Month: January 2015

Mesler Makes “Movie”

Post author By Leonard Gill
Post date January 2, 2015

CREDIT: Sandra Smith McDougall-Mitchell

“This is about as fine as I can write. This is my best novel,” Corey Mesler said to himself when he finished Memphis Movie.

“I’m through with writing. It’s too frustrating,” Mesler said to himself several weeks ago when he heard, along with some other bad writing news, that Memphis Movie was not going to be published, as promised, after all.

The problem wasn’t Memphis Movie, which had already received glowing blurbs from writers Ann Beattie, William Hjortsberg, and Memphian Cary Holladay and from actor/authors Peter Coyote, Stephen Tobolowsky, and former Memphian Chris Ellis. The problem was the publisher, which is shutting down before Memphis Movie is set to appear.

Mesler, after years spent having his poetry and prose published by small, independent presses, considered shutting down too. And you can spare him the platitudes. As Mesler — who co-owns Burke’s Book Store with his wife, Cheryl — recently reported in an email: “I am not the kind of person who takes it kindly when someone says something like, ‘When God closes a door, He opens a window.’ My pat response is, ‘Yes, to jump out of.'”

If God does indeed open a window after God closes a door, Mesler may want to think again about jumping, because Memphis Movie is now slated to be on the spring list of titles from Counterpoint Press, under its imprint Soft Skull. Counterpoint is home to Wendell Berry, David Markson, Beryl Markham, Gary Snyder, and Guy Davenport. Soft Skull is home to Tom Tomorrow, William T. Vollmann, Jonathan Lethem, Neil LaBute, Noam Chomsky, and Peter Coyote.

Not bad company, and Counterpoint editorial director Jack Shoemaker is no slouch either. Mesler called him a legend in publishing. Mesler also wrote in his email, “I feel like the luckiest writer in Memphis, or maybe in Midtown, or maybe just on Young Avenue. But it is enough. I am grateful.”

He’s grateful to the writers and editors who went to bat for him. The supporters included: Ann Beattie, who sent Memphis Movie to her own agent; Shannon Ravenel, of Algonquin Books; the people at the small but respected Graywolf Press; and Peter Coyote, who contacted Shoemaker about Mesler’s manuscript.

Two weeks later, Mesler learned that Counterpoint was taking Memphis Movie. More than taking it, they were green-lighting publication in record time: April 2015. Mesler by phone last week said he was “dumbfounded” by the news: “This is not the small pool I’m used to swimming in.”

This is conference calls with Counterpoint publicists and talk of NPR and Entertainment Weekly interviews. And this is Mesler on the attention he’s received: “It’s all made me so happy I’m obnoxious. I feel like the Ancient Mariner telling every wedding guest his story.”

What’s the story? Memphis Movie tells of a director who hits it big after filming a small, independent movie in Memphis. He goes to Hollywood, makes two or three less than successful films, and can’t get another one made. But a producer gives him a last chance: a movie made again in Memphis.

“It’s a Robert Altman-esque plot with a bunch of story strands, but it’s also about a director’s vision being subsumed by all the people he has to work with,” Mesler said. “Readers are going to think of [Memphis-based director] Craig Brewer, but it’s not Craig. I even make jokes about Craig in the story to let readers know this is not Craig.”

But it is most certainly Memphis. “I think Memphis is a magic place for any kind of creative person,” Mesler said. And that goes for writers and artists. This year alone, Mesler has used artwork by Rebecca Tickle for the cover of his latest collection of poems, The Sky Needs More Work (Upper Rubber Boot), and artwork by Tim Crowder for the cover of his latest collection of short stories, As a Child (MadHat Press). Mesler credits all this creativity to the “Memphis mojo thing.” But regarding Counterpoint’s publication of Memphis Movie, Mesler’s good news for the new year, he also wants his semi-optimism understood: “Any references to film rights, foreign rights, or NPR interviews I consider, in my half-full way, straight from cloud-cuckooland.”

Tags Corey Mesler, Memphis Movie

Music Music Blog

Reunion Stomp with Buck Wilders

Post author By Chris Shaw
Post date January 2, 2015

Local record collector, audio engineer and DJ Andrew McCalla was behind the scenes on some of the best local releases from the last five years before eventually leaving Memphis for Austin, Texas. Luckily for us, McCalla is back in town for awhile, which means he’s got time to throw another Buck Wilders & The Hookup party. If you’re into doo wop, northern soul, or rock and roll from the 50’s and 60’s, then Bar DKDC is where you should plan on being tonight. The party starts at 10:00 p.m. and it’s free. Check out the classic video from The Equals below to get an idea of what’s in store for tonight.

Reunion Stomp with Buck Wilders

Tags Bar DKDC, Buck Wilders and The Hookup, Dance Party, The Equals, Vinyl

Memphis Preps Blog Sports

The Lytles: Cool, Calm, and Collected

Post author By Jamie Griffin
Post date January 2, 2015

Emily and Marcus Lytle

Perhaps you’ve seen the commercial: Two young friends pull off the side of the highway to enjoy a meal, not realizing they are surrounded by buffalos. One of the animals waltzes up to the vehicle and sends his horns through the driver’s side window to get their attention. In a panic, one of the friends sings the State Farm Insurance jingle, and like a good neighbor their insurance agent shows up to save the day.

The commercial would not have been as effective if the insurance company had cast siblings Marcus and Emily Lytle in the lead roles. It would have lacked the frantic energy needed to convince viewers. Why? “They are just so laid back,” says Quinton Lytle, the father of the two Evangelical Christian School basketball players.

As an example, Quinton tells about when he was driving Marcus and Emily home after practice and a doe ran onto the road and hit the driver’s side of the vehicle. “It caught me off guard,” says Quinton “but Marcus didn’t say a word. Probably didn’t lift his head from his phone. Finally, he asked me why I yelled like that.”

Quinton Lytle

Emily is also a cool customer. “Me and Marcus are kind of laid back,” she says. “We’re never super hyper.”

“Most of our kids take after me,” says Quinton. “My wife is the sweetest person, but she has a quicker temper than I do. During games, my wife will scream out at the (referee) long before I do. But I’m stubborn and they get that from me.”

Quinton, a former professional basketball player, did not want them to pick up the sport. “I decided that I would not introduce any of my kids to the game,” he says. “I was fearful they would grow to hate me for pushing them too hard.” His children loved basketball anyway. In fact, Quinton and his wife Carla have eight children, and they all have an appreciation for the game. Quinton has coached four of them, including Emily. He is currently the ECS assistant coach for the girls’ varsity team.

While Quinton is on the bench, Marcus is in the stands cheering for Emily. “It’s just great to get to watch your sister play,” says Marcus. And when Marcus is playing, Emily reciprocates. “I just love to watch him play,” she says. “I can learn a lot from him.”

Marcus and Emily are a year apart. He’s a senior and she’s a junior. Unlike a lot of siblings, they actually like one another. “My children have never had a fight with each other,” Quinton says. “It’s hard to remember them even raising their voice to one another.”

Marcus believes the fact they were home schooled for the majority of their educational process played a large role in their tight bond.

“(Traditional) school, you come to school and you kind of get separated,” Marcus explains. “ You have groups. But home-schooling, you are on the same kind of schedule, you go to the same gym, work out for three hours, come home, and that’s really a big part of the strengthening of the relationship.”

The decision to enter the private school ranks after years of home schooling was mainly due to a formula that had worked in the past. Nicole, big sister to Marcus and Emily, also attended ECS in high school. “She went on to (Middle Tennessee State University),” says Marcus. “And college was a lot easier (academic wise) for her after being here.”

The home school to private school transition was an adjustment period for Marcus and Emily. “I’ve gotten used to it now, but the biggest difference is being at a school desk for seven hours,” explains Marcus. “I was used to just waking up whenever I wanted to wake up, do my school, go to the gym, comeback, do my school. It definitely changes how many hours you can put in at the gym unless you are going to stay up late.”

Basketball, however, has offered few bumps on the road. Marcus and Emily lead their respective teams in scoring. But while their circumstances and personalities are similar, their style of play is very different.

“She can shoot better than I can,” says Marcus. “She’s a real good shooter.”

“I’m not as strong in the paint”,” claims Emily. “I lean more toward play on the outside. He plays inside, plays point, plays the guard. My brother is a better all-around player.”

Yet it’s the 6-foot-tall Emily who is getting more attention from college coaches. “Belmont, MTSU, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss,” she names off a few interested programs (coaches like tall guards). Because she’s an uncommitted junior, the number of pursuers will likely continue to grow.

Marcus, an undecided 6′ 3” senior, is also getting offers, but from division II programs. He’s hoping a legitimate division I offer will come his way.

“Marcus just decided last year he wanted to play basketball in college,” says his dad. “His toughest hurdle to getting exposure is his unselfish play. He’s such a good teammate. But sometimes those college coaches want to see a person who can score a bunch of points. And if (Marcus) decided to do that, he could.”

The high school season is still young. There’s still time for a division I program to come calling. But if one doesn’t, Marcus says he won’t panic. Nor will he sing the State Farm jingle.

You can follow Jamie Griffin on twitter @flyerpreps

News News Blog

Ringing in the New Year on Beale

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date January 2, 2015

Frank Chin captured all the fun of Beale Street’s New Year’s Eve festivities.

Film Features Film/TV

2014: The Year In Film

Post author By Chris McCoy, Addison Engleking, and Ben Siler
Post date January 2, 2015

2014 was the year we were told movies don’t matter any more, even though there were more than 600 films released earning a box office total of at least $9 billion

— not counting the Christmas movies, which will add at least another billion. It’s also the year we were told there were no more good movies, even though there were plenty of them in theaters, on demand, and on TV, if you cared to look for them. The Flyer film writers have put our heads together and given awards to the deserving for outstanding achievements in 2014. Because, as Addison says, “the Oscars are self-indulgent, myopic, and corrupt,” we made our own categories.

Worst Pictures

Transformers: Age of Extinction

One of the most perversely awful franchises in history continued its worldwide domination as marketing tie-in, jingoistic car commercial, and random series of digital images. There is no way to more completely dehumanize the viewer than to make him watch unending pap. Perhaps you, too, have experienced the feeling that we are here as on darkling plain, running ourselves into the ground. What better way not to feel than with Transformers? — Ben Siler

Dracula Untold

Disney’s Marvel franchise had a great year. Captain America: Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy were both good movies and superior box office performers. But the business model it represents had at least one toxic byproduct: Universal’s attempt to make the greatest villain in horror history into a superhero. Dracula Untold had it all: a terminally stupid script, ugly cinematography, haphazard digital effects, incoherent editing, and indifferent performances. — Chris McCoy

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (extended cut)

The first Anchorman is an inspired goof featuring one of Will Ferrell’s finest performances, a perfectly calibrated supporting cast, and dozens of quotable lines for any occasion. The sequel was a mean-spirited desecration of the same ground. This is one of those maddening movies that seemed more fun to make than to watch. So much flailing about, so many needless celebrity cameos: What is this, amateur hour?

— Addison Engleking

Best Short

Too Many Cooks

When large-scale works fail to produce catharsis, viewers seek individuality in small places. They found it in Too Many Cooks, an Adult Swim viral video that originally aired in an informercial slot. It gave expression to that feeling of watching a wall of mass media and hoping for a crack of unexpected thought. It’s an inspiration in its execution, and in how it uses tropes to effectively tell a primal, but ironic, story. — BS

Rory Culkin, Gabriel

Best Performance

Rory Culkin, Gabriel

Lou Howe’s film, which opened Indie Memphis 2014, is an intimate portrait of a young man’s losing battle with mental illness. It is a finely done picture, but without Rory Culkin’s astounding, nuanced performance, the whole thing would have collapsed into a shapeless mess. When he stops taking his meds, you can watch the madness slowly creeping back into Gabriel’s face over the course of about an hour of screen time. The entire performance comes off as completely natural and believable, especially if you’ve ever known anyone with severe mental illness. — CM

Caesar, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Best Performance By A Nonhuman

Caesar, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Okay, so Caesar, the leader of the intelligent apes hiding in the forest after a plague has decimated humanity, is actually the creation of Andy Serkis and Weta. But he is also the greatest digital character ever, surpassing even Gollum in Lord of the Rings. In a year where Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood on House of Cards was the most prominent onscreen politician, Caesar is the sole portrait of a great leader who wants what is best for his people…er, apes…and struggles to figure out what exactly that means. When, like his namesake, he is betrayed by a power-hungry ally who violates the “ape no kill ape” rule, he delivers one of the year’s most poignant lines: “I always think ape better than human. I see now how like them we are.” — CM

Will Arnett, The Lego Movie

Best Superhero

Will Arnett, The Lego Movie

Arnett doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s thought much about the cinematic legacy of Gotham City’s most famous crime fighter. And that indifference, combined with his unflappable and unfounded arrogance, makes him the perfect choice to play Batman. Arnett dismantles the Dark Knight myth and redefines the Caped Crusader as a pompous, smug, smoky-voiced egomaniac who saves the world with deadly seriousness when he’s not composing awful industrial music. Maybe Tim Burton and Adam West were right to play this whole comic-book hero thing as a big joke after all. — AE

MVP

Scarlett Johansson

This year, Johansson starred or co-starred in four films: Spike Jonze’s Her, Anthony and Joe Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, and Luc Besson’s Lucy. She transformed a quartet of roles that sounded like little more than male sex fantasies into rich, complicated character studies that raised important issues about the representation of women in cinema. Even Johansson’s haunting nude scene in Under the Skin probably confounded horndogs who had no idea what they were getting into. — AE

Inspired Madman

Alejandro Jodorowsky

The 85-year-old avant-garde director of El Topo and The Holy Mountain had a long-overdue revival in 2014. First, the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune delved into the story of the greatest unmade movie in history, the 14-hour, universe spanning sci-fi epic Jodorowsky spent years and millions of dollars trying to make in the 1970s, destroying his career in the process. Then, he finally got to make another movie, The Dance of Reality, the punishing, insane, moving autobiography that proved he’s still got it, whatever “it” is. — CM

Most Pleasant Sound of Art Choking on Money

Guardians of the Galaxy

In its competition for most popular blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy shows the deficiencies that exist even when multimillion dollar franchises are made with sensitivity. James Gunn has made idiosyncratic and personal films, starting at Troma with the horror comedy Slither, and getting one of Ellen Page’s best performances in Super. Guardians of the Galaxy feels like a Gunn film until the CGI crap starts flying around in Marvel’s Third Act. Marvel hires good directors to give their blockbusters personality, but good films need resolution, not just preordained spectacle. The departure of Edgar Wright from Ant-Man is a sign of which side will win out. — BS

Birdman

More Like This, Please

Birdman

Birdman is an uneven mess of a movie, but it’s glorious in its audacity. When director Alejandro González Iñárritu is on, he’s really on. It combines black backstage comedy — anchored by a brilliant comeback performance by Michael Keaton and fine supporting turns from Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton and Emma Stone—with formal experimentation by one of the great cinematic craftsmen of our time, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. In a time of Hollywood conservatism, it’s great to see a group of talented artists pull out all the stops and succeed so fully. A great film like Birdman should be a wakeup call to producers about all of the wasted potential out there.

— CM

Gone Girl

Sex Negative

Gone Girl

David Fincher’s Gone Girl is another fun example of mass pop done right, and what that lacks. The film has two unlikeable people who find a perverse life together in a marriage based on elaborate media performances. The much more interesting one’s psychotic version of femininity is less like an actual person and more like a nemesis for misogynists. Writer Gillian Flynn and actress Rosamund Pike’s Amy was force-fed the “Cool Girl” ideal since birth, and she turns the trope into a supervillain persona. Fincher and Flynn’s misanthropy enriches what they create, more so than most studio products. But in loving that product you accept, also initially with irony, that socialized ideas of “man” and “woman” doom us and don’t change with passing generations. — BS

Best Documentary

Finding Vivian Maier

Equal parts detective story, character study, and artistic essay, directors John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s documentary deserves all of the acclaim it has accrued on the festival circuit. Its absent protagonist, the eccentric nanny who took more than 100,000 photographs in her lifetime but never showed them to anyone, is slowly revealed through sometimes prickly interviews and Maier’s own, often incredible, work. It is also an oblique tribute to the power of the internet; had Maier lived today, she would have been a Flickr star instead of dying in obscurity, and the film about her life would be most widely seen on streaming services. — CM

Best Directors

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

These guys are master pop-culture restoration artists: hand them a property with no commercial prospects and watch them twist and hammer it into filigreed comedy gold. Since 2009’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs introduced their blend of snappy wordplay, children’s-show imagery, and hyperactive meta-textuality, Lord and Miller have been on a hot streak with few modern antecedents. American cinema hasn’t seen anyone release two comedies as rich and funny as The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street in one year since Mel Brooks whipped out Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein in February and December of 1974. Lord and Miller’s work already looks snazzier than Brooks’; time will tell how well their jokes hold up. — AE

Richard Linklater

Patient observation is Linklater’s greatest virtue, and it paid off big time in Boyhood. Shot over the course of 12 years, the film follows the slow maturation of its lead character Mason in “real time” as the actor Ellar Coltrane grew up, and shows the same for Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, and Lorelei Linklater. This is indie filmmaking on a epic scale, turning the drama, tragedy, and comedy of everyday life into art. Linklater’s achievement is that he kept it all together over the course of more than a decade and came out the other end with a coherent, beautiful, emotionally resonant masterpiece.

— CM

Only Lovers Left Alive

Best Pictures

Only Lovers Left Alive

Most romances roll credits right after the lead couple finally gets together. Fortunately, writer-director Jim Jarmusch approaches genre conventions differently. His supernatural love story begins way, way, waaaaaaaaaay after his star-crossed lovers (Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston) first meet, and as he charts the ups and downs of their countless vampire weekends, he delivers the year’s most thoughtful and literate love story. Julian Barnes’ 1989 novel A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters closes with a first-person monologue about what it’s like to be granted eternal life. Eventually, the storyteller chooses to die; after all, he’s slept with every famous person ever and he shoots an 18 whenever he plays golf. Thanks to the numerous large- and small-scale celebrations of human achievement, Jarmusch scatters throughout his film, it’s impossible to imagine his characters choosing the same. — AE

Love Is Strange

Love Is Strange

I saw a lot of movies in 2014, from tiny indies that cost $1,000 to giant, world-destroying blockbusters. But when I thought back on the year, none of them could touch the feeling I got sitting in the theater watching Love Is Strange for the first time. Or the second time, for that matter. Everything came together for Memphis-born director Ira Sachs’ ode to eternal love: career-high performances from John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, and Marisa Tomei; pristine cinematography that made New York City look like a grimy fairy land, perfect pacing, and a screenplay that made simplicity a virtue. Utter perfection that proves indie film is still alive, and Sachs is among its greatest practitioners.

— CM

Movie Of The Year

The Interview

Is Seth Rogen and James Franco’s buddy comedy about assassinating Kim Jong-un any good? Who knows? But the story of its demise seemed to sum up the world of 2014: The power-mad, petty dictator confirms stereotypes by ordering a cyber-hit on Sony; ugly secrets dragged out into the open to destroy the powerful; short-sighted corporate cowardice and incompetence in the face of unprecedented challenge; the blurring of lines between nation states and multi-national corporations; the conversation about the thing becoming more important than the thing itself, and the powerlessness of the artists caught in the middle. Think about it: a globe-spanning cyberwar sparked by a stupid buddy movie aimed at stoners. Who said cinema doesn’t matter any more? — CM

Politics Politics Beat Blog

Myron Lowery Turns Kingmaker. Let Us Pray.

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date January 1, 2015

CREDIT: JB

Wharton and Strickland sit uncomfortably at the same table at Myron Lowery’s annual prayer breakfast. Others include Mickell Lowery (right) and a deserving young man from the community.

Myron Lowery, the 2015 City Council chairman-designate, is a large man — and that description is meant in more than a physical sense. There sometimes seems to be more than one psychological entity inside the Council veteran’s broad frame.

There is a generally admired version of the former TV newsman and video producer — knowledgeable, aware of procedural nuance and details, and determined to achieve specific goals. This is the Lowery who has several times been elected Council chair by his peers and the one who ran a creditable interim term as mayor after incumbent Willie Herenton’s resignation in 2009.

There is a helpful and sometimes playful, Buddha-like Lowery who is eager to please and wields a sometimes mischievous sense of humor. Many a colleague and reporter has experienced the helpful side, and (speaking of Buddha types), the Dalai Lama experienced the playful side on his visit here in 2009, smack-dab in the middle of Lowery’s term as chief executive.

That visit resulted in the famous fist-bump administered to the visiting eminence, along with a saucy “Hello, Dalai!” greeting, That action caused a lot of raised eyebrows, criticism, and even condemnation. Some few of us publicly admired the spunk and the Letterman-like levity, both of which were entirely (as we saw it) in the mold of the giggling Buddha Himself, the real one, the wise and humorous Gautama who founded the Eastern-based religion many centuries ago.

And there is, finally, another Lowery — peevish, vain, volatile, peremptory, quick to take offense himself even as he is (sometimes unaware of the fact) giving it to others, and often uncomprehending of the contexts, social and political, in which he acts. Something of a schemer, in fact, and often an awkward one.

It was this last Lowery who turned up Thursday morning, New Year’s Day, to host the 24th and latest version of the annual New Year’s Prayer Breakfasts which he began on January 1, 1992 (coincident with the inauguration of Herenton as the first elected black mayor in Memphis history).

To cut to the chase: As is his annual wont, Lowery was closing out the breakfast with some parting words, in the wake of prior speeches by other political figures — Mayors Mark Luttrell and A C Wharton of Shelby County and Memphis, respectively, and 9th District congressman Steve Cohen — interspersed with songs, sermonettes, and. well, prayers by various lay and clerical folks.

Kingmaker Lowery

Lowery’s prayer breakfasts have often been occasions for collectively thinking out loud and taking stock regarding political directions, and even for the launching of useful initiatives by one or more of those taking part. (In particular, Wharton and Cohen, this year’s keynote speaker, had interesting things to say on Thursday, to be reported in a separate story.)

Lowery’s prayer breakfasts are, in that sense, traditional events for the larger community, though let us be clear: They are fundraising events, and there is definitely a self-serving side to them.

The choice of moderator for Thursday’s event — Mickell Lowery, the Councilman’s son — was instructive. Though it has not been formally announced — and Myron Lowery fended off at least one inquiry on the score from a reporter Thursday — it is no secret that the Councilman is meditating on turning his seat over to his son. Or, more properly, vacating the seat in the coming election year and backing the candidacy of his son, a management consultant, to succeed him. The younger Lowery, who did a good job Thursday, got some valuable public exposure in the process.

In fact, things went relatively smoothly overall Thursday. It was only in his final words that Councilman Lowery let his nether side betray him. (We all have one, by the way.)

It is not that Lowery’s remarks resulted from an unforeseen glitch, one of those spontaneous verbal turns — Freudian slips, they are called — that insert themselves unwanted into our best intentions. No, Myron Lowery premeditated what he had in mind on Thursday. He told his Council colleague Jim Strickland, who was getting ready to take his leave well before the end of the prayer breakfast, not to go, that if he did he would miss some “nice things” Lowery had to say about him.

When the time came for Lowery to conclude the event, he did indeed have some compliments for Strickland, who had dutifully stayed around. In fact, Lowery made a point of asking his colleague, a persistent critic of Mayor Wharton whose hopes of running for the city’s premier office himself have been well known (and well under way) for years, to stand.

“He’s done a great job as chairman during a very difficult year,” said Lowery, amid other words of praise. “I like him. He’s got the potential to be a future mayor of Memphis.” Hmmm, the crowd had to be wondering, what was coming? An endorsement? Even Strickland, who was reasonably sure that Lowery, himself a 2009 loser to Wharton, was committed to support the mayor’s reelection, found himself wondering.

After all: He’s got the potential to be a future mayor of Memphis. “But not yet,” Lowery said, suddenly undercutting the very premise he himself had raised. There is no way to describe what came next as anything other than setting colleague Strickland up for a fall. The mortified Strickland, still standing and the focus of everyone’s gaze, would surely see it that way.

“I have to be honest,” Lowery was saying. “I’m with the mayor….He’s controversial. He may not do everything right all the time. But his heart’s in the right place, and he’s done a good job.”

In retrospect, Lowery’s “I like him” comment about Strickland would sound paternalistic and condescending. Oddly, his switch to praise for Wharton had the same ring. (“His heart’s in the right place.” Gee.)

But neither remark was as giveaway about Lowery’s opinion of himself as another phrase he began using amid what was now, with Strickland still standing there, a full-fledged endorsement of Wharton:. “I know a lot of people,” Lowery kept saying, and what else was this meant to be but the boast of a kingmaker?

Maybe not. But it surely had that sound.

Strickland, meanwhile, had had enough. Lowery was still going strong when his understandably offended Council colleague pointedly began to walk. Intercepted midway by a reporter friend on his passage out, Strickland shook his head and said, in amazement as much as in anger, “He asked me to stick around to hear that!”

Councilman Lowery had more to say before concluding. He asked everyone to be sure to return for the prayer breakfast next year, which would be his 25th. And he turned to a deserving young man from the community whom he had asked to sit at his table — the same table at which, early in the event, had been seated (presumably at Lowery’s request) Strickland, Wharton, and son Mickell.

Now Councilman Lowery would ask the young man to stand. Once he had, he heard himself being lavishly praised by Lowery as “a potential mayor” for the future.

Under the circumstances, the young man might have been within his rights to walk out, a la Strickland. But he remained standing there instead, and it became obvious after a while that the putative kingmaker had no bait-and-switch other candidate in mind to transfer his loyalty to. Not yet, anyhow.

So when Lowery bade the young man sit down again, he obediently sat. And that was that.

Calling the Bluff Music

Throwback Thursday: Big K.R.I.T.’s “Rotation”

Post author By Louis Goggans
Post date January 1, 2015

Big K.R.I.T., one of the illest lyricists to emerge in recent years, shined both lyrically and production-wise on his 2011 mixtape, Return of 4Eva.

One of my favorite vibes off the soulful, bass-ridden project is “Rotation.” On the track, K.R.I.T. expresses the love and appreciation he has for his old school Chevy.

Stream “Rotation” below.

Throwback Thursday: Big K.R.I.T.’s ‘Rotation’

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Tags 'Rotation, big-krit, Calling the Bluff, Louis Goggans, Memphis Flyer, Return of 4Eva, Throwback Thursday