Afternoon Notes

Here are a few quick hitters that I’ve not found room for in a longer article:

  • At today’s work session, the Knox County Board of Education will discuss whether to remove the mask mandate in schools. A group of parents (who have been lobbying for the cessation of mask mandates, contact tracing, and quarantines) have brought up the issue and seem to have some support on the board. The group, according to Compass, has, not surprisingly, some overlap with those who recently prevailed upon the County Commission to strip powers from the Board of Health.

  • What’s the Big Idea?, the pitch competition which I recently profiled here, is set to live-stream this Sunday from 4:30 to 7:30. The five finalists are Lu Lu Liquor Cakes, the Crwdn App, Ear Buttons, Leviathan Affordable Aquarium Automation and Liora, LLC. The finalists compete for a $10,000 grand prize and by sending in your RSVP for the event, you become eligible for a staycation giveaway that includes a night in the Hyatt Place downtown, plus gift cards for fun all over the downtown area. Additionally, five musical artists, including  Tennessee Power  Lights& (formerly Gran Torino), James Trimble of the Dirty Guv’Nahs, Peak Physique, J Bush, and Kelsi Walker will give exclusive video performances filmed by Loch and Key Productions.
  • Memphis Willcox, who I profiled just over a year ago on the release of his Where are All the Outlaws album, has released a second video from the album. He calls Gospel Days a song about “hope and redemption at a time people need positivity.” Jason O’Brien directed the video and Wilcox was joined in the video by Jerry Hogan (long-distance from Nigeria) and on the recording by Knoxville-area musicians Will Boyd on Saxophone, Caleb Hall on trumpet and Josh Ayers on bass

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  • HomieJohn who says he is a fifteen-year-old from Knoxville sent me this recording. See what you think.