thank you for being a friend - metropulse best of knoxville 2010

Yesterday we learned that for the second year in a row, our readers have voted us Knoxville's best local blog.

Thank you, sincerely, from all 9 of us. This little recognition means quite a lot to us. What began as a joke between a few friends has, over a few years, turned into something that actually makes us proud. Knoxville inspires us, and we all want to do it justice. Our little blog is growing up, and we are happy to know that a lot of you out there enjoy our ramblings and our musings.

We are working every day to make this place even better. Hopefully we've got a lot of good and fun things in store. You may have noticed that 8 became 9 when Wild Bill joined us a few weeks back. We're always on the lookout for new-to-us spots and old favorites to cover; and I am going to go out on a limb and say that 2010 is shaping up to be our year. So please keep reading and commenting; your thoughts, accolades, and even disdain are what keep this place going.

Congrats, too, to the other honorees in the category. If you haven't checked out these blogs, consider adding them to your list: Blue Streak by Cynthia Moxley (bluestreak.moxleycarmichael.com), Frank Murphy Dot Com (frankmurphy.com) and Frugalissa Finds (frugalissafinds.com)



A few weeks ago I snapped this picture when the majority of us met at the headquarters (Sunsphere bar) for happy hour. It's a lot harder than you might think to get all of us in one (physical) place at one time. When we can pull it off, we always have a good time. Cheers to you, Knoxville. Thanks again from the 9 of us weirdos.

Is Knoxville the Bermuda Triangle?

I saw this Yee-Haw sign a couple of weeks ago in the windows of some of the Gay Street stores and was like, 'WTF, R.B.**? Knoxville the Bermuda Triangle of the Appalachians? No way. All the crazy stuff happens East of here. A corner of the triangle, maybe, but not the whole freakin' thing.'


And then I read this article in the Metro Pulse about how many Knoxvillians deny Knoxville's connection to Appalachia, in the impoverished, bizarre sense that it's often portrayed.

So, what do you think? Is Knoxville the Bermuda Triangle of the Appalachians (give evidence and antidotes to support your claim) and do we Knoxvillians need to do a better job of embracing Appalachia?

**Some background on R.B. Morris' claim that Knoxville is the Bermuda Triangle of the Appalachians.

heck yeah !

The Wigshop is the best blog in Knoxville:

"The whippersnappers at wigsphere.com (“The Sunsphere is NOT a wigshop”) aren’t cynical and jaded about Knoxville like some of the rest of us. Most of the eight contributing bloggers aren’t natives; for them, alternative transportation, sushi, movies on Gay Street, and downtown as a destination aren’t the newfangled trends that some of us expect to disappear any day now. They think this is what Knoxville is really like. And they’re enthusiastic about all of it, holding forth on local restaurants, concerts, and downtown development with an effervescent charm that doesn’t always present itself around here."

Thank you, dear readers, for all your votes. Everybody here at the Wigshop writes as a (strange) labor of love, with no compensation except for the occasional day like today. We're glad we've contributed in some way to life here in Knoxville. Hopefully the information we've put here has helped show you what a cool town Knoxville is.

Yours with Effervescent Charm,

The Wigshop

it's that time again

The Best of Knoxville Ballot for 2009 is up now at Metro Pulse for voting. As our faithful readers may remember, we came in second last year, which may or may not have been listed that way because of alphabetical order. We choose to believe we were second.

In the past year a bazillion people started up 'Knox-centric' blogs. What makes us deserve your vote? That's a good question....
and we don't have a good reason. This is the one time we can tell ourselves that 'we're making Knoxville a better place' and 'blogging is cool' and 'people actually read our crap.' Basically we crave accolades from internet strangers.

Just tell us what you want. Back rub? Money? The Pol will personally see to it that your wishes are granted. Go to the ballot and type http://wigsphere.com in the 'Best Local Blog/Blogger" category. The Pol will make sure YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE (if reading this blog everyday wasn't already doing that for you). Happy voting!

Jack Neely and the Sunsphere of Doom

I met Jack Neely on Friday. Actually, I was never formally introduced to him, but I did see him, and I stood in close proximity to him for two hours.

If you don’t know who Jack Neely is, go pick up a Metro Pulse sometime today. He is one of my favorite writers. Friday night was the Knox Heritage Art and Architecture Tour, where Knoxvillians were given a chance to see the city again for the first time. Jack was my group’s tour guide.

I am not a natural reader. I love books and reading, but there is a daunting factor to the whole process, especially when I open up a newspaper or a magazine. The pictures usually distract me and I end up only reading captions. Some of my heroes are writers who entice me to read. One of those writers is Jack Neely. It is not only the tasteful way he puts words together on a page but also the subject matter he chooses. As the intern at Knox Heritage, I file away an endless sea of articles. One fourth of those seem to be written by Jack, and I read most of them. It has taken me months to do a task that would have taken a normal person a few days.

On Friday night, I checked people in at Sapphire for the Art and Architecture tour. Of course, I was anxiously awaiting one man’s arrival, curious to see the face behind all of those “Secret History's.” And then, in the twinkling of an eye, there he stood. I couldn’t see his face at first because he was backlit, but I could make out his name tag. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I was delighted. Jack stood there, stylishly wearing white converse and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had a cool smile and liquid blue eyes. He was twice my age.

As we continued on with the tour, I was so busy looking at him that I couldn’t process most of what he was saying. He endearingly stammered over his words, lit up as he talked about an outlaw that walked across the Gay Street Bridge, and even toasted a wall of old bricks. I had to leave the tour early to go see a friend’s art show. For some reason I made the decision not to meet Jack before I left. I guess I’d like to still keep him a mystery. From what I did gather, however, I came to this conclusion: Jack Neely is Knoxville’s Indiana Jones. He does what he can to protect and preserve what makes Knoxville unique, even if he is only able to memorialize buildings that once existed with words. His whip (pardon the cheese) is his keyboard. I guess that makes me the girl with “I love you” written across her eyelids.

if you fool enough people, it counts as fame

in case you missed the results of the metropulse's "best of knoxville 2008", let me fill you in on the only list that matters:

this blog was not ranked as the best in knoxville, but we did make the runner up. and i'd like to think that we came in 2nd. never mind that it's probably listed in alphabetical order.

all that matters is that enough people have been blinded by the mind-bending graphics, intuitive interface, and witty banter/soul-stirring prose of this charming, humble, little blog that they thought it would be a good idea to make us runners up.

one more time, for posterity.
i don't think we'd even be in the top ten if cthulhu's estranged brother wasn't our banner...

[addition]

outside the internet, i have no real purpose in life. so i was thinking about this post for a little while (2 hours) after i published it.

a story from my childhood best illustrates my feelings on our runner up status.

i was about 6 or 7, and friend and i were playing outside after school. he told me that he was having a birthday party on saturday but that i wasn't invited. his mother only let him invite 6 of his friends to the party. i was number 7 on the list.

"but," he told me with conviction, "if i had been able to invite 7, you could come."

i'm not sure if he was just a little manipulative punk, or if we both were that naive at the time, but i believed him and didn't feel slighted at all. we went on playing.

i feel about the same now. 7 (or 2nd) ain't so bad.

"just say no"

Michael Haynes over at Metro Pulse has a modest proposal:

Say "No" to Panhandling in Downtown

He makes several good points. Beggars are different from panhandlers. Panhandlers are not necessarily homeless. Giving money out on the street encourages repeat behavior, and copycat behavior.

I've come to a similar conclusion walking the sidewalks of Knoxville. I don't give money out anymore. At first I felt guilty. But one of the funny things is that, living and working downtown, I get to recognize the regular panhandlers. They don't recognize me; they think I'm another tourist. But I remember their stories. Sometimes I've even given them names in my head, like "Crocodile Dundee" who used to hang out on Market Square and mumble to himself. These regulars stick to the same stories- babies who need formula never grow up, bus tickets are never bought, guys have remained just out of Iraq for over a year. I realized that I wasn't helping anything by giving out cash to them. So I started saying "no."

The best thing that illustrated this to me happened at DTGB one afternoon. I was sitting having lunch with some friends in the outside patio and a guy came and panhandled across the fence. He said he was starving and needed some money to get something to eat (yeah, right). We politely declined, but I felt a pang of guilt. What if this guy really was hungry? Was I being callous to another human being's need? I've been to third world countries and have seen real starvation, so I'm a soft touch to the hunger thing. I offered him my hamburger. Instantly, you could tell that he wanted to be somewhere else. I had inadvertently called his bluff. He took the burger, but it wasn't what he wanted. He wanted cash, the thing they take in exchange for Colt 45 at Ghetto Weigels. He walked down the street and laid the hamburger down on top of a newspaper stand. Where we could still see him. He didn't care. He was off to his next panhandle.

I haven't given money out since then. Let's try Haynes's suggestion. Next time a panhandler comes up to you, tell them you don't give money out on the street. Take the money you would of given and save it. Put your change in a jar at home. It'll add up. In a year, donate that to a Knoxville homeless shelter. The tourists will still give out money, but if downtown residents and workers stop giving hand outs, word will get around. Aggressive panhandling will decline. If a whole town decides to stop giving out easy money, they'll stop and go elsewhere for it. Maybe Farragut.

Best of Wigshop... I mean Knoxville

May I have your attention please.



That's right it's time to let your voice be heard (well that is before you write in The Pol in August). The wigshop needs your help to become the best blog in k-town. Now maybe we can't compete with Instapundit or CK's design blog, but we sure feel we can roll with some of 'em.

Go here and put in your recomendations for best new restaurant, coffehouse, adult club (not kidding that's one too), etc. and make sure and vote the Sunsphere is Not a Wigshop for best blog. Please, now I'm begging, please.

heads up, blog world

Check out this letter in this week's "Incoming" in the Metropulse:

Attention Cyber People

Metro Pulse will be revamping its website soon and introducing such 21st century innovations as online videos, photo galleries, and bloggers. If you’d like to join us in this bold journey into the future, then show us what you’d like to share with our audience. We’re looking for:
# Local bloggers who have a keen interest in tackling certain aspects of Knoxville life.
# Photographers or artists with distinctive views of Knoxville.
# Local filmmakers with cool clips. Metropulse.com is partnering with KnoxvilleFilms.com to create a repository for the best of local video. You can find more details at either website.


Send your bona fides to:
coury@metropulse.com