MetroPulse Stories: Secret History by Jack Neely

The Carousel: Maybe America's Oldest Theater With a Stage in the Middle

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:41:00 -0000

Last year, the University of Tennessee chose not to level Clarence Brown Theatre, as planned. Still in the UT bulldozer’s long-range sights is the Carousel Theatre, which sits separately, like Clarence Brown’s big garden shed.

Is Knoxville the Birthplace of the First Rock ’n’ Roll Star?

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:13:00 -0000

Knoxville is the birthplace of Atlantic Records' first big star, who was one of the founders of rock ’n’ roll. Granville McGhee’s name is not as recognizable as that of Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley or Howlin’ Wolf—but as Stick McGhee, he performed what some consider the first rock ’n’ roll hit.

Possum Without the O

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:08:00 -0000

I’ve been enjoying Bill Landry’s book, Appalachian Tales & Heartland Adventures. It chronicles the back story of the long-running WBIR series of anecdotal stories about backwoods crafts, sports, cuisine. I have only one complaint about the book. Landry spells possum as opossum.

Gloria in Excelsis

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:41:00 -0000

Folks have been asking me what I think of Gloria Ray, and especially whether she earns her annual compensation, which is slightly larger than that of the president of the United States.

The Stories Behind a Couple of Recent Demolitions in Bearden

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:28:00 -0000

You can’t help but notice that the Bearden area has gotten a little flatter in recent months. Near Kroger and Starbucks, an old motel building vanished. Its name, Biltmore Court, has an odd connection to some painted words barely visible on an alley downtown. The bigger and more anticipated flattening was around the corner from there, the University of Tennessee’s old graduate and married-student housing on Sutherland.

A Sense of Moment

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:19:00 -0000

In history, no city’s judged just by how amused and trendy and well-fed its citizens are. If people of the future are at all interested in learning about the Knoxville of 2012, well, it probably won’t be for the tonnage of margaritas quaffed on our sidewalks, or the length of the ticket lines to see any given barf comedy.

2011: An Ode

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:00:00 -0000

Everything sounds better if you rhyme it.

Christmas in the City, 1911

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:59:00 -0000

Christmas’ days of bloody mayhem, of drunken riots and fiery explosions and destructive pranks, were mostly behind it. The Knoxville Christmas was settling down a little. Since the closing of the saloons four years ago, Christmas had become almost eerily peaceful.

Dad

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:37:00 -0000

Eulogies are easier to write when they’re about people you’ve met only once or twice. A limited perspective focuses the mind, challenges you to find out what you can discern from that glimpse. With someone you’ve seen and talked to at least weekly for half a century, it’s a good deal harder. It may be especially difficult in the case of my dad.

The Cross Mountain Mine Disaster

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:28:00 -0000

Chances are only a few Knoxvillians were even awake the next morning when 92 miners reported for work before dawn to begin working with picks and mules at the Knoxville Iron Company’s Cross Mountain Mine, about 30 miles northwest of downtown. They probably weren’t even thinking about breakfast at 7:20, when residents of Anderson County’s Briceville community noticed, in the earth beneath their feet, a silent thump.

On Lectures in Bars, Campaign Spending, and Phil and Jim

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:25:00 -0000

The capacity crowd that turned out for the TEDx lecture night at the Square Room a couple of weeks ago was a small revelation to me. The idea that people would buy tickets to hear ideas is not a new idea, but it’s a good one.

The Fractured Legacy of a Kingston Pike Novelist

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:57:00 -0000

My first free morning after hearing about the angel’s broken arm, I strolled to the northern end of Gay Street, and Old Gray Cemetery. It’s a gorgeous place in the morning sun, its many oaks in full color.

How Lakeshore Helped Create Bearden

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:53:00 -0000

Some cynics suspect the mostly upscale Bearden area has been quietly trying to shake off its mental-hospital stigma for years, and is finally succeeding. But we should remember that the institution about to close has long been central to the community.

Just How Ugly Are Those Two Buildings on Walnut?

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:40:00 -0000

Next Wednesday, the Downtown Design Review Board will be considering St. John’s Episcopal’s proposal to demolish two old brick buildings on Walnut Street, across from the library. At the initial hearing, last month, a church leader cited the expense of upkeep as a reason for tearing them down. The other reason given for tearing them down is that they’re “ugly.”

Phil Pollard, 1967-2011

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:45:00 -0000

The fact that Phil Pollard was mortal might have seemed impossible, a week ago: Few people ever seemed quite so spontaneously, joyfully, arrogantly, irrevocably alive as Phil.

How Others See Knoxville

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:01:00 -0000

You may get the impression that Knoxville is the stealth drone of cities, off the American radar. Hardly any city of its age and metropolitan size is so little recognized by name abroad.

The Case for Saving Two Downtown Buildings

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:03:00 -0000

It was a little startling when a demolition application came in for a couple of nice early 1920s brick buildings on Walnut Street, across from the library. It’s not a famous block, maybe, but it’s one of the last little scraps of downtown left to remind us what downtown looked like before the ascendancy of the parking lot, now the most common use of downtown property. St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral has owned both buildings for a few years, and now would like to tear them down.

The Imaginative Pottery of C.A. Haun, Saboteur

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:29:00 -0000

When I heard there was a pottery exhibit at the History Center, I wasn’t tempted away from my daily routines. But attorney Charles Fels, who’s been doing some research into one of the Civil War’s most dramatic episodes, told me maybe I shouldn’t miss this one.

The Prodigal Cane

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:11:00 -0000

William Johnson was fonder of Andrew Johnson than most white people were, and had interesting memories of the White House. When President Roosevelt visited Knoxville and paraded down Gay Street in 1936, the old man hoped for a chance to meet the executive mansion’s current resident.

The Too-Logical Result of Our Property-Rights Totems

neely@metropulse.com (Jack Neely) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:39:00 -0000

Until last month, I’d assumed the worst-case scenario for Admiral David Glasgow Farragut’s embattled birthplace would be that the large stone marker would be off-limits to anyone but the few affluent property owners who bought property there. Now the marker’s just gone. he current property owner had it removed.