Oceana was the catch of the trip
For Alan and me, going to New York is mainly about two things: going to plays and going to restaurants. With a museum and gallery or two thrown in for good measure. Of course we have our favorite...
View ArticleGet thee to the Show House!
You still have a week to grab some friends and make a day of visiting the Knoxville Symphony League’s Show House. Conveniently located on Legacy Cove Way in the Rocky Hill neighborhood, this year’s...
View ArticleTony Spezia: It’s not a risk if you know the outcome
Tony Spezia, who recently retired from his position as CEO of Covenant Health, gave a speech at a party in his honor April 1 that truly knocked it out of the ballpark. Spezia’s speech was so powerful...
View ArticleHats off – or, in this case, on – to the Botanical Garden
How often do you go to a fundraiser that is virtually perfect? I went to one last week. It was the Hats in Bloom luncheon at the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum. Why, you ask, was it perfect?...
View ArticleElegant dining, uproarious stories
Jeff Lee, the general manager of WBIR-TV Channel 10, took the podium at a recent Elegant Dining event to benefit the Knoxville Symphony. (He serves on the Symphony Board.) “Many times you see people on...
View ArticleShreveport a Go-Go
My mother loved Johnny Rivers, the rock and roll singer famous for such hits as “Secret Agent Man,” “Summer Rain,” “Memphis,” “Baby, I Need Your Loving” and “Poor Side of Town.” We lived in Rome,...
View ArticleEmilia exudes excellence
For the longest time, downtown dwellers and aficionados have bemoaned the fact that, of all the great and diverse number of eateries located there, there has not been in ages even one honest to...
View ArticleUT Gardens honor major donor — and peonies!
The weather gods smiled upon the UT Gardens Gala, thank goodness, as several hundred supporters gathered to raise money and also raise a glass or two to Henry McIlwaine Jr., whose generosity will fund...
View ArticleBiscuits bring bevy of bingers
The biggest crowd ever packed downtown Saturday to gorge themselves with biscuits large and small, savory and sweet. This is according to John Craig, the “biscuit boss” and founder of the International...
View ArticleTar Heel trained, Knoxville’s gain
You wouldn’t think it from reading his editorial cartoons in the News Sentinel, but Charlie Daniel is really a sweet, quiet and unassuming guy. With a wicked sense of humor, of course. I have known...
View ArticleHow to impress a food writer. (And me!)
Of course you heard about the International Biscuit Festival earlier this month, but did you know that scores of journalists and other writers were in town a few days before that for the fifth annual...
View ArticleWatermelon coolers, raw meat and Swedish women (What a conference, y’all!)
Yes, dinner at Blackberry Farm is a main attraction of the Southern Food Writing Conference every year. But there’s a whole lot of other good eating and drinking during the two-day food fest. The goal...
View ArticleSymphony League dinner: wine, water and wow!
Wow, it’s great to know someone who owns a vineyard and winery! The Knoxville Symphony League discovered that very thing when Jenny and Randy Boyd donated four cases of their Serendipity Malbec,...
View ArticleMuseum of Art kicks off summer in style
Our friends at the Knoxville Museum of Art have a good recipe for a successful party. Hire a rocking band. Get Holly Hambright to cater the food and The Pour Guys to handle the bar. Invite the...
View ArticleClarence Brown in ‘Black and White’
The Clarence Brown Theatre this year took the theme for its annual fundraising gala from Truman Capote’s famous 1966 Black and White Ball held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. This one, however,...
View ArticleStunning Lonesome Dove eatery opens Friday
The long awaited game restaurant, Lonesome Dove, located in the former Patrick Sullivan’s building in Knoxville’s Old City, will open to the public this Friday. A pre-opening cocktail party last night...
View ArticleA party for the posies
Knoxville-based nonprofit Random Acts of Flowers specializes in bringing smiles to the faces of people in health care facilities. On a recent scorcher of a Friday evening, benefactors Hash and Nazzy...
View ArticleSavoring Beardsley’s scintillating Solstice Supper
An eight-course vegetarian feast was the substance of Beardsley Community Farm’s fifth annual Solstice Supper fundraiser, which Moxley Carmichael was happy to support through a sponsorship. Held at The...
View ArticleSouthern Summer’s Night lights path to hope
For 20 years, Covenant Health’s Hope Center has been benefiting people and families coping with AIDS and HIV. For 14 of those years, Rick Fox and Ralph Cianelli have been throwing a huge fundraising...
View ArticlePlated.com changed our lives. Seriously.
Let me say this up front. We do not represent this company. We just happen to be huge fans of it. It started last November when our neighbors, Peter and Jenn Moore, insisted that we try a meal kit...
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