Month: March 2008

News

Justin Timberlake Donates $200,000 to Memphis Music Organizations

Post author By John Branston
Post date March 20, 2008

Memphis native and music star Justin Timberlake has made two separate donations of $100,000 to the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum and to the Memphis Music Foundation. Timberlake, in Memphis for filming on the independent movie, The Open Road, presented a check to Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum executive director, John Doyle, and museum Board Chairman, Joel Hobson, and to Dean Deyo, president of the Memphis Music Foundation on Thursday.

From the press release: Timberlake, 27, was born in Memphis and grew up in Millington. Since rising to super stardom as an award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and actor, he has continued to promote and support his hometown, including making an earlier financial gift to E.E. Jeter Elementary School, which he attended, to support music education. “Music education and keeping the legacy of Memphis Music alive has always been important to me,” said Timberlake. “That is why I will always continue to support my home town the same way they have always supported me.”

The Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum will utilize the gift to further achieve its mission of “telling the story of Memphis music and perpetuating its legacy” and to advance music education for students throughout Shelby County.

“Like musicians around the globe, he has always recognized the musical magic of this city, and he has never stopped promoting it,” said Doyle. “He has never stopped giving back to the community, to the local music industry, and to young people. The museum is honored by his generosity, honored by his recognition of the museum’s message, and honored that he is from Memphis.”

Art Art Feature

In Touch

Post author By Carol Knowles
Post date March 20, 2008

For the Memphis College of Art’s exhibition “The Matter at Hand,” artists used simple tools and everyday materials to handcraft complex, extraordinary wood carvings, quilts, crochet, and ceramics. Somewhere between high and low art, these works take postmodern narrative to new heights of satire, social commentary, and shtick.

Jeana Eve Klein’s mixed-media quilt The Rise and Fall of Old Mold House is Southern gothic with a sense of humor. Smack dab in the middle of the large quilt, Klein has sewn a bas-relief rag doll and stuffed her with fabric. With auburn hair and long mascaraed eyelashes, she looks up at the viewer like a kiddie Scarlett O’Hara. Accustomed to a life of leisure, her arm hangs limp at her side. She lolls back on a long sloping lawn in front of a Southern mansion where large oak trees drip with moss. We can just make out the white columns at the end of a lawn. Everything in her world is fading fast except her sense of entitlement — one of the reasons “Old Mold House” (and civilization) might fall.

Membranes glisten inside the small opening at one end of Jason Briggs’ ceramic sculpture, Lover. Bound up like a papoose, studded with what could be warts or ritual decorations, and carefully laid out on a wad of cotton like a prize possession, Lover is both grotesque and beautiful. This wickedly funny, hand-sized work of art is arguably the centerpiece of the show.

Tracy Krumm’s Cone (Sleeve)

In a work of metal alchemy, Cone (Sleeve), Tracy Krumm crochets copper and brass into an Arthurian damsel’s dress sleeve so delicate and gauzy it begs to be touched. The cone that cups the end of the sleeve ties the loose threads into a metal sieve so tightly woven it could be the damsel’s chastity belt or the metal jacket of the knight who protects her.

Race Among the Ruins is Aaron Spangler’s wood relief of a small town. Painted in charcoal gray and rubbed with graphite, the town looks charred. Some catastrophe has not only singed but felled trees and buildings with enough raw force to bend a car nearly in two. There are touches of the surreal and sinister. Far right, an upside-down cross that looks like the hilt and blade of a sword is carved above a rose window, like those found in Gothic churches. Another sword is thrust between the branches of a tree that reaches across the top half of the work.

Churches are scorched and towns and ideologies toppled in an enigmatic elegy that could have been titled Twilight of the Gods or Civilization in Ruin. Spangler’s masterfully complex carving goes way beyond handicraft. Last year, Race Among the Ruins sold at auction at Christie’s for more than $50,000.

Through March 21st

“Cling to Me,” Joey Fauerso’s exhibition at Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College, is one of the most sensual shows you will ever see. This is sensuality with a capital “S” — as in senses, not sexual titillation.

In Fauerso’s video Get Naked, we fly over cold, barren landscapes, watch human figures huddle at the side of a highway, and glimpse a woman, covered in muslin, touching her head to the ground. This black-and-white footage could be the opening scenes in a film noir in which some dark drama is about to unfold. Not here. In between these snippets from the past, a young man undresses, lies down, throws back his head, and opens his mouth. Sunlit waters wash over his body.

Watch the video several times. Superficial personae, linear time, and memory slip away. What begins as a disorienting, ever-shifting kaleidoscope of water-color washes becomes a compellingly effective meditation that, instead of blocking out the natural world or stilling the mind, reminds us how to go with the flow.

That Joey Fauerso is a female tapping into the male aspects of her psyche to create Get Naked makes this an even more interesting, boundary-blurring work of art.

Through March 26th

Music Music Features

Utopian Society

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date March 20, 2008

We planned to practice for an hour and a half, but we were done in 45 minutes,” says an enthusiastic Jared McStay. McStay is the owner of Shangri-La Records and former frontman for the Simple Ones, one of the most popular bands to emerge from the sweaty, acid-drenched indie rock scene that dominated Midtown music venues throughout the 1990s. “We ran through the set, and everything just fell right back into place,” he says, cheerfully sipping a beer at the P&H Café and eagerly running down a list of songs that includes “Pen,” “Clearly Herbert,” and other rowdy crowd-pleasers from back in the day.

The Simple Ones have temporarily re-formed to celebrate the 20th birthday of Shangri-La, the ambitious little record store, indie recording label, and Midtown institution that was originally founded as a relaxation center by Sherman Willmott. On March 22nd at the Hi-Tone Café, the Simple Ones share a bill with hometown heroes Lucero, art-pop band Antenna Shoes, art-rock band the Warble, and the New Mary Jane, an exciting but too-new-to-be-defined project with One Four Five drummer John Argroves laying down the beats for Scott Taylor and Dave Shouse of Shangri-La’s signature band the Grifters.

The Simple Ones came into being after bassist Jim McDermott and drummer Mark Miller (later Roy Berry of Lucero) answered a classified ad that McStay, a musically inclined car salesman, placed in the Memphis Flyer. He was searching for like-minded players who’d been influenced by groups such as the Pixies, the Clash, and the Jam. What he got was a chugging indie-pop machine whose noisy songs, taken in a purely literary sense, defined Memphis in the 1990s better than the Grifters, the Oblivians, or any of the other more storied groups playing on the same Midtown/downtown scene.

The Simple Ones were never allowed to stand alone in the spotlight. Review after generally favorable review cast them in the shadow of their Shangri-La label mates, the Grifters. But it was McStay who most perfectly captured the landscape and mood of his hometown scene in the aching first lines of a song called “Rift City.”

“There’s a chalk outline by the checkout line,” McStay whined balefully (and almost tunelessly) into the microphone. The cryptic lyric referred to the demolition of the Babylon Café, a utopian vegetarian restaurant hidden from prying, easily shocked eyes in a parking lot behind Seessel’s (now Schnucks) on Union Avenue. The aptly named cafe, which always smelled of smoky wheat gluten and sticky sinsemilla, was a breeding ground for decadence and a multicultural nexus for bohemian Memphis.

“There’s a parking lot over Babylon,” McStay further lamented in the song. And really, nobody needed the backstory to connect with the Simple Ones’ emotional portrait of a weird little paradise lost to cynicism and asphalt. “Rift City”‘s chorus, a plaintive request to survive, adapt, and merge with powerful satanic forces, was an idea that resonated loudly in the home of the blues.

“There’s not a week that goes by that some tourist doesn’t come into the store and ask what the Grifters are doing,” McStay says, shifting the spotlight from himself to Scott Taylor and Dave Shouse.

“We’re not out to make Grifters 2.0,” says Taylor, squelching any idea that the New Mary Jane represents a second coming. Although the trio performs several Grifters songs, Taylor and Shouse both insist it doesn’t make them a “Grifters cover band.”

Taylor’s coming off a five-year breakup with his guitar. His last band was the Porch Ghouls, which fell apart in 2003 shortly after the group signed a recording contract with Roman Records, a Sony imprint run by Aerosmith guitar player Joe Perry. After the implosion, he took a side trip into electronic music and founded the now-defunct hip-hop recording service Hoodoo Labs.

“I’m playing bass in a band for the first time,” says Shouse, who also ventured into electronica with his band the Bloodthirsty Lovers. Shouse, an indie-rock veteran also of Think As Incas, Those Bastard Souls, and, most recently, Neil Bartlett’s Hi Electric, has done duty on guitar, keyboards, drums, theremin, and assorted electronic gizmos.

Taylor says that Argroves, one of Memphis’ most prolific drummers, has had a big effect on the direction of the New Mary Jane.

Shouse agrees and says that the one thing he hopes to take from the Grifters’ experience is that band’s collaborative but also chaotic spirit.

Atlanta’s Black Lips play an acoustic in-store set at Shangri-La Records (1916 Madison) on Friday, March 21st, at 6 p.m. The party continues on Saturday, March 22nd, at 2 p.m. with a parking-lot concert at Shangri-La featuring Vending Machine, the Warble, Noise Choir, the Ultra Cats, Jump Back Jake, and the Perfect Fits. Doors open for the Hi-Tone show at 9 p.m.

Editorial Opinion

How Much Change?

Post author By Flyer Readers
Post date March 20, 2008

Few of us need to be reminded that “change” is the watchword of the day in politics and government. At one time or another, the word has been uttered manifesto-style by virtually every candidate running for president this year — including all three surviving hopefuls: John McCain, Hillary Clinton,

and, notably, Barack Obama.

And change in the most literal sense is under active consideration in both city and county government. After conducting a series of public forums, the citizen members of an elected City Charter Commission are in the final stages of preparing their recommendations for the ballot — either in August or November — and the Shelby County Commission, which held its own public meetings, is already signing off on its recommendations for a referendum to be held in August.

The County Commission’s most significant task is to provide charter definitions for five county offices that had been regarded as spoken for in the state constitution until a judicial finding last year in Knox County declared otherwise. Those positions are sheriff, trustee, assessor, county clerk, and register. By now every conceivable variation on each of the positions has been debated in public, in private, and in between. Some, like commissioners Steve Mulroy and Deidre Malone, felt that the aim of good government would be best served if some or all of the officials holding these jobs were appointed. Most of the other commissioners seem to have believed, just as strongly, that the affected officials should continue to be elected. In this regard, popular opinion seems to have been on the side of election and has apparently carried the day so far.

In morning deliberations Monday, commissioners reached agreement on one office — that of sheriff. By super-majority vote (requiring nine votes of 13 for passage), the commission agreed to put on the August ballot a provision to elect the sheriff, to limit any given sheriff to three four-year terms, and to establish in the county charter a definition of duties consistent with those previously assumed to be his under state law.

It could well be that some of the other four positions still being deliberated as of this writing — notably those of register and county clerk — may be deemed suitable for appointment rather than election. If so, those jobs will not be affected by a provision that a groundswell of the public has insisted upon: term limits.

What people seem to be demanding is a limitation of two four-year terms for any officeholder of one of the affected jobs. The County Commission, however, exercised its discretion Monday to allow a third four-year term for the sheriff. The same latitude may or may not be extended to other positions, but it was granted Monday after commissioners Mike Carpenter and Mike Ritz, among others, made the case for the value of longevity in positions more than usually needful of experience.

To use the cliché: The system seems to be working and no doubt will be seen to, as well, when the City Charter Commission (which also has responded to the public call for term limits) finishes its task.

The changes that voters will be asked to approve may not seem as radical as those which some in the community have demanded. Indeed, at this point they seem moderate on their face, but where the public will has expressed itself, they have incorporated that will.

Cover Feature News

SXSW

Post author By Chris Herrington
Post date March 20, 2008

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

At this year’s South By Southwest Festival, Memphis musicians made a splash.

Last week marked the fourth time in five years I’ve attended the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas — a four-day, around-the-clock extravaganza where more than 1,000 bands play thousands of shows before even more thousands of critics, industry insiders, fellow musicians, and hustling fans.

It’s the country’s largest annual showcase of emerging (and, in many cases, re-emerging) music, and, in previous years, the Memphis angle has been obvious: Last year, it was Stax royalty being feted for a 50th anniversary; the year before, it was Memphis garage rock taking charge with Goner Records’ first SXSW showcase.

By contrast, this year’s local story wasn’t the dominance of any one artist or scene but the sheer quantity — and quality — of Memphis bands in town. By my count, there were a record 20 Memphis-based bands or performers playing in Austin, and that number doesn’t include such Memphis-connected acts as MGMT, Oh No! Oh My!, and Cory Branan.

Due to overlapping schedules and the complicated logistics of the festival, photographer Justin Fox Burks and I were only able to see about half of the Memphis-based artists. We missed local hip-hop fusion band Free Sol’s early-Wednesday set due to travel delays and were then forced into some tough decisions during a Friday free-for-all absurdly packed with Memphis action.

The most Memphis-centric location in Austin was Opal Divine’s Free House, an indoor-outdoor venue on the far western edge of the SXSW grid. In an event inspired by blogger Rachel Hurley’s Memphis-themed, post-festival day party from last year, locals took control of the venue day and night for a marathon showcase of 12 Memphis bands dubbed “Six Degrees of Memphis.”

The distance between Opal’s and the bulk of the SXSW action made the venue something of an all-or-nothing bet. We skipped the day party in favor of catching Jay Reatard at the other end of the strip and hunting down buzz band Vampire Weekend. Meanwhile, setting up all night at the official Six Degrees of Memphis showcase forced us to miss Harlan T. Bobo, Ross Johnson, and Jack Yarber & the Tearjerkers at the Goner showcase at the opposite end of the strip, as well as a comedy showcase from Memphian and Flyer contributor Andrew Earles.

Because its location made it unlikely to draw much foot traffic from other SXSW events, the Six Degrees of Memphis showcase — organized primarily by Hurley, Third Man guitarist Jeff Schmidtke, and Memphis Music Foundation honcho Dean Deyo — seemed in danger of turning into a private party for the participating bands. But the crowd built gradually during the night’s first three acts: bluegrass Tennessee Boltsmokers and indie rockers Snowglobe and Third Man.

During Snowglobe’s terrific set, I spotted a man I didn’t recognize taking notes and introduced myself. He was Wolfgang Schoen, a German music fan on a month-long American music vacation with friends. I asked him what had brought him to the Memphis showcase. “The lineup, of course,” he said.

He’d happened upon Amy LaVere at a day party at Jovita’s earlier in the week and fell in love. He wanted to see her again and saw she was playing the same showcase with the North Mississippi Allstars. (“I never miss a chance to see the Allstars,” he said.) And there he was, loving Snowglobe.

Justin Fox Burks

MGMT

After talking to Schoen, I spotted another group that didn’t fit the Snowglobe profile but seemed to be enjoying the show. The ringleader was Alan Goldstein, a middle-aged Austinite who was searching the SXSW website for shows to attend when he spotted the North Mississippi Allstars, a band he already knew and liked. He listened to the samples on the site, liked Snowglobe and the Bo-Keys, and brought three friends with him.

By the time the Bo-Keys took the stage midway through (to be followed by LaVere and the Allstars), the large outdoor tent (bigger than most showcase venues) was fairly bulging with enthusiastic fans.

But if the Six Degrees of Memphis showcase did happily turn out to be a fine vehicle for presenting Memphis music to outside fans, it was equally a great Memphis party, with most locals in town not involved in the concurrent Goner showcase congregating at Opal’s.

Archer Records’ Ward Archer (in town with his stable’s star, LaVere) and Beale Street Caravan‘s Sid Selvidge shared a booth inside the club while Selvidge’s Caravan crew (Sam Tibbs and Dawn Hopkins) recorded the concert for future broadcast. Ardent’s Jody Stephens talked about seeing a resurgent R.E.M. on the festival’s opening night and later took a picture of a young lady with the Allstars’ Luther Dickinson, the Big Star drummer playing photographer at the request of the woman, who was unaware that she had handed her camera to the more famous musician. Lucero bassist John Stubblefield wandered over to pay respects prior to his own band’s 1 a.m. showcase that night.

Justin Fox Burks

Oh No! Oh My! with Tim Regan

Rappers Lord T & Eloise hung out in civilian garb before heading over to a Red Bull after-party run, in part, by former Music Commission president Rey Flemings, who was also at Opal’s for the showcase. The night before, Lord T had made the scene in full aristocratic regalia — swaying along to LaVere at Antone’s, hustling his way into a full MGMT showcase at Rio, and pausing for photo ops with several curious passers-by. The band closed the Memphis portion of SXSW with a chaotic, deliriously entertaining set at the Ninety Proof Lounge Saturday night, a fortuitous choice of location in that the back of the stage was adjacent to a large open window, from which the gold-plated Eloise, in particular, taunted rapt curiosity seekers and petulantly tossed dollar bills.

Inside Opal’s, Bo-Keys tour manager Chad Weekley kept one eye on the college basketball game on the bar television while explaining that the band had just come from Shreveport where they’d filmed scenes for the upcoming Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac film Soul Man. Weekley’s hoops addiction (he was wearing a University of Memphis shirt he acknowledged not taking off through the Conference USA tournament) was a common theme, with Snowglobe’s Luke White and Jeff Hullett also eager to talk Tigers. Earlier in the night, Hurley, whose initial efforts set it all in motion, danced joyously to Snowglobe then gushed that, if nothing else, the night was like “my own private concert with all my favorite bands.” By the end of the evening, she seemed tired but gratified that things had gone so well.

While there was plenty of Memphis action in Austin this year, two local artists seemed to be generating the most attention: Amy LaVere and Jay Reatard.

Justin Fox Burks

Jay Reatard

LaVere and Reatard were the only Memphis artists to be pegged as critics picks by the Austin Chronicle and to play multiple shows throughout the week, including a rare double-dip of official showcases for LaVere, who opened the Americana Music Association showcase at Antone’s Thursday night before playing the Memphis showcase Friday.

When LaVere strode onto the stage at Antone’s, clad in a low-cut, ankle-length white dress and black heels, a guy near me gasped, “Wow!” Two thirds of the way through her set, a woman behind me gave her an enthusiastic, “Go on, girl!”

Needless to say, LaVere had control of the crowd. She was backed by two of Memphis’ finest musicians, drummer Paul Taylor and guitarist Steve Selvidge, the latter of whom found space to deploy plenty of his own tricks — skronk blues, Southern boogie riffs, and speed-rock solos — within the context of LaVere’s eclectic roots sound.

But it was LaVere herself who was the real star, dancing a pas de deux with her upright bass, slapping back at Taylor in a musical call-and-response, and putting everything she had into each song in a performance that was as expressive as possible without veering into theatrics.

Justin Fox Burks

Vampire Weekend

She was by turns mischievous, flirtatious, and defiant and gave the impression of thinking through each song’s lyrics as she sang them. Even when her songs aren’t good-to-great (and they usually are), LaVere exploits all the meaning and potential in them.

We skipped Reatard’s official showcase at the Vice Bar Thursday night because it coincided with MGMT’s showcase, reasoning that, with Reatard playing some half-dozen shows in Austin during the week, we’d be able to catch him somewhere else. And at Emo’s the next day, he did not disappoint.

A prolific member of the local garage-rock scene going back a decade now to his intense teen band the Reatards and extending through his awesome if eventually strained collaboration with Alicja Trout in the Lost Sounds, Reatard is now having a moment as a solo artist. He’s recently signed a multi-album contract with renowned indie Matador and will soon begin releasing a series of highly anticipated singles via the label.

Justin Fox Burks

Snowglobe

For a musician too well known for his on- and offstage antics, Reatard took the stage and showed why so many who know him well speak wondrously of his drive and creativity. With his two-piece backup band, Reatard delivered a quick and ferocious set that started with the title track to his recent solo album Blood Visions. Shouting out the name of the next song to his bandmates near the end of each preceding song, it was a silence-free set. At the end of the final song, Reatard set his guitar down and fled the stage, while feedback was still wringing.

If LaVere and Reatard were the Memphis artists with the most momentum last week, the Memphis artists with the biggest audience were Lucero, for whom SXSW is by now old hat. The band played three shows last week, and we caught up with them at their last, a public show at Austin’s Waterloo Park, where we slipped backstage and then onstage to get a band’s-eye view of what it’s like to play for roughly 2,000 fans. The band played a relaxed but spirited set that ranged from their most recent album all the way back to their earliest days on the local scene, taking song requests underscored by proffered whiskey shots and taking in stride a series of fans climbing on stage in order to dive back into the throng.

As they’ve done before, the band also seemed to be using the festival as a means of conducting business. At Opal’s Friday night, some Memphis musicians suggested the band was about to sign a full-fledged, major-label deal, but Lucero members themselves were mum on the specifics — for now.

Justin Fox Burks

Third Man

The density of Memphis bands in Austin this year made it harder than in the past to scout out emerging artists from other areas, though we did manage to catch the most buzzed-about act at the festival: New York indie band Vampire Weekend.

Spin cover boys and Saturday Night Live musical guests the week of the festival, this Columbia University-formed four-piece was the toughest ticket in town, and we didn’t even bother trying to get into their official showcase Friday night at Antone’s. We did head down to a Thursday day party sponsored by National Public Radio only to find the line flowing down the street and around the block well before the venue opened and hours before the band was set to take the stage. Heading back, I spotted the band standing against the wall of a building and being interviewed by an MTV crew. My camera-wielding companion snuck over to snap a shot. We figured that was as close to seeing the band as we’d get.

But after a few days of trying, we were able to snag passes to an invite-only Spin party on Friday where Vampire Weekend was playing. The verdict: They were no revelations. I love the album, which combines the bright, clean guitar sound of Afropop (and a few other of that genre’s sonic signifiers) with witty, descriptive lyrics that make most modern indie-rock songs sound like half-formed gibberish. Since I think records are profoundly more important than live shows, the fact that the band didn’t improve on the record didn’t bother me, though it does underscore the sense that while the band has mastered the sound of African guitar, the groove and sense of ecstatic buildup in that music may be out of their reach.

Justin Fox Burks

Amy LaVere

The second most buzzed-about new band in Austin last week, the Brooklyn-based but Memphis-connected MGMT, turned out to be the better live band. We headed over to the Rio Thursday night after Amy LaVere’s showcase to catch MGMT’s SXSW debut. The band — which features White Station High School grad frontman Andrew VanWyngarden (son of Flyer editor Bruce VanWyngarden) and MUS grad and touring guitarist Hank Sullivant — was in fierce form. An electronic/psychedelic outfit that echoes David Bowie and Prince at times, the band is only two months out from their debut album, Oracular Spectacular, but when they launched into singles “Electric Feel” and “Time To Pretend,” a ripple of excitement ran through an exuberant, overflow crowd that was akin to a stadium band finally playing their big hits. By the time the band took the stage, the club was so packed that people were hanging off railings and standing on stools at the back of the club to try to see the stage.

One unfortunate byproduct of such a Memphis-heavy itinerary was that it left less time to explore than in past years. And the freedom of Wednesday night, when we arrived too late for Free Sol and no other Memphis acts were on the schedule, confirmed what interesting accidents are always possible at an event so bursting with new music.

Justin Fox Burks

The Bo-Keys

A little bored with Ohio blues-rock duo the Black Keys, I left Emo’s for air and wandered down Red River Road, hearing a familiar sound — no, noise — blaring from the open door of the club Spiro’s. It was a cover of “Funhouse” by proto-punk band the Stooges, a record I adore. I went in to check it out and what I saw was a stage crammed with college-aged derelicts who looked very much like the Manson family — out of control facial hair, tribal face paint, and acid-casualty expressions. There was a four- (or five?) piece horn section bashing into each other like a mosh pit while they played and a lewd lead singer prowling around exhorting the whole band.

It looked ridiculous, but it sounded just like the apocalyptic jazz-punk meltdown Iggy Pop and his band put on vinyl in 1970. In this case, that wasn’t lack of imagination. It was heroic feat. The band was Dark Meat, from Athens, Georgia.

Making my way back up Red River Road, I met up with my cohorts at Emo’s Lounge, where they had congregated after the night-ending showcases they’d attended. Walking into the bar, the lights were up, there was a middling crowd milling about, and there was a lone young woman standing on the slightly elevated stage warbling an amateurish but likable version of the Guns ‘N Roses classic “Sweet Child O Mine” into the microphone, accompanied by piped-in music.

A post-showcase round of karaoke? No — the headliner! It was the Blow, an electronic duo (though the singer’s better half didn’t appear to be around) from Portland. A Memphian recently returned from the Pacific Northwest tells me they’re quite popular throughout the region. Proof that, in indie rock, there’s a thin line between a put-on and a sensation.

Politics Politics Feature

Three-Way in the Ninth

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date March 20, 2008

The race for Memphis’ 9th District congressional seat, now held by first-term Democrat Steve Cohen, was always destined to be closely watched, inasmuch as it pitted Cohen against Nikki Tinker, the runner-up in the 2006 Democratic primary.

There are obvious contrasts between Cohen and Tinker in gender, race (he’s white, she’s black), religion (he’s Jewish, she’s Christian), and, not least, political ideology, an area where Cohen’s legislative record and several decades’ worth of outspokenness are counterpointed by what is, relatively speaking, Tinker’s blank slate.

Moreover, both those campaign efforts are expected to be well-funded, and Cohen has attracted an unusual degree of national attention during his first term — much, but not all, of it for his close attention to matters affecting his predominantly African-American constituency.

For her part, corporate attorney Tinker, who opened her Elvis Presley Boulevard headquarters last weekend, has shown conspicuous determination in mounting a second run for Congress. And, though she has (to put it mildly) been unspecific about issues as such, she is pitching broad campaign themes — for education and economic development and against crime — aimed squarely at the district’s black majority.

But hold everything! As of Monday, this established pas de deux took on a third member, whose volatile presence, personal history, and family name seemed likely to turn what had been a tidy ballet into a free-for-all.

Jake Ford, second son of one former District 9 congressman, Harold Ford Sr., and brother of another, Harold Ford Jr., picked up a petition at the Election Commission Monday to run for the 9th District seat.

At first, Ford appeared ready to run as a Democrat, squaring off against Cohen, Tinker, and several other less ballyhooed figures in the party’s August 7th primary. But hold everything! Ford returned his Democratic petition on Tuesday, swapped it for an independent candidacy (like the one he ran in 2006), and filed it later on Tuesday. That means Cohen (or Tinker) will have to tangle with him after the ordeal of a basically one-on-one primary.

The Cohen-Tinker or B.J. (Before Jake) component of the race went this way last week: The congressman got a boost from the state AFL-CIO, which formally endorsed him. Tinker, who in 2006 had the support of Emily’s List, an organization which raises money for pro-choice female candidates, acknowledged that she hadn’t yet been endorsed by the group for her 2008 campaign but said she hoped to be so favored.

Cohen with Obama

Both Cohen and Tinker support the presidential candidacy of Illinois senator Barack Obama. Cohen, who met with Obama in Washington last week and says he discussed crime and other issues with the senator, formally endorsed Obama before the Tennessee primary on Super Tuesday on February 5th.

Tinker pointed out in an interview after her headquarters opening on Saturday that she, too, could be reckoned as an Obama supporter: “A lot of people who work for me are big on Obama’s team, and I’ve been a Barack Obama supporter since way back,” she said.

Tinker said she hadn’t formally endorsed the senator because she wasn’t an elected official. “But people close to me knew that’s where I was.”

In the interview, Tinker disclaimed any intention of making Cohen an issue in her campaign, but in her earlier remarks to supporters at the headquarters, she seemed to be indulging in a swipe at the congressman, who has been a conspicuous presence at community events: “Simply because somebody shows up at your gate and eats your food and drinks your wine and reads off a proclamation that was prepared by their clerk and has a photo opportunity does not make them a good elected official,” she said.

Others who have drawn petitions as Democrats are James Gregory, Perry Steele, M. LaTroy Williams, and Isaac Richmond.

News The Fly-By

Giving Beale the Blues

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date March 20, 2008

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

Bluesy vocals from Ms. Zeno, the self-professed “Louisiana Mojo Queen,” waft over Beale Street as she performs on Silky O’Sullivan’s patio. Further down the street on a recent Thursday afternoon, a blues band is playing at Handy Park’s outdoor stage. Up and down Beale, blues music drifts over multiple outdoor speakers.

Though the policy has not been finalized, it seems Beale Street club owners already are attempting to appease Performa, the entertainment district’s management company. Performa announced earlier this month that it wants Beale Street’s bars and clubs to play only blues music on its outdoor speakers and patios.

Representatives from Performa did not return repeated phone calls, but Onzie Horne, executive director of the Beale Street Merchant’s Association, confirmed the group is negotiating the new policy with the management company.

“I think Performa’s intent is to have a more consistent theme of music on the street,” Horne said. “Personally, I think it’s inappropriate to restrict it to blues music.”

Horne said most of the street’s bars and clubs only play Memphis music outside, but music is not limited to the blues.

“It’d be absurd to deny the merchants the ability to play the music of Elvis, the music of Stax, and the music of Hi Records,” Horne said. “We believe those things are an important part of what we present as the entertainment and cultural history of Beale Street.”

Paul Sonerson, a tourist visiting from Massachusetts, agreed.

“Are they trying to kill Memphis culture? There’s a lot of good music out here,” Sonerson said as he dined on the King’s Palace Café’s patio. “Memphis is supposed to be about all kinds of music.”

Although Club 152 is known for playing pop and rap music inside its three-story dance club, management said they mostly play blues over their outside speakers. But they’re hoping the rule will be extended to all Memphis music because they occasionally broadcast music from local bands such as the Dempseys.

King’s Palace Café management said they generally only have blues acts perform on their outdoor patio.

Silky Sullivan, owner of O’Sullivan’s on Beale, said he couldn’t comment on how the rules would affect his business since he had not received a memo from Performa. But Verlinda Zeno, who performs as Ms. Zeno on O’Sullivan’s patio, thinks the blues requirement is a great idea.

“Beale Street was becoming too commercial, and now we’re trying to recapture Beale Street’s history,” Zeno said. “Last year, we had a lot of tourist complain about Beale not having enough blues. Now we’re giving the tourists what they came for.”

But B.B. King’s employee Janvon Nolan, who grew up listening to soul, blues, and R&B on Beale Street during the late 1960s, doesn’t agree with the genre restriction.

“I think we should play all kinds of music out here, as long as it’s not hardcore gangster rap with profanity,” Nolan said.

Horne said the association will continue to negotiate the proposed policy with Performa.

“I’m not authorized to say what we’re willing to accept or not accept, but I don’t think most of the venues would have a problem with some content input by Performa,” Horne said. “But if it’s restricted exclusively to blues, I can tell you there’s big resistance to that.”

Food & Wine Food & Drink

Full Steam Ahead

Post author By Simone Wilson
Post date March 20, 2008

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Catherine Boulden never really cared for espresso until she got hooked on the brew in Paris. In Memphis, however, she had trouble finding that perfect little shot in a two-and-a-half-ounce porcelain demitasse — until now. Boulden and business partner/chef Mary O’Brien opened Café Eclectic in the Vollintine-Evergreen neighborhood three weeks ago.

One could argue that Café Eclectic has been in the making for more than 20 years. Back in the mid-’80s, Boulden and her children made frequent visits to Overton Park and the Memphis Zoo. The outings had the family yearning for a neighborhood coffee shop.

“I’ve always felt that a place where parents can enjoy a good cup of coffee and children can get a scoop of ice cream was missing in this neighborhood,” Boulden explains.

Even while she raised her children and worked as a nurse, Boulden continued to be drawn to the idea of a neighborhood café. Two-and-a-half years ago, with her children grown and with a desire to start something new, she set out to open Café Eclectic.

“I knew I wanted to serve coffee European-style, in the traditional thick-rimmed, single-serving cups, and I knew I wanted an old-fashioned soda fountain,” Boulden says. “It took awhile to get all the components of the café just right, because we bought most of our equipment and furniture through the classifieds. But once I decide to do something, I’ll find a way to make it happen.”

Aptly named, Café Eclectic, located on McLean just north of the zoo, has a definite European feel that is only betrayed by the trademark-American booths along the front window. Misplaced Europeans and frequent travelers to Europe will rejoice when drinking their first sip of coffee at Café Eclectic. Espresso and espresso macchiato are available as “doppio,” a roughly two-ounce shot. All other espresso drinks come in one size that is nowhere near the 12-ounce cup of many American chain coffee shops. Café Eclectic’s coffee of choice is Illy, which originates in Trieste, Italy. Illy is one blend of 100 percent Arabica beans that comes in a variety of roasts.

“Serving Illy coffee is a big deal for us and for many of our customers,” Boulden says.

Chef O’Brien worked most recently at Interim. Her breakfast menu offers omelets, pancakes, waffles, and more. The lunch menu is evolving and currently features a small selection of grilled paninis, soups, and salads. Available from the soda fountain are an array of sundaes, milkshakes, and ice cream sodas, as well as ice cream by the scoop and Bindi Italian gelato. A “robot” churns out fresh doughnuts every day.

While Boulden and O’Brien planned a “soft” opening, the place has been busy since day one.

“We were really anxious to open and are glad that everything finally seemed in place to take that step,” Boulden says. “But it’s still a little stop-and-go as we’re trying to work out the last kinks. We’re just grateful that the neighborhood has embraced us immediately and that our customers are so patient.”

Café Eclectic is open Monday through Saturday, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Café Eclectic, 603 N. McLean (725-1718) cafeeclectic.net

On Friday, March 7th, Fredric Koeppel announced that, after 20 years, he would no longer be reviewing restaurants for The Commercial Appeal.

“Twenty years is a long time to review restaurants in one city that also happens to be my hometown,” Koeppel says. “I really loved doing it, but The Commercial Appeal is restructuring some sections and I won’t be part of the Playbook team anymore.”

Instead, Koeppel will write non-food-related features for the paper’s new “Lifestyle” section. Although a resurrection of the newspaper’s wine column isn’t planned, Koeppel anticipates more stories about the subject.

“Our wine tastings are very popular, and it’s obvious that there is a demand for wine-related stories,” he says.

Response to news about Koeppel’s retirement as food critic was mixed. Some who left comments on the CA‘s Whining and Dining blog accused him of accepting free food and lacking knowledge. Others thanked him.

“I’m looking forward to not having to eat out when I’d rather stay at home and cook,” Koeppel says. “But I also really like eating out in Memphis, and I will certainly be seen doing just that.”

News The Fly-By

Modern-Day Poll Tax?

Post author By Preston Lauterbach
Post date March 20, 2008

“The vote is the most powerful instrument … for destroying the terrible walls that imprison men.”

So said President Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures enacted in the South to keep African Americans from voting.

Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee to remove obstacles — including what they call a modern-day poll tax — that keep formerly imprisoned men from the polls. The suit seeks to nullify sections of the Tennessee Code that restore voting rights to felons only under certain conditions.

Traditionally, a felon who receives a pardon, serves a full sentence, or completes parole or probation can apply for the right to vote. In 2006, though, the state legislature added new amendments that force felons to pay victim restitution and be current on child support payments, when applicable, before voting again. The American Civil Liberties Union contends that “no one should have to pay any fine or any monetary obligation as a condition to vote,” according to ACLU Voting Rights Project attorney Nancy Abudu.

The ACLU Voting Rights Project conducts public voting education programs, which brought them in touch with the plaintiffs, including Shelby County resident Terrence Johnson, who owes both restitution and child support, the latter amounting to $1,200 despite the fact that he maintains custody of his daughter.

“With respect to child support,” Abudu says, “one of our biggest concerns is that people who owe child support but have never been convicted of a crime don’t have their voting rights taken away. It creates a double standard.”

The 2006 restitution amendment was sponsored by Memphians Kathryn Bowers in the Senate, who has since resigned after a guilty plea in a Tennessee Waltz case, and Joe Towns Jr. in the state House. Though the ACLU has referred to the legislation as a modern-day poll tax — citing legal measures that prevented African Americans from voting during Reconstruction — both sponsors of the amendment are African American.

Abudu explains that the suit is not race-based.

“But if you look at the history of the law and the current context of the law, you can’t ignore the racial implications,” she says. She adds that the disproportionate numbers of minorities imprisoned means that the felon voting law affects them unequally.

Of the more than 25,000 male inmates incarcerated in Tennessee in June 2007, roughly 48 percent of them were African American.

The defendants — Governor Phil Bredesen, coordinator of elections Brook Thompson, Secretary of State Riley Darnell, and Shelby County election administrator James Johnson, in addition to elections administrators in Davidson and Madison counties — have not responded to the suit. Abudu hopes that the case will be heard this summer.

Abudu believes that the ACLU suit also reinforces the main goal of the penal process. “If you’re looking at rehabilitation, allowing someone to vote helps,” she says.

Towns could not be reached for comment. James Johnson indicated that he’s unable to address pending court cases.