Knoxville520.com

How are you? I'm having an incredible year. For everyone's
reading pleasure I managed to sneak around the town yesterday / last night. It was Kentucky vs. Tennessee in basketball that really got the spirits rousted, but it was the Holiday performance of "Featuring Chad Kroeger of Nickelback: Anna Nicole's unborn child's father" (i.e. Nintendo Rules) that stole the show.

At 2 p.m. I received a most generous phone call from my friend who demanded
"Why are you not at Moe's?" A quick background, before most men's basketball games, a group of us gather at Moe's for their $3.25 pitchers (Student discount - $4.50 regularly) of Michelob Light, Bud Light, Miller Lite, or Amberbock - seriously, it is your pick. Several of us gather there, others stop in to have a pitcher, being quoted as saying "For $3.25 I feel like I have to buy one." It's true. Regardless, I made my way down to Moe's around 4:30 p.m. to a crowd of hecklers, raining down smart-ass comments about my
arrival time. One pitcher and a couple of glasses of Amberbock later we left at
5:15 p.m., our ears ringing... "Welcome to Moe's."

I hope you know the outcome of the game. I tend to geek out on sports, so I'll try to tone it down. But I just want to point out that when Tennessee's two freshman who play inside (Wayne Chism and Duke Crews) outscore a player who (at one point) was entering the NBA (Randolph Morris - extremely big headed, overhyped Kentucky center) my expectations for Tennessee basketball, not only for this year, but for upcoming years, are high. Tennessee built a lead, then slowly let it dwindle (similar to my gambling habits), however unlike myself, the Vols held on for an exciting 89-85 victory. The game ball goes to my buddy who arrived at Moe's at 2pm, was escorted to outside the building where an officer ask him "Have you been drinking?" to which he replied "Yes sir, would you like to see my tab." Instead, he handed him his ID, verifying he was of age, and he returned to cheer on the Vols.

By the time the game had ended, I could already tell you I was going out on the town (the 2 p.m crowd did not join me). I need to point out "out on the town" means somewhere with culture-- a splash of class. I need atmosphere, not 300 beer signs that are also convenient mirrors. Granted, if a place has a pool table, I tend to make exceptions. Not because I am good at pool, but because I'm confidently mediocre. Old City and Market Square qualify as normally having culture and class. I do plan to venture out west-- I figure this contest should serve as motivation for all of us to enjoy the entire city of
Knoxville. In fact, Knoxville520 has the calendar available, so there is no excuse not to.

Preservation Pub. Everybody seems to know everybody. Even though I don't, I
feel like I do. I feel like I should announce that the Pub is holding a meeting for those interested in joining a co-op to purchase Preservation Pub and keep it just the way it is - absolutely rockin'. That meeting is on Thurs. April 15th at 6:00 pm. So Tuesday is singer / songwriter night, and I met a group of my friends down at the bar
for the traditional $2 High Lifes (Champagne of Beers). The Pub's singer /songwriter night is unique in that it isn't an untalented "artists" stubbing chords and wailing pitches that even I know to be way off key. Instead, it is a gathering of Knoxville's talent to play amongst each other. It's a neapolitan of shows, typically 2 or 3 songs each, covering the full music spectrum. At the end of the night, it was the Nintendo Rules rendition of Justin Timberlake's famous via You Tube SNL skit "Dick in a Box" that brought chants of "encore" even aspiring a quad of ladies to audition for dancer's in the music video.

So Knoxville, where do we go from here? Valentine's Day is here-- enjoy it! I've gambled a few times on this oh-so-American holiday and just like I normally do, I've lost. I'll
share some Valentine's Day "don'ts" and if my evening goes right tonight, I may go with one Valentine's Day "do." What else can you expect from ol' Joe Vegas?

Rumor has it that Longbranch saloon may be rented out for an official event, I invite all my fellow bloggers to join in this over 21, BYOL ( Yes-- Brown Bag baby!) event. I'll be solidifying the venue in the next few days. Also - look for a random "Journey" as I embark to a nearby
city, unknown at the time, with the idea being to find something the band Journey could sing about at each bar I find. My final finale will be a unprecedented pub crawl.
From the Old City to Market Square to the strip (I have to walk to all these places). This all-downtown pub crawl is both ill advised and well advised at the same time. I guess I will sacrifice for the good of the whole. In between all these events look for random events, thoughtful insights, rambling, and most importantly living on life's little edge, putting it all on red. I bid you adieu.