. . . 'Knoxville has a non-image, really' says a spokesman for one large company. 'There's a little apprehension about it.'
Even a majority of Knoxville's own residents opposed the fair in a poll taken in 1979. But the fair's promoters say the city just has a negative cast of mind.
"What if you gave a World's Fair and nobody came?" by Susan Harrigan,
The Wall Street Journal, 12/29/1980
this one's hotter than the grits on al green's chest —
this is how to make Sunsphere Shots — don't stress
don't secondguess don't testdon't seek perfection
this is how to keep your blood pressure low enough to function
dontchoo wonder bout these Sunsphere Shots, open your cabinets
mix some whiskey with whatever's there and chalk it up to happenstance
your liver starts to shrivel but your mind is feelin fabulous
the air outside's more humid than water boilin cabbages
the river here is filthier than 5th avenue motel mattresses
and baptists roam the streets and pass out tracts to all the savages
chain bookstores shut down readings if the kids sing profane passages
and we'll pass on any lesbians tryna sing to high school classes an
lots of activists and students move away 'cause they're not masochists
or stay here and shoot Sunsphere Shots like pacifiers for pacifists
this one's harder than movin from home like good riddance
'cause the last few years I've spent here have been like a prison sentence
so in '96 I dip to memphisfeelin different optimistic?
stomach fulla grits n biscuitsfinally past the grip of WIVK!
you can keep your downtown with it's derelicts and gutted buildings
where being vegetarian means I don't eat beef just fish and chickens
not a single business that I care about's still in existence
mercury and the printer's mark are empty, dark, just homes for pigeons
this is how to make Sunsphere Shots — become a critic
of this citydrivin west on 40 money's in the distance
start to wonder what's the limitswill west knoxville reach to memphis
leavin broadway thru magnolia like a meteor just hit it
this is how to make Sunsphere Shots — kill your adrenaline
with jagermeister wonder when you'll ever kiss your friends again
on sutherland or cumberland at the longbranch gettin bent again
watch me grin againthen donebecause we're never done with suffering
thank god she wasn't pregnantI'm not ready to raise children yet
not here where it feels desolatewhere alcohol is medicine
where we all went to a high school where the lessons were like sedatives
where jocks could beat up skaters and not even get suspension
but my friends all got detention for t-shirts with jane's addiction
so I split to memphis missin all my friends who also drifted
spillin Sunsphere Shots
on bus stop blocks
to bless each other's spirits
this is how to make Sunsphere Shots — mix self-pity
with your liquor 'til you're pitiful and spinnin 'til you're dizzy
'til you waste your last summer herestumble herewitness
how I threw rocks in the tennessee in fits and called 'em dead wishes
this is how to make Sunsphere Shots — work with children
at a day campbe amazed they're actually friendly kind and witty
on a bus to dollywoodyay!on my last day in the city
we're singin bone thugs n' harmonyand we're off-beat and we're off-key
I'm gonna miss everybodyand it really starts to get to me
it's puttin hope inside me that I'll never see for years in me
at dawn I'm off to memphisI'll spend time in other cities
and I'll move like it's addictivelike a scab that I keep pickin
like I'm reaching for redemption but don't wanna ask the questions
why I wake up every mornin wishin sleep was my existence
why I wake up every mornin with my gut fizzyeyes misty
wobble to the bathroom in the mirror likewho is he?
I'm desperate disparatedelicate sick of it
kid I hate what's in my mirror more than what's outside my windowsill
this is how to make a Sunsphere Shot — cut the umbilical
but know this world is spherical so you can't run from your spirit you'll
just see it in your shadows in your dreams in the peripheral
and from atl to madison you'll grab for something visceral
and this is how to make a Sunsphere Shot — be born in knox
or move here later, spend your days inside a penthouse or a trailer
stay here long enough to hate it start to blame it for your failures
'cause your neighbors worship Peyton and American Gladiators
and they clog up streets on gameday and act lame on national TV
and they look at signs on 17th like hey, who's james agee?
and they hate you and they hate me and they love us and they're family
and I've moved around the country now I'm back to take a standsee
kid don't think it's cool that some days I hated livin
and self-medicated with slurricane and pabst blue ribbon
and kid don't think it's cool to be depressed and self involved when
I ain't never met one person who ain't had their share of problems
and kid don't misinterpret 'cause leaving is necessary
if you wanna get perspectivejust remember what you carry
and kid it's probly bad to live your whole life in one place
but sometimes we don't move tosomewherewe move to run away
so this is how to make a Sunsphere Shot — start engagingother people in your neighborhood and putting names to faces
and there's beauty hereso praise itand there's sun behind the haze an
there's some people here give sweat and tears to work for living wages
and there's vegans and there's pagans and there's saints who picket jailers
and there's women out in trailers who put all their faith in angels
and a stadium named neyland and there's downtown renovation
and there's actors blazing stages and there's poets
penning pages
and there's kids in juvy ragin and their anger's close to sacred
and there's lots of things worth hatin
I believe that we can change it
so for real - this is how to make Sunsphere Shots — get hyperbolic
stop this lying 'round like knoxville is a virus and we caught it
say some raw ish like the bronx or out in london or in compton
or in paris don't be embarassed when other people start their scoffin
if they tell you that you're trippin sayI'm nikki giovanni
I can flylike a bird in the skyso don't be pompous
an knoxville is so ill it's got excuses from its doctor
an knoxville is more beautiful than pictures of your mama an
knoxville is so real it's where hank williams gave up oxygen
an we're confident enough to waltz around with orange boxers on an
knoxville is so rawdogour favorite song is rocky top
it's a cornwhiskey elegy for an appalachian populace
come sit with us at market square for sundown in the city see
the people singing laughingtry to guess the secret histories
my father bought his records here when he was only seventeen
he had a gawky flattop but he dreamed he was an everly
my papaw worked the railroad but still cooked the fish and collard greens
each step inside this market see he follows me he calls to me
says this is a place like any otherpeople leave
and people stay and people waffle and they live and die and love and grieve
some view it as a tragedysome view it as their destiny
in the hour of his taking away god bless himhe was good to me
the night is falling softly herethe locusts whisper peacefully
and people in their shirts from work are rolling sleeves and listening
they'll never tell me who I ambut this is where I'm meant to be
we are talking now of summer evenings in knoxville, tennessee.
Sunsphere Shots
