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The Big Ticket

The Lonesome Coyotes
Rockin’ like it’s 1982. Friday March 26, 8 p.m. The Foundry. $15.

Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
Country/bluegrass mandolin goddess. Friday, March 26, 8 p.m. Bijou Theatre. $26.

Dixie Dirt
Music for drinking and reflecting. Friday, March 26, 9 p.m. Pilot Light. $5.

Bigger Than Dallas
Twangy, emotional and secular rock. Friday, March 26, 10 p.m. New City Café. $5.

East Tennessee Daffodil Society Show
Celebrate those yellow harbingers of spring! Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28, 1-4 p.m., UT Agriculture campus. Free.

Robinella & the CCstringband
Their last pre-baby gig. Sunday, March 28, 9 p.m. Barley’s. $5.

Pictures at the Exhibition
A multimedia presentation of Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky’s epic composition. Monday, March 29, 8 p.m. Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Free.

Jon Nakamatsu
American pianist with an impressive list of awards. Tuesday, March 30, 8 p.m. Alumni Memorial Auditorium. $20.

Fuel w/ Breaking Benjamin
Alternative rock. Wednesday, March 31, 8 p.m. Blue Cats. $23.50 advance, $25 door.

The Inimitable Ms. Baez
There are relatively few performers who can boast of appearing before live audiences in six decades. Even fewer are those who can bring a house down in the sixth of those 10-year swaths through popular culture. Joan Baez is one whose extraordinary talent and commitment lends immediacy to her voice and guitar as she continues a career begun in 1959. The singer/songwriter/guitarist (and that last is underappreciated for her unique strains and licks) comes back to Knoxville for the second time in a hair over two years for a one-woman show. Her sweet voice and demure demeanor belies a political activism and social conscience that have characterized her long sojourn on stage and that always enliven her patter. This time, she’s promoting an album just out called Dark Chords on a Big Guitar. There aren’t many bigger. (Barry Henderson)
Joan Baez • Thursday, March 25, 8 p.m. • Bijou Theatre • $35, plus applicable service charges, at all Tickets Unlimited outlets or by phone at 656-4444.

The Malarkies
The Malarkies—Ruth Keating and Matt Sutton—seem like a couple I’d love to be friends with. Over coffee at my favorite hangout, they’d quote The New Yorker without pretension and order cake to share. Their music as released on 10,000 Backdoors is friendly and easy-going without being flaky or over-eager. This young New York pair—Keating on percussion and Sutton on guitar and a variety of instruments to strum or thunk upon—creates a dissonant jangling that sounds like an improvisational jam with people who are more interested in making neat noises than showing off their best chops. Their quirky harmonies and deceptively simple lyrics aren’t ironic or cynical, nor are they goofily happy. There’s an early ‘60s wistfulness blended with an edgy, beatnik awareness. File the Malarkies under the hypothetical category of Big City Indie Folk. Their music is organic, like grass growing through the cracks of the sidewalk. (Paige M. Travis)
The Malarkies • Thursday, March 25, 10 p.m. • Pilot Light • $5.

La Cage Noir’s Burlesque Ensemble and Springtime Cabaret
Now that the buds of spring are bursting from their winter shells, and the crisp green air is blowing across your paled flesh, it’s time to thaw out those bones, let down your hair and make merry. And there’s no merrier bunch than the La Cage Noir Cabaret performers of the Actors Co-op.
These biannual cabarets bring out the most musical of Co-op players: Kara Kemp, Biz Lyon, Ellen Robinson, Cameron Watkins, Jenny Ballard, Buddy Lucas, and Sara Schwabe with her Yankee Jass Band. Hosted by witty wine connoisseur Dennis Perkins, this year’s cabaret will be more titillating than ever as the ladies and gents perform in the burlesque style. Expect the highest caliber of this revived entertainment with some wink-wink naughtiness and bawdy song-and-dance numbers. Ooh, la la! (P.M.T.)
Springtime Cabaret • March 25-26, 8 p.m. • Lawn Party & Garden Auction Fundraiser • Saturday, March 27, 6:30 p.m. • Black Box Theater • $10 general, $8 students/seniors for cabaret only; $15 for auction party • BYOB • Reservations strongly recommended by calling 909-9300.

UT Sculpture Club Performance Night
I’ll be honest—this is the sort of performance that creeps me out a little bit. The press release reads, “Unlike theater, there will be no traditional division between the audience and the performers through a stage and curtain. This event will be more of a carnival atmosphere, including music, spoken work, and visual spectacle.” Too much art in this culture has become passive; so few of us perform anything any more. And the art we receive is generally separated from us: we watch TV or a movie, stand with our arms folded in front of us at a rock club, walk with reverence through an art museum. Little is expected of us. Which makes it increasingly difficult for art to have an effect, to break through or challenge. By its nature, performance art is designed to challenge the way we perceive and view art, and the format has been mocked a great deal as elitist and silly. Some of it probably is. And while performance art has its limitations, the lesson it can teach us is one that benefits from regular refresher courses. And remember, it’s supposed to be fun. There are no rules. (Joe Tarr)
UT Sculpture Club Performance Night • Friday, March 26, 7 to 10 p.m. • Fifth floor of the Woodruff Building (above the Downtown Grill and Brewery) • Free