Month: September 2001

Categories
Music Music Features

Sound Advice

After a solid show last year at Last Place on Earth, one of the best
“indie-rock” bands around, Seattle’s Modest Mouse, returns to
the area with a show Monday, September 24th, at Proud Larry’s in Oxford.
Modest Mouse released two of 2000’s best rock albums in the form of indie
farewell Building Nothing Out of Something and the major-label debut
The Moon and Antarctica, records that showcase songs that don’t have
choruses so much as mantras, with singer/guitarist Isaac Brock driving his
songs with fidgety, circular guitar riffs that shadow his alternately whiny
and screaming vocals. It’s rock-and-roll as a never-ending math equation. And
this obsessiveness extends to ideas and images that are repeated song to song,
album to album. Brock rhapsodizes a sense of entrapment and futility that
comes off more stoic and bemused than depressive, a sense of constant motion
on a road to nowhere. This is a band that once named an album The Lonesome,
Crowded West to describe the isolation they felt in their home region and
then moved on to The Moon and Antarctica, two barren places that imply
a more universal malady. Few bands around can make it hurt so good.

The local chapter of the Recording Academy will host their annual
Urban Music Forum at the New Daisy Theatre on Wednesday, September
26th. Admission is $10 for the general public and $5 for academy members.
Local R&B and hip-hop artists scheduled are Backwoodz Rootz,
Jahn Jahn, Stacey Kaid, King Ellis, and Spaide
R.I.P.P.E.R.

Finally, on Saturday, September 22nd, at the Overton Park Shell, there
will be a tribute concert for late local bass player Craig Shindler,
who passed away last year. Among the scheduled performers are Big Ass
Truck, Neighborhood Texture Jam, Clanky’s Nub, and Papa
Top’s West Coast Turnaround.

— Chris Herrington

You have to wonder if the youngsters fully understand what it means when
those yellow posters start appearing around town bearing the letters NTJ. Oh,
sure, they know it’s a band. That’s pretty obvious. But do they have any idea
what a monster of a band it is? For all my sweet kiddies out there in the
twentysomething set who were learning long division back when Rolling
Stone raved about how Neighborhood Texture Jam was the best
unsigned band in America, here’s a quick rundown: NTJ is a collective of jock-
punk pioneers with a political edge that makes Henry Rollins look like a
civics class dropout. Whether commenting on Rush Limbaugh’s dirigible-like
girth or telling some corporate drone at the drive-thru, “If I’d wanted a
damn pie, I’d have ordered a damn pie,” they manage to criticize the
lemming-like behavior of consumer culture without ever seeming pedantic. On
the flip side, tunes like “I Fell Into the Borax Factory of Your
Love” are frenzied fun that will make the most “over that” dude
out there forget how cool he is and slam-dance like it’s 1989. But don’t take
my word for it, check out their semiannual reunion show at the Hi-Tone on
Saturday, September 22nd. — Chris Davis

Categories
News

Coming Into Lugano

One of the beautiful things about traveling is that every day brings
something new. Sometimes that’s a good thing, like when you come to a lovely
place. Sometimes it’s a bad thing, like when your luggage vanishes. But
sometimes it’s just weird. And, really, how often is life at home just plain
weird?

Years ago I went to a town in Switzerland called Lugano. I don’t remember
why, exactly, except that I was traveling with a woman I had met, and
somewhere in Austria I had detected a certain chemistry between us. One
international border isn’t much to cross in pursuit of such things. But that
chemistry had started to fade by the time we reached Lugano, so when we came
into town, hardly speaking, late at night during a rainstorm, it seemed
appropriately melodramatic.

Lugano is a beautiful lakeside town in the southern part of Switzerland.
The thing about Switzerland, though, is that in every part of it people speak
a different language. In Lugano it’s largely Italian. It takes a while to
adjust to Swiss people speaking Italian. To complete the picture, imagine a
gorgeous lake surrounded by a town that looks like Italians built it and Swiss
cleaned it up.

We got to this place on a rainy January night, with no place to stay and
no idea where to go. We were also hungry and, like I said, not speaking. Our
true love of three days had gone south. We were wandering, in every sense,
when a man approached us and said, “Where are you go?”

It’s not odd for Swiss people to be helpful; what was odd about this guy
was that he looked Arab and spoke with a French accent. We said,
“Hotel,” and he said, “Okay, after me.” Not in a position
to be picky, we followed him into the rainy night.

Our guide, it turns out, was Lebanese, so he spoke Arabic and French —
Lebanon being a former French possession. I remembered just enough French from
10th grade to have a kiddie-level conversation with him. He led us through a
maze of streets and buildings, stopping occasionally to, yes, ask directions.
But everybody in the town spoke Italian, not French or English or Arabic, so
we moved slowly. The rain came down harder.

Finally he stumbled into the hotel he had in mind. The lady there, of
course, spoke German, but we managed to get checked into a room.

Next, our guide said he knew a good cheap restaurant where we could get
fed for seven francs, which at the time was about four-and-a-half bucks. In
Switzerland, for four-and-a-half bucks you can usually get a banana. So we
followed the guy back through the streets and the buildings and the rain and
the multilanguage confusion — to a Burger King. What the hell, I thought, and
plopped down what turned out to be seven bucks for a burger, pommes frites,
and a petite Coke.

As we ate, the guy asked where I was from. Now, I was five months into an
international journey at this point, and I was long since tired of telling
people I was from Memphis and then putting up with the whole Elvis Thing. I
already had, in my address book, a German guy who insisted on visiting me and
going to Graceland, an Australian who dreamed of seeing Sun Studios, and two
Japanese Willie Nelson fans who had gotten Memphis and Nashville mixed up. So
I told our man in Lugano that I was from my college town, Dallas.

Well, this guy’s eyes lit up like Bastille Day, and he said to me,
“Dallas? Dallas? This is the home of the Von Ericks!” The Von
Ericks, you must understand, were the royal family of Dallas’ professional
wrestling scene. I would have rather had this guy get out an Elvis scrapbook
and ask me to sign it than what happened next. He started asking me, in loud
kiddie-level French and sign language, whether I thought the Freebirds could
be trusted, whether the Missing Link would actually come to the aid of the Von
Ericks, and whether the two Von Erick brothers who had died (of overdose and
suicide) were assassinated.

He went on to explain that in Lebanon, the pro wrestling shows from
Dallas were the biggest thing on TV. My mind was reeling. He said he was
trying to get a visa to come to America so he could go to Dallas and see
wrestling in person. Not New York, not San Francisco, not the Rocky Mountains
— Dallas. A French-speaking Lebanese guy who had led us from our German-
speaking hotel through the Italian-speaking streets of a Swiss town to a
freaking Burger King wanted to go to Dallas and see professional
wrestling.

It was so odd, so filled with weirdness, that I ‘fessed up, if only to
slow him down. “I’m actually from Memphis,” I said.
“Memphis,” he repeated. He paused, looked at me blankly for a
moment, said “Memphis” again, then smiled a little. He reached into
his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

And then I knew that after everything else that had happened to us in
Lugano, I was about to face the unavoidable, the inevitable, the Elvis Thing.

Categories
News News Feature

NORTHWEST AIRLINES FEELING THE PAIN

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (9/17) reports, “Northwest Airlines executives worked over the weekend on layoff decisions and other money matters to keep the airline afloat in the face of industry losses that will prompt bailout discussions this week in Washington.

“‘It’s my responsibility to react and act quickly and appropriately to be certain that Northwest continues operating as a viable airline,’ Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said Sunday in his daily hotline message to the company’s 53,000 employees.

“Northwest has not disclosed how much money it is losing, but at similarly sized Continental Airlines, daily losses have been $30 million since Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on the East Coast. A travel scare, expected to be long term, has resulted from those attacks.”

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

CRISIS BRINGS FORD, THOMPSON TO THE FORE

U.S. Senator Fred Thompson, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat, figured in important public statements over the last two days– Thompson in a way that suggests the current national crisis may bring him closer to running for re-election next year and Ford stepping forward as an exponent of bipartisan support for emergency legislation.

Expressing a need “to be in Tennessee among Tennesseans,” Thompson appeared at a Nashville church service on Sunday and later Sunday night at Bellevue Baptist Church, where he received tumultuous applause from an overflowing congregation.

The senator spoke to one consequence of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks: “This is a wakeup call for us that perhaps in some respects we’ve been needing.” He cautioned against expectations of immediate results in the newly declared war against terrorism.

“We’re not going to be able to bomb our way to victory at 20,000 feet in two or three days,” Thompson said. “But it’s something we’ve got to do and something we will do … . We’re going to get back to the running of America, and we’re going to make the folks who did this wish they hadn’t done it.”

In an interview with MSNBC Monday, Ford expressed his willingness “as a moderate Democrat” to consider the reduction or elimination of capital-gains taxes and the possible suspension of payroll taxes, both ends sought by the Bush administration. Ford suggested that an increase in the current minimum wage might be a part of this “broader stimulus package.”

Ford also said he thought Congress would enact emergency financial aid for the nation’s airlines and enact stricter airport security requirements when it reconvenes on Thursday.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

monday, 17

TO BE ANNOUNCED

(Original note was: Monday Night Football 2-for-1 Burger Night at Old Zinnie’s

Categories
News News Feature

NEW GENERATION OF CLUB KIDS

Marcus Haley was up to no good. With bad grades and an even worse attitude, he was headed for destruction. “I took school as a joke,” says Haley. “I almost flunked out of ninth grade. If it hadn’t been for Griff, I’d probably be in jail right now.” Griff, or Charles Griffin, 28, smiles as he remembers his first encounter with Haley, now 18, and others whose lives he has helped change.

Griff, as he is affectionately known, is the director of the new Downtown Porter Boys and Girls Club at 620 Lauderdale. Situated between Booker T. Washington High School and the public housing residences of William A. Foote and Edward O. Cleaborn Homes, the Downtown Porter club is in a prime location to serve more than 150 kids each day. The club was opened just eight months ago in the second week of February in the renovated Porter gymnasium. In its short existence, it has already become the most popular club in the city.

Marcus Ward, 17, is a longtime club member, having been involved with the organization since he was 5 years old. His main reason for coming to the Downtown Porter club is the staff. “Since I’ve been coming here my whole personality has changed. The [staff] here has been a big influence in my life. They will help you in any situation,” says Ward.

“We’re just dangling carrots for them to come. Once relationships are established with the staff, the kids will come back no matter what the activity,” says Griffin.

Bernal Smith, vice president and chief operating officer of the Memphis clubs, says the Downtown Porter location started as a “survival of the fittest” club. “Other agencies had started and stopped services and youth programs in the location, but none ever stayed. The Memphis Housing Authority [MHA] asked us to put a club here,” says Smith. With grants from the State of Tennessee and the MHA for operating funds, the club has been a success.

Each of the six clubs in the Memphis area has its own board of directors. The Downtown Porter board, chaired by businessman Robert Williams, has big plans for the club and its members. With a focus on computer training and job placement programs, the club, through a collaborative effort with the Work Place, will offer computer proficiency and skills training, office skills, work effectiveness, and job placement.

The club’s 20-station computer lab clearly demonstrates the community support of the Boys and Girls Club. Hardware and connectors were donated by Sysco, computers were donated by several individual firms, and Lan One Inc. provided and set up software. Early next year, Downtown Porter will kick off a national Boys and Girls Clubs computer pilot program. Members will be given their own personal computers for home use. Again, the computers will be donated and come complete with Internet service for the 20 to 40 participants.

In addition to the computer programs at the Downtown Porter club, several other programs are offered to members in efforts to fulfill the mission of inspiring and enabling all young people to reach their full potential. A Power Hour of homework help is set aside for younger members to help them in all subjects.

The Job Ready program, for ages 15 and up, teaches job skills, resume preparation, and interview skills. From here they are placed with partnering companies for on-the-job vocational training and employment. A Chef Club teaches etiquette and meal preparation. Older club members are taught the meaning of community by helping younger kids in the Keystone Club. And, of course, athletic activities abound.

Working with children can be challenging and staff members do not take their responsibilities for granted. “Our job is not like other jobs,” says Griffin. “If we mislead a child, terrible things could happen. They depend on us, and sometimes we are all they’ve got.”

Almost 85 percent of the kids served come from single-parent homes, usually with no male in the household. Because of this, Downtown Porter staff member and former “club kid” Marcus Taylor believes in his job. “What these kids need is to see young African-American men making a positive move in this area. These kids are the future and if they don’t see positive male role models now, by the time they grow up, it’s too late. We try to instill in them that all black men are not bad.”

And what about the girls? They too are provided with role models, including program director Charley Braswell, who talk to them about their own issues and lifestyles. “We make sure to provide workshops and programs just for the girls. We also have individual sporting events for them. We want to make sure the girls don’t get lost,” says Braswell. (Full-time, paid staff members of all Boys and Girls Clubs must be out of high school and pursuing higher education and must have taken professional training.)

Memphis Boys Club started in 1962 and changed its name to Boys and Girls Club of Greater Memphis to incorporate girls, who make up 40 percent of the membership in area clubs. The organization currently serves more than 6,000 kids. Individual club-operating costs each year total more than $330,000, with a majority of funds coming from fund-raisers and individual donations. During the school year, Memphis clubs are open Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 9 p.m., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Membership is open to boys and girls ages 7 to 17, but they must be registered by a parent.

The Downtown Porter club held its grand opening Tuesday, September 11th. Family Day will be held Saturday, September 15th, at the club, with guest appearances by Congressman Harold Ford Jr. and other government officials.

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

CRISIS BRINGS FORD, THOMPSON TO THE FORE

U.S. Senator Fred Thompson, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat, figured in important public statements over the last two days– Thompson in a way that suggests the current national crisis may bring him closer to running for re-election next year and Ford stepping forward as an exponent of bipartisan support for emergency legislation.

Expressing a need “to be in Tennessee among Tennesseans,” Thompson appeared at a Nashville church service on Sunday and later Sunday night at Bellevue Baptist Church, where he received tumultuous applause from an overflowing congregation.

The senator spoke to one consequence of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks: “This is a wakeup call for us that perhaps in some respects we’ve been needing.” He cautioned against expectations of immediate results in the newly declared war against terrorism.

“We’re not going to be able to bomb our way to victory at 20,000 feet in two or three days,” Thompson said. “But it’s something we’ve got to do and something we will do … . We’re going to get back to the running of America, and we’re going to make the folks who did this wish they hadn’t done it.”

In an interview with MSNBC Monday, Ford expressed his willingness “as a moderate Democrat” to consider the reduction or elimination of capital-gains taxes and the possible suspension of payroll taxes, both ends sought by the Bush administration. Ford suggested that an increase in the current minimum wage might be a part of this “broader stimulus package.”

Ford also said he thought Congress would enact emergency financial aid for the nation’s airlines and enact stricter airport security requirements when it reconvenes on Thursday.

Categories
News News Feature

NORTHWEST AIRLINES FEELING THE PAIN

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (9/17) reports, “Northwest Airlines executives worked over the weekend on layoff decisions and other money matters to keep the airline afloat in the face of industry losses that will prompt bailout discussions this week in Washington.

“‘It’s my responsibility to react and act quickly and appropriately to be certain that Northwest continues operating as a viable airline,’ Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said Sunday in his daily hotline message to the company’s 53,000 employees.

“Northwest has not disclosed how much money it is losing, but at similarly sized Continental Airlines, daily losses have been $30 million since Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on the East Coast. A travel scare, expected to be long term, has resulted from those attacks.”

Categories
News News Feature

NEW GENERATION OF CLUB KIDS

<Marcus Haley was up to no good. With bad grades and an even worse attitude, he was headed for destruction. “I took school as a joke,” says Haley. “I almost flunked out of ninth grade. If it hadn’t been for Griff, I’d probably be in jail right now.” Griff, or Charles Griffin, 28, smiles as he remembers his first encounter with Haley, now 18, and others whose lives he has reversed.

Griff, as he is affectionately known, is the director of the new Downtown Porter Boys and Girls Club, 620 Lauderdale Street. Situated between Booker T. Washington High School and the public housing residences of William A. Foote and Edward O. Cleaborn Homes, the Downtown Porter club is in prime location to serve more than 150 kids each day. The club was opened just 8 months ago, the second week of February, in the renovated Porter gymnasium. In its short existence, it has already become the most populated club.

Marcus Ward, 17, is a longtime club member, having been involved with the organization since age 5.His main reason for coming to the Downtown Porter club is the staff. “Since I’ve been coming here my whole personality has changed. The (staff) here has been a big influence in my life. They will help you in any situation,” says Ward.

“We’re just dangling carrots for them to come. Once relationships are established with the staff, the kids will come back no matter what the activity,” says Griffin.

Bernal Smith, vice president and chief operating officer of the Memphis clubs, says the Downtown Porter location started as a “survival of the fittest” club. “Other agencies had started and stopped services and youth programs in the location, but none ever stayed. The Memphis Housing Authority (MHA) asked us to put a club here,” says Smith. With grants from the State of Tennessee and the MHA for operating funds, the club has been a success.

Each of the six clubs in the Memphis area has its own board of directors. The Downtown Porter board, chaired by businessman Robert Williams, has big plans for the club and its members. With a focus on computer training and job placement programs, the club, through a collaborative effort with the Work Place, will offer computer proficiency and skills training, office skills, work effectiveness and job placement.

The club’s 20-station computer lab clearly demonstrates the community support of the Boys and Girls Club. Hardware and connectors were donated by Sysco, computers were donated by several individual firms, and Lan One Inc. provided and setup software. Early next year, Downtown Porter will kick off a national Boys and Girls Clubs computer pilot program. Members will be given their own personal computers for home use. Again, the computers will be donated and come complete with Internet service, also donated for the 20 to 40 participants.

In addition to the computer programs at the Downtown Porter club, several other programs are offered to members in efforts to fulfill the mission of inspiring and enabling all young people to reach their full potential. A Power Hour of homework help is set aside for younger members after school for help in all subjects.

The Job Ready programs, for ages 15 and older, teaches job skills, resume preparation, and interview skills. From here they are placed with partnering companies for on-the-job vocational training and employment. A Chef Club teaches etiquette and meal preparation; and older club members are taught the meaning of community by helping younger kids in the Keystone Club. And, of course, athletic activities are provided.

Working with children can be challenging and staff members do not take their responsibilities for granted. “Our job is not like other jobs,” says Griffin. “If we mislead a child terrible things could happen. They (members) depend on us, and sometimes we are all they’ve got.”

Almost 85 percent of kids served come from single parent homes, usually with no male in the household. Because of this, Downtown Porter staff member and former “club kid” Marcus Taylor believes in his job. “What these kids need is to see young African-American men making a positive move in this area. These kids are the future and if they don’t see positive male role models now, by the time they grow up, it’s too late. We try to instill in them that all black men are not bad.”

And what about the girls? They too are provided with role models and staff members, , including program director Charley Braswell, who talk to them about their own issues and lifestyles. “We make sure to provide workshops and programs just for the girls. We also have individual sporting events for them. We want to make sure the girls don’t get lost,” says Braswell. (Full-time, paid staff members of all Boys and Girls Clubs must be out of high school and pursuing higher education and have taken professional training.)

Memphis Boys Club started in 1962, and changed its name to Boys and Girls Club of Greater Memphis to incorporate girls, who have a 40 percent membership rate in area clubs. The organization currently serves more than 6,000 kids. Individual club operating costs each year total more than $330,000, with a majority of funds coming from fund raisers and individual donations. During the school year, Memphis Clubs are open Tuesday through Friday, from 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Membership is open to kids ages 7-17 and must be registered by a parent.

The Downtown Porter club held its grand opening Tuesday, September 11th. Family Day will be held Saturday, September 15 at the club with guest appearances by Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., and other government officials