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The Big Ticket

Jump Little Children
They rock like crazy, and they’re cute to boot. Thursday, Feb. 19, 9 p.m. Blue Cats. $10.

The Chillbillies
Pretend you’re in the French Quarter. Throw beads. Saturday, Feb. 21, 9:30 p.m. 4620. $5.

John McCutcheon w/ Jeremy Lloyd
Find out what those five Grammy nominations are all about. Friday, Feb. 20, 8 p.m. Palace Theatre. $15.

Robert Walter’s 20th Congress w/ Addison Groove Project
Instrumental jazz funk of the highest order. Tuesday, Feb. 24, 9 p.m. Blue Cats. $8 door, $6 with college ID.

The Narrator
The new sound of teen angst. Wednesday, Feb. 25, 10 p.m. Pilot Light. $5.

A Kinder, Gentler Vampire
The New Play Festival begins with this world premiere comedy by Mike Farley. Thursday, Feb. 26 thru March 14, 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday, at 27 Market Square. $12 general, $10 students/seniors.

UT Medieval & Renaissance Symposium
Lectures, music and a performance of Old Wive’s Tale. Thursday, Feb. 26 and Friday, Feb. 27, University of Tennessee. Free. Call 974-7083 for info.

Eva Zeisel and SubUrban Thursday at KMA
The organic shapes of Eva Zeisel’s simple ceramic tableware will cause your brain to forget the main tenet of museum attendance: don’t touch. If the work she’s created in the past 20 years is anything like the vases, pitchers, teapots and gravy bowls she designed for Sears, Noritake, Red Wing Pottery, Castleton China and many others, you will want to feel their weight and smoothness in your palms and caress their sensuously curvy forms—dubbed “biomorphic” by the industry. But I don’t think the Knoxville Museum of Art will let its many visitors handle these highly collectible and rare creations. Zeisel, born in Hungary in 1906, trained as a painter and a potter and developed her functional style in the Soviet ceramics industry. Now 97, Zeisel is lauded as inspiring not only the design of modern dinnerware, but the aesthetic that challenged Fiestaware in the ‘50s and ‘60s and is still reflected in the latest Crate & Barrel catalogue. In its ongoing goal of reminding us of the various items that can be considered “art,” the KMA is taking a progressive leap to present Zeisel’s first public showing of the work she’s made in the past 20 years. You can’t touch the beauty of Zeisel’s work, but you will definitely feel it. (Paige M. Travis)
EVA ZEISEL: THE PLAYFUL SEARCH FOR BEAUTY • FEBRUARY 20 THRU JUNE 20, 2004 • KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF ART • $5 GENERAL ADMISSION • FREE ON TUESDAYS, 5-8 P.M.

Skin City II at SubUrban Thursday
Jessica Meyer caused quite a stir back in October when she and a few friends modeled vibrant “tattoos” and unique fashions at a downtown parade celebrating the first Friday of the month. “Did you see?” was a popular post-event question, and anyone who didn’t was clearly pitied henceforth. But lightning strikes twice when Meyer and her models reveal a new series of outfits and skin-decorations (actually hand-printed color lithographs designed by Meyer) at the Feb. 19 edition of the Knoxville Museum of Art’s SubUrban Thursday event. Grab a martini, whiff from the oxygen bar, snack care of Preservation Pub and await the stylishly late 8 p.m. arrival of those “illustrious ladies.” Colorful (and temporary) body markings of your own can be had for a donation to Paws with a Cause. (P.M.T.)
SKIN CITY II AT SUBURBAN THURSDAY • THURSDAY, FEB. 19, 7 P.M. • KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF ART • FREE

Amphigory
In the summer of 2003, Amphigory began with a handful of spoken word performers. The troupe received a warm reception and has since blossomed to incorporate music, dance and visual arts into its extravagant shows. In celebration of Mardi Gras this time around, they interpret Carnivale with a multimedia collage of performances in the Old City. The free show will begin with a modest sidewalk parade in front of Big Don’s Costumier complete with jugglers and a stilt walker in tow before continuing to its ultimate destination of the Urban Bar and Corner Café. Expect anecdotes of running away to join the circus and an evening of music to complement the revolving visual exhibit already in place at the Urban Bar. (Clint Casey)
AMPHIGORY • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21 • SIDEWALK PARADE AT 7:30 P.M., PERFORMANCE AT 8:30 P.M. • URBAN BAR AND CORNER CAFÉ • FREE

Reverend Glasseye and His Wooden Legs
You can get a good idea for what Reverend Glasseye is all about in these lines from its press release: “This is Dark Salvation Music; Americana by way of a tuberculosis infested Romanian opium den that will draw you into a silent cinematic universe you won’t soon forget.” Whether you like the music or not, it’s hard not to admire the metaphorical writing. The band gives off the vibe of an old-time carnival show, of klezmer and Gypsies, of Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart—all filtered through indie rock. There’s an air of weirdness to it all, but it’s a self-conscious weirdness that you might find pretentious or precocious, depending on your view of art, which won’t likely be changed by this show. Still there’s something undeniably, entertaining by this weirdness. (Joe Tarr)
REVEREND GLASSEYE AND HIS WOODEN LEGS WITH BLACKGRASS • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 9 P.M. • PILOT LIGHT • $5