Month: August 2005

Categories
Music Music Features

The Operators

In these halcyon days of garage rock throwbacks and 1980s retreads, a bona fide hard-rock band seems like a real anomaly. Shaggy hair cuts and tight black Levis have given way to perfectly coiffed heads and matching suits, while epic sci-fi lyrics are passed over for forgettable ditties about love and boredom. Meanwhile, the music itself sounds choreographed and more than a little self-conscious – hardly the inspired mayhem of ’70s rock songs like, say, Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”

Even the cowbell, once a staple of rock drummers everywhere, has been relegated to comedy status: Mention the instrument to most folks, and they’ll bring up Will Ferrell’s Saturday Night Live coup de grace, a parody of BOC’s “Reaper” sessions on VH-1’s Behind the Music. “More cowbell,” Christopher Walken insists to Ferrell, who portrays the band’s drummer, Albert Bouchard. “I gotta have more cowbell!”

Today, Bouchard laughs good-naturedly about the skit. “The amazing thing is that Will Ferrell could actually hear the cowbell, because it’s mixed so low,” he marvels. “On the song, the cowbell symbolized the ticking of the time machine. When I originally played it in the studio, I was like, Oh yeah, this track isn’t so steady. Let’s see if I can straighten it out a little bit. Its deeper meaning grew over time. Now it stands for mortality,” he says.

“I’ve even been thinking about new cowbell designs. As a drummer, I’ve got an endorsement with Rhythm Tech, so I’ve put out a few feelers to see if they want to work with me on it,” he says.

Clearly, Bouchard isn’t one to rest on his hard-rock laurels – and he refuses to let his career fizzle out as the butt of Ferrell’s joke. Instead of retiring his drumsticks, he’s packing up his kit and heading out on the road with his latest group, the Brain Surgeons, for a monthlong U.S. tour.

He started the band with his wife, renowned music critic Deborah Frost, in the early 1990s, after quitting BOC. While a pair of guitarists and a saxophonist came and went, the Brain Surgeons are currently a trio, anchored by former Manowar/Dictators guitarist Ross “the Boss” Funicello.

“We decided to go out this summer and play our asses off,” Bouchard says of the impending 21-city tour. “With Blue Oyster Cult, I did 70 dates a year, playing all the same songs. The Brain Surgeons do about 40 gigs a year, so it doesn’t feel like [we’re on] autopilot. We’re doing between six and 10 new songs every show, plus material from all eight Brain Surgeons albums. We also do a few BOC songs, the ones you expect us to play, with one or two oddballs in there.”

Admittedly, Bouchard’s biggest adjustment comes from sharing the stage with his wife. “When I was in BOC, I always thought my problems could be solved if I could have her on the road with me,” he says. “I saw Ozzy and Sharon [Osbourne] and thought, That’s fucking brilliant. But the reality of it is hard. Sometimes we get on each other’s case. I’ll say, ‘How could you forget that chord change? We’ve played it 1,000 times!’ She’ll reply, ‘Well, how could you forget so-and-so’s name?'”

“She’s great with names and numbers,” he acknowledges, “but sometimes she spaces out on the guitar thing.”

“Albert can be a very demanding taskmaster,” Frost divulges. “If I play a wrong note, he’s merciless. And Ross is another unbelievable musician with very high standards. On our last European tour, I got sick, and it was all I could do to stand up, let alone play.”

Yet Frost – who drummed with New York’s all-girl rock band Flaming Youth before embarking on her career as a journalist, logging hours of interview time with Motley Crue and Motorhead for magazines such as Creem, Spin, and Rolling Stone – manages to hold her own with the men.

“I kinda detoured into being a rock writer,” she says. “I took so much abuse. There was such incredible sexism back then, and there was no such thing as politically incorrect. A lot of people would be particularly nasty. I’d sit in the Village Voice office and hear my editor slam the phone down on people.”

Frost toiled as a journalist for decades before going on an “endless sabbatical” in the mid-1990s. “I was burnt out, but the phone was ringing all the time, and it was so hard to say no to an exclusive story,” she says, declaring that finally, “there just wasn’t that much stuff that interested me enough to write about it.”

Now she channels her full-time energy into the Brain Surgeons. “I don’t care where we’re playing. I want to be perfect,” she notes. “As a critic, I’ve seen people like Bruce Springsteen play to nobody. But those nights when it does click, I’m thinking, This is so much fun.” n

The Brain Surgeons – with cowbell, of course – will be playing at the Hi-Tone Café with the Joint Chiefs on Sunday, August 7th. The show starts at 9 p.m. $8 cover. For more information, go to HiToneMemphis.com or CellSum.com/TBS.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

The Indie Factor

In weaving together the stories of about a dozen middle-class Southern Californians, writer/director Don Roos’ Sundance-certified Happy Endings fits into what is now a common indie sub-genre: poor man’s Robert Altman – specifically, that worshipped director’s early-1990s character tapestry Short Cuts. Others have taken the same setup further: Paul Thomas Anderson gave it more cinematic juice and operatic ambition in Magnolia, Todd Solondz more polemical power in the misanthropic Happiness. But Happy Endings seems almost like an archetypal example of the familiar limitations of recent American indies: humdrum visuals, mildly witty script, and standard-issue cast of indie regulars (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Steve Coogan), retreating one-time stars (Laura Dern, Lisa Kudrow), and inexplicables (Tom Arnold). Though with every character actually or potentially hiding something (“You don’t know me. Nobody knows me,” one character laments), Roos might just as well have borrowed his title from a different ’90s art-house hit, Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies.

A Hollywood screenwriter (Single White Female, the 1996 remake of Diabolique) before reintroducing himself as indie auteur as the writer/director of 1998’s wacky and overpraised The Opposite of Sex, Roos is far from the worst filmmaker in Sundance land, but his two so-called indies still exhibit the flaws inherent in his own background and the Hollywood co-option of indiedom: Roos’ films seem more written than directed (both films deploy narration) and – like too many other films in that corner of the cinematic world – have a TV-movie sensibility in their lack of visual ambition or imagination.

The plot of Happy Endings revolves around step-siblings Mamie (Kudrow) and Charley (Coogan), whose one-time teen sexual encounter led to pregnancy, separation, and an abortion – or did it? Set 17 years after the pair’s initial family scandal, they’re now seemingly well-adjusted adults who don’t talk about the past. They form the nucleus around which Roos juggles the rest of his cast. But the overdetermined interconnections in Happy Endings don’t have nearly the intricacy or structural satisfaction of Short Cuts. And these faults are only underscored by smarmy on-screen narration meant to sharpen the characters’ backstories but which more often just shape audience reactions that should be left free to develop independently.

As is typical with these kinds of plot structures, some characters grab you and some don’t. I was most interested in the relationship between Jude (Gyllenhaal), a manipulative singer who joins a rock band subsidized by Frank (Arnold), the rich father of the band’s drummer. When the opportunistic Jude lays eyes on Frank, the moment evokes Barbara Stanwyck’s classic line from The Lady Eve: She needs him like the ax needs the turkey. But a relationship that at first seems like mere May-December expediency is turned into something more – the lone human heartbeat in this otherwise by-the-numbers indie.

A Sundance-launched documentary, Murderball explores a sport – wheelchair rugby – where quadriplegics face off in a contest that’s a mix of basketball and bumper cars, careening across hoops hardwoods in specially designed, battered metallic chariots that look like something out of Road Warrior. The sport is brutal (murderball is what the players affectionately call it), but you won’t see anyone wearing a helmet or any other protective gear. “What am I going to do?” one wiseguy combatant asks. “Break my neck?”

Murderball, directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro, is infused with exactly the lack of sentimentality that quote suggests. The film is rooted in a piece Shapiro penned for Maxim magazine. And if that beacon of journalism doesn’t sound like a promising source for a documentary, it’s probably helpful here. There’s no liberal piety in Murderball, no struggle to tug at heartstrings. Instead, it’s a pretty conventional sports doc: It has rivalries, big games, triumphs, bitter defeats, physical excitement (placing the camera at wheel level for an up-close look at the speed and impact of the collisions), and macho bluster.

The plot pivots on a rivalry between the U.S. national team, led by muscular, bald, tattooed standout Mark Zupan, and the Canadian team coached by a bitter, curmudgeonly former U.S. star, Joe Soares, who fled north to seek revenge after being cut from the U.S. team. The teams face off at the 2002 world championships and again at the 2004 Paralympics in a bid for murderball supremacy, giving the film the familiar –  and satisfying – rhythms of any other sports film.

But even though Murderball is more a film about a compelling athletic subculture than a film about disability, there is also much interest in life off the court. There’s a frank, almost frat-boy approach to sexuality (Zupan says that quadriplegics really like to, um, please the ladies orally), and Murderball is very straightforward about the mechanics of these men’s sex lives (including footage from an instructional video on that topic: Sexuality Reborn).

The players also bemoan perceptions of their disabilities. The aggressive Zupan talks about getting in arguments with people who say, “I can’t hit a guy in a wheelchair” and responds, “Why not? Hit me. I’ll hit you back.” One of Zupan’s teammates complains about people who’ll greet him with small talk, like “It’s good to see you out!”

“‘Good to see you out?’ Where am I supposed to be, in a closet?” he asks.

The players in Murderball are guys who have made peace with their physical limitations and forged ahead. But the film does give viewers a feel for the physical and psychological process it takes to get there in the form of Keith Cavill, a young former motorcross pro going through the early stages of post-accident rehab.

Cavill, a former daredevil, talks of being reduced to infancy, relearning basic physical skills like rolling over. At the end of his hospital stay he returns to a family home now retrofitted for his new, wheelchair-bound existence. His family forces a chipper, excited mood while showing Cavill all the new gadgets designed to make his life easier. But Cavill surveys the scene with a deadpan honesty that suggests he’d make a pretty good teammate for Zupan one day: “This really sucks.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

Mind Your Manors

Seniors move to Trezevant Manor on North Highland to retire in style. The furnishings are lavish. The décor is swank. The apartments are nicer than many downtown condos. There’s even an in-house beauty shop and grocery store. But until this year, the food was, well, less than gourmet. Or, as Trezevant’s Food and Nutritional Services director Christopher Hui says, “overcooked” and “disappointing.”

With the recent addition of executive chef James Smith, Hui says the food is finally up to par with the rest of the facility. Smith, who honed his skills at The Peabody hotel, Gold Strike Casino, and Southwind and Ridgeway country clubs, was hired as part of a major expansion project underway at Trezevant.

When Smith arrived, he spent some time scoping out the way things were done in the kitchen and says he was shocked at the “lack of creativity.”

“For example, with the rainbow trout dish, they’d thaw it out, shake a little lemon pepper on it, and bake it,” says Smith. “At the end of the night, I’d see it come back because nobody was eating it.”

So Smith gave the cooks a little Creativity 101 and showed them how to make ordinary rainbow trout into trout amandine. He dusted it with a little flour, sautéed it, and concocted a lemon sauce “to throw in some French flair.”

“When I served the first person the trout and they saw the beautiful color and presentation, I had the whole dining room ordering trout,” he says. “I actually ran out of trout.”

For now, Smith is working with the menu that was in place when he arrived because the facility’s menu committee – several residents, Hui, and Smith – won’t be putting together a new menu until the fall. He has a few ideas up his sleeve for the next menu, but for now, he’s sprucing up what’s already in place.

“Just because we’re cooking the same things week after week, we don’t have to make it the same dish every time,” says Smith.

For example, the pork tenderloin, which is a resident favorite, is now served with a demi-glace, or mushroom cream sauce. Previously, it had no sauce, and according to Hui, “they used to cook the beef to death.”

“Some people would tell me that before James came, they were ashamed to bring their families in to eat,” said Hui. “Now, we could compete with any country club.”

Cooking for senior citizens is a little different though, and Smith says he’s still getting used to the changes. He has to puree foods for many of the residents living in Trezevant’s medical-care facility and consider the dietary restrictions common to many other Trezevant residents.

“We have to make dishes with no salt,” says Smith. “You’re making all these nice dishes, but you can’t add too much of this or too much of that. I always think it’s going to take away from the flavor, but it usually still comes out tasting great.”

Besides providing the residents with three meals a day, Smith has also started cooking classes to give residents fresh ideas to take back to their own kitchens in Trezevant’s independent-living apartments. And he caters for private parties when the residents choose to invite friends or family over for dinner.

Resident Nancy Welsh recently hosted a dinner party for her friends, and she asked Smith to prepare a chocolate soufflé for dessert.

“That was the most fabulous dessert I’ve ever eaten,” says Welsh. “I just adore his food. It’s better than it was at home.”

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

FOOD NEWS

Chez Philippe chef de cuisine, Jose Gutierrez, has decided to leave the roost he’s ruled for more than 20 years, and his departure is prompting some changes at The Peabody, which will be celebrating its 80th anniversary in September.

Under Gutierrez, Chez Philippe earned national recognition and awards for its French cuisine. Hotel management is looking for Gutierrez’ replacement and plans to preserve the restaurant’s French style while spicing it up a bit with Asian fusion.

Gutierrez, who will leaving in mid-August, is opening his own restaurant in Peabody Place. His new restaurant, called Encore, will feature the casual elegance of a Mediterranean-style café.

Gutierrez was born in Provence and trained at the Professional Culinary School in Manosque, France. Since coming to Memphis in 1983, the chef has been recognized as one of the first to combine classical French training with elements of traditional Southern food, a style that has flourished with other Memphis chefs. In 1995, Gutierrez was admitted to the ranks of Master Chef of France.

Even with changes underfoot, The Peabody will celebrate its 80th year with a series of dinners, month-long specials, and a brunch. Anniversary dinners will be held at the Capriccio Grill on September 9th and at Chez Philippe September 16th. The cost for each event is $50 per person. On September 25th, a champagne brunch will be served in the Grand Ballroom from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

When planning the events, executive chef Andreas Kisler found inspiration in menus from the 1930s. The four-course dinner at Capriccio will include braised prime-beef ribs, which were adapted from a 1939 menu, as was the appetizer, Oysters Peabody.

For more information about The Peabody’s anniversary, call 529-4000.

home-style Southern cooking and the twang of a banjo in this turn-of-the-century country home overlooking the once bustling (now paved over) train depot in Oakland, Tennessee, make you feel like you stepped back in time.

When owners and sisters-in-law Monica and Deborah Choate opened Anna Renae’s Tea Room and Gift Shoppe in November 2003, they preserved the character of the 1912 house that boasts 20-foot ceilings, original chandeliers, hardwood floors, and a fireplace in nearly every room.

The restaurant has earned recognition among locals for its lunch menu and its quaint gift shop. And starting August 5th, the restaurant will begin serving dinner every Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.

“Every Friday, we’ll have a different special to go along with our regular menu,” says Monica. The regular menu features salads, sandwiches, and homemade desserts prepared by Deborah’s mother, who is also named Deborah. But for dinner, Monica and Deborah plan to also offer traditional home cooking, including stuffed bell peppers, cream corn, and glazed carrots.

Anna Renae’s is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 6-9 p.m. Fridays only.

Anna Renae’s, 14520 Hwy. 194 (465-0245)

Camille “Camy” Archer is delivering something new.

Archer has added more items to “Camy’s Fine Food Delivered to You” menu and is now offering corporate catering.

In the 12 years since opening, Camy’s has become well-known for its pizzas and oven-baked sandwiches. Now Camy’s also offers hot wings with a choice of hot or barbecue sauces. In addition, there are four new salads for the summer. The Caesar and Greek salads have new-and-improved dressings. The mandarin chicken salad has grilled chicken and mandarin oranges, and the steak salad features a 6-ounce ribeye grilled to order.

The catering menu now includes an assortment of party platters, such as meat and cheese, fresh fruit, and vegetables.

Camy’s is open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Camy’s, 3 South Barksdale (725-1667)

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Rebel, Rebel

These days, wine drinkers are savvier, ask more questions, and are less intimidated when ordering wine in restaurants. They want variety and innovation, and restaurants are responding with what industry insiders are calling the “wine-list revolution.”

In Memphis, there are some restaurants, both old and new, that are active in the revolution. Their lists provide choices that reflect the identity of the restaurant, complement the cuisine, and meet pricing requirements relative to market demands.

McEwen’s on Monroe (122 Monroe, 527-7085) is an old favorite of mine and has one of the finest wine lists in the city. They offer wines from countries all over the world, and the staff is friendly and knowledgeable. The prices are fair (very fair), and there are a lot of wines by the glass as well as by the bottle.

During a recent visit, I was delighted by my before-dinner selection: the Vionta Albarino, a deliciously crisp white from the Rias Baixas area in Spain. The EOS Petite Syrah from Paso Robles, California, went perfectly with my roasted half-chicken, green tomato au jus, and smoked mashed potatoes.

Check out McEwen’s menu and the wine list online at mcewensonmonroe.com.

Next door to McEwen’s is the relatively new restaurant, Lolo’s Table (128 Monroe, 522-9449). When I stopped in to check out their list, I was thrilled to see Spanish, Italian, French, and South African wines. They offer 13 wines by the glass, including the Trocadero sparkling wine from France. Trocadero is a fine choice, a sparkling wine that should be enjoyed year-round instead of just on special occasions.

Lolo’s also has a nice selection of specialty martinis and beers, and they have a happy hour Monday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m.

Another new place with a great wine list is the Big Foot Lodge (97 S. Second, 578-9800). They serve California, Oregon, Italian, and Australian wines, and their prices are some of the fairest I’ve seen in Memphis. There’s a variety of sweet and dry wine, with my particular interest lying somewhere in between with the Sokol Blosser Evolution from Oregon, which is composed of nine grape varietals and pairs well with a wide range of foods. Big Foot’s house wines sell for $3.99 a glass and are from the Australia winery Rosemount Estate.

Napa Café (5101 Sanderlin, 683-0441) focuses on wine and is known in the industry for its cutting-edge choices. The prices are reasonable, and they offer up to 25 wines by the glass and a great half-bottle selection.

From time to time, Napa offers a flight of wines. A flight of wine is usually four or five one-ounce pours of different wines, which allows the customer to discover the one they like most and then order accordingly. (This is a great way to learn without spending too much. If you are not sure whether a restaurant offers flights, ask.)

For the summer, Napa is featuring a Rose flight. The one you should look out for is the Gargiulo Vineyard Rosato di Sangiovese. A beautiful salmon color, this wine has subtle hints of dried fruit with an incredibly dry, lingering finish.

I was also impressed to see K Vintners on Napa’s exclusive list. K Vinters is a Washington state winery that produces some great Syrah from the Wahluke Slope and Walla Walla Valley.

In the same neighborhood as Napa, there is a new Italian bistro called Café Toscana (5007 Black Rd., 761-9522). They offer two wine lists. The first includes exclusive and expensive bottles. The other offers 20 wines for $21 a bottle and $5.75 a glass no matter which wines are chosen. I was particularly pleased with the Italian white by Falesco called EST! EST! EST! It is a great summer white composed of 60 percent Trebbiano, 30 percent Malvasia, and 10 percent Roscetto – nice pear and melon fruit on the front with a clean finish.

Another wine to try at Café Toscana is the organically grown red from Lolonis called Ladybug Red. It’s a perfect medium-bodied red that can be enjoyed with or without food.

Recognizing the need for better choices at decent prices is what the wine revolution is all about, and I, for one, am happy to see that Memphis restaurants have joined the fight. n

Categories
Music Music Features

Sound Advice

Melding New Orleans’ brass-band tradition with the sounds and style of Southern hip-hop, The Soul Rebels bring with them a tremendous live reputation and visions of a rapping, soul-shouting, horn-blasting good time. I don’t believe for a second that they’re “the missing link between Louis Armstrong and Public Enemy,” as their overeager band bio asserts (last time I checked, that was James Brown), but if they suggest even a fraction of that, they should offer a pretty good way to spend a Saturday night. And with roots in black college marching bands (the Rebels were created by former drum majors from Southern, Grambling, and Texas Southern), chances are they won’t be dull and will bring the funk. At the least, here’s a chance to evaluate a sister city’s local hype. The Soul Rebels will be at the Hi-Tone Café Saturday, August 6th.

With D’Angelo still in self-imposed exile, neo-soul awaits a king figure to rival Jill Scott’s queen. Anthony Hamilton has the artistry and sales but may not be quite “neo” enough to fit the bill. But a couple of prime contenders for the throne make their case Friday, August 5th, at The Orpheum theater. Kanye West buddy John Legend bases his smooth sound on piano. Opener Lyfe Jennings grounds his grittier sound in his own acoustic plucking. Both show promise, but one suspects the throne will remain vacant for a while. – Chris Herrington

Memphis’ Wrecked ‘Em Records can do no wrong. Whenever a new Wrecked ‘Em disc shows up at my doorstep I turn into a 6-year-old on Christmas morning, ripping off the wrapping and running to the stereo. They get punk in a way that few people truly understand: It’s not about the aggression, angst, or political content, the vulgarity, sloppiness, or weird haircuts. It’s not about anything other than making good, sweaty, hip-shaking rock-and-roll the way it was meant to be played. Everything else is just gravy. Witness The Divine Brown, a London-based gaggle of badass rockers whose Wrecked ‘Em release The Dirty Gospel According to the Divine Brown is aggressive without being comically “in your face” and filled with monstrous hooks and a truly rebellious spirit. The song “King of Shit City” explodes every rock cliché there is on its way to becoming one of the most perfect punk anthems I’ve ever heard. They’re at the Full Moon Club on Sunday, August 7th.

Then again, there is perhaps no recording artist I crave more often than George Jones. His songs are constant companions, always there for me when everything else lets me down. I don’t care if it’s his rockabilly takes on “Running Bear,” “White Lightning,” or “Root Beer” or lushly arranged hits such as “The Grand Tour” (the most perfect country song ever recorded IMO) or “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Whether you’re celebrating or mourning, everything by George Jones hits the spot. Who else can squeeze both Elvis and Fred Flintstone into a song and make it work? Jones will play Sam’s Town casino Saturday, August 6th. – Chris Davis

The idea of “experimental indie rock” or “noise rock” usually puts me to sleep. I think of guitar chords droning on and on like in some bad dream where Sonic Youth’s Washing Machine is on repeat for days. But then I heard Paulson. These five guys from New Jersey couldn’t be classified as anything but experimental, but not only does their sound keep me awake, it’s keeps me wanting more.

What sets them apart are the harmonious vocals backed up with synth that ranges from an organlike sound to, at times, a sound that’s pure electronica. Paulson manages to be experimental in the truest sense of the word rather than playing some guitar chord for five minutes straight and calling it experimental. And it doesn’t hurt that the vocals are crisp and sing-along friendly. Paulson joins Best Days Behind, Chase Pagan, and The Holiday at the Skate Park of Memphis on Saturday, August 6th. n

– Bianca Phillips

Categories
News The Fly-By

A Quickie with Ed Williams

Ed Williams is well qualified to weigh in on the Forrest Park controversy. Not only is he the official Shelby County historian, he is a former member of the Shelby County Commission with a politician’s sensitivity to this hot-button issue. At a dinner several years ago, Williams was seated next to former school board member and Memphis NAACP executive secretary Maxine Smith, and the issue of Forrest Park came up. He suggested their energies could more profitably be focused on schools. She smiled and said that nothing would generate as much publicity as Forrest.

Flyer: When did Forrest die and where was he buried?

Williams: He died in 1877 in Memphis, about a block and a half from the park on Union Avenue. He was buried in Elmwood in the family plot. What has happened over the years is that other descendants have been buried in the family plot and other monuments have encroached on it. So while technically the gravesite that Forrest and his wife were removed from could be looked at as being available, you couldn’t get the coffins into the same spot even if they were intact and the family agreed to it.

When was Forrest moved?

In 1904. The decision to establish the park was agreed on by what was then the city board of aldermen in 1899.

Give us a historian’s take on Forrest.

Forrest has enjoyed great public popularity at different times and great approbation at other times. Among Civil War buffs interested in the Confederate army, [Robert E.] Lee ranks number one, Stonewall Jackson number two, and Forrest number three. He is the only one of the Western theater Confederate generals looked upon with universally favorable appreciation of his military ability. Civil War site tours that come through our part of the country have at least an overnight stop in Memphis, including a visit to Forrest Park before going to visit the battlefields where he was involved. The most famous of those was Brice’s Crossroads in Baldwin, Mississippi, where his small force defeated a large Union force.

What’s your opinion?

I have never met anyone who ever claimed that they moved out of Memphis because of Forrest Park, Jefferson Davis Park, or Confederate Park. But nearly every day I meet or talk to someone from DeSoto County who covers me with complaints about Memphis and Shelby County. Quite frankly, it is a lose-lose proposition. No matter what you do you are going to make somebody unhappy. n

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

The New Boss

Doubt that U.S. representative Harold Ford Jr. is nimble on his feet? Disbelieve that his organization lives and breathes and still has clout?

Don’t.

Two developments argue otherwise – one regarding the local Democratic Party’s reorganization efforts and another concerning a closely watched special election race. • It’s My Party, and I’ll Crow if I Want To: One week after suffering a defeat at the local party convention which should have been decisive – at least, symbolically – Ford and the Fordites sponsored a “unity” breakfast at Café Francisco downtown in honor of new Democratic Party chairman Matt Kuhn and his freshly elected executive committee. Cutting to the chase, here, in part, is what Kuhn had to say on Saturday to the gathered faithful. (These included numerous members of the “Convention Coalition” and the party’s Herenton/Chism faction, whose votes, together, elected young Kuhn over a Ford-sponsored candidate, the estimable David Cocke.) Kuhn: “It is so good to see everybody here together. … Last week at this time we came together as a party. And I want you to know that the first call I received was from our congressman, Harold Ford Jr. [applause]. Thank you. Jack Kennedy once said that a rising tide raises all boats. … I don’t know a whole lot about sailing, but I know something about politics, and I just want to say that we need to understand and we need to realize this in Shelby County … the rising tide in next year’s election is sending a Democrat from Shelby County to the United State Senate. …

“So when our candidate for Senate was not there with us last week, I actually smiled and knew what he was doing and thought it was a good thing. What happened last week was about coming together. And I want to tell you a little something about why I think that and why I think it’s important. In 2000, when Al Gore needed someone to give the keynote address at the Democratic convention, Harold Ford Jr. was for us. And in the past election, when John Kerry needed someone from Shelby County to provide vision, leadership, Harold Ford Jr. was with us. This past Thursday, on the floor of the House of Representatives – you labor folks will know what I’m talking about – Harold Ford Jr. was with us. In August of 2006 and in November of 2006, we need to be there for him.”

Afterward, Kuhn seemed to be aware that he might have crossed way over a line. (There’s a primary on, after all, involving another candidate for the U.S. Senate – state senator Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville, who spoke at last week’s Democratic convention, which Ford, as Kuhn indicated, had been absent from – and party officials are normally obliged to remain neutral in such matters.) When asked about what he’d said, the new chairman tried to maintain that his remarks weren’t really an endorsement.

Not an endorsement? That’s like saying Breyer’s Ice Cream is non-caloric. Stuff most folks with such a “non-endorsement,” Mr. Chairman, and they’ll turn into pigs and look for something to run for themselves!

To be sure, not all of Kuhn’s votes from last week’s convention at the University of Memphis were from Democrats miffed at the congressman’s cautious-to-conservative political posture over the last couple of years. Many were, though, and many of those who weren’t were seriously out of love with his local organization. And that’s not even to mention the Herenton/Chism organization, chief rivals to the Ford people.

The fact is, no other candidate for chairman – not even longtime loyalist Cocke himself – could have sung such an open-voweled hosanna to the congressman as did Kuhn. What does he say to Kurita the next time she comes around? What does he say when his committee meets this Thursday night at the I.B.E.W. union hall on Madison to reorganize?

Estimates as to what will happen then vary widely. Some say that Chairman Kuhn will be asked to backtrack on his Saturday remarks. Others excuse these as merely a sop thrown to the Ford forces. Still others suggest that, afforded such favors, the Ford organization will soon own the sop shop.

In any case, give it to the congressman and give it to his people: They turned around a messy situation in record time and converted Saturday’s “unity” rally into a de facto Ford-for-Senate rally. Besides the congressman himself, Shelby County mayor A C Wharton – who had co-sponsored Cocke – addressed the throng on Saturday. The third member of Cocke’s triumvirate, assessor Rita Clark, kept her silence, though she was an elbow’s length away from the action, putting (as they say) her hands together.

Even some of the congressman’s habitual Internet scourges – like Steve Steffens of Leftwingcracker.blogspot.com – were caught up in the swoonfest. In the first post-breakfast posting on his blog, headed “It Was a Good Morning for the SCDP,” Steffens praised Ford’s “rousing” speech and pledged henceforth to keep his remarks “constructive.”

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss? Hmmmmm, we’ll see. But never again doubt that Harold Ford Jr. is one hell of a politician – perhaps one more formidable than his adversaries can hope to match. One might sum up the last week thisaway: The King is dead (not). Long live the King!

• Sisterhood Is Powerful: And speaking of kings, the onetime undisputed champion of inner-city Democratic politics is at it again. This would be another notable Ford – Harold Ford Sr., who was the 9th District’s congressman for 22 years before bequeathing the job in 1996 to his namesake son.

The senior Ford, now a highly paid consultant living in Florida, was heard from again this week in Shelby County. Literally. Voters throughout the 29th state senate district, where one of two special-election primaries will be resolved this Thursday, received a robocall from the senior Ford making a forceful pitch for sister Ophelia Ford, one of several Democratic candidates for the seat that was vacated by brother John Ford as a result of his Tennessee Waltz indictment and other legal woes.

Making no reference to that background, Ford Sr. reminded listeners of his longtime congressional service and record of constituent service and suggested that Ophelia Ford can be depended on for more of the same. The message concludes: “I strongly recommend Ophelia Ford. … I would personally appreciate it, and I’m asking you as you go to the polls this Thursday to continue to pray for the Ford family.”

Simultaneously, a forest of yard signs for Ophelia Ford began appearing in South Memphis, and a last-minute mailer was scheduled to go out on her behalf. Suddenly, Ophelia Ford’s campaign began to resemble an old-fashioned get-out-the-vote effort of the sort that has largely been eschewed by the current congressman.

Before the late push for Ophelia Ford, many observers saw state representative Barbara Cooper to be at or near the lead in the Democratic field, with House colleague Henri Brooks close behind, and another state representative, John DeBerry, making an impressive last-minute effort of his own.

As the last week of the campaign got under way, Southwest Tennessee Community College professor Steve Haley was soldiering on in a campaign that has been more than usually issue-conscious. Haley actually espouses an income tax – at least to the point of having it “on the table,” and he doesn’t shy away from criticizing Governor Bredesen’s TennCare cuts as unnecessary.

Kevin McLellan, another white candidate and a former Southwest cadre himself, takes a contrary view that Bredesen is more sinned against than sinning.

On the Republican side, Millington businessman Terry Roland should win easily against a largely inactive John Farmer.

• The House race is confined to this week’s Democratic primary (though Robert “Prince Mongo” Hodges will be on the September 15th general election ballot as an independent). The candidates are Alonzo Grant, Andrew “Rome” Withers, Omari Faulkner, and Gary L. Rowe. Grant and Withers have made no great impact but have some degree of name recognition. They come from politically oriented families and have access to tried and true G.O.T.V. techniques. Newcomer Faulkner, a former Hamilton High basketball star, has image factors in his favor, plus endorsements from the Memphis Education Association and the Memphis Area Association of Realtors. Rowe, active in business development and community affairs, earned an endorsement from The Commercial Appeal.

Other Political Notes

Two likely candidates for the position of Juvenile Court judge, which the ailing longtime incumbent Kenneth Turner is said to be vacating next year, are municipal judge Earnestine Hunt Dorse, a 1998 candidate who has declared for the race, and Shelby County commissioner Walter Bailey, who – pending the outcome of an appeal of a term-limits ruling – has not.

• There is no official Ford candidate yet for the 9th District congressional seat which Harold Ford Jr. will be vacating, but former local Democratic chairman Mark Yates, a Ford ally, is said to be thinking long and hard about it.

• Thursday’s meeting of the newly elected local Democratic executive committee could feature contested races for party offices. Brad Watkins, a representative of the “Convention Coalition” group Democracy for Memphis, is campaigning for the office of first vice chair, but so is Cherry Davis of the party’s Herenton/Chism faction.

• During the local Democrats’ chairmanship race, union delegates tended to split along lines analogous to the labor movement’s national schism, with AFL-CIO members supporting David Cocke and Teamster members going for ultimate winner Matt Kuhn.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Science Fair

School may still be out of session, but that isn’t stopping some teachers from performing science experiments now.

At the Arkema hydrogen peroxide plant in Millington, teachers and scientists work on science experiments as part of a three-day program to give teachers more hands-on experience for the classroom.

After watching the plant’s safety video, I am allowed to pass through a turnstile. An employee picks me up in her car, and as we drive deeper into the warrens of steel girders and piping, I lose track of which direction we came from. We pull up to a small building with a sign featuring a large eyeball and the letters A.L.E.R.T.

Once we pass inside, most of the industrial tensions slip away. Gathered around a large conference table are a number of teachers. One or two Arkema employees help each pair of “lab partners.”

Arkema’s Science Teacher Program, which began in 1996, is conducted in 14 different communities across the nation where the company has manufacturing operations. Each year, principals at a number of local schools are asked to nominate two teachers from grades three to six. The teachers attend a three-day program where they work with science kits that can then be brought to the students. They also receive a $500 stipend.

“This is a great program because each set of teachers has a mentor to go through the experiments with them,” says Eileen Haklitch, a 10-year veteran of Our Lady of Sorrows in Frayser. She and co-teacher Lisa Petzinger are working on scale models of mountains with Steve Hayden, a process engineer for Arkema.

“We’ve already learned a lot here that we will be taking back into the classroom,” says Haklitch. “We will also be sharing what we learned with the rest of the faculty before school starts.”

Mary Jones and Sandy Jones, no relation to one another, are teachers at Millington Elementary. They are building a telegraph. “It is just wonderful to have the chance to sit down and explore these projects before we take them into the classroom,” says Sandy Jones.

On my way back to the parking lot, I see the plant in a much gentler light. And as we pass the glaring eyeball, I notice that A.L.E.R.T. is really an anagram. It means Advanced Learning Eliminates Risk Today. n

Categories
News News Feature

Quote Unquote

T>he city of Memphis’ contract with the law firm is for 20 percent of what they collect, which I would love, because my contract is for 2 percent,” says Shelby County trustee Bob Patterson. “All city of Memphis property is within the county. So obviously I could send them a bill, since we already bill them for county taxes.”

Every year at budget time, city and county politicians insist they have squeezed every dollar of savings and every ounce of fat from the budget. But not everyone sees it that way.

Patterson wants to merge the county trustee’s office with the city treasurer’s office and create a one-stop shop for tax payments and delinquent tax collections, which he sees as especially extravagant. This is exactly the sort of functional consolidation of city and county government that mayors profess to support, but Patterson is the only public official trying to light a fire under the idea.

The city of Memphis currently outsources the job of delinquent tax collections to a Texas-based law firm, Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson.

Last year Memphis paid Linebarger approximately $3.2 million for collecting $16 million in delinquent taxes. Patterson says he could have done the same job for $320,000 and only had to add six new tax collectors.

“We collected $21 million in delinquent taxes last year, $28 million the year before, so we could probably get the $16 million that Linebarger gets,” he said.

Memphis contracted with Linebarger in 2004, even though a partner who no longer works for the firm had pleaded guilty two years earlier to bribing public officials in San Antonio. Repeated calls to Linebarger’s Memphis representative, former assistant city attorney Gwen Hewitt, were not returned.

Patterson has brought the idea up several times since a merger agreement he had worked out with former Memphis mayor Dick Hackett was scrapped by Hackett’s successor, Willie Herenton. Patterson said he has met with Herenton twice this year to talk about delinquent taxes.

“He has indicated he will have subsequent meetings,” Patterson said. “It only requires his signature.”

“I think the sale has probably already been made,” says real estate magnate Harold Crye of the negotiations between Memphis and International Paper to move the company’s headquarters from Connecticut to Memphis.

Crye-Leike sold hundreds of homes to IP employees when the company moved most of its operations to Memphis in 1987. Crye, who now lives in Nashville, said “the South’s time has come” and that both Memphis and Nashville should prosper from additional corporate relocations.

Waymon “Jackie” Welch, head of Welch Realty, said even if only 75 of the 134 IP employees working at the headquarters in Connecticut move to Memphis it will have a ripple effect. “When they originally came here it just eliminated the high-priced inventory, and the owners who sold moved up in price,” he said. “We will see that same thing again. It will be a huge boost to East Memphis and Germantown.”

“I have three words of advice when anyone gets a call from the FBI,” says Shelby County attorney Brian Kuhn. “Cooperate, cooperate, and cooperate.”

So said Kuhn, confirming that federal investigators revisited the county pension office last month. Their focus is the fund’s investment in Delta Capital, a venture capital fund in which former Shelby County mayor Jim Rout invested before changing his mind and getting his money back.

Ironically, Delta Capital, which accounts for only 1 percent of the pension fund portfolio, has been one of the better performers, earning 7.8 percent a year since 1999, according to a report given to pension board members this week. Rout said he has not been questioned since talking to investigators more than a year ago.

The Riverfront Development Corporation last week took another step toward construction of the $27.5 million Beale Street Landing connecting Tom Lee Park to the cobblestones. A public hearing was held on dredging the entrance to the harbor. Comments can be sent to mike.lee@state.tn.us until August 11th. If a permit is granted by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, dredging at the tip of Mud Island will start in the fall. The landing, including a floating dock and man-made islets in the river, is scheduled to open in the spring of 2008. Benny Lendermon, head of the RDC, said the harbor will remain open when the park is finished. n