Month: June 2017

Categories
Music Music Blog

A Record Swap at Ground Zero for Choice Vinyl

Memphis is a record-lovers town if there ever was one. Maybe it’s the city’s storied history, and the megatons of vinyl that originated here. Maybe it’s due to the rich subculture of thrift stores and estate sales, so ripe for bin scavenging. Or it could be the high per-capita density of musicians, who tend to favor the rich sound of analog. For whatever reason, and probably all of them, we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to records stores, with three top-notch shops in midtown alone.

But the availability of vinyl is about to increase exponentially over the weekend. The Soulsville Record Swap this Saturday, June 17, will bring together local record dealers and others from as far away as Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, New York, and Minnesota. Hosted by the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, in collaboration with Goner Records, music lovers can expect crates upon crates of vinyl, from the common to the ultra-rare. DJ’s will spin their favorite platters, and food trucks from Arepa 901, Sandwiches & More, and MemPops will be right outside, making this an event worth seeing and hearing even if you don’t buy any wax at all. The event is free, though any early birds seeking that rare copy of The Worms can pay $10 to be the first in the door at 10:00.

And if you want to warm up to the event, there’s a pre-swap party at the Memphis Made Tap Room on Friday, where you can hob-nob with fellow enthusiasts. That’s where one can often learn a thing or two. And to keep the conversation flowing, Memphis Made has crafted a special brew, Hop Swap, which will be on tap and in carry-out bombers. Goner DJ’s will be manning the turntables as well. Here’s a little ’45 to get you in the mood…maybe you’ll find a copy for yourself.

A Record Swap at Ground Zero for Choice Vinyl

Soulsville Record Swap will be held at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore Ave. (in the Stax Music Academy Building next door), 11:00-4:00 p.m., free admission; 10:00 a.m. early bird entry for $10.00.

Pre-swap party is at Memphis Made Tap Room, 768 S. Cooper St., 7:00 p.m., free admission.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

“Comedy of Errors” is an Entertaining Romp

Rachel Brun (Luciana) and Claire Hayner (Adriana).

There’s nothing subtle about the Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s production of Comedy of Errors, and I suspect The Bard would have wanted it that way.

I’m sure you’ve all seen Shakespeare reduced to mush because the director and players were too reverent to the material. Sure, Shakespeare was a great dramatist, molder of language, blah blah blah. But he was also a guy who had a side hustle writing erotic poetry. He was the Elizabethan equivalent of a B movie producer, and nowhere is that more evident than in the setup for Comedy of Errors. As TSC founder Dan McCleery noted in his opening address to the crowd at the University of Memphis, this play was basically a ripoff of a Latin play called Menaechmi by the Roman playwright Plautus. Shakespeare looked at the story, in which a set of twins separated at birth meet years later, causing an escalating progression of mistaken identity gags, and said ‘If one set of twin is funny, TWO sets of twins would be HILARIOUS!”
[pullquote-1]I’m as big a Shakespeare fan as the next English major, but I had never seen Comedy of Errors produced before. It’s pretty clear that most of the play is just Willy Shakes having fun riffing. The two Dromios, Syracuse (Blake Currie) and Ephesus (Nicolas Dureaux Picou) take the brunt of the slapstick violence meted out by their increasingly flustered masters Antipholus of Syracuse (Joey Shaw) and of Ephesus (Colton Swibold). Among director Tony Simotes’ more interesting experiments is the casting of the twins. Shaw and Swibold share a strong resemblance, but their characterizations mark them as quite different people. Shaw’s Syracusian brother is bold and not a little mischievous, while Swinbold’s Ephesian Antipholus is a decadent noble elevated by good connections with the Duke (Stuart Heyman). The Dromios, on the other hand, are completely different physically while being functionally nearly identical in character.
All four male co-leads (I guess that’s what you’d call them) acquit themselves admirably, as do the always great Phil Darius Wallace as Egeon, the father of the two Antipholuses whose imminent execution by the Duke provides the comedy’s ticking clock tension. On the distaff side, Ephesian wife Adriana (Claire Hayner) and her sister Luciana (Rachel Bruin) serve as capable straight women for the increasingly convoluted comedic conundrums.

Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s earliest works, but the plotting is amazingly tight. The playwright throws gags fast and thick, and isn’t about to wait around for you to get the jokes. The players have the unenviable task of breaking through the smartphone addled modern brains of the audience who are likely struggling with the cognitive overhead of interpreting Elizabethan English on the fly. Director Simotes has his cast going big, telegraphing the gags, giving everything the hard sell. Combined with the Ottoman themed stage dressing, it gives the proceedings the feeling of authenticity. I can’t imagine Dromio of Syracuse’s extended fat joke was delivered with much subtlety to the groundlings in 1594. And let’s face it, despite what sounds like flowery language today, none of these characters are terribly bright. Thanks to the performers’ energy, TSC’s Comedy of Errors is an entertaining romp. 

Categories
News News Blog

Tennessee Leads Opioid Investigation

Tennessee AG Herbert Slatery

Tennessee will help lead a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general from across the country to investigate the opioid “epidemic.”

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery announced Thursday that the coalition will conduct “comprehensive investigations into the widespread prescribing and use of opioids, as well as the role parties involved in the manufacture and distribution of opioids may have played in creating or prolonging this problem.”

Drug manufacturers will be a focus of the investigation, Slatery said, to determine if they have illegally marketed and/or sold their drugs. However, he would not identify any specific targets of the investigation.

The coalition will use its “vast investigative resources,” including subpoenas for documents and testimony “to identify and hold accountable those parties responsible for the opioid epidemic.”

“There is not a single community in Tennessee, or a region of the country for that matter, that has not witnessed the devastating impact of opioid abuse,” Slatery said in a statement. “At the appropriate time, you can be assured Tennessee will take decisive action against those parties responsible for harming so many families.”

Opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999, according to the coalition of attorneys general. Opioids were responsible for 1,451 deaths in Tennessee in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Categories
News News Blog

ServiceMaster Opens ‘Ground Floor’ Downtown

CREDIT: ServiceMaster

ServiceMaster CEO Rob Gillette gets a warm welcome during the grand opening of the ‘Ground Floor’ on Thursday.

On Thursday, ServiceMaster officials unveiled the Ground Floor, an innovation hub that’s now open in the same space that once housed Tower Records in the Peabody Place mall.

ServiceMaster, the Memphis-based home services company, announced just more than a year ago that it would move its global headquarters and about 1,200 employees from offices in East Memphis to the vacant Downtown building. Company officials said they expect to complete the move in the first quarter of 2018.

For many, Thursday’s event inside the space was the first opportunity to see the transformation of the old mall into the company’s new headquarters.

The Ground Floor will serve as a collaborative workspace for tech startups and it will be “an accelerator for local entrepreneurs and IT developers to create an innovation engine that can attract high-tech talent and investment to Memphis.”

“To ServiceMaster, this is more than a new location,” Jamie Smith, ServiceMaster’s chief information officer said in a statement. “ It’s a physical manifestation of our commitment to innovation even in its disruptive forms. Ground Floor is a unique approach, embracing both internal teams and the broader Memphis entrepreneur ecosystem to redefine what is possible in home service experiences.”

ServiceMaster

ServiceMaster

ServiceMaster

Toby Sells

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

After Shooting, Kustoff Sees “Reset” of Bipartisan Feeling

Rep. David Kustoff

David Kustoff, the first-term Republican U.S. Representative elected last year to serve  the 8th District, keeps himself in good physical trim and is known to be a baseball fan, but he was not intending to play Tuesday night in the annual charity baseball game between congressional Republicans and congressional Democrats.

“I’ve been focused on my work,” said Kustoff. But he will definitely be in the full house expected to attend the game, still scheduled to go on at Nationals Stadium despite a gunman’s savage ambush Monday morning of several of his GOP colleagues, who were having an early-morning practice session for the game at a baseball diamond in suburban Alexandria, Virginia.

The attack would leave four victims wounded by automatic rifle fire, one severely — GOP House whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who was in critical condition at a Washington hospital Monday night. The gunman was himself killed, apparently in a shootout with Capitol security guards who were assigned to guard Scalise and with Arlington police, who were late on the scene.

Kustoff, who with other House members attended an emergency session Monday morning that was addressed by House Speaker Paul Ryan and minority leader Nancy Pelosi, spoke of a sense of solidarity binding members of both parties in the wake of the attack said the catastrophic incident had brought about at least a temporary sense of unity.

“We all agreed that it was important that the game go on as a signal. All of us are concerned about violence and the tone of our discourse,” the Congressman said. “I think members of both parties are. Rhetoric has been heated, but hopefully it will be toned down, and we’ll see a reset.” The House is, after all, “the people’s house,” Kustoff said.

He expressed confidence also that Congress can successfully go about its business despite the ongoing crisis atmosphere stemming from the continuing investigation of possible collusion between members of the Trump administration and Russia.

On that point, Kustoff alluded to a remark made by Speaker Ryan. “As he said, we can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Trump Über Alles

CREDIT: Reuters | Jonathan Ernst

Scene: Flyer editorial staff meeting.

“Good morning, and welcome, folks. Before we get started, I’d just like to point out that since last week’s issue, I, Bruce VanWyngarden, have done more things — with few exceptions — than any other editor in history. Now, let’s go around the table and get some comments. Chris McCoy?”

“Bruce, I just want to say it is truly a blessing and a privilege to have you as an editor. You have helped me and the people of Memphis learn so much about film. I can’t thank you enough.”

“How about you, Toby Sells? Any thoughts?”

“Bruce, the people of Memphis are truly lucky to have a man of your inspired intellect and courage running this paper. Your news instincts are second to none, and it’s an honor to serve you.”

“Thanks, Toby. Susan Ellis, your take?”

“I just want to say on behalf of all of us who are blessed to be able to work for you, you are the greatest editor in the history of mankind, without exception.”

“Well, thanks, Susan. You’re right, of course.”

Did you see that insanity? That ridiculous clownshow of a cabinet meeting on Monday, where President Trump said, “Never has there been a president, with few exceptions … who has passed more legislation, done more things.” Nevermind the fact that that is a provably blatant lie; let’s get to the insane part, the part where the president asked his cabinet members to speak, and supposedly sentient, accomplished professionals — former governors, CEOs, senators, and other Trump appointees — flattered, fawned, and groveled before their fearless leader like schoolgirls meeting Justin Bieber. It was a scene that one would expect at a Kim Jong-un cabinet meeting in North Korea, not in the United States of America.

What on earth is going on? Who could possibly think this is normal behavior for our country’s leaders to engage in? It’s not normal behavior for any organization or business. It’s a manifestation of a personality cult, the kind of sycophancy demanded by tinpot third-world dictators.

Critics called Ronald Reagan the “Teflon president” because nothing negative seemed to stick to him. Trump has taken it to a new level — more like a Teflon bubble. The 37 percent of Americans who believe in him will apparently continue to do so, no matter how many delusional lies he tweets, no matter what ethics laws he flouts, no matter what international leader he insults, no matter how much golf he plays — no matter who he shoots in the middle of Fifth Avenue. True Trumpers believe the law is crooked and the media are liars and everyone is out to get their hero — who is only working to make America great again. It’s Trump Über Alles.

Now, there are reports that Trump is considering firing Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor investigating Russian interference in our elections. Ordinarily, such a move would spur outrage, not just with Democrats, but among patriotic Republicans as well. True Americans believe the rule of law should reign supreme over party loyalty and obeisance to the president. But the truth is, very few elected GOP politicians have so far seemed willing to stand up to Trump — about anything. They have become a party of “little Marcos.”

Our democracy is walking a dangerous tightrope, my friends. Something dark and weird is alive and growing.

Categories
Music Music Features

End of an Era

When the Bar-Kays take the stage at the Cannon Center this Friday night, June 16th, their show will mark the closing chapter of lead singer Larry Dodson’s career: his last hometown performance.

“This is something my wife and I planned long ago, when we first got married,” says Dodson. “People don’t realize I’ve been in front of the microphone 47 years. That’s more time than a lot of our younger fans are old. I joined the band in March of 1970 and I got married to my wife Marie in August of 1970, and she’s worked all of her life. We said from the very beginning we weren’t going to work ourselves to death.”

So after this year’s schedule is wrapped, Dodson will be focusing his time on his wife and his daughter Precious, now 46, who was born with Down syndrome. “There are a lot of places that she wants to see, and we just want to be a loving family while we’re all healthy. My family had to play second fiddle to me, and I don’t like that.”

One would be hard-pressed to name a band exemplifying the Memphis music spirit more than the Bar-Kays. The original lineup began as teenagers hanging around the Stax studio and performing at Booker T. Washington High School, ultimately growing into a road band for Stax artists and having hits of their own. In 1967, the same year their “Soul Finger” single broke, a plane crash took the life of Otis Redding and every other member of the Bar-Kays aboard except trumpeter Ben Cauley. Bassist James Alexander, traveling on another flight, also survived. Ultimately, he and Cauley reformed and reinvented the band, leading them into funk stardom in the 1970s and beyond. Dodson, already a Stax artist with the Temprees, was recruited at that time.

Larry Dodson

They backed Isaac Hayes on his breakthrough “Hot Buttered Soul,” racked up more hit singles of their own, and wowed audiences at the label’s Wattstax extravaganza in 1972.

As the decade closed, the Bar-Kays sold out the Mid-South Coliseum in April 1979. As Dodson remembers it, “We broke Elvis’ record, Al Green broke ours, and Rick James broke them all, later.” He gives much credit for this early success to manager/producer Allen Jones. “A baaad man. So visionary. He turned me into the guy I am today.”

For his part, Alexander plans to soldier on after Dodson’s departure. There will be auditions for a new lead singer after this year’s confirmed dates are a wrap. “He says I’ll retire on stage, and he’ll expire on stage,” Dodson laughs. “I know it’s going to be hard on him not seeing me there.”

But the Bar-Kays are not limping into the twilight of their careers. Alexander’s son Phalon, a.k.a. “Jazze Pha,” a producer based in Atlanta, cut a 2012 hit for them, “Grown Folks.”

“We knew we had a good record, but we were surprised at how big the record was. Earth, Wind and Fire, the Commodores, Kool and the Gang, and a lot of the funk bands were putting out [new] records, but they couldn’t get arrested, and ‘Grown Folks’ went straight Top 10. And it wasn’t just our older fans, but younger ones outside of our fan base. He really produced the ‘shut yo’ mouth’ out of the record.

“The ironic part is that we did it in one day,” says Dodson. “We did not have one line written.”

The Bar-Kays play the Cannon Center on Friday, June 16th; ConFunkShun will open the show.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Art & Money at the UrbanArt Commission

Last week, Memphis City Council members pulled $350,000 from the UrbanArt Commission (UAC) in a move that shocked leaders of the organization that commissions public art for the city.

Council member Joe Brown led the effort to pull the funding, saying the commission doesn’t spend enough money with local or minority artists.

UAC executive director Lauren Kennedy said the move “didn’t knock us out” and that “we’re still in the mix.” She said she’ll return to the council in July to request the funds be put back in the UAC budget for the next coming fiscal year.

When she goes back to the council, though, Kennedy said she’ll show them UAC is ready to find more opportunities for locals and minorities. — Toby Sells

Memphis Flyer: So, what happened at the council meeting, and what led up to that?

Lauren Kennedy

Lauren Kennedy: There have been concerns over the UrbanArt Commission awarding projects to folks out of town as long as I have been aware of the UrbanArt Commission, definitely before my time as the executive director.

I can appreciate where people are coming from. I can appreciate looking at money being spent and wanting that money to be spent locally. But I have never felt that this is an either/or proposition.

Supporting local artists doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be engaging with the wider world. To ask that we only support local artists cuts us off from what’s happening in the rest of the country in a way that doesn’t do anybody any service.

MF: What do you make of the assertion that the UrbanArt Commission doesn’t go far enough to support artists of color?

LK: It’s not true that we don’t support local artists of color. But we do have a lot of room to grow.

People of color in the art world experience the same inequities that come at people of color in all of the different industries in Memphis and across the country. There are the same barriers to education and training and resources [in the art world] as there are in the tech industry.

It’s something that we’re taking very seriously as an organization, exploring how we can be a better support mechanism, how we can engage more artists and different kinds of artists because we’d also like to see greater diversity in the media that we’re presenting to the public.

MF: How do you go forward in the short term?

LK: We’re scheduling lots of meetings, making lots of phone calls. We’re going to be sharing some thoughts on Facebook for people who are out there and feeling angry about this decision. As we get closer to knowing when we’re going back to council, we’re going to ramp up some more public displays of support around that.

But it’s touching base with a lot of people that are supported by and invested in this work and letting them know that this hasn’t knocked us out. We’re still in the mix. We’re not going anywhere.

We’ll be spending time with people who have concerns and making sure those concerns are heard and that they see that we’re going to address it as best we can.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1477

Holy Verbatim!

The free morning newspaper AM New York marked the passing of ’60s-era Batman star Adam West with a lengthy Bat-obit that included this unexpected heel turn: “While struggling to land post-Batman acting roles, West turned to making personal appearances wearing the Batman cape and cowl — some rather undignified, as when he appeared on a Memphis pro wrestling program opposite wrestler Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.”

If West’s appearance with Lawler and WMC host Dave Brown was somehow beneath the actor’s Bat-standards it was hard to tell. He name-checked heroes like Superman (“I call him Supes”) and Spider-Man (“Spidey-baby”). He seemed to get into the spirit of professional sports entertainment, calling Lawler, “naughty,” then advising him to be more courteous and use the turn signal when he drives.

Today, Lawler owns a ’60s-era Batmobile like the one from West’s show and has been known to take it out for a spin. Rest in Bat-Peace, Mr. West. Memphis will miss you, old chum.

News to Us

WMC-TV has partnered with Kingdom Communications, a public relations firm, to create Memphis-100, a free website publishing bite-sized, 100-word articles and 100-second video clips twice weekly. The stated goal is to focus on positive stories bringing Memphis “more good news” instead of better news programming.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Filling in the Blanks

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

Shelby County Assessor Cheyenne Johnson, a Democrat, will not be running for reelection and instead will be supporting the candidacy of Shawn Lynch, a legal adviser in her office and the son of well-known local businessman and civic figure Terry Lynch.

Shelby County Commissioner Heidi Shafer, now in her second term, has not been bashful about proclaiming a desire to serve in the state legislature.

​During last year’s Republican primary for the then-open 8th District congressional seat, ultimately won by current Congressman David Kustoff, Shafer loyally and fully supported her employer, George Flinn, in whose medical office she serves. But, if state Senator Brian Kelsey had won instead and made it all the way to Washington, there was little doubt among those who know her that she would have been a definite contender to succeed him in the state Senate.

And there is little doubt, either, that the surprise victory last year of Democrat Dwayne Thompson over GOP incumbent Steve McManus in state House District 96 gives her a target to go after as soon as next year, when Thompson has to run for reelection.

​All Shafer will say for the record regarding such a contest is, “I’m looking at it.” But Thompson indicated Saturday at the annual Sidney Chism political picnic on Horn Lake Road that he is expecting a challenge from Shafer and is girding for it.

As has long been known, Chism himself will be back on the ballot in 2018, running for Shelby County mayor. The former Teamster leader and longtime Democratic political broker served an interim term in the state Senate and two full terms on the commission, chairing that body for two years running, until he was term-limited off.

​But he may have serious opposition in the Democratic primary for county mayor. Word going around the picnic grounds at his event on Saturday was that state Senator Lee Harris is getting strong encouragement to seek the office, which incumbent Republican Mark Luttrell, now in his second term, will have to vacate because of term-limit provisions in the county charter.

​Among those reportedly urging Harris to run for county mayor is University of Memphis associate law dean and former Democratic Commissioner Steve Mulroy, a former mayoral candidate who is himself considered a theoretical possibility to seek the office again.

​Harris, who serves as the leader of the five-member Senate Democratic Caucus, has meanwhile embarked on a series of “Senator Lee Harris on Your Street” events at which he promises “updates on the latest legislative bills and issues we tackled in Nashville this year.”   

The Republican side of next year’s mayoral race will feature a showdown between Commissioner Terry Roland, who has been openly running, in effect, for well more than a year, and County Trustee David Lenoir, whose intentions to be a candidate are equally well known.       

It will be interesting to see how Lenoir responds to a gauntlet thrown down by Roland at Monday’s regular meeting of the commission, a four-hour affair that was nearing its end when Roland made a point of notifying Luttrell and County CAO Harvey Kennedy that he intended to seek an amendment to the pending county budget to provide funding for an add-on position sought by Judge Tim Dwyer for the Shelby County General Sessions Drug Court.

To pay for the position, Roland announced that he would offer a resolution at the next commission meeting to strip $50,000 from the amount already allocated to the Trustee’s office. Roland says he can demonstrate that an equivalent sum is currently being paid to an employee of Lenoir’s office who isn’t “showing up for work” — a contention almost certain to bring a hot protest from Lenoir at next week’s committee sessions, where the resolution will get a preliminary vetting.

Roland will also seek to re-allocate $100,000 currently slated to the Juvenile Court Clerk’s office to provide funding for the Shelby County law library, which, he said, faces the threat of closure for financial reasons. He accused state Senator Kelsey of letting a funding bill for the library “sit on his desk” during the legislative session just concluded.