Archive for the ‘Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon’ tag
Remembering Rick Wolfe …
Mark your calendar for “Wolfe Jam 2010,” set for next Thursday, March 11. It’s a little event held every year to honor the memory of local singer, bassist, teacher, and songwriter Rick Wolfe, who passed away after a battle with cancer in 2007. From his obituary: “Rick was a 20 year employee of Pick’n’Grin, where he was manager, teacher, technician, salesman, engineer, musician, family member, and confidant to all. He also was a long time member of the Macdaddies, Crawdaddy, Delta Flyers and Body Heat, and was the on-call bass player of choice for every band in Knoxville that needed a fill-in. He was rock solid in his musicianship and friendship. Rick’s knowledge and experiences far exceeded his 53 years. With his recordings, teachings, and love of music and musicians, he has left behind a legacy in Knoxville’s music scene that has reached well beyond the city’s boundaries.” On March 11, local bands Relentless Blues, Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere, Crawdaddy, Chico and the Men, Brendon James Wright, Adoration, Grandma’s Devices and spoken-word artist Jack Rentfro will gather at Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon, 100 N. Central St. in Knoxville’s Old City, for a celebration. It starts at 7 p.m. No word on how much tickets are yet, but they’ll be sold at the door; $7-$10, I would think. Regardless, all proceeds will benefit the Joy of Music School. And if you own and play an instrument, you’re invited to bring it and jam.
UPDATE, March 3: Actually, there won’t be a cover charge for this event, according to Patrick Sullivan’s GM Sean Blair. It’s free, but donations will be gratefully accepted for the Joy of Music School.
The future is Unknown … for one night, at least …
Just got word from Sean Blair, GM over at Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon (100 N. Central St. in Knoxville’s Old City), that “The King of Country-Western Troubadours” — Unknown Hinson — will perform there at 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18. Tickets are $15.
Read our interview with him from last year, and take our word for it — if you’ve ever experienced an Unknown Hinson show, you’re in for a treat. See for yourself. Here’s Unknown Hinson on:
And finally, some pointers, if you will … words of wisdom from Unknown Hinson’s dental-afflicted mouth to our ears, from a cover story we did on him in August 200!
… on Love
1) “Always suit up before you make love. I am a firm believer in the condominium. We live in dangerous times, and I ain’t ashamed to tell a woman, ‘Look here, darlin’ — you’re pretty and all, but I don’t know where you been or what you been into, so give me a minute to suit up. If I don’t, I might get a touch of the AIDS or something, know what I mean?”
2) “Be good to the womerns. I like to think I’ve learned what they likes — womerns likes mens who shoot guns and sing country-Western music. Gene Autry, he shot guns and sang country-Western, and womerns liked him. Roy Rogers, he shot a gun and sang country-Western music, and womerns liked him. I shoot a gun, and I sing country-Western music, and womern’s likes me. I don’t see no argument there.”
… on Life
1) “Another thing I’ve learned — party liquor is a damn good antiseptic. You might have noticed from my photographs that I’ve got a slight dental affliction. My gums bleed and gets infected from time to time. When I start bleeding from the mouth, I just do eight or 10 shots of party liquor, and it not only helps kill the pain, it ensures my chart-topping mouth is free from disease. In particular, my party liquor of choice is the vodka in the half-gallon size. It’s clear. I don’t ever drink no party liquor I can’t see through. That’s dangerous.”
2) “One of the things I’ve learned the hard way, is that I’ve learned a lot about ice machines. I never stay in a hotel or a motel that ain’t got no nearby, working ice machine. Hell, when I got a woman in my room after one of my shows, and we’re having a drink, I’ll be damned if I’m gonna disrupt our romance by going out and looking for a damn ice machine. If I find one and it ain’t working, I check out of the hotel right then and there. I ain’t a dealing with that mess. A working ice machine is one of the most important fixtures a hotel or motel has to offer, in my opinion.”
… and on the Music Business
1) “Practice your guitar, or your drums, or your pianer or whatever you play, at least a half-hour a day. Don’t give up because, hell, you never know — success might be just around the corner.”
2) “Try to avoid a prison sentence if humanly possible — your record sales will drop off if you go into the joint like I did for 30 years.”
3) “Just write what’s in your heart. Write about what you know, because you can’t write about something you don’t know and something you ain’t experienced. If you try to, people see through it.”
4) “I tell young musicians and performers, never leave your wallet or your billfold in the dressing room. While you’re out there performing, somebody might sneak in there and steal your billfold, which contains your cash American monies and your condominiums.”
5) “Another thing I would tell the young up-and-coming aspiring artists — people will think you is a vampire if you have two pointed, sharp teeth like me and a thick, bountiful head of jet-black hair with a pronounced widder’s peak like I do and thick black sideburns and bushy black eyebrows like me and always dress in black tuxeders like me. But hell, if it makes them happy to believe I’m a vampire, that’s fine. It’s like believin’ in Santy Claus — if they want to believe it, that’s fine.”
6) “I advise the youngerns that wants to get into this racket — never, ever sign anything, except an autograph for one of your fans. I’ve signed record contracts, movie contracts, television contracts, publishing contracts and management contracts, and they’ve all earned me five damned dimensions of hell in my chart-topping life. Womern fans, though, are always wanting me to sign their breasts, which I’m happy to do. They’re happy to have my name emblazoned across their chests, and even though it makes the husbands and boyfriends jealous, it’s kindly becoming a national phenomenon. Some of ‘em even get it tattooed on there.”
7) “One more thing to the young folks wanting to get into this business — never get paid with a check for one of your concert performances. Have you ever tried to cash a check made out to Unknown? It’s impossible. Think about it.”
So long, Bellfield … hello, Skytown Riot
Back in September, we told you about local rockers Bellfield, which performed at The Bijou Theatre in downtown Knoxville to record a live album. Well, that CD release show is coming up on Feb. 12 at Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon, 100 N. Central St. in Knoxville’s Old City, but it ain’t gonna be a release by Bellfield — the band, according to member Rob Morrow, has changed its name to Skytown Riot.
“Bellfield had 11 different members and probably as many different musical styles/influences over the few years it existed,” Morrow wrote to us. “The last four of us decided to adapt our style to fit what we wanted to do now and really define our ’sound.’ What was born of that decision (and the subsequent sessions) was a whole new monster and certainly too different to continue on under the Bellfield name (generally, just too much more riff-driven and aggressive). The result was a name change and really an entire re-branding process, with the eventual goal of occupying a more specific and marketable niche in the industry. We figured the level of success we had achieved was negligible compared to how long we’ve been at it … so, we wanted to start fresh and enter the scene with a new-found fervor and more well thought-out model.”
Obviously, the guys are serious. And professional. And the music kicks ass, too. We have a free download from the band, under the Bellfield moniker, for your downloading pleasure:
“Crooked Mile,” by Bellfield: Right-click here (choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”)
Check out Skytown Riot on Myspace, and make plans on being at Patrick Sullivan’s on the 12th. As you’ll read in the aforementioned story, noted producer Jeff Powell recorded the live album for the band.
New comedy show coming to the Old City
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!
Featuring for the evening will be comedian Nick Shaheen. Nick has performed all over the region and has his own comedy night in Greenville, South Carolina at The Gathering Spot every tuesday night. He has been seen at The Laughing Skull in Atlanta and as a headlining comic for The Crackers of Comedy Tour. Nick is not afraid to say anything!
Opening the show will be Knoxville comedian Nick Edgman. Nick performs regularly at Sidesplitters in Knoxville and also can be seen at Winotheater and has performed at The Comedy Zone!
Hosting the show will be comedian/mc “Super Cat” Matt Ward. Matt has been appearing in front of crowds since 2001 performing comedy for crowds as large as 7,000 at the Community Festival in Columbus, Ohio and nearly 5,000 at Xfest in Kinston, North Carolina (performing between Flyleaf and Chevelle). More recently he is featuring at Laughing for Life II, a charity comedy show in Wilmington, North Carolina and is the founder of Old City Comedy!
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.
“Rebel Scum” documentary on The Dirty Works to get a screening
Finally … “Rebel Scum” gets its due.
That kick-ass, long-in-the-works documentary about Knoxville band The Dirty Works, which has been roughly five years in the making, now has a local screening date — Saturday, Jan. 16 at Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon, 100 N. Central St. in Knoxville’s Old City. No word on an exact time or whether there will be an admission charge, but we’ll let you know as soon as we know.
In the meantime, the band is ramping up for a busy 2010, frontman Christopher Scum tells us: “We have the movie premiering in several cities, we have the 7 song EP called ‘Get Wrecked’ coming out, and I will have a brutally honest CD coming out by spring called ‘Tracks,’” he said. “It’s gonna have eight or 10 new songs on it, and then I’m gonna put some old stuff (maybe never before released) on there; I’m thinking about 18-20 songs.”
The last time we wrote about the documentary, he described it as thus: “We just got in the van, went to our gigs across the South and it all got captured on film. Now they’re going to put it in some documentary form. It could be great, or I could hate it, I don’t know.”
Check out some Dirty Works/Scum goodness:
Download the song “Fifty Acres,” by Christopher Scum: Right-click here (choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”)
Christopher Scum on Myspace: Click here
Download the song “Wife Beater,” by The Dirty Works: Right-click here (choose “Save Target As” or “Save Link As”)
Buy “Biscuits and Liquor” by The Dirty Works: Click here
The Woodies reunite for one night only!
Those who frequented the local music scene around Knoxville in the 1990s probably remember The Woodies — the band was a fixture on the fraternity/sorority party circuit and did a standing gig at Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon, 100 N. Central St. in Knoxville’s Old City on the weekends. (Patrick Sullivan’s GM Sean Blair remembers it was Rhodes and Rhodes on Fridays and The Woodies on Saturdays; back then, admission was $1 to get in downstairs and $2 to party upstairs. “They were just a fun-time rock ‘n’ roll band,” Blair says.)
Times have changed and the band members have moved on to other projects; most notably, Dave Landeo has found local (and regional) fame as a Jimmy Buffett-style singer-songwriter and rocker. But at 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, The Woodies will reunite for a single show — Landeo on vocals and bass, Jeff Bowers on vocals and guitar and Ben Kelly on drums. It’s not as cheap as it used to be, but still damn affordable — only $5.
For more information, check out Landeo’s website, where you can find the following archived photo of the group:
Give a hand to those ta-tas!
Yeah, yeah … bad pun, but I couldn’t resist. Don’t let my poor attempt at a joke, however, deter you from supporting a great cause on Sunday, June 28: “Tunes for Ta-Tas,” a benefit for breast cancer awareness that takes place at 5:30 p.m. at Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon, 100 N. Central St. in Knoxville’s Old City. Performers include Y’uns, Tall Paul, Brendon James Wright, Honky Tonks Anonymous, the Detroit Daddies, the Swine Flu Zombies and more. There’s a suggested $10 donation at the door. Call Patrick Sullivan’s at 637-4255 for more information.