What Makes You Weird Makes You Wonderful with Michael Galyean
Michael Galyean is a viral sensation and content creator who gained international attention when he participated in a recent viral dance number at a UT Football game. But what many people don’t know about Michael is how long he’s been dreaming...
Michael Galyean is a viral sensation and content creator who gained international attention when he participated in a recent viral dance number at a UT Football game. But what many people don’t know about Michael is how long he’s been dreaming about dancing on the sidelines at Neyland Stadium, and how involved he is with the local community here in Knoxville. Throughout our conversation, Michael shares insights on how he aims to bridge the gap between West Knoxville and Downtown, how the local community has partnered with him on recent projects, and his goals for the future including his upcoming podcast launch and children’s book release.
Highlights
00:00 Intro
00:23 Julia introduces Michael, who is also known as the “Blue Shirt Guy”
01:14 Michael describes his connection to Knoxville and how he came to live here after growing up in Delaware
04:10 How Michael went viral at a recent UT football game
07:04 How has the Knoxville community changed over the years and supported Michael’s career
09:35 Ad - Dr. Joe Chiro
10:08 Michael’s views on the division between West Knoxville and Downtown Knoxville, and how it might be possible to bridge the gap
14:51 Michael’s goals for his future in Knoxville
18:02 Why Michael decided to write a children’s book and launch a podcast
20:56 Ad - Just Homes Group
23:31 Michael’s favorite Knoxville spots
Links Mentioned In This Episode:
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Just Homes Group: https://www.justhomesgroup.com/
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Dr. Joe Chiro: https://goseedrjoe.com/
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Transcript
Julia: Welcome, everybody. This is Julia Hurley. We’re doing another amazing episode of Connect the Knox with Julia Hurley, your hostess with the mostest, connecting Knoxville to the nation. Today’s amazing guest is my very good friend Michael Galyean—which I never pronounce his name properly—better known as Blue Shirt Guy. And if you don’t know who Blue Shirt Guy is, you’re about to find out everything that you need to know about the blue shirt phenomenon. Michael, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.
Michael: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
Julia: Yes, yes. All right. So, starting question. Did I pronounce your last name correctly [laugh]?
Michael: No one ever does. I’m not even sure if I do at this point anymore. I feel like if everybody else is doing it one way, I should just join in. But it’s actually ‘Gallion’ like, ‘scallion.’ Galyean.
Julia: Is Galyean a word? What is that?
Michael: It’s like after a ship or something? I don’t know [laugh].
Julia: We’re going to have to look it up. All right. So, very first question out the gate. We want everybody in the nation to know, what is your connection to Knoxville?
Michael: Oh, gosh. I feel like I have a lot of this point. I moved to Knoxville 23 years ago to attend the University of Tennessee. The story that I have been telling a lot—because of my recent viral-ness, but this is true—I came from Delaware. I applied at Tennessee and at Kentucky, and when we were doing our campus tours, Tennessee was our first. And let me tell you this was the first interstate I had ever seen. I had never really seen mountains before [laugh]. So, driving into Tennessee was already just this Dreamland, right? It felt like Hollywood. It was huge. Oh, my gosh.
And I remember coming down James White Parkway and seeing the river, which was gorgeous, and the bridges and all these skyscrapers. Again, Delaware. Two traffic lights, a McDonald’s. That’s it. So, [laugh] we turn the corner and I see Neyland Stadium, and I usually tear up every time I see this. But I’d seen Neyland Stadium and I was like, “I’m going to be a cheerleader in there one day.”
And I just remember seeing campus open up and just go, [singing] “Ahhhh, we’ve got you, little boy, Come on.” So, you know, and [laugh] I believe we stayed at a hotel on Lovell Road—before Turkey Creek was born; again, this was 1999—and I just remember thinking Knoxville was this huge Mecca, right? We went to Lexington. Didn’t fall in love with her. She was no good.
Julia: [laugh].
Michael: So, you know, just from the first—
Julia: Sorry Lexington.
Michael: Sorry. Sorry Lexington listeners. I’m sure she’s fine. But [laugh] no, it just as soon as I turned into Knoxville, it just gave me this vibe of home sweet home to me, right?
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: So, ever since then, I’ve had a—you know, it went from the biggest place, and then when you leave campus and you see the rest of Knoxville, you’re like, feels a little small. What are we doing? And then it opened back up for me, especially with the revitalization of downtown. So, I’ve got, you know, a lot of little pockets of areas that I love and where friends and family are. So yeah, I’m a Knoxvillean now. 23 years strong.
Julia: I love that. I love that story. “Ahhh.” You saw Neyland Stadium, it’s how we all feel about Neyland Stadium. “Ahhh.”
Michael: Yeah. It felt like I was actually running through the Power T [laugh].
Julia: [laugh]. Did you get to run through the Power T?
Michael: Not yet. That’s what I’m going to say. Not yet. I don’t know if they allow civilians just to run through [laugh].
Julia: They do. I think it’s a donation of $100,000.
Michael: Yeah, I’m not going to be running through the Power T.
Julia: [laugh]. I know that you have a lot going on in the Knoxville area due to, it’s not even that recent. It just feels like recently a lot of people have locally seen you, but you had a national exposure moment. On UT’s football field. We were there for it. Our seats were on the very first row and we saw this happening. And I was like, what is going on down there at the DJ booth? So, tell everybody that does not know what the scenario was and how this has catapulted you here in Knoxville.
Michael: Sure. So, I was invited by the dance coach, which is a friend of mine, Kelley Tafazzoli. She reached out to me about a week before we performed, saying, “We have this idea for a little bit.” You know, and there’s a lot of viral security guard, police officers, empires, dancing on the sidelines, and a lot of it's them battling with the mascot or just, you know, doing a little solo moment. And they were like, “We want to elevate it.” We know that—A, I have a dance background; B, I came to UT to be a cheerleader and chickened out, never fulfilled that dream.
And three, [laugh] I’ve been recently participating in a lot of the Jupiter Productions here in Knoxville, which film Snapped, and, you know, Homicide Hunters, and I play a lot of detectives, and police officer, and security guards, so [laugh] she knew I could play all three of those roles well. And so, we just, we put together a little skit in about four days. We had 30 minutes of rehearsal. And we just wanted to just elevate. And that’s, I think they’ve been doing really, really well the past few years is, football’s great; you also got to entertain us during those timeouts and those commercial breaks and really make it a full experience.
So, I was just be glad to be part of it. Even if no one ever recorded it, it was still the best day of my life just to have my dream fulfilled. I mean, it’s Neyland Stadium. You know, you and I went in there when it was empty and it still feels powerful, right? It’s—
Julia: It is.
Michael: There’s electricity in there at all times. So yeah, I kind of went internationally viral. It still is. I was just training in Sweden a couple of weeks ago [laugh]. I don’t know. But ESPN and GameDay just shared it for the fourth time this past week, so it’s still getting buzz. And the best part is, it’s still positive [laugh], all the feedback, for the most part, it’s 99.9% positive. And people are just happy to see joy and dance and just seeing the power of the Vols also so great day.
Julia: Sure, yeah. So, [unintelligible 00:06:53] we’ll talk about the chickening out of the cheerleading later on down the road, but—
Michael: Sure.
Julia: How has the local Knoxville community affected and changed with you? And what are you seeing what the local community do to help you catapult that—
Michael: Absolutely.
Julia: —dream?
Michael: Yeah. So, in the past few years, I—and we’ll touch on this, too—but I’ve been really involved in the Knoxville community in many, many different ways. And first of all, I am an ambassador and a navigator for the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, so I work with them on a lot of, what we like to call, like, client facing, so whether it’s ribbon cuttings or events with the members and kind of interacting with the community. But also with that, I’ve been working downtown a lot, which is new to Knoxville. In my eyes, we kind of have two Knoxvilles: we have our downtown, and then we have the rest of the county, right?
And they are two different worlds. They act differently, they are different, they have different needs and desires, and I’ve kind of—you know, and I live in West Knoxville. I’m on Cedar Bluff, so I’ve kind of been this bridge on my social media for years of that gap of downtown Knoxville is not that far away, it’s accessible, there are things to do. This isn’t 2003 where there was nothing to do. I understand.
But just showing them—
Julia: When I lived there [laugh].
Michael: That it’s not just a t—yeah, yeah. And it was desolate. I get it. Showing them that it’s not just a tourist trap and there’s little pockets and areas of really great restaurants and all that. So, I’ve always been that to my few friends and followers on Facebook and Instagram.
But now that I’ve kind of gotten this platform, there’s some validity there [laugh], and now I’ve been able to really celebrate and promote you know, my friends and neighbors that live in Knoxville and help just be a voice, not just to the locals, but there’s been plenty of people that have moved to Knoxville because of my dance. I’m just saying, I need a commission somewhere. I don’t know [laugh]—
Julia: [laugh].
Michael: I don’t know how to get that check. But I’ve had two or three people go, “We were debating between Nashville or Knoxville, and you and your energy have made us go to Knoxville.” So, you’re welcome, real estate agents [laugh].
Julia: I love you. I love you. I love you. I give you—
Michael: I’ll take it.
Julia: —props everywhere I go. I include you in everything I do [laugh].
Michael: I love it. Perfect. Same, same, and same.
Julia: Yes, and thank you, and thank you. So, Knoxville in and of itself, as small of us a town—a big small town as it is, what challenges have you faced and what challenges do you face and how are you overcoming those here locally?
Michael: Hmm. I mean, I think we can all talk about the first one and that’s just the inflation of prices. But that’s life. That is what we have. That’s what happens when we build a better town. But you know, it happened overnight, it felt like, and I know we’re not the only city. It is what it is. We do have to change with the times, I guess, but it is frustrating.
But I think all-in-all, I think that division of downtown versus the rest of Knoxville is kind of—I’d like to bridge that gap a lot more, and I think that comes with just mindset, I think it comes with education, I think it comes with just cross-marketing. Because I did run a company in Market Square for a while and we stopped promoting to West Knoxville because we gave up, saying, “Those people will never come downtown. It’s so far away.” And now it’s, what, 15 minutes on a bad day? But I think just something between those two, just to say this is one city. We’re acting like it’s two. And you know, whether it’s political or economic, there’s so many, just different divides within city Knox, county Knox, and I’d love to see those come together.
Julia: So, I think one of the things that—I live in West, West, right—
Michael: Mm-hm.
Julia: —out West, and I also see—
Michael: It’s the wild, wild west.
Julia: Wild, wild west [laugh]. We also see that separation and I think that what we see are two avenues of conversation, right? You see the Visit Knoxville, you see, like, the Knoxville Sports Association, and that only talks about everything going on in downtown Knoxville, even though Farragut pays city taxes. Like, pockets of the county pay City of Knoxville taxes. That Sports Authority only focuses on downtown Knoxville and UT. It only focuses on avenues that will create a downtown atmosphere.
And so, I think what we’re seeing is that people in Knox “County”—and I put that in quotations—don’t understand that they are part of the city. And they don’t see the benefit of being part of the city because if they go downtown, they get frustrated that there’s no parking or they can’t find a place to easily go into, they can’t walk in with their family and eat somewhere, or it’s—they’re really not sure what’s going on and there are 32 different websites to get to and they’re very cumbersome—
Michael: Accurate.
Julia: —because we are so blessed to have so much to do. So, how do you bridge that gap?
Michael: Yeah. Yeah, I… I think what I’ve always found with the people that don’t visit downtown Knoxville often enough, they like to come on, you know, old Boomsday, they come on game day, they come on Christmas parade day, they come on the most hectic days, and then go yeah, there isn’t parking because we’ve got, who knows, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, three parades, Barbie movie. Like, you chose the crazy day. Come down for Wednesday at lunch. Take a lunch meeting in downtown Knoxville, you know? Come to your birthday party on Wednesday night versus sitting in Turkey Creek for 30 minutes; you could be downtown in 15.
So, I think staying away from the crazy, then realizing it’s not that crazy. Yeah, and you’re right. There are a lot of outlets to figure out what’s there to do. I’d say make your own outlet, you know? Go down there and find it yourself. And everyone also thinks downtown Knoxville is Market Square only.
And that was true ten years ago, five years ago, but now we’ve got things like Old City, Historic North, Fourth & Gill, we’ve got South Knoxville now that is booming. So, there are little other areas where you can pop in, grab a beer, grab a bite, and be in and out with the same parking spot [laugh]. So, that’s my West Knoxville—
Julia: Your West Knoxville—
Michael: —hurdle is a—
Julia: —is [crosstalk 00:13:57] [laugh].
Michael: Yeah. When it’s like, we got a park here, but then we got to drive over here. No. But that’s why I still live out West. I love it too. So.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah, West Knoxville’s trying. Turkey Creek’s growing, West Town Mall is… the only mall that I know of in the entire southeast that’s still standing. So [laugh]—
Michael: Correct [laugh]. Correct.
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Julia: So, what are your plans and dreams for the future? And assuming that you’re saying in the Knoxville market, what are you doing to create that feel, to be able to bridge the gap, to be able to speak on behalf of the businesses and business owners in Knoxville? What are you doing for your future?
Michael: For sure. So, to answer the second question first, I’ve been working with things like downtown Knoxville, Visit Knoxville, and my outlets within Chamber to just use my platform, my social media platform, to show off my favorite thing. So, I’ve done a few posts that were quite successful, called “Dancing Through Downtown” where I showcased my favorite things to do in Market Square for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and a date night. Same thing in the Old City. So, just showing those easy-to-grab, easy-to-do, they’re not just there on the holidays, they’re there year-round.
So, I like to use that and just kind of make that bigger, just use that for—I’m about to collab with One Knoxville, the soccer team we have downtown. Not many people know that they’re actually playing because they [unintelligible 00:15:55]—they were waiting for the stadium to be open. So, I’m going to collab with them on just the how-tos, what’s going on, where to park [laugh], our favorite thing. So, I think just putting myself in any organic place, you know? I’m not the expert on everything in Knoxville, believe me. I know nightlife very well, but [laugh] yeah, just using my voice in any way possible to help.
Again, these are my friends and neighbors. I feel like downtown Knoxville—and I keep talking about that like it’s the only place, but they have been really great to me as far as being a safety net when I lost my career two years ago. You know, I built that network of local business owners and, you know, this marketing owner and this real estate—like, that was my safety net. So, I built that network. I was falling and I was caught. So, I love to help celebrate them as well any which way that I can.
The sec—or first question, I need a talk show. So, if anyone on here—that’s my ten-year plan. And I—we’ve always thought that this person was cheesy, but I think I want this career. It’s like a Ryan Seacrest situation—
Julia: Okay, okay.
Michael: —where it’s like, a host, where I can pop in and host things, I could have a daily talk show, I could do Wheel of Fortune, which I think he’s doing now. But just being a personality. You know, I tried the acting gig for a little bit. I’m already enough character. I don’t [laugh] I don’t know if there’s room for me to pull out another character other than myself.
So, love a talk show that is a combination of, like, an Ellen from the kindness standpoint, a Jimmy Fallon from the ridiculous standpoint, and then, like, a SNL Chelsea Handler irrelevance—irreverence kind of thing, where just [laugh], chaos but all comes together in, like, a place of joy and celebration. So, that’s the ten-year plan [laugh].
Julia: Very good. I think Knoxville will have that within the decade.
Michael: I agree. Yeah. I’d love to see that.
Julia: Well, in the ten year, tell me about the book you’re writing, and tell us about your podcast coming up?
Michael: Sure. So yes, I am in production right now with a children’s book called The Dancing Blue Shirt Boy. Wow, it’s so creative, right [laugh]? I don’t know where that came from.
Julia: I love it. I love it.
Michael: Wow. It’s currently being illustrated by a young lady here locally in Knoxville and it’s slated to be out, hopefully, by October, which would be the one-year anniversary of my performance. So, I’d love to just kind of piggyback that with, like, “Hi, here’s what I’ve been doing.” And the book idea came from a lot of different things. Obviously, kind of the story itself is already just well-written.
It combines my journey to get to Knoxville with how the dance came about. But also, you know, there was a lot of young gentlemen that came up to me. I had my first autograph request was by a little ten-year-old dance boy from my studio that I used to teach at, and I was like, “Okay, this is happening. Ahh.” And then I performed again in February for the basketball team and I brought out young dancers. I brought out some former students of mine, some colleagues, so there was about 15 Blue Shirt Boys out on the dance floor. And a customer at my brewery came up that I work at—I also work at a brewery; I have about five jobs; don’t worry about it—she came up and she was like, “My son and I were at that game”—
Julia: [crosstalk 00:19:36] Knoxville [laugh].
Michael: —“You know, that was awesome.” Yeah. I’m just, you know, here to stimulate the economy. But she came up and she was like, “My son and I were at the basketball game and we were watching you dance.” And again, I get—why am I so emotional today? Why did you catch me on today?
But she said he turned to me afterwards and went, “Mommy, can I take dance lessons so I could be as cool as those boys out there?” And I was like, someone—a boy thinks dance is cool? So, I was like, “Okay, I got to write this story.” Because I couldn’t find one on the internet about boys that want to dance where it’s not that Rudolph story where it’s like, let’s make fun of it, or he feels terrible about himself until they need him. There is that little bit of twist of, like, they invite him, but it was like, “We know you can do this. You’re amazing.” It’s more of, like, a self-realization, just go out there and do it, what makes you weird makes you wonderful so go celebrate that. So, excited for that. Hopefully the—
Julia: Oh, [unintelligible 00:20:36] I love that already. What makes you weird makes you [unintelligible 00:20:39]. I love it.
Michael: That might be book number two, so let me copyright that real fast [laugh].
Julia: Wait, [crosstalk 00:20:43].
Michael: Let me copyright that. Scratch that. Edit that out. Edit that out. And then yes, the podcast—
Julia: I have a trademark attorney. I’ll send him your way [laugh].
Michael: Perfect, perfect [laugh]. As far as the podcast, that’s kind of been a recent thing. You know, I love doing podcasts. I don’t know why. Me talking about myself? Weird. But I was on a podcast a few months ago, with Chris McAdoo, which is, he works for the Entrepreneurial Center downtown, he’s just kind of one of those downtown people that’s everywhere.
And we had a really, really good conversation. And the production company was like, “You ever thought about your own?” And I was like, “Ehh, it’s always been on the radar.” But we had a meeting, and I came with an idea called Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda. And it’s kind of touching on what you’ve asked a few times. Like, what are the things you wish you could have done differently or should have done differently?
And it sounds like it might be a little bit of a dark conversation, but I think those choices that we maybe missed out on led us to where we are, or maybe there was a great lesson with that. And some of them I want them to be silly, you know? Maybe you wish you could have jumped out of an airplane. Or maybe you wish you could have, you know, found your first love again, or should have not gone to college and wasted $90,000. You know, whatever the conversation might be [laugh].
Julia: One hundred thousand here. [crosstalk 00:22:10]
Michael: Uh-huh. Yeah, I only went for two-and-a-half years so [laugh]. But yeah, it just kind of went ahead. And they’re quick little chit-chats and then, you know, there’ll be some, like, life lessons in there and just tying that back to thinking about your life differently and kind of being proud of those choices that you made. Or didn’t make.
Julia: Hmm. Every choice you make leads you to where you’re supposed to be.
Michael: Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, I’m glad I wasn’t a cheerleader before because 23 years later, I got to be one and it’s much more fun now. But yeah, the podcast should be out—we’re shooting for probably late August, early September.
Julia: Very good. Very, very good. Well, we have a few minutes left, so what I like to talk about—
Michael: It’s so fast. What, are you kidding me?
Julia: During this last [crosstalk 00:22:59] everybody [unintelligible 00:23:00]—yeah, it’s already been 22 minutes. We, we—you know us. We could talk for days. We could talk for days.
Michael: Accurate. I got one cup of coffee in me. We’re ready to go.
Julia: So, give us the list. Give us a list of—and we ask everybody, like, your favorite grocery store, your favorite brewery your favorite restaurant, your favorite snack shack—
Michael: Oh gosh.
Julia: —you’re favorite dance club. Like, give us a list.
Michael: Okay, wow. I mean, grocery store. You got to go with the Kroger Marketplace on Cedar Bluff. That’s pure class, baby. That’s pure class [laugh].
Julia: The one in Farragut sells furniture. [It’s massive 00:23:40] [laugh].
Michael: Yeah. Well, they all did at the very beginning. They had TVs and furniture, and then the one in Farragut also has the beer bar, so that is—
Julia: That’s right.
Michael: A plus. I mean, gosh, West Knoxville, we’re booming. But let’s go. Favorite brewery. All right, my top three that I tell people. You got to come to Elst Brewery; it’s in North Central. I think we have very approachable beers. If you’re maybe new to the beer world, we’ve got a great version of each beer.
I also think people need to check out Pretentious down in the Old City. They blow their own glass and they make their own beer, so it’s kind of an interactive thing. You can take a glassblowing class, you can sit there and watch them make glasses. But he’s one of the first people I think that made the Old City what it is today. And I don’t know if you know this, but he is one of the top five Etsy makers of all time. So, Etsy came to Knoxville, saw how great we were doing and they deemed us the first Maker City.
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: Which really I think helped, I really think it helped boom, the weirdos coming to Knoxville, the makers, the creators, the artists, the musicians. You know, because we are that kind of child of Asheville and Nashville, where we—a little bit of country, a little bit of rock and roll, a little bit of crunchy, a little bit granola, and we’re all kind of this mix, which is awesome downtown. So, that would be my second. And then number three I believe is, like, Crafty Bastard, which we’ve got out west now. I really think they’re doing great things. It’s very interesting beer, especially in their downtown location.
Let’s see places to eat. Gosh, why are you asking me this?
Julia: Give me three.
Michael: All right. I can give you three. Don’t ever ask for one. Kaizen—
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Michael: —in the Old City.
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Michael: That’s always super approachable and casual, but some of the best flavors you’ll ever have. I love the Brass Pearl, also in Market Square. Seafood, raw bar, but also really great dishes. Oliver Royale if you’re wanting something higher-end—
Julia: Their cheese plate’s—
Michael: Great brunch.
Julia: —phenomenal.
Michael: Oh, I mean, just even their water is delicious. How does that happen [laugh]?
Julia: Well, they don’t get out of the river.
Michael: Right. Here you go [laugh]. Fresh from the bounty. Let’s see coffee shops, maybe?
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: Um, coffee shops. Likewise. I don’t know if you’ve tried likewise—
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: On Magnolia. Really great venue, just cozy, super cool. K Brew is always a classic. They’ve got plenty of locations and they’re still good quality. And then I also love Old City Java. I talk about the Old City a lot.
Julia: So, I lived in downtown. I lived down there when no one—like, the Old City Association had five members and [unintelligible 00:26:36] who was talking about coming. I mean, they weren’t even there yet. I mean, that’s when I was in the Old City. And the only thing there was Old City Java, and what used to be Manhattan’s, and I don’t even know what it is now. And I would—
Michael: Jig and Reel. Jig and Reel.
Julia: No, no—is it J—[unintelligible 00:26:53] was across the street.
Michael: That was, uh, Patrick Sullivan’s.
Julia: Patrick Sullivan’s. No, no, no, no. No, the one across from that.
Michael: Spicy’s.
Julia: With the big [taco 00:27:02].
Michael: That was Spicy’s back in—
Julia: Spicy’s? Okay.
Michael: My day.
Julia: Right.
Michael: 2000, maybe?
Julia: So, I lived above that.
Michael: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, I lived above that.
Michael: Okay. Right on.
Julia: Yeah. There was nothing down there. Like, there was Hannah’s—
Michael: No.
Julia: —Sullivan’s, and Old City Java. I was there for the opening of Jig and Reel, that’s how long ago this was [laugh]. But Old City Java is honest to God, still today one of my favorite coffee shops.
Michael: Well, probably because the front door is so short, you actually fit in it perfectly, though, right? It’s such a small little front door. You feel—I am so tall today [laugh].
Julia: [laugh]. I feel very large and in charge.
Michael: Yeah, it’s very Alice in Wonderland. You’ve got to really duck in and under. But no, they’re great. It’s a really—it’s a good place.
Julia: That’s—all right, one last question. One last question. If people visit you from out of the area that have never been here before, what is the first place that you take them to? Where is it or what is it?
Michael: Probably my favorite building in town—and it’s such a cop-out—but the Sunsphere.
Julia: [laugh].
Michael: You can’t go wrong. I love it—
Julia: I love that because—
Michael: It’s gorgeous.
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: Well, people have no idea what it is, and to me, it’s a disco ball. But you know, I rented it out for my 40th birthday a year ago, so that was—so it was just one of those it turned 40 the same year I turned 40, we’re both Knoxville icons, and we both get lit at night. So—[laugh].
Julia: [laugh].
Michael: I thought, what a perfect match.
Julia: I love you so much.
Michael: You’re welcome.
Julia: Yeah, you’re awake at nine o’clock. By 8:45, I’m like this. Done.
Michael: Oh, yeah. Nine o’clock, we’re just waking up. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. No my—
Michael: I love it. Night owl.
Julia: Wow. This has been one of my favorite podcasts. I love having you on anything that we do. Thanks for being on American Dream TV, selling Knoxville, our internationally known television [crosstalk 00:29:13]—
Michael: So much fun.
Julia: It was great. We appreciate everything you do. We appreciate Kelley bringing you on with the dance team because she has given us such insight and creativity to UT sports that’s not just players on the field, and we appreciate all of that. Everything you do for the chamber, Michael, thank you. We look forward to listening to your podcast. We look forward to reading and buying your book in October, and hopefully—and not, hopefully, but we will, you know, make sure that we beat Bama just in enough time to buy your book and celebrate it [laugh].
Michael: Please, absolutely. We need that [laugh].
Julia: So, thank you again for being on the show. Listeners, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Connect the Knox. I’m Julia Hurley, your hostess with the mostest. Thanks for tuning in, and until next time, bye, everybody.
Julia: Thank you for tuning into the show. Make sure to like and subscribe, leave a five-star review on your podcast player of choice, and if you would like information on moving to Knoxville, send me a private message. As always, this is Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.
Julia: Welcome, everybody. This is Julia Hurley. We’re doing another amazing episode of Connect the Knox with Julia Hurley, your hostess with the mostest, connecting Knoxville to the nation. Today’s amazing guest is my very good friend Michael Galyean—which I never pronounce his name properly—better known as Blue Shirt Guy. And if you don’t know who Blue Shirt Guy is, you’re about to find out everything that you need to know about the blue shirt phenomenon. Michael, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.
Michael: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
Julia: Yes, yes. All right. So, starting question. Did I pronounce your last name correctly [laugh]?
Michael: No one ever does. I’m not even sure if I do at this point anymore. I feel like if everybody else is doing it one way, I should just join in. But it’s actually ‘Gallion’ like, ‘scallion.’ Galyean.
Julia: Is Galyean a word? What is that?
Michael: It’s like after a ship or something? I don’t know [laugh].
Julia: We’re going to have to look it up. All right. So, very first question out the gate. We want everybody in the nation to know, what is your connection to Knoxville?
Michael: Oh, gosh. I feel like I have a lot of this point. I moved to Knoxville 23 years ago to attend the University of Tennessee. The story that I have been telling a lot—because of my recent viral-ness, but this is true—I came from Delaware. I applied at Tennessee and at Kentucky, and when we were doing our campus tours, Tennessee was our first. And let me tell you this was the first interstate I had ever seen. I had never really seen mountains before [laugh]. So, driving into Tennessee was already just this Dreamland, right? It felt like Hollywood. It was huge. Oh, my gosh.
And I remember coming down James White Parkway and seeing the river, which was gorgeous, and the bridges and all these skyscrapers. Again, Delaware. Two traffic lights, a McDonald’s. That’s it. So, [laugh] we turn the corner and I see Neyland Stadium, and I usually tear up every time I see this. But I’d seen Neyland Stadium and I was like, “I’m going to be a cheerleader in there one day.”
And I just remember seeing campus open up and just go, [singing] “Ahhhh, we’ve got you, little boy, Come on.” So, you know, and [laugh] I believe we stayed at a hotel on Lovell Road—before Turkey Creek was born; again, this was 1999—and I just remember thinking Knoxville was this huge Mecca, right? We went to Lexington. Didn’t fall in love with her. She was no good.
Julia: [laugh].
Michael: So, you know, just from the first—
Julia: Sorry Lexington.
Michael: Sorry. Sorry Lexington listeners. I’m sure she’s fine. But [laugh] no, it just as soon as I turned into Knoxville, it just gave me this vibe of home sweet home to me, right?
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: So, ever since then, I’ve had a—you know, it went from the biggest place, and then when you leave campus and you see the rest of Knoxville, you’re like, feels a little small. What are we doing? And then it opened back up for me, especially with the revitalization of downtown. So, I’ve got, you know, a lot of little pockets of areas that I love and where friends and family are. So yeah, I’m a Knoxvillean now. 23 years strong.
Julia: I love that. I love that story. “Ahhh.” You saw Neyland Stadium, it’s how we all feel about Neyland Stadium. “Ahhh.”
Michael: Yeah. It felt like I was actually running through the Power T [laugh].
Julia: [laugh]. Did you get to run through the Power T?
Michael: Not yet. That’s what I’m going to say. Not yet. I don’t know if they allow civilians just to run through [laugh].
Julia: They do. I think it’s a donation of $100,000.
Michael: Yeah, I’m not going to be running through the Power T.
Julia: [laugh]. I know that you have a lot going on in the Knoxville area due to, it’s not even that recent. It just feels like recently a lot of people have locally seen you, but you had a national exposure moment. On UT’s football field. We were there for it. Our seats were on the very first row and we saw this happening. And I was like, what is going on down there at the DJ booth? So, tell everybody that does not know what the scenario was and how this has catapulted you here in Knoxville.
Michael: Sure. So, I was invited by the dance coach, which is a friend of mine, Kelley Tafazzoli. She reached out to me about a week before we performed, saying, “We have this idea for a little bit.” You know, and there’s a lot of viral security guard, police officers, empires, dancing on the sidelines, and a lot of it's them battling with the mascot or just, you know, doing a little solo moment. And they were like, “We want to elevate it.” We know that—A, I have a dance background; B, I came to UT to be a cheerleader and chickened out, never fulfilled that dream.
And three, [laugh] I’ve been recently participating in a lot of the Jupiter Productions here in Knoxville, which film Snapped, and, you know, Homicide Hunters, and I play a lot of detectives, and police officer, and security guards, so [laugh] she knew I could play all three of those roles well. And so, we just, we put together a little skit in about four days. We had 30 minutes of rehearsal. And we just wanted to just elevate. And that’s, I think they’ve been doing really, really well the past few years is, football’s great; you also got to entertain us during those timeouts and those commercial breaks and really make it a full experience.
So, I was just be glad to be part of it. Even if no one ever recorded it, it was still the best day of my life just to have my dream fulfilled. I mean, it’s Neyland Stadium. You know, you and I went in there when it was empty and it still feels powerful, right? It’s—
Julia: It is.
Michael: There’s electricity in there at all times. So yeah, I kind of went internationally viral. It still is. I was just training in Sweden a couple of weeks ago [laugh]. I don’t know. But ESPN and GameDay just shared it for the fourth time this past week, so it’s still getting buzz. And the best part is, it’s still positive [laugh], all the feedback, for the most part, it’s 99.9% positive. And people are just happy to see joy and dance and just seeing the power of the Vols also so great day.
Julia: Sure, yeah. So, [unintelligible 00:06:53] we’ll talk about the chickening out of the cheerleading later on down the road, but—
Michael: Sure.
Julia: How has the local Knoxville community affected and changed with you? And what are you seeing what the local community do to help you catapult that—
Michael: Absolutely.
Julia: —dream?
Michael: Yeah. So, in the past few years, I—and we’ll touch on this, too—but I’ve been really involved in the Knoxville community in many, many different ways. And first of all, I am an ambassador and a navigator for the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, so I work with them on a lot of, what we like to call, like, client facing, so whether it’s ribbon cuttings or events with the members and kind of interacting with the community. But also with that, I’ve been working downtown a lot, which is new to Knoxville. In my eyes, we kind of have two Knoxvilles: we have our downtown, and then we have the rest of the county, right?
And they are two different worlds. They act differently, they are different, they have different needs and desires, and I’ve kind of—you know, and I live in West Knoxville. I’m on Cedar Bluff, so I’ve kind of been this bridge on my social media for years of that gap of downtown Knoxville is not that far away, it’s accessible, there are things to do. This isn’t 2003 where there was nothing to do. I understand.
But just showing them—
Julia: When I lived there [laugh].
Michael: That it’s not just a t—yeah, yeah. And it was desolate. I get it. Showing them that it’s not just a tourist trap and there’s little pockets and areas of really great restaurants and all that. So, I’ve always been that to my few friends and followers on Facebook and Instagram.
But now that I’ve kind of gotten this platform, there’s some validity there [laugh], and now I’ve been able to really celebrate and promote you know, my friends and neighbors that live in Knoxville and help just be a voice, not just to the locals, but there’s been plenty of people that have moved to Knoxville because of my dance. I’m just saying, I need a commission somewhere. I don’t know [laugh]—
Julia: [laugh].
Michael: I don’t know how to get that check. But I’ve had two or three people go, “We were debating between Nashville or Knoxville, and you and your energy have made us go to Knoxville.” So, you’re welcome, real estate agents [laugh].
Julia: I love you. I love you. I love you. I give you—
Michael: I’ll take it.
Julia: —props everywhere I go. I include you in everything I do [laugh].
Michael: I love it. Perfect. Same, same, and same.
Julia: Yes, and thank you, and thank you. So, Knoxville in and of itself, as small of us a town—a big small town as it is, what challenges have you faced and what challenges do you face and how are you overcoming those here locally?
Michael: Hmm. I mean, I think we can all talk about the first one and that’s just the inflation of prices. But that’s life. That is what we have. That’s what happens when we build a better town. But you know, it happened overnight, it felt like, and I know we’re not the only city. It is what it is. We do have to change with the times, I guess, but it is frustrating.
But I think all-in-all, I think that division of downtown versus the rest of Knoxville is kind of—I’d like to bridge that gap a lot more, and I think that comes with just mindset, I think it comes with education, I think it comes with just cross-marketing. Because I did run a company in Market Square for a while and we stopped promoting to West Knoxville because we gave up, saying, “Those people will never come downtown. It’s so far away.” And now it’s, what, 15 minutes on a bad day? But I think just something between those two, just to say this is one city. We’re acting like it’s two. And you know, whether it’s political or economic, there’s so many, just different divides within city Knox, county Knox, and I’d love to see those come together.
Julia: So, I think one of the things that—I live in West, West, right—
Michael: Mm-hm.
Julia: —out West, and I also see—
Michael: It’s the wild, wild west.
Julia: Wild, wild west [laugh]. We also see that separation and I think that what we see are two avenues of conversation, right? You see the Visit Knoxville, you see, like, the Knoxville Sports Association, and that only talks about everything going on in downtown Knoxville, even though Farragut pays city taxes. Like, pockets of the county pay City of Knoxville taxes. That Sports Authority only focuses on downtown Knoxville and UT. It only focuses on avenues that will create a downtown atmosphere.
And so, I think what we’re seeing is that people in Knox “County”—and I put that in quotations—don’t understand that they are part of the city. And they don’t see the benefit of being part of the city because if they go downtown, they get frustrated that there’s no parking or they can’t find a place to easily go into, they can’t walk in with their family and eat somewhere, or it’s—they’re really not sure what’s going on and there are 32 different websites to get to and they’re very cumbersome—
Michael: Accurate.
Julia: —because we are so blessed to have so much to do. So, how do you bridge that gap?
Michael: Yeah. Yeah, I… I think what I’ve always found with the people that don’t visit downtown Knoxville often enough, they like to come on, you know, old Boomsday, they come on game day, they come on Christmas parade day, they come on the most hectic days, and then go yeah, there isn’t parking because we’ve got, who knows, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, three parades, Barbie movie. Like, you chose the crazy day. Come down for Wednesday at lunch. Take a lunch meeting in downtown Knoxville, you know? Come to your birthday party on Wednesday night versus sitting in Turkey Creek for 30 minutes; you could be downtown in 15.
So, I think staying away from the crazy, then realizing it’s not that crazy. Yeah, and you’re right. There are a lot of outlets to figure out what’s there to do. I’d say make your own outlet, you know? Go down there and find it yourself. And everyone also thinks downtown Knoxville is Market Square only.
And that was true ten years ago, five years ago, but now we’ve got things like Old City, Historic North, Fourth & Gill, we’ve got South Knoxville now that is booming. So, there are little other areas where you can pop in, grab a beer, grab a bite, and be in and out with the same parking spot [laugh]. So, that’s my West Knoxville—
Julia: Your West Knoxville—
Michael: —hurdle is a—
Julia: —is [crosstalk 00:13:57] [laugh].
Michael: Yeah. When it’s like, we got a park here, but then we got to drive over here. No. But that’s why I still live out West. I love it too. So.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah, West Knoxville’s trying. Turkey Creek’s growing, West Town Mall is… the only mall that I know of in the entire southeast that’s still standing. So [laugh]—
Michael: Correct [laugh]. Correct.
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Julia: So, what are your plans and dreams for the future? And assuming that you’re saying in the Knoxville market, what are you doing to create that feel, to be able to bridge the gap, to be able to speak on behalf of the businesses and business owners in Knoxville? What are you doing for your future?
Michael: For sure. So, to answer the second question first, I’ve been working with things like downtown Knoxville, Visit Knoxville, and my outlets within Chamber to just use my platform, my social media platform, to show off my favorite thing. So, I’ve done a few posts that were quite successful, called “Dancing Through Downtown” where I showcased my favorite things to do in Market Square for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and a date night. Same thing in the Old City. So, just showing those easy-to-grab, easy-to-do, they’re not just there on the holidays, they’re there year-round.
So, I like to use that and just kind of make that bigger, just use that for—I’m about to collab with One Knoxville, the soccer team we have downtown. Not many people know that they’re actually playing because they [unintelligible 00:15:55]—they were waiting for the stadium to be open. So, I’m going to collab with them on just the how-tos, what’s going on, where to park [laugh], our favorite thing. So, I think just putting myself in any organic place, you know? I’m not the expert on everything in Knoxville, believe me. I know nightlife very well, but [laugh] yeah, just using my voice in any way possible to help.
Again, these are my friends and neighbors. I feel like downtown Knoxville—and I keep talking about that like it’s the only place, but they have been really great to me as far as being a safety net when I lost my career two years ago. You know, I built that network of local business owners and, you know, this marketing owner and this real estate—like, that was my safety net. So, I built that network. I was falling and I was caught. So, I love to help celebrate them as well any which way that I can.
The sec—or first question, I need a talk show. So, if anyone on here—that’s my ten-year plan. And I—we’ve always thought that this person was cheesy, but I think I want this career. It’s like a Ryan Seacrest situation—
Julia: Okay, okay.
Michael: —where it’s like, a host, where I can pop in and host things, I could have a daily talk show, I could do Wheel of Fortune, which I think he’s doing now. But just being a personality. You know, I tried the acting gig for a little bit. I’m already enough character. I don’t [laugh] I don’t know if there’s room for me to pull out another character other than myself.
So, love a talk show that is a combination of, like, an Ellen from the kindness standpoint, a Jimmy Fallon from the ridiculous standpoint, and then, like, a SNL Chelsea Handler irrelevance—irreverence kind of thing, where just [laugh], chaos but all comes together in, like, a place of joy and celebration. So, that’s the ten-year plan [laugh].
Julia: Very good. I think Knoxville will have that within the decade.
Michael: I agree. Yeah. I’d love to see that.
Julia: Well, in the ten year, tell me about the book you’re writing, and tell us about your podcast coming up?
Michael: Sure. So yes, I am in production right now with a children’s book called The Dancing Blue Shirt Boy. Wow, it’s so creative, right [laugh]? I don’t know where that came from.
Julia: I love it. I love it.
Michael: Wow. It’s currently being illustrated by a young lady here locally in Knoxville and it’s slated to be out, hopefully, by October, which would be the one-year anniversary of my performance. So, I’d love to just kind of piggyback that with, like, “Hi, here’s what I’ve been doing.” And the book idea came from a lot of different things. Obviously, kind of the story itself is already just well-written.
It combines my journey to get to Knoxville with how the dance came about. But also, you know, there was a lot of young gentlemen that came up to me. I had my first autograph request was by a little ten-year-old dance boy from my studio that I used to teach at, and I was like, “Okay, this is happening. Ahh.” And then I performed again in February for the basketball team and I brought out young dancers. I brought out some former students of mine, some colleagues, so there was about 15 Blue Shirt Boys out on the dance floor. And a customer at my brewery came up that I work at—I also work at a brewery; I have about five jobs; don’t worry about it—she came up and she was like, “My son and I were at that game”—
Julia: [crosstalk 00:19:36] Knoxville [laugh].
Michael: —“You know, that was awesome.” Yeah. I’m just, you know, here to stimulate the economy. But she came up and she was like, “My son and I were at the basketball game and we were watching you dance.” And again, I get—why am I so emotional today? Why did you catch me on today?
But she said he turned to me afterwards and went, “Mommy, can I take dance lessons so I could be as cool as those boys out there?” And I was like, someone—a boy thinks dance is cool? So, I was like, “Okay, I got to write this story.” Because I couldn’t find one on the internet about boys that want to dance where it’s not that Rudolph story where it’s like, let’s make fun of it, or he feels terrible about himself until they need him. There is that little bit of twist of, like, they invite him, but it was like, “We know you can do this. You’re amazing.” It’s more of, like, a self-realization, just go out there and do it, what makes you weird makes you wonderful so go celebrate that. So, excited for that. Hopefully the—
Julia: Oh, [unintelligible 00:20:36] I love that already. What makes you weird makes you [unintelligible 00:20:39]. I love it.
Michael: That might be book number two, so let me copyright that real fast [laugh].
Julia: Wait, [crosstalk 00:20:43].
Michael: Let me copyright that. Scratch that. Edit that out. Edit that out. And then yes, the podcast—
Julia: I have a trademark attorney. I’ll send him your way [laugh].
Michael: Perfect, perfect [laugh]. As far as the podcast, that’s kind of been a recent thing. You know, I love doing podcasts. I don’t know why. Me talking about myself? Weird. But I was on a podcast a few months ago, with Chris McAdoo, which is, he works for the Entrepreneurial Center downtown, he’s just kind of one of those downtown people that’s everywhere.
And we had a really, really good conversation. And the production company was like, “You ever thought about your own?” And I was like, “Ehh, it’s always been on the radar.” But we had a meeting, and I came with an idea called Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda. And it’s kind of touching on what you’ve asked a few times. Like, what are the things you wish you could have done differently or should have done differently?
And it sounds like it might be a little bit of a dark conversation, but I think those choices that we maybe missed out on led us to where we are, or maybe there was a great lesson with that. And some of them I want them to be silly, you know? Maybe you wish you could have jumped out of an airplane. Or maybe you wish you could have, you know, found your first love again, or should have not gone to college and wasted $90,000. You know, whatever the conversation might be [laugh].
Julia: One hundred thousand here. [crosstalk 00:22:10]
Michael: Uh-huh. Yeah, I only went for two-and-a-half years so [laugh]. But yeah, it just kind of went ahead. And they’re quick little chit-chats and then, you know, there’ll be some, like, life lessons in there and just tying that back to thinking about your life differently and kind of being proud of those choices that you made. Or didn’t make.
Julia: Hmm. Every choice you make leads you to where you’re supposed to be.
Michael: Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, I’m glad I wasn’t a cheerleader before because 23 years later, I got to be one and it’s much more fun now. But yeah, the podcast should be out—we’re shooting for probably late August, early September.
Julia: Very good. Very, very good. Well, we have a few minutes left, so what I like to talk about—
Michael: It’s so fast. What, are you kidding me?
Julia: During this last [crosstalk 00:22:59] everybody [unintelligible 00:23:00]—yeah, it’s already been 22 minutes. We, we—you know us. We could talk for days. We could talk for days.
Michael: Accurate. I got one cup of coffee in me. We’re ready to go.
Julia: So, give us the list. Give us a list of—and we ask everybody, like, your favorite grocery store, your favorite brewery your favorite restaurant, your favorite snack shack—
Michael: Oh gosh.
Julia: —you’re favorite dance club. Like, give us a list.
Michael: Okay, wow. I mean, grocery store. You got to go with the Kroger Marketplace on Cedar Bluff. That’s pure class, baby. That’s pure class [laugh].
Julia: The one in Farragut sells furniture. [It’s massive 00:23:40] [laugh].
Michael: Yeah. Well, they all did at the very beginning. They had TVs and furniture, and then the one in Farragut also has the beer bar, so that is—
Julia: That’s right.
Michael: A plus. I mean, gosh, West Knoxville, we’re booming. But let’s go. Favorite brewery. All right, my top three that I tell people. You got to come to Elst Brewery; it’s in North Central. I think we have very approachable beers. If you’re maybe new to the beer world, we’ve got a great version of each beer.
I also think people need to check out Pretentious down in the Old City. They blow their own glass and they make their own beer, so it’s kind of an interactive thing. You can take a glassblowing class, you can sit there and watch them make glasses. But he’s one of the first people I think that made the Old City what it is today. And I don’t know if you know this, but he is one of the top five Etsy makers of all time. So, Etsy came to Knoxville, saw how great we were doing and they deemed us the first Maker City.
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: Which really I think helped, I really think it helped boom, the weirdos coming to Knoxville, the makers, the creators, the artists, the musicians. You know, because we are that kind of child of Asheville and Nashville, where we—a little bit of country, a little bit of rock and roll, a little bit of crunchy, a little bit granola, and we’re all kind of this mix, which is awesome downtown. So, that would be my second. And then number three I believe is, like, Crafty Bastard, which we’ve got out west now. I really think they’re doing great things. It’s very interesting beer, especially in their downtown location.
Let’s see places to eat. Gosh, why are you asking me this?
Julia: Give me three.
Michael: All right. I can give you three. Don’t ever ask for one. Kaizen—
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Michael: —in the Old City.
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Michael: That’s always super approachable and casual, but some of the best flavors you’ll ever have. I love the Brass Pearl, also in Market Square. Seafood, raw bar, but also really great dishes. Oliver Royale if you’re wanting something higher-end—
Julia: Their cheese plate’s—
Michael: Great brunch.
Julia: —phenomenal.
Michael: Oh, I mean, just even their water is delicious. How does that happen [laugh]?
Julia: Well, they don’t get out of the river.
Michael: Right. Here you go [laugh]. Fresh from the bounty. Let’s see coffee shops, maybe?
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: Um, coffee shops. Likewise. I don’t know if you’ve tried likewise—
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: On Magnolia. Really great venue, just cozy, super cool. K Brew is always a classic. They’ve got plenty of locations and they’re still good quality. And then I also love Old City Java. I talk about the Old City a lot.
Julia: So, I lived in downtown. I lived down there when no one—like, the Old City Association had five members and [unintelligible 00:26:36] who was talking about coming. I mean, they weren’t even there yet. I mean, that’s when I was in the Old City. And the only thing there was Old City Java, and what used to be Manhattan’s, and I don’t even know what it is now. And I would—
Michael: Jig and Reel. Jig and Reel.
Julia: No, no—is it J—[unintelligible 00:26:53] was across the street.
Michael: That was, uh, Patrick Sullivan’s.
Julia: Patrick Sullivan’s. No, no, no, no. No, the one across from that.
Michael: Spicy’s.
Julia: With the big [taco 00:27:02].
Michael: That was Spicy’s back in—
Julia: Spicy’s? Okay.
Michael: My day.
Julia: Right.
Michael: 2000, maybe?
Julia: So, I lived above that.
Michael: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, I lived above that.
Michael: Okay. Right on.
Julia: Yeah. There was nothing down there. Like, there was Hannah’s—
Michael: No.
Julia: —Sullivan’s, and Old City Java. I was there for the opening of Jig and Reel, that’s how long ago this was [laugh]. But Old City Java is honest to God, still today one of my favorite coffee shops.
Michael: Well, probably because the front door is so short, you actually fit in it perfectly, though, right? It’s such a small little front door. You feel—I am so tall today [laugh].
Julia: [laugh]. I feel very large and in charge.
Michael: Yeah, it’s very Alice in Wonderland. You’ve got to really duck in and under. But no, they’re great. It’s a really—it’s a good place.
Julia: That’s—all right, one last question. One last question. If people visit you from out of the area that have never been here before, what is the first place that you take them to? Where is it or what is it?
Michael: Probably my favorite building in town—and it’s such a cop-out—but the Sunsphere.
Julia: [laugh].
Michael: You can’t go wrong. I love it—
Julia: I love that because—
Michael: It’s gorgeous.
Julia: Yeah.
Michael: Well, people have no idea what it is, and to me, it’s a disco ball. But you know, I rented it out for my 40th birthday a year ago, so that was—so it was just one of those it turned 40 the same year I turned 40, we’re both Knoxville icons, and we both get lit at night. So—[laugh].
Julia: [laugh].
Michael: I thought, what a perfect match.
Julia: I love you so much.
Michael: You’re welcome.
Julia: Yeah, you’re awake at nine o’clock. By 8:45, I’m like this. Done.
Michael: Oh, yeah. Nine o’clock, we’re just waking up. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. No my—
Michael: I love it. Night owl.
Julia: Wow. This has been one of my favorite podcasts. I love having you on anything that we do. Thanks for being on American Dream TV, selling Knoxville, our internationally known television [crosstalk 00:29:13]—
Michael: So much fun.
Julia: It was great. We appreciate everything you do. We appreciate Kelley bringing you on with the dance team because she has given us such insight and creativity to UT sports that’s not just players on the field, and we appreciate all of that. Everything you do for the chamber, Michael, thank you. We look forward to listening to your podcast. We look forward to reading and buying your book in October, and hopefully—and not, hopefully, but we will, you know, make sure that we beat Bama just in enough time to buy your book and celebrate it [laugh].
Michael: Please, absolutely. We need that [laugh].
Julia: So, thank you again for being on the show. Listeners, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Connect the Knox. I’m Julia Hurley, your hostess with the mostest. Thanks for tuning in, and until next time, bye, everybody.
Julia: Thank you for tuning into the show. Make sure to like and subscribe, leave a five-star review on your podcast player of choice, and if you would like information on moving to Knoxville, send me a private message. As always, this is Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.
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