Month: January 2004

Spitfire

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date January 30, 2004

Eric Lewis has been burning his candle at both ends of late, playing in the orchestra for Circuit Playhouse’s stellar production of The Spitfire Grill, then rushing out to the P&H Café or the Poplar Lounge to play with his old partner Chris Scott or with his band the Tennessee Boltsmokers. It’s unusual to see a certifiable star of the Memphis honky-tonks playing in the pits, but Lewis, who lives in an apartment in Playhouse on the Square’s intern house, is rapidly becoming as well known in theatrical circles as he is in the barrooms.

Lewis never imagined he would find such a close affinity with the theater community, but then again, he never really imagined that he would become a torchbearer for American roots music. Like most teen-agers, he had his sights set on being a rock star. But somewhere along the way, things changed. He began to play more country, more folk, and more bluegrass. His involvement with the theater, and in particular with Fred Alley, author of the musical adaptation of The Spitfire Grill and co-founder of the American Folklore Theatre in Wisconsin, only strengthened his ties to tradition.

“My mom sings and writes songs,” Lewis says of his early musical education. “She plays guitar like an old bluesman. She changes timing whenever she feels like it. My grandfather was a banjo player, and I grew up [in Knoxville] hanging out in nursing homes listening to my mom and my grandfather playing Carter Family songs, Bill Monroe, and Hank Williams. I guess it just didn’t sink in at the time. But one time this orderly came in and started playing guitar. When he hit his first chord, it was like the house lights went down and the stage lights came up. It was like a Van Halen concert.”

Lewis talked his mother into letting him take lessons from the orderly. He went on to study trumpet, piano, and blues, classical, and rock guitar. In high school he started playing in rock bands, and after moving to Memphis, Lewis joined a group called Son of Slam. He went on to play in the Mudflaps, another storied Memphis rock group known for letting its roots hang out all over. He eventually started tinkering more and more with traditional bluegrass and country, learning to play mandolin, fiddle, and pedal steel.

“I was dating a girl named Karen Mal, and she had been doing some theater in Memphis,” Lewis says. “She’s the one who said I should [start playing for theaters]. She said, ‘You can read music and you can improvise. You can play all these different instruments. You could probably make a living doing this.'”

Mal linked Eric up with Jackie Nichols who hired him to play pedal steel for Playhouse’s first production of A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline. He would eventually play on a national tour of that show.

“Until [A Closer Walk] I had long hair,” Lewis says. “[Director] Mike Detroit made me cut it short, and it’s been short ever since. Now people call me ‘sir.’ I didn’t know I deserved such respect.” And Lewis’ hair wasn’t all that changed. His career was about to take an unexpected turn. Mal, who had worked at AFT in Wisconsin, also introduced Lewis to Alley.

“He was a great singer and songwriter,” Lewis says of Alley. “He was a great athlete, actor. He was just one of those people who was good at everything he did.” Alley was the creative force behind AFT, a homespun theater company that now attracts some 50,000 people to its summer theatricals. AFT produces original work as professional as anything in New York, but productions are a far cry from New York theater. The comical characters who walk the stages at AFT are torn directly from the American heartland and Wisconsin in particular. By the time Alley died of a heart attack at age 38, local press had begun to refer to him as “an institution.”

In addition to playing for AFT’s shows, Lewis also started playing with Alley, who was himself an accomplished musician and songwriter in the folk tradition. They became close friends, and after hearing a bootleg of one of Lewis’ shows, Alley put up the money to release Lewis’ CD Live at Fish Creek.

“I can’t really explain how it feels,” Lewis says of his experience playing mandolin and guitar for Circuit’s production of The Spitfire Grill. “It feels good to be playing this at home — in one of the cities I definitely call home. It’s just really great to have done all of these things with Fred and to now be sharing them here. You can hear his voice all the way through it.”

The Spitfire Grill runs through February 15th. Lewis’ band, the Tennessee Boltsmokers, will play a special concert at Circuit Playhouse on Wednesday, February 11th.

Music Music Features

Local Beat

Post author By Chris Herrington
Post date January 30, 2004

The Handy Awards get more attention, and perhaps justly so, but the International Blues Challenge, a sort of amateur talent search, might be the Memphis-based Blues Foundation‘s most interesting event. The 20th IBC will take place this weekend on Beale Street, with more than 90 acts from across the U.S. and around the world (this year’s field includes bands from Israel and the Republic of Georgia) competing for $25,000 in prizes, including a performance slot on April’s Handy bill and instant name recognition across the blues world.

Semifinals competition will be held Thursday, January 29th, and Friday, January 30th, in clubs along Beale, with a $10 wristband available for entry into all participating venues. The solo finals will be held Friday night at The Pig on Beale, while the big prize, the band finals, will be decided Saturday, January 31st, at the New Daisy Theatre, with a $15 cover.

Local acts have performed well in the past. Richard Johnston won the contest three years ago and became an overnight sensation on the blues circuit. Two years ago, traditionalist three-piece The Handy Three made a classy addition to the contest’s finals. There was no local entrant last year, but that’s been corrected for this year’s contest. Silky O’Sullivan’s staple Barbara Blue, whose new album 3rd & Beale gets a proper release next month, will be competing, sponsored by the Center for Southern Folklore, and relative newcomer and regular local club fixture Robert Allen Parker, who has an eponymous album out co-produced by blues-scene stalwart Brad Webb, will be representing the Smokey Mountain Blues Society.

Those looking for a snapshot of the diverse world of contemporary blues can’t do much better than this weekend in Memphis, and the music is sure to spill out beyond Beale. The Israeli entrant, SOBO, which is sponsored by an organization called Blues for Peace, will be performing a 2 p.m. set Thursday at the Center for Southern Folklore.

If you’re looking for a chance to hear live music for free, Cooper-Young is the place to be on Wednesday nights. Over at Last Chance Records — which moved a few months ago from its relatively high-profile storefront on Cooper to a larger but more hidden space in the former Seraphim Rose bookstore at 2074 Walker — manager Brian Venable has started an informal Wednesday-night in-store performance series.

Venable began bringing in local artists for acoustic sets a month ago, with Cory Branan, the Reigning Sound’s Greg Cartwright, and the Glass’s Brad Bailey having performed in recent weeks. Venable will continue the series with Holly Cole on January 28th, Lucero’s Ben Nichols (a former bandmate of Venable’s, who was a founding member of the band) on February 4th, Tim Prudhomme and Harlan T. Bobo on February 11th, and Snowglobe’s Tim Regan on February 18th. Sets usually start around 7 p.m. and are being recorded by Venable for possible use in a planned “Live at Last Chance” compilation. You can call Last Chance at 272-7922 for more info.

And after that, live-music fans can head a couple of blocks north to Young Avenue Deli, where manager Mike Smith has started the “On the Road” series, which brings out-of-town touring bands into the club for free Wednesday-night shows. Shows are scheduled to start at 10 p.m., with no local openers.

“The idea was for people to be able to come in, have dinner, have a couple of beers, see a live band, and still be able to get home by midnight,” says Smith, who also mentions that the series is a way to develop these largely unknown bands in the Memphis market.

Smith currently has “On the Road” shows booked through mid-March (a March 17th booking of popular Chicago indie-rockers Trans Am will have the series on at least a one-week hiatus). The current schedule is as follows: Pop-rockers Bishop Allen, whose 2003 debut Charm School got a four-star review in Rolling Stone, on January 28th; Rhode Island alt-country band Barn Burning on February 4th; Houston four-piece Scattered Pages on February 11th; Chicago art-punk trio The Audreys, whose recent debut was produced by Ivan Julian of Richard Hell & the Voidoids fame, on February 18th; and singer-songwriter Jen Foster rounds out next month’s schedule on February 25th.

E-mail: localbeat@memphisflyer.com

Film Features Film/TV

Time Again

Post author By Bo List
Post date January 30, 2004

Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) is a smart, attractive college guy. He had some rough spots in childhood, but he’s grown beyond them fairly successfully, thanks, in part, to a series of blackouts that occurred at crucial, difficult moments. But he’s been blackout-free for seven years cause for celebration with his enormous, amorous Goth roomie Thumper (Ethan Suplee).

When Evan takes a snoopy girl back to the dorm, a pile of journals is uncovered journals Evan was told to keep as a kid to help him fend off blackouts. The date goes bad when Evan is suddenly transported back to a creepy moment with a childhood girl pal’s father (Eric Stoltz) who has a new video camera and sleazy intentions for it.

Back in the future (er, the present), Evan tracks down the old friend, Kayleigh Miller (Amy Smart) to figure out what happened that night years ago. She gets upset and runs off, and later her nasty, violent brother Tommy leaves a voice-mail to let Evan know that he screwed up and that Kayleigh had killed herself.

It turns out that Evan’s journals hold secrets to several key moments in his childhood that served as turning points in his development: a vandalism prank that went awry and killed a mother and child, Tommy’s vicious incineration of Evan’s dog, a troubling drawing Evan did as a child showing what he wanted to be when he grew up, etc. It turns out also that by staring reeeeeeaaaallly hard at a journal entry, Evan can go back and relive an important moment. And he does, with predictably tragic results.

It’s not enough to stop the molestation of him and Kayleigh or to save the dog. Invariably, each resulting scenario is worse than the one before. Every time the past is changed, the future is also changed. In one variation, Evan becomes a frat guy, living blissfully with Kayleigh as his girlfriend but because he prevented the molestation of only him and Kayleigh, it turns out that brother Tommy got the brunt of it and turns out messed up. And Evan winds up in prison. Then in a psych ward. Then Kayleigh is a hooker, then a sorority girl again. Every future is different.

I would like to afford Kutcher some credit for the ambition behind this film. Known chiefly for his antic performances in That 70’s Show, MTV’s Punk’d, sophomoric movie comedies, and Demi Moore, he is tabloid fodder and the unfair target of Ben Affleck-sized scrutiny. Many will see this film to determine his acting ability. Let me save you some time: Yeah, he can act. He’s green and the inexperience shows in the form of nuance and diction (he mumbles some). But he’s earnest and committed and not remotely showy unless the strange script or direction forces him. Bravo, Ashton. If only the rest of the film were as earnest and wholesome as he.

The first 30 minutes are a parade of horrors: the exploding baby, an attack on an innocent moviegoer, the burning dog. Hell, back in the past they even go see the movie Seven and we relive the horrifying scene in that film where the murder investigation leads to the badly decayed corpse of a morbidly obese glutton. As if the bad luck in this film were not sufficiently terrible.

“The Butterfly Effect” is a component of chaos theory that suggests “if a butterfly flaps its wings where I am standing, then it can create a monsoon halfway around the world.” For that matter, so can a sneeze or a handshake or any decision whatsoever. Makes you think twice about doing anything. The problem in this movie (among a handful) is that the Butterfly Effect seems only to affect the “here” and gives no sense of “there.” Evan’s decisions have no bearing on anything outside of his own life. It’s like tossing a pebble in a pond and watching the ripples more than anything involving monsoons.

There is an amusing battle among nature, chaos, fate, and free will in this film, and by the end, we lose patience with Evan because his decisions are never very smart. When he goes back in time he always seems to do or say the wrong thing never learning from one trip back to the next. No wonder life gets so screwy! Kutcher, in his first attempt at generating box-office gravitas, deserves better than this complicated script that lets him go nowhere. While Kutcher goes back to the past for his gravitas, serious fans of time travel should go Back to the Future.

Opinion Viewpoint

No Way Out for Herenton and City Council?

Post author By John Branston
Post date January 30, 2004

Is there no way out of the mess Mayor Herenton and the Memphis City Council have gotten themselves into? Not so fast. Things could be worse. It’s not life and death. It’s not a business meltdown. It’s not a criminal investigation, at least not yet.

The Flyer asked political spin doctors, corporate consultants, mediators, lawyers, former politicians, and other professional advice-givers to make a few suggestions about where to go from here. Here’s what they said.

Wyeth Chandler, former Memphis mayor, judge, city commissioner, and now a professional mediator with Resolute Systems.

“The first thing that needs to be done is the mayor needs to sit down individually with every member of the council. He should say he regrets anything he said that demeans their activities as members of a legislative body, and that he considers their rank equal to the executive branch and he intends to deal with them. Then he needs two things from them: First, [they should] let him know what their priorities are. And, second, he needs to have from them the names of some people they feel would render good service as members of boards and commissions.

“Hopefully, that at least establishes with each of them a new relationship.

“At the same time, council members need to tell him they made some statements that impugn his integrity, and they regret it. On this bond deal, they are not doing an investigation as a personal vendetta but as part of their job. The city comes before any of them personally. That’s a way to start over. And that’s what they need to do.”

LaSimba Gray, minister of New Sardis Baptist Church and leader of a group of Memphis ministers trying to resolve the controversy.

“The glowing image of Memphis will be tarnished if this war of words continues. We have pulled together a group of ministers with training and skills in negotiation. We sat with the mayor last Friday and met today with three council members on an individual basis for three-and-a-half hours. We have invited all of them to meet with us.

“I would do an assessment of what has happened and then call all the parties together for ownership in what has happened. What role did they play — good, bad, or indifferent. Second, look at alternatives to behavior or actions that may have caused this situation. Then look at possibilities of resolution and have those thrashed out in discussions. You reach a proposed set of solutions and have those implemented immediately. Over 90 days you revisit them to see if they are working. That has to be done in the environment of a covenant of resolution.”

Mike Cody, attorney, mediator, and former city councilman, candidate for mayor, and Tennessee attorney general.

“This has an adverse effect on the community regardless of who’s at fault. I would go back and analyze how the dispute arose and what are the factors that brought us here. See how many of those situations could be dealt with by sort of easing over the frustration that resulted from certain statements.

“Then I would go to a major confidant of both parties. With the council you’d probably have to find somebody well respected by three or four of the most vocal ones. Do the same with the mayor. Put those people in a room without the major players, and I would try to explain to them that the public feels — regardless of whose fault it was — that it’s time to move past this situation. How do you think that is best done?

“After the general meeting, put them in separate rooms and ask each side what are the things that disturb you most and what could the other side do to move you to an understanding. Then go to the other side and ask them what would you think if this could happen. Then in private — and I don’t know how the Sunshine Law would work here — a mediator would get the major players and make suggestions as to what could be done.”

John Bakke, veteran political consultant.

“You’ve got to find your common goals is number one. And make a recommitment to goals you committed to when you took your oath of office. I think it’s big-picture time. Time to understand the effect this is having on the community. Because I have heard it said outside of Memphis and Shelby County that real estate agents are getting calls about people moving and businesses relocating.

“This happens any time there is any controversy in Memphis. But population trends are something to pay attention to. We’ve had far more serious crises in this city than this one, but this is something people don’t want to see in their leadership.”

Mother Wit, morning radio personality on WRBO FM-103.5.

“I would clean the slate. Start all over again. There is such a thing as saying I’m sorry and such a thing as forgiveness. I firmly believe in apologizing and coming out with a clean slate. It’s the city that is important, not petty issues or egos or words that have hurt the city. We have to stay focused on what is important. Our children are watching this. They see too much insanity as it is. Memphis is a stable place if we let it be.”

John Malmo, business marketing consultant and author of the book When on the Mountain There Is No Tiger, Monkey Is King.

“When you have a problem like this in business it’s a lot easier to work out than it is in politics. Because even though egos get involved, there are usually overriding issues, and in business you have an ultimate authority, either the boss or customer. That makes it easier for two opposing parties to bury the hatchet. In politics, the media makes it so messy because you add the element of public posturing by the individuals involved.

“They are going to have to get together, probably the mayor and a small group of three to five council members at most. First of all, what are the consequences and potential consequences of this situation? How long can the city go without division directors? I’m not sure, knowing the parties involved, that they are going to be able to solve this problem.”

Benjamin Hooks, minister, former president of the national NAACP, and former Criminal Court judge.

“It’s time for them to sit down together. I don’t think it’s out of hand at this point. I believe firmly that the council has its powers and the mayor has his prerogatives. They have to work together. I have not been able to meet with this group of ministers trying to act as mediators, but sometimes an outside group respected by both sides can do more. It might be well if a group met with the mayor and then the council before meetings were held together. I think it is newsworthy now because it has not happened here before. But I have lived in cities where this is a common thing. It was not as surprising to me as it was to some people in Memphis.”

Ralph Berry, president of Thompson Baker and Berry public relations firm and former vice president of corporate communications for Holiday Inns, Promus, and Harrah’s.

“The first thing they have to do is step back and put all the comments and insults and criticism aside. I would start by saying that it seems like an awful lot of things have been done in the heat of the moment. Everybody needs to get a little self-discipline when it comes to saying the first thing that comes to mind. They need to start talking as people, not as politicians.

“A lot of business folks step back and make a personal list: Here is what I would like in an ideal world; here is what I am willing to accept. If everyone is willing to accept what is not the perfect choice but still moves the agenda forward, then everyone will benefit. From a PR standpoint, they ought to keep in the back of their heads what the things they’re saying sound like to someone outside the city. Because ultimately what this is about is making Memphis an attractive place to live and work.”

Spence Byrum, vice president of sales and customer service for Crew Training International, which trains people ranging from combat pilots to surgeons to make good decisions under stress.

“The job you do handling a crisis is determined by how you prepare. The focus should be on what’s right rather than who’s right. If you are caught up in who’s right, it keeps you from listening.

“What strikes me in this particular situation is that as soon as one party starts talking, the person on the receiving end starts thinking how they are going to respond. We call this rehearsing your rebuttal.

“If I was going to start from scratch, I would focus on what’s right. That takes the personal-ownership factor out of it. It’s difficult to let go of a concept if it’s yours. As I read about these volleys back and forth, it appears the listening is what’s missing.”

Joe Hall, partner in the Ingram Group, a government relations firm whose clients include the Public Building Authority.

“First, look to the closest allies of both the mayor and council and feel out how much they’re dug in and determine the interest in either or both sides of settling this. If there is resistance to that, you have to look to the part of the community with the most at stake, which is the private and civic sectors.

“They have had a terrific working relationship with both Mayor Herenton and the council for a while. And then take a look at what the next four years would be like with a fractured relationship. It jeopardizes progress and opportunities. For example, if the Grizzlies deal was just beginning, it would be absolutely jeopardized. Who knows what opportunities could be lost if this fracture remains for a long time?”

Suzanne Landers, divorce attorney.

“It’s not unlike a divorce. If things are so hot that stability is not possible, they may need a cooler head to help facilitate. What they’re doing now is what I call triangle building. The council goes to the press, then the mayor goes to the press and responds. Triangle building is treacherous business.”

E-mail: branston@memphisflyer.com

News The Fly-By

A New Day?

Post author By Janel Davis
Post date January 30, 2004

Can’t they all just get along? If the subject is the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the answer is no.

When COGIC bishop David Grayson announced his plans last week for an elevation and consecration ceremony for the title of presiding bishop and chief apostle of his new denomination, all hell broke loose. In an unlikely break from the mother church, which is under the jurisdiction of presiding bishop G.E. Patterson, Grayson launched the Church of God in Christ (New Day). He explained the significance of the name (“It is a new day in the COGIC”) during the ceremony before a capacity crowd at Greater Harvest Church.

The established church rushed to block the use of the COGIC name and has filed a restraining order against Grayson and New Day in Chancery Court. Besides demanding that the new church refrain from “advertising, describing, representing themselves, or from utilizing the words ‘Church of God in Christ,’ the order also prohibits them from “using, taking, converting, or diverting any real or personal property” belonging to COGIC.

“I told [Patterson] in November 2001 of my intentions to request a Tennessee jurisdiction. I met with him again in November 2002,” said Grayson. “I didn’t expect him to endorse it, but he said that he would not block [the plan], remain neutral, and let the board vote on it.”

The vote never came before the COGIC delegates at the 2003 convention. In December, Grayson sent Patterson a letter of resignation after serving 35 years as a COGIC pastor. Tennessee Secretary of State databases show that the Church of God in Christ (New Day) received a certificate of authority with a name change on January 23rd.

“Everyone thinks that my desire to ordain women [as pastors] was the reason for the church’s actions, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it,” Grayson said. Maybe not. In addition to that break from tradition, Grayson also plans to extend membership to non-COGIC churches. “As long as [other denominations] believe in all of the full-gospel teachings of the COGIC church, they can be included,” he said. His denomination will host its own proceedings in July as the United Saints Convention.

So what makes the new church so appealing? “Bishop Grayson is inclusive, not exclusive,” said COGIC minister Darrin Young. “In the [mother church], if you’re not on the top shelf or if your church isn’t very large, you’re kind of left out. That’s not the way it is here. Thank God for a New Day.”

Patterson and COGIC have kept mum about the matter, choosing to present their case in court, but others have not been as quiet.

When serving court documents to Grayson last Friday, process server Rik Anderson said he saw the “not so Godly side” of COGIC (New Day). After attempts to contact Grayson for a “discreet” drop-off failed, Anderson said he arrived 10 minutes before the 7 p.m. jubilee service.

“I have no doubt that [Grayson] and his [public relations manager] Patricia Rogers had news crews alerted to come film the poor bishop as he was only trying to pray with his people and then was attacked by a mean ole process server,” said Anderson. “I wish the cameras had gotten her threatening me with bodily harm too.”

Both Rogers and Grayson denied that Anderson was threatened, but Rogers said she did alert the media.

Whether COGIC is successful in its case against the New Day church will be determined when the two sides meet in court February 9th. Either way, Grayson is not worried. “This too shall pass,” he said.

E-mail: jdavis@Memphisflyer.com

News The Fly-By

Rebuilding the Hard Way

Post author By Janel Davis
Post date January 30, 2004

For store manager Craig Carter, the most difficult part of reopening his grocery store has been getting the word out.

“We’re just trying to let people know that we’re back and they can come down here again. With us being closed for about a month, people still don’t know we’re open,” he said.

Easy Way Food Store at 80 N. Main, a downtown landmark since 1932, reopened last Friday, 26 days after undergoing smoke and water damage from a predawn fire that destroyed Jack’s Food Store next door. The owner of the Jack’s building said he has not decided whether to rebuild.

Although no structural damage occurred to the Easy Way location, the store lost all of its merchandise. What was originally estimated as a five- to 10-day closing while fire officials inspected the area became an opportunity for the store to revamp its interior, said Easy Way vice president David Carter.

“We had a salvage crew come in, insurance adjustments were done, the entire store was repainted, and all the ceiling tiles were replaced,” he said. “We lost the three days before Christmas [in sales]. Those are the biggest days of the year, and we probably lost $75,000 in revenue.”

During remodeling, the 30 employees at the downtown location were transferred to the company’s seven other family-owned stores.

“We felt that we had to get back open for our customers,” said David Carter. “For some of them, we are their grocery store, for others we’re their bank, and for others we’re their meeting place. We’re one big family for our customers here.”

E-mail: jdavis@memphis-flyer.com

News The Fly-By

Coliseum Conflict

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date January 30, 2004

Ian Cobb showed up at the Mid-South Coliseum on October 24th expecting to enjoy a Widespread Panic concert, but according to a lawsuit recently filed by his attorney Greg Hays, he left bruised and bloodied after being assaulted by members of the Coliseum’s security team.

According to the claim, which was filed on January 14th, Cobb was enjoying the show from a special floor area that he had purchased tickets to access. He spotted another concert-goer climbing over a safety wall into the area. When he noticed security guards headed in that person’s direction, he walked over to warn the person to get down. The person got off the wall and began to walk away with Cobb.

The guards allegedly ran up behind Cobb and grabbed him by the back of the shirt. The suit states that they then began punching him in the face and upper torso. At that point, his brother ran to the scene and warned guards that Cobb was a hemophiliac, a condition that prevents blood clotting and causes excessive bleeding. The lawsuit states that the guards continued to beat Cobb and rammed him into a wall. They then threw him over the wall and into a concrete barrier.

“The bottom line is, we don’t know why he was attacked,” said Hays. “I assume the guards confused him with somebody else or something. [The Coliseum management has] not communicated with us on this suit at this time.” Steve Fox, manager of the Coliseum, did not return phone calls to the Flyer.

According to Hays, Cobb was treated by an emergency medical technician employed by the Coliseum but was denied access to an ambulance. Once he was allowed to leave, he sought further medical help. Cobb is suing the Coliseum staff, Fox, the city of Memphis, and Shelby County government for $600,000 in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages.

“Ian’s main point with this is that he wants people to know that when they go to the Coliseum, they need to beware,” said Hays. “He was shocked that something like this would happen to him at a place he thought was safe, especially considering that it was done by the people who are supposed to be there to protect him.”

E-mail: bphillips@memphisflyer.com

Music Music Features

Sound Advice

Post author By
Post date January 30, 2004

For those who made the scene during singer-songwriter Todd Snider‘s mid-’90s Memphis heyday, it won’t take much convincing to get you to head out to the Lounge Friday, January 30th, to catch the now Nashville-based Snider’s latest semiregular local appearance.

But for those who missed out, you might want to take a listen to Snider’s most recent album, the charming live set Near Truths and Hotel Rooms, where his witty songs and warm audience rapport add up to a good time you’ll want to have.

Snider, a one-time protégé of local songwriter Keith Sykes and who now records for John Prine’s Oh Boy Records, can write delicate, reflective songs, but his strength is humor. And Near Truths and Hotel Rooms presents an equal-opportunity satirist, one equally adept at tweaking social conservatism (“Beer Run” is a priceless tale of “a couple of frat guys from Abilene” on their way to a Robert Earl Keen concert) and mocking left-of-center pretension (the dated but still effective semi-hit “Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues”). Words to live by, from “Tension”: “Republicans, that’s what scares people nowadays that and, uh Democrats.”

I must sound like a broken record recommending The Drive-By Truckers whenever they appear within this paper’s circulation radius, which is fairly regularly. But since their local shows, rather mystifyingly, don’t seem to ever sell out, I’m gonna stay on my soapbox. This hard-touring Alabama band might sound like a pure novelty act to those who have never heard them –like Southern Culture on the Skids or Insane Clown Posse — but they’re not. They’re funny, to be sure, but funny like Randy Newman and Bob Dylan are funny. And they rock –like Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd used to rock. They also, however improbably, keep getting better. The band’s most recent album, Decoration Day, tops the White Stripes’ Elephant as the best trad-rock album of the past year. The Truckers boast not just one or two but now three brilliant songwriters: Southern-culture raconteur Patterson Hood, small-town-life poet Mike Cooley, and working-class balladeer Jason Isbell. And, for what it’s worth, the band’s last pass through town, at Newby’s, climaxed with one of my favorite concert moments ever –when a 12-year-old girl named Audrey Brown (“the unsinkable Audrey Brown,” one band member called her, and, as a publicist later told me, a member of the band’s “street team”) took the stage to sing Cooley’s epic tale of small-town teen love “Zip City” as the band riffed gloriously behind her. The Drive-By Truckers will be at the Library in Oxford, Mississippi, Friday, January 30th. — Chris Herrington

Editorial Opinion

A Worthy Prosecution?

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date January 30, 2004

The criminal prosecution of University of Alabama football booster Logan Young has opened a Pandora’s box of problems for federal prosecutors, the NCAA, and now it seems even the University of Tennessee and Coach Phillip Fulmer.

Way back in August 2001, U.S. Attorney Terrell Harris and Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons held a joint press conference to announce the indictments of high school football coaches Lynn Lang and Milton Kirk.

The prosecutors were going to do nothing less than clean up recruiting in Memphis. “We are sending a clear message that the sale of high school athletes for personal gain will not be tolerated in our community,” they said.

So where are we two-and-a-half years later?

Last week, Fulmer was identified as a confidential source in the NCAA’s investigation of Alabama, going so far as to secretly tape a potential witness for 90 minutes. Fulmer and UT boosters tattled on Alabama and peddled the story to the media, starting in the summer of 2000. Young’s attorneys plan to subpoena Fulmer and his notes, tapes, and records. All over Alabama, fans of the Crimson Tide are howling that Tennessee got a pass from the NCAA on its alleged football program violations in return for “private investigator” Fulmer’s cooperation.

On Monday, Young was in court for a brief appearance, vowing a fight to the finish with the best legal defense money can buy. An expensive three-year-old federal investigation is likely to get a lot more expensive, all on the flimsy grounds that high school coaches are “public officials” and that their auction of star player Albert Means was extortion, bribery, and a violation of the laws of interstate commerce.

The latest development in this overblown epic came out of Montgomery, Alabama, this week. Attorney and Alabama partisan Tommy Gallion demanded a congressional investigation of the NCAA investigation of the university. Whether or not he gets one, Gallion will remain Fulmer’s and the NCAA’s worst nightmare.

Thanks to overzealous prosecutors and Tennessee boosters, stacks of documents and tapes that otherwise would have remained locked up in NCAA files instead became public record and fodder for fresh stories. The NCAA is having to defend itself against charges of favoritism and criminalizing a recruiting investigation. And federal prosecutors got themselves deeply mired in a case that, at best, they will win at trial or, at worst, they will lose or see dismissed.

And all for what? Young was sanctioned two years ago by Alabama and disassociated from the football program. For someone as passionate as he is about Alabama football, that is serious punishment. Lang and Kirk are out of coaching. Means is playing for the University of Memphis. Fulmer faces months of embarrassment, subpoenas, and legal fees and may well have brought an NCAA investigation upon his own program. Reporters and lawyers get a big juicy case to work on.

And football recruiting and “the sale of high school athletes for personal gain” in our community? One well-regarded Memphis high school football coach told a Flyer reporter that corruption is still alive and well in football recruiting. Still, we doubt that many promising linemen these days are fetching $200,000 or $150,000 or whatever combination of cash, cars, and houses Lang plans to allege if and when he finally takes the witness stand against Young.

An NCAA investigation would have accomplished as much. Criminalizing the process was a questionable and apparently unwise decision. On the football field, it’s called piling on, and the penalty is 15 yards. In the courtroom, it’s called getting the case dismissed before trial. In this case, a lot of people probably are wishing today that it had never gotten to federal court, period.