Kevin Lipe takes the reins of the Flyer’s Beyond the Arc Griz column today. Read it here.
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Month: September 2013
I’d be lying if I said that the prospect of taking the reins of Beyond the Arc wasn’t a little intimidating. I’m not Chris Herrington, and it’d be foolish for me to try to be. Beyond the Arc is an important voice in the Grizzlies world. I’m humbled to be the guy chosen to take the reins, and it’s my intention to continue what I see as the tradition on Beyond the Arc: smart, level-headed writing about the Grizzlies, from the perspective of a guy who loves Memphis and loves NBA basketball.
A quick autobiographical blurb for everybody who isn’t familiar with my work over the last two seasons at SB Nation‘s Grizzly Bear Blues: I’m a native Memphian, and I’ve been a Grizzlies fan since they came to town. My literary tendencies are a little more Lester Bangs than beat writer. I once sold Brian Cardinal an iPod when I worked at the Apple Store. I think the NBA is a fascinating self-contained universe full of characters and possibilities that no other sport can offer, and I think the NBA and the vibe—the soul—of Memphis do fascinating, original things to each other when they collide.
Besides the obvious purposes of self-introduction, I think there’s an interesting parallel here: Beyond the Arc is filled with fresh faces, and so are the Grizzlies. New coach1. Almost completely new bench. An ownership group fresh off its first offseason in control of the team—and fresh on the heels of being ranked as the #1 franchise in all of pro sports by ESPN The Magazine. It’s sort of a weird situation, isn’t it? Last year was the most successful season in the history of the franchise, and yet now, four months later, everything is different and there are questions about all of it and everything is shrouded in mystery and uncertainty.
We’re going to find out a lot of things about these Grizzlies (and probably some things about ourselves as fans) over the course of the 2013-2014 season, and that finding-out process begins today at Media Day as the team prepares for its training camp in Nashville2.
Of course, it’s media day, not a Joni Mitchell record, so I’m not expecting any groundbreaking revelations. I’m expecting to hear that one player or another is “in the best shape of his career” and that each and every man on the roster “really worked hard this offseason to improve (some aspect of his game).” Maybe a player lost ten pounds of weight or added ten pounds of muscle. It’s always the same going into training camp: everybody is ready, everybody likes each other, everybody believes in the new coach, everybody is ready to make some noise this year and try to bring an honest-to-God NBA championship home to the (We Don’t) Bluff City for the first time.
Not to say that Media Day is pointless, but it’s not going to answer any of the real questions that surround the Grizzlies this season:
- Is Dave Joerger the right hire for the head coaching spot, and will he be able to manage the locker room as well as we know he can manage the X’s and O’s? When he says the Grizzlies are going to “pick up the pace” this year, what will that look like on the court?
- Is this Zach Randolph’s last season in a Grizzlies uniform, given the size of his contract and the shift of the offensive focus to the Mike Conley/Marc Gasol tandem? If so, will he be on the roster at the end of the season?
- Is the addition of Mike Miller enough to remedy the Grizzlies’ ongoing issues with outside shooting?
- Is Nick Calathes a viable NBA backup point guard?
- What, if anything, does Tayshaun Prince have left in the tank this season, and if it’s less than the front office is expecting, will they be able to move him?
- Is Ed Davis going to make the developmental leap the Grizzlies seem to be wanting him to make this year? He’s clearly an outlandishly talented player, but there’s a great deal of pressure on him this year to be the Grizzlies’ Power Forward Of The Future. Will he step up to the challenge?
Those are just some of the questions floating around the Grizz as they head into training camp. Everyone expects them to be good again this year, but it remains to be seen how good. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered before we really start to get a picture of who this team is, and how they’ll look on the floor. With a much-improved bench, they’re clearly in a position to improve on last year’s success, but the Western Conference has gotten better around them, and the race for the top spots is going to be tighter than ever.
In short, things are going to be different, both here at Beyond the Arc and down on Beale St. at the Grindhouse. No matter what the outcome, it’s going to be an interesting season, no doubt about it. I hope you’ll be along for the ride.
- I can’t help but think that whatever nerves I have about taking over one of the best sources of Grizzlies coverage in all the land, they pale in comparison to what it must be like to be right on the cusp of one’s very first training camp as an NBA head coach. I don’t doubt that Joerger is well-equipped for his new gig with the Grizzlies, but I’d be willing to bet he wakes up with butterflies in his stomach Tuesday morning before camp starts. ↩
- Insert obligatory Neely’s “What about Nash-veal?” joke. People are still making those jokes, right? ↩
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The Art of Science … and More
Eileen Townsend catches you up on all the latest happenings on the Memphis art scene.
The Memphis Symphony’s Opus One series plays the Levitt Shell Saturday, with Stax artist John Gary Williams and the Bo-Keys.
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Gonerfest Photo “Contest”
Joe Boone is looking for your best Gonerfest pictures. Here’s how to submit your Instagram shots.
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Harold Ford Opens New Funeral Business
John Branston toured Harold Ford’s new funeral home and says the old warhorse isn’t ready to retire yet.
[slideshow-1]
Okay, now it’s y’all’s turn.
It has been more than 30 years since there were more Fords in the funeral business than in the politics business.
But that’s the case now that former congressman Harold Ford Sr., godfather of the most politically powerful family in Tennessee including his son, former congressman Harold Ford Jr., is opening Serenity Columbarium and Memorial Garden. The first phase, the Harold Ford Funeral Chapel, was the site of Friday’s open house. The facility will employ approximately 100 people when completed.
The site is on Sycamore View in northeast Memphis between Interstate 40 and Summer Avenue. Ford bought it from Belz Enterprises and plans to expand beyond the present “Harold Ford Chapel” into additional new buildings on the property.
A columbarium is a place where ashes are stored in small “niches” for those who choose cremation instead of burial. Cremation generally costs less than half as much as burial but was slow to gain acceptance in Memphis and the South. Ford said 42-44 percent of people choose cremation today, compared to less than one percent when he started in the business as a college student 50 years ago.
“I don’t think it was accepted at all,” said Ford, 68, looking fit and healthy with more gray in his short hair than in his congressional days.
He plans to live in Memphis three or four days a week and spend the rest of his time at his home in Florida or opening some 15 other new Serenity facilities in Chicago, Atlanta, and other cities. They are not part of the big public companies that dominate the industry.
He plans to get out of lobbying in the next year or so.
“I’m not ready to go sit on the beach every day,” he said. Asked if he misses politics, he said “I’m around it every day,” but he did not plan to attend the Democratic Party roast for former Mayor Willie Herenton this weekend due to previous commitments.
“It’s harder to get in and out of Memphis now because of the flight cutbacks,” he said.
For nearly three decades, the Ford family boasted, at the same time, an influential member of Congress (Harold Sr. or Harold Jr.), the Tennessee General Assembly (Senator John Ford and Ophelia Ford), the Memphis City Council (James, Joe, Edmund Sr. and Edmund Jr.,) and the Shelby County Commission (James and Joe). Only Ophelia Ford, Edmund Ford Jr., and Justin Ford (son of Joe Ford) are currently in politics.
When the documentary-styled crime drama Snow On Tha Bluff was released last year, viewers received a vivid account of what it’s like to walk in the shoes of Curtis Snow, a west Atlanta street hustler and robber.
What’s real and what’s fake is difficult to decipher in the film, making it enthralling to some viewers and bothersome to others. Some hearts were touched, some tempters were ignited, but, if nothing else, a conversation was created about the occurrences going on within the Bluff, a notorious neighborhood minutes from Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
For more than an hour, a stolen video camera captures several capers and drug transactions committed by Snow and his comrades in the film. The karma that comes as a result of the dealings is unfortunate but not a surprise to those familiar with the street lifestyle.
Although the film is based in Atlanta, it’s a candid depiction of the struggles that are prevalent in many underprivileged communities across the globe. And Snow is just one example of the countless souls plagued with the trials and temptations that come with residing in an impoverished community.
Taking a momentary step away from film, Snow is trying his hand at the literary realm with his book “My Name Is Curtis Snow And I’m A G.” An autobiography of his life, primarily over the last few years, Snow discloses some of the trials he’s overcome to readers in a raw but sincere fashion.
Despite experimenting with literature, Snow still has a strong passion for film. He’s currently prepping the release of Snow On Tha Bluff 2. He’s also collaborating with DGK Clothing to release a line of t-shirts and skateboards.
Snow talked to me about his new book, how his life has changed since the release of Snow On Tha Bluff, the film’s upcoming sequel, if he’s worried about negatively affecting the youth, and much more.
To check out the interview click here
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Our Own Voice is best known for producing original, often experimental plays that explore topics related to mental health and healthcare, although the tenacious company occasionally branches out to tackle other subjects. At first glance, a production of Cormac McCarthy’s Sunset Limited seems like a major departure from business as usual. But in many ways it’s a perfect fit.
McCarthy’s play-like novel is a dramatic dialogue between an educated, cynical white man who tried to kill himself and the happy God-fearing black man who saved him once but can’t keep saving him. It is, in a fairly literal sense, the condition of depression having a conversation with itself: knowing that there are coping mechanisms, and things that get other people through the day, and not being able to use that knowledge in any way.
As a piece of theater SL is problematic. It’s more angst than action and too parochial to owe much to Beckett. The New York Times’ Jason Zinoman got it about right when he described the work as, “ A poem in celebration of death.”
For now my issues with theatricality are being overwhelmed by my excitement about experiencing McCarthy’s rich language as performed—or read at least— by two of Memphis’ finest: Ron Gephart and TC Sharpe.
A staged reading of Sunset Limited, directed by Chad Allen Barton opens September 27 and runs through October 12.
Treating Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark drama A Raisin in the Sun like a prequel in order to explore modern attitudes toward integration and gentrification is brilliant. And that’s exactly what happens in Clybourne Park, Bruce Norris’ Pulitzer-winning drama that’s receiving its regional premiere at Playhouse on the Square this week under the direction of Stephen Hancock.
You don’t have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Raisin to appreciate this show, but it helps. Clybourn Park opens with scenes that occur just before the opening of Hansberry’s play, then moves us 50-years into the future. The once all-white neighborhood pioneered by the African-American Younger family is now primarily black… but gentrifying.
Hancock has assembled a cast of heavy hitters: Michael Gravois, Mary Buchignani, John Maness, and Claire Kolheim, fresh from her big Ostrander wins for The Color Purple.
Dates and ticket information, here.