Month: July 2022

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Thriving at the Drive-In

photo: Courtesy Joe Bob’s Drive-In Jamboree Joe Bob Briggs’ Drive-In Jamboree comes to Memphis.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. No one feels the truth of that old saw like Joe Bob Briggs. Born John Bloom in Dallas, Texas, he has been celebrating low-budget horror, sci-fi, kung fu, and just plain weird films for decades. He holds a journalism degree from Vanderbilt University and adopted his nom de plume in the mid-’80s while writing humorous reviews of exploitation and grind-house films for Texas Monthly. From 1986 to 1996, he hosted Joe Bob’s Drive-In Theater on The Movie Channel, where he perfected his public persona. 

The films he featured every week were as viscerally thrilling as they were cheaply made. And if the plots were stupid or the acting subpar, well, all the better. On both the original show and his subsequent stint on TNT’s MonsterVision, Briggs rated films on how many scenes of badassery they contained. If, for example, a crazed killer used a pair of shears on his victim, Briggs would dub it as an incident of “scissor-fu.” 

The movies he championed were always associated with drive-in theater culture. The first drive-in opened in New Jersey in 1933, and the concept quickly spread across the country. During their peak popularity in the 1950s, drive-ins catered to families by adding playgrounds and featuring mostly kid-friendly offerings. But low-budget, independent filmmakers who produced more outré fare often found it easier to book their films in rural drive-ins rather than movie palaces in the urban core. During the 1970s, gas price shocks and the rise of home video took a toll on drive-in culture, and many of the theaters that survived into the 1980s did so by specializing in the kind of shocking exploitation films that couldn’t get on a screen anywhere else. For Briggs, this is true cinema, and more mainstream fare or art films are mere “indoor bullstuff.” 

Since 2018, Briggs has been a fixture on Shudder, the streaming service devoted to horror, with his new show The Last Drive-in. This weekend, July 8th-10th, Briggs comes to Memphis for the second annual Joe-Bob’s Drive-In Jamboree. “I love Tennessee, and I love Memphis,” Briggs says. “It’s the city of great music, great festivals, great barbecue, and the most hospitable people in the world.” 

The Bluff City is also home to one of the biggest and most successful drive-in theaters in the world. Unlike many other theaters of its kind, the Malco Summer Drive-In survived the expensive conversion to digital projection thanks to the investment of the locally based theater chain’s then-president and drive-in aficionado Jimmy Tashie. That investment paid off big time during the coronavirus pandemic, when the surviving drive-ins were the only places where an audience could safely watch movies together. Last year’s drive-in fest was held at the Mahoning Drive-In in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. It was such a big success that this year’s edition had to move to bigger digs. “We were bulging at the seams,” says Briggs. “When they called it the drive-in Woodstock, that included the mud! It was a wonderful event, but there were so many fans who tried to buy tickets and couldn’t get in. We’re adding screens, adding capacity, and adding a convention element in the daytime. And I couldn’t be happier about partnering with Malco Theatres, people who have been exhibiting movies all over the South for 107 years.” 

The weekend starts in Midtown on Thursday at Crosstown Theater with Briggs presenting his one-man show “How Rednecks Saved Hollywood,” with more than 200 clips of scenes tracing the evolution of the redneck stereotype from Thunder Road (a pioneering car-chase movie from 1958 starring Robert Mitchum as a Tennessee bootlegger running from the law) to Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit, and Forrest Gump. The three-day drive-in culture convention will be held at the Hilton Memphis, with dozens of vendors and special guests. On Friday night, the Malco Summer Drive-In will host a cast and crew reunion for Halloween III: Season of the Witch — a film Briggs has long criticized because it doesn’t feature franchise villain Michael Myers. Then, on Saturday, Briggs and his crew will stage a live version of his Shudder show with a secret double-feature of blood-splattering exploitation goodness. On Sunday, Briggs will host the World Drive-In Movie Festival, featuring 10 indie productions that carry on the gonzo traditions of the drive-in. Briggs will present the filmmakers, who were chosen from hundreds of entries, with the Hubbie Award — a trophy made from an engraved Chevy hubcap. 

Tickets to individual events and VIP passes for the entire festival are available at joebobsjamboree.com. 

Categories
Music Music Features

Punk Group Switches is Young and Hungry

photo: Michael Donahue Brennan Williams, John Pera, Joey Eddins, and Gavin Richards

Band name inspirations come from everywhere.

Take Switches.

“I came up with the name Switches actually at 3 in the morning when I was in my room asleep and my lights were still on and I did not want to get up and flip the switch to turn it off,” says bass player Gavin Richards, 17.

“A lot of people think it has some really deep meaning when it doesn’t at all.”

Switches, a punk/grunge band that also includes guitarist/lead singer John Pera, 18; guitarist Brennan Williams, 17; and drummer Joey Eddins, 17, formed March 5th. The group played its first big-name club, Hi Tone, July 1st.

Like older bands, Switches members are writing, rehearsing, thinking about recording, and dealing with nervousness on stage. But Switches is fresh. It’s hungry.

“I didn’t start singing until this year,” Pera says. “We were all like, ‘Who’s going to do it?’ I was like, ‘I guess I can.’ I’d never done it before. I usually play guitar and stuff.

“It was kind of hard, but you kind of get used to it. I’d go in my car and yell a lot so it wouldn’t hurt as much. Singing along to the radio. At first, I would almost cough up a lung after trying to get through it. It was like I was about to pass out. I still do that a little bit, but only at the end of the show.”

Switches (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Richards got his first guitar five years ago. “YouTube videos were my teacher,” he says.

He and Williams got into Green Day at 13. “They sounded so different from what was on the radio. Powerful. Just a different sound.”

They watched Green Day’s 1992 videos.“They were pretty young. Like 16 and 17. And we were like, ‘We could do that. We could be just like them, play shows like them.’”

Richards got serious about music and wanted to play shows. But, he says, everybody except Eddins, who joined after they formed Switches, is from Germantown. “In Germantown, there are not really any music venues to play at.

“We didn’t know how to get our sound out there, to get us playing music to any crowd of some sort.”

That changed after he began driving and discovered “there’s stuff to do everywhere” in Memphis. “Especially for young people like us. 

“I could go pretty much where I felt like going. A lot of local shows. I started seeing a lot of the music scenes there, and that changed the game entirely.”

After discovering Hi Tone and Lamplighter Lounge, Richards thought, “We can play here.”

“Memphis was the place to go. That’s where you have an audience no matter where you go. Memphis has a bunch of different scenes for a bunch of different music.

“When I saw kids my age playing in bands to pretty decent-sized crowds and a lot of my friends were going to them, I really wanted to start playing shows like this.”

Richards began writing songs as a freshman. “Everything changes going from middle school to high school. It brings a lot of things and emotions on you and you need an expressive outlet for it.

“I was first dipping my toes into water as a songwriter, but I kind of didn’t know where to go with it. Ideas would come up and I would write them down and nothing would ever come from it.”

They now have six originals. Richards wrote music and lyrics to “Castle,” their most popular song. “This girl gave me a Silly Bandz in the shape of a castle. I pretty much made it about that.”

Switches (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Asked what sets Switches apart, Williams says, “I think it’s our energy. For sure. We’re all friends. And we got chemistry with each other. And we cooperate really well.”

“I love that it’s raw punk and it’s so fun to play,” Eddins says. 

The big picture for Switches? “We’re just kind of playing it by ear right now,” Richards says. “Playing shows. Having fun around Memphis. Maybe some trips to Nashville or something like that. So, nothing too crazy — world domination or something like that.” 

Switches (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Quark Theatre Presents Will Eno’s Wakey, Wakey

Photo: Tony Isbell Adam Remsen as Guy

After a pandemic-prompted hiatus, Quark Theatre is back and ready to start its fourth season with Wakey, Wakey by Will Eno. 

This is not the first time Quark is putting on Wakey, Wakey, having performed it back in October 2019, but, as Quark co-founder Adam Remsen says, “A lot of it seems a lot more personally relevant. It’s such a layered script. And counting both of the productions we’ve done, I’ve probably gone through that script a hundred times now, and I continue to find new things that I have not noticed before.”

The play opens with a presumably terminally ill Guy, rousing from a nap and asking, “Is it now? I thought I had more time.” For the next hour of the play, Remsen, who will reprise his part as the protagonist, explains, “It’s this sort of meandering monologue, where he talks about all different things — a lot about love and life and death. Though, that makes it sounds very serious, and it’s a very funny play. For something that deals with such heavy subjects, I’m always amazed at how lightly it keeps moving along. It’s so well-written.”

Interestingly, the playwright Will Eno went beyond providing the script, Remsen says. “When we did the show for the first time, we applied for the rights and we got them and got an email that Will likes to be personally involved in productions of his play.” So the group emailed with Eno, asking questions and receiving long, detailed, and personable responses. “It’s unheard of. I have literally never heard of another playwright doing that,” Remsen continues. “There were some points in the play that were confusing, and it helped us kind of figure out what was going on with those and what we were going to do. He was also very clear … that he understands that every production is different and the goal is to make this your production.

“It’s such a personal play, and it actually specifies in the script that when the play ends that in the lobby there are food and snacks and drinks provided and everyone should come out in the lobby including the cast and have a little small reception or party.” This intimacy, Remsen adds, will also be afforded in the size of the space being lent by Germantown Community Theatre. “It’s a small theater; it’s a hundred seats. … We want people to be as close as possible to the stage.”

As such, this play is within Quark’s affinity for simple, nuanced performances. “[Co-founder and director Tony Isbell] and I enjoy theater that takes out anything extraneous,” Remsen says, “where it’s just the actors, a script, and an audience. … We stick to fairly small shows, fairly new shows usually, and the kind of shows that we do are the kind no one is going to do in Memphis if we don’t do them.” 

Wakey, Wakey will run through July 17th, Thursday-Sunday, but Quark isn’t stopping there this season. Unlike seasons past, this season will have four productions, not two. Up next is What Happens to Hope at the End of the Evening, which Quark put on in March 2020, having to cancel its run after two performances. 

Wakey, Wakey, Germantown Community Theatre, 3037 Forest Hill Irene Road, opens July 7, 8 p.m., $20.

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Polar Bears, a Geenline Van, and Those TBI Alerts 

Posted to Nextdoor by V&E Greenline

Memphis on the internet.

Tweet of the Week

“Zoos are really insane as hell. Ain’t no way a polar bear supposed to be in Memphis, Tennessee,” tweeted @galeonsworld last week.

Van Life

Last week three people stole a minivan and attempted to drive it across the V&E Greenline bridge. 

They didn’t make it far. The bridge is fine, Greenline officials said on Nextdoor last week. But the handrail is not. Damage from a collision with the van will likely cost $5,000, they said.  

“Unfortunately, while this particular incident is unusual, we have seen more and more motorized vehicles using the trail for criminal and recreational purposes,” Greenline officials said.

Posted to Twitter by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

“No One Easy Answer”

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) apologized for the many alerts that buzzed the phones of Tennesseans at all hours last week. 

“We know it’s been a frustrating morning for many of you,” the TBI tweeted. “Same here, TBH.”

Why? “There is no one easy answer,” the TBI said in a statement. The agency doesn’t send the alerts, a partner does. The alerts also vary across cell providers, change with movements across the state, change with powering a phone on and off, signal strength, wifi availability, and more.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Simply Delicious: SideStreet Burgers

Jonathan Mah (Photo: Michael Donahue)

It’s like Jonathan Mah had to become a restaurant owner.

Mah, 42, owner of SideStreet Burgers in Olive Branch, Mississippi, spent most of his life in restaurants.

“My dad started a restaurant probably when I was 10 or 11,” Mah says. “His first restaurant was Cafe Arcadia in the Collierville town square. It had steaks, and they had a buffet where they did some Southern food.”

His parents at one time ran two restaurants simultaneously. “My mom had her Cafe Magnolia in Olive Branch. My dad did his in Horn Lake, Evan’s Cafe. Both on Goodman Road.

“I had to work all the time after school in the restaurants. Cooking, cleaning — you name it, I had to do it. It wasn’t always that fun to me at the time, but that was my background. We liked to eat, and my parents had restaurants. So, when I went to college, it was the only thing that felt comfortable.”

Mah majored in hotel-restaurant management at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

His parents cooked at home, says Mah, who was born in Greenville, Mississippi. “My mom did quite a bit and my dad usually grilled out. Being a Chinese family, my grandmother lived with us for many years. So, she was stir-frying and cooking a lot, as well.

“We didn’t have the typical breakfast you grow up eating, cereal and things like that. We had dumplings for breakfast. And we put a little bit of soy sauce and sesame oil in our hot oatmeal.”

But his parents didn’t serve Chinese food at their restaurants. “For some reason they just didn’t cook it. They cooked Southern food.” His mother served “peach cobbler and her amazing brisket. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Fresh fried okra. And my dad did something similar on his side of town, but just in his own style.”

Mah went for hamburgers instead of Asian when he opened SideStreet Burgers May 12, 2012.

His dad gave him the building. “I was confined by a small budget and the small building. I said, ‘Well, you know what? Let’s just keep it simple. Start with burgers and potatoes.’ A good Angus burger we hand-patted and red potatoes.”

Mah added other items, including the Fat Panda — “Korean marinated beef tenderloin” — the Mother Clucker chicken sandwich, Jake’s Chicken Nachos, Blackened Mahi Fish Tacos, and the Whatchu Talkin’ Bout patty melt.”

They offer other hamburgers, but The Street Burger is their signature. “We take cheddar cheese and slice it daily. So, it’s right off a cheddar loaf, probably a quarter-inch thick of cheese, and [add] a little garlic mayo.”

Five years ago, Mah and Derric Curran, owner of Mississippi Ale House, which is next door, teamed up. “That’s a craft ale house. They brew their own beers and get other beers from Mississippi.”

SideStreet Burgers doesn’t offer in-house dining. “Customers pick up their food and they go over to the Ale House and drink beer and listen to live music.”

Mah also added his OB Pizza Co. inside Mississippi Ale House. “Hand-tossed pizzas cooked on pizza stone. Fun pizzas like our White Castle Pizza, Fat Panda Philly, and Taco Pizza.”

Also at that restaurant, he says, “We have amazing whole wings marinated in hot chili oil and tossed in wing sauce. We call them Kung Fu Wings.”

Mah finally broke the chain and added hints of Chinese cuisine at SideStreet Burgers. “I always try to infuse a little Asian into my meat.”

He prepares Chinese food on occasion as “ghost pop-ups,” which people can order on his Facebook page.

But Asian food isn’t what his customers want at SideStreet Burgers. Or other items Mah tried, including a “wedge salad with some really good blue cheese” and a “curried chicken wrap.”

“If they sell, we keep it on as long as we can go. If it doesn’t, we move on to something else and bring our customers another taste of something else we’ve created.”

SideStreet Burgers is at 9199 MS-178 in Olive Branch; (901) 596-4749.

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We Recommend We Saw You

We Saw You: Hole in One Charity Festival — And That Great Barbecue

I love the barbecue and all the other food at the Hole in One Charity Festival at St. Louis Catholic Church. (Credit: Linda McCaskey)

I love the annual Hole in One Charity Festival at St. Louis Catholic Church. People hit golf balls and try to win prizes.

And they eat.

I don’t think I’ve ever played golf at the event, which begins on Father’s Day and runs through that next Saturday. I usually go to eat Hole in One food and see people.

Hole in One Charity Festival at St. Louis Catholic Church (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Golf and I need to come together again someday. When I played decades ago, I loved the precision of hitting the ball correctly and trying to get it on the green and not somewhere else. And I felt the same way about hitting a tennis ball. One of my tennis teachers, Mark Booth, I believe, called tennis “outdoor pool.”

I remember my mom taking me to a golf clinic conducted by the late Memphis pro golfer Cary Middlecoff in the latter part of the 1950s or early ‘60s. I think she wanted me to learn to play golf, but I wasn’t interested in it at the time.

I did get interested around 1970 and, if I remember correctly, I took golf lessons at then Memphis State University, now University of Memphis. I also went to a driving range at least once. But someone told me if you play tennis you shouldn’t play golf and vice versa because you’re using your wrist in one of those and not in the other. And you don’t want to screw up your ability to play one or the other.

But then I stopped taking tennis lessons. About 20 years later I ran into my last tennis teacher (not Booth) at a dinner. I told him I was thinking about taking tennis lessons again. He replied: “Stick to what you can do best.”

I might return to golf one day. And I might hit a ball at Hole in One. I might actually make a hole in one.

I called Wes Kraker to get the skinny on the St. Louis event. He’s been involved with Hole in One for more than 20 years.

“We transform the campus at St. Louis Church into a 37 tee box driving range,” Kraker says. “And we give out cash and prizes for good golfers for getting holes in one or closest to the hole. Certain qualifiers on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night shoot out for a car from City Auto. And we accumulate points for performers all week. And those top 10 performers shoot out for a million dollars on Saturday.”

Nobody has ever won the million dollars. “But we did have a car winner one time.”

Wes Kraker at the Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Trey Ybos and Drew Ybos at the Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Phaith Harris and MaKenzie Jones at the Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)

They also have a corn hole tournament every night, Kraker says. “We added it last year, but we expanded it and it was widely successful. Cash prizes for winners. I think every tournament we had was full.”

It will return next year. “It was a big hit.”

On Friday and Saturday. the Hole in One features inflatables for kids, and a rock climbing wall, a water slide, and an obstacle course.

This year’s event, which celebrated its 64th anniversary, drew 10,000 people, Kraker estimated. And he estimated they made about $190,000.

But the food at Hole in One is my top draw. I always get a barbecue sandwich. They’re delicious. The cooking is done by the “St. Louis Men’s Club Culinary Institute.”

Daniel Hill, Tom Hyle, Alex Craig, Jeff Bryant, Rob Hayden, Steve Denegri, and Mark Cary cooking up something at the Hole in One Charity Festival. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Dr. Whit Wills, a local dentist, came up with the barbecue recipes for the rub and sauce used on the ribs, shoulder sandwiches, and bologna sandwiches, Kraker says. “I call him ‘the doctor of barbecology.’’’ 

Wills also makes the homemade crust for the pizzas sold at the event. These include barbecue pizza and shrimp pesto pizza.

This year, Andrew Arbogast, a St. Louis parishioner, was on hand with his Arbo’s Cheese Dip. “All our barbecue nachos on Saturday were made with his cheese dip. It was crazy. People were going crazy for it.”

Erin and Andrew Arbogast at the Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Tayler and Patrick Quinn at Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)

So, I ate a barbecue sandwich (I could have eaten two), chips and Arbo’s dip, and then a cup of a combination of Arbo’s dips that I just drank. I also celebrated the Hole in One Charity Festival with two ice cream sandwiches from the Prairie Farms booth.

After all that, I probably couldn’t have hit a golf ball anyway.

Warren Milner at Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Maurice and Latia Parsons at Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Walker Slattery, Cole Frasure, and Jake Kustoff at Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Linda and Ron McCaskey at Hole in One Charity Festival (Credit: Michael Donahue)
We Saw You
Categories
From My Seat Sports

Burly Batter

Alec Burleson (photo by Daniel Scruggs)

The Memphis Redbirds have won four championships since beginning play in 1998. But the franchise has never fielded a batting champion or league MVP. (Dakota Hudson won the 2018 Pitcher of the Year award for the Pacific Coast League.) Which means Alec Burleson could make some significant history here in 2022. Through Thursday’s games, the 23-year-old Redbirds outfielder is hitting .338, 27 points higher than the second-place batter in the International League. While recent teammates Brendan Donovan, Juan Yepez, and Nolan Gorman have made the leap to St. Louis and are now getting regular playing time with the Cardinals, Burleson continues to master the craft of hitting at the Triple-A level. And quite living up to his nickname: “Burly.”

Burleson emphasizes that he’s “not an analytics guy,” so even an old-school stat like batting average isn’t a motivator. But he knows the challenge of hitting a baseball consistently, and has a measured approach — it starts with a simple, gentle stance from the left side of the plate — to making life difficult for Triple-A pitchers. “Every arm we face is a big-league arm,” says Burleson. “Locking in every day on preparation, having a set approach . . . that’s huge. And sticking to [the approach]. If you stick to what you do best in the box, it puts you in the best position for success. I have the same routine, the same cage work. Trusting that — and not trying to do something different — has allowed me to have continued success this year. If something goes wrong, there’s only so much in my swing that could be off. I want to enter the box only worried about the pitch I’m going to hit, and not worried about mechanics.”

Burleson has shown power at the plate (16 home runs), and the kind that translates to big-league success. Tuesday night at AutoZone Park, Burleson drilled a three-run shot over the right-centerfield wall that proved to be the game-winner against Jacksonville. Left-handed batters who can go yard to the opposite field tend to play well into their 30s. Then there’s the homer Burleson hit June 15th against the Nashville Sounds, the first and only inside-the-park job in Redbirds history. “I didn’t know if it was going to go over the fence or not,” he says. “I saw it kick [away], and I was thinking three . . . but [Redbirds manager Ben Johnson] was shouting, ‘You gotta go.’ I thought it was going to be a close play at the plate. I was very winded, catching my breath for a couple of innings.”

Burleson credits Johnson and hitting coach Brandon Allen among a group of influences this season, and he also appreciates some wisdom received recently from big-league veteran Corey Dickerson (with the Redbirds on a rehab assignment). “Talking to him about left-on-left situations helped me a lot,” says Burleson. “He’s been in the big leagues a long time, so it’s good to hear that knowledge.”

A native of Charlotte, Burleson adopted the New York Yankees as his favorite team despite his father pulling for the Atlanta Braves. His favorite players were Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, men who earned their stripes primarily at the plate. Which makes the award Burleson won as a freshman at East Carolina in 2018 all the more surprising: American Athletic Conference Rookie Pitcher of the Year. (Burleson went 5-2 with four saves and a 3.33 ERA on the mound for the Pirates.) He smiles slightly when asked if he ever considered the Shohei Ohtani approach: pitch when you can, and hit when you’re not on the bump. “When I was drafted, it was as an outfielder,” he notes. “The bat was going to carry me to the next level. Everybody around me knew.”

The Redbirds are competing for their first postseason appearance since 2018 and their first International League championship. (Memphis competed in the Pacific Coast League through the 2019 campaign.) Through Thursday, they occupy third place in the IL’s West Division, just 2.5 games behind Nashville. Burleson describes a clubhouse that arrives at the ballpark ready to work, with Johnson’s professionalism in the manager’s office the team standard. “Ben expects a lot out of us,” he says, “to get our work done every day. That’s felt among all the guys. We want to have as much success as we can, and it’s not so much individuals. We pull for each other. It’s fun to come to the park with these guys.”

Burleson will have a hard time cracking the Cardinals’ outfield, so count on his name coming up in trade rumors this month. The 10th-ranked prospect in the St. Louis system is sure to draw attention from trade partners. But for the time being, Burly will take that gentle stance in a Redbirds uniform, and hammer baseballs toward a batting title.

Categories
News News Blog

‘For Women Who Need a Moment’

Olivia F. Scott’s Freedom at the Mat sets out to make wellness and self-care more accessible. (Photo: Courtesy Olivia F. Scott)

It’s no secret that the pandemic began a shift in conversation on wellness and self care. It opened up a dialogue on how different populations deal with their mental health, and the many ways that we choose to treat and approach it.

Wellness and self-care don’t have to be expensive, and they don’t have to consume hours of your time. That sentiment is one of the driving forces behind Memphis native Olivia F. Scott’s company Freedom at the Mat.

Freedom at the Mat is a wellness brand that provides weekly YouTube content in the form of affirmations, meditation, yoga flows, and interviews with wellness advocates.

“It’s really our mission to make sure we are getting content out to women of all socioeconomic classes throughout the world,” Scott explains.

Scott says that the content is specifically and strategically targeted to be under 30 minutes, in order to cater to women who say “I don’t have time to take care of myself.”

“Naturally, you find that women, by our nature, we are nurturers, and we take care of other people, and we don’t take time to prioritize our own self care,” Scott continues. 

Along with accessible self care, Scott’s company manufactures and retails yoga mats that are available to purchase through her website.

Fifteen percent of the profit made from Freedom at the Mat’s paid classes, journals, and yoga mats goes to nonprofits that are dedicated to serving women. One such recipient is Grace House in Memphis.

Shortly after graduating from Central High School in 1991, Scott found herself in a number of places from Missouri to Chicago and New York, where she says she was able to create a career for herself. 

Health had always been a part of Scott’s life because of her lineage. Her mother, her sister, and her grandmother all died at the age of 65, and Scott knew that from a young age, she would have to watch her health.

While she was always conscious of her health, it was when she started to experience burnout in her mid to late 30s that she decided that she needed to really figure things out.

“I was on this hamster wheel in New York, and I had this really amazing career, but I didn’t have any balance. I did [yoga] one time when I was in Chicago, and I was like, this is so boring I’ll never do yoga, it’s so so boring,” she recalls.

After taking a power vinyasa class and becoming a registered yoga teacher, Scott says she realized that yoga was her saving grace.

“Women are so busy, and our lives are also busy. You may not have another moment to yourself to actually pray or to set the intention for your day or move your body, so I wanted to make sure that I didn’t leave anything out, that I wasn’t only focusing on the physical or only focusing on the mental.”

While her own experiences helped to push her to start her company, Scott says her familial experiences are a big part of her “why.”

“My sister struggled with substance abuse for about 35 years,” she says. “When she passed away I realized that the world has so much happening every single day. I think about my sister, and I say ‘If she knew that there was a place that she could go in her home that was accessible to her, would she have been able to better combat the demons in her head?’” 

Combined with her sister’s struggles, and a car ride through Frayser, Scott realized that sometimes women don’t always have the resources to be able to figure out safe coping mechanisms.

“I saw the dire poverty in Memphis, and I thought ‘I wonder are these people thinking about their wellness?’”

Scott said she answered her own question, as, by necessity, people are often only thinking about survival. 

“The moment I saw that section of North Memphis, I said ‘I may never be able to reach those women per se … but I want to contribute to an organization that I know is contributing to their health and wellness.’”

(Photo: Courtesy Olivia F. Scott)