Month: May 2019

Beer and Bagel Run Set for June 8th

Post author By Susan Ellis
Post date May 30, 2019

The Beer and Bagel run was birthed 25 years ago in Omaha, Nebraska. The first year, a couple dozen ran, but it has grown from there and is now expanding into other cities.

The first Memphis Beer and Bagel Off-Road Race will be held on June 8th.

Joe Dann has been charged with transplanting the run to Memphis. It will be held on the Wolf River Greenway and is four-ish miles. The specific route is a surprise.

There will be surprises during the race as well. Hint: It’s Sasquatch!

So what does Sasquatch have to do with running, beer, and bagels? “He just loves it,” answers Dann simply. And the runners love getting their pictures taken with him too.

And where does the beer and bagels come in? Runners will be able to carb-load post-race on Dave’s Bagels and beer from Wiseacre.

The swag bag is pretty cool, too, says Dann. Runners get a medal and a runner’s long-sleeve T-shirt.

Proceeds benefit the Wolf River Greenway.

Dann says finding the right cities is crucial to expanding the concept. Dallas for example was deemed too large. But Memphis is just right.

“We were looking for a city that was looking for us,” Dann says.

Memphis Gaydar News

Memphis 901 FC Hosts Pride Night

Post author By Toby Sells
Post date May 30, 2019

CREDIT: Memphis 901 FC

Memphis 901 FC

Memphis 901 FC hosts its first Pride Night on Saturday, June 8th to help raise awareness for OUTMemphis and the Bluff City Sports Association.

The 901 FC takes on Indy Eleven that night at AutoZone Park in an event “aimed to benefit community groups serving all Memphians regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender expression, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.”

Here’s what’s on tap for the evening:

The Bluff City Mafia, 901 FC’s recognized supporters group, will host a pre-match Pride March beginning at The Brass Door and ending at AutoZone Park prior to kickoff.

Molly Quinn and Stephanie Bell of OUTMemphis will serve as the night’s honorary captains while Chris Balton, former North America Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance commissioner, will be the guest of honor for Memphis’ pre-match guitar smash.

In addition, Memphis 901 FC forward Jochen Graf will participate in the Athlete Alley’s Playing for Pride campaign. Hundreds of soccer players have taken part in the campaign aimed at supporting LGBTQ rights.

Throughout the month of June, Graf, players, and fans can donate to Playing for Pride for every game played, every assist, and every goal scored. In the past, those donations have been matched with donations exceeding $25,000.

Tickets:

Tickets start at $15. For $30, you can get a sideline ticket and pretty baller hat. Get your tickets online or by calling (901) 721-6000.

Bluff City Sports Association, Inc. is nonprofit organization aimed to provide a safe environment for the LGBTQ community and friends of the LGBTQ community to participate in sports.

OUTMemphis is a nonprofit that empowers, connects, educates and advocates for the LGBTQ community of the Mid-South.

Tags AutoZone Park, Bluff City Sports Association, Memphis 901 FC, OUTMemphis

Letter From The Editor Opinion

Real UFOs. Fake News.

Post author By Bruce VanWyngarden
Post date May 30, 2019

Did you read The New York Times story Sunday about Navy pilots who’ve encountered UFOs? Here’s the lead paragraph: “The strange objects … appeared almost daily from the summer of 2014 to March 2015, high in the skies over the East Coast. Navy pilots reported to their superiors that the objects had no visible engine or infrared exhaust plumes, but that they could reach 30,000 feet and hypersonic speeds.”

The story quotes six pilots who had encounters with these mysterious objects, and it even links to a video filmed by two Navy pilots that shows incidents of U.S. planes pursuing mysterious flying objects. The video showed objects accelerating to hypersonic speed, making sudden stops and instantaneous turns — something beyond the physical limits of a human crew.

After one pilot had a near-collision with one of the UFOs, the pilots began to complain to superiors that something needed to be done, so a system was set up to monitor and record observations of encounters with UFOs.

This story was being widely circulated on social media. Oddly, I saw no one who claimed that the story was “fake news from the failing New York Times.” Maybe that’s because everybody loves these kinds of stories, no matter their politics. I don’t know.

I do know that the Memorial Day weekend was particularly rife with fake news memes, including a photo of former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama supposedly taken at a Memorial Day celebration in which Michelle did not have her hand on her heart and had a surly look on her face.

Here’s a sampling of comments: “Disgraceful!” “They are both sh*t.” “Thank God we have a real patriot as president now!”

Of course, there were the usual well-meaning folks who pointed out that the photo had been widely debunked as a photoshop from 2015, but to little avail from the “Obummer” haters, who doubted the legitimacy of the fact-checkers.

Similarly, some anti-Trump folks circulated a meme showing the cost of the president’s golf outings at $102 million and counting. Some doubters claimed that since the president owned his golf resorts and takes no salary, these numbers were bogus. Others claimed that Obama golfed much more than Trump. When folks pointed out that the amount spent on Trump’s golf trips had been researched and validated by numerous legitimate news outlets, the responses were that it was “fake news” from fake news outlets. Of course. This is where we are, America.

With the 2020 election campaign drawing nigh, this sort of misinformation will only increase in frequency and subtlety. See last week’s wide-spread dissemination of an altered video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, slowed down to make her appear drunk. It was viewed more than two million times on Facebook pages and conservative websites. Hours after it had been debunked, it was shown on Fox News as legit, and later tweeted by the president and by his consigliere Rudy Giuliani.

There was once a time when America had what was called a “fairness doctrine,” in which the FCC required that broadcast media give “equal time” to opposing views. How quaint that seems now, in this era where we all choose our own facts. It’s the Wild West, where anything goes, and the truth is just the latest clever meme.

I don’t know how we fix it, but there are countries that are taking real steps to assure that poisonous lies don’t get spread so easily. One example is the tiny nation of Estonia, which suffered a Russian cyber attack on its elections in 2008 (widely seen as a dress rehearsal for later, more ambitious cyber-meddling). Estonia instituted a national cyber-security strategy (ENISA), which consisted of a basic reboot of its election systems, heightened security measures for banks, utilities, and other high-risk targets, and a massive public information campaign designed to help Estonians become more cyber-literate, better able to spot mischief and misinformation masquerading as truth.

It’s a subject that needs to be addressed as soon as possible in the U.S. — “as soon as possible” meaning as soon as the Senate is loosened from the grasp of Mitch McConnell and the GOP, which has steadfastly refused to take any measures to improve the nation’s electoral cyber-security. It’s almost as though they wouldn’t mind if the Russians got another shot at screwing up our elections. Weird, huh?

Not weird. Very sad and troubling, actually. But at least the government is finally taking UFOs seriously, so we’ve got that going for us.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

Tags Estonia cyber-reform, Fake News memes, Nancy Pelosi, Navy Pilots see UFOs, Trump golf

Politics Politics Feature

Council Races Kick Off; Ralph White RIP

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date May 30, 2019

CREDIT: Courtesy Bloomfield Full Gospel Baptist Church

Here’s how things are shaping up after candidates started pulling petitions last week for Memphis City Council races:

DISTRICT 1: The much-mentioned “people’s choice” aspirant (as she was dubbed by her thwarted supporters for a District 1 vacancy last year) is Rhonda Logan, the activist who now has a chance to prove the validity of that appellation; she faces a serious obstacle, though, in Sherman Greer, an experienced governmental hand who served as an aide for 9th District Congressmen Harold Ford Jr. and Steve Cohen, and who ultimately got the appointment nod from the council.

A third candidate in District 1, not so well known, is Tierra Holloway, whose family name, coincidentally, is the same as that of Logan’s birth family.

DISTRICT 2: So far, incumbent Frank Colvett seems to have this district all to himself.

DISTRICT 3: Incumbent Patrice Robinson has at this point drawn a single challenger, Joe P. Washington.

DISTRICT 4: Jamita Swearengen, the incumbent, and the daughter of an influential and well-remembered African-American jurist, is in good shape against potential challengers Nikkous Crump, Rodney A. Muhammad, and Britney Thornton, the latter of whom has some experience in city affairs and a modicum of support.

DISTRICT 5: Incumbent Worth Morgan, well-financed and regarded as able, should have an easy time of it against his only possible opponent so far, George D. Summers.

DISTRICT 6: This has been a seat held by members of the extended Ford family from time immemorial, and it is highly likely that Edmund Ford Sr., who formerly held the seat and seeks a return to it, will triumph over a bevy of would-be challengers: Davin D. Clemons, Justin J. Ford (who has pulled petitions in several races and is unlikely to persevere against his uncle), Larry Hunter, Theryn C. Bond (well known as a protestor in several City Hall issues), Jaques Hamilton, and Paul S. Brown.

DISTRICT 7: No council incumbent has aroused the public animosity that the headstrong and oft heavy-handed Berlin F. Boyd has, but few have buffered themselves with as much influential business support, either. That makes things tough for his challengers, who range from his best-known potential foe, Thurston Smith, to such others as Catrina L. Smith, Jerred Price, Larry Springfield, and Michalyn C.S Easter-Thomas.

SUPER DISTRICT 8, POSITION 1:
Though, as of last week, she had not yet picked up a petition, District 6 incumbent Gerre Currie is expected to run for this seat, and to do so as a favorite. Those who had picked up early petitions for the seat include J.B. Smiley Jr., an on-the-move activist with decent support; Hanalei Harris; and three pullers of multiple petitions, the aforementioned Justin J. Ford, as well as Pearl Eva Walker and Roderic Ford (who, his surname notwithstanding, is not a member of the extended political clan).

SUPER DISTRICT 8, POSITION 2:
Pulling petitions so far have been Craig Littles, Frank W. Johnson, and the aforementioned Justin J. Ford, Pearl Eva Walker, and Roderic Ford. The incumbent is Cheyenne Johnson, who is expected to prevail.

SUPER DISTRICT 8, POSITION 3: Incumbent Martavius Jones has this one all the way against the ubiquitous Roderic Ford.

SUPER DISTRICT 9, POSITION 1: This race is shaping up as a three-way, pitting Erika Sugarmon, a runner-up in last year’s special election for District 9, Position 2, against two well-backed candidates, University of Memphis development specialist Cody Fletcher and developer Chase Carlisle, neither of whom had picked up their petitions as of last week. Sugarmon is the daughter of the late revered African-American legal icon Russell Sugarmon. Other petition pullers are Mauricio Calvo, a multiple puller who will have significant Latino support for whichever race he sticks with, and Jerome Williams Sr.

SUPER DISTRICT 9, POSITION 2: Calvo has pulled here as well, as has Samuel Goff, a candidate last year for a Shelby County Commission post. Both are probably wasting their time against incumbent Ford Canale, who as of last week had not yet pulled.

SUPER DISTRICT 9, POSITION 3: Calvo again, along with one Tyrone Romeo Franklin, but Jeff Warren, a former Memphis School Board member who has already raised $100,000 and has across-the-board support, is the clear favorite.

NEXT WEEK: An early look at the races for Mayor, City Court Clerk, and three municipal judgeships.

Courtesy Bloomfield Full Gospel Baptist Church

Rev. Ralph White

Rev. Ralph White
We learned over the weekend that Rev. Ralph White died while conducting a funeral Saturday afternoon. It is surely no disservice to observe that Pastor White — Ralph, as he was known to so many of his friends across all sorts of civic and social and racial and political lines — died in the saddle, as it were, officiating in an ultimate godly act at the church, Bloomfield Full Gospel Baptist Church, that he had made a haven for righteousness, in more ways than one.

Ralph White was a marvelous preacher and, in his prime, a superlative athlete and singer. He was a gracious, compassionate, thoughtful man who fully deserved to win any or all of the electoral positions he ran for. Ironically, it was his large-minded determination to serve the total community rather than to kowtow to this or that influential faction that may have prevented his winning a public office.

It is a shame he did not get to serve in that way, but he managed to act on behalf of the community — and, again, that’s all of us — in many other ways, through church enterprises and civic groups. A recent act of service was his tenure as chair and then, as illness hobbled him, vice chair of the city’s Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) — perfect casting for this preeminently fair-minded man. We’ll all miss him.

Tags Memphis City Council races kick off; Ralph White dies

Food & Wine Food & Drink

Bar DKDC: Sanctuary for Real People

Post author By Meghan Stuthard
Post date May 30, 2019

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

When it comes to drag performances, the higher the heels, the higher my expectations. Mary Gagz and Her Gaggle of Drags, performing at Karen Blockman Carrier’s Bar DKDC every Monday night from 8:30 to 11 p.m., leave little to be desired in their full-on takeover of one of Memphis’ favorite artful holes in the wall. The night also serves as the bar’s industry night. The evening’s general feel is reminiscent of Bar DKDC’s sister restaurant, The Beauty Shop’s Rehab nights that used to occur every Monday night. It’s a throwback to the grand days of Rehab: late nights, a colorful cast, and the sort of hangovers that leave you questioning many of life’s decisions. Looking for a reminder? Head to Bar DKDC and this time, remember to take off work on Tuesday.

We arrived about halfway through the show this past Monday and the girls and their fans were in full swing. Tia Burchfield is the bartender on Monday nights and said that part of the reason they began hosting Mary Gagz and the rest of her girls is to try out a re-launch of Rehab. The night includes a full show and industry night prices, including $5 well liquor drinks, $2 PBRs and High Lifes, and $6 Fireball and Tullamore Dew shots. If that doesn’t serve to lube one up after a long weekend of working in hospitality, then your expectations are, honestly, way higher than the heels will ever be.

Justin Fox Burks

Mary Gagz and Her Gaggle of Drags

In a manner, Bar DKDC caters overwhelmingly to us night owls; shows typically begin later and go late into the night. People roll in after long hours, ready to commiserate and imbibe with their fellow restaurant crews, eager to be among their people after dealing with the general public and their obnoxious children in various dining settings. That’s the feeling at DKDC; it’s authenticity and inclusion, a sanctuary for real people with real stories.

But unless you’re living under Mississippi mud, you know about the musical acts at DKDC. Mary Gagz and Her Gaggle of Drags are relatively new to the lineup; they began their weekly performances in late January. From the looks of it, they’ve already established themselves in the fabric of Bar DKDC and its incredible ability to morph into a perfect venue for whichever act it is hosting. Everyone has probably spent a sweaty night in DKDC. Shows get packed and those who do not arrive early will be doomed (or delighted) to stand and sway with the music rather than find a comfortable seat. But that’s the atmosphere! Get up close and personal with the rest of the fans. Pack into that small room and feel the passion. Find yourself falling backwards into the photobooth as the crowd runneth over. And, if you’re Mary Gagz and company, work the room like you own it and take possession of the hearts and souls of those who watch.

The drag performance was a more low-key affair than the pulsating throng of people you normally encounter at a late-night weekend performance (and thank the heavens above; it’s Monday, after all). The girls had plenty of room to move about, titillate, and invite others into their wild world. The audience came prepared to drink, cheer, and offer monetary support to our Memphis performers who put so much into their alter egos. Tia, our bartender who has probably seen her fair share of debauchery, rock-and-roll, and drunken exploits cited none of the former as her favorite reasons for working at DKDC. She simply said that it’s the people that she works alongside that make her job most enjoyable. It speaks to the scene that Bar DKDC cultivates. It’s a place for all of us, both queens and bartenders, both those looking for a thrill and those of us looking for a meal, both those in need of camaraderie and those in need of a break. DKDC bathes itself in a light that begs both for secrets to be kept and secrets to be told, and what better place for a drag show than that?

Tags Bar DKDC, Mary Gagz and Her Gaggle of Drags

Opinion The Last Word

TMI! Our Tiny Computers Are Making Life Hard.

Post author By Jen Clarke
Post date May 30, 2019

CREDIT: © Sergey Khakimullin | Dreamstime.com

My sister sent $150 and a tube of saliva to a company in California she found online. They did some science, and now we have a new uncle and cousin. What a time to be alive. I shared this revelation with some friends and learned that The War was apparently a randy time for many granddads and papaws. Guess that’s why it was the Greatest Generation, huh? If your granddaddy served, you might reconsider springing for the Father’s Day offer of 25 percent off an ancestry kit plus free gift-wrap. Or don’t say nobody warned you when you end up with your own gift: uncovered family secrets and a diminished opinion of your grandfather.

Whatever. I get it. War is hell, boys will be boys, and all that. Maybe Grandpa didn’t know about his secret child. It’s too late to tell him, anyway — he’s been gone for 30 years. It could be a mistake or a false alarm. I don’t know how much I trust those mail-order DNA tests — certainly not enough to send my own specimen to their sinister gene library. I read the fine print.

© Sergey Khakimullin | Dreamstime.com

On the bright side, my sister’s spit sample tested negative for the terrifying gumbo of genetic risk factors the service can detect. “Doctor Google” induces enough hypochondria without foresight of the debilitating diseases that lurk in the future. Otherwise I’d spend the rest of my life shouting “I’m a-comin’!” to the heavens, Fred Sanford-style, every time I get a stomach cramp or forget where I put my keys. That’s the last thing I need. I lose those things every day.

As family secrets go, ours is awkward but not exactly earth-shattering. My grandmother isn’t around to have her feelings hurt. It’s just another thing to add to the growing list of things I wish I hadn’t found out, like the amount of sodium in a packet of instant ramen. I’m not sure if I’m afflicted with millennial unrest or I’ve recently unlocked a new adulting level, but I’m starting to reconsider my stance on knowledge being power. It’s kind of overrated. Between the things that can’t be unseen or unheard, immaterial crap, and general information overload, I’m starting to understand how people did live without this stuff. As someone who works in digital content and also has to watch a YouTube video to boil an egg, that’s saying something.

It’s wonderful that technology puts new realms of information at our fingertips. But only a sliver of it is essential; the rest is either pointless or false and it keeps getting harder and harder to distinguish or even keep up. On one hand, think of how many arguments went unsettled before we had tiny computers in our pockets. We don’t have to balance checkbooks to know whether we can afford to charge a pizza to our debit cards — the tiny computer will tell us. Heck, we don’t even need checkbooks anymore. That’s great, but that same computer is also responsible for showing me the infamous “pink slime” video and giving away the ending of Get Out. It has told me so many opinion-wrecking things, like which of my schoolmates grew up to be anti-vaxxers. Not long ago, one had to attend a class reunion to obtain that kind of dirt — it was once-in-a-decade intel. Now it comes with an order of essential oils.

This summer, I’m cutting back on the “Welp, could’ve gone my whole life without that” content I consume. It’s impossible to escape it all, but I know I won’t miss much — I already deleted Nextdoor and left my neighborhood Facebook group, and the high crime rate of loud noises and suspicious teens subsided immediately. Disabling alerts from The Washington Post cut my daily eye-roll tally in half. It’s not that I don’t care what happens in my neighborhood, or in the news. I just don’t need to be pelted with little arrows all day long. Just give me a calculator and an encyclopedia before I forget how to use them. I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

Jen Clarke is a digital marketing specialist and an unapologetic Memphian.

Tags DNA tests, google life, Ubiquitous phones

News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1579

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date May 30, 2019

Political Pony

Memphis’ strip club scene has always twerked to the beat of a different drum machine.

But if things go according to plan, The Pony will soon be hosting Roger Stone. He’s a conservative consultant, strategist, and agent provocateur who worked on the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump, more than earning his reputation as the Dark Lord of the Right.

According to various reports, Stone has been making appearances at strip clubs to fund his legal defense against a seven-count federal indictment stemming from the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The Pony visit would find Stone judging a stripper contest scheduled for June 5th-7th.

This isn’t the first time The Pony has courted a more political crowd. Almost a year ago, top-shelf porn star and occasional libertarian candidate Stormy Daniels visited Memphis on her Make America Horny Again tour. The controversy around Daniels’ affair with President Donald Trump and the $130,000 in hush money she was paid not to disclose it had already blown up in the media. The Pony advertised the show by changing their sign to read, “You Can’t Trump Us.”

Neverending Elvis

Could this be the Game of Thrones sequel we haven’t been waiting for?

Dakota Striplin, a contestant on “The Voice Australia,” just suggested that he — maybe, possibly — could be a secret grandson to the King of Rock-and-Roll, Elvis Presley.

The only evidence seems to be that Striplin’s grandmother met Elvis in Hawaii and was very upset when he died.

News The Fly-By

Group Fears Tennessee Moving Toward an Abortion Ban

Post author By Maya Smith
Post date May 30, 2019

Tennessee came close to being the 17th state to pass legislation this year either placing greater restrictions on abortion or effectively banning the procedure completely.

About 40 pro-choice advocates rallied here last week against those recently passed bans.

Ashley Coffield, president of Planned Parenthood for the Greater Memphis Region, said last week that 73 percent of Americans oppose banning abortion, and “we’re out here today to raise up their voices and tell the nation that we won’t stand for it.

City Hall last week.

“In Tennessee, we have Planned Parenthood and other organizations that offer abortion, and that’s a great thing,” Coffield said. “But we are under attack from our legislature right now. It’s worse than it’s ever been.”

Coffield said the Tennessee legislature was close to passing an outright abortion ban this year, but that measure failed in the state Senate. That legislation is slated to be discussed during the legislation’s summer session, meaning it could return next year.

Tennessee did, however, pass a law that would criminalize abortion in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is overturned. That law, the Human Life Protection Act, would ban abortions except “when an abortion is necessary to prevent death” or “substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function.”

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, the law would make it a felony offense for doctors to perform abortions. Under the law, women seeking abortions would not be prosecuted.

“The fight is far from over in Tennessee,” Coffield said. “Our rights are at risk like they’ve never been before and this is a coordinated attack nationwide to get a case to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

Coffield said abortion is basic health care for women and making abortion illegal won’t stop abortions: “Abortion will just be unsafe, and women will die.”

Currently, in Tennessee abortion is legal throughout the first 20 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy. However, the law places restrictions and regulations on clinics that offer abortion and women seeking the procedure, according to Holly Calvasina, director of development and communications for Choices.

One of those regulations is the 48-hour waiting period, Calvasina said. Women seeking an abortion must make an appointment to see a physician on two different occasions at least 48 hours apart. According to the law, this is to “reduce coerced abortions and to allow time to carefully consider the information and resources provided by informed consent provisions.”

Calvasina said this makes abortions more expensive because women must pay for two doctor’s visits.

Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who sits on the Planned Parenthood board here, was also at the rally last week, speaking against abortion bans.

“It was more important for me to be here with you on the ground to say ‘this won’t fly for us,'” Sawyer said. “I know personally what it means to be able to make decisions about your body. No one should be able to tell anyone what they can do with their life and their future.”

We Recommend We Recommend

Mid-South Derby and Ales race at Meddlesome Brewing

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date May 30, 2019

This isn’t a scouting story. It’s about grown, beer-drinking men and women who’ve united to transform a cherished childhood memory into what might just be the greatest bar game to arise since billiards and darts — pine block car racing. But the dreams of speed and splinters started with the memory of being Cub Scouts, carving blocks of wood into hot rods and dragsters and racing them down a four-lane, 32-foot track to see whose derby “car” was fastest. The memory and joy was reawakened when the grown-ups had kids of their own and helped them build their model cars to race against other scouts. After all, why should kids have all the fun?

MidSouth Derby and Ales is a recreation of the childhood race experience but modified for adults. The first race brought out 20 competitors to show off vintage and newly carved pine cars that can weigh no more than five ounces. The second race promises to liven things up a bit with “outlaw races,” allowing competitors to trick their cars in ways young scouts might only dream of.

Start your wood blocks!

“That’s where we bend the rules,” Derby and Ales co-founder Christopher Bryan says. The models can be bigger and modified with electronics.

“I’ve seen drone engines on them,” Bryan says. “I’ve seen CO2 cartridges and computer fans. I’m building one right now that’s beyond the five-ounce limit because the heavier they are, the better they race.”

The next adults-only race is scheduled for June 6th at Meddlesome Brewing Company. Details for racers and fans can be found at derbyandales.com.

MidSouth Derby and Ales race at Meddlesome Brewing Co., Thursday, June 6th. Car check-in is 7-7:45 p.m., and races start at 8 p.m. Free. derbyandales.com.