BIG EARS 2022: Zorn, Shabaka, Low, Arooj Aftab, Annette Peacock, Dawn Richard, Nubya Garcia, L'Rain, Damon Locks, Lido Pimienta, more more more!

flight/work means i'm gonna miss basically all of sunday :(

quit

Sunday the most skippable day for me, not a Zorn fan so much. All the great stuff for me is frontloaded on Thursday and Friday, often conflicting when there is more than one performance.

Sorry gbx

i'm a zorn guy :(

but i'm looking forward to lots of the other stuff :)

Woo I’m here and excited

And I think they adjusted the times for sparks and low so there is a chance I can see complete sets by both

Welcome to Knoxville everyone! (Or welcome back for return visitors.) Super excited this weekend is finally here.

Wow!

I wonder how accurate these “scheduled” numbers on the app are. Like, do most ppl use the app? I’m still worried about getting shut out of places, even though I prob shouldn’t be bc there are always three great bands playing at any given time. Truly an embarrassment of riches.

I imagine some people schedule shows they're considering going to but may not actually attend. I also imagine many people aren't using the app at all or aren't using the schedule feature. So who knows how accurate the numbers really are.

I do know venues often reach capacity and it becomes one in / one out with the people waiting in line outside. So if there's a show you really feel like you can't miss, try to get there early.

In line for tickets and wanted to make the joke “I’m the pudgy middle aged white guy with glasses”.

Yeah, the numbers on the app are some signal but certainly not definitive. My rule of thumb is, if you REALLY want to see something, particularly at a smaller venue (The Standard and the Bijou are the two that get packed out the most), get there 40 mins early no matter what else you have to miss to do it. Or just accept that you're taking a chance on not getting in.

I can't remember the Tennessee Theatre ever being shut out, but it could happen with Patti Smith's Friday show e.g.

Also here's my unsolicited food/drink recommendations in and around downtown:

--A Dopo pizza (just a few blocks north of Mill and Mine)
-- Potchke Deli (just opened, good bialys, whitefish, pickles, etc)
-- the Marble City Market (a food hall basically next to Mill and Mine on the next block)
-- Kaizen (good Asian fusion)
-- Public House (hipster beer/wine/cocktails place, basically behind the Mill and Mine, nice back patio)
-- Emilia (good sit-down Italian place on Market Square)
-- J.C. Holdway (Southern fine dining type place, this is the one that gets national write-ups etc)
-- KoPita on Gay Street and Yassin's on Church Avenue both have good Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food — KoPita is Israeli, Yassin's is Syrian
-- Good Golly Tamale in the Old City (cheap and delicious tamales, both vegetarian and non)
-- Fin2 in the Old City (pretty good ramen etc)
-- Tern Club (tropical bar on Gay Street, really good rum-based cocktails if that's your thing)
-- Brother Wolf (Italian amaro bar in the Old City -- it's attached to Osteria Stella, which is a respectable Italian restaurant, but the bar is the best reason to stop in)
-- And then there are a bunch of easy places like Barley's in the Old City and the Downtown Grill and Brewing Co. on Gay Street that have your basic comfort food pub menus (Barley's pizza is quite passable)

Very cool; thanks!

Oh should add that Potchke Deli is also close to Mill and Mine, basically around the corner from the Marble City Market.

Also, Suttree's on Gay Street is a good beer bar, big rotating selection of local/national microbrews.

I shared a $75 ribeye at JC Holdway last night and it was awesome

Also here's my unsolicited food/drink recommendations in and around downtown:

--A Dopo pizza (just a few blocks north of Mill and Mine)
-- Potchke Deli (just opened, good bialys, whitefish, pickles, etc)
-- the Marble City Market (a food hall basically next to Mill and Mine on the next block)
-- Kaizen (good Asian fusion)
-- Public House (hipster beer/wine/cocktails place, basically behind the Mill and Mine, nice back patio)
-- Emilia (good sit-down Italian place on Market Square)
-- J.C. Holdway (Southern fine dining type place, this is the one that gets national write-ups etc)
-- KoPita on Gay Street and Yassin's on Church Avenue both have good Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food — KoPita is Israeli, Yassin's is Syrian
-- Good Golly Tamale in the Old City (cheap and delicious tamales, both vegetarian and non)
-- Fin2 in the Old City (pretty good ramen etc)
-- Tern Club (tropical bar on Gay Street, really good rum-based cocktails if that's your thing)
-- Brother Wolf (Italian amaro bar in the Old City -- it's attached to Osteria Stella, which is a respectable Italian restaurant, but the bar is the best reason to stop in)
-- And then there are a bunch of easy places like Barley's in the Old City and the Downtown Grill and Brewing Co. on Gay Street that have your basic comfort food pub menus (Barley's pizza is quite passable)

Stock and Barrel’s food is just ok but it has a good whiskey/bourbon selection

Are your guys’ Big Ears apps running fast? I can’t see anything happening before 7pm

Apparently there’s something a little buggy with the app right now. I’d go with website/printed schedule for the moment.

Lol apparently the app is the wrong time zone. Being worked on!

Big Ears relocated to Greenwich, UK

They completely nuked the app XD

It was good while it lasted. Glad I screenshotted that shit.

“Good: After a brief technical kerfuffle our app & schedule is back up & running. Bad: all saved personal schedules were lost. Good: You can now devise a fresh new path through the festival.”

at least it happened while i’m killing time at the bistro

Hutchings doing Copeland was great, glad he made it back from the rusted root concert on time

Wish I were there

Ppl talking during low: why.

Breakin up my trance and whatnot.

Anyway. Long live low.

The smoking at the Mill and Mine is a bummer. Prob my least favorite venue.

Low was great, it was good to end the day with noise. My kid, who's a big Shabaka fan but not a classical music guy, loved his Copland performance. (Me too.)

Thursday setlist

Kronos Quartet
Sō Percussion
75 Dollar Bill
Preservation Hall Brass & East Tennessee Bluegrass Association
Dan Weiss’ Starebaby
Sparks
mssv

Thursday:

Kronos Quartet
So Percussion
Tomeka Reid and Nikkey Finney
Film: Quarry
Sparks
Low

Saw IG clips of We Were Here Before jazz noise trio at the Pilot Light. Group has Luke Stewart , Mark Cisneros, and Nik Francis. Cisneros plays guitar in Kid Congo’s band but is on sax in this band

Luke Stewart is the shit.

Bass player Stewart is gigging everywhere it seems , plus releasing lots of music on small labels

God, wish I’d seen the whole L’rain set

I ended up skipping both Patti Smith and Kim Gordon because of the huge crowds / long lines. There are so many people here!!

More room for me at Meredith Monk at 8 then. And now I’m at the secret Fennesz show!

Capping off my evening with Lido Pimienta and Mdou Moctar. It’s been a good day. Anyone else see Arooj Aftab? I thought she was phenomenal.

Yeah, Arooj was lovely.

Would not have bet on the loudest show for me so far to be L’Rain.

I ended up skipping both Patti Smith and Kim Gordon because of the huge crowds / long lines. There are so many people here!!

Jeff Parker sold out too.

I liked Arooj too. The violinist was pretty amazing.

Fennesz was great, you could feel it in your organs. We left it a little early to catch the Frisell-led tribute to Ron Miles, where I am now. This is the most straight ahead thing I’ve seen but also maybe the best thing we’ve seen so far.

(at capacity I mean – this Ron Miles tribute is as well)

Friday setlist:

James McVinnie & Tristan Perich
Arooj Aftab
79ers
Sporty’s Brass Band
Lakou Mizik
Kris Davis’ Diatom Ribbons
Patti Smith Band
Pedrito Martinez Group
Fennesz
Mdou Moctar

Should we do an ILM meetup?

(I’m here with Save the Robot)

thursday:
-shabaka hutchings + the knoxville symphony orchestra
-fennesz

friday:
-james mcvinnie + tristan perich
-harriet tubman
-caroline shaw + sō percussion (i got bored and left early)
-andrew cyrille + ambrose akinmusire
-sons of kemet
-mind maintenance (joshua abrams + chad taylor)
-mdou moctar