Here’s a news release from Memphis in May announcing new fall dates for the festival:
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe, and following the guidelines and recommendations of national and local health officials, Memphis in May International Festival announced last week that all festival events would be rescheduled.
Realizing the importance of these events to not only our patrons, but also the area economy in these unprecedented times, the Memphis in May board of directors made the decision after a two and a half hour online meeting yesterday to move forward with the festival events despite a projected $2 million loss for fiscal year 2020.
“For forty-four years, Memphis in May has been a revenue generator for the City of Memphis, particularly through the business it brings to our tourism industry’s key segments of lodging and hospitality,” said Memphis in May President and CEO James L. Holt. “With the difficult times those businesses are facing now, we felt it was more important than ever that we do our part to help revitalize the local economy. The Memphis in May events are a source of civic pride and unity for Memphis and the Mid-South, and this fall will certainly be the time for our community to come together.”
With that in mind, for one year only, Memphis in May will become Memphis in October!
The Rescheduled Festival Event Dates:
World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest: September 30 – October 3, 2020
Beale Street Music Festival: October 16-18, 2020
Great American River Run: TBA (The Great American River Run will also be rescheduled for the fall with the date to be announced in the coming weeks.)
Should these new dates conflict with our patrons’ schedules, Memphis in May is among the few festivals nationally who will offer patrons the option to defer passes to the 2021 events, donate the cost of their passes to the non-profit Festival for a charitable tax deduction, or request a refund. Information for each of these options has been emailed to patrons and is posted to the event pages of www.memphisinmay.org.
GOP Governor Bill Lee paid a visit to Memphis Friday, where he provided a status report on the coronavirus pandemic in Tennessee and a summary of his administrative actions. Lee’s visit came as he garnered increasing criticism from the state’s Democratic minority in the now-suspended General Assembly.
Governor Lee at Memphis Airport press briefing.
Some measure of the rapid spread and virulence
of the Covid-19 virus lay in the fact that the Democratic caucus members, in an open letter they circulated on Wednesday, wrote ominously of the “more than 700 cases” in the state, while Governor Lee and his state Health Commissioner, Lisa Piercey, used the figure of 1,203 to denote the number of state cases as of the time they spoke to reporters in an afternoon press conference at Memphis International Airport. (The rest of the statistical report, as of then: 103 hospitaliations, and six deaths.)
The Democratic legislators had been critical of Lee for not declaring a statewide “safer at home” order, allowing there to be “a patchwork or orders constructed by municipal governments.” Lee took what seemed to be at least indirect note of the criticism at the Friday press conference.
In a manner somewhat evocative of President Trump’s emphasis on economic factors, Lee said, “there’s a great degree of data that shows that healthcare is impacted in a negative way when people lose their jobs. There’s a reason why the majority of states do not have statewide stay at home orders.” He said, “What we’re doing in Tennessee, is have the right approach, the right decisions, the right time, the right place.” The reality in Tennessee, he said, was that “we are to a great degree shut down. … Every major population center has a stay-home order. The most populous counties in our state are all covered by stay-home orders, every restaurant dining room in the state, every bar, every school in Tennessee.”
In their letter, the Democrats charged that “In Tennessee, testing remains limited and is provided by a patchwork of often substandard options.” Lee and Piercey talked up several local testing options on Friday. The Governor noted that a testing site had opened that very day at Tiger Lane at the Fairgrounds, and Piercey pointed out that the various offices of the Christ Community Health Center in Memphis were providing testing.
Said the governor: ”There’s a lot of evidence that the cities in other countries and the countries themselves that have the greatest level of testing during this pandemic, those countries had the best outcomes with regard to flattening the curve. So testing is incredibly important.”
Called upon to account for emergency measures under way in Tennessee, state Adjutant General Jeff Holmes counted some 250 call-ups of National Guard members in the state. “We are leaning heavily on our medical professions, that’s combat medics, nurses, nurse practitioners, all the medical branches including portions of the 164th Air Wing here in Memphis. That’s going to be our heavy forward course.”
Piercey and Lee both warned of the fact that, as Lee noted, those “40 and younger tend to be, in this state, the largest percentage of those who test positive.” He continued: “It’s true young people tend to have less negative impacts as a result of this virus. The most vulnerable population are the elderly. And sometimes that can tend to create a mindset among the younger component of our population. That it just doesn’t matter that much to them because if they get sick, they’re probably not going to have anything but modest symptoms.”
Lee called that mindset “incredibly dangerous” in that “those that are young, those that do test positive … spread it to folks in the community … And the vulnerable will be infected as a result.”
The legislators’ letter asked for action on the issue of unemployment insurance. Lee noted that the omnibus stimulus passed by Congress (and at that point about to be signed by the President) on Friday, contained reassurances on that score.
The Democrats’ letter asked as well for additional medical personnel and expanded medical facilities. Though the letter did not dwell at length on the fact that the Tennessee General Assembly has never approved Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, state Democratic chair Mary Mancini and House Democratic caucus vice chair Antonio Parkinson of Memphis raised the issue as an imperative on Thursday in the first of what are proposed to be weekly online interactive chats.
In essence, the Democrats called for ”clear guidance and a statewide plan” and made it clear that they thought Lee had not provided one. For his part, the governor proclaimed that state government, along with Tennesseans at large, “have taken the steps necessary to provide for the safety of citizens and we’re doing a lot. We’re doing a lot in this state. And we’re encouraged by the outcomes already.”
CREDIT: Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich's office/YouTube
Attorney General Working on Jail Release, Dismissed ‘Hundreds’ of Cases
Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich said her office is working to release some incarcerated at the Shelby County Jail and has dismissed “hundreds” of cases of those recently charged, all moves to reduce the jail’s population and stem the spread of coronavirus.
“We’re open,” Weirich said in a YouTube video Friday, giving answers to many questions her office has fielded from the public. Her staff has been working every day during the shelter-in-place mandate ordered by Memphis and Shelby County Mayors. Judges, Weirich said, have been handling cases in every court.
Weirich said she’s been asked what her office is doing to reduce the jail population. Earlier this week, the Tennessee Supreme Court mandated judges across the state to review jail and prison populations and provide a plan to reduce them.
Weirich said the jail at 201 Poplar held 1,935 inmates as of Friday afternoon. The population was over 2,600 at the beginning of the year, she said, adding that there are already many processes in place to reduce the figure.
“Those in custody at 201 Poplar are charged with very serious, violent crimes, and many have histories that go back years,” Weirich said. “Individuals charged with low-level offenses are rarely — if ever — in jail. We are looking every day for people we can safely, reasonably, and responsibly release back into the community.”
[pullquote-1] Those in her office are working with defense attorneys to fast-track cases awaiting guilty pleas. This process usually takes months, Weirich said, and it has been reduced to days.
During her video, Weirich held up a letter and said if you’ve recently been charged with a crime, “You might get one from me.”
“I am sending hundreds of letters to out-of-custody defendants telling them we’ve reviewed their case and are dismissing their case and that you do not need to come back to court,” Weirich said. “If you get a letter like this, it is not a joke.”
Shelter-in-place messages from the mayors have some confused about their court duties, she said. However, those with a subpoena or court order “are exempt because you are necessary to the administration of justice.” She said her office will call victims and witnesses to come to court.
For more information, call Weirich’s office at (901) 222-1300.
Tony Holiday just released his first single, “It’s Gonna Take Some Time,” from his debut album, Soul Service, but the album’s release-date party has been postponed because of the COVID-19 virus.
For now, the 37-year-old blues harpist says he’s “staying inside, spending time with family. Trying to stay inside and do the thing.”
He’s happy doing “the thing” in Memphis.
Born in South Jordan, Utah, Holiday moved to Memphis about two years ago.
“I love Memphis,” he says. “Absolutely. I had been here. Played Rum Boogie on tour coming through and things like that.
“I know one thing: I was given some advice not to gig in this town when I first got here. Get to know the town instead of just showing up swinging.”
So, he didn’t get out and play clubs right off the bat. He loved all the great music, but, he says, “I was very poor ‘cause I took that advice. I wasn’t gigging. I didn’t have any money.”
He managed to eat. “I found in Memphis you can get two pieces of chicken, beans, and a piece of cornbread for two bucks at the Cash Saver by my house in Midtown at the time.”
He and his music partner, Landon Stone, “found all the great music at Wild Bill’s.”
That was all he needed for a while. “Between good music and cheap Southern food, I fell in love with Memphis right off the bat.”
Growing up in Utah, drawing cartoons and playing football and baseball were his passions. He also liked to listen to music. “I was always captivated by the country songs that my grandparents listened to. Like George Jones. Marty Robbins. Marty Robbins was big. Johnny Paycheck was big. And Willy and Waylon.”
Listening to those songs bring back great memories, Holiday says. “These songs painted big pictures in my head. It was like going into a movie or something. Like going to a little scene in my head when I’d hear these country songs. They were so well written.”
Recordings weren’t scarce at his home. “My mom was a big fan of the library. And she used to bring home music from the library. When I was 12 or 13, she brought home — for whatever reason — a B. B. King and Bobby Bland record. I think it was a B. B. King record and Bobby was just on it. That changed my life. Time stopped. And then all the clocks stopped on the wall.”
Why? “I could never tell you. Music brings a lot of colors to me. I see a lot of colors when I play and listen to it. Whatever it was, I can’t describe that sound when you hear that for the first time. The only thing I can think to describe it is fireworks and a massive color explosion.”
As for King, he says, “I just remember when I heard B. B. King, it was like, man, I could just relate to it a lot. Not the stories. I’ve nothing in common with B. B. King, really, but somehow through his music he finds a place for common ground for you. B. B. King did that. I just felt welcome.”
Holiday’s mom bought a guitar for him when he was 15. “There wasn’t any YouTube or anything. I taught myself. I just listened to records. And playing with them. I started out listening and playing with Doc Watson records.
”It’s funny. My grand pop plays guitar and my dad plays. And whenever we would pick with certain friends, I think some of the country singers would get mad at me for bending the strings, the notes, all crazy. Doc Watson was doing that. What I liked about him so much was he was kind of meeting everybody in the middle of country and blues.”
When he was 24, Holiday began playing guitar in his first band, Blueroot.
Tony Holiday and the Velvetones with Holiday on guitar and vocals was his next group. “We toured the whole country, coast to coast, for five years.”
Putting a name on their music style isn’t easy, Holiday says. “They might call it country blues or blues rock. It wasn’t traditional. Man, we toured a lot. We opened for a lot of people. Willie Nelson. Steve Miller.”
His stage attire fit the part. “I had a kick ass cowboy hat. And mutton chops that grew up from my mustache to my chops like Duane Allman. Slacks and pearl snap shirts. And always cowboy boots back then.”
In addition to touring, Holiday also moved to different places. “I was just skipping around meeting people and checking out different scenes and stuff.”
Another life changer occurred after Holiday had moved back to Utah. “I was basically living at this barbecue place and working there. I was cutting meat and they had live music. This sound came from the stage and I dropped everything. I’ll never forget. I sneaked down the hallway. I had on this apron covered with blood from cutting meat. I was trying to be elusive. Customers were in there. And there was a young clean-shaven John Nemeth singing and playing the harmonica.”
That did it. “The very next day I put my guitar up for sale and I went and bought as many harmónicas as I could get. And that’s where I am now. That was the day the music changed for me. The day I was able to see.”
And, he says, “I knew instantly I could speak through it.”
He bought a bunch of Marine band harmónicas in different keys. He learned to play the harmonica by listening to records and watching Adam Gussow and Ronnie Shellist on YouTube. “Just watching their videos.”
Tony Holiday
Holiday was signed to Vizztone Records and he put out his first album, Tony Holiday’s Porch Sessions in 2018. In addition to himself and Stone, also included on the critically-acclaimed album, which was nominated for best live recording of the year in 2019 by Blues Blast magazine, are Charlie Musselwhite, Bob Corritore, and John Primer. Holiday wanted to make the record so they could “bring blues back to the porch. It’s a place families used to — at the end of the day — cool off and get to know each other and play music together.
“I play on every track. But I feature those people coast-to-coast, porch-to-porch. That was my first record, really.”
It was Nemeth, who influenced Holiday to move to Memphis. “We were on his porch smoking some cigars and he said, ‘You’ve got to move to Memphis because there’s nothing cooler than a Memphis groove.”
Five months after Holiday moved to Memphis, he met Ori Naftaly of the Southern Avenue band. “He reached out to me. I got a message from him basically, ‘Welcome to Memphis.’ And that he’s watched what I was doing for a while. And if I was into the idea, he’d like to produce me. I said, ‘Yes.’ He was so awesome to work with.”
Naftaly produced Soul Service, which is Holiday’s debut solo album. The album includes a song, “Day Dates Turn into Night Dates,” which Holiday co-wrote with Nemeth.
Holiday and Naftaly co-wrote the single, “It’s Gonna Take Some Time.”
“It’s about this singer that died a couple of years ago, Mike Ledbetter. I had just done a video vocal lesson with him the Sunday before he died. I wrote it for his music partner, Monster Mike Welch, because I knew it was going to take a lot of time for him to get through that.”
The album was set to be released April 24th at 3rd & Court Diner. “Because of the COVID-19, the release got set to July 10th.”
So, how is Holiday spending quarantine? “I’m writing my next album. I’m calling a lot of friends. Doing a lot of video calls with family and friends. Just checking in with everybody.”
And, he says, he’s hanging out with his wife, Camille, and their daughter. “Spending a lot of time playing The Floor is Lava and building forts with my three-year-old, Bonnie Rae Holiday. We play this game where we pretend the floor is lava, so we have to put pillows on the floor and run around. We’re bare-footin’ around here.”
As a global pandemic spreads through the country and Tennessee towns and cities, the state of Tennessee looks to rekindle a lawsuit challenging refugee resettlement in the state by taking it to the Supreme Court on appeal.
On behalf of the state, attorneys with the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) filed a petition in the U.S. Supreme Court last week, asking the court to review the state’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal refugee program in Tennessee.
The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2017 against the United States Department of State on the grounds that refugee settlement in Tennessee violates the U.S. Constitution by requiring the state to pay for a program it did not consent to.
The lawsuit alleged that though Tennessee had withdrawn from the federal Refugee Resettlement Program, the federal government forced Tennessee to continue funding the program by “threatening the state with the loss of federal Medicaid funding.” The state said it had to “expend a substantial amount of state taxpayer money” to fund the program.
The lawsuit was dismissed in March 2018 by a federal judge who ruled there was a lack of standing by the legislature to sue on its own behalf and that the state failed to show that refugee resettlement in Tennessee violates the Constitution.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in August, also stating that the General Assembly had not established its standing.
In September, attorneys with TMLC filed a petition asking the appellate court to rehear the case, on the grounds that the court’s decision was “painfully at odds” with Supreme Court precedent. The court denied that request.
[pullquote-1]
Now, attorneys representing the state are asking that the U.S. Supreme Court rule that the Tennessee General Assembly has standing to challenge the constitutionality of the “federal government’s force state funding of the federal resettlement program.”
“If the state legislature cannot vindicate its rights in court when the federal government picks the state’s pocket and threatens the state if it dares stop providing funds, then federalism is a dead letter,” the petition reads in part.
Specifically, the petition is asking that the court overturn the Sixth Court of Appeals ruling that the General Assembly has no standing to challenge the constitutionality of the resettlement program. The petition cites this ruling as an error.
“The General Assembly is an institutional plaintiff asserting an institutional injury; the federal government had co-opted the General Assembly’s appropriation power and impaired its obligation to enact a balanced state budget,” the petition reads. “This is because the federal government can siphon funds to help pay for a federal program from which Tennessee has withdrawn.”
Judith Clerjeune, policy and legislative affairs manager for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said the move is a divisive, untimely one.
“Instead of focusing on solutions to protect Tennesseans during this time of crisis, our legislature continues to try and divide us,” Clerjeune said. “This lawsuit which has already been dismissed multiple times, has always sought to put communities against each other by scapegoating refugees, and its baseless claims are even more apparent now.
“By continuing their xenophobic crusade against he refugee resettlement program in the midst of a growing pandemic, these lawmaker are failing to meet the moment and are putting Tennesseans in jeopardy.”
Clerjeune said now more than ever, it’s important to “make sure that the most vulnerable are protected.”
With temperatures rising and the sun finally making its long-awaited debut in Memphis, many people are flooding city parks despite health officials cautioning the public to practice social distancing.
A stay-at-home order went into effect Tuesday in Memphis, closing all recreational facilities, gyms, and other businesses around town.
However, based on the executive ordered issued by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, city parks are considered essential and thus remain open to the public.
But, with few places to go around the city, the parks have quickly become hot spots of activity.
Many people took to social media to express their concern over the masses of people gathered in the parks and the apparent lack of social distancing.
Ok. What’s the magic number? Because I hear the whole damn county was @ Shelby Farms today… https://t.co/OXYXSLsr5f
Update: Crowded City Parks Cause Concern for Some, Mayor Says Parks May Close (4)
Update: Crowded City Parks Cause Concern for Some, Mayor Says Parks May Close (8)
Update: Crowded City Parks Cause Concern for Some, Mayor Says Parks May Close (9)
Update: Crowded City Parks Cause Concern for Some, Mayor Says Parks May Close (10)
I rode my bike downtown yesterday evening and Tom Lee Park was packed, like it was a regular spring weekend. No social distancing. Got out quick. @MayorStrickland@CityOfMemphis
Update: Crowded City Parks Cause Concern for Some, Mayor Says Parks May Close (13)
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said Friday afternoon that city parks remain open, “but if we continue to see what we saw yesterday at Tom Lee Park, we will have to close parks.”
But, the mayor said that the city is closing city baseball and softball fields, dog parks, skate parks, and basketball courts effective immediately.
“I cannot not tell you how important social distancing is,” Strickland said.
Meanwhile, parks have issued their own set of guidelines in an attempt to keep visitors safe.
If you visit a park, keep six feet apart!
In the "safer-at-home" order, you can go outside for a walk to bike ride, but should keep six feet distance between you and others. Let's keep Memphis healthy, together. pic.twitter.com/qsEVSfT0n8
— Memphis River Parks Partnership (@MemRiverParks) March 25, 2020
Update: Crowded City Parks Cause Concern for Some, Mayor Says Parks May Close (15)
Update: Crowded City Parks Cause Concern for Some, Mayor Says Parks May Close (7)
🌳We're working hard to keep the Park open for you, but we need your help when you visit. If you're heading to the Park for some ☀️, remember to keep your distance–at least 6ft between yourself and other visitors.
Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road
In the Time of the Rona, I’m reviving my Never Seen It series, in which I convince a cool person to watch a classic film they have somehow missed.
To kick off the revival, I hit up Memphis comedian and You Look Like show producer Katrina Coleman on Twitter, where she’s been doing a nightly movie watch party under the hashtage #cowatch. Our conversation (which happened on the phone, not in real life!) has been edited for length and clarity.
Before Fury Road:
Chris McCoy: How are you holding up?
Katrina Coleman: Good. I made one final grocery trip and put it all up. We stocked up on everything…I’m worried, but we just gotta keep going. [#cowatch] is to keep our spirits up with banter. It’s like, I know what I’m gonna do tonight. I’m going to sit and watch a movie. Do you like to watch it with me and follow along? If it seems like it would interest you, we can all experience the same thing. Actually, one of the rules was not to watch movies like this. I love post-apocalyptic movies, but I was going to stay away from them for a while.
CM: Well, if you’re going to break the rule, this is the one to break it for. What do you know about Mad Max: Fury Road?
KC: I’ve been told over and over again I have to watch it. When it came out in theaters, I was a bad feminist if I didn’t see it. I avoided it because I was I felt like I had to like it…I know the basic plotline, and I’ve seen a lot of the gifs. And I loved Max Max and The Road Warrior.
120 minutes later…
CM: You are now a person who has seen Mad Max: Fury Road. What did you think?
KC: [incoherent screaming] What I have is guttural noises and joy! It is very good! My dad was a truck driver. I love violence. I love yelling. It was a moral story. I was supposed to be tweeting about it, but I kept getting really engrossed with it! Also, my daughter sort of watched it with me. She’s 10, but she has really adult tastes. She was also playing with Legos at the time, so we did talk a little bit about plot and what’s happening and why people do the things they do. But it’s beautiful to watch! I’m a big fan of action porn. It was really well done. I don’t know a lot about movies, but I had so many feelings. Now I want to murder all dudes except for the ones who repeatedly show their loyalty. But to ally yourself, you have to throw yourself out of a moving vehicle and shoot another dude. You could gain my trust!
Nicholas Hoult as Nux.
CM: So like Nux. When starts out and he’s like an incel, kind of like Trump follower, or an alt-right teenage bro.
KC: Actually, what I was seeing was just Lord of the Flies. That’s what happens—unsupervised violence; total, sterile teenage boyhood.
CM: But then by the end, he sacrifices himself for everybody.
Riley Keough as Capable. Keough is Elvis Presley’s granddaughter.
KC: Yeah. But he still doesn’t do a 180, where he’s a completely different person. In his final moment, he asked someone to witness him. In his mind he’s realized that Valhalla waits for him, not for the glory of the warlords, but for the glory of sacrifice. That trait is always there and it’s beautiful, but it was used for good. The idea that these were boys, but they don’t live very long, so they just throw themselves into the machine for the defenses of whatever cause. But all it took, was the one tiny relationship building with him and [Capable]. It might’ve been the first time he fell asleep peacefully with someone. He spoons for the first time and it just changed his whole life.
CM: I love the scene where he eats the bug off of her. He’s like, “Oh! Protein!” It’s such a primate thing to do, to eat a bug off your partner.
KC: They’re tasting life for the first time, in a super base, disgusting way. This movie is very verdant while being like gross. It’s very fleshy. There’s a lot of, there’s a lot of life in it. I don’t know how to explain that, but it’s pro-life, in that it is for life. The stakes are very high. It sort of views all lives together as one thing, and then the desert and the violence and the death is another thing. It struck me the moment when Max comes back, he’s covered in blood. He’s like, what is this? It’s mother’s milk—which we’ve already established earlier in the movie is literally human milk—and he uses it to wash the blood off of him. That hit me in a weird way. That part upset me the most… It’s almost like a religious moment.
Never Seen It: Watching Mad Max: Fury Road with Comedian Katrina Coleman (3)
CM: You’re an outspoken feminist. What did you think of this movie from that standpoint?
KC: Well, I have a point of frustration—it’s the concept of the Netflix category, “strong female lead,” like that’s a whole movie. So, like for someone with strong feminist values, it’s just cool to watch a movie where you see people that look like you and your friends. It’s also equal opportunity. Like, the grannies are getting in it! They’re punching folks and shooting people. Everyone’s on an equal level here.
But of course, it resonates with me that the male representation is just destruction, control, and ownership. “That’s my child! My property!” Compared to the feminine sort of propagation, the mother with the seeds and how that was what she just kept trying to do. Just kept trying to keep planting, just keep going.
The wives who almost want to go back because they value continuing over anything else. The concept of preservation is built in so hard, and that’s why Furiosa just one such character, because she values preservation. But she will destroy to get it, which makes her very specifically non-binary. like her ruthlessness and the moment where she says, no, we’re not going back [for Splendid]. She has to verify that there’s nothing to go back for. She says, “Did you see it? Did you see it?” She went under the wheels. But did you see it? Like that’s what makes her really a trans character. Because it’s usually what makes male characters really striking, when they have the moment of nurturing, the reluctant father figure.
Never Seen It: Watching Mad Max: Fury Road with Comedian Katrina Coleman (2)
CM: Interesting. Yes. That makes me think about Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. He’s like the tough sergeant the whole time, and then like towards the end you find out he’s, like, an elementary school teacher. He gives that energy out just a little bit every now and then…that nurturing energy.
KC: We, as humans, love to see a badass that will take anything’s ass. If we can kind of quietly believe that person would protect us. I think that’s part of what sort of holds us to a hero. Like, if some bad shit went down, this person who just just absolutely opened fire and murdered all these people and cut them in half, they do it to keep me safe.
Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa
CM: And Charlize Theron…
KC: I mean, a performance for the ages! So much of it is non-verbal. I love her as an actress, just full, like, full stop, obviously.
KC: She’s quiet, and communicates everything with her eyes and micro-expressions. She has such a talent for the smallest things…And then there’s the big meme moment—“That’s bait.” I had never seen it in context.
Never Seen It: Watching Mad Max: Fury Road with Comedian Katrina Coleman
I also appreciate how every line that Tom Hardy delivered, he sounded like he had just woken up. I know I’ve always been on the fence about that guy, but he’s really great in this.
Tom Hardy as Max Max Rockatansky
CM: Max, though, is almost like a like a sidekick in his own movie.
KC: So, one of my favorite things is the same thing I love about Die Hard. Like, how many hit points does this dude have? How is he standing up?
CM: That’s almost his function as a hero. Luke Skywalker’s function is to fight evil with his lightsaber. Max Rockatansky’s function is to take a punch and keep getting up.
KC: He gets shot literally in the face and is only saved by his crazy ideations of grief.
Courtney Eaton as Cheedo The Fragile
CM: [Cheedo The Fragile], she’s the one who tries to run away, but the other wives talk her out of it. This time, I read that whole scene as a feminist allegory. You know, “Give him another chance! He’ll be good to me this time.”
KC: You know, that is a constant struggle. If we conform enough, if we cater to the patriarchy…It’s usually the older feminist, the ones who’ve been very successful in business, “The Pantsuits”, they call them, who tell us younger feminists to just go with it. Learn to smoke a cigar, learn to take the jokes, learn to deal with it. Yeah. That is super common. And it happens with younger feminists, but absolutely. And I think it’s also been expressed in my colonialization the idea of just go with it to survive. How much is too much? Different people have different levels of how much is too much. Some people can take quite a lot of degradation before they believe it’s worth risking their life.
Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe
CM: So, things have a bit of an apocalyptic feel right now, because of, you know, the plague. How did it feel watching Fury Road in this moment?
KC: It was wild. Comparing my life personally, at this time, has seen very small changes. Earlier, I went to the grocery store, but I saw the world in very different way. I also love post-apocalyptic fiction. I love considering it and thinking about it. Where would I stand? What would it be? How would I maneuver out of this world? The line, “Don’t get addicted to water!” is the one that hit me hard. Even in such a dismal place, propaganda is still working well.
Never Seen It: Watching Mad Max: Fury Road with Comedian Katrina Coleman (5)
What we’re experiencing right now in our country is 100 percent result of propaganda. It’s like, it’s all propaganda’s fault that it’s so scary. There’s a thousand people on the ground with their buckets. Only the first 50 or 60 managed to fill up their buckets with water. The war machines, they don’t have to be as big as flashy as they are. The chrome and shiny warlords don’t have to dress the way they do. It’s just control. And that’s the thing that’s the most upsetting though about watching it, the thing that kinda just brings it home. If the prisoners figured out that they outnumbered the guards, it would be over real quick.
Never Seen It: Watching Mad Max: Fury Road with Comedian Katrina Coleman (4)
Like a lot of people in my profession, I work at home. So I was social distancing just fine before the entire country started doing the Covid Shuffle. I hadn’t even seen my handlers at the Flyer since the Christmas party, and now it’s spring.
Although it’s starting to feel like summer. The charming Mrs. M. works for a school that has temporarily gone online, and the good people at Sewanee have shuttered the fortified mountain compound — so we’re all on top of each other. There are three people in my formerly isolated, book-lined fortress of solitude. I love them dearly, you understand, but it’s hardly the “social distance” for which the CDC is calling.
Richard Murff
work boot full of local brew
I’m writing an introduction to an old book by Sir Richard Burton — no, not the actor who married Elizabeth Taylor twice — the explorer. He was known at Oxford as “Ruffian Dick,” which lends nothing to my point, but I thought that you should know. When Burton left his native England to make himself obvious in Africa, he knew that he’d be exposed to diseases for which his pasty white behind had no natural defense. While his system was being “seasoned” (a euphemism for getting some far-flung virus and not dying from it) he warded off the crud with … brandy. And lots of it. Later this would be refined into the gin and tonic.
Our own pilgrims at Plymouth — those infamous buzz-kills — drank mostly beer because they didn’t trust what was in the water. Harvard’s dining hall once only served beer for the same reason. A practice they had to stop because, well, you know how undergraduates get.
My system has been mildly seasoned, but it’s nothing I picked up in Latin America or North Africa. I got zapped smack in the middle of ZIP 38111 when I built a swing set for Littlebit and was eaten alive by mosquitoes and contracted West Nile Virus. It sucked. Fever, cold sweats, and everything ached. Literally everything. I’m not sure how it manifests in women, but it felt like someone had stepped on my cods in a work boot. Sure, I lost 15 pounds, but I was assured at the time that it wasn’t in a good way. For all that, the doctor told me that, being in my mid-30s at the time and relatively healthy, nothing but my social calendar was in any real danger.
More annoyingly, West Nile, which practically has to be injected into the system to do its thing, has not remotely seasoned me against the current airborne COVID-19 dread. Like everyone else, I’m social distancing, even if, with the house full of teleworkers and students, it doesn’t feel very distant.
The CDC will tell you that the only thing that G&T and beer actually cure is sobriety. And that’s true enough. Still, it got me wondering — could we inoculate ourselves and save the local economy by drinking loads of Old Dominick Gin and going curbside with growlers of Wiseacre on Broad, Memphis Made in Midtown, High Cotton in Downtown, Ghost River on South Main, Crosstown in, well, Crosstown, and Meddlesome in the far east? Is it time to rally?
You’re damn right it is! We’ve hit the spot where the economy is about to crumble under the weight of, if not the coronavirus, certainly the fear of it. The megastores and the national outfits have the fat to weather the storm. Local businesses don’t. We really are all in this together, so raise a drink that’s locally sourced, even if we keep our distance.
The upshot is that if you’ve ever wanted to try the fabled three-martini lunch of our ancestors, this is the time. Why not? You aren’t going anywhere. Although, I’d suggest keeping the cocktail glass or the odd boot of local brew out of shot of your laptop’s camera. You’re still on the clock.
Those of you who cannot live without political dialogue are in luck — at least if you’re Democrats. The Tennessee Democratic Party is hosting a town hall of sorts on Facebook every Thursday for the duration of the pandemic. The first one is at 4 p.m. today (Thursday, March 26), accessible via the state party’s Facebook page, facebook.com/tndem.
Subjects to be discussed: “the current stage of TN’s legislature, where we are beginning this campaign year, the expedited budget process, and COVID-19.” Hosts are party chair Mary Mancini and State Rep. Mike Stewart, House minority caucus chair. (Scroll down for “Cocktails and Questions.”)
When we learn of equivalent Republican efforts, we’ll pass on information about those, as well.
Meanwhile, the proceedings of the now-suspended legislative session — including videos — are accessible at legislature.state.tn.us.
The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is reducing its service in response to the spread of COVID-19.
As of Thursday afternoon, there were 198 confirmed cases of the disease in Shelby County.
Beginning Monday, March 30th, MATA will operate its Sunday schedule, along with a few additional routes to essential services every day until further notice. MATA said this is in response to the number of businesses that cannot currently operate due to orders by the mayors of Shelby County and Memphis.
These bus routes will be in service:
Trolleys will operate on the following schedule:
MATAplus paratransit service will be available from 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. every day, but will only transport passengers to work, medical care, grocery stores, or other essential businesses.
MATA is offering free fare on all of its vehicles until April 30th. Earlier this week, MATA announced a list of social distancing guidelines for riders, including limiting the amount of passengers allowed on each bus.
Chris McCoy 
World Relief 
Shelby Farms Park 
Richard Murff 
Facebook/MATA 
