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The Big Ticket

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone w/ the Mito Band and JSB
One-man keyboard band with many secrets to confess. Thursday, July 29, 10 p.m. Pilot Light. $5.

Jay Clark
Music that feels like home. Thursday, July 29, 10 p.m. Barley’s. Free.

R.B. Morris & Hector Qirko
Start your weekend right. Friday, July 30, 5:30-8 p.m. Alive After Five at the Knoxville Museum of Art. $6 general, $3 KMA members, students w/ ID.

Jen Foster
Sexy, charismatic pop singer seeks energetic fans for good times. Friday, July 30, 9:30 p.m. Preservation Pub. Free.

Harry Potter Birthday Party
Games and cake for Muggles and wizards alike. Saturday, July 31, 11 a.m. Borders. Free.

Poetry Slam
Local poets including RheaSunshine, Fluid Engineers, Angel Leona. Saturday, July 31, 10 p.m. The Fairbanks. $5 before 11 p.m., $10 after.

Robinella & the CCstringband, Roddy Branch Bluegrass Band and Dark Hollow Band
Bringing music back to the Bijou. Saturday, July 31, 6-10 p.m. Bijou Theatre, $20 adv., $25 door.

Bedtime with the Beasts
Adults-only sleepover. Saturday, July 31, 6 p.m. Knoxville Zoo. $60 adults, $55 zoo members, $70 day of event.

Blue Mother Tupelo
Wooing the nation one gig at a time. Saturday, July 31, 9 p.m. Brackins. $5.

The LoneTones
Chill out with quirky folk tunes. Saturday, July 31, 8 p.m. Bean Tree Coffee House. Free.

James McMurtry
Is it the unflinching portrait of human indignity or the underlying pathological misanthropy that make James McMurtry’s songs so compelling and repulsive? What has Texas done to this guy? I mean, his daddy Larry wrote novels about cowboys and stuff, not about freaky family reunions hosted by an old uncle in Oklahoma who makes whiskey and cooks up crystal meth—“you know he likes that money, he don’t mind the smell.” Frankly, “Choctaw Bingo” makes me want to wash my brain out with soap.
But another side of McMurtry makes me think he’s merely a victim of being deeply observant. “Rachel’s Song” is about a single dad and his young son. It’s sweet and sad, a perfect six-minute short story with a thundering kick drum.
McMurtry’s problem is he notices the things the rest of us can’t bear to look at. That he shows ‘em back at us with such clarity is his gift and punishment. He’s a poet and a philosopher with the driest delivery of any folk-rock singer out there. He’s awfully dark, but don’t look away—you might catch a glimpse of the light. (Paige M. Travis)
James McMurtry w/ Mic Harrison • Friday, July 30, 9 p.m. • Blue Cats • $10.

Edward Weston
Photographer Edward Weston once said of his work, “One does not think during creative work, any more than one thinks when driving a car. But one has a background of years—learning, unlearning, success, failure, dreaming, thinking, experience, all this—then the moment of creation, the focusing of all into the moment. So I can make ‘without thought,’ 15 carefully considered negatives, one every 15 minutes, given material with as many possibilities. But there is all the eyes have seen in this life to influence me.” Over the next couple of months you can see the breadth of possibilities Weston saw in his life.
A groundbreaking and distinguished artist of the genre, Weston tackled many different styles through five decades of work. In his early years he specialized in portraits. Around 1912, he was swept up with modernism, with experimental, abstract photographs. He took close-ups of household and natural objects (green pepper, eggs and a slicer), shot several nudes, and landscapes. He died in 1958. The exhibit is a 100-picture retrospective of his work. (Joe Tarr)
Edward Weston: Life Work • July 30 thru Oct. 10 • Members opening July 29, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. • Knoxville Museum of Art • $5 adults, free on Tuesdays, 5-8 p.m.

Joe Buck
Joe Buck is a rude, irascible sumbitch, the former guitarist for Nashville gothic Americana outfit Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and now a one-man-band solo artist. Steeped in both trad-country and punk rock, the versatile Buck also plays bass for Hank Williams III—stand-up for the country tunes, electric for III’s hard-rock project Assjack. His own music mixes both camps; American Plague frontman JAW describes it as “the Cramps with Mo Tucker on drums... or country/western version of GG Allin.” Also on the bill are outlaw country artist Scott H. Biram and the aforementioned American Plague, who never disappoint. (Mike Gibson)
Joe Buck w/ Scott Biram and the American Plague • Monday, Aug. 2, 10 p.m. • Pilot Light • $5.