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The Big Ticket

Dogwood Arts Festival on Market Square
Four days of music and art. Thursday, April 15 thru Sunday, April 18. Free.

Ingram Hill
Commercial pop-rock from Memphis. Friday, April 16, 9 p.m. Blue Cats. $8 door, $6 w/ student ID.

Talahi Plant Sale
Yearly gathering of annuals and perennials. Saturday, April 17, 9am-2pm, World’s Fair Park. Free.

Malcolm Holcombe
Same great performer in his perfect venue. Saturday, April 17, 9 p.m. Laurel Theater. $8-$10.

Ginny Owens
Three-time Dove Award winner. Saturday, April 17, 7 & 9:30 p.m. New City Cafe. $12.

Ripley Caine
Whole-hearted folk-rocker from Chicago. Sunday, April 18, 10 p.m. The Spot. Free.

Geoff Achison & the Souldiggers
Award-winning Australian blues guitarist. Monday, April 19, 10 p.m. Preservation Pub. Free.

Leftover Salmon w/ Snake Oil Medicine Show
Jamgrass without that fishy smell. Wednesday, April 21, 8 p.m. Blue Cats. $15 adv., $17 door.

Feable Weiner
The sugary sweet rock of Feable Weiner is delicious, piping hot, short attention spam for the generation betwixt prom night and the twilight of youth. What Feable Weiner lacks in subtlety, it compensates with explosive energy and inspired gags. The hackneyed lyrics of lost love complement oohs, aahs and high-speed guitars splendidly. Poised to take over the mall, these architects of power pop recently filmed a video with the All-American Rejects (perpetrators of the ridiculously catchy “Swing Swing”) for MTV and are in the midst of another grueling tour across the Southeast. Some bands play for the introspective and disillusioned; Feable Weiner rocks for the hell of it with straight-ahead songs devoid of second thought. (Clint Casey)
Feable Weiner w/ Digger, Cruiserweight and Apolloswitch • Patrick Sullivan’s • Thursday, April 15, 10 p.m. • $5

Side-By-Side Exhibit & Silent Auction
One of the amazing and frightening things about kids is how much they learn from adults. Without our realizing it, they can pick up our mannerisms, prejudices, swear words—anything we do or say unintentionally to set a bad example. But given the right circumstances, young people can also emulate our talents. That’s the purpose of Community School for the Arts’ Side-By-Side program. For the past eight years, K-12 students have studied with professional artists in their studios, learning the skills and benefits of hands-on creativity from the very people who pursue it for a living. This year, 18 area artists shared their insights, skills and time with students ages 8 to 18. Lucky youngsters stepped inside the lives and imaginations of such prestigious artists as Tommie Rush, Richard Jolley, Marcia Goldenstein, Jean Hess, Marga Hays Ingram, Betsy Worden and others. The program culminates in an exhibition and silent auction of the artists’ works, both junior and senior, side by side. Proceeds from the auction benefit the School’s scholarship fund. Your participation will set a good example for everyone. (Paige M. Travis)
Community School for the Arts Side-By-Side Reception & Silent Auction • Thursday, April 15, 5:30-7:30 p.m. • Bennett Galleries • Free

Deerhoof
This four-piece California band is something of a critics’ darling. Superficially they sound like a weird art band, and I suppose they are, with their sporadically noodly guitars, distortion, weird percussion, and the cutesy vocals of lead singer Satomi Matsuzaki, a native of Japan. But underneath all that weirdness is the unbridled energy and joy of what lies at the heart of all great rock ’n’ roll. It’s no surprise that Deerhoof gets compared to the early Who a lot—they’ve got the chops and energy to match Townshend and Moon at their best. The band also has a great feel for melody. Their latest offering, Milk Man, tackles an amazingly diverse array of styles, but remains cohesive. Their show at the Pilot Light last August was one of my favorites for the year. (Joe Tarr)
Deerhoof with Ibrahim and the Bloodiest Night of My Life • Tuesday, April 20, 9 p.m. • The Pilot Light • $7

Italian Street Fair 2004
Why an Italian Street Fair in Knoxville? Well, the food’s a lot better than it would be at a Scots-Irish street fair, for one thing, and men are more likely to wear shirts. And it’s hard to argue with la dolce vita, something we could all use a little more of in these here parts. For the last couple of Aprils, this festival, spearheaded by the Knoxville Opera Company, drew thousands to Gay Street, across all sorts of demographic lines, proof that, sometimes, somehow, the highest common denominator works.
The daylong festival will include everything from a lecture by Prof. Nasser Al-Taee on one of the pressing questions of the day, “Who’s the Real Hero in The Marriage of Figaro?” to, just around the corner, an hour later, the greatest opera cartoons of Warner Bros., scheduled so you can get out of the professor’s lecture in time to see Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd challenge the gay-marriage ban. And, the whole time, 20 Italian-food suppliers, 50 artisan booths, street performers, and five “multicultural” performance stages, wine tastings, a screening of Il Postino, and—lest we forget that the KOC’s Rossini Festival is the excuse for all this fun—two (count ‘em) handy performances of The Barber of Seville at the Bijou. The Italian Street Fair is the standard by which all festivals should be judged. (Jack Neely)
Knoxville Opera Company’s Rossini Festival • Italian Street Fair • Saturday, April 17, 12-8 p.m. • South Gay Street, near the Bijou • Free.