Month: August 2013

Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Who wants to buy Pat Halloran’s used iPhone 4?

Your Fly-Team loves the Orpheum and is all about supporting the Arts, but we were a little surprised to discover Orpheum CEO Pat Halloran’s used iPhone 4 up for grabs at the downtown theater’s weekly online auction.

According to the item’s description the memory has been wiped clean, but this phone was personally used by Halloran so, “it got a lot of use booking Broadway at its best,” and is valued at $300.

This second hand iPhone 4 got a lot of use, booking Broadway at its best.

  • This second hand iPhone 4 got a lot of use, “booking Broadway at its best.”

In related news Halloran was recently named to the Peabody Hotel’s “Duck Walk Hall of Fame.”

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

“American” Football Picks: Week 1

The crystal ball has a new tint this season . . . or maybe that’s just a smudge where the Conference USA logo used to be. I’ll be offering a forecast of each week’s slate of games in the new American Athletic Conference, the kind of information that can make you sound like an expert in the break room or among your favorite Tweeps. All in the name of fun, of course.

AAC_logo.jpg

Looking to continue a steady, if slight, progression toward perfection:

• 2010: 67-29
• 2011: 76-21
• 2012: 77-20

Check in every Thursday morning for the wisdom.

[winners in bold]

THURSDAY
Akron at UCF
Towson at UConn
Rutgers at Fresno State

FRIDAY
Texas Tech at SMU
Southern at Houston

SATURDAY
Temple at Notre Dame
McNeese State at USF
Purdue at Cincinnati

SUNDAY
Ohio at Louisville

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Recipe for Success

It has been a banner year for Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen and Hog & Hominy.

So far, the pair has been named two of the Best New Chefs of 2013 by Food & Wine, and their second restaurant, Hog & Hominy, was named one of GQ‘s Most Outstanding Restaurants of 2013 and one of the South’s Best New Restaurants by Southern Living. It also received a glowing review in The New York Times.

But 2013 isn’t over yet, and Ticer and Hudman aren’t finished racking up milestones. On September 3rd, their first cookbook, Collards & Carbonara: Southern Cooking, Italian Roots (The Olive Press), hits the stands. We sat down to find out more about the next big step for two of Memphis’ hottest chefs.

Memphis Flyer: You guys have been busy this year. How long has this cookbook been in the works?

Ticer: We were approached by Patti Clauss, the recruiter for Williams-Sonoma. She’d been to Andrew Michael a few times and liked what we were doing.

Hudman: They talked to us two years ago about doing a book. We were like, “Hell, yeah!” And then six months went by, and we didn’t hear anything.

Ticer: We kind of gave up on it. Then, a year later, they got in touch with us again, and we were like, “Hell, yeah! We’re ready to rock.” And they were like, “You’ve got a year to do it.”

Hudman: We had a year to do it, and we procrastinated for six months.

Ha! So, when it came time to sit down and work, how did you start culling your recipes?

Hudman: Originally, the book was just going to be the first five years at Andrew Michael. But then our editor, Jen Newens, came to Hog & Hominy and she [said], “No way. This has to be in the book.”

How even is the distribution of Andrew Michael recipes and Hog & Hominy recipes?

Ticer: Pretty even. Vegetables and desserts are pretty much from Hog & Hominy, the pastas are pretty much from Andrew Michael, the starters are from both, and the entrées are from Andrew Michael.

Hog & Hominy is more elevated casual food, whereas Andrew Michael is fine dining. Did you find it easy to mix the two styles in the book?

Ticer: Yeah, and we made it more approachable for cooking at home. We know it’s hard to cook restaurant food at home, so we definitely geared this toward the home kitchen.

Hudman: The book gives you different levels. There’s stuff that any novice cook can do, but there’s also a medium-level challenge, and then, at the end of the book, the tasting menu will let you flex your fancy-cooking muscles.

What’s next for you two? Do you plan on doing another book?

Hudman: There are a few other restaurants we want to do, a few other concepts. I swear, I think we could have two or three restaurants in the next three years. And then a butcher shop, for sure — a place where we can really showcase local farms and their products and the art of butchery. It’s something we’ve always wanted to do.

Ticer: As for [another] book, absolutely. We hope to start one this January.

Hudman: It’s been a cool experience. In five years, we’ll be able to look back at this snapshot of everything we’ve done up until this point.

Ticer: We might look back and think, What the hell were we thinking?

Hudman: Yeah. But what I love about this book is it’s more than just recipes. You can dive into what really makes us tick and things that inspire us.

Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman are hosting a release party for the book on September 3rd, at 5:30 p.m., at Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen and Hog & Hominy, featuring special guests Preston Van Winkle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbons and chefs John Currence, Tien Ho, Mike Lata, and Kelly English. Tickets to the event are $125 per person and include a signed copy of Collards & Carbonara, plus cocktails, wine, and food. Proceeds benefit the Southern Foodways Alliance. To purchase your ticket, call Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen at 347-3569.

There will be a booksigning for Collards & Carbonara at the Williams-Sonoma Germantown store, on Saturday, September 7th, at noon.

Collards & Carbonara is available for pre-order from Amazon.

Categories
Music Music Features

Carnival of Madness at Mud Island Amphitheatre

Hard-rock fans can rejoice in this five-band bill on Mud Island. The undercard includes We As Human, In This Moment, and Papa Roach, the latter of whom can claim one of the more enduring hits of the short-lived “nü-metal” era with the 2000 anthem “Last Resort.” But more interesting are the Memphis-connected bands at or near the top of the bill. Skillet was formed in Memphis in the mid-’90s by frontman and lone remaining original member John Cooper, and the band has become one of the biggest crossover success stories in contemporary Christian music. Now based in Wisconsin, Skillet was — as The New York Times noted earlier this summer — one of only three rock bands (along with the Black Keys and Mumford & Sons) to sell a million copies of an album last year. Headlining the show is the Florida-based Shinedown (pictured), which has navigated the ups-and-downs of commercial rock music over the past decade with much more grace and success than most of their cohort, selling more than six million albums over the course of the band’s run. The band’s local connection is in the form of hotshot Memphis guitarist Zach Myers, who still resides in the Bluff City — and can be found cheering on the Grizzlies from FedExForum floor seats when the band’s not on tour. The Carnival of Madness tour lands at the Mud Island Amphitheatre on Wednesday, September 4th. Gates open at 5 p.m. General admission tickets are $62.

Categories
Art Art Feature

In the Picture

CREDIT: Tommy Kha

Memphis-born and Memphis College of Art-trained, artist Tommy Kha is fresh out of Yale with an MFA in photography and is making waves in the New York art world.

The past months for Kha have included group shows at Chelsea’s Aperture Gallery (“Shannon”) and Brooklyn’s Signal Gallery (“Blog, Re-Blog”). He is slated to be in the upcoming exhibition “Ego,” at Chicago’s Zhou B Art Center, as well as Miranda July’s project “We Think Alone.”

For “Blog, Re-Blog,” 100 photographers selected the work of another 100 photographers in order to invoke a sense of viral “sharing.” Kha was selected by up-and-coming photographer Bridget Collins, whose clean-hewn environmental work provides an interesting contrast to Kha’s dense portraiture.  

Collins chose Unity, a photograph of Kha’s in which a young, Asian woman, carefully made up, lies stomach down on a poster. The woman’s parted lips and glassy eyes exactly mirror those of the model on the poster. Both the model and her imitator gaze placidly at a point in the distance. This photo is from Kha’s most recent series, “A Real Imitation,” work that builds upon his previous collection, “This Graceland.”

As might be guessed from its “Graceland” title, Kha’s photography is largely set in Memphis. It takes place in the back rooms and storefronts of the city. Kha’s subjects pose amid flaking wallpaper and broken air-conditioning units. They wear maroon bathrobes in rooms full of packed boxes. These photographs seem drawn from a lost era, given that those “lost eras” never really existed but are the stuff of film and fiction. Kha’s scenes are cinematic: dramatically lit, pale, feathery, contrastive, or stark as needed.

But Kha is no nostalgia artist; he is a portrait photographer with a critical lens. His subjects seem to be in a lost world — an old Memphis — but they are not quite of it. Often, they gaze off into the distance, past their location and past the camera itself. They look into the source of the light.

Kha is well-versed in light. He cites William Eggleston as an influence, as well as German photographer Wolfgang Tillman, whose works include a retrospective simply called “Lighter.” When Kha moved from Memphis to go to Yale, he studied under Philip-Lorca diCorcia, the preeminent contemporary photographer and progenitor of the “staged” photograph. DiCorcia is a master of the scenographic photo, a feat that depends heavily on manipulated lighting.

Kha’s photographs show this education, as well as something of his own past growing up in a Memphis of neon lounge lights and white lace curtains. He says that even when making work outside of Memphis, he has been schooled in the South’s “visual cues.”

These cues have led him to make work that not only pays material tribute to Memphis (in the form of a wrought-iron window grate here or a canary-yellow chair there) but that heeds a Southern awareness of race, gender, class, and appearance. Kha’s early works, “Return to Sender,” “American Knees,” and “What’s My Line?” all directly address race.

For the “Return to Sender” series, Kha asked strangers to kiss him while he refused to kiss back. Besides being visually arresting photography, “Return to Sender” makes a clear point about perceptions of Asian men as passive sexually. For “American Knees,” Kha dresses up in yellow face. For “What’s My Line?,” he assumes costumes of different stereotypically appropriate careers for a young man of Asian heritage.

Kha credits photographer Diane Arbus with teaching him about “distinct levels of difference.” Where, in earlier work, Kha took up a more direct conversation about identity, his recent photography has a layering that is both visually literal and critically thorough. It is also mysterious, a quality that Kha uses to high effect.

Difference, in the “A Real Imitation” series, is played out through mirroring. Kha uses his adept sense of light to focus on one of light’s most salient effects: reflection. In the black of old TV screens, in aluminum foil, in windows and in mirrors, Kha’s subjects are subtly reflected. Or else they stand with someone else who is both a reflection and a grotesquerie of a reflection, as in one photo, where Kha (his own subject) stands half-naked next to a man several feet taller than him. They hold hands. They both wear black socks. They don’t look at each other.

The conversation on bodies, race, and sexuality is unavoidable in Kha’s work. The work is clearly about difference. But it is also about the subjects of difference. It is left for the viewer to ask what role the portrayed play in the world they inhabit.

tommykha.com

Categories
Cover Feature News

Crouching Tigers

The University of Memphis football team is on a three-game winning streak. So what if this season’s opener (September 7th, 3:30 p.m. at the Liberty Bowl against Duke) takes place 287 days after the Tigers’ drubbing of Southern Miss to conclude the 2012 season? This is a program that’s enjoyed a total of nine such streaks over the last 18 years. (The number of four-game winning streaks over the same period? Two.) Supporters of Memphis football will count winning streaks wherever and whenever they can find them.

Having taken over what he calls, in hindsight, a “broken group” after the 2011 season (the Tigers finished 2-10 that year under Larry Porter), head coach Justin Fuente sees indications that a philosophy emphasizing group over individual has begun to take hold and that Tiger football just may be on a path toward collective and community pride that will make three-game winning streaks seem incidental.

“It wasn’t in good shape when we got here,” Fuente says. “We’re making progress daily in getting it straightened out. For me, it’s been about the fundamental concepts of what a team is and to build those from the ground up. The kids had been through a lot. It’s been enjoyable to see us display, at times, those characteristics of loyalty and trust and determination and toughness and accountability. Because there was very little of it to start with.”

Fuente actually feels like an important corner was turned last November 3rd during a game at Marshall, one the Tigers would lose (and a week before the winning streak began). “We weren’t playing well in the first half,” Fuente recalls. “Our staff really got after the defense at halftime. But they came out and responded the wrong way; didn’t play well. So I pulled them over to the sideline and basically said, enough. I don’t think they believed they could win the game.

“We proceeded to make a few plays, faked a punt and ran it down to the two-yard line. Big momentum shifts. All of a sudden, we have a chance to win the game late. Now it’s like, okay, we can win. I think they finally understood that they could do it, but they had to do it together. They had to put each other in front of themselves. Over the last four weeks, our team played together, got some things done, and won some ball games.”

In learning his role as the man atop a rebuilding football program, Fuente has focused as much on training his players between the ears as in the weight room or on the practice field. “We let them know what they’d done in the past wasn’t acceptable,” he says, “but without crushing them, trying to build some self-confidence. Doing those two things at the same time was interesting. It had nothing to do with cover two or zone blitzes. That was secondary to the work we’ve had to do from a mental standpoint.

“My message to them is that they have to raise their level of expectations for themselves. We have humongous strides left to make. Their definition of what is good is different than mine. Just not being terrible is not what we’re shooting for.”

Early in his first year at the helm, Fuente recognized an eagerness for his new brand of discipline and organization. He’s a list guy, charting priorities on a daily basis, while knowing no list of duties is ever complete in his line of work. “[Our players] are getting some comfort levels for where the lines are,” he says. “I try to make it clear when we’re at work how we interact, and when we’re not at work how we interact. But those boundaries are redefined with every interaction. There really is a yearning for discipline, a yearning to be a part of something, a desire to please. The guys who didn’t want to do what we asked them to do … they’re not here.”

Junior cornerback Bobby McCain started nine games as a freshman under Coach Larry Porter in 2011, then started all 12 games last season. He’s again a member of Fuente’s leadership council, a select group of players tasked with bridging the gap between student-athletes and coaches. And he’s not shy in drawing a distinction between the Tiger program before Fuente arrived and since.

“We’re more of a family,” McCain says. “The vibe on the team is different. You could tell things were coming together [during last year’s winning streak], both offensively and defensively. [Coach Fuente] brought more discipline: going to class, nightlife. If you’re not getting your grades, you’re not playing. We didn’t really have that before. When you’re accountable to each other, you’re accountable to yourself.”

Adds senior center Antonio Foster, “[Coach Fuente] stressed team first. We trust the system he’s brought to the table. Usually, head coaches don’t really hang around the players. But he’s a player’s coach. He wants to know how we’re doing. He’s concerned about us.”

The Tiger offense improved dramatically in 2012 under Fuente, averaging 318.3 yards per game (up from 274.2 in 2011). Better yet, the running game helped Memphis control the ball for lengthier, more productive drives, averaging 151.7 yards per game, almost twice the figure before Fuente’s arrival (84.0).

The face of the offensive turnaround may actually be that of Foster. Five games into his first season as a Tiger, the Georgia native switched from right guard to the most demanding position on the offensive line. Which is right about when the program began a turnaround that culminated in the season-ending winning streak.

“Being a part of Coach Fuente’s offense, you have to get used to the plays,” Foster says. “We had a better understanding late in the season. It’s a big mix [of run and pass plays]. It depends on what’s working at the time. If something’s going good, we’ll stick with it.”

Says Fuente, “There will be a young influx of skill players [on offense] who will have an opportunity to contribute, and early. We have legitimate competition now at the skill spots. Seven tailbacks, four of them freshmen and one a sophomore. Some of these young guys are going to get on the field. That’s our challenge, and it’s also exciting. Last year, it was just getting guys who would work hard and have a good attitude. Now, it’s legitimate competition, and not just to play, but to play well.”

Fuente surprised some followers of the program by naming redshirt-freshman Paxton Lynch the team’s starting quarterback on August 17th, a full three weeks before the opener. If Lynch retains the job throughout the season, he’ll be the seventh Tiger quarterback in seven years (dating back to Martin Hankins’ final season in 2007). “I was encouraged by Paxton’s development in the spring,” says Fuente, who also noted the strength of Lynch’s supporting cast. “Eric [Mathews] throws the ball better than anyone gives him credit for. And Jacob [Karam] was solid as well [in the spring]. The guy that makes the most plays is going to play.”

Karam may not have the physical tools of the taller, faster Lynch, but his ability to control — and retain — the football is the first asset for any signal-caller. Karam threw 14 touchdown passes a year ago and only three interceptions among his 274 attempts (the fewest by a Tiger passing leader in 26 years).

Says Foster, “Paxton always has a smile on his face. But he’s fast, has those long strides. And he’s an accurate thrower. He’ll be a great player for us.”

Among Lynch’s targets will be a pair of first-year speedsters — Mose Frazier and Joe Craig — and sophomore tight end Alan Cross, a candidate for all-conference honors. Tailbacks Brandon Hayes and Jai Steib (both seniors) return but will compete for playing time with sophomore Carl Harris and four freshmen.

It’s on defense — particularly the defensive line — where the Tigers may prove to be most hazardous to an opponent’s health. Four upperclassmen — each with at least six starts under his belt — will anchor the Memphis D: ends Corey Jones and Martin Ifedi and tackles Terry Redden and Johnnie Farms. Two more veterans will man linebacker positions: junior Charles Harris and senior Anthony Brown.

Fuente likes the familiar faces but wants to count more faces of impact on his defense, experienced or otherwise. “Bobby McCain has been really solid for us at corner,” the coach says, “and Andrew Gaines has stepped up at corner. Bakari Hollier is in the mix. But we need a fourth [cornerback]. We’ve had three pretty good guys at safety, but we need a fourth. We’re still trying to grow the team from the bottom up. We have more mature bodies on defense, but it’s the guys behind them that we have to develop.”

Among the mature bodies on defense is that of Harris, a graduate of Whitehaven High School who led the Tigers with 79 tackles a year ago. (Harris was named to the Tiger Academic 30 in the spring of 2012, having achieved one of the top 30 GPAs among student-athletes at the school.) Harris cites the strength of the linemen in front of him and the speed of the defensive backs behind him as components that could make this year’s unit special.

“We will be one of the better-conditioned teams in the league,” Harris says. “It will be a mindset thing: dominate practice. If we go as hard as we can on every play, in every practice, then we know it will carry over into games. With the effort also comes discipline. And we have to be disciplined on our side of the ball, everyone working as a unit. Trust that the next guy will do his job.”

Harris is convinced the Tiger defense is gaining in an area that has been glaringly weak over recent years. “We practice fast,” Harris says. “We run fast. We do everything we have to do to maintain our speed. And we gain the right weight, so it won’t slow us down. Overall, our team has gotten faster.”

Ask Fuente if his special teams can win a game or two, and he has a quick retort: “You can certainly lose games on special teams.”

McCain — who had a 95-yard kickoff return against Duke last season — and senior punter Tom Hornsey have received preseason all-conference attention. Hornsey has the somewhat dubious distinction of being the first Memphis punter to accumulate 10,000 yards in his career. But he remains an asset for Fuente and, if you ask the coach, a weapon: “Tom Hornsey is as versatile a punter as anyone I’ve been around,” Fuente says. “He can rugby. He executed a fake. He can red-zone punt as well as anyone. He’s unflappable. He’s a real football player.”

Offense, defense, special teams — they blend into one as soon as a football season kicks off. How well the various units blend for the 2013 Memphis Tigers will determine just how cherished (or how quickly forgotten) the memories of a 4-8 season will be. Justin Fuente, for one, is measuring progress beyond wins and losses.

“The biggest mistake coaches make,” Fuente says, “is when they win and praise their team, but shouldn’t, or lose and get all over them when they shouldn’t.

“I like our team if we can get them together. It’s a huge roster. You’ve got guys who like each other and guys who don’t like each other, guys from rich backgrounds and guys from poor backgrounds. From close [to Memphis] and from far away. Can we play as a team like we did near the end of last season? Can the old guys hold the rope? We need to bring the young guys along. Can we come together as a group? It sounds easy.”

Nothing comes easy for the Memphis Tiger football program. It never has.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Hard Truth

In Memphis, there have been 96 homicides so far this year. Of that number, 88 of the victims and 75 of the known suspects have been black.

Although there’s no concrete reason for the bulk of the city’s homicides involving both black perpetrators and victims, criminologist Richard Janikowski said high poverty and low-income rates among black communities are significant factors to consider.

Janikowski also highlighted Memphis’ majority-black population as another potential reason.

“A culture of violence tends to build up in high-poverty, socially disorganized neighborhoods,” Janikowski said. “It’s not that poverty causes crime or causes homicide, but poverty does create certain effects. Kids growing up in neighborhoods that have high rates of violence have a much higher risk of becoming violent offenders later. That whole culture of violence begins to encourage things like high homicide rates, high rates of shootings, and aggravated assaults.”

A report conducted by the MPD’s Crime Analysis Unit disclosed that blacks have committed 85 percent of the homicides that have taken place this year.

“Data reveals that offenses are being committed among race lines,” said MPD spokesperson Karen Rudolph. “In black communities, you will find a black suspect/black victim correlation while in white communities, you will find that the majority of crimes have a white suspect/white victim correlation.”

In addition to black-on-black homicides, three black suspects have been charged with the murders of three Hispanic victims. And another three black suspects have been charged with the murders of three white victims.

Aside from black victims and perpetrators, three white suspects have been charged with the murder of three black victims. Three white suspects have been charged with the murder of three white victims. One Hispanic suspect has been charged with the murder of one white victim. Sixteen of the homicide cases this year currently lack a suspect.

Among the black-on-black homicides is the murder of 16-year-old Quinton Wallace. On June 29th, Wallace was found lying unresponsive in a driveway after he’d been shot. Wallace was involved in an exchange of gunfire with a group of males when he was struck. Sixteen-year-old Marcus Goodman was charged with the shooting.

Another black-on-black homicide involved 30-year-old Pamela Green, who shot and killed 66-year-old Jerry Nelson on June 22nd. She also shot Nelson’s 21-year-old nephew, who survived. A motive for the shootings remains unknown.

One white-on-white homicide this year involved 54-year-old Patrick Spencer, who shot and killed his 49-year-old wife, Lisa Spencer. The shooting took place after an argument turned physical.

To lower the number of homicides as a whole, programs like Mayor A C Wharton’s Memphis Gun Down project have been implemented. The plan seeks to reduce youth gun violence by 10 percent citywide and by 20 percent in areas of Frayser and South Memphis by September 2014.

“In the areas where Memphis Gun Down has been deployed, we have seen that the rate of violent crime has been reduced,” said Doug McGowen, director of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team. “We don’t profess to have all of the answers. There’s lots of people in the community who are doing great work around this specific issue, and we would like everyone to join in.”

Categories
Editorial Opinion

General-ly Speaking

In our issue of two weeks ago, the Flyer reported the news (Politics, August 8th) that Tennessee’s chief legal officer, state Attorney General Robert Cooper, has associated the state with the U.S. Department of Justice, a handful of other states, and the District of Columbia in an antitrust action seeking to block the proposed merger of American Airlines and U.S. Airways.

Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper

In the same article, we also noted that at least two efforts are afoot in the Tennessee legislature to alter the way in which the state’s attorney general is appointed. One of those would transfer the appointive power from the state Supreme Court, where it now exists, to the legislature itself. The other, by Germantown’s GOP state senator Brian Kelsey, would confer that authority upon the electorate at large.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Cooper disapproved of both initiatives in an address Tuesday to a luncheon meeting of the Memphis Rotary Club at the University Club. Cooper noted that the alternative modes under consideration invited more direct entanglement with politics per se than does Tennessee’s method. As he pointed out, the system of direct election prevails in all the states surrounding Tennessee, and in all of those states the position of attorney general is so pointedly regarded as a stepping stone to higher office that the initials “A.G.” might as well stand for “aspiring governor.”

(For direct evidence of that, Arkansas is perhaps the best example. Virtually every attorney general in that state’s history has sought the governorship, and many have achieved it ­— notably one Bill Clinton, who famously went even further in politics, to the presidency of the United States.)

Cooper told the Rotarians that he relishes being able to provide unbiased legal advice to Tennessee’s legislative and executive branches without any political obligations, actual or implied, to either.

And, as he reprised some of the fruits of that advice to the Rotarians, members of his audience might have experienced a sense of gratitude as well. He pointed with pride to several distinct actions of his office:

• A task force on “mortgage rescue” scams that brought the perpetrators of that particular racket to heel in the wake of the 2007 financial downturn and returned some $200 million to defrauded individuals in the state;

• Direct action by another task force against hothouse firms guilty of TennCare-provider fraud, retrieving $160 million for the state coffers;

• Environmental enforcement actions against careless and/or shady developers whose actions were causing extensive pollution damage;

• His actions in the recent airline merger case, which, as he noted, could have particularly beneficial results for Memphians, already faced with rising fares and diminishing flights ­— circumstances owing much to the squeeze on competition produced by previous mergers.

Cooper did not mention, but might have, his willingness to take controversial decisions, as when he found one law enabling municipal school systems unconstitutional, thereby forcing the legislature to enact another one that was conspicuously more equitable; or when he ruled against wholesale changes to the state annexation law of 1968.

All things considered, we have to agree with Cooper, who opined that, in his view, it was the other states that should pattern their mode of appointing an attorney general after Tennessee, “not the other way around.”

Categories
Music Music Features

Reborn Trippy

CREDIT: Musashi Ono

For Memphis rap pioneers Three 6 Mafia, it was a long road to the top and a short stay. First formed in 1991, the group — led by the core duo of Juicy J and DJ Paul — built a regional empire the hard way, selling CDs out of proverbial car trunks before partnering with local indie distributor Select-O-Hits to branch out further.

By 2005, though, more than a decade of real-life hustle and flow finally paid off in a major way, with the Sony-released album Most Known Unknown topping both the rap and R&B album charts and a career-best single — the epic, nearly elegant “Stay Fly” — becoming the band’s most commercially and critically successful recording.

The following spring, the group found themselves the improbable owners, each, of a little gold statue named Oscar, winning Academy Awards for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” from Memphis filmmaker Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow.

But what felt like a breakthrough at the time was soon revealed to be a culmination instead. The band swiftly traded in on their celebrity over their art, starring in the short-lived MTV reality series Adventures in HollyHood, and didn’t release a follow-up to Most Known Unknown until 2008’s Last 2 Walk, which, starting out quick but falling off just as quickly, broke a four-album streak of gold or platinum album sales. A long-rumored next album, Laws of Power, remains unreleased.

But a funny thing happened on the way back down: Co-founder Juicy J, who, like others in the group, had long moonlighted as a solo artist in mixtape and indie form, found himself with both a grassroots hit in the form of the strip-club anthem “Bandz a Make Her Dance” and a fruitful new collaborator in the form of younger breakout rapper Wiz Khalifa, who later made Juicy J a partner in his Taylor Gang imprint.

In the youth-oriented world of commercial hip-hop, artists aren’t supposed to reinvent themselves, win over new fans, and find new levels of popularity more than 20 years into a career. But Juicy J, whose major-label solo debut, Stay Trippy, was released via Columbia Records on August 27th, is living proof that it can happen.

“It’s a blessing, man,” Juicy J says of his journey, initial humility morphing into well-earned pride. “It’s hard to stay in this game. It’s one minute you’re hot, the next minute you’re not. To be an OG from then to now that’s still moving forward, almost like a brand-new artist, is huge. You can’t count many rappers that have done that.”

This solo reinvention was not by design.

“It wasn’t planned. I didn’t expect it. I was just doing mixtapes,” Juicy J says by phone from Pittsburgh, where he was airport-bound to make a Las Vegas show. “I just never gave up. I felt like I still had so many songs in me that people needed to hear, so I just kept working. Then, all of a sudden, my name started getting out. People started noticing and paying attention.”

Unlike most rappers who build an online following to attract label attention, Juicy J was already signed to Columbia, but being signed to a major and having them actually release an album are two very different things, as too many local rappers can attest.

“I already had a deal, but they weren’t really pushing the song at first,” Juicy J says. “I put it out online for free. Gave it to the fans.”

It was the groundswell success of the single that got Columbia to refocus on an artist already in their stable.

“It’s harder now. You have to have a little bit of buzz going on for yourself,” Juicy J says. “Columbia was watching me while I was making my mixtapes. It took a minute for them to call me, but they saw what I was doing. [They thought,] this guy has hustled his way back up and gotten his name back out there, and he’s still signed with us. So they were happy about that. Which is all good. It’s all business. They’re putting me in a lot of work right now and pushing my album, but nothing is ever going to be easy. I’m still grinding and still hustling.”

“Bandz” has been followed by singles “Show It,” “One of These Nights,” and the current “Bounce It,” which is smoother than “Bandz” and features a surer rap flow from Juicy J. Among the high-wattage guests on these songs and others on Stay Trippy are rappers Wale, Young Jeezy, and Lil Wayne, R&B stars Trey Songz and Chris Brown, and hometown pop superstar Justin Timberlake. While the album has an illicit vibe, the violence that laced Three 6 Mafia’s music has mostly been exchanged for more realistic and perhaps more widely relatable vices in the form of drugs and strippers, as the album’s title and its smash single suggest.

“I think my solo stuff is a little different but with the same feel,” Juicy J says of the contrast. “We’re not living in 2002 or 1998 anymore. Back then, it was a different kind of grind. But when you hear the album, you can still hear the Three 6 sound, but it’s more polished and mixed with the new. It’s relevant but still has a feel of back-in-the-day.”

The evolution has opened up Juicy J’s music to a whole new audience.

“I’ve still got the old fans, but I have new fans now that don’t know nothing about Three 6,” says Juicy J, who says he’s maintained a primary residence in Memphis. “Some of them have probably never even heard of [the group]. They don’t even know about my past.”

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Bouquets!

I am happy that I am in America when the whole nation is remembering the March on Washington in August 1963. John Branston’s column (City Beat, August 22nd issue) inspired me by detailing the 10 demands of the organizers and how it set the agenda for civil rights leaders of this great country to help the oppressed and the suppressed.

It is similar to the great Dandi March taken under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation. It inspires the Indian nation even now and will be remembered for many years to come. The March on Washington will also be remembered forever. As an Indian, I am becoming emotional knowing that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. followed the Gandhian approach and became a martyr for a great cause.

Bouquets to the Memphis Flyer and the esteemed Mr. Branston for publishing this excellent story.

Chandra Das

Memphis

The Constitutional Party

For decades, both major political parties have refused to uphold our Constitution, to protect our borders, to stop generational theft, or protect the lives of the unborn. Both major parties have squandered our heritage, threatened our liberty, waged unconstitutional wars, and violated our Bill of Rights that they are sworn to protect. The terrible price we will pay for reelecting those who violate our Constitution is our freedom.

For the past 80 years, government has grown larger and more intrusive through every single administration, both Republican and Democrat. In reality, we have two parties of big government, and they are hardly distinguishable from each other. To restore America, we must return to constitutional government and our founding principles. It is time that we who love our country abandon both major parties that have so clearly failed us. The Constitution Party is driven by its membership, not by politicians, and is dedicated to life, liberty, and constitutionally limited government.

Reading the seven principles and party platform is like a breath of fresh air. Read these at constitutionpartyoftennessee.com. The Constitution Party is the third-largest and fastest-growing political party in America, and we’re organizing county by county in Tennessee. It is time that we do what we wish our elected officials would do: vote principles over politics. One thing is for sure. If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll keep getting what we’ve been getting. Become part of the Constitution Party and become part of our effort to restore America.

David Nance

Trenton, Tennessee

 

Wake-Up Call?

Another one of us — a Memphian — lost a life this past month. A young man walking downtown, felled by a bullet. Consequently, there was a flurry of cop cars roaming the perimeter of the downtown farmers market last Saturday morning. It was like that scene in Jaws where, after the horrific shark attack, they decided to open the beaches anyway. Security forces nervously perusing the area, half expecting something to happen, half not. 

Maybe this is a wake-up call — when someone from the “other side” crosses over into the “green zone” and the denizens get aroused. Maybe we should be less ostracizing and more aware of other parts and people of the city. This is happening to a small degree, but I feel we aren’t really going to grow until we realize we truly are one Memphis.

Ian Hunter

Memphis

Egypt

More than two and a half years ago, we watched as Egypt struggled for her freedom from former President Hosni Mubarak. We shared in their joy when he left power, and we became excited about the country’s first democratic elections.

Sadly, the understanding of democracy has not caught up with the mechanism of democracy. Yes, indeed, there was a vote and candidates won with a majority, but I don’t think anyone in Egypt fully comprehended the responsibilities that are required of a democratically elected form of government. Winning an election does not constitute the acquisition of dictatorial power. It requires that those elected serve all the people and not just those who supported them.

I am hopeful that once the violent protests recede, the election process can begin again, with those newly elected officials having learned a lesson from this first-time fiasco. The Muslim Brotherhood needs to understand that compromise for the public good is not necessarily a compromise of one’s religious beliefs. The Egyptian people must demonstrate to the world that whether you are secular or Islamist, Christian or Muslim, it is more important for all to live in peace and have equal opportunity than for a chosen few to rule in support of one faction.

C.L. Charles

Memphis