what do you know about KNOXVILLE?

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