Month: April 2017

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Women’s Rights Documentary Equal Means Equal Brings Fight To Memphis

Here is the text of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA):

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1920, guaranteed women the right to vote, but the suffergette movement that produced that great human rights victory didn’t feel that the struggle for sexual equality under the law finished there. The first draft of what would become known as the ERA was written during the Seneca Falls Convention of 1923. Fifty years later, a fierce, decades long battle in Congress and state legislatures came very close to finally ratifying it, enshrining equal treatment for men and women under the law. The final failure to ratify in 1982 came as a major blow to the feminist movement. But with the defeat of Hilary Clinton by Donald Trump, American feminism has become energized as never before, turning out the largest protest march in the history of the republic last January. Now there is a serious movement afoot to bring the dreams of generations of women to fruition by finally enshrining the ERA as the Constitution.

This is the atmosphere into which Equal Means Equal is being released. Actress turned director Kamala Lopez steps back from the daily political storms to render the big picture of women’s rights in twenty first century America. The film is a mixture of ground level stories of pay inequality, domestic assault, and discrimination, and examinations of the legal and political fights for reproductive, economic, and legal rights for women.

Equal Means Equal director Kamala Lopez

The Memphis Women In Film and the Memphis Area Women’s Council have arranged three free screenings of Equal Means Equal during May. The first one will be May 2 at Malco Ridgeway at 7:00 PM. The second will be a part of the MWIF/Indie Memphis event series, and will happen on Monday, May 8, 7:00 PM, at Crosstown Arts, with complimentary food and beverages beginning at 6:30 PM. The third will be at the National Civil Rights Museum on Tuesday, May 16 at 6 PM, which will be accompanied by refreshments and a panel discussion facilitated by Memphis Area Women’s Council.

For a taste of the film, here’s the trailer:

Women’s Rights Documentary Equal Means Equal Brings Fight To Memphis

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now Open Downtown: The Vault and Lisa’s Lunchbox

Say you want to grab a nice meal and glass of wine, and your boyfriend wants to watch the game. Or you’re looking for some good music. Or you want to bring the kids along.

Business partners Michael O’Mell, Tyson Bridge, and John Kalb have spent the last four months putting all the right bells in all the right places and all the right whistles in the other right places so that you may do any or all of these things.

The three men purchased the property at 124 GE Patterson, formerly the site of the Double J Smokehouse, back in November and debuted the redesigned spot as The Vault mid-March.

Aaron Winters is now at The Vault.

“We were looking to do something, and we love the South Main area. You can tell it’s growing, and they’ll have the new movie theater and hotel coming in,” O’Mell says. “This space became available, and it was the right opportunity at the right time.”

After acquiring the space, which was originally a bank in the ’50s, complete with a still-standing vault, they stripped everything down to its bare bones, even taking out some columns and resupporting the building. They completely redid the kitchen, extended the bar six feet, repainted, and amped up the stage with new lights and new sound.

They installed TVs with their own remotes at every custom-made booth, made available an app to listen to the television on personal devices, installed charging stations along the bar, and offer the only Frost Rail in Memphis — a three-inch trough full of snow-like frost for to keep your beer cold.

And yes, they still have that killer upstairs patio in the back.

But their real secret weapon is the man behind their made-to-order pork rinds, their Cornish Game Hen, their Bacon Wrapped Chicken Roulade, and their Steak and Pommes Frites.

That would be Aaron Winters, of Porcellino’s and Miss Cordelia’s fame.

“I tried to come up with an eclectic menu with roots in Southern cuisine,” Winters, who was classically trained as a butcher in Italy, says.

He brings in produce from Wilson Farms, beef from Claybrook Farms, and catfish from Lakes Catfish.

“We’re so close to the farmers market, they’ll swing by here when they’re done, and I shop off the back of their trucks,” Winters says.

In addition to the entrees mentioned above, he offers a flat breads menu, sandwiches, starters including a daily selection of charcuterie, and an oyster menu.

“We’re getting in some really good oysters from around the country,” Winters says.

Plans include hosting crawfish boils during season and pig roasts in the fall, as well as Memphis’ favorite meal — brunch.

“Brunch is forthcoming,” O’Mell says. “We want to make sure we do a few things really well, then add more.”

Look for the building with a silver vault door on the front.

The Vault, 124 GE Patterson, 591-8000, vaultmemphis.com. Open 11 a.m. daily for lunch; dinner 5 to 10 p.m.; late-night menu 10 p.m. to close.

What’s that quote about “The day I got sacked was the best thing that ever happened to me”?

Whatever it is, it rings true for Lisa Clay Getske.

After working for Houston’s for 14 years, she went on to manage a chain restaurant that, after two years, ended up letting her go “for a less expensive, younger model.”

Clay Getske took it upon herself to leverage her experience and do her own thing.

That thing has grown into the empire that is Lisa’s Lunchbox.

And in mid-March, the empire spread to the downtown area into the former Tuscany Italian Eatery at 116 S. Front.

“It’s fantastic,” she says. “AutoZone is a big customer that’s right across the street, and it’s been fun being down here during all the festivals.”

The move had everything to do with a ServiceMaster devotee, her managing business partner, and a little luck.

“At my original location at the Ridgeway Business Center, ServiceMaster is across the street,” Clay Getske says. “My friend works at the ServiceMaster downtown, and he kept saying, ‘Hey, there’s this spot downtown.'”

That spot was Front Street Deli, which didn’t work out for Clay Getske, but thanks to her business partner, Matt Reisinger’s, thirst for water, they found the space at 116 S. Front.

“We had the keys to the Front Street Deli, but we hadn’t signed the lease,” Clay Getske says. “They were feeling a little nostalgic, and didn’t want to change the name. When Matt was down there, he went into Tuscany for a bottle of water and got to talking to [owner] Jeremy Martin, and he said, ‘Why don’t you buy this place?'”

Lisa’s Lunchbox specializes in “really good, fresh, real food,” such as her Chicken Club Panini, her “massive” BLT “with real bacon, and we’re not stingy with it,” and her spicy pimento and cheese. She also offers frozen meals to go, which will be included in the new location in May, and breakfast sandwiches and smoothies.

“We go before the beer board this week, and I think that’s something I want to offer downtown for the tourists who are walking around and want something to eat and a beer,” she says.

She also plans on staying open later eventually.

Lisa’s Lunchbox, 116 S. Front, 729-7277, lisaslunchbox.com. Open 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Gannett Stalls Severance Payments to Former Commercial Appeal Employees

Posted to Social Media by Commercial Appeal reporter/MemphisNewspaper Guild representative Daniel Connolly.

Gannett deliberately stalls severance payments to former Commercial Appeal employees
***Please share this with your friends. This is important.***
All,
I’m the head of the Memphis Newspaper Guild labor union, which represents some workers at The Commercial Appeal.
***I’m sorry to inform you that the newspaper’s new parent company, Gannett, is deliberately stalling severance payments to 12 former newsroom employees.***
These former employees have not received a dime of severance since they lost jobs effective April 11.
Why?
Because Gannett is currently finishing up a brutal “fight-for-your job” contest in the advertising department. The company broke a ton of rules in the process. They’re afraid of the legal consequences for their rule-breaking in advertising.
So they’re stalling the payments to the former newsroom employees in the hopes of forcing the union to sign an amnesty that forgives the company for its rule-breaking.
I’ve seen plenty of bad corporate behavior in my life. ***Gannett’s calculated decision to inflict harm on people who have lost jobs is among the worst corporate behavior I have ever seen.***

Background

In advertising, Gannett fired everyone and made them reapply for new jobs. We call this process The Hunger Games.
Desperate to hold on to her job, advertising employee Marianne Sheridan competed in The Hunger Games and walked into a job interview with three Gannett employees she’d never met before. She was nervous at first. And then she felt worse.
*** “Frankly, at one point my head felt like it was going to explode,” she told me. ***
She left the interview, sweat pouring off her body. Someone called an ambulance and she was taken to a hospital. She’s out now, but still undergoing medical tests. It’s not clear what happened to her.
“I think it was a huge anxiety attack,” she said. “Since the beginning of April, we’ve been under this stress of having to reapply for our jobs.”
She found out Thursday that she doesn’t have a job anymore.
Six advertising employees applied in The Hunger Games and didn’t get jobs. Around six others refused to participate in The Hunger Games and will also lose jobs. The last day for these 12 or so employees is May 1.
The Hunger Games isn’t just stressful.
Our union contract lays out a detailed process for job cuts. The Hunger Games process – firing everyone and making them apply for jobs – is not allowed under our union contract. The company knows this and did it anyway.
Some of the people who “won” The Hunger Games competition will be paid thousands of dollars less than they were paid before. That’s also not allowed under our union contract.
We’re already hearing disturbing reports of sales staffers not being paid for commissions they rightfully earned.
And somehow, magically, the six people who participated in The Hunger Games and lost their jobs are all women. Several are African-American.
We’re concerned about that, too.
**** Due to Gannett’s willful, blatant violations of the rules, we filed a federal complaint to the National Labor Relations Board on April 21. ***
The federal agency will now investigate the complaint and take appropriate action. We also have another complaint pending through what’s known as the grievance / arbitration process.
On Thursday, the company lawyer once again demanded we sign an amnesty deal that withdraws all our complaints.
Otherwise, he says the 12 former employees in the newsroom plus The Hunger Games victims in advertising will have to wait months or years for severance until an arbitrator decides.
If you ask the company lawyer, he’ll say the delay is the union’s fault. That because we won’t sign the amnesty, we’re the ones who are stopping these workers from getting their severance.
But think about that for a minute.
*** Gannett breaks multiple rules in firing people.
We complain about it to the feds.
And then Gannett says it will refuse to pay severance until we drop our complaints about its rule-breaking.***
I know I’m coming across as angry.
That’s because I _am_ angry.
*** I’m watching good people suffer. I’m furious to see how Gannett fires people, then works very hard to hurt them some more. ***
We, the labor union, are going to pursue legal challenges hard. In the meantime, you can make a difference!
*** Call our interim publisher and tell him to pay a fair severance to the former workers. ***
His name is Mike Jung, he’s based in Florida and temporarily working here.
His phone number is 239-335-0277 and his email address is mjung@news-press.com.
I’ve met him, and he seems like a good guy. But he needs to hear from you.
*** And you can reach out to help our former workers. Our former employees are great people who had the misfortune of losing jobs to cost-cutting. Why not hire them? Send job leads to Guild office manager Amy Olmstead: Olmsteada@yahoo.com or 901-726-6857. ***

Categories
News News Blog

Meet the New Blue Suede Brigade

CREDIT: Toby Sells

Toby Sells

Members of the Blue Suede Brigade 2.0.

Gone are the sashes, khakis, and pith helmets, but their shoes are still blue suede.

A brand new Blue Suede Brigade now walks the street of Downtown Memphis. There’s more of them, now 12. They have new hours, including Sunday (see below). And they cover more ground, all the way down to G.E. Patterson.

The Blue Suede Brigade 2.0 was introduced to the members of the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) during a meeting Friday. Training for the group kicked off on April 5 and the group officially hit the street last Wednesday.

The Brigade will cover fan area including Civic Plaza in the Core all the way down to G.E. Patterson in South Main and from B.B. King to Front. They cover that ground on foot (in special blue suede Nikes), bikes, and Segway transporters.

The group will continue to focus on hospitality and offer referrals to out-of-town visitors, of course. But they’ll also report nuisance issues and assist the city with identifying code violations.

The former Blue Suede Brigade uniforms — which included the tan pith helmets, blue shirts, a sash, khakis, and blue suede shoes — have been replaced with ones that more resemble a security officer.

Dark blue baseball caps feature the Blue Suede Brigade 2.0 logo. Lighter blue shirts feature an official-looking security badge stitched on one side, and the DMC logo on the other. The dark blue shorts are topped with a security belt outfitted with a radio, billy club, and more.

The Brigade will be out welcoming visitors from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sunday, from 10 a.m. – 10 – p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to midnight.

Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

How Much News is on the News: A Guns & Bunnies Web Extra

This week’s cover story measuring violence and fluff on local TV news has generated a lot of questions. One more frequently asked: How many news stories make it into the evening broadcast, and how much time is allotted to each story?

This may not be a perfect answer, but it should at least point curious folks in the right direction.

I went back to the Flyer staff’s original viewing diaries but only looked at Tuesday night’s broadcast. Every night is a little different, obviously, so one night isn’t a good data sample. Still, the formula is more or less the same broadcast to broadcast, so Tuesday, being a fairly normal news night, provides a reasonable snapshot.

Not counting weather, sports, and headline teasers, Memphis stations averaged 18 news stories on Tuesday night.  If all of Memphis stations were rolled into one big happy news team 42-percent — or 13-minutes —of their roughly half-hour weeknight (10 p.m.) broadcasts would be devoted to news content.

How much time was devoted to each story? I suppose I could go back and count it all up, but don’t really see the point. 18 stories in 13-minutes? obviously not very much. A casual, anecdotal observation: There was more time burned hanging around in neighborhoods fishing for comments about children left home alone (and unharmed) than, say, comparing Memphis parking meter rates to other, similar markets.

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Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

August Wilson’s Metaphysical “Gem of the Ocean” Opens at The Hattiloo

Let’s play a numbers game. August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean is set in 1904. Aunt Ester, the wise old history-keeper  referenced throughout Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, resides at 1839 Wylie 
Avenue. She is 285 years old. That means Aunt Ester was born in 1619, the year a Dutch slaver bartered African slaves for essential goods in New England, effectively beginning the North American slave trade. 1839 is an important number too because it’s the year the Slave ship Amistad was overtaken by slaves who would eventually win their freedom. You don’t need to know this to follow Wilson’s narratively-challenged play. But for maximum enjoyment it helps to know that Wilson wrote Gem of the Ocean like he thought Dan Brown might some day write The August Code. There are games afoot.

1839 Wylie Street is a “peaceful house,” a sanctuary for troubled souls, and a stand-in for the Amistad, where seekers like Citizen and Black Mary can shake off the chains of the past and become masters of their own fate. August Wilson’s metaphor-rich problem play is many things including a meditation on the meaning of family in the midst of and ever-expanding diaspora. The people living in Aunt Ester’s house aren’t family, but they function like one. The only blood relatives on stage are Black Mary and her brother Caesar who wears a badge and has become an enforcer for white interests.

They don’t get along for obvious reasons.

Gem of the Ocean is a messy problem of a play — quilt-like assemblage of aria-like like speeches, and flights of imagination. It’s a frustrating, but essential mix of the playwright’s most striking imagery and spiritual nonsense-speak.  It opens at the Hattloo Theatre this weekend. 

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Two Bites from the Thursday Night Smorgasbord

CREDIT: JB

Thursday night was chock-full of politically relevant events in Memphis and Shelby County. Among them were two fundraisers — one at Wiseacre Brewery for the non-profit group Protect Our Aquifer and another at Sweet Grass for SCS board candidate Liz Rincon.

JB

(l) Ward Archer of Protect Our Aquifer displays some of the sand particles which, at several deep layers (this sample from 400 feet down) filter the near-pristine drinking water enjoyed by Memphis and Shelby County; (r) Jenna Stonecypher and Linda Archer sell a T-shirt to the Sierra Club’s Dennis Lynch. The shirt, bearing the non-profit group’s logo, says, ‘Save Water/Drink Beer.’

JB

Getting an early start for the 2018 Shelby County Schools board race is Liz Rincon, candidate for Position 1. Here she speaks with two well-wishers — state Senator Brian Kelsey (l) and Fire Fighters Union official Joe Norman — at her Thursday night fundraiser at Sweet Grass.

Categories
News News Blog

Photo Contest Focuses on Memphis Bikes

A biking photo contest will begin May 1, running through the end of the month to celebrate National Bike Month in Memphis.

The City of Memphis Bikeway and Pedestrian Program will hold the MemphisRides Photo Contest as a way to make the public aware of the vast number of diverse bike riders in the city.

”

Thousands of people ride a bike every day in Memphis, whether for transportation, exercise, or fun,” the city’s  Bikeway and Pedestrian Program Manager, Nicolas Oyler said. “Through this contest we hope to raise awareness of this fact, as well as to illustrate that the act of riding a bicycle in Memphis is just as diverse as our city.”

To enter, citizens can post pictures of cyclists in the city to social media, tagging #MemphisRides and @BikePedMemphis.

The photos will be awarded points based on various criteria, such as how many cyclist are present in the photo, if the cyclists are biking in a bike lane, and if the cyclist is wearing “everyday” clothing or not.

The participant receiving the most points at the end of the month will be awarded a $150 gift certificate to Pedaltown Bicycle Co., a new bike shop in Memphis.

Owner of the shop, Clark Butcher agrees that more and more Memphians are choosing to ride bikes.

“Not too many years ago riding a bike on Memphis streets was a risky proposition, but due to efforts undertaken by city government to make our streets more bike-friendly, more and more people are feeling comfortable riding a bike,” Butcher said.

Categories
News News Blog

Live at the Garden guests prepare to party

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Thomas and Meade Carlisle

Guests gathered at the Live at the Garden Summer Concert Series VIP Premiere Party to learn which performers they’ll be partying with this summer.

About 500 people gathered at Memphis Botanic Garden on April 26 to hear the music lineup, which features Little Big Town (June 23), Boston (July 1), St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors (Aug. 11), Seal (Aug. 26) and Steve Miller Band (Sept. 15).

“We’re just blown away that everybody is so excited to hear the lineup,” said Live at the Garden co-director Sherry May. “We are absolutely blown away by the response we get from that party. They’re wanting to plan their summers and waiting to hear the lineup.”

Live at the Garden will celebrate its 17th year at the Garden, May said. “I think it’s a social event. Whoever’s on the stage is just icing on the cake. I think you see your friends and you come and have a good time. The people view it more as an event than a concert.”

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Categories
News News Blog

Riverside Drive To See Closures for Memphis in May, Riverplay

CREDIT: Google Maps

Google Maps

Preparations are well underway to transform Tom Lee Park into a festival grounds ahead of next week’s 41st annual Memphis in May International Festival (MIM) and motorists should expect at least some partial closings of Riverside Drive.

The street is fully open now but as trucks, volunteers, and workers begin to arrive to stage next week’s Beale Street Music Festival, Riverside will be either partially or completely closed from Union to Georgia. Robert Griffin, the director of marketing for MIM, said the street is partially open for about 20 days of the festival cycle and is completely closed for no more than 15 days.

“As a partner with the city and citizens of Memphis, we make every effort to reduce the impact our festival has on Riverside Drive traffic,” said MIM president and CEO James L. Holt. “With the safety of our workers and festival-goers in mind, the road closures we require are both as brief and as thorough as needed to ensure public safety.”

A news release from MIM noted that the street’s closure is not related to the Riverside closure on the north end of the street. Riverplay, a pop-up park, will close Riverside from Union to Bass Pro Drive through August.

MIM will also close Beale Street from Wagner Place to Front Street and will also close Wagner Place form Beale to Linden on festival days.

More streets will be closed for the one-day, inaugural running of the Great American River Run on May 28. Those street closures will be announced in May.