Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Best House In Town

The Bijou Theatre is finally booking music again, with shows upcoming from Randy Newman, Gillian Welch and Yonder Mountain String Band.

Hopefully this will bring more great music to Knoxville and help bail the historic theater out of its financial woes.

The shows started happening after changes were made at the theater this summer, when executive director Jim Crabtree left.

"Ashley's always loved the Bijou and he's always wanted to put shows in the Bijou," says Ted Heinig, spokesman for AC Entertainment, the promotion company of Ashley Capps. "As things changed there over the summer, [interim executive director] Lar'Juanette Williams and [board chairman] Chuck Morris have been really interested in bringing music back to the theater.

"If the shows make money, there's going to be an influx of cash for the Bijou. Hopefully that will help bring attention to all the things they're trying to do," he adds.

Heinig says he expects to Welch to sell out and Newman and Yonder Mountain to do well. Two other offers have been made for early 2004—Kris Kristofferson and Taj Mahal.

Now, if they could just get Tom Waits, Joe Henry, and Bjork in there....

Welcome Back

For years, 30 Amp Fuse churned out some of the best pop punk this city's ever seen. But aside from a show a few months ago, the band—the vehicle for Mike Smithers—has been silent. "I really just set it down and didn't play at all. My guitar sat in the closet for a while," Smithers says.

Thankfully Smithers has picked it up again. He's been recording some new songs with Superdrag drummer (and now a producer) Don Coffey.

"Some of the ideas are a little old because I haven't played in a long time," Smithers says. "There were some good ideas we had last time, and I never recorded those songs."

Smithers hopes to start playing out soon, and eventually he'd like to release another record. But for now he's just trying to reconnect with his muse. Look for him soon at one of the monthly (first Wednesday) Knoxville Music Night shows at the ThInQ Tank.

"I've been on hiatus for too long. I'm going to hopefully get back into playing out more," Smithers says.

Please Hurry

If you've been eagerly waiting for WNCW to get back on the air in Knoxville, don't lose hope. Station manager David Gordon says the public station's application for a translator is waiting for approval by the FCC. With a couple of frequencies open, Gordon says he doesn't foresee any problems. But he hesitated to say when he expects the station to be back on.

"All we can say is it's probably going to be sooner than later," Gordon says. "Given all the other things the FCC has been involved with—the deregulation [of radio and TV] and the dealing with the phone companies—I'm not sure how fast a track giving approval to translators is for them."

For now WNCW is looking at broadcasting on 99.7 FM here. However, that could change if they find another frequency works better for them, Gordon says. The award-winning public station broadcasts an eclectic mix of Americana, world music, reggae, blues, etc. It lost its Knoxville translator early in the year because it reacted to slowly when the translator it was renting was put up for sale.

Go.

Thursday: Okay, it's a great week for music. Tonight eat a healthy, balanced meal of fruits, veggies and whole grains, drink herbal tea, and get to bed early. You'll need your rest. If you absolutely must do something check out the KMA's ArtScapes silent auction.

Friday: Start out with Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar (classical vocal) at Pellissippi State's Goins Auditorium, then hurry over to see fiddler Clyde Davenport (the last of his kind) at the Laurel Theater, and then head to the Pilot Light for some homegrown hip hop with Solid Earth Collective.

Saturday: Low Skies at the Pilot Light. Can I bum a smoke?

Sunday: The Sixth Great Lake make pop music the old fashioned way (you know, like how they did it in the late '60s). At the Pilot Light.

Monday: The paths to the past have long been closed,/ And what good is the past to me now?/ What is there?—bloodied flagstones,/ Or a bricked-up door,/ Or an echo that still can't be/ Still, no matter how I plead.../ It's the same story with the echo/ And the echo that I carry in my heart.

Tuesday: It's lonely at the top. Go keep Randy company and help save the Bijou.

Wednesday: Del McCoury is arguably the greatest living bluegrass musician. See him at Blue Cats.

—Joe Tarr