Bargain B: 31 Bistro and Preservation Pub

The warm weather and sunshine have turned Market Square into a magnetic force field, luring me to its patios.

On Monday, I sat in the sunshine at Pres Pub's patio and enjoyed Blue Moonday ($2 pints of Blue Moon). I had a couple of glasses and split a cheese pizza with a friend for a total of about $7 before tip.  Awesome.

Then Tuesday, the same friend and I tried out 31 Bistro's Happy Hour, as their sign out front has been enticing me. I don't really know what the story is with the restaurant that was formerly La Costa, but I've learned they have a killer Happy Hour.

From 4-7pm Monday through Saturday, glasses of sangria, their regular margarita, glasses of house wine, and bottles of beer are $2 each. They also have Happy Hour food, so my friend and I shared a plate of fries with a creamy aioli dipping sauce. We each spent about $6 before tip, having 2 drinks each and sharing the fries. Patio perfection.

Thankfully nicer weather means riding the ole bike around again which I'm going to need to do more if I keep giving in to my Happy Hour addiction. I'm doing this for you, Knoxville, because I care.

(Is it funny that my first post since November is about eating junk food and boozing it up? I've found my muse!)

Royal Bangs TONIGHT!

Tonight the best band in Knoxville, Royal Bangs, will play the pilot light. It's been a while since the hometown heroes played here. Come and support your local scene. It is going to be fantastic. Starting the show is Big Bad Oven (distorted lap steel and saxophone= rock and roll.) This will be followed by anti-comedian Gary Plimpton. It's going to be full of dancing, fun, and great music. The Pilot Light, 10 p.m. 7$ (worth every penny)

Tonight at the Pilot Light

FUTURE ISLANDS



It is going to be great. $8 show at "10" (The pilot light has its own time zone. Kind of like Mountain time.) \\\\//// With Marina Orchestra and Ed Schrader's Music Beat.

Tomorrow Night

Friday night Painted Desert and Natalie Prass at Relix. 8 p.m. $5



Painted Desert



Natalie Prass w/Brent Thompson.

A Memorial

It's been one year since the first of two workers were killed on the Henley St. bridge project and tonight there will be a memorial for those people.

Typically, I might not feel the need to post about this, but the project is literally out my back door. I see these men working everyday and so feel a bit of a connection.

You may recall I wrote a handful of rather damning posts about the company that is running the project, and while there have been lots of improvements, I still feel they should have lost the contract.

Local workers unions, churches, and various interested groups will be meeting at 5PM tonight for a memorial walk from the corner of Henley and Hill Ave. the candlelight vigil will follow on Volunteer Landing at 6PM.

I'm glad this event is happening in order to make sure that Britton Bridge Co. remembers that they put 2 men senselessly in harms way and they died because of it. Hopefully there will be no future need for more vigils like this one.

some great shows

Ok, there are three shows coming up that I am really excited about.

Next week: Friday January the 27th at Relix (on central across from Time Warp Tearoom, in happy holler)




Painted Desert

and



Natalie Prass


Painted Desert is made of two really great songwriters (Austin Manuel and Heidi Feek) who have come together to write really fantastic songs. The Nashville duo's music conveys feelings of longing and love so well. The beautiful melodies will be stuck in your head for day, and that is not a bad thing. Here is a video of them performing at music city roots with Joey + Rory:



or my personal favorite "Take Me Home" (it reminds me of Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark)



Natalie is another fantastic songwriter who really cares about her songs. She crafts beautiful and delicate pop songs that accentuate her ethereal voice. This is a video of her playing in Knoxville last year:



Tuesday January 31st at the Pilot Light



Future Islands

Future Islands are a great band from Baltimore. I have seen them 3 times and every single time was fantastic. The lead singer, Samuel Herring provides an emotional intensity that is hard to beat. He is a crooner who will destroy an audience.



w/Ed Schrader's Music Beat 10 p.m. $8

Monday February 13th at the Pilot Light



Zola Jesus

Zola Jesus is an electro-goth/pop singer with a killer voice. It is going to be awesome.



that voice. w/Talk Normal 10 p.m. $12

Go right to the source and ask...

With my bride, my 16 day old, and the dog in tow today we set off on a bit of an excursion to practice our parenting on the road.

Our journey took us Asheville Hwy (hwy 70) all the way through Newport, Dandridge, Hot Springs and finally to Asheville. If you've never taken that road it's worth it to see once, a beautiful though at times sobering drive.

But that is not the most important part.

Many of you probably saw the news yesterday about Tupelo Honey looking to come to Knoxville. See story here and the follow up here, thank you Josh Flory.

So in Asheville Mrs., baby, and I ate at, where else, Tupelo Honey.

First, I grilled the waitress. I refused to eat my biscuit until she told me everything she knew. Apparently the company is looking at 4 locations, Knoxville being one that is quite likely.

Not being one to take things at first blush I nosed around until I found a manager and I demanded some straight answers. Actually I just round about-ly inquired as to whether anything more had been decided.

Though of course officially unofficial and non-binding and still up in the air and caviated and subject to being changed of course, but he did give me a wink wink that Knoxville is the favored choice. Honestly I got the impression we are the favored choice. I'm just hopeful that the city can work with both the owners of Tupelo Honey and 1 Market Square to make this happen. This would be a great get and would be a delicious addition to the biscuit festival.

Enjoy the pic, we definitely enjoyed the meal.

Come on Knoxville, be classy please.

Prepare for a brief rant.

What the H is wrong with people? My wife and I went to a concert last night at the Bijou theater and I have something so say in response.

Keep Your Butt In Your Seat!

Perhaps this an effect of the fact that the theater is a rare event these days and perhaps people just don't know how to behave. I don't want to spend my whole evening watching you or your friends getting up to get a drink, go to the bathroom, or answer a call. It is incredibly rude and distracting.

I was sandwiched in between two pregnant women, one, Mrs. The Pol, is 38 weeks pregnant and made it through the ENTIRE CONCERT without getting up. If your bladder is so small that it can't hold the PBR tall boy that you bought before the show don't buy it. Try to show some respect for your fellow concert goers and for the artists. I really hope that the Civil Wars couldn't see all the movement because it was constant and showed a huge lack of interest in their performance which was incredible.

One more thing, put your effing phone away. I saw 20 LCD screens either filming or checking twitter. Again, not ok. That is really distracting to those behind you. Stop being an inconsiderate jerk and just spend 1 hour of you life enjoying being witness to art and not fiddling with some gadget you have.

Knoxville, please try to step up your game on the spectator side, perhaps you're accustomed to the Ice Bears and Lady Vols, but not all entertainment is created equally. We're better than this and if we want world class shows we need to be a world class audience.

That is all.