Month: August 2021

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From My Seat Sports

“The Other Nolan”

Nolan Gorman (courtesy Memphis Redbirds)

When the calendar turned to 2021, Nolan Gorman knew he would spend the year as one of the St. Louis Cardinals’ top two prospects (along with pitcher Matthew Liberatore, a childhood pal from Arizona and now a teammate with the Memphis Redbirds). What Gorman didn’t know was that by February, he would be merely the second-best third baseman named Nolan in the Cardinals’ system. 

With the acquisition of perennial All-Star Nolan Arenado from the Colorado Rockies, the Cardinals secured what they hope will be their third baseman for the better part of a decade. They also added a twist to “the other Nolan’s” development. Gorman now spends most nights playing second base for the Redbirds. By the looks of his production at the Triple-A level, he may soon join his namesake in that Cardinal infield.

“The biggest difference [at Triple A] has been the pitching,” says the 21-year-old Gorman. “They go out there with a game plan to face me. And they execute better than guys at Double A. A bunch of them have big-league time. It’s a good challenge: learn to adapt as quickly as possible to get to the next level.”

Since his promotion from Double-A Springfield on June 29th, Gorman has hit .278 with 10 home runs and an OPS of .796. (His numbers over 43 games with Springfield: .288 average, 11 homers, .862 OPS.) “I make mechanical adjustments [to my swing] in the offseason,” explains Gorman. “I tinker with stuff, here and there, during the season, but nothing drastic. It’s been more mental. Less is more . . . not trying to do too much. This game will humble you quickly if you think you have it figured out. You have to trust yourself, not try to hit a home run every time.”

The adjustment to a new level of professional baseball has coincided with Gorman’s adjustment to a new position. He’s looked comfortable at second base, even when turning the double play (not an act that always comes naturally to a longtime third baseman). “It’s been fun,” he says. “I had a lot of help during spring training from [Cardinal coaches] Jose Oquendo and Stubby Clapp. Just put in the work. They’ve made it as easy as possible. It’s probably easier for a third baseman to move to second than it is to go from second to third. I’ve enjoyed turning double plays, and being involved in so many plays. On an off day, I’ll be pacing the dugout, not knowing what to do with myself.”

Now a minor league instructor with the Cardinals, Oquendo famously played all nine positions (including pitcher) during the 1988 season with St. Louis. Gorman emphasizes Oquendo’s influence — especially during 2020, when the pandemic shut down the minor leagues — in much the way generations of Cardinals credited their development to the late George Kissell. “He has what you’d call the ‘it’ factor,” says Gorman. “He understands the game at a different level. It’s special. To be able to sit and talk with [Oquendo] about the game, to see how it should be played . . . it’s been really good to hear that at a young age. [Baseball] is changing and evolving, but there’s a right way to play the game. There are a lot of chess pieces to keep an eye on.”

In reflecting on the “lost season” of 2020, Gorman sees a silver lining, one that may actually benefit his development and get him to the major leagues quicker. “I went to the alternate [training] site and I was able to really hone in on things I needed to improve,” he says. “I enjoyed how much work I got in. It put me in a leadership role for younger guys. [Oquendo] did that, I think, to build my leadership skills, to focus on my career and how to get better. [The shutdown] could hurt players or make them better. It’s the mentality, what you did with it. How you spent your time.”

Ten days after he first donned a Memphis Redbirds jersey, Gorman and his teammates embarked on a franchise-record 15-game winning streak. They remain well outside playoff contention (48-54 through Sunday), but nothing teaches an athlete to win like actually winning games. With his big-league debut drawing near (major-league clubs can expand rosters Wednesday), Gorman hopes to find similar growth spurts a few hours north and just across the Mississippi River. “You gotta be consistent at the big-league level,” says Gorman. “You gotta produce to win ballgames, or someone will replace you. Find consistency. Have a game plan every day, and trust it.”

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Candyman

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II fears the Candyman in the new horror film by Nia DaCosta.

Like the most famous resident of Cabrini-Green, J. J. “Dynamite” Evans, Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a painter. But the Downtown Chicago neighborhood he inhabits is quite different from Good Times. 

In the 1970s, Cabrini-Green was notorious for violence and a symbol of inescapable, generational Black poverty — the go-to example of everything that was wrong with the concept of “public housing.” In 1992, Cabrini-Green was the setting for Candyman. Director Bernard Rose, who had made his name creating classic music videos for Frankie Goes To Hollywood, switched the setting of the Clive Barker story “The Forbidden” from Liverpool to Chicago in order to explore themes of race and class in America, while delivering the chills and gore horror audiences demand. 

Just say “Candyman” five times in the mirror and see what happens.

Memorably portrayed by Tony Todd, the Candyman was a hook-handed spectral killer who appears when you say his name five times while looking in a mirror. But Candyman is as much a victim as he is a boogeyman. Like Freddy Krueger, he was killed by an angry mob, and comes back to haunt the people in the neighborhood. (The mob rubbed their victim with honeycombs, and he was stung almost to death before being lit on fire. As someone with a stinging insect phobia, I found that part especially traumatizing.) But Candyman’s backstory as a Reconstruction-era painter who was lynched because he was romantically involved with a white girl gives the film a layer of meaning rare in the horror genre of the time. It also makes it a perfect property to revisit among our current moment of thoughtful horror. 

Written and produced by Jordan Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta, this Candyman is a direct sequel to the 1992 film. Now, instead of a crumbling public housing project, Anthony lives in a swanky high-rise with his art dealer girlfriend Brianna (Teyonah Parris). She believes in him, but he’s having a hard time breaking into the art world, until he uncovers the legend of the Candyman. Soon, inspiration becomes obsession. His first installation based on the Candyman mythos, where he hangs a mirror in Brianna’s gallery and dares people to defy the urban myth, ends predictably badly. But that only stokes Anthony’s smoldering psychosis. As the gruesome murders pile up, the press and the art world’s interest in the artist’s work grows. His deep dive into the bloody history of Cabrini-Green uncovers his own connection to the original Candyman. 

Director Nia DaCosta includes shadow puppets in her bag of tricks.

What’s great about Candyman is DaCosta’s direction. Depicting a spectral villain who appears only in mirrors gives her plenty of opportunity for creative shots and staging. For flashbacks, she uses some beautiful shadow puppet work that brought to mind Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed. When Anthony, visiting the University of Chicago to find the files of the first film’s protagonist Helen Lyle, steps into the mirrored interior of an elevator, you clench the armrest, just knowing some crazy stuff is about to go down. 

Teyonah Parris as Brianna, the art dealer about to come face to face with Candyman.

DaCosta has a pair of dynamite leads. Abdul-Mateen is, as always, magnetic on screen. Like the best actors from the glory days of ’80s horror, he shares the audience’s disbelief at the weirdness taking over his life. Parris carves out her own character as neither stupid victim or savvy final girl, but an educated woman whose rationality won’t let her believe the supernatural menace she is facing until it is almost too late. 

The weakest part of Candyman is the script, which is frankly kind of a mess. Maybe it’s because Peele and his Twilight Zone collaborator Win Rosenfeld are too dedicated to connecting this film to the first one. It’s episodic, prone to going down rabbit holes (or, to remain thematic, listening to the voice of the beehive) when it needs to be cultivating narrative drive. The critique of artist-led gentrification is solid, if a little too self-hating. The real villains of the story, the forces of capital who are bankrolling this forced social change for their own enrichment, are completely absent. There are some great individual scenes, but when the climax tries to weave all the half-wound threads together, it kind of falls apart. The writers should have taken the advice they writes for one art critic in the film: “You can really make the story your own, but some of the specifics should stay consistent.” 

Categories
Music Music Blog

William Bell: Tonight at the Halloran Centre

Vintage William Bell (Photo courtesy Stax Museum of American Soul Music)

The Halloran Centre at the Orpheum Theatre has made a name for itself as a songwriters’ showcase, partly due to its ongoing Memphis Songwriters Series, hosted by Memphis songwriter Mark Edgar Stuart. But one event that should have all fans of classic songwriting rushing the stage is happening tonight with little of the standard “songwriter” hype. That’s simply because tonight’s performer, in addition to helping pen some of the most memorable songs in American culture, is also a stellar performer.

That would be William Bell, the Memphis native, now living in Atlanta, who helped put Stax Records on the map, and then helped it stay there. He wrote and sang “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” one of the first Stax singles to hit the charts, and, like “Green Onions,” another surprise hit for a B-side. He wrote “Born Under a Bad Sign” with Booker T. Jones, a tune first recorded by Albert King and made legend by Eric Clapton and Cream, that has since become a pillar of American popular music.

And that’s just for starters. Anyone who loves the sound of Stax soul should be flocking to this show. More recently, Bell’s won considerable acclaim for his Grammy-winning album, This is Where I Live, and for his featured role in the Memphis music documentary Take Me To The River, where he and Snoop Dogg performed another one of Bell’s compositions, “I Forgot to be Your Lover.”

Reflecting on a career spanning several decades, Bell recently told the Memphis Flyer, “In my concerts I’ve got three generations of people now. I’ve got the grandparents, the parents and the kids, and when you can hear them grooving and dancing and singing along, it’s a wonderful feeling to know that. Yeah, this is the same music, this is the same story, and you can feel what we’re doing. It’s great.”

So get your family’s generations together, and go hear one of the last of the original soul singers still standing. He’s a true pillar of Memphis music, still out there doing his thing.

William Bell Onstage at the Halloran Centre, Friday, August 27, 7:30 p.m. $47.50

Categories
News News Blog

Report: Electric Cars Could Keep Billions in Tennessee Economy

(Credit: Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

When Tennesseans fuel up, much of their money flows out of state. But that hole could be patched with electric cars, according to a new study. 

In 2019, Tennesseans spent more than $11.3 billion on fuel — gasoline and diesel — according to data from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE). More than $8.2 billion of that money left the state for other states and countries with oil reserves or petroleum processing plants. As cars become more fuel efficient and stop hitting the pump as often, Tennessee could see even less money, the report says. 

(Credit: Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

But what if all those cars and trucks (and all the fuel dollars spent on them) were electric? SACE researchers crunched the numbers and found state drivers would save more than half on fueling their rides, and two-thirds of that money would stay here. In an all-electric Tennessee, drivers would have spent more than $5.7 billion to charge their cars and more than $3.9 billion of that money would remain in Tennessee.

(Credit: Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

Across the Southeast, consumers spend $94 billion on gas and diesel annually, according to the report. The figure would be cut nearly in half to $52 billion if spent on electricity. Of that, about $35 billion would be kept in the region, a $5 billion increase over fuel spending. Add it up, and SACE said electrifying Southeast transportation could be a $47 billion boon to the region each year. 

(Credit: Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
Categories
News Blog News Feature

Mask Mandate Ordered Through September

Masks could be required through the end of September, unless Shelby County’s Covid-19 situation improves, and employers should require workers to be vaccinated or be regularly tested. 

That’s all according to a brand new health directive issued by the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) Friday morning. The new order renews the mask mandate for most indoor spaces issued last week.   

The mask order could be renewed at the end of next month, health officials said. It could also be loosened in September if the county reaches a vaccination rate of 70 percent. Friday data show the county is 65.5 percent of the way to that goal of vaccinating 700,000 residents. On average this week, 2,119 people were vaccinated each day. The mandate could also be loosened if hospital capacity falls or cases fall in general. 

Credit: Shelby County Health Department

The new order also “strongly encourages employers to require COVID-19 vaccinations or regular COVID-19 testing for all unvaccinated employees, including those who are asymptomatic.”  While it’s only a suggestion, this part of the order is likely to rile those preferring personal liberty over public health. 

The final part of Friday’s order just cleans house, defining the difference in a third dose of the vaccine for those with immunocompromised conditions (which is reccomened now) and a booster for those who are fully vaccinated (expected this fall, according to SCHD). 

Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

County Sues Governor over Parental Opt-Out Order

Shelby County Administrative Building (Credit: Shelby County government).

At this stage, Shelby County Government is in full rebellion against Governor Bill Lee’s  hands-off approach toward the latest Covid-19 upsurge, a fact reflected in a new suit filed by the county in federal district court.

The suit, filed Thursday jointly by the Shelby County Attorney’s office and by the firm of Burch, Porter, and Johnson, maintains that Lee’s recent executive order allowing parental opt-outs of any mask mandates imposed by school or governmental authority is in violation of the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment, of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021,  and of the authority of the county Health Department, which has imposed a mask mandate under the aegis of its authority and that of ARPA. 

The county’s suit seeks injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment against the Governor’s executive order. The suit cites prior statements from Lee himself affirming the value of wearing a mask as an effective prophylactic against infection by Covid and says his order makes “maintenance and order of a system of public schools impossible.”

Since Lee’s imposition of the parental opt-out order, both the administrative and legislative branches of Shelby County government have taken steps to express their opposition. Dr Michelle Taylor, Mayor Lee Harris’ newly named Health Department director, has imposed a 30-day mask order, which the Commission has affirmed by majority vote, and numerous school districts have responded likewise.

Increasingly,  citizen testimony before the Commission and other school and governmental units has tilted heavily in favor of strengthening both mask edicts and stepped-up vaccination efforts as antidotes to the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Categories
News News Blog

Weekly Covid-19 Numbers Stabilize After Sharp Rise

Source: Shelby County Health Department
Categories
Politics Politics Beat Blog

Trust in God Best Answer to Covid, Says Mississippi Governor

Governor Reeves talks as, among others, Commissioners Wright and Mills listen

If there is an ideal place in Shelby County for Republicans to feel at home and certain of their turf (both physical and psychological), it is surely the expansive country manse that Brent Taylor has built in suburban Eads and periodically offers as a haven for this or that visiting GOP dignity. Taylor, who has occupied several local governmental positions and is now chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission, has served many party dignitaries by offering them his home as the site for a fundraiser, as he did Thursday night. For Tate Reeves, governor of Mississippi.

Aside from the hospitality, the house itself — half of it a replica of the Governor’s Mansion of Texas, the other half a reconstruction of the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion, has its own charm.

7th District Congressman David Kustoff was an early speaker at the affair, making plain his disapproval of Democratic President Joe Biden’s handling of troop evacuation from Afghanistan: “A catastrophe on Biden’s watch,” he called it. “No exit plan!”

The next GOP eminence up was Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, who told the crowd, “It’s been an interesting time to be the chief election officer in the state of Tennessee, or really the chief election officer anywhere in the country. What I want to show each and every one of you is that we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we, whenever we count the votes, you know, we count them once — no more,  no less.”

Eventually, following a gracious proclamation in his honor presented  by Shelby County Commissioners Mick Wright and Amber Mills, and read aloud by Mills, there was Governor Tate Reeves, and, though he used the word “solidarity” relative to the ongoing national emergency,  he wasted no time conveying his dispraise of Biden: “Since the election of this president, I don’t know what has been worse, the execution of the removal of our troops from Afghanistan, or the execution of our southern border. Fact is this president just doesn’t understand.”

Reeves warmed quickly to what sounded like an essential credo: “I don’t always know what the future holds. But I do know who holds the future. And when you are in an elected office, you place your confidence in our Heavenly Father, and you let him provide you the strength to make the hard decisions. And everything else is what it is.”

The governor applies this lesson of faith to the ongoing Covid crisis, which finds Mississippi among the most afflicted states, both in numbers of cases and in the percentage of citizens infected.

“I’m often asked by some of my friends on the other side of the aisle regarding Covid,” Reeves said. “You know, most of them are about Covid. And why does it seem like both in Mississippi and maybe in the Mid-South people are a little less — scared, shall we say. And my response is, when you believe that living on this Earth is but a blip on the screen, you don’t have to be so scared.”

Reeves would add: “Now, God also tells us to take necessary precautions. And we all have opportunities and abilities to do that. And we should all do it. And I encourage everyone to do so.” 

After his formal remarks, the Governor would contend that the curve of new Covid cases in Mississippi has held steady for a week, and he reaffirmed his opposition to imposing state mandates for either masks or vaccines.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

The Show Will be Delayed: Ostranders on Hold

It was a tough call in a time when so many are making tough calls.

But the Ostranders — that annual celebration of Memphis theater — has been postponed. It had been scheduled for this coming Sunday but, thanks to a resurgent Covid pandemic, could be set back to October.

“We really, really debated going ahead with it, but we weren’t sure if anybody would want to come,” said Elizabeth Perkins, the event’s program coordinator. “And the whole point this year, since we had not judged any shows last year, was really to see each other and reconnect, and then honor Andy Saunders as our lifetime achievement. And if we couldn’t do that, then what was the point of doing it right now?”

Perkins is hoping to do it in October, but that all depends on availability of a venue and if the pandemic numbers have improved. The Ostranders have long been at the Orpheum, but depending on the situation, they may go for an outdoor location or a smaller celebration.

Whenever and wherever it happens, Saunders, as was announced last month, will be given the 2021 Eugart Yerian Award for Lifetime Achievement, an annual honor for a notable contributor to local theater.

In a typical year, awards are given in numerous categories along with special awards. Since there were far fewer productions in the last year, Perkins said there wouldn’t be the usual voting by judges for best actors or best screenplays or best sound or best design or any of the usual competitive categories.

“The idea was going to be it was a party with no judgment,” Perkins said. “So we had no judgment last year. And if you wanted to wear a ball gown, there would be no judgment. If you wanted to wear your pajamas, no judgment.”

She said that Jason Eschhofen, the resident sound designer at Playhouse on the Square, is putting together production numbers. And the special awards will be given. But Perkins is really hoping to be able to say, “We’re kicking off this next season of theater and Memphis and life is normal and won’t it be so great to go back to the theater!” But, as she ruefully admits, “Of course we can’t say that.”

The Ostranders ceremonies are sponsored by Memphis magazine, ArtsMemphis, and the Orpheum.

Categories
News News Blog

Family of Alvin Motley Jr. Calls for Public Release of Shooting Footage

An activist sings over megaphone. (Credit: Maya Smith).

A crowd shut down an East Memphis Kroger fuel station Thursday calling for justice for Alvin Motley Jr. who was shot and killed by a security guard there earlier this month. 

Activists, attorneys, and family members rallied in the gas station’s parking lot near Kirby and Poplar. 

“This gas station is closed for business,” activist LJ Abraham, shouted on a megaphone. “If you buy gas here today, you support racism.”

Activist LJ Abraham urges customers not to use Kroger gas pumps. (Credit: Maya Smith).

Abraham said Kroger is limiting the information they are providing and has not taken responsibility for its role in Motley’s killing. 

“They hired the security firm, therefore they hold some responsibility in the killing of Mr. Motley, but they will not speak to that,” Abraham said. “The least they can do is come out and offer a sincere apology. But then what else can they do moving forward to take care of this family?”

Others parked their cars at the fuel station, playing music from their speakers. Cardboard signs reading “Music for Motley” were displayed in windshields. 

Rally-goers used orange traffic cones to stop customers from entering the gas station. 

Pastor Peris Lester said Motley was killed for loud music, but “today we are calling for louder justice.” 

Carl Adams, Motley’s cousin, said what happened to Motley was a “cold-blooded murder.”

Motley’s cousin, Cara Adams, demands justice. (Credit: Maya Smith)

Dr. Robert Motley Jr., another cousin of Motley, said there needs to be policies in place so that other families “don’t have to suffer the way we have suffered.”

Motley was allegedly fatally shot by former Horn Lake police officer Gregory Livingston following a verbal altercation over loud music, police say. Livingston was charged with second degree murder and is currently in jail on a $1.8 million bond. 

Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk was appointed special prosecutor in the case. 

Kroger has since cut ties with Allied Universal Security, the third-party company for which Livingston worked. 

Earlier Thursday a memorial service was held for Motley at Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Motley family, called for the footage of Motley’s shooting to be released to the public. 

“When it’s a Black person lying dead on the ground and it’s a white person that killed him, we start getting all these reasons why we can’t be transparent,” Crump said. 

The footage was shown to the Motley family and attorneys Thursday morning, but Crump said there is no justification for it not to be released publicly.

“It is heart wrenching when you watch how unnecessary, how unjustifiable, and how shocking it was that this Allied Security guard shot this unarmed Black man who had a can of beer in his hand and a cigarette in the other,” Crump said. “What could be so dangerous about a Black man holding a beer can and taking a puff of a cigarette?”

Crump said there was no reason for Motley to be killed. 

“What is it about Black men that is so fearful to white America that they shoot first and ask questions later?” Crump said. “We have to continue to push for transformative justice. And the only way to get transformative justice is to have truth and transparency.”

Members of Motley’s family also urged for the video to be released. Cara Adams, Motley’s cousin, called Motley’s shooting “the worst act of white terrorism against a Black life that I have ever seen” after watching the video. 

“Situations like that are a modernized version of white terrorists who would go and lynch a Black man on the street,” Adams said. “It’s that same disdain, same distaste, same hate that’s deep-rooted in this country in a very systemic and systematic way.” 

Cars playing music filled the gas station’s parking lot. (Credit: Maya Smith)

Adams said through tears when the video is released, people will be able to feel “how little a Black life matters in this country.”

“The video really affirmed to me that in this country it’s a crime to be a Black man or a Black woman,” Adams said.