Month: March 2016

Categories
News News Blog

Kyle Wagenschutz Takes New Job at PeopleForBikes

Memphis bike/pedestrian coordinator Kyle Wagenschutz has announced his resignation. He’ll be taking on a new role as Director of Local Innovation at PeopleForBikes, a national bicycling advocacy organization, in Boulder, Colorado.

Wagenschutz, the city’s first bike/pedestrian coordinator, was hired for the role in 2010 by former Mayor A C Wharton. In that role, Wagenschutz oversaw the implementation of 60-plus miles of bike lanes across the city and helped move the city from one of Bicycling Magazine’s worst cities for bicycling in 2008 to one of the most improved cycling cities in 2012.

At PeopleForBikes, Wagenschutz will handle the day-to-day administration of the Green Lane Project, which accelerates implementation of protected bike lanes and low-stress cycling networks.

Wagenschutz has said he’ll continue to work with the city in an advisory role, as the city moves forward with implementing a bike-share program and prepares to host the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals Conference in 2017. 

“Rest assured, the administration and engineering staff are still fully committed to making walking and bicycling a priority in Memphis and plan to continue the aggressive development of infrastructure and programs that were started under my stewardship,” Wagenschutz said in a prepared statement. “The process to hire a replacement has already begun and I anticipate the city will be filling the position as quickly as they can.”

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland posted an announcement about Wagenschutz’s departure on March 18th.

“Obviously, we’re sad to see him go. Under Kyle’s watch, we have greatly expanded bicycling infrastructure in Memphis and continue to make our city more pedestrian-friendly. I reaffirm our commitment to these initiatives, and I’m happy to report that we’ve already initiated the process to find Kyle’s successor. Please join me in wishing Kyle the very best,” Strickland wrote.

Categories
Blurb Books

Bill Haltom book signing postponed

Due to a death in the family, Bill Haltom has had to cancel the book signing scheduled for Saturday, March 26h, at Burke’s Book Store.

A later date will be named in the near future and we will keep you up to date.

Milk & Sugar: The Complete Story of Seersucker (Nautilus Publishing)  traces the origin of the seersucker suit from its humble beginnings to its rise as a darling of both men’s and women’s haute couture. It examines its role in Southern culture from courtrooms and law offices, churches and synagogues, fraternity row and sorority rush, tasteful garden gatherings to raucous fundraisers. Along the way, Haltom also outlines the regional “rules” of wearing and accessorizing seersucker and its embrace by fashionistas and celebrities from New York City to Hollywood.

Categories
Opinion The BruceV Blog

Ted Cruz “Sex Scandal” Rocks the Internet

Oh, this is going to be interesting. The National Enquirer, which has a good track record for breaking sex scandal stories (John Edwards, Tiger Woods, Jesse Jackson), has dropped a bomb on GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz.

The Enquirer claims Cruz had affairs with five women, and included their pixilated pictures in the story. Though the Enquirer has not yet named names, the Internet has been doing that work for them. There are now published claims that one of the women is current Donald Trump spokesperson, Katrina Pierson, and another is a former Carly Fiorina staffer.

Twitter and other media outlets are jumping on the story. Conclusions are no doubt being jumped to, but this is a lot of smoke for there to be no fire. And the political ramifications are potentially huge. If this story is true, Cruz will have to drop out of the race and go home to “spend time with his family,” leaving a nice bundle of delegates without a candidate. Does this bring Marco Rubio back into the race? Or the Mittster? Or does Kasich now become the great establishment Republican hope?

Here’s a good run-down of events, so far..

Categories
News The Fly-By

Gardening Group Kicked Off Vacant Land in Midtown

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

Last Saturday, despite the chill in the air, a few plants were beginning to spring up in the mostly barren raised beds in a community garden plot at Court and Watkins.

But the people who planted them won’t have a chance to tend to or harvest their crop this year. Without much explanation, the Washington Bottoms Community Garden crew has been evicted from the land they’ve tended to for the past several years.

The garden has served not only as a place to grow food but also a meeting place for Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (H.O.P.E., the group behind the garden) and the residents of the mostly low-income, international community in Washington Bottoms. But earlier this month, the property owner posted signs all around the garden ordering the crew to evacuate the land.

“I was there all the time, and I met some fabulous people working in the garden. We had a lot of great times together. We celebrated birthdays there and holidays. We had a snowball fight and movie nights,” said Antonio Harris, a member of the H.O.P.E. garden crew. “I wish the garden wouldn’t go away. It’s a sad situation, and I hate that we have to leave.”

Bianca Phillips

Members of H.O.P.E. at the garden farewell party last weekend

Last Saturday, the H.O.P.E. garden crew gathered one last time at the garden. A few tended to burgers and hot dogs on a charcoal grill while others played badminton. Neighborhood kids sang Taylor Swift songs on a karaoke machine.

A laminated sign stapled to the hand-painted Washington Bottoms Community Garden sign read “The property owner advises that fences will be erected on this property within 7 days of this notice. Please immediately remove all wanted personal belongings or they will be removed by the owner.”

That property owner is Tennessee Health Management, the management group over Court Manor Nursing Home. Court Manor was located on that plot of land years ago, but the building was torn down and relocated downtown. The vacant plot is one of many empty plots in Washington Bottoms. Most were once home to apartment buildings that were torn down to make way for a planned big-box retail development spearheaded by Florida-based WSG Development. The plan failed when WSG defaulted on their loan during the recession.

About 18 acres of the WSG property was purchased by Kroger last year, but the Washington Bottoms Community Garden plot is still owned by Court Manor/Tennessee Health Management. Last year, garden crew members met with representatives from Kroger to request that, if Kroger also purchased their garden land, that they be allowed to stay until any new development began.

Bianca Phillips

Eviction notice on garden sign

“Kroger told us they intended to buy the property, but they said they shouldn’t develop it for another five years, so we were talking about a land use license,” said H.O.P.E. garden crew member Jamie Young.

A spokesperson for Kroger said they don’t have a contract on the land, and they were only made aware the group was being evicted when H.O.P.E. sent Kroger an invite to the garden’s farewell party.

A representative from Tennessee Health Management, Jonathan Cooper, also would not confirm any sale of the garden land.

“No final decision has been made on a sale. All we’re trying to do is make the area safe and secure,” said Cooper, when asked why the H.O.P.E. garden crew was being kicked out.

Young said the group actually had Court Manor’s blessing to garden there, and in the past, had been praised by the company for making the land, which previously had a reputation for being a high-crime area, safer by keeping it occupied.

The garden became so accepted by the people living in the neighboring apartments that they’d often send their kids over to help H.O.P.E. members work in the garden. And neighbors would often attend movie nights, fund-raisers, and other events H.O.P.E. held there.

“When we started, the land was completely littered with trash and junk car parts and broken glass and couches. There were a couple nights there that we heard gunshots. There was a history of gang violence right on that corner, and the surrounding apartments were mostly minorities living at a level of poverty,” said H.O.P.E. garden crew member Dallas Holland. “And then one day when we were out there, I heard laughing and kids running around and music. We were blowing giant bubbles with a bubble gun, and it was the moment that it hit me that this was more amazing than we ever meant it to be.”

The garden crew would like to move to another plot in Midtown, but they haven’t found a space that’s convenient for H.O.P.E. members, some of whom are homeless, or for Washington Bottoms residents, many of whom do not have transportation.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Government Officials Saying Bad Things

“Asshole.” “Kiss my butt.” “I could care less.” “Don’t flatter yourself.”

These are comments lawmakers and a government attorney recently said or wrote directly to taxpayers.

• Tennessee state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, who infamously called a Tennessee taxpayer an “asshole” last year during the Insure Tennessee debate, had terse words last week for Memphian Steve Levine.

Sen. Todd Gardenshire

During a debate on Gardenhire’s bill that would prohibit the use of state gas tax funds for bike lanes, a fellow lawmaker told Gardenhire that he’d received numerous emails about the bill. Gardenhire joked that that was “what the delete button” was for.

Levine wrote Gardenhire an email calling his sentiment “glib” and a “slap in the face” to his constituents. Gardenhire responded, noting “The day you start receiving 350 to 400 emails a day, call me so I can sit and watch you read every one of them.” Levine wrote him back to say “I don’t feel sorry for you” because responding to constituents is “part of the job” and that he was glad that his email somehow rose above the others.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Gardenhire wrote from his official state email address. “Not only will I delete this email after I send it, but you will be blocked. You made my day.”

Gardenhire had not responded for comment by press time.

“It was absolutely an inappropriate response coming from an elected official,” Levine said. “My opinion and hope is that someone in a public service position would accept that others will disagree and that correspondence is part of the job.”

• Memphis City Council attorney Allan Wade apparently did not mince words with a Memphis taxpayer three weeks ago, as the Greensward-Memphis Zoo parking debate raged at Memphis City Hall.

Kathy Ake wrote a post on Nextdoor titled “me and Allan Wade” in which she told Wade “you should be ashamed” for allegedly colluding with Memphis Zoo leadership. Ake confirmed the incident with the Flyer.

“He stopped, backed up and said ‘Are you talking to me?'” Ake wrote. “I said yes. He looked at me and said ‘You should kiss my butt.'”

Ake said she has heard nothing from city council members or Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland since the incident.

Wade would not confirm that the situation happened.

“I have no comment on any private conversations that I may or may not have had with someone ‘who made a comment to me’ outside of the public meeting context,” Wade said in an email to the Flyer. “I hear a lot of ‘comments’ that cannot be repeated in polite company.”

• Last week, a Mississippi state legislator told a taxpayer she should move out of the state.

According to a story from Jackson’s The Clarion-Ledger, freshman Rep. Karl Oliver told a resident in an email that she and he have “different political views,” and he noted that she wasn’t a Mississippi native.

“I appreciate you going to the trouble to share [your opinion] with me, but quite frankly, and with all due respect, I could care less,” Oliver said in an email. “I would, however, recommend that there are a rather large number of like-minded citizens in Illinois that would love to see you return.”

Categories
Art Art Feature

A graffiti writer sounds off about “street art.”

As a graffiti artist who, for long periods of time, painted without permission, I cannot get behind the whole “street art” thing. It’s not that I don’t enjoy looking at so-called street art, but I can’t get behind the verbiage of it all. “Street art” occupies the same spaces as graffiti art, but it carries none of the history and meaning. It’s a shallow commodification.

In graffiti, you have to know how to use a spray can. You have to know how to execute a tag, throwup, and straight letter, and if you get that far, you can eventually start making abstract typography in what is called “piecing.” You have to piece under bridges and out of the public eye until you can execute that piece well enough to put it “above ground” on legal and permission walls. To make pieces stand out on permission walls, a lot of graffiti writers would paint portraits, cartoon characters, abstract backgrounds, landscapes, etc. It is understood within the community that all of these things were part of the original graffiti movement and indigenous to its traditions as a pastime. You have to work your way up.

But as has happened with other art forms in the past (look to the difference between b-boying and its commodified form, breakdancing), businessmen, art dealers, and art galleries came along and realized, “Hey, we can make money off one part of this culture.” So they took the biggest, flashiest elements, and called it “street art.” “Street art” has become the new umbrella term. If someone does large illustrations on walls, they’re a “street artist.” People are called “street artists” who have never once painted without permission. They have never been arrested. They have never had to be a part of a physical altercation over their art. They have never had their artworks covered up, scribbled over with poorly drawn penises and Metallica logos. All of these things are routine for a graffiti writer.

Graffiti vs. street art.

If you are a graffiti writer who paints ugly street level graffiti on things that aren’t yours, you are a “graffiti vandal.” If you are a graffiti writer who paints beautiful abstract typography illegally, that is called “graffiti art.” If you are a graffiti writer who paints beautiful abstract typography on a permission wall, that is called a “graffiti mural,” or “graffiti production.”If you are a fine artist, complete with an artist statement who paints walls, you are a muralist.

If you are a muralist who paints illegally, by definition, you are doing graffiti, but you’re not quite a graffiti writer, so I can see that this could be where some people feel the need to have a third category, or an alternate title. But the fact of the matter is that most people who call themselves “street artists” don’t paint illegally. Now, with this new title, they can have all the edginess without paying any dues.

Nowadays, in my city and in other cities all over the country and the world, people are exploiting the word “street artist” as a way to hop on a bandwagon. They’re throwing it around very flippantly. They are calling murals “graffiti,” and they are calling graffiti “street art.” And there are many, many people who claim to love graffiti, but they talk bad about people who do letters. People dismiss letters as not being art, when letters are the very thing that started the whole movement. These people don’t know how difficult it is to paint a word 20 feet wide and eight feet tall while you are also trying to control your adrenaline and not faint. There is an art to making abstract typography. It is a skill that you have to practice.

And that’s the thing about graffiti, about writing a name. There is no lofty artist statement required. It’s not about some kind of pseudo-intellectual social commentary. It’s just free expression. Graffiti artists buy their own materials, spend their own money, spend their own time to do this and don’t expect anything in return. A lot of times their work is immediately removed or covered up. That’s honest expression.

Brandon Marshall has painted illegally and legally in Memphis for over a decade.

Categories
Calling the Bluff Music

Yo Gotti Was Born a Hustler

Since jumping into the rap game more than a decade ago, Yo Gotti has glamorized his prowess for hustling. “Born Hustler,” a mini-documentary presented by Epic Records and journalist Elliott Wilson, sheds light on where Gotti’s unwavering grind derives from. 

The visual takes viewers through the streets of Memphis, the homes of Gotti’s relatives and his restaurant Prive’. The Billboard-charting artist opens up about hailing from a family of hustlers. He also reveals his reasoning for trading in the streets for rap and entrepreneurship.

During the documentary, Gotti’s mom and two aunts reflect on their introduction to hustling, how it changed their lives, and the impact it had on Gotti. And the rapper’s brother and childhood friend both share how their lives have changed due to his success. 

Check out the mini-documentary below. And grab Gotti’s latest album The Art of Hustle. 

Yo Gotti Was Born a Hustler

Categories
Memphis Gaydar News

Cherry Hula Burlesque Show

Spring may have just arrived, but it’s already summer at Cherry — the monthly party for lesbians and their friends.

This month’s installment — Hula Burlesque — will feature performances by burlesque, belly, and drag performers Kitty Wompas, Fatima Fox, Will Ryder, and Delilah, and as always, it’s hosted by comedian Julie Wheeler. Cherry will be held at 5 Spot behind Earnestine & Hazel’s on Saturday, March 26th, and shows begin at 9:30 and 11 p.m. 

There will be a limbo contest for VIP tickets to the next month’s party. General admission is $10, and VIP tickets are $20.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Visit to Park + Cherry

The owners of Acre Restaurant signed a three-year lease to run the Dixon Gallery and Garden’s new café called Park + Cherry. It opened this Tuesday and everything on the menu has an average price range of $8-$10. There’s a selection of sandwiches, salads, snacks, sides, sweets and coffee.

The first sandwich I tried was the truffled pimento cheese ($8). The bread is super soft and airy. As for the pimento cheese, it’s different from others that I’ve tasted. I chalk that up to the fact that there’s actually preserved black truffles worked into it! The pimento cheese is light, fresh and simply put… delicious. It’s also a nice serving size.

For the healthy option, I tried the quinoa, pickle pear, arugula, and cranberry salad ($9). The quinoa is cooked just right. The pear and cranberries give a nice hint of sweetness to the salad while providing two totally different textures at the same time. If you want a fresh and light-tasting salad that will fill you up and has a touch of sweetness, this is for you.

Lastly I sampled one of the hot-pressed sandwiches. I went with the smoked beef brisket Reuben ($10.) It had Swiss, sauerkraut, and sweet red wine mustard. On the first bite you can taste the smokiness of the meat. The brisket is smoked to the point where it isn’t overwhelming and that allows the sauerkraut to kick in. It’s got a great crunch and a sweet pickled taste to it. The red wine mustard with the melted Swiss cheese seals the deal. If you want a juicy sandwich, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Categories
News News Blog

Black Lives Matter To Protest Civil Rights Museum Exhibit

CREDIT: James Pate

James Pate

One of the works from James Pate’s ‘Kin Killin’ Kin’ exhibit

From now until April 29th, the National Civil Rights Museum will be showing works by artist James Pate that compare black-on-black violence to the violent acts of the Ku Klux Klan. But the local chapter of Black Lives Matter has called the exhibit “morally and intellectually dishonest.”

Black Lives Matter will hold a protest outside the Civil Rights Museum on Thursday at 6 p.m., the same time artist Pate will be doing a meet-and-greet with those viewing the exhibit inside the museum.

Pate’s charcoal drawings portray young black men donning KKK hoods or committing acts of gun violence. Cincinnati native Pate, who is black, has said that his work was inspired by conversations he’d had in his own community, in which people had pointed out similarities between gang violence and the KKK’s racist brand of violence.

But a press release issued by the Memphis chapter of Black Lives Matter disagrees with that comparison.

“Comparing ‘black on black’ crime to the KKK, a domestic terrorist organization, is morally and intellectually dishonest and has nothing to do with the history of the Black freedom struggle that is showcased in the National Civil Rights Museum. To equate the KKK to a group of people who have been enslaved, segregated, and degraded into second-class citizenship is callous and outright offensive. Moreover, this exhibit fails to address the root causes of crimes in predominately Black neighborhoods, which is that crime is a reaction to a lack of resources,” read the press release.