Month: October 2020

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

The Nylon Net Building and the Fabric of the Community

CREDIT: Memphis Flyer

Coming from a small town in Arkansas, Memphis was a dream for me. When I looked for my first apartment, I was guided to Midtown, where it was deemed imperative that I get a place with hardwood floors, high ceilings, crown molding, and hopefully a balcony. Places like this didn’t exist in my hometown.

When I moved to Los Angeles, my housing search was disappointing. The few apartments with historic character were very expensive, so I moved into a soulless box.

Memphis Flyer

Nylon Net Building

Knowing I would eventually return to Memphis and longing for the character of the places I used to live in, I purchased a Crosstown duplex with 12-foot-high sliding parlor doors. I soon learned that historic preservation and restoration isn’t the easiest path. It’s a unique skillset, and those only experienced with new construction fear the unknowns. You rarely hear someone who does adaptive reuse say that a building is too far gone. They ask for incentives to help save rather than permission to destroy.

There are always unexpected factors with historic buildings, but tax credits and other incentives can help make these projects feasible. When you buy a site with a historic building, the building cannot be in the way of your development — it is your development. From a cost perspective, developers say “it doesn’t pencil”, which often means “it doesn’t make as much profit as new construction.” But a project whose sole goal is profit has never resulted in greatness.

I own a guesthouse in a historic building downtown. Visitors often arrive with a list of what they want to see: Peabody, Beale Street, the Civil Rights Museum, the Orpheum, Sun Studios. Now they add the Crosstown Concourse. For food downtown, we recommend places from the Arcade on the South end to Alcenia’s at the North, with the Majestic as a favorite in between. Where to have a drink? Earnestine and Hazel’s is a must! Our guests return excited by the history they experience. Can you imagine the vibe of Earnestine and Hazel’s being recreated in new construction? Visitors come to experience food and entertainment that reflect our culture. They seek out the authentic places.

Frank Gehry said, “In the end, the character of a civilization is encased in its structures.” Imagine Paris or Rome without their historic buildings. The traditions and culture might remain, but the experience wouldn’t be the same. I was surprised by how many of my guests just wanted to drive around Central Gardens and Cooper Young, but then I realized neighborhoods are unique to each city, a prime reflection of who we are. Visitors want to feel the history.

Buildings house our memories. We drive by our childhood home, even though our family and neighbors might be long gone, because there’s a comfort in continuity. This is especially important in Memphis with its rich culture, history and musical heritage. With so many icons gone, what provides continuity with the past if not the physical? Preserving our architectural stateliness is to recognize inherent value in the uniqueness of our city. It makes us a part of something bigger than ourselves. Memphis’ soul comes from grit and strife. We should wear our scars with pride.

I am a historic preservationist, but I do not believe that every building should be saved. I have a great appreciation for modern architecture and quality new construction. Preservation and economic gain do not have to be at odds. They can work together to create progress, Artists find the good, and often historic, building stock, and the developers follow. The success of these “arts districts” and “historic districts” were built on the backs of the residents and small business owners who gave their all towards reviving these streets. Once the groundwork is laid, the “authenticity” lauded, and property values increasing, developers want in on the action. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the approach is key. Memphis has plenty of empty lots, but limited historic building stock. So why do we talk about demolition?

An architect or developer who considers the architectural and cultural context of an area can be a great asset to a neighborhood. Development can enhance the existing historic fabric, reduce blight, and increase resources. But a developer intent only on maximizing their own gain will build at the lowest possible cost, sacrificing the character, context and quality that made the area attractive, essentially killing the proverbial golden goose. They drive up prices for a lesser product, and drive out the original residents and character upon which the neighborhood was built. What Memphis is, and what we become, is a reflection of us. This cannot solely be a conversation between politicians and developers.

There have been many incredible adaptive reuse projects completed in recent years: the Arrive, the Brewery, Central Station, the Chisca, Universal Life, and that miracle of miracles, the Crosstown Concourse. The Marine Hospital renovation is almost complete, and the Oliver Building (aka the Butcher Shop Building) is set for saving. These have set the bar for what our historic buildings can and should be.

Small developers have also done some great projects, often with great struggle and personal sacrifice. The character and quantity of the historic buildings, both big and small, create our unique fabric. There are many soulless cities, but Memphis does not look like “Anywhere, USA.” Our buildings are an advertisement to those considering moving here; the more you interact with visitors, the more you are reminded of this. It’s crucial for us to save and reuse the whatever we can.

This is why the fate of the Nylon Net building, aka The Southern Warehouse, is important. We should see opportunity in this boarded up building. It has gorgeous archways with brick detailing — craftsmanship which new construction cannot recreate. I envision it like a Wythe in Brooklyn or like the Distillery District in Toronto. I picture it renovated with unique design and with framed photos of the former workers when the factory was at its prime. I see those arched windows facing the train tracks, and I want to have a drink there, RP Tracks-style. When I owned the building, folks would stop by to tell me their stories: “The company sponsored my ball team.” “My dad worked here.” “I worked here for 38 years, and met my wife here.”

While the Nylon Net Building has sat empty for way too long, and we all want to see development, let’s please get it right. Demolition cannot be undone. New construction will never be able to replicate the character that currently exists there. You can see much more of the history and potential uses at facebook.com/7Vance. Our built environment is a reflection of who we are, so who are we? Are we soul or are we solely about profit?

Dana Gabrion is a television producer, real estate developer, and Memphis Heritage board member.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Nothing “Cheesy” About This Upcoming Cheese Place

Jackie Mau and Kurt Mullican of Greys Fine Cheese & Entertaining



Jackie Mau and Kurt Mullican want you to say, “cheese.”

Mau and Mullican will open Greys Fine Cheese & Entertaining in February. “You can come in and buy cheese cut to order,” Mau says. “You can buy a cheese board that we will have readily available for you. You can custom order one.”

But their main goal is “education,” Mau says. They want to teach people about cheese. In the meantime, Mau and Mullican will present dinners featuring food and drink paired with cheese. 

“A lot of times people will approach a cheese counter at a supermarket and they really just don’t know how pair things,” Mau says.

And, she says, “We also host private events in people’s homes.”

The first dinner, “Cheese, Food, and Cocktails,” will be be held October 29th at the new SOBeast restaurant owned by Ed and Brittany Cabigao, in the old Interim restaurant on Sanderlin. That dinner already is sold out, but the next one is slated to be held in late November at the new Hen House Restaurant.

Their business is an offshoot of Mau’s Airbnb. She used to make cheeseboards for her guests. “Friends found out about the cheeseboards. They ordered holiday boards. Things were going great.”

After returning from a trip to Paris, Mau realized Memphis needed a custom cheese shop. She then found the perfect location in the Williamsburg Shopping Center on Mendenhall near Poplar.

It’s important for people to buy cheese now, Mau says. “Because of COVID, the artisan cheese business has been hit hard. They lost 40 to 52 percent in sales. Animals are still making milk, but people aren’t buying.”

In addition to co-owning the business, Mullican also is the “cheesemonger” for Greys. “It was a term coined in the United States in the early ‘80s,” he says. “They didn’t have a name for a sommelier for cheese.”

The name, Mullican says, “kind of jokingly took off. Now it’s a worldwide accepted term.”

He’s been fascinated with cheese for most of his life. “It’s one of the earliest forms of food preservation. It’s an art. But it’s also survival. People used it to preserve food. So they could keep milk longer so they could live.”

For their first dinner, Mullican collaborated with SOB executive chef Anthony Fenech and mixologist Wesley Atteberry.

“The theme is ‘America can hold its own against any country in the world when it comes to cheese,’” Mullican says. “Meaning: Even with all of the pasteurized milk guidelines we live by here, we create and innovate as well as Italy, France, and Holland.”

To give an example of how they will be doing their cheese dinners, Mullican described the pairings at SOB The first dinner will feature five courses, all paired with cheese, food, and cocktails. Mullican will talk about the cheese for 15 minutes before each course. During his talk, guests will receive an ounce and a half of the cheese featured in that course. “So they can taste it immediately.” 

They will begin with Kunik, a goat cheese with added cow cream from New York. “It’s cakey and goaty in the center with a really rich, tangy cream line, thanks to the Jersey cow cream that’s added to it.

“The dish is going to be coffee roasted heirloom carrots with a coconut milk mousseline, orange-infused honey, and candied walnuts.”

The cocktail will be the “Bamboo,” which is dry vermouth and “a coconut fat-washed fino sherry.”

The second dish will be “a special kind of pecorino. This one is going be an oro antico. It is an aged sheep milk cheese.”

The cheese is made in Tuscany. “They rub olive oil baths all over it during its aging process.”

The flavor is “olive oily, sheepy, nutty, tangy.”

The cheese will be grated over the top of a wild mushroom ravioli. This will be paired with a “Martinez” cocktail. “A pistachio-infused sweet vermouth, London dry gin, dry curaçao, and maraschino liqueur.”

The third course will feature “eposes,” which is “a French washed rind cheese that dates back to the 1500s. It’s a stinky cheese, but really, really velvety on the inside. Almost runny. With strong flavors of cultured butter, cooked milk, and just a mineral saltiness from the rind. We’re going to do a pickled grape preserve strawberry and a marmalade with that.”

The cocktail will be a “Fall Break” — “Apple brandy, Navy strength gin, slo gin, simple syrup, and lemon.”

“Pleasant Ridge Reserve” will be served in the fourth course. Mullican describes it as “an Alpine-style cheese that is the most awarded cheese in American history. Complex, but very fruity on the end and real nutty and buttery on the front.”

This will be paired with “a pear and pork belly brioche with melted Pleasant Ridge kind of blow torched on top of it.”

The cocktail will be a “French 125,” which he describes as “a bacon-infused brandy with lemon, demerara syrup and prosecco to get some bubbles in there.”

The star of the show will be the Rogue River Blue, which was voted the “Best Cheese in the World” at the World Cheese Championships in 2019 in Bergamo, Italy, Mullican says. “It won out of 3,800 different cheeses.”

Rogue River Blue is “wrapped in sirrah leaves soaked in pear brandy. It tastes like the Oregon River Valley. It’s sweet toward the rind where the pear brandy is kind of soaked in. And as you get to the middle it’s sweet, it’s piquant, crystalline. Just expect waves of flavor with this cheese.”

It will be served with “a dry-aged beef with pink peppercorns, and a bleu cheese crumbled on top.”

The cocktail will be a “a clarified New York Sour — bourbon, lemon, simple syrup, and a white port wine float.”

Probably an unfair question, but if he could choose one cheese as his favorite, what would Mullican pick? “If I had one of these to sit down with the rest of my life every day, I would probably go with like a Red Hawk by Cowgirl Creamery. It’s a washed rind cheese and it’s very mushroomy. And very kind of brine-y, almost. It tastes of boiled peanuts. It really does.”

So, where does the name “Greys” come from in Greys Fine Cheese & Entertaining? “It’s a play on words that was developed by Kurt,” Mau says. “It’s the idea of grazing around a cheese board. Just kind of enjoying and grazing on a cheese board.”

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

It’s October, Supposedly. Time for a Chocolate Rye Porter!

CREDIT: Richard Murff

I can’t wait to write a fun-filled and informational column in these pages about the perfect New Year’s beer. It’s not that I’m a fan of the holiday (I’m not — it’s amateur night), but that foolishness will signal the end of this damn year. Now I understand that Halloween is being downgraded to “Well, we’d better not. You know, for the kids.” Meanwhile, we all wait for the alert-level for Thanksgiving to rise to: “It will make you sicker than the candied yams.” All of which raises the question: What the hell season are we even in?

It’s not like you can tell by the weather around here. And, by the way, your fall wardrobe may very well be hiding some nasty surprises about exactly how much you’ve fleshed out during the late unpleasantness. It’s the middle of October and we’re all still walking around like beach bums. Or I am, at any rate. May I suggest that we all get in the proper fall spirit with a proper fall beer? And for a proper fall beer, you don’t have to go much further than High Cotton’s Chocolate Rye Porter.

Richard Murff

High Cotton Chocolate Rye Porter

On the front end, I should say that while I like rye in bread, and love it in whiskey, I’ve never been very impressed with it in beer; it always tastes like someone put pepper in my drink. Not enough to ruin it, just enough to verily annoy me. It just doesn’t work for me in an IPA. In a porter, however, rye has a cozy home. High Cotton’s take on a chocolate porter has just enough of that rye to create a neat spice finish to an otherwise classic porter, with hints of chocolate and coffee going on.

With an ABV of 5 percent, this porter will make you warm where you need it, but won’t try to pole-axe you while you aren’t looking. If nothing else, this is a beer that feels like fall, even if you haven’t covered your knees since April. And yet, since we’re certainly going to hit 80 degrees again, you haven’t made too much of a commitment.

For some historical color on the porter style, you should know it’s a traditional beer for the working class in England, where it’s fall 10 months out of the year. But not even the English can live on porter alone, so what do you eat with it? I’d steer clear of anything light and summery, as it would just be overwhelmed. What I’d like to have a glass with is some wild game, even some fowl if you’re throwing everything on the grill these days. A glass will also play well with sausages, good stews of roasted root vegetables, and braised meat. You hear about a lot of people pairing porters with barbecue, but I’m not so sure. With this chocolate rye porter, it seems like that would be an awful lot going on, but you do you.

In sum, it’s a roasty, hearty brew that is still medium-bodied, not heavy. For those of you looking for what we used to call a breakfast beer, you’re looking for a bigger “stout” — which for the modern drinker has come to mean a beer with roughly the same color and a wee bit more heft. Historically speaking, the styles are very intertwined. Even the name “stout” is a shortened version of “stout porter.”

If you are looking for a solid local version of the latter, crack open one of Wiseacre’s You Gotta Get Up to Get Down. Which is made with local coffee, so you can actually drink for breakfast if you are still Zooming your way through what you’re still calling a career. Of course, if you’re still carrying on like that seven months into this hellscape, then knowing the seasons isn’t your problem. You likely don’t even know what time it is.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

To Bee or Not to Bee: How Kelsey Johnson Became a Beekeeper

Kelsey Johnson was a honey hater.

“I didn’t start liking honey until maybe my early 20s,” she says.

That’s when she began using honey to sweeten her tea. “I fell in love with it. I learned how bad sugar was. I had terrible allergies. Not anymore.

“Now I can even tell what season it’s from. The flavor notes. I guess it’s similar to someone who is a wine connoisseur. I can tell if it’s fall honey versus summer.”

Kelsey Johnson and 901 Remedy honey

Johnson, 25, owner/founder of 901 Remedy, makes her own honey and tinctures. She will start selling her second batch of honey for the fall season and her first tincture on October 21st.

A native Memphian, Johnson began gardening as a child with her grandparents. “Everywhere I’ve lived since I moved out of my parents’ home, I’ve had some sort of garden.”

She learned beekeeping while working at Thistle & Bee, a nonprofit for women who’ve been victims of sex trafficking and prostitution.

Her first job was doing hive checks, making sure there was enough sugar water to get the bees started. “They sometimes need help in the early spring to make it to when things start to bloom.”

She heard the buzzing after she lifted the lid. “I always had this fear of bees. I had to walk off for a second and come back. I looked at the hives, and there was nothing to fear. It was really therapeutic.” And, she says, “I would say being in a bee suit helped.”

She learned about the queen bee, who mates with the drone bees and lays about 20,000 eggs a week, and the worker bees, all female, who “go out and forage for nectar.” The nectar gets broken down into sugars, which are stored in the waxy honeycomb. “Moisture changes the nectar to honey.”

Johnson began attending Memphis Area Beekeeping Association meetings. She got her first hive and ordered two families of bees — “about 10,000 bees.”

She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with the honey. She could make extra money and, if nothing else, she’d “never have to buy honey again.”

The taste of the honey depends on what season it is, she says. “This time of year is goldenrod and aster. In spring, clover. White clover is everywhere. It’s lighter in taste and not as pungent. It has a more robust flavor in the fall.”

She named her business 901 Remedy because of “the healing property of honey.” For allergies and other respiratory ailments, honey has been found “to help the immune system adjust to the local pollen.”

Local honey also is better than most store-bought honey, which could contain high-fructose corn syrup.

Johnson’s fall honey batch, Goldenrod Aster Floral Notes 901 Remedy, comes in 9- and 16-ounce jars. Her tincture is made from the propolis — a resin mixture honeybees make from parts of trees and other plants. “It covers the inside of hives. It’s the bee’s glue to seal cracks to keep out wind, bugs.”

She mixes propolis with high-grain alcohol and “really good glycerine. Pour that over whatever herb you want to make a tincture out of — hibiscus, spearmint, rosemary. The tinctures extract the medical properties every herb has in its highest form.”

Her first tincture is Propolis and Echinacea Throat Spray. “It’s basically an anti-inflammatory immune booster. And I mix it with honey.”

Johnson, who would like to open a brick-and-mortar store, says, “Next spring I’ll be expanding my hives. I’m going from three to nine. So I’ll have more honey. Eventually, I’m going to start selling bulk tea, tea blends.”

Johnson’s biggest challenge wasn’t starting a business; it was “overcoming the fear of getting stung,” she says. “I do get stung.”

She was stung 10 times last summer. “If they sting you once and your ‘smoker’ — the device the beekeeper uses to conceal his smell — is out, you’ll get at least two more. You can’t disguise the scent of being stung. Then they’re out to get you.”

Visit 901remedy.com to order.

Categories
News News Blog

Active Virus Cases Rise by Nearly 1,000 in a Week

COVID-19 Memphis
Infogram

Active Virus Cases Rise by Nearly 1,000 in a Week

New virus case numbers rose by 301 over the last 24 hours, putting the total of all positive cases in Shelby County since March at 36,793.

Total current active cases of the virus — the number people known to have COVID-19 in the county — rose to 2,952. The figure rose above 2,000 just last week. The figure had been as low as 1,299 last month. The new active case count represents 8 percent of all cases of the virus reported here since March.

The Shelby County Health Department reported that 2,925 tests were given in the last 24 hours. Tests here now total 541,919.

The latest weekly positivity rate surged more than 1 percent from the week before.The average rate of positive tests for the week of October 11th was 7.3 percent. That’s up over the 6 percent rate recorded for the week of October 4th. The new weekly average rate is the highest since mid-August, just as cases began to fall from a mid-July spike that had a weekly average positive rate of 12.7 percent.

Total deaths rose by three in the last 24 hours and now stand at 563. The average age of those who have died here is 73, according to the health department. The age of the youngest COVID-19 death was 13. The oldest to die from the virus here was 100.

There are 7,687 contacts in quarantine.

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

The Joke That Did Not Kill and Would Not Die

GOP Chair Chris Tutor

Make of it what you will, but President Trump’s apparently jesting suggestion of some weeks ago that Republicans should attempt to vote twice has seemingly left a lasting residue among GOP cadres.

At the Shelby County party’s annual Lincoln Day banquet, held Friday night at the Grove facility in Germantown, Cary Vaughn, the local party’s second vice chair, roused attendees early on by asking from the dais, “How many of you in the audience have already voted?” Upon a show of hands, he asked, “Can you go vote again, one more time?”

Party executive director Kristina Garner, who was standing alongside
Vaughn, stage-whispered to him, “We’re not Democrats!” To which Vaughn responded, “My apology, my apology.”

Evidently Shelby GOP chair Chris Tutor felt that the routine deserved a reprise. Later on, after a speech by 8th District Congressman David Kustoff and just prior to his introduction of Senatorial candidate Bill Hagerty, the event’s final speaker, Tutor looked back at Kustoff and said, “Thank you, Congressman. You got me fired up. You got me real fired up. I wish I could go back to the ballot box and vote again. [Pause for faint audience chuckle] I hear I’d get in trouble.”

Categories
News News Blog

All Virus Numbers Continue to Rise

COVID-19 Memphis
Infogram

All Virus Numbers Continue to Rise

New virus case numbers rose by 404 over the last 24 hours, putting the total of all positive cases in Shelby County since March at 36,492.

Total current active cases of the virus rose to 2,751. The figure rose above 2,000 just last week. The figure had been as low as 1,299 last month. The new active case count represents 7.5 percent of all cases of the virus reported here since March.

The Shelby County Health Department reported that tests here now total 538,994.

The latest weekly positivity rate surged more than 1 percent from the week before.The average rate of positive tests for the week of October 11th was 7.3 percent. That’s up over the 6 percent rate recorded for the week of October 4th.

The new weekly average rate is the highest since mid-August, just as cases began to fall from a mid-July spike that had a weekly average positive rate of 12.7 percent.

Total deaths now stand at 563. The average age of those who have died here is 73, according to the health department. The age of the youngest COVID-19 death was 13. The oldest to die from the virus here was 100.

There are 7,660 contacts in quarantine.

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: 1000 Lights

1000 Lights began in 2018 as a band on a mission: recreate the Stooges’ Fun House for a Halloween party at Black Lodge Video. And they assembled an all-star cast to do, starting with Flyer film editor Chris McCoy (Super Witch, Pisshorse) on bass, and Russ Thompson (The Margins, Static Bombs, Pisshorse) on drums. To this solid rhythm section they added Joey Killingsworth (Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre, Super Witch) on guitar, and, in a masterstroke, Jesse James Davis (Yesse Yavis, Model Zero, The Tennessee Screamers) on vocals. Davis was the perfect fit for the manic, yet devious, rock ‘n’ roll energy exuded by Iggy Pop in the classic Detroit band, being no stranger to stripping off his shirt and gyrating with abandon.

And yet, though 1000 Lights channeled Fun House beautifully, their own personalities came more to fore as they pursued original material. Shedding their tribute-band origins, they emerged as something closer to The Damned with echoes of Tin Machine: Both more frenetic and more atmospheric than the Stooges, depending on their mood, but always bringing the reliable riffs.

The capstone of this was their show at the Crosstown Theater in 2019. As McCoy explains, “Last year, 1000 Lights was asked to be a part of Crosstown Arts’ silent film live scoring series. We chose to do Häxan, the 1922 film by director Benjamin Christensen that is both a documentary about the witch hunts of the Middle Ages and a precursor of the modern horror film. We incorporated our existing songs into the score, and wrote a lot of new material to go along with the film. Justin Thompson and Dawn Hopkins recorded the show, and we took the tapes to Dik LeDoux for mixing and mastering. We took the best parts from the 104 minutes of the live score and created an album which we’re releasing on Bandcamp this week. We couldn’t be more pleased with the results. It doesn’t sound like a live album at all, despite the fact that it was recorded in front of a large audience.”

Today, the world gets its first taste of Häxan, the album on Bandcamp, with this, the first video spawned by the project. Davis steers clear of any obvious Iggy-isms, creating his own Southern take on the more panicked sounds of punk. He is hurtling toward the Bluff City from a devilish distance, perhaps about to slam the city from above like a meteor? The frantic apprehension is captured beautifully by McCoy’s wife, director Laura Jean Hocking. “We shot at Black Lodge,” McCoy notes, “using projection art she created and the big screens they have in their theater. Then she incorporated images from Häxan into the final video.”

Says Hocking, “I wanted to portray Jesse as if he was a denizen of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Jesse has a dynamic, androgynously sexy stage presence and I used it to convey the punk urgency of the song. The layered images and projection give it a fever dream meets Exploding Plastic Inevitable sense, like Jesse is fighting the Devil with rock & roll.”

Music Video Monday: 1000 Lights

1000 Lights celebrate the release of Häxan with a live-streamed concert at Black Lodge, Halloween night, October 31, 9 p.m.

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Three Thoughts on Tiger Football

CREDIT: Joe Murphy/Memphis Athletics

• Ryan Silverfield is a balanced coach. It should be no surprise that the Memphis offense is putting up 40 points regularly, even in this disjointed season, under a new head coach. Silverfield served as Mike Norvell’s right hand for four seasons, so no man on the planet knows more about what’s worked at Memphis than the rookie now calling the shots. Particularly with a familiar quarterback (Brady White) climbing the program’s passing charts, Silverfield’s prime task has been to maximize his “skill position” players across the depth chart. Through four games, Memphis has run the ball 172 times and passed 164. The only game with a discrepancy of more than five between run and pass plays was the season-opening blowout of Arkansas State (48 runs, 36 passes).

Offensive coordinator Kevin Johns is in a luxurious position, knowing his team can attack both on the ground and through the air. Would departed tailback Kenneth Gainwell have rushed for 650 yards through four games? Perhaps. But Dreke Clark and Kylan Watkins have combined for that total, each averaging more than five yards per carry. More than enough to balance the Tigers’ passing attack, which brings me to my second thought.
Joe Murphy/Memphis Athletics

Tahj Washington

• Damonte who? In pure “next man up” fashion, Memphis claims one of the finest pass-catching trios in the country. I was convinced the Tiger offense would suffer when senior Damonte Coxie announced before the UCF game that he was stepping aside to prepare for the NFL draft. That’s because I hadn’t seen Calvin Austin’s speed split a secondary, or Tahj Washington’s hands in traffic. I wasn’t sure tight end Sean Dykes could be a weekly threat. Well, Austin has topped 150 yards receiving in each of the last two games and is on pace for a 1,000-yard season (424 through four games). Washington is averaging 15.1 yards per catch and stands the most to gain from Coxie’s departure. And Dykes is second on the team with four touchdowns despite only one reception in the win over Temple.

For the Tigers to have so many skilled receivers within target range of a veteran quarterback, all they really need is some time in the pocket for White, and smart decisions by White to avoid turnovers. If the above-mentioned run-pass balance can be retained, gaps down field will be exploited by the Tiger passing game. And one glaring absence on the roster won’t be nearly as glaring.

• When the Tigers take the field at 7th-ranked Cincinnati, they’ll be seeking only the fourth upset of a Top-10 team in the history of the program. Memphis fans of a certain age vividly remember the stunning win over 6th-ranked Tennessee (quarterbacked by Peyton Manning) at the Liberty Bowl in 1996. The Tigers knocked off 7th-ranked Auburn in 1975 and 10th-ranked Mississippi State in 1965. And that’s it. Memphis has played 30 other games against Top-10 opponents and the best the Tigers can claim are ties against 2nd-ranked Ole Miss (a 0-0 affair in 1963) and 6th-ranked Florida State (in 1984). Saturday’s game will be only the Tigers’ seventh against a Top-10 team since the upset of UT 24 years ago, and only the second such program they’ll face from the American Athletic Conference (the Tigers fell twice against UCF in 2018). History is there to be made, against a team Memphis beat twice a year ago (including the AAC championship game at the Liberty Bowl). Better yet, the Bearcats and Tigers go back well before the formation of the AAC, having played 36 times since first meeting in 1966. (Memphis leads the series, 23-13.) Halloween is gonna be some scary fun for a pair of teams still in the running for a conference title.

Categories
Music Music Features

At Grandma’s House

CREDIT: Courtesy Maeve Brophy

The residency program at Crosstown Arts draws artists in all media to the heart of Midtown every year, and, despite the limitations of the pandemic, it is carrying on this fall, albeit with fewer participants. Having been a resident last year, I can attest to the inspiring exchange of ideas that the program can bring, as artists typically gather for field trips, artist talks, and weekly meals and meetings. This fall, most such activities have gone virtual, but the real-world benefit of studio space in one of Memphis’ creative hotspots remains. For residents focused on music, such a space can be doubly attractive, as they gain access to one of two studio houses next to Crosstown Concourse, respectively known as Grandma’s and Grandpa’s houses.

This fall saw a dramatic upgrade in Grandma’s house, with the temporary addition of a grand piano. Done at the behest of classical pianist and resident composer Maeve Brophy, it has transformed the house into the perfect venue for recording virtual recitals, and Brophy has modified her original plans to make the most of the opportunity, beginning with the posting of pre-recorded videos on YouTube, then complemented with live-streamed recitals, starting this Saturday, October 24th, at 7 p.m. on Facebook Live.

Courtesy Maeve Brophy

Whose house? Crosstown Arts resident composer Maeve Brophy records from Grandma’s house.

Memphis Flyer: It seems having a grand piano at Grandma’s house has given your time as resident composer a new direction. What are you focusing on now?

Maeve Brophy: I do compose, as well, but then I thought maybe Grandma’s house would be a space where I could focus more on this other project. My goal is to help increase awareness of works by relatively unknown composers, who were not taken seriously in their lifetimes because they were either women or they were not white. That’s the body of work I’m drawing from. And this fall I’m focusing on women in particular. It’s something I can contribute to this great movement to right a great injustice of classical music, the fact that these composers were not taken seriously and had to fight to be recognized, and then their work became neglected after they died. That’s a great injustice and a great tragedy. I’m just trying to do what I can to right that wrong.

How do you find these under-recognized compositions?

There’s a file sharing site that all classical musicians use, called IMSLP. It’s for public domain sheet music, including a lot of lesser-known composers. And that’s where I found a lot of the pieces that I’ve recorded.

I imagine many of those works have never been recorded.

Yeah. Or there might be, like, one recording. Actually, two of my Florence Price videos are the only existing recordings, at least that I can find, on the internet. My YouTube videos are all there is! [laughs]. And that’s kind of the point of this whole project.

Courtesy Maeve Brophy

Even among African-American composers like George Walker and William Grant Stills, there are remarkable stylistic contrasts. That’s educational in itself, just to see the diversity within the diversity.

Yes, that is very true. For example, there are so many women composers, I don’t have the bandwidth to do all of them. Women have been writing since music was first written down. My favorite time is the early 20th century, but even within that period, you still have throwbacks to Romanticism mixed with modern approaches. Like Blanche Selva. Her piece, “Cloches dans la brume,” was written in 1904, which I was shocked to learn. It was very forward-looking.

But there were also women writing in the classical era, contemporaries of Mozart and Beethoven. I just recorded a piece by Josephine Aurenhammer. Right before the lockdown, in February, I played a recital at Buntyn Presbyterian Church, featuring women and African-American composers. Her piece is a set of variations on a theme from The Magic Flute. It’s fun and brilliantly inventive.

It seems you find Grandma’s house especially conducive to creating these videos.

I didn’t have a good place to make classical videos. I was in an apartment, and it just wasn’t an ideal space. But when I saw photos of Grandma’s house, I thought, that would be a beautiful place to make videos, if I could just get a piano in there. That led to me contacting Lane Music. Now they’re my sponsor. They are providing me with that Kawai grand piano, and they’re the ones that moved it in there. Scott Lane has historically been very generous in providing pianos all over Memphis for all sorts of things. So I am very grateful that he generously agreed to sponsor me for three whole months. Over that time, in addition to posting videos on my YouTube channel, I’ll be performing live-streamed recitals on Facebook Live on October 24th, November 7th and 21st, and December 5th.