Month: March 2018

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

At the Plate: a reimagined Oshi and Indian Pass

Coming up soon, Oshi will host a sake tasting and a beer dinner. At one point, patrons will be introduced to the sake bomb. This involves a shot of sake balanced on chopsticks on top of a glass of beer. The chopsticks are parted, the shot goes in, and the rest is up to the consumer.

“People come here to have fun,” says Minh Nguyen, one of Oshi’s new owners, along with Tammy and Marvin Shackelford.

Oshi opened in 2014 on South Main, offering an imaginative menu of Asian-inflected burgers and dogs. With the new owners, the focus is now sushi. Nguyen says he expresses his personality through such favorite rolls as the Mist Roll (shrimp tempura, avocado topped with crabstick, spicy mayo, eel sauce, and sweet chili) and the B.P. Roll (spicy tuna, cream cheese, avocado, crunchies, white tuna, jalapeño, cilantro, mayo, and sriracha).

Nguyen gets creative through Omakase, where it’s anything goes. The customer tells the chef what flavors he likes, and then Nguyen uses that intel to create a special dish.

One holdout from the old menu is the Asian burger, though Nguyen says their version is a completely new take. It’s a wagyu patty with cheddar, bacon, tomato jam (!), sweet pepper sauce, fried egg, mixed greens, and a garlic aioli on a brioche bun. It comes with fries.

Inside Oshi on South Main

Also on the menu are pho, a vegetarian dumpling soup, crab cakes, fried calamari, vietnamese crepes, teriyaki, fried rice, fish and chips, and lobster roll.

The best way to peg the menu is Asian fusion.

Nguyen says he wants to challenge local palates, to teach Memphians to try new things.

“We want to make simple Asian food that tastes good and not the same,” says Nguyen.

Kinon Kiplinger, manager of the newly open Indian Pass in Overton Square, says the Florida original was in an old gas station. It was nothing fancy, a place for family and friends, where “grab yourself a beer” was a common refrain.

That was the sort of attitude that led to the beer honor system, which began in the Florida location and is repeated in the Memphis restaurant.

It is what it sounds like. Guests fill their own glass, marking each beer they get on the sheet. It’s up to the guest whether or not they are honest.

Before you get any big ideas about the beer, Indian Pass does have ways to keep on top of it. There are cameras, a tap attendant, and servers are taught to keep count.

“If you’re not honorable,” says Kiplinger, “we do have the right to prosecute.”

Indian Pass’ space was once Chiwawa, and before that Chicago Pizza Factory. The place has been expanded, the kitchen moved from downstairs to the main floor. The cool wrought-iron sign has been stripped of its “Midtown is Memphis,” replaced with “Indian Pass.”

According to owner/operations manager George Gouras, the idea was “to wipe away the remnants of the tenant before them.”

The menu is on the small-ish side, with raw, baked, and char-grilled oysters, head-on shrimp and crab featuring steamed, broiled, and stuffed shrimp and steamed crab legs. For those not into seafood, there’s the “Land Food” part of the menu with burger, cheeseburger, and a grilled chicken sandwich. One thing you won’t see is a deep-fryer. Gouras says if someone wants something fried, they’ll see to it. Otherwise, the idea is to “keep things good; keep things fresh.”

To that end, Gouras drives halfway to Jackson, Mississippi, to meet his seafood guy. He fetches several hundred pounds once or twice a week.

The menu isn’t the same as the Florida restaurant. That’s due to Gouras own take on dishes like the crab dip and the gumbo.

Kiplinger describes Indian Pass as a “little getaway,” perfect for the 30A crowd. But it still has that essential Memphis vibe. “It’s a little slice of Florida with a Memphis feel,” says Kiplinger.

Categories
Music Music Features

Chicago’s Twin Peaks Hit Memphis This Week.

Twin Peaks are treading some less familiar territory this spring. Riding high off three landmark album releases within the past two years, the rising Chicago indie-rockers stop in Memphis on Thursday, March 29th, for a show at Growlers.

It’ll be the first chance for a Memphis audience to catch the five-piece, who followed their breakout 2016 third album, Down in Heaven with the 2017 double live album Urbs in Horto and a series of limited-edition 7-inch sides (recently compiled and reissued by Fat Possum Records as Sweet ’17 Singles, released last month).

That run of well-received creativity is paying off on the road.

“On this tour, it’s been a lot of little towns and stuff that we don’t really go to,” says bassist and co-vocalist and songwriter Jack Dolan, speaking on the phone at a gas station outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “It’s a lot of places we haven’t been to or only been to once. Typically, on a tour like this, you kind of expect all the shows to be empty. It’s not like we’re selling out an arena in Nebraska, but it’s encouraging. They’re small venues, but we’re packing them out.”

The band has earned a reputation for a raucous live show, and the proof appears on Urbs in Horto, recorded at historic Chicago venues Metro and Thalia Hall. Titled after their hometown’s motto, Latin for “City in a Garden,” Urbs was a proud achievement for the band that got its start in Chicago’s scrappy DIY house-show scene.

“The live album thing — I don’t think we expected to do something like that, but you’re trying to switch it up all the time and do stuff differently because the way music is these days, it’s all over the place,” Dolan says. “There are so many different lanes you can be in. So I guess it’s all about keeping it fresh and keeping the fans happy.”

The recent studio releases reveal the band pushing its boundaries in the studio and expanding its sonic horizons while proudly indulging influences ranging from the Stones to the Replacements, the Velvet Underground to Ty Segall.

“That’s come from experience and doing this for a while,” Dolan says. “We’ve been developing a sound that has changed a lot over the past five years or whatever, but we’re in the zone where we’re still just kind of learning about our own styles and honing that sort of thing because it’s a lot of different personalities going on. So you just try to home in on the best parts of all our music.”

After the current run of shows, the band will return to Chicago to demo songs for a new album that they hope to record in summer with longtime collaborator and producer R. Andrew Humphrey.

“We’re all writing on our own, that’s always been how we do it,” Dolan says. “We’ll bring an already done song or already thought-out song, and then we kind of build on it from there. That’s where most of the collaboration comes from. That’s when we’re adding and building on a foundation, and we take it forward from that point.

“We still play a lot of stuff from the first record because a lot of those songs are still the best ones we play live. The shelf life is pretty long for any given song, and the scope of the set is our whole discography, which is nice.”

While this will be Twin Peaks’ first show in Memphis, the band’s members, all in their early 20s, count the city’s underground rock scene as an influence on their sound as well as on their approach to their career. In press interviews, they have mentioned late Memphis rocker Jay Reatard’s singles on Matador Records as an inspiration for the Sweet ’17 Singles series.

“Especially when we were starting off in high school and stuff, we were really into stuff like the Black Lips and Jay Reatard and that kind of garage-rock stuff,” Dolan says. “The thing about those bands is they just kept putting out music kind of frequently, not worrying about cycles and stuff like that. Up to this point, we hadn’t had the opportunity to do that kind of thing, so [Sweet ’17 Singles] was a way to keep bringing it back to that. Because those bands are how we realized it was possible to put something out in a format like that.”

Chicago’s Twin Peaks Hit Memphis This Week.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Doc 52 Bourbon: Searching for a Niche

The recent debate over wine sales in grocery stores sparked heated discussion across the city and state. We talked about it — a lot. Now that the issue of Sunday alcohol sales has reared its head in Tennessee, the whole thing seems like a foregone conclusion, hardly worth mentioning. Regardless of which side of the debates you fall, both are game-changers for Memphis’ wine and liquor shops — and not necessarily to their advantage.

Like bookstores and other small retailers facing Amazon and Big Box outlets — local toddy shops have had to hustle to keep and grow loyal customers. It hasn’t been easy. I caught up with Ryan Gill, the General Manager over at Doc’s Wines, Spirits & More in the Carrefour, to talk about the new normal for the liquor business — and found the clever angle of the entrepreneur still alive and well. Part of this strategy isn’t trying to beat the grocery stores at their game, but to beat them at his.

Gill is a man on a mission to make Doc’s the face of bourbon in Memphis. “Thinking outside the box and creating products exclusive to our store are ways that we can continue to fight losing customers to grocery stores,” he says.

That thinking includes being the first liquor store in the area with a Certified Bourbon Steward on staff. The training and certification is done by the Stave & Thief Society of Louisville and endorsed by the Kentucky Distillers Association. It is, more or less, a certification similar to Sommelier training with wines. With plans to add nearly a hundred new bottles of bourbon to the store’s selection in the coming weeks, it may not be a bad investment.

Gill says he isn’t content with all the good bourbon that is “out there.” He also has his eye on an inside bottle or two. Long used to picking single-barrel bourbons, and earlier at Southwind Wine & Spirits, Gill, and Doc’s bourbon aficionado, Mike Jones — have put their 10 years of experience in curated whiskey sipping to a novel use: Doc’s is partnering with Big River Distilling to bring Memphis’ first private label bourbon to its shelves under the name Doc 52 Straight Bourbon Whiskey. It’s nine years old, uncut, unfiltered, and cask strength at 110 proof. Those nine years were spent the old-fashioned way, without heat cycling. The first batch is limited to 162 bottles, which will retail for around $50. After this run, there are plans for expanded availability for a Doc’s single barrel. “We just wanted to do something special for the first one,” says Gill.

The private label isn’t new for Doc’s, which has long had store-exclusive wine — also under the label Doc 52. The “Doc” in question, by the way, is the original store’s owner, a surgical oncologist named Roy Page. The original store had the slogan, “The Home of the 52 Week sale.”

The real question, though, is how does Doc 52 taste? It’s been pegged by some early samplers as in the same profile as Woodford Reserve Double Oak, which is pretty good company. Without any Woodford handy, I couldn’t do a side by side, but I did have a sample of Doc 52. There is some vanilla and caramel in the deep amber. What jumped out at me, however, wasn’t what Doc 52 was like, but what it wasn’t: It’s not a wheated bourbon, like Weller. Doc 52 has a subtle sweetness that comes through from a mash built on the high side with corn. There is a little heat to it, but there generally is with a cask-strength selection. With a little bit of water added, everything opens up and what you have is a bourbon with a big mouth to it that isn’t harsh or overwhelming.

“Our private label bourbon is just the beginning of Doc’s becoming the face of bourbon in Memphis,” says Gill.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Forward March

CREDIT: Laura Jean Hocking

Before what Life Magazine called, “the largest expression of public dissent ever seen in this country,” President Richard Nixon said, “As far as this activity is concerned, we expect it, but under no circumstances will I be affected whatever by it.”

The delusional traitor Nixon had previously referred to anti-war protesters as “bums,” but half-a-million people were about to descend on Nixon’s front yard in a massive march called the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam.

On November 15, 1969, hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters began marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Washington Monument. The morning was damn cold. I know because I was there. We listened to speeches by Senator George McGovern and Dr. Benjamin Spock and joined in with Pete Seeger singing John Lennon’s tune — “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

Laura Jean Hocking

March for Our Lives

Nixon spent the day secluded in the White House watching college football, but his venal Vice President, Spiro “Ted” Agnew, called the protesters “an effete corps of impudent snobs.” The work of several anti-war organizations, plus 250 student government officers and student newspaper editors were necessary to draw the massive number of people to Washington. What these young adults from Parkland High School managed to put together last week was nothing short of miraculous.

We are in the midst of an historic moment … “and a little child shall lead them.” These committed students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are an inspiration, and if you’re too old or too cynical or too oblivious to grasp the significance of the March For Our Lives against gun violence, you fall in the same category as the cadre of dead-enders that sat on their couches and cheered on the Vietnam War — on the wrong side of history.

These survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, were poised and eloquent beyond their years. There were a few celebrities in attendance, but the march and the program were organized by the students who witnessed this horror. Their impassioned and heartbreaking testimonies brought on more than a few tears in our house. When Jennifer Hudson, who lost her mother, brother, and nephew to gun violence, sang “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” that did it for me. That brought me full circle. Back when I heard Bob Dylan sing it, I didn’t have to go through half a box of Kleenex. 

These high school kids have started a wave of indignation about this country’s gun violence that appears unstoppable. I don’t know what the popular term is for this generation, whether it’s Millennials or Gen Z or whatever the hell it is, but they are about to effect some real change. Politicians purchased by the NRA have been put on notice by this generation (larger than the Baby-Boomers) and they will vote.

The National Rifle Association’s venomous response was predictable: “Gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites are manipulating and exploiting children,” while referring to the event as the “March for Their Lies.” Videos of their well-paid lackeys, Dana Loesch and Wayne LaPierre, contempt and vitriol dripping from their lips, were regrettably televised. Hate-mongers called the kids “crisis actors.” The students were not intimidated. Gun laws will change the moment politicians realize they must face their voting-age children’s scorn. Enormous marches were held in hundreds of cities in solidarity with the students from Parkland, including Memphis.

If I were a football game, I’d be in the fourth quarter. I haven’t hit the two-minute warning yet, but I can see it out there on the horizon. I figured I had one more march left in me, so Melody and I headed downtown. We gathered at the Clayborn Temple and marched the short distance to the National Civil Rights Museum. I’m not good at estimates, so I’ll just say the crowd was enormous. Young students gave testimonies about their first-hand experiences with gun violence that were both emotional and wrenchingly personal, since Memphis is no stranger to firearm violence.

The encouraging takeaway was the determination of these young people to effect change. I did notice a whole lot of gray hair in the crowd and was pleased and proud that everyone’s knees still worked. Old hippies never die, they just march on.

The Memphis march was great. What was hard was the walk back, and trying to find where we parked the car. We marched about four blocks longer than we had to. My calves are sore and my back hurts, but I’m happy we attended. As for policy, I agree that the Assault Weapons Ban should be reinstated. The opposing argument is there would still be millions in circulation. Maybe so, but there wouldn’t be any new ones for sale so some vengeful teenager with a chip on his shoulder could legally buy and shoot up his school.

If you believe that the Second Amendment entitles you to own a battlefield weapon, where does the right to your firepower end? Grenade launchers? Mortar cannons? Nobody’s coming for your guns. Keep your handguns and your long-guns. Go have fun at the range and protect your home. Just spare the life of my child.

Randy Haspel writes the “Recycled Hippies” blog.

Categories
News News Blog

Governor Plans First-Ever School Safety Review

CREDIT: Shelby County Schools - Facebook

Shelby County Schools – Facebook

State officials will soon evaluate every Tennessee elementary and secondary school to identify areas of risk in a first-ever effort that comes during a national debate on gun violence.

Governor Bill Haslam announced the move Wednesday. It was one recommendation of three submitted to him by a school safety working group he established earlier this month. The group also suggested increasing resources for school resource officers and a statewide system for the anonymous reporting of security threats.

Haslam’s 2019 budget includes $30 million to help pay for increasing security at schools.

”The recommendations of the working group, coupled with increased investment, provide a path to making immediate, impactful and unprecedented security improvements in our schools and also lay the groundwork for longer term actions around training, drills and mental health support,” Haslam said in a statement.

Security checks of the schools will be carried out but the Tennessee Department of Homeland Security with the Tennessee Department of Education. Haslam directed the agencies to immediately development and implement a plan to check all the schools.

The assessments will be based on model security standards identified by Homeland Security. Haslam plans to have every school checked before students return for the 2018-2019 school year.

Last weekend’s March For Our Lives event drew thousands to protest gun violence in public demonstrations at more than 800 sites around the world, including Memphis. The event was largely in response to a mass shooting in a Florida school that killed 17 people.

Categories
News News Blog

University of Memphis Sees Drop in Reported Crimes

The University of Memphis’ reported incident rate in 2017 was the lowest it’s been since 2001, according to a new report by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The annual Crime on Campus report shows the type, volume, and extent of reported crimes on all Tennessee campuses. At of U of M, there’s been a 13.5 percent drop in all reported criminal incidents. The reported crime rate in 2017 was 12.7 per 1,000 students, compared to other large universities in the state whose rates ranged from 13.8 to 46.4 incidents per 1,000. The university reports that over the past five years, the school has had the lowest reported crime rates among the state’s 10 largest public and private universities.

The university attributes its safe environment to the school’s commitment to preventing sexual assaults and harassment, an emergency alert app, and the Tiger Escort Program, which offers escorts for students from dusk to dawn.

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“We have established a strong safety record in part by fostering a campus culture that always puts students first,” U of M police chief, Mary Balée said. “The Crime on Campus Report is one tool we use to measure progress related to reported crime incidents.

“It is helpful in gauging progress from year to year to see where we are today compared to where we have been.”

Categories
News News Blog

Explore Bike Share Announces Locations for First 60 Stations

The locations of the first 60 stations for the bike-share system launching here in the spring were announced Wednesday by Explore Bike Share (EBS).


The stations span from Uptown and Crosstown to Overton Square and Cooper-Young to Downtown and South Memphis. (See all 60 locations at the bottom of the page.)


“We’ve made an organizational commitment to create an equitable system that is affordable, available and sustainable,” Bike Share executive director, Trey Moore, said. “While we believe this site map reflects our mission wholeheartedly, we’re intentionally installing a system with malleable components to allow for potential shifting within neighborhoods or intersections as needed.

“Therefore, if a station is best suited on the other side of the storefront or on an adjacent street, we’ll assess the data, listen to the community and reconfigure.”

Additionally, with two stations in West Memphis, Memphis’ system will be the first in the country to stretch across state lines.

“We’ve felt the impact of bike traffic into West Memphis due to the connectivity of Big River Crossing, so we knew we needed to invest in this bike share system,” executive director of the West Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau Jim Jackson said.

Factors like solar power accessibility, density, proximity to other transit options, and neighborhood usage helped EBS staff decide where the stations should go. Community engagement also played a large role in the selection process. An online interactive map where residents could “pin” their preferences for locations had over 3,500 suggestive pins.

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“Rather than simply putting bikes on the street and reacting, we’re proactively giving Memphians the opportunity to have ownership over these bikes and their locations,” community engagement and marketing director for EBS Sara Studdard said. “They’re putting pins in a map, guiding our site planning practice, and even eagerly unboxing the bikes hours after arrival into the market.

“We’re grateful for the involvement from every kind of Memphian imaginable. This system truly is built for Memphis by Memphians.”

The system coming to Memphis is the first and largest of its kind in country, according to EBS. Fueled by solar power, the bikes are equipped with forward-facing touchscreens that give turn-by-turn directions and suggest popular routes, while detailing information about the ride, such as miles ridden and calories burned.

Pricing and membership options were also announced Wednesday. A single ride will cost $5, while weekly, monthly, and annual memberships range from $12 to $120. With each membership option, riders get unlimited 60-minute rides, as long as the bike is checked in at one of the 60 stations each hour.

Memberships aren’t available to purchase yet, but two other payment opportunities are live on the Bike Share site. For $500, you can get a one-year membership and the chance to personalize a bike with an inscription of your choosing. For $200, the “Give Your Neighbor a Lift” option buys you, as well as one Memphian in need of transportation access a one-year membership.

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“We’ve said from day one that every Memphian deserves access to quality transportation options,” EBS board member, Roshun Austin, said. “We’re all paying it forward with Explore Bike Share, whether through a ‘Give Your Neighbor a Lift’ donation, a new bike programming series around town, or simply advocacy for our organization.”

Explore Bike Share will expand its fleet by 300 bikes in spring 2019, and stations will possibly extend down the Greenline to Shelby Farms.

Station Locations:

Categories
News News Blog

Court Orders Eviction of Memphis Family

CREDIT: Google Maps

Google Maps

On Tuesday, General Session Court ordered Christopher Reyes, Sarah Fleming, and their two children to vacate the property at 1 S. Main that the family has has occupied for more than 25 years.

In addition, the judge ordered Vernice Kuglin, Reyes’ mother, to pay $102,397 to 1 S. Main LLC, a company created by Aparium Hotel Group, the owners of the Madison Hotel, to administer the property.

The case stems from a 1992 agreement between Memphis real estate developer Henry Turley and Kuglin, then a pilot for FedEx. Turley had owned the property, which, like much of Downtown during that time period, was vacant and in disrepair.

Long before the contemporary downtown renaissance, Kuglin and her son, Reyes, expressed interest in buying the entire building on the corner of Main and Madison and renovating it.

But financing for the full amount was not available, so Turley and Kuglin struck a deal that would create a condominium arrangement for the then-vacant second floor.

“We liked the idea of artist loft living”, Turley said on the witness stand as the trial commenced last Wednesday.

Kuglin and Reyes took out a $55,000 mortgage against the property and paid Turley. That mortgage has since been paid off.

But at the time, the property was under the auspices of a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) program, so the deed to the property was ultimately held by the Center City Finance Corporation, a board affiliate of the Center City Commission, (now called the Downtown Memphis Commission) with Turley listed as lessee and Kuglin’s interests covered under a sub-lease.

Under the agreement struck at that time, Kuglin and Reyes would have the option to buy the property outright for $1 once the PILOT program expired in December 2001.

“We went through all sorts of machinations to inform the city of our intentions,” Turley testified.

Reyes moved in and performed extensive renovations to the property, building an entire second floor and expanding the available square footage from 4,000 to more than 6,400 square feet.

He both lived and ran his businesses out of the condominium, which included computer consulting, filmmaking, digital art and sculpture, karate lessons, and, for eleven years, Live From Memphis, an arts organization that ran a website devoted to city’s “music, art, film, and culture”.

Before the PILOT expired in 2001, the term was extended for 15 years. In 2006, Turley sold the building to 79 Madison LLC, owners of the then-new Madison Hotel.

Reyes and Kuglin claimed that, in their initial meeting with Madison hotel owner Mohammad Hakim, he expressed interest in buying their share in the building. In the meantime, Hakim stopped billing them for the annual property tax assessment and handed maintenance of the 1 S. Main condo over to Reyes.

Meanwhile, Reyes and his long term partner Sarah Fleming had two children and continued to live and operate their businesses out of 1 S. Main. The property is currently assessed at $250,000, but based on the going rates of improved Downtown properties it could be worth upwards of $800,000.

In June 2016, the Madison Hotel was sold to new owners, a Chicago conglomerate called Aparium Hotel Group and G4, a New York equity firm. Kuglin was informed that the 1 S. Main property, along with the Madison Hotel, had been sold to while still under the PILOT agreement.

When the PILOT expired on December 15, the property was transferred from the Memphis Center City Finance Corp. to 1 S. Main LLC., which the new owners had formed to administer the building.

“We thought the PILOT expired at the end of the month, but actually it expired on the 15th,” Fleming said. “No one informed us when the PILOT expired. We got served a (Forcible Entry and Detainer) eviction notice on December 29.”

The company claimed that Kuglin and Reyes were in breach of their lease and sued to evict the family in General Sessions Court Tuesday.

The company also demanded operating costs, monetary defaults, building improvements, and lawyer fees totalling $102,397. Kuglin and Reyes countersued for breach of contract and emotional distress.

Kuglin and Reyes were represented by Newton Anderson, while 1 S. Main LLC was represented by S. Joshua Kahane, of Memphis law firm Glankler Brown. As the trial began on Wednesday, Judge Lonnie Thompson commented on the complexity of the case, saying “We could be litigating this until I’m off the bench.”

But Kahane seemed determined to simplify the proceedings by objecting to virtually every bit of evidence entered by Anderson, as well as every question asked by Anderson of any witness.

Kahane’s behavior drew occasional gasps and giggles from the observers in the courtroom. Kahane was successful at convincing the judge to rule inadmissable many pieces of evidence introduced by the defense and many statements by their witnesses.

Company attorney Michael Kitchen testified that, since 1 S. Main LLC had bought the building, and the only right Kuglin and Reyes had to occupy the building was a sub-lease with the previous owner, they were within their rights to evict Reyes and his family and take full possession of the entire building.

Tensions between the attorneys rose as the trial entered its second day on Tuesday.

When Anderson attempted to call Kitchen back to the stand as a hostile witness, it prompted a lengthy and contentious exchange between the attorneys.

“They are trying to steal this property, your honor,” Anderson said, “The actions of this Chicago company are outrageous.”

Eventually, Judge Thompson allowed Anderson to call Kitchen back to the stand as a hostile witness.

“I want everyone to feel like they’ve gotten a fair shake,” Thompson said.

Anderson used the opportunity to introduce an application for a $100,000 Exterior Improvement Grant 1 S. Main LLC had submitted to the Center City Commission, in which they had claimed that there was no pending litigation that would affect the property, despite the fact that 1 S. Main LLC had already sued Kuglin and Reyes at the time.

Kahane continued to object repeatedly to defense stataments, until Anderson reached a breaking point, citing what he called Kahane’s “harassment objections.” He snapped at Kahane during the cross examination of Christopher Reyes.

The judge called both attorneys into his chamber. When the trial resumed, Kahane was marginally more respectful.

Kahane eventually said that Kuglin had the right to buy the property for $1, but that since she had not exercised that option when the PILOT expired, they were now under the jurisdiction of laws governing the landlord-tenant relationship.

Anderson countered that the documents conferring the option did not specify an expiration date, and thus Kuglin and Reyes could exercise their purchase option at any time after the expiration of the PILOT.

The final witness was Kuglin, who testified over Kahane’s objections that she and Reyes had “made a commitment to Mr. Turley to create something that the city could be proud of.”

When asked how she felt when she was sued, she said “I felt betrayed.”

After both sides questioned Kuglin, the judge directly asked her questions about the events of the last 25 years.

During his closing arguments, Kahane said “I wish to apologize publicly and on the record to Mr. Anderson,” for his behavior in court.

With his ruling, Judge Thompson first dismissed the countersuit and then found for 1 S. Main LLC on every claim, including the $102,397 in damages they sought. Included in those damages are more than $50,000 in funds marked for future improvements to the building.

Fleming said after the trial, “I want to make it clear that not only have they stolen our home, but they have included in the damages money to make it better in the future.”

Kitchen and his legal team left the courtroom pursued by reporters, but declined to answer questions. “We appreciate your interest in this case,” Kahane said.

Reyes left the courtroom in tears, and was advised by his counsel to not answer questions.

“We’re obviously very disappointed in the outcome, and are assessing our options at this point,” said Anderson.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Sneak Peek at Hopdoddy

Doors were open in preview of Hopdoddy‘s Monday (April 2) opening.

On the menu will be two items being launched in Memphis: the Lil’ Doddy and the All-Day Breakfast burger. The former is a smaller patty that comes in a single or double, served with American cheese — a classic burger, says Erin Fohn, Hopdoddy’s brand manager. The latter features a patty mix of sausage, beef, and ham with a potato “hay” for crunch, topped with a scrambled egg patty.

Another thing to note is Hopdoddy’s charitable partner through its Goodnight for a Good Cause program. They have chose Stax Music Academy to be the recipient. One dollar of every Goodnight Burger goes to the foundation.

Hopdoddy offers counter service. Order at the counter, then your meal gets delivered to you. One thing that separates Hopdoddy is that a table must be available before you can order and you get samples in line (!).

There will be a full bar, plus milkshakes, gluten-free and vegan options. Fohn says Hopdoddy satisfies “all kinds of tastes.”

There’s a nice patio out front, with a wall of windows that will open out to it once the weather cooperates. Parking is, however, scant. Most of it is reserved for Lenny’s. Fohn says they are doing what they always do, which is encourage everyone one to walk to the restaurant.

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Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Voices of the South Announces Fringe Festival Lineup

Berry & Madden

There are all kinds of fringe festivals big and small. A local fringe festival like the one Voices of the South is producing this spring, is an opportunity to sample a whole season’s worth of independent performance in only a weekend or two.

Fun fact: Voices was born 22 years ago when Jenny Madden and Alice Berry were developing Southern narrative theater to take to the International Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. This year Berry, Madden and the rest of the company will bring a taste of Edinburgh to their hometown with The Memphis FRINGE Festival, a two weekend event highlighting a diverse slate of area actors, movers, writers, and storytellers working just outside the mainstream.   

Here’s The Memphis FRINGE Festival lineup.

The Laramie Project with Central High School

Fri., April 13 @ 7pm; Sat., April 14 @ 6pm; Sun., April 15 @ 5:30pm

In October 1998 Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, tied to a fence, beaten, and left to die alone on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. Five weeks after this attack, members of the Tectonic Theatre Group traveled to Laramie to conduct interviews with the residents. They used these conversations to draft The Laramie Project, a narrative portrayal of life in Laramie the year after the murder. Sadly, many of the issues raised by Shepard’s brutal murder have not gone away in the twenty years since. Central High School’s theatre program is pleased to present an abridged version of this powerful play.

Stories in the Water with Latrelle Bright

Fri., April 13 @ 8pm; Sat., April 14 @ 7:30pm; Sun., April 15 @ 2:30pm

Stories in the Water explores deeply rooted relationships black people have with our most precious resource. From the shore of the vast ocean to the “community” swimming pool, a woman leads an expedition through the memory water holds. Leaving the safety of solid ground, water engulfs her, carries her across space time and delivers her home again.

The Feeling is Mutual with Sarah Ledbetter

Fri., April 13 @ 9pm; Sat., April 14 @ 9pm; Sun., April 15 @ 1:30pm

THE FEELING IS MUTUAL is a one woman show that creator Sarah Ledbetter really, really hopes you’ll like. It’s about gravity and other pesky inevitables. It involves dancing, talking, and thinking. It is somewhat challenging for the audience member in that it makes some pretty wild connections between different things, and is not always a display of virtuosity. It is, rather, a display of daring and sometimes mistaken efforts for the purpose of sharing with you, the audience, what it feels like to be dancing in front of a group of people who deserve to see something really beautiful happen.

Melanie with Myesha Williams

Sat., April 14 @ 11am; Sun., April 15 @ 4:30pm; Sat., April 21 @ 11am

Melanie tells a story of a strong lady who visits home after being adopted as a child. While reuniting with her grandmother, Melanie rediscovers a book filled with stories of her past grandmothers’ lives, reminisce unwanted feelings that she had as a child before adoption, and seek understanding for her upbringing. Melanie learns the expanded definition of unconditional love as she forgives her family and connect back with her roots.

Squaring Up: Project 1

Sat., April 14 @ Noon; Sun. April 15 @ 3:30pm; Sat. April 21 @ 1:30pm

Project 1 and Thistle & Bee hope to act as catalysts leading to a community that is aware of the human sex trafficking issue, and ready to take action to support services that help victims recover from the trauma. At the end of each performance, audience members are invited take part in an immersive artistic co-creation experience and a talk-back to process the performance and discuss how community members can work to help end sex trafficking in Memphis. Net ticket proceeds will be gifted to Thistle & Bee and the Lisieux Community.

The Cabin by Adam Remsen

Sat., April 14 @ 1:15pm, Sat., April 21 @ 3pm; Sun., April 22 @ 7:15pm

Quark presents The Cabin, an original play by Adam Remsen. Hilarity erupts as a brother and sister learn the dark secrets of their deceased mother’s troubled past. Laugh yourself silly as two siblings delve deep into their family’s unsettling history. This heart-wrenching family drama will leave you in stitches! A harrowing laugh riot!

The Sound of Cracking Bones with Jason Gerhard

Sat., April 14 @ 2:30pm, Sun., April 15 @ 7:30pm; Sat., April 21 @ Noon

The Healing Power of JC with Sara Kaye Larson

Sat., April 14 @ 3:45pm; Sun., April 15 @ 6:30pm; Sun., April 22 @ 4pm

The Curator with The Perry Library of Theatre

Sat., April 14 @ 5pm; Sat., April 21 @ 8:15pm; Sun., April 22 @ 5pm

THE PERRY LIBRARY OF THEATRE presents an original play by E. Warren Perry, Jr., The Curator. This one-act play grapples with the results of applying postmodernism and historical revisionism to a museum’s collection, to its logical and uproarious extreme. Set in a fictional southern museum, curator Dr. Ronald Saulsbury fights new museum influences and his axe-wielding young assistant to try to prevent the annihilation of every real artifact in the collection – and history itself.

Far Away by Caryl Churchill; Directed by James Kevin Cochran

Sun., April 15 @ 8:30pm; Sat., April 21 @ 7pm; Sun., April 22 @ 6pm

Joan wakes up in the middle of the night and sees something she’s not meant to see. She’s convinced to keep a secret that will forever alter the course of her life. Caryl Churchill’s brief and chilling Far Away paints a not so-far-away future where fear of “the other” rules supreme, and beauty, politics and violence strike an uneasy kinship. Confronting our deepest fears, Far Awaydepicts a chilling world where everyone and everything is at war, and not even the birds in the trees or the river below can be trusted. Whose side is the right side?

Sinners on a Southbound Bus with Danica Horton

Fri., April 20 @ 7pm; Sat., April 21 @ 5:30pm; Sun., April 22 @ 2pm

An evening bus ride from Montgomery to Dothan, Alabama; two men on the run– but was their action a sin or a virtue? This dark one-act explores power, morality, fear, and the ghosts we leave behind.

Please note: Strong language and violence. Not suitable for children.

Rebound with Jill Guyton Nee

Fri., April 20 @ 8pm; Sat., April 21 @ 4pm; Sun., April 22 @ 3pm