Month: April 2019

Categories
News News Blog

Leaders Convene to Address Opioid Epidemic in West Tennessee

A Shelby County Health Department representative speaks at the West Tennessee Opioid Summit


Through the occasional tear, a longtime Memphis journalist told the story of his 27-year-old daughter’s heroin overdose to a crowded room on Tuesday.

At the West Tennessee Opioid Summit, Ron Maxey of The Daily Memphian said it has been almost five years since he found his daughter’s lifeless body following a fatal overdose.

He said he tells her story so that people will understand the effect that opioid abuse can have on families.

Hundreds, including Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) officials, Memphis Fire and Police personnel, representatives of insurance carriers and pharmaceutical companies, law enforcement officials, and physicians gathered Tuesday to discuss the opioid epidemic in West Tennessee and brainstorm possible solutions.

The latest available data from the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) shows that of the 1,776 drug overdose deaths that occurred in the state in 2017, 1,268 of them were opioid related.

Nationwide, 30 Americans die every day from opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Memphis Police Department (MPD) director Michael Rallings said since he was appointed in 2016, he has gained a different perspective on the opioid crisis, recognizing its implications. Rallings said there are a lot of conversations about reducing violent crime, but not enough about the opioid epidemic.

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Across the country, there are about 17,000 homicides each year, but there are 70,000 drug-related deaths, Rallings said. Seventy percent of all crime here is related to drugs, Rallings added.

“We need to focus on some of the real problems,” Rallings said. “And this is one of those real problems. You don’t need the police director to come here and tell you we have a problem. We all know that we have a problem. The question becomes what are we going to do about it.”

Each quarter, Rallings said he meets with chiefs from police departments around the country to discuss major issues in their respective communities, and that the opioid epidemic is “at the top of the list.”

“So I’m worried about the future,” he said. “I’m worried about the future because we are hooked on drugs. We have a number of epidemics that we should be alarmed about. Not only do we have an opioid epidemic, but we have a public health emergency with mental illness.”

Rallings said “we cannot turn this epidemic into a law enforcement problem.”

To help reduce the number of overdoses here, Rallings said police officers are being trained to administer naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Of the 2,100 active MPD officers, Rallings said 1,379 officers have received training and carry the drug while on duty.

Since 2017, there have been 116 doses of naloxone administered here, resulting in 106 survivals.

Another way that the department is working to address the issue is with the Street Team for Opioid Prevention (STOP). STOP, a product of the Shelby County Opioid Epidemic Response Plan which was formed last year, is made up of law enforcement and other community partners.

STOP will focus on engaging residents through education, referrals to community resources, and harm reduction.

Later this month the team is slated to hold a community event at the former Applebees on Sycamore View — a hotbed for opioid use and distribution, Rallings said. The team, along with volunteers, will be there to provide assistance and resources to those using opioids.

Rallings said the group’s focus will be on prevention, education, and treatment: “We’re not there to lock anybody up.”

We’re going to ground zero. We’re going to go in there and see if we can make a difference. That’s one of our highest call areas, so we feel like that’s a great place to be.”

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Memphis is situated in a location where people can easily pass narcotics through, Assistant United States Attorney, Michelle Kimbril-Parks said.

The Department of Justice’s primary focus here is addressing the supply and demand, she said.

Under the Heroin Initiative, a collaborative effort of local enforcement agencies, Kimbril-Parks said every individual in the possession of an opioid who gets stopped or arrested is reviewed by law enforcement.

The primary question the team looks to answer is where did the drugs come from.

“We’re not just interested in the street suppliers,” Kimbril-Parks said. “We’re utilizing every tool in the toolbox to determine where this individual got this dope. We want to identify every individual in the chain and hold them accountable.”

Jerry Jones, an anesthesiologist at Regional One Health, talked about the risk factors that could lead to an opioid addiction, such as undergoing surgery. 

Jones said there are other ways to combat acute and chronic pain, such as nerve blockers. Even serious injuries don’t always require narcotics, he said. 

But, Jones said it would take a culture change for medical professionals to be willing to try alternative treatments. 

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Phillip Northcross, a doctor of internal medicine at LeBonheur Healthcare, agreed that there are other viable options to manage pain. Northcross said acupuncture, physical therapy, and lifestyle changes are a few of them. He also said that recent studies have shown that Tylenol and Ibuprofen can be very effective for managing pain.

However, he said it is hard to get patients who are used to being prescribed narcotics to try other options.

“They just don’t buy it,” Northcross said. “As physicians it’s our responsibility to change that thinking to get people to embrace other modes of pain treatment.”

After the presenters spoke, attendees of the conference broke into groups to brainstorm solutions to the opioid crisis here, focusing on the four pillars of the SCHD’s plan to address the epidemic: law enforcement and first responders, data usage and integration, prevention and education, and treatment and recovery.

Some of the solutions suggested include working to erase the stigma associated with opioid addiction, providing a holistic system of recovery, legalizing marijuana, and pushing elected officials and lawmakers to address the issue further through legislation, funding, and initiatives.

Officials with the SCHD said the real time solution produced by the groups will guide the department’s efforts to combat the crisis.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Court House Deli Closes Shop

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Owner Brad Peden closed his Court House Deli April 30th.

Ross McDaniel isn’t happy to hear Court House Deli was closing.

“No way,” says McDaniel, who works Downtown.

Then he says, “Try some of those voodoo wings one last time.”

After 17 and a half years, Court House Deli owner Brad Peden is calling it quits. Court House Deli closed for good about 3 p.m. April 30th.

“Business isn’t good and I can’t get any help,” Peden says. “I’ve been working free for months.”

A native Memphian, Peden took over Court House Deli, which originally was on Madison, from the previous owner because he wanted a “downtown lunch place” to serve his Cajun cuisine.

Business was good for a long time. “I’m like a Downtown staple.”

It got to the point where Peden and his 76-year-old mother, Mary Hiller, were doing all the work. With more restaurants open, construction going on next door (people thought he was closed, he says), and law firms, which used to be his big customers, moving out East —  all contributed to the closing. “I did enough business to keep the doors open.”

And, he says, his mother’s health problems are another reason he’s closing.

But, he says, Downtown “has been good to me,” he says. “It’s really hard.”

His specialities — all made from scratch — included his voodoo wings, which he boiled in crawfish seasoning before adding his mixture of sugar, honey, Cajun seasoning, and other ingredients. “Whatever happens to me next, I’m taking that sauce with me.”

Court House Deli wasn’t Peden’s first gig; he worked eight and a half years at Mortimer’s. He also worked at L&N Seafood Grill. And he was part owner of Jacques Cajun Cafe,” which was at Airways and Democrat. “I’ve been a chef my whole life.”

He didn’t make a big announcement he was closing Court House Deli. “I told a lot of people I like today was my last day. Everybody was sad to hear it.”

Peden says he’s got two and a half years left on his lease, so he’s leaving all the kitchen equipment in hopes he can find someone to take over his lease with a new restaurant.

For now, Peden says he’s going to take some time off. “I don’t know what’s next. I’m going to be a chef somewhere.”

Beckii Lee, one of his regulars, walks in the all-but-deserted restaurant. “We’re going to miss you,” she says. She then goes behind the counter and gives Peden a hug.

“Nobody can make chicken salad like he can,” says Lee, who lives Downtown and works at nearby Rachel’s Salon and Day Spa.

Lee is going to miss Court House Deli. “It’s always been home,” she says.

Michael Donahue

Beckii Lee gives Brad Peden a hug on his last day at Court House Deli.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Swanky’s Downtown Set to Open on Wednesday

The latest Swanky’s, in the Chisca space that once held LYFE Kitchen, is set to open Wednesday, May 1st.

This is Swanky’s third location.

Swanky’s had been looking for a Downtown location for a while.

Swanky’s owner Matt Wilson says, “So much happening in Downtown. It’s going to be our third store in Memphis. We looked Downtown for years and years and we haven’t found the right spot. And timing wasn’t right. We looked at One Commerce Square probably seven year ago. It didn’t work out.

“Now I feel there’s so much momentum for our great city and what’s going on Downtown. We cater to all sorts of clients, who have been asking for Swanky’s to come Downtown for a long time. Chase Carlisle brought the opportunity to my attention and we started talking about it late last spring.”

Categories
News News Blog

INFOGRAPHIC: Memphis Crime Rate (Slightly) Down

Airport March
Infogram

INFOGRAPHIC: Memphis Crime Rate (Slightly) Down

Categories
News News Blog

Advocates Urge New Direction for Homeless Shelter Plan

CREDIT: Full Build

Full Build

Rendering of planned facility

Homeless advocates urged local leaders to re-think an $8 million plan for a new shelter, and to use the money, instead, for permanent housing, warning that the shelter could become a “human zoo.”

Last week, members of the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Commission detailed plans for the relocation and expansion of the Hospitality Hub, an organization that assists homeless men and women, providing customized care, resources, and/or referrals in partnership with other organizations.

Mid-South Peace and Justice Center

Private funding totaling $5 million has already been secured for the facility. Local government leaders pledged $2.4 million over two years.

The new facility will be for women and is planned for the former city of Memphis Public Service Inspection Station on Washington. The shelter will house 32 women, who  can spend four to nine days and, in some cases, up to 30 days. The goal of the new effort, officials said, is to eliminate street-level homelessness within 30 months.

The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center (MSPJC) said Tuesday that the plan “is not what it seems” and that “while well-intentioned, is missing the mark.”

Mid-South Peace and Justice Center

Brad Watkins

“With a proposed price tag of over $5 million in private construction and renovation costs, and up to $2.4 million in city and county funding, we could provide real housing, not just temporary shelter, for as many as 150 households by expanding funding for existing city and county programs, from the city’s contribution alone,” Brad Watkins, MSPJC’s executive director, said in a statement. “It’s not always how much you spend, it’s what you spend it on.”

Watkins said the money would be better spent in the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Program, Rapid Rehousing, deposit and utility assistance, and Permanent Supportive Housing programs.

Thousands are now on a waiting list for housing through the Memphis Housing authority, Watkins said. Spending ”massive resources on a shelter for 32 individuals when there is likely no housing to place these people in afterwards, places a multi-million dollar cart in front of the proverbial horse.”
[pullquote-1] “In October of 2017, over 15,000 qualified local applicants for housing assistance were placed into a lottery for housing,” Watkins said. “The ‘winners’ didn’t get housing, they were simply added to the waiting list. This shows just how big of a gap there is when it comes to housing security.”

Further, MSPJC voiced concerns on the shelter’s proposed car wash, dog park, art garden, food trucks and outdoor rest “tubes.” Officials wondered who would work at the carwash and it they’d paid a living wage — “We doubt it.” Also, they asked “who are these amenities really for?”
Full Build

Layout of planned facility

”The risk is that (the shelter) becomes a ’human zoo,’ turning people experiencing homelessness a theme park spectacle while those with homes walk their dogs and enjoy food trucks,” reads a statement. “The cost is millions of dollars in overhead and salaries that won’t provide homes or move us closer to ending homelessness. The only thing this proposed shelter will do is absolve the guilt of those with homes who can now feel like progress is being made, even though it isn’t.”

Categories
News News Blog

Midtown Projects: New Overton Park Sidewalks; New Evergreen Mural

CREDIT: Amanda Gillvery

Amanda Gillvery

A rendering shows the west end of the sidewalk.

If you’re driving around Midtown, be on the lookout for these two projects to get underway soon.

Overton Park Sidewalk

Construction was set to being Monday on a new sidewalk for Overton Park. It’ll run on the north side of Poplar from Kenilworth to Veterans Plaza, according to the Bike/Ped Memphis blog.

Google Maps

The black line shows where the new sidewalk will go.

The overall project will also include ”a curb extension at the northeast corner of Kenilworth and Poplar, reconstruction of the median island on the north side of the same intersection, and crosswalk enhancements.”

“The goal of the project is to improve safe pedestrian access to Overton Park and the existing bus stops on this segment of Poplar, which are currently inaccessible by people using wheelchairs or other mobility devices,” reads the post by Nicholas Oyler, Bikeway & Pedestrian program manager for the city of Memphis.
Amanda Gillvery

The lack of an accessible path poses a hazard to people with limited mobility or child strollers, according to Oyler.

A later phase of the project will extend the new sidewalk east of Veterans Plaza to a future entrance plaza at Cooper, according to Oyler. The extension and plaza are currently under design, and should begin construction in the next two years.

As the sidewalk is built, the westbound, outside lane of Poplar will be closed from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. on weekdays. Construction is expected to last about 45 days.

Amanda Gillvery

A rendering shows the east end of the new sidewalk.


Evergreen Mural
Memphis College of Arts

A rendering shows what the mural might look like on the building.

A new mural may soon grace the west-facing wall of Evergreen Presbyterian Church, one that its designers say highlights “the pedestrian-friendly culture of the Evergreen Historic District.”

That mural is now up for approval by the Memphis Landmarks Commission. A final vote on the mural is set for the commission’s meeting on Thursday, May 23rd.

The mural was conceived by the Memphis College of Arts (MCA) office of Community Outreach and Student Affairs. Student artists Chongjin Won and Anna Bearman. Their design was informed by comments from Evergreen neighbors gathered at three listening sessions in January and February.

Here’s what the artists said about the design in their application to the Landmarks Commission:

“Our goal for the mural is to highlight the pedestrian friendly culture of the Evergreen Historic District. Evergreen is defined by its cohesive architecture, rich history, and sense of community. We find these features to be the defining characteristics of the neighborhood.”

“On any given evening, too will find the residents running, biking, walking or strolling through the neighborhood. As the evening winds down, you will find neighbors on their front porches chatting with one another with the gentle sound of the rustling leaves and cars passing in the distance.
Memphis College of Arts

An artist’s rendering of the mural.

”The design incorporated all of these elements into a mural that truly represents Evergreen Historic District. Set at the golden hour of dusk, our mural depicts the neighborhood teeming with activity: children playing, dogs being walked, parents strolling with their infants, and neighbors biking.”

Read the full application here: [pdf-1]

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Rev. John Wilkins

Music Video Monday is bringing it all together.

Last Saturday night, Beale Street Caravan held their annual Blowout party at Crosstown Arts, to celebrate moving to the Concourse. The finale of the hugely successful Blowout was a performance by Rev. John Wilkins. The current pastor of the storied Hunter’s Chapel in Como, Mississippi, Rev. Wilkins was returning from New Orleans, where he and his band, which includes his three daughters, played Jazz Fest.

Beale Street Caravan’s I Listen To Memphis series made a music video with Rev. Wilkins in 2018. Director Christian Walker and producer Waheed AlQawasmi captured the family singing “May The Circle Be Unbroken” live in the country church. Here to lift you up for the tough week ahead, is the Reverend.

Music Video Monday: Rev. John Wilkins

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

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Run to Glory?

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

American football is a strangely named sport. The ball is rarely kicked and such plays only make highlight shows when they prove decisive in a game. If you paid any attention at all to the doomed Alliance of American Football, you’ll know there are efforts to remove the kickoff from the game entirely. In a sport where cranial injuries are part of the story, helmeted heads colliding on kickoffs are especially vulnerable.
Larry Kuzniewski

Darrell Henderson

Then you have the running back. You know, the guy who makes a living by carrying the football, his feet taking him through gaps (however larger or small), toward the end zone, six points, and a glory dance. There was a time, not that long ago, when running backs shaped the way teams were built. Between 1977 and 1986, teams chose a running back with the first pick in the NFL draft five times. Alas, not one of those five players took the team that drafted him to the Super Bowl and only one (Earl Campbell) now has a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Last fall, the University of Memphis suited up an All-America running back, and the fastest player I’ve seen in a Tiger uniform. But Darrell Henderson had to wait until the third round when the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams selected him with the 70th pick in the draft. Ironically, Henderson will apprentice under one of the NFL’s few star running backs, two-time All-Pro Todd Gurley.

Another speed-demon who took some reps at running back for Memphis, Tony Pollard, waited even longer. The Dallas Cowboys selected the incomparable kick returner late in the fourth round on Saturday, with the 128th pick. Like Henderson, Pollard will join a team with a certifiable star at tailback, two-time rushing champ Zeke Elliott. The Cowboys also have one of the best offensive lines in football, with three All-Pros opening gaps for ball-carriers. Both Henderson and Pollard would seem to be in comfortable situations to begin their pro careers.

What are we to make of standout college ball-carriers getting the playground-nerd treatment on draft day? It’s an aerial game. Nine NFL players rushed for 1,000 yards in the 2018 season while 21 receivers caught passes for at least 1,000. If teams aren’t drafting the next Manning or Brady, they’re looking for men to stop the league’s star passers. Ten of the first 20 picks in this year’s draft were defensive linemen, with a premium on a new descriptor: edge rusher. (As in, player responsible solely for taking down the quarterback.) Three linemen from the same unit (national champion Clemson) were among the first 17 picks. These are the men Darrell Henderson and Tony Pollard will be dodging on Sundays for years to come.

• Can fans become the star attraction on game day? This seems to be reality for Memphis 901 FC, our new franchise in the USL Championship. The Bluff City Mafia has been loud and, somehow, proud, despite the local side providing little to chant about over its first four home games: three losses, a draw, and a grand total of one goal (thank you, Elliot Collier). Passion counts, though, and tends to be rewarded in the long run. So keep singing, ye BCM. Sunnier days ahead.

• On April 19th in St. Louis — two days after being promoted from the Memphis Redbirds — outfielder Lane Thomas became the 10th Cardinal to hit a home run in his first major-league at-bat. No other club in baseball has seen as many players make the ultimate intro. Remarkably, seven of those ten players went yard immediately after a promotion from Memphis, all over the last two decades. (The Cardinals have been playing in the National League since 1892.) In case you’ve forgotten the names of the other six (and three of them are pitchers): Keith McDonald (2000), Chris Richard (2000), Gene Stechschulte (2001), Adam Wainwright (2006), Mark Worrell (2008), and Paul DeJong (2017).

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

Radical: Tennessee Shakespeare Gets Active, Playhouse Gets Orwell + More

Twelfth Night

“Nation-wide, it is a period of radical absolutism: unapologetic racism, anti-Semitism, and sexism among a population and leadership struggling with the pervasiveness of one religion (over science) and fighting to prevent immigrants from entering its borders. The government is widely suspected of collusion with foreign adversaries while its own citizens’ rights are drained of protection,” so begins the synopsis to the Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s regional premier of Speak What We Feel, a  compiled script subtitled, Shakespeare’s radical response to a radical time.

While the setup may sound familiar, the place that’s being described is Elizabethan England. TSC founding director Dan McCleary will be joined onstage by Stephanie Shine, Darius Wallace, Merit Koch, Blake Currie, Nic Picou, Carmen-maria Mandley, and Shaleen Cholera. Together they will explore Shakespeare’s “radical response,” to all these things and more.

Speak What We Feel employs scenes from Richard III, Measure for Measure, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Coriolanus, The Tempest, Merchant of Venice and Othello.

Here’s a video of McLeary talking about Speak What We Feel:

Radical: Tennessee Shakespeare Gets Active, Playhouse Gets Orwell + More

2+2=5

While we’re on the topic of radical things, 1984 continues at The Circuit Playhouse this weekend. From the review: 

“Adaptations give us a chance to explore specific narrative threads and shine new light through old windows. In this case, exposing the audience to low grade torture techniques by way of flickering or flashing light, grating inescapable sound, triggering imagery and making us all hold our pee through the intermission-free show, drowns out a more interesting theme struggling to escape a relentlessly bleak event’s sadistic gravity: Are our heroes, villains, allies and enemies all fictional constructs? Have they always been? By the time this idea expresses itself in dialogue, we’re, once again, too agitated to see the elusive bigger picture. Maybe that’s also the point.” [MORE]

And while on the subject of Shakespeare, Twelfth Night continues at Theatreworks.
From the review: 

“If you want some measure of just how good William Shakespeare was on his best days, look no further than the New Moon Theatre Company’s gag-packed production of Twelfth Night, a romantic comedy teetering at the edge of farce. Jokes can be fragile things, losing their punch with time, as sensibilities evolve. But 418 years after he wrote it down, Twelfth Night’s jokes still land on their feet, and stumble hilariously into pratfall. This latest revival is curiously uneven but still bursts with life and laughter at TheatreWorks.” [MORE]

Those in the mood for something a little less radical and/or Shakespeare related may want to drop in on a completely different kind of classic. Theatre Memphis is staging George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner.

Via Theatre Memphis: 

“Sheridan Whiteside’s fall while dining at the home of prominent socialites makes him an unexpected guest for six weeks of recovery. The hosts, however, are most in need of recovery as Whiteside invites in the glamorous and famous as a three-ring circus of comic chaos grows to include a luncheon for homicidal convicts and a complete children’s choir.”

Whiteside is a critic, naturally, and based on Alexander Woollcott, the ostensible leader of New York’s Algonquin Round Table. Whiteside’s played by Memphis actor and director, Jason Spitzer. 

Spitzer v Woollcott

Categories
Music Music Blog

Frank Turner Still Believes In America, Rock ‘n’ Roll, & The Lansky Brothers

Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls


Right here, right now, Elvis brings his children home.
Right here, right now, you never have to feel alone.
Right here, right now, teenage kicks and gramophones.
We hold them in our hearts.

With the words from his song “I Still Believe” ringing in my ears, I answered a phone call from Frank Turner, the English singer, songwriter, and writer who has enjoyed a decade’s worth of hit records in the best possible sense: not manufactured beats and songs written by a committee, but honest, well crafted gems by one human trying to make sense of the world. It helps that he backs up his strum-along numbers of such wit and poignancy with the onslaught of his longtime band, the Sleeping Souls, seeming to give the legacy of Billy Bragg an extra kick for the 21st Century. And those lyrics about Elvis, from a song about the redemptive power of rock ‘n’ roll, will ring truer than ever this Saturday, when he and the Sleeping Souls play Graceland. I asked him about his latest work and the challenge of playing trenchant, socially-aware music in this day and age.

Memphis Flyer: It seems your work is in keeping with a great tradition of political song from the British Isles.

Frank Turner: With the most recent record I made, Be More Kind, I definitely was dipping my toe into making kind of public political statements again, in a way that I haven’t done for a few records. Which I felt compelled to do because of what was happening around me, both in America and in the U.K., where, as I’m sure you know, we have our own share of ridiculous arguments to be having right now. For me personally, my taste in punk rock was always more American than English, with the possible exception of the Clash. Political music for me, when you say that I think of Bad Religion and Propagandhi. And bands like that. That particular take on the politicized punk rock thing.

Do you ever worry that your new song “Make America Great Again” could be appropriated by the right the way Reagan used “Born in the USA”? [Sample lyric: “Let’s make America great again! By making racists ashamed again!”]

FT: Yeah, I know that story. I think it would be a serious lapse of judgment on behalf of anybody who was working for the Trump campaign to try and use my song. That song in particular was one that I wondered about putting out there, because life is easier if you don’t make thorny political statements. And certainly I went through a few years where I wasn’t talking about politics in my music. And I slept better and I had lower blood pressure.

But the reason I felt comfortable putting it out was that it was kind of unbidden. It just kind of arrived. I felt the need to say these things. And that felt honest to me. In terms of the actual reaction that the song has received…I mean, when you’re on the coasts, let’s say, people are kind of into it. But even so, I’ve had some pretty cool grown up conversations with people who fall on the other side of the political divide for me. Which is kind of the point, in the sense that what the whole record’s about is the fact that I feel like we’ve stopped having grown up political conversations. So it’s kind of nice here and there to have some, you know, reasoned back and forth with people. That sort of thing we need more of.

I just feel that every one’s in this massive hurry to not listen to the people that they disagree with, which I think is not a particularly adult way of conducting a debate. So I’m not saying everyone should agree. We won’t. Human beings don’t agree with each other, that’s written into our political DNA. But we need to find a way to conduct our disagreements in a civil and adult fashion, and that seems to be the thing that we’re all collectively losing sight of right now.

I have some extremely progressive left wing friends, and I have conservative friends. And they’re all intelligent people in good faith, and they deserve to be listened to. The solution to our problems lies in the middle, and it always has been and always will be. The problem for me is when the two different approaches to life become incommunicable. Right now people take pride, they take pleasure in fighting people they disagree with. And I think that’s actually a sign of weakness. The first thing I was told about political debate when I was a kid was that you should be able to inhabit your opponent’s mental universe, if only to defeat their arguments better. And if you just turn around and say ‘I can’t understand anything you’re saying,’ well then it’s like, try harder.

Musically, the new record has some really subtle arrangements and rhythmic elements, beyond the solid song structures and sharp lyrics.

FT: If there’s ever a point in my career as a writer where I’m allowed to take some risks and some experiments, some left hand musical turns, then it would be on album seven. I think I’ve earned the right at that point. And it was really fun. One of the things this time around was, the band and I, we didn’t work up any arrangements at all before we got to the studio. Which is very different from how I’ve done things in the past. In the past, I tended to show up at the studio with the band very well drilled, knowing exactly what we’re gonna play and how it’s gonna go. And a lot of the time that’s just been out of necessity, in the sense that we’ve only got eight days to make a record, and not enough money and all the rest of it. This time around I had the schedule and the money and the wherewithal and the will to really take my time and to use the studio as a tool, and to let the songs grow and develop in the manner of their own choosing, in the context of the studio. And that led me into some very different arrangements and different sonic textures and that sort of thing. It was really fun.

Funnily enough, I’ll actually be joining you in Boston, at one of your Lost Evenings III shows at the House of Blues — playing bass for Cory Branan.

FT: Amazing! I love Cory! Cory’s one of my absolute favorite people in the world. We’ve done a handful of shows together and we have a lot of mutual friends — Jason Isbell and Jon Snodgrass and people like that. The thing about Cory for me is, almost every songwriter I know is slightly embarrassed by his existence, in the sense that he’s just better than all of us. And should be more successful than any of us. And we’re all just slightly like, ‘Oh man, that Cory Branan’s so f*cking good.’ So actually yeah, I’m extremely excited to have him on the bill for the festival. It’s been too long since we did a show together. That motherf*cker can play guitar as well. He can shred.

Will this be a full band show for you at Graceland on Saturday? And what does being in Memphis mean to you?

FT: I’ve been through Memphis once or twice in my time. And the boys from Lucero raised me right, in the sense that, if I had to pick a town in Tennessee I’d probably pick Memphis over Nashville.

Yes, I have the Sleeping Souls with me Saturday. And in fact the rest of the bill for that show is really great. We’ve got my friends in Murder By Death playing as well, who are amazing. And then one of my favorite humans in the world, Tim Barry. So it’s a hell of a lineup in my opinion.

My other engagement, when I’m in Memphis on Saturday is, I’m gonna make a little stop at Lansky Brothers. I’m getting married in August this year, and I’m planning on getting a Lansky Brothers suit for my wedding.

Brilliant. That bodes well for this sacred union…

FT: Yeah, well, my missus won’t let me dress as Elvis from the 1970s at the wedding, but she will tolerate a Lansky Brothers suit. 

Frank Turner Still Believes In America, Rock ‘n’ Roll, & The Lansky Brothers