Calendar of Events
Sunday, May 8, 2016
The Golden Roast: Exhibition by with Dean Rice
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Presenting an Open House with Photographer Dean Rice on April 23, 4:30-7 PM. Showcasing his exhibit, "The Children of Zaatari": an exhibition of photographs of Syrian children living as refugees in Jordan’s Zaatari Camp.
The Golden Roast, 825 Melrose Pl, Knoxville, Tennessee 37916. Information: 865-544-1004
The District Gallery: Kathie Odom: Along the Way
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Kathie's third solo exhibition with the gallery, "Along the Way" is a collection of works in oil featuring simple and nostalgic scenes that too often go unnoticed. Kathie’s paintings are timeless interpretations of the atmosphere, light, and story in the landscape around her.
Day in and day out, we spend our time rushing from place to place in anticipation of whatever might be next. In our haste, countless vistas fly past us, hardly glimpsed. Kathie stops for us, beginning an unhindered dialogue with the landscape through the medium of oil paints. Skillful infusions of color, light and shade grant each image a special resonance. Whether a forgotten farmland, an ordinary cityscape, a common food truck or an unnoticed rural home, Kathie introduces us to the common made beautiful along the way. www.KathieOdom.com
An opening reception will be held Friday, April 22 from 5-8 p.m.
The District Gallery, 5113 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Hours: M-F 10-5:30, Sa 10-4. Information: 865-200-4452, www.TheDistrictGallery.com
Oak Ridge Playhouse: Urinetown
Category: Theatre
This funny show with the funny name is a hilarious side-splitting take on greed, love, revolution - and musicals! Set in a time when water is worth its weight in gold, a Gotham-like city is facing a 20-year drought that leads to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. As a result, the citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. But those who fail to pay are sentenced to a dreaded penal colony. A hero decides he's had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom! An irreverently humorous satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny.
Oak Ridge Playhouse, 227 Broadway, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Information and tickets: 865-482-9999, www.orplayhouse.com
Theatre Knoxville Downtown: Betrayal
Category: Theatre
By Harold Pinter. Directed by Patrick McCray.
Actors often have to face the challenge of growing older on stage, but in Harold Pinter's Betrayal they have an even more difficult task: they must grow younger as the play progresses. Pinter's play tracks the course of an affair, but it does so backwards: it opens with a meeting between the two lovers some years after the affair ended; it finishes with the first erotically charged encounter between the two, nine years earlier. The performers chart the stages in the affair, discarding the layers of guilt, to become their younger, fresher selves.
The play begins in 1977 with a meeting between adulterous lovers, Emma and Jerry, two years after their affair has ended. During the nine scenes of the play we move back in time through the states of their affair, with the play ending in the house of Emma and Robert, her husband, who is Jerry's best friend.
The classic dramatic scenario of the love triangle is manifest in a mediation on the themes of marital infidelity, duplicity, and self-deception. Pinter writes a world that simultaneously glorifies and debases love.
Theatre Knoxville Downtown, 319 North Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information & tickets: 865-544-1999, www.theatreknoxville.com
Clarence Brown Theatre: South Pacific
Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; Directed by Terry Silver-Alford. At the Clarence Brown Theatre.
“A majestic spectacle.” - The New Yorker
From the haunting “Bali Ha’i” to the exquisite “Some Enchanted Evening,” this Rodgers & Hammerstein classic features some of the most beautiful music ever composed for the theatre. The Pulitzer Prize and 10-time Tony Award winner is set on a tropical island during World War II and tells the romantic tale of how the happiness of two couples is threatened by the realities of war and prejudice.
Clarence Brown Theatre / Carousel Theatre, 1714 Andy Holt Ave on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. For information: 865-974-5161, www.clarencebrowntheatre.com. For tickets: 865-974-5161, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church: David Denton & Max Robinson
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
Featuring works by David Denton and Max Robinson. Opening reception April 22, 6-7:30 PM with artists' talk at 6:30 PM.
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Gallery hours: M-Th 9-5, Su 9-1. Information: 865-523-4176, www.tvuuc.org
East Tennessee History Center: Come to Make Records: Knoxville’s Contributions to American Popular Music
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, History, heritage and Music
Special Public Opening: Friday, April 15, from 5:30-8:00 p.m.
In 1929 and again in 1930, Brunswick Records' Vocalion label set up a temporary recording studio at the St. James Hotel in downtown Knoxville and invited locals to come make records. These old-time, jazz, blues, and gospel recordings added Knoxville's voice to American popular music and inspired the next generation of country music stars. In an exciting new exhibition, the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound present a first-time look at the impact of these recordings and the region’s contributions to American popular music. The exhibition features an array of artifacts, videos, sound recordings, and photographs showcasing East Tennessee’s diverse musical heritage. Come to Make Records explores Knoxville’s growth in the early 20th century, the importance of fiddling contests in generating fans and driving record sales, the role of Sterchi Bros. in exposing local talent to a national audience, and examines why Knoxville was selected for the recordings. The exhibit offers a closer look at the St. James Hotel, the site of the Knoxville Sessions, an overview of the local talent that arose from the sessions, and a look at the next generation of artists, such as Chet Atkins and Roy Acuff. The exhibit includes a display demonstrating 130 years of recorded sound from the wax cylinder to the iPod, a re-creation of the St. James Hotel room where the Knoxville Sessions took place, Roy Acuff’s fiddle, Cal Davenport’s banjo, a Bairdola, and an assortment of other instruments. Other artifacts featured are original records from the Knoxville Sessions, a painting by Howard Armstrong, and Carl and Pearl Butler’s performance suits, designed by Nathan Turk. Special video presentations include a film produced by East Tennessee PBS on the Knoxville Sessions, a look at how 78 rpm discs are made, rare footage of Knoxville Sessions artists, and recordings of Roy Acuff, Uncle Dave Macon, and Carl and Pearl Butler.
Beginning at 6:00 p.m., Julie Belcher from the Pioneer House will display an art exhibition in the Bilo Nelson Auditorium of the East Tennessee History Center with music provided by saw player Robert Maddox. At 7:00 p.m. there will be a program with musical performances by local musicians, including Kelle Jolly, David Balle, saw player Robert Maddox, and the Tennessee Stiff Legs, of songs from the 1929 and 1930 Knoxville Sessions with remarks by Dr. Ted Olson, co-producer and co-author of The Knoxville Sessions box set book. The evening will conclude with a screening of rare film footage of Knoxville sessions artists Uncle Dave Macon, Willie Seivers, and Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong. Relatives and descendants of the musicians that recorded during the Knoxville Sessions will also be acknowledged during the program.
East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org
Dogwood Arts: Art in Public Places
Category: Exhibitions, visual art and Free event
A world-class visual arts exhibition of large-scale outdoor sculpture which enliven downtown Knoxville, the McGhee Tyson Airport and Oak Ridge. Sculpture artist Isaac Duncan III, a Brooklyn, New York native who currently resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee served as the Juror for the 2016-2017 exhibition. #AIPP
Dogwood Arts: 865-637-4561 www.dogwoodarts.com
Knoxville Food Tours
Category: Culinary arts, food and History, heritage
History, Food, & Fun! Enhance your time in Historic Downtown with Knoxville’s Award Winning, Original Tour! Enjoy a complete Knoxville experience in just a few hours – enjoy tastings of specially selected dishes from some of Knoxville’s best new and iconic restaurants featuring local, regional, Southern & Appalachian cuisine; add pairings of beer from local and craft breweries, wine flights, craft cocktails, Tennessee whiskey, or even moonshine; hear the history of the city and notable buildings. A must for locals and visitors!
Reservations Required. Purchase Tickets at www.knoxvillefoodtours.com or call 865-201-7270.
McClung Museum: Maya: Lords of Time
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Free event, History, heritage and Science, nature
Maya: Lords of Time explores the time-ordered universe through the Maya’s intricate calendar systems and investigates how their history and culture followed a rhythm set by the motion of heavenly bodies. Learn the story of how divine kings used their control over the calendar and its grand public rituals to assert their power.
With award-winning interactives, numerous full-sized monumental replicas, and many Central American artifacts, visitors can trace the rise and fall of the Maya kingdoms and follow how ideas of time and the calendar changed before and after the Spanish conquest.
This exhibition also explores how those long-standing beliefs can still be found in Mayan regions today.
McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, 1327 Circle Park Dr on the UT campus, Knoxville, TN 37996. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-5PM, Sunday, 1-5PM. Information: 865-974-2144, http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu
Farragut Museum: The Farragut Farmers
Category: Exhibitions, visual art, Free event and History, heritage
Beginning Jan. 18, the Farragut Museum will feature a new special exhibit - "The Farragut Farmers." This exhibit will be on display through May 27, 2016.
As late as the early seventies, the Farragut area was a sprawling rural community dotted with beautiful farmlands. This exhibit will feature artifacts related to farming in the area, photographs of barns and landmarks, and information about the Farragut Schools and their agricultural background. Specific artifacts on display include a barn door from the former Spencer Smith Farm off Smith Road (current site of Smithfield subdivision), a corn sheller with a large rotary handle, and a milk crate from the former Russell Dairy.
The Farragut Museum is committed to preserving the heritage of its East Tennessee community and features a remarkable collection of artifacts from the area, including an extensive collection of the personal belongings of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, first Admiral of the U.S Navy and hero of the Civil War. Housed in the Farragut Town Hall located at 11408 Municipal Center Drive, the museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and offers free admission. For more information, visit www.townoffarragut.org/museum, like Farragut Museum on Facebook, or contact Museum Coordinator Julia Barham at jbarham@townoffarragut.org or 966-7057.
Lark in the Morn English Country Dancers at the Laurel Theater
Category: Dance, movement, Free event and Music
Sundays at 8:00 PM. 17th-18th Century Social Dancing with live music. Beginners welcome, no partner is required. Also Rapper Sword dance group meets most Sundays at 7:00 PM. Free. Call 865-546-8442.
At the Laurel Theater, 1538 Laurel Ave, Knoxville, TN 37916. For information: 865-522-5851, www.jubileearts.org.