CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? Knoxville Music Warehouse launches new concert series Michael Lipps Production Artist
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“Is this the real America we dreamed about?” >>See page 7
With beer flowing and sushi rolling, Knoxville Music Warehouse successfully held the first “Secret Show” of their new concert series last Friday night. Although the names of the performers were known, ticket holders were not privy to the location of the venue until the night before the concert — hence the secret part. Kent Oglesby, one of the visionaries at Knoxville Music Warehouse behind the concert series, shared the core purpose of the events. “The main thing is to highlight either a local band or one that’s coming from out of town and to highlight the place where we’re doing it,” Oglesby said. Just as the artists of each Secret Show will change, so will the venue — always utilizing unique spaces such as rooftop gardens, trendy storefronts, and potentially a warehouse or two. For the inaugural show, local artist Steven Wesley teamed up with West Tennessee native and headliner Joseph LeMay. Both artists possess an Americana sound, and LeMay’s album, “Seventeen Acres,” has received acclaim from Rolling Stone, who noted it as one of the best Americana albums of 2014. The two took the (makeshift) stage at Saw Works Brewery, about half a mile east of the Old City in the Warehouse District. With the brewery’s close proximity to the railroad tracks, there were several instances in which locomotives added a little musical improvisation.
Joseph LeMay performs at Knoxville Music Warehouse’s first Secret Show on Friday. Michael Lipps • The Daily Beacon
“I think anytime you can get this many people out here for something like this … you’ve got people who really love music.” Steven Wesley, local musician
See SECRET SHOW on Page 8
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Volume 129 Issue 9
2015 marks last Boomsday for Knoxville Staff Report
The nation’s largest Labor Day fireworks show is going out with a bang. Visit Knoxville, the city’s official visitors bureau, announced that 2015 will be the last year
for Boomsday due to financial matters, according to WBIR. Although the event is the largest of its kind, it does not draw enough revenue to sustain the festival. According to the WBIR article, Visit Knoxville made the event a ticketed event last year, which
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was loudly protested by festival attendees. Boomsday began in 1987 and draws thousands of spectators to the banks of the Tennessee River. Visit Knoxville plans to make this final year a memorable, free celebration to end the tradition.
>>See photo on page 2
Wednesday, July 29, 2015