Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Maestro on the Move, Slowly

Kirk Trevor, the KSO conductor the past 15 years, gave two-and-a-half years' formal notice to the symphony society last week, leaving the orchestra administrators plenty of time to recruit a successor. As for his own plans, Trevor says that when his work building the repertoire here is done, he'll be slowing down a bit and spending more time abroad—in Germany, in the Czech Republic, where he conducts a philharmonic orchestra and has a home, and in Slovakia, where he's been a frequent guest conductor at Bratislava and where his girlfriend, a Slovak cellist, lives. He'll be splitting his time more evenly between Europe and the United States, where he is currently music director of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and conductor of the Missouri Symphony's summer festival. He may be back from time to time, as he will hold a laureate title here following his last season.

Paying the Bills to Save

The fight against demolition of historic houses and unplanned development isn't cheap. The Historic Fort Sanders Neighborhood Association, which led the way for the City Council's unanimous approval of the protective NC-1 overlay zoning for Knox County's most historic neighborhood, currently owes more than $10,000 in legal bills due to that fight which, thanks to a few disgruntled landowners, is still under way. The debt has delayed some of the lively organization's historical and arts projects. They're hoping to host a musical fund-raiser at the Laurel Theatre this year, but those who want to help defray their costs can send checks to the HFSNA at P.O. Box 783, Knoxville, 37901.

Youthful Indiscretion?

Preservationists are always unearthing provocative historical documents, and the one that has made the rounds recently dates back to 1988. It's a Knoxville Journal article about the now-embattled DeArmond house, and about the preservationist responsible for renovating it, a handsome 20-year-old UT business major named Robert Shagan.

Of course, fast-forward 12-plus years, and someone of the same name was suing the city over his right to demolish that same house, a large 1890s Victorian at Clinch and James Agee. Then came a proposal to move the house, or portions of it, across Clinch Avenue to a space where Shagan demolished another house several years ago.

As of this writing, the DeArmond house still stands with its chimneys gone and large holes punched into its brick foundation.

Shagan has demolished many other Victorian and early 20th-century houses in the neighborhood. Back in 1988, though, Shagan seemed earnest in his plea to save the DeArmond house, which he had recently inherited from his father. A photograph in that 1988 article depicts him lovingly realigning decorative wooden dowels over a doorway. Shagan said he saw his renovation of the DeArmond house as "a bit of a memorial" to his father. In the article, he told the reporter he had spent $35,000 in renovating the house.

"I renovated it because of the beauty of the old house and how much effort it took for people in those days to put something like this together, as compared to the houses they slap up now," said Shagan. (In 2001, Shagan's representatives have recently stated that they want to see a motel on the site.)

Journal reporter Roberta Niederjohn wrote that Shagan looked around the neighborhood and added, "This is history. This is our heritage."

Today there's not as much of a neighborhood as there was then. Shagan has demolished more than a dozen of the historic houses then visible from the DeArmond house. Most of the lots remain unimproved and little used except for game-day parking.

However, in a move that surprised many recently, Shagan applied for a restrictive H-1 historic overlay for another one of his Fort Sanders properties, a house he fixed up at 1213 Laurel; that designation, which can only be applied voluntarily by a landowner, is permanent and protects the house regardless of who owns it in the future. Whether it's a new leaf or a desperate gesture by a young businessman with a colossally bad public-relations problem remains to be seen.

Politics in the Courthouse? Shocking!

GOP honchos met in Register of Deeds Steve Hall's office Tuesday to plan the annual Lincoln Day Dinner, an event where men don elephant ties and women wear pachyderm pins and earrings and gather to eat stolid, Republican food and listen to longwinded speeches. The Republican officials considered the meeting a pretty run-of-the mill occasion until they started getting calls from the media about holding such a political gathering on county time.

Anonymous sources were pointing to the flap over Charles Q. Lindsey's urging school employees to get involved with politics. "Next week, we'll meet for lunch," grumbled Hall, who was otherwise unperturbed. Hall is co-chairing the event along with Law Director Mike Moyers, who was mortified at the realization that he was participating in conduct he had just criticized school officials for.

When a reporter suggested that the biggest problem might be keeping the Elephant People awake while the guest of honor speaks—House Speaker Dennis Hastert is a notoriously boring guy—one of the planners begged for mercy: "Don't tell anybody till we sell all the tickets."

This year's dinner will be held Saturday, Feb. 3 at the Hyatt.

All in the family

Dolly Parton's family feud has hit the supermarket tabloids. The National Examiner has a two-page spread on the effort by nine of the widow Avie Lee Parton's 11 children (including Dolly) to have her declared incompetent to manage her own affairs. The lawsuit would strip the mother of the right to control her $1 million assets, as well as all her legal rights, down to her driver's license.

The two youngest Parton offspring, twins Frieda and Floyd, are not a party to the legal action and have hired Knoxville lawyer Dennis Francis to represent their mom.

Francis was quoted extensively in the story, which made the Buffalo, N.Y., native sound like he was straight out of the Mayberry Courthouse. "My wife tells me this makes me sound like Andy Griffith instead of my usual Tony Soprano," Francis said.

Francis said the parties are attempting to reach a compromise that would allow the widow Parton to remain at home and live as independently as possible.