Month: November 2020

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Dispute Over Election Machines Remains Unsettled

CREDIT: JB

The tug-of-war between Shelby County Election Administrator Linda Phillips and the adherents of paper-ballot voting over the purchase of new election machines continues apace.

The most recent development, detailed in a November 18th Flyer article, involved the administrator’s purchase of three new ballot-marking devices for the ongoing runoff elections in Collierville.

The machines are manufactured by the ES&S Company and are of a type previously preferred by a 4-1 vote of the Shelby County Election Commission but rejected for funding by the Shelby County Commision, which, in the interests of transparency, had established its own preference for handmarked paper-ballot devices in several prior votes.

The funding source for the three machines had been — publicly, at least — something of a mystery. According to SCEC sources, the machines were paid for by the office of the Secretary of State in Nashville

The purchase of the machines had been revealed last week in a formal SCEC press release, which contended that there had been no alternative to acquiring them, inasmuch as the old machines used by Collierville in the city’s first round of elections earlier this month were tied up, pending certification this week of the November 3rd results.

JB

Election Commissioner Bennie Smith

Early voting for Collierville’s mandatory runoff period had meanwhile been scheduled to begin on Wednesday of last week.

Controversies remain: One of the reasons for the  county commission’s rejection of the SCEC’s preference for the ES&S machines (which had been selected over two other bidders) had to do with the commission’s aforementioned preference for devices enabling the use of paper ballots.
But another reason had been the county commission’s objection to additional costs for accessories added by the administrator’s office to the bids received from ES&S and two rival bidders.

At its meeting of October 23rd, the SCEC board voted to re-submit its request for county commission funding of the ES&S machines, minus the objected-to accessories. That expenditure would be something like $3.9 million, as against the sum of $5,815,405 requested beforehand.

But, said Brent Taylor and Frank Uhlhorn, two members of the three-member SCEC Republican majority, this “skinny” version of the prior request would not include money for accessories needed to facilitate the option of paper-ballot voting for those who wanted it. As part of its selection process, the SCEC board had previously voted to provide the option, and its deletion now further imperils the prospects of county commission approval.

In the meantime, Election Commission Democratic member Bennie Smith has cried foul about the commission’s promised provision for paper-ballot voting during the Collierville runoffs.

Smith and members of his family are residents of Collierville and recently went to vote in one of the three available voting locations, trusting, said Smith, to this statement in the SCEC press release: “There will be a ballot-on-demand printer capable of printing ballots on-demand for those who want to use hand marked paper ballots. If a voter would prefer to vote on paper, that ballot will be printed on the spot.”

Instead of being offered that option, though, Smith said he and his family members were not informed of its availability and were able to vote by paper ballot only upon having to insist on it.

Complaining about this to Phillips, Smith received an email containing the following statement: “We aren’t offering the paper ballot option because at this moment it isn’t an option going forward. This was discussed in the October 23rd SCEC meeting; when the decision was made to go forward with the skinny resolution, it also eliminated the paper ballot option since the accessories included the BOD printers necessary to offer that option in Early Voting.”

The circumstances behind this standoff are either complicated or simple, depending one one’s perspective, but the bottom line is that the twain are nowhere close to meeting just yet.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 73, Saint Mary’s 56

CREDIT: Dave Eggen/Inertia

Boogie Ellis hit all six of his three-point attempts — including a buzzer-beating bank shot from just inside the half-court line to end the first half — to lead the Tigers to a season-opening win over Saint Mary’s in the quarterfinals of the Crossover Classic in Sioux Falls. The sophomore guard came off the bench and scored a career-high 24 points to help Memphis advance to the semifinals of the tournament, where they’ll play the winner of today’s Northern Iowa-Western Kentucky game on Thanksgiving.
Dave Eggen/Inertia

Boogie Ellis

The Tigers fell behind 8-0, but took the lead on a putback layup by freshman center Moussa Cisse midway through the first half. They would not trail again. Ellis’s circus shot gave the U of M a 42-26 lead at the break and the margin grew beyond 20 points (49-28) three minutes into the second half.

Cisse scored  10 points and pulled down seven rebounds in his Tiger debut. Transfer Landers Nolley also started in his first game for Memphis, scoring 11 points. Sophomore guard Damion Baugh added 10 points off the bench.

After leading the country in field-goal-percentage defense last season, the Tigers put the clamps on the Gaels, forcing 17 misses among 18 three-point attempts. Overall, Saint Mary’s shot 34 percent from the field while Memphis converted 43 percent of its shots.

Matthias Tass led the Gaels with 15 points.

“We are trying to be the number-one team in the country in opponent field goal percentage,” said Tiger coach Penny Hardaway, having started his third straight season with a victory. “That is something that we want to be at the very top in every year. For the most part, I am proud of the defense in holding that team to 56 points. With the way they like to play, that says a lot. We want to be the best defensive team in the country for sure.”

Categories
News News Blog

Total COVID-19 Cases Surpass 46,000 in Shelby County

COVID-19 Memphis
Infogram

Total COVID-19 Cases Surpass 46,000 in Shelby County

New virus case numbers rose by 258 over the last 24 hours. The new total puts the total of all positive cases in Shelby County since March at 46,210.

Total current active cases of the virus — the number of people known to have COVID-19 in the county — fell slightly to 3,883. The figure peaked just above 2,000 only a month ago. The figure had been as low as 1,299 in September. The new active case count represents 8.4 percent of all cases of the virus reported here since March.

The Shelby County Health Department reported 644,462 tests have been given since March. This figure includes multiple tests given to some people.

The latest weekly positivity rate rose from the last time the figure was reported. The average rate of positive tests for the week of November 8 was 11.1 percent. The figure rose slightly over the 9.7 percent average recorded for the week of November 1st. The new weekly average rate is the highest since late July, just as cases began to fall from a mid-July spike that had a weekly average positive rate of 12.7 percent. The new weekly positive average marks the seventh straight week that the rate has climbed.

Eight new deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours and the number now stands at 645. The average age of those who have died in Shelby County is 73, according to the health department. The age of the youngest COVID-19 death was 13. The oldest to die from the virus is now 101 after a recent death.

There are 8,003 contacts in quarantine.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Farewell to the “Risk-Takers”

The big, bald, white guy standing in line at Midtown Home Depot is laughing loudly, sharing a joke with a couple of co-workers, or maybe employees. They look Hispanic and they are wearing masks, so I can’t tell if they’re laughing. In fact, everyone within eyesight in Home Depot is wearing a mask except the big, loud guy.

Maybe he’s one of the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department deputies who don’t wear masks because, as their boss says, “they’re risk-takers.” Yeah, that’s probably it. The guy in Home Depot is a risk-taker, a macho dude who needs to let everyone know that he don’t need no stinking mask, ’cause he ain’t skeered of the ‘rona.

What can you do when you encounter selfish idiots like that? Not much, except stay away, move to another line, let him check out before moving forward. You can’t expect Home Depot workers to put their own health and safety at risk confronting someone who is probably hoping someone confronts him, so he can proclaim masks don’t help and they infringe on his freedom and what are you gonna do about it, punk?

There were some similar sentiments vociferously offered at Monday’s Shelby County Commission meeting, mostly coming from folks in the restaurant community, which has arguably suffered more damage from the pandemic than almost any other business sector. One Germantown restaurant owner proclaimed that in regards to actual deaths from COVID, “There are no hard numbers showing anything.” I know of 260,000 dead Americans who might differ with that assessment. And the numbers showing that masks, social distancing, and other health measures save lives are very hard, and undeniable.

But I get it: COVID is not just killing individuals; it’s killing jobs and businesses; it’s getting people evicted; it’s putting millions of Americans in food lines and on unemployment rolls. The entire economy is devastated. Movie theaters, music venues, bars, brick-and-mortar retail stores, and yes, restaurants are dying every day. In Memphis this week we learned that two of our cultural icons are in trouble: The P&H Cafe (The Beer Joint of Your Dreams) and Earnestine & Hazel’s (Home of the Soul Burger) are both precariously near extinction.

Here’s the deal, as President-elect Joe Biden might say: Health regulations aren’t what’s killing businesses. That’s like blaming seat belts for car accidents. COVID is killing businesses. And nothing gets better until we get this pandemic under control. And it doesn’t get under control until we have a coordinated national strategy to flatten the curve all over the country, one that gets masks on as many sentient beings as will wear them, that gets adequate amounts of PPE and other vital supplies to hospitals and healthcare workers, and that ramps up a strategy to deliver vaccines and cutting-edge remediation meds to those who need them most. And yes, one that will probably require continued social distancing in certain indoor spaces.

The U.S. is like a tornado-ravaged village. The damage is everywhere. Except maybe on certain golf courses. It’s time to begin to start the recovery process. We need a domestic Marshall Plan, including a comprehensive COVID relief package that puts real money in the hands of struggling business owners and real Americans — and soon.

And we need to accept reality.

A few shell-shocked Republicans are climbing out of their bunkers and finally, sorta, kinda saying maybe we ought to possibly consider — I mean, just spit-balling here — that Joe Biden may have, you know, theoretically speaking, won the presidency … Pleasedon’thurtmeMr.Trump!

This is what passes for political courage in the GOP these days. Lord knows they don’t want to rush to judgment and contradict the very plausible theory that millions of votes in several states were changed by a sneaky voting-machine program created by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (who died in 2013!) and used by Democrats and certain RINOs to steal the election from Fearless Leader.

This evil cabal was so fiendishly clever that its conspirators decided to allow Senator Mitch McConnell to be re-elected, as well as pushing several toss-up Senate and House races to the Republicans.

This is pretty much the actual theory being pushed by the president’s crack legal team of Slapdash, Dipshit, and RunnyDye, because it makes perfect sense in the Bizarro World of QAnon, OAN, Breitbart, Newsmax, and Parler.

So yeah, it’s been a fun four years, America. But damn, it’s time to move on, time to take the bowl of nuts off the coffee table, time to say enough to the “risk-takers.” There’s a real mess to clean up.

Categories
Film/TV TV Features

Between the World and Me

Since Kenneth Arnold saw mysterious objects in the skies over Mt. Rainier Washington in 1947, people have been scanning the horizon for UFOs. The alien spaceships were there in the skies over America, we thought, for the better part of 60 years, but actual photographs of flying saucers were rare because not everybody was carrying a camera all the time.

Since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and the election of Barack Obama in 2008, racism has diminished in America, we thought. Arbitrary police violence directed toward Black people was a thing of the past, we thought. It was something Bull Conner did in Jim Crow Alabama, not something that happened in 21st-century America. Sure, every now and then we’d hear about a Black guy getting shot by police, but they probably did something to deserve it. Besides, it’s not like we had videos of police brutality.

In Kamilah Forbes’ adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, a host of actors, like Oprah Winfrey (above), bring the script to life.

The year before Barack Obama was elected, Apple introduced the iPhone. Since then, smartphone technology has exploded across the globe. More than 2.2 billion iPhones of increasing sophistication have been sold, joined by at least that many Android devices. The latest iPhone has a minimum of three cameras onboard, which means now practically everyone does have a camera in their pocket, capable of recording 4K video and streaming it to the internet in real time.

And what has this technological revolution revealed? Clear images of UFOs are still rare as hens’ teeth, but a new video of police killing and brutalizing Black people rockets across the internet every few weeks.

If the annus horribilis of 2020 has any value going forward, I hope it will be remembered as the year we shed our rose-colored glasses of American exceptionalism. The summer of Black Lives Matter was enabled by the imagination of the son of a Syrian immigrant, but it was the writings of Ta-Nehisi Coates that gave the protest movement its intellectual underpinnings. Between the World and Me was written in 2015 as a letter to Coates’ son, Samori, who was named for an Algerian freedom fighter who dedicated his life to trying to throw off French colonial rule.

“I’m telling you this in your 15th year,” it begins. The book is a memoir in the form of the “talk” Black parents give their teenage sons to tell them that they must keep their noses clean and their conduct above reproach to try and avoid the worst abuses of racism — not that that is enough to guarantee their safety. “I did not tell you it would be okay, because I did not believe it would be okay,” writes Coates.

The 2015 National Book Award winner was first adapted for the stage at Harlem’s fabled Apollo Theater by Kamilah Forbes in 2018. Then, in August 2020, in the heat of BLM summer, she directed a film adaptation for HBO. Between the World and Me is in no way a conventional movie. It is a spoken-word piece with visual accompaniment; its closest antecedent is probably one of Agnès Varda’s essay films, like Faces Places. There are montages, archival footage, and animation, but the point of the thing is Coates’ prose, which carries the same KJV rhythms as the language of the Black church. Instead of just having Coates read to us, the words are brought to life by a host of actors, including Oprah Winfrey, Phylicia Rashad, Mahershala Ali, and Angela Bassett. The late Chadwick Boseman, who attended Howard University with the author and collaborated on a play with the director, is seen giving a commencement address to his alma mater in 2018.

Howard, which Coates calls “The Mecca,” plays a big part in the psychic universe of the film. Not only did Coates meet his son’s mother there when he passed her a blunt at a college party, but he attributes his spiritual and intellectual awakening to his time at the HBC. After growing up in the poor neighborhoods of West Baltimore, Coates says his experiences at the school proved to him that “the African diaspora is cosmopolitan.”

Howard also becomes the locus of Coates’ radicalization when one of his friends, Prince Carmen Jones, is shot and killed by police while driving to his fiancé’s house. Coates uses the incident to drive home the message to his son that “… there are awful men who have laid plans for you.”

The writer has James Baldwin’s gift for summing up complex social concepts with a memorable phrase. He explains the appeal of racism to white people with “A mountain is not a mountain without something below.” He implores his son to not measure himself by the standards of racist society, but to forge his own path and identity. But he also leans strongly on what he calls “the American expectation of fairness.” Far from what Coates’ critics would like you to believe, this is not a call for tribalism and cultural isolation, but instead a plea to rework the very foundations of the American identity. As you watch Oprah weep while she listens to an interview with Breonna Taylor’s mother, you’ll think, it’s about damn time.

Between the World and Me is showing on HBO.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Kudos to Lamar

In March 1995, I had multiple media obligations, one of which was that of regional correspondent for Time magazine. The magazine was generous to its scrubs, never more so than when it asked me to accompany Tennessee’s own Lamar Alexander on his announcement tour for a run for the presidency in 1996.

The tour began in Alexander’s hometown of Maryville, and it ended in Florida after a week’s travel to stops in Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas, and several other states where the then-ex-governor would be on the GOP primary ballot the next year.

The nature of such tours is that the candidate, accompanied by his campaign entourage and a press pack, flies to pre-planned venues and makes the same speech over and over.

Alexander’s themes were typically Republican ones of the time (holding down taxes and deficits) and were couched in generalities. At one point along the route, as I reported to Time, he got a phone call of encouragement from Ross Perot, the third option from the presidential race of 1992. (Asked about that on C-Span later that week, Perot clammed up, other than to grouse about “some reporter evidently sitting too close on the plane.” Actually, it had been an ad hoc chartered bus. In any case, I basked.)

Two points continually repeated by the candidate stood out — his lamentation that school kids no longer felt free to take a pocketknife to school (an obvious metaphor whose import escaped me) and his insistence on abolishing the Department of Education (an odd position, I thought, for a recent former U.S. Education Secretary and UT president).

I was most impressed (and grateful) at a meet-and-greet at the Sioux City airport when, in sub-freezing temperature, Alexander’s speech, in its entirety, went: “I know you all want your next president to be a man of good judgment. My judgment tells me we’ve got to get in out of this weather.” Much more than the pocketknife thing, that made for a human connection.

It seemed natural then — as it has ever since — to think of this personable man as Lamar, especially since his given name, plus an exclamation mark, was in fact his campaign slogan, festooned on bumper stickers, wall signs, and everything else.

He came close to making it all the way in the Republican primary, being edged out in the last week of the New Hampshire primary by Bob Dole, who paid for a blizzard of last-minute TV commercials attacking Alexander, improbably, as a mad taxer.

I always thought of Alexander as an executive personality and later, when he mounted a political comeback as a senatorial candidate, wondered how good a fit the legislative role would be for him. Even now, with the three-term senator retiring, I still wonder, since so much of that job consists of toeing, or having to confront, a party line laid down by somebody else. The senator’s problems of that sort became acute under the yoke of Donald Trump, and never more so than when Trump was defeated for re-election and seemed determined to ignore that reality and to fight to remain in office.

Lamar’s first few responses to that were hamstrung to the point of setting the bar for forthrightness at ground level. Example: “If there is any chance whatsoever that Joe Biden will be the next president, and it looks like he has a very good chance, the Trump Administration should provide the Biden team with all transition materials, resources, and meetings necessary to ensure a smooth transition so that both sides are ready on day one.”

If? Both sides? This was two weeks after the election, when there was no mystery whatsoever as to who had won.

More Lamar: “Al Gore finally conceded 37 days after the 2000 election, and then made the best speech of his life accepting the result.”

That’s a false equivalence if there ever was one. There were some 537 votes at issue between Gore and George W. Bush, in one state, Florida — unlike the many tens of thousands of votes dividing Biden from Trump in multiple swing states!

This week, Lamar got closer: “Since it seems apparent that Joe Biden will be the president-elect, my hope is that President Trump will take pride in his considerable accomplishments, put the country first, and have a prompt and orderly transition to help the new administration succeed.”

Leaving aside those “considerable accomplishments,” that was pretty much on target. Congratulations, Senator Alexander, and thanks.. As you concluded, “When you are in public life, people remember the last thing you do.”

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Remembering Tommy Pacello

CREDIT: Tommy Pacello/Facebook

It was a beautiful fall day. I walked Cleo the five or six blocks to a neighbor’s house. Something in Cleo’s past had emotionally damaged her. She didn’t like most people. I had high hopes. She was a rescued wolf and husky hybrid, and my neighbor had owned this breed before.

My neighbor lived in an old renovated firehouse building that had served the Uptown community in the early 1900s, now a residence. The door didn’t have a bell and the living quarters were upstairs. No one would hear a knock. I started to call, when a car drove up and simultaneously the firehouse door opened.

Tommy Pacello/Facebook

Tommy Pacello

Suddenly, where there was none, a flurry of excitement magically manifested. A slight, animated woman hopped out of the car. My neighbor, followed by his girlfriend who had set up the meet-and-greet overnight stay with Cleo, introduced me to his mom. She pulled dog treats out of her pocket. These were dog people. I felt good about this.

We encountered a problem. The living quarters upstairs in the firehouse were narrow with sharp turns. Cleo balked ferociously. My neighbor’s mom pulled more treats from her pocket. We pushed, pulled, and enticed Cleo with treats. Somehow we managed to get her all the way up into an open space. Cleo, with great relief, stepped into the expanse.

The back door led to an upper deck and another set of endless stairs down into the backyard, more like a park really. Lots of trees, a picnic table, and lots of room — a dog’s paradise. Between the back door and the stairs to the yard park was a fat orange cat that was crucial to Cleo’s future. A new dog would have to get along with this cat. Cleo liked cats. But it’s not the dog that makes the decision to be friends, it’s the cat. Both beasts seemed cautious but curious. Cleo had her eye on the park-like backyard. The cat was merely a distraction to her destination. Without goading or promise, she navigated the stairs down to the yard like a pro.

As Cleo ran around, I felt really good about these people. They were dog people. Now that Cleo was not the focus any longer, my neighbor talked about the property and his progress.

He showed me an uncovered cistern. When he initially uncovered it, he said, there was a goldfish living down there in the murky water at the bottom. He said it was huge and hadn’t seen the light of day for many years, if ever. He surmised it had belonged to a child who emptied a fishbowl into the cistern. There had been only about a foot of water at the bottom, but the conditions were perfect for a goldfish. The oldest recorded living goldfish was 43 years old. I wondered if this goldfish had broken that record. We’ll never know; the neighbor relocated the fish to live out its natural life in better conditions.

Cleo didn’t work out. She bit a visitor to the firehouse. My neighbor, Tommy Pacello, was active in the community, and had many visitors. Cleo not liking people was a problem. Tommy did tell me how he sat with Cleo and they bonded. Cleo liked Tommy. It was hard not to like Tommy, with his infectious smile and genuine, easy demeanor.

Time moved on. Tommy married his girlfriend, Olivia Wilmot. Later came a daughter, Colette. Olivia would stroll Colette past my house and take pictures of Cleo in the backyard then text them to me. They had another beautiful daughter, Cecile. Tommy was invested in life, his family, and his community.

If you want a list of accomplishments, degrees, and community projects attributed to Tommy Pacello, there are some great articles published of late that you’ll find in other publications. This one isn’t it. Look up another article.

This article is about his love for life. Even a life as small and insignificant as an emotionally damaged dog or an isolated elderly goldfish.

At the young age of 43, on November 16th, Pacello passed away from complications due to pancreatic cancer during Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. 

There’s a famous quote by businessman and community builder Carl W. Buehner from 1971: “They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

A similar quote attributed to poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou adds a few more words, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

What Tommy said and did was laudable. His greatest accomplishment? How he made us feel — wonderful.

Julie Ray is the Flyer calendar editor.

Categories
News News Feature

Pros and Cons on Trending Stocks

The holiday season is upon us. Although gatherings may be untraditional this year, some usual dinner topics may still arise. To help avoid politically charged conversations or the infamous “when are you getting married?” question, wow your guests with tips regarding these three stocks.

Tesla — led by CEO Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and founder of SpaceX — is the world’s leading maker of electric vehicles. The company share price has surged over 500 percent during the past year and the stock was recently added to the S&P 500 index.

Why you would buy: Tesla’s long-range electronic vehicle and battery technology can store solar energy that is generated from its own products. The cost advantage of recharging over gasoline will eventually pay for itself, and it is believed that gas will not be able to keep up. Importantly, the company has experienced four consecutive quarters of profitability.

Why you would pass: Mass electronic adoption in vehicles could take longer than Tesla expects. If the projected demand does not pan out, the company may struggle to maintain profitability. Other car manufacturers have jumped on the electronic vehicle bandwagon, so competition is coming to the table. Finally, Elon Musk’s behavior can be erratic at times.

Cannabis stocks experienced recent momentum with increased U.S. legalization during the November elections. Marijuana is legal in 33 states plus D.C., and it is recreationally legal in 11 of these states. Our north-of-the-border neighbor, Canada, also fully legalized cannabis in 2018. There are several ways to invest in cannabis companies, including but not limited to Aphria, Canopy Growth, Tilray, or the ETF (exchange-traded fund) ETFMG Alternative Harvest (ticker MJ).

Why you would buy: Cannabis is one of the fastest-growing industries across the world, and some experts predict the marijuana industry to triple in the next five years. Although there has been recent momentum, the industry is still in a correction, which could make for a good buying opportunity.

Why you would pass: Despite recent legalization, the possibility of national legalization remains tenuous and federal legalization is not guaranteed. The thriving black market also puts significant pricing pressure on legal operators.

Bitcoin is the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Its stock price surged in 2020, rising over 130 percent as many viewed the crypto as a safe-haven investment in the wake of the coronavirus recession.

Why you would buy: As the U.S. continues to increase the national debt in response to the virus, Bitcoin could be a good inflation hedge. Also, PayPal recently announced it will allow users to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies, which makes buying the crypto very easy and introduces possible future merchant adoption.

Why you would pass: Even with PayPal’s announcement, there is still not a lot of tangible use for the currency. It also lacks standardization and regulation around trading. Furthermore, the currency is now only 12 percent below its highest value and therefore might not be a good entry point at this time.

The pandemic also produced many high-flyer stocks that have capitalized on mandated shutdowns. But it is unlikely the momentum will last as vaccines become readily available. Zoom Video Communications has been one of the best performing stocks in the Russell 3000, up over 487 percent on the year. Peloton Interactive, a producer of at-home workout equipment, is up over 258 percent on the year.

The pandemic has provided numerous investing opportunities across different sectors. Having a few talking points on several stock ideas will impress your guests. But the most important thing to remember is that when investing in specific companies, it is critical to always do so in a diversified manner, and not based solely on dinner table turkey talk.

Source: Morningstar. Waddell & Associates is not making a recommendation to buy or sell any of the equities mentioned in this article. Sean Gould, CPA/PFS, CFP, is a Senior Wealth Strategist with Waddell & Associates.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Loaded Santas: The Miracle Christmas Pop-Up Bar Hits Broad this Weekend

CREDIT: Magrino PR

The Liquor Store on Broad will host the very first Miracle pop-up bar in Memphis. So what the heck is a Miracle pop-up bar anyway? Miracle is a global pop-up concept that partners with bars and restaurants around the world to offer masterfully crafted Christmas cocktails in cheery holiday-themed settings.

You can expect groovy concoctions like the Fruitcake Flip, Bad Santa, and Christmas Carol Barrel served in kitschy glassware. Guests can also expect the space to be transformed with over-the-top décor so you feel like you’ve walked into a nostalgic holiday wonderland.

Magrino PR

Have a “Hard (Cider) Candy Christmas” with the Miracle pop-up at The Liquor Store.

In order to prepare the bar and staff, The Liquor Store gave notice via Facebook last Friday: “We will be closed through Thanksgiving Thursday. Our team has earned some much-deserved time off, and we need to transform the space into @miraclepopup. We’ll see you on the other side.”

Due to COVID, drinks will also be offered to-go. Still as cheesy. Still as festive. Still a Miracle. You can reserve a 15-minute time block to come in, take photos, and pick up food and drinks to-go. Guests can also purchase the holiday-themed custom glassware, with a portion of the proceeds being donated to the James Beard Foundation’s Open for Good campaign to aid the relief efforts of independent restaurants and bars due to the negative impacts of COVID-19.

Cheers! Salute! Prost! Bottoms up!

Miracle Christmas Pop-Up Bar, The Liquor Store, 2655 Broad, starts Friday, Nov. 27, and continues through Friday, Dec. 25, cocktails from $6-$15.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Give Memphis! Great Local Gift Ideas for the Holidays

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

If 2020 has proven anything, it’s that we need to come together to support our community — the health, happiness, and longevity of our fellow Memphians count on it now more than ever. While we may not be able to gather with friends and family for gift exchanges like we have in the past, we can still lift their spirits with thoughtful presents that help our local restaurants, retail outlets, and entrepreneurs keep doing what they do. Think local this season!

A Box of Magic

Have a giftee in your life who seeks to better understand their own power, to look within and outside for growth and restoration? Give them a box of magic, or as Sami Harvey, owner of Foxglove Pharm, calls it: a Coven Box.

“I’ve always been amazed by Mother Nature’s ability to heal, and I love finding new ways to use her ingredients to solve my problems,” Harvey says. “I started Foxglove Pharm in 2017 because I wanted to share some of those solutions with my community.”

Each subscription box ($40/month) includes a rotating variety of handcrafted herbal “remeteas” (About Last Night: Hangover Tea, Out of the Blue: Third Eye Tea, and others), scented oils, Resting Witch Face skincare products, rituals, and more special items that “honor the moon, the current astrological phase, and a featured plant.”

Sami Harvey

Each month, she partners with another local maker or small business to spotlight their wares. For her Foxglove offerings, Harvey is “the only witch in the kitchen,” so the products are small-batch and made with “ethically sourced, organic, sustainable ingredients.”

Regarding the rituals included in a box (or separately on the website), Harvey says, “These aren’t like supernatural spells that will destroy all your enemies and turn Michelle Obama into your BFF. But they’re ways to meditate and channel your energy into manifesting a better reality for yourself. The real magic ingredient is you and your intention.”

Visit foxglovepharm.com to order a Coven Box and shop products. — Shara Clark

Feed an Artist

The old cliché about “starving artists” has seldom been more true. Buying art is often the last thing folks are thinking about during tough times like these, but our Memphis painters and sculptors and photographers — and their galleries — have bills to pay, just like the rest of us. That’s why this might be a great year to put a new painting on your wall, or gift someone a work of art so they’ll be reminded of you every day.

Courtesy Jay Etkin Gallery

Untitled by John Ryan

There are many fine galleries in Memphis. Here are just a few: L Ross, David Lusk, Jay Etkin, Crosstown Arts, Orange Mound Gallery, Art Village, Cooper-Young Gallery, and B. Collective. Artists featured include Matthew Hasty, Jeanne Seagle, John Ryan, Mary Long, Roy Tamboli, Eunika Rogers, Cat Pena, Yancy Villa-Calvo, Hamlett Dobbins, Anne Siems, Tim Craddock, and many, many more. In addition, many galleries are featuring special holiday shows.

End what has been a nightmarish year on an upbeat note: Buy a piece of art. It’s good for your heart. — Bruce VanWyngarden

Let Them Eat Cake

I’d be happy to receive a Memphis Bourbon Caramel Cake from Sugar Avenue Bakery, either in or out of my stocking. This is the Sugar Avenue collaboration with Old Dominick Distillery.

Just listening to Sugar Avenue owner Ed Crenshaw describe the six-inch cake makes me crave a slice or three: “The cake is four layers. Each layer is literally soaked in a bourbon caramel sauce. And then our caramel icing, which we make from scratch.”

Courtesy Ben Fant

Sugar Avenue cake

Sugar Avenue worked with Old Dominick’s master distiller/senior vice president Alex Castle to come up with the perfect blend of cake and bourbon. Old Dominick’s Huling Station Straight Bourbon Whiskey was chosen for the cake, which has “a great hint of bourbon flavor,” Crenshaw says. “We add bourbon to the icing and ice the cake with it.”

To help you get even more into the holiday spirit, Sugar Avenue Bakery recently began adding two-ounce jars of extra caramel sauce with every bourbon-flavored cake.

Memphis Bourbon Caramel Cakes are $55 each, and they’re available at sugaravenue.com. — Michael Donahue

Accessorize in Style

When Memphians need to give the gift of stylish living, they turn to Cheryl Pesce, the jewelry and lifestyle store in Crosstown Concourse. The store takes its name from its owner, Cheryl Pesce, a jewelry maker, entrepreneur, and all-around style guru.

This month, Pesce opened a second store in the Laurelwood Shopping Center, giving Bluff City-area shoppers double the chances to find — and give — stylish accoutrements. “I’m banking on Memphis,” Pesce explains. And Memphis seems ready to support Pesce. “We had a grand open house, social distancing into the parking lot, and it went well.”

Courtesy Cheryl Pesce

Handmade jewelry from Cheryl Pesce

The store opening story is just the tip of the breaking-news iceberg, though. Pesce tells me excitedly that she’s been in touch with fashion designer Patrick Henry, aka Richfresh, about his newly designed Henry Mask. “I spoke with him today and — drumroll — we will now be carrying his masks in my Laurelwood store.”

But wait! That’s still not all. The ink is still fresh on a deal for Pesce to carry Germantown-produced Leovard skincare products. “I will be his only brick-and-mortar store in the country,” Pesce says. “So there are a lot of cool things happening, most of them local.”

In the smaller store in Crosstown, Pesce sells hand-sewn baby items, masks, Christmas ornaments, and anything with the Crosstown logo — she’s the official source for Crosstown-brand goods. Laurelwood is larger and a little more deluxe. “One of the focuses for that store is local and regional artisans,” Pesce says. She carries Mo’s Bows, Paul Edelstein paintings, and, of course, hand-crafted jewelry. “That’s really my wheelhouse.

“My studio is at Laurelwood,” Pesce says, “so not only is it made in Memphis, made by me, but it’s all under one roof now. The store, the studio. You can literally come pick out your own pearls — ‘I want this pearl on that earring’ — and then I craft it for you right there.”

Cheryl Pesce is located at 1350 Concourse Avenue, Suite 125, and at 374 Grove Park Road South, Suite 104. Find out more at (901) 308-6017 or at cherylpesce.com. — Jesse Davis

Good Reads

There’s something that comes from holding the edges of a book and being taken to a distant land or wondrous world. Whether it’s due to happenstance or the crazy and confusing world in which we find ourselves now, I have been reading more and more as the months drag on. To fuel my ever-growing hunger for words and phrases completed on the page, Novel has been my go-to place.

Novel is proof that when you are doing something you love, the results will follow. The bookstore, founded in 2017, is the go-to for other local book enthusiasts, too — and with good reason. Their staff will go to the moon and back to help you find the book that fits you just right, and if you’re looking for something specific, chances are they will be just as excited about it as you are.

Matthew J. Harris

of what gift to give this season.

Many of their aisles have felt like a second home to me the past few months. And with books in every genre, it is often easier to ask them what they don’t have, rather than what they do. Personally, I love their new-this-year home delivery option, which offers a safe way to give the gift of literature this holiday season. — Matthew J. Harris

Hit the Boards

This year has given us plenty of time to learn new skills. And what better way to get your mind pumping in both a constructive and competitive fashion than with a game of chess?

The Memphis Chess Club recently opened its new café/headquarters Downtown at 195 Madison Avenue, and the three levels of annual memberships make for a great gift, whether someone is looking to seriously pursue an interest in the game or just learn a few tips and tricks.

Samuel X. Cicci

A Memphis Chess Club membership isn’t as risky a move as the Queen’s Gambit.

The social membership ($50) allows members to play chess in the café area at any time, with tables, pieces, and clocks all provided. The full membership ($100), meanwhile, affords all of the social perks but provides unlimited and free access to all classes and tournaments, which are held at the club weekly. It also offers discounts on merchandise, and members are able to check out materials from the club’s chess library, which contains old magazines and strategy books.

For whole families looking to kickstart an interest in the game? The family membership ($150) contains all full membership benefits and includes two adults and all the children in a household.

And, hey, if chess isn’t your thing, the spacious café is a great space to just hang out or study while sipping on some brewed-in-house coffee or munching on one of chef Grier Cosby’s specialty pizzas.

Visit memphischessclub.com/join for more information. — Samuel X. Cicci

The Gift of Grub

Food is fun and helps define Memphis culture. Those who make that food and fun are in trouble.

Restaurants have maybe suffered more than any small business during this pandemic. Restrictions on them have come and gone and may come again soon. Memphis restaurateurs have shown amazing resilience in these ups and downs. They’ve shifted business models, adapted to the latest health directives, and adjusted staff levels (laying off workers and hiring them back) to match it all.

Memphis Restaurant Association/Facebook

Support local restaurants — so they can stick around.

However, we forever lost some Memphis favorites, like Lucky Cat and Grove Grill. The National Restaurant Association said nearly 100,000 restaurants across the country closed either permanently or for the long-term six months into the pandemic. Nearly 3 million employees have lost their jobs. Help restaurants out and have food fun, too. This holiday season, buy gift cards from our local restaurants.

At the pandemic’s beginning in March, we told you about a national push to buy “dining bonds” or “restaurant bonds.” Many Memphis restaurants jumped in — many selling gift cards at deep discounts. For restaurants, gift cards are quick infusions of cash, helpful in tough times.

So instead of that scarf you’re kind of on the fence about, spend the same amount on a restaurant they love. It’ll be unexpected and, yes, come with some delayed gratification — delicious delayed gratification. Present it not as a gift card but as that dish they love from that place they love.

Sing it with me: “Everybody knows, a burger and some mistletoe help to make the season bright. Memphis foodies, with their eyes all aglow, will find it hard to sleep tonight.”

Gift cards are available at almost every restaurant and for almost any amount. Check websites and socials for details. — Toby Sells

Music to Their Ears

Remember when giving music was a thing? Physical things like LPs, CDs, and cassettes could be wrapped. But now that everything’s ethereal, there’s still a way to give the gift that keeps on giving: Patreon. Musicians are embracing this platform more and more, and it’s working for them. A subscription to their accounts may just be the perfect gift for the superfan in your life who already has everything.

Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing, Ghost of Vroom) relies on his Patreon subscribers for both income and inspiration. As he told the Detroit Metro Times, “Doing a song a week is amazing, and that is really what, if I had my druthers, I’d do for the rest of my life.” Patrons can subscribe at different levels, each with premiums like CDs and T-shirts, but everyone paying at least $5 a month can access Doughty’s song-a-week and more.

Greg Cravens

Other Memphis-affiliated singer/songwriters like Eric Lewis, J.D. Reager, and (coming in December) Marcella and Her Lovers also have accounts. And last month, label and music retailer Goner Records began offering Patreon subscriptions that include access to the Goner archives and exclusive music and videos.

Patreon’s site notes that “there isn’t currently a way to gift patronage,” but if you get creative, you can search for an artist on patreon.com and buy a subscription in a friend’s or family member’s name — and they can thank you all through the year. — Alex Greene

Support Arts and Culture

“A plague on both your houses!” cried the dying Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and it seems the COVID-19 pandemic took that sentiment to heart, emptying out our theaters and concert halls and thinning out attendance at museums. But still they persisted. The organizations behind the arts we love are still at work online, virtually, distancing, and striving to keep the arts alive — especially in programs aimed at young people.

You can help the old-fashioned way by getting season subscriptions and memberships for whenever the lights come back on — and they could use that support right now. Or make a simple donation. Help keep Memphis culture alive by giving gifts on behalf of the following, but don’t be limited by this partial list — if you have other favorites, give them a cup o’ kindness as well.

Jon W. Sparks

Spring, Summer, Fall at the Brooks Museum by Wheeler Williams

Performing arts organizations:

• Playhouse on the Square (playhouseonthesquare.org)

• Theatre Memphis (theatrememphis.org)

• Opera Memphis (operamemphis.org)

• Ballet Memphis (balletmemphis.org)

• New Ballet Ensemble (newballet.org)

• Cazateatro (cazateatro.org)

• New Moon Theatre (newmoontheatre.org)

• Hattiloo Theatre (hattiloo.org)

• Tennessee Shakespeare Company (tnshakespeare.org)

• Memphis Black Arts Alliance (memphisblackarts.org)

• Emerald Theatre Company (etcmemphistheater.com)

Museums and galleries:

• Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (brooksmuseum.org)

• Dixon Gallery and Gardens (dixon.org)

• National Civil Rights Museum (civilrightsmuseum.org)

• Metal Museum (metalmuseum.org)

• Stax Museum of American Soul Music (staxmuseum.com)

• Pink Palace Museum (memphismuseums.org)

• Children’s Museum of Memphis (cmom.com)

• Fire Museum of Memphis (firemuseum.org) — Jon W. Sparks

Basket or Box It for a Gift That Rocks It

Need something sweet for your honey this holiday season? Thistle & Bee has the gift that gives twice. A relaxing gift box contains raw Memphis honey, a milk and honey soap bar, and a pure beeswax candle ($20). Every item is handcrafted and directly supports women survivors to thrive through a journey of healing and hope.

Social enterprise director at Thistle & Bee, Ali Pap Chesney, drops a stinger: “We partner with other businesses, too. Feast & Graze uses our honey.”

Feast & Graze/Facebook

Feast & Graze

The cheese and charcuterie company Feast & Grace is co-owned by Cristina McCarter, who happens to co-own City Tasting Box. Boxes are filled with goodies promoting local Black-owned businesses like Pop’s Kernel and The Waffle Iron. An exclusive limited-quantity holiday gift box, Sugar and Spice, just rolled out for the season in two sizes — regular ($74.99) and ultimate ($124.99).

Memphis Gift Basket is owned by Jesse James, who says he is rolling out a new logo this week. Along with the new logo are new products for baskets ($55-$100) that focus on diversity by including more women- and minority-owned businesses, in addition to local items with iconic names like The Rendezvous and Memphis magazine. Guess what else you might find in a Memphis Gift Basket? Thistle & Bee honey.

Now that we’ve come full circle, check out these gift box and basket businesses, as well as partnering companies, for errbody on your holiday list — including that corporate gift list.

Visit thistleandbee.org, citytastingbox.com (use code SHIP100 for free shipping on orders over $100), and memphisgiftbasket.com for more. — Julie Ray

Lights, Camera, Action

A lot of businesses have been hard-hit during the pandemic, and movie theaters have been near the top of the list. With social distancing-limited theater capacity and Hollywood studios delaying major releases into next year in the hopes a vaccine will rekindle attendance, theater chains like Memphis-based Malco have been in dire straits. The exception has been drive-in theaters, like the Malco Summer Drive-In, which have seen a renaissance in 2020.

If you want to support this local institution and give a treat to the movie-lover in your life, you can buy them a Malco gift card. Available in any denomination from $10 to $500, the gift cards can be used for movie tickets and concessions for any film now or in the future. You can also enroll in the Malco Marquee Rewards program, which allows frequent moviegoers to earn points toward free tickets and concessions.

Greg Cravens

Malco has taken extraordinary steps to ensure the safety of its patrons, including mandatory masks, improved air filters, and non-contact payment options. And if you’re not comfortable sharing a theater with strangers right now, there’s a great option: The Malco Select program allows you to rent an entire theater for a screening of any film on the marquee — and that includes screenings in the massive IMAX theaters at the Paradiso. Prices start at $100, which works out pretty well if you want to watch Wonder Woman 1984 with your pod this holiday season. And if the person you’re buying for is a gamer, Malco has a brand-new option. With Malco Select Gaming, you can bring your system to the theater and play Call of Duty or The Last of Us on the biggest possible screen. — Chris McCoy