Month: September 2001

GORE TOUCHES BASE IN MEMPHIS

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date September 28, 2001

An interrupted political comeback– just resumed– found its way into Memphis Thursday, when a still hirsute Al Gore was the guest of honor at an evening gathering at the Morningside Place home of Jim and Lucia Gilliland, both longtime Gore friends who served in the Clinton-Gore administration and who remain dedicated to the idea of a Gore presidency.

Some 25 Memphis Democrats were on hand for the affair, which was co-hosted by Gore’s former aide Greg Duckett and Duckett’s wife Brenda. It came on the eve of what has for some time been regarded as a crucial event for the former vice president, who is scheduled to be in Des Moines, Iowa, this weekend as the keynote speaker at the annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner held annually by that key caucus state’s Democrats. Gore’s appearance in Iowa was set up weeks ago, when Gore began what amounted to a carefully staged re-emergence in the public eye.

Like so much else in American life, that return to political life went on the shelf as the nation reacted to the cataclysmic events of September 11th and their aftermath. And Gore’s re-emergence of his suspended itinerary, which began in earnest with a surprise look-in on state Democratic events in Nashville last weekend, comes at a time when the man he ran against in 2000 and presumably hopes to compete against again, George W. Bush, has been transformed by the crisis into a national icon.

Gore had little to say about the president Thursday night, as he greeted the small group of friends, and supporters, and longtime Democrats. He talked about his family and of how he was in Europe when he heard of the catastrophic events in New York and Washington. He related to the group the immediate concerns he had about the welfare of his daughter Karenna, who lives with her husband and their two children in Manhattan, and his wife Tipper, who was at home in Arlington, Virginia, only a mile or so from the Pentagon.

Because of the suspension of normal air travel occasioned by the disaster, it took Gore three days to get back to the United States by way of Canada, and, as he was making his way back home by car, he said, he was contacted on his cell phone by former President Bill Clinton, who invited him to stay the night at the Clintons’ new home in Chappaqua, New York, on the eve of the Sunday memorial service at Washington’s National Cathedral. As has been described in more than one print account, the two former political comrades ended their recent estrangement in an animated all-night conversation, then went together to the ceremony.

Gore had little to say about his future political plans, either to the group at large or to individuals singly. He quipped at one point about last year’s race and the extended Florida vote-count which followed it, “Some you win, some you lose, and then there’s that third category.”

Among the guests at the reception for Gore: Tandy Gilliland; Harold Byrd; Bob Byrd; A.C. and Ruby Wharton; Ben and Frances Hooks; Margaret Box; Evelyn Stell; Janice Lucas; David Cocke; Henry and Lynne Turley; Gayle Rose; Pat Kerr Tigrett; Gale Jones Carson; Steve Earhardt; Mary Nell Sasser; Karl Schledwitz; Jim Strickland; Dawn LaFon; and Guthrie Castle.

The Thursday evening occasion did not go altogether without controversy. One Democrat who didn’t get invited and didn’t’ learn until later of the event, said, “That’s typical Gore. I don’t know whether it’s him or his people, but, at a time when he needs to reach out and energize his base, he comes to a closed little affair, shakes a few hands, doesn’t say much, and then leaves. They have two Democrats running for county mayor over [Byrd and Wharton] and neglect to invite two others, both elected officials [State Rep. Carol Chumney and State Sen. Jim Kyle]. Go figure.”

The event at the Gillilands’, like many of Gore’s appearances in 2001, including his teaching stints in Tennessee and at Columbia University and a semi-public political seminar in Nashville with former Governor Lamar Alexander, was closed to the media.

News News Feature

MEMPHIS IN DENIAL

Post author By Chris Przybyszewski
Post date September 28, 2001

Reports to the contrary, the world has not changed — at least to the extent that local officials still believe the $250 million Memphis NBA arena can be financed largely by $70 million of sales tax rebates and $57 million of tourism taxes.

The financial assumptions underlying the arena were made last spring, months before the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. devastated the passenger airline and tourist industries. But while economists, stock market investors, and state budget experts are full of gloom and doom, there has been only silence in Memphis about a controversial project whose solvency depends on tourism and business travel.

“We’re still comfortable with our projections in the long term,” said City of Memphis Chief Administrative Officer Rick Masson.

The financing plan for the arena for the Memphis Grizzlies spans the years 2002-2025. It includes $57 million in tourism taxes, mainly on hotel and motel rooms. Another $25 million of financing costs is projected to come from rental car surcharges. Since most cars are rented at the airport, that part could also be seen as travel and tourism related.

Northwest Airlines announced last week it is cutting capacity 20 percent and laying off 10,000 workers. Other airlines made more drastic cuts. Gordon Bethune, CEO of Continental Airlines, said travel volume is likely to be halved for a lengthy period. Airline stock prices fell 40 percent or more last week.

In Nashville, Tennessee Finance Commissioner Warren Neel estimates the terrorist attacks will cause $100 million in lost state revenue, on top of earlier predictions of a $100 million shortfall in tax collections. Sales taxes and tourism taxes are so unpredictable that Gov. Don Sundquist and some lawmakers are once again talking about a state income tax.

The state’s contribution to the Memphis arena, pegged at $40 million in the original projections given to the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Commission when they approved the project, is now being soft-pedaled as something less than that. Masson said the state is contributing “infrastructure improvements in line with what they did for the Titans in Nashville.” He said that could include a parking garage and road improvements but declined to be more specific because Duncan Ragsdale‘s lawsuit is still pending and the project architect has not been hired.

Locally, the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau expects the slump to last at least well into next year because of cancelled bookings and delays in opening the Memphis Cook Convention Center, which is also relying on tourism taxes to pay for a $92 million overhaul.

Would all of this not seem to cause some uneasiness about arena financial projections that were considered too optimistic by 70 percent of Shelby County residents in a Princeton Survey Research Associates poll released in June?

Apparently not. Marlin Mosby, the consultant with Public Financial Management hired to work with the city and county, said no meetings have been scheduled to reconsider the projections and none are planned.

“They have not revised them at this point at all,” he said.

Mosby said it is “way too early to tell if this is a permanent fall-off,” and he noted that 2001 revenues have no impact on the arena, which doesn’t go on the books until next year.

There are already signs of a turnaround as the stock market rallied Monday and college and professional football teams resumed playing before packed stadiums.

The ultimate test of the arena’s financing package will be the bond market. Masson said, depending on the outcome of the lawsuit, the bonds could be placed late this year or early next year. He said they would not be insured, which is another change of course from this summer. Interest rates were falling before the terrorist attacks and they have fallen more since then. Masson is confident the bonds will be placed.

“Most people in the bond business are in it for the long haul,” he said.

If the projections are wrong and the funds are insufficient, then the city and county could use any revenue source except property taxes to cover the shortfall.

News The Fly-By

BELLY UP

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date September 28, 2001

A Flyer reader (and patron of Old Zinnie’s) wrote in to tell the following tale: Apparently a group of “special needs” protesters descended on Old Zinnie’s on September 22nd to complain about the beloved watering hole’s lack of accessibility for would-be drunks in wheelchairs.

Two of the protesters, a male and a female, went so far as to abandon their wheelchairs, crawl on their bellies into the bar, and demand service. After first noting that it is against policy to serve alcohol to people who are lying on the floor, the reluctant bartender complied. The female protester drank her beer but the male did not. Now we have to wonder: Who was really thirsty here and who was just trying to impress the ladies?

Sports Sports Feature

MEMPHIS SPORTS SCENE

Post author By Chris Przybyszewski
Post date September 28, 2001

How’s this sound for a dream job? “I’m the person who turns in the lineup and the person who calls time-outs and the person who gives the team advice,” says U of M volleyball coach Carrie Yerty. Yep, that’s the life, ain’t it? Just sit back, relax, suck on a cafe mocha, and watch as your squad improves to 11-1, as it did when it beat conference rival St. Louis 3-1 on Tuesday. That’s how she makes it sound sitting in her office, which is filled with pictures and mementos. Yerty, still dressed in work-out clothes from her morning exercise, seems completely laid-back. Her conversational tone is quiet and affable.

She has a reason to look relaxed. At the mid-point of the season, the Tigers squad is in the thick of both conference races and tournament contention. It’s a team built around five starting seniors and a coach who knows when to back off and let the players take over the game. “Our strength is our leadership,” Yerty says. “Our team very much runs itself. I come into practice and direct them in terms of what I want them to do and what drills I want them to do. And then they get on the ball and run it themselves. It’s been a pleasure for me to wake up every day and see my team. They’re motivated and excited.”

The team is pretty good, too. The team’s only loss is to a CUSA and national powerhouse. “Houston has gone to the NCAA tournament the last 11 or 12 years,” Yerty says. “And so, for us, to beat Houston in our only second conference game would be a big win.” And according to Yerty, the reason the Tigers lost had little to do with ability. “The difference between beating Houston and not beating Houston was that they expect to win, because that’s what they’ve done [in the past].”

Like any up-and-coming team, the players have to learn to win. It’s a lot like sky-diving. It looks impossible until the first chute opens. Then it’s pretty easy to go with the wind. Just don’t break your leg or neck, and all is well. “Our girls are learning to beat the top teams,” Yerty says.

Still, despite the disappointment of losing early in conference play, Yerty says that the squad just wants to keep playing. “I think our team is focused on competing,” she says. “Our girls know that, yeah, we’ve won ten in a row. But we still have to get the job done so we can get into the conference championships.”

So how does the coach with the dream job of coaching an experienced and motivated squad do such a thing” “I think we prepare and practice,” Yerty says. “We watch a lot of video. We do a lot of scouting.” However, that preparation only takes them so far. After that, it’s experience and guile that pulls the team through for a win.

“We always start the game off strong,” she says. “If the other team runs the game plan we thought they were going to run, we’re good. It’s when they throw something different that we have to make an adjustment. We have to trust our adjustment was the right move.” So having experience on the court makes Yerty’s life easier to a point. When game plans turn sour and the game is at full pitch with the other team making a run, there’s no other solution but cool heads and determination.

But here’s a question: If a team needs to learn to win and the team learns to win by being prepared – where does intimidation come in? You know, that quiet moment when Rocky sits next to a sleeping Adrian and says, “I just can’t beat him.” Let’s face it, if Rocky gets intimidated, won’t the volleyball team?

“My team isn’t intimidated by anybody,” Yerty snaps in response to the question. Her voice is suddenly hard, like granite but without the give. Maybe she’s not as laid-back as she wants this writer to believe. Then the moment is gone and the coach relaxes again. She continues, “I think they’re surprised by how good they are,” she says. “And they’re learning that they are good.” Translation: “My team isn’t intimidated by anybody.”

Yes, the Memphis volleyball squad is good. Whether they will learn to succeed in the CUSA and NCAA tourneys is up to the players. But whatever the case, don’t make the mistake of taking Yerty as relaxed. It’s halfway through the season and she’s just getting warmed up.

OTHER STUFF

John Rote, tight end and defensive end for Briarcrest High School has been named as the NFL and College Football Hall of Fame’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the Southern U.S. Rote was quite the high school student with impressive grades and test scores. He currently attends Stanford University. As a football player for Briarcrest, Rote served as team captain and was named All Metro and All Region for three years. And apparently Rote has this thing against punters. He blocked a total of 12 attempts in one season.
Nice work by the Grizzlies for handing out free tickets to those in uniform. They certainly deserve it. However, I might not be American enough, but isn’t dedicating the entire season to this whole affair a bit much? The team encourages all fans to dress in red, white, and blue for all home games. Maybe this will be the new color scheme when the squad drops that horrible teal.
So MJ’s back, huh? I for one will enjoy going to watch him play, but I can’t imagine that it will be very much like the old Mike. Still, if Jordan does end up playing the small forward position, it’s going to be fun to watch Memphis? Shane Battier go at it with his Airness. Of course, word has it that Jordan might opt to play point guard instead. Word has it that he played the one spot during his workouts at HOOPS gym. It makes since that he would want the Wizards offense, such as it is. If that’s the case, Grizzlies point guard Jason Williams is going to definitely have his hands full. Hmm “His Airness against His Hairless”

News News Feature

FALLING INTO DISGRACELAND

Post author By Mary Cashiola
Post date September 28, 2001

Imagine, if you will, a typical weekend night. Around nine or so. The phone rings and a voice on the other end says, “Hey, I have a question.”

You know what’s coming. It is THE QUESTION. Asked by females (and, hell, maybe males for all I know) before every social event, work outing, and general get-together. It is: “What are you wearing?” It means, in essence: “What are you wearing? I’m using you as my random sampling of the population/formal fashion barometer. I need to know exactly how dressy or casual this thing is going to be and whether or not belly chains are appropriate. Because if I’m way off base and think that it’s cocktail dresses when it’s really barbecue attire, you’re my first line of defense.

And if we get it wrong, at least we’ll both look out of place. And, listen, I don’t want you to look better than me, but I don’t want you to look worse, either, so we need to coordinate.” THE QUESTION, you see, is very complicated.

On a recent Friday evening, I received THE CALL. I answered by saying, “Are you sick of seeing my low-cut jeans, and … do you remember seeing me wear my pink tube top lately”? I had pulled the tube top out of the dirty clothes hamper (everyone does it) so I knew I had worn it recently, but I didn’t think anyone had seen me in it.

My friend started laughing. After she assured me that it was quite a while since I had worn the tube, and, no, she was not sick of my low-cut

jeans, she said, “I was planning on wearing jeans and a tube top, too.”

Okay, I thought, that’s odd. We do spend a lot of time together, so there are weird coincidences sometimes (mostly I try to blame them on my

burgeoning ESP), but I would say that both of us have rather extensive wardrobes. And while I know that jeans are pretty much par for the course,

tube tops definitely are not. We’re not walking around trying to be Farrah Fawcett here. Yes, tube tops have experienced a resurgence in the past couple of years, but I would say (and this is only my opinion) that they’re sort of on the decline now. So it raised an eyebrow.

After my friend made an outfit change (we certainly couldn’t both wear tube tops), we took our act out to the Young Avenue Deli.

We get there, get a couple of those Smirnoff Ices, and sit down to watch the band. For the most part, everything is chill (by the way, kiddies, ordering a Smirnoff Ice will get you carded. Or maybe ordering a Smirnoff Ice in a tube top and glitter makeup will get you carded).

Then I start looking around the bar. And I see a girl in a tube top and jeans. And then I see another one. And another. It was as if the bar had

been invaded by some jeans-and-tube-top society, only I had been inducted and didn’t even known it. And again, this was like a week ago. Not the height of summer when even spaghetti straps feel hot and oppressive. One might even have described the night as a little chilly.

I could only conclude (and, of course, I did this all very scientifically, with control groups and test tubes and such) that it was the band we were seeing. I mean, it wasn’t the locale, it wasn’t the weather, it certainly wasn’t a dictate from the fashion world. It had to be something about Eighty Katie.

Of course, that might be giving them too much credit. What about them or their music could possibly inspire tube tops? But if you would wear cowboy boots to see Willie Nelson and leather pants for Aerosmith, why can’t there be some sort of unspoken (and very specific) dress code for local bands? Thinking more about it, I usually wear jeans and a muscle tee whenever I see the Subteens. And for one of my favorite country and western-flavored ensembles, I always break out the big ol’ belt buckles.

I’m going to be keeping my eye on this little phenomenon. I know it doesn’t really mean anything in the larger scope of things, but I’m interested. I mean, if an entire group of people can be driven into tube tops by some unseen force, what else can we make people do?

Okay, you’re right, probably nothing. For me, I’m going to take it as a sign that whenever THE QUESTION yields an identical answer, everyone

involved in THE CALL should change. Because other people will probably be wearing that outfit, too. Unless you want to be dressed exactly the same as everyone else.

And for my own private rebellion, I’ll never wear another tube top to an Eighty Katie show. From now on, I’m sticking to low-cut tank tops.

Music Music Features

sound advice

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date September 27, 2001

It’s hard to describe Los Straitjackets without using a certain worn-out adjective. Why, you might ask? Because Los Straitjackets are cool, plain and simple. From the wrestling masks they wear on stage to their glittery Fender guitars, they are et up with the cool. The World Famous Pontani Sisters, a sweet-as-pie troupe of burlesque revivalists, can often be found touring with these guys. The Pontanis are a discriminating bunch of feather-clad vixens, so it’s plain to see that Los Straitjackets got it going on. Former Planet Rocker Eddie Angel, a devilish rockabilly who has played alongside legends such as Link Wray and Ronnie Dawson, is this group’s featured attraction. He’s a precision player capable of playing any style so well you’d swear it was his specialty. For their most recent recording, Sing Along With Los Straitjackets, the instrumentally inclined Angel and company attracted a roster of hyper-hip vocalists. The Flyrite Boys frontman Big Sandy is featured, as is El Vez, the Blasters’ Dave Alvin, X’s Exene Cervenka, the Reverend Horton Heat, and Nick Lowe. But the best track of all is a cover of the Skeeter Davis classic “(Don’t They Know It’s) The End of the World.” All I can say is it’s too bad this stellar lineup can’t possibly go on tour together. Still, when Los Straitjackets play the Hi-Tone CafÇ on Sunday, September 30th, you can bet your last Lucky all the cool kids will be there.

Now I’ve heard some folks dis Jack Oblivian’s solo projects for being too sloppy. These people want to rave about how Greg Oblivian was the genius behind the Oblivians. To this I say pshaw. Yep, I said pshaw. No doubt, Greg Cartwright/Oblivian’s solo sound is perhaps a bit more refined than that of his musical brother, but when you listen to discs like Jack’s So Low or the fantastic American Slang, it’s easy to see where the Oblivians’ true grit came from. His band The Tearjerkers out-Johnny Thunders Johnny Thunders. Well, when they are in tune, anyway. There will be a party at Murphy’s on Friday, September 28th, to celebrate the arrival of the Tearjerkers’ first album, Bad Moon Rising. Should be a wild one.– Chris Davis

On his fourth album, Memphis In the Morning, New Orleans bluesman Mem Shannon for the first time ventured out of the Crescent City to record. Setting up shop locally at Ardent Studios, with the Memphis Horns in tow, the change of scenery seemed to agree with him: With its funky rhythm section, jumping piano, and the Horns’ trademark punch, “Drowning On My Feet” is one of the best approximations of the classic Memphis soul sound to come along in years. Another locally focused highlight is a jazzy cover of one of B.B. King’s signature tunes, “Why I Sing the Blues.” Shannon will be back in town this week for a two-night stint at — where else? — B.B. King’s, performing at a Beale Street Caravan taping on Thursday, September 27th, and giving an encore performance the next night. — Chris Herrington

Sports Sports Feature

The Art Of Football

Post author By Chris Przybyszewski
Post date September 27, 2001

Maybe for those uninterested in the game, football doesn’t seem like a work of art. But in the crashing bodies and arching passes and precise blocking there’s form and symmetry. Every player strives to find his own individual brilliance in the strict confines of the playbook. And, as with art, the plays in football strive to organize the chaos into something meaningful.

So if football does have some form, it’s the job of the critic (sportswriter) to find a team’s pattern and decide if it works. The most compelling and also most disturbing aspect of the Tigers’ win last Saturday against the University of South Florida (USF) is that it doesn’t fit any pattern one would expect after three games. No player has played consistently; no unit has routinely shown itself to be reliable. The Tigers are a postmodern unit where the only constant is that they are unpredictably unreliable.

The Tigers built a 10-point lead at Mississippi State University (MSU) before the kicking team dropped a couple balls and the bottom fell out in a painful 30-10 Tigers loss. Despite scoring 43 points on a defenseless University of Tennessee-Chattanooga (UTC), the Tigers amassed over 100 yards in penalties. (Three penalties by the defense led directly to UTC’s only touchdown.) The following game the Tigers offense popped in 17 first quarter points over the USF only to sputter aimlessly over the next three quarters, racking up no points and only 53 yards of offense.

The offense also turned the ball over four times, with one fumble leading to USF’s only touchdown. Their ineptitude forced the defense to struggle mightily, keeping the Bulls out of the endzone with a last-second stand.

In each game, after building an early lead, some facet of the team has had a critical meltdown. It cost a win at MSU and could have cost the UTC and USF games if either of those opponents had been on par with the Bulldogs. Unfortunately for the Tigers, next Saturday’s opponent is Louisville. Though the Cardinals (3-1) dropped a game last weekend to Illinois, 34-10, they have still outscored their opponents by 47 points for the season. If the Tigers (2-1) can choose a weekend to get their act together, their first conference game of 2001 would be a good place to start.

What’s causing the chaos? Why has there been a breakdown every game? There are no easy answers, but head coach Tommy West offers this insight: “It looks, right now, like we lose our fundamentals.” Losing the fundamentals in this case means a lack of team play. “There [has been] a point in every game,” he says, “where we get to doing our own thing.” His message to his players: “Just do your job.”

In other words, the forms present within the Tigers football squad — its offensive philosophies and defensive schemes — come under the influence of another factor: group mentality.

Imagine for a moment if Picasso, Monet, Matisse, and Renoir had to create a painting together. Each would face the challenge of making the painting work while still allowing for his individual style to shine through. The probability of success in such an endeavor is small.

But good teams make this happen, and that’s the Tigers’ goal. The method, according to West, is simple. “It’s really just [been] a case of not doing exactly what we are supposed to do,” he says. He gives as an example quarterback Travis Anglin: “There is no doubt in my mind Travis caused that first fumble [in the USF game]. He just needs to make a quick throw. We hold it and hold it and [a receiver] is just not there. Just do like we do in practice and throw the ball away.”

Keep in mind that Anglin is one of the Tigers’ stars so far this season. Against USF he threw for 94 yards and a touchdown, rushed the ball for 73 yards, and even caught a gimmick-pass reception from receiver Ryan White for 45 yards. West’s point is clear: If one part of the piece isn’t working, the whole thing loses coherence.

Against USF, the whole thing very nearly collapsed minutes later as Anglin lost the ball again, which resulted in the Bulls’ only touchdown and kept them in the game. “All of a sudden, we go into a mode of ‘I have to make this play,'” West says. “Travis knows this. If you’re backed up, take a knee or run a quarterback sneak. It’s a play we run all the time. There are different zones on the field and [the red zone] is not a free-wheeling zone. That’s where you get two hands on the ball, get what you can get, and don’t be a hero. At worst, we’ll punt.”

“We have a lot of work before we go to Louisville,” West says. “We’re going to have to make a lot of corrections to have a chance to win.” The biggest correction, it seems, is for the players on the squad to make a conscious decision to accept their roles and do what West tells them to do. West is not gun-shy about letting his players know when they are part of the problem. Saturday will show just which players are part of the Tigers’ solution.

You can e-mail Chris Przybyszewski at chris@memphisflyer.com.

Film Features Film/TV

CAUGHT IN FLUX

Post author By Noel Murray
Post date September 27, 2001

Actor John Cameron Mitchell and songwriter Stephen Trask initially conceived the off-Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch as a rock opera, to be performed in nightclubs. Mitchell adopted the persona of a transgendered German pop singer named Hedwig, and both Trask’s songs and Mitchell’s between-song patter related the saga of Hedwig’s journey from East Berlin to Junction City, Kansas. In their tale, the wide-eyed Teutonic glam-rock fan immigrates at the pleasure of a lusty American G.I. who pays for Hedwig’s sex-change operation — a botched procedure, as it turns out, that leaves her with a stubborn hunk of flesh between her legs.

The concert version of Hedwig quickly moved into theaters, and though the staging grew more elaborate, the play remained anchored by songs and monologues. So what may be most amazing about Mitchell’s achievement in transmuting his stage work into a motion picture is how visually attuned the filmmaking is. Mitchell has directed the film with an emphasis on montage, stringing together meaningful images while reducing the torrent of words through which he previously told the story. Those of us whose only access to the New York theater is what we read about in the Sunday Times will likely be unable to imagine the piece as anything but a film. But then, fans of the play probably believe that it’ll never be better anywhere other than onstage. And it’s a testament to Trask that the soundtrack to Hedwig — both the original cast recording and the weirdly out-of-order but better recorded and performed film accessory — captures the tale’s spirit in playful lyrics and vigorously catchy rock music. Perhaps Mitchell and Trask have created an idea, not a narrative, and the idea can’t be contained by any one format.

The character of Hedwig has clearly been inspired by — and is the embodiment of — the alienation that haunts many of us in this megaplex era, especially homosexuals. Born in a divided city (which she escapes just before the wall comes down), transplanted to a city named after the very concept of a nexus (where she is abandoned when her sugar daddy splits), and stuck in a body that is neither wholly male nor wholly female (which her lover will only approach from behind), Hedwig has an affinity with many worlds but is at home in none. Mitchell’s lead performance encapsulates that tentative balance, as he assumes the defiant posture of an underdog and the stung expression of a victim.

The movie opens with a blast of fury, kick-started by the Guns N’ Roses-ish anthem “Tear Me Down,” performed by Hedwig and her band the Angry Inch at a chain restaurant in Kansas City. The group is on a tour of malls, shadowing the arena tour of a rock star named Tommy Gnosis (played by the Billy Corgan-like Michael Pitt), whose multiplatinum album is made up of songs stolen from Hedwig. The Angry Inch’s appearances in middle-class suburban eateries are confrontational, parading in front of the “straight” world the stylized decadence and kinky sexuality that the mainstream has winkingly appropriated from gay subculture.

Trask and Mitchell reference the glam trinity of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie in a procession of show tunes that fill in the characters’ backstories while simultaneously expressing more abstract emotions. The movie itself makes a shift toward the abstract, becoming less about what will become of Hedwig and more about the feelings associated with being used, betrayed, and generally unlucky.

That brings Hedwig in line with the recent “new musical” mini-movement in cinema exemplified by Lars Von Trier’s simplistic but wrenching Dancer in the Dark and Baz Luhrmann’s breathlessly romantic Moulin Rouge and also the new trends in sophisticated musical theater best represented by the idea-saturated and melody-rich work of Adam Guetell. Singing has always been the best way to convey an inner state without the nakedness of under-articulate speech. The musicals of today are moving beyond direct expressions of love and despair, in the case of Hedwig roping in social politics, gender confusion, even the philosophy of Plato. Even if it moves too far beyond conventional narrative to be completely explicit, the music video imagery and memorable songs of Hedwig and the Angry Inch evoke an implicit understanding. You see it, you hear it, you feel it. — Noel Murray

We Recommend We Recommend

When Smokey Sings

Post author By Chris Herrington
Post date September 27, 2001

If you were to poll music fans today, particularly younger ones, about who the greatest soul artists were, I fear it’d take a while for the name Smokey Robinson to come up. In fact, I bet he wouldn’t even be one of the first Motown artists mentioned. These days the soul music of the ’70s is, unfortunately, a lot more fashionable than that of the ’60s, and the current generation of soul singers, as well as their fans, are understandably more likely to cite Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as influences. Those Motown colleagues had both more commercial and artistic success during the ’70s than Robinson, whose work during that decade must, by comparison, sound a little square to younger listeners.

Then there’s the issue of Motown itself. Though unquestionably one of the most glorious ouevres in all of American pop, Motown’s “Sound of Young America” isn’t quite so cool anymore. The music’s constant use in boomer-oriented films and TV shows — most notably The Big Chill — has rendered it nostalgia music for middle-class, middle-aged white folks to many young listeners. Indeed, the sheer pop accessibility of the music hurts its credibility among a certain stratum of rock fan. And, in this regard, the label’s reputation was probably done a disservice by Peter Guralnick’s technically defensible but still overly flip dismissal in his otherwise definitive genre history Sweet Soul Music.

But regardless of the man’s reputation today, history will confirm his true stature: Smokey Robinson is simply one of the true giants of American music. If, other than the Beatles, Motown was the definitive pop music of its era, then it is Robinson, rather than founder Berry Gordy, who stands as the label’s greatest figure. Robinson, with his vocal group the Miracles, was the label’s first major artist, hitting number 2 on the pop charts in 1960 with the uptempo, post-doo-wop “Shop Around.” Robinson was made a vice president of the company soon after and, in addition to the staggering string of hits he created with the Miracles, became the label’s most important songwriter and producer of other artists, penning classics for the Temptations (“My Girl,” “The Way You Do The Things You Do”), Marvin Gaye (“I’ll Be Doggone,” “Ain’t That Peculiar”), and Mary Wells (“My Guy”).

Bob Dylan once called Robinson, only half-facetiously, America’s greatest living poet, and Robinson may well be the greatest lyricist that soul and R&B have ever known. There’s an effortless quality to the construction of Robinson’s lyrics that makes them sing on the page more than almost any other songwriter. As far as pop poetry, if not content, Robinson’s best stuff is on par with Chuck Berry and Leiber and Stoller: There’s the lyrical rush of “I Second That Emotion” — “Maybe you wanna give me kisses sweet/But only for one night with no repeat/And maybe you’ll go away and never call/And a taste of honey is worse than none at all.”

There’s the careful craft of “Tracks of My Tears,” one of pop music’s perfect creations, from Marvin Taplin’s delicate opening guitar figure to the final, soaring chorus on the fadeout. I cherish the end rhyme of “cute” and “substitute” midway through — “Since you left me, if you see me with another girl/Seeming like I’m having fun/Though she may be cute/She’s just a substitute/Because you’re the permanent one” — but the great moment comes later, a series of call-and-response exchanges setting up the climactic “My smile is my makeup I wear since my breakup with you.”

Those songs may be pop creations and Robinson may not have the strongest voice in a genre that boasts the likes of Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, but there are other Robinson songs that anyone looking to exclude Motown from “soul music” has to deal with. “Ooo Baby Baby” is the epic ballad of a man largely associated with the form, Robinson’s early shout of “I’m crying” followed by a descending bass and drum part that imitate tears rolling down the cheek. And then there’s “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me,” perhaps Motown’s most gospel-oriented single, with churchy piano chords and earthy call-and-response vocals putting across a refrain — “I don’t like you/But I love you” — that cut deep during those early years of the civil rights movement. This is soul music by even the strictest definitions.

Robinson’s solo work in the ’70s is a steep drop-off but is still significant in its own right. The boho soul stars of today may be children of Gaye and Al Green, but the smooth falsetto that dominated Robinson’s ’70s work may have been the key influence on most of the ’80s’ finest soul artists, from the sticky-sweet DeBarge to the just-plain-sticky Prince.

At the time, Robinson’s solo work was influential enough to spawn an entire genre and radio format — Quiet Storm, a brand of jazzy, urbane, romantic slow jams born on Robinson’s 1975 album and single of the same title. But the best of Robinson’s solo work came later — with the great 1979 hit “Cruisin'” and the worthy 1981 follow-up “Being With You.”

You can probably expect to hear all those songs and more when Robinson plays Tunica this week. Though it’s been more than a decade since Robinson’s last significant hit (1987’s too-slick but still lovely “One Heartbeat”), one guesses that age hasn’t diminished his voice much. And one thing’s certain — outside a few major country stars, you won’t be seeing anyone else who matches Robinson’s stature down at the casinos or anywhere else, for that matter. n

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

Smokey Robinson

Sam’s Town

Friday, September 28th