One phrase I’ve found myself repeating in my time as editor of the Flyer is that I want to be “in communication with the community.” Part of that is easy, as I send my weekly thoughts out in the form of each issue’s letter from the editor. But I want to — need to — hear from our readers as well. After all, what good is a one-sided conversation?
With that in mind, I invite our readers to complete this short survey. In any relationship, it’s healthy to check in on each other, and the reader/writer relationship is no different. By completing the survey, you’ll be entered into a chance to win some snazzy prizes, but beyond that, you’ll help us be the best publication we can be. Thank you for that.
Amy and Hayes McPherson
and Ethan McGhaughy (Photo: Comeback Coffee)
You can now order Comeback Beverage Co. canned coffee sodas online at comebackbevco.com. That means you can enjoy the sweet taste of strawberry — and lime and lemon and thyme — coffee without leaving your house.
You can, of course, still stop by Comeback Coffee and get a can along with fresh coffee and house-made pastry.
“The plan has always been taking this product and breaking outside of Memphis city limits,” says Hayes McPherson, who, along with his wife Amy, owns Comeback Coffee. “They’re doing this with beer, where the name of ‘Memphis’ is being spread in the beverage industry. And we want to do that with coffee.”
The native Memphians opened their shop in March 2019. They wanted to get in “the movement of specialty coffee that was starting to exist here,” Hayes says.
They don’t brew coffee at their shop. “We’re a multi roaster,” Amy explains. “That means we bring in coffee from all over the world.”
Food & Wine magazine named them one of “The Best Coffee Shops in America” in 2019, about six months after they opened, Hayes says. Some of that is doubtless due to the coffee itself, but some credit must go to the coffee shop. They wanted to “create a unique space for people to come together,” Amy says, “make it comfortable.”
Coffee soda, which became a staple in the coffee industry four years ago, is a “cold coffee, oftentimes with some sort of flavoring, sometimes sweet, sometimes not,” Amy says. “Ours is sweet.”
After trying other brands of coffee soda, they thought, “I think we can make this and make it better.”
“We figured out a process where we could hold onto all the good parts of coffee,” Hayes said. “Cold brews a lot of times are bitter. The coffee tastes burned or old or kind of gross.”
Their coffee sodas have sweetness from the sugar and fruit juices along with a not-overpowering coffee taste. “You get those fun flavor combinations, but you still get the caffeine kick.”
Hayes, Amy, and Ethan McGaughy, who all work on the flavor combinations, launched their strawberry-lime flavored coffee soda at the first Grind City Coffee Xpo in 2019. People “dug it,” Hayes says.
They put it on tap when they opened the shop. “And sold 10 gallons of it that first day.”
The couple launched Comeback Beverage Co. last year and began selling small batches at the shop. They sold out all 100 cans in 30 minutes the first day, Hayes says.
Comeback Beverage Co. now sells only two mainstay canned coffee sodas: “Field Day,” the original strawberry-lime drink, and their No. 1 seller, the lemon and thyme “Southern Style.”
Memphis artist Macon Wilson designed the labels.
This past year, Hayes and Amy researched “how to create a system to make bigger batches and have full control over it instead of sending it out places to get it made or relying on other folks to do it,” he says.
Now it’s all done in house. “About six months ago I started a process of buying this equipment to do this in bulk.”
Comeback Beverage Co. is in “literally a garage” connected to their shop, Hayes says. They plan to physically build out the business, though, “and help build out this district, the Pinch, a district we’ve fallen in love with.”
The Comeback crew wants their coffee sodas to be “all over the country and all over the world,” Hayes says.
“This started out as a singular drink on a coffee menu over two-and-a-half years ago. We never anticipated it would be this well received,” Hayes says. “Well, our community has supported us in ways we are so thankful for and allowed us to jump into something like this and spread it out.”
And, he says, “If it wasn’t for the city of Memphis, we would not be able to do it.”
Comeback Coffee is at 358 North Main Street; (901) 860-4215.
Plants, art, and books — the secret ingredients to a happy home. (Photo courtesy Eso Tolson)
Memphis artist Eso Tolson stays busy. Maybe you saw his “Spectacular Vernacular” exhibition, or maybe you have a T-shirt with his artfully rendered words splashed across the front. Maybe you saw his “Rediscover Memphis” cover for the 2021 edition of Memphis magazine’s annual “City Guide” issue.
But, for all that, Tolson also understands the value of rest and relaxation. Much of his art — like his “Less Grind. More Chill!” print — questions the grind ethos. Part of embracing your inner “chill” means creating an environment that soothes and inspires. For Tolson, one part of that process is, of course, art. Another part of the equation, says the self-proclaimed plant zaddy, is caring for houseplants. So I spoke with Memphis’ own Cool Urban Hippie to ask about what plant care means to him.
Eso Tolson (Photo courtesy Eso Tolson)
Memphis Flyer: First, I’ve seen you describe yourself as a “plant zaddy” — care to define that for our readers?
Eso Tolson: [Laughs] Yeah! So, a “Plant Zaddy” is someone who is very intentional about plants in their spaces. It’s not just about having a plant or two randomly in a room. It’s something that is highly curated into your space/life. It’s about style. It’s about a level of swag and expression. I’m a plant parent, but I make it look really good.
When did you get into plants?
I’ve always been fond of plants and flowers since I was a kid. I’d pick flowers and give them to my mom and people I liked and loved. I grew up with plants in the home. So, I was comfortable with the idea of caring for plants. With that being said, I didn’t get my own houseplant until four or five years ago.
What’s your favorite houseplant?
I have two, actually! They’re both golden pothos. One’s named “Chance.” The other’s name is “Man man.” They are quite beautiful. Big, full, and pretty! I’ve propagated clippings from both and created other plants. I’d like to think we’ve created a great relationship with each other.
Is there a plant you just won’t have in your house? Or are there any plant horror stories you’re willing to share?
An arrowhead plant. I tried them. For some reason, we don’t really get along. And I’m not really sure why. [Laughs] I think they are beautiful. I’ve had two in the past. I don’t have either now. Also, no plants that look like spikey blades of grass. Xanadu, my cat, will attack it every time. I had to give one away to my neighbor to keep the peace. I wasn’t gonna let a plant mess up my relationship with my cat.
I know the feeling! I have cats and houseplants. Right now it’s easy to keep them separated, but I worry about what will happen when the plants grow too big to live on the mantle. Do you have any tips for keeping pets away from your plants?
I don’t actually. [Laughs] Xanadu lives life right along with the plants. She’ll nudge a few, maybe rub up against them, but she doesn’t really bother them much. She has chewed on some before, but I feel like she was getting back at me for something. Like, telling her that she couldn’t do something that she wanted to do. How dare I? But, maybe see how they do with one plant being in their reach. Then, you can make your best judgment from there.
Being a plant person isn’t always represented as a masculine hobby, I suppose because of the nurturing aspect. I think that’s a ridiculous stereotype, but I’m interested in your thoughts on it.
Yeah, I think it’s ridiculous too. Society really be messing things up! [Laughs] There’s nothing wrong with people who identify as men caring for plants. The issue is being a man, as it relates to being “masculine,” typically means “not showing emotion,” “not being caring,” or “not being soft.” But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Besides, all people are comprised of the masculine and the feminine. So, we shouldn’t allow masculinity or femininity to interfere with our humanity. So, fellas: Get a plant. Love on it. And watch y’all grow.
I think it’s important to create a home environment that feels safe and nurturing. How do you do that for yourself?
Absolutely. Interior Designer Ilse Crawford states that we spend about 87 percent of our lives inside buildings. So, how they are designed really affects how we feel and how we behave. As I create that for myself, I make sure the space feels creative, inviting, comfortable, stimulating, and peaceful. I have wall art and a “mini library” full of books about beautiful things to keep me inspired. Thankful to have southern-facing windows to bring in natural light for both me and my plants. Lamps, candles, and music help to set the necessary mood. Declutter and organize the rooms to keep the right energy moving in the space.
Has being a plant person influenced your art-making ethos at all?
I’m not sure. It may actually be the other way around. I can say being a plant person has helped me become a better human. (Which in turn kinda makes me a better artist). So, I guess, yeah.
Do you have any tips for anyone who might be interested in getting their first houseplant?
Yes. Find the right plant for you. A lot of us think we’re not good at taking care of plants because of a bad experience with the plant or because they seem intimidating. There’s a plant for everyone. Snake plants and pothos plants are great to start with. Then, over time, you may find other plants that you can care for with similar traits. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because you’re going to.
Is there anything else you would like readers to know?
Take time to create a space in your home that feels really good. A space that is just as relaxing as it is stimulating. A space that feeds your creativity and your senses. A space that feels warm and energetic. Plants are a great way to add life and vitality to your space. Even if it takes some time to put it together, your energy and life will be transformed by the process. It’s worth it.
In this week’s issue of the Flyer, I wrote about Matt Vinson and Iris Valenzuela-Vinson’s mobile plant store, Viva La Plant Bus. To prepare for the piece, I also spoke with Amanda Willoughby and Eso Tolson, two Memphians making moves in the local art scenes, who are also well-known for their plant person status. For me, it was an absolute delight, and I hope our readers will feel the same.
I can’t remember my first “green thumb” moment. My mother, my dad, and my grandmother (we always called her Grannie) all kept houseplants and were all gardeners.
I can remember my mother darting over to some houseplant on a shelf in a restaurant and quickly snipping off a cutting to propagate it at home. Houseplants were more her forte; whereas, Grannie and my dad preferred to tend an outdoor garden. I remember picking blackberries at Grannie’s house, plucking green worms off the tomato vines, and shucking corn or snapping peas while sitting on the floor in her living room. She didn’t grow the latter two, but she traded with her neighbors.
My dad, meanwhile, turned the area around his little white house out in rural West Tennessee into something out of a storybook. That was after we lost our house in Midtown Memphis and around the time that my sister and I spent the school year in Phoenix, Arizona, with my mother. I think Dad wanted to give us something to look forward to, to transform the loss of stability into an excess of constantly transforming natural fireworks. So moss and lichen covered rocks in the yard, and dogwood trees and wildflowers blossomed between tall pine trees.
The lessons I took from my time bouncing between Memphis, Phoenix, and a little house out “in the country” are strangely similar to the lessons we, as a society at large, are refusing to learn from the last 20 months or so. The first and foremost lesson — that any community is only as healthy as its least-protected member — is not where I want to focus today. No, that’s a subject for another column; rather, I think we need to take a step back and remember that we are not separate from nature. We tend to think in binaries, to look at the world as the realm of the natural, distinct from the human-made world of cities and social hierarchies. But what we do affects the world, and the opposite is just as true.
More specifically, we’ve forgotten that all things operate in cycles. There is a growing season, but just as important is the time when a field lies fallow. Nutrients in the soil will be depleted, and quickly, if it’s made to overproduce. And the same hardy cacti that thrive in the arid Sonoran Desert will rot in Tennessee humidity. Plants are not one-size-fits-all. Nor are we meant to operate at the same capacity every day, but that’s what has been expected of nearly everyone during a global pandemic. We’ve seen mass death, but we haven’t allowed ourselves time to grieve.
Of course, these issues impact everyone to a different degree. Remote work isn’t always ideal, but it’s possible in the field of journalism. The same can’t be said for every job. And it seems to me to be one of our greatest failings that we demanded the economy to operate as usual, that goods and services should be as readily available as ever. We have built a system unable to tolerate the slightest disruption, and one that serves very few of us.
Many of the individual problems we’re struggling to address are symptomatic of this larger ailment, this refusal to admit that humans need time in which they aren’t required to be productive. I hope we can, instead of returning to normal, find a way to be better, to shape our economic system and social structures to benefit each of us.
Natasha Rawls with her 1927 Underwood No. 5 typewriter (Photo: Natasha Rawls)
Natasha Rawls, author of Abandoned North and South Memphis: What’s Left Behind, bought her first antique typewriter in 2013 from eBay, but when she realized her typewriter didn’t work despite the seller’s claim, she left it at a shop to get fixed, where the worker there told her he couldn’t. She left it there permanently, $85 down the drain. At the time, she was a single parent, worked two jobs, and had written two self-published novels.
But this February, after the death of a few loved ones due to Covid, Rawls bought her next typewriter and then another and another, until she accumulated the 45 she has now. “I had to learn how to fix them by going to YouTube University,” she says. “It was therapeutic for me.” During this time, she also found a typewriter community online that helped her figure out the ins and outs of the machines. She even participates in a weekly typewriter club.
Now, all but two of Rawls’ typewriters are working as smoothly as they did back in the day. Her oldest is an Oliver Typewriter from 1915, and her most recent is a 1980s cursive electronic model. “Each typewriter has its own personality. They inspire you in different ways,” she says. “My favorite for the past few weeks has been the 1926 Remington 12. … And I have to wonder — and I know this is morbid — what’s going to happen to my typewriters when I’m gone.”
To share her love of typewriters, Rawls has organized a Type Out at Cordova Library for the public to try out all her typewriters. “You can type on them, and there’ll be a typing contest and different little activities,” she says. “And you can bring your own typewriters, too.”
Type out, Cordova Library, 8457 Trinity, Saturday, November 20th, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., free.
For nearly two decades, New Ballet Ensemble has been performing its take on Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with its NutRemix. Set on Beale Street, this performance blends ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, flamenco, Memphis Jookin, and West African dance while the Memphis Symphony Orchestra puts a fresh spin on the original score.
“After a year not on our stage, a lot of our students are coming back, and the show is coming back to life and the love will emanate off the stage,” says Katie Smythe, New Ballet CEO and artistic director who conceived of the show back in 2003. “And the NutRemix is all about love, which is always needed.”
Since its inception, the production has gone through a few minor changes, but it’s always stuck to the same story. “In 2003, you had to be pretty explicit and didactic about social justice themes. It angered some audiences members, and it thrilled others,” Smythe says. “Now, we feel like people come to this show because they want to see this human tapestry on the stage. They embrace it for its diversity, and we’re going to dig deeper into the cultural diversity by bringing in experts of the art forms.”
For next year’s performance, the ensemble plans to explore Colombian, Indian, and Congolese dance. “This year is sort of a fond farewell to the genres that have been in Act II,” Smythe says, “and next year we’re gonna embrace some new genres which is a huge education for our audience, for our dancers, for our students, and for me.”
New Ballet’s NutRemix, Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, 225 N. Main, Saturday, November 20th, 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, November 21st, 2:30 p.m., $20-$45.
Sheriff Floyd Bonner had ample reason to feel satisfied last week. Previously he had been informed that the Republicans would not include his office in their 2022 primary elections. And on Wednesday of last week, he was treated as something of a conquering hero by a large crowd of rank-and-file Democrats and candidates for other offices at a party forum.
Indeed, Bonner spoke early, as a de facto head of the party ticket, at the forum, which was sponsored at the Great Hall of Germantown by District 4 (Germantown, Cordova) of the Shelby County Democratic Party. And he was well applauded.
Yet all is not sunny weather for the sheriff. He is currently vexed by the matter of the county jail, as he made plain in his remarks at the forum. In effect, Bonner made a somewhat desperate-sounding plea, asking that those present help him in rounding up candidates to work at the jail, promising a $5,000 bonus for anyone applying and accepted, to go with a salary in the $40,000 range.
“And they can be 18 years old,” he said.
The sheriff did not mention another fact about the jail — that he has been the subject of a suit filed by the ACLU on behalf of the inmate population, which, according to the suit, is seriously underserved in the matter of protection from the ravages of Covid-19. Bonner is also bound by a consent decree to remedy the matter, overseen by federal Judge Sheryl Lipman, who finds both staff and inmates, a small minority of whom are vaccinated, to be in “deep peril.” (Three deputy jailers have died from Covid, and numerous inmates have become seriously ill.) Lipman has issued a follow-up order denying a motion by the sheriff to suspend the decree.
Supporters of the ACLU action succeeded in getting a resolution critical of the sheriff’s inaction on the agenda of the SCDP’s executive committee Thursday night, but it was rejected 21 to 3, with members of the majority proclaiming a reluctance to impose judgment on the sheriff’s prerogatives. And clearly the realpolitik of 2020 electoral politics played a role in the outcome.
The court order remains, however, as does the resolve of local activists demanding compliance.
As this week began, Sheriff Bonner, who won all the votes last week, lost one. The first reading of a resolution to raise his annual pay from $164,765 to $199,500 failed in the Shelby County Commission by a vote of two ayes, two noes, and seven abstentions. The magic number would have been nine, a two-thirds majority.
Don Lee, Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, and Lia McHugh star as immortal beings who’ve shaped human history.
Among those who care about such things, Jack Kirby is considered the greatest comic book artist of all time. The King had his first breakthrough when he designed Captain America in 1941; then, after pausing to land on Omaha Beach with the U.S. Army, he drew everything from romance stories to horror comics. When he teamed up with Stan Lee to create The Fantastic Four in 1961, it signaled the beginning of a new era for the medium. Since he drew an estimated 12,000 pages for Marvel and at the height of his popularity up to two million copies of his work were printed each week, he is arguably one of the most seen artists of any kind.
Throughout his career, Kirby had an adversarial relationship with his publishers. And for good reason — he certainly wasn’t paid like the most seen artist in history. After a groundbreaking decade with Marvel, he jumped ship for DC in the early 1970s, then returned to Stan Lee’s bullpen after he was promised total creative control. Even after his 1994 death, his estate kept fighting for recognition. Kirby’s work provided almost all of the characters that have made up the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from the Hulk to Black Panther, so needless to say, there’s been a lot of litigation.
By the time Kirby returned to Marvel in the mid-’70s, his style had evolved considerably from the clean lines of the “BAM!” and “POW!” era. One of his first projects was an adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey that somehow managed to be even more psychedelic than the original. During this period, his pet project was the Eternals, which contained some of the most incredible images ever seen in the medium. It was less Batman, more Van Gogh. Kirby had become obsessed with classical mythology, so his new characters like Ikaris and Sersi, a group of practically immortal aliens who had shepherded humanity’s progress over the centuries, were presented as the real-life inspirations for the old legends. The story was almost beside the point. Kirby was in it for the art. Now, Eternals is venerated, but in the mid-’70s, the comic book was canceled after less than two years.
Now that the MCU’s first generation of heroes are retired, out of contract, and suing, the cultural juggernaut is reaching for new IP to exploit. Since the world is presumably not ready for the disco-themed superhero the Dazzler (try me, Kevin Feige) it’s the Eternals’ turn in the $200 million spotlight. Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan), Ajak (Salma Hayek), and Thena (Angelina Jolie) show up on Earth at the dawn of civilization to defend us ascended apes from the Deviants, a mutated race of aliens who prey on emerging intelligent life. They were sent here by Arishem, a Celestial being who has big plans for the Earth. The early going is the most interesting part of the film, as we learn that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built over the Eternals’ starship Domo. The Eternals have standing instructions not to interfere with humanity, but they frequently bend the rules to do things like introduce the concept of the plow to early farmers. But as technology progresses, it becomes harder and harder to ignore the consequences of humanity’s aggressive nature paired with increasingly deadly technology. Director Chloe Zhao’s most striking sequence is set during the sack of Tenochtitlan by the Spanish in 1521, where the alien gods debate their responsibility while slaughter rages around them.
Zhao won the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars in 2020 for Nomadland. She is undoubtedly a talented director, but her strengths turn out to be the exact opposite of what Eternals requires. In Nomadland, she and Frances McDormand created one of the deepest characters in recent film history using subtlety and restraint. In superhero land, that translates to a lot of standing around stiffly. Zhao loves to use natural light and has an eye for sweeping landscapes. There’s nothing “natural” about Jack Kirby’s decadent ’70s phase. The psychedelic color pop of characters like the six-eyed space god Arishem is completely absent. It might not be so bad if there was a compelling story to tell, but that’s just not Eternals’ strong suit. There’s no reason this film needed to be 2.5 hours long.
Frankly, this is not Zhao’s fault. A live-action Eternals was always doomed. The only way to do this property justice would be an animated movie that put Kirby’s gloriously busy compositions in motion. It would be a barely coherent riot of colors with limited commercial potential, but at least it wouldn’t be boring.
Iris Valenzuela-Vinson and Matt Vinson (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)
It’s a brisk but sunny November Saturday as Memphians wander among the booths at the Broad Avenue Artwalk. A performer croons a sad, slow song over the clean tones of a softly strummed electric guitar. At Sugar Ghost Ice Cream and Bubble Tea, the line of customers stretches out the door and onto the sidewalk.
“This is the best idea ever,” says a woman wearing a Memphis Tigers sweatshirt as she ducks her way into Viva La Plant Bus, parked next to the Falling Into Place gift shop. Inside the bus, pothos vines dangle from shelves along the walls, and snake plants and other leafy greenery reach toward the vibrantly decorated ceiling. It’s a bus; it’s a plant store; according to one Tigers fan, it might be the best idea ever. It’s Viva La Plant Bus, the mobile plant store owned and operated by the husband-and-wife duo of Matt Vinson and Iris Valenzuela-Vinson.
(Photos: Justin Fox Burks)
Transplants: From Texas to Tennessee Matt originally hails from Fort Worth, Texas, but in 2012 — before traveling to Memphis — he moved the 2,000 miles to Portland, Oregon. “I am originally from El Paso, Texas,” Iris says. “Same as Matt — in 2012 I moved to Portland, Oregon. We didn’t know each other at the time, but I think he moved there about a month before I did. I went to art school out there. I just kind of loved it and decided to go to school out there.”
The two met in 2015 at the Toyota dealership where they were both employed. Matt worked in the service department and Iris was a receptionist, so they didn’t cross paths often. That is, until a faulty tire brought Iris to Matt’s department. “She thought I was a pretty cute guy,” Matt says.
“I pursued him after I left the job,” Iris says with a laugh. Matt quips, “He’s from Texas, he can change a tire, what else do you need?”
As the romance progressed, the couple discovered they shared a goal — to own and operate their own business. “Knowing we wanted to be small business owners one day is something we bonded over very quickly,” Iris says. “I think that’s something that has always stuck with us. Living in Portland, small businesses very much meant community for both of us.”
Iris and Matt married in 2018. A year later, the young couple picked up and moved to Memphis. They were ready for a change, Matt says, and being in Memphis turned a multi-day drive to visit family in Texas into a more manageable six-hour drive. The Texas transplants say they love Memphis, though they did have to do a little bit of adjusting.
“Definitely the biggest change for us would be the weather,” Matt says. “The first summer was definitely — ”
“Brutal,” they say in unison. “We ended up in a rental that wasn’t that great, that we didn’t get a chance to see before we got here. So the first summer was sweaty.”
Before long, the couple began to thrive in a new environment, and the experience with the not-so-great rental home would later help inform their business. Houseplants are, after all, one simple way to brighten a dreary space. “They go to each place with you,” Iris says of her houseplants, noting the difference between, say, a favorite satin-leaf pothos or a dilapidated couch or a piece of furniture that might be too heavy or expensive to move, especially across the country. But, as Iris says, “Your plant, you just always make room for them.”
Rooted in community and creativity, Iris Valenzuela-Vinson and Matt Vinson’s Viva La Plant Bus plants seeds of wonder and excitement, no matter where the couple brings their business.
On the Bus “Plants are definitely my thing. I will take that credit,” Iris admits. When she was a child, she saw them at her grandparents’ house. “I was very lucky to grow up very close to them, within five minutes probably, so we spent a lot of time with them. And both my grandparents are huge plant people,” she remembers. “That’s just something that’s always been around me.” The passion persists, both in Iris and in her relatives. In fact, her grandfather is about to turn 90, and he still maintains a large collection of plants.
“My grandparents had everything. I remember they had a lime tree and then aloe vera plants everywhere, of course, because we were in the desert so they grow so easily. And a lot of houseplants, too. That was very much my grandmother’s little touches,” Iris says.
Hearkening back to her childhood, one of Matt and Iris’ goals with Viva La Plant Bus, Iris says, is “being a representation for Latinx culture in the community. That was a very important thing for us and was definitely the whole theme for the bus. It’s been really cool to create an environment that’s based on my culture and really celebrates it.
“We definitely have a lot of customers who come out and are really excited to see a space that is familiar to them,” Iris says. “It’s been great, too, to connect to other Latinx business owners, like Mili’s Flower Truck. She’s been really great.” Mili opened some communication lines with other local businesses when Matt and Iris were first launching the plant bus, and the couple says they’re still grateful for the connections.
“The reception has been overwhelmingly positive, so we’ve been excited about that,” Matt adds.
Let It Grow: Love, Plants, and Business Beginning a business is no small thing, even in the best of times. Launching a relatively new concept — plants? on a bus? — during a pandemic is another level of risk. Add to that equation that Matt and Iris were new in town, both worked other jobs, and that Matt’s job was supervising the opening of a new Tesla location; the mind-boggling effort that went into Viva La Plant Bus begins to clarify.
“It’s been very challenging to say the least,” Matt says, with a touch of modesty. “We both have our weekly jobs, and on the weekends it’s the plant bus,” he continues. “During the week, Iris maintains and builds up the plants that we have. And we’re working on social media and marketing during the week as well. It’s been a lot of evenings and dinners discussing bus- and business-related things. It’s been challenging, but it’s been really fun.”
Of course, as any small business owner or indie band member will confess, the business will wind its way into one’s personal life as well, ignoring the delineation of so-called “business hours” and creeping like kudzu vines. So, even though there’s a whole bus devoted to Iris and Matt’s business, so, too, has it claimed a room of their house.
“We have converted our spare bedroom into a plant studio. We currently have five three-tier shelves full of plants and plant lights. It’s a lot to maintain during the week,” Iris says. She spends time each day repotting plants, watering them, and adding little Viva La Plant Bus touches to their pots and containers. “I get so much joy out of seeing my plants grow and thrive,” Iris says, admitting that she celebrates every time one of her plants gets a new leaf. “That’s the everyday — maintaining plants, making sure things are healthy and pest-free — and at night I’m a bartender.”
Challenges aside, Iris and Matt have enjoyed building the business together. There are times they get on each other’s nerves, they admit, but they think it’s good to have something to work on together.
“It does get me away from the worries of the daily work at my job,” Matt says. “It’s a good thing to do in our ‘free’ time. It’s something we’ve been doing together, and it’s been really enjoyable.”
“Saturday is typically our pop-up day. Saturday morning is get up, take care of the dogs, and start loading plants,” Iris says. They spend Saturday mornings watering plants, putting them on “huge trays,” and getting them on the bus. The pop-ups usually last about six hours, then it’s time to drive home, unload the bus, and take inventory of unsold stock.
Flowers in the Window “I saw the bus for sale from a brand that was selling Mexican huaraches,” Iris says, “and they were on that next step for their business, so giving up their bus.” The bus already had the trellis roof with greenery, and it had been partially converted into a retail space. “It already had the Mexican upholstery in the back and that green wall, and I just immediately thought ‘a plant bus,’” Iris says. “It’s a no-brainer.”
So Iris and Matt put their plant plan into action. They purchased the bus in February of this year, picked it up from Los Angeles in April, and opened for business in August. Since then, it’s been a process, as their business began to take root and thrive in Memphis.
“I think honestly we’re just taking it day by day,” Iris says. “We’ve just really been enjoying where this is taking us and are excited to see what is possible for the plant bus. I don’t think we have any intention of opening a brick-and-mortar.” They enjoy the mobility the bus offers — and keeping costs low, for themselves and for their customers. It’s nice, Iris and Matt admit, not having to pay rent for a storefront. That was also a factor in working up the courage to take the leap on a new business in a pandemic.
“We didn’t have to deal with the insecurity of ‘Are we going to be able to cover rent? Are we going to maintain a lease? Are we going to have people come into our store?’” Matt explains. Of course, there were still challenges — and reasons to be nervous — but the bus felt like a safer investment. So they kept an eye on the future. They weren’t sure if people would want to go out, but if the customers did appear (and they did), Viva La Plant Bus would be ready.
As Iris and Matt’s bus has tooled around Memphis, they have built a customer base, and the pair say that business has been going well. What’s most important to them, though, is creating a space to foster wonder and excitement. They want people to learn the joys of caring for plants, that it’s not as difficult or as frightening as it might appear, and to transport their customers, if only for a little while, to a place where even something as mundane as a bus can be magical.
“People love the bus,” Iris says. “It’s just such an experience.” Viva La Plant Bus will be at Soul & Spirits Brewing Saturday, November 27th; Frances Berry-Moreno Open Studio Saturday, December 4th; and Memphis Modern Market at Saddle Creek Sunday, December 5th. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram at @vivalaplantbus.
Plant Care with Amanda
Amanda Willoughby is co-owner of Not Your Ordinary Films production company. She’s also the lead video facilitator for Memphis Public Libraries at CLOUD901 Teen Learning Lab and the Mentor Program Coordinator and the Black Creators Forum/Festival Producer at Indie Memphis. Her film skills are put to use in a myriad of ways, not the least of which is in managing her @planty.droppers Instagram account, where she waters her houseplants in seductive slow-motion.
Her videos turn routine plant care into something steamier — and generally more entertaining. Now she’s a recurring guest on Action News 5’s “Bluff City Life” segment, where she shares her tips for keeping houseplants healthy and thriving. We asked her to share a few tips with our readers who might be interested in taking the plunge into houseplant parenthood.
Memphis Flyer:First, I have to say I’m a huge fan of your Instagram page @planty.droppers. It’s hilarious and also pretty satisfying to watch plants get watered. What gave you the idea for that?
Amanda Willoughby: I came up with the idea for @planty.droppers out of sheer boredom one day at home. I started recording some of my plant care and got a little creative with the shots. And then came the music! I personally thought they were cool and just kept the videos to myself for a while and made them for my own entertainment. Then I figured, if I like these so much, why not share them for other people to see? Turns out other people liked it too!
How did you get into caring for houseplants?
About five years ago I was given a handful of houseplants and managed to kill them all. After that, determined to keep plants alive, I bought more and learned how to properly care for them. I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials. I also really loved the way they looked as home decor. Somehow, this grew into an obsession with having plants in my house, in every room. The slightly improved air quality is also a plus.
Do you have a favorite plant to care for?
Yes! Jade plants! They’re so beautiful. The jades are my oldest plants, and they don’t require much attention. Jades grow slowly, but they are easy to manipulate into desired shapes and patterns. I have about seven bonsai jade trees that are my pride and joy. They’re also really easy to propagate, so I’ve given several jade babies away as gifts.
I propagate my pothos, but I’ve never tried with anything else. Do you have any tips for propagating plants?
Have patience. Other plants, such as succulents, take more time to grow roots. Sometimes it can take months, so be sure to research the proper way to propagate each of your plants. Trust mother nature to do her thing, and enjoy the process.
Are there any tips you would give to new plant parents?
Research the care for every plant you acquire (light, soil, and watering needs). In the beginning, I made the mistake of treating all of my plants the same, which is the reason many of them died. They each have their own needs and an ideal environment for thriving. Be sure you can accommodate those needs in your home.
Where can Memphians see what you’ve got growing?
You can check out my bimonthly segment all about plant parenting on “Bluff City Life.” And of course, follow my plants on IG.
Is there anything else you want people to know?
A green thumb is not something that comes to people naturally. It’s a skill that anyone can learn. So, if it interests you, try it out and see where that leads you. Being a plant mom has taught me a lot about how nature operates, and I’ve grown to have the utmost respect for mother nature. It’s pretty cool that the skills that are necessary for plant care (patience, understanding, logic) can help us in so many other areas of life.
When I started working at what is now Kindred Place, one of the first items on my to-do list was planning and executing the annual fundraising event, known at the time as the Hands of Hope auction. Since we were writing the next chapter of a 35-year-old organization, refining the strategy and messaging, we spent some time looking in the archives, carefully sorting through what had and hadn’t worked well in the past as we prepared for the future.
One of the ideas we unearthed in the dig was the “Box of Hopes and Dreams” component of past auctions. Many years prior, artists had hand-painted wooden boxes, and in the boxes were notes from our clients — both children and adults — about their hopes and dreams.
One member of our board, who’d been around long enough to have seen many of our annual events, showed us the Box of Hopes and Dreams on his credenza and talked about how he felt every time he saw it. In that one simple item he had a tangible reminder of how his support for our work helped make hopes and dreams come true for people he would probably never meet. It inspired him to keep working, keep helping, keep dreaming of a better future for all people.
The ability to imagine a future and better version of oneself is, according to several research studies, an asset that can contribute to moving from poverty to economic self-sufficiency. Dreams, paired with more practical things like food, housing, and safety, are fuel. Dreams feed momentum.
We brought back the idea, albeit in a slightly different format. Volunteers hand-painted wooden birdhouses, and the theme of that section of the auction was “Help Dreams Take Flight.” In the little round opening of each birdhouse we planned to insert a rolled-up note from a client (child or adult) about their dreams.
As the auction date drew near, we had far more birdhouses than notes. I knew it wasn’t likely or even appropriate to get a note from every client, but I was surprised by how few there were. I asked about it during our weekly staff meeting, wanting to know more about how people were approaching the conversation and asking for the notes. How had we done it in the past? What was different now?
“The people I’m working with don’t have dreams,” one therapist finally offered. “They don’t know how to dream, can’t imagine beyond the basic, practical needs of right now. That’s always been true for some people, but now it’s true for so many more.”
That’s the effect of trauma, stress, and unmet basic needs, including — and possibly most importantly — lack of loving support and human connection.
But before you go thinking that this situation describes only “other people,” people you drive by at freeway intersections or see behind dumpsters at the coffee shop, consider another story.
Earlier this year, I was working with a group of highly educated, well-resourced professionals on a change management process. They were stuck, and I wasn’t making much progress. With a colleague’s help I decided to try a loosely structured Appreciative Inquiry exercise, starting by asking each member of the group to identify one cherished memory from the past that they dreamed of repeating in the future.
At first, I was met with silence. Then someone said: “Honestly, thinking about the things I enjoyed in the past just makes me overwhelmingly sad. I don’t have any dreams for the future. I’m just trying to get by one day at a time, and that’s hard enough.”
We’re dealing with trauma, stress, and unmet needs, particularly the lack of loving support and human connection. And “dreams” as a word is a long-inequitable and complicated term — dreams deferred, and dreams denied.
It is easy, perhaps, to think of dreams and dreaming as an individual activity, something each one of us does, or doesn’t do, all in the privacy of our own individual minds.
But dreams aren’t solo work. They’re too risky, require too much vulnerability for anyone to dare have one without the companion belief that something — or someone — will be there to soften the fall if the dream doesn’t come true. Loving, supportive human relationships are the safety nets that allow the risk of dreaming.
Each of us has the power to be that safety net for the people in our lives, our intimate partners, our children, our family members, our colleagues, and our friends. Harnessing that power sometimes requires self-compassion and healing first. We have to be present for ourselves before we can be present for others.
Love begins at home, metaphorically and literally. If we are truly to “reimagine” Memphis, then we must ensure every child, every parent, every person has what they need to make dreaming possible in the first place.
Jennifer Balink is the executive director of Kindred Place, a counseling, coaching, and education center for confident parenting and healthy behaviors.
