The Knoxville Area Chat Thread II (Chattanooga, Farragut: areas, counties, snowfall)

[the painter]

Afternoon all.....I had watched the show just to see her...gosh I do hope she goes far and that Hollywood doesnt attack her! It will be interesting to see the "makeover" they do on her though. Yep guess I am gonna watch reality t.v. now...geeze! Well as long as it doesnt interupt a Lady Vol game anyway............hehehe they beat FLORIDA, I did the happy dance!!!

[hiknapster]

I think that girl has a lovely vibrato and is perfect just the way she is.

I had no idea that she would be like that. Goodness. I thought that she was going to come out wearing a Minnie Pearl outfit.

There is nothing wrong with her accent. She is going to do East Tennessee proud.

Oh, and another thing. She ain't no Kellie Pickler and that is a beautiful thing.

I wasn't going to watch this year. I'm at the point where I do not watch network television at all. That all went out the window today.

And Jab. Stand tall. You have an incredible heritage and are from a wonderful people. I live here for a reason. It's because of folks like YOU.

[gemkeeper]

I was so impressed with Vanessa Wolfe's audition. You could see that she was extremely nervous, but it never showed once she started to sing.

She reminds me of a young Loretta Lynn or Dollie Parton. Just a simple, sweet-hearted country girl that just wants her chance to live her dream.

I would hate to see her change a thing about herself, but it is a fact that she has to have her confidence bolstered big-time or she will get swallowed up! I know that we all wish we could sit down with her and convince her how lovely she is and that she has a basketful of talent to share with the whole country.

Everyone who is from TN, or hopes to be, should be shiny proud of this young woman. She showed tremendous courage just walking into that room and taking a chance.

I will be watching - and, Hik like you, we never turn on anything that doesn't have Anderson Cooper or a hotrod in it! This will be an exception.

[hiknapster]

Do you know who she really, really sounds like?

Appalachia.

Like the way country was before it was country. Like that little old lady that I once heard sing her heart out in a little country church in Norris, Tennessee.

It has become a real pet peeve of mine the way some natives make fun of or hide who they are because they think the rest of the world is laughing. If they only, only knew what they got. Maybe, now, finally, they will start to be proud of themselves.

I played it all over again and cried all over again.

And she is going to get far in this competition. Count on it. Network television doesn't spend six minutes of their very expensive time unless they know there is something in it for them. They've already had their crew out to Vonore for that segment.

She's all over the internet, too.

Watch.

Oh, and I still believe this girl needs her own thread.

[jabogitlu]

What gets my goat is natives who make fun of other natives for being too country. Uhhhhh, no. I will always make my opinion heard loudly if I see that going on. <g>

That having been said, I've lost nearly all of my Southern accent. I can't get it back unless I'm around the fam.

And hik, I agree. I'm unashamedly biased and this might border on prejudice or whatever else you can label it as, but I believe that the old stock Appalachian folk were the best people that ever lived in the US. People who never experienced them can't even begin to imagine when you say that these people were NOT like Southerners who're portrayed in the media today or the old Southern plantation stock - they didn't have the slightest idea about prejudice, greed or the thousand other terrors that grip our nation today. Unfortunately those people are almost all gone.

[Kitties of Domination]

oh my....that is an OLD SCHOOL "mountain accent". Not a valley accent, not an "old money" Knoxville accent, not a "Maryville country" accent, but the real deal.

[gemkeeper]

We have a wonderful elderly gentleman in my congregation with the same real country accent. It makes me smile inside whenever he makes a comment.

I am compelled to believe anything that fine man would say because there is not an ounce of pretention about him. It reminds me so much of the way my father spoke - and the way that Vanessa and her mom speak. Honest, humble and genuine.

A real Appalachian mountain man who would "kick those varmits up the side of the mountain" if they tried to put a sewer line on his property!

The neighbors had the township police out to visit him more than a few times because he was "gawl-durned tured of them squirrels helpin' themselves to muh black walnuts". His solution: shoot the critters with his 22 to teach 'em a lesson.

He finally relented when threatened with a big fine (and, the neighbors were only 100 yds. away, after all). He built some fine squirrel traps and once or twice a week collected several squirrels from his traps, laden with peanut butter, and took the little guys out Fox Hollow Rd. and turned them loose in the woods.

I tried to convince him that he just cleared out his yard for the 6 squirrels waiting to move in!!!

He was quite a guy and boy, did I digress! The point is that folks have to be appreciated for who they are. Why do some people want to put everyone into their cookie cutter and stamp out everyone the same?

Vanessa is unique, my congregation friend is unique, my dad was definitely unique (and wonderful), and we need more down-to-earth folk who are accepting of other peoples' outstanding differences.

Who wants ice cream every day? Okay, that was a bad example. Who wants corn flakes every day for every meal? Not me!

Vanessa from Vonore will be loved by everyone who watches American Idol - or, nearly everyone. She may be the next Patsy Kline, Loretta Lynn or Vanessa Wolfe. I loved her performance; nothing needs changing.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Kitties of Domination

oh my....that is an OLD SCHOOL "mountain accent". Not a valley accent, not an "old money" Knoxville accent, not a "Maryville country" accent, but the real deal.

Maybe it doesn't seem that unusual to me because I used to have a lot of the mountain folks as customers, I guess.

I went back and snuck another listen. After watching the people of Haiti dying, for days, it sure is nice to see someone's dreams come true.

[hiknapster]

Well, Miss Vanessa Wolfe just confirmed me as her friend on Facebook. Maybe I ought to represent her. I'd keep those money-grubbers at bay and make sure she didn't change herself. What she has, you can't buy.

[Kitties of Domination]

Originally Posted by gemkeeper

We have a wonderful elderly gentleman in my congregation with the same real country accent. It makes me smile inside whenever he makes a comment.

I am compelled to believe anything that fine man would say because there is not an ounce of pretention about him. It reminds me so much of the way my father spoke - and the way that Vanessa and her mom speak. Honest, humble and genuine.

A real Appalachian mountain man who would "kick those varmits up the side of the mountain" if they tried to put a sewer line on his property!

The neighbors had the township police out to visit him more than a few times because he was "gawl-durned tured of them squirrels helpin' themselves to muh black walnuts". His solution: shoot the critters with his 22 to teach 'em a lesson.

He finally relented when threatened with a big fine (and, the neighbors were only 100 yds. away, after all). He built some fine squirrel traps and once or twice a week collected several squirrels from his traps, laden with peanut butter, and took the little guys out Fox Hollow Rd. and turned them loose in the woods.

I tried to convince him that he just cleared out his yard for the 6 squirrels waiting to move in!!!

He was quite a guy and boy, did I digress! The point is that folks have to be appreciated for who they are. Why do some people want to put everyone into their cookie cutter and stamp out everyone the same?

Vanessa is unique, my congregation friend is unique, my dad was definitely unique (and wonderful), and we need more down-to-earth folk who are accepting of other peoples' outstanding differences.

Who wants ice cream every day? Okay, that was a bad example. Who wants corn flakes every day for every meal? Not me!

Vanessa from Vonore will be loved by everyone who watches American Idol - or, nearly everyone. She may be the next Patsy Kline, Loretta Lynn or Vanessa Wolfe. I loved her performance; nothing needs changing.

She is very much in the Loretta Lynn vein.