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Three-peat
First Night Knoxville held a press conference on Wednesday to announce the schedule for this year’s festival. For the third consecutive year, Einstein Simplified has been asked to appear at the family-friendly event. I feel the best compliment a performer can get is to be invited back to perform again. Our New Year’s Eve shows to ring out 2008 and 2009 were possibly our best of each year. We found it energizing to perform in front of a big crowd, most of whom had never seen us before. Once again we will do two shows in the TVA Auditorium, alternating with ventriloquist Gene Cordova. Gene performs at 7:15 and 9:45. We go on at 8:30 and 10:45. We have to finish by 11:45 so everyone can get out to Market Square for the fireworks and ball drop.
KNOXVILLE Ring in the New Year with First Night® Knoxville, an exciting all-ages celebration of the arts held at a dozen venues in vibrant downtown Knoxville. Now in its fourth year, First Night® Knoxville presents entertainment by some of the best singers, musicians, artists and dancers East Tennessee has to offer.
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“There’s truly something for everyone,” says John Craig, president of the Market Square District Association. “Whether you live in the Knoxville area or are visiting from out of town, First Night® Knoxville is a great way to spend New Year’s Eve with friends and family.”
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Following the “Home for the Holidays” theme, First Night® will be the scene of multiple reunions of artists who once called Knoxville home. Mark Lamb acclaimed dancer, choreographer and founder of Circle Modern Dance and beloved singer-songwriter Jodie Manross both live in New York City, but they return this year to perform with an array of special guests. This year’s festival also hosts a reunion of Sara Schwabe and the Yankee Jass Band, bringing together vocalist Sara Schwabe of Arizona and Phil Pollard of Virginia for a dose of swing music. Nashville-based singer-songwriter Louise Mosrie lived in Knoxville when she started writing songs. Last year she won the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competition.
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Asheville’s Runaway Circus is back by popular demand, as is Knoxville’s own improv comedy troupe Einstein Simplified.
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Festivities begin early with the Children’s Festival, from 3:15 to 6:30 p.m. at the East Tennessee History Center, featuring music, puppets, face-painting and arts activities.
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Live entertainment continues at 7:15 p.m. in various downtown venues with a wide selection of singer-songwriters, modern dance, jazzy crooners, Americana bands, international acts, circus performers, hip-hop/spoken word artists and more. In addition, the works of local painters will be displayed in several of the venues. Please see the attached schedule for a complete list of artists, venues and performance times.
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The night concludes with a countdown to midnight, ball drop and fireworks in Market Square!
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First Night® Admission Buttons are only $15 in advance, $20 on the day of, a cost-efficient way to experience every exhilarating minute of this unique New Year’s Eve celebration! Buttons go on sale December 1 at several Market Square businesses, Pilot locations and online at Firstnightknoxville.com. Additional announcements will be made throughout the month.
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About First Night® Knoxville
First Night® is a family-friendly, alcohol-free New Year¹s Eve community celebration of the arts. The celebration began in Boston in 1976 and has grown to an event that attracts hundreds of thousands of celebrants each year. Since then the event has expanded to over 100 cities in 30 states across the country, as well as internationally into Canada and New Zealand.
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The Market Square District Association held its inaugural New Year¹s Eve celebration in 2007 to great success. In 2008, the event expanded to multiple venues throughout downtown, and 2009’s festival welcomed visitors from eight states. Thousands are expected to christen the New Year at First Night® Knoxville! For more information, visit FirstNightKnoxville.com.
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Current Schedule of Events and Performances ~
(more will be announced!)
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CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL
East TN History Center
3:15-3:45pm Gene Cordova
4:15-4:45pm Sean McCullough & Friends
6-6:30pm One World Circus
Activities between entertainment
• Crafts with Rachel B. Travis
• Balloons with Balloonacy
• Face Painting with Making Faces
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ECHO
Miller’s Atrium
7:15-8pm Greg Horne
8:15-9pm Mark Lamb Dance
9:15-10:15pm Levon Walker
10:30-11:45 The Lonetones
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PASSPORT
East TN History Center
7:15-8pm SalsaKnox
8:30-9:30pm Laith Keilany
10:00-11:45pm Four Leaf Peat
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Y-NOT
YWCA Lounge
7:15-8pm Sara Schwabe
8:15-9pm Louise Mosrie
9:15-10:15pm Rachel Pearl
10:30-11:45pm Jodie Manross with special guests Mark Lamb Dance, Laith Keilany, and Greg Horne
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BAZAAR
YWCA Gym
7:15-7:45pm Shadhavar Bellydance
8:45-9:15pm Runaway Circus
9:30-10pm Shadhavar Bellydance
11-11:45pm Runaway Circus
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LAUGH
TVA Auditorium
7:15-8:15pm Gene Cordova
8:30-9:30pm Einstein Simplified
9:45-10:30pm Gene Cordova
10:45-11:45pm Einstein Simplified
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PERFORM
TVA Room 2
7:15-7:45pm Knoxville Opera
8:00-8:30pm Circle Modern Dance
8:45-11:45pm Black Sunshine
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STREET FIRE PERFORMANCES
Market Square, Krutch Park
Shadhavar Bellydance with fire!
One World Circus with fire!
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RUMPUS
The Square Room
7:15-8:30pm Johnny Astro & the Big Bang
9:00-10:15pm Taylor Brown & Company
10:30-11:45pm Those Darlins
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SWING
15 Market Square
9:00-10:15 Sara Schwabe and her Yankee Jass Band
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HAYSEED
Morelock Music
7:15-11:30pm Old Time Jam
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PICK
Knoxville Visitor’s Center with WDVX
7:15-11:30pm Old Time Throwdown
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Kaboom? Kabust!
If all goes according to plan, I will visit Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota next summer. They are the final four states in my quest to visit all 50. My wife and I have been discussing routes and itineraries that could put us at Mount Rushmore on the 4th of July. Imagine how cool it would be to see fireworks flying over the granite presidents. What if they shot rockets out of Thomas Jefferson’s nose? It would be awesome! Except that it won’t happen.
Mount Rushmore will be featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. After I wrote about it on Thursday, I clicked around the website for the National Park. Here’s the bad news:
The unacceptable risk of wildfire prompted the suspension of the fireworks for the 2010 celebration. While efforts are on-going to mechanically reduce the fuel load in the park and encourage a healthy forest, the condition of the forest in the surrounding area continues to deteriorate and will remain a concern even after the Memorial’s thinning project is completed. “We need to look at the big picture and understand that the fire danger will continue to be high in 2011, therefore the 2011 Independence Day Celebration will not include a fireworks component,” said Mount Rushmore Acting Superintendent Duane Bubac.
My wife and I have to decide if we still want to spend Independence Day at Mount Rushmore or if we would rather find a fireworks display somewhere else along our path. I’ll have to research what’s happening at the Gateway Arch, the Field of Dreams and the World’s Largest Buffalo.
Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free
After a long day downtown, would it be worth fighting the crowds to see the fireworks in Washington, DC? My wife and son and I decided it was. As a bonus, we got to hear the music from “A Capitol Fourth” and almost see the stage.
Our original plan was to drive to Northern Virginia today and go to a local fireworks display in Falls Church. About a month ago I got the idea to head up earlier to see the Mets play the Nationals. Then we added on Sunday Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Since we were all the way downtown, why not stay for the fireworks?
On Friday night, I heard a report on WTOP.com that Pyro Shows of LaFollette was planning a “most intense show” on the National Mall. I am partial to their fireworks because of the fine display they put on in Knoxville at Boomsday each year. Washington must be where they experiment with new things to impress their hometown crowd on Labor Day weekend.
After the baseball game, we rode the Metrorail over to the Mall. The crowds were not as bad as I feared and we decided to stay. After grabbing a salad for dinner in the lower level food court at Union Station, we trekked back toward the Capitol. I was surprised how close we could get. Before long we were breezing through the security checkpoint to the Capitol grounds for the concert that was airing live on PBS. I made a wisecrack on Twitter about the smaller crowds being due to the presence of David Archuleta but I’ve got to say that he sounded great on “Stand By Me.” He was appropriately sappy for the circumstances without being overly cheesy like Taylor Hicks was a couple of years ago.
When Lang Lang started performing, a significant number of people, myself included, left to seek out a better vantage point for the fireworks. It wasn’t Lang Lang’s fault. He is amazingly talented. It’s just that we realized we had absolutely no view of the area where the blasts would be. We ended up near the US Army cannons used for the “1812 Overture.”
We knew that the biggest challenge of the day would be riding the Metrorail back to our car. Instead of using the Smithsonian station like most people, we went to Federal Center and actually got a seat. Those getting on after us were packed in like proverbial sardines. All in all, it was an ideal day to celebrate America and an ideal day for my wife to wear her Lady Gaga Liberty sunglasses.
Time to Remember
Mental Floss magazine has one of the more entertaining feeds on Twitter. Today they posted a link with “10 Things to Remember About Memorial Day” that I immediately “re-tweeted.” As a former northerner, I didn’t know that the southern states didn’t adopt the holiday until after World War I and that nine states also have a Confederate Memorial Day. Tennessee’s is on June 3.
When I was a kid, I would go to the Memorial Day parade that marched past the Crestwood Library and ended at a war memorial. Usually the local politicians would make a few statements. Even though we were in New York State, it had a Mayberry feel to it.
My daughter is visiting Knoxville this weekend. On Memorial Day a few years ago, she stopped off at Culpeper National Cemetery (where my father is buried) and took some photos that I now like to look at every year on Memorial Day. What Memorial Day traditions do you have?
See Through
Bob Yarbrough has been anchoring WVLT’s noon news solo lately. Allison Kropff got moved over to the weather desk when Jim Freeman left. They gave Freeman a cake on his last day and wished him well. They mentioned that he was not leaving the area, just the station. His departure came shortly before the surprising announcement that Michele Silva had been hired to co-anchor the early morning news.
Today Allison acknowledged that she had not worn green during the morning show but had changed into a green turtleneck for the noon newscast. She said to stay tuned because she would tell us why she hadn’t started St. Patrick’s Day in the green clothes. It was great fun to watch a few minutes later when she walked over to the weather wall and became a floating head!
Chef Walter did not disappoint either.
Unlucky Charms
It’s time to call B.S. on Gibson Greeting Cards. Last week when I was buying my wife a birthday card, I saw two cards in the St. Patrick’s Day section that said “Happy Shamrock Day.” That’s just wrong. It would be less offensive if they discontinued all their St. Patrick’s cards rather than publish ones that celebrate clover.
Back in the prehistoric days before I started this blog, I noticed some napkins with the same offending phrase on them. The idiotic marketing scheme has picked up more negative press since then, including a bit of a dust-up in Waco last year.
“Happy Shamrock Day” is as stupid as “Happy Turkey Day” on Thanksgiving. Not everyone eats turkey then. Maybe I should expect to see “Happy Hard-Boiled Egg Day” or “Happy Firecracker Day” in the near future. Would Gibson dare market a Passover card that said “Happy Flatbread Days?” I don’t think so.
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