Metro Pulse/Ear to the Ground

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Would Abe Eat Rubber Chicken?

Maybe the crowd at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner last Saturday was so small by local GOP standards because this year it was a Lincoln Day Lunch. Or maybe it was because everybody got lost—even News Sentinel political columnist Georgianna Vines, who reported on an event by the same name that was held at the convention center. Must have been a different affair from the one that went on at the Rothschild catering hall, conveniently located (note sarcasm alert) in deep West Knoxville (Knox County Republicans have been known to live all over Knox County, with heavy concentrations in dangerously non-west areas like Halls and Powell). One GOP wag called it "the greatest gathering of one-third of the regular attendees you ever saw." The official crowd count is 650, down significantly from 1,000-plus last year.

Attendance probably suffered from the event being postponed and delayed while organizers tried to accommodate the schedule of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the lead speaker, who wasn't able to squeeze out an evening in Knoxville, hence this year's nooner. The behind-the-scenes talk was that the delays had a lot to do with an attempt to de-rail Chad Tindell, who is the only serious candidate to become the next GOP chairman when the oft-postponed party reorganization is held later this month. Tindell makes some locals nervous because of his past associations with the political machine of Richard and Lillian Bean.

Our Own Evil Empire?

As Pat Summitt and her Lady Vols pack for the Final Four in Atlanta, Summitt is probably hoping to leave behind the questions from reporters regarding her friendship with Coach Harry Peretta, who advised Summitt last summer on revamping her offensive scheme, and whose Villanova Wildcats were left as roadkill Monday after they met the Lady Vols in the Elite Eight in Knoxville.

The "When Pat met Harry" jokes dominated the Mideast Regional media events, and reached a crescendo when Summitt's arch-rival (and Peretta's old friend), Connecticut's Geno Auriemma, weighed in Monday with the gameday observation that the Peretta/Summitt deal is "nauseating," that Tennessee is "the evil empire," and that "Harry has left me for an older woman." Summit was steamed, and called Auriemma "paranoid." Peretta, a mild-mannered, humorous guy, seemed bemused to be caught in the feud between his new friend and his old friend. A few weeks ago, after Villanova upset Connecticut in the Big East Tournament, a testy Auriemma was forced to apologize to a student reporter whom he cursed for asking him a question he deemed impertinent. He had told the young woman she was too young to be asking questions that "piss me off" and that only "older guys" had a right to ask. So after the Tennessee game, when somebody passed the microphone to the young, female sportswriter from the Villanova student newspaper, Peretta interrupted her and said, "You're too young to be asking questions like that..." The room erupted in laughter.

We're Open for Tours

The News Sentinel has hacked off at least a few families who'd made advance reservations for a promotional tour of its new printing plant in Mechanicsville by canceling all tours and other building visits by "unauthorized" persons due to the threat of terrorism it perceives following the outbreak of war. The Sentinel's minions did not specify whether the threat was from regular readers or regular terrorists. Suffice it to say that Metro Pulse remains open to all visitors who seem halfway friendly.

Hooray for Wests!

Scott West has been telling it around that he and wife Bernadette, owners of Earth to Old City and the Preservation Pub, along with other properties downtown, have made the necessary arrangements to open a new nightclub in the Old City building that was most recently Banana Joe's and before that, Hoorays.

Discoverup?

Last Wednesday, the Discovery Channel was heavily promoting a war-related broadcast featuring the well-known New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman interviewing Arabs in Qatar about the war. The previews gave some viewers the impression that the show would be critical of the U.S.-led invasion. It was to air twice, once at 10 p.m., and once at 1 a.m. However, viewers who attempted to tune in found only an infomercial on during the earlier timeslot and the wee-hours repeat of the show, both preempted for commercial programming.

The unexplained program change has raised suspicions of local censorship from some viewers, who note that the program did appear as scheduled in some other area cable systems, including even Gatlinburg's. A few viewers called Comcast, Knoxville's cable provider, to complain, but didn't get very far. Comcast did not return Metro Pulse calls for comment about the incident, but a representative reportedly told one complainant that the cable service had a right to show what it pleased.