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The Big Ticket

The Legendary Shack Shakers w/ the American Plague and the Booze Hounds
They’re not legendary for nothing. Thursday, July 8, 9 p.m. Pilot Light. $7.

Arrowmont Art Auction
Bona fide art from talented people. Thursday, July 8, 6:30 p.m. at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

Mic Harrison
Rockin’ the museum in style. Friday, July 9, 5:30-8 p.m. Knoxville Museum of Art. $6 general, $3 KMA members and UT students w/ ID.

Perfect Mercy
Think Britney in black leather backed by an alt-rock band. Friday, July 9, 9 p.m. The Spot. $5.

East Tennessee Iris Society’s Annual Sale
Make your yard more beautiful. Saturday, July 10, 9 a.m. First Baptist Church. Free.

Lazy Days of Summer Antiques, Arts & Crafts Fair
This summer’s most scenic shopping experience. Saturday, July 10, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, July 11, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cumberland Gap National Historic Park.

Fifth Annual Half Moon Music Festival
A variety of orchestral, rock, blues and gospel music in the glorious outdoors. Sunday, July 11, 1:30 p.m., Watts Bar Lake. Free.

Soltero w/ Jennifer Nicely
A night of sweet melancholy calls for wine or whiskey. Wednesday, July 14, 9 p.m. Pilot Light. $5.

The Laura Blackley Band
Blues-rock from Asheville. Thursday, July 15, 10 p.m. Preservation Pub.

Cigar Store Indians
Humming and hovering around the Southeast since the early ‘90s, Cigar Store Indians’ Americana sound fuses electrified rock and a Southern backbeat into a bouncy dose of anti-depression. Straightforward and no frills, the band’s high-energy performances require little patience and even less thought. Intricate instrumentation and complex lyrical play are absent in favor of toe-tapping hooks and poppy barroom rock. As one member of the four-piece boasts, “It’s totally infectious. When you see us in the clubs and see what we do...unless you’re dead, it’s hard not to move some part of your body.” So shake your ass, watch yourself, and show ‘em what you’re working with tonight at the Preservation Pub. (Clint Casey)
Cigar Store Indians • Thursday, July 8, 9 p.m. • Preservation Pub • Free.

Second Saturdays at the Fairbanks
The beat tugs at you from inside the old cinema. As you cross the parking lot, you consider the remnants of last night’s swing dancers and their hopelessly retro moves. What you are about to give up on the floor would make them cry. Inside the door, you keep your head low but your eyes and ears open. Tonight’s scene isn’t about socializing: it’s about stepping inside the hypnotic beats and addictive rhythms, giving over your body to a subconscious drive. Once you find a place in the pulsing crowd, the DJ seems to intuit your mood to never stop—progressive house beats slowly build into a relentless set that leaves you sweating, exhausted and relieved. The night is still young and you’re just getting warmed up. (Paige M. Travis)
Second Saturdays • Regional and local DJs featuring Michael Skyes of Miracle One, plus Jericho, Billy Dail and John Savage • Saturday, July 10, 11 p.m. • The Fairbanks • $7 before 12 a.m. $10 after.

Bug Night at Ijams
Even though those vexing 17-year cicadas have already flitted their transparent wings out of town, there are plenty of funny-looking insects still crawling around these parts. In fact, Ijams Nature Center has devoted an entire night to educating children about our creepy, little-legged counterparts. An Ijams instructor will teach kids how to be especially ant-sightful when it comes to locating, identifying and handling our native buglife. Young entomologists will then be let loose to comb Ijams’ many acres for crawling, flying or otherwise mobile creatures. And when it comes to bugs, Ijams says, the uglier the better. The recovered insects will be entered into a series of highly competitive beauty contests, including Longest Bug, Smallest Bug, and Ugliest Bug. Here she comes, Ms. Antmerica. (Ellen Mallernee)
Bug Night • Monday, July 10, 8p.m. • Ijams Nature Center • Free for members, $3 non-members.