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We dedicate this edition of The Monday After to all you premarital, naughty-but-nice, sex-making Knoxvillians. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night in bed!



Oh, and if you still need a last-minute present, look no further.

Kerry White at 4620

Rest easy, Comedy Zone. There's no danger of 4620 becoming the newest comedy joint in Knoxville.

They've been constantly mixing it up over there at 4620, trying new things to attract new clientele. When I first heard that they were going to throw some live comedy into their jazz-heavy rotation, I was impressed with their gumption. Comedy is a hard sell in Knoxville, especially on a cold Tuesday night.

When I got there, I immediately could see how the space of 4620 could work well as a sort of sophisticated stand-up club: intimate, dim, smoky, classy. But I also could see that it would take much more that ambiance to attract a Bearden crowd to hear comedy on a Tuesday night. When my friend and I sat down ten minutes before Kerry White went on, we became the third and fourth members of the audience. By the time he began his routine, only four more people had joined us. And when he began, you could barely hear him. Was there no sound check?

Really, the acoustics were pretty awful. The sound system did nothing to complement White's rapid-fire, deep bass voice. The three chatting sorority girls in the front row also did nothing to help the situation. Two minutes into his monologue, the three girls and two others had left, leaving me, my friend, and one guy way in the corner as his only remaining audience. My friend finally couldn't take the weirdness anymore and ditched me under the pretense of going to the bathroom. I stayed for a minute, but it quickly became just too strange to be the only guy the comedian was trying to make laugh. Nice fellow, though. He politely thanked me as I left him by himself in the room. (1/5) -J.B.

Christabel and The Jons and Tommy Bateman & The Thunderthieves Christmas Special at Preservation Pub

Christabel and The Jons are sort of like hanging out downtown. Two years ago, never heard of such a thing. Now, can't get enough of it. Kudos to them for working hard and having it pay off in the form of sharp music and great gigs. When I heard of the Christa-mas Spectacular happening down at the Pres Pub on Friday night, I couldn't think of a better, crisper, more trendy group to hear sing some classic holiday songs while sipping my yuletide whiskey.

I arrived in good spirits, and cheerfully paid my three dollar charge to the sentinel at the gate. I then walked into Who's-Who-Ville, so named because I saw at least twenty friends on my way from the door to the bar. Good friends were here, good whiskey was ordered, and some good carols were soon to be heard. What could be better than Christmas at the Pub?

Unfortunately The Electronic Grinch had come to visit Who's-Who-Ville, threatening to take all of our sound-presents and ear-candies away. I'm not acoustically inclined, but I could guess that either a speaker was blown or that someone had left all the microphones in their jeans and accidentally ran them through the wash. After a laborious sound check, C&TJ began.

Ugh. Christa's pristine voice was marred nearly their entire set by the constant crackle of the speaker. The intermittent radio "commercials," written and read by local thespian Dennis Bussel, were similarly distorted. (When you could hear him, though, he got some great laughs.) By the end of their caroling, they had all learned how to not offend the microphone, but the sound quality never rose above average.

By the time Tommy and his crew finished their lengthy sound check, I had put away my fair share of holiday spirits, and was in the warm, fuzzy mood to listen to more songs about Santa. When they finally began, the sound was still yucky. So I went home, but not without my first Christabel CD. (3/5) -J.B.

Brent Thompson and His Wandering Circus w/ Christabel and the Jons at Preservation Pub

Last Thursday I went down to the Preservation Pub for Brent Thompson and His Wandering Circus. As a precursor to the main event, Christabel and the Jons treated us to a set of acoustic swing. Each time I see Christa her music and overall artistic vision for her band seem more refined. Their gracefully written originals as well as a few covers, including a beautiful rendition of Roxanne, coasted me right through my first few beers.

Then at a little after midnight the circus wandered, or actually marched, right down the pub to the stage New Orleans style. You never quite know how many of the 12-15 members of this band will perform on a given night and Thursday’s line up was new to me. Lead guitarist Mike Seal was gone for the holidays, but with Ben Maney ripping up the organ/piano and Vince Ilagan taking some solos on bass the music was as tight as ever. But this band is of course centered on the vocals and songwriting of Brent Thompson. Trading lines with his lovely group of back-up singers Brent takes you everywhere from the church to the block party. He’s charismatic as a front man and his voice is always strong and confident. My only “complaint” would be that a good portion of his music is of the beautiful ballad variety, and during these intimate moments the whole circus theme is a bit distracting. But I loved his show and look forward to the next time the circus comes to town. (4/5) -D.M.

Editor's Note: Neither Christabel nor Brent Thompson is bribing us. All fawning is well-deserved and free of charge!

Thursday night at the Preservation Pub was a sight to behold. Brent Thompson and his Wandering Circus circled the wagons for a night of musical merriment that included mostly original songs written by Thompson. His lyrics were deep in meaning and the multitude of musical layers kept this audience member mentally occupied for quite awhile. I will say, though, that the band seems to be upstaging their own music with their random, slap-dash costumes and make-up. Thompson’s musical work is so worth hearing, but it’s in danger of being overshadowed by the performance itself. My opinion, in a nutshell: the music would shine even more without all that paint. (4/5) -K.S.

Big Fatty's

Yeah, I know. We mentioned Big Fatty's just the other day. But let me tell you, this past Friday night I was stressed the eff out from holiday shopping and last-minute packing. I needed a quick injection of some down-home, mom-made comfort food. If you've ever had the pleasure of eating there, you know that nothing coats the soul quite like Big Fatty's. After a big heaping plate of fried chicken, okra, and mac & cheese, and after a big bulging bowl of banana pudding, I was right as rain. It was a bit quiet in there for a Friday night, so get your butts over to Homberg and give them some love. Your belly will thank you. (5/5) -J.B.

That's it for our special Christmas Day edition! We're taking New Year's off, but check back on January 2nd for a very Tuesday edition of The Monday After!