Les Smith imagines some of the conversations Senator Mark Norris might be having these days.
Categories
Month: February 2014
Here’s a crazy-cool lineup this Sunday at Rocket Science Audio: Lesa Aldridge, Marcella Simien, Anne Schorr, Ross Johnson, and Brad Pounders. Pick your hat up out the dirt and face the truth: This can only be interesting. Witness:
Lesa Aldridge was a founding member of the essential Memphis punkers, the Kiltz. She is playing the red Fender Mustang and cranks it like a boss in the last scene:
Songwriter Sunday: 3 Girls, 2 Guys, All Original (2)
Marcella Simien
Songwriter Sunday: 3 Girls, 2 Guys, All Original
Anne Schorr is bassin’ up Mollie Fontaine:
Songwriter Sunday: 3 Girls, 2 Guys, All Original (3)
All backed by these two certifiables:
Songwriter Sunday: 3 Girls, 2 Guys, All Original (5)
Categories
Artistic Expansion
The historic Orpheum Theatre will soon break ground on a multimillion-dollar educational facility that Orpheum CEO Pat Halloran is calling “the Juilliard of the South.”
The Orpheum filed a $10.2 million permit for its planned Centre for Performing Arts and Education, a two-story, 39,000 square-foot facility. Construction for the building is slated to begin in late March. It will be located at 225 S. Main, adjacent to the Orpheum in a parking lot formally owned by Memphis Light, Gas, and Water.
“It’s going to be beautiful,” said Halloran. “A very fresh, contemporary building that just welcomes people by its design. It’s going to be all glass on the front with a big open arms entrance for people to come in and either participate in a meeting that’s going on in the theater or go to a class upstairs where they’re going to learn more about entertainment.”
An artist’s rendering of the new Orpheum Centre for the Performing Arts & Education
Another $4.5 million is needed to satisfy the funding requirement for the project. Halloran said he’s confident the remaining balance will be raised during the construction period.
The center would primarily target kids and young adults from ages 5 to 25 and offer more than 20 programs, including musical theater workshops taught by Broadway professionals, career assistance and training for aspiring arts professionals, technical training in sound and lighting, and training in arts, nonprofit, and business management.
There will be a theater in the facility with a state-of-the-art stage and a 356-seat auditorium, a rehearsal hall where actors can prepare for plays that will debut at the Orpheum, and an audio/video classroom.
The Orpheum’s administration has been planning the center since 2011, when it began contemplating ways to provide more space for its performing arts programs, which serve more than 70,000 people annually.
“This building isn’t just going to serve kids who want to be the next soap-opera star or opera singer. We’re also going to be teaching people how to be videographers and edit video and record music in our audio studio,” Halloran said. “It’s not just limited to the performing arts. We’re going to be teaching kids how to prepare for college. We’re going to have seminars and classes for adults on weight control, tax preparation, travel direction, [and how to] become social media users if they aren’t familiar with Facebook, Google, and all those [websites]. It’s an educational experience.”
Halloran said the Orpheum has managed to generate funding for the facility through contributions from foundations, corporations, and individual donations, as well as from the theatre’s annual auction. He said they’re continuing to search for funding.
“We’re not leaving any rocks unturned. We’re making appeals to people all over the community. We still have to raise $4.5 million, but we’re going to do that,” Halloran said. “This is going to be one of those projects that people are going to talk about for the next 100 years.”
Construction for the center is scheduled to be complete in April 2015.
Last fall, in our November 21st issue, we surveyed the then-brewing struggle between pro- and anti-union forces relative to the pending worker election at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. “Who’s the Laughingstock?” We asked in our headline for that editorial — the reference being to what we had hoped was an off-the-cuff remark by U.S. Senator Bob Corker, regarding the fact that the Volkswagen management, both German and American, declined to be alarmed over the prospect of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union gaining representation at the plant.
VW would become a “laughingstock” if something that dire were to happen, Corker suggested, whereas we saw such a label being more appropriate if affixed to official buttinskies like himself. After all, Volkwagen executives had made it unmistakably clear that a UAW presence at their plant would more likely be beneficial than not — especially since it would make the Volkwagen’s traditional reliance on “workers’ councils,” easier to achieve. “Volkswagen considers its corporate culture of works councils a competitive advantage,” VW spokesperson Bernard Osterloh said at the time, adding, “Volkswagen is led by its board and not by politicians.”
Never mind that the UAW was already an established presence at the General Motors plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Of course, Corker had already distinguished himself (or something) by leading the resistance in 2009 to President Obama’s highly successful plan to resuscitate the then-ailing automobile industry in Detroit, headquarters of GM. But we thought that, having vented his union-baiting opinions and saluted the flag of Tennessee’s sacrosanct right-to-work law, he would settle down and allow the worker election in Chattanooga to be held in peace.
He did not. Instead, Corker placed himself at the head of a quasi-official coalition to stop the potential unionization of the VW plant, by any means necessary. Even as VW’s management was graciously allowing union organizers to address workers inside the plant, Corker et al. launched an execrable threat campaign to intimidate Volkswagen and scare the plant’s workers.
Abetted by such unsavory rightwing outsiders as Grover Norquist and the infamous Koch brothers, the Corker coalition went to its union-busting task. Corker said publicly that VW would manufacture a mid-sized SUV in Chattanooga if the workers rejected the union. (In other words: reject the union, boys, and there’ll be more work for you. Plant manager Frank Fischer promptly disputed the senator’s assertion, and Corker blithely called him a liar. Then Bo Watson (R-Hixson), speaker pro tem of the state Senate, went Corker one better, threatening legislation to revoke the existing state financial concessions granted to VW by the state if the UAW should win the vote. (In other words, “we’ll take away the work you already have if you vote yes.”) And, oh yes, surprise: Our go-along governor said he thought suppliers would think twice about serving a unionized plant.
The bottom line: After all this pressure from officialdom, the UAW bid was narrowly defeated, and Senator Corker actually boasted in a press release that the whole Volkswagen-in-Chattanooga project was hatched around his kitchen table. Fair’s fair: Wouldn’t want to give Boss Bob indigestion, would you?
We, however, are inclined to retch.
Categories
The Rant
Enough with the commie Olympics already. It’s difficult to
take a winter sports festival seriously when the snow in Charleston, South Carolina, is deeper than it is at the site of the games. There was more ice in
Atlanta than there is in Sochi. Seriously, one afternoon in the city chosen to host the quadrennial ice capades, the temperature soared to 60 degrees, transforming a powdery overcoat of machine-enhanced snow into a layer of sno-cone ice that lacked the bubblegum flavor that some of the hapless skiers might have preferred.
I mean, who skis when it’s 60 degrees? In the South, that’s considered warm enough to swim. By the way, if snow skiing is considered a sport in the winter Olympics, then why is water skiing not a sport in the summer Olympics? And this biathlon business is not a sport. The combination of cross-country skiing while pausing to target shoot with a scoped-rifle is basic training for the Swiss army.
The problem with the winter Olympics is that they’re just not American. Every year, people all over the United States are breaking legs attempting to ski, because skiing just isn’t an American sport. It’s an Alpine sport that began when Heidi needed a doctor and the fastest way for grandpa to get down the mountain was on a couple of old bed slats. Now, the men’s downhill tests technology as much as the skier.
If you want to go skiing in the U.S., you have to either be part of the fortunate one percent who can afford a ski lodge, or else you have to go to a ski resort. In either case, it screams of elitism. Anybody can learn to swim or run, but skiing is a rich man’s sport. You first have to book a flight to a mountain resort and reserve a room well before snow season. If there is no snow when you get there, that’s your problem. If it’s snowing, there are other arrangements to make: ski lessons, time on the slopes, doctor’s appointments. But before you do anything, there’s all that gear you need to buy. I suppose that you can rent skis, but no self-respecting resort attendee would consider wearing any protective garments previously worn by another. That’s too much like renting bowling shoes. Each ski student must have the weather protective, one-piece garment that they used to call a leisure suit back in the day. Then there’s the helmet, goggles, and gloves, and the derigueur insulated, Michelin Man-looking overcoat. Not to mention the plaster casts for sprains and breaks. Personally, I don’t care to participate in any sport where a St. Bernard is involved.
The only race as exciting as men’s speed skating was watching Bob Costas’ pink-eye race from his left eye to his right. He remained in his post like a trouper before his malady began to frighten and disgust viewers, then he was properly relieved to receive treatment. There’s a sort of sports poetry in Costas ending his iron man streak of Olympic broadcasts and Derek Jeter announcing his retirement from baseball in the same week.
Back to the men’s speed skating, which is a more accessible sport to the ordinary human than skiing, since everyone remembers that ankle pain when first attempting to step on the ice. Speed skating is an exciting sport, but the skaters’ suits have become so aero-dynamic and skin tight that they may as well skate naked just like the ancient Greeks. I understand it’s necessary to keep a tight package for wind resistance sake, but if everyone skated naked, it would be the only sport that rewarded the man with the small penis. Also, if they would like to make skating even more thrilling, make them skate on dry ice. That would add an incentive to remain upright. One more X Games-themed idea: They should ban ski poles on the mountains and make them gut it out like surfers and ski jumpers.
During Vladimir’s Olympics, Putin himself made appearances at some of the more macho events. It’s good that he passed on the men’s figure skating and the teams ice-dancing, or his head would have exploded. He might have admired U.S. figure skater Jeremy Abbott’s reaction to his critics after crashing and burning in the men’s short program. Abbott exploded during an interview and told his detractors to go fuck themselves. Some of Abbott’s competitors’ costumes were so outlandish, I was afraid Putin would order the Russian police to arrest them on the spot.
Putin’s glassy stare and mirthless smile conjure up images of those old KGB agents who would stab someone with the tip of a poisoned walking stick. In fact, that’s who Putin is. When I heard that the U.S. hockey team beat the Russians in a shootout, I thought that meant the squad had to escape under the cover of CIA sniper fire.
The greatest anticipation remaining is whether the return of Costas will yield yet another infection of some sort, and whether the yellow tap water is responsible. CNBC reports that the 2014 Olympic Games is costing an estimated $51 billion, making it the most expensive games in history. Even Mitt Romney criticized Putin, calling the games an “unsavory” vanity project. If only this country could spend that kind of money on roads and bridges. Putin’s Winter Olympics at Sochi do prove one thing: If you build it, they will come.
Randy Haspel writes the “Born-Again Hippies Blog,” where a version of this column first appeared.
Categories
What They Said
About “The Right’s Last Rites” Viewpoint by Jonathan Cole …
The world is a changing place. Tennessee and the other states attempting to segregate, punish, and exclude same-sex couples from their basic rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, should learn to live and let live, to follow the basic principles this great country was founded upon — and God’s basic commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”
My husband and I live in one of those states that does not (yet) recognize same sex marriage, but fortunately all the benefits we receive are federal.
Bob Robida
When I picked up my national newspaper today, I was amazed to find about half of three sections crammed with news about the first openly gay NFL candidate. This is 2014. Why aren’t we beyond such silliness? To me that is about like seeing a glaring headline proclaiming: “NFL signs first blue-eyed recruit.” Making so much fuss about something that is an inherited trait and no one’s business is such a waste of ink. I’m embarrassed to live where such silly and unimportant matters are deemed so newsworthy. My friends in more enlightened countries will no doubt give me a lot of grief over yet another display of our backwardness.
Jim Brasfield
Greg Cravens
About Chris McCoy’s review of the RoboCop remake …
You know, Paul Verhoeven made some absolutely abysmal movies, too. You’d think a Hollywood devoid of original ideas would at least think to make a new and improved version of Showgirls, instead of trying to remake his certified classics.
Fancy Cwabs
About Tim Sampson’s “Rant” on the Winter Olympics …
I have two comments on this. First, I use my DVR to skip over all the social commentary and human interest stories. I go straight to the competitions, where all that is right with the world is on display. The sportsmanship, camaraderie, and thrill of athletic endeavors is inspirational.
Second, I find it ludicrous that the United States is representing the higher moral ground when it comes to civil and gay rights. We have a not-so-stellar history of our own in these areas and still have a long way to go, so it’s a bit hypocritical to hold Russia under the microscope.
In general, if we take politics out of the equation, the world is a pretty cool place and the average Joes are all pretty similar in their day-to-day existence. Government is a necessary evil, but I question the need for the talking heads on television who create division and anxiety.
Steve Hiss
About “In the Weeds,” Alexandra Pusateri’s February 6th cover story on medical marijuana …
There is no way in hell that these stuffy, tight ass republicans you people vote for are going to pass anything to do with marijuana! (If you want to argue that, you better stop and think who sponsored it in the first place!) Tennessee has no referendum vote, so we are screwed! We will be the last state to do anything, because we have to rely on our politicians to vote for us. I might as well keep the old dealer close by and keep giving my money to the cartels.
Madman1
Our current Marijuana Policy is “arrest and ruin.” We have to turn the page. Let us bring freedom-loving Tennessee Republicans by the thousands into loud Marijuana Majority.
CR Liberty
About Kevin Lipe’s column, “Griz at the Break … “
For the last 30 games of playoff hunt, I expect the Griz to regain health and showcase the elite execution on both ends of the floor we enjoyed in January’s run. With a healthy core and consistent strong play, we can be looking at a six seed, and that’s totally within reach at this point.
Jill Kong
Nineteen U.S. states offer undocumented people tuition equity at state colleges and universities. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, Tennessee isn’t one of them.
Some states with Republican governors — including New Jersey and Texas — have passed laws offering in-state tuition to undocumented students. It’s time for Tennessee to move into the fold and make every educational opportunity available to all students.
Tuition equity means anyone who lives in the state, regardless of their immigration status, pays in-state tuition to study at our state institutions of higher education.
As a rule, out-of-state tuition is paid by people who live … out of state. It is similar to a tax against those who do not pay into state coffers but hope to use scarce and expensive educational resources. On average, out-of-state tuition is three times more expensive than in-state tuition.
By forcing the undocumented to pay out-of-state rates, Tennessee essentially applies a double tax, because — it’s important to remember — they already pay taxes. Undocumented people pay sales tax just like the rest of us. And, their rents help cover landlords’ annual property tax bills. Those with taxpayer identification cards pay into our social security system with almost no opportunity of ever receiving the program’s benefits.
Since 31 states require undocumented people to pay a 300 percent markup over the book tuition rates at public schools, it should come as no surprise that just 10 percent of the roughly 45,000 kids who graduate from high school each year without proper documentation — the so-called “Dream Act kids” — actually enroll in college. Private banks typically won’t loan these young people money, and federal financial aid is unavailable, thus creating serious structural hurdles on the road to higher education.
The Dream Act kids, the young people who came here as children in the arms of their parents, must be given equal opportunity for educational advancement. Sooner or later, these people’s immigration statuses will be regularized — hopefully soon, through congressional action. Moderate House Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner, would like to pass some sort of immigration reform before the November 2014 election. However, they’ve been thoroughly thwarted by vocal, reactionary members of their own caucus.
Regardless of what happens in Washington, The Tennessee Board of Regents, the entity tasked with setting fiscal policy for many of our colleges and universities, should align our state with the 19 states that already offer in-state tuition to undocumented students. We need more, not less, access to higher education for all people living in Tennessee. State officials need to work creatively to ensure affordable education for the people of this state, without resorting to discrimination. Where people were born or how they arrived in the U.S. should never prevent access to higher education.
In addition to opportunity, tuition equity offers hope for a better life. Offering tuition equity to the undocumented represents no additional cost to the state since students pay the same state-sanctioned tuition rate as everyone else. Right now, there are about 14,000 young people who could benefit from tuition equity in Tennessee.
As of this writing, about 4,000 Tennesseans have applied for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — a program authorized by President Obama in 2012 by executive order. This order offers undocumented people the opportunity for work and freedom from fear of deportation — but only for two years. Only Congress can write a new law permanently regularizing the status of these kids, and we believe that will happen soon, though unfortunately not through a large, comprehensive immigration overhaul. Young people who would benefit from passage of a Dream Act will soon be entering the workforce. They deserve and need the training of our higher education system. The embattled governor of New Jersey apparently knows this, and so does the memory-challenged governor of Texas.
Let’s pull away from the pack of 31, join the enlightened 19, and move into the 21st century by offering tuition equity for all who want to study here in Tennessee. Bryce Ashby is a Memphis-based attorney and board member at Latino Memphis Inc. Michael J. LaRosa is an associate professor of history at Rhodes College.
Categories
The Line is Busy
Here’s a shout-out to Collierville Republican state Senator Mark Norris. As a man of intellect, not to mention the senate majority leader of the rambunctious Tennessee General Assembly, I bet he must cringe every time the phone rings. Imagine, having to appear to be understanding and civil to the looney-toon legislators of both parties who seek his advice on how to proceed with ethically and morally questionable legislative proposals they appear to have pulled out of thin air. Some of the proposed measures brought forward by his colleagues beg the question, “Have the inmates completely taken over running the asylum?”
I don’t know what his conversations specifically entail. But, for the purposes of this column, I’ll put my imagination to work.
“Senator Norris, I have Senator Stacey Campfield on the line, he’d like to speak with you?
“I thought I told you to block his number?”
“Well, sir, he insists it’s of some importance.”
“Okay, put him through.”
“Mark, Stacey here. I need some help on the language of a bill I’m working on to castrate all black men who have more than two children. I heard it works in cutting down on the Chinese population. And we could put more teeth in it by making them take a drug test before copulation occurs. I think I’ve got a sponsor lined up in the House from Johnson City. I know you’re busy, Mark, if you could just streamline the wording for me …”
“Senator, I hate to interrupt, but, it’s Senator Ophelia Ford on line two. At least, I think it’s her. It sounded kind of distant.”
“Okay, I got it.”
“Ophelia, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”
“Who is this?”
“Ophelia, it’s, Mark Norris, what can I do for you?”
“Oh, yes, Mark, I’ve introduced a bill to legalize medical marijuana usage in the state. I think it’s timely because, with all the mean nurses I’ve dealt with in the past, I’ve decided self-medication is the way to go. Besides, I read, or someone read it for me, that Congressman Steve Cohen likes marijuana too, and he’s a white man from Colorado. Did you know they have bike lanes just like us?”
“Oops! Sorry, Ophelia, we’ll talk more later. I’ve got another call.”
“Senator, Brian Kelsey, on line three.”
“Hello, Brian, I was expecting your call. Well, you’ve made quite the mess of it, young man, mixing religion and business with homosexuality. I wish you had come to me first about the wording of your proposal. It’s atrocious legislation and no sane-thinking legislator is going to back it. Brian, what in the world were you thinking? (click) Brian? … Brian?”
“Senator Norris, I’ve got state Representative Curry Todd on hold.”
“Okay, put him through.”
“Mark, what time is it?”
“Well, Curry, by my watch, it’s 3:15 in the afternoon.”
“You see, that’s the point of some new legislation I’m wrestling with. This whole daylight savings time issue is so confusing. Now, here’s what I was thinking: We could scrap the whole idea of daylight savings time or we could make it permanent. Or we could try to make the day longer, because this idea of having to go through the tedious process of fixing our clocks twice a year is just ludicrous. We got different time zones in this state. If we rolled back the clocks for an hour, it would give extra daylight for our farmers to be productive, and in the winter our children wouldn’t be going to school in the dark. And for people who go to bars there’d be extra time for happy hour, because, as I well know, it’s always five o’clock somewhere, ain’t it, Mark? If you’ll just put the right words in place, I’ll find some senate sponsor who’d like to have his name on a bill. I tried to call Campfield and Kelsey, but their lines were busy. Do you know how I could get ahold of Ophelia Ford?”
“Senator Norris, I hate to interrupt, but I’ve got a phone call from some supposed elected official from Memphis who’d like to talk to you about legalizing guns in parks?”
“Just tell them, it’s five o’clock somewhere.”
Categories
Resurrection
f the name E. Frederic Morrow doesn’t ring a bell, it’s time you did know the name, and a Memphis company is here to make sure you do.
Earlier this month, the Devault-Graves Agency came out with Morrow’s Black Man in the White House. Just don’t go looking for that title in bookstores. You can, however, order it online. Black Man in the White House has been out of print for 50 years, which makes it a perfect fit for Devault-Graves, a company founded by Darrin Devault and Tom Graves. Their mission: convert deserving out-of-print books into well-designed e-books.
Who, though, was E. Frederic Morrow? The New Jersey native died in 1994, but long before there was the movie Lee Daniels’ The Butler, there was Morrow, the first African American to occupy a White House executive position: administrative officer for special projects from 1955 to 1961. Morrow had already worked for the NAACP, fought during World War II, and served in Eisenhower’s presidential campaign. After his White House stint, he became the first African-American vice president at Bank of America. In 1963, Morrow looked back on his White House years in his first-person account, Black Man in the White House, and they weren’t easy years given Eisenhower’s guarded approach to the civil rights movement.
“No good book deserves to fall into obscurity” reads the website for the Devault-Graves Agency, and among the company’s titles, you’ll find e-books by Jack Kerouac, an autobiography by the photographer Weegee, four collections of celebrity profiles by Rex Reed, Graves’ own Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson, and, under the company’s crime imprint, Chalk Line Books, Sharecropper Hell by Jim Thompson and The Secret Squad by David Goodis.
Obscurity, though, certainly described Black Man in the White House by the time Graves learned of it in the library at LeMoyne-Owen College, where he teaches English.
“I was looking through an old New York Times book review, and I go: What is this? I’d never heard of Morrow. And I teach at LeMoyne-Owen!” Graves said. “When Black Man in the White House came out, it really got written up, but Morrow has been forgotten. His book has been forgotten. Then I found out LeMoyne-Owen had a copy. And I thought: Let’s look into this. Let’s get serious.”
So Graves and Devault did.
According to Graves, “Morrow was right on the forefront of the civil rights movement. He was a dedicated Republican. In the black media, everybody knew who he was. But Eisenhower was cautious about civil rights for fear of driving a wedge in the South. Some of Morrow’s book is funny. It’s a good read. But he was also a master of understatement. Everything behind what he says just looms.”
Graves had no trouble convincing his business partner, Darrin Devault (who teaches journalism at the University of Memphis) that Black Man in the White House was overdue for what Graves called a “resurrection.”
“Here was this trailblazer who served admirably for Eisenhower during a time when the civil rights movement was making headway,” Devault said of Morrow. “Writing in a diary style, he references Emmett Till, integration in Alabama and Little Rock, and what he encountered day to day as a White House staffer. I’m excited about making Black Man in the White House once more available and especially in time for Black History Month.”
Devault wrote the book’s endnotes, but Devault and Graves invited a guest contributor to handle the book’s afterword: local TV newscaster and Memphis Flyer columnist Les Smith.
“Darrin and I were impressed by the very first Flyer column Les wrote,” Graves said. “He turned out to be just the guy to write the afterword, and he wrote exactly what we wanted the afterword to be. What we didn’t want was something academic. We wanted somebody who could write from the heart.”
For more on Black Man in the White House (at Amazon for $9.99 on Kindle) and other e-books from the Devault-Graves Agency, go to devault-gravesagency.weebly.com.
Categories
Manateees at Murphy’s
Those familiar with the Memphis underground music scene need no introduction to Abe White. A fixture of the Midtown punk community for more than 15 years, White has played drums in the Oscars, True Sons of Thunder, and Sector Zero, just to name a few. He also fronts the incredibly authentic Alice Cooper tribute band founded by Jack Oblivian. In addition to playing in those groups, White also serves as songwriter and front man for the Manateees (yes, there are three E’s), a group that once boasted almost 10 members, but now performs as a three piece.
Josh Miller
Self-described as “a walk through Abe’s nightmares,” it’s understandable that the Manateees have taken the alienate-the-audience approach to punk music. White’s disdain for just about everything makes for some good song-writing material, and the Manateees have singles on punk labels across the country to prove it. In the latest Manateees single, “Hate on Parade” (out this spring on Total Punk Records), White tackles all the things he sees wrong with Memphis, and there’s a lot he’s unhappy with. But while the Manateees might seem intimidating, their music is approachable. It’s classic Memphis garage punk, with all the right guitar stabs and a pummeling rhythm section.
Rich Crook, another Memphis native, who played in the Reatards, Lost Sounds, and Knaughty Knights, will join the Manateees at Murphy’s Friday with his band Lover. White played drums for Lover on a European tour, solidifying the idea that every punk band out of Memphis shares members. But the Manateees’ and Lover’s music couldn’t be more different. The Manateees conjure up frightening blasts of punk rock; Lover rely on the power-pop hook, with songs about heartache, death, and a couple of other things not fit for print. – Chris Shaw
Manateees with Unwed Teenage Mothers and Lover at Murphy’s, Friday, February 21st, 7 p.m., $5.