THE WHOLE KIT AND CABOODLE
OCTOBER 20, 2016 KNOXMERCURY.COM V.
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The Ultimate Guide to Everything Knoxvillians Love About Knoxville community • food • drink • music & nightliFe • shopping services • arts & culture • Education & media • Home & Garden health & beauty • Recreation & fun • knoxville online
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Oct. 20, 2016 Volume 02 / Issue 41 knoxmercury.com
CONTENTS
“A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams.” —Herb Caen
HERE IT IS: the ultimate guide to everything that Knoxvillians love most about Knoxville. Inside this special issue, you’ll find the top vote-getters in all the categories we could think of that help define Knoxville’s quality of life. Among them there are upset winners, beloved icons, and longtime favorites finally getting their due—plus names that you might not even recognize. This is your handy index to all things Knoxvillian, one that you helped create with your savvy knowledge of our town.
community P.11 • food P.13 • drink P.28 • music & nightliFe P.32 • shopping P.38 services P.50 • arts & culture P.55 • Education & media P.57 • Home & Garden P.60 health & beauty P.62 • Recreation & fun P.67 • knoxville online P.69 A Key to the Writers
Hayley Brundige (H.B.) • Hillari Dowdle (H.D.) • S. Heather Duncan (S.H.D.) • Matthew Everett (M.E.) • Thomas Fraser (T.F.) • Jack Neely (J.N.) Dennis Perkins (D.P.) • Maria Smith (M.S.) • Coury Turczyn (C.T.) NEWS
DEPARTMENTS
OPINION
CALENDAR
6
6 Howdy
8 The Scruffy Citizen
72 Spotlights: WDVX-Travaganza!,
Elections: District 13 As this bizarre election season enters its final stretch, both candidates for the 13th District’s state House seat are well-funded and itching for a rematch. The big question on their minds: How will GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s presence on the ballot affect voter turnout? Incumbent Republican Eddie Smith beat Democratic challenger Gloria Johnson by a mere 182 votes in the 2014 election. Johnson says low Democratic voter turnout in the midterms accounted for the loss of her seat. Her prospects look better this year, and even Smith concedes that point, reports Thomas Fraser.
Start Here: Dumpster Dive, Public Affairs, and PechaKucha Knoxville—each week, we run a slide from an interesting local presentation.
Jack Neely pays his (most probably) final respects to the once-amazing, slightly demolished WNOX Auditorium.
Muslim feminist Asma Afsaruddin, and Oozing Wound
86 ’Bye
Finish There: Sacred & Profane by Donna Johnson, Crooked Street Crossword by Ian Blackburn and Jack Neely, Spirit of the Staircase by Matthew Foltz-Gray
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 3
Delivering Fine Journalism Since 2015
EDITORIAL EDITOR Coury Turczyn coury@knoxmercury.com SENIOR EDITOR Matthew Everett matthew@knoxmercury.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jack Neely jack@knoxhistoryproject.org STAFF WRITERS S. Heather Duncan heather@knoxmercury.com CONTRIBUTORS
Friday, November 18, 2016
at the Knoxville Marriott • 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM HONORING THESE INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Chris Barrett Tracy Jones Ian Blackburn Catherine Landis Brian Canever Dennis Perkins Patrice Cole Stephanie Piper Eric Dawson Ryan Reed George Dodds Eleanor Scott Thomas Fraser Alan Sherrod Lee Gardner April Snellings Mike Gibson Joe Sullivan Nick Huinker Kim Trevathan Donna Johnson Chris Wohlwend Angie Vicars INTERNS
Hayley Brundige Maria Smith
DESIGN ART DIRECTOR Tricia Bateman tricia@knoxmercury.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Charlie Finch
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
David Luttrell Shawn Poynter Justin Fee Tyler Oxendine
Legacy Award Recipient
Sharon Pryse
Chairman & CEO of The Trust Company
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS
Matthew Foltz-Gray
ADVERTISING PUBLISHER & DIRECTOR OF SALES Charlie Vogel charlie@knoxmercury.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Scott Hamstead scott@knoxmercury.com Stacey Pastor stacey@knoxmercury.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Michael Tremoulis michael@knoxmercury.com
BUSINESS Outstanding Philanthropist
BUSINESS MANAGER Scott Dickey scott.dickey@knoxmercury.com
Jerry Burnette
KNOXVILLE MERCURY
Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy
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Outstanding Corporate Philanthropist
Consolidated Nuclear Systems Outstanding Foundation
The Butterfly Fund & The Clayton Family Foundation
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Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser
Fundraising Professional of the Year
Matt Layman
Kim Lauth, CFRE
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: www. afpknox.org freddi@redbirdconsult.com • 865-214-7331
of Differ en orld W
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jack Neely Coury Turczyn Joe Sullivan Charlie Vogel The Knoxville Mercury is an independent weekly news magazine devoted to informing and connecting Knoxville’s many different communities. It is a taxable, not-for-profit company governed by the Knoxville History Project, a non-profit organization devoted to exploring, disseminating, and celebrating Knoxville’s unique cultural heritage. It publishes 25,000 copies per week, available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. © 2016 The Knoxville Mercury
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
The Knoxville Flag? Many wouldn’t recognize it, but it’s enjoying another mini-revival Most people probably don’t know Knoxville has its own city flag, but it’s catching a fresh breeze this year, thanks in part to the city’s 225th anniversary, which culminated this month.
Parthenon in Greece. Along the same lines, Memphis, which is named for an ancient city in Egypt, erected a pyramid. The Knoxville Building was less extravagant than those two, but a dignified two-story Romanesque white building, designed by the Knoxville firm of Baumann Brothers, with wings and four small tower “observatories” on each corner. Although it was painted to look like marble, it was built mostly of wood.
It was designed in 1896 in time to represent the city at the Tennessee Centennial in Nashville. It would be the biggest fair ever held in Tennessee in that century, and Knoxville was invited to represent itself in Nashville’s Centennial Park with its own city pavilion. To go with the Knoxville pavilion in Nashville, a young local attorney proposed that Knoxville have its own flag. Horace Van Deventer was a 29-year-old Harvard Law School graduate originally from Iowa. He had lived in Knoxville for only three years, but it was a busy, exciting city, and he was already proud of it.
The United States flag and Branson’s new Knoxville flag both flew over the Knoxville Building for the six-month duration of the fair.
Artist Lloyd Branson’s original 1896 sketch of the first-ever Knoxville Flag.
Knoxville was so proud of the building that the city moved it to downtown Knoxville after the fair, and erected it on Main Street across from the courthouse, where it was known as the Women’s Building, serving as a location for art exhibitions and balls—until it burned down as a result of Christmas fireworks in 1906.
The Chamber of Commerce liked the idea, Image courtesy of the City of Knoxville and sponsored a prize for the best design. knoxvilletn.gov Though it was claimed to be a “nationwide” contest, the winner was Knoxville’s best-known artist, Lloyd Branson, whose studio was on Gay The Knoxville flag, rarely used after the Street, near Clinch. Branson was best known as a painter, and had dabbled in exposition, was sometimes forgotten altogether. One problem was its sculpture and photography, but he had never designed a flag before. intricate design, which called for so many different colors and shapes it was expensive—twice as expensive as a U.S. flag—to produce. Branson’s flag, Knoxville’s first flag design, was laden with symbolism. The black stripe was meant to represent coal, the white stripe marble. However, it has seen several revivals over the years, notably during the (Other sources claim the white represented faith, others that it was an city’s sesquicentennial in 1941, when it underwent a redesign, including a homage to Knoxville founder James White!) Nine stars symbolized the correction of the year. The city’s founding date—that of the real-estate nine city wards. The golden winged wheel represented progress. Within lottery considered the city’s founding event—was long based on one old the wheel are a derrick, as one might find in a marble quarry, then one of man’s memory as having occurred in February, 1792. However, librarians Knoxville main industries; crossed picks represent miners; a locomotive proved in the early 1930s that it actually happened four months earlier, on transportation and commerce; and a factory, manufacturing—with an Oct. 3, 1791. So they made that change, and some less-obvious modernizing extra blue and red square to represent bravery by one account, loyalty of the figures. and harmony by another (and by still another, war!). By the end of that year, new Knoxville flags were being sold at downtown Lawyer and author Joshua Caldwell presented Branson’s flag to Mayor department stores like S.H. George’s. Samuel Heiskell, and to the Knoxville public, in a ceremony at City Hall on Market Square, 120 years ago this week. The flag was almost forgotten again after World War II, until Valley Fidelity Bank ordered a new copy made in 1965, to fly above its Market Street headquarThe 100th anniversary of Tennessee was in 1896, but as a result of ters, spawning a revival of interest. construction delays, it was held in 1897. (That sounds embarrassing, but the same thing happened earlier that decade in Chicago, which planned its In 1967, Capt. Donald Severance, a U.S. fighter pilot in Vietnam who Columbian Exposition for the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s landing in earned three Distinguished Flying Crosses, became known for displaying a America in 1892, but held it in 1893.) Knoxville flag on his plane’s fuselage. Nashville, the state capital, was sometimes called “the Athens of the South,” reputedly for its educational institutions, and built a replica of the
Knoxville’s 225th anniversary, combined with a revival of interest in all the work of artist Lloyd Branson, has gotten people talking about the flag again.
Sources: City of Knoxville, Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection
The Knoxville History Project, a new nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of and education about the history of Knoxville, presents this page each week to raise awareness of the themes, personalities, and stories of our unique city. Learn more on www.facebook.com/knoxvillehistoryproject • email jack@knoxhistoryproject.org October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 5
HOWDY DUMPSTER highlights DIVE Weekly from our blog Read more at knoxmercury.com/blog CITY’S “EQUALITY SCORE” RISES Knoxville scored reasonably well in the Human Rights Campaign’s fifth annual city-by-city measure of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Tennessee cities together averaged 33 points (out of 100), below the national average of 55. Nashville, with 60, and Knoxville, with 55, were the exceptions. Photo courtesy of City of Knoxville
PECHA KUCHA NIGHT KNOXVILLE THE SMARTER CITIES PARTNERSHIP: REIMAGINING KNOXVILLE’S ENERGY FUTURE | Erin Gill | Presented Nov. 12, 2015 Erin Gill focuses on Smarter Cities Partnership efforts to dramatically advance energy efficiency in Knoxville through community engagement, education, and weatherization. | Watch the 6-minute presentation at pechakucha.org/cities/knoxville
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
10/20 PUBLIC MEETING: PUBLIC PROPERTY NAMING COMMITTEE
10/22 EAST KNOXVILLE COMMUNITY10/23 CANDORO FALL HOMECOMING WIDE CLEANUP
5 p.m., City County Building, Main Assembly Room. Free. Yes, that’s how the city names stuff. At this meeting, the committee will consider a resolution by the Veterans Heritage Site Foundation to rename Sharps Ridge Memorial Park to Sharps Ridge Veterans Memorial Park. (There’s also been talk of reconfiguring Sharps Ridge into a Mount Rushmore-style sculpture, but that’s probably a different committee.)
9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Harvest Center Plaza (2410 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.). Free. Community group Five Points Up is hosting this third-annual cleanup effort, which provides tools, gloves, and supplies to volunteers who will be picking up litter in their neighborhoods. Five Points Up has a mission to “unify and beautify East Knoxville through increased community engagement and community pride.”
THURSDAY
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SATURDAY
SUNDAY
2-6 p.m., Candoro Arts & Heritage Center (4450 Candora Ave.). Free. Come for the chili supper and music by Knox County Jug Stompers. Stay for the stories of South Knoxville’s marble history at this celebration of Candoro Marble Company’s artisans. Visitors are encouraged to bring marble items made by the craftsmen here from the 1920s through the 1970s for a “show and tell” session. Info: candoromarble.org.
SMOKIES FOLIAGE MUTED Intense and prolonged summer heat and drought may drain the color from East Tennessee ridge faces this fall. It was the second hottest summer in Knoxville, and all of East Tennessee is suffering drought conditions ranging from moderately dry to extreme and exceptional, according to federal weather records. SCHOOLS SCREEN FOR ASTHMA East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and a private asthma treatment practice are conducting asthma screenings in many local schools. The hospital’s Breathe Easy program first tested children in 2013, with a formalized process being developed and broadened since. Now the program offers tests for lung function in all the Knox County Title I schools—schools where poverty rates are high— as well as in some surrounding rural counties.
10/25 SPEAKER: ASMA AFSARUDDIN TUESDAY
5:30 p.m., Cox Auditorium, UT’s Alumni Memorial Building. Free. This year’s Siddiqi Lecture in Islamic Studies features Muslim feminist Asma Afsaruddin, a professor in the School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. She’ll be addressing “Islamic Feminisms: Challenging Patriarchy in Muslim-Majority Societies.” Info: religion.utk.edu.
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 7
SCRUFFY CITIZEN
The Modern Marvel of Whittle Springs The once-amazing, slightly demolished WNOX Auditorium BY JACK NEELY
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ear the northern end of Whittle Springs Road, just across White Oak Lane from Whittle Springs Middle School, is—for the moment at least—a large box of a building. It’s torn open on its eastern end, long strips of roofing hanging down like entrails over a gaping hole. A few weeks ago it was the target of a demolition effort, one that was discouraged by the city when it pointed out that demolitions do require permits. The landowner, known as DFS Properties LC, duly applied for a permit for a “2-story commercial building.” Demolition permits include two lines asking the owner to ascertain whether the building was more than 50 years old. That’s one of several criteria for historical significance. The applicant jotted “N/A.” If it’s not historic now, this building was meant to be historic from the day it was announced, 62 years ago. The WNOX Auditorium was planned to be a regional center of broadcasting for a modern era. Hailed as “the most unusual and only radio auditorium-studio of its kind in the world,” it was little less than a performing-arts center, with state-ofthe-art live-audience television and radio facilities, and even recording studios. Its acoustically excellent auditorium held 1,250 people, bigger than most of the New York studios, but designed so each seat seemed close to the stage. It would be “the most modern radio facility in the South.” It drew comparisons to Radio City Music Hall. Maybe, given Knoxville’s
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association with the early careers of several popular musicians—former WNOX regulars Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins were then national stars—maybe it would be as famous. Its grand opening on May 12, 1955, featured a concert by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and a speech by Gen. Leslie Groves, manager of the Manhattan Project. His presence was proof that WNOX’s new facilities were as modern as the A-bomb. Joining him was bug-eyed Hollywood comedian Jerry Colonna and Homer and Jethro, national musical/comedy stars who’d been associated with WNOX early in their careers. The plan was that this auditorium would expand on the popularity of the station’s famous live-radio shows like Mid-Day MerryGo-Round, which had been performing for jammed houses in their former Gay Street studios for 20 years. Mayor George Dempster announced it was a major step forward for the city. Things rarely go as planned. WNOX never got license for the television station they were expecting, reportedly due to their association with Scripps-Howard, the big corporation which the Federal Communications Commission thought wielded too much control of the Knoxville media market. Worse, there were flaws in the radio plans, too. A lot of WNOX’s live daily radio audience was composed of people who lived or worked downtown, and could walk to shows on a lunch break. They didn’t necessarily have time or inclination to drive out to the suburbs to do the
same thing. And live radio was dwindling as a phenomenon, anyway. TV was new in Knoxville. People were staying home and watching it. It had some moments. Singer-songwriter Don Gibson and a few other country stars did perform for good audiences there. But one of its biggest moments wasn’t country at all. In September 1955, when it was only four months old, the big new auditorium hosted a two-night stand by Bill Haley and the Comets. It was the year of their greatest fame, just a month after they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. They were rocking around the clock right here in this big box of a building on Whittle Springs Road. For whatever it’s worth, in the 1950s, most of the great black rock ’n’ roll acts performed for predominantly black audiences at Chilhowee Park’s Jacob Building and elsewhere. Very few of the big white rock acts performed in Knoxville then, likely just because the managers of the white venues were skeptical of the rock phenomenon. WNOX was apparently an exception, at least for a couple of nights in September 1955. Maybe the building never had a heyday. The fact that within a year of opening, WNOX was advertising it for rent to religious and political groups makes it sound like audience response was disappointing from the beginning. Albert Gore Sr. spoke there in 1956, the year he refused to sign the segregationist pledge urged on Southern senators. The auditorium witnessed six years of Mid-Day MerryGo-Round, which died there in 1961. After that, it was used a lot for the News-Sentinel’s annual spelling bees. Later years saw poignant attempts to revive it. In 1985, Chet Atkins and Archie Campbell came there for a show to rededicate the
place as Lowell Blanchard Auditorium, to honor the impresario of WNOX’s live-music years. It was hoped that it could be an authentic country-music mecca. That never worked out. In the 1990s, it became an offbeat evangelical church. That explains the scrap-metal cross in the yard. That didn’t last, either. Here’s where the historian’s supposed to arch his eyebrow and talk knowingly about short-sighted planning, when the fate of changing times should have been all too obvious. Making fun of people in the past always draws an easy laugh. In fact, if done right, I think it could have worked. It could even work today. Call it ironic, but when I witness PechaKucha presentations, or Ted Talks, or crowds watching movies in bars, or attending festivals like Big Ears, I get the impression that people actually like to get together in auditoriums much more today than they did 50 or 60 years ago, when staying home was the exciting new thing. And they especially like to get together in odd and surprising places. Demolition work is on hold until next month, thanks to the city’s demolition-delay ordinance for potentially historic properties. Most of the building’s still there. Today the property’s being sold by the people who bought it at auction just last year, apparently just for its real estate. “2.6 Acres,” as advertised. But lately there’s a For Sale sign on the slightly demolished building, too. If they do demolish it, there’s one item to be careful of. It was built with a cornerstone time capsule of artifacts from 1955 and earlier, meant to remind the People of the Future of the musical legacy of a radio station called WNOX. It holds some history. ◆
Its grand opening on May 12, 1955, featured a speech by Gen. Leslie Groves, manager of the Manhattan Project. His presence was proof that WNOX’s new facilities were as modern as the A-bomb.
Elections: District 13 In a rematch to a very close race, Gloria Johnson aims to reclaim the House seat from Eddie Smith BY THOMAS FRASER
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s this bizarre election season enters its final stretch, both candidates for the 13th District’s state House seat are well-funded and itching for a rematch. The big question on their minds: How will GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s presence on the ballot affect voter turnout? Incumbent Republican Eddie Smith beat Democratic challenger Gloria Johnson by a mere 182 votes in the 2014 election. Johnson says low Democratic voter turnout in the midterms accounted for the loss of her seat. Her prospects look better this year; even Smith concedes that point. “I think it’s going to be difficult,” Smith says of retaining his seat during an interview at his campaign office in East Knoxville. Johnson says her base is galvanized by support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton—and distaste for Trump. But turnout, which she says is traditionally low among Democrats during midterm elections, is key. “When more people go vote, I win,” she says at Knox County Democratic Party headquarters. That was the case in 2012, when she beat Republican Gary Loe by 288 votes in a three-way race with independent Nick Cazana. Nearly 21,000 people voted that year; only 13,278 people cast ballots in 2014, when Smith eked out the general election win following a close GOP primary against Jason Emert. That race was also close— Smith won by 38 votes. It is a closely divided district, and Republicans fear that Trump’s recently publicized comments condoning sexual assault—and more recent allegations from women who say Trump sexually assaulted them— could lead GOP voters to stay home Nov. 8. But Democrats might not generate a big turnout, either. “It’s my sense that Democrats are not very happy with Hillary Clinton, either,” says Susan Richardson
Williams, a former state GOP chairwoman and a local political observer. “It may balance itself out to be a wash on election day.” Johnson held a press conference last week in which she urged Smith to repudiate Trump’s comments and candidacy. “My opponent’s silence indicates a lack of leadership and an inability to be part of the solution—to clean up Tennessee’s own sexual harassment scandals,” Johnson announced at the conference. Smith, while agreeing that Trump’s comments were “reprehensible and repugnant,” says Johnson is merely diverting attention from the local race. “This issue once again showcases my opponent’s desire to focus on any issue other than those directly affecting the lives of residents in this district,” he said in a statement following Johnson’s press conference. Meanwhile, Williams says she and other local Republican leaders will stand by Trump. Williams says she was “very offended” by Trump’s comments, in which he bragged to a reporter about his supposed sway over women as a powerful figure and said he could simply grab a woman by her genitals. But Williams, sticking to GOP talking points, says, “I know what kind of president Hillary Clinton will be,” claiming she will raise taxes and pursue health care policies unpopular with the GOP base. “We know her. Trump could surprise me. I hold out hope that if he’s elected he’ll be a better president than hoped,” she says. “Unfortunately we’ve descended into the gutter when it comes to politics.” Knox County GOP chairman Buddy Burkhardt cites Christian values in backing Trump despite his missteps. “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone,” he says. “Donald Trump was elected in a popular vote to receive the nomination to run for president on the Republican ticket, and that still stands.”
Smith, for his part, says he has not yet made up his mind whether he will vote for Trump.
Johnson—who retains a nameplate that reads “Rep. Johnson” on her desk not far from a package of bacon jerky—says she would indeed represent the will of the people should she win. The electorate supports Insure Tennessee, Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposal to expand Medicaid coverage to 200,000 uninsured Tennesseans earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, she says. (Haslam did not accept federal funds to expand TennCare under the Affordable Care Act.) Voters are also opposed to diverting state funds to voucher programs or charter schools, Johnson—a former special-education teacher—adds. She says Smith didn’t respond to a request for a debate about education, but hopes at least one candidate forum will take place prior to the election. It is, she says, “unfair to voters to not have an open discussion.” (The League of Women Voters was unable to find a debate date agreeable to both candidates, though Johnson made herself available.) Smith pins his hopes on constituents rewarding him for a range of area transportation programs he takes credit for, though some were years in the making. He cites improvements to Alcoa Highway, planned improvements to Interstate 640 interchanges, and increased money for the transportation state-aid program, which he says has provided Knox County and Knoxville extra money for street-paving programs. He plans to keep his focus on
EDDIE SMITH JOB: Incumbent 13th District state House representative AGE: 37 EDUCATION: Tusculum College; business and organizational management PRIOR POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: First-term 13th district representative FAMILY: Wife, Lanna; two children
jobs, education, and infrastructure, and is personally vested in an anti-bullying bill that would step up school-system responses to bullying claims; his own daughter, who is homeschooled with his other child, was a victim of harassment and bullying, he says. As for health insurance expansion, he says he plans a bill that would increase incentives for small businesses that offer health insurance to their employees. But he is well aware of the “battleground district” the 13th has become, and he raised $50,000—including $20,000 from political action committees largely outside of Knoxville—in the third quarter for the campaign. Johnson, who has raised $55,000 in the third quarter, largely through individual donations, says she won’t have “all the outside money” that Smith has raised through PACs, but she has more than 200 volunteers working on her campaign. Smith reported an ending balance of $102,000 on his third-quarter financial disclosure filing after spending $10,000 in August, September, and November. Johnson spent four times that much during the period, and reported $73,000 heading into the final five weeks before the election. She hopes to have at least two more fundraisers, including a performance from former Knoxville singer/ songwriter Scott Miller, set for Monday at a home on Cherokee Boulevard. “The reality is I’m going to support every single person in the district,” should she win the rubber match with Smith, she says. Both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of extremes, she says: “Ideas begin in the middle.” ◆
GLORIA JOHNSON JOB: Retired Knox County Schools special-education teacher AGE: 54 EDUCATION: University of Tennessee; education PRIOR POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: 13th District state House representative, 2012-2014 FAMILY: Single, no children October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 9
The Ultimate Guide to Everything Knoxvillians Love About Knoxville
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hat makes for a great town? The people who love it so much that they try to make it a better place. Knoxville is in the midst of a renaissance because it has a lot people pulling for it: forward-thinking policymakers, business owners aiming to fill unmet needs, preservationists and conservationists rallying support for things worth saving, entrepreneurs making not-so-crazy dreams a reality. You’ll find many of them here, honored in our Top Knox
2016 Readers’ Poll—a celebration of pure Knoxvilleness. We believe this is the most indispensable guide to Knoxville’s best, determined by Knoxvillians who really know: our readers. They’re the smartest, savviest consumers in town, with a passion for the places and people that make Knoxville unique. We’re living in a fortunate time in Knoxville’s history. Read on to find out why. —Coury Turczyn, ed.
community P.11 • food P.13 • drink P.26 • music & nightliFe P.32 • shopping P.38 services P.50 • arts & culture P.55 • Education & media P.57 • Home & Garden P.60 health & beauty P.62 • Recreation & fun P.66 • knoxville online P.69 10
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Community TOP KNOXVILLIAN
Madeline Rogero Mayor Madeline Rogero’s popularity is obvious every time she gives a speech. She’s Tennessee’s first female mayor of a large city and when she mentions that fact, well into her second term, folks still applaud. Knoxvillians are proud of her and proud of themselves for putting her there. If she wasn’t the tax-hungry monster some conservatives predicted, she was ahead of the national curve on implementing the practical aspects of marriage equality within city government, and has supported green initiatives all around town, from curbside recycling and energy-saving improvements, to Knoxville’s suddenly amazing outdoor recreational opportunities. She has a profile well beyond city limits, earning a place in the national dialogue on smart growth and climate preparedness. Downtown has continued to bloom, as Downtown North has become an attraction of its own, livelier and better-looking each month, and the urban energy seems poised to advance to the east. The Cumberland Avenue traffic-calming, pedestrian-enabling project—a far-fetched ideal when it was proposed during the Haslam administration almost 10 years ago—promised to be a major headache during construction, coinciding with KUB’s massive downtown infrastructure rebuild. This perhaps unprecedented cluster of traffic inconveniences might have seemed intolerable with a less likable mayor. But there haven’t been riots. It’ll all be finished before her term is over, better than ever, in time for her to cut the ribbon.
That is, if she doesn’t find a better job first. It’s been rumored since at least 2008 that the Democrat, who’s been politically active since the ’80s, would one day be part of a Hillary Clinton presidential administration. (Jack Neely) POPULAR PICKS: Tim Burchett, Pat Summitt
TOP NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
Fourth & Gill Neighborhood Organization Fourth and Gill can draw votes just because it’s Knoxville’s most obviously improved neighborhood of the last 40 years. Lacerated by decades of highway construction and once considered a scary inner-city slum, the 1880s-’90s community is now a model of the American Dream, a serene walk among beautiful Victorian houses that some hard-working folks can afford. In fact Fourth and Gill may be the city’s liveliest, most engaging neighborhood, throwing regular potlucks, “porch hops,” ice-cream socials, and best-yard competitions. Weeks to come will see Fourth & Gill’s annual Halloween Party, the Pumpkin Parade, and the Holiday Homes Tour. Misanthropic loners might prefer the suburbs. (J.N.) POPULAR PICKS: Kingston Pike Sequoyah Hills Association, Old North Knoxville Inc.
TOP NEW THING IN KNOXVILLE
THANK YOU, KNOXVILLE!
Maple Hall Even people who don’t bowl are grateful for Maple Hall, the long-ru-
Thanks for voting The Standard as the TOP Special Event Venue and JFG Flats as the Top Apartments Runner-Up in the Mercury’s 2016 Top Knox Readers’ Poll.
MAPLE HALL
Photo by Tricia Bateman
For information on booking and availibility, visit DewhirstProperties.com
October 20, 2016 DP_top-knox-2016_1-2pg-v.indd 1
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Knox Area Rescue Ministries KARM may be most recognizable around town for its many thrift stores, but its impact is most felt on center-city streets where the Christian-based organization provides shelter, food, and recovery services to the poor and homeless. With an annual budget of some $6 million— gathered mostly through individual donations—KARM dishes out nearly 1,000 meals a day and shelters about 400 people a night. It’s a mission that started in 1960, and—sadly—seems to be one that keeps expanding. Learn how you can help at: karm.org/ get-involved. (Coury Turczyn) POPULAR PICKS: Legacy Parks, Love Kitchen
TOP SECRET ABOUT KNOXVILLE
Ijams Nature Center We’re not so sure how well-kept the Ijams “secret” is, these days. It’s an
POPULAR PICKS: craft breweries, The Mill & Mine
TOP
NEW
BUSINESS
TOP
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KNOXVILLE
THANK YOU MON. - FRI. 4 PM - 1:30 AM SAT. - SUN. 11 AM - 1:30 AM (21+ AFTER 9PM UNLESS CHILD WITH PARENT) KITCHEN NIGHTLY UNTIL 12:30 AM
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Photo courtesy of Legacy Parks
TOP NONPROFIT COMMUNITY GROUP
mored, finally completed basement bowling alley at 414 South Gay St., just because it’s something different than another restaurant and bar downtown... even though it is a restaurant and bar, which is one thing that makes it different from most bowling alleys. Its hip menu, more locovoratious than the usual bowling-alley fare, includes hot chicken and Benton’s bacon. You don’t have to bowl if you don’t want to. But it is still, after all, a bowling alley, with 11 lanes, which stay pretty lively on a Friday evening, plus intimate lounge areas and—with a two-lane VIP section—room for private parties. Like most New Things downtown, it’s in an old building, one of the big stores built just after the Great Fire of 1897. It was later the basement of J.C. Penney’s, back in the days when J.C. Penney himself made annual visits. And in 1865, when this site didn’t even have any buildings on it, it witnessed the new thing of that year—besides emancipation, that is: East Tennessee’s first baseball game was played down here. (J.N.)
eclectic outdoors destination that manages to cater equally to the hardcore, high-energy adventurer, the serene gardener, and the family full of kids that love bugs and frogs and whatever they can find in the woods. During the last few years, Ijams has partnered with for-profit businesses so that now you can balance through a tree-top adventure course, rent a stand-up paddle board at Mead’s Quarry, and sip a beer by the quarry lake afterward. But its naturalists still lead family hikes and educational programs and it offers nature and arts festivals like the Meadow Lark extravaganza of Americana music. Summer camps provide kids some of the area’s best youth opportunities for bouldering and canoing while learning about
the plants and animals of East Tennessee. Among some of Ijams’ lesser-known adventures are family camping nights, climbing clinics and mushroom ID classes. But it’s perhaps best known for its popular hiking and biking trails. Our readers didn’t specify which was their favorite, but arguably the most interesting for those on two feet is the Keyhole trail at the old Ross Marble Quarry, which takes you over and under blocks of stone, fuzzy with moss and furrowed with the marks of dynamite sticks. (S. Heather Duncan) POPULAR PICKS: Fort Dickerson Quarry Park, Happy Holler SEE ALSO: Top Free Stuff to Do and Top Walking Trail in Recreation & Fun
Food
pass up the chicken liver gyoza with egg yolk ponzu. (Dennis Perkins)
Babalu Tacos & Tapas Babalu has been packed since opening last November on Gay Street. With touches like the old J.C. Penney’s sign, still-mint poster cards from Knoxville music and theater shows going back years (with lots by Yee Haw Industries), and menu items like a Sugarlands Moonshine margarita, this regional restaurant feels homegrown. Its unusual blue-corn soft taco combinations contain ingredients from tuna to oysters to pork belly. For just $3 to $3.50 each, you can try the pulled pork taco with roasted peanut slaw and pickled red onions, or my favorite, the orange and soy-braised duck taco. But the star at Babalu is the fresh guacamole made table-side, hands-down the best you’ll ever eat. It is a religious experience. (S.H.D.)
Popular Picks: Nama Sushi Bar, Taste of Thai Popular Picks—Top Appetizers: Downtown Grill & Brewery, Knox Mason/Calhoun’s (tie) Popular Picks—Top New Restaurant: Emilia, Kaizen Popular Picks—Top Taco: Chivo Taqueria, Senor Taco
TOP BAKERY
Kaizen
The French Market
$ 1291.25
$500
36”x36” 1 full digital 1 Of 1 10
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RESTAURANT TOP Comfort Food
Sweet P’s is smokin’ the Top Knox barbecue category for the second year in a row as its renown spreads along with its locations. The longtime Soul House at the marina
The French Market
-
Thanks Knoxville! Come see us soon.
Sweet P’s Barbeque and Soul House
MAGPIES BAKERY Allen Tate 865-300-2537 a.tate@comcast.net 2010 1 (One) -
BONE SUCKING B.B.Q.
TOP BBQ
Knoxville’s sweet scene continues to get sweeter every year, but the queen of the cupcakes still captures Knoxville’s heart in a winning way. Of course Magpies does a lot more than cupcakes—it’s the wedding cake maker to the groovy, author of incredible oatmeal crème pies, quality cookies, profound cherry
TOP ASIAN
It seems unlikely that Knoxville would be home to a Japanese gastro-pub, and, yet, there it is right downtown on Clinch Avenue. Kaizen, the brainchild of chef Jesse Newmister, has a brief but effective menu with noodles, steamed buns, gyoza, and a handful of other delights including a dry fried eggplant happily seasoned with Sichuan peppers. Kaizen doesn’t always stick to pure tradition: You’ll find some fun fusion in the form of the Nashville bun—a sambal-laced take on hot chicken. Newmister keeps things pretty accessible, though the adventurous (real Southern) eater won’t
Popular Picks: VG’s Bakery, Wild Love Bakery
Magpies Bakery
Photo by Clay Duda
TOP APPETIZERS TOP NEW RESTAURANT TOP TACO
pie, and more. Owner Peggy Hambright and her team of buttercream mavens helped start the Central Avenue revival and continue to make it a real sweet spot. (D.P.)
There Are No Special Instructions Concerning Your Order At This Time
--
Authentic French Sweet & Savory Crêpes
10/F/French market, the/circle.eps Annie BNT Zach Wooliver
East Tennessee's BEST Italian Restaurant!
TOP Italian TOP Romantic Dining
Lavazza Coffee & Espresso French Pastries & Macarons
Homemade Italian Cuisine
Downtown
Comfort food at comfortable prices
Farragut
Family owned and operated for over 30 years
526 South Gay Street 161 Brooklawn Street Knoxville, Thanks for voting us
LUNCH TUES-FRI 11-2 DINNER NIGHTLY 5-9:30 OR LATER
TOP FRENCH RESTAURANT
Now Open Early! Mon 11-3 • Tues-Thurs 11-7:30 • Fri 11-8:30 Sat 12-8:30 • Sun 12-6 3101 Magnolia Ave. Knoxville, TN 37914 865-595-0212 • chandlersstore.com
Mon - Wed 8am - 4pm Thu, Fri & Sat 8 am - 10pm Sunday 9am - 4pm
Holiday banquets and office catering available
5500 Kingston Pike in the District of Bearden 865-584-5033 www.naplesitalianrestaurant.net JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 13
watch the game at the Downtown Dive while noshing 50-cent wings and $2.50 pints of Tennessee brews. It’s a distinctively Knoxville experience. (S.H.D.) Popular Picks: Archer’s BBQ, Dead End BBQ
TOP BREAKFAST TOP MEAL THAT’S A STEAL
Pete’s Coffee Shop For 30 years, Pete and Rita Natour have been dishing up generous portions of simple, homey food for what seems like the same price in this Union Avenue diner. It’s one of the only places you’ll fi nd bankers and politicians rubbing shoulders with construction workers. The flaky biscuits, fancy omelettes, pancakes, and cinnamon French toast—all available early on weekdays—have put Pete’s breakfast at the top of our reader’s poll for years. And while it’s hard to keep any downtown lunch tab under $10, Pete’s is the exception. It’s probably also the only place (downtown or elsewhere) where you can get a high-quality, delicious hamburger
Thank you Knoxville! Top Deli Sandwich/Sub Shop Taste the difference great bread can make… at Frussies. Building the foundation for a SANDWICH MOMENT, fresh daily.
F R USSIES DELI & BAKERY O RD ER ONLI NE A T: F R U S S I E S . C OM
722 Sou t h Gay St., Knoxvil l e, TN 3 79 02 | 865 -33 3-5359
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
for $4. Pete’s keeps it simple and traditional with homemade pimento cheese, a classic patty melt, or meatloaf. But it also offers lighter, more trendy options like wraps—try the sun-dried tomato pesto wrap when it’s on special. (S.H.D.)
can replace your pumpkin spice overload with a healthy helping of gingerbread waffles. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Copper Cellar, Tomato Head
TOP CHEF
Ma Gallaher
Popular Picks—Top Breakfast: Holly’s Gourmet Market, OliBea Popular Picks—Top Meal That’s a Steal: Good Golly Tamale, Soccer Taco
For many Knoxville diners, Matt Gallaher will forever be the man who brought pork rinds to fi ne
TOP BRUNCH
MATT GALLAHER
Bistro at the Bijou This brunch may be legendary for the Cool Hand Luke—a 10-egg omelet— but the reason it remains tops for one of the city’s favorite meals lies in the general quality and freshness of the food. Impressive vegan and vegetarian options open the menu to all sorts of eaters, and the jazz that often accompanies the meal (along with a brilliant Bloody Mary) are important grace notes in this spot’s appeal. Red Flannel Hash made with potatoes and beets and chicken fried steak with sawmill gravy give you an idea of the menu’s range. And if you hurry, you
Photo by Tricia Bateman
off Maryville Pike has attracted those in-the-know to the Middle of Nowhere for years. But more and more people are in the know, especially since the successful Downtown Dive outpost has had time to become a lunch magnet and catering go-to for businesses in town. The vibe at both is both homey and hip, and the food is distinctive—the side dishes, especially, are variations you’ll never fi nd in some cookie-cutter joint. That smashed potato salad with eggs could have come from your mama’s kitchen, and the collards peppered with carrots, black-eyedpeas, celery, and bacon offer an unexpected twist that still feels 100 percent authentic Southern. Sweet P’s delicious (and generously portioned) banana pudding was ranked among the best in Tennessee (no. 2) by onlyinyourstate.com this year; its barbecue, with a tangy red sauce or a thinner cross between Tennessee and Carolina styles, has made a list of the 50 best in the country; and the Travel Channel featured the restaurant’s Gigante Burrito on Man Vs. Food. During football season, you can
good builder will tell you the most important part of your home is the foundation. A good SANDWICH builder will tell you that bread is the foundation for the best sandwich. Lucky for you, we’re pretty obsessed with bread. Since day one, Frussies’ success has been built on an assortment of homemade breads; 11 varieties to be exact. All made from scratch every day, including our famous Marbled Rye. A delicious marbling of light and dark rye, this tasty favorite is the foundation for the perfect Reuben… and any other deli classic. It has to be good to stand up to all the house-cured meat we pile on top.
Proud to call Knoxville home. Thank you for your support.
Photos by beall + thomas photography
TOP CHEF MATT GALLAHER Emilia & Knox Mason
Top Italian Top New Restaurant Top Romantic Dining 16 MARKET SQUARE, KNOXVILLE, TN 37902
•
865.313.2472
•
emiliaknox.com
Top Appetizers
131 S GAY ST, KNOXVILLE, TN 37902
•
865.544.2004
•
knoxmason.com
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 15
dining. Of course, that’s just one of the chef’s many tasty contributions to the city. Gallaher’s food, whether it’s his take on Southern classics or classic Italian, is vibrant, intense, and satisfying to both eye and appetite—and that’s true whether it’s bar snacks at Knox Mason or antipasti at Emilia. That he so easily handles the comfort food of two nations speaks to both his skill and his popularity. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Holly Hambright, Jesse Newmister
TOP COFFEEHOUSE
K Brew
Photo by Tricia Bateman
K BREW
K Brew is the kind of coffee shop where you’ll run into barristas from other coffee shops—and that’s perhaps the highest endorsement your morning cup of joe can get. The rotating high-end blends, the informed and patient staff, and the multiple brewing methods will please the purists, but K Brew makes world-class coffee anybody can appreciate, from connoisseurs to entry-level enthusiasts. Plus, the new location on Broadway, an easy
destination from anywhere in the central city, is one of the most fun places to get a caffeine fix, with its sleek, open design and jungle of hammocks for luxurious lounging. And don’t forget the new downtown outlet, located in the federal courthouse building at the south end of Market Street. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Old City Java, Remedy
TOP COMFORT FOOD
Chandler’s Deli Once again, Chandler’s Deli wins honors for warming the cockles of our heart and gullet. It’s not just that the food is comforting, but it’s delicious, too. The truth of the matter is that if you haven’t had a piece of their fried chicken—particularly a thigh—you just haven’t lived comfortably at all. Of course the chicken couldn’t do it alone—there’s also very uplifting BBQ and daily specials like meatloaf, salmon patties, and chicken tetrazzini, along with a slate of utterly soothing side dishes like macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, and
MAKE EVERY DAY A HOLLY DAY! THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT! MAKE YOUR HOLIDAY PARTY RESERVATIONS TODAY! Contact Lisa McCoig @ 865-330-0123 or events.hollys@gmail.com
’ •CATERING
•BREAKFAST •CHEF
Holly’s Corner 842 N. Central, 865-851-7854
gourmetsmarketandcafe.com 16
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Holly’s Gourmet Market
5107 Kingston Pike, 865-584-8739
Ye Olde Steak House Since 1968
Food fit for a King.
TOP STEAK
Voted Knoxville’s Best Steak 22 years in a row RESERVATIONS:
865-577-9328 •
CARRY OUT:
865-250-3724
HOURS: Sun-Thurs 4-9, Fri-Sat 4-9:30
Please call for special hours for UT home games 6838 CHAPMAN HIGHWAY (HIGHWAY 441) 5 miles south of the Henley Street bridge
TOP MIDDLE-EASTERN RESTAURANT
LUNCH SPOT Thank you Knoxville for voting for us!
NEW MENU EXPANDED DINING AREA LUNCH & DINNER Mon-Sat 11am-9pm CATERING AVAILABLE 865-387-8275 706 Walnut St, Knoxville, TN yassin’s falafel house October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 17
chicken and dumplings—all of which clearly make Knoxvillians feel much better about whatever ails them. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Jackie’s Dream, Tupelo Honey
TOP DELI/SANDWICH/SUB SHOP
Frussie’s Deli & Bakery For many diners, the great surprise about eating in town is the quality of sandwich making—and the current king of that noble art is Jay Brandon, owner of Frussie’s. Good sandwiches are built from the bottom up—so it’s hardly surprising that this much loved deli’s excellence is based on the combination of homemade bread and house cured meat. It’s a tough life, and we’re awfully glad that Brandon feels compelled to do it. The Reuben is legendary, and the Italian sub, the stuff of dreams. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Nixon’s Deli, Market House Cafe & Curious Dog (tie) Honorable Mention (RIP): North Corner Sandwich Shop
TOP DESSERTS
Li on’s In a city of really good desserts, Litton’s ever full and unendurably tempting dessert case stands out to voters across Knoxville who make a pilgrimage to Fountain City for a slice of legendary red velvet cake. There’s plenty more, from cookies to crustless cheesecake; the cream-cheese brownie is an exercise in joyful eating, and the restaurant’s coconut cream pie was named one of the South’s best by Southern Living—though we could have told you that any old time. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Magpies, Tomato Head & Coolato Gelato (tie)
TOP FOOD TRUCK
Savory & Sweet At the beginning of Knoxville’s food road trip, Sweet and Savory owners Byron and Kiki Sambat were among the fi rst and fi nest to join the convoy. Four years later, they
remain one of the best mobile meal sources for inspired tacos and other treats: the brunch bowl and burritos; their signature bacon-wrapped, stuffed dates; and a bacon and pimento cheese-fi lled delight called Go Big Orange Biscuit. The food is consistently well made, delicious, and fun to eat, and sourced from suppliers more near than far. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Cruze Farm, Good Golly Tamale
TOP FRENCH
The French Market & Café The French Market has had a tough year, with its flagship Gay Street location hidden behind wood paneling erected by the owner of its building. An ongoing struggle with its landlord has played out in social media, but its loyal fans have turned out to eat (and vote) in its favor. The creperie (also located in Farragut) offers no less than 15 savory, paper-thin French pancakes full of fresh ingredients, and large enough to satisfy a famished lunch appetite. The vegetarian deluxe
with spinach, tomato, artichoke hearts, avocado and goat cheese offers a complex blend of flavors. There’s plenty of good bacon, turkey, and ham on the menu, too, as well as breakfast crepes and omelettes in the morning. It’s hard to leave room for the array of sweet crepes, which vary from the grown-up crepe suzette to a kid-approved s’mores version—but you should try. (S.H.D.) Popular Picks: Northshore Brasserie, Oliver Royale
TOP HAMBURGER
Stock & Barrel From the moment it opened, Stock & Barrel gave Knoxville’s meat eaters a whole new wave of burger craving. Made with local beef from Mitchell Family Farms, the burgers are big, mouthwatering and topped with delectables that run the gamut from the ordinary to the decidedly unexpected—things like peanut butter and fried bananas (that would be the Elvis) to corn salsa. There’s lamb, bison, salmon, and
Winner... and still champion. For the second year running, Hard Knox is honored to be named ‘Best Pizza” by the readers of The Knox Mercury. Coming in the next few months there will be even more to love with our rennovation and expansion. Expanded seating, table service, wine, more craft beers, some new menu items and much more. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates. Thanks again Knoxville. Wood is Good. 4437 Kingston Pk. 865.602.2114. hardknoxpizza.com 18
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
H E Y K NOX VI L L E ! Let’s taco ‘bout how awesome you are!
Thanks for voting us: Top Appetizer Top Taco Top New Restaurant
new to BABALU? Stop by and see what all the fuss is about!
®
412 S. Gay St., Knoxville, TN 37902 | 865.329.1002 |
EAT
B A B A L U. C O M
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 19
TOP ICE CREAM/FROZEN TREATS
black bean burgers that are made with the same drive to please that makes the whole menu a joyful read. (D.P.)
Cruze Farm Milk Bar
A quick glance at the menu will tell you all you need to know about why Curious Dog is a favorite of flavor hounds—it reads like a Food Network recipe line-up. A Cuban Dog leads the pack, and it’s followed by a Texan, a Tennessean, a Thai, and more. Each dog comes with a lively array of distinctive toppings in creative combinations that make it nearly impossible to actually decide what to eat—A Venezuelan includes cabbage, carrots, mustard, Russian sauce, house sauce, and a final layer of potato chips on top. One dog is topped with salami, another with roast beef, and others still come with kimchee, tzatziki, BBQ sauce, olive pesto, or even pineapple. (D.P.)
Like so many of the joys of summer, Cruze Farm Milk Bar was with us only for a season. But the line was often out the door of the Union Avenue “pop-up shop,” a fi rst foray into a permanent location for the dairy that has long scooped for downtown markets, festivals, and fairs. Unusual ice cream flavors like lavender honey and bourbon peach attracted adults along with the kids (and the buttermilk lime cardamom was the wildly-unexpected epitome of summer to this grown-up palette). The distinctive Cruze Farm girls with their calico shirts and kerchiefs fi nished off the summer season by serving an early harbinger of fall: pumpkin ice cream under torch-scorched marshmallow fluff. The word is that they will return downtown next summer— maybe as a pop-up shop again, maybe more permanently. Can’t wait. (S.H.D.)
Popular Picks: Cruze Farm Milk Bar, Public House
Popular Picks: Coolato Gelato, Rita’s Italian Ice
Popular Picks: Litton’s, Not Watson’s
TOP HOT DOG
Curious Dog
Photo by Michael Tremoulis
CURIOUS DOG
FOOD WITH A
KICK!
OPEN DAILY
11AM www.soccertaco.com
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• Authentic Mexican Cuisine • Made-from-Scratch Recipes • Outdoor Patios ALL Locations
Thanks Knoxville for voting for us! TOP: Mexican/South
American Restaurant Meal That’s A Steal Sports Bar
BEARDEN 6701 KINGSTON PIKE KNOXVILLE, TN 37919
NORTHSHORE TOWNCENTER 2031 THUNDERHEAD RD KNOXVILLE, TN 37922
DOWNTOWN 9 MARKET SQUARE KNOXVILLE, TN 37902
865-588-2020
865-691-3503
865-544-4471
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Photo by Scott Hamstead
SITAR INDIAN CUISINE TOP INDIAN
Sitar Indian Cuisine It’s a comfort to know that Sitar has been in business for as long as it has and still captures the attention of Knoxville eaters. Their buffet remains a popular lunch choice for folks looking for a bountiful fi x of tandoori chicken and sometimes curried goat, too. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Bombay Palace, Woodlands
TOP ITALIAN TOP ROMANTIC DINING
Naples Italian Restaurant Knoxville and Naples go together like an old married couple—it’s hard to imagine the one without the other. But the romance hasn’t left this Bearden staple; it’s a longtime winner of awards as diners and their dates can’t get enough of its classic dishes and checkered table clothes. It looks much the way it always has, so every lasagna comes with a side of nearly cinematic romance and nostalgia. But it’s not just red sauce and reminiscence. Naples is a reliable source for osso buco, steak Chianti, and veal Marsala, too— and the tiramisu and chocolate chip cannoli are legendary. (D.P.) Popular Picks—Top Italian: Altruda’s, Emilia Popular Picks—Top Romantic Dining: Bistro By The Tracks, Emilia October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 21
Juice Box Get a big 16-ounce plant-based boost at this North Knoxville sipping spot, which offers a huge selection of raw, all-natural, cold-pressed juice and fresh fruit smoothies. Your choices run from the refreshingly simple (the Belize, made with apple, ginger, lemon, and cayenne; or the Rawkstar, with coconut water, mango, banana, and strawberry) to the slightly more complex (the East of Eden includes a wheatgrass shot, kale, celery, apple, parsley, and ginger), or you can opt for a quick shot of essential oils or concentrated wellness concoctions. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Fruition, Market House Café
TOP LUNCH SPOT TOP SALADS TOP VEGETARIAN/ VEGAN MENU
Tomato Head Despite being 26 years young and an icon of modern downtown dining,
Tomato Head remains a vibrant and fresh spot for a midday repast of fabulous pizza and more. Vegetable-loving Knoxvillians are especially fond of the selection of crunchy and inventive salads that have kept them happy for years. The food is appetizing, filling, and the restaurant remains a leader in providing good menu options for vegetarians, vegans, the gluten sensitive, and old fashioned picky eaters, too. The restaurant was among the first in the area to have a serious conscience—so organic ingredients abound, many of them from close to home. (D.P.) Popular Picks—Top Lunch Spot: Sunspot, Yassin’s Falafel House Popular Picks—Top Salads: Aubrey’s, Trio Cafe/Calhoun’s (tie) Popular Picks—Top Vegetarian/Vegan Menu: Dinner Bell (food truck), Sunspot
TOP MEXICAN/ SOUTH AMERICAN
Soccer Taco When it first opened more than decade ago, the combo of soccer and tacos seemed downright odd,
Photo by Tricia Bateman
TOP JUICE / SMOOTHIE JOINT
YASSIN’S FALAFEL HOUSE but the quality of the food along the exuberant atmosphere turned skeptics into fans and created a Knoxville institution. Whether it’s huevos rancheros, chiles rellenos, exotic sopes, huaraches, or tacos made with cheek or tongue, Soccer Taco makes lots of friends with its quality fare and large margaritas, too. (D.P.)
Popular Picks: Chez Guevara, Senor Taco
TOP MIDDLE-EASTERN
Yassin’s Falafel House There’s seemingly no stopping Yassin Terou’s ever-expanding falafel emporium. Knoxville’s favorite
KNOXVILLE MERCURY READERS KNOW OUR FRESH MENUS ALWAYS PUT US AT THE TOP! We thank you for your vote!
Pan
Pan
Pan 80%
sushi bar
506 S. Gay St. • 865-633-8539 5130 Kingston Pike • 865-588-9811
namasushibar.com
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
5200 Kingston Pike 865-247- 4170
shuckrawbar.com
141 S. Gay Street • 865-544-1491 11383 Parkside Drive • 865-671-6612
crubistroandwinebar.com
13 Market Square 865-246-2270
trio-café.net
Syrian refugee started selling falafel at a local mosque not long after landing here in 2011, soon moved into a small downtown storefront with lunch hours, and has now expanded his space, his menu, and his hours, staying open for dinner during the week and currently trying out Saturday hours. The secret to Yassin’s success? Make simple, convenient, affordable street food, and make it delicious. But another attraction is Terou himself, ebullient and welcoming to all. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Holy Land, King Tut
TOP OUTDOOR DINING
Lakeside Tavern In our city, award-winning outdoor dining always seems to come with a sight of water—in this case Fort Loudoun Lake. And it’s clearly a winning view, often with a nice breeze, and one that makes this patio the place to be. The Tavern is home to a popular Sunday Brunch that seems as long as the lake itself with nearly every brunch item you can imagine plus pasta; the regular menu, just like the view, has something to please everyone. (D.P.)
the traditional Neapolitan pie. Is it the fresh mozzarella? The sweet and spicy tomato sauce? The creamy white sauce? The brick ovens that create a nearly perfect crisp and chewy crust? It’s everything—all that attention to detail elevates Hard Knox above the usual, and its inventive recipes promise a flavorful surprise with each visit. (M.E.)
Photo by Charlie Finch
LAKESIDE TAVERN
THIS SPACE BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THE KNOXVILLE MERCURY! 12 MARKET SQUARE 7240 KINGSTON PIKE #172 KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE 37902 KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE 37919 865-637-4067 865-584-1075 theTomatoHead.com
Popular Picks: Sergeant Pepperoni’s, Tomato Head
TOP RIBS TOP WATERFRONT RESTAURANT
Calhoun’s Based on awards, polls, and happy eaters, it’s almost hard to believe that anyone else serves ribs in Knoxville. There’s something in the sauce, perhaps, that makes these tender and smoky treats a constant city favorite. It doesn’t hurt that the ribs are served in a perennially popular location on the riverfront. Between the view and bliss of chowing down on good ribs, Calhoun’s makes for excellent therapy, an awfully good mood, and a happy meal for all ages. (D.P.)
Popular Picks: Calhoun’s, Balter Beerworks & Central Flats & Taps (tie)
Popular Picks—Top Ribs: Archer’s BBQ, Sweet P’s Barbeque and Soul House Popular Picks—Top Waterfront Restaurant: Lakeside Tavern, Sweet P’s Barbeque and Soul House
TOP PIZZA
TOP SEAFOOD
Hard Knox Pizza
Chesapeake’s
This modest, unassuming pizzeria in Western Plaza offers a new take on
For the land-locked, seafood restaurants can seem like an ocean of the
”
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 23
deeply fried. Not so at Chesapeake’s—although they do offer an excellent fried seafood platter, the quality of their fish shows beautifully under the broiler, in the steamer, and in classic presentations like Crab Imperial and stuffed Maine lobster. And it feels like a place for seafood, too, with a pleasantly nautical but not too kitschy decor that has an attractive selection of aquariums of beautiful fish that are not available for eating. (D.P.)
Popular Picks: The Chop House, Connors Steak and Seafood
TOP SUSHI
Nama Sushi Bar Nama is Knoxville’s original
rock-star sushi joint with a menu that reflects its urban-cool vibe and combines traditional sushi service with a modern flair. You find that duality best expressed in things like wasabi hummus or any of the flavor- and ingredient-packed rolls with names like the Ex-Girlfriend,
Ocean Commotion, and the popular and delicious Soy Joy. All of those live in blissful harmony with lovely tako, ebi, hamachi, and hokkigai, too. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Anaba Japanese Cuisine, Tomo Japanese Restaurant
TOP WINGS
Central Flats & Taps
Popular Picks: Shrimp Dock, Shuck
TOP STEAKS
Ye Olde Steak House
Photo by Tricia Bateman
Tradition carries a lot of weight in this town, and Ye Olde Steakhouse has slabs of tradition that are almost as thick as their slabs of red meat. Family owned and operated by the venerable King clan for over 50 years, the restaurant and its rustic environs are planted immovably in the minds of many Knoxvillians as the prime source for celebratory and carnivorous satisfaction. (D.P.)
NAMA SUSHI BAR
Happy Holler is all the more cheerful a place after a stop at Central Flats & Taps for a helping of some of the city’s most thoughtful chicken wings. Slow-roasted then baked, the wings come either gladly bathed in sauce selections that include Sriracha Buffalo and Key lime BBQ or happily rubbed with one of the house’s spice blends (try the Jamaican Jerk). They take a minute longer than your average deep fried, buffalo drenched wing, but, once you get a taste, you’ll be glad they take the time. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Rooster’s Bar & Grill, Sweet P’s Barbeque and Soul House
We are a local family business proud of our great food, great service and great value. Thank you Knoxville for consistently voting Pete’s TOP KNOX! Call us to cater your next special event.
540 Union Ave. Knoxville, TN 37902 (865) 523-2860
www.petescoffeeshop.com Monday-Friday: 6:30 am-2:30pm Saturday: 7 am-2 pm
We Accept Debit and All Major Credit Cards. 24
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Thank you to Knoxville Mercury readers for voting Promoting general good times @ 212 W. Magnolia
THANKS MERCURY READERS
KNOXVILLE’S “TOP BBQ”!
HOT DOG & COCKTAILS
TOP BAR
212 W. MAGNOLIA AVE KNOXVILLE, TN 37917 865-247-4344
And selecting us as a popular pick for Top Ribs, Top Waterfront Restaurant and Top Wings.
KNOXPUBLICHOUSE.COM M-TH 4PM-MIDNIGHT | F-SAT 4PM-2AM | SUN. 2PM-10PM
www.sweetpbbq.com
Serving a full line-up of pizzas, calzones, sandwiches, salads, and wings! Dine in, carryout and delivery (within 5 miles)
Wednesday, Oct. 26 • 5-
9 p.m.
Wear pink, eat barbecue & support breast cancer research!
Special $15 meal includes pork braciole, gnocchi, sautéed kale and wine pairing. $5 of every meal donated to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer! 410 W. JACKSON AVE., KNOXVILLE, TN 37902 865-281-1738 • www.sweetpbbq.com
ALLY PIE PIZZA
WORLD’S FAIR SANDWICH
1/2 Off ys* Tuesda
POP-EYE PIZZA
*Any 14” pizza, dine in only! Carryout or delivery, buy one 14” pizza get a second 14" pizza half off.
$2.50 BEER SATURDAYS ALL DAY!
DOWNLOAD OUR APP!
Bearden: 4618 Kingston Pike (865) 247-0380 Cedar Bluff: 179 N. Seven Oaks* (865) 454-886 (*Next to the discount movie theater)
www.sergeantpepperonis.com October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 25
Drink Public House It’s hard to believe that it was only four years ago when this brave little-bar-that-could opened its doors on Magnolia just a block away from the bus station. It was an area, one imagined, that was ill-suited for up-market cocktails and gourmet nosh. And yet, once again, Public House takes top honors in our poll. It’s a place that relies on the quality of drink and good company to keep you coming back as there are no electronics or live acts to distract you from real conversation. Of course, the nonpareil selection of bar snacks (that include some of the city’s best hot dogs) is a major draw, too. Public House Sunday Suppers attract a seriously epicurean crowd who relish good food with great drink. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Sapphire, Suttree’s High Gravity Tavern
TOP BEER SELECTION (RESTAURANT)
Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria Yet again, this Old City stalwart proves that you can’t have too many beers. With 96 on tap and plenty more in the bottle, the froth runs deep and wide and makes Knoxville’s drinkers a hoppy bunch. That’s especially true on Tuesday’s Pint Night when draft beer is half price. Barley’s popular pizza and regular commitment to great live music help make all those beers taste even better. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Central Flats & Taps, Sunspot
TOP BEER MARKET/TAPROOM
Bearden Beer Market The popularity of this place speaks volumes about the growth of beer culture and the proliferation, and
Photo by Shawn Poynter
TOP BAR
BEARDEN BEER MARKET commitment, of beer aficionados in our city. It’s not air-conditioned because, mostly, it’s not inside, yet beer lovers flock to this big patio/ beer garden along with their dogs, their friends, and their thirst whatever the weather. The beer board is always full of noteworthy selections on tap that you can sip while contemplating the vast supply
of kegs and bottles to take home. The beer market is also a center for the Active Beer Culture that combines froth and fitness in a weekly run to help you earn your beer—should you need a reason. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria, Hops and Hollers
Bistro The
at The Bijou
Thank you Knoxville for voting for us! Top Brunch Lively traditional farm to table American cuisine. Vegetarian and Vegan options available.
Live Jazz Weekly 807 South Gay Street • Downtown Knoxville (865) 544-0537 • thebistroatthebijou.com
Downtown Knoxville's only wine + spirits shop since 2007. Offering artisan spirits, naturally made wines and a rotating beer selection. Follow us on Instagram (@dtwineandspiritsknox) for weekly specials and tastings.
M: 11a-9p | T-Th: 11a-11p | F: 11a-12a | Sat: 10a-12a | Sun: 10a-9p
407 S. Gay Street • 865-525-7575 • Mon - Thurs 11AM - 10PM • Fri - Sat 11AM - 11PM
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Thank you, Knoxville! We are honored that you voted us the top Coffeehouse in our city.
www.KnoxvilleBrew.com @knoxvillebrew
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 27
TOP COCKTAILS
Peter Kern Library Had Colonel Mustard been in this library he would have dropped that wrench and ordered Miss Scarlet a cocktail. Downtown’s uber-classy and bookish speakeasy features well-crafted and correctly presented classic cocktails as well as unusual and delicious concoctions crafted by inventive mixologists. The atmosphere is cozy, the space is intimate, even snug, and it can be hard to find a seat on one of the bar’s comfy couches. But the swank feel that you get while sipping a properly fashioned Old Fashioned is well worth the wait. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Public House, Sapphire
TOP DIVE BAR
Pilot Light Photo by Clay Duda
PETER KERN LIBRARY
It’s not just Knoxville’s favorite small music venue—the venerable Old City hole in the wall Pilot Light, headquarters for the local underground etc. rock scene, is open most evenings, whether there’s a show or not.
Sometimes there’s an early comedy set or a film screening, but sometimes it’s just a good time to sidle up to the bar for a beer (the selection’s bigger than you think), some tunes—ranging from obscure to classic, as selected by the staff—and some conversation you’re unlikely to get anywhere else in town. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Marie’s Old Town Tavern, Toot’s Little Honky Tonk
TOP HAPPY HOUR
Downtown Grill & Brewery Sometimes it’s just best to let the numbers speak: 4 p.m.—8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. That’s when this Gay Street watering hole gets its award-winning Happy Hour on. And it’s time that’s fi lled with activity—music, trivia, poker—and drink specials that draw a wide demographic of savvy tipplers who can spot a good time at a fair price from miles away. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Balter Beerworks, Sapphire
THANK YOU KNOXVILLE!
East Tennessee’s wine cellar since 1970 Thank you Mercury voters for selecting us
Top Wine Store!
Liquor Store
4534 Old Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919 (865) 584-3341 • asheswines.com M-Th: 9AM - 9:30PM | Fr-Sat: 9AM-10PM | Sunday: Closed email: thad@asheswines.com
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
A Casual, Comfortable Place. Located in the Heart of Knoxville’s Old City M-TR | 4 pm-11 pm F-Sat | 4 pm-1 2am
Facebook “f” Logo
108 W. Jackson Ave. (865) 851-7676 | Oldcitywinebar.com
CMYK / .eps
Facebook “f” Logo
CMYK / .eps
Photo by Scott Hamstead
CRAFTY BASTARD TOP CRAFT BREWERY
Cra y Bastard This Emory Place nanobrewery stands out from the rest of Knoxville’s craft-brew class of 2015 not just for the quality of its beer but also for its imagination and fearlessness. Where else in Knoxville will you fi nd locally brewed porter with cacao nibs and toasted coconut, chile beer, or a saison infused with gin? Count on fi nding at least one surprise on tap every time you visit. Visit often enough, and you might fi nd something you’ll remember for years. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Alliance Brewing Co., Saw Works
TOP LIQUOR STORE
Bob’s Liquor & Wine For years, Bob’s has dominated polls about potent potable purchasing opportunities—and this year the streak continues. The store is packed to the gills with libations you never even knew you needed or thought that you could afford— Bob claims he has almost 5,000 labels to tempt your thirst. Pricing, service, selection, and sales continue to make this bottle shop a destination not just for Knoxvillians but for East Tennesseans far and wide. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Ashe’s, McScrooge’s October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 29
of spirits. Corn whiskey may be the flagship product, but tasters have high praise for Jackson Ave Gin and Old City Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur. Don’t believe it? Go visit and taste for yourself. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Ole Smoky, Sugarlands Distilling Co.
Knox Whiskey Works For Tennesseans who recall old relatives who were intimately acquainted with revenooers, it’s funny to see moonshine and other spirits being distilled in public at all, let alone right downtown. And yet Knox Whiskey Works operates its stills right there where God and everybody can see them on West Jackson Avenue. It is, in fact, the city’s fi rst legal distillery (at least, they say, in the modern era) and produces an already acclaimed line
Fieldhouse Social There may be many things to like about the University Commons, but it’s the Fieldhouse Social with the largest TV screen in the Southland and the comfy chairs that come along with it that make this brownfield development a truly happy place for sports lovers and their adoring fans. It’s a comfortable and open space with lots of TV, cold beer, and creative drinks—heck, they even serve Jell-o shots for special occasions. And, of course, there’s good snacking here—they have fine fish and chips, burgers and the like, but there’s also a surprising kale and cabbage salad. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Rooster’s, Soccer Taco
Thank You Knoxville
Photo by Scott Hamstead
TOP MOONSHINE/DISTILLERY
Photo by Scott Hamstead
KNOX WHISKEY WORKS
TOP SPORTS BAR
FIELDHOUSE SOCIAL
ALE YES KNOXVILLE!
ing us for vot
TOP CRAFT BREWERY
drop in and have a pint and a bite.
Crafty Bastard Brewery Serving quirky, well-crafted beers in the 4th and Gill neighborhood of downtown Knoxville.
6 EMORY PLACE KNOXVILLE, TN 37917 865-755-2358 CRAFTYBASTARDBREWERY.COM
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
come see us TUESDAY – FRIDAY 4:00 – 12:00 A.M. SATURDAY 2:00 – 12:00 A.M. SUNDAY 2:00 – 10:00 PM
- Bar -
DE BAR arCAn now ope
open MON-THU: 3pm Fri-sat: 3 -1am pm-2am sun: 3pm-9 pm
409 s. gay street 856.934.3814
Photo by Tricia Bateman
OLD CITY WINE BAR TOP WINE BAR
Old City Wine Bar Cheerfully ensconced on Jackson Avenue behind the Jig and Reel, the Old City Wine Bar tempts the palate with over 48 wines by the glass and 150 bottles. The offerings include an excellent variety of labels and grape varieties from across the world’s vineyards, from Alsace to Yakima. Its popularity isn’t founded on selection alone— that many wines can overwhelm all but the most intense oenophile—the wine bar is staffed with folks who know and love their wine list and are eager to help you fall in love with it, too. (D.P.) Popular Picks: drink., Knoxville Uncorked & Cru Bistro & Wine Bar (tie)
TOP WINE LIST (RESTAURANT)
Bistro by the Tracks If you’re looking for a really good glassware collection, Bistro by the Tracks has it—and it’s proof positive that this restaurant cares a lot about wine. The wines that they serve in those excellent glasses come from a well-curated list of selections that run the gamut of style, flavor, and price, and it’s the combination of care and variety
BAR + COCKTAILS + HAPPY HOUR
that make this a destination spot for oenophiles. You’ll fi nd classics from Piedmont, the Rhone, and Oporto as well values from the Mosel, Marlborough, and Minervois, too. It’s also a place where service is professional, but friendly—so you’ll feel comfortable whether you’re having the house white or a fi rst-growth Bordeaux. (D.P.) Popular Picks: Cru Bistro & Wine Bar, Knoxville Uncorked
TOP WINE STORE
Ashe’s Wines & Spirits Wine service in Knoxville has never been better, and much of the credit for that goes to Ashe’s and its proprietor, Thad Cox. Cox and company have been tireless and knowledgeable advocates for oenological appreciation since a long time before it was cool to swirl, sniff, and sip from your own set of Riedel glasses. The store’s selection is always full of well-chosen values and the cream of the vinous crop, and wine lovers trust Ashe’s well-trained staff to help them fi nd the right bottle. Shopping, education, and wine all in one spot— what’s not to cheer? (D.P.)
10 YEARS OF SPIRITED NIGHTLIFE.
WWW.SAPPHIREKNOXVILLE.COM
Popular Picks: Bob’s, Downtown Wine + Spirits October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 31
Music & Nightlife
BOB’S LIQUOR & WINE
TOP AMERICANA BAND
The Black Lillies The Black Lillies have survived a tough couple of years: After some significant lineup changes in 2015, a trailer full of the band’s gear— some of it vintage equipment that can’t be replaced—was stolen from a hotel parking lot in Texas in January. But adversity will only make Cruz Contreras and company stronger. Hard to Please, the band’s fourth album, from 2015, demonstrates the Lillies’ commitment to keep moving forward, with the addition of hard-edged jukehouse R&B and honky tonk to their formidable country/folk/rock sound. (M.E.)
East Tennessee’s largest selection of fine wines and spirits.
Thank you Knoxville for voting for us!
Top Knox Liquor Store
Popular Picks: Handsome and the Humbles, Guy Marshall
TOP BLUES BAND
The Romeo Kings This hard-working band delivers blue-collar electric blues, favoring classics by B.B. King, Freddie King, and the Nighthawks, with a little ’70s boogie—Eric Clapton and ZZ Top—thrown in for good measure. (M.E.)
Top Knox Wine Store
Photo by Clay Duda
220 North Winston Rd Knoxville, TN 37919 (One Block West of West Town Mall) 865.693.2483 www.bobswine.com
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
TRAE CROWDER
Popular Picks: Crawdaddy, Devan Jones and the Uptown Stomp, Grits From Dumplin Valley (three-way tie)
TOP CLUB DJ
DJ Rev. Phil The Rev has been holding down Thursday nights at Sassy Ann’s for years now—his throwback dance nights there are a big part of the reason the Fourth and Gill institution won Top Dance Club in this year’s poll—but he’s all over Knoxville, from regular nights at the Edge in West Knoxville to frequent appearances downtown at Preservation Pub. (M.E.) Popular Picks: DJ Eric B, DJ Stan duh Man
TOP COMEDIAN
Trae Crowder Knoxville’s own Liberal Redneck and his pals have stormed this nation this summer after Crowder’s profanity-drenched back porch rants against racists and gay-bashers went viral on YouTube. He has since quit his day job in Oak Ridge, become the “Hillbilly-in-Chief” for the New York Daily News website, launched a successful national tour from Scruff y City Hall, and pub-
Have Your AT
Unique EVENT On Historic Market Square.
great food & drink
served by our excellent staff,
and a state-of-the-art
video & sound system
will ensure your event is one that your guests
will fondly remember
Contact Michael West 865-312-1982
YOU HAVE NOT BEEN DOWNTOWN UNLESS YOU HAVE BEEN TO SCRUFFY CITY October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 33
lished a book this month co-written by his fellow touring comics Drew Morgan (a former Knoxville public defender) and Cory Forrester. Crowder’s stand-up is less intense than his Liberal Redneck persona, but just as full of Tennessee twang, culture, and a genuine love for the same blue-collar folks that (misguidedly, he believes) line up behind Donald Trump. Among Crowder’s more moving recent rants are a very personal take on opioid abuse (his mother was an addict who sold pills) and a really convincing argument about why rednecks, of all people, ought to be the fi rst to support the Black Lives Matter movement. (S.H.D.)
band, chances are the Coveralls know it. Popular Picks: Pop Rox, Same As it Ever Was
TOP DANCE CLUB
Sassy Ann’s Take a stately old three-story house in Fourth and Gill. Add a couple of bars, three weekly dance nights, big holiday dance parties, and one of the best drinking patios anywhere in Knoxville, and you’ve got Sassy Ann’s, a community center for Knoxville’s most free-wheeling and liberated party population. (M.E.)
TOP HIP-HOP/R&B GROUP
TOP COVER BAND
Black A icus
The Coveralls The consummate cover band—if there’s a song you want to hear, whether it’s a ’60s pop hit, an MTV-era smash, or a favorite deep cut from your favorite classic rock
Joseph Woods is a hip-hop renaissance man—rapper, producer, spoken-word poet, and all-around advocate of old-school hip-hop. (Check out Black Doom, his recent tribute to MF Doom, to verify his bona fides.) His latest effort to
Photo by J. Holt
Popular Picks: Hanna’s, The International Popular Picks: Alex Stokes; Jeff Blank & Shane Rhyne (tie)
BLACK ATTICUS
Thank You for voting us the Top Theater Group!
Don’t miss the rest of our 2016/2017 Season! clarencebrowntheatre.com 34
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
865.974.5161
promote good music and good vibes is the Good Guy Collective, an affi liation of other local rappers and producers designed to build an infrastructure for Knoxville’s hip-hop scene. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Good Guy Collective, Hypenkrunk
TOP JAZZ BAND
Knoxville Jazz Orchestra The Knoxville Jazz Orchestra gets around—the local big band, under the direction of founder and director Vance Thompson, takes the stage at the Bijou and Tennessee theaters several times a year with some of the biggest names in jazz (recent guest stars have included Christian McBride and Cécile McLorin Salvant), and the monthly jazz lunch series at the Square Room showcases the best local players paying tribute to icons of jazz history. And during the summer, the Marble City 5 combo jams on the Market Square stage every week. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Frog and Toad’s Dixie Quartet, Marble City Five
TOP KARAOKE
Toot’s Li le Honky Tonk Lots of bars may offer karaoke, but few can compete with Toot’s atmosphere and its cast of regulars. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Bullfeathers, Marie’s Old Towne Tavern
TOP LGBT CLUB
Club XYZ Long before Happy Holler was a destination for craft beer, vinyl, and vintage, Club XYZ was there. Credit the club as an anchor for the hip development of the last several years—but credit it even more as a fun, open, friendly late-night hot spot with karaoke, drag shows, and more. (M.E.) Popular Picks: The Edge, Kristtopher’s October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 35
thanks for voting WutK 90.3 the rock KnoxVille’S toP rAdio StAtion for the Second YeAr in A roW in the 2016 Knox Mercury top Knox Awards!
that makes 11 straight years thanks to the readers of three different papers in town! thanks to donations from listeners like you, and support from the businesses who underwrite our programming, WutK will continue to be Knoxville’s musical tastemakers, offering more variety than anyone on the dial, with lotS of love for our local scene like no one else has done for the last 34 years!
here’s a couple of ways that You can help keep Volunteer radio 90.3 the rock on the air! ArcAde PentAthlon
Beer dinner
Presented by Yee haw Brewery
Presented by Yee haw Brewery
at harrogate’s lounge november 3 - december 15
at Sunspot november 7
Streaming 24.7.365 from our web site!
WUTKRADIO★COM or listen on your
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
smart phone and iPad app.
Photo courtesy of Electric Darling
We love you, Knoxville!
ELECTRIC DARLING TOP LIVE COMEDY VENUE
TOP ROCK BAND
Scruffy City Hall
Electric Darling
Just like musicians, comics need a good room. This recent addition to Scott and Bernadette West’s Market Square empire is just right for comedy—not too big, not too small, conveniently located, and with two full bars. The best way to judge it is by hitting the Scruffy City Comedy Festival in November, when Scruffy City Hall fits the best local, regional, and national comedians into one weekend. (M.E.)
The demise of the Dirty Guv’nahs in 2015 left a hole in the local scene— one that ex-Guvs Cozmo Holloway and Kevin Hyfantis went to work on filling almost immediately. But instead of a straight-up revival of their previous band’s Southern-fried alternative Americana, the duo recruited Yasameen Hoffman-Shahin and took a welcome, fresh direction toward hard, soulful psychedelic blues rock. (M.E.)
Popular Picks: Open Chord, Pilot Light
Popular Picks: Black Cadillacs, Steve Rutledge and Groove Evolution
TOP PERFORMANCE VENUE
Tennessee Theatre The classy dame of Gay Street approaches her 90th birthday in great shape, with a newly refurbished marquee outside, the still-glorious interior improvements from a $25 million 2003-05 refurbish, and a consistently impressive lineup of performances, ranging from the dazzling Broadway at the Tennessee series to the high-class artistry of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and Knoxville Opera to top-notch rock shows. And history’s still being made there—next month’s Bob Dylan concert will be the first headlining performance by a Nobel laureate at the Tennessee. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Bijou Theatre, The Mill & Mine
TOP ROCK CLUB
Pilot Light This humble Old City dive is a veritable institution. It’s hosted some surprisingly big-name acts (Neil Hagerty, Junior Boys, and Destroyer have headlined there in just the past few weeks), incubated top local bands like the Royal Bangs, and provided an outlet for some of the weirdest, most sublime music experiences that Knoxville has seen in the last decade and a half—experiences that almost certainly wouldn’t have happened if this place didn’t exist. Its attainment of nonprofit status may ensure that it will keep existing. (M.E.) Popular Picks: The International, Open Chord
After slinging records in Knoxville for 26 years...
Y’all like us! Y’ALL REALLY LIKE US! Thanks for voting for us in the Mercury Top Knox Awards! WE LovE Y’ALL!
Where great gift ideas are grown! Flowers, plants and gift baskets for all occasions.
The largest international supermarket in Knoxville, with THE largest fresh seafood and meat selections.
Locally owned and operated in Knoxville for over 100 years. Three convenient locations: THANKS KNOXVILLE FOR VOTING US
TOP FLORIST
2314 N. Broadway 865-523-5121 700 S. Gay St. 865-522-4825 8205 Chapman Hwy. 865-573-0137 www.knoxvilleflowerpot.com
Top International Foods Grocery 8509 Kingston Pike 865-693-2677 sunrise-supermarket.com October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 37
Shopping
Thank you, Knoxville
TOP ANTIQUES STORE
Nostalgia Give me a free afternoon and I will gladly surrender it to Nostalgia. Its treasure troves in Homberg Place and on McCalla Avenue contain generations’ worth of furnishings and bric-a-brac that I am completely unaware I need until I see them: a ceramic hand model for whenever I take up palmistry; a starbust clock that tells time from another galaxy; a monster-sized Polaroid camera awaiting its cache of instant fi lm, someday. And in the back of the Homberg Place location sits the mother lode: crates upon crates of LPs populated by lifetime jazz/R&B collector Bob Kirk as he slowly divests his holdings. Have you fi lled out your Funkadelic collection yet? Now’s your chance. (C.T.)
M.S. McClellan has been providing high quality, exclusive brand clothing and accessories to Knoxville for the past 50 years. We appreciate your business and your support.
Popular Picks: Mid Mod Collective, Retrospect
TOP AUTO DEALER
Harper Auto Square
If you don’t know us already, come visit our store. We’d love to meet you.
Taking your car to the dealer is usually not unlike going to get your taxes prepared—it has to be done, so let’s just try to get it over with as quickly as possible. At Harper, you’re tempted to hang out for a while and relax. The staff is cheerful, the accommodations comfy, and you can brew your own coffee. Even better, the service staff works with you instead of against you. And if you’re in the market for a new car, Harper’s brands (from
5614 Kingston Pike at Melrose Place
Photo by Heather Duncan
(865) 584-3492 · www.msmcclellan.com
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
MCKAY’S
Acura to VW) are superlative, and its dealers clearly love cars beyond just their profit margins. As hosts of Knoxville’s mega-huge Coffee and Cars meetup at West Town Mall (next one is Sunday, Oct. 23 at 8 a.m.), Harper celebrates all makes and models (and their owners) with equal passion. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Grayson Auto Group, Rusty Wallace Honda
TOP BIKE SHOP
Tennessee Valley Bikes Knoxville’s most urban of bike shops also just happens to be one of its most family friendly. Let’s say your kid yearns for that Kona Hula in blue—yet the thought of spending $450 on a bicycle that may be outgrown within a year could send you running to Walmart for one that will more likely fall apart in a year. But wait! TVB has your back: Buy a much higher-quality kids’ ride at TVB and you can trade it in for store credit once it gets too small, for up to half of what you paid for it. Now it’s a wise investment in your child’s future. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Bike Zoo, Harper’s Bike Shop
TOP BOOKSTORE
McKay’s It’s not a casbah or bazaar—and an armful of old Danielle Steele novels doesn’t carry much bargaining
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 39
Popular Picks: Union Ave Books, John Coleman Book Seller/Book Eddy
TOP EYEWEAR SHOP
Luttrell’s Eyewear Bobby Luttrell’s eponymous shop not only supplies an A to V collection of designer frames (from Adidas to Vuarnet) but it also shows a genuine concern for how your
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
SUNRISE SUPERMARKET
glasses make you feel and look. One trip to Luttrell’s and you’ll be walking out with a new view on things—and on yourself. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Clancy Optical Co./Spex, Winston Eye & Vision Center
TOP INTERNATIONAL-FOODS GROCERY
Sunrise Supermarket From the exotic (canned squid in ink or a giant catfish head) to the familiar (ramen and rice), Sunrise Grocery offers an international array of foods and flavors smack in the middle of West Knoxville suburbia. The Walker Springs store emphasizes Asian imports, though it has a healthy stock of Hispanic fare, as well as a limited assortment of imported beer and soft drinks. A customer can marvel at its vast assortment of tea and otherworldly vegetables—nama root, jackfruit, lemongrass, and green coconuts—to the audio backdrop of multiple languages. A full fish and meat counter is not for the squeamish. Carp and cow legs are simply and
Photo by Tricia Bateman
power—but sometimes the trading and selling get frenetic at McKay’s. Especially on Saturdays, the buzzing crowds make it abundantly apparent that this Knoxville institution (in business since 1985) is the city’s favorite used book store. But that’s not all! While you can certainly find the best in pulp fiction—and who doesn’t want to read a Tom Clancy novel a second time—you can also score some gems from the music and video game sections, as well as buy their associated electronic devices. Thankfully, this emporium of physical media shows that plenty of people still prefer paper to Kindle, and hisses and pops to Spotify. (Thomas Fraser)
unapologetically displayed next to more standard American-friendly fare such as ground pork and ribs. Sunrise also seems to carry every variety of noodle and rice known to humankind, and can offer bulk
bargains. And if you’d rather not cook yourself, check out its huge freezer section for Asian standards from multiple countries. (T.F.) Popular Picks: Holy Land Market, La Esperanza
Thank You Knoxville For Voting Harper Auto Square Top Knox Auto Dealer.
The Harper Auto name has been synonymous with Quality to the Knoxville Area since 1981
Kingston Pike at Franklin Square and on Parkside Drive harperautosquare.com
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 41
TOP FURNITURE STORE
Bliss Home Owners Lisa Sorensen and Scott Schimmel have impeccable taste when it comes to furniture, and they always manage to hit the sweet spot of style, sturdiness, and affordability. Unpretentious, comfortable, and attractive, this is furniture you’ll be happy to live with for many years to come. It’s a formula we’re proud to see exported from Market Square to Nashville—they could use some East Tennessee style sense. (C.T.) Popular Picks: O.P. Jenkins, Mid Mod Collective
TOP GIFT SHOP TOP WOMEN’S CLOTHING
Bliss Women who love fringe, sidetail hems, funky layers, and fluff y vests fi nd their Bliss on Market Square— not to mention unusual and stylish orange gear for UT games. The jewelry is especially unique, with
lots of tasteful Tennessee- or sorority-inspired items but also lots of touches from the natural world, like pressed dandelion-puff necklaces and bracelets made of huge geode slices. But if you don’t get something there for yourself, you’ll be guaranteed to fi nd a gift the recipient doesn’t have, for anyone. And I do mean anyone, from your beer/mountain bike/Star Wars-obsessed buddy to the teenage hipster (hedgehog earbuds!), pet lover (emory boards for cats), or expectant mom (cashmere baby socks and wine-scented candles). (S.H.D.)
The 8-year-old cat—rescued from a Maryville parking lot—netted the high honor of top in-store pet for the second straight year. Gypsy loves people (other cats, not so much) and will greet you with a lively step and meow when you walk through the door. Some people even patronize the shop just so they can get a loving hand on Gypsy, who patiently endures seasonal attire ranging from butterfly wings to Santa suits and a witches’ hat. He still maintains his dignity. And affection for people. Gypsy will make a cat lover out of you, yet. (T.F.)
Popular Picks—Top Gift Shop: Nothing Too Fancy, Rala Popular Picks—Top Women’s Clothing: est8e; Folly, Bula Boutique, and Fizz (three-way tie)
Popular Picks: Oscar/Felix at Nostalgia, Scout at Union Ave Books
TOP IN-STORE PET
Gypsy at White Fox Beads Signs remind customers and visitors to White Fox Beads: Please mind the cat. But Gypsy the cat won’t mind you, despite his celebrity.
TOP JEWELRY STORE
Markmans Harold and Ida Markman originally opened shop in 1976 with a simple plan: “best quality and best service at the best price.” This approach created a local institution. Despite Harold’s passing earlier this year, Markmans proudly continues his tradition of providing only the
fi nest diamonds and gemstones, featuring the creations of top-name jewelry designers and watch makers. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Lamon’s, Kimball’s
TOP LOCAL FOODS GROCERY
Three Rivers Market This is not your standard urban “hippie” grocery store. Though it is well-stocked with granola and grains, the less-crunchy among us can still appreciate the largely local and organic fare at Three Rivers Co-op. You can skip the tofu and kombucha for grass-raised beef or bison and local beer. Notes describing the origin of locally and regionally sourced natural products abound throughout the store, and it also offers lines of nontoxic cleaning supplies, and birdseed and pet foods. The co-op welcomes the general public, but you can buy a patron membership for $25. It still boasts its traditional locally baked goods, bulk nuts, seasonings and grains, but pre-made foods, al fresco dining, and a hot bar lend a
Downtown’s Newest Landmark, Voted Top Apartment Complex! - Come in for a cup of Starbucks coffee and discover why.
**Mention this ad for a waived deposit fee with application.** 300 State St. Knoxville, TN 37902 • 865-544-1193 • marblealleylofts.com
2016 READER’S POLL
It’s the one true guide to Knoxville's best, by the smartest, savviest consumers in town: YOU.
Thank you for voting! 42
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Thank you Knoxville for voting us Top Outdoor Sports Store! River Sports Outfitters is Knoxville's Destination for outdoor adventure! RSO has outfitted Knoxville's outdoor enthusiasts for 34 years from beginners to experts. Stop by and you will see why Knoxville Mercury readers voted River Sports Top Outdoor Sports Store.
Live Your Passion
(865) 523-0066 2 locations to better serve you: 2918 Sutherland Ave Knoxville TN 37919 (Store Hours M-F 10a-8p Sat 9-6 Sun 12-6) 9292 Kingston Pike Knoxville TN 37922 (Store Hours M-F 10a-7pm Sat 9-6 Sun 12-6)
www.riversportsoutfitters.com STORE HOURS: Monday–Friday 10am–8pm
• Sat 9am–6pm • Sun 12pm–6pm October 20, 2016
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M.S. MCCLELLANS
more on-the-go edge to the co-op. Hold on to your hats, hippies: The buffet even includes meat. (T.F.) Popular Picks: Butler and Bailey, Pratt’s Country Store
TOP MEN’S CLOTHING STORE
M.S. McClellan
Photo by Scott Hamstead
No matter how gnarly your Vans, or the number of tattoos displayed on your legs beneath your Costco shorts, you will be respectfully greeted as a guest when you walk through the Melrose Place door of upscale clothier and tailor M.S. McClellans. Customer service and individual attention has been a mainstay of the upscale shop throughout its 50-year history in Knoxville. It peddles all manner of high-cotton clothes, from formalwear to more casual (yet high-quality) sartorial fare that brings to mind polo grounds or fall in the Hamptons. The shop boasts European, British, and Irish brands such as Canali, Dubarry, Barbour, and Peter Millar that are hard to fi nd in the Knoxville market. It also offers
tailoring services, gift s, and shoes. Granted, you will pay for the quality, but a man could put together a high-caliber rough-hewn preppie ensemble for about $300. And it’ll work for both post-hunt cocktails and the club. (T.F.) Popular Picks: Nothing Too Fancy, Mast General Store
TOP MOTORCYCLE DEALER
Knoxville Harley-Davidson Motorcycle dealerships are not always just places to buy two-wheeled vehicles. In the case of Harley-Davidson, they’re more of a lifestyle destination—and Knoxville Harley-Davidson on Clinton Highway has been drafting riders to the Harley way since 1968. Meanwhile, its West Knoxville sister store, Bootlegger Harley-Davidson, launched its own outdoor performance venue, Back Porch on the Creek, which featured none other than Dwight Yoakam this summer. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson, Yamaha/Honda/Suzuki of Knoxville
Thank you Knoxville!!! For voting us:
Bookstore
& voting Scout:
In-Store Pet
Union Ave Books 517 Union Ave Knoxville, TN 37902 865.951.2180 www.unionavebooks.com 44
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
435 Union Ave. nothingtoofancy.com
GIFT SHOP MEN’S CLOTHING STORE
October 20, 2016
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TOP MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS STORE
Open Chord Music
PRODUCE: Abbey Fields • Clear Springs Farm • Crooked Road Farm • Good Earth Farmers • Hardin’s Mountain Organics • Hines Valley Farm • Lakeview Organic Farm • Neubert Springs Gardens • Riverdale Nursery MEAT: Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams • Clinch View Farms • Circle V Farms • Cruze Farm • Mitchell Family Farms • Strong Stock Farm • West Wind Farm GROCERY: Benefit Your Life • Big S Farms • Blackberry Farm • Century Harvest Farms • Circle V Farms • Cruze Farm • Culinary Creashunz • Emmy’s Gourmet Canine Creations • English Mountain Spring Water • Everything Mushrooms • Flour Head Bakery • Golden Roast • Hillside Bakery • Hydrate • Lakeview Organic Farm • Magpies Bakery • Muddy Pond Sorghum • My Sweetspot • Olde Virden’s Red Hot Sprinkle • Reclaiming Your Roots • Riverplains Farm Bakery • Rosecomb Apiaries • Sawworks Brewing Co. • Tea at the Gallery • Tellico Grains Bakery • Tennessee’s Best Pickles • The Tomato Head • Three Bears Coffee • Tickiwoo Farm • Vegan Valley • Vienna Coffee Co. • Yee Haw Brewing Co. DELI: Three Rivers Market baked goods and prepared foods • New Sushi Express WELLNESS: Happy Skin Naturals • Honey Dew Naturals • Life Line Foods • The Quirky Lantern Candle Co. • Reclaiming Your Roots • Rosecomb Apiaries • Wild Hare Soap
The Open Chord isn’t just a music store—it’s also a performance venue, a cafe, a guitar repair shop, and a school. The shop’s motto is “all things music,” and they’re not exaggerating—it offers a full circle experience: You can buy a guitar, learn how to play it, and perform in front of audiences all in the same place. Or, if you’re content just being in the audience, you can attend a variety of performances, from the Tuesday night poetry slam to the Wednesday night open mic night or the Thursday night Brews and Blues Jam, plus national touring acts on the weekend. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Rik’s, Rush’s
PRODUCE: Musick Mountain Farm • Sunny Creek MEAT: Springer Mountain Farm GROCERY: Apple Wedge Cider • Bold Rock Hard Cider • Buchi Kombucha • Green Man Brewery • Green River Picklers • Highland Brewing Co. • Lusty Monk Mustard • Mattie’s Mountain Mud • Roots • Roots & Branches • Twin Oaks Community CHEESE: Meadow Creek Dairy • Yellow Branch Farm WELLNESS: Gaia Herbs • Our Father’s Healing Herbs • Red Moon Herbs • Zenjenskin
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
TOP NEW BUSINESS
Popular Picks: Little River Trading Co., Mast General Store
Maple Hall
TOP PET SUPPLY STORE
Popular Picks: Kaizen, Sugar Mama’s See Also: Top New Thing in Knoxville, in Community
TOP OUTDOOR SPORTS STORE
River Sports Outfitters You can safely test your vertical acumen at the Climbing Center at the main River Sports Outfitters store on Sutherland, talk with knowledgeable staff members who know their
PRODUCE: Long Hungry Creek Farm • Spencer Mountain Mennonite Farms MEAT: Carolina Bison • Fat Back Pig Project • Shuckman’s Fish Co. • Sunburst Trout Farms GROCERY: Blackstone Brewing Co. • Catawba Brewing Co. • Foothills Brewing Co. • Kuntry Kitchen • Olive & Sinclair • Sweetwater Brewing Co. • Yazoo Brewing Co. CHEESE: Belle Chevre • Boone Creek Creamery • Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese • Mimi’s Garden Fresh • Nature’s Harmony WELLNESS: Divine Natural • Thistle Farms
AGRI FEED PET SUPPLY
Photo by Michael Tremoulis
Connecting East Tennesseans with healthy local, organic, and natural food for over 35 years! www.threeriversmarket.coop
gear, and quaff a beer or a coffee— just some of the many advantages to prepping for your outdoor adventures at a local store instead of a faceless online retailer. Kayaking? Hiking? Climbing? Camping? They’ve been there and done that, and can tailor needs ranging from boots to backpacks. Inventory includes gear and clothing from Patagonia, Asolo, Marmot, and Kuhl. The 30-year-old outfitter rents kayaks, canoes, and other gear (also at outposts like Ijams Nature Center and the Cove), and offers lessons and time on the aforementioned climbing wall. With another location in Cedar Bluff, River Sports also offers a variety of special events and serves as a clearinghouse for information related to conservation causes and outdoor activities in East Tennessee. (T.F.)
Agri Feed Pet Supply Open since 1976, Agri Feed is not just a fine pet shop to purchase kibble—it’s a place to adopt your new best friend. Every day, there are rescue kittens and guinea pigs; on the first Saturday of each month, there’s Tennessee Valley Golden Retriever Rescue (10 a.m.–1 p.m.); on the second Saturday, Greyhound Pets of America (noon–2 p.m.); and on the third Saturday, East Tennes-
Thank you for voting our practice
Top Dental Care in Knoxville We are honored to be listed among other businesses, people and activities that are committed to improving the quality of life in our community.
Our patients are our friends and our goal has always been to treat them the way we would family in achieving their optimal oral health. We serve all ages and offer preventive and restorative procedures to provide minimally invasive, biologically compatible, appearance enhancing care. The word “doctor” is derived from a Latin word meaning “teacher” and, with a Master’s degree in Nutrition, I realize one cannot separate the health of the mouth from that of the rest of the body. We emphasize prevention as the way to avoid serious costly dental problems and larger health-related issues. With heartfelt appreciation, we will continue to honor your trust with a continued commitment to the quality of your care and to healthy patients. • High standards of excellence
• Uncompromising safety
• Education and prevention
• A positive experience
Thank you Knoxville for your support!
See what our patients are saying about us! Over 900 reviews at NewDentistryTN.com Richard Barbee DDS MS 7828 Kingston Pike 865-693-8131 www.NewDentistryTN.com
FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED COMMITTED TO QUALITY 10232 KINGSTON PIKE (865) 691-5858
3530 N. BROADWAY (865) 687-5121
5001 KINGSTON PIKE (865) 588-9922
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 47
see Border Collies (10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.). (C.T.) Popular Picks: Citi-fid-o, Natural Pet Supply
TOP RECORD STORE
Lost and Found Records Shopping at Lost and Found Records is like hanging out at a friend’s house and digging through crates— and that’s not just because it’s located in a former house on North Broadway. The real reason is the staff. Owners Mike and Maria Armstrong and steadfast employee Nathan Moses treat their customers like family, and they provide a wealth of arcane music knowledge without the attitude—in fact, they’re the anti-snobs of music retail. Their stock is vast, their grooves are clean, and their prices are more than fair in a resurgent vinyl market. Forget eBay. This is what buying records is supposed to be like. (C.T.) Popular Picks: McKay’s, Raven Records and Rarities Honorable Mention (RIP): Disc Exchange
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
TOP RV DEALER
Chilhowee RV Center Are you ready to hit the road? We certainly are—and Chilhowee RV Center has every kind of vehicle (or vehicular travel item) to aid you in your journeys. That silver Airstream you’ve been fantasizing about is available here—along with full-on Winnebago motorhomes, travel trailers, and toy haulers. If the open road beckons, make your first stop here. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Buddy Gregg Motors, Tennessee RV Supercenter
TOP SHOPPING DISTRICT
Market Square For several decades, there wasn’t much shopping on Market Square beyond the steadfast Watson’s department store. But after that shut down in the late ’90s, the Square’s retail future looked bleak—until the late Andie Ray took a leap of faith: She bought an old liquor store and converted it into
Vagabondia, a cozy boutique that you couldn’t fi nd anywhere else in town. Thankfully, the rest of Knoxville caught up with her vision of a vital retail district, and we now enjoy a place synonymous with the soul of the city itself. (C.T.)
TOP RESALE FURNITURE/ HOUSEHOLD GOODS SHOP
Mid Mod Collective
Thrift shopping can be hard work— it takes time, patience, and experience to dig through the racks and uncover that rare piece that’s worth taking home. At Planet Xchange, most of that work’s already been done. After nearly 20 years in business, the staff and management know what to look for, and what you’re looking for—whether that’s a vintage Christmas sweater, some shirts for the office, an ironic T-shirt, new jeans, or some snazzy sneakers. (M.E.)
Just last month, the New York Times ran a piece headlined, “Why Won’t Midcentury Design Die?” A panel of design experts attempted to answer the question, but they seemed to miss the most obvious explanation: It’s still cool. And you won’t fi nd any cooler pre-loved furniture and housewares than at Mid Mod Collective, located in the increasingly cool North Central Street corridor (alternately referred to as Downtown North or Happy Holler). They know what makes for great design and select their offerings accordingly—you’ll never fail to fi nd something you’ve got to have for your house in the showroom. Throw in John Coleman’s equally well curated used books and records, and you have a whole afternoon of time travel ahead of you. (C.T.)
Popular Picks: KARM, Repeat Boutique
Popular Picks: KARM, Nostalgia
Popular Picks: Bearden, Turkey Creek
TOP RESALE CLOTHING SHOP
Planet Xchange
THANK YOU KNOXVILLE! FOR VOTING US
TOP HVAC COMPANY
October 20, 2016
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Services Fisher Tire The father of the current owner of this auto repair service center, Ray Fisher, opened Fisher Tire Company Inc. in 1948. Nearly 70 years later, Fisher Tire continues to provide top-notch service—repairing brakes, aligning wheels, replacing tires, and much more—and has expanded to three locations in Bearden and North and West Knoxville. (Hayley Brundige) Popular Picks: Auto Technicians, RT Clapp
TOP BANK/CREDIT UNION
TVA Employees Credit Union Structured on a not-for-profit, cooperative model, the TVA Employees Credit Union has 19 locations throughout East Tennessee and about 158,000 members. In
2015, its assets rose by $107 million, a nearly 8 percent increase from 2014. And no, you don’t have to be employed by TVA to join. (H.B.) Popular Picks: First Tennessee, ORNL Credit Union
TOP CATERING SERVICE
Holly’s Eventful Dining There’s no question that Holly Hambright is a Knoxville favorite. Anyone who’s dined at Holly’s Corner or Holly’s Gourmet Market knows that Hambright brings personality and a distinct vision to her work—and anyone who’s had her food will rave about it. With Holly’s Eventful Dining, she offers that same keen attention to detail and a delicious array of appetizers, main dishes, platters, and more to events large and small. (H.B.) Popular Picks: All Occasions Catering, Big Fatty’s Catering Kitchen
Downtown's Leader in Residential Real Estate KnoxvilleDowntownRealty.com
KnoxvilleDowntownRealty.com
Kimberly Dixon Hamilton REALTOR® | Principal Broker
865.588.5535 Residential Sales and Leasing 50
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Photo by Heather Duncan
TOP AUTO SERVICE
PRESTIGE CLEANERS TOP DRY CLEANER
Prestige Cleaners Last year, Prestige Cleaners celebrated 30 years of cleaning up the Scruffy City. The company has 10 locations throughout Knoxville and offers a free
pickup and delivery valet service. Prestige Cleaners lives up to its name, providing customers with efficient and high quality shirt services, alterations, shoe repair, laundry, dry cleaning, and more. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Crown, Farragut Cleaners
Dedicated Employees Empowering Our Community
Better Together For a credit union to succeed, it takes passionate employees and committed members. Voted the best credit union by the Knoxville Mercury, Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union has proudly served the East Tennessee community for over 80 years.
Knoxville Area: (865) 544-5400 Everywhere: (800) 467-5427
tvacreditunion.com
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 51
Opened in 1972, the Flower Pot is Knoxville’s oldest local florist and serves both the downtown area and North Knoxville. (H.B.)
TOP FRAMERY
Insurance? Beyond coincidentally making it easier for customers to remember their insurer’s name, Farmer works with customers to answer their questions, review their policy, and help them save money on insurance for auto, home, life, motorcycle, and more. (H.B.)
Frameworks
Popular Picks: Phil Nichols, Cindy Doyle
Popular Picks: Crouch Florist, Petree’s Flowers
TOP FLORIST
The Flower Pot The Flower Pot offers vibrant, fairly priced arrangements for every imaginable occasion, like weddings,
anniversaries, Halloween, and even National Boss’s Day. Whatever you need to say, the Flower Pot has a way to elegantly punctuate your message, from a “Yellow Fellow” flower bunch to say “thank you” to “A Little Pink Me Up” bouquet “just because.”
Thanks for voting me Top Interior Designer
Creating spaces as unique as you. 4514 OLD KINGSTON PIKE I KNOXVILLE, TN 37919 865.249.8170 I TODDRICHESININTERIORS.COM
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Photo by Tricia Bateman
THE FLOWER POT
The next time you’re looking for a place to get a diploma, photo, poster, or piece of art framed, Frameworks should be at the top of your list. They’ve been in the custom framing business in Knoxville for over 25 years, and their beautiful work, quick turnaround time, and attention to detail definitely make them stand out. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Bennett Galleries, Jerry’s Artarama
TOP INSURANCE AGENT
Gary Farmer at Farmers Insurance Could it be fate that Gary Farmer became a local agent for Farmers
TOP LAWYER
Stephen A. Burroughs Stephen A. Burroughs, a personal injury attorney, gained the sacred status of meme-dom back in 2011 when advertisements featuring his full beard and Blue Steel stare went semi-viral. After he proved he has a sense of humor by throwing a party called “Swagfest,” Burroughs continued to be a Knoxville favorite for personal injury law. He fights for clients who have experienced motorcycle, boating, and construction accidents as well as medical malpractice, social security disability, and more. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Don Bosch, G. Turner III
THANKS FOR VOTING US #1! Stephen and Bryan can help. Law Office of Stephen A. Burroughs Voted Knoxville’s Best Lawyer in 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016!
3 7 7 3 5 52 Stephen A. BURROUGHS
Bryan L. CAPPS
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 53
TOP PET SERVICE
Meadowbrooke Kennel Meadowbrooke Kennel calls itself “Knoxville’s Happy Dog Place,” and Knoxville is happy to agree. The kennel, which provides grooming, boarding, and training services for all your furry friends, has been around since 1997 and has taken care of thousands of dogs. Their friendly staff members are self-proclaimed dog lovers and make sure every dog is treated with a little TLC. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Happy Yap’s, Hush Puppy’s
TOP PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER
Colby McLemore If you’re looking for some new, crisp headshots or stunning drone photography of your property, Colby McLemore’s got you covered. McLemore has won several awards for his photography—most recently, a gold medal at the 2016 International Photographic Competition—and has worked with a variety of clients, like USA Today and
ABC’s Extreme Makeover. Reviewers say working with McLemore is comfortable and professional—necessary traits for anyone working with children or the camera shy. (H.B.) Popular Picks: John Black, Bill Foster
TOP REALTOR
Jessica Rodocker at First Neighborhoods Realty Jessica Rodocker is the principal broker for First Neighborhoods Realty, a boutique real estate firm that focuses on the historic neighborhoods surrounding downtown Knoxville. Rodocker, who graduated from UT in 2003, works with a small team to sell properties in areas like Fourth and Gill, Island Home, and Old North Knoxville. In a prime example of practicing what you preach, Rodocker and her family live in historic Island Home, a Knoxville neighborhood that formed in the early 1900s along the Tennessee River, where they are renovating a 1915 Craftsman home. (H.B.)
Popular Picks: Melinda Grimac; Rob Howard, Suzy Trotta, & Kimberly Dixon Hamilton [three-way tie]
TOP TATTOO STUDIO
Vivid Ta oo Top-notch tattoos designed and drawn by the only all-female staffed shop in Knoxville—need we say more? Sarah and Rosie, whose shop is located in a little white house on Sutherland Avenue, are dedicated and friendly, creating beautiful designs for their clients. Honestly, their work speaks for itself. And if you’re a budding tattoo artist yourself, they’re offering an apprenticeship for a fellow talented female. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Purple Heart Tattoo, Saint Tattoo
TOP SPECIAL-EVENT VENUE
The Standard It’s hard not to fall in love with the vibe at the Standard. The venue’s exposed brick, wide open skylights, arched doorways, and expansive space make it the perfect location
for weddings, concerts, fundraising events, and more. Located in the heart of downtown Knoxville on West Jackson Avenue, the Standard is named after what came before it: the Standard Wilson Glass Company. It’s a prime example of imaginative reuse, saving a worthy building and creating new memories. (H.B.) Popular Picks: The Mill & Mine, Relix
TOP VETERINARIAN
Butler Animal Clinic Butler Animal Clinic, located on Oak Ridge Highway, is a full-service veterinary medical center. They take care of everything from bathing and blood transfusions to surgery and senior care for your canine and feline friends. Their staff is professional and attentive, and many of them graduated from the University of Tennessee. They know your pets are cherished, and they take pains to ensure that they get well-rounded care. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Central Vet Clinic, Fountain City Animal Hospital
FROM THE CREATORS OF Ghost in the Shell
Extraordinary!
“
Thank you Knoxville for voting McGaha Electric Co. Top Knox Electrician.
Enchanting and thought-provoking!” – The NEW YORK TIMES
GORGEOUS! A SMALL POETIC WONDER!”
“ Knoxville
– The Hollywood Reporter
Gary Farmer Agency Farmers Insurance McGaha Electric Co. is a family owned business serving the Knoxville Community for over 35 years. We are a full service company with trained and insured technicians that can handle all your electric and audio needs:
• 24 Hour Emergency Service • Emergency Power • Sports Lighting • Residential • Institutional & Government
• Industrial and Manufacturing • Retail and Commercial • Worship Centers and churches • Structural wiring and cable management
Contact us and find out why Knoxville voted us Top Knox! 1409 N. 6th Avenue Knoxville, TN 37917 865.523.8373 • mcgahaelectric.com 54
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Top Insurance Agent 243 S. Peters Rd. Knoxville, TN 37923 865-470-8065 gfarmer@farmersagent.com www.farmersagent.com/gfarmer
STARTS FRI. 10/21 REGAL
DOWNTOWN WEST CINEMA 8 1640 DOWNTOWN W BLVD (865) 693-0505 KNOXVILLE
Knoxville Mercury Wednesday, 10/19 1/8Pg(2.1875x5.25)
Arts & Culture TOP ACTOR
TOP ART GALLERY
David Keith
The Emporium Center
From An Officer and a Gentlemen to striding the sidelines at University of Tennessee home football games— it’s been quite a ride for this local boy made good. (M.E.)
The big building at the corner of Gay Street and Jackson Avenue, lavishly renovated in 2004, serves as an unofficial headquarters for Knoxville’s visual and performing arts community, with one of the biggest First Friday celebrations
Popular Picks: David Brian Alley, Dale Dickey
every month, frequent theatrical and music performances, studio space, and five full galleries for monthly exhibits by local and regional artists. It’s Knoxville’s one-stop art center. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Art Market Gallery, Bennett Galleries
TOP ARTIST
Cynthia Markert Markert’s distinctive visions of flapper fantasia have been visible around downtown for decades, but they’ve lost none of their enchantment over the years; her expressionistic icons retain the same sense of mystery and glamour today, no matter how many times you’ve encountered them. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Richard Jolley, Colby McLemore Photo by Tricia Bateman
THE EMPORIUM CENTER
TOP CRAFTSPERSON/ ARTISAN
Wendy Seaward Wendy Seaward’s masks are
masterpieces of detailed craft—tiny colorful beads stitched together to form face shapes that mix myth and pop art, mysterious and whimsical. Seaward’s jewelry is just as impressive, fantastical combinations of color and form that stretch and bend history and tradition. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Preston Farabow, Judy Gaston
TOP DANCE COMPANY
Circle Modern Dance For more than 25 years, Circle Modern Dance has been both a benchmark of excellence—the company’s core performers bring professional training and excellence—and an outreach for movement as art; the company believes that everyone is a dancer, and part of its mission is to allow anyone who wants to dance a space to do it in. The company’s annual Modern Dance Primitive Light show in December is a reliably moving and stirring experience. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Angela Floyd Dance Company, Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble
For voting
pellissippi state the Top Small College or University and the Top Technical/Business School in Knoxville!
A TBR INSTITUTION AN AA/EEO COLLEGE
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 55
TOP FIRST FRIDAY VENUE
Popular Picks: McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, Museum of East Tennessee History
The Emporium
Popular Picks: The Central Collective, Striped Light
TOP MOVIE THEATER
Regal Riviera Stadium 8 Few attractions have made as big a difference downtown as Regal’s first-run movie theater. It’s hard to believe anyone was skeptical when it opened in 2007—now it’s hard to imagine downtown without it. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Regal Downtown West, Regal Pinnacle
TOP NOVELIST
KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF ART TOP MUSEUM
Knoxville Museum of Art Over the last several years, KMA has successfully redefi ned itself. Rather than compete with bigger, older, and wealthier regional museums in Charlotte and Atlanta, KMA has turned its focus to East Tennessee art, craft ing the growing and impressive permanent exhibit Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee and spotlighting work by local artists in the Contemporary Focus series. It’s given the museum a new future and clarified its vision. If we’re not going to promote and protect the city’s art, after all, who will? (M.E.)
Photo by Deb Hardison
With five galleries spread over two stories, the Emporium is an all-in-one First Friday extravaganza all on its own—in any given month, you might find exhibits by regional art groups, like the Tennessee Artists Association or Arrowmont’s artists in residence, alongside local amateur and professional painters, sculptors, jewelry designers, fabric artists, furniture makers, potters, and more. It’s enough to fill your entire First Friday excursion, if you choose. (M.E.)
Michael Knight It’s impossible to pin down Michael Knight. He’s a short-story writer whose best book so far is his most recent novel, The Typist; he’s written in various styles on various subjects, from holiday stories to historical fiction. What connects all of his work is his glittering prose style, influenced by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Raymond Carver: economical, precise, elegant. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Jefferson Bass (Jon Jefferson and Bill Bass), Pamela Schoenewaldt
TOP POET
R.B. Morris Some people might have identified R.B. Morris as Knoxville’s poet laureate, at least unofficially, long before he was named to that position by Mayor Madeline Rogero in June. The official endorsement
came as no surprise, and yet it still felt like a long-overdue acknowledgment of Morris’ talent—as a poet, a songwriter, a playwright, and a performer—and as an advocate for Knoxville and its distinguished literary legacy. No one has done more than Morris to encourage the city to remember James Agee, in particular, and few artists in the city’s 225-year history have been as committed to Knoxville as a source for inspiration. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Black Atticus, Marilyn Kallet
TOP THEATER GROUP
Clarence Brown Theatre Knoxville’s only pro theater company offers a complete dramatic season all on its own, with a lineup that every year includes cutting-edge contemporary drama, classic revivals, comedy and music, and one or two unexpected gems (and yes, A Christmas Carol). (M.E.) Popular Picks: Knoxville Children’s Theatre, Tennessee Stage Company
Join us in celebrating 50 years of Montessori Education in Knoxville!
1966 We began as the Knoxville Montessori Children’s House at Messiah Lutheran Church.
2016 Now we’re the Knoxville Montessori School at 4311 Kingston Pike.
Knoxville Montessori School 50th Anniversary Open House October 22, 2016 10:00 a.m. - Noon 4311 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37917 RSVP: kms@knoxvillemontessori.org Find us on Facebook! 56
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Education & Media Tennessee School of Beauty This beauty school, located on Western Avenue, was founded as a family business in 1930 by Knoxvillian Jean Brown. It has been run by her great-great-grandson, Adam Brown, since 1987. The school, which became a Redkin Premier School in 2012, was in the news earlier this month after they offered a free “Butch Jones Special” haircut to celebrate the Vols’ win over Florida. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Knoxville, Visage Advanced Hair Academy
TOP DANCE SCHOOL
Angela Floyd Schools Since 1997, the Angela Floyd Schools have taught over 5,500 students at their two locations—from
preschool to adult, experienced to just starting out, summer camps to private lessons. And there’s not much they don’t teach. Beyond tap, classical ballet, jazz, and hip-hop dance classes, the school also provides music lessons for voice, guitar, drum, violin, and more. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Dancers Studio, Studio Arts for Dancers
TOP MUSIC SCHOOL
Knoxville Academy of Music Looking to learn how to play an instrument like guitar or piano or brush up on your music theory skills? The Knoxville Academy of Music, established in 2003, is one of the best options available in Knoxville. The school, which has 10 teaching studios, offers lessons for all ages and prides itself in having knowledgeable instructors, friendly staff members, and
Photo by Tricia Bateman
TOP COSMETOLOGY SCHOOL
KNOXVILLE ACADEMY OF MUSIC reasonable lesson prices. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Joy of Music School, Open Chord
TOP PRIVATE SCHOOL (K-12)
Webb School of Knoxville
Spartans win! The 61-year-old private school features small class sizes, an emphasis on community service, and a sprawling campus west of Cedar Bluff. Webb’s 2016 graduating class had a 100 percent college placement rate and accrued $8 million in scholarship offers. It’s easy to see how the K-12 school can claim an Olympic
Thank you for voting us Best Dance Studio! now enrolling for all dance and music classes: classical ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, acro, lyrical, and PreSchool dance
group guitar & violin lessons, PreSchool music classes private lessons in voice, guitar, violin, piano, keyboard, trumpet, drums & more October 20, 2016
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gold medalist, Tennessee Supreme Court judge, and even Governor Bill Haslam as alumni. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Christian Academy of Knoxville, Grace Christian Academy
TOP RADIO PERSONALITY
Hallerin Hilton Hill (98.7 FM) Triple H is a force to be reckoned with. His drive-time interview and call-in show on NewsTalk 98.7 has featured prominent Tennesseans like Gov. Bill Haslam and “newsmakers” like Rep. Martin Daniel (who indeed made news on the show itself, with an altercation that resulted in a misdemeanor assault charge). A slew of other projects—including a show on WBIR called Anything is Possible—keep him the most visible radio personality in Knoxville. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Marc and Kim (102.1 FM), Benny Smith (90.3 FM)
TOP RADIO STATION
WUTK 90.3 FM WUTK ensures that the airwaves coming from Andy Holt tower on UT’s campus are always filled with diverse, alternative tunes. The radio station, which has been proudly playing “cutting edge” music since 1982, has been instrumental in giving students the chance to learn the ropes of radio and fledgling deejays the opportunity to share their unique musical tastes. With General Manager Benny Smith at the helm, WUTK has become a hub for great music and an effective training ground to boot. Just last week it was named the sixth best College Campus Radio Station in the country, according to ValueColleges.com. (H.B.) Popular Picks: WDVX, WUOT
TOP SMALL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY
Pellissippi State Community College Pellissippi State has grown tremendously since it graduated its first 58
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class of 45 students after being founded in 1974. Its four campuses in Knoxville and one in Blount County now enroll thousands each semester and provide students with a wide variety of career and certificate programs, from engineering technology to videography. The college was visited by President Obama in 2015 when he unveiled America’s College Promise program, making two years of community college free to students. Earlier this month, Pellissippi received a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to create a center for teaching excellence which will provide teacher training programs and opportunities for professional development. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Carson-Newman, Maryville College
TOP TV PERSONALITY
Robin Wilhoit (WBIR) Robin Wilhoit delivers the news with the steady and confident tone of a TV anchor you trust immediately. From her reporting on pill addiction in East Tennessee to her coverage of the Summer Olympics on the ground in Rio, the news anchor has become a long-trusted voice and admired figure in the Knoxville community. (H.B.) Popular Picks: Abby Ham (WBIR), Todd Howell (WBIR)
TOP TV STATION
WBIR The largest station in the region, founded in 1956, is known for its Emmy Award-winning Heartland Series and consistent coverage of local news, while keeping an eye to national issues. It boasts a roster of talented and recognizable anchors and reporters, like Robin Wilhoit, John Becker, Beth Haynes, and Russell Biven. And though he retired 16 years ago, legendary former co-anchor Bill Williams continues to contribute to the station in special projects. (H.B.) Popular Picks: WATE, WVLT
Thank you
for voting us the Top Cosmetology School again this year! Knoxville’s #1 choice for Cosmetology School since 1930.
TSB will prepare you for the real world.
TSB graduate, nate farmer, helping our students perfect their Butch Cuts. Take advantage of our FREE BUTCH CUTS during the 2016 regular football season.
TSB helped me work on KNoxville Fashion Week and local photoshoots.
tennesseeschoolofbeauty.com | (865) 588-7878
October 20, 2016
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TOP APARTMENT COMPLEX
Marble Alley Finally open to tenants after years of planning and construction, Marble Alley Lofts is the first new residential construction in downtown Knoxville in 30 years. It was worth the wait. Not only does Marble Alley have a salt water pool and a private parking garage for its residences, the interior of the lofts includes granite kitchen and bath countertops, stainless-steel appliances, and hardwood-inspired plank flooring. If you’re looking for a stylish pad to fulfill your urban lifestyle dreams, this is the place. (Maria Smith) Popular Picks: JFG Flats, Steeplechase Apartments
TOP ELECTRICIAN
McGaha Electric Company Fixing things for Knoxville for over
35 years, the McGaha Electric Company is family-owned and well-known in the community for its services, both electrical and voluntary. Not only does this company pride itself on community service with organizations like Variety the Children’s Charity, but it also has wide range of skills to offer from providing emergency power to structured wiring and cable management. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Lloyd’s, Sitara
TOP FLOORING/TILE STORE
Broadway Carpets Serving both homeowners and professionals in the world of contracting, home building, and real estate, Broadway Carpets prides itself on providing excellent service. It guarantees correct installation every time. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Frazier’s, Tile Sensations
Stanley’s Greenhouse Our business is growing!
WINNER TOP KNOX
GARDEN STORE / NURSERY 2015 and 2016 Thank you Knoxville for choosing us again!
e e tim , h t s s ' e Now lant tre bs to p bs, bul s shru pansie and spring. for
Just 5 minutes from downtown 3029 Davenport Road (South Knoxville) | 865.573.9591 M-F 8-5pm | Sat 9-5pm | Sun 1-5pm www.stanleysgreenhouse.com 60
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Photo by Tricia Bateman
Home & Garden
STANLEY’S GREENHOUSE TOP GARDEN STORE/NURSERY
Stanley’s Greenhouse Perched atop a ridge in South Knoxville, Stanley’s Greenhouse not only produces admirable plants, but also partners with organizations like the Pat Summit Foundation and the Ronald Mc-
Donald House to help make a difference in the community. With its products ranging from poinsettias to fruit trees to cacti, this family-owned business knows its stuff—they’ve been around since 1955. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Ellenburg Nursery, Mayo Garden Center
TOP HVAC COMPANY
room into a true masterpiece. (M.S.)
TOP PLUMBER
AA-Air Co.
Popular Picks: The Drawing Room, Law’s Interiors
Sco ’s Plumbing
AA-Air Company lives up to their slogan of being “always available for your comfort.” Serving the Knoxville area for over 40 years, this family-owned HVAC company that originated out of a garage has the NATE-certified technicians and customer reviews to back up its reputation for quality. (M.S.)
TOP KITCHEN AND BATH DESIGN
Known as Knoxville’s premier supplier of kitchen and bath cabinetry, Dixie Kitchen Distributors has been around for 50 years and supplies various cabinet lines for any budget. (M.S.)
Originating as a home business in 1977, Scott’s Plumbing not only has expanded its size, but also its percentage of happy clients, which includes well known contractors and businesses like Sonic and Merit Construction. With a slogan like “getting dirty to keep you clean,” we can only imagine the depths Scott’s goes to keep their customers satisfied. (M.S.)
Popular Picks: Kitchen Sales/Open Door (tie), Standard Kitchen & Bath
Popular Picks: Hiller, Sanders & The Plumbing Co. & Knoxville Plumbing (3-way tie)
TOP LANDSCAPING SERVICE
TOP RENOVATIONS/ REMODELING COMPANY
Dixie Kitchen
Popular Picks: Hiller, Rocky Top Air
TOP INTERIOR DESIGN SERVICES
Todd Richesin Todd Richesin believes that rooms are not decorated, but collected. Maybe this philosophy on interior design is what has made him one of the most prominent designers in Knoxville. Featured in publications like Southern Living, House Beautiful, and Traditional Home, Richesin has proof that he knows exactly what he’s doing when it comes to transforming a simple
Earthadelic Earthadelic’s services in hardscapes, lawn maintenance, and water features have won multiple awards, proving it’s got the expertise to back up its cool name. One of its core values is a commitment to truly “green” landscaping, using sustainable practices whenever possible. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Black Willow Tie, Carex
nk You Tha
Fred E. Trainer F. E. Trainer Construction doesn’t compromise on delivering exactly what its clients ask for. They pride themselves on being flexible and responsive, and have the customer reviews to prove it. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Clinch River Custom Builders, McCamy Construction
323 Union Avenue Knoxville, TN 37902 865-525-7888 • shoprala.com M-F 11-9pm | Sat. 10-9pm | Sun. 11-6pm
TILE SENSATIONS Just Imagine
930 North Broadway Knoxville, TN 37917 865.525.5511
9918 Kingston Pike Knoxville, TN 37922 865.531.7021
Serving the Knoxville area for over 20 years with Tile and Design that is Fresh and Timeless. #ShopLocal #ShopSmall
THANK YOU KNOXVILLE! Vinyl Carpet Laminate Hardwood Installation Top Flooring/ Tile Store Ceramic Tile The Floor Covering Source for Over 35 Year s
3413 Sutherland Ave Knoxville, Tennessee 37919 (865) 329-3290 www.tilesensations.com
We are not just another tile store! October 20, 2016 KNOXVILLE MERCURY 61
Health & Beauty TOP BARBER SHOP
Frank’s Barber Shop Voted the Best Barbershop in America three years in a row by About.com’s reader choice awards, Frank’s Barber Shop is best known for paying close attention to detail. With an upscale feel, Frank’s makes sure to give its clients the ultimate pampering experience with hand blade shaves and mugs of ice cold root beer. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Union Avenue Barber Shop, Western Plaza Barber Shop
TOP CHIROPRACTOR
Patrick Zi /Activize Chiropractor Optimizing mobility and maximizing vitality, Dr. Patrick Zitt and the Activize Knoxville Chiropractic Clinic aim to help you get out of pain the natural way. Dr. Zitt and
his practice are certified by Integrity Doctors, a chiropractic mentoring service. Activize lives up to its high expectations and rave reviews. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Apple Health & Wellness/ Hosenfield, Judy Roy/East Towne Chiropractic Health and Wellness
TOP EYE CARE
Winston Eye Care
Popular Picks: Campbell Cunningham and Taylor, the Eye Group
Dr. Richard Barbee
TOP FITNESS CENTER
Popular Picks: Downtown Dental, Dr. Buzz Nabors
Popular Picks: Fort Sanders Health and Fitness, National Fitness Center
The Winston Eye and Vision Center is a family-owned practice that has been helping people see clearly since 1942. With three generations of Winstons running the show, this optometric practice aims to always have their customers happy to see them. (M.S.)
TOP DENTAL CARE
With a 99.4 percent referral rate, Dr. Richard Barbee must be doing more than making people smile. Dr. Barbee has been serving smiles across Knoxville since 1982 and continues his craft with a team of highly skilled clinicians who stay up to date with the latest educational updates in dentistry. (M.S.)
strengthen ties. (M.S.)
TOP HAIR SALON
Lox Salon Lox has become not only the best place to get a trendy hairstyle in Knoxville, but an Old City destination for fashion shows, art markets, and even concerts. But its strength is the quality of the basics: Great haircuts and color, especially for those who want to try something bold. Manicures, massages, facials, and extreme eyelash extensions are also on offer. The atmosphere is a cross between a hip boutique and your grandmother’s to-die-for retro closet, and customers are treated with the hospitality due old friends. This is a place where I’ve been offered to borrow an umbrella during a downpour and someone has run out into the rain to fetch it back from my car. (S.H.D.)
YMCA With various locations around Knoxville, the YMCA is doing more than keeping individuals in shape, but also plays a part in “working out” the community. Not only do the locations offer fitness classes, equipment, and pools, the mission of the Knoxville YMCA is “to make sure that everyone, regardless of age, income or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive” by continuously working to
Popular Picks: Chop Shop Hair Studio, Salon Visage
Thank you for voting us Knoxville’s “Top Walk-In/ Urgent Care Clinic”
Knoxville Locations DEANE HILL
7211 Wellington Drive • (865) 558-9822 Moving to Bearden Hill on Nov. 1
FOUNTAIN CITY
103 Midlake Drive • (865) 687-7704
FARRAGUT
10820 Kingston Pike, Suite 11 • (865) 671-6720
Monday-Friday: noon-8 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. • Sunday: noon-8 p.m. Thank you Knoxville for voting us
Top Kitchen & Bath Design. 605 N. Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917 • 865.546.3681 62
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Walk-ins welcome. www.summitmedical.com
TOP HOLISTIC HEALTH CENTER TOP YOGA STUDIO
Glowing Body Yoga Studio Glowing Body has a couple of sayings, which you encounter right there on their homepage: 1 “Yoga meets you where you are.” 2. “It’s all yoga.” What do they mean? In short, that no matter your size, shape, attitude, or ability, yoga is available and appropriate for you—and no matter how easily or difficult it seems in the doing, it’s doing its work. That attitude makes for an open, inviting, inclusive studio that offers classes for every level, workshops for every interest, and even an array of massage therapists to address every ache and pain. (Hillari Dowdle) Popular Picks—Top Holistic Health Center: Gypsy Hands, Meadowsweet Wellness Popular Picks—Top Yoga: Blue Ridge Yoga, Real Hot Yoga Photo by Tricia Bateman
GLOWING BODY YOGA STUDIO
TOP LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPY CENTER/SPA
Meadowsweet Wellness
meadowsweet Thank you Knoxville for voting your downtown massage studio
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE MARTIAL ARTS
TOP MARTIAL ARTS GYM BROADWAY FAMILY KARATE SPECIALIZES IN KARATE INSTRUCTION FOR FAMILIES. WE OFFER KARATE CLASSES FOR CHILDREN, TEENS, AND ADULTS. OUR FOCUS IS ON THE STUDY OF KARATE AS A MEANS OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, MENTAL AND PHYSICAL, FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
BROADWAY FAMILY KARATE
2902-J TAZWELL PIKE KNOXVILLE, TN 37918 865.688.0120 www.BroadwayFamilyKarate.com
TOP LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPY
HOLISTIC HEALTH CENTER
Treat yourself to something great! Appointments available MONDAY - SATURDAY 9am - 6pm 865-221-0334 info@meadowsweetwellness.com www.meadowsweetwellness.com
117 S. Gay St., Knoxville, TN, 37917
October 20, 2016
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Named after a white healing flower, the Meadowsweet Message and Wellness studio makes sure they cater to the needs of each individual. They are located on S. Gay Street and have massages starting as low as $45. Students even receive 10 percent off! (M.S.)
Spa Visage, an extension of Salon Visage, provides only the most elite of services to its clientele. They offer a wide range of nail care, massage, waxing, and facial services in package deals for both men and women of any age, so that everyone can feel fabulously refreshed. (M.S.)
Popular Picks: Longevity Massage, Spa Visage
TOP MARTIAL ARTS GYM
Broadway Family Karate Broadway Family Karate provides Taekwondo classes for all ages. They aim for the physical and mental development of the whole family and have no previous requirements for joining. It’s great way to grow and bond with your family, with a lifetime of potential benefits. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Bullman’s, Knoxville Martial Arts Academy
TOP NAIL SALON TOP SKIN CARE
Spa Visage
Popular Picks—Top Nail Salon: Casa Blanca Nail Bar, Lox Salon Popular Picks—Top Skin Care: Skin Studio at Lox Salon, Skin Wellness
TOP PERSONAL TRAINER
Bri on Leitch / Provision Health Britton Leitch, a fitness manager for Provision Health and Performance, is a Knoxville native with over a decade of experience. No wonder Leitch comes highly recommended when it comes to finding the best strength and conditioning coach. Not only is he a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the NSCA, Leitch has won competitions as a Scottish Highland Games athlete. (M.S.)
Popular Picks: Roderick Haynes / Fitness Studio 111, Erin Shoun / Gold’s Gym South
TOP PHYSICAL THERAPY
Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic The Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic stays up to date with the latest information in orthopaedic medicine so that you can heal faster and stay healed longer. Trusted with recovery of injured UT athletes, the KOC has proven that their techniques can not only help you get better, but can also help you stay in the game. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Prompt Physical Therapy, Provision Physical Therapy
TOP WALK-IN/URGENT-CARE CLINIC
Summit Express Clinics At Summit Express Clinics, you don’t have to be a member to be treated, and the clinics even offer after-hours care to provide the best quality care service whenever problems occur.
Having physicians that rank top 10 in the nation is part of what makes the Summit Express Clinics great, but their commitment to bringing convenience into possible chaos makes them even better. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Trinity Medical Center, Well-Key Urgent Care
TOP WOMEN’S HEALTH CENTER
Lisa Ross Birthing Center The all-female staff of the Lisa Ross Birth and Women’s Center aims to make the experience of their patients one full of satisfaction and comfort. This nonprofit birth center offers a wide range of maternity services as well as your basic gynecology needs. Aiming to promote wellness, personal empowerment, and family involvement, this women’s health center offers a sense of community along with its services. (M.S.) Popular Picks: Contemporary Women’s Health, Women’s Care Group
TO BE YOUR BEST YOU MUST TRAIN WITH
THE BEST BRITTON LEITCH VOTED KNOXVILLE’S TOP PERSONAL TRAINER
TOP HAIR SALON
Thanks,Knoxville, for 10 years of rockin' hair!
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|
865.232.1414
NAIL SALON & SKIN CARE
#523.5LOX www.loxsalon.com
Celebrating 30 years of award-winning service in Knoxville.
1701 Downtown West Blvd. (865) 694-4000 SalonVisage.com
304 S. Northshore Drive (865) 588-4001 FranksBarbershop.net
1645 Downtown West Blvd. (865) 694-9007 SpaVisage.com
1701 Downtown West Blvd. (865) 693-7500 StudioVisageKnoxville.com
1701 Downtown West Blvd. (865) 240-4988 BeStyledKnoxville.com
October 20, 2016
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Recreation & Fun
House Mountain, Urban Wilderness See Also: Top Secret About Knoxville, in Community
TOP ATTRACTION
TOP BIKE TRAIL
TOP DOG PARK
Market Square
Urban Wilderness South Loop
PetSafe Concord Dog Park
This is what most people mean when they talk about Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness—a mammoth 12.5-mile hiking and biking trail in the heart of residential South Knoxville, with 30 additional miles of trails branching off from the main loop and all of it connected to miles and miles of adjacent trails and greenways in nearby parks, preserves, and neighborhoods. (M.E.)
Since Knoxville has lately become an outdoor wonderland, why shouldn’t our dogs enjoy it, too? Concord Park’s canine retreat offers 4 acres of land to sniff, water fountains to splash in, a dock with access to the river, and even a dog shower. (C.T.)
It’s where all walks of life mingle in our city, surrounded by boutique shopping and an array of restaurants with shaded outdoor patios. On a regular day, it offers prime people-watching: buskers playing everything from banjo to classical violin, and the laughter of children as they splash in the fountain. But the thriving twice-weekly farmer’s market, Shakespeare on the Square, free movie nights and concerts, festivals that offer everything from biscuits to history, and chalk-art extravaganzas have made Market Square an eclectic place to hang out on weekends without spending a dime—if you can stand to take a pass on some of the best pizza, burgers, Italian ices, and fried okra in town. (S.H.D.) Popular Picks: Ijams Nature Center, Zoo Knoxville See Also: Top Shopping District, in Shopping
Popular Picks: Ijams Nature Center, Third Creek Greenway
TOP FREE STUFF TO DO TOP WALKING TRAIL
Ijams Nature Center Popular Picks—Top Free Stuff to Do: Market Square, Urban Wilderness Popular Picks—Top Walking Trail:
Popular Picks: PetSafe Dog Park at Victor Ashe Park, PetSafe Downtown Dog Park
TOP FESTIVAL
Big Ears It’s become one of the most interesting and acclaimed music festivals in the world. Every year, it gets a little harder to defi ne—what do you call an event that includes ’90s alt-rock band Blonde Redhead, the far-out jazz keyboard legend Carla Bley, indie guitar hero Ben Chasny,
and Pulitzer-winning jazz bandleader Henry Threadgill? Explaining what it is, though, is about as difficult as Big Ears gets; despite its reputation for “challenging” music, it’s instead a weekend of connection, surprise, profound experiences, and unexpected gift s. (M.E.) Popular Picks: Dogwood Arts Festival, Rhythm N’ Blooms Music Festival
TOP HISTORIC LANDMARK
The Sunsphere Neglected for years, the big gold ball—designed to represent the source of all energy—has gotten more attention recently thanks to its Primo Ristorante Italiano, which based on first impressions may be the best restaurant the place has housed since 1982. But the Sunsphere’s not actually “historic” yet, at least not by the guidelines of the National Park Service, which determines such things. And a few years ago, the well-known Savannah preservationist Lee Adler, a fierce opponent of demolition in almost all cases, startled a packed house at the
2016 READER’S POLL
Come see what makes Zoo Knoxville WILDLY FUN!
It’s the one true guide to Knoxville's best, by the smartest, savviest consumers in town: YOU.
l-40 to Exit 392
Thank you for voting!
zooknoxville.org 865-637-5331
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Thank you Knoxville
When you join the Y, you’re committing to more than simply becoming healthier. You are supporting the values and programs that strengthen your community.
for voting us TOP FITNESS JOIN NOW! For more than a workout.
CENTER!
For a better us.
Bob Temple North Y Cansler Family Y Lindsay Young Downtown Y West Side Family Y Davis Family Y
YMCAKnoxville.org 865-690-9622
October 20, 2016
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TOP WATERWAY TO PADDLE
Knoxville Museum of Art by declaring the first thing Knoxville had to do to be taken seriously was to tear down the Sunsphere. But you can’t beat it for conspicuousness. And maybe our readers are showing foresight; the Sunsphere will be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in just 16 years. And to give it credit, it’s Knoxville’s only building ever represented on The Simpsons, and the only one believed to be imitated in Eurasia. (Look at the taller, frillier Bayterek, built in Astana, Kazakhstan in the 1990s.)
Tennessee River
Popular Picks: Tennessee Theatre, James White’s Fort
TOP PLACE TO TAKE THE KIDS
Zoo Knoxville Zoo Knoxville has been undergoing a major revamp, and it’s not just the name change or its marketing plan. The physical overhaul to come over the next five years will not only be the zoo’s largest in a decade, but it also signifies broader changes in
Photo by Tricia Bateman
Maybe by 2032 it’ll seem historic. (J.N.)
ZOO KNOXVILLE the nonprofit’s vision and identity. And central to that vision is becoming an even bigger family destination than it already is, not only with new animal habitats, but also with attractions that give you even more
SOMETIMES DISCOVERY STARTS WITH A PATH. Right outside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is your own o u t d o o r a m u s e m e n t p a r k . We o ffe r m i l e s o f g re e nw a y s p a c e s t o unwind and enjoy everything the outdoors has to offer. From stream side trails, wilddower elds, forests, waterways and open spaces; all loc located within just a few minutes of quaint neighborhoods and downtown. Walk , run or c ycle, the options are endless in the Peaceful Side of the Smokies. You’ll discover that you’re going to need a longer stay.
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reasons to make repeat visits, like the recently added train, splash pad, and gem-mining features. (C.T.) Popular Picks: Ijams Nature Center, World’s Fair Park
The Tennessee River flows slow and deep, like the city it bisects, and it offers a mellower paddling experience than adrenaline-pushers like the Upper Pigeon and Ocoee. For those who want to leave the steep-creeking and combat kayaking to the young and the reckless, the Tennessee—née Fort Loudoun Lake—is a perfect flat-water destination. You can put in and take out your kayak, paddle board or canoe at a number of official (and unofficial) ramps. You can also integrate the Holston and French Broad rivers into your paddling trip for a longer, wilder—yet still mellow—excursion. You might want to limit your contact with the water in its more urban stretches, but the length of the river through the city is home to wildlife ranging from herons to bald eagles and bass. Remember to take out at Farragut, lest you find yourself well en route to the Gulf of Mexico. (T.F.) Popular Picks: French Broad River, Mead’s Quarry
Knoxville Online TOP BLOG TOP FACEBOOK PAGE/GROUP
Inside Knoxville With his laser focus on the happenings of downtown Knoxville, Alan Sims (aka, KnoxvilleUrbanGuy) has become the online go-to resource for news on business openings, new restaurants, and the occasional kerfuffle (such as the Great Rick Dover vs. French Market War). He even ventures out into the Urban Wilderness. But a big part of Inside Knoxville’s success is also due to Sims’ online personality—friendly and supportive, always rooting for the hometown team. (C.T.) Popular Picks—Top Blog: The Blue Streak, The Daily Dumpster Popular Picks—Top Facebook Page/ Group: Knoxville Mercury, Moxley Carmichael
TOP INSTAGRAM FEED
Visit Knoxville By its very mission, Visit Knoxville’s Instagram feed is boosterish—but Knoxville is in the enviable position of having a lot to brag about these days, so VK’s gallery of cupcakes,
hikes, ice cream, bike rides, burgers, events, and brunch always has something worthwhile to share. (C.T.) Popular Picks: KnoxFoodie, Striped Light
TOP PODCAST
Our Humble Beer Podcast Chris Hill and D.J. Loope take the podcast category again with their sort-of-monthly, hour-long hangin’ out session over regional craft beers. They often interview guest business owners—not always directly beer-related, like the bakers at Sugar Mama’s or promoters at a boat show—and take field trips to joints like Highland Brewing Company in Asheville. Hill, Loope, and their guests may understand the different types of hops that go into the ale, but their assessments boil down to the same kind of language your buddy Lou might use. In fact, the entire podcast is just as casual, unrehearsed, and full of background laughter as the pub you hit after work to unwind. The random-overheardness of it is pretty amusing (i.e. “If you sit on your porch and read Pride and Prejudice long enough, the Beer Fairy will come by.”). (S.H.D.) Popular Picks: Einstein Simplified, Sharing Needles With Friends
TOP TWITTER FEED
Knoxville Pains “Even the best city on the planet has its pains,” declares @knoxvillepains, though the Vols’ season seems to have cured this feed of its cynicism. But scroll back a dozen or so orange-and-white tweets to September, and you’ll fi nd at least this remnant of its crusty yet lovable nature, under a photo of the Alcoa Highway sinkhole: “Alcoa Highway, you are a turd. Hope everyone in SoKno had fun getting to work 2 hours late.” (C.T.) Popular Picks: Tim Burchett, Knox Foodie October 20, 2016
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CALENDAR
RETROSPECT “Where Vintage is Always Affordable“
A vibrant district along Central Street and Broadway.
Visit Downtown North
Vintage Store
mid-century modern, antiques, vintage clothes, pop culture collectables, retro, original art & more! 1121 N. Central St. Knoxville | 865.522.3511 Open 7 days a week
Knoxville Pride since 2004 1215 North Central Street 865.637.4XYZ
“Thank you Knoxville for voting us TOP LGBT Club!” Open 7 days, 7pm-3am, Happy Hour Daily 7-9 Check our Facebook for weekly activities
coming in time for the holidayS
Thanks Knoxville!
SHOP KNOX Your Local Guide to Holiday Shopping
on, For advertising informatiail em or 59 20 135-3 86 ll ca m sales@knoxmercury.co
Artist: Tommy Davis
1020 N. Broadway 865-971-3983 www.sainttattoo.com October 20, 2016
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The Book Eddy / John Coleman, Bookseller thanks you for your continued support. For 25 years off and on we’ve been “runner-up” or “popular pick” or the like in Knoxville’s various best of contests. It’s an honor. YES! We are still here, buying and selling the best used and rare books and ephemera in East Tennessee. The Book Eddy is inside Mid Mod Collective at 1621 N. Central and coming soon, The Book Eddy on Jennings in North Knoxville: a small shop of curiosities (mostly books!) Follow us on Instagram or like us on facebook to get reacquainted. 865-573-9959
bookeddy@gmail.com
Purple Heart
Mid-Century Modern Furniture • Vintage Clothing & Jewelry • Books & Vinyl
Top Resale Furniture/ Household Goods Shop
Antiques Store Furniture Store
LIKE us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MidModCollective Instagram @MidModCollective Website: www.MidModCollective.com 1621 N. Central Street • Knoxville, Tennessee 37917 865.337.5575
Architectural Antics
Thanks Knoxville!
Architecturals
Tattoo
Art & Antiques COME FIND GREAT TREASURES FOR YOUR SPECIAL EVENT!
TOP Wings
Thank you Knoxville fOR voting for US! 1723 N. Central St.
Beer Selection Outdoor Dining
ONE OF A KIND GIFTS • STAINED AND LEADED GLASS YARD ART • POSTERS & PRINTS • UNIQUE DECOR
12pm-6pm Tue-Fri 10am-5pm Sat • 12pm-5pm Sun 865.414.4838 or 865.696.7777 820 N. Broadway • Knoxville TN www.architecturalanticstn.com
1204 Central Street, Knoxville, TN 37917 865.247.0392 • flatsandtaps.com October 20, 2016
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MUSIC
Thursday, Oct. 20 SHIMMY AND THE BURNS WITH MARY ELLEN KIRK AND RUTH ACUFF • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE BARSTOOL ROMEOS • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • Part of Wayne Bledsoe’s weekly Six O’Clock Swerve show on WDVX. • FREE BLUE OCTOBER • The International • 8PM • With lush, atmospheric songs such as “Bleed Out,” “Angels In Everything” and “Fear,” and the edgy rocker “Put It In,” the Texas four-piece comes back strong with a revitalized energy and a positive outlook. All ages. • $25-$50 LIONEL YOUNG • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 8PM PETE SCHLEGEL • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM THE WHISTLES AND THE BELLS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM THE STEPSISTERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Friday, Oct. 21 CALEB WARREN AND THE PERFECT GENTLEMEN WITH COLD HEART CANYON • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE THE ROYAL HOUNDS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • The Royal Hounds flaunt blistering chops, estimable wit, and anarchic showmanship that reigns at their live performances. • FREE TIM LEE 3 ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HAPPY HOUR • Pilot Light • 7PM • Knoxville band Tim Lee 3 and their offspring alt duo, Bark, have announced a four-week series of early shows at Pilot Light on every Friday during the month of October. With Karl Mountain, Eric Lee and Jason Boardman, and Bark. • $5 ALABAMA WITH CHARLIE DANIELS • Knoxville Civic Coliseum • 7:30PM • Alabama is the band that changed country music. With a record that remains unparalleled across any genre, the band reeled off 21 straight #1 singles. WDVX-TRAVAGANZA: RAY WYLIE HUBBARD AND ELIZABETH COOK • The Standard • 7:30PM • Elizabeth Cook didn’t quite know what she was doing. But she knew there were songs, and they had to get out. Six even years since her critically acclaimed Welder, as well as much personal tumult, there were songs that needed to be born. Exodus of Venus will be something of a shock. If she maintains the tang of her drawl, what emerges – beyond Cook’s always vibrant and vivid sense of detail – is a song cycle soaked in turpentine, musk and honey. • $30-$100 • See Spotlight. FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE BAND OF HORSES • The Mill and Mine • 8PM • In the months leading up to today’s release of fifth studio album Why Are You OK (Interscope), Band Of Horses have truly made the most of every precious moment—taking every opportunity to share with press and radio, home audio companies, streaming services, independent record retailers–and most importantly their fans – just how passionate they are about this album which is finally available for all to hear. • $35-$38 BILL MIZE • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Tennessee native Bill Mize is a past winner of the National Fingerstyle Guitar 72
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Competition at The Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. • $13 THE TEMPER EVANS BAND • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM TALKING DREADS WITH ELECTRIC DARLING • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM THE MATT COKER ORGAN TRIO • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE ISLANDS WITH STEADY HOLIDAY • The Concourse • 9PM • Should I Remain Here At Sea? (a semi-reference to Tarkovsky’s “Solaris”) Islands’ seventh album is, in many ways, a spiritual sequel to the debut album, 2006’s Return to the Sea; a natural, raw record, stripped down to it’s essentials, performed live off the floor. 18 and up. Visit internationalknox.com. • $12-$15 FISH STICKS • Brackins Blues Club ( Maryville) • 9PM THE YOUNG FABLES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM FAUX FEROCIOUS • Pilot Light • 10PM • The Nashville indie rock band (which originally formed in Knoxville) celebrates the release of its new album, Cloning the Rubicon. 18 and up. • $8 JADEN CARLSON AND THE COMET CONDUCTORS WITH SHIMMY AND THE BURNS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. CALEB WARREN AND THE PERFECT GENTLEMEN • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE MAYFEST WITH ROBINSON PARK, THE SEDONAS, AND FIELD NOTES • The Open Chord • 8PM • All ages. • $7 Saturday, Oct. 22 JEFF RUBY WITH LIGHTNIN’ ROD AND THE THUNDERBOLTS • WDVX • 12PM • Part of WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, a six-days-a-week lunchtime concert series featuring local, regional, and national Americana, folk, pop, rock, and everything else. • FREE J.B.’S BOOGIE ON BROADWAY • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 2PM • Featuring Jason Ellis, the Jailhouse Review, the Dixie Highway Band, and Southbound. A TRIBUTE TO GUITAR HEROES • The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson ( Maryville) • 6PM • A benefit for Harbour’s Gate. • $10 THE WHISKEY RIDERS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • Raised on the soul of Southern Rock, Country, Bluegrass and Americana, The Whiskey Riders music hits the heart of life in Kentuckiana and America. • FREE NICK LOWE WITH JOSH ROUSE • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Nick Lowe has made his mark as a producer (Elvis Costello-Graham Parker-Pretenders-The Damned), songwriter of at least three songs you know by heart, short-lived career as a pop star, and a lengthy term as a musicians’ musician. But in his current ‘second act’ as a silver-haired, tender-hearted but sharp-tongued singer-songwriter, he has no equal. Visit nicklowe.com. • $35 JOHN PAUL WHITE • The Open Chord • 8PM • Beulah. It’s a small, complicated word with a tangle of meanings. It’s the title of John Paul White’s new album, his first in nearly a decade, a remarkably and assuredly diverse collection spanning plaintive folk balladry, swampy southern rock, lonesome campfire songs, and dark acoustic pop. • $18-$20 SMOOTH SAILOR • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM MARK BOLING • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE SHORT TERM MEMORY • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM MOJO:FLOW • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM
KITTY WAMPUS • Paul’s Oasis • 9:30PM THE AQUADUCKS WITH STEADY FLOW • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. MARSHMELLO • The International • 10PM • With Slushii and Speaker of the House. 18 and up. Visit internationalknox.com. • $22-$25 Sunday, Oct. 23 SHIFFLETT’S JAZZ BENEDICT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE
J. LUKE • Wild Wing Cafe • 6PM • FREE RICHARD BUCKNER • Pilot Light • 8PM • Throwing out the “tricks and trades” of his previous efforts, Buckner hunkered down at home and chose a few unfamiliar pieces of gear—a Suzuki QChord electronic autoharp and an Electro-Harmonix POG2 pedal—to create basic tracks and open up more sonic possibilities. Buckner decided to get each song out of his house as soon as it was finished to avoid the contamination of over-thinking. 18 and up. • $10 THE STOOP KIDS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Monday, Oct. 24
Photo by Jim McGuire (Shore Fire Media)
CALENDAR
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
ELIZABETH COOK The Standard (416 W. Jackson Ave.) • Friday, Oct. 21 • 7:30 p.m. • $30-$100 • wdvx.com or elizabeth-cook.com
In 2010, Elizabeth Cook released Welder, the follow-up to her 2007 breakthrough Balls. She seemed to be on the verge of major success, and then—nothing. Well, not nothing, actually— Cook went through a series of personal and professional travails, including divorce, rehab, and the death of her father, that kept her sidelined. Finally, with not much fanfare, she released Exodus of Venus this summer; it’s a resounding comeback record, one that finds Cook not just taking the next obvious step after Welder but making an artistic quantum jump forward. There’s no trace of the vintage honky-tonk rhythms Cook favored on Balls and Welder here; Exodus of Venus is a rock album, and a dark one, closer in spirit and subject matter to PJ Harvey and Nick Cave than Alison Krauss. Some of that’s because of Cook’s new band, which includes veterans of Soundgarden and Eric Clapton and David Bowie’s bands. Mostly, though, it’s the sound of maturity—all the twang she demonstrated before sounds like a mask that Cook’s come out from behind on Exodus. This weekend, she’s playing the WDVX-Travaganza, a fundraising concert for WDVX. Texas maverick Ray Wylie Hubbard is headlining. (Matthew Everett)
74
Spotlight: Asma Afsaruddin
80
Spotlight: Oozing Wound
CALENDAR GRACIE DAY WITH THE SPEEDBUMPS • WDVX • 12PM • FREE BOB BOOKER • Beck Cultural Exchange Center • 4PM • The local historian and columnist makes his public performance debut with a concert of songs made famous by Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ivory Joe Hunter, the Drifters, and more. $1.41 from each ticket will benefit Knoxville College, which is celebrating its 141st anniversary. • $11.41 OHTIS • Pilot Light • 9PM • 18 and up. • $5 THE HOOTEN HALLERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • The Hooten Hallers are a blues, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll band from Columbia, Missouri. THE SPEED BUMPS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Tuesday, Oct. 25 MARK MANDEVILLE AND RAIANNE RICHARDS • WDVX • 12PM • FREE MARK MANDEVILLE AND RAIANNE RICHARDS • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE BONNIE RAITT • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • After selling out much of her North American tour to date, Raitt continues her journey across America through November, playing at storied venues in Memphis, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Austin. • $69.50-$99.50 WILLIE WATSON AND AOIFE O’DONOVAN • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • Folk singer-songwriters Willie Watson and Aoife O’Donovan come together for a co-headlining event. Willie Watson is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, banjo player, who was a founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show. In 2014, he released his debut solo album, Folk Singer, Vol. 1, produced by Dave Rawlings. In addition to touring in support of his debut solo album, he is also a touring member of the Dave Rawlings Machine. Aoife O’ Donovan is best known as the lead singer for the progressive bluegrass/stringband, Crooked Still, and a member of the female folk trio, Sometymes Why. In addition to these projects, she has performed and recorded with Jerry Douglas, Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, and many more. She has released two solo albums, Fossils (2013) and In The Magic Hour (2016) and has also made frequent appearances on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. • $21 OOZING WOUND • Pilot Light • 9PM • “Speed space metal” from Chicago. 18 and up. • See Spotlight on page 80. TWIZTID’S SPOOKTACULAR HORROR SHOW 2016 TOUR • The Concourse • 9PM • With Mac Lethal, Zodiac Mprint, Lex the Hex Master, Menace 2 Sobriety, and Godz of Kaos. 18 and up. • $24-$27 THE GREYHOUNDS WITH THE CERNY BROTHERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Wednesday, Oct. 26 MELANIE BRESNAN WITH CHUCK BRODSKY • WDVX • 12PM • FREE FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 6:30PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE LUTHER ALLISON • The Bistro at the Bijou • 7PM • Live jazz. • FREE LOREENA MCKENNITT • Tennessee Theatre • 8PM • Loreena McKennitt is well known as a composer and singer. In a recording career spanning more than two decades, Ms. McKennitt’s ‘eclectic Celtic’ music has received critical acclaim world-wide, and gold, platinum and multi-platinum sales awards in 15 countries across four continents. • $39.50-$69.50 NONEED • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Thursday, Oct. 27
ETHAN BORTNICK: A MUSICAL EVENING TO BENEFIT THE JOY OF MUSIC SCHOOL AND EAST TENNESSEE PBS • Bijou Theatre • 7PM • Recognized at age nine by Guinness World Records as “The World’s Youngest Solo Musician to Headline his Own Concert Tour,” Ethan Bortnick embarked upon his musical career early in life. He asked for piano lessons at age three, and by five was composing songs. Now at 15 he is performing at venues worldwide and has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America, Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel and Oprah, where he was named one of “Oprah’s All-Time Smartest, Most Talented Kids.”He’ll share those amazing gifts with new audiences when he appears in his Knoxville debut in a concert to support East Tennessee PBS and the Joy of Music School. Packed with energy and excitement, the family-friendly concert features Ethan and his band, a children’s choir and local guest artists. Crowd favorites range from The Beatles and Elton John to Motown and Michael Jackson, along with classical and Jazz favorites, recent hits, Broadway tunes and his original songs. Purchase tickets at www.knoxbijou.com or by calling 865-522-0832. • $22-$102 JONNY MONSTER WITH THE FORLORN STRANGERS • WDVX • 12PM • FREE CHELLE ROSE • Scruffy City Hall • 6PM • Part of Wayne Bledsoe’s weekly Six O’Clock Swerve show on WDVX. • FREE THE LONETONES • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 8PM JONNY MONSTER WITH OMARR AWAKE • Preservation Pub • 8PM • 21 and up. MANDOLIN ORANGE WITH DEAD HORSES • The Concourse • 8PM • Lean in to Mandolin Orange’s new album, “Blindfaller,” and it’s bound to happen. You’ll suddenly pick up on the power and devastation lurking in its quietude, the doom hiding beneath its unvarnished beauty. You’ll hear the way it magnifies the intimacy at the heart of the North Carolina duo’s music, as if they created their own musical language as they recorded it. All ages. Visit internationalknox.com. • $15-$17 SHAUN ABBOTT WITH JIMMY AND THE JAWBONES, BRANDON HARMON AND THE HALFWAY HEARTS, AND CHRIS SUGGS • The Open Chord • 8PM • All ages. • $5 FORLORN STRANGERS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 10PM • Forlorn Strangers is an all acoustic band using guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, a stomp box, and some percussion. Friday, Oct. 28 THE BATTLEFIELD WITH DON GALLARDO • WDVX • 12PM • FREE THE BATTLEFIELD WITH DON GALLARDO • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • FREE ROBIN SPIELBERG • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Robin Spielberg is one of America’s most beloved pianist/composers. A prolific composer, Spielberg has seventeen recordings to her credit and appears on over 40 compilations around the world. Her discography includes albums of original piano solos, arrangements of American standards, original pieces for piano/ensemble, recordings for the holidays, a CD of Americana melodies, and a CD of lullabies. Her newest recording is Another Time, Another Place, is a recording of original piano solos that the composer says “explore the mysteries of time.” • $12.50-$25 FROG AND TOAD’S DIXIE QUARTET • The Crown and Goose • 8PM • Live jazz featuring a mix of original music, early jazz and more. • FREE ROUX DU BAYOU • Laurel Theater • 8PM • Accordionist Paul Gregoire from the town of Dulac in South Louisiana leads
HAPPY HOLLERPALOOZA
STREET FAIR
SATURDAY OCT. 22nd, 12 noon - 5pm North Central Street between Baxter Ave. & Scott Ave.
FOOD TRUCKS LOCAL ARTISANS AND VENDORS KID’S ACTIVITIES • LIVE MUSIC CAR SHOW • MOTORCYCLE SHOW AND MORE
PRESENTED BY HISTORIC HAPPY HOLLER INC.
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 73
CALENDAR this Nashville based band, always a treat for Cajun dance enthusiasts. On guitar and vocals is South Louisiana native Wade Bernard; Jerry Prevost on drums and rounding out the group, Stephan Dudash on fiddle and guitar. • $11 MOJOFLO WITH MOJO:FLOW • The Open Chord • 8PM • Two different bands named Mojo Flo(w)—one from Ohio, the other from Maryville. What are the odds? All ages. • $8 K-TOWN MUSIC • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM BETHANY HANKINS AND SWING SERENADE • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE CITY LIMITS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM THE BARSTOOL ROMEOS • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT WITH THE SOUTHERN BELLES • Scruffy City Hall • 9PM FREAKIVAL III • The International • 9PM • It’s time for our third annual Freakival. We will be utilizing both rooms for this show. On the Midnight Voyage stage at the International: Minnesota, Wick-It the Instigator, and Huglife. On the Temple stage at the Concourse: DJ Fallen, JC, and DJ Bone. 18 and up. Visit internationalknox.com. • $10-$50 MARBLE CITY 5 • Red Piano Lounge • 9PM TIM LEE 3 WITH THE KEVIN ABERNATHY BAND, CAPS, AND BRANDY ZDAN • Pilot Light • 10PM • Since moving to Knoxville around 2000, Tim and Susan Lee have become
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
the local music scene’s most prominent power couple. They’ve played with nearly everybody else in town at one point or another and appeared on dozens of local records. They’ll pitch in at any fundraiser. And they’ve still managed to release four full-lengths in nine years with the Tim Lee 3 (not to mention Tim’s three solo albums before that, plus a bunch of EPs and live recordings). The trio specializes in inventive, melodic guitar rock with pop instincts and bar-band muscle. There are hints of L.A.’s Paisley Underground, early R.E.M., X, and the Blasters— you’ll occasionally catch a ZZ Top tone from Tim, even. The band celebrates its 10th anniversary and the release of its new album, Tin. 18 and up. • $10 THE WOODY PINES • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE BIG COUNTRY’S EMPTY BOTTLE WITH THE BARNYARD STOMPERS • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up. Saturday, Oct. 29 BRANDY ZDAN WITH THE BIG VALLEY MUSTANGS • WDVX • 12PM • FREE FORT DEFIANCE • Sugarlands Distilling Co. (Gatlinburg) • 7PM • Fort Defiance is high-energy folk duo from Nashville, Tennessee, born from the solo careers of multi-instrumentalists Jordan Eastman and Laurel Lane. • FREE BABY BABY WITH REALM, HUDSON K, BEL HEIR, AND LA BASURA DEL DIABLO • Scruffy City Hall • 7PM • Scruffy City Hall’s massive Halloween lineup for the Knox Zombie
ASMA AFSARUDDIN: “ISLAMIC FEMINISM: CHALLENGING PATRIARCHY IN MUSLIM-MAJORITY SOCIETIES” UT Alumni Memorial Building • Tuesday, Oct. 25 • 5:30 p.m. • Free • religion.utk.edu
Don’t be fooled by the high tone of this lecture title—this isn’t a narrowly focused event exclusively for academics and hardcore feminists. On the contrary, gender is a subject that affects every one of us, every day, in every area of our lives. And lately we’ve been fed a daily diet of misinformation about how Islam, in particular, relates to gender. It fosters bigotry, disunity, and fear. The way that sensationalist negative headlines have linked militarism, terrorism, authoritarianism, and oppression with the Muslim faith is not only unfair and unjust—it is flat-out untrue. During the current election cycle, it engenders a toxic nationalism that flies in the face of the pluralism and multiculturalism that make the United States vibrant and strong. Globally, it undermines our strength as a single human family to work together to create a safe, just, and peaceful world where everyone can flourish. As a Muslim and a first-class scholar, Asma Afsaruddin is uniquely qualified to take on this charged topic. (She’s a professor of Near Eastern languages and cultures at Indiana University, specializing in Islamic texts and gender.) In this lecture, she will present the findings of female scholars whose reading of the Qur’an through the lens of gender has had a significant impact in Muslim-majority countries. Many Americans have a distorted view of Muslim women; Afsaruddin’s talk, based on extensive research, shatters these notions. Another benefit of attending the lecture is the chance for non-Muslims to meet some of their Muslim neighbors. Few things are as important these days as forging strong bonds of friendship, human heart to human heart. (Sharada Nizami) 74
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Walk after party. *REPEAT REPEAT WITH HELLAPHANT • The Concourse • 8PM • *repeat repeat takes its inspiration from surf rock and California beach music of the ‘60s. It’s a three-piece band, with Jared Corder on guitar and vocals, Andy Herrin on drums, and Corder’s wife, Kristyn, on vocals. While there’s certainly a surf-rock influence, *repeat repeat gives the genre a modern twist, with each member adding his or her own interpretation. Corder was reared on West Coast punk and ska, his wife brings in a more hippie California sound ala the Mamas and the Papas, while Herrin’s influences lean more toward ’90s alternative rock. 18 and up. Visit internationalknox.com. • $10-$15 THE COVERALLS WITH PEAK PHYSIQUE • Preservation Pub • 8PM • Knoxville’s long-running bar/wedding/special event favorites are masters of mood—they know what an audience wants, whether it’s Top 40 hits, Motown, classic rock, or jazz standards, and they deliver, on time, every time. 21 and up. MIDDLEFINGER • Two Doors Down (Maryville) • 9PM WILL BOYD • The Bistro at the Bijou • 9PM • Live jazz. • FREE THE BARNYARD STOMPERS • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM SHAUN ABBOTT • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria (Maryville) • 9PM KELEN HELLER, INWARD OF EDEN, AND DIVIDED WE STAND • The Open Chord • 9PM • The Open Chord’s hard-rock Halloween party. All ages. • $10-$12 GUY SMILEY • Paul’s Oasis • 9:30PM THE REFLECTORS • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 10PM • FREE
Hosted by Sarah Pirkle. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 26 TIME WARP TEA ROOM OLD-TIME JAM • Time Warp Tea Room • 7PM • Regular speed old-time/fiddle jam every Wednesday. All instruments and skill levels welcome. SCHULZ BRÄU OPEN MIC NIGHT • Schulz Bräu Brewing Company • 8PM • Every Wednesday. • FREE BRACKINS BLUES JAM • Brackins Blues Club (Maryville) • 9PM • A weekly open session hosted by Tommie John. • FREE Thursday, Oct. 27 SCOTTISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. • FREE
DJ AND DANCE NIGHTS
Thursday, Oct. 20 THE SPINS • The Open Chord • 8PM • Vinyl Me, Please presents a monthly record night with giveaways, a preview of a newly released record, and live music performances. Visit openshordmusic.com. • FREE Friday, Oct. 21 TEKNOX V. 30 • The Birdhouse • 10PM • The monthly techno, house, and underground dance night features C Powers and D2T from Georgia and Saint Thomas LeDoux. 21 and up. • FREE
Sunday, Oct. 30 SHIFFLETT’S JAZZ BENEDICT • The Bistro at the Bijou • 12PM • Live jazz. • FREE SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH • Downtown Grill and Brewery • 12:45PM • Knoxville’s coolest jazz artists perform every Sunday. • FREE J. LUKE • Wild Wing Cafe • 6PM • FREE PHANTOGRAM • The Mill and Mine • 9PM • Electronic rock duo Phantogram came out of nowhere in early 2010 with the release of their debut album Eyelid Movies, which was widely lauded by press from Pitchfork to Alternative Press, Spin to NPR. Founders Josh Carter (vocals, guitar, samples) and Sarah Barthel (vocals, keys, samples) have replaced their previous day jobs with new careers touring the world and living on the road. • $25-$28 FLORAL PRINT WITH SWEET YEARS AND EX GOLD • Pilot Light • 10PM • 18 and up. • 5 HOTSTOP • Preservation Pub • 10PM • 21 and up.
Thursday, Oct. 27 VALHALLAWEEN: VIKING SAMHAIN FESTIVAL • Bar Marley • Celebrate Halloween like the Vikings in this three-night carnival of ceremonial costumes, fire, and dance. The celebration begins with a modern freakout with DJ Eric B, the Calendar Girls, and a Halloween costume contest (Thursday, Oct. 27) and continues with a pumpkin carving, Kris Long’s “deepfunk dance electronica beats with hard hallows-eve-gothic-emo, classic freak metal and alternative EDM fusion,” an art/music/dance performance of “Danse Macabre,” and a live zombie attack (Friday, Oct. 28); Celtic music and folk tales, historical reenactments, music and dance by Tuatha Dea, and an All Hallows Eve fire dance and drum circle (Saturday, Oct. 29).
OPEN MIC AND SONGWRITER NIGHTS
Saturday, Oct. 29 VALHALLAWEEN: VIKING SAMHAIN FESTIVAL • Bar Marley • 6PM •
Thursday, Oct. 20 IRISH MUSIC SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM • Held on the first and third Thursdays of each month. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 22 KNOXVILLE STEEL GUITAR JAM • The Open Chord • 12PM • Join us for the very first Knoxville Steel Guitar Jam. Musicians of all ability levels are welcome. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 25 PRESERVATION PUB SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT • Preservation Pub • 7PM OLD-TIME JAM SESSION • Boyd’s Jig and Reel • 7:15PM •
Friday, Oct. 28 VALHALLAWEEN: VIKING SAMHAIN FESTIVAL • Bar Marley • 8PM •
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Thursday, Oct. 20 SCRUFFY CITY ORCHESTRA • First Baptist Church • 7PM • Prospective members, especially string players, are encouraged to contact Alicia Meryweather at ScruffyCityOrchestra@gmail.com for more information. • FREE UT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL • University of Tennessee • Big Ears isn’t the only local music festival that explores the outer reaches of modern music. The University of Tennessee’s second annual Contemporary Music Festival will bring a program of 21st-century music
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
to campus and downtown this fall. The festival runs through Saturday, Oct. 22, and features the UT Contemporary Music Ensemble and guest artist Yarn/ Wire, a New York new music chamber ensemble featuring two percussionists and two pianists, one of whom is UT grad Laura Barger. For more information and a complete schedule, visit music.utk.edu/events. Friday, Oct. 21 KNOXVILLE OPERA: ‘THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE’ • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • Knoxville Opera brings a production of The Pirates of Penzance to the stage of the Tennessee Theatre for two performances. Although the operetta was staged by KO as recently as March 2010, this production will feature a completely different cast and director, and a fresh take on classic Gilbert and Sullivan. • $21-$99 UT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL • University of Tennessee • Big Ears isn’t the only local music festival that explores the outer reaches of modern music. The University of Tennessee’s second annual Contemporary Music Festival will bring a program of 21st-century music to campus and downtown this fall. For more information and a complete schedule, visit music.utk.edu/events. Saturday, Oct. 22 UT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL • University of Tennessee • Big Ears isn’t the only local music festival that explores the outer reaches of modern music. The University of Tennessee’s second annual Contemporary Music Festival will bring a program of 21st-century music to campus and downtown this fall. For more information
CALENDAR
THEATER AND DANCE
and a complete schedule, visit music.utk.edu/events. Sunday, Oct. 23 KNOXVILLE OPERA: ‘THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE’ • Tennessee Theatre • 2:30PM • Knoxville Opera brings a production of The Pirates of Penzance to the stage of the Tennessee Theatre for two performances. Although the operetta was staged by KO as recently as March 2010, this production will feature a completely different cast and director, and a fresh take on classic Gilbert and Sullivan. • $21-$99 UT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 4PM • FREE Saturday, Oct. 29 BRAD RICHTER • Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan • 7PM • Brad Richter may be one of the most influential classical guitarists working today. His ability to defy the technical limits of his instrument has earned him comparisons to the likes of Franz Liszt and Nicolo Paganini by luminaries of the American classical music scene. Visit knoxvilleguitar.org. • $20 Sunday, Oct. 30 KSO CHAMBER CLASSICS: THE FOUR SEASONS OF BUENOS AIRES • Bijou Theatre • 2:30PM • Join the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra in October for a spicy Latin American program! Maestro James Fellenbaum conducts Marquez’s Danzon No. 4, Romero’s Fuga con Pajarillo, Copland’s Three Latin American Sketches, and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. • $13.50-$31.50
Thursday, Oct. 13 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THE CRUCIBLE’ • Carousel Theatre • 7:30PM • Arthur Miller’s searing play chronicles the historical events in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The fear and accusations of Salem may be an aberration of the American Dream, but it has lent its name to later witch hunts that recur from time to time in the ongoing American story. Sept. 28-Oct. 16. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: ‘IT’S ONLY A PLAY’ • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • It’s opening night of Broadway’s newest play, and the wealthy producer is throwing a lavish party at her Manhattan townhouse. Downstairs the celebrities are pouring in, but the real action is upstairs in the bedroom, where a collection of theatre insiders (including the excitable playwright, the unstable director, and the pill-popping leading lady) await the reviews. Toss in an acerbic theatre critic and an insecure TV actor, and you have a hilarious recipe for the narcissism, childishness, and just plain irrationality that infuse the theatre. Oct. 7-16. Visit orplayhouse.com. ONCE • Clayton Center for the Arts (Maryville) • 7:30PM • Once is the celebrated musical based on the Academy Award-winning film. Once tells the enchanting tale of a Dublin street musician who’s about to give up on his dream when a beautiful young woman takes a sudden interest in his haunting love songs. As the chemistry between them grows, his music soars to powerful new
heights … but their unlikely connection turns out to be deeper and more complex than your everyday romance. • $39.50-$62.50 Friday, Oct. 14 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THE CRUCIBLE’ • Carousel Theatre • 7:30PM • Sept. 28-Oct. 16. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: ‘IT’S ONLY A PLAY’ • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • Oct. 7-16. Visit orplayhouse.com. Saturday, Oct. 15 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THE CRUCIBLE’ • Carousel Theatre • 7:30PM • Sept. 28-Oct. 16. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: ‘IT’S ONLY A PLAY’ • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 8PM • Oct. 7-16. Visit orplayhouse.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Sunday, Oct. 16 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THE CRUCIBLE’ • Carousel Theatre • 2PM • Sept. 28-Oct. 16. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. OAK RIDGE PLAYHOUSE: ‘IT’S ONLY A PLAY’ • Oak Ridge Playhouse • 2PM • Oct. 7-16. Visit orplayhouse.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Thursday, Oct. 20
Be a Volunteer
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VOLU NTE E R
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Visit Knoxville Volunteers Opportunities Include:
• Information Booths • Sporting Events • Festivals • Conferences • Exclusive Shopping Events • So much more...
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY 75 9/17/16 5:00 PM
CALENDAR THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Earth and Sky is a poetic thriller about a would-be poet and part-time librarian named Sara McKeon whose lover of ten weeks, David Ames, is found dead one hot August morning in the city of Chicago. It appears that David, owner and manager of an expensive art-deco restaurant, may have been involved in several illicit activities including kidnapping, rape and murder. Unable to believe that the man she gave her heart to was a killer, and outraged that the police seem to have closed the book on the case, Sara begins her own investigation of the crime and is led deeper and deeper through the urban labyrinth into the contemporary underworld. Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Friday, Oct. 21 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Saturday, Oct. 22 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 MOMENTUM DANCE LAB: SONDER • West High School • 2PM • Momentum Dance Lab presents Sonder, a modern dance performance combining acclaimed local choreographers and musicians. Visit momentumdancelab.com for tickets, or call (865) 386-3464 for more information. • $15
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
Sunday, Oct. 23 THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Wednesday, Oct. 26 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THIS IS OUR YOUTH’ • Clarence Brown Lab Theatre • 7:30PM • Strikingly funny, arrestingly fresh, caustic, and compassionate. Three wayward adolescents on the cusp of adulthood navigate Reagan-era New York, recreating their broken homes in their dysfunctional friendships and bungled attempts to find love. Oct. 26-Nov. 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. Thursday, Oct. 27 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THIS IS OUR YOUTH’ • Clarence Brown Lab Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 26-Nov. 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 THE MAN WHO LIVES HERE IS LOONY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 7PM • R.B. Morris’ one-person play adapted from the life and work of James Agee. The title comes from an anonymous person who wrote it on the door of the building on St. James Place in Brooklyn where Agee was living, and where he sometimes kept a goat. The setting of the play is a room in the garret of a building in Brooklyn on one night in the mid 20th century. Through the long night, the man (Agee) reflects on his life and work, God and humanity, art and artists, literature and
writers, New York and Knoxville, and the current American culture in the Nuclear Age. Oct. 27-Nov. 6. Visit rbmorris.com. • $15 Friday, Oct. 28 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7PM • Three strangers volunteer to accompany Dr. John Montague in an investigation of Hill House, a mysterious mansion with a reputation for being haunted. While the four are there, supernatural events drives them to the edge of sanity and pushes one toward a terrible end. Oct. 28-Nov. 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THIS IS OUR YOUTH’ • Clarence Brown Lab Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 26-Nov. 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Saturday, Oct. 29 KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 5PM • Oct. 28-Nov. 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THIS IS OUR YOUTH’ • Clarence Brown Lab Theatre • 7:30PM • Oct. 26-Nov. 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 Sunday, Oct. 30
THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES PRESENTS THE THIRD ANNUAL SIDDIQI LECTURE IN ISLAMIC STUDIES
ISLAMIC FEMINISMS: Challenging Patriarchy in Muslim-Majority Societies Tuesday, October 25, 2016, 5:30 PM JAMES R. COX AUDITORIUM, UT ALUMNI MEMORIAL BUILDING
Speaker: Professor Asma Afsaruddin
Asma Afsaruddin is a professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, Bloomington FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
religion.utk.edu 76
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Ellenburg
Landscaping & Nursery
KNOXVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE: ‘THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE’ • Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 3PM • Oct. 28-Nov. 13. Visit knoxvillechildrenstheatre.com. • $12 CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE: ‘THIS IS OUR YOUTH’ • Clarence Brown Lab Theatre • 2PM • Oct. 26-Nov. 13. Visit clarencebrowntheatre.com. THEATRE KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN: ‘EARTH AND SKY’ • Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 3PM • Oct. 14-30. Visit theatreknoxville.com. • $15 THE MAN WHO LIVES HERE IS LOONY • Knoxville Museum of Art • 3PM • R.B. Morris’ one-person play adapted from the life and work of James Agee. Oct. 27-Nov. 6. Visit rbmorris.com. • $15
COMEDY AND SPOKEN WORD
Thursday, Oct. 20 THIRD THURSDAY COMEDY OPEN MIC • Big Fatty’s Catering Kitchen • 7:30PM • We will showcase local and touring talent in a curated open mic of 6 to 8 comics. The event starts at 7:30, and there is no charge for admission. The kitchen will be open as well as their full bar. • FREE DAVID SEDARIS • Bijou Theatre • 8PM • With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers
CALENDAR addressing the human condition today. David Sedaris’ next book will be a collection of his diaries, entitled Theft By Finding (summer 2017). • $59.50 Friday, Oct. 21 THE FIFTH WOMAN POETRY SLAM • The Birdhouse • 6:30PM • The 5th Woman Poetry slam is place where all poets can come and share their words of love, respect, passion, and expression. It is not dedicated solely women but is a place where women poets are celebrated and honored. Check out our Facebook pages for the challenge of the month and focus for our poetry every month. Sunday, Oct. 23 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic. Visit scruffycity.com. Monday, Oct. 24 ON THE MIC WITH MIKE • Scruffy City Hall • 7PM • Bee Valley Productions and Scruffy City Hall are proud to present an attention-deficit, topsy turvy take on the late-night talk show format. Visit beevalleyproductions. com/comedy/onthemicwithmike. TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE STILL DRUNK, HIGH, AND UNEMPLOYED TOUR • Tennessee Theatre • 7:30PM • See what happens when the boys leave Sunnyvale behind to bring Julian’s latest money making scams, Bubbles’ Hollywood dreams and Ricky’s big ideas on the road. The boys promise more drinking, swearing, drinking, hot dogs, music and drinking in the anything-can-happen, uncensored live show. • $35-$55 FRIENDLYTOWN • Pilot Light • 7:30PM • A weekly comedy night named after the former red-light district near the Old City. Visit facebook.com/friendlytownknoxville. 18 and up. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 25 EINSTEIN SIMPLIFIED • Scruffy City Hall • 8PM • Einstein Simplified Comedy performs live comedy improv at Scruffy City Hall. It’s just like Whose Line Is It Anyway, but you get to make the suggestions. Show starts at 8:15, get there early for the best seats. No cover. • FREE OPEN MIC STAND-UP COMEDY • Longbranch Saloon • 8PM • Come laugh until you cry at the Longbranch every Tuesday night. Doors open at 8:30, first comic at 9. No cover charge, all are welcome. Aspiring or experienced comics interested in joining in the fun can email us at longbranch.info@gmail.com to learn more, or simply come to the show a few minutes early. • FREE SPIKE COLLAR COMEDY: JENN SNYDER • The Open Chord • 8PM • At 5’2, comedian Jenn Snyder packs a whole lot of funny in her one-two punch style of comedy. Topics ranging from her days growing up as a lesbian in a “good ol’ boy” town, to her dealing with the public on a daily basis, this comedian will pull you in with her stories and leave you wanting more with her quick wit and hilarious observations. Born and raised in Columbia South Carolina her ultimate goal is to unite all people through laughter. With supporting acts Gail Grantham Moore, Aaron Chasteen, and Shane Rhyne. Hosted by J.C. Ratliff. 18 and up. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 26 FULL DISCLOSURE COMEDY • The Open Chord • 8PM • Full Disclosure Comedy is Knoxville’s long-form improvisational troupe, bringing together community members for laughs and overall general merriment. Thursday, Oct. 27 SUGAR HIGH! COMEDY SHOW • Sugar Mama’s • 8PM • A new comedy showcase at the brand new home of Sugar
Mama’s on the 100 block. No cover. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 29 SMOKY MOUNTAIN STORYTELLERS ASSOCIATION • Vienna Coffee House • 7PM • Spooky, scary stories live, presented by Smoky Mountain Storytellers Cuz Headrick, Millie Sieber, Stephen Fulbright and Janice Brooks-Headrick. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 30 UPSTAIRS UNDERGROUND COMEDY • Preservation Pub • 8PM • A weekly comedy open mic. Visit scruffycity.com.
FESTIVALS
Friday, Oct. 21 UT ARAB FEST 2016 • University of Tennessee • 12PM • Arab Fest 2016 Join us on UT’s Pedestrian Walkway between Hodges Library and Humanities and Social Sciences for our third annual Arab Fest. The event runs from 12:00-9:00 pm on Friday, October 21 and from 12:00-6:00 pm on Saturday October 22. There will be food and craft vendors, children’s activities, and demonstrations of Arabic music, dance, fashion, cooking, and much, much more. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, visit facebook.com/arabfairatut/ and http://religion.utk.edu/arabia/index.php. • FREE KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL • Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 • The Knoxville Horror Film Festival is committed in bringing the best (and worst) of genre cinema to East Tennessee through our annual film festival and feature screenings throughout the year. Since 2009 KHFF has been a force in the local film community, hosting screenings and events throughout the year and bringing it all together each October for our festival. Visit knoxvillehorrorfest.com. HAITI FEST 2016 • Immaculate Conception Catholic Church • 5:30PM • With steel drum music by Carib Sound, authentic Haitian food, silent auction, kids’ corner, and more. Funds support school in Fond des Blancs Haiti. • $20 Saturday, Oct. 22 WOLFSTOCK • Wolf PAWS Positive Awareness Wolf-Dog Sanctuary • 12PM • The second annual fundraiser for Wolf PAWS Positive Awareness Wolf-dog Sanctuary. There will be live music, BBQ by the Gigglin’ Pig, vendor booths with local arts and crafts, a silent aucton and tours of the sanctuary where you can meet our resident wolf-dogs. Come on out and support Wolf PAWS. Free admission, but donations will be appreciated. Visit wolf paws.org. • FREE KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL • Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 • The Knoxville Horror Film Festival is committed in bringing the best (and worst) of genre cinema to East Tennessee through our annual film festival and feature screenings throughout the year. Since 2009 KHFF has been a force in the local film community, hosting screenings and events throughout the year and bringing it all together each October for our festival. Visit knoxvillehorrorfest.com. REI THINGAMAJIG! USED GEAR SWAP AND BEER GARDEN MUSIC FESTIVAL • Schulz Bräu Brewing Company • 12PM • It’s a community gear swap with music by Dave Kennedy and Handsome and the Humbles and local food trucks and beer. Sell your favorite gear to fellow outdoor enthusiasts and make some beer money, swap some outdoor stories, rock out to live music, grab a German brew in Schulz Brau Brewery’s bier garden, visit the local food trucks, and feel good about donating to a good cause. (100% of tickets sales support’s the Bike Elf’s
100 ANNIVERSARY th
HOMECOMING CONCERT
DREW ft. UT ALUMNUS
HOLCOMB
and THE NEIGHBORS
with special guest
CEREUS BRIGHT
SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 5
8PM
MARKET SQUARE
FREE + OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
MORE INFO AT GO.UTK.EDU
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 77
CALENDAR mission to provide bicycles to children in East Tennessee who earn them.) Email nwildfi@rei.com for info. • $5 UT ARAB FEST 2016 • University of Tennessee • 12PM • For more information, visit facebook.com/arabfairatut/ and http://religion.utk.edu/arabia/index.php. • FREE HAPPY HOLLERPALOOZA • Happy Holler • 12PM • Come party in the streets of Happy Holler with your neighbors, friends and family. This great local event takes place in Historic Happy Holler on a closed section of North Central Street between Baxter Avenue and Scott Street. There will be free parking, music and various sights to take in and enjoy. No admission fees mean you can spend more money on the fabulous items you find at the shops of Happy Holler, the wonderful artists, crafters, and street vendors on display, as well as, food of all kinds from local food trucks and restaurants in the Holler. Visit facebook.com/happyhollerpaloozastreetfair/. • FREE GIBBS HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION BBQ RIB COOKOFF AND CAR/TRACTOR SHOW • Gibbs High School • 10AM • Featuring inflatables for kids, food, music and more. Sunday, Oct. 23 HOWL-O-WEEN POOCH PARADE AND PET EXPO • University of Tennessee • 1PM • Catering to dogs and dog lovers, this event will promote the invaluable resource of the UT Gardens and the College of Veterinary Medicine as well as many other dog-related nonprofits and businesses in the Knoxville area. Contact Beth Willis at ewillis2@utk. edu for additional information. • FREE KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL • Scruffy City Hall • The Knoxville Horror Film Festival is committed in
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
bringing the best (and worst) of genre cinema to East Tennessee through our annual film festival and feature screenings throughout the year. Since 2009 KHFF has been a force in the local film community, hosting screenings and events throughout the year and bringing it all together each October for our festival. Visit knoxvillehorrorfest.com. KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDEN FALL FESTIVAL • Knoxville Botanical Garden • 1PM • Craft vendors, live music, food vendors and food trucks, and a craft area for children to make fall crafts will highlight this outdoor, family-oriented event. Hayride tours will be given and there will be fall photo opportunities throughout the garden, including at the garden’s new Big Red Chair, in the Le Conte Meadow. A Blessing of the Animals will take place at 3:00 p.m., by the Reverend James Anderson, of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The garden’s new Secret Garden will be open to tour, as well. BEARDSLEY COMMUNITY FARM FALL HARVEST FESTIVAL • Beardsley Community Farm • 1PM • A free, family-friendly celebration. The festival will celebrate the farm, the community, and the final fall harvest. There will be delicious food, live music, and children’s games free for all to enjoy. Please call (865) 546-8446 with questions. • FREE Thursday, Oct. 27 BLOUNT MANSION MYSTERIOUS PAST TOURS • Blount Mansion • 7PM • Come join us for a night of fun as we explore legends, customs, and myths at the Mysterious Past of Blount Mansion. The tours are at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m. • $10
New Age Fair & Masquerade Ball
Friday, Oct. 28 FANBOY EXPO HALLOWEEN WEEKEND • Knoxville Convention Center • 4PM • Featuring celebrity guests Cherrie Currie (the Runaways), Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science, Dead Zone), Andy Biersack (Black Veil Brides), Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses), Bruce Kulick (Kiss), William Forsyth (Raising Arizona), P.J. Soles (Halloween, Stripes), and many more. Oct. 28-30. Visit fanboyexpo.com. • $17-$50 JAMES WHITE’S FORT HEARTHSCRES BALL 2016 • James White’s Fort • 7PM • Spooky surprises await you at the 6th Annual HearthScares Ball. The Fort will be transformed into a scary landmark for an evening of dancing. Come dressed in your most impressive costume. The event includes dancing, frightening finger foods, silent auction, costume contest and other Halloween hi-jinks. Proceeds benefit preservation at James White’s Fort. Must be 21 or over to attend. • $75 Saturday, Oct. 29 INTERNATIONAL FOOD FESTIVAL • World’s Fair Park • 11AM • This is your chance to taste some of the most popular and tastiest foods from different countries around the world. Our bazaar will give you the feel of shopping in the market place of some of your favorite countries and will will have authentic products to purchase. Our kid’s corner includes inflatables and crafts for your child’s entertainment. Purchase a $5 unlimited play armband and your child receives a Kids Passport to travel our festival looking for different countries to stamp their pages. HALLOWEENFEST • A Touch of Magic and Such will be
hosting a New Age Fair and Halloween Ball on Oct. 29-30, at the Jubilee Center on Callahan Road. FANBOY EXPO HALLOWEEN WEEKEND • Knoxville Convention Center • 10AM • Featuring celebrity guests Cherrie Currie (the Runaways), Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science, Dead Zone), Andy Biersack (Black Veil Brides), Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses), Bruce Kulick (Kiss), William Forsyth (Raising Arizona), P.J. Soles (Halloween, Stripes), and many more. Oct. 28-30. Visit fanboyexpo.com. • $17-$50 CELTIC NEW YEAR CELEBRATION • Bar Marley • 5PM • The Knoxville Irish Society invites you to their Celtic New Year celebration, a traditional harvest festival with a bonfire ceremony, Irish food, and Irish music. Sunday, Oct. 30 HALLOWEENFEST • A Touch of Magic and Such will be hosting a New Age Fair and Halloween Ball on Oct. 29-30, at the Jubilee Center on Callahan Road. FANBOY EXPO HALLOWEEN WEEKEND • Knoxville Convention Center • 11AM • Featuring celebrity guests Cherrie Currie (the Runaways), Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science, Dead Zone), Andy Biersack (Black Veil Brides), Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses), Bruce Kulick (Kiss), William Forsyth (Raising Arizona), P.J. Soles (Halloween, Stripes), and many more. Oct. 28-30. Visit fanboyexpo.com. • $17-$50
FILM SCREENINGS Thursday, Oct. 20
F Punk R oc k LEA MARkET
October 29 & 30 2016 Costume Party Candy Vendors Psychic Readers Costume Contest Mascarade Ball with DJ
Hosted by A Touch of Magic and Such at the Jubilee Center 6700 Jubilee Center Way Knoxville TN 37912 for info visit: atouchofmagicandsuch.com 78
KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
BANDS F D OVER 50 VENDORS
noon-6pm 1723 n central st
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
SCHULZ BRÄU FILMNACHT • Schulz Bräu Brewing Company • 9PM • A free weekly movie screening—check social media for the week’s entry. 21 and up. • FREE KNOXFERATU: AN EVENING OF SILENT HORROR FILMS • Scruffy City Hall • 7PM • Get a jumpstart on Halloween with a lineup of classic silent movies, including several early horror shorts and F.W. Murnau’s chilling unauthorized Expressionist adaptation of Dracula. • $10
CALENDAR
birdhouseknoxville.com. • FREE
Friday, Oct. 21 KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL • Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 • The Knoxville Horror Film Festival is committed in bringing the best (and worst) of genre cinema to East Tennessee through our annual film festival and feature screenings throughout the year. Since 2009 KHFF has been a force in the local film community, hosting screenings and events throughout the year and bringing it all together each October for our festival. Visit knoxvillehorrorfest.com.
Tuesday, Oct. 25 BEST OF ENEMIES’ • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 7PM • In the summer of 1968 television news changed forever. Dead last in the ratings, ABC hired two towering public intellectuals to debate each other during the Democratic and Republican national conventions. William F. Buckley Jr. was a leading light of the new conservative movement. A Democrat and cousin to Jackie Onassis, Gore Vidal was a leftist novelist and polemicist. Armed with deep-seated distrust and enmity, Vidal and Buckley believed each other’s political ideologies were dangerous for America. Like rounds in a heavyweight battle, they pummeled out policy and personal insult— their explosive exchanges devolving into vitriolic name-calling. Live and unscripted, they kept viewers riveted. Ratings for ABC News skyrocketed, and a new era in public discourse was born. • FREE
Saturday, Oct. 22 KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL • Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 • The Knoxville Horror Film Festival is committed in bringing the best (and worst) of genre cinema to East Tennessee through our annual film festival and feature screenings throughout the year. Since 2009 KHFF has been a force in the local film community, hosting screenings and events throughout the year and bringing it all together each October for our festival. Visit knoxvillehorrorfest.com.
Thursday, Oct. 27 NOKNO CINEMATEQUE: ‘FRAILTY’ • Central Collective • 8PM • A man confesses to an FBI agent his family’s story of how his religious fanatic father’s visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed “demons.” With Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, and Powers Boothe. • FREE SCHULZ BRÄU FILMNACHT • Schulz Bräu Brewing Company • 9PM • A free weekly movie screening—check social media for the week’s entry. 21 and up. • FREE
Sunday, Oct. 23 KNOXVILLE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL • Scruffy City Hall • The Knoxville Horror Film Festival is committed in bringing the best (and worst) of genre cinema to East Tennessee through our annual film festival and feature screenings throughout the year. Since 2009 KHFF has been a force in the local film community, hosting screenings and events throughout the year and bringing it all together each October for our festival. Visit knoxvillehorrorfest.com. THE PUBLIC CINEMA: HOMO SAPIENS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 7PM • Homo Sapiens is a film about the finiteness and fragility of human existence and the end of the industrial age, and what it means to be a human being. What will remain of our lives after we’re gone? Empty spaces, ruins, cities increasingly overgrown with vegetation, crumbling asphalt: the areas we currently inhabit, though humanity has disappeared. Now abandoned and decaying, gradually reclaimed by nature after being taken from it so long ago. Homo Sapiens is an ode to humanity as seen from a possible future scenario. Visit publiccinema.org. • FREE
SPORTS AND RECREATION
Monday, Oct. 24 UT OUT FILM SERIES: STONEWALL UPRISING • University of Tennessee • 6PM • This film tells the story of the massive police raid of the Stonewall in June 1969 and riots that followed. Part of the OUT Film Series at the John C. Hodges Library. • FREE NUCLEAR SAVAGE: THE ISLANDS OF SECRET PROJECT 4.1’ • St. James Episcopal Church • 6:30PM • Filmmaker Adam Jonas Horowitz documents a government program, Project 4.1, to study secretly human beings exposed to radiation from nuclear test fallout. Nuclear Savage was made for PBS which has so far required significant editing and still refuses to air the film. Sponsored by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance with the assistance of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. • FREE THE BIRDHOUSE WALK-IN THEATER • The Birdhouse • 8:15PM • A weekly free movie screening. Visit
Thursday, Oct. 20 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE NORTH KNOXVILLE BEER RUNNERS • Central Flats and Taps • 6PM • Meet us at Central Flats and Taps every Thursday night for a fun and easy run leading us right through Saw Works for a midway beer. • FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 6PM • Visit fleetfeetknoxville.com. • FREE BEARDEN BIKE AND TRAIL LAPS ON CHEROKEE BOULEVARD • Bearden Bike and Trail • 6PM • Visit beardenbikeandtrail.com. • FREE RIVER SPORTS GREENWAY RIDE • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE-$10 CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES BEGINNER ROAD RIDE • Sequoyah Park • 6:20PM • Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY NIGHT RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:20PM • Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE Friday, Oct. 21 RIVER SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT GREENWAY RUN • River Sports Outfitters • 6:15PM • Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 22 WEST BIKES SATURDAY RIDE • West Bicycles • 8AM • Visit westbikes.com. • FREE BIKE ZOO SATURDAY MORNING RIDE • The Bike Zoo • 9AM • Visit bikezoo.com. • FREE BIKE N’ TRI GROUP CLIMBING RIDE • Bike N’ Tri • 5PM • Join us for our group climbing ride of 30-40 miles, for intermediate to advanced riders only. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: MOUNT CAMMERER • Mount Cammerer, also called White Rock, offers 360 degree views of fall color. Our approach will be by the
Low Gap Trail, rising 1,900 feet in 2.9 miles, then by a gentler climb on the AT. Hike: 16 miles, rated difficult. Meet at the Comcast, 5720 Asheville Hwy, at 6:45 am. Leaders: John Smiley, johnsmiley55@bellsouth.net and Mary Brewer, emiebrewer@gmail.com. • FREE PADDLE THE RIVER • Riverside Landing Park • 9:30AM • Come paddle with us every fourth Saturday of the month. We will be paddling from Holston River Park to Ned McWherter Dock. We will meet at 9:30 a.m. at McWherter Landing and set up our shuttle system. We will put in at Holston River Park and paddle down and take out at Ned McWherter. Come on out and paddle with us. Cost is $20 per person. Boat/paddle/PFD will be provided. Show up with your water attire and bring something to drink and sunscreen for those sunny days. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. UT ARBORETUM OWL PROWL • University of Tennessee Arboretum • 6:30PM • Naturalists from the Clinch River Raptor Center, Kathy Strunk and Katie Cottrell will bring live owls for display and will give information about their natural history. The evening event will begin at the UT Arboretum Program Shelter (follow the signs and drive to this location). The initial program will be followed by walks on the grounds of the Arboretum led by Kathy, Katie and John Byrd. The goal is to hear some owls. Those who do not wish to go on the walks may stay at the shelter and visit with the center’s educational owls. Participants are encouraged to bring flashlights if they plan to participate in the “owl prowl” in the woods. To learn more about the Arboretum Society, go to www. utarboretumsociety.org. Sunday, Oct. 23 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES SUNDAY MORNING GROUP RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 9AM • Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE Monday, Oct. 24 KTC GROUP RUN • Mellow Mushroom • 6PM • Visit ktc.org. • FREE TVB MONDAY NIGHT ROAD RIDE • Tennessee Valley Bikes • 6PM • The soon to be famous Monday night road ride happens every Monday. We usually split into two groups according to speed. Both groups are no-drop groups. The faster group averages over 17 mph and the B group averages around 14 mph. • FREE BEARDEN BEER MARKET FUN RUN • Bearden Beer Market • 6:30PM • Visit beardenbeermarket.com. • FREE BIKE N’ TRI MONDAY GROUP RUN • Bike N’ Tri • 6:30PM • Every Monday evening, join us for a social three- to six-mile group run. All runners/joggers/walkers welcome. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 25 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES TUESDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 9AM • Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE CYCOLOGY BICYCLES TUESDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10:30AM • Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE AMBC BIG GROUP MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE • Ijams Nature Center • 6PM • Visit ambc-sorba.org. • FREE THIRD CREEK GREENWAY SOCIAL RIDE • Bearden Bike and Trail • 6PM • Visit beardenbikeandtrail.com. • FREE CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES TUESDAY NIGHT RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:20PM • Join Cedar Bluff Cycles every Tuesday night for their group ride. Riders will divided into 2 groups. The A group rides an extremely fast-paced 40-plus-mile loop at a speed of 22-24 mph. The B group is a little more relaxed, riding at an 18-20 mph pace. Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE HARD KNOX TUESDAY FUN RUN • Hard Knox Pizzeria •
Knoxville’s BEST live music venue 6 nights a week!
Happy Hour 4pm - 8pm | mon - fri Huge selection of Craft, Import & Local beer Locally roasted coffee
Thanks Knoxville for voting us
TOP MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS STORE wed oct. 19 • 8pm
• secret LIVE COMEDY VENUE city cyphers!!! General Admission • $5 MUSIC SCHOOL free for performers • all ROCKages CLUB ( open mic / hip hop )
thurs 0ct. 20 • 8pm
spinning: beck
vinyl me, please presents the spins w/ holiday free • All Ages ( indie rock )
odelay
*LIMITED COPIES OF THE NEW ALBUM WILL BE GIVEN AWAY!
fri oct. 21 • 8pm
Mayfest, Robinson Park, The Sedonas, & Field Notes $7 • All Ages ( rock )
sat oct. 22 • 8pm
John Paul White The Kernal $18 ADV / $20 Day of All ages ( americana ) "Coolest venue in town! Not too big, not too small. Great sound system and audio engineers. Lights show, good food, cold beer and a music store in the back. Oh, and they give lessons, too. Seriously? I still can't believe this place is real." -Austin Hall of Sam Killed The Bear
Knoxville’s Best Musical Instrument Store
8502 KINGSTON PIKE • (865) 281-5874 openchordmusic.com
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 79
CALENDAR 6:30PM • Join Hard Knox Pizzeria every Tuesday evening (rain or shine) for a 2-3 mile fun run. Burn calories. Devour pizza. Quench thirst. Follow us on Facebook. • FREE BIKETOPIA TUESDAY ROAD RIDE • Biketopia • 6:30PM • Visit biketopia.com. • FREE FOUNTAIN CITY ROUNDABOUT • Casual Pint (Fountain City) • 6:30PM • Visit facebook.com/TheCasualPint/. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 26 SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: EAST LAKESHORE TRAIL • 9AM • We will hike the Glendale Branch and Coytee Loop at the East Lakeshore Trail at Tellico Lake. Hiking distance is about 9 miles along Tellico Lake. Meet at Lenoir City Cracker Barrel, 325 Ft Loudon Medical Center Drive, at 9:00 am. Leader: Terry Nyenhuis, terrynyenhuis@gmail. com, 865-206- 9476. • FREE BIKE N’ TRI GROUP RIDE • Bike N’ Tri • 10AM • Every Wednesday, join us for a social group ride of 20-40 miles. We’ll split into two groups to make the ride suitable for all riders. All riders welcome. • FREE FLEET FEET WEDNESDAY LUNCH BREAK RUN • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 12PM • Visit fleetfeetknoxville.com. • FREE KTC GROUP RUN • Runner’s Market • 5:30PM • Visit ktc.org. • FREE TVB EASY RIDER MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE • Ijams Nature Center • 6PM • Check out our Facebook page or give us a call at 865-540-9979 for more info. We meet near Mead’s Quarry. • FREE AMBC CONCORD PARK MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE • Concord
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
Park • 6PM • Visit ambc-sorba.org. • FREE WEST BIKES WEDNESDAY BIKE RIDE • West Bicycles • 6:15PM • Visit westbikes.com. • FREE
participate in the Irish sport of hurling, which has been played in Ireland for 3,000 years. It is addictively fun, and has been described as a hybrid of field hockey and lacrosse. If you enjoy the dynamic of soccer and ultimate frisbee, the excitement of swinging at a baseball, or the physicallity of rugby, this is the sport for you. The Irish sports are open to the public; anyone interested is invited to spectate or participate. All gear is provided. We host weekly practices year-round. Find Knoxville Gaelic Athletic Club on facebook and twitter, or google “fastest game on grass” for more informaiton on Hurling. • FREE FARRAGUT 13.1/5K/KIDS’ RUN • Farragut High School • 7:30AM • Visit farragut131.com. • $30-$55 WEST BIKES SATURDAY RIDE • West Bicycles • 8AM • Visit westbikes.com. • FREE SMOKY MOUNTAIN HIKING CLUB: BIG FORK RIDGE TRAIL • 8AM • We will start this clockwise loop on the Big Fork Ridge Trail in the Cataloochee Valley. We will hike over Big Fork Ridge to Caldwell Junction, then up the Caldwell Fork Trail to again reach the top of Big Fork Ridge at a junction with the Rough Fork Trail. Then we coast down to our starting point. Elk bugling may punctuate our hike. Total distance of 9.2 miles and total climb of 1,800 feet make this a hike of moderate difficulty. Meet at the Comcast, 5720 Asheville Highway, at 8:00 am. Leader: Steve Dunkin, jsdunkin@roaneschools.com. • FREE BIKE ZOO SATURDAY MORNING RIDE • The Bike Zoo • 9AM • Visit bikezoo.com. • FREE BIKE N’ TRI GROUP CLIMBING RIDE • Bike N’ Tri • 5PM • Join us for our group climbing ride of 30-40 miles, for intermediate to advanced riders only. • FREE
Thursday, Oct. 27 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES THURSDAY MORNING RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 10AM • Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE NORTH KNOXVILLE BEER RUNNERS • Central Flats and Taps • 6PM • Meet us at Central Flats and Taps every Thursday night for a fun and easy run leading us right through Saw Works for a midway beer. • FREE FLEET FEET GROUP RUN/WALK • Fleet Feet Sports Knoxville • 6PM • Visit fleetfeetknoxville.com. • FREE BEARDEN BIKE AND TRAIL LAPS ON CHEROKEE BOULEVARD • Bearden Bike and Trail • 6PM • Visit beardenbikeandtrail.com. • FREE RIVER SPORTS GREENWAY RIDE • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE-$10 CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES BEGINNER ROAD RIDE • Sequoyah Park • 6:20PM • Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE CEDAR BLUFF CYCLES THURSDAY NIGHT RIDE • Cedar Bluff Cycles • 6:20PM • Visit cedarbluffcycles.net. • FREE Friday, Oct. 28 RIVER SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT GREENWAY RUN • River Sports Outfitters • 6:15PM • Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 29 CELTIC NEW YEAR CELEBRATION • Sam Duff Memorial Park • 12PM • The Knoxville Irish Society invites you to their Celtic New Year Celebration—you can watch or Photo by Joe Martinez Jr./Thrill Jockey Records
OOZING WOUND Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave.) • Tuesday, Oct. 25 • 9 p.m. • 18 and up • thepilotlight.com or oozingwound.com
A Google search for “oozing wound” will turn up info about this Chicago noise/punk/thrash trio: a link to Thrill Jockey, the band’s label; a Pitchfork review of the group’s 2014 album, Earth Suck; and a profile from the English newspaper the Guardian, from the same year. But don’t click the images tab—the search also leads to some pretty gross stuff on medical websites: “Why does my wound keep oozing?” Singer/guitarist Zack Weil, bassist Kevin Cribbin, and drummer Kyle Reynolds showed up fully formed in 2011 with Retrash, their debut album as Oozing Wound. There’s not been much development or creative growth on the subsequent Earth Suck or the brand-new Whatever Forever, mostly because there’s no need. From the start, the band has demonstrated their command of scorched-earth punk-metal crossover—fast/faster dynamics, maniac drum fills, lacerating guitar riffs, and economical songwriting in which no guitar lick or vocal howl is wasted or out of place. (Matthew Everett)
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
Sunday, Oct. 30 CYCOLOGY BICYCLES SUNDAY MORNING GROUP RIDE • Cycology Bicycles • 9AM • Visit cycologybicycles.com. • FREE
ART
Art Market Gallery 422 S. Gay St. OCT. 4-27: Paintings by Brenda Mills and clay art by Karyn Kyte. Broadway Studios and Gallery 1127 N. Broadway Oct. 7-29: Jan Lynch: A Retrospective. The District Gallery 5113 Kingston Pike OCT. 7-29: Mask, an exhibit of animal masks by sculptor Nan Jacobsohn. East Tennessee History Center 601 S. Gay St. APRIL 16-OCT. 30: Come to Make Records, a selection of artifacts, audio and video recordings, and photographs celebrating Knoxville’s music heritage and the 1929-30 St. James Hotel recording sessions. Emporium Center for Arts and Culture 100 S. Gay St. OCT. 7-28: Tennessee Artists Association Fall Juried Show; The Arrowmont Experience; pottery by Rex W. Redd; Impressions of Nature, photographic paintings by Dennis Sabo; and artwork by Melanie Fetterolf. Knoxville Arts and Fine Crafts Center 1127B Broadway
AUG. 1-OCT. 31: Whimsical Creatures, paintings and photographs by Lela E. Buis. Knoxville Museum of Art 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive AUG. 26-NOV. 6: Romantic Spirits: 19th-Century Paintings of the South From the Johnson Collection ONGOING: Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in Tennessee; Currents: Recent Art From East Tennessee and Beyond; and Facets of Modern and Contemporary Glass. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture 1327 Circle Park Drive SEPT. 17-JAN. 8: Knoxville Unearthed: Archaeology in the Heart of the Valley. JULY 12-OCT. 19: Land, Sea, and Spirit: Alaska Native Art From the 19th and 20th Centuries. ONGOING: The Flora and Fauna of Catesby, Mason, and Audubon and Life on the Roman Frontier.
FAMILY AND KIDS’ EVENTS
Thursday, Oct. 20 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Recommended for ages 3-5. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 1PM • For middle and high school students, with coach Tom Jobe. Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • FREE Friday, Oct. 21 S.T.E.A.M. KIDS • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • For grades K-5. • FREE BOO! AT THE ZOO • Knoxville Zoo • 5:30PM • Boo! at the Zoo is Knoxville’s largest Halloween event, featuring 12 nights of safe and not-too-scary Halloween fun perfect for preschool and elementary-aged children. Oct. 6-23. Visit zooknoxville.org. • $9 Saturday, Oct. 22 CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 10AM • Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE BLOUNT COUNTY NERD GROUP • Blount County Public Library • 3PM • Starting this summer, students can learn the basic principles of computer programming, also known as coding. • FREE BOO! AT THE ZOO • Knoxville Zoo • 5:30PM • Boo! at the Zoo is Knoxville’s largest Halloween event, featuring 12 nights of safe and not-too-scary Halloween fun perfect for preschool and elementary-aged children. Oct. 6-23. Visit zooknoxville.org. • $9 MEAD MONTESSORI SCHOOL FALL FESTIVAL • Mead Montessori School • 11AM • This is a family event that is open to the public. This Year’s Activities: Onsight Rock Gym, Silent Auction, Games, Music, Costume Parade, Henna Tattoo, Cake Walk, and more. Entertainment by Sean McCullough, Red Shoes and Rosin, and One World Circus. Admission is free, but tickets are needed for games and food. Tickets can be purchased at meadmontessorischool.com/mead-fall-festival-2016/. • 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
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
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 RIVER SPORTS TRICK OR TREAT ON THE WATER • Ijams Nature Center and Concord Park • 11AM • Halloween is just around the corner. On Oct. 22 and 23, come out to one of our two rental locations wearing your Halloween costume and get candy to start off your trick or treating a week early. It will be an awesome way to spend your Saturday and Sunday with family or friends. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. Sunday, Oct. 23 BOO! AT THE ZOO • Knoxville Zoo • 5:30PM • Boo! at the Zoo is Knoxville’s largest Halloween event, featuring 12 nights of safe and not-too-scary Halloween fun perfect for preschool and elementary-aged children. Oct. 6-23. Visit zooknoxville.org. • $9 RIVER SPORTS TRICK OR TREAT ON THE WATER • Ijams Nature Center and Concord Park • 11AM • Halloween is just around the corner. On Oct. 22 and 23, come out to one of our two rental locations wearing your Halloween costume and get candy to start off your trick or treating a week early. It will be an awesome way to spend your Saturday and Sunday with family or friends. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. Tuesday, Oct. 25 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Recommended for ages 3-5. • FREE
FEATURING : JACK DANIELS DISTILLERY GEORGE DICKEL DISTILLERY
SENSORY STORY TIME • Blount County Public Library • 6PM • An interactive storytime with stories, songs, movement, and activities designed to increase early literacy skills and provide a safe and open space for children and families to learn and interact. Open to children of all abilities but especially designed for the kids with special needs between the developmental ages of 3 - 5. • FREE Wednesday, Oct. 26 BABY AND ME • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Recommended for ages 2 and under. These lapsit sessions for baby and caregiver feature short stories, action rhymes, music and pre-literacy tips and tricks for caregivers. It is also a great time for caregivers and babies to socialize. • FREE Thursday, Oct. 27 LITTLE LEARNERS • Blount County Public Library • 10:30AM • Recommended for ages 3-5. • FREE CHESS AT THE LIBRARY • Blount County Public Library • 1PM • Visit blountlibrary.org. • FREE LEGO CLUB • Blount County Public Library • 4PM • FREE
LECTURES, READINGS, AND BOOK SIGNINGS
Thursday, Oct. 20 LISPECTORFEST: A CELEBRATION OF THE WORK OF CLARICE LISPECTOR • University of Tennessee • 10AM • Hailed as one of the premier Latin American prose writers of the
CALENDAR
modern era, Brazilian author Clarice Lispector has been compared to the likes of Woolf, Kafka and Nabokov. Events include a screening of The Hour of the Star, Suzana Amaral’s 1985 film adaptation of Lispector’s 1977 novel of the same name (Oct. 18); a lecture and workshop by Katrina Dodson, who translated the new English-language edition of Lispector’s short stories (Oct. 19 and 20); and a related art exhibit at the Central Collective by UT art professor Rubens Ghenov, who was born in Brazil (Oct. 19-21). Visit mfll.utk.edu/Lispector/ for details and a complete schedule. • FREE JIM TUMBLIN: ‘FOUNTAIN CITY: PEOPLE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE’ • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • Local historian and Shopper columnist Dr. Jim Tumblin will discuss his new book, Fountain City: People Who Made a Difference, the history of Knoxville’s most fiercely independent community as told through the stories of 56 extraordinary citizens. Visit EastTNHistory.org. • FREE MATT MURRAY: “PRESIDENTIAL ECONOMICS: RHETORIC AND REALITY” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 12:30PM • Murray is the Baker Center director and Boyd Center associate director. • FREE “AN ETHICAL, SUSTAINABLE ENERGY INDUSTRY” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 1PM • Becky Jacobs, a Waller Lansden Distinguished Professor of Law, will moderate an interdisciplinary panel. • FREE MONIQUE WELLS • Knoxville Museum of Art • 5:30PM • Wells, founder and director of the organization dedicated to preserving Knoxville-born Beauford Delaney’s artistic legacy in Paris, will speak at the Knoxville Museum of Art. • Free
Friday, Oct. 21 UT SCIENCE FORUM • Thompson-Boling Arena • 12PM • The University of Tennessee Science Forum offers a weekly lecture on current science, medical, or technology developments. Visit scienceforum.utk.edu. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 23 RITA QUILLEN • Union Ave Books • 2PM • Book signing with poet Rita Quillen reading from her new collection of poems, The Mad Farmer’s Wife. • FREE MCCLUNG MUSEUM CIVIL WAR BUS TOUR • McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture • 2PM • Join the McClung Museum for the bus tour “Forgotten Memorials: Designed for Remembrance, Relegated to Obscurity,” highlighting Knoxville’s neglected Civil War cemeteries and memorials. For questions or to purchase tickets by phone, call Stacy Palado at 865-974-2143. • $40-$60 BIRDHOUSE SUNDAY DINNER POTLUCK AND PRESENTATION • The Birdhouse • 6PM • Every month, the Birdhouse hosts a Sunday dinner program. It begins with a potluck dinner, followed by a speaker and presentation on a wide range of timely topics. • FREE Monday, Oct. 24 EBAN GOODSTEIN: “REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS, AND SUSTAINABILITY” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 1PM • Goodstein is director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College in New York. • FREE EBAN GOODSTEIN: “HOW TO GET A JOB SAVING THE PLANET” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 3:30PM • Goodstein is director of the Bard Center for
a CELEBRATION of southern spirits and gourmet grub
OLD FORGE DISTILLERY
FEATURING : BLACKBERRY FARM & BLACKBERRY FARM BREWERY BLUETICK BREWERY
POPCORN SUTTON / AVERY’S TRAIL DISTILLERY
DANCING BEAR
SUGARLANDS DISTILLING CO.
APPALACHIAN BISTRO
THUNDER ROAD DISTILLERY
LI MISS LILY’S.
H CLARK DISTILLERY
OLD MILL POTTERY HOUSE
SPEAKEASY SPIRITS DISTILLERY
FLATS & TAPS CADES COVE CELLARS
NELSON’S GREENBRIER DISTILLERY
AND MANY MORE TN FAVORITES
CORSAIR DISTILLERY COR
LIVE MUSIC & ACTIVITIES
CHATTANOOGA WHISKEY PYRAMID PREMUIM VODKA
LOCATED ON THE PEACEFUL SIDE OF THE SMOKIES
SHORT MOUNTAIN DISTILLERY JUG CREEK DISTILLERY LEIPER’S FORK DISTILLERY BOOTLEGGERS DISTILLERY BO KNOX WHISKEY WORKS TENNESSEE LEGEND DISTILLERY
TOWNSEND, TN
November 5, 2016, 5-9pm The Townsend Grains & Grits Festival is a celebration of southern spirits and gourmet grub. We have created a unique opportunity for you to experience our thriving craft spirits and gourmet food community, while discovering some of the region’s legendary distillers and blenders, taking place in the Peaceful Side of the Smokies.
FOR TICKETS & MORE INFORMATION, VISIT GRAIN GRAINSANDGRITSFEST.COM OR CALL, (865) 983-2241
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 81
CALENDAR Environmental Policy at Bard College in New York. He’ll discuss sustainability leadership careers in NGOs, business, and policy. • FREE UT WRITERS IN THE LIBRARY SERIES • University of Tennessee • 7PM • The University of Tennessee’s annual Writers in the Library series features novelists, poets, and nonfiction writers from around the region and visiting writers at UT, reading from and discussing their work in the auditorium of the John C. Hodges Library. The 2016-17 schedule includes Christopher Hebert (Aug. 29); Leah Stewart (Sept. 19); Tawnysha Greene and Kristi Maxwell (Oct. 3); Angela Floury (Oct. 24); Bret Anthony Johnston (Nov. 7); Garrett Hongo (Nov. 15); Joy Harjo (Jan. 23); Austion Kodra and Linda Parsons Marion (Jan. 30); LeAnne Howe (Feb. 6); Ocean Vuong (Feb. 20); Maggie Shipstead (March 6); Kathering Smith and Tanque Jones (march 20); Bobby Caudle Rogers and Maria James-Thiaw (March 27); Manuel Gonzales (April 10); and graduate student award winners (April 17). Visit lib.utk.edu/writers/. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 25 INSIDE OUT: ART AND THE BRAIN • Knoxville Museum of Art • 5:30PM • Representatives of the Knoxville Museum of Art and The Pat Summitt Foundation are teaming together to co-host a special program exploring the topic of art and the brain. Admission is free but guests are asked to pre-register for the event, either online at www. patsummitt.org/kma or by calling Kate Faulkner at the Knoxville Museum of Art at 865-525-6101, extension 246. Parking at the museum is free. • FREE ASMA AFSARUDDIN: “ISLAMIC FEMINISM: CHALLENGING
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
PATRIARCHY IN MUSLIM-MAJORITY SOCIETIES” • University of Tennessee Alumni Memorial Building • 5:30PM • FREE • See Spotlight on page 74. Wednesday, Oct. 26 BOOKS SANDWICHED IN • East Tennessee History Center • 12PM • The Friends of the Knox County Public Library’s monthly reading series this fall includes Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett leading a discussion on I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Last Ride of Jimmy Hoffa, by Charles Brandt (Oct. 19); Vrondelia Chandler of Project Grad and Jackie Clay of the Save Our Sons initiative on Rac(e)ing to Class: Confronting Poverty and Race in Schools and Classrooms, by H. Richard Milner IV and Tyrone Howard (Oct. 26); UT journalism professor Stuart Brotman on Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World, by Timothy Garton Ash (Nov. 16); and Patricia Robledo, business liaison for the city of Knoxville, on The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez (Dec. 7). • FREE Thursday, Oct. 27 PETER Z. GROSSMAN: “ENERGY POLICY AND THE NEXT PRESIDENT” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 1PM • Grossman is a Clarence Efroymson Professor of Economics at Butler University. • FREE PETER Z. GROSSMAN AND LORNA A. GREENING: “ANALYZING THE PROCESS OF ENERGY POLICY” • Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy • 3PM • Grossman and Greening, a Baker Center Energy and Environment Fellow, will discuss why policy responses to the same problems
Your Downtown Experience Begins Here Click on the "Downtown Properties" tab at InsideOfKnoxville.com
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MELINDA GRIMAC AFFILIATE BROKER
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
differ among countries. • FREE
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
Thursday, Oct. 20 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 12:30PM • Portrait and life drawing practice at Candoro Art and Heritage Center. $10. Call Brad Selph for more information (865-573-0709). • $10 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: KNIT YOUR WAY TO WELLNESS • Cancer Support Community • 1PM • Whether you are a novice knitter or an old pro, you are invited to bring your own project or join others in learning a new one. Special attention will be provided to beginners interested in learning how to knit and experience the meditative quality of knitting. Supplies provided. Call 865-546-4661. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • Visit knoxvillecapoeira.org. • $10 KNOXVILLE PERSONAL TRAINING PILATES • Beaver Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church • 6:30PM • Every Tuesday and Thursday. First class is free. Call (865) 622-3103 or visit knoxvillepersonaltraining.com. • $4
THIRSTY (FOR KNOWLEDGE) THURSDAY • Old City Wine Bar • 6:30PM • Join our sommelier, Matt Burke, every Thursday in the cellar of the Old City Wine Bar for our ongoing wine education series. Free to listen and only $20-$25 to partake in the libations. • $20-$25 COMEDY IMPROV CLASS • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 7PM • Paul Simmons of Einstein Simplified will be teaching a six-week improv/comedy improv class Sept. 22-Nov. 3. (There’s no class on Oct. 13.) Contact Paul at dr.p@tds.net or 865-898-6448 for more info or to register. Walk-ins are welcome. Cost is $100 for the six classes. ADULT COLORING SESSIONS • Blount County Public Library • 7PM • Remember the carefree joy of picking up your favorite crayon or marker and adding color to a beautiful picture? Experience the same fun and relaxation even though you are now an adult. Held on the third Thursday of every month. • FREE BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM • Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 SUP YOGA • Concord Park • 7PM • Yoga on a SUP board? Come join us every Thursday at the Cove. We will meet at the River Sports Outfitters building. Cost is $25 and includes board, paddle and PFD. Register at barrebelleyoga.com/class-schedule. • $25 Friday, Oct. 21 KNOX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY WINDOWS 10 COMPUTER WORKSHOPS • Lawson McGee Public Library • 9:30AM • Knox County Public Library is pleased to announce a new
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
series of computer workshops based on Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system. All classes are free and open to the public. Reservations are required and can be made by calling (865) 215-8723. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 22 YOGA AT NARROW RIDGE • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 9:30AM • For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: MINDFULNESS IN EVERYDAY LIFE • Cancer Support Community • 10AM • Life is full of challenges. What can we do when our lives feel out of control? A practice of mindfulness can help. RSVP. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. LEARN TO GO GREEN GENTLY SEMINAR • Pellissippi State Community College • 10AM • Come and learn how making your home green can not only make you feel better about the environment, but put money back into your pocket too. 50 exhibitors to help you learn how to lower utility bills, make your home more comfortable and healthier, and other green living ideas. Seven classes for homeowners at no charge: energy efficiency info, kitchens, bathrooms, historic homes, renovations, getting off the grid and more. Two classes for contractors and handymen and women - $10 a class. IMPROV COMEDY CLASS • The Birdhouse • 10:30AM • A weekly improv comedy class. • FREE KNOX COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS • Cedar Bluff Branch Library • 10:30AM • Jack Frost is on his way. It’s time for the end-of-season cleanup. Whether you grow herbs, veggies, or flowers, there are things you should do now. Join Master Gardener Joe Pardue for a review of clean-up tasks for your pots and containers, flower beds, veggie beds, and your tools before you hunker down for the winter. Call 865-470-7033. • FREE LEARN TO MEDITATE WORKSHOP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 2PM • Led by the author of 800 Stepping Stones to Complete Relaxation. E-mail mikewright102348@gmail.com or call (865) 851-9835. • FREE FLY FISHING 101 • 3 Rivers Angler • 9AM • 3 Rivers Angler is offering lessons on fly casting and outfit rigging at absolutely no charge. Each class teaches the basics of rigging, casting and other intro to fly fishing skills. All of the gear and instruction is provided free of charge. Space is limited so please make sure to sign up well in advance. Call 3 Rivers Angler 865-200-5271 for more information or drop John an email at john@3riversangler. com. Visit 3riversangler.com. • FREE SUP YOGA • Concord Park • 9AM • Yoga on a paddle board, every Saturday at 9 a.m. Cost is $25, including rental, or $12.50 if you already have you own board. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • $12.50-$25 SAFTA POETRY CROSS FIT • Sundress Academy for the Arts • 1PM • Learn how to conquer writer’s block and how to overcome over-editing at the very first Poetry Cross Fit, a class presented by our own Erin Elizabeth Smith. The class is free though there is a suggested donation of $10. • FREE KAYAK 101 • Concord Park • 10AM • Have you been wondering when you’re ever going to find an opportunity to learn how to kayak? We have you covered! Come learn to paddle with us out at the Cove. Cost is $35 Kayak and PFD is included. Just show up and learn. You’ll be paddling around in no time. You must register for this event so we know if we need to bring any extra boats. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com. • $35
CALENDAR
Sunday, Oct. 23 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE BALLET BARRE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 1PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL MODERN TECHNIQUE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 2PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE IMPROVISATION CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 3:30PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION SERIES • Cancer Support Community • 5PM • This Mindfulness series teaches practices which help develop the skill of self-compassion while living with the stressors of a cancer diagnosis. Research shows that increasing levels of self-compassion are correlated with a greater sense of wellbeing, lower anxiety and depression levels, maintenance of good health habits and more satisfying interpersonal relationships. RSVP. 865-546-4661. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. ACROKNOX FOUNDATIONAL ACROYOGA • World’s Fair Park • 5:30PM • AcroKnox offers a Foundational AcroYoga Class on Sunday evenings from 5:30-6:00pm on the festival lawn at World’s Fair Park. The class is followed by the Knoxville Acro-balance, Fire, and Flow Jam. Never tried AcroYoga? Come and gain a bit of experience before the rest of the group arrives for an open jam and play time. Visit acroknox.com. • $5 BEGINNING BRIDGE LESSONS • Knoxville Bridge Center • 1:30PM • Contact Jo Anne Newby at (865} 539-4150 or email KnoxvilleBridge@gmail.com. • $5 Monday, Oct. 24 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 5:30PM • Call 865-5772021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. BEGINNER MODERN BELLY DANCE • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 6PM • Tribal fusion belly dance is a modern blend of traditional belly dance infused with hip-hop, modern dance, and more to create a new, unique dance form. Each class will include an invigorating warm-up designed to increase flexibility and strength followed by an overview of posture, isolations, and basic footwork. At the end of class we put the moves together in a fun and simple combination. No dance experience is necessary. • $13 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 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN STUDIES SERIES: APPALACHIAN BASKETRY • Blount County Public Library • 7PM • Today’s crafts were yesterday’s necessities. One craft, basketry, yields items that are both beautiful and useful. Basket weavers Bruce and Denise Robertson will demonstrate basic basket making techniques and discuss their importance in Appalachia. Basket types, uses, and materials will be covered as well as Native American Influences. The program will be in the Sharon Lawson Room. • FREE BEGINNING CHEN-STYLE TAI CHI • Breezeway Yoga Studio • 8:15PM • An eight-week introductory-level training with Shifu Russell Sauls in the original form of Tai Chi. Chen style is significantly more dynamic than most other styles while expressing the mindful, fluid movement for which Tai Chi is famous. No experience necessary for this beginners’ series. Begins Monday, Oct. 10. $120 for the
eight-week series. Visit breezewayyoga.com or email russellsauls@gmail.com for more info • $120 Tuesday, Oct. 25 OPEN PROFESSIONAL-LEVEL CONTEMPORARY DANCE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 9:30AM • Taught by Harper Addison. First class is free. Class is designed to develop a well-rounded set of technical skills as well as encourage individual artistic expression. Her movement style and choreography highlight dynamic quality changes, level changes, and movement through space. • $10 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. ARTS AND CULTURE ALLIANCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ARTISTS’ SEMINARS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 5:30PM • The Arts and Culture Alliance’s 2016-17 series of professional development seminars for artists and other creative people includes Social Media for Artists and Creatives with Lisa Gifford Mueller (Sept. 13); Writing From Dreams with Marilynn Kallet (Oct. 25); Research and Apply for Juried Shows with Kelly Hider (Nov. 15); Lessons From Ansel Adams in the Digital Age with Steve Zigler (Jan. 10); the Power of Video and Photo to Tell Your Story with Mueller (Feb. 7); and Social Media and Branding with Dale Mackey (April 11). Visit knoxalliance.com. • $5-$8 KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • 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 BEGINNING BRIDGE LESSONS • Knoxville Bridge Center • 6PM • Contact Jo Anne Newby at (865} 539-4150 or email KnoxvilleBridge@gmail.com. • $5 Wednesday, Oct. 26 MEDICARE PLANS AND CHANGES FOR 2017 • Blount County Public Library • 11AM • Joani Shaver, Blount County Office on Aging Director, will discuss Medicare and the changes for 2017: What’s new this year, what Medicare Parts A and B cover, Medicare costs, health and prescription drug plans, and Fraud prevention. Participants are encouraged to visit www.medicare.gov prior to the presentation to come to the presentation with their questions. The program’s goal is solely to help consumers make informed decisions. • FREE CIRCLE MODERN DANCE INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED MODERN TECHNIQUE CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. BEGINNER MODERN BELLY DANCE • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 6PM • Tribal fusion belly dance is a modern blend of traditional belly dance infused with hip-hop, modern dance, and more to create a new, unique dance form. Each class will include an invigorating warm-up designed to increase flexibility and strength followed by an overview of posture, isolations, and basic footwork. At the end of class we put the moves together in a fun and simple combination. No dance experience is necessary. • $13 CIRCLE MODERN DANCE OPEN LEVEL BALLET CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 7:30PM • Visit circlemoderndance.com. • $10 CLIMBING FUNDAMENTALS • River Sports Outfitters • 6PM • Come learn the basics of climbing every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Space is limited so call 865-673-4687 to reserve your spot now. Class fee $20. Visit riversportsoutfitters.com/events. • $20 October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 83
CALENDAR Thursday, Oct. 27 GENTLE YOGA AND MEDITATION • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 12PM • Call 865-577-2021 or email yogaway249@gmail.com. Donations accepted. AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Halls Senior Center • 12PM • Call 382-5822. PORTRAIT AND LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS • Historic Candoro Marble Company • 12:30PM • Portrait and life drawing practice at Candoro Art and Heritage Center. $10. Call Brad Selph for more information (865-573-0709). • $10 AARP DRIVER SAFETY CLASS • Asbury Place • 1PM • Call 382-5822. KNOXVILLE CAPOEIRA CLASS • Emporium Center for Arts and Culture • 6PM • Visit knoxvillecapoeira.org. • $10 KNOXVILLE PERSONAL TRAINING PILATES • Beaver Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church • 6:30PM • Every Tuesday and Thursday. First class is free. Call (865) 622-3103 or visit knoxvillepersonaltraining.com. • $4 THIRSTY (FOR KNOWLEDGE) THURSDAY • Old City Wine Bar • 6:30PM • Join our sommelier, Matt Burke, every Thursday in the cellar of the Old City Wine Bar for our ongoing wine education series. Free to listen and only $20-$25 to partake in the libations. • $20-$25 COMEDY IMPROV CLASS • Broadway Academy of Performing Arts • 7PM • Paul Simmons of Einstein Simplified will be teaching a six-week improv/comedy improv class Sept. 22-Nov. 3. (There’s no class on Oct. 13.) Contact Paul at dr.p@tds.net or 865-898-6448 for more info or to register. Walk-ins are welcome. Cost is $100 for the six classes. BELLY DANCE LEVELS 1 AND 2 • Knox Dance Worx • 8PM •
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Sunday, Oct. 30
Call (865) 898-2126 or email alexia@alexia-dance.com. • $12 BACKPACKING 101: PACKS AND TENTS • River Sports Outfitters • 6:30PM • Make sure your backpack is fitted properly before your next adventure! Come hear one of our specialists going over the specifics of picking the right pack and tent to carry you well through your time in the woods. Join us for the whole backpacking series through the end of November. • FREE SUP YOGA • Concord Park • 7PM • Yoga on a SUP board? Come join us every Thursday at the Cove. We will meet at the River Sports Outfitters building. Cost is $25 and includes board, paddle and PFD. Register at barrebelleyoga.com/class-schedule. • $25
MEETINGS
Thursday, Oct. 20 CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY FAMILY BEREAVEMENT GROUP • Cancer Support Community • 4:30PM • CSC is committed to providing bereavement services to those who have lost a loved one to cancer. Please contact our clinical staff before attending. Call 865-546-4661 for more info. All Cancer Support Community programs are offered at no cost to individuals affected by cancer. 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
STOP SCHOOL PUSHOUT OPEN HOUSE • Mount Calvary Baptist Church • 6PM • You are invited to join us to learn how you can be part of Stop School PushOut Coalition efforts to end the school-to-prison pipeline and bring discipline reform to the children of Knox County. • FREE BLACK LIVES MATTER • The Birdhouse • 7:30PM • #BlackLivesMatter is working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. Visit blacklivesmatterknoxville.org. • FREE Saturday, Oct. 22 AL-ANON • Faith Lutheran Church • 11AM • Al-Anon’s purpose is to help families and friends of alcoholics recover from the effects of living with the problem drinking of a relative or friend. Visit our local website at farragutalanon.org or email us at FindHope@ Farragutalanon.org. • FREE NARROW RIDGE SILENT MEDITATION GATHERING • Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center • 11AM • For information call 865-497-2753 or email community@narrowridge.org. • FREE Sunday, Oct. 23 SUNDAY ASSEMBLY • The Concourse • 10:30AM • Sunday Assembly is a secular congregation without deity, dogma, or doctrine. Our motto: Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More. Our monthly celebrations feature a different theme every month, with inspiring speakers and lively sing-alongs. To find out more, visit knoxville-tn.sundayassembly.com or email saknoxville.info@gmail.com. • FREE Monday, Oct. 24
historic buildings, including one of the South’s oldest libraries on fresh local dishes and classic British favorites for antiques, art, and crafts from Appalachian artisans trails that lead into a national park and state natural area In vintage accommodations dating back to the 1880s in one of the most stunningly beautiful places in Tennessee
75 minutes from Knoxville. For special events and offers visit our website or Facebook
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
GAY MEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP • Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church • 7:30PM • Visit gaygroupknoxville.org. APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN BIKE CLUB • Central Flats and Taps • 7PM • Visit ambc-sorba.org. • FREE Tuesday, Oct. 25 EAST TENNESSEE CIVIL RIGHTS WORKING GROUP • Beck Cultural Exchange Center • 3:30PM • ETCRWG is an informal networking group of community leaders, civil rights advocates, area law enforcement agency representatives, and concerned citizens. It was founded on the principle that unity is our greatest asset in ensuring the civil rights of all persons in East Tennessee. • FREE ATHEISTS SOCIETY OF KNOXVILLE • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 5:30PM • Weekly atheists meetup and happy hour. Come join us for food, drink and great conversation. Everyone welcome. • FREE DER GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS STAMMTISCH • Los Amigos • 6PM • A weekly gathering for Germans and anyone interested in German culture and the German language. • FREE THREE RIVERS! EARTH FIRST! • Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria • 8PM • Three Rivers! Earth First! is the local dirt-worshiping, tree-hugging, anarchist collective that meets every Sunday night on the second floor of Barley’s in the back room (when its available) to organize against strip mining, counter protest the KKK and Nazis, to clean up Third Creek and to fight evil corporations in general. Open meeting, rotating facilitation, collective model. Y’all come. Call (865) 257-4029 for more information. • FREE
ADVERTISING EQUALS SUPPORT. Thanks to our advertisers for their help in keeping our presses running. Let’s return the favor by supporting them.
CALENDAR Wednesday, Oct. 26 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. THE BOOKAHOLICS BOOK GROUP • Union Ave Books • 12PM • Union Ave Books’ monthly book discussion group. Visit unionavebooks.com. • FREE 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
ETC.
Thursday, Oct. 20 FRIENDS OF THE BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY PRE-OWNED BOOK SALE • Blount County Public Library • 12PM • A fundraiser for the library where more than 50,000 books are available by the Friends of the Blount County Public Library (FOL). Thursday, October 20, 12 noon until 8 p.m. “Members Only Sale,” an opportunity for FOL members to purchase books before other members of the public are admitted to the sale. FOL memberships are available at the elevator doors, before accessing the Library Lower Level. Friday & Saturday, October 21 and 22, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EAST TENNESSEE COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER FALL AWARDS GALA • The Foundry • 5:30PM • The ETCDC will hold its annual gala and Halloween party in support of the organization. The Bruce McCarty Community Impact Award, which is a tribute to the legacy of architect Bruce McCarty and the contributions he made to the region as one of the founders of the East Tennessee Community Design Center, will be presented. The new Annette Anderson Community Award also will be presented at the event. • $150 Friday, Oct. 21 FRIENDS OF THE BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY PRE-OWNED BOOK SALE • Blount County Public Library • 9AM • A fundraiser for the library where more than 50,000 books are available. LAKESHORE PARK FARMERS MARKET • Lakeshore Park • 3PM • Offering a wide variety of hand-picked produce, artisan breads, grass-fed beef, natural pork and chicken, farm fresh eggs and farm-based crafts. • FREE APPALACHIAN PUBLIC INTEREST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CONFERENCE • University of Tennessee • The APIEL conference brings together hundreds of eco-minded and socially conscious activists, attorneys, students, scientists, and citizens in the interest of achieving environmental and social justice throughout Appalachia and surrounding areas. Saturday, Oct. 22 HALLOWEEN ART SHOW • Mary Boyce Temple House • 6PM • We’ll be conjuring all the sprits at the Temple House. Halloween-themed artwork will be for sale and Theatre Obsolete will perform Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker. Admission is free but we’ll graciously accept donations. Artists retain 100 percent of their sales. • FREE FRIENDS OF THE BLOUNT COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY PRE-OWNED BOOK SALE • Blount County Public Library • 9AM • A fundraiser for the library where more than 50,000 books are available BOOMS AND BLOOMS • Krutch Park • 10AM • To promote Breast Cancer awareness month and cancer survivorship, Dogwood Arts is hosting a scarf-making fundraiser,
Boobs & Blooms, in Downtown Knoxville. Buying a ticket allows participants to BOGO (buy one, give one) colorful and cheerful silk scarf. (Purchase tickets in advance here at dogwoodarts.com/boobs-blooms. Tickets will also be available on-site at the event for $35.) Funds raised during Boobs & Blooms will allow Dogwood Arts to collaborate with the Cancer Support Community of East Tennessee on artist-led creative workshops for cancer patients and caregivers. • $30-$35 OAK RIDGE FARMERS MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 8AM • FREE MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 9AM • The MSFM, a project of Nourish Knoxville, is an open-air farmers’ market located on historic Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE APPALACHIAN PUBLIC INTEREST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CONFERENCE • University of Tennessee • The APIEL conference brings together hundreds of eco-minded and socially conscious activists, attorneys, students, scientists, and citizens in the interest of achieving environmental and social justice throughout Appalachia and surrounding areas. Sunday, Oct. 23 FAITH CHARITIES F.E.A.S.T. • Knoxville Convention Center • 11AM • We will facilitate connections to resources, non-profits, churches, and businesses. Guests may enjoy a stage play, music, comedy, magic, dance, speakers, educational break-out sessions, a connection area, celebrity meet/greet, bingo, a Family Feud style game, great food, corn hole, a trade show area, prizes and more. • FREE APPALACHIAN PUBLIC INTEREST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CONFERENCE • University of Tennessee • The APIEL conference brings together hundreds of eco-minded and socially conscious activists, attorneys, students, scientists, and citizens in the interest of achieving environmental and social justice throughout Appalachia and surrounding areas. Tuesday, Oct. 25 EBENEZER ROAD FARMERS MARKET • Ebenezer United Methodist Church • 3PM • FREE
CLASSIFIEDS
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JOBS
HOUSING
JOB FAIR OCTOBER 26, 4:30PM - 7PM a t Ferguson Enterprises6422 Deane Hill Dr. Knoxville, 37919. We are looking for talented, outgoing Maintenance Supervisors, Technicians and Assistants. Strong competitive wages & monthly bonus program. Great Benefits available. WE INVEST IN OUR PEOPLE! RAM Partners is a full service R.E. management company that manages 8 apartment communities in Knoxville. Refreshments and Door Prizes.
2 BEDROOM, 1 BATH DUPLEX - with attached 2-car garage for rent in Powell. New carpet installed & freshly painted, includes fridge, dishwasher & stove with oven. $700/ month, $500 deposit. Non-smoking, no pets, references required. Call or text (865) 804-5011.
WHOLE FOODS CHEF NEEDED. - No experience necessary. Sprouting, fermenting, dehydrating skills helpful. Flexible PT schedule. 865-588-1010 PLACE YOUR AD AT STORE.KNOXMERCURY.COM
COMMUNITY
SPARKY - i s a people pleasurer who would make a great exercise companion! He enjoys playing with any dog and enjoys being outside. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center / call 865-215-6599 for more information.
PUMPKINS & PITBULLS - Young-Williams Animal Center is celebrating National Pit Bull Awareness Month by reducing the adoption fee for pit bulls & mixes to $20. We will be providing education, outreach & other specials throughout the month. We will offer spay/neuter surgeries and a free microchip for pit bulls & pit bull mixes for only $20. Surgeries can be scheduled by calling Young-Williams Animal Center’s Spay / Neuter Solutions at 865-215-6677. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center / call 865-215-6599 for more information.
RABBIT- is a two month old DSH talker and king of this castle. He’s awaiting his neuter surgery, then he’ll be ready to go home. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center / call 865-215-6599 for more information.
KETO-is a playful, affectionate, gentle young pup who loves to play with others. He would do great in a home with other dogs. Visit Young-Williams Animal Center / call 865-2156599 for more information.
coming Thursday, November 3
WOMEN IN BUSINESS A special issue focused on the women who shape Knoxville.
Wednesday, Oct. 26 MARKET SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET • Market Square • 11AM • The MSFM, a project of Nourish Knoxville, is an open-air farmers’ market located on historic Market Square in the heart of downtown Knoxville. Visit marketsquarefarmersmarket.org. • FREE OAK RIDGE FARMERS MARKET • Historic Jackson Square • 3PM • FREE Thursday, Oct. 27 COMMUNITY PARTNERS PINTS FOR A PURPOSE • Little River Trading Co. (Maryville) • 5PM • Join us for a monthly beer event to benefit local nonprofits and try out local and regional breweries. This month’s Pints With a Purpose, sponsored by Little River Trading Company, the Blount Partnership, and Keen, features Black Horse beer; proceeds benefit Appalachian Bear Rescue. Visit littlerivertradingco.com. • FREE
S end your events to calendar@knoxmercury.com
This is your chance to showcase any woman-owned or managed business in Knoxville and it’s unique contribution to our community, so Mercury readers will know where to shop, receive services, and show their support for local women.
For advertising information, call 865-313-2059 or email sales@knoxmercury.com
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 85
’BYE
Sacred & P rofane
Dividing Lines Where did the time go? BY DONNA JOHNSON
I
was riding my pink bicycle down Gill the other day—enjoying the fall sunshine and my new corduroy pants I had just purchased at a thrift store—when I saw the homeless couple I had fed and clothed the day before. Feeling all puffed up because of my charitable act, I waved mightily at my new friends, almost toppling off my bike. The man pointed at me and distinctly said to his girlfriend: “There’s that old woman who gave us those tacky clothes yesterday.” I stopped pedaling, got off my bicycle, and just stood there, staring at the ground. Rarely has the wind been taken out of my sails so thoroughly and rapidly. I barely had the energy to lift my feet, but on I went, now walking my bicycle, trudging home. It wasn’t the first time I had let words or opinions ruin my day. But here’s the thing: I never think of myself as old. I ride a bike or walk approximately 6 miles a day. I frolic endlessly with my dog, Mallory, and have as much energy as a 25-year-old. Sexually, I must admit I’m not the spitfire I used to be, but with the help of a few hormones and a lot of foreplay, I manage. Old is a state of mind, right? Some people are older at 25 than others are at age 60, right? Old is not determined by your years but by your abilities, right? Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, my inner voice kept telling me. I reviewed my last few weeks. I had met with a Social Security expert to determine how I could get the most for my money when I turn 65 next month. SIXTY-FIVE! How did it happen? I tell myself it’s not a big deal, but it is—I am eligible for benefits.
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KNOXVILLE MERCURY October 20, 2016
How did so many years pass? It wasn’t that long ago when I was walking barefoot to class at UT, with my Samoyed dog, Daniel, by my side; long, wavy blonde hair falling to my waist; going to Billy Graham crusades with my forefinger reaching toward the sky: “One way! One way!” How many years and religions have I gone through since that time, with none quite satisfying the longing in my soul? At Sassy Anne’s the other night, a young man came up to me. “I wish my grandmother was as cool as you,” he said, giving me a hug. Grandmother?! When did I stop being the same age as these youngsters? When did I stop being young? Where is the line between young and old? Who determines it? And does it matter? Being young is not always that great, anyway. When I was in my 20s, I was miserable. Always waiting for some guy to call who didn’t. Wearing skirts so short my legs got frostbit in the winter, burnt in the summer. Skipping classes and driving to the mountains to escape. Escape what? Myself. But there was no escape from that. Now I wander the streets with my dog, Mallory, wondering what the meaning of life is. But the meaning of life is nothing more than just that— wandering and wondering and walking. Why need there be more than that? And now these thoughts of growing old: They are real. The loss of one’s mental functioning is real. Was it today or yesterday that I started to introduce one friend to another and could not remember one of their names? This is indeed alarming. It was at just my age that my mother
began forgetting things and tried to cover up the fact. At just my age, my father began losing his balance. When my grandmother was just one year older than me, she died of leukemia. Someday I’ll die. And what then? A vast golden street through the heavens, a screaming eternity of flames? An endless bliss that comes from within? We don’t really know, do we? On the day that the homeless man called me an old woman, exactly one month from my 65th birthday, I peered into the mirror. Undeniably, there were multiple lines crisscrossing my face this way and that, like the intricate puzzle of existence. There is no erasing them, disguising them, altering them. I have not lived a clean life and it shows. Then I remembered a photograph of one of my favorite writers, Ellen
BY IAN BLACKBURN AND JACK NEELY
Gilchrist, in which she had not made any effort to cover up the lines on her face—the sorrows and joys and endless burdens of a lifetime. It was a beautiful photograph and I applauded her for it. Then it occurred to me, those lines are a map of our life, the roads we have traveled, the people we have met along the way, parted from, and moved on along our path. We should be proud of those lines, and cherish ourselves for having made it this far, I still put on make-up to try and cover the ravages of my life—it makes me feel better. Yet from now on I will not look at the wear and tear of a lifetime as something ugly, but rather as a badge of merit. We are the only ones with those particular lines, who have traveled on just that path at that time. Let us honor ourselves and others we meet on the road to a higher place. ◆
Spir it of the Staircase
BY MATTHEW FOLTZ-GRAY
’BYE
www.thespiritofthestaircase.com
October 20, 2016
KNOXVILLE MERCURY 87