They ran, wrestled, fished and played in the water. The real Memphis Grizzlies made their public debut Thursday night. John Branston was there.
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Month: October 2009
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The Real Memphis Grizzlies
They ran, wrestled, fished and played in the water. The real Memphis Grizzlies, the newest attraction at the Memphis Zoo’s Teton Trek, made their public debut Thursday night.
Shortly before sunset, the three bears — stop if you’ve heard this one — came out of their lair and into what must be bear heaven. They figured that out soon enough and spent an hour or two amusing the guests of Fred and Diane Smith, benefactors of the zoo’s newest exhibit.
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Get Mighty Real This Weekend
Queer/trans cult heroes Lynnee Breedlove and Silas Howard (both formerly of the punk band Tribe 8) will be stopping in Memphis Friday night on their Mighty Real Tour. The night promises a couple of comedic dueling solo shows tackling gender issues, as well as performances by local artists. The event will be held in the Memphian Room at Playhouse on the Square, and it begins at 10:30 p.m.
Breedlove will perform “Confessions of a Poser: The Mystery of the Purple Dick, How Queers and Transmen Can Exploit Lesbian Legacies, and How to Be Both a Buddhist and a Man at the Same Time.”
Howard will perform “Thank You For Being Urgent: A Textured Tale of a Queer Punk Spilling Into the Crappy and Exalted Glitter of Hollywood’s Desire and Shame, True Tales of Fierce Outsiders, American Dream Loopholes, Burlesque Dancers with Dementia, and Tranny Jazzmen.”
Backstreet drag performer Demonica will MC the event, which will also feature a cello performance by Tamar Moten, a belly dance by Chris Reeder, a drag king show by Will Ryder, sexy hula-hooping by Miss Provino, and burlesque routine by Memphis Belle Miss Lola Vee.
For more, check out the Mighty Real Tour Facebook page.
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Connect For
Saturday is the Coalition for Livable Communities’ annual summit for neighborhood leaders, featuring keynote speaker Bridget Jones, director of Nashville’s Cumberland Regions Tomorrow.
The topic for the day is: Your Neighborhood – Your Region; They’re Connected, and includes discussions on Memphis in a regional context, the new WalkBike Memphis campaign, and neighborhood clean-ups.
For more information or to register, click here. An RSVP is required to attend.
I went last year and thought the program was excellent. In fact, I think I met one of my now good friends there. So, see? Connections.
The list continues with two very different albums — ecstatic R&B and disco-based dance music and folkie Christian country:
44.
Album: Rooty — Basement Jaxx (Astralwerks, 2001)
From my original review:
The lead cut/single “Romeo” is as thrilling in its own way as the London duo’s great 1999 single “Red Alert.” With guest vocalist Kele Le Roc providing a vocal filled with more personality than the typical diva-for-hire club vocals, the song is the catchiest romantic kiss-off in memory. After that stunner, Rooty reveals its true mission: to be the new decade’s best Prince album, a feat that, sadly, it is likely to attain. “Breakaway” sounds like one of the Prince songs he recorded under altered-voice pseudonym Camille. The over-sexed “Get Me Off” is more salacious than anything Prince has done since the similarly titled “Gett Off” almost a decade ago. Anyone with a pop sensibility who wants to sample some modern club music would be well advised to start here.
Song Sample: “Romeo”
Would you pick up old abandoned tires for 50 cents a pop? Memphis and Shelby County hope so. John Branston has details.
Jeanna Hartzog has written me from Silver Creek, Mississippi, inquiring about a local TV show that she and her sister appeared on in the early 1960s. I immediately thought she was talking about “Dance Party” hosted by Wink Martindale, or the later “Talent Party” hosted by George Klein, but apparently not. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Here’s the letter:
I hope someone there can help me by providing some information.
My parents moved to Memphis in 1957 and I was born there in 1959. Around 1962, I only know at three years old, my sister and I appeared on a local children’s show. We were the featured quests, coming out of the audience to do the new dance, The Twist.
I began to think about this when my sister died several years ago. My parents can no longer remember the station or the name of the show. They mistakenly thought Wink Martindale was the host, but a very nice email from him said that was not so.
Do you have any knowledge of this show, the station, or the host? I know there are certainly people in the Memphis community who would have this knowledge, but I don’t know how to find them. I have made phone calls and wrote a columnist with no success.
Thank you for your time.
Jeanna McManus Hartzog
medbsw@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 124
Silver Creek, Mississippi 39663
601-660-5720
In a partnership with the Center City Commission, Live From Memphis today launched “Get Down,” a series of short web-based films promoting downtown life and culture. The series, which will debut a new episode each Thursday for the next 10 weeks, is co-directed by Live From Memphis’ Christopher Reyes and Sarah Fleming and co-hosted by local actors John Pickle and Brett Magdovitz in fictional guise.
The trailer for the series:
The first full episode, which features South Main bar/club the Rumba Room, sushi restaurant Blue Fin, and kite flying at Tom Lee Park, can be seen here.
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Hard Times: Cash For Old Tires
Would you pick up old tires and haul them away for 50 cents apiece?
The city of Memphis and Shelby County hope so. A plan will be presented next week that puts a 50-cent bounty on old tires taken to the Shelby County Recycling Facility. It also cracks down on used-tire haulers who illegally dump hundreds of them at a time after picking through the ones they can resell.
The intent is laudable — beautification, blight removal, a little economic stimulus, and a small, potentially useful thing at a time when governments are strapped to do big things. But the economics are so brutal they could make can hunting or journalism seem attractive.