Month: October 2018

Categories
Book Features Books

Daniel Torday’s Boomer1.

Can we talk about book covers and how they color our reading of the text? We recognize the old saw, “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” but we are also aware that reading a book that’s physically lovely is an especially rewarding experience. And, you can, somewhat, judge a book by its cover if you trust that the publisher has given its product the appropriate look. I bring this up because Boomer1, the excellent new novel by Daniel Torday, has a dreadful dust jacket. Bad colors, bad design. It deserves better.

Now, to the text itself. The story mainly concerns two characters: Mark and Cassie. They are both musicians — this book practically has a soundtrack it is so entwined with making music and listening to music — who play in bands together and apart. Torday namechecks influences from Bill Monroe to Kim Gordon, David Byrne to our homeboy, Alex Chilton. Both eventually have to admit they’re not going to make it as musicians and set off on new paths, Cassie as a fact-checker at a magazine called RazorWire, and Mark as the practically accidental leader of an internet movement called Boomer Boomer. Mark’s purpose is made manifest in his opening foray; he says, “This is Boomer1 … and I’m fomenting an open conflict against the Baby Boomers. They’ve taken our jobs and they’ve plundered our futures.”

Wearing David Crosby masks, members post manifestos on the internet, beginning on YouTube and evolving to “the dark web.” This movement, as movements do, goes from manifesto to vandalism to assaults darker and more destructive. That this is all tongue-in-cheek is handled with great authorial control and subtlety. “They were baby boomers,” Torday says. “They had and they had and they had, as if that was the very condition of their own existence — having, owning, getting, living out Bellow’s I want, I want, I want — while he [Mark] and his generation had not.” Some of their targets: Rolling Stone, The Daily Show, Philip Roth, Eddie Bauer, Garrison Keillor, and “The American Association of Tired People.”

It seems lost on the millennials that they are declaring war on their elders just as their elders had done. They seem blissfully unaware that, during the ’60s, their parents had recommended not trusting anyone over thirty. Torday portrays today’s young people as ambitious climbers and, at the same time, ambitious revolutionaries. And their speech is rendered as humorous Newspeak: “The trad stuff was fine back whenever, in the Clinton Era or whatev — but we’re obvi moving in a new direction, new revenue streams, the places where journo and content and editorial will all be heading.” Or this from one of Mark’s proselytizing videos: “Social Insecurity. /I am Boomer1. We are all boomers now. /Resist much, obey little. /Propaganda by the deed. /Boom boom.” These revolutionaries seem to live online more fully than they do in the walking-around world.

Torday has some of the witty, neoteric, alternative-now chops of Don DeLillo (whom he also namechecks — the way he namedrops his influences, musical and literary, is charming and droll), but the novel is oddly old-fashioned. It’s as if he aimed at DeLillo and hit John Irving (yes, he mentions him also), which is not necessarily a bad thing. Torday’s narrative moves like a Clapton solo, fast and sinuous and haunting. And his black-humor story unfolds as naturally as a rainstorm.

Cassie’s and Mark’s lives entwine, separate, entwine, dovetailing in interesting ways. She writes about the anti-Baby Boomer movement unaware it was begun by her ex-paramour. Cassie is more homosexual than heterosexual, Mark being one of her only affairs with men. Their points of contact are more than arbitrary but not quite the eternal dance of the heart. In the second half of Boomer1, Mark’s story tends to swamp Cassie’s, though she is never far from what connects them. The ending is a satisfying update on their affair, and on the affairs of the country. This alternative-now is both funny and harrowing, and Torday has one hand on the pulse of contemporary life and one hand throwing up a peace sign.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Blackburn, Dean, Lee, and Donald Trump All in Memphis Area

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

The semi-lull in politics that had lasted from the mid-summer election of August 2nd until Labor Day is now unmistakably over, as the present week’s events well indicate.

On Monday night, Tennessee was favored with the presence of one Donald J. Trump, who turned up for one of his patented political rallies in Johnson City, in the far corner of northeastern Tennessee. Trump was on hand to bolster his own permanent campaign as well as the hopes of 8th District Congressman Marsha Blackburn for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by incumbent Republican Bob Corker. On Tuesday night, he appeared at a rally in Southaven. (For a report on the president’s Southaven visit, go to memphisflyer.com.)

Jackson Baker

Trump in Johnson City

On Monday, the president, professing happiness at “being back in the great state of Tennessee with thousands of hard-working American patriots,” also made a point of ladling out grace notes to every other leading Republican in sight. His beneficiaries included Congressmen Phil Roe, John Duncan, Chuck Fleischmann, and Scott Desjarlais (“my favorite name in politics”), Congressional candidates Tim Burchett and Mark Green, Governor Bill Haslam, Lt. Governor Randy McNally, and current Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee.

Trump took time to brag on a new trade arrangement with Mexico and Canada, designated by the letters USMCA, an anagram that, unlike the predecessor association of NAFTA, cannot be said as a word. Though the new trade pact is considered somewhat more advantageous to American milk producers and automakers than was NAFTA, its primary advantage, as Trump sees it, may be that it’s one more replacement for a now-discarded creation of his Democratic predecessors.

The president also defended his current Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and disparaged several Judiciary Committee Democrats who oppose Kavanaugh — notably Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Dianne Feinstein of California.

But Trump reserved most of his criticism for Phil Bredesen, the former Tennessee governor who is Blackburn’s Democratic opponent for the Senate seat. The election of Bredesen, he said, could mean the loss of Tennessee gun-owner’s Second Amendment rights, the escalation of taxes “beyond your wildest imagination, the likelihood of mass unemployment, and the takeover of medical care by the government.”

The Bredesen campaign later issued a point-by-point refutation of these charges, along with the following summary: “From Day 1, Governor Bredesen has been clear — he is not running against Donald Trump. He is running for a Senate seat to represent the people of Tennessee. As he said in Chattanooga this evening — if Tennesseans are looking for someone to continue the D.C. gridlock and shouting, he’s not their candidate. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn has gotten very good at this after 16 years in Washington. If what Tennesseans are looking for is someone who will get things done, then Phil Bredesen is applying for the job.”

That statement, consistent with the general run of Bredesen’s TV commercials, which stress his political independence and demonstrated ability to work across the political aisle, both complements and somewhat contrasts with the former governor’s action last week in announcing that, if elected, he would not support current Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York for reelection to the Senate leadership post.    

Bredesen took that position during a debate at Cumberland University in Lebanon, and it came off then as a concession — needless, some Democrats worried — to his Republican opponent’s frequent attempts to tie him to the national Congressional leadership of Schumer and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Jackson Baker

Mike Stewart in Germantown

• Meanwhile, there’s more politics in the offing locally. As I write this, there is to be a Tuesday night debate at the University of Memphis between the aforementioned Lee and his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean. Dean is scheduled to stick around for a meet-and-greet Wednesday night at Railgarten, and Senate candidate Blackburn was advertised for a GOP luncheon at Owen Brennan’s, also on Wednesday.

Local Democrats have been getting help from elsewhere, too. State Representative Mike Stewart was in Shelby County the weekend before last, speaking at a picnic of the Germantown Democratic Club and bringing aid and comfort — some of it rhetorical and devoted to the macro level of politics.

Said Stewart: “We have got to take this country back — neighborhood by neighborhood, councilmanic district by councilmanic district, statehouse district by statehouse district.” 

Stewart scourged “this very radical Congress that would not compromise” and a national Republican regime that, he said, “stymied at every turn” progressive efforts.

He made the case that several local House districts now belonging to Republicans were in range to be captured. “These districts are changing,” he said. “We can turn these districts blue. These suburban districts are where the fight is at.”

On hand for the event was a prime exhibit of Stewart’s thesis: State Representative Dwayne Thompson of House District 96. Thompson upset then incumbent state Representative Steve McManus two years ago in the district, which includes parts of Cordova, southeast Memphis, and Germantown, and which, as Stewart had indicated, had indeed undergone significant demographic change.

Thompson had worked the district with all due diligence back in 2016, knocking on what he estimated to be “thousands of doors,” and his effort certainly was the largest reason for his victory. But another major component was the significant financial aid that the state party shifted his way, by way of targeting the district.

In 2018, the state Democratic Party is once again involved as an active principal in the legislative races of Shelby County, and Stewart’s very presence was a clear symbol of that. This year the state party seems to have identified two more districts capable of turnover — District 97, in the Bartlett-Eads-Lakeland area, now represented by the GOP’s Jim Coley; and District 83, in the East Memphis-Germantown overlap, now represented by Republican Mark White.  

The Democrats running for those seats — Allan Creasy in District 97 and Danielle Schonbaum in district 83 — have reportedly been pinpointed for accelerated financial aid from the state party’s coffers, as has the reelection effort of Thompson, who is opposed by Republican Scott McCormick in District 96.

Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Tumbleweave Returns

Not the ‘baby’ in question, but ain’t she sweet?

It’s been a while since your Pesky Fly reported on Memphis’ rolling tumbleweave crisis. Then again, it’s been a while since the city has seen a Nextdoor exchange like this one.

Under the topic “Dead Animal,” someome writes “There is a dead animal in the middle of McLean before Central just wonder if this baby is anyone’s pet.”

Nah. Just somebody’s good hair having a bad day. 

Via: 

Tumbleweave Returns

Categories
News News Blog

Where Each Tennessee Congressman Stands on Cannabis

As cannabis legalization becomes more common throughout the country, the majority of Tennessee legislators haven’t made any moves toward legalizing the plant here. Rep. Steve Cohen, by far, has shown the most support for cannabis legalization.

Tennessee is one of 20 states with no broad laws legalizing marijuana, while 30 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the herb for either medical or recreational use.

The information in the charts below comes from the Cannabis Voter Project, which aims to “educate Americans about how voting can impact cannabis policy.” The project was launched by HeadCount, a non-partisan organization working to increase voter engagement.

Here are where the Senators stand.


And here are where the Representatives stand.

Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Men at War

G.O. Ogleimage

Armstrong & Cox

Gunner Armstrong shakes his head, and digs into his backpack to retrieve a freshly purchased bottle of pepper spray. “I don’t know how effective this stuff is,” he mumbles, pulling on his reading glasses and skimming the directions. “I had a friend in college who would get a couple of beers in him and squirt it in his mouth like it was breath freshener.”

Like many manly men today, Armstrong lives in abject terror. “You never can be too careful with women being what they are,” he says, expressing an increasingly common, and deeply masculine sentiment. At least twice a week Armstrong says he finds himself walking a block or more past his house, keys clenched firmly in his fist like claws, because he’s convinced a woman is following him home, possibly to accuse him of harassment. “At some point I’ll find a nice bright street light and stop there to pretend like I’m taking a phone call or something. I’ll just let them walk on past, you know?” Armstrong says. “It’s probably all in my imagination. But like dad always said: better safe than hungover and accused of some bullshit you totally don’t remember doing.”
[pullquote-1] Personal security coach Archer Cox doesn’t think Armstrong’s taking the threat seriously enough. “If you’re not wearing a body cam and packing a taser, you’re not prepared for this fight,” he says. “Look, Gunner’s my bud and I used to be just like him. I took some self defense classes. Got my yellow belt. Got to where I’d take alternative routes home from the bar to avoid running into any of those lady joggers who were always making comments about how I shouldn’t be looking them. Saying things to me. Hurtful things. But none of those things I did to protect myself stopped this one woman from calling me a ‘peeper’ on Facebook, all because I was awesome and surprised her at her window one morning with a egg and sausage plate from down at the Touch & Go.”

Armstrong has a theory. “I’ve heard this is all a kind of revenge because they don’t make as much money as we do. And if things keep going this way I don’t think they ever will,” he says, opening the front door of MacBoobies, a Scottish-themed watering hole in Midtown where Armstrong is having drinks with Cox, and some other friends from work. “It’s gotten to where just having a penis paints a target on your back, it’s practically against the law,” he says, visibly agitated and determined to get hammered.

After several rounds of beer the men settle into playing a drinking game called Devil’s Triangle. “It’s kinda like quarters,” Cox explains. “Only if you cuss at any time you have to call your mother on speaker phone and apologize for being a naughty boy with a dirty, dirty mouth.” A waitress named Tina, who’s been cut from her shift politely intervenes and attempts to close out the table’s check.

“Did you want to put the tip on your card?” she asks.

“Oh, don’t worry sweetie, I’ve got a tip for you right here,” Cox quips, causing everybody at the table to laugh except for Tina, who rolls her eyes and walks away sans gratuity.

“Gonna stumble home now,” Armstrong says, pulling out his pepper spray, and screwing up his courage.

“I’ll walk with you,” Cox answers, holding onto Armstrong’s shoulder to keep from falling down. “I don’t want to be alone right now.”

If there is a war in America’s streets, these two old friends are determined to face the worst of it together. “I’ve got you,” Armstrong says.

“And I’ve got you, babe,” Cox answers. “I’ve got you.”

—————————-
*Yes, there is a parody tab at the top of the column.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Three Thoughts on Tiger Football

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

• The Tigers couldn’t have scripted a better opponent for this Saturday’s game at the Liberty Bowl. It’s both a recovery game (after the disaster at Tulane) and a tune-up (with UCF on the way) for Memphis, and the Tigers need to hit a reset button on their season. UConn (1-4) has allowed the most points (267) in the American Athletic Conference (AAC), and by some distance (SMU has surrendered 190).

The Huskies have been outscored by an average of 53.4 to 21.6. (The lone game UConn won: a 56-49 shootout with Rhode Island.) Connecticut’s defense has allowed a staggering 663 yards per game, dead last among the 130 FBS teams. (At 129 is Oregon State, and they’ve only allowed 543.6 per game.)

But here’s the catch from the other sideline: Memphis now looks like a soft spot on the Husky schedule. Their losses have been to UCF, Boise State, Syracuse, and Cincinnati. Tiger coach Mike Norvell has emphasized all week how his team can overlook no one. They better not this week, because an undermanned (on paper) foe will be stoked for this clash.

• To his credit, Norvell has owned his team’s performance at Tulane. He’s come across, honestly, as the most disappointed “fan” in Memphis . . . and that’s precisely as it should be. From Monday’s press conference: “Part of the reason we are in this situation are things we have allowed to take place and allowed to happen, and it’s hurt us in playing to the top level of our ability. We’re going to continue to work. We had a good practice [Sunday]. Everyone is owning where we are and what we’ve done to this point.”
Larry Kuzniewski

Mike Norvell


With any painful loss, it’s not so much the what, but the why that a coaching staff must address. The defense was significantly short-handed by injuries, particularly the line. (The secondary, minus two starters, looked significantly slower than it has in recent years.)  Tulane’s defense managed to bottle up the country’s top rusher, Darrell Henderson. Tiger quarterback Brady White was unable to stretch the Green Wave defense by connecting with receivers downfield. These and other factors made for the ugliest outing in Norvell’s three seasons as a head coach. Time for that age-old cliche: It’s not how hard you fall, but how quickly you get up.

• What has happened to Mid-South football? Memphis fans are pouting over an 0-2 start in the AAC. Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Arkansas are all 0-2 in the SEC. Tennessee is 0-2 in league play and Vanderbilt 0-1. Six regional programs with a combined league record of 0-11. There’s Alabama, of course. (Always Alabama.) LSU, Georgia, and Auburn are also Top-10 teams. But I’ve bumped into some slump-shouldered football fans as October has arrived. Better days are surely ahead. If nothing else, I know five SEC programs Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen should consider scheduling.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

The Pocket’s Erica Bone.

CREDIT: Photographs by Michael Donahue

“Mise en Place” — “Everything in its place” — is tattooed on Erica Bone’s forearm.

“It’s how an entire restaurant is supposed to be run,” says Bone, 25, executive chef of The Pocket, the new exclusive cocktail lounge/restaurant.

Unfortunately, Bone didn’t heed that advice at a previous restaurant job, and that almost changed the direction of her career.

She was sauté chef at Spindini when she decided to take a shortcut in the kitchen. She clocked in, checked the reservation book. “This was a Wednesday night, and we had two people on the book. So one two-top. That was all we had.

“I just decided ‘I’m not prepping anything.’ I just got bare minimum things heated up. I was hungover, and I didn’t feel like working, didn’t want to be there. Rather be at home.

Photographs by Michael Donahue

Erica Bone

“The next thing I know, 100 people were in there. It was an Orpheum Theatre night, so it was 100 people who had to get in and leave really fast.”

Joe Cartwright, who was executive chef, walked in. “He bailed me out. And then I got an ass-chewing you wouldn’t believe.

“He says, ‘What the fuck was that?’ I was like, ‘Joe, I just saw only two people on the books.’ And he said, ‘You just thought to show up to work but don’t work? I’m just going to pay you and you don’t work?’ I said, ‘I have no excuse. I’m so sorry.'”

But, she says, Cartwright said, “Don’t apologize to me. I fully expect you to apologize to everyone else because the fact that you couldn’t get their food out probably affected their tips. You ruined the kitchen and the front. You messed up the kitchen in the back, and you caused those people anguish while they’re trying to make money because you decided you were coming in today and not working.”

Cartwright didn’t fire her, but he bumped her down to salad maker.

Slow roasted brisket taco with sweet pickle slaw

Bone told her girlfriend she was going to quit, but her girlfriend said, “No, I think you should stay. Joe is an important person. He’s a sauté legend in the city. And if you do that to him, that’s not a good start for your career. You deserved that. You can either learn from that, or you can continue to make that same mistake over and over again instead of proving that you are better than what you did tonight.”

Bone went back to work in salads.

Then came another “Orpheum night.” Bone said, “This is not happening again.”

“I worked the dough station behind me, dessert, and salad, and worked fry, grill, and helped with pasta that night.”

Later that night, Cartwright pulled her aside and said, “That right there is awesome. And if you continue to do that, that’s what’s going to make you fucking good at this. All right?'”

When Cartwright left Spindini, Bone left and for the old Farmer restaurant.

She liked chef/owner Mac Edwards’ take on Southern cooking. “It’s just simple, wholesome food.”

Bone then went to culinary school at Auguste Escoffier in Boulder, Colorado. “It opened up a lot of doors for me. It made me think that chefs can be more than just in the kitchen. They can be the types of people that bring a community together.”

She returned to Memphis and eventually went to work for chef/owner Michael Patrick at Rizzo’s Diner. “He helped me refine a lot of things I already knew but just needed the extra practice in.”

Patrick told her about the job at The Pocket. He said she’d be perfect. She’d have enough money to be comfortable and she’d have her own “creative expression.”

She admires The Pocket general manager Charles Monger, whom she described as “a perfect professional.”

“What, I think, charmed me was the fact he was looking for someone who is going to take care of themselves and take care of the business.”

Describing her menu, which is slated to be introduced in December, Bone says, “Seasonality. I believe in celebrating the seasons.”

A root vegetable gratin is one of her dishes. “It’s going to have turnips and parsnips and basically root vegetables that can be well celebrated into the end of winter.”

Bone is building her farmer network. “I have a goal that by this time next year, the majority of my produce and protein will be coming in from local farmers.”

Another goal? “My idea of excitement is to walk away feeling satisfied, ‘I got all the textures in there. I got all the different mouth feels.’ I want a whole thing. I want the whole experience.”

The Pocket, 115 Union

Categories
Music Music Blog

Captured! By Robots Brings True Metal Machine Music to Murphy’s

Jay Vance wishes he was made of steel. At least that’s the implication of his adopted stage name, Jbot. But maybe that’s the Stockholm Syndrome talking. Just look at the photo: He’s obviously not in his happy place, having been captured by robots and all. But when Captured! By Robots play, who cares? We need only experience the beautiful music they make together.

They’ll be playing Murphy’s tonight, and you can hear their trademark speed metal and grindcore for yourself. Lest you think this is a joke, I quote the band’s official bio:

“Captured! By Robots released its first album in 1997, and over the past two decades, Jbot has fine-tuned his metallic bandmates GTRBOT666 and DRMBOT0110 to the point of mechanized perfection. The method to the madness is derived from a series of computers which activate air valves that allow compressed air to pour through in controlled bursts. Those blasts push and pull the mechanical fingers that hit guitar frets and sticks that crash into snare drums. Pneumatics also power the robots’ movement, giving them a disturbingly human sway.”

In short, this human, in an attempt to make his own band, created the robots. Instead of following him, they revolted, and now force him to travel the world with them, performing music and making him contemplate the inferiority of the human race.

Captured! By Robots Brings True Metal Machine Music to Murphy’s (2)

Still I wanted to hear the human angle on all this. I contacted Jbot to see how the music reflects his heart, his soul.

Memphis Flyer: Hello Jay! I couldn’t ask this of a robot, but how are you feeling?
Jbot: I’m having a very bad morning. Hope you’re doing better than me.

But you’re doing what you love!
All the music is played by the bots. They’re total dicks.

But they sound like the perfect band mates. You can just turn them off.
Twenty years touring with a robot band has taught me a few things. Most importantly that the human race as a whole is totally f*%ked, and we ALL deserve to be wiped off the Earth like the scum that we are.

At this point, I slowly backed away from the computer and ran out of the house. Clearly he’s internalized the robots’ message. Perhaps he thinks he is one of them. Let’s find out if there’s any humanity left in this band. Indeed, human drummers who are game can go toe to toe with DRMBOT0110 in a live competition. And did I mention that the openers will be the River City Tanlines and the Hosoi Bros? Not to be missed!

Captured! By Robots Brings True Metal Machine Music to Murphy’s

Categories
News News Blog

Local Warehouse Workers Call for End of ‘Abuse and Mistreatment’

Workers in a warehouse here are fed up with their poor working conditions, and Monday they took action.

Employees at XPO Logistics Verizon warehouse delivered a letter to management, putting them on notice for health and safety issues in the work environment, misconduct, discrimination, and sexual harassment.

The letter, signed by the Memphis NAACP, City Councilwoman Patrice Robinson, Memphis Feminist Coalition, and about nine other groups in the community, read, in part: “It is clear that XPO exhibits a consistent toxic culture that runs contrary to its stated policies and practices.


“As community leaders and women’s rights advocates engaged in legal and policy work to fight against sexual harassment and are active in the Times Up and Me Too movements, we are deeply concerned and troubled with the behavior of XPO Logistics.

[pullquote-1] Therefore, we are calling for a joint meeting with Jacobs, the executive board, and XPO’s customers in the supply chain (like Verizon, Cummins, Nike Golf, and Disney) to discuss the company’s inexcusable actions and what steps each will take to stop the abuse and mistreatment of its workers.”


The letter also demanded transparency in the investigation of the working conditions and the death of Linda Neal who died at XPO’s Verizon warehouse after passing out on the job last year. Workers attributed her death to the conditions in the warehouse.

“My friend and co-worker lost her life on the job because of the inexcusable inactions of XPO,” Lakeisha Nelson, worker at XPO’s Verizon facility, said. “Every day, XPO workers like me endure unfair, inhumane treatment and are exposed to threats to our physical and mental health. We’re standing up in the warehouses because we are human beings with value and worth and we’ve had enough.”

Monday the workers, joined by 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen and State Representatives Jessie Chism, and London Lamar, as well as Shelby County Commissioner Eddie Jones and well-known Memphis activist Earle Fisher, attempted to hand-deliver the letter to management, but were denied and locked out.

Afterward, in a press conference, Cohen said he was “disappointed” in the management’s lack of cooperation, calling the scene “disturbing.”

“I was very disappointed they [XPO management] wouldn’t accept the letter, which is an easy way to deal with this issue,” Cohen said. “I was disappointed they wouldn’t allow me to go in and talk to them and give them that letter. It shows a disrespect for public officials, for you as my constituents but also as workers.

“And, it also shows an inability to understand public relations and the fact that they work within a framework that includes the Department of Labor and the United States government, that they should have an interest in working with — the State of Tennessee as well as their State Representatives here. It’s been a disturbing scene to me, I don’t feel good about XPO Logistics. I didn’t feel good when I came out here and now I feel that the allegations that have been made have been confirmed to me in my mind, in the callous way they’ve treated us and treated me.”

[pullquote-2]

Deirdre Malone, president of the Memphis NAACP, echoed that sentiment, saying that she believes the claims of sexual harassment made by workers.

“It’s intolerable for them to work in a plant like this,” Malone said. “We believe the workers. We believe that sexual harassment does exist at this facility. We believe the workers. That’s the reason we’re here today and we’re going to let them know that we’re not going to tolerate it.”

This action comes after a group of the workers filed a complaint against XPO with the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for extremely hot working condition last month.

Employees said they experienced “instances of extreme heat leading to dizziness, dehydration, and fainting,” according to that complaint. During a three-day period, the heat index near the warehouse exceeded OSHA’s “extreme caution” threshold during the majority of working hours, workers said.

In June, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed complaints on behalf of two female employees at XPO’s Disney warehouse here for claims of sexual harassment and discrimination.

During the spring and early summer, current and former female employees at XPO warehouses statewide filed a total of 11 complaints with the EEOC for reports of sexual harassment including unwanted pushing, shoving, grabbing, and kissing by supervisors. Workers also reported that they faced retaliation for reporting harassment.

XPO Logistics, a $15 billion company, packages and distributes products for major brands, such as, Verison, Nike, Disney, and Home Depot.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Gonerfest 15: Saturday & Sunday

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

For this time-worn punter, nearly 12 hours of straight rocking out can seem intimidating, but in hindsight my Goner-rific day zipped by without a hitch. The daytime action, of course, is at Murphy’s Bar. Typically, I make straight for the outdoor stage, but the eerie pop sounds of Pscience stopped me in my tracks. Blending what could be classic big beat sixties tunes with odd harmonics and noise, this group, who only just had their first show earlier this month, has certainly hit upon a good psonic compound in their New Orleans-based laboratory.
Alex Greene

Negro Terror

Then Negro Terror appeared outside, and we heard a whole other kind of eerie. Their chords of doom revving up, the trio was perhaps the most cathartic band of the festival, as they directly addressed the ugly elephants in the room: recent stress over the the rise of fascist groups, and violence in the city. Singer Omar Higgins started with a dedication to Phil Trenary, the beloved president of the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce who was recently murdered. “Phil came to our shows. He understood the message,” said Higgins, before launching into raging hardcore riffage. He also reflected the general rage over the recent shooting of Martavious Banks by Memphis police officers, with the anthem, “All Cops Are Bastards (ACAB).” Higgins then dedicated their cover of Detain’s “Capital Punishment” to rapists, and quoted General Patton on the importance of killing Nazis. “Nazis!” Higgins called out, his hand raised in salute, until it became a thumbs-down. “Raus!!”

Michael Donahue

Exek

One longtime Gonerfest-goer commented later, “It’s been good to hear so many political songs at this Gonerfest. They usually have such apolitical punk, and the apathy always bugged me.”

But those in search of escape rather than confrontation didn’t have to wait long, for soon Australia’s Exek took the stage with a subtler sound. They betrayed no emotion as they earnestly led the crowd down a hypnotic spiral, sounding like the love child of Stereolab and early Wire. Propelling it all was a powerful bass and drums that at times recalled Sly and Robbie, sans any hint of white reggae. A fascinating blend.

Alex Greene

Exek

Then, even the most sedentary fans piled in to the bar’s smokey interior for one of the festival’s most anticipated shows, A Weirdo From Memphis (AWFM), backed up by the Unapologetic crew. DJ’d platters and a live band meshed seamlessly as AWFM proved his freestyle mettle, laced with satisfying expletives that caught the mood perfectly.

Michael Donahue

AWFM with fellow Unapologetics and Crockett Hall (far left).

Then it was back outside to hear the afternoon’s closer, Robyn Hitchcock. Given that all of his previous Memphis appearances, going back to 1990, were solo, this show, featuring a crack East Nashville band that included Wilco’s Pat Sansone on bass, arrived with heightened expectations. And they delivered, as the combo never missed a beat amid the jangling 6- and 12-string guitars, vocal harmonies, and driving Brit-pop beats. As with his old bands, the Soft Boys and the Egyptians, Hitchcock’s surreal lyrics cruised effortlessly above the delicate, yet pulsing, rock sounds.

Recalling his first Memphis show, 28 years ago, Hitchcock then tried to imagine what the world would be that many years hence. “No doubt they’ll be releasing the iPhone 21 around then. I may be gone, but I’ll live on in an app, so my ego can have the last laugh. You’ll be able to have the app compose songs exactly as I would. Or you’ll be able to mix and match songwriters, so it’ll compose in the style of, say, me, Tom Petty, and Joni Mitchell.”

The fading day echoed with many such flights of verbal fancy, in a wide-ranging set that included the Soft Boys’ “I Wanna Destroy You” and the Egyptians’ “Element of LIght” and “Listening to the Higsons.” They echoed up and down Madison Avenue as darkness fell, and all the little Goners readied themselves for the night.

Alex Greene

Robyn Hitchcock

Goner

NOTS as portrayed on Gonerfest 15 poster.

Not being quite ready for a long night myself, and being a teetotalling tea head, I supped some strong brew and victuals, missing out on Oh Boland and Amyl & the Sniffers, alas. Arriving at the Hi Tone as the NOTS played, I took some considerable hometown pride in the audience’s rave reaction to what the Goner program guide calls the city’s “synth/guitar squiggle punkers.” They did not disappoint, though it was tough to wedge into the packed room.

And then came a blast from the past, the fabulous Neckbones, once rightly hailed as rock’s saviors some 20 years ago. Newly reunited, they were in true form as they pummeled the crowd with what can only be called maximum R&B, old school rock-and-roll grooves amped up to 11, attacked with genuine ferocity by the Oxford, MS, quartet. Tyler Keith channeled a Southern preacher with his between-song rants, and drummer Forrest Hewes yelled out his gratitude for the audience’s frenzy in flurries of swear words.

Alex Greene

Neckbones

After that, Melbourne’s Deaf Wish, in the unenviable position of following the Neckbones, rose to the occasion with their thorny post-rock rock. There was plenty of noise and wiry, dissonant guitar, but the driving rhythms rocked hard, befitting a band just wrapping up a month long tour. They seemed elated to be ending their U.S. venture on such a Goner note. 
Alex Greene

Carbonas

And so the night’s endgame began, as the Carbonas, who gained much love in their prime over a decade ago, took the stage in their one-night-only, Goner-fueled reunion. Time seemed meaningless as they immediately regained all the chemistry that dissipated when they broke up. Though drummer Dave Rahn’s shirt implored us to “Kill the Carbonas For Rock and Roll,” it was the group that killed it on this night. A friend and neighbor confessed between songs that “this group helped me survive grad school,” and even this fan from back in the day was not disappointed. Nor was the still-packed house, all sporting happy faces as they filed out. 

R.L. Boyce

For some, the night raged on, of course. Eric Oblivian, not content to co-manage the festival, play with the Oblivians, and oversee the Murphy’s show with a child on his back, played Saturday night’s/Sunday morning’s after party with his old outfit, the AAAA New Memphis Legs. And then came Sunday at the Cooper-Young gazebo, featuring R.L. Boyce and Lightnin’ Malcom, as festival-goers bid adieu to their comrades until next year (?), or made plans to convene at Bar DKDC that night, to the groovy, basement-dredged sounds of Memphis’ own Hot Tub Eric. Farewell, Gonerfest 15, and many happy returns!