Month: December 2017

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Free At Last

Minutes before Nathan Bedford Forrest’s statue was removed from Health Sciences Park

So they are gone now — finally — the misguided memorials to Nathan Bedford Forrest, soldier, KKK leader, and slave trader, and Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. Their images have been removed, not by outside edict — in fact, contrary to outside edict — but by the clear and obvious will of the local populace.

The strategy of selling the parks to a nonprofit group, which, in turn, would remove the offending statues had been under consideration for months, though the city’s leaders had meanwhile gone through the hoops prescribed by the state, dutifully and patiently. It had become evident, though, that, in this case as in many, many others, the concepts of local option and home rule itself were going to be smothered in bureaucracy and thwarted by the domineering machinery of state government. 

Given next year’s oncoming 50th anniversary commemoration of Martin Luther King’s mortal sacrifice here, it was not to be tolerated that Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis should be allowed to continue in their perches of honor and their symbolic oversight of the city and its physical horizons. Not only city and county government and a spirited group of activists led by the likes of Tami Sawyer and Earle Fisher, but a broad consensus of the population at large had made clear their determination to do an about-face on the discredited past and to head into the duration of the 21st century and beyond with what Abraham Lincoln termed a “new birth of freedom.”

Or, as Mayor Jim Strickland put it in announcing last week’s action: “The statues no longer represent who we are as a modern, diverse city with momentum. As I told the Tennessee Historical Commission in October, our community wants to reserve places of reverence for those we honor. … Though some of our city’s past is painful, we are all in charge of our city’s future. Black and white, young and old — every single one of us. That’s the symbolism for which I want this day to be remembered.”

It remains to be seen what future statuaries or memorials, if any, will take the place of these repudiated ones, but there is a measure of honor to be shared in the present — by the mayor and public officials and citizen activists. And even, to a certain extent, by those elsewhere, such as outgoing Governor Bill Haslam and various candidates for office, who at least lent their rhetorical support to the cause of human justice and to the power of people at ground level to control their destiny and shape their community’s public spaces.

There should be no recriminations against those who resisted this overdue change and profess themselves saddened by it. As Strickland said, “we are all in charge of our city’s future,” and the march forward should exclude none. In removing the images of reactionary sectarianism, we have at last opened the way for all of us to progress together. As Dr. King said in his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, delivered at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, “Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Categories
News The Fly-By

Protests, the Aquifer, and Statues

JANUARY

Citizens and stakeholders debated a plan that would expand Turner Dairy in Midtown.

Planning work got underway to design a new parking lot for the Memphis Zoo, which would end parking on the Overton Park Greensward.

Environmentalists here protested the nomination of Scott Pruitt, Trump’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Students from the University of Memphis, Christian Brothers University, LeMoyne-Owen College, and Rhodes College walked out of classes, protesting the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

More than 3,000 marched from the D’Army Bailey Court House to the National Civil Rights Museum Saturday in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington.

The Sierra Club and Protect Our Aquifer filed a lawsuit to challenge the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plan to drill wells into the source of Memphis’ drinking water.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland convened a task force to develop the Memphis riverfront.

Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) CEO Ron Garrison resigned following his arrest for allegedly patronizing a prostitute.

FEBRUARY

Thousands marched to the National Civil Rights Museum to protest executive orders on immigration and refugees signed by Trump.

The project to put apartments and retail space on the site of the shuttered hotel at Union and McLean re-emerged.

Memphis Police Department director Michael Rallings defended the use of a so-called “blacklist” of people who had to be escorted inside city hall.

Plans to build “I Am A Man Plaza” emerged from the UrbanArt Commission (UAC) and the city of Memphis.

Trolley testing began and MATA officials said they’d be back within 12 months.

MARCH

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich took a private reprimand for her conduct in the murder trial of Noura Jackson.

Club owner/deejay Robert Raiford passed away.

City leaders said they would continue to push for the removal of the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.

Nearly 20 were laid off at The Commercial Appeal, beginning what leaders called a “historic transformation” of the paper.

APRIL

State wildlife officials responded to a sighting of a bear in North Memphis.

Officials unveiled a $214 million, four-year plan to modernize Memphis International Airport.

Wiseacre Brewing chose not to expand in the Mid-South Coliseum.

MAY

The “Tom Lee Storm” left 188,000 homes without power, the third-largest event in Memphis history.

United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with Memphis leaders, drawing a protest.

Jared McLemore, local audio engineer and musician, committed suicide by setting himself on fire at Murphy’s.

Novel, a new bookstore with local investors, announced it would take over some of the old Booksellers space in Laurelwood.

Louis Graham resigned as editor of The Commercial Appeal.

[IMAGE-1]
[IMAGE-2]
[IMAGE-3]

JUNE

Mark Russell was named the new executive editor of The Commercial Appeal.

Tropical Storm Cindy left more than 8,500 without power.

Gannett Co. announced it would sell The Commercial Appeal office building at 495 Union.

MATA officials promised trolleys would return later in the summer.

ServiceMaster officials opened the first portion of its new building in the Peabody Place mall.

The “Tom Lee Storm” caused about $15.1 million in damages.

JULY

Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) found no detectable traces of arsenic or lead in drinking-water wells close to where the TVA found groundwater toxins.

Plans emerged for a 108-unit apartment complex to be built on the corner of Madison and McLean.

Chicago-based Studio Gang unveiled its plan for a connected Memphis riverfront.

Terrence Patterson resigned his post as president and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC).

Restaurateur Ronnie Grisanti passed away.

AUGUST

Memphis in May brought a $111.9 million economic impact to Memphis.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam urged members of the Tennessee Historical Commission (THC) to act on Memphis’ request to remove the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Crosstown Concourse opens.

Graceland leaders proposed a new $50 million, 6,200-seat arena. Though, the leaders pulled the proposal after pressure from the Memphis Grizzlies.

Memphis City Council members were presented four options for the removal of the Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis

Protestors held rallies around the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.

City officials re-opened a planning process for the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

Plans were revealed for a $70 million project to turn historic properties in the Edge district into residence, office, and retail spaces.

SEPTEMBER

The Tennessee Historic Commission (THC) said it would not vote on removing the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue during its October meeting.

Gary Rosenfeld was named MATA’s new CEO.

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art officials announced that they were considering moving the museum from its 101-year home in Overton Park.

Loeb Properties got a $3.3 million tax break to build a $24.2 million hotel in Overton Square.

More than 150 faith leaders signed a letter supporting the removal of the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.

Renovation work began on the Cook Convention Center after the council approved $21 million for the project.

MLGW officials said some 40,000 homes and businesses lost power in the wake of Tropical Depression Harvey.

OCTOBER

Memphis College of Art (MCA) officials announced the school would close.

Amazon won $15 million in tax breaks for a distribution center that would employ 600.

The city council called for backup plans if the city’s waiver with the THC was voted down.

A freshwater aquarium was pitched as a new attraction for Mud Island River Park, as the council considered a tourism development zone (TDZ).

The THC voted down Memphis’ waiver request to remove the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.

The University of Memphis started construction of a land bridge, amphitheater, and parking garage, part of its $66 million Master Campus Plan.

A new advisory team was announced to lead the project to expand the zoo’s parking lot and end Greensward parking.

The city council offered Amazon $50 million if would locate its new headquarters here.

NOVEMBER

Bill Cosby’s star was removed from the sidewalk in front of the Orpheum Theatre.

Council members weighed a move to allow open containers of alcohol on Main Street.

An adminstrative judge was set hear the city’s request to move the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue. The council asked the mayor for a back-up plan.

MLGW announced new, higher utility rates for 2018.

Jennifer Oswalt was chosen as the new president and CEO of the DMC.

Elvis Presley Enterprises said it would challenge the Memphis Grizzlies’ non-compete agreement that is blocking it from adding a concert hall to Graceland.

Owners of the Windjammer Restaurant and Lounge announced it would close.

The council ended the Beale Street Bucks program.

City officials said they would mothball the Mid-South Coliseum in a new, $160 million redevelopment project that would transform the Mid-South Fairgrounds as a youth sports destination.

DECEMBER

Trump priorities fueled the arrest of 20 undocumented workers here.

Ground broke on the I Am A Man Plaza.

Billy R. Turner was indicted for the Lorenzen Wright murder. Wright’s wife, Sherra, was also arrested in connection to the crime.

MATA said the return of the vintage, steel-wheeled trolley will be delayed until April 2018.

Statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis came down after city officials sell Health Sciences Park and Memphis Park to a nonprofit group.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1505

Year in Fly 2

Last week, Fly on the Wall’s “Year in Fly 1” listed some lists Memphis made in 2017 and waxed nostalgic about Andy Wise’s bathroom habits.

But if we’d wanted to give this annual “best of the worst” a completely different spin, we could have titled the whole project …

DAMMIT, GANNETT!

The Commercial Appeal’s been going through changes since its acquisition by media giant Gannett Co.

Layoffs were followed by an announcement that the company will sell the paper’s longtime home at 495 Union.

Reduced security and shortened business hours prompted an ominous staff memo from Executive Editor Mark Russell:

“If you are worried about working in your department alone after, say, 6 or 7 p.m., please consider leaving at 5 to work from a coffee shop, home, or some other location …”

A few months later, The Commercial Appeal honored Memphis’ best workplaces by handing out plaques with pictures of Nashville on them.

The Big One!

The year’s most pulse-pounding local news spot was WREG’s story of a grandmother risking everything to save her grandchild from the terrifying maw of a five-foot hole.

“It seems shallow, but there’s much more to this hole than what meets the eye,” a WREG reporter said of the five-foot hole.

“All I could say was ‘Lord, take me and not my grandchild,'” Grandma said.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Hangover Helpers

CREDIT: Elnur | Dreamstime

Understand something, if you have a hangover, then you have poisoned yourself. Maybe not in league with strychnine, but you’ve got some toxins to work through. Obviously, the best thing for a hangover is not to get gassed the night before. If you can’t manage that, then cut this column out and stick it in the pocket of whatever it is you think you are going to wake up in on New Year’s Day.

The ancient Greek god Dionysus is often pictured with a mitra around his head — a strip of tightly bound cloth to counter that pounding morning-after headache. If the god of the vine and ritual-madness can get a throbbing hangover, then mere mortals don’t stand a chance. Barring an anti-hangover hat handed down from Mount Olympus, let’s delve into some more modern cures.

Kingsley Amis helpfully wrote about both the physical and mental aspects a hangover. Sure, your stomach is churning and you have a splitting headache, but there is that other part: a sort of vague, paranoid depression. He suggests that if you wake up with a hangover, have sex with the person next to you: It gets your heart rate up and will “tone you up emotionally.” Amis was a hard-won expert on drinking, but he doesn’t appear to have known much about relationships.

Elnur | Dreamstime

For more single-handed hangover cures, the most famous was penned 101 years ago by P.G. Wodehouse in his first Jeeves and Wooster story “Carry On, Jeeves.” Bertie Wooster is feeling a bit ragged, and Jeeves appears at his door to whip up a cure of raw egg, Worcestershire sauce, and red pepper. “It is the Worcestershire that gives it its color. The raw egg makes it nutritious. The red pepper gives it bite. Gentlemen have told me they have found it very invigorating after a late evening.”

Not prone to original thought, Wooster says “I swallowed the stuff. For a moment I felt as if somebody had touched off a bomb inside the old bean and was strolling down my throat with a lighted torch, and then everything seemed suddenly to get all right. The sun shone in through the window; birds twittered in the tree-tops; and, generally speaking, hope dawned once more.”

I’ve tried it a couple of times (scientific method, you see). It never worked quite as vividly at as it did for ol’ Bertie, but it did get the job done — and fast. This makes sense: the egg is a blob of protein to counteract the sugar all the alcohol has been processed into, the Worcestershire sauce has salt to help retain water (dehydration is the real enemy), and red pepper sauce opens up the snoot for more oxygen. The pepper sauce also kills the crud associated with eating raw eggs.

So will a shot of whiskey, which puts you into “hair of the dog” remedies. People swear by the Bloody Mary, but for a number of reasons we aren’t going to suggest that route. Or a raw egg.

Almost nothing beats a painfully hot shower, Gatorade (lots of it), and going back to bed.

If you can’t go hide under the covers waiting for the cold embrace of death, you’ll likely run into other humans, which will aggravate the mental component of the hangover. Steel yourself to being cheerful — or at least likeably pathetic — despite your creeping cynicism about this grim world. This is not to lift your spirits, or anyone else’s. The point of the friendly disposition, however fake, is to manage people’s reactions to you. Social friction is not what you need right now. Honestly, if you already think that they are out to get you, do you really need proof?

My mother has never had a hangover, avoiding them with the obvious technique of simply not drinking. It’s not in the spirit of this column, but I thought I should mention it.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

Tale of Two Miracles

The Virgin of Guadalupe and Roy Moore’s political defeat in Alabama are two miracles that share more than a common date.

Guadalupe appeared December 12, 1531, in Mexico, and some 486 years later, people there, in Central America and even parts of the southwestern United States still give thanks for her 16th-century intercession.

Two weeks ago, on the Day of the Virgin, much of the U.S. and the world breathed a sigh of relief when Judge Moore’s planned ascendance to the U.S. Senate was interrupted by the electorate. 

While election clerks counted ballots in Alabama, our city’s changing and dynamic demography was on full display at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Central Avenue. The packed cathedral celebrated the apparition of the Virgin with songs, prayer, processions, and a Catholic mass spoken and sung solely in Spanish.

Rev. Francisco González, an auxiliary bishop from Spain who is based in Washington, D.C., delivered a sermon that was peaceful yet political. He reminded the crowd that “God doesn’t ask for a Green Card when he invites you into Heaven.” On a cold Tuesday night, the warmth and tranquility within the building was moving, memorable — particularly to this writer, a lapsed Catholic of divergent doctrine, beyond redemption.

According to legend, Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary incarnate, appeared to a poor boy named Juan Diego on a hillside outside Mexico City. She arrived in Mexico at a time of existential political crisis, exactly 10 years after the Aztec Empire collapsed due mainly to a Spanish military incursion. Through Juan Diego, she instructed the Mexican people to persevere, and to accept the new social order with resignation.  

By today’s standards, that message sounds defeatist. Cynics see the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe as one of the great hoaxes in history. Others offer a more nuanced view and accept the Virgin as part of the long term restructuring of society that continues to this day. Miraculously, Mexico has held together, for better or worse, since the Virgin’s visit 486 years ago.

Some of the same dynamics were present in Alabama, where Moore’s loss is still nothing short of miraculous. Few people expected Moore, an Evangelical Christian dogged by sexual abuse allegations, to lose. But the voters there were more motivated by Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount” than the candidate’s mandates against gay people and against Muslims. And then there’s the truly zany speech by Kayla Moore on the eve of the election when she told a bemused crowd, “One of our attorneys is a Jew!”  The statement — the delivery — must have been lifted from central casting on a Mel Brooks movie set. But it wasn’t. 

The strong turnout and organization by the state’s African-American voters was no miracle. It was the result of a fed up electorate unwilling to accept Moore in the U.S. Senate. With 26 percent of the state’s population, these voters delivered Doug Jones’ victory and left Moore seething. He has yet (as of this writing, on December 20th) to concede the race. 

The lessons from Alabama are simple and clear: People who have been pushed to the margins in a political system that favors the rich and the well-connected can and will fight back. People don’t need Moore’s brand of disapprobation and false moralism. They need better public schools, a higher minimum wage, and wider access to effective, affordable health care.  

The 16th century Mexican miracle taught resignation after an overwhelming military defeat followed by the gradual development of a new sociopolitical structure. The December 12, 2017 miracle in Alabama offers a different set of lessons. It shows people will organize and resist through the established political process. When astoundingly unfit candidates appear, it’s only a matter of time before the voters make them disappear.

Michael J. LaRosa is a Rhodes College professor.

Categories
News News Feature

New Year’s Guide

Beale Street

The biggest New Year’s Eve party in Memphis, New Year’s Eve on Beale will ring in the new year with drinks, food, music, dancing, and fireworks. This year’s musical acts include the Fabulous Exclusive Soul Revue Band and Karma, with headliners B.B. King’s Blues Band and pop icon Tito Jackson. Together, the two headliners will continue the legacies of B.B. King and the Jackson 5. The event is 21-plus, free to attend, and will also be live-streamed for those who would like to watch from the comfort of their own homes.

Music begins at 8:45 p.m. Free. Beale (526-0117)

Hard Rock Cafe

It’s the 10th annual guitar drop at Hard Rock Cafe, where a 10-ft.-tall D’Angelico guitar drops 100 feet at the start of the new year. Enjoy musical guests Common Rarity, Carlos Ecos Band, Mandy Vixen Trio, ShotGunBillys, DJ Debonair, and American Idol winner Caleb Johnson, among others, and Good Day Memphis weather and traffic anchor Chelsea Chandler will emcee the event.

5 p.m. Tickets: General admission: $35; Platinum VIP: $150 single/$250 couples; Gold VIP: $400 per table. 126 Beale (529-0007)

Peabody Hotel

This bash will feature local music acts Seeing Red, Garry Goin Group, and DJ Epic. VIP packages include free hors d’oeuvres and unlimited Champagne and Budweiser.

8 p.m. General admission: $40; VIP: $150. 149 Union (529-4000)

New Daisy Theatre

New Daisy Theatre throws its third annual New Year’s Eve Blackout with special musical guests BT, Tree, Defcon Engaged, Scotty B, FreeWill, Brian Hamilton, and N8. This is the perfect outing for night owls — the show goes on until 5 a.m.

9 p.m. General admission: $20-$30; Silver Couples package: $50; Gold package: $75; Platinum package: $100. 330 Beale (525-8981)

Rum Boogie Cafe

FreeWorld begins the New Year playing at Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale.

8 p.m.-12 a.m. 182 Beale (528.0150)

Jerry Lee Lewis’ Cafe & Honky Tonk

Exclusive concert with Jerry Lee Lewis, along with opener Jason James.

7 p.m. Gallery seats: $125; Front row seats: $225; after the 25th, tickets increase by $25. 310 Beale

Ghost River Brewing Co.

Ghost River celebrates its 10 year anniversary of its first brewing of South Main Pale Ale — and to celebrate, they are giving away free 4-ounce pours. Flying Sobies Hen House Food Truck will be camped out for Sunday brunch.

12-8 p.m. 827 S Main St. (661-4976)

B.B. King’s Blues Club

Join B.B. King’s for a night of live music, dinner, and dancing.

Dinner served 7-10 p.m. General admission: $20 in advance or $25 at the door; VIP: $80 – Includes a reserved table in the mezzanine, three-course dinner, party favors, and Champagne toast. 143 Beale St. (524-5464)

Loflin Yard

A fun evening full of music, with two sets by Southern Avenue, with Stax Academy Alumni Band opening, and Pressure World DJ Crew spinning funk/soul/R&B tunes in between sets.

10 p.m. General admission: $20; VIP: $75 – Includes reserved seating, dinner with Southern Avenue, and signed merchandise. 7 W. Carolina Ave. (290-1140)

Bleu Restaurant

Partake in a $55 surf n’ turf dinner and/or the New Year’s Eve party ($35), which includes a Champagne toast, party favors, and complimentary valet.

6 p.m.-midnight. 221 South B.B. King Boulevard. (334-5950)

Memphis Sounds Lounge

Memphis Sounds Lounge is closing, and they’re going out with a bang! This event will feature musical guest William Davenport. Tickets include free Champagne toast, food, and party favors.

7 p.m.-2 a.m. $20/person or $35/couple. 22 N. Third St. (590-4049)

Blind Bear

Dinner is served from 5 to 9 p.m., and beginning at 8 p.m., Rusty Pieces and Blackwater Trio perform.

Dinner: $35/person or $60/couple; music cover charge $18. 119 S Main (417-8435)

The Lookout at Bass Pro Shops

Dine on a five-course meal in the sky while listening to a live band. Afterward, attend the after party for more music and fun.

Dinner: $125/person; After Party: $50/person – Includes party favors and Champagne toast. 1 Bass Pro Dr. (291-8040)

Lew’s Blue Note Bar and Grill

8 p.m.-1 a.m. 341 Beale St. (577-8387)

Midtown

LaFayette’s Music Room

Join LaFayette’s for an evening of music, with a lineup that includes Almost Famous and Pearl.

6 p.m. General Admission: $25; VIP: $80/person or $150/couple – Includes reserved seating, party favors, Champagne toast, and hors d’oeuvres. 2119 Madison (207-5097)

Young Avenue Deli

Local band Spaceface plays, with a colorful and interactive 3D set, 3D glasses, silver space aliens, confetti bursts, lasers, psychedelic photo booths, and more. DJ Witnesse from Lord T and Eloise will be playing funk and soul tunes as well. There will be $2 beer specials, Champagne toast, and the first 100 people to show up will get a free pair of 3D glasses.

8 p.m.-2 a.m. Tickets: $10. 2119 Young (278-0034)

Children’s Museum of Memphis

This masquerade is the first ever New Year’s Eve bash in the new Grand Carousel wing. Party band City Mix and a silent disco will provide entertainment, while attendees enjoy hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine and midnight Champagne toast.

9 p.m.-1 a.m. General Admission: $75 Pre-sale or $90 at the door; VIP: $150 – Includes three-course dinner at 7 p.m. whipped up by a surprise local chef and a fast pass to the bar. 2525 Central Ave. (458-2678)

Hi-Tone

Hi-Tone presents Quintron and Miss Pussycat with Jack Oblivian, Room Thirteen, and DJ Damp Velour.

10 p.m. Tickets: $15-$20. 412-414 N. Cleveland (278-8663)

Blue Monkey Midtown

Louder Than Bombs covers the Smiths/Morrissey. Champagne toast at midnight.

10 p.m.-1 a.m. Tickets: $15/person or $25/couple. 2012 Madison Ave. (272-2583)

The P&H Cafe

Dead Soldiers and HEELS will provide music, while Katrina Coleman will provide laughs. PBR is half-price.

10 p.m. 1532 Madison Ave. (726-0906)

Overton Square

At the Tower Courtyard in Overton Square, the Dantones and DJ Bobby Smith will provide tunes, and former American Idol contestant Alexis Grace will emcee. Food and drinks will be available for purchase, or check out any of the various bars in Overton Square.

9 p.m.-1 a.m. Free. 2101 Madison

Bar DKDC

Marcella & Her Lovers plays at Bar DKDC.

11 p.m. 964 S. Cooper (272-0830)

Growlers

The Schwag plays three sets of Grateful Dead music.

9 p.m.-3 a.m. Pre-Sale: $12; Door: $15. 1911 Poplar Ave. (244-7904)

South Memphis

Graceland – The Guest House

Live like the King at the New Year’s Eve Gala at the Guest House at Graceland. Memphis Jazz Orchestra Band will play tunes from Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, and Count Basie. Enjoy a Grand Buffet dinner in the ballroom, and then party with party favors and Champagne toast. To get the full experience, book a King or Queen room, and you will receive a complimentary bottle of Champagne upon arrival.

8 p.m. Dinner and gala: $95; Room, dinner, and gala: $299. 3600 Elvis Presley Blvd. (443-3000)

Marlowe’s Ribs

Music provided by Probeats DJs. Event is 25-plus.

10 p.m. Pre-sale: $20; At the door: $30. 4381 Elvis Presley Blvd. (332-4159)

East Memphis

Neil’s Music Room

Party like it’s 2018. The Natchez Brothers will play from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m., and Neil’s will start serving breakfast at 12:30 a.m. Instead of Champagne flutes, Neil’s will be giving away bottles of Champagne that attendees can either drink on-site or take home.

9 p.m. $25/person or $40/couple. 5727 Quince (682-2300)

Tunica, MS

Hollywood Casino

The Nate Jackson Band plays at the Main Stage.

9 p.m.-1 a.m. 1150 Casino Strip Resort Boulevard, Robinsonville, MS (800-871-0711)

Roadhouse

Moonshine Ball presents Ying Yang Twins, and at the Riverstage Bar, Gerald Richardson & Friends plays. Roadhouse has a number of New Year’s Eve promotions, including New Year’s Eve Cash Drawings ($2,018) and Glow Bright Lights Giveaway for Total Rewards members.

1107 Casino Center, Robinsonville, MS (662-363-4900)

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

A look back at 2017 food news

2017 was looking to make me a liar. In last year’s “Look Ahead” story, I had several places set to open that just barely made it this year. They include: Sunrise, the biscuit-centered breakfast place from Central BBQ’s Craig Blondis and Roger Sapp and Sweet Grass’ Ryan Trimm, which opened in late November; the food hall South Main Market, which held a grand opening on December 2nd with an opening roster of promising eateries; and the Liquor Store, from the same folks as City & State, which opened in November.

One of the bigger food stories was related to the opening of the Crosstown Concourse building. Mama Gaia was the first out of the gate in early spring. They were followed by French Truck Coffee, Farm Burger, Next Door Eatery, MemPops, So Nuts, Curb Market, and I Love Juice Bar. I frequent the place and pay — gasp! — $11 for a small smoothie from the Juice Bar at least once a week.

Closing down and moving on: The first location of LYFE Kitchen in East Memphis closed in the fall. The second, in the Chisca downtown, closed for a short while and reopened as a reinvented space with a new menu and new decor. Also seeing new life were Brass Door and the Riverfront Grill (now the Front Porch), both forced into shape by Deni and Patrick Reilly of the Majestic Grill. The much-beloved Elwood’s Shack was closed for several months after a fire in December. It reopened in March.

Happy news: The Cosmic Coconut was turned into the City Silo, a vegan-forward space with several great, thoughtful dishes. The oldie but goodie Front Street Deli changed owners and reopened with a John Grisham-themed menu.

Elwood Shack

Sunrise

More milestones: Beauty Shop marked its 15th year with beehives and 1997 prices. Jim’s Grill, the longtime place for graduate lunches and Mother’s Day brunches, closed for good after an attempt at a revival by Alex Grisanti. Other Memphis favorites, the Peanut Shoppe on Summer closed earlier this month after 58 years and Spaghetti Warehouse closed after 30 years in downtown.

A few things found life beyond the confines of this column. Let’s start with Meddlesome and its cheekily named 201 Hoplar IPA, which a lot of folks found problematic, while the vast majority really loved the name-play. (Also, the IPA is really good.) Another hit was the video by Michael Donahue of the “Pie Lady” Katherine Perry. Perry made her caramel pie and a few others and found an enrapt audience. That video had more than one million (!) views. David Scott of Dave’s Bagels is, how do we put it???, super-hot. And folks like his freshly made, truly excellent bagels, too. You can find them pretty much everywhere.

After pouring millions into the old 19th Century Club building to open the restaurant Izakaya, the owners quickly reconsidered the rather unfocused approach, reopening as the chiefly Japanese and quite good Red Fish. The popular food truck Sushi Jimmi found new life in a brick and mortar space on Poplar. The same goes for Riko’s Kickin’ Chicken, which opened on Madison near Cleveland. Lucky Cat gathered quite a following for its pop-ups before settling on a space at the corner of Cooper and Peabody.

Nobody knows trouble like Taylor Berger. His grand vision for shipping crates serving as a venue was almost quashed as the some of the campus of Railgarten did not have proper inspection. It was all eventually worked out, and now the place serves as a happy meeting ground for young folks looking for fun.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

2017: The Year In Film

In America, it was the worst of times, but inside the multiplex, it was the best of times. Mega-blockbusters faltered, while an exceptional crop of small films excelled. There was never a week when there wasn’t something good playing on Memphis’ big screens. Here’s the Flyer‘s film awards for 2017.

Worst Picture: Transformers: The Last Knight
There was a crap-flood of big budget failures in 2017. The Mummy was horrifying in the worst way. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales sank the franchise. There was an Emoji Movie for some reason. What set Michael Bay’s nadir apart from the “competition” was its sneering contempt for the audience. I felt insulted by this movie. Everyone involved needs to take a step back and think about their lives.

Zeitgiestiest: Ingrid Goes West
In the first few years of the decade, our inner worlds were reshaped by social media. In 2017, social media reshaped the real world. No film better understood this crucial dynamic, and Aubrey Plaza’s ferociously precise performance as an Instagram stalker elevates it to true greatness.

Most Recursive: The Disaster Artist
James Franco’s passion project is a great film about an awful film. He is an actor dismissed as a lightweight doing a deep job directing a film about the worst director ever. He does a great job acting as a legendarily bad actor. We should be laughing at the whole thing, but somehow we end up crying at the end. It’s awesome.

Overlooked Gem: Blade Runner 2049
How does a long-awaited sequel to one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, directed by one of the decade’s best directors, co-starring a legendary leading man and the hottest star of the day, end up falling through the cracks? Beats me, but if you like Dennis Villaneuve, Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, smart scripts, and incredible cinematography, and you didn’t see this film, rectify your error

Best Scene: Wonder Woman in No Man’s Land
The most successful superhero movie of the year was Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman. Midway through the picture, our hero leads a company of soldiers across a muddy World War I battlefield. Assailed on every side by machine gun fire and explosions, Wonder Woman presses on, never wavering, never doubting, showing the fighting men what real inner strength looks like. In this moment, Gal Gadot became a hero to millions of girls.

Best Memphis Movie: Good Grief
Melissa Anderson Sweazy and Laura Jean Hocking’s documentary Good Grief rose above a highly competitive, seven-film Hometowner slate at Indie Memphis to sweep the feature awards. It is a delicate, touching portrait of a summer camp for children who have lost loved ones due to tragedy. Full disclosure: I’m married to one of the directors. Fuller disclosure: I didn’t have a damn thing to do with the success of this film.

MVP: Adam Driver
Anyone with eyes could see former Girls co-star Adam Driver was a great actor, but he came into his own in 2017 with a trio of perfect performances. First, he lost 50 pounds and went on a seven-day silent prayer vigil to portray a Jesuit missionary in Martin Scorsese’s Silence. Then he was Clyde Logan, the one-armed Iraq vet who helps his brother and sister rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Stephen Soderberg’s Logan Lucky. Finally, he was Kylo Ren, the conflicted villain who made Star Wars: The Last Jedi the year’s best blockbuster.

Best Editing: Baby Driver
Edgar Wright’s heist picture is equal parts Bullitt and La La Land. In setting some of the most spectacular car chases ever filmed to a mixtape of sleeper pop hits from across the decades, Wright and editor Jonathan Amos created the greatest long-form music video since “Thriller.”

Best Screenplay: The Big Sick
Screenwriter Emily V. Gordon, and comedian Kumail Nanjiani turned the story of their unlikely (and almost tragic) courtship into the year’s best and most humane comedy.

Best Performance By A Nonhuman: Sylvio Bernardi, Sylvio
In this hotly contested category, 2014 winner Caesar, the ape commander of War For The Planet Of The Apes, was narrowly defeated by a simian upstart. Sylvio, co-directed by Memphian Kentucker Audley, is a low-key comedy about a mute monkey in sunglasses (played by co-director Albert Binny) who struggles to keep his dignity intact while breaking into the cutthroat world of cable access television. Sylvio speaks to every time you’ve felt like an awkward outsider.

Best Performance (Honorable Mention): Kyle MacLachlan, Twin Peaks: The Return
David Lynch referred to his magnum opus as an 18-hour film, but Twin Peaks is a TV series to its core. The Return may be the crowning achievement of the current second golden age of television, but without MacLachlan’s beyond brilliant performance, Lynch’s take-no-prisoners surrealism would fly apart. I struggle to think of any precedent for MacLachlan’s achievement, playing at least four different versions of Special Agent Dale Cooper, whose identity gets fractured across dimensions as he tries to escape the clutches of the Black Lodge.

Best Performance: Francis McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Sometimes the best film performers are the ones who do the least, and no one does nothing better than Francis McDormand. As the mother of a murdered daughter seeking the justice in the court of public opinion she was denied in the court of law, McDormand stuffs her emotions way down inside, so a clenched jaw or raised eyebrow lands harder than the most impassioned speech.

Best Director: Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Lady Bird is destined to be a sentimental, coming-of-age classic for a generation of women. But it is not itself excessively sentimental. Greta Gerwig and star Saoirse Ronan are clear-eyed about their heroine’s failings and delusions as she navigates the treacherous psychic waters of high school senior year. Gerwig, known until now primarily as an actor, wrote and directed this remarkably insightful film that is as close to perfection as anything on the big screen in 2017.

Best Picture: Get Out — In prepping for my year-end list, I re-read my review for Get Out, which was positive but not gushing. Yet I have thought about this small, smart film from comedian Jordan Peele more than any other 2017 work. Peele took the conventions of horror films and shaped them into a deeply reasoned treatise on the insidious evil of white supremacy. Sometimes, being alive in 2017 seemed like living in The Sunken Place, and Peele’s film seems like a message from a saner time.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Deborah Swiney Assembles a Dream Team for I Remember Rio

Deborah Swiney is a familiar face in the live scene these days, and this record at last makes it possible to take a bit of her talent home with you. As a team effort, it expresses the best of what Memphis jazz has to offer, with players such as Ed Finney, Tony Thomas, Sam Shoup, Tom Lonardo, and Lannie McMillan. And, being an homage to Brazil, it naturally features the percussive talents of Felix Hernandez and Ekpe Abioto. The band has internalized the classic Brazilian rhythms so deeply that they never seem rote or mannered; rather, the music glides by as effortlessly as the originals.

Swiney, for her part, lives up to the on-point backing with soulful, interpretive vocals. Rather than opt for the breathy, breezy approach of classic Astrud Gilberto, Swiney’s brassy delivery gives the songs a stronger profile. Ed Finney, as musical director, creates perfect settings for her voice, lending his own imaginative guitar lines as needed, and even contributing the title song, which is perhaps the real standout track here. It twists and turns with a graceful melody and intriguing changes. Swiney’s sole original here, “Bossa Nova Casanova,” is more of a bon bon, a lighthearted study of the man who makes all the ladies swoon. All told, this is a great showcase for not just Swiney, but the entire Memphis jazz community.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Bette Smith’s Jetlagger: Brooklyn Grit Meets Mississippi Soul

Bette Smith hails from Brooklyn, and her latest record keeps the longstanding ties between New York and the Mid-South as strong as ever. In truth, the record is all North Mississippi, with Magnolia State native Jimbo Mathus serving as musical director, guitarist and organist. Memphians Marc Franklin, Kirk Smothers, and Susan Marshall all pitch in as well. What the band brings to the record is an eclectic blend of rock and soul with one foot in the garage, which suits Smith’s pitch-perfect, rough-hewn vocals to a tee.

Smith’s voice is a force of nature, simultaneously dramatic and unaffected. When Mathus’ crunchy guitar or cheesy tube organ lines bubble up out of the mix, they are a perfect complement to Smith’s gritty delivery. The album as a whole exudes that golden period in the ’70s when soul was absorbing rawer rock elements, yet before production conventions became too polished. True to its old school spirit, Smith tracked her vocals live with the band, and it pays off when the slightly unhinged dynamics of the songs take flight with her, making for a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Smith’s “I Will Feed You” and Mathus’ “Durty Hustlin’” are standouts in this regard. Meanwhile, the band nods to its ancestors with a gritty cover of Isaac Hayes’ “Do Your Thing”. As a whole, this is a powerful reminder that rootsy soul need not follow too closely in the footsteps of its forerunners, as long as its heart is in the right, raw place.