“It’s dogwood time in Tennessee”

With those signature words of his, beloved radio legend Bobby Denton — also “the voice of Neyland Stadium” during football season — on Wednesday officially opened the 2010 Dogwood Arts Festival’s trails and gardens.
The setting couldn’t have been more perfect: a spring luncheon under a huge tent in the impressive gardens of Fountain City residents Bill [...]

Local dancers raise temperatures - and $37,000 for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital

You feel like you know them. They read you the news every morning. One writes for the newspaper, covering the staid  education beat. And another conducts the Knoxville Symphony. But trust me when I tell you you’ve never seen these local celebrities the way a couple of hundred folks saw them last night. The event [...]

Wanted: proofreader!

Just a quick post about a few downtown signs that I see all the time and that crack me up every time I pass them.

Women “wine” down as Expo heats up

You can always count on seeing fun, quirky items and opportunities at the News Sentinel’s Women Today Expo. Normally, this is experienced in a frenetic crowd of laughing, noisy women of all ages. Which is nice, if exhausting.
But this year, the News Sentinel added a new annual event to the popular women’s show: “Women’s Wine [...]

NPR’s Carl Kasell in Knox: “Radio will never die;” Howard Baker explains why UT’s always been co-ed

Tuesday was a big day for the University of Tennessee’s public radio station, WUOT-FM. In celebration of its 60th anniversary, the station brought in one of National Public Radio’s most beloved personalities, Carl Kasell, and was feted at a cocktail reception hosted by another beloved personality, Howard H. Baker Jr.
Kasell, who will turn 76 next month, [...]

The “messenger god” meets the mortals (a lot of ‘em!) at Moxley Carmichael’s 2010 client party

We were a little nervous when former Sheriff Tim Hutchison and state Sen. Tim Burchett arrived at the Moxley Carmichael party at about the same time last Friday. The two men are locked in a not-all-that-friendly race to be the next Knox County mayor. But all was well. Soon the room filled with many other [...]

What makes WBIR special? Perhaps this.

A year and a half ago, the Coq Chante orphanage in Haiti got its first light bulb. To celebrate, the some 18 children there stayed up until midnight playing board games.
The bulb was powered by solar panels on the roof. The children also had filtered water to drink. And someone made sure their education continued.
Who [...]

Life lessons from Nancy Drew

“Convertibles are swell but they sure do call attention to your comings and goings.” — Nancy Drew in “The Haunted Showboat”
“Don’t force your date to go to a ballet or another activity that may not be to his liking if he was knocked unconscious earlier in the day.” — Nancy Drew in “The Double Jinx [...]

Downtown hotel transformed into “Rosy’s Diner” for 80th birthday of beloved cartoonist Charlie Daniel

More than150 folks donned “Rosy’s Diner” baseball caps and filed into the ballroom of the Crowne Plaza hotel Friday night for a laugh-filled celebration of News Sentinel editorial cartoonist Charlie Daniel’s 80th birthday.
Rosy’s Diner is a staple location for much of the action that takes place in Daniel’s cartoons. Good sport Donna Colburn of the News Sentinel put [...]

Expect News Sentinel’s new publisher to be active in community - once he gets his feet on the ground

“Good communities don’t just happen,” Patrick Birmingham told area leaders last week. “This is a great community because the people in this room have worked hard to make it great.”
 
Birmingham is the new publisher of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Bruce Hartmann, the former publisher who recently was promoted to a larger role in the News [...]