|
Goodbye, Lucille’s
What was once the premiere destination for jazz music lovers in the Old City will soon become a spot for bluegrass music fans. In mid- to late-July Lucille’s will become an extension of Patrick Sullivan’s, according to general manager Sean Blair. For years, Lucille’s was the only spot in the Old City that offered fine dining and jazz, and it was often a hip post-show hangout for national touring musicians who were playing Knoxville (Joan Baez even did a “table dance” there after one of her recent Bijou appearances).
The bar formerly known as Lucille’s (both buildings will be called Patrick Sullivan’s now) will offer a hearty dose of a longtime Knoxville tradition: good barbecue and live bluegrass. “There has been an amazing decline in the popularity of live jazz in the Old City, and I am not sure why,” Blair says. So he and owner Frank Gardner decided to expand Patrick Sullivan’s into a more “different and fun” venue, Blair says.
A “complete transformation” of Lucille’s will begin this week, including bringing in the smoker from El Camino (former Old City eatery) to cook ribs. Blair said that the menu will offer different types of barbecue sauces, and there will be a full-service bar with a box wine bar—the latter a new trend wineries have started to bring down the price of higher-end wines and cut down on waste. There is talk of a game room and an outdoor pool table, as well.
Local and regional bluegrass bands will be booked, as well as solo performers, and a possible nationally known bluegrass band from time to time, Blair says. It will be an all-ages venue, and the outdoor stage will be used during the warm months. Blair also says that he is booking more live music in the Great Room on Patrick Sullivan’s third floor, featuring live local bands on Thursdays, and a mix of local, regional and national touring Americana and rock bands on the weekends. “We want to keep pumping live music, and give locals an option other than karaoke and dance nights, and we feel that both of these moves will allow us to do that,” Blair says. To that, we say bring it on!
Hank Slept Here
Last week’s American Masters program on PBS was a documentary on Hank Williams that, in one mere hour, became the best visual document of the country music icon’s life. Morgan Neville’s in-depth bio-pic Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues put A&E’s Biography of several years ago to shame. According to the Los Angeles-based director, the film crew drove 8,000 miles, spent months shooting footage in the South and tracked down more than 20 people who knew Hank but had never before been interviewed on camera, including his widow Billie Jean. The documentary is striking for its inclusion of rare film footage of Williams’ performing at the Louisiana Hayride as well as more than 100 photos of Hank that few people have ever seen.
Unfortunately, narrative mentions of Knoxville—where the greatest country singer of all time spent his last night alive—didn’t make the cut for American Masters’ 60-minute slot, but Neville assures us that there are several mentions of K-town in the 90-minute version available now on DVD.
Cutting his footage to 60 minutes was “one of the most painful things I’ve had to do,” Neville says. The crew spent three days in town shooting copious images, including the JFG sign, Central Avenue and other ’50s-era streetscapes. The star of these shots, which appear in both versions of the documentary, is a baby blue Cadillac exactly like the one Williams owned. As luck would have it, one of only three of those exact cars in North America lives right here in Knoxville. Neville says the car’s owner and fellow members of his classic car club were very helpful, as well as the police who shut down streets during filming and the East Tennessee Film Commission who assisted with location scouting. So, in addition to watching the documentary to increase your knowledge of Hank Williams, you can play Name That Knoxville Landmark.
Go.
Thursday: What the? There’s no Sundown? Why, somebody ought to organize another concert series in Market Square. It sure is popular.
Friday: Catch the Westside Daredevils, a gorgeous pop rock band, at Patrick Sullivan’s with the New Randall Brown Quartet.
Saturday: Head to Lenoir City for day two of Rockin’ the Docks, with Jag Star, RMS Band, Jenna and the Joneses, The Chillbillies and more.
Sunday: Order a pizza and a bottle of wine and kick back with Robinella at Barley’s.
Monday: The Rockwells at Barley’s.
Tuesday: On the whole men are more good than bad; that, however, isn’t the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance which fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. The soul of the murderer is blind; and there can be no true goodness nor true love without the utmost clear-sightedness.
Wednesday: Go dancing at the Carousel. Then grab some grub at Vic ’n’ Bills.
—Benny Smith, Paige M. Travis, Joe Tarr
July 1, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 27
© 2004 Metro Pulse
|
| 
