Month: August 2001

Categories
Music Music Features

sound advice

Having conquered music-video channels, hard-rock radio stations, and metal magazines nationwide, local boys Saliva return to town this week to shoot the video for their next single, the rap-metal room-shaker “Click, Click, Boom.” Saliva will give a concert at the New Daisy Theatre on Friday, August 10th, with out-of-town hard-rockers Life, Systematic, and Stereomud.

Though they have roots in the mid-’90s avant-garde indie-rock group Three Mile Pilot, Pinback boasts a sound much more accessible than that band and every bit as compelling. The band’s forthcoming album, Blue Screen Life, balances churning guitars and chanted vocals with a clear pop sensibility in a sound that strongly evokes one of the present period’s biggest alt-rock bands, Modest Mouse, who played a highly successful local show last year at Last Place on Earth. Pinback will join Snowglobe, one of the local music scene’s best-kept secrets, for a show at the Hi-Tone Café on Sunday, August 12th. — Chris Herrington

The Bottle Rockets, those rough-and-tumble desperadoes from Festus, Missouri, often get branded as alt-country outlaws. I’m not sure I know what that means. Alt-outlaws? Hmm. I do know that these heroes of the No Depression scene have an uncanny ability to match simple, emotionally charged lyrics with simple, emotionally charged hooks and as such mirror the best of what traditional country has to offer. I also know that the Bottle Rockets can be a straight-up Southern rock band the likes of which you just don’t see very often. Hearken back to the mid-’80s when the Georgia Satellites were getting tied down with chains and you’ll get the picture. Add a sardonic dash of Wynn Stewart-style heartbreak and a pinch of Skynyrd’s bad-boy attitude and that’s the Bottle Rockets in a nutshell. Before the Drive-By Truckers came along and stole some thunder, these guys were the unquestioned kings of the trailer-park boogie. “She’s Smoking 100’s Alone,” essentially a male’s answer to Patsy Cline’s “Three Cigarettes In the Ashtray,” will make country purists moist with glee, while numbers like “Gas Girl” rock like it was 1975. Every now and again they’ll even dish up a howling, banjo-driven storm of pure Appalachian meanness. They’re at the Hi-Tone Café with Jason Ringenberg on Saturday, August 11th.

Regular readers know I’ve never had a good thing to say about contemporary country music. That was only because Dwight Yoakam (the Anti-Garth) hadn’t made it to town yet. Yoakam may crank out the pop-pablum to keep steak on the table, but he’s one of the few celebs of mainstream country who hasn’t forgotten where his roots are planted. Not since Hank Williams moaned “Lost Highway” have vocals sounded so impossibly lonesome and desperate. Yoakam’s “Sad Side of Town” and “Heartaches Are Free” are two of the best pedal-steel-heavy, cry-in-your-tequila recordings made since George Jones left Mercury back before the flood. Yoakam will be at Horseshoe Casino on Thursday, August 9th. — Chris Davis

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Short Cuts

Avalon Blues: A Tribute To the Music of

Mississippi John Hurt

Various Artists

(Vanguard)

This 15-song, 15-artist tribute to the music of late, great bluesman Mississippi John Hurt is the latest installment of Vanguard’s recent reexploration of the Hurt legacy, which began with the 1998 one-disc anthology Rediscovered. That 24-song compilation deserves to be an essential part of any record collection, but for listeners who wanted more, Vanguard released the three-disc The Complete Studio Recordings last year, repackaging ’60s albums Today!, The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt, and Last Sessions.

The body of work collected on those reissues is one of the most distinctive the blues has thus far produced — warm, gentle, wise — and features some of the most endearing compositions in all of American popular song. With such a rich body of work still obscure to the average music fan, Hurt would seem an ideal candidate for a tribute record, and Avalon Blues is an admirable effort. But tribute albums are still a dicey proposition: I’ve only heard one great one, 1997’s The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, and if Hurt’s material is as worthy of investigation as Rodgers’, the key difference between the two albums is that Avalon Blues doesn’t boast quite as A-list a lineup as the Bob Dylan-produced Rodgers tribute.

With all the source material of similar style and quality, it’s no surprise that the artists who stand out the most on Avalon Blues are those who are most compelling on their own terms or who — for better or worse — invest Hurt’s songs with their own personalities.

Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch have both been accused of pretension and overly studied vocals (though seldom by the same critics), but a comparison of Williams’ “Angels Laid Him Away” and Welch’s “Beulah Land” illustrates the difference between perfectionist genius (Williams) and hopeless mimicry (Welch). Williams owns “Angels Laid Him Away” so completely that if you didn’t know otherwise, you’d never guess that it isn’t one of her own songs. Welch’s “Beulah Land” (and is there any doubt that she would choose such an “old-timey” title to cover?) is a painstaking but hollow reproduction, just the kind of arch performance that’s won her hosannahs from roots fetishists over the last few years.

Elsewhere, Alvin Youngblood Hart is great as usual with his Memphis-recorded, one-man-band take on “Here I Am, Oh Lord, Send Me,” while Victoria Williams, whose skittish innocence can be charming in some settings, turns in a nearly unlistenable performance with her too-precious take on the Hurt classic “Since I’ve Laid My Burden Down.” And Beck’s solid, straight-faced take on “Stagger Lee” (recorded at Sun Studios in 1994) is highly recommended to fans of his acoustic K Records album One Foot In the Grave.

Folkie Bill Morrisey (“Pay Day”) and eclectic bluesman Taj Mahal (“My Creole Belle”) probably owe more to Hurt than anyone else on Avalon Blues, and both acquit themselves well. Of the journeymen roots performers who make up the bulk of the record and whose performances convey less personality, Chris Smither and John Hiatt come across best, offering fine takes on “Frankie & Albert” and “I’m Satisfied,” respectively, while Bruce Cockburn (“Avalon, My Home Town”) and Mark Selby (whose gruff vocal and insistent backbeat are unwelcome additions to perhaps Hurt’s most charming song, “Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor”) don’t fare quite as well.

In all, Avalon Blues is well worth your time but not if you haven’t “rediscovered” Hurt himself first. — Chris Herrington

Grade: B+

Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the

British Empire and Beyond 1965-69

Various Artists

(Rhino Records)

As the follow-up to the landmark 1998 four-disc re-release of Lenny Kaye’s 1972 garage-rock comp Nuggets, Nuggets II follows the global dissemination of four pop meta-themes: simplicity (“Three chords and the truth”), brevity (“in three minutes or less”), misanthropy (“‘cos I’m so misunderstood”) and — will we ever learn? — misogyny (“and my woman’s such a cold bitch”). It’s also an encomium for the singles culture of the ’60s, which was also the last time white foreigners earnestly attempted to replicate the nasty electric rhythm and blues of Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and other luminaries.

However, rhythm and blues is just a starting point. The snarl and pout of the pre-’65 Stones is all over this superb box set, but so are the noise of the Stooges’ debut and the sonic shimmer of Hendrix’s ballads. Amazingly, the results are never nostalgic. Nuggets II is a tougher listen than its predecessor in every respect: more songs, fewer recognizable hits, more feedback, fewer ballads, more copies of songs you’ve heard before (Procol Harum and the Who are two more apparently bottomless fountains of rip-off), and more evidence that anyone — anyone in the universe — can make great rock-and-roll. Music this brittle, propulsive, corrosive, and obstinately mid-fi can start to dismantle your brain after more than two consecutive discs’ worth, but once your freakout resistors and retroactive PC receptors are burned out, the shoulda-been hits never stop.

The annual flood of legitimate reissues and repackaged product virtually guarantees that you could enjoy great, unheard music every year without actually buying anything from the year you’re living in. Thus, tiny, specialized niches are too easy to fall in these days — rock-and-roll generalists are becoming as rare as generalist historians. So generalists and collectors alike should rejoice at this spirited, revelatory revision of rock-and-roll history. Unfortunately, prima facie evidence of a vibrant international pop underground that stretches back at least 40 years shouldn’t be such a specialized item. But seldom has consumer courage reaped such rich dividends. Points of entry, two of which are on the fourth disc: The Master’s Apprentices’ “War or Hands of Time,” the Mops’ “I’m Just a Mops,” Los Shakers’ “Break It All,” the Marmalade’s “I See the Rain,” and the Easybeats’ ebullient classic “Friday on My Mind.” Actually, you may have heard that last one. — Addison Engelking

Grade: A+

Tell the Truth

Lee Roy Parnell

(Vanguard)

Although Lee Roy Parnell’s past work sometimes deteriorated into country-rock schlock, it was always redeemed by his considerable guitar talents. Parnell has that rare Santana-ish ability to make one note soar and shimmer over everything else, and his slidework manages to conjure up shades of Duane Allman yet be innovative at the same time. With Tell the Truth, his first recording for an independent label, he’s finally hit his stride. Once again, he tackles gospel, blues, country, and rock. But in a smart move, Parnell hooked up with veteran songwriter Dan Penn for several tracks, and the result is an album that’s carried by songs of substance as well as his versatile guitar. In addition, Parnell recruited the grand duchess and duke of honky tonk and country blues, Bonnie Bramlett and Delbert McClinton, for some feisty duets, as well as ace fingerpicker Keb’ Mo’ for some down-home acoustic blues.

Parnell reminds me of a Texas version of Sonny Landreth, another full-steam-ahead rocker whose songs are driven by ferocious guitar work and who also mines his regional roots for inspiration. Like Landreth, Parnell can rip it up most righteously, especially with McClinton on the barrelhouse boogie track “South By Southwest.” But he also has the potential to go further, showing his soulful side on a ballad with Bramlett and with the very Southern guitar that graces the sensual ending of “Guardian Angel.” Despite a few stilted moments on one confessional track, Tell the Truth is a fresh start that shows off Parnell’s many talents to perfection. — Lisa Lumb

Grade: B+

You can e-mail Chris Herrington at herrington@memphisflyer.com.

Categories
Hot Properties Real Estate

Repeating History

William and Oliver Greenlaw arrived in Memphis in the early days of the city’s growth. They built open-air markets, one on Beale at Fourth, the other at the north end of town on Poplar. By 1849 they were assembling land north of the Bayou Gayoso and by 1856 had laid out a 30-block subdivision with cobbled streets, granite curbs, and sycamore trees.

The area prospered. Sawmills, brickyards, and breweries were built along the banks of the Wolf River and close to barge traffic into town. To the east, larger homes sat on prominent corner locations. Smaller duplexes filled in the blocks, and shotguns sat close together on the alleyways. The largest homes were clustered along Seventh Street, which still follows the line of an original Indian trail running north. Seventh Street (originally called High Street) had the only bridge across the bayou connecting Greenlaw to Memphis until the Front Street bridge was built in 1867.

During the Yellow Fever years Greenlaw and the more northern suburb of Chelsea considered seceding and forming their own city. In 1887 the first wells tapped into the artesian water supply below the city and made mosquito-rich cisterns unnecessary. With the advent of a modern water system, population grew. The last two decades of the 19th century were the big building years for Greenlaw.

George Love built a grand home at 619 North Seventh Street in 1888. It stands today and is now home to the city’s Center for Neighborhoods. Love built and bought a lot of property in Greenlaw over the years. Four of the houses he once owned facing North Sixth Street, circa 1890, have recently been renovated by Memphis Heritage, the city’s only preservation nonprofit. Two have been sold and two are still available.

Federal and city funds contributing to their renovation require that these homes go to first-time homebuyers who make less than 80 percent of the city’s median income. That means a single person can make no more than $31,550, whereas a family of three can make as much as $40,550.

These homes still evoke the gracious 19th-century style of Memphis’ early subdivisions. Twelve-foot ceilings and eight-foot doors with transoms above were retained. The houses were gutted, rewired, repiped, and fully insulated. Central heat and air, telephone cables, and security were installed. The grand front parlors are intact, although the original fireplaces were regretfully lost. Just restoring a mantel to its original location would add a lot to these rooms. New baths and kitchens were installed, with the kitchens open to a back gathering room for easy living. Bedrooms have generous walk-in closets.

These houses sit close together, showing how Greenlaw’s density resembled that of New Orleans and resembles neotraditional plans like Harbor Town located just across the Wolf River Basin. The “Uptown” initiative will bring new homes to Greenlaw and lead to even more renovation of original buildings. As downtown fills with lofts for living and entertainment, Greenlaw seems once again poised to be the “renewed” subdivision just north of downtown.

612 and 622 North Sixth Street

1,320 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath; $55,900

Realtor: Sowell & Company, 278-4380

Agent: Steve Solomon

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

GRIZZLIES INKING TV, RADIO DEALS

Randy Stephens, Director of Broadcast for the Memphis Grizzlies is a busy guy. “We are still talking to a lot of people,” he says in regards to the team’s efforts to secure local television, cable, and radio rights for Grizzlies broadcast. With a schedule starting in a few months, Stephens certainly has a deadline. However, he says that “nothing is final. But it is something we will have to bring to a head in the next couple of weeks in all three areas.”

Contenders for the media crown are coming from both obvious and not so obvious places. “On the over the air side, we’ve had serious discussions with the Clear Channel, WMC and their partnership with PAX,” Stephens says. Those are the obvious choices since the NBA’s official network is NBC, WMC’s affiliate.

The other two network affiliates, according to Stephens, are probably out of the running. “It’s very difficult for them to be involved because of their network commitments. So even if they wanted to put Grizzlies games on, they can’t free up enough space to do it.”

But even one cleared schedule might not be enough. so the Grizzlies are looking at stations that share ownerships. “WPTY and WLMT along with WMC and Pax have a common ownership,” Stephens says. “So they have two stations to work with. That gives them a little more flexibility in their scheduling. In either one of those scenarios, you will see games on both stations in the partnership.”

Radio Outlook Similar

Things are any less complicated with the radio deal. “It’s pretty obvious that the all-sports stations are going to be interested,” says Stephens, though there is still more choice here than he first expected. “For a market this size to have two all-sport stations [AM 560 and AM 790] is quite unique. We’ll see how it plays out. It’s a good thing for us. It’s a built-in interest.”

There has also been surprising interest from the FM station. “That would be a very unique,” Stephens says. “There are currently no NBA teams that have an FM station as their flagship broadcaster. But when you consider on the AM side [in Memphis], there is no 50 thousand watt mega-powerhouse that can boom the signal out in this market.”

There has also been surprising interest from FM stations. “That would be a very unique,” Stephens says. “There are currently no NBA teams that have an FM station as their flagship broadcaster. But when you consider on the AM side [in Memphis], there is no 50 thousand watt mega-powerhouse that can boom the signal out in this market.”

Small Market Team

Media revenues generated in Memphis will be the smallest in the league, given the city’s status as smallest media market. However, Stephens feels that the team can get similar numbers in terms of revenues.

“In Vancouver was actually quite similar to here. It was a larger market but you have to keep in mind that all the broadcast revenues we would take in were in Canadian dollars. That makes a huge difference right off the bat. The other issue is that Vancouver was very much a hockey town. The [NHL] Canucks did very well with their broadcast revenues. The Grizzlies did not so well.

“Historically, when the teams were under common ownership, there was a lot of packaging and the Grizzlies benefited from that. When Michael Heisley bought the team and we went to it on our own, we lost those built-in advantages and then were in a competition situation with the Canucks and it was much harder to generate broadcast revenues.”

Whichever stations get the deals, there sure will be a lot of basketball to broadcast. For starters, the team will make efforts to show all 41 scheduled away games. Stephens would not guarantee the entire schedule, though “68-72” games shown in the home market is the league average. Also, Stephens thinks the idea of a station blackout is a bad one. “That’s not something that we’re interested in doing,” Stephens says. “We believe the ability for fans to see our product, to experience our product is the best advertisement we can get. Old school theory was that if you televised your game you would hurt your attendance. I’m not sure that is true.”

The Grizzlies will employ two broadcast teams, one for the television and one for the radio. They’ve already found half their team for the radio. “The only announcer we currently have under contract is Don Poier,” Stephens says. “He’s been the radio voice of the Grizzlies since day one and he has agreed to re-locate to Memphis. He’s obviously a wonderful tool for us. If anyone knows the history of the Grizzlies, he’s seen almost every game. We’ll be looking for a partner for him on the radio side.”

That partner and the local television team could be made of both national and local broadcasters. “We’ve had a lot of national names people would recognize,” Stephens says. “We’ve also had a lot of folks from the Memphis marketplace. We’re still trying to determine what is best: someone with a built-in profile in the Memphis marketplace or since this is a new product, we want to establish someone new. We’re still working through that.”

Categories
News News Feature

SPECIAL NOTE

(originally posted 8-8-01)

As this week’s issue of The Memphis Flyer hits the streets Wednesday, former Flyer editor Dennis Freeland — who was the first impresario of this expanded “On the Fly” website, too, and only recently gave up his duties — will be on an operating table undergoing brain surgery at Baptist East Hospital.

We’ve met some tough deadlines, but this is ridiculous.

It’s ridiculous that our brave, gentle friend and colleague has been dealt such a crummy hand, and that he has played it with such grace. At 45, Dennis should be in the prime of his career, happily gearing up for another football season, and enjoying the company of his beautiful wife Perveen and their five-year-old daughter Feroza. Instead he’s in the fight of his life.

As Flyer readers know, Dennis’s byline has been missing from the paper for several months. At first he thought the headaches and problems with his vision were the aftereffects of a stroke or possibly multiple sclerosis. No such luck.

“I have cancer and the doctors tell me it’s incurable,” he told his friends last week.

After the surgery, which is quite risky, he’ll undergo radiation treatments and chemotherapy.

“I made the decision to have surgery based on wanting to spend more time with my family,” says Dennis. “My doctor says this is the most promising time they have ever known in cancer research. The only way to treat it is real aggressively, and that is what I have chosen to do. I actually thought of doing nothing, but ultimately I had to go with the possibility of life.”

Dennis is one of our best people, in every sense of the word. He’s a compassionate listener, an honest writer, and a reporter who manages to be hard hitting and informative while keeping the friendship and respect of newsmakers and colleagues. He’s been keeping many of them informed about his condition via emails, which he likens to casting a net in the ocean.

“Regardless of the day of the week or the time of the day, within 30 minutes your positive messages start coming in from all over the world. It is so cool.”

By his count, people of 11 religious faiths have been saying prayers

for him, which is appropriate in light of Dennis’s past work with the interracial, interfaith Camp Anytown, which he has written about for the Flyer.

We join them in wishing him our best. (And we thank Geoff Calkins for his moving, heartfelt tribute to Dennis in Tuesday’s Commercial Appeal)

post-surgery report, August 9

X-INFO: INVALID TO LINE

Dennis was very particular that I send out a message to you about the

surgery and how it went. So here’s a brief report:

He went into surgery around 8:30am. The actual surgery lasted a little over

4 hours. Dr. Friedman was able to get quite a bit of the tumor and said that

the surgery went well.

Dennis is in the recovery room as I type this. He will be shifted to the

intensive care unit when a bed becomes available. We were able to visit him

for short minutes at a time. He is able to talk and see and communicate

quite effectively. He wanted to let us know that he was not in pain and was

not cold, that he was tired and did not want to talk much, that the only

discomfort he felt was from the surgical wound, and that he just wanted to

rest. And, no, he did not wake up a UT Orange fan nor a republican.

We are very grateful for the successful outcome of this surgery and thank

you for all your good wishes and parayers.

Perveen

Categories
Music Music Features

GANGSTA BOO’S BOTH WORLDS *69

On the intro to Both Worlds *69 (Hypnotize Minds/Loud; Grade: B-), the sophomore release from Three 6 Mafia moll Gangsta Boo, one of the Three Six impresarios announces that the record is dedicated to “all you motherfuckers that went pop. Hypnotize Minds is gonna keep it gangsta.”

This tough talk no doubt comes from the heart and has an element of truth — the Three 6 family has made what is likely the roughest stuff (lyrically and musically) to ever scale the Billboard Top 10. But the statement is also disingenuous: Three 6’s music has gotten more “pop over the last couple of years — which is precisely why they’ve moved from regional phenomenon to national commercial force — and the music is all the better for it.

This evolution is more detectable on Three 6 satellite releases than on the more rabidly antisocial records under the Three 6 Mafia moniker. Project Pat’s relatively relaxed and witty Mista Don’t Play from earlier this year earned its success with chart-worthy singles “Don’t Save Her” and the sublimely funny “Chickenhead.”

Now comes Both Worlds, a quantum leap over Boo’s 1999 debut, Enquiring Minds. Both Worlds opens rather conventionally, with the belligerent, charmless, hater-hating “Hard Not 2 Kill” and “They Don’t Love Me.” But then Boo turns the musical corner with three memorable songs that offer real insight on real subjects.

“Mask 2 My Face’ transitions out of the bludgeoning opening songs with a believable ode to drug purchasing that moves from trolling the projects to a flight to Amsterdam. Then comes the good stuff: “Love Don’t Live (U Abandoned Me)” is a break-up song that makes brilliant use of a title hook sampled from Rose Royce, a move we wouldn’t have expected from Three 6 a few years ago.

Then there’s “Can I Get Paid (Get Your Broke Ass

Out),” which is artistically ambitious in that Boo raps in a voice that isn’t quite her own. Here Boo is a stripper (whose favorite song to dance to is Gangsta Boo’s “Where Dem Dollars At”) spitting a diatribe against cheap patrons. Surely the recent hip-hop fixation on strip-club culture deserves a deeper analysis than Boo’s accepting commentary, but she adds plenty of righteous common sense to the subject by merely proffering the blunt chorus “Get your broke ass out the club/If you ain’t gonna tip.”

After that trifecta, Both Worlds takes another turn for the typical, and the group’s chronic musical limitations are more noticeable: the tiring horrorcore synths and a chanting, metronomic flow that doesn’t hold up very well over 70 minutes. But the record rebounds with useful cameos from Project Pat and Three 6’s Crunchy Black and with Boo finding her footing again with a couple of ribald sex tales: Boo gives a “player” what he deserves with the title-says-it-all “I Faked It” and takes an unexpected

turn on the cheating song “Your Girl’s Man.”

Categories
News News Feature

WHEN IN GRACELAND

It’s Elvis week, so I thought I would write about … what else? My experiences with Elvis. Unfortunately, I never slept with Elvis; I was never hanger-on or a handler, so my experience is limited. I did go on a tour of Graceland once, but nothing much happened.

I also went to the Elvis vigil one year. Now I like Elvis, but I don’t like Elvis. I think I1m the wrong demographic, plain and simple. But my group of Memphis transplants and Memphis natives arrived shortly before midnight, armed with cameras and flashbulbs, ready for a show.

And we got it. There were devoted fans clad entirely in Elvis memorabilia, impersonators signing autographs, and one devil child who screamed at us to get away from her wax ground painting.

It was scary. Scarier even when, at around one in the morning, my friend

Ashley was demonstrating how she goes to public restrooms without touching

anything in the stall with her hands. That was bad, but it was borne out of

idle chitchat. Worse was when a Hawaiian Elvis impersonator saw her

performing this complicated series of karate-like maneuvers and squats and

said, 3Nice moves,2 and then something about dancing like the King.

Then, at around two in the morning, we heard reports that the line to

Elvis1 grave site was short, maybe 45 minutes. Earlier reports had pegged

that estimate at three to four hours so even though we hadn1t really planned

on going to the Mecca, we figured, what the heck? We1re here anyway.

We got in line, holding our white candles carefully in front of us so we

wouldn1t burn ourselves with melted wax. At first the line moved along

rather swiftly, getting us into the gates of Graceland within 15 minutes. We

talked in excitedly hushed voices about the event, the people around us,

everything.

But then the line stopped. Short. There1s no time limit on how long you

can stay at the grave and some pretty heavy mourners were up there.

Of course I can only gather that was the case. We were still way down at

the bottom, only feet past the gate. Maybe something else was going on up

there. Maybe Elvis himself was rising. I don’t know. So we waited. And

waited. Feeling the power of Elvis pull on our time. As we slowly began to

trudge up the hill, inch by inch, we started talking about things other than

Elvis. How we had to be at work the next morning. What had gone on at work

the day before. What someone’s boyfriend had said the day before. What

someone’s boyfriend was like in the sack.

We got crude. We got loud. We got dirty stares from the Elvis fans

around us.

It looked like it was about to get really ugly, so Ashley and I snuffed

out our candles and ducked out of line. But instead of going back down,

instead of turning around, we hightailed it up the hill. It was so dark that

without our candles, you could barely see us. We didn1t run all the way to

the grave. We didn’t even run. We just sort of snuck past 100 or so people,

you know, until we saw a large security guard.

Slowly merging back in line, we waited until the security guard left to

pull this little trick again, certain we’d soon be praying to, I mean,

mourning Elvis.

Unfortunately, running through the woods of Graceland had put us in a

rather jovial mood. We were sort of like Elvis outlaws. It made it all the

sweeter that my one trip to Graceland had been only weeks earlier and I

still felt a bit affronted at the general rudeness of the EPE employees.

But now, directly behind us in line was a very large woman suffering

from emphysema. Riding along in a powered wheelchair, she had brought her

own candles and an oxygen tank. And she loved Elvis.

I never got to the grave that night. My friend and I quickly pissed this

woman off with what she called our “disrespectful” attitude (She didn’t

mention the line jumping). She started cursing in our general direction and

at any moment, seemed poised to rise up from her wheelchair and beat us to a

pulp with her oxygen tank.

Beginning to fear for our lives– this woman was frothing at the mouth

and calling for our blood and she had her kinfolk with her– we quickly

ducked out of line and walked back to where our friends were waiting still,

way, way down the hill.

Ashley and I decided to leave instead of waiting with them. We’d had

just about enough Elvis for one year.

I guess the moral of the story is that old cliche: “When in Rome, do as

the Romans do.” That, or “Don’t mess with Elvis.”

Categories
News News Feature

MARSHALL DENIES HYNEMAN TIE-IN

City Councilman Tom Marshall wants to set the record straight about a couple of things.

First, he is against adding another layer of design review for downtown buildings and no fan of design review at all, for that matter.

Second, he has no conflict of interest involving homebuilder Kevin Hyneman, contrary to the impression left by a story Sunday in The Commercial Appeal.

“My feeling is design review is design censorship,” said Marshall, who is an architect. “Architects and builders need to follow bulk regulations on scale, setback, greenspace ratios, and things like that, but design review needs to take a broad brush.”

The issue has come up in connection with possible future development on Mud Island near Mud Island River Park, which is under the control of the Riverfront Development Corporation. Hyneman’s company owns roughly 20 acres west of The Pyramid and has proposed putting suburban-style houses on it. The RDC wants something grander.

The CA story said Marshall “made sure the property was exempted from design guidelines” and noted that Marshall’s firm has worked for Hyneman.

“I never even talked to Hyneman about this,” said Marshall, who saw the story when he came back from vacation. “But the newspaper inferred that there is some conflict on my part. I designed an office building (Quail Hollow Office Building) for Hyneman and some other owners two years ago, but there is no business relationship between me and Hyneman now. Frankly it is one of the best looking office buildings in Memphis.”

Marshall said downtown building plans are already reviewed by the Office of Planning and Development, the Land Use Control Board, the City Council, the Center City Commission, and in some instances the Landmarks Commission.

“What if one says one thing and another group says something else?” he says. “The owner is screwed. We celebrate our environment, especially something as eclectic as Midtown, by allowing a variety of design.”

Categories
News News Feature

THE OVERRIDERS

Categories
News News Feature

‘MY TURN TO TEACH’

Dear Christian Brothers University,

You don’t know me, but I am a 1997 graduate of your school, where I got a solid education and learned some stuff too. But I must admit I’m still confused about why you forbade Reverend James Lawson to speak at CBU back in July.

It seemed like you were afraid of what he might say, but I just read where Calvary Episcopal Church let Rev. Lawson speak at their place instead and he was real nice about what you did to him, so I can’t figure out what you were afraid of.

I remember hearing in philosophy class that you can learn a lot by listening to other people, even if you don’t always agree with what they say. (I also remember trying to reach a consensus on whether morality is relative or absolute, but we ended up ordering pizza instead.)

Like all of you, I prefer to think that I’m a pretty good person. I don’t shoplift, litter or talk on the phone while driving. I donate to charity, I floss almost daily and I love kids. Oh, and I’m also pro-choice like Rev. Lawson.

See, I really wish that we lived in a perfect world where all babies were born into loving homes. But until we teach sex education to our children, and until more pro-life adults adopt unwanted kids, and until we realize that expecting chastity from teenagers is plain silly, and until everyone has free access to birth control, and until men stop raping women Ñ well, it seems like we could try harder to fix the problem from the other end, you know?

I’m not afraid of your opinions, so long as you don’t use bullets and bombs to make your point, and I have nothing but respect for those who truly act on the belief that all life is sacred. You’ve got to admire a person who speaks out equally against abortion, fur coats, capital punishment, insecticides, warfare, hamburgers, terrorism, leather shoes, euthanasia and antibiotics.

I don’t actually know any people who do all of that, but I like to think they’d exist in a perfect world.

But let’s talk about CBU now. Y’all must be extra qualified to judge Rev. Lawson. I mean, didn’t you risk your life on civil rights marches? Weren’t you jailed for protesting injustice and war? Wasn’t the hatred and saliva just hell to wash out of your hair after those sit-ins? And haven’t you been banned from speaking on college campuses because people were so afraid of what you might say?

I bet you have some great answers to my questions, so I will wait until I hear back before I respond to your latest alumni fundraising appeal.

I read one of Rev. Lawson’s speeches once where he explains his response to the people who enforced racial segregation: “My sense of their being human beings nevertheless in spite of their behavior towards me was forgedÉ[by] a need, at least in me at the time, to be a human being and to resist evil, not by imitating evil, but by seeking to overcome it with good.”

That seems like such sensible advice (watch out, Ann Landers!) that I’m going to stick it on my fridge next to a quote from another brave man who was silenced because people were afraid of him: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

I know the grammar and spelling are kind of funny– being as how the guy didn’t have the benefit of an English degree from CBU like me– but it’s an interesting idea anyway. Don’t you think?

(Naomi Van Tol is a Memphian who works in the field of environmental conservatism).