Cooking hot dogs is serious business...Stephen Otis

New City Events...from Kenny Woodhull 

Summer

is great for vacations, a time to rest and refresh, usually in an environment or setting different from our work-a-day world.At their best, these times carry elements of sabbatical and reflection.

The Tennessee Smokies Baseball team markets their games as "a nine inning vacation," a chance to kick back and enjoy the best game on the planet played with exceptional skill by professionals-some of whom will be Major League stars in a few years.    Yes, I'm unashamedly biased toward baseball! 

In a similar vein, a lot of the entertainment we bring to the Square Room at Cafe4 is purposed to provide a mini-vacation of sorts, a respite in which to enjoy both emerging and accomplished artists and also push pause and get recalibrated at the intersection of art and life.

Sometimes the recharge happens as we get lost in the metaphors and melodies of a master singer-songwriter like David Wilcox (www.davidwilcox.com) an experienced pro who will weave narrative and music through the course of an evening like no other on May 22.

Sometimes re-orientation occurs in the Square Room through a provocative work like Princess Cut, a locally written theatrical production that premiers May 30, and will tell the disturbing yet hopeful story of a girl once enslaved in a sex traffic ring here in Knoxville.

Or perhaps that moment of clarity will come in the context of an up-close and personal performance of a favorite song from a homegrown talent like Dave Barnes on July 24 (www.davebarnes.com) or the soulful execution of a Grammy winning artist like Knoxville's own Ashley Cleveland (www.ashleycleveland.com
) on August 28.

Or maybe, that new found sense of perspective will accrue to you over a meal in the Square Room's 'dinner theatre' production of Neil Simon's classic "Barefoot in the Park," on August 7-8.

Whatever it is and wherever it might be, my hope is that one way or another you'd find a way-and the arts are a great way-to slow yourself down this summer and be reminded of what is most important.For a full calendar of events in the Square Room at Cafe4, please visit www.thesquareroom.com.And don't forget to hit the refresh button.