Les Jones

Natalie is home

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | East Tennessee, Home Life | Permalink | No Comments |

It seemed like Natalie was about ready to come home this morning, but the tests and test results took longer than expected. She’s finally home now.

Funny thing? Last night Natalie wanted to come home more than anything. Tonight when it was time to leave the hospital she didn’t want to leave any more. She liked it and was having fun. East Tennessee Children’s Hospital is a great hospital with a great staff. We’re fortunate to have it. Many thanks to everyone who works there.

Katie and Natalie visit the Sunsphere

Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | A&E, East Tennessee, Home Life, Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

Katie was out of school for Veteran’s Day, so Melissa took her and Natalie out for a big day in downtown Knoxville. They went to the Veteran’s Day parade, ate at the re-opened S&W Grand nee Cafeteria, and went to the observation deck of the Sunsphere. Katie declared it the best day ever.

P.S. This Metro Pulse article about the Sunsphere is incredible -Did a 14-Year-Old Kid Help Design the Sunsphere? The kid’s design used a doughnut-shaped elevator wrapped around a central support and the elevator turned as it ascended. Wicked.

Bryce Thomas is an architect of 45 who lives and works in Seattle. He sounds modest and unassuming on the phone. Son of businessman/lawyer Perry Thomas, Bryce grew up near West Hills. In 1978, when he was 14, his parents took him on an “adventure” vacation trip to Seattle. He was awed, as most teenagers still are, at his first sight of the Space Needle, the theme structure for the 1962 World’s Fair. “The Space Needle in Seattle is very slender, very graceful,” he says. He’d heard his home town had a fair coming up, thought it needed a theme structure like the Space Needle. Talking with his parents around the dinner table, he proposed what he thought might be an appropriate design for it.

He drew a picture that impressed his father. It’s labeled “Basic Sun Globe.” He still has the drawing of it he made in July, 1978. The globe is made of “gold glass,” mounted on top of a very tall stalk, accessible by an elevator. A note, in a child’s hand, specifies, “Globe contain[s] Restaurant and Observation area. If possible use as a source of solar energy [for] operation.”

His father was impressed, and mailed the diagram to the World’s Fair authorities. They heard nothing for two years.

“I was shocked the day I went to get the newspaper,” one Sunday in 1980, Bryce says. “On the front page there was a picture of this Sunsphere proposal.”

The World’s Fair had hired design firm Community Tectonics in 1979, several months after receiving the boy’s drawings, and they’re credited with the Sunsphere’s design.

In June, 1980, Bryce received a letter from George Siler, the fair’s executive vice president, who did acknowledge the kid’s plan. “As you can imagine, we receive lots of suggestions from people about the Fair,” Siler wrote. “Many of them are impractical or not in keeping with our objectives. Yours was a notable exception. In fact, you submitted one of the best ideas we have received. Your Sun Globe is innovative, well conceived and very much in accordance with what we think our World’s Fair ought to contain.

Because Tim Hutchison needs a bigger pension

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | 1 Comment |

The former Knox County sheriff is gearing up to run for Knox County mayor.

I’m not a Tim Hutchison (R) fan. I work in Knoxville, but I don’t live there and therefore don’t vote there, don’t pay taxes there, and don’t send my kids to school there. I try to ignore Knoxville politics as much as possible. But even as a casual observer of Knoxville politics I find plenty to dislike about Hutchison.

• Hutchison used imminent domain to demolish a block of downtown Knoxville buildings for a new city jail. The jail was never built. A study determined Knoxville didn’t need a new jail. The buildings and the businesses in them were gone all the same.
• Under Hutchison the sheriff’s department “pension was changed from a defined-contribution pension plan, similar to a 401(k), to a defined-benefit plan, which has a specific payout. As has been noted, under the new plan, former sheriff Tim Hutchison’s pension goes from $20,000 to $80,000 a year.” The plan was estimated to cost $100 million over 20 years. Within a year the costs were revised upwards due to a deteriorating stock market. The only mitigating factor in Hutchison’s defense was that Knox County voters actually voted for that disaster in a referendum.
• As sheriff Hutchison refused to cooperate with “America’s Most Wanted” when they offered to feature the Johnia Berry murder to help find leads. At that point AMW had led to the arrest of 887 fugitives. Hutchison never caught the killer. His successor caught the guy after someone identified him from a police sketch and turned him in for the reward. Luckily the idiot had never bothered to leave Knoxville despite his face being on billboards, yard signs, and Food City grocery trucks all around town and a $70,000 reward being offered for his arrest.
• Hutchison had a grudge match with some member of the county council or whatever it’s called, in which they constantly filed lawsuits against one another at taxpayer expense.

My wife and I are trying to decide if our next house is going to be in Knoxville, Maryville, or Alcoa. One persuasive argument against buying a house in Knoxville is that the government is so lousy. Tim Hutchison is a prime example of how lousy it is.

Tags: penions, unions

Mexican lamb BBQ at Los Amigos in Maryville

Saturday, October 10th, 2009 | East Tennessee, Food & Drink | Permalink | No Comments |

Los Amigos in Maryville had a special on their board today, Mexican lamb BBQ. De-lish. It’s shredded lamb cooked with onions and served with fresh cilantro. The BBQ sauce is soup-thin, served in a bowl for dipping, and unbelievably tasty.

It was today’s special. I have no idea when they’ll serve it again, but try it if you get the chance.

Los Amigos has been in business 20 years now. Here’s hoping Hector continued success. I’d love to see him open more restaurants. If he took over Deadbeat Pete’s in Townsend that place would be a raging success.

Black Flag at Vic and Bill’s Deli, Knoxville 1985

Thursday, October 8th, 2009 | A&E, East Tennessee, Food & Drink | Permalink | No Comments |

Oh hells yeah. My first Vic and Bill’s Deli show was Teenage Love, the STDs, and Guadalcanal Diary. I was 16. Vic and Bill’s was all about the punk rock and the serving beer to underage kids.

Before I graduated high school I saw the Circle Jerks and the Dead Kennedys there, too. I think I saw Black Flag, but I honestly can’t remember for sure. This was the old Vic and Bill’s, next to Stefano’s Pizza on the UT Strip.

Via Swanky’s Facebook. He BTW won a Metro Pulse bartender award. Not that he’s ever mixed a delicious tropical drink for me. Hint hint.

Tags: can you believe that guy?, i love me some rum, youtube

Free flu shot Saturday in Knoxville

Friday, September 25th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | No Comments |

Info here. They say many locations will run out of vaccine by noon, so go early.

Tags: i like free stuff

Rain barrel sale in Knoxville October 3rd

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | East Tennessee, Home Life | Permalink | 4 Comments |

Join the City of Knoxville October 3rd from 9AM-3PM at West Town Mall parking lot for a Rain Barrel and Compost event.

Cool. I’ve been wanting some rain barrels. The ones in the pics have brass spigots at the bottom. I’ve got a couple of places where I could put these below downspouts and attach a regular hose or soaker hose to the spigots to water dry areas.

Capacity is 80 gallons. Price is $40, which seems reasonable. Cash or check only.

Back from the the Copper Hill/Ducktown goofy trip

Friday, September 4th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Holy cows on Fort Loudon Lake

After a full day, a couple hundred miles on the odometer, 178 pictures, and spending the day variously in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, we’re home.

Biggest surprise was Blue Ridge, Georgia, where we went at the end of the day because it was close to Copper Hill. Really cool town. It’s an old railroad stop and they still have train tours out of there. The old buildings in the town have been restored and some yuppified with high-end retail and restaurants. It looks like a good place to spend an afternoon.

Burra Burra Mine Collapse, from the Burra Burra Mine Museum overlook in Ducktown, TN

Strangest thing was that so many restaurants in that corner of the state are closed and/or dead as a doornail on a Friday night. Do Seventh Day Adventists not go out on Friday night or something? (My dad’s side of the family lives in northern Georgia and are all SDA.) By comparison, towns like Etowah and Madisonville that are well on the Tennessee side had hoppin’ restaurants.

Two best mementos of the trip: magnetic toys from the Burra Burra Mine Museum in Ducktown and half a smoked ham from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Hams in Madisonville. I hadn’t been to Benton’s in 15 or 20 years. Now the New York Times, LA Times, Gourmet, Men’s Health, and other media outlets are lauding them as the final word in smoked pig. We’re going to cook some up tomorrow for breakfast. They told us to cook it in a skillet with a little Coca-Cola.

Smoky pigmeat, Madisonville, TN

Dinner was at the Iron Horse Grill in Copper Hill. I had shrimp in coconut and curry sauce with fried sweet potatoes. Melissa had sauteed chicken with blue cheese rosa and penne pasta with salad greens. Great stuff, great staff, and we enjoyed the second story porch. East Tennessee and Western North Carolina have these awesome little mountain towns with amazing restaurants. We also like the German restaurants in Black Rock and Hendersonville, NC, Lulu’s Cafe in Sylva, NC, and Green River BBQ and The Red Onion in Saluda, NC.

More Goofy Trips

Tags: goofy trips

Advice for visiting Copperhill and Ducktown, TN?

Monday, August 31st, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | 2 Comments |

For Labor Day weekend we’re visiting Ducktown and Copperhill, Tennessee and the Burra Burra Mine.

The area is best known for a dubious reason. In the first half of the twentieth century, sulfur dioxide emissions from copper smelting wrecked the environment, converting the lush East Tennessee landscape into something more akin to the surface of the moon. It has apparently recovered to some degree due to replanting efforts and the passage of time. As I recall cranberry was one of the early re-inhabitants.

I’m always interested in advice for interesting places to visit. Any suggestions for places to eat or particular things to see?

More Burgess Falls pictures

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | No Comments |

Linoge’s got ‘em.

Smokies documentary will show vintage park footage

Monday, August 24th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | No Comments |

Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog - Vintage Views of Great Smoky Mountains National Park:

Much of the collection of home movie clips were derived from Jack Huff, a Gatlinburg native who in 1926 built a lodge atop the 6,593-foot Mount LeConte, and Jim Thompson, a Knoxville photographer.

You’ll see rare images of the people who lived in the park and those that helped to make it into a national park, such as Wiley Oakley, the “Roaming Man of the Mountains”, the Walker sisters, the CCC, and men like wilderness advocates Harvey Broome and Carlos Campbell.

There will be two screening of the movie. The first will be in Gatlinburg on Sept. 12. at 7 p.m. at the Riverside Motor Lodge. Tickets are $10 and can be reserved by calling 865-436-0526 or 800-343-1475.

The second screening will be at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville on Sept. 18. at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

Sounds great. I need to start lining up a babysitter.

Tags: smokies

Foreclosure filed against Northshore Town Center

Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | East Tennessee, Economics | Permalink | No Comments |

Josh Flory’s got the story* and a followup here.

I pass Northshore Town Center on the way home every night. (For locals, it’s at the corner of Knoxville and Pellissippi.) It was a New Urbanist project with walkable retail and a little playground and pond. Parking was on the street with alleyways in back for garages and garbage service.

The idea was interesting, but the timing was bad. They began building as the housing bubble came down. The three story retail center is empty. Only 10-20% of the lots were built out.

On the way home last night I drove through the project and picked up a few flyers. One advertised a 2700 sq. ft. with no yard and no porch for $399,000. It’s a nice home inside and brick on the outside, but that’s outrageous in 2009 for Knoxville. It’s worse considering the house is in an unfinished subdivision that’s mostly empty lots. If the appeal was to be close to neighbors and walking to distance to retail then the absence of neighbors and retail is a drag on the price.

* Pssstt … Josh, feel free to use that.

Tags: mortgage mess

Twisting Falls in Carter County, TN

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 | East Tennessee, Photos | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Dang. That looks cool. Cooler even than Abrams Falls in the Smokies or Wildcat Falls in Joyce Kilmer, both of which are nice places to take a swim. (Be careful at Abrams - there’s a drowning there every year or two when someone jumps off the rocks into the water.)

From Mark Peacock, who has a bigger version of that pic and another one where someone is using the right side of the falls as a waterslide. Amazing. If you like that you’ll probably enjoy Mark’s Google Map of waterfalls in northeastern Tennessee. Each dot on the map has a link back to his Web site with directions and photos.

If waterfalls are your thing I’d also recommend Rich Stevenson’s transcendent Tennessee Waterfall Photos. That’s his photo below of Burgess Falls near Sparta.

Bear spray now allowed in the Smokies

Thursday, August 6th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | No Comments |

Hiking in the Smokies has the story.

Cades Cove Loop closed for repairs 10 weeks March-May 2010

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | No Comments |

Hiking in the Smokies has the story.

IDNKT - Osborne Brothers performed classic “Rocky Top”

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 | A&E, East Tennessee | Permalink | No Comments |

The version of “Rocky Top” you hear the most in East Tennessee was performed by the Osborne Brothers, who were a well known bluegrass act. How did I not know that was them?

Tags: idnkt

Dude Cooper’s grocery store is for sale

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 | Best Of, East Tennessee | Permalink | 1 Comment |

From The Maryville-Alcoa Daily Times:

Dude Cooper’s is a mile or so from YMCA Camp Montvale. In the permissive, litigation-free Seventies we campers used to walk down the country road (with no sidewalks or shoulders to speak of) from camp to Dude Cooper’s store to buy cokes and gum and candy cigarettes, back when there were candy cigarettes, our shorts filled with pocket knives that were part of the required equipment for attending camp. If you forgot to bring a pocket knife you could buy one after dinner in the camp store along with fountain cokes and ice cream and candy bars and comic books.

After we went to Dude’s we’d walk back to camp to shoot rifles and shotguns and bows and arrows, to ride horses and minibikes and canoes, to make model rockets, to play baseball, football, and capture the flag, to camp in the woods and drink water out of the creek without filtering it, and to make out with girls and get lucky to the best of our abilities. When we weren’t doing those things we’d worship God and nature and stuff.

“The Frog” in Maryville demolished; Swank’s Jazz Club closed

Monday, July 13th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | No Comments |

Maryville-Alcoa Daily Times - 60-year-old Frog tavern in Maryville demolished, may become winery.

An establishment that quenched the thirsts of Blount countians for 60 years has drawn its last draft. Demolition was completed Thursday on The Frog, which has occupied the pad at the corner of East Broadway and Washington Street at Veterans Memorial Bridge in Maryville for part of two centuries.

Jimmy Sparks started the Viaduct Cafe on this location in 1946 after he came home after World War II, where he had been a cook in the U.S. Army. He then changed the name of the bar to The Frog, which it remained for decades.

Too bad, in that it was a longtime landmark, and older than I realized. As a bar, I can’t say I’ll miss it. I was in there once or twice and found it depressing as hell.

Via Josh Flory’s Property Scope blog.

Swank’s Jazz Club

Swank’s closed in April. I’m not a big fan of jazz, but I liked the building and the food. They’ve done the hard work of turning the building into a restaurant, which paves the way for the next business to open in the same space. This part of the story was unintentionally funny:

Being a musician himself, Swank said one of the highlights of the past 10 months was getting to meet some of the greatest musicians he’s ever heard. But jazz, while a classic American genre, does not have a large fan base to draw from in the immediate area.

“That’s a good crowd to have. The only problem is, I noticed a lot of the jazz people are older people. I was told one night, ‘Yeah, I love this place and I’d like to come here all the time, but I live in Tellico Village and at night I can’t make that drive.’”

Ripley’s Aquarium in the Smokies

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 | East Tennessee, Holidays, Photos | Permalink | 1 Comment |

On our last day in Gatlinburg we visited Ripley’s Aquarium in the Smokies. I prefer the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, but the glass tunnel underneath the Ripley’s aquarium is really cool.

In the next picture we’re on an upper level shooting down through the water and into the tunnel. You know how there are catfish and dogfish? Katie said these were peoplefish.

I didn’t get many good photos due to the lighting challenges. It was pretty dark in most areas, and the flash tended to bounce off the glass. I like this out of focus shot with the ceiling lights dancing off the ripples in the water.

Happy July 4th

Sunday, July 5th, 2009 | East Tennessee, Holidays | Permalink | 1 Comment |

We caught the Gatlinburg fireworks show. Good stuff. After watching it for a little while we went back to our room and realized we had a good view from the porch.

This time we stayed at the Best Western Twin Islands hotel. The river wraps around and weaves through the hotel grounds, so most of the rooms are on the water. We see ducks wandering the grounds all the time. There’s a central courtyard with a pool and kids playground that’s nicely removed from the road. This is our new favorite place to stay. The price was reasonable - $150/night for a suite with a fireplace and jacuzzi on a holiday weekend. We took a look at some of other rooms and some are nicer than others, so it pays to scout a room ahead of time if you can. Note to self: we were in 402 and a maid told us that 417 was a nice room.

I usually like Gatlinburg in the fall when the leaves are changing, the temperatures are just right, and there are apples to be had in Cosby. Now I like it for July 4th, too, even if it’s a little warm today. There’s the parade at midnight, July 3rd and fireworks on the 4th. We’ll be doing this again.

P.S. Both of those pictures were taken with the new Nikon 35mm F1.8 AF-S lens.

Tags: nikon

From Knox Vegas to Las Vegas

Thursday, June 25th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | No Comments |

Bob Benz and Lara Edge are moving. I hate to see you two go. Best of luck in the new venture.

P.S. Now’s my chance to give Bob props for this badass picture from Calderwood Lake.

1970s Kern’s bread commercials playing now at a YouTube near you

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | 2 Comments |

Four Kern’s bread TV commercials. Number 4 name-drops Etowah and features CB radios. Number 2 includes gratuitous use of “beaver.”

History of the commercials here. “Turns out the TV commercial was performed by A.J. Trucker and was a take-off on Old Home Filler-Up An’ Keep On A-Truckin’ Cafe by C.W. McCall of Convoy fame. I did not know that. Also it turns out that C.W. McCall existed because of an ad campaign for a different bread company.”

Kern’s was a local bread maker in east Tennessee. Food City recently revived the brand. I’m still trying to get my hands on one of those Kern’s Bread t-shirts with Mavis.

Thanks to a commenter.

Tags: youtube

555 Ride from Portland to Knoxville

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | 2 Comments |

From an email:

On 20 June, fourteen Oregonians are riding to Knoxville, Tennessee, on “Formula 555″ motorcycles. The three fives:

- pre-1975
- less than $500 in purchase and prep
- 500cc or under

More details at the ride’s website: motonw.com. Or, email us at info@sang-froidridingclub.com

The journey begins on Saturday, 20 June, and ends in Knoxville on the 4th of July. Meet the riders at the sendoff party on Friday, 19 June: Beulahland (128 NE 28th Ave., Portland), 8 p.m., or on the launch date of Saturday, 20 June: Portland Motorcycle Co. (10652 NE Holman, Portland), 8 a.m.

This is the reverse trip from last year’s ride: The 555: Knoxville to Portland on a $500 Motorcycle.

That’s a lot of pigs

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | East Tennessee | Permalink | 2 Comments |

Knoxville News-Sentinel - More than 500 wild hogs removed from Smokies

Wildlife managers at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have removed more than 500 wild hogs this year, the most since 1987. Biologists attribute the increase to several years of bountiful mast. Like black bears, the reproductive rates of wild hogs are highly dependent on good mast crops, especially acorns.

Since the late 1950s, the park has removed almost 12,000 wild hogs. The animals are a target for control because they’re non-native, and they do considerable damage to the ecosystem by eating rare plants and salamander, defecating in streams and churning up the ground.

The park’s hog population traces back to the early 1920s, when a herd of European wild hogs escaped from a game reserve on Hooper’s Bald in Graham County, N.C. By the 1940s, the wild hogs had spread into other counties as well as the Smokies.

My first job after college was working as a field biologist in the Smokies. The first week I was talking to a guy who was stationed over by the physical plant near Sugarlands who hunted hogs up in the higher elevations. He’d go out at night with a nightscope-equpped shotgun. He had just started and had only seen one hog and his shot at that one had missed.

Robert Daniel House by James Fitzgibbon, Knoxville, TN

Friday, June 12th, 2009 | A&E, East Tennessee | Permalink | 5 Comments |

I’ve always liked the architecturally distinctive creekside house on Woodson Drive in Knoxville. According to Swanky it’s known as the Robert Daniel house and was designed by James Fitzgibbon. Swanky recently toured the house and took pictures inside and out. I’m wild about that sunken study with the red couches.

• Wikipedia entry
• Zillow entry with interior photos
• Knox County records and sales history
• National Register listing
• Google Map

The house is clearly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie houses. Instead of the leak-prone flat roof* that eventually came to typify prairie houses the Daniel house has a curved metal roof that accommodates a second story loft, stone patio at one end, and a balcony at the other. The arched, outrigger steel supports were salvaged from Quonset huts in the post-WWII era when the house was built.

* Though architecturally amazing, a number of Wright’s original designs were frought with problems, from leaky roofs to uncomfortable Wright-designed furniture and high maintenance costs. Some designs - including the Ennis-Brown House seen in Bladerunner and other movies - had serious structural issues. Falling Water was under-engineered and later required millions of dollars to stabilize, as did the Guggenheim Museum in New York. None of this knocks Wright from his pedestal as an architectural visionary, but it would be foolish not to learn from his mistakes by acting as if he never made any.