Filmmaker Kentucker Audley got his start in Memphis at the Digital Media Co-Op, and was a two-time winner at Indie Memphis. He now resides in New York, where he has made two features with director and producer Albert Birney. In 2021, I interviewed Audley whenStrawberry Mansion opened the first Sundance satellite screening in Memphis. Now, it is open in select theaters across the country — sadly, not in Memphis, but it is at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville — and will debut February 25th on VOD platforms. To give you the flavor of the film’s beautiful, magical realist vibes, here’s the trailer.
Electronic music legend Dan Deacon created the appropriately trippy score for Strawberry Mansion, and has released the main theme as a single. Birney and Audley directed this amazing video, which incorporates some images from the film along with some new creatures and outstanding glitch work. Check it out!
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Ja Morant has played in 176 regular-season games for the Memphis Grizzlies. He’s appeared in five playoff games, with more — hopefully several more — coming this spring. To say he’s gained star quality in the Mid-South would be a vast understatement. But Sunday night in Cleveland — at the NBA’s All-Star Game — Ja Morant arrived as an international star. Only the second Grizzly to start in the sport’s most glamorous showcase, Morant played just 17 minutes and scored merely six points. (He threw down a pair of dunks that would have won Saturday night’s silly contest.) Consider the 2022 All-Star Game a teaser for the rest of the world, because Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies is here and basketball’s royalty is quite aware.
Sunday’s event was more a celebration of the NBA’s first 75 years than it was a gathering of 24 current stars. The introductions at halftime of 75 all-time greats — most of them right there at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, a few actually playing in the All-Star Game — was an extraordinary salute by a league that relies more than any other on individual star power. George Gervin wears a larger belt today than he did in the Seventies and Eighties . . . but he’s the Iceman. Dominique Wilkins is wearing glasses now . . . but he’s the Human Highlight Film. And those two, among the diamond-anniversary greats, are second-tier celebs. It was a truly astonishing group of basketball icons under a single roof. And Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies was right there.
I’ve interviewed Julius Erving, Bill Walton, and Jerry West. I’ve met Magic Johnson, if briefly. These are sports legends of a different breed, men with star power that will outlive them, players who serve as the basis for comparison for any rising star who hopes to be worthy of a jacket when the league celebrates a century in 2047. We can count Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies among those rising stars.
The greatest basketball player of them all, Michael Jordan, was the last legend introduced Sunday night. (There’s a reason players weren’t presented alphabetically.) The very next player in the spotlight on TV screens around the world was . . . Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies. He was part of a young All-Star quartet (along with Devin Booker, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Luka Doncic) that delivered a scripted-but-poignant tribute to the past legends, while looking forward to “the next 75 seasons” of stars and moments. Many of the men celebrated Sunday night will not be with us 25 years from now for that centennial celebration. But you get the feeling Booker, Towns, and Doncic just might. And it’s starting to feel all but certain that Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies will be there.
NBA championships are won by superstars, by the kind of player honored Sunday night in Cleveland. Since 1980, the NBA has crowned 42 champions. Only the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons suited up a team that didn’t include a two-time 1st-team All-NBA player. I bring this up because Memphis wants an NBA champion and we seem to have in our midst a player who may soon claim 1st-team All-NBA status. There is often a “process” to these things. Jordan won his first championship in his seventh season. It took West 12 years to win his only title. Can a 22-year-old superstar like Ja Morant harbor dreams of winning a crown so soon? His Grizzlies currently boast the third-best record in the entire NBA. The franchise’s first division title appears to be a lock. Why not more? If the 2022 All-Star Game symbolized anything, it’s dreams fulfilled. Ja Morant and Memphis. Superstar and city. One shared dream.
Students practice coding in a CodeCrew class. (Photo courtesy of CodeCrew)
Put another tally in the win column for CodeCrew. The nonprofit, which has been pulling in plenty of grants over the past couple of years as recognition for its outstanding programming, will be a recipient of Nike’s Black Community Commitment Grant.
“CodeCrew is proud to partner with Nike as a Black Community Commitment grantee to bring diversity and equity to computer science education to kids and young adults,” said CodeCrew executive director Meka Egwuekwe. “Nike understands that equity, economic empowerment, and social justice in the 21st century must include the kind of inclusive, innovative tech education that CodeCrew provides, and we very much appreciate Nike’s recognition and support.”
CodeCrew joins 43 local organizations from New York to Los Angeles, along with 10 national organizations, that are teaming up with Nike to advance equality and increase a collective service to the Black community.
This month, $2.75 million will be shared among organizations in seven U.S. cities — where Nike has a large presence — as part of the organization’s multi-year pledge made in 2020 to support national and neighborhood organizations that focus their efforts on improving economic empowerment, education innovation, and social justice for Black communities in the country. The pledge will see a combined $140 million invested in organizations over a 10-year period.
“Nike, Inc.’s purpose is to move the world forward — breaking barriers and building community to change the game for all. Our Black Community Commitment embodies this belief and drives how we are showing up to advance racial equality for Black people,” said Karol Collymore, senior director of inclusive community for social & community impact at Nike. “These strategic investments across the United States — at both the national and local levels — have the power to fuel transformative change, and we applaud each and every organization for their focus and passionate commitment to reach and uplift their community.”
Here’s the first in an occasional video series called Getting Back Out There from Flyer reporter Toby Sells.
For this one, ride along with Sells as he tours Southland Casino Racing’s $250 million expansion. The project features a massive gaming floor (bigger than two football fields) and a massive hotel tower housing more than 300 rooms.
The casino is expected to open in April and the hotel is expected to open in September or October, Southland officials said Friday.
If you've ever wanted to know what it felt like to push Tom Holland out of an airplane, Uncharted is the film for you!
The Super Bowl is over (who won again?), and you’re looking to get out of the house and catch a flick. You’ve got a lot of variety to choose from in Memphis theaters this weekend.
The big debut is Uncharted, a $120 million adaptation of the hit video game series starring Mark Wahlberg and the spider-guy who is arguably the biggest movie star in the world right now, Tom Holland. Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer’s film is an origin story for Uncharted‘s fortune hunter Nathan Drake, and an action-adventure in the tradition of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tomb Raider. Judging from the trailer, you’ll believe 15th-century caravels can fly!
The other new release this weekend is Dog, starring Channing Tatum as a PTSD’d vet of the War on Terror who gets a simple assignment: Drive a decorated war vet to their partner’s funeral. What seems like a milk run turns into a nightmare when the passenger turns out to be a total bitch.
But now, the real reason I’ve called you all together here on Al Gore’s interwebs: One of you is a MURDERER! Well, not really (But maybe? Who knows?), but that’s what Agatha Christie’s fastidious detective Hercule Poirot says in Death on the Nile. Kenneth Branagh plays Poirot and directs an all-star cast, including Annette Bening, Russell Brand, and a champagne-swilling Gal Gadot, in this adaptation of Christie’s quintessential detective mystery.
If that’s not enough Kenneth Branagh for you (and really, can anyone have enough Branagh in their life?), Belfast, his black-and-white, semi-memoir of growing up in Ireland during the Troubles is still at Malco Ridgeway. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Dame Judi Dench.
If you’re looking for a total disaster, Roland Emmerich has got you covered with Moonfall. Realism has never been his strong suit, nor has logic or taste or respect for basic norms of filmmaking, and this one is no exception. You’ll believe the moon can’t fly!
And finally, if you can’t believe a boat can fly, or that a dog can earn a purple heart (spoiler alert: they can), or that Kenneth Branagh is interesting, or literally anything about Moonfall, maybe you’ll believe that extremely hot person Jennifer Lopez can be hot for comedic sad-sack Owen Wilson. If that’s the case, then set sail for rom-com island with Marry Me.
Kelsey Taylor releases her concept album, The Frost. (Credit: Harris Beauchamp)
Before she wrote The Frost, Kelsey Taylor knew she wanted to write a concept album.
“All of my favorite albums are concept albums,” says Taylor, 22. “At the time, I was listening to a lot of this band, Oh Hellos, and their kind of niche is folk rock.”
She was attracted to the band’s Dear Wormwood album. “It’s really cohesive top to bottom and has musical themes and lyrical themes through the whole thing. The first time I heard it I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh. This is the kind of thing I want to make.’ I’ve always been very into stories. Any kind of story. I read a lot. I love film and television. I would write a lot of short stories and things of that nature before I got into songwriting.”
Taylor, who began writing songs three years ago, says, “I think I’m drawn to really large form content as opposed to a single song. I love the idea that a theme can be carried through this giant overarching work and the songs are more like chapters than stand-alone things.”
Kelsey Taylor (Credit: Harris Beauchamp)
With the idea of one day writing a concept album, Taylor kept a journal during her senior year at University of Memphis. “I would scribble an idea every time I had one.”
The entries were diverse. “It ranged anywhere from a phase of life I would write about, to talking about a book that I loved.”
Taylor, who majored in music business, says she was required to do a senior project at the end of the year. Her voice teacher suggested she combine a recital with an album for her project. Her teacher also told her she might write about how she’dbeen dealing with isolation during the pandemic lockdown/quarantine.
Taylor went to a coffee shop with her journal and began “recounting everything” top to bottom like free-verse poetry. She wrote down the journal entries with the idea of inserting little instrumentals here and there. “I tried to keep it pretty open ended from my own personal experience about that desolate period, but I kept it broad — as being about going through a difficult time in your life.”
She composed songs based on what she wrote down. “I would get really inspired and go from song to song and lock in whatever flowed off my brain.
“I was breaking it down song by song. I would spend maybe a week, four or five days, on each song until I had it where I wanted it to go. I was very picky with word choices and the way it cadenced.”
And, she says, “As I was writing, it kind of turned into something else. The whole album shifted.”
Kelsey Taylor (Credit: Harris Beauchamp)
She had been reading T. S. Elliot’s “The Waste Land.” “I got into references from that, and the album — instead of being about a difficult or depressive period — turned into an album about grief and loss and how we cope with it.
“I had a little outline I was going off of and I sat down and sort of rewrote the entire thing top to bottom. The first draft of it.
“I just thought that would be an interesting way to write. Instead of going song by song and trying get really detailed about it right off the bat.”
Taylor wrote the entire album, which contains nine songs and two instrumentals, between November 2020 and January 2021.
She chose The Frost because she loves metaphors. “I wanted to find one giant metaphor to use for the whole thing.”
Taylor broke the album into seasons. “The dark period you’re going through, the grief, that would be the idea of winter. And spring coming out the other side.”
The fist song, “Aspen,” was named after the tree, not the city. Aspen leaves turn “a pretty bright yellow” in Autumn. So, that song is a “pretty, bright song.”
Also, fall is “a warm or nice period of your life before this darker period.”
The album eventually gets to “The Longest Night of the Coldest Year.” “I was using that as the ‘longest night’ being the solstice. Least sunlight maybe the least hopeful. Maybe you feel like you’re not going to come out of it. It’s quite heavy, but very folk rock. Huge gang vocals and string quintets. It’s just massive. The bass on that song is a bowed upright instead of an electric bass.”
“Bloom,” which is spring, has many references to Elliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” The poem’s first line — “Let us go then you and I,” — is one of many vocal lines that are performed simultaneously in the song.
Kelsey Taylor (Credit: Harris Beauchamp)
Taylor specifically didn’t use “summer” on the album. “I just wanted to bookend winter. I think that was part of it. I wanted that to be the focus.”
But, she says, “I just don’t like summer. It doesn’t have to be there. I don’t know. I honestly think I’m just not built for heat.”
Plus, she’d rather be in school than on summer break. “I really liked school and I was very good at school.”
Taylor made a video of The Frost for her senior project. “We’d been having virtual recitals at the university since Covid happened. I wanted to be more artful about it than just setting up a camera in the concert hall. If I was going to do this, I wanted to go all the way. I ended up renting a day at Annesdale Mansion on Lamar and making this super high production live video of the whole thing.”
She formed a six-person band with herself on vocals and piano and a drummer, guitarist, cellist, violinist, and an auxiliary percussionist. “Everyone else except the drummer sang. We did it in one of the front rooms with all the dark wood and gold mirrors.”
Taylor recorded the album “all over the place,” including people’s homes and at Young Avenue Sound.
She released the video in May, 2021, and the full album on December 3rd.
Since then, Taylor has been writing more material. Her alternate acoustic versions of three of the songs from the album will be released March 1st.
She did take a brief rest, but she’s already setting up two live shows for spring. “It’s hard for me to take a break.”
The Frost gets heavy in some places, but that doesn’t necessarily describe Taylor. “I think my resting face is just a little angry looking, but I’m not actually angry.
“In superficial relationships, I think outwardly I represent cheerful and friendly and welcoming. But I think inwardly I tend to lean to the darker side.”
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris. (Courtesy Shelby County Government).
As of Thursday’s filing deadline, the lineup cards are in for the first major voting of the campaign year: the county Democratic and Republican primaries of May 3, pending withdrawals by next Thursday. Most of the primary races are between Democrats, though a serious showdown in August will come for some of those Democratic winners, as formidable Republican foes will await them on the general election ballot. (Incumbents’ names are in caps.)
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
MAYOR: The County’s first-term chief executive, LEE HARRIS, will be favored against city administrator Kenneth Moody and Michael Banks. City Councilman Worth Morgan, a Republican, lies in wait for the August general election.
SHERIFF: FLOYD BONNER, JR., who also has de facto Republican endorsement, is highly favored against challenger Keisha Scott.
ASSESSOR: MELVIN BURGESS, who probably has ambitions down the line, should be secure against this relatively unknown challenger, Roderick Blount.
CIRCUIT COURT CLERK: Veteran TEMIKA GIPSON will have all she can handle against challenger Jamita E. Swearengen, the current Memphis City Council chair and member of a prominent political clan.
COUNTY CLERK: Activist clerk WANDA HALBERT should be well positioned vs. Arriell Gipson (daughter of Temika Gipson), Mondell Williams, and William Stovall.
JUVENILE COURT CLERK: Retiring County Commissioner Reginald Milton could have brisk challenges from TV reporter Janeen Gordon, former School Board member Stephanie Gatewood, and Marcus Mitchell.
PROBATE COURT CLERK:BILL MORRISON is opposed by Eddie Chism and retiring County Commissioner Eddie Jones.
REGISTER: SHELANDRA FORD is matched against retiring Commissioner Willie Brooks and Wanda Faulkner.
TRUSTEE: REGINA NEWMAN will be highly favored against frequent candidates Roderic Ford and Marion Alexandria-Williams (aka M. LaTroy Williams). Former GOP County Commissioner Steve Basar will oppose the winner in August.
CRIMINAL COURT CLERK: HEIDI KUHN has won awards and is hustling hard to stave off a repeat primary opponent, Carla Stotts, and Maeme Bernard.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL: The celebrated legal activist Steve Mulroy, a former County Commissioner and University of Memphis law professor, is favored against two able opponents, Linda Harris and Janika White, for the right to challenge the formidable Republican incumbent AMY WEIRICH in August.
COMMISSION #5: The newly forged Cordova seat on the County Commission has drawn three formidable aspirants, the Commission’s able administrative assistant Quran Folsom, recently retired School Board member Shante Knox-Avant, and Reginald French, a prominent aide to former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton.
COMMISSION #6: Minister/activist Charlie Caswell is matched against former Young Democrat president Alexander Boulton.
COMMISSION #7: Former legislator and Commissioner Henri Brooks is hazarding a comeback against School Board vice chair Althea Greene, Kathy Temple, and Cartavius Black.
COMMISSION #8: MICKELL LOWERY will run unopposed and will have no Republican opponent in August.
COMMISSION #9: EDMUND FORD, Jr. will defend his turf against contenders Sam Echols and Sean Harris.
COMMISSION #10: Activist Britney Thornton, she of the unofficial homeless shelter, vs. lawyer Kathy Kirk, member of a Memphis political family, and Teri Dockery.
COMMISSION #11: Human Resources specialist Candice Jones vs. School Board member Misaka Clay Bibbs and Eric Winston.
COMMISSION #12: Erika Sugarmon, the well-known activist and member of a legendary political family, has challengers in Reginald Boyce, David Walker, and Jasmes Bacchus.;
COMMISSION #13:MICHAEL WHALEY, running in a new district unopposed, will be challenged in August by Republican businessman Edward Apple.
Other Democratic candidates: Donna McDonald Martin vs. Kerry White in Commission District 1; Lynette Williams in Commission District 2; Britney Chauncey in Commission District 4.
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
COUNTY COMMISSION # 4: In the only out-and-out Republican primary contest, BRANDON MORRISON is favored against challenger Jordan Carpenter.
Running unopposed in the GOP primary are: Worth Morgan, Mayor; Stephen Cross, Assessor; Sohelia Kail, Circuit Court Clerk; Jeffrey Jacobs, County Clerk; Steve Basar, Trustee; Paul Houston, Criminal Court Clerk; Rob White, Juvenile Court Clerk; DeWayne Jackson, Probate Court Clerk; Bryian Edmiston, Register; and District Attorney General AMY WEIRICH.
Covid-19 changed checkout lines, and they may change again soon.
Thanks to Covid, lines got longer as many workers were sick or left to find other jobs. They were fraught with anxiety, too, as exposure to others worried those hoping to avoid the virus. In short, Americans grew even more tired of waiting in line. However, lines could be on the way out.
Checkout-free stores would allow customers to walk in, get what they want, and walk out, without ever scanning an item or making small talk with a cashier.
The idea for these kinds of stores is not new. Companies have tested technology to make them a reality for years. Amazon worked on the idea beginning in 2015 before launching its first Amazon Go store to employees in 2016 and to the general public in 2018. However, those stores are certainly not common, with only 42 locations spread across Seattle, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and London.
But checkout-free stores are expected to open in Tennessee later this year. Mapco, the convenience store chain, announced earlier this week it has teamed up with Grabango, a checkout-free tech company based in Berkeley, California. Together, they plan to open two checkout-free Mapco locations in Nashville by this fall.
Credit: Grabango
Tennessee is the starting point for Mapco’s checkout-free launch into the Southeast. Though detailed rollout plans for the launch were not shared, Mapco will use the Grabango tech to “add checkout-free operation to its locations,” and notes that the store has 330 locations across the Southeast.
The customer experience would be smooth and will give shoppers a “store of the future” experience, Grabango said. According to a video from the company, shoppers would enter a store, pick up the items they want, open the Mapco app on their phone, scan their phone on a digital reader in the store, and walk out the door.
Memphis is no stranger to shopping innovation.
Memphis is no stranger to shopping innovation. The modern grocery store was born here in 1916, when Clarence Saunders revealed self-service shopping in his Piggly Wiggly stores. Mike Rivalto challenged the traditional walk-in convenience store model when he opened the first proof-of-concept Smartmart location on Park in 2003.
To shop at Smartmart, customers never leave their cars. Instead, they use a touch screen to order up to 2,800 products. Those are delivered to the customer’s car window on a series of belts.
The Smartmart location has stood alone for years and gained ground as a bit of a local curiosity. However, Ashlee Rivalto Hendry, Smartmart’s Chief Operating Officer, said business interest has always been high. Requests to open stores like the one here have come from all over the world. But mass-producing the stores has not been feasible, until now.
“It’s our time,” said Rivalto Hendry.
A second Smartmart has been built and the company is working to secure a location. After it’s established, Smartmart will begin manufacturing the stores and start a franchise model that could, finally, see Smartmart locations bloom all over the globe.
The end is nigh! The end of the pandemic, that is, according to some. But the live-stream universe is alive and well, and we support it into perpetuity, for all who wish to err on the side of caution. It ain’t over till it’s over, as they say, and even then we might not be done. Luckily, Memphis is geared up for live-streaming like no other city, and this week even includes a special post-Valentine’s edition of Goner TV. Who could ask for more?
ALL TIMES CST
Thursday, February 17 7:30 p.m. Tiffany Harmon’s Songwriter Showcase — at Hernando’s Hide-A-Way Website
Members of the Kosten Foundation donate funds for research to Baptist Clinical Research Institute. (Courtesy Kosten Foundation)
The Kosten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research announced this week that it will fund $180,000 in grants in 2022 for research teams focused on studying pancreatic cancer. Locally, the Baptist Clinical Research Institute will be the recipient of funds from the grants, as will two Texas-based institutions.
The Memphis-based pancreatic cancer nonprofit is partnering with Baptist Clinical Research Institute in Memphis, University of Texas Southwestern’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas, and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine in Edinburg, Texas.
“We’re incredibly proud to support these research teams as they break new ground and work towards our goal of curing pancreatic cancer,” said Alan Kosten, chairman of the Kosten Foundation. “The Kosten Foundation is grateful for the continued support of the community and our sponsors, which allows us to continue making a difference in the fight against this deadly disease.”
The Kosten Foundation is a Memphis-based nonprofit dedicated to funding cancer research. It was formed in 2003 by the family of Herb Kosten after his death due to pancreatic cancer. To date, the organization has donated more than $2.5 million for pancreatic cancer research and hosts an active monthly support group meeting for patients, their families, and anyone interested in learning more about pancreatic cancer. The foundation hosts an annual Kick It 5K, which has grown to include more than 2,500 participants. Money raised from the 5K and other Kosten Foundation events helps fund pancreatic cancer research.
Runners and walkers participate in the Kosten Foundation’s 2021 Kick It 5K fundraiser. The event raised more than $147,000 for pancreatic cancer research and support. (Courtesy Kosten Foundation)
