Month: February 2021

Categories
News News Blog

State Department of Health Pulls County Health Department Out of Vaccine-Distribution Loop

CREDIT: Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime

In the wake of its most severe and prolonged weather emergency in recent history, Shelby County received another shock Tuesday with the announcement by the state Department of Health that the Shelby County Health Department has mismanaged storage, allocation, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine. Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime

Dr. Lisa Piercey, director of the TDH, said investigators from her department had, on an emergency weekend visit to Memphis, concluded that some 2,400 doses of temperature-sensitive Pfizer vaccine had been allowed to spoil before being distributed and were subsequently junked. The investigators had also determined that the Health Department was in possession of an inventory of some 50,000 doses — 30,000 more than the TDH had anticipated.

Those discoveries prompted a significant revision of how vaccines will be delivered henceforth to Shelby County, Piercey said. At least for the short run, they will not go to the Health Department for further allocation but will be delivered directly to the distribution sites of participating partners, which include the City of Memphis, UT Center for Health Sciences, and numerous other agencies, public and private, offering vaccination services.

Meanwhile, the TDH has dispatched personnel to embed with the Health Department as advisors. Piercey could offer no long-term prognosis on how long the new arrangement will last.

Dr. Shelley Fiscus of the TDH said that the spoiled Pfizer doses never left the premises of the in-house Health Department pharmacy that was the starting point of the local distribution network, but had been thawed along with doses that were distributed to vaccination sites. The surplus doses were refrigerated and then discarded after they had reached their expiration date.

This process occurred several times, beginning on February 3rd, and only on occasion could be blamed on the week of bad weather, the TDH investigation found. Poor “communication” was alleged to be a major cause of the spoliations.

Terming himself “absolutely supportive” of the state Department’s actions, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris pronounced the discovered disruptions “gut-wrenching” and said he had terminated the county’s site manager who had managed the relationship with the pharmacy and had also requested for the pharmacist “to be removed.” He also said he had launched an internal investigation to complement the state review.

A public chorus of indignation on social media sites, which had previously focused on criticism of the Health Department’s restrictions and had increased with the snafus at the Pipkin vaccination site (now and henceforth to be managed by city government in connection with UT) began to focus on the new revelations. And members of the Shelby County Commission, many of whom had withheld public criticism earlier, were coming forward with expressions of concern.

“There’s no excuse for having to dump the vaccine,” said Commissioner Van Turner, although he said, in taking note of hits that the Health Department’s Alisa Haushalter was taking, that she “could have been better supported.” Commissioner Mick Wright, who has often slammed the Health Department for “insensitivity” in its dealing with small businesses and citizens, called for the County Commission to be directly involved in the deliberations of the city-county Covid-19 task force.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Nonconnah’s Songs for and About Ghosts

Memphis-based dronegaze band Nonconnah released their third full-length record, Songs for and About Ghosts, this February via Ernest Jennings Record Co.

The band, made up of husband-and-wife duo Zachary Corsa and Denny Wilkerson Corsa, moved to Memphis from Burlington, North Carolina, in the summer of 2016.

For the new record, Zachary says the band has taken a more collaborative approach, incorporating parts played by other musicians. Canadian composer Owen Pallett and synthwave musician Jenn Taiga are both featured on Songs for and About Ghosts. “It’s been really nice. There’s a little less pressure,” Zachary says. “It’s been nice to let go of control a little bit more and trust other people more. It’s been a nice way to get out of my own head.”

Songs for and About Ghosts

The album has been in the works for some time — since before the beginning of the pandemic, in fact. “I think I’m one of those rare musicians who really prefers recording to playing live. My absolute favorite thing to do in the world is recording,” Zachary says. “So I tend to build up these huge backlogs of work. Not to mention the pandemic did push back the release. It was supposed to be last spring. It’s interesting to go back and revisit the material.”

The result is something textured and intricate, but no easier to pin down. Perhaps, in that way, the album’s title is especially fitting, evoking something supernatural and strange, something best glimpsed out of the corner of the eye. 

“This stuff is kind of unapologetically emotional and melodic,” Zachary says of Nonconnah’s general style, describing it as a “weird place” somewhere between experimental instrumental recordings and indie rock.

Denny Wilkerson Corsa and Zachary Corsa

Though the recordings incorporate various instruments — alongside bits of dialogue, samples, and field recordings — guitar provides the framework for most of the Corsas’ songs. “I’ve been playing guitar my whole life, and I come from a family with a lot of guitarists. But I have no formal training,” Zachary says. “I also don’t let my lack of ability on other instruments stop me from playing them.”

During the interview, Denny prompts Zachary to tell the story of one of the couple’s more unconventional recording techniques. “We took a tape recorder we had recorded some guitar on and buried it and recorded it from above ground.” For that and other “groundbreaking” sounds, check out Songs for and About Ghosts. I think you’ll “dig” it.

Songs for and About Ghosts is available digitally and on vinyl from Ernest Jennings Record Co., and is streaming on all music streaming services.
Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Ditto.

Rush Limbaugh and I had a lot in common.

We’re both Baby Boomers, both from a small town in Missouri, and both of us grew up in a Republican family. Rush dropped out of college and then moved to Pittsburgh to try to become a radio DJ. I dropped out of college to smoke pot and protest the Vietnam War. Then I moved to San Francisco and became a night watchman and a busker for tourists in Ghirardelli Square. 

Both of our career paths were a bit murky there for a while.

Rush bounced from station to station for a few years, eventually ending up in Kansas City. I bounced from job to job out West and in Columbia, Missouri, where I eventually finished my journalism degree and found semi-honest work in the business where I still ply my trade.

Rush began his climb to glory in the wake of the overturning of the FCC Fairness Doctrine in 1987, when broadcasters were no longer constrained by having to provide equal time for opposing views, or for anyone who was attacked on air.

After getting some attention in Kansas City for his “public affairs” show, Rushbo got hired by WABC in New York and he quickly gained national notoriety for such actions as celebrating the deaths of gay men from AIDS with show tunes, coining the phrase “Femi-Nazis” for women’s rights activists, calling Chelsea Clinton the “White House dog,” and regularly saying revoltingly racist things about African Americans (too many to list here), all under the guise of “conservatism.” It was a truly deplorable schtick before deplorable became a thing, and one that resonated, appallingly, with much of white America. Rush got very rich with it.

In 1996, the Telecommunications Act allowed broadcasting companies to own stations in many markets and spawned radio syndication. Rush quickly got even bigger (literally) and richer and became a major player in the Republican Party. A slew of conservative Rush-clones emerged: Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Mark Levin, to name a few. Stirring up anger and outrage at liberals, Democrats, Blacks, Muslims, and immigrants was, and is, their stock-in-trade. And it’s made them rich.

Then came Fox News, the ultimate benefactor of the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine. (“Fair and Balanced” being the lie from which all others were spun.) Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes built a television empire on right-wing outrage, angry white male hosts, short-skirted blondes, and lies.

Now, with the internet, the genie is out of the bottle. If you want “fair and balanced,” it’s strictly DIY. Pick your news to suit your views. If you believe climate change and COVID-19 are hoaxes, that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, that Texas lost power because of a Green New Deal that hasn’t been passed, that QAnon is onto something, that Antifa spawned the January 6th insurrection, that President Biden’s dog isn’t “presidential,” that the Bidens’ marriage is a “charade” … there’s a whole news ecosystem built just for you. Likewise, if you take the opposing point of view on any or all of those issues.

But it all started with Rush Limbaugh. And now he’s dead of lung cancer, at 70, leaving three ex-wives and a widow and millions of fans to mourn his passing. Lots of Republicans want to honor what they perceive as Limbaugh’s glorious legacy. He’s being called a great American, a true patriot — lauded by GOP politicians all over America. In Florida, the governor wants to fly the flag at half-mast in Limbaugh’s honor. In Rush’s home state of Missouri, legislators are talking about establishing a state holiday in his name. A state holiday! His bust already resides in the state capitol building — kind of like Nathan Bedford Forrest’s up in Nashville.

But let’s speak the truth here: Rush Limbaugh was not a great American by any fair and balanced measure. In his radio persona, he was a divisive, hateful, homophobic, racist, misogynistic asshole. What he was like in private, I can’t say, but I doubt that he and I had much in common when Limbaugh departed this earthly vale — far from his Missouri roots. I do hope he found peace at the end. It’s more than he wished for others.

Categories
News News Feature

Senior Shift: Older Americans Look at More Adventurous Retirement

Retirement has long been thought to be a time of relaxation and peace, but that trend is quickly falling to the wayside in favor of more adventurous golden years. Seniors are more active than ever, looking to take on new experiences during their retirement instead of slowing down. Given that by 2030, all Baby Boomers will be 65 or older, there will likely be a large shift in retirement trends in the years to come.

One of these trends is owning a second property, either for vacation destinations or renting out to make a passive income. Seniors (and possibly their children who might have an interest), should know the pros and cons of buying a second home and what to look for once the hunt begins in earnest. Retirees might consider getting another home if their current mortgage is paid off and they’re looking for new investment opportunities. A second home in a hot locale is one way, or they may want to buy a vacation home, either in a favorite location or near extended family.

First, they should decide what their goals are for retirement. To stay active, think about a second home near the water, mountains, or parks. If they want to ensure social time, they could move to a senior-friendly area or closer to family. If acquiring another home is to make money, then look near a major city to attract renters.

The reasons seniors are buying homes in recent years are changing. The National Association of Realtors took a deep dive into 2020 generational home-buying trends and discovered exactly what motivates seniors to make big purchases. Twenty-five percent of those 65 and older purchased a new home specifically for retirement. Their biggest motivators were the desire to be closer to friends and family, own a smaller home, or to own a turn-key home that required less maintenance. A small portion of seniors (1 percent) bought a home exclusively as a vacation or investment opportunity.

Buying a home is a big decision, whether first or second. Some experts recommend that seniors go into retirement mortgage-free, but you can also use your second home to offset costs and make a more passive income once you retire. The pros of buying a second home: make money via short-term rentals such as Airbnb or VRBO; long-term rentals; a place to vacation; and a meeting space for family gatherings. And the cons are: a large down payment needed; higher insurance rates; having to manage the property either yourself or paying someone else; and having to get landlord insurance or second home insurance.

Have a few things settled before starting to look at potential second homes: What is the purpose of your second home? How much disposable income do you have on a regular basis? What features are you looking for? How much can you afford to put down?

And add these into the mix: Will your second home need updates as you age? Is it suited for retirement? What about the layout? How much time will be spent there? Where are the nearest hospitals?

When dealing with rental property, you’ll want to know ahead of time if you’ll manage the property or if you’ll hire someone. Will you be located near a major city or another area that would attract renters? Will you make a profit?

If it’s a vacation home you’re considering, pay attention to the layout and how your needs will change as you age. For rental properties, you should look for amenities that make your property desirable, such as an updated kitchen or a low-maintenance yard. Location and affordability are paramount. Also, get your home properly inspected to check for potential issues.

If you want a vacation home, make sure it will age gracefully with you. A one-story home with wide doorways, lever handles on all doors and appliances, walk-in showers, and easy access to laundry and storage spaces will be smart. You should also look for a home in a place that isn’t prone to extreme weather. Other things to keep an eye out for include smart home devices to control your home from your phone, a security system, enough bedrooms to host family gatherings, and close proximity to activities that will help keep you active.

This guide to second homes is adapted from information provided by hippo.com, a home insurance company.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Becca Hand’s “Queens” Showcases Paintings of Empowered Memphis Women

CREDIT: Courtesy of Inferno

As February slides into March this week, Black History Month gives way to Women’s History Month. What better way to celebrate than with a winning Hand of inspiring “Queens?” Becca Hand is the artist, and her “Queens” exhibition showcases photo-realistic portraits of empowered women in Memphis.

The timely exhibition blends a realistic style with influences from a graphic design background, drawing inspiration from traditional playing card iconography. Starting with the classic Queen of Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs, the project went on to address more challenging themes, such as time, joy, passion, courage, balance, and more.

Courtesy of Inferno

“Queens” by Becca Hand

Hand says, “While topics of each painting are idealistic and abstract, the real underlying theme is gratitude for the amazing women in my life who have helped shape me.”

In addition to painting, Hand is a partner and graphic designer at Paradigm Marketing & Creative. Having experimented with many different types of artistic interests over the years, from typography to woodworking to interior design to calligraphy, she consistently comes back to painting as one of the true passions of her life.

Get an early peek at Hand’s work during Eclectic Eye’s highly anticipated annual sale through February 27th. Independent eyewear brands will be up to 75 percent off, and a portion of each frame purchased will be donated to the Justice and Kindness Everywhere Foundation to help local restaurants provide meals to out-of-work hospitality workers. It’s a win-win.

“Queens,” Eclectic Eye, 242 S. Cooper, opens Monday, Mar. 1, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and continues through Mar. 31, free.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

To Those Who Can’t Stay Home

CREDIT: Courtney Hedger | Unsplash

As I write this from my couch, nearly a year into working from home due to the pandemic, I am experiencing both burnout and gratitude.

On the one hand, working from the confines of my 750-square-foot rental home, I feel — quite literally — boxed in. The days bleed together as I change from one pair of pajamas to another, staring at a laptop, eyes glazed over, with little actual human interaction or external stimuli. Digital documents, emails, Slack exchanges — everything and everyone has morphed into nothing more than words on a screen. If it weren’t for deadlines and production days and the physical calendar on the kitchen wall where I scrawl notes and reminders, I’d likely lose track of which day was which all together. And I’ll admit that I have on more than one occasion in recent weeks.

Courtney Hedger | Unsplash

Outings are minimal. Necessary items can be ordered online for delivery or pickup. Like clockwork, the mailman arrives, my dogs bark loudly to alert of his presence, and the [insert whatever random thing was purchased] is here without me having to get into my car or brush my hair or speak to another person. The only traffic jams I’ve experienced in a year are the pile-ups that often happen in the small hallway where my three dachshunds scurry under foot to race to their food bowls at breakfast and dinner. They help me keep track of the hours with their internal clocks. But what day is it again? When did I last shower? What’s the point?

It starts to feel a little doom-and-gloom when you realize how the days bend into one another, especially in winter. Those neighborhood walks I so enjoyed in warmer weather apparently kept me sane, or at least somewhat content. The sunshine, the sights and sounds … Now it’s gray and wet and cold, and when will it be spring again? What month is it?

Now on to the gratitude. I am hyper-aware of how privileged I am to have had the opportunity to navigate these hazy, dazed work-from-home days, within the virus-free walls of my tiny house. So many — including the delivery drivers who’ve kept our pantries stocked, our gifts en route to their recipients, our non-essential purchases on our porches — have known no such luxury. So many — including my sister, a single mother of two who is working her way toward an assistant manager position at a local grocery store — can not simply stay home and have the world come to them. The kids must go to school or daycare. Bills must be paid, gas in the car, food on the table. The show must go on, the slog continues, and those who have kept the gears in motion on the outside have had to live their lives the same as they did pre-pandemic. Except while wearing masks eight hours a day. Except while potentially exposing themselves to a deadly virus. There’s an entire segment of our population that does not have a choice.

I want to take a moment to salute every single essential worker. From restaurants to retail, from healthcare to warehouse workers — we see you. I hope with every fiber of my being that each of you stays healthy while you’re out there risking your lives for our Amazon orders and cheeseburgers. I hope that you do not take the virus home to an immune-compromised family member or loved one. I hope that while you’re out there making sure the ships still sail that the people you encounter are showing gratitude and respect. You deserve more recognition than I can give you. The world as we know it could — and likely would — collapse if not for your continued efforts. And I know those efforts are made out of necessity. Thank you for keeping the shelves stocked, preparing food for us, caring for the sick, and delivering whatever it is we think we need while we’re stuck at home.

As I write this, it’s a Thursday afternoon. I’m in a robe and houseshoes. My dogs are piled up around me napping. I am safe. I am healthy. I am grateful.

Shara Clark is managing editor of the Flyer.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Little Oblivions: Julien Baker on Ugly Beauty and the Glories of Rocking Out

CREDIT: Alysse Gafkjen

When I pull up Julien Baker’s new album, Little Oblivions, and hit play for the first time, I am jolted out of my expectations by the crass tones of a cheap, possibly broken organ or Mellotron blasting blocks of chords like a fanfare. It’s an ennervating shot across the bow from an artist more typically associated with delicate guitar lines that hypnotically draw listeners in to the hushed-to-frantic intimacy of her voice. As the song develops, those chord blasts are joined by mellower synth-strings, and you can hear echoes of her past work more clearly, even as she begins to sing words from darker, grittier depths than she’s ever plumbed before.

Blacked out on a weekday; is there something that I’m trying to avoid?

Start asking for forgiveness in advance for all the future things I will destroy.

Alysse Gafkjen

Listeners won over by Baker’s bare bones debut, 2015’s Sprained Ankle, or her first album on Matador, 2017’s slightly less minimalist Turn Out the Lights, may expect more of her trademark romanticism-cut-with-blunt-realism approach, and that’s in evidence here, but it’s soon apparent that she’s taking the bluntness several steps further, mixing intimations of anguish with wry observations on the prosaic fumblings of everyday life. As she sings on the second track, “Heatwave”:

It’s worse than death, that life, compressed to fill

A page in the Sunday paper; and I had the shuddering thought:

“This was gonna make me late for work”

Everyday tragedies that make you late for work: such are the impressions of an artist who’s confronting reality, from the mundane to the spiritual, on whole new levels. And, as the world saw when she appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last month, this time she’s got backup: a full-on rock band. And yet, despite such world-conquering moves, this quarantined life humbles us all, and when I call her, the first thing on her mind is getting back to Memphis, where she first learned to play with a band before a fluke recording opportunity made her a solo star.

Memphis Flyer: You’re a Memphis native, and recorded both of your records for Matador here, but now you’re living in Nashville. Are you settling down there?

Julien Baker: I’ve always had this nomadic span between Memphis and Nashville, and this is the longest I’ve been away from Memphis. And it makes me really sad. My parents and a lot of my friends have moved to other cities. So when I do come back there, it feels underpopulated. I still consider that my home-home. Memphis, with all the music that comes out of there, has an outsider-ness to it, but I worry about gentrification. I fear Memphis becoming a cariacature of itself in the way that other cities have. Maybe it’s because I live here in Nashville and I see it so much. There’s actually a rich and inclusive community in Nashville, but it is underneath layers and layers of irony and branding. I don’t want Memphis to feel like it has to acquiesce to the stylization that I see in a lot of other cities, in order to legitimize itself.

That old backwater feeling of Memphis can help more idiosyncratic artists thrive. Did you feel like that growing up here?

Completely. When I was growing up, I felt like in my little microcosm of the music scene it was booming. Because I would go to the skate park all the time and see seven-band bills that were weird metalcore, hardcore, or deathcore bands, and it would be packed. And that felt like such a massive era to me, because I was a kid. I was part of a close-knit house show community, and we’d play little art galleries, or parking lots. And then there was this big gulf between that and Minglewood Hall or the Orpheum. I’d go to the Orpheum to see Death Cab for Cutie knowing that they’re on a B city tour. We’re the city they didn’t bother to hit on the first tour. [laughs] Something about that, when you’re making music in that sort of a petri dish, there’s less posturing because there’s less expectations. The people you’re relying on to come to your shows and support your music have less power in the commercial music world. And that’s what gives you the freedom to not feel so performative. When bands play New York, it’s a big deal. When bands play Nashville, industry people are there and it’s a big deal. When you’re in Memphis, you’re collecting all the scraps of culture as it trickles down to you. And then assembling them into this clandestine collage. When you have limited resources, the resourcefulness makes you experimental and inventive.

You can see that in your debut. It was hard to pin down, stylistically.

It’s funny because even that record is made out of a lack of resources, trying to assemble something out of just a looping pedal. The whole reason Sprained Ankle got made was because I had this friend in college [Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro] who had free studio time. I wanted the Memphis band I was playing with, Forrister, to come up and record some songs. And they couldn’t get off work. So I was like, “Okay, I don’t want to waste this studio time,” and I made that record. And then a label wanted that record, and all of this stuff happened to me. But those songs are just things I cobbled together alone in college because I didn’t have my boys with me. To me it sounds like a scratch track where all the instruments are missing.

Anthony Cabaero

From the “Faith Healer” music video

So when I told my band, “Hey, a label wants to sign me, and they want me to make another solo record and they want me to tour,” they were all excited for me but undeniably disappointed. And I was too, because I had imagined that we’d all do this together, and that my band and I would be musicians for life, as a career. And that’s not what happened.

Now, starting with The Late Show, I’m playing with a full band again. Calvin Lauber, who recorded my music, both Turn Out the Lights at Ardent and this new one at Young Avenue Sound, is playing bass, and Matt Gilliam from Forrister, who I’ve been playing with since I was 14, is playing drums. And it was so much more fulfilling to me than just seeing my lonely body standing onstage. Because it felt like I was standing on the invisible shoulders of all these people who played with me, and then I reaped all the credit. [laughs] It always felt very bizarre, and I struggled with that.

So it was coming full circle, being back with your bandmates?

Yeah. It’s not quite the old lineup, but it’s still meaningful to me to have Memphis people who I grew up with playing with me. And one reason Calvin and Matt and I have such good musical chemistry is because we came from the same subcultural milieu of the Memphis scene. And it feels so much easier for me to enjoy the music when it’s a group effort. It’s not just me, a single body onstage demanding attention, being the sole person producing sound. It is an ongoing collaborative auditory conversation that the band is having. I’m ecstatic to be playing with a band. [laughs].

It’s ironic, because I gather that you played most of the parts on Little Oblivions.

Calvin and I made the record together, and I played most of the instruments. I think he played guitar on one track and a little bit of drums. But it was just me and him building this studio creation.

There are a lot of drums on the new record. Are those loops? They’re showing off their sampled-ness. It’s a cool, disarming effect.

Oh yeah, the sound of a really overcompressed drum machine! I was so worried about how to use a drum machine in a tasteful way. Also, I played a lot of the acoustic drums, but I’m not good at drums. I just knew the parts I wanted. So I would do 16 measures of a drum beat and Calvin and I would try to splice together usable takes. I used to hate that or consider it dishonest studio magic. And I don’t know what flipped in my head with this record. I had noises in my head and I wanted to accomplish them.

I also wanted to explore ugly sounds. I love ugly sounds in beautiful songs. But looking back on my records, Turn Out the Lights is this glossy, beautiful, clear-toned combination of instruments, and I felt like what was missing was that aggressive disjuncture between the softness of the songs and some ugliness.

Julien Baker (left) and Calvin Lauber, with Matthew Gilliam in tracking room

When I was making Turn Out the Lights, I thought using a Mellotron guitar pedal at the end of a song was a big sonic jump. “Playing it safe” is a reductive phrase, but in many ways I was making sounds that were beautiful only then. I wasn’t really pressing myself to try to integrate weird noises. It’s sort of the opposite on this record, and I like that.

The sounds are of a piece with the lyrics on Little Oblivions. You’re a little grittier and harder on yourself in the new songs.

Yeah, there’s a lot of waxing philosophical on Turn Out the Lights. I think I wanted so badly to write songs that were about healing and recovery, and if they were sad, they still offered the possibility to triumph over negative things. I think that was noble of young me [laughs], but also maybe a little bit idealistic. And undoubtedly I’ll look back at this record and think it’s pretty nihilistic, but maybe that’s just the shift of the pendulum that I needed.

The songs on the new album have a kind of groundedness in day-to-day experiences. Like “a weekend on a bender,” that kind of specificity, or “let’s meet when you get off work.” That sort of prosaic, daily life stuff, and then the emotional universe comes crashing through while you’re “cruising down Main Street.”

I don’t think I realized it when I was writing the songs, but they’re more bodily. They are more grounded. A lot of that has to do with me learning how not to live in the world of my head so much. The record’s pretty candid about things like substance abuse or physical violence. And those are things that, in a jarring, scary, destructive way, jolt you back into the experience of your body.

For a long time, I thought of my behavior and my sobriety as this power of the mind to subdue the body. But that’s a very Puritanical way to think of your body, as just a flesh suit for your mind. You know what I mean? It’s just very disassociative to be always transcending something instead of just inhabiting your body. And so I think, for better or for worse, it’s like situating my life back into my body, and being more present in my day-to-day life experience was a big part of that shift on this record.

In the song “Faith Healer,” you evoke both a “snake oil dealer” and the desire to just feel something, anything.

People are drawn to substance abuse or even organized religion because it makes them feel something. And we’re assuming that what it makes them feel is what they’re after. What I was after, what anybody’s after, is the thing that makes you feel good. There’s an inevitable balance of pain that comes with the things that make us feel good, and yet we return to it: in toxic relationships, in substance abuse, in church. I’ve changed the way I think about religion and my various other convictions. Like my political beliefs. There’s a sort of disillusionment that can be good. When I reevaluated all my behaviors and I think, “What am I actually coming to these things for?” If it’s just as compulsive as an addict, for me to wake up at 4:30 in the morning and read my Bible every day, then why don’t I just drink? [laughs]. You know, if these are basically dealing with the same issue?

Religion, belief, belonging to a political identity or a social group or some particular conviction of behavior — I adhered to all those things because I thought they would make me feel safe and assuage my anxiety. And that’s also the very same longing that makes me susceptible to substance abuse. Those things aren’t unrelated.

It seems like you’re trying to bring more intentionality to faith — or drinking. Whatever it may be, do it with more intentionality. You say “I don’t mind losing my conviction, it’s all a relative fiction.” It’s like you’re seeing these scripts or constructs that humans create. But it’s not quite nihilist to me. It seems more existentialist. Like you’re choosing your script to suit your life needs with more intentionality.

Precisely! I think that’s something very real that you’re getting at. Instead of having a schema of faith outside of my being, it’s more like coming to faith as a lens for the world, and choosing how I apply that lens. What tools I take from faith to help me be a better human being. And it’s the same thing with substance abuse. For a long time, I had an oversimplified, self-constructed narrative about sobriety. But I had to re-approach sobriety as a practice rather than as an ideal. And in terms of faith, instead of trying to figure out how to define God, I had to shift faith into a practice. Now, the part of faith that resonates with me is the community aspect. The cultural aspect.

I hear that in your lyrics. “A character of somebody’s invention/A martyr in another passion play … I’ve got no business praying, I’m finished being good/Now I can finally be okay in not the way I thought I should.” The consideration you bring to your words propels the album beyond nihilism.

Yeah, ultimately nihilism becomes just as painful and limiting as idealism. You have to learn how to be a person eventually. And that is what is called “your twenties.”

Little Oblivions drops this Friday, February 26th, on Matador Records. On Thursday, March 25th, Julien Baker and band will perform a streamed concert in support of Little Oblivions from Nashville’s Hutton Hotel, with three screenings aired at 8 p.m. AEDT, 7 p.m. GMT, and 9 p.m. EDT. Tickets start at $15, available exclusively at audiotree.tv/streams.

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Snow Mad, Donuts, and Frozen Memphis

CREDIT: Posted to Facebook by Roquita Williams

Snow mad

Last week’s snow stuck around long enough to push some of us beyond the usual snow stuff like making a snowman or sledding.

Exhibit A: Roquita Williams celebrated her 44th birthday like this.

Posted to Facebook by Roquita Williams

Exhibit B: Mickey needed a cold one with his cold one.

Posted to Instagram by Beale Street Brewing

Donuts

The joke Libertyland Twitter account said “We’re doing donuts and building and running over snowmen in Tiger Lane.” The joke Mid-South Coliseum account responded: “They really need to bring back our golf cart.”

Frozen

The Downtown Memphis Commission shared this photo from @connordryan, capturing the snow blanket from on high.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Clay’s Smoked Tuna Salad is Smokin’

Abrian Clay, owner of Clay’s Smoked Tuna, never thought he’d end up in the fish business. Or be selling his tuna salad in restaurants and stores, and from a food truck.

“It started when I was in Orange Beach, Alabama, on a vacation and I went to this restaurant on the beach,” says Clay, 36. “I wanted to try something different, and I tried the smoked tuna salad. And it was so good. I asked the waiter, ‘What’s going on with the tuna salad, man? What’s up?’ He said, ‘This guy out here has a tuna farm and he wholesales it to us.'”

Clay thought about it. “No one in Memphis is doing this. No one is wholesaling it. I can do the same thing.”

He went home and made his first batch. “It was delicious. I gave out free samples and never looked back.

“I marinated it in white wine and I smoked it,” Clay says. “I chopped up my ingredients to make the salad [with] the mayo and everything. It was an instant hit.”

Abrian Clay

That was five years ago. He used his Facebook business page to get the word out, and he began delivering the eight-ounce packaged tuna salad to the Mid-South.

His first vendor was the Curb Market in Crosstown Concourse. “I think in four hours we sold $600 worth of tuna.” Then, “Stores started reaching out to me,” he says.

Clay uses yellowfin, also known as “ahi” tuna. “We use fresh tuna made from tuna steaks. Not your canned stuff at all.”

He originally was “going to the Gulf in Louisiana to get the fresh tuna.” Now, he says, “It comes from the Gulf, but I have someone who drops it off.”

Clay, who initially thought about strictly doing wholesale, moved to a commercial kitchen with a drive-through pick-up window. People could pick up individual orders of tuna salad as well as his smoked chicken dip. “We expanded our menu to hot foods as well,” Clay says.

He began selling smoked wing plates, catfish plates, salmon plates, lamb chops, and T-bones. “Everything is smoked on a rotisserie smoker with pecan wood.”

The tuna salad takes nine hours to prepare. “We marinate our tuna steaks in white wine, and we put it on a rotisserie smoker at a certain temperature and let it smoke five hours. It’s a strenuous process.”

After two and a half years at the commercial kitchen, Clay transitioned to his food truck, where he continued selling his salad, dip, and hot plates.

His truck is at East Parkway and Summer. “That’s a busy intersection,” he says. “A lot of people are getting off Sam Cooper and going to and from the zoo.”

Growing up in North Memphis, Clay helped his dad cook before he took on the job of cooking breakfast for his parents on weekends. “I would always experiment. Like I would give them eggs, toast, and orange juice, but I would add nutmeg and parsley to the eggs.”

His parents suffered through those experimental breakfasts, but Clay says, “They boosted my confidence and acted like they enjoyed it.”

He got his bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in business administration, but he was interested in making and selling a product.

Clay still is surprised at his career path. “I had an epiphany with myself when I started,” he says. “I noticed all day I was going to people’s houses, delivering them containers of tuna salad. I was like, ‘This is going to be my history? This is what I’m going to tell my children I was doing at that age? Driving to people’s houses and bringing them tuna salad?'”

Clay’s food truck is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. He also delivers. His smoked tuna salad is in stores, including Cordelia’s Market and DeeO’s Seafood.

For more information or to order, call (901) 848-5640 or go to clayssmokedtuna.com.
To see a video of a Clay’s Smoked Tuna, watch it below:

Clay’s Smoked Tuna Salad is Smokin’

Categories
News News Blog

MLGW: System Improving, Boil Water Advisory Continues

The Memphis area’s water system is improving, officials said in an update Tuesday, February 23rd, but the boil water advisory remains and officials are continuing to ask residents to conserve water.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water’s (MLGW) water system froze and broke in many places in winter storms that wracked the area for the last week. The utility issued a water boil advisory Friday as freezing temperatures broke water pipes and mains throughout its service area.

Leaking water reduced water pressure across the system and officials worried it could allow contaminants to get into the water. However, the advisory was a precautionary move, and MLGW officials said they have not found any contaminants in the the water.

During a daily update Tuesday, MLGW president and CEO J.T. Young compared the water system to a hospital patient.

“Today, I think, is optimistic,” Young said. “Today, the patient is out of [the Intensive Care Unit] and doing better. We’re looking forward to even better news in the next day or two.”

MLGW officials have been using a red-yellow-green system (with green being best) to illustrate the scope of the system’s troubles. On Monday, it was described as “light red.” On Tuesday, the system was upgraded to “yellow.”

Pumping stations are performing better. Water pressure is rising in many parts of the system. The amount of gallons of water leaked each day is beginning to stem.

Officials said the freezing temperatures froze and broke 89 water mains so far. Crews repaired 12 mains Monday and were working on 12 Tuesday. To date, water had been shut off at more than 4,000 residences for instances of frozen, burst pipes.

However, Young asked, again, for MLGW customers to conserve water. He said, also, that the boil water advisory would remain but did not give any firm timeline for its end.

The update came on the same day the Memphis City Council approved a resolution supporting MLGW’s requests of customers and temporarily shutting down car-washing facilities.