Vol. 3, Issue 13 May 11, 2017

MAY 11, 2017 knoxmercury.com

EVER EMERGING, SINCE 2015 V.

3/ N.13

Emerge Tennessee is training women to become Democratic candidates in a deep red state. Here’s Knoxville’s inaugural class.

BY ROSE KENNEDY

Meet Roddy Biggs, Human Rights Campaign Youth Ambassador

Jack Neely on President Andrew Johnson and His Building

KMA Shows Off Its Growing Collection of Beauford Delaney Art

Hands of Hope Mentors First-Time Moms Through Recovery

Join Us for Second Harvest Food Bank’s

35TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Featuring Grammy Award Winning Singer /Songwriter

PETER CETERA BABY WHAT A BIG SURPRISE • ONE GOOD WOMAN • FEELS LIKE HEAVEN • EVEN A FOOL CAN SEE • HARD TO SAY I’M SORRY GLORY OF LOVE • STAY THE NIGHT • ALONG COMES A WOMAN • YOU’RE THE INSPIRATION • (WANNA TAKE) FOREVER TONIGHT THE NEXT TIME I FALL • 25 OR 6 TO 4 • IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW • HARD HABIT TO BREAK

July 27, 2017 • Knoxville Convention Center • 6:00pm For Tickets, call (865) 521-0000 or purchase online at www.secondharvestetn.org.

www.secondharvestetn.org

2 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

May 11, 2017 | Volume 03: Issue 13 | knoxmercury.com “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” —Cormac McCarthy

HOWDY

6 The Laundromats of Knoxville

by Jessica Tezak

OPINION

8 Scruffy Citizen

Jack Neely reminds us who Andrew Johnson was and why he had a building named after him.

9 Perspectives

Joe Sullivan offers some suggestions on how to repair Tennessee’s suddenly invalidated billboard regulations.

10 Much Ado

Catherine Landis has a suggestion for constituents of Rep. Jimmy Duncan: repeal and replace.

A&E

22 Program Notes

The Flying Anvil Theatre company lands a new home; Tree Tops’ new release.

23 Music

Matthew Everett sees Night Colors.

24 Art COVER STORY

16 Six Who Dare In Tennessee’s 220 years of statehood, only two Democratic women have held office in the U.S. House of Representatives, and no woman in Tennessee has ever served as governor or been elected to the U.S. Senate. Just two Democratic women serve in Tennessee’s 33-member state Senate, and seven Democratic women in the 99-member Legislature. Emerge Tennessee wants to change that, recruiting women to run for office as Democrats. Rose Kennedy talks with Knoxville’s inaugural class.

NEWS 12 A Voice for Youth Pride

Roddy Biggs was recently honored in Washington, D.C. as one of 16 national Youth Ambassadors for the Human Rights Campaign. Who is he? Rose Kennedy finds out.

PRESS FORWARD 14 Hands of Hope

Hands of Hope provides mentors for first-time mothers in addiction treatment and/or recovery. Carol Z. Shane talks with mentor Brittany Hong.

VIRTUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS Now you can contribute to the Mercury on a monthly schedule! We may not actually mail you a copy, but you’ll be helping us produce all this content we give away each week. Go to knoxmercury.com/donate.

Denise Stewart-Sanabria peruses KMA’s new exhibit of work by Beauford Delaney.

24 Movies

April Snellings enlists with Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.

CALENDAR 26 Spotlights

Open Streets Knoxville and the Nine Lakes Wine Festival

OUTDOORS 42 Voice in the Wilderness

Kim Trevathan surveys local outdoorsy people to see what they’ve found (and lost) in the wilderness.

’BYE 44 News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

45 Restless Native

by Chris Wohlwend

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

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 3

From the Editor

Rewards & Readjustments

T

here is one day of the year when local journalists can momentarily shed their fear of pink slips and feel at ease with their place in the world: the Golden Press Card Awards luncheon, presented by the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists.

Every spring, reporters in print, TV, radio, and online submit their best work from the previous year to be judged by an out-ofstate SPJ chapter (this year, it was Florida). Then they gather at the UT Visitor’s Center on a Sunday afternoon to nosh, chit-chat, and bask in a sense of camaraderie among their competitors—before nervously waiting to find out what places they came in for each category. But even those who don’t come in first will agree that they have won the most fleeting sensation a journalist can experience these days: appreciation.

This year, as always, the Mercury chose to compete among large daily papers (circulation 25,000+) rather than in the non-daily division. We believe our work stands up to the best of the region despite our micro-sized staff. And the judges agreed, awarding us a total of 11 honors:

FIRST PLACE

• Feature Writing: “Adrift” by Clay Duda Judge’s comments: “Incredible, intimate reporting on an issue that’s been reported on extensively. This story allows the reader to see the state of homelessness in its rawest form, through someone who is living through it.”

• Investigative Reporting: “Sex in the Classroom” by S. Heather Duncan Judge’s comments: “A powerful piece that is very well researched and organized. Despite a lot of difficult issues here, the story clips along with the help of well-placed infographics and helpful subheds. What I love about this story is it raises and addresses an issue that people may not have previously perceived as a concern.”

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the causes and effects from governmental, business, and personal angles with dexterity and completeness.”

ON THE FROSTBITTEN EDGE OF LOCAL REPORTING JAN. 28, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM

V.

2 / N.4

SECOND PLACE MARCH 17, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM

diary A 24-hour livin g homeless of in Knoxville

V.

NOT TOUCHING THIS ONE

2/ N.11

S WORDS ANDBYPHOTO CLAY DUDA

NEWS

JACK NEELY

Fears of Residents Voice at Magnolia Gentrification Streetscape Forum

e Clues Readers Provid y of for a Secret Histor s Show Knoxville Rock

NEWS

MUSIC

Remains Del McCoury Old-Time the Last of the s Bluegrass Picker

Construction of $100,000 Gravit y Trail All Downhill From Here

JOE SULLIVANWrong

What’s Gone Vols With the Lady am?

Basketball Progr

Critics say Knox County ’s abstin inspire shame, blame ence-based sex education presentations , and fear • by S. Heathe r Duncan

JACK NEELY

Robert Birdw ell: A Farewell to Knoxv ille’s Artist of Urban Scenes

MUSIC

Kelle Jolly Unvei ls Knoxville’s First Women in Jazz Jam Festiv al

• Personal Columns: “Scruffy Citizen” by Jack Neely • General Reporting: “Real Estate Wranglings” by Clay Duda • Investigative Reporting: “Equal Protection” and “Citizen Review” (parts two and three of our series on the Knoxville Police Department) by Heather Duncan

THIRD PLACE Q&A

Erik Larson, Bestselling Author of LongForm Narrative Nonfi ction

• Reviews/Criticism: “Home Palate” column by Dennis Perkins Judge’s comments: “Good food writing appeals [to] all of the senses.

Dennis Perkins does just that. What elevates his work is that he challenges readers to experience flavors that may be new or different to them: Laotian, Central American, haute cuisine.

What’s more, Perkins puts the new restaurant openings in the context of the greater Knoxville restaurant scene.”

• Page Design: cover designs by Tricia Bateman Judge’s comments: “What separated the winner wasn’t clean, clear design or big, compelling art, it was Bateman’s creative use of typography. Sometimes that’s going big and bold, but she also can use type in classic and understated ways.” * Also: Series/Package/Project (for non-daily papers)—Thomas Fraser entered his Gatlinburg fire stories in this category, part of our cover story package, “Aftermath.”

Judge’s comments: “This work has scope beyond mere reporting of facts– it goes to the why, the how, and the what next. The writer(s) behind this series clearly spent time considering their angles to best report with both depth and breadth in ways other media outlets may have overlooked, covering

• General Reporting: “Prisoner Profiteering” by Heather Duncan • Series/Package/Project for our two Sevier County fire covers, “Fire on the Mountain” and “Aftermath” by Leslie Wylie Bateman, S. Heather Duncan, Thomas Fraser, Bruce McCamish, and Élan Young • Reviews/Criticism: Movie reviews by April Snellings * Also: April also won first place in “Work for Other Media” for an article she wrote in Rue Morgue Magazine: “The Witch of North Bennington: 100 Years of Shirley Jackson.”

—Coury Turczyn, ed.

SIGN UP! While plaudits for our stories and design are always nice, we also need to work on keeping our business competitive.

Starting this week, we’re going to begin a project to bolster our digital offerings. Our online readership has already reached the same size as our print readership—and it’s growing fast.

In order to balance our time between our print and online audiences, we’re balancing out our production schedule, too. That means you’ll only see our print edition every other week, but can expect more web-only content, emailed stories, and social media updates in the near future. You can be the first to know about it all by signing up for updates right now:

knoxmercury.com/email

DELIVERING FINE JOURNALISM SINCE 2015 The Knoxville Mercury is an initiative of the Knoxville History Project, a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit whose mission is to research and promote the history of Knoxville.

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 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 publishes 25,000 copies per issue, available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. © 2017 The Knoxville Mercury

H A PPY MOTH ER’S DAY! All mothers are historic, but here are a few memor able Moms.

to see the passage of the 19th amendment, and ran for Knoxville City Council in 1923, but lost. At the time of her death at age 75, she was in Washington, lobbying for women’s causes. She is represented as the central figure in the Suffrage Memorial on Market Square.

Mother’s Day started around 1908, when Anna Jarvis, of Grafton, W.V., proposed the holiday just after her own mother’s death. She intended it as a way to remember to show our mothers that we appreciate them. However, she became troubled by how quickly the holiday became commercialized.

She especially disliked the idea of mass-produced cards. She thought children should express their sentiments in their own words.

Mothers have always been important in history, of course, but some Knoxville mothers are especially remarkable. Margaret Cowan Humes Ramsey was born in 1777, 240 years ago next month. Each of her husbands died young, leaving her pregnant with another child.

Her second husband was Irish immigrant Thomas Humes, who built what we now know as the Lamar House, the front part of the Bijou Theatre. They may have intended it as a residence, but after Thomas’s death, Margaret opened it as a hotel. In 1817, she was the only woman on a board that attempted to start a public library.

Major novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett was a daughter of a single mother. From Manchester, England, widow Eliza Hodgson and her children arrived in Knoxville at the end of the Civil War. In her autobiographical book, The One I Knew the Best of All, the author remembered her mother in a chapter called “Mamma.”

Burnett wrote the memoir in the third person and from the point of view of a child, referring to herself as “the Small Person”:

Margaret Cowan Humes Ramsey (17771856), a businesswoman and leader of Knoxville’s first library movement, outlived three husbands, and along the way gave birth to seven children, several of whom became community leaders. June 15 is her 240th birthday.

That effort lasted only a few years, but she may have had a maternal influence on a later library project that lasted. One son, also named Thomas Humes, grew up to become a journalist, an Episcopal priest, and the president of the University of Tennessee. With the establishment of Lawson McGhee Library in 1886, he became its first head librarian.

Margaret was almost 77 when she died, and she’s buried at First Presbyterian Church downtown, and her stone is inscribed, “A MOTHER IN ISRAEL.” From the Book of Judges, it’s a reference to Deborah, the Bible’s only female judge.

Lizzie Crozier French (1851-1926) is remembered as Knoxville’s most outspoken women’s rights activist. She married at age 21, and had one child, but her husband died soon after. As a single mother, she raised her son William. She lived as a widow for more than 50 years. For most of that time, she was an advocate for Suffrage, or women’s right to vote. She lived

“There were Mammas who were not quite so nice—who wore more ribbons in their caps and who could be seen at a greater distance, and who had not such soft voices, and such almost timidly kind smiles and words for everyone. The Small Person was always thankful after interviews with such Mammas that her own was the one who belonged to her, and to whom she belonged.”

When Frances was about 20, her mother died, and is buried in Old Gray Cemetery. Soon after, Frances married Dr. Swan Burnett and became a mother herself. Her second son, Vivian, became the model for one of her most famous characters, Little Lord Fauntleroy. The baby buggy she reputedly used here is sometimes displayed at Blount Mansion.

Like the Mercury? Interested in new research into Knoxville history? You can help sustain both with a gift to the Knoxville History Project, by helping us renew this educational page for another year. See knoxvillehistoryproject.org, or send tax-deductible donations to KHP at 516 West Vine Ave., #8, Knoxville, TN 37902.

The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, Lawson McGhee Library Image courtesy of Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection • cmdc.knoxlib.org

Source

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

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 5

DUMPSTER highlights DIVE Weekly from our blog HOYOS PROTESTS “STREAMLINING” STREAM PROTECTIONS Renee Hoyos, Tennessee Clean Water Network’s executive director, was one of 150 people to speak about the potential repeal or replacement of federal protections for public waters at a public listening session being held by the EPA on May 2. The forum provided feedback to the Office of Water as part of a process set in motion by President Donald Trump’s executive order to streamline federal regulations to make them “less burdensome.”

THE LAUNDROMATS OF KNOXVILLE Photo Series by Jessica Tezak Super Wash House, April 5, 2017: From left, Mohammed Kamara, 11, and Joseph Uwiz, 12, both of Knoxville, play in the laundry carts at the Super Wash House in North Knoxville.

See more laundromat photos at knoxmercury.com. Photographer Jessica Tezak’s work can be found at jesstezak.com.

‘YASSIN FALAFEL’ WINS WEBBYS A documentary about local restaurateur Yassin Terou has won two Webby awards and was a finalist in the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival.

The 8-minute video about Terou’s immigrant journey from Syria to Knoxville was selected as the winner in the Best Branded Long-Form and Best Branded Documentary categories.

FOLTZ-GRAY EARNS AN EISNER NOM The Mercury’s Spirit of the Staircase illustrator, Matthew Foltz-Gray, has scored a nomination in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. He and writer Norm Harper are being recognized for their update of Rudyard Kipling’s short story “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” in the Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12) category. Winners will be announced at Comic-Con International, July 21.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

5/15 WORKSHOP: “VOTER REGISTRATION 5/16 WORKSHOP: “SAVINGS IN THE HOUSE” 5/18 FUNDRAISER: BUDDING CREATIVITY 5/21 OPEN STREETS KNOXVILLE & ELECTIONS” MONDAY

7-8:30 p.m., C.W. Cansler Family YMCA (616 Jessamine St.). Free.

Once again, those sneaky operatives at the League of Women Voters of Knoxville/Knox County are up to their usual shenanigans of encouraging people to register and vote! At this seminar, volunteers can learn how to “facilitate successful voter registration events.” Register: facebook.com/lwvknoxville.

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TUESDAY

THURSDAY

6 p.m., Public Works Building (3131 Morris Ave.).

Free.

6-9 p.m., Relix Variety Theatre (1208 N. Central St.). Free.

Presented by the Alliance to Save Energy, this workshop will show you simple ways to reduce utility bills with energy efficiency and weatherization, plus give you a chance to learn about KUB’s Advanced Metering system.

It’s also a great excuse to check out the spiffy new Public Works Building.

This annual art benefit presented by AIGA Knoxville raises money for a local underprivileged school’s art program. Local artists and student artists donate pieces available for purchase at the event, and all proceeds go directly to purchasing art supplies.

Info: buddingcreativity.org.

SUNDAY

2-6 p.m., Magnolia Avenue. Free.

Open Streets has quickly become the best roving festival in town. (Also, the only one.) The idea is simple: Remove car traffic from a street, temporarily reclaim it for pedestrians and cyclists, and see what happens.

This edition will be along Magnolia Avenue from Randolph Street to North Chestnut Street. Info: facebook. com/openstreetsknox.

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Nestled in the 100 Block of Gay Street, owners enjoy the vibrant residential scene with wonderful restaurants and shops. Just a short walk away are both Market Square and The Old City adding to the list of fun downtown activities. Original hardwood floors glow from the natural light from the large front windows back to the multiple French doors that lead out onto a private covered balcony just off the oversized master suite.

Solid wood cabinetry, granite countertops, ss appliances, extra storage, and an open floor plan are just a few more wonderful traits of this great space!

Only 1 unit available, at 1,771 sq ft.

MLS# 984411 May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 7

Scruffy Citizen | Perspectives | Much Ado

The Andrew Johnson?

One of our most historic buildings was named during a revisionist fad

BY JACK NEELY

A

fter years of confirmed rumors, Knox County is indeed trying to sell the 17-story Andrew Johnson Building. It’s open to proposals until July 13.

It’s been an office building for 30 years. For half a century before that, it was the Andrew Johnson Hotel.

Before that, briefly, it was the Tennessee Terrace. That might have been a better name for it. But our 17th president, denounced in his own day and in ours, enjoyed a sunny vogue in between.

Our views of long-dead historical figures change as regularly as we do.

For a few years Andrew Johnson was a heroic figure, a self-made man who stood up for what he believed. If he wasn’t a civil-rights man, he didn’t think slavery was important enough to split the country over. For some Tennesseans, just not standing up for slavery was considered too dangerously radical. In 1861, a block north of this building, someone shot at him. He was brave.

But today, nobody, certainly not the neo-Confederates, certainly not the Lincoln revivalists or civil-rights historians, stand up for Johnson. He was one of many awkward duck-billed platypi left stranded by the war.

Ours is the tallest building in the world named for Johnson. For almost half a century, it was the tallest building in East Tennessee.

8 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

Designed by Baumann and Baumann, the tower overlooking the river was a much-anticipated marvel.

However, problems with lessees and contractors caused delays. A new group, the New York-based Knott Hotels Corporation, signed a lease and decided to rename the place. The name should be historical, Knott said.

In September 1929, it was announced that it would likely be called the William Blount Hotel, after our territorial governor and signer of the U.S. Constitution. As U.S. senator, Blount shared something in common with Johnson, in that there was a strong effort to get him impeached.

But like Johnson, Blount was enjoying a new vogue in the 1920s, being as the recently restored and appreciated Blount Mansion was just across the street. (Half-forgotten, it was almost torn down for parking for the hotel project.)

The hotel’s final name, though, would not be that of an impeached senator, but an impeached president.

It arrived late that same month, just after the William Blount suggestion, as a result of a contest conducted by the

Knoxville Journal. The suggestion came from Irene Bewley of Greeneville, Johnson’s hometown. Johnson was “now coming to belated fame,” according to one local news report, thanks to a book called The Tragic Era by journalist and Democratic politician Claude Bowers.

Known through the ’20s mainly as a historian of Democratic figures, Bowers had become associate editor of the New York World, and crossed into the political limelight in 1928 when he was keynote speaker for the Democratic National Convention. Bowers was even discussed as a likely “liberal” running mate for nominee Al Smith.

Bowers’ book blamed the post-Lincoln Republican Party for abusing and alienating the South.

Andrew Johnson, Bowers declared, “fought the bravest battle for constitutional liberty and for the preservation or our institutions ever waged by an Executive.”

Historians before Bowers didn’t share that point of view. Most historians since then haven’t shared that point of view, either. But when Bowers extolled Johnson as a working-class American hero, his revision was suddenly very popular in East Tennessee. On Sept. 22, 1929, the News Sentinel ran a positive review of the book. The next day, that paper explained the new name of the hotel—and that Knoxville’s tallest building would be not just an homage to Johnson, but also a pro-Johnson museum.

“With mementoes of Johnson to catch their attention, the traveling public will aid in diffusing unprejudiced information about Johnson, who in one speech after he was president said, ‘My countrymen, I have had enough stones hurled at me to pave a road from here to Washington.’” The hotel would even employ Johnson’s elderly former slave, William Andrew Johnson, as a (paid) doorman.

Conservative columnist Westbrook Pegler stayed at the Andrew Johnson in May 1934. He praised the

Our 17th president, denounced in his own day and in ours, enjoyed a sunny vogue in between.

hotel but found its name astonishing.

“This is the first time I have encountered anything named after Abraham Lincoln’s vice president,” he wrote in his nationally syndicated column.

“Andrew Johnson seems to have received no honor, even in his own land, prior to the publication of Claude Bowers’ book, The Tragic Era, which squared up many matters concerning Andrew Johnson.”

You may be detect a little arch facetiousness. Pegler was the national columnist most critical of President Franklin Roosevelt, whose ambassador to Spain was then Claude Bowers.

Pegler concluded that if Knoxville could name a hotel for Andrew Johnson, a similar honor—or at least a gas station—was surely due the late socialist activist Eugene V. Debs.

The Johnson mania didn’t last. A wartime patriotic movie called Tennessee Johnson, starring Van Heflin, came out in early 1943 and got its regional premiere at the Tennessee Theatre. Members of the Johnson family, including the president’s granddaughter, were present at the hotel for a reception afterwards. That may have been the end of the 14-year flurry of national interest in Andrew Johnson.

But the name stayed on the building and has puzzled visitors ever since. If it’s puzzling that he deserves the honor, it’s also puzzling that he’d be so honored in Knoxville. Johnson was from Greeneville, 70 miles away.

He spent a lot of time in Nashville, the capital. Here he got shot at.

It’s a fine building with a fascinating heritage, just for the people who stayed there: Jean Paul Sartre, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Duke Ellington, Hank Williams, Amelia Earhart. If any prospective redeveloper finds its original name more marketable, I will not protest.

Jack Neely is the director of the Knoxville History Project, a nonprofit devoted to exploring, disseminating, and celebrating Knoxville’s cultural heritage—not to mention publishing the Knoxville Mercury. The Scruffy Citizen surveys the city of Knoxville’s life and culture in the context of its history, with emphasis on what makes it unique and how its past continues to affect and inform its future.

Scruffy Citizen | Perspectives | Much Ado

De-Beautification Act Tennessee’s billboard law needs fixing, soon

BY JOE SULLIVAN

T

ennessee’s Billboard Act has been declared unconstitutional by a recent federal court decision. Under the terms of that decision all of the state’s billboard regulations will be rendered void, allowing new billboards to spring up willy nilly along highways throughout the state.

The good news is that the state Legislature can readily amend the statute to solve the constitutional problem and keep the state’s regulation of commercial signage virtually intact.

The bad news is that the Legislature is on the verge of adjourning for the year without having lifted a finger to do so. Sen. Richard Briggs, who serves on the Senate Transportation Committee, says that, “We were told by the lawyers involved that we didn’t need to legislate.” A spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office, which is known to be handling the matter, will only say, “The litigation is still pending. Both sides have been requested to submit briefs regarding possible remedies.”

In fact, Federal District Judge Jon McCalla has already ruled that, “The Court finds the Billboard Act is an unconstitutional, content-based regulation of speech.” In a footnote to

his decision, he opined that “if it were clear from the face of the statute” that the provisions he found unconstitutional could be “severed” from the rest of the act then he could let “constitutional provisions stay in effect.” But he concluded that, “The Court, however, is unpersuaded that the Billboard Act, as written, is severable in this manner.”

In a brief submitted May 3, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery is now trying to persuade McCalla otherwise. He argues that, “It is apparent from the face of the Billboard Act that the General Assembly would have enacted the statute even if the provisions found by the Court to be content-based regulations [were eliminated]….The General Assembly no doubt would have preferred some billboard regulation to none.”

In Texas, by contrast, after its billboard act was struck down on

virtually identical grounds last fall, the Legislature has moved promptly to enact a bill to fix the defects. While the state is also making an appeal, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin, advised his colleagues that, “I think we are very unlikely to win on appeal.”

Since nearly all state billboard acts are patterned after the 1965 federal Highway Beautification Act, it’s hard to fathom at first blush why they are only getting invalidated in court now. The impetus for the court intrusion was a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a sign ordinance in an Arizona town that set differing standards for political, religious, and other noncommercial signs. The court ruled that these represented what have come to be called “content-based” regulations that unconstitutionally infringed upon free speech.

Neither that decision, nor any other, cast doubt upon state laws that set standards for highway billboards including their spacing, size, and lighting and that require a permit.

These have long been justified on grounds that highway safety and aesthetic considerations can trump commercial free speech as long as the regulations are “content neutral.”

The decision that struck down the Tennessee law on April 3 involved, almost ironically, the one category of highway signage that is exempt from regulation: namely, “on premise” signs on property advertising either (1) that the property is for sale or lease or (2) activities conducted on the property.

A Memphis provocateur who had been feuding with TDOT for years erected a billboard on his property displaying only an American flag.

When TDOT ordered it to be torn down because it didn’t meet the criteria for exemption, he sued. In McCalla’s decision striking down the law, he ruled that these criteria were

The state Legislature can readily amend the statute to solve the constitutional problem and keep the state’s regulation of commercial signage virtually intact.

content-based and therefore verboten.

In a bit of a tutorial on the way the First Amendment has evolved, McCalla went on to explain that, “Not all speech is equally protected. The degree of protection afforded by the First Amendment depends on whether the activity sought to be regulated constitutes commercial or non-commercial speech…. The government may impose stricter regulations on commercial speech than on non-commercial speech.”

Because the sign in question was plainly non-commercial, its prohibition failed to withstand the “strict scrutiny” and “compelling state interest” tests required to justify such action, McCalla ruled.

In the aftermath of the decision, a lawyer who has represented numerous scenic organizations with an interest in the case wrote Gov. Bill Haslam and Attorney General Slatery urging immediate enactment of a severability clause as a “no-brainer.” The Jacksonville-based specialist in billboard law, William Brinton, also offered two amendments to the Tennessee statute that he believed would solve the problem altogether.

The fix that most appeals to me is one adopted by the city of Indianapolis after its sign ordinance was struck down in 2015 on highly similar grounds. The city added a provision to the ordinance stating with elegant simplicity that “Noncommercial messages may be displayed on any sign authorized to display commercial messages.” The amended ordinance has been upheld by an Indiana federal district court.

In his brief, Slatery actually invites McCalla to make a “determination” that the offending sections of the Billboard Act “violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as applied to signs displaying non-commercial speech.” But Brinton continues to believe that a legislative remedy would be more conclusive and less problematic. There’s no telling when or how McCalla will rule on the matter.

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.

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 9

Scruffy Citizen | Perspectives | Much Ado

#bringhimhome Rx for John Duncan: repeal and replace

BY CATHERINE LANDIS

I

f you contacted Rep. John J. Duncan’s office urging against repeal of the Affordable Care Act, you likely received a long letter claiming that “increasing competition” and “reducing government’s role” will lower prices while improving health care. Such a load of magical thinking!

Duncan focuses on skyrocketing premiums as “proof” that the ACA is failing. Here’s what he doesn’t say: Costs are rising, in part, because Congress underfunded the program, imposed weak fines for not purchasing health insurance, and sowed political uncertainty. The combination increased the burden on insurance companies, which responded by raising costs. In a perverse foot-shooting demonstration, Tennessee never allowed for state exchanges so we never got to see a working ACA market, nor did we reap the benefits of expanding Medicaid. Premiums also rose because the ACA mandated better coverage, forbidding half-baked insurance plans. Health insurance is not the same as health care. Like a house without a roof, insurance that does not cover what makes you sick is worthless.

Duncan and his fellow Republicans like to vilify taxes, but they won’t talk about the hidden tax levied when hospitals have to treat everybody.

Those who can’t pay force costs to rise for the rest of us, and without ade-

10 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

quate primary care to promote preventive care, people get sicker and costlier. In a system mandating expanded coverage, you’d expect higher costs in the beginning, but long-run costs should decrease to reflect the benefits of preventive care.

Republicans seem hell-bent on keeping the long-run from ever getting here. Instead of working to fix the ACA’s flaws, they aim to sabotage the process to guarantee its failure.

In his letter, Duncan harps on the claim that repealing the ACA will stop premiums from rising. He conveniently forgets that premiums were rising faster before the ACA and pretends his new AHCA won’t make health care unaffordable for millions. He asserts, with zero evidence, that competition will control costs. How? Magic!

Consider drug prices, a market free from the tyranny of government control. Pharmaceutical drugs are intentionally scarce—but lifesaving—so the market can charge high prices regardless of production costs.

Televisions don’t work that way. You

don’t have to have a television to breathe. Inhalers, on the other hand, are manufactured by a small number of companies that put old, cheap drugs into newly patented packages to charge more. A lot more. Patients will pay because, otherwise, they can’t live. Health care can never work as a “free market” because nobody wants it. But everybody needs it. Desperately, when they get sick. Drug prices are under control only in countries where the government sets rules.

Admittedly, I’ve simplified a complicated issue, and I’m no expert on health care, but that’s half my point. This is common-sense stuff, a push-”pause”-on-the-propaganda moment. I remember a conversation I had last fall with a man who told me he supported Gloria Johnson for state representative but would not vote for her, or any Democrat, as long as the ACA’s individual mandate was in place. The mandate, he said, took away his freedom.

So I asked him to consider what would happen if only tornado victims bought homeowners insurance, if those in car accidents bought car insurance, and if only hospice patients bought life insurance. Insurance works only when there’s more money coming in than going out. If we’re going to stick with a private insurance model for our health care sector, the mandate keeps us from returning to a system where health care is for rich people—everybody else is out of luck.

By the end of our conversation, the man had decided he supported a government-run single-payer model.

Republicans are trapped because the ACA was their private insurance-based solution to our costly and inequitable health care system. When Democrats conceded it was the only politically feasible path to reform, Republicans balked. Now they are pretending that “competition” applied to a system that does not respond to market forces will magically lower

Duncan’s trying to fit health care into an ideology that rejects government solutions without asking the question: “What works?”

costs and improve health. They want us to trust private corporations, working for shareholders, more than we trust our government, which should be working for us. In reality, without federal intervention, Duncan and his buddies would reduce costs by reducing services. In other words: rationing based on income. Unless you’re wealthy, you might have insurance but you won’t get health care.

This is propaganda, folks. Duncan must think we’re stupid down here in Tennessee. That we won’t recognize the con of insurance that doesn’t cover anything. He’s trying to fit health care into an ideology that rejects government solutions without asking the question: What works? It’s an ideology summed up by Heritage Foundation executive Michael Needham: “What’s the point in having a conservative party if we’re not going to fight a massive federal intervention in health care?” To which I answer: What’s the point in governing if you’re going to ignore what works? I mean, what works in the real world, where actual human beings live and sometime get, unexpectedly, sick. There’s data to be found. Studies to consider.

People to talk to.

But Duncan is not serious about addressing health care any more than he is about climate change, immigration, income inequality, or any number of life-and-death issues. In his letters he throws out statistics like confetti without saying anything true.

In his newsletters, he uses “liberal” as a slur. He appears to believe he represents only constituents who agree with him; the rest of us are a waste of his time. And with that “R” behind his name, he’s never had to worry about losing his job.

What will it take for people to get fed up with legislators who insist on forcing the solution to every problem into their own tiny ideological box?

With Much Ado, Catherine Landis examines how political decisions and social trends affect the lives of the people around her. A former newspaper reporter, she has published two novels, Some Days There’s Pie (St. Martin’s Press) and Harvest (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press).

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May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 11

know the person; they may not know you. But someone cares about your safety and well-being. If something were to happen to you, that person will hear about it and feel pain.”

S Photo courtesy of HRC

A Voice for Youth Pride Roddy Biggs’ prestigious post as a Human Rights Youth Ambassador comes right in time to help combat Tennessee’s LGBTQ setbacks

BY ROSE KENNEDY

A

bout an hour before the story hit news media that Gov. Bill Haslam had signed SB1085/ HB1111 into law May 5 —requiring undefined words like “mother” and “father” be given “their natural and ordinary meaning” in courts—Roddy Biggs was already pasting the word all over his Facebook page. His goal was to let people know how to reach the Tennessee Equality Project if they became victims of discrimination due to the law, which its foes call “the LGBT erasure bill.”

This was a week after he had returned from being honored in Washington, D.C. as one of 16 national Youth Ambassadors for the Human Rights Campaign, a day before he spoke at the Knoxville Youth Pride Fest, and a week before he’ll chaperone the area’s Diversity Prom.

Pretty impressive for a guy who just a few years back felt absolutely

12 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

useless—didn’t want to kill himself, but didn’t really care if he died, either.

Because he is gay.

“When I was 13 or 14, fellow students and even some family told, that I would never amount to anything, that I was worthless and should just go die,” he remembers.

Back then, Biggs would self harm, cutting. He’d sit by himself at lunch. “I never wanted to die—that was never my intent—but I did some things that could have resulted in my death,” he admits. “And during this dark time, I pushed away so many people and isolated myself. I didn’t want help and I wasn’t willing to receive it.”

Now 23, the West High School grad is earning an associate’s degree at Pellissippi State Community College with plans to continue his education, has a steady boyfriend, and could envision one day being a lobbyist for civil rights issues.

He is glad to still be alive, a firm believer in the motto, “It does get better.”

“When I was finally able to see forward, I realized people were there to help me, and I took the help,” he says. “That is why I am here today.”

By telling his story over and over, he hopes to catch anyone who feels the way he once did. “I want them to know, ‘You are not alone,’” he says.

“There are people who have the same thoughts and feelings you do. Things do eventually get better. It may not be immediate or overnight, but things will improve.”

Biggs also tries to relay another concept that he knows from experience is difficult for a teen in a dark place to accept: There is always someone who cares.

“You do matter,” he says. “Someone out there loves you and cares about you no matter what. You may not

omeone who was a battered and isolated teen becomes a prominent spokesperson. He goes from feeling utterly useless to ignoring the ones who tell him he’s embarrassing, or wrong.

“Like Lady Gaga says, ‘Baby I was born this way,’” he says. “I have learned to embrace who I am.”

How does this transformation take place? Even Biggs isn’t sure. He says that instead of being a single “ah-ha” moment, it was a hundred small things. “After being beaten down so many times, I would stand up to this or that,” he remembers. “And then I’d get beaten down again. It was a repetitive motion. I’d win something.

I’d lose everything again.”

Slowly, it started to sink in: “I started thinking, ‘I’m not the only one this is happening to. I’ve got to show what’s happening to me in hopes that it won’t happen to others.”

The torment started early, Biggs remembers, even before he came out at age 12. “I didn’t know what was going on with me yet in fi fth grade, but I was already being rejected for it, isolated on the playground,” he says.

He realized he was gay in middle school, but hadn’t told anyone. Then, the taunts were verbal: ”He’s so gay,” and “He’s such a fag,” The bullying ramped up going into high school, with people knocking books out of Biggs’ hands, writing “fag” on his locker, or beating him up in the hall.

The aggression went way beyond shoving, says Biggs. “I was walking down the hall and a guy came up behind me, grabbed me, threw me against the wall and began punching me. I got a black eye, a broken rib. I was lying there, crying, couldn’t move.”

At some point, Biggs blacked out.

“I know that happened, and I can see it, but one of my defense mechanisms was being able to retreat, to literally black out.”

But beyond that, at ages 13 and 14, he says he didn’t know what to do.

The darkness was overwhelming. He

Photo courtesy of HRC

“When I was finally able to see forward, I realized people were there to help me, and I took the help. That is why I am here today.”

—RODDY BIGGS

thought his current reality would always be the reality. “My 14-year-old self just thought, ‘This is who I am and this is what I have to go through because of who I am.’”

Somehow, he never considered giving up on school, always showing, even on the days when the thought of walking in the building made him break down in tears. “I didn’t know all I know now, but I knew I had a right to an education. As an American, I wasn’t going to let anyone deprive me of that.”

He attended high school all four years, including the year there was always something waiting for him in his locker. “I received death notes on a daily basis for a long time,” he remembers. “But it was one of those things. I may be freaked out, broken on the inside, but there are still daily things I have to do.”

I

n some ways, his call to be a spokesperson for LGBTQ safety and civil rights is a natural fit, he says. “It didn’t come out of nowhere—from a very young age I’ve always been able to talk and react and have opinions on things; to be outspoken and command the space,” he says. “I still have the same personality.”

He simply accepts that part of being a successful advocate means putting his own life on display. “So I do. I tell what I’ve gone through, what I’ve noticed, what I think needs to happen. And then I go away.”

He’s not expecting everyone to agree with his viewpoints, not even within the LGBTQ community and certainly not in the general population. “I’m just out in front of people to share a message of hope and equality,” he says. “I hope you agree with me. But if you don’t, oh well. There are

Roddy Biggs spoke with other Youth Ambassadors at the HRC Foundation’s Time to THRIVE Conference in April.

millions more that do care and are on my side.”

Through his work with HRC, GLSEN, TEP, and individual contacts he’s made along the way, Biggs is in a prime position to assist LGBTQ youth and their allies in Tennessee on a rash of recent issues.

He’ll be steering discrimination victims of Haslam’s May 5 signing of the “natural and ordinary meaning” bill to legal assistance, for example.

He’s also supporting the multiple LGBTQ and ally groups regionally who are trying to encourage the Knox County Board of Education to develop a trans-inclusive student bathroom policy.

He personally is making a big push to educate the local populace about the importance of using the pronoun preferred by transgender and gender nonconforming youth. “Not using the preferred pronouns and name especially after someone asks you to do so is just not cool,” he says. “You are essentially telling them that you do not care enough about them to acknowledge who they really are.”

But the mission that is still most important to Biggs—and will probably always be most important to him—is to let teens and others realize there are always alternatives to suicide.

“Where you see me, I’m going to be telling my story—how I got on top of my life after a very dark time, and how suicide is never the way out,” says Biggs, who has trained in suicide prevention with the QPR Institute. “I know the situation looks different for every person, and I know there is help for each one of you.”

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 13

Focus: Health & Food

Hands of Hope Guiding first-time mothers in addiction treatment toward better family lives

BY CAROL Z. SHANE

A

ccording to the Tennessee Department of Health, of the thousand babies born drug dependent in Tennessee in 2016, approximately 100 were from Knox County. Their condition, known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), can cause symptoms such as fever, seizures, blotchy skin, continuous crying, rapid breathing, respiratory problems, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. Some babies’ symptoms are so severe that they require hospitalization, intensive care, and medications for several weeks to keep them comfortable and safe during the withdrawal process.

When mothers of these babies decide to pursue recovery programs for drug dependency and alcoholism, they need support. And that’s where Hands of Hope comes in.

The program was developed by Metro Drug Coalition, a nonprofit focused on improving the health of the greater Knoxville community by reducing the use of alcohol and drugs through policy, systems, and environment change. Funded by Trinity Health Foundation and Mount Rest Fund of the East Tennessee Foundation, Hands of Hope provides mentors for first-time mothers in addiction treatment and/or recovery. These mentors—other recovering mothers— help their mentees navigate the challenges of maintaining sobriety while parenting a NAS baby.

The MDC’s goal at the end of the commitment period is for mentees to maintain sobriety, create a healthy home environment for their family,

14 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

and be an engaging mother.

Hands of Hope is near and dear to the heart of Brittany Hong, regional outreach manager for Cornerstone of Recovery. She is heavily involved with the Metro Drug Coalition as a Hands of Hope mentor, as well as with non-MDC-affiliated Susannah’s House, an intensive outpatient alcohol and drug-treatment program for the same population.

Hands of Hope sounds like a helpful support system for new moms who are trying to live a drug- and alcohol-free life.

It definitely is! All new moms can benefit from a strong support system but it is especially important for moms who are new to recovery. The goal of the Hands of Hope program is to provide support and encouragement from one mom in recovery to another.

Do mentors receive training?

Mentors need to have a minimum of two years of sobriety, and they need to be stable in their own recovery program. We receive training from MDC staff, as well as various community partners that include Helen Ross McNabb, Renaissance Recovery Group, the Knox County Health Department, and Cherokee Health.

Why the emphasis on mothers?

Because there is such a need in our community. Traditionally there has been very little support for pregnant women with an alcohol or substance-abuse problem. We recognize that NAS births are increasing and

Brittany Hong mentor

the Hands of Hope program hopes to be able to support the mothers and the unique needs that arise with having a drug-exposed infant.

You’re a mother and you are in recovery. I understand that Hands of Hope holds special significance for you.

Absolutely. Speaking from my own experience and from working with so many other women in recovery, I know that there is a lot of shame associated with being a mom and struggling with drugs and alcohol. Even within the recovering community it seems like people think that because you are pregnant, or because you have children, you should be able to magically stop using. Unfortunately, it is not that easy.

If it were that easy, everyone who has a substance-abuse problem would just stop using, right? Most people need treatment and long-term support like counseling, 12-step meetings, and faith-based initiatives. Really, any and every tool possible. Hands of Hope is another way to help these mothers get the support that they need.

Why is a program like Hands of Hope so effective?

Because it connects one mom—someone who’s lived the same struggles and has made it through to the other side—to another. Another mom who can share her experience, strength, and hope; another mom to walk beside you. Recovery is not always an easy journey, but it is so worth it.

Everything that I have today is because of my recovery.

The strongest, most powerful words we can say to a new mother early in recovery is “me too.” Hearing “me too”—that’s what really did it for me. It is truly an honor and privilege to get to share that with others.

Photo courtesy of Brittany Hong

PRESS FORWARD

HANDS OF HOPE, Metro Drug Coalition metrodrug.org/get-involved/hands-of-hope/ 865-588-5550 PROGRAMS • Hands of Hope matches former substance-abusing mothers with mothers still undergoing recovery.

• These mentors help their mentees navigate the challenges of maintaining sobriety while parenting a Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome baby.

HOW YOU CAN HELP • Do you know of (or are you) a first-time mother who could benefit from this program?

• Are you a recovering mother who wants to give back, and is interested in becoming a mentor?

• Are you interested in donating?

• Please contact Courtney Niemann at cniemann@metrodrug.org for more information.

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 & Tech Innovation Environmental & Sustainability Health & Food Education

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR TEAM ON THESE GOLDEN PRESS CARD AWARDS FIRST-PLACE WINS

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FOOD

ON THE FROSTBITTEN EDGE OF LOCAL REPORTING

JAN. 28, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM

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SHOP KNOX: Look inside for your guide to unique, local holiday gifts!

Home Palate JUNE 23, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM

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AWWW! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY RESIST PICKING UP THIS ISSUE?

DECEMBER 8, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM

OKAY—OFFICIALLY NOT A GOOD YEAR

DOWN AT THE Photos by Dennis Perkins

V.

A 24-hour diary of living homeless in Knoxville

Kitchen Stadium Jr.

WORDS AND PHOTOS

BY CLAY DUDA

Previewing new talent at the UT Culinary Program’s student challenges

BY DENNIS PERKINS

Critics say Knox County’s abstinence-based sex education presentations inspire shame, blame, and fear • by S. Heather Duncan

NEWS

Construction of $100,000 Gravity Trail All Downhill From Here

JACK NEELY

Robert Birdwell: A Farewell to Knoxville’s Artist of Urban Scenes

MUSIC

Kelle Jolly Unveils Knoxville’s First Women in Jazz Jam Festival

I

Q&A

Erik Larson, Bestselling Author of Long-Form Narrative Nonfiction

NEWS

Residents Voice Fears of Gentrification at Magnolia Streetscape Forum

JACK NEELY

Readers Provide Clues for a Secret History of Knoxville Rock Shows

MUSIC

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

JOE SULLIVAN

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

f you’ve had any restaurant experience, then you’ll know that hosting 40 to 60 people for dinner at roughly the same time is a challenge. In restaurant argot, that puts a kitchen instantly “in the weeds.” And yet that’s just what happens when students in the University of Tennessee Culinary Program face their catered function challenge.

Last Friday night at the UT Conference Center, I attended the most recent of these culinary trials by fire, mastered by student chef Brandon Hill. It offered an inside look at one aspect of our rapidly evolving food scene that’s becoming ever more critical: education. Will Knoxville’s next generation of chefs be able to

48

hack it?

Unlike a standard restaurant experience, the menu at these challenges are prix fixe, with each diner selecting from two choices for each of the three courses. Still, assembling simultaneous service for even a single table of eight presents certain challenges for anyone new to the demands of a commercial kitchen.

But in these events, there’s no telling how many guests will actually turn up nor when they will sit down—and there’s no host adding buffer time to the seating: guests walk in, pick a seat, and wait to eat.

Friday night’s theme was “The Latin Feast” and diners chose between pupusa and ceviche for the

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Gatlinburg’s residents, workers, and leaders try to recover in the wake of last week’s inferno starter. The main course featured a choice between pork belly tacos with charro beans or a beer-mopped strip steak served with Mexican street corn. Finally, guests picked either dulce de leche cheesecake or pineapple rum empanadas for dessert.

Hill, of course, wasn’t alone back there in the kitchen. He led a team of his peers assigned to various stations based on his assessment of their strengths. They’ve all been in this 12-week program together for seven weeks—now they had to work together to test some of what they’ve learned.

Each of them will eventually take a turn leading their own catered function like Hill’s.

UT’s Culinary Program—the only

program in Tennessee certified by the American Culinary Federation—is an $8,500 full-time, 400-hour course of study. Students learn everything from knife skills to the mathematics of ordering food for a function with varied menu choices. The course is helmed by chef Greg Eisele who leads a team of area professionals, including local luminary chef David Hume Pinckney of Cherokee Country Club, who teaches a broad range of courses to give students experience at each station of the professional kitchen.

The catered event is education in the hot zone. Students study in kitchens, they work there, but when the dining room’s full, the space takes on a different charge. Hill says that

The catered event is education in the hot zone.

Students study in kitchens, they work there,

They all ask for you—with a new branding campaign and an ambitious expansion plan to double attendance

BY S. HEATHER DUNCAN

but when the dining room’s full,

NEWS

the space takes on a different charge.

Faculty and Students Seek Path Forward for UT Pride Center

JACK NEELY

Fountains of Knox: A Summer Afternoon at World’s Fair Park

MUSIC

Pinklets Take Their Catchy Pop-Rock to Bonnaroo and Beyond

STEPHANIE PIPER

Saved by Literature: Are Books a Balm for Every Wound?

JACK NEELY

A Memorably Peculiar Start to the Christmas Season, 75 Years Ago

MUSIC

KSO’s Garrett McQueen Champions Diversity and Challenges Stereotypes

OUTSIDE INSIDER

A Quick Guide to TrailRunning Sites in the Knoxville Area

ANGIE VICARS

New Column! That ’70s Girl: A Jaws Family Christmas

KNOXVILLE MERCURY August 11, 2016

Investigative Reporting

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by S. Heather Duncan

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by Clay Duda

“Home Palate” column

by Dennis Perkins

cover designs

by Tricia Bateman

cover story package, “Aftermath”

by Thomas Fraser

Read more about these and all 11 of our awards in the Le er from the Editor on page 4.

Join us this summer for

Beardsley Farm Camp!

June 12-16, 2017 Our camp will teach about food systems, growing and preparing food, and food waste all while campers play and learn on the farm!

• Rising 4th and rising 5th grade students welcome • Camp cost is $200.00 per camper with cost including a camp t-shirt and meals and snacks • Camp will be first come, first serve so register today!

• To register, visit our website at beardsleyfarm.org • With questions, call (865) 546-8446 or e-mail us at beardsleyfarm@gmail.com

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 15

Emerge Tennessee is training women to become Democratic candidates in a deep red state. Here’s Knoxville’s inaugural class.

BY ROSE KENNEDY

16 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

2016

will always be remembered as the year the first major-party female candidate for president skidded to defeat.

But 150 other Democratic women candidates in 16 states had an entirely different outcome. They won races from New Jersey to New Mexico, water board to state Senate to township trustee.

Their common link? All were alumnae of Emerge America, an intensive candidate-training program for Democrat women intending to seek office. The group operated in 16 states in 2016. This March, Emerge Tennessee made it 17.

Twenty-four women make up the inaugural class that’s now a few months into a 70-hour, five-month campaign-training program. A solid six hail from Knoxville or Maryville, heeding the call that drew 50 women total to apply for the ET training program in January.

These pioneers have centuries of history working against them.

In Tennessee’s 220 years of statehood, only two Democratic women have held office in the U.S. House of Representatives, and no woman in Tennessee has ever served as governor or been elected to the U.S. Senate. Just two Democratic women serve in Tennessee’s 33-member state Senate, and seven Democratic women in the 99-member Legislature.

Noting these facts on its website, Emerge Tennessee puts “recruiting women to run for office” on the top of its list of missions. Former Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson and Cortney Piper, president of Piper Communications in Knoxville, helped select the candidates for its inaugural class.

“We believe it is important to increase the number of women representation proportionate to the number of female constituents,” says Emerge Tennessee Executive Director Kristal Knight. “What we have seen here in the state and across the country is when women aren’t properly represented at the legislative table, issues that arise that directly affect women aren’t properly legislated.”

According to Emerge statistics,

women comprise more than 50 percent of the national electorate but hold only 29 percent of the country’s elected offices.

The parent group of Emerge, founded in 2005, is all about identifying potential candidates among the female population and encouraging them to run. But even in red-dominated Tennessee, they will stick to Democratic women. “We train Democratic women because we want Democrats to win,” states its national website. “Health care, reproductive rights, working families, equal pay, education—there is too much at stake. We must put women on the ballot trained to win and ready to support our issues!”

Some 214 Emerge-trained women Democrats ended up on ballots across the nation in 2016, and 70 percent of those won their races.

The results in the steadfast red Volunteer state may not be as stunning, at least not right away, but the past success of our neighbors in Emerge Kentucky may set a baseline.

“Last year, 61 percent of the Emerge Kentucky alumnae who ran for office were elected, despite the state voting heavily for Donald Trump and Democrats losing the state House for the first time in almost a century,” Knight says.

Here, the five women representing Knoxville and the one representing Maryville share what drew them to the Emerge program and, to borrow a phrase from Emerge headquarters, Why She Runs.

KRISTINA MCLEAN

could help lead this movement as an elected official.

HOW MY GENDER HAS AFFECTED MY PAST: I’ve experienced what so many other woman working have: I’ve been harassed, condescended to, and left out of events and denied opportunities and relationships that would help further my career.

STEPS ALONG THE WAY:

“As a Christian, I believe that we should never build our country on the backs of the poor, children, seniors, minorities, the LGBT community, the disabled, or any vulnerable population.”

A

former online merchant, McLean’s volunteer work includes service for the Church of the Savior, United Church of Christ as Deacon of Communications, state communications work for UniteWomen.org, and work for the Alliance for Healthcare Security and the University of Tennessee Medical Center Cancer Institute’s Survivorship Steering Committee.

I gravitated to the Democratic Party from a very early age, and getting to “vote” for Geraldine Ferraro when my mom let me pull the lever in the booth just thrilled me.

I want to help outstanding women candidates get elected and I’m hoping Emerge will help me with that and also when it comes time to start my own run for political office.

In 2013, cancer blew up my life.

I’ve been forced to rebuild it brick by brick. While discouraging at times, it made me reevaluate my priorities.

Through a strange turn of events, a picture of me holding a sign stating that Joe Biden was my spirit animal was reported on by the White House press pool, and I got my five seconds of Internet “fame.” I realized when local news stations interviewed me, I could turn a silly sign into an opportunity to talk about how the Affordable Care Act has helped me. As a cancer survivor, I understand the fear that diagnosis can bring and how important having access to affordable healthcare is. I want to continue to be an advocate for other cancer survivors and those suffering from health problems.

WHY I STEPPED UP NOW:

WHAT I WOULD BRING TO A CANDIDACY:

This Molly Ivins quote kept running through my head after the election: “It’s about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. These are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times.”

I have been so heartened by many people’s resistance to the policies and values of the Trump administration. I believe we’re witnessing the creation of a grassroots movement that could be unstoppable. I would be honored if I

I’ve been a member of Church of the Savior for more than four years, and the spirit of love and advocacy for those in need that I see there encourages me on a daily basis. I expect those values to be even more important if I ever run or serve in office.

As a Christian, I believe that we should never build our country on the backs of the poor, children, seniors, minorities, the LGBT community, the disabled, or any vulnerable population.

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 17

COMMENTS ON THE PROCESS: Developing pregnancy complications and caring for an infant put a damper on my political activity, but I now feel that my daughter has given me a new reason to speak out and fight. When I don’t feel brave myself, I can be brave for her.

I’ve gotten a small taste of the privacy you lose as a public figure because you lose a lot of personal autonomy and privacy going through cancer treatment. I feel like I’ve been battle-tested. I’ve been the victim of sexual assault. I’ve battled breast cancer, infertility, and pregnancy complications. Political smears and attacks can’t compete with the obstacles I’ve already faced.

EVETTY J. SATTERFIELD

“I have a tattoo on my arm that reads, ‘I am the community.’

To me, if I live, work, or play somewhere, it’s my responsibility to improve it.”

A

n employee of ProjectGRAD Knoxville as a college and career access coach, Satterfield co-founded the TENSE Summit six years ago to combat youth crime in East Knoxville.

WHY I STEPPED UP NOW: 18 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

I am extremely passionate about education, specifically access to higher education. I desire to one day push policy on a national level.

Education and politics go hand in hand—which is not a favorable thing, but it is what it is. I figured going through this program will give me much-needed insight on how politics work!

It’s so fascinating that anyone can run for office. Of course, you know this intellectually, but when you really see the requirements up close, anyone really can do it. I might take my stab at something next year. I want to get my Ph.D. and push educational policy.

That’s the main goal. If I take a detour and run for office, it’ll be well worth it.

I tell you, I’m fresh to this scene, but that’s to my advantage. It’s hard to “play politics” when you don’t even know the rules.

WHO WOULD BE PROUDEST OF ME IF I SUCCEEDED IN PUBLIC OFFICE: I kind of shared my interest with my family over dinner. My sister said, “No, we don’t want to be in the news all like that. They’re going to put our business out there!” So I’m unsure if I have her vote. More seriously, for most proud, I hope in everything I do I make my loved ones proud and I believe I do.

I think I am the one that would be the most surprised if I got on a ballot or won a race. Everyone else is kind of like, “Yeah, I can see that.”

Me, on the other hand, I’m thinking, “Are you sure, girl?”

currently doing and provide me with more resources and access.

I have a tattoo on my arm that reads, “I am the community.” To me, if I live, work, or play somewhere, it’s my responsibility to improve it. Thinking “Let someone else do it”—I wish that was even an option for me, but it never has been. God doubled up on the passion when he created me.

What makes me unusual for politics is that I’m black. A millennial.

And a woman. In that order. I am fully all three of those, all the time. My boldness is what makes me an unusual candidate, but that might also be what makes me the perfect candidate.

With that, I can come off as “too much,” or so I’ve been told before. A lot of times in the political scene they tell you to “wait your turn.” Nah, my turn is right now.

JAMIE BALLINGERHOLDEN

STEPS ALONG THE WAY: There have been so many opportunities for me here in East Knoxville.

People are dedicated to our community. I know I would not be where I am today had I not gone to Austin-East Magnet High School. The faculty and staff, particularly Dorothy Brice, and organizations such as Project GRAD, Urban League NULITES, and National Achievers Society changed my life.

Drastically.

THOUGHTS ON THE PROCESS: If I decide to run, the betterment of our youth will always be at the top of my agenda. Has to be. Holding public office will only amplify what I’m

“I think East Tennesseans are reasonable folks. If they think you have the best ideas to improve our city, county, and state, they will give you their support.”

A

n attorney with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz

PC, Ballinger-Holden is a member of the firm’s health care, employment, and intellectual property practice groups. She is a founding and current chair of the East Tennessee Lawyer’s Association Women and Leadership Committee and a member of the United Way of Greater Knoxville Health and Basic Needs Committee.

WHY I STEPPED UP NOW: This is the least diverse cabinet our country has had in years. It isn’t okay.

We need women at the table. We need a government representative our diverse and wonderful population. After the November election, many of my friends of both political parties felt galvanized to see more women run for office. As a part of that effort, I went on a campaign of trying to talk my friends from all walks of life to run for office. I applied for Emerge because I can’t ask my friends and family to run if I am not willing to be bold and do so myself.

HOW MY GENDER HAS AFFECTED MY PAST: Thanks to the hard work of generations of women before me, there are fewer professional impediments for me than for women of earlier generations. But I have never forgotten that the fight for rights for women was long and hard, and is not over. Being a lawyer means I typically work with a very educated and thoughtful group of men and women who strive to treat all equally. But, in general in our society, sexism is alive and well. I think I am still always trying to prove I deserve to be in the room. I am always trying to show that there are more ways to lead and that women are effective leaders. Women get interrupted a lot during meetings, and sometimes we are not heard.

STEPS ALONG THE WAY: I have always leaned Democratic and my first presidential vote was for Al Gore in 2000. But my family is Republican. It is interesting and helpful. When we have tough conversations, which are critical, I have always had to try and step in their shoes and they in mine. We don’t always agree, but we keep talking, and that is the key.

COMMENTS ON THE PROCESS: So far, the Emerge training has been both inspiring and intimidating.

Inspiring, because the data shows that when women run, they win. We just need more women savvy in the political process. Intimidating, because it is new. I have never put myself out there and asked folks for their vote. There will be lots of personal scrutiny when I do. It takes courage, but I know I can do it.

I haven’t gotten any blatantly sexist questions yet, and I have only had two naysayers. They say you can’t run as a Democrat in East Tennessee.

I do not believe that. I think East Tennesseans are reasonable folks. If they think you have the best ideas to improve our city, county, and state, they will give you their support.

I will have to overcome my fear of failure to win a race. I might not win and that is okay. But I remind myself, “You cannot win if you are not in the race.

MELISSA NANCE

“If you look at national and state politics from the media, you would think there are just two sides, and they hate each other. But I don’t think that’s true.”

T

he executive director of Friends of Literacy in Knoxville, Nance is a mother and cancer survivor who lives in Maryville. She has been an executive with the Knoxville Opera and the Little River Watershed Association, a board member with the Maryville Arts Coalition, and a member of the Leadership Blount County Class of 2006.

WHY I AM STEPPING UP NOW: Just in the past year, I became a volunteer for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Tennessee and a policy advocate for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I was responding to my own cancer, asking, “How can I turn some of this into a positive?” The two organizations were working on bills that were both held for 2018, but I got a look into the legislative process and what it takes for something to come to pass.

That’s when I decided I wanted to go further.

I have a couple of possible offices in mind. I am really interested in something on the state level and I’m already investigating a few—definitely the state level or above.

STEPS ALONG THE WAY: What’s changed for me, through working with community groups, is realizing that you can keep your core beliefs but sometimes you have to compromise. When I was younger, I thought, “This is the way, it has to be this way.” But now I realize there really is a middle ground.

If you look at national and state politics from the media, you would think there are just two sides, and they hate each other. But I don’t think that’s true.

WHAT I WOULD BRING TO A CANDIDACY: I think I am a good spokesperson, although I do not say that in a cocky way. I’m not afraid to talk about my personal experience and I have public speaking and media experience throughout my career, which would help me in public office.

Politics is definitely a different experience than my career so far and I’m still struggling with that. It’s easy for me to say, “Come and support X

organization.” It’s harder to say, “Come and support and believe in me.”

As part of the Emerge group, you do a lot of talking about yourself to prepare to go out in the community and basically talk about yourself.

I felt like applying for Emerge was a test. I thought, “If I can’t get in this class, I probably shouldn’t run for politics.”

But then I did get in and I knew someone who knows something about politics thought I could do a good job.

WHO WOULD BE MOST PROUD IF I SUCCEEDED IN PUBLIC OFFICE: I’d hope I’d be setting a good example for my daughter. She is in college running for the SGA this year. I hope that I can show her an example of what women are capable of doing. We’re underrepresented in most political arenas and I want to show her we can go for our dreams. I’m proud of myself and these other women just for risking it—just seeing what the potential is.

THOUGHTS ON THE PROCESS: The few I’ve told about my intentions respond with, “Yeah, I can see that.

It’s like all your experiences are leading you to that.” I thought people would be more surprised.

Still, I can see why people don’t want to go into politics. It’s hard to gain entry. You’re putting yourself out there to get punched at. It’s scary, but after having cancer, I’m like, “Bring it.”

VIVIAN UNDERWOODSHIPE

“My beliefs have not changed in my 61 years.

I believe if you are elected to office you remember those who elected you. You try to fight for the issues they sent you to take care of.”

A

career lead sales associate for the United States Postal Service, Underwood-Shipe has served as president of the National Alliance of Federal and Postal Employees Local 406 for 25 years. She is a great-grandmother and class president of Austin-East Class of ’73.

WHY I STEPPED UP NOW: We were fighting to create a safety center in Knoxville when I began to see the decision-makers for us were the same ones who passed laws.

That’s when I could see me being a voice on another level. This is important—you have to see it in the spirit and the mind before you ever see it in the physical.

I have never had a problem being a pioneer or dreaming of making a change. When I was in high school in the ’70s, I ran for Ms Y Teen. I was asked what did I want to be when got older and told them I wanted to be the president of the United States. They seemed shocked. I didn’t know why then and I still don’t.

WHO WOULD BE PROUDEST OF ME IF I SUCCEEDED IN PUBLIC OFFICE: I believe both my mom and dad would be proud and back me. I am the oldest of five. Both my parents were college grads. I am second-generation in postal work; my father was one of the first African Americans hired here in Knoxville. He, too, was the union president of Local 406. Can you imagine the cases he had to handle?

Plus, I was a daddy’s girl so he always had my back.

My father died when I was 17, so May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 19

my mom raised us alone. She was strong and quiet. She had breast cancer twice and when she passed at age 48, was fighting bone cancer. She was a teacher who had taught in a one-room schoolhouse up in the country, all grades from kindergarten to 12th grade in one room. When we were little, she opened a daycare in our home so I always had a strong female figure to emulate. She had a goal that all five of us would be college graduates—and all five of us are college graduates. I hope to complete my doctoral journey this year.

My siblings and I are the Fantastic Five, as our collective group of children call us. We support each other. My family has my back. That is a mighty force field right there!

WHAT I WOULD BRING TO A CANDIDACY: I live by Matthew 25:40. I truly believe what we do for our fellow man, we are doing for the Lord. I try to walk accountable to Him. I have a true passion to help those who are mentally ill and I do not like to see the elderly abused, and want to see stronger laws to ensure they are taken care of. I realize the gap between the generations is widening.

We need to make sure the aging baby boomers are cared for and this will require some new policy going forward. 2018 is going to see a tsunami of change in this country.

My beliefs have not changed in my 61 years. I believe if you are elected to office you remember those who elected you. You try to fight for the issues they sent you to take care of. I believe we must answer to a higher power for what we do on Earth.

KATE TRUDELL

“True leadership should be about raising up voices, bridging gaps, and bringing families, children, individuals, and communities forward. Not about being the loudest voice in the room or the strongest fist in the ring.”

E

xecutive director of the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking in Knoxville, Trudell sits on the State of Tennessee Human Trafficking Advisory Council, the Women’s Fund of East Tennessee Advocacy Committee, and the Knox County Homeless Coalition.

COMMENTS ON THE PROCESS:

WHY I AM STEPPING UP NOW:

I feel my years as union president for 25 of my 33 years at the post office will be a great advantage. I have held countless mediations, I have represented and written cases against discrimination, and I have developed the gift of the power of the pen.

I am not intimidated by any title, I work for a win-win, and I am dogged about righting a wrong. I have a favorite saying: “The persistent flea can bring down the biggest dog.”

I’ve been growing more and more concerned about the current interpersonal climate—the environment where a room full of men have the power to determine the rights of women. It also involves a culture that systematically paves the way to greatness for some while closing the door to others because of where they are from, what they look like, who they love, or where they worship. That is a society that does not uphold the values of love,

20 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

respect, empowerment, generosity, and partnership that I hope to instill in the lives of my children. I want that so badly I am not content to leave that work to someone else.

raising up voices, bridging gaps, and bringing families, children, individuals, and communities forward. Not about being the loudest voice in the room or the strongest fist in the ring.

HOW MY GENDER HAS AFFECTED MY PAST:

THOUGHTS ON THE PROCESS:

I have felt the sting of misogyny and sexism in the workplace in the past and I regret not standing up to that behavior appropriately. I normalized it, brushed it off, or stayed silent—and then vented about it afterwards, of course. Over the years I have learned ways to confront that type of sexist behavior in more effective ways and Emerge is giving me more tools to be proactive to those challenges.

And as a women, of course, sometimes I have felt strange about the balance of working full-time and being a parent. I have had people express surprise that I work “outside the home” and it used to bother me but it doesn’t really anymore. I tried being a full-time stay-at-home mommy and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t great at it. I love my kids—I’ve just found a different way of making the world better for them.

STEPS ALONG THE WAY: The first election I voted in was the 2004 presidential election, Bush vs.

Kerry. It was a strange time. I was a student at Furman University, a Southern, private, historically Christian, school. I was kind of this little closet liberal activist, because I was certainly in the minority. And during that time any dissent of the current administration was seen as unpatriotic. 9/11 happened on my very first day of college classes as a freshman. We were at war, my guy friends were enlisting, and the sentiment was very much “stand united”—don’t ask questions, don’t push back.

I think so often we assume ownership of our parents’ beliefs without questioning or learning for ourselves. And that provides the space for people to think differing opinions are not only simply different, but invalid and discredited.

The 2016 presidential election essentially blew up my whole concept of politics and American leadership.

True leadership should be about

My hope is that training with Emerge will enhance my work combatting human trafficking. In Emerge we are not learning “issues,” but ways to advocate for issues. I also think my work against human trafficking will absolutely influence my approach to running for office. I have essentially dedicated my career to giving voices to those who need it the most within the criminal justice system, social services, and so forth. A public office would allow me to continue to do that, but on a broader scale.

On a more personal level, one of my two children has special needs, and that gives me an understanding of how challenging it can be to navigate the system. I have time and flexibility in my job, my husband and I have financial resources (although modest), and we have family who are supportive and helpful. But it still can be hard to get our son the help he needs.

Many of the systems in place to support families and communities are challenging to utilize and often leave the very people they are trying to serve feeling marginalized and disregarded.

Whether I like it or not, women are held to a different standard than men. We have to work harder and longer to receive the same pay.

Powerful men are praised for their success and thought of as decisive, controlled, and wise, while powerful women are often described as shrewd, bitchy, or cold. With that double standard, women have to work harder and smarter. Providing training and resources dedicated to women is a way to level the playing field.

Emerge Tennessee Learn more about Emerge Tennessee and its mission to “be the premier campaign-training program for Democratic women”: facebook.com/EmergeTN emergeamerica.org/content/emerge-tennessee

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Program Notes | Music | Art | Movies

Rocky Road Flying Anvil’s long search for a permanent performing space comes to an end in West Knoxville

LOCAL RELEASE

Tree Tops Ghosts Don’t Dance With Shoes Tree Tops, Cory Smith’s ever-rotating “progressive groove-rock” project, has been at the center of Knoxville’s expanding prog scene for the past four years. But only now—after running the treadmill of endless local gigs, small-scale tours, raw early recordings, and inevitable lineup shifts—has the band leapfrogged toward the top of that class. The quartet’s debut album, Ghosts Don’t Dance With Shoes, improves on their 2015 EP, Eclipse, in every sense imaginable: tighter arrangements, beefier production values, and a surprising amount of soulful hooks wrapped around those signature space-funk guitar solos.

“Towers” hinges on the nimble, psychedelic guitar interplay of Smith and new recruit/former Maps Need Reading axe-man David Webb, but the song’s breezy backing vocals flaunt an accessibility that many A-list jam bands would snub their noses at. “Fly Like Pigeons” is almost psychotic in its sweep, with profanity-laden, Gov’t Mule-style funk grooves, heady jazz interludes, and pummeling hard-rock riffs.

The name-dropping feels necessary.

There are nods to Warren Haynes, Umphrey’s McGee, Santana, even Frank Zappa (“Stonefacin’” is built around a bluesy riff that alludes to “I’m the Slime” and includes a shout-out to the avant-garde master’s classic “Cosmik Debris”). But Tree Tops rise above hero worship throughout Ghosts, thriving at a compelling sweet spot of pop songcraft and prog expansiveness. (Ryan Reed) 22 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

T

he seemingly epic quest of the Flying Anvil Theatre company to find a permanent stage to call its own has at last reached its denouement. As you may recall from our cover story on Knoxville’s burgeoning theater scene in March, Flying Anvil had experienced a series of disappointments as it nearly signed leases on a couple of promising venues in downtown and South Knoxville. But it has finally sealed the deal in the West Knoxville neighborhood of Rocky Hill.

The nonprofit troupe, formed in 2012, just signed a lease for 1300 Rocky Hill Road, a former church building. Once risers and theater lighting are added, the space should be up and running with about 150 seats. Jayne Morgan, Flying Anvil’s artistic director, says the group aims to unveil the theater with a production in late July.

Previously, Morgan had eyed urban spaces in up-and-coming areas for the company’s home, such as the Jewel Building on North Gay Street, but she says rental prices very quickly rose beyond their budget.

“I love downtown. I live in North Knox. But we’re past the point where an arts organization can find a funky but usable space with cheapo rent,” Morgan says. “I’m glad downtown is booming, but we were simply priced

out of the market.”

Thus, Flying Anvil is heading west, where Morgan believes there is an audience just waiting for more cultural pursuits closer to home.

“I think there is a large audience there who already go to all sorts of cultural events, including theater,” she says. “Now they can go to the theater in their neighborhood. Hopefully, theater lovers in other areas will find the location to be pretty central. How many times have my friends out west told me they won’t come downtown?

And my downtown friends don’t want to go out west? We’re 15 minutes from everywhere. Best of both worlds, I think. With great parking!”

Once their space is built out, Flying Anvil will also start offering programming beyond just shows, such as children’s acting classes and summer camps. Jay Apking, creator of the Bijou Awards, will direct Anvil Kids programming. Meanwhile, John Ferguson will lead a second wing of Flying Anvil called the Hammer Ensemble.

“This group of actors will develop original work based on issues in the community—like the challenges faced by caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients, bullying in schools, bridging the divide in our society right now,” Morgan says.

“We’ll partner with other nonprofits to create theater pieces to illuminate the

issues. Believe me, we’re going to keep that building busy!”

After so many previous near misses, Morgan says she is experiencing a sense of shock over finally signing a lease.

“It took a while for it to sink in,” she says. “There were so many moving parts that had to come together in order to do this. And so many people who helped along the way—most particularly, my very smart, very ballsy board. I love those people!

They somehow managed to keep the faith. And raise the money. I haven’t been able to pop the champagne as yet cause I’ve had a nasty cold, but as soon as my head clears, there’s going to be some serious partying.”

—Coury Turczyn

JAYNE MORGAN

Program Notes | Music | Art | Movies

Photo by Sydney King

Full Color The ongoing evolution of local synth-pop trio Night Colors

BY MATTHEW EVERETT

I

n late March, the three members of the Knoxville synth-pop band Hazel—Elijah and Hannah Cruise and Cale Bramer—announced that they were changing the group’s name to Night Colors. The switch came just in time, since the trio was scheduled to play the biggest shows of its young career, at the Rhythm N’ Blooms music festival, just a couple of weeks later.

“We’d felt for a while that we would outgrow our name as our music evolved,” Elijah Cruise says. “We spent a little while camped out at a beach in South Carolina called Cape Fear, doing some soul-searching, trying to figure out who we are. Night Colors is what felt right.”

They had a couple of specific reasons for the switch. One was practical: There are a lot of musical acts out in the world with Hazel in their names, from the almost-famous Sub Pop band from the 1990s to the Paris-based EDM producer Häzel,

with Sister Hazel and the late Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel in between. So copyright is an issue, as is SEO. In a broader sense, the band was set for a new beginning. Cruise and Bramer have been playing together since they met in 2013, but Hazel only became a serious project when Hannah joined as lead singer in the summer of 2015. Neither she nor Bramer had any real experience before the band formed; the first two years were spent learning how to perform and write music with each other. Now, with a solid year of public shows, an appearance at a big local festival, and a forthcoming EP, things are quickly changing. They wanted a new name to go along with their new sense of purpose.

“We opted for the name Hazel in a rush,” Cruise says. “The name holds a lot of nostalgic value to us now, but we thoroughly enjoy our new name. …

Basically, Night Colors is a representa-

tion of emotion—your first kiss, late nights with friends, when you’re driving with your windows down as fast as you can, everything we feel is wrapped up in the name is what we hope to share.”

Exactly what Night Colors will be is still something of a mystery. As Hazel, the band released two singles.

“I Met a Boy,” from early 2016, is a promising piece of electronic stadium pop-rock, highlighted by Hannah Cruise’s clear, powerful vocal performance. “Shadow,” released earlier this year, is a moodier track, an atmospheric, seductive song, part Sylvan Esso, part ’80s New Wave synth-pop throwback. (There’s also a rap at the end by local hip-hop/R&B artist Thelo-Que.) “Shadow” offers a hint of what Night Colors will be like, Elijah says, but only a hint. The current instrumental lineup—synth, vocals, laptop— will be fleshed out with live drums and guitar, and Elijah will be taking

turns on lead vocals.

The trio is currently in the studio, finishing up its first EP. When that’s released—it’s scheduled for Sept. 1— the full Night Colors experience will be unveiled, Elijah says.

“We were changing even before the name change,” he says. “It’ll be the same sound, but more thoughtthrough and permanent … The biggest change will be our visuals. They are just as important to us as the EP itself, as you will see in the months to come.

Another big change will be our live show. Let’s just say it will be a lot bigger and more colorful than anything we’ve done before.”

Synth-pop isn’t an easy sell in a town dominated by Americana, bar bands, and singer-songwriters. Cruise says Hazel benefitted from having a relatively simple stage set-up, but Night Colors won’t have that same advantage.

“It’s been easy enough to get shows because we have played a lot of performances stripped down,” he says. “Soon enough, we will be playing with a full band and a lot of synths— we’ll see how venues take it.”

But Cruise is confident that the full Night Colors phenomenon, when it’s finally unleashed, will have been worth the wait.

“It’s been a long process,” he says.

“The hardest part has been waiting to share this music with everyone. We can’t wait.”

WHO Peak Physique with War Twins and Night Colors WHERE Scruffy City Hall (32 Market Square) WHEN Friday, May 12, at 9 p.m.

INFO scruffycity.com or nightcolorsmusic.com

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 23

Program Notes | Music | Art | Movies

Light Show KMA shows off its growing collection of Beauford Delaney art in an anticipated summer exhibit

BY DENISE STEWART-SANABRIA

R

etrospective exhibitions are usually staged like a playlist of a band’s greatest hits. There is an attempt to include the artist’s most iconic pieces, loaned from individuals or other institutions. Everything is big and loud and often predictable but not always satisfying.

Gathering Light: Works by Beauford Delaney From the KMA Collection, at the Knoxville Museum of Art, is entirely different. Instead of being invited to an institutional mega-presentation, you feel like you’ve been invited to Delaney’s home. You get to hang out in his studio, where he lets you dig through his sketchbooks. You have dinner in his kitchen and then go outside to put up your feet, talk, and have a few beers. When you walk into the street-level gallery you get to personally meet this internationally acclaimed artist, not just a catalog of his most known work.

From the beginning, it has been

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difficult for KMA to develop a collection of Beauford Delaney’s work.

Though he was born in Knoxville, in 1901, and received his first art education here with private lessons from renowned local artist Lloyd Branson, he left town for good at a critical age. He first traveled to Boston, to study at the South Boston School of Art and the Copley Society, then moved to New York in 1929. He slowly began to develop a reputation and a following.

After decades of struggle and work, he moved to Paris in 1953.

There, he fell in with a group of expatriate American artists and writers; the freedom to be black and gay, to be not just accepted but embraced by a community, convinced him to stay. He died in Paris in 1979.

All of his mature work was created and sold wherever he moved and worked. After his death, his unsold work and the sketchbooks that were in his studio were packed up by his artist

brother, Joseph Delaney, and shipped back to the United States, where Joseph let them remain for years in the shipping boxes. When Joseph became the original artist in residence at the University of Tennessee, this work came back to Knoxville with him.

Most of the work in this exhibit has never been on public view. The bulk of it is water media on paper, experimental work, and studies for larger work. Most delightfully, there were tiny notebooks full of notes, studies, and random drawings done from wherever he was sitting of whatever he was looking at, including several self-portraits. There are no large canvases, either abstract or realist. Delaney lived at a time where you had to transcend realism to be taken seriously, and he seems to have done it effortlessly; his experiments with abstraction predate the abstract expressionist movement.

The earliest work in the exhibit is “Untitled 1928,” a charcoal portrait in the academic realism style of the time.

The latest is “Untitled 1972,” a watercolor and gouache abstract on paper. When the museum framed the work, they thoughtfully left all the edges, spiral notebook holes, and perforation edges intact, giving each piece a more intimate presentation.

One small drawing, “Untitled (West African Figurine),” is rendered with ink on foil wrapping paper. The delicate drawing is undiminished by the wrinkled wrapper. A series of nine self-portraits, obviously rendered one after the other on consecutive pages of a tiny spiral paper pad, read as a kind of animation of his process. He fiddles and corrects line placement.

He tries different head angles. He does versions with a cigarette in his mouth. He smiles at himself as he seems to relax while engaged in this intimate discipline.

More tiny sketches of people and locations and abstractions pulled from spiral paper pads are scattered not just among the framed work on the walls but also in a large glass-topped case. Some of these tiny pads are left open, displaying just one dynamic sketch or a rough layout of an idea with written notes. Photos of the artist and his friends and family are also mixed in. The one I found most

delightful was a classic photo booth three-shot strip that Delaney had done of himself, first glancing to the right, then turning his head to the right, and then staring straight at the camera for the final shot, where he has burst out laughing.

A series of abstract watercolor paintings are the most formal grouping in the collection. They show Delaney at full power during his abstract period.

The spiritual meaning of his use of color—he believed yellow is a source of healing and redemption—is in rich display. These paintings also show Delaney’s constant experimentation. In “Untitled 1960,” painted on black paper, he adds particles of powdered blue cobalt pigment. In most of them he adds gouache, a form of opaque watercolor with white pigment added, to give them the full atmospheric impact of what he was also doing in his oil paintings.

Gathering Light is the first of two Beauford Delaney exhibits KMA has planned. The second, scheduled for 2018, will feature work on loan from private collectors and institutions in Paris. It will be organized by Monique Wells of the French organization Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, which has been instrumental in helping the museum locate and catalog Delaney’s work in Europe.

WHAT Gathering Light: Works by Beauford Delaney From the KMA Collection WHERE Knoxville Museum of Art (1050 World’s Fair Park Drive) WHEN Through July 23 HOW MUCH Free INFO knoxart.org

Program Notes | Music | Art | Movies

Great Expectations The Marvel rulebook drains some of the dopey charm from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

BY APRIL SNELLINGS

D

eep down, I think we all knew we’d only get one Guardians of the Galaxy. Sure, there’ll be sequels, tie-ins, crossovers, and probably spin-offs as long as they keep making money. But James Gunn’s gonzo 2014 space opera was wonderful in part because it felt so fresh and different—it was weird, irreverent, and stylistically and tonally unmoored from everything that came before it in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In other words, it was, by its very nature, a phenomenon that’s almost impossible to replicate. There’ll be plenty of attempts—look no further

than the Thor: Ragnarok trailer, with its ’70s rock soundtrack, retro fantasy vibe, and roller-rink visuals, for proof that the alchemy is already becoming algebra.

Even Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 isn’t quite Guardians of the Galaxy, though it comes pretty darn close. It’s goofy, imaginative, and eye-popping, and it all but dares you not to have fun. Maybe the difference is that now we know what to expect, and Gunn has a formula to which he must diligently adhere. I guess having a rulebook is kind of a drag, even if you’re the one who wrote it.

There’s also the looming specter

of the upcoming Infinity War crossover that will tie together the Guardians and Avengers franchises. It’s hard to shake the feeling that, as Gunn and his intergalactic misfits are reeled into the Avengers orbit, there’s some pressure to stand up straight and act a little more like a conventional superhero movie. Vol. 1’s approach to stuff like plot and character arcs was casual at best, and that looseness was appealing as hell—there was an awesome sense that everyone was just wandering around doing random stuff and, oh yeah, an Infinity Stone! Vol. 2 isn’t exactly tightly plotted, but, if I have some minor qualms, it’s that the movie saddles Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), with ho-hum daddy issues and a backstory-driven character arc that rob him of some of his dopey charm.

Of course, playing it straight is a relative concept in a Guardians of the Galaxy story in any medium, and this installment has the added bonus of casting Kurt Russell as a magnificently coiffed, god-like being known as Ego, whose mission to roam the galaxy and bone females of every sentient species eventually produced Peter.

Peter doesn’t know any of these details, of course, and when Ego drops in to save him and his fellow Guardians from being pulverized by a race of gold-skinned aliens from whom they’ve stolen some important batteries (just go with it), Peter welcomes the chance to get to know

his dad. This involves an extended stay on Ego’s planet, which is essentially the universe’s biggest and most gorgeous prog-rock album cover.

It’s immediately clear to everyone besides Peter that Ego has an ulterior motive for tracking him down, but his associates have pressing family issues of their own: Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is still fending off her psychopathic sister; Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper) is playing dad to Baby Groot (voice of Vin Diesel); Drax (Dave Bautista) still grapples with the death of his wife and daughter; and Yondu (Michael Rooker) has been exiled from the impromptu family of space pirates known as Ravagers.

The first film wasn’t subtle in casting the Guardians as a dysfunctional but loving family unit, so the sequel’s emphasis on family ties isn’t out of place. I just wish it didn’t force Pratt into a father-son storyline that buries so much of his rakishness.

So the middle stretch of Vol. 2 doesn’t always earn the emotional beats between the funny banter and the dazzling space battles. But talk about a third-act rally—the final moments might be the most heart-wrenching sequence Marvel has put on film so far. Regardless of its weaknesses, Vol. 2 proves that Marvel is still successful in the area that so consistently trips up its main competitor: It genuinely cares about the characters, and they make sure we do, too.

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 25

Thursday, May 11 — Sunday, May 28 Spotlight: 30 Nine Lakes Wine Festival

MUSIC Thursday, May 11 ANDREW ADKINS • 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 DEER • 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 SOUNDS OF SPRING CONCERT SERIES • 6PM • Sounds of Spring is taking center stage at the Pinnacle at Turkey Creek each Thursday in May with nationally recognized musicians. The schedule includes Kristian Bush with the Shaun Abbott Band (May 11); Russell Dickerson with K-Town (May 18); and Seth Ennis with Pale Root (May 25). • FREE JOE LASHER JR. • Market Square • 7PM • Part of the city of Knoxville’s Variety Thursday series of free outdoor summer concerts. • FREE THE GEORGIA FLOOD WITH STONE BROKE SAINTS AND THE SEDONAS • Open Chord Music • 8PM • Groove-heavy

and Genre-bending, The Georgia Flood’s music has evolved over the years. Their new album, People Like Ourselves, draws on indelible melodies, clever lyrics, and an infectious energy; weaving together an EP that hits all the right notes. All ages. • $8-$10 THE DEER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • With the sort of ingenuity you might expect to come out of Austin, TX, The Deer encompasses the innovation of the modern indie-folk revival and the cross-pollination of Austin’s diverse music scene. FREE NO NEED • Preservation Pub • 10PM THE DIRTY DOUGS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM STEVE RUTLEDGE • Wild Wing Cafe • 9PM • FREE

Friday, May 12 WHISKEY BENT VALLEY BOYS WITH RIVER VALLEY RANGERS • 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 ADAM WHIPPLE • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • $7 26 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

REBEL MOUNTAIN • Two Doors Down ( Maryville) • 9PM NED LEDOUX • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • 18 and up. • $10 NAUGHTY PROFESSOR • Preservation Pub • 9PM PEAK PHYSIQUE WITH LITTLE WAR TWINS AND NIGHT COLORS • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM • See music story on

page 23.

THE BUCHANAN BOYS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) •

9PM CAUTION • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Caution gives audiences the ultimate jam music experience.. covering legendary jam bands like the Grateful Dead, Phish and Widespread Panic. • $5 PAUL LEE KUPFER • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • Kupfer’s debut album, Where the Wind Goes, is a collection of unreconstructed folk in the style of early Bob Dylan, John Prine, and Arlo Guthrie. • FREE BIG BAD OVEN WITH EX GOLD • Pilot Light • 10PM • In the four years since they introduced their stripped-down rock ’n’ roll to Knoxville audiences, Ex Gold has built a reputation for coupling smarts and skill with the familiar sound of power chords and chant-alongs. 18 and up. • $5 THE PINKLETS • Relix Variety Theatre • 8PM • This teenage sister act’s stock-in-trade is a bright, teen-centric brand of mid-tempo power pop, replete with fetching melodies, the occasional vocal harmony, and a few classic piano-rock overtones. They’re celebrating the release of their debut album. • $7 PROGKNOXIS: CERULIA, OROGENS, PAREIDELIC, AND TITANOS • Open Chord Music • 8PM • Cerulia plays

progressive rock, influenced by post-hardcore, experimental, metal, and jazz. All ages. Visit openchordmusic.com. • $10 THE T. MICHAEL BRANNER CONCEPTET • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE GENTLEMEN AND LIARS • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE

Saturday, May 13 BRAD AUSTIN WITH PATRICK COMAN • 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 MICHAEL ROBERTS • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE THE HILLBENDERS: TOMMY • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • 45 years after its original release, the Who’s Tommy has been fully realized as a full length bluegrass tribute. • $15.50-$28.50 FILIBILLY • Last Days of Autumn Brewery • 7:30PM •

LEYLA MCCALLA

Thursday, May 11

RIVER AND RAIL THEATRE: EVERY BRILLIANT THING Emerald Academy • $18-$25 • The new local theater company presents its second full production, about a 7-year-old boy’s efforts to convince his mother that life is worth living. Through May 25.

Friday, May 12

THE PINKLETS Relix Variety Theatre • 8 p.m. • $7 • The teen-sister power trio—already veterans of Bonnaroo and the big stage at Rhythm N’ Blooms—are releasing their debut album.

Saturday, May 13

VESTIVAL Historic Candoro Marble Company • 11 a.m.-7 p.m. • $5-$10 • Celebrate spring in South Knoxville with the 17th Vestival, featuring food, arts, and crafts, and music by Crawdaddy Jones, the Lonetones, Guy Marshall, and more.

Wednesday, May 17

ELI FOX Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7 p.m. • $10 • Fox first attracted attention with the local preteen bluegrass combo Subtle Clutch; now a high-school senior, Fox is releasing his second solo album at this week’s installment of WDVX’s Tennessee Shines series.

Thursday, May 18

THE TANNAHILL WEAVERS Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:30 p.m. • $15 • The legendary Scottish folk band has been performing since 1968; the lineup has changed

over the years, but they’re still committed to the traditional music of the British Isles.

LEYLA MCCALLA Modern Studio • 8 p.m. • $15-$20 • The multi-instrumentalist, a former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, balances her classical training with an abiding interest in the music of New Orleans and the Caribbean on her two solo albums, Vari-Colored Songs (2014) and A Day for the Hunter, a Day for the Prey (2016).

Saturday, May 20

INTERNATIONAL BISCUIT FESTIVAL Downtown • 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. • Free-$15 • The sacred Southern biscuit gets the royal treatment at this annual festival, the world’s only dedicated biscuit celebration. Try local biscuits, look at biscuit-themed art, listen to songs about biscuits, and vote in the annual biscuit pageant.

CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL OF READING World’s Fair Park • 10 a.m.-3 p.m. • Free • All kinds of stuff related to kids, books, and particularly kids’ books. Adam Rex, the author of Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, will be joined

by Gwendolyn Hooks, Lita Judge, Natalie Lloyd, Charles Smith Jr., Mary Reaves Uhles, and more.

KNOXVILLE CHORAL SOCIETY: MOZART’S REQUIEM West Hills Baptist Church • 6 p.m. • $15 • KCS unveils a new edition of Mozart’s late unfinished masterpiece.

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $39.50-$49.50 • The Crows released a recreation of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde in April; they’ll perform the classic double LP in full at this sold-out show.

May 11 – May28

FREE MIDDLE FINGER • Two Doors Down ( Maryville) • 9PM CAPTAIN SUCK AND THE MEDIOCRE BAND • Brackins Blues

Club (Maryville) • 9PM JIM SHORTS WITH MOCCASIN COWBOY, STEAKS, AND GAG ME • Pilot Light • 9:30PM • 18 and up. • $5 THREE STAR REVIVAL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria •

10PM • Jazzy, jammy, funky Americana. • $5 BRANCHES • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE KNOXVILLE HYDROCEPHALUS ROCK CONCERT 2017 • Open

Chord Music • 4PM • With music by Annandale, Indie Lagone, Killing Grace, Belfast 6 Pack, Shallowpoint, Something Wicked, and Autumn Reflection. All ages.

Visit openchordmusic.com. • $8-$10 DAVID ALLAN COE WITH PEE WEE MOORE • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Country music’s original outlaw. • $25 BLUE MOTHER TUPELO • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM HAROLD NAGGE AND ALAN WYATT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE HARD WIRED • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE

Sunday, May 14 SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery •

11AM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE MOONSHINE RHYTHM CLUB • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Moonshine Rhythm Club brings old-school swing and jazz to life. • FREE ROBERT RANDOLPH AND THE FAMILY BAND WITH LUKE WADE • The Concourse • 8PM • Many musicians claim

that they “grew up in the church,” but for Robert Randolph that is literally the case. If it wasn’t being played inside of the House of God Church Randolph simply didn’t know it existed. Which makes it all the more remarkable that the leader of Robert Randolph and the Family Band is today an inspiration to the likes of Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Derek Trucks, all of whom have played with him and studied his technique. 18 and up. • $25-$28 J. LUKE • Wild Wing Cafe • 6PM • FREE

Monday, May 15

local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE PHIL LEADBETTER • Wild Wing Cafe • 5:30PM • FREE MARBLE CITY 5 • Market Square • 8PM • Vance Thompson’s small combo, featuring members of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, performs on Market Square May 9-Aug. 29. Visit knoxjazz.org. • FREE JOSEPH HUBER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Whether it’s irresistible, fiddle-driven, danceable tunes or honest, heart-wrenching “songwriter” songs, Huber spans the spectrum and knows how to evoke joy or pain with the likes of the best. • FREE ROCKIN’ JAKE WITH BEN STALETS • Preservation Pub • 10PM

Wednesday, May 17 GRACE PETTIS WITH A JAY WADE • 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 THE CASEY GREEN TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • FREE TENNESSEE SHINES: ELI FOX • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • High-school senior Eli Fox is a local wunderkind who’s been prominent in the Knoxville music scene for several years, first with the middle-school Mumford and Sons-style bluegrass buskers Subtle Clutch and now as a solo performer. He’s got a new disc, Tall Tales, scheduled for release on May 17. That night, he’s playing WDVX’s Tennessee Shines live-broadcast series at Boyd’s Jig and Reel in the Old City at 7 p.m.

Admission is $10. Visit elifoxmusic.com. • $10 JENNIFER JACKSON WITH BARK • Pilot Light • 7PM • Bark is a side project of the Tim Lee 3, featuring Tim and Susan Lee on mostly bass-and-drums arrangements, embellished with some economical guitar lines— imagine Joy Division playing White Stripes songs. 18 and up. • $5 MIKE SNODGRASS • Wild Wing Cafe • 8:30PM • FREE MILKSHAKE FATTY • Preservation Pub • 10PM

RYAN HUTCHENS WITH THE ROYAL HOUNDS • WDVX • 12PM

Thursday, May 18

• 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 JULY TALK WITH IRONTOM • The Concourse • 8PM • $5 MATT A. FOSTER • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Foster plays a mountain banjo, harmonica, and the sole of his boot. It’s live, simple, and earnest. • FREE BEN SHUSTER • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE RELENTLESS BLUES BAND • Preservation Pub • 10PM

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE WITH CIRCUIT DES JEUX • The Mill

Tuesday, May 16 MIKE RUFO WITH MITCHELL FERGUSON • WDVX • 12PM •

Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week live-broadcast lunchtime concert series featuring

and Mine • 8PM • The Baltimore-based indie idols are on the road supporting their 2016 album Painting With.

• $30-$33 KATY FREE WITH CLAY PARKER AND JODI JAMES • 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 JONNY MONSTER 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 SOUNDS OF SPRING CONCERT SERIES • 6PM • Sounds of

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May 11 – May28

Spring is taking center stage at the Pinnacle at Turkey Creek each Thursday in May with nationally recognized musicians. The schedule includes Kristian Bush with the Shaun Abbott Band (May 11); Russell Dickerson with K-Town (May 18); and Seth Ennis with Pale Root (May 25). • FREE ENSEMBLE SWING TIME • Market Square • 7PM • Part of the city of Knoxville’s Variety Thursday series of free outdoor summer concerts. • FREE MOTIONLESS IN WHITE WITH BORN OF OSIRIS AND OUT CAME THE WOLVES • The International • 7PM • All ages. •

$20 THE TANNAHILL WEAVERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:30PM

• The Tannahill Weavers are one of Scotland’s premier traditional bands. Their diverse repertoire spans the centuries with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, and original ballads and lullabies. • $15 WHITNEY • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Whitney make casually melancholic music that combines the wounded drawl of Townes Van Zandt, the rambunctious energy of Jim Ford, the stoned affability of Bobby Charles, the American otherworldliness of The Band, and the slack groove of early Pavement. • $18 PAT TRAVERS • Open Chord Music • 8PM • Pat Travers’ Blues Bureau years are perhaps his most significant in that he has worked with many musicians and the songs feature more of the classic blues based guitar that fans crave. Visit openchordmusic.com. • $25-$30

LEYLA MCCALLA • Modern Studio • 8PM • Deeply influenced by traditional Creole, Cajun and Haitian music, as well as by American jazz and folk, Leyla McCalla’s music is at once earthy, elegant, soulful and witty — it vibrates with three centuries of history, yet also feels strikingly fresh, distinctive and contemporary.All ages. • $15-$20 TOMMIE JOHN • Wild Wing Cafe • 9PM • FREE SOUTHERN AVENUE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Southern Avenue from Memphis, TN stirs up a soulful, funky, rock n’ roll stew built on a solid foundation of the blues. Concord/Stax Recording Artists.

THE FUSTICS • Preservation Pub • 10PM

Friday, May 19 THE TEALIGHTS WITH GOOD THYMES CEILIDH 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 ALIVE AFTER FIVE: DWIGHT HARDIN AND SMOOTH GROOVE

• Knoxville Museum of Art • 6PM • The son of gospel singer, Ruth Hardin, a.k.a. “The Songbird of the South,” vocalist and percussionist, Dwight Hardin, has been on stage performing sense the age of seven. • $10 TRAV ARLIN • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE

THE LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS AND JESSE DAYTON • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • The Legendary Shack Shakers’ hell-for-leather roadshow has earned quite a name for itself with its unique brand of Southern Gothic that is all-at-once irreverent, revisionist, dangerous, and fun. • FREE SEASON’S BEATINGS SPRING BREAKDOWN • Open Chord Music • 7PM • With A March Through May (they’re celebrating the release of their new EP, Bearing the Shackles), Illustrious, Via Vera, These Vices, and Crowns. All ages. • $10 FAIRVIEW UNION • Bijou Theatre • 7:30PM • The Fairview Union is a rockin’ country music duo based out of East Tennessee. • $21.50 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • FREE MAPS NEED READING WITH ÆLUDE AND FOREVERANDNEVER • Purple Polilla • 8PM • Experimental rock from

Knoxville and Nashville.

TINSLEY ELLIS: BLUES IS DEAD WITH MICHAEL CRAWLEY AND BARRY “PO” HANNAH • The International • 8PM •

Tinsley Ellis Blues Is Dead focuses on the Blues and R&B songs performed and recorded by the Grateful Dead (and a few other Fillmore era bands). All ages.

Visit internationalknox.com. • $20-$25 CRANE • Preservation Pub • 8PM ANDREW LEAHEY AND THE HOMESTEAD WITH SHIMMY AND THE BURNS • Modern Studio • 8PM • They’re an

this magic moment lonesomedoveknoxville.com 28 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

American rock and roll band, bypassing the sub-genres and trends that come and go every decade and, instead, focusing on the anthemic, guitar-driven sound that’s been blasting out of car stereos at 65 mile per hour ever since God created FM radio. All ages. • $7-$10 ANDY DAVIS • Knox Heritage • 8PM • A multi-instrumentalist with old-school charm, a 10-year track record, and a pulse for the often irregular heartbeat of human relationships, Andy Davis continues to engage longtime fans and win new ones. • $15 AARON KIRBY AND SOUTHERN REVELATION • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM CHRIS JANSON • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • 18 and up. • $20 RICK RUSHING • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM CHARGE THE ATLANTIC • Preservation Pub • 9PM TEEN SPIRIT • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM • A tribute to the ‘90s, led by Jonathan Sexton.

THE CHUCK MULLICAN JAZZ BONANZA • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE THE DAVID MAYFIELD PARADE AND THE RAILSPLITTERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • David Mayfield oozes personality on stage – a trait that makes him a natural frontman. • $5 FIGURE WITH MONIKER, KILL REX, IRELL, AND DREAM EATER

• The Concourse • 10PM • 18 and up. • $10 LASER BACKGROUND • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • $5

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May 11 – May28

Saturday, May 20

Monday, May 22

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM •

WILL PAYNE HARRISON WITH DARLINGTYN • WDVX • 12PM

Old Crow Medicine Show started busking on street corners in 1998 New York state and up through Canada, winning audiences along the way with their boundless energy and spirit. On April 28, the band will release 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde, their take on Bob Dylan’s iconic 1967 album Blonde on Blonde. • $39.50-$49.50

• 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 DECEPTION PAST • Modern Studio • 8PM KEVIN MAINES AND THE VOLTS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Raised in North Florida, where gospel and soul music lay as thick as the hot, humid air, Kevin Maines brings a youthful vibrancy to the classic southern R&B/Soul legacy. • FREE TOMMIE JOHN • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE DARLINGTYN • Preservation Pub • 10PM

BLUE MOTHER TUPELO WITH MARV ASHBY AND HIGH OCTANE • 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 JIMMY AND THE JAWBONES • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE IAN FITZGERALD AND SOMETHING ELSE • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • Ian Fitzgerald is a folk singer and songwriter. • FREE CONFEDERATE RAILROAD WITH SHIMMY AND THE BURNS • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 7:30PM • The ‘90s country stars come to the Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson stage. • $15-$20 KNOXVILLE GAY MEN’S CHORUS: WE ARE FAMILY • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • $19.50-$21.50 PEAK PHYSIQUE WITH DUSTIN SELLERS • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM HILLBILLY JEDI • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM THE JUKE JOINT DRIFTERS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM THE BUDDY HONEYCUTT TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE JESSE DAYTON • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Jesse Dayton has been building a cult following around the globe playing festivals in North America and Europe for years with his guitar shredding, country-infused, Americana sound. • FREE THE POP ROX • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE CAPTAIN IVORY • Preservation Pub • 10PM SWEET YEARS • Pilot Light • 10PM • Sweet Years’ sound falls somewhere between early Merge Records alt-punk and earnest Polyvinyl-style arpeggiation— music for Knoxville’s windows-down, fist-pumping warm weather needs. 18 and up. • $5 THE BROCKEFELLERS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE

Sunday, May 21 SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery •

11AM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN BLUES SOCIETY BLUES CRUISE • Star of Knoxville Riverboat • 4PM • Join the Smoky Mountain Blues Society as they present some of the best-known local, regional, and nationally touring blues artists during specialty cruises on the Tennessee River. Call (865) 525-7827 or visit tnriverboat.com/blues-cruises-2. • $16-$20 PALE ROOT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM JAHMAN BRAHMAN • Preservation Pub • 10PM

Tuesday, May 23 YAHUALI • 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 BIG COUNTRY’S EMPTY BOTTLE • Wild Wing Cafe • 5:30PM • FREE OPEN CHORD SPRING STUDENT RECITAL • Open Chord Music • 7PM • The student recital will go until approximately 9 pm. Following the student recital, there will be a short intermission followed by a free concert performed by Open Chord School of Music instructors. Some of the older students will be involved in the concert. Visit openchordmusic.com. • FREE MARBLE CITY 5 • Market Square • 8PM • Vance Thompson’s small combo, featuring members of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, performs on Market Square May 9-Aug. 29. Visit knoxjazz.org. • FREE COMMUNITY CENTER • Preservation Pub • 10PM

Wednesday, May 24 THE BROTHER BROTHERS • 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 DAVID OLNEY • Sweet P’s Barbecue and Soul House • 6PM • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 6:30PM • FREE THE JOSH KING TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • FREE TENNESSEE SHINES: THE DAVID MAYFIELD PARADE • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7PM • Part of WDVX’s weekly live-broadcast concert series. • $10 MIKE SNODGRASS • Wild Wing Cafe • 8:30PM • FREE

Thursday, May 25 BRIDGE 19 WITH SAMMI SUGGITT • 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 BETH SNAPP • 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 SOUNDS OF SPRING CONCERT SERIES • 6PM • The schedule includes Kristian Bush with the Shaun Abbott Band (May 11); Russell Dickerson with K-Town (May 18); and Seth Ennis with Pale Root (May 25). • FREE JONATHAN SEXTON • Market Square • 7PM • Part of the city of Knoxville’s Variety Thursday series of free outdoor summer concerts. • FREE SOUND AND SILENCE: HEART AND BONES CONCERT • Central Collective • 7:30PM • A night of Americana music at Central Collective in North Knoxville. Adeem the Artist, Ira Wolf, and Tyler Lyle of The Midnight will all be performing their unique variety of folk music.

Each artist will be performing one song by Paul Simon as a tribute to the inspired songwriter. • $12 JIMMY AND THE JAWBONES WITH DOMESTIC DISPUTE, DR. TERROR, AND COVALENCE • Open Chord Music • 8PM • All

ages. • $5 JOE THE SHOW • Wild Wing Cafe • 9PM • FREE JOSHUA POWELL AND THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY • Barley’s

Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • FREE DECEPTION PAST • Preservation Pub • 10PM

Friday, May 26 MARTHA BASSETT WITH MIPSO • 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 ROSCOE MORGAN • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 6PM • FREE BLACKBERRY SMOKE WITH THE STEEL WOODS • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 7:30PM • The songs on Blackberry Smoke’s sixth album, Like an Arrow show just how far this authentic American rock band has come as the accomplished group of musicians tackles a diverse set of new ideas, sounds and territories, long after most bands with half the success might have settled into a well-worn groove. • $35 THE DELTAS • Open Chord Music • 7:30PM • • $8 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • FREE NUTHIN’ FANCY • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM THE DIRTY DOUGS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM THE DEAD RINGERS • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM JEANINE FULLER • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE CORDOVAS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Cordovas, an American rock band from Nashville, Tennessee can be labeled (if necessary) as Americana Rock and Roll, relying on three and four-part harmony, as well as raucous rock and roll rifts and segues. • FREE JOSIAH ATCHLEY AND THE GREATER GOOD • Wild Wing Cafe • 10PM • FREE LADY D AND SOULJAM WITH THE HALFWAY HEARTS • May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 29

May 11 – May28

Preservation Pub • 10PM THE ONLIES • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE

Saturday, May 27 HOPE GRIFFIN WITH THE ONLIES • 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 BARBRAS • Vienna Coffee House (Maryville) • 6PM •

FREE BLACKBERRY SMOKE WITH DIRTY SOUL REVIVAL • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson (Maryville) • 7:30PM • $35 SMILE EMPTY SOUL WITH TOY CALLED GOD, ELISIUM, AND INWARD OF EDEN • Open Chord Music • 8PM • All ages. •

$15-$18 RANDY WOODY AND THE SOUTHBOUND BAND • Two Doors

Down (Maryville) • 9PM MUSCALINE BLOODLINE • Cotton Eyed Joe • 9PM • 18 and up. • $10 MYSTIC RHYTHM TRIBE • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM HANK AND THE CUPCAKES • Preservation Pub • 9PM SOULFINGER • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM PAMELA KLICKA • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • FREE UNSPOKEN TRADITION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE

Sunday, May 28

Wednesday, May 24 BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club • 9PM • A

SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM

Despite the long-awaited introduction of wine to grocery stores, Tennessee regulations have generally made wineries a little slower to proliferate here than in surrounding states. East Tennessee growers and vintners started a big push in the last two years to rapidly grow wine culture here—a culture that tends to favor muscadine wines and other sweet sips.

• Visit jigandreel.com. • FREE

Friday, May 12

The event starts at 1 p.m., after the Dogwood Masters Classic Regatta, so you could make a whole day of the lakeshore activities. Bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket, and you can pop open the bottle you just bought (more than 100 wines and hard ciders will be available) and enjoy it in the shade by the water while listening to live music from bands like the Knox Vegas Ramblers, Stock Creek Band, and Barefoot Sanctuary.

The festival was organized by wineries of the Great Valley Wine trail via the nonprofit Appalachian Region Wine Producers Association. The Great Valley wineries surround nine TVA lakes in the East Tennessee foothills that are working to get federal recognition as an “American Viticultural Area,” like Napa Valley and Sonoma County. That would allow wineries to market the region’s wine as unique in the U.S.—and give a big boost to the industry in East Tennessee. The association won a $250,000 marketing grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture last fall that is helping foot the bill for the wine festival. (S. Heather Duncan)

Thursday, May 25 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM

• Visit jigandreel.com. • FREE

Friday, May 26 OLD-TIME STRING BAND JAM • John T. O’Connor Senior

Center • 1:30PM • An opportunity for local acoustic artists, 50 years or older, to gather and jam. Don’t play?

No worries, come in just to listen and enjoy a good time. Every Friday. For more information call 865-523-1135. • FREE

DJ and Dance Nights Saturday, May 13

Center • 1:30PM • An opportunity for local acoustic artists, 50 years or older, to gather and jam. Don’t play?

No worries, come in just to listen and enjoy a good time. Every Friday. For more information call 865-523-1135. • FREE

REWIND RETRO DANCE NIGHT • The Concourse • 9PM •

Sunday, May 14 Laurel Theater • 6:30PM • Visit jubileearts.org. • FREE

Tuesday, May 16

Dance to hits from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. 18 and up. • $5

Saturday, May 20 TEMPLE DANCE NIGHT • The Concourse • 9PM •

Knoxville’s long-running alternative once night. 18 and up. Visit facebook.com/templeknoxville. • $5

CLASSICAL MUSIC Thursday, May 11

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 • Visit jigandreel.com. • FREE

PINT-SIZED OPERA • Saw Works Brewing Company • 7PM • Marble City Opera will perform live on the second Thursday of each month. Visit marblecityopera.com. • FREE

Wednesday, May 17

Saturday, May 13

BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) •

KNOXVILLE GUITAR SOCIETY SPRING BENEFIT CONCERT • Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan • 7PM • Join the Knoxville Guitar Society for its May Benefit Concert.

This concert will feature students of local guitar teachers such as Larry Long, Jeff Comas, Ed Roberson, Chris Lee, and Andy LeGrand as well as other guest artists. Visit knoxvilleguitar.org. • $10

9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John.

Visit Facebook.com/BrackinsBlues. • FREE

Thursday, May 18 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month.

Visit jigandreel.com. • FREE FRIDAY, MAY 19 OLD-TIME STRING BAND JAM • John T. O’Connor Senior

30 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. Visit Facebook.com/BrackinsBlues. • FREE

OLD-TIME STRING BAND JAM • John T. O’Connor Senior

EPWORTH MONTHLY OLD HARP SHAPE NOTE SINGING •

A big step is holding East Tennessee’s first wine festival. Entry to the Nine Lakes Wine Festival buys you a free wine glass and tastings from 20 Tennessee wineries, as well as food tickets and the chance to watch cooking demonstrations, attend wine seminars, and cheer your favorite charity team in a wine barrel rolling contest.

Preservation Pub • 7PM • 21 and up. Visit scruffycity. com.

OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Visit jigandreel.com. • FREE

11AM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE THE BROCKEFELLERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • FREE MELODIME WITH STONE BROKE SAINTS • Open Chord Music • 8PM • All ages. • $10-$12 YAK STRANGLER WITH TITANOS AND THE FILL-INS • Pilot Light • 9PM • 18 and up. • $5

Thursday, May 11

Melton Lake Park (Oak Ridge) • Saturday, May 20 • 1-6 p.m. • $20-$80 • ninelakeswinefestival.com

TUESDAY, MAY 23 PRESERVATION PUB SINGER-SONGWRITER NIGHT •

SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery •

OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS

Nine Lakes Wine Festival

Center • 1:30PM • An opportunity for local acoustic artists, 50 years or older, to gather and jam. Don’t play?

No worries, come in just to listen and enjoy a good time. Every Friday. For more information call 865-523-1135. • FREE

Friday, May 18 KSO MASTERWORKS: BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH • Tennessee

May 11 – May28

Theatre • 7:30PM • The KSO’s 81st season concludes with Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony. • $13-$83 MARBLE CITY OPERA: ‘THE STRONGER’ • Holly’s Gourmets Market and Cafe • 8PM • In this operatic adaptation of August Strindberg’s thought-provoking one-act play, two actresses, Estelle and Lisa, meet by chance in a quiet uptown bar. It is revealed that the two women, once close friends, are now apparent romantic rivals.

April 18-19. Visit marblecityopera.com. • $20

group the Marvelous Wonderettes as they take the stage at their 1958 senior prom. Through classic hits of the 50’s we learn about their lives and loves, discovering that their dreams are as big as their crinolines. A decade later, the Wonderettes reunite, eventually discovering that no matter what life has thrown their way or what the future may bring, they can conquer it together. April 28-May 14.

Friday, May 19

River and Rail Theatre riverandrailtheatre.com

KSO MASTERWORKS: BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH • Tennessee

EVERY BRILLIANT THING • A charming, brave, and often

Theatre • 7:30PM • The KSO’s 81st season concludes with Beethoven’s infamous Fifth Symphony. • $13-$83 MARBLE CITY OPERA: ‘THE STRONGER’ • Holly’s Gourmets Market and Cafe • 8PM • In this operatic adaptation of August Strindberg’s thought-provoking one-act play, two actresses, Estelle and Lisa, meet by chance in a quiet uptown bar. It is revealed that the two women, once close friends, are now apparent romantic rivals.

Visit marblecityopera.com. • $20

hilarious look at life in the shadow of depression. Hoping to save his mother from her struggles, a 7-year-old boy begins a list of all the things in life worth sticking around for. At Emerald Academy May 11-21. • $18-$25

Sunday, May 20 KNOXVILLE CHORAL SOCIETY MASTERWORKS CONCERT: MOZART’S ‘REQUIEM’ • West Hills Baptist Church • 6PM •

The Knoxville Choral Society is excited to present, for the first time in Knoxville, the Robert Levin edition of Mozart’s Requiem. Visit knoxvillechoralsociety.org. • $15

Tiger Lily Theatre tigerlilitheatre.org A NIGHT OF SHORTS • Modern Studio • A Night of Shorts,

consisting of original scenes, monologues, and even music, is a means for performers, writers, and theatre enthusiasts to engage in local theatre. This year’s selections range from a comical look at the Summer of 1605, a Grecian twist on Gilmore Girls, a new take on Rocky Top, and more. May 11-14. • $15

THEATRE AND DANCE

COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD

Saturday, May 13

Saturday, May 13

STUDIO ARTS FOR DANCERS SPRING CONCERT • Tennessee

LEANNE MORGAN • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Leanne

Theatre • 1PM • $20

Morgan’s style of comedy combines her southern charm and hilarious story telling about her own life into an act that keeps them coming back for more. • $27

Saturday, May 27 ANGELA FLOYD DANCE SCHOOLS SPRING CONCERT •

Knoxville Civic Auditorium • 5PM • $23

Carpetbag Theatre carpetbagtheatre.org RHODESSA! FULLY AWAKE FACING SEVENTY “HEAVEN BETTA BEA HONKY TONK” • Beck Cultural Exchange

Monday, May 15 FRIENDLYTOWN • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • A weekly comedy night named after the former red-light district near the Old City. Visit facebook.com/friendlytownknoxville. 18 and up. • FREE

Center • Carpetbag Theatre presents Cultural Odyssey’s performance directly addressing aging and growing old with dignity and security. May 19-21. • $15-$20

Tuesday, May 16

Knoxville Children’s Theatre knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com

Simplified Comedy performs live comedy improv at Scruffy City Hall. It’s just like Whose Line Is It Anyway, but you get to make the suggestions. Visit einsteinsimplified.com. • FREE

‘THE ISLAND OF DR. LIBRIS • Young Billy Gillfoyle is

spending the summer in a lakeside cabin that belongs to the mysterious Dr. Libris. But something strange is going on with Dr. Libris’ private bookcase. A world-premiere production based on the best-selling 2015 novel by Chris Grabenstein, adapted by Grabenstein and Ronny Venable. May 5-21. • $12

Oak Ridge Playhouse orplayhouse.com THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES • We first meet the girl

EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Einstein

Monday, May 22

PRESENTED BY SMOKY MOUNTAIN BREWERY

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FRIENDLYTOWN • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • A weekly comedy night named after the former red-light district near the Old City. Visit facebook.com/friendlytownknoxville. 18 and up. • FREE AIR SEX CHAMPIONSHIPS KNOXVILLE • Modern Studio • 8PM • It’s a magical blend of showmanship, humor, and interactive storytelling. It’s a comedy show that brings people together in a respectfully dirty, May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 31

May 11 – May28

unpredictably ridiculous, and oddly touching celebration of sexual freedom and expression. It’s voyeurism 2.0.

Tuesday, May 23 EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Einstein

Simplified Comedy performs live comedy improv at Scruffy City Hall. It’s just like Whose Line Is It Anyway, but you get to make the suggestions. Visit einsteinsimplified.com. • FREE

Wednesday, May 24 FULL DISCLOSURE COMEDY • Open Chord Music • 8PM •

Full Disclosure Comedy is Knoxville’s long-form improvisational troupe, bringing together community members for laughs and overall general merriment. • FREE

FESTIVALS Saturday, May 13 VESTIVAL • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 11AM •

Vestival brings the South Knoxville community together on Mother’s Day weekend for a day of live music, local craft and food vendors, dancing, and more at the historic Candoro Marble Building grounds. With entertainment by Crawdaddy Jones, the Lonetones, the Knox County Jug Stompers, Guy Marshall, Dragonfly

Aerial Arts, Cattywampus Puppet Council, and more. • FREE ST. BRENDAN’S CELTIC FESTIVAL • 10:30AM • A free community festival at St. Anne Orthodox Church featuring music, food, dancing, speakers, and Highland games, celebrating the Celtic heritage of East Tennessee and Appalachia. Music by the Good Thymes Ceilidh Band, the Bloody Tinth, and Brendan and the Navigators. Visit stbrendanfestival.org/. • FREE

Friday, May 19 BLOUNT MANSION STATEHOOD CELEBRATION • Blount Mansion • 6:30PM • Come join us as we celebration our statehood with a cocktail supper and live music.

You also will have the opportunity to participate in a silent auction with wonderful items to bid on. • $100 NINE LAKES WINE FESTIVAL WINEMAKERS DINNER • Calhoun’s (Oak Ridge) • 6PM • Experience award-winning wines served with a gourmet dinner on the lake.

Enjoy live music, and meet leaders of Tennessee’s growing wine industry. • $110

Saturday, May 20 JERRY’S ARTARAMA MURAL BLOCK PARTY • Jerry’s

Artarama • 10AM • Jerry’s Artarama of Knoxville will celebrate the unveiling of its recently completed commissioned mural and the growth of fine art in Knoxville by welcoming families and fellow artists for

Congratulations PAUL JORDAN on Greater Knoxville Hospitality Association’s

General Manager of the Year!

PM Hotel Group is proud!

501 West Church Avenue, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37902 865.523.2300 HiltonKnoxville.com 32 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

a day of outdoor fun and artist instruction. • FREE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL OF READING • World’s Fair Park • 10AM • Kick off a summer

of reading with a full day of music, storytelling, arts, crafts, science exploration, food, and fun. Meet Adam Rex, author of “Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich” and the “Cold Cereal Saga.” Adam will be joined by Gwendolyn Hooks, Lita Judge, Natalie Lloyd, Charles Smith,Jr. Mary Reaves Uhles, Sarah Weeks and others. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN SCOTTISH FESTIVAL AND GAMES • Maryville College • 12AM • Welcome to the Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games at Maryville College, East Tennessee’s premier celebration of Scottish culture and history. • $12-$200 INTERNATIONAL BISCUIT FESTIVAL • Downtown Knoxville • 9AM • The International Biscuit Festival shares Knoxville’s biscuit heritage with the world. • $15 BEER, BOURBON AND BBQ FESTIVAL • World’s Fair Park • 12PM • Join us at the festival for a great day of beer sippin’, bourbon tastin’, music listenin’, cigar smokin’, and barbeque eatin’. Your admission buys you a sampling glass so you can enjoy an all-you-care-totaste sampling of beer and bourbon. • $25-$55 NINE LAKES WINE FESTIVAL • Melton Lake Park • 1PM • Nine Lakes Wine Festival will highlight the award-winning wines of East Tennessee. • $40 • See Spotlight on page 30.

SUNSET FEST 2017 • Sunset Farm • 6PM • With the Hacksaw Boys, Blue Mother Tupelo, and the Honeycutters. All proceeds for this event will go to benefit Senior Citizens Home Assistance Service, Inc., a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help seniors stay in their homes and provide respite for their families. • $20-$35

Sunday, May 21 OPEN STREETS KNOXVILLE • 2PM • Knoxvillians are

invited to walk, bike, jog or dance their way through town at Open Streets Knoxville. Magnolia Ave., from Randolph Street to North Chestnut Street, with a small loop onto East Depot Avenue, will be closed to all motorized traffic, allowing revelers a day of playing, exercising, socializing, and shopping all on foot or two wheels. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN SCOTTISH FESTIVAL AND GAMES • Maryville College • 12AM • Welcome to the Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games at Maryville College, East Tennessee’s premier celebration of Scottish culture and history. • $12-$200

Saturday, May 27 BLOUNT MANSION STATEHOOD OPEN HOUSE • Blount Mansion • 10AM • We will have interpreters on site to tell visitors all about life on the frontier. This event is free to the public though donations are gladly

May 11 – May28

accepted. • FREE

MARYVILLE RIDE OF SILENCE • Blount County Courthouse

STATEHOOD DAY LIVING HISTORY • Marble Springs State

• 7PM • Wednesday, May 17, marks the 10th anniversary Blount County cyclists have been riding in the memory of Jeff Roth (1958-2006), who was killed on Highway 321 riding his bike home following his weekly group ride. We are again participating in the worldwide Ride of Silence in memory of the approximately 700 cyclists killed or injured in the last year. • FREE

Historic Site • 10AM • Experience 18th century demonstrations such as wood carving, spinning and weaving, 18th century style militia drills, weapons demonstrations that will showcase period appropriate firearms, and much more. For more information please visit www.marblesprings.net, emailinfo@marblesprings.net, or call (865) 573 - 5508. • FREE

FILM SCREENINGS Friday, May 12 IJAMS NATURE CENTER MOVIES IN THE PARK: ‘STAND BY ME’ • Ijams Nature Center • 7PM • Rob Reiner’s classic

1986 coming-of-age yarn, based on the novel by Steven King. • $5

Monday, May 15 BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM •

The Birdhouse Walk-In Theater hosts free movies every Monday night. Each month carries a different theme and provides free popcorn. Contact us about screening ideas: birdhousewalkin[at]gmail.com. • FREE

Monday, May 22 BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM •

The Birdhouse Walk-In Theater hosts free movies every Monday night. Each month carries a different theme and provides free popcorn. Contact us about screening ideas: birdhousewalkin[at]gmail.com. • FREE

Wednesday, May 24 NOKNO CINEMATHEQUE: ‘FANDANGO’ • Central Collective

• 8PM • FREE

Sports and Recreation Saturday, May 13 SMOKY MOUNTAINS HIKING CLUB: CUMBERLAND RIVER TRAIL LOOP • 7:30AM • It has been 13 years since the

Club has visited the crown jewel of Kentucky’s state parks, Cumberland Falls State Park. Leaders: Hiram Rogers, hiramrogers@yahoo.com and Jean Gauger, jeangauger@yahoo.com. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAINS HIKING CLUB: LITTLE GREENBRIAR TRAIL • 9AM • We will hike up this gentle slope along

the ridge with views into Wears Valley and as well as the mountains. This hike is 3.8 miles, RT. Leader: Priscilla Clayton, sigmtngirl@earthlink.net. • FREE KTC HANN JIVIN’ IN THE PARK TRAIL RACE • Ijams Nature Center • 8:45 PM • Visit ktc.org.

DREAMBIKES COMMUNITY BIKE RIDE • DreamBikes • 4PM • The community ride is an inclusive bike ride designed for bicyclists of all ages. Family friendly, slow pace, and usually about 5 miles. • FREE

Wednesday, May 17

Saturday, May 20

Broadway Studios and Gallery broadwaystudiosandgallery.com MAY 5-27: Artwork by Candee Barbee and Synthia Clark.

Downtown Gallery downtown.utk.edu MAY 5-31: Artsource 2017.

East Tennessee History Center easttnhistory.org

LAW ENFORCEMENT MEMORIAL RUN/WALK • Sequoyah Park • 8AM • The proceeds of the LEMR will benefit the establishment of a local law enforcement memorial site in Knoxville.

DREAMBIKES COMMUNITY BIKE RIDE • DreamBikes • 4PM • The community ride is an inclusive bike ride designed for bicyclists of all ages. Family friendly, slow pace, and usually about 5 miles. • FREE IJAMS WAG-N-WALK • Ijams Nature Center • 9AM • Grab your favorite four-legged friend and join Ijams’ own veterinarian, Dr. Louise Conrad, as she walks her own canine companions. She’ll review good doggy etiquette at the park and help owners understand the special safety concerns for dogs in nature. Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register. • $5 TENNESSEE ASSOCIATION OF VINTAGE BASE BALL • Historic Ramsey House • 12PM and 2:30PM • FREE

NOV. 19-MAY 14: Rock of Ages: East Tennessee’s Marble Industry.

Wednesday, May 24

MAY 5-JULY 23: Gathering Light: Works by Beauford Delaney From the KMA Collection. ONGOING: Higher

SMOKY MOUNTAINS HIKING CLUB: CHARLIE’S BUNION •

Smoky Mountain Hiking Club • 8AM • We will hike the AT from Newfound Gap to Charlie’s Bunion and return.

Hike: 8 miles RT. Meet at Alcoa Food City, 121 North Hall Road, at 8:00 am. Leader: Malcolm McInnis, mcinnism@tds.net. • FREE

Saturday, May 27 DREAMBIKES COMMUNITY BIKE RIDE • DreamBikes • 4PM

• The community ride is an inclusive bike ride designed for bicyclists of all ages. Family friendly, slow pace, and usually about 5 miles. • FREE KTC EXPO 10K AND 5K • Downtown Knoxville • 8AM • The it Company EXPO 10K/5k is more than a race: It is Knoxville’s oldest and most beloved community running event. In its’ 40th year, it is truly a tradition. It is the only race that celebrates the family by having mother/son, mother/daughter, father/son, father/ daughter, wife/husband, and three generations categories. Visit ktc.org.

WWE LIVE • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 7:30PM • With AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Carbin, USOs, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Xavier Woods, Big E, Kofi Kingston, and more. Visit knoxvillecoliseum.com. • $19-$107

ART Art Market Gallery artmarketgallery.net MAY 2-28: Artwork by Dennis Sabo and Larry Gabbard.

NEXT WEEK

Emporium Center for Arts and Culture knoxalliance.com MAY 5-26: 6 to 96: The Stevens Family; Luis Velázquez: Retrospective 1937-2016 and Family Continuity; Embodiment: A Search for Serenity by Julie Fawn Boisseau-Craig; artwork by Heather Heubner; and Iterations of Movement by Stephen Spidell.

Fountain City Art Center fountaincityartcenter.com APRIL 28-JUNE 1: Knoxville Watercolor Society Exhibition.

Knoxville Museum of Art knoxart.org

Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in Tennessee; Currents: Recent Art From East Tennessee and Beyond; and Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass. See

BEETHOVEN’S 5TH

Thursday, May 18 • 7:30 p.m.

Friday, May 19 • 7:30 p.m.

Tennessee Theatre Aram Demirjian, conductor Timothy McAllister, saxophone

BATES: Mothership STRAUSS: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks WILLIAMS: “Escapades” from Catch Me If You Can BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 Sponsored by The Trust Company and Old Forge Distillery

review on page 24.

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture mcclungmuseum.utk.edu MAY 25-AUG. 27: The Finer Things: Consumer Culture in the Gilded Age. ONGOING: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier.

Westminster Presbyterian Church wpcknox.org

2017-18 Masterworks subscriptions are on sale now, featuring

THROUGH JUNE 25: Artwork by Daniel Taylor and Mary Saylor.

8 CONCERTS

FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS Saturday, May 13 WDVX KIDSTUFF LIVE • WDVX • 10AM • Sean McCol-

lough’s weekly kids’ music show hosts a live studio audience on the second Saturday of each month. Visit wdvx.com. • 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

for the

PRICE OF 6!

CLASSICAL TICKETS start at just $15!

CALL: (865) 291-3310 CLICK: knoxvillesymphony.com May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 33

May 11 – May28

Sunday, May 14

some of our resident furred and feathered ambassadors. This program is free, but donations to support animal care are welcome. • FREE MOLSEY’S MOTHER’S DAY FLOWER POT • Blount Mansion • 10AM • Come to Blount Mansion to make a beautiful gift for Mom for Mother’s Day. We will be painting flower pots and potting up flowers to brighten Mom’s day. • $5

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 KMA ART ACTIVITY DAY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 1PM • Every second Sunday of each month, the KMA will host free drop-in art activities for families. A local artist will be on-site to lead hands-on art activities. • FREE

Sunday, May 21

Wednesday, May 17

OPEN STREETS KNOXVILLE

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

Magnolia Avenue • 2-6 p.m. • Free • The popular pedestrian parade lands in East Knoxville—Magnolia Avenue between Randolph and North Chestnut streets will be closed to traffic, allowing walkers, bikers, skaters, and other non-motorized transportation enthusiasts to wander the roads, hit up local shops and attractions, and check out an assortment of food trucks.

Saturday, May 20 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

BUY LOCAL or

BYE, LOCAL Support the local economy by spending your dollars with Knoxville businesses.

animal care are welcome. • FREE UT ARBORETUM MOTH … ER’S NIGHT OUT • University of Tennessee Arboretum • 8PM • Have you ever wondered about what kind of insects are out hunting and eating while you sleep snugly in your bed at night? Come learn about these creatures with naturalist Kris Light.

After an introductory program in the Visitors Center, we will venture outdoors to check the sheets to observe the insects that have been attracted by the black lights. • FREE KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL OF READING • World’s Fair Park • 10AM • Kick off a summer

of reading with a full day of music, storytelling, arts, crafts, science exploration, food, and fun. Meet Adam Rex, author of “Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich” and the “Cold Cereal Saga.” Adam will be joined by Gwendolyn Hooks, Lita Judge, Natalie Lloyd, Charles Smith,Jr. Mary Reaves Uhles, Sarah Weeks and others. • FREE KNOX LIT EXCHANGE • Central Collective • 11:30AM • The Knoxville Literary Exchange is a free, monthly poetry and prose writing workshop open to high school age students. The workshop will focus on giving students the opportunity to engage in writing, share their writing, and receive encouraging feedback--all in a supportive, safe space. The Knoxville Literary Exchange meets every third Saturday in the fall (September, November, and December—the October

meeting is on Oct. 22) and spring (February, March, April, May). For further information, please contact organizer Liam Hysjulien at KnoxLitExchange@gmail. com. • FREE

Sunday, May 21 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

Wednesday, May 24 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, May 27 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

Yee-Haw Brewing Co. Presents tHe 2017

Arcade Decathlon Benefiting

A contest featuring a different arcade game each month to crown the next king or queen of the arcade in Knoxville!

Round 1 Skeeball WinnER Pone Tone

Round 9

Grand Prize for november 16 the winner of Galaga ROUND 2 is a pair of passes to see Spoon at the Round 8 october 19 Mill & Mine!

All proceeds go to help to keep Volunteer Radio 90.3 The Rock on the air!

wUtK 90.3

Round 2 Thursday April 20 “Foos20!”

Foosball

Each event is a mini-tourney to determine who squares off in the Round 3 Championship event.

May 18

Afterburner & Tomcat

2017

Championship Event december 14

Ghosts & Goblins

Sponsored by Harrogate’s Lounge and KS Absher Marketing & Events

Round 7 September 21 darts

Registration: 6-7 pm Competition: 7 pm

Round 4 June 15 nBA Jam

10

$

registration fee for each event

Round 5 July 20 Cruisin’ uSA

Round 6 August 17 Pinball

Cool raffle prizes eaCh night for partiCipants!

Are you eager to reach active local shoppers?

Advertise with us! sales@knoxmercury.com

Stay tuned to WUTK and check out wutkradio.com for details!

Streaming 24.7.365 at WUTKRADIO.COM 34 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

May 11 – May28

animal care are welcome. • FREE

Sunday, May 28 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

LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS Saturday, May 13 GRIFFYN INK • Union Ave Books • 4PM • Book signing

with Griffyn Ink authors Steve Bradshaw, A.J. Scudiere, D.B. Sieders, Victoria Raschke, and Savannah Kade, who will read from their work. • FREE

Tuesday, May 16 NATHANIEL PHILBRICK: ‘VALIANT AMBITION’ • East

Tennessee History Center • 7PM • The New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award winner Nathaniel Philbrick discusses his newest book in paperback, Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution at the East Tennessee History auditorium. • FREE

Wednesday, May 17 JOE SWANN: “THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DAVID CROCKETT IN EAST TENNESSEE” • East Tennessee History Center •

12PM • Joe Swann, the pre-eminent historian of Crockett’s life in the region, has spent decades tracking the famous frontiersman through his years in East Tennessee. He will discuss Crockett’s time in East Tennessee, the people and the places important in his life, and the influences of the region and its culture.

For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org. • FREE

Friday, May 19 KNOX HERITAGE LOST AND FOUND LUNCH • Knox Heritage

• 11:30AM • Knox Heritage continues its series of educational lunches. A free lunch buffet will be served beginning at 11:30 a.m. and the program will begin at 12:00 p.m. Reservations for lunch are required.

Call Hollie Cook at 865-523-8008 or email her at hcook@knoxheritage.org to make a reservation. • FREE

Saturday, May 20 FEMINISM INTO FILM BOOK SERIES • Lawson McGhee

Public Library • 3PM • Join us to discuss Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the first in our Feminism Into Film four-part reading series. Pick up a bookmark at the event for details on the whole series.

Attend any or all of the first three book discussions

and vote on the fourth title. The Feminism Into Film series continues with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Sunday, July 25); The Mothers (Sunday, Aug. 20); and the winner of a readers’ vote (Sunday< Aug. 20).

• FREE

Wednesday, May 24 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. Upcoming lectures include Kim Trent, of Knox Heritage, discussing Kevin C. Murphy’s The Past and Future City: How Historic Preservation Is Reviving America’s Communities (May 24); Todd Freeborn, of UT’s psychology department, discussing Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina (June 28); Jackie Clay, of the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge, and Ronni Chandler, of Project Grad, discussing Richard A. Milner’s Rac(e)ing to Class: Confronting Poverty and Race in Schools and Classrooms (July 26); and Victor Erik Ray, of UT’s sociology department, discussing Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (Aug. 23). Visit knoxlib.org. • FREE

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS Thursday, May 11 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios •

12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@ gmail.com. Donations accepted.

AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 12PM 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

Friday, May 12 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 9AM NARROW RIDGE YOGA • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy

Center • 9AM • For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@narrowridge.org. • FREE CLIMBING FUNDAMENTALS • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • $20

Saturday, May 13 KNOX HERITAGE PRESERVATION NETWORK • Knox Heritage

• 10AM • Preservation Network is a series of free workshops featuring guest speakers who are specialists in windows, flooring, roofing, stained glass, tile, plumbing, electrical, and more. For more information visit knoxheritage.org. • FREE WRITING AND COOKING THE SOUTH • Central United Methodist Church • 10AM • Erin Elizabeth Smith, poet, editor, publisher, teacher, shows the ingredients of great food May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 35

May 11 – May28

Join Master Gardener Lisa Churnetski to learn the basics of growing your own mushrooms at home. Lisa has grown her own and will show you how it’s done.

Call 865-470-7033. • FREE

Sunday, May 14 IJAMS FAMILY DRUM CYRCLE • Ijams Nature Center •

3:30PM • Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

• FREE MONDAY, MAY 15 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.

KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts

GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios •

and Culture • 6PM • Visit capoeiraknoxville.org. • $10

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 • Contact Micarooni@aol.com with questions. • $5 KMA DROP-IN FIGURE DRAWING CLASS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 10:30AM • Artists of all skill levels and media are welcome to join these self-instructed drop-in figure drawing sessions. These sessions are ongoing throughout the year. Participants of all ages are welcome, although participants under 18 years old must have parents’ permission. Please note – art materials are not supplied. • $10

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS CITIZENS ACADEMY BOOT CAMP • 6PM • The Citizens Academy Boot Camp on

Tuesday, May 16

KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: CELEBRATE SUMMER •

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS • May 16 • Narrow Ridge Yoga

Davis Family YMCA • 1PM • Join Master Gardener Lynn Carlson to talk about making your outdoor containers a rainbow of color. Design, color balance, proportion— there is no one perfect design, so think outside the pot for this one. Learn the basics of putting together colorful summer containers of your favorite flowers.

• Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9AM • For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@ narrowridge.org. • FREE GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@ gmail.com. Donations accepted.

V IS

IT K

Organizing is for newly-motivated citizens and rising leaders. You’ll interact with community leaders and hear their lessons for success, and later choose from specialized subjects such as social media tools and fundraising. Register or find out more information by visiting lwvknoxville.org or emailing Citizens Academy Chair Jamey Dobbs at jameydobbs@yahoo.com. There is no charge for the course, and no experience is necessary. • FREE 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 HANDS-ON CHEESE WORKSHOP • Central Collective • 6:30PM • You don’t have to be Greek to love it. Feta is one versatile tangy, salty flavor. We’ll be learning all about it and how to do it. Participants will make some and take some home. • $37 BACKPACKER MAGAZINE GET OUT MORE TOUR • Mast General Store • 6:30PM • Backpacker Magazine’s Get Out More Tour inspires tens of thousands of hikers and backpackers to get out and explore the great outdoors.

• FREE

Wednesday, May 17 AFFORDABLE CARE ACT HEALTH CARE ENROLLMENT • Blount County Public Library • 9AM • A qualified Navigator will be at the library to meet with individuals and families to help with registration for the Affordable Care Act. An appointment is required by calling 1-844-644-5443, or you can visit www.

GetCoveredTenn.org/commit. • FREE AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • John T. O’Connor Senior Center • 12PM CANCER 101 • Cancer Support Community • 12PM • Learn the basics about cancer and different options used to manage this disease. Call 865-546-4661. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL BALLET CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6:30PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 TENNESSEE VALLEY BIKES YOGA • Tennessee Valley Bikes • 6:15 AM • Join us Wednesday mornings for an hour and 15 minutes of yoga. Cost for each class is $12 but if you ride your bike in the cost is reduced to $10.

There is no subscription or membership required. • $10-$15

Thursday, May 18 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios •

12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@

&

E

KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: GROW YOUR OWN MUSHROOMS • Cedar Bluff Branch Library • 10:30AM •

Call 865-777-9622. • FREE

ES N NOX V ILLE T E N

SE

writing that stimulates the senses, illuminates regional culture, and advances fine writing. Additional information can be found at www.KnoxvilleWritersGuild.org. • $50

ACTIVITIES Visit Knoxville Powerboat Classic, TVA Expo & Urban Hike, Smoky Mountain Dock Dogs & Hoyt Flyboard Demos, Pet Photo Contest, Riverwalk Tour with Jack Neely, & Brewery Slow Rides

Explore Knoxville in a New Way! Bbbb.visitknoxville.com

36 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

May 11 – May28

gmail.com. Donations accepted.

AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • John T. O’Connor Senior Center • 12PM LIFE DRAWING AND PORTRAIT PRACTICE SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 12:30PM • Portrait and life drawing practice at Candoro Art and Heritage Center. Call Brad Selph for more information at 865-573-0709. • $10 KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • Visit capoeiraknoxville.org. • $10 PYSANKA WORKSHOP • Ijams Nature Center • 6PM • Pysanka is the ancient art and tradition of using wax resist to decorate eggs. Participants will learn the tradition around these beautiful eggs, receive their own Pysanka kit, create a pysanka, and sample Krusczyki and other Eastern European cookies.

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 BELLY DANCE • Mirage • 6:30PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12

Friday, May 19 NARROW RIDGE YOGA • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy

Center • 9AM • For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@narrowridge.org. • FREE

Sunday, May 21

or emailcommunity@narrowridge.org. • FREE KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS • Karns Senior Center • 11AM • If you have hydrangeas, then you need to know that there are two distinct types-- which are pruned very differently. Join Master Gardener Carolyn Kiser to learn the difference between “old wood” and “new wood” bloomers, as well as when and how to prune each of these types. Call 865-951-2653. • FREE 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 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, May 24 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL BALLET CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6:30PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 TENNESSEE VALLEY BIKES YOGA • Tennessee Valley Bikes • 6:15 AM • Join us Wednesday mornings for an hour and 15 minutes of yoga. Cost for each class is $12 but if you ride your bike in the cost is reduced to $10.

There is no subscription or membership required. • $10-$15

CIRCLE MODERN DANCE BALLET BARRE CLASS • Emporium

Thursday, May 25

Center for Arts and Culture • 1PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10

GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Balanced You Studios •

CIRCLE MODERN DANCE: MODERN DANCE FOUNDATIONS CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 2PM •

Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 IJAMS FAMILY DRUM CYRCLE • Ijams Nature Center • 3:30PM • Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

• FREE CENTRAL COLLECTIVE CANDLE-MAKING PARTY • Central Collective • 4PM • Make your own scented (or non) soy candles. Cost includes supplies and a mason jar for one candle, but feel free to bring up to two additional spare tea cups, glasses, or other vessels for extras. • $20

Monday, May 22 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 • Contact Micarooni@aol.com with questions. • $5

Tuesday, May 23 NARROW RIDGE YOGA • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy

Center • 9AM • For more information call 865-497-3603

12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@ gmail.com. Donations accepted.

LIFE DRAWING AND PORTRAIT PRACTICE SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 12:30PM • Portrait and life drawing practice at Candoro Art and Heritage Center. Call Brad Selph for more information at 865-573-0709. • $10 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: HEALING THROUGH ART • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • No experience necessary. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS • Humana Guidance Center • 2:45 PM • If you have hydrangeas, then you need to know that there are two distinct types-- which are pruned very differently. Join Master Gardener Carolyn Kiser to learn the difference between “old wood” and “new wood” bloomers, as well as when and how to prune each of these types. • 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 BELLY DANCE • Mirage • 6:30PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12

Friday, May 26

NARROW RIDGE YOGA • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9AM • For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@narrowridge.org. • FREE

Saturday, May 27 KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS: CELEBRATE SUMMER •

Bearden Branch Public Library • 1:30PM • Join Master Gardener Lynn Carlson to talk about making your outdoor containers a rainbow of color. Design, color balance, proportion—there is no one perfect design, so think outside the pot for this one. Learn the basics of putting together colorful summer containers of your favorite flowers. Call 865- 588-8813 or visit knoxlib. org. • FREE

GREAT READS ABOUT OUR REGION

Sunday, May 28 IJAMS FAMILY DRUM CYRCLE • Ijams Nature Center • 3:30PM • Please call (865) 577-4717, ext. 110 to register.

• FREE

MEETINGS Thursday, May 11 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

Tennessee Delta Quiltmaking TERI KLASSEN Paper, $29.95

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 STFK SCIENCE CAFE • Zoo Knoxville • 5:30PM • A free monthly discussion of science-related topics, hosted by the Spirit and Truth Fellowship of Knoxville. Email rsvp@knoxsciencecafe.org. • FREE

Saturday, May 13 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@ narrowridge.org. • FREE

Mammals of Great Smoky Mountains National Park Third Edition DONALD W. LINZEY Paper, $24.95

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY PROSTATE CANCER NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 10AM • This

drop-in group is an opportunity for men to network with other men about their experiences with prostate cancer. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer.

Sunday, May 14 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE SKEPTIC BOOK CLUB • Books-A-Million • 2PM • Visit rationalists.org. • FREE OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS • Sacred Heart Cathedral • 4PM • For more info call or text (865) 313-0480 or

Roots Music in America

Collected Writings of Joe Wilson EDITED BY FRED BARTENSTEIN Paper, $29.95

U T P R E SS .O R G Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

THE UNIV ERSITY OF TENNESSEE PRESS

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 37

May 11 – May28

email OASundayknoxville@gmail.com. • FREE

Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • Visit gaygroupknoxville.org.

• 6PM • Union Ave Books’ monthly discussion group about Southern books and writers. Visit unionavebooks.com. • FREE ORION ASTRONOMY CLUB • The Grove Theater (Oak Ridge) • 7PM • ORION is an amateur science and astronomy club centered in Oak Ridge. • FREE

Tuesday, May 16

Thursday, May 18

FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH • 11AM • Visit farragutalanon.

AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

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

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE

Monday, May 15 GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY LEUKEMIA, LYMPHOMA, AND MYELOMA NETWORKER • Cancer Support

Community • 4PM • Call 865-546-4661 for more info.

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY FAMILY BEREAVEMENT GROUP • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • Call

865-546-4661 for more info.

Wednesday, May 17

CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY BREAST CANCER NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 6PM • Call

AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY HEAD AND NECK CANCER NETWORKER • Cancer Support Community • 4PM • This

drop-in group is open for those affected by head and neck cancers and their support persons. Exchange information, discuss concerns and share experiences.

Call. 865-546-4661.

THE SOUTHERN LITERATURE BOOK CLUB • Union Ave Books

865-546-4661 for more info.

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 BLACK LIVES MATTER • The Birdhouse • 7:30PM • Visit blacklivesmatterknoxville.org. • FREE

Saturday, May 20

Tuesday, May 23

AMMA SPIRITUAL YOGA • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 8AM • Amma spiritual yoga talk and discussion, with Indian singing and meditation for world peace. Visit amma.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 • For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@ narrowridge.org. • FREE

AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

SUNDAY, MAY 21 RATIONALISTS OF EAST TENNESSEE • Pellissippi State

Community College • 10:30AM • Visit rationalists.org. • FREE AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS • Sacred Heart Cathedral • 4PM • For more info call or text (865) 313-0480 or email OASundayknoxville@gmail.com. • FREE

Monday, May 22 GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • Visit gaygroupknoxville.org.

Bach or Basie?

Your music, your choice.

Your classical and jazz station.

FIX THIS BASTARD 38 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017 WUOT_Ad_4.625x5.25_ClassicalJazz_KnoxMerc.indd 2

9/17/16 5:00 PM

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, May 24 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE KNOXVILLE WRITERS’ GROUP • Naples Italian Restaurant • 11AM • Guest speakers read from and discuss their work. All-inclusive lunch is $12.00. RSVP to 865-983-3740.

KNOX HERITAGE PRESERVATION AND LIBATIONS • The Crown and Goose • 5:30PM • Join friends of historic preservation for a drink and good conversation. No need to RSVP, just stop by. Free and open to the public.

Visit knoxheritage.org. • FREE LESBIAN SOCIAL GROUP OF KNOXVILLE • Kristtopher’s • 6:30PM • Just a casual gathering of women to socialize and plan activities. Meetings are the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. • FREE

May 11 – May28

AGAPE CAFE • St. Paul United Methodist Church •

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE

models including armor, aircraft, dioramas, ships, trucks and cars, as well as figures from sci-fi, fantasy, literature, and history. The show theme this year is “1967 - 50th Anniversary.” • $3 MARYVILLE FARMERS MARKET • Founders Park • 9AM • FREE TENNESSEE MEDIEVAL FAIRE • Tennessee Medieval Faire • 10AM • Darkhorse Entertainment invites you to go back in time and get medieval at the third annual Tennessee Medieval Faire. For more information, please visit TMFaire.com. • $17

ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS/DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES • The Birdhouse • 6PM • Contact Laura at

WEST TOWN MALL MOTHER’S DAY EXPO AND FASHION SHOW • West Town Mall • 1PM • Local moms can find

706-621-2238 or lamohendricksll@gmail.com for more information or visit the international ACA website at adultchildren.org. • FREE

summer’s hottest trends during live fashion shows while enjoying complimentary light bites and cocktails from Rothchild Catering as well as shopping special offers from local shops and mall stores. The first 200 attendees will receive a special West Town Mall swag bag and giveaways will take place throughout the event. • FREE

6:30PM • St. Paul United Methodist Church seeks to 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

Thursday, May 25 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

Saturday, May 27 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Visit

farragutalanon.org or email FindHope@Farragutalanon.org. • FREE NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • For more information call 865-497-3603 or emailcommunity@ narrowridge.org. • FREE

Sunday, May 28 SUNDAY ASSEMBLY • The Concourse • 10:30AM • 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 OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS • Sacred Heart Cathedral • 4PM • For more info call or text (865) 313-0480 or email OASundayknoxville@gmail.com. • FREE

ETC. Thursday, May 11 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest

Park • 3PM • Visit facebook.com/newharvestfm. • FREE SUMMER SPELL • Relix Variety Theatre • 5PM • This is a fundraising event that will benefit the non-profit Dogwood Arts. Along with local and regional musicians, we will also be hosting a silent auction. • $12

Friday, May 12

Sunday, May 14 TENNESSEE MEDIEVAL FAIRE • Tennessee Medieval Faire

• 10AM • Darkhorse Entertainment invites you to go back in time and get medieval at the third annual Tennessee Medieval Faire. For more information, please visit TMFaire.com. • $17

Tuesday, May 16 KNOXVILLE AREA WOMEN IN BLACK 15TH ANNIVERSARY VIGIL • 12PM • Beginning at the corner of Locust Street

and Cumberland Avenue and proceeding to Krutch Park for a brief program. • FREE EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • Visit easttnfarmmarkets.org.

• FREE

Wednesday, May 17 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 11AM • Visit nourishknoxville.org. • FREE

Thursday, May 18 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • Visit facebook.com/newharvestfm. • FREE

Friday, May 19 LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • Visit easttnfarmmarkets.org. • FREE

LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS MARKET • Lakeshore Park •

Saturday, May 20

3PM • Visit easttnfarmmarkets.org. • FREE

OAK RIDGE FARMERS MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • Visit easttnfarmmarkets.org. • FREE MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • Visit nourishknoxville.org. • FREE MARYVILLE FARMERS MARKET • Founders Park • 9AM • FREE TENNESSEE MEDIEVAL FAIRE • Tennessee Medieval Faire • 10AM • For more information, please visit www.

TMFaire.com, sign up for their newsletter, like them on Facebook, email TMFaire@comcast.net or call

Saturday, May 13 OAK RIDGE FARMERS MARKET • Historic Jackson Square •

8AM • Visit easttnfarmmarkets.org. • FREE MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • Visit nourishknoxville.org. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN MODEL-CON • Chilhowee Park • 9AM • Every year the Knoxville Scale Modelers Association (KSMA) hosts a public exhibition and contest of scale

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 39

May 11 – May28

865-248-8414. • $17

11AM • Visit nourishknoxville.org. • FREE

KEEP KNOXVILLE BEAUTIFUL MECHANICSVILLE CLEANUP •

Danny Mayfield Park • 10AM • We are looking for volunteers to help clean up one of Knoxville’s oldest neighborhoods, Mechanicsville. Whether you live in Mechanicsville or just want to lend a helping hand, we would love to see you volunteer your time to help make Knoxville a cleaner, greener and more beautiful city. Participants will meet at the kickoff event to gather supplies then disperse into their own groups.

Snacks and beverages will be available, as will the use of litter-pickers, gloves, garbage bags and safety vests - free for all participants. • FREE

Sunday, May 21 TENNESSEE MEDIEVAL FAIRE • Tennessee Medieval Faire

• 10AM • For more information, please visit www.

TMFaire.com, sign up for their newsletter, like them on Facebook, email TMFaire@comcast.net or call 865-248-8414. • $17

Tuesday, May 23 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS MARKET • Ebenezer United

Methodist Church • 3PM • Visit easttnfarmmarkets.org.

• FREE

Wednesday, May 24 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square •

Thursday, May 25 NEW HARVEST PARK FARMERS MARKET • New Harvest Park • 3PM • Visit facebook.com/newharvestfm. • FREE

Friday, May 26 TREMONT INSTITUTE NATIONAL CITIZEN SCIENCE DAY OPEN HOUSE • 9AM • Tremont Institute, the environmental

education center located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Townsend, will host an open house for Citizen Science Day (#CitSciDay2017), a national celebration of citizen science. • FREE LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • Visit easttnfarmmarkets.org. • FREE

Saturday, May 27 OAK RIDGE FARMERS MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • Visit easttnfarmmarkets.org. • FREE MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • Visit nourishknoxville.org. • FREE MARYVILLE FARMERS MARKET • Founders Park • 9AM • FREE TENNESSEE MEDIEVAL FAIRE • Tennessee Medieval Faire • 10AM • For more information, please visit www.

TMFaire.com, sign up for their newsletter, like them on Facebook, email TMFaire@comcast.net or call 865-248-8414. • $17

EAST TENNESSEE MUSIC COLLECTORS SHOW • Rothchild

Conference and Catering Center • 10AM • This event features music dealers from all over the South selling vintage vinyl LPs and 45s, plus CDs, music DVDs, music memorabilia, and more. • $2 CENTRAL COLLECTIVE GOOD SPORT NIGHT • Central Collective • 5PM • Calling all good sports. Here’s the deal. You purchase a ticket to a mystery event. Show up to The Central Collective at the specified date and time, and be ready for anything. Visit thecentralcollective.com. • $20

Sunday, May 28 TENNESSEE MEDIEVAL FAIRE • Tennessee Medieval Faire

• 10AM • For more information, please visit www.

TMFaire.com, sign up for their newsletter, like them on Facebook, email TMFaire@comcast.net or call 865-248-8414. • $17 MODERN STUDIO CRAFT FAIR • Modern Studio • 12PM • Join us for our montly craft fair and shop for local goods in the comfort of our space. • FREE SEND YOUR EVENTS TO CALENDAR@KNOXMERCURY.COM

SOLUTION TO CRYPTOQUOTE

As we pool our knowledge and resources here in Knoxville, our cooperation will become the keystone of a more peaceful and stable world.

— President Ronald Reagan, during the opening ceremony of the World’s Fair in Knoxville Source: Martha Rose Woodward, Images of America: KNOXVILLE’S 1982 WORLD’S FAIR. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing 2009)

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OUTDOORS

Voice in the Wilderness

Photos by Kim Trevathan

Lost and Found A survey of detritus discovered, or left behind, in the wild

BY KIM TREVATHAN

I

’m pretty good at losing stuff in the wilderness. The Cumberland River took a micro-cassette recorder full of my jumbled thoughts. I forgot a cherished hiking stick on Honey Creek Loop in the Big South Fork. A pair of my prescription glasses resides at the bottom of Kentucky Lake, and a pair of prescription sunglasses (but not the strap that was supposed to hold them on) was claimed by Oregon’s Rogue River, which also overturned me, sent me on a wild swim, and ripped my kayak paddle out of my grasp with a final flourish.

Pondering these losses to the

42 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

wilderness, the most recent being the hand-carved hiking stick that Walland Elementary School students had given me, I asked local outdoor enthusiasts about interesting losses and strange finds. Certain patterns emerged on the lost side of the ledger, but the found answers were surprising and somewhat disturbing.

THE LOST How many of us have seen an orphaned boot or shoe in the wilderness or even on the highway? Turns out there’s a reason for this. People lose them, but never a pair, which might be

more useful to the finder.

Kim Pilarski-Hall and husband Rikki (the late author of Six Legs and a Buzz) were doing an overnight hike to the Walls of Jericho canyon south of Sewanee. They camped at a primitive site next to a cemetery and stowed their boots under a nearby bench. Next morning, Rikki’s brandnew left boot was gone, nowhere to be found. They speculated that a one-legged ghost from the cemetery stole it, and Rikki had to hike the rest of the way in Chacos.

University of Tennessee environmental consultant Kim Raia thought she was doing a friend a favor by tying her hiking boots to the friends’ backpack to cross Enloe Creek in North Carolina. Apparently, Raia’s knot-tying skills were lacking, and the boot was taken by the creek. For a while, the friend was not so friendly, having to hike 5 miles barefoot.

On to more valuable though less utilitarian losses. Class V boater and guidebook author Kirk Eddlemon lost his wedding ring sliding down a waterfall in Panama. When he called his wife, Laura, and opened with, “Something bad has happened,” she was then relieved to find out it was a lost ring and “no one was dead.”

Canoe fishing in high water, Drew Crain, a biologist at Maryville College, lost a beloved ultra-light fishing rod and a Mitchell reel when a snag in South Carolina’s Tyger River

dumped him out of the boat, and the force of the current ripped it out of his hand. (I guess he managed to hang onto his paddle.)

There are thieves everywhere, even in the wilderness. In Massachusetts’ Erving State Park, near the Connecticut River, someone took my electric beard trimmer from the campsite bathroom. Even though I reported the theft to the campground manager and spent most of my stay there investigating the stubble length of fellow campers, I made no accusations.

The most tragic loss of all comes from runner Noah Bowman, who (with Bearden Beer Market’s Chris Morton) stashed their end-of-run reward beer (Dale’s IPA) near a trailhead at I.C King Park. When they finished up, parched from the run, the beer was gone, replaced with a package of “crappy Food City brownies.” The suspects: a “band of delinquents” they’d spoken harshly to before the run, were probably “under a bridge somewhere enjoying our delicious beer.”

THE FOUND Rivers have revealed many strange things to me. The floating bowling ball on the Cumberland near Burnside, Ky. is still a source of puzzlement for me and photographer Randy Russell.

Paddling up Third Creek on a game day (Florida vs. Tennessee), I thought I was coming up on a body half out of the water, greenish and swollen from

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exposure. It turned out not to be a despondent Vol fan but a life-sized Shrek doll, abandoned by some negligent child or perhaps an angry parent.

On an otherwise idyllic summer hike to a swimming hole up Little Clear Creek in the Obed, Drew Crain found a diver’s hood, which wasn’t all that disturbing until he rinsed it out and put it on. He said it looked like “an executioner’s hood.”

Sam McGroom, who has hiked every trail in the Smokies twice (a 900-miler times two), came upon not one shoe or sock or glove, as we most often see, but a pile of clothes off-trail in the Clingman’s Dome area: pants, shirt, underwear and socks, but no boots. This find got her speculating: Maybe the hiker was emulating the Naked and Afraid series. On another hike near Russell Field Trail, she found a recorder (musical instrument) dangling from a cord on a tree branch.

The most disturbing finds came from raft ing guide David Wilburn, who is also an avid canoeist. His first find is a testament to the power of high water. Normally a sedate, rural stream after it comes out of the Smokies, the Little River was running high when Wilburn canoed it one day.

Accompanying him downstream was “a small drowned pig” that periodically surfaced to greet him with dead eyes.

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Even though I reported the theft to the campground manager and spent most of my stay there investigating the stubble length of fellow campers, I made no accusations. theme, Wilburn, paddling a remote stream in Western North Carolina, said he came upon a severed billy goat head propped on a rock. “That one was kind of eerie,” he said, “and we didn’t stay long after we found it.”

If anyone finds my hiking stick on the Honey Creek Loop near one of those waterfalls, let me know. It has a leather wrist band on it. I’d also like to have my electric razor back, no questions asked, though I’d really like to know who would be desperate enough to steal a guy’s cheap razor.

Rogue River, thank you for taking my sunglasses and sparing me. Taking the paddle was a low blow.

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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News of the Weird | Restless Native | Cartoon | Puzzles

The Apostrophiser!

And all the other odd news that’s mostly fit to print

BY CHUCK SHEPHERD

MOTHER OF INVENTION Robotic models of living organisms are useful to scientists, who can study the effects of stimuli without risk to actual people. Northwestern University researchers announced in March that its laboratory model of the “female reproductive system” has reached a milestone: its first menstrual period. The “ovary,” using mouse tissue, had produced hormones that stimulated the system (uterus, cervix, vagina, fallopian tubes, liver) for 28 days, reaching the predictable result.

Chief researcher Teresa Woodruff said she imagines eventually growing a model from tissue provided by the patient undergoing treatment.

RECURRING THEMES (AND UPDATES ON PREVIOUS CHARACTERS) • Chutzpah! Henry Wachtel, 24, continues in legal limbo after being found “not criminally responsible” for the death of his mother in 2014, despite having beaten her in the head and elsewhere up to 100 times—because he was having an epileptic seizure at that moment and has no memory of the attack. A judge must still decide the terms of Wachtel’s psychiatric hospitalization, but Wachtel’s mind is clear enough now that, in March, he demanded, as sole heir, payoff on his mother’s life insurance policy (which, under New York law, is still technically feasible).

• Epic Smugglers: In February, federal customs agents seized 22 pounds of illegal animal meat (in a wide array) at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Among the tasty items were raw chicken, pig and cow meat, brains, hearts, heads, tongues and feet—in addition to (wrote a reporter) “other body parts” (if there even are any 44 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

other edible parts). In a typical day nationwide, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes about 4,600 smuggled plant or animal products.

• Over the years, News of the Weird has covered the long-standing campaign by animal-rights activists to bestow “human” rights upon animals (begun, of course, with intelligent orangutans and gorillas). In March, the New Zealand parliament gave human rights to a river—the Whanganui, long revered by the country’s indigenous Maori. (One Maori and one civil servant were appointed as the river’s representatives.) Within a week, activists in India, scouring court rulings, found two of that country’s waterways deserved similar status— the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, which were then so designated by judges in Uttarakhand state. (The Ganges’ “rights” seem hollow since an estimated one billion gallons of waste still enters it every day despite its being a holy bathing spot for Hindus.)

• Yet another intimate accessory with weak security drew attention when hackers broke down a $249 Svakom Siime Eye personal vibrator in April, revealing a lazily created default password (“88888888”) and Wi-Fi network name (“Siime Eye”).

Since the Eye’s camera and internet access facilitate livestream video of a user’s most personal body parts, anyone within Wi-Fi range can break in (and be entertained) by just driving around a city looking for the Siime Eye network.

• Ewwww! Luu Cong Huyen, 58, in Yen Giao, Vietnam, is the most recent to attract reporters’ attention with disturbingly long fingernails. A March OddityCentral.com report, with cringe-inducing photos, failed to disclose their precise length, but

Huyen said he has not clipped them since a 2013 report on VietnamNet revealed that each measured up to 19.7 inches. Huyen explained (inadequately) that his nail obsession started merely as a hobby and that he is not yet over it. (The Guinness Book record is not exactly within fingertip reach: 73.5 inches per nail, by Shridhar Chillal of India.)

• And a Partridge in a Pear Tree: In February, a pet welfare organization complained of a raid on a home near Lockhart, Texas, that housed more than 400 animals (and, of course, reeked “overpowering(ly)” of urine).

The inventory: 86 snakes, 56 guinea pigs, 28 dogs, 26 rabbits, 15 goats, 9 doves, 8 skinks, 7 pigs, 6 pigeons, 4 gerbils, 3 bearded dragons, 2 ducks and 1 tarantula—plus about 150 rats and mice (to feed the menagerie) and 20 other animals whose numbers did not fit the above lyric pattern.

UPDATES For more than a decade, an “editor” has been roaming the streets at night in Bristol, England, “correcting” violations of standard grammar, lately being described as “The Apostrophiser” since much of his work involves adjusting (or often obliterating) that punctuation mark. On April 3, the BBC at last portrayed the vigilante in action, in a “ride-along” documentary that featured him using the special marking and climbing tools that facilitate his work. His first mission, in 2003, involved a government sign “Monday’s to Friday’s” (“ridiculous,” he said), and he recalled an even more cloying store sign—“Amys Nail’s”—as “so loud and in your face.”)

• New York City health officials have convinced most ultra-Orthodox Jewish “mohels” to perform their ritual circumcisions with sterile tools and gauze, but still, according to a March New York Post report, a few holdouts insist on the old-fashioned way of removing the blood from an incision—by sucking it up with their mouths (and thus potentially passing along herpes). Some local temples are so protective of their customs that they refuse to name the “offending” mohels (who are not licensed medical professionals), thus limiting parents’ ability to choose safe practitioners.

• A “locked” cellphone (tied to a particular carrier), though a nuisance to purchasers, is only a several-hundred-dollar nuisance. A more serious crisis arises, as News of the Weird noted in 2015, when farmers buy $500,000 combines that they believe they “own,” but then find that the John Deere company has “locked” the machines’ sophisticated software, preventing even small repairs or upgrades until a Deere service rep shows up to enter the secret password (and, of course, leaves a bill!). Deere’s business model has driven some farmers recently to a black market of fearless Ukrainian hackers (some of the same risky dark-net outlaws believed to pose online dangers), who help put the farmers back on track.

Eight state legislatures are presently considering overriding Deere’s contract to create a “right to repair.”

• Paul Cobb (also known as Craig Cobb) continues to look for a tiny North Dakota town in which he (and, potentially, fellow white supremacists) can buy enough land to establish a Caucasian enclave. News of the Weird first noticed his work in 2013 when he was eyeing (unsuccessfully, it turned out) Leith (pop. 16) and Antler (pop.

28), but recently he purchased an old church in bustling Nome (pop. 61), likely renewing his quest. (His Leith plans ended badly after locals convinced him to prove his whiteness with a DNA test, which revealed him to be 14 percent “sub-Saharan African.”)

• No Longer Weird? For the 31st consecutive Easter in the Philippines, Ruben Enaje, 57, was among the throngs of devout Christians who slashed their own torsos bloody, then flogged themselves repeatedly as they marched through the streets to demonstrate homage to God, and dozens of men in San Pedro Cutud, Santa Lucia and other villages replicated the crucifixion of Jesus by having sterilized 4-inch nails driven into their own arms and legs. When News of the Weird first encountered the Philippine phenomenon in 1989, the crucifixions had built a 40-year history and still listed, as an official sponsor, the Philippines Department of Tourism (but no longer). (The Catholic Church, as usual, “banned” the extreme acts, to little effect.)

News of the Weird | Restless Native| Cartoon | Puzzles

Fort Sanders Dive Memories of the Yardarm Tavern, and the introduction of tacos

BY CHRIS WOHLWEND

O

n a Friday night early in 1967 I was introduced to the Yardarm Tavern, a bar on Forest Avenue at the intersection of 11th Street, in the far northeast corner of Fort Sanders.

Though it had not been open long, the bar had quickly become a popular hangout. University students living on that edge of the campus’ residential spillover found it convenient, as did residents of what remained of McAnally Flats, the area of blue-collar neighborhoods and warehouses that had been isolated by the interstate-highway expansion just to the north. The building was within walking distance of both groups.

The clientele combination, incongruous as it may have seemed, bred success, and over the course of the next couple of years the place would go through two expansions, the first adding space for pool and ping-pong tables, the second adding a room with tables and chairs.

The growth had little effect on the regulars occupying the barstools, especially the holdovers from the original space’s predecessor, a short-lived

joint called Haynes Bar. The night I took a seat at the bar, I was served by Bob Selwyn, who with his girlfriend Annie Porter, drew the beers, tried to maintain order, and sometimes provided solace. Eventually, they expanded the place’s menu, adding a cosmopolitan flair with tacos and slices of lasagna that they made at home, wrapped in foil, and brought in to sell.

Before, the menu had been limited to peanuts in the shell or cheese and crackers. “Five rectangular pieces of American cheese and five crackers, 25 cents,” Selwyn recalls. “No more and no exceptions.”

“There weren’t any Mexican restaurants in Knoxville then,” Selwyn says. “I like to think I introduced Knoxville to Mexican food with my tacos.”

Tasty as the two-for-50-cents tacos were, I usually opted for the lasagna, a generous portion for the same price—but more filling. At happy hour, draft beer was 15 cents a mug.

Selwyn was hired by the Yardarm’s owner, Herschel Peek, in December of 1966. “A friend, Mike

Baughard, was working there and I had helped him out a few times after another friend, Joe Anderson, got married and quit,” he says. “One night Herschel walks in and asks, “‘Who are you?’ I told him and he hired me to take Joe’s place as a bartender.

“The pay was 87 cents an hour—I don’t know how he came up with that figure. Four p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday, sometimes Saturday.

That schedule allowed us to continue as full-time students at UT. “Annie was just about always there, too, but she was never an employee. We kept what we made on the tacos and the lasagna.”

Selwyn remembers one of the McAnally Flats regulars as being particular about where he sat and what he drank.

“Tex would come in about 5 and sit at the end of the bar. I had to have a bottle of Schlitz and a warm mug at his place by the time he got to his seat. So I’d keep my eye on the door for him every afternoon. Sometimes I’d have to chase someone off his barstool when he’d come in. And occasionally he’d get so drunk I’d help him walk home—only about a block away at one of the rooming houses on Grand Avenue.”

Selwyn was so important to the bar that his absence led to Herschel locking the door on a Saturday in the spring of 1967. The explanatory sign said “Closed: Bartender is getting married.” It probably didn’t matter to most of the regulars—they were helping Bob and Annie celebrate their nuptials.

As the ’60s activism began to ratchet up, given its proximity to the UT campus and its generally rowdy reputation, the Yardarm was soon attracting the attention of Cas Walker and other right-wing Knoxville

If Cas Walker had braved the Yardarm’s notoriously filthy bathroom, he might not have been so suspicious.

politicians. For a period, an unmarked police car and its occupants would be stationed in the parking lot across the street. Many of the regulars would wave to the cops as they entered or exited. And, for a period, the cops would regularly come in to ID check for underage drinkers.

If Cas had braved the Yardarm’s notoriously filthy bathroom, he might not have been so suspicious. The most prominent graffiti, speaking to politics as well as the frustrations of the grad-student author, read: “Fuck Communism and remote sensing.”

A couple of years after Selwyn’s tenure had ended, a couple of the tavern regulars figured into another Yardarm police story.

Rusty Brashear remembers it being a football-game afternoon.

“Quite a crowd had gathered in front,” he says, “and, though it was basically peaceful, Forest Avenue was blocked.

“The police were trying to clear the street, and they arrested one of the regulars for public intoxication.

They didn’t cuff him, just put him in the back of one of the cruisers and closed the door. Then something else drew their attention and his buddy opened the car door so his friend could escape. He scrambled down the hill to Grand Avenue and got away.”

One of my last Yardarm experiences happened due to would-be burglars who had been causing more serious problems, attempting to break in. Herschel asked Grady Amann and me to spend Christmas Eve in the bar—door locked—making sure no one tried to get in.

We were to be paid in all the beer and peanuts we could consume.

Though the front door was tried a couple of times by passers-by who noticed the lights inside, we had no trouble. Our biggest problem was trying to stay upright when we wobbled out about 8 a.m. on Christmas morning after a long night of beer and peanuts.

Chris Wohlwend’s Restless Native addresses the characters and absurdities of Knoxville, as well as the lessons learned pursuing the newspaper trade during the tumult that was the 1960s. He now teaches journalism part-time at the University of Tennessee.

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 45

News of the Weird | Restless Native | Cartoon | Puzzles

BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY www.thespiritofthestaircase.com

46 knoxville mercury May 11, 2017

Puzzles

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BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY

JOBS

ENVIRONMENTAL ECOLOGY CENTER LAND TRUST SITE NOW AVAILABLE FOR LEASE. Country land adjoining Narrow Ridge Center offers secluded home site for the ecoconscious. Access to Norris Lake. Remote place that is buildable; provides quiet haven.

Protective conservation easements. Paths through 108-acres of shared dense community woods. Old shared community tobacco barn. 1-time payment - $19,750. 3.9 acres. 865 525-8877 blackfoxlandtrust.com narrowridgecenter.org PLACE YOUR AD AT STORE.KNOXMERCURY.COM

RESOURCEMFG HAS IMMEDIATE OPENINGS in the manufacturing field.

No Experience Needed!

865.558.6224 or www.resourcemfg.com

RESOURCEMFG IS NOW HIRING for packers to work in a cold storage environment. No Experience Needed! $12 -$13/hr Call 865.558.6224 www.resourcemfg.com DONATE TO THE MERCURY! Support local independent journalism!

Learn how by visiting knoxmercury.com/donate

COMMUNITY

GINGER SNAP - Looking for a partner who is ALWAYS up for a car ridin’, hikin’, campin’ adventure? Ginger Snap would be the perfect sidekick! She’s a 4-yearold Pointer/ mix. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center / call 865-2156599 for more information.

SOPHIE - Hello! My name is Sophie, and I like to model in my spare time.

I’ve been at Young-Williams for a few weeks now, and it’s time a find a permanent home to stay. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center / call 865-215-6599 for more information.

TOBY - Need a boat buddy?

LOOK NO FURTHER! Toby is a 4 year old Labrador retriever ready for new adventures with a permanent sidekick.

Visit Young-Williams Animal Center / call 865-215-6599 for more information.

POMPEII - Hello! Pompeii here. I’ve been at the shelter for three months, now. During my stay I’ve learned so many new things! I am the best at snuggling. I enjoy swimming & sunbathing as well. Come meet me today! Visit Young- Williams Animal Center / call 865-215-6599 for more information.

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S T E K C I T N I W JUNE 8-11, 2017 • MANC

MULBERRY PLACE CRYPTOQUOTE

HESTER, TN

BY JOAN KEUPER

Each letter takes the place of another. Hint: In this solution, “W” replaces “G”.

Win a pair of passes!

D L

G A

V S S X

B A L S Y B R A L

S Y B C A B A

P H S G X A W N A K H

R S S V A B D O K S H

G K X X

P A U L O S H A

D

D H W

S M

L O D I X A

— V B A L K W A H O

E S B A

S Y B

O C A

V A D R A M Y X

B S H D X W

O C A

S V A H K H N

S M

G S B X W ‘ L

M D K B

Boyd’s Jig & Reel 101 S. Central St (Old City)

Open Chord Music 8502 Kingston Pike

y 15th.

Boxes available until Ma tacted prior to event.

G S B X W .

W Y B K H N O C A

P H S T F K X X A , I A R S E A

s at the following locations: Sign up to win Bonnaroo Ticket

D H W

2017. Winner will be con Drawing will be May 16,

B A D N D H , R A B A E S H U K H

will be notified in advance. ry from weekly submissions. Winners reside nt, 18 years of age or older, n at random by the Knoxville Mercuwhere prohibited. Must be a legal U.S. r has 24 hours to respond. *Disclaimer: Winners will be chosePURC Void Y. SSAR NECE HASE winne (1 Pair of tickets per winner.) NOyee, family member, or household member of a sponsor. Once notified, Suite 404, Knoxville, TN 37902. and not be a sponsor or an emplo er of entries received. Sponsor: Knoxville Mercury, 706 Walnut Ave., Odds of winning depend on numb

P H S T F K X X A

May 11, 2017 knoxville mercury 47

ALL YOU CARE TO TASTE 60 BEERS/40 BOURBONS

LOTS OF BBQ p TASTING THEATER CLASSES p ARTISTS & BREWERANIA p SHRINE OF SWINE p LIVE MUSIC ON THE MAIN STAGE p FUN GAMES & MUCH MORE! p

TICKETS STARTING AT $25!

WWW.BEERANDBOURBON.COM Tickets are non-refundable. Show is rain or shine. Please drink responsibly. Advance ticket sales close 05/17/17. On-site tickets subject to tax.