Month: February 2021

Categories
Music Music Features

Stax Gospel: Reissue Reveals the Label’s Sacred Side

Wah-wah clavinet introduces the song, announcing that you are deep in the 1970s. “Talkin’ about a good time, we gonna have a time!” It’s one of the best party tracks you’ve never heard, though it’s possible you have, if you ever chanced upon the single by Jacqui Verdell in 1973, on a label under the umbrella of Stax Records: The Gospel Truth.

While music historians usually give a nod to the gospel roots of so much of the Stax soul sound, the actual gospel records released by the label are often overlooked. And yet, late in the Stax story, from 1972 to 1974, The Gospel Truth played a pivotal role in the genre. Some would even deem it a revolution, as the label championed gospel music with a funky, contemporary edge.

Craft Recordings, second to none in the business of reissues, and a longtime purveyor of classic Stax albums, has made that history easier to comprehend than ever, thanks to their new three-LP collection, The Gospel Truth: The Complete Singles Collection. If that’s not your medium of choice, the set’s also available as a digital release, but the grooves and textures of these tracks benefit immeasurably from their vinyl incarnation, cut to lacquer by Jeff Powell. It’s how the Good Lord meant for them to be heard.

Either way, you’ll get the in-depth essay by Jared Boyd, program manager at radio station WYXR and music columnist for The Daily Memphian. As he notes, “From its very launch, [the label] was formed around the strengths of the Rance Allen Group, a Michigan family band whose electrifying leader had a remarkable vocal range and an unabashed infusion of blues, soul, and rock-and-roll.”

Indeed, Rance Allen, who just passed away last October, was a force of nature. As Robert Gordon puts it in Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion, “Stax liked them so much, they created a new imprint, The Gospel Truth, just so they could sign them.” Beyond Allen’s singing, they were pioneers of a fresher, funkier version of gospel than what was common in their day. Many secular fans got their first taste of the group at the 1972 Wattstax festival, where the raw funk of their “Lying on the Truth” sat nicely alongside the Bar-Kays.

It’s telling that the first track in this collection is Allen’s take on the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination,” subtitled “Just My Salvation.” Nor is it surprising that the group accounts for 10 of the 34 tracks here. But the label’s other featured artists stick with that same commercial sensibility.

“Ooh, I got the vibes you’re sending with your eyes,” sings Joshie Jo Armstead on “I Got the Vibes,” a 1973 track that anticipates the onset of disco so presciently that Joshie should get royalties from the Bee Gees. “If the Shoe Fits Wear It” and “Who’s Supposed to be Raising Who,” from the same year, mine similar ground, and the group that sang them, the 21st Century, would later have a bona fide disco hit with “Tailgate,” under the name 21st Creation.

And yet the repertoire here doesn’t represent a complete break with gospel tradition, either. Rev. Jesse Jackson’s People’s Choir of Operation Push, which arose out of the Civil Rights struggle, supplies plenty of the gigantic, singalong choruses typically associated with gospel, albeit with a rhythm section that could have been right out of a Stax pop record.

In truth, the regular Stax session players don’t make much of an appearance. With Clarence Smith being the only Memphian here, among many from Chicago or Detroit. Most of these bands had their own provenance. In fact, label head Dave Clark had a knack for buying up bands’ unreleased tracks, shelved by other labels, and readying them for release by having the Stax engineers brighten up the mixes a bit. The fact that these sound so cohesive is simply a sign that this was a whole movement of bands forging a new, modern form of gospel. And most of them loved the hits that had made Stax what it was.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Pipkin Parade: Roughing it in the Vaccination Line

CREDIT: Scaliger | Dreamstime.com

You do feel the needle going in. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. And, depending on the day’s weather, it’s likely to be cold and drafty when you have to bare an upper arm to get your COVID vaccination shot.

Have an “appointment” to get a COVID vaccine, do you? Well, good luck. Things may have become more streamlined since early last week, when negative word-of-mouth and social media had famously attested to the delays and traffic snarls of the county’s vaccine rollout. You could count on spending hours of your life in bumper-to-bumper traffic, driving in seemingly endless loops across the whole of the Fairgrounds driving surface to reach one of the six improvised bays in the interior space in the Pipkin building. There, finally, assisted by some very helpful and, under the circumstances, preternaturally cheerful folks administering the shots on behalf of the Shelby County Health Department, you could begin your inoculation against the potentially deadly and certainly ominous virus and conclude Phase One of the requisite two.

Scaliger | Dreamstime.com

An ordeal? Yes. And worth it? Yes, and hail to the hard-working folks who were there laboring in the building’s six bays long before you get there and who will be there long after you leave. Like the besmocked lady wielding the needle when I pulled up: “Got to have some flesh,” she said, prompting me to temporarily shed coat, sweater, and shirt, and the assisting Sheriff’s Department deputy who had greeted me by saying, “Where you been? Been waiting on you for six hours!”

And that was no joke. It had been every minute of six hours since I had pulled my Kia Soul into the north entrance of the Fairgrounds, off Central Avenue onto Early Maxwell Drive. “Where’s the Pipkin Building?” I had naively asked the deputy who was parked there, his car’s revolving light flashing, to monitor new arrivals. “Get behind the red car,” he said, indicating a late-model Volvo. Upon complying, I noticed that I was thereby joining a queue of seemingly stalled vehicles that, via that previously indicated series of back-and-forth loops, spread far into the distance. Farther, indeed, than I could see. Hundreds of them, I would ultimately realize. The line would presently begin inching forward, and I mean “inching.” You know that old maxim about watching paint dry? Well, the queue’s progress was of that kind.

It was only later that I reflected on the obvious circumstance that all of these folks could surely not have been scheduled for 4 p.m., as I was, or 4:30, as my son Marcus, who was with me, was. Nor even 5 nor 5:30 nor 6, for that matter. A significant percentage of them had to be crashing (as in “gate crashing,” though, given the immensity of the jam-up, the literal form of the verb was always a possibility).

Note: I am trying not to be overly querulous here, nor judgmental. We all know that, going into January, neither the state nor federal sources had been models of advance preparation. Nobody knew exactly how much vaccine was on hand locally nor how long it would last. The first shots had been administered, without prior notice, in several days in late December and the first week of the New Year. They were earmarked for first responders and medical folk, but the grapevine had alerted a sizeable number of interlopers, and, in practice, those word-of-mouthers who were 75 or older had been permitted in the drive-throughs at Lindenwood Christian Church and the Health Department’s facilities on Sycamore View. For a week or so, the vaccination process was on hold, then opened up again on January 12th via a registration process.

Before the rolls closed on the month of January, I was able to grab a spot on grounds of age, and Marcus by dint of certifiable disabilities. Believe me, when the day came, it was beneficial to have a companion and an active radio, tuned mostly to SiriusXM news stations, from which I would learn, repetitiously and in detail that day, about both Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and the Robin Hood caper on Wall Street. There wasn’t much we could do about the paucity of porta-potties — only three over the whole Fairgrounds expanse. And we hadn’t thought to pack water bottles or snacks.

I am no masochist, but, lookit, all of the hardship, culminating in that final bite of the needle, turned the whole day into something of an adventure. And, yes, I’ll be grateful for the chance to do it one more time.

Jackson Baker is a Flyer senior editor and politics editor.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Free at Last: The Story of FreeSol

CREDIT: Courtesy of FreeSol

FreeSol is a free soul again.

After getting his musical start as lead singer of the alternative soul band also known as FreeSol, which formed in 2003, “Free” moved back to Memphis two years ago after several years of ups and downs.

FreeSol was originally signed to Justin Timberlake’s production company, Tennman Records, in 2006. After then signing with Interscope Records, the band debuted its first single,”Fascinated,” on American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, and appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. The band was also presented the Memphis Sound Award at the Blues Ball in Memphis. The future looked bright.

Courtesy of FreeSol

FreeSol appeared on Late Night with David Letterman.

Then, in 2012, everything stopped.

“As soon as we got dropped from Interscope Records I bounced to California,” says Free, now 42. Trying to “re-find himself,” he worked in real estate and became involved with the legal marijuana industry. “I was on the verge of opening my own brand, Sweet Cali,” he says. “We’d been in business since 2014 and we were looking for investors. It’s a marijuana THC/CBD edible brand and street apparel brand.”

But in late 2019 Free decided to move back to Memphis. “I wanted to use some of my new hustle, and the things I learned about business and put that with music. I want to be an inspiration and a motivator for the city. I want to be a personality here. I had only been seen here in a dark, thuggish, rough, sexual light. I came to Memphis to get busy.”

Free, a native Memphian whose real name is Christopher Anderson, is now vice-president of Elite Home Flippers and wants to open a restaurant.

“I’m a hustler, man. I like food and I’m from Memphis. I have always felt I was going to come home and do something for Memphis. And one of those things needed to be Memphis food. Growing up, I loved good Southern food.”

There will be music along with the food, Free says. “If I’m going to be in the business, we’re going to have music there.”

Courtesy of FreeSol

Free

Free says he also will be bonding with young, local musicians. “I really want to connect myself to up-and-coming cats and do whatever I can. And do what I did with FreeSol, just trying to build a network — be connected and throw events and collaborations. If you remember the rise of FreeSol — how we played often at different events.”

Free says the late California rapper Nipsey Hussle was the inspiration for his moving back to Memphis and getting involved here. “He died in 2019. He was shot outside of his store. The cool thing about him was that he had rented out a store in this building and he sold T-shirts, sold suits, while he was building up his music. He ended up buying the whole building. Then he owned a restaurant. He became a local entrepreneur, but he also was a national rapper.

“As soon as he was murdered, it was like his spirit was released and a lot of people built up a Nipsey Hussle mindset. I knew I had to build up an empire, a business, and be an inspiration and motivation in my city. I see myself as a Nipsey Hussle. He made me want to come home, basically, to be here to be an entrepreneur while opening up a restaurant, putting on shows, eventually starting a record company. We can do it all and we can inspire and make friends. And do it all with a smile on our face.”

Free says art was his first creative outlet, but when he was 12, he began rewriting lyrics to the music of Boney James and the Yellowjackets in his mother’s record collection. He began writing his own rhymes when he was 14. “Fourteen was a big year for me. I started smoking weed, lost my virginity, and started rapping — all in the same summer.”

Courtesy of FreeSol

FreeSol was ahead of the curve in rapping over music by a live band.

He gave his first performance during an overnight lockdown at Bishop Byrne High School. His friend, a DJ, told him he was going to get him on stage. “I was so nervous. I’ll never forget. The crowd went crazy.”

Rap music was all he wanted to do after that, he says. “They talk about that ‘drug’ of being on stage. That addiction. That was it. I had 100 kids screaming, having a good time. After it was over it was like I just invented the cure for cancer.”

Free then started his first band, Sol Katz, with two other rappers. Their agent signed them to do talent shows in Atlanta and Texas. A little later, while going to school at Clark Atlanta University, he got a call from Beyoncé’s father, Mathew Knowles. “He heard about us and he called Orin Lumpkin at Elektra, who wanted to work out a deal. But it all fell through. When that didn’t work out, the band kind of broke up.”

FreeSol says he got his name when he was 21. He was teaching Bible class at his church when he came across Galatians 5 verse 1, which “talks about freedom. So that was the birth of me wanting to be called ‘Free.’ Never being held by the yoke of slavery. I lost all religion and became ‘Sol,’ son of light. It just came to me. It had to do with wanting to follow the light. From the darkness comes the light. To be the son of light, the son of goodness, is the highest form of energy.”

In 2001, Free got a $25,000 loan from his cousin and recorded his first solo record, FreeSol. 

“I got in my car and drove all over the country and sold that record.”

He then ran into drummer James “Kickman Teddy” Thomas at Applebee’s on Union. “He was drinking this big ass beer at 12 on a Monday,” he remembers. He offered his headphones to Thomas and asked him if he’d listen to his record. “He loved it.”

Bass player and keyboardist Daniel “Primo Danger” Dangerfield joined them that afternoon. “That Thursday we had our first rehearsal,” Free says. “Three to six months later we had our full band.”

Songwriter/co-producer Elliott Ives, longtime studio and touring guitarist with Timberlake, recalls how impressed he was with FreeSol when he saw the group perform at Automatic Slim’s. “There were not many rappers performing with bands,” he says. “And not just that, but also having auxiliary members of the bands singing hooks.”

When he joined the band, Ives says, “I pretty much sang every hook. You’ve got this white boy Memphis guitar player singing these hooks and this Memphis rapper with a live band. A few years later, people started doing that. Now you rarely see a hip-hop artist without a band.”

FreeSol “was just different,” Thomas says. “We were on a different vibe at the time. There weren’t too many bands doing what we were doing. We were breaking down so many boundaries and breaking down so many doors as far as being new, energetic. For me, it was special, man. From the day I met Free, there was something special about what he was bringing, what he was trying to do at the time. It was a brotherhood as well as being a band. It was fun times, man.”

Describing their music, Free says, “I don’t believe in race. I don’t believe in labeling music. I think we think too much about things and try to divide things and put things in boxes. I take a little bit of Islam, atheism, Christianity, Buddhism, and find truth in my own lane. I took rock, rap, hardcore rap, hardcore rock, jazz music, pop music, and never tried to label it. And in all our songs I put elements of what we love. We tried to create something new for everyone to fit into.

“Everyone came to our shows, from ‘hood, straight-up crack dealers to the silliest of the white girls. I had everybody included. We were able to wrap it up because we had pieces of everything people wanted and respected in music and art. The real strength we had was our versatility.”

FreeSol’s most popular songs included “Busy Watching Me,” “Don’t Give a Damn,” and “Crazy.”

Lightning struck when they met Timberlake at a private showcase and were subsequently signed to Tennman Records and then, Interscope Records. Between 2006 and 2011, the band released Role Model and Hoodies On, Hats Low. One of their songs “Fascinated,” was co-produced by Timberlake and featured Timbaland.

Timberlake, who also appeared in the video, produced an album with FreeSol for Interscope. But in January 2011, FreeSol was dropped by Interscope.

“The politics of the major label music business got in the way of the actual talent and the music, and had nothing to do with the success we were having or the success we were about to have,” Ives says. “It was pure politics.”

Everybody in the band “took it really hard,” Free says. “We had made it — and to have all it taken from us right then and there, everybody was heartbroken. We did everything we were supposed to do. We had a fan base. We had a work ethic. But things didn’t work out.” 

Courtesy of FreeSol

Christopher “Free” Anderson with his wife, Melissa Anderson

Free and his wife, Melissa, moved to California. They were married three years later. 

In California, Free says his “main bread and butter” was real estate, but that he was also “figuring out how to learn the game with [legal] marijuana and how to get your own brand, your own farm, your own store. My passions have been weed and music. I always cared about those two things a lot. I wanted to be involved.”

But he reached a point when he felt it was time to move back home.

Free says he continues to write music but his subject matter has changed. “A lot of songs in my past are about sex, women, being a player — a young, childish perspective on life. Now I’m an older man. My lyrics are more mature. I’m a prouder. I love a lot of the music I made, but I hadn’t seen anything, and that’s apparent. I was just pulling things out of my head and was trying to make them sound cool.

“Now, I can talk about life. I’m a business owner, a father of two, a husband. Everything I eat comes from my own hustle, my own inventions. I haven’t worked for anybody since I was 21 years old. I take care of myself and my family.”

One recent song is called, “Is It the Way?” It’s about “how I thought I’d never get married. How I met my wife. How it feels after losing the record deal with Interscope and taking that fall. A lot of people lost jobs, chased dreams, weren’t happy, or came up short. I know how you feel. You don’t know how it feels until you walk in those people’s shoes.”

Ives is producing two of Free’s recent songs — “Quit Playin'” and “Money Magnet” — at Ives’ Domination Station studio at Young Avenue Sound. 

Would FreeSol ever reunite? “Absolutely,” Free says. “We talk about it all the time.”

In addition to his music and business ventures, Free also hosts a podcast, Ice to Eskimos, with comedian Rob Love and artist Frances Barry Moreno.

“I’m an extremely happy man,” Free says. “I realized life is what you make it. Your thoughts, your perspective matters a lot. No one is in control of your happiness, your days. I’m where I need to be.”

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Out of the Past: Joe Cooper Mulls a Re-emergence

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

Joe Cooper is a name from the political past: He called this past week to suggest that he was thinking seriously of running for the Shelby County Commission next year. Most of us, myself included, had lost track of Cooper, who was a squire on the old Shelby County Court back in the 1970s, and once considered a player.

That was before a run of bad luck and/or bad conduct that would see him bereft of his first wife and his office and, temporarily, of his freedom. At that time, Cooper received the first of two felony convictions, this one for acquiring bank loans circuitously, in the names of influential friends. That mischance, arguably, may have owed something to simple politics. Cooper, then a nominal Republican when the GOP controlled the Justice Department, had ostentatiously tried to do some impolitic public brokering on behalf of Democrats.

Jackson Baker

Joe Cooper in 2012

Though he thereafter attempted to regain his equilibrium in politics (this time as a Democrat) and as a businessman, Cooper never quite got back on his feet, though he maintained enough connections and savoir faire to be an advisor and back-room wheeler-dealer on behalf of other public figures.

If you needed an autographed photo of Grover Cleveland by 3 p.m. tomorrow, Cooper could get it for you. He proved useful in an administrative position here and there, and for years arranged an annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway on Beale Street for the homeless and indigent.

As the late state senator and Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person Jr., one of several prominent Memphians who had a soft spot for Cooper, used to say, “Joe has a good heart.” In recent years, he partnered with Jerry “the King” Lawler in several valid commercial ventures.

But there were lapses. Cooper got nailed by the FBI in a money-laundering scheme and ended up having to shill for a federal sting against city politicians in order to reduce his own time in a new conviction. As he said in 2012, when he was mulling over a commission race: “I know I’ve got some baggage, but I also know how to get things done.” If he follows through this time around, Cooper would likely be seeking the East Memphis commission seat now held by Republican member Brandon Morrison.

• In an online post last week, I noted that Shelby County Commissioner David Bradford of Collierville has the habit, which has been contagious to other members, of voting “yes” instead of the venerable “aye” in answering roll calls.

This week comes Bradford’s explanation of the practice, which is worth repeating:

“I was wondering if anyone had picked up on my ‘yeses,'” he wrote. “It was a conscious choice to use ‘yes’ instead of ‘aye,’ and honestly I thought I might get reprimanded by the parliamentarian the first time I used it. I’ve strived to stay with the ‘yeses’ throughout my term. I wish I could say my ‘yeses’ were some sort of stand against 16th century [parliamentary precedent], but, alas, they are not. 

“The reason I chose ‘yes’ over ‘aye’ is three-fold:

“1) About 20 percent of it is that I prefer the less formal. I think using ‘aye’ makes the whole system seem more complex, when the simple ‘yes’ conveys the same meaning. I hope less formal and less complex provides a system that is more approachable and understandable to all.

“2) About 75 percent has to do with clear communication. The buttons on our screens that we use to vote don’t say ‘aye.’ They say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ So the engineer in me that likes everything to be orderly, drives me to say what’s on the screen before me. 

“3) That last 5 percent is just to see who’s listening and who catches on. Bravo to you, sir!”

Categories
Music Music Blog

D-Up! FreeWorld Spearheads All-Star Video Project Celebrating Diversity

There I was, minding my own business, when Richard Cushing, co-founder of funk/soul/jam stalwarts FreeWorld, reached out to me excitedly. Something about his tone suggested this wasn’t just your typical heads up about a show or a record release. No, this was something big. Then I followed the link he sent, and I was amazed. Out of nowhere, seemingly, his band just dropped a new track and video that wasn’t just his band. It included talent from nearly every walk of the city’s musical life. This was a slice of history.

There, trading verses, were some of the city’s finest singers, from Joyce Cobb to Al Kapone, from Wendy Moten to Hope Clayburn to Earl “The Pearl” Banks, from Larry Springfield to Harold Thomas and Robert Wrightsil of the Masqueraders. And, beyond FreeWorld, the band included the likes of Luther Dickinson, Alice Hasen, and Blind Mississippi Morris. All of them were lifting their voices and their instruments to celebrate the same thing: diversity.

How did such a thing come about, in a pandemic, no less? I rang Richard and this is what he told me.

Memphis Flyer: How on Earth did you make such a huge project happen in the middle of quarantine?

Richard Cushing: It was pretty much a logistical nightmare. But it was all for the right purpose and everybody pitched in. Everybody contributed. No one asked for anything back. They were just like, “Oh yeah, count me in.” It took some doing, and I couldn’t have everybody singing together in a big room, which was part of the original vision, because of COVID.

It really holds together, nonetheless. “D-Up” was an older song by the band, wasn’t it?

It was released on our 1999 CD called Diversity. Ahead of its time, apparently.

So, how this came to be: We didn’t play any gigs at all from mid-March to mid-June last year, except for a couple things. But in early August, we were playing, and I was singing that song, and it was as if I’d never heard the words before. With all the George Floyd protests and everything that was going on in our society at the time, I’m singing the words to the song and it just struck me. This is while I’m singing the song onstage, in front of people. I go off on this tangent in my brain. Thinking, “Wow, maybe we should go back in the studio and maybe re-cut it? What if we went back in the studio and did sort of a Memphis ‘We Are the World’ thing, and I could get everybody involved? It’d be really cool!” Again, while I’m singing and playing bass and entertaining a room full of people, my brain is going off on this tangent, thinking, “This song, it’s perfect for our culture right now!”

On top of that, David Skypeck wrote the lyrics. He’s been my dear rhythm section brother for thirty years, who had health issues a while back and a stroke, and can’t play. This song is one of his babies. It’s one of his better outputs. So, to make that song something more than it was, in honor of him, was also an essential part of the equation. To give him a reason to be proud of what he’s done and what he’s still part of. That was as important as any message in the song. It was his work. So I let it percolate in my brain for a week or so, and it grew in my mind. As the seed took root and grew into Jack and the Bean Stalk, I’m thinking, “Gee, we could get Al Green and it would be awesome!” And of course that had to be tempered.

FreeWorld

So you rerecorded the song from scratch? That must have been an achievement in its own right.

I needed a producer, and I knew I wanted to take what had been the saxophone solo and insert a hip-hop section. Hip-hop’s a prominent part of our music community now, although I’m not personally that connected to it. But I knew a lot of rap guys do their work at Cotton Row. So what I needed was a Memphis Quincy Jones [famed producer of “We Are the World”], who could take this vision I had and make it real. And God bless Niko [Lyras]. He bought in 100 percent. He heard my vision, ran with it, and did more with it than I could have ever dreamed of.

He brought in more people that I don’t have connections with, and did the mix! Can you imagine having all these people, and having 150 tracks of things, to try to sift through all that and make sense of it? I can’t give Niko too much credit. He was our Quincy Jones.

First things first, you’ve got to have the audio. And with it being 2020, not 1999, we thought, let’s update it. Everyone who came in heard the original version, but we told them, “Make it your own thing. Sing your own way.” So it grew, using multiple genres. Rock, pop, country, contemporary blues, traditional blues, traditional jazz, jeo-jazz, R&B, soul, rap, hip-hop, hard rock, Latin, funk, gospel, zydeco, doo-wop … I mean, wow!

So you really built diversity into the work itself.

Every different piece of Memphis that I could think of, I tried to get someone I knew that was connected with to do it. And to try to get that on a video that showcased the Memphis music community to the whole world. Diversity is the basis of everything. If every flower smelled the same, life itself wouldn’t happen. And the message of the words that David wrote originally and the video itself exemplified and showed that, you know?

It’s funny, David’s original inspiration came from Tigers basketball. He obviously wrote the lyrics about racial and cultural diversity, but he is also a huge Memphis basketball fan, and the phrase, “D-Up!” came directly from the mouth of none other than Coach Larry Finch, as he would run up and down the court imploring his men to get back on defense by yelling, “D-Up! D-Up!”

Doing this in the era of quarantine must have been a challenge.

It brought a lot of the Memphis music community together in a time when most people weren’t working at all. And that gave us something to focus on: Come to the studio, do a little work, and hang out. And wear a mask and stay apart from each other. Niko was also very intense about that. It was his studio and his space, and you didn’t come in without a mask. We were not gonna be a super-spreader video event, you know?

So, as people came in one by one, you made videos of them in the studio.

In my mind, the ultimate thing was the video, right? Because the audio of course has to be there, and is the basis for all of it, but it’s powerful to watch all the men and women and Black and white and brown and straight and gay and Christian and Jewish, and every sort of person I could bring in.

Justin Jaggers was our video guy, and he was there for almost every session where we were recording vocals and instrumental tracks. And we did some traveling around the city, to get some location shots. So the video could have a little bit of Memphis in the background, and so it wasn’t all just in the studio. And I’ve gotta give all kinds of credit to Justin — I can only imagine having all that video and having to edit it down to something that made sense. It was an incredible amount of work, and these people bought into the vision and they wanted to be part of it. I can’t thank Memphis enough, and all the people who contributed.

We’ve got some of everyone. Like the old-guard, established people, and new, up-and-coming folks. I really wanted it to mirror Memphis today. With the exception of not having Al Green on it, it came out exactly as I imagined, if not better.

I love how some of the singers play off each other, with a call and response. Were they in the studio at separate times?

Very few if any were actually performing together. Because people were told to just do it your way, you’d have two or more people doing the same line, and it just so happened they ended up in harmony with each other. Because Wendy Moten’s singing up and Larry Springfield’s singing down. And they happen to match up. And that goes to Niko, to have sifted through everything that everyone provided. Because everybody sang a mish-mash all across the song, and Niko had to put it together in a way that made sense. And then Justin had to got through all the video he had and try to match it up with the audio.

Who was playing in the band?

FreeWorld: George Lawrence on drums, myself on bass, Andy Tate on guitar, and Chris Stephenson on keyboards. And there were a bunch of people who played guitar, in addition to Andy. Niko played here and there, and Luther Dickinson. Alice Hasen played some violin, Blind Mississippi Morris played some harmonica, and there was a six-piece horn section, including Hope Clayburn and Paul McKinney and Lannie McMillan. Of course, the song’s about diversity, so we thought, let’s see what we can do to make it look that way. To be that way. Because Memphis has always been that way, going back to Stax and Booker T. and the M.G.’s, way before it was cool or appropriate in society. We’ve been doing that here for a long time.

I know Herman Green helped you start FreeWorld, and played in the band for decades. Was he able to contribute before he passed away?

Herman was still with us when we were recording it, but not in a capacity that he could come to the studio and play. But Herman is in the video. When we played our 30th anniversary show at the Levitt Shell, David was brought out in a wheelchair, and Herman played to him. So I put that moment in the video.

I didn’t make this to sell it or to market it. I didn’t have some sort of cause to raise money for. We just did it because. It seemed like a great idea, a way to promote Memphis and diversity, more universally. I just wanted people to see it. Maybe it’ll help people change their internal perspective on life. I just want this out there.

D-Up! FreeWorld Spearheads All-Star Video Project Celebrating Diversity

Categories
News News Blog

No ‘Oil in the Soil’: Byhalia Pipeline Project Gets Lengthy Council Review

CREDIT: Protect Our Aquifer

Protect Our Aquifer

The proposed route of the Byhalia Connection Pipeline.

A Memphis City Council committee will reconvene in two weeks to reconsider a resolution to oppose the proposed Byhalia Connection Pipeline that would run through southwest Memphis.

A joint venture with two companies — Valero and Plains All American Pipeline — began surveying here last year for a project to build a 49-mile pipeline from Memphis to Marshall County, Mississippi for a new pipeline that would connect to other crude-oil pipelines in the area. Plains All American spokeswoman Katie Martin told council members here Tuesday the company hopes to begin construction of the pipeline within a few months and then wrap up the construction within nine months.

A resolution opposing the plan from council members Dr. Jeff Warren and Edmund Ford got a lengthy hearing Tuesday of more than one hour. In the end, council members voted to hold the item for two weeks to allow for more testimony and more time to gather facts.

The resolution specifically asks Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) to refuse an easement across any of its property for the project. While MLGW officials said the utility only owns a small portion of the land on the pipeline route, Warren asked that they deny the company rights to it.

Warren and Ford oppose the pipeline as it would sit above the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the source of the city’s famously pure drinking water, and the Davis Wellhead, where some of that water is drawn. The pipeline would also run through Ford’s mostly Black district.

The resolution says African Americans were and are 75 percent more likely to reside near “toxic” oil and gas infrastructure. It points to data from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that living within 30 miles of this infrastructure increases the risk of developing cancers including lymphoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer. Susceptibility to these diseases increase with age, according to the resolution. More than 35 percent of Memphians living in that proximity to the proposed pipeline are 50 years old and above, the resolution says.
[pullquote-1-center] “I do not want to be Flint, Michigan,” Ford said. “Flint, Michigan, was Black people and my district is Black people and that ain’t going to happen.”

Martin, the Plains All American spokeswoman, claimed the company’s pipelines are safe, protected by the “latest and greatest technology,” including constant pressure monitoring and weekly inspection flyovers.

Martin said the economic impact of the pipeline could be as high as $3 million. The company has already given $1 million to local charities. Also, she said 94 percent of landowners on the pipeline route have agreed to sell the company easements across their land. Though, she admitted some land would likely have to be acquired through eminent domain, or taken by the government or by a purchase forced by the government for the public benefit.

In the resolution, Ford and Warren say the pipeline “fails to confer some benefit or advantage to the public” in Memphis and Shelby County. For this, they said arguments for eminent domain are “spurious.”

Protect Our Aquifer, a Memphis group seeking protection of the Memphis Sand Aquifer, asked its members to lobby their city council representatives to join the resolution and oppose the pipeline.

“This is what environmental injustice looks like,” reads a Monday email from Protect Our Aquifer. “They are asking a poor African American neighborhood — once again — to bear the burden of invasive construction, the potential of pollution, reduced property values, and quality of life to help a Texas corporation make billions of dollars.”

“There is no community benefit for this pipeline. Only risk to our drinking water. The crude oil in this high-pressure pipeline is headed for the Gulf of Mexico for export.”
[pullquote-2-center] The sentiment was echoed in a fiery speech Tuesday from Justin Pearson, who leads a group called Memphis Community Against Pipeline. He said the route was picked because those along it were majority Black, a process of “racist capitalism” through the “path of least resistance.”

“This is the community speaking back,” Pearson said of his testimony during Tuesday’s hearing. “The community is saying we don’t want oil in the soil. These people are being picked up by a billion-dollar corporation because they are the path of least resistance.”
[pullquote-3-center] Scott Crosby, an attorney with the Memphis law firm Burch, Porter & Johnson, told council members he is now representing private landowners along the pipeline route in the Boxtown area. He said some there refused to sell their land and were sued in condemnation proceedings. Others, he said, agreed to Byhalia’s terms because they thought they had no recourse. Several cases related to pipeline land acquisition there have been rolled into one, Crosby said, and hearings are set to begin on the matter next week.

“What we are asking council to do is to support this resolution and step in for individual landowners,” Crosby said, “and say to Byhalia Connection, ‘Memphis doesn’t want this pipeline.’”

Categories
News News Blog

Uptown’s Malone Park Move-In Ready Next Month

Malone Park Commons (MPC) units will be move-in ready next month, and local leaders say they bring a needed housing product to Downtown and the Medical District.

MPC housing development is currently accepting applications. The development will include 35 units with a mix of building types that were common prior to World War II.

Phase one of the project has 11 small cottages that share a courtyard. The cottages will range from 330 to 1,100 square feet and will have luxury amenities like red oak hardwood floors and large front porches.

“Many architects and builders today focus on materials and methods to promote sustainability. We believe beauty is just as, if not more important, as sustainability,” says developer Andre Jones of Jones Urban Development. “Simple, beautiful, flexible buildings that encourage human activity and interaction will be loved and repurposed for years to come. This was our vision for Malone Park Commons.” Jones Urban Development bought the land in Uptown from the Community Redevelopment Agency. 

“2021 marks the 99th anniversary of zoning in Memphis, and for most of that time the zoning code promoted low-density suburban development while discouraging the kinds of places that make cities special. That changed with the adoption of the Unified Development Code (UDC) in 2010,” says Josh Whitehead, zoning administrator for Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development. “Malone Park Commons is one of the clearest manifestations of one of the UDC’s primary goals: to promote innovate urban infill that blends in with the existing built environment.”

Financial incentives for this project were made possible by the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC). Financial Federal Bank has been a strong advocate for emerging developers and traditional, walkable neighborhood development. The Jones Urban plan is part of a larger revitalization in the area, with recent and planned investments in Uptown, St. Jude, The Pinch, and the Renasant Convention Center.

“Malone Park Commons is the type of project the DMC loves to support, one built with inclusivity and equity at the core,” says Brett Roler, vice president of planning and development for the Downtown Memphis Commission. “The project is being built in a key Downtown neighborhood by an emerging developer, who is building a new housing capacity in the same neighborhood where he lives.”

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Nonprofit Grants $175,000 Toward Pancreatic Cancer Research

Members of the Kosten Foundation donate funds for research to Baptist Clinical Research Institute.

The Memphis-based nonprofit Kosten Foundation announced last week it will provide $175,000 in funding to three pancreatic cancer research programs. The funds will go to Baptist Clinical Research Institute in Memphis; University of Texas Southwestern’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas; and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine in McAllen, Texas.

According to the press release, a portion of the funding for the UT-Southwestern grant will come from the Morris Kriger Memorial Fund, which was established through the Kosten Foundation by the Kriger family after Morris Jacob Kriger lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in February 2020.

“These research teams are attacking pancreatic cancer in unique, cutting-edge ways that are truly making a difference,” said Kosten Foundation chairman Alan Kosten. “This year has been a challenge for everyone, but we are immensely grateful for the support the Kosten Foundation has received, and we are proud to partner with such outstanding organizations.”

Funds will go toward the following programs:

Baptist Clinical Research Institute
• Studying the “whipple” procedure and its removal of lesions in the pancreas.
A whipple procedure removes a portion of the pancreas, the gallbladder, and part of the
lower intestine in order to remove cancerous cells.

UT-Southwestern Medical Center
• Researchers will collect clinical data and tissue samples to study patients with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer in order to increase diagnostic success of pancreatic cancer and develop personalized treatment plans for patients.

UT-Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
• Researchers are studying the effectiveness of a gene therapy designed to inhibit the growth of pancreatic cancer and make it more vulnerable to chemotherapy.

Since the organization was founded in 2003, the Kosten Foundation has donated more than $2.3 million for pancreatic cancer research, support, and advocacy. Its largest fundraiser, the Kick It 5K, raised more than $115,000 during Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month in November 2020.

In addition to funding research, the foundation hosts a monthly support group for those affected by pancreatic cancer. The group meets virtually via Zoom on the second Saturday of every month and is open to all. To learn more about the Kosten Foundation’s mission, visit kostenfoundation.com.

Categories
News News Blog

Crime Commission Pushes to End Police Residency Requirement

The Memphis Shelby Crime Commission released a statement late Monday afternoon in support of a pending state legislative bill that would eliminate the residency requirement for local law enforcement and other local first responders.

SB 29/HB 105 would retroactively abolish all local residency provisions statewide. While currently there is not a statewide local residency provision, SB 29/HB 105 would prohibit local governments from establishing local residency provisions.

The commission cited rising violent crime rates and a shortage of officers as reasoning for their support of the bill. Although the Memphis City Council has set a goal of 2,500 officers for the city of Memphis, at the end of 2020, Memphis had 2,038 commissioned officers. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office was also below its goal of 750 officers, with 718 officers.

“During our discussion, it was obvious that many [Crime Commission Board of Directors] members were sensitive to the issue of state government preempting local decision-making,” said Ben Adams from the Crime Commission. “However, most board members see the enactment of the legislation as a necessary step to address the severe shortage of local law enforcement officers.”

While the number of on-duty officers has increased since the end of 2016, the overall growth of officers has been slow. 2020 also showed a regression of growth in the number of officers. The Memphis Shelby Crime Commission argues that increasing the pool of potential officer candidates would increase the number of officers in the streets. Their statement also argues that increasing the number of officers would take the strain off of the existing officers in the field.

“At the end of 2020, the MPD was down to 2,038 officers. The Memphis City Council has set a goal of 2,500 officers. Simply put, we will never reach that goal without expanding the pool of qualified applicants,” said Adams.

Citywide there is also support for hiring more officers. In a survey conducted in July of last year 78 percent of respondents were in favor of hiring more police officers with 69 percent of respondents replying that they would like to see increased local law enforcement presence in their neighborhood.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Grizzlies Trounce Spurs 133-102

With a win over San Antonio Monday night, the Memphis Grizzlies extended their winning streak to seven games, currently a league-high, and a franchise-record 6-1 start on the road for the season. They moved up to 4th in the Western Conference standings.

Breaking records and making history: 

 

Grizzlies Trounce Spurs 133-102

The Grizzlies made all sorts of history during this game: First time winning three in a row in San Antonio, and the largest win over the Spurs in franchise history. 

A franchise-record nine out of 10 players finished with 10 points or more. In fact, John Konchar was the only player who did not score in double digits, finishing the night with 7 points and one of the prettiest chase-down blocks ever against noted Griz killer Patty Mills

Grizzlies Trounce Spurs 133-102 (2)

Gorgui Dieng had a team-high 19 points and has moved to the top 3-point shooting average in the league, overtaking Griz rookie Desmond Bane, who previously held the top shooting percentage from beyond the arc.

After the game, Dieng said, “We have a good system over here; we share the ball and we play hard and we emphasize that and if we play like that we can go against anyone on any given night.” Asked about his playing time, Dieng added, “It’s year eight for me, I have to stay ready no matter what happens. It’s a long season and I cannot be here crying about minutes. I’m a pro and I will do anything I can to help this basketball team — whenever my number is called I am ready to serve.”

Okay, Gorgui, we see you.

Brandon Clarke closed out the night with 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists on 7 of 10 shooting.

Kyle Anderson continues to show off with 17 points and 8 rebounds.

De’Anthony Melton also finished the night with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, including 5 of 9 from beyond the arc.

Tyus Jones had a career-high 14 assists, along with 11 points. Jones also tied the esteemed Brevin Knight for 2nd in assists off the bench in franchise history. 

Dillon Brooks and Ja Morant both finished with 13 points.

The Grizzlies once again continued their dominance around the basket, with 62 paint points. They also forced turnovers and converted them on the other end, scoring 30 points off 15 Spurs turnovers.

Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies are back in action again tonight and this time they will face off against the Indiana Pacers. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. CST.