Brent Thompson: The Stars Come Out On Sesame Street - Part Deux
PART DEUX OF DEUX ----by Brent Thompson
“Tonight we are doing it all night long!”
In a world without music there would be no dancing in the streets. There would be no singing, there would be no love songs, there would be no crooning, no jamming, no spontaneous improvisation. There would be no melody or harmony. On road trips you wouldn’t roll down the windows and sing your heart out. That’s like my favorite thing to do.
Art is human emotion.
Knoxville has grown up in the shade of the Nashville sound. The looming branches of big record contracts and catapults to stardom have eluded our fair town over the years as we have struggled to hone an identity. This is what all the professional critics have said anyway. But that’s not what I see.
Today in Knoxville and East Tennessee the music and arts scene is swelling to a fevered pitch and you might not know it unless you leave the four walls of your living room. If you haven’t been out in a while you are missing this ever-growing network of seasoned and accomplished musicians and artists coming together to make something truly original and homegrown: it’s our Knoxville Sound.
When you are done reading this, go look on the knoxville520.com calendar at all of the acts appearing in town on any given night. What are you going to do now?
This is a call to action going out to you man. It’s for you too lady.
Get out tonight! Just say it out loud!
“TONIGHT WE ARE DOING IT ALL NIGHT LONG!”
Brent's Favorite Album
I am standing on the top of the Sunsphere as I write this. It’s a great view from up here. I can see the students returning to classes swamping campus like ants on a hill. I see people going to work, going home, going to sleep. Waking up, work, home, sleep.
Break the cycle. Live a little. Yes you can!
Ok…I’m done for now. But you may ask yourself, “what is with this guy?”
My answer to your query…I care.
You see, if you and I don’t support this scene, OUR SCENE, it won’t grow. In fact, it will evaporate and then what’s left?
From what I can tell there’s a big football stadium over there. I know you need more than that, you beautiful flowers! You need food. You need nourishment. You need to exercise the other side of that hard working brain of yours.
Give yourself a cool break and feed your curiosity this week. Make a date with a friend, ask your neighbor out for a beer, go to an art show, see Circle Modern Dance, go to the Blue Plate Special at WDVX during your lunch break, buy the Mitch Rutman Group CD, paint, write, sew, create an elaborate puppet theater with the vintage Bert and Ernie hand puppets you got from the US-127 Yard Sale and pretend you are Dieter from Sprockets. Practice intricate origami designs, dance in the street when it starts to rain, see a show at the Black Box, buy a 64 pack of Crayola crayons with the sharpener in the back and get crackin’ on that new Green Hornet coloring book, dust off that guitar in the closet, or knit a pair of mittens for me as I have poor circulation in my extremities during the cold, winter months. Any of these things will do.
BE THE SCENE.
From up here I can feel a strong wind blowing through Knoxville. It’s a movement I swear. Everything feels different now doesn’t it? Something is going on here and you and I are right in the middle of it all.
As for listening to my “Stars Come Out On Sesame Street” record, I will consider loaning it to you. My fear is that you will never give it back. It is at that point that I'll know my work is done.
The Pointer Sisters are singing us out…listen…
“I know darn well we can work it out.
Oh yes we can, I know we can can
yes we can can, why can't we?
If we wanna, yes we can can.”
Damn I love that record!
bt
