In which Memphis’ Democratic congressman Steve Cohen, addressing an apparent GOP effort to muddy the waters on the Russian inquiry not only takes no crap but gives it back where it came from. This is worth watching from beginning to end — even for those who might disagree on the politics of the matter.
Cohen Tells It!
The specific context here is not as important as the general one, which seems to have been an attempt by Republicans on the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to shift that committee’s inquiry from a matter of Russia’s interference in an American election to some putative policy misdeeds by Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State or to President Obama’s involvement in her presidential campaign. The congressman takes no quarter but gives a solid gold lecture.
A couple things to know about Yvonne Mitchell, daughter of the legendary founder of Royal Studios Willie Mitchell: She can cook and she can cook for crowds.
“My mother always had musicians living with us,” Mitchell explains, saying she recruited to help feed the masses when she was around 8 or 9.
So consider Mitchell prepared for Friday’s “Rhythm on the River (Poppa Willie’s Night),” the first in a trio of events in celebration of Royal’s 60th anniversary. Mitchell will be cooking dinner for the crowd.
“I’m making salmon croquettes with a special sauce I made up. Chicken with mushroom gravy, rice and greens, black-eyed peas, homemade cornbread, lemon poundcake, peach cobbler, and a 150-year-old recipe for chow chow,” Mitchell says.
Mitchell has worked for the studio for nearly 50 years, doing everything from being an administrator to doing copy writing to cleaning the machines and staging photo sessions for the musicians. She and her sister formed A&V Enterprises, and they worked with Ann Peebles and Hi Rhythm.
When Willie Mitchell passed away in 2010, the family had to regroup and figure out how best to serve the studio. They decided to make Boo Mitchell the face of the studio, with Yvonne providing a little TLC for the musicians.
Musicians often stay in the studio from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., says Mitchell. She would bring them her famous lemon pound cake and then feed them a proper Sunday dinner, so they would have some comfort food after days of burgers and barbecue.
She cooked for Bruno Mars, John Mayer, and Boz Scaggs. She cooked for Melissa Etheridge for seven days. She’s catered the Memphis Music Hall of Fame inductions.
For the Rhythm on the River event, held at the studio, Don Bryant will perform with the Bo-Keys. It’s Bryant’s first time back to Royal since the 1960s.
As for Mitchell’s 150-year-old chow chow recipe, it’s her grandmother’s, and she’s getting the grandkids in on the act because she messed up her shoulder and needs help with all the chopping. She says they’re doing pretty good.
So, does anyone ever cook for Mitchell? “Not really,” she says. “My sister can’t boil water.”
Each week, the Flyer will feature adoptable dogs and cats from Memphis Animal Services. All photos are credited to Memphis Pets Alive. More pictures can be found on the Memphis Pets Alive Facebook page.
For the latest installment of Never Seen It, I wanted to watch a documentary with True Story Pictures founder Joann Self-Selvidge. Self-Selvidge is a documentarian whose last film, The Keepers, (renamed See The Keepers: Inside The Zoo) which she co-directed with Sara Kaye Larson, won awards at the Indie Memphis and Nashville film festivals, and is currently available for streaming.
Joann Self-Selvidge: I know absolutely nothing about it, and I intentionally didn’t go and read the IMDB entry before we watched it. I know it’s about The Minutemen, and that’s about it.
CM: Are you a Minutemen fan?
JSS: Yes, but not as much as somebody who was slightly older than me in the 80s. I was born in 1976. I’m a fan of Mike Watt and fIREHOSE.
CM: So you are Minutemen aware.
JSS: I am definitely Minutemen aware. But I don’t have records, which would disqualify me as a fan.
CM: For the record, you were listening to Mike Watt when we got here.
Mike Watt giving director Tim Irwin a tour of San Pedro, California in We Jam Econo
91 minutes later…
JSS: 1989 was my first Antenna show. I was thirteen in 1989. By the time I was 15, I was driving. I had a Mississippi driver’s license. They would let me in, because I didn’t drink, and they knew they didn’t have to worry about me. I would go to shows by myself. I grew up in Central Gardens, I went to St. Mary’s. I went to shows really young. But I did go to a lot of the punk rock shows. Steve [Selvidge, Joann’s husband] has a hardcore background. His first gig was when he was 13 at the Antenna club.
CM: So, what did you think about We Jam Econo?
JSS: I loved it! Thank you for making me watch it.
CM: As a director of documentaries, what did you think?
JSS: I thought it was beautiful. They did a really good job setting up the characters. The editing made Mike [Watt] kind of the narrator. The way they were the central part of it, and all of the people you expected to see were on the margins. They were just commentary, they weren’t the main emphasis.
CM: Henry Rollins was in it for two shots.
JSS: I was blown away that we didn’t see Rollins or Ian McKaye until more than a half hour into the movie. And they were talking about the drummer! I saw Minor Threat and Fugazi, Dead Milkmen…that was my entry into punk. From the first shows they played, in the film, I was like, I know this. This is awesome. I love that vibe. I didn’t know The Minutemen enough to appreciate the depth of their playing. I love music documentaries, and I’m married to a musician…Punk rock was always political. That’s one of the things that I love about it. The tension between Mike Watt and D. Boon was like, ‘I want to be super political!’ versus “I want to talk about Dada and Surrealism.” Their personalities fit together like that. And the drummer, he was just like, I’m going to get a New Wave haircut. I’m going to become what people want me to become to be part of the scene. The other two were like, fuck that shit. They were totally original. They had ideas that they put into music. The thing about punk rock is, you have something to say, and you say it, and I don’t give a fuck what anybody else thinks. If those songs had been in an arena, they would have been anthemic. As it was, they were in a shitty, piss-smelling hole in the wall.
CM: That sequence when they’re in Orange County, and people are spitting on them while they’re literally playing the best music that had ever been played on that stage. That to me is like Dylan going electric at a folk festival.
JSS: He was brilliant, and everybody pissed on him…You have to do your own thing. That’s what I appreciate about them…I’d heard about this film for years, but I had never watched it.
CM: I think it’s one of the best documentaries of the twenty first century. The editing is off the charts good.
JSS: My brain was hopping to all these different music documentaries I had seen, like the Stooges documentary. I was thinking about Cream, and those 12-minute jams. How many late-60s rock docs have I seen in my life? But it also reminded me of some of the stuff Dave Grohl has done. Lost Highway, where he went back to D.C. A few years back when The Hold Steady was touring, Steve and Tad, the other guitar player, got into a Foo Fighters wormhole. The Foo Fighters documentary, even though it’s kind of slow, made me much more of a Dave Grohl fan than I ever had been before.
The Minutemen in 1985: Mike Watt, D. Boone, and George Hurley
CM: What would you take away from this about how to make a good music documentary?
JSS: I’ve seen enough music docs to have lots of good ideas, and lots of ‘stay away from this’ ideas about how to incorporate live music recording. I thought this movie did that very well. You have to have a balance, and there has to be a really good reason to include an entire song. Unless it’s only 45 seconds long.
CM: They were on their third album before they broke two minutes.
JSS: That’s a huge factor to take into account before you make a music doc. When are we going to include an entire song and slow down the narrative pace of the film? You’re lucky with this, because it’s a punk rock doc about the guys who wrote the shortest songs in punk rock. Another thing I loved is, these guys talked about some intellectually and philosophically heavy shit, because they were great artists, great thinkers, and great musicians. You have to place those moments well.
CM: So, you’re not going to get the intellectual level you get in this movie in, say, the Def Leppard documentary.
JSS: I totally disagree with you, IF you had the right interview. Any person who is capable of making a living—let alone become a rock star—has got some really radical things going on in their humanity that makes them that charismatic. You’re going to get a sound bite at some point that speaks to that. If they’re no longer living, you have to dig for it, and hope there’s enough footage so there’s something you can find. That’s why the editing in this movie is so great. And the way they incorporated the new stuff with Mike Watt…brilliant.
CM: Mike Watt is the intellectual core of American punk rock.
JSS: But I loved it that it was not all about Mike. He was presenting the story. He was a part of it, but not the whole, and I appreciated that. It could have been all about him, but it wasn’t.
Never Seen It: Watching We Jam Econo with Documentary Filmmaker Joann Self-Selvidge
Neil Johnson and Sy ndney Collette at Blues on the Bluff.
Ann Sanchez attended her first Blues on the Bluff event July 22nd on the grounds of the National Ornamental Museum. The annual event is a fundraiser for WEVL FM 89.9, a member-supported radio station.
“I came to Memphis for the blues,“ Sanchez said. “I moved from San Franciso, bought a house and I’ll stay forever.”
And, she said, “I’m a down home blues girl. I was raised with the blues.”
Asked what she thought about the event, Sanchez said, “It was wonderful. I had a great time. I’m going every year. And I became a (WEVL) member that evening. And I received a wonderful poster.
“I just love the music and history in Memphis. I just love Memphis.”
Terry Soffel, who was with her, is a Memphis drummer who performed for about 20 years with Joyce Cobb.
Blues on the Bluff celebrated its 29th anniversary this year, said station manager Judy Dorsey.
A silent auction ranged from Kroger gift cards to paintings by folk artist Lamar Sorrento.
Ghost Town Blues Band and Marcella and Her Lovers were two new bands at the event. Also performing were The MD’s (formerly Maitre D’s.”
The sunset, again, was a star. “One man told us, ‘It was worth coming just for that,’” Dorsey said.
……
Michael Donahue
Memphis magazine managing editor Frank Murtaugh and Memphis Flyer editor Bruce VanWyngarden at Murtaugh’s book signing for his novel, ‘Trey’s Company.’
Frank Murtaugh held a book signing to celebrate the release of his coming-of-age novel, “Trey’s Company,” July 19, at Burke’s Book Store in Cooper Young.
“The novel traces one life-altering summer for 13-year-old Trey Milligan, a boy spending three months away from home with his widowed grandmother in East Tennessee,” said Murtaugh, Memphis magazine managing editor. “Three special friends come to embody love, death and the criminal element as Trey finds himself growing up faster than he’d like. The story calls to mind coming-of-age films like ‘Stand by me’ or ‘The Sandlot,’ one set in the 1980s and with a love story.“
“Why did you choose this genre,” a guest asked Murtaugh.
“Maybe it chose me,” he said.
Murtaugh has “fond memories” from his own childhood summers. “Like Trey, in Cleveland, Tenn.,” he said. “And there are some special people from that time in my life who are no longer with us. The book became a way I could bring these characters to life, even if dramatized, and share their wisdom and virtues with readers.”
“Trey’s Company,” published by Sartoris Literary Group (Jackson, Miss.), sells for $19.95 paperback and $8.95 eBook and is available at Amazon.com and Burke’s Book Store.
Michael Donahue
Luna soft opening.
‘’’’
Guests experienced Luna Restaurant’s “new look, new image” at a dinner July 17 at the Hotel Napoleon, a boutique hotel at Third and Madison.
“We’re trying to make Luna a beacon Downtown, said Eric “Sache” Evans, a consultant on the project. “A restaurant that has a Southern fusion-inspired menu. And try to appeal to the Downtown community, the major businesses around there, including ServiceMaster, First Tennessee, AutoZone and the Redbirds ”
The menu includes chicken thigh marsala and beef tartar, tuna tartar. The “tapas”-inspired appetizer menu is called “Comets” and is described as “small plate, big bang.”
Eric Hagerman is Luna’s executive chef. “Our goal is to come in and make this place amazing,” Evans said.
The ozone levels in the Memphis and surrounding areas are expected to reach code orange classification on Wednesday, making the air “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” according to a release by the Shelby County Health Department.
As a result, SCHD recommends that individuals drive less, by combining errands, carpooling, or taking public transit.
The Health Department also suggests refueling cars after 7:00 p.m., while avoiding spills and topping off tanks.
The release advises individuals, especially those who are active or have respiratory difficulties to limit outdoor activities, as high ozone levels can cause irritation of the eyes, nose, and lungs.
Due to the code orange forecast, the Memphis Area Transit Authority will offer 25 cent rides on all modes of public transit for Wednesday only.
Maybe it’s time to change Fly On the Wall’s long-running “Neverending Elvis” tab to “Disappearing Elvis.” This is from Saturday’s Commercial Appeal. And it’s starting to feel personal.
One of two alligator decoys now in Memphis Botanic Garden’s Koi Pond.
Two plastic alligators will help curb the Canada geese population and their droppings at the Memphis Botanic Gardens, according to Garden leaders who called the move “the most humane and natural solution to this situation.”
Garden officials announced Tuesday that they introduced two “garden variety” alligators into the Koi Pond there. The plastic alligators “similar to what might be found on a typical Florida golf course are actually of the species polystyreneaus (plastic).”
“We have been dealing with a growing (Canada) Geese population at the Garden and they are – how do I say this delicately – ‘messy’ as well as sometimes aggressive toward our members and guests,” said Mike Allen, Executive Director of the Garden. “The introduction of (the alligator decoys) seemed like the most humane and natural solution to this situation and we are hopeful that it works as planned.”
A man pleaded guilty to rape here Monday after investigators found DNA and a less scientific bit of evidence left on a set of dentures in another case from the city’s backlog of untested rape kits.
Thomas Maupin, 67, entered his plea before Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee, according to Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich’s office. The victim, who was 31 when the rape occurred, did not testify.
Maupin came to Memphis after serving 12 years in Washington state for the 1988 killing of a young girl in Spokane. He was convicted twice and sentenced to 40 years in prison. But the convictions were overturned on appeal.
Maupin approached his rape victim here in August 2001 as she was walking in the 1200 block of Thomas north of Frayser Boulevard.
“After a few moments, the man forced her into an alley and stabbed her with a metal object under her chin with such force that it struck the roof of her mouth,” said a news release from Weirich’s office. “He also used the object to sexually assault her after forcing her to perform oral sex.”
Police officers collected evidence in the case, including a set of dentures, and put it all in a storage locker. That evidence, including an untested rape kit, became part of the city’s backlog of about 12,000 untested rape kits.
The evidence in the Maupin rape case was never examined again until Assistant District Attorney Abby Wallace, with the DA’s Special Victims Unit, sent it off to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). Upon examination, the TBI found DNA, which was partial match for Maupin.
But the dentures gave up another crucial bit of evidence against Maupin — his name.
TBI investigators found Maupin’s name on the dentures during their examination. According to Weirich’s office, the dentures were made for Maupin during his 12-year term in the Washington prison.
There’s no real point in recounting a story that’s been all over social media since yesterday. We all know the President told a lurid story to to the Boy Scouts of America who were gathered at their annual Jamboree, turning his opportunity to inspire young America into a deeply weird political rally. Regardless of one’s political leanings, nobody needs an opinion columnist to tell them that’s uncommonly bad form, even for this Chief Exec. But there’s another question we already know the answer to that may be worth asking: Why didn’t somebody cut Trump’s mic?
I know — “You don’t cut the mic on the leader of the free world, it’s just not done, ever.” Undeniably true. Then again, a lot of things just aren’t done, ever. Like using the fine young men of the BSA as political props. Only, that IS done, I suppose, and maybe more often than folks realize. I can share at least one example in the form of this video from Memphis’ first Tea Party where conservative Mid-Southerners sporting anti-immigrant signs and pictures of former President Obama with bullet holes in his face, got themselves good and radicalized.
When Boy Scouts are Political Props
4/15/09
I’m not offering this as any kind of evidence that the BSA is overtly political — I know too many Lefty Eagle Scouts who’ve kept themselves physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. But for anybody wondering why the scouts cheered Trump’s political message, there’s plenty of not-so-ancient history to consider.
Scouting of all kinds took a membership nosedive during the 1970’s. Girl Scouts USA reversed that trend, while the BSA continued to lope forward, declining all the while. Why? University of British Columbia political science professor Barbara Arneil may be on to something:
“A younger civil rights generation, informed by a new set of post-materialist values, did not join traditional organizations like the BSA and GSUSA because their values were deemed to be outdated. The challenge for traditional organizations therefore was how to respond. Using path dependency theory, I argue that BSA and GSUSA—shaped by their own unique origins and identities—responded very differently to the critical juncture of the civil rights generation, which in turn explains the subsequent divergence in membership patterns from the 1980s onward. While the BSA rejects such changes in order to defend traditional values, the GSUSA, which established a commitment to challenging gender norms from its birth, embraces the new values and adapts virtually every aspect of its organizational identity to this new generation.”
In spite of its melting-pot image, the BSA’s history of racial justice has ranged from spotty to poor. The organization only reversed policies allowing discrimination/segregation in the middle-1970’s, and only because they found themselves on the losing end of legal action. Signs of progress appeared in 2015 when the BSA appointed its first Chief Diversity officer and just this year the BSA reversed a century-long ban of transgendered scouts. That doesn’t add up to welcoming, and one has to believe that, all real exceptions and exceptional leaders considered, the organization’s dug heels, and hard fought battles against acceptance and diversity, have shaped membership and culture.
#notallscouts, of course. And #notallscoutleaders, obviously. But there’s a reason why the kids cheered the immoral President, and nobody cut his mic that has nothing at all to do with decorum. This moment wasn’t an anomaly as the BSA’s subsequent press release suggests. It was a culmination.
Michael Donahue 
Michael Donahue 
Michael Donahue 
Memphis Botanic Gardens 
Shelby County Sheriff’s Office 