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This years Sundown in the City lineup has already had some great moments, but for all of you out there that feel our free weekly concert series has been lacking a little in the booty shaking department this Thursday’s show is for you. While the headliner Ozomatli is gonna bring enough hip-hop infused Latin flavor to the Market Square stage to get all those lawn-chairs bumping it is time for us to turn once again to this week’s Rising Stars of Sundown Asheville’s own Toubab Krewe.

Continue reading "Rising Stars of Sundown: Toubab Krewe" »

Dustin Milotte | 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the stars of the Knoxville music scene just got back from spreading some of our area's most authentic sounds and stories through Japan. Matt Foster from Medford's Black Record Collection played three shows, saw Mt. Fuji and got a taste of Japanese night life during his two-week stint. He traveled with only his guitar and some harmonicas tucked into his suitcase, leaving the dobro, banjo, mandolin, and band mates (Michael Davis and Clint Mullican) he usually plays with in Knoxville.

Foster made his Japanese debut in Tokyo's trendiest area at the Pink Cow, a restaurant & bar/art gallery/living room-like hangout that draws a sophisticated crowd of expatriates. While Foster sang and played, an international knitting club quietly appreciated his style from one corner while two Japanese blues musicians nodded approvingly from another.

Continue reading "Big in Japan" »

520 Etc. | 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Eight seconds. That’s how long it takes for the smoky heat of Chandler’s hot barbecue sauce to work its way to your brain and set your soul on fire. According to Charles Chandler, the gracious owner of Chandler’s restaurant on Magnolia Avenue, his barbecue spare ribs are the best in the south, and though I’m no expert, I’m on his side.

Chandler’s is an East Knoxville staple, and on any given day you may run into Phil Fulmer, Pat Summit, Bill Haslam, or other Knoxville power-brokers deciding Knoxville’s fate over some fried chicken. This week, I lunched next to a Tennessee Supreme Court justice chowing down on some barbecue. With their summer-weight business suits, polished shoes, and gospel music playing in the background, it could have been a scene straight out of All the King’s Men.

Continue reading "Lawless Eats" »

Lawless Eats | 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When: Friday, June 1st 5:00 - 9:00pm
Where: the Market Square District & other downtown areas

Special Highlight:

The Lost Marbles with caller Nick Boulet
Old-time contra dance band for singles, couples, and families on the square.

Additional Highlights:

Three Flights Up Gallery
Three Flights Up Gallery, located in the Emporium Center at 100 S. Gay Street, invites you to an evening of art, food and music. The 9 featured artists this month--Antuco Chicaiza, Koeun Cho, Amanda Henry, Medha Karandikar, Cynthia Markert, Batina McCain, Tom McDaniel, Rod Whyte, Wendy Williams, Terrie Yeatts--work in a variety of media including painting, drawing, installation, photography, digital imaging and jewelry.

Continue reading "June First Friday" »

"First Friday": monthly arts celebration | 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome to The Roundup, our weekly podcast that keeps you "uptuh date" on everything in 520 land. Brush up on your local music, listen to the podcast, and you might just save yourself from a swift beating.

Let host Pete Powell take you to places you've never dreamt of going!

The latest episode is now up! This week: A Sundown preview, Guess That Local Tune, and our Weekend Fun Time Pick.

Listen to it here.

Or use this RSS feed to subscribe via iTunes.

Or listen to it at our myspace site.

Yeehaw, K-Town.

"The Roundup" Podcast | 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, this is it, kids. The last Knoxville520 article.

I've been racking my brain to think of a clever way to go out with a BANG! and leave a lasting impression on the Knoxville entertainment scene. Nothing I came up with seemed quite right, though. After days of trying to cook up a super-fabulous, Busby Berkeley-esque grand finale for Knoxville520, I realized that I'm just too damned sentimental right now to be witty. I'm going to miss this job and the folks who helped make it a reality.

A little more than a year ago, I was given the chance to create something brand new. Since then, I've learned a great deal about the worlds of entertainment and web-mastery. I won't bore you with the details, except to say that everyone should take such a risk at some point in their life.

I look back and remember how excited and scared I was to take on this project. It was such new territory for me and the only thing I knew to do was to surround myself with a strong support group. It turned out to be the best thing I could have done. This network of talented and inspiring people have been invaluable to me and to the quality work we were able to produce at Knoxville520. Between the old friends who donated their time in the early days (Phil Pollard, Dennis Perkins, Brent Thompson, Paige Travis, Jon Worley & Jules Marino), the folks who became part of the 520 family (Debra Dylan, Jack Rentfro, Gretchen Paxton, Michael Gill & Amy Lawless) and the current 520 staff (Bethany Tomkins, Dustin Milotte, Joe Beuerlein, Greg Wood & Phil Irminger), we were able to create a unique tool for entertainment-seekers in our area. I feel personally blessed to call these people my colleagues. I would like to extend special thanks to each of them for their vision and hard work.

That's about all I have to say, so I guess that my final words for 520 are nothing very profound or clever. Instead, they are simply words of gratitude - for the dear people who joined me on me on this adventure, and also for being given the chance to leave even a small impression on the Knoxville entertainment scene. And what a great entertainment scene it is! Keep doing your part to support our area bands, orchestras, theatre companies, visual artists and writers. There's a whole lotta talent in Knoxville - but you already knew that.

Sara Schwabe

(exit stage left)

Sara Schwabe | 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Carpetbag Theatre celebrates life and work of Howard Armstrong

Cast of Between A Ballad & A Blues

Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong once described his music as “somewhere between a ballad and a blues.” That conversation with Carpetbag Theatre’s Linda Parris-Bailey would set the stage for a musical drama about the renowned musician’s unique life and creativity. And provide a title as well.

Between a Ballad and A Blues, still being crafted by Parris-Bailey, director and playwright for the Carpetbag Theatre, is based on the life stories and string band music made famous by Armstrong. Besides being a master string jazz fiddler/mandolinist, the artist’s life serves as a prism through which we can glimpse the unheralded “African American Appalachian” experience. A half-hour excerpt of the play will be presented during the Louie Bluie Festival Saturday, June 9, at Cove Lake State Park near Armstrong’s childhood home, LaFollette, in Campbell County.

Continue reading "Between a Ballad and a Blues" »

Jack Rentfro | 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Campbell Co. native inspires June music and arts event

Barely 10 months after its creation, an organization called the Campbell Culture Coalition is staging an ambitious celebration of Campbell County’s people and arts. The “Louie Bluie Festival” will be the inaugural Music and Arts Festival for what organizers want to be an annual event.

The Louie Bluie Festival will take place 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, June 9, at Cove Lake State Park right off Interstate 75. Admission will be free. The nearest town is Caryville, but nearby is LaFollette, the hometown of legendary music phenomenon Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong. “Just as Mr. Armstrong was a multi-talented artist—musician, singer, visual artist, writer, storyteller—the Festival will feature a broad array of the arts – music, instrument making, arts and craft show, and storytelling,” said event co-chair Peggy Mathews.

“We are also considering having a fiddle contest in the spirit of the LaFollette Fiddlers Convention that was held in the 1920s and ‘30s, and was known as a prestigious event among musicians. We will have a large stage set up on the grounds near the Pavilion that will feature the bands, and we will have arts and crafts and food tents set up on the periphery,” added Mathews, who is also CCC vice-president.

Continue reading "Louis Bluie brings it home" »

Jack Rentfro | 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

With the release of a CD eight months in the making, Knoxville band Mouth Movements is ready to take over the airwaves and venue stages nationwide. As they prepare to kick off a U.S. tour, I decided to get the skinny from bandmember Steve on what got this band together in the first place, and set them in motion for the path they're about to follow.

Bethany: Tell me a little about recording the new CD.

Steve: It was a blast and a struggle at the same time. There was a conflict in time schedules, and when we could all get together, we usually ended up tracking overnight into the next morning, so it was a little exhausting. We could never get together often enough, and at one point we actually scrapped most of the record to track it all over again. Turns out, that was the best move we could've made.

Bethany: Where did you record the album?

Continue reading "Mouth Movements make their move" »

Bethany Tomkins | 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome to the final edition of the 520 blog, The Monday After. This is our attempt to blast through our Monday morning hangovers to offer you some quickie reviews of all the things we’re pretty sure we got into this past week, including gigs, concerts, movies, plays, and restaurants. Pop a couple of ibuprofens and enjoy.



Last week it was announced that the proverbial fat lady will be singing a big, fat, funeral dirge over 520's entombment this coming Thursday. So while the rest of you might be busy remembering wars and veterans and NASCAR races this Memorial Day, a select few of us will be fondly remembering our all-too-brief employment with Knoxville520, and our even briefer affair with The Monday After. The beers, the blogging, the hookers unconscious on the side of the road: Too many memories to adequately sum up in a neat little package of words. Instead, we'll let Photoshop do the talking, and provide you with a montage of pictures from Monday Afters past that more or less retraces our (mis)steps over the last five months.

Phase 1: The Early Months (Wherein we were just getting the hang of being snarky.)

Continue reading "Memorial Day" »

The Monday After | 03:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)