More than 700 happy dogs and even more humans packed downtown Saturday for the fifth annual Mardi Growl parade and festival. Folks from the city of Knoxville’s special events office said this was the largest Mardi Growl to date. This was due partly, no doubt, to the beautiful weather.
I don’t think there was a single [...]

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

Lord, the costumes were hot this year at Dancing with the Knoxville Stars, an annual fundraiser for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. The top winner for raising the most money was Renita Stinnett, pictured here. The top dance winner was Jay Teter, the master of ceremonies at Dixie Stampede. In all, the event brought in more [...]

Filed under: Events, Journalism, Knoxville, Media | 2 Comments »

In our never-ending attempt to get everyone we like to move downtown, seven of us center city dwellers staged yet another in our series of progressive downtown dinners. Thanks to a previous progressive dinner, we successfully seduced Bruce and Monique Anderson into joining us in our downtown living adventure. (Click here for a story about [...]

Filed under: Downtown, Food, Historic preservation, Knoxville | 14 Comments »

So you’ve heard and read and seen on TV so much about the Bonnaroo music festival, right? You know that music promoter Ashley Capps of Knoxville is the “father” of Bonnaroo, of course. But wouldn’t you like to ask a few questions about it and hear the “inside scoop” on how it came to be?
Seventy-five [...]

Filed under: Art, Business, Events, Food, Knoxville, Music | 2 Comments »

I know this is one of those posts that has the real potential to come back to haunt me if things go south. But right now, the members of Knoxville City Council are on a love-induced high. I’m not kidding. These folks are crazy about each other!
Case in point: Last Saturday following a day-long retreat, [...]

Filed under: Food, Knoxville, Politics | No Comments »

Having the news conference kicking off Knoxville Restaurant Week at Ruth’s Chris Steak House served as inspiration for Alan and me to sign up for our first Restaurant Week outing of 2012. We already have made our reservations to return to Ruth’s Chris on Monday, Feb. 27, with our friends Bill and Gay Lyons.
Knoxville Restaurant [...]

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The “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” house is built, the Watson family is moved in, and the folks who worked on it are back to their normal lives, perhaps a little bit changed by the experience.
All this is good. But one thing I hated to see go was the VIP tent! It turned out to [...]

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When my friend Gina Changas and I heard that entertainers were needed to play the VIP tent for fundraisers during the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build, we both had the same idea: Con Hunley!
And what a good idea it was. Hunley and his band sold out the $125-per-ticket event. And when it was over, folks [...]

Filed under: Events, Knoxville, Music | 6 Comments »

Last week, the Robinson Road build site of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” was a muddy, cold mess. Heavy machines were slipping and sliding. People were falling down in slippery muck. There really was nowhere to go to get your feet on solid ground — until it froze!
But, starting late Thursday, a little oasis sprang up. [...]

Filed under: Business, Events, Food, Knoxville, Media, Music | 7 Comments »

For the past 11 years, we have been celebrating News Year’s Eve with two other couples: Richard and Dawn Ford and Jackie and Ray Fisher. Sometimes we go out to eat, sometimes we go to a party, and sometimes we watch the ball drop at Market Square.
This year we did all three. And we saw [...]

Filed under: Downtown, Events, Food, Historic preservation, Knoxville, Media, Politics, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »