Back to listings   The Big Ticket David Allan Coe Hard-luck, hard-assed country music. Thursday, Feb. 13, 8 p.m. Blue Cats. $18 advance, $20 door. (656-4444) 18+. Jucifer Indie heavy metal with a sex-bomb lead. Thursday, Feb. 13, 10 p.m. Pilot Light. $6. 18+. Moe Denham & Suzahn Fiering Valentine Cabaret with noted jazz vocalists. Friday, Feb. 14, 5:30 p.m. KMA Alive After Five. $8, $5 KMA members. Saturday, Feb. 15, 8 p.m. The Palace Theater. $12 advance, $15 door. The Ghosts A neo-rockabilly homage to romance and luv. Friday, Feb. 14, 10 p.m. Manhattan's. $3. Piper & the Hard Times Hot blues and cool R&B. Sassy Ann's, Friday, Feb. 14, 9:30 p.m. $6. 21+. I'm Not Rappaport Two old guys on a park bench laugh and fight about life. Feb. 14-Mar. 15. Fri. & Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Theatre Central. $10. (936-2291) Flesh Vehicle w/ Agent Zarkov Snowed out once this year, they're back to finish what they started. Saturday, Feb. 15, 10pm. Pilot Light. $5. 18+. Kasey Chambers w/ Robinella & the CC String Band Golden-voiced Australian cutie, w/ Knoxville rising stars. Saturday, Feb. 15, 8 p.m. Tennessee Theatre. $20.50. shadowWax w/ Box of Souls and Sand Rope Rockers from Knoxville's extreme side. Saturday, Feb. 15, 9 p.m. Blue Cats. $5. 18+. Sanctus Goth Night Featuring the DJs of Synthesis Bone, and Arkady w/ Michael Xi and Caustic. Sunday, Feb. 16, 10pm. Fairbanks. 18+. Neptune w/ Somer Waters "Scrap Metal Rock from Boston" Monday, Feb. 17, 10 p.m. Pilot Light. $5. 18+. A Tribute to Blacks in Knoxville Come learn about and celebrate African Americans' heritage in this region. Tuesday, Feb. 18, 5-7 p.m. UT's Black Cultural Center. Free. Funky and Groovy Wednesday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m. Blue Cats. $5. 18+. Bela Fleck Virtuoso Bluegrass. Thursday, Feb. 20, 8 p.m. Tennessee Theatre. $30 (656-4444). Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere K-town's clown prince, a consummate inprovisational act. Featuring RB Morris, Hector Qirko, Tim Lee, and others. Friday, Feb. 21, 9 p.m. Blue Cats. $7. 18+.

Buena Vista Social Club with Ibrahim Ferrer In the 1990s, Ry Cooder went to Cuba looking to make an album inspired by old Cuban music he'd heard. He was surprised to find that many of the musicians he'd been listening to were still alive, but not playing actively. He brought these musicians together and made the Buena Vista Social Club, an album that became a best seller, won Grammy awards, inspired a documentary and revived several careers. It's a great story, but the music is a living thing. One of the musicians who benefited from the revival was singer Ibrahim Ferrer, who in the 1950s had fronted Pacho Alonso's orchestra, but in the '80s was shining shoes for a living. Well into his 70s, Ferrer is a romantic singer whose voice is something to be savored. This is one of those shows that you can hardly believe Knoxville is getting, so don't miss out. You won't get another chance to see Ferrer and his band here anytime soon. (Joe Tarr) BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB WITH IBRAHIM FERRER * MONDAY, FEB. 17 * 8 P.M. * TENNESSEE THEATRE * $38 OR $25.50 The Bacchae of Euripides Long before Robert Mapplethorpe and the NEA dust up, art and government butted heads. Just ask Euripides, the great Greek playwright, whose plays ring with modern sensibilities even though they are a few millennia old. His Bacchae has long been a staple of every theatre department in, well, the world. Now, Nobel-prize winning author Wole Soyinka has adapted this classic. Soyinka's interpretation focuses more on the Bacchanalia than the conflict between creativity and order, but no matter—the spectacle of a good Dionysian revel always makes for entertaining theatre. UT's production, directed by Elizabeth Craven, combines a multi-culti cast, energetic dance, and some bright costumes to make a fun night for any CBT go-er. (Adrienne Martini) THE BACCHAE OF EURIPIDES * THROUGH FEB. 22 * CLARENCE BROWN THEATRE * $5-$23 * CALL 974-5161 FOR EXACT DATES, TIMES AND TO MAKE A RESERVATION Ben Vereen with the Knoxville Symphony Pops Orchestra Ben Vereen's a showman and entertainer in the old sense of the word, equally comfortable singing, dancing, and acting in theater, cinema, television, and concert through a career that spans more than 30 years. He won a Tony award for his performance in the musical Pippin in 1973, and a few years later probably secured a place in the nation's imagination as "Chicken" George in Roots. In the movie All That Jazz, playing the glib but soulless talk show host and entertainer O'Connor Flood, Vereen's performance was, as I recall it, riveting (he didn't get nearly enough screen time, though). Vereen's been through several personal traumas since then, including an accident that nearly ended his career. But he's a good match for the Pops concert series, and we hear he's still as energetic as ever and still flashes that big smile that's so disarming, it's frightening. (Scott McNutt) BEN VEREEN WITH KNOXVILLE POPS * FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, FEB. 14 & 15, 8 P.M. * KNOXVILLE CIVIC AUDITORIUM * $19-$65 * 291-3310 FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFORMATION