Month: September 2018

Shenanigans

Post author By Bruce VanWyngarden
Post date September 13, 2018

Memphis City Council members Bill Morrison, Edmund Ford Jr., and Janis Fullilove are having a lucrative 90 days. Since the August 2nd election, in which all three won Shelby County offices, these “public servants” have been taking home two paychecks — one from the county for their new jobs and one from the city of Memphis for their council jobs.
That’s because none of the three have done the proper thing and resigned their council seats after winning new offices.
But the real issue isn’t the double dipping, as galling as that is. No, the real issue is that by not resigning, these three have created a situation that enables the current city council to appoint their replacements, thereby depriving their constituents of being able to select their own council representatives in the upcoming November election. The next city election after that is October 2019, so the three appointees will have the advantage of nearly a year’s incumbency in that contest. This isn’t how democracy is supposed to work.

This city council is also playing games with three referendums on the ballot for November, and you need to know what’s up. The citizens of Memphis in 2008 passed by a 71 percent margin a measure to institute Instant Runoff Voting. They also passed by a similar margin a measure to limit city council to two terms. The council is trying to overturn both of those decisions with deceptively worded referendums. For example, here’s how they’re tackling that pesky two-terms limit:

“Shall the Charter of the City of Memphis, Tennessee be amended to provide no person shall be eligible to hold or to be elected to the office of Mayor or Memphis City Council if any such person has served at any time more than three (3) consecutive four-year terms, except that service by persons elected or appointed to fill an unexpired four-year term shall not be counted as full four-year term?”

To an uninformed voter, it reads like the council wants to institute term limits — which is clever, because voters have already indicated they favor term limits. But in fact, it’s a blatant power grab to extend council members’ and the city mayor’s alloted time in office to 12 years from the current eight.

The language on the other two referendums — which would rescind IRV and eliminate single-district runoffs — is equally deceptive. The council is attempting to rescind measures that have been passed but haven’t even come into effect yet. Vote No on all three. This is some shenanigans.

Such shenanigans have also been happening on a national scale. Since the Shelby v. Holder decision in 2013, in which the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, there have been hundreds of restrictive voting measures passed, all in the South, and all in Republican-controlled states.

The Nation reports that since 2013, there are 868 fewer places to vote in the states affected by the SCOTUS ruling. Arizona, for example, has reduced the number of polling places by 70 percent — to just one polling place per 21,000 registered voters. In the most recent election in that state, voters waited in line for five hours at many polling places. See the map accompanying this column for a full accounting of this nefarious and anti-democratic practice.

Why do elected officials want fewer voters and longer terms in office? Simple. Money and power. It’s a plague and it’s spreading from the presidency on down to the local level. I can’t think of any election in my lifetime where it’s been more important to vote than the one coming up in November. We need to throw the rascals out and put a stop to this relentless assault on our democracy.

And speaking of shenanigans. … You may have seen an insert in last week’s Flyer that appeared at first glance to be a promo for the Cooper-Young Festival but was in fact a religious tract. The insert was sent directly to our printer without getting properly vetted by the ad department. We trusted someone and we got duped. Our apologies.
By the way, the Cooper-Young Festival is this weekend, so go. Have fun. Tell ’em the Flyer sent you.

Tags Bill Morrison, Edmund Ford, Janis Fullilove, Memphis City Council, reduced number of polling places, voter suppression laws

Music Music Features

Star & Micey Celebrate 10 Years

Post author By Jesse Davis
Post date September 13, 2018

CREDIT: Samantha Smith

The members of Memphis folk-pop band Star & Micey radiate a solidarity that calls to mind a Southern Fab Four-era Beatles, an impression that was driven home for me when I met Josh Cosby and Nick Redmond, the main songwriting duo, for coffee. The two look like an odd couple, the scholar and the handyman, but they field interview questions like an Olympic volleyball team. Cosby sets up a joke, and Redmond spikes it, or vice versa, again and again, putting proof to the fact that the two have spent a decade leaning on and learning from each other on stages and in the studio.

All that hard work pays off, as this month, Star & Micey celebrate 10 years as a band, a mile marker few groups ever reach. The festivities kicked off two weeks ago with an anniversary show at Railgarten, and continue this weekend at the Levitt Shell with a long-awaited co-headlining concert with Memphis indie-pop heavyweights Snowglobe.

Samantha Smith

Star & Micey

“Jeff Hulett from Snowglobe is my neighbor,” Cosby says. “We’ve been throwing it around: ‘When are Snowglobe and Star & Micey going to play together?'”

The 10-year mark represents an unusual time in the life of Star & Micey. Having recently amiably ended a near-decade-long contract with Ardent, the band is in uncharted territory. Cosby and Redmond seem happy, open to the possibility of a new direction and pleased with a summer bookended by a spot on the Beale Street Music Fest lineup and a hometown blowout show at the Shell. But after six-and-a-half years of near-constant touring and almost a full decade with the same label, the band is taking stock. “For the first time in 10 years,” Redmond says, “we’re 100 percent free agents — and with a stack of material.”

But let’s back up. Redmond was already working at the famed Ardent Studios when Cosby and bassist Geoff Smith welcomed him into the band, so it was natural that they wound up at the Memphis label when the time came to sign a deal.

Star & Micey toured, released an EP and a full-length with Ardent, learned to play drums with their feet, toured some more, and added a drummer, Jeremy Stanfill. Their shows became more extravagant. “It was crazy. There was confetti; there were back flips,” Cosby says. They released a third record, Get ‘Em Next Time, in collaboration with Ardent and Thirty Tigers (who handled distribution), made a few laps around the U.S. and Canada, and went back to stomping their feet for a while. “In the meantime, we had recorded five records that just sat on the shelf,” Redmond says.

“Contractually, we had to stay,” Redmond says of the label entanglements that left them tied to the studio but unable to release their newest recordings. And after the deaths in 2014 of Ardent founder John Fry and John Hampton, one of the studio’s chief producers, there was no one to let the band go. “I don’t think there’s blame,” Redmond says. “We got lost in the cracks.”

Meanwhile, over at Thirty Tigers, the death of vice president and co-founder Bob Goldstone sent the company into a period of drastic change. Star & Micey was locked into a deal with Ardent with no one to handle distribution. Eventually, after years in a sort of limbo, the contract was dissolved.

Now it’s back to the band’s origins. “I jumped in the van, and we took off — for 10 years,” Redmond laughs. Those first tours built the band’s chops and taught them how to depend on each other, how to survive long days in a van, and how to roll with the punches.

“If something happens, we’ll all show up,” Redmond says, demonstrating the Get ‘Em Next Time ethos that so defines the band. “We’ve all decided, all four of us, this isn’t over,” Cosby says, putting words to a feeling that permeated the conversation from start to finish. Never for a moment did I doubt that, even after 10 years, Star & Micey have a lot more to give.

Star & Micey and Snowglobe play the Levitt Shell, Friday, September 14th,
7 p.m. Free.

Tags 10 years of Star & Micey, Josh Cosby, Nick Redmond, Star & Micey

Sports Sports Feature

Go Redbirds! Boo, Grizzlies!

Post author By Frank Murtaugh
Post date September 13, 2018

CREDIT: Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

After a pair of heart-stopping comeback wins last weekend, the Memphis Redbirds advanced to the Pacific Coast League (PCL) championship series for a second straight season where they’ll defend their title against the Triple-A affiliate of the world champion Houston Astros, the Fresno Grizzlies. Battling Mother Nature in both Oklahoma City (where they split the first two games of the best-of-five semifinal series) and Memphis, the Redbirds beat a hot Dodger team in four games, the last two in walk-off fashion.

In Game 3 Friday night, Alex Mejia, Lane Thomas, and Max Schrock delivered consecutive RBI singles in the bottom of the ninth inning to erase a 4-2 Oklahoma City lead and give Memphis a 2-1 series advantage. But that comeback served merely as prelude to Sunday’s epic Game 4.

Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

Memphis Redbirds

The Redbirds tied Sunday’s game at a run apiece in the bottom of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Tommy Edman. (The game had been scheduled for seven innings, as Game 5 would have followed had the Dodgers won.) Oklahoma City took a two-run lead in the top of the 10th inning on a home run by Henry Ramos. But the Redbirds rallied again, this time tying the score at 3 on a two-out, two-strike single by Alex Mejia. Then, things got a little weird.

Edman reached second after drilling the ball off the Dodgers’ first baseman, putting Redbirds at second and third. Oklahoma City manager Bill Haselman then seemed to corner Redbirds manager Stubby Clapp by walking Schrock. Out of position players on his bench, Clapp was forced to let relief pitcher Giovanny Gallegos bat with the winning run 90 feet away. Gallegos had exactly one at-bat in his seven-year professional career.

Gallegos clubbed the baseball over the leftfielder’s head for a series-clinching walkoff victory. Such is Redbirds baseball in what can now be called the Stubby Clapp era. Pieces of a good team are removed. Others arrive, suit up, and impact victories.

The 2018 Redbirds, for a time, had the finest outfield in the minor leagues: Tyler O’Neill, Oscar Mercado, and Adolis García. Mercado was traded in late July and O’Neill and García are now helping the St. Louis Cardinals fight for a big-league playoff spot.

In April, Memphis had what appeared to be an electric rotation of starting pitchers: Jack Flaherty, Austin Gomber, John Gant, Daniel Poncedeleon, and Dakota Hudson. Hudson won 13 games for the Redbirds and earned PCL Pitcher of the Year honors. But all five men are now pitching for the Cardinals, leaving the likes of Jake Woodford, former Cardinal Tyler Lyons, and Kevin Herget to take turns in the PCL playoffs.

And take their turns they will, now three games from back-to-back championships for a man — already a back-to-back PCL Manager of the Year — who may be on to new ventures next spring. When the Toronto Blue Jays announced last week that manager John Gibbons will not return in 2019, Clapp’s name instantly became an offseason talking point. (Clapp is a native of Windsor, Ontario.) Would a major-league team hire a manager with no experience in such a role at the game’s highest level? Check out the managers’ offices at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park as the Yankees and Red Sox prepare for this year’s postseason.

For at least three more games, though, Stubby Clapp will command the Memphis Redbirds. (The championship series opens Tuesday night in Fresno, with Games 3 through 5 scheduled for AutoZone Park, starting Friday night.) You can bet against the Redbirds at your wallet’s peril. Clapp has emphasized “never say die” for two seasons now as a Triple-A manager. When relief pitchers are drilling series-winning hits to the wall, perhaps it’s time we all believe in the mantra.

Tags Memphis Redbirds win PCL, Stubby Clapp

News The Fly-By

Historic Troubles

Post author By Toby Sells
Post date September 13, 2018

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

A new report found some big problems with the Tennessee Historical Commission (THC), the group that tried but failed to block Memphis from removing statues of slave owners.

An August audit by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s office found that THC members lack the legal training to properly administer the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act (THPA), the law they tried to use to block the removal of the statues.

The report said another state agency left the THC with no formal way to communicate with the media during the turbulent Memphis statue-removal process. Also, the report says THC lacks proper oversight of 14 historic sites that are in the group’s care.

Justin Fox Burks

The now-gone statue of Nathan Bedford Forest.

The THC is “administratively attached” to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). While some commissioners informally asked for the assistance of TDEC lawyers through the Memphis statue-removal process, the THC failed to formally ask for the department’s help, the report says.

“Without the services provided by [TDEC’s] Office of General Counsel, the commission would not be able to fulfill its duties under the Heritage Protection Act,” according to the audit.

New commissioners are given an introductory handbook, the audit says, which has a section about the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act. But that’s about it.

“However, commission staff stated that they do not have the legal expertise to give commissioners training on legal aspects of the waiver process,” reads the report.

For this, the comptroller recommends formal training for all THC members.

“Members should have some training on legal aspects of their actions, as well as opportunities to ask questions about processes that are unfamiliar to them,” reads the audit.

Part of the problem, according to the report, is that THC and TDEC have no formal contract to bind them. The last agreement was signed in 1987. So, THC has no standing to demand help from the department, according to the audit. This became important during the Memphis statue-removal process.

“In recent months, the commission experienced increased media attention as a result of the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act,” reads the audit. “Simultaneously, [TDEC] management decided to stop providing the commission communication services, including press releases, and media handling in 2017.”

The groups are working on a new, formal contract and TDEC has committed three attorneys to the THC.

Historical sites

THC contracts oversight of some historical sites to various nonprofits organizations.

The audit found none of the organizations have disaster plans for their sites. Only five of them could show proof of insurance. Only half of them have inventory lists of historic artifacts. Some that do have such lists are out of date.

“Specifically, we found that one inventory list was dated 1986 without indication of a more current list,” reads the audit. “In another case, we could not determine whether the inventory list was current as it was missing the date altogether.”

Without such lists, “the historic site operators do not know what they have and would not know if an item was lost.”

News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1542

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date September 13, 2018

Dammit, Gannett

The Commercial Appeal soldiers on.

Though greatly diminished, the Gannett-owned daily newspaper has hired a clutch of new reporters to replace all the institutional memory and talent lost to digital startup, The Daily Memphian.

But non-local layout and non-existent copy editing persists. So, there’s no shortage of bizarre typos. A report on Tropical Storm Gordon shared news out of Destub, Florida, which is kinda like Destin, but shorter.

Finally, as all the local department stores break out their Halloween displays, here’s a terrifying social media share about an “active shooter” who shot multiple people “Downtown.”

Careful readers will recognize The Enquirer and recognize that this drama’s unfolding in Cincinnati. But that’s a lot to ask of a headline-responsive internet culture, and nobody wants to be the little paper that cried “active shooter!”

Film Features Film/TV

The Nun

Post author By Chris McCoy
Post date September 13, 2018

It seems like pumpkin spice season comes earlier every year, doesn’t it? I know everyone’s eager to get to October, or just ready for the heat to end. But that doesn’t mean we have to skip straight to hanging the fake cobwebs after Labor Day.

Horror movies of questionable quality are my pumpkin spice latte, but I’m not going to be in the mood for a Hammer binge until at least October 1st, and certainly not before the Cooper-Young Festival. But, keeping with the late-stage capitalist trend of constantly reinforced yet bloodless revelry, The Nun has appeared in theaters the first week of September and made $131 million dollars.

Taissa Farmiga get creepy in The Nun, which is actually a film about multiple nuns.

On the one hand, The Nun is a charmingly old-fashioned crappy horror movie. It’s the fifth film in a series that began with The Conjuring in 2013. These movies have been loosely based on the work of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, whose accounts of hauntings have been loosely based on truth since the 1970s. Instead of going for a relatable suburban setting like The Amityville Horror (a story the Warrens have been able to sell an improbable number of times), The Nun moves the action to 1952 Romania. It starts with a bang, as two nuns in a Transylvanian castle run frightened through a darkened hallway that ends in a door marked with the grammatically challenged threat “God ends here.” One of them uses an ornate key to open the door and retrieve a holy relic, which she says is the only thing that will save them. Predictably, her errand to the basement of godlessness proves fatal, and her partner runs up to her third floor bedroom and flings herself out the window with a noose around her neck.

The gruesome suicide of a nun attracts the attention of the Vatican. Why would a bride of Christ commit the ultimate unpardonable sin? And what gives with this creepy abbey where they’ve been praying constantly for the last 500 years? But the red hats in Rome are apparently too busy covering up child sexual abuse to go see for themselves, so they send in Father Burke (Demián Bichir), who is apparently some kind of kick ass combat priest. For no discernible reason, he is assigned Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) as a partner. Sister Irene is not quite yet a nun, and she’s never been to Transylvania, but she is a teacher at an orphanage in London who had some visions of Mary once, so the old priests figure, what the hell?

Demián Bichir plays a priest in The Nun.

The pair travel to Romania where they meet their guide Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), who leads them to the abbey with his questionable accent. Everything about the setting is an old school Universal horror cliche. There are the villagers who are scared to silence about the mysterious goings on in the castle, and the horses who won’t enter the perpetually fogged forest, so you have to go in on foot.

Plot-wise, The Nun is a lukewarm rehashing of John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness. The nuns of the abbey, some of whom may be ghosts themselves, must keep a malevelant spirit named Valak the Defiler trapped in their basement. There’s definitely a feeling of paint by numbers from director Corin Hardy and writer Gary Dauberman. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as long as the execution is up to snuff.

Unfortunately, that is not the case with The Nun, a picture that never met a cheap jump scare it didn’t cop. Neither Bichir nor Bloquet look like they have any idea what’s going on at any given time, and it’s obvious that English is not a first language for either one of them.

I will give Father Burke some credit. The first time I was buried alive by invisible demons, I’d be hopping the train back to Rome, but he keeps going like nothing ever happened. Whether that’s a sign of bravery or lack of ability on the actor’s part, I’ll leave as an exercise to the viewer. Even if you’re ready to kick off horror season a few weeks early, there are lots of opportunities to do better than this tedious nun-sense.

Tags Corin Hardy, demin-bichir, Ed Warren, Gary Dauberman, Jonas Bloquet, Lorraine Warren, Taissa Farmiga, Valak the Defiler

Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open: Low Fi Coffee and Cafe SereniTea

Post author By Susan Ellis
Post date September 13, 2018

CREDIT: Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Bailey Biggers and David Pender of Low Fi Coffee met while working at a coffee shop in California. Both had been hired for their love of the brew and their decided lack of training. The pair eventually moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Then, Pender took a gig in North Carolina. Biggers and Pender would meet in Memphis, the half-way point, to spend time together. (Aw!)

Something about Memphis felt right to them. Pender recalls asking Biggers, “You feel that?” of the city. She did. They decided to move here. “It picked us,” says Biggers.

They then launched Low Fi through a series of pop-ups, first at Bozwell & Lily and then at the Brooks Museum. They’ve since set up shop at Stock & Belle, the South Main clothing/art/furniture store Downtown on South Main. They are currently transitioning from pop-up to permanent within the store.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Baily Biggers (left) and David Pender of Low Fi Coffee

Low Fi’s approach is in their name. “It’s our philosophy,” says Pender, “simple instruments and ingredients.” What that means is that they take care to source their beans and they eschew sweeteners. They both feel that sugars and milks are used to make bad coffee taste good. A well-brewed cup of coffee doesn’t need it. They also let the bean dictate the brew method. Sometimes that’s a machine; other times, it’s pour-over.

Part of their what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach is that they don’t add tax to their prices. So, a $5 cup of coffee is $5. (Though they do add tax to their retail items.) And, if you buy a bag of coffee, you get a complimentary cup of coffee.

Low Fi offers three black coffees (espresso, pour over, and cold brew); three coffees with milk (latte, cappuccino, gibraltar); a number of teas; and novelty drinks, including a matcha cappuccino and a cold brew iced coffee. They are currently selling Hi Fi cookies, a business out of Nashville, run by a couple just like themselves.

Biggers and Pender are planning to restructure and remodel the space to make it more of an actual coffee shop. They want to expand their retail offerings — more branded stuff as well as grab-and-go items.

Pender says they’ve gathered a few regulars so far. Some have kept a habit from when Stock & Belle served coffee. They say, “Dealer’s choice,” and then they try to guess what they’ve been served.

“Coffee deserves respect,” says Pender.

Low Fi Coffee, 387 S. Main

Jamila Cooper says that she never drank tea, but one day, it occurred to her that peace and serenity would make a pretty great name for a tea house. So, she opened Cafe SereniTea in a cozy little house at 3545 South Third last November.

There’s not much to it. A small counter space and some seating in a front room. This is all about the teas. She offers hot teas such as zesty lemon ginger, invigorating peppermint, relaxing chamomile, and classic green teas. Her iced teas are honey mint green, jasmine ginger, and strawberry lime black.

SereniTea also offers a small selection of vegetarian sandwiches, pastries, and brunch items on the weekend. They also have coffee.

Cooper cops to having a Pepsi addiction, which naturally led to harder stuff — Doritos. She kicked the habit by drinking detox teas. “It took away the cravings,” she says. The tea, with tumeric, anise, fennel, and ginger, helped her lose 27 pounds, she says.

You can buy teas at the cafe to take home to brew for yourself, or you can buy them online at cafeserenitea.com.

Cooper says that, while she didn’t drink much tea before, she used her background as a teacher and a mathematician to figure out the blends.

She says Cafe SereniTea is a nice place to hang out, where no one is in a hurry. “Every day, someone new comes in,” Cooper says.

Cafe SereniTea is open Sunday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Cafe SereniTea, 3545 South Third, 281-8475, cafeserenitea.com

Tags Cafe SereniTea, Low Fi Coffee

Cover Feature News

A Memphis State of Mind: Men’s Fall Fashion

Post author By Andrea Fenise
Post date September 13, 2018

CREDIT: Photographs by Andrea Finese

For a certain type of guy, having good style is more than wearing what’s trendy. It is a state of mind. It means being impeccably groomed, so as to give him the confidence boost to move forward in any way. Because when you feel better, you look better. As we say cheers to September (fashion month), here’s the perspective of some cool and creative guys in Memphis on personal style, grooming, and fashion.

Photographs by Andrea Finese

Gonzo, Ziggy, and Eso

Stephen – @Iam_the1ndonly

My perspective on style in general is a very simple one and one that I take from fashion designer Tom Ford: “Dressing well is a form of good manners.” I keep that approach daily while preparing for my day. Yes, I want to look professional and respectable for my clients, so when I put on one of my suits every morning, I do not take the approach as if it is a uniform, but more a symbol/statement of who I am as a person. I let it reflect my personality.

Here in Memphis, we aren’t known as a trendy or fashion-forward city like L.A., New York, Atlanta, or Miami. We are such a blue-collar city. I was able to grow up watching my father dress in a suit, and I realized that I, too, wanted that for myself. Fashion is constantly growing, changing, reinventing, and repeating itself — from the suspenders back in the old speakeasy days to the stockbrokers of the ’80s, and from the wide-peak-lapel blazers in the ’60s being born again in the ’90s and 2000s. But one thing will remain the same … it’s always your personality!

Stephen

Ziggy @fomoloop

Grooming, in general, influences personal style by subconsciously adding a shot of confidence to the man. It’s similar to home and garden upkeep. You have more pride in something when you’ve taken the time to tend, grow, and maintain it.

Ziggy

Gonzo @gone_zo

I’ve only lived in Memphis for a year and I love it! I relish knowing that Memphians push the status quo (the herd look) and proudly express their individuality through a variety of unique styles. It’s seriously appreciated here. Drive three hours out east (Nashville, I’m talking to you), and everybody starts to look the same. If you dare to deviate from the herd, you’re shunned for standing out!

Gonzo

Eso @coolurbanhippie

Fashion is more open than it ever has been for men. There used to be a lot of rules. Now, anything goes! Right now, it’s less about fashion and more about style. Style is very personal. The climate is perfect for showcasing your personal style and expression, whatever it may be.

Eso

Thank you to Baron’s Man Cave (www.baronsmancave.com) and barbers Rick, Tito, and Brian; Wardrobe: Lansky Bros.

Eso, Ziggy, and Gonzo

Tags Andrea Fenise, Baron's Man Cave, Memphis Men's Fashion Fall 2018