Award-winning documentary producer Ken Burns is coming to Memphis August 8th.
WKNO is hosting a reception and preview of The War, Burns’ soon-to-be-released documentary about World War II, at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre. The event is sponsored by the Stanford Group.
Tickets ($10 for WKNO members, $15 for non-members) are going fast, so if you want a seat for “An Evening With Ken Burns,” call 751-7500.
For more information about The War, check out the PBS website.
The Memphis City Schools’ (MCS) interim superintendent search committee has selected two finalists: one an MCS insider, the other a former state superintendent currently working as an education consultant.
Each member of the committee submitted up to five candidates. The names of candidates who received at least two votes were then alphabetized, and board members spoke on behalf of their favorite candidates.
Daniel Ward, an MCS deputy superintendent from 2004-2005 and former MCS principal, received the most votes with seven. Robert Schiller, a former state superintendent in Illinois and Michigan, received five.
Some committee members thought Ward’s experience with MCS would be a major plus. Ward also has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.
Fairy Shull, president of the Parent Assembly, said she would prefer to hire a candidate from within MCS.
“I think it would send the wrong message to the Executive Leadership Team to hire someone from the outside,” she said.
In a written statement, commissioner Betty Mallot said that Ward is “well known and respected by MCS staff and school administrators … [and] highly respected by peers as an area superintendent and as a principal.”
Schiller, on the other hand, has never worked with MCS. In addition to his positions in Illinois and Michigan, Schiller was deputy state superintendent in Louisiana and Delaware; district superintendent in five urban and suburban districts in New Jersey, Maryland, and Louisiana; and interim superintendent in Baltimore.
Mallot said, “With [Schiller’s] past experience as a consultant, he will know how to use that to his advantage, not his disadvantage, as an outsider.”
Likewise, at-large commissioner Wanda Halbert backed Schiller. “Our problems and our challenges are no different from any other school district in the United States,” she said.
Commissioner Martavius Jones, the head of the committee, expressed mixed feelings: “I voted for Dr. Schiller, as well. But the concern I have is that he’s an outsider, and it would take a while to build the relationships that any superintendent needs.”
The board hopes to make a decision as soon as possible so that Superintendent Carol Johnson can train her interim replacement before she leaves for her new job in Boston.
If
Cardinal Nation were a perfect world, Rick Ankiel would be pitching in the St.
Louis starting rotation. Based on his rookie season of 2000 (11 wins, a
team-leading ERA of 3.50, a team-leading 194 strikeouts), the 28-year-old Ankiel
would be in his eighth year in the big leagues, well over a 100 career wins, and
earning upwards of $10 million a season. His mighty left arm would be to losing
streaks as penicillin is to bacteria.
If
Cardinal Nation were a perfect world, Anthony Reyes would be pitching in the St.
Louis starting rotation. Based on his rookie season of 2006 (merely 5 wins, but
a one-hitter thrown against the reigning world champions and 17 consecutive
Tigers retired in Game 1 of the World Series), the 25-year-old Reyes would be
establishing himself alongside Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder, and one Rick Ankiel
as the National League’s preeminent rotation motored, yet again, toward October
baseball.
Cardinal
Nation is not a perfect world. Not by a longshot. Instead of forming a lefty-righty
combination to make opposing batters quake in their spikes, Rick Ankiel and
Anthony Reyes — together as one, in some respects — form the most compelling
storyline for the 2007 Memphis Redbirds. With the local club’s season down the
tubes as far as the Pacific Coast League standings are concerned, the progress
of Ankiel and Reyes merits the attention of Cardinal fans from St. Louis to
Southaven.
A
Redbird official recently pointed out that Ankiel will hardly ever raise his
head in the on-deck circle. Certainly the most recognizable player in a Memphis
uniform — he received the most votes of any player in the PCL for the Triple-A
All-Star Game before refusing to play — Ankiel has taken to life as a
professional outfielder with the joy and exuberance you might see on the face of
a toll-booth operator. He refused to accommodate ESPN when the sports-media
giant came to town to profile a player aiming to achieve something Babe Ruth and
Stan Musial managed, but few others before or since. (According to the same
Redbird official, Ankiel resents the on-air treatment he was given in the
aftermath of his famous pitching meltdown during the 2000 playoffs for St.
Louis.)
The
saddest part of Ankiel’s rigid approach to big-league rebirth is how very well
it’s going on the field. He leads the PCL with 27 home runs (through Sunday),
leads the Redbirds with 72 RBIs, and has played a graceful, if not spectacular,
centerfield. The only reason he hasn’t entered the batter’s box at Busch Stadium
in 2007 is the lack of options the Cardinals hold. Once promoted, Ankiel could
not be sent down for more Triple-A seasoning. He’ll be a Cardinal when rosters
expand in September, playing the outfield . . . and facing a throng of media
types interested in sharing his amazing story. Keep your eye out for a smile.
As for
Reyes, the meltdown has little to do with any mental block. But having started
the season 0-10 for St. Louis — 0 and 10! — a meltdown he has certainly
suffered. Partially the victim of poor run support from a struggling lineup — he
has the rare distinction of having lost the first two complete games of his
career — Reyes is too young for Cardinal management to allow a season-long
downward spiral. Back in Memphis, Reyes has shown the same nasty stuff that
dominated PCL hitters in 2005 and parts of 2006. Through Sunday, he has 33
strikeouts in 39 innings, with an ERA of 2.79. Like Ankiel, Reyes will be
wearing two cardinals on his jersey come September.
While it
may seem fitting, it’s not appropriate to use the word “jinx” as we witness the
rise and fall (and rise again?) of Ankiel and Reyes. When a franchise has
literally buried two pitchers recently (Darryl Kile in 2002 and Josh Hancock
last April), a pair of rising stars struggling for big-league jobs become merely
the latest cases in a sport where survival of the fittest means just that.
Perhaps the day will come when Reyes leads a St. Louis rotation and Ankiel bats
cleanup behind the mighty Albert Pujols. For now, though, that’s a perfect world
that feels a bit out of reach.
What could be better than a woman cutting your grass in a bikini?
Well, according the mass media, not very much. News outlets from Cleveland to Bangkok have picked up on the story about Tiger Time Lawn Care, which offers lawn-cutting babes in bikinis to Memphians who don’t mind paying a little extra to, well, watch lawn-cutting babes in bikinis.
Lee Cathey, Tiger Time owner, told a local TV news team, “We had a couple of customers sitting in lawn chairs drink beer just enjoying the bikini cut.”
Cathey, every bit the forward-thinking businessman, plans to offer leaf-raking babes come fall. He adds that he’s fielded no requests for similar services employing scantily-clad men.
Mike Coolbaugh died Sunday after being hit in the head by a line drive in the first-base coaching box for the Tulsa Drillers. Coolbaugh hit 29 home runs for the 2002 Memphis Redbirds.
Read more at SportsIllustrated.com.
Holding forth on the July 22nd installment of
Fox News Sunday, right-wing journalist Bill Kristol denounced the current
fashionability among Democrats of the liberal Web site DailyKos.com and noted by
contrast, “Not a single Democratic presidential candidate is going to the
Democratic Leadership Council meeting in a couple of weeks. That’s the
organization that Bill Clinton was head of in the early ’90s. That was supposed
to be the ‘new, more moderate’ Democratic Party. The Democratic Party has gone
left, and it’s going to hurt them presidentially in 2008.”
No contenders? Uh oh. Is this a problem for the DLC’s head,
former congressman Harold Ford Jr., who was elected to lead the organization
earlier this year to give it more relevance and political panache?
This is how the event referred to by Kristol, “the DLC
National Conversation,” scheduled for next Saturday, July 28th, is
billed on the organization’s own Web site: “This summer in
Nashville, hundreds of rising political stars from every corner of America will
gather at the DLC’s most important annual event — and the next stop on DLC
Chair Harold Ford’s Ideas Primary
tour — to hear from leading national voices and to discuss the ideas that will
shape the country’s future.”
And, to be sure, no active candidates
for the presidency are listed at this point as among the “leading national
voices” scheduled to attend so as to help “shape the country’s future.” Well,
there’s still time to sign up. We’ll find out what happens on Saturday.
(AP) — Justin Timberlake might actually get an Emmy for singing “Dick in a Box.”
Timberlake performed that song with Andy Samberg on Saturday Night Live before Christmas, and it’s nominated for an Emmy for original music and lyrics.
That might seem like it’s in bad taste, but the competition includes “Everything Comes Down to Poo” from the musical episode of “Scrubs.” Prince’s Super Bowl halftime show , which brought its share of controversy over Prince’s silhouette, is nominated for special class program.
American Idol is also nominated for several Emmys, as is the Grammys show. Tony Bennett and James Taylor were nominated for their music specials.
Singer-songwriter Harlan T. Bobo is the personification of amused self-doubt. “Bobo,” he grumbles, meditating on his own nom de plume. “It’s such a perfect name for me. It translates directly from Spanish as ‘stupid,’ and, if you put my name into a translator, it comes out Harlan T. Stupid.
“My family thinks I’m ashamed of them because I don’t use my real name,” he adds, coughing up a chuckle.
Bobo is currently in a tight spot. This week, the lean, bearded troubadour launches I’m Your Man, his long-awaited sophomore recording as a solo artist, released on the local Goner Records label. …
Read the rest of Chris Davis’ Flyer cover story on Memphis’ favorite angst-ridden performer, Harlan T. Bobo.
Back in 2005, The Peabody asked for memories from Memphians and Mid-Southerners that would illustrate the landmark’s 138-year-old history. Thanks to those responses, as well as input from individuals involved in the hotel’s renovation, you can read all about its fascinating past in The Peabody: A History of the South’s Grand Hotel.
Reminisces come from Jack Belz, who saved the hotel from the wrecking ball in 1975; Silas Harris, a 50-year employee who trained under original Duckmaster Edward Pembroke; Ellen Fossey McGowen of Somerville who, in the 1920s, before the ducks-in-the-lobby-era, lifted a baby alligator from the lobby pool and handed it to her horrified mother; and others with entertaining tales.
The 212-page tome can be purchased for $49.95 at the hotel’s Deli and Desserts or the Corner Bar. You can also order it online at PeabodyMemphis.com or by calling 901-529-3642. And on Monday, July 23, the book can be found at several local bookstores, including Davis-Kidd Booksellers and Bookstar, Burke’s Book Store, and Borders.
Hogwash to some is Hogwarts to many, many more – as indicated by the lengthier lines and lengthier waits at local book stores for the long-awaited concluding volume in J.K. Rowling’s phenomenally popular Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Midnight Friday was the moment, and this was the scene at the Barnes & Noble outlet on Germantown Parkway. For the record, by the way, things end this way: Harry…
Oh, go read the book. The lines are shorter today. (And check out the photo series for stages of the journey.)
j.b.