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It practically gallops!

Dance Scene Investigation

An unexpected opportunity presented itself at “Star 102.1’s Dancing with the Knoxville Stars” last night. I had a few extra minutes to chat backstage with Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Jamie, who specializes in covering crime and the law, wrote an excellent account of her experience in the FBI Citizens Academy last Fall. I asked Jamie to consider joining the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association, even if only to be eligible for our trip to Quantico in August. I loved what she posted on Facebook in reply to my congratulations: “It was an amazing experience. Thanks for all you do to for this cause and so many more. Hope to join you soon in the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association, Mr. President.”

Later, I spotted WATE’s Hana Kim in the audience. She and I were classmates in the Citizens Academy but she hasn’t had time to join the Alumni Association. Assistant News Director Jay Quaintance (and FBIKCAAA member), took a picture of me asking her to consider dancing in the future. After the show, Dan Andrews of the Knoxville Focus took a picture of me asking Hana to consider joining the FBIKCAAA too.

Each of the local television stations had a representative in the dance contest. WATE’s Bo Williams scored a perfect 30 but lost to the Dixie Stampede’s Jay Teter in the judges’ tie-breaker deliberations. WVLT’s Lorena Estrada and WBIR’s Kris Budden both did well as the news reports on their respective stations shows.

February 17, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

WAVA will always hold a special place in my heart. I started there as a college intern and didn’t leave until almost eight years later when new owners changed the format. WAVA’s final hour is still legendary in the radio business. It was an amazing retrospective produced by David Edgar. Such sign-offs are a rarity. Most times formats and deejays disappear without acknowledgement.

Three years ago today I started a private Facebook group for my WAVA colleagues. We only posted to it a few times a year but it was still a helpful resource until Facebook changed the settings on me and dismissed all the members. I’ve been frantically re-adding them to the group tonight as best as I can. I had hoped to use the group page to collect “where are they now” updates from the old gang.

Ten years ago I used my limited skills to build a webpage with memories of the old days. It looks terrible and I thought about deleting it but decided to wait until I can get some help updating and rebuilding it.

Feel free to use the comments section to post your thoughts about WAVA’s history as a top-40 station.

February 12, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Fest Up

The show schedule for the Gatlinburg Improv Fest was posted the other day. Einstein Simplified will perform on Friday, February 24 at 9:30 p.m. and on Saturday, February 25 at 6:30 p.m.

A weekend pass for all shows Thursday-Saturday is available for $100
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Thursday February 23, 2012
6:30-7:30 Welcome!
8:00-9:00 Sweet Fanny Adams, Gatlinburg, TN $10
9:30-10:30 TBA (tentative)

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Friday February 24, 2012 – day pass is $40 for all Friday shows, or individual show prices below
5:00-6:00 Shenanigans, Cleveland, TN $10
6:30-7:30 Obv-prov, Cleveland, TN $10
8:00-9:00 Six Guitars -Chase Padgett, Orlando, FL $12
9:30-10:30 Einstein Simplified, Knoxville, TN $10
11:00-12:00 Sweet Fanny Adams, Gatlinburg, TN $10
12:30-1:30 *Sweet Fanny Adams. Gatlinburg, TN – late night invitational (tentative)

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Saturday February 25, 2012 – day pass is $50 for all Saturday shows, or individual show prices below
3:30-4:30 Sweet Fanny Adams, Gatlinburg, TN $10
5:00-6:00 Obv-prov, Cleveland, TN $10
6:30-7:30 Einstein Simplified, Knoxville, TN $10
8:00-9:00 Six Guitars -Chase Padgett, Orlando, FL $12
9:30-10:30 Reasonably Priced Babies, Asheville, NC $10
11:00-12:00 Shenanigans, Cleveland, TN $10
12:30 -1:30 *Sweet Fanny Adams. Gatlinburg, TN – late night invitational (tentative)

I’ve started looking up the other groups who’ll be sharing the stage at the Sweet Fanny Adams Theatre with us. I found a Facebook page for Reasonably Priced Babies from Asheville and a YouTube channel for Shenanigans from Lee University. Here’s a video of Shenanigans playing “Dead Bodies.”

February 5, 2012 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

The Brew Crew

Kim Leslie came down the stairs as soon as I arrived at the Smoky Mountain Brewery. Lauren, the manager on duty, smiled and said she had given Kim one of the same buzzers used to tell patrons their table was ready. When I gave my name at the hostess stand, Lauren activated the buzzer.

I’ve known Kim for years. We worked at different Washington radio stations but had mutual friends. She is now on the air in Nashville. When I read on Facebook that her family was on their way to a vacation in Gatlinburg, I suggested that they have dinner at the Brewery. I had plans to be there for a live video feed on SMOMOtv.com with Taz Cable.

My blogfather, Rich Hailey, and his wife Lissa were also in attendance. I mentioned them as well as a Twitter message I received from Travis Quick, a fan of the Brewery’s Turkey Creek location. Taz and I were on just as the Champs Sports Bowl ended. I was rooting for Knoxville Catholic High School alumnus Harrison Smith, who was playing his last game for Notre Dame. Unfortunately, the Fighting Irish lost but Smith is likely to play again next year in the NFL.

December 30, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Greek to Me

In past years, talk-show hosts like Bill O’Reilly have drawn attention to the war on Christmas. John Gibson wrote a book with that title. The term refers to people replacing “merry Christmas” with the politically-correct greeting “happy holidays.”

Chi Rho created by Frank Jr. using Microsoft Paint Instead of the war on Christmas, “Overnight America” host Jon Grayson is fighting against the “war on Xmas.” Many people mistakenly believe that the X in Xmas is an atheist trick to remove Christ from Christmas. On Thursday morning’s show, Jon said his grade school teacher explained that the X was a “crisscross” that represented the crucifixion. I had been taught that X was actually the Greek letter Chi, the first letter of Christ. Chi Rho, the first two letters of Christ, are the components of a well-known Christian symbol. “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison” (Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy) is one of very few Greek prayers in the Latin Mass.

James Newport, the Gatlinburg Improv Fest organizer, posted on Facebook that his 7-year-old daughter spelled Christmas “x minus m-a-s.” His wife Krisha commented, “I’m sure she’ll be messing with ‘E-str’ soon too!”

December 16, 2011 | Filed Under Catholic | Comments Off 

Convection Connection

Harvest of Blessings 2011 - Karie's pie cupcakes The old argument about cake vs. pie turned up in two unusual places last weekend. First, I saw a photo on Facebook of a cake in the shape of the Greek letter Pi. Then, I saw cupcakes that looked like pies at the annual Harvest of Blessings bake sale at All Saints Church.

Harvest of Blessings 2011 - Karie's fishbowl cupcakes Each year our friend Kathy and her daughter Karie strive to make something interesting. The night before the sale, Kathy’s husband Keith reminded me to bring my camera to church the next day. In addition to the pie cupcakes, Karie had made chocolate cupcakes decorated like fishbowls. I bought one and enjoyed it right there.

Harvest of Blessings 2011 - my wife's iced pumpkin cookies For the first time, my wife baked something for the sale. I got a recipe for Iced Pumpkin Cookies from a co-worker. Most similar recipes contain eggs but this one did not. My wife held back a dozen cookies to share with friends after our Thanksgiving dinner.

November 26, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Syncopated Rhythms

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is broadcast on both NBC and CBS. The official telecast on NBC is too scripted while the coverage on CBS isn’t scripted enough. The hosts of “Today,” who work together every day, recited the banter that had been prepared for them. It always has the same feel as the forced repartee of co-presenters on an an awards show. Meanwhile, two correspondents from “The Insider” were given the freedom to ad-lib on CBS. Unfortunately, they spent much of their time talking over each other. It was a downgrade from last year’s CBS telecast.

A guy dressed as a baker on the Morton Salt “Home Baked Goodness” float looked more like Santa Claus than the Santa on the North Pole float. Macy’s Santa had a forked beard. The celebrity on Morton’s float was “American Idol” winner Scotty McCreery. He got caught off-guard by his own song and raised the microphone to his lips after his pre-recorded voice had already started singing. The same thing happened to Avril Lavigne on the Cooking Channel’s “Tom Turkey” float. A little later, seasoned pro Neil Diamond showed how it’s done while aboard the South Dakota Tourism float. I wrote on Twitter: “Neil Diamond doesn’t wait for the lip-sync track before lifting his mic. The lip-sync track waits until Neil Diamond is ready!”

My favorite marching band performance was by the Dobyns-Bennett High School Marching Band, which covered the song “Dynamite.” One of the band members received the Bob Hope Band Scholarship Award.

NBC fills the first hour of their broadcast with performances outside Macy’s while they wait for the parade to arrive. Daniel Radcliffe showed off some impressive dance moves with the cast of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” I was surprised to learn that a version of the movie flop “Newsies” is coming to Broadway as a musical. The costumes from “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” were bizarre, as I’m sure they were intended to be.

My friend Jessica commented on the parade via Facebook. She responded to another of her friends by writing, “you weren’t kidding about the Priscilla number being a little outré for family TV. Also, I was playing the ‘which one of those dancers is in drag; and which one is a female made up to look like a man in drag?’ game.”

November 24, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

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