Let’s talk about the Pilot Light. The Old City club, which will hit its 20th(!) anniversary next year, has hosted a mind-boggling number of acts in its time, many if not most that are right at home in the Big Ears universe, with many festival alumni having performed there before they were later booked for the big show. It’s a natural venue for the festival, along with Big Ears stalwarts the Tennessee Theatre, Bijou and KMA, a venue for the original festival in 2009.
Strolling Through Big Ears
Spring is here and with it comes one of the city’s most anticipated events of the year. No, I’m not talking about March Madness or the Knoxville Marathon, although this Knoxville-based music festival can feel both a little mad and like an endurance test. It’s time once again for Big Ears!
Bigger Than Big Ears: Public Cinema’s Month-Long Installation Program
By Andrew Swafford If Arts Knoxville’s film coverage has been a little quiet over the past couple months, it’s partly due to the fact that Public Cinema has been practically radio silent. After programming extensive slates of three-dimensional cinema…
Big Ears 2019 – Q&A With Nate Wooley – ‘Columbia Icefield’
By Eric Dawson Nate Wooley has been an extremely active trumpet player in the New York jazz and improv world since the turn of the millennium, collaborating with a dazzling array of musicians with a broad range of sounds.…
Big Ears 2018 Review – Film Program Embraces Abstraction
Over the course of this year’s Big Ears Festival, I watched 11 feature films and 19 shorts. Only 5 of the films—all features—had what you might recognize as a narrative. As far as the others — “What was it about?”…
Big Ears 2018 – Áine O’Dwyer
Irish multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Áine O’Dwyer is known for her unique site-specific performances, which often draw on her performative art background. Integral to the conception of each performance and recording are a location’s acoustics, atmosphere and history. For her latest…
Big Ears 2018 – Regional Cinema, Regional Fear
You won’t find any mention of this on the official Big Ears website, but this year’s film lineup is built around two themes: 3D Cinema and Regional Cinema. The latter, curated primarily by Public Cinema co-founder Paul Harrill, highlights films…
Big Ears 2018 – Q&A With Diamanda Galás
A Diamanda Galás performance is unlike any other performance you’ll ever see — even unlike other Diamanda Galás performances. Since the 1970s the singer has been stunning—and occasionally shocking—audiences with her uncanny vocalizations and theatrical stage presence.
Big Ears 2018 – Q&A With Milford Graves
Among the many activities undertaken during his 76 years so far on this planet, Milford Graves has been an herbalist, an acupuncturist, a martial arts instructor, a college professor, a medical laboratory assistant and a scientific researcher. These disciplines all…
Big Ears 2018 – Bang on a Can Celebrating 30 Years
There is only one thing surprising about Bang On A Can founders Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon being composers-in-residence at the 2018 Big Ears Festival. The surprise is that it hasn’t happened before now. It is simply impossible…