Take a walk in downtown Maryville today, Friday the 26th, from 5:30PM to 8:30PM -, and visit local businesses with displays from local artists (paintings, sculptures, glass blower, photographer, ceramics, and wood block prints).

Live music, Stringliners Big Band, at Capitol Theater and The Traveling Stones at the Pistol Creek Gallery.

The Last Friday Art Walk was founded by Fine Arts Blount.

Join Fine Arts Blount for:

Art in the Park

Saturday, August 9th, from 10 AM to 3 PM.

There will be workshops on printmaking, sculpting birds and bugs, water color painting, foil relief art, and more.

Art from local artists will be on display. Any artist can enter their work, if it is done August 4, 5, 6, or 7. The work should depict scenes in the parks or streets of Maryville/Alcoa which can include people, etc. All types of work- representational, abstract, fantasy, etc. is acceptable. Check out the info here for details.

Support the arts!

Knoxville News Sentinel

Rock great Leon Russell will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, at the Shed in Maryville.

Russell's album "Carney" was one of the best-selling discs of the 1970s and he has remained one of rock's enigmatic figures. Tickets are $25, advance, and $30, day of the show, and are on sale at Tickets Unlimited outlets, by phone at 865-656-4444, or at Link.... Blue Mother Tupelo will open the show.

Can't wait! Seen him seven or eight times, mostly intimate venues. Not to be missed.

They are trying to come up with a replacement for Willie Nelson.

Please vote for the Allman Bros. here.

I've seen them 3 or 4 times and it was a great show every time. Good ole band from the South.

MDT

Country music icon Willie Nelson has canceled his performance at the 2008 Foothills Fall Festival, leaving the festival at least temporarily without a closing headliner.

UPDATE: So, did they not have a signed contract when they announced? From the article, it sounds like Mike Hammond and WIVK are promoting the event. What's their experience in promoting something this big? And what's the deal with letting people vote on who they'd like to see as headliner? That seems kind of strange.

Anyway, if they're in a jam, I bet AC Entertainment could help them line up a blockbuster headline closing act. We have one of the premier concert promoters in America right next door. Might be a good idea to reach out and take advantage of the best resources available.

Foothills Fall Festival, October 10-12, Maryville TN, with headline act Willie Nelson!

Three-day tickets go on sale July 18th for $35 (limited time pricing). Tickets will be available at Maryville Municipal Center, Blount County branches of First Tennessee and GreenBank, and Tickets Unlimited. Charge by phone (865) 656-4444 or order online at knoxvilletickets.com.

More info in the attached press release and at the Foothills Fall Festival website.

Big news from the Foothills Fall Festival (Oct. 10-12): Willie Nelson booked as the headliner! Oh, yeah. And Foreigner. And Billy Ray Cyrus. Among others.

Mayor Joe Swann said, "This year's entertainment line up is sure to be a winner with everyone. Where can you get so many great headliner entertainers, free weekend -long activities for kids, great food, and lots of fun for the entire family at such a reasonable price? I suggest that people don't wait, but buy their tickets as soon as they go on sale this year since last year’s sellout surprised many."

Three-day tickets go on sale July 18th for $35 (limited time pricing). Tickets will be available at Maryville Municipal Center, Blount County branches of First Tennessee and GreenBank, and Tickets Unlimited. Charge by phone (865) 656-4444 or order online at knoxvilletickets.com.

More info in the attached press release and at the Foothills Fall Festival website.

Until 10:00PM

The City of Alcoa knows how to put on a show.

Freedom Fest at Springbrook Park, Springbrook Pool, and the Duck Pond at Springbrook.

There will be activities for children (rock climbing wall, moonwalk, turbo slide, obstacle walk, and much more) and teens (laser tag, water wars, mechanical bull, and more).

There will be craft vendors, lots of food, and music, music, music (Crista Lynn, Pistol Creek Catch of the Day, Pair of Jacks, and Smooth Groove).

The finale is the fantastic fireworks display.

Check out the details.

Springbrook Park is off Hunt Road in the City of Alcoa, off of Alcoa Highway.

Come join us for good BBQ and music.

Saturday - Noon until 10 PM.

Springbrook Corporate Center, Alcoa, TN (Directions)

The tradition continues and is growing.

Arts, entertainment, food in downtown Maryville.

Live music later in the evening at Tomato Head.

Maps of participating businesses are available at Fine Arts Blount ArtSpace Gallery, 301 Church St. E, in downtown Maryville (865-982-0898).

Check it out!

Fine Arts Blount ArtSpace Gallery is hosting the Last Friday Art Walk.

Take a walk in downtown Maryville today, Friday the 25th, from 5:30PM to 8:30PM, and visit local businesses with displays from local artists (paintings, sculptures, glass blower, photographer, ceramics, and wood block prints).

Live music, Robinella, at Tomato Head.

Maps of participating businesses are available at Fine Arts Blount ArtSpace Gallery, 301 Church St. E, in downtown Maryville (865-982-0898).

Then, later if you are so inclined, head over to Music Row of Maryville for line dancing and square dancing from 8 to 11 PM. $5 admission. Music Row (865-983-8259) is at 2808 E. Lamar Alexander Highway (321). I believe Music Row is approx. 3/4 mile past Blount Memorial Hospital on the right.

With the changing of the weather there have been changes in attitudes at my bird feeder. Over the summer, one by one, my cheap small feeders fell victim to a band of raccoons. Come to think of it, this whole thing was my fault.

The Blount County Civil War Roundtable (BCCWRT) is proud to welcome author Ron Jones, at their November 29th meeting, 7 pm. at the Saint Paul Lutheran Church. He will be speaking about his historical novels, "War Comes to Broad River", based on a diary kept by his Great Great Grand Uncle during the War Between the States and "The Road to Rock Island", based on the service of his Great Great Grandfather and his imprisonment at Rock Island for the last year of the war. Both books are stories of real people caught up in one of the most tragic periods of our history. Each follows a small band of men from northeast Georgia, one serving in the Army of Tennessee and the other in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

Mr. Jones is a Knoxville native and graduate of the University of Tennessee. After retiring, he has renewed his love of history thru genealogy work and writing and speaking on both the War Between the States and the American Revolution. He is also a member of many heritage and historical groups in East Tennessee.

Blount County Civil War Round Table meetings are heldon the last Thursday of each month, at Saint Paul Lutheran Church, 429 Sandy Springs Road, Maryville, Tennessee (very near Foothills Elementary School and Maryville Fire Station on Sandy Springs Road).
Link to map:
Link...

For more information call Teresa: (865) 556-0315

Saturday November 10, Southland Books is having their Art Market from 10 to 3.
What a great chance to see and buy local art from local artists working in pottery, glass, blown glass, photography, painting and many other mediums!

The holidays are coming folks. You can go to the big box and buy crap or you can support our local artists.

While there, don't miss the mega selection of vinyl records they now carry! AWESOME. CDs may be nice but nothing beats album covers for reading while listening.

If you are a local artist, give Lisa at call to see if she has additional space for this Art Market. 984-4847

Map and directions

The most wonderful time of year is here! Festival season! With so many to choose from I thought it would be nice to hear opinions on some of the ones coming up this month. These two are my favorites.

Museum of Appalachia Fall Homecoming October 11, 12, 13, and 14

Link...

Music, music, fine crafts and more music. My favorite is James Garland, master of the gourd instrument. That man makes gourds sing. You will have to beg him to sell you one of his CDs.

Mountain Makin's, Rose Center, Morristown October 27 and 28

Link...

This event has music but the level of the fine art and craft is outstanding. Civil war reenactors, story tellers and local authors make this a wonderful event. I just wish we had a Rose Center here in Maryville. Their programs and class offerings are outstanding and affordable.

What a magnificent day in the foothills of the Smokys.

Lots of bluegrass music.

… with crafts, demonstrations of sorghum making, quilting, weaving, antique tractors, and more.

Hope you visited. Sorry if you missed it.

If you did miss the Townsend Heritage Festival, you can still make it to the Nawger Nob Arts and Crafts Festival in Townsend today, September 30, 2007.

More photos after the jump...

Here's a link: (Link...)

The kick off party is on to recruit bloggers for The World's Biggest Blog Party. Organizers - including local motivational speaker Tim Richardson (Link...) and friends - are looking for 1,000 people from around the world who will use blogging to raise at least a million dollars for organizations that have a global reach. How’s that for a lofty goal?

An intersting lecture this Friday.
DATE August 31
Fridays, 12:20 to 1:10 p.m.
Room 405 Ferris Hall

SPEAKER AND TOPIC
Dr. J. Reece Roth, Professor Emeritus, UT Plasma Sciences >Laboratory: ?Gears from the Greeks: The Antikythera Mechanism and the Early >History of Computer Science?. Nautical Archaeologists recently made a discovery that extended the history of computer science back to circa 80 BCE.
The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in an ancient shipwreck, and is the only such geared mechanical device known for at least the next 1000 years. It consists of a clockwork ? like mechanism containing more than 30 toothed gears, including a system of differential gears. This early calculator has been the subject of intense scholarly research to determine what it is and what it was intended to do. It has been found that this device was used to calculate, among other things, lunar eclipses and planetary positions. It is already clear that computer science has deeper historical roots than previously realized.

> J. Reece Roth, Ph.D.
> Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering

Robinella performs at the Blount County Library's Hot Summer Nights Concert Series.

Thursday Aug 23, 2007
7 PM
Outdoors- Bring your own chair
No admission charges

Three days of Music, Arts & Crafts, and a Children's Adventure Land