That’s what the t-shirts said at Sweet P’s Barbecue and Soul House in South Knoxville on Saturday. And that’s exactly what we did! The temperatures were smokin’; the music was smokin’, and, most importantly, two big pigs were smokin’ on the grill being carefully tended by proprietor Chris Ford.

Smokin’ Day Fest is an annual benefit for the [...]

Filed under: Events, Knoxville, Music | 4 Comments »

Saturday in Knoxville dawned overcast and drizzly, but our spirits were not dampened. We knew we were about to embark on the “Bloody Mary March,” our own name for the monthly Market Square Mixer, which is a contest among downtown restaurants to see who can make the best cocktail.
The type of drink for the contest [...]

Filed under: Downtown, Events, Knoxville | 10 Comments »

OK. Here was the thought. The Blue Streak is only successful because of the great folks who let us take their pictures and attend their events.
We decided to throw a cocktail party to thank them. We invited to the party the people who have been on The Blue Streak the most, according to the little search box [...]

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In the morning last Saturday, I witnessed scores of volunteers of all races come together in a huge event to help the less fortunate — also of all races.
In the afternoon, I stood on Market Square and watched hate mongers shout “White Power!” while surrounded by police and counter-protesters.
The contrast could not have been more [...]

Filed under: Downtown, Events, Knoxville, Politics | 4 Comments »

Today is the last day for us in the glass tower that has been our home for the past 15 years. It’s moving day and we are taking our toys and moving from First Tennessee Plaza, the tallest building in downtown, to the Miller’s Building, about four blocks north on Gay Street.
I will explain the reasons [...]

Filed under: Downtown, Historic preservation, Journalism, Public Relations | 13 Comments »

Joan Cronan was 12 years old and growing up in the town of Opelousas in southern Louisiana. “I was a tomboy before it was cool for women to be in sports,” the UT women’s athletic director told a lunch gathering this week.
She was really looking forward to signing up to play Little League baseball so, [...]

Filed under: Events, Knoxville, UT sports | No Comments »

Poor Alan. Because I learned in journalism school that photos with people in them are generally more interesting than photos of things alone, I always try to put someone in the pictures I take of interesting things I run across.
Of course, who am I most often with when I run across interesting things? My sweet [...]

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I don’t know why I was worried, but I was. I guess it’s because I’ve seen the electorate do so many wrong-headed things (as they did in at least one case in Knox County last night — but that’s not my story here).
A group of us braved literally blinding rain storms and — after stops at several [...]

Filed under: Events, Knoxville, Politics | 14 Comments »

Some of us (including me!) shook President Obama’s hand.
We cried when national treasure, poet Maya Angelou, recited a poem about slavery and black history with rapper Common.
We were astounded to see the media crush around Congressman Charles Rangel, who sat at a table next to us at lunch the day before a House ethics committee announced 13 charges against him.
We [...]

Filed under: Events, Journalism, Knoxville, Media, Politics | 8 Comments »

Wow! I love our nation’s capital!
Alan and I spent last week in Washington, D.C., with our friends Phyllis and Jim Nichols and Peyton Hairston. The purpose of the trip was to attend a National Urban League convention (which I’ll write about in the next blog post), but during the course of a week in such [...]

Filed under: Journalism, Media, Politics, Uncategorized | 13 Comments »