Every year, the Time Warp Drive-In series dedicates one of its monthly programs to celebrate psychedelia in all its forms. Gotta hand it to ’em, they know their audience.
This Saturday night at the Malco Summer Drive-In is the Best of the Burn — audience favorites from the previous years’ burn nights. First up is the Richard Linklater classic that made master monologist (and possible Texas gubernatorial candidate) Matthew McConaughey a household name. Dazed and Confused is the ultimate hangout movie. Think American Graffiti, if everyone was stoned the whole time. Here’s a clip where you can hear one of McConaughey’s now-timeless line readings: “It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”
The second film of the evening is one of the great literary adaptations of all time. Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is about a journalist blowing an assignment to cover a motorcycle race. So relatable. Misunderstood cinematic genius Terry Gilliam was perhaps the only person capable of bringing this one to life. In this clip, Thompson’s literary doppleganger Raoul Duke, played by not-yet-superstar Johnny Depp, tries to check into a hotel with the help of his attorney, a not-yet-superstar Benicio del Toro. “Ignore this terrible drug.”
The third film of the evening has been called the genesis of the stoner movie genre. Who but OG counterculture comedians Cheech and Chong could have made Up In Smoke? Here’s how the movie was sold in 1978. They don’t make trailers like this any more.
And finally, the granddaddy of them all, Reefer Madness. Rarely has any film, or any work of art at all, had its meaning so thoroughly reversed as Tell Your Children, the film produced by a church group to keep kids off the devil’s cabbage. Instead, it was bought by an exploitation producer Dwain Esper, who changed the title to Reefer Madness. Check out this warning of what will happen if you touch “the weed with its roots in Hell!” The intended audience’s reaction was “Don’t threaten me with a good time!”
The Time Warp Drive-In starts at dusk on Saturday at the Malco Summer Drive-In.
Earlier this week, I got to watch New Orleans filmmaker Randy Mack experience The Sparks Brothers live on Twitter. It went something like this:
5 min: “Hilarious Mockumentary”
10 min “Wait, is this real?”
15 min “Well-doctored vintage footage—funny!”
25 min “OK, this must be real.”
30 min “haha ‘Muff Winwood’ what a sick parody”
35 min “fuck I think it’s real?”
45 min “*head explodes*”
Yes, Randy. Sparks was, and is, a real band. They are not, as everyone inexplicably thought, British, but rather from Southern California. Brothers Ron and Russell Mael have been making music together for 50 years. Ron is a keyboard virtuoso with a deadpan scowl and a wicked sense of humor. Russell is taller, blessed with more conventional good looks, and a precisely controlled voice that can be Freddie Mercury operatic or Robert Plant screamy, according to the needs of the song. They made their recording debut in 1967 as Halfnelson with the little-heard “Computer Girl,” which got the attention of legendary prog-rock musician and producer Todd Rundgren. The reason most people think they’re from the UK is that they were discovered on the right side of the pond before they were accepted in America. In 1974, they appeared on the classic BBC show Top of the Pops to sing “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us,” and soon the song was burning up the charts.
Ron Mael with Russell dummy from a vintage music video.
It’s tough to say what Sparks sounds like, because they radically change their sound every other album, and they are reportedly now working on their 25th full length. They started out as Pink Floyd-like psychedelia, but were well-positioned to go glam because of Russel’s rock god locks and Ron’s uncanny ability to absorb new music and immediately create a synthesis that’s smarter and better than the inspiration. The biggest coup of their career was when they almost single-handedly created the synth pop branch of New Wave after hearing Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and cold-calling Italo-disco producer Giorgio Moroder. The brothers fired their band, bulked up on synthesizers and drum machines, and made the album No. 1 in Heaven. “The Number One Song in Heaven” and “Beat the Clock” became huge hits in Europe and inspired a legion of musicians to put down their guitars and make music from bloopy noises.
The Sparks Brothers is director Edgar Wright’s first documentary. The Sparks superfan is better known for his stylish, groundbreaking pop confections like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Shaun of the Dead. Wright weaponized his musical obsession in 2017 with the balletic car chase movie Baby Driver. His restless, inventive visual style fits perfectly with Sparks’ wry, heady music. His energetic editing keeps the proceedings light and eminently watchable throughout its two-hour-plus running time.
That sounds like a long movie, but there’s a lot of story to cover, and the Mael brothers, now in their seventies, are endlessly fascinating characters. Wright is not alone in the Sparks cult. They are, as the tagline goes, your favorite band’s favorite band. From Beck to Björk, Duran Duran to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, author Neil Gaiman to comedian Patton Oswalt, everyone wants to weigh in on the brilliance of the Maels.
Animated sequences fill in the gaps in The Sparks Brothers.
Sparks, while they perpetually hung around on the musical B list, made frequent television appearances in the ’70s and ’80s, which means Wright has a ton of archival footage to work with. Especially entertaining are the duo’s appearances on American Bandstand. At one point, Dick Clark asks “Who is the oldest?” to which Ron deadpans “You are.” For some of the juicier stories, which happened without cameras rolling, Wright resorts to animating the visuals. This is pretty standard for documentary recreations these days, but the director, like the band, keeps changing styles. Some of the stories are told in stop motion, while others are hand-drawn animation and CGI.
Why, exactly, Sparks were perpetual also-rans in America is a good question. Wright takes a couple of stabs at answering. Maybe it was Ron’s Hitler mustache. (It’s a Charlie Chaplin mustache, Ron would insist.) Maybe they were just too smart for the audience, or they never stuck around in the same style long enough for their following to grow beyond the loyal cult. But as the film progresses, that question becomes less and less interesting. What makes The Sparks Brothers a must-see is the brothers’ impish wit, ample charisma, and bottomless well of unique talent. And they’re still at it. In July, the musical Annette the boys wrote and scored, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, will open the Cannes Film Festival. It’s Sparks’ world; we just live in it.
With tons of Juneteenth celebrations on the horizon for Memphis this weekend, a national group of Black conservative leaders want a halt to make the day a national holiday.
2019 Memphis Juneteenth Urban Music Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Project 21, “the leading voice of Black conservatives for over 25 years” and sponsored by the D.C.-based National Center for Public Policy Research, said making Juneteenth a national holiday could further divide Americans.
"As Americans, we celebrate our national independence on the #FourthofJuly," writes P21's Emery McClendon.
”I constantly hear everyone taking about unity, but would a federal holiday end up being a unifier?” Project 21 member Marie Fischer asked in a news release. “Or, would it give fuel to those who support critical race theory by pointing out a day that marks one group as an oppressor and another as the oppressed?
“Such a holiday could be easily hijacked by those who insist that Blacks only advance when it benefits white elites. Nothing seems to get pushed these days unless it fits a specific narrative.”
A birthday poster
(Credit: State of Tennessee)
Tennessee is readying to celebrate 225 years of statehood, and posters for each of the state’s three Grand Divisions were unveiled Thursday.
Posters for each Grand Division feature music and a musical instrument. Middle Tennessee (home of Nashville) got an acoustic guitar. East Tennessee (birthplace of country music) got a fiddle. West Tennessee got an electric guitar that looks much like Lucille, B.B. King’s famous six-string.
The West Tennessee poster also features a Stax album bursting with sun rays, looking like those from Sun Studios in an interesting mash-up. West Tennessee also got a big river, river boats, a plow, and some grain, noting the region’s rich agricultural history, and a bald cypress tree.
(Credit: State of Tennessee)
Not too bad for state leaders. If you believe the standard Tennessee license plate, you’d think it’s completely covered by the Smokey Mountains.
Tax coffers runneth over (by $432M)
Tennessee tax coffers were fuller than expected for the month of May.
May tax revenues were $1.6 billion, according to Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Butch Eley. That figure is $432 million more than estimates. State tax revenues were $587.3 million more than May 2020 and the overall growth rate was 59.8 percent.
“Just as April tax revenue receipts revealed substantial growth, May state tax revenues continue to reflect extraordinary increases compared to this same time last year when most economic activity was weakened because of the pandemic,” Eley said. “When comparing May 2021 tax growth to May 2019, the monthly growth is 34.5 percent rather than the 59.8 percent growth over May 2020.”
Sales tax revenue grew across all industries, except for groceries and food stores, which saw slight reductions.
Tourism/hospitality jobs: we got ’em
State leaders are hoping to help attract workers to the state’s tourism sector, the second-largest industry in Tennessee.
The “Come Work, Come Play” campaign launched this week by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and HospitalityTN. It “urges prospective employees to consider hospitality jobs for their flexible hours, career advancement opportunities, and strong sense of community.”
(Credit: State of Tennessee)
“Tens of thousands of Tennesseans lost their jobs during the pandemic and the leisure and hospitality industry was hit the hardest, accounting for 72.3 percent of net jobs lost in the state over 2019,” according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Tennessee’s leisure and hospitality industry added 9,100 jobs in April 2021.
Mark Segbers played as an emergency goalkeeper after John Berner's injury in Memphis' win over Atlanta. (Credit: Memphis 901 FC)
It all looked pretty cut and dried when Skylar Thomas thundered home a header to give Memphis the lead in the second half of its home opener at AutoZone Park. Having played with a man advantage for most of the game, all 901 FC needed was to pass the ball around and run down the clock, or nick a second goal on the break while Atlanta left gaps open at the back. But it’s never that simple, is it? When goalkeeper John Berner went down with an injury near the end of the match, it was up to defender-turned-emergency goalkeeper Mark Segbers to don the gloves and see out a 1-0 home victory for Memphis.
Memphis High Pressing Machine
Coach Ben Pirmann’s game plan continues to pay dividends, at least when it comes to chances created. Despite ceding most of the possession, Memphis loves to get bodies forward into attack, especially after snapping on the heels of Atlanta’s shell-shocked defenders. We saw a great example of that early on, when Kadeem Dacres pickpocketed a defender in the 9th minute and raced towards goal, only to see his shot go narrowly wide of the post.
The high press also saw Atlanta United 2 reduced to ten men in the 36th minute. Dre Fortune nicked the ball off his brother, Atlanta midfielder Ajani Fortune, who in return promptly hauled down his sibling with a tackle more at home at a tense family Thanksgiving football game than a soccer match. That gave Memphis 55 minutes left to play with a numerical advantage. Attackers continued to exploit the extra space after Atlanta turnovers, creating plenty of quality chances, but the right final pass and finishing just weren’t there for Memphis from open play last night.
But that’s ok. A win is a win, and fans saw a dramatic victory play out while Pirmann is still fine tuning the squad. There’s a firm identity already in place, something that we haven’t really seen from 901 FC in the past two seasons. While there might be a long way to go, Pirmann has said he’s ready to put in the work to make Memphis a contender.
Set Piece Solution
For all of Memphis’ aggressive attacking play, it was a set piece that finally saw the team break through in the 75th minute. Laurent Kissiedou whipped in a corner, and Thomas rose head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd to put it past Atlanta goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo for the winner.
But this wasn’t just a lucky corner goal. Memphis had dominated set pieces all game. Just one glance at the field saw a significant height superiority for the home side, and Pirmann took full advantage of that. We frequently saw corners hit to the far post, where a much taller Memphis player would be stationed to head it back across goal to an open man. They didn’t always find their mark, but having big men like Thomas up there always gives an extra option. Look for the team to go back to this well throughout the season.
Superman Mark Segbers Between the Sticks
What should have been a comfortable win suddenly twisted into ten minutes of nerve-wracking anxiety when Berner went down in stoppage time with a no-contact injury. After limping off the field, the horror set in that Memphis had already used its five substitutions, which meant that there was no opportunity to send another goalkeeper onto the field.
Enter fullback Segbers, who quickly pulled on the green goalkeeper jersey and a pair of gloves and sat between the sticks, ready to do his part to secure the win. Atlanta players, meanwhile, were licking their lips. Segbers’ move meant that both teams were now down to ten outfield players, and Atlanta commenced its air raid. And while Memphis held down the fort admirably, one defensive mixup almost saw the three points slip away.
A miskicked clearance led to a ball cut back into the six yard box, where it looked like Atlanta’s Conner Stanley would surely pounce and secure a draw. But Segbers said no. Anticipating the danger, he raced off his line and slid in feet first to smother the shot and save the day for Memphis 901 FC in the 97th minute. Cue jubilant pandemonium from the 5,000+ crowd at AutoZone Park, who had likely been chewing their nails off while waiting for the ref to blow his whistle.
And blow he did, officially marking a victory for Memphis’ home opener. The team’s record now stands at 2-2-2, placing it six of eight in the Central Division on eight points. However, Memphis has played fewer games than every other team in the group, so a few more good results could see the team rocket up the standings.
After a daunting five game road trip to open the season, Memphis has back to back home games, with OKC Energy up next at AutoZone Park this Saturday, June 19th, at 7:30 p.m.
Rendering of The Walk viewed from AutoZone Park. (Credit: The Walk on Union/LRK)
The Walk on Union, a mixed-use smart development formerly known as Union Row, announced the addition of two new partners as progress continues on the project. Allworld Project Management is now on board to lead coordination and logistics, while Flintco joins the team as lead general contractor on the $367 million phase 1.
“This one-of-a-kind smart development will transform this community and beyond through improvements to employment offerings, community solutions, diverse partnerships, and sustainability efforts,” says Michael Hooks Jr., the owner and CEO of Allworld Project Management. “I am thrilled that our team can apply our passion and talents to support the revitalization of this great city through the development of The Walk.”
Construction had originally been slated to begin in the final quarter of 2020, but delays from the COVID-19 pandemic pushed back the start. Developer Kevin Adams filed a permit to begin construction in April of this year for a seven-story building hosting with more than 20,000 available square feet of retail space, and over 400 apartments. The Walk on Union’s development agreement predicts the entire project to be completed by Q4 of 2023.
“The Walk represents an incredible opportunity for the city of Memphis, and I say that not only with an eye to strategic construction but also as a Memphis resident myself,” says Tim Weatherford, president of Flintco’s southeast region. “Flintco is proud to lead construction efforts for this incredible development, which will not only elevate the city for those here now, but for generations to come.”
The project, formerly titled Union Row, was renamed The Walk on Union to signify a renewed focus on the development’s walkability and its boon to pedestrian traffic in Downtown Memphis.
Walk on Union development rendering seen from the corner of Union and Danny Thomas. (Credit: The Walk on Union/LRK)
Now that summer has settled on us like a wet electric blanket, there’s another reason to enjoy music from home: the heat. Luxuriate in the comfort of your air conditioned space, barefoot or wearing only flip-flops! Dial in some tunes from the fine artists and venues below, and see the sonic cornucopia that Memphis has to offer. Meanwhile, you’ll be extra safe from COVID-19 and it’s variants. Don’t forget those virtual tip jars!
ALL TIMES CDT
Thursday, June 17 7 p.m. Velvetina’s Blue Moon Revue — at Hernando’s Hide-a-way Website
Long ago, North Mississippi Hill Country was overlooked in standard perspectives on the blues. While the Delta Blues had been a buzzword in music circles for generations, the variation to the east and north of the flatlands was little-recognized until artists like R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Robert Belfour, Calvin Jackson, and Sid Hemphill gradually came to be known outside of the region.
Then the documentary Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads, released 30 years ago, featured Burnside, Kimbrough, Othar Turner, and Jessie Mae Hemphill. Fat Possum Records began releasing works by these and other artists shortly thereafter. And of course, the North Mississippi Allstars did much to further popularize the sound, albeit in a more hybridized form.
What they all shared in common was an emphasis on droning, hypnotic guitar riffs played over a driving, insistent beat. And the guitar sounds are unapologetically electrified and distorted, in a heavier and more stripped-down manner than the electrified urban blues guitar that came to prominence in the ’50s.
Since then, the sound’s reach has only seemed to grow. And this week, a new milestone was passed when R.L. Burnside’s grandson, Cedric Burnside, who began drumming for R.L. in his teens but grew into a songwriter and guitarist in his own right, was recognized as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts’ Folk and Traditional Arts program.
This award recognizes individuals who “sustain cultural traditions for future generations,” and Cedric Burnside could not be more illustrative of that quality. While he was long recognized primarily as a drummer, winning Blues Music Awards as an instrumentalist in that field multiple times, he has also grown as a gifted guitarist and composer. He was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2016, for his album Descendants of Hill Country, and in 2019 for his album, Benton County Relic.
Burnside is not the first artist with Memphis and Mid-South roots to be recognized by the NEA. William Bell received the same fellowship last year, as the Memphis Flyer reported at the time.
In a biographical essay on the NEA’s website, onetime Rhodes College associate professor Zandria Robinson, now an associate professor of African American Studies at Georgetown University, writes:
As an architect of the second generation of the Hill Country blues, Burnside has spent his career tending to the legacy of the genre by expanding the next, electric generation of the North Mississippi sound. In Burnside’s care, the sound leads with extended riffs that become sentences, pleas, or exclamations, rendering the guitar like its West African antecedent, the talking drum. These riffs fuse with Burnside’s voice, like the convergence of hill and horizon in the distance, carrying listeners to a deep well of Mississippi history whose waters reflect the present and the future of the state and the nation.
On June 25, Single Lock Records will release Burnside’s latest album, I Be Trying, recorded at Royal Studios. The album’s first single, “Step In,” was released in April.
Najee Strickland stars in Black Fist Series: Short Film Pt. II. (Credit: Cardi Walker)
Najee Strickland’s Black Fist Series: Short Film Pt. II will premiere at a red carpet event June 17th at Fourth Bluff Park between Front and Riverside Drive.
“The Black Fist Series started out as a series of paintings I did based on social issues, propaganda, and things that were noticed or not noticed in the media focusing around Blacks and minorities,” says Strickland, 31. “And it expanded from there.
“I still paint, but I do short films out of that. I do podcasts, talks with individuals about their life living in America.”
He believes the devastating June 3rd, 2015 flood in Ghana didn’t get played up by the media. “Media didn’t say much about it. I don’t know if it’s based on minorities or what, but people who are shades darker are looked down on more than anyone else. That’s just with anything. I just wanted to shed a light on that.”
Strickland is also working on a comic book, to be titled either The Chronicles of the Black Fist or The Untold Stories of the Black Fist.
His first Black Fist film, Black Fist Series: Short Film Pt. 1, which was set to his paintings, was released in 2017. “We did that at the Memphis Slim house. It was just about a dad and his child making it through life. Or just going through life.”
Strickland’s latest film, which he made with an ArtsMemphis grant, is “based on a Black male trying to make it in America and express his individuality and creativity. It’s full of zeitgeist based on the Black inferiority complex.”
Najee Strickland
He got “this inferiority complex idea” from Tom Burrell’s book, Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority. “It’s like the mindset that Black and minorities think they are lower in society, but they’re really not.”
Strickland plays the lead in the movie, directed by Blake Heimbach of HotKey Studios. It opens with Strickland sitting in a classroom, waiting to get his test results from his Emergency Medical Service final exam so he can obtain his license to continue working at his job as a firefighter. He will have to retake the test if he doesn’t get a passing grade. “Then the administrator comes in and sets the results on the table.”
Strickland discovers he failed the exam because he cheated. “I get expelled from the course.”
He goes to his car and “transitions from deep thought to an emotional rage. And it leads him to put two of his fingers up to his head and pulling an imaginary trigger.”
The next scene shows Strickland in deep thought sitting in a chair wearing a bathrobe and socks and watching a stack of television sets. “Some have static on them, some have got something on it.”
But, he says, all of the screens show “different versions of myself.”
Filming Najee Strickland in Black Fist Series: Short Film Pt. II
The film, which incorporates dance, music, and one of his paintings, stars Strickland’s daughter Londyn Emille and Jeanellette Jones a.k.a. Tbj, or Toothbrush Jesus.
This isn’t the final movie in his Black Fist Series, Strickland says. “There’s going to be one more. I just don’t know when I’m going to do it.”
We Saw You
The premiere, which will be between 7 and 10 p.m., will include performances by Tia ‘Songbird” Henderson and francis, the Truman, and an expressionistic dance by Toothbrush Jesus. A donation of any amount is required for admission.
Probably the most jarring transition from your working life to retirement is the switch from a periodic paycheck to the idea of living off investments that need to last, quite literally, a lifetime. Planning for this milestone involves a symphony of countless considerations too complex for one discussion, but there is a rule of thumb that can provide great perspective.
A famous 1998 report called the Trinity Study inspired what is known as the 4 percent rule. (The paper was written by three professors at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.) It means that for a typical investment portfolio, an investor can take out 4 percent the first year, then continue to withdraw that same amount — adjusted for inflation — each subsequent year for decades and still have a strong chance of never running out of money.
In fact, when the 4 percent rule is examined over time, the Trinity Study points out that there’s a good chance there will be way more money than the beginning balance in the portfolio at the end of the period and only very rare failures where the money ran out.
The reciprocal of 4 percent is 25, which you can use as a multiplier against annual spending to estimate a portfolio size needed to support your spending. To support a lifestyle of, say, $50,000 a year, investments in the ballpark of $1.25 million are necessary to sustain that level of spending for decades into the future.
There are lots of interesting implications from the rule to think about. Minimum wage of $7.25 and 2,000 hours worked per year indicates annual income of $14,500. Therefore, an investment portfolio of $362,500 could probably produce income like a minimum wage job more or less indefinitely (adjusted for inflation). Consider this milestone on the way to longer-term financial goals.
Spending with the four percent rule (Photo: Nathan Dumlao | Unsplash)
The 4 percent rule can give you insight on spending decisions, too. Think about eating out for lunch at work. Imagine you could buy a laminated card that was good for today’s equivalent of a $15 lunch each working day, valid at any restaurant, for the rest of your life. How much is that worth? Assuming 262 work days in a year, the 4 percent rule would tell you it’s worth about 262 x $15 x 25 = $98,250. You could set $100,000 aside in an investment account, pay for these lunches out of it for the rest of your life, and probably never run out of lunch money.
But consider converting an expense like that into time. If you net $50,000 after tax from your job, the four percent rule suggests you’d have to work two additional years to prepare to cover a $15-a-day, five-days-a-week lunch habit in retirement. That may or may not seem like a good deal, but at least this way of thinking helps translate something as innocuous as a small daily habit into a tangible estimate of time — the only truly limited resource.
These examples are all hypothetical and are not a substitute for real comprehensive financial planning. Nevertheless, this might be a useful way to frame decisions about work, retirement, spending, and saving. Maybe you love eating out and two years of work is totally worth it, but maybe that fourth streaming subscription nobody watches at your house will get canceled when you convert it to the extra work to sustain it long term.
Have a question or topic you’d like to see covered in this column? Contact the author at ggard@telarrayadvisors.com. Gene Gard is Chief Investment Officer at Telarray, a Memphis-based wealth management firm that helps families navigate investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions.
Nextdoor user Lisa Boling called out what she believes is a double standard at The Memphian Hotel over the weekend.
She claims her daughter and her boyfriend were asked to remove their full-brim hats before they could enter the hotel’s rooftop for drinks. They declined and left.
They came back later, took their hats off, entered the rooftop area, and found “older white men” wearing baseball caps. For this, Boling said the hat rule depends “on who you are” and wondered if “this fits into our artsy eclectic personality of our neighborhood.”
Posted to Nextdoor by Lisa Boling
Pass the Phone
“I pass the phone to someone who asks the nurse, ‘Are you ready for the gun show?’” That was Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo in a new public service announcement advocating for COVID-19 vaccines.
The YouTube video is styled after the popular “Pass the Phone Challenge” that permeated TikTok and Instagram recently. The #PassthePhone901 post features Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, Register of Deeds Shelandra Ford, Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner, and more.
Target fire
A weekend fire at the Collierville Target had some members of the Memphis subreddit perplexed. One heard someone set the chip aisle ablaze. Another heard multiple fires were set on purpose. Someone heard it was just an electrical fire.
