Metro Pulse/Eye on the Scene

A&E: Eye on the Scene

Spirit of ’04

When Francisco Baires traveled to NYC last week to march with Knoxville’s Utopian Street Orchestra during the Republican National Convention, he couldn’t have known that some of the most poignant music he’d end up making would be from behind bars.

Baires left the Orchestra on the evening of Aug. 29 to join a police-sanctioned and -escorted single-file march from Union Square to Madison Square Garden. In a matter of moments, the peaceful march was halted by a police commander who ordered that the protesters line up against a wall and be handcuffed.

“We were already in line, so the whole thing was carefully orchestrated,” Baires said. “It was interesting because the cops were so frustrated. They knew that the arrests were all bullshit, and they knew we didn’t do anything wrong, and they were tired and overworked.”

Approximately 60 protesters were bused to a detainment station in a warehouse at Pier 57, where over 1,000 other protesters were being held. After having their belongings confiscated, they were photographed, sorted into pens and assured that they would be released in a couple of hours.

A couple of hours stretched into the next day, and then the next evening. Several people began breaking out with rashes due to the asbestos, antifreeze and oil residues that contaminated the warehouse.

Baires said that the detainees remained positive and made the most of their situation: “At one point in time, a drumming circle started, and people were taking their handcuffs off and their shoes off and banging their shoes and their handcuffs on the floor and singing and dancing.”

One man tore Styrofoam cups into pieces and spelled, “Spirit has no cage” across the floor, a phrase Baires had tattooed onto his forearm shortly after he was later released, 46 hours after his official time of arrest.

Aiming for the Charts

The Rockwells’ latest EP, Tear It Down, is getting a push by its new promotions company, the Minnesota-based Tinderbox Music. The company has sent the CD to some 400 college radio stations in the U.S. and Canada for consideration on their playlists. Which means if the radio stations like it, it could start showing up on the Billboard’s college radio charts.

“We’re already on KMSU, which is Minnesota State University,” says the band’s bassist Fred Kelly. “We did a little station ID for them, and they’ve been playing the CD.”

Kelly admits it’s not some major contract or a huge show, but it is a small step to spreading The Rockwells’ music around the country. Any buzz they generate will help them book shows at those local colleges.

“It’s not really flashy, but it does good stuff in terms of industry attention. A lot of it is up to the music directors—whether they like the CD or not,” Kelly says.

You can catch The Rockwells live at the first annual MetroFest Saturday in Market Square.

Go.

Thursday: Autumn on the Square is the new Sundown in the City, same place, day, time and price (free). This week with Knoxville’s Robinella and the CCstringband.

Friday: Head to The Spot and listen to the Westside Daredevils.

Saturday: It’s another free musical festival in Market Square, this one called MetroFest, a walk though Knoxville’s music history, with legendary acts Clifford Curry, The Loved Ones, Teenage Love and many more. This is the first of what will hopefully be an annual Metro Pulse festival.

Sunday: Head to Chilhowee Park for the Tennessee Valley Fair, where you can catch both Bluegrass Day (with Wild Blue Yonder, New Union Grass, et. all) and the 4th Annual Southeast Exports Battle of the Bands, eat corndogs and funnel cake, ride the Ferris wheel, and checks out the cows. Moo!

Monday: The Rockwells keep getting better and better; hear them at Barley’s.

Tuesday: Your pick—The Knack at the county fair or the Rev. Horton Heat at Blue Cats.

Wednesday: I found myself plunged into a vortex of words, burning words, cleansing words, liberating words, feeling words, and the words were all ours and it was enough that we held them in our hands to play with them whatever you can play with is yours and this was the beginning of knowing�that we could play and play with words and the words were all ours all ours.

—Leslie Wylie, Joe Tarr