East Tennessee Dirt: What's happening in the local music scene
By Steve Wildsmithstevew@thedailytimes.com
Originally published: February 04. 2010 1:47PM
Last modified: February 04. 2010 2:48PM
Clayton Center for the Arts tickets go on sale today
Today is the big day — tickets go on sale for upcoming events at the almost-completed Clayton Center for the Arts, construction of which is wrapping up on the Maryville College campus.
Earlier this week, readers of The Daily Times got a glimpse of the new Steinway pianos in the recital hall; starting today, they can begin planning their social calendars around several of the events taking place at the center in the coming months. Those events include:
— Maryville High School Orchestra Valentine's Day concert with special guest Mark Wagner: 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14. Tickets are $11 adults in advance/$14 at the door and $6 students.
— Jo Dee Messina: 8 p.m. Friday, March 26. Tickets are $36, $46 and $56.
— Grand opening gala: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 27. Tickets are $20.
— Contigula Brothers recital (benefit for the Adams Foundation, in the center's Recital Hall): 2 p.m. Sunday, March 28. Tickets are $26 adults/$11 students.
— BANFF Film Festival: 2 p.m. Monday, March 29. Tickets are $10 advance/$12 day of screening.
— Delores Ziegler/John Wesley Wright vocal recital (in the Recital Hall): 8 p.m. Monday, March 29. Tickets are $15.
— Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys with Cherryholmes: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29. Tickets are $24.50, $29.50 and $36.
— Ball in the House (five-man R&B vocal group): 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 30. Tickets are $20/$16 students/$11 Maryville College students
— “Our Town,” a production of the Maryville College Department of Theatre (in the center's FLEX Theatre): Thursday, April 29 thru Sunday, May 2. $7/$5 Maryville College students
— Wood and Strings Puppet Theatre (in the FLEX Theatre): 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 14. $12 adults/$5 MC students
In addition, the Clayton Center for the Arts will serve as a local Tickets Unlimited outlet, allowing visitors to the box office to purchase tickets for most Tickets Unlimited events in the East Tennessee area. For more information, visit the center's website, call the box office at 981-8590 or visit in person at 502 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway in Maryville. The box office opens for business at 10 a.m. today and will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The box office is located in the main foyer of of the center; tickets can also be purchased online. For more information on events, pricing, special seating needs and parking, visit www.claytonartscenter.com.
A spelling bee — at The Pilot Light
The Pilot Light, that most excellent venue in the Old City (at 106 E. Jackson Ave.), is known for many things ... but a spelling bee probably doesn't leap to the forefront of most patrons' minds.
Live music? Check. Art, film, theater and combinations of all of the above? Check, check, check and check. But given the hipster vibes that waft out the front door like thick fog, the fascinating but often befuddling graffiti that decorates the wooden walls of the bathrooms and the fact that local musician/notorious roustabout Will Fist often works the door or tends the bar ... well, it's not exactly the sort of place where you'd imagine a spelling bee might be held.
Au contraire, according to organizer Liz Albertson. An urban planner by day, she's also a long-time Pilot Light devotee, and after presenting her plan to owner Jason Boardman, she's received an outpouring of enthusiasm from friends and acquaintances in the local music scene.
“We're hoping it will be taken seriously, because we're definitely going to ask some words that are hard,” she said. “We'll have words along the lines of manias, obsessions, medieval weaponry — funny words that people don't encounter in their everyday lexicon. We are expecting some laughs, but we hope people bring their A-game.”
It takes place at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17 — and that 8 p.m. start time is by normal standards. (Pilot Light shows are notorious for starting late, so much so that most club-goers know to show up at “Pilot Light time” rather than at the predetermined starting hour.)
“We'll let people sign up, cut it off around 8:30 and start shortly after that,” Albertson said. “It's free to get in and watch, and it costs $5 to enter the bee. And you get a free (Pabst Blue Ribbon) with that, so we're encouraging our entrants to be 21.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Albertson moved to Madison, Wis., for five years, where she obtained two master's degrees and fell in with a group of quirky characters that provided her with part of the inspiration for the spelling bee idea. The competitions have always fascinated her, she said, especially “the home-schooled girl” who won the national bee in 1996 or 1997, she added.
“It was completely awkward and fascinating, and I think a lot of my peers have childhood trauma stories about a word they went out on or being freaked out on stage,” she said. “I think there are a lot of folks who are rebels now but have something in their pasts that makes them want to regain glory from a spelling bee gone awry. I thought it would be amusing, and it's definitely not your average Pilot Light thing. We'll see how it goes, and if it goes well and everyone has fun, we'll do it again.”
So there you have it — an exhibition of knowledge masquerading as therapy at one of the hippest, most fun venues in town. If you're a regular but have no musical inclination, Albertson pointed out, the bee will be an opportunity for you to get on stage. So far, she added, local rockers Adam Ewing (of Mountains of Moss) and Elizabeth Wright (of the Dirty Knees) have indicated excitement over the possibility of participating.
“It's kind of amazing the outpouring of interest I've gotten from people over this,” she said. “I think people are pretty intrigued and wondering what in the world it's going to be like.”
Wallypalooza resurrected
It seems our report last June of the demise of Wallypalooza, that annual birthday bash/music festival by founder Wally Miles, was premature. To be fair, it seems Wally's decision to call it off was premature; by October, he'd decided to do one more, with two caveats, according to his Myspace page:
“1. It will NOT be on my birthday. My family gets me this time!
2. Less is more. Less bands but it will be better, I promise ... and I will be performing, whether it be with a new band or me playing with old friends.”
As of the latest update, it's a go for May 15, but the venue has yet to be announced. (Although last year, he pledged to hold it exclusively at Big Daddy's Scoots and Sports Bar and Grill in Maryville.) No word yet on the bands, either, but hopefully he'll be releasing that info real soon.
In the meantime, stay tuned to the festival's Myspace page and www.myspace.com/wallypalooza2009 for more info.
Barbra, Pirkle, Clark and more help out a worthy cause
There are few ladies in music these days more gracious, kind and equally talented as Blount County fiddler Sarah Pirkle. A member of The Naughty Knots, the Maid Rite String Band and a frequent collaborator with her husband, singer-songwriter Jeff Barbra of The Drunk Uncles, she's the real deal — big-hearted, super-cool and amazing to hear sing and play.
So when she throws her weight behind a benefit show that's close to her heart, I can't help but urge you to attend, help out and do what you can.
Here are the details:
Hearts For Hunter Benefit Concert and Chili Supper
6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20
Deane Hill Community Center, 7400 Deane Hill Drive, Knoxville
Pirkle writes that Hunter Graham, her cousin, “is a precious 17-month-old baby boy, who has a potentially life threatening disease, Menkes disease. On Feb 20, 2010 there will be a benefit concert at Dean Hill Community Center to help raise funds to send him and his mom and dad to the Family Hope Center in Philadelphia for treatment. Performers will be Andy & Sarah Pirkle, Jeff Barbra, Jay Clark, Van Eaton and the Naughty Knots. Suggested donation for adults $10.”
Attention, local bands and musicians! We want YOUR information. Send it to us via e-mail to: steve.wildsmith@thedailytimes.com, or call us at 981-1144.
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