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Month: April 2010
As the guy behind the counter handed me my order, he asked “Have you baked with us before?”
The answer? No. That was my first time at the take-and-bake pizza chain Papa Murphy’s in Germantown.
And now that I have baked with them, the question is: Will I bake with them again?
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Bridges McRae Mistrial
- Duanna Johnson
A mistrial has been declared in the case of a former Memphis Police officer charged with violating the civil rights of transgender woman Duanna Johnson.
The jury of five men and seven women in the Bridges McRae case began deliberating last Wednesday, but were unable to reach a verdict by Monday. Following the Allen Charge, the judge in the case is encouraging jurors to reconsider until they reach a unamimous verdict.
In February 2008, McRae and former officer James Swain were caught on video brutally beating Johnson in the lobby of the Shelby County Correction Center. The 18-minute video has no audio, but Johnson claimed McRae assaulted her after she refused to respond to homophobic slurs of “he/she” and “faggot.” Read the Flyer’s story about the beating here.
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todd rundgren
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Memphis Love from Smithsonian
Forbes magazine’s capricious ranking of Memphis as a “miserable” city gets a nice counter-argument from the May issue of Smithsonian magazine. Check it out here.
My favorite part: Where the salt-and-pepper-haired gentleman sells him a copy of the Memphis Flyer — for $5 dollars!! Or maybe the guy just felt like giving him $5 for the conversation. Hard to tell.
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Rumor Alert
I was on South Main on Saturday for the Strange Fruit Vintage launch party (see Shalishah “Petey” Franklin’s Fashion Week below). Despite a little incident with some blue candy, I and I think everyone else had a great time.
While I was there, however, I heard a rumor that Charlotte Memphis — which has been located in Saddle Creek for several years and sells really cool interchangeable jewelry such as these rings — is moving onto South Main. I’m not sure where exactly, but that’s exciting! I might just get another piece for my Charlotte21 ring.
I heard that a graphic tee store also might be opening, but I don’t have any more details.
As of Saturday, April 17, a grand total of 1,085 early and absentee votes had been cast in primary voting for countywide offices since April 14, the beginning of early voting, at the downtown Election Commission office. That’s only .2 percent — a fifth of one percent —of the eligible electorate, which numbers 545,036 voters.
With 20 satellite voting centers (listed below) opening on Monday, April 19, the number is expected to rise dramatically, however.
So far, African American voters seem to be voting disproportionately to white voters — at a rate of 43.4 percent to 30.0 percent, with 25.7 percent for “others,” a category which skews overall analysis, since, besides Asians, Native Americans, and Hispanics, it includes significant numbers of both blacks and whites who decline to designate their race.
More meaningful, perhaps, is the partisan breakdown, 28.2 percent of voters casting ballots in the Republican primary, with 71.7 percent voting in the Democratic primary. That ratio roughly corresponds to normal voting patterns in countywide balloting, as evidenced in the 2002 and 2006 votes.
Gender-wise, 59.1 percent of the voters to date have been female, and 40.8 percent have been male. This statistic reflects the traditionally higher voting rate of women in local elections.
For the record, the total number of eligible Shelby County, 545,036, is down from 602,508 registered voters in 2006. The decrease reflects a purge of the voting list carried out by the Election Commission in the last two years.
Of the total number of registered voters, 193,624 (or 35.5 percent) are black; 161,538 (or 29.6 percent) are white; and 189,874 (or 34.8 percent) are “other.”
Voting hours at the Shelby County Election Commission, at 157 Poplar, Suite 121, are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Satellite voting hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
The satellite sites are:
Agricenter (Rotunda Hallway), 7777 Walnut Grove
Anointed Temple Of Praise (Youth Room), 3939 Riverdale
Baker Community Center, 7942 Church
Bellevue Baptist Church, 2000 Appling Road
Berclair Church of Christ, 4536 Summer
Bethel Church, 5586 Stage Road
Bishop Byrne High School, 1475 E. Shelby Dr.
Bridge at Lakeland, suite 106, 3570 Canada Road
Collierville Church of Christ, 575 West Shelton Road
Dave Wells Community Center, 915 Chelsea
Glenview Community Center, 1141 S. Barksdale
Greater Middle Baptist Church (Fellowship Hall), 4982 Knight Arnold
Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church-Family Life Center, 70 N. Bellevue
Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church (Fellowship Hall), 3045 Chelsea
New Bethel Baptist Church-Family Life Center, 7786 Poplar Pike
Pyramid Recovery Center, 1833 S. Third
Raleigh United Methodist Church, 3295 Powers Road
Riverside Baptist Church, 3560 S. Third
Shiloh Baptist Church, 3121 Range Line Road
White Station Church of Christ, 1106 Colonial Road
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Memphis Redbirds Take Flight
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Redbirds Take Flight
Last Friday night was my 11th Opening Day at AutoZone Park. (And my 10-year-old daughter’s first. Her night was made when she appeared on the scoreboard video screen before the first pitch.) I can’t remember the concourse being as crammed with fans as it was for this lid-lifter, though the announced crowd of 10,717 was at least 3,000 fewer than the new management would like for a weekend night perfect for baseball. The fact that the new Yuengling-sponsored concession stand was out of Yuengling by the fifth inning is testament to the crowd’s thirst for baseball, or at least for the comforts our national pastime brings.
A few more observations:
• The arrival of Rockey the Redbird in a helicopter was a great touch, and hopefully a new annual rite. A friend and I agreed later that the only display that might top the chopper would be if the city’s finest mascot parachuted into centerfield. (I’m not convinced those oversized feathers actually allow Rockey to fly.)
• Returning members of the 2009 Pacific Coast League champions had their own pregame introduction and a quick photo-op. When a pennant was raised up the flagpole just below the Stars and Stripes, I’ll admit to some goose bumps. I’d sure love to see, though, a permanent display of some kind honoring both the 2009 champs and those from the 2000 team that christened the new ballpark with champagne.
• The Cardinals’ farm system has gotten young. And this doesn’t necessarily bode well for the 2010 season in Memphis. Among the top 10 prospects in the St. Louis system (according to Baseball America), exactly two were wearing Memphis uniforms last weekend: pitcher Lance Lynn (#3) and infielder Daniel Descalso (#9). And it may say something about the strength of the Cardinals’ farm that their 11th-ranked prospect — Friday night’s starting pitcher, Adam Ottavino — walked six batters in five innings.
With the likes of Allen Craig, Joe Mather, and Jaime Garcia wearing two birds on their chests in St. Louis, the Redbirds will be counting on outfielder Jon Jay (ranked 13th), shortstop Tyler Greene (14th), and outfielder Tyler Henley (18th) to keep the team competitive in a division where Nashville is off to a 8-3 start.
• Get used to on-the-field entertainment. For the first time in the ballpark’s history, fans witnessed the much-talked-about, never-quite-understood “Dizzy Bat” race. And some kind of beanbag-tossing contest, with oversized plastic mats the target. A harsh reminder, perhaps, that the Redbirds remain a minor-league operation. One that must entertain however and whenever it can, including the “quiet time” between innings.
• Best intro music, hands down: outfielder Mark Shorey (Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”). Here’s hoping Shorey hits well enough to stay in the lineup every day.
• Signage on the outfield wall is new. FedEx has a prominent spot, and seems right for a Memphis ball team. But a waste management company? If the Redbirds begin to struggle on the field, just wait for the jokes and juxtaposition.
• The Redbirds play 16 of their first 24 games on the road. This can be seen in one of two ways: an unfortunate handicap for the defending champs as they gather form for a new season or the chance for a group of players to develop cohesion and an early sense of singular purpose that defines a contender. If you enjoyed Sunday afternoon at the ballpark, as my family did, sit tight. The next Sunday matinee will be May 16th.
• The two biggest stars from the Redbirds’ early days (1998 and 1999) at Tim McCarver Stadium were J.D. Drew and Rick Ankiel (the pitching version). On April 9th in Kansas City, the Royals beat the Red Sox, 4-3, in a relatively meaningless game for any Memphis fan. In that game, though, two players hit their first home runs of the season: Boston’s J.D. Drew and Kansas City’s Rick Ankiel. How many would have forecast such 11 years ago?
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Big 10 Expansion?
Here’s hoping U of M athletic director R.C. Johnson makes a phone call or two this week to his friends in the Big 10 (and Big East). Expansion would seem to be the word of the day for at least one power conference, and the Tiger program needs go be in line when invitations are handed out.