The holidays were made for the closet bartender. A parade of special gatherings of family and friends where you can show off the skills you painstakingly honed in fits of alcoholic Covid boredom. Which is fine for the intimate gathering where people are likely to put up with your tedious mixology theatrics. If you’re dealing with a mob of friends, none of whom are going to settle down until after New Year’s, you’ll need something bigger. And you could do worse than the holiday punch.
I don’t mean the undergrad party-in-a-garbage-can stuff. You want something with style. If you approach it with the right spirit, a good holiday punch is actually like a great craft cocktail played out on a much larger stage … or bowl. It is something different that you can make your own with a clever twist. By that I mean that if you screw it up, just dump in some more champagne. So, with Christmas behind us but the show not quite over, I give you a tale of two holiday punches — but I can only share the recipe for one of them.
A lot of people around town have received and sampled some Fortuné Jaubert Christmas Punch — an old New Orleans concoction of my great-grandfather’s consisting of fruit, wine and whiskey, and, inconveniently, time. You really do need about a week to make it correctly. I only got the recipe by arguing birthright with my grandmother, so I can’t give you the recipe without getting disowned by my Jaubert relatives. Honestly, you don’t have the time to make it anyway, so I guess that we’re even.
The same grandmother also produced a New Year’s Day punch that is not nearly so mysterious and much less involved. You don’t have to keep it to New Year’s Day, but if you are old-school enough to actually have a party on “the day after,” it is the perfect punch. Gran was a very social creature so her recipe was for 40 guests:
• 5 gallons of French vanilla ice cream • 12 cups of dark roast coffee • A fifth of bourbon
Put the ice cream in the bowl first — and here you want to get French vanilla, not just the plain stuff — then the bourbon, followed by the java. The hot coffee melts the ice cream pretty quickly so you only need to give it a stir or two of a long spoon to get the right consistency. The beauty of this one is that you can whip up a punch for 40 people with about three minutes of prep time.
Granted, twoscore wildly hungover people pummeling what’s left of your holiday cheer on New Year’s Day isn’t for everyone. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a five-gallon drum of ice cream and, let’s face it, sometime about a year ago we seem to have lost the ability to interact on a grand scale. If you buy one gallon of ice cream, just divide everything by five. Hint: a gallon and a pint of ice cream matches a pint of bourbon. Tweak to taste.
Apart from being hella easy to make, the New Year’s Day punch has the benefit of being a hangover cure that would make our man Jeeves proud. The ice cream is a nice coating for a stomach lining ravaged by merry excess, the bourbon is a smallish nip of hair of the dog without too much bite, and the coffee is a wake-me-up that pushes it all through the system. It’s a great day-drinker in the bargain because it doesn’t really pack too much of a wallop, and as you’ve been hitting the sauce pretty hard since November, you really might want to settle down, Spanky.
Although, admittedly, it is not going to do that Holiday Seven you’ve gained any favors.
Buffalo are all aglow for this run. (Photo: Courtesy Shelby Farms Park)
With the last two years not being anyone’s year, we’re just going to have to run with whatever 2022 brings. But at the very least, you can start the year on a lighter note by joining in on Shelby Farms Park’s Starry Nights fun with the BuffaGLO Run.
“It’s your last chance to see the lights for this year’s season,” says Rebecca Dailey, the park’s communications specialist. “And it’s a great way to kickstart your new year with some physical activity.” The 2.25-mile race is untimed, so you can stroll and stop and take pictures by the lights or, as Dailey puts it, you can “run at the speed of light.” Either way, the path will be aglow until 9 p.m., so don your favorite glow stick necklaces and neon running pants for this event. Plus, strollers and dogs are welcome, so the whole family can be a part of the fun.
This year’s path will be a bit brighter than previous years with the park’s addition of more displays, including some Memphis-themed ones. “We have a display version of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge that’s lit up like the Mighty Lights,” Dailey points out as an example. Another addition to this season’s run is a new fundraising element. “Runners can personally fundraise or add an additional donation to their registration fee. Even something as simple as registering can help the park stay open 365 days.”
After all, the park is beautiful year-round, even without the allure of Starry Nights. “People don’t think of winter as the peak park time, but it is a great opportunity for anyone who sets fitness goals for their New Year’s resolutions,” Dailey says. “We just want to encourage people to get out and enjoy themselves and use the park for rest and respite which is just as needed, for mental fitness.”
BuffaGlo Run, Shelby Farms Park, 6903 Great View, Sunday, January 2nd, 7 p.m., $25, register online.
“If 2020 was the year of despair, 2021 appears to be the year of hope.” So we began our annual “look ahead” cover story this time last year.
Nice try, Nostradamus.
Okay, we’ll admit it; we might have misread the tea leaves on that prediction. In our defense, the hope in the air was palpable this time last year. The first few vaccines had been administered. The hotly contested presidential election was over. And a new year was beginning.
That was before — well, in short, it was before this roller coaster of a year. In which many things happened — record-breaking tornadoes and record-breaking Grizzlies scoring leads. It was another year of highs and lows, of times to mourn and to celebrate. We shared tragedies and successes as a city, and as individuals, but we do that every year.
So this time, as we say goodbye to 2021 and look ahead to a new year, we’re striving to be grounded. There will be more good and more bad; there always is. Few things in life constrain themselves to the border of a calendar year. That isn’t to say there’s nothing to look forward to.
Without further ado, here are a few of the things — in business and development, music, film, and politics — we’re looking forward to in ’22.
Looking Ahead at Business and Development
Construction crews work all over Memphis on a host of projects that will continue the transformation of the city. Some of those projects are slated to be finished next year, while others will get underway. One project, the proposed Loews Hotel, remains a question mark.
Work on the Tom Lee Park renovation will continue through next year. (Photo: Memphis River Parks Partnership)
Tom Lee Park/Memphis in May
Work will continue on Tom Lee Park’s $60-million renovation next year, but the park is not slated to open until spring 2023.
Spearheaded by the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP), the project will completely transform the now-flat and wide-open riverside park with small hills, paths through forests, a cafe with a porch, a covered space for recreation, a new entry plaza, a canopy walk, and more. Memphis in May events, traditionally held in the park, will call Liberty Park (the Mid-South Fairgrounds) home next year.
Liberty Park
Bones of the Memphis Sports and Events Center (MSEC) now rise from the ground at Liberty Park, the new name for the Mid-South Fairgrounds. The 227,000-square-foot youth sports facility is expected to open in 2022. The building is the centerpiece for hotels, entertainment space, office space, restaurants, retail, and apartments in the $126-million redevelopment of the Fairgrounds.
Memphis International Airport
Memphis air travelers will have a brand-new airport experience in 2022. Memphis International Airport (MEM) officials hoped to open the new, modern Concourse B sometime in 2021. Covid-related supply chain interruptions and shortages delayed the opening until sometime in early 2022.
The project began in 2014 at a cost of $245 million, though no local tax dollars have been used to fund it. The new concourse promises new food and retail options, higher ceilings, larger gates, moving walkways, a children’s play area, and more.
University of Memphis (U of M) Scheidt Family Music Center
The new Scheidt Family Music Center and Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music will open on the U of M campus next year. The state-of-the-art, $35-million project will feature 82,000 square feet for a 900+ seat concert hall, stage space, rehearsal spaces, classrooms, and modern music laboratories.
Hotels
Developers can’t seem to build hotels in Memphis fast enough. Next year, a 178-room Dream Hotel will open in the former Royal Furniture space on Main Street. Work will begin on two hotels — a Tempo and an Embassy Suites — next year in the $367-million first phase of the $1-billion The Walk development Downtown.
Forward motion has seemed to halt, though, on the proposed Loews Hotel on Civic Square Plaza as developers look for financing.
Construction on the $200-million, 350-room Grand Hyatt is slated to begin in October for the fourth and final phase of the One Beale project. However, the Caption by Hyatt Memphis, a 136-room tower built over the historic Wm. C. Ellis & Sons Iron Works & Machine Shop, is expected to open in 2022.
Southland Casino Racing
Construction is on track to open Southland’s new $250-million casino complex by early spring with the hotel to follow later in the year. The 113,000-square-foot casino complex will have 2,400 slot machines, 60 live table games, restaurants, bars, a parking garage, and a VIP lounge. The 300-room hotel will have 60 to 70 suites and 12 executive-level presidential suites. — Toby Sells
Guitarist Bill Frisell will perform at the Buckman Arts Center in January. (Photo: Courtesy Buckman Arts Center)
Live Music on the Horizon
If 2021 was the year when live concerts became live again, if somewhat tentatively, the new year promises to double down on the necessity of in-person music even more. Most of the classic venues in town have their seasons in full swing, and right out of the gate, look to the Buckman Arts Center for Bill Frisell on January 23rd and Matsuriza Taiko Drummers on January 28th. Many other artists follow in the season, culminating with Ailey II, Alvin Ailey’s junior performing company, in April. Meanwhile, the Iris Orchestra revs back to life at GPAC on January 29th, with pianist Jeffrey Kahane guest-conducting. The next afternoon finds Kahane playing a series of trios at the Brooks Museum of Art.
Even now, don’t sleep on spring: Tickets just went on sale for Melissa Etheridge’s show at Graceland on May 6th. But before that, Elvis’ empire will present such stunners as Robert Cray (February 3rd), Drive-By Truckers (February 4th), Incubus (March 21st), Tower of Power (April 23rd), and Henry Rollins (April 28th).
The Orpheum Theatre and the Halloran Centre have two of the city’s finest stages, and between the pair of them, look for national acts mixed with much local flavor: The Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s Robert Moody will present his popular Orchestra Unplugged series with Hallelujah Handel! (January 27th-28th), The Secrets of Strings (April 7th-8th), and Considering Matthew Shepard (May 5th-6th). Mark Edgar Stuart returns with his Memphis Songwriters in February-March, and another great Memphian, Garry Goin, presents A Tribute to Gospel Music Featuring Danny Cosby & Ephie Johnson (March 5th). Deadheads rejoice! Bobby Weir will appear with Don Was and Jay Lane (March 10th) before OG hometown heroes Larry Raspberry & The Highsteppers make a rare appearance (March 25th) and hometown heroine Wendy Moten leads an all-Memphis band (April 2nd). And then there are the mega-stars: Look for Bonnie Raitt (May 21st) and none other than Willie Nelson (to be announced).
Meanwhile, the Crosstown Arts nonprofit continues its stellar track record of shows, with January alone boasting jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein (January 11th), Reba Russell (January 14th), flautist Adam Sadberry (January 15th) contemplating the relationship between writing and music, Rhodes alum Raneem Imam (January 20th) with her original songs, the Joshua Espinoza Trio jazz group (January 21st), and the up-and-coming Bailey Bigger (January 28th). Beyond that, the must-see show will be singer/songwriter Todd Snider (February 4th). — Alex Greene
Everything Everywhere All At Once, a new sci-fi comedy, will explore the extra-dimensional.
Films to Look Forward To
At this point, anyone who says they know what’s going to happen in 2022 is selling something. Movie release schedules have been little more than suggestions and wishful thinking for two years now, and that probably won’t change in the short term. Nevertheless, there are some big and interesting films slated for the new year.
January 28th through 30th, the Sundance Film Festival partners with Indie Memphis for the second year in a row to bring a selection of the cutting edge of independent and art films to Crosstown Theater. It’s a can’t-miss event for Bluff City cinephiles.
Later this winter, there’s Cyrano starring Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage as the star-crossed poetic lover boy. Morbius stars Jared Leto as Marvel’s “Living Vampire,” and produced by Sony Pictures, it promises a grittier take than the usual candy-colored super-fantasy. Kenneth Branagh’s take on the Agatha Christie classic Death on the Nile promises to be some middle-brow fun.
The spring starts with The Batman, in which Robert Pattinson dons the cape and cowl to track down The Riddler (Paul Dano). Maybe this will be the film where we finally find out how Batman’s parents died!
The new Downton Abbey installment, titled A New Era, introduces a new cast to the beloved TV franchise. The Lost City, an action comedy with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, looks like fun. Everything Everywhere All at Once is a new A-24 sci-fi comedy by directing duo The Daniels starring Michelle Yeoh as a reluctant extra-dimensional traveler. The Harry Potter franchise belabors the point with Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Nicolas Cage plays himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
May brings back-to-back blockbusters, with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Top Gun: Maverick, Legally Blonde 3, and John Wick: Chapter 4, but if you’re like me, you’re most excited about The Bob’s Burgers Movie. Then in June, the big guns continue to fire with Jurassic World: Dominion and Lightyear with Chris Evans voicing the beloved Toy Story character. Baz Luhrmann will unveil his Elvis biopic, which was shot in Australia for some reason and stars Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker and Austin Butler as the Big E.
Late summer should see Taika Waititi returning to the MCU with Thor: Love and Thunder and Jordan Peele’s latest mind-bender Nope, which reunites the director with Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya. Then Dwayne Johnson enters the Shazam-verse as DC’s Black Adam.
Fall is scheduled to begin with an adaptation of Stephen King’s vampires in New England chiller Salem’s Lot and Tom Cruise stuntin’ with Mission: Impossible 7. The sequel to a modern animated classic, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, opens October with a bang. And in November, the long-awaited Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is scheduled for liftoff, although I wouldn’t be surprised if that one slipped due to production chaos. Finally, the year will end with James Cameron’s Avatar 2, which returns to Pandora after more than a decade of false starts. — Chris McCoy
Lee Harris and Bill Lee (Photo: Jackson Baker; Wikimedia Commons/Lynn Freeny)
The Political Outlook
Surely the most anticipated development in the political sphere for the election year of 2022 is the ultimate reconfiguration of district lines for legislative and congressional offices in Tennessee, due to be completed in January. There is not much mystery about the guiding principles of the effort. The Republican supermajority in the General Assembly, which is in charge as a result of its numbers, will ultimately resort to some version of the time-tested gerrymander to get what the GOP wants.
And what they want, among other things, is to diminish the number of guaranteed Democratic congressional districts from two (Memphis and Nashville) to one. Memphis’ 9th District, which is most of the core city, has long been held by Democrat Steve Cohen and, for demographic reasons, is hard to modify. But the 5th District in Nashville, represented for some time by Jim Cooper, brother of the city’s current mayor, is certain to be sectioned off — its parts scattered among at least four currently surrounding rural or suburban districts that have large Republican-leaning populations.
The GOP game plan involves as well the task of folding together and combining into a single district as many legislative seats now held by Democrats as possible, so that their incumbents will have to run against each other. The end result will be a further diminution of the Democratic minorities in the 99-member state House (26) and 33-member state Senate (5). This process will be especially notable in western Tennessee, including Shelby County, where population has stagnated or diminished relative to the fast-growing region of Middle Tennessee. Districts in the west will be expanded in size or combined or, in some cases, eliminated altogether.
The state’s two Republican senators won’t need to run again until 2024, in the case of Marsha Blackburn, or 2026, in that of Bill Hagerty. GOP Governor Bill Lee will be running for a second term in 2022, however, and, though polls show his level of acceptability with Democrats to be far lower than that achieved by his Republican predecessor, Bill Haslam, Lee has enough robust support from his fellow Republicans to easily win the general election against any Democrat now on the horizon.
Unpopular or questionable actions by the governor and his party on gun availability (for) and concerted responses to Covid-19 (against) will count for relatively little against Lee’s success in attracting Ford Motor Company to the West Tennessee Megasite near Memphis.
At the local level, the partisan imbalance will be otherwise. Democrats have such a majority in Shelby County that the newly reapportioned 13-member County Commission will have a probable nine Democratic-leaning seats, as against the current number of eight. Because of retirements (either voluntary or due to term limits), roughly half of the commissioners elected in 2022 could be brand-new. Democratic County Mayor Lee Harris will be heavily favored for reelection over City Councilman Worth Morgan, the probable Republican nominee. The 2022 county ballot will be chock-full of other choices to be made, for sheriff, for various county clerkships, and for innumerable judgeships, both civil and criminal. A heated race is expected for district attorney general.
In the course of the year, the holdover legislature in Nashville is virtually certain to have convulsive debates in the wake of a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on the status of legal abortion, though the General Assembly has already passed and had signed into law by Lee a “trigger” bill that would declare abortion illegal if and as soon as the High Court does.
As of now, 2022 is definitely a wait-and-see year in politics.
An interesting aspect of the 2021 Memphis food scene was the number of heavy hitters making changes to their restaurants.
Kelly English decided to move his popular Restaurant Iris to the space previously occupied by The Grove Grill in Laurelwood. In June, English said in a Flyer interview that the new location is a much bigger space. “The dining room in Laurelwood is bigger than the entire property Iris is on,” he said.
He opened Pantà in Iris’ location at 2146 Monroe Avenue in October. English told the Flyer he went with a Catalonian concept. It was something he wanted to do since he took a six-month trip in his early twenties to Barcelona. “I really do love this type of food and the way they live,” he said. “And what we want is to be known as a later-night establishment.”
Explaining the name, English said, “Pantà is the Catalonian word for ‘swamp,’ which is reflected in the mural around the bar. Growing up in Louisiana, swamps played a big part of my youth. Mostly my mom trying to keep me out of them.”
English plans to open the new Iris at 4550 Poplar Avenue “right around Easter. We are thrilled to see that come together.”
Chef Jason Severs and his wife Rebecca moved Bari Ristorante e Enoteca from its old location in Cooper-Young to 524 South Cooper. The new location, which opened in August, is more than 300 square feet bigger. They can still seat 40 people in the dining room, but they also can seat 40 more outside on the patio and more people at the bar in the front of the restaurant.
The new restaurant features wide, open spaces as opposed to the old restaurant, which, Jason said in a Flyer interview, was “a bunch of different, small rooms.” And Rebecca said, “You couldn’t expand there.”
The food is the same as what they served at the old location, Jason said. “Southeastern Italian. Lots of fresh vegetables. From the earth. All local when we can.”
Chefs Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, who own several restaurants, reopened their popular Hog & Hominy at 707 West Brookhaven Circle after a fire in January 2020. The restaurant was rebuilt. It opened in November.
In a Flyer interview, general manager Evan Potts said the new restaurant is about twice as large. They expanded it as far as it would go in all directions.
Hudman said he told his wife how the restaurant now has an “old Art Deco diner feel.” That rings true, from its silver metal lettered sign out front to the fluted light fixtures in the dining room and the general vibe.
They are serving Neapolitan-inspired pizzas and “fun takes on traditional Italian fare,” Potts said. And their craft cocktails, which the establishment is known for.
Finally, it’s not a restaurant per se, but people have been known to eat inside. Or maybe just pop a few cashews in their mouth. The Peanut Shoppe is closing at the end of the year at its old location at 24 South Main Street, where it has stood since — co-owner Rida AbuZaineh believes — 1951, and moving to its new location at 121 South Main.
AbuZaineh told the Flyer they weren’t informed until a few months before that the building where his shop is now located was going to be sold. It will be turned into apartments and condos, he said.
The new location is similar to the current location. “The new one is rectangular shape. This one is rectangular shape but so narrow. The width is the difference … three times the width of this narrow store.”
AbuZaineh said he will be open “through Christmas Eve. It’s an excellent day if it falls on the weekend like it does this year. We are always the last people to leave the area.”
Which means Santa will have plenty of time to stock up on nuts and candy to fill all those stockings.
Here’s a roundup of your faithful Flyer music editor’s favorite Memphis music from the year that felt far too much like the year before.
Julien Baker
Little Oblivions (Matador)
Opening with the crass tones of a broken organ, this is an enervating shot across the bow from an artist typically associated with delicate guitar lines. Here, the production has widened. The constant is the hushed-to-frantic intimacy of her voice, and, as the album develops, she sings from darker, grittier depths than she’s ever plumbed before, propelled by a full-on rock band.
Cedric Burnside
I Be Trying (Single Lock)
With a new dryness and sparseness, Burnside has crafted a unique approach to the blues that sidesteps preconceived riffs or licks; even those you’ve heard take on a new urgency and gravitas. Made with only guitar, drums, the occasional light touch of a second guitar (including Luther Dickinson), or cello, it’s the hushed vocals that cut to one’s soul.
The City Champs
Luna ’68 (Big Legal Mess)
In which the instrumental boogaloo trio evokes the space-bedazzled sounds of yesteryear. In this group’s hands, even cymbal rolls and an organ can sound futuristic. Sitting comfortably in this minimalist mix is a new sound for the Champs: a synthesizer. Superbly composed like their earlier works, the grooves are peppered with stinging guitar and growling organ.
IMAKEMADBEATS
MAD Songs, Vol. 1 (Unapologetic)
The founder of Unapologetic gets personal: The beats are atmospheric, the chords are a little odd, the lyrics, whether MAD’s or his guests’, skew to the philosophical. MAD’s trademark slippery bass and beats in space underpin stellar guest artists, from deft raps by PreauXX, R.U.D.Y., Austyn Michael, and others, to silky melodies from Cameron Bethany and U’niQ.
John Paul Keith
The Rhythm of the City (Wild Honey)
“There’s little Easter eggs all over the record,” says Keith, meaning the hints of Memphis music history that litter the tracks. With Box Tops-like jet, stray Stax licks, electric sitar, or two saxes cut live, the sound of a live-tracked band really pays off with Keith’s one-take guitar playing, some of the finest of his career.
Elizabeth King
Living in the Last Days (Bible & Tire Recording Co.)
King’s voice is as indomitable as a mountain, as many have known for decades. Bible & Tire released King’s tracks from the ’70s in 2019, but label owner Bruce Watson wanted to capture her voice now. The band, relative youngsters compared to King, evokes classic gospel, and it gives her work a unique stamp in a genre now deeply shaped by jazz fusion and funk.
Don Lifted
325i (Fat Possum)
Don Lifted’s music has always been rooted in hip hop’s rhythmic rhyming, while including elements of shoegaze rock and even smooth R&B. His third album ramps up the artist’s sonic craftsmanship, with lyrics mixing the dread of quarantine with the determination to unpack one’s self. This solidifies the artist’s reputation as a performer with staying power, with a surer sense of sonic hooks than ever.
Loveland Duren
Any Such Thing (Edgewood Recordings)
The duo’s third album is the Platonic ideal of pop. Exquisite arrangements for the material include strings, French horn, flute, and a perfectly Memphian horn section. And while there are some flourishes of classic rock guitar on the stompers, the album as a whole is a keyboard-lover’s dream. But the heart of this album is the songwriting, with lyrics and melodies you can chew on for years.
MonoNeon
Supermane (self-released)
Known as a bass virtuoso, this album presents the songwriter’s most focused material ever. The result is his idiosyncratic, yet more disciplined, take on the classic early George Clinton sound. Still, he makes it his own with the strongest singing of his career. “Supermane,” the song, also features the sax playing of Kirk Whalum. Its classic gospel feel is made more universal by MonoNeon’s pop instincts.
Young Dolph
Paper Route Illuminati (Paper Route Empire)
The artist/label svengali’s horrific murder last month robbed us of future creations, but his swan song captures his spirit. “My office is a traphouse in South Memphis” tells you where his heart lived, as he and featured artists (including Gucci Mane) drop witty boasts of money and women. When he spits, “Have you ever seen a dead body?” a chill comes over the album, but when he raps, “I go so hard, make ’em hate me, my whole life a movie — HD,” it’s pure truth.
It was the year after the year of the big change, the year after the year we all stayed home, the year after the year the offices shut, the restaurants closed, the live music died, the planes stopped flying. It was the year after the last year of Trump. It was 2021.
It began with the most egregious assault on American democracy in our history: The January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol — planned and instigated by the former president of the United States with the assistance and support of numerous Republican flunkies and traitors. It was a pseudo-insurrection that drew thousands of deluded Americans to Washington, D.C., to act out Trump’s final fantasy — that he could overthrow the democratic process and remain president, despite losing the election by 7 million votes. The cultish “patriots” who bought into this lunacy included a planeload of wealthy Memphis Country Club types who, as of this writing, have remained officially unidentified — and out of jail. Maybe they just watched from the hotel lobby. Or went shopping. We may never know. Screw ’em.
As February came on, the first Covid vaccines were administered hereabouts. The state urged us to try the “Sign-Up Genius,” which sort of worked and sort of didn’t. There were long lines, short lines, last-minute cancellations, and sudden open cattle calls for shots. My daughter called me on February 2nd and said, “They’re giving the vax to whoever shows up at the Pipkin today. A bunch of people canceled. You should get on over there.”
An hour later, my wife and I pulled into that strange building on the Fairgrounds, lowered our windows, and got the jab. It felt like a whiff of freedom after a year of suppression and worry. It felt even better 28 days later, when we got the second dose. Vaxxed, baby!
March came and the Tigers missed the Big Dance. The Grizzlies made the play-in playoffs but it was soon over. No one seemed to care much. Maybe it was the shortened seasons, the missed games, the empty arenas, the sideline masks. The magic wasn’t there.
In April, Memphis International Airport (MEM) climbed back atop the rankings as the world’s busiest cargo airport for the first time since 2009. And Amazon announced it was increasing its presence in the Mid-South with two new facilities: a delivery station in North Memphis and a fulfillment center in Byhalia, Mississippi. Some good news at last.
In more good news, I retired as editor of the Flyer in May and set off on a road trip to the East to see distant family and some old friends. The talented Mr. Jesse Davis stepped in as Flyer editor and hasn’t missed a beat since. Thanks, pal.
As soon as I got back to town in June, inspectors discovered a crack in the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and shut it down. I don’t think there was a connection.
Freed from having to be the official voice of the Flyer, I began to write about whatever sparked my fancy: Brooks Museum statuary cleaners, the Waverly flood, the 1919 Elaine (Arkansas) Massacre, Midtown geckos, Donald Trump’s email grift, the latest zoo/Greensward spat, kayaking Nonconnah Creek. It’s been very liberating, and I’m grateful to be able to do it in semi-retirement. Or whatever this is.
I spent most of the summer putting together a collection of my past columns, travel articles, and features for a book, which the Flyer’s parent company, Contemporary Media, published in November. It’s called Everything That’s True, and it makes a great gift, I’m told. So go buy it. It’s at Novel, Burkes, and on the Memphis magazine Shopify site. All sales revenue goes to support the Flyer. End of commercial break.
Thankfully, the year ahead looms with some promise that life can return to normal. Yes, there’s a new Covid variant, but 75 percent of us are vaccinated now and there are medicines that will keep most folks out of the hospital, even if they catch it. Those lines at the Pipkin building hopefully will not reoccur — and the “year after the year” will remain behind us. Onward.
Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson in the electrifying Summer of Soul
This year was an up-and-down time for film, as audiences cautiously returned to theaters. But even if box office returns were erratic and often disappointing, quality-wise, there was more greatness than could be contained in a top 10 list. Since I hate ranking, here are my personal awards for movie excellence in a weird year.
Vicky Kreips and Gael García Bernal aging on the beach in Old.
Worst Picture: Old
“There’s this beach, see, and it makes you old.”
“That sounds great, M. Night Shyamalan! You’re a genius!”
Annabelle Wallace wonders what it’s all about in Malignant.
Dishonorable Mention:Malignant
WTF was that about?
Bryce Christian Thompson stars as Shah in “The Devil Will Run.”
Best Memphis Film:“The Devil Will Run”
Director Noah Glenn’s collaboration with Unapologetic mastermind IMAKEMADBEATS produced this funny and moving memory of childhood magic. Glenn topped one of the strongest collections of Hometowner short films in Indie Memphis history.
“Chocolate Galaxy”
Honorable Mention:“Chocolate Galaxy”
An Afrofuturist hip hop opera made on a shoestring budget, this 20-minute film features eye-popping visuals and banging tunes.
Puppet Annette
Best Performance by a Nonhuman: Puppet Annette
This coveted award goes to Annette, Leos Carax’s gonzo musical collaboration with Sparks, which used a puppet to represent its namesake character, the neglected child of Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, because they couldn’t find a newborn who could sing.
Dev Patel as Sir Gawain in The Green Knight.
Medievalist:The Green Knight
To create one of the strangest films of 2021, all director David Lowery had to do was stick to the legend of Sir Gawain’s confrontation with a mysterious Christmas visitor to King Arthur’s court. Driven by Dev Patel’s pitch perfect performance, The Green Knight felt both completely surreal and strangely familiar.
Cryptozoo is not about Bitcoin.
Best Animation:Cryptozoo
Annette and The Green Knight were weird, but the year’s weirdest film was Dash Shaw’s exceedingly strange magnum opus. Think Jurassic Park, only instead of CGI dinosaurs it’s Sasquatch and unicorns drawn like a high schooler’s notebook doodles come to life.
Bad robot — director Michael Rianda’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines finds one family squaring off against the techno-pocalypse.
Honorable Mention: The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Gravity Falls’ Mike Rianda pulls off the difficult assignment of making an animated film that appeals to both kids and adults with this cautionary tale of the connected age.
Anna Cobb in We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Best Performance:(tie) Kristen Stewart,Spencer; and Anna Cobb,We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Both Stewart and Cobb played women trapped in nightmarish situations, trying to hold onto their sanity while watching their worlds crumble around them. For Stewart, it was Princess Diana’s last Christmas with the queen. For Cobb, it’s a teenager succumbing to an internet curse. The success of both pictures hinges on their central performances, but the difference is that Stewart’s one of the world’s highest paid actresses, and this is Cobb’s first time on camera.
Wright started the year with his first documentary, The Sparks Brothers, an obsessive ode to your favorite band’s favorite band. Sparks’ story is so strange and funny, and Wright’s style so manic and distinctive, that many viewers were surprised to learn it wasn’t a mockumentary. Then, he dropped Last Night in Soho, a humdinger of a Hitchcockian horror mystery which evoked the swinging London of the 1960s. Wright continues to deliver the most fun you can have in a multiplex.
Ariana DeBose as Anita in West Side Story.
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
I feel like this Spielberg kid’s got potential. Hollywood’s wunderkind is now an elder statesman, but his adaptation of the Broadway classic proves he’s still got it. With unmatched virtuosity, he brings Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s songs to life and updates the story’s sensibilities for the 21st century. West Side Story stands among the master’s greatest work.
Sly Stone performing at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Summer of Soul.
Best Documentary: Summer of Soul
The most transcendent on-screen moment of 2021 actually happened in 1969, when Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson duetted “Precious Lord” at the Harlem Cultural Festival. Questlove’s directorial debut gave the long-lost footage of the show the reverent treatment it deserves. Thanks to the indelible performances by the cream of Black musical talent, Summer of Soul was as electrifying as any Marvel super-fest.
Riley Keough and Taylour Page are strippers on a Tampa tear in Zola.
Best Picture:Zola
I can hear you now: “You’re telling me the best picture of 2021 was based on a Twitter thread by a part-time stripper from Detroit?” Hey, I’m as surprised as you are. But director Janicza Bravo turned a raw story of a road trip gone wrong into a noir-tinged shaggy-dog story of petty crime and unjust deserts. The ensemble cast of Taylour Paige, Nicholas Braun, Colman Domingo, and particularly Riley Keough is by far the year’s best, and Bravo shoots their ill-fated foray into the wilds of Tampa, Florida, like she’s Kubrick lensing A Clockwork Orange. Funny, self-aware, and unbearably tense, Zola is a masterpiece that deserves a bigger audience.
Michael D. Pope, the chief of the West Memphis Police Department (WMPD), has resigned after some claim evidence was found in the West Memphis Three case, according to Damien Echols, one of the three boys convicted of murder in 1994.
Calls for confirmation to the WMPD and West Memphis City Hall were not immediately returned.
Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin were convicted of killing three boys in a Satanic ritual. New DNA evidence found in 2010 allowed the three to negotiate a plea bargain. In 2011, they left prison after entering Alford pleas.
Credit: City of West Memphis
Chief Michael Pope, right
WMPD Chief Michael Pope resigned in a letter dated December 7th. Pope said he’d leave the post on December 24th. In the letter, Pope said his resignation comes as “I have other endeavors and goals that are pointing me in a different direction.” Pope took the job six months ago.
The chief of police was not truthful. He has now resigned, and we know that none of the evidence was destroyed. It can now be tested, to see who left DNA at the crime scene. My attorney was in the evidence room this morning and saw it with his own eyes. Every piece is still there https://t.co/8tzxOWjZLH
However, Echols said on Twitter Tuesday, “The chief of police [Pope] was not truthful. He has now resigned, and we know that none of the evidence was destroyed. It can now be tested, to see who left DNA at the crime scene. My attorney was in the evidence room this morning and saw it with his own eyes. Every piece is still there.”
Mara Leveritt, an investigative journalist who wrote The Devil’s Knot, a book about the West Memphis Three case, quoted Echols’ attorney in a tweet Tuesday. He said, “Patrick Benca, an attorney for Damien Echols, said he’s been advised that WMPD Chief Mike Pope resigned. Benca was in [West Memphis] this morning to examine evidence in the case of the [West Memphis Three], some of which was reported missing. Benca texted, ‘We found the ligatures. We got what we needed.’”
Patrick Benca, an attorney for Damien Echols, said he's been advised that WMPD Chief Mike Pope resigned. Benca was in WM this morning to examine evidence in the case of the WM3, some of which was reported missing. Benca texted, "We found the ligatures. We got what we needed."
The Arkansas Justice Project, an online crime watch news source, shared the news saying, “We have received reports that the police chief of the West Memphis Police Department has resigned after someone suddenly located the evidence related to the West Memphis Three case. More importantly, they have all the ligatures. They have all the evidence.
“We are also calling for criminal charges for anyone involved in the coverup and obstruction, including police officers, prosecutors, judges, and whoever else was involved in this scam.”
The Truth and Justice podcast tweeted texts from Echols.
“The Simpsons Already Did It” is a 2002 episode of South Park. Trey Parker wrote the now-classic installment out of frustration, because he was always scrapping good ideas for episodes after someone remembered that The Simpsons had gotten there first. In sci-fi circles, there’s a lesser-known equivalent: “Doctor Who did it,” a recognition that, over the almost 60 years Doctor Who has been on the air, staff writers at the end of their wits have already tried everything. In the 1970s, for example, the Doctor Who serial “The Ark In Space” donated many plot points to Alien, including parasitic, wasp-like creatures who feed on human hosts, and an ending that is uncannily similar to Ridley Scott’s. In “The Deadly Assassin,” the Doctor must enter a computer simulated world called The Matrix to battle a malevolent intelligence that controls the fabric of reality. In 1973, Doctor Who celebrated its tenth anniversary with a very special episode, “The Three Doctors,” in which all three of the actors who had at that time played the regenerating Time Lord teamed up to defeat an ultimate evil.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange separates Spider-Man’s soul from his body.
Which brings us to Spider-Man: No Way Home. Since the new Marvel film just scored the second-biggest opening weekend in history, taking home a dizzying $637 million worldwide as of this writing, I’m going to assume you already know where I’m going with this Doctor Who digression.
The film, directed by Jon Watts, helming his third Spider-Man solo outing, begins immediately after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Longtime spider-antagonist J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) uses his paranoid tabloid website TheDailyBugle.net to broadcast a video from the dying Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaall) outing Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as Spider-Man. Peter, having just returned from saving London’s bacon, is intent on exploring his new relationship with MJ (Zendaya) and getting into M.I.T. Instead, he finds himself at the center of a media maelstrom, and the lives of the people around him, like Aunt May (Marisa Tormei), his bestie Ned (Jacob Batalon), and handler Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), are thrown into chaos.
Since Peter knows that the post-Thanos world was set right by the reality bending power of Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) magic, he seeks out help from his super-colleague. But when they try to cast the spell to erase the world’s knowledge of Spider-Man’s identity, Peter’s indecisiveness distracts Strange at the wrong moment, and the universe shudders. Suddenly, Spider-Man is called to fight some villains that are unfamiliar to him — but familiar to us in the real world who have watched nine Spider-movies in the last 20 years.
Wilem Dafoe as The Green Goblin
For, you see, Spider-Man: Far From Home is the result of a long-running dispute that has made many a corporate lawyer’s boat payment. Spider-Man has been the jewel in Marvel’s crown of classic characters since his introduction in 1962. When the company fell on hard times, back in the 1980s, it sold Spidey’s movie rights to stay afloat. This resulted in a series of collapsed projects and lawsuits that stretched over 16 years. Ultimately, Columbia Pictures traded its claim on the James Bond franchise to MGM in exchange for the spider-rights, and parent company Sony footed the bill for the excellent 2002 Spider-Man, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire as the friendly neighborhood webslinger. After three movies, Raimi and Maguire handed the baton to Marc Webb and Andrew Garfield for The Amazing Spider-Man, which was decidedly less than excellent.
Meanwhile, Disney CEO Bob Iger (who is retiring at the end of 2022 to go count his money) had the bright idea to just buy Marvel outright — albeit without Spidey. Disney took the Marvel B-team, the Avengers, and made them the core of a cash machine. Meanwhile, Sony was thrown into crisis when the North Korean government hacked its computers as retaliation for the Seth Rogen comedy The Interview, and it was forced to the bargaining table with Disney. After unfathomable amounts of money changed hands, Spider-Man could once again share the screen with other Marvel characters.
Zendaya as MJ flees the paparazzi with Spider-Man.
Far From Home is essentially a reunion show, bringing back familiar faces from the franchise’s multi-corporation evolution. First, there’s Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), who confronts Spidey on the now-mandatory bridge fight scene. Also from the Sam Raimi Spider-years is Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church), and The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). From the Amazing Spider-Man years come Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and Electro (Jamie Foxx), and they’re all confused when they see that the MCU Peter Parker doesn’t look the same as he did when the intellectual property was controlled by Sony.
Surprise! Doctor Strange’s magic also brought Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, both sporting their respective spider-jammies, to Earth C-53, and the aforementioned classic Doctor Who episode breaks out. If it ain’t spider-broke, don’t spider-fix it!
Seeing the three Spideys together, it’s safe to say the hero has had good luck with casting. Maguire, nowadays mostly a producer, exudes emo gravitas. Garfield, saddled with bad scripts and indifferent direction during his tenure, blossomed as an actor in his post-superhero career. He looks like he’s having the most fun. Holland, meanwhile, tries valiantly to hold the whole mess together, one reaction shot at a time. On the other side, the always brilliant Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe deliver better than the material deserves. Meanwhile, current it-girl Zendaya outshines everyone whenever she and Holland scheme together to, as Doctor Strange says, “Scooby Doo this shit.”
As a stand-alone work, No Way Home can’t match either the Raimi-Maguire era or even Holland’s first outing, Homecoming. But the film, which just had the second biggest opening box office weekend of all time and is being hailed as the savior of the theatrical experience, is better understood as the successful culmination of a decades-long branding exercise by the two largest intellectual property conglomerates on the planet. Hooray for Hollywood!
State officials have halted most construction-related road closures during the holiday travel season.
Most lanes will be opened from Thursday, December 23rd to Monday, January 3rd. However, state officials said lanes affected by some long-term projects will remain closed and workers may be present in them.
“With motorists expected to travel Tennessee roadways during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, keeping traffic moving and getting motorists to their destinations safely is our top priority,” said Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe Galbato. “As always, please wear your seatbelt, reduce your speed, avoid distractions, and never drink and drive.”
