Justin Valee and Jeremiah Taylor create on Market Square Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell the difference between creative, brave and thus admirable people and others who are simply avoiding the real world the rest of us...

On the surface it was a normal Saturday morning in downtown Knoxville. I stayed in to do the weekly domestic tasks common to downtown and suburban residents alike. By 11:00 AM I was itching to get out...

Corner of Summer Place and Locust, Knoxville, December 2010 It was interesting to read the article on blight in the Knoxville News Sentinel. According to the map provided, there are no blighted properties in downtown. Of course, there are...

I have to say I absolutely adore being downtown when life is just a little off-kilter. Sunday mornings are a bit like that with the whole “Sunday Morning Coming Down” feel. Holidays are even more that...

 Snowy Night in Krutch Park, Knoxville, December 2010  Friday I looked in the Daily Plan-it to see what music might be coming up downtown that I needed to catch. Angel Martinez at the Preservation...

Preservation Pub, Market Square, Knoxville The last time I ventured out on a late night to hear a band at the Preservation Pub, it was cleverly disguised as a place called the Mercury Lounge. I struggled...

Delbert McClinton is in town this weekend at the Bijou Theater. I’m not sure he had downtown in mind when he wrote that lyric, but certainly, people were doing a lot of things for love in...

Suddenly we find ourselves beset by cold weather. And not just early December cold, but more mid-January to mid-February cold. I was surprised earlier this week when I walked out of my home to see the...

 Gay Street, Knoxville, December 2010 I usually try to talk a bit about each First Friday downtown and I really kind of blew past it this time because it also happened to be the night...

Not as much as I should. Knoxville is and will always likely be a small city. We’ll never have a Chinatown or a Little Italy. We’ll never have the tallest buildings or the most bustling streets....

So, here we are: the final Christmas Parade post. I’ve had so much fun I hate to see it end. If you haven’t read the last two posts, I suggest strongly that you drop two below...

I suspect our Christmas parade is no different than many across the country in that much of what is included isn’t really related to the holiday. In fact, if you stripped away all the extraneous matter,...

Knoxville Christmas Parade, Gay Street, December 2010 I’m not sure if it was my mood or if perhaps I’ve turned in to a curmudgeon when I wasn’t looking, but one thing that struck me about this...

David sells the Amplifier at the corner of Wall and Gay There’s a new, monthly newspaper on the street as of this month. It is the project of Redeeming Hope Ministries and is called “The Amplifier.” Metropulse...