Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Bluegrass Sundown

The Sundown in the City concert series is returning to Market Square this year, and it’s starting out with a bang.

Bela Fleck is scheduled to open the series on April 8. It’s a good bet that the wildly popular banjo player will draw the biggest crowd Sundown has ever seen.

The series is still in the planning stages—Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment, the series’ promoter, wasn’t ready to release information about it. But the date showed up on Pollstar.com.

No other artists have been confirmed, Capps says. “We’ve got a bunch of people we’re talking to.... We’ve definitely intended to take it up a notch, as we did a little bit last year.“

Funding is still being worked out. Amy Nolan, a spokesman for the mayor, says the budget is now being developed and the city didn’t know if it would fund the concert series or not. “We have to make a decision fairly quickly,” she says.

The city funded the series $100,000 in previous years, but did not contribute anything last year because of a funding shortfall. Corporate donors and donations collected at the gate made up the difference.

Another AC Festival

Last week, AC Entertainment announced the preliminary line-up for the third Bonnaroo Festival, which will be held June 11-13 at a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn. The Dead and Dave Matthews got top billing, but we were much more thrilled about artists a little further down the list: Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, David Byrne, Wilco, Burning Spear, Femi Kuti, Yo La Tengo, Los Lobos, Damien Rice, Beth Orton, Gillian Welch, Grandaddy, Bill Laswell’s Material, Neko Case, Calexico, Taj Mahal, Kings of Leon, Del McCoury Band and Cut Chemist. And for the hippies and neo-hippies there’s Trey Anastasio, String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon and others. With many more bands yet to be announced (there will be 60 in all), the line-up is simply phenomenal. Tickets go on sale Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. (that’s Saturday). They’ve sold out within days in past years, so if you want to go, get on it. For more information see www.bonnaroo.com.

Tom’s Festival

The Brewer’s Jam has arguably grown into being one of East Tennessee’s best festivals, mainly due to the passion and hard work that the event’s founder Tom Rutledge put into it. Rutledge suddenly passed away this past fall, just a few weeks after the 2003 event. But Tom’s vision of making this festival bigger and better every year will live on thanks to a group of people, many of whom worked directly with Rutledge putting previous Brewer’s Jams together.

The 2004 Knoxville Brewer’s Jam will be billed as “A Memorial to Tom Rutledge,” and will take place Saturday, Oct. 16. The location has been moved from the World’s Fair Park Festival Lawn to the larger South Lawn. And that’s a good thing, as ticket sales for last year’s event had to be cut off due to the attendance reaching capacity. Regional and national touring bands at the Jam will be booked by Ken Stewart from Barley’s. Barley’s is providing much of the money needed to finance the festival.

The 2004 Knoxville Brewer’s Jam will benefit Community Shares. Last year’s event raised over $20,000 for Community Shares. “We’re excited about the event for two reasons, and these are the same reasons that motivated Tom to create the festival,” says Shelley Wascom, director of Community Shares. “One is to help the community, and the other is to celebrate the craft of beer-making. We feel it is a fitting tribute to Tom that we are continuing Brewer’s Jam because both reasons were as equally as important to him.” We’ll drink to that!

CCstringband Shuffle

In a sentimental performance last Sunday night at Barley’s, Robinella & the CCstringband parted ways with longtime bassist Taylor Coker and guitarist Steve Kovalcheck. Coker is leaving the band to concentrate on finishing his degree at UT and Kovalcheck to focus on other musical projects. “It was a good point for us to do this,” Kovalcheck says. “They’re going back into the studio to record another album and solidify what they’ve been doing, but there are no bad vibes whatsoever.” Kovalcheck currently lives and works as a freelance musician in Nashville, but will continue to perform in and around Knoxville.

Go.

Thursday: Mark Growden at the Pilot Light. Because it’s a little weird.

Friday: Hmmm. Let’s see—take in Donald Brown and Friends at the KMA. Then hop in your cars and head out to West Knoxville and find someplace cool to eat. I recommend Korea House.

Saturday: Check out the premiere performance of Go! Contemporary Dance Works at Pellissippi Performing Arts Center. Yo!

Sunday: Have friends over for blueberry pancakes, coffee, fruit, eggs and mimosas. Then sit down and write your Congressman a letter.

Tuesday: Susie Betts and Friends at the Corner Lounge.

Wednesday: Establish a puppet troupe. All the cool cities have one.

—Joe Tarr, Benny Smith, Clint Casey