Month: August 2018

Categories
News News Blog

State Law Includes 538 Exceptions to the Open Records Act

There were only two exceptions to the Tennessee Public Records Act when it was enacted in 1957; now there are 538, and a panel of lawmakers began reviewing them last week.

Sometimes called the Sunshine Law, the open records act “helps ensure government accountability and transparency by granting Tennessee citizens the right to access public records,” according to a recent report by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.

State lawmakers requested the report last year, and formed the the Open Records Ad Hoc Committee to review the exceptions. That committee got to work last week with a summer study session.

The committee learned that only 89 exceptions to the state open records law existed when the Legislative Committee on Open Records checked in 1988. The comptroller’s Office of Open Records Counsel began looking again in November and found 538 statutory exceptions, with only two exceptions scheduled to sunset, or end, soon.
[pullquote-1] You can check them all here in the report. But, get ready, because it’s a scroll-fest — outlining exemptions from abortion and alcohol abuse to veterinarians and victim-offender mediation centers.

“Some of the exemptions are broad and vague and have led to disputes,” said Deborah Fisher, executive director of the nonprofit Tennessee Coalition for Open Government (TCOG), in a letter to lawmakers last week. “Some were passed with scant information provided lawmakers, and with little notice to the public. Others are more straightforward and the need for the exemption is obvious.”

During last week’s hearing, Fisher gave a few examples of Tennessee’s exceptions.

One example shields the investment strategy of the University of Tennessee (UT). The intent was to protect some proprietary information of the school’s investment firm. But this year, Fisher’s report said, the exemption was used to shield how much UT paid to its investment firms.

Another exemption protects tax information. It was meant to shield a person or company’s tax return data. But in recent years, Fisher said, it’s been used to keep secret the amount of tax credits that are promised to companies in economic development deals.

TCOG suggested lawmakers give anyone affected by an exemption the right to be heard, include the price tag for adding an exemption to a bill’s fiscal note, create a sunset review process for all existing exemptions, and several other recommendations. See all of TCOG’s recommendations here.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Open Records will meet again on Thursday, September 13th.

Categories
News News Blog

Trial on Memphis Activists Surveillance Begins

Arguments began Monday in a trial to determine whether or not the city of Memphis violated activists’ First Amendment rights with a system of surveillance that included extensive monitoring of social media.

U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla will ultimately decide whether or not city leaders violated a 1978 consent decree entered in Kendrick v. Chandler. The order was meant to stop the city from gathering intelligence and surveillance on people engaged in protected free speech activities. Specifically, the decree prohibits political, covert, and electronic surveillance, as well as harassment and intimidation.

Opening arguments on Monday focused on whether or not the American Civilc Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) — as it exists today — was the plaintiff in the 1976 complaint involving Chan Kendrick, an ACLU official at the time.  

Lawyers for the city argued that the ACLU-TN was not a party in the Kendrick complaint, and therefore did not have standing in the present case. They presented close to 20 historical memos to prove that today’s version of ACLU-TN didn’t exist in 1978 and questioned Hedy Weinberg, current executive director of ACLU—TN.

With that, Buckner Wellford, one of the city’s attorney representing the city asked the judge to rule on the ACLU-TN’s standing, a move that could have ended the trial. But McCalla said that’s an issue that should be thoroughly considered before making a decision.

“This is a really important issue to the case,” McCalla said. “It’s more important to get it right than to get it fast.”

Should the judge decide the ACLU has standing, Thomas Castelli, counsel for the ACLU-TN said the other key issues to be decided are:

• Whether the city is in contempt of the 1978 consent decree by learning about protests through social media.

• Whether the city infiltrated activist groups for the purpose of political intelligence.

• Whether photos of protesters were taken for the purposes of political intelligence.

• Whether the city contacted protest organizers to chill their first amendment rights

• Whether the city made the process for obtaining permits for protest harder than for other events.

Castelli said most of plaintiff’s evidence will be from a time period between Spring 2016 and 2017, when protests occurred at the Memphis Zoo, Valero Memphis Refinery, the Hernando de Soto bridge, and Graceland.

Wellford said his team will aim to reveal the motivations of the Memphis Police Department (MPD) and prove there was no ill-intent or attempts to stymie First Amendment rights. In his opening statement, Wellford said MPD’s main motivation for monitoring activists has been to ensure public safety.

“July 2016 was probably the most tumultuous month in Memphis since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in modern times,” Wellford said, citing the bridge protest, the police shooting of Darius Stewart, and other incidents that had occurred around the country.

The threats were “real and tangible,” Wellford said.

McCalla told Wellford that no one disagrees with those facts, but that “they aren’t central issues to the case.”

“Public safety is important, but we can’t lose sight of why we are here,” McCalla said. “The case is about whether or not the city complied with the consent decree.”

As of press time, court was set to resume Monday afternoon. The second witness, MPD Sgt. Timothy Reynolds, was to return to the stand. Reynolds was instrumental in creating the undercover social media account of “Bob Smith,” which was used to monitor the moves of activists.

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Stephen Chopek

Happy Minimalist Music Video Monday!

MVM’s master of minimalism Stephen Chopek is back with a video for his new song “Could Have Been.” The song is from his new album Begin the Glimmer, which was recorded at Memphis’ Five and Dime studios and mixed by legendary Memphis producer Doug Easley. The album will be out on October 12th, and this week, Chopek is playing in Wisconsin, Arkansas, and St. Louis.

“Love and tea. Some things are worth waiting for,” he says.

Music Video Monday: Stephen Chopek

If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Stubby’s Stretch Run

Daniel Poncedeleon tossed a one-hitter for the Memphis Redbirds on July 15th at Omaha, a gem that earned the 26-year-old righty his ninth win of the season. The last pitch he threw in that game was likely the final one he’ll toss for the defending Pacific Coast League champions this season.

Two days later, Austin Gomber tossed five shutout innings at AutoZone Park to earn his seventh win of the season in a Redbirds victory over Iowa. Like Poncedeleon, Gomber can now be found in St. Louis, a member of the Cardinals’ starting rotation.

On July 25th in Salt Lake City, 13-game winner Dakota Hudson had his start abbreviated after only one inning, Redbirds manager Stubby Clapp delivering a baseball to the mound in the bottom of the second inning with a note that Hudson had received his call from the parent club. He’s now hurling out of the Cardinals’ revamped bullpen.

Stubby Clapp

Three pitchers representing 29 wins and 272 innings pitched for the 2018 Redbirds are no longer a part of Clapp’s arsenal as the club battles toward a division title and a chance to defend its PCL championship. And the roster churn has been felt in the batting order, too. Outfielder Tyler O’Neill and third-baseman Patrick Wisdom combined to hit 40 home runs in less than five months for Memphis but are now with St. Louis, each part of a recent eight-game winning streak that has the Cardinals back in contention for a postseason berth in the National League. Centerfielder and leadoff man Oscar Mercado is now wearing the uniform of the Columbus Clippers, traded to the Cleveland system on July 31st.

With the exception of the still-curious trade of Mercado, the recent Redbirds attrition is merely the effect of a Triple-A franchise doing precisely what it exists to do: fuel the big-league club. But at what cost to the on-field product at AutoZone Park? A culture change was bound to happen with the firing of Cardinal manager Mike Matheny (on July 14th), but Clapp now finds himself essentially managing a new team, with two weeks to gel for (hopefully) two playoff series.

“I think we’re about the same number of different players as last year [62],” says Clapp. “But last year, it was steady, for a longer period, and then the changes happened. This year, the changes have been since day one. It feels like a lot more this year. You could see it coming.” Injuries to three stalwarts in the Cardinals’ rotation — Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, and Carlos Martinez — made the luxuries of Hudson, Gomber, and Poncedeleon in Memphis more than St. Louis could afford.

“We put together a master plan,” explains Clapp, “and then we put together a Plan B and a Plan C. That’s just the way it is. It’s what we’re designed for. It’s trying to find the right opportunities for guys either to get their work in, if they’re down from the big leagues, or find the right area of the rotation for a new guy, or we might use this new guy out of the bullpen.” Clapp emphasizes the value of veterans like catcher Carson Kelly, shortstop Wilfredo Tovar, and reliever Edward Mujica in maintaining a clubhouse atmosphere conducive to winning as new faces get accustomed to new lockers.

Despite stumbling through August with an 8-10 record (through Sunday), the Redbirds have a nine-game lead in their division of the PCL with 14 games to play. “We’ve been blessed,” notes Clapp, “in that we did a good enough job at the beginning of the season to open a sizable lead. So we can do [the experimenting] without stressing over it. The worst-case scenario is that we lose a Triple-A baseball game. And that’s the way I have to look at it. We want to win while we’re here. But in the end, it’s making sure these guys develop so they win [in St. Louis]. That’s the key.”


Clapp’s name was mentioned as a candidate for the Cardinals’ managerial job upon Matheny’s ouster, and having won steadily over two seasons in Memphis — the Redbirds have a .625 winning percentage under Clapp — he’ll be discussed among other major-league franchises this winter. And yes, Clapp would like to receive the call he’s relayed to so many players over the last two summers. “In the grand scheme of things, obviously I want to be in the big leagues,” says the 45-year-old Canadian once known primarily for his backflips in taking the field. “But that’s not up to me. What is up to me: how we prepare these guys down here. Take it day by day. God will put me where I need to be. I try to get better every day, whether it’s managing the game or relationships with players.”

For now, Clapp manages a club hoping to hold off the Nashville Sounds, recent winners of 15 straight games, but still nine back of Memphis. The Redbirds must play 10 of their final 14 games on the road and face the Sounds in eight games that could decide a playoff berth. “We need to get our starting pitchers more comfortable,” says Clapp. “When they start to do their thing, we’ll reap some new rewards. Sometimes they’re trying to do too much and not just be themselves. Some guys get hyped up and, for whatever reason, lose command.”

This year’s playoff schedule ensures the series clincher will be in Memphis for both the opening round and the final series. Clapp enjoyed one of those at AutoZone Park, 18 years ago. And he’d love another. But as he puts it, the Redbirds must take it day by day. “You gotta clinch first,” he says with a smile. “I’m not about getting too far ahead of myself. I don’t like being disappointed.”

Categories
Music Music Blog

Jose Feliciano Plays Unannounced Memphis Gig

CREDIT: Bruce VanWyngarden

Bruce VanWyngarden

Jose Feliciano at Bar DKDC

Jose Feliciano played Memphis Friday night — at the tiny Bar DKDC in Cooper-Young.

You didn’t hear about it? That’s because it was about as undercover a gig as could be imagined. As Feliciano told a jammed house who’d either stumbled into the place or heard about the gig on social media in the prior couple of hours: He was in town for some Elvis Week activities and decided he wanted to play somewhere in Memphis.

He told his friend, Memphis musician Greg Roberson, of his wishes, and Roberson called Karen Carrier, owner of Bar DKDC, to see if something could be worked out. A couple of local bands had to be bumped to a little later time-slot, but the good news is that now they can say Jose Feliciano opened for them. 

Feliciano was relaxed and genial — engaging with the crowd and playing covers by Ray Charles, Elvis, Bill Withers, and many others, including his seminal version of “Light My Fire” by the Doors. 

After about an hour of music and stories, the 73-year-old legend decreed that his left hand was tired and he was going to call it a night.

The dozens of fans packed into Bar DKDC called it a hell of a night. And no, he didn’t play “Feliz Navidad.”

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Welcome back, Restaurant Iris!

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Guests got a look at the ‘new’ Restaurant Iris at a soft opening Aug. 17.

Restaurant Iris opened its door to invited guests for a soft opening, Friday, August 17th. They got the first look at the re-imagined Midtown restaurant, which has a new look and a new menu.

Guests encounter a new bar area as they enter the restaurant, which has a sleek, elegant feel. Art depicting chefs at work adorn the walls. A large portrait of chef/owner Kelly English hangs on one wall in the front dining room.

As English said earlier, the restaurant is “

going to feel a little different. A little more modern than you remember it. Less walls in the space. I feel like we’re staying exactly true to ourselves by changing. It’s going to be the same focus of what we’ve always done: to tell the story of who we are. Just a little more modern approach to it.”

Welcome back, Restaurant Iris!

[slideshow-1]

Categories
Music Music Blog

Gillian Welch Wows GPAC

CREDIT: Jamie Harmon

Jamie Harmon

An audience sat in rapt attention Thursday evening as Gillian Welch and David Rawlings presented the austere songs and sublime harmonies they’ve perfected over the past couple decades. And if they were well rehearsed and precise in their playing, the night still benefitted from the couple’s easygoing looseness.  After a confident opening singing “Scarlet Town,” they suffered a false start on their second number, “Ruination Day (Part 2),” with Rawlings insisting on tuning up again. With their vintage instruments, this was to prove a recurring theme of the night. But Welch took it all in stride.

She took on a faraway look in her eye as Rawlings tuned up. “Way off in the distance,” she quipped, “you see professionalism, out on the horizon.” And while the pair’s humility, dedication, and sensitivity were always felt, once such banter was over, they locked down with breathtaking unity.

Their axes of choice, with Welch on a warm, big-sounding vintage Gibson (or banjo) and Rawlings on what appeared to be a pre-WWII parlor guitar, complemented each other perfectly, as the tinnier sound of Rawlings’ guitar meshed with Welch’s rhythmic strums.

And of course, there were the harmonies. Local songwriter Cory Branan noted after the show that “they sounded like blood relations,” and indeed, the blend they achieve is reminiscent of many country sibling groups of the past.

At times, Rawlings would sing lead, trotting out songs from his Dave Rawlings Machine solo project. After they sang one such number, “Midnight Train,” Welch commented that “That’s as rambunctious as we get. Now we’re gonna bring you all way down.” And with that, they launched into the curiously tormented “The Way It Will Be.”

A few more songs in, and they had the crowd on their feet with “Elvis Presley Blues.” Until then, I hadn’t realized how appropriate it was to hear them play during “death week.” But as soon as they played the song, I felt it, and so did the audience, who gave the pair a standing ovation. “That’s the most an audience ever got that song,” Welch enthused.

After ten songs, there was a short intermission, followed by another set. One treat of their live show, as distinct from the records, is that Rawlings becomes gradually more unhinged in his playing as the evening wears on. While he takes some fine solos on their released recordings, his live playing becomes more exploratory, at times reminiscent of a veteran jazz musician in its venturesome quality.

At one point, Rawlings took over all instrumental duties with his banjo in hand, giving Welch little to do except sing, hambone, and dance a little jig that came off as homespun clogging.

Though Welch hasn’t released any original material under her own name for some seven years, it mattered little to this audience, a veritable who’s who of Memphis musical talent. Welch’s songs are built to last: the spare, suggestive lyrics all share a classicism, even when singing of contemporary concerns like the girl who “put a needle in her arm,” and the music suggests classic country and bluegrass, but always with a twist.

The classics are never far away from her songs, of course, and it was wholly appropriate when Welch and Rawlings finished up with a rousing “I’ll Fly Away,” the chestnut inspiring the typically reticent Memphis crowd to sing along with abandon (and harmonies). It was a heartfelt night for performers and audience alike.

Check out the slideshow from last night’s show, with photos by Jamie Harmon.
[slideshow-1]

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Alpha

Ever since I saw Werner Hertzog’s 2010 documentary Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, I have been interested in—possibly obsessed with—deep prehistory.

Homo habilis, the first known tool-making hominid, first appeared in the fossil record about 2 million years ago. Homo errectus learned to use fire about 1 million years ago, but it would be another 300,000 years before our ancestors learned to make it for themselves, and another 300,000 years before they started building hearths to cook on.

Homo sapiens—us—are only about 200,000 years old, and for 150,000 of those years, we had no art beyond decorative beads and jewelry made from seashells. Then, about 40,000 years ago, something happened—complex, figurative art appears. The paintings in the Chauvet caves which Hertzog captured in his documentary represent a complete change in how humanity interacted with the world, and how we understood ourselves.

Alpha is an ambitious film about another such moment when humanity changed: the domestication of dogs. The 3D film is set in postglacial Europe 20,000 years ago. Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a young man coming of age in a hunter gatherer tribe. He sets out from the village on his first hunt with a band led by his father Xi (Jens Hultén). Their mission is walk a torturous path laid down by ancestors as far back in their past as they are in ours. At the end, they will intercept a herd of migrating bison and, if they’re lucky, bring back enough food for the tribe to make it through the winter.

But it turns out Keda kinda sucks at being a caveman. It’s hard to be a good hunter when you’re too kindhearted to kill. Plus, he’s really bad in the fire-making department. When they finally find the elusive bison, he’s separated from the hunting band in the resulting melee and left for dead.

Jens Hultén and Kodi Smit-McPhee prepare to hunt the bison

Through a combination of luck and pluck, Keda survives, alone in the harsh world. When he’s attacked by a pack of wolves, he drives them away, and they leave behind a wounded wolf. Instead of slaughtering it for food, he takes it back to the cave where he’s found shelter, and together they nurse each other back to (relative) health. Then the unlikely and still untrusting pair try to make their way back across the steppe to Keda’s village.

The film is the first solo effort from Albert Hughes, a director who has formerly shared a credit with his brother Allen for films like Menace II Society and From Hell. It is very nearly derailed right at the opening, when the story starts with the buffalo hunt before flashing back a week to what were surely the original opening scenes in the village. I’m sure this was the result of someone thinking this pastoral picture needed to start with a bang, but it was exactly the wrong thing to do.

Instead, they should have trusted the intelligence of their audiences and the power of the performance from Smit-McPhee. Long stretches of Alpha are wordless, and the rest is in a language that is supposed to be something like Proto-Indo-European, with English subtitles. That’s a hard row to hoe for an actor (ask anyone who has ever tried to play a Klingon on Star Trek how easy it is act in a made-up tongue), but amazingly, the young lead pulls it off, becoming more endearing with each near death experience.

Chuck, the titular star of Alpha

But the Paleolithic proceedings really take off when Chuck the wolfhound arrives. This is a Lassie-level performance from a canine star who can summon easy laughs with a hangdog look. Smit-McPhee and Chuck have easy chemistry, and Hughes knows how to throw just enough challenge at them to keep it interesting. You really believe that every day life for these early people is like The Revenant, only with more psychedelics and shamanism.

Alpha has moments when it descends into cheese, and somehow, the parade of prehistoric 3D spectacle never looks quite as good as the Dawn Of Man sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. There’s also the nagging question of why Keda would name his proto-dog Alpha when the Greek alphabet wouldn’t be invented for another 17,000 years. But Alpha ultimately won me over with its pluck. It’s not a perfect movie, but its heart is in the right place, and that’s what counts.

Alpha

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

In Praise of “Love and Murder” at Playhouse on the Square

Michael Gravois, Kristen Doty

It’s pointless to refer to “the death scene” in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. The musical farce at Playhouse on the Square has eight or maybe nine of them, and every one of the characters who goes in extremis is played by the exceptional Michael Gravois.

The stage veteran throws himself brilliantly into the silliness, playing members of the D’Ysquith family who stand in the way of a greedy outcast whose mother married for (shudder) love and was therefore kicked out of the clan’s good graces.

Nonetheless, if certain of Monty Navarro’s relatives should die (the quicker the better), then he’ll be a duke with a wife, a mistress, and most importantly, money. But we really love to watch as Gravois bursts on stage as one of the royal relatives, expires, and then reappears moments later inhabiting the character and costume of another doomed relation.

In Praise of ‘Love and Murder’ at Playhouse on the Square

Holding forth as the initially guileless Monty who embarks on a comic Breaking Bad as the bodies accrue, is Ryne Nardecchia, who played the role in the national tour and is flawless. Adam Cates directs and choreographs, and he, too, worked on the Broadway version and the national tour as associate choreographer.

It’s a thoroughly delightful escape, smartly produced, and scads of fun. If the orchestra would ease up a wee bit from time to time to let the singers be heard, it would be even better.

Categories
News News Blog

MATA Looks to Hire More Trolley Operators

CREDIT: MATA

MATA

Trolley on Main


The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is looking for new trolley operators and will host a job fair Thursday, August 23rd.

Applicants must be at least 21 years old and have a high school diploma or GED. Operators also must have a valid Class A or B commercial driver’s license.

Other qualifications include being able to sit for extended periods of time, as well as lift, push, or pull 50 pounds and withstand exposure to weather conditions, dust, engine fumes, toxic chemicals, and extreme noise levels. Trolley operators are expected to interact with the public, communicate effectively with customers, and act as ambassadors for the city.

Key responsibilities include conducting daily pre-trip inspections, operating the trolley safely and on time, and writing an occasional report.

The position pays $9 an hour during training, increasing to $18.39 post-training. The job fair will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the MATA’s trolley barn on North Main.

After being out of service for nearly four years, steel-wheeled trolleys returned to Main at the end of April this year. Last month, MATA officials projected that the first-year ridership for trolleys will be north of 800,000 riders or 10 percent of total ridership. MATA is currently in the process of bringing the trolley lines back to Riverside and Madison.