Pam and I went to South of Beale for dinner and drinks and to check out the Zombie March.
We were enjoying our meal when a zombie approached and, finding no suitable brains for eating at our table, went for my asparagus and bleu cheese risotto!
Pam had to kill her with a fork.
What’s done is done.
Shea Flinn and Kemp Conrad apologize to attendees at an unusually sparsely attended budget hearing. Hannah Sayle has the story.
“With great humiliation, Maria, please call the roll,” says Memphis City Councilman Shea Flinn on a video of yesterday’s council meeting. (You can watch the 8-minute video here.)
The meeting, one of the 2012 budget hearings, consisted of Councilmen Flinn and Conrad. Apologies were made to the attendees who came prepared to answer the council’s questions about budget proposals.
“We’ve had some lightly attended meetings,” said Flinn in an interview the next day. “To have everyone miss was extraordinary.”
So where was the rest of the council? The answer sounds like a response to “why none of my fourth-grade classmates came to my birthday party.”
“Certain members couldn’t make it, and then other members heard those members weren’t going to be there, and it just snowballed,” said Flinn. “It was embarrassing. Humiliating.”
Flinn has asked the other council members to prepare any ideas for the budget and send them to him by Tuesday, so he can forward them to the administration.
“The vote that matters is on June 7th,” Flinn said, “but I don’t want to get there on June 7th and have people ask a bunch of questions that we can’t answer immediately. I’m trying to get everything on the table. It’s a long, unpleasant, arduous process, but we need members to participate.”
Club Spectrum is having an “Ask and Tell” Party on Saturday, May 28th in honor of Memorial Day weekend. Show a military ID, and get in free. And all patrons are encouraged to wear camo to salute our soldiers. Proceeds from cover charges will benefit the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center. Doors open at 9 p.m.
If you haven’t been to Spectrum yet, you’re missing out. The city’s newest gay club opened this past New Year’s Eve in the old Downtown Dolls location at 616 Marshall Avenue. Many of the former Backstreet dancers, including the fabulous Demonica Santangilo, perform at Spectrum now. And the dance floor packs out every weekend.
For more weekend fun, check out Michael Hildebrand’s “Big Gay Ten” list on his Memphis Loves Gays blog.
Fedoras off to the Majestic Grille on their film noir-themed fifth anniversary party last night. Complete with a jazz quartet, a swing band, a champagne toast, candy cigar and cigarette girls, and guests dressed to the nines in ’40s-style garb, the anniversary was a gangbuster event.
Of course, there was food: cheeseburger sliders, fried green tomato sliders with bacon, an array of cheeses and charcuterie, homemade chips with blue cheese, and more.
As the metaphor has it, the fat lady has sung — which is to say, the 2011 session of the Tennessee General Assembly came to an end on Saturday — but she may have a few unexpected extra verses to warble.
In addition to several bills that were shelved or left hanging — the “innovative school districts” bill that had troubled the Shelby County Commission, the Don’t Say Gay bill of state Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville), among others — some bills that did get through are already being revisited.
There is, for example, the very real probability that a bill intended to cut Planned Parenthood out of the loop for federal Title X family-planning funds was nullified by add-on language that is just now coming to light. A provision was added (or retained, against the wishes of sponsor Campfield) stating that the defunding provision “shall not be construed to supersede applicable provisions of federal and state law.” Meaning, the status quo on Title X funding shall be observed.
And another controversial measure, HB600, banning anti-discrimination ordinances by local jurisdictions, is sure to be challenged early in the next legislative session. State Senator Jim Kyle (D-Memphis), the Senate’s Democratic leader, has already filed legislation designed to repeal that measure, which drew intense last-minute opposition from several major Tennessee industries, including FedEx of Memphis.
In signing HB600 into law, Governor Bill Haslam had said the business opposition had come too late to affect his judgment. Acknowledging that “the business community was late to the party,” Kyle said the new law was still “worth a second look.”
Gay and lesbian activists had lobbied extensively against HB600, and much of the business opposition was in the context of author Richard Florida’s thesis that economic innovation is largely dependent on the input of a “creative class,” which includes gays, high tech specialists, and other heterodox types.
Kyle said that reaction from constituents in Memphis Shelby County, where anti-discrimination ordinances were still being actively considered, had also prompted his filing the bill.
I’ve been around, but I’m not apologizing because I’m grown. Yet, after my visit to Pita Cafe, I do see the value of discretion.
The owner Musa Mahmond asked, First visit here? … Yes. … Where else have you had pita?
My list started. The owner’s face fell. And then my list went on and on.
The Orpheum’s hosted its second annual High School Musical Awards ceremony last night. And the winners were…
Outstanding Small Ensemble—The Full Cast of Five Guys Named Moe — Millington
Outstanding Chorus
Collierville High School – Hello Dolly!Outstanding Music Direction
Hutchison School – Thoroughly Modern MillieOutstanding Student Orchestra
White Station High School – GreaseOutstanding Dance Execution
Millington Central High School – Five Guys Named MoeOutstanding Featured Dancer
Justin Brown in Hairspray – MarionOutstanding Hair and Makeup Design
Marion High School – HairsprayOutstanding Costume Design Tier I
Wynne High School – The Phantom of the OperaOutstanding Costume Design Tier II
DeSoto Central High School – My Fair LadyOutstanding Scenic Design Tier I
Briarcrest Christian School – Les MiserablesOutstanding Scenic Design Tier II
Memphis University School – The Drowsy Chaperone
Outstanding Lighting Design
St. Mary’s Episcopal School – 42nd StreetOutstanding Production Materials
St. Agnes Academy – Bye Bye BirdieOutstanding Technical Achievement
Germantown High School – The Secret GardenStudent Technical Achievement Award
Joseph Levy — Memphis University SchoolOutstanding Featured Actress
Olivia Wingate as Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie – HutchisonOutstanding Featured Actor
Jonathan Matthews as Ching Ho in Thoroughly Modern Millie – HutchisonOutstanding Comedic Duo
Alexis Cole & Michael Joiner as The Thenardiers in Les Miserables – BriarcrestOutstanding Supporting Actress
Ryan Koski as Eponine in Les Miserables – BriarcrestOutstanding Supporting Actor
William Harvell as Belling in Curtains – CBHSOutstanding Direction by a Teacher
Ashleigh Williams – BriarcrestOutstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre
Ridgeway High School – AidaOutstanding Actress in a Lead Role
Breyannah Tillman as Aida in Aida – RidgewayOutstanding Actor in a Lead Role
Paul Powers as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables – BriarcrestOutstanding Overall Production
Memphis University School – The Drowsy Chaperone
Randy Haspel rants about the recent plague of men behaving like rats.
