Published on August 16, 2010 in Featured and News. Closed
The first-ever Hilltop Dinner & Dance will be a one-day event on Saturday, October 9, 2010 from 5pm-11pm at the Mabry-Hazen House in downtown Knoxville, TN. This is intended to be a celebration of Appalachian culture that will bring together live regional music, traditional social dancing, and southern food. There will be free dance lessons between each musical act pertaining to the style of the next band. All lessons will be beginner level, no previous experience necessary. There will be square dancing, texas two-stepping, and swing dancing. Band line-up to be announced soon!
Click here to buy your tickets online! General admission is $15, a limited number of VIP tickets will be available for $50 (includes dinner, drink tickets, Hilltop merchandise, & special seating). The Parlor will be providing dinner for $15 and Mockingbird Events will be bartending. Free tours of the beautiful, historic Mabry-Hazen House will be available throughout the event. Free parking is available on site. There will be also be a children’s area with games and room to frolic. Children under six get in free.
Meet the newest member of my family. She is a Silvertone acoustic archtop, bought by a woman named Janet’s father in 1956-57 from the Sears catalogue. Once I get a pick-up installed this old girl is getting out on the road.
Here’s a live video of our new song “You’re Gonna Miss Me Baby,” recorded last week at one of our favorite places, the Flying Monkey Arts Center in Huntsville, AL. Big thanks to Dustin Timbrook for putting this together and sending it our way.
Last night we played at a place that’s near and dear to our hearts, Cafe Nola in Frederick, MD. This place infuses their own liquors to make fabulous signature cocktails (basil peppercorn vodka for bloody mary’s, apple cinnamon bourbon, strawberry lime tequila). They also have a coffee bar complete a case of amazing fresh pastries made in-house (I had a chocolate croissant, pure heaven!) and full-scale dinner menu. This year they’ve expanded their operation into a full-on farming operation to provide fresh food for the restaurant, including raised beds, chickens, & bees! I’m so happy to know these folks and watch them grow.
I have to say something about the food and hospitality of a place called the Taphouse Grill in Hampton, VA. They decorated the stage to the nines, fed and watered us to our hearts content, and even let us sleep over! I had the best tuna sashimi appetizer I’ve ever tasted, so tender it was like cutting jello with a fork. I also had their clam chowder, which was a clear broth base and had lots of lump crabmeat floating around in it. Absolutely delicious! This food has soul.
This weekend we were blessed with some amazing hospitality at a house concert in St. Petersburg, FL. Our hosts made us smoked tuna and soba noodles. The tuna was cooked on a small stove-top smoker, which is a kitchen contraption I haven’t seen before and need for myself!
Ingredients for tuna marinade:
lemon
lime
garlic
ginger
soy sauce
Marinate tuna steaks for 2 hours in mixture of above ingredients. Cook for about 10 minutes according to the smoker’s directions. When the tuna is done, cut it into bite sized cubes and add diced celery, green onion, & cucumber.
Here’s a simple spring recipe I’ve been making over and over again with arugula from my neighbor’s garden.
big bunch of arugula leaves
fresh strawberries, cut into bite-size pieces
goat cheese, crumbled
couple of drops of olive oil
couple of drops of red wine vinegar
Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, add oil & vinegar to taste just before serving.
We’ve been working out some new tunes over the winter that we can’t wait to share this coming Thursday on the Blue Plate Special. The Jons have some really sweet new doo-woop harmonies. We almost have a whole new album’s worth of heartache, longing, confusion, redemption, and acceptance! Our third studio album, The Same Mistake, will be recorded later this year. So far the tracks are:
Living With Your Ghost
I Cried Over You
Be Careful
Heartbreak Hall of Fame
You’re Gonna Miss Me Baby
Please Don’t Misunderstand
Summer Love
Do What You Can
Tennessee Waltz (by Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King)
