Month: May 2015

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

New School Funding Request Fares Well with County Commission

CREDIT: JB

Wednesday’s sessions of the Shelby coun
JB

A satisfied Superintendent Dorsey Hopson faces the press after budget hearing.

ty Commission demonstrated two facts conclusively: (1) that, when any public official begins a set of remarks with the promise ‘I’ll be brief,’ put that pillow you brought with you back of your head and settle in for a lengthy snooze; and (2) at budget time the elected guardians of the public trust can, dollar-wise, swallow a camel and choke on a gnat.

Both of these truisms refer to the same circumstance — the component of Wednesday’s Committee meeting devoted to vetting the budget requests of various agencies of county government.

The Commission took no votes as it engaged in give-and-take with representatives of the agencies (it will make decisions on the various requests at some point between now and the new fiscal year beginning July 1), but the opinions of its members were not difficult to divine.

The request of Shelby County Schools for a $14.9 budget increase was, by and large, met with perfunctory questioning of Superintendent Dorsey Hopson, who, it must be said, answered all inquiries forthcomingly and with impressive detail. So did other representatives of the county school system, including Chris Caldwell, the SCS board’s budget chair.

The members of the Commission were so clearly convinced of the merit of the SCS request — which, fairly convincingly, dealt with unavoidable challenges to the district brought about by changes not of the school administration’s making — that the dominant response from Commissioners was some variant of the “I’ll-be-brief” promise, followed by extended praise of Hopson and his team and/or solicitude for the district’s problems

(Number One of which was the conundrum of how to provide education to a largely impoverished and socially dislocated school population. As Commi
JB

Roland: Sheriff’s billeting ‘doesn’t pass the smell test.’

ssioner George Chism, a suburban Republican, noted, the typical home environment of inner-city SCS students bore little resemblance to “a household in Collierville.”)

The Commissioners as a whole were clearly impressed by Hopson and by evidence he presented of higher academic achievement on his watch, by economies effected through staff consolidations and school closures, and by the success of the SCS I-Zone program in holding its own against competition from charter schools and acquisition of school facilities by the state’s ASD program.

(Nor did it hurt that the SCS funding request was linked to an additional $5 million or so for the schools in the municipal systems created by suburban de-merger in 2014.)

In any case, the Commissioners would respond, one by one, with the aforementioned encomia to Hopson and his achievements.

Other parts of Shelby County’s public sphere did not fare so well.

Earlier, when the county’s IT staff was at the witness table, Commissioner David Reaves stirred the ashes of an old controversy regarding unity of IT services when he questioned the additional insurance expenses incurred by the insistence of Register Tom Leatherwood on maintaining an IT program separate from the county’s umbrella system. “$60,000 for no reason other than they want to be separate?”

And there were eyebrows raised by the costs incurred by the transfer of several administrative functions of Juvenile Court to the Sheriff’s Department, as well as add-on budget items submitted by both Juvenile Court and the Sheriff’s office. JB

Chism is a stoic observer as the bona fides of his job is questioned.

Larry Scroggs, CAO of Juvenile Court, was pressed to explain why the court was seeking to double the number of beds, from four to eight, to accommodate juveniles housed overnight at Porter Leath for such purposes as “cooling off” in the aftermath of domestic assault incidents.

Commissioner Terry Roland and Commission budget chair Heidi Shafer wondered why the additional beds were needed in light of Scroggs’ testimony that the average number of beds used for such purposes on a per diem basis was 1.6. Scroggs would counter that the request for additional beds, which the Court had been seeking for some years, was to accommodate the high end of a fluctuating need for bedding.

Given that proposed expenses within the Sheriff’s Department were the subject of numerous potential questions from the Commissioners, the absence of Sheriff Bill Oldham — on official business in Austin, Texas, explained CAO Steve Leech — was greeted with an attitude close to disdain.

“I’m disappointed that the Sheriff did not come,” said Shafer, who said that if the Sheriff ha
d given sufficient advance notice of his likely absence, “we would have adjusted the day.” She went on: “We ae the funding body,” more important than “whatever is going on in Texas.”

Roland, who has had several brushes over the years with former Commission colleague Sidney Chism, now employed by the Sheriff’s Department, responded skeptically to Chism’s current billeting by the Department as a “media specialist,” noting that the Department’s public relations and media releases were seemingly taken care of by another employee, Chip Washington.

“It doesn’t pass the smell test,” said Roland, who has previously suggested that Chism’s employment was a quid pro quo resulting from support given by Chism, a well-known political broker, to Oldham’s election campaign in 2014.

Bu Roland professed himself even more concerned about the employment of former county Preparedness director Bob Nations by the Sheriff’s Department, noting that the additional employment would vest Nations in a dramatically higher pension category.

Shafer, who presided,, made it clear as she closed out that portion of the budget inquries that she would expect a “timely response, and timely response for us is a matter of days, not weeks,” hopefully from the “actual Sheriff, “and that the Commission would require “real numbers” regarding the “real money” involved.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

The Big Empties, Redux

“They dot the Memphis landscape like craters on the moon — old bridges, shut-down factories, and abandoned office buildings. In their day, all these places were humming with activity, helping to spin the wheels of Memphis commerce and industry.”

That was the opening sentence of Michael Finger’s 1997 story in the Flyer called “The Big Empties.” Cited in the piece were the Sears Crosstown Tower, the Tennessee Brewery, and the Harahan Bridge — all now undergoing renovation and reinvention.

Now Bass Pro has brought the Pyramid (the pointiest big empty in the world) back to life in a grand way. And just this week, it was announced that the long-dormant French Quarter Inn near the now-booming Overton Square will be torn down and replaced by the 134-room Hotel Overton. On South Main, the Hotel Chisca is coming back, and numerous other downtown and Midtown properties have gotten or are getting new life — too many to mention here. As I wrote last week, a renaissance is happening. And more big empties are filling up.

Twenty years ago, you would have been hardpressed to find anyone who thought any of those edifices had a future. Remember the huge debate about the wisdom of building AutoZone Park downtown? Lots of folks were insisting that it should be built “out east, where the people are,” instead of in what was perceived by many then as a dying downtown. Now the ballpark is one of the city’s crown jewels.

Visionaries like AutoZone’s Pitt Hyde and forward-thinking developers like Henry Turley and Jack Belz, and precious few others, put their money where their hearts were and invested in the city core when many businesses were fleeing to the hinterlands. Their commitment to Memphis is now bearing fruit for all of us.

And I know this isn’t often said, but we also owe a debt to former Mayor Herenton, who first unleashed Robert Lipscomb on the city’s wretched public housing, almost all of which has now been transformed into livable and attractive multi-income housing. I predict that Lipscomb’s often disparaged role in the city’s redevelopment will be one at which future historians will marvel. He’s gotten a lot of things right.

There are still plenty of big properties lying fallow, of course, still acres of blight in some of the city’s poorer neighborhoods, but the conversation has changed from “What can we do about these eyesores?” to “What’s the best way to reinvent this property?” That’s huge.

Looming ahead is the battle over the future of the Fairgrounds and the Mid-South Coliseum, which pits Lipscomb and an as yet unknown developer against a core of Midtown activists who want to save the historic venue. I won’t predict how that will play out, but one thing is certain: The “save the Coliseum” proponents can point to numerous examples where reinvention has paid off handsomely for all of us.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Going Viral

The 21-year-old sitting across a Café Eclectic booth laughs softly and speaks with tenacity. He could talk about videos all day, he says, and soon, he might. He’s moving to Los Angeles later this month, going the way of many popular YouTubers and internet content creators who seem to find their way to the Pacific Coast.

Darius Benson, at first glance, wouldn’t strike you as an internet celebrity.

The social media sensation is well-dressed and taller than expected, even though his profile states clearly that he’s 6’4″. Before meeting, he offers any time in the afternoon. He doesn’t wake up before 11 a.m. Lucky him. He sometimes laughs nervously, but when we start talking about Vine, and what he hopes to do professionally, he becomes more confident and collected. He knows what he’s talking about — he’s been here before. He’s talked about Vine a million times.

To his nearly 2.4 million followers on the social media app, Vine, Benson is better known as MrLegenDarius, a comedian who specializes in what he calls “silly, short skits.” Vine is the Twitter version of YouTube, where users can post six-second videos that automatically loop called Vines. Others can then “revine,” or repost, the video to their own followers. Each video also notes the number of loops of the Vine — and it’s not uncommon to see Benson’s videos looped in the millions. (In total, he has more than a billion loops across his videos.)

“For a while, basically all I could watch was Vines,” Benson says. “If I tried to watch a YouTube video that was three [or] four minutes, I’d be like, ‘I just don’t have the time.'”

Vine’s platform has forced the creative hand of content creators, squeezing out every millisecond of video. Some users post impromptu rants in the car. Others have elaborate short films utilizing special effects. Artists have also taken to the medium as a new form of expression for their art, particularly stop-motion artists. More recently, corporations have taken to getting content creators like Benson to advertise for them, using the style they’re known for to push products or create ads.

Some attribute the success of platforms such as Vine to the digital generation’s shrinking attention span. One frequent statistic often thrown out, particularly in the case of Vine, is that the average American attention span has decreased since 2000 — when it sat at 12 seconds — to a measly 8.25 seconds (less than that of a goldfish).

Though that number has been shared on Facebook, printed in books, and published in news articles, research into the specific report quoted found no such study. One published in 2008 by the University of Hamburg detailed internet usage by 25 participants that showed that 52 percent of all website visits by their participants was shorter than 10 seconds.

Ten seconds is where the founders of Vine worked backward from. From the inception of the platform, founders experimented with various lengths of video to see what felt right. While five seconds felt too short and six seconds felt like something was missing, the looping feature added another dimension.

Vine launched in January 2013, six months before Instagram’s 15-second video feature was introduced. Shortly thereafter, Benson, an engineering major, started posting Vines during his spring semester at the University of Memphis. That summer, while working at Target, he posted even more often. His videos were, and are, often spur-of-the-moment, finding inspiration in the smallest things, hanging out with friends, or sitting alone in his bedroom.

His first Vine, titled “got jokes,” featured a talking head version of Benson.

Darius Benson posts videos to Vine regularly, ranging from skits to messages to followers. Benson’s 6-second videos have turned him into an internet celebrity.

“How do trees get on the internet?” he asks in the video. “Wait for it, wait for it. It’s good. They log on. You feel me?”

Now his comedic videos range in style — parodies of viral content, Vine-focused memes, or just a made-up skit, with Benson playing all the parts. He gained popularity when he released a parody series called “Hip Hop Disney,” where Benson covered popular hip-hop songs as if they were performed by Disney characters. The first video in that series — now more than 26 parts — went viral.

“It got 300,000 likes,” Benson says. “It was on the top of the ‘popular Vines’ page all day. That was my breakout moment, like, ‘Wow, I really made something.'”

It wasn’t just that series. The first time Benson was featured in a WorldStarHipHop Vine compilation, people also started to take notice. The website’s compilations (sometimes shortened to “comps”) garner millions of views each week. Nowadays, he isn’t as surprised when his videos make it onto weekly or monthly compilations of popular Vines. He says if he gets around 150,000 likes on a video, he will usually see that video on a compilation.

Benson is driven and focused on content-creating as a business opportunity. Since he blew up, he’s landed sponsorships from Pringles, Microsoft, and even joined other popular Vine stars in promoting the movie Unfriended, a horror film with an aggressive social media marketing team, centering on a group of teens in a video chat together.

He’s able to get these promotional gigs through a liaison company that manages offers from marketing teams, middle-men between online content creators and brands. Benson is able to take creative control over his content, so his sponsored posts aren’t just blanket ads for brands; they’re still what fans of MrLegenDarius can expect.

Benson has also had opportunities to interact with his followers at Playlist Live conventions in Orlando, Florida, and Washington, D.C., dedicated to online content creators and their fans. Vine meetups with other content creators in New York City — where he invited followers to come meet him — drew crowds. He had half-a-million followers.

“For the first time, I saw that many people showing up just for Vine,” he says, holding up his smartphone. “It’s really cool to see the power of [this]. Everything on Vine came from my phone.”

If Benson is in a place where Vine’s demographic — 18 to 20 years old, 57 percent female — hangs out, he’s likely to be recognized. One of his most popular videos, featuring him acting as James Doakes from TV’s Dexter, often gets one of his lines thrown at him in public.

For the most part, Benson keeps his comedy clean, hoping he’ll be able to continue to reach a wider audience and be able to show his conservative parents.

“I also think there’s more respect for comedy that’s generally clean,” he says. “It helps you with opportunities. Like if Pringles wants a promo, they’re going to choose somebody whose content is [cleaner], not someone who’s cussing all the time.”

Homeschooled until he was 14, Benson says he’s used to “making his own fun.” As a child, he says learning skills like juggling was like a “really long training program” for Vine.

His parents, he says, aren’t “that psyched” about having an internet celeb in the family.

“My parents are just like, ‘Eh, that’s funny,'” he says. “But when I was talking about not going to school anymore, they were kind of worried about me.”

Benson’s father, Alvin Benson, the director of the Shelby County Fire Department, told him he needed to have a backup plan. His father was the driving force behind Benson attending the University of Memphis for engineering, something he wasn’t very passionate about. Eventually, he decided to drop out and pursue content creating full-time.

“I’ve always been stubborn,” he says. “When I decide I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it. They saw that decision and they were like, ‘I don’t know. College is a thing you gotta knock out.'”

His parents want to know who he’s talking to in the entertainment industry and check in from time to time, making sure Benson’s not being taken advantage of or making unwise choices. Despite their concerns, both parents are proud. Alvin is actually in one of his son’s Vines, celebrating his two million followers.

“Oh, that’s cool. Check out those pictures over there,” he says in the video, pointing to a wall of photos, posing with Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, and the Dalai Lama, among other famous figures.

That Vine received more than 330,000 likes and looped more than 13 million times.

“A couple of months before I posted that, he kind of hinted like, ‘Maybe I could get on a video sometime,'” he says. “Before, he was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know about that Vine thing,’ but now he’s kind of warmed up to it after I started gaining followers and getting opportunities.”

Benson is now looking to diversify into YouTube. He says many YouTubers who have tried to transition into Vine end up having a harder time transferring due to the time constraints.

“They’re used to slowing things down,” Benson says. “One thing that I like about transitioning to YouTube from Vine is that I still have that quick, get-to-the-point mentality when it comes to my videos. I think that helps me a lot.”

When it comes to YouTube, the opportunities aren’t just based on promotional material that Benson has to create on his own. He can make money through actual views, something he’s good at getting. And with consistent viewership, he can end up with a viable, reliable source of income.

Benson’s also seeking a challenge. He’s done well on Vine, but on YouTube, he feels longer video options will allow his creativity to flourish. He’ll be able to not only expand upon ideas he’s initially released on Vine, but also create all-original content with more structure — such as guides to teaching white people to dance and more elaborate skits.

“[YouTube] is where things are happening,” Benson says. “I mean, eventually, I could make my own movie. There’s a lot of steps to that, it takes more experience, but that’s kind of what I’m looking toward.”

For most of us, going from posting funny videos in your spare time to making a living at it and moving to Los Angeles seems like a big leap. But it was a change that Benson fell into naturally: uploading Vines for fun, turning that into a hobby, then, eventually, figuring out how to make it his job.

“It takes a little bit of the fun out of it when you have to do it,” he says. “But I think I’ve done a pretty good job in balancing the two. It’s like work and play combined. That’s why I’m moving to Los Angeles — to try and branch out, so I have a good following across multiple platforms.”

Benson’s been to L.A. six times over the past year, and in L.A., they take Vine seriously. Collaborators meet up — six or seven people, Benson says — and just knock out videos, making multiple videos at a time to publish throughout the week. Benson prefers his spontaneous, natural style, but he says hanging out with other content creators breeds friendships, a bond within a lifestyle that is focused on creating entertainment.

“We’re all kind of weird,” Benson says. “Vines are a weird thing to have in common with somebody. A person who doesn’t make Vines, they can’t understand.”

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open: Julles Posh Foods and Chef Shuttle.

CREDIT: Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

To walk into Julles Posh Foods is to be pleasantly surprised. Nothing about the address suggests excellence. It’s wedged into a strip mall between a Lenny’s and Walgreens. But the owners, MK and Julliet Bhupesh, are doing something refreshingly different for East Memphis: They’re cooking light.

“There’s a lot you can do with a drop of oil,” muses Julliet. “You don’t have to fry it.”

MK and Julliet both grew up in India, but they didn’t meet until much later, in California. At the time, MK was working as a consultant at Accenture, while Julliet was a pastry chef at the Grand Hyatt in Monterey. Her culinary training is classically European: She has worked at five-star hotels alongside celebrity chefs like Anton Mossiman and Gordon Ramsay. So what drew her to MK?

“He had a sly smile,” recalls Julliet. “He cooked shrimp with coconut for me, and I thought that was very brave.”

At Julles Posh Foods, the menu changes weekly, according to the season and Julliet’s whims. On a recent Monday, the menu featured a Trio of Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing and Grilled Chicken ($14), as well as a Pistachio-Crusted Wild Salmon with Maple Mustard Vinaigrette ($20).

But I was pumped for the Spicy Shrimp ($20). Here, crisp white asparagus and a bean ragout make a zesty bed for some truly peppery crustaceans. For fun, pair it with one of Julliet’s cold-pressed juices. I liked the “Boost n Run” ($9), a gingery potion of beets, carrots, and kale.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Nearly all of these dishes are gluten-free, and several are vegan. That’s a perk, says Julliet, but it isn’t the point. Rather, it flows naturally from her philosophy of cooking light and using predominantly fresh, local ingredients. Recent examples include fingerling potatoes from Woodson Ridge Farms and amaranth microgreens from Rocking Micros.

If you have time, you really ought to dine in. Julles Posh Foods is executed in the sunny style of a Euro café: white and tidy with green and yellow accents. But for busy families who prefer to eat at home, there are actually two more ways to get this food.

First, you can pick up. Julliet prepares and plates each dish, then flash-chills it in an oven-safe container. (An aside: It’s rare to see this level of care taken with prepared foods. Even in black plastic, these dinners look immaculate.) Finally, you can arrange to have your meals delivered. Visit jullesposhfoods.com to order online.

You’ve probably heard about Seamless, the site that lets you order food online. It currently works with 8,000 restaurants in more than 600 cities. Alas, the list does not include Memphis.

But wait! Before you let fly with that familiar, world-weary sigh: Memphis now has its own, homegrown version of Seamless. Back in February, Chef Shuttle started delivering meals to six zip codes in the eastern half of the city. Founder Ryan Herget says he plans to add more neighborhoods in the coming weeks.

Here’s how it works: Go to chefshuttle.com and pick a restaurant (there are currently about 20 to choose from). Order from the menu; the prices are the same as dining in. And that’s it. The food shows up at your door within an hour, and all for a flat delivery fee of $4.95.

I had been meaning to try Chef Shuttle. Also, I had been meaning to check out Game of Thrones. So on a recent Wednesday night, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. At 5:30 p.m., I ordered dinner from 4Dumplings, a Chinese joint in East Memphis. Then I cued up season five, episode one, and pressed play.

5:32 p.m. Opening credits — followed by a dizzying, two-minute montage that attempts to summarize the past 40 episodes. Anyone who hasn’t already seen those episodes will be utterly confused by this. Confused, I open a can of Wiseacre Tiny Bomb pilsner.

6:08 p.m. Food arrives, well ahead of schedule. The friendly delivery driver, Nancy, confesses, “I’m a people person. I love meeting people.” Meanwhile, onscreen, a naked knight cuddles with another knight. I kind of hope Nancy didn’t see that part.

6:11 p.m. Do these characters ever actually meet each other? In a pyramid, a busty woman wearing white says she won’t reopen the fighting pits. I break into the food and am pleased to find that it is piping hot. First up: a bowl of hot & sour soup ($3.50).

6:18 p.m. The woman is in bed now, attended by her lover. They talk a lot, but that’s okay, because they are very attractive and very naked. I open another beer and move on to pork dumplings ($8), which I dip into a delicious, vinegary sauce.

6:26 p.m. A man being burned to death is shot through the heart with an arrow. According to the show’s unusual logic, this is supposed to be merciful. Really? As the closing credits roll, I lay into a bowl of homemade noodles topped with spicy Mongolian beef ($9). The show remains inscrutable, but the food, at least, was good.

Categories
News News Feature

Lives That Matter

I never met Freddie Gray. But in reporting on cases in “the pit” — the bottom floor of the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center in Memphis — I’ve met plenty of guys like the man so many African Americans in Baltimore have exalted to martyr status.

They are the ones who suffer from a fatal flaw of omission, as they anxiously relate to me their stories of persecution at the hands of police, either before or after their arrests. I’ve patiently listened. Then I’ve gone back and checked their criminal rap sheets and found out the vital information, the arrest history they didn’t bother to tell me.

In the case of the 25-year–old Gray, public outrage with his death has continued to overshadow a lengthy criminal record that included almost two dozen prior arrests from illegal gambling to burglary to drug possession. It makes me shake my head in wonderment that Gray’s acknowledged criminal career and the highly questionable nature of his death in the custody of Baltimore police, should be elevated to a martyrdom that becomes the catalyst for people burning down their own neighborhoods under the banner of “black lives matter.”

Why, given the illustrious history of the civil rights movement, are we African Americans now willing to let social media, racially motivated opportunists, and our thirst to create modern-day martyrs lead us to ignore the lack of moral character of some of these victims of police misbehavior?

In the dictionary, “martyr” is defined as a person who willingly suffers death on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause. Where does Gray fit into any of that? What in his life dictated his death should be elevated to the same category as those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, or James Chaney? Why should Gray’s murder be categorized as a life that mattered any more than that of white civil rights icons Detroit housewife Viola Luiza or slain civil rights activists Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner?

The success of the civil rights movement didn’t hinge on the skin color of those who knowingly and willingly were ready to sacrifice their lives for the tenets of social justice they believed in. It was because, in one of the most turbulent times in our history, those eventual victims of atrocities all embraced the unpopular concept that all lives matter, whether white, black, or brown.

I was warned not to write this column, because it might be construed as somehow being disloyal to black people. I was told it might be safer to take some middle ground, where I would express some amount of outrage for Gray’s death and stress the need to continue efforts to establish a civilian review board in Memphis to have some form of oversight on potential overzealous MPD actions.

I do feel sadness for Gray’s family, and I believe the Baltimore police officers involved in his death should be investigated. And now that the Baltimore prosecutor has filed charges against the officers (who were black and white, male and female), the investigation will go forth as it should. I also hope the Memphis City Council will give members of the civilian review board some teeth in order to help to be more effective watchdogs over incidents when law enforcement officers have possibly overstepped their legal bounds.

However, why I wrote this column didn’t come to me until I sat across from my granddaughters and grandson for a joyous brunch in Overton Square. I’ve read all of this fatalistic crap about how black children are destined to fail in life. I’ve heard all the arguments. They’ll have no parental guidance. I’ve ingested those cold statistics that project by the time they’re in their teens they’ll know a family member who’s been shot or is in jail or is dead. Because they’re black, they’ll be prone to acquiring felony records that will immediately limit future career opportunities and they’ll be sentenced to being on the welfare rolls.

None of those dire predictions will happen as long as my grandchildren remain in the loving embrace of their family. Whether they like it or not, they will be exposed and entrenched in the values of pride, honesty, and the drive to succeed. They will not help to burn down cities. They will strive to be active parts of the foundations upon which great cities and communities are built. But above all, it will be instilled in them, that wherever life takes them, they will always be ensconced in the truth that “all lives do matter,” including theirs.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

Sit! Stay!

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

I saw a fantastic play at the Orpheum last month.

Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I saw about three-fourths of a fantastic play. I left once I figured out how it was going to end. Because, you know, traffic and stuff.

Larry Kuzniewski

Hannibal Buress was hilarious at Minglewood Hall a few weeks ago. From what I saw, at least. I left early because it was raining. Gotta beat those crowds, right?

I know what you’re probably thinking. “Wow, this woman is a real piece of work. Why go at all, if you’re not going to stay until the end? That’s dumb. And rude.”

Yup. Sure is.

Other than the part about Buress being hilarious, I made that stuff up. I would never leave a play before the final curtain. I wouldn’t leave a concert before the house lights went up.

And I sure as hell wouldn’t leave a Grizzlies game early — and neither should you. Especially when they’re winning. Especially during the playoffs.

Despite five straight years of playoff appearances, the Grizzlies haven’t been rewarded with the respect they deserve beyond the hometown. Instead, we get to read yet another round of articles titled “Don’t Sleep On the Grizzlies.”

Because “It’s a small market.” Because “People want to watch superstars.” Because “They play ugly, old-school basketball.”

Blah, blah, blah.

Memphis’ roots in the NBA may be shallow, but the city’s relationship with that orange ball is deep. If Z-Bo’s twerk moves in the post, Marc’s off-the-charts hoops acumen, and the Grindfather’s general chaos aren’t entertaining enough for you, well, I don’t know what to tell you. Sorry your life is so boring.

Here in We Don’t Bluff City, we know the Grizzlies belong. But some fans aren’t helping our Beale Street Bears prove it when they can’t even stay in the building for the full 48 minutes. Let other teams’ fans look like jerks on TV. We can be better.

The families who leave at halftime to put the kids in bed? I get it. Bless them and their little future season ticket holders. They weren’t the ones filing out of the Grindhouse during Game 2 against Portland while several minutes remained in the fourth quarter.

As I stood to let an older couple out of my row, I secretly rooted for the Blazers to mount a comeback. Not enough to win it, of course — just enough to teach those fans a lesson. To remind them that in the NBA — as Kevin Garnett once famously declared — anything is possible. He may not have looked like much against the Grizzlies, but Damian Lillard has killed before. (Just ask the 2014 Houston Rockets.)

I don’t remember much about Miami’s improbable Game 6 comeback in the 2013 NBA Finals, but I sure remember shaking my head at all the Heat fans shown pounding on the doors and pleading to be allowed back into AmericanAirlines Arena. Think they still bail out early?

It pays to stick around for the final buzzer, if only for the sheer joy of the glorious, quintessentially Memphis moments that follow: Streamers rain from the rafters, and DJ Khaled’s voice fills the building, declaring that all our beloved Grizzlies do is win, win, win, no matter what. The sound of thousands of elated fans pouring into the lobby, high-fiving amid chants of “Z-BO! Z-BO!” is as sweet as a giggling baby. If I could bottle that feeling, I’d be an instant bajillionaire.

What’s the rush? Downtown Memphis does not suddenly become New Delhi after a Grizzlies game. We may not know what the lever next to the steering wheel does, other than make a weird clicking sound, but we have it pretty good when it comes to traffic. “Beating the traffic” saves you about 10 minutes. You’ll spend more time waiting for a table at Babalu on a Saturday night than you will sitting in post-game traffic.

Oh, but you have to work in the morning? So do all the other 18,000-plus people here. That’s why coffee exists. There are three locally owned coffee shops on Cooper Street alone.

FedExForum is vaulting up the ranks of the league’s best playoff environments, thanks to a lot of dedicated people who work their asses off. They’re on the court with GRIZZLIES on their chests and numbers on their backs. They’re playing soundbytes and dancing at center court. They’re sharing Zach Randolph’s Deep Dish Thoughts and dropping giant banners to proclaim “WE GRIND HERE.” They’re growling those three magic words, “SHOT CLOCK … VIOLATED!” They’re flipping off trampolines in Elvis costumes. They’re scrambling to get a growl towel on every chair before the doors open. Do them the honor of sticking around for the whole show.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Majestic Grille, Celtic Crossing Mark 10 Years

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Patrick Reilly and DJ Naylor have beaten the odds. Ten years ago, each started a restaurant, and today, they’re going like gangbusters. Reilly is the owner and chef at the Majestic Grille on South Main. Naylor founded Celtic Crossing Irish Pub in Cooper-Young.

As it turns out, these two men share a lot more than an anniversary. Both grew up in Ireland, about two hours apart, and each is the 10th child in his large, Irish-Catholic family. Both came to Memphis by way of Boston and Orlando. Both married Americans, and today their kids are in the same class at school.

More to the point, each signed a second 10-year lease for their respective restuarants.

The Flyer recently caught up with them to talk about crossing the pond, tricycle-friendly dining, and why restaurants fail.

Justin Fox Burks

Patrick, Seamus, and Deni Reilly; Kayla, Jamie, and DJ Naylor

Reilly: It’s funny how our lives are kind of parallel. Do you remember how we met?

Naylor: Well, back in the day I consumed a fair amount of Guinness at Dan McGuinness, which is where we met. You would drift in at about 10:30 p.m. for a quick one. During your shift, I might add — isn’t that right?

Reilly: (Laughing) That’s very true. I used to have an old Nextel phone, and it never did work at Dan McGuinness. So if they were trying to get a hold of me, they would call John Moyles behind the bar.

Naylor: And here we are, 10 years later, and your son Seamus is riding his tricycle around the restaurant.

Reilly: (Laughing) I never thought I’d run a tricycle-friendly restaurant, but I do. (Pause) So how do you think you made it to 10 years?

Naylor: My thought — and this is where I fell out with some of my partners — was that we needed to take a portion of what we made and put it back in the restaurant. This idea that you always take the money out — I think a lot of restaurants fail because of that.

Reilly: That’s what people don’t realize. The bulk of restaurants don’t fail because they aren’t making good food. They fail because they don’t have enough cash. The truth is, there are months when, for whatever reason, you don’t make any money. And you can’t live through that if you don’t have cash reserves.

Naylor: If I were to ask you to look out over the next 10 years, what do you see?

Reilly: I’ve fielded offers to run other restaurants, but I’m reluctant. If I do another project, it has to be a step up. I’ve spent so much time and energy and emotion on the Majestic. If I did something new, it’d have to be just right. How about yourself?

Naylor: We’re looking to become more family-oriented. More of a restaurant, a place where families can come for lunch or brunch. Maybe not as reliant on that business that comes in after 11 p.m. on a Friday or a Saturday night. We’re also looking to become a better neighbor.

Reilly: That’s what I like about running a restaurant: It never gets old. It’s always changing, the parts are always moving.

Naylor: And when the day’s over, it’s over. You can have a big night, and it’s busy, it’s crazy. But at the end of the night, everybody goes home, everybody gets fed. And then the next day, you start all over again. It’s a blank canvas. It’s a new opportunity.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Butter Roll Makes a Comeback

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Butter roll is chiefly flour, sugar, and butter with a pinch of this, a pinch of that. Recipes weren’t generally written down for this soul food staple, and over time, it’s been seen less and less on dining room tables.

“It’s a recipe probably born out of economic necessity, but then adopted because of taste, and now celebrated in part out of nostalgia,” according to Mary Beth Lasseter, associate director of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

“Back then, you had too far to go to get anything, and nobody was going too go far for dessert,” says Doris McGhee, who bakes butter roll for her sister’s restaurant the Dining Room
on Lamar.

“My grandma just came up with the dessert with what she had in the kitchen. She didn’t look it up or write it down. She just thought, ‘we need some dessert,’ so she came up with that.”

When the Dining Room opened two years ago, patrons started asking about butter roll. McGhee has never seen a recipe for butter roll, and she didn’t know anyone who made it.

“I went way back in my memory,” McGhee said. “And I remembered the smell, and I remembered the flour, and I got my thinking process together. I was always in the kitchen standing around when I was 10. I remember the cinnamon and the nutmeg and the butter, but I had to think on it for about a month to pull it together.”

McGhee makes butter roll by filling biscuit dough with cinnamon and nutmeg. She rolls it up tightly and bakes the pan in 2 percent milk and sugar. The result is sweet gravy smothering a doughy crepe that’s so packed with cinnamon it’s almost spicy.

Justin Fox Burks

When McGhee prepares butter roll on Saturday mornings, the line goes out the door. Most of the people who recognize the dish are between 40 and 60 years old, and they’re all grateful that McGhee unearthed what their grandmothers never wrote down.

In 2009, Shelbi Sellers and her husband were at a local restaurant when they caught that sweet smell. She spent the next week in the kitchen trying different combinations while pulling to the forefront what she absorbed from childhood experiences in the kitchen with her great-grandmother who was “the butter roll queen of North Memphis.”

Her dish was a hit, and now, she shares her creations as Ms. Shelbi L. Southern Belle Gourmet Butter Rolls. In addition to what she calls the butter roll classic, Sellers also makes seasonal flavors to-order such as cranberry rum glaze and pink champagne.

In her nod to authenticity, Sellers makes her butter roll very plainly. She starts with biscuit dough and then brushes it with butter and a bit of nutmeg and salt. She rolls it up and cuts the dough like one does with cinnamon rolls. The rolls bake in a bath of condensed milk and butter, and the smell of the thick custard hits you before it even gets out of the oven.

“Smells and how people make you feel, you never forget,” Sellers said.

The butter roll has had its time as the dressed-up poor man’s dessert. Chef Felicia Willett has featured it on her menu, and she and University Club chef Stan Gibson have also prepared butter roll at the exalted James Beard House in New York City.

Sellers calls what she does a “lost art.” The butter roll is moslty known to specific demographics, and it is at risk of becoming extinct. Presentation isn’t what defines a butter roll. It’s born out of the desire to make something sweet out of hardship. There can’t be a universal origin because it sprang from the hands of women who wanted to make food stretch while satisfying the heart.

Although they have different methods, both women agree that butter roll has to be made from scratch. Anything else is just plain wrong.
Ms. Shelbi L. Southern Belle Gourmet Butter Rolls: Facebook.com/GourmetButterRolls

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

The Rant (May 7, 2015) …

The GOP could open a haberdashery with all the hats that have been thrown into the ring for the 2016 presidential nomination. It looks pretty much the same as the last go-round, minus Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, but plus Rand Paul and Jeb Bush. The list is still in flux, but these are the folks who are most likely to entertain us all summer with their traveling vaudeville debate theater. The reviews for the last troupe were boffo. They brought down the house in every city. So what if that house was in foreclosure? Since there are so many candidates with such wonderful things to say, I thought a guide to the Republican presidential candidates might be useful.

That is, if Obama doesn’t rip up the Constitution, declare martial law, and run for a third term.

So without further delay, the prospective contenders for the office of president are:

Ted Cruz: Texas Senator and morality crusader Philosophy: Whatever Joe McCarthy said. Famous Quote: “I intend to speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand.” Spoken prior to an empty Senate chamber recitation of Green Eggs and Ham.

Rand Paul: Senator from Kentucky Philosophy: Neo-Libertarian. “I read all of Ayn Rand’s novels when I was 17.” Famous Quote: “A free society will abide unofficial, private discrimination even when that means allowing hate-filled groups to exclude people based on the color of their skin.”

Ben Carson: Neurosurgeon and narcissist Philosophy: I’m the Bizarro Obama. Famous Quote: “Obamacare is the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”

Jeb Bush: Former Florida Governor Philosophy: Please don’t blame me for my idiot brother torching the globe. Famous Quote: “Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families.”

Rick Perry: Texas Governor Philosophy: I got glasses this time to make me look smarter. Famous Quote: “Oops.”

Chris Christie: New Jersey Governor and bridge builder Philosophy: Sit down and shut up. Famous Quote: “Sit down and shut up.”

Scott Walker: Wisconsin Governor and union buster Philosophy: Whatever the Koch brothers tell me. Famous Quote: “Let ’em protest all they want. Sooner or later the media stops finding it interesting.”

Marco Rubio: Florida Senator and pitchman for Aquafina Philosophy: I’m really running for vice president. Famous Quote: “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it.”

Carly Fiorina: Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Philosophy: Just because I drove HP into the ground doesn’t mean I can’t be president. Famous Quote: “If Hillary had to face me on the debate stage, at the very least she would have a hitch in her swing.” (I don’t know what it means either.)

Mike Huckabee: Former Arkansas Governor and future pitchman for reverse-loan mortgages Philosophy: Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Famous Quote: “Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription.”

I suppose you could call the rest fringe candidates, since their views are so radical. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said that the GOP “must stop being the stupid party.” Anti-sex advocate Rick Santorum said, “Contraception is not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”

These are all worthy topics for future hilarious debates, but for the most eloquent statement of qualifications, you have to give it up to grifter and perennial candidate Donald Trump, who said, “The only difference between me and the other candidates is that I’m more honest and my women are more beautiful.” In this tabloid culture, what more could you want in a president?

Categories
Music Music Features

Sweet Soul, Bloody Rippers, and Earth Signs: Local Record Reviews

Cities Aviv – Your Discretion Is Trust (Collect Records)

Sure this is the Record Reviews column and Gavin Mays (aka Cities Aviv) moved to Brooklyn a few years ago, but during his time here Mays constantly put Memphis underground rap on the national map. His latest album Your Discretion Is Trust was released digitally this week and is available for download on iTunes as well as Spotify. The 14 tracks on Your Discretion Is Trust see Mays staying within the confines of his earlier work (specifically 2014’s Come to Life), and longtime producer RPLD GHSTS appears on multiple tracks, including “Is this Alright” and “Earth Signs.” On the opening track “Anticipation,” Mays raps about mobbing through the city with his crew “who take no lives” one minute, and then shifts to contemplating his existence the next. Such vast changes in lyrical content are par for the course in a Cities Aviv track, and Your Discretion Is Trust is yet another example of the many different ideas Mays is capable of executing in the studio. The samples get pretty psychedelic as the fourth album from Cities Aviv unfolds, especially by the mid-album track “Earth Signs.” Even if this is a surprise record, the songwriting on Your Discretion Is Trust is fully realized, and Mays sounds like an artist at the top of his game throughout most of the album.

Favorite Track: “Isolation Quarters”

Caleb Sweazy – Lucky or Strong
(Blue Barrel Records)

Caleb Sweazy’s fourth studio album was recorded at Music+Arts Studio in Memphis by producer Kevin Houston (Sid Selvidge, North Mississippi Allstars). Sweazy enlisted some notable Memphis players for his Blue Barrel Records debut, including Jessie Dakota (Memphis Dawls) on drums, Logan Hanna (Grace Askew) on guitar, and John C. Stubblefield (Lucero) on keys and upright bass. Lucky or Strong was recorded completely live and finds Sweazy recalling bittersweet tales that cover everything from an old Model A Ford to WWI. Sweazy claims to like songs that make the listener feel happy and sad at the same time, and this collection of guitar-driven, bluesy folk rock is sure to do just that. With this lineup of prominent Memphis musicians and producer Houston at the helm, Lucky or Strong is a good indication that Sweazy is a local songwriter worth paying attention to.

Favorite Track: “Soldier’s Heart”

Useless Eaters – Singles 2011-2014 (Slovenly Records)

Seth Sutton has been cranking out garage rock longer than some Memphis bands stay together, and he’s got the back catalog to prove it. His first single as Useless Eaters came out six years ago, and he’s released more than a dozen more since then, not to mention a handful of full-length albums, split singles, and a smattering of cassettes. The 13 tracks on the Singles 2011-2014 cover a pivotal moment for Useless Eaters, a time when Sutton was experimenting with new songs, new ideas, and perhaps most importantly, new bandmates. Different cities shaped the songs on this collection (recording sessions took place in Nashville, Oakland, and Melbourne, Australia), and the songs range from straightforward garage punk tunes like “I Hate the Kids” to downer psych rock jams like “Addicted to the Blade.” For anyone just getting familiar with Useless Eaters (this is the first time we’ve ever written about them), this collection on Slovenly is a great place to start, especially because most of these singles have been sold out for quite some time.

Favorite Track: “Bloody Ripper”

Mary Owens – Sweet Soul
(Blue Tom Records)

Mary Owens’ debut album is on Blue Tom records, the in-house label at the University of Memphis and also the home of Mason Jar Fireflies and Drew Erwin. Recorded by Boo Mitchell, Sweet Soul is a collection of Owens’ first songs as a solo artist, although she sure sounds like a singer who’s been honing her craft for years. Owens’ vocal approach sits somewhere in between country music and R&B, mixing elements of both genres to create a unique, soulful sound that is distinctly Memphis. Pre-orders for Owens’ first album included the option for a recorded personalized cover of the buyer’s choosing, proving that while Owens’ might be young, she’s already got complete confidence in her voice. Sweet Soul is available for the first time this week.
Favorite Track: “Talkin’ to You”