Cellist Gabriel Hightower and violinist Pedro Maia (Photo courtesy Iris Orchestra)
When violinist Pedro Maia and cellist Gabriel Hightower take the stage at The Green Room at Crosstown Arts tomorrow evening, they’ll finally be able to exhale. Named as the 2021-22 Iris Artist Fellows months ago, they’ve since faced an uncertain year ahead as the pandemic altered performance and educational expectations again and again. But now their work is at last coming to its fruition.
Performing as the Iris Artist Fellows Ensemble, Maia and Hightower will reveal how they’ve perfected playing as a duo, with a diverse set spanning the French avant-garde, Brazilian dance and traditional classical. All pieces were curated especially for the intimate listening space of The Green Room.
The Iris Artist Fellowship Program, now in its sixth year, is a 10-month full-time residency position that mixes professional training with instruction, in-the-field experience, and networking opportunities. The program is designed to assist rising Black, African American, or Latino musicians who are about to embark on their professional careers in classical music.
“We designed the fellowship to help bridge a gap in the classical music world,” Iris Orchestra Artistic Director Michael Stern said. “We are looking for not only skilled classical musicians but also those musicians who have a real passion for music as a tool to impact society. Our fellows participate in community engagement programs that impact the Greater Memphis community, particularly those that promote education, mentorship, and social equity.”
Each of the program’s eight alumni has gone on to pursue a full-time career in the classical music industry. “We’re pleased to be a part of the journey for these talented and dedicated musicians,” said Rebecca Arendt, director of the Iris Artist Fellowship. “We’ve learned a lot and that knowledge has helped to refine and evolve the program, and we’re thrilled we’ve been able to continue it — even during the pandemic year — thanks to our supporters and our partner, Memphis Music Initiative.”
Maia and Hightower have embraced the teaching and performing fellowship with gusto. In addition to performing with Iris Orchestra in October, they performed as a duo at a pop-up concert in the Memphis Medical District, a music time event for Memphis Oral School for the Deaf, and a Halloween family concert at the Morton Museum in Collierville. The fellows also work in the Shelby County Schools as teaching artists with the Memphis Music Initiative (MMI).
“In Memphis, we enjoy a rich musical history and heritage; we’re known for it around the world,” said Mike Mosby, fellows coach for MMI. “But there’s not a lot of emphasis on the string or orchestra instruments in the schools. Our partnership with the Iris Artist Fellows has allowed our Black and brown students to work with and to learn from skilled musicians who look like them. Working with Pedro and Gabriel on my team is a privilege, and we’re grateful for the rich experience they provide to these kids.”
The Iris Artist Chamber Concert featuring the Iris Artist Fellows Ensemble takes place Thursday, November 11th, at The Green Room at Crosstown Arts. General admission, $10; students, $5. Doors, 7 p.m.
It’s hard not to feel somewhat giddy after the Memphis Tigers’ season-opening win Tuesday night at FedExForum. With the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech playing the role of lamb, Tiger coach Penny Hardaway unleashed his pair of five-star lions — freshmen Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren — and watched the home team roar to an 89-65 victory that was never in doubt. The crowd of 13,000 barely seemed to glance at the NIT championship banner unveiled before the opening tip. There are bigger prizes, surely, ahead. (As with blue-chip recruits, the Tigers have a surplus of flags hanging from the FedExForum rafters. With the new addition, you can gaze at 19 NIT banners. But that’s another column, for another day.)
Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant had a courtside seat for this show. Perhaps more importantly, so did Bates’s father. Neither fan left disappointed. Bates hit six of his nine shots (including four three-pointers) and dished out four assists (one a no-look feed to Duren for a first-half dunk) in 30 minutes of action. Duren hit seven of his ten shots (most of the rim-rattling variety), pulled down six rebounds and blocked five shots in 31 minutes of action. In a rare convergence of hype and reality, the stars were stars Tuesday night and, for now, all is well in “Tiger Nation.”
But don’t tell Hardaway. According to the fourth-year coach, the Tigers didn’t capitalize on fast breaks as they should have. “Our subs weren’t ready to play,” he added. (More on that in bit.) Once the Tigers took a big lead — they scored the game’s first 13 points — some players “went through the motions,” according to the coach, allowing Tennessee Tech to stay within reach on the scoreboard. This was quibbling, a coach’s first motivational tool after a blowout win. A team dripping in freshman talent won its first game by 24 points . . . but has another game to play Saturday night. Fix that fast break!
How deep is the 12th-ranked Tigers’ talent? Swingman Landers Nolley earned first-team all-conference honors last season, when he led Memphis in scoring. Nolley came off the bench Tuesday night (and scored 10 points in 20 minutes). Josh Minott — merely a four-star freshman — hit three of four shots and scored seven points in 13 minutes. And Hardaway’s son, Jayden, delivered eight points and three steals in 13 minutes. All three players would start for many of the Tigers’ opponents this season.
A roster that appeared 15 deep in the preseason has already been shaved to 13 players, with Hardaway confirming after Tuesday’s game that freshmen Sam Onu and Johnathan Lawson will redshirt this season to retain a year of eligibility. Four players who are not redshirting each saw minimal playing time in the opener: Malcolm Dandridge, Chandler Lawson, Tyler Harris, and John Camden. This is the abundance of riches — and egos — Hardaway must manage for 29 more regular-season games, a conference tournament, and (giddy hope) an NCAA tournament run.
And there is room for improvement, even for Bates (age 17) and Duren (who turns 18 on November 18th). Between the dunks Duren completed Tuesday night, he actually missed one, and committed an offensive foul, when he tried to jump over a defender.When asked about the misplay after the game, Duren smiled and said, “The missed dunk . . . that won’t happen too often.” Stars as confident as they are talented. Tiger basketball is back, and then some.
Carmen Maria Machado (Credit: Art Streiber / AUGUST)
This week, Memphis will be graced with a reading by a world-class author of fiction and memoir — Carmen Maria Machado. The author will give a reading at the University of Memphis, along with a lecture on craft, and we had the honor of an interview in advance of her visit.
In Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties, she defies genre and writes stories that read like fables and urban legends. “At first everyone blamed the fashion industry, then the millennials, and, finally, the water,” Machado writes in “Real Women Have Bodies,” in which an epidemic has young girls fading away, to translucence and then to nothing. Even though pandemics and climate change and words like “millennials” root the collection in the present moment, there’s an air of timelessness to it as well, as if these stories have always been told somewhere, in some form.
In a sense they have. These are tales of girls and women who have been taught to fear, and of how it feels to fully inhabit a body, to feel love and lust, to be the madwoman in one’s own attic.
Her Body and Other Parties
Memphis Flyer:Have you always been a reader? Have you always been interested in stories?
Carmen Maria Machado: Yes, I was a reader from the very beginning. My parents were not huge readers themselves but very much believed in the value of reading — someone read to me every night, whether it was my mom or dad or my great-grandmother. When did you begin writing? As soon as I could pick up a pencil, I was writing my own stories and poems, often riffing on writers I loved (like Roald Dahl and Shel Silverstein).
“Brides never fare well in stories. Stories can sense happiness and snuff it out like a candle.” I was really struck by those lines in “The Husband Stitch.” Can you talk about the importance of stories in that piece? “The Husband Stitch” is a story about stories; the stories we tell ourselves to survive, to be happy, to make sense of a world determined not to make sense. But stories are also unruly; they can shift and evolve, come to mean things you wouldn’t expect, take on new context. Ultimately, it’s a story about how stories can’t save us.
I know people who make lists to help with anxiety, and I couldn’t help thinking about them when I read “Inventory.” Does the narrator focus on these details to help banish the pandemic in the story to the margins? I think so? I’m also a list-maker and I’ve always been fascinated by the form; how you can see around a list, or use it to play with foregrounding and backgrounding as a literary technique.
I notice that sometimes your characters are unnamed. What made you decide to leave their names unspoken? I think it’s because I write a lot of first-person stories and I don’t always think of my protagonist as someone who needs to be named.
Much of the collection seems rooted in the physicality of women’s bodies. What is the significance of the disappearing girls and women in “Real Women Have Bodies”? The title seems to draw a line toward supposedly body-positive messaging that nonetheless excludes many women — and is rooted in consumerism and fetishization of women, rather than in reality. Am I way off the mark here? No! This is one of many stories of mine that directly came from its title. I was thinking about the phrase “real women have curves,” which (as you say) comes from a body-positive place but is fundamentally broken as a philosophy. I remember thinking, “Real women have bodies,” and then liking it as a phrase, and writing it down. Eventually the story just unspooled from there.
Since the upcoming event at the University of Memphis will have a craft interview component, I want to talk a little bit about your process. Can you talk a little bit about what it means to be a working writer today? I have been incredibly lucky; I’m pretty much having a dream career as a writer in every respect. The fact that I can support myself with my writing is truly incredible, and I get to dive into passion projects constantly. That being said, a lot of writers don’t have that luxury; being a working writer can be extremely difficult, and in the U.S. we have so little support for artists. And trying to do all of it during a pandemic and climate crisis? It’s amazing anything gets written at all.
Is there anything you’ve learned about writing (and querying, submitting, etc.) that you wish you had known when you were younger? There’s no rush to submit or publish. Make the best work you can make; the rest will come later.
I was fortunate enough to get to interview Tayari Jones a few years ago, and she told me, “I believe that people with the most important stories don’t have time to write every day.” Would you agree with that? That’s a very bold statement! I agree with the sentiment if not the sentence itself. Certainly people whose lives don’t permit them massive swaths of time to write every day have stories worth telling, and we would be a better society if we supported them. (Also, the idea that one has to write every day to be successful is very silly; I don’t write every day, and I never have.)
Is there anything else you would like to talk about or make sure readers know?Nope! Thank you so much — I can’t wait to come to Memphis.
Carmen Maria Machado will give a reading of her work on Thursday, November 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the University of Memphis UC Theatre. She will give a craft interview the next day at noon in Patterson Hall 456. Both are free and open to the public.
Tatine hangs with Al Yankovic. (Photo: Bruce VanWyngarden)
Facebook is a daily presence in my life and has been since 2010 when I joined the social medium to post pictures of a trip my wife and I took to the Grammys in Los Angeles. I remember I created an “album” of photos, each carefully captioned: the beach at Malibu; the HOLLYWOOD sign; Tatine meeting Weird Al Yankovic. So exciting!
It was around this time, I suppose, that most of us basically stopped shooting pictures with a camera. You remember that tedious process: You’d take your film to Walgreens, then wait a few days to go pick up your developed pictures (along with the negatives, in case you wanted to go crazy and print another copy). Then you’d sit out in the parking lot, looking through your vacation shots or whatever. No filters, no enhancements. What Walgreens gave you is what you got. How crude.
Now, our phones take care of all of that. Instant sharing! Filters! Video! No more dusty sleeves of old photos stuck in drawers. And Facebook has all our shots organized by date and subject matter and helpfully suggests reposting them as “memories” for us, so we can amuse/bore our friends all over again.
Around the world, three billion people are using Facebook to advertise their lives, faces, interests, writing, families, gardens, pets, food, businesses, music, vacations, politics. And Facebook uses all that free information we provide to make mega-billions of dollars from companies that want to advertise to us. It is a marketing behemoth with algorithms so advanced, you’d swear they’re reading our thoughts. That’s because they are, literally — the ones we write down for them. We are Facebook’s product and they’re getting top dollar for us, but we don’t seem to much care. Check out my new shoes, y’all!
Facebook has made some huge blunders. When the company pushed for a “pivot” to video in 2015, thousands of journalists were laid off, replaced by video “content providers.” Three years later, Facebook had to tell advertisers (and newspapers and media organizations) that video was not working as they’d promised. People actually preferred reading to being spoon-fed videos. Oops, said Mr. Zuckerberg, give us some journalism again, please.
And the company seems a little touchy these days, given all the bad press it’s gotten regarding its failure to remove political disinformation and racist, white-supremacist content from its platform. I have a friend who was reprimanded by the Facebook popo last week for using the word “Chubby” in referencing the Sixties singer, Chubby Checker. Yes, it’s his name, but it breached some sort of algorithmic dog whistle. I’m guessing that typing “Porky Pig” would definitely get you 30 days in the hole.
Two weeks ago, I wrote a column about the daily emails I get from Donald Trump. The Flyer art director illustrated the column with an image of a Trump fundraising ad that had been emailed to me. Normally, when I post my column on Facebook on Wednesday morning, I start getting comments, likes, etc., within minutes, mainly because I’m followed by a few hundred people, so it shows up in their news feed. That week, however, nothing. By mid-morning, I’d had two comments, maybe three or four likes. Facebook was obviously suppressing the distribution of the column.
When I figured it out and changed the art, things got back to normal quickly, but it gave me a real sense of how much Facebook can shape what all of us read in our news feeds — for good or evil.
Here’s hoping they’re as vigilant at stopping nazi memes and hate speech as they are at keeping Donald Trump from getting a free ad — and at protecting Chubby Checker’s feelings.
Rachel Cendrick as Ada (Photo: Tennessee Shakespeare Company)
“She walks in beauty, like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies,” read the first lines of Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty” — lines that double as the first lines to Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s newest production, Ada and the Engine, which revolves around Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s forgotten daughter.
“What gives Ada life is the heartbeat of her father’s literature,” says Dan McCleary, director of the show. “She never actually met him. Her mother was intent on her never being like her father and forced her into a life of science and mathematics. And that’s not where women go at this time in London, but Ada is adept at it — more than adept.” As such, Ada went on to coming up with binary coding — those zeros and ones that are the foundation of modern technology.
Because of her continued role in our technology two centuries later, the play is a “fantastical marriage between the historical and the modern, and so it’s a production unlike any we’ve done before. Audiences will get a sense of true-fact history on stage, but also you’ll see the modernity in the costumes, in the lighting projections, on the set, in Edison bulbs on stage, and in the music. There’s a lot of modern dancing in the piece. There’re musical pieces that audiences will have heard and original music. … There’s even a bit of time travel where Ada ultimately meets her father and sees the past, present, and future.”
Like her father, Ada was interested in poetic, rhythmic patterns, which allowed her to recognize the patterns of binary coding. In that way, McCleary says, “The show becomes a beautiful, artistic argument for ensuring that reading fiction, reading poetry, and studying the humanities should be as central to every child’s education as science and math.”
Ada and the Engine, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, 7950 Trinity, Opening November 11th, 7:30 p.m., $20-$35.
Camera Obscura (Photo: Wikimedia | Creative Commons)
A little more than a week ago, I was at a small gathering. I would call it a Halloween party, but “party” seems to imply a raucousness that was definitely lacking. At some point, I ended up standing in the kitchen talking with singer/guitarist Justice Naczycz, a former member of the great Memphis band the Secret Service and a nice guy to talk to at parties.
We chatted about songwriting, guitar, the Flyer, and other things, and it took me a little while to realize that I had seen his band perform a half-dozen or so times. (Look, it’s been a while since the Service disbanded.) When, at last, I did make the connection, I told him I had been a fan, that the band’s live show had been one of my favorites back in the day. Then, I confessed I had seen a different group at the old Hi Tone on Poplar (now Growlers) by mistake, and I thanked Naczycz for inadvertently introducing me to a different group.
A friend was visiting, so my friend Michael and I thought we would take him to see a real Memphis rock-and-roll show. The Secret Service, with their rockin’ riffage, seemed like just the ticket. And, those being the days of $5 covers, for local acts anyway, it wouldn’t break the bank either.
So we went to the Hi Tone, stood in line (longer than I expected — maybe the Service were breaking big?), and paid our $7 admission. Wait — $7? Yes, the Service must be hitting the big times. Oh well, it will be worth it.
Milling around before the show, we noticed a well-stocked merch table and thought we might as well go talk to the person working it. An increased ticket price, merchandise, and someone who’s not a band member to tend the merch table — it looked like one of my favorite Memphis bands was making moves. Well good for them.
So we told the sandy-haired young man behind the folding table that we were excited for the show, that our friend from the middle-of-nowhere was in for a treat, and we asked how fortune was favoring the band. When he opened his mouth to reply, we were met with a melodious Scottish lilt.
“We’re just so excited to be here. I mean, Memphis, right?” he said, or something along those lines. “To be here? Aren’t you from here?” I remember thinking. “Didn’t I see these guys at the New Daisy about a month ago? Where else would they be?”
Then I did a little mental math. A little sleuthing. (Okay, I admit it should have been obvious, but I was under the influence of no little bit of alcohol — and the powerful urge to look like I had some idea of what was going on.) The increased cover charge, the Scottish accent, the multiple items of merchandise (much like what a band might bring on, say, an international tour) — it all began to add up. These folks weren’t from around here.
Reader, we were not at a Secret Service show, but rather, had misjudged the date. We were something like 24 hours early to see the Secret Service, but right on time to see Scotland’s indie-pop darlings, Camera Obscura.
Though I was prepared to have my face musically melted by Naczycz, Steve Selvidge, Mark Edgar Stuart, and John Argroves, I loved the dreamy, jangly pop of Camera Obscura. It should come as no surprise that a band named after an art history term and who draws comparisons to Belle and Sebastian was not in the business of melting faces, but they were wonderful. I will never forget the first time I heard “Country Mile,” accidentally on a Memphis night.
All this is to say that, in Memphis, it’s easy to be spoiled. There’s a good chance you might bump into a musician you like at a party, art walk, or the grocery store. I could list every local legend I’ve met at a concert or interviewed for work or bought candles from or sold a movie ticket to, back in my college days, but why bother? I’m sure you have your own list. And that’s just in the music world. We have a vibrant arts community that would be the envy of any peer city. But we shouldn’t let that fact desensitize us to the unexpected.
Magic can come along and surprise us, and for that I’m thankful.
Clark Ortkiese (l) and Toby Sells (r) on the job in the undisclosed Midtown backyard, where staffers were drafted for a hefty, definitely not lightweight, assignment.
Cold and dark, the fall weather is falling in line with our favorite fall beers. Autumn brings big transitions. Tropical IPAs and shandies give way to stouts and porters, those golden, carefree rays of summer unable to penetrate their contemplative depths. Yes, drinking seasonally is about variety, says Clark Ortkiese, co-founder of Crosstown Brewing Co., but it’s about seasonal psychology, too.
“As the seasons change, our psyche changes,” Ortkiese says. “Your mindset is so different. As you get towards winter, you get more complacent. We’re all kind of hunkering down.
“In the summer, you’re at the pool or you’re at a concert; you want a beer that you’re going to carry with you. It’s crushable. You want to have lower gravity because you’re having fun with your friends. In the winter, you are more likely to be sitting, cold in a bar or at your house, and you’re drinking something strong. So you want to sip it. You want to get that alcohol buzz.”
(Photos: Chris McCoy)
For this year’s fall beer guide, we rounded up a bunch of the best Memphis seasonal beers. All are available in cans almost anywhere you can find finer beers.
Some brewers haven’t liked all of our staff comments in past beer guides, but our crew was asked to be honest. We taste and comment, not as beer experts, but as the typical Memphis beer consumer.
But we did have expert help. This year Ortkiese helped us to understand the different styles and to pick out flavors of the beers we tasted in an undisclosed Midtown backyard as a few staffers drank beers from a cooler and wrote about them — as part of their job. Hell yeah.
There are plenty of new and seasonal beers to love on this list — and we did love many. But don’t take our word for it. Light out into the dark cold and taste some for yourself. — Toby Sells
Meddlesome Brewing Co. Stupid Good Seltzer Sassy, tangy, light. If TikTok was a drink, it would be Stupid Good. — Bruce VanWyngarden
Oddly enough, it’s fitting that we began our Fall Beer Guide tasting with a hard seltzer. True, it’s not actually a beer, but Meddlesome’s Stupid Good Seltzer comes on like the last hurrah of summer. In Memphis, home of Falsetober, where the seasons are indecisive at best, one last sip of summer isn’t out of place. Still, this would taste better poolside or after mowing the lawn. Bring on the falling leaves — and the darker beers please. — Jesse Davis
In true seltzer style, this tastes like a hint of the fruits on the label. If you shout “Orange! Passion fruit! Guava!” from another room and add a kick of carbonation, this is that. As a seltzer fan, I love it. — Shara Clark
Tastes a bit flat, but the fruit flavors aren’t too strong, which I like. Doesn’t have that weird tinny taste like a Truly or White Claw. An excellent seltzer for summertime, by the pool or at the beach. Maybe not for fall, though. — Samuel X. Cicci
When you crack open one of these, it smells like a Bath & Body works hand sanitizer exploded, and to be frank, it tastes like one, too. — Abigail Morici
This 4.5 ABV seltzer features an unusual combination of flavors: orange, passion fruit, and guava. It smells like baby aspirin and tastes like LaCroix sparkling water. I’m not a hard seltzer drinker, but I would choose this over White Claw. — Chris McCoy
It’s dry, light, and bubbly. It’s a well-done, grown-up seltzer. — Toby Sells
Grind City Brewing Poppy’s Pils Non-assertive, eager-to-please, needs seasoning. The intern of beers. — BV
Poppy’s Pils American Pilsner is light, crisp, and bubbly. Here we have another example of a good pool beer. This pilsner invites some flavor to the party, but it’s not enough to make your taste buds do a double take. With the lower alcohol content and unobtrusive flavor profile, Poppy’s Pils would be a good fit for a music festival. Remind me of this one when Memphis in May rolls around again. — JD
This smells more like beer than it tastes? There’s cold carbonation on my tongue but not much flavor. Seems like the type of beer you could shotgun pretty easily because it goes down like water. — SC
It feels like I’m drinking a domestic light beer. Not much taste, and a very thin, watery substance to it. Perfect if I’m rolling up to a frat party or a game of beer pong … but I’m not in college anymore. — SXC
A golden color in the glass, at least it looks good. Are pilsners supposed to be nearly tasteless? If so, this one is a success. — CM
This does what pilsners are supposed to do. As for flavor, it’s three shades paler than Tiny Bomb. — TS
Crosstown Brewing Co. Hatch Me Outside This one’s crispy with a light smoky flavor and a touch of heat. And it works. How ’bout that? — BV
With this brew from Crosstown Brewing, we ratchet the intensity up a notch. Hatch Me Outside is a darker golden color. The brewery uses Hatch peppers, roasted on-site, which give the brew a faintly smoky flavor. Taken with the spicy kick from the peppers, this is the beer to grab for taco night. My advice? Swing by Crosstown to snap up a six-pack, cruise down Summer Avenue in search of tacos, and you’ve got a recipe for thankful taste buds. — JD
Welcome to FlavorTown! This is pepper-forward, for sure. Initial taste reminds me of the pepper sauce you pour over greens. All I need now is a plate of hot wings. — SC
A blonde ale but with Hatch green chile in it! The taste reminds me of my days growing up in New Mexico. The batch seems a bit spicier this year but never threatens to overtake it. My favorite beer. — SXC
It’s like they took Hot & Spicy Cheez-Its and liquefied them, and I do like me some Hot & Spicy Cheez-Its. Turns out, I like them in liquid form, too. — AM
Crosstown Brewing has refined this recipe after last year’s debut. There’s no hint of the peppers in the smell, but the flavor is richer and deeper, with just a hint of spice. It’s no longer a stunt beer but a mature product. — CM
Wiseacre Brewing Co. Moon Biscuits Foamy head with a malty finish. Deep amber color. Good fire pit beer. — BV
As a fan of amber ales, I was predisposed to like Moon Biscuits. With a darker amber color, a biscuity thickness, and a hint of sweetness, this brew feels like a solid pick for a porch beer session in jacket weather. The Georges Méliès “A Trip to the Moon”-inspired can art doesn’t hurt Moon Biscuits’ chances of ending up in my shopping cart. — JD
This kinda reminds me of eating dessert. Would totally drink this while admiring a full moon. — SC
The best part of this beer is the orange/red color, like a fall sunset. I love amber beers, and this one is drinkable, but not particularly outstanding, flavor-wise. — CM
A warm, winter-holiday pastry in your glass. — TS
Beale Street Brewing Co. Born Under a Bad Sign – Memphis Mule I love Beale Street Brewing’s Hopnotizing Minds and Love & Hoppiness beers, so I know I’m a fan of that brewery. That said, Born Under a Bad Sign did not do much for me. It’s got a minty flavor that was an automatic “no” from me. This brew might be for someone, but that someone isn’t me. — JD
Incredibly confusing for my palate. Lime, peppermint; sour, minty. Somehow these don’t seem to belong together. — SC
This one is all over the place with hints of ginger, lime, and peppermint. Slightly too busy. Needs to settle down and behave itself. — BV
Lime? Peppermint? Ginger? What? I’m no opponent of strange flavor mixes, but there’s a lot going on here. It’ll reel me in out of curiosity, but whew, I’m not sure I can handle a whole can. I’ll leave it to the more adventurous types. — SXC
You can tell from the title that there’s too much going on with this beer. It has little carbonation, no legs, and smells like menthol. It’s confused, gimmicky, and kind of a mess. — CM
Yes, there’s a lot going on here. But Beale Street said so on the can. The ginger/peppermint thing hits in a holiday way. — TS
Hook Point Brewing Cat Shot Kolsch A little cloudy in the glass. Crisp and tasty and finishes with a light bitterness. It can sleep in your lap. — BV
Beer! It tastes like beer! This is an unassuming brew. It’s a kölsch, which Crosstown Brewing’s Clark Ortkiese, our guide on this beer-tasting adventure, explained is a hybrid between an ale and a lager. Cat Shot is light and a bit bitter. It’s less adventurous than some of the brews on display, but that might be a good thing. Cat Shot is tasty without quite being a favorite. I don’t mean to be catty, but it’s not quite the cat’s meow. Or the cat’s pajamas. Good though. — JD
This would be more of a summer beer for me. As bitter as your ex. — SC
A bit bitter? Are they supposed to be this bitter? Not quite what I want from a kölsch. — SXC
Kölsches are somewhere between ales and lagers, kind of a light version of an Altbier. This one is a little more bitter than most kölsches, so if that’s your jam, you might like it. — CM
Hampline Brewing Co. Bock Seat Driver Starts out sweet and finishes with a woody flavor that’s not at all unpleasant. It can take the wheel. — BV
The Bock Seat Driver is more than just a punny name. This beer packs an 8.8 percent ABV punch, so if you’re drinking these, you better be prepared to sit in the backseat. (Please drink responsibly and don’t drive.) Hampline’s offering has a darker amber color, and it’s a little cloudy. It’s a little malty, a little sweet, and would be a nice addition to a build-your-own six-pack of local fall brews. — JD
Woah! A lot going on here. Big flavor. Sits on the tongue like an inflatable water slide. What does that mean? I’m not entirely sure. — SC
Huh. Interesting. Very malty, but a little on the fruity/sweet side for a bock, personally. But it did get me thinking about some cool punny names if I were ever to make a bock. — SXC
There’s not much to the nose in this bock, but when you taste it, it becomes a big-ass beer with a light mouthfeel, although it’s a little on the sweet side. At 8.8 percent ABV, Bock Seat Driver is an intense experience. — CM
This bock is sweet and clean. At 8 percent ABV, there’s no surprise it’s a bit boozy, too. — TS
Memphis Made Brewing Co. Plaid Attack Sure, and it’s a smooth beer, me laddie. Non-aggressive and laid-back. A muted plaid. — BV
Plaid Attack had the deck stacked against it before I popped the top on the can. First, Memphis Made’s Fireside is one of my favorite beers. Second, High Cotton’s Scottish Ale is something of the local gold standard for the style. So I was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed this one. Again, we see a darker amber color. Plaid Attack comes on with a mellow beginning, with a tang to the aftertaste. This would be a good beer for soup night. — JD
Super carbonated, and light and drinkable for a Scottish, in my opinion. I could drink this one year-round. — SC
It’s a solid Scottish Ale, but I just can’t avoid comparisons with High Cotton’s take, which is king in this town. Now, Fireside, on the other hand … — SXC
I wouldn’t say I have a mature palate by any means, but the aftertaste from this tastes a bit like pool water — specifically pool water from a rich person’s pool. Maybe I drank too much pool water as a kid, but I didn’t hate it. — AM
The label says Scottish ale, but the color is more like an amber, and the mouthfeel is on the lighter side of the spectrum. Still, it’s a pleasing, if pedestrian, drink. — CM
High Cotton Brewing Co. Chocolate Rye Porter A rich, dark, chewy brew that will ride along nicely from fall into the cold months ahead. —BV
This porter smells like chocolate. It’s sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and lighter than you might expect when looking at the dark brown color. Another great porch beer, when temperatures dip below 70 degrees, I’m heading for High Cotton’s Chocolate Rye Porter. This is one of my favorites of the night. — JD
Get out your head lamp and gather the kindling. This is the beer for your fall fire pit. — SC
Not that sweet, which is nice, and intermingles chocolate and some coffee notes, dare I say. A fairly heavy blend that goes down pretty smoothly. It’s a perfect beer to sip while sitting around a campfire or fire pit. One might say a perfect beer for fall. We have a winner! — SXC
I had low expectations for this one — I like to keep my chocolate separate from my beer. But I have to say, I could go for seconds and thirds of this. — AM
No Memphis breweries do dark beers better than High Cotton, and this one is dark AF. More chocolate, less rye, this is a rich, thick beer that eats like a meal. This is what I want when I’m sitting around a fire, and it’s the only beer I went in for seconds during our outdoor tasting session. — CM
This beer is a time machine straight to the heart of the holidays. Chocolate, spice, and everything nice. — TS
Ghost River Brewing Co. No new Ghost River releases could be found during our beer guide shopping trip. But their Grind-N-Shine Coffee Cream Ale is fall in your glass all year long. It’s light, frothy, and the coffee flavor is not hard to find. Easy to drink. Easy to enjoy. — TS
Although various rules of parliamentary order caused Monday’s special called meeting of the Shelby County Commission to open by fits and starts, the needed result, a final vote on commission redistricting, was achieved with relative dispatch. But that was after — in order — a commission meeting, an adjournment, a meeting of the general government committee, another adjournment, and a final commission meeting.
Still and all, it got done, and on the November 9th deadline set by the Election Commission. Accommodations were made via amendment to oblige commissioners from Germantown and Collierville. Some precincts were shifted around in the area of East Memphis and western Germantown so as to keep incumbents Brandon Morrison, a Republican, and Michael Whaley, a Democrat, from having to run in the same district.
Morrison has a district to herself, though it is fundamentally changed from the old District 13 she has represented — a conglomerate of largely East Memphis precincts. She objected last week that too many precincts from her original district were being shifted to District 4, essentially the Germantown district.
In the amended version, those precincts are still moved east. But at least her own home precinct, the one she lives in, has moved along with them. District 4, containing a reliably Republican voting base, is now her district to run in, for better or for worse.
District 5, Whaley’s designation in the old configuration, has become a brand-new district consisting essentially of Cordova (the creation of a Cordova district being one of the stated aims of Commissioner Van Turner and other members of the Commission majority).
The district Whaley inhabits, meanwhile, renumbered as District 13, is still situated at the junction, more or less, of East Memphis, Midtown, and Binghampton, and its population is presumed to be majority-Democratic, as his old district was.
If the interested parties did not get all of what they wanted, they may have gotten the best of what was possible.
Among the several parliamentary maneuvers pursued during this important but relatively brief commission meeting was a last-ditch effort by Morrison to get a previously discarded map (known for its original sponsor, District 2 Republican David Bradford of Collierville, as “the Bradford map”) up for a vote.
In the amended map, Bradford had gotten the return of the Collierville High School precinct from its earlier proposed relocation in District 12. But he and Morrison evidently felt obliged, for the record, to get a more idealized version of their hopes up for a vote.
They did, but “Map 4,” as it was entitled, unsupported by any precinct data, went down to defeat predictably, with only 5 votes, only those of the commission’s Republicans, supporting it. (In the debate over Map 4, Democrat Tami Sawyer charged that the map had been shaped by Brian Stephens of Caissa Public Strategy, a conservative-oriented consulting firm.)
The final vote for the amended redistricting map, a version of the CC4A3 map voted on last week, was 8-5, with Democrat Edmund Ford Jr. joining four Republicans as naysayers. The approved map will probably yield nine Democrats and four Republicans in the next elected commission.
Boo Mitchell, Gary Bolen, Wendy Moten,
and Richard Bolen (Photo: Maxene Harlow)
“Yeah, boy! We’ve got some material, man!” When Rev. Charles Hodges, organist with the Hi Rhythm Section, says that, you’d best give the material a listen. “I’m telling you: Gary’s a great writer.” High praise indeed from a keyboard virtuoso who worked so closely with Willie Mitchell, one of the greatest writers and producers in the history of popular music. The man Hodges speaks of is one Gary Bolen, not exactly a household name. And yet, though he’s in his golden years, there’s a good chance he could be before long, due to a project happening at Royal Studios now. Bolen’s songs are coming to life in a way he never could have imagined.
The songs Bolen has crafted over the years have prompted the formation of a supergroup of sorts, now in the final stages of recording three albums’ worth of material. The rhythm section features Steve Potts on drums and Jackie Clark on bass; the keyboards are handled by Rev. Hodges and longtime Hi Records arranger Lester Snell; and the guitarist is Bolen himself, with an assist from Memphis great Michael Toles III. The singers include Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, Wendy Moten, Jim Lauderdale, and Tower of Power’s Marcus Scott. And in the control room are Boo Mitchell and Gary’s older brother, Richard.
Richard had the organizational skill to make it all come together. Though he had a successful career in film production and marketing, music was always a great love of his. As he puts it, “It started when my brother was in his early twenties, and he started writing some of his first songs.” This would have been in the early ’70s. “I realized that my brother had some real talent. Even his first songs touched me, they had significant meaning. That caused me to stop everything and get ready for him, so I went out and bought a copy of This Business of Music. In 1975, I put a band together around my brother’s songs. Arista almost signed us, but it fell apart.”
Still, even as he took other work to survive, Gary kept writing. And the two brothers stayed close. “We both lived in Lake Tahoe — I could see out of my house into my brother’s — but we had to move to Clarksdale, Mississippi, because of our parents’ age. Now, because we were military kids, I left Clarksdale when I was 5 [years old], but my extended family has always lived here. The house I was born in has had four generations of my mother’s side of the family in it since my great grandparents. So that was always home.”
Gary, for his part, set up a studio in the old family home, and soon they were putting it to use, having recruited the old band from Austin to make demos. Still, the brothers were thinking bigger than that. A few years earlier, Richard had seen the musical documentary Take Me to the River, shot primarily at Royal Studios, and now those impressions fired his imagination.
“I really wanted to go to Royal to get this done. I even talked about it when we were doing the demos. Some of these guys from Austin just don’t play well enough for us to say we did the best we possibly could with this record,” Richard says. “Early on, we realized we needed another bass player and another drummer. So I interviewed Jackie Clark first, then Steve Potts. They heard those demos, and two stanzas into ‘Bad Alligator,’ they both said, ‘I’m in!’ They were very passionate.”
The new rhythm section in turn led the Bolen brothers to Royal Studios’ Boo Mitchell, and work has progressed steadily on making their dreams a reality ever since. The band, now called the Royal Brothers, is a songwriter’s dream team. “You get the right folks,” Gary says, “and you go, ‘Wow! Did I have anything to do with that? That sure sounds good!’”
“Once the nucleus of the band formed a year and a half ago,” Richard says, “the lineup hasn’t changed. There’s nobody there that’s wrong. And all of the people are basically Boo Mitchell’s extended musical family. Lifelong friends of Boo and his father. Gary and I can’t believe we’ve been invited into that family.”
Joe Kent spent his two minutes before the Memphis City Council last week talking about tax incentives and “obscene” amounts of money spent on public parking here, while wearing that hat.
By intent or accident, Kent in his cap is the video’s thumbnail.
Yo
Posted to YouTube by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone said Memphis rapper Moneybagg Yo had a “massive 2021,” and in an interview he talked about his career, family, music, and spirituality.
