What: Alive After Five

When: Friday, May 9, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Where: The Knoxville Museum of Art (1050 World’s Fair Park Drive, Knoxville, TN 37916)

How much: $15-general admission; $10-KMA members; Free for ages 17 and under

 

Alive After Five, the live music series at the Knoxville Museum of Art, begins its 21st year and a new era with the premier of the spring-summer series on Friday, May 9 at 6:00 p.m., featuring the Stacy Mitchhart Band from Nashville and the Davis Mitchell – Labron Lazenby Blues Experience.

 

For twenty years, Alive After Five (AA5) has been presented year round in four seasonal series at the Knoxville Museum of Art, but it has been on a nine-month hiatus since its twentieth anniversary celebration last August. Then came the installation of a permanent glass and metal sculpture of monumental proportions by Richard Jolley in the Great Hall, where Alive After Five takes place. There were also many major renovations both inside and outside the museum, including a complete redesign and landscaping of the North Garden, which created a wonderful new performance space. Plans are to utilize that space and the mild weather of May for the first two AA5s on May 9 and 23. People may enter the North Garden for AA5 either through the museum or the gate at the parking lot. Everyone is encouraged to bring blankets or folding chairs for use in the Great Lawn, a large, level area in front of the stage. There are also concrete benches around two sides of the Great Lawn which can accommodate 150 or more people, and cushions, blankets, or stadium seats are encouraged. There will be a food vendor outside in the North Garden and another in the Great Hall, where tables and chairs will be available. If the forecast calls for rain, the program will be moved back inside the Great Hall as usual, so the show will go on, rain or shine.

 

The first three AA5s of the spring-summer series will each feature two bands and have extended hours beyond the normal 8:30 p.m. conclusion. The two outdoor shows in May will present the best of blues and R & B from Nashville and Knoxville. Stacy Mitchhart, aka “The Blues Doctor,” and his six-member band from Nashville will headline the May 9 premier, and the Davis Mitchell – Labron Lazenby Blues Experience from Knoxville will open the show, which will go till 10 p.m. On May 23, a double-bill of Jenna & Her Cool Friends from Knoxville and the Andy T – Nick Nixon Band from Nashville will perform till 9:30 p.m. On June 13, AA5 will move back inside the Great Hall, and big band swing will be the theme. The 17-member Streamliners Swing Orchestra will keep the dance floor crowded till 9:30 after a smaller combo, led by Streamliners vocalist, Kayley Farmer, opens the show.

 

On June 20, AA5 will resume its normal hours, from 6:00-8:30 p.m., and remain inside for the rest of the series, with six more shows through August 22. Plans are to do some more shows outdoors in September and early October at the beginning of the fall series.

 

When the Knoxville Museum of Art launched AA5 in the fall of 1993, it soon became a magnet for attracting people from the suburbs and the surrounding counties to downtown, which was otherwise rather desolate in those days. Downtown experienced a resurgence with the arrival of the new millennium, and AA5 maintained its popularity even as a thriving music scene developed and offered many new choices for entertainment. AA5 also continued to have the most diverse audience in Knoxville. Now with the impressive new Richard Jolley sculpture in the Great Hall and the beautiful new North Garden offering the option of doing some shows outdoors, AA5 is set to enter into an exciting new era.

 

Admission to the spring-summer series premier of Alive After Five is $15 for general admission and $10 for museum members and college students with valid ID. Ages 17 and under are admitted free. Alive After Five is sponsored by Amica Insurance, Cherokee Distributing Company, East Tennessee PBS, Metro Pulse, WDVX-89.9FM, and WhatsHotKnox.com. For more information about the Alive After Five series, visit knoxart.org or contact Michael Gill at (865) 934-2039.

 

The 2014 Spring-Summer Series Schedule for “Alive After Five”:

(All shows begin at 6:00 p.m. Doors open at 5:00 p.m.)

May 9 – Stacy Mitchhart Band with Davis Mitchell – Labron Lazenby Blues Experience   Blues

May 23 – Andy T – Nick Nixon Band / Jenna & Her Cool Friends  Blues

June 13 – The Streamliners Swing Orchestra with Kayley Burton & Friends   Big BandSwing

June 20 – Vance Thompson & Marble City 5 with Lance Owens / The BluePrint   Jazz

June 27 – Philippe LeJeune   Boogie-woogie, Jazz and Blues Piano from France

July 11 – “Pardi Gras” featuring Roux Du Bayou Cajun Band

July 18 – Brad Walker Orchestra – Big Band Dance Music

July 25 – The Northshore Band –  Rhythm & Blues  

August 8 – The Uptown Stomp – Swingin’ Old-Time Jazz and Chicago Blues

August 22 – The Mumbles –  Old-Time Jazz and Avant-Soul from New Orleans