Month: December 2019

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Four Points: A Look Back at the Year in Local Politics

The 2019 City Election: Though turnout statistics remained meager for the quadrennial Memphis municipal election, there was some spirited competition between a triad of candidates at the head of an 11-candidate mayoral field.

The favorite from the word go was first-term Mayor Jim Strickland, who, after serving eight years as a budget-hawk councilman, had upset then-incumbent Mayor AC Wharton in 2015 by running a model campaign on the promise of being “brilliant with the basics”: public safety, anti-blight, and official accountability.

Jackson Baker

Jim Strickland

Strickland ran on similar themes in 2019, along with boasting advances in addressing potholes and 911 calls, and a record of enhancing city contracting opportunities for women and minorities. He had also lanced a major public boil in managing to remove Confederate statues from Downtown parks through the sleight-of-hand stratagem of vending the parks to an ad hoc nonprofit that could circumvent a state law restricting the city’s right to alter the monuments’ status.

One of Strickland’s opponents, first-term County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, had risen to prominence as the leader of Take ‘Em Down 901, which had aroused public sentiment against the statues. She also had developed something of a national reputation as a progressive political figure to reckon with and based her mayoral race on the slogan “We Can’t Wait.”

Though she would finish third, behind Strickland and former Mayor Willie Herenton, Sawyer may have attracted more attention, locally and elsewhere, than either of the other candidates. Late in the campaign, she gained attention from outrage regarding a Memphis magazine caricature widely regarded as racially stereotypical, but she subsequently lost some luster via the public surfacing of some youthful tweets that offended animal-rights advocates and members of the LGBTQ community, among others.

For his part, Herenton, who in 1991 had become the city’s first elected black mayor, never quite regained the spotlight or the support that had attended that earlier heroic effort.

The “bogus ballots” controversy: For as long as any of us can remember, the atmosphere of Shelby County elections has had a certain resemblance to shopping-center openings and other acts of commercial boosterism. No election occurs without a proliferation of paid advertising displays passing themselves off as sample ballots.

Two or three entrepreneurs have for some years made a comfortable living putting the squeeze on local candidates, selling them places for their names and pictures on glossy sheets or pamphlets containing lists of “endorsees” for this or that office. So accepted has been the practice that, when Democratic Party groups and City Council candidate John Marek legally challenged the practice in 2019, no local judge could be found to hear the case. The reason? Most or all of them had previously purchased space on such ballots!

Even so, the case is going forward in 2020, with either a federal court or retired state Judge William Acree of Jackson (who on election day in October issued a temporary restraining order) hearing the issue.

The 2019 General Assembly: Ever since the overwhelming Republican electoral successes in the statewide elections of 2010 and 2014, Tennessee has not only fallen out of what for more than a century was a comfortably Democratic orbit, it has also teetered away from what had become a role as a politically balanced border state with barometric tendencies.

Even under the eight-year reign of Governor Bill Haslam, a Republican moderate, the state had begun functioning in the mode of a dyed-in-the-wool deep-South polity. During Haslam’s first term, the arch-conservative state Senate Speaker and Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey made sure that Haslam’s package of moderately conservative educational reforms included the abolition of what had been teachers’ bargaining rights, and Ramsey and other hard-right Republicans intervened to prevent Haslam from accepting federal Medicaid expansion funds.

In 2019, the new Republican governor, a businessman neophyte named Bill Lee, was equally resistant to state efforts to boost TennCare and even more zealous about adulterating public education, enhancing state authority over charter schools, and pushing a program of private-school vouchers he insisted on calling “education savings accounts.” On the progressive side, Lee did take the lead in calling for civil justice reforms and the easing of transitioning into society of ex-felons.

Meanwhile, legislators were kept busy fighting over a series of anti-abortion measures and bills regarded as curtailing the rights of the LGBTQ community or at least mitigiating the public impact of its members. Under the reigning GOP supermajority, hard caps were imposed on damage suits, and tax legislation tended to strip state revenue sources down to the core of the state sales tax, though a good business climate managed to sustain state spending levels.

Increasingly, the deportment of state officials was not beyond the reach of public opinion, as the imperious ways of GOP Speaker Glen Casada of Franklin caused him the loss of a vote of confidence in his caucus and prompted his resignation, and state Representative David Byrd was under unrelenting pressure to resign because of accusations of past sexual improprieties.

Jackson Baker

Lee Harris

Shelby County government: With the power struggle between former Mayor Mark Luttrell and members of the county commision now a thing of the past, a newly elected commission more or less worked in harness with new Mayor Lee Harris, though there were residual points of tension, as when Harris attempted to get his budget priorities accepted whole, without change or compromise.

Democrat Harris, who is known to be anticipating a future run for Congress, would also occasionally out-run his base of support on the majority-Democrat but largely bipartisan-minded commission by getting conspicuously out in front with populist heroics — a case in point being his veto of county funding for a model natatorium at the University of Memphis, insisting that the University commit to a uniform $15-an-hour wage for its employees first. That issue would be resolved with a feel-good resolution by the commission, restoring the county’s million-dollar contribution while expressing support for the U of M wage increase at some expedited but unidentified future point.

In general, the commission followed Harris’ lead on a series of civil justice reforms, and mayor and commission alike were stoutly committed to the county’s  MWBE program to enhance the level of contracting with minority- and women-owned businesses.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Boxing Day Beatdown: Grizzlies Thrash Thunder 110–97

CREDIT: Sharon Brown

Sharon Brown

Jonas Valanciunas

Revenge can be sweet, as demonstrated by the Memphis Grizzlies Thursday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was the second meeting of these two teams in just over a week, and the outcomes could not have been more dissimilar.

During their December 18th matchup, the Thunder overcame a 24-point deficit to defeat the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies returned the favor and then some when the team returned to Oklahoma City the day after Christmas.


The young Memphis team finished the night with five players scoring in double-digits. Jonas Valanciunas scored a team-high 21 points, with 4 rebounds. Jaren Jackson Jr. followed closely, finishing the night with 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Boxing Day Beatdown: Grizzlies Thrash Thunder 110–97 (2)

Ja Morant had a quiet offensive night, scoring just 10 points, but the rookie point guard also contributed 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Jae Crowder continued to struggle offensively, finishing the night with 5 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. 

Battle of the Benches

Boxing Day Beatdown: Grizzlies Thrash Thunder 110–97

The Grizzlies continue to get meaningful production from their bench players, who outscored the Thunder bench 46-28. Tyus Jones and Brandon Clarke led the second unit in scoring with 15 points and 13 points respectively.  

 

A Good Showing, but Still a Work in Progress

The good: Memphis won the rebounding battle 50-34

The bad: Memphis also “won” the turnover battle 16-9, with the Thunder scoring 22 points off Grizzlies turnovers. Moving forward, reducing the number of turnovers needs to be a priority, as well as closing out quarters properly. 

 

Who Got Next? The Grizzlies continue their road trip, and will face off against the Nuggets in Denver on Saturday, December 28th.

Categories
Music Music Blog

A Very Spaceface New Year’s Eve

I caught up with Jake Ingalls of psychedelic party-rock groups Spaceface and The Flaming Lips to ask him about Spaceface’s New Year’s Eve extravaganza at the Young Avenue Deli. The singer/guitarist/sampler/songwriter took a break from vocal warm ups in the studio to tell me about the holiday concert, the band’s new album (halfway done), and their recently released Christmas single.

“We’re finishing up a new record,” Ingalls says over the phone, presumably tucked away in a corner of the studio. “We have six or seven songs pretty much done.” The group’s 2017 offering, Sun Kids, was an explosion of flower child optimism and rainbow rock — and one of this music writer’s favorite records of the year. It even features Julien Baker on the track “Timeshare.” The new record promises to be something different, even if the psychedelic bent is familiar to longtime fans.

Forced into new territory by the departure of their drummer, Ingalls says he’s begun incorporating samples into the music. “I’m always learning from the Lips,” Ingalls says, explaining that he takes inspiration from the elder group, if not direct input. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” he adds, explaining that using samples is something he’s wanted to try for some time but felt hesitant to commit to doing. Ingalls adds that the inspiration is about “not feeling dismayed, finding a workaround.”

Besides sampled drums and meticulously layered acoustic guitar strums, Ingalls is using field recordings of particle beam dumps supplied by research scientists. The samples, Ingalls says, sound like something right out of Star Wars.


“This summer, I got to go to the Large Hadron Collider,” Ingalls recalls excitedly. He visited the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, where the singer from Spaceface met scientists who study space. Some of them, Ingalls says, also sing in a group called Piña Collider.

So the new Spaceface song “Piña Collider” is named after the only premier scientist-staffed cover band, Ingalls explains. “It’s an ode to the hardworking scientists at CERN.” Spaceface released the single “Panoramic View” in October 2019, and the audience at the New Year’s Eve concert may be among some of the first to see and hear the new songs performed live.

Spaceface is no stranger to holiday performances. “We just put out a Christmas single,” Ingalls says. The song, titled “Christmas Party (Nice & Naughty),” is a holiday-themed party jam and has been gaining some traction on streaming services. “It’s kind of funny that the metric for success for an unsigned band these days is if you get put on a Spotify editor’s playlist,” Ingalls adds, happily noting that “Christmas Party (Nice & Naughty)” made its way onto one such playlist.

“I feel lucky that in Memphis we’ve become this holiday act,” Ingalls says, referencing the band’s yearly Halloween and New Year’s Eve concerts, which have grown to be full-blown spectacles. Spaceface, a group already well known for their over-the-top live shows, confetti, costumed dancers, and mind-bending light shows, always ups the ante for the holiday concerts. Ingalls says, in all seriousness, that fans can expect to see a “double-necked guitar with lasers on it.” The band, he says, will play dance-inducing rave songs, and Ingalls will spin a DJ set after the band plays.

“We love playing there,” Ingalls says of Young Avenue Deli, a Midtown venue that has seen more than its fair share of alternative rock acts, both local and touring. Think Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill, Black Lips, Native Blood, HEELS, and Amy LaVere. “We’re excited to break in the new sound system.”

Spaceface performs at Young Avenue Deli, Tuesday, December 31st, at 9 p.m. $10 in advance, $15 at the door.

Categories
Cover Feature News

2020 Vision

There’s no turning back now. The decade’s in the rearview, and our eyes are set on what’s to come in 2020 — in politics, sports, film, music, and more. Happy New Year, Memphis!

CannaBeat

Medical cannabis died in Tennessee in April. Well, a bill that would have allowed it did anyway.

But the sponsor of that bill, Sen. Steve Dickerson (R-Nashville), told The Daily Memphian in June that he intended to bring the bill back to the Tennessee General Assembly in 2020. The strategy to pass it may change, he said. He and House sponsor Rep. Bryan Terry (R-Murfreesboro) plan to reroute the bill through the legislative process, avoiding committees with members unfriendly to medical cannabis.

Terry, chairman of the House Health committee, issued a formal invitation to actor Michael J. Fox in December to appear before the committee during the 2020 session to talk about his foundation’s work to support expanding research on medical cannabis.

A September poll of influential Tennesseans found that many across the state were in favor of loosening cannabis laws. “In Memphis and Nashville, clear majorities favor making it completely legal for both medicinal and recreational use [57 percent and 58 percent respectively],” according to the Power Poll. About 29 percent of those polled in Memphis thought cannabis should be legal for medical purposes. Only 15 percent thought it should not be legalized at all.

There will be one major change for the possibility of cannabis legislation in 2020. In November, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would legalize marijuana on the federal level. — Toby Sells

Gaydar

When lawmakers return to Nashville in 2020, they’ll also consider a slate of bills against the LGBTQ+ community called the “Slate of Hate” by the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP).

The recurring anti-transgender student bathroom bill would give state legal support to public school districts that experiment with anti-transgender student policies. An adoption discrimination bill would make private adoption/foster care agencies eligible for tax dollars, even if those agencies decide to turn away potential parents because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or religious views.

A business license bill would prevent local governments from favoring businesses with inclusive policies in their contracting. The so-called “God-Given Marriage Initiative” may emerge here in 2020. It would end marriage licensing and replace it with a man and a woman registering their marriage contract with the state. — TS

A rendering of the MRPP-helmed redesign of Tom Lee Park

Memphis in May/ Tom Lee Park

The sounds of music and the smell of barbecue will again rise from Tom Lee Park in May 2020.

It’s one stipulation of the mediation between the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) and Memphis in May International Festival (MIM). The mediation ended in December, closing months of talks between the two groups over a redesign of the park proposed by MRPP in February. MIM officials feared the new design would not allow enough space for its festivals in the park.

The festivals will be moved to another location in 2021, however. Tom Lee will close after the festivals in 2020 for the construction of the park’s many new features. — TS

Marc Pegan

Avant-garde jazz ensemble The Dopolarians

Music

Shopping around for a New Year’s resolution? Here’s one that will have a ripple effect: Get out to see more live music. Compared to the late 20th century, this is a veritable Golden Age of venues and performers for Memphis. And the list keeps growing.

Consider New Year’s Eve at what may be both the newest and the oldest club in town, Hernando’s Hide-A-Way. Co-owner Dale Watson and his Lone Stars often hold court there, as they will on the last night of the year, recording a live album to boot. But there are plenty of other national acts already taking advantage of this mid-sized venue, intimate yet spacious, swanky yet country.

Piper Ferguso

Booker T. Jones

If 2019 was the year that Crosstown Theater reached cruising altitude and the Green Room at Crosstown really came into its own, the year to come looks to continue that upswing. At the former space, January 18th will witness a homecoming show of sorts for the great Booker T. Jones. Those who saw him speak at Stax in November got a taste of his new album; now Memphians can hear that album and more, live and in the moment. As a perfect contrast, acclaimed avant-garde jazz ensemble The Dopolarians, boasting two Memphis-associated players and some elder legends of the genre, will play the Green Room on February 7th.

In the classical realm, watch for the remainder of the Iris Orchestra’s season at both GPAC and the Brooks Museum, starting with their performance of “Spoonfuls,” pianist Conrad Tao’s new work in honor of Memphis’ bicentennial, on January 25th. Meanwhile at the Cannon Center, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra will feature Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and a Marimba Concerto by Abe, among other works, as they continue their season from January through April.

The city’s newest club, The Lounge at 3rd & Court, promises to be the jazz viper den that many in the city have longed for, often featuring guitar great Joe Restivo and band. And then there are the unsurpassed standby clubs for rock, country, and jazz, which continue to feature original music: Bar DKDC, Lafayette’s Music Room, Wild Bill’s, B-Side, Hi Tone, Minglewood Hall, Murphy’s, Lamplighter, Blue Monkey, and many others, including the ever-reliable Beale Street. Get out there and keep it alive! — Alex Greene

The Memphis City Council moves into 2020 with six new members

City Council

The Memphis City Council will move into 2020 with six new members. This is the first time five African-American women will sit on the council together. Councilwoman Patrice Robsinson will chair the group in 2020, with Frank Colvett Jr. serving as vice chairman.

Jeff Warren, Rhonda Logan, Chase Carlisle, Edmund Ford Sr., Michalyn Easter-Thomas, and J.B. Smiley Jr. will join the council next year.

“We’re going to make a better Memphis as a team,” Robinson said of the new council.

After approving Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) rate hikes for water and gas at its last meeting of the year, the council will return to the issue of electric rate hikes in 2020. Beginning in July, MLGW customers’ bills will go up $2.23 if no rate increase is approved for electric.

MLGW proposed increasing electric rates by a total of $9 for the average customer. The council voted this move down, prompting the MLGW board to reconsider their proposal. The council will consider MLGW’s new proposed increase once the utility’s board comes up with the new numbers. — Maya Smith

Bikes

Next year the city is slated to add about 20 miles of new bike facilities, says Nicholas Oyler, the city’s bikeway and pedestrian program manager. One new bike facility will be the completion of the Hampline in early 2020. This is a project nine years in the making that will connect the Shelby Farms Greenline to Overton Park.

In other bike news, the city will get 500 new federally funded bike racks primarily located near existing bus stops to “encourage synergy between using transit and bicycling for the last- and first-mile connections,” Oyler says. — MS

Police Surveillance

Later this year, U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla will decide what to do with the 1978 Kendrick consent decree that prevents police surveillance by the Memphis Police Department (MPD).

McCalla ruled last year that the city and MPD had violated the decree and imposed sanctions. Since then, a court-appointed monitor team has been working with the police department on improving its adherence to the decree and developing policies and procedures related to the decree. At a final evidentiary hearing scheduled for June, the court will decide if the decree should be modified, and, if so, how.

In the meantime, the monitor team and MPD are in the process of finalizing updated social media and training policies for MPD, which are subject to the court’s approval. Additionally, the monitor team will organize focus groups in early 2020 to hear more from the community on the consent decree. — MS

Larry Kuzniewski

Coach Penny Hardaway points the way to Tiger victory

Sports

The new year — new decade — in Memphis sports will be unlike any we’ve seen before. Such is the case every year, of course, as the sports world remains among life’s few truly unscripted delights. Perhaps, even without the recently departed James Wiseman, the Tigers will will make a deep NCAA tournament run. Perhaps Ja Morant returns to full health and dribble-drives his way to the NBA’s Rookie of the Year trophy. Perhaps the University of Memphis football team finds a way to top its 2019 season. Okay, let’s be realistic …

Penny Hardaway’s Tigers will regain center stage with conference play, his program seeking a first American Athletic Conference championship. The nation’s top freshman class — prior to Wiseman’s departure — will find its biggest test come tournament time in March. (Memphis hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament since 2014.)

The Ja and Jaren era is upon us with Grizzlies basketball, Mr. Morant and Mr. Jackson having become the faces of a franchise now climbing back toward playoff relevance in a Western Conference top-heavy with superstars, most notably those playing for the two Los Angeles franchises. Still shy of his 21st birthday, Morant could become only the second Grizzly to earn top-rookie honors (and the first since Pau Gasol raised the hardware in 2002).

Spring could bring one of the top prospects in baseball to AutoZone Park. Outfielder Dylan Carlson earned the St. Louis Cardinals’ Minor League Player of the Year honor for 2019, primarily for his performance at Double-A Springfield. The 21-year-old slugger will compete for a spot on the Cardinals’ major-league roster in March but will more than likely fine-tune his swing in Memphis with the Redbirds before making his big-league debut.

901 FC will take the pitch (pardon the pun) at AutoZone Park for its second season in the USL Championship. The Bluff City’s new soccer outfit went 9-18-7 in its first season, making up in fan-base passion what it may have lacked in finishing ability. With the likes of Louisville City FC and Birmingham Legion FC to catch in the standings, regional rivalries are already growing, gas to the fire for the local futbol faithful.

As for football, American style, the Memphis Tigers will have to follow-up on the finest season in program history, one that ended with an American Athletic Conference championship and an appearance in the prestigious Cotton Bowl. A new coach will be on the sideline, Mike Norvell having taken his stellar four-year mark (38-15) to Florida State. Star running back Kenneth Gainwell will return to spark the offense, which suggests winning won’t be a thing of the past at the Liberty Bowl. Since 2014, the Tigers are 35-5 at home.— Frank Murtaugh

Jackson Baker

Bill Lee

Politics

It may well be that, as politics takes its course in 2020, the nation’s currently beleaguered president, Donald J. Trump, will survive a vote of confidence this year, as, locally, Mayor Jim Strickland did at the city polls in 2019 and Governor Bill Lee’s program probably will with the legislature. But advance polling always had Strickland comfortably ahead of his rivals, and a just-concluded Vanderbilt University poll of state voters has given first-termer Lee a 62-percent approval rating. Trump, uniquely, has never been over the 50-percent mark — not even in 2016, when Hillary Clinton actually out-polled him nationally. Trump’s only sure win would seem to be in the GOP-dominated Senate, over the sudden-death matter of impeachment.

And Republican numerical domination, not popular demand nor irresistible logic, will empower the Governor’s prospects in the General Assembly. But not necessarily. It is famously (or infamously) true that Lee’s controversial bill to permit private school vouchers (or “education savings accounts,” in the euphemism of the day) passed by a single vote in the state House and only by means of highly devious wheeling and dealing and overtime arm-twisting on the part of the since-disgraced GOP Speaker Glen Casada, who was later forced into resigning. The new Republican Speaker, Cameron Sexton, is a sworn foe of vouchers and has indicated that, at the very least, he’d like to delay the onset of ESAs, which are due to be imposed (take that, you blue bailiwicks!) only on Shelby and Davidson Counties.

In the long run, Democrats are hoping for a swing of the electoral pendulum that could bring them more of the incremental suburban vote gains that got them close to a couple of major legislative upsets in Shelby County in 2018. The expected large Democratic vote in the presidential election will be helpful in that regard. The timing of vouchers, health care, and the question of freeing up TANF (temporary assistance for needy families) will be on the agenda in Nashville, as will, very likely, the return of the “fetal heartbeat” anti-abortion measure.

A U.S. Senate race will be on the statewide marquee, with primary races in both major parties. The Republican winner will be heavily favored. In city politics, it will be interesting to see if the development community’s hold on the Council will be loosened by the addition of some of the grassroots winners from the October election. In Shelby County politics, Mayor Lee Harris is on again/off again on solidarity with the County Commission. It is universally assumed that he is looking ahead to a future-tense congressional race, but in the meantime he has seemingly (and sensibly) committed himself to some center-left populism focused on wage equity and minority/women-owned business enterprises advances.

Former Shelby County Democratic chairman Corey Strong will meanwhile take a crack at the 9th district Congressional seat now held by long-running Democratic monolith Steve Cohen. — Jackson Baker

Film

No doubt the biggest story in the Memphis film scene for 2020 will be the opening of the new Indie Memphis Cinema. Just before 2019’s annual film festival, Malco Theaters struck a deal with the nonprofit to turn over operation of one of the screens at Studio on the Square in Midtown’s Overton Square.

Malco will be renovating the aging Studio to bring it up to the standards set by Malco Powerhouse (read: new seats and a greatly expanded food and drink program) this winter and spring. Then, Indie Memphis will begin daily showings of the acclaimed films from the festival circuit and repertory offerings that have populated their increasingly popular weekly screenings.

This will be a sea change for film fans in Memphis. The Malco Ridgeway Cinema Grill has built a steady audience with sophisticated, non-blockbuster offerings in East Memphis, but this new arrangement will mark the beginning of a true art house in the Bluff City. The seeds of Indie Memphis were sown in the mid-1990s with an effort to build such a theater in Midtown before morphing into a festival, so this new cinema is the realization of a long-term dream.

2020 will be the year the mainstream industry fully faces Disney’s market dominance. Since the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the House of Mouse is now set to control almost half of the total global box office. Their slate for 2020 is a mixed bag. In February, Fox Searchlight drops Wendy, a retelling of the Peter Pan story from the heroine’s POV, and 20th will offer an adaption of Call of the Wild with Harrison Ford that looks promising. March begins with Pixar’s urban fantasy Onward and ends with the live-action remake of Mulan, which looks to have slightly more reason to exist than the flaccid Aladdin. In April, Marvel takes a mulligan on the last X-Men film with The New Mutants, then the long-anticipated Black Widow premieres on May Day. Pixar’s second film of the year is Soul in June, a musical by Inside Out director Pete Docter. In the fall, expect Marvel’s The Eternals and Disney Animation’s Raya and the Last Dragon.

Studios not named Disney also have anticipated offerings. Robert Downey Jr. will talk to animals in his first post-Iron Man role as Dr. Doolittle in January, which will go up against Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Bad Boys for Life. In February, Warner Brothers will again attempt to make a watchable DC comic book movie with the Margo Robbie-led Birds of Prey, and the cringeworthy Sonic the Hedgehog will face a horror adaptation of Fantasy Island from Blumhouse. In March, Paramount will try to replicate a sleeper hit with A Quiet Place Part II. Daniel Craig will strap on the Walther PPK for the last time as James Bond in No Time to Die. June is stacked with the return of Diana Prince in Wonder Woman 1984, Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, and the Lin-Manuel Miranda-penned musical In the Heights. In July is Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which will reunite the original cast, and the Kristen Wiig road trip comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.

Speaking of reuniting the original cast, in August, Bill and Ted Face the Music brings back Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as the Wyld Stallyns. Edgar Winter takes a swing at psychological horror with Last Night in Soho. In October, Kenneth Branagh does Death on the Nile, and Jamie Lee Curtis returns for Halloween Kills. The biggest film weekend of the year looks to be the titanic matchup on December 18th, when Dennis Villeneuve’s science-fiction epic Dune, Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, Columbia’s adaptation of the Uncharted game franchise, and Memphis’ own Craig Brewer directing Eddie Murphy in Coming 2 America battle for box office supremacy. See you at the movies. — Chris McCoy

P/K/M Architects

Rendering of the proposed new South of Beale

Food

There’s no doubt that big things are going to happen in 2020, and many of us — myself included — may find ourselves stress-eating or self-medicating with food. With that said, Memphis foodies have a lot to look forward to in the year ahead, including more French food, riverfront views, and even a brand-new brewery. Cheers!

Out east, the fine dining establishment Erling Jensen: The Restaurant will undergo an expansion in early 2020, more than doubling the size of its bar menu and dining room. East Memphis will also welcome a new crab restaurant when The Juicy Crab opens a new location in a 7,200-square-foot space in the Eastgate Shopping Center.

In the suburbs, Slim Chickens plans to open a second location in Collierville in late spring at the corner of Poplar and Maynard Way, and Wing Guru is expanding to new locations in Collierville and Hernando, Mississippi. Their current locations can be found on Mt. Moriah in Memphis and on Stage Road in Bartlett.

Downtown, Memphis’ newest brewery, Soul & Spirits Brewery, will open in the Uptown neighborhood at 845 N. Main. Owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Blair Perry and Ryan Allen, the brewery will likely focus on traditional German-style beers “inspired by the diverse music culture of Memphis” (per their Facebook page).

South of Beale, Memphis’ first gastropub, will move to a new location. The new venue, located on the first floor of the old Ambassador building, will open in the spring at 345 S. Main.

Memphis chefs Michael Hudman and Andy Ticer will bring a taste of Europe Downtown when Bishop, in the Central Station Hotel, has its grand opening in January. After a soft launch in December, the French restaurant will be fully open in January serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Also Downtown, One Beale finally broke ground in 2019 and has a projected completion date in 2020. Besides apartments and hotels, the massive development project will include a new riverfront restaurant and a rooftop whiskey bar with indoor and outdoor seating.

As that project comes closer to completion, another project will begin: Construction on Union Row is projected to start in 2020, and the plans include a few new restaurants and a hotel overlooking AutoZone Park.

In keeping with the Downtown hotel boom, Memphis’ first Aloft Hotel will also open at 161 Jefferson in the summer of 2020. The hotel will include a full-service restaurant and the brand’s signature WXYZ bar. — Lorna Field

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet 2019 MVPs: Tittie Rocks, Buns Out, and Memplops

MEMernet All-Stars

This column is less than a year old, but certain posts here have swung above their weight. So here are the MVPs for MEMernet’s inaugural season.

#SunsOutBunsOut

A photo of this mostly naked man in Central Gardens tore through Memphis social media this summer.

InstaPlop!

The memplops Instagram keeps winning Instagram with its hilarious (and informative!) reviews of Memphis’ public bathrooms.

Rocky what?

Tracy Dobbins launched a new series of painted rocks hidden around town. It’s like 901 Rocks but with one difference. “These are my tittie rocks,” Dobbins explained on Instagram.

It shows anything’s possible online. Look for them online at #rockytittn.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Momentum for All

CREDIT: Motortion | Dreamstime.com

It’s been said that Memphis has momentum. And parts of Memphis do have momentum. The city’s Downtown and center core could pose as any hustling and bustling city on the rise. There you’ll find high-end grocery stores, fancy hotels, and brand-new apartment buildings.

But when you drive through the streets of South Memphis — the real South Memphis, not the part of McLemore that boasts Memphis Rox and Stax, I mean down Trigg or Florida — you’ll find a completely different world. It is undisputedly not the same Memphis you see when you drive along Madison or Poplar. Wooden boards cover windows, weeds sprout from sidewalks, and liquor stores abound. There are no grocery stores, no restaurants apart from fast food joints, and no neatly kept parks. This is evidence of years of disinvestment in a forgotten neighborhood.

Motortion | Dreamstime.com

Breaking the trend of generational poverty

This isn’t the only Memphis neighborhood that looks this way. There are plenty of neighborhoods that lack the momentum found in the city’s core. The reality is nearly 30 percent of Memphians live in poverty (according to the updated Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet released in September by the University of Memphis). That’s approximately 181,000 Memphians living without the means to truly provide for themselves and their families.

The national poverty rate continues to drop, but the same isn’t true for Memphis. From 2017 to 2018, it increased here by more than 3 percent. And from 2005 to 2018, the poverty rate here increased by about 4 percent.

The most disheartening fact in the report is that nearly half — 44.9 percent — of all children in Memphis are living in poverty.

This is an unfair reality. These kids who live below the poverty line are the same kids who are meant to be our future leaders — our teachers, doctors, and lawyers. It’s not impossible for them to reach such heights, but the odds are stacked against them.

What is a child to do who is born into a household with four siblings and a single mom making less than $30,000 a year? This isn’t hypothetically speaking. I’ve met kids in this situation. I’ve seen their lack of resources and their needs firsthand. Without someone or something reaching into that child’s life, their future is likely to mirror those who came before them, continuing the trend of generational poverty.

What will it take for all of Memphis’ youth to grow up with opportunities and have the chance to get a job, earn money, and live the so-called American dream? What can be done by the people in charge? Job creation, raising minimum wages, incentivizing development? Sure, but it goes beyond that. The city government can only do so much. It has a role to play, but they aren’t the only ones who can move the needle.

It’s the everyday folks like me and you who can help turn the tide. It’s the people on the ground. It’s the local churches. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of churches here. From state-of-the-art edifices on mega-campuses to tiny chapels on street corners, churches are ubiquitous. Imagine if every church stepped up and lent a hand to the “least of these.” Imagine if people of means invested more into the community programs on the ground working to pull people out of poverty.

It’s the people, the churches, the nonprofits, the entrepreneurs, and the organizers who can make the difference at the end of the day. The world of privilege is hard to step out of. But when you venture through a South Memphis neighborhood or walk into a community center in North Memphis, you realize the Memphis you live in is not the same Memphis everyone knows. But this doesn’t have to be the case.

The willing folks who care about Memphis and love its people have to extend ourselves beyond our comfort zones and offer a hand to those living on the margins. We’re meant to help the ones who think they’ve been forgotten about and lost in all the momentum. We’re doing it already, but we have to do more. It’s a new year, a new decade. Let’s reignite that flame. The narrative has to change sooner than later. And, hopefully, at the end of this decade, we can truly say that all of Memphis has momentum.

Maya Smith is a Flyer staff writer.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

2019: It’s a Wrap

And that’s a wrap — another year for Memphis, for Tennessee, for the good ol’ USA — and for the Memphis Flyer, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in February.

It has long been a tradition that the Contemporary Media staff takes a week off between Christmas and New Year. In order to do so, we produce an annual “double issue,” in which our writers take a look back at the year just past in their columns and make some fearless prognostications for the coming year in the cover story. We’re calling this one “2020 Vision.” Har.

I’m very proud of the work we’ve done this year. Our serious news coverage included groundbreaking cover stories on the city’s unfortunately booming eviction “business,” the struggle to keep abortion safe and legal, the growing immigration crisis, the apartment-building explosion, warehouse workers’ labor struggles, LGBTQ issues — and Memphis’ best coverage of local politics.

We published some stellar environmental reporting in 2019, including stories on a controversial proposed “poop-line” north of the city, the continuing threats to the Memphis Sand Aquifer that supplies our drinking water, the nascent Climate Reality Project, criminal (in)justice and poverty, and the problems faced by the city due to a declining demand for recyclables.

We covered the city’s media landscape with stories about the corporate ownership of Memphis television stations and the fragmentation of our other news sources, including the issues facing The Commercial Appeal and The Daily Memphian.

But it wasn’t all serious. We had some fun last year. For example, we covered one of our readers’ favorite subjects — food — like your mama’s best tablecloth. In addition to our weekly food columns, we did cover stories on Memphis vs. Nashville barbecue (duh), the city’s best pizza, and the 10 best hamburgers in town. And when it comes to adult beverages, well, if you read our Bar Report and Brews columns, plus our annual “Beer Bracket” contest for local craft brewers, you know where to go to get your drink on. We also introduced a CannaBeat column this year, which, er, highlights developments in the growing hemp and cannabis trade.

So yeah, food, booze, and pot. We got you covered.

In sports, the Flyer kept readers abreast of the Grizzlies, the Tigers, the Redbirds, and the new 901 FC soccer team. We even covered the short-lived AAF pro football enterprise, the Memphis Express. (Farewell, Mike Singletary. Alas, we hardly knew ye.)

I’m really proud of our commitment to the arts — the best in town, in my humble opinion — with weekly coverage of film (the only local movie reviews in town), music, theater, books, and local galleries.

And if you want progressive opinion pieces, well, we’ve got you covered there, as well, with our Letter from the Editor, reader-sourced Viewpoints, and Last Word columns.

Sometimes, we just wander off into weird places and do cover stories on, say, Mexican Wrestling, “working” pets, or a “vacation escape” to Summer Avenue. It’s just what we do.

The end of 2019 also marks the end of a decade. It’s been a tumultuous one for media, and for newspapers, in particular. If you’d told me in 2009 that the Flyer would have a larger print circulation than the daily Commercial Appeal in 10 years, I wouldn’t have believed you. But it’s true, mainly because the CA print run has declined precipitously while the Flyer has pretty much held steady. I don’t mention this to gloat; we need the CA and The Daily Memphian and the Memphis Business Journal. The more reporters — and reporting — we have in Memphis, the better off we are as a city.

Like those publications, the Flyer is increasingly utilizing online coverage. In fact, if you’re not going to memphisflyer.com every day, you’re missing some of our best work. Also, like those other publications, we rely on our readers and advertisers to keep us going. We’re particularly grateful to the hundreds of “Frequent Flyers,” who’ve made a supportive pledge to help us continue our work. I hope you’ll consider joining them in the coming year, if you haven’t already.

But now, it’s onward into a new year, one that should be interesting, to say the least. Hold onto your hats — and keep reading the Flyer.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

The Radio Broadcast Brings its Mario Kart 64 U.S. Tour to Hi Tone

CREDIT: Angel Carrera

Houston-based electronic duo The Radio Broadcast brings its Mario Kart 64 U.S. Tour to the Hi Tone Sunday, December 29th.

The electroclash group, made up of couple Kristin and Michael Heilman, incorporates video game styles into their eclectic sound, sometimes using actual Nintendo Game Boys to do so. They also typically integrate video game play at their local shows, so when they decided to embark on this tour, they thought that hosting a Mario Kart competition seemed like the perfect idea.

“With us doing a tour, we figured, ‘Well, let’s try to do something a little bit bigger,'” says Michael. “A game that everybody definitely enjoys is Mario Kart. We usually do some kind of video game competition, but we’ve never brought a Nintendo 64 out before. So we thought, going from city to city, that this is like a Mario Kart circuit on its own. So we refined everything and came up with the idea to make it a little competition.”

Angel Carrera

Rainbow Road rage across America

During the competition, guests will be invited to play four Mario Kart races per round. The number of rounds that can be played are unlimited, and whoever earns the most points by the end of the show will have the opportunity to receive special prizes, like a 2020 Mario calendar, Nintendo mints and candies, figurines, and more. The event winner will also be put into a list of finalists from the entire tour for a chance to win the grand prize: a Nintendo 64 game console with an original copy of Mario Kart 64.

Michael says there is no prerequisite to join in on the tournament.

“The main requirement to play is to just have fun,” he says. “We want this to be fun for everybody.”

Mario Kart 64 U.S. TOUR, Hi Tone, Sunday December 29th, 9 p.m., $7.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Wrap it Up: A Roundup of 2019 Food News Tidbits

This was the year of seafood, South Main, and comeback stories, with old favorites like Fino’s and Zinnie’s making triumphant returns. Here are a few items of note from 2019.

RIP

Mary Burns, longtime owner of Java Cabana, died on October 4th after a nearly three-year battle with lung cancer. Burns purchased Java Cabana in 1998 and had become a fixture of Cooper-Young, serving as a member of the Cooper-Young Business Association and the Cooper-Young Garden Club. Burns is largely remembered for making Java Cabana what it is today, a welcoming safe haven for artists and poets alike.

City of Sole

Several seafood restaurants — particularly those specializing in crab dishes — have opened or opened new locations, including Crab’N’Go, Crab Island, DeeO’s Seafood, Red Hook Cajun Seafood & Bar, Saltwater Crab, and others.

Saltwater Crab opened its doors over the summer with an expansive menu including sushi, sandwiches, and crab options such as crab cakes, king crab, snow crab, and a saltwater crab roll. Atlanta-based restaurateur Gary Lin opened Saltwater Crab in early July, but the kitchen is managed by Memphis chefs. The menu is entirely “coastal,” so you won’t find any catfish here.

The Juicy Crab, a Georgia-based seafood chain, opened its first Memphis location on Winchester earlier this year, and The Coastal Fish Company opened in Shelby Farms in October. Mardi Gras Memphis, which specializes in Louisiana-style seafood boils, recently reopened their restaurant across from the Crosstown Concourse. And Picasso’s — a seafood and pasta place — opened in August at 6110 Macon, making it the newest seafood addition to East Memphis. The Cousins Maine Lobster food truck also opened in March.

Downtown Dining

South Main is now home to quite a few new dining and drinking destinations, including the restaurants (Hustle & Dough, Longshot), coffeeshop (Vice & Virtue), and bar (Bar Hustle) inside the Arrive Hotel, as well as those inside Puck Food Hall, Memphis’ first and only food hall, which had its grand opening in May.

The Central Station Hotel also opened on South Main in October, and with it came a new bar, Eight & Sand, and restaurant, Bishop — Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman’s newest project.

Justin Fox Burks

BarWare

BarWare, a neighborhood bar that features craft cocktails and elevated bar food, opened on Front this year, too. And several other notable establishments opened their doors Downtown, including Comeback Coffee, Hu. Diner, 3rd & Court, and more.

Old Favorites Return

This was also the year we saw many old favorites come back to life. Fino’s, the beloved Midtown deli, reopened on June 6th, bringing their classic gourmet sandwiches back after closing in late 2018.

Old Zinnie’s — the “best little neighborhood bar in the universe” — first opened in 1973 but closed abruptly in 2018, leaving many Memphis barflies feeling abandoned. They reopened on Halloween, the perfect night to welcome the regulars back to their local haunt. As if it never closed, Zinnie’s feels very much the same, and they’re even serving popcorn again like in the old days.

The infamous and inimitable Hernando’s Hide-A-Way also celebrated its reopening near the end of 2019. The spot, famous for hosting music legends like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, closed in 2007 but was recently purchased and reopened by partners Dale Watson and Celine Lee along with co-owner Patrick Trovato of Long Island, New York. The owners plan to maintain the integrity of the original, offering plenty of local music and color, and, supposedly, the “best hamburger in Tennessee.”

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park’s First Day Hike Festival is January 1st

CREDIT: David Duplessis | Tennessee Photographs

Anyone with resolutions of starting off the new year with a more active and healthy lifestyle may be interested in attending Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park’s ninth annual First Day Hike Festival on Wednesday, January 1st.

The hiking festival, held in conjunction with a series of five signature hiking events hosted throughout the year by all Tennessee State Parks, will feature a two-mile hike on a flat, paved road that begins at the park’s Shelter 2 (736 Piersol Road, Millington), reaches a mid-point at the Woodland Shelter, and ends back at the starting point.

David Duplessis | Tennessee Photographs

Samantha Cox, park ranger of Shelby Forest, says this event began in 2011 to promote a more active lifestyle.

“It was the first major step in promoting healthy living outdoors,” she says. “We wanted to get people outside to get healthy physically and mentally and enjoy the outdoors, this free resource that we have.”

Since the event’s inception, the annual hike has become popular, and with an attendance of as many as 700 people, it’s developed into a festival.

Samantha Cox

A walk in the woods

At the midway point, participants will be rewarded with festivities, where they can gather around a bonfire to roast s’mores, eat fruits, drink hot cocoa and other nonalcoholic beverages, meet with Friends of the Forest volunteers, see the birds of prey that inhabit the park, and view black powder demonstrations and a Frontier Rendezvous camp.

Cox says this event is great for those who’d like to spend time with each other for the holidays.

“It’s just a fun thing for members of the community to get a nice afternoon with their families and friends,” she says.

First Day Hike Festival, Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, Wednesday, January 1st, 1-4 p.m., free.