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

"Mercury" welcomes Natalie and Jim Haslam to the 2010 Moxley Carmichael client party

“Mercury” welcomes Natalie and Jim Haslam to the 2010 Moxley Carmichael 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 movers and shakers and “the Tims” could easily avoid each other, kind of circling the room like sharks in a tank.

It was a very full tank.

Former sheriff Tim Hutchison chats with state Rep. Ryan Haynes

Former sheriff Tim Hutchison chats with state Rep. Ryan Haynes

More than 300 politicians, business folks and media types braved nasty weather to make their way to the Moxley Carmichael offices on the 11th floor of First Tennessee Plaza. The theme this year was centered around promoting this blog, The Blue Streak. Invitations were issued by Mercury, the messenger god, who appeared in the flesh to pose for photos with the guests. Mercury was actually Clarence Brown Theatre actor James McGuire, who was a great sport for the better part of two hours hamming it up for the camera.

Our friends at Samuel Franklin did their usual great job with the beautiful blue and white flowers staged throughout the offices. Our caterer,  Knoxville Catering and Special Events,  added to the theme with foods saluting the “blue” idea.  The nibbles included “Black and Blue Beef Bites,” organic blue cheese polenta cakes, blue crab cakes, blueberries and mousse in chocolate cordial cups and cupcakes with blue icing. Another item: Gorgonzola, prosciutto and pear tarts – straight out of a posting on The Blue Streak.

Congressman Jimmy Duncan chats with Jim McGuire, also known as "Mercury"

Congressman Jimmy Duncan converses with Jim McGuire, also known as “Mercury”

This year for the first time, prizes were awarded to guests who complied with the suggestion on the invitation and wore blue to the party. Mary Bogert, general manager of the Knoxville Convention Center, won the ladies’ prize, which was a set of two stunning champagne flutes with blue stems and a bottle of bubbly to go with them donated by our friends at Hanson Gallery. Lawyer Bob Marquis won the male prize: a Pabst Blue Ribbon backpack filled with Pabst Blue Ribbon provided by our fabulous client Cherokee Distributing. Three other lucky folks: Sue Atchley, Jama Stinnett and Tim Adams each won a pair of tickets to the sold out Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Pops concert Saturday.

Everyone at Moxley Carmichael pitched in extra effort to assure that a good time was had by all – and I think it was. But all the preparations remind me every year that the most important ingredient for a great party is a wonderful group of guests – and we had that in spades! Thanks to all who came.

Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones, left, and County Commissioner Mike Brown

Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones, left, and County Commissioner Mike Brown

In addition to those already mentioned, here are some of the guests: Allison Burchett, Congressman Jimmy Duncan, Jim and Natalie Haslam, Jamie and Bill Woodson, Mintha and Jon Roach, Tom Catani, Pam Fansler, Harry Brooks, Stacey Campfield, Ryan Haynes, Joe and LeTonia Armstrong, Sheriff J.J. Jones, Harry Tindell, Tony Norman, Dave Wright, Ed Shouse, Bud Armstrong, Sam and Gwen McKenzie, Mike Brown, Finbarr Saunders and Ellen Bebb, Sharon and R. Larry Smith, Alvin Nance, Sherry Witt, Cindy and Phil Ballard, Jerry Harnish, John and Charlotte Mills, Sherry Walker, Kim Sepesi, Dan Murphy, Mary Ellen Brewington, Craig Shelton, Christi Branscom, Russ Watkins, Nick Cazana, Justin Cazana, Larry and Jane Martin, Bill and Gay Lyons, Kevin, Leann and Lauren Burris, Marilyn Roddy, Pace and Karen Robinson, Bruce and Monique Anderson, Leanna Belew, John and Dr. Margo Uri Simmons, Phyllis Nichols, Margie Nichols and John Gill, Nick and Joy Pavlis, Brenda and Don Palmer, Joe Bailey, Daniel Brown, Duane and Marsha Grieve, Harry and Victoria Moskos, Bruce Hartmann, Patrick Birmingham, Rusty Coats, Erin Donovan, Bill Shory, Brian Gregory, Jeff and Christy Lee, Taz Painter, Alan Williams, Sara Hedstrom  and Ben Pinnell, John Rosson, Tim Irwin, Craig and Donna Griffith, Juanita Cannon, Ellen Adcock and Jim Warchol, Jack Hammontree, Janet Testerman, Betty Bean, Ed Marcum, Allison and Justin Kropff, Norman and Pat Majors, Gail Jarvis and John Cate, Larry Aldridge, Michael and Donna Patrick, Tom McAdams, Bart Mitchell, Jerry and Susan Becker, Dick and Karen Krieg, Kim Trent, Becky Hancock, Frank and Belinda Gambuzza, Ben Atchley, Bill Vaughan, Larry and Brenda Cox, George Ed and Susie Wilson, Gary Loe, Susan Brown, Chery and Brian Bartley, Katie and Blair Kline, Madge and Barry Cleveland, Jennifer James, Darrell DeBusk, Duncan Mansfield and Vivian Vega, Melinda Meador and Milton McNally, Christi and Rob Fightmaster, Jim Decker, Jan Henley, Richard Cate, Martha Boggs, Bob Griffitts, Mose Lobetti, Bob Booker, Brenda Hunter, Renda Burkhart, Kathy Darnell, Linda Adams, Susan Edwards, Carolyn Pointer and Rodney Neil, Judith and Michael Foltz, Rachel Ford, Richard and Dawn Ford, Dennis Upton, Jenny Hines and Tom Jester, Amy Styles, Cindy Hassil, Ann Lloyd, Julia and Gary Bentley, Jeannie Dulaney, Warren Perry and Mark Miller, Stephanie Welch, Lynne Liddington, David Butler and Ted Smith, Rob and Erin Frost, Martha Buchanan, Sharon and Bill Laing, John and Donna Dempster, Dr. Joseph and Jayne DeFiore, Pam Lynam, Karen Barrow, Howard and Betty Blum, Glo Marquis, Mary Lou Horner, Edwina and Robert Harvey, Cliff and Margaret Rodgers, Teresa Scott, Ray and Jackie Fisher, Michelle Hardin, Jennifer Holder, Tracey Courtney, Max Shell, Jerry Askew, Norman and Pat Majors, Eddie Black, David and Toni Swanner, Nathan Sparks, Wanda Moody, Patsy Vittetoe, Charlie and Patsy Daniel, Janet Testerman Crossley and Bill Regas, Barry and Annette Winston, Mark Mamantov, David and Sandy Martin, Barbara Brimi, Billy Tindell, Kim and Dennis Denton, John and Judy Griess, Jack and Doris Sharp, Larry and Barbara Clark.

Allison Burchett and state Sen. Tim Burchett pose with "Mercury"

Allison Burchett and state Sen. Tim Burchett pose with “Mercury”

From left: John Duncan III, City Councilman Duane Grieve, Lindsay Duncan

From left: John Duncan III, City Councilman Duane Grieve, Lindsay Duncan

From left: Lauren Christ of Moxley Carmichael, Janet Testerman of Knoxville Magazine and Erin Donovan of WBIR-TV

From left: Lauren Christ of Moxley Carmichael, Janet Testerman of Knoxville Magazine and Erin Donovan of WBIR-TV

Kevin Burris of Premier Surgical Associates poses with his daughter Lauren, left, and wife, Leann

Kevin Burris of Premier Surgical Associates poses with his daughter Lauren, left, and wife, Leann

Patrick Birmingham, left, the new publisher of the News Sentinel, spends some time with Tami Hartmann of Moxley Carmichael and Bruce Hartmann of E.W. Scripps

Patrick Birmingham, left, the new publisher of the News Sentinel, spends some time with Tami Hartmann of Moxley Carmichael and Bruce Hartmann of E.W. Scripps

Margaret and Clifford Rodgers pause for a photo with "Mercury" before entering the party

Margaret and Clifford Rodgers pause for a photo with “Mercury” before entering the party

Victoria and Harry Moskos, former long-time editor of the News Sentinel, were a little disappointed that "Mercury" is a Roman god rather than a Greek one!

Victoria and Harry Moskos, former long-time editor of the News Sentinel, were a little disappointed that “Mercury” is a Roman god rather than a Greek one!

Michael and Judith Foltz, from left, mingle with Jeff and Christy Lee

Michael and Judith Foltz, from left, mingle with Jeff and Christy Lee

From left, Ranee Randby of the Knox County Health Dept., Moxley Carmichael's Lauren Christ, WVLT-TV's Allison Kropff and Justin Kropff of the Knoxville Chamber

From left, Ranee Randby of the Knox County Health Dept., Moxley Carmichael’s Lauren Christ, WVLT-TV’s Allison Kropff and Justin Kropff of the Knoxville Chamber

From left: Larry and Brenda Cox of Homestead Eggs, Alan Carmichael and Christy Branscom of Partners Development

From left: Larry and Brenda Cox of Homestead Inc., Alan Carmichael and Christi Branscom of Partners and Associates

From left: Sara Hedstrom, Gary and Julia Bentley, and Ben Pinnell, Sara's fiance

From left: Sara Hedstrom, Gary and Julia Bentley, and Ben Pinnell, Sara’s fiance

Karen Robinson displays one of the fine beverages served at the party

Karen Robinson displays one of the fine beverages served at the party

moxley-carmichael-group-photo-33

Moxley Carmichael staff members prepare to meet their guests

Hahaha! Shameless self-promotion

Hahaha! Shameless self-promotion

Photo credit: All photos except the one of Karen Robinson are by Wade Payne of The Purple Lens.

For many more photos, please go to the Moxley Carmichael Web site and click on “Our Events.”

Filed under: Downtown, Events, Knoxville, Media, Politics, Public Relations. Bookmark the permalink.

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

  1. Heather Sutton, on February 12th, 2010 at 10:09 am said:

    It looks like a fun time was had by all. I hate that I missed it!

  2. Dan Andrews, on February 12th, 2010 at 11:02 am said:

    Bless your soul Cynthia, but I am kind of disappointed and here is why.

    1) Information is old within 8 hours after an event. So why is bluestreak writing this almost a week later? You run a seminar on social media and violate the key rule. You didn’t even twitter about this event
    http://twitter.com/moxcar

    How can a social networking event whose primary focus is social electronic networking…not be electronically social? No facebook or twitter updates and it is blogged about a week later!

    2) The bluestreak backdrop photos. Image is everything in pr. The image you give is sloppy photo work. The backdrop is way to light to convey your companies image. Furthermore, look at your photos. The backdrop should be covering the whole picture. Look at the “Mercury” welcomes Natalie and Jim Haslam to the 2010 Moxley Carmichael client party. Your first opening image on your blog. Off centered and worse crooked! Look at the backdrop tarp on the right hand side! Notice the top and bottom are different widths from the end of photo. This is the photo that represents your image. Are you telling me the pr mavens can’t center a photograph and make it look professional? Next year, grab a tripod, line your backdrop up, place a blue piece of electrical tape, mark little ‘blue’ streaks where you want people to stand and presto, perfect picture every time!

    3) Mercury? Come on….if you got to explain your brand image, then it isn’t conveying the right image….A better image would have been having a Moxcar/bluestreak sign with a BLUE STREAK OF NEON LIGHT separating the words…Way better then your mercury sign explaining your mascot….speaking of
    that let us go to number four

    4) Instead of being represented by ancient civilization, why didn’t you use
    http://glowproducts.com/

    Blue Glow stick products for your blue streak. They have tons of different products that would work. As for the mascot…I would have called the Hard Knox Roller Girls and borrowed there Sunsphere costume and had a large lit up blue stick. Or I would have created a Sunsphere Mascot with the elevator base being lit blue That is my immediate thought, but I am sure I can do better.

    5) Now this is nit picking on my part but the color was blue so wouldn’t it have been nice to have BLUE NAME TAGS WITH NAMES WRITTEN IN BLUE INK. Have a computer print it out,make it look sharp! Look at the pictures. You can’t read any of the names. A blue shaded sticker would lead to less white glare in photos…

    6) A nice touch would have been renting movie premiere searchlight with blue filters….

    Well, that is all I have for now. Some of this post is cause I am probably bitter for not getting invited. But hey, what I wrote isn’t wrong.

    Sincerely and respectfully,
    Daniel Andrews.

  3. Cynthia Moxley, on February 12th, 2010 at 6:09 pm said:

    Thank you for your interest, Dan. You’re right; it wasn’t perfect. But we sure did have a great time.

  4. Brent Chasteen, on February 12th, 2010 at 6:55 pm said:

    This was my first time attending the Moxley Carmichael party and I must say, it was awesome! Everything was first class from the decor’ to the guests in attendance. What an impressive event! After this experience, I’ll say this is one invite list you wouldn’t want to be left off of! Many thanks to Moxley Carmichael for a wonderful night.

  5. Dan Andrews, on February 12th, 2010 at 6:58 pm said:

    you had a great time… I wasn’t invited :)~

  6. Dawn Ford, on February 14th, 2010 at 10:15 am said:

    Cynthia

    I am late in responding but the party as always was not only fun to attend but also well done. Everything from the food to the favors was outstanding. Personally I thought Mercury was very clever. Looking forward to next year.

  7. Pingback:Blue Streak » 300 of our closest friends step back to 1947 with us at our client party in the historic Miller’s Building

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