Joe Sullivan sees more than moneybags behind Bill Haslam's run for mayor in Insights, the courage and vision of a pair of immigrant grandpas are a marvel to Stephanie Piper in Midpoint, and Jack Neely hears echoes of an old-time newsroom and the laughter of a friend now gone in Secret History.
Citybeat
Joe Tarr takes a sobering look at expansion proposals for Interstate-40 through town, and Joe Sullivan tells how Knoxville's Industrial Development Board has found new life as a proposed convention center hotel needs financing.
Cover KNOXVILLE'S ICONS
Few Knoxvillians have thought more about the city's sometimes perplexing, often compelling symbols than Jack Neely. He winds up and pitches out a passel of those icons, a representative sample that you can argue over, laugh at or salute as tangible things that seem uniquely Knoxville.
Gamut HISTORY OF VOLUNTEERING 101
Jack Mauro listens in onconversations before a meatloaf dinner to illustrate how Tennessee became known as the Volunteer State, despite the best devices of many of its women. The questioning mind of little Amber Trahern, whose ancestor Johnny Trahern left his Knoxville home in 1842 to serve with Sam Houston in Texas, picks up on the theme.
Music
Swing dancing is alive and well in Knoxville, thanks to the music of local big band The Streamliners. Leslie Wylie previews the band's upcoming show at Fairbanks' Roasting Room July 17. Eye on the Scene pays tribute to the irrepressible Mike Flannagan, flutters over the summer's first Sundown in the City concert, and checks in with Rus Harper to learn, alas, that Evil Twin is no more.
Backstage
Paige Travis reviews the The Foreigner, presented at the Bijou by the Cumberland County Playhouse. Paige says it's a comedy that's overlong but endurable just to catch its warnings against stereotypes.
13271327132713271327Platters
Matthew Everett reviews Decoration Day by Drive-By Truckers, and catches a simpler, more personal record than Southern Rock Opera. Jonathan B. Frey's tilt on World 2002concludes that the two-disc set may indeed envelop some of the best music made lately around the world. And Josh Staunton calls The Thorns by The Thorns, "music your mom would be proud of." Ouch.
Movie Guru
Jesse Fox Mayshark reviews Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and loves it! Well, some of it. The summer schlockbuster you've been waiting for, replete with pop-culture cameos and way-over-the-top action, this smart, sexy romp could be a classic of its genre—which is?
Spotlights
The holiday weekend is all hot dogs and ice cream for music lovers. Thursday night's Sundown in the City is a double-dip for bluegrass fans with Blue Highway and Robinella and the CCstringband. The 4th of July weekend serves up two free concerts. The World's Fair Park holds out R.B. Morris and his band, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and Michael Crawley and the Macdaddies. Plus, the menu for Sea Ray's Rockin' on the River features Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, along with the Natti Love Joys. Come July 9, hear Stateside and The Love Scene at The Pilot Light.
News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
Crossword by Montford Manassas
Guest Column by George Dodds, who ravages ol' I-40
Classifieds