toot's little honky tonk

The Little Korean himself was on hand this weekend during his 5 city North American Summer Tour.

Here he is, enjoying alcohol not made from rice:


We visited some old favorite places (including a newly revamped patio at Backroom BBQ) but we capped off the evening at a new (to me) dive(ish) in Old North, Toot's Little Honky Tonk. I spotted Toot's last week when I was riding my bike down Anderson Ave to the Time Warp Tea Room for the Old Time Jam. It reminded me of Marie's Olde Towne Tavern (a Wigshop favorite) so I made a mental note to check it out.


The first thing you see is the handwritten sign on the front door decreeing 8, count'em 8 solid hours of Karaoke. Sure enough, the singing hit us like a sonic wall as we entered. Up front the karaoke station was set up by the pool table. Moving to the bar, the place immediately gave me a comfortable down-home feel, sorta like Marie's, with brick walls and a long bar, and a quirky collage of more handwritten signs behind the bar.


The Ralph Waldo Emerson bartender got to us quickly, even though the place was packed. Looking around, Toot's had a great cross section of people, ranging from Old North Yuppies to college students to Lincoln Park Blue Collars. Everyone seemed welcome, and everyone was having a good time.


Toot's has that neighborhood bar feel that so many chains strive for, because it actually is a neighborhood bar. According to the owner, they've been operating for 10 years. I don't know how this gem has escaped my radar for so long. But if you're looking for an alternative to Sassy Anne's and Marie's is too hardcore for you, check this place out. Nestled on the edge of the "Happy Hollow" District of Central Ave and just down the hill from the Old North neighborhood, Toot's Little Honky Tonk is the perfect location for Knoxvillians of all walks to get together and sing loudly off key.

Celebrity Sighting in K'Town

I do not mean to overshadow CK's post about yesterday's election, but this is really important.

Guess who ate at LaCosta, watched Shakespeare on the Square, and then went to Pres Pub last night?

Now guess who met him.

YES!

our little experiment is over

Well, the "Write in Spellings" Campaign is over. Here are some thoughts...

Official Response: (By John "Cullin" Spellings)

We are officially thrilled by the response of more than 2% of the voters willingness to stand up for change in our district.

But on a personal note from Mr. Spellings he is saddened by the weak turnout. He hopes that in the coming years the residents of the first district will realize that it will take an active electorate to turn things around.

The Write-In Spellings campaign congratulates Mr. McKenzie for his win and hopes that he becomes an independent and ardently firm voice for the first district.

A new day is coming in the first District.

And John “Cullin” Spellings will be here to support and encourage his neighbors when it does.

Unofficial Response: By Chris "CK" King

This is bull, man.

The entire Knox County system is designed to stifle grassroots
democracy, and should be dismantled as quickly as possible for a new
Metro Government. The fact that independent candidate deadlines are
based on the major partys' schedules shows that the deck is stacked in
their favor. Case in point: the appointed candidate slides easily
through the election to retain his seat.

IS THIS DEMOCRACY ?!

The system is broken, so badly so that fine men like John Spellings
can't even get attention in the poll results, even when he won a
statistically significant number of votes. The Man is keepin'
him down, doesn't want anyone to realize there's another choice besides
Republican and Democrat.

In conclusion, the Write in Spellings Campaign now realizes that
nepotism in Knox County will only be swept out with the purifying fire
of anarchy, blazing hot through all the old systems until nothing is
left but ashes, from which John Spellings will lead us into the morning
sun of our shining future.

Election Day is Here

Well it's finally here.

Today you can go vote for The Pol (Write-in John Spellings).

I want to encourage everybody to get out and vote today. It's an incredibly important thing to do, not just in principle but in how it will effect your life in the near term.

Knox County is choosing it's new leaders of government, and we have to decide if they will be different.

Write in John Spellings for County Commission seat 1A and you will get new leadership.

Voters in downtown vote at Green School which is up on top of the hill on the other side of James White Parkway (800 Townview Dr)

All other 1st district precincts can be found here

All Knox County precincts here

Now for the cool election graphic (WRITE-IN JOHNS SPELLINGS SEAT 1A)

The Great Commission?

My eyes may have deceived me, but this is what I think I saw for about 3 seconds as I was turning onto Hill from Henley on my bike the other day.

I heard someone yelling and I looked left to see that it was a man, sitting in an open jeep at a red light at the Henley/Main Street intersection. He was "preaching" from what I could hear, dropping words like "God" and "Jesus" and "salvation." In the following second before I made my turn, I saw the words "The Great Commission" printed out across the side of his yellow jeep.


As I turned down my street, my brain caught up with what had just happened.

WTF?

If street preachers weren't already giving Christianity a bad name, now there is a man that preaches from his jeep? Has someone else seen this? Please, PLEASE, tell me it isn't true.

just for fun: in honor of will

As some readers may know, this blog is named in honor of our good friend Will, who has been living in Korea for the past year. He's home in the states now, but I think he's headed right back overseas in the next few weeks.

I went to LA last week to work and to visit a really good friend. He lives near Korea Town, and he took me to a Korean Bbq restaurant called Soot Bull Jeep. It was delicious! Each table has a little grill built in, and you choose the type of meat you want to grill up. We had beef. The spread included delicious salad with spicy dressing, a few kinds of kimchee, lettuce wraps, rice, and this really delicious soy bean paste that tasted a little like marmite. We also had soju and Korean beer.

I haven't been in Knoxville much lately and hence haven't been able to contribute any Knoxy dialog, so I at least wanted to share my LA Korean experience.

Has anyone been to the Korean restaurant in Knoxville? (I know there's one out by the mall, and maybe there's another one...?) How is it?

Today I Met Keisha

(from Saturday)

Today I went out to try and win a few votes. It's the last day of early voting and so I figured I'd hit the early voting locations in my district. The Old Courthouse, the the UC on campus, and finally Five Points (Harvest Plaza) in East Knox.

Everything was going rather uneventfully until there. I knew Harvest Plaza was in a rougher neighborhood and that it might be difficult to win many votes, but I felt (and feel) it important to go and ask all of the people who I seek to represent for their support.

This is where I met Keisha.

The story itself isn't that interesting. She came up to talk with me, she seemed a little slow, but nice and so we chatted for a few minutes. then she asked me if I was "hooking for anybody"...

The conversation didn't go very far from there because after asking, "Are you sure you don't hook for nobody", the sky thundered and she took off towards home.

And here is The Pol's question for the day:

How is it that we have individuals like Keisha in our city that apparently have decided that their best/ only option for a making a living is prostitution?

I would ask the same question of the drug dealers as well, but have yet to be offered crack so will leave an introspective analysis on that for a later time.

I'm seeking to represent a district that is full of every type of individual every color, every class, every creed, and I would like to begin a discussion about the Keisha's of our community.

How do we go about addressing these issues? Some would say jobs. But would Keisha be able to get a good paying job if there was one available.? Some say law enforcement will stop this type of behavior. But does that solve the core problem, or simply attack the symptom.

I don't know the answers, I'll quickly admit that, but I want to begin searching for them and I would love input for our readers. The Keisha's of Knoxville are our neighbors and we all need to be concerned for their well being, because real growth and success in Downtown has to be coupled with success in Lonsdale and Burlington or else we're just putting lipstick on a pig.

Write-In John Spellings on August 7th

Riches to Rags

I recently started an internship at Knox Heritage, a group that helps preserve our city's historical gems in order to maintain a certain amount of charm to our city. Though I'd like to be rummaging through old abandoned buildings around town, talking to developers about crown molding, my tasks are mostly confined to the office. They have me knee deep in articles that need to be filed away. I usually would be complaining about this, but I'm finding it all extremely fascinating. There is so much Knox Heritage has done to keep Knoxville unique and beautiful. Even before they knew they were Knox Heritage, they were saving the Bijou Theatre on Gay Street.

My delight in working here is tinged with a little heart-ache as well. I've been skimming hundreds of articles since I've been here and I'm noticing an unsettling pattern here in Knoxville. People/ businesses/ developers/ what have you, would rather see miles of pavement than beautiful buildings. I know I live in the parking lot/garage capitol of the world, and I realize their necessity, but I am saddened, particularly as I read about the Smith-Coughlin House that was demolished to make way for a parking lot for Cerokee Country Club. I know this was almost four years ago and I'm just now cluing into it today, but this has been the case for several places in Knoxville.
I am also somewhat conflicted about the importance of preserving older buildings. Millions of dollars go toward development and urban renewal each year, money that could be focused elsewhere, ie, Knoxville's overwhelming problem with homelessness. Should we be saving our energy for more important matters? Can we be concerned with both?