Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Third Charm May Be the Time

By two other names, the brewpub on Gay Street has become a downtown institution since its original opening just over six years ago, a place where you were likely to meet German tourists, visiting celebrities, a city official or two, and the occasional British knight. Neither a beer joint, a fern bar, nor a meat market, it was a real pub, evidence that maybe Knoxville had finally grown up.

Its last incarnation, Great Southern, closed in May. It wasn't because they weren't doing good business—they were—but the out-of-state owner was in the process of selling the place, and a misunderstanding about the completion of the deal closed the place prematurely. Since then, the brewpub has been in a gentlemanly bidding war between two factions who wanted to take it over.

If all goes well, a team led by rugby player Stephen Cerne will reopen the brewpub as City Brew in November. Head brewer Tom "T.L." Adkisson promises that, despite considerable remodeling, longtime devotees will feel at home. The gorgeous mahogany bar will remain intact, but they'll add a second, smaller bar upstairs. Adkisson says they'll feature the strong beers the brewpub is known for, but will broaden the variety to include some for those with lighter tastes, as well as a monthly selection of wines from small wineries. "Fresh and small is the theme," he says.

Adkisson says they'll also revamp the restaurant's menu—at press time, Grady Regas was still negotiating the terms of his part in managing the restaurant—but the prices will be similar, with an affordable lunch menu.

They Are Curious, Orange

The Tennessean reports that a crew from ABC-TV's 20/20 news magazine show was among the 108,000-plus crowd on hand for the gridiron Vols' season opener last weekend. Think they're whipping up a special on: A) team mascots? B) quarterback controversies? C) the toxic effects of polyester on cheerleaders? D) another look at cheating charges leveled by Linda Bensel-Meyers? If you guessed A through C, you better sign up for a tutor. ESPN is owned by ABC, and it's a pretty safe bet that the Friday night show, seen locally on Channel 6, will feature lots of ESPN "tutorgate" footage. This report will probably air the night before the Florida game.

Still Working, One Way or Another

When Victor Ashe first ran for mayor in 1987, he hired a Nashville PR guy to polish up his image, which hadn't been trotted out publicly since it got stomped on by Al Gore three years earlier in a race for the U.S. Senate. The Nashville PR guy remembers proposing a slogan that seemed to hit the spot, and "Let's Work Together" became Ashe's campaign theme. They even set it to music.

Today, that PR guy works in Knoxville, and one piece of his job as head of the Superchamber, err, Chamber Partnership, is persuading newly-annexed businesses that just because they've been annexed and had their taxes doubled doesn't mean they should go away mad. Tom Ingram has had lots of conversations with Forks of the River Industrial Park business people who are not exactly thrilled about being annexed into the City of Knoxville as a result of one of those notorious "finger" annexations (this "finger" being the Holston River, which borders the county industrial park).

When asked if he saw any irony in his fate, Ingram (who has fallen out of favor with Ashe) stonewalled: "I still believe in working together."

Pray for Danny

City Councilman Danny Mayfield is back in the hospital. Mayfield, who was diagnosed with a recurrence of bone cancer earlier this year, is undergoing intensive chemotherapy.

Let's Beat Up on Don

The Tennessee Conservative Union, at its last meeting (attended by Greg "Lumpy" Lambert, gun-totin' used-car dealer, Man of the Moment), TCU chair Lloyd Daugherty broke out another of his popular Top Ten lists, only this time, Daugherty's been busy, so the list was only six items long:

"Top 6 Similarities between Parson Brownlow, the state's Reconstruction governor and firebrand preacher/publisher and Gov. Don Sundquist:

6. Brownlow: Set fire to Southern sympathizers' homes while they were gone.

Sundquist: Burnt down the state Republican Party with everybody in it.

5. Brownlow: Most hated man in Tennessee history.

Sundquist: Can't abide being #2.

4. Brownlow: Published the Knoxville Whig

Sundquist: Wears a bad hairpiece.

3. Brownlow: Vowed to stamp out all secessionists.

Sundquist: Stamped out all chances for another Republican governor for the next 30 years.

2. Brownlow: A Unionist who supported slavery.

Sundquist: A Republican who supports an income tax, socialized medicine and Lamar Alexander.

1. Brownlow: Surrounded himself with carpetbaggers, scalawags and poltroons.

Sundquist: Two Words: Chip Saltsman."

Lloyd and Bobby, Sittin' in a Tree...

Those TCU outlaws may be about to wander waaaay off the reservation this time. Fueled by their raging feud withSundquist and most of the state GOP regulars, the TCU guys are carrying on a flirtation with Democrat Bob Clement, a perennial threat to any vacancy, who is mulling a run for the governor. Clement caught the ear of Lloyd Daugherty a while back when Clement sponsored a bill to allow state taxpayers to deduct sales tax from their federal income tax..

"This would have effectively killed the push for a state income tax," Daugherty explained. He seems less than enthusiastic about potential GOP candidate Van Hilleary, whom Daugherty said doesn't return his calls. "And besides, somebody said his best friend is (state GOP chair and Sundquist ally/TCU bête noire) Chip Saltsman," Daugherty said.

"Seriously, philosophy is important, but access is even more important," he said. "We have an open mind to talk to anybody at this point. We're probably going to have a Democrat governor anyway, and Clement has done a lot of things that we like—but most of all, he's accessible. That hasn't been true with the Sundquist administration. The Tennessee Republican Party has really pushed a lot of true movement conservatives into the independent category."