Wine Over Water, 3 Sisters intersect
BARRY COURTER: Lisa, I have a friend who says that she took one of those pottery classes where they serve wine and the instructor told her she was really good at wine. She was very proud to be singled out by the teacher like that.
Which makes me think she would really enjoy Wine Over Water, the annual event that raises money for Cornerstones, the local historic preservation organization. It’s held on the Walnut Street Bridge and you get to sample as many of nearly 100 wines as you want. Wine, food and a very cool location. It’s a lot of fun.
LISA DENTON: It’s hard to argue with an outdoor aerial party on a fall day. Unless it’s an outdoor bluegrass festival on the riverfront on two fall days. The 3 Sisters Music Festival at Ross’s Landing is also that weekend, starting Friday night and going all day Saturday. Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, The Gibson Brothers and Greensky Bluegrass are among 10 acts performing, along with host band The Dismembered Tennesseans.
BARRY: Absolutely two of the best events the city has to offer and both on the same day and within spittin’ distance of each other if the wind is right. You can easily catch some of the free music — thanks to members of the
Fletcher Bright family — at 3 Sisters, then meander up to the bridge for some vino. In fact, you can spend all day listening to the music on Saturday since it starts at noon and goes until about 11:30 p.m. It’s another stellar lineup, as you pointed out.
LISA: Keep in mind, though, that tickets to Wine Over Water cost a little more at the gate than if you buy them in advance — $ 80 vs. $ 75. But the event usually sells out, so you shouldn’t wait to buy them anyway.
Fleck has played here several times, but I don’t recall Washburn being with him. They are married, by the way, and she plays a mean clawhammer banjo. When their son, Juno, was born, they decided the best way to stay together more would be to play together more, so on the road they went. Kid has a cool name, but I wonder if people think it’s
You can spend all day Saturday at 3 Sisters listening to music. It starts at noon and goes until about 11:30 p.m.
a command to kneel when Juno Fleck is introduced. Maybe I just play too much Mad Gab.
BARRY: Also, OneBeat 2016 is coming to town this weekend. This is a program that brings musicians from around the world to the United States to collaborate on making new music, and they also work on ways to use music to bring people together. They spend a month together and travel from city to city doing workshops and public events.
While here, for example, they will do a live performance with the New World Symphony from the Chattanooga Public Library, using its low- latency technology, which allows people in different parts of the country to do stuff together in real time. Using that tech, the OneBeat group will be here while the New World Symphony will be in Miami Beach. Live. There is also a potluck dinner at Granfalloon and a performance at Miller Plaza.
LISA: Musical diplomacy at its finest. Speaking of musical imports, Arrival From Sweden will be doing the music of ABBA in the Presidential Concert Series at Lee University tonight. Arrival is probably the closest we’ll get to a live show of ABBA music. ABBA singer Agnetha Faltskog told an interviewer in 2013 that there wouldn’t be a reunion of the supergroup “because we are too old.” She was 63 at the time and apparently had never heard of the Rolling Stones.
BARRY: And lest people forget with so much going on these days, the Chattanooga Market is still happening on Sundays at First Tennessee Pavilion; it has Culture Fest on Sunday. Groups representing several cultures that live here will feature native music, foods, arts and crafts.
LISA: You know, I keep thinking Soddy-Daisy will jump on the culture bandwagon, but then I heard about what happened at one of the Ichiban restaurants in Hixson the other night. The hibachi grill tricks were well underway and the soup and salad had been served when a guy came in late to join his family. He told the server he wanted a salad, though, “with the house dressing.” It’s a Japanese steakhouse; ginger is the house dressing. He wasn’t pleased when that arrived, but he apologized by saying, “I’m from Soddy- Daisy. I thought the house dressing was ranch.”
We are sophisticated up that way.