Month: February 2019

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Conley and Gasol’s Possible Farewell Brings Mixed Emotions

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Today the remaining two members of the Memphis Grizzlies’ “Core Four” era could be playing their final home game for the team they have played for their entire careers. Mike Conley and Marc Gasol have been involved in several trade rumors after it was recently announced that Grizzlies owner Robert Pera was willing to trade the
Larry Kuzniewski

m before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.

The Grizzlies play at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday night, before a road game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. I would expect the Tuesday game to be emotional for the fans and media members, who could be seeing Gasol and Conley for the final time in Beale Street Blue. I’m also sure that there will be a tone of emotion from both Gasol and Conley, as they reflect on the possibility of playing their final home game for Memphis.

The possibility of both franchise stalwarts being traded creates a unique situation for the Grizzlies. For a franchise with a relatively short history, compared to others in the league, Conley and Gasol represent the first long-tenured, accomplished players who are having a farewell tour, so to speak. Both players have played for Memphis since their rookie seasons, and Gasol, of course, attended Lausanne High School here in Memphis, while his brother Pau played for the Grizzlies. 

We’ve watched these two now-established veterans grow literally from being boys to men. We’ve watched them change in appearance and body frame over the years, and we’ve seen them get married, have kids, and become a part of the community — on and off the court. The thought of Conley and Gasol not being a part of the Grizzlies is a difficult one to comprehend, but one that, as far this season’s trade deadline is concerned, is definitely a possibility.

It has been reported that the Grizzlies covet draft picks and young prospects in any trade, and some reports also suggest that they desire expiring contracts in return for either of their stars. Many trade scenarios include the Grizzlies gaining players with warts and flaws that the team believes could be less worrisome in a different environment. Others have suggested that the organization should consider Conley’s and Gasol’s accomplishments and contributions and choose a destination for them that is mutually beneficial to the Grizzlies and the two players.

Larry Kuzniewski

I don’t think that that should be a factor. The NBA is a business, and a shrewd one, at that. Teams have a limited window of success, and in a small market like Memphis, that window can have a screen, bars on the outside, and be quickly painted over, if opportunity isn’t seized and handled intelligently. There have been complaints that the Grizzlies organization failed Conley and Gasol by not providing an adequate supporting cast for them during their time here — especially recently.

I am personally fine with considering the possibility that Gasol and Conley were also the product of their other two Core Four members, and instead of being a two-man tandem, were part of a quartet that needed all four members to truly make hit music.

The Core Four was like a concept album. A beautiful creation built around Grit n’ Grind, where if you were to separate the various songs from the whole record, they don’t hold the same weight. Yes Conley and Gasol have been vital to this organization, but why do they deserve a better send off than Zach Randolph and Tony Allen received, which was nothing? They both played their entire final season expecting to be back, and wanting to come back, only to be told (or not told) that they weren’t welcome.

Could a trade be announced tonight in the middle of the game, leading to an awkward but potentially amazing moment? Possibly. Or will we see Conley and Gasol make it past the trade deadline and keep playing for Memphis for years to come? The one thing that is definite is that the NBA trade deadline is Thursday, and two of the city’s adopted sons might be playing their final home game here. It’s one game that I won’t miss — even though I might not miss these two players as much as others will.

Categories
Fly On The Wall Blog Opinion

Sick Burn — Gannett: MNG “Not Credible”; MNG: “Gannett’s not Believable.”

Is it just me or is reality bending to look more like reality TV all the time?

In case you missed the news, Gannett has rejected a “vulture capital” firm’s proposal to acquire the USA Today newspaper network and parent company to The Commercial Appeal.

Not only did Gannett reject MNG/Digital First Media’s proposal, they also characterized the deal as being “not credible.” That’s not a complete surprise since the deal’s prospects have ranged from “who knows?” to “it’s all a sham” since it was announced and the market voiced its soulless approval.

“Buying Gannett is a tall task…I’m not sure Alden can get the financing to buy Gannett,” a media banker told The New York Post last week. The Post‘s story went on to note, “In fact, sources say that MNG’s ambition for years has been to be acquired by Gannett — and some speculate that friendly talks have already begun.”

TWIST!

But Gannett’s rejection was unsubtle: “Indeed, given MNG’s refusal to provide even the most basic answers to Gannett’s questions, it appears that MNG does not have a realistic plan to acquire Gannett.” Shortly after the announcement MNG took its beef live.

Via ADWEEK:

MNG said in a statement that Gannett was the one to set up roadblocks to the discussion, which demonstrated that it was “not interested in seriously evaluating our premium cash proposal.”

MNG went on to say that Gannett’s plan for its digital businesses was “pie in the sky” and “not believable.”

This is in keeping with previous disses from Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund behind MNG/Digital First, which had previously released statements dogging “the team leading Gannett” for having, “not demonstrated that it’s capable of effectively running this enterprise.”

“The Death Star of Newspaper Chains,” as  MNG had been called, still publicly insists that Gannett overpaid for digital assets and is currently “presiding over a declining core business,” and cash flow. “Gannett’s deep structural problems are better fixed by experienced operators such as MNG,” MNG concluded.

Maybe this is all over now. Sniping happens when mergers loom. Still, it would make better television if, as the New York Post and Nieman Lab have considered, all this shit talk was just Alden Global secretly hoping to get with failed Gannett so the so called “pie in the sky” company could manage its newspaper properties too.    

Categories
Music Music Blog

IMAKEMADBEATS Wows an Inspired TEDx Conference

CREDIT: Gabbie Duffie

Gabbie Duffie

When the TEDx Memphis team, who work with TED to set up locally-focused TED Conferences, planned this year’s roster of speakers, it’s no surprise that one of them turned out to be James Dukes, aka IMAKEMADBEATS. For years, we’ve chronicled the work he and Unapologetic, the collective he founded, have done in and around the city. Creating great music is what they’re best known for, though they also have fingers in the worlds of apparel, journalism, and more. With Unapologetic’s brand gaining wider attention, purely out of gumption and productivity, it’s clear that they’re a perfect fit for the TED aesthetic.

Gabbie Duffie

And yet, as Dukes himself explained, he never imagined he’d be embraced as a public speaker. Indeed, this observation formed the basis of his talk last Saturday at the Crosstown Theater. “I’m nervous as hell,” he began. “But I’m gonna do this anyway. How does a black man wearing a mask, who’s spent most of his life stuttering, mumbling, suffering from high levels of social anxiety, end up on a TEDx stage, talking to hundreds of people? Maybe thousands via the internet?”

What followed was his life in a nutshell, a troubled childhood that nonetheless taught him the power of hard work and empathy for others. And ultimately, those roots led him to the epiphany he communicated to the TEDx audience that day: that such empathy can in fact empower one’s self to greater achievements.

If empathy is not what listeners are used to hearing from the Memphis trap music that’s conquering the world now, it’s understandable. But dig deeper into hip hop’s diversity, and you’ll see the genre is rife with literary character studies, from Schooly D, L.L. Cool J,  De La Soul, and Busta Rhymes, to Kendrick Lamar, recent winner of the Pulitzer Prize. All are artists building from their empathy.

Many of Saturday’s talks were focused on the power of unique visions and unorthodox approaches (this is TED, after all). The unique insight Dukes offered was how deeply intertwined our individuality is with empathy and the needs of others. It was an observation in which his own collective and the Memphis music scene in general, known for over half a century as oddballs, can take great pride. 

To be sure, Dukes had the support of his crew to make the sense of community palpable. As emcee Eric Barnes introduced Dukes, who should appear onstage but Unapologetic singer Cameron Bethany came instead. Sitting at the back of the stage, he began by singing “No matter what you go through… be you.”  Dukes himself appeared a moment later, setting up a sample board that he would use to underscore points in his talk. He might say the word “alienation” and then trigger it as an echoed kernel of meaning that reverberated over the speech that followed.

Such theatricality was a new approach for this longtime fan of TED Talks. Indeed, while TED Talks are often punctuated by visual cues on a slideshow screen, Duke’s presentation, though sporting a few visual markers, brought a more sonic orientation to the proceedings, which in turn, through the amorphous, immersive qualities of sound, drove home his points about nurturing individuality in a nest of social interdependence.  Gabbie Duffie

This was further emphasized when Aaron James and A Weirdo From Memphis (AWFM) also joined Dukes onstage, sitting unassumingly on stools, silently dramatizing certain moments from Duke’s life, or simply bearing witness to his words. When James removed his shirt, you could say that TEDx had been officially “DisrupTEDx,” as Duke’s T-shirt proclaimed. At that moment, the audience could viscerally feel the vulnerability that Dukes was speaking of, best expressed in some of his closing thoughts on the how pursuing your uniqueness can feed the needs of others:

“Framing it as for someone else gives me purpose, and I can’t let that person down. Secrets don’t start movements. Uncovering them does. Someone is waiting on you to be you. Extremely you. Awkwardly you. Effortlessly you. Vulnerably you. Unapologetically you.”

Dukes concluded his talk, and the applause was thunderous, the cheers ecstatic. I guarantee that every audience member exited out into the world more ready to be their own bad self, and get on with something big.

Watch this page for a link to TEDx Memphis’ video of his entire presentation, when available in the near future.  Gabbie Duffie

Categories
News News Blog

Public Meeting Planned Ahead of Hampline Completion

CREDIT: Alta Planning + Design.

Alta Planning + Design.

As the city gears up to complete the Hampline — a protected bike and pedestrian corridor through Binghampton — there is a public meeting to discuss the project planned for Tuesday, February 5th.

At the meeting, the public will have an opportunity to learn about the project’s history, final design, timeline, and implementation process.

The meeting will also give the community a chance to bring up any concerns they have about the construction.

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Installing earlier portions of the Hampline

The Hampline has been in the works for eight years, according to the city. Previous phases of the $2 million project included an off-street paved path from the Overton Park Bike Plaza to Broad, decorative bus stop shelters, and public art.


Once completed, the Hampline will be a two-mile-long bicycle and pedestrian path through Binghampton down Broad, connecting the Shelby Farms Greenline to Overton Park. The corridor, a two-way cycle track, will be separated from vehicle traffic with a raised median.

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The project will also add enhanced pedestrian crossings, upgrades to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act standards, landscaping, and the city’s first bicycle-specific traffic signal at Sam Cooper and Hale.

The Hampline meeting will be Tuesday from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. at the Lester Community Center on Tillman.

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Jeff Hulett

Today’s Music Video Monday goes walkabout.

I’m not talking about Nicholas Roeg’s 1971 film about Australian childhood, which Indie Memphis and filmmaker Lynn Sachs will present on February 20th. I’m talking about walking. “Bones”, Jeff Hulett’s second video from his Around These Parts album, was created with the help of the singer/songwriter’s far flung friends. Folks from all over the country sent Hulett videos of themselves (and others) walking. The result is a short, fun, engaging video. Check it out:

Music Video Monday: Jeff Hulett

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

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

No More Plastic Bags at Cordelia’s Market

Cordelia’s Market in Harbor Town has made the decision to get rid of its plastic bags, effective today.

And, it’s having a party to celebrate!

Kroger announced last summer that it plans to do away with plastic bags by 2025. Last fall, the city council discussed plans to tax consumers for each plastic bag used. I believe Cordelia’s is the first Memphis-area market to do away with the bags.

“The environment,” says Erica Humphreys on the reason why Cordelia’s made this move.

Humphreys, who is a manager at Cordelia’s, says that plastic bags are just no good. They aren’t recyclable and it takes up to 1,000 years for a bag to fully degrade, and they junk up the ocean.

Humphreys says they had been thinking about it for a while and starting feeling out their customers’ reactions at the register. The ban was well received. Cordelia’s will offer paper bags for those who don’t bring a reusable bag.

Today at the market, 3,000 reusable bags will be given away and for those who bring their own mug, there’s free coffee, and discount beer for those who bring their own pint glass. 

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

41 in 20

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

I spent the better part of last weekend trying to process what I saw early Saturday when Memphis point guard Jeremiah Martin scored 41 points in one half of a basketball game at USF. It’s the rare athletic performance one knows will not be witnessed again. A player with a career average of less than 15 points per game, with a career-high — for an entire game — of 33 points does not score 41 points in 20 minutes. But that’s precisely what the pride of Mitchell High School did on Saturday in Tampa, Florida.
Larry Kuzniewski

Jeremiah Martin

How does Martin’s Groundhog Day measure historically in these parts? Consider that only five Tigers have scored more than 41 points in an entire game. (The program record is 48 points by Larry Finch  against St. Joseph’s on January 20, 1973.) No Memphis player had scored as many as 40 since December 13, 1997 (Marcus Moody). Martin almost won the American Athletic Conference scoring title as a junior last season . . . but with an average of 18.9 points per game. He had scored as many as 30 — in a game — only twice before. For him to score more than two points per minute for an entire half of basketball? I was looking for that Blood Wolf Moon days after the celestial phenomenon had passed.

But here’s the uncomfortable sidebar to Martin’s extraordinary scoring surge: Where was Martin in the first half? In falling behind 27-1 over the game’s first 10 minutes, the Tigers played 30 minutes of catch-up basketball that required something Herculean — from somebody, anybody — just to make the game interesting. And against a team projected to finish dead last in the AAC. (USF, now 15-6, is making a nice statement on the credibility of preseason coaches’ polls.) Martin is as guilty as all his teammates (particularly his fellow starters) and the entire Tiger coaching staff for serial somnolence at tip-off this season, particularly when Memphis is playing on the road. Providing an opponent a 10-point cushion before the first media timeout is a prescription for stressful play. There are Tiger fans who missed Martin’s outburst because they turned the game off before halftime. 27-1? It was a warm, sunny Saturday in the Mid-South. Game off.

I kept watching the game. Started counting the three-pointers Martin made: three … five … eventually seven. Watched a player who averaged 2.7 points and 13.8 minutes as a freshman heat up like no Tiger ever has before. Not Finch, not Keith Lee, not Martin’s acclaimed and decorated head coach. It was unforeseen and unnatural. Sadly, it was part of a Memphis loss, so it will be swept away in the cliche we know and love best: “Individual performances mean nothing if the team doesn’t win.”

For those of us who saw Jeremiah Martin score 41 points in 20 minutes, it does, in fact, mean something. A legitimate lightning strike on the hardwood, and generated by one of the most likable Tigers to suit up this century. Here’s hoping “Peso” can spread his impact a bit more evenly over the season’s final month. But for that one game — that one half — on Groundhog Day in Tampa? Thank you.

• The Cincinnati Bearcats are not the Louisville Cardinals, but there’s no greater Memphis rival in the American Athletic Conference. Thursday night at FedExForum, Penny Hardaway will coach for the first time against the program that beat his Tigers three times in the 1991-92 season, including a 31-point beatdown in the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Regional final. These teams have played 77 times since 1968 (Memphis has won 44). Long before the AAC formed in 2013, they competed as members of the Missouri Valley Conference, then later the Metro, Great Midwest, and Conference USA. Cincinnati has brought villains to the Bluff City (Nick Van Exel, Danny Fortson, and Steve Logan to name just three) and Bearcats have been on the floor for historic Tiger wins (Larry Finch’s last as Memphis coach in 1997).  The Bearcats (19-3 and 8-1 in the AAC) are playing at a level Hardaway and his team have yet to reach. As Thursday opens a new chapter in this 50-year rivalry, the Tigers hope their revitalized home-court advantage might close the gap, at least for one night.

Categories
News News Blog

Gannett Rejects MNG Purchase Deal

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

Gannett Co.’s board of directors unanimously rejected MNG Enterprises’ offer to buy the company, calling the proposal “not credible” and saying it undervalued Gannett.

MNG proposed buying the newspaper company, owner of The Commercial Appeal, earlier this month, in an unsolicited deal worth $12 per share. The move left many to worry that the company would lay off even more staff at Gannett papers to drive profitability.

But Gannett board chairman Jeffry Louis said the board is optimistic about the company’s future and its digital strategy.

“Our board of directors is confident that Gannett has significant value creation potential,” Louis said in a statement. “Our vision and pursuit of our digital transformation, combined with our USA Today Network strategy, enables us to serve more directly and efficiently the persistent demand of our audiences and customers to engage with their communities.

“We believe that our future — and that of the industry — turns on thoughtful investments in journalism and marketing solutions, so we can deliver engagement when, where, and how our audiences and customers demand it. Delivering on this purpose will deliver value to our shareholders and benefit the communities we serve.”

“We know there are challenges that face us and our industry. We firmly believe, however, that given our operational expertise, our focus on evolving our business model, and our unwavering commitment to remaining a trusted source of news, we are uniquely positioned to grow this company and its valuable assets.”
[pullquote-1] A news release from Gannett early Monday morning provided some interesting details of the deal proposed by MNG. The company’s actions — before and since its public proposal — “suggest that MNG’s proposal is not credible,” according to Gannett.

MNG did not talk to Gannett officials before a story of the offer appeared in The Wall Street Journal. Gannett received a letter from MNG a day after the story ran, even though “MNG and Gannett management are well known to one another and in fact are partners in significant operations.”

MNG did not give Gannett any information on how it would finance the deal and “failed to address potential regulatory risks and other fundamental issues that Gannett considered important.” Gannett leaders did meet with MNG officials but left with unanswered questions.

“Gannett posed questions to MNG that are routinely addressed by someone making a credible, public, unsolicited takeover proposal: Can MNG fund it? Can MNG close it?” according to Gannett.
[pullquote-2] Without the information, Gannett leaders said they felt uncomfortable signing a non-disclosure agreement with MNG. Gannett said they asked for written responses to questions that would not have required MNG to disclose confidential information. But MNG would not give them any more information about how it would execute the deal.

“In light of this, Gannett now questions MNG’s motives and can only conclude that the proposed nondisclosure agreement is a distraction designed to mask MNG’s inability to finance and complete the proposed transaction,” reads Gannett’s news release. “Indeed, given MNG’s refusal to provide even the most basic answers to Gannett’s questions, it appears that MNG does not have a realistic plan to acquire Gannett.”

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

USF 84, Tigers 78

The Tigers played two of the most historic halves in program history Saturday at USF. The end result: a third loss in four games.

Senior point guard Jeremiah Martin scored 41 points, becoming only the eighth Memphis player to put up 40 in a game (and the first since December 1997). And he scored all 41 after halftime.

Unfortunately for Martin and his teammates, there was a first half in Tampa. Memphis missed its first 16 shots from the field and was gored in a running of the Bulls, falling behind 27-1 before Kyvon Davenport scored the team’s first field goal of the contest. The Tigers missed 24 of 28 shots from the field in the first half and committed 14 turnovers on the way to a 38-13 deficit at the break.

Then Martin took over. The pride of Mitchell High School buried his seventh three-pointer of the second half with 32 seconds left to close the deficit to six points (82-76). But Memphis would get no closer, exchanging field goals with the Bulls before the final buzzer. The 65 second-half points are the most Memphis has scored in a period this season.

David Collins led USF with 20 points as the Bulls improved to 15-6 for the season and are now tied with Memphis in the American Athletic Conference with a 5-4 league mark. The Tigers dropped to 13-9 with the loss.

Davenport scored 13 points off the Tiger bench. No other Memphis player reached double figures in the scoring column. Davenport, Mike Parks, and Isaiah Maurice each fouled out.

The Tigers return to FedExForum Thursday night when they’ll host Cincinnati. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Below are the previous 40-point games in Memphis history:

• February 17, 1942: Leslie Steele (42)
• December 11, 1953: Dick Kinder (44)
• December 1, 1955: Win Wilfong (40)
• December 7, 1955: Forest Arnold (46)
• January 20, 1973: Larry Finch (48)
• January 30, 1991: Elliot Perry (42)
• December 13, 1997: Marcus Moody (41)

Categories
News News Blog

New Tom Lee Park Design Unveiled

CREDIT: Sutdio Gang

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Construction of the newly unveiled design for Tom Lee Park could begin as early as June and be finished as early as December 2020, according to the Mississippi River Parks Partnership (MRPP).

The public is now invited to a new Tom Lee Park engagement center inside Beale Street Landing (where the gift shop with shirts that read “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” used to be) to see the vision for the park.

For hours and more information on the engagement center, see our previous story here.

That new design is a blend of landscaping and architecture meant to mimic and restore some of the 30-acre river park’s natural ecology and better connect the city to the river.

It features cutouts of the river bank on the east side of Riverfront Drive to offer places to explore and places to sit. The design adds an outdoor activity court that could be used for everything from basketball games to concerts. Tom Lee Park visitors of the future can also expect spaces for education, sports, recreation, play, events and amenities like a cafe, concessions, lockers, storage, and bathrooms.

Water features, trees, gently sloping hills, and riverfront seating break up the now-vast, now-flat, now-wide-open Tom Lee Park.

MRPP hired two firms — Studio Gang and SCAPE — to deliver the plan. MRPP president Carol Coletta promised Friday the plan will be executed and will not sit on a shelf.

Designers laid out their vision for the park in four distinct zones, laid out from the north end of the park at Beale Street Landing to the wilder, more-remote south end of the park. Designers said the zones are inspired by unique features of the Mississippi River and all flow together for a variety of uses.

Here’s how the designers describe the four zones: 


The Gateway: A welcoming new connection linking Downtown Memphis to the riverfront will bring new life to the east side of Beale Street Landing, create a universally -accessible pathway down the bluff from Beale Street, and welcome visitors in a new entry plaza that can accommodate public gatherings, art installations, and festival tents.

The Riffle: Modeled after the pattern of river water flowing over stones, the park’s central zone is defined by dynamic topography that shapes areas for relaxation and play, activity courts shaded by a signature canopy for everyday use (from basketball to yoga, dance, and fitness classes) and special events, and river-facing overlooks and “eco edges” that give visitors an intimate experience of the water.

The Pool: A network of open lawns that act as the park’s anchors for field activities and large events, designed to accommodate signature events including the Beale Street Music Festival. The pools support large and small festivals, and everyday recreation like field sports, picnics, kite flying, or playing fetch.

The Tailout: At the southern end of the park, where its landscape becomes more wild, active, and accessible, recreation paths lead to an outdoor learning and play area where children and adults find hands-on opportunities to connect with nature. A large outdoor classroom will host STEM programs facilitated by a scientist-in-residence.

The dramatic Habitat Tower provides an attractive structure for birds to nest and rest and a memorable gathering space where park visitors can feel as if they’re hovering above the Mississippi — taking in views of the water and, after sundown, the Mighty Lights.