Jack Neely

• What's 'Historic'—And Who Says? Nine Practical Reasons To Save Old Buildings Published 01/16/2013 at 11:22 a.m. 4 Comments

  At this point, with the preservation-fueled revival of downtown bringing people, dollars, and uncustomary positive press to the city, the value of the community’s limited stock of old buildings might seem obvious. But their demolition is still occurring, often without ...

• Light Rail: A Weekend Visit to a Popular Phantasm Published 01/16/2013 at 10:32 a.m.

  Our recent issue about What Knoxville Needs stirred up an old futuristic dream that won’t die. We talk about it today in the same tones we used in the ’60s when we talked about jet packs and hovercraft and computers.

• Two Architects: Bruce McCarty and Charlie Richmond Published 01/09/2013 at 9:31 a.m.

  The year’s only a few days old, but Knoxville has already lost two influential and very different architects.

• In the Year 2013: Some Notes About the Coming Months Published 01/02/2013 at 11:51 a.m.

  Finally, we’ve arrived in a gracefully nameable era. For 13 years now, those of us who are accustomed to making sense of our recent past by sorting it into decades with distinct personalities, like the ’20s or the ’50s, haven’t ...

• 2012: An Ode Published 12/26/2012 at 5 p.m.

  A funny thing about the news: It always rhymes.

• Christmastime in the City, 1912: Of Velocipedes, Bon-Bons, Grafonolas, and SPUGs Published 12/19/2012 at 10:35 a.m.

  One century ago, a dozen different Knoxvillians might give you a dozen different ideas about what constituted a Christmas tradition. There survived a few people old enough to recall when Knoxville hardly celebrated Christmas at all. Until the ’40s—the 1840s—it ...

• NPR Recommends KJO's Christmas Album Published 12/19/2012 at 10:10 a.m.

  We take the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, who played their annual Christmas show at the Bijou Theatre Tuesday night, for granted, but National Public Radio just named KJO’s Christmas Time Is Here one of five recommended jazz Christmas albums of the ...

• Knox Boox: For the Locavore Reader, a Seasonal Shopping Aid Published 12/12/2012 at 10:31 a.m.

  And there’s been a pretty extravagant variety of very local books this year. These are the ones I’ve encountered and, for one reason or another, been impressed with.

• Peggy and Holly Hambright: Sibling Stars of the Knoxville Culinary Scene Published 12/12/2012 at 9 a.m. 1 Comment

  They’ve rarely worked together. They didn’t learn cooking together as kids. And the last time the two lived in the same house, 30-something years ago, neither aspired to be any sort of chef. Yet sisters Holly and Peggy Hambright are ...

• The Secret Identity of Signor Grimaldi: One Strange Story from the Holiday Season of 1877 Published 12/05/2012 at 10:07 a.m.

  That anyone named Grimaldi ever lived in 1870s Knoxville might be surprising in itself.

• Best Middle-Eastern: Sitar Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  Bearden’s long-lived Indian restaurant has more competition than it used to, but it’s still a Knoxville favorite.

• Best Wine List: Oodles Uncorked Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  A wine list notable for its variety, but maybe more so for its economy.

• Best Addition to Knoxville: Strangers Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  Okay, Knoxville’s not exactly a stranger to strangers, and hasn’t been ever since Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand showed up here looking for material for his novels and a refuge from the guillotines of Paris. Ever since Ambrose Burnside rode into town ...

• Best Meat & Three: Chandler’s Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  This sunny soul-food buffet, now a decade old, has become an East Knoxville institution.

• Best Eyewear Shop: Luttrell’s Eyewear Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  Walk into this Bearden business, more colorful in decor than any mall shop, and more comfortable, and you may have the impression you’re visiting a friendly neighbor.

• Best Salads: Trio Café Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  This Market Square cafe-with-patio offers probably the most conspicuous salad bar downtown.

• Best Jazz Band: Donald Brown Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  Originally from Memphis, East Tennessee’s best-known jazz pianist is a former member of Art Blakey’s legendary Jazz Messengers, with several albums of his own (hear Piano Short Stories) and has been a familiar figure in town for 20-odd years.

• Best Breakfast: Pete's Coffee shop Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  Pete’s breakfast is now both politically historic and literary.

• Best Concert Venue: Tennessee Theatre Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  Kind of a shoo-in in this category, the Tennessee Theatre has won many times before. But it got more national attention in 2010 than it has in any calendar year in its 82-year history, except for maybe the night back ...

• Best Thing In/About Knoxville to Surprise Newcomers With & Best Place To Break Up: Market Square Published 05/12/2010 at 5 p.m.

  A colorfully historical jumble of Victorian and early 20th-century architecture on a more personable scale than most of downtown, and 30-odd businesses, mostly local, mostly unusual, is a big part of the 156-year-old Square’s appeal.

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