Month: April 2008

This week, Memphis magazine resident historian Vance Lauderdale peeks into his mailbag:

Robert Lanier of Memphis recently sent me an Associated Press newsclipping from a Washington, D.C., newspaper, which I filed away in the cobwebby recesses of my once-great mind, under the general category of “Can’t Possibly Be True.”

But lately I’m discovering that quite a few things readers uncover — and share with me — turn out to be not only true, but even stranger than I expected.

Here is what Mr. Lanier’s AP story said. The headline was “NAZI IN FULL UNIFORM ARRESTED IN MEMPHIS” and it was dated August 14, 1945:

“A German paratrooper, wearing his military uniform complete with the swastika and German eagle, was arrested on Main Street yesterday. The prisoner gave his name as Sergeant Heintz Heimann and said he escaped from the prison-of-war camp at Crawfordsville, Arkansas. He said he wanted to see the city, but was afraid to discard his army clothes for fear he would be shot as a spy.”

To read more, go to Lauderdale’s new blog “Ask Vance.”

Each week, the Flyer‘s dogged editorial staff whiles away hours at meetings and press conferences in an effort to glean meaningful new angles on the hot topics of the day.

Some of those hot topics, like Tennessee Waltz, will have effects for years to come. Other issues build up a media storm, only to fade away with the rise of the next big controversy. And some stories bow out of the limelight when resolutions are reached.

In the past 1,000 issues, Flyer staffers have written plenty of words about issues that, quite frankly, just don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

“The Girls Next Door” by Kate Leneham (July 1989)

Although the city government and the private sector had poured money into rejuvenating South Main in the mid-’80s, Leneham’s story highlights the street’s age-old prostitution problem, which just wouldn’t go away.

Leneham writes: “Directly across the street from one of the area’s oldest businesses, the Arcade Restaurant, another of the area’s oldest businesses seems to still flourish: A woman in tight high-cut shorts, a long black wig, halter top, and high heels waves at cars as they pass, offering the drivers a good time for a price.”

The only prostitutes on South Main these days are likely to be depicted on canvas at a Trolley Night art show.

“Central Station Approaches the End of the Line” by Sam Evan Young (January 1990)

South Main’s Central Station was facing the possibility of abandonment as Amtrak made plans to move its station to Mud Island.

Young writes: “The aging building has seen brighter days. Now, the only light inside the terminal comes from a few rays of sun that manage to peek through the dirty, dingy windows, revealing walls with cracked and chipping paint.”

Thankfully, Amtrak stayed put, and the Memphis Area Transit Authority revamped the historic train station. Today, it serves as a lush banquet hall for private parties and is home to loft apartments, the Amtrak station, the Memphis Police South Main Precinct, and the downtown Farmers Market.

“Are Four New Teams in the Cards for the NFL?” by John Branston (September 1993)

Writes Branston: “The latest NFL rumor making the rounds is that the league’s owners could decide to expand by four teams instead of two. … Under this scenario, Memphis and Baltimore would be awarded franchises in October and start play in 1995.”

Fast-forward 15 years: The city recently fought over whether or not to build a new stadium, not for its NFL team but for the University of Memphis football team. The city did become home to an NBA team, but that rumored NFL team was awarded to Nashville in 1998.

“Ellis, Tigrett Propose Joint Music Museum” by Mark Jordan (November 1995)

Bert Ellis, head of WMC’s parent company Ellis Communications, and fashion designer/Blues Ball maven Pat Kerr Tigrett were in talks with the Smithsonian Institution to jointly develop a music museum inside The Pyramid.

Writes Jordan: “The Ellis/Tigrett proposal calls for installing a music museum similar to the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame, which recently opened in Cleveland.”

While Memphis eventually did gain a Smithsonian music museum, the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum is housed in a more viable structure: FedExForum. Meanwhile, The Pyramid sits dark and empty.

“Residents Losing Fight Against Bluffwalk” by Jacqueline Marino (August 1998)

In 1998, a group of downtowners adamantly opposed the construction of a sidewalk along the South End river bluffs stretching from Beale Street to Martyr’s Park.

Writes Marino: “Bluff residents have objected to the walk being notched underneath their property because they believe it will destabilize the bluff and possibly cause damage to their homes.”

Despite their protests, the Bluffwalk was built anyway. These days, the walk is as much a part of downtown as the trolleys, and there are few if any complaints.

“Free Art Tomorrow” by Bianca Phillips (April 2003)

Though downtown is home to the city’s thriving art scene, artists likely cannot afford to live in the area’s upscale condos. But in 2003, a group of local art advocates had a plan to turn the century-old Tennessee Brewery into a residence for artists.

Writes Phillips: “[ArtBrew] wants to turn it into an affordable living/work space for artists, complete with performance and exhibition space, ‘arts-friendly’ commercial and retail space, and arts education and outreach programs for the community.”

But like the beer that was once produced in the historic building, that idea eventually went flat. The ArtBrew organization no longer exists, the brewery is still empty, and downtown housing remains too pricey for many artists.

“Monumental Battle” by Pamela Denney (August 2005)

A few years back, the Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a speech in Memphis supporting a Center City Commission proposal to rename some public parks. In regard to the names of Forrest Park, Jefferson Davis Park, and Confederate Park, Sharpton proclaimed: “We need to show the rest of the world that the day for honoring people like this is over.”

Denney writes: “Protests by some Memphians started almost immediately. A group called Save Our Parks staged a rally near the Forrest monument at evening rush hour. While some protesters waved signs at passing traffic, others used their own lawn equipment to cut the park’s overgrown grass.”

Though the name-change campaign fizzled out, the protesters triumphed by default. All three parks retain their original names.

by Bianca Phillips

It took the Flyer almost 20 years to produce this, our 1,000th weekly issue. By the time we crank out issue number 2,000, Memphis as we know it may be unrecognizable. At the moment, developers and promoters are still presenting grand schemes for many of our city’s landmarks: The Pyramid, Beale Street Landing, Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, the Mid-South Coliseum, the old Mid-South Fairgrounds site, and Shelby Farms.

It remains to be seen how many of these plans remain forever on the drawing boards. Not to be too pessimistic about it, but it might be instructive to look back at a few other grand illusions in our city’s past.

Memphis, it seems, always needs a facelift. Back in 1924, the city hired the national planning firm of Harland Bartholomew & Associates to redesign the entire waterfront. The firm presented “an ambitious scheme” that would transform the cobblestoned area from Poplar to what is now the South Bluffs into a stunning Greek Revival promenade, with graceful bridges carrying pedestrians to Mud Island, which — in these plans — has been transformed from a barren sandbar into a public park with baseball diamonds and tennis courts. Bartholomew declared, “No immediate steps are necessary” to create this vision. And so none were taken. We never followed one page of this plan.

But we tried again in 1955, with the same firm, in fact. This time, Bartholomew and company reminded us that the riverfront “still presents a challenging opportunity.” They met that challenge with a design right out of the Jetsons: a helicopter terminal and landing field on Mud Island, which, by the way, would no longer be an island since the Wolf River Channel would be completely diverted around it. The newly available land would include playing fields, a riverside stadium, parking for 5,000 cars, and an expressway running the length of the development. And again, we ignored this plan.

Other developers focused on other areas. In 1960, planners unveiled a new downtown center “for cultural life in Memphis, as well as a center of governmental activities.” Plans included a new city hall, police station, and “restaurant pavilion.” Soaring over everything was a dramatic structure — a 500-foot obelisk called the DeSoto Memorial Tower. The Memphis Press-Scimitar called this whole scheme “one of the most ambitious projects Memphis has ever undertaken.” Apparently too ambitious. We did build a new city hall, but the other components of the plan were scrapped.
In the late 1960s, developers announced the Beale Street Tourist Plaza, centered around Beale and Second. A 15-story tower would house a 200-room Holiday Inn, which would be the centerpiece of a massive urban renewal plan that would include a “harbor beacon,” along with a marina, enclosed shopping mall, and a “blue light entertainment district.”

As usual, none of these things happened — at the time. Some 40 years later, that area would include Beale Street, Peabody Place, FedExForum, and other attractions.

Other planners focused their attention away from downtown. The Mid-South Fairgrounds, then and now, attracted some interesting ideas — none more bizarre than the scheme proposed in the late 1960s to enshroud the entire complex in a transparent dome. It wouldn’t be hard plastic but an acrylic tent suspended by a network of poles and wires. Just why the fairgrounds needed a dome was never clearly explained, but a walkway would allow brave pedestrians to walk across the top of the whole thing. Showing a rare instance of common sense, city leaders were skeptical, asking the developer if the fragile-looking tent would withstand a severe storm. “This will stand up to a hurricane,” they were assured. Somebody pointed out that Memphis rarely endured hurricanes but might suffer a tornado or two: Will the Fairgrounds Dome withstand a tornado? “Uh, no” was the answer, and that was the end of that.

There also have been plenty of grand schemes for the suburbs. One of the most unusual was a proposed development called Country Club Estates, which the Press-Scimitar called “a design for living.” Modeled after a futuristic community that was actually built in Radford, New Jersey, in the 1950s, this neighborhood would cluster small homes (“contemporary architecture of the Nth degree”) around a network of more than 100 coves. Tunnels would allow pedestrians to walk beneath the major streets to their own school, shopping center, lake, swimming pool, and baseball fields.
But it never happened. The local planning commission fretted about all the tiny houses on tiny lots and declared, “This type of home will be slums in a few years.” Developers eventually constructed only one part of the original plan — Sea Isle Elementary School — but the East Memphis neighborhood that is today embraced by White Station, Quince, Sea Isle, and Estate doesn’t look anything like a “development of the future.”

And let us never, ever forget Rakapolis, the Sidney Shlenker-inspired project that would have combined Mud Island and The Great American Pyramid (as it was supposed to be called) into a surrealistic Egyptian-style theme park focusing on American music. “Inclinator” rides at The Pyramid would carry thousands of visitors each year to the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame, located in the apex of the building. Meanwhile, over on Mud Island, visitors would board replicas of ancient Nile River barges, enter an underground passage through the mouth of a trumpet, and drift past displays focusing on American performers. The ride would end in front of a giant jukebox, which — by pressing a button — would play the hit songs of any year. No, we are not making this up. Rakapolis. Remember it.

Over the years, many of our city’s most extravagant pipe dreams have turned to smoke. It remains to be seen which of the grand schemes presented today ever get off the drawing boards.

by Michael Finger

Kick off the weekend with the undead at the second annual Memphis Zombie Massacre, a South Main parade of Memphians decked out in fake blood and zombie costumes. Don’t know how to achieve a deathly pallor with pancake makeup? No problem. Just place an “x” on your shirt with duct tape, stroll around the South Main Trolley tour, and wait for the zombies to show up and “eat your brains” (a.k.a. zombify you with fake blood and makeup). The march steps off at 7:15 p.m. tonight in front of the New Daisy Theatre and ends at Earnestine and Hazel’s.

Or if you prefer a classier evening, head to the Germantown Community Theatre for The Underpants, directed by Flyer reporter Chris Davis. Adapted from an old German play by Steve Martin, The Underpants tells the story of a couple whose conservative existence is shattered when the wife’s bloomers fall down in public. The play runs through Sunday afternoon.

Head down to North Mississippi for Southaven Springfest, their mini version of Memphis In May. The annual three-day outdoor fest features a barbeque contest and live music by Collective Soul tonight. On Saturday, Chris Cagle, Eric Church, and Billy Grantham will perform. The event runs through Saturday night.

Food Network fans should stop by the Memphis Pink Palace Museum from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday for a booksigning with Alton Brown, host of the network’s Feasting on Asphalt. One episode of the show last year featured Memphis’ own Neely’s Barbecue, the Wiles-Smith Drug Store, and the Pink Palace’s Piggly Wiggly exhibit.

Get your rocks off at the Mid-America Mineral, Fossil, and Jewelry Show, an annual expo of gems, minerals, stones, and beads. The show runs Saturday and Sunday at the Mid-South Fairgrounds in the Pipkin building.

Hot wings probably aren’t great for the waistline, but you don’t need to feel guilty noshing on wings at the Southern Hot Wing Contest, a charity fund-raiser for the Ronald McDonald House. The contest will be held on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the South Main Arts District.

Watch local restaurant servers test their balancing skills in the annual Beale Street Wine Race, in which waiters and waitresses race with full glasses of wine. The race, Queen of the Vine contest, and grape stomp will be held on Beale from noon to 6 p.m.

For more, check out the Flyer‘s searchable online calendar.

It was a bad week for vice. The cops cracked down on prostitution and beer sales to minors. It was a good week for the local television stations, which got ride-alongs and some nice take-down footage of busted whores and johns. No doubt that was partly the point. The crackdown seems selective and aimed at the underclass. What about prostitutes in the lobbies of some of our finer hotels? The latest sweep would not have netted the likes of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer or his prostitute. And I wonder if it can be sustained. And at what cost.

You have approximately a 20-25 percent chance of not getting carded if you are underage and try to buy beer. I can remember a time and place(s) where the odds were more like 80-90 percent. The MPD this week checked 42 businesses that sell beer. Only nine of them sold to the undercover officer without checking for an ID, while 33 checked him or her out and refused to sell. In the last year, the MPD has checked 413 businesses on beer stings. A total of 112 of them sold to undercover officers.

If you are shorter than Pau Gasol then you have had your last look at Tom Lee Park, Lake Arkansas, and the flooded Mississippi River from the Bluff Walk for a month or so. The Fence went up this week. The Fence and its dark green windscreen goes up every April, just when the temperatures get balmy and the grass turns green on Tom Lee Park. Part of the cost of having the Beale Street Music Fest and Memphis in May in Tom Lee Park. By the time the park reopens to the general public in June, it will be barren and hard as concrete and temperatures should be sizzling. That’s the tradeoff.

The crowds will get a good show on and off the stages. The river looks better and is more interesting when it is flooded as it is now. I hope it rains in the Midwest so it stays that way a little longer. The Wolf River Harbor looks like a real lake and accommodates the biggest boats and smallest kayaks with ease. Maybe the architects and master planners who said it should be closed off at the south end and turned into a lake were on to something. At low water it’s just a dirty bathtub.

The Riverfront Development Corporation meets next Monday. If they have any curiosity, board members should ask about the timetable for $29 million Beale Street Landing, how it survived budget cutting, and whether the cost has gone up along with the cost of everything else. And for the sake of my friends at Friends For Our Riverfront, will someone please clear up the persistent rumor that one of the drivers of this project is a shuttle boat to Tunica? On a possibly related note, it may be my subjective view or imagination, but it looks like the RDC’s exemplary landscaping has spread to more of Memphis, including the parkways in Midtown and the median and sidewalks along Sam Cooper Boulevard.

Revisionist history? I was not surprised that Mayor Willie Herenton changed his mind but I am surprised that he now contends he didn’t really mean to retire. There is nothing conditional about his March 19th letter to Chief Administrative Officer Keith McGee in which he said “this personal letter serves to alert you of my plans to retire from the office of City Mayor on July 31, 2008.” The mayor even employed the familiar journalistic device of prefacing his announcement with a high-toned quotation, this one from minister and motivator John Maxwell.

At the conclusion of his letter, the mayor wrote, “I hear another call and am duty bound to respond.”

Perhaps he still does and still will. His speech on May 6th about public schools will be an indicator. If nothing else it will, by design, separate him from the pack and raise the bar for anyone applying to be the next superintendent. Good for him, I say. MCS can’t afford a superintendent who needs a year to get up to speed. But prospective candidates from other cities who want to lead a Memphis turnaround must be having second thoughts about applying with Herenton in the equation as either a rival or the mayor.

As I’ve written previously, I think there’s a strong case to be made for Herenton, short fuse, baggage and all. Just as Hubie Brown, short fuse, baggage and all, was the right coach at the right time for the Memphis Grizzlies a few years ago and John McCain, short fuse, baggage and all, is the Republican presidential nominee. But I don’t see why Herenton isn’t actively campaigning more. If he gives one big 60-minute speech on May 6th, most people will tune out after 10 minutes, just like they do when a presidential candidate unwinds a long one. If Herenton has heard a call, shouldn’t he be answering it loud and clear and often?

Suggestion to Ray and Associates, the consultants hired by the board of education: Survey the key stakeholders — the principals and assistant principals at all the schools. One question only: Herenton for superintendent? Choices: Yes, No, or Hell No.