Month: August 2022

Categories
Film/TV TV Features

The Sandman

Tom Sturridge plays DC’s Dream, who, to repair his kingdom, journeys across different worlds.

Here’s a question: Does Morpheus the Lord of Dreams look like Neil Gaiman, or does Neil Gaiman look like Morpheus?

Back in the late 1980s, Gaiman was a budding young writer for hire, having penned a fan-focused biography of Douglas Adams and some comic scripts for DC. It was a period when the comic book industry was in flux. The “Wham!” and “Zing!” era of superhero stories had gone stale, and new writers were elevating the form by ignoring what had come before. Much like Alan Moore had done with Watchmen, Gaiman picked an obscure character from the DC archives and started from a blank slate. Thus, The Sandman, a guy named Wesley Dodds who wore a gas mask and hunted evildoers with the aid of a sleeping gas gun, became Dream of the Endless, an anthropomorphic representation of what happens when you go to sleep.

The Sandman comics, which ran from 1989 to 1996, helped usher in the “graphic novel” era, where readers and critics recognized comics’ potential to tell more serious stories. Gaiman rejected superhero tropes — crossovers with other DC characters (besides the sorcerer John Constantine) were rare — and used Dream as a catalyst for more psychologically complex stories, usually based in his deep knowledge of mythology from many cultures. The Sandman became a cult hit, with Dream’s sister Death, whose look was based on Cinamon Hadly, an American goth girl who was friends with artist Mike Dringenberg, was a breakout character, especially among college-aged women who were picking up comic books for the first time.

As for Dream, he was a pale, skinny guy in a black overcoat who, as drawn by Dave McKean, had a face that kinda looked like the author’s. Soon, Gaiman started wearing all black and adopted the same flyaway haircut. It was partly a branding exercise and partly just a goth living their best life.

After years in development hell, The Sandman finally got a screen adaptation from Netflix in the form of a 10-episode series. It begins, as the comics did, with Dream (Tom Sturridge) imprisoned in a glass sphere by Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance), a 19th century English occultist known as the Magus, whom Morpheus contemptuously calls “an amateur.” He and his son John Dee (played as an adult by David Thewlis) steal Dream’s three magical totems — his gas-mask-like helmet, a bag of magic sand, and a ruby that makes dreams come true — and keep the Lord of Dreams in their basement for more than a century. When he finally escapes, he returns to find his kingdom The Dreaming in tatters, and the humans whose dreams are his charge in not much better shape. Recovering the emblems of his office means a visit to actual, non-development Hell, where he must face off against Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie), and a trip to a small-town diner, where John Dee tries to use stolen dream magic to create a world without lies.

The 10-episode series is devoted to rendering the original stories and art as faithfully as possible. That’s always a tricky proposition because what works in the comics or on the page may not always work on the screen. In this case, the strengths and weaknesses of the series largely flow from the source material. Pains have been taken to recreate frames designed by artists McKean, Dringenberg, and Sam Keith — I have only a passing familiarity with the originals, but I still caught chills from several hauntingly familiar images — but this comes at the expense of expressive camera movement. Some casting choices are inspired, such as Thewlis, who steals the episode “24/7” as the emotionally stunted son of an abusive wizard, and Christie, who plays the devil as a vain and envious fallen angel to absolute perfection. I found Sturridge’s taciturn Morpheus a little off-putting at first, but he grew on me as the show progressed. The only big miss is Patton Oswalt, whose instant recognizability gets in the way of voicing Dream’s sidekick Matthew the Raven.

The Sandman’s deliberate pacing and philosophical tone may not be for everyone, but this faithful adaptation will satisfy legions of Neil Gaiman readers and those fantasy fans who are ready for a new Dream.

The Sandman is streaming on Netflix.

Categories
Food & Drink Food Reviews

The Secret Smash Society

(Photo: Michael Donahue) Schuyler O’Brien, Harrison Downing, and Cole Jeanes

Shhhhh. It’s The Secret Smash Society.

It consists of three chefs: Harrison Downing, chef/sandwich artist at Greys Fine Cheese; Schuyler O’Brien, who is in culinary operations at City Silo Table + Pantry; and Cole Jeanes, chef/owner of Kinfolk restaurant.

They sell smash burgers at pop-ups, which are supposedly secret, but they’re not. They post the locations a few weeks in advance at The Secret Smash Society on Instagram. “The secret is where we’re going to be next,” Downing says.

The pop-ups usually are held at breweries or other places that don’t have a kitchen. They set up their flat-top and get to work.

A smash burger is just what it sounds like. “It’s a cheeseburger,” Jeanes says. “We do two patties, three ounces each. The smash comes from a burger press. You smash it until it’s completely flat. The idea is to get as much surface area as possible. It’s thin and crusty. It’s all about texture.”

“It’s a faster cook time,” Downing says. “The fat goes back in the meat ’cause it doesn’t have time to render out.”

Their beef is from Home Place Pastures in Como, Mississippi. “We use Martin’s potato roll,” Jeanes says. “It’s a four-inch roll.”

“We toast that,” Downing says. “It’s three-ounce patties with cheese, Kraft singles. Classy. It’s got to be Kraft singles.” The pickles have to be “on the bottom. I’m a big advocate of pickles, lettuce, tomato, and really finely shaved onion.”

They then add what they call their Daddy’s Sauce — “a burger sauce we make. Duke’s mayo-based sauce, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire. It’s similar to a Big Mac sauce.”

Downing describes their smash burger as “a sophisticated Big Mac.” The hamburger comes with a bag of potato chips. But only one kind. “I’m a classic Lays man,” he says.

They don’t know of anybody else in Memphis doing a smash burger. “We just decided to hop into it.”

The first Secret Smash Society pop-up was at High Cotton Brewing Company. “We had a lot more people there than we expected,” Downing says. “And they were ready to go the second Cole threw that first piece of meat on the flat-top.

“It helped that we all cooked in kitchens before and were able to verbalize and not look up, keep our heads down, and keep going. Schuyler, being the experienced guy he is, talked us to where we were supposed to be. We would have been in rough waters if he wasn’t there.”

“I think we hit around 120 [burgers] ’cause we had a little meat left over,” Jeanes says. “We ran 120 to 150 in two hours, two patties each. My arm was pretty much numb by the time we got done.”

Using a burger press, they pressed “about 300 burger balls,” Downing says. “It’s a handheld piece of metal that’s flat. And you just make sure that it’s greased up.”

The first pop-up was a hit. “People really loved it. Within a week after, I had almost every brewery reaching out wanting us to do one there.”

They’d like to do pop-ups “ideally, once a month,” Downing says. They all have their own work schedules, but, he says, “I think we’re moving toward getting more on the books.”

The next pop-up will be September 4th at The Hill Country Boucherie at Home Place Pastures.

In addition to sharing a love of cooking, O’Brien and Jeanes are fathers of new baby boys. Downing and his wife are expecting a baby boy in October. “Right after our first one was when Luca was born,” says O’Brien, who refers to their shared experience of fatherhood and starting their smash burger pop-ups as “the battle of the babies. We’re learning how to do all this while we’re all living the dad life.”

“Schuyler went ahead and coined our new name as The Patty Daddies,” Downing says.

Find @thesecretsmashsociety on Instagram to book a pop-up.

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet: A New, Old Sign, Some Slacker, and Best of Memphis

Posted to Facebook by Hunter Demster

Memphis on the internet.

It’s a Sign

A piece of Memphis past is now part of Cooper-Young’s future.

The eagle-eyed Hunter Demster spotted a crew installing the above sign in Cooper-Young last week. Keen-minded commenters remembered that the sign, and the Silver Horse Shoe Motel it belonged to, used to be on Summer Avenue. That was all confirmed (as most Memphis history things are) with a link to a Memphis magazine story about the hotel by our company’s own Vance Lauderdale.

Photo: Courtesy Vance Lauderdale

Some Slacker

Posted to reddit by u/GoodOlSpence

Reddit user u/GoodOlSpence recently shared this photo to the Memphis subreddit. The image features some random dude and his high school class. Happy Elvis Week!

BOM

Best of Memphis voting closes in less than a week, folks. So remember to head over to our website and let fly your opinions on everything from bartenders to bikini waxes. (Voting closes on August 17th at 5 p.m.)

Categories
News News Feature

Overconfidence in Investments

Photo: Adeolu Eletu | Unsplash

The body of knowledge now called behavioral finance has been developing in earnest since around 1980. The more we learn about the way we interact with money, the more we see that our instincts are often not as useful today as when humans were developing many years ago. Our natural misconceptions are somewhat predictable and fall into identifiable categories. One of the most common biases is overconfidence, which manifests in many ways when it comes to investing.

For example, we will feel most comfortable investing in things we know well, even if it means we’re undiversified. One great example is the tendency to maintain large positions in your employer’s company stock. Geographic home bias is a problem, too, in that we’re more confident in investments in places we know. U.S. home bias has outperformed for the last few years, but then again Japanese investors did great investing locally up until the 1989 crash, too. Thirty-plus years later, the price return of the Nikkei 225 average is still underwater! When AT&T broke up into seven regional companies, investors were found not to invest in the Baby Bell with the best investment prospects but rather almost always in the one they knew locally.

To be provocative, perhaps the most costly form of overconfidence is when investors think they can select individual stocks and outperform the market consistently year after year. Most busy people have a hard time picking up their dry cleaning, so the idea that a working professional with family obligations can have the time to be effective at selecting individual stocks and bonds over the long run is a stretch, at best. What’s worse is that sometimes investors think they are winning, but it’s only because they remember the winners and forget about the losers.

I remember a TV show that did a tour of famous poker player Daniel Negreanu’s house outside Las Vegas. There was a large pool table in the basement, and the host asked him if he’s any good at pool. I remember he looked at her for a long moment and simply replied, “Well, I’m better than you are.” In the same way, with over a decade of daily experience in financial markets, several rigorous financial certifications, and a respected MBA, I suspect I’d be better at picking stocks than an average reader of this article. With that said, you might be surprised to learn that I think you would be foolish to ask me (or any other investment professional) to build a portfolio for you by picking a handful of individual stocks and bonds!

What value can an investment advisor add then? I don’t think an advisor can pick stocks to beat the market, but I do believe there are ways to beat the market in the long run without outguessing the market by picking the right kinds of funds. Aside from curating the investment portfolios, much of the value an advisor can add is behavioral. Talking clients off the ledge when they want to go to all cash almost always has been the right choice historically. Most people like to spend money on things and experiences, and a good advisor can get the signal from the noise and help determine if the time is right for a big purchase. Probably most importantly, advisors can figure out if those approaching retirement are likely to be okay or need to revise their plans.

If we were all like Star Trek’s Mr. Spock, then financial planning would be easy. We’re all fully human though, so you and advisors like me will have to continue to overcome our natural biases and emotions to make the best decisions amid uncertainty on our long-term financial paths.

Gene Gard is Chief Investment Officer at Telarray, a Memphis-based wealth management firm that helps families navigate investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions. Ask him your questions or schedule an objective, no-pressure portfolio review at letstalk@telarrayadvisors.com. Sign up for the next free online seminar on the Events tab at telarrayadvisors.com.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Aloha from Memphis

Ted Torres Martin as Elvis (Photo: Club Elvis España)

Elvis hasn’t left the building, or rather Elvis hasn’t left the hearts of fans who keep his legacy alive, some even on stage where his star once shone so brightly. Ted Torres Martin is one such figure — a full-time Elvis tribute artist — and he’ll be here this week performing as Elvis in Aloha from Memphis.

Ever since an 11-year-old Martin caught a glimpse of the King in Jailhouse Rock, he has been enthralled with Elvis’ musicality and charisma. “I was just hooked,” he says, and his attraction to Elvis the musician was natural, seeing that his parents were professional musicians and he’s studied music all his life. “I became a musician first, and I learned to appreciate all kinds of music, but Elvis was always in the back of my mind. … His catalog is so extensive, more than people listen to, beyond the hits.”

Eventually, Martin began attending Elvis conventions. “I started meeting more people who knew him — family members, band members,” he says. “They heard me sing at open mics and told me I could [become an Elvis performer]. I was like, ‘No, I have long hair’ — I still kinda do. Like, ‘I’m a musician; I’m a songwriter. I’m not going to become an Elvis impersonator. There’s only one Elvis, blah blah blah.’”

But as he grew closer to the people who once knew Elvis — especially D.J. Fontana, Elvis’ longtime drummer, and Gordon Stoker from The Jordanaires who sang backup for him — Martin began to know Elvis the person. “I thought it was kinda weird how many similarities and parallels I found between his life and mine, character-wise as well, from what his friends told me,” Martin says. “Our personalities are pretty similar. By learning more about him from his friends, musicians, and family, I learned that he was such a good-hearted person. That attracted me to him even more.”

So, despite his initial resistance, Martin began his Elvis performances full-time nearly 20 years ago. “I’m like, ‘Okay, let me try to do this respectfully and as authentic as I can, at the same time keeping myself separated where I don’t get so lost where I think I’m Elvis or anything like that.’ I’m Elvis on stage, but when I step off the stage, I’m Ted.”

For Elvis Week, Martin will take over the Halloran Centre’s stage. “We’re doing a complete recreation of the Aloha from Hawaii, including what they called the insert songs that he did in montages,” Martin says. “We’re celebrating the upcoming 50th anniversary which will be in January in 2023. We’re getting ahead and going to do it during Elvis Week, which I feel is a very special thing.”

Aloha From Memphis Starring Ted Torres Martin, Halloran Centre, Friday, August 12, 3 p.m., $60-$85.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Doctors and Dollars

Good health and good healthcare is a privilege. (Photo: National Cancer Institute)

This past Wednesday, I experienced a parenting milestone that I’ve been dreading ever since I became pregnant: my child’s first emergency room visit.

All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. My son came out of the hospital the same night he went in (well, technically the next morning, at 1 a.m.). He didn’t have to be admitted, his life wasn’t at risk, there were no broken bones. Every single staff member we encountered at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital treated us with compassion and care. But I’m still left shaken at the thought that he is old enough now to most likely remember the whole thing. After all, some of my earliest memories are from the emergency room.

My first tryst with the emergency room occurred after I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk outside of Snowden Elementary and went face-first down some concrete stairs. Every childhood picture from the immediate years after that little tumble caused my older brother to remark, “You look like a hockey player.” He’s not wrong.

But the trip to the hospital that keeps coming to mind since last Wednesday night happened later that same year. Like my son, I was four years old. Also like him, I went because of an ear infection that had morphed into a more serious issue. The similarities end there. My son’s ear infection was coupled with a virus. Mine caused my eardrum to rupture. “Explode” is the word the doctors used, and that always stuck with me, probably because of the dramatic flair.

What I remember from that night is that my dad didn’t take me to the hospital right away. Four-year-old me begged to go as we walked together through the house, my dad holding me and humming, desperate to alleviate my pain, but hesitant to make the 30-minute drive to the emergency room in the middle of the night. It was about 4 a.m. when he finally called my grandmother to accompany us. He was new to the area and needed directions (this was before the internet, MapQuest, or GPS).

Growing up, I never truly understood my dad’s reluctance until I became a parent myself. The sheer logistical nightmare of taking a child even to their own pediatrician is enough to make you want to be certain. I can’t tell you how many times my son and I have gone to his doctor’s office only to find out that he essentially had a cold. It’s hard to know what to do when your kid is too young to articulate what’s wrong.

There’s another reason I can now sympathize with my dad’s plight. Every time I’ve been to the emergency room as an adult, it has been preceded by a drawn-out attempt to avoid the ordeal at all costs. At all costs. Every time, that’s what makes me stall, despite the pain (I’ve been to ER three times for kidney stones. The pain is no joke.). I know friends and family members who have done the same. The cost of an emergency room visit, even with health insurance, has made me delay even when in the worst pain of my life. My child’s trip to Le Bonheur was the first time I didn’t hesitate when faced with going to the hospital.

While I will be forever grateful for the wonderful care my son received from every doctor and nurse involved in his stay, the reality has been brought home to me, for the millionth time since becoming a mother: Good health is a privilege. The stark reality is that money is deeply entwined with my son’s, and every child’s, healthcare.

He needed blood work, a urinalysis, and an IV. I am highly aware that for many parents, these things would be beyond their budgetary capabilities. Heck, if it weren’t for my ex-husband’s great insurance, they all would have been beyond my budgetary capabilities. It is almost impossible to articulate the mixed feelings of deep relief that my son was provided for and the unrelenting guilt that so many children are left by the wayside.

It is almost impossible to articulate the deep confusion and crushing sadness that so many people can write off universal healthcare where children are involved. Even without my own personal experiences weighing medical cost vs. medical need, I have never understood this sort of thinking. I don’t think I ever will.

Coco June is a Memphian, mother, and the Flyer’s theater columnist.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Facebook is Great!

Welp, here I am, back on page 3, writing the Letter From the Editor. It’s weird, sure, but I’ve only done this 837 times in the last 20 years, so I think I can handle it. The Flyer staff is rotating this column until we hire a new full-time editor, and this week, the honor is mine.

As most publications do, the Flyer keeps close track of its internet traffic. Editorial staffers get a read-out each week of which web posts drew the most readers. Food stories get a lot of action. So do breaking news posts and oddball stories, like, say, a wallaby escaping from the zoo. My “At Large” column typically makes it somewhere into the top 10, though not every week. I don’t say this to brag, but to help illustrate the following point: Facebook literally shapes what you read. Here’s a real-world example:

On Wednesday morning, when the weekly Flyer issue goes online, I post my column on my Facebook page. Within two hours, I know whether or not Facebook approves of the content. Most weeks, by noon, I have 75 to 100 “likes.” Over the course of the rest of the week, I usually hit 120-140 likes and 40 or 50 comments. Several people usually “share” my post, which also helps get it out into the world. Facebook is a big driver of readers to the Memphis Flyer site, and not just for my column.

But then there are those weeks when Facebook apparently decides that nobody needs to see “At Large.” Two hours after I post it, the column will have two or three likes. At the end of the week, maybe 20 people will have seen the story link on Facebook. My friends say they don’t see it in their feed, even though they “follow” me. I can’t figure out what negative algorithms are being triggered on these off-weeks, but it’s frustrating as hell, knowing Facebook is “curating” my audience. And, sadly, it’s about to get worse.

In late July, Meta, er, Facebook announced it was moving entirely to algorithmic, “recommendation-based” content rather than that of a true social media platform based primarily on friend/acquaintance-based content. Instagram, owned by Meta, has already made the switch, which is why you’re seeing tons of “reels” from strangers on IG, instead of pictures of your friend’s vacation. Instagram’s algorithms are prioritizing content based on your browsing habits and geo-fenced locations, not your social media contacts.

All this is helping further de-platform and destroy local news-media operations. Facebook has since its founding used content from news operations without paying for it. News is just another piece of “content,” along with cat videos and comely “influencers” dancing on TikTok.

There is a bipartisan bill called the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) that’s been floating around Congress for months. It would provide a temporary, limited-antitrust, safe harbor for local news publishers to collectively negotiate with Facebook and Google for fair compensation for the use of their content. The act is tailored to ensure that coordination by news publishers protects trustworthy, quality journalism and rewards publishers who invest in journalists, giving them a higher portion of the funds that result from the negotiations.

If you value trustworthy local news produced by legitimate journalists, I urge you to learn more about the JCPA and bring it to the attention of your congressperson.

And on that note, if you’re reading this online, I urge you to scroll down below this column, read the text in that big yellow box, and then click the black bar that reads “donate.” You’ll learn how to support the Flyer’s work by chipping in any amount you’d like. You’ll also see a list of the hundreds of folks who already support us as part of our Frequent Flyer program.

If you’re reading this in print, we thank you, as well! We take pride in being one of the very few progressive voices in the Mid-South, and we’d appreciate your help in keeping that voice alive and free to the public. Facebook sure isn’t going to provide original local news or content. … And they’re probably going to make it really difficult for you to read this column.

The Memphis Flyer is now seeking candidates for its editor position. Send your resume to hr@contemporary-media.com.

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

901 FC’s Nighte to Remember

Nighte Pickering celebrates after scoring a spectacular first career goal. (Credit: Ryan Beatty/901FC)

Some players hit the ground running. Others like to hit the ground scoring. Literally, in the case of Memphis’ new signing Nighte Pickering.

The 17-year-old, who had joined the team just two days prior to Saturday’s game, decided that he didn’t have time to wait around to open his professional account. The teenager’s acrobatic bicycle kick late in the game marked his first goal in Memphis blue, and 901 FC’s final tally en route to a smooth 3-1 victory at AutoZone Park.

Last Saturday’s victory made it two relatively simple wins on the bounce. New York Red Bulls II didn’t threaten much back on August 3rd, and the same went here, with Memphis dominating the first half completely, almost taking the lead when David Egbo tapped in from close range, but the forward was adjudged to have been offside by a hair. And just a minute later, Memphis actually fell behind when caught out by a quick counter attack, former 901 FC player Rashawn Dally squaring for Prince Saydee to smash in from close range in the 37th.

But 901 FC doesn’t like losing this season, and midfielder Aaron Molloy just a few minutes later blasted in an equalizer, smashing his shot from outside the box past a helpless Yannik Oettl in the Hartford goal. And then just a couple minutes after that, Molloy tallied his eight assist of the season after he sent in a delicious swerving set piece delivery that defender Zach Carroll was all too happy to head in from close range, putting Memphis up 2-1 at halftime.

Memphis continued to dominate after halftime, but the clear icing on the cake was Pickering subbing on to score his first professional goal. Pouncing on a poorly headed clearance in the Hartford box, he launched himself into the air and hit his overhead kick goalward. As he hit the ground, the ball flew into the back of the net, cuing wild jubilation from the crowd and his teammates. Not bad for a first goal at the pro level, eh? That’s a player oozing with confidence and already feeling at home in the league, and no matter where his career goes from here, he’ll always have that.

Nighte Pickering’s acrobatic goal sealed 901 FC’s 3-1 victory. (Credit: Ryan Beatty/901FC)

So how dominant was 901 FC in this game? Take a look at the maps below. On the first touch map (901 FC players represented by brown circles), numbers 7 and 19, fullbacks Patrick Seagrist and Rece Buckmaster, respectively, held an average position almost inside the Hartford half. Meanwhile, only four Hartford players had an average position inside Memphis’ half, and not very far upfield. And in the heat map below, Seagrist and Buckmaster had an enormous amount of touches in the attacking side of the pitch, more so in the first half, but that continued into the second half as well.

(Credit: USL)
(Credit: USL)

And the team put on a clinic while resting top scorer Phillip Goodrum. Not a bad day at the office, reflected by 901 Fc’s 21 shots (15 inside the box) to Hartford’s 10. And Molloy nabbed himself another spot in the USL’s Team of the Week.

The win moves the team up to 14-5-3 on the season, and third in the Eastern Conference standings. Next up is a trip to the Steel City to face the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Saturday, August 13th. And the break should give head coach Ben Pirmann time to incorporate new signing Jackson Brady, who signed a 25-day contract with the team on Monday.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow Brings Their Act to Lafayette’s

This Sunday, August 14th, the Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow is bringing its thrilling brand of entertainment to Lafayette’s Music Room. Championing themselves as the “world’s largest and last remaining troupe of sideshow freaks and circus performers,” this group of performers defies death every time they take the stage, from swallowing swords to eating fire to practicing foot archery and more — all in a two-and-a-half hour show. 

As seen on AMC’s Freakshow, Ripley’s Believe It Not, Guinness World Records, the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel, America’s Got Talent, and more, these performers hope to inspire audiences in conquering their fears and dwelling in anticipation. Lucky for us, the Memphis Flyer got a chance to catch up with performer Short E. Dangerously in a quick Q&A to ask him all about what it means to join the circus. 

Short E. Dangerously (Photo: Courtesy Great Scott Productions)

Memphis Flyer: What led you to being a part of Hellzapoppin?

Short E. Dangerously: After 15 years in the nightclub business as a DJ, I found myself looking for something different. I had no idea what direction I wanted to go. A mutual friend introduced me to [ringleader] Bryce “The Govna” Graves. He contacted me and offered to have me as a guest on an upcoming show Hellzapoppin had not far from where I lived. I had one skill — I could do an inverted handstand. Now, keep in mind, I don’t have any legs. So, I came out, gave a little speech, and went into a handstand, with the understanding of the audience that the louder they were, the higher up I would go.

What is your act all about?

My signature act is walking on broken shards of glass with my bare hands while it is on fire! It is a demonstration of pain tolerance and mental and physical toughness. I was born with a physical condition that does set me apart from other performers. In the sideshow world, I am considered a half-man. I am also considered a natural born performer, a natural born “freak” if you will. However, I trained and studied for over a year with the glass walking before even attempting it on stage. 

Most of the sideshow stunts are passed down from performer to performer as a generational thing. In order to do what we do, you have to have a knowledge of science, physics as well as anatomy. Whereas a musician plays their given instrument, our bodies are our instruments. For example, in order for Willow [Lauren] to learn how to swallow a sword, she had to know the anatomy and the science of what is going on with her body as well as controlling gag reflexes that are normally involuntary. She has to control those with her mind and suppress them.

Willow Lauren, one of the few women in the world who swallow swords and regurgitate razor blades (Photo: Courtesy Great Scott Productions)

Circuses have a layered history, often exploitative. How have y’all confronted this history? 

Bryce and I get asked this question all the time regarding exploitation. However, there’s no exploitation going on. I am in the show because I have a talent and I’m a performer. It’s not just because of how I look. I have a skill set. My background as a DJ helped me in this field. I run all of the music cues and the production during the show except for when I’m on stage. Then Willow runs my music cues.

Have you ever surprised yourself in being able to perform a certain act?

I can recall one time when I did surprise myself. The big finish to the glass walking act is when I jump down onto the pile of glass from an elevated ladder or stool. This one particular time, the only ladder that was available for us to use was approximately four-and-a-half feet high. I normally jumped from around two or two-and-a-half feet. When I got to the top of the ladder, Bryce came out to me and pulled the microphone away and said, “You don’t really have to do this.” I looked at him. I smiled. I said, “I’m either going to make history or be history.” I looked down, took a deep breath, and sent it! I landed safely with no problems. As I walked off stage, I thought to myself that it was really crazy, but I would love to do it again!

(Photo: Through the Eyes of a Queen/Courtesy Great Scott Productions)

Do you ever doubt yourself or get nervous before doing something that most people wouldn’t dare to try?

I get asked this question a lot and the best way I can answer it is I ask people a question: Do you get nervous before you go to work? This is my job. This is my profession. Ironically, there’s a calmness that comes over me before the show starts. Then, when I hit the stage, everything explodes! All of that fear and anxiety is gone and I am focused on my job, the task at hand.

What does it feel like when you’ve succeeded in performing a death-defying stunt, especially in front of an audience?

It’s the best! It’s an incredible adrenaline rush! There’s nothing like it anywhere! It’s the best drug in the world! I have defied death countless times in my life — injury not so much. A lot of times, audience members and average people fail to realize that we literally torture ourselves for their entertainment. However, when you’re on stage, you don’t feel any pain. We all tend to feel our pain off stage, after the show, when the adrenaline wears off and reality kicks back in. One thing I have learned is that sometimes our audiences are a little bit bloodthirsty. It’s like most of our audiences are the ones that go to a car race just for the crashes!

However, the energy we get from the audience always gives us the energy to get it done. We literally feed off the energy the audience gives us some nights because it’s the only way that we can do it. You do this because you love it and you can’t imagine doing anything else in the world. Only a few people can do what we do, which is what makes us so unique.

Is there anything else that you feel is important to mention?

You can find us all on social media. Make sure to check out www.hellzapoppin.com for all of our tour dates and performer bios!

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Wolf River Conservancy Receives $1 Million NAWCA Grant

(Credit: Wolf River Conservancy)

The Wolf River Conservancy recently announced that it received a $1 million grant. According to Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, this grant is “part of a larger, $95 million effort to conserve and restore more than 300,000 acres of important habitats across North America.”

Funding for this grant was made possible by the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“We’ve protected nearly 19,000 acres of land, and we do that in a variety of ways. … conservation easements, where the owner retains ownership, but they are restricted as to what they can do on the property,” says Ryan Hall, director of land conservation for the Wolf River Conservancy. “Also fee simple purchases. A lot of that ends up being public land that is protected forever. Our mission is to preserve and enhance the Wolf River and its watershed. Our land conservation, land protection actions are really what drives that.”

“We’re building out the Wolf River Greenway throughout the city of Memphis. We’re about halfway done, about 14 miles completed out of 26. We’re trying to activate that greenway,” Hall adds.

Hall describes the greenway as a “paved path through the city of Memphis along the Wolf River.”

“Also, at least once a month we do river trips down different sections of the river, so you get to experience different sections of the Wolf from the state of Mississippi and all the way to Downtown Memphis.”

In reference to the Wolf River Conservancy, Steve Cohen, Tennessee District 9 Congressman, stated, “The work they do is transformative, and this NAWCA grant underscores our government’s commitment to organizations that are committed to ensuring the viability of our ecosystems and environment for the future.”

According to the Wolf River Conservancy, “NAWCA is the only federal grant program that is dedicated to the conservation of wetland habitats for migratory birds.”

“It’s money set aside for the purpose of protecting wetlands and adjacent uplands, primarily for migratory bird species,” Hall adds.

“Think of waterfowl that go up and down the Mississippi Flyway. You can also think of anything else that migrates like hummingbirds which go from the Yucatan Peninsula all the way up through the United States into Canada.”

NAWCA funding affects the United States, Canada, and Mexico. While Hall explains that the funding is very robust, it can be quite difficult to obtain one of these grants.

“We went through a pretty rigorous grant application,” Hall explains. “You have to secure a pretty healthy level of match money and we were able to do that with some conservation easements that we protected here recently in Shelby County. We also got some large match partners; for instance the State of Tennessee is a match partner in our grant for $100,000. A couple of years went into the background of putting this all together.”

This is the second time that the Wolf River Conservancy has received this grant, with the first time being in the late ’90s when it received $1 million to protect the Ghost River section of the Wolf. Hall says they are hoping to apply for the end of next year (2023.)

Hall says that the conservancy has recently closed on a property in Piperton, Tennessee.

“It’s beautiful wetlands that recharge the Memphis Sand Aquifer, and it’s going to actually be added into the Wolf River Wildlife Management area, so it’s actually going to become public land,” says Hall.

“That’s the beauty of this NAWCA grant. Not in every case, but in many cases you get to grow protected land, you know that the public can have access to, but also serves wildlife purposes, aquifer recharge purposes, and wetland preservation purposes. That’s the step that we are in now; administering funds to protect lands,” he adds.

The next property on their list is closer to Confluence Park, which is north of Downtown, Hall adds. 

For Shelby County specifically, Hall says that there is going to be more protected land.

“The wetlands, particularly in Fayette County, Tennessee, and even further upstream in Benton County, Mississippi, and one of our target properties to protect is in Benton County. So those wetlands have a really close relationship with the Memphis Sand Aquifer.”

Hall explains that the rain filters through wetlands, and in about a week or less recharges the drinking water, “ensuring safe, clean, drinking water that all Memphians like.”

“That’s the biggest impact, even if you never leave your house.”