Month: March 2008

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Welcome News

Allow us to say that we are encouraged by news this week concerning two members of Memphis’ political Ford family. First, we learned that former 9th District congressman Harold Ford Jr., who has been a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel for more than a year, has — for whatever

reason — changed his venue to MSNBC. The difference between one cable news channel and another is more than casual. It’s the difference between night and day — or, to put it more accurately, between right and left.

By now, the major cable channels have sorted themselves out, with CNN occupying the rough middle of the political spectrum, the Murdoch-owned Fox network holding down the right, and MSNBC, a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, moving to the left in its commentary. Since, to be honest, we shade that way ourselves, we’re glad to see our former congressman move to his new digs. Not that we expect him to toe this or that ideological line; it’s just that we concur with the sense, expressed nightly by MSNBC stalwart Keith Olbermann, that coverage of news by Fox is so routinely biased and sensationalized as to merit the titles Olbermann would substitute: “Fixed News,” or, alternately, “Fox Noise.” (We’ve always been partial to “Faux News” ourselves.)

Since we’ve made it clear over the last several years that we thought the able and telegenic Ford had risked compromising his Democratic identity by shifts to the political right, we’re glad he’s somewhat out of temptation’s way now. We go so far as to hope, in fact, that the association with Olbermann might rekindle the progressive fires we once thought might be burning within our nimble ex-congressman’s breast.

The other news regarding a member of the Ford family is even more gratifying. We have a concern for the welfare of state senator Ophelia Ford that goes way beyond any differences we might have had with her or doubts concerning her appropriateness for the legislative position she holds (having won a special election in 2005 to replace disgraced brother John, a casualty of Tennessee Waltz prosecutions). And we rejoiced to see her back in her legislative seat on Monday, for the first time, basically, in a year. Whatever the nature of the illness that sidelined her and debilitated her to near-skeletal proportions, we are glad to see her determined to fight her way back, and we enjoyed the mock warning she delivered to her colleagues on the Senate floor about hiding their food because she was “hungry.”

Eat well, serve well, and be well, Ophelia.

Another Peek at the S.O.B.’s

Not long after we went to press last week, the Memphis City Council voted narrowly to postpone action on a proposed city ordinance on sexually oriented businesses to override the one passed late last year by the Shelby County Commission. As devotees of the First Amendment, we share the doubts expressed by several council members concerning the stringent limitations on expression contained in the county ordinance (though, of course, we too are opposed to the “wickedness” and outright illegalities of which the S.O.B.’s have been accused).

Since, barring an override by the council, the county ordinance is scheduled to be enforced by the end of April, we are grateful for the opportunity given the council for serious further debate.

Categories
News The Fly-By

An Efficient Exit

CREDIT: GRANDMAISONC | dreamstime.com

During a City Council executive session last week, council member Wanda Halbert asked Memphis mayor Willie Herenton to look into ways to make the city school system more efficient. At the time, given that the mayor has no direct authority over the city schools, it seemed an odd request.

Now it seems the mayor, who met with individual school board members as early as February, was already giving it some thought.

As everyone and their mother knows by now, last week Herenton announced his resignation — effective July 31st — and has said he is interested in becoming superintendent of Memphis City Schools.

“I, like you, have some fairly significant concerns about the school system,” Herenton told Halbert.

But two days before he announced he was resigning, he dropped another bombshell: He wants to close five libraries and four community centers. Herenton said the closures would save the city $1.5 million to $2 million.

“If this council doesn’t have the will to make some hard choices, you are going to face some hefty property tax increases,” Herenton said.

Saying he was following recommendations from a 2007 efficiency study, the mayor proposed closing Highland, Cossitt, Poplar-White Station, Levi, and Gaston Park libraries and Greenlaw, Bethel Labelle, Simon/Boyd-Magnolia, and Hamilton community centers, all as of July 1st. He also said no city employees would be laid off as a result of the closures.

“I went to Cossitt Library downtown. I was embarrassed,” Herenton told the council. “We had a culture of excellence centered around the Central Library, but in some of the other libraries, there was neglect, major maintenance issues, and major security issues.”

Last December, the mayor did not reappoint longtime library head Judith Drescher. Instead, he appointed former Public Services and Neighborhoods director Keenon McCloy to the library’s top post, setting off speculation that the mayor was going to make changes to the library system.

After speaking out against those who accused him of cronyism, the mayor said the library system has already become more efficient under McCloy.

“Why did we change leadership? We have a good library system,” he said, “but it can be better. It’s not as efficient as I think it can get.”

He also took a shot at the former library administration, saying it had no regard for diversity. “They all looked alike. I don’t have to tell you how they looked,” he said. “The diversity they had was fragmented: certain people at the top, certain people at the bottom. That’s not how we run a city.”

The mayor said the administration would look at adaptive re-use for the facilities being closed.

“When I come back to you with recommendations on repositioning assets, I’m going to talk to you about the highest and best use of real estate,” Herenton told the council.

I’m not against efficiency, but I wonder if closing libraries and community centers is the best idea. The city’s operating budget is about half a billion dollars a year. By comparison, the efficiency study’s more efficient recommendation said the city could save roughly $16 million by eliminating more than 230 firefighting positions.

Saving $2 million by closing libraries and community centers at a time when the community is in the midst of a youth violence crisis? I’m not sure it’s worth it.

None of this is a done deal, not the library closures nor Herenton’s new job (although, in what could be called a heck of an efficient exit strategy, Herenton has said he will stay mayor if he doesn’t get the superintendent position).

Even if the administration does not include the libraries and community centers in its initial operating budget for 2009, council members can ask that they be re-instated.

“The administration is going to move forward on this. As far as we’re concerned, these [facilities] will be closed,” Herenton said.

But closures take political will, and it’s unclear if Herenton will have that. Especially now that he’s admitted he’d rather be superintendent than mayor. And that he’s looking for efficiencies at the school district, too.

Reminding the council that he was no stranger to unpopular closures, Herenton joked that council member Barbara Swearengen Ware “hated my guts” when he closed her alma mater, Douglass High School.

“I think we closed 18 high schools. That was tough,” he said. “It took me a long time to get the board to have the courage. I said, ‘Look, these schools are inefficient. We’re wasting money. We’ve got to close them.’

“The school board got enough guts. They hung tight. We closed schools,” Herenton said. “The school board needs to close some schools now, but there’s no political will.”

And it seems, at least with Herenton, where there’s a

Willie, there’s a way.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Music docs among the highlights at film fest.

After nearly a decade in existence, the Memphis International Film Festival gets a facelift this year in the form of a new name. The organization that has run the festival for the past nine years, the Memphis Film Forum, has renamed itself On Location: Memphis and its signature event is now called On Location: Memphis International Film Festival. The festival begins Thursday, March 27th, and runs across four days at various venues, with most screenings held at Malco’s Studio on the Square.

Though the name has changed, the mission and format remain similar: to provide a showcase for a wide range of films that otherwise wouldn’t find theatrical release in Memphis, such as this year’s feature attraction, David Lynch’s acclaimed, three-hour opus Inland Empire, which will close the festival. (See review of Inland Empire above.)

The “International Masters” series that has been a fest staple in recent years is gone this year, replaced, in part, by a “Liberty & Justice” program that will screen civil-rights-themed films at the Brooks Museum of Art. In addition, the festival features a strong slate of music-related documentaries and several non-screening events in the form of panels and parties. Among the potential highlights (screenings held at Studio on the Square unless otherwise noted):

Music Docs: The festival opens 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 27th, at the Malco Paradiso, with Delta Rising, a documentary set in Clarksdale, Mississippi, that features artists such as Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, Morgan Freeman, and Pinetop Perkins talking about the importance of the Delta sound.

Delta Rising is only the beginning of a deep, varied slate of music-related docs. Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost (Saturday, 12:30 p.m.) is a look at the history of jug-band music filtered through the jug-band revival of the early ’60s. With white revival acts such as the Lovin’ Spoonful and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band as a starting point, the film travels to Memphis (and Louisville) to examine the roots of the form via such legendary artists as Gus Cannon and the Memphis Jug Band. (It takes the movie almost an hour to mention Memphis Jug Band leader Will Shade, but when Charlie Musselwhite offers first-person testimony of visiting Shade in Memphis, it’s worth it.)

The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice (Friday, 8 p.m.) is a portrait of rockabilly pioneer and former Elvis paramour Wanda Jackson that features testimonials from Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen and makes a strong case for Jackson as much more than a footnote in rock history.

Before the Music Dies (Saturday, 5 p.m.) fancies itself something of an Inconvenient Truth for the music industry. I didn’t find its musician-centric grousing as persuasive as it’s meant to be, but the film is highly watchable with tons of interesting interview segments, including a moment with Memphians Luther and Cody Dickinson and several hilarious segments with the fierce neo-soul songstress Erykah Badu.

Living the Hip Life (Friday, 4:45 p.m.) expands the boundaries of the fest’s music slate with an intimate portrait of the modern music scene in Ghana.

Other Docs and Features: All About Us (Sunday, 6 p.m.) is an original narrative feature about two young California filmmakers who travel to Mississippi to convince Morgan Freeman to star in their film. Beyond Belief (Saturday, 10 a.m.) tracks two American 9/11 widows to Afghanistan, where they befriend and help other war widows a world away. Beyond the Call (Saturday, 2:45 p.m.) follows three middle-aged men who bring food and medicine to war zones around the globe. Blood on the Flat Track: Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls (Saturday, 5 p.m.) looks at roller-derby subculture in Seattle. Circus Rosaire (Sunday, 1 p.m.) is a colorful portrait of a multigenerational circus family.

“Liberty & Justice”: A collection of nine documentary films on civil rights issues will screen at the Brooks Museum of Art Saturday, March 29th, and Sunday, March 30th. Rosa Remembered (6 p.m., Sunday) is a debut screening of a film that follows the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks on a personal tour of the National Civil Rights Museum alongside local judge D’Army Bailey.

Panels and Parties: At 6 p.m. Friday, special-effects expert Brent Heyning, a University of Memphis graduate who has worked on several high-profile Hollywood productions, will conduct a workshop on animation and other film effects. On Saturday, two panels are scheduled — Making It in Hollywood (10 a.m.) and Making It in Tennessee (11:30 a.m.) — to bring industry professionals together to discuss breaking into the film business and doing filmwork in Tennessee. Memphis & Shelby County Film & Television Commissioner Linn Sitler and Nothing But the Truth executive producer James Spies are among the panelists. At 2 p.m. Saturday, local filmmaker Mike McCarthy will discuss making movies on the cheap. All workshops and panels will take place at the French Quarter Suites in Overton Square.

In addition to screenings and panels, the festival will host three parties. An opening-night shindig will take place at the new Ground Zero Blues Club Memphis on Thursday. Ruby Wilson will perform. Tickets are $20. The next night, McCarthy will host a music/video show dubbed Rock-and-Roll Blood Bath at Earnestine and Hazel’s. Jack O. & the Tearjerkers will perform. Admission is $7. Finally, on Saturday, the festival will hold a “Big Bubba Bash” at BRIDGES with music from The Mudflap Kings. Admission is $20. Entry to all events is free with a festival pass.

OnLocationMemphis.org

On Location: Memphis International Film Festival

Thursday, March 27th-Sunday, March 30th

Various locations

Individual screening tickets are $8.50. Full festival passes are $60 in advance and $70 during the festival.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Herenton and the Libraries

The mayor’s office, acting like an agency for ignorance and decadence, has deliberately damaged Memphis’ endeavors to become a progressive 21st-century American city. The intent of a platitudinous mayor and his confederacy of corroborators to shut down nine libraries and community centers are tantamount to abandoning the neighborhoods and citizens they serve. These closings are ripping out the very resources critical to public safety. Any capable urban official realizes that the root of violent street crime and other illegal disturbances is a community deficient in essential civilized services.

Memphians should demand from their mayor and City Council a reversal of these policy decisions. Furthermore, the city leadership must nullify the appointments of high-salaried city administrators who are academically void in the library sciences. The idea that “efficiency” will improve in the Memphis library system or in neighborhood community-center functions with underqualified administrators is simply unreasonable.

Timothy McKay

Memphis

The Riverfront and The Pyramid

Friends for Our Riverfront has adopted the cause of protecting the natural and historical look of our riverfront. We have all witnessed their passionate albeit misguided protest of Beale Street Landing.

It is odd now that the group remains completely silent about the Greg Ericson theme-park proposal for The Pyramid and Mud Island — a proposal which would bring noisy rides, amusement games, Pronto Pups, loud music, crowds, litter, traffic congestion, added need for police, and potentially the moving of the I-40 ramp, which clearly will impact the riverfront.

How can Friends for Our Riverfront justify saying nothing over the potential commercialization of 90 acres of prime riverfront property, given their charter? My personal belief is that their president’s friendship with Commissioner Steve Mulroy, an Ericson supporter, has compromised the group and left them bastardizing their own commitment to the riverfront. Normally frenzied in opposition to such projects, Friends has a moral and civic obligation to speak out against the Ericson proposal.

Tommy Volinchak, President

Memphis Downtown Neighborhood
Association

Obama and Wright

Are we to believe that after 20 years as a member of his church, Barack Obama has never heard the anti-American, racist remarks of his mentor and pastor, Jeremiah Wright? Dozens of videos of his sermons are now out, showing this man ranting against “white people” and America, yet Obama states he was never present for any of these. Not very observant is he?

The more likely scenario is that he has known about this pastor all along and is now denying it. The very fact that he has listened to this hate speech for 20 years must mean he agrees with these messages. Obama could have walked out of this church but chose to remain in the congregation of a bigoted, Farrakhan-supporting hate monger.

Americans rightfully condemn the KKK for racist remarks against blacks and should also condemn people, even so-called preachers, who spread racism against whites. Admitting that he did not know this side of his pastor after a 20-year association shows a lack of judgment that we cannot afford to have in the White House. Think of what terrorists around the world will be able to do behind this man’s back.

Of course, Hillary is not much better. As the most famously cheated-on woman in her own house, our enemies will have a field day behind her back as well.

Rick Sneed

Nashville

Bush is the Worst

Many historians now believe that George Bush will be seen as the worst president in our history. By way of contrast, they deem Washingon, Lincoln, and FDR to be our greatest presidents. Two basic elements constitute the criteria of judgment: the profound nature of the crisis the presidents faced and the creative way in which they responded.

The litany of Bush’s failures in foreign and domestic affairs continues to grow, and the evil consequences of those failures will surely impact the nation for a generation or more to come. Many things help explain the enormity of his flawed stewardship: self-righteous arrogance, ideological fixation, incompetence, and the tragic innocence that informs his “freedom agenda” for the world.

It was a wise sage who observed that “character is fate.”

M.L. Wilson

Memphis

Categories
News The Fly-By

What They Said

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About “From My Seat: The Quintessential Quintet” by Frank Murtaugh:

“The Tiger victory was sweeter than all my Easter candy. Man, they ran it down too close to the wire for my tastes, but it was sweet, anyway. Michigan State is a tough team, so Dorsey and the rest had better bring their A game.” — rantboy

About “Willie Herenton to Resign” by Jackson Baker:

“This is a great day for Memphis — like having simultaneous brain and heart transplants in a previously dying patient.” — mmiddle
About “The Wharton Hypothesis,” where Jackson Baker discusses the possibility of the Shelby County mayor replacing Herenton:

“The mayor does Memphis and its library a great favor. He’s leaving. … I can testify to a library administration with no appreciation for its greatest resources, the library staff and Memphis community. He didn’t either. If a newly elected mayor can have that appreciation, the new leader will go far in serving all citizens. Wharton.” — Vincent

About “Anti-War Protestors Arrested in Corker’s Office” by Bianca Phillips:

“To all who participated in this event — you have my gratitude, my admiration, and my encouragement. Keep the pressure on Corker. He doesn’t want a town hall meeting because of his shameful record of support for this war and this administration.” — Sneaky Pete

About “Justin Timberlake to Give $200,000 to Memphis Music Organizations”:

“I think that’s a good thing to do and give back to your hometown. Go JUSTIN!!” — mexshorty22

Comment of the Week:
About “Herenton: Not Moving On” by John Branston:

“NOT SO FAST is exactly right! Willie is loading the dice and marking the cards as we type.” — toast

To share your thoughts, comments, concerns, and — maybe — get published, visit memphisflyer.com.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: Celebrating Judy Freeman

A bunch of us gathered at the Cove on Broad Avenue a couple weekends ago to celebrate the life of our recently departed friend, Judy Freeman. It was a good crowd. Judy lived a large life, one that touched people from all kinds of worlds.

Judy worked as a sales rep for Memphis magazine for many years, which is how I came to know her. In my publishing career, I’ve known lots of ad reps — a couple better than I’d care to admit. But Judy was unique. She was always on a spiritual quest of some sort: “rebirthing,” yoga, meditation, ballet, travel to the world’s holy places. When she sold an ad, she sold it from a place of honesty and with a genuine sense that she was helping her client. There was no pressure — or bullshit — from Judy. She believed in the power of truth.

Many years ago, Judy and a dear friend of hers joined my girlfriend and me for a spring weekend at a cabin I owned in the Ozarks. It rained on Saturday, but Sunday dawned clear, and we sat on the deck and opened a bottle of wine. The sun was warm, the sky was blue, and we felt very civilized.

Judy, ever the child of the 1960s, decided to smoke a joint. The rest of us didn’t smoke, but we sipped our wine, and the conversation flowed. Suddenly, we heard the roar of an engine. My neighbor from down the road was coming to visit us — on his tractor. I’d met him several times, and he seemed a classic country redneck. As he pulled into the driveway, spewing exhaust and noise, I whispered sharply, “Ditch the pot, Judy! This guy will have us arrested if he sees it.”

Judy beamed a beatific smile and exhaled. Tractor-man pulled up, took in the scene, and, in a Slingblade monotone, said, “How ya’ll doin’?”

There was an awkward moment of silence, smoke wafting in the air. Then Judy grinned and said, “I’m just sitting here on this beautiful day with my lover and my friends, smoking a joint and drinking a glass of wine. Would you like to join us?” The rest of us froze, thinking we were surely destined for the county jail.

“Sounds good,” he drawled. “I believe I will.”

Judy Freeman. She believed the truth was always a good idea. She’ll be missed.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Cover Feature News

Two Down, Final Four to Go

Haven’t we been here before? A John Calipari-coached Memphis Tiger basketball team has found its way to that hallowed section of your office bracket known as the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16. With 30-plus wins and a top-five national ranking, winners of Conference USA’s regular-season and tournament championships, star power that borders on excess, Memphis fans should be thrilled.

But it’s not enough. Not this year.

Spoiled with success as Tiger Nation may be, this is the season — the weekend just ahead — that will stand out in bold on this program’s long, proud history. Anything less than the school’s first Final Four berth in 23 years will be seen as falling short of expectations. And when you factor in the precious single-season window the Tigers have with Derrick Rose at point guard, anything less than a national championship may leave a wound of regret.

Here are four keys — the final four, you might say — to the Tigers reaching the NCAA’s third weekend.

A Shooter’s Chance

The Tigers had their share of stars last week in Little Rock, but the difference-maker was reserve guard Willie Kemp. In drilling four of his five three-point attempts (the rest of the team was two for 11), Kemp’s shooting against Mississippi State provided the necessary cushion that allowed the Tigers to survive their own free-throw ineptitude (eight misses in 16 shots over the final two minutes).

Whether it’s Kemp again, or Doneal Mack, or more likely candidates like Rose or Chris Douglas-Roberts, the Tigers must find a shooter for each tournament contest, one who will stretch the opponent’s zone defense and create the gaps for dribble-drives that have become the team’s offensive weapon of choice.

In describing the struggles of the 2004 Olympic team, Calipari once said, “Shooting makes up for a multitude of sins on a basketball team.” Tiger fans still grind their teeth over the sins of the 2006 NCAA regional finals, when Memphis took 54 shots against UCLA and made exactly 17 (31 percent). Another 40 minutes like that and a dream season ends in a cold sweat.

Tag Team Inside

Calipari’s bench management against the Bulldogs was the most impressive in his eight years as Tiger coach. He essentially had 15 big-man fouls to give against MSU’s formidable frontcourt, and he used 14 of them, with 25 seconds to spare (the time left when Joey Dorsey joined Robert Dozier on the bench with his fifth foul). Despite the foul difficulty, Dorsey picked up his first double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds) in 10 NCAA tournament games. Dozier and Shawn Taggart combined for nine offensive rebounds, critical stats in a three-point victory.

“Shawn gives us what we haven’t had since I’ve been here: that big guy off the bench,” Calipari said after a win in mid-January. “We can tell [Joey] if you don’t play well — you foul — you sit, and we win anyway. You need that to coach a team to the level we’re trying to [reach].”

The enigmatic Dorsey was at his ferocious best Sunday, two days after a mediocre outing against Texas-Arlington. He needs to bottle the energy he displayed against the Bulldogs for the Tigers to beat the next MSU they face.

“[Joey’s] going to be held to a standard he’s capable of reaching,” Calipari stresses. “When he comes and he’s ready to play — an intense athlete like he is — there is no rage. He’s beating [the opponent] to every spot, he’s grabbing the ball with two hands. There’s no need for rage. I challenge him, because I want him to be the best in the country at what he does.”

Stars Must Shine

“Arrogance is what gets you in trouble,” Calipari says. “Swagger is based on great preparation, being prepared to play anyone, anytime.”

Rose and Douglas-Roberts will ultimately be remembered as the faces of the 2007-’08 Memphis Tigers. CDR is the program’s first first-team All-American in 15 years. Rose is all but certain to be a top-five NBA draft selection in June. They are the tandem that must be at its best for Memphis to reel off four more wins in the NCAA tournament.

CDR averaged 20 points and Rose 17 in the two games in Little Rock. Rose added seven assists and nine rebounds to his line against Mississippi State. Perhaps most critically, these are the two Tigers capable of winning games at the free-throw line, so Rose will have to improve on his four-for-nine performance in the second round.

“Everybody has to be at their best,” Rose says, as deferential as your garden-variety freshman sensation. “Coach has been saying every position, every player has to be on their game.” For a national championship, this NBA All-Star-to-be needs to be on his game and bring his teammates along for the run.

Defense: First, Last, and Always

The loudest cheers heard all season long at FedExForum came not when the Tigers had possession of the ball — though a few Dorsey dunks did shake the rafters — but when they were seizing control of a game defensively — a relatively routine basket made by the likes of Douglas-Roberts, followed by the immediate transition into a full-court press that can exhaust an opponent before it’s even able to establish a halfcourt offensive set.

This is the variable most under the Tigers’ (and Calipari’s) control. Utilizing his bench to its ninth and tenth man, Calipari can keep five fresh, quick players on the floor for an entire game. That quickness and energy are the chemical ingredients to a press that demands another team to be just as quick to break it. And no one on the Tiger roster takes a breather in the fullcourt press. In many respects, Dorsey plays the most valuable role, that of midcourt rover, quick enough to cover either side of the court and large enough to pick off passes made by opposing guards trapped in the backcourt.

“Our press is our bread and butter,” Douglas-Roberts says. “We try to get at least three steals a game off the press. When it’s effective, it opens up our transition game. We take great pride in it. We feel like a lot of teams can’t press like us, because we’re so deep. We can go 10 or 11 deep and still press. [Dorsey’s] the intimidator back there. He’s like the goaltender. If we happen to get beat on the press, he’s back there to block it or muck it up.”

Categories
News

Ethanol’s Growth Slow in Memphis

When it comes to trends, Memphis isn’t known for leading the way. In fact, the city has a reputation for being a little, well, fashionably late.

That’s been the case with the availability of ethanol, a renewable fuel made from corn. Ethanol blends have been sold at fueling stations in Middle and East Tennessee for more than a year, but the biofuel has only recently become available in Memphis …

Read the rest of Bianca Phillips’ story on Ethanol in Memphis.

Categories
Living Spaces Real Estate

Show Off

The real estate bubble has burst. The housing market is in shambles. The economy is in recession. There’s panic in the streets!

Tell that to downtown Memphis residential developers. The downtown condo market, which was booming the last several years, leveled off by the end of 2007.

In 2007, 488 home units sold in the downtown zip code, down from 750 the year before. That’s a drop of 34.9 percent, the most in any zip code in the county. But average home prices remained steady: $241,871 in 2007 compared to $241,830 in 2006. So, is the decrease a function of people not buying, the supply of units being bought up, or just the normalization of a market that had been outperforming for a few years?

In the first months of 2008, closing prices have increased an average of $32,000 from the same figures last year.

And developers in the South End district of downtown have decided that the best defense is a good offense. The third Downtown Home Show at South End is set to kick off Friday, April 11th.

The home show will showcase a number of diverse developments, including high-rises, gated condo communities, single-family homes, and converted warehouses.

State Place

The show runs Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, April 11th to 28th, from noon to 6 p.m. each day. Parking and admission are free, and shuttles will be provided at no charge on Saturdays and Sundays.

For those with their eye on buying, the Downtown Home Show may be a good time to do so; some developers are offering incentives for those who sign a contract during the event.

The Downtown Home Show is co-sponsored by Henco Furniture, out of Selmer, Tennessee. Henco is decorating models for the developers.

The Machine Shop Condos

There are six properties featured in the home show. They are:

• The Machine Shop Condos at 465 S. Main, a triangle-shaped development across from the National Civil Rights Museum. The property was developed by Porter Kerr Investments.

• The Nettleton, at 435 S. Front, a reworking of the Piggly Wiggly warehouse built in 1915. The luxury condos feature 24-inch heart-pine columns and beams, and some units have 17-foot ceilings.

• St. Charles on Main, a gated condominium community being sold by Kendall Haney Realtors and Re/Max on the River.

• State Place, a $49 million development on Georgia Street a block from Riverside Drive.

• The Horizon, an elegant tower overlooking the Mississippi River. Under construction, the Horizon has a well-appointed model unit and sales center at 717 Riverside Drive.

• River Tower, the neighbor of the Horizon on Riverside Drive, a 14-story high-rise with direct access to the River Walk and views of the Mississippi River. ■

Courtesy of the Nettleton

The Nettleton

Downtown Home Show at South End

Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, April 11th-28th, noon to 6 p.m.

Free admission and parking

Free shuttles on Saturdays and Sundays

Go to southendmemphis.com for more information.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Dig the Scene

Playhouse on the Square’s newly acquired Union Avenue headquarters is vast and empty. But it’s filling up fast.

In one room, a ratty mattress is propped against the wall. Another room is piled from floor to ceiling with hats in every color imaginable. It’s exactly the kind of scene you might expect to see when a 40-year-old theater packs its bags and moves.

“I don’t want to raise money anymore. I want to clean things up,” says Playhouse executive producer Jackie Nichols, his voice echoing in the city-block-sized basement underneath the new offices. “I want to just be the repair man.”

Nichols, who has nearly completed the first major phase of an ambitious $15 million capital campaign, says he’s tired of raising money and ready to refocus his energy on making theater. On Monday, March 24th, three days before the groundbreaking party for his theater company’s state-of-the-art performance facility on the adjoining northeast corner of Cooper and Union, he invited the media over for a chocolate-martini lunch, guided tours, and surprise confessions.

“I’ve been practicing to be the new theater handyman,” he says proudly and seriously, referring to his recent installation of a “meditation/smoking garden” on the south face of the new headquarters.

A roomful of hats

Not including its new and unfinished acquisitions, Playhouse on the Square possesses real estate valued at $3 million. Soon, its holdings will increase considerably. The former movie theater on Poplar, which currently houses Circuit Playhouse, will become a rental facility similar to TheaterWorks on Monroe, which will continue to house small local theater companies and accommodate smaller touring groups. Circuit Playhouse will move into the Cooper Street property currently occupied by Playhouse. Most major changes are expected to begin within the next nine months.

“Rentals are a big revenue stream,” Nichols says explaining that the new building will eventually include a rooftop garden that will be rented out for weddings and parties.

“We get calls for that sort of thing all the time,” he says.

The top floors of Playhouse’s new offices will be rented to a variety of local arts groups. Its current headquarters, above the theater on Cooper, will house office space for UPTA, an annual “cattle call” audition for stage actors that currently attracts more actors and theatre companies from around the country than the current facility can service.

Once the new building is complete, both Circuit and Playhouse will produce theater 35 weeks a year with a combined budget of just over $2 million. The main and second stages also will be available for rental by other local arts groups throughout the year.

Dig the Scene, a groundbreaking event, is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 27th, on the northeast corner of Union and Cooper. There will be music, appetizers, chocolate milk for the kids, and chocolate martinis for adults.