what do you know about KNOXVILLE?

You should check out the graffiti at the Pilot Light bar's toilet. And if you can locate this guy called Craig from Greenback, he'd show you a good time.

he looks a bit like this...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/kenjuggle2/craigeiffel.jpg

ask him about his bullet wound!!

is this cube-shaped library on campus or is it a public library? i have a library fetish. also i'm not 21 yet so bars are kind of boring for me. is that old city java place good or boring?

the java place is great! they have shows on in there and everything. there are some nice places around old city.

Basic (admittedly indie-centric) info:
Free alt weekly: Metro Pulse (here's the Events Calendar)
Probably the best music store is the Disc Exchange (two locations!)
Probably the best used book store is Ed McKay's
Two indie-friendly venues are the Pilot Light and Blue Cats
The Knoxville Museum of Art is actually pretty decent (and sometimes shows good films)
The Regal Downtown West is the (mostly) art house theatre

The Great Smoky Mountains are nearby, Asheville and Chattanooga are each about 100 miles away, and there's a much-lauded aquarium in Gatlinburg (which is a mostly tacky touristy town, you know, airbrushed shirts and ol' timey photos). I think Pigeon Forge's economy is mostly based on inexpensive t-shirts and miniature golf.

Knoxville in the summertime, well, OK. I haven't actually been to the city in about 2 years, so I'm sure there's some new stuff I don't know about, but Old City Java and Pilot Light are both good bets. (I'm not sure about Pilot Light's all-ages policy, but I think you can get in under 21.) Most Thursday nights during the summer, there's free music on Market Square downtown. I can't remember who's on the schedule this year, but I know it includes Steve Winwood and Rilo Kiley. Tomato Head restaurant on Market Square has my favorite sandwiches in the world. The Cumberland Ave. strip near the university had declined pretty badly by the time I left, and my friends say it hasn't gotten any better. Fast-food and frat bars, mostly. Oh, the Falafel Hut in Fort Sanders, the neighborhood near UT, is a good hummus-and-baba-ganouj joint. Try to go to at least one show at each of the Tennessee, Bijou and Laurel theaters, for the theaters themselves. (The Laurel is a tiny converted church, holds about 150 people; great for bluegrass shows and the like.)

Great hiking/camping -- Smokies, obviously (go up out of Cosby, not through Gatlinburg), but also Big South Fork up on the Kentucky border (much less crowded). Asheville's a good weekend trip. Nashville too, for that matter. Or Atlanta (stop in Chattanooga on the way, it's got a nice downtown district).

I dunno, I love Knoxville, but I mostly loved it as a place to live. Telling people what to do there is hard, because most of what I did was hang around with friends in assorted drinking establishments, backyards, on front porches and rooftops...

The Sunsphere is as the Simpsons attest completely and totally skippable, you see it from far away, you've seen it.

The Sunsphere

That's handy as a starting point though I guess. If you scroll southwest you can see the campus and stadium of UTK, and the Hodges (Q-BERT) library. I used to live right next door from there and up the street from The Golden Roast which as ken sez is nice enough. Next door to the Golden Roast is Gus's deli which used to have great fries and is where I bought my first 40 oz. of Schlitz legally the night I turned 21.

If you follow the river northeast past the stadium you'll see a couple of bridges, one is for trains and the other is for cars and people. We used to walk all the way from campus to the bridge and cross it on foot to get to the
Disc Exchange on Chapman Highway which is the better of the two DE locations as I recall, and then you go get some Arby's next door and walk home with a bag of new records and a milkshake.

The campus, from QBERT as a starting point: The building shaped like a spam can is The Spam Can, it's part of the business school. The University Center (student union by any other name) is just northeast of that, and continuing in that direction are the buildings on The Hill incl. Ayres Hall which is I expect where your "math stuff" is going to be taking place since that's the science and engineering ghetto up there.

Southwest of the stadium, the circle-shaped park is Circle Park, and that's where communications majors go, and also they have the Guy With The Torch statue there, which we had to go rip a makeshift t-shirt off of once in the middle of the night because we got a phone call from some overzealous supporters who had unwarily endangered our place on the ballot and our entire campaign by defacing school property (chalk ok, clothing on statues bad)

Behind that is the basketball arena, and the administrative building , Andy Holt Tower, is between the park and the arena. I hate that building. On the very bottom level, adjacent to the loading dock in the parking garage, is the student radio station, WUTK 90.3 FM, which used to be an actual "college radio" station with a noise show and live bands in the studio and interviews with really indie motherfuckers but now it's just training wheels for people who want to actually work in broadcasting, scary and sad. I designed the last "new rock 90.3 fm" bumper stickers before they changed the name.

The rest is mostly dormitories and frat houses and other crap of little or no note, according to my parents the entire strip has changed except for a couple of restaurants here and there. If you're going to be housed near campus the best bets for food, assuming they are still around, are Charlie Pepper's and Stefano's Pizza right beneath it.

Downtown I never liked.

Downtown is what I loved, but I admit it takes some discovering. I think there's more stuff now than there was a few years ago, but even at that it can seem pretty desolate to the naked eye. What it really is is a small urban neighborhood that doubles (to some degree) as a business center during the day. So from 9 to 5, you have office drones in the handful of office towers and people in the banks and the restaurants are pretty crowded at lunch. After work, all those people leave and go home to the suburbs, and you're left with a handful of bars and restaurants and shops. But for downtown denizens, it has a nice homey feeling -- you don't see a lot of people on the sidewalks, but you'll probably know half the ones you do see. There's a pretty tight-knit community, including assorted artists and musicians and random interesting people (Cormac McCarthy's brother, for one), but unless you spend some time hanging out at the brewpub on Gay Street, it's easy to miss. Architecturally, I think downtown's pretty nice, there are a lot of cool little buildings. But it's true that UT students seem alienated from downtown, despite its proximity -- I think Henley is such a physical and psychological barrier, for one thing. But if you include the Old City in "downtown," which I do, then you've got a pretty good mix of interesting things within a pretty small area. Nothing to compare to Asheville, or even Chattanooga, but downtown Knoxville has a kind of scruffy quality that I like. (I realize that scruffiness is not an automatic selling point.)

[/raining on parades]

Pah. I'm glad we don't have to have that argument again for 995 years.

I don't have the new Dixie Dirt, but I'm fixin' to burn a copy from a friend when I'm down there in May. The first one was great, I wore it out.

You can check the PL website for shows. Click "calendar" (OBV) http://www.thepilotlight.com. Shipping News is playing soon, I will go to that. Nicka! I didn't know you had been to the Pilot Light!

Java is a great thing, but they mostly have shows that appeal to the young punkins of modern hardcore.

Another Search: Harold's Deli on Gay St. A good place to read the newspaper, not a good place to read a book (the waiters and cooks want to talk to you, which is a good, not annoying, thing -- they are funny and kind.) Excellent kosher food (esp. the bacon -- made of pastrami), best eggs in Knoxville, "world famous Burned Baloney Breakfast", Schlitz proudly on tap for years. Just a great, cozy, one-of-a-kind place. The kind of place where everybody knows your name, and they're always unsurprised you came.

Caitlin, I'd be happy to show you around or take you to a show or dinner or something.

I think my biggest burning question is - will you have a car?

All the recommendations here are, as far as I can tell, right on.. especially Stefano's pizza, which has always reigned, in my mind at least, as the tastiest and best pizza in town, and it was the first pizza I'd ever had with a whole-wheat crust.

Most of my recommendations involve night-time and girls and railroad trestles. There's a pretty choice trestle off Neyland Drive if I recall correctly.

I was only in Knoxville for one day so I have no other useful comments to make. What I remember most clearly was that A) the day spent in Knoxville was easily the best day of my entire vacation that week so it cannot be bad B) the people sat next to us at the table in the restaurant we all went to were dressed in a strange fashion (though I forget why it was strange--only that we remarked it was odd) and every last one of them ended up spilling their drink on the floor, one of them did it twice. It made me wonder if perhaps we, too, should throw our drinks on the floor, if it was a Knoxville thing. I decided against it but next time I'm there, I'm throwing a drink on the floor and you should do so as well.

Regarding the forementioned Sundown in the City concert series, the scheduled lineup is here: http://www.sundowninthecity.com/

SLEATER-KINNEY?! Holy crap! (in other words: hooray!) I'll be there!!

THE NEVILLE BROTHERS!!!

And seriously, Sequoyah Hills park on a sunny summer afternoon or morning: it doesn't really get better than that. Blossoms, green grass, lake, every breed of dog happily running around, nice-looking people everywhere. Fantastic for book reading, trip planning, sunbathing, and general wandering, and fucking perfect for exercising class jealousy. I've done all these and more there.

You'll also be a hop skip and jump from my other (totally subjective) favorite American park: Springbrook, which is Alcoa. Really good for walking and/or jogging, running, etc. Not as pretty as it used to be. :(

Oh! And there's a 24 HOUR PANCAKE PLACE THAT DELIVERS on Cumberland now! That will be close to you, Caitlin.

Also good: Tomo on Kingston Pike. Go to Disc Exchange SOUTH (Chapman Highway -- I think someone already mentioned this, actually) for records. Go to McKay's books on Kingston Pike (I never realized I liked so much on Kingston Pike) for used cds, el cheapo books and nice staff (including my sister!).

What kind of music do you like? I will recommend bands for you to see.

There is a great place called Gypsy Hands in the Fourth and Gill area (just north of Downtown) that does belly dancing classes and yoga classes and Reiki massage. My friend named Sara Grisc0m will give you the massage of your life for like 30-40 dollars (but she will work with you on the price if you are broke, or trade you for pottery [or...math lessons?] or something!). She is a supreme treat. The place itself is this homey, bohemian, lavendar-smelling loft-type studio and all the girls sit around drinking wine and exuding non-creepy positivity.

that one though, has benefits because that track contains a HIDDEN TRACK that'd also be played.

One of the best heavy players in Knoxville hangs out frequently at the West Town Mall. That guy sometimes knocks himself over the machine and turns it off.

There's another, less heavy guy, there too who actually is good. But the day I was there I witnessed the tragedy of his girlfriend leaving him whilst he's playing! to go with this guy who does CAMP DANCING on the DDR machine.

The new Waterfront is an excellent place to get drunk with a sweetheart at night. Daytime? So-so.

Spencer as I recall the China pavilion was the one you had to stand in line for like three hours. All the other ones were like "please visit us." So we did it, stood in line that is, I mean it must have been good right, and made it there, and it was a bunch of guys who would engrave your name in soapstone for like $10 and my parents are like "no we've already paid enough just to have lunch today."

The riverboat is great, too! You can have a nice dinner on there.

Tenderhooks (This is my band. I assure you we are good.)
The Bloodiest Night of My Life (like a screamy Sebadoh, maybe. They are very good.)
Ibrahim (indie-ish, mostly instrumental slow-core)
The aforementioned Dixie Dirt
Twinkiebots (if you get the chance. Reclusive singer-songwriter and one of my BFFS. The most talented person I know. Knoxville's Syd Barrett.)
Royal Bangs (rock and roll with bleeps and things)

Lots of others. Little help?

POWERSNAKE

But hey, I was just in Knoxville last week for the first time in two years. If you think downtown's empty, you shoulda seen it five years ago. There's actually a lot more going on now, lots of little restaurants and stores on Market Square and stuff. Then again, downtown seems lively to me because I have a bunch of friends who live and work there, so it's got a nice neighborhood feeling. Definitely go to the Sundown in the City shows, at least you'll see some people there. But it probably took me about three years to really love Knoxville, so it might not be something you'll feel in a few months.

i guess i ignored the advice and ate at kashmir. the owner was weird and mean.

(Hope nobody minds if I plug my Chattanooga-centric music/film blog: http://www.livejournal.com/users/spap_oop/ )

1. Gelatine
2. Johnny

Caitlin, I'm glad you're having more fun. Knoxville is truly awesome. Done any of the other things on the thread? Seriously, Sequoyah Hills park is grebt this time of year.

Caitlin: come see my band on Friday! Pilot Light, 10! We will rock you like 4 hurricanes.

Go to Harold's yet?

ok enough complaining. i went to mackay's a while ago, but what is a used bookstore that's more...used bookstore-ish?

anyway --

By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Vice President Dick Cheney was heckled by protesters Tuesday as he spoke at the groundbreaking for a public policy center honoring former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker.

During Cheney's brief remarks, about a half-dozen people protesting the war in Iraq yelled, "War, what is it good for?" and held up a large banner saying, "Peace Now."

Cheney continued speaking and didn't acknowledge the protesters, who were escorted from the ceremony inside the University of Tennessee's basketball arena.

About 50 protesters, most of them appearing to be college age, demonstrated outside the arena. Several carried signs, including one that read "Honor Baker, Impeach Cheney."

Cheney said that Baker, a Republican who was President Reagan's chief of staff and ambassador to Japan, has brought tremendous credit to the university, to Tennessee and to the nation.

"It's good to know that far into the future people will come to this place and learn of Howard's career and his deep belief in the nobility of public service," Cheney said.

About 400 people attended ceremony, which coincided with Baker's 80th birthday.

The $25 million privately financed Baker Center is being created to foster greater appreciation of public service and understanding of government.

Baker is still remembered for posing a key question during the 1973 Watergate hearings that rocked the Nixon White House: "What did the president know and when did he know it?"

Are you in town, Tracer?

hahaha "John now admits he got the dates wrong but he holds fast to his belief God is going to punish people for their sins, and it is coming soon."

Are you coming for Thanksgiving? Letta brotha know, and we can go out for drinx in your Dad's Prius.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/5383/bell9ha.jpg

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No, crepe.

I still miss Lucille's.

Strange and sad that the diner on the corner of Summit Hill Drive is now a car rental place. And that Woodruff's is a pub.

TELL ME ABOUT IT! That place had the best breakfast on earth, no more, no more. And they left it looking like a diner -- fucktards.

The pub in Woodruff's is actually ok, though!

And yes, I am in town, but I am leaving to go on tour tomorrow night, returning the 20th. My band is playing Sundown (omg) on the 22nd! Big exciting deal! You should stay.

Please to explain.

although the girl who works at tomato(head?) prolly didn't get freebies either.

although the girl who works at tomato(head?) prolly didn't get freebies either.

Oh right! I totally forgot her. She sadly does not work there anymore.

Re: pretzel -- ??

You're insane! It's more happening/money-making than it has ever been!

Also, what about that new swank-ass club in the old Kimball's siamond store (omg) on Gay St. called Sapphire? Supposedly it is nice.

there have been periodic proposals to rename it over the years, none of which have gotten very far. the best intersection is gay and church -- which is just one block from church and state.

there have been periodic proposals to rename it over the years, none of which have gotten very far.

sooo stupid.

knoxville's downtown revitalization has apparently bypassed the whole "convince young people to live there" phase and has gone straight for the "convince millionaires to buy overpriced lofts" phase. one new condo going up on gay street actually advertises itself on the hoardings as "upscale condo apartments"!!!!

i have been inside the world grotto thingie now, roxy. it is kinda weird. but the huge dancefloor/event space downstairs looks mega! what is that?? the art gallery upstairs was hit and miss, mainly miss, but there's that one artist that has her cherry-lipped klimt thing down pat, and it's pretty nice. it seems like the kind of place that would be in ft. greene, brooklyn, actually.

that one artist that has her cherry-lipped klimt thing down pat, and it's pretty nice.

cynthia markert? i like her.

Noon to 7 p.m on Saturday, September 30 at Market Square.

The day-long event will be a celebration of East Tennessee Latino culture
filled with live music, food, arts and crafts displays and children's
activities.

Willie Crespo and Salsarengue will be arriving from Nashville to kick off the
festivities. Representatives from around 15 countries will line up at Krutch
Park and will make their way to Market Square carrying flags, wearing their
native folk costumes and dancing to their country's best-known music.

Dance Dimensions Studio and Knoxville Argentine Tango Society will demonstrate
Latin dance steps and Knoxville Opera will present highlights of their
upcoming production of "Carmen." The evening will end to the rhythms of Nuevo
Montuno, a tropical salsa band from Asheville, North Carolina.

The festival is held in Knoxville each year in conjunction with National
Hispanic Heritage Month, ( established by Congress to run from mid September
to mid October) and is organized by HOLA, Hora Latina, an East Tennessee
Hispanic social and cultural organization. For more information, call (865)
588-1923, ext. 251 or e-mail horalatina@att.net .

We went to take an evening walk
About a mile from town.
I picked a stick up off the ground
And knocked that fair girl down.

the Pilot Light is showing all Hank's known tv footage tonight at 7! Should be neat. Also: Jambalaya outide the Urban.

so this new movie theatre

never been to knoxville, but i grew up in nashville, and the proximity/similarity in names always endeared it to me.

congrats on the new theater?!

Wait, wait. You grew up in Nashville? Have you talked about that on ILX yet? I'd be curious to know what that was like.

it's on gay street, right? seven screens or something?? there's been so much talk, for DECADES, about getting gay street on its feet again and this is the first thing that i feel like could make it a hub for a real cross-section of people to hang and congregate. like, thompson-boling arena style cross-sections. am i fooling myself again, the way i have promised myself not to in regards to all the promises made about the old city, year after year?

i went to sundown in the city this summer, and it was FANTASTIC. tons of teenagers, loads of oldies... very, very few black people or hispanics, however.

one sight that pleasantly shocked me - a sight i would have never seen growing up - was driving by the vestal baseball diamond and seeing a group of about 15 mexican looking guys plying soccer in the outfield.

(ya i love nashville! my uncle lives there it's so great)

Should update some of the info on this thread:

My buzzable bands in town right now are as follows:
The Royal Bangs Best band in town by miles, just signed to Audio Eagle records and are gonna blow up like Antonioni and deserve it.
Sadville V. good, constantly evolving metal band.
Diacon-Panthers Love these kids! Country-ish indie, sometimes? Difficult to describe, typically very good live. just made new album that everyone in my little group is v. excited about.
Distant Relatives Adorable shoegaze babies, I see them every time they play.

The Bitter Pills are back in action! They are great.

Also great: Black Sarah, Crabs are Scavengers, Imp, Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight (though they are on hiatus for a bit...), the Double Muslims are very good, just got a tiny write-up in Wire, which is exciting, New Brutalism seem to be back together for the now...

Very important news in Knoxville is that LOST AND FOUND RECORDS has finally reopened, on Broadway across from Vic and Bill's and next door to the equally incredible gutbusting Harby's Pizza. Pay Mike, Maria and Nathan a visit and you won't regret it. Sweetest people EVER.

Knoxville has the biggest Ska festival in the nation (weird) which is currently going on in the Old City. There is a founding member of the Specials at Barley's right now!

The BLUE PLATE SPECIAL at WDVX on Gay St. is the best thing to happen in my life, @ high noon every single day, a free show hosted by the wonderful and talented Matt Morelock, who is just great, and hosts a great show on WDVX, as well. I go every time I can.

Can't believe J's Mega Mart has never been mentioned on this thread! Weird "general store" on Gay St, you can buy a blue wig and underwear and Big Peach and a Jesus necklace ALL IN ONE PLACE!!

Shout-out to Brownie's in Vestal, although don't tell them I sent you.

Host in the Old City have been having cool events and workshops lately, always very, very helpful to artists and artisans. Very cool about letting you use equipment, very co-operative joint. They, along with Lox Salon (also in OC) are major players in the First Friday thing that's been going on forever, but has seen a HUGE surge in popularity over the last year. Basically everyone goes out under the pretext of looking at art and gets completely blasted for free and makes out with strangers, etc.

The Sunsphere is now open and you can go inside it, cool view, on a clear day you can see 4th and Gill, Vestal, etc.

The Knoxville Voice is now the weekly of choice, as Metro Pulse is dinosaurish and corporate now.

New venue/collective called The Birdhouse open in 4th and Gill, some good shows and workshops, sometimes bored indie crowds are there, but it is for the most part a cool (and very, very CLEAN) venue.

The Lost Savant on Broadway has a reportedly fabulous reuben sandwich, free Wi-Fi and a good tea selection. Really palatial place.

Sapphire (much-bally-hooed upthread) is a fucking godawful mess, and you will likely be roofied there.

xpost to tracer: Sundown has gone downhill now that they no longer let 17 year old boys drink!!

Knew I'd leave something out: the Fluid Engineers (and everything this little group of guys touches) are golden. HR Department is the name of their collective umbrella unit, Black Atticus is one of the best emcees ever, etc.

Good DJs in town are CULTURE VULTURE (this kid is AMAZING), DJs RIGG and LADYTIGERBASKETBALL always go together and are always good,

didn't really finish that thought, sorry! Also DJ KINGTRON, which is me.

whoa roxy that is a motherlode of good stuff!!

FANTASTIC news about lost and found

the new movie theater was the only thing talked about in the Grand Plans for Downtown circa 1999-2000 that made any sense, so i'm glad it's the one thing from those plans that survived. (among other things talked about: enclosing market square in glass; a planetarium on gay st. called Universe Knoxville...)

i was there in june before and after bonnaroo and as usual for the last few years happily impressed with all the different stuff going on downtown. a lot of my friends don't go to sundown anymore because it's too crowded, which is a good sign. especially with the new development (supposedly) happening on the south bank of the river, i think downtown might be establishing itself as a viable little community. it has all the downsides of revitalized downtowns of course -- racial and economic stratification, for a start -- and as neighborhoods go, north and south knoxville both still seem more interesting, in terms of character, diversity, etc. but compared to the total ghost town that was gay street and market square 10 years ago, what's there now is a gigantic improvement.

also roxy's right about metro pulse -- now bizarrely owned by the news sentinel -- but my friend coury who more or less built the paper from scratch in the first place just took back over the reins, so that's probably a plus. knoxville voice i wrote for a little bit when another friend was working there, but i never understood wtf that paper was trying to be (noam chomsky columns?). and then they fired my friend, so i stopped writing for them.

DJ KINGTRON

:-D

Tracer: I know! Knoxville is fun right now!

Also: Science O'Mega is a very brilliant guy. He is a DJ and emcees/produces with various HR Dept. guys.

In short, I totally love Knoxville right now more than ever.

Another big scene in Knox right now is the Whisk-Hutzel records conglomerate, basically a guy called Will Fist and a hundred, zillion bands that essentially do nothing but drink all day and smoke drugs and play (mostly) sludgey rock. Will is a great guy, a real character, always a pleasure to see him working the door at the Pilot Light.

A lot of peeps in town have been saying that this will be THE year for Knoxville music. I'm jaded, but it certainly FEELS that way right now...

Search also: Three Rivers Rambler, Wok n Roll in East Knoxville, CHANDLER'S DELI (also East Knox), Kaya (great West Knox korean)...I could go on for days, I'll leave it at this for now.

The BLUE PLATE SPECIAL at WDVX on Gay St. is the best thing to happen in my life, @ high noon every single day, a free show hosted by the wonderful and talented Matt Morelock, who is just great, and hosts a great show on WDVX, as well. I go every time I can.

yeah i finally went to one of these in june. saw a very strange double-header with christabel & the jons and a tuvan throat-singing group. it was great.

the river developments scare the f*ck out of me - did you know there is already a luxury condo tower with gated entry on SCOTTISH PIKE???

for those who don't know knoxville it's difficult to describe the cognitive dissonance here, but basically imagine a bunch of old wooden houses with porches and yards, scruffy but neatly tended, with all kinds of corny mailboxes and american flags out front, possibly a few rusted washing machines tucked by the side of the house, a dog on a chain... and you drive down to the end of this road and there's a fucking gate with an intercom and a tower of luxury condos and a parking lot full of SUVs

Also, I am strongly opposed to the development South of the river. Haven't people learned you don't mess with Vestal?

xpost!

I am very happy to be moving back across the bridge (TO sokno).

and er it's difficult to even discuss the housing development going on up behind UT hospital. have you guys driven up there to see that yet? i have never seen any engineering work that large with my own eyes. it looks like an open pit mine.

supposedly the people in charge of doing specifically the riverbank stuff have gotten a consulting group in who have made them be reasonable about the plans, including limiting the heights of the buildings and ensuring a mix of affordable housing. if it could be done right i'd be all for it. given the history of sokno development there is absolutely zero cause for optimism though.

It's embarassing. Makes me very angry even visualizing it.

(Upthread I gave Nama the thumbs, but it's actually way too small and expensive, although it is open really late, which I like. Their ice cream sucks, but the staff is mostly people who give me free octopus, so what can you do?)

hey roxy i don't want to be a damper on your encyclopedia of awesome knoxville newness!

what is brownies? (and why do they hate you?)

my best source on the sokno development is a community-activist type who lives in island home and is sort of perpetually at odds with knoxville development plans, but she thinks the planning process and whatever has been about as good as it could be under the circumstances (circumstances being the normal influence of/deference to monied developers). and, you know, most of the south bank of the river has been mostly industrial for years anyway. i doubt the impact on the surroundings will be all that dramatic. it'll be like the condos over by the big aztec-temple hotel, a little self-contained world. the effect on the beer line at the sevier avenue pilot will be minimal. (although i also heard that someone's turning that J&J beer joint farther east into some kind of upscaley place, which made me sad. i never went in there, but i always liked driving by it. seemed like something out of suttree.)

i mean, i also still when i'm in knoxville miss the downtown of 10 years ago, because it was this sort of deserted place that we could make whatever we wanted to, and the things that were there seemed kind of significant just for being there. (plus they tended to be weird, like j's mega mart.) but having been part of the downtown activist brigade i can't really complain about downtown having actually taken off a little. it's always the conundrum of trying to rescue abandoned places and then the consequences when other people start to notice them. you can't control it past a certain point.

i just wonder where all these new people will GO, when they need to get some diapers or gasoline - and i think i know the answer: alcoa highway, NOT vestal

probably. although you can get to the kroger on chapman highway pretty easily through vestal.

also speaking of knoxville and going corporate, my wife spotted a girl today on the upper east side today porting a bed, bath and beyond bag with a cynthia markert print jutting out of it.

(there's not really much to shop at in vestal anyway. there's that sav-a-lot on maryville pike i guess, if that still counts as vestal.)

That's the main intersection in Vestal!

Brownie's is just a local in the heart of Vestal. They don't hate me, they just HATE having attention drawn to them...very paranoid about the interweb, as well.

i thought the main intersection in vestal was where king tut's is. but maybe that's too close to the river? i've always been hazy on the boundaries. vestal is one of those elusive places.

That's right next to the Savway!

oh no i mean the other store -- farther out, toward montgomery village. is there a grocery store next to king tut's? i guess i'm just forgetting.

and do they still have vestival?

right, chapman highway is the obvious go-to for the riverfront developments, yeah

i guess my point is, yes, there's not a whole lot of small businesses there and it's too bad that a gazillion new residents right next door will probably do nothing to change that situation. it ought to be a vestal bonanza!

What? All of these things you are mentioning are extremely close to one another.

Vestival still happens, yes, but it has been invaded by boring hippies.

xpost

good old pease furniture

aw i like knoxville hippies.

yeah i guess that stuff's all close together. it's just a mile in south knoxville can seem like a long way. nothing goes in a straight line.

i'm sort of freaked out that the big auto junkyard next to the railway bridge seems to have closed its doors, it's been there for at least 30 years

I always liked that place. You mean the one near the one lane underpass, on Ogle?

(i think the one-lane underpass is what makes maryville pike seem distant from king tut's in my mind. like a secret passage or something.)

no the one on blount ave, before you get to the baseball diamond if you're driving from town. it's built up around the overpass on the right hand side if you're driving that way. it seemed like the stacks of cars just carried on up into the hills and the woods and the kudzu. there's only a few cars left there now, though, and it's disconcertingly... TIDY

Some Vestal pics:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/vestalsignsized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/faintinggoatssized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/savwaysized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/roundhousesized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/peasesized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/onelanesized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/montgomerysized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/kingtutsized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/headsized.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/browniesbarsized.jpg

haha i have NEVER seen that vestal sign

the savway used to be a cas walker's, did you know that? same red and white facade, too. cas walker's entire business strategy was to set up supermarkets in poor neighborhoods and sell the lowest quality products possible.

Haha, lol @ Cas.

Also, that Vestal sign is right across the street from Vestal park. Ever been there?

great pics, roxy!!

yes i have! not in awhile though.

http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=W004

Thanks, Tracer!

dude i went to five points village plaza in june

I wish Knoxville would get a good planetarium, though (delayed response to way-upthread thing mothra said).

xpost what on earth is that

it's out MLK boulevard, it's supposed to be a hub to revitalize "the wrong side of the tracks". its biggest attraction is an IGA. i went because i had to renew my driver's license and the old courthouse doesn't do that anymore - and no way am i driving to east town(e) mall. i was the only white person i saw for about an hour. it sort of brought a whole lot home to me that i avoided thinking about for years, re: knoxville

haha also i have been to the "we need your head in our business" barbershop, when i got back from london in 2004. irony overload: they cut OFF the mullet i received from a london hairdresser!

Haha, that's GREAT!! re: the mullet

I wonder if that IGA serves IGA burgers...

A cool local guy has opened a thing called South Knox School of Sound directly next door to the "Need your Head in our Business" place/Pease furniture. They do good all ages shows and music lessons.

i hesitate to ask what goes into an IGA burger

the arrowhead IGA - now some really creepy looking afterschool place - was where i honed the pacman and donkey kong skills that have made me so famous

this thread makes me feel like richard ford

haha

i am great at pacman too! i honed this at the longbranch, tho

hey is smoking outlawed now by the way?

not that this is an issue for you these days

Supposedly, but I have not noticed a THING changed, except Stefano's makes you smoke outside now.

hah

ok i must sleep

good night knoxville!

Night, Tracer!

Old City Java is under new management as of this month and has ice cream and cuet cupcakes now, which is nice. They have movie night instead of the wack Black N Mild dj night they used to do. Movies shown so far: Roadie (starring Meatloaf), Kindergarten Cop, Heathers.

it sort of brought a whole lot home to me that i avoided thinking about for years, re: knoxville.

mm-hm. e.g. the county zoned the downtown-development areas so the condo dwellers could have their kids go to sequoyah hills instead of green (even though they could walk to green).

I LOVE SOUTH KNOXVILLE

The movie theatre celebrating its openinng this week with dollar movies, dollar popcorn and dollar bevs, playing kind of a weird selection of movies. After this, I hear they are going to have THEME WEEKS, which is great!

ps, that I LOVE SOUTH KNOXVILLE seems a little non-sequitur. I just moved back, is all.

The little Mexican store next to the Tacqueria on Chapman sells awesome Death candles.

i love south knoxville

i like those pictures too - knoxville looks more american than the last time i saw it i think

who was the specials guy by the way - i saw neville staple a few weeks back at a random festival in cornwall!! he was immense.

It was Lynval, I think.

I prefer Nashville and Murfreesboro.

how in the hell could you prefer murfreesboro

i mean nashville sure - it's like a whole other planet - but... MTSU? i'm struggling here

murfreesboro has a delightfully bad name

murfreesboro scares me.

to be fair, murfreesboro has a great record store.

NAshville music scene is retarded.

does that mean good or bad?

Bad. For musicians, anyway.

Well, I guess I like Murfreesboro because it's cheap and close to Nashville

What's the record store in Murfreesboro? Is it better than even the Disc Exchange? (yuk yuk)

i think lost and found is the comparison you want there

hey disc exchange isn't bad. not no lost and found, but locally-owned, big selection. ( i still haven't been to the giant mccay's warehouse they moved to. used to love the mccays bargain bin.)

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o306/extrapics_album/KnoxvilleDungeonCoverSMALL.jpg

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=82207459

http://blog.myspace.com/knoxrapmovement

Mista Enz - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=55944993

Gutta Bound - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=85117604

is that kontext?

Lost and Found does indeed rule.

Is there a store like that in Murfreesboro? Or is it all Cats Music style?

Disc Exchange is okay I guess.

The new McKay's is overwhleming, like a flea market of books and DVDs. I wish they had a way to search for stuff. I can't go in there without spending an hour looking for something specific (and not in a good way)

where u from, fool?

lol @ "the 865"

"the V O L"

good article about mr. mack here - http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2006/Jul/28/cole-rapper-proud-to-represent-the-865/

i like that mr. mack's myspace page identifies him as being from "alcoa/rockford" (or it used to, haven't looked in a while). i lived in rockford for a little while. more deer than people.

I had no idea Mr. Mack was from Knoxville.

fuckin boomsday

This thread makes me wish I was in Knoxville. I just moved back to Asheville and it's not the same. I guess the thing I most liked about Asheville was the large, vibrant, transient gutterpunk contingent. But NONE of that remains, it seems, since the police decided to clean up downtown. What's left is hippies indies and rich people :/

trustafarians

do they still do music on the radio that's synchronized to the fireworks?

hahahaha i don't know!!!!

mtsu is gonna get destroyed by louisville on thursday.

just so you know...

the thing about boomsday is that after the first 10 minutes or so the sky is usually so full of smoke that you can only sort of barely see the fireworks. but i guess that's why the last few minutes are dominated by those gigantic percussive explosive ones that just give a white flash and a huge kaboom. jack neely says that knoxvillians in the 19th century used to celebrate every holiday by blowing shit up and it was finally put a stop to at some point due to unacceptable levels of christmas carnage, so in that respect i guess boomsday is part of a civic legacy.

also i don't remember if i posted it earlier in this thread, but a friend of mine put the entire st. james sessions online a while ago (recorded around the corner from market square). lots of good stuff but especially hard to pass up "satan is busy in knoxville."

I was at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, not that I remember it well. I got a bunch of World's Fair coinage and trinkets that I totally adored. The rest, eh.

I was 2 during those. My mom said that every time it turned eight pm I would cry (because of the fireworks). She recounts that pretty much every time it is eight pm.

god i forgot about that aspect of the world's fair.. fireworks EVERY NIGHT!

my parents have a friend whose dog just went absolutely apeshit that year, to the point where he had to take the dog to a friend who lived out of state..

wow tipsy thanks for that link

She ercounted that little anecdote just yesterday when I let off a bottle rocket from my hand.

(recounted)

I love the one lane underpass in SoKno that someone has graffitied simply: "South Knoxvillians"

haha we should start a one-lane underpass poll

They're all great! Ha.

I love the one right on Blount Avenue, how you can go through it at night and honk your horn and possums erupt out of it like bunnies in Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega Genesis.

the one behind mount olive?

elementary school, that is?

No, the one right off of Henley St. Bridge.

(Though that one is good, too!)

oh yeah! there used to be a decrepit old 2nd-hand furniture store right there to the left of it as you came down the hill from the bridge.

the one behind mount olive is especially memorable for me, because there's a seldom-used playground right there, sort of a secondary playground, behind a chain-link fence. mrs. yon, my third-grade teacher, once took us down there when it was snowing, and there was a good four inches or so on the ground, and ENCOURAGED us to throw snowballs over the fence at the cars coming out from the underpass! god bless mrs. yon. she was almost as cool as my 2nd-grade teacher mrs. quinn, who was about 70 years old and drove a yellow datsun 280-ZX.

Wow! What a great memory to have! She sounds like an awesome lady.

Here is me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_HUCBq8nLQ

Too bad all I say I like about Knoxville is my friends, and that it has a river bisecting it. :(
I was actually like fighting with the guy at the moment we were approached, though.

Okay, the fact that, at least on my computer, the vocals completely fell out of sync with the visuals made you seem like you were in some random dubbed art film.

(Which is no bad place to be, of course. We should all be so lucky.)

Yeah, I know, I might as well be saying "I Love Egg!"

On at least 2 levels.

Hahahah.

Going to see Blonde Redhead at the Bijou tonight, I realize I have not been inside that building since 2001! WTF

That's a great place to see them I bet! Was it?

In 2001 had it been refurbed yet?

roxy your accent changed!

Did it?? How do you know!

The last time I was there, it had not been refurbed. It looked great!

i heard you talk before, and i heard you talk on the youtube, it sounded different!

maybe it's the new cantonese accent.

well it's supposedly even awesomer now. i have been in a show at the bijou! although to this day i have still not set so much as a single foot inside the bistro at the bijou.

i also still haven't seen the new tennessee theatre, which is supposed to be like zomg.

Well, I think I talk less Vestal to you, because it is hard to understand for some Brittos, maybe. I don't know!

I've been in a show at the Bijou too, Tracer! It was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and ILX poster Nijoli was assistant director.

new broadway exit is crazy!

crazier than the old one? or well it wasn't the exit so much that was the problem as the on-ramp from james white to i-40, which a friend of mine speculates was designed by a tdot serial-killer. "i will dump merging traffic into the fast lane of a narrow 2-lane interstate, halfway through a blind curve! and nobody will ever suspect me!" evil laughter, etc.

oh, that's REAL old school

this is better than that, but there are too many CHOICES

superdrag reunion = "the entire town has plans"

and if people were too cool for that, then they went to damo suzuki

i will be in knoxville from the Dec 19th thru NYE. Anything decent happening? Are you guys playing a show?

yay superdrag! when i went to glasgow, brandon sent a cassette ep all the way over to me!

Aw, that's great! He seems like a nice guy. The only one I know at all is Don, because he recorded our record.

Kingfish: we are playing NYE with the Royal Bangs, who are GREAT, but I assume you have plans already for that night.

haha, are you kidding? I'll be isolated in the weird exurbs of Loudon, where there ain't shit happening.

I'm seriously considering renting myself a car so's i can motor around, up to michigan & back, perhaps.

I know a lot of people in/from Loudon.

Eat at Carl's, dude!

There will be a lot going on in Knox within that timeframe. I'll keep you posted.

Sweet.

Y'all Knox Villains come see Tenderhooks being Patsy Cline + band at Pilot Light tonight! Also: Bitter Pills are being the Creation, and they are going to possibly burn down the building with rock power.

When your hangover cures, come see Tenderhooks at Barley's on Friday and drink the last of the PUMPKIN BEER, yes that's right.

roxy, are you playing in nashville anytime? let a sister know.

We play there a lot! I will let you know.

Yo molly, re: Nashville, we are playing there super-soon! The 9th, at The End.

I love how Matt Morelock, at the end of his Happy Camper show on WDVX, says "Be nice to each other. Bye bye, now."

dvx is the greatest radio station in the world

OTM

i totally went to a starbucks in knoxville

(i think)

the rest of the time was spent in java

Or the Golden Roast!

alone :\

Are you saying I was a crap host! That only happened once. :(

I was only there once :)

Not what I meant, obv.

Kingfish, I'm not ignoring your question, working on some suggestions...

i'm ignoring your question kingfish

I mean I guess we all are, at this point.

Sorry, King.

should knox county commission ask citizens to publicly recognize god as the foundation for our country?

Well, the talk of the town today is that Brad Renfro died.

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1579719/20080115/story.jhtml

hotbed of civic activisim.

oh lumpy.

Oh my god -- I WORK with Lumpy Lambert!

(in response to what Tipsy said up there)

Joe Johnson, the group’s chairman and a well-respected former president of the University of Tennessee,

not by me!!

i had to interview ol' joe on several occasions. always struck me as a gladhanding bureaucrat who had risen above his level of competence. otoh that still put him leagues ahead of lamar alexander as a ut prez, by everyone's account.

lumpy, i just don't know what to say about a guy named lumpy.

He lost his show at the radio station because he wouldn't stop drinking beer on the job (apparently this is a felony?).

lol for a second your post made me imagine JJ taking the elevator down to P103 at the end of his day job and flasking it during the afternoon drive time on new rock

we totally would have let him

I meant Lumpy, obv! But haw.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/twinkiebots/lumpy.jpg

do people still have the crappy black & white helvetica new rock 90.3 bumper stickers? I made those

You serious? There is one in my home right now!

You can really separate the old school from the n00bs by who still calls it "New Rock 90" instead of "The Torch" or whatever they are calling it these days.

oh word!!

I also tried to change the name to PRAGUE 90.3 at one point

hahaha

please post a picture of the bumper sticker! It will make me very happy

Oh, excuse me, it is now called simply "The Rock."

xpost no batts in camera tonight! I will do it soon, though.

I am posting this from inside the WDVX studio!

If you want to donate to keep the greatest radio station in America up and running for another season (and speak to yours truly while you're at it), call 1-866-946-9389 and make a pledge, or go to http://www.wdvx.com/. It's so neccessary, ma.

that is a great radio station.

also, go lady vols.

awesome, roxy!!

hey are you gonna be in KX for memorial day?

Too bad all I say I like about Knoxville is my friends, and that it has a river bisecting it. :(
I was actually like fighting with the guy at the moment we were approached, though.

What were we fighting about? I don't remember.

I had to look up trestle.

Yep, I'll be here, Tracer! You coming down?

Bryce: Lord only knows what we were fighting about, but I remember that we were. We did that back then! Haw.

bam! Kick it up a notch in Knoxville!

Shut up or I'll come over there and enlarge your nostril.

Me, or lib?! Lib is always feelin' froggy.

Lib, of course.

Could use some work on deviated septum thank for offer.

Kind of like this bam! guy can we invite to secret broads y/n?

I don't want to share kiddie porn with you on your secret boards.

!!!

selfish ahole

Hahaha.

where is pic of my bumper sticker?!? ;_;

It is killing me that I have no way of seeing the game tonight :/

Tombot, I reviewed said sticker and I do not think it is the same 900 year old 90.3 sticker you spoke of.

NEW ROCK 90

YOUR SOURCE FOR THE JUDYBATS

Haha! An ex-Judybat comes to my house all the time because he is friends with my roommate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPzZerb0ECA

lol 90s!

"This video is not available in your country."

!

If you want to donate to keep the greatest radio station in America up and running for another season (and speak to yours truly while you're at it), call 1-866-946-9389 and make a pledge, or go to http://www.wdvx.com/. It's so neccessary, ma.

-- roxymuzak, Monday, April 7, 2008 12:39 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Ok, they tell me after I left last night that we got a pledge from Norway. Janne, is that you?!

there were 2 ex-judybats at my wedding. (one of them made the cake.) you can't really swing a dead cat in knoxville without hitting a judybat.

That is a great/awful slogan for a Knoxville bumper sticker.

oh is it the New Rock 90 sticker in 1989 fluorescent green mistral

lady vols lookin pretty strong.

oh is it the New Rock 90 sticker in 1989 fluorescent green mistral

-- El Tomboto, Tuesday, April 8, 2008 8:50 PM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Haha, no, it is red and black. I have seen tons of these though!

woooooo! good job lady vols. i love shannon bobbitt. she's 5 foot 2!

heh "bobbitt"

anybody ever know Whitney Matheson besides me?

Not I!

isn't Terrastock happening there this year?

No, that's in Louisville, KY.

rebel scum

also, r.i.p. white lily flour

the new york times had a "36 hours in knoxville" feature story a week ago or so. i think it was pretty accurate but was written from a very narrow perspective, i.e. it didn't give any sense of what it's like to be poor there, or old there, or real young, or black, or -- largest-growing demographic in e. tennessee -- hispanic.

that is really sad about white lily flour :/

is jfg coffee still made in k-town?

i'm pretty sure jfg stopped operations there a few years ago. i remember hearing that the roasting-coffee smell was gone from downtown.

on the other hand - whoa, gay street!

"I GOT MY TOTTLE BACK WITH TOTTLE MAX"

i drove through tennessee this weekend

so pretty

the legacy of john bean

WE LOVE IT!

there's a waitress at a bar in knoxville who is a twin. hottt.

plus a girl who gets drunk and then talk about hard-ons.

and a girl who wears a pixies hoodie and people at malls like it

they all have the same name

wait, am i number two AND three?

oh you mean emily dunlap

haha. way to googleproof.

she's famous anyways!!

rly?

oh sure

Tell me of this fame.

ATTN: TRACER

i am moving back to the lane

O_O!

zomg!

ken, i was unable to secure my old room. instead, i am in the room next to it. haw.

lol. why are you back there?

is the nasty cat still in that room?

beautiful right now

i love it when knoxville ilxors talk about knoxville stuff

Me too!

Vestal one-lane underpasses: The Poll

ellen ave 4tw

wth is ellen ave

has this thread anywhere paid tribute to the wonderful intersection of 4th, 5th and 6th avenues? i'm hoping that survived the broadway/i-40 ramp reconfiguration.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ellen+ave,+knoxville&sll=50.375616,-4.196082&sspn=0.093056,0.146942&ie=UTF8&ll=35.923663,-83.924464&spn=0.007385,0.009184&t=h&z=17&layer=t

also GAY STREET

It survived, mothra! And it's great, one of my favorite parts of town.

wow omg i'm hanging out in that corner with all the bars using googlemap street view! i'm right outside urban bar!

That's the old city, Ken! Corner of Jackson and Central. Hasn't changed a bit since you were here before. (Btw, still coming out this month?!)

wtf is hanna's cafe???

It's been there a long time. It's a fratty/sorority kinda bar on the same corner as the Pilot Light...that actual corner is taken up by Hanna's "patio", which is walled in concrete. Maybe you remember it now?

haha i'm now outside that bit outside old city java where you left your car keys inside the car. there's a white car parked there just now lol

yeah maybe! has it got two floors? there was one place that had maybe 2 floors that was a bit fratty

Haha, I guarantee that that car is Meg's who owns Java now.

The two floors place has gotta be Barley's! Way down on the same side of the street as the Pilot Light.

note: we did NOT go to hanna's

maybe that's why i didn't remember it!

went to: urban bar, patrick sullivan, barley's, pilot light (free beer?), and maybe one more!

manhatten!

yeah, Manhattan's

Pilot Light is where Bill the bartender chased us out onto the dancefloor while Cordero were playing.

lol

does craig still hang out at java?

No, in fact Java is totally different now! They don't even have shows there anymore. It's like, a cupcake-selling kind of coffee shop now.

:(((((((((((

;_;

there's egg nog, at least?

how easy is it to open a shop in knoxville?

hannah's cafe used to be "the spaghetti factory", right?

over christmas my friend josh actually made some people move from a booth at manhattan's because 15 years ago that booth was "his"

his did it very charmingly

p.s. roxy can't come out this month but still hoping in the near future! hopefully sometime when people in shops will say "happy holiday" to me to confuse the hell out of me.

how easy is it to open a shop in knoxville?

from observation and the experiences of various of my friends, i'd say the hard part is not opening a shop, it's keeping it open. the old city in particular is a mercantile bermuda triangle. (all the more reason to respect jason and the pilot light crew.)

if i can open a shop there i reckon it'd be so good it'd stay open.

hannah's cafe used to be "the spaghetti factory", right?

no, that became barley's

TRACER are you coming home for holidays?

I've got some old friends in Knoxville. The Pilot Light is the best rock club I've ever played at. The unflappable bartender was playing some of my all time favorite vinyl sides (Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hawkwind, PETER GREEN'S Fleetwood Mac) and I had to tell him how happy it made me. He just stared back at me without saying a word. I'm missing Tennessee in autumn.

that's gotta be bill warden

he's an institution

what band are you in?

I played with Jerusalem and The Starbaskets at the Pilot Light waaay back in 2004 (I think?). I'm not in any band now. I'm an ooooold friend of Brad C that played bass in Dixie Dirt. He actually did a solo thing that night at the Pilot Light that was really good. I think he works at Barleys lol.

i know bradford

will red bull dozers be able to play pilot light if it travels to america? didn't really look like it's a place for an indiepop/comedy fusion act..

you would go over awesome at the birdhaus, it's in 4th and gill

you could easily do pilot light too though, a monday or tues night would suit you fine!

roxy no :/ i will be preoccupied with keeping a tiny baby alive in london!!

will you be able to get me a gig around april/may next yr?

tracer come to knoxville around april/may next yr

yeah of course

tracer i didnt know! congrats!!

thank u! somebody had to do it

late may 2009 may be a possibility.. the softball tourney

softball tourney combined with red bull dozers gig in knoxville!??!?

yo knoxvillains - ASHEVILLE NC is your sister city for the election! if you've got a car, drive over there and help people get to the polls! SIGN UP! DO IT!

are they going to drive over here and help us get to the polls

(tracer i knocked a rock out of your parents lawn decorations with my car the other day. i was humiliated)

no they're not - TN is SO OVAH

"lawn decorations"??? were you driving in the orchard??

i see roxy's driving has improved

lol ken

no, some kind of...landscaping? near the driveway, and kind of on the border of our driveway.

no driving in the orchard yet!!

most beautiful place in the world right now

xpost roxy, still true? I am going to be in Kville from the 23rd to the 28th for holidays. Guess I should read this thread, every time I am in town I just kind of lump around at the fam's..

will be back there again in a week's time

that is awesome, casino! october is famously beautiful in these parts. it's perhaps not as lovely as that, but I still love knoxville in the winter, especially south of the river.

ayo roxyville, are u goin to this?

http://www.bigearsfestival.com/

JW will be there!

I am going to the big ears festival too!

Of course I'm going to that, as much of it as possible.

JW in Knox? Crazy!

:D

I am going too! You should tell us where all the most deliciousest places to eat are, so I can be loaded down with sticky BBQ when I watch Fennesz.

Also, did you see the news about the Ampy Ant Cafes?!

the Ampy Ant Cafes • 12/18/2008
Discussion stations will be located throughout the Big Ears festival where festival goers can take a break, relax and meet each other. Live and evolving ambient music will be provided by musicians at each location. As part of this process, the musicians will interview willing festival attendees and may include portions of the shared conversation into special musical pieces. The newly created pieces will be provided online and often on-site throughout the festival. Be sure to bring a jump drive. Special high quality green and black teas and herbal infusions will be served at these venues, sometimes by the musicians themselves.

i love that ashley's doing that fest. no idea how it'll go over in kxville, but it's cool that he's bringing it there.

That sounds pretty nice!

I'd like to add that this is a really great thing for the Pilot Light (I just left there! <3 the place, <3 Jason. Have had some of the best, worst and most important nights of my life there [including 3 birthdays, haw]), which has seen better days financially. Hopefully this will give it the kick it needs to carry on...forever!

xpost, yeah it's awesome of ac

in other knoxville-related things, for reasons i can't totally explain i got dan lacey to do a pancake painting of the sunsphere.

http://funhouserock.com/funhouse/blab/picture.php?albumid=33&pictureid=394

LMFAO

that...

...is incredible

should we start a Big Ears Festival thread or is it OK to clutter up this one?

start one!