“Yesterday” is Tomorrow; So Is Vestival

Our final Pops concert this season, “Yesterday Once More,” will be loaded with tunes by the Carpenters and similar artists from that very fertile early 70's pop period. Recent KSO Pops artists have also been part of this soft rock revolution– Burt Bacharach, Peter Cetera, Roberta Flack, etc.

The music of the Carpenters is to me one of those things that I fall back on when I need an example of something simple, beautiful and tasteful. I am just floored by the number of tunes that I remember from their arsenal. We will be playing just about of all of the hits.

We should be thankful yesterdayoncemoreonline.com states that the show will be performing this year with the St Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Knoxville Symphony AND OTHERS (caps mine). That’s good company.

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As we will be rehearsing for the bulk of the afternoon Saturday, we will most likely not be able to catch any of the goings-on at Vestival, South Knoxville’s art and heritage festival. The Vestal neighborhood of South Knoxville is the focus here. A wide variety of local artists, craftspersons and musicians will be on hand. Vestal is that funky neighborhood that is home to King Tut Grill, Pease Furniture, and The Candoro Marble Co.

Right next to Pease Furniture is the Ogle St. Barber Shop. I have been getting my haircut here since I arrived in this town in 1986, save for those few (dark) years ca. 1996-2003 when I let my hair grow long and avoided barber shops. I have it on a good authority that this is the barbershop where Mark Tucker (the KSO’s 2nd clarinetist, personnel manager, and librarian) used to go for haircuts when he was a child. It’s straight out of the 50's; except for the price of a haircut going up $1 every ten years, not much about this place has changed since Mark’s days here. That is the charm of Vestal; that steady, unafraid-to-be-itself neighborhood across the river.