It was a bummer when I stopped at Easy Way on Cleveland this afternoon and saw the empty parking lot, the empty shelves, and the sign that said the grocery store and produce market was permanently closed and the suggestion to visit one of their other stores in Memphis.
Read more at John Branston’s City Beat blog.
It was a bummer when I stopped at Easy Way on Cleveland this afternoon and saw the empty parking lot, the empty shelves, and the sign that said the grocery store and produce market was permanently closed and the suggestion to visit one of their other stores in Memphis.
I’m back from a bit of a hiatus and courtside at FedExForum where the Grizzlies will take on the Houston Rockets in about 20 minutes.
I missed a bad second-half meltdown against the Hornets and what was surely a thrilling win over the Lakers (probably the most significant Grizzlies home game that I wasn’t in the building for), but I had a good excuse: My wife and I welcomed our second child and first son into the world. (His arrival roughly coincided with that meltdown against the Hornets, but I’ll take no blame for that.)
I’ll try to get into some broader team-related issues over the next couple of weeks, but for now I’m just going to dive into this game, a particularly important one against one of the Grizzlies’ key competitors in the tight Western Conference playoff race.
Check back here later for a post-game report. In the meantime I’ll chime in with occasional Twitter commentary during the game.
Let’s do this.
• This interregional series began during the 2005-06 season,the aim being to get two of the best programs outside the six major conferences on the same floor. A member of the West Coast Conference, Gonzaga has won at least 23 games every season since coach Mark Few took over the program for the 1999-2000 campaign. The Zags have reached the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 four times under Few (2000, 2001, 2006, 2009).
• Gonzaga enters Saturday’s nationally televised matinee with a record of 18-4, its most recent victory being a drubbing of Portland Thursday night. A loss at San Francisco last Saturday ended a nine-game winning streak for the Zags. Their other three losses were all to big-conference powers: Michigan State, Wake Forest, and Duke.
• The Tigers have won all four meetings since the annual series began on December 27, 2005. That was a battle of Top 10 foes, the 4th-ranked Tigers beating the 8th-ranked Zags, 83-72. Saturday’s game will be the first in the series in which Memphis is not ranked in the Top 20. (Gonzaga enters ranked 17th in the country.) When the U of M beat Gonzaga on January 26, 2008, it was the first home game after the Tigers were elevated to number-one in the country. (Gonzaga won the very first game played with Memphis, on November 16, 1998, part of the preseason NIT that year.)
• Senior guard Matt Bouldin leads Gonzaga in scoring with 16.6 points per game, with freshman forward Elias Harris contributing 16.0. Junior guard Steven Gray is scoring at a 13.5 clip and sophomore center Robert Sacre — a seven-footer — is averaging an even 10.0. Harris leads the club in rebounding with 8.4 per game. Bouldin contributes 4.2 assists per game.
• Tiger coach Josh Pastner has looked all season for a game in which all his offensive weapons are on target. (The closest was the victory over Houston on January 23rd, when five players reached double figures.) In the big win over UAB Wednesday night, Elliot Williams and Wesley Witherspoon combined to score 54 points, but Roburt Sallie and Doneal Mack contributed a total of 15. A more even distribution of the scoring load will add to opponents’ match-up difficulties.
• Memphis is looking for a second straight win over a team in the RPI’s top 30. Gonzaga is currently ranked 29th. (The Tigers are 70th.)
• A victory Saturday would be the 1,400th in Tiger history.
“But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”
That’s 1 Corinthians 11:15, but at the Touch-Up, where Memphis’ finest get their hair “whipped,” it can spell trouble — and does when Touch-Up’s owner (accidently?) cuts more off the head of her client Jennifer than Jennifer had in mind. So Jennifer, to keep from “going postal,” takes the owner to court, because, according to Jennifer, the owner intentionally allowed the scissors to slip, because she — Jennifer — is “j”. All this, according to hairtheglory.blogspot.com.
Are you following?
Sandra Hamer — novelist, poet, playwright, teacher, and former broadcaster on Memphis television — signs her novel Glory … The Hair on Saturday, February 6th, from 5 to 7 p.m. The place? Not a beauty shop but The Beauty Shop, the restaurant at 966 S. Cooper. It’s your chance to get one thing straight, and it’s got nothing to do with relaxer: What is “j”?
Here is a statement by a prominent Memphian on the issues of consolidation and school funding.
It was prompted by a fiscal crisis and, in particular, a proposed City of Memphis property tax contribution of $87.5 million to Memphis City Schools following an $89 million contribution the previous year and $78 million the year before that.
At a candlelight vigil in November, animal advocates who were gathered outside Memphis Animal Services on Tchulahoma Road chanted “Fire Alexander! Put him in jail!”
Those advocates may be getting their wish now. That is, if the authorities can locate former Memphis Animal Services director Ernie Alexander. District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced the former director’s indictment for animal cruelty charges this morning, but authorities believe he may be on the run. The Shelby County Sheriff’s office is asking for the public’s help in locating Alexander.
Two other shelter employees — former shelter supervisor Tina Quattlebaum and vet Angela Middleton — were also indicted on aggravated animal cruelty charges. Both turned themselves in to police on Thursday and were released on bond.
Alexander, who was hired in March 2008 to fill the long-vacant director position, was let go after an investigation in November found inadequate administrative oversight, a lack of documentation on paperwork, and missing paperwork.
That investigation also found dogs starving to death, as well as dogs diagnosed with rabies placed in cages with healthy dogs.
What do you get from a Playback: Memphis show? Audience members tell stories from their lives then the performers act them out improvisationally without the benefit of a script. Or rehearsal. If that sounds remotely interesting they’ve got a show coming up this weekend and you can check out the details here.
I want to recommend The Piano Lesson at the Hattiloo because it’s one of my favorite pieces by August Wilson and it features one of my favorite Memphis actors TC Sharpe. That said I’ve heard from the source that when early runs of the show exceeded three hours deep cuts were made in the script. I appreciate the impulse to keep shows at 3-hours or less but I’m going to have to see what came out before I can wholeheartedly endorse. That said, this company does its best work when it takes on challenging material and given their track record fewer things seem more promising than The Piano Lesson The Hattiloo
Jersey Boys lives up to its hype and Pippin at the new Playhouse on the Square is a must see.
Also Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels opens this weekend at Theatre Memphis. It’s a play that Coward himself described as ”extremely slight” and it will be interesting to see if a comedy about the possible fallout of premarital flings holds up 80-years later.
“Early in the campaign, I found we had a lot in common. He’s the one who really has firm ideas about what we need to do”: That was former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ward Cammack on a conference call Thursday with Tennessee reporters as he offered his formal endorsement of former rival Jim Kyle, who was also on the call.
Nashville businessman Cammack said he had been afforded ample opportunity to examine Kyle during the many occasions when he, Kyle, and other candidates for the Democratic nomination had intersected on the campaign trail. “That really gives you an opportunity to see who’s managing a campaign well,” said Cammack of the Democrats’ leader in the state Senate.
For his part, Kyle said he was “thrilled” to have Cammack’s support, and both Democrats said they expected to be doing much campaigning together in advance of the August Democratic primary.
Cammack said that Kyle’s position on the economy, health care, and the environment were some of the factors that “won me over” and said that, on numerous issues of importance to the state, “Jim stepped up” as Senate Democratic leader.
Other Democrats running in the Democratic primary are Jackson businessman Mike McWherter and former state House majority leader Kim McMillan of Clarksville. Republicans running for governor are District Attorney General Bill Gibbons of Memhis, Knoxville mayor Bill Haslam, Chattanooga congressman Zach Wamp, and Lt. Governor Romsey of Blountville.
Financial disclosures last week indicated that the Republicans as a group had raised more money than the Democrats, but Kyle said, “This is still a very close state, D and R. It still comes down to issues and ability.”
Haven’t you heard? Newspapers are dying. But had you invested in their parent companies last year, you would have tripled your money.
More media odds and ends at John Branston’s City Beat blog.