Steve Wildsmith

The Clayton Center for the Arts over on the Maryville College campus got a test run when it opened at the beginning of the year, but now officials are preparing for the facility’s first full season of performances.

Clayton Center Executive Director Robert Hutchens unveiled the 2010-11 season for the center this week, and it includes something for everyone — literally — including some big names in jazz and bluegrass. Here’s what’s headed to Maryville this year:

• Neil Berg’s “100 Years of Broadway” (8 p.m. Sept. 17 in the main theater): Five of Broadway’s leading performers as well as an all-star New York band come to town to perform the most beloved and memorable songs from a century of Broadway musical history, including recent as well as more traditional hits. Not only do they perform — they do so as the characters and scenes from which the songs come.
• Richter/Uzur (7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 in the Lambert Recital Hall): A duo fusing rock , folk and classical  to create a sound that is modern, traditional and unique.
• Sam Bush with Missy Raines and New Hip (8 p.m. Nov. 5 on the main stage): One of the season’s headliners, Bush has been called “The King of Telluride,” “The Founder of New Grass” and “The Heir to Bill Monroe.” He’s an award-winning master of banjo, fiddle, and mandolin and has shared the stage with such luminaries as Lyle Lovett and Garth Brooks. Raines is a seven-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association Bass Player of the Year Awards and will be performing with her band, New Hip.
• Robert deMaine and Andrew Armstrong (7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 in the Lambert Recital Hall): First chair cellist of the Detroit Symphony (deMaine) and internationally renowned pianist (Armstrong) perform an evening of intimate classical music
• American Spiritual Ensemble (8 p.m. Jan. 15, 2011, on the main stage): Part of the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on campus, featuring the spellbinding singing of John Wesley Wright, who entertained at the center’s opening-night gala. He’s just one member of the ensemble, a group of professional soloists who combine their voices in a chorus of tribute to the soul-stirring spiritual.
• The Aluminum Show (8 p.m. Jan. 21 on the main stage): Like Pilobolus and The Blue Man Group, the Israeli troupe of “dancers”  has defined its own genre.  Clad in  imaginative, often bizarre, structures of recycled aluminum, the  performers execute a choreography of shapes and colors that surprise, intrigue and enchant
• Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana (7:30 p.m. Feb. 1 on the main stage): An evening of culture and art featuring dancers celebrating the national dance and songs  of Spain.
• “All Shook Up,” the musical (8 p.m. Feb. 11 on the main stage): Featuring the songbook of Elvis Presley, telling the story of a teenage rebel shaking up a small town.
• “The Comedy of Errors” (7:30 p.m. March 9 on the main stage): The Acting Company of New York City presents one of Shakespeare’s most farcical, accessible plays.
• The Passing Zone (7:30 p.m. March 19 on the main stage): Comedy-juggling team that’s been in the Guinness Book of World Records four times, they’ll juggle everything from human beings to chainsaws.
• “An Evening With Groucho Marx” (6:30 p.m. March 26 in the William Baxter Lee Grand Foyer): Actor Frank Ferrante transforms himself into the legendary screen and comedic legend for a night of dinner theater in the Clayton Center’s foyer.
• Chris Brubeck and Triple Play (8 p.m. April 8 on the main stage): The son of legendary jazz composer and pianist Dave Brubeck comes to town with Joel Brown and Madcat Ruth to perform their melange of blues, rock, folk and, of course, jazz.

And those shows are on top of what’s already been announced:

• “On Golden Pond,” presented by the Foothills Community Players, Sept. 10-12 and Sept. 16-19 on the main stage
• “Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran,” a talk by Roxana Saberi at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 on the main stage (admission is free)
• Wood and Strings Puppet Theatre at 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Sept. 28 on the main stage;
• British rock band The Boxer Rebellion (fronted by Blount County native Nathan Nicholson) at 8 p.m. Oct. 12 on the main stage. Tickets are now on sale (via box office walk-up only for the time being) and are $12, $18 and $20; and
• Nations of Unity present “An Evening of Native American Entertainment,” 7 p.m. Oct. 30 on the main stage; $25/$12 children.

As far as ticket sales go — 12 of the events are being offered in subscription series of different sizes through Sept. 19.  Patrons who buy a series of five to seven performances will receive a 10 percent discount; those wanting 8 to 11 performances get a 15 percent discount; and those who purchase tickets for all 12 get a 25 percent discount. Regarding single-ticket sales — excluding the Groucho Marx dinner theater show, the average ticket price is $16.09 for adult economy tickets (average price for students and seniors — $12.50).

To reserve seats for any of the shows, call the Clayton Center box office at (865) 981-8590, visit the center online or go by the box office between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets go on sale Thursday, Aug. 19.

Despite his characterization of religion as mass delusion … despite his comparisons of Tea Party followers to special needs students … despite his vitriolic loathing for right-wing stupidity … those things still aren’t the most pressing issues that comedian/political pundit Bill Maher believes are the most important right now.

In fact, he told me during a recent phone interview, one has only to look South — off the shores of the Gulf Coast states — to see what is.

“It’s the environment,” said Maher, who performs Saturday at The Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville. “Global warming gets most of the attention when it comes to environmental issues, but those are not the only environmental issues that we have. We’re killing the oceans off — they’re becoming much more acidified and toxic, and right now, there’s a giant swirl of plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean that’s the size of Texas, and it’s not bio-degradable.

“All this stuff that gets a big eye roll from the right wing, like it’s Al Gore trying to create some sort of myth to destroy the American economy. But it’s not a myth — it’s actually happening, and I don’t understand why it’s not more important to people. It’s where you live, it affects how you live and it’s happening right now.”

Of course, with so much oil billowing up from that busted BP pipe, such earnestness from what many people see as a funnyman hits a little too close to home. Which is why Maher will never run out of his share of religious jokes — especially after making “Religulous,” his documentary that explores and mocks the world’s religions. In it, Maher traveled the world talking to religious leaders and devout followers, and he came away with some eyebrow-raising impressions.

“Jerusalem — it’s the funny hat capital of the world,” he said. “Every religious sect in the world has a stake in Jerusalem, and they all wear a different outfit. That whole capital is a Fellini movie. It’s known as a holy, religious place, but it looks like a circus, and if you spend a week there, you come away with just the idea that human nature is such that it’s blown away by a costume.

“I mean, look at the pope with that funny hat he wears and the robes — he’s literally dressed as a wizard! I don’t know how Catholics can keep a straight face when he wears that pointy hat! And he always has this look on his face that seems to say, ‘If I wasn’t infallible, could I get away with this?’ People are blown away that he’s wearing something people don’t wear on the street. But so is Lady Gaga — but we’re not worshiping her!”

Saturday’s performance begins at 8 p.m.; tickets are $58. Check out our cover story interview with Maher in Friday’s edition of The Daily Times Weekend entertainment section.

I’m taking a cue from my colleague over at Knoxville.com, Wayne Bledsoe, who couldn’t fit everything into his written interview with Kris Kristofferson and put some extras up on his blog. (Kristofferson performs at 8 p.m. Sunday at The Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay St. in downtown Knoxville; tickets are $37).

Neil was hilarious to talk to, and if you get the chance — and provided his brand of what could be called anti-comedy is your thing — then by all means, get down to The Pilot Light (106 E. Jackson Ave. in Knoxville’s Old City) on Wednesday night; tickets are $10.

Without further delay … here are some quotes from Neil Hamburger:

On the cities in which he performs: “Right now, we’re on a Greyhound bus headed to the next big show in San Diego. It’s one of the most prestigious cities on the circuit; it’s got your fresh drinking water there and a lot of benches and things. The last time we were there, they had a bunch of those orange traffic cones, which are nice. Sometimes, though, we have to play these dirtholes — basically someplace that’s a landfill, and they put a tarp over it and call it a town.”

On Wednesday’s Knoxville performance: “We were gonna do a beekeeping demonstration as part of the show, and we purchased all of these bees and this bee-keeping equipment … all of these little 1-oz. jars to give honey samples out at the end of the night, and we had some Melba toast so folks could taste the honey. We invested in several cases of Melba toast. But somehow these bees broke out of this box in the back of my car. I tell ya, if you have five bees buzzing around while you’re driving, you have a problem, and in this case, I had hundreds. I finally had to kick open the door and kick the whole goddamned thing out onto the side of the road. And then we ended up eating the Melba toast over the past week.”

LOCAL
Southbound (cover story)
The Drunk Uncles: (cover story)
Jonathan Sexton and The Big Love Choir (cover story)
Whitechapel (front page story)
Dirty Guv’nahs 1 (cover story)
Royal Bangs (cover story)
R.B. Morris (cover story)
Maryville Metal Fest (cover story)
Brandy Robinson (cover story)
Scott Miller (cover story)
The Black Lillies (cover story)
Teenage Love13 (cover story)
Jill Andrews
Drunk Uncles 1
Whitechapel
The Dirty Guv’nahs
Skyfall
Mic Harrison and The High Score
Homer Hart
“Sneaky” Pete Rizzo
Color of Fate
Bellfield
Senryu
Ian Thomas
Soundtrack Black
Robinella: Final Barley’s gig
Mountain Folk Reunion
Cain and Annabelle
Diacon-Panthers
The Dirty Works
Seeing Skies
Kings County Gumbo
John Myers
The Dirty Gunnz
Christopher Scum
Bright Shining Lie
J.C. and The Dirty Smokers
Sisters of the Silver Sage
Kevin Abernathy Band
Scott McMahan
Facelock
Awake the Suffering
Madeline Ava
The Retroholics
The LoneTones
1220
Dishwater Blonde
The American Plague
Mr. Kobayashi
Roscoe Morgan
Johnson Swingtet
Cutthroat Shamrock
Van Eaton
Steve Kaufman
Taylor Brown
Mumbillies
Panorama
Allen Swank
Flashback
Angel Zuniga Martinez
The Akashic Mysteries
Jamie Cook
Dig 6 Down
Avenue C Band
Brad Walker Orchestra

COUNTRY
Mark Stuart and the Bastard Sons
Darius Rucker
Eric Church
Jamey Johnson
Chris Knight
Mindy Smith
Patty Loveless
Chris Young
Sawyer Brown
Rodney Atkins
Justin Moore
Trailer Choir
April Taylor
Little Big Town
Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson’s harmonica player)

COMEDY
Bill Cosby
Margaret Cho
Bean and Bailey
Ralphie May
Lewis Black

BLUES/BLUES-ROCK
John D’Amato
Webb Wilder: January feature
Webb Wilder
Bill Sheffield
Deb Callahan
Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials
Devon Allman’s Honeytribe
Steepwater Band
J.J. Grey and Mofro
Charlie Morris Band
Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby
T-Model Ford
Geoff Achison
Scissormen
Zac Harmon
Shawn Kellerman
Bex Marshall
Damon Fowler
Harmonica Red
The Breeze Kings
Biscuit Miller and the Mix
Willie “Big Eyes” Smith

SINGER-SONGWRITER
Toby Lightman
Louise Mosrie
Hamell on Trial
Brett Dennen
A.A. Bondy: “Those American Hearts”
A.A. Bondy
Ari Hest
George McConnell
William Fitzsimmons
Vienna Teng
Paul Thorn
Denitia Odigie
Leon Redbone
Matt Urmy
Joan Baez
Dar Williams
Chris Trapper
James McMurtry
Colin Hay
Mark Wagner
Andrew Bird
Richard Lloyd
Eugene Chadbourne
Malcolm Holcombe
Jennie DeVoe
Matt Butcher
Eleni Mandell
Matthew Perryman Jones
ELECTRONIC
Imogen Heap
Ana Sia
Health
Dan Deacon
Peaches
Gil Mantera’s Party Dream

CHRISTIAN
MercyMe
Disciple
NewSong
Chris Tomlin
NeedToBreathe
Third Day
Stryper
Fireflight
Skillet

FINE ARTS, CULTURE, EVENTS, VENUES
Hard Knox Roller Girls
Broadway at the Tennessee: “Hairspray”
Broadway at the Tennessee: “Sweeney Todd”
Broadway at the Tennessee: “Stomp”
Broadway at the Tennessee: “The Wizard of Oz”
Appalachian Ballet Company: “Nutcracker”
Appalachian Ballet Company: spring production
Appalachian Ballet Company: “Blue Jeans and Ballet”
The Rockettes
Vice City
Maryville College: Fine Arts Showcase
Maryville College: Fine Arts preview
Activism on the Maryville College campus
Maryville College Theatre Department: “The Things They Carried”
Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Concert Series
Stonewall Gardens
Boomsday
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra: season preview
Maryville High School Drama: “Wizard of Oz”
Spring and summer festival season
Knoxville Opera: “Rigoletto”
Big Ears Festival
Kodo

BLUEGRASS/AMERICANA
North Mississippi Allstars
Indigo Girls
Hill Country Revue: Cody Dickinison reflects on his father’s death
Stacie Collins
Donna Hughes
Slobberbone
Kindling Stone
Dave Rawlings Machine
Joe Buck Yourself
Just Us Bluegrass Band
Two Man Gentlemen Band
Tennessee Hollow
Alejandro Escovedo
Bloodkin
Drive-By Truckers
Lambchop
Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time
The Corduroy Road
Andy Friedman and the Other Failures
Reckless Kelly
Lucero: February cover story
Lucero
Carrie Rodriguez
Wayne “The Train” Hancock
Justin Townes Earle
Kathleen Edwards
Steve Smith
Jason Isbell
BeauSoleil
Felice Brothers
The Baker Family
Blue Mother Tupelo
Todd Snider
Those Darlins
Hokum’s Heroes
The Duhks
Caddle
Deadstring Brothers
The Defibulators
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers
Rose’s Pawn Shop
Alecia Nugent
The Moaners
John Cowan
The New Familiars
Larry Keel
Blair Crimmins and The Hookers
Old Crow Medicine Show
Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson
Connor Christian and Southern Gothic
Star and Micey
Brand New Strings
Carbon Leaf
John Reischman and The Jaybirds
The Gourds
King Wilkie
Band of Heathens
Hank III
Chris Berardo and The Desberardos
Dave Alvin
Michael Ford Jr. and The Apache Relay

METAL
Mudvayne
LA Guns
Drowning Pool
Hatebreed
Pelican
Lacuna Coil
Lamb of God
Chimaira
Gojira
Mobile Deathcamp
Megadeth

ROCK/POP/PUNK
Tommy Tutone
Bad Boy Troy
Meat Puppets
Rusted Root
Terry Young: “A Tribute to Elvis”
Tesla
Superdrag
Steven Adler
Bret Michaels
The Academy Is …
311
Hoobastank
Gym Class Heroes
Peter Cetera
X
Fiction Family
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Red Collar
The Last Straw
Blackberry Smoke
Bueller
Agent Orange
David Cook
Psychostick
Collective Soul
Cracker
Adrian Belew Power Trio
Chevelle
The Machine: A Tribute to Pink Floyd
Molly Hatchet
Melvins
Little River Band
Kansas
The Black Crowes
Sonic Youth
Les Claypool

INDIE
Amanda Palmer
Lights
The Fall of Troy
Port O’Brien
The Boxer Rebellion
Great Lake Swimmers
Silversun Pickups
Yo La Tengo
Fruit Bats
DD/MM/YYYY
Matt and Kim
Frances
Vetiver
The Rosebuds
Darsombra
Peelander-Z
Against Me!
John Paul Keith and the 145s
A Hawk and a Hacksaw
Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Barcelona
Wand
Jay Reatard

R&B/SOUL/HIP-HOP/REGGAE/DANCE
The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker
Gorilla Zoe
De La Soul
The Afromotive
Future
The Wailers
Space Capone
New Edition
Arrested Development
Disco Biscuits
Lotus

JAZZ/WORLD MUSIC/AVANT GARDE
Don Byron
Jon Hassell
Wendy Sutter
Grupo Fantasma
Celtic Woman
James Blackshaw
Pink Martini

Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon, 100 N. Central St. in Knoxville’s Old City, is already home to the incredibly gifted improv comedy group Einstein Simplified, which performs there every Tuesday evening. Now, it seems, the venue will hold another night of comedy, this time on Thursdays.

Starting Feb. 4, “Old City Comedy” will take place upstairs at Patrick Sullivan’s at 9 p.m. According to the info on Brown Paper Tickets:

This is the first Old City Comedy event at Patrick Sullivan’s! Please join Old City Comedy in welcoming comedian Mello Mike! Mello Mike has been a finalist in comedy contests all over the Southeastern United States. He has performed across the country and will be headlining the comedy cancer benefit Laughing for Life two nights later in Wilmington, North Carolina. Don’t miss your chance to see Mello live for the first time in Knoxville!

Don’t miss this great first show at Patrick Sullivan’s!”

Admission is $7. Click on the above link to order your tickets online, or call Patrick Sullivan’s at 637-4255. You can also check out the venue online.