VOL. 7 NO. 50 NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Lakeshore Park
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December 16, 2013
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‘Gut-bucket gobble-pop’
A public meeting on Lakeshore Park is set for 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16, at the Deane Hill Recreation Center, 7400 Deane Hill Drive. The city of Knoxville, along with the board of Lakeshore Park Inc., will present a draft of the updated master plan for Lakeshore Park. The plan is based on public input and an independent survey by U30. Those planning to attend the meeting are encouraged to visit http://www.cityofknoxville.org/lakeshore/u30report. pdf to see the results of the U30 survey. Anyone needing a disability accommodation in order to attend can contact Stephanie Brewer Cook at 2152034.
IN THIS ISSUE Happy times at the Old Barn Dinner Theater
Remember when Farragut had a dinner theater? Folks would come from miles around to watch plays by professional companies. The food was passable, with ice and glasses for those who brought their own bottle. It was a concept ahead of its time, says Farragut historian Malcolm Shell.
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Read Malcolm’s tale on A-5
Miracle Maker
Thanks to YouTube, thousands have watched elementary school teacher Lauren Hopson express her concerns about changes that have been implemented in Knox County Schools. Hopson doesn’t hold back when her heart pushes her forward, as a video from an October school board meeting and another from last week show. But the audience she’s most concerned with is the group of 18 third graders counting on her skills and guidance to help them succeed this school year.
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See Betsy Pickle’s story on A-9
Meet Marshall
In case anyone doubts that Jim McIntyre will be the key issue in next year’s school board races, meet Marshall Walker, a retired Knox County Schools social worker who was in the audience last week when the school board voted 8-1 to extend McIntyre’s contract.
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See Betty Bean’s story on A-4
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Frog and Toad’s Dixie Quartet includes, from left, keyboardist Jason Day, saxophonist Jason Thompson, guitarist Chad Volkers and drummer Alonzo Lewis. Photo submitted
For Farragut grad Thompson, it’s beautiful music By Betsy Pickle Frog & Toad’s Dixie Quartet started out as a “marriage of convenience,” but the group has evolved into euphoric newlyweds. On stage, saxophone player Jason Thompson, pianist Jason Day, guitarist Chad Volkers and drummer Alonzo Lewis have a chemistry that eludes many connubial partnerships. Just ask the packed house that greets them at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday at the Crown & Goose in the Old City. It all started when Farragut High School alumnus Thompson’s then-combo, Ivory Jones, dissolved unexpectedly – the day before a gig at the Crown & Goose. “The CEO and the president from the sax company that I was working for and trying to impress were in town, so I was left with just me and the drummer and
these guys in town, staying at my house, waiting to come hear me perform for the first time.” Thompson ran into neighbor Day, with whom he’d gigged occasionally during college, and asked if he’d be available to play. He was. After that ad hoc performance, jazz pianist Day stuck around for the weekly gig at Crown & Goose. But Thompson’s repertoire of instrumental covers of ’70s and ’80s R&B and pop hits wasn’t his cup of tea. Style and name changes were in order. “He and I both had developed this love for early jazz,” Thompson says. “We started talking about doing some turn-of-the-century kind of music, some stuff out of the Great American Songbook that we’d always wanted to play, mainly focusing on pre-1940s jazz, gypsy jazz, Dixieland. “What really drew me to these early forms of jazz was probably a search for my own voice. A lot of academia in jazz is geared toward what is called the East Coast sound, a New York sound, and I
always knew that I didn’t quite fit that. After graduating from college … I gravitated toward more of a down-home, Southern style of playing, which is ironic because I grew up in Peekskill, N.Y.” Actually, Thompson grew up all over. Born in Parma, Ohio, he went to elementary school in Peekskill, middle school in Marin, Calif., and the first two years of high school in Kansas City, Kan. “My dad moved around a lot ascending the corporate ladder, and the family moved around with him,” says Thompson, who – after serving as Farragut’s drum major his senior year – went to the University of Tennessee with scholarships in jazz and band. He dropped out during his freshman year to go on the road with rising stars Gran Torino. He spent six years with the band, leaving when he could no longer make the tour schedule work with his home life – his thengirlfriend had their daughter in 1999, and he decided to go back to college to finish his degree.
Thompson says his experience with Gran Torino was so special that he stayed away from music for several years after exiting the group. But his return was inevitable, and he’s sure he’s found his groove. “I call my style gut-bucket gobble-pop,” says Thompson, who has a day job as a surgical technician. “That just means down-home blues.” While the band thought having no bass player – Thompson and Day trade bass lines – would be their gimmick, it’s tall, thin Thompson playing his gigantic saxophones that has proved to be the trademark of Frog & Toad’s Dixie Quartet. “It’s kind of unique to see the larger members of the saxophone family front a band,” he says. The sounds that he gets out of his instruments also create a distinction. “I do a lot of extra musical effects, things the musicians of New Orleans were known for – squeaks, squeals, shrieks, moans, groans,” he says. “I make it talk.”
$1.8 million for vocational equipment Haslam announces grant for Pellissippi State, TCAT-Knoxville Gov. Bill Haslam was joined by local legislators Friday as he announced grants totaling $1,837,475 to fund equipment needed at Pellissippi State Community College and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Knoxville. Pellissippi State will receive $1,386,975 and TCAT-Knoxville will receive $450,000, with the grants funding two programs at each school. The money is part of $16.5 million in this year’s budget for equipment and technology related to workforce development programs at Tennessee colleges of applied technology and community colleges, part of Haslam’s “Drive to 55” effort to increase the number of Tennesseans with post-secondary credentials. Pellissippi State’s funds will go toward the school’s programs in advanced manufacturing and nursing. The funds for TCAT-
Gov. Bill Haslam talks with Dr. Anthony Wise, president of Pellissippi State Community College, during a presentation Friday. Pictured from left are state Reps. Roger Kane and Harry Brooks, state Sen. Becky Massey, Haslam and Wise. Photo by Ruth White Knoxville will be for its industrial maintenance program and a second diesel powered equipment program on the campus of SouthDoyle High School in partnership with Knox County Schools. “These grants represent a substantial investment that will result in highly skilled workers,” Haslam said. “This will help meet the growing demand among employers in the region for well-trained employees.”
In cooperation with TCATKnoxville, Pellissippi State’s engineering technology programs will not only train college students and employees of regional manufacturers, but also provide dual enrollment possibilities for local high school students at the Knox County Schools’ new Magnet Academy at Strawberry Plains. The grant will enable doubling the student capacity in both programs.
The Pellissippi State nursing program is currently expanding and will require new laboratories. The expansion will include a new LPN to RN program. The equipment consists of high-tech human simulation models and related technology. “These improvements will go a long way toward helping us meet the goals of Drive to 55,” said Haslam. “Currently, only 32 percent of Tennesseans have certificates or degrees beyond high school, and studies show that by 2025, that number must be 55 percent to meet workforce demands. These grants help us meet workforce training needs.” These strategic investments resulted from the governor meeting with businesses and education officials last fall to better understand workforce development needs. One of the most common themes he heard was the lack of capacity and equipment at Tennessee colleges of applied technology and community colleges, so these grants are aimed at addressing those gaps.
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