Metro Pulse Online: Ear to the Ground

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Who Needs a Budget?

Insiders are wondering when they're going to start hearing something about the city budget. Last year's city budget workshop, the traditional kick-off for the city's annual budget process, was Feb. 19. This year, no such meeting has been scheduled, nor has the annual budget survey been released. The whole process, which generally ends with budget hearings in May, is some three weeks behind schedule with no workshop dates set. Uncertainty about expected cutbacks in state funding is one likely factor in the delay; even greater uncertainty surrounding paying for the new convention center—and the possibility of a tax increase—is another.

Waltzing Away

Last week, many might have been surprised to hear that the guy who wrote "The Tennessee Waltz" was still alive. But Pee Wee King died Tuesday at 86, in Louisville, Ky., where he had lived in recent years. None of the news reports we've heard so far mention that he once lived in Knoxville.

His real name was Julius Kuczynski. His origins point out the sometimes surprising diversity of the roots of what we call "country music." Raised on polka music in a Polish neighborhood in Milwaukee, King began working in radio in the early '30s. Around 1936, he came to Knoxville to be a regular performer on the influential station WNOX. He lived here for about a year, during which he formed his first Western Swing band, before joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1937. He was a pop-music innovator and one of the pioneers of the Western Swing style, but he'll probably be best remembered for writing the tune for "Tennessee Waltz" not long after he left here.

Spooky Help

Who was the tall guy in the apron serving up greens at Spooky's the other week? Looked a lot like auctioneer/car dealer/billboard owner Sam Furrow. Last month, Spooky's moved from Martin Luther King Boulevard to the former Northshore Drive home of Bistro By the Tracks (and before that the Wrangler). Things are going well, says Mrs. Spooky (Georgetta Frazier), except sometimes it's hard to get good help. So when Big Sam came in for lunch one shorthanded day, he pitched right in. And so did his assistant, Sharon Mills and his son, Jay.

"He sat a few customers, took telephone orders, and just did what he could to help. So did Sharon and Jay. The only thing we failed to do was get a picture," says Mrs. Spooky." (Clark "Spooky" Frazier is the other half of the team).

Spooky's is open 11-2 for lunch and 5:30-8 for dinner. Specialties are fresh, hand-washed greens, hand-picked pinto beans, smoked ribs, pork shoulder, beef and chicken; macaroni and cheese, fresh-grated cole slaw, potato salad, whole-kernel corn, green beans, sweet potato tarts, banana pudding, lemon meringue pie.

Head Countdown

Dying for a Cheddar Head sandwich or a spinach salad? We are too. Fortunately, Tomato Head restaurant on Market Square is preparing to reopen in temporary space adjacent to the Soup Kitchen, while work crews rebuild the side wall that partly collapsed a few weeks back. Co-owners Scott Partin and Mahasti Vafaie hope to be up and running by late March or early April. The cave-in was apparently the result of excavation work in the vacant lot next to Tomato Head. Partin and Vafaie say the construction firm responsible for that work, Johnson & Galyon, has been supportive and helpful in the recovery effort. Likewise downtown developer Kristopher Kendrick, who's providing the Head's temporary home. Meanwhile, you can see your favorite Head staffers waiting tables at Lula, the Head's sister restaurant.