The East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists presents their annual Front Page Follies dinner, auction, and show at the Knoxville Convention Center on July 19, 2008.

This year's production is "The Sunshine Boys," featuring KNS editor Jack McElroy and attorney Richard Hollow, plus other hilarity ripped from the local headlines.

Tickets are $100 and all proceeds go to a U.T. endowment that funds journalism and broadcasting scholarships. Press release after the jump, and more info at the ETSPJ website.

The 2008 Front Page Follies will laud “The Sunshine Boys,” News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy and First Amendment attorney Richard Hollow, for their pursuit of justice after Knox County Commission plunged our area into darkness with backroom deals on January 31, 2007, dubbed “Black Wednesday.” Maybe not as funny as George Burns and Walter Matthau in the acclaimed 1975 movie or earlier Neil Simon play, McElroy and Hollow made an even bigger impact on the lives of area citizens, who have a more open government as a result of the decision upholding the Sunshine Law.

What will be hilarious, however, are the performances of the Follies cast, led by director Carol Zinavage. Some examples of song parodies now being rehearsed are: “Sunshine in our meetings --makes us nervous….” (to the tune ‘Sunshine on My Shoulders’); City Council members singing “Thank God We’re Not County Boys” (to the tune of “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”); “The Ballad of Pat Head Summitt,” with apologies to Davy Crockett: “… learned how to stare when she was only three….;” and “Bubba Shot the Red Light….”
This year the 30th annual Follies will also honor the Nine Citizens who joined the legal action, represented by Herb Moncier. The gridiron show is organized by the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The Front Page Follies will be staged at the Knoxville Convention Center with dinner, auction and show on July 19, 2008. Tables of ten at $1,000 will receive preferential seating in the order payment is received. Proceeds from ticket sales go to an endowment fund for scholarships for journalism and broadcasting students at UT, and for a scholarship at Pellissippi State Technical Community College.

To purchase tickets, please send a check payable to “University of Tennessee” with FPF in the memo line to: Front Page Follies, 1345 Circle Park, 302 Communications Building, Knoxville TN 37996. For credit card payment (Visa, MC and Discover), please call Jennifer Horner at the UT Development Office: 974-7073 or e-mail her at jhorner@utk.edu. For additional information, please e-mail: etspj.communications@gmail.com or see our Web site: www.etspj.org.