what do you know about KNOXVILLE?

Is there anything nice to do here besides shows and food? My brother is on the Atkins diet and isn't much of a rocker. The art museum's website makes it look kinda dull honestly, although the Thorne rooms appeal to me.

Yeah, Grady's is still around -- on North Peters Road?

Try Big Fatty's on Kingston Pk for good cheap eats; I'm pretty sure someone told me they do a good BBQ too. For the best BBQ you need to go to Chandler's on Magnolia, though. Magnolia Ave. is a goldmine anyway.

I was going to refer you to COPYSHOP for art, but it appears they JUST closed. I guess I knew this deep down, 'cause the thing I went to at KMA where Mark from Negativland showed his movies was their closing ceremony, or something. Hm. I'm at work, I'll compile a list while I'm here of some non-food non-show things to do.

Don't despair, Knoxville is secretly awesome.

i always just tell people to track down one of the jacks (neely or rentfro), buy them beers and get them to tell stories about knoxville.

^Wayne Bledsoe also good for this.

So here are a few things to do:

Go for a walk at O_O at weird animals at beautiful Ijams Nature Center (love this place). Maybe I am a nerd, but your best sources for awesome/weird/awesomely weird Civil War houses are Armstrong-Lockett House, Bleak House and Ramsey House. It's corny as hell, but you gotta go up in the Sunsphere and look out at World's Fair Park (and indeed all of Knoxville). Walking through Knoxville Botanical Gardens & Arboretum!? OMG. Lol @ Red Pandas at the Knoxville Zoo, which is in my 2nd favorite part of town: East Knoxville. The Book Eddy (Chapman Hwy) is one of my favorite bookstores in the world; a huge selection of books from the (18)80s, 90s and today, and now selling records, too (pretty good selection, to boot. Not your typical in-bookstore record sale). Combine a trip to Knoxville institution Lost & Found Records with lunch at Knoxville institution Vic & Bill's and you have my typical Sunday afternoon. Ride the Three Rivers Rambler (it's a train that takes off from the Waterfront, which is also nice) and they might let you drive. Take the Knoxville Star Riverboat!!! I strenuously recommend karaoke at dive bars the Dixie (East Knox) or Toot's Little Honky Tonk (North Knox). More to come.

^Wayne Bledsoe also good for this.

true. knoxville's well stocked with raconteurs.

and: definitely go to book eddy and spend some money. it's a good store and john, becky et al are great peeps.

Break for food talk: trio in market square has these things called "breakfast lunas." HAW @ THIS!

I realized this afternoon while eating at Shono in Mkt. Sq. that the square is completely full of businesses for the first time that I can ever remember.

and they're not even subsidized by pot smuggling anymore.

although there's one that a friend runs that i think is closing. :(

Which one is it?

i don't wanna say, in case she manages to keep it open. but last week she said she's planning to close. (NOT tomato head, don't worry.)

its not "cherries internet cafe" is it, cause that woman is insane

haha no, but i heard some stories about that place and her. yipes.

used to produce her "radio show." she's trouble.

yeah i know some people who are really pissed off at her. i think there's legal action under way.

hahaha, that's very satisfying

Ooh, we are going to Toot's Little Honky Tonk tonight per invitation from my cousin Lark. Thanks for the tips Roxy, we'll see if I get to anything before I skip town again. Really need to have a car next time I'm here...

Oh man, I'd tell you all where I'm going tomorrow but I'm not going to ruin the surprise. You'll just have to wait for the photos.

We're currently driving around randomly in pigeon forge. Man, this place is a trip. And we just left the Bass Pro hanger; the huge christmas tree decorated with stuffed animal heads was a bit disconcerting.

yeah pigeon forge is a special place...

thanks for all the great tips, y'all!

The extraordinary weather mean that we have to reached the big special trip today, as the joint is way too crowded.

eating chandler's RIGHT NOW

how's the pilot light club? was thinking of doing the new year's eve show there w/jack rose and some local band. what's the scene there?

just say pilot light. i think the "some local band" is my good friends the royal bangs, who will pack the place. the scene there is that its the best club in knoxville. little hole in the wall, treats bands great.

don't try and not pay for beer

bartender guide:

http://static.flickr.com/54/164948987_29850b6d94.jpg

(on the far left, ha cha CHAAAA)
bill warden: known as "hot bill" by the entire (female) staff of java (and me), this guy has a flowing red mane and beard and looks like a cross between a viking, a fantasy novel giant, and some kind of fleetwood mac. only dude i know who can wear a gauntlet without making it look try-hard. <3 this guy

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/137/341158942_b613eb327b.jpg

will fist: talked about elsewhere on this thread, but this dude is pretty much an institution at this point. generally works the door and always has a smile for everyone. has catchphrases like 'DO IT THE WAY" and is in probably 50 bands, seriously. a nut. a drunk nut. here is his guitar:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/60/167930102_3a38ccb048.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/62/164953938_c89972b028.jpg

(on the left)
eric lee: a tiny guy, we used to have a game based on him called "eric lee or homeless?" cause his style is exactly that of 90% of homeless men, though it doesn't show in this pic. pretty much a musical genius. you win if you can understand word one that comes out of his mouth.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/61/164953941_d05c453a1f.jpg?v=0

^Jason Boardman is the owner of the Pilot Light and is a Knoxville music scene hero and one of the A+ best men I have ever met. He barely keeps the club alive year after year, and does it simply because he cares about bands. He is one of the sub-curators of Big Ears, and part of that festival will occur @ Pilot Light. He drove me to see Shellac when I was a kid!

Also, all but one of those photos^ were taken at the Pilot Light.

ok it's actually the jan. 1 show w/damn creeps (who are they?) and jack rose.

oh man that big ears festival looks amazing!!! won't be able to make that, sadly.

i'm psyched.

haha damn creeps are ONE OF WILL FIST'S BANDS!

Hey, Knoxville! My mom was born in Maryville.

I was raised in Maryville! Ages 3-18.

That whole side of my family was from that area. Granddad was one of the first people to settle in Pigeon Forge, when there wasn't much there at all. I'm glad to see, over the last few years, that there's so much happening in Knoxville, which I visited every summer as a kid.

Aw, that's nice. <3

Have to get back sometime!

over the last few years of following this thread

any other recommendations for stuff w/in an hour or two of knoxville? music? sights? etc.?

some friends of mine went on a carnival cruise and described it as "floating gatlinburg"

you could rent motorcycles and ride "the dragon"

http://www.aartennessee.com/Dragon.htm

for an authentic knoxville experience you could spend a day in traffic on kingston pike

lol

amateurist asked: "any other recommendations for stuff w/in an hour or two of knoxville? music? sights? etc.?"

If you're still in TN this Thursday (Jan. 8), the amazing Shelley Hirsch will be playing a show in Chattanooga (an hour and a half drive from Knoxville). (If you make it, say hello - I'm playing in a duo that's opening the show.)

More details here:
http://www.myspace.com/shakingraylevisociety

in chattanooga?! whoa. i'm out of the area on tuesday, sadly.

harvest records in asheville is amazing. EVERYBODY in the area should visit.

does anyone know anything about basement records on chapman hwy in knoxville? we passed it driving, and i was curious, but there is no info at all online (save for the address) so i wonder if it's just crap.

it's fucking weird

DNW

Whatever happened to all the vinyl in those Ernest Tubb stores? I weep.

Oh man, who even knows.

Seriously, AM, you might find somthing you want in Basement but it's honestly not worth the trouble. It's horribly disorganized and what organization it DOES have is for the o_O files: "Black Music" is a category there, I crap you negative.

There used to be a fantastic used vinyl store in the same shopping center as Cat's on Kingston Pike but I dunno what happened to it. I got the Human League Fascination 12" and Bill Withers and a red Michael Jackson Thriller 7" there.