Live from Music City: Nashville fest closes 2014 season @UTKDailyBeacon
ARTS & CULTURE >> pg. 5
utdailybeacon.com Issue 14, Volume 127
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Down but not out
Wolf and Pearson avoid lengthy injuries, status for Oklahoma in doubt Troy Provost-Heron Sports Editor (@TPro_UTDB)
As Von Pearson and Ethan Wolf were carried off the field, their injuries quickly became two of the more memorable moments of the Volunteer’s 34-19 victory over Arkansas State on Sunday. Fears of losing the duo for the season, however, were lifted Tuesday as Tennessee head coach Butch Jones updated the status of Wolf and Pearson
heading into preparations for Oklahoma. “Ethan Wolf, right now, he is questionable,” Jones said. “I think we have received great news on both him and Von Pearson. Ethan Wolf had a bruised knee, so it will be about how his body recovers with the rehab and I will know a little bit more later in the week about his status for this week’s game. “Von Pearson will be out this game and we will see how his body progresses. Right now, it is a high ankle sprain. I just left Von and he is in great spirits. The great thing is we antici-
pate getting him back very soon because as you know he adds a whole other dynamic to our offense, but also his competitive nature is something our kids feed off of.” Tight ends Brendan Downs and Daniel Helm will take most – if not all – of the snaps in Wolf’s absence, while Jason Croom, Josh Malone and Josh Smith will be asked to take more reps to fill the void left by Pearson, with the possibility of freshman Vic Wharton also stepping in barring his health. Pearson’s absence comes just as the 6-foot-3, 183-pound wide reciever established him-
self as one of UT’s most effective playmakers, but fellow teammates believe the rest of the receivers are ready to step up as he watches from the sideline. “We have a lot of mature younger guys who are ready to fill his shoes,” junior wide receiver Alton “Pig” Howard said. “Von is a big part of the receiver corps, but coach Jones and his staff did a great job of bringing in other great talent ... Everyone has a job to do and if we continue to play for each other, we’ll be alright.”
Hannah Cather • The Daily Beacon
See INJURIES on Page 6
Butch Jones leans over tight end Ethan Wolf after he was shaken up on a pass play in the game’s third quarter Sept. 6.
Outlaw legend brought to life by Knoxville records
Hank Williams’ story captivates Clarence Brown Theatre Marina Waters Contributor
Knoxville resident, Jackson Bogach, is still unsure whether his tap water is safe to drink or cook with without first pouring it through a filtered water pitcher. “I have always heard that Knoxville has poor water quality, among the worst for a city in the United States,” Bogach said. “Water filters are a cheap, viable alternative to getting sick from the bad bacteria that may be living in the water.”
The lights slowly dim as the crowd’s shuffling ceases. The theatre falls silent as a slide guitar rings out. A blues singer steps on stage, belting a gospel tune soulful enough to draw a spontaneous “Amen!” from the audience. And that’s when a tall, lanky man in a slightly crooked cowboy hat appears. Suddenly, you’re in Georgiana, Alabama in 1937, watching the life of a country music legend begin. “Hank Williams: Lost Highway” is the musical biography of a country musician that shaped the genre. Throughout September, his story will unfold in Clarence Brown Theatre, taking audiences on a journey from Hank’s humble beginnings in Alabama to his untimely death at the age of 29. The historic play opened Thursday night, a fitting choice for CBT’s 40th anniversary season opener. Williams had a short but monumental country music career. In addition to becoming a Grand Ole Opry regular, he released 35 songs; 11 of which hit number one on Billboard’s Country and Western Best Sellers chart. Twenty of those famous hits, including “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Move It On Over” and “Hey, “Good Lookin’,” are performed in the musical. Williams wasn’t just a fantastic country music singer. He was also a successful songwriter who lived out all his lonesome, whiskey soaked lyrics. Karen Kessler, director of “Hank Williams: Lost Highway” and professor at Ball State University, described the play’s main character as a star with a tragic flaw which leads to his demise. “And maybe Hank’s star burned too bright,” Kessler said. “He tried, but he could never win his battle with the bottle. It killed him. It killed him at 29. “But his lonesome sound is with us forever.”
See WATER QUALITY on Page 2
See HANK WILLIAMS on Page 3
• John Swartz Studios Kid Curry stands, right, in a portrait of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch gang. The photo was taken in 1900 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Liv McConnell Projects Editor
A Western outlaw, a bar brawl and a mad dash for freedom across the Gay Street bridge: these fabled elements comprise the tale of one of Knoxville’s most notorious visitors, Harvey Long. More popularly remembered in American folklore by his alias, “Kid Curry,” Long rose to infamy as a member of Butch Cassidy’s Hole in the Wall Gang, one of the nation’s foremost outlaw troupes. The
circumstances of his stay in Knoxville — and his escape — have become as mythic and muddled as the man himself. “Unlike similar figures who wrote autobiographies, Long never got to tell anybody exactly what he was feeling or anything like that,” said Bob Hutton, UT history professor and author of “Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South.” “A lot of what has been said and written about Kid Curry is probably untrue.” Allegedly the wildest and most violent member of the “Wild Bunch,” much of what is
factually certain about Long’s life comes from police reports akin to those he generated in Knoxville. Our scene unfolds in a pool hall in the presentday Old City, then known as the Bowery, one December night some 113 years ago. At the turn of the century, The Bowery was a burgeoning red light district rife with seedy bars, brothels and cocaine houses. Its proximity to the river and a Southern Railway System stop made the area both “an easy stopover for all kinds of travelers” and a “magnet for virtually every kind of undesirable element and activity imagin-
able,” as Sylvia Lynch wrote in her book, “Harvey Logan in Knoxville.” As a man on the lam, Logan was in his element here. Only five months prior, he and the other members of the Hole in the Wall Gang robbed the Great Northern Express train in Montana and successfully made off with more than $40,000 of loot. After such a heist, keeping a low profile was crucial and Long had been doing just that — until his temper got in the way on the night of Dec. 13, 1901. Stepping into Ike Jones’ Saloon, Long made an impression in his “ brown well-cut
suit and soft crush blue hat,” Lynch recalled. “He swilled liquor from a shot glass and told anyone who cared to listen that he was ‘something of a man himself.’” After getting into a quarrel over a game of pool, he initiated a brawl with two other men that attracted authorities, said local historian and journalist Jack Neely. “Local police heard he was in a pool hall on Central, and knowing he was an infamous criminal, two cops converged to arrest him,” Neely said. “He shot them both and fled.” See KID CURRY on Page 3
Knoxville works to improve water quality Jenna Butz Arts & Culture Editor (@butzjenna)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency includes 12,914.6 miles of Tennessee’s rivers and streams on its national list of impaired water sources, 152.1 miles of which supply Knoxville’s drinking water. Agricultural runoff, E. coli and habitat alterations are
largely responsible for compromising these water sources. In light of these threats to public safety, efforts have been made to improve local water quality. Last year, Michael McKinney, UT’s director of environmental studies and sustainability, revealed to The Daily Beacon that Knoxville’s water was “not legally (meeting) certain safety criteria.” Since then, McKinney has observed the city’s renewed commitment to increasing the quality of Knoxville’s water, as
Editorially independent student newspaper of the University of Tennessee established in 1906
well as residents’ lives. “The city has been increasingly investing large amounts (of money) into reducing harmful storm water drainage into the Tennessee River and local urban creeks,” McKinney said. “This involves better drainage systems, retention ponds and especially riparian buffer zones. “Also, Knoxville Utilities Board has been modernizing their sewer pipe lines to reduce leakage. We have a long way to go but things have been slowly
improving thanks to a city government that is more interested in environmental protection in recent years.” Joanne Logan, a UT associate professor in biosystems engineering and soil science, believes that the influence of a more “environmentally friendly” city mayor has helped improve the Tennessee River, in addition to work by Knoxville’s Stormwater Office and UT’s Office of Sustainability. Despite these improvements, residents remain skeptical. South
“It occurs to me that I’ve entered a relationship with someone who creates relationships for a living.” VIEWPOINTS >>pg. 4
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