Huey Lewis in Knoxville last Saturday
More than 700 well-clad (and well-heeled!) folks packed the Knoxville Convention Center last Saturday for Center Stage, the annual big benefit for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. Tickets were $300 each to see veteran 1980s rockers Huey Lewis and the News. After an elegant cocktail hour and a fantastic meal of filet mignon and scalloped potatoes with crab meat, about half the audience rushed the stage when the band came on. (Well, I guess you can only be elegant for so long!)
We all knew the words to every song from “The Power of Love” to “I Want a New Drug” and many, many more.
Folks were pretty much dressed to the nines, as these photos will attest. I’ll just let them tell the tale of the fabulous evening.First came mingling in the Cumberland Concourse over cocktails and tables of fancy nibbles.
Bruce and Brandy Pearl during the cocktail hour
Erin Donovan, left, with Eddie Mannis and Janelle Browning
Michelle and Bill Shory
Lane and Julie Morris
Mimi and Lou Moran
Tami and Tim Purcell
The Ford family: from left, Christopher, Kari, Dawn and Richard
The signature drink of the evening was the Lemondrop. Here bartender Chelsea Bevis makes a bunch of them.
And Gary Morris, B.J. Knight and Jim Ensor take them off her hands!
It’s always difficult to wrangle a crowd like this. They are more interested in talking with each other than going in for dinner. But staying on schedule for this long evening was important. So WVLT‘s Dino Cartwright, one of the best crowd-wranglers in the business, was enlisted for this crucial duty.
Dino Cartwright announcing that dinner is being served. In other words, shut up and go sit down!
The ballroom was stunning — once we finally followed Dino’s instructions and went in!
Beautiful decor
Here’s a close-up of the centerpiece on our table. Moxley Carmichael split a table with our friends Dawn and Richard Ford. This caused a rumor that Dawn’s firm, Consumer Awareness Management, was merging with Moxley Carmichael. Not true, although we do sometimes work together.
Our table
I usually use the time between the entree and dessert to take photos of folks at their tables. So here goes!
Children's Hospital CEO Keith Goodwin and his wife, Diane
Wendy and Bob Goodfriend, who founded the Center Stage event in gratitude for Children's Hospital saving the life of their son, Jeff.
Jim and Kay Clayton
David and Pam Jordan
Karen and John Kalec
Bob and Laura Barnes
Tanya and Peyton Hairston
Erin drops by our table to visit with Alan Carmichael, left, and Eddie Mannis.
Brad and Jennifer Anders are huge Huey Lewis fans!
Dawn and Tim Young at our table
After dessert and a short video from Children’s Hospital, Huey and his band took the stage. Lots of folks ran up front, including me.
Huey Lewis
I think I got a little too close on this one!
Then I turned around and realized the best photos were in the audience!
Just like teenagers!
Dino getting some good shots.
My friends. What can I say? Dino Cartwright, Erin Donovan (center), and Janelle Browning
Kelly and Frank Nystrom
The dance floor was lively.
Liz and Wes Stowers
Bob and Laura Barnes
Ha! Robyn Askew caught me taking her picture!
From left, Jerry and Robyn Askew, David and Sandy Martin
Steve and Mary Ellen Brewington
Dawn was dancing in her chair!
Becky South
Steve South at his table
Craig Shelton and Janet Testerman Crossley
Men always look so good in tuxes. From left, County Commissioner Brad Anders, State Rep. Ryan Haynes and Alan Carmichael
Phyllis and Jim NIchols
The chair covers actually were tote bags that guests were to take with them as souvenirs of the evening. But not before a little clowning around by the folks at our table.
Prisoners of Love? Hahaha.
And then, as if we had not had enough festivities, there was an after party!
Dan and Suzan Murphy back on the Cumberland Concourse for the after party.
Doug and Diane Haaland
Heather McKinney, left, and Diane Wilkes at the after party
Scott and Mary Bogert found a romantic place to rest during the after party. She's the general manager of the Convention Center, so she knows where all the good spots are!
They always try to serve comfort food at the after party.
Mini-corndogs seemed to fill that bill.
Rocky Goode gets some French fries.
On the dance floor of the after party, partners were not a requirement.
A common sight
Then, after a great night, something very disappointing happened. We cut through the lobby of the downtown Hilton Hotel on the way to our condo and ran into, of all people, Huey Lewis. He was leaving the Hilton’s bar — and he did not look happy. Come to find out, the bartender had refused to sell him a drink because the bar was getting ready to close. There were still folks drinking in the bar at the time, but last call had been given. I told the bartender that she had just refused to serve a drink to rocker Huey Lewis and she gave me the “rules are the rules” speech. I felt terrible for how this made Knoxville look to him and his band. Can anyone say “customer service?”
Huey Lewis, left, waits for the elevator at the Hilton after the bartender refused to sell him a drink. The time stamp on my camera shows the photo was taken at 11:24 p.m. Sigh.
Post script: The manager on duty at the Hilton today (Friday), a woman named Michelle, said that although the bar, called the Orange Martini, regularly stays open until midnight on Saturdays, it sometimes closes early if there aren’t many customers. She says that’s what she was told happened last Saturday.
A guy in the Hilton bar told Huey: “You look just like Huey Lewis.”
Boy, would I hate to be that uptight barkeep. Nice pix, by the way, Cynthia!
Rules are made to be broken, aren’t they? Certainly when you have a paying customer. Some people just don’t get it. Great report. Meant to go to this one; don’t know how I let it slip by. I love Huey Lewis!
Thanks, Eric. I’m not a photographer – just a former reporter with a camera! As you know, I hire professionals for important jobs! Annette: wish you had been there – it was a blast!
Friends at Children’s: sure would like to see Johnny Rivers next year!
Cynthia,
Thank you for your diligence in keeping the great city of Knoxville informed on such fantastic events. As the General Manager of the Hilton Knoxville hotel I of course was disappointed at the perception of the service offered. Although we took steps to correct the issue that night and attempted to make things right with the guests involved it was still an unfortunate incident and did present an inconvenience. As the leader of the hotel it is my job to insure that we communicate properly with our outstanding team members and allow them to succeed. I take full responsibility for the communication to the team and for the circumstances that you witnessed. I stand behind the associates of the Hilton hotel. They consistently demonstrate that they are the best in the city and I assure you that we will continue that trend. I sincerely thank you for taking your time to allow others to share in events that they cannot attend. I look forward to positive feed back from your next opportunity to join us at the Hilton.
Have a great day!
Paul Jordan
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Jordan. As a person who both lives and works downtown, I have, until last weekend, only had great experiences at the Hilton. My husband and I always recommend the Hilton for our out-of-town guests and we visited your white-tablecloth restaurant, Marty’s, during Restaurant Week and found it delightful. That’s why I was so disappointed in your bartenders last Saturday and, while I don’t think the poor customer service was just a “perception,” I applaud your emphasis on training or re-training.
Really enjoyed the write-up and pics! Wow those table center pieces were amazing! The Hilton screwed up big time and should have apologized rather than made more excuses. This will likely impact their future business.
Like a lot of people, I wince badly when I hear stories like this one concerning Huey Lewis’ treatment at the Hilton. Let’s be honest-anyone in the hospitality industry that uses the expression “rules are rules” should not be working in that industry. There should never be such a thing as an ironclad rule to a hotel; the very idea runs counter to what a hotel is supposed to be. This is a case of bad management, bad training, and bad employee attitude. The response by Mr. Jordan – ” I stand behind the associates of the Hilton hotel. They consistently demonstrate that they are the best in the city and I assure you that we will continue that trend” – is an insult since clearly that is not accurate.
Mox,
Thanks for following my Tweets. Someday soon, I will actually write one. I love yours. Wonderful report on the fantastic CenterStage gig. Kay and i enjoyed.
Thanks, Jim! Great seeing you and Kay at the Convention Center!
Couldn’t help but notice your web postings regarding your fundraiser on Saturday night. FYI: My hubby and I attended the Huey Lewis & the News concert tonight in Greenville, SC. If Huey was upset about the Knoxville Hilton’s (mis) service he certainly didn’t show it at Sunday’s performance. We were all treated to a 20 minute encore which brought the audience to its feet.
But I agree with Mr. Art Wagner’s earlier statement. The hospitality industy is a service-driven industry. And one of the first things a hotel manager should instruct a trainee is that rules may be rules, but please use your logical discretion when it comes to tending to a hotel guest’s requests/needs. No doubt, Mr. Jordan has since used his own discretion and made things right between the hotel and Huey.
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