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A.C.: That Old Heart-Warmer

I just finished reading the piece in "Eye On The Scene" in the Dec. 7 issue. I am compelled to write in defense of WNCW and A.C. Entertainment—two of our most invaluable cultural/media sources in the region. Apparently, someone made a mistake in the promotions for the Mountain Oasis Festival, so let's do the routine thing around here and DRAG THEM ALL DOWN FOR A GOOD BEATING!

Once upon a time, I took up residence on a fine piece of property just outside Holston Hills, down the road a bit from the river. I had been living in Knoxville long enough to realize that if I wanted to enjoy ANY GOOD MUSIC AT ALL, I would have to go get it myself. One could not expect Knoxville airwaves to bring anything but CRAP to one's stereo system; I depended then, as now, on our independent music stores and my friends for my ear candy. One day I turned on the radio, on a lark, and tuned in for the first time to 96.7 FM. It was nothing short of a FULL BLOWN MIRACLE to hear such a diverse mix of truly good music, put on by folks who know and care greatly about what they do. Music that can make you stop for a minute and cry a little, for the sheer beauty of it. I began hearing mention of shows put on by Ashley Capps through A.C. Entertainment. This warmed my heart then, as it does now, to hear of his good work going on in our city.

What does this have to do with where I live? One day I noticed a piece of mail from a previous tenant of the property, one A.C. Capps! I was gladdened to think of this good man walking and living at the property where I resided; a true aesthetic evangelist going about his work: thinking of and listening to the best music he could find, then bringing it through hard work and sheer force of will to all of us culturally benighted citizens of Knoxville. (Now I live in the wasteland of Farragut, where I can't even get WNCW's signal—but I think of them regularly and try to get their webcast when on-line.)

When I saw him out at the �Cubanismo! show recently, I thanked him personally for the great work he does, and because I had had such a fun evening—hell, I even had Ian pouring my beers. The people of WNCW and of A.C. Entertainment deserve nothing but our thanks and support for the countless things they bring us, not to be pilloried for a simple mistake. They bring the GOODS to us HERE, WHERE WE LIVE, and they (still) struggle to get and retain our financial and moral support. I remain confident they will learn from this mistake. Good folk of Knoxville, hear me: TUNE IN (to WNCW), TURN ON (to all of A.C's events!), DON'T DROP OUT OVER PETTY BICKERING—it's bad for your mojo. Oh yeah, thanks to you MP folks too we'd all be lost in ScrippsWorld crapola without you.

J. Brad Hardin
Farragut

Neely Drags in Another One

I am going to subscribe to your magazine after the holidays. I loved your article about Annamarie (cover story by Jack Neely, Dec. 7). I have picked up free copies at various places for several years now but that was very serious old fashioned journalism. It has made me come out with the wallet.

Arnold Jones
LaFollette

Another Tree, Another Train

Thank you so much for [Barry Henderson's Dec. 14] Christmas essay, "A Lionel in Winter."

I, too, on Christmas Eve listened to my father playing with my Lionel train below the Christmas tree.

Railroads were a great favorite, as I would walk along the six-mile Michigan Central track by the Huron River, from Ypsilante to Ann Arbor, frequently in the 1940s.

The best, though, were the four-track Pennsy, where our aunt lived in New Jersey, or the four-track New York Central along the Hudson River, where an uncle lived. The Pennsy was electrified, and the diesels were just occasional on the NYC.

Grandpa always had a railroad calendar showing, say, four trains traveling through the Delaware Water Gap. It's always a treat to read train memoirs.

Frank E. Bourne
Knoxville