Month: January 2021

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Music Music Features

R.U.D.Y: Gritty, Philosophical Rap from the Quarantine Age

CREDIT: Lee Mars

“T o infinity and beyonnnnnnnd!” screams the chorus, over a dead-stop Memphis beat that evokes wide, empty streets in the night. It’s not quite trap, but sonically, it paints a similar landscape. The singer’s voice tacks disarmingly between rap swagger and a questioning catch in the throat. And while the lyrics are tough-minded snapshots of a life steeped in poverty and casual crime, they just as often pull back to infinity, to reflect on the complexities. “I have no fear, even if I’m feeling fear, even if I feel afraid, I must still move in a maze.”

The track is “Infinity Stones,” by the up-and-coming R.U.D.Y (no period after the Y), who really began upping his releases in 2020, the downtime of the quarantine age. R.U.D.Y, aka Rudolph Swansey Jr., carved out a niche for himself in the netherworld between the graphic grit of trap and something closer to knowledge rap, a rare combination.

Lee Mars

R.U.D.Y

Memphis Flyer: You did a whole series of two- or three-track EPs last year called Rudy Tuesday’s, volumes 1-7. How did they come about?

R.U.D.Y: Rudy Tuesday’s was just something that I felt was a good way for me to feed my fan base with records that weren’t really a project. Like one-offs, loose records. There were some good songs in that series. I’m thinking of starting it up again. The reason I stopped was that I began to work on my project that I put out toward the end of the year, Till We Open. ‘Indestructible’ was the single. It was produced by my homie Lee Mars, who’s a very important figure in helping me discover my sound and who I am as an artist and a person. We grew real close over the last two years. I met him at work. He was listening to a Jay Z record on a forklift, and I started rapping along with it. It turned out we were both anime fanatics. That was really the glue for us, the fact that we loved anime so much. I’ve been into it since I was 9 or 10, and I’m 27 now. It’s a part of who I am.

The track you released with “Infinity Stones” was “Netero’s Focus.”

“Netero’s Focus.” That’s from an anime called Hunter x Hunter. Netero is one of the strongest characters in it. He got so strong, he couldn’t be defeated anymore. And to thank God for that, he vowed to throw 10,000 punches in one fight. That took a lot of focus, and that’s the kind of focus you’ve gotta have to maintain and grow in life.

Most of your releases thus far have been produced by members of your collective, Black Light Entertainment. What is that focused on?

What is black light? And what does it do? It illuminates what we can’t see with our naked eye. You need ultraviolet light in order to illuminate certain things. That’s why crime scene investigations, they can discover the truth of what really happened. The stuff we hide, the stuff we don’t want people to see? That’s what the black light illuminates. It shows us truth. And I wanted my music to do that.

I hear you name dropping Socrates in one rap.

Oh yeah. ‘I’m trying to learn philosophies that Africans taught Socrates.’ I was a history major at the University of Memphis. I graduated last year. My studies were mainly focused on African-American history and African-American Studies. I learned that Socrates and Plato and a lot of those guys in Greece got their knowledge from going to Africa to study at the oldest colleges in the world.

I notice that you have more of a tendency to sing than a lot of rappers. And also that you use a lot of jazz chords and samples. What’s your musical background?

I was singing in the choir for as long as I can remember. I grew up in the church. My mother is what they call a Prayer Warrior; she has a theology certificate and is a deacon. My dad is an amazing singer, he has a beautiful voice, and he also sings in the choir. Singing in the choir was a part of my DNA from when I was a kid til maybe I turned 16? I went to the Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering, and graduated in 2012. Around 10th grade I also started getting into rapping really heavy. Growing up, there was no secular music played in my house, unless it was what my parents called “Blue Lights in the Basement Music.” You know, Teddy Pendergrass, Isley Brothers, soul music. So the only experience I had with music outside of that was when I went to a friend’s house.

There’s also a political edge to your lyrics. Confronting poverty and how it affects people on the level of the soul.

Yeah, man. I grew up poor. I was born in Atlanta, but my dad is from the South Side of Chicago. My mom is from Gary, Indiana. And we moved there right after I was born. Then, when I was 12, we moved to Glenwood Park in South Memphis. Rough as Memphis is, compared to Gary, it’s still … well, I’m grateful to be here. I’m grateful to have come from Gary because it taught me how to survive. I’ve had to do homework by candlelight, if my mom couldn’t pay the light bill. The homework’s still gotta be done. And when you walk out the house, you don’t dress like your situation. You walk with dignity.”

R.U.D.Y’s latest release is Till We Open. Watch for more singles to drop around Valentine’s Day, and an EP produced with IMAKEMADBEATS later in the year.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Pink Palace’s “Dinosaurs in Motion” Exhibit Opens Jan. 30

CREDIT: Courtesy Pink Palace Museum of Science and History

The Pink Palace Family of Museums shuttered its doors on December 23rd. One month later, the Pink Palace Museum of Science and History is opening back up in a big way — with dinosaurs. Rawwwr.

The museum’s new “Dinosaurs in Motion” exhibit, opening January 30th, will get the temporarily extinct dinosaur season reanimated. This new exhibit is an interactive STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) experience built for visitors of all ages. As a STEAM-minded exhibit should, it will engage and educate visitors with 14 fully interactive, recycled metal dinosaur sculptures. The sculptures feature exposed mechanics inspired by actual fossils. An amazing blend of art, science, and innovation, the exhibit weaves in sketching, sculpting, kinetics, biomechanics, observing, and experimenting. Every piece is interactive for visitors to touch and learn.

Courtesy Pink Palace Museum of Science and History

Full STEAM ahead!

“The exhibit goes beyond merely the history of dinosaurs,” says Bill Walsh, museum marketing manager. “It shows the biomechanics of these amazing creatures in an intriguing and artistic way that allows the visitor to have a hands-on, interactive STEAM experience.”

The moving, human element to the exhibit lies in the story of the artist, John Payne. Through video and interactive touch, visitors will walk away with Payne’s inspiring message: “If you can dream it, you can do it.” The exhibition is one that inspires guests to learn, discover, and create.

Get to the museum before the exhibit’s ex-STEAM-tion on May 2nd or you’ll be really saur.

“Dinosaurs in Motion,” Memphis Pink Palace Museum, 3050 Central, opens Saturday, Jan. 30, and continues through May 2, $15.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Fenced In

CREDIT: Mati Parts | Dreamstime.com

Donald Trump’s flight to the border — six days after the Capitol insurrection — focused the nation on the foundational lie (and enduring failure) of his administration: the border wall. While extolling the virtues of the mostly imaginary wall in south Texas, an actual wall, or fence, was under emergency construction in Washington, D.C., to protect the nation’s capital from the president and his insurrectionists.

Some segments of Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” went up during his administration — maybe as much as 450 miles. He had promised to build 2,000 miles of wall and told us that Mexico would pay for it. He convinced many in his party that immigrants from the global south were terrorists, yet we found out, sadly, that the terrorists are from right here in the USA. He challenged his party to re-script the entire history of the United States: Trump’s USA was a dark, dystopian place where immigrants were dangerous criminals. Protecting America meant denouncing immigrants and separating ourselves from them both physically and psychologically.

Mati Parts | Dreamstime.com

Trump’s unfinished border wall was built on a lie, and stands as a monument to a cruel and divisive moment in U.S. history.

Trump, during his four-year rule, wrecked the asylum laws — laws and norms through which people with a “well-founded fear of persecution” in their home nations could seek asylum in the USA. But Trump forced an agreement with Mexico whereby, essentially, Central American asylum seekers to the USA now must “wait” in Mexico before being offered a hearing with a U.S. judge. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, all such court appearances have been canceled — stranding thousands of Central Americans in Mexico. That country, reeling from political and social violence, economic decline, and COVID-19, is not necessarily a hospitable place for Central American asylum seekers. There was a time when the USA was universally admired for its asylum laws and policies: Our current “Wait in Mexico Indefinitely” asylum policy is hardly helping our sinking standing on the world stage.

We educators, after virtually every crisis, call for “more” education. Looking at and listening to that angry mob on January 6th made me wonder what we’ve done wrong in the education community. Something we must do, immediately? Stop teaching patriotism and start teaching truth. My students — good kids at Rhodes College here in Midtown — are generally amazed to learn about the role of the USA in toppling legitimate governments in Latin America: The list is long, and U.S. actions in Brazil and Chile helped usher in cruel, violent military dictatorships in those places, in 1964 and 1973 respectfully.

Many newscasters on January 6th, so astounded at what was occurring in real time, went to the “banana republic” comparison. They didn’t name specific nations, but they were probably thinking about Guatemala. Guatemala is Guatemala because we helped make it that way. We pushed forward the overthrow of a legitimate, democratically elected government there in 1954, and the nation has never quite been the same. Our political and military leadership was involved, including President Dwight Eisenhower. So too were religious figures such as Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York. Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Honduras (some of the other “B” Republics) have all suffered under the influence of the USA.

Teaching “American exceptionalism” is another part of the problem: Like every powerful nation or society of the past, other more powerful nations will eclipse us, and we ought to have a clear, sound, historically truthful understanding of how (and why) this happens. It happens for many reasons, but a unifying characteristic of every great society’s stall involves leadership that becomes disconnected from reality. Think of France in the late 18th century or Russia in the early 20th century. Think of Trump now.

I suspect we’ll survive the current crisis, wholly manufactured in the USA. Politicians should tell the truth all the time, but they don’t. Educators must tell the truth always because what happened on January 6th suggests an existential failure, and we’ve all rushed in to blame the … Capitol Police. And of course President Trump. But we’re all to blame. The horror show of the Capitol riot represents a failure of our education system, a failure to understand who we are as a society, and a basic failure of imagination. And a failure to speak clear truth to power. It all started with an absurd lie about a wall that never got built — a wall that now surrounds our capital city and just might encroach and suffocate our nation, unless we help take it down. With the truth.

Michael J. LaRosa is a professor at Rhodes College.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Just As I Am: Novel Hosts Virtual Event with Cicely Tyson

Fashion model turned actress of stage and screen, Cicely Tyson has had a career spanning more than 70 years. She has been nominated for countless awards honoring her craft. She has won many. She even became the first Black woman to receive an honorary Oscar for her work, 45 years after her Academy Award-nominated performance in Sounder.

Now, in her ninth decade, she says, “I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say.”

She has put her meaningful words to the page in Just As I Am. It seems extraordinary that the actress, lecturer, activist, and one of the most respected talents in American theater and film history has been able to encapsulate her life between the covers of the 432-page memoir.

Cicely Tyson’s Just As I Am

Tyson has laid bare her life saying, “Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside.”

Tyson will be honored on Thursday at an online event where her new autobiography will be released. Novel is among the bookstores selected to participate in the book launch. The event will begin in conversation with Cicely Tyson and Whoopi Goldberg and be presented by HarperCollins with Girls Write Now along with editorial director Tracy Sherrod, and Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim.

The ticket price includes one hardcover copy of the book and a once-in-a-lifetime virtual meeting with Tyson.

Online Event with Cicely Tyson: Just As I Am, from Novel, novelmemphis.com, Thursday, Jan. 28, 5 p.m., $32-$38.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 76, SMU 72

CREDIT: Memphis Athletics / Joe Murphy

Backbone.

The Memphis Tigers displayed the most important anatomical part in sports Tuesday night at FedExForum in earning their third straight win. Down 12 points late in the second half, Memphis surged with a 17-2 run to lead at halftime, then traded jabs and uppercuts with one of its top American Athletic Conference rivals, ultimately prevailing thanks, in part, to replay review.
Memphis Athletics / Joe Murphy

With his Mustangs trailing 73-70 and less than two minutes to play, Kendric Davis hit what appeared to be a double-clutch three-pointer as the shot clock expired. But after an official review, the shot was disallowed, so instead of a tie game, Memphis took possession with that three-point lead intact. Alex Lomax and Lester Quinones combined to hit three of six free throws in the closing seconds to help Memphis improve to 9-5 while SMU drops to 8-3. The Tigers are now in sole possession of second place in the AAC with a league record of 5-2. (SMU is now 4-3.)

DeAndre Williams scored 10 points for the Tigers and hit a pair of three-pointers in the second half, the latter giving Memphis that 73-70 lead. Freshman center Moussa Cisse posted another double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) and Alex Lomax led the home team with 14 points off the bench. Landers Nolley hit three of five three-point attempts and scored 12 points, a figure matched by D.J. Jeffries in a reserve role.

Davis entered the contest averaging 19.3 points for the Mustangs but was held to only eight. Tyson Jolly led SMU with 15 points but fouled out late in the game.

SMU was the first Tiger opponent in six games to reach 60 points, but Memphis hit 51 percent of its shots from the field and 10 of 21 three-point attempts. The game wouldn’t have been as close had the Tigers not missed 13 of 25 free throws.

The teams will face each other again Thursday night in an unusual midweek rematch. Tuesday’s game was rescheduled after a January 15th postponement due to positive Covid tests in the SMU program.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Your Academy Schools You in Memphis Power Pop with New Album

For a certain age group in this region, the two album titles from blind to blue (Craven Hill, 1999) and Another Vivid Scene (Craven Hill, 2002) are sure to conjure up memories. Those were the two albums by the Memphis band crash into june, and for a time it seemed they’d make many more, but it was not to be.

Yet the words “another vivid scene” find their way into a release that just dropped in the past week, Your Academy. That’s also the band name of the latest project by crash into june’s founding member and bassist, Johnny Norris. He recruited guitarist Chris Gafford and drummer Dan Shumake, both of whom appeared on from blind to blue. Since leaving crash into june, Gafford and Shumake had lately been seen in Stephen Burns’ most recent reincarnation of The Scruffs.

As that pedigree alone might suggest, this is unabashed power pop, full of huge guitar riffs, chiming chords, layered background vocals, and soaring leads. But it’s not quite the jump-cut rush of The Scruffs, opting instead for the broader, open sounds of Big Star or the Raspberries.

Such territory demands a great vocalist, of course. Enter Memphis native Brandon McGovern, whose band, Madison Treehouse, often played with crash into june in the ’90s. He also had a solo record, 2002’s Pala-Dora, from that era. Later he backed the renowned power popper Dwight Twilley on guitar. McGovern went on to release three other LPs: Bowling Alleys, BBQ Joints & Billiard Halls, Pet Food, and Signal Heights.

Finally, running with their Big Star-centricity, the group also recruited Adam Hill, who has not only produced many national and local bands, but assisted Ardent Studios founder, the late John Fry, with locating, transferring and mixing long-lost Big Star and Chris Bell tracks for inclusion on box sets released in the early 2000s. He does double duty here, playing lead guitar in and engineering the recording.

And the polish of this record bears the mark of one who worked with John Fry. Between the rich, jangly-but-chunky recording, the tight, rocking band, and the natural bent of the songwriting, this is a great addendum to the annals of Memphis Power Pop.
Larry Hsia/Sierra Hotel Images

Your Academy

Because of the depth of the talent they’re drawing on, a listener can forgive the overt wearing of the power pop emblems on their sleeve. One song, “Heaven Knows,” has the line, “Nobody can dance to the tortured voice of Christopher Branford Bell,” then goes on to a chorus of “You drink red wine and sipping yellow pills/You’re guided by voices and you’re built to spill.”

Happily, these similes can be enjoyed at face value, embedded in the song’s mood, rising above in-jokes. But clearly these are proud power pop nerds who revel in the sounds that came before them. Another song, “Better Alone Together,” a song about the tumultuous relationship between Alex Chilton and Lesa Aldridge during the recording of Big Star’s Third, inspired by Aldridge’s quote about their relationship in Rich Tupica’s There Was a Light: The Cosmic History of Chris Bell and the Rise of Big Star: “We did better alone together.” All backstories aside, the number also happens to be one of the album’s catchiest, propelling itself along in a manner befitting #1 Record more than Third.

The quieter “Sunrise” may be the greatest track here, evoking the folksier side of Big Star, even as it develops Your Academy’s own unique sound. That’s a sound very rooted in the early- to mid-’70s, but ultimately the group forges its own identity, a kind of band out of time, purveying the Platonic ideal of power pop.

There are other Memphis influences, naturally. “Talent Party” features bass by John Lightman (Big Star) and keys from Rick Steff (Lucero), and is an homage to Memphis garage bands of the 1960s, inspired by Ron Hall’s book, Playing for a Piece of the Door: A History of Garage & Frat Bands in Memphis, 1960-1975. Other songs touch on Elvis and the Bluff City’s sense of its own importance, or lack thereof.

That last sentiment is ironic, even as Your Academy pulls together some of the city’s most astute masters of power pop to revel in that style’s sense of celebration and, yes, fun. It’s great to hear that these sounds aren’t being forgotten, but live on in new and inventive ways no one could have predicted. 

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News News Blog

Local Groups Weigh In on the Biden Administration

CHOICES’ Comprehensive Care Center

As the Biden Administration begins the long process of unifying the country, local nonprofits are gearing up for the work that needs to be done.

“We’re cautiously hopeful, you know,” says Commute Options program manager Sylvia Crum.

“I don’t know how long it’ll take for it to really start becoming apparent of what impact we will get to see right here in Memphis, but I’m really pleased that the administration is putting climate change on the forefront and saying, ‘We’ve got to do something to address this.’”

Commute Options, a nonprofit that works to promote alternative commuting methods within the city of Memphis, launched a bike commuting training program late last year. The program, which teaches Memphians how to commute through the city using biking or public transportation, is the first of many planned moves by the organization in 2021.

“We’ve been gathering a very lovely group of volunteers who are so excited to think about how we could help — in a safe and socially distanced way — encourage people who might want to try bicycling for transportation and show off the ability to do that.”

The nonprofit health advocate CHOICES has also begun the year strong. Its new comprehensive care center, which opened last fall, has been accepting patients throughout the pandemic, increasing volume in the latter half of 2020. The new center has allowed the group to expand to prenatal care and birth, something that director of external affairs Katy Leopard calls the “last piece of the puzzle”.

“As CHOICES, we wanted to be able to help people no matter what their choices were around a pregnancy. And so, it really makes sense that people needed to have more autonomy and how they give birth and the birth process,” says Leopard. “Having an out-of-hospital birth center environment that’s led by midwives, where people giving birth have more autonomy and choice, was really important to us. It wasn’t available in Memphis or anywhere near us, so we really felt like our community needed that.”

Just City executive director Josh Spickler says that while not much has changed for the organization with the new administration, they are still feeling the effects of the Trump administration.

“For the most part, our issues are pretty local,” he says. “A couple of exceptions would be that at the end of the last administration, there was a rush to execute five or six people. Federal executions had been on hold for years and years, and the Trump administration brought them back knowing that the Biden administration was going to have to work to stop them again.”

“I would hope that the death penalty becomes an issue, at the congressional level,” he adds. “We just don’t have the resources locally, but that’s one thing that I would hope would change because the state of Tennessee has really shown no interest in doing anything.”

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We Recommend We Saw You

“Works of Heart” Moves Online This Year

Among the artists in ‘Works of Heart’ is Alex Paulus, who contributed his ‘Just Out of Sniffing Range,’ an acrylic on wood.

I have fond memories of a jam-packed Memphis College of Art with people crowding around and bidding on every size and shape of  “valentine” imaginable.

That won’t be the scene this year. Fundraisers have gone the way of the dinosaur — at least for now. But you gotta have heart. So take heart. “Works of Heart” will take place, but this year’s event is virtual.

The Memphis Child Advocacy fundraiser, which will celebrate its 29th anniversary, will be held February 7th through 14th. It will feature heart-themed art by more than 100 artists. Bidders will go online to try to snag their heart’s delight.

Among the artists contributing work are Dolph Smith, NJ Woods, Quantavious Worship a.k.a. Toonky Berry, Veda Reed, and Alex Paulus.

For John McIntire’s ‘Cave Stone,’ the artist traded a banjo for the stone, found in Middle Tennessee, that was transformed into this beautiful sculpture.

“We knew the event was going on no matter what and the committee had a lot of discussion about what that was going to look like,” says Child Advocacy Center communications and grants manager Beryl Wight. “Even thought about postponing it. And we just settled on that we’re going to go head and do it virtually this year ‘cause it is a Valentine’s event.”

Artists are traditionally given a 12-inch wooden heart to use as their inspiration, but they don’t have to use it. Works in various shapes include painting, photography, jewelry, and mixed media.

This year’s event will feature the Big Heart Lounge, but it also will be virtual. Those who purchase a Big Heart Lounge ticket will receive exclusive admission to a live, virtual preview of the artwork hosted by Joe Birch from 6 to 7 p.m. on February 6th. They also will receive a valentine box that includes a bottle of wine and other goodies, a yard sign, an event T-shirt, and first bids on all artwork. Big Heart Lounge tickets are $200.

Last year’s event, which was held February 15th at Memphis College of Art, was one of the last big fundraisers before the COVID pandemic shut everything down. That event, which featured 111 hearts and drew 450 guests, was a huge success. They raised a record-breaking $98,000, Wight says.

Virginia Stallworth is executive director of the Memphis Child Advocacy Center.

A Works of Heart link will be posted closer to the date, but those interested in purchasing tickets to the Big Heart Lounge or want other information can go to memphiscac.org/worksofheart.

Napapon Santirojprapai (aka Pam Santi) shows ‘Zen Heart,’ a wooden heart with wire and acrylic paint.

Ken Woodmansee’s ‘Funnel of Love’ is, in the artist’s own words, “A reminder of the power of love, especially during times of chaos, crisis, and uncertainty.’

Connie Hendrix’s ‘Suppression’ is about the many forms of suppression experienced during the historical year of 2020.

David Simmons ‘Hendrix: Star Spangled Banner’ is No. 18 in a series represents a “salute to democracy.” It recalls the definitive rendition of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ as performed by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock in 1969 — a “powerful dawn to anew day in America.”

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News News Blog

Council Committee Approves Capitol Investigation

CREDIT: Tyler Merbler | Wikimedia | Creative Commons

Tyler Merbler | Wikimedia | Creative Commons

United States Capitol, 2021


A Memphis City Council committee passed a resolution Tuesday requesting an investigation of any public safety employees involved in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.

The resolution asks Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration to “develop and present a plan to the council” revealing those employees and creating a “process to ensure former city of Memphis public safety employees re-hiring status reflects participation in [the] U.S. Capitol riots.”

The council’s public safety committee gave a near-anonymous approval of the resolution with only council member Worth Morgan voting against it. The resolution is sponsored by council members Michalyn Easter-Thomas, Martavius Jones, J B Smiley, and Dr. Jeff Warren.

The resolution comes as “several sworn police officers from departments across the nation now face federal criminal charges as a result of their participation in the insurrection,” it reads. That becomes important, it says, to further “address concerns about the need for increased oversight and accountability within public-safety-based departments, especially in light of 2020’s international call for reform within the criminal justice system.”

“I think we need to amend the resolution in the first recital to say the Memphis City Council hereby requests the director of Police Services to investigate whether any city of Memphis employees, based upon evidence provided by FBI of such participation in the U.S. Capitol riot,” said council member Chase Carlisle. “We don’t need to get sued.”

Jones suggested including the Secret Service and other federal agencies to the groups providing evidence. Council members expanded the resolution to legitimate evidence from citizens who may have captured the event.

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News News Blog

Virus Numbers Continue Slow Decline

COVID-19 Memphis
Infogram

Virus Numbers Continue Slow Decline

New virus case numbers rose by 221 over the last 24 hours. The new cases put the total of all positive cases in Shelby County since March at 80,991.

Total current active cases of the virus — the number of people known to have COVID-19 in the county — fell again to 4,884. The number reached a record high of more than 8,000 three weeks ago. The figure had been as low as 1,299 in September and rose above 2,000 only in October. The new active case count represents 6 percent of all cases of the virus reported here since March.

In Shelby County, 39,485 COVID-19 vaccines have been given, according to the latest data issued Saturday. As of that day, 9,099 had been given two doses for full vaccination and 30,386 had been given a single dose.

The Shelby County Health Department reported that 2,257 test have been given in the last 24 hours. Since March, 931,620 tests have been given here in total. This figure includes multiple tests given to some people.

As of Monday, acute care beds were 88 percent full in area hospitals with 284 beds available. Of the 2,066 patients in acute care beds now, 278 of them were COVID-19-positive. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds were 91 percent full with 39 beds available. Of the 372 patients in ICU beds now, 113 were COVID-19-positive.

The latest weekly positivity rate fell again for the second week in a row, down now more than five percentage points from the record-high 17.5 percent two weeks ago. The average positive of test results for the week of January 10th was 12 percent. That figure is down more than two percentage points from the 14.1 percent recorded for the week of January 3rd.

Eight new deaths were reported over the last 24 hours. Though, those deaths may not have all occurred within the last day. Reports come form many agencies and aren’t all reported on the day of the death. The total death toll now stands at 1,202.

The average age of those who have died in Shelby County is 74, according to the health department. The age of the youngest COVID-19 death was 13. The oldest person to die from the virus was 101.

Shelby County vaccine information:

COVID-19 vaccinations continue for 1a1, 1a2 groups, and individuals aged 75 and older.

The Shelby County Health Department will provide 2nd doses of the Moderna vaccine beginning Wednesday, January 27th. These vaccination sites are only open to those who received a first dose of vaccine at Lindenwood Christian Church or 1826 Sycamore View Road between December 28th and January 3rd.

Locations and appointment information are as follows:
• Appling Emissions Station, 2355 Appling City Cove, Memphis, Tennessee 38133

Wednesday, January 27–Friday, January 29, 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, January 30, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Click here for an appointment.

• Pipkin Building, 940 Early Maxwell Blvd, Memphis, Tennessee 38104

Tuesday, February 2nd–Saturday, February 6th, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Click here to set appointment.

• Germantown Baptist Church, 9450 Poplar Avenue, Germantown, Tennessee 38139

Tuesday, February 2nd, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 4th–Saturday, February 6th, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Click here to set appointment.

The Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) has made some limited appointments available January 26th-January 30th for first doses of COVID-19 vaccine for those in priority groups listed below:

First responders and health care workers listed in Phases 1a1 and 1a2, funeral/mortuary workers, those aged 65 and older with high-risk medical conditions, and all people aged 75 and older.

Those in this group can sign up for appointment here.

COVID-19 Testing Availability

Shelby County has “plenty of testing capacity available,” according to the health department, and “anyone who thinks they need a test should get one.”

Two of the community drive-through testing sites are now available to anyone, and no appointment is needed during their regular testing hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday.

Those sites are:

• 2355 Appling City Cove

• 1720 RKS Commercial Cove (off Lamar Avenue)

A new health directive that loosened some restrictions took effect Saturday. Check out the health department’s information right here: