet that capacity, and increased electricity consumption has an obvious impact on bottom lines.

“Whether you believe in climate change or not, it’s the type of thing you should be planning for,” he says.

“It just makes sense.”

As for budget uncertainties: “One of the things that’s really good about the Department of Energy … is they make long-term investments in experiments,” he says.

“At this point we’re not changing any of our direction.”

—JACK FELLOWS, director of the ORNL Climate Change Science Institute

McKay’s “If we solved it for the ozone, I think we can work and make sure we don’t have issues with global climate change.”

—OMAR ABDELAZIZ, a group leader in ORNL’s Energy and Transportation Science Division “At this point we’re not changing any of our direction.”

The national lab in Oak Ridge is also engaged in climate-related research independent of the institute.

For example, Omar Abdelaziz, a native of Egypt and student of Cairo University—he earned his doctorate at the University of Maryland—is developing alternative refrigerants that emit far less pollution than traditional counterparts. Refrigerants and coolants—on both a residential and commercial scale—contribute about 30 percent of the greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, linked to global climate change, says Abdelaziz, group leader of Building Equipment Research in the Energy and Transportation Science Division of ORNL. Some refrigerants have 4,000 times the global-warming emissions than carbon dioxide, he says.

But refrigerants have become gradually less harmful over time, he says, and in that he finds hope.

Sitting in his office at the ORNL complex on an unusually warm and rainy winter day, the spectacled scientist offers a series of graphics that indicate marked improvements in the Earth’s Antarctic ozone layer over time since 1996. That was a result of international cooperation, he says, referencing the Montreal Protocol that phased out chlorofluorocarbons linked to depletion of the ozone layer, “People worked together, nations worked together, and we were able to move from here to there,” he says.

He references the Paris Agreement among more than 100 nations in 2015. Trump has said he would pull the U.S. from the pact, which intends to restrict global temperature change to an average of about 2.5 degrees.

Failure to meet that goal, Fellows says, could have harsh circumstances.

“There’s a feeling in the scientific community that could trigger some tipping points we don’t quite understand,” Fellows says. One projection suggests average global temperatures could increase by 8 degrees if emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases aren’t curtailed.

Abdelaziz chooses his words carefully during the interview; the majority of his funding—and the work overall at the separate Climate Change Science Institute at ORNL— comes from the Department of Energy, though some funding comes from partnerships and grants.

Abdelaziz says he will be relentless in his research, as will other scientists at ORNL, many of whom are involved in climate research ranging from the effects of warming and drought on native plants to production of more energy-efficient structures.

He is, after all, the father of two, and a parent has to have hope.

“If people want to get things done, they need to work together collaboratively. The Paris Agreement was a great step in the right direction,” Abdelaziz says. But modern challenges are more acute than the refrigerant protocol agreed upon 20 years ago.

“There are many more things we need to worry about. Transportation, industry, how you run the electricity in your home,” he says. “If we solved it for the ozone, I think we can work and make sure we don’t have issues with global climate change.”

@knoxvillemercury.com

Read our extended Q&A with scientist Omar Abdelaziz.

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Focus: Civic & Humanitarian

H.A.B.I.T.

Karen Armsey Director of H.A.B.I.T.

This nonprofit program at UT’s vet school utilizes the power of pets to help people cope

BY ROSE KENNEDY

Are some of the therapy animals rescues themselves?

Around 70 percent of our H.A.B.I.T. dogs are mix breeds and most of the pets in our programs are from a rescue situation, even the rabbits.

Personally, every one of my H.A.B.I.T. dogs has been from a rescue and I have had seven. I always love the stories of H.A.B.I.T. dogs that have overcome the odds. They show the people they visit that if they can do it, anyone can do it. We have dogs that are cancer survivors visit at the 12 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

cancer centers, and dogs with movement issues that visit a rehab unit. We used to have a pit bull who visited the teenagers at a behavioral hospital. This dog was great with the teenage boys! These young men were sure that no one in the world understood them and what they were going through. Then in walks this dog whose breed is often misunderstood and she was making the world a better place.

How do you choose who goes where?

You never know which dog is going to work in a location. We have an Italian Greyhound who goes to a cancer center and the clients love it because she is like a hot water bottle who will lay on their lap and take a nap while they are getting chemo. These dogs go into situations where clients are sure their world is never going to be the same, and the dogs show them that it will be okay.

The dogs don’t care if the child is in foster care, or if the adult is losing their hair because of chemo, or even if all the human can do is squeal with happiness because the dog is there. The dog is there and focused on them at that moment, not what they were before or what they will be in the future.

Our H.A.B.I.T. cats do their own kind of magic. They don’t always want to sit with a person, but that is okay.

People who like cats just like watching cats be cats. They enjoy watching the cat explore the room, and they feel honored when the cat decides that it is time to rest and will sit in their lap.

We consider our work a success when we have left people feeling better because they were able to interact

H.A.B.I.T.

Photos courtesy of H.A.B.I.T.

D

ogs, cats, rabbits, and their owners volunteer through H.A.B.I.T. (Human Animal Bond in Tennessee) to reach out with animal-assisted therapy to many different vulnerable groups. Dogs might comfort and engage people during chemo, physical rehab, or foster care proceedings, for example, while cats visit nursing and retirement homes just to hang out and maybe agree to be snuggled.

Made up of representatives from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, volunteers from the community, and private veterinary practitioners, the Knoxville-based group has expanded into the Tri-Cities. Karen Armsey has volunteered for H.A.B.I.T. for 15 years with a number of four-legged loved ones, and been the nonprofit’s program director for the past 10 years as well.

H.A.B.I.T. will hold its major annual fundraiser, “Bidding and BBQ,” on Tuesday, March 28, 5 p.m. at the Knoxville Museum of Art.

with a great team, that for a few moments in a stress-filled day they were able to not worry and just be.

What about your own dogs?

I have three H.A.B.I.T. dogs right now and they all have their own skill and talent. My big boy Nash is 11 years old, moves slow, and likes to visit locations where he can just walk around a bit and then lay in the floor and let people come to him. His favorite location is the Foster Care Review Board, here in Knox County. This event happens once a month and we sit in the floor of the courtroom and let the kids who want to come over and talk to us do so, while the adults talk adult stuff. This lets the kids not have to hear things that may upset them, but they can still be in the room in case they are needed. He also likes special events where he gets to visit lots of people. We recently did the Remote Area Medical clinic and he loved walking around and visiting with the people that were waiting and

2407 River Dr., Room A205 (UT College of Veterinary Medicine) 865-974-5633, habit@utk.edu vetmed.tennessee.edu facebook.com/humananimalbondintennessee PROGRAMS • H.A.B.I.T. sponsors animal-assisted therapy programs in a variety of settings, utilizing volunteer pet owners and their loving pets.

• It currently has over 400 members, 250 of these being active volunteers involved in 70 different programs.

HOW YOU CAN HELP • If you think a particular facility could use one of H.A.B.I.T.’s animal-assisted therapy teams, bring it up and see if they’re interested.

• I f you have a great animal and have the time, think about joining H.A.B.I.T. See its website for info; it also has volunteer information meetings in Knoxville on May 17 and in Johnson City on March 21. (Humans only, no pets at these meetings, which are mandatory before volunteering,) • Donations always help! See above for info on its fundraiser.

Director Karen Armsey has volunteered many of her dogs over the past 15 years, including Nash (left), who likes going to Foster Care Review Board sessions to comfort children. Facing page: Veterinary social worker Chris Costello hugs Nash after a long week.

on a visit, or even walking to the building for the visit, because you just never know what is going to happen.

Cats can either be leash trained, carried, or in a tram where they visit people. Rabbits are normally in a basket.

Do you have any particular fundraising challenges currently?

“These dogs go into situations where clients are sure their world is never going to be the same, and the dogs show them that it will be okay …

They make people smile and laugh at times when there is very little to smile or laugh about.” with the volunteers and medical staff.

My girl Shelby loves teenage boys, so she loves to do the court dog program. Because Shelby is leash aggressive, I have to be sure that she only visits on days that she knows the other H.A.B.I.T. dogs. When we are able to visit she will always find the teenage boy that is the most stressed and will sit with him, demanding attention. She also enjoys working with the deputies at the court.

Shiloh is more of an all-around girl. She is happy to visit just about anywhere, but because she is still young and energetic I do not take her to locations with people who are fragile. She was happy to work last week’s Mardi Growl for hours and stand and meet people, but she is also happy to visit with kids and lay on her side so that they can rub her belly.

Does a dog or cat have to be super-sociable to be a H.A.B.I.T. ambassador, or able to do really cool stuff?

We are not looking for perfect dogs, cats, or rabbits. If we were, none of my dogs would make the cut! We are

looking for human/animal teams that have the heart to serve. We have learned that if the team has the heart, if there is an issue, we can work on that. However if the dog is perfectly trained, but does not have the heart to serve, it is hard to teach heart. Cool tricks are not needed, they can sometimes get in the way of the visit, the human is so much wanting to show the tricks that they forget that they are on the visit to interact.

What are the strictest rules about becoming a H.A.B.I.T. animal?

Every animal gets a medical and behavioral evaluation when they start, and a medical evaluation every year they serve. Dogs and cats must have vaccinations for rabies. Behaviorwise, the dog must walk calmly on a leash and not jump up on people. You can’t use a choke or prong collar but harnesses or head halters are okay.

No flexi leashes. A number of people had never had their dog on a leash and while the dog would stay by their side and would listen to them when they asked them to do something, it is just not safe to have an unleashed dog

H.A.B.I.T. is a nonprofit outreach program of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. People see this and think, “Great, they have funding.” But in reality, while UTCVM does provide 45 percent of our funding, that covers liability coverage, office space, postage, phones, and the day-to-day stuff. The rest comes from donations and dues and fees. The agreement that we have with University of Tennessee says that we must end the year in the black, or they will stop the program. There was one year where we did that with an extra 50 cents, but we did it. We work very hard to raise money so that we are never again afraid that we will have to close.

going to be a zoologist or a symphonic conductor—I did not think that the fact that I could not play an instrument would be an issue. As I got older, these goals fell to the side. When the job that I have now became open, I had a job that I loved in human medicine, and I applied because I was at that point in my career where I was trying to figure out what was next. This job changed my life. I am not saying that every day is a great one, or that I am always the best person for the job, but I can honestly say I am a better person because of the work that I do and the people that I work with.

Does watching the pets and people interact ever make you cry? Do funny things happen, too?

Just this morning my co-worker Ruth Sapp and I were looking at a picture of one of our H.A.B.I.T. dogs interacting with a student, and I noticed that there were tears in our eyes. I am always amazed at the work H.A.B.I.T. animals are able to do with the people they interact with. They make people smile and laugh at times when there is very little to smile or laugh about. These animals are the best part of us.

Could your scope of services increase?

When I started as a volunteer 15 years ago our program was only in the nine counties around Knoxville, and mostly in health care situations. Today we are in 20 counties, and our school program, Ruff Reading, is the largest part of what we do. Before the economic downturn in 2008 we had goals to be statewide at this point, but funding was not there for the needed staff. We still hope to go statewide someday, but at this time we are working hard to staff the locations in East Tennessee that want volunteers and to find locations for volunteers in areas like the Tri-Cities.

When did you know you would want to do this sort of thing when you grew up?

Know someone doing amazing things for the future of Knoxville?

Submit your story suggestions to: editor@knoxmercury.com Contact us for sponsorship opportunities: charlie@knoxmercury.com CATEGORIES Civic & Humanitarian Arts & Culture Business & Innovation Environmental & Sustainability Health & Food Education

As a kid I was sure that I was either March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 13

BIG EARS B

ig Ears is back. AC Entertainment’s swank homegrown festival of forward-thinking international contemporary music and film takes place for the sixth time this weekend, with the largest lineup yet— more than 100 performances by dozens of artists in 11 different venues around downtown, including Gay Street’s grand historic theaters and two majestic downtown churches.

It’s also one of the most diverse rosters in Big Ears history, with big-name indie and alternative rock headliners (Wilco, Magnetic Fields, Blonde Redhead, Robyn Hitchcock), jazz legends and legends in the making (Carla Bley, Henry Grimes, Henry Threadgill, Matthew Shipp, 14 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

Q&As

Ashley Capps Aram Demirjian The Public Cinema PROFILES

Magnetic Fields Matmos Anna Meredith

Matana Roberts), the vanguard of Scandinavian progressive music (Supersilent, Nils Økland, Jóhann Jóhannsson), titans of the avant-garde underground (Meredith Monk, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Musica Elettronica Viva, Philip Jeck, Sir Richard Bishop), and composers and performers from the cutting edge of contemporary classical music (Gavin Bryars, Claire Chase, the Crossing, Lisa Moore, Theatre of Voices).

And there’s more: distinguished electronic, folk, and experimental artists from around the world; a star-studded film program, which includes a Jonathan Demme retrospective and five movies from the offbeat documentary filmmaker Jem Cohen;

local ensembles, including nief-norf, the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra; a marathon public reading of Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree; and the revival of the Agee Amble literary tour, led by the Knoxville History Project’s Jack Neely.

Since the first Big Ears, in 2009, the festival has attracted an international audience; more than 12,000 people attended last year, most of them from outside Knoxville, some from as far away as Australia and Japan.

Big Ears also generates effusive reviews: Critics from The New Yorker (“might be the most open-minded music gathering in the country”), The New York Times (“It has a rare, intuitive and ultimately anti-commercial vision,

presented with purpose and first-rate sound on a thoughtful scale”), The Guardian, and Rolling Stone have praised previous editions of Big Ears.

And there’s every reason to think this year’s festival will measure up.

In this preview of Big Ears 2017, we’ve got interviews with Big Ears guru Ashley Capps, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra music director Aram Demirjian, and Big Ears film maestros Paul Harrill and Darren Hughes, plus profiles of Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, Matmos, and Anna Meredith.

Check out the official guide insert for the complete schedule and all the information you need to get through the weekend, or visit bigearsfestival.com.

—Matthew Everett

Nobody goes to a film festival expecting to see just detective movies. It’s not genre-based; it’s about the art form of film.

the mastermind

ASHLEY CAPPS

AC Entertainment’s founder dishes on his most personal festival

BY MATTHEW EVERETT

B

ig Ears’ audacious mashup of contemporary classical music, jazz, film, and experimental rock may make intuitive sense to tuned-in listeners, but it’s not always easy to describe the festival to the uninitiated. What, exactly, is the thread connecting the British composer Gavin Bryars, indie icons Wilco, American filmmaking legend Jonathan Demme, and Ukrainian folk-music troupe DakhaBrakha? You might say it’s Ashley Capps.

Capps, the president of AC Entertainment, is always eager to credit other people—friends, musicians, staff members—who have contributed to the wide-ranging, boundary-dissolving character of Big Ears. But at its heart the festival is a reflection of its founder’s own tastes and obsessions. Bonnaroo, one of the defining pop-music events of the festival era, may be his company’s signature event, but Big Ears holds special meaning for him. Here he discusses the history of the festival, its future, and what makes Big Ears stand out from other experiences.

What exactly is Big Ears? How do you define it, and what ties all this music together?

Well, first of all, it’s a completely evolving concept, so what Big Ears was in 2009, it was different in 2010, and it continues to be different each year. It evolves—it’s tempting to say with a mind of its own, but it’s certainly with a lot of different influences, both internal and external, and a lot of it involves exploiting connections that lead to unexpected places.

I would say that the initial idea was to cross genres, to explore the different ways in which music influences different genres—classical might influence rock, or draw influence from folk music or jazz or international musics of different kinds. … Most music festivals tend to just focus on a genre. It’s a bluegrass festival, there’s a lot of bluegrass there. They may play around with some folk music and some singer-songwriters, but it’s mostly bluegrass. Jazz festival, mostly jazz, rock festival, mostly rock music.

For me, it seemed interesting to try a different organizational strategy, which I think is more like a film festival. You go to a film festival and you get to see all sorts of different types of films—experimental films, blockbuster films, revered directors, new up-and-coming directors. …

One thing that people continue to comment on is that fact that Big Ears is held here in Knoxville. I think it surprises a lot of people.

But it seems like the fact that it’s here is essential to the festival, the character of it and how it works.

I think its location in Knoxville is very important, for several different reasons—first and foremost because Knoxville actually provides a great community and a great downtown experience that really helps to nurture the festival along. The venues are fantastic, everything’s within walking distance, there are now great restaurants, great shops, the hotels are all downtown.

The furthest walk is maybe 15 minutes, and that’s if you’re walking at a pretty leisurely pace. Many of the venues are only two or three minutes from each other, so you can be in different venues and you can be indoors but you don’t lose the festival experience, which I would characterize as people coming together for a common reason. I think the minute you have to get in a car and drive somewhere you start to lose an element of that. …

But beyond that, I think the unexpected nature also is a plus, because it gives the festival a certain profile and a certain relief that it wouldn’t have if it was where everybody expects it to be. If it’s in New York, it just gets completely consumed by the cultural landscape. In New York, there’s a million things going on, so people will hear about the festival and they’re like, of course this is going on in New York. Everything is going on in New York.

Last year, the entertainment conglomerate Live Nation bought a majority interest in AC Entertainment. What’s that going to mean for Big Ears?

Well, Big Ears is not part of that acquisition, for starters. Big Ears became a 501(c)(3), so it’s a nonprofit organization. … Big Ears has an operational agreement with AC Entertainment, so AC Entertainment’s going to continue

to do the nuts and bolts production and execution of the event for the foreseeable future. But Big Ears has the ability to stand on its own and continue into the future as a 501(c)(3).

Is this the biggest lineup so far?

Definitely. And we’ve gone to four days—it used to be three days, we kind of did three and a half last year. This year, we went to four days because frankly there were so many great opportunities and we just couldn’t bring ourselves to say no.

But we also have over 100 performances and 10 different venues.

We’re using Church Street United Methodist Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church for the first time ever, and we’re really excited about the programming in those venues. It’s going to be very special.

You’ve been featuring some Pulitzer Prize honorees. Did you just go to Wikipedia and go down the list of winners?

No, it’s just a happy accident. Henry Threadgill winning the Pulitzer Prize last year was awesome. I’ve been a fan of Henry Threadgill’s since the ’70s.

Amazing composer, amazing musician, he always has extraordinary bands. I actually planned for Henry Threadgill to come last year, with [Anthony] Braxton and [Wadada] Leo Smith—they were all part of the AACM together in Chicago—and it just didn’t work out. So we were already working on having Henry come this year and then bang! He wins the Pulitzer Prize. So that’s the way it happened.

Last year, John Luther Adams was here. He had won the Pulitzer

“We want to create an environment that encourages people to explore, to go check out things they wouldn’t necessarily buy a ticket for, and to discover something new.”

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 15

Prize in 2014. Actually, he was awarded that prize on the day that I met him, at Ijams. He was here doing a special thing with the University of Tennessee—he was artist in residence for a week or something at UT and I was invited to meet him. They did a performance of Inuksuit out at the quarry, and it was announced that day that he had won the Pulitzer Prize.

But we had already started having a conversation about him coming to Big Ears then. It didn’t work out for 2015 but we had him in 2016.

I would argue that it’s great that the Pulitzer Prize is onto some good stuff.

WILL OLDHAM

Talk a little about the actual logistics of planning and staging something like this. When do you start?

16 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

2016 HIGHLIGHTS ly have to do this with the orchestra. It just hadn’t panned out that way. I was struggling with that, because I loved having the orchestra involved the previous two years. But there wasn’t an absolute natural fit for a full-scale orchestra program.

Well, Aram was like, “How about if I curate one?” So he developed the program that the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra is going to be performing.

Then it’s like, “By the way, we want to play at the Mill and Mine.” That’s what this thing is all about.

The beautiful thing about the growth of this festival is while I still have my own ideas, I have so many other people coming to me with ideas that they want to weave into the festival because they’re so inspired by the possibility. I have no idea where this could go at this particular point but it’s just an exciting ride.

What about the breakdown of where people are from—roughly what percentage are from Knoxville vs. out of town, or from outside the

INUKSUIT Southeast?

Last year, it was somewhere between 65 and 70 percent were from out of town. I don’t remember exactly how it broke down at the end.

I haven’t looked at the stats too carefully this year, but I would be surprised if it’s a very different pattern. The number-one city was Atlanta but number two was New York and then Chicago. There were people from Nashville and Washington, D.C. But San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin were like five, six, and seven in the metro areas that people were coming from.

Then there’s a lot of people from Europe, some from Australia, some from Japan, Mexico, South America, Canada. So it’s from all over, and the international profile, I think, is continuing to grow.

Last year seemed like the first time shows regularly reached capacity, and there were some long lines for those shows. Have you done anything to—

Photos by Andrew Gresham

I don’t know if I should say this out loud, but we’re actually hoping to announce several of the exciting things for 2018 during the 2017 festival this year, and putting the festival on sale a year ahead of time.

The interest in this festival worldwide has been really inspiring to me. Professionally, it’s been one of the most exciting developments of my career, and the opportunity to collaborate with some of the world’s greatest artists and help bring some of their ideas and performances to Tennessee and to fruition here is an amazing experience. It’s taken on this whole character—it inspires people to come to the table with ideas.

I could not do the film component of this on my own. But Paul Harrill and Darren Hughes at the Public Cinema were inspired enough

by Big Ears that they came to the table with so many fantastic ideas for a film component. They loved the music—in fact, I think the thing they hate about our collaborations is that it restricts their ability to go see the music these days. We were scratching the surface with some of these live performances of film scores and the films being screened. It was a very exciting component of the festival, but Paul and Darren have just taken this thing up to a totally different, totally new level.

The symphony—Aram [Demirjian] came to me saying, “What can we do?” And this year I didn’t have anything where I felt like we absolute-

LAURIE ANDERSON We’ve tried. In a way, that’s part of a festival experience. We’ve talked about different systems for doing that.

We tried last year the reserve seats at the Tennessee Theatre for some select shows, but we didn’t like that and I don’t think the audience liked it much, either.

We have your premium passes, a skip the line pass, so if people are especially concerned about being able to see an artist, we’re trying to make it possible for them to do so.

The beautiful thing about any festival to me is, while you don’t want to miss the things that you’re excited to see, often the highlight is something you had no idea you wanted to see because you didn’t know what it was.

For me, that happens a lot at Bonnaroo but especially at Big Ears.

We want to create an environment that encourages people to explore, to go check out things they wouldn’t necessarily buy a ticket for, and to discover something new. The challenge is, how do you program things so that you’re really giving

Everybody here has some capacity for being surprised.

This year, I think you could be a jazz fan and you could come and just see the jazz. You could probably see all of it, and you could have a wonderful festival weekend. Now, is that the spirit of the festival? Not exactly. But if that’s what you want to do, why not?

And you know you can have a little bit of extra time so you can go check out some of the other stuff, too.

There are festivals within the festival, and then there’s just the sheer reality that you can’t do everything. Everybody’s festival experience tends to be unique from everyone else’s.

But that’s like life. That’s how the festival becomes a little bit of a microcosm for life itself.

Describe some personal memories and experiences from the festival— not just shows you’ve seen but conversations you’ve had or random encounters.

Oh gosh, there are so many, and sometimes with artists, sometimes with people who are attending the festival, sometimes with casual bystanders who wonder what on earth is going on. I ran into a friend of mine who didn’t really realize that Big Ears was going on a few years ago. She was hyperventilating because she had just had dinner at the table next to Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth down at Knox Mason.

The chemistry that’s created from people being on the street from all over the country, all over the world, the artists among them, the artists going to shows as well as performing, the artists in the restaurants. Unlike many festivals and certainly unlike your normal concerts, we don’t really do full meals backstage, catering. We have programs that encourage everyone to go out and explore the city and explore what the city has to offer. That helps create a really unique

and special experience. …

Philip Glass, not only because he came and gave amazing performances but he was so open and so generous and so encouraging. Being able to spend time with Philip is something I’ll be able to treasure my entire life, and his encouragement as well. But Terry Riley, too.

I’m not a newcomer to this music. I was listening to Terry Riley when I was in high school, wondering what on earth this is. Philip Glass I discovered right around when I graduated from high school and first went to college in the very early ’70s. Philip was like a punk rocker in terms of his aesthetic. I mean, he wasn’t a punk rocker, but he was putting out his own records. He put together his own bands to play his music and he put out his own records. It was total DIY in that world in the early ’70s. I was always so excited by that commitment and that sense of discovery from all of these musicians. …

Steve Reich—I’ll never forget that moment of Music for 18 Musicians, which to me was every bit of the ecstatic experience that it’s supposed to be in that performance at the Tennessee on that Sunday night when we first brought the festival back. I felt like everything was levitating.

Downtown Knoxville is a different place that weekend.

You know, downtown Knoxville is also a different place than it was last year and the year before that even on its own. It’s so exciting to see Knoxville evolving. I joke that 20 years ago, when people came to visit me, I had to explain to them why I live here, and now I have to give them the names and phone numbers of some real estate agents. And that included people who are coming to Big Ears. …

I agree with you—the festival transforms the city. But I don’t think we should lose sight of how the city transforms the festival, too. It’s a perfect fit for what we’re doing, as out of the box as it appears on the surface. knoxmercury.com

Hear Ashley Capps discuss Big Ears in our interview podcast, available on the Daily Dumpster or at soundcloud.com/knoxville-mercury.

Photo by David Bickley

people many opportunities to see a lot of different types of music? We try to strategically program things so that we’re not causing people pain but we’re distributing the audience so that everybody gets to do what they’re most passionate about doing.

the classicist

ARAM DEMIRJIAN

KSO’s music director brings musical traditions into the present

BY MATTHEW EVERETT

T

he Knoxville Symphony Orchestra has become an essential part of Big Ears—the orchestra’s opening-night performance of John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean was one of the most memorable events of the 2016 festival. But the KSO takes on an expanded role this year, with new music director Aram Demirjian creating a 45-minute program of music specifically for the festival. Reflecting the adventuresome spirit of Big Ears, the concert will include an 18th-century violin suite as well as an orchestral piece, by one of the most promising American composers under the age of 30, that premiered less than a year ago.

In this interview, Demirjian discusses how classical programming is changing, what traditional classical-music listeners can find at Big Ears, and Bach.

When did you first hear about Big Ears?

I became aware of Big Ears when I came here to guest conduct for my audition back in January 2016.

Everybody was talking about the KSO’s participation and the perfor-

mance of John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean, and it sounded very cool. The presence of Big Ears in Knoxville became just one additional credit to the city, credit to the symphony, one additional appeal of coming here and being music director.

Once Big Ears was on my map, I began to hear about it in other places.

After I was appointed music director, over the summer, I would travel around to music festivals and occasionally I’d get asked the question, “So what do you know about Big Ears? I’m really curious about what they do there.”

What’s the impression of the festival in the traditional classical music community?

There’s a lot of excitement, particularly from people who are interested in contemporary music. There’s a lot of overlap between what’s going on in the experimental rock corner of the music world and what’s going on in the classical contemporary corner of the music world. I think they learn a lot from each other, if not in purely musical terms then at least in the philosophical approach to trying new things.

There’s also a lot of excitement March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 17

Imagine that you’re trying to sell Big Ears to a fairly conservative classical-music concertgoer. How would you describe it?

I think there are a few big draws to Big Ears. The first is, it’s an increasingly significant musical event on a national level, or even an international level, and it’s happening here in Knoxville.

Knoxville is becoming a destination spot for the music world in a variety of genres, and anybody who has pride in Knoxville and pride in their home will appreciate being a participant in this truly unique event.

On a musical level, the great part about an experience like Big Ears is that it’s actually a very safe space to try out sounds that you may not be familiar with—unlike your typical classical concert, where, if you’re sitting in your seat and you hear a piece of music that doesn’t really resonate with you, you are stuck in that seat. There is nowhere you can go, whereas with a place like Big Ears, you’ve got your pass, you can go from event to event to event until you find something that you like, that’s right for you. …

The John Adams piece that we’re playing, The Wound-Dresser, is already a classic. It’s 30 years old and has entered the canon, and a piece like that, even though it’s new, it’s very easy to identify with. There’s a very familiar element to it, because it’s a setting of Walt Whitman’s poetry. But we’re also playing Bach, and you can also find 18 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

Photo courtesy of KSO

among those who are interested in experimental performance, experimental concert formats, breaking the mold of what we do a little bit, which is a conversation that’s happening industry-wide in the orchestra world.

That was one of the appeals of the festival to me—the opportunity to program the sort of concert that may not necessarily be right for any of the series that KSO presents, or may not necessarily be music that has been introduced to the KSO audience, but may be very familiar to the Big Ears audience.

Big Ears represents the chance to do on an extreme level, programmatically, what we’re starting to do on a more moderate, gradual level on our main programs.

Brahms on the Big Ears festival.

The Bach has a very intentional purpose on our program. When Ashley described the festival to me, he said there was a loose theme of spirituality. I had just recently been introduced to Evidence, a piece by a friend of mine, Matthew Aucoin, who is the resident composer at the Los Angeles Opera right now. He and I went to college together. It treats the music-making experience as a spiritual experience, and that led me to think of Bach. …

The piece we’re playing, the Air on the G String, is one of Bach’s secular works. And yet it’s a secular work that has taken on such a spiritual role in our society—you hear it played at weddings and memorial services.

It’s a piece that’s whatever you want it to be, whatever you need it to be. …

This was all a roundabout way of pitching Big Ears to your traditional audience member. I would say, first of all, anybody who comes to Big Ears is going to like what they hear, or at least something, and I think that’s because of the performers. You have a worldclass lineup of performers—human beings who are easy to have an affinity for. If you have a sense of connection to the performer, you’re one step closer to having a connection to the music they’re presenting.

Premieres and unique collaborations are a big part of the Big Ears programming every year. I had never thought about how that parallels the way that some classical ensembles are trying to break out of or shake up the traditional

“There’s a connotation that makes you think tradition is the past, tradition is old, when in fact tradition is the present act of renewing something.” concertgoing experience.

I know that ICE, the International Contemporary Ensemble, has been involved before. The Knights are involved this year—they’re a New York-based orchestra that fits the mold you’re talking about. The quote unquote traditional orchestras are really learning from what the smaller, I guess you would call them independent, ensembles are doing.

Which is not to say there’s anything wrong with tradition. The thing about tradition is, there’s a connotation that makes you think tradition is the past, tradition is old, when in fact tradition is the present act of renewing something.

Tradition is an evolving thing that has reverence for the past but isn’t beholden to it, necessarily. My musical mission in life—which may be a foolhardy one—is that I’m trying to both preserve musical traditions but also bring musical traditions into the present. I feel like it’s very easy to get put in a box—this person is a traditionalist or that person is an innovator, when I think you can be both at the same time.

I love a good Brahms symphony as much as anybody. I really do. I also

love conducting whatever contemporary piece for 15 players in a warehouse or whatever. Just because you love one doesn’t mean you can’t love the other. Just because you love classical music doesn’t mean you can’t love hip-hop, etc.

I would like to see people who have an affinity for music try out other genres, including classical, including the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

And regardless of genre, the responsibility falls on us as performers to create the right setting, to create an atmosphere that a neophyte feels welcome in and feels comfortable in— feels at peace in. …

Can you talk a li le more about programming Bach for Big Ears?

Bach is a timeless composer. The thing about Bach is that he was groundbreaking when he was alive and his music continues to sound new.

In the classical world, we tend to canonize Beethoven above everything else. But if you talk to most performers, Bach tends to stand above all. The language of harmony we use, he essentially created that.

Almost every classical musician will tell you that Bach is among the most indispensable of composers. You’ll be surprised, if you probe even nonclassical musicians on Bach, how much they’ll have to say.

Bach was the first everything. He was the first Romantic, I think. He was the first modernist. He’s the ultimate experimental composer, I would argue, which is why I think he’s perfectly in place at something like Big Ears. He was able to take something that was technical and basic and turn it into genius, turn it into something transcendent.

The Art of Fugue alone—you want to talk about a challenging piece to the ear. As I’m sitting here talking now, it occurs to me that the entire Art of Fugue should be played on Big Ears, with a variety of ensembles and a variety of combinations of instruments. Because it is that ear-bending.

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra performs music by John Adams, Ma hew Aucoin, and J.S. Bach at the Mill and Mine (227 W. Depot Ave.) on Sunday, March 26, at 1 p.m. Visit lineup.bigearsfestival.com.

the cinephiles

going to have the biggest impact on an unsuspecting audience?

THE PUBLIC CINEMA

Big Ears’ adventuresome film program provides a visual counterpoint

BY NICK HUINKER

T

hough multimedia has been a part of the Big Ears experience since its inception, 2016 saw the festival embracing a discrete, similarly wide-ranging film program curated by Paul Harrill and Darren Hughes of Knoxville’s Public Cinema screening series. Returning for 2017, Harrill and Hughes have stuck with what worked (the Flicker and Wow short film programs, films with direct connections to Big Ears guests) as well as introducing new wrinkles, including meaty retrospectives of Jem Cohen and Jonathan Demme. We asked Harrill and Hughes to talk about some potential highlights from this year’s program; for the full Q&A, including an in-depth look at the Demme slate, visit knoxmercury.com

For many festivalgoers, the weekend is a mad scramble to see and hear everything on the schedule.

How do you sell them on stopping in for a film?

Paul Harrill: In many cases, the films we’re screening aren’t easy to see anywhere else—and I mean anywhere.

That’s definitely true of the stuff at the KMA, Book of Days, even some of Jonathan Demme’s films, like Another Telepathic Thing or Cousin Bobby.

Roger Beebe showing a film with eight film projectors, or Jem Cohen’s Gravity Hill? Those are concerts.

You’ll never see or hear it all.

That is the heartbreaking, and beautiful, thing about Big Ears.

Cambodia have special places in my heart. I saw all three as a teenager and they expanded my ideas about film— and life.

Darren Hughes: I’ll name a favorite: As Without So Within, by Manuela De Laborde, which is screening in Flicker and Wow 1. After Manuela said yes, everything else was icing on the cake.

Speaking as programmers, what was your most thrilling get?

And what, if you have to choose just one, would you say is the unmissable centerpiece of this year’s film program—the one where no one’s going to be wondering whether they’re missing out on the show across the street?

DH: In 2013, Demme mentioned in an interview that he wished Cousin Bobby would find its way back onto the big screen. I think it’s pretty cool that we’re helping make that happen by debuting a new digital transfer from Demme’s own print of the film.

We’re also hosting the North American premiere of a new restoration of Georges Roquier’s Farrebique (1946).

DH: Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids at the Tennessee Theatre! No one gets to see this film with an audience. It’s only screened theatrically a handful of times, in Toronto and New York. And it’s so damn good.

PH: Then, immediately after it, you have to see Stop Making Sense.

Those two films projected at the Tennessee Theatre—I don’t know what to say other than you need to be there.

What’s your prediction for the sleeper favorite? Which film is

Visit bigearsfestival.com for the complete Big Ears film program.

What’s your personal favorite film showing at the festival?

PH: There are too many great films to name a “favorite,” and even I’ve not seen all of the films Darren’s programmed. But Stop Making Sense, Something Wild, and Swimming to

DH: Kevin Jerome Everson sent me links to more than 100 of his films, ranging from a few seconds to several hours each (he’s ridiculously prolific), and gave me total freedom in curating a screening. I’m really pleased with the shorts program we put together. That, along with his installation at the University of Tennessee’s Downtown Gallery, will give audiences a unique introduction to a truly important artist.

PH: This is an impossible question. I’m a big fan of Janie Geiser. Book of Days on 35mm is going to be special.

Of the Demme films, Who Am I This Time? is the sleeper.

FLICKER AND WOW

FLICKER AND WOW

B

ig Ears’ 2017 film lineup is nearly as imposing as the festival itself, even for those well-versed in the cinema; potential mind-bending audience experiences abound, often poised against each other on the packed schedule. But for curious viewers hoping to get the richest experience in the shortest possible time, the program’s Flicker and Wow series may be the weekend’s strongest bet.

Taking its name from the sub-series of experimental films presented

by Knoxville’s Public Cinema, Big Ears’ three Flicker and Wow screenings are like mixtapes of short-form cinema, lovingly curated by Public Cinema founders (and Big Ears film programmers) Darren Hughes and Paul Harrill.

Hughes points to the Flicker and Wow shorts as some of his festival favorites. If that’s not recommendation enough, this year there’s an exciting new angle: From Stan Brakhage to Chuck Jones, the series’ first installment on Saturday is programmed entirely with child audiences in mind.

Hughes says the idea crystallized when his young daughters were delighted by experimental animations

by Jodie Mack, a Big Ears 2016 guest whose “Glistening Thrills” serves as the kids program’s finale. But he’s also quick to frame it as an issue of cultural heritage.

“I’m just old enough to remember the thrill of walking into school and seeing a 16mm projector at the back of the classroom, and I also remember them being replaced by TVs and VCRs in the mid ’80s,” Hughes says.

“My daughters, who are 4 and 6, experience everything digitally, usually via streaming. We want them and other kids to touch celluloid and to see and hear a projector. We also want them to have a lot of fun, which Kids! most definitely will be.”

Best of all, the three Flicker and Wow screenings, like all of Big Ears 2017’s programming at the Knoxville Museum of Art, are free and open to the public.

—Nick Huinker March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 19

“The project was difficult, but not psychologically difficult,” Merritt says.

“I didn’t do any soul-searching when making this record or make myself cry when I was writing the songs.”

Though he started out making synth-pop records for influential indie label Merge in the early 1990s, Merritt’s lyrics have more in common with early 20th century songcrafters like Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, or Jerome Kern than any of his contemporaries. Until this album, he says, he had never written an autobiographical song. He has avoided the confessional singer-songwriter lyrics that flourished in the 1970s and remain disproportionately influential on pop music today. When faced with a project whose very purpose was autobiography, one might wonder if he was tempted to try his hand at this earnest, MOR folk-rock style.

“If anything, I think I’ve done a parody of that type of songwriting,” he says. “I think musicians’ lives are boring, and that includes mine. Once you start touring, your life becomes very similar to other musicians’, and that’s what a lot of those type of songs are about.”

Instead, in 50 Song Memoir, Merritt sings about a cat that hated him at age 3, atheism, sparring with an ethics professor, Ethan Fromme, Tetris, an unmade Ang Lee movie, and, often, love, but not in the ways you might expect.

At Big Ears, Magnetic Fields will

the songsmith

MAGNETIC FIELDS

Stephin Merritt brings us his life in song, one year at a time

BY ERIC DAWSON

S

tephin Merritt is not the sentimental type. He is famously dry and laconic in interviews, and the sharply constructed songs he writes for Magnetic Fields are known for their bite. But many of those songs can be surprisingly sweet and tender, too, most notably on the band’s 1999 breakthrough album, 69 Love Songs.

Magnetic Fields’ latest album, 50 Song Memoir, pairs withering observations with disarming vulnerability.

The concept for the album—one song about each year in Merritt’s life—was proposed by the president of Nonesuch Records. The potential yield of such a challenge is so rich, it’s a wonder no one had thought to do something similar before. It’s also possible the concept has occurred to a lot of people, but the idea of so deep a dive into one’s personal past seemed intimidating. Merritt, however, says he had no problem looking back.

ANNA MEREDITH

Magnetic Fields will perform 50 Song Memoir at the Tennessee Theatre (604 S. Gay St.) on Saturday, March 25, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 26, at 1 p.m.

Composer Anna Meredith reveals a knack for crowd-pleasing art pop

BY NICK HUINKER

the chameleon L Photo by Kate Bones

20 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

present 50 Song Memoir in its entirety across two evenings, 25 songs each night. In addition to a seven-piece band and video projection, the stage will be filled with “50 years of artifacts” from Merritt’s life, adding an extra layer of autobiography.

“These are my personal belongings,” Merritt says. “We did have to settle on what we were bringing once we realized how breakable some things were and what that would mean when transporting them.”

The five-disc 50 Song Memoir set includes a recorded interview with Merritt by the writer Daniel Handler.

At one point, Merritt reflects on how slippery and unreliable memories can be: “In some memories, one is all alone.” More vexing, as Merritt discovered, was how some memories disappear altogether, something he addresses in the album’s penultimate track, “I Wish I Had Pictures.”

“When I took on the project and started to write songs, I realized, ‘Oh God, I can’t remember anything,’” he says. “And that was troubling. What’s the point of not being dead if you can’t remember anything? So I guess I did make myself cry. I cried when I wrote that song.”

ooking over her body of work, it’s hard to find a more prototypical Big Ears pick than Anna Meredith. The young composer has made a name for herself in her native U.K. and beyond with a wide range of projects, from Kronos Quartet commissions and multimedia Vivaldi arrangements to compositions for percussion, beat-boxers, MRI scanners, and even off-brand Playstation dance mats. She’s even mentored drum-and-bass legend Goldie in classical composition for a BBC documentary.

But when Meredith takes the stage on Big Ears’ opening night, art-hungry crowds may find themselves caught off guard by her most recent pivot: crowd-pleasing electronic pop.

“It definitely wasn’t a considered transition—more of a broadening,” Meredith says of the material from her debut album, Varmints, which has drawn glowing coverage from the mainstream music press. “I’m still doing loads of conventional ‘classical’ work—I’m just enjoying the variety of things I’m up to at the moment.”

Live performances have proven

the mad scientists

MATMOS

Daring dance-pop duo revives an obscure ’70s opera for new generations

BY ERIC DAWSON

T

he music on Matmos’ latest album, Ultimate Care II, is made up entirely of sounds from a washing machine. The duo of Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt have also constructed recordings from samples of medical procedures, bodily fluids, parapsychological experiments, and a cow uterus. On paper, this kind of thing may seem overly conceptual, but

Matmos mixes these elements with pop and dance music that makes their albums surprisingly accessible and engaging. They’re the perfect pair to do a rendition of Robert Ashley’s Private Parts.

Private Parts was a striking record upon its release in 1978, and it continues to beguile first-time listeners. Over two side-long tracks,

to be an outsized element of that variety. As Varmints’ profile grew following its release last spring, so did demand for gigs along the European indie-rock circuit; Meredith estimates her live band played 35 shows in 2016, up from an average of two or three in the years before that.

Before they could take the record on the road, however, Meredith took to a more familiar task: arranging Varmints for her six-piece touring band, which includes a tuba and two cellos alongside a more traditional power trio lineup of guitar, drums, and vocals. Considering the record’s spectrum of sonic wit, from the brassy tromp of opener “Nautilus” to arpeg-

giated earworms like “Dowager,” this was a tall but welcome order.

“We had to rethink what the live version might be and adapt the electronic elements to give space for the instruments,” she says. “I’ve also got some band members who weren’t on the record, so it’s been great to bring their voices into the mix, too.”

Meredith is clearly thrilled with her work reaching such an unexpectedly wide audience, and with the new opportunities the exposure has opened up.

“So far, so amazing,“ she says of her brief U.S. tour, which wraps up in Knoxville. “Its hard as a visiting band not to get excited by just how brilliant

“The Park” and “The Backyard,” Ashley delivers an ambiguous narrative in a calm, quiet voice, backed by the minimal instrumentation of tinkling piano, synthesizer, and tabla. A third act, “The Bar,” appeared two years later, and Ashley eventually expanded the work into his groundbreaking seven-part opera Perfect Lives.

“My favorite thing about it is how confoundingly undefinable it is,” Schmidt says during a break from preparing a wedding reception—he and Daniel had gotten married the day before. “The first time I heard it, in my early 20s, I just didn’t understand it.

It’s not pop, it’s not high avant-garde composition, it’s not poetry or spoken word. We fell in love with phrases from it and went around repeating them to each other for years.”

Schmidt and Daniel were such fans of the record they began performing a version of “The Backyard” 15 years ago. Wishing to modernize it and put their own stamp on it, Matmos incorporated an Indian drum machine designed to assist in sitar practice. They added a slide guitar and modified kora, with Schmidt handling the recitation. He says he discovers new aspects and double meanings each time he performs the work. One significant revelation occurred when members of the original production attended a New

York performance.

“His wife, Mimi Johnson, was there, and I saw her crying,” Schmidt says. “I thought, ‘Wow, I must really be doing a good job,’ but then it hit me like a ton of bricks that he wrote this for her, that it was a paean to her. It was a magical moment for me.”

One of the duo’s delights in performing Private Parts is turning audiences on to Ashley’s work. As Schmidt noted, it’s a work that’s difficult to define, but he’s found that younger people especially are receptive to it.

“More than a little bit of my motivation for doing this is exposing it to people,” he says. “I’m a generation before the Internet, where to find out about things it was required for someone to tell you. Ashley never got famous in the way that someone like Steve Reich did, he’s not as programmable as a Reich or a Philip Glass because his thing was so slippery and difficult. So I’m happy to perform this for people who might not have heard him. We played the Unsound festival in Poland and all these English kids there came up to me and said, ‘We were up all night listening to Robert Ashley, and we love it! Thank you for introducing us to him!’”

and exciting it is to be here.”

Unfortunately, the band is due back in the U.K. before the weekend is out. As disappointed as she is to be missing out on the rest of Big Ears (“Gutted!”, as she puts it), Meredith seems ready for whatever phase is next.

“This past year has been so bonkers, and such a change, in terms of lifestyle, for me, I’m really trying to plan and predict as little as possible,” she says. “Certainly my plan is to write a new album this year and I guess perform it next year, but there’s so much crazy shit going on in the world just now I’m trying to just roll with the moment as much as I can.”

Anna Meredith performs at the Mill and Mine (224 W. Depot St.) on Thursday, March 23, at 9:30 p.m. Visit lineup. bigears.com.

Matmos performs Robert Ashley’s Private Parts at the Tennessee Theatre (604 S. Gay St.) on Friday, March 24, at noon.

Follow us for updates The Knoxville Mercury’s team of music writers will be covering Big Ears all weekend. Visit knoxmercury.com and follow us on Twitter (@knoxmercury) and Facebook (Facebook.com/ knoxmercury) for festival news, updates, recaps, photos, and more.

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 21

Program Notes | Inside the Vault | Classical | Movies

LOCAL REVIEW

White Stag Emergence

More than 11 minutes into “Emergence,” the monster title track from White Stag’s debut album, the prog-metal quartet breaks the spell of a brooding acoustic guitar atmosphere, introducing a carnivalesque accordion, soprano sax, and shuffled drum groove. Taken on its own, it’s a jolting sonic twist, but in this context, it follows a dementedly perfect logic: The Knoxville band exists for the thrill of flipping a song on its head, and with Emergence, they reach a new peak of dynamism.

“Emergence” is the obvious spaghetti-onthe-wall highlight, filled with barbaric shrieks, stereo-panned wah-wah, piano waltzes, woodwind flourishes, and agile forays into jazz.

But the fine stitching feels tighter than before as the band patiently weaves together the sections across 16 minutes.

White Stag also casts a wider net than before, digging even deeper into prog history for inspiration. Where the early EPs drew heavily from modern prog-metal giants like Opeth and Tool, the new album alludes to the dissonant funkiness of Gentle Giant (“Inhabitant Master”) and Ian Anderson’s darkest jazz flute-playing from Jethro Tull’s A Passion Play.

But the biggest revelation is the warm, professional-sounding production, marking White Stag’s graduation from emerging local band to emerging local band hellbent on a full-time music career. If the next-level evolution of Emergence is any indication, they’re headed there.

—Ryan Reed 22 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

Peak R&B Two music scene veterans team up for steamy electronic soul

P

eak Physique hit the ground running, at least as far as local music acts go. Within weeks of unveiling the project last summer, the alt R&B duo of Wil Wright and Matt Honkonen had already released a debut EP and embarked on a short Midwestern tour in support of it—a pace Honkonen says is the byproduct of a collaboration that was meant to be.

“I think our strengths complement each other,” Honkonen says of finally teaming up with Wright after years of friendship and mutual admiration. “And it’s made for a pretty effortless pairing.”

But downplaying the effort seems off the mark for a group whose name practically sweats on its own. Peak Physique’s polished live act suggests

that Wright and Honkonen value hard work as much as inspiration. So it was no particular shock when they announced that their first full-length, A Couple, is already in the can for release next month on Knoxville’s Gezellig Records.

“The EP was as much an introduction to Peak Physique for us as it was our audience,” Wright says. “Now our creative chemistry and production scale have kind of hulked out.”

Though Peak Physique has been pegged as something of a supergroup, fans of Wright’s Senryu or Honkonen’s Llama Train are sure to find the duo’s collaboration a far cry from those groups’ inviting alt-rock; if anything, A Couple’s woozy, processed tunes recall the carnal slow jams of Wright’s

defunct wizard-rap crew Lil Iffy. But that project’s cheekiness is replaced here by the vulnerability common to the two songwriters’ most personal output, and it’s that intimate vibe that really sells the record’s songs of lust and devotion.

If that sounds appealing, the coming weeks are an ideal time to find out for sure: A Couple hits the Web (and limited physical release) on April 7, just in time for Peak Physique’s sets throughout that weekend’s Rhythm and Blooms Festival. Visit ilovepeakphysique.com and rhythmnbloomsfest.com.

—Nick Huinker

Program Notes | Inside the Vault | Classical | Movies

Other Knoxville Sessions New homemade tapes of old-time East Tennessee fiddler Newman Wise— and one legendary Bijou jazz concert

BY ERIC DAWSON

A

bout a year ago, a few weeks before the Knoxville Stomp festival, I wrote about Newman Wise, a local fiddler who recorded two 78 rpm sides with the Wise String Orchestra during the 1929 recording sessions at the St. James Hotel. His daughter, Sonia Clift, gave us four cassette tapes that Newman recorded of himself playing with other old-time musicians in the 1970s and ’80s. We were excited to hear them, as they were among the most recent recordings by any of the musicians from those sessions, along with recordings from Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong and Mack and Willie Sievers, of the

Tennessee Ramblers.

We visited Sonia again a few months back, and the timing was fortuitous. She had been cleaning out her mother’s house and came across four cases of cassettes, containing around 100 more tapes her father recorded.

Newman was fastidious about documenting the home jam sessions he participated in with his friends. Most of the tapes list the people involved, with more than a dozen string players appearing in the 15 years covered by the tapes. Occasionally a drummer and horn players would sit in, including trumpet player David “Rabbit”

Edmonds, who played with the Dorsey Brothers in the 1930s and led a small jazz orchestra in the 1940s.

Accompanying many of the tapes, scribbled on bank deposit slips and other scraps of paper, are lists of the songs, sometimes with the key, songwriter, or source of the song noted. These guys knew a lot of songs, and rarely do they seem to have been chosen in advance. Most often you hear one of the pickers call out a number, and everyone picks up on it almost immediately. There are repeat performances (“Rubber Doll” and “Puff the Magic Dragon” were among the favorites), but hundreds of different songs appear.

The tapes weren’t of the highest quality—Kmart, Certron, Ampex, Memex, and other companies familiar to those who bought blank cassettes in the late ’70s and early ’80s—so some of them are faded and warbly.

But many retain surprising fidelity.

The earliest tape—aside from a 1954 session, probably dubbed from reel-toreel tape—is dated August 1974 and features “Maw” Wise on piano. Rollicking ragtime tunes are mixed with hymns, and there’s a lengthy stretch of the family just sitting around talking. The most recent tape is labeled, in noticeably shakier handwriting, “at My House Jan, 1992 Newman and Dan Swanner.”

At the end of the tape, after running through “Wedding Bells are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine,” Newman comments on his performance.

“I haven’t played in a while, but I feel good enough to play, so I guess I ain’t dead yet,” he says.

He died on July 4, 1996.

This would be an outstanding collection of old-time East Tennessee music anyway, but two tapes of Newman playing with Carl Bean and Newman’s fellow St. James sessions artists Mack and Willie Sievers make it especially valuable. Newman’s daughter says she remembers Willie, who would visit and play with her father. One of the tapes, probably recorded in the early to mid ’80s, had Bean emceeing, as if the group was playing to a crowd. He introduces Wise as “the finest fiddle player in Knoxville.” They have a fun time running through old-time and country songs and even a few Hawaiian tunes

from Mack and Willie’s days as the Novelty Hawaiians.

The most surprising discovery, however, might be a cassette labeled “Stephane Grapelli [sic] 1981, Jazz Fiddler from Paris - Taped at The Bijou Theatre Knox.” Known as the grandfather of jazz violinists, Stéphane Grappelli is most famous for playing in the Quintette du Hot Club de France with jazz guitar great Django Reinhardt. In 1975, a friend of Wise’s made him a 90-minute mixtape of Reinhardt and Grappelli recordings, with a spoken introduction saying how much he thinks Wise will like them. It’s not surprising that Newman and his peers would have admired the French violinist. Though much of their repertoire was old-time Appalachian or pop songs, Wise and his East Tennessee colleagues were conversant with a large number of jazz songs.

It’s not surprising that Newman Wise and his peers would have admired Stéphane Grappelli.

By the 1970s, Grappelli was performing with mandolinist David Grisman, incorporating American traditions into his own playing. The Bijou show was taped from the audience, most likely on a small, inexpensive recorder, but the sound is pretty good for a 36-year-old Ampex tape.

An advanced notice of Grappelli’s performance appeared in the News Sentinel. Directly below the brief article is a mention of a music and dance contest at Carl Bean’s Music Barn on Oct. 10, the day before Grappelli’s concert. We haven’t uncovered a tape from that date, but it isn’t difficult to image Newman Wise might have played his own show there before heading out to see the Frenchman.

Maybe he even played a Grappelli tune he picked up from his mixtape.

Inside the Vault searches the archives of the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound for nuggets of lost Knoxville music and film history.

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 23

Program Notes | Inside the Vault | Classical | Movies

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BY ALAN SHERROD

I

fi rst wrote about Gabriel Lefkowitz in 2011, when the then 24-year-old violinist was auditioning for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster position . As part of the audition process, Lefkowitz was the guest concertmaster on the KSO’s Masterworks series, a concert that featured the famous Midori as guest solo violinist. Lefkowitz also had his own extended solo that evening, in a performance of Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben. Many in the audience—including this writer— felt Lefkowitz had won the evening with his energy, personality, and consummate musicality.

In the following six years, Lefkowitz’s presence and leadership in the KSO’s first chair have been an obvious inspiration for his fellow players. His energy seemed to translate into new energy for the orchestra. His confidence was contagious, showing up as a newfound sparkle in the orchestra’s work as an ensemble.

Nothing lasts forever, though.

Last summer, Lefkowitz took the inevitable next step in his career by accepting the comparable concertmaster position with the Louisville Orchestra. He has split his time this season serving both orchestras and completing his commitment to the KSO. That tenure came to an end— symbolically, at least—on last weekend’s Masterworks concerts, with Lefkowitz’s appearance as the featured soloist in the Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major.

It hardly needs saying that Lefkowitz had the orchestra completely on his side in this performance.

With KSO music director Aram Demirjian back on the podium for the first time this year, the orchestra found considerable depth and sensitivity in support of the violinist.

What Lefkowitz offered in return was a sublime performance of milk and honey tones contrasted with broad swaths of spicy vinegar that kept the listener involved and intrigued—all carried out with splendid technique.

The audience, too, was squarely on Lefkowitz’s side. They rewarded the assertive conclusion of the concerto’s opening movement with a not-unexpected round of applause.

The opening of the slow Adagio movement, though, belongs to a gorgeous melodic theme from the oboe, played in this case by KSO principal Claire Chenette. After the work’s conclusion, Lefkowitz rushed over to thank Chenette for her performance, then followed it with a hug for each

front-row player of the string section as the audience roared its own appreciation for a job well done.

In the same way that Lefkowitz began with the KSO, the first of two candidates vying to replace him, William Shaub, took the guest concertmaster spot for the evening. Shaub had his own impressive solo turn in the first half of the evening, on Peter Maxwell Davies’ 1984 work, An Orkney Wedding With Sunrise. As a programmatic tale of a Scottish wedding—musical inebriation included—the work is quirky and richly textured by woodwind color and percussion effects. The “sunrise” came in the form of an actually bagpiper, who entered playing from the back of the Tennessee Theatre and finished up on stage just as the work ends.

Preceding the Davies, Demirjian gave an obligatory nod to St. Patrick’s Day with Percy Grainger’s orchestration of Irish Tune From County Derry, the tune popularly known as “Danny Boy.” Of more significance, however, were the two opening works roughly dedicated to the coming of spring: Antonín Dvořák’s Scherzo capriccioso and Jean Sibelius’s Spring Song.

More complex than its title implies, the Scherzo capriccioso got a very respectful and energetic interpretation from Demirjian and the orchestra, especially the famous waltz theme. Notable performances came from Jeffery Whaley and the KSO horn section, as well as from a beautiful passage taken by the English horn of Ayca Yayman.

Sibelius’ Spring Song did not fare as well. Its cautious optimism rang a bit hollow after the joyousness and electrifying climax of the Dvořák. But then, every spring has its rainy days.

In the following six years, Lefkowitz’s presence and leadership in the KSO’s first chair have been an obvious inspiration for his fellow players.

2017 ARTISTS

A LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER

“Hear with your ears…listen with your heart…” – Pauline Oliveros

A NOTE FROM OUR MAYOR

grandeur of the symphony and raw emotion of punk …the stark simplicity of an Appalachian ballad and rich intricacy of a carefully crafted master work…the quiet intimate moments of everyday experience and the sudden revelation of a grand occasion.

It’s Big Ears time in Knoxville! It is one of my favorite weekends every year. I love this festival for the diversity of talent and visitors it brings to our city, and also for the opportunities it presents to showcase everything that makes Knoxville unique.

We hope that our name – Big Ears - elicits a smile. After all, that’s a At its core, Big Ears is based upon a great first step in reaching across any fundamental belief that music and art border. We hope it encourages you offer us essential tools for engaging our to relax – to open yourself up to the humanity and navigating interesting unexpected experience, the serendiptimes. Music and art bring us together, itous surprise. It can be fun to walk show us new perspectives, new ways through walls! of listening and seeing; they help us to discover new ways of experiencing I want to leave you with the gentle the world and better understanding words of Stefan Zweig, whose writing ourselves and others. quietly chronicled the challenges of the human heart during those We are all too aware of the barall-too-interesting decades of the riers that often separate us in the 1920s and 1930s: world: cultural, racial, social, sexual, philosophical, political, economic, “Time to leave now, get out of this geographical…barriers that are too room, go somewhere, anywhere; often reflected in the worlds of art and sharpen this feeling of happiness and music as well. freedom, stretch your limbs, fill your eyes, be awake, wider awake, vividly Big Ears aspires to break down these awake in every sense and every pore.” barriers – or, to borrow a phrase from the fearless artist Marina Abramović – Thank you for being here! to “walk through walls.”

Ashley Capps We aspire to embrace the concert Founder / Artistic Director hall and the streets and beyond: the

I want to thank Ashley Capps and his whole team at AC Entertainment for their commitment to enriching our cultural landscape and for the way they weave Big Ears into the fabric of Knoxville itself. Big Ears makes wonderful use of our historic theaters, the Bijou and the Tennessee, and it also scatters its events and audiences into unusual nooks and alcoves of our vibrant downtown.

Welcome to Big Ears 2017!

There is said to be an ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” I think we can all agree that we are immersed in interesting times.

The programming this year is more wide-ranging than ever, across genres, genders, generations and nationalities. It is wonderful to welcome legendary artists like Carla Bley, Henry Grimes and Meredith Monk, alongside younger innovators from around the world.

It is especially gratifying to see so much local talent represented – you will be able to hear from the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, and St. John’s Episcopal Church Evensong, among others. There are also other great events, free and open to everyone, celebrating Knoxville’s rich literary heritage (including a complete public reading of Cormac McCarthy’s Knoxville-based novel Suttree).

AHLEUCHATISTAS Since 2002, Ahleuchatistas has been making music that sounds like little else emanating from the mountains of their Asheville, North Carolina home, or indeed, anywhere else. Starting as a trio, the band was soon pared down to the duo of guitarist Shane Parish and drummer Ryan Oslance.

Yet the pair often manage to sound like a much larger band.

Tuneful melodies collide with experimental detours as Parish makes the most of his fretboard and pedals and Oslance fuses rock beats and jazz polyrhythms.

Having released a number of albums on evergreen avant-garde labels Cuneiform and Tzadik, their latest album, Arrebeto, teams them with International Anthem, a new Chicago-based label committed to cutting edge jazz and improv.

ALVIN CURRAN Born into a family of popular musicians, Alvin Curran started piano lessons at the age of five and soon taught himself trombone, attuning his ears to the likes of Spike Jones, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Bela Bartok and Christian Wolff.

After studying with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Elliott Carter, Curran continued to perform in dance bands in the Catskills and Las Vegas, indulging his love for both the latest developments in new music

and old fashioned jazz. Upon moving to Rome in the 1960s, this open-mindedness and eclecticism was the perfect background for the compositions he would write and the music he would make with Musica Elettronica Viva. In addition to further studies with John Cage, Morton Feldman and Giacinto Scelsi, Curran has worked with a who’s who of the 20th century’s most adventurous musical minds, from the worlds of jazz, improv, classical and all points between. His numerous multifaceted compositions reflect his restless mind and ears. There simply isn’t anyone else making music like Alvin Curran.

Along with this solo performance, Alvin will also be joining his cofounders of Musica Elettronica Viva, Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, for a rare concert appearance by this groundbreaking group.

AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC ENSEMBLE Founded by cellist Clarice Jensen in 2004, American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) interprets modern classics by 20th century masters and new works by today’s most exciting composers. ACME is one of the most celebrated contemporary ensembles working today, and have performed the music of John Luther Adams, Mick Barr, Gavin Bryars, Elliott Carter, George

Enjoy Big Ears, and enjoy your time in Knoxville! Remember that just by being here, you are a crucial part of what makes this festival so extraordinary.

As Carla Bley said, “Listening is more important than anything else because that’s what music is. Somebody is playing something and you’re receiving it.”

THE CROSSING

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THEATRE OF VOICES

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

Madeline Rogero Mayor

POWERED BY:

Crumb, Nico Muhly, Frederic Rzewski, Iannis Xenakis, and many others. The ensemble is also a favored collaborator of indie rock acts such as Grizzly Bear, Low, Matmos, Micachu & The Shapes, and Jeff Mangum. At Big Ears 2015, ACME joined members of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for a magnificent performance of Max Richter’s Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Recomposed.

This year, they return to perform Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Drone Mass, and accompany Blonde Redhead’s performance of their 2004 album Misery is a Butterfly.

ANNA MEREDITH Anna Meredith is a composer, producer and performer of both acoustic and electronic music. Her sound is frequently described as ‘uncategorizable’ and ‘genre-defying’ and straddles the different worlds of contemporary classical, art pop, electronica and experi-

mental rock - or as the Guardian said: “majestic bangers”... Her music has been performed everywhere from the BBC Last Night of the Proms to flashmob body-percussion performances in the M6 Services, PRADA & Fendi fashion campaigns, numerous films, installations and documentaries, pop festivals, clubs and classical concert halls worldwide and broadcast on Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6. Her debut album Varmints was released in March 2016 on Moshi Moshi/PIAS to huge critical acclaim with numerous four and five star reviews from press and media around the world including Pitchfork’s coveted Best New Music. Varmints won the 2016 Scottish Album of the Year (SAY Award).

AOIFE O’DONOVAN Irish-American singer Aoife O’Donovan is well-known to contemporary bluegrass and

AOIFE O’DONOVAN

AHLEUCHATISTAS roots music fans, from her work as a member of Crooked Still and Sometymes Why to her trio with Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek. She’s also released two solo studio albums with a decidedly more contemporary bent, as well as the recent concert recording Man In A Neon Coat: Live From Cambridge. A talented conservatory-trained guitarist and singer, O’Donovan has won accolades for her songwriting, which keeps an ear to the past while embracing modern pop arrangements.

ARVE HENRIKSEN Arve Henriksen’s music frequently gets compared to that of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, and it’s true the Norwegian trumpet player’s high pitched tone does at times recall Davis’ more somber modes, and his ambient backing is not dissimilar to Hassell’s Fourth World music. But Henriksen’s interest in nature and religious themes lead to a meditative style that is uniquely his own, and he possesses something those two, and in truth few people, have: an angelic soprano singing voice.

He doesn’t always employ it in his music, but when he does it is to memorable effect, a voice that would not sound out of place in a boys’ choir.

Arve will be joined in his concert at Church Street United Methodist Church by Ståle Storløkken.

Henriksen and Storløkken are certainly no strangers to one another, having played together in ambient jazz group Supersilent (who also performed at Big Ears ‘17) for 20 years. Their duo performance at Big Ears should be especially memorable, as it will take place in a church, with

Storløkken manning the church’s organ.

BLONDE REDHEAD WITH ACME: MISERY IS A BUTTERFLY Last year, Numero Group released the box set Masculin Feminin, reintroducing Blonde Redhead’s out of print first two albums and early singles from the mid 1990s.

Full of energetic guitar rock with a penchant for pop, the set is a reminder, should you need it, of how long guitarist/vocalist Kazu Makino, guitarist/vocalist Amedeo Pace and drummer Simone Pace have been at it, and how much their sound has changed over the years. They take new directions on each of their nine albums, and 2004’s Misery is a Butterfly remains a pivotal album and a fan favorite. It’s a band favorite, too, as Blonde Redhead have recently taken to performing it live in its entirety. Recorded after Makino was nearly trampled to death by a horse, Misery is a Butterfly is a rush of cinematic shoegaze dream rock, with strings adding a lush chamber pop element. Blonde Redhead’s sound has continued to evolve, but the band is taking some time to revisit what is obviously an important musical statement for them. They will perform the album in full at Big Ears 2017, accompanied by the strings of American Contemporary Music Ensemble.

BOBBY KAPP Few people have the musical experience, ability, and, most importantly, intellectual perspective possessed by the jazz musician Bobby Kapp. In combination with a natural rhythmic sense, he is a force to be reckoned with as a vocalist and lyricist. He has been called a romantic, a jazz ambassador, an expatriate, and a master musician,

and to finish his most recent projects Themes 4 Transmutation and Cilla Sin Embargo, Bobby had to be all of these at once. In the same vein as Miles Davis during the composing and performance of Kind of Blue, Bobby found the greatest pure improvisational jazz musicians New York had to offer: Tyler Mitchell on bass, Matthew Shipp on keys and Ross Moshe playing saxophone.

With little to no direction, and having never met each other before, the musicians delivered what Bobby and critics consider a masterpiece in freeform jazz. At Big Ears Kapp will be joined by pianist Matthew Shipp.

The duo released their first album Cactus in 2016.

CARLA BLEY In the 1960s, Carla Bley made a name for herself as a jazz composer, penning tunes recorded by George Russell, Jimmy Giuffre, her ex-husband Paul Bley and others. But it was the release of her 1971 triple album Escalator Over the Hill that truly announced a startling unique voice to be reckoned with. Featuring three dozen musicians including Jack Bruce, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, John McLaughlin, Paul Motian and Linda Ronstadt, the jazz-rock opera is an excellent introduction to Bley’s stylistic diversity and restless creativity.

The composer, pianist, organist and band leader has continued to produce a remarkable body of work across almost 30 albums, in small groups and as the leader of her big band, often with her husband, bassist Steve Swallow. Bley turned 80 in 2016, one year after being recognized as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. Her latest album, Andondo el Tiempo, is her second trio record with Swallow Continued on next page

BIGEARSFESTIVAL.COM

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2017 ARTISTS (CONT’D) COLIN STETSON PRESENTS SORROW Henryk Górecki’s 3rd Symphony, composed in 1977, became an unlikely popular success following the 1992 million-selling recording featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw.

The sweeping grandeur of the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs has such an undeniable emotive pull that it soon started underscoring dramatic scenes CLAIRE CHASE in numerous films. The Polish text Flautist and new music champion for the symphony’s three movements Claire Chase’s sprawling resume is an concerns the separation of children exhausting read, and the energy and from their mothers, but one need not imagination the young performer understand the language to brings to her work suggests it will understand the sorrow and loss that only continue to expand. Born in is expressed in the music.

1978, she was playing in the San Diego Symphony by age 14, and In addition to releasing a half dozen went on to study music at Oberlin albums under his own name, the College. Founder of the equally in-demand multi-reedist Colin Stettireless International Contemporary son can be found on recordings by Ensemble (ICE) in 2001, she remains Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Bon its Executive Director. ICE has Iver, Tom Waits and many others. premiered more than 500 new Recently, he recorded a “reimagincompositions by leading ing” of Gorecki’s 3rd, accompanied contemporary composers, and Chase by an 11-piece ensemble including herself has premiered hundreds members of Arcade Fire, drummer of solo works for flute around the Greg Fox of Liturgy and his sister world. She is the recipient of numer- Megan Stetson’s powerful vocals. Lest ous awards and honors, including you be tempted to think so without a 2012 MacArthur Fellowship. In giving it a listen, the result is a far cry 2014 she introduced Density 2036, from indie rockers punching above a commissioning project that will their weight; Stetson and company create an entirely new body of remain faithful to the score and repertory for solo flute by the year deliver a rendition of this work as 2036. Her work can be heard on moving as any out there. three acclaimed solo albums, as well as numerous ensemble recordings.

Colin Stetson presents SORROW: A Reimagining of Gorecki’s 3rd and saxophonist Andy Sheppard, the title track a graceful and melancholic three-part suite reflecting on addiction and recovery. Though she plays concert halls in Europe annually, she rarely performs in the United States. Bley will perform with the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra and in a trio with Steve Swallow and Andy Sheppard.

Symphony: Sorrow: I - Lento — Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile; Sorrow: II - Lento E Largo — Tranquillissimo; Sorrow: III - Lento — Cantabile-Semplice COLLEEN Colleen is the nom de guerre of French multi-instrumentalist Cécile Schott, who has been making strange and beguiling music for 25 years.

She made her first album almost entirely from samples, before moving primarily to acoustic instruments for subsequent releases. Though each of her six albums is crafted from a distinct sonic palette, Schott favors ambient tones and minimalist rhythms, even when edging toward chamber music. It was only with her fourth album, The Weighing of the Heart, that Schott began singing, and she continues this on her latest, Captain of None, wherein a lifelong love of Jamaican music led her to add dub and reggae rhythms to her minimalist compositions. The primary instrument on the album is a treble viola da gamba, but she fingerpicks rather than bows it. This approach to the Baroque instrument makes its bass-heavy percussiveness sound similar to the African kora, while melodica, Moogerfooger, pedals and effects add an ethereal quality to the album.

Colleen will play songs from her fifth album Captain of None, as well as from fourth album The Weighing of the Heart and her version of the lullaby from the film The Night of the Hunter (whose screenplay

JEM COHEN: GRAVITY HILL SOUND+IMAGE FRIDAY, MARCH 24 4:30PM-6:30PM / BIJOU THEATRE SATURDAY 10:30PM S. GAY ST. & WALL ST. (OUTDOORS)

The 2017 festival will feature independent filmmaker, Jem Cohen and a Big Ears-specific version of his project, Gravity Hill Sound+Image. Jem will join forces with a special selection of versatile and adventurous musicians to explore films and live soundtracks in a wide range of combinations: scored and improvised, indoor and outdoor, quiet and loud.

Cohen will collaborate with musicians including Guy Picciotto, Matana Roberts, Jessica Moss, Mira Billotte, T.Griffin, Catharine McRae, festival alumni Xylouris White, and multi-media tech team, Dawn of Man, who will be projection mapping site-specific images on Knoxville architecture, made possible by Panasonic. Big Ears will also include several of Jem’s films in its programs at the Regal Riviera Theater, including his new film, World Without End (No Reported Incidents), a 2017 Sundance selection. Jem Cohen’s feature length films include Museum Hours, Counting, CHAIN, Benjamin Smoke, and Instrument, a portrait of the band, Fugazi. For more on our film program, see page 17.

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OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

was written by Knoxville’s own James Agee). The concert features a modified treble viola da gamba as the main instrument, as well as singing, melodica, floor tom and a wide array of live effects.

THE CROSSING One of the foremost American choral ensembles working today, Philadelphia’s The Crossing have presented numerous commissions and world premieres since their formation a decade ago. At Big Ears, the chamber choir will perform two unforgettable concerts of contemporary religious choral music, Gavin Bryars’ The Fifth Century and David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion.

The Crossing with Prism Perform Gavin Bryars Legendary minimalist composer Gavin Bryars has composed more than two dozen works, the most recent of which is The Fifth Century, based on 17th Century theologian poet Thomas Traherne’s book Centuries of Meditations. The Crossing will perform Bryars’ seminal work with PRISM Quartet, one of America’s foremost chamber ensembles. PRISM places the saxophone in unexpected contexts, charting fresh musical territory to challenge, inspire, and move audiences. “A bold ensemble that set the standard for contemporary-classical saxophone quartets” (The New York Times), PRISM was founded by students of the renowned Donald Sinta at the University of Michigan in 1984. Shortly after winning the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, PRISM was chosen by Musical America as “Outstanding Young Artists,” performed on Entertainment Tonight and National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” and toured virtually every state in the U.S. The Crossing Performs David Lang The Little Match Girl Passion won its composer, Bang on a Can co-founder David Lang, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story of a shoeless child who freezes to death while attempting to sell matches to

pitiless passersby in the street, Lang takes the latent Christian elements of the text and adds passages from the Gospel of St. Matthew and Bach’s “St. Matthew’s Passion,” fashioning a modern spiritual piece that finds hope amidst suffering.

CUP (NELS CLINE & YUKA C. HONDA) Up to the mid-2000s, guitarist Nels Cline was probably best known for his work in the group Quartet Music (with brother Alex Cline, bassist Eric Von Essen, and violinist Jeff Gauthier) as well as other projects in the jazz, rock, and avant-garde idioms, and for his general involvement in the West Coast’s improvisation community.

However, since 2004, Cline has been a member of Wilco, which has opened up a much larger audience for the guitarist than is typical for even the most well-known of avant jazzers and creative improvisers, touring the world and appearing on all subsequent albums. He’s still had time for a number of other projects: a trio of Cline, Andrea Parkins, and Tom Rainey; the Nels Cline Singers; a collaboration with poet and producer David Breskin; and more.

Nels will partner with his wife and multi-instrumentalist Yuka C. Honda, best know as half of the heady trip-hop duo Cibo Matto, as cup. Pairing Cline’s genre bending guitar work with Honda’s electronic rhythms and experimental grooves, prepare for an adventurous performance that is both playful and aggressive, wandering and infectious.

DAKHABRAKHA Assembled in 2004 by avant-garde theatre director Vladyslav Troitskyi, DakhaBrakha is a quartet from Kyiv dedicated to preserving Ukranian folk culture. The group travels across their home country to learn from music traditions that are hanging on in rapidly changing times, chasing a “Ukranian blues” to create their self-described “ethno chaos.”

DakhaBrakha have brought this music to stages around the world, adding their own original take on it by incorporating tradtional Indian, Arabic, African, Russian and Australian instrumentation. The group retains a unique visual presence held over from their theatrical origins, dressed in traditional Ukranian attire

DEERHOOF and incorporating a new setting into each performance. DakhaBrakha means “give/take” in Ukranian, and it’s a perfectly chosen name for the group, as they disseminate the folk culture of their homeland while learning from every new encounter and performance.

DAVE HARRINGTON GROUP As electronic duo Darkside, Dave Harrington and Big Ears ’16 alumn Nicolas Jaar delivered jazz-influenced improvised sets that pleased the dance crowd while also impressing more stolid chin strokers.

With Darkside on hiatus, Harrington has assembled a group of his friends and collaborators to develop a whole new sound, one more fully steeped in his jazz roots. The icy atmosphere of the group’s debut album Become Alive is at times reminiscent of fellow Big Ears 2017 act Supersilent, and the more mellow modes of Miles Davis’ electric period. They’re also not afraid to try a louder, more expansive tack, such as on the sprawling title track, where Harrington’s guitar shreds through a wall of electronics, percussion, and synths.

No Country For Old Men Harrington will lead a group of his closest collaborators to provide a soundtrack to No Country for Old Men, a film completely absent of a traditional score, allowing for a unique union of the narrative and the experimental. Presented with a challenge and an opportunity, the Dave Harrington Group will create a singular sonic/filmic presentation while both they and the audience experience the full scope of the film’s story. Harrington has previously led live improvised scores to Branded To Kill, The Birds, and The Cabinet

DAVE HARRINGTON GROUP of Dr. Caligari. Drawing on free improvisation, electronics, drone, dark psychedelia, and classic soundtrack music, the DHG will let the spirit of the searcher—improvisation—guide them. What’s the most you’ve ever lost on a coin toss?

DEATHPROD If black metal festivals had chill out tents, they’d probably play Deathprod. Norwegian musician and producer Helge Sten has only released three albums under the Deathprod moniker since its inception in 1991, but each one is a carefully constructed trip through an eerie, dark ambient soundscape. It’s been 12 years since the release of the last album, Morals and Dogma, a masterpiece justly revered by ambient and noise fans.

Sten has certainly kept busy with a host of other projects, including the jazz-ambient improv group Supersilent (also performing at Big Ears), reprising a collaboration with fellow Norwegian artist Biosphere, appearing on his wife Susanna’s albums, a collaboration with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones as Minibus Pimps, and working as something of a house engineer for the Rune Grammofon label. Still, it’s a rare thrill to have Sten take the stage alone. An especially rare thrill in the United States where Deathprod will make his first ever appearance at Big Ears.

DEERHOOF It’s rare to find the combination of adventurousness, playfulness and musicianship that Deerhoof has consistently displayed across two decades. Their 2002 Kill Rock Stars album Reveille opened up the San Francisco band to a wider audience

primed for songs that veered off in unexpected directions, and their reputation and acclaim only grew with subsequent recordings. You never know what a new Deerhoof release might sound like. The band has surprised listeners with Broadway-influenced albums, dance music, lush pop and explorations into Tropicalia and Congotronics.

The Magic, their 13th and latest studio album, continues their tradition of experimentation, with shorter stabs of raw garage rock treatments brushed up against quasi-prog pop and woozy minimalist sketches.

Their live shows are an exhilarating rush of energy and excitement, giving audience ears and minds just as much of a workout as the band seems to be having on stage.

DJ /RUPTURE Don’t let the name mislead you: Jace Clayton is much more than a DJ. Radio host, author, lecturer, improviser, sound collagist and, yes, much-heralded DJ, Clayton is a 21st-century Renaissance Man. The rupture part of the alias is spot on, as he works with the same basic materials as other DJs, but flips the whole notion of what one should be behind their rig. He mixes untraceable records he’s picked up during his globetrotting gigs with the latest club hits, classic hip-hop and soul tracks, classical music and anything else that grabs his ear. Clayton also plays in the band Nettle, has an ongoing improv collaboration with The Ex guitarist Andy Moor, created Sufi Plug Ins, free music-making software based on non-western conceptions of sound and recently published his first book, Uproot: Travels in 21st-Century Music and Digital Culture.

EMILIA AMPER If you haven’t listened to much Scandinavian folk music, you might not be familiar with the nyckelharpa.

The traditional Swedish instrument dates back to the 1300s, and is now spreading both in number of players, geographically and to new musical genres. It has a design similar to a hurdy gurdy, except you play with a bow rather than a crank wheel, and its sound is crowned with a chromatic scale of sympathetic strings.

If you haven’t heard one, you could have few better introductions to the nyckelharpa than listening to Emilia Amper in concert. She’s been playing the instrument since childhood and earned a Nordic Master in Folk Music from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Amper has won numerous folk and world music awards in her native Sweden, and has been nominated for two Grammys.

In addition to performing traditional Nordic music, she has worked with classical orchestras, Persian, Indian and flamenco musicians, as well as rock and jazz acts.

FREDERIC RZEWSKI Those who witnessed Bonnie Prince Billy and eighth blackbird perform Frederic Rzewski’s minimalist milestone Coming Together at last year’s Big Ears won’t soon forget it. Taking its text from a letter by an inmate who died from injuries sustained in the Attica Prison uprising, it’s one of Rzewski’s most powerful compositions, a prime example of his inventive marriage of music and political convictions.

Educated at Harvard and studying under Milton Babbitt at Princeton, in 1960 Rzewski moved to Italy, where he became known for his unmatched skill at interpreting difficult works for piano. There, he also co-founded Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV), a pioneering improvisation group that incorporated synthesizers and electronics in their music. The 78-year old composer and master pianist has amassed a large body of orchestral, chamber, choral and solo piano work, and continues to perform regularly. In 2015 Rzewski played what many consider his masterpiece, The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, on an upright piano in a Pittsburgh fish market. At Big Ears, Rzewski will perform this one-hour solo piano piece, based on a Chilean protest anthem, as well as

participate in a rare appearance with MEV. FRODE HALTLI Frode Haltli revealed himself to be a prodigy of the accordion when he picked it up at the age of seven.

At a young age, he won several competitions and prizes in his native Norway, and has continued to do so as he enters his forties, now holding a teaching position at the Norwegian Academy of Music. In addition to playing traditional Norwegian folk music, Haltli’s playing turns up in unexpected places, such as new music ensembles, traditional classical music orchestras and jazz groups.

With his latest work, Grenesekoge (or The Border Woods), Haltli performs with percussion and the hurdy-gurdy-like Swedish nyckelharpa, linking Nordic folk music to Indian and Arabic scales, creating an entirely new kind of world music. In addition to his genre-bending work The Border Woods, Haltli will deliver a solo set for Big Ears 2017 attendees.

Frode Halti (solo accordion): Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952, Denmark): Air (2006); Bent Sørensen (b. 1958, Denmark): Looking on Darkness (2000); Arne Nordheim (1931-2010, Norway) Flashing (1986); Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016, US): Breaking Boundaries (1996) GAVIN BRYARS Composer and double bassist Gavin Bryars began his career in the fertile British jazz scene of the 1960s, playing in a group with guitarist Derek Bailey and drummer Tony Oxley.

The trio brought an innovative approach to improvisation, a more spontaneous and radical approach than even their contemporaries in the United States. Bryars soon moved into composing, and his first two works, The Sinking of the Titanic and Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, have become minimalist classics.

He has since written more than two dozen compositions for a wide variety of instrumentation, including works for dance and four operas, and formed the Gavin Bryars Ensemble to perform them.

Gavin Bryars will be performing three concerts with the Gavin Bryars Ensemble, who are astonishingly making their US debut at Big Ears: Continued on page 11

BIGEARSFESTIVAL.COM

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2017

EXPER IENCE S

During our weekend in Knoxville, Big Ears hosts a series of special programs and collaborations, film showings, workshops, panels and discussions with the artists, interactive exhibitions and projects, and more! Many of these are free and open to the public, inviting patrons and passers-by alike to delve into the magic of the festival.

KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF ART EXHIBITIONS (FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC) JERED SPRECHER: OUTSIDE IN Sure to be a highlight of the festival is Jered Sprecher’s Outside In, a debut solo museum exhibition by the UT School of Art professor that reflects the dynamic range of his recent work. His layout design is inspired by the centuries-old practice of adorning living spaces with motifs derived from the natural world. Here, muted images of birds and flowers appear sporadically, often embedded between layered abstract passages.

Sprecher’s resulting installation scheme enables viewers to experience his recent work as a single intimate environment, and as individual statements representing his ongoing treasure hunt through the debris of visual culture.

VIRTUAL VIEWS: DIGITAL ART FROM THE THOMA FOUNDATION Drawn from the extensive Chicago-based collection of Carl and Marilynn Thoma, Virtual Views: Digital Art from the Thoma Foundation explores the growing importance of electronic new media in contemporary art as seen in the work of artists who are pioneers in the use of LEDs (light-emitting diodes), LCD (liquid crystal display), and computer-driven imagery.

AURORA LISTENING LOUNGE AT THE MILL & MINE

IMBIBE AT BIG EARS (21+)

Big Ears 2017 is partnering with Nashville’s renowned audio and technology company, Thiel Audio and their 4k Ultra HD live streaming division, AURORA Nashville to bring Big Ears patrons exclusive access to their new line of high performance wireless audio devices. Stop by the AURORA Listening Lounge at the Mill & Mine throughout the festival weekend to test out their speakers, charge your phone, and relax in-between Big Ears shows. Make sure to enter to win a LifeStream Home Speaker while you’re there!

6

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

DOWNTOWN WINE + SPIRITS: BIG EARS PARTNER TASTINGS (FREE & OPEN TO PUBLIC) FRIDAY, 4:00PM-6:00PM, OLD FORGE DISTILLERY SATURDAY, 4:00PM-6:00PM, FOUR ROSES BOURBON

BIG EARS BEER EXCHANGE (OPEN TO PUBLIC) SATURDAY, 1:00PM - 3:00PM, SUTTREE’S HIGH GRAVITY TAVERN

THE AGEE AMBLE: LITERARY PUB CRAWL (FREE & OPEN TO PUBLIC) FRIDAY, 5:00PM , OUTSIDE REGAL RIVIERA STADIUM 8

GOOSE ISLAND PATIO THURSDAY - SUNDAY, THE MILL & MINE SPECIALTY TAPPINGS:

FRIDAY, 5:00PM: DEVILS BACKBONE DANZIG PORTER SATURDAY, 4:00PM: GOOSE ISLAND BOURBON COUNTY STOUT VERTICAL (‘15 & ‘16) SUNDAY, 12:30PM: GOOSE ISLAND SISTERS SOFIE AND LOLITA

IN VAGABONDIA: A KNOXVILLE LITERARY SURVEY (FREE & OPEN TO PUBLIC)

Knoxville has played a leading role in the imaginations of generations of writers—from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Vagabondia to the streets that nurtured James Agee, from Nikki Giovanni’s summers at her grandmother’s house to the dive bars and slovenly houseboats of Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree. As a companion to the 2017 Big Ears Festival, join us for a series of free public events celebrating the city’s literary heritage and thriving contemporary scene.

TROLLEY TALES: TOURING OUR LITERARY LANDSCAPE SATURDAY, 11:00AM AND 1:00PM GAY ST. AT KRUTCH PARK Join local historian Jack Neely and other special guests on a free 90-minute trolley ride that explores the lives and work of James Agee, Nikki Giovanni, Alex Haley, Cormac McCarthy and Frances Hodgson Burnett. The trolley will depart from Gay Street at Krutch park at 11am and 1pm and stop for readings at Morningside Park, Suttree Landing Park, the new Secret Garden at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens. Due to limited space, please pre-register at bigearsfestival.com/experiences.

KNOXVILLE - BERMUDA TRIANGLE OF THE APPALACHIANS SATURDAY, 5:00PM-6:30PM JACKSON TERMINAL Knoxville Poet Laureate R.B. Morris hosts an afternoon of contemporary Appalachian voices, including Hector Qirko, Greg Horne, John Deacon, Jack Rentfro and the Apocalypso Quartet, Black Atticus, Sparky and Rhonda Rucker and BARK. The artists in this diverse group explore and expand commonly-held ideas of what it means to be “Appalachian”.

THE DUSTY CLOCKLESS HOURS: A COMPLETE READING OF CORMAC MCCARTHY’S SUTTREE FRIDAY-SUNDAY, MARCH 24-26 McCarthy devotees and dilettantes alike are invited to take part in a marathon reading of one of Knoxville’s iconic works of literature. Readings will take place throughout downtown Knoxville on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

READING TIMES:

FRIDAY, MARCH 24: 11:00AM-1:00PM, SUTTREE LANDING PARK 1:00PM-3:00PM, VOLUNTEER LANDING MARINA 3:00PM-6:00PM, SUTTREE’S HIGH GRAVITY TAVERN SATURDAY, MARCH 25: 10:00AM-11:00AM, BLOUNT MANSION 11:00AM-1:00PM, EAST TENNESSEE HISTORY CENTER 1:00PM - 6:00PM, SCRUFFY CITY HALL SUNDAY, MARCH 26: 10:00AM - 1:00PM, EAST TENNESSEE HISTORY CENTER 1:00PM - 3:00PM, SCRUFFY CITY HALL

TENNESSEE

THEATRE

2 PM 3 PM 3:30

U.S. CELLULAR STAGE AT THE

BIJOU THEATRE

THE STANDARD

THE MILL & MINE

THE SQUARE ROOM

ST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL

JACKSON TERMINAL

JONATHAN DEMME: SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA 2:00 - 3:45 JIM COHEN: BENJAMIN SMOKE 3:45 - 5:00

4 PM 4:30 BIG EARS LAUNCH PARTY 5:00 - 5:45

5 PM 5:30 6 PM 6:30 7 PM 7:30 8 PM

AHLEUCHATISTAS 6:30 - 7:30 CARLA BLEY WITH THE KNOXVILLE JAZZ ORCHESTRA 7:00 - 8:30

8:30 9 PM 9:30 10 PM 10:30

INTRODUCTION BY JONATHAN DEMME

9:15 - 9:30

JONATHAN DEMME: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE + THE TENNESSEE KIDS 9:30 - 11:00

11 PM 11:30 12 AM 12:30

REGAL RIVIERA STADIUM 8

EMILIA AMPER 7:30 - 8:00 SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER: UNREMEMBERED 8:30 - 9:30

NIEF-NORF PERFORMS PAULINE OLIVEROS & MICHAEL GORDON 5:45 - 7:00

DAVE HARRINGTON GROUP 7:30 - 8:30

MICHAEL HURLEY 9:00 - 10:00

MATANA ROBERTS 8:30 - 9:30 ANNA MEREDITH 9:30 - 10:30

MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND 10:15 - 11:15

FRODE HALTLI 7:00 - 8:00 BIG EARS POETRY EXPO 8:00 - 9:00 LISA MOORE 9:00 - 10:00

BOBBY KAPP & MATTHEW SHIPP 10:30 - 11:30

DAKHABRAKHA 11:00 - 12:00 BLONDE REDHEAD WITH ACME PERFORM MISERY IS A BUTTERFLY 11:30 - 1:00

JONATHAN DEMME: STOP MAKING SENSE 11:15 - 1:00

1 AM

blonde reDHEAD

THE QUAVERS 6:30 - 7:30

CARLA BLEY

ANNA MEREDITH

MATTHEW SHIPP BIGEARSFESTIVAL.COM

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TENNESSEE

THEATRE

U.S. CELLULAR STAGE AT THE

BIJOU THEATRE

THE STANDARD

THE MILL & MINE

THE SQUARE ROOM

CHURCH STREET ST. JOHN’S UNITED CATHEDRAL METHODIST

9:30

PANEL: FESTIVALS LIKE THIS: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE INNOVATIVE 10:00 - 11:00

10AM 10:30

MAYA BEISER: MORNING TRANCE 10:30-11:45

11 AM

DAS BUCH: A PRESENTATION BY HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS

11:30 NOON 12:30 1 PM

11:15 - 12:15

SHANE PARISH 12:00 - 1:00

MATMOS PERFORMS ROBERT ASHLEY 12:00 - 2:00

ROBYN HITCHCOCK 1:45 - 2:45

2 PM 2:30 3 PM 3:30

1:00 - 2:30

FREDERIC RZEWSKI 2:15 - 3:30

CLAIRE CHASE 3:30 - 4:30

4 PM 4:30

AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC ENSEMBLE

JEM COHEN: GRAVITY HILL SOUND+IMAGE 4:30 - 6:30

5 PM 5:30

4:30 - 5:45

7:30 MEREDITH MONK & VOCAL ENSEMBLE: THE SOUL’S MESSENGER

8 PM 8:30 9:30

MICHAEL HURLEY 9:00 - 9:45

10 PM 10:30 11 PM 11:30

WILCO 10:00 - 12:00

CARLA BLEY TRIOS WITH STEVE SWALLOW & ANDY SHEPPARD

A CONVERSATION WITH

JONATHAN DEMME

12:15 - 1:00

ROGER BEEBE 1:15 - 2:15 UT

YUKI NUMATA RESNICK 10:30 - 11:30

GEORGES ROUQUIER: FARREBIQUE SCREENING & DISCUSSION 3:00 - 5:00

JONATHAN DEMME: SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 5:30 - 7:30

LISA MOORE 6:00 - 7:00 BIG EARS POETRY EXPO 7:00 - 8:00 FRODE HALTLI:

MATTHEW SHIPP 8:00 - 9:00 THE CROSSING WITH PRISM PERFORM GAVIN BRYARS 9:00 - 10:30

JONATHAN DEMME: MELVIN & HOWARD

THE BORDER WOODS

8:00 - 9:00

SECRET SHOW 9:00 - 10:00

SECRET SHOW 10:30 - 11:30

10:30 - 12:00

12 AM 12:30 1 AM 1:30

8

COLLEEN 10:00 - 11:00

WORLD PREMIERE ALBUM LISTENING JONATHAN DEMME: 10:00 - 12:00 ANOTHER TELEPATHIC THING 11:15 - 12:15

RICHARD TEITELBAUM 5:00 - 6:00

ALVIN CURRAN 8:00 - 9:30

LÆTITIA SADIER 9:30 - 10:30

JONATHAN DEMME: WHO AM I THIS TIME? 10:00 - 11:00

ENSEMBLE 2:30 - 3:30

JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON’S DRONE MASS 7:00 - 8:30

8:00 - 9:20

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO

NILS ØKLAND BAND 4:00 - 5:00

6:30 ROBYN HITCHCOCK 7:00 - 8:00

REGAL RIVIERA STADIUM 8

ELECTROACOUSTIC

GYAN RILEY 3:00 - 4:00

STÅLE STORLØKKEN & ARVE HENRIKSEN 6:00 - 7:00

7 PM

MUSEUM OF ART

KNOXVILLE

1:00-2:45

WU FEI 2:00 - 3:00

6 PM

9 PM

PANEL: NORWEGIAN INVASION 12:30 - 1:30

NIEF-NORF PERFORMS BURNS

1:30

JACKSON TERMINAL

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

OLIVER COATES 12:30 - 1:30

TORTOISE 12:00 - 1:00

For more details on panels and discussions, see page 19

For more on our film program, see page 17

TENNESSEE

THEATRE

10AM 10:30 11 AM

U.S. CELLULAR STAGE AT THE

BIJOU THEATRE

THE STANDARD

JONATHAN DEMME: STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK 10:00-11:30

THE MILL & MINE

THE SQUARE ROOM

CHURCH STREET ST. JOHN’S UNITED CATHEDRAL METHODIST

PANEL: MUSICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF MIDDLE AMERICA 10:O0 - 11:00

LISA MOORE 10:30 - 11:30

Q&A: ‘UPROOT’: A PRESENTATION BY JACE CLAYTON 11:15 - 12:15

11:30 MEREDITH MONK & VOCAL ENSEMBLE:

NOON

THE SOUL’S MESSENGER 12:00 - 1:20

12:30 1 PM

GLENN KOTCHE

12:00 - 1:00

2 PM 2:30

JEFF TWEEDY MEETS CHIKAMORACHI

XYLOURIS WHITE

XIU XIU PLAYS TWIN PEAKS THEO BLECKMANN QUINTET

3:30 4 PM

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE

ELETTRONICA VIVA

JOAN SHELLEY 5:00 - 6:00

5:30 6:30

MAYA BEISER: UNCOVERED

7 PM

HORSE LORDS 6:00 - 7:00

NILS ØKLAND & SIGBJØRN APELAND 7:00 - 8:00

8:30 9 PM 9:30

JESSICA MOSS 8:00 - 9:00

1:30 2:00

1:00 - 3:00

JONATHAN DEMME: SOMETHING WILD 3:45 - 5:45

CUP 8:30 - 9:30

GAVIN BRYARS ENSEMBLE 7:00 - 9:00

6:30-7:45

BIG EARS POETRY EXPO FINAL 7:30 - 9:30 FRODE HALTLI: 9:00 - 10:00

YASMINE HAMDAN

10:00 - 11:00

KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH

10:30 - 11:30

11:30

1 AM

12:15 - 1:30

THE BORDER WOODS

11 PM

12:30

STEVE LEHMAN & SÉLÉBÉYONE 8:00 - 9:15

Q&A: FUGAZI’S INSTRUMENT 12:00 - 1:00

NIEF-NORF & WORLD WITHOUT FRIENDS PERFORM END MICHAEL PISARO 6:15 - 7:30

9:00 - 10:15

10:30

12 AM

KEVIN JEROME EVERSON: SURFACE BELOW

KNOXVILLEBERMUDA TRIANGLE OF THE APPALACHIANS 5:00 - 6:30

HENRY GRIMES

10 PM

10:30 - 11:30

JIM COHEN:

6:30-7:30

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS ‘50 SONG MEMOIR’ (PT. 1) 8:00 - 10:00

THE CROSSING PERFORMS DAVID LANG 4:30 - 6:00

COLIN STETSON: SORROW 6:00 - 7:00

7:30 8 PM

JIM COHEN: INSTRUMENT 10:00 - 12:00

3:30 - 4:30

5 PM 6 PM

FLICKER & WOW: KIDS!

JANIE GEISER: DOUBLE VISION 2:00 - 3:30

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS 2:30 - 3:30

STÅLE STORLØKKEN 3:00 - 4:00

4:00 - 5:00

4:30

REGAL RIVIERA STADIUM 8

MUSEUM OF ART

JONATHAN DEMME: RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

1:30-2:30

MUSICA

3:00-4:15

PANEL: FOLK TRADITIONS IN A HYPER-CONNECTED WORLD 12:30 - 1:30

KNOXVILLE

1:00 - 2:00

2:00 - 3:00

2:00 - 3:15

3 PM

SIR RICHARD BISHOP 12:30 - 1:30

WHITE MAGIC

1:30

JACKSON TERMINAL

LIVE IMPROVISED SCORE TO NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN FT. DAVE HARRINGTON GROUP

12:00 - 2:00

SUPERSILENT 12:00 - 1:15

PHILIP JECK 11:00 - 12:00

DJ /RUPTURE 11:30 - 12:45 DEERHOOF

12:30 - 1:30 For more details on panels and discussions, see page 19

For more on our film program, see page 17

BIGEARSFESTIVAL.COM

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| 4.03.16 TENNESSEE

THEATRE

9:30 10AM 10:30 11 AM 11:30 NOON 12:30 1 PM 1:30 2 PM 2:30 3 PM 3:30 4 PM 4:30 5 PM 5:30 6 PM 6:30 7 PM 7:30 8 PM 8:30 9 PM 9:30 10 PM 10:30 11:00

COLLEEN

10

U.S. CELLULAR STAGE AT

BIJOU THEATRE

THE STANDARD

THE MILL & MINE

ST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL

KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF ART

REGAL RIVIERA STADIUM 8

PANEL: MAKING ART IN A TIME OF RAGE 10:00 - 11:00

MEREDITH MONK: BOOK OF DAYS 10:00 - 11:20 AM

RACHEL GRIMES: THE WAY FORTH 12:00 - 1:00 THE MAGNETIC FIELDS ‘50 SONG MEMOIR’ (PT. 2) 1:00 - 3:00

JACKSON TERMINAL

DISCUSSION: PAULINE OLIVEROS - IMPACT AND INFLUENCE 11:15 - 12:15

ON FILLMORE 12:30 - 1:30

PAULINE OLIVEROS ROCK PIECE 12:30 - 1:00 THE KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DIRECTED BY ARAM DEMIRJIAN

DISCUSSION: WHEN IN ROME: A GLIMPSE INTO THE KNOXVILLE MUSIC SCENE 12:30 - 1:30

1:00 - 2:00

QUINDAR 2:00 - 3:00

THEO BLECKMANN & BEN MONDER 2:30 - 3:30

SECRET SHOW 3:00 - 3:30

DEATHPROD 6:00 - 7:00

NILS ØKLAND & MATS EILERTSEN 4:30 - 5:30

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO WORLD PREMIERE ALBUM LISTENING

11:00 - 1:00

JONATHAN DEMME: COUSIN BOBBY 12:00 - 1:15

FLICKER & WOW: 1 1:30 - 2:30

GAVIN BRYARS: JESUS’ BLOOD NEVER FAILED ME YET 2:00 - 2:30

OLIVER COATES 3:30 - 4:30 JACE CLAYTON PRESENTS JULIUS EASTMAN MEMORIAL DINNER 4:30 - 6:00

JIM COHEN: MUSEUM HOURS 9:45 - 11:45

NIEF-NORF PERFORM PISARO’S ‘CLOSED CATEGORIES IN CARTESIAN WORLDS’ 2:30 - 4:00

JIM COHEN: LOST BOOK FOUND 3:00 - 3:40

FLICKER & WOW: 2 4:00 - 5:00 ST. JOHN’S CHORAL EVENSONG 5:00 - 6:00

RANGDA 5:30 - 6:30 COLLEEN 6:30 - 7:30

HENRY THREADGILL’S ZOOID 7:30 - 9:00 GAVIN BRYARS: THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC 9:00 - 10:15

JULIAN LAGE, CHRIS ELDRIDGE & AOIFE O’DONOVAN 8:30 - 10:00

JEREMY GARA 8:15-9:00

XIU XIU 10:00-11:00

XIU XIU

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS

For more details on panels and discussions, see page 19

For more on our film program, see page 17

HENRY THREADGILL

2017 ARTISTS (CONT’D) On Saturday evening, Bryars and his ensemble will perform at the beautiful St. John’s Cathedral for a concert of his seminal works including Epilogue from Wonderlawn, Bryars’ full evening piece dedicated to his daughters Zella and Orlanda, both of whom are cellists and have played the piece with him on many occasions.

Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet For Sunday afternoon’s performance at The Mill & Mine, Bryars and his ensemble will perform his stirring 1971 composition Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, a classic, melancholic piece originally recorded on Brian Eno’s Obscure label.

The Sinking of the Titanic Sunday evening, at the historic Tennessee Theatre, Bryars and his ensemble will close out the Big Ears weekend with a performance of Bryars’ masterpiece The Sinking of the Titanic, an open work that he has continued to change it over the years, often adding new instrumentation and visuals. This performance will feature turntablist Philip Jeck and projection design by Big Ears alumnus Bill Morrison alongside artist Laurie Olinder.

GLENN KOTCHE For a percussionist and composer as energetic, inquisitive and versatile as Glenn Kotche, it’s his sense of balance—his ability to thrive in different and seemingly disparate worlds—that really makes him stand out as a musician.

Since 2001, Kotche has been the rhythmic anchor in Wilco, one of the most beloved rock bands on the planet. He has appeared on over 80 recordings by artists as diverse as Andrew Bird, Edith Frost, Neil Finn

and Radiohead’s Phil Selway, and he’s a founding member of two other bands— Loose Fur, with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and longtime collaborator Jim O’Rourke, and On Fillmore, with upright bassist Darin Gray. He has also written music for classical and post-classical ensembles like Kronos Quartet, the Silk Road Ensemble, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, So Percussion, eighth blackbird and many more.

GYAN RILEY Gyan Riley won his first guitar in a raffle when he was 12 years old.

Shortly after learning all of the songs in his cassette collection by ear, he became the first full-scholarship graduate guitar student at the San Francisco Conservatory. Gyan’s diverse work now focuses on his own compositions, improvisation, and contemporary classical repertoire. He has performed with Zakir Hussain, Lou Reed, John Zorn, the Kronos Quartet, Iva Bittova, the Bang-On-A-Can All-Stars, the San Francisco Symphony, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, and his father, groundbreaking composer Terry Riley, whose performances with Gyan at Big Ears 2010 and 2015 were particularly memorable.

Gyan resides in New York City and frequently performs with the duo Probosci, the trio Eviyan, and the electric guitar quartet Dither. He has released four solo CDs and many ensemble/collaborative recordings, most recently working with the Tzadik Records label in New York.

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS Hans-Joachim Roedelius formed the electronic music group Kluster with Conrad Schnitzler and Dieter Moebius. Schnitzler left the group the following year, and the duo changed their name to Cluster.

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO ‘ASYNC’ WORLD PREMIERE ALBUM LISTENING FRIDAY, MARCH 24 10:00AM-12:00PM / SUNDAY, MARCH 26 11:00AM-1:00PM / KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF ART Big Ears will host the world premiere album listening of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s async during the festival weekend. Set to release April 28 via Milan Records, Sakamoto’s forthcoming album will play at the Knoxville Museum of Art on Friday and Sunday. Paying close attention to the essence of each track and carefully balancing the sounds with a less-is-more perspective, what remains are singular expressions of Sakamoto’s current mindset, and one of his most personal albums. The pallet includes conventional instrumentation such as piano and orchestra, but also a deep selection of unique acoustic and electric sounds both programmed and organic. Join us for this exclusive preview event!

HENRY GRIMES They began winnowing down their previous side-long freeform explorations into tracks of shorter duration, adding melodic qualities and steady rhythms, and would come to resemble something almost like a rock band when teamed with Neu! guitarist Michael Rother in Harmonia. They expanded their audience even further after recording a pair of ambient-leaning albums with Brian Eno in 1977 and 1978.

This body of work would be highly influential on electronic music in the coming decades, particularly in the development of synth pop, techno, IDM, and even New Age music.

Roedelius will likely always be best known for his collaborative ’70s work, which seems fair enough, considering the diversity and quality of those albums. It seems unfair, though, when you look at his discography and consider he’s recorded over 80 albums since that decade, including 41 solo works. And since Roedelius says he didn’t really find his own musical language until 1994, a deeper exploration into that vast catalog is warranted. His process has changed little over the years—usually improvising, whenever possible on analog equipment.

HENRY GRIMES In recent years, Henry Grimes’ biography has threatened to overshadow his considerable skill as a musician. Having played with an astounding number of legendary jazz musicians in the 1950s and ‘60s (Mose Allison, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Lee

GAVIN BRYARS Konitz, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, and Sonny Rollins are a necessarily small sample that still suggests Grimes’ range), the Juilliard-trained bassist seemed to have disappeared in the 1970s. Friends and colleagues couldn’t locate him, many assumed him deceased, until a social worker jazz fan tracked him down in 2002.

Grimes had long ago given up his bass. His return to performing in the early 2000s stunned and delighted jazz audiences who knew him from so many landmark avant jazz records. Today he continues to build on his legacy while playing with some of the most formidable jazz talents around, including Rashied Ali, Andrew Cyrille, Dave Douglas, William Parker, and Wadada Leo Smith. His backstory may be difficult to ignore, but Big Ears audiences will have the opportunity to hear in person what the man can do with his instrument, as he leads an all-star quartet.

For this year’s Big Ears Festival, we are honored to welcome Henry’s stellar bandmates Nicole Mitchell (flutes), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Warren Smith (drums, percussion).

HENRY THREADGILL’S ZOOID At 73, Henry Threadgill won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album In for a Penny, In for a Pound, recorded with his quintet Zooid.

Typically, the Pulitzer is awarded to classical composers rather than jazz musicians, but Threadgill is far from a typical jazz musician. The saxophonist, flautist, and composer

has been defying expectations for decades, beginning in the 1960s when he helped launch the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), along with jazz luminaries such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Wadada Leo Smith, and members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. His trio Air with bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall released a series of records in the 1970s that breathed new life into improv and free jazz. He would go on to lead a variety of unorthodox groups, further challenging himself and listeners with unusual instrumentation and complex but playful compositions. Though his vast body of work and association with the avant-garde wing of jazz may seem intimidating, his music can be surprisingly accessible and swinging. He can blow fierce, but also frequently displays a gift for melody and lighter tone. The double disc Penny, which Threadgill describes as an epic, is chamber jazz played by a group of improvisers who after 15 years of playing together are completely comfortable and in tune with one another.

HORSE LORDS Baltimore quartet Horse Lords blew minds with their first two releases of repetitious polyrhythmic rock, but those now seem like they were priming ears for their powerful and hypnotic new album, Interventions.

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2017 ARTISTS (CONT’D) Max Eilbacher (bass/electronics), Owen Gardner (guitar), and Sam Haberman (drums) have produced a bold instrumental rock suite.

The guitars are sharp but never shrill, the saxophone strong but not skronk. They incorporate some West African rhythms and a few detours into electronic noise, but mostly Horse Lords come off like the house band at a Terry Riley loft party. They’ve won rave reviews for their albums and especially their live performances, the two drummer lineup holding down a groove longer than most audience members can keep dancing. The great Mark E. Smith sang of his group The Fall, “Repetition in the music and we’re never gonna lose it,” but he could never have imagined how far Horse Lords would take that mantra.

JACE CLAYTON PRESENTS JULIUS EASTMAN MEMORIAL DINNER It’s difficult to discuss long-overlooked minimalist composer Julius Eastman without talking about his life story. Eastman straddled the line between uptown concert halls and the Downtown New York new music scene of the 1970s and ‘80s.

He recorded Morton Feldman’s For Frank O’Hara, was conducted

by Pierre Boulez, and sang with Arthur Russell and Meredith Monk. Struggles with alcohol and drug addiction left him homeless just before his death in 1990 at the age of 49. He was a working class openly gay black man who was very aware of and outspoken about how difficult it was being those things in a predominantly straight white world. Eastman’s insistence on incorporating homoerotic themes in an inerpretation of a John Cage work was too much even for Cage, a composer famous for allowing performers vast creative freedom. To get a sense of Eastman’s temperament, check the titles of the two pieces Jace Clayton chose to interpret for his Julius Eastman Memory Depot project: “Evil Nigger” and “Gay Guerilla.” Clayton takes new recordings of Eastman’s piano compositions, performed by David Friend and Emily Manzo with vocals by Arooj Aftab, and manipulates them with his laptop to fashion an entirely new work,

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JONATHAN DEMME RETROSPECTIVE: LIFE IS PERFORMANCE / PERFORMANCE IS LIFE

respectful of the original but boldly contemporary in a way the composer would surely appreciate. Eastman is currently having a moment, and Clayton is partly responsible for that, introducing his compositions to an audience that had probably never heard the man’s name, let alone his music.

JEFF TWEEDY MEETS CHIKAMORACHI Since 2005, Darin Gray (upright bass) and Chris Corsano (drums) have performed side by side as Chikamorachi. Working either in a trio with saxophonist Akira Sakata or a quartet that adds Jim O’Rourke on guitar, the duo has released six albums to date, including 2011’s And That’s the Story of Jazz double album and Live at Hungry Brain LP. Gray is best known as half of the duo On Fillmore with Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, and the bassist for Grand Ulena, Dazzling Killmen, and Brise-Glace. For his part, Corsano has worked on both solo projects and various high-energy collaborations, including manning the drums for fellow Big Ears performers Rangda.

As the founding member and leader of the American rock band Wilco and before that the co-founder of alt-­country band Uncle Tupelo, Jeff Tweedy is one of contemporary American music’s most accomplished songwriters, musicians, and performers. Since starting Wilco in 1994, Tweedy has written original songs for ten Wilco albums and collaborated with folk singer Billy Bragg to bring musical life to three albums-­full of Woody Guthrie-­penned lyrics in the Mermaid Avenue series. Tweedy will team up with Chikamorachi for an improvisational set, marking one of the group’s first-ever performances.

JEM COHEN GRAVITY HILL SOUND+IMAGE The 2017 festival will feature independent filmmaker, Jem Cohen and a Big Ears-specific version of his project, Gravity Hill Sound+Image. Jem will join forces with a special selection of versatile and adventurous musicians to explore films and live soundtracks in a wide range of combinations: scored and

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

Big Ears is proud to welcome Jonathan Demme for a carefully-curated retrospective, JONATHAN DEMME: LIFE IS PERFORMANCE / PERFORMANCE IS LIFE, including a double-feature of the legendary Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense and a rare theatrical presentation of 2016’s widely acclaimed Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids at the official state theater of Tennessee: Knoxville’s historic Tennessee Theatre. A humble giant of American cinema, Demme has crafted a humanistic, multicultural vision of America throughout his long career — a place where lives are shaped by the roles we perform, and where diverse expressions of music are an ever-present reminder of our differences and commonalities. LIFE IS PERFORMANCE / PERFORMANCE IS LIFE juxtaposes some of Demme’s most acclaimed narratives and documentaries (including the Oscar-winning Silence of the Lambs) alongside hard-to-see gems (2015’s Another Telepathic Thing) to present a filmmaker whose

improvised, indoor and outdoor, quiet and loud. Cohen will collaborate with musicians including Guy Picciotto, Matana Roberts, Jessica Moss, Mira Billotte, T.Griffin, Catherine McRae, festival alumni Xylouris White, and multi-media tech team, Dawn of Man, who will be projection mapping site-specific images on Knoxville architecture, made possible by Panasonic. Big Ears will also include several of Jem’s films in its programs at the Regal Riviera Cinema 8, including his new film, World Without End (No Reported Incidents), a 2017 Sundance selection.

Jem Cohen’s feature length films include Museum Hours, Counting, CHAIN, Benjamin Smoke, and Instrument, a portrait of the band, Fugazi. Cohen is recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Creative Capital Grants, an Alpert Award in the Arts, and the Independent Spirit Award among other honors.

He has worked extensively with musicians including Patti Smith, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Terry Riley, Vic Chesnutt, R.E.M., Elliott Smith, DJ Rupture, the Ex, and the Orpheus Orchestra with Gil Shaham.

JEREMY GARA Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, drummer and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Gara has been a member of indie rock band Arcade Fire since 2004. In recent years he’s collaborated with a wide variety of artists including bandmates Sarah Neufeld, Win Butler, and Tim Kingsbury, as

vision is as generous, unified and protean as any American filmmaker of the last forty years.

well as artists Michael Feuerstack, Susanna Wallumrød, Owen Pallett and Nedelle Torrisi. In addition to contributing synth and guitar for Colin Stetson’s reimaging of Gorecki’s 3rd symphony for Big Ears 2017, Gara will join the festival for a special solo, improvisational performance following the release of his first solo album Limn in 2016 -- a melodic, dense, and noisy ambient record. Mastered by Helge Sten of Deathprod and Supersilent, Limn is a collection of organized improvisations and solo creative moments in response to familiar collaborative efforts. Most recently Gara has been seen playing with The 8G Band on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyer, filling in on drums for Fred Armisen.

JESSICA MOSS Montreal-based violinist Jessica Moss presents a unique and mesmerizing solo performance, making use of elements of drone, repetition, music concrete, and some classical forms. Best known as a permanent member of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, she was also a founding member of Black Ox Orkestar and has collaborated with a wide spectrum of Montreal’s leading artists over the last two decades. Most recently she joined Big Ears alums BIG | BRAVE for their 2015 debut record out on Southern Lord. Jessica has spent the last years creating a new body of work for her recently-completed

debut solo record, which will be released this spring. The pieces she has created travel seamlessly from distorted rock sounds to soft chiming waves, and it all works beautifully within the context of expressing the narrative. Moss will also team up with independent filmmaker Jem Cohen for a very special performance of his project Gravity Hill Sound+Image, which explores films and live soundtracks in a wide range of combinations.

JOAN SHELLEY The first thing that grabs you with Louisville, Kentucky native Joan Shelley is that voice. Solo or in harmony with Cheyenne Marie Mize and Julia Purcell in Maiden Radio, its strong sonorousness can make you stop whatever else you might be doing and give it your complete attention. Which is when you’ll start paying attention to the lyrics, and realize how special they are, too.

After the folk-rock of debut album Gingko and follow-up Electric Ursa, Shelley turned to a more-stripped down sound for 2015’s Over and Even. Abetted by guitarist and Alan Lomax Archive curator Nathan Salsburg and a few other friends including Will Oldham, Shelley turned in a dozen songs of personal exploration couched in warm, unfussy music. Over and Even’s songs harken back to old Appalachian

and British folk ballads, but are unmistakably contemporary. Her music and lyrics are reminiscent of singer-songwriters of the 1960s and ‘70s, but you’d be hard pressed to make specific comparisons to any in particular. Her sound, especially that voice, is all her own.

JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON’S DRONE MASS FEATURING ACME AND THEATRE OF VOICES Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson has had a fruitful career composing soundtracks for films such as The Theory of Everything, Arrival and the upcoming Blade Runner sequel, but he has also produced a large body of work independent of film. His albums have appeared on such taste making labels as 4AD, Touch, and FatCat, while his most recent work Orphée found a home on the world’s oldest record label, classical music lynchpin Deutsche Grammophon. Jóhannsson’s music can be icily minimal or lushly romantic, taking inspiration from unpredictable sources such as the natural beauty of the Antarctic peninsula, the ancient myth of Orpheus, or the user’s manual for an early IBM computer.

At Big Ears 2017, Jóhannsson will be joined by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Theatre of Voices, and conductor Donato Cabrera to present his 2015 composition Drone Mass, based on the Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians.

Contained within this Gnostic Gospel, one of the manuscripts discovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945, is a hymn comprised of a string of worldless vowel sounds. Not as loud or heavy as many drone-based artists or works of recent vintage, it is instead a rather solemn and

JOHANN JOHANNSSON

contemplative work for string quartet, voices, and low-pitched electronic drones.

Donato Cabrera, conductor Jøhann Jøhannsson, electronics American Contemporary Music Ensemble: Clarice Jensen, cello; Caleb Burhans, viola; Ben Russell, violin; Yuki Numata Resnick, violin Theatre of Voices: Else Torp, Signe Asmussen, Iris Oja, Steffen Bruun, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen, Kate Macoboy, Paul Bentley-Angell, Jakob Skjoldborg JULIAN LAGE & CHRIS ELDRIDGE Son of progressive bluegrass band Seldom Scene banjoist Ben Eldridge, Chris Eldridge came by it honest. The guitarist studied at Oberlin Conservatory with Tony Rice before joining the Seldom Scene himself, then went on to found The Infamous Stringdusters and play in classical music-influenced bluegrass band Punch Brothers. Eldridge has performed with Fiona Apple, Elvis Costello, John Paul Jones, Paul Simon, and many others.

As a child prodigy, guitarist Julian Lage was the subject of the documentary Jules at Eight. A graduate of the Berklee School of Music, he has performed with Gary Burton, Nels Cline, and Dave Grisman, and released four solo albums.

Eldridge and Lage have been performing as a duo for several years, and can be heard on the 2014 album Avalon. Armed with vintage flat top Martin guitars, their performances touch on bluegrass, country, gospel, old-time, and jazz.

LÆTITIA SADIER

KAITLYN AURELIA SMITH Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith studied voice, classical guitar, and piano at Berklee School of Music before discovering the instrument that really spoke to her: the Buchla 100 synthesizer.

Designed by Don Buchla in the early 1960s, the modular synthesizer is a notoriously unwieldy machine to the uninitiated. Lacking a keyboard, the performer must continually plug and unplug patch cords while controlling sounds with dozens of knobs. This method unveils constant surprises, however, and Smith coaxes unlikely music out of the instrument. For her breakthrough album Euclid, pop melodies combined with synth squiggles on tunes that ultimately give way to the more subdued, drone-based mood of the dozen “Labyrinth” pieces. Last year’s Ears, recorded with the more portable Buchla Music Easel, expanded on these ideas, while showing the more pronounced influence of minimalist masters Glass, Reich, and Riley.

She recently teamed with another devotee of the Buchla, her friend and mentor Suzanne Ciani, on an album for RVNG Intl’s FRKWYS series.

Though working with an electronic instrument, Smith still remains enamored of old fashioned methods of composing, often playing an African thumb piano and fomenting composition ideas on the most ancient instrument of all, the human voice.

KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DIRECTED BY ARAM DEMIRJIAN The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra provides excellent live music and educational programs to East Tennessee audiences year after year.

Now under the leadership of Music Director Aram Demirjian, the KSO begins a new era of ingenuity

and inventiveness. Demirjian is a dynamic emerging leader on the American musical landscape.

Known for his “zeal and fresh perspective” (KC Metropolis) and “confident and expressive style” (Kansas City Star), he bridges the musical traditions of the past with the cultural appetites of the present, forging a magnetic rapport with audience members of all ages and backgrounds and creating inspiring musical experiences in both familiar and progressive concert formats. Consisting of 80 professional musicians and performing 250 programs throughout the region each season, the Orchestra will perform a special program at Big Ears featuring pieces from composers John Adams, Matthew Aucoin, and Bach. Made possible by Jim & Natalie Haslam along with The Haslam Family Foundation.

LÆTITIA SADIER Championing analog synthesizers during an era when digital music making was on the rise, Stereolab took cues from Krautrock, lounge music, psychedelic rock, and minimalism, while still managing to be one of the more progressive bands of their time. Starting out as an underground phenomenon, it wasn’t long before one could hear their music in shopping malls, movies, and TV shows. This popularity surely had much to do with Sadier’s cool, instantly recognizable voice, which recalled French pop singers of the 1960s. There was an amusing irony that she was cooing anti-consumerist messages and Marxist ideology, themes she has retained in her solo work. (She was born in Paris during May 1968, after all.) Sadier has carried much of Stereolab’s sound into her three solo

JEREMY GARA

albums, and her voice is such a focal point it’s often overlooked that she is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, keyboards, percussion, and trombone.

LISA MOORE A founding member of Bang On a Can All-Stars, Lisa Moore has been described by The New Yorker as “New York’s queen of avant-garde piano.” The Australian-born pianist has appeared on more hallowed international stages, with more top flight orchestras, ensembles, groups, and musicians than just about any other living pianist. Her repertoire is vast and varied, performing radical new works composed for her; modern classics such as those

by Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Randy Newman, and Julia Wolfe; and works by past masters Haydn and Beethoven. She can be heard on nine solo albums and more than 30 collaborative recordings. Celebrated for her emotive and expressive playing, you can be sure that a Lisa Moore concert will be much more than just another piano recital.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS: FIFTY SONG MEMOIR (PT. 1 & 2) While Magnetic Fields are nominally an indie rock act, no contemporary pop songwriter has a more direct line to the Great American Songbook than frontman Stephin Merritt. He has more in common with classic tunesmiths and dazzling lyricists like Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, and Cole Porter than with his modern peers. After a string of albums that stood apart in the catalogs of the indie labels on which they appeared, Merritt turned in the watershed 69 Love Songs trilogy, taking his songwriting and career to a new level. His lyrics can be charming, disarming and withering, often within the same song, and his gift for melody inspires as much envy as admiration.

Commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 50 Song Memoir finds Merritt revisiting each year of his half century on earth in song. You’ll probably find some parts of his life more relatable than others, as he sings about such things as “bedbugs, Continued on page 14

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2017 ARTISTS (CONT’D) Buddhism, buggery, hippies, Hollywood, and hyperacusis,” with a wit and turn of phrase only he can deliver.

MATANA ROBERTS Matana Roberts is an internationally renowned composer, bandleader, saxophonist, sound experimentalist, and mixed-media practitioner. The New York-based artist works in many contexts and mediums, including improvisation, dance, poetry, and theater. She made two records as a core member of the Sticks And Stones quartet in the early 2000s and has gone on to release a diverse body of solo and ensemble work under her own name over the past decade. The self-taught mixed media composer will also collaborate with independent filmmaker Jem Cohen for a Big Ears-specific version of his project Gravity Hill Sound+Image, which explores films and live soundtracks in a variety of combinations. Roberts is best known for her acclaimed series COIN COIN, a multi-chapter work of “panoramic sound quilting” that aims to expose the mystical roots and channel the intuitive spirit-raising traditions of American creative expression, pieces of which she’ll incorporate her Big Ears performance.

MATMOS PERFORMS ROBERT ASHLEY: PERFECT LIVES (PRIVATE PARTS) Robert Ashley’s album Private Parts cast a spell on listeners upon its release in 1979, and continues to enchant, and occasionally bewilder, those who discover it decades later.

Throughout both sides of the record, “The Park” and “The Backyard,” “Blue” Gene Tyranny emits washes of eerily calm synthesizer under his rippling piano figures, while Krishna Bhatt’s tabla adds a rhythmic South Asian sensibility. Above it all floats Ashley’s cool, gentle voice, issuing a mixture of fractured narrative, quasi-koans, everyday mysticism and existential reflections Private Parts was later absorbed into Ashley’s seven-part television opera Perfect Lives, a groundbreaking work that has recently been revived by Varispeed Collective and Matmos.

It’s difficult to imagine taking on a recording that is so closely identified

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with the original performers, and Matmos wisely chose the route of interpretation over a straight “cover.”

The duo of Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt, renowned for their creative reconfiguring of sounds (their latest album was sourced entirely from recordings of a washing machine), have added electronics, back-up vocalists, bamboo flutes and strings to what was a relatively minimalist work. Matmos have acknowledged Ashley as a major inspiration, and their performance of Private Parts is a fitting tribute to the composer, who passed away in 2014.

collection of recordings he has generated a whole body of work that is visionary, far-reaching, and multifaceted. In addition to his own performance at Big Ears 2017, Shipp will join forces with renowned drummer, vocalist and lyricist Bobby Kapp for a special collaboration.

MAYA BEISER Maya Beiser might be one of the most recognized cellists in the world, thanks to a TED Talk that’s racked up almost one million views and was translated into 33 languages.

The eye-catching video behind her performance of Steve Reich’s Cello Counterpoint allows for Beiser to MATTHEW SHIPP accompany seven pre-recorded Matthew Shipp fell in love with versions of herself. Classical and jazz at 12 years old. After moving new music fans were most likely to New York in the early 1980s, he already familiar with her, as Beiser quickly became one of the leading is a tireless performer, appearing lights in the city’s jazz scene. He frequently on stages around the started as a sideman in saxophonist world. Her performances with the David S. Ware’s quartet and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra legendary Roscoe Mitchell’s Note and spellbinding solo set were a Factory before making the decision highlight of last year’s Big Ears, and to concentrate on his own music. we are thrilled to welcome her back The prolific pianist, composer, and to the festival. She can be heard on bandleader possesses a unique and numerous recordings for labels such recognizable style on the piano, as Sony Classical, Nonesuch, Koch, making him a standout among a and Cantaloupe, as well as the Hollynew generation of jazz giants. He wood soundtracks of James Newton recorded a number of chamber Howard. She’s modern enough to jazz albums in the 1990s with incorporate electronics and hip-hop Hatology, which charted a new production, perform a cover of the course for jazz that, to this day, Velvet Underground’s “Heroin,” and the jazz world has not realized. play with Wilco drummer Glenn In the 2000s, Shipp has been Kotche, but in love with the classical curator and director of the label canon enough to record works by Thirsty Ear’s “Blue Series” and has Bach and 12th-century composer also recorded for them. In this Hildegard of Bingen. As Beiser said

MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

MICHAEL HURLEY

in her TED talk, “I want to create endless possibilities with this cello.”

This year, fans will have the chance to see Beiser perform twice during the festival weekend.

Morning Trance On Friday morning at The Mill & Mine, she will present Morning Trance, a concert to help festival attendees greet the day with her.

The program features Michael Gordon’s mesmerizing All Vows and David Lang’s heart-wrenching World to Come, both written for her, plus Beiser’s own arrangements of J.S. Bach’s Air on G, which evokes the sound of an old LP spinning on a distant turntable, and John Tavener’s trance-like Lament to Phaedra. World to Come and Lament to Phaedra are included on Beiser’s bestselling album World to Come, while Air on G and All Vows are included on her latest album, TranceClassical, which was released in July 2016 and debuted at No. 1 on the Apple Music classical chart.

Uncovered with Glenn Kotche and Gyan Riley Uncovered is a show of startling classic rock tunes, re-imagined and re-contextualized, in stunning performances by “cello rock star” (Rolling Stone) Maya Beiser alongside “mind-blowing” (Acoustic Guitar) bassist Gyan Riley and legendary Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche. A cover tune can be an homage to the original, but these “uncovers,” in new arrangements by composer Evan Ziporyn, attempt to do more – to evoke the unprecedented power of the music

of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Janis Joplin, Howlin’ Wolf, King Crimson, and AC/DC. Beiser’s album Uncovered, released in 2014 on Innova Recordings, was in the top 10 on the Billboard Classical Chart upon release in 2014. Beiser’s performances in Uncovered are incendiary, in line with New York Magazine’s assessment that “Beiser is not the sort of musician who zigzags around the planet playing catalog music for polite and sleepy audiences. She throws down the gauntlet in every program.”

MEREDITH MONK Meredith Monk recently celebrated her 50th year as a performing artist with a series of concerts as the holder of the Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall. One of the most unique and influential artists of our time, she is one of the world’s most innovative and exciting renaissance womencomposer, singer, performer, film director, visual artist and auteur.

A pioneer in what is now called “extended vocal technique”, she founded Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble in 1978 to expand her exploration of the voice as a multifaceted instrument.

The majority of her work can be heard on the ECM label, including the Grammy-nominated impermanence. Monk has also created vital new repertoire for piano, orchestras and chamber ensembles, and her music has been used in numerous films by such directors as Terrence

MUSICA ELETTRONICA VIVA

Malick and the Coen Brothers.

The recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and a 2015 National Medal of Arts, Monk has been hailed as one of NPR’s 50 Great Voices and “one of America’s coolest composers”.

She has developed distinct sound worlds that have been described as “a beguiling repertoire of aviary microtones, robust yodels, and dusky, low-range chanting” and also as “a peerless mixture of otherworldly and human.” At Big Ears, Monk is joined by three members of her Vocal Ensemble to perform The Soul’s Messenger, showcasing pieces from some of her most celebrated works, including ATLAS, mercy and from the album Dolmen Music.

Additionally, The Public Cinema will host a rare 35mm film screening of Monk’s 1988 film Book of Days.

MICHAEL HURLEY Though Michael Hurley was a fixture in Greenwich Village folk clubs and recorded his first album for Folkways, he never really fit in with most musicians who came out of the 1960s American folk boom. He was, and remains, too offbeat, laid-back, and unpredictable to be placed in any category. Like his friends Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of Holy Modal Rounders, with whom he recorded 1976’s seminal Have Moicy! album, Hurley respected American folk tradition too much to ever let it calcify by playing it po-faced.

The mood of Hurley’s songs can be by turns playful, ribald, bittersweet, lonesome, old fashioned, or anarchic, but they are unmistakably the sound of someone enjoying life. His kinship to the music of the old, weird America found on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music made him a sort of godfather to New Weird American acts. In the last few years he’s released a series of albums on Mississippi Records that suggest a newfound period of creativity and energy. With a personality and music as colorful as the illustrations that adorn his album covers, the man also known as Snock shows no signs of slowing down in his 75th year.

MUSICA ELETTRONICA VIVA “MEV was begun one evening in the spring of 1966 by Alan

Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzweski, Richard Teitelbaum, and Ivan Vandor in a room in Rome overlooking the Pantheon.” So begins Alvin Curran’s historical biography of Musica Elettronica Viva. Each of the members had already been making a name for themselves in the world of new music, and would go on to become even more well-known, but no one in the world was making music quite like MEV at the time. The group took the chance and indeterminacy methods of John Cage and David Tudor and ran with them, freeing themselves of reliance on even the most abstract score to create music wholly improvised in the moment. Combining traditional instruments with nominally non-musical items such as bed springs, glass plates, motor oil cans, sex vibrators, and pieces of metal, MEV used contact mics to render the recordings even more mysterious. They were also early adopters to the use of synthesizers. Similar groups followed in their wake, but MEV remains unique in the collective skill level of its members as composers and performers. At Big Ears, Currin, Rzweski, and Teitelbaum will come together once again for an increasingly rare performance. Not even they know for sure what it will sound like.

MEREDITH MONK The Decemberists, David Lang, and others, but it shines brightest in her own compositions for My Brightest Diamond. Her background in opera and classical music is apparent throughout her work, and the influence of indie rock and electronic music are equally felt. It’s all augmented by Nova’s unique visual presence, which adds narrative and emotional heft to her songs.

NIEF-NORF Formed in 2005, nief-norf was created by Illinois natives Andrew Bliss and Kerry O’Brien, who took their ensemble’s name from a descriptor of strange sounds. Some say “bleep-blop”; they prefer “nief-norf.”

During their undergraduate years as percussionists, the “nief-norf” moniker came to stand for any MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND music that was experimental or For many festival goers, My weird. Now based here in Knoxville, Brightest Diamond turned out to nief-norf celebrates experimental be one of the surprise highlights music through their annual summer of Big Ears 2010. (Frontwoman festival, which this summer will Shara Nova’s comment about the feature an international conference Spanish-Moorish design of the on minimalism, including concerts Tennessee Theatre proved equally and discussions of music by Ellen memorable: “When people ask Fullman, Julius Eastman, Maryanne what my favorite place to play is, I Amacher, Steve Reich, and Mary tell them about this place. It’s like Jane Leach. At Big Ears 2017, playing inside an Fabergê egg.”) nief-norf will pay homage to the Though not as high-profile as experimental music legend Pauline her friends and collaborators The Oliveros with her Single Stroke National or Sufjan Stevens, Nova Roll Meditation, perform Michael and company turned in a dazzling Gordon’s 60-minute post-minimalist performance that won her many work Timber for six wood planks, new fans. Now she’s returning feature percussionist Andrew Bliss to Big Ears, singing in Sarah performing Christopher Burns Kirkland Snider’s Unremembered multimedia piece Constellations, and song cycle and performing a My conclude with Michael Pisaro’s epic Brightest Diamond set. work for 100 musicians, A wave and Nova’s voice has graced music by waves.

Laurie Anderson, David Byrne,

LISA MOORE

MAYA BEISER

NILS ØKLAND Making his first concert appearance in the United States, Norwegian Hardanger fiddle player Nils Økland will perform three concerts during the festival weekend. Steeped in the traditions of Norwegian folk music, but also conversant with classical, jazz and new music styles, Økland’s solo fiddle playing often takes on a plaintive, reflective air that evokes his Scandinavian home.

Nils Økland Band Throughout Nils Økland Band’s latest album, Kjølvatn, baroque classical music is taken as a launching point for improvisations by some of Norway’s most lauded musicians: Rolf–Erik Nylstrøm, saxophone; Sigbjørn Apeland, harmonium; Håkon Mørch Stene, percussion, vibraphone; Mats Eilertsen, double bass. Kjølvatn was recorded at the Østre Toten stone church in Norway, so we suspect their concert at St. John’s Cathedral will be a truly unforgettable experience.

Nils Økland & Sigbjørn Apeland Sigbjørn Apeland’s harmonium creates sustained sounds with ‘personality’ along with rhythmically jaunty and dance-like grooves. Økland and Apeland are the first musicians to record an album at Lysøen, the Norwegian island home of iconic violinist-composer Ole Bull (1810-1880). For years they have explored Ole Bull’s

musical landscapes with open minds, and found inspiration to develop their own ideas. Their 2011 album Lysøen: Hommage à Ole Bull presents partly the performers’ own arrangements and improvisations based on tunes that Bull performed, and partly new compositions inspired

by Ole Bull. The duo’s Saturday night performance at Church Street United Methodist Church is not to be missed.

Nils Økland & Mats Eilertsen Mats Eilertsen, one of the finest and most distinct bass players on the Norwegian jazz scene of today, stepped boldly forward to present his own music with the help of an international ensemble for his recent release, Rubicon.

The 2016 album features a cycle of pieces originally written in response to a commission from the VossaJazz Festival, where it premiered two years earlier.

Eilertsen has a warm and lyrical way of treating the bass: steady and experimental at the same time, he shows openness and willingness while constantly searching for new sounds. Økland and Eilertsen will perform together as a duo at The Standard for a special Sunday concert.

OLIVER COATES It’s very likely you’ve heard Oliver Coates music without realizing it. The cellist can be heard on Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool, Jonny Greenwood’s soundtracks for There Will Be Blood and The Master, as well as tracks

by Actress, MF DOOM, and Continued on page 16

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2017 ARTISTS (CONT’D) Massive Attack. Remain Calm, his collaboration with Mica Levi, finds the pair exploring further ambient atmospherics akin to Levi’s mesmeric soundtrack for Under the Skin, on which Coates played. His latest solo album, Upstepping, is an electronic dance record composed entirely of sounds from his cello and vocal samples, a soundscape where Arthur Russell’s World of Echo meets Squarepusher. Like Russell, Coates deftly brings his classical training to bear on contemporary pop and dance music, and has even performed Russell’s minimalist epic Tower of Meaning with the London Contemporary Orchestra. Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Young Society award, he is also artist in residence at the Southbank Centre. At Big Ears, audiences will have a chance to see Coates reproduce Upstepping live, as well as a recital of contemporary compositions.

ON FILLMORE Carved from an ecstatic multiday session in Rio de Janeiro, On Fillmore’s newest album, Happiness of Living, moves effortlessly between deep cosmic pockets, celestial vocals, and occasional pop tunes to create a glowing mood unlike anything previously released from the long-running musical partnership of percussionist Glenn Kotche (Wilco) and bassist Darin Gray (Tweedy). The Brazilian sessions that would become Happiness

of Living unfolded in a spirit of openness with On Fillmore inviting others into their deepest creative space for the first time, including esteemed producer Kassin (Caetano Veloso, Arto Lindsay). Kotche and Gray can remember “the musically life-changing experience” of first seeing Kassin perform in Brazil at the 2005 Perc Pan Festival, prompting them to invite him and others back to Chicago for a collaborative show. That meeting opened the door for their critically-acclaimed 2009 album, Extended Vacation (Dead Oceans), which Pitchfork called “accessible but not pedestrian, complex but not esoteric”, and which now becomes fully formed in the 2017 release of Happiness of Living on Northern Spy Records.

PHILIP JECK Philip Jeck uses turntables to make music, but he most certainly does not sound like a typical DJ. Nor does he sound much like John Cage, Pierre Schaeffer, Christian Marclay, or other early adopters who treated record players as instruments.

With a background in visual arts, Jeck is drawn to work with dance and theatre companies, and has composed several soundtracks.

The British musician has performed with the dream rhythm section of Jah Wobble and the recently departed Jaki Leibezeit, and participated in a remarkable rendition of Gavin Bryars’

PRISM

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OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

Sinking of the Titanic. Jeck’s 1993 audio-visual piece Vinyl Requiem called for 180 record players, but his live gear is usually more streamline: a turntable or two, a few electronics, and a laptop, conjuring music that flirts with ambient and noise. What records he’ll show up with is anyone’s guess. A YouTube video from the 2014 Tusk Festival shows him opening his set by repeating and layering Fleetwood Mac’s “Beautiful Child.” (It was the “Tusk” Festival, after all.)

PRISM Intriguing programs of great beauty and breadth have distinguished the PRISM Quartet as one of America’s foremost chamber ensembles. PRISM seeks to place the saxophone in unexpected contexts, chart fresh musical territory, and to challenge, inspire, and move audiences. “A bold ensemble that set the standard for contemporary-classical saxophone quartets” (The New York Times), PRISM was founded by students of the renowned Donald Sinta at the University of Michigan in 1984. Shortly after winning the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, PRISM was chosen by Musical America as “Outstanding Young Artists,” performed on Entertainment Tonight and National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” and toured virtually every state in the U.S. At Big Ears, the quartet will be performing Gavin Bryars’ The Fifth Century alongside The Crossing.

SIR RICHARD BISHOP

THE QUAVERS Brooklyn trio The Quavers coax a luminous sound out of decayed samplers, foot pedal loopers, tape echo violins, vibraphonette, and homespun harmonies. Like a space-age Carter family, T. Griffin (guitar/electronics), Catherine McRae (violin), and Dennis Cronin (trumpet/percussion) weave low-tech electronics around songs sturdy enough to stand up even if the power goes out. Their intimately cinematic 2012 album, Fell Asleep on a Train is a set of snapshots of lives lived out of suitcases, even at home. It was recorded in Brooklyn and Montreal with members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Vic Chesnutt’s band. In addition to their performance with The Quavers, Griffin and McRae will join forces with independent filmmaker Jem Cohen at Big Ears 2017 for a special Gravity Hill Sound+Image performance, exploring films and live soundtracks in a wide range of combinations.

QUINDAR (MIKAEL JORGENSEN & JAMES MERLE THOMAS) Quindar is a collaboration between Grammy Award-winning musician Mikael Jorgensen of Wilco and art historian and curator James Merle Thomas.

Combining historical research with musical performance, the duo uses archival audio and film to create ambient, electronic, and experimental music and accompanying projections. Deriving its name from communication technologies developed during the early years of the U.S. manned spaceflight program, Quindar has worked since 2012 with the National Air and Space Museum, USC School of Cinematic Arts, and the National Archives to digitize archival recordings and films created by NASA researchers during the 1960s and 1970s. Their first full-length record will be released this spring on Butterscotch Records.

RACHEL GRIMES: THE WAY FORTH FEATURING JOAN SHELLEY AND NATHAN SALSBURG Heralded “one of American independent music’s few truly

inspired technicians” by WIRE magazine, Rachel Grimes is a pianist, composer, and arranger based in Kentucky.

Widely known for her role in the groundbreaking chamber ensemble Rachel’s, with whom she toured and released six albums (Quarterstick/Touch and Go), she has since performed worldwide as a solo pianist appearing in many diverse music and art festivals. Recent highlights include the premiere of new works with the Louisville Orchestra, and commissions by the National Gallery of Art, and the Borusan Quartet and Önder sisters. Releases include The Clearing (Temporary Residence – May 2015), Book of Leaves, Marion County 1938, and Compound Leaves. Collaborators include: Loscil, Matthew Nolan, Longleash, Portland Cello Project, SITI Company, astrïd, Chris Wells, and Julia Kent with the artist Peter Liversidge. She is also a member of Louisville band, King’s Daughters & Sons (Chemikal Underground).

She has scored for film and multimedia installations and her recordings have been licensed to numerous film and TV works internationally.

Returning to Big Ears, Rachel Grimes will be premiering a new song cycle “The Way Forth” with friends Joan Shelley and Nathan Salsburg along with a string trio. Inspired by a treasure trove of heirloom family photos and letters, these songs of reverie, life-long love, and confrontation weave through voices of generations of Kentucky women.

RANGDA Taking their name from a Balinese demon queen who feasts on children, Rangda is the explosive trio of guitarists Sir Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny and drummer Chris Corsano.

Chasny is best known for his acclaimed psychedelic folk project Six Organs of Admittance, and further displayed his acoustic and electric guitar skills in groups such as Current 93 and Comets on Fire. Corsano has played with a mind-boggling Continued on page 18

2017 FILMS JONATHAN DEMME RETROSPECTIVE: SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA THURSDAY 2:00 PM TENNESSEE THEATRE JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE + THE TENNESSEE KIDS THURSDAY 9:30 PM TENNESSEE THEATRE STOP MAKING SENSE THURSDAY 11:15 PM TENNESSEE THEATRE

MELVIN & HOWARD FRIDAY 1:00 PM REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

CURATED BY:

JEM COHEN RETROSPECTIVE: BENJAMIN SMOKE THURSDAY 3:45 PM

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS FRIDAY 5:30 PM

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

INSTRUMENT SATURDAY 10:00 AM

STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8 SATURDAY 10:00 AM TENNESSEE THEATRE WORLD WITHOUT END SATURDAY 6:15 PM RACHEL GETTING REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8 MARRIED SATURDAY 1:00 PM MUSEUM HOURS REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8 SUNDAY 9:45 AM SOMETHING WILD SATURDAY 3:45 PM

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

LOST BOOK FOUND SUNDAY 3:00 PM

ANOTHER TELEPATHIC THING FRIDAY 11:15AM

COUSIN BOBBY SUNDAY 12:00 PM

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

WHO AM I THIS TIME? FRIDAY 10:00 AM

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

GEORGES ROQUIER: FARREBIQUE FRIDAY 3:00 PM

KEVIN JEROME EVERSON: THE SURFACE BELOW SATURDAY 12:15 PM KMA OPEN ENDED THURSDAY, 11:00AM - 6:00PM FRIDA, 11:00AM - 8:00PM SATURDAY, 10:00AM - 5:00PM SUNDAY, 1:00PM - 5:00PM

UT DOWNTOWN GALLERY MEREDITH MONK: BOOK OF DAYS SUNDAY 10:00 AM TENNESSEE THEATRE ROGER BEEBE FILMS FOR ONE TO EIGHT PROJECTORS FRIDAY 1:15 PM KMA

JANIE GEISER: DOUBLE VISION SATURDAY 2:00 PM KMA LOOK AND LEARN (PARTS 1 AND 3) MARCH 23-26 KMA FLICKER & WOW SERIES: FLICKER & WOW KIDS SATURDAY 10:30 AM KMA FLICKER & WOW 1 SUNDAY 1:30 PM KMA FLICKER & WOW 2 SUNDAY 4:00 PM KMA

Entertainment Commission

REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

FILM PROGRAM NOTES:

KEVIN JEROME EVERSON Kevin Jerome Everson is a Professor of Art at the University of Virginia and a recipient of the Alpert Award in Film/ Video as well as numerous grants, commissions, and fellowships. His work has screened at major American and international film festivals and been exhibited at museums, galleries and art biennials, including, most recently, selection in the 2017 Whitney Biennial. A retrospective at the Tate Modern, London is planned for fall 2017 OPEN ENDED: Century (2012); Ninety Three (2008); Rough and Unequal: Oceanis Procellarum (2017); Workers Leaving the Job Site (2013) THE SURFACE BELOW: Ring (2008); Tygers (2014); Auditioning for Nathaniel (2016); R-15 (2017); Smooth Surface (2015); Production Material Handler (2015); Fe26 (2014); Ears, Nose and Throat (2016)

JANIE GEISER Named one of the world’s top avant-garde filmmakers on Film Comment’s “Best of the Decade” list, Janie Geiser will join Big Ears for a program of recent short films, Double Vision. Geiser’s work includes multiple disciplines, such as film, installation, visual art, sound, and performance, often working and reworking bits of discarded materials.

DOUBLE VISION: Kriminalistik (2014); Ghost Algebra (2009); Kindless Villain (2010); The Floor of the World (2010); Arbor (2012); The Hummingbird Wars (2015); Cathode Garden (2015); Flowers of the Sky (2016) ROGER BEEBE Roger Beebe has screened his films around the globe at such unlikely venues as the CBS Jumbotron in Times Square and McMurdo Station in Antarctica, as well as more likely ones, including Sundance and the Museum

of Modern Art with solo shows at Anthology Film Archives, The Laboratorio Arte Alameda in Mexico City, and Los Angeles Filmforum, among many other venues. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the Ohio State University.

FILMS FOR ONE TO EIGHT PROJECTORS: SOUNDFILM Overture (2015); TB TX Dance (2006/2007); AAAAA Motion Picture (2010); Tiger Tiger [music video for the band Holopaw] (2016); SOUNDFILM Coda (2015/2017); Beginnings (2010/2011); Last Light of a Dying Star (2008/2011) FLICKER & WOW FLICKER & WOW KIDS! During this hour-long program, we’re going to talk about film (actual celluloid) and projection and about the history of animation.

SHOWING: Mothlight (1963), Stan Brakhage; Duck Amuck (1953), Chuck

Jones; Blue Movement (2016), Haruka Mitani and Michael Lyons; Begone Dull Care (1949), Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren; Glistening Thrills (2013), Jodie Mack FLICKER & WOW 1 Six short films about creativity and the digital/analog divide.

SHOWING: Empyrean, Kalpana Subramanian; Them Apples, Adam R. Levine; 1_ _ _ _1, Karissa Hahn; Deux Champs (Two Fields), Kevin Obsatz; As Without So Within, Manuela De Laborde; Koropokkuru, Akiko Maruyama and Philippe Roy FLICKER & WOW 2 Six films that start and stutter and stutter and stop.

SHOWING: Parallel Inquiries, Christina C Nguyen; Nova Remnants, Stefan Grabowski; Ghost Comb., Ryland Walker Knight; Spotlight on a Brick Wall, Alee Peoples and Mike Stoltz;

Little Orphan Annie, Bill Morrison; One Roll in the Blackness, Chris Kennedy

ADDITIONAL EVENTS: A CONVERSATION WITH JONATHAN DEMME FRIDAY, MARCH 24 12:15PM-1:00PM REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8 DR. CHARLES MALAND DISCUSSES THE FILM CRITICISM OF JAMES AGEE FRIDAY, MARCH 24 3:00PM-3:15PM (PRIOR TO GEORGES ROUQUIER: FARREBIQUE) REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8 FUGAZI’S INSTRUMENT: A Q&A WITH GUY PICCIOTTO SATURDAY, MARCH 25 12:00PM-1:00PM REGAL RIVIERA CINEMA 8

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2017 ARTISTS (CONT’D) number of top-shelf improv and jazz musicians, and had a role in Bjork’s Volta album and tour.

Both have numerous recordings and road miles under their belts, but they’re babes in the woods compared with Bishop, who spent over 25 years turning on—and freaking out—audiences in the inimitable Sun City Girls before traveling the world as a solo guitarist. Nominally an improv group, Rangda’s three albums for Drag City contain plenty of stretched out, exploratory excursions, but there are also tightly executed power trio workouts built around riffs.

Both Bishop and Chasny are well-versed in Indian and Middle Eastern music, adding a twist to more familiar rock forms, and Corsano can switch from Keith Moon heaviness to Milford Graves deftness and back at a moment’s notice. As their latest album, Heretic’s Bargain, proves, they just keep getting better.

RICHARD TEITELBAUM Known for bringing the first Moog synthesizer to Europe, Richard Teitelbaum was an early practitioner of combining electronic instruments with composition and improvisation, along with his cohorts in Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV). He was also a pioneer in introducing biofeedback from brainwaves into musical performances. After receiving his Masters degree in composition and theory from Yale, the Fulbright scholar traveled to Italy to study with avant-garde composer Luigi Nono. Teitelbaum was also one of the first Western composers to fully embrace collective improvisation by cross-cultural musicians, forming the World Band in 1970. This ensemble welcomed members from India, Japan, Korea, the Middle East, and North America. He has also worked with some of the most original composers in the jazz idiom, most notably Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille, and George Lewis. Teitelbaum is a Music Professor at Bard College, where he co-chairs the Music Department of the MFA program.

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In addition to performing solo, he will also be joining his MEV co-founders Alvin Curran and Frederic Rzewski for a rare group performance.

SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER: UNREMEMBERED WITH DM STITH, PADMA NEWSOME & SHARA NOVA Following the critical acclaim that greeted her 2010 album Penelope, a song cycle seen through the eyes of Odysseus’s wife, Sarah Kirkland Snider returns with a work no less enchanting, Unremembered. Taking inspiration from his youth in rural New England, poet Nathaniel Bellows has created a libretto that evokes the mysteries, fears, and innocence of childhood, taking cues from folk songs, fables, fairy tales, and naturalist settings.

Snider’s haunting score offers sympathetic accompaniment to Bellow’s words, underscoring the narration and mood of the text.

Though based in an imaginary gothic past, Unremembered’s ultimate concern is how the fearful fantasies of childhood foreshadow and hopefully prepare us for the real challenges of adulthood. Bringing so much life to Penelope, Shara Nova of My Brightest Diamond once again gives voice to Snider’s music, this time joined by Padma Newsome of Clogs, Asthmatic Kitty recording artist DM Stith, and boundary-pushing Brooklyn orchestra The Knights.

Straddling the line between classical and chamber pop, Unremembered is further proof that Snider is one of the most fearless, original voices in new music today.

Unremembered is an hour-long, thirteen-part song cycle for seven voices, chamber orchestra, and electronics--here arranged for three voices, pre-recorded vocals, octet, and electronics--inspired by poems and illustrations by writer and visual artist Nathaniel Bellows (W.W. Norton, HarperCollins).

A meditation on memory, innocence, and the haunted

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

RACHEL GRIMES grandeur of the natural world, Unremembered recalls strange and beautiful happenings experienced during a childhood in rural Massachusetts: a houseguest takes sudden leave in the middle of the night; a boy makes a shocking discovery on a riverbank; a girl disappears in woods behind a ranging farm; ghosts appear with messages for the living. The cycle explores the ways in which beguiling events in early life can resonate in—and prepare us for—the subtler horrors that lie beyond the realm of childhood.

SHANE PARISH There’s not really a noticeable Appalachian influence in guitarist Shane Parish’s avant rock band Ahleuchatistas. But recently the longtime Asheville, North Carolina resident was most definitely feeling his region’s roots.

One night in the winter of 2016, Parish recorded a dozen folk, gospel, Appalachian, country, and blues songs, playing them all straight through in a one-hour fit of inspiration. John Zorn, who had released an Ahleuchatistas album on his label Tzadik, heard the recordings and invited Parish to expand on the idea. The result is Undertaker Please Drive Slow, showcasing a rare display of Parish’s prowess on acoustic guitar. It’s an unexpected turn from the experimental electric guitarist, but one that has already being celebrated as a landmark by no less a guitar maven as Marc Ribot.

SIR RICHARD BISHOP For more than a quarter century, Rick Bishop was part

SUPERSILENT of the legendary Sun City Girls, alongside his brother Alan and drummer Charles Gocher. Their kitchen sink mix of psychedelic, surf, jazz, doggerel and styles seemingly borrowed from every corner of the globe could be heard on over 100 recordings and countless live shows.

Following Gocher’s death from cancer in 2007, the Bishops disbanded the group, but neither brother has ceased his robust creative musical explorations and output.

Knighting himself as Sir Richard Bishop, Rick has released a string of albums showcasing his considerable skills on acoustic and electric guitar.

Any given album might display his deep familiarity with jazz, old time, Indian, African and Middle Eastern forms, at times pivoting between them within a particular composition. His latest album, Tangier Sessions, was recorded in a Tangier rooftop apartment with a small, circa 1850s guitar that Bishop obsessed over after spying it in a shop window in Switzerland.

Lacking the atonality and wildness of some of his more challenging recordings, the pieces are formally precise, imaginatively composed and skillfully executed.

Bishop will also be performing at Big Ears with his band Rangda, alongside Ben Chasney and Chris Corsano.

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE What to do when you want to break out of old habits and fa-

miliar patterns of guitar playing?

Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance created a system that took his own choices out of the equation a bit. The Hexadic system is an open compositional approach that uses playing cards to determine what direction the music takes. After two Hexadic albums that found him creating some of his most challenging music, Chasny recently released Burning the Threshold, a return to his folky-ish songwriting ways that might be his most accessible album.

Since recording the first, self-titled Six Organs of Admittance album in 1998, Chasny has traveled a sonic path all his own. Drawing from American and British folk music, Indian ragas and Middle Eastern scales, he feels equally at home with longform acoustic fingerpicked pieces and summoning blistering squalls of electricity. A Six Organs live show is always a trip, and you never know what direction it might take. Chasny will also be performing in the improv rock trio Rangda.

STÅLE STORLØKKEN An encounter with the music of Weather Report and Jimmy Smith led the teenage pianist and church organist Ståle Storløkken to take up analog synths and Hammond organ.

The classical loving keyboardist soon began fully exploring jazz, and quickly became a skilled improviser. Storløkken has performed with a wide array of rock and jazz groups in his native Norway, including progressive jazz rock trio Continued on page 20

At JACKSon terminal BOX OFFICE / CHECK-IN

The Big Ears Box Office / Check-in is located inside Jackson Terminal at 213 West Jackson Avenue. All Big Ears tickets must be exchanged for a festival wristband before you attend your first show.

This wristband will serve as your proof of entry at all venues and shows throughout the weekend.

Operating hours are: Wednesday: 5:00PM-8:00PM Thursday: 12:00PM-11:00PM Friday: 9:30AM-11:00PM Saturday: 10:00AM-11:00PM Sunday: 10:00AM-8:00PM BIG EARS BEATS AND EATS PRESENTED BY VISIT KNOXVILLE

Enjoy quick and tasty options for grabbing a meal or snack while navigating between shows at Big Ears Beats and Eats presented by Visit Knoxville. A variety of local food and drinks will be available from breakfast to dinner to late night. Check out our offerings from James Beard Award Winner Tim Love’s Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Sweet P’s Barbecue and Downtown Dive, and The Tomato Head.

Thursday: 12:00PM-12:00AM Friday: 9:00AM-12:00AM Saturday: 9:00AM-12:00AM Sunday: 9:00AM-8:00PM BIG EARS BOUTIQUE

The Big Ears Boutique will be your one-stop-shop for all official Big Ears merchandise including t-shirts, posters, tote bags, and more presented by our friends at Nothing Too Fancy. The Boutique will also feature all Big Ears artist merchandise and a special Wild Honey Records Pop-Up Shop - a specially curated selection of new and high-quality vintage vinyl and compact discs with a particular focus on jazz, classical, soundtracks, experimental and electronic titles.

Thursday: 12:00PM-12:00AM Friday: 9:00AM-12:00AM Saturday: 9:00AM-12:00AM Sunday: 9:00AM-8:00PM

PANELS & DISCUSSIONS: FRIDAY 10:00am

FESTIVALS LIKE THIS: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE INNOVATIVE Bringing together directors of some of the world’s most innovative festivals and venues, we hope to dive in and learn more about them – Le Guess Who?, Big Ears, and Stadtgarten Concert Hall. What sets these festivals apart? What sets this programming apart? Where do they fit in the world? Why are they important?

Moderator: The Quietus Participants: Bob van Heur (Le Guess Who?), Ashley Capps (Big Ears), Reiner Michalke (Stadtgarten Concert Hall), Ross Marshall (National Sawdust)

FRIDAY 11:15am

DAS BUCH: A PRESENTATION BY HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS Want to know more about the German Krautrock pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius – co-founder of Cluster and Harmonia? Join us for the US premiere of Hans-Joachim Roedelius’ presentation of the English translation of his autobiography Roedelius – Das Buch. Moderated

by Rob Young of The WIRE, this presentation will consist of music samples, stories, and photos from all over Roedelius’ life.

Moderator: Rob Young with The WIRE / Participants: Hans-Joachim Roedelius

FRIDAY 12:30pm

NORWEGIAN INVASION Norwegian artist Nils Økland, composer Lars Petter Hagen and director of the Oslo jazz venue Victoria, Jan Ole Otnæs will band together to discuss the Norwegian music scene. Moderated by Peter Margasak of the Chicago Reader, this panel will dive into

how modern and experimental music crosses musical borders in jazz and beyond in Norway.

Moderator: Peter Margasak with Chicago Reader / Participants: Nils Økland, Lars Petter Hagen, Jan Ole Otnæs

SATURDAY 10:00am

MUSICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF MIDDLE AMERICA Following Matmos’ performance of Robert Ashley’s Perfect Lives (Private Parts), this panel will cover how Middle America is represented and interpreted in music and arts in 2017. Moderated by the Quietus’ Luke Turner, who called “the capturing of the American middle in Perfect Lives one of the most poignant aspects to Matmos’ interpretation.”

Moderator: The Quietus Participant: Matana Roberts, M. C. Schmidt (Matmos), Helge Sten

SATURDAY 11:15am

UPROOT: A PRESENTATION

BY JACE CLAYTON The man behind DJ /rupture and Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner, Jace Clayton brings an opportunity for the audience to learn about his book Uproot more in depth. He’ll dip into upheavals of art productions, as well as an exploration into the transformation of digital technology, World Music, and the music industry Moderator: Rob Young with The WIRE / Participant: Jace Clayton

SATURDAY 12:30pm

FOLK TRADITIONS IN A HYPER-CONNECTED WORLD This panel will explore folk traditions at a time when cultural borders are fragmenting. Moderated by the Quietus’ Luke Turner, the participants will consider a variety of questions.

How do we preserve them? How do dialogues between different traditions work? Is cultural appropriation something to be celebrated not held in suspicion, for that’s how music evolves? What can music do to open dialogues in a time of increasing

nationalism, mutual suspicion, and migration?

Moderator: The Quietus Participants: Emilia Amper, Shane Parish (Ahleuchatistas), Wu Fei and Carissa Stolting

SUNDAY 10:00am

MAKING ART IN A TIME OF RAGE Inspired by Alex Ross’ article in the New Yorker, this panel will address creating art in uncertain times. What is the point of making beautiful things, or of cherishing the beauty of the past, when ugliness runs rampant? Do you carry on as before, nobly defying the ruination of public discourse? Or do you seize on a new mission, abandoning the illusion of aesthetic autonomy?

Moderator: The Quietus Participants: Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Cécile Schott (Colleen), Jessica Moss

SUNDAY 11:15am

PRE S E N T E D BY:

Mine at 12:30pm, this discussion will cover the impact and influence of Pauline Oliveros. Though she passed away last November, Pauline Oliveros was a key figure in experimental music. She coined the term “Deep Listening” to practice the art of listening and responding to different conditions.

Moderator: Rob Young with The WIRE / Participants: Emily Manzo (Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner), Alvin Curran

SUNDAY 12:30pm

WHEN IN ROME: A GLIMPSE INTO THE KNOXVILLE MUSIC SCENE A discussion about music in Knoxville, what’s going on in the Knoxville underground, how the city supports music, and more.

Moderator: The Quietus Participants: Mayor Madeline

Rogero, Black Atticus, Jason Boardman, and more!

PAULINE OLIVEROS – IMPACT AND INFLUENCE Leading into a special presentation of her work Rock Piece at The Mill & BIG EARS POETRY EXPO: The Big Ears Poetry Expo returns to the festival this year, celebrating some of the most vital poets and performers from the area. Hosted by extraordinary Slam Master and nationally-ranked slam poet Black Atticus, the expo will feature several events over three days including some Poetry Slam champions (El’Ja Bowens, Julia Nance, Ed Mabrey), a few local legends (Marilyn Kallet, Kali Meister), as well as a public Big Ears debut of Knox Generation — the youth spoken word poets under the mentorship of Own The Boards. For the final night, we have a double feature lined up with Knoxville Poetry Slam Legend Julia Nance and three-time Slam Champion El’Ja Bowens, on top of what should be an electric Poetry Slam Qualifier for The 5th Woman 2017 Slam Team. Winners will receive bragging rights, a spot on the slam team (welcome to all genders), and a cash prize!

BLACK ATTICUS BIGEARSFESTIVAL.COM

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2017 ARTISTS (CONT’D) Elephant9, psych rock group Motorpsycho and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. In addition to his Supersilent appearance at Big Ears and a duo performance with Arve Henriksen, Ståle will also perform a solo set.

the band supplying far more than a repetitive rhythmic base to rap over. Complex rhythms, spectral electronics and innovative solos intermingle with Bandini and Priest’s fierce delivery.

STEVE LEHMAN & SÉLÉBÉYONE One of the most acclaimed young saxophonists in the jazz world, Steve Lehman consistently shows up on Top Ten year-end lists. After studying with Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan University, he earned his doctorate in composition from Columbia, and recently joined the faculty at CalArts.

Lehman was turned on to the saxophone early after hearing Charlie Parker records, and his devotion to the instrument grew after befriending Jackie McLean as a teenager. Born in 1978, he also soaked up the sounds of one of his favorite TV shows, Yo! MTV Raps, and often includes hip-hop elements in his compositions. This has never been more pronounced than on his new project, SÉLÉBÉYONE, in collaboration with Senegalese rapper Gaston Bandinic and Anti-Pop Consortium’s High Priest. Though hip-hop and jazz are clearly no strangers to one another, SÉLÉBÉYONE is truly unlike any album you’ve ever heard. Rarely if ever has jazz been so thoroughly integrated with an MC’s flow and lyrics,

SUPERSILENT Supersilent might be that rare thing, a relatively obscure supergroup. In the world of Scandinavian ambient and jazz, the members are highly regarded in this trio and in their individual careers. Trumpet player Arve Henriksen has recorded a number of highly distinctive albums that place his evocative, high-pitched playing out front. As Deathprod, Helge Sten was a pioneer of dark ambient electronics, while also being an occasional member of his wife and Big Ears alum Susanna’s band.

Keyboardist Ståle Storløkken has played with a broad array of Norwegian jazz and rock musicians. As Supersilent, the trio has created a baker’s dozen albums of improvised music heavily influenced by jazz, but awash in ambient and drone atmospherics. The departure of drummer Jarle Vespestad in 2009 opened up the band to explore new sonic avenues, with their ninth album composed solely on three Hammond organs, and the tenth introducing more acoustic elements. Their latest INSTRUMENTHEAD: AN INSTALLATION BY MICHAEL WEINTROB

Michael Weintrob is pleased to present INSTRUMENTHEAD, a series of portraits shot since 2006, portraying a vast spread of entertainers with their instruments obscuring their faces. These two-dozen 3’ x 4’ artist proofs will be installed in The Standard throughout Big Ears, in anticipation and pre-release of the forthcoming INSTRUMENTHEAD fine art book.

With INSTRUMENTHEAD, Weintrob has captured uniquely intimate expressions of over 500 artists’ identities without ever showing their faces. His subjects include Bootsy Collins, Mickey Hart, Junior Brown, Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers, and Derek Trucks, to name just a few. The exhibition will include iPads with biographical information about the subjects, and INSTRUMENTHEAD making-of films.

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OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

album finds them returning to noisier textures that create an enveloping sense of bliss or dread, depending on where your head might be. At any rate, it is far from silent.

THEATRE OF VOICES Widely recognized as one of Europe’s foremost vocal groups, Theatre of Voices specializes in the very old and the very new. Their repertoire focuses on medieval and renaissance polyphony, but also includes works by modern composers such as Berio, Cage, Pärt, Reich, and Stockhausen. This blending of early and new music serves to underscore just how much the two styles can have in common. They have premiered such commissioned works as Gavin Bryars’ The Stones of the Arch and David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Little Match Girl Passion, for which their CD recording received a Grammy Award. Founded at the University of California—Davis by Paul Hillier in 1990, Theatre of Voices took on a more international cast following Hillier’s move to Copenhagen in 2003.

They have released 20 CDs, primarily on the Harmonia Mundi label. Theatre of Voices will be performing as part of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Drone Mass.

THEO BLECKMANN Vocalist Theo Bleckmann is equally at home interpreting Las Vegas lounge songs, Weimar Cabaret songs, nursery rhymes, Charles Ives, Henry Purcell, Massive Attack, or Kate Bush.

Often found accompanied by percussionist John Hollenbeck or pianist Fumio Yasuda, he has worked with Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Philip Glass, Zeena Parkins, John Zorn, and was a member of Meredith Monk’s Vocal Ensemble for 15 years. The word ‘eclectic’ is thrown around a lot, especially in avant-garde circles, but Bleckmann’s musical interests and stylistic range are unusually broad. That’s probably because his voice capabilities are unusually immense; you have to be pretty sure of your vocal talents to do an entire album of Kate Bush covers.

Not only is Bleckmann a one-of-a-kind interpreter of others’ music, he himself is also a composer and has worked in theater, opera, and film. A native German, he has called New York home since 1989, where he has continually been revered by outlets such as The New York Times and The New Yorker, as well as discriminating audiences who have seen and heard it all.

Beyond being a vocalist of rare purity and daring, Bleckmann is a sound painter who creates what JazzTimes has described aptly as “luminous webs” in music.

During the festival weekend, Bleckmann will perform with his duo and quintet.

Theo Bleckmann & Ben Monder Bleckmann will be joined by his longstanding, kaleidoscopic duo with guitarist Ben Monder (who – after a quarter century of terrific recordings and performances – achieved overnight fame from his stunning work on David Bowie’s swan song, Black Star).

YASMINE HAMDA N

with minimalist composers, jazz and dub than rock and roll. The quiet contrariness of their 1994 self-titled debut changed a lot of indie rock perceptions about how music could be played, while the classic 1996 follow-up Millions Now Living Will Never Die helped launch a boatload Theo Bleckmann Quintet of instrumental bands. With After appearing on two ECM each successive album Tortoise albums by Meredith Monk and continues to experiment and try another by Julia Hülsmann, new things, including a cover of Bleckmann makes his striking David Essex’s 1970’s hit “Rock label debut as a leader with Elegy. On” on 2016’s The CatastrophThis album showcases Bleckist. Though each member mann as a composer as much as a busies himself with a variety singer, with several instrumental of other projects, Dan Bitney, pieces voiced by what he calls his John Herndon, Doug McCombs, “ambient” band of kindred-spirit John McEntire and Jeff Parker guitarist Ben Monder, keyboard- reconvene every few years to ist Shai Maestro, and the subtle record and tour, and remind us rhythm team of Chris Tordini that Tortoise remain as relevant and John Hollenbeck. as ever.

TORTOISE “Post-rock” wasn’t coined to describe Tortoise, but it’s become more closely associated with them than just about any other group, probably to their chagrin at times. It’s a flimsy term that doesn’t really do justice to the ground the Chicago band has covered across seven albums and more than a quarter century playing together. Eschewing the traditional bass/drum/guitar set up of of the underground rock scene in which its members cut their teeth, Tortoise incorporate a wide variety of instruments to fashion music that has more in common

UT ELECTROACOUSTIC ENSEMBLE The UT Electroacoustic Ensemble performs contemporary improvisational music that incorporates electronics alongside acoustic instruments.

The ensemble will present a show of chamber improvised music with electronic media.

Members include Mark Drake (voice, electronics), Alex Gray (EWI, saxophone, computer), Brandan Harden (synthesizer), Tyler Hyers (keyboard), Clayton Hopkins (percussion), Elise Stephens (video), Jorge Variego (computer), and Harry Ward

has an exotic appeal to Western ears, at times Wu’s flights across the nylon strings might remind one of American and British fingerpicking guitarists like Robbie Basho or James Blackshaw. More often, she makes the thing sing quite unlike any other instrument you’ve heard.

TORTOISE (keyboard). Dr. Jorge Variego is the founding director.

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WHITE MAGIC Mira Billotte, better known to the world as White Magic, is an artist, vocalist, pianist, percussionist and composer based in New York City. Performing with accompaniment or solo with hand drum, shruti box, and an array of a-cappella songs, White Magic has a wide range of sound from loud psychedelia to meditative trance. Her voice evokes Nico and Catherine Ribeiro with traces of Grace Slick: drifting from traditional to experimental folk, a soulful, mystic music is at the root. The freak-folk hero first allured the underground community with her 2006 LP Dat Rosa Mel Apibus, which soon earned her opening gigs for artists like Animal Collective, Sonic Youth, and Joanna Newsom. White Magic will join up with independent filmmaker Jem Cohen at Big Ears 2017 for a special performance of Gravity Hill Sound+Image, exploring films and live soundtracks in a variety of combinations: scored and improvised, indoor and outdoor, quiet and loud. Her newest release I’m Hiding My Nightingale EP is out now on Leaving Records, featuring Ariel Pink on guitar for the title track.

WILCO Chicago’s Wilco have always been a hard act to pin down, even more so in recent years.

Their 1995 debut A.M. picked up where frontman Jeff Tweedy’s alt-country band Uncle Tupelo left off, but every subsequent album has found the band stretching boundaries and

XIU XIU Xiu Xiu’s music and lyrics aren’t always easier to take, and Jamie Stewart wouldn’t have it any WU FEI other way. Since 2002, Xiu Xiu exploring new styles. The 2001 has been the vehicle for Stewart’s album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was examination of the darker so experimental and leftfield corners of his psyche, writing their label at the time refused songs that report back on just to release it. A watershed for how much damage people can the band, and arguably for cause one another, and themAmerican rock music in general, selves, and what it takes to live the album’s influence is still through it all. For someone who felt today. Rather than repeat titled an album, Dear God, I Hate any past successes, Tweedy and Myself, though, it’s not all dour. company treat every album as Throughout Xiu Xiu’s 13 albums a chance to cover new ground, and numerous singles, you sense most recently with the shorter, that Stewart is exploring unmore direct rock songs found on comfortable topics for catharsis, Star Wars and Schmilco. With not just for himself but for his excellent musicianship and a audience, a comingto-terms with lengthy history of stellar mathe fuckedupness of the world. terial, few bands today can put Though there’s plenty of noise on such an exciting live show. and industrial pummeling be Wilco members also make other found in Xiu Xiu’s catalog, there’s appearances throughout the just as much pop and acoustic festival: Tweedy with drummer music. As heavy as it can get, Xiu Chris Corsano and bassist Darin Xiu seems like Stewart attempt Gray’s Chikamorachi, drummer to beat back the ugliness of this Glenn Kotche in a solo perforworld with the act of creation, mance and with Darin Gray and the shared experience of (Tweedy, Dazzling Killmen) in music. Festivalgoers will be On Fillmore, and guitarist Nels treated to two performances by Cline with Cibo Matto’s Yuka C. Xiu Xiu during the weekend: Honda in cup. playing music from Twin Peaks on Saturday afternoon WU FEI and playing their own music on Wu Fei is a contemporary master Sunday night. of the guzheng, a 2,000 year old 21-string instrument that is Xiu Xiu Plays the Music often referred to as the “Chinese of Twin Peaks zither.” Obtaining an MA from In addition to a Xiu Xiu set, the Mills College, she is as adept at band will perform music from improvising as she is composing Twin Peaks. It makes perfect for chamber ensemble, choir, sense Stewart would be a fan orchestra, soundtracks or dance of David Lynch’s incomparable performances. The Beijing native series. It was the darkest who now calls Nashville home show to ever air on network is always up for the excitement a television, but also exhibited a new collaboration brings, having daft sense of humor and abiding played with such disparate acts concern with morality. Originally as Alvin Curran, Fred Frith, commissioned for performances Meredith Monk, Abigail Washat a Lynch retrospective at the burn and Bela Fleck, as well as Queensland Gallery of Modern a speeding locomotive. (Really.) Art, Stewart and bandmates Though the guzheng certainly Shayna Dunkelman and Angela

Seo recorded selections from Angelo Badalamenti’s music from the Twin Peaks series and film. Their goth pop take is a perfect fit. As Stewart told the New Yorker, “We wanted our band to be like Twin Peaks. It’s very romantic, but also terrifying. It’s incredibly funny, but metaphysical. It’s darkly sexual, but also kind of cute.”

XYLOURIS WHITE While coming from different parts of the world and vastly divergent musical backgrounds, the connection between master of Cretan lute George Xylouris and drummer Jim White, who perform together as Xylouris White, is palpable from the first note of their debut LP Goats. To hear Xylouris play his longnecked lauto and sing songs of love and liberty in his impassioned, distinctive voice is to experience tradition at its finest; tradition that this legendary artist grants respect and crafts into something unique. White first commanded international attention in the mid-1990s with the acclaimed Australian instrumental trio Dirty Three.

The New York-based virtuoso is now the go-to guy for alternative A-list vocalists with collaboration in mind. Together Xylouris and White, standouts from Big Ears 2016, transcend geographical and musical genre boundaries with their fluid, spellbinding music. The duo will also join filmmaker Jem Cohen at this year’s event for a special performance of Gravity Hill Sound+Image, a project exploring films and live soundtracks in their many forms -- scored and improvised, indoor and outdoor, quiet and loud.

YASMINE HAMDAN Yamsine Hamdan caught the attention of many Americans with her appearance in Jim Jarmusch’s film Only Lovers Left Alive, performing the song “Hal” in a Moroccan cafe. No doubt some viewers rushed out to buy the soundtrack after hearing it. The Lebanese singer was already well-known in the Middle East and in hipper European enclaves, as half of the underground electronic duo

Soap Kills. Adding trip-hop production to songs rooted in classical Arab music, Soap Kills’ sound was a striking meeting of old and new. Having lived in Lebanon, Kuwait, Greece and Abu Dhabi, Hamdan decamped to Paris in 2002, where she formed the duo Y.A.S. with Madonna collaborator Mirwais.

In 2012, Hamdan released her first solo album Ya Nass, retaining Arabic folk influences while exhibiting more of an interest in contemporary pop.

Possessing an arresting voice, you don’t need to understand the various Arab dialects in which she sings to revel in the emotion and passion of Hamdan’s performance.

YUKI NUMATA RESNICK Violinist Yuki Numata Resnick can be heard on albums by indie rock acts !!!, Blonde Redhead, Beirut and The National, as well as works by modern composers Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter. And she’s a major Björk fan. But she also puts a spin on more traditionally classical works, recording Bach’s “Sarabande from Partita No. 1 in B Minor” as a mashup up for violin and trumpet. As founder and co-director of the nonprofit organization Buffalo String Works, which offers music lessons for children of refugee and immigrant families in Buffalo, New York, Resnick is passing on her love of classical and new music to a younger generation.

At Big Ears 2015, Resnick was the featured soloist during the American Contemporary Music Ensemble and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Max Richter’s reimagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. She’s returned to perform again with ACME at Big Ears 2017, and her solo performance will include a performance of For Ko, her debut solo album. This live performance includes projections of drawings by Marcel Dzama, inspired by the four commissioned pieces on the album by Caleb Burhans, Andrew Greenwald, Clara Iannotta, and Matt Marks.

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NAMA SUSHI BAR 506 S. Gay Street

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OLIBEA 119 S. Central Street

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SUTTREE’S HIGH GRAVITY TAVERN 411 S. Gay Street

THE TENNESSEE THEATRE 604 S. GAY STREET

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U.S. CELLULAR STAGE AT THE BIJOU THEATRE 803 S. GAY STREET

SWEET P’S BARBECUE AND DOWNTOWN DIVE 410 W. Jackson Ave.

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THREE RIVERS MARKET 1100 N. Central Street

THE STANDARD 416 JACKSON AVE.

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THE TOMATO HEAD 12 Market Square

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BEATS & EATS PRESENTED BY VISIT KNOXVILLE,

INSIDE JACKSON TERMINAL 213 WEST JACKSON AVE. WEDNESDAY: 5:00PM-8:00PM THURSDAY: 12:00PM-11:00PM FRIDAY: 9:30AM-11:00PM SATURDAY: 10:00AM-11:00PM SUNDAY: 10:00AM-8:00PM

LONESOME DOVE KNOXVILLE, SWEET P’S BARBECUE, AND THE TOMATO HEAD Jackson Terminal, 213 W. Jackson Ave.

THE MILL & MINE 227 W DEPOT AVE. JACKSON TERMINAL 213 W JACKSON AVE.

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KAIZEN 416 Clinch Ave.

CHURCH STREET UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 900 HENLEY STREET

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MARKET HOUSE CAFE 36 Market Square

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UNCORKED 28 Market Square

ST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL 413 CUMBERLAND AVE. KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF ART 1050 WORLDS FAIR PARK DR.

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REGAL RIVIERA STADIUM 8 510 S GAY STREET

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RETURNING IN 2018

BALTER BEERWORKS 100 S. Broadway CAFE 4 4 Market Square COOLATO GELATO 524 S. Gay Street

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EMILIA 16 Market Square

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DOWNTOWN WINE & SPIRITS 407 S. Gay Street

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KNOX MASON 131 S. Gay Street

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GOOD GOLLY TAMALE 112 S. Central Street

BIKE RENTALS POWERED BY TENNESSEE VALLEY BIKES

/ KNOXVILLE, TN / Stay in tOuch !

Announcements coming sOOn

210 W Magnolia Ave.

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NOTHING TOO FANCY 435 Union Ave.

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VISIT KNOXVILLE VISITORS CENTER 310 S Gay Street

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AURORA LISTENING LOUNGE 227 W. Depot Ave.

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GOOSE ISLAND PATIO 227 W. Depot Ave. WALKWITHME Filter map pins under “Experiences” on the Big Ears app for locations. walkwithme uses spoken word, found sound and original music to provide a means for discovering the city with your senses.

#BIGEARSKNOX WWW.BIGEARSFESTIVAL.COM BIKE RENTALS POWERED BY TENNESSEE VALLEY BIKES In Knoxville and especially during Big Ears, we strongly encourage our community and visitors to cycle, which saves money while reducing your carbon footprint and impact on the environment. We’re proud to announce the return of our complimentary Bike Rental service to all Big Ears patrons, powered by Tennesee Valley Bikes - now at their new location on 210 W Magnolia Ave!

210 W MAGNOLIA AVE Pick up at 11am on Thursday Return before 5pm on Saturday

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A SP ECI AL THANKS TO O UR PARTN ERS

Entertainment Commission

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OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE BIG EARS FESTIVAL

Program Notes | Inside the Vault | Classical | Movies

Archival Hero A timely James Baldwin documentary can’t live up to the writer’s legacy

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BY NATHAN SMITH

t’s generally safe to assume that the films I endorse are films I enjoy. But once in a while, pleasure and purpose diverge, and I feel compelled to recommend a movie that I’m a little less than fond of. Such is the case with I Am Not Your Negro, the new Oscar-nominated documentary from Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, which grounds itself in the words of writer James Baldwin, specifically his unfinished manuscript Remember This House.

Perhaps best known for his novel Go Tell It on the Mountain and the essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time, Baldwin stands as one of the greatest writers our country has produced. His voice is ever resonant on America’s racial history, which, as he would put it, is America’s history.

Early on in I Am Not Your Negro, Peck proposes a loose structure to organize the 30 pages of unfinished notes for Remember This Time that Baldwin left behind. Though Peck provides a few details about Baldwin’s earlier years, what he aims for is not biographical; I Am Not Your Negro is

less about James Baldwin’s life than it is about how he saw American life, and what those perceptions might reveal about our own time. The films seems as if it intends to explore Baldwin’s relationship with three of America’s most significant civil rights leaders: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. We hear Baldwin’s initial memories of their lives and deaths, but this structure is quickly abandoned in favor of something much more disjointed.

As the documentary moves away from that initial framework, it strings together a web of impressions and opinions that Baldwin dealt with in his lifetime, from ruminations on the civil rights movements to early childhood memories of a Joan Crawford movie.

The voice delivering Baldwin’s words shifts throughout the film. At times, it belongs to Samuel L. Jackson, who reads notes and letters, but in other moments, it is Baldwin’s own voice, by way of archival footage. It is in these clips of fervent debates on the couch of The Dick Cavett Show or in the halls of

college campuses that I Am Not Your Negro truly finds a voice of its own.

One might suspect that has more to do with the profundity of James Baldwin than it does the direction of Raoul Peck. The film’s tremendous subject can’t help but overshadow its maker.

Peck encounters the same problem with what he chooses to show us. The most powerful images in I Am Not Your Negro—of police brutality, beatings, lynchings, protests, and riots—have more to do with the individual context and gravity of the images themselves than the connections Peck draws between them. For example, his pointedly ironic choice to cut from a school shooter in Gus Van Sant’s Elephant to a riot cop, or from Doris Day to the victim of a lynching, is admirable in theory, but a little clumsy in practice.

Sometimes Peck’s eye is literal to a fault, but in other moments he strives for a much more free-associative quality, his camera roving across bridges and peering out of rain-covered car windows. These aimless ambles reach for lyricism but miss; their purposelessness renders the film an audible thesis in search of visual evidence. Perhaps this sense of restlessness represents Peck himself, a filmmaker on a desperate search for images that could ever match the evocative experience of Baldwin’s own words.

That contrast, between Baldwin’s writings and Peck’s choice of visual complement, is jarring. Even in private letters and candid interviews, Baldwin spoke with a forceful candor and sense of purpose that most writers will never achieve in their most well-respected works. Like almost any cinematic adaptation of great writing, Peck’s approach fails on arrival.

This doesn’t mean he fails entirely. But the depth of Baldwin’s writing deserves better. Then again, any night at the theater spent listening to the wisdom of James Baldwin is a good night. The line Peck draws through American history, from slavery to Jim Crow to civil rights to Rodney King to Black Lives Matter, is a line that has been drawn before— and by better documentaries—but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be drawn again. Baldwin’s words still

have the same power he imbued them with years ago; Peck’s asides don’t detract from that experience, even if what they add is minimal.

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 25

LARRY SPARKS

Thursday, March 23 — Sunday, April 2 29 Clarence Brown Theatre: Top Girls 32 HappyHealthySmart Symposium

MUSIC Thursday, March 23 BIG EARS 2017 • Downtown Knoxville • The 2017 version

of Big Ears, Knoxville’s internationally acclaimed annual festival of out-there music, has announced its biggest and broadest lineup yet. There’s lots of indie and alt-rock. The roster includes some imposing names, artists and composers of enormous talent and influence and intimidating, almost frightful reputations, most of them in the late stages of their careers: Carla Bley, Gavin Bryars, Henry Grimes, Meredith Monk, Musica Elettronica Viva, and Henry Threadgill. Visit bigearsfestival.com. • See cover story on page 14.

FUNNY EARS FRINGE FESTIVAL 2017 • Preservation Pub and Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • our nights, two venues, 40 bands, including Indighost, Josiah and the Greater Good, Brandon Fulson and the Realbillys, Amethyst Kiah, Demon Waffle, the Young Fables, and more. Visit scruffycity.com.

SAMI JO WITH CRYSTAL BRIGHT AND THE SILVER HANDS • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE LONETONES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 6PM • The WDVX 6 O’Clock Swerve is weekly musical trip with talented regional artists featuring live performances and insightful interviews in a living room atmosphere. • FREE THOMAS RHETT WITH KELSEA BALLERINI, RYAN HURD, AND RUSSELL DICKERSON • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 7PM •

Thomas Rhett solidifies his move “from a promised next big thing to actually being it” with his platinum certified sophomore release Tangled Up (The Valory Music Co.). • $36.50-$78 Y’UNS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM CALVIN LOVE WITH HEAT • The Open Chord • 8PM • Only once in every blue moon comes an artist that seems so familiar yet out of space as Calvin Love. Like a stranded space captain locked in his cockpit recording his final thoughts. All ages. • $8 FREDERICK THE YOUNGER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Frederick the Younger, a high energy band out of Louisville, KY, has no shortage of guitar hooks, ambient washes and bombastic drumming. • FREE

Friday, March 24 26 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

BIG EARS 2017 • Downtown Knoxville • The 2017

version of Big Ears, Knoxville’s internationally acclaimed annual festival of out-there music, has announced its biggest and broadest lineup yet.

There’s lots of indie and alt-rock. The roster includes some imposing names, artists and composers of enormous talent and influence and intimidating, almost frightful reputations, most of them in the late stages of their careers: Carla Bley, Gavin Bryars, Henry Grimes, Meredith Monk, Musica Elettronica Viva, and Henry Threadgill. Visit bigearsfestival.com.

• See cover story on page 14.

FUNNY EARS FRINGE FESTIVAL 2017 • Preservation Pub and Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • our nights, two venues, 40 bands, including Indighost, Josiah and the Greater Good, Brandon Fulson and the Realbillys, Amethyst Kiah, Demon Waffle, the Young Fables, and more. Visit scruffycity.com.

THE PLATE SCRAPERS WITH THE JAKE QUILLIN BAND • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE JAMES MCCARTNEY WITH THE HOLIFIELDS • The Open Chord • 8PM • Following the release of his second album The Blackberry Train in 2016, critically acclaimed singer-songwriter James McCartney is set to tour the US in 2017. James has remained fiercely dedicated to his musical vision of melding smart hooks and feral alt-rock with the grandeur and spiritually centeredness of psychedelic music. All ages. • $15-$20 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • 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 and 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

Thursday, March 23

Saturday, March 25

BIG EARS

LARRY SPARKS

The sixth version of the internationally acclaimed cutting-edge music festival runs through Sunday at 10 venues downtown. See this week’s cover story on page 14.

Laurel Theater • 8 p.m. • $20 • Sparks began his career during one of bluegrass’ periodic moments of visibility, joining the Stanley Brothers band in the late 1960s. He’s gone on to establish himself as one of the form’s second-generation masters.

KSO CONCERTMASTER SERIES Knoxville Museum of Art • 7:30 p.m. • $25 • KSO Concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz closes out his long-running series of adventuresome chamber concerts—he’s closing out the 2016-17 season with music

by Gershwin, Dvorak, Sibelius, and Chausson, and then heading to a new position in the Louisville Orchestra next season.

BIG ASSES

Friday, March 24

The Birdhouse • Noon • Free • All ages • The annual festival programs a full day of local underground music against Big Ears; this year’s lineup includes Beige Blood, Kelle Jolly, the Pinklets, See Monsters, MEOB, Paperwork, Yung Life, Caps, Wife Pile, Jean Claude God Damn, Rat Punch, Horcerer, Sprocket Gobbler, and more.

JAMES MCCARTNEY

Monday, March 27

Open Chord Music • 8 p.m. • $15-$20 • All ages • The scion of Paul McCartney is finally escaping under his father’s legacy; his hard-edged 2016 album, The Blackberry Train, was produced by ’90s alt-rock guru Steve Albini.

THE GREEN DAY XPERIENCE WITH COVALENCE AND JIMMY AND THE JAWBONES • The Concourse • 8PM • A tribute to

the ‘90s pop-punk band turned ‘00s arena-rock stars.

All ages. • $5-$10 THE T. MICHAEL BRANNER CONCEPTET • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • $5 JACOB JOHNSON • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM SOULFINGER • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM BLACKSTONE MOUNTAIN BAND • Two Doors Down

Sunday, March 26

LOCAL NATIVES

LOCAL NATIVES The Mill and Mine • 8 p.m. • $25 • L.A. indie-pop band perfected a sun-soaked tropical rock vibe on its third album, Sunlit Youth, released in September.

March 23 – April 2

(Maryville) • 9PM SARAH SHOOK AND THE DISARMERS • Barley’s Taproom

and Pizzeria • 10PM • Sarah Shook and The Disarmers is a country band with a sneer, a bite, and no apologies. • FREE ANGELA PERLEY AND THE HOWLIN’ MOONS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • Armed with electric guitars, swooning vocals, and songs that split the difference between rock and roll and dreamy psychedelia, Angela Perley and the Howlin’ Moons pack the biggest punch of their career with Homemade Vision. • FREE

Saturday, March 25 BIG EARS 2017 • Downtown Knoxville • The 2017

version of Big Ears, Knoxville’s internationally acclaimed annual festival of out-there music, has announced its biggest and broadest lineup yet.

There’s lots of indie and alt-rock. The roster includes some imposing names, artists and composers of enormous talent and influence and intimidating, almost frightful reputations, most of them in the late stages of their careers: Carla Bley, Gavin Bryars, Henry Grimes, Meredith Monk, Musica Elettronica Viva, and Henry Threadgill. Visit bigearsfestival.com.

• See cover story on page 14.

FUNNY EARS FRINGE FESTIVAL 2017 • Preservation Pub and Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • our nights, two venues, 40 bands, including Indighost, Josiah and the Greater Good, Brandon Fulson and the Realbillys, Amethyst Kiah, Demon Waffle, the Young Fables, and more. Visit scruffycity.com.

THE FOSSIL CREEK BAND WITH XOXOK • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE JOHN CARROLL • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE MARY FAHL • The Open Chord • 8PM • Sounding like no other singer of her generation, Mary Fahl is an expressive, emotional singer/songwriter who first achieved fame as lead singer and co-founder of the mid-1990s cult band October Project. • $25 LARRY SPARKS • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Larry Sparks began his career at the top of the profession when he worked with the Stanley Brothers and Ralph Stanley during the late 1960s. He formed the Lonesome Ramblers in 1969, and began a recording career that has established him as one of the top names in bluegrass. • $20 SALINA SOLOMON • Sugar Mama’s • 8:30PM MIGHTY BLUE • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM SOUTHBOUND • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM TWINS WITH SAINT THOMAS LEDOUX AND DIALECTIC SINES • Pilot Light • 9PM • TEKNOX presents Twins (“abstract

and emotional electronic pop and wave”) with DJ sets from Saint Thomas LeDoux and Dialectic Sines. 18 and up. • $5 MCGILL AND THE REFILLS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Local Mike McGill and his refills serve up a

healthy helping of country and McGillbilly. • FREE SPACE JESUS WITH SHLUMP • The Concourse • 10PM • Space Jesus is the mind-spawn of Brooklyn NY based electronic music producer Jasha Tull. Fueled by bass and inspired by the intangible, Space Jesus is ever evolving in search of future beats. 18 and up. • $12 KINCAID • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM

Sunday, March 26 BIG EARS 2017 • Downtown Knoxville • The 2017

version of Big Ears, Knoxville’s internationally acclaimed annual festival of out-there music, has announced its biggest and broadest lineup yet.

There’s lots of indie and alt-rock. The roster includes some imposing names, artists and composers of enormous talent and influence and intimidating, almost frightful reputations, most of them in the late stages of their careers: Carla Bley, Gavin Bryars, Henry Grimes, Meredith Monk, Musica Elettronica Viva, and Henry Threadgill. Visit bigearsfestival.com.

• See cover story on page 14.

FUNNY EARS FRINGE FESTIVAL 2017 • Preservation Pub and Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • our nights, two venues, 40 bands, including Indighost, Josiah and the Greater Good, Brandon Fulson and the Realbillys, Amethyst Kiah, Demon Waffle, the Young Fables, and more. Visit scruffycity.com.

SHIFFLETT’S JAZZ BENEDICT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 11AM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE THE BROCKEFELLERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM BIG ASSES FEST • The Birdhouse • 12PM • The mostly annual all-local alternative to Big Ears moves to Fourth and Gill this year. Featuring Mitchel Garza, Michael Marshall, Erin Bicknese, Beige Blood, Juniper E. Stinnett, Kelle Jolly, Sick Boy, Roacheaters, the Pinklets, Suzy Homemaker, Groundhog, See Monsters, MEOB, Paperwork, Yung Life, Caps, Wife Pile, Aeranite, Jean Claude God Damn, Rat Punch, Sorcerer, and Sprocket Gobbler. All ages. • FREE

Monday, March 27 NIK CARMAN WITH EVAN TAYLOR JONES • WDVX • 12PM •

Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE BLUEPRINT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM ELVIN TAYLOR JONES • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

LOCAL NATIVES • The Mill and Mine • 8PM • In 2010, Local Natives galvanised a musical scene in Southern California, crafting a sound that they loved, and that others flocked to in turn, with the breakout success of their debut album, Gorilla Manor. The five-piece from Los Angeles featuring Taylor Rice, Kelcey Ayer, Ryan Hahn, Nik Ewing, and Matt Frazier have since created a series of different cathartic chapters informed by their March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 27

March 23 – April 2

constantly changing surroundings. The result is an everywhere-you-turn showcase of vision and virtuosity and their grandest statement yet: their third album, Sunlit Youth. 18 and up. Visit themillandmine. com or ticketweb.com. • $25-$28

Tuesday, March 28 ANDY FERRELL WITH CHARLIE HAGER • WDVX • 12PM •

Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE PLACE OF SKULLS • The Open Chord • 7PM • Knoxville’s Christian doom metal stalwarts, led by Pentagram guitarist/genre architect Victor Griffin. • FREE ANDY FERRELL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The new album from North Carolina roots songwriter Andy Ferrell, At Home and In Nashville, is aptly named, for it points to a long lineage of artists traveling between their homes in rural Appalachia and the neon lights of country music’s capitol, Nashville, Tennessee.

Born in Boone, NC, Ferrell grew up in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the birthplace of Appalachian traditional music and the home of the great Doc Watson. • FREE THE BARNYARD STOMPERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

Wednesday, March 29 THE MARCUS KING BAND WITH BAREFOOT MOVEMENT •

WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast 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 • FREE BAREFOOT MOVEMENT • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE TENNESSEE SHINES: IAN THOMAS AND THE BAND OF DRIFTERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Part of WDVX’s

weekly live-broadcast concert series. • $10 THE MARCUS KING BAND • The Concourse • 8PM • 18 and up. • $10 THE STOOP KIDS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

Thursday, March 30 ROBERT LEE WITH ABERNATHY, HAGER, AND MELTON • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE LOST FIDDLE STRING BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 6PM • The WDVX 6 O’Clock Swerve is weekly musical trip with talented regional artists featuring live performances and insightful interviews in a living room atmosphere. • FREE

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#SHAKYBEATS

JAKOB’S FERRY STRAGGLERS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE ROCK KILLOUGH • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM THE BARNYARD STOMPERS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 8PM THE SOUTHERN FLOYD: A TRIBUTE TO PINK FLOYD • The Open Chord • 8PM • The Southern Floyd is a southern based Pink Floyd tribute, performing a career spanning set of the material that Pink Floyd created from the 60s- to the 90s. • $12-$15 JACOB DUNCAN WITH MATT NELSON, GARRIT TILLMAN, AND JAKE EDWARD SMITH • Pilot Light • 9PM • 18 and up.

• $5 RELENTLESS BLUES BAND • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The near legendary local blues-rock band led by Michael Delaney has returned. • FREE JOSHUA POWELL AND THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

Friday, March 31 EMILY KEENER WITH JOSHUA POWELL AND THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue

Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE ALIVE AFTER FIVE: THE STACY MITCHHART BAND •

Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • “The Blues Doctor” from Nashville comes to Knoxville to make a house call. • $10-$15 JOSHUA POWELL AND THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • FREE HADLEY KENNARY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up.

• FREE THE SYNISTER CARNIVALE WITH IN SERVICE OF SOUND AND ZERO POINT • The Open Chord • 8PM THE RED DIRT REVELATORS • Brackins Blues Club

(Maryville) • 9PM KINCAID • Two Doors Down ( Maryville) • 9PM BLAIR CRIMMINS AND THE HOOKERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • Atlanta-based ragtime/Dixieland/gypsy jazz artist Blair Crimmins and his band The Hookers’ new album You Gotta Sell Something! delivers more of their signature sound of supercharged ragtime and swing.

18 and up. • FREE THE BURNIN’ HERMANS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Burnin’ Hermans specialize in creating unique cover sets that keep your legs moving, your mind wondering, and your soul enlivened. • FREE THE BROCKEFELLERS • Scruffy City Hall • 10PM • 21 and up.

URBAN SOIL WITH STAGOLEE • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

March 23 – April 2

Photo by Liz Aaron

Clarence Brown Theatre: Top Girls Clarence Brown Lab Theatre (1714 Andy Holt Ave.) • March 29-April 16 • $15 • clarencebrowntheatre.com If you could invite anyone, living or dead (or maybe even fictional), to a dinner party, who would it be?

Caryl Churchill’s 1982 play Top Girls begins with a humdinger play on that old parlor game. The protagonist, Marlene, celebrating a recent promotion, hosts a restaurant dinner attended by some of the most remarkable women in history and literature: the 19th-century English adventure Isabella Bird; the apocryphal Pope Joan, who, according to legend, was head of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages; Dull Gret, aka Mad Meg, who led an all-female siege of Hell in Flemish folklore; Patient Griselda, from The Canterbury Tales; and Lady Nijo, whose literary confessions detailed her navigation of Japan’s imperial court in the 13th century.

Over the course of the rest of the play, which moves backward and forward in time, the audience learns that Marlene, despite her accomplishment, shares something with her guests from the first act: They’ve all paid a significant price for their achievements. It’s a commentary on history, feminism, and British politics in the Thatcher era that remains relevant in 2017.

(Matthew Everett)

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 29

March 23 – April 2

HEADFACE AND THE CONGENITALS • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18

songwriters like Cruz Contreras, Jeff Barbra, and Scott Miller who pull various strands of folk and country into a pan-Appalachian mix of country and rock. • $10-$12 YOUNG MISTER • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. • FREE CYPHER: A HIP-HOP SHOW • The Birdhouse • 9PM • Open mic for the first half of the night, then two featured artists to close out the night. 18 and up.

THE JUKE JOINT DRIFTERS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM THE WHISKEY GENTRY WITH FOLK SOUL REVIVAL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Hailing from Atlanta, The Whiskey Gentry has been described as a “toe-tapping, steamrolling kind of band, its fingers picking deep into fields of bluegrass…with a punk-inspired kick drum.” • $5 LIONS • Pilot Light • 10PM • Lions’ music—an emotional, caffeinated mix of twinkly emo, anthemic pop-punk, and technically adept indie rock—promotes constant motion and scream-alongs. • $5 THE HIGH DIVERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.

avant-garde/experimental guitar fans, returns to the Old City. 18 and up. • $8 MOMMA MOLASSES AND FRIENDS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • A devout believer in life’s process, Momma Molasses adopted her name to remind herself to value “slowness”, and place trust in the unfolding journey of experience. Quirky, and effortlessly idiosyncratic, her performances are noted for rambunctious asides and gleeful (though not always graceful) energy. • FREE BREADFOOT WITH ROSSDAFAREYE AND ERIC CALDWELL • Preservation Pub • 9PM • 21 and up.

• FREE

Sunday, April 2

BIG GUN WITH THE AUSTIN CRUM EXPERIENCE • The Shed

SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery •

at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson ( Maryville) • 7:30PM • A tribute to AC/DC. • $10 MATT WOODS • The Open Chord • 8PM • Woods take cues from Steve Earle, the Drive-By Truckers, and local

11AM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE EUGENE CHADBOURNE • Pilot Light • 7PM • The idiosyncratic Chadbourne, a legend among

NARROW RIDGE MUSIC JAM • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 7PM • Guests are invited to share their talents in a forum that provides equal time to all who wish to participate. For more information call Mitzi at 865-497-3603 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE

and up. • $5 KILLSWITCH ENGAGE WITH THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA • The

International • 7:30PM • Built organically from the most potent components of melodic, heavy and catchy-ashell European death metal and the almost spiritual essence of the most grimy, urgent and forever yearning American hardcore, the brilliantly individual and self-described “Massholes” in Killswitch have come to define a generational shift equal parts inevitable and by design, as cultural earthquakes and uprisings often are. All ages. Visit internationalknox. com. • $25-$100

Saturday, April 1 LUKE MITCHEM WITH THE WHISKEY GENTRY • WDVX •

12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE ANDREW SCOTCHIE AND THE RIVER RATS WITH ASHLEIGH CHEVALIER • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM

OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS Thursday, March 23

Monday, March 27 MONDAY BLUES • Bar Marley • 8PM • Live every Monday,

blues, jazz, funk, reggae and jam musicians from all over Tennessee meet at a backwater crossroad to sit in and show what the blues are made of. • FREE

Tuesday, March 28 PRESERVATION PUB SINGER-SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7PM • 21 and up. Visit scruffycity. com.

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. Visit jigandreel.com. • FREE

SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM

Wednesday, March 29

• Visit jigandreel.com. • FREE

TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea

Saturday, March 25

Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday. All instruments and skill levels welcome.

BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club • 9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. Visit Facebook.com/BrackinsBlues. • FREE

DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS

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30 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

March 23 – April 2

Saturday, April 1 TESTIFY! VINTAGE SOUL AND FUNK DANCE PARTY • Scruffy

City Hall • 10PM • Testify returns with some of the best regional and national DJs and collectors of northern soul, modern soul, funk, r&b, gospel soul and Motown obscurities on original 45 rpm vinyl for your dancing pleasure. With Frankie Sharp (Chicago), Lee Bryant (Lexington), and Knoxville’s Earl Grae and Israel Miller.

• $5

CLASSICAL MUSIC Thursday, March 23 KSO CONCERTMASTER SERIES • Knoxville Museum of Art

• 7:30 p.m. • KSO Concertmaster Gabriel Lefkowitz leads the final installment of this chamber series—he’s leaving KSO at the end of this season—with performances of music by Gershwin, Dvorak, Sibelius, and Chausson. Visit knoxvillesymphony.com.

Saturday, March 25 DUO AONZO IZQUIERDO • Episcopal Church of the Good

Samaritan • 7PM • Carlo Aonzo, from Savona, Italy, founded and conducts the Italian Mandolin Academy Orchestra and regularly records, performs and tours all over the world. René Izquierdo, from Cuba, is a graduate of Yale University School of Music and a professor of classical guitar at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Visit knoxvilleguitar.org. • $20

Friday, March 31 BOYD JONES • Westminster Presbyterian Church • 8PM •

Come enjoy a recital by the prizewinning organist Boyd Jones, of Stetson University! His wide-ranging program includes works of J.S. Bach, Mendelssohn, Hindemith, and William Grant Still, among others.

Admission is free, and a nursery is provided. Visit musicaorgani.org. • FREE

Sunday, April 2

Produced by Alexia Productions. Dancers from New York, Alexandria Dancers, plus other local dancers.

Visit www.alexia-dance.com or call 865-898-2126. • $12-$15

Clarence Brown Theatre clarencebrowntheatre.com TOP GIRLS • What would you sacrifice to get to the top?

In a world of the “Supermom” and a shattering glass ceiling, Caryl Churchill’s play considers the conflicts that come with the pursuit of success and the desire to “have it all.” March 29-April 5 at Clarence Brown Lab Theatre. See Spotlight on page 29.

Knoxville Children’s Theatre knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com THE MIRACLE WORKER • Trapped in a secret, silent world,

unable to communicate, young Helen Keller is violent, spoiled, almost subhuman, and treated by her family as such. Only Annie Sullivan, a young Irish teacher, realizes there is a mind and spirit inside Helen, waiting to be rescued from the dark and tortured silence.

March 31-April 16. • $12

COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD Saturday, March 25 POBOYS AND POETS • Big Fatty’s Catering Kitchen • 8PM • Poboys and Poets Knoxville is a spoken-word poetry-based open mic that invites lyricists, songwriters, poets, and anyone who wants to share, listen, or both. Held on the fourth Saturday of every month. • FREE SET THE NIGHT TO MUSIC: OOH LIVE MUSIC CABARET AND BURLESQUE • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM • A cabaret and

burlesque showcase to all live music with Jeanine Fuller on vocals and Sam Adams on piano. • $10

READY FOR THE WORLD MUSIC SERIES: CHINA • University

Monday, March 27

of Tennessee Natalie L. Haslam Music Center • 2PM • The University of Tennessee’s Ready for the World Music Series brings renowned artists to perform and talk about musical styles and literature from diverse regions around the world. Visit music.utk.edu/rftw. • FREE

FRIENDLYTOWN • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • A weekly comedy night named after the former red-light district near the Old City. Visit acebook.com/friendlytownknoxville. 18 and up. • FREE

OAK RIDGE WIND ENSEMBLE AND COMMUNITY BAND: MUSIC OF NORTH AMERICA • Oak Ridge High School •

OPEN MIC STAND-UP COMEDY • Longbranch Saloon •

3:30PM • Featuring music by American composers with trumpet soloist Tim Michaels, vocal soloist Deidre Ford, and the band’s own Dixieland Ensemble.

Admission is $5 for adults over age 18. For more information visit www.orcb.org or call 865-482-3568. • $5

THEATER AND DANCE Sunday, April 2

Tuesday, March 28 8PM • Come laugh until you cry at the Longbranch every Tuesday night. Doors open at 8:30, first comic at 9. No cover charge, all are welcome. Aspiring or experienced comics interested in joining in the fun can email us at longbranch.info@gmail.com to learn more, or simply come to the show a few minutes early.

• FREE EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • FREE

Wednesday, March 29 THE DELIGHTS IMPROV TROUPE • The Open Chord • 8PM

ARABIAN NIGHTS DANCE SHOW • Mirage • 6:30PM • March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 31

March 23 – April 2

FESTIVALS Thursday, March 23 BIG EARS 2017 • The 2017 version of Big Ears,

Knoxville’s internationally acclaimed annual festival of out-there music, has announced its biggest and broadest lineup yet, with a group of legendary septuagenarians, mid-career music legends in the making, and dozens of promising young artists who are redefining how we hear and think about music. • See cover story on page 14.

Friday, March 24 BIG EARS 2017 • The 2017 version of Big Ears,

Knoxville’s internationally acclaimed annual festival of out-there music, has announced its biggest and broadest lineup yet, with a group of legendary septuagenarians, mid-career music legends in the making, and dozens of promising young artists who are redefining how we hear and think about music. • See cover story on page 14.

Saturday, March 25 Photo courtesy of Legacy Parks

HappyHealthySmart Symposium East Tennessee History Center (601 S. Gay St.) • Wednesday, March 29 • 5:30-8 p.m. • Free • communitydc.org As downtown Knoxville’s resurgence continues seemingly unabated—going beyond restoring old buildings and now erecting all-new ones—let’s pause in our self-congratulation to consider that there are things we could be doing better. Connecting people and places in ways other than cars and parking lots may require some imagination these days (or perhaps a good memory), but the East Tennessee Community Design Center is here to start the conversation with its HappyHealthySmart Symposium.

Co-presented by the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization, the symposium will gather local and national experts to discuss “what makes a happier, healthier and smarter region.” If learning about community planning seems like an esoteric way to spend your Wednesday evening, please reconsider.

“The way our communities are designed impacts much more than just aesthetics,” says ETCDC director Wayne Blasius. “Economic success, commuting time, transportation costs, and even public health, are impacted by the way our places are organized and laid out.”

These public forums will present short, informative videos, interspersed with expert commentary. Plus: City Council member Marshall Stair will show his smash-hit 2016 PechaKucha presentation on zoning and walkability. (Coury Turczyn)

32 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

TENNESSEE VALLEY CAT FANCIERS CAT SHOW • Chilhowee Park • 10AM • You do not have to be a fat cat to attend the Tennessee Valley Cat Fanciers 40th Anniversary Cat Show. Come learn about all breeds of cats at the show. For more information to purruse head here www.tennesseevalleycatfanciersinc.com.

BIG EARS 2017 • The 2017 version of Big Ears, Knoxville’s internationally acclaimed annual festival of out-there music, has announced its biggest and broadest lineup yet, with a group of legendary septuagenarians, mid-career music legends in the making, and dozens of promising young artists who are redefining how we hear and think about music. • See cover story on page 14.

Sunday, March 26 TENNESSEE VALLEY CAT FANCIERS CAT SHOW • Chilhowee

Park • 9AM • For more information to purruse head here www.tennesseevalleycatfanciersinc.com.

BIG EARS 2017 • The 2017 version of Big Ears, Knoxville’s internationally acclaimed annual festival of out-there music, has announced its biggest and broadest lineup yet, with a group of legendary septuagenarians, mid-career music legends in the making, and dozens of promising young artists who are redefining how we hear and think about music. • See cover story on page 14.

FILM SCREENINGS Monday, March 27 BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL WORLD TOUR • Bijou Theatre • 7PM • The Banff Mountain Film Festival is the most prestigious mountain festival in the world. Right after the festival, held every fall in Banff, Alberta, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour starts to travel the globe with stops in about 450 communities

and 40 countries. • $17

Sports and Recreation Saturday, March 25 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: GATLINBURG TRAIL • Smoky Mountain Hiking Club • 8:30AM • We will take the Gatlinburg Trail to town where we will walk the perimeter of downtown & survey the recovery after the fire. We will have breakfast/lunch at the Log Cabin Pancake House before returning to our cars. Hike: 5.5 miles. Meet at Alcoa Food City, 121 North Hall Road, at 8:30 am or Sugarland’s Visitor center near restrooms at 9:30 am. Leader: David Smith, dcshiker@bellsouth. net. • FREE

Sunday, April 2 COVENANT HEALTH KNOXVILLE MARATHON AND HALF-MARATHON • World’s Fair Park • 7:30AM • The

Knoxville Marathon is the premier event of the Knoxville Track Club (KTC), a 501c(3) nonprofit located in Knoxville, TN. The event is produced by the KTC, with the help of the City of Knoxville, the University of Tennessee, and the title sponsor, Covenant Health. • $65-$80

ART Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts arrowmont.org FEB. 15-APRIL 8: Back to Work, mixed-media sculpture by Jackson Martin. MARCH 10-MAY 6: Un//known, new works

by Arrowmont artists in residence. A reception will be held on Friday, April 7, from 6-8 p.m.

Art Market Gallery artmarketgallery.net FEB. 28-MARCH 31: Art Market Gallery members’ Group Show.

Central Collective thecentralcollective.com MARCH 3-27: Wood/Metal/Clay/Cloth, an exhibit by Heather Ashworth, Katie Dirnbauer, Ellis Greer and Amanda Humphreys.

Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) claytonartscenter.com MARCH 6-24: Dogwood Arts Synergy Student Art Exhibition and Dogwood Arts Synergy Art Educator Exhibition.

Downtown Gallery downtown.utk.edu MARCH 3-31: Film and video art by Kevin Jerome Everson.

East Tennessee History Center easttnhistory.org NOV. 19-APRIL 30: Rock of Ages: East Tennessee’s Marble

March 23 – April 2

Industry.

Emporium Center for Arts and Culture knoxalliance.com MARCH 3-31: Abingdon Arts Depot Juried Members Exhibition; The Art of Surrealism by Jose Roberto; artwork

by Coral Grace Turner; Vintage Reinventions: Steampunk Creations by Eric Holstine, Jason Lambert, and Jason Edwards; and art by Joe Bracco.

Fluorescent Gallery 627 N. Central St. MARCH 17-30: Artwork by Dapper Bruce Lafitte.

Fountain City Art Center fountaincityartcenter.com THROUGH APRIL 6: Paintings by Aleex Connor. MARCH 10-APRIL 6: Southern Appalachian Nature Photography Society Exhibition and Knoxville Book Arts Guild Exhibition.

Gallery 1010 art.utk.edu/gallery1010/ MARCH 23-25: Ride or Die, video art by Nathan Smith using reclaimed, remixed, and reinterpreted footage from the Fast and Furious film series.

Knoxville Museum of Art knoxart.org JAN. 27-APRIL 16: Outside In, new paintings by Jered

Sprecher. FEB. 3-APRIL 16: Virtual Views: Digital Art From the Thoma Foundation. 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 mcclungmuseum.utk.edu FEB. 3-MAY 7: Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt.

Ongoing: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier.

Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce oakridgechamber.org FEB. 23-MARCH 23: Atomic Integration, photographs by Ed Westcott of the African-American experience during the Manhattan Project.

Old City Java oldcityjava.com MARCH 3-31: New Schema, paintings by Van Walker.

RALA shoprala.com

MARCH 5-APRIL 30: Paintings by Shirley Wittman and Lauren Lazarus and blown glass by Johnny Glass.

FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS Friday, March 24 FAMILY WILDLIFE SERIES: AMPHIBIAN NIGHT HIKE • Ijams

Nature Center • 6PM • Spring is upon us and that means toads and frogs are singing! So join our newest naturalist Christie and take a hike through the park after dark. The fee for this program is $5 per person for Ijams members and $8 for non-members. Spaces for this event are very limited and pre-registration is required. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

• $5-$8

Saturday, March 25 MCCLUNG MUSEUM FAMILY FUN DAY: TO KITTIES’ HEALTH •

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 1PM • Join us for free a free Family Fun Day featuring activities, crafts, tours, and more.• FREE IJAMS CREATURE FEATURE • Ijams Nature Center • 10AM and 2PM • Have you met all the animals that call the Ijams Visitor Center home? If not, be sure to stop by every Saturday for a chance to get nose-to-beak with some of our resident furred and feathered ambassadors. This program is free, but donations to support animal care are welcome. • FREE

Sunday, March 26 IJAMS CREATURE FEATURE • Ijams Nature Center • 1PM •

Have you met all the animals that call the Ijams Visitor Center home? If not, be sure to stop by every Saturday for a chance to get nose-to-beak with some of our resident furred and feathered ambassadors.

This program is free, but donations to support animal care are welcome. • FREE

Monday, March 27 MCCLUNG MUSEUM STROLLER TOUR: ART AND MATERIALS

• McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 10AM • Join us for a morning out as our museum educator leads engaging gallery tours for parents and caregivers and their infants through four year olds. • FREE

Wednesday, March 29 IJAMS PRESCHOOL PLAY DATES • Ijams Nature Center • 10AM • Join us for our weekly playdates, where we build family relationships while having fun outside.

This program is free, but pre-registration is required.

Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register. • FREE

Saturday, April 1

MARCH 3-31: Paintings by Sarah Moore.

IJAMS CREATURE FEATURE • Ijams Nature Center • 10AM

Westminster Presbyterian Church wpcknox.org

and 2PM • Have you met all the animals that call the Ijams Visitor Center home? If not, be sure to stop by every Saturday for a chance to get nose-to-beak with

www.TennesseeTheatre.com Tickets available at the Tennessee Theatre box office, Ticketmaster.com and by phone at 800745-3000.

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 33

March 23 – April 2

some of our resident furred and feathered ambassadors. This program is free, but donations to support animal care are welcome. • FREE KTC COVENANT KIDS’ RUN AND 5K • World’s Fair Park • 5:30PM • Part of the Covenant Knoxville Marathon weekend of events. • $15-$35

IJAMS CREATURE FEATURE • Ijams Nature Center • 1PM •

Have you met all the animals that call the Ijams Visitor Center home? If not, be sure to stop by every Saturday for a chance to get nose-to-beak with some of our resident furred and feathered ambassadors. This program is free, but donations to support animal care are welcome. • FREE

Thursday, March 23 AN EVENING WITH AMY GREENE • East Tennessee History

Center • 7PM • Amy Greene will present the 2017 Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture. Bloodroot, Greene’s first novel, was a national bestseller. Her second novel, Long Man, is the story of people who were forced to relocate when the Tennessee Valley Authority decided to flood their town. Greene is

their work. Visit lib.utk.edu/writers/. • FREE

Friday, March 24

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN STUDIES SERIES: WOMEN IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIA • Blount County Public Library •

BOB CLEMENT: “MY JOURNEY FROM THE TENNESSEE GOVERNOR’S RESIDENCE TO THE HALLS OF CONGRESS •

Sunday, April 2

LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS

currently working on her third novel. • FREE

7PM • In honor of Women’s History Month, Loretta Howard, Judy Knight and Anne Van Curen will present composites of women: Cherokee, African American and European who would have lived in Southern Appalachia. • FREE

East Tennessee History Center • 6:30PM • From a colorful youth growing up in the governor’s mansion to a distinguished military career and eight terms as a United States Congressman, Bob Clement, son of former Tennessee Governor Frank Clement, has enjoyed a firsthand look at the politics of world events in the second half of the twentieth century. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.

EastTNHistory.org. • FREE

MICHELLE COMMANDER: ‘KINDRED’ • East Tennessee History Center • 6:30PM • Join Dr. Michelle Commander, University of Tennessee Department of English and Africana Studies program, for the discussion of Octavia Butler’s Kindred. • FREE

Monday, March 27

Wednesday, March 29

GEORGE VARUGHESE: “POLITICALLY INFORMED DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES IN FRAGILE AND CONFLICT-AFFECTED ENVIRONMENTS” • Howard H. Baker

BOOKS SANDWICHED IN • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • The Knox County Public Library’s monthly lecture series features local experts talking about recent books of interest. Visit knoxlib.org. • FREE MCCLUNG MUSEUM CIVIL WAR LECTURE SERIES • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 2PM • The McClung Museum’s seventh annual Civil War Lecture series, given by Civil War Curator Joan Markel, will be held at 2 p.m. one Sunday each month, from January– April. • FREE HEALTH HAPPY SMART PLANNING SYMPOSIUM • East

Center for Public Policy • 2PM • Varughese’s lecture addresses his personal work in development in both Nepal and Afghanistan. • 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

Tuesday, March 28

Tennessee History Center • 5:30PM • Symposium designed to share ideas and facilitate a dialogue on the themes of healthier, happier, smarter communities in the region. It will feature screenings of short documentary films addressing such concerns as community improvements that support good health, expand livability, and leverage new strategies and technology to improve access, equity, and economic competitiveness. Public involvement and input sessions; public speakers will engage on these issues.

• FREE • See Spotlight on page 32.

Thursday, March 30 HEALTH HAPPY SMART PLANNING SYMPOSIUM • Knoxville

Chamber • 9AM • Symposium designed to share ideas and facilitate a dialog on the themes of healthier , happier, smarter communities in the region. It will feature screenings of short documentary films addressing such concerns as community improvements that support good health, expand livability, and leverage new strategies and technology to improve access, equity, and economic competitiveness. Public involvement and input sessions; public speakers will engage on these issues. • FREE • See Spotlight on page TK. CLIFFORD ANDO: “KNOWING THE ROMAN STATE” • University of Tennessee John C. Hodges Library • 3:30PM • Clifford Ando will give a public address at

Bach or Basie?

Calling God on the Wrong Number: Religion in Hindi Cinema

Your music, your choice.

MARCH 28 5:30 PM Since December 2014, three of the biggest hits in the 100-year history of Indian cinema have been released. These include PK, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and Baahubali: The Beginning. What is striking is that the two Hindi films, PK and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, both comedies, are set the context of clearly designated Hindu practices, with two directly concerning Muslims and Pakistan. In her talk, Professor Dwyer will discuss how these films show religious groups in a new way, breaking with the conventions of the Islamicate genres, showing different communities and their beliefs and practices. The connection between the films and the current imaginary in India is complex and exciting.

Your classical and jazz station.

FIX THIS BASTARD 34 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017 WUOT_Ad_4.625x5.25_ClassicalJazz_KnoxMerc.indd 2

TUESDAY

9/17/16 5:00 PM

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, Auditorium Reception to follow.

Free and open to the public.

SPEAKER:

Rachel Dwyer Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema School of Oriental and African Studies University of London religion.utk.edu

March 23 – April 2

the next installment of the UT Humanities Center 5th Annual Distinguished Lecture Series. His presentation is entitled “Knowing the Roman State: The Epistemics of Sovereignty.” Was the Roman empire a territorial state? More precisely, when did the Romans come to think of themselves as ruling over a contiguous territory and governing all its people? Visit uthumanitiesctr.utk.edu/scholars/current.php. • FREE CHRISTIANE PAUL: SARAH JANE HARDRATH KRAMER LECTURE • Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • Christiane

Paul, associate professor in the School of Media Studies at the New School and adjunct curator of new media arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art will present the 10th Annual Sarah Jane Hardrath Kramer Lecture. Paul has written extensively on new media arts, lectured internationally on art and technology, and is the recipient of the Thoma Foundation’s 2016 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art. She will discuss the exciting new directions in digital art represented in the museum’s current exhibition Virtual Views: Digital Art from the Thoma Foundation. • FREE

Saturday, April 1 SATURDAY MORNING PHYSICS • University of Tennessee •

10AM • Antimatter. The Big Bang. Ghostly neutrinos. The public is invited to spend Saturday mornings this spring with the University of Tennessee Department of Physics and Astronomy, learning about intriguing and newsworthy science topics. Saturday Morning Physics will feature physics faculty talking about their areas of expertise and how they pertain to the world around us.

• FREE

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS Thursday, March 23 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios •

12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@ gmail.com. Donations accepted.

KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: SUCCESSFUL SEED STARTING • Humana Guidance Center • 3:15PM • Start

your own seeds to get varieties of veggies, herbs, flowers that you can’t find as plants at the local stores.

Join Master Gardeners Barbara O’Neil and Marsha Lehman to learn the basic steps to successfully start seeds and care for those seedlings until they can be set out in beds or containers. Free seed packets will be available, while supplies last. Call 865-329-8892.

• FREE 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 BEGINNER ACROYOGA CLASS • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 7:30PM • Each class explores the foundations of the AcroYoga practice. We work closely with spotters,

providing a safe and supported environment for newcomers to immerse themselves in the practice.

Come and learn what it means to trust, to let go, to fly, and to play. No partner needed. • $15 BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance. com. • $12

Saturday, March 25 STRAW BALE GARDENING CLASS • Knoxville Botanical Garden • 9AM • Straw bale gardening is a great way to grow food on limited space without disturbing the landscape. This is a popular gardening technique with folks who rent homes or who have limited mobility.

Join us to learn how to start a straw bale garden at your home. John Tullock – a local garden guru, author, and authority on straw bale gardens – will lead the workshop. • $15-$20 KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS • Bearden Branch Public Library • 1:30PM • Join Mike Powell to learn how to construct raised beds and fill them. And since raised beds are just a really big container, the talk will include choosing the proper size and type of container and mix for those who do container gardening.

865- 588-8813 or web knoxlib.org • FREE CLIMBING FUNDAMENTALS • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Come learn the basics of climbing every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Space is limited so call 865-673-4687 to reserve your spot now. Class fee $20. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • $20 NARROW RIDGE YOGA • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • Come stretch, sweat, breathe and release with us every Saturday morning with yoga instruction from Angela Gibson. For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@narrowridge. org. • FREE AUTOSOMAL DNA FOR GENEALOGY • East Tennessee History Center • 1PM • Every cell in your body has a set of chemical strings called DNA. They contain DNA inherited from many of the ancestors in your family tree. Modern technology permits us to find the portions given to you by your forebears. By correlating this information with your genealogical research, you can trace back to most, if not all, of your ancestors through the past five generations. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-2158824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org. • FREE LIGHTWEIGHT BACKPACKING BASICS • REI • 9AM • Do you want to try backpacking but worry about carrying a heavy pack? Join an REI backpacking expert who will provide excellent tips on lightweight backpacking techniques. • FREE BACKPACKING BASICS • REI • 12PM • REI will take the mystery out of Backpacking with an overview of planning, preparation and gear. Learn how to choose a pack, select proper clothing and footwear. • FREE HIKING THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL: TRIP PLANNING • REI • 3PM • Come learn the basics of what you will need to know to get started hiking the Appalachian Trail. This

in-store class will give you a solid foundation to get you started planning everything from a short hike to a long backpacking trip. This course helps start you on a journey of a lifetime. • FREE HIKING THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL: FOOD AND EQUIPMENT • REI • 6PM • Considering a hike on the Appalachian Trail? Whether you are thru hiking or just taking a short weekend trip, REI Outdoor School can help you prepare for the trail. In this class, we will discuss details of food and equipment selection, including picking the right clothing/layers, and gear details. • FREE

Sunday, March 26 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE BALLET BARRE CLASS • Emporium

Center for Arts and Culture • 1PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE: MODERN DANCE FOUNDATIONS CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 2PM •

Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10

Monday, March 27 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: QUICK AND TASTY COOKING • Cancer Support Community • 12PM • Call

865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios • 6PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail. com. Donations accepted.

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 MONDAY NIGHT YOGA • Church Street United Methodist Church • 7PM • Cost is $5, with first class free. Bring a mat and strap. In the class we stretch, bend and relax with low light and music. It is suitable for beginners and all levels. No advance registration required.

Contact Micarooni@aol.com with questions. • $5

Tuesday, March 28 KMA CLAY AND FAUNA WORKSHOP • Knoxville Museum of Art • 10AM • Jump into spring with clay creations such as floral wall hangings, garden animals or vessels. Learn clay hand-building and sculpture basics while you create wall reliefs or garden animals.

Marvel at how fun and easy it is to bring clay to life.

This workshop is tailored to all skill levels, just bring your imagination. All sculptures are fired and completed with Patina finishes. Materials, tools, firing included. March 14-April 11. Visit knoxart.org. • $150 KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: BUILD ‘EM AND FILL ‘EM • Karns Senior Center • 11AM • Join Mike Powell to

learn how to construct raised beds and fill them. And since raised beds are just a really big container, the talk will include choosing the proper size and type of container and mix for those who do container gardening. Call 865-951-2653. • FREE GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios • March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 35

March 23 – April 2

12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@ gmail.com. Donations accepted.

KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • Visit capoeiraknoxville.org. • $10 SHEBOOM!: A WEEKLY DROP-IN DANCE CLASS FOR ALL BODIES

• Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 6PM • • $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

Wednesday, March 29 MAKE YOUR OWN HOMEMADE WINE • Ijams Nature Center

• 6PM • Join local wine maker, Mike Hardin, as he teaches you how to make a grape table wine using frozen grape juice and a few other ingredients.

Pre-registration and pre-payment is required; please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to save your spot. 21 and up. • $50-$60 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL BALLET CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6:30PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10

Thursday, March 30 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios •

12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@ gmail.com. Donations accepted.

KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts

and Culture • 6PM • Visit capoeiraknoxville.org. • $10

BIKE POLO 101 • DreamBikes • 7PM • Come on out to

KNOXVILLE PERSONAL TRAINING PILATES • Beaver Creek

Dream Bikes and learn about the glorious emerging sport known as Hardcourt Bike Polo! • FREE

Cumberland Presbyterian Church • 6:30PM • Every Tuesday and Thursday. First class is free. Call (865) 622-3103 or visit knoxvillepersonaltraining.com. • $4 SEYMOUR FARMERS MARKET GARDENING CLASSES • Seymour Public Library • 7PM • Seymour Farmers Market will again be sponsoring a series of free gardening classes. These classes are fun and informative for both the novice and experienced gardener. Please contact Marjie Richardson at 865-453-0130. The schedule includes: planning a garden (Jan. 26); “It’s Soil, Not Dirt” (Feb. 2); improving your soil (March 30); and heirloom crops (April 6). • FREE BEGINNER ACROYOGA CLASS • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 7:30PM • Each class explores the foundations of the AcroYoga practice. We work closely with spotters, providing a safe and supported environment for newcomers to immerse themselves in the practice.

Come and learn what it means to trust, to let go, to fly, and to play. No partner needed. • $15 BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance. com. • $12 HIKING BASICS • REI • 6PM • Go take a hike—learn about the basics of hiking, from trip planning, essential items, equipment, safety precautions, along with local resources and places to go. • FREE

Saturday, April 1 NARROW RIDGE YOGA • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@narrowridge.org. • FREE

test. Program is free, but pre-registration is required.

Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register. • FREE

MEETINGS Thursday, March 23 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS/DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES • The Birdhouse • 6PM • Contact Laura at

Sunday, April 2 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE BALLET BARRE CLASS • Emporium

Center for Arts and Culture • 1PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: KNIT YOUR WAY TO WELLNESS • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • Call

706-621-2238 or lamohendricksll@gmail.com for more information or visit the international ACA website at adultchildren.org. • FREE BLACK LIVES MATTER • The Birdhouse • 7:30PM • Visit blacklivesmatterknoxville.org. • FREE

865-546-4661. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

Friday, March 24

CIRCLE MODERN DANCE: MODERN DANCE FOUNDATIONS CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 2PM •

son-Boling Arena • 12PM • Visit scienceforum.utk.edu.

• FREE

Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 WILDFLOWER WALK • Ijams Nature Center • 2PM • Join wildflower aficionados Lynne and Bob Davis for an indoor workshop on how to quickly use your favorite field guide to ID an unknown flower. Afterwards, Lynne and Bob will lead a walk to look for early spring ephemerals and put your newly-learned skills to a

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE SCIENCE FORUM • Thomp-

Saturday, March 25 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE AGAPE CAFE • St. Paul United Methodist Church • 6:30PM • St. Paul United Methodist Church seeks to

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March 23 – April 2

combine TED Talks and the Chautauqua tents of the early 20th century into one package called the Agape Cafe, celebrating life through music, art, talks and performances. • FREE NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • The gatherings are intended to be inclusive of people of all faiths as well as those who do not align themselves with a particular religious denomination. For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@ narrowridge.org. • FREE

Sunday, March 26 SUNDAY ASSEMBLY • The Concourse • 10:30AM • Sunday

Assembly is a secular congregation without deity, dogma, or doctrine. Our motto: Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More. To find out more, visit knoxville-tn. sundayassembly.com or email saknoxville.info@ gmail.com. • FREE AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE

Monday, March 27 COMMUNITY DEFENSE WEEKLY MEETING • Tabernacle

Baptist Church • 6PM • Are you facing criminal charges? Do you know someone who could use support with a criminal case? Community Defense of East Tennessee is a grassroots organization of community members who provide support for families and individuals facing charges in the criminal justice system. Contact us at communitydefenseET@gmail. com or (865) 214-6546. • FREE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN BIKE CLUB • Sweet P’s Barbecue and Soul House • 7PM • Interested in getting involved with the mountain biking community here in Knoxville? The Appalachian Mountain Bike Club meets the fourth Monday of each month. Visit ambc-sorba. org. • FREE

Tuesday, March 28 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE ATHEISTS SOCIETY OF KNOXVILLE • West Hills Flats and Taps • 5:30PM • Visit meetup.com/KnoxvilleAtheists. • FREE THREE RIVERS! EARTH FIRST! • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Call (865) 257-4029 for more information. • FREE

Wednesday, March 29 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE THE BOOKAHOLICS BOOK GROUP • Union Ave Books • 12PM • Union Ave Books’ monthly book discussion group.

Visit unionavebooks.com. • FREE

Thursday, March 30

AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS/DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES • The Birdhouse • 6PM • Contact Laura at

706-621-2238 or lamohendricksll@gmail.com for more information or visit the international ACA website at adultchildren.org. • FREE

Friday, March 31 UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • Visit scienceforum.utk.edu. • FREE

Saturday, April 1 SEEKERS OF SILENCE • Church of the Savior United Church of Christ • 9AM • Seekers of Silence is an ecumenical and interfaith gathering of men and women who come together to listen. Visit sosknoxville.org. • FREE 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 • The gatherings are intended to be inclusive of people of all faiths as well as those who do not align themselves with a particular religious denomination. For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@ narrowridge.org. • FREE

Sunday, April 2 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE

ETC. Thursday, March 23 PINTS FOR A PURPOSE • Little River Trading Co.

(Maryville) • 5PM • Pints for a Purpose will be held every fourth Thursday of the month. It’s a win-win event—good company, a chance to win awesome prizes, and of course enjoyment of delicious New Belgium Brewing beer all in efforts to help out a wonderful community organization. • FREE

Saturday, March 25 KEEP KNOXVILLE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH KNOX CLEANUP • Sam

Duff Memorial Park • 9AM • Keep Knoxville Beautiful will be hosting the community-wide South Knoxville Cleanup. The event will kick off at Sam Duff Memorial Park. We are looking for individuals, neighborhood groups, businesses, and more to participate. • FREE CRYSTALLINE LIGHT EXPO • Rothchild Conference and Catering Center • 9:30AM • Practitioners will be offering their time and talents to deliver a day of amazing services and informative lectures. Lectures featured all day are included in the admission price.

Visit a number of gifted healers offering mini sessions March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 37

March 23 – April 2

for massage, energy healing, sound healing, aura photography, intuitive readings and much more. • $7 NOURISH KNOXVILLE WINTER FARMERS’ MARKET • Central United Methodist Church • 10AM • Visit nourishknoxville.org. • FREE KNOXVILLE ALTERNATIVE FASHION WALK • World’s Fair Park • 1PM • The idea is to dress in your favorite styles ie. Steampunk, Goth or Cosplay your favorite characters and show off our creativity. • FREE

Tuesday, March 28 HABIT BARBECUE AND BIDDING • Knoxville Museum of Art

• 5PM • An event celebrating and promoting the special relationship between humans and animals is becoming a yearly festivity at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Human Animal Bond in Tennessee (HABIT) is a non-profit group of volunteers that work to develop the bond between humans and animals. This animal-assisted interaction program provides many opportunities to create relationships between animals and people in venues such as nursing homes, classrooms, courtrooms, assisted-living residences and many more.

Friday, March 31 ARTITUDE • 6PM • Artitude is an annual spring event

featuring a silent auction of upcycled and reinvented works of art for the home and garden, all created by

local and regional artists. In partnering with Dogwood Arts, the spirit of Artitude celebrates courage and survivorship through works of art. Held at Cherokee Mills on Sutherland Avenue. • $50

Saturday, April 1 UT SCHOOL OF MUSIC GALA 2017 • 6PM • Join us for a Night in the Caribbean full of wonderful music, fine dining, and lively auctions. All contributions from this black tie event will fund scholarships to attract the very best young musicians to the University of Tennessee, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Pilot Flying J. OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE MASKAPALOOZA FUNDRAISER • Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge • 6:30PM • Dancing, live auction, mask competition, heavy hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, complimentary wine and beer. $60 per person. RSVP to Linda Hudson by March 15, 2017 at lady.vols.rock@gmail.com or 865.288.3166. • $60 MABRY-HAZEN HOUSE PARK DAY • Mabry-Hazen House • 9AM • Celebrating over 20 successful years, Park Day has attracted volunteers of all ages and abilities bound by their dedication to serving their communities at historic sites nationwide. Mabry-Hazen House will participate in Park Day with activities including mulching, removal of invasive plants, and general spring-cleaning. Additional information about the event can be obtained by visiting www.mabryhazen.

com or by calling 865-522-8661. Please RSVP by March 30. • FREE FRIENDS OF THE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY ANNUAL USED BOOK SALE • Chilhowee Park • 10AM • Friends of

the Knox County Public Library will hold its annual used book sale April 1-4. Thousands of carefully selected quality used books will be for sale—most books for adults will be $1-$2. Saturday, April 1, is open only to members of Friends of the Knox County Public Library. • FREE IVAN RACHEFF HOUSE AND GARDENS SPRING PLANT SALE • Ivan Racheff Historic House and Gardens • 9AM • Historic Ivan Racheff House and Gardens, state headquarters of the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, will have its annual Spring Plant Sale. Dozens of varieties of plants will be available for sale including herbs, succulents, native plants, annuals, perennials and wild flowers. All proceeds from the sale will benefit the maintenance of the gardens, which are open to the public at no charge from February 15 – December 15. For additional information contact Chairman Evelyn Lorenz at 865-435-4769. • FREE TENNESSEE VALLEY UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH RUMMAGE SALE • Tennessee Valley Unitarian

Universalist Church • 9AM • Our whole building will be transformed into a smorgasbord of oddities, knick-knacks, collectibles, furniture, antiques, household wares, and more. Proceeds from the

rummage sale go to support the work of the church to create a welcoming community and transform the world through acts of love and justice. • FREE EAST TENNESSEE PBS ANTIQUE APPRAISAL FAIR • 9AM • Case Antiques will host the East Tennessee PBS Antique Appraisal fair at the Historic Cherokee Mills Building at 2240 Sutherland Avenue. The appraisal fair is open to the public and guests are invited to bring their items including silver, jewelry, pottery, Civil War memorabilia, Native American, paintings, samplers/ textiles, furniture, books and more for appraisal.

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 4PM • Dancing is just as important as music in the Scottish tradition, and upbeat rhythms make for great foot stomping. Those that are more experienced can even present a well-practiced jig or reel. Led by Cynthia West on the first Saturday of every month. Visit jigandreel.com. • FREE

Sunday, April 2 FRIENDS OF THE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY ANNUAL USED BOOK SALE • Chilhowee Park • 10AM • Friends of

the Knox County Public Library will hold its annual used book sale April 1-4. Thousands of carefully selected quality used books will be for sale—most books for adults will be $1-$2. Saturday, April 1, is open only to members of Friends of the Knox County Public Library. • FREE

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SOLUTION TO CRYPTOQUOTE

I’m a native Tennessean. I know what it is to be free. I am singing the country blues. I am whittling a wooden doll.

I am underground mining coal. I am running moonshine. I am a white boy with a banjo. Native to west Africa….

Yeah. I am a native Tennessean.

— Nikki Giovanni, “Tennessean

by Birth” (excerpt) Source: Nikki Giovanni. Acolytes (New York, Ny, Harpercollins Publishers. Copyright By Nikki Giovanni 2007)

The Long View

Saturday, April 29

PERFORMANCES • Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $60-$120

FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE WITH DUSTIN LYNCH AND CHRIS LANE • Thompson-Boling Arena • 7 p.m. • $25-$75

Sunday, May 7

Monday, May 1

Photo by Mark Holthusen

MARK EITZEL

IN FLAMES WITH AVATAR • The International • 8 p.m. •

$25-$30 • 18 and up

PIERCE THE VEIL AND SUM 41 WITH EMAROSA AND CHAPEL

SCOTT BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX • Tennessee

• The International • 7 p.m. • $32-$60 • All ages

Theatre • 8 p.m. • $39.50-$105

TUESDAY, MAY 2 CHEVELLE WITH AEGOS AND DINOSAUR PILE-UP • The Mill

Tuesday, May 9

and Mine • 7:30 p.m. • $32-$35 • 18 and up

SPOON • The Mill and Mine • 8 p.m. • $25 • 18 and up

Wednesday, May 3

Thursday, May 18

I PREVAIL WITH STARSET, VAMPS, AND COVER YOUR TRACKS • The International • 7 p.m. • $20-$25 • All ages MACHINE GUN KELLY • Bijou Theatre • 7:30 p.m. • $20 •

and Mine • 8 p.m. • $30-$33

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE WITH CIRCUIT DES YEUX • The Mill

18 and up

Saturday, May 20

Friday, May 5

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW PERFORMING BLONDE ON BLONDE • Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $39.50-$49.50

STARS ON STAGE GALA FEATURING MARTINA MCBRIDE •

Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $59.50-$250

Wednesday, May 31 BEACH HOUSE • The Mill and Mine • 8 p.m. • $27 • 18 and

Tuesday, April 4

Sunday, April 23

Saturday, May 6

MARK EITZEL WITH HOWIE GELB • Pilot Light • 18 and up RICHARD THOMPSON WITH JOAN SHELLEY • Bijou Theatre

JASON ISBELL WITH WILLIAM TYLER • Tennessee Theatre

K CAMP WITH KLEAN KEAM AND TROP BLANCO • The

• 8 p.m. • $44-$79

International • 10 p.m. • $20-$60 • 18 and up

Friday, June 16

• 8 p.m. • $29.50-$45

THE TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS WITH THE CORDOVAS • The

MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES • Bijou

GLADYS KNIGHT • Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. •

Mill and Mine • 8 p.m. • $18 • 18 and up

Theatre • 8 p.m. • $35

$49.50-$115

Tuesday, April 25

Theatre • 8 p.m. • $23.50

SURFER BLOOD • The Concourse • 8 p.m. • $12-$15 • 18

Thursday, April 6

and up

I LOVE THE ’90S TOUR WITH SALT-N-PEPA, ALL 4 ONE, COLOR ME BADD, COOLIO, TONE LOC, ROB BASE, AND YOUNG MC • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 7:30 p.m. • $43-$105 KENNY ROGERS • Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 7:30 p.m. •

Wednesday, April 26

$54.95-$99.95

THE BLACK ANGELS WITH A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS •

DAWES • Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $29

BLINK-182 WITH THE NAKED AND FAMOUS AND WAAVES •

Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 8 p.m. • $32-$86

DOGWOOD ARTS RHYTHM N’ BLOOMS MUSIC FESTIVAL •

Downtown • $65-$190

Saturday, April 15

Friday, April 28 CAGE THE ELEPHANT: LIVE AND UNPEELED - THE ACOUSTIC TOUR • Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $49.50 CODY JINKS WITH WARD DAVIS AND COLTER WALL • The

Mill and Mine • 8 p.m. • $25 • 18 and up

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE • Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. •

$25-$35

Tuesday, April 18 STEEL PANTHER • The International • 8 p.m. • $22-$45

Wednesday, April 19

Saturday, April 22 JASON ISBELL WITH WILLIAM TYLER • Tennessee Theatre CODY JINKS

Photo by Greg Giannukos

NATHANIEL RATELIFF AND THE NIGHT SWEATS WITH SERATONES • The Mill and Mine • 8 p.m. • SOLD OUT

• 8 p.m. • SOLD OUT

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

The Mill and Mine • 8 p.m. • $18 • 18 and up

DARK STAR ORCHESTRA • The International • 8 p.m. • $25

Friday, April 7-Sunday, April 9

BEACH HOUSE

Thursday, April 27

Friday, April 7 • 18 and up

BRIAN WILSON PRESENTS PET SOUNDS: THE FINAL Photo by Shawn Brackbill

THE WOOD BROTHERS WITH NOAM PIKELNY • Bijou

Photo by Windish Agency

Wednesday, April 5

up

March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 39

Photo by Drew Cain

Voice in the Wilderness

Photos by Kim Trevathan

Trek Hard Tackling the full-body workout that is Big South Fork’s Honey Creek Loop

BY KIM TREVATHAN

W

hen Maryville College colleague Drew Crain invited me on a trip that he said was on his bucket list, I hoped for something extraordinary, a destination with challenges and adventure that would be memorable but also survivable. His choice—the Honey Creek Loop—did not let us down.

Our cursory research revealed much cautionary advice about this trail in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. Though it is only 5.5 miles long, hikers are advised to plan for at least five hours. People get

40 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

lost on this trail, particularly if they start too late and end up there after dark. It is slippery and rugged, plus there are many creek crossings, so it’s advised not to go immediately after a rain. Did the deluge of two nights earlier, we wondered, count as “immediately”?

Adjectives like “strenuous” and “extreme” kept surfacing in descriptions of Honey Creek Loop.

On the drive there, with snow in the forecast, the theme from Gilligan’s Island played in my head, with the words, “a five-hour hike,” in place of

Gilligan’s ominous “three-hour tour.”

Any trail that starts at an unpaved road scores points at the outset, and the fact that Honey Creek was a loop added extra credit, ranking it above out-and-back hikes that can be a letdown on the return.

The first mile sloped downhill next to a ditch-sized creek rushing with cold clear water. At a mile and a half or so, we got to the knee-busting terrain, rocky inclines and descents and narrow slots that required some contortion. Twice, we had to rappel down steep slick rock of 15 feet or so on knotted ropes that had been there for who knows how long.

After an hour of uphill scrambles and Mayan temple-like stairways, we both shed a layer of clothing, and the temperature was still in the 30s.

As the trail dipped down to a few hundred yards above the Big South Fork of the Cumberland, we paused next to Echo Rock and listened to the river’s voice sent back to us as a low roar. Soon we were on a path that closely followed the edge of the creek, and we had to take our time to look for the small trail signs (green hiker icon), the orange arrows painted on rocks, and the green blazes on trees.

We’d been able to rock-hop back and forth across the creek with relative ease up until a section of trail that disappeared into a wide section

of rushing water clogged with a complex spillage of boulders. I’d been “letting” Drew take the lead for the most part because he’s faster than me, but here he let me go ahead and be the problem solver. We could see the green hiker icon about 50 yards away on the other side of the creek, but the path there was problematic.

I climbed on top of a boulder, and after pausing in existential dread for a minute, jumped 4 feet or so over an abyss (15 feet to the cold, cold rushing water below) and then had to climb up the roots of a tree to make it to relatively level dry ground. Drew took an easier, more practical path that didn’t take as long and excluded the hurdle.

At what we judged to be about the halfway point, we began to wonder where the overlook was. And then the trail signs began to change. Instead of the green hikers we began to see the Sheltowee Trace turtle icon and the bearded profile of John Muir, indicating his namesake trail. To complicate things, it began to spit snow. We saw a couple of hikers, but they were at the top of a bluff that we had no access to.

How did they get there?

We both had the same dreadful thought that we might have somehow circled back to the same terrain we’d passed, going the wrong way on the loop. Where was the damn overlook?

After a bit, the green hiker signs

Creek all the more interesting. It took us about four hours.

The park recommends going counterclockwise on the loop, probably because the two rappelling sections would be uphill if you went clockwise.

The drive was two hours from Maryville, probably a half hour less from Knoxville. Aside from the interesting complexity and spectacular scenery of Honey Creek Loop, there’s the added benefit of a full-body workout, arms and legs and back.

To get there, take I-75 north and exit at Highway 63. Go through Huntsville and take a left on Highway 27.

After you cross the New River, turn right on Mountain View Road and follow the brown park signs to Burnt Mill Bridge. The trailhead is about 3 miles from the bridge. To take the counterclockwise route, go across the road from the parking lot and up the short flight of stairs.

A writing instructor at Maryville College, Kim Trevathan is the author of Paddling the Tennessee River: A Voyage on East Water and Coldhearted River: A Canoe Odyssey Down the Cumberland.

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reappeared. (Honey Creek Loop overlaps with Sheltowee and John Muir for a stretch.) We passed more rock houses and spaceship-sized boulders and waterfall after waterfall, some tall and thin, others shorter and more powerful, crashing through narrow passages.

Back at the trailhead were a couple of hikers from Indiana who had camped next to the Big South Fork the previous night. They had also missed the overlook and the ladders that lead up to it. So we felt better about missing the turnoff but a little guilty about driving from the trailhead to the overlook, a short walk from the road. By road or by trail, the commanding view of the gorge and the river are well worth a stop.

This is my new favorite hike. We descended through geologic time from the upland forest to the giant rock walls with the overhangs and narrow passages, on down to the surging river flashing white narrows downstream.

And then going back up, we returned to present time, the land of roads and gentler slopes. Having to solve the puzzles of the creek crossings and keeping track of the elusive, sometimes vanishing trail made Honey

Photos by Kim Trevathan

I climbed on top of a boulder, and after pausing in existential dread for a minute, jumped 4 feet or so over an abyss—15 feet to the cold, cold rushing water below.

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BY ANGIE VICARS

ngie Lynn, you are 8 years old. When are you going to get tired of this disco music?” Mom wanted to know.

“Never,” I insisted.

“It feels like it,” she said. “How many times have I called the radio station to play that ‘Dancing Queen’ song for you?”

“Not enough,” I argued. “If we had a record player, I could listen to ‘Dancing Queen’ all the time.”

“Oh lord.” Mom put her hand to her forehead. “You are not helping your case.”

“But Mom, I saw you dancing to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ the other day,” I blurted. “It came on the radio while you were ironing.”

“Child, do you ever take a nap when I tell you to?”

I went for broke, even though Mom was frowning. “When Dad drives the station wagon, he cranks up Johnny Cash and rolls the windows down. Our cousins blast Kiss on that stereo that looks like a cabinet. But your own children are stuck with a busted eight-track Dad got at a flea market.”

Mom looked like she wanted to strangle me, except that I had touched a chord, if you will.

“Well, your brother’s birthday is coming up,” she said. “If I convince your father to get a record player, you’re not getting any songs by Abba.”

“I don’t care,” I lied as I jumped for joy.

“And none of their albums either,” she added.

“That’s fine, whatever.” I ran out

to tell my brother, who had pinky sworn to share a record player if I talked Mom into it.

We started putting Kmart sale papers with the plug-and-player in places where my parents would see them: Mom’s rocking chair, Dad’s wingback chair, and of course the bathroom. We imagined taking the player wherever we went, lugging along our stacks of albums and 45s.

Our cousins and their stereo cabinet would have nothing on us.

When my brother ripped the birthday paper off the beige hard plastic plug-and-player, he was thrilled, although his first album was unexpected.

“Rod Stewart’s Night on the Town?” he said, holding up the cover.

“A British heart throb with poofy hair?”

“I don’t care for his looks,” Mom assured us, “but the clerk said he’s on top of the charts. Do you not like him either?”

“Are you crazy?” I said to my brother. “Who cares what you play?

Just put it on.”

He dropped the needle on Rod’s number-one hit. “Tonight’s the night,” Rod crooned, “It’s gonna be alright.”

But he sounded like he was trapped in a tiny tin can instead of un-belting his way into a hot woman’s bell bottoms.

Even after my brother turned the volume to max, Rod’s declarations had a definite lack of lung power. The plug-and-player had a solo speaker as small as my sneaker.

“You kids look like you lost your best friend,” Dad said. “Open your

other album, son.”

My brother perked up when he pulled the paper off Songs in the Key of Life. “This will sound way better,” he assured me. “Here comes ‘Sir Duke.’”

As soon as the horns started playing, I shook my head. “It sounds like Stevie Wonder’s band is farting.”

“That’s not very nice,” Dad cautioned me.

Dad tried to help us engineer better sound for the plug-and-player— setting it on a stack of World Books, blowing a fan behind it, taping the album covers together like the Wall of Sound—but nothing worked.

“Son,” Dad finally admitted, “I think this thing is doing all it can.”

My brother’s face was as long as Stevie Wonder’s braids. Our cousins’ stuck-in-place stereo cabinet was cooler than our plug-and-player, but we didn’t ask Mom and Dad if we could live with them.

Instead, we moped our way through mono versions of Fleetwood Mac and Foreigner while my brother saved his summer-job money and bought a stereo we couldn’t take anywhere. Not that we needed to. The speakers were so big, everyone on our street could hear us playing Love You Live by the Rolling Stones and my cousins’ Christmas gift, The Album by Abba.

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.”

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.

Rod crooned, “It’s gonna be alright.” But he sounded like he was trapped in a tiny tin can instead of un-belting his way into a hot woman’s bell bottoms.

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March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 43

That ’70s Girl | Sacred & Profane | Cartoon | Puzzles

Prince Of Fortune A sudden reunion with a hometown friend

BY DONNA JOHNSON

I

an and Nicolas swept into Architectural Antics in the grand manner of those who are handsome, rich, and know it—but without the arrogance that renders such qualities distasteful and unattractive.

Ian was wearing a dark green trench coat belted at the waist over gray wool trousers and a starched white shirt open at the neck. Nicolas’ black hair was tied in a ponytail and he wore a burgundy jacket made of the softest velvet, with a blue silk scarf tied loosely round his neck that emphasized the deep brown of his eyes. Both of them were stunning, with such grace and self-possession that I felt as if in the presence of royalty.

“Hello, Asa,” they said.

I had an elusive memory of making conversations with them after drinking too much. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the things we had discussed or their names. So I faked it, returning their embrace as if they were long-lost brothers.

“Oh, hey,” I said, all joviality and warmth, while thinking: Who are these people and where do I know them from?

Clearly they were a couple, as evidenced by a lingering hand on the shoulder, the intimacy with which they looked at each other when agreeing on an object to buy, and their happy familiarity as they sauntered around the antique store off North Broadway. They took me along with them around the store as though I

44 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

were a close friend or family member, and after awhile I felt as though I was.

They called me Asa, a completely fictional name I created more than 20 years ago to sell a series of paintings called “Extraordinary Women."

“Do you remember how we first met?” I finally ventured to ask. Ian scratched his head and thought for a moment.

“You know, I can’t remember,” he said, lighting a cigarette. “I think it was in Bearden. Maybe through another painter.”

“Cynthia Markert?” I asked.

“That’s it,” Ian exclaimed. “That’s how we met! You came to one of her shows. You know, we own more of Cynthia Markert’s paintings than anyone else in the world.”

“Lucky you,” I replied, for I love Markert’s flapper girls. “We have known each other for a long time, then.”

Warmed by our accidental reunion, they proceeded to buy 10-foot gargoyles, turn-of-the century tables, a statue of the Virgin Mary, and three or four bird baths.

“Who are you getting these for?” I asked.

“We have an antique business,” said Nicolas, running his slender hand over the body of a female statue as though he were feeling supple skin instead of an inanimate object. “We also have two houses, one in Sequoyah Hills and an apartment downtown.”

Ian wrote out a check to the

store’s owner, Dayton, with a flourish and a nod. “We’ll have someone pick these things up later today,” he said.

He might have been writing out a check for a $30 haircut instead of a check for hundreds of dollars at an exquisite store where I could barely afford a set of $20 wind chimes.

“Shall we go to Cocoa Moon for a cocktail?” Nicolas asked his partner, taking Ian’s arm.

“We shall,” said Ian, and once again I felt I was in the presence of royalty.

“Come along, Asa,” they said in unison, as they escorted me into a brand new silver Mercedes. For me it’s a treat riding in any car at all, but now, perched in the front seat of their convertible with the top down, I had become royalty myself for a few minutes.

It was over coffee and brandy at Cocoa Moon, in Market Square, that I discovered a most unusual thing—that Ian and I had more in common than I would ever have imagined. I was talking about property my family was trying to sell in Fentress County, when Ian did a double-take.

“Did you say Fentress County?” he asked.

“I did,” I replied, stirring my coffee.

He took my hand and looked me in the eye. “My dear. This is an unbelievable coincidence. Fentress County is where I come from, too. I was raised in Grimsley.”

“You’re kidding,” I replied, marveling once more at the intricacies and mysteries of a universe that brings together those who belong together at exactly the time they should meet.

I looked at this sophisticated man who might have just flown in from Rome or Paris, and tried to imagine him as a youth in Jamestown—Grimsley, no less, which was a community a few miles outside of Jamestown. It had, at most, a country store with baloney and cracker sandwiches, a country church, and a rural school. It was hard to imagine this man coming from such a place, let alone being gay there, for at that time in Jamestown and the surrounding communities it was all white Protestant—no blacks, no Jews, no Catholics, no anything different from the norm that was

Fentress County and its own. If you were anything other than that, you learned early on to hide it, for judgment was harsh in Southern small towns in the ’50s.

“I knew early on that I was different from other people, but I tried to ignore and repress the stirrings that were my natural birthright,” he said. “I pretended even to myself that I was like everyone else, but when I got older and left for the city, I knew I would never go back.”

Well, I am not gay, but I had known early on that I was different, too, in ways I can’t quite put into words. For one thing, even as a small child in hot, sweaty tent revivals, with mosquitoes flying all around, I knew there was something amiss with the preacher’s sermon. As he screamed about the flames of hell devouring us for all eternity, if we did not believe in “Je—sus,” I thought to myself: What kind of egomaniac would send people to everlasting hell just because they don’t believe in Him​?

“My granny owned the Rebel drive-in restaurant,” Ian said proudly, and I remembered well driving there after Sunday night church for a corn-dog, greasy French fries, and some fried chicken in a basket.

Listening to Ian talk about the Rebel drive-in, and the shirt factory I worked in for a short while that his mother managed, I suddenly felt 16 again, driving my white Mustang ’round and ’round the Rebel, looking for boys, looking for my girlfriends, sipping on a cup of root beer through a straw in a large Styrofoam cup filled with ice.

Ian and I just sat looking at one another. I wondered what it had been like for a him as a young boy, being different in a place where “different” was tantamount to a betrayal, struggling with feelings that were as natural to him as the wind blowing through the stately trees of downtown Jamestown.

To express his true self would have incurred a certainty of condemnation by the congregations of Fentress County. To pretend to be other than he was in order to be accepted must have caused a cognitive dissonance within himself that was not easy to bear.

As we got up to leave, we all clasped hands, like football players sharing a prayer before the game begins.

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That ’70s Girl | Sacred & Profane | Cartoon | Puzzles

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46 knoxville mercury March 23, 2017

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MULBERRY PLACE CRYPTOQUOTE

BY JOAN KEUPER

Each letter takes the place of another. Hint: In this solution, “L” replaces “V”.

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BYSRMTTY, “EITTIFFIMT (IOKIGHE) March 23, 2017 knoxville mercury 47

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