An agreement has been struck between Beale Street’s Performa Real Estate and the Ernest C. Withers Trust to create museum to preserve and promote Withers’ photographic legacy in his former studio space.
Read more about it in Sing All Kinds.
One of the great joys of living in Midtown Memphis in the days before digital photography was being able to walk into the Walgreen’s on Union Avenue on any given day and have a conversation with noted Civil Rights photographer Ernest C. Withers who, prior to his death in 2007, could often be found there waiting for his latest roll of film to be developed. He was a common, down-to-Earth man with an uncommon talent for documenting the extraordinary people and events that shaped Memphis in the last 
half of the 20th century. Soon those who never had the chance to talk to the man while waiting to pay for cough drops and a bag of Cheetos will have an opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the Mid-South’s most important artists and documentarians.
An agreement has been struck between Beale Street’s Performa Real Estate. and the Ernest C. Withers Trust to create museum to preserve and promote Withers’ photographic legacy.
This is what I used to call “nothing to do with anything,” but here is a list of things that have me completely fascinated: credit card skimmers, hobbits, etc.
And yes, every time I make a list, I have to mention Moxie over at Listwork.
More after the jump.
On Wednesday, scant hours later, gubernatorial candidate Gibbons was the center of local attention at a widely publicized press conference at which he and other law-enforcement officials announced the indictments of eight employees of the Shelby County clerk’s office.
The contrast between a closed-door campaign event and a ballyhooed official act was dramatic enough. What made it doubly so, to the point of genuine irony, was that Gibbons has been emphasizing the just-folks aspect of an impoverished upbringing in rural Arkansas in his campaign. At every opportunity, he has been telling that up-from-nothing Horatio Alger tale, implicitly drawing a contrast between himself and the presumably more elitist circumstances of a major Republican primary opponent, Knoxville mayor and oil-empire heir Bill Haslam,
Yet a further irony is that Gibbons’ normal relation to the media is that of a pleasant, cooperative, and accessible figure. To be sure, he is famously close-mouthed abut the details of any ongoing investigation — no doubt appropriately so — but he is otherwise gregarious and transparent, even to the point of opening up a recent planning session involving his chief campaign cadres.
After his press conference Wednesday, Gibbons was asked his reasons for excluding the media from his Crescent Club fundraiser. The cloistered aspect of the event was a departure for Gibbons, a frequent candidate himself over the years and someone who has organized and hosted many such affairs for candidates he has supported.
After a spell of adopting the wry bantering tone which he sometimes employs to avoid direct answers, Gibbons finally said it had not been his decision to cordon the fundraiser off from media.
He was asked: Whose then? “I suppose it was David or Josh,” he said, referring to campaign chair David Kustoff, the former local GOP chairman and U.S. Attorney, and Josh Thomas, the newly hired campaign manager and former aide to U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander. It was Thomas who either undertook — or was assigned — the duty of interceding between the event and arriving media representatives so as to turn them away.
These days most campaign fundraisers for most candidates are open to the media in some form, and informal ground rules are in effect for their coverage. Since such events are not technically public and attendant media are, in effect, being extended a courtesy, reportage is studiously non-invasive and normally restricted to the most bland particulars — the size of the turnout, general information about the attendees, and — should the host or the candidate care to release it — totals raised.
The candidate’s remarks to the crowd of donors may also be reported — but normally not in the exacting way that remarks on the campaign stump might be. In most cases the candidate merely repeats the campaign’s standard boilerplate. As for the nature of the attendees, there are rarely any genuine surprises — especially since many on hand will be, like the media members themselves, non-paying courtesy guests — and, should there be unexpected donors of note, their identities will eventually be made known anyhow, one way or another.
In short, there is nothing in the very nature of a campaign fundraiser that explicitly requires sequestration. And the decision to impose it becomes a matter of semiotics — in Gibbons’ case, a possible sign of a shift in strategy away from transparency. As such, it bears watching.
The $5 Cover rollout picks up steam tonight as the 15-“track” series has its world premiere at Malco’s Paradiso. There are screenings at 7, 7:15, 9:30, and 9:45. The three earliest screenings are currently sold out, but extra tickets may be available at the last minute and will be sold via a wait list at the door. There are some tickets still remaining for the 9:45 showing. Tickets can be purchased at the Paradiso box office starting at 3 p.m.
You can read about the series in our cover story this week, on the streets and on the web now.
Craig Brewer will also be interviewed a 5 p.m. today on The Chris Vernon Show at 730 AM. (Personal plug: you can hear me every Tuesday at 5 p.m. on the Vernon Show.)
A “Modest Proposal” from the indominable Marty Aussenberg.
When John and Laurian Scott began the Olive Branch Fund, they hoped
to find a researcher who could help provide treatment options for their
2-year-old son Noah.
Like his older sister Thisbe, Noah had been diagnosed with
Brown-Vialetto-Van Leare syndrome, a rare motor-neuron disease in which
the cells that control voluntary muscle activity such as speaking,
walking, breathing, and swallowing are destroyed.
“When you’re dealing with a terminal illness, you latch onto hope,”
Laurian says. “With Thisbe, there had been so few documented cases. No
one knew what the disease was. Other people had it and plateaued, but
there hadn’t been enough cases to know what would happen.”
At 16 months old, Thisbe’s symptoms began with wheezing in November
2005. Five weeks later, her vocal cords were frozen into a near-closed
position, and she had a tracheostomy to allow her to breathe through a
tube in her neck.
She began to use sign language to communicate, but as the disease
worsened, she lost her ability to walk, hold up her head, and move her
fingers. A year after her symptoms began, Thisbe’s breathing tube
became plugged with mucus and she suffocated. She was resuscitated by
emergency medical procedures and survived another five months before
succumbing to the disease.
A month later, the Scotts’ 10-month-old son Noah began exhibiting
symptoms of the same disease.
“That’s what precipitated everything,” Laurian says. “We hoped he
might have a different outcome.”
Approximately 7 million people carry a gene that causes a
motor-neuron disease. Other motor-neuron diseases — such as Lou
Gehrig’s and progressive muscular atrophy — are more well known
but just as difficult to treat.
“We have known about them since the late 1800s, but there is not one
single treatment. There’s not a shred of a treatment. That is
unacceptable,” Laurian says. “When you are diagnosed, it is a death
sentence.”
After spending three years trying to find treatment options, a
specialist told the couple that researchers wouldn’t know where to
start with a treatment without finding the gene that causes the
disease.
Thus began the Olive Branch Fund.
“It was actually our friends and family who came up with the idea,”
Laurian says. “They’ve taken the whole thing on their shoulders. John
and I follow the momentum and show up at events.”
The name of the fund calls to mind the couple’s children. Thisbe
means “where the doves live.” In the biblical story of Noah, a dove is
sent out from the ark. When it returns with an olive branch in its
beak, Noah knows the waters have receded.
The Scotts’ goal is to fund a research position at Columbia
University’s Motor Neuron Center. The family has been told they need a
minimum of $100,000 a year, and they need enough money for a three-year
commitment.
The Olive Branch Fund already held a fund-raiser in Laurian’s
hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, where it raised $110,000. Though the
Scotts now live near Nashville, John went to Memphis University School,
and his family still lives in Memphis.
As part of a multi-city fund-raiser, the Olive Branch Fund will host
“A Mighty Voice” Saturday, May 2nd, in Overton Park. Registration for a
walk begins at 2 p.m. The Memphis Aardvarks, Dynamic Diamonds and the
Dempseys are scheduled to perform.
There are currently 58 documented cases of BVVL, but Laurian points
out that many cases are not documented. Thisbe’s case, for instance,
hasn’t been documented, though the family is hiring someone to do
so.
Thisbe was diagnosed after her pediatrician Googled her symptoms.
Her neurologist had never heard of the disease.
“With cancer, at least you have something to hope for: We’re going
to start chemo, radiation, this is how we’re going about it,” Laurian
says. “If you have a motor-neuron disease, the doctor just shakes his
head and says, ‘I’m sorry.'”
Laurian, who has an older daughter from a previous marriage,
maintains the organization’s websites and has written a children’s book
to raise awareness of the disease. But for her, the Olive Branch Fund
is much more than that.
“This is a way I can continue being their mother,” she says.
About “Where the Jobs Are,” by John Branston:
“The FedEx layoffs were a reality check and showed just how fragile
the Memphis economy has become. I am so grateful to Fred Smith for
speaking out and saying what I have long thought: that until Memphis
offers safety and security, NOTHING else matters. He is a true leader.
Will Memphis bust without ever booming? From the way things are going
down, it appears so, unless true leaders step up and take the reins of
leading this tired horse of a city.” — JM
About “Pastner Addresses Boosters”:
“Oh God. Building foundations from the grassroots translates to ‘get
ready to be losers for a long time.'” — rantboy
About “Herenton vs. Cohen: Maybe There’s Logic to It,” by Jackson
Baker:
“After contemplating a life in the private sector, Mayor Herenton
realized he probably couldn’t get an honest job washing cars, so it’s
off to Washington, where catfish are jumping and the livin’s easy.”
— jeff
About “Musical Chairs on the Election Commission,” by Jackson
Baker:
“That’s fine, as long as we padlock Elmwood Cemetery during early
voting and election day.” — tomguleff
greg cravens
Comment of the Week:
About “All Oldies All the Time,” by John Branston:
“In politics, the three most important facts about ‘the young’
are: 1) They do what’s cool. 2) They do what they’re told. 3) They do
what they’re told is cool.” — fxn2mix
Sign Language
While dropping by a Walgreens on Union Avenue to purchase some
as-seen-on-TV products and a 12-pack of Ensure, your Pesky Fly
discovered some rather creative signage:
Is smelling like fish and seaweed a good thing? Or could it be that
some manager has been taking this sign’s advice too seriously?
How else can anybody explain this?
His possible 2010 congressional race, as Mayor Herenton knew it
would be, is the distraction. The proposed budget, as Herenton knew it
would be, is the hard part, here and now.
To City Council members, reporters, and good citizens, duty calls,
and we must analyze this thing, incomplete though it is.
Where the money comes from: The operating budget for
2008-2009 is $637 million. The biggest chunk of that ($264 million)
comes from property taxes. The next biggest contributor ($98 million)
is the local sales tax, followed by state sales tax ($51 million) and
fees from such things as ambulance service ($16 million), the airport
($3.6 million), golf carts ($1.3 million), and those pesky library
fines ($1 million).
Where the money goes: The biggest expense is police ($216
million) and firefighting ($103 million), followed by debt service ($74
million), libraries ($19 million), and legal expenses ($18 million).
Schools are separate; more on that to come.
Where are the mayor’s proposed cuts? Herenton said he made
cuts in libraries, parks, golf courses, and community centers. But
those things are small change in the budget. If the city totally erased
park operations, libraries, golf courses, recreation, museums, and the
zoo from the operating budget, the total savings would be $48 million,
or about 8 percent. Critics of the mayor often suggest that he should
cut expenses in his own office, but that line item is only $1.4
million. To get big savings, you have to cut big expenses.
The police department is off-limits. Memphis earned a new
label last week as the second most violent city in America, and FedEx
CEO Fred Smith told the council last week that public safety is
government’s first duty.
The fire department got some scrutiny from the council a few
years ago. Ex-councilman Jack Sammons and other members suggested there
were too many fire stations. But that issue seems to have faded on the
current council, which has nine new members.
That gets us to the Memphis City Schools, which has a budget
of $948 million. Less than 10 percent of that comes from a council
appropriation. Last year, the council cut its funding by $57 million,
reasoning that the county should pick it up. That enabled the council
to cut the property tax rate to the current $3.25.
“Fully funding the schools” is a confusing message. The size of the
system has been reported as 103,000 students (Kriner Cash), 107,314
students (Tennessee Report Card), or more than 110,000 students (Irving
Hamer, Cash’s deputy). Herenton has been saying for years that several
underused schools should be closed, and Smith recommended “a very tough
approach to right-sizing” the system. But Herenton didn’t renew the
call last week. Instead, he told the council not to “play games.” And
he said the council should give $82 million to MCS, half-empty schools
and all. If the council does that it will mean higher property taxes
for Memphians, especially if their 2009 appraisals went up. City
property taxes are calculated by multiplying assessed value by the tax
rate — and two bigger numbers equals higher tax bills.
But Allan Wade, attorney for the council, spelled out a couple of
other options last week in a letter to members.
The do-nothing option: Chancellor Kenny Armstrong said there
was no definitive authority on the city-funding question and stayed his
own ruling pending appeal.
“The budget as presented to you does not include funding for the
Memphis City Schools,” Wade said. “The council may if it chooses fund
MCS from any source it deems prudent.”
The do-something option: If a court rules the council must
restore the $57 million for MCS for 2008-2009, the council could do
that by a separate school property tax levy of 52 cents.
To keep the current tax rate of $3.25, Wade sent the council two
proposed tax rate ordinances for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. One was for
$3.06 on each $100 of assessed value; the other was for an additional
19 cents per $100 of assessed value for MCS.
Two tax bills, Wade said, “would promote more accountability from
those who make the spending decisions for MCS to the public that pays
the taxes. Further, there would be more awareness from the taxpaying
public … as to the true and possible double-tax burden being borne by
city taxpayers.”
