Month: September 2016

Categories
News News Blog

New Leader Takes Reins at Urban Child Institute

Justin Fox Burks

The Urban Child Institute’s headquarters on Jefferson.

Shorb

The Urban Child Institute’s (TUCI) board of directors has named Gary Shorb, the retiring CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, as its new, permanent executive director.

The move comes in an era of change for the nonprofit agency. TUCI had long been criticized in the community for sitting on a large investment fund but giving little of it to Memphis charities that actually help children ages 0-3 years, the group of children on which TUCI focuses its research work.

But in less than a year, TUCI has announced new leaders and a new gifting strategy to get more money into the Memphis community. Gene Cashman, TUCI’s founder and longtime executive director, and board chairman Dr. Hershel “Pat” Wall retired from the agency in December. Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital CEO Meri Armour has since been serving as TUCI’s interim executive director. 
 
“Gary Shorb is well respected in the community and has an impeccable reputation for honesty, transparency, partnership and hard work,” TUCI board chair Jill Crocker said in a statement. “Gary is one of the great leaders of Memphis and we are thrilled that he agreed to lead The Urban Child Institute. He will continue his work to bring our community together to better serve our children and our city.”

Shorb has served as Methodist’s CEO since 2001 and joined the nonprofit health care company in 1990. 

He serves on the boards of Memphis Tomorrow, the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, Healthy Shelby, People First, Committee for Economic Development, Governor Haslam’s Scientific Advisory Council, the University of Memphis Board of Visitors, and the Tennessee Business Roundtable.

He is past chairman of the Overton Park Conservancy, chair of Memphis Fast Forward and he serves on the board of the publicly traded Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA).

“I am honored to serve as executive director of The Urban Child Institute,” Shorb said in a statement. “Urban Child’s mission of promoting health and well-being for children and their families is a natural fit with my history of working in health care.

“I’m glad to continue working to improve our community in this next phase of my life. I am very committed to doing all I can to help children and families. I had hoped to continue involvement in community health work after leaving Methodist and this allows me to do just that.”

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

AAC Picks: Week 5

LAST WEEK: 9-2
SEASON: 37-6

THURSDAY
UConn at Houston

SATURDAY
Memphis at Ole Miss
UCF at East Carolina
USF at Cincinnati
SMU at Temple
Navy at Air Force
Tulane at UMass

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

How Many Games Are the Grizzlies Going to Win?

Larry Kuzniewski

What should we expect from these Grizzlies in the wins column? What’s realistic and what’s not?

I’ve been extremely reticent to give any sort of prediction about how many games the Grizzlies are going to win this year, and usually by training camp I’ve at least got a pretty clear range in my head. Several people have asked me this question in the last week, and I’ve mostly blown it off, but I think a better approach might be to give a few answers and explanations. I’m going to give three scenarios (best-case, decent, and This Is Bad) and a range of wins for each scenario.

Everything Is Awesome: 50

In this scenario, Chandler Parsons misses the regular season opener but he’s ready to go by the end of November. In the meantime, the team is totally bought in to Fizdale’s principles and trust that the new way of playing is actually an improvement over the old way (rather than, say, insisting that he reinstall plays from the Lionel Hollins era when things get tough). The defense struggles a bit (outside of Allen/Gasol/Conley, defense is probably going to be the struggle this year in this scenario, because offensively this could be the most versatile Griz squad we’ve seen), but not so much that they get killed by spread pick-and-roll teams like they did early last year. Meanwhile the Spurs and Mavs struggle out of the gate, the Pelicans do whatever it is the Pelicans do, and the Rockets, now led by Mike D’Antoni and James Harden, Point Guard, score 130 points a night.

In this scenario, which is the best case for the first year of a new coach and adjusting to playing with a mostly-new roster in a mostly-new way, I’d put the Grizzlies at 50 wins. They’re going to have some growing pains even if things are going well—that’s just part of the evolutionary process. Depth is a factor at the guard positions, and defense is a question in the frontcourt (other than Marc Gasol, obviously). If everyone’s healthy and getting comfortable with Fizdale’s principles, I think that’s about where they’ll end up.

Things Are Decent: 44

There’s a middle-path scenario here that takes into account the inevitable stumbling blocks facing a team undergoing this much of a change in direction. This is a group that, in two out of Dave Joerger’s three seasons, failed to actually implement the changes put in place in training camp, and two weeks into the season after a rough start reverted to the Lionel Hollins-era playbook. What happens when they hit a rough patch? Will they be able to stick with The Fizdale Doctrine, or will they seek a return to what’s comfortable?

I’m not even sure that’s what it would take for them to slightly underperform–I think it’ll just take a two-week injury to Mike Conley, maybe a lower minute limit than expected for Marc Gasol, and/or a Chandler Parsons outage that lingers too long into November. They’ve got a lot of work to do in figuring out who does what, and all three of those guys are coming off of injuries–career-threatening ones in the case of Gasol, and Parsons’ sounds like maybe a more major rehab process than anyone expected back in June or July.

This is a win total for a team that’s good but not quite reaching its potential; a winning season while figuring out all of this change and integrating all of these new pieces should still be considered a success, but I’m not sure the average Grizzlies fan agrees, and I know the guys on the team probably don’t see it that way.

This Is Not Great: 39

In years past this would have been the “Can we put a headset on the coach?” scenario. Maybe Fizdale struggles out of the gate to get the team on board with what he’s trying to get them to do. Maybe Chandler Parsons doesn’t come back until Christmas. Maybe Chandler Parsons doesn’t come back until Christmas and Marc Gasol misses three weeks in December and Zach Randolph takes his annual “sit for two weeks to rest because I tweaked my knee” break earlier than expected. Maybe the rookie backup point guards are a disaster, Conley has to play 38 minutes a night, and he starts accumulating weird injuries in February again. Maybe the defense is terrible because the young guys haven’t figured it out yet and some of the guys (Parsons, mostly) aren’t that great at defense anyway.

Point is, there are a lot of things that can go wrong, and if they start going wrong, it’s not tough to envision the wheels coming off of the Grizzlies’ season if they catch as many bad breaks as they did last year. But, here’s the other point: it’s possible for things to go this way and for it to still be a successful season. The Fizdale hire was definitely not just about this year. Signing Parsons, Conley, and Gasol to long-term deals wasn’t either. Everything that’s been talked about so far this year–instilling a new culture in the team, overhauling the principles of the offense and of the defense–is not realistically going to happen in one training camp or preseason. The Grizzlies will probably be a work in progress most of this year, and if things are tougher than expected, it’s still a success if by the end of it they’ve made progress towards becoming the team they want to be.

So which one will it be?

This is a tough year to talk about so far because there are so many unknowns, but those unknowns affect the team just as much as they do those who cover it. Is it likely that the Grizzlies won’t make it to 40 wins? I don’t think so. Is it likely that they make it to 50? More so, to be sure.

If injuries weren’t a concern and the Grizzlies were rolling into camp with Parsons and Gasol in peak form without any health concerns (and, to be clear, Gasol seems to have made a remarkable recovery), I’d feel more comfortable calling this team probably 4th or 5th in the West. But I’m just not sure that’s realistic. I think there will be bumps along the road because so much is new. I see them in the playoffs, but that’s about all I’ll commit to at this point.

That being said, if you’re only watching this team to see whether they win or lose on any given night, you’re going to miss out on what’s really interesting. How quickly can a group that’s been together a long time change their culture? How do they integrate a versatile talent the likes of which they’ve never played with? Does Fizdale–one of the most highly-touted assistants to become a head coach lately–have what it takes to be a head coach? Every season is about wins and losses, but this one also isn’t, and that’s what I’m excited to explore over the next however many months.

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Janis Fullilove: Shot at and Downed by a Memphis Policeman in 1968?

CREDIT: JB

As described JB

Councilwoman Fullilove addressing local Democrats on Sunday night

 in a companion article, “Shelby Democrats Make Do on GOTV,” the efforts of local supporters of the Democratic presidential nominee included a Sunday night event — styled as an “African-American Rally for Hillary Clinton” — at Christ Missionary Church on South Parkway.

As noted in the article, the major theme of the event was to establish a meaningful connection between the civil rights struggle of half a century ago and the fight to elect Clinton, thereby to maintain and defend the gains from that era.

Virtually every speaker expressed some version of that theme, but no one did it so vividly and even shockingly as City Councilwoman Janis Fullilove, who told a story that most, if not all, the members of her audience had not heard before, and which had apparently never before been related publicly in any form.

The kernel of that tale was Fullilove’s contention that, while a school girl marching in memory of the recently assassinated Martin Luther King in 1968, she was shot at by a Memphis police officer and left to lie helpless in fear on a downtown Memphis pavement.

Here is the story as she told it Sunday night:

[audio-1]

“…I don’t want to be long, but I think about 1968, and I was a young thing, 18 years old, attending the Booker t. Washington High School of leadership excellence. And when Dr. King came to Memphis, members of the NAACP — Jesse Turner, Maxine and Vasco Smith — they came and they embraced us and said, ‘We want you to be part of this movement because we’re doing this for your tomorrow. And I remember sanding on the stage of Mason Temple on the night that Dr. King had given his Mountaintop speech. And I remember how moved I was at 18 years old to hear that speech from this man, who thought enough of our sanitation workers to come to the city to mobilize us, to get what was done that was right to be done, and showed us how to do it.

“The next day, my grandmother and I had gone to Corondolet. That was like Target, and it was in the North Memphis area, and we were shopping, very quickly, because, she said, ‘Look, Dr. King is going to speak at 6 o’clock. We’ve got to hurry up in order to go home and go hear what he has to say. When it was around 3 o’clock that afternoon, we were shopping, and I went down another aisle, and I heard a white man say, ‘They just shot that nigger, Dr. King!’ It hurt me so bad, I ran to my grandmother, and she saw the look in my eyes and said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And said, ‘They’ve shot Dr. King!’ And she threw everything down that she had in her hands, and we went home, and everything was chaotic.

“When you talk about ‘the winds were ranging,’ well, the winds were ranging in the city of Memphis, they were raging, the storm was brewing, and it didn’t seem to get any better; we began to march, and we marched and marched, and I was shot at by a Memphis police officer, and I had a ponytail on the top of my head. And the bullet hole went through it. And as I was laying on the corner of Vance St., it was Vance and 4th, because no one would open their doors and let me in, and I didn’t know whether I was shot, I was just frightened out of my head, I just lay there and said, ‘Lord, have mercy! Things have got to change…..”

From there, Fullilove segued into a description of the Memphis she sees a half century later, in which “racism abounds…and people are brewing hatred by talking, ‘Let’s make American great again….”
Go here for more details from her story and the Sunday night pro-Clinton rally.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Lipscomb, Greensward, and Lance

Lance Strikes Back

Former Christian Brothers High School student Lance Sanderson and his parents have filed a lawsuit against CBHS that asks the school to pay damages of $1 million for sexual discrimination and failure to fulfill a school contract.

Lance Sanderson

The school barred Sanderson from bringing a male date to prom in 2015. His full complaint against CBHS was filed last week. It lays out the timeline of events leading to his prom date request being denied and actions prior to the event that were alleged to be discriminatory.

Lipscomb Prosecution Dropped

Time ran out on prosecutors to charge Robert Lipscomb, the former city leader, on allegation of rape from six accusers.

Documents released Monday showed the statute of limitations expired on the cases, which stretch back to 1988, before Lipscomb could be charged.

All of the charges against Lipscomb were dropped last week, according to a spokesman in the Shelby County District Attorney General’s (SCDAG) office.

Robert Lipscomb

Larry Buser, a SCDAG spokesman, said “prosecution has been declined” in the case and said his office would offer no further statement.

A spokesman in Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s office said last week “this administration has no involvement with any issue facing Robert Lipscomb, and we have no comment.”

Then-Mayor A C Wharton fired Lipscomb as director of Housing and Community last year when the accusation came to light last year. Wharton said he and then-Memphis Police Department director Toney Armstrong spoke to an adult male “who made a criminal complaint of a sexual nature” against Lipscomb. According to the story, the accuser would have been a minor at the time of the alleged rape.

At the time, Wharton said he was going to refer the matter to the SCDAG’s office. He did. But Lipscomb was never arrested or even formally charged with anything.

Lipscomb’s attorney Ricky Wilkins said: “I don’t expect Mr. Lipscomb to provide any public statements with regard to this matter. As you know, he’s a very private man, and I’m sure he is happy about this announcement so that he can put this issue behind and move on with his life.” 

Parking Plan Pooh-Poohed

The city’s concept for the Memphis Zoo’s expanded parking plan got a big thumbs down from park advocacy groups, reviews that can be summed up in three words: “Nope, nope, nope.”

Get Off Our Lawn filed an open records request for the proposal (so did the Memphis Flyer to no avail) and the group published it on Facebook Thursday.

“Approximately two acres of public parkland would be paved and converted to private use,” said the group’s Facebook post. “Nope, nope, nope.”

The city’s concept plan for new zoo parking.

An equally stinging review of the plan was published by GOOL’s parent group, Citizens to Protect Overton Park (CPOP).

“We oppose this land grab,” read a Facebook post from CPOP. “There’s no good reason to sacrifice two acres of irreplaceable public parkland for a handful of private parking spaces.”

But the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) and the city of Memphis urged patience in the process and explained that the plan published Thursday was a concept and is by no means final.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

The Magnificent Seven

2016 has had more than its share of remakes, both good (Ghostbusters) and not so good (The Jungle Book). Director Antoine Fuqua’s version of The Magnificent Seven gives us something new: A remake of a remake.

I’ll cut Fuqua a little slack here: People have been remaking and reimagining the Seven Samurai practically since the moment Akira Kurosawa locked picture. First up was John Sturges’ 1960 western The Magnificent Seven starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and five others, which made “assemble a team of misfits to perform a seemingly doomed and intractable task” a thing in American film. Then there was The Guns of Navarone, which put Gregory Peck and David Niven in charge of a group of misfit soldiers in World War II (It had a sequel starring Harrison Ford). The Dirty Dozen kept the World War II motif and postulated, if seven is good, 12 must be great! In 1980, Roger Corman cashed in on the Star Wars craze with Battle Beyond the Stars, which he successfully pitched as “The Seven Samurai — in space!” Pixar got into the act with A Bug’s Life. The upcoming Star Wars film Rogue One features a group of misfits recruited by the Rebellion to steal the plans for the Death Star. Guess how many people are on the rebel team!

Standard operating procedure is to give your Seven Samurai remake a different title, but this is 2016 Hollywood we’re talking about here, so we’re sticking with The Magnificent Seven. Taking up the leadership mantle left behind by Yul Brynner is Denzel Washington as Sam Chisolm, a tough but fair bounty hunter whom we meet single handedly busting up a saloon as he brings an evildoer to justice. Denzel (who is one of those actors whose reputation is so huge you only have to use his first name) sports the same all-black cowboy getup as Brynner and some impressive frontier facial hair. This is the kind of action role he’s mostly been relegated to in the last decade or so, which is kind of a shame, because the Malcolm X actor could use some good juicy parts besides Flight. Denzel’s been phoning it in the last few movies — most notably in director Fuqua’s 2014 snoozer The Equalizer — but there’s more pep in his step this time around. Denzel looks like he’s having fun riding high in the saddle through the Painted Desert.

Luke Grimes (left), Haley Bennett, and Denzel Washington saddle up.

Denzel’s opposite is Peter Sarsgaard as Bartholomew Bogue, a well-heeled mining magnate who aims to clear out the little frontier town of Rose Creek so he can extract the mineral wealth underneath it without paying any pesky royalties to the landowners. The film opens with the town’s denizens debating their best course of action in Rose Creek’s idyllic clapboard church, and Fuqua gives Bogue a mustache-twirling entrance, ringed by shotgun-toting heavies. It’s the first sign that this is going to be an old-fashioned, Western shoot-’em-up with well-defined good and bad guys. One of the casualties of Bogue’s opening strong-arm tactics is the husband of Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett); as she sets out to find armed help, she’s moved at least as much by revenge as she is by saving the town.

The other notable members of the band of seven heroes include Chris Pratt as Josh Faraday, a gambler who is pressed into service when Chisolm gets his horse out of hock. Pratt’s job, like Toshiro Mifune in Seven Samurai, is to provide a side order of comic relief to the relentless gun-toting heroism. Ethan Hawke plays a former confederate sharpshooter named Goodnight Robicheaux as a PTSD case seemingly held together only by the marijuana cigarettes his sidekick Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee) provides at crucial moments. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Jack Horne is a tracker who is introduced just after receiving a major head injury, and he plays it to the hilt by quoting jumbled, half-remembered biblical passages. It’s inevitable in a cast this size that some of the members are going to get short shrift, and that’s what happens with Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), the Mexican outlaw, and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), the Comanche warrior.

The best way to sum up this Magnificent Seven‘s strengths and weaknesses is to say that it’s an old-fashioned Western, with all that implies. Fuqua and company construct some killer action sequences, and at least make a nod toward multiculturalism with the integrated cast. But it doesn’t expand the genre in a significant way like Clint Eastwood did with The Unforgiven, and it lacks the verve of the Coen brother’s True Grit remake. Ultimately, it’s the reinvigorated Denzel Washington that makes this worthwhile, if not essential, viewing.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1440

InstaScandal

Gannett columnist and University of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn Reynolds (AKA Instapundit) was briefly suspended from Twitter last week after tweeting words of encouragement to motorists inconvenienced by Black Lives Matter protesters in North Carolina: “Run them down.”

In case you’re wondering if this is just a misunderstanding, here’s what Reynolds told radio talker Hugh Hewitt.

HH: Now let me do what I did with Donald Trump last week, ask you to expand. I think I know what you meant. If you are threatened, you can defend yourself. Is that what you meant, Glenn Reynolds?

GR: Yeah, I’ve blogged about that before where we’ve had other interstates blocked and people surrounded by mobs. I’ve always said I would just keep driving.

Reynolds later said if Twitter didn’t like him, he’d be be happy to stop providing the social media platform with free content. Gannett, which owns six daily papers in Tennessee including The Commercial Appeal, suspended Reynolds’ twice weekly column in USA Today for a month.

Beauty Jail

Has a hair-raising crime spree come to an end in Memphis?

Last week, police apprehended the five women who made two raids on Beauty Depot two times and B&P Wigs and Beauty Supply, stealing thousands of dollars worth of hair.

Still no word about what happened to the weaves or whether or not any of the hair was cursed or otherwise possessed by evil spirits, as some local news channels have suggested it might be. Ongoing.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

County Commission Moves to Safeguard Independence of County Employees

Two ordinances introduced Monday for a first reading by the Shelby County Commission could be, and have been interpreted as such, measures to curtail the power of Mayor Mark Luttrell and to give the commission a leg up on the mayor.

Regardless of how these measures might affect the principle of checks and balances or the relative balance of power in county government, those are not their primary purposes. What they mean to do, quite simply, is to ensure stability and balance for the county’s workforce.

The first ordinance involves setting guidelines for the interim appointments of senior cabinet-level members in the county administration. It received five yes votes and six abstentions at this week’s commission meeting on Monday. That result, signaling a desire to produce a compromise ordinance before the third and final reading, was in conformity with the commission’s general agreement, during debate, on its merits.

Currently, our rules provide that an interim appointment shall serve in that temporary role for a “reasonable amount” of time.  The intent of the ordinance is to define “reasonable.”  

The probationary period for a new county hire is six months. I believe that the commission and the administration can agree that this is a reasonable time period for an interim tenure, with the possibility of an extension if one is necessary and requested by the administration. That would involve a modest change in the language of the ordinance, which, as originally written, specified a 90-day limit. County CAO Harvey Kennedy indicated on Monday the administration could live with a limit of 180 days.

Van Turner

The proposed ordinance is unrelated, in my mind, to Mayor Mark Luttrell’s recent decision to seat attorney Kathryn Pascover as the interim county attorney.  I will support her ratification as permanent county attorney when a resolution to that effect is presented. Attorney Pascover comes highly recommended from a very reputable firm, and I think she will do well as our county attorney.  

To be sure, there is a need for more diversity among the administration’s senior cabinet positions, particularly in the case of African Americans. Of the nine specific appointive positions directly named in the ordinance, only two are served by African-American men, and there are no African-American women. However, I am convinced that Mayor Luttrell is committed to the principle of diversity, and I have expressed my willingness to work with him going forward to make sure that his senior cabinet fairly reflects the nature of our whole community. 

The second ordinance introduced on Monday originally proposed classifying all attorneys subordinate to the county attorney as civil service employees. On Monday, however, commission debate turned away from reclassifying these lawyers as civil service employees toward the idea of echoing a referendum that will be on the ballot in November. That referendum, if approved, would establish the right of the commission to ratify or deny a decision by the administration to terminate an attorney on the county payroll.  

Currently, the county attorney is selected by the mayor and ratified by the county commission. All subordinate attorneys to the county attorney are hired, fired, and serve at the will and pleasure of the mayor. The goal of the ordinance is to protect the county attorney’s office from the sometimes unpredictable political fallout that may occur based on the opinion of one of the county attorneys.  

The intent is not to protect attorneys who are performing badly. The ordinance simply seeks to ensure that a county attorney’s considered legal advice does not subject the lawyer to the danger of termination, should either the administration or the commission object to the advice.

The point is to allow attorneys in the county attorney’s office to practice their craft without fear of political retribution. The county attorney’s office should serve the entire county — including the administration and commission — without intimidation, fear, or threat of termination based on legal advice.  

As in the case with the ordinance on appointments, this one will return to committee for further discussion and will achieve its final form between now and its third and final reading.

However it finally reads, the ordinance would ensure that attorneys working in the county attorney’s office can practice law without fear of job loss because of how that attorney decides an issue. We want sound legal advice from the county attorney’s office, and we don’t want the politics of the day to affect that advice adversely.

Van Turner is a Democratic member of the Shelby County Commission and a co-author, with Republican Terry Roland, of the two ordinances described above.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Gimme Shelter

CREDIT: Joshua Cannon

Two by two, protestors marched from Morris Park down North Orleans Street and gathered at the steps of the Memphis Housing Authority (MHA) last week, holding signs that read “access is a civil right” and chanting “no justice, no peace.”

As MHA representatives arrived outside, they were met by homeless advocates kneeling in prayer led by Rev. NaKeesha Davis of St. James A.M.E. Church.

“God, we pray today that you will fill the hearts of all mankind with the fire of love and desire to ensure justice for everyone,” Davis said. “For those who don’t have a voice … for those who have been pushed aside.”

About 30 people rallied to address issues affecting the homeless community in an event organized by Mid-South Peace and Justice Center’s (MSPJC) Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (H.O.P.E.) advocacy group, including members of OUTMemphis and Memphis Center for Independent Living.

H.O.P.E. organizers said there are no free shelters for men, no inclusive shelters for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and less than 70 beds in the city for women without children.

MeeMee Scruggs, a homeless transgender woman, said she found shelter in a rooming house but can barely afford rent. After spending three days in jail for driving without a license, Scruggs said her landlord ordered her to pay a $56 late fee. In order to make ends meet, according to Scruggs, she sells her body.

Joshua Cannon

Housing protest at Memphis Housing Authority

“I have to do a lot of uncalled-for stuff to pay my rent,” Scruggs said. “I have to go out here in the streets and jump in cars with different men.”

With the impending demolition of the Foote homes, as well as the Warren and Tulane apartments, H.O.P.E. members called on Mayor Jim Strickland to delay the process until all residents have been relocated and 448 units of replacement housing are online. The mayor does not plan to delay the demolition, according to a spokesman in his office.

“We can’t afford to lose any housing when we’ve only got 50 units of affordable housing for every 100 people in the city of Memphis who need it,” said Paul Garner, an organizing coordinator with the MSPJC.

The demolition will occur in phases, said MHA director Marcia Lewis, with the first scheduled for October 10th and the second at the end of January. But it will only happen after all residents are relocated, and, according to Lewis, the plan is on schedule.

“Although people are still living there, they are already going through relocation,” Lewis said. “We’re talking about a process that is moving as we speak. It’s not going to be demolished while people are living there. It just doesn’t work like that.”

On the site of Foote Homes, 712 units of new mixed-income housing will replace the current 420 units, said Memphis Housing and Community Development (HCD) Director Paul Young. At least 480 of those units will be replacement units to serve families eligible for public housing.

HCD is searching for a developer to rehabilitate the Warren and Tulane apartment complexes, which were privately owned developments,Young said.

“We know that housing is a dramatic need,” Young said. “We have essentially 700 families who are looking for housing or will be over the next couple of months. We want to get as many units online as possible.”

Categories
Music Music Features

Gonerfest 13

In 12 years, and coming up on 13 iterations, Gonerfest has firmly established itself as one of Memphis’ signature live-music events. Initially created on a DIY whim, the festival has grown from an impromptu collection of bands crossing through Memphis on a particular weekend to a more than bona fide tourist attraction. According to a 2014 University of Memphis study, Gonerfest nets over a half of a million dollars each year for local businesses. Organizers and Goner Records big-wigs Eric Friedl, Zac Ives, and Madison Farmer spoke to the Flyer this week about Gonerfest 13 and beyond.

The Memphis Flyer: Why did you create Gonerfest?

Zac Ives: We did the first one in January 2005. We had just put out that first King Khan and BBQ Show album, and the King Louie One Man Band album, and Mark and Khan were going to do a tour. We called a few other bands, got Louie up too, and tried and make a big weekend of it. Everyone we called wanted to come up and play. We booked two nights at the Buccaneer. We had no idea if anyone would come in town to see it, but the shows were packed and completely wild. We moved to the Hi-Tone that September and made it an annual thing.

Did you have any idea that it would become a regular thing?

Eric Friedl: We had no intention of throwing a festival. “Gonerfest” was sort-of a joke name — but people really wanted to come to Memphis.

Zac Ives: We really wanted to bring bands and rock-and-roll fans here to Memphis. The idea was Memphis deserved to see these great bands from all over the place, and these folks deserved to see Memphis and all these great bands we had. I think it’s probably exceeded our expectations. I think the international aspect of it has been surprising and a lot of fun.

What is the booking process like?

Zac Ives: We have to agree that a band is a good idea, then whoever makes the initial contact usually takes care of the coordination of that band. Madison helps with press, promotion, volunteers, and a lot of the coordination as well.

Eric Friedl: We all propose bands and ideas for the festival. We try to figure out a budget in our heads — which bands we can afford, what kinds of different sounds or locales we should try to work in. I try to get the program guide done. Somehow that is the biggest hassle every year.

What bands are you excited about?

Madison Farmer: I can’t wait to see Fred & Toody. Total heroes of mine.

Eric Friedl: I’m really excited to have Tom Lax from Siltbreeze DJ-ing Saturday night. He’s sort of an underground legend, and the fact that he digs the festival makes me really happy. Tom Scharpling, too, who does The Best Show podcast. We’re so proud these people want to come to hang out in Memphis. Every year I’m surprised by some band that just blows my head off. That’s really what I’m looking forward to.

Do you think you’ll keep doing it?

Zac Ives: I don’t see any reason to stop. It’s a rock-and-roll reunion in Memphis.

Madison Farmer: I’m down as long as the guys are! Even if it turns into a backyard cookout with a couple bands, I’m in for life.

Eric Friedl: I don’t know what Gonerfest looks like when I’m 90, but for now, there’s no stoppin’ us!