Finding Hope

I've had some technical difficulties with my computer since last week, but hopefully things are fixed now. So that's the theme for today - looking for the feature, not the problem.

And here's the feature - an advertisement for hope here and now is an odd sign to post by a cemetery. Well, I guess I hope I don't end up there anytime soon.

A Thousand Words

Get Right

Here's a typical little Missionary Baptist church on a country road in South Knoxville. The sign says "Get right or be left."

You Are What You Eat

Remember those fishermen I showed you on Thursday?

Well, I hope they read this sign. Catch and release is still a good idea when fishing in the Tennessee River.

For decades, Knoxville did what many other river cities have done: dump all their solid and liquid waste into the river. By the 1950s, the city was pouring so much raw sewage and industrial waste into the river that fish couldn't live in it, and it smelled like - well, like the open sewer that people had turned it into.

Even though Knoxville was the first large city in Tennessee to build a water treatment plant in the 1950s, and even with the Clean Water Act of 1972, mercury, PCBs, and chemicals from roads and soil runoff have sunk into the riverbed and still circulate in the ecosystem.

On the upside, the Tennessee River never caught on fire, and water quality continues to improve. But until we can control the non-point pollution that runs off into the river, I'd suggest going elsewhere for your fish dinner.

Trusses and Coffee

I'm glad that Newton's Laws of Motion keep the trusses of the Gay Street Bridge from falling on my head. Good job, Sir Isaac. But even better - look at their lattices and triangles and arches! And those solid stone pillars from 1890 anchor them all to the earth.

And here's the bonus: if you stand at just the right spot, they all frame the JFG Coffee sign quite nicely.

MagPies

Maybe I have cake on the brain, but I always do a double-take when I drive by MagPies new space on Central Avenue. I love their sign. Those life-sized bird ornaments look like they might take flight at any minute. And their motto, "All Butter All the Time", well, I've adopted it as one of my life aspirations. Because life is always better when there's cake.

Lucille's

Enough with the nature, let's get citified again for a moment.

Lucille's in the Old City was a classy little hole-in-the-wall jazz joint for many years. The best of the Knoxville jazz scene would play there. And before you go making rude noises about the words "best", "jazz", and "Knoxville" residing cozily in the same sentence, let me remind you that the Jazz Studies program at UT attracts some very talented students and faculty to our area.

Anyway, Lucille's. It had a reputation not only as one of the best jazz venues in town, but also as the go-to place for visiting performers to unwind after their shows. It's true. I was there the night Joan Baez danced on top of the bar to the sounds of Donald Brown and his jazz quartet.

Too bad Lucille's is no more, only the sign remains. The place is now a beer-and-BBQ spot, and while I do enjoy my occasional beer and BBQ, it doesn't have the same flair. And believe me, in this crummy economy, we need some flair. You picked a fine time to leave us, Lucille's.

Private Entrance

Kendrick Place, a block of elegant old townhouses downtown, keeps the peace with a discreet sign.

Sign of the Times

Tai Chi is looming large in my life right now, especially for the next few days. Chaos is too kind a word to describe them.
Retreat to ride tiger. Ahh, my chi is so much better now.

British Humour

My friends from the UK think this is a very funny sign. I'll bet my CDP friends from the UK will get the drift too.
But really, truly, this dance group that meets at Swizzles lounge at the Holiday Inn in West Knoxville probably doesn't think it's funny.
This dance is similar to west coast swing dancing (no, no, no, the dancers are not swingers). I first encountered it when I moved to South Carolina. Myrtle Beach is the centerpoint for dancing, and "beach music" calls the tune.
So the next time you're singing "Under the Boardwalk", think of this dance. I will, but I'll be stifling my giggles.
Also, that thing that looks like a truck tire suspended from the ceiling is a heavy duty fan that's supposed to suck up cigarette smoke. It's an anachronism now that smoking is banned in the lounge.

Oh No

I was walking down the street minding my own business, when this poster in the window of a local shop stopped me dead in my tracks and made me laugh with Halloween-y glee. Perhaps I should attend my memorial service. I imagine few people have that opportunity. I wonder if they'll have cake.

This seems like a good time to tell you all about my adopted nom de blog. There's an old Appalachian ballad known around these parts as "The Knoxville Girl." It's thought to be a derivation of a 19th century Irish murder ballad called "The Wexford Girl."

The ballad begins pretty innocuously:

I met a little girl in Knoxville

A town we all know well

And every Sunday evening

Out in her home I'd dwell.

Unfortunately, the story goes downhill from there:

We went to take an evening walk

About a mile from town

I picked a stick up off the ground

And knocked that fair girl down.

To make a long ballad short, he kills her, throws her in the river, she floats down to Knoxville, and he's put in jail for her murder. This is Halloween material, to sing by the light of a full moon.

And yes, I knew this when I chose my name. Blame it on my black sense of humor. Or living in the town that brought you the Body Farm.

Now, where's that cake?

Smokestack Lightning

Well, Abe of Brookville Daily Photo was quick on the draw yesterday, and he was absolutely right. The answer to yesterday's mystery is Electricity. And it's generated at the Bull Run Steam Plant right outside of Knoxville on the Knox/Anderson County line. This single-generator coal fired power plant, built in 1967, is managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

As I understand it, the coal heats the water to produce steam, which is pumped under very high pressure into a turbine which spins a generator which produces electricity, which makes all the little lights in my apartment blink on when I flip the switch.

Now, coal fired plants in the Southeast have been notorious for their toxic emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, and mercury into the air. And we all know that what goes up must come down. Kind of like the stock market. But I digress. What came down was acid rain. What we breathe is smog. Visibility in the Great Smoky Mountains has decreased over the years from 93 to 25 miles.

TVA has spent a shipload of money on emission control on this plant over the years, including burning low sulphur coal, and adding a scrubber to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions. But many older plants were "grandfathered" in before the Clean Air Act became law, so in effect, we've closed the barn door while the horse is still galloping madly around the pasture.

The closeup from yesterday is part of the vintage 60s sign on the visitor's overlook. You can tell it was a different world back then. Bull Run was Built For the People of the United States of America. I'm glad that TVA saw fit to spell that out for me. It would be rather inconvenient, I should think, if it was built for the People of some other country while it was sitting here in the middle of East Tennessee. I'd be especially grateful, though, if they'd build some Green Power plants for the People to replace these coal-burners.

I'm also impressed that Homeland Security didn't present me with a one-way ticket to Gitmo when I whipped out my camera to take some photos of the plant. Thanks, guys!

And It Comes Out Here

Here's a little mystery for post 200. Yes, it's the end product. But what is it? More tomorrow.

We Really Mean It

This little sign along Neyland Drive by the stadium still has me laughing. I guess there must be some football fans who think the parking rules are suspended during the game.

It's an away game today at Auburn University, and Virginia at Birmingham Daily Photo can dodge the traffic while I'm running errands unfettered by game day. (and happy 100th post, V, you absolutely rock!)

Come and Get It

This statue stands outside of the Phoenix Building on Gay Street, advertising for the Downtown Grind coffee shop. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Downtown Grind. Their coffee is fantastic, and I like the friendly staff. But there is just something about this statue that gives me the creeps. I mean, look at him, with that mysterious, self-satisfied smile. He knows things. Dark, secret things that have nothing to do with cappuccinos. 

And why does he have his hand behind his back? What's he got back there that he's not willing to share with the rest of Knoxville? 

What do you think?

Open Your Eyes

The Knoxville Museum of Art occupies a stark, modernist cube of a building, clad in Tennessee pink marble. Built in 1990 as the permanent, state-of-the-art home for the modern art collection that was established in 1961, it generated some discussion for being so plain.

I've always liked this building. It's simple lines and shape are so appropriate to house a twentieth and twenty-first century art collection. And I like it even more now that they've added eyes.  If they add a moustache too, I'll be even happier.

Cha Cha Cha

Have you ever seen those numbered footprints that show you where to put your feet to learn how to do a dance? Well, I saw the version for your car on this sign in the 100 block of Gay Street. Back-in parking is as easy as one-two-three. Or so the city would have you believe.

The Wrath of Grapes

I was in the downtown wine store to find a nice bottle of red to have with my eggplant and pepper stir fry, when I saw this sign for Luchador shiraz. I was undecided whether a body slam to my tongue would really be a pleasant experience. And really, I don't think you should put the word "malo" near any product that you have hopes of selling, even if you are referencing a luchador's name. But then I looked at the price and decided that I didn't want a body slam to my wallet either. So in the end, I chose an Italian primitivo with a nice calm line drawing of a farm scene on the label.

Soft Swirl

It's the Independence Day holiday in the U.S., and for many that means picnics, fireworks, and that favorite of summer, ice cream. Here's Mr. Freezo in the Happy Hollow section of Old North Knoxville to help you visualize your ice cream fantasies with the soft swirl of vanilla clouds in the sky.

For more fabulous photos of the sky above us, let Tom be your guide at Sky Watch Friday @ Wigger's World. You know you want to. 

Concessions

I'm making concessions this summer. For the long holiday weekend, I'm staying at home and finding amusing things to do around Knoxville. Like perhaps going to some free live music concerts. Or perhaps making a big bowl of macaroni salad and having a picnic in a local park. Maybe watching the fireworks show Friday night. Or maybe after saving the eleven gazillion dollars in gas that I'll save by staying close to home, I'll blow it all on a large popcorn and a drink at the movies.

What are your plans for the weekend?