Month: September 2013

Ironic Shirt Issue Arises

Post author By Joey Hack
Post date September 4, 2013

Choose 901, an organization that “promotes Memphis as the premiere city in the country for someone to invest and enjoy their life,” postponed an event that will now be held this Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Republic Coffee. The event, created so people could pick up t- shirts they had ordered from the Choose 901 website, was rescheduled due to a problem with the out-of-state t-shirt supplier.

Apparently, somebody didn’t choose 901.

A post that has since been removed from the Choose 901 website said the group would use local suppliers in the future.

Joey Hack is a member of the Wiseguys Improv troupe and a regular contributor to Fly on the Wall.

Curator’s note: The original photo used to promote Choose 901’s pickup party has been removed at the site owner’s request. In its place is a screenshot of the Facebook event announcement using the same photo—Chris Davis

Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Judging the Cochon Heritage BBQ

Post author By Stacey Greenberg
Post date September 4, 2013

Last Friday I attended the second annual Cochon Heritage BBQ contest at Beale Street Landing. I got a last-minute invite to judge, so I arrived at 3:30 p.m.

Three of the six teams were serving inside and the other three were outside. In addition to the BBQ, there were copious amounts of free alcohol, including Four Roses Bourbon, Anchor Steam Beer, and Crispin Cider. There were some local bartenders (Hi, Evan!) mixing cocktails, a really nice cheese bar, and a band. Basically, all the makings for a good time.

I wasted no time and got a bourbon straight away.

Judging didn’t officially start, so we had some time to mingle. Jill and Keith Forrester were on hand. Keith was helping Jackson Kramer, leading the team from Interim, plate and serve, and he had also whipped up some watermelon moonshine for the occasion.

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I went over to check on the Central BBQ team, and they were having a blast and feeling very confident.

Brady Lowe, the event creator, eventually gathered all 20 of us judges around and reviewed the criteria we would use to judge: flavor, technique, utilization, presentation, and my favorite, “pigginess.” Each team had to prepare six dishes—four meats (bone, muscle, pull, stew) and two sides (mustard and mayo).

Finally, it was time to eat! First up was St. Jude’s Culinary team led by Miles McMath and Rick Farmer.

I loved their presentation, and it was great to know exactly what was what, and more specifically what was in what.

I actually loved the cold pork and beans the most.

Yes, I had my first ever “Wow, I am enjoying pickled pigs feet and ears” moment. I also really liked the pigs ear pasta. (Maybe I need to try one of those pig ear sliders afterall?)

I’ll be honest. I knew right away I was screwed. Everything was so tasty, I took way more than just a taste. I had five teams and 30 more dishes to go!

Next up were Chad Clevenger and Nick McCormick from Alma Cocina and TAP Gastropub in Atlanta.

My favorites here were the dumpling and the Cuban sandwich.

The sides were a little disappointing, but overall the food was stellar. They also had a little bonus for everyone. I wished I had brought my purse so I could take some home to my monkeys.

Next was Jackson Kramer of Interim. His menu looked great and he had several extras.

Awesome, right?

The moonshine was waaaaaaay to strong for me, but that little pressed pork confit was amazing.

After we finished Jackson’s food, we went outside and were instructed to drink some water, which was a very good call. After a short break, we bellied up to Travis Grimes‘ station. He is chef de cuisine at Husk Restaurant in Charleston. Here’s his menu.

And the food. I really liked the fried bologna and the corn fritters.

The pork rind was pretty nice too.

Finally, it was time to taste the Central BBQ team’s goodies.

I wasted no time popping the lard bon bon in my mouth. I wish I didn’t know there was lard in it, because I could have eaten 10!

I was really, really impressed. This was some amazing food. The guys did good! Most of the judges agreed that the Memphis Soul Stew needed to be added to the CBBQ menu.

Yum.

Last, but not least, was Ryan Trimm of Sweet Grass and Southward. He definitely had the best graphic designer.

I loved the corn dog and the skin pizza. There was also a lardtastic root beer float that you can almost see at the top left next to my lemonade moonshine that I decided to carry around with me for an hour.

I’m telling you, judging this contest was a true feat and a real test of my eating ability. I really don’t know how I did it, and I don’t know that I could do it again. I definitely don’t have enough self-restraint. I have a new-found appreciation for Padma and Gail.

Anyways, you want to know who won, right? The winner was Husk. Congrats to Travis Grimes on a well deserved victory.

Cochon is coming back next year, so mark your calendars for August 16, 2014.

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News News Blog

Kerry Crawford Says Goodbye to “I Love Memphis” Blog

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date September 4, 2013

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks
Kerry Crawford

She gave you 365 things to do in Memphis (eat all the cheese at Bari, frolic in the Main Street Mall fountain) and at least 52 reasons to love the Bluff City (Tony Allen’s Twitter account, cheap parking). And she uncovered the secret Target on Colonial.

Now Memphis’ number one fan Kerry Crawford is leaving her post as “I Love Memphis” blogger and social media strategist at the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau effective September 30th. Crawford posted her goodbye announcement today. Here’s an excerpt:

When the CVB hired me as their social media specialist in August, 2009, I had no idea what I was doing. All I had was this idea for a website that featured all of the great, overlooked parts of Memphis — the parts that make this city so great. Four years later, it’s that, and so much more. This site has taken over my life, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Running I Love Memphis has been the most rewarding, challenging, intense and inspiring thing I’ve ever done. I had a really great time. The best time.

But it’s time for me to make room for other good things to happen. I have an amazing opportunity to work for myself, which is something I’ve wanted to do forever, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m going to be doing freelance digital content strategy, social media strategy, information architecture and user research. It sounds super nerdy, and I can’t wait to get started.

But the “I Love Memphis” blog isn’t going anywhere. After Crawford leaves, posting will be taken over by Holly Whitfield, former editorial director for Scripps Memphis Niche publications.

Tags I Love Memphis, Kerry Crawford

News

Dorsey Hopson and the New SCS Board

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date September 4, 2013

John Branston writes about the new Shelby County Schools superintendent and the new seven-member school board.

Opinion

Hopson and Pickler on New Board and Superintendent

Post author By John Branston
Post date September 4, 2013

Dorsey Hopson

If he has any qualms about being chosen as “permanent” Shelby County Schools superintendent by just 6 of the 23 board members he worked with for the last two years, Dorsey Hopson wasn’t talking about them Wednesday.

Asked if he could do a brief telephone interview, Hopson replied by email:

“I am deeply honored and humbled by the confidence that the board has shown in my leadership. We have so much work to do and I am excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity to lead and serve our community. We will have many challenges ahead but we will face them in a transparent and responsible way. I look forward to working with our board and the entire community.”

Hopson was legal counsel to Memphis City Schools under Dr. Kriner Cash and interim superintendent for a year. His contract details have yet to be worked out.

In its first meeting, the new “seven-member board” that is actually only six members until the seventh slot is filled, unanimously chose Hopson and told the superintendent search firm — which concluded after two months that a viable candidate could not be found given the uncertainty — the deal was done. One week ago the board had 23 members, and within a year it could have 13 members.

The ratio of students to board members in the county system is roughly 24,000-1.

David Pickler

The day after the superintendent selection, board member David Pickler was at a meeting of the National School Boards Association to discuss, among other things in the media announcement, “the lack of flexibility local public schools currently face.” He is president of the association.

Pickler said school boards in the association range in size from 3 to 23 members. He said the “ideal” size would be 5 to 9 members.

He said Hopson should have “at least a two-year contract and preferably three or four years.”

He said that if the suburbs leave the county system his district should still have representation on the county board because it includes parts of Cordova and the Southwind area that are not in Germantown. Pickler’s term ends September 1, 2014.

Tags David Pickler, Dorsey Hopson, merger, Shelby County Schools

Opinion The BruceV Blog

MGMT Promo Film

Post author By Bruce VanWyngarden
Post date September 4, 2013

What kind of a father would I be if I didn’t pimp the promo film for my son’s band’s new album. A bad father, that’s what.

MGMT Album Trailer from The Avant/Garde Diaries on Vimeo.

Opinion

Teacher Town

Post author By John Branston
Post date September 4, 2013

If University of Memphis president Brad Martin has anything to say about it — and he does — there will be a new optional high school on the campus in a year or two.

In a meeting with Mayor A C Wharton last week, Martin proposed a college prep school that would have a high entrance requirement and specialize in training future teachers. Such a school would complement the SCS Campus School for 330 grade 1-5 students and the University’s College of Education, Health, and Human Services, which Martin envisions becoming an all-honors college on the rigorous Teach For America model. Like private schools and charter schools, it would attract supplemental funding from philanthropists.

There is a need for such a school, and Martin is the person who can make it happen. He is on a one-year appointment as interim president of his alma mater. He was chairman and CEO of Saks Inc., served five terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives after he graduated from college, and runs a venture capital firm. Rich, politically savvy, and connected, he could do anything he wants, wherever he wants, and he wants to do this here.

The optional schools program in the former Memphis City Schools started 38 years ago and includes such schools-within-schools as White Station High School and Central High School. There are 44 optional schools in all, but the only all-optional school by academics — that means you have to make high grades and test scores to get in and stay there — is grades 1-8 John P. Freeman Optional School in Whitehaven.

Nashville has two academic magnet high schools that select students by test scores and a lottery. The former Shelby County Schools system does not have optional schools. The Hollis F. Price Middle College High School is a non-optional public school with 143 students on the campus of historically black LeMoyne-Owen College.

The former Memphis City Schools system is 93 percent minority and 95 percent Title 1 schools. That means they’re poor. The former Memphis school system is more segregated than the former Shelby County Schools system.

The labels can be confusing, and they get even more confusing when you throw in charter schools and Achievement Schools District “failing” schools, and private schools. All of this innovation is happening, of course, in the Year of the Big Change to the unified Shelby County Schools system, which is likely to disintegrate next year when the suburbs bolt.

Let’s time travel back to 1981 when a young, idealistic administrator at Memphis City Schools was setting the stage for a bold new school improvement program backed by the Ford Foundation. This is what he wrote.

“Surveys indicated that the private school parents perceive the Memphis City Schools as being unsafe, having poor discipline, and lacking an environment conducive to academic excellence. In addition, the chamber of commerce has cited difficulty in attracting new businesses and industries to Memphis because of the poor image of the public school system.”

When that was written, MCS was 76 percent minority enrollment. Now as then, most parents who live in Memphis and can afford it send their children to private schools or move to the suburbs.

Bike lanes, free concerts, pro sports, and trendy restaurants are nice, but parents of school-age children don’t buy a house because it’s near Local or the Greenline. What Memphis needs to repopulate the middle class and rebuild its tax base is public schools that can compete with private schools. If I were running a private school in Shelby County or starting a new suburban public school system, I would be thanking my stars every day that Memphis has defaulted so much.

Without the suburbs in the unified system, we’re back to the old “public” equals “poor” mindset. There are exceptions, however. Wharton has a grandchild at Idlewild Elementary School in Midtown, Superintendent Dorsey Hopson has a daughter at Idlewild, and school board members Billy Orgel, Dr. Jeff Warren, and Dr. Kenneth Whalum support Memphis public schools with their children as well as their rhetoric.

A high school on the U of M campus would give faculty members and staff another public school option for academic high-achievers who now go to private school. Enlist the experts. Do the graduation speech in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Arabic. Track down former Memphian Bob Compton, creator of the schools documentary Two Million Minutes, and hire him as a consultant.

That would be a magnet, and Brad Martin is the man to do it.

News

Deep Thoughts on Memphis Tiger Football

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date September 4, 2013

Frank Murtaugh is back for another season of “Three Thoughts About Tiger Football.” Here’s this week’s column.

Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

At the “Collards & Carbonara” Release Party

Post author By Paul Knipple
Post date September 4, 2013

Over 100 people turned out for Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman’s Collards & Carbonara release party and Southern Foodways Alliance benefit. The evening began with passed appetizers and beverages in the backyard of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen. From there, the party moved across the street to Hog & Hominy for a dinner prepared by Restaurant Iris’ Kelly English, John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, Tien Ho of Montmartre in NYC, and Mike Lata of F.I.G. in Charleston.

Before dinner, John T. Edge, director of the SFA, spoke about the organization’s mission to document and celebrate the food culture of the South. Edge showed I am the Pitmaster, a documentary short focusing on Helen Turner, a female pitmaster making barbecue in a man’s world. Turner owns Helen’s Bar-B-Q in Brownsville, TN.

After the film, dinner was a huge hit as seen in the slideshow.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Three Thoughts on Tiger Football

Post author By Frank Murtaugh
Post date September 4, 2013

• Big Game
It’s not Ole Miss or Mississippi State, but the Tigers’ opener against Duke is the first game we can truly call “big” since coach Justin Fuente arrived. The Tigers are not supposed to win. The Blue Devils cruised in Durham last year (38-14) and tuned up nicely last week with a 45-0 thrashing of North Carolina Central. Memphis will suit up for the first time Saturday and against the only power-conference team on its schedule. Duke’s the only team from a power conference the Tigers will play in either of Fuente’s first two seasons.

In the 16 seasons since Memphis upset Tennessee at the Liberty Bowl, the Tigers have exactly two victories over power-conference teams . . . both Ole Miss (in 2003 and 2004). Among ACC foes, Duke isn’t Florida State, Clemson, or Georgia Tech. But they are ACC. With a playmaker like Jamison Crowder in the fold (113 yards on five punt returns last week), the Blue Devils come to town with some bite. It will be interesting to see if the Tiger faithful top last year’s opening crowd (the UT-Martin game) of 39,076. I’m guessing they will. This is a big game.

• Pay attention to pace.
A Tiger practice under Justin Fuente is built on frenetic rhythm. And it’s loud. A siren blares every five minutes, scattering football players at certain intervals from one station to another. Tiger players sprint from station to station, and they are led by assistant coaches and graduate assistants . . . and Justin Fuente. Last Wednesday, Fuente himself led a ball-carrying drill, screaming to those with pigskin in hand, “The most important thing we’ll do . . . take care of the ball!” The players dropped to the ground. No one fumbled.

Can the pace of a practice be translated to game day? This depends largely on the efficiency of the Tiger offense, of course. It’s easy to control the pace of a football game when chunks of yardage are being gained one snap after another. But whether or not freshman quarterback Paxton Lynch can rhythmically move the Tigers toward the end zone, I’m convinced Lynch and friends have been tasked with playing fast football. Not rushed football, which only leads to mistakes and turnovers. But fast football: to the line of scrimmage, play called . . . snap! A defense’s worst enemy is fatigue. Let’s see if the controlled frenzy that is a Tiger practice helps this year’s team win a game or two.

• Get your tickets!
I genuinely like the tickets-for-graduates program Tiger athletic director Tom Bowen has started: a pair of season tickets to the most recent class of U of M graduates. What a great way to engage those who should be the most important segment of the Tiger fan base. The more students and alumni cheering at a football stadium on Saturday afternoon, the stronger that football program will be.

But the program is also a statement on how large the Liberty Bowl (still) is, and how many more tickets there are to be sold, even with the positive buzz Fuente has delivered. The idea of such an outreach program at, say, Alabama is laughable. Here’s some amateur math to consider: $25 ticket (that’s a low figure) . . . two tickets per graduate . . . 5,000 graduates . . . six games = $1.5 million. The reigning national champs would essentially be giving away $1.5 million in value if they adopted the program Memphis graduates can now enjoy. Chump change in Tuscaloosa, perhaps, but the kind of revenue figure that would make a difference at the U of M.

Here’s hoping the day comes when demand for Tiger football tickets eliminates the need for donor programs. Until then, Tiger graduates, mark six (or seven) fall Saturdays on your calendars.