Month: May 2019

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Cover Feature News

It’s Memphis vs. Nashville. When It Comes to Barbecue, Who Does It Better?

CREDIT: Courtesy of the Nashville Scene

Some would say it was the hell-naw-iest of hell naw headlines: “Sorry, Memphis, but Nashville does have the best barbecue.” It appeared in The Tennessean back in April, stirring up a hornet’s nest of hurt feelings, civic pride, and apple-wood-smoked talking points.

Could it possibly be true? Nashville has all the money and the glam, but Memphis … well, Memphis is Memphis: soulful and fun and ridiculous, just like our barbecue.

We had two ‘cue-perts speak in their city’s favor. Steve Cavendish is the former editor of the Nashville Scene and is leading the effort to launch a nonprofit news organization in Nashville. Chris McCoy is the Flyer‘s film editor and a barbecue savant. What results is a sort of meeting in the middle, where we all agree that barbecue is made for eating and not for arguing.

Meanwhile, this year, Memphis’ 200th, Memphis in May (MIM) decided to honor our city, instead of a country. Usually, the MIM-honored country has a team in the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. This year, MIM assembled a team of super barbecuers. We check in on them.

…

Nashville Twang

Greetings, Memphians. I come in the name of peace and barbecue, two things you might not normally associate with Nashville.

We’ve been fighting a lot online about ‘cue lately, Twittering about who has the best this and Facebooking about who has the better that and calling each other names in the process. But our two cities have less of a problem with delicious smoked meat than they do with the newspapers that keep trying to stir up trouble.

Recently, a reporter at The Commercial Appeal took offense at a Nashville joint being selected over someplace from Memphis in a Southern Living list of top barbecue places. So she did what every click-chasing writer seems to do these days — she blogged about her indignancy. The digital weasels at The Tennessean, seeing her post trending on social media, had their own resident clickbait artist return fire.

You see, these Gannett hucksters make their money online by ginning up controversy and getting you to click and comment on it. And over what? Another list in a magazine we’re reading less and less each year?

They’re playing us, barbecue fans. What we should be concerned about is where to get our next great sandwich, wing, or rib. And if you haven’t been to Nashville in a while, it’s as good of a time as there has ever been to eat great barbecue. Is it better than what you have in Memphis? I’m not here to say things like “Rendezvous is criminally overrated,” I’m here to invite you to dinner. Here are five places you shouldn’t miss and what they do best:

Courtesy of the Nashville Scene

Martin’s

Martin’s

Most Nashville barbecue has roots in the same traditions that Memphis has made famous. For Pat Martin, who grew up in West Tennessee, that means the smell of whole hog hits you in the face as you walk into one of his many locations around town. The near-perfect pulled pork sandwiches of Martin’s — topped with slaw, of course — have that deep umami mix of smoke and sweetness that makes every bite satisfying. Martin started with an original joint in Nolensville and then peppered the area with five more places, including a two-story temple to pig Downtown that has become the go-to destination for many folks pregaming a Predators or Titans game. Martin’s redneck tacos (meat, slaw, and sauce on top of a hoecake) are a fine alternative to the traditional sandwich, and every time I’m in there with a group, I order one of his thick pieces of bologna and slice it up for everyone. It’s charred on a griddle and topped with pickles, onion, and mustard and there are never, ever any leftovers.

Courtesy of the Nashville Scene

Peg Leg Porker

Peg Leg Porker

Carey Bringle, like Martin, has deep ties to the western grand division. After years of success on the pitmaster circuit, including a third-place finish at Memphis in May, he opened his own place near Downtown in the Gulch in 2013. But instead of adding more stores, Bringle built straight up to create a three-story tower complete with an apartment on top. And while his place does some great things with pork shoulders, Peg Leg Porker’s best feature are the ribs, dry-rubbed racks of tender goodness a la the version Charlie Vergos made famous. I’d stack them up against anyone’s. The restaurant’s name comes honestly — Bringle lost part of a leg to bone cancer in his youth — as does the decor of white cinder block and polished concrete. It’s like stepping into the past. If chicken is your thing, his smoked, Springer Mountain yardbirds are scrape-off-the-bone delicious and come with a side of Alabama white sauce that’s also the perfect accompaniment to French fries.

Gambling Stick

For the longest time, I have believed that it was near impossible to get great brisket on this side of the Mississippi. Kansas City? Tulsa? Austin? Dallas? Sure. Tennessee? No way. The cut of meat is too finicky and, besides, our tradition has been pig (unless you’re one of those freaks in central Kentucky that insists on barbecuing mutton). Then the guys at the Gambling Stick changed my mind. Located in the East Nashville parking lot of the best meat shop in town, CIA-trained Matt Russo turns Porter Road Butcher’s immaculate beef into amazing, tender brisket. The simple equation — dry rub plus cherry wood smoke — yields the best thing you will find on this side of the Texas border, and the burnt ends make for some truly decadent baked beans.

Slick Pig BBQ

I grew up driving around during summers with my dad, an insurance salesman, and we hit every meat-and-three and barbecue place between Covington and Cookeville. Not long after moving to Murfreesboro in the 1990s, he called me up to rave about a place called the Slick Pig and the best wings he had ever eaten. I’m not sure what the father-and-son team of Jerry and John Robinson marinate those wings in before they go on the smoker, but they come out blackened, lacquered, and perfect. Every bite is a little bomb of flavor. After trying these, you will have a hard time going back to standard hot wings. Well worth the 30-minute drive south.

Courtesy of the Nashville Scene

Edley’s Bar-B-Que

Edley’s Bar-B-Que

When the Nashville Scene held a bracket-style sandwich contest a few years ago, I put my bet on the Tuck Special, a fixture on the menu at Edley’s Bar-B-Que since it opened in 2011. It is decadence on a bun: layers of smoked brisket are topped with pimento cheese, pickles, red sauce, white sauce, and an over-easy egg. My friend Ashley describes it as being “like Whitesnake or US Weekly, it’s bad for you and embarrassing to consume in public.” Christ, it’s good. Traditionalists are sure to be horrified, but it’s their loss. Pro tip: You can get Edley’s wonderful banana pudding as a side item instead of as a dessert, making this just about the richest meal in town. — Steve Cavendish

…

It Came from Memphis

People of Nashville, I send you greetings from Memphis, Tennessee, the country music capital of the world!

See how silly, how completely out of touch with reality, that sounds? The Memphis-Nashville rivalry is also silly, and counterproductive. The people of the state’s two biggest urban areas have much more in common than we have differences. We’re all just trying to make a living in a fast-changing, mid-sized Southern city. Let’s not allow those who do not have our best interests at heart to divide us over the narcissism of small differences.

Which brings us to the silly thing we’re supposed to be fighting over, barbecue. Specifically, slow cooked barbecue pork. The truth is, as Anthony Bourdain once pointed out, cultures all over the world figured out thousands of years ago that the tastiest way to eat a pig is to cook it slowly over low heat. In Hawaii, they bury the pig in the sand with hot coals and let it get acquainted with itself. Here, we cook swine over indirect heat, using smoke to impart the meat with a distinctive flavor. At the risk of sounding like the arrogant loser Memphian who exists in the Nashville imagination, our way is the best way.

Or is it? This clickbait brouhaha has shaken my fragile Memphis arrogance. I needed to reconnect with our source of civic culinary pride. This is my investigative journalism duty, not just a way to get the paper to pay for three lunches.

Chris McCoy

Tops Bar-B-Q

I stand in the parking lot of Tops Bar-B-Q, buffeted by sound waves. Next to me is a tall man whom I deduce from the badge on his belt is a police detective. We watch a helicopter ambulance land on the roof of Methodist Hospital in a stiff crosswind. “That guy’s got a tough job,” I say, and the detective agrees.

Tops is fast food, but it’s not a late-stage capitalist branding playground. On the walls are faded pictures of Elvis, and an American flag hangs in the window. The detective, who clearly has a lot on his mind, says when he was growing up, his father used to be a dedicated backyard barbecuer. I tell the detective that my job is to explain how Memphis barbecue is better than Nashville. “That sounds like an easy job,” he says.

Last month, Tops Bar-B-Q announced a new ownership group, who took pains to emphasize their commitment to keeping tradition alive. Restaurateur Tiger Bryant called it a “special institution in Memphis … a true gathering place where people from all walks of life — of all ages — come to enjoy.”

A businessman with a bluetooth headset chooses fries to go with his pork-covered Tops burger, as smartly dressed young men throw around terms like “systems integration.” An older married couple sits in comfortable silence. Two middle aged women are catching up over a pair of sandwiches and Lay’s chips. “That baby’s got enough onesies!” one exclaims, and they both laugh.

I choose the regular pork sandwich with beans and slaw. “You want slaw on it, right?” the young lady behind the counter drawls. It’s not really a question.

The sandwich is modest perfection. The key to great Memphis barbecue, as in most things, is balance. The meat is sweet, smoky, and spicy, all at once, in pleasing proportions. The slaw on the sandwich is mostly a texture thing for me, a little contrast, but it also balances out an excess of spicy sauce.

At $7.59, the meal is less expensive than most fast food, and I actually feel good after I eat it. As I walk to the parking lot, I tell two of my fellow diners my mission. They scoff at the assertion that Nashville barbecue is in the same league as Memphis’. “We started it, they copied it, that’s the truth,” one says.

As I start my car, one of my new friends gives me the “roll down your window!” signal. Being true Memphians, they want to tell me about their favorite barbecue spots: A&R in Hickory Hill. The Neely’s on Winchester. Arnold’s on Shelby Drive.

Justin Fox Burks

Payne’s BBQ

The parking lot of Payne’s on Lamar is crowded even at 2 p.m. If your idea of a great dining experience is a long-term real estate play cleverly disguised as a hip, yet rootsy restaurant revitalizing a post-industrial space, know this: The look and feel those places are trying to emulate is basically Payne’s. Sitting at the red-and-white checker-clothed tables with a rib sandwich in front of you is a quintessential Memphis experience. It’s a sandwich in name only — the white bread’s function is not to contain the meat, but rather to act as an edible napkin to keep your fingers clean as you slither the thews from the bone.

Justin Fox Burks

Cozy Corner

At the Bar-B-Q Shop on Madison, Eric Vernon diplomatically declines to comment on the Memphis-Nashville controversy — except to shout out Cozy Corner as another barbecue restaurant that “gets everything right.” We start with a Memphis creation, barbecue nachos. The ballpark food was made popular at AutoZone Park, but this plate is elevated by the Vernons’ pulled pork. Then, the blockbuster main course. Frank Vernon’s glazed rib recipe must be experienced to be believed. There’s nothing like that whiff of wood smoke that wafts up as the rib slabs hit the table. The slightly crunchy, caramelized exterior contrasts perfectly with the juicy, tender interior. As we dig in, the dining room fills up with families. It’s graduation day.

Eric’s dad Frank Vernon was a backyard pitmaster turned struggling restaurateur. He was tapped by the owner of Brady and Lil’s, the favorite barbecue joint of the Stax Records, to carry on their legacy. Mr. Brady and Vernon sealed the deal by signing a Bible. Their story is typical of so many black families in Memphis who clawed their way into the middle class by devoting themselves to perfecting barbecue — and thus preserving a vital part of African American and Southern culture. The cuisine sustained the people and reached across racial barriers. If we can dine together at the same checkered tablecloth, are we not all humans, in this thing together? That’s what barbecue is to Memphis. Not a new foodie frontier to conquer, or a flag to capture, but a pillar of the community, a tangible example of who we are. — Chris McCoy

…

Team BBQ

Yeah, Tony Stark may have that fancy Iron Man suit, but I heard his pork shoulder ain’t worth a damn.

A Memphis superhero makes good barbecue. Period. And when the whole world descends upon Tom Lee Park, we’ll need an elite team of ’em to defend our fair city. Good news. We got one.

Memphis in May (MIM) honored Memphis this year for the city’s 200th birthday. So, the honorary barbecue team is from Memphis. Imagine how hard it would be to pick that elite team of barbecue all-stars.

Walter Crutchfield made the cut. You’ll know him from Crutchfield’s BBQ on Hollywood or from his recent appearance on Food Network’s Chopped.

We caught up with another part of the team, a battalion from Hog Wild — Real Memphis Barbeque & A Moveable Feast Catering — John Oborne, executive chef; John Caldwell, sous chef; and Schuyler O’Brien, chef de cuisine. Here they come now, slo-mo walking through a fog of barbecue smoke, tongs in hand.

Schuyler O’Brien (l to r), John Caldwell, and John Oborne

Memphis Flyer: How did Hog Wild get together?

John Caldwell: Hog Wild and A Moveable Feast Catering have been in the Memphis market for 23 years this summer. [Company founder Ernie Mellor] started out by cooking catfish in the back of his truck. He had some skill on a barbecue rig, and it exploded from there. We think we’re the premier caterer in the Memphis area, and we love what we do.

Ernie, because he cooks on a competition team, is not a member of the — and I’m doing air quotes because we don’t consider ourselves this — the all-star team cooking at the Memphis in May tent.

MF: Have you competed at Memphis in May in the past?

JC: Yes, but it’s the [Hog Wild] team not the company, if that makes sense.

MF: It does. What is the Hog Wild company’s barbecue philosophy?

JC: You’re going to hear it all week long — slow and low.

MF: Talk about your cooking methods.

JC: We’ve had a line of retail and dry rubs available for years. We lay the dry rub on their shoulders, let them sit in that love for a couple hours before it goes on the smoke. Run [the shoulders] at about 210 for 16 hours and then that’s it. It’s a feel thing.

You’ve got to have a little touch, and John Oborne is the master at it. He can tell you when they’re done just by opening the door on the smoker.

MF: All right, well, John, tell me about it.

John Oborne: It’s a process. It takes a long time. You can’t rush good barbecue.

MF: Even though y’all put it in air quotes, you have been picked for the all-star team. It’s got to feel pretty good.

JC: We can’t tell you how excited we are. We are slammed busy. But every day after we finished our shifts and all the parties have gone out and we completed our parties, we’re sitting down and taking notes about the things we want to do for the all-star team, and how much fun that’s going to be and how excited we are about being selected, and representing Memphis on its 200th anniversary. That’s a big deal. — Toby Sells

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Rock and Roll Never Forgets

CREDIT: Bruce VanWyngarden

Long-time readers of this column know that each May I take a journey to the backwoods of Western Pennsylvania, near the historic town of Ohiopyle, to hang with a few old friends and share lies and whiskey. This year, I added a little bonus trip.

It began with a couple of days in Pittsburgh, where I spent eight years as editor of Pittsburgh Magazine. I spent some time reuniting with a couple of former co-workers, but mostly I just drove around and marveled at the things that had changed. And the things that hadn’t.

Bruce VanWyngarden

Hey hey, my my. Rock-and-roll can never die.

The iconic things hadn’t changed — the Carnegie Museum, the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning (where I once taught undergrads how to write news features), the massive spires of PPG Place, and the rivers and bridges and countless green hills. What had changed is pretty predictable: Old neighborhoods like Lawrenceville are getting repopulated and redeveloped with those ubiquitous, glassy, boxy apartment buildings that seem to be the required urban redesign form these days. There were coffee shops where machine shops used to be. The infamous Sal’s Salvage was nowhere to be seen, replaced by yoga studios and boutiques and hip-looking cafes. The old Steel Town ain’t the same. It’s mostly better.

The next day, I continued my tour of the upper Midwest by driving over to Cleveland, where my son’s band, MGMT, was playing the Masonic Hall. I got to town before he did, so I did what you’re supposed to do in Cleveland: I went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which sits on the very edge of Lake Erie, Downtown.

The building is a glassy pyramid (sound familiar?) designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, but it’s much smaller than Memphis’ Pyramid. Out in front is a long and linear (and Instagram-unfriendly) slogan: Long Live Rock. After backing up as far as could, I got a picture of “ONG LIVE ROCK.”

I paid my $28 and started the tour. It begins below ground level, where you are first forced to walk past a photographer who tries to get you to hold a guitar while he takes your picture and then sells it to you. I bypassed the line of grandmas and geezers waiting for their chance to strike a pose, strolled under a neon sign reading “For Those About to Rock,” and wandered into the dark room that begins the self-guided tour.

It starts with various historic exhibits meant to demonstrate the evolution of rock-and-roll — early blues artists, mostly. This area also includes musical artifacts and historic photos from the seminal rock cities, including Memphis (Furry Lewis’ guitar, some old blues records and posters, etc.), Detroit, New York, Chicago, L.A., San Francisco, etc. Notably, Cleveland is not among them. That would be because Cleveland’s claim to be the birthplace of rock-and-roll is specious and overblown, at best. But that’s another story.

The exhibits spiral from bottom to top, with lots of stair climbing from one exhibit level to another. One is forced to accept, after touring the six increasingly smaller floors (that pyramid construct has limitations), that rock-and-roll history is basically comprised of stage outfits and shoes worn by facsimile mannequins, old album covers, posters, vintage photos, music videos, and lots and lots and lots of guitars.

Major icons — Elvis, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Aretha, Springsteen, to name a few — are given individual displays. Michael Jackson, whom I suspect once had a place of prominence, has been downgraded to a single large photograph near an emergency exit — in case you have to beat it, I guess.

The history of hip-hop gets a nod, but not much else. This is a pretty caucasion kind of place, to be honest. As are most of the visitors.

As you leave, you are funneled — as you are in most museums, these days — into the gift shop, where a maze of over-priced T-shirts, guitar earrings, miniature pyramids, guitar picks, posters, snow globes, and other rock chotskies awaits. Meh.

They say rock-and-roll never forgets, but honestly, this place is, well, kinda forgettable.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Lammey, Casada, Michael Harris Face Potential Threats to Their Jobs

It was a 12-0 vote on the Shelby County Commission on Monday to support the pending possible censure by the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct of Criminal Court Judge Jim Lammey for social media posts that consistently contained links to racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-Semitic themes.

The potential 13th vote, which would have made things unanimous, was that of Democratic Commissioner Reginald Milton, who had to miss the meeting for personal reasons but who had made his approval of a censure resolution known.

Even two Republican commissioners who had demurred at endorsing censure for Lammey when a preliminary vote was taken in committee last Wednesday — Amber Mills, who wanted Lammey to be given a chance to present “his side” and Brandon Morrison, who argued that the commission had no judgmental authority over the judiciary —  voted with the others on Monday.

Commissioner Tami Sawyer

Lammey, who was invited to appear before the commission on Monday, did not do so, pleading a “heavy trial docket” for the date, but the beleaguered jurist did submit a letter to the commissioners that Lammey suggested would “set the record straight against those who so maliciously mischaracterize me as an anti-Semite hater of all immigrants.”

The accusations against Lammey stem from a series of articles by Commercial Appeal writer Daniel Connolly documenting, first, a Facebook post by Lammey linking to an article by one David Cole, identified by several sources as a Holocaust denier. That article stated, among other things, that Jews should “get the f**k over the Holocaust” and referred to Muslim immigrants as “foreign mud.” Lammey’s post called the story “interesting.”

Subsequent Lammey posts and links unearthed by Connolly dealt with a variety of right-wing nativist themes in which disdain for immigrants loomed large. The judge also received negative publicity for his insistence on ordering immigrants with cases before his court to register with immigration authorities.

Ultimately, Lammey’s actions were condemned by a variety of civic organizations and religious groups — Christian, Jewish, and Islamic. Spokespersons for the groups — some demanding the judge’s outright resignation — appeared before the commission both on committee day last Wednesday and on Monday.

Speaking on behalf of the pro-censure resolution on Monday were Rev. Lucy Waechter-Webb of MICAH (Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope); Imam Nabil Bayakly, chairman of Muslims in Memphis; Rabbi Katie Bauman of Jewish Community Partners and MICAH; Marti Murphy of Facing History and Ourselves; and Duane Stewart of the Messianic Jewish Movement, a Christian group.

In his letter to the commission, Lammey protested that both he and his social media posts had been mischaracterized. Cole, he said, was “Jewish and not a Holocaust denier,” and he appended a note from Cole himself in which that author contended that the term “foreign mud” used in the article posted by Lammey was a reference to the Golem figure in Jewish legend, not immigrants. As for his courtroom behavior toward immigrants, Lammey said, “I believe all immigrants should come here legally. That’s my constitutional right under the first amendment.”

Several of the speakers on Monday disputed Lammey’s claims as equivocations, with Rev. Webb contending they “confirmed his lack of judgment.”  Stressing the need for a formal judgment, Rabbi Bauman said, “Silence helps the oppressor, never the victim.”

Republican Commissioner Mick Wright, who noted that he and Lammey were Facebook friends and that the judge was his constituent, observed that “some of my constituents believe Judge Lammey has been singled out for political reasons” and continued, “Because of that, I feel it’s important to point out that it’s entirely possible to hold conservative views on immigration, to believe our borders should be protected, and our immigration laws should be enforced, and to also love immigrants and to have compassion and mercy on those who are unlawfully present. Because I believe all our laws should be respected and enforced, I hold those who share my viewpoint to the highest possible standard of conduct.”

Commissioner Van Turner, the body’s chairman, worried aloud that Lammey’s attitude over the years may have “infected” others in the legal community.

Summing up before the vote, Democratic Commissioner Tami Sawyer, author of the pro-censure resolution, thanked “all those who have spoken out in support of this resolution,” characterized action on the issue as the kind of thing “we are here to do,” and called for a unanimous vote. She got it.

• Memphis got a visit last Thursday from members of the campaign of California Senator Kamala Harris, who seeks the Democratic nomination for president. The group included Harris’ campaign manager, Juan Rodriguez, senior advisors Averell “Ace” Smith and David Huynh, Southern regional finance director Stephanie Sass, and political director Missayr Boker.

Daphne Rankin, a local representative of the campaign, said that response from Memphis activists to Harris indicated that the city was one of the most receptive areas in the nation to her candidacy. The senator, a former California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, has attracted considerable attention for her piercing interrogations of witnesses before the Senate Judiciary Committee, including, most recently, William Barr, attorney general in the administration of President Donald Trump.

Harris is considered to be in the first tier of the heavily populated field of declared Democratic presidential contenders. While in Memphis, the Harris representatives were the guests of honor at a reception held at Mahogany Restaurant, hosted by owners Veronica Yates and Colleen McCullough. They also met privately with Gale Jones Carson, Democratic National Committeewoman from Tennessee, and had a late dinner at the Rendezvous with influential local party activist David Upton.

• The 2019 session of the Tennessee General Assembly may have ended week before last, but fallout on Capitol Hill from recent revelations concerning Republican House Speaker Glen Casada continues unabated, threatening Casada’s tenure as speaker and possibly even as a member of the House.

Most recently, the legislative Black Caucus, headed by state Representative G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis), met with Casada on Monday and afterward formally asked for him to step down as speaker. The caucus had earlier sought an investigation of charges that Casada’s then aide Cade Cothren forged the date on an email to Casada from protestor Justin Jones, making it appear that Jones had violated a judicial no-contact order.

That was one of several matters that have the speaker in hot water. He was also recently exposed for having exchanged sexist emails with Cothren and tolerating racist attitudes from his aide, who has since resigned. Casada and Cothren are also suspected by some of illegal electronic eavesdropping on legislators.

The Democratic Caucus as such has also sought Casada’s resignation, as have several Republican legislators, singly.

• Michael Harris, the controversial recently elected chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party, conducted his first meeting of his executive committee last Thursday at the IBEW Union Hall. Harris, whom some members seek to unseat because of misconduct allegations that caused the suspension of his law license by the Board of Professional Responsibility, agreed to schedule a meeting in the near future to consider the issue in response to a motion from member Sanjeev Memula.

Categories
News News Blog

Tom Lee Construction Pushed to Fall, Petition Aims for Pause on Park

CREDIT: Toby Sells

Toby Sells

Tom Lee Park redesign.

The Mississippi River Parks Partnership (MRPP) pushed back the construction start for Tom Lee Park to this fall while a petition surfaced online to pause the park plan for more discussion.

MRPP unveiled its plan for the park in January. It includes hilly contours, built facilities, trees, trails, and more. The plan sparked concerns from some, worried the plan would shrink Memphis in May (MIM) events and move it to a new location for one year — 2020 — while the new park was under construction.

MIM officials said in February that the plan has “issues,” “challenges,” and “problems.” They said the plan would reduce the capacity for crowds, stages, and tents at Beale Street Music Festival and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

The two groups have been working toward a compromise on the situation with former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Janice Holder since March.

Before that mediation began, MRPP executive director Carol Coletta said construction on the new park would begin as soon as MIM ended this year. Tuesday evening, the group issued a statement saying they’ll soften that timeline.

“Construction on the new Tom Lee Park will begin this fall once construction documents are complete,” reads the statement. “The park, currently closed to the public for Memphis in May, is expected to re-open in June following a period of remediation to repair any damage resulting from the major festival weekends.

“Tom Lee Park’s construction schedule is now likely to align with a simultaneous project to fix and improve Memphis’ historic cobblestone landing, also scheduled to begin this fall. Aligning these projects will minimize disruption to Riverside Drive.
[pullquote-1] The new Tom Lee Park will join significant improvements to the riverfront already completed, including an enhanced Mud Island Park, the 5-mile River Line trail from Wolf River to Big River Crossing, and River Garden.”

This new timeline comes after a new petition began online to “Save ‘Tom Lee’ Park!” — though, the new construction start date and timing of the petition appear to be unrelated.

The petition, started Monday by Todd Adams, had 1,027 signatures as of late Wednesday morning. It needs 1,500 signatures before the request is formally sent to a raft of state and local leaders including Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, the Memphis City Council, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, the Shelby County Commission, governor Bill Lee, and some federal lawmakers from Tennessee.

“Memphis River Parks Partnership reps have said several times ‘Memphis in May officials have been involved the entire time,’” reads Adams’ petition. “Yet, here we are in mediation because Memphis In May officials have publicly said that this current design brings many red flags and concerns.

Chris McCoy

Sunset over Tom Lee Park

“We are petitioning the city to stop any construction/demo until a joint statement is made by MIM/MRPP and until they reach an agreement. We are petitioning for the city of Memphis to be transparent with the citizens.”

However, petitioners say they are not against a newly re-designed Tom Lee Park. They say they want a “new, smart park design that allows the park and the festival to co-exist.”
[pullquote-3] “This is ‘Memphians’ sticking to our history, and our biggest festival and money-making weekends of the year — economic impact far beyond this so-claimed ‘park’ boom you speak of,” reads the petition. “We MUST AND INSIST on a park plan/model that will allow easy flow of people, logistics, safety, and convenience for our big MIM events. ANYTHING LESS IS NOT AN OPTION!!! [capitalization and punctuation their own].”

Categories
News News Blog

Renovated Cossitt Library Could Open By February

CREDIT: Maya Smith

Maya Smith

The current library sign and courtyard

Cossitt Library, the oldest public library in Memphis closed its doors in January 2018 in preparation for a renovation and in a little less than two months, that work will finally begin.

In the now emptied foyer of the library, Shamichael Hallman, director of Cossitt talked to a group of Memphians Tuesday, detailing the plans for the space.

“Over the last several years, there’s been a lot of discussion about the library,” Hallman said. “It’s been on the chopping block a couple of times. People have really questioned if this library can continue to live and be relevant in a changing society, which is a question I think a lot of libraries are asking.”

The project will be completed in three phases, Hallman said. The first part of the library transformation will be the exterior courtyard on the corner of Front and Monroe.

Maya Smith

The new courtyard will house seating, green space, and public art.

Hallman said the revamped courtyard will feature seating, landscaping, a large, “eye-catching” piece of artwork, and green space for yoga and other fitness classes.

The fence currently separating the courtyard from Front Street will be torn down, as Hallman said it’s a “literal barrier” that hinders people’s access to the space.

“The hope is that for the people who are walking or driving by the message is clearly ‘You’re welcome in this space,’” Hallman said. “We want people to come, sit, and hang out.”

The second phase will target the interior of the library, beginning with the first floor and moving to the second level.

Hallman said the goal of the first floor is to create a gathering space: “From wall to wall, we’ll have tons of social seating.”

“We want people to be able to come in and meet a neighbor or a friend and have a conversation. We really want to go against the ‘Shh, we’re in the library’ mentality.”

To create that kind of environment, there will be a cafe on one end of the first floor, serving coffee, juice, salads, sandwiches, and other refreshments.

For those who want to work in quiet, there will also be meeting rooms with river views on the first floor.

Along the back wall of the library’s first floor, Hallman said there will be a mural paying tribute to the African American students who participated in a series of sit-ins and read-ins at Cossitt and other segregated public libraries in the city during the 1960s.

“There’s a lot of history here,” Hallman said.

Maya Smith

Renderings of the new library displayed on the library’s second floor

On one end of the second floor, there will be a performance area for dance, theater, music, and fitness classes, as well as a technology workshop where local professionals can give classes on various topics such as programming, photo and video editing, and robotics.

The opposite end is slated to house music stations where visitors can listen to a collection of vinyl records. There will also be a studio for producing graphic design, music, and video projects, which Hallman said will be “digital playground for adults.”

Finally, the second floor will also be home to the Memphis Jookin Academy, where Memphis youth can come learn to jook from Memphis actor and dancer, Charles ‘Lil Buck’ Riley.

Every program, class, and space will be available to anyone with a library card with no charge, Hallman said.

Another change the library might see is extended hours. Before the library closed in 2018, its hours were 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but Hallman said those hours didn’t allow the library to serve as many people as it could.

To extend hours, Hallman said additional funding is needed.

In addition to the new programming, Hallman assured that the library will still have “quite a few” books.

“Libraries have always been a place to openly access information and knowledge,” Hallman said. “Those things will be very much still in tact. We just want to build on that and meet some of the needs of the changing community.”

The renovation of the library is a piece of the larger national Reimagining Civic Commons initiative meant to improve civic engagement, socioeconomic mixing, environmental sustainability, and value creation in five cities. Memphis, along with Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Akron, were chosen to be demonstration cities for the three-year project.

Here the initiative focuses on re-imagining the riverfront, including the Cossitt Library, the River Line Trail, Memphis Park, and the Mississippi River Park.

Memphis Public Libraries

A postcard featuring the Cossitt Library in 1906


Cossitt first opened its doors in 1893 as the Cossitt-Goodwyn Institute. It was a library and a museum.

The building serving as the library today, was added in 1958, when a part of the original structure was torn down.

Now, the only remnant of the original library is the red sandstone building sitting west of the current library.

Hallman said the library is in talks with officials from the Brooks Museum of Art, which might have a use for the historic building, but “it’s pretty wide open now.”

Hallman said contractors should begin work by mid-summer and “if there are no mishaps,” anticipates the library re-opening in February 2020.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

We Ate ALL of Gibson’s Donuts, Part III

We know what you’re thinking: Robert Caro ain’t got nothing on y’all. And you wouldn’t be wrong. Let’s guide this baby home!

Devil’s Food – Not too sweet, but very chocolatey.

Blueberry – A Sky Blue Popsicle comes to mind. Delicious blueberry flavor.

New Orleans Buttermilk – I have to describe this as a milky taste, which, with the sweetness, is wonderful.

Orange World’s Fair – A cake doughnut with an orange taste. Excellent.

Vanilla iced — ice ice, baby. No skimping on the icing on this one.

Chocolate sprinkle — chocolate-y and oh so good. This one reminds me of Prince.

Lemon filled — tart and wonderful. Would make perfect afternoon snack.

Strawberry filled — Delicate as far as donuts go. And, of course, delicious.

Chocolate old fashioned — We’re in love with this one. Chocolate, cake. Mmmmm.

World’s Fair — we were told that these donuts were named after World’s Fair. These are cake with heavy glaze and yum yummy.

Chocolate World’s Fair — See above, only chocolate this time. So good!

Thank you to Gibson’s for all the donuts.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Grizzlies Land Number 2 Draft Pick … The Possibilities are Endless

The Grizzlies have been known for having a series of misfortunes when it comes to the NBA draft, but on Tuesday night the (ping pong) balls finally bounced in their favor.

Whether it was a broken Mike Conley face, a Tony Allen hamstring, or a Zach Randolph suspension, the Grizzlies have had a seemingly unfair share of deflating circumstances. The franchise and the city has grown accustomed to waiting for the other shoe to fall — and having no luck except bad luck, but Tuesday night, the Grizzlies got a taste of overdue reparation when they were awarded the Number 2 overall draft pick, after being slated to pick eighth. The unfavorable odds just made the results that much more gratifying.

Ja Morant

When I saw that the Lakers had advanced to the top four, my immediate reaction (and my engrained pessimism) led me to believe that the Grizzlies would fall to ninth, since a team that was below them in the odds had advanced. Things got wild when it was revealed that the Grizzlies had also advanced into the top four. After what seemed like the longest commercial break ever, the Grizzlies heard their verdict and it came up almost as perfect as it could be. The Grizzlies moved up in the draft for the first time since 2009, in which, ironically they also landed the second overall pick. (We won’t discuss who was taken in 2009; there’s no need Thabeet a dead horse.)

The Grizzlies now have basically the entire draft class at their disposal, because it’s pretty much a given that Duke’s Zion Williamson will go first overall to New Orleans. They can take the highly probable choice of Murray State sophomore Ja Morant or Duke scoring wing RJ Barrett. I also would not rule out the possibility of the Grizzlies taking a gamble and selecting someone like Vanderbilt freshman Darius Garland, who is rehabbing from a season-ending knee injury. Garland possesses a shooting stroke that is a fit for today’s NBA, but he would be a huge gamble since Morant has been listed as the consensus best point guard available. The Grizzlies are in the favorable position of having options if someone like Barrett or Garland is killing it in their workouts and are impressive in the combines. The have the ability to basically take whomever they want.

Another great thing is that this is not 2009 and there is no Hasheem Thabeet to tempt the Grizzlies into a bad decision. They also have an experienced front office, with guys like Rich Cho and Glen Grunwald, who can come together and help new point man Zach Kleiman with the draft choice. They also have the liberty to draft Morant and trade veteran Mike Conley — who has been rumored in several trades — for another pick or a young player on the perimeter. They could draft R.J. Barrett and take a Coby White type point guard with a later pick acquired in a Conley deal, or even a falling Darius Garland. The possibilities are numerous and come with the great reward of having the second overall pick.

The Grizzlies spent the majority of the season after the trade deadline trying to convey their draft pick and get out of the draft, and here they are now, sitting pretty with the Number 2 choice. It ain’t fair that a team that at no point of the season tanked has ended up with a chance to add another young star to their roster, but the draft is always unfair to some team, and the Grizzlies, their fans, and this city deserved some good luck for a change.

It was once suggested by former Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay that sometimes you have to make your own luck. Last night I’m sure that many were fine with the kind that just drops in your lap.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Violent Femmes Prep New Album As They Play Graceland With X

The Violent Femmes

“I don’t change the chords any more/ The chords change themselves.”

That’s the opening line from “Hotel Last Resort,” the title track from the new album by the Violent Femmes. The band, which formed in a Milwaukee suburb in 1981, became one of the biggest and most enduring acts to come out of the post-punk period. But unlike most of their counterparts, like American bands Husker Du and The Replacements, who formed in the Midwest around the same time, they weren’t playing electric guitars fast and loud. The ramshackle Femmes always sounded like they had just wandered in off the street, where they had been playing for change. This is pretty close to being the truth, as their big break came when The Pretenders saw them busking outside a Milwaukee theater and asked them to open the show.

Even though their air of studied amateurism attracted the cult around the band, the awkward teenagers were always looking toward the future. “I was fully committed to it being a career. Completely,” says singer and songwriter Gordon Gano. “That’s how I felt, and that’s how Brian Ritchie felt before we met.”

That ambition almost cratered the band before they even got started.“When we were first playing together, in the beginning of 1981, Brian and Victor DiLorenzo, our original drummer, were planning on moving to Minneapolis the next summer to start a band with people they knew there. They told me, this is fun, but that at the end of the summer they were leaving. This thing that we were doing, them playing my songs with me, was going to end at the end of the summer. Then, something happened with the people in Minneapolis. Without that, this thing called the Violent Femmes wouldn’t have happened beyond the summer of ’81. There would have been no recordings or anything,” says Gano. “We were all feeling really good about the music we were making together. It had a nice energy which we all thought was great, even though no one else did at the time.”

As punk got more “pure,” Gano’s songwriting got more eclectic, incorporating folk, country, and whatever else he was listening to at the time. With lyrics dripping with teenage sexual frustration and anchored by the frantic standup bass work of Brian Ritchie, their immortal single “Blister In The Sun” sounded like nothing else on the radio in 1982, or even a decade later.

Violent Femmes Prep New Album As They Play Graceland With X (2)

“There were a few people who liked it, loved it,” says Gano about their proto-folk-punk sound. “But most people didn’t know what to do with it. They just wanted us to go away. We’ve run into that our whole career, people who would be much happier if we just didn’t exist. I think the reason they’re like that is, the people who are supposed to be in the know, the people who are in the music business, from the very start told us we weren’t any good. I think those people are still around, and still exist. Basically, we shouldn’t be as popular or successful as we’ve been, according to this certain view of things in the industry.”

The Femmes have endured turmoil, ridicule, and lineup changes, beginning with a brief breakup in 1987 after the difficult recording of The Blind Leading The Naked with producer and former Talking Head Jerry Harrison — even though that album was their first entry into the Billboard charts and spawned a hit with their cover of T. Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution”.

Violent Femmes Prep New Album As They Play Graceland With X (3)

“That one was the worst time of what was going on in the band itself,” Gano recalls. “There were a lot of difficult circumstances. We were doing a lot of new stuff in the studio, with Jerry Harrison producing. It was the album which gives me the least enjoyment when I’ve heard it. But I probably can’t completely separate that from the experience of making the album. … I think with music, it’s so much about when you hear it. What’s going on in your life? How old are they? It’s impossible to hear music separate from what’s going on in one’s own life.”

Perhaps that can explain the Femmes’ enduring popularity. Gano’s compositions like the snarling “Add It Up” and the bitter breakup song “Nightmares” speak to people when they’re feeling awkward, alone, and also a little defiant. Everyone goes through a Femmes phase. “We thought we’d be either less popular than we’ve been for all these years, or more popular. We had no lack of ego in thinking about how well we play the music we play. All we knew about was the punk music we were into. You’d play the little punk rock clubs, and then you got really big. That was making it. The other end was the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and so on. There wasn’t anything in our mind in between. But that’s where we’ve had our whole career — the in-between area. And yet the longer we keep doing it, the closer we get to the Stone camp, in our little tiny way. We’re starting to put some years in. Certainly, we never thought about the number of years we’d be doing it. We’ve been playing music now longer than rock-and-roll had existed when we started playing. I can’t even really fully comprehend that. Time is … a subject we probably shouldn’t start talking about.”

When the Violent Femmes hit the Graceland Soundstage on Thursday, May 16th, it will be part of their ongoing tour with fellow old school punkers X. “We’re getting great reactions from people. We’re playing with X, which is a very fun double bill. I think it’s a great show, particularly with two bands accustomed to being a headliner. It’s been great.”
The new album Hotel Last Resort will be released in July. “I’m really happy with it. I suppose a lot of artists say ‘It’s some of our best stuff,’ so I’m trying not to say that,” says Gano.

But don’t you really think it is, I ask? “It is! It’s exceptionally fine craftsmanship for us!”

Violent Femmes Prep New Album As They Play Graceland With X

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

The Joys of Watching Jeopardy!

CREDIT: Wikipedia

Fans of the quiz show Jeopardy! already know that there’s something special happening on the venerable old program. A 35-year-old professional sports gambler from Las Vegas is shattering records during a 22 game streak that has earned him almost $1.7 million. The contestant, James Holzhauer, is on track to surpass the earnings of previous Jeopardy! phenom, Ken Jennings, who earned $2.5 million in 74 consecutive games in 2004. As a devotee of the show, he’s the best I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been watching since college. That’s pre-Trebek for those with sentimental attachments to Art Fleming. What makes Holzhauer stand out from anybody else on a hot streak is his bold style. First of all, I never heard anyone even admit to being a professional sports gambler except that guy Robert De Niro played in Casino, and it ended badly for him. Holzhauer plays Jeopardy! like a poker player. “My approach isn’t complicated,” he explains. “Get some money, hit the Daily Doubles, bet big, and hope I run hot.” So if he calmly bets $38 thousand on a single trivia question, Holzhauer says, “It’s only money.” Seemingly fearless, Holzhauer goes for the highest value questions first and pushes imaginary poker chips with an “all in” gesture every chance he gets. He’s been correct 97 percent of the time. His aggressive betting on the show’s “Final Jeopardy!” question has served him well. He’s answered 21 out of 22 questions. I’m telling you, this guy is the Tiger Woods of Jeopardy!

Wikipedia

James Holzhauer

Doing my due diligent googling, I landed on a site called “The Jeopardy! Fan,” which had lots of stats. Consider this: Holzhauer won $131,127 in one game, beating the previous record of $77 thousand. Out of the top-10 highest earning games in Jeopardy!‘s 35 years in its current iteration, Holzhauer holds all 10. On April 17th, all 41 questions he buzzed in on were answered correctly. In Jeopardy! parlance, that’s a perfect game, or as I like to call it, pitching a Sandy Koufax. After admitting to growing up watching Jeopardy! and promising his grandmother that he would be a contestant one day, Holzhauer said he likes to go to the children’s section of the library to prepare. Children’s books are “Chock-full of infographics, pictures, and all kind of stuff to keep the reader engaged.” He has already donated a portion of his winnings to the Las Vegas Library District along with the Ronald McDonald House and the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. Holzhauer’s streak has improved Jeopardy!‘s ratings by 10 percent with over 10 million viewers per day, making it the third-highest viewed syndicated television program, just behind Judge Judy and Wheel of Fortune.

If I seem enthusiastic about Jeopardy!, it’s because it’s a family thing. When the old homestead still stood, instead of the McMansion that now stands, I would drop in on my parents to watch the show. My father was the best player among us by far. Currently, every weekday at 3:55 p.m., my 97-year-old mother can expect a call from me about Final Jeopardy! The thing that separates me from my smart family members is that I was once chosen to be a contestant. In 2003, the Jeopardy! bus came to Memphis, and their representatives set up shop in Peabody Place. Initially, you were given a 10-question quiz on a variety of subjects and out of a thousand people, about 50 scored high enough to be invited back for a 50-question quiz. Out of that group, the high scorers returned to play a mock game, buzzer and all. Although I felt anxious and nauseous going in, a surprising calm came over me when it came to playing the game. When I exited waving that golden ticket to my wife, I was euphoric. I was assured by a Jeopardy! producer that they would be calling me with a date for my appearance. Thanks to my Kudzu’s pub-quiz team-member and former Jeopardy! champ, Ilene Markell, I was given reams of material to study and strengthen my weaknesses, like Shakespeare, science, math, pop culture, mythology, European history, anagrams, national parks, the Revolutionary War, British monarchs, and those darned before and after questions, among others. I was going to meet Alex Trebek. Then something happened.

On July 22nd, what the National Weather Service called the “Mid-South Derecho of 2003,” but locals called Hurricane Elvis, roared through Memphis with straight-line winds surpassing 100 miles per hour, flattening trees and power lines and leaving over 300,000 MLGW customers in the dark. We tried to tough it out, but after a week of extreme heat and the constant ear-piercing din of a neighbor’s faulty generator, we packed up the dogs and moved to an animal-friendly motel on Sycamore View Drive. What we thought would be a short inconvenience turned into 15 days. We were among the last households to have power restored. If Jeopardy! had called, they would have heard that “temporarily out-of-service” message.

When the call never came, I could only surmise that they phoned during the aftermath of Hurricane Elvis while we were living it up at the Day’s Inn. I called the Jeopardy! office to explain but was told I had to retake the test. I said that I still knew the same stuff that I did during the audition but was instructed to either come to Los Angeles to try out or take the online test. I’ve been a miserable failure at the online tests. I never learned to type, which is a necessary component. For all the traumatic testing, the elation of securing an invitation, and the deflating, deafening sound of the phone not ringing, all I got was a lousy key-chain. I treasure it, though. The number of contestants that have been mowed down by James Holzhauer has softened the blow. I could have been like that character in Cheers who blows Final Jeopardy! and has to live with the shame. As for Holzhauer’s streak, we’ll have to wait until May 20th, after the teacher’s tournament, to see if the professional gambler can surpass Ken Jennings as the greatest Jeopardy! champion ever. I’ll take odds that he does it.

Randy Haspel writes the blog, Recycled Hippies.

Categories
News News Blog

3.0 Executive Order Marks Fourth Since Strickland Took Office

Tuesday’s executive order adopting the Memphis 3.0 plan was Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s fourth since he took office in 2016.

An executive order provides mayoral direction to the heads of all the city’s divisions regarding operations and day-to-day business, Dan Springer, the city’s deputy director of media affairs, said.

So far, Strickland’s orders have dealt with ethics, data, sexual assault, and, most recently, the Memphis 3.0 comprehensive planning document.

Here’s a snapshot of the other three orders:

The mayor’s first executive order came about five months after he took office, when he signed an order on ethics, rescinding a 2009 order.

The order instructed city employees not to accept gifts, money, or favors from residents. It also discouraged city employees from using information obtained on the job to make a profit, as well as prevented employees from entering into or benefiting from contracts with the city or its agencies.

Then in June of that year, Strickland issued his second executive order. This one related to the city’s sexual assault task force. Through the order, the mayor directed the task force to “continue their work to raise awareness about sexual assault and violence.”

Strickland instructed the task force to test every kit in the city’s inventory, investigate leads and examine all cases coming from the kits, improve victim support, prosecute the suspects, and “continue the dialogue in Memphis about sexual assault and domestic violence, including a deliberate effort to get information in the hands of victims and survivors who need it most.”

In February 2018, the mayor signed an order creating adopting an open data policy. The move created the Memphis Open Data program and the Data Governance Committee.

As a result, data related to public safety, neighborhoods, jobs, government, and youth is available through the open data portal on the city’s website.