Month: March 2020

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

#21 Houston 64, Tigers 57

Quentin Grimes took over for the Houston Cougars Saturday afternoon, scoring eight straight points midway through the second half to erase a two-point (41-39) Tiger lead. The transfer from Kansas (Grimes played for the Jayhawks last season) scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half to put the Cougars (23-8) in position to win the American Athletic Conference’s regular-season championship (with a Tulsa loss Sunday). The Tigers dropped to 21-10 (10-8 in the AAC) and will receive a bye in next week’s conference tourney only if Connecticut and Wichita State both lose Sunday.

Despite missing 12 of their first 14 shots, the Tigers led at halftime (30-26) and well into the second half before Grimes found his range from long distance. Precious Achiuwa established a new record for Memphis freshmen with his 18th double-double (25 points and 14 rebounds) and moved within 11 points of becoming the 10th Tiger freshman to score 500. But he had little offensive support. Only Lester Quinones scored as many as 10 points among Achiuwa’s teammates and Memphis only got nine points from its bench.

The Tigers will likely have to reach the AAC tourney final for any consideration of an NCAA tournament berth. (The league champion receives an automatic bid.) Unless they receive a bye, the Tigers’ opening game in Fort Worth will be on Thursday.

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News News Blog

Coronavirus Detected In Shelby County

A Shelby County resident has tested positive for coronavirus, the Shelby County Health Department announced Sunday morning.

The patient is now good condition and under treatment in isolation at Baptist Memorial Hospital, according to the health department. The patent had recently traveled out of state, but not out of the country. No further details about the case will be shared to protect patient privacy, the department said.

The confirmation came from the Tennessee Department of Health. Samples form the patient have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for additional testing.

“The Shelby County Health Department has been planning and preparing for the possibility of a case of COVID-19 since community spread of the virus was first reported in the United States,” said Shelby County Health Department director Alisa Haushalter. “The health department’s efforts are now focused on tracing contacts of this case and limiting the spread of the virus in Shelby County.”

The immediate risk to the general public in Shelby County is thought to be low, according to the health department. But officials said Sunday that now is the time to prepare for the possibility of local community transmission of the virus.

Shelby County Health Department

Members of the general public should take simple steps to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses including COVID-19:

• Washing hands with liquid soap and water, and rubbing for at least 20 seconds, or using alcohol-based sanitizer if soap and water are not available

• Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing

• Staying home if you are sick, especially with respiratory symptoms

• Regularly cleaning surfaces touched by many people

The CDC recommends older persons (60 and over) and those with underlying chronic health conditions should stay home as much as possible and avoid crowds. Wearing face masks is not necessary for the general public and may not provide protection from the virus.

Symptoms of COVID-19 range from mild to severe and include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Older adults and individuals with underlying medical conditions are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

If you experience symptoms of respiratory illness, including fever, cough, or difficulty breathing:

• Avoid public spaces and gatherings

• Avoid others in your household

• If medical attention is needed, contact your health care provider before going in for care, and share any history of travel.

The health department encourages all Shelby County residents to start thinking about preparedness in the event of local community spread, planning ahead for potential disruption to daily life at work, school, or home. The health department is working with partners in health care, education, business, law enforcement, and the faith community to prepare.

The Shelby County Health Department has a webpage dedicated to COVID-19 on its website, which includes important information about the virus and steps individuals, businesses, and community organizations can take to control its spread.

The department has a hotline number (901-692-7523) for specific questions, requests for technical assistance, and requests for speakers at community meetings, and events. The number is staffed during regular business hours, Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After-hours calls are returned on the next business day.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Memphis Punk Godfathers The Modifiers Honored With Memorial Show at The Hi Tone on Saturday

The Modifiers’ Bob Holmes (lower left), Milford Thompson (center), and Dave Catching (upper right) circa 1983.

Ask anyone on the scene in the early 1980s, and they will tell you The Modifiers was the best Memphis punk band you’ve never heard of. Founded by Bob Holmes and Milford Thompson, their shows at the Antenna club were unpredictable, and awesome. They were live legends, but despite flirting with numerous record labels, their pioneering punk music never got the national recognition it deserved.

Front man Milford Thompson died of a heart attack in the 1990s, and guitarist Dave Catching went on to be a founding member of Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal. Co-founder Bob Holmes, who was one of the greatest guitarists this city ever produced, returned to Memphis and lived here in obscurity until passing away from cancer just days after the Antenna historical marker was unveiled on Madison Avenue in October, 2019.

J.D. Reager, whose father John Paul Reager was The Modifiers on again, off again bassist, has organized a tribute show in honor of the legendary band for Saturday, March 7th at the Hi Tone. Among the performers will be Panther Burns drummer and noted raconteur Ross Johnson playing with Richard James; Billie Dove, featuring Memphis guitarist Jim Duckworth, who was also a Modifier (there were a lot of people in the Modifiers over the years); The River City Tanlines; Tape Deck; a Modifiers tribute set; and finally J.D. Reager and the Cold Blooded Three.

In 2012, the documentary I directed about the Antenna club and the vibrant music scene which sprang up around it premiered at the Indie Memphis Film Festival. It had a successful festival run, but a commercial release of Antenna has been repeatedly delayed by music rights issues. With the help of J.D. Reager, we managed to convince Bob Holmes, who had become something of a recluse, to do an interview for the film. For three hours, he regaled us with some of the wildest Memphis music stories I have ever had the good fortune to hear. In order to honor the passing of a Memphis musical genius, I have uploaded the Modifiers segments from Antenna to YouTube and present it here for the first time since 2012.

Memphis Punk Godfathers The Modifiers Honored With Memorial Show at The Hi Tone on Saturday

Categories
News News Blog

TVA Outlines Plan to Remove Coal Ash

CREDIT: Southern Environmental Law Center

Southern Environmental Law Center

An aerial shot shows the massive east ash pond at the Allen Fossil Plant.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has identified its preferred plan to remove the toxic coal ash from the now-idled Allen Fossil Plant, the first step down a long road to return the site to another functional use.

In 2017, the TVA found high levels of arsenic and other toxins in ground water close to ponds storing the coal ash. Arsenic levels were more than 300 times higher than federal drinking water standards.

The discovery kicked off a years-long, sometimes-contentious series of events that TVA officials hope will end in 10 years. That’s how long they say it will take to finally remove the ash now sitting on nearly 120 acres.

The 500-acre site is about five miles southwest of Downtown Memphis, on the Southern bank of McKellar Lake. The plant had three units producing a max of 741 megawatts of power, enough to power 500,000 homes, according to a figure from Duke Energy.

While in use, the plant consumed 7,200 tons of coal per day. After it was burned to make electricity, that coal left behind about 85,000 tons of ash every year. TVA funneled that ash into two huge ponds — the East Ash Pond and West Ash Pond — on the site. It closed the massive East Pond in 2018.

TVA

But the Allen coal plant was replaced with the Allen Combined Cycle Natural Gas Plant, which went into operation May 2018. TVA wants to raze the old coal plant and return the land to its three owners — the city of Memphis, Shelby County, and Memphis Light, Gas & Water — for future development. Before it can do that, however, it has to deal with the ash.
TVA

TVA’s new natural-gas-fueled Combined Cycle Plant.

TVA considered three options. The first was do nothing at all. But the agency said the option does not meet its goal to eliminate all wet coal ash storage at its coal plants by closing ash ponds across the TVA system.

The other two options were similar. They both aimed to close the ponds and remove the ash from the site. They differ in one big way. One plan would haul the ash to an approved landfill. For the other, TVA would have built a facility to transform the ash into usable products, like bricks.

In a massive, 221-page report issued Friday, TVA said it prefers to excavate the ash and store it in a landfill, mainly for expediency.
[pdf-1]
Building the re-use facility ”would extend the duration of closure, which would delay the future economic development of the site and result in greater direct and cumulative impacts associated with air emissions, noise emissions, impacts to transportation system, impacts to environmental justice communities, safety risks, and disruptions to the public associated with the extended time frame for closure.”

Scott Banbury, conservation program coordinator for the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, said his grip is glad TVA has decided to “dig up all the contaminated ash.

“But we’re worried that not enough attention was paid to impacts to the communities that hundreds of trucks a day will be hauling (the ash) through,” Banbury said, noting he was also worried about the safety of the workers.

The report was prepared to inform the public on the risks involved with the move. It was also made to inform TVA decision-makers as they will select the final option for removing the toxic coal ash from the plant here.

However, TVA has identified six permitted landfills which could take the ash from Allen but has not selected a specific site.

“Each of the candidate landfill operators would be expected to have robust environmental plans, effective project designs, and a history of compliance that ensures minimal offsite impacts from storage of coal ash,” TVA said in a statement.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Real Talk: Ja Morant Should Be the Unanimous Rookie of the Year


A combination of recency bias and media-fueled hype have derailed the conversation regarding the 2019-20 Rookie of the Year award. Ever since late January when he made his NBA debut, there has been talk amongst media about New Orleans Pelicans power forward Zion Williamson being in contention for Rookie of the Year, despite being sidelined the majority of the season.

This chatter is growing increasingly loud and hard to ignore, hence why I am writing this today. All this for a player who has played in only 17 games this season, and who would at most play 37 games — provided he plays every game left in the season.

Ja Morant


Meanwhile, the Grizzlies have had the two best rookies in the league all season long in Ja Morant and Brandon Clarke. Clarke will likely remain unacknowledged, but Morant’s phenomenal play has been impossible to ignore. Morant has been the Rookie of the Year front-runner for most of the season, and for good reason. 

Even though it was widely predicted they would be hot garbage this season, the Memphis Grizzlies are light years ahead in their rebuilding process. In fact, the team that many predicted would have the worst record in the league has been sitting comfortably in the 8th seed since before Williamson played a single minute of regular season basketball. 

Moreover, the Rookie of the Year award is meant to spotlight achievement across the entire season. This would be impossible for a player who will have played less than half the season; it’s small-sample-size theater at best. It is unfortunate that Williamson’s rookie season has been marred by injury, but the fact remains that it has. 

There have only been four instances in league history of a rookie of the year recipient playing less than 60 games, and two of those were during lockout seasons: 

Kyrie Irving – 51 games – 2011-12 

Vince Carter – 50 games – 1998-99 

Patrick Ewing – 50 games – 1985-86 

Terry Dischinger – 57 games – 1962-63 

 

There is zero precedent for a player who has played as few games as Williamson has to be considered for Rookie of the Year, and now is not the time to start.

For the record, Morant isn’t stressing about this in the slightest. Recently, before the game against the Atlanta Hawks, Morant said, “I honestly don’t care about Rookie of the Year. They can give that to who they want.” The first year guard said he’s focused on getting the Grizzlies to the playoffs.



Morant has led a lottery team into playoff contention, no small feat for the first season of a rebuild. There has not been a player so dynamic and impactful so early in his career in a long time, and acknowledging Morant’s skill does not detract from Williamson in any way.  

Would this be a different conversation if Williamson had played since the beginning of the season? Possibly. But that isn’t how the season has gone, and there is no sense in pretending a comparison between Morant and Williamson would be equitable or accurate. 

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Slide on In: A Visit to the Downtown Slider Inn

When it comes to building restaurants that are the embodiment of a guy in a baseball cap with a rescue dog, no one does it better than Aldo Dean, who has taken eye-rolling double entendres and clap-back food descriptions on menus and elevated the concepts to become some of Memphis’ most beloved dining and drinking establishments. Some of his best work is on display at the second location of Slider Inn, located Downtown at 363 Mulberry.

Dean, the man behind Bardog Tavern, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, and others, went grandiose with the new Slider, taking everything that works at the Midtown location and amplifying it into an indoor-outdoor playground of Jameson slushies, dog-friendliness, and ample bar offerings. One hardly knows where to start the journey through the Downtown Slider, but I’ll start at the downstairs bar.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

The bar in the downstairs portion of the main building is Slider’s largest and, on the rainy night I visit, still full and being tended by Rondi McNeal. The main downstairs dining area has massive garage doors that can and will open to the outside on nicer days. Above it lurks the “Lift,” more of a private dining option for parties who want to get weird on its sprawling leather couches.

Next door to the main building, accessible via covered walkway, is the “Garage,” which houses yet another bar, more TVs, and, like its sister bar nearby, the ability to open to the elements. Finally, there’s “Slider Out,” an outdoor area featuring the Tapbox, Slider’s mobile beer cart, and the Slider Rider, their food truck.

Emboldened by the massive amount of space they now have to sling food and beverages, Slider’s Downtown menu is also larger. It features lobster popcorn, made of tempura-fried chunks of lobster served over popcorn, and vegan buffalo wings made of tofu and cauliflower, among several other new menu items.

Though Slider has a new, additional location and new menu items, the Jameson stays the same. As it should.

Not to be outdone, the slushie machine is also larger to accommodate for the popularity of their Jameson slushies. “It’s bigger, and we’re still constantly filling it up,” assistant manager Ariana Geneva says with the confidence of a woman in charge of a larger slushie machine.

The new Slider will also feature a chilaquiles bar, opening in the spring, where the weekend brunch crowd can pay a set amount and build custom chilaquiles.

Beyond the name recognition, it’s the location’s décor that gives it away as one of Dean’s thoughtfully planned restaurants. The Downtown Slider has an industrial feel owing to its former existence as the Kisber truck garage. Marketing manager Eric Bourgeois points out that it’s a great example of adaptive reuse, and I agree because, any second, I’m afraid that Rammstein will come out and play a set.

All its restrooms are unisex, lit by dangling mannequin hands clutching bulbs. The theme is wrought iron, the window treatments are Jameson bottles, and the thoughtful details can best be described as toolbox-chic.

Slider Out is its most notable game-changer, as it will operate as its own entity once the weather warms, the South Mainers descend from their loft spaces, and Memphis in May plunges the city into chaos and beer.

Food will be handled by the Slider Rider and beers by the Tapbox, freeing up the indoor bars and kitchen to cater to a separate set of masses. Tabs will not translate between the outdoor and indoor spaces; outdoor tabs will be handled via a different payment platform. Soon Slider Out will morph into its own event space with a stage for music and screenings.

Much remains the same when sliding out of Midtown and into Downtown, though. Happy hour still includes $1 off select drafts, domestic bottles, well booze, and house wines from 5 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The bar caters to its canines with an outdoor dog water fountain and dog biscuits available.

And the staff of Aldo Dean’s bar empire, over 200 strong now, is still content to lube up the city with a Jameson slushie or five as we rapidly approach Patio Season 2020.

Slider Inn Downtown is located at 363 Mulberry Street.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 68, Wichita State 60

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

If Precious Achiuwa played his final home game as a Memphis Tiger Thursday night, he delivered a happy parting gift to the FedExForum faithful. The freshman small forward — one of five finalists for the Julius Erving Award — scored 14 points and pulled down 16 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season, matching the freshman total of Tiger great Keith Lee. Along with a season-high 19 points from Tyler Harris, Achiuwa’s performance sparked Memphis to a win over Wichita State that keeps NCAA tournament hopes alive and sets up the Tigers for a possible bye into the quarterfinals of next week’s American Athletic Conference tourney. The U of M improved to 21-9 on the season (10-7 in the AAC), while the Shockers dropped to 22-8 (10-7).
Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

“I’m very proud of the team tonight,” said Memphis coach Penny Hardaway. “They stuck to the game plan for 40 minutes and made it really hard for Wichita State. A total team effort. The bench came in and played phenomenal. We didn’t start strong, but the bench calmed things down and we stayed in control for the rest of the game. Only seven turnovers . . . that was major for us.”

The Tigers didn’t score until Lance Thomas hit a three-pointer four minutes into the game. But a 13-0 run erased a 7-0 Shocker lead and the Tigers built a nine-point cushion before settling for a 29-24 halftime advantage (courtesy of a Harris trey at the buzzer).

Harris hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions midway through the second half to give the Tigers a 12-point lead (54-42). By the time Achiuwa threw down dunks on consecutive possessions (the latter at the 5:00 mark), the game was all but decided.

“We talked about taking care of the ball, and getting back on defense,” said Achiuwa. “Keeping it simple, playing solid.”

“It was a must-win,” added Harris. “Everybody was locked in.”

On a night Isaiah Maurice was saluted as the team’s only departing senior, Achiuwa deflected a question about the possibility of his own departure. “I’m focused on finishing out the season,” he said, “and putting my team in a position to achieve our goals.”

Goals are easier to achieve when turnovers are limited and your opponent shoots merely 34 percent from the field (and 26 percent from long range). “They did a great job of pressing our guards,” said Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall. “We had chances, but we could never make the play to put pressure on them.”

The win avenges a Tiger loss at Wichita State two months ago and sets up a showdown at Houston Sunday. Should Memphis beat the Cougars, the Tigers will secure fourth place in the AAC standings and that precious bye in the opening round of the league tournament at Fort Worth. Houston lost to Connecticut Thursday night and will enter the game with a record of 22-8 (12-5).

With news hovering around the program about an independent infractions investigation (related to James Wiseman’s suspension and his playing three games last November), Hardaway welcomed the win as reinforcement of the mission he continues to sell. “We’re going to keep going, no matter what,” he emphasized. “Nothing’s going to stop us from understanding what we’re trying to do. This is a family. We’ve supported each other through everything we’ve gone through this year. We’re not going to stop now.”

Sunday’s game at Houston is scheduled to tip-off at 11 a.m. and will be televised on CBS.

Categories
News News Blog

Report: Floods Cost Mississippi-River States $6.2B Last Year

CREDIT: Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative

Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative

Mayor Rick Eberlin of Grafton, Illinois pilots a boat full of media during a press tour of flooded areas of his city last year.

Floods cost 11 Mississippi-River states $6.2 billion last year, according to a group of mayors representing cities and towns along the river.

The Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative (MRCTI) released the finding and more in meetings with federal officials this week in Washington, D.C. There, they are, once again, pushing infrastructure proposals to improve resiliency along the Mississippi River from the “acute shocks and chronic stresses” the region has sustained.

Flooding along the river was worst last year in Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas, MRCTI said, with each state incurring flood-related costs of $1 billion-$2 billion.

Last year, Grafton, Illinois lost 80 percent of its economy because of flooding. Vidalia, Louisiana saw 270 consecutive days of flooding, a new national record, MRCTI said.
[pullquote-1] “There is definitely an upward trend we can chart over the last few years,” said Bob Gallagher, mayor of Bettendorf, Iowa.“The spatial scale and duration of the 2019 Central U.S. flooding set many records. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it’s plausible to expect this trend to be more frequent with damaging riverine and urban floods to continue.”

The flooding trend is expect to continue this year. While the National Weather Service said last week the 2020 spring flood season is expected to be less severe than last year’s, flooding is expected, particularly in the upper and mid-Mississippi Valley.

“This all begs the question of what we’re doing to address these issues and mitigate our seemingly mounting risk,” said Sharon Weston Broome, mayor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.“Meeting these challenges is part of the reason for the MRCTI visit to Washington, DC.”

Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative

Clarksville, Missouri used temporary flood structures to save their downtown as the Mississippi River moved up Main Street last year.

MRCTI officials met with key officials and pushed proposals that would cost $6.85 billion but would mitigate “mounting climate risk,” create more than 128,000 jobs, and generate more than $20.5 billion in economy activity. The money would be spent on improvements to the built and natural environments to protect cities along the river.

Memphis will soon embark upon such an improvement project at the Mid-South Fairgrounds and in the Belt Line neighborhood. But these improvements are thanks not to feds but to private funds and foundations.

Memphis and New Orleans each won money for projects through the very first Environmental Impact Bond Challenge from capital firm Quantified Ventures, the McKnight Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation.

“Memphis will focus its Environmental Impact Bond on financing a suite of green infrastructure projects concentrated in the Fairgrounds and Beltline neighborhoods to reduce local flooding, improve water quality, provide community green space, and revitalize underutilized areas,” according to a MRCTI news release.

Categories
News News Blog

Former SS Nazi Guard Deported by Memphis Judge

CREDIT: Holocaust Research Project


A Tennessee resident who was a former Nazi SS guard during WWII has been sent back to Germany by a U.S. immigration judge in Memphis.

U.S. Immigration Judge Rebecca Holt ruled that Friedrich Karl Berger, a German citizen, should be deported to Germany, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Though Berger’s two-day trial took place in Memphis, court documents did not include the Tennessee city where Berger resided.   

The court ruled that Berger was removable under the 1978 Holtzman Amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act because of Berger’s contribution to Nazi persecution and his “willing service as an armed guard of prisoners at a concentration camp where persecution took place.”

The court found that Berger served as guard at a Neuengamme concentration camp near Meppen, Germany, where prisoners were held in “atrocious conditions, exploited for outdoor forced labor, and working to the point of exhaustion and death.”

Further, Berger admitted to the court that he guarded prisoners to prevent them from escaping.

Holocaust Research Project

Guards and prisoners at a Neuengamme Concentration Camp.


In March 1945, when the Nazis abandoned Meppen, Berger was found to have guarded prisoners on a “forcible evacuation” to another camp. The evacuation was a nearly two-week trip, in which approximately 70 prisoners died, according to the court.

Finally, the court found that Berger is still receiving a pension from Germany for his “wartime service.”

Berger was part of the SS machinery of oppression that kept concentration camp prisoners in atrocious conditions of confinement,” said Brian Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General for DOJ’s criminal division.”

According to the DOJ, since it began efforts to investigate and remove Nazi prosecutors in 1979, it has successfully removed 109 individuals from the country.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Guitar Legend Marc Ribot Coming to The Green Room

Marc Ribot

Guitarist Marc Ribot has worked with everybody. He started out in the early 70s in the garage band scene in his native New Jersey. He studied classical guitar and composition with his mentor Frantz Casseus, moved to New York, and became an early member of saxophonist John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, the long-running avante garde jazz ensemble. In 1985, he was tapped by Tom Waits to play on his seminal Rain Dogs album. Ribot’s role in creating Waits’ strange soundscapes (that’s his furtive solo amidst the junky groove of “Clap Hands”) attracted the attention of producers and players alike, and he’s been in demand ever since. He’s picked for Elvis Costello, Elton John, and played on Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ 2008 Grammy-winning album Raising Sand. He’s helped out Neko Case, Diana Krall, and Marianne Faithful. He’s grooved with alt rocker Cibo Matto, New Orleans legend Allan Toussaint, and the Cuban son ensemble Sierra Maestra. He’s improvised with bebop piano pioneer McCoy Tyner and accompanied Alan Ginsberg. He’s a regular in the studios of super producer T-Bone Burnett’s studio and New York free jazz madman John Zorn. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Guitar Legend Marc Ribot Coming to The Green Room (2)

I caught up with Ribot on the phone while he was getting on the bus with bandmates to drive to a gig in Seattle. I asked the consummate collaborator what makes a good musical collaboration. “You know, that’s a good question,” he says. “It’s very mysterious. I don’t know that you ever know until after the fact. I can sit down with somebody I’ve never met, and we don’t speak a word of a language in common, and it can be a great collaboration. I can sit down with somebody who has a wonderful voice or plays wonderfully, and who I agree with on every single thing in the world, and it could be terrible.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played in Memphis to my memory, but I did go to Memphis because I had to go. You can’t be a musician and not go to Memphis!” he says.

Ribot recalls a trip to the Bluff City in the 1980s. “We drove through Memphis, so I stopped in to visit Rufus Thomas,” he says. “I was in this group the Real Tones, and we were the house band for a soul revival that was mostly Stax/Volt based. We backed up Rufus and Carla Thomas, Syl Johnson, and Otis Clay and Soloman Burke. We had a couple of week-long runs with Rufus at this club called Tramps in New York. I had his number, so I called and asked if I could come over. Carla was not home, but Rufus showed me his pictures of him with Elvis. It was great…Basically, everybody who was playing in the Stax/Volt rhythm section was a huge inspiration to me — Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, the whole crew.”

When Ribot plays the Green Room in Crosstown Arts on Saturday, March 7th, it won’t be as a collaborator. He’s recorded and released 25 albums of his own in the last 40 years, most recently the 2018 Songs of Resistance 1942-2018. A passion project inspired by the 2016 election, Songs of Resistance features a cast of collaborators that include Waits and Steve Earle performing songs inspired by political movements of the last century. Ribot paid for the recording out of his own pocket. “I was so deep in the hole after all that that I had to fire my shrink, which was actually a really bad idea,” he laughs. “I had the idea with this record that I wanted it to be based on the idea of a popular front. In other words, when something comes along that really, seriously threatens democracy, everybody has to pull together against it. Like in World War II, it wasn’t just liberals who joined the Army. It was everybody. Roosevelt sat down with both Stalin and Churchill, who was very conservative in a lot of ways…I wanted that to be the politics of the record. I didn’t include on the record stuff that I had known for years that were labor songs. There’s a lot of great stuff from the I.W.W. songbook. Those are not really a part of that…I also wanted this to be about the United States. I didn’t call friends who were English or Canadian or from a lot of different countries. The singers are all from the U.S., and I wanted them to be in English. I translated ‘Bella Ciao,’ which is a song from the Italian resistance…The way we do ‘Bella Ciao’ is like a ballad, but the original is more like a march. It’s something you sing at a soccer rally. I changed the vibe considerably. I wanted it to make sense in the current situation.”

Marc Ribot plays The Green Room at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7th.

Guitar Legend Marc Ribot Coming to The Green Room