|
Keep It Local
Back in 1998, the V-roys held a concert on Market Square to celebrate the release of All About Town. The square—normally desolate after 6 p.m.—suddenly sprung to life. Beer was sold outside for the first time in memory and thousands came to hear Knoxville’s favorite band.
The following fall, RB Morris headlined a four-band concert to release his album Zeke and the Wheel, an equally successful show. The next year, Sundown in the City was born. Several local bands have played in the regular Thursday night spring and summer series, which has continued every year since.
I think those concerts have done more to revitalize downtown than anything else. It showed people the potential of their public space, spurred investment and got Knoxville excited about downtown. Other people and things have certainly helped, but none have had as big a splash as Sundown.
The series wouldn’t have been possible without the local bands or Ashley Capps, whose AC Entertainment promoted all the shows and provided the know-how for pulling it off.
This year, the city has kicked off what promises to be the biggest Sundown series ever, drawing record crowds. But something is noticeably missing: local bands.
Jeff Barbra and Sarah Pirkle opened the second show and Jodie Manross is expected to open for Steve Winwood. Other than that, no other local acts have been booked. (Mindy Smith used to live here and One Way Track is from the nearby Cumberland Gap area, but nonetheless, far fewer Knoxville bands are scheduled than in previous years.) A few artists feel snubbed.
Capps is apologetic: “I really don’t want local acts to feel like they’re being dissed on this. We always want to support local acts, and I think we have a good record of doing that.”
He says there are logistical reasons that have kept locals off the stage. For one, AC reduced the lineups from three to two bands. “What happens when you do the third act is somebody doesn’t get a soundcheck, and then you get bad sound and it can create a negative reaction,” he says.
They’ve also been targeting higher profile artists, many of whom are touring with their own supporting groups.
“We’ve been trying to attract a higher caliber artist to play Sundown. In doing that there’s inevitably political favors that come up. ‘If you want us to do this, you have to do that,’” Capps says.
There are three shows yet to be finalized and Capps hopes to work more locals in. “I do want to do more for the local acts, but at the same time it’s harder than it might seem. Hopefully we’ll be able to make up for it a little bit in June.”
Capps' explanation sounds reasonable, and I can’t quibble too much about the line-up. And he has done a lot for Knoxville (including founding, with Ian Blackburn and Rand Pearson, a little paper called Metro Pulse).
Still, I hope he’s serious about keeping local bands in the mix. Earlier Sundown shows wouldn’t have been successful without them. And he’s using taxpayer money to produce the series. It’s great to have big name acts playing for free, and I hope that continues. But there are also a hell of a lot of wonderful Knoxville musicians, working their asses off and grinding it out in clubs with little recognition and no money. They deserve attention. I hope they get some more of it.
Cool Stuff
This week a sharp-looking glossy publication called mule magazine hit the stands in Knoxville and a few other cities around the Southeast. With a buffalo stencil on the cover and a buffalo nickel in the upper left corner, the magazine has the cryptic saying “do you ever think of me?”
Inside there are interviews with musicians Forget Cassettes, American Analog Set, Jeff Baron of the Essex Green, and Knoxville’s own Dixie Dirt, as well as painters Chuck Draper and Gabe Williams. There’s also a poem and short interview with Chattanooga poet Paul Guest, a deconstruction of color essay by painter and professor Ron Buffington, and a fashion spread developed by Liz Tapp on Josef Albers’ color theory.
These are not typical pop culture Q&A’s, but interviews that try to get at the thinking process that leads to art. Three UT Chattanooga students—Tapp (a former Metro Pulse intern), Jaythan Elam and Valerie Job—published the magazine.
As they say in their introduction, “Our hope is to document these projects without avoiding the genuine complexity of the creative process. We hope to make a magazine that’s relevant. The idea isn’t to somehow ‘grade’ or ‘give a stamp of approval’ to these projects. But to start to collect, to spread the word of what is around us. Hopefully there will be more to come.”
Several notable Knoxvillians contributed, including photographers Amanda Anderson, Marcus Tanner and Caleb Wilson, artists and designers Bryan Baker and Holly Briggs. Tapp hopes more issues will follow, with the next one expected in July.
In a world where too many people just sit around and bitch, it’s refreshing to see people actually do something cool. Let’s hope more follow.
You can buy the premiere at Disc Exchange South, Market Square Booksellers, Java Old City and the Knoxville Community Food Coop.
—Joe Tarr
April 29, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 18
© 2004 Metro Pulse
|
| 
