Month: June 2005

Categories
Cover Feature News

Busted

The resounding – and continuing – shocks of last Thursday, when several well-known political figures were arrested in a corruption scandal, handcuffed, and hauled into federal court, both in Memphis and Nashville, were preceded by some ironies that might have been edited out of a work of fiction as being too pat and fanciful.

In the preceding week, state senator John Ford, under siege for months because of suspected ethics violations, had let it be known that he intended to counterattack against his persecutors, filing lawsuits against anybody challenging his integrity. Only the day before, in the legislature’s other body, state representative Chris Newton of Newport rose to withdraw a bill governing the disposal of surplus state computers. It seemed that Newton had discovered that a lobbyist for the measure, Hamilton County school-board member Charles Love, was not registered with the state as an official representative of E-Cycle Management, the firm pushing for the new law.

Consequently, Newton had told the Chattanooga Times-Free Press he decided to yank the bill. “From just purely an old-fashioned ethical standpoint, that’s wrong,” said the Cleveland Republican. “To me, it creates a cloud over that process. It doesn’t look good. … It just left a bad taste in my mouth.”

That bad taste must have gotten far worse early on Thursday morning, when Newton himself was hauled into custody by FBI agents in Nashville, along with Ford and state senators Kathryn Bowers of Memphis and Ward Crutchfield of Chattanooga. Undergoing simultaneous arrest in Memphis were former state senator Roscoe Dixon, who had become a ranking aide to Shelby County mayor A C Wharton, and Dixon’s longtime aide Barry Myers. Love, who had filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, was still at-large but was arrested later in Chattanooga.

Nor was that the end of it. As in the aftermath of any high-end Richter-scale event, the aftershocks kept coming. Rumors, abetted by politicians and legal figures in a position to know, kept floating to the effect that other big names, both statewide and in Shelby County, had been involved in the sting. This was reflected not only in the Internet’s hyperactive blogosphere – coming into its own during this crisis in the same way that TV had established itself decades ago – but in mainstream news sources as well. Some of the speculation was manifestly over the top – like the reports coming out of Nashville that Memphis mayor Willie Herenton might have something to worry about. That notion turned out to be based on a misunderstanding about Dixon’s place of employment. The mayor he worked for was, of course, not Herenton but county mayor Wharton, who was not only uninvolved himself but lost no time in asking for – and receiving – Dixon’s resignation. In a Thursday-morning press conference at the Memphis federal building, U.S. attorney Terrell Harris summed up the thrust of what he and the four other law-enforcement figures on hand had to say about the arrests: “Government is not for sale.” Taking turns, the officials – including, besides Harris, My Harrison and Joe Clark of the FBI; Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation; and Tim DiScenza, assistant U.S. attorney – outlined what amounted to a conspiracy.

All seven of the arrested individuals, it was explained, had been indicted by a federal grand jury for a variety of improper actions, mostly involving taking payoffs to push for legislation intended to benefit a dummy electronics firm set up by the federal authorities. All this was documented in a press release and copies of the multi-count indictment, which spoke to illegal payments received by all of the arrestees from E-Cycle Management, which was established by the FBI and operated – at considerable expense, later court hearings were to document – for the last two years.

The most prominent of the officials caught in the sting – code-named Tennessee Waltz by participating agents – was Senator Ford, whom this year’s multiple investigations had turned into a virtual household name in Tennessee and elsewhere. The Memphis senator was reported to have extorted the largest amount of money – $55,000 – and was also charged with three counts of “attempting to threaten and intimidate potential witnesses,” an offense that itself carried a maximum potential punishment of 10 years and maximum fine of $250,000.

Ford, who exudes a self-assertiveness that enemies call “arrogance” and friends dismiss as well-intentioned bluster, was a chastened figure when he appeared, handcuffed, in federal court on Friday morning, along with Dixon and Myers. Dixon offered a friendly nod to one or two people in the courtroom, presided over by U.S. magistrate judge S. Thomas Anderson. The result of that hearing left Ford still in custody, pending a detention hearing the next day, while Dixon and Myers were released on their own recognizance. A subdued and rueful-looking Dixon talked to the media afterward, promising what proved to be a short-lived open-door policy toward the media. The lesser-known Myers managed to make his exit virtually undetected.

Most attention was, of course, focused on Ford, whose temperamental outbursts, highly publicized womanizing, and previous brushes with the law had made him a cynosure over the years. The hearing Friday morning before another federal magistrate judge, Diane Vescovo, fanned the flames further, as prosecutors played video- and audiotapes in the courtroom in which Ford was not only depicted receiving $10,000 in large bills from an undercover agent but also venting suspicions of being set up and threatening to shoot both an FBI undercover agent and an agency informant.

“John’s harmless,” said Ford’s longtime civil attorney, Marty Grusin, and, in the end, Vescovo granted the wishes of Ford’s new criminal counsel, Mike Scholl, and agreed to released him on $20,000 bond, along with a series of Martha Stewart-like restrictions, including electronic monitoring, house arrest, and confinement to the Western District of Tennessee unless called to Nashville as part of the ongoing (but now overshadowed) ethics investigations going on there.

The government asked for – and got – a rehearing this week on the detention matter. Ford on Friday afternoon was able to appear in court sans handcuffs, flashing a thumbs-up greeting to members of his extended family who filled up several rows of the courtroom. There was some specula

tion as to which of his several residences he would choose to be confined to. It turned out to be his Collierville address.

On Tuesday, U.S. district judge Daniel Breen ruled Ford can remain free on bond. Ford’s attorney presented 12 character witnesses, about half of whom spoke on his behalf. Ford must comply with a 6 p.m. curfew, avoid contact with witnesses, and remain home except for church, court, and work appearances.

The drama continued to escalate, however. As the members of a stunned General Assembly tried to recover from their shock and hastened to finish the legislature’s business before Memorial Day, Lt. Governor John Wilder opened the final Saturday session of the Senate by reading aloud to newly shocked members this note from Ford:

“Dear Governor Wilder,” the note said. “I hereby resign from the state Senate. I plan to spend the rest of my time with my family clearing my name.” State senator Ron Ramsey of Blountville, chairman of the Senate’s Ethics Committee, promptly announced that his committee had been set to call a special hearing on June 9th for the purpose of expelling Ford. That will no longer be necessary. Citizen Ford’s main task now, besides staying out of jail and compensating for the income lost during the course of this year’s events, is the aforesaid one of clearing his name.

Meanwhile, news reports made it obvious that other well-known names in local politics and government might be in jeopardy. Both Shelby County commissioner Michael Hooks and Memphis School Board president Wanda Halbert acknowledged that they had been contacted by representatives of the bogus E-Cycle firm – though Halbert made it clear she had expressed no interest in a proposal on behalf of the company. There were conjectures that city officials as well had been courted by E-Cycle. After the unprecedentedly intense few days that preceded it, the current workweek began with an attitude in government, political, and media circles that could best be described as: Ready for Anything. n

Tale of the Tapes

In its effort to continue detention of former state senator John Ford without bond, the government last week presented video and audiotapes of Ford in conversation with principals in the Tennessee Waltz sting that resulted in Ford’s arrest, along with six other individuals, including three from Memphis. Complete transcripts of all three conversations are available on the Flyer Web site (MemphisFlyer.com). Here are the relevant portions.

I. CONVERSATION OF AUGUST 19, 2004: State senator John Ford (JF) and undercover FBI agent (UC) known to him as “L.C.” Based on videotape.

This conversation, early on in the Tennessee Waltz sting, establishes the nature of the operation. Ford is asked by the undercover agent to assist in passage of a bill to facilitate the purchase and resale of state-owned computer equipment. In the course of the conversation, the senator receives a “down payment” of $10,000.

UC: (counting money) Three, four (sound of money being counted). Girl [bank teller] looked at me like, you goin’ shoppin’? I said, yeah, you wanna’ go with me? (laughs)(pause). She looked at me like “this yo’ money?”

JF: Where at the bank? Yeah. Yeah, when you get …

UC: (unintelligible)

JF: Five hundred dollars …

UC: Yeah, I think my name is on, on the account there. That’s twenty-five.

JF: I ain’t try to count, I trust you.

(money still being counted)

JF: I’m gonna’ (unintelligible).

(money still being counted)

UC: Get another five. Ah, ’cause I am goin’ shoppin’. I may need some extra here.

JF: In Memphis?

UC: Yeah, I’m gon’ go, I, I got this girl I’m gon’ go out with, hang out with her. You know I, you taught me well. I know you gotta’ spend a little somethin’ on ’em from time to time.

JF: What, you got a girl here?

UC: Yeah. (money still being counted)

UC: Yeah, you should have, ah, you should have 10 there.

JF: Okay.

UC: Alright?

JF: Alright.

UC: Ah, and, ah, you need a envelope, want a envelope ’cause I don’t really need this envelope.

JF: Naw, I won’t be needin’ it.

UC: Okay…

II. CONVERSATION OF FEBRUARY 3, 2005: State senator John Ford (JF) and FBI informant Tim Willis (CW). Based on audiotape.

This conversation begins with Ford venting his growing suspicions that he‘s being set up. It ends with the senator having issued a clear, unambiguous warning.

JF: Well, just tell me about L.C. Ah, is he legit or, or, or what? He don’t walk around with video cameras in the office or guns on ‘im or anything like that?

CW: Not, not that I know of. I mean, hell, he ain’t shown me nothin’ like that. I mean, he got me one …

JF: Well, he wouldn’t show it to ya’ now Goddamn it, he, he wouldn’t be stupid.

CW: (unintelligible)

JF: Well, let me ask you a question. You ain’t workin’ for none of the motherfuckers?

CW: (laughs) Naw. (laughs)

JF: If you are, just tell me. I got a gun. I’ll just shoot you dead.

CW: (laughs) Uh-uh.

JF: And go over here and tell you wife, well, he, he (unintelligible) got shot.

CW: Well, man, hum, ain’t got me a just a little ole …

JF: Naw, I’m, I’m, I’m just raisin’ questions, you know, just that when somebody, ah, ah, tell me somethin’, ah, you know I, I just can’t (unintelligible). I don’t blow things over. They were sayin’ well, just watch yourself. Be careful (unintelligible) …

III. CONVERSATION OF APRIL 8, 2005: State senator John Ford and undercover FBI operative “L.C.” (UC) Based on audiotape.

Caught in the Web

A blogger breaks the Tennessee Waltz story.

The first report on the Tennessee Waltz arrests didn’t come from the mainstream press but from the personal weblog of state representative Stacy Campfield. Just before 7 a.m. on Thursday, May 26th, the day of the busts, he posted, “News Flash: 1 senator and 1 rep were supposedly taken away in cuffs. It is not who you think. More later.” Half an hour later he updated his original post to score some political points, saying, “Rumor has it Crutchfield, Bowers, Ford, and Newton [were arrested] supposedly about a computer recycle bill. It is the one I think I spoke against when it came to committee.” Campfield may also be the source for the false but often-repeated rumor that Memphis mayor Willie Herenton was somehow involved in the sting when at 7:36 a.m. the computer-savvy rep mistakenly identified Roscoe Dixon as a Herenton aide, prompting others in both the blogosphere and the traditional media to jump to some pretty juicy – but apparently unjustified – conclusions. Campfield’s posting represents the best and the worst of the new online medium and its impact on mainstream news sources. Blogging puts the heat under traditional media as stories can break on the blogs before the cameras roll or the ink dries. But in a breaking-news (live blogging) scenario, access and fact-checking are real problems, and in the onslaught of words, misinformation can quickly spread. Even Roger Abramson, blogging for The Nashville Scene, connected Herenton to Dixon and ran with the ill-informed rumor. Though Abramson quickly corrected his mistake, the mill was already grinding. In Memphis, Mike Hollihan of Half-Bakered, a site dedicated primarily to his version of conservative politics and to scrutiny of the Memphis media, followed the story closely, providing up-to-the-minute commentary for computer-bound workers who might not have access to a television or radio. Hollihan, a libertarian who generally lends his support to Republicans, also made with some fair and balanced meta-blogging after Bill Giannini, chairman of Shelby County Republicans, rushed out an e-mail critical of John Ford, Kathryn Bowers, and other Shelby County Democrats caught in the FBI’s web. “What a load,” Hollihan wrote. “Why didn’t they mention the other legislators? Was it because one of them, Chris Newton, is a Republican? Is it because he has nothing to do with Shelby County? Please.” In a wrap-up of the blogosphere’s Tennessee Waltz coverage, the Scene‘s Abramson concluded that, while Internet reporters and commentators have the advantage of speed and flexibility, traditional news sources were far better at separating rumor from fact. Of course, breaking coverage has never been what bloggers do best. The most significant stories to emerge from the Internet have resulted from a careful (or sometimes not so careful) dissection of ongoing stories. How Tennessee blogs responded to the breaking news isn’t particularly interesting. How bloggers use their resources to take the Tennessee Waltz story apart and put it back together will determine the worth of the Volunteer State’s volunteer journalists. n

The Flyer‘s Davis, whose personal blog, the Flypaper Theory (ThePeskyFly.blogspot.com) is not referenced here, omits to mention his own contribution to the developing Tennessee Waltz story – most notable in his early documentation of the Web site established by the FBI dummy corporation involved in the sting.

This conversation, the third of four between these two individuals to be mentioned in court last week, was the last one recorded. In it, Ford is clearly on his guard about the legislation he‘s been asked to handle, hinting at further threats but agreeing to continue the relationship and to “roll” the bill until next year‘s session.

UC: Just what I, this is who I want you to see if you open for Johnny. Tell me what you think about that. You think it’s a problem, let me know, but what I’d like to see happen, and I think we all could benefit from it, is roll this thing. I can make some money. Joe’ll make some money till next year. If you want me to, I’ll put you on what I’ve kept you on over the last, you know … JF: Let me, let me say this right over here. I don’t mind doin’ that. I’ll do what you want me to do, just ditto that, don’t have to talk about (unintelligible) do that.

UC: Okay.

JF: But I just want to make certain, ’cause he’s okay, and that you’re okay, ’cause I don’t need nobody come back and say Blah, Blah.

UC: John, I can under – what you need? You want another?

JF: Yeah, I’ll take another one.

UC: Same.

JF: (unintelligible) I don’t mind shootin’ that motherfucker, but I don’t want to shoot you.UC: (laughs) John, you ain’t got to shoot nobody.

JF: I don’t mind shootin’ (unintelligible).

UC: You ain’t got to shoot nobody, okay? …

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Something Tame

There’s a dog-eat-dog rivalry between computer animation filmmakers Pixar and DreamWorks. In their decade-long grudge match, each studio has honed its own natural defenses.

With the Toy Story movies and The Incredibles, Pixar mines witty premises for rich characters. DreamWorks, with the Shrek series and its latest effort, Madagascar, depends on fame and familiarity.

DreamWorks casts more famous actors for voices, such as Ben Stiller and Chris Rock in Madagascar. The settings spoof famous places, like Shrek’s Disney World and Hollywood or Madagascar’s Manhattan. And the humor relies, at times exclusively, on jokes about famous films and other pop-culture milestones. Antz and Shark Tale offered animal-based parodies of, respectively, Woody Allen and modern Mafia movies.

Short-term, DreamWorks takes the safer route. No one will miss Madagascar’s gags about “New York, New York” or TV theme songs. But since computer animation takes forever to finish, time-sensitive jokes expire by the time they reach the multiplex. Though brand-new, Madagascar feels stale, and its most clever ideas play second banana to tired, TV-friendly shtick.

Stiller’s Alex the Lion is a celebrity. He’s the mobbed main attraction of the Central Park Zoo. Raised in captivity, Alex loves zoo life, though his best friend, Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), yearns to taste freedom. Marty uncovers a chance to break out via a commando squad of penguins who steal Madagascar’s every scene (but prove just a shadow of Finding Nemo’s escape-oriented aquarium fish).

Joined by a sassy hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and a hypochondriac giraffe (David Schwimmer), Alex and Marty wander loose in New York, then get shipped overseas and finally shipwrecked off Africa’s coast, on the island of Madagascar.

Freed from predictable comedy about Manhattan life, Madagascar begins to catch fire in the wild. The computer-animated jungle blazes with candy colors, especially when its lemur population throws a rave, led by none-too-bright King Julian. Sacha Baron Cohen — better known by his alter ego, faux hip-hop prankster Ali G — gives Julian a honeyed Afro-Caribbean patois and an amusing self-importance.

Next to Cohen, Schwimmer provides the funniest voicework with the giraffe’s adenoidal complaints and jungle hissy fits: “Nature! It’s all over me! Get it off!” Stiller makes Alex cluelessly enthusiastic but never provides a memorable performance. Any comic or actor with a prime-time sitcom could have fared as well. Rock’s gift for savage, sarcastic ire finds no outlet in Marty. The film comes closest to a racial acknowledgment when the zebra wonders if he’s black with white strips or vice versa.

The script dances around a joke about domesticated beasts struggling to adjust to their original habitat, not unlike pampered celebrities trying to fend for themselves free of handlers. But Madagascar never exploits the setup, since Marty and company prove as resourceful as the cast of Gilligan’s Island, which makes no sense in or out of context.

But when Alex becomes increasingly ravenous, Madagascar finally finds a hook. Raised on hand-delivered pre-sliced steaks, Alex associates his best pal as potential prey for the first time. The script finally finds a premise to sink its fangs into: Alex hallucinates that his friends are talking T-bones and sees his claws pop uncontrollably, like he’s a leonine Jekyll and Hyde.

Madagascar’s best pop jokes spring from the situation, like the recurring use of the Born Free theme or Alex dreaming of meat falling like the rose petals in American Beauty’s fantasies. Movies overuse Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” but it suits an ironic montage of the zoo animals aghast at the violence in the circle of life.

Yet Alex’s kill-or-starve dilemma never pays off any more than Madagascar’s tension between cushy urban life and unfettered rural life. Until DreamWorks’ films begin showing some teeth, the studio will continue to occupy a lower rung on the computer-animated food chain.

— Curt Holman




Though the 2005 Cannes Film Festival just ended a couple of weeks ago, non-Hollywood-studio flicks move slow across the continent. So this week affords Memphis audiences a chance to catch up with some of the big winners from the 2004 Cannes fest.

Then-14-year-old Yuya Yagira won best actor at Cannes a year ago for his unforgettable portrayal of the eldest of four siblings abandoned by their mother in a Tokyo apartment in director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s entrancing Nobody Knows. You’ve got a chance to see why because the film screens at Malco’s Highland Quartet this week. (Another Cannes 2004 winner, French director Agnes Jaoui’s ensemble comedy Look at Me, is playing at Studio on the Square.)

Based on a true story that scandalized Japan, Nobody Knows is a more realistic, more serious, more wondrous, and much more terrible take on the Home Alone conceit. Instead of a child accidentally left home by a vacationing family, Nobody Knows tracks the daily survival of four children intentionally abandoned by their single mother.

The film opens with the mother, Keiko, and her son Akira (Yagira) introducing themselves to a new landlord, who is wary of children. Keiko assures him that it is only the two of them moving in and that Akira, age 12, is quiet.

As the movers finish unloading and Keiko and Akira are left alone in their apartment, the camera focuses on a couple of heavy suitcases the mother and son have lugged upstairs. Bathed in sunlight, the pink suitcase begins to wobble. Keiko has smuggled her youngest children, Shigeri, roughly 7, and Yuki, 4, into the apartment as stowaways. Ten-year-old Kyoko sneaks up later, in the dark of night. Then Keiko goes over the rules: no laughing or loud noise. Only Akira is allowed to go outside.

Keiko leaves the children alone in the apartment, sometimes for a night, sometimes for longer, sometimes for as much as a month. She claims to be gone on work-related travel, but the audience, not to mention Akira, suspects otherwise. She comes home laughing, sometimes smelling of booze.

The kids grow accustomed to this situation: You see them unpacking, setting up house in the new apartment. The older kids settle into their responsibilities, especially Akira, who makes dinner and sees that the younger kids get baths.

But then Keiko leaves for what Akira comes to sense is forever, and the kids’ hold on their civilization understandably begins to crumble. This isn’t Lord of the Flies. The kids don’t turn ugly, they just turn into kids, and order dissolves into a form of chaos: The ledger Akira used to keep track of expenditures is dotted with stickers and doodles. He dips into the arcade he’s always passed on the way home from the grocery store. He makes friends that he invites to play video games in the parentless paradise of the family apartment.

Dishes and trash pile up. Money runs out. Utilities are cut off. But the kids’ survival instincts keep them going. They collect water from the public park and get leftover food from a cashier at the neighborhood convenience store. Keiko doesn’t return, and the neighbors don’t register what’s happening.

Kore-eda shot Nobody Knows over more than a year, so we see the growth of the children. (Yagira’s voice even changes.) Similarly, this nearly two-and-a-half-hour film is marked by patient, deliberate pacing. Unlike what would surely happen in a Hollywood take on the same material, there is no manufactured tension. The slow dissolution of the kids’ world is bad enough.

There are terrible moments: Akira waking to find his younger brother eating paper. Akira calling a number where his mother may be, feeding his last precious coins into the pay phone to keep the line open, only to run out before she picks up. But there is also glory in the intimate, unforced manner in which these kids build their world around each other.

Nobody Knows is less sentimental than most foreign imports that focus on children. It doesn’t work overtime to provoke your tears. It doesn’t have to. It moves gradually, inexorably, from wonder to unbearable sadness.  —

Categories
Music Music Features

localbeat

Archer Records, the Memphis Acoustic Music Association, and Otherlands Café are celebrating the release of Sid Selvidge¹s new live album this weekend. On Saturday, June 4th, at 8 p.m., Selvidge will reprise the 14 songs recorded at Otherlands last fall. His CD/DVD set, Live at Otherlands, is the first live album in a career that spans more than three decades. The CD includes crowd pleasers such as ³Boll Weevil² and ³Kassie Jones Part 1,² spare, aching covers of Eddie Hinton¹s ³Every Natural Thing² and Fred Neil¹s ³A Little Bit of Rain,² and one yodeling original, ³The Outlaw,² while the DVD features interviews and concert footage filmed by Live From Memphis¹ Christopher Reyes. Tickets for Saturday¹s show are $12, available in advance at Otherlands or Davis-Kidd Booksellers.


Late last month, filmmakers (and Commercial Appeal staff photographers) Alan Spearman and Lance Murphey recorded tracks for their documentary Steel to Sea at Ardent Studios. The duo chose musician Ron Franklin to score the film, which has been four-and-a-half years in the making.

Franklin gathered percussionist John Argroves, The Charlie Wood Trio, and The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band drum corps for an all-day session in Ardent¹s Studio C, where they synched their performances to specific onscreen scenes.

³Ron just seemed like the right guy to work with,² Spearman says. ³He really understands what the project is about. It¹s a river movie, and he combined a Mark Twain element ‹ using mandolins ‹ with a raw guitar sound. I don¹t know exactly what all we¹re going to use from the session, but in the studio, Ron was really intuitive. He nailed it every time.²

³We¹re still doing a lot of editing,² Murphey adds, explaining that the music is mandating the film¹s rhythm. ³By composing music unique to the project, Ron opened the right doors,² he says. ³It¹s really unbelievable how he fit it together.²

Right after the session ended, Franklin departed for Europe. While he¹s gone, Spearman and Murphey will continue the editing process, then all three will make necessary adjustments for the final cut. Soon after, Steel to Sea will be making the competition rounds. It¹s already gotten favorable reviews from the likes of Hustle & Flow creator Craig Brewer and 21 Grams director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and production designer Brigitte Broch, who viewed a rough cut in Morocco last spring.


While I¹m not usually a proponent of musical showcases purporting to launch the next blockbuster act, Disc Makers¹ Southeast Independent Music World Series seems like a valid opportunity for bands looking for a shot at the big time. Industry stalwart Billboard magazine will provide the judges selecting the region¹s top six independent acts, which will then compete at Atlanta¹s Hard Rock Café this August for a slot in the national contest, with $35,000 in instruments, gear, and prizes going to the winners.

What does this mean for Memphis musicians? Well, those willing to send in three original tracks on a CD ‹ and a $20 processing fee ‹ could be tapped to compete against bands from surrounding states in front of label reps from Warner Bros., Capitol, Columbia, Universal, and Atlantic, as well as indies such as Thrill Jockey and Waterdog Music. Sure, it¹s a long shot, but you¹ll receive a copy of Billboard¹s indispensable Musician¹s Guide to Touring and Promotion for entering. Go to DiscMakers.com/imws/ for details. Entry deadline is June 10th.


Corrections Dept.: Last week, I erroneously reported that The Reigning Sound have a track on Ed Porter¹s Loverly ¹05 CD compilation. Actually, former Reigning Sound organist Alex Greene has a track on the album, along with Trey Harrison, Lamar Sorrento, Ross Johnson, The Grundies, New Car Smell, La Paloma, and a cut from the mysteriously monikered Nick Name, which features Doug Easley on guitar. Meanwhile, the Reigning Sound¹s Home for Orphans, outtakes from the band¹s ¹04 release Too Much Guitar!, will be out on Sympathy for the Record Industry in July.


Brass note for Little Jimmy King: Daniel Gales, twin of the late Manuel Gales, aka Little Jimmy King, one of this city¹s greatest blues guitarists, reports that the powers-that-be on Beale Street recently unveiled a brass musical note in his brother¹s honor. ³Tommy [Peters, B.B. King¹s Blues Club founder] suggested we install it after the Memphis in May festivities,² Gales says. Manuel Gales ‹ who took his stage name in honor of guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Albert King ‹ was just 34 years old when he suffered a heart attack on July 19, 2002. 

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Free at Last

To the Editor:

“Free at last, free at last.” Perhaps the citizens of this community will now be freed from the yoke of political corruption that has permeated our state legislature in recent years. Hopefully, the federal indictments of several political heavyweights will pave the way for meaningful reform and serve as a constant reminder to all elected officials to clean up their act.

The FBI sting band is playing “The Tennessee Waltz.” Let the dance begin!

Gordon Bomar

Memphis


To the Editor:

Memphis and Shelby County have reason to celebrate: Finally, we are freed from the oppression of crooks who scream “racial discrimination” when anyone tries to point out their crooked ways.

I know many fine African Americans and know they are offended by what John Ford and Kathryn Bowers and others of their ilk are really saying: which is that it is okay to be crooked when you are African American. We all know that that is not true.

Finally, there is a chance for a prosperous future for our county. Finally, there is a chance for real freedom.

M.C. Best

Arlington


Problem-solving

To the Editor:

I have family roots more than 80 years “deep” in Memphis. It is gratifying to see Memphians in general and the Flyer in particular finally acknowledge that there are indeed serious problems that need to be resolved, e.g., failing schools, ineffective government, massive deterioration of families and neighborhoods, etc. (“Bright Ideas,” May 19th issue). This is a significant change from the past, where bringing up such problems (especially by those who no longer feel it is rational to have our homes in our former hometown) was usually met by snooty assurances that things are really just fine in dear old Mempho and/or some mean-spirited name-calling.

However, most of your brainstorming on specifics was the same old tired, one-sided rehashing by special-interest groups demanding immediate “solutions” that only benefit their own constituents and/or desires at the direct expense of others. The artists want more arts funding. The multimillionaire real-estate baron wants everyone given a neighborhood like his. Activists want a $30,000 to $42,000 annual “minimum wage” in an area where the average and median wage is about $30,000 a year. Others want those now working hard all week at their jobs, keeping up their homes, and raising their families properly to redirect their time and efforts to take care of those who don’t have jobs, don’t take care of their homes (especially if paid for by taxpayers), or raise their children decently.

Poverty is not caused by a lack of money or not having a nice home; these are some of the symptoms of poverty. The root cause of most poverty in the U.S.A. is a lack of three things: education, marketable job skills, and a decent work ethic. None of these root causes will be solved by taking more money and more time from those who have earned decent livings and homes. This is exactly why the trillions of dollars in welfare in the past 40 years in the U.S. and local toys like AutoZone Park, the FedExForum, and downtown redevelopment haven’t really reduced poverty.

Yes, I’m sure John Q. Memphis would rather get paid $15 to $20 an hour than $6 an hour, even if his education and skills were worth only $6 to an employer. And who wouldn’t want a free house in a nice area with neighbors taking responsibility for kids their fathers won’t? But are these hand-ups or hand-outs? Are you solving poverty or just subsidizing it?

Are you willing to really work on solving the problems by fixing the real root causes or are you just trying to make your own pet symptom(s) better at the probable expense of making the problems worse?

Herbert Kook

Germantown


Bad for the Common Good

To the Editor:

A bipartisan bill passed in the House would expand federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. President Bush vows to veto it, not wanting to upset his evangelical base, which is clamoring for a rejection of the bill. And so we have another political debate colored by religious overtones.

Human embryonic stem cells have the potential to grow into any cell or tissue in the body and hold great promise for the treatment of disease. Yet one man, President Bush, is allowed to tie the hands of science and let his religious ideology trump the common good of millions. Sixty to 70 percent of Americans support ethical embryonic research, but Bush sees only his political agenda.

Ron Lowe

Nevada City, California


Categories
Art Art Feature

That Girl

Visiting Rod Moorhead’s “Recent Works” exhibit at the Jay Etkin Gallery is a unique experience. For starters, his artist’s statement is a highly charged short story titled “Movable Type,” which is printed in cyanotype on a clay tablet. In this account of young, reckless love, the artist searches for a “classy broad whose hips move like figure 8’s.” He goes to her ramshackle address and asks, “Where is Lucille?”

“There ain’t no bleeping bleep by that name stayin’ here,” is the answer, which is hurled at Moorhead along with a bottle of beer. And, indeed, Lucille is gone. With sculptures from three of his series — “Angels,” “Moveable Type,” and the “Daedalus Project” — the artist tells us the rest of her story.

Lucille is a lithe 20-something with as many lives as a cat. Except for an occasional piece of diaphanous drapery, a perky hat, a pair of underpants slipping halfway down her legs, and a set of wings, she is au naturel.

How are we to read Lucille? The clay figures from the “Angels” series are smoky-black, svelte nudes. They balance on top of tall thin metal supports. With legs and arms askew and bodies upside down, sideways, and somersaulting backward, Moorhead convincingly creates angels plummeting out of heaven. The works’ titles, Straight to Hell, God Abandoned, and The Days When Heaven Was Falling, also suggest an ousting from heaven or Eden.

But these falling angels are not about punishment or a loss of perfection. “They’re about entropy and about what the process of time gives and what time takes away,” explains Moorhead. Before our systems fail, what interests Moorhead the most, for himself and for Lucille, is “expressing as much as we can and reaching as high as we can.”

Look at Lucille’s expression. Even as she plummets, her face is relaxed and open, her lips slighted parted. She wants to take her body and heart as far as she can. In Day for Night Moorhead melds the energies of Lucille’s black personality with a white angel. Face to face, these two winged creatures do a two-step in and out of each others’ space, their pelvises almost touching. In this unsettlingly visceral work, these two beings are no longer able to fly and are learning to dance on earth. In yet another physical transformation, Flight, Moorhead’s nod to Bernini’s Greek heroine Daphne, Lucille lies back, cradling her head in one arm. With that same keen, relaxed interest in all things physical, she watches her right arm turn into a laurel branch.

Artworks from the “Moveable Type” series round out our heroine’s story with some playful adventures. When she spells out all the vowels in the English language, she wants to experience how words and ideas move through her body. With legs spread and underpants down to her knees, Lucille becomes a stylized sex kitten for “A.” She molds her body into a freeze frame from a Martha Graham dance piece for the letter “E.” For the “I,” she’s a combination of proper, shy, and unashamedly naked as she stands very straight, arms crossed at the small of her back, dressed only in a stylish sun hat that dots the “I.” She squats and cups her entire body into an orb that pantomimes the planet earth for “O,” and for “U” she assumes a beautifully executed yoga pose, the bow.

Lucille is a combination fallen angel, Degas dancer, and sex kitten, whose incarnation gets delightfully complicated by Greek myths, biblical metaphors, and the laws of physics. Moorhead’s complex, beautifully sculpted artworks may have you itching to share some of her adventures. Unlike the fatal fall of Daedalus’ young son Icarus (Temptations of Sun and Water), when Lucille reaches too high, she survives and learns how to experience life at the edge but not beyond. 

Through June 9th


Categories
Sports Sports Feature

The Danger Zone

What we¹re doing is so far beyond the skills and abilities of most pilots and crews,? says champion air racer Mary Dilda of Memphis. ?What we¹re doing is taking these planes and putting them far above their normal speeds and capabilities. We¹re experimenting with danger. Every person is getting ready to go beyond their limits but hoping they don¹t go too far beyond their limits, because if you go too far beyond your limits, you are never coming back.?

From Thursday, June 2nd, through Sunday, June 5th, Dilda will be in Tunica for the Tunica Air Races. She¹ll be competing in the world¹s fastest motorsport, racing her T-6 ³Texan,² the same versatile aircraft used to train most WWII pilots, against a field of like-minded adrenaline junkies hoping to take home the first-ever Tunica Cup.

Dilda, 44, has a head of blond hair and an infectious school-girl giggle that masks the steely confidence of a seasoned racer with a history of winning. Among commercial pilots, 98 percent are men. In the world of air racing ‹ admittedly small with only 150 competitors ‹ she is a woman alone. She grew up in New Mexico with a father who she describes as one of the most talented single-engine pilots she¹s ever known. From the beginning she knew she would be a pilot, sort of.

³I wanted to be a fashion designer [where] I would fly my plane from show to show,² she says. ³And then I wanted to be an interior designer, and I would fly my plane from house to house. And then I wanted to be a physical therapist, and I would fly my plane from hospital to hospital. And then one day I realized that I just wanted to fly.²

Dilda became a licensed pilot at 18 and a certified flight instructor shortly thereafter. She went to Oklahoma State, the only college she could find that offered a degree in anything other than aviation education. She studied aviation marketing, hoping to build a career in airplane sales, but at the time of her graduation fuel prices were skyrocketing and sales were dropping through the basement. Besides, she really wanted to fly jets, so she joined the U.S. Air Force where she flew a C-9 Nightingale and a C-141 Starlifter. The Air Force is also where she met pilot Steve Dilda, who became her husband and her partner in speed. In 1994, Steve and Mary, now civilians, moved to Memphis to train FedEx pilots.

³My husband always wanted to be an air-show pilot,² Dilda says. So, the couple bought a WWII plane, named it Baby Blue, and entered the world of stunt flying. Six months later, they became racers. ³The plan was that we would take turns. I was going to race the first year, and Steve was going to race the second year.² But after the first go-round it became clear that Mary was to be the racer in the family: ³We decided that a pretty blond female would get a lot more attention.² In ¹97, Dilda won the gold in the T-6 class. She¹s placed in the top three for the last five years. ³And the guys HATE it,² she says, exploding into a fit of giggles.

Dilda talks to her plane: ³You take care of me, Baby Blue, and I¹ll take care of you.² She understands its personality: ³The more you fly, the more in tune you become with its vibrations and the sensitivity of the throttle. You become immediately aware of anything out of the ordinary. I¹m not mechanically minded like some [pilots] who can explain every detail in mechanical terms. I just Œstrap it on.¹ I get in tune with my plane. I know where I need to put it, and I put it there.²

It¹s the moments immediately preceding a race that get Dilda in the zone. Six airplanes are lined up wingtip to wingtip, and the pilots are watching the pace plane. The pilots, she says, are ³somewhere in the stack, jockeying back and forth. And then you hear the words, ŒLadies and gentlemen, we have a race.¹² From that point on, the racers are in a 70- to 90-degree bank at speeds approaching 250 mph, going around a five-mile oval 100 feet up. Their course is marked by telephone poles.

³You don¹t really see the speed unless you¹re passing and you have to look down to keep your distance,² Dilda says. ³You have to be a good pilot who can fly in formation. If you want to win, you have to have an ego, but it can¹t get in the way of safety. We¹ve had mid-airs.²

The sport of air racing has traditionally been limited to a single event in Reno, Nevada. But event promoter Jeff Landers hopes to enlarge the sport by making the Tunica Air Races a regular event. In addition to the T-6 class, the Tunica races will also include Formula One, for experimental home-built airplanes that reach speeds up to 200 mph, and Unlimited Class, featuring propeller-driven WWII aircraft that reach speeds in excess of 500 mph. n

For more information on the Tunica Air Races, go to TunicaAirRaces.com.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Drinking It In

Sommelier (soh-mell-yay) is the French term for cellar master or wine steward. He or she is the person who advises customers on selecting wine to go with their meal, their tastes, and their budget. In the movies, he’s the guy working for the swanky restaurant who offers up the cork to be smelled. A sommelier is also a well-educated expert who has to be passionate about wine and willing to do whatever it takes to learn more.

Last year, the International Sommelier Guild (ISG) teamed up with the University of Memphis to bring Mid-Southerners a curriculum of wine programs to help restaurateurs, retailers, distributors, wait staff, and wine lovers further their study of wine and food. The next classes begin June 7th at the U of M.

Founded in 1982, the ISG’s mission is to provide expert teaching and consultation to the growing number of sophisticated wine consumers by breaking down the intimidation factor that seems to be associated with this industry.

The beginner and intermediate courses fall under the category of Wine Fundamentals Certificate Level 1 & 2. Level 1 is an introductory course for the novice wine enthusiast and provides a great introduction to the basics of wine. It covers grape varietals, terminology, and sensory evaluation. The goal of Level 1 is for you to feel confident in the selection of wine and gain an appreciation for all wine has to offer.

Level 2 covers vinification, viticulture, and geography. Students blind-taste wines from each region, an exercise that helps them understand different taste profiles and the characteristics that set each grape varietal apart. (To try blind-tasting at home, see “Taste Test” on the following page.)

The next level is the Sommelier Diploma Program. For students considering careers in the food and beverage industry, this program provides an in-depth look at wine evaluation, wine management, and how to create a wine and spirits menu, in addition to cellaring techniques, investments strategies, and serving and storage requirements. This diploma is the benchmark for the ISG program, and upon completion you will receive career assistance.

Finally, there’s the Grand Sommelier Diploma, a master’s degree program that must be completed in a seven-year period. This is for serious career professionals and is one of the most comprehensive wine degrees in the industry, according to the guild.

The first fundamentals course started at the University of Memphis in February 2004, and to date, approximately 15 students have completed this portion of the program. The majority of students are in the wine and spirit industry and have traveled from throughout the Mid-South to take the course. Employers have even opted to help finance the class for some students, but most pay the fees out-of-pocket.

Taught by certified sommeliers/wine educators from all over the United States and Canada, the classes run six hours per week over the course of 12 weeks for the Level 1 & 2 prerequisite course and eight hours for 23 weeks for the diploma course. Tuition is $1,500 for the prerequisite course and $3,100 for the diploma course. Tuition fees include all wines for tastings, textbooks, and examinations. n

Classes for the first semester are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, June 7th. For more information, go to InternationalSommelier.com or contact Toya Coppage at the University of Memphis’ continuing education program by calling 678-5573.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Out of Office

If you’ve ever thought about running for public office, now’s the time. And not just because of the Tennessee Waltz and last week’s arrests of four lawmakers.

Political action group New Path recently held a panel discussion titled “Who Wants To Be a Candidate: Making the Decision To Run for Office” to encourage younger leaders to think about seeking office.

“We organized the event because the 2006 election is coming up,” said New Path co-founder Eric Robertson. “The filing date is sometime in February. What we wanted to do was put it out there so people who were thinking about it could start going through the process, rather than putting their campaign together in January.”

New Path brought together Memphis City Schools board commissioner Tomeka Hart, former city attorney and school board candidate Robert Spence, WLOK talk-show host and former city court clerk candidate Janis Fullilove, and state representative Brian Kelsey to talk about what potential candidates should know if they’re thinking of running.

The panel spoke about marathon campaign sessions, begging friends and acquaintances for money, and stolen roadside signs.

“I gained a new respect [for politicians],” said Spence. “It puts a lot of wear and tear on you. I lost 15 pounds … but that might not have been a bad thing.”

Kelsey called running for office the most stressful thing you could ever do. “I’ve run marathons,” he said. “They weren’t that stressful. My first year of law school wasn’t that stressful.”

As relatively new pols, members of the panel needed to get their name into the public arena.

“Not all voters are abreast of the issues. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you’ve graduated from high school. It only matters what your last name is,” said Fullilove.

Spence, in particular, struggled with name recognition. “I was not raised here. I didn’t go to high school here. Until I became the city attorney, I just lived my life,” he said. “To have even a whisper of a chance, I had to do all I could do to raise my profile in this community.”

Spence was amazed during early voting how many people still did not know who he was. “I’m out there running myself ragged and … many citizens said, ‘Who are you?’”

Which is part of the reason for New Path’s 2006 push.

Last year, members of the County Commission — Walter Bailey, Julian Bolton, and Cleo Kirk, to be specific — essentially sued their own constituents over term limits that, in 1994, county voters were 81 percent in favor of enacting. If the commissioners win the suit, Michael Hooks and Marilyn Loeffel will also be granted stays of execution as well. If they lose, all five seats will be up for grabs.

“We want to encourage people to think about [running] and not just concede that they don’t have a chance,” said Robertson. “We want people to know that for the first time, they won’t have to face an incumbent. It’s the best opportunity to run.”

Especially in a city more comfortable voting for the devil they know over the devil they don’t. Actually, forget the whole devil thing. But we definitely need some new blood in our political arena. Willie Herenton has been Memphis’ mayor for 13 years. Janet Hooks, Jack Sammons, and Myron Lowery have been on the City Council for 13 years; E.C. Jones and Barbara Swearengen Holt have served for 10 years and Tom Marshall for 18 years.

But that’s just the beginning. County commissioner Bailey, who wants to keep his position so much that he’s sued for it, was first elected in 1971. If his term were a person, it would almost be old enough to run for president.

For those interested in running for office, New Path will continue its “Who Wants To Be a Candidate” series with a discussion of the local political landscape June 26th at the Central Library.

And some final words of advice from Hart, the young lawyer who managed to unseat Hubon Sandridge after 17 years on the school board: “Make sure it’s something you have a heart for,” she said. “Don’t run because it looks like fun or you want to be on TV every day. … You can make a difference without running for office.”

To make a difference, you can be a volunteer or an activist or, in certain recent cases, even a member of law enforcement. 

Categories
Opinion

It’s a Woman Thing … and Men Too

“I call this year’s showcase ‘10 years of yes I can,’” says Sisterhood Showcase founder and Grace magazine editor Tina Birchett. ?This shows that anyone who has a dream, is in the process of taking a leap of faith, or thinking about taking a leap of faith can make it.?

This week, the four-day showcase — full title: the Sisterhood Outreach Summit & Showcase — celebrates its anniversary with celebrities, physicians, and motivational speakers under the theme “A Reunion of Sisters.” In addition, this year’s showcase has an emphasis on men.

The showcase has continued to grow since its inception in 1996, Birchett says. At that time, the event was a small affair with the specific goal of reaching African-American women about health issues. The enthusiasm of participants led Birchett to hold the showcase a second year and to begin the quarterly magazine Grace.

“Everyone thinks that the showcase grew out of Grace, but it’s the other way around,” she says. “So many people were enlightened by that first show that they wanted me to coordinate the event each month, but there was no way to pull that off. So, I did the next best thing, a magazine, and made the showcase its signature annual event.”

But keeping this type of show unique was a challenge. In fact, similar events in other cities were unsuccessful or became little more than flea markets and weekend socials. To keep her event from losing its significance, Birchett refuses to use labels such as “expo” and “festival.” “I keep the word ‘showcase’ at the front of my brain at all times,” she says. “And I measure all of the planned events by that standard. Is this a showcase event or an expo event?”

Birchett’s event is distinguished by its balance of entertainment and education. In addition to the annual men’s fashion show and concerts, this year’s showcase also brings a new partnership with Black Entertainment Television and the BET Foundation’s traveling health initiative. Panelists, including actress Vivica Fox and celebrity fitness trainer Jeanette Jenkins, candidly discuss everything from heart disease to HIV/AIDS during a two-hour seminar.

“We look at activities that have had measured success in local markets that focus on the concerns of the Africa-American community,” says BET Foundation executive director Lynda Dorman. “Women should come prepared to ask questions, then go the next step and enter the booths for health screenings.”

This year, the event has expanded to four days to include a publisher’s luncheon, a golf tournament, and a comedy show. Also on the list of new events is a Saturday-morning gospel service, a children’s area, and presentation of the Grace Award to four Mid-South women.

The 10th-anniversary year is also about men. Each year the event attracts about 20,000 visitors, with 15 percent of those being men. With returning host and actor Shemar Moore, a partnership with the 100 Black Men, and concerts by R&B performers Tweet and Temmora, Birchett expects male attendance to possibly reach 35 percent. Highlighting the men’s participation will be a march from Peabody Place to the convention center led by the 100 Black Men organization, followed by a forum on improving self-confidence, self-love, and self-image. If the men get tired, Birchett has created a lounge area for them.

For Birchett, there appears to be no slowing down. “For years, people have tried to get me to move the show from here to a larger city, but I believe in Memphis, “ says Birchett. “My continual dream and prayer was, If we could just make it to the 10th show. We have made it, and I do plan on an 11th and beyond.” n

The Sisterhood Outreach Summit & Showcase takes place June 2nd-5th at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. For a complete listing of events, visit SisterhoodShowcase.com. For more information, call 579-9333.

Categories
News The Fly-By

the Cheat Sheet

1. Garden volunteers spruce up the giant ³M² that has graced East Parkway for decades. It¹s the same old story: Budget cuts prevent city crews from doing their jobs. Good grief. At this rate, what¹s next? A volunteer police force?

2. An FBI sting operation called the Tennessee Waltz results in federal extortion charges against state senator John Ford and other local politicians. Ford resigns the Senate seat he has held for 31 years. Well, as the lyrics to the state song go: ³I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz/Now I know just how much I have lost.²

3. U.S. airlines get ready to test an anti-missile defense system that can be deployed by the pilot. At the same time, the National Rifle Association drums up support for .50-caliber ammo for ³sporting² purposes ‹ even though promotional materials brag about its ability to bring down ³sporting² targets such as, yep, airplanes. Does anyone see a problem here?

4. The FDA is looking at a possible link between Viagra and blindness. Our mamas always warned us, ³Stop doing that or you¹ll go blind,² and it turns out they were right! And what¹s with these hairy palms?

5. Director Craig Brewer lands noted actors Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci for his next film, Black Snake Moan, but it may not be shot in Memphis. Hold on. A movie about a bluesman and a ³nymphomaniacal country girl²? Where else could they possibly film such a thing?