Month: December 2012

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Game 27 Preview: Grizzlies vs. Nuggets

The Grizzlies had a two-day break following Wednesday’s listless home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers and return home tonight to face the Denver Nuggets, who got big performances from Danilo Gallinari (39 points on 14-23 shooting), Andre Iguodala (20-8-4), and Kenneth Faried (19 rebounds) in a strong 106-85 win in Dallas last night.

Three thoughts:

1. The Brutal, Crowded West: With the Grizzlies muddling around .500 since their 14-3 start (4-5 since) and the Clippers, Thunder, and Spurs streaking (the Clippers and Thunder are a combined 29-2 over their past 31 games; the Spurs have won four in a row after a mid-December hiccup; these teams now have the three best records in the NBA), the Grizzlies seem to have slipped into the second tier in the West. Meanwhile, the Nuggets, despite an ostensibly disappointing 8-9 start, have worked their way into the second tier, sitting at 17-14 despite having played more than twice as many road games (21) as home games (10)

The playoff odds system new Grizzlies VP John Hollinger set up at ESPN currently projects the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Rockets, and Warriors to be within two games of each other in the fight for the #4 seed, with the Nuggets currently projected to get it. (And both the Lakers and Timberwolves, recovering from their early injuries, have a very good chance to get in this mix.) In that regard, this game could be particularly important because the Grizzlies have already lost twice to the Nuggets and another loss here would give the Nuggets a head-to-head tiebreaker between the teams.

It’s also an important game for the Grizzlies from a momentum/piece of mind standpoint. The team is coming off two pretty bad losses in a row (with that road drubbing in Houston preceding the Sixers game) and, after tonight, will play five of their next six on the road. There’s real danger than the team’s recent slide down the conference standings could continue.

Categories
Art Exhibit M

Melissa Farris’ “Happy Cannibals” at Material

While on our annual wedding anniversary trip to Grayton Beach, Florida, I decided, after four shots of tequila, three coconut mojitos, and two dozen oysters, that I was never going to eat beef, pork, or lamb again. It is easy to make such a decision when you are surrounded by a never-ending supply of succulent blue crab, mouth-watering shrimp, buttery-flakey mackerel, and plump oysters. That was in October and I still have not tasted the flesh of those land-locked animals. I have also gained five pounds since then. Oh well.

I believe that I would have viewed Melissa Farris’ exhibition “Happy Cannibals,” at Material through December 29th, differently had I seen it before I gave up on the delicious flesh of cows, pigs, and sheep. According to her exhibition statement, Farris grew up in a family “infixed with mid-century ideals.” And seeing the reminders of her families past, she is “struck by the pervasive influence of mid-century corporate America.” This influence had a disjointed relationship with reality and this exhibition is a “warm-hearted celebration of that failure.”

Material consists of three similarly-sized white walls. Farris has dedicated a different animal on each wall, lamb, pork, and beef, respectively. The pieces are either a butcher’s how-to guide on the proper slaughtering method of each animal or a humorously depicted suggested serving size and preparation. The pieces remind me of the animations of popcorn and soda played during the intermission at the drive-in on Summer Ave.

Shorn

  • Shorn

Tea for Two

  • Tea for Two

May Bell

  • May Bell

Hamlett

  • Hamlett

What makes these pieces work is the color palette of the frames the artist has chose to use. The avocado, mint, and strawberry colors are taken from the 1950s decor of her grandparents’ home. (Similar to Kehinde Wiley’s nod to Neo-Classicism with his use of opulent gold gilded frames.)

Examining corporate America’s disjointed relationship with reality is an interesting sentiment and reason to make a body of work. These mid-century ideals never really made it to rural Arkansas where I was born and raised. I remember being surrounded by the motifs of the depression. The happy pieces that Farris exhibits here would be a welcome change, especially in the context of the meat and potato eaters of DeWitt, Arkansas, of which, I am no longer a part.
Images by Dwayne Butcher

Categories
News

The Year In Food

Hannah Sayle writes about new restaurants, local cookbooks, and other food news from 2012.

Categories
News

Big Bad Pop-Ups

Susan Ellis has the scoop on Oxford’s pop-up food fair, featuring street food prepared by high-end chefs. Check out Hungry Memphis for details.

Categories
Memphis Gaydar News

Ring In the New Year at Club Spectrum

champagne.jpeg

Club Spectrum officially opened its doors for the first time on New Year’s Eve two years ago, and the club is celebrating both its anniversary and the New Year’s holiday with a party on December 31st.

The first 100 guests will receive a free bottle of champagne, and all guests will receive 2013 memorabilia at the door. The club’s all-star cast will perform a drag show as well.

The party starts at 8 p.m. There’s a $10 cover. Spectrum is located at 616 Marshall.

For more information, check out the event’s Facebook page.

Categories
News

Local Music of 2012

The Flyer‘s music writers reveal their favorite albums of the year by local artists.

Categories
News

News Highlights of 2012

Strip clubs cleaned up and the fight over high airfares heated up in 2012. Check out this rundown of news clips from the Flyer‘s print and online editions over the past year.

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Blackburn Target of Thursday Forum by “The Action”

Rep. Blackburn

  • Rep. Blackburn

This one’s off our beaten path — literally. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who used to represent generous sections of eastern Shelby County and of Memphis itself, now serves in a congressional district that has been re-drawn to end a county line or two away.

Even so, a press release has been dropped into our email by “The Action — TN ,” evidently the Middle Tennessee chapter of a national advocacy group, and those locals who well remember the congressman (her preferred term) from Brentwood, might be interested to learn of the following event, taking place on Thursday of this week (today, as we speak) and entered here without comment:

Local Taxpayers to Hold Rally Delivering Letters Calling On Rep. Marsha Blackburn to “Stop Pushing the Middle Class Off the Fiscal Cliff,” Avert Looming $2,200 Tax Hike on Middle-Class Families

Among those delivering letters will be Retired Lieutenant Colonel, Bob Washko and local small business owner, Earik Beann. Both will deliver remarks calling on Congresswoman Rep. Marsha Blackburn to stop putting millionaires ahead of the middle class , stop blocking the middle class tax cut extension that would avert a looming tax hike on Middle-Class families and small businesses.

Franklin, TN — On Thursday, December 27 at 2:00 pm., local taxpaying constituents will hold a “Don’t Drop the Ball on the Middle Class” rally outside of Rep. Blackburn’s office in Franklin, asking Congresswoman Blackburn to stop pushing the Middle Class off the Fiscal Cliff by blocking the extension of Middle Class Tax Cut Extension that would avert tax increases on 98% of Americans beginning in January. If Rep. Blackbnurn fails to act immediately, taxes will go up on every family in America at the beginning of next year. In fact, a typical middle-class family of four would see its taxes rise by $2,200. That means less money to buy groceries or fill a prescription. That means a tougher choice between paying the rent and paying tuition. That means fewer goods and services being purchased and as a consequence, jobs eliminated.

Laura Beann, a local volunteer organizer of the rally: “All I want for the holiday season is to not ring in the New Year with a huge tax hike, and I’m definitely not alone. Congresswoman Blackburn needs to do her job before a lot of people in Franklin lose theirs or are forced to make sacrifices with thousands of dollars less in their pockets. Congresswoman Blackburn needs to stop holding middle class tax relief hostage to protect tax breaks for the richest 2%, folks like Donald Trump and Paris Hilton that don’t need another tax break. All Congresswoman Blackburn has to do is approve the bill already passed in the Senate bill to immediately extend tax relief to 98% of the American people and 97% of small businesses.”

Retired Lieutenant Colonel, Bob Washko: “I’ve served my county my entire life, I’m asking Rep. Marsha Blackburn to start serving the middle class instead of millionaires. Stop this attempt to put more of a burden on the middle class, seniors, students, veterans and the most vulnerable Americans while asking too little of the wealthiest Americans. I’m asking Rep. Blackburn to pass the middle class tax cut extension and end the Bush Tax Cuts for the richest 2% so we are all paying our fair share and pulling our weight.”

Earik Beann, Small Business Owner: “Any real small business owner will tell you they don’t need tax cuts to make their businesses grow, they need customers. That’s why passing the middle class tax cuts immediately is what’s important.”

Middle class families want action — and will blame Congresswoman Blackburn and her Republican colleagues for inaction. A recent Washington-Post poll found that a majority [53 percent] of Americans say that if the country goes over the fiscal cliff on Dec. 31, congressional Republicans should bear the brunt of the blame. Thursday’s rally follows a string of similar events happening all across Tennessee asking every elected official to stop putting millionaires ahead of the middle class. Rep. Marsha Blackburn is no exception, she too has local constituents holding her accountable if taxes go up in January because of her failure to act. [Media coverage across Tennessee highlights mounting pressure on Republicans to stop putting millionaires ahead of the middle class: http://bit.ly/ActionTNPress]

Small businesses want action: An American Sustainable Business Council survey in February found a majority of small business owners believe Congress should let tax cuts on taxable income over $250,000 a year expire as scheduled on December 31, 2012, while only 40% said they should be extended.

• What: Local Taxpayers to Hold Rally Calling On Congresswoman Blackburn to “Stop Pushing the Middle Class off the Fiscal Cliff,” Avert Looming $2,200 Tax Hike on Middle-Class Families

• Who: Groups of volunteer activists and tax paying constituents from Franklin

• When: Thursday, December 27th at 2:00 p.m. CT

• Where: Office of Marsha Blackburn 305 Public Square Suite 212, Franklin, TN 37064

The Action — TN is one of over 150 national, state and local organizations part of The Action — a grassroots movement calling for the end of the Bush-era tax breaks for the richest 2 percent that have for too long shortchanged critical investments that create and sustain jobs. December 1 marked the first major national day of action of the movement, with over 100 events taking place in 30 states pressuring Members of Congress to put middle class before millionaires.

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Categories
Music Music Features

Amy LaVere and Shannon McNally at the Hi-Tone Café

Though each had been produced by the late Jim Dickinson, Memphis’ Amy LaVere and Oxford’s Shannon McNally never played together until Dickinson’s son Luther called both of them (along with Valerie June and Sharde Thomas) to the studio for sessions that produced the roots-music revue the Wandering. Versatile, roots-oriented singer-songwriters with a similar look and sound, LaVere and McNally struck up a chemistry, in the studio and onstage, and soon spun off of the Wandering into their own duo. The pair released Chasing the Ghosts — Rehearsal Sessions, a quickie seven-song, 30-minute EP recorded and put out by Archer Records in October, in conjunction with a Southwestern tour. Among the seven songs are stripped-down reworkings of two highlights from LaVere’s most recent album, “Stranger Me” and “Great Divide,” which now, like most of Chasing the Ghosts, features the companionable vocal interplay of LaVere and McNally. The pair make their official Memphis debut at the Hi-Tone Café on Saturday, December 29th. Doors open at 8 p.m. Admission is $10.

Categories
Music Music Features

The Year in Local Music

The local music scene took a holiday hit with the recent announcement that the city’s most prolific club for touring bands and original local music, the Hi-Tone Café, would be closing in February. While it’s impossible to say how much this news will impact the immediate future of Memphis music, there are no such complications looking back. Here, three of our writers put the spotlight on their favorite local albums and artists of 2012.

Chris Herrington:

1. Women & Work — Lucero (ATO): After more than a decade on the road and with a discography eight full-length albums strong, Lucero hit a new stride this year, embracing and mastering their Southern-rock big-band sound like never before. Onstage and on record, I don’t think frontman Ben Nichols has ever led his band with this much assurance, and Women & Work hits all its diverse marks, from hip-shaking opening anthem (“On My Way Downtown”) to boogie-rock party-starter (the title song) to country-soul torch ballad (“It May Be Too Late”) to blues stomper (“Juniper”). And those are just the first four songs.

2. Ex-Cult — Ex-Cult (Goner): As with a couple of other recent faves — Ex-Cult labelmates Eddy Current Suppression Ring and California’s No Age — this is rhythmic art-punk that doesn’t let the former curdle into pretension or the latter curdle into regiment. Honestly, I would prefer the recording quality to be a little less lo-fi, but the band’s power and insistence still break through.

3. The Wandering Diaspora: At the dawn of the year, Luther Dickinson had the eureka-quality idea of bringing four talented regional roots musicians, all women, none who had collaborated in any serious way, into the studio together: guitarist Shannon McNally, bassist Amy LaVere, drummer Sharde Thomas, and guitarist/banjo player Valerie June. With Dickinson producing and filling in where needed, the Wandering was born. On their debut album, Go On Now, You Can’t Stay Here, this Mid-South Monsters of Folk cover everything from the Byrds (“Mr. Spaceman”) to Robert Johnson (“If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day”) to “You Are My Sunshine” with a spirited interplay and a beautiful blend of voices.

As good as they are together, they’ve been perhaps even busier apart. Dickinson was nominated for a Grammy for his instrumental album Hambone’s Meditations and reteamed with ornery partners Alvin Youngblood Hart and Jimbo Mathus for “Old Time’s There …,” a nervy second album from their South Memphis Jug Band. LaVere and McNally took their newfound chemistry on the road and into the studio with their recent EP Chasing the Ghost — Rehearsal Sessions. And June, whose wayward career earns the band’s moniker more than most, struck a deal with a French label and released the terrific single “Workin’ Woman Blues” with a Hungarian gypsy-folk backing band. Her looming debut album is likely the most promising Memphis-connected album on tap for next year.

4. Guerilla/Help Is on the Way — Don Trip: Trip has the surest flow, most grounded perspective, and most soulful sound of any hardcore Memphis rapper since 8Ball, and if an actual major-label-released debut album is proving predictably elusive, that hasn’t stopped him from dropping mixtapes well above the form’s norm. Released early this year, around the time Trip landed on the cover of national rap magazine XXL as part of its latest “Freshman Class” of up-and-comers, Guerilla is probably his most cohesive collection, with the more recent Help Is on the Way not far behind.

5. Mutt — Cory Branan (Bloodshot): The Memphis ex-pat, now Nashville-based singer-songwriter’s third album richly earned the over-deployed “long-awaited” descriptive. It has been six years since Branan’s 12 Songs, and Mutt shows his songwriting chops undiminished. The opening “The Corner” is a sardonic deconstruction of Branan’s own good press and gallows-humor appraisal of his stop-and-start career. “Survivor Blues” is an escape scenario in the Springsteenian tradition, but the romance is laced with a darker, more dangerous undercurrent.

Honorable Mention: Barbaras 2006-2008 — The Barbaras (Goner), Hi-Electric — Hi Electric (Evangeline), I Can’t Wait — Star & Micey (Ardent Music), Coast to Coast — River City Tanlines (Big Legal Mess), The Switchblade Kid — The Switchblade Kid (Miss Molly Music), Hex & Hell — Jason Freeman (BR2), Life’s Quest — 8Ball (eOne).

J.D. Reager:

1. Hex & Hell — Jason Freeman (BR2): This long-overdue debut from one of Memphis’ most distinctive voices contains just the right amount of Beale Street swagger without foraying into that cheeseball “Blues Hammer” territory that so many white blues bands can’t seem to avoid. This record is rough, raw, and fun and features cameos from several noteworthy local musicians, including Amy LaVere, Krista Wroten Combest and Jana Misener (both of the Memphis Dawls), Adam Woodard, and the vastly underappreciated Daniel Farris (Coach and Four), whose thunderous drumming helps keep things interesting in the jammier bits.

2. The Switchblade Kid — The Switchblade Kid (Miss Molly Music): Local musician/producer Harry Koniditsiotis distills his various projects — the Angel Sluts, Twin Pilot, the Turn-it-Offs, etc. — into one megaband. And it totally works.

3. Coast to Coast — River City Tanlines (Big Legal Mess): The venerable Memphis power trio stretches out a bit on this latest release, incorporating elements of indie-pop, metal, and noise-rock into the mix alongside pop-punk gems like “Pretty Please.”

4. Loud Cloud — Tanks: A ferocious 26-minute slab (all contained in one track) of heavy metal.

5. I Can’t Wait — Star & Micey: This EP sneaks in to the top five on the strength of the hauntingly gorgeous opening track, “No Pets Allowed.” At other times, it seems a tad overproduced but still showcases the band’s impeccable songwriting and vocal arrangements.

Honorable Mention: New Black Sea — Good Luck Dark Star; Hello Monday — Chad Nixon, Snorlokk — Hosoi Bros; Ex-Cult — Ex-Cult (Goner); I’m Just Dead I’m Not Gone — Jim Dickinson (Memphis International).

Chris McCoy:

1. Barbaras 2006-2008 — The Barbaras (Goner): The recordings for the debut album of this young Memphis band that splintered into the Magic Kids and the late Jay Reatard’s backing band were thought lost, but last year they turned up on a hard drive of Reatard’s and got a Goner release this year. The album is nonstop brilliant and four years after the last note was recorded still sounds ahead of its time.

2. The Memphis Dawls live: High school friends Holly Cole, Krista Wroten Combest, and Jana Misener took off in a big way this year, building on the success of an excellent 2011 EP by releasing a music video for their song “Hickory” and scoring an opening slot for Jack White. Their live shows got better and better as the year went on, culminating in a perfect afternoon set at the Cooper-Young Festival. If you get a chance to see these women do their folky thing live, go. It will be well worth your time.

3. Ex-Cult — Ex-Cult (Goner): The Midtown punk group’s debut record is an atomic blast of straight-ahead power. The album’s “Shade of Red” is my favorite song produced by a Memphis band in 2012, and their debut Gonerfest performance in September made fans out of the entire packed room.

4. The Modifiers return: This year saw the rebirth of a Memphis legend. For more than 20 years, Bob Holmes and Milford Thompson’s pioneering punkers the Modifiers have been spoken of in hushed, reverent tones by those who saw them destroy the Antenna club in the ’80s. Thompson passed away several years ago, and Holmes had retired, but Flyer contributor J.D. Reager, whose father had been in the original band, convinced Holmes to play his classic tunes with Reager and the crack River City Tanlines rhythm section of Terrence Bishop and John “Bubba” Bonds. Catch one of their rare appearances, and hear some lost Memphis gems.

5. Hex & Hell — Jason Freeman (BR2): Jason Freeman has played guitar for the Bluff City Backsliders and Amy LaVere, so we knew he was good. But his debut album is still a revelation, taking blues-based rock into the 21st century with explosive slide guitar and blistering vocals. Hex & Hell makes Stonesy rock loose and fun again.