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Seven Days

Wednesday, June 11
Vandals dump chili, refried beans, tomato paste and ranch dressing into the pools at the Westside YMCA in the early morning hours. Police fan out to check the whereabouts of the Knoxville area's eclectic chefs.

Thursday, June 12
The News Sentinel says a funnel cloud pictured on its front page Wednesday was not a tornado, as implied by the headline "That's a tornado." Thought not. It actually looked as much like a limited nuclear explosion as anything. And it was in Seymour, where nukes aren't that rare.

Friday, June 13
The outdoor music festival Bonnaroo II gets underway in Coffee County. Stock in portable toilet companies soars.

Saturday, June 14
The News Sentinel reveals a proposal by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to establish a resort on Tellico lake to include a marina, conference center, restaurants, retail outlets, cottages, a campground, and "other amenities." Is there any doubt that those "others" would include a casino?

Sunday, June 15
Bonnaroo II sloshes to a close, proving that mud is no deterrent to a successful music festival. Next year, promoters plan to include mud wrestling exhibitions.

Monday, June 16
The Canadian press reports that Kevin O'Neill, the stormy former UT basketball coach, is going to be hired as head coach of the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. If O'Neill's hard- driving style succeeds in inflaming the placid Canadians, watch for a change in the team's nickname to Velociraptors.

Tuesday, June 17
The A.C.L.U. reacts with dismay to Gov. Phil Bredesen's decision not to veto legislation authorizing a state license plate bearing the message, "Choose Life," citing the probable proliferation of political slogans on license tags. Look for a bill authorizing a "Euthanasia is the Only Answer" tag next legislative session.

Knoxville Found

(Click photo for larger image)

What is this? Every week in "Knoxville Found," we'll print the photo of a local curiosity. If you're the first person to correctly identify this oddity, you'll win a special prize plucked from the desk of the editor (keep in mind that the editor hasn't cleaned his desk in five years). E-mail your guesses, or send 'em to "Knoxville Found" c/o Metro Pulse, 505 Market St., Suite 300, Knoxville, TN 37902.

Last Week's Photo:
A pleasant reminder of Knoxville's glory days as a river city, last week's Knoxville Found image is on the exterior wall of the Liz-beth & Co. gallery in Bearden. It's a billboard-sized reproduction of the John Stobart print "KNOXVILLE: The 'City of Knoxville' arriving from Chattanooga in 1891." Citing the John Stobart Galleries' website as his source, first respondent David Atkins tells us that the print depicts a panorama of Knoxville, showing the steam packet 'City of Knoxville' approaching the city on the Tennessee River from downstream. The University of Tennessee is to the left, with the Southern Railroad Bridge, the Courthouse and the Gay Street Bridge in the background.
While our old friend David gets the pleasure of seeing his name in print, alas, he's won the Knoxville Found within recent memory, so this week's prize, New Stories from the South, 2003: The Year's Best, goes to our second respondent, Greg O'Connor of Knoxville.

Meet Your City
A calendar of upcoming public meetings you should attend

METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
Thursday, June 19
6:30 p.m.
Ritta Elementary School
6228 Washington Pike
Citizens are invited to offer comments and suggestions on the use of the Knox County Regional Farmers Market property.

TDOT LISTENING SESSION ON THE BELTWAY
Thursday, June 19
6:30 p.m.
Karns Intermediate School
8109 Beaver Ridge Road
Citizens are invited to offer comments and suggestions on the proposed beltway in West Knox County.

COUNTY COMMISSION
Monday, June 23
2-7 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Main Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular meeting.

CITY COUNCIL
Tuesday, June 24
7 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Main Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular meeting.

KNOXVILLE TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY
Thursday, June 26
3 p.m.
City County Bldg.
Main Assembly Room
400 Main St.
Regular meeting.

Bonnaroo or Bust

As the long, strange trip that was Bonnaroo 2003 wound to a close last weekend, some 80,000 music fans packed up their good times and made their way back toward the real world. Meanwhile the second annual festival's organizers were left with one word on their lips: success.

Ashley Capps, head of co-promoter AC Entertainment, says that he was more than pleased with the show. "I was just overwhelmed. It was fabulous. The performers, the staff, the audience—everybody was just giving it their all. From my perspective it was just an extraordinary thing to be a part of."

The three-day Manchester, Tenn., festival ran in spite of daunting logistics—a threatening weekend forecast, clogged roadways and the challenge of fitting a visiting population over eight times the size of the city's own onto a 600-acre farm that would serve as both campground and concert venue.

But AC Entertainment, along with Superfly Presents, met the weekend with its bases covered. The traffic situation reflected a vast improvement from last year's interstate nightmare. The mud-ridden festival grounds, which claimed the life of many a Birkenstock throughout the weekend, were improved by the addition of several tons of sand and gravel laid atop interlocking rubber roads.

Contained on the farm as they were, there was only so much trouble the amicable concertgoers could get into. They partied long and hard but gave the liberal security few problems.

"We've got a city of 80,000 people, and like any city that size we have certain things that happen," Capps said. "But we're lucky; we didn't appear to have any major, major incidents. There was such a positive energy, and people focused on that."

No details were left unattended to. Finding one's campsite in the expansive campground (think a 40,000-car mall parking lot) was made at least somewhat possible by partitioning the area into mapped-out and individually named quadrants. On the central grounds, cell phone towers, an Internet cafe, a center for burning bootleg CDs and even a movie theatre accommodated the 21st-century hippie. Giant mushroom-shaped fountains, a playground and a montage of bohemian vendors made the place feel like something between Disneyland and a gypsy fair.

Of course, music took center stage—four stages, actually. This year's 70-plus-band lineup was headlined by quintessential jam band The Dead along with cult-favorite offspring such as Widespread Panic and moe. The Wailers, James Brown, Nickel Creek, and Ben Harper attracted big crowds during the heat of the day, while The Flaming Lips, Sound Tribe Sector 9 and Medeski, Martin & Wood provided a soundtrack for late-night madness. Multi-band collaborations were commonplace and culminated in a 'Superjam' at the end of the weekend.

"There was just such an incredible spirit, and you really saw it reflected in the performers," Capps says. "There was a real sense of community."

The crowd in attendance was as diverse as the music it came to hear. The motley crew hailed from all over the country, ranging from reminiscent Deadheads to jam-band connoisseurs, professional hippies to SUV-driving 'trustafarians.' But by the end of the festival, they were all on a level playing field: exhausted, dirty, sunburned and ready to do it all again.

"We plan to do it again next year, as long as the citizens of Manchester want to have us back," Capps said. "We're certainly planning on Bonnaroo III—same time, same place."

—Leslie Wylie

The Agee Park Agenda
UT takes the first step in park development

Recently, denizens of Fort Sanders were witness to a most unusual sight: Bulldozers came and ripped up the asphalt parking lot at the corner of James Agee Street and Laurel Avenue; then workers came and laid sod down. The University of Tennessee's restoration of its former parking lot to grass is only the first step in what promises to be a long process to establish a James Agee Park. But those who have been involved in the effort consider the university's work thus far to be a significant sign.

Local musician/poet R.B. Morris, who was the original driving force behind the movement to honor the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author with a park, sees it as "a pivotal moment in the whole deal." Terry Holley, whose employer, the East Tennessee Foundation, has set up the trust to hold donations to the park, says "the partnership [of UT, the City of Knoxville, the East Tennessee Foundation, and the Agee Park steering committee] and that [the sodding] in itself are tangible evidence of the progress" on the park. With a chuckle, she adds, "It's like the Joni Mitchell song: 'They paved paradise/ And put up a parking lot'; we're taking up the pavement and putting back paradise."

Of the various organizations that make up the "partnership," Morris wants to make clear that all have worked hard to ensure the long-term success of the project. "Everybody has been fantastic. The City, UT, everybody," he says.

City Administrator Ellen Adcock says that the city's principal contribution thus far has been in providing legal consultation for the agreements among all parties. She praises the Public Building Authority for assisting with the legalities, and the university for proceeding with the removal of the asphalt and the restoration of the green space. Phil Scheurer, UT Vice President for Knoxville Operations, says the park site "looks great" and adds that UT will continue to be involved with the project. "At some point, maintenance of the property will be transferred to the City of Knoxville," he says, but no timetable has been set for the transaction.

The next phase is raising money to develop and maintain the park. "UT has done their deal in bringing it back to sod. We're coming on now trying to raise money," says Morris. However, securing the funding necessary to run the park may present a considerable challenge. According to Jon Coddington, committee member and head of UT's graduate program in Architecture, "We've been looking at the $500,000 to $750,000 range" for funding the park. Besides the initial landscaping, the money would go toward ongoing maintenance, commissions for Agee-related art works, and resources for educational, historical, and inspirational programming. None of these projects are set, and, as Coddington says, "The way we envision this, it could easily be done in stages." Another committee member, artist Eric Sublett expands on the incremental nature of the project: "With the grass [laid down], we've already got a park." Morris says a topographical survey soon will be done, so firm design plans for the park can be set in progress.

Thus far, the committee has collected $3,600, $2,500 of which has come from Bernadette and Scott West and Gregg White, co-owners of the Preservation Pub. That sum represents half of a $5,000 pledge they made in the fall of 2002. White is firm that the balance will be delivered by Aug. 1 of this year. "Two percent of our sales from the previous month goes to charity. The first check I write each money is for the rent. The second is that one."

Knoxvillian Charlie Thomas, committee member, lawyer, and Agee aficionado, says that the original timetable was for the park to be "substantially complete within three years." But the committee is not naive about how far they've yet to go. Faced with an uphill task, Sublett says simply, "We've decided to forge ahead." On Tuesday evening, a quorum of the committee approved a James Agee Park publicity brochure designed by Sublett. The content of this brochure also will be used to develop a website to solicit funds for the park. Coddington says that the committee is just beginning to explore means of raising funds, and no formal fundraising campaign "launch" has been set at this point. "But when something big is in the works, we'll let you know," he concludes with a smile.

—Scott McNutt