Calendar of Events

Twenty years after its founding, the Tortoise signature and singularly inimitable sound - a fluid intersection of dub, dance, jazz, techno, rock, and classical minimalism - remains an American and international original. Beacons of Ancestorship is Tortoise's sixth full-length album, and their first release of new material in five years, since 2004's It's All Around You. In the interim, the group also released and toured behind the 2006 career retrospective box set A Lazarus Taxon, and an album of covers with vocalist Will Oldham by the likes of Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Richard Thompson, and The Minutemen, entitled The Brave and the Bold. A characteristic Tortoise album is one that traverses an encyclopedia of styles and reference points, a document of where musical intersections and dialogue are occurring at a given moment in time. Beacons of Ancestorship is no different, with nods to techno, punk, electro, lo-fi noise, cut-up beats, heavily processed synths, and mournful, elegiac dirges. A beautiful band with a beautiful sound all the way around. Admission: $17.50 Advance and $19.50 Doors plus applicable service fees

Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-522-0832, www.knoxbijou.com. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, a restored 35mm scope print of Elian Kazan's Wild River will screen at the Bijou Theatre. Filmed in the towns of Charleston and Cleveland in Bradley and Hamilton counties, Wild River was the first movie filmed entirely in the state of Tennessee. More than 80 locals (and one coon dog) had parts in the movie, which featured many buildings and cars. In the film, a young field administrator for TVA (Montgomery Clift) comes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam on the Tennessee River and evict an elderly woman (Jo Van Fleet) who refuses to leave from her home. The young man begins a love affair with the woman's widowed granddaughter (Lee Remick) and begins to understand the family's love for their land.

Tickets are $5. Bijou Theatre, 803 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-522-0832, www.knoxbijou.com. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

This will be the 25th Annual Symphony in the Park featuring the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO) conducted by Maestro Lucas Richman. Returning this year as special guest artist is H.P. and Alice Ijams great-granddaughter, Carrie Niceley. A special presentation of the Ijams Spirit award will be made to Sharon Miller Pryse for her long-standing support of Ijams. Plus, there will be a gourmet meal provided by Creative Catering. For more information or to order tickets contact Kimberly at kwomack@ijams.org kwomack@ijams.org> or 577-4717, ext. 23.

Ijams Nature Center, 2915 Island Home Ave, Knoxville, TN 37920. Hours: Grounds and trails open during daylight hours. Visitor Center: Monday: by appointment only for tour groups and school trips; Tuesday-Saturday: 9AM-5PM; Sunday: 1-5PM (March 1 - November 30). For information: 865-577-4717, www.ijams.org

Free and open to the public
Opening reception Friday, September 17, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists' talks at 7 p.m.

This exhibit features the art work of Bobbie Crews and photographs of Clay Thurston. Bobbie Crews has been painting professionally since 1993. She earned her BFA in studio art from the UT School of Art, graduating Suma Cum Laude in 2007. Her artwork is widely collected in the U.S. and overseas. Locally her work is exhibited in schools, government buildings, churches, businesses, and private homes. Bobbie teaches art, speaks on art and is a courtroom sketch artist. She is also an activist for women in the form of artwork for education and awareness of domestic violence. A retired physical education teacher with the Oak Ridge schools, Clay Thurston now pursues photography full time. He has traveled extensively in the continental U.S. and Alaska and across the globe photographing the beauty and diversity of the land, its wildlife, and its people. Clay has been an award-winning nature and wildlife photographer for about 35 years. Inspired by his wife and best friend, Bobbie Crews, he now seeks to find the art in an even wider range of subject matter.

Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org

The Monroe Consort and soloists will perform Mozart’s Requiem in D-minor (K.626) in it’s entirety at 7:30 PM on Saturday September 11th and at 3:00 PM on Sunday September 12th. The Saturday performance will be in the Sanctuary at Keith Memorial Methodist Church in Athens. The Sunday afternoon performance will be at the White Lion Theater at the Monroe Area School for the Performing Arts in the Norman Lee Real Estate Building (810 New Highway 68) in Sweetwater. Soloists include Nancy Owens (Soprano,) Judy Maiuri (Mezzo Soprano,) Grae Taylor (Tenor) and Josh Gettinger (Bass.) Dr. Douglas Manley will accompany and Dr. Karel Bouse will direct. The Saturday evening concert will feature Dr. Manley’s accompaniment on the pipe organ. A portion of the net proceeds from these performances will go to the National Audubon Society to aid their efforts to help wildlife injured and displaced as a result of the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf.

Tickets are $10. No reservations are necessary. Doors open 30 minutes prior to performances. Info: (423) 351-9013, http://www.masparts.org/

In this brilliant and powerful drama, Sister Aloysius, a Bronz school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with a student. A gripping story of suspicion that is less about scandal than about fascinatingly nuanced questions of moral certainty. Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play. Suitable for mature teens and older.

Oak Ridge Playhouse, 227 Broadway in Historic Jackson Square, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. For information and tickets: 865-482-9999, www.orplayhouse.com

by Jones, Hope & Wooten. Hilarity abounds when the feisty females of Eden Falls, Georgia, decide to shake up their lives. The action in this rollicking Southern comedy takes place in SPA-DEE-DAH!, the abandoned church-turned day spa where this group of friends gathers every Friday afternoon. After the loss of a dear friend, the women realize time is precious and if they're going to change their lives and achieve their dreams they have to get on it now! But Sugar Lee, their high-spirited, determined leader, has her hands full keeping the women motivated. Carlene's given up on romance, having buried three husbands. Nita's a nervous wreck from running interference between her problematic son and his probation officer. Mavis' marriage is so stagnant she's wondering how she can fake her own death to get out of it. And sweet, simple Crystal entertains them all, singing Christmas carols with her own, hilarious lyrics.

The comic tension mounts when a sexy, ex-boyfriend shows up unexpectedly, a marriage proposal comes from an unlikely suitor and Sugar Lee's arch rival vows she'll stop at nothing to steal the spa away from her. By the time the women rally together to overcome these obstacles and launch their new, improved lives, you've got a side-splitting, joyful comedy that will make you laugh out loud and shout "Hallelujah!"

Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 N. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37917. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday at 3:00 PM. Tickets are $10 plus fees for Thursday & Sunday; $15 plus fees for Friday & Saturday. For information: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com. For tickets: 865-523-7521, www.KnoxTIX.com

More details to come!

The Tennessee Valley Fair we know today was born in 1916; however, we can trace its origins back to the earliest years of this century. It began as an idea in the minds of a group of progressive and in some way idealistic Knoxvillians. These men dreamed of making their city the shinning centerpieces of a prosperous and modernized Appalachian. Lead by the regions most enterprising citizens - businessmen, publishers, educators, and others, they conceived the idea of bringing to their city a great exposition, which would serve as a showcase for Knoxville and all of southern Appalachia, drawing national attention to the city's promising start in commerce and industry and to the region's bountiful (but as yet undeveloped) natural and human resources. Thus was born the Appalachian Exposition of 1910. A great deal remains unchanged; however the Midway today offers much of the same of thrills and oddities as it did ninety years earlier, and the Fair's nightly fireworks seem never to lose their appeal to Fair-goers of all ages. Most importantly, whatever the effects of social, economic, and technological change in the world around it, the Fair remains for all East Tennesseans a place to learn, to compete, to have fun, and most of all to build memories.

Tennessee Valley Fair: 865-215-1471, www.tnvalleyfair.org

More than a decade following the joint production of Hamlet, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the Clarence Brown Theatre will join forces once again to present Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at the Clarence Brown Theatre! Astounded by Mozart’s beautiful music, yet consumed by envy and insecurity, court composer Salieri sets out to destroy the prodigy’s life and career. In a rare and exciting collaboration between the CBT and the KSO, in association with Schaad Companies, this production will be directed by Producing Artistic Director Calvin MacLean and will feature the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Lucas Richman. “What a wonderful collaboration! The musicianship of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the theatricality of the Clarence Brown Theatre bring to life a great play about music and theatre. It will be a thrilling celebration of the KSO's anniversary, with the CBT, for the entire Knoxville community,” says CBT Producing Artistic Director Calvin MacLean. Tickets for this joint production will be available as an add-on to KSO and CBT subscriptions for a special subscriber price of $45 for Opening Night and weekend shows and $35 for weeknight shows. Show dates and times are September 8-10, 14-17 and 19 at 7:30 PM and September 12 and 19 at 2:00 PM. 2010-2011 KSO and CBT subscribers can purchase tickets by calling 865-291-3310 (KSO Box Office) or 865-974-5161 (CBT Box Office). Additional information and tickets: www.knoxvillesymphony.com or www.clarencebrowntheatre.com

“Homecoming”, Marie Merritt’s one woman show, opens to the public in the lobby and mezzanine of Niswonger Performing Arts Center. The exhibit is a celebration of the vibrant work of Marie Merritt in a masterful combination of transparent and opaque oil paints. She is a native of Greene County and draws inspiration from East Tennessee history and that of southern Appalachia, translating their beauty, people, and places into stories told on canvas. Her own memories of her childhood in this county provided the motivation for her to take up painting as an adult. “Marie’s paintings are wonderful oils in a very representational genre with tiny traces of romanticism” says James-Ben Stockton, director of Greeneville’s regional art center. “Her work was so well received at the Capitol Theater last year during the “Civil War Views” exhibit that I’m having a preview event in the gallery from September 1-4.” This preview exhibit of Civil War inspired art
will take place at James-Ben: Studio and Gallery Art Center and include Marie’s open-stock prints and note cards and two original paintings of John Hunt Morgan. The “Thunderbolt of the Confederacy” is also portrayed through cold-cast bronze sculptures from Dell Hughes. Civil War inspired images including portraits of Stonewall Jackson and Nathan Bedford Forrest will also be on hand. Barbara Bible “Jake” Carter’s evocative watercolors depicting Civil War scenes will be included, along with prints from Lynne Olka and Kenneth Hinkle. “Visitors should take special interest in Suzanne Saltzman’s detailed and panoramic action photos of Civil War reenactments,” says Stockton.

September 7, “Homecoming” will open at Niswonger Performing Arts Center. A Meet the Artist event will take place Sunday, September 19th from 12:30 to 3 PM.

James-Ben: Studio & Gallery Art Center, 129 North Main Street, Historic Morgan Square, Greeneville, TN 37743. Information: 423-787-0195, www.james-ben.com

Featuring works small enough to fit in a shoe box! All mediums.

SHOW WILL OPEN ON THE FIRST FRIDAY – SEPTEMBER 3
AND CLOSE ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17.

865-805-3190; www.a1labarts.org.

Elementary Art Exhibition

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM; Friday, 10AM-8PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. For information: 865-934-2036, www.knoxart.org