Month: May 2018

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

On the scene: Green Goddess and a vegan food fest

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Omi Iyalaje, of Green Goddess, tells me that after 10 years of selling her popcorn at Whole Foods, she decided that it was time to extend the brand through her newly open Green Goddess Popcorn & Tea Lounge.

You read that right: popcorn and tea lounge.

Guests can hang out on the sofa or stuffed chairs, and there are a few four-tops and a large, low wooden communal tea table in this pretty, well-lit space.

The key word here is communal. “This is an extension of my home,” Iyalaje says.

She operates a nine-week program through the business. It’s open to women working through domestic violence, substance abuse, and poverty. In the program, they learn about good eating habits. They also work in the lounge — popping, seasoning, and bagging popcorn. Five cents of every bag sold goes to Iyalaje’s nonprofit Green Goddess Global.

Iyalaje also plans to have live music, movie nights, and a once-a-month tapas night.

(Not so coincidentally, Angels and Tomboys opened next door to Green Goddess. This is the kid-centric beauty product line — shampoos, body sprays, lotions, etc. — that wowed Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. Angels and Tomboys founders, Madison and Mallory, are Iyalaje’s nieces. Scents include Lemonade Doughnuts, Frozen Hot Chocolate, and Watermelon Funk.)

Iyalaje is a well-known vegan around town. She’s been involved in a number of restaurants, including DejaVu.

Among her line of vegan popcorns are the signature flavor Green Goddess with spirulina powder and cayenne; the barbecue-flavored Memphis Nile; Butter Me Down, V-Cheesy; Caramel & Cheddar; and Cinnamon Twist, a delightfully sweet popcorn with nary a bit of sugar. They range in price from $4.75 for a small bowl to $6.95 for large. A one-pound bag is $13.99.

Iyalaje compounds her own teas, a skill she learned in college in Washington, D.C. Some of her teas are formulated to target specific issues. She has a couple of detox teas, and she says she can compound a tea specifically for the individual. She offers specialty beverages: a superfood hot chocolate; a fresh ginger brew; and berrylicious and fruit punch lemonades. There are green teas and black teas and roobios teas. Her herbal teas come with intriguing names such as Get Smart, Love Your Life, and Wiccan Women’s Brew. Her teas run from $3.25 per cup to $6.25 for a pot.

Green Goddess also sells vegan pastries (brownies, cinnamon rolls, banana bread, and cookies) as well as spices and a small selection of gift items.

“Our mission extends beyond popcorn,” says Iyalaje. “We want our customers to love and nurture themselves.”

Green Goddess, 3078 Summer, 512-6973, greengoddesspopcorn.com

On Saturday, July 21st, starting at 10 a.m., the first-ever Taste of Memphis Vegan Food & Drink Festival will be held at Cook Lake near Frayser in Shelby Forest.

“I went to a vegan event in Chicago,” says festival founder Serena Lindsey. “I just thought I could bring it here.”

Everyone is invited, Lindsey says. “We want to promote healthy living/eating here in the Mid-South.”

The festival will feature a number of vendors, including 2 Vegan Sistas and A Taste of Soul, for sampling.

The idea is to light the path to better eating without the judgment and with food that tastes really good. Lindsey, who became a vegan after a bad experience with meat, says this is totally possible.

But she knows it won’t be easy. “Spreading the vegan message is not very popular,” she says.

Taste of Memphis Vegan Food and Drink Festival, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday, July 21st. $15.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Six New Records With Memphis Roots

Charles Lloyd & the Marvels + Lucinda Williams

Vanished Gardens (Blue Note)

This year’s release is quite a detour from this Memphis native’s 2017 effort, with his band the Marvels (his usual rhythm section plus Bill Frisell on guitar and Greg Leisz on pedal steel and dobro) joined by singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams for half the album. The end result is an unpredictable mash-up of Americana and jazz, even when Lloyd and band are recasting Williams’ earlier songs in a new light, by turns skronky and ethereal. Her ragged-but-right delivery is a perfect foil to the more urbane harmonic weave of the combo.

Released June 29th.

The Maguire Twins

Seeking Higher Ground (Three Tree)

Though these gifted siblings grew up in Hong Kong, this album owes a great deal to Memphis. Moving here at 15, the twins first studied jazz at the Stax Music Academy and then at UT-Knoxville under Memphis native Donald Brown. The renowned pianist helped the two blossom into a drum and bass team that is almost telepathic. This debut, produced by Brown, also features him playing Fender Rhodes on one song, and the classic horn-driven sound they create tacks between arranged heads and slightly unhinged workouts that nod to classic ’60s and ’70s jazz, balancing soul and innovation perfectly.

The Klitz

Rocking the Memphis Underground 1978-1980 (Mono-Tone)

These women ricochet from euphoric chants and original shouters, to a druggy “Brown Sugar.” Yes, Jim Dickinson and Alex Chilton appear (the latter singing “Cocaine Blues”), but it’s the band’s courage in stomping out these numbers themselves, professionalism be damned, that makes this album great.

Fuck

The Band (Vampire Blues)

Carrying on the scatological band-name torch, we have this posse, originally from Oakland, now with two members living in Memphis. The onetime Matador darlings redefined a pop-friendly, yet deeply weird sensibility in their ’90s and ‘oughts releases, with loose, intimate singing paired with a flair for unique indie rock textures. Though their performances are few and far between these days, they’ve surprised everyone with what may be their best album. Released June 22nd.

Faux Killas

Chiquita (Self Released)

Mainstays in the local club scene for years, this group only recently morphed from a trio to a quartet, adding Seth Moody on synth. It’s a game-changer, as the band now has twice the hooks. Like some Mid-South cross between early Roxy Music and the Damned, the songs are well-crafted and melodic (as with the soaring pop of “Anxious Love”), yet feature tasteful atonal synth squeals and counterpoints along with more familiar, if electrifying, guitar riffs and leads. While the production is somewhat muted, it does give the album a homespun vibe that befits these straight-up Midtown boho rockers.

Revenge Body/Ihcilon

New Rituals for New Superstitions (Self Released) How to classify this split/collaboration between two sonic explorers of the Memphis scene? The term “ambient” has been oversold as a catch-all for mellow, mid-tempo techno beats, but this album ignores all that. Both artists deal in new textures for a post-industrial world. Hearty analog sounds avoid the cloying familiarity of much retro synth music today, but beware that the results can be unsettling. Revenge Body’s “Panic Dream” is just that, achieved, like many of the best sounds here, with a fine appreciation of noise textures rather than pounding beats.

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Solo: A Star Wars Story

In its century long history, Hollywood has produced a handful of characters that have become icons of American manhood. Nick Charles, The Thin Man, was a hard living, but elegant aristocrat. John Wayne’s Ringo Kid from Stagecoach was the archetypal cowboy: laconic, upright, uncomplicated. Rhett Butler was an irresistible scoundrel. Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine was a heartbroken cynic finding his way back to virtue in Casablanca. James Dean’s teenage misfit Jim Stark was the Rebel Without A Cause. Peter Fonda rode a motorcycle named Captain America on an LSD fueled trip in search of his nation’s soul, while Chris Evan’s Captain America was thawed out of the arctic ice to remind us of the better angels of our nature. The 1990s brought us both Will Smith’s wisecracking fighter jock from Independence Day and Tyler Durden, Brad Pitt’s hallucinatory, revolutionary alter ego.

Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca

Then there’s Han Solo. When he first appeared in Star Wars, Harrison Ford was still a part time carpenter. Four years later, when he introduced Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ford was the biggest movie star in the world, and would remain at or near the top of the heap well into the twenty first century. Befitting Lucas’ postmodern pastiche approach to space opera, Solo was a mixture of Rick Blaine’s fractured romanticism, a card playing smuggler like Rhett Butler, a quickdraw gunfighter like Wayne, and unrepentant ladies man like, well, all of them. His ostensible role was to provide a counterweight to Luke Skywalker’s boundless optimism, but he was the one all the boys wanted to be and, when he won the hand of Leia in The Empire Strikes Back, the one all the girls wanted to be with.

Han was the outsized focus of the franchise’s earliest spinoffs. In the 70s and 80s, Luke and Leia got one spinoff novel, Splinter of the Minds Eye. Han Solo and Chewbacca’s adventures filled three volumes, then, in the 2000s, three more. When Disney bought Lucasfilm and started cranking out Star Wars movies on the regular, it was inevitable that Han would take a starring role. It started out promising, when Lawrence Kasdan, the screenwriter for The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark put together a script, but Solo: A Star Wars Story turned into a textbook troubled production when the original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, were fired after four months of shooting. Lucasfilm honcho Kathleen Kennedy hired Ron Howard to clean up the mess, who was met with howls of derision from the fans. Lord and Miller are comedy directors who, it was hoped, would take Star Wars in a new direction. Howard was a safe choice, a Hollywood veteran with a reputation for unremarkable competence.

Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian

And that’s exactly what Howard brought to Solo. Kasdan, writing with his son Jonathan, constructed a solid series of heists gone wrong, shootouts, and chase scenes. We first meet Han (Alden Ehrenreich) as a street urchin boosting speeders on Corellia. His latest score, a batch of coaxium, a volatile spaceship fuel, is valuable enough to get him and his girlfriend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) off planet. But the plan goes quickly wrong, and the pair are separated. Desperate to escape his organized crime pursuers, Solo joins the Imperial Navy, hoping to become a pilot. Three years later, our hero’s washed out of flight school and is fighting with the stormtrooper grunts in the trenches of the swamp planet Mimban when he discovers a crew led by Tobias (Woody Harrelson) in mid-heist, and deserts the army to join the pirate life.

Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra

The problem with Solo does not stem from its chaotic production history. It’s that the star never fills the role. Ehrenreich is upstaged by literally every member of the supporting cast. Clarke’s performance is assured and nuanced, better than most of her work on Game Of Thrones. Woody Harrelson steals every scene he’s in. Donald Glover’s turn as Lando Calrissian is absolute, caped perfection. Even Chewbacca, played by Joonas Suotamo under the tutelage of Peter Mayhew, is more magnetic than Ehrenreich.

To be fair, filling the shoes of Harrison Ford is an impossible task that would have defeated the vast majority of actors. Take it from someone who has to sit through a lot of true crap: this is not a bad movie, and far from a return to the bad old days of Attack Of The Clones. There’s plenty of swashbuckling and primo spaceship action, but also a fair amount of box-checking fan service. The sight of the crystal skull from the tomb of Xim the Despot and Lando’s offhand mention of the Starcave of ThonBoka make my sad little geek heart grow three sizes, but will mean nothing to the casual moviegoer. Howard’s pedestrian direction gets the job done while underlining the greatness of Rian Johnson’s work on The Last Jedi. The bottom line is, Solo is a fun two hours at the movies, while also being an all-too predictable disappointment.

Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Zombies!

The 2018 Memphis Zombie Walk happened last Friday, when the undead hit Beale Street.

This annual walk benefits the Mid-South Food Bank.

[slideshow-1]

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Animals.

A couple weeks ago, I took a road trip to see some old friends in Western Pennsylvania. I stopped for the night at a motel in Flatwoods, West Virginia. I was hungry after eight hours of driving, and also ready for a cocktail. I asked the desk clerk where I might get dinner and a drink in Flatwoods. The clerk replied that bars weren’t open on Sunday. For dinner, she suggested I try Arby’s. This was dire news.

“So there’s nowhere to get a drink around here, at all?” I asked. “Or sit down for a real meal?”

“Nope, not on Sunday,” she said.

Then her coworker said, “He could try that Mexican place. I think they have a bar.”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I’ve never been there, but I hear it’s okay.” I was in my car and on my way, pronto, dreams of a margarita (or two) dancing in my brain.

El Gallo was in a strip mall, of sorts — if a town of 277 people can have a strip mall. The restaurant was small but three of the booths were full, and folks seemed to be enjoying themselves. I sat at the bar. The bartender looked at me and acted startled. He fumbled around, handed me a menu, and went quickly back into the kitchen. A lot of chatter ensued from behind the kitchen door. One guy looked through the window at me.

“Must not get many strangers around here,” I thought. The bartender came out of the kitchen and took my order. He seemed nervous. I smiled and asked for a recommendation, but he wouldn’t loosen up. It was then that I realized I was wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans. Maybe these folks thought I was from ICE? I don’t know, honestly.

I do know it was an odd experience, and one that I have little doubt was a result of the accelerated aggressive actions of the Trump administration’s Justice Department. Hispanic folks are living scared right now. Who could blame them for being nervous around a stranger, when representatives of our government are now routinely raiding restaurants, picking Hispanic-looking people off the street, and separating people seeking asylum in the U.S. from their children.

It’s important to differentiate between the stories about “missing immigrant children” in the news and stories about parents being separated from their children. They are different situations.

The “missing” kids in question came across the border as undocumented minors. They were apprehended at the border or picked up in-country. The government sets them up in foster homes or group homes, until they can figure out what to do with them — send them back to their home countries, find them family in the states, whatever. Fifteen hundred of these roughly 7,500 young people are missing. They’ve either run away from their temporary homes or, as some have reported, been sold into the sex trade. It’s a bad situation.

But it shouldn’t be conflated with what’s far worse: the administration’s new policy for dealing with asylum seekers. These are not people who have sneaked into the country and been caught. These are folks, often families, who’ve come to the border, given their names and country of origin and applied for asylum in the U.S. Typically, they are fleeing murderous political situations in their home countries or are victims of rape and abuse and gang warfare. They have a right under international and national law to seek asylum. They’ve done nothing wrong. Nothing. They are literally the huddled masses, yearning to be free. What we’re doing to these people is criminal.

In the past, such applicants have been sheltered or, depending on the situation, been allowed to stay in country awaiting a court date to plead their case.

Now, as a matter of policy, the United States of America is splitting the families of asylum seekers — literally taking children from their parents and putting them in shelters for undocumented children, often several states away from their parents. In effect, they are creating a whole new class of undocumented children, some as young as 18 months. They are breaking up families who have commited no crimes.

It’s cruel and unusual and unAmerican — and insane. The administration says it is doing this to “discourage” other asylum seekers. This is not the policy of a great country. It is obscene. It echoes the way slavetraders treated slaves.

These people are not “animals.” We are.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Pour! The Links Between Alcohol and Golf

When it comes to golf, I’m on the sidelines — with a drink. For better or for worse, booze and golf go hand in hand, from drinking your way around the course to dozens of professional golfers falling prey to alcoholism. It’s even classic joke material: “A recent study found that the average golfer walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that golfers drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. This means that, on average, golfers get about 41 miles to the gallon!”

I had a cousin, Jack Finlay, who my grandmother’s sister, Margaret Maclin, met and married in India during WWII. He was a Scotsman, who, as family lore has it, was the son of a greenskeeper at St. Andrew’s Fairway. Jack Finlay came with Margaret to Shreveport, Louisiana, after the war ended, and wound his way up and down the Mississippi River Delta. He worked at dozens of golf courses and country clubs in towns like Belzoni, Bunkie, Monroe, Tallulah, and all points in between. He was also a big drinker who, for the most part, seemed unfazed by the dozen
or so beers he’d pound every day.

Drinks and golf links

His propensity for alcohol — and his talent for golf — surprised no one. After all, according to Scottish folklore, golf evolved as an 18-hole game because a bottle of Scotch contained 18 shots. When the bottle was drunk, the game was over.

Jack drank it all, and so there’s no revered family recipe to share here. He died when I was young, so I have no idea whether he’d prefer to throw back a Scottish Links, made with Glenmorangie Original whisky and sherry, or a Birdie, a blend of gin and St. Germain. Odds are, he’d like them both.

I lean toward the doctored-up Arnold Palmer, a variation on the virgin ice tea and lemonade concoction made famous by the late, great golfer that includes bourbon. Memphis golfer John Daly has his own cocktail, another Arnold Palmer variation that includes vodka. There’s also the Azalea, a cocktail salute to the Masters in Augusta, hallowed ground for every golfer. The sweet drink is a combination of one part each lime juice and pineapple juice and three parts gin, with enough grenadine added to turn your drink bright pink.

Last month, Golf Digest conducted an informal study of the effects drinking has on your golf game. Their conclusion: A few beers can serve as “swing oil,” but too many, and your senses are dulled, which affects coordination.

Too many for my cousin Jack meant that he would lose his job — a regular occurrence — and he and Margaret would have to pack their bags and head to another golf club on one or the other side of the Mississippi River.

I’m curious to see how Daly plays at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, which starts June 4th at TPC Southwind. I felt a little hungover myself as I watched the professional golfer recount how many times he suffered from the after-effects of over-drinking on the course in his epic ESPN 30 for 30 episode, titled “Hit It Hard,” which first aired in 2016. Who knows what shape he’ll be in this time around?

Then again, when I feel hungover, there’s no better cure than golf: I turn on the TV to whichever tournament is being broadcast, set the volume on low, and watch the tiny ball float over a sea of beautiful green grass. The hushed tones, the polite applause, the way the white ball eventually sinks into a cup just as the caddie removes the flag: Somehow, it all makes me feel like I’m ready for another drink.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Blockbuster Season! The Flyer’s Guide to the Best Summer Movies

The summer blockbuster season was born on June 20, 1975, when Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was unleashed on an unsuspecting public. It was the scariest shark movie ever and launched the career of one of America’s greatest living filmmakers. And it set a template that studios have been following ever since: big budgets, high concept, and huge hype.

The industry release calendar that planted the budget tentpoles after Memorial Day has become less stringent in recent years, says Malco Theaters’ vice president and director of marketing Karen Melton. “It used to be concentrated in the summer and the holiday season — from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Now we have releases like Black Panther that come out in February, which throws that model out the window. There’s no reason that films should be pigeonholed, when Black Panther can perform like that on Valentine’s Day.”

Even so, the 2018 summer moviegoing season is jam-packed with releases big and small. Here’s a preview of some of the best bets between now and Labor Day.


Solo (May 25th)

The debut of Star Wars on Memorial Day weekend, 1977, set the precedent for the holiday as the traditional beginning of the summer blockbuster season. But since The Force Awakens bowed in December 2015, Star Wars movies have moved to Christmas season. The story of the meeting of Han Solo, his furry sidekick Chewbacca, and frenemy Lando Calrissian returns the franchise to the summer season. (See our review on page 34).

Ocean’s 8

Ocean’s 8 (June 8th)

One of the most unlikely franchises of the century began with Ocean’s 11, Stephen Soderberg’s 2001 heist film in which he defined the Rat Pack of the 21st century. This all-female spinoff, directed by Hunger Games helmer Gary Ross, seems timely in the Me-Too moment. Sandra Bullock leads the ensemble cast as Debbie Ocean, a member of the series’ family of master thieves. The rest of the powerhouse dramatis personae include Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rhianna, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter, Sara Paulson, and Awkwafina.

Hotel Artemis (June 8th)

Veteran Marvel writer Drew Pearce makes his directorial debut with this flick set in a dystopian, near-future Los Angeles ruled by warring organized crime houses. Jodi Foster stars as the nurse who runs a secret hospital fronted by the titular hotel where combatants different factions can come to get patched up between battles. The cardinal rule is no fighting, but I’m guessing that rule doesn’t last long. Sterling K. Brown, Zachary Quinto, Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, and Jeff Goldblum co-star. Will this be a cheeky sci-fi thriller or a look into the future of the American for-profit health care system? Why not both?

Hereditary (June 8th)

After a pair of intense screenings at Sundance 2018, the buzz is strong around this debut horror flick by director Ari Aster. Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne star as a family who, in the wake of their mother’s death, slowly uncovers horrible truths about their ancestors. It’s currently sitting at 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with film critic A. A. Dowd describing it as “pure emotional terrorism” and “warped genius.”

Incredibles 2 (June 15th)

Brad Bird returns to Pixar to deliver a long-awaited sequel to his 2004 superhero spoof. Now that the family is out of the superpower closet, Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) finds herself more in demand than Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), leaving him to adjust to stay-at-home dad mode. Trying to keep a lid on three kids, Violet (Sara Vowell) Dash (Huck Milner), and baby Jack-Jack is made even harder by a toddler who can shoot lasers from his eyes.

Superfly (June 15th)

Music video maestro Director X makes his feature film debut with this remake of the blacksploitation classic, transporting the action from Harlem to Atlanta. Broadway star Trevor Jackson struts as the titular well-dressed crime lord, and Future walks in the shoes of Curtis Mayfield’s all-time classic musical-scoring job.

Action Point (June 15th)

In the 1980s, there was a cheap amusement park in New Jersey called Action Park. The rides were so unsafe, and the staff so regularly and visibly intoxicated, that doctors at nearby hospitals took to calling it “Traction Park.” Now that it has passed into legend, killed by multiple class action lawsuits, it is commemorated with this Johnny Knoxville movie. Expect multiple injuries, real pain, and at least a couple hard shots to the groin.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (June 22nd)

Spielberg’s dinosaur dynasty continues his blockbuster legacy that began with Jaws. This time he’s executive producing, and Spanish director J. A. Bayona is replacing Colin Trevorrow, as the troubled amusement park adds volcanoes to its attractions. Chris Patt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles from 2015’s Jurassic World, as does the clever velociraptor named Blue, but let’s be real — we’re all turning out for Jeff Goldblum. The man’s a national treasure. Can we make him president?

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (June 22nd)

Summer blockbuster season doesn’t usually include room for documentaries, but this portrait of Fred Rogers is looking like an instant classic. Director Morgan Neville, winner of the Academy Award for best documentary for 20 Feet From Stardom, and who co-directed the Emmy-winning Best of Enemies with Memphian Robert Gordon, delves into the history of the PBS children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and the Presbyterian minister-turned-TV-host and national father figure. Even the trailer for this movie has been known to draw tears.

Sicario: Day of the Solodado (June 29th)

The A-team of director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins has moved on, but Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin are back as undercover narcotics agents operating on both sides of the Mexican border and the law. 2015’s Sicario was a tightly wound thriller with one incredible shot after another, so here’s hoping the magic repeats.

Uncle Drew

Uncle Drew (June 29th)

Something like Ocean’s 11 for current and retired basketball stars, this film started out life as a Pepsi commercial. NBA all-star Kyrie Irving stars as a bearded, aging playground baller who assembles his old team to settle a score with his rival Mookie, played by Nick Kroll. Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller, Chris Webber, and Nate Robinson all try to make the leap to the big screen.

The First Purge (July 4th)

For the last five years, The Purge series has stealthily been one of the most subversive commentaries on contemporary America. Creator James DeMonaco steps out of the director’s chair, while horror powerhouse Blumhouse produces this prequel, which looks less and less like sci-fi horror with each passing day.

Sorry to Bother You (July 6th)

Boots Riley was making political hip-hop with the Coup while Kendrick Lamar was still in middle school. Now, the anti-capitalist rapper makes his debut as a director with a surrealist comedy about a supernaturally gifted telemarketer, played by Atlanta‘s Lakeith Stanfield, who finds himself drawn into a shadowy conspiracy. This one looks like a spiritual successor to Get Out, laced with a little aughts Spike Jones/Charlie Kaufman vibe.

Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6th)

Marvel fired its big guns early this year. With Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther, the blockbuster machine owns the top two grossing films of 2018. Ant-Man featured some incredible special-effects sequences, unlike anything else in the superhero genre. This time, Paul Rudd gets small with Evangeline Lilly as a partner. Michael Douglas as superscientist Hank Pym continues his quest to rescue his wife Janet, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, from the quantum realm.

Under the Silver Lake (July 6th)

For my money, the best of the decade’s art horror explosion is 2014’s It Follows. Director David Robert Mitchell follows up his atmospheric hit with a neo-noir set in Los Angeles’ hip neighborhood. Former Spider-Man Andrew Garfield stars as a stoner who uncovers a vast conspiracy while searching for his disappeared neighbor, played by Elvis’ granddaughter Riley Keough.

Skyscraper (July 13th)

It’s time for the latest entry in the increasingly overstuffed Dwayne Johnson Doing Stuff genre! This time, The Rock is doing stuff that looks like Die Hard, only in Hong Kong. Did we mention he’s an amputee? Because he is! That’s a big twist that will certainly separate this stupidly expensive disaster movie from all the other stupidly expensive disaster movies.

Mama Mia! Here We Go Again (July 20)

The most aptly named film of the summer is this sequel to the single-band jukebox musical hit of 2008. Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth are joined by everyone’s favorite mononym Cher to sing all the recognizable ABBA songs not covered in the first one.

Mission Impossible: Fallout (July 27th)

Look, this is the sixth one of these. Tom Cruise as super spy Ethan Hunt always succeeds. Maybe the missions aren’t so impossible after all? Just throwing that out there. Anyway, these wank-fests are usually good for one or two balls-out action sequences, and you get can get a good nap in during the rest of it.

The Spy Who Dumped Me (August 3rd)

On the flip side of the super-spy genre is writer/director Susanna Fogel’s action comedy about a woman named Audrey (Mila Kunis) whose ex-boyfriend comes crawling back after ghosting her. Turns out, he was CIA, and now Audrey and her bestie Morgan (comedy genius Kate McKinnon) are caught up in the spy-jinx. The trailer for this one looks phenomenal, and with the talent on board, I’m hopeful.

BlacKkKlansman (August 10th)

Film legend Spike Lee directs and Get Out mastermind Jordan Peele produces this story based on, in the words of the director, “some for-real shit.” John David Washington stars as Ron Stallworth, Colorado Springs’ first black policeman, who, with the help of his partner Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) infiltrates a violent KKK cell led by future Republican politician David Duke (Topher Grace). BlacKkKlansman earned Lee the highest award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, so this one’s going to be a must-see.

Orpheum Summer Film Series

Seeing classic movies in Memphis’ greatest classic movie palace is a long-running summer tradition. This year’s lineup includes some sure-fire winners.

School Daze (June 2nd)

Spike Lee’s second film, a musical based on his experiences attending a traditionally black college, was mostly overlooked upon its 1988 release, but it’s become a cult classic with a huge cast that includes future stars Larry Fishburne and Giancarlo Esposito. Plus, it’s got the all time banger “Da Butt”! Sexy sexy!

Independence Day (July 3rd)

This crowd-pleasing alien invasion picture catapulted Will Smith to international stardom and features Randy Quaid’s greatest onscreen moment as a drunk fighter pilot and Jeff Goldblum as a hacker who figures out that the aliens’ master computer is Mac compatible.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (July 6th)

Where’s Jimmy Stewart when you need him? He’s setting an example of civic engagement in this classic film of patriotism and its responsibilities.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (July 13th)

Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston made the leap from special-effects wizard to the big chair with this one. Rick Moranis and a friendly bee became the breakout stars of the sleeper hit of 1989.

Selena (July 20th)

This biopic of martyred Tejano music phenom Selena Quintanilla-Pérez made Jennifer Lopez a household name. Edward James Olmos supports as her father in this new classic tearjerker.

The Wizard of Oz (July 27)

It just wouldn’t be an Orpheum summer without it! An absolute must. Take your kids.

Superman/Batman Double Feature

(July 28th)

Christopher Reeve is the definitive onscreen Man of Tomorrow, Michael Keaton originated the tortured genius take on Bruce Wayne, and Jack Nicholson’s Joker redefined the character. Wash the horrible memories of Batman vs. Superman out of your mind with two of the best superhero movies ever made.

Steel Magnolias (August 10th)

Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts: Is this the greatest female ensemble cast ever assembled? Get the girl gang together for this classic tale of Southern womanhood.

Love & Basketball (August 17th)

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s breakthrough film introduced Omar Epps to the world and inspired a dozen imitators.

Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (August 18th)

This 1998 Disney production retold the fairy tale with an multiracial cast including Whitey Houston as the Fairy Godmother and Brandy in the title role.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

(August 24th)

Sing along with your fellow freaks to the film that defined “cult classic,” led by a barn-burner drag performance by Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter. It’s the pelvic thrusts that really drive them insane!

IMAX Comes to the Paradiso

Late last year, Malco’s flagship theater, the Paradiso, got a huge upgrade — and I do mean huge — when the renovated Screen 1 became the city’s first theatrical IMAX theater. “It’s been in the works for a very long time,” says Malco marketing director Karen Melton. “It opened in December with The Last Jedi, and it’s been going gangbusters ever since. You have to buy your tickets as soon as they go on sale. And now we’re offering reserved seating, so you actually get to pick your seat before you get in.”

The numbers are staggering. The screen is three stories tall and more than 65 feet wide. The dual projectors are among the most expensive and technically advanced equipment in the world, delivering images 60 percent brighter and with 30 percent higher contrast than a standard-issue digital setup. The 315-seat theater was designed by IMAX so that there is not a bad seat in the house, and the seats are as comfy as your favorite recliner.

Melton says the reaction to the new theater has been “Very positive. We’ve got people lining up a long time in advance for the big releases. I can’t wait to see the dinosaurs of Jurassic World in IMAX.”

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News The Fly-By

Hemp Harvest

CREDIT: Tennessee Hemp Industry Association

State officials want to allow more farmers to grow industrial hemp in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) re-opened the application process for licenses last week. Industrial hemp growers and processors can now apply through June 1st.

Tennessee Hemp Industry Association

Tennessee hemp farmers.

“This is a proactive effort to assist Tennessee farmers who are looking to diversify, and we want to make sure they have every opportunity to do so,” TDA Commissioner Jai Templeton said in a statement. “We are seeing more interest in particular from tobacco growers who recently learned the company that purchases their crops would no longer buy tobacco from the U.S.”

Many Tennessee participants just enjoy growing the plants for making hemp smoothies at home or other personal consumption needs, according to a state hemp report.

State lawmakers legalized hemp production in 2014, though it can only be grown as part of a research or pilot project.

Tennessee issued 170 applications to hemp farmers this year, more than double the number of applications approved for hemp production last year. All of them have the option to grow up to 3,416 acres of industrial hemp.

TDA issued 79 hemp grow licenses last year, according to an agronomic report from the agency. Some decided not to grow hemp, but 54 farmers planted 130 acres in 75 Tennessee fields last year. Most grew hemp for its oil, according to the report.

“The largest market appears to be in hemp oil high in cannabinoids,” reads the report.

In 2016, the Tennessee General Assembly approved the use of cannabidiol (CBD) in the state. The legislation was aimed mainly at patients using the oil for pain relief and to control seizures. But CBD is legal and available for purchase here without a prescription.

Tennessee-legal CBD is derived from hemp, not marijuana. And, unlike marijuana, CBD does not contain the high-inducing cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Tennessee has 38 licensed hemp processors, and most are for the extraction of CBD, according to the TDA.

“While most growers are interested in selling a product, many Tennessee participants just enjoy growing the plants for making hemp smoothies at home or other personal consumption needs,” reads the TDA report on hemp production. “Tennessee hemp growers are working on finding different markets for the product.”

Some of those markets for hemp products include fibers, livestock feed additives, and hempcrete, which is exactly what it sounds like.

One thing about industrial hemp — and, especially, CBD — in Tennessee is that Tennesseans remain unclear about it all. For proof, please turn to Exhibit A: Operation Candy Crush.

In February, police raided and padlocked 23 stores across Rutherford County because “illegal” gummies were being sold there.

Police clandestinely purchased some of the products and then sent them off for testing to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) crime lab.

Tests proved the products contained cannabidiol, or CBD, which was perfectly legal. Still, Operation Candy Crush mobilized police across the county with surprise raids, seizing cash, seizing products, and padlocking stores behind them.

Twenty-one people were indicted and court cases were set. All charges were dropped about two weeks later.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

The New Normal: Stopping the Scourge of Mass Shootings

CREDIT: REUTERS / Loren Elliott

Another week, another shooting. I might be becoming desensitized to gun violence, but when we live in a world where news of mass shootings is a regularly occurring trending topic on social media, it’s hard not to.

It’s easier to just sum it up as just another day in America. Almost no place is safe any longer — not malls, diners, movie theaters, concerts, churches, nightclubs, or schools.

REUTERS / Loren Elliott

Santa Fe High School student Sierra Dean mourns the death of her friends killed in a recent shooting.

Seventeen students dead at a school one day and then 10 another day. How many will it be next time? Even one is too many. Of all places, schools should be a safe harbor, but they’re starting to seem more like a war zone in this country. There have been 23 school shootings in the United States in the first 21 weeks of 2018, according to a report released by CNN. That’s an average of more than one shooting per week.

I hate to admit it, but it’s tempting to accept that this is just the way things are going to be in this country from now on. Kids will go to school fearing for their lives, wondering if one of their classmates will decide to pull the trigger on them and their friends. All the while, lawmakers and the NRA sit back and let it happen.

Mass shootings don’t come as a shock anymore. It’s become normalized. We shouldn’t accept that, though. Instead, we should be outraged that this has become the new normal. Everyone (with an ounce of humanity) should be appalled that young lives are senselessly taken by gun violence week after week, month after month, year after year.

Clearly, some lawmakers value gun rights and the NRA’s lobby money more than they do innocent kids in classrooms. But at some point, it becomes the government’s responsibility to do something to curb this mass shooting epidemic. A good place to start would be working to change how easy it is for someone to get a gun in this country. It’s pretty backwards that Walmart can sell guns everywhere, but in some states can’t sell liquor.

It makes absolutely no sense there are ways to purchase a gun without first having to go through a background check. Currently, only nine states and Washington, D.C., require background checks for all gun sales, meaning in 40 states, anyone, criminal record or not, can purchase a gun from an unlicensed seller. You could be a most-wanted criminal or on the verge of a psychotic breakdown, and because of this country’s haphazard gun laws, it can still be quite easy to acquire a gun.

Or, as in the case of Dylann Roof, who killed nine South Carolinian parishioners in 2016 with a handgun he should have never been allowed to possess, you can own a firearm in three days’ time without ever even passing a background check.

It’s bad enough to consider how accessible these weapons are, without even taking into account the different types of guns people can buy. Assault-type rifles with high-capacity magazines designed to kill as many people as possible and as quickly as possible, should in no way be allowed in the hands of an untrained civilian. Why does anyone need a military-grade weapon in everyday life? That’s a recipe for disaster. The Constitution gives people the right to bear arms, but an AR-15? Really? No one needs an assault rifle to scare off a burglar or hunt deer.

To add insult to injury — literally — you only have to be 18 to buy this kind of weapon in most states. No, son, you can’t drink that beer, but you can be the proud owner of an assault weapon.

We need better and stronger gun control laws now. The “guns don’t kill people, people do” argument is old and tired. Blaming mass shootings on mental illness is similarly old and tired. And using the Second Amendment to justify owning military-grade weapons is a nice try, but tightening laws on such weapons to protect human life doesn’t infringe on anyone’s rights.

The NRA is buying our legislators’ support and has gotten a level of clout it doesn’t deserve. It’s past time for politicians to stand up to the NRA and diminish the organization’s influence over gun control policies in this country. It’s time a decent concern for human life trumped money and politics and the gun lobby.

Maya Smith is a Flyer staff writer.

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We Recommend We Recommend

The Collector

Marty Stuart won’t be in town till next week when he plays an intimate concert at Graceland’s Guest House Theater with his band the Fabulous Superlatives, but a portion of the musician’s extraordinary collection of country music artifacts is already on display as part of Graceland’s Country Road to Rock Exhibit. Even more will be available June 9th, when Stuart cuts the ribbon on “Hillbilly Rock,” a new exhibit, written by Stuart and showcasing artifacts of Hank Williams, the Maddox Brothers and Rose, Lefty Frizzell, and more.

“I like what they’re doing across the street,” Stuart says of Graceland’s expanded exhibit space. “[‘Hillbilly Rock’] is about evolution, and passing it on,” says Stuart, whose personal collection of country music artifacts contains more than 20,000 pieces including Johnny Cash’s first black performance suit, the handwritten lyrics for “I Saw the Light” and “Cold Cold Heart,” and the boots Patsy Cline was wearing when her plane crashed.

“My first memory on this Earth is being in my mother’s arms crying,” Stuart says, explaining how even the rigors of the entertainment industry couldn’t dampen his enthusiasm. “I know what the fabric on her dress felt like. I couldn’t remember why I was crying, but I later found out it was the church bells. They were coming across the breeze in Philadelphia, Mississippi, from the Methodist church across tile town … That’s my first memory on Earth. And nothing has changed. The right piece of music can reduce me to a puddle of tears in a heartbeat. Or get the goosebumps on me. Even through all the ups and downs and victories and defeats. After 40-something years of doing this, I still feel like a 9-year-old kid.”

In addition to pieces from Stuart’s collection, current Graceland exhibits feature artifacts belonging to James Brown, Kiss, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and countless other 20th-century pop icons.

Graceland Exhibits are open daily. Marty Stuart and his Fabulous superlatives play the Graceland Guest House Theater Saturday, June 9, 8 p.m. $35 Graceland.com