Last summer, Adam Wainwright won 10 games as a starting pitcher for the Memphis Redbirds and led the Pacific Coast League in innings pitched. This week, the big righty earned a spot in the St. Louis Cardinals’ bullpen. Check out how he’s adapting to the new role here.
Want to see more of last week’s cover story on fashion? Go here.
David Burke is a renowned New York chef whose restaurant davidburke & donatella is receiving rave reviews for its high style and cutting-edge contemporary American cuisine. One word that’s often used to describe Burke is “innovative.”
The Flavor Spray is one of his inventions. As described on the product’s Web site “The David Burke Flavor Sprays™ contain zero calories, zero fat, zero cholesterol, zero carbohydrates and FDA-approved Food flavoring. Whether you are on a low carb, no carb, low fat, no fat, no sugar, point system, or counting calorie diet, the Flavor Spray is right for you!”
So instead of high-calorie sauces or toppings, all you do is squirt.
And among the Flavor Sprays is Memphis BBQ. For a Memphis BBQ Flavor Spray recipe, go here.
Dramatic indie-rock cult songwriter Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) let a lot of Memphians down earlier this year when she suddenly cancelled a concert at the Gibson Lounge that was meant to debut her “Memphis Rhythm Band,” an amalgamation of local musicians (including veterans of Al Green’s ’70s backing band, Hi Rhythm) with whom Marshall recorded her new album The Greatest. Marshall’s publicist cited “health reasons,” but no-one who’d ever seen the emotional tightrope act of a Cat Power solo show – moving or crushingly dull, depending on your perspective – was at all surprised. Well, apparently Marshall has gotten it together enough to re-launch her tour along with Bluff City backing band. No local show scheduled so far, but Marshall and the Memphis Rhythm Band are on the bill for Tennessee’s Bonnaroo Music Festival June 16th. In the meantime, you can catch up with all the drama with the Flyer’s before and after coverage of the aborted Memphis concert.
It’s official — or about to become so. Sources close to State Senator Steve Cohen confide that he will formally file for the 9th District congressional seat at the Election Commission at 11 a.m. on Monday.
As reported by blogger
At present, Gibson is a Democratic primary candidate for the County Commission seat in District 2, Position 1, while Hatcher is running as a Democrat for the commission’s District 3, Position 1 seat.
Both Gibson and Hatcher were designated for decertification because of prior Republican Party activities. Gibson’s departure from the Democratic ballot would leave only Derrick Harris as a party candidate, assuming that incumbent commissioner Walter Bailey, term-limited out by action of the state Supreme Court Wednesday, does not succeed in a possible federal court appeal. Several candidates would remain in the Democratic primary field for the seat Hatcher has been seeking.
But Brook Thompson, the state Election Commissioner, was reported in Friday’s Commercial Appeal as advising that the matter of ballot listing is out of the hands of both the Democratic Party and the Shelby County Election Commission, in that the deadline for ballot publication has already passed.
The upshot of that is that not only will Gibson and Hatcher remain on the May ballot, so will Bailey and commission colleague Cleo Kirk, his fellow plaintiff. There’s a quasi-Shermanesque catch, though — If elected, those officials cannot serve. If either Bailey or Kirk are nominated, the local Democratic Party would have to anoint an official successor.
The picture is somewhat more uncertain regarding the status of Gibson and Hatcher, in the event one of them should gain the party nomination.
Meanwhile, here’s an interesting anomaly and/or irony to chew on: the CA headline of three days ago: “Bailey seeks Gibson’s removal from ballot.” Tempus fugit, “time flies,” as they say.
That’s right. We said free. Tonight, at the P&H Café on Madison, the draft brew will be flowing like water and it won’t cost you a dime (unless you feel like tipping… which you should). It’s all in celebration of the midtown dive’s decision to switch from Miller to Budweiser. Also, check out music by house favorite Roger Blanton.
S.O.L. for Term Limits Plaintiffs
The state Supreme Court has concluded a lengthy judicial process that began two years ago when three veteran Shelby County commissioners sued to overturn a 1994 referendum term-limiting them out of power. The decision means the end of the line for their days on the County Commission for plaintiffs Walter Bailey, Cleo Kirk, and Julian Bolton. Bailey and Kirk, have filed for reelection this year and were listed on the ballot. (Bolton has talked of entering the race for Congress in the 9th District.)
The Court overruled a state appellate court’s temporary stay and sustained Chancellor Tene Alissandratos’ earlier judgment against the plaintiffs. It found that there was “no compelling reason” to interfere with the rights of a “chartered county” to “impose term limits on the members of a legislative branch.”
So what will they do? Allow us to recommend a nice movie.
In a decision that may raise
new complications, even as it resolved old ones, the state Supreme Court
Wednesday affirmed the validity of a 1994 Shelby County referendum limiting the
county’s mayor and board of commissioners to two four-year terms.
The decision, reached unanimously by the five Supreme Court
justices, means that three commissioners who two years ago filed a suit to
overturn the term-limits provision may not run for reelection this year, having
been elected to two terms already since the time of the referendum. Two of the
three – Walter Bailey and Cleo Kirk – had been listed on the Democratic primary
ballot, while the third, Julian Bolton, had indicated that he might run instead
for the open 9th District congressional seat.
It was not
immediately clear whether the state’s anti-skulduggery law, which allows for
re-opening filing deadlines under some late-withdrawal circumstances, might
apply. The situation regarding Bailey’s District 2, Position 1 seat is further
clouded by the possibility that another Democratic primary candidate for the
seat, J.W Gibson, may be purged from the ballot by party officials reacting to
his activity in Republican Party circles over the last 10 years.
In any case,
Bailey and Kirk have now definitively been ruled ineligible for reelection. The
Court’s decision in effect let stand an earlier Chancery Court decision
affirming the term-limits provision and dissolved a stay granted to the
plaintiffs by the state Court of Appeals. In its decision, however, the high
Court said it had acted “de novo” (from fresh examination) in making its own
affirmation of the term limits provision.
The high Court
found, as Chancellor Tene Alissandratos had earlier, that the provision of the
county charter imposing the two-term limit was authorized by Tennessee Code
Annotated section 5-1-201(4). The Court also ruled that the charter provision
was the result of a lawful delegation of the legislature’s power to establish
qualifications for elected county officers and was therefore not in violation of
Article VII of Tennessee’s constitution.
Noting that the
1994 referendum “was approved by over 80% of the voter of Shelby County,” the
Court took futher note of the plaintiffs’ allegation that the referendum had
been “ill-advised” but dismissed it on the ground that, whether ill-advised or
not, such a vote “does not rise to the level of a constitutional defect.”
Simply put, the
Court ruled that both state law and the Tennessee Consitution grant that a
chartered county government like Shelby County’s is empowered to provide for the
“size, method of election, qualification for holding office, method of removal,
and procedures of the county legislative body.” And it adjuged the 1994
referendum as permissibly within the county’s discretion.
Said the justices:
“The constitution is the truest expression of the will of the people, and it is
their intent in adopting a constitutional provision that must prevail.”
The Court’s ruling
stated explicitly: “There is nothing in the language of the constitution to
prevent a county from placing a limit on the number of terms that may be
served.” Of the 1977 state Constitutional Convention that codified relevant law
in its present form, the justices noted, “If the delegates had wanted to
prohibit term limits as the plaintiffs contend, the delegates could have easily
added language to that effect.”
Quoting the state
Constitution the Supreme Court opinion said that the “General Assembly has very
broad powers and discretion,” that the 1994 Shelby County referendum was the
result of a proper delegation of those powers and that discretion, and that the
Constitution granted “broad authority to a county to go so far as to replace
its existing government in favor of an alternate government, provided the
people approve.”
Finally, the
Court’s decision, written by Chief Justice William M. Barker, said, “This
opinion is not subject to rehearing under Rule 39 of the Tennessee Rules of
Appellate Procedure, and the Clerk is directed to immediately issue the mandate.
Costs are taxed to the plaintiffs….”
Download a .pdf of the complete court ruling here
It’s official — or about to become so. Sources close toState Senator Steve Cohen confide that he will formally file for the 9th District congressional seat at the Election Commission at 11 a.m. on Monday.
Cohen has just returned from Washington, D.C., where he discussed his imminent candidacy with representatives of several organizations, including the following: People for the American Way, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
The Memphis legislator, who made a previous race for the congressional seat in 1996, also consulted with pollsters and with veteran political pundits Stuart Rothenberg and Charlie Cook, among others.
UPDATE: On Saturday, April 1, Cohen sent this email to a network of friends, supporters, and fellow Democrats:
I’m announcing for the 9th congressional seat Monday @11a.m @the election commission.If possible please come/spread the word.
I’ll need all of your help. My 30 years of public service have brought me to this point. I’ve been in city,county, and state government. I’ve also been in the courts(in a good way) federal to local level. I know the city,the district,the issues etc. but most importantly I know how to legislate,to bring people together from different parties and backgrounds, and I know a little about life and what’s important,what counts, and to maintain your [principles] as that is what you should be about.
You’ve all befriended me for years.Thanks.One big step on Monday.
Sincerely, Steve….