Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

SNOT Lives

Once upon a time in downtown Knoxville there was a neat little music festival called Saturday Night On the Town. Lots of people came, drank beer, wandered the streets, listened to bands, hung out with friends. Downtown was alive and a good time was had by all.

The festival was eventually moved from downtown streets to the World's Fair Park, and eventually (for a variety of reasons, no doubt) fizzled out.

But, thanks to WIVK, FM 107.7, it's coming back to a downtown near you this Saturday from 4 to 11 p.m.

City officials are fond of claiming that Knoxville's downtown is dead, dead, dead—and needs a big mega mall/dome development for it to ever be alive again. Sure, downtown after 6 p.m. isn't the liveliest place in Knoxville. But there are plenty of thriving bars, restaurants, and clubs that draw people. As any of the various festivals that have been held downtown (the V-roys and R.B. Morris CD release parties, WDVX bluegrass concerts, etc.) in the past few years prove, to make downtown come to life, all you have to do is give people a reason to be there. It's what downtown should be—a place for residents to mingle, share ideas, and have fun in a public environment, without having to pay a fee or buy anything.

And so, even though Zippy's not exactly crazy about WIVK's playlist, he's tickled pink that the radio station is giving country music fans a free concert. It's the kind of thing that downtown needs—small festivals and events catering to all stripes of interests.

WIVK's "Saturday Night On the Town" features two stages on Gay Street. Performers include Tim Rushlow, Rascal Flats, Keith Urban, Julie Reeves, River Road, the Warren Brothers, Steve Holy, T. Graham Brown, and Ronnie Milsap.

Food, soft beverages, and beer will be sold. Don't let the beer scare you. As the last few Market Square concerts have shown, it's possible for lots of people to get together and drink without incident. But if you're leery, the folks at WIVK have set it up to make sure families with children feel comfortable. There will be special "alcohol free" areas for those who want to avoid rowdy fans, a children's play area, and lots of police in case anyone does get out of hand.

Rough Times at The Punkhouse

The ever-adapting punk/emo/ hardcore scene is always in a state of flux. It seems like none of the makeshift venues that host house shows ever manage to last long. With the pressures from neighbors and John Law, it's practically impossible for a punk house to thrive for more than a year at best.

West Knoxville's Honeygrove House lasted an even shorter duration, hosting around half a dozen shows in just a couple of months. Honeygrove hosts and tenants Beau Hart and Jason Williams (who also serves guitar duties for Past Mistakes and Minute 61) put up a valiant effort, but last week's performances by Minute 61, Now She's Gone, and Appleseed Cast were the swan song for that locale.

Williams and Hart are moving to another locale as of this Friday, thus no more shows. But future events would've been unlikely anyway because the cops showed up at the final show after neighbors had complained about the noise. Luckily, Hart and Williams were able to reason with the men in blue. And all the bands got to play, after turning down a bit.

As of now, the Oglewood House is also being persecuted by irate neighbors and police crackdowns. Tenant and show promoter (and guitarist for The Red Scare) Kip Ulhorn says that the problem is not merely a result of the noise, but also because of the large number of cars at each event. A couple of shows are still scheduled at Oglewood, but Ulhorn requests that those who plan to attend carpool to the show to keep down the traffic. With cooperation and discretion, maybe the upcoming shows (Camera Obscura on May 15 and Jerome's Dream, Racebannon, Usurp Synapse, and Crash Smash Explode on May 22) can come off without a hitch.

R.B. the Nominee

You may have heard that R.B. Morris's latest album, Zeke And the Wheel, was nominated for a national award given by the American Federation of Independent Merchandisers, an organization of large and small non-chain record stores across the country. Zeke was one of five nominees in the "Americana" category, along with new albums by John Prine, Richard Buckner, Daryl Scott, and June Carter Cash. Morris played at the award ceremony this past weekend in Cleveland's Renaissance Hotel. He didn't win the top honor—Morris lost out to his sometime backup singer Prine—but he says he had a great time. R.B.'s back in town after playing three shows in Cleveland and another in Pittsburgh's Rosebud Cafe on the way.

Local CD Review

The Lovejoys (S&L Records)

Is it too early for '90s revivalism? If not, The Lovejoys could be right at the front of the wave. The Morristown trio—identified simply as Keith, Seth, and Desmond—plays fuzzy lo-fi alternapop straight outta 1993. There's even a song called "Slacker." It's good stuff, too, catchy and wistful when it needs to be, ragged and rockin' elsewhere. Singer-guitarist Keith has a fair-to-middling voice, but he knows how to bend it to the demands of the music. Backing vox of the "ooo-woo" variety are slightly off in a charmingly scruffy way, and the band is tight but not tight-assed. The low-budget production is predictably on the tinny side—I'm sure they rock a lot harder live—but that doesn't do great damage to the bittersweet daydreaminess of the songs. And if more than one of the riffs calls to mind Radiohead's "Creep" and/or any number of Matthew Sweet songs, well, is that a bad thing? I didn't think so.

—Zippy "Always Rip Off the Best" McDuff