Month: October 2022

Eeeek! It’s Halloweek!

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date October 24, 2022

💀 Family-Friendly Skele-fun 💀

Zoo Boo
The Upside Down has taken over the zoo this Halloween, so grab your boo crew, costumes, and trick-or-treat bags to make sure you score some hallowed sweets.
Memphis Zoo, select nights through October 31, 6-9:30 p.m., $13-$18

Halloween Campfire Storytelling: Marshmallows and Mayhem
Families will be treated to folktales and fables while roasting marshmallows with local radio personality Mother Wit and Park Ranger Jessica Gossett. All stories will come from the diversity of people who make up the face of America and Tennessee. Marshmallows and roasting sticks will be provided.
T.O. Fuller State Park, Friday, October 28, 6-8 p.m., $5-$10

Magic Carpet: Mighty Souls Monster Mash
Little ones will be transported through the wonder of their imaginations as they learn all about the fascinating instruments and styles that give this Memphis mainstay its signature soulful sound.
Buckman Arts Center at St. Mary’s School, Saturday, October 29, 10 a.m., pay what you can with donations accepted

Halloween Hike
Get an active start to your Halloween celebrations by taking a not-so-spooky walk through the Memphis Botanic Garden. Special treat and activity stations along the way will feature Alice in Wonderland activities and crafts, pumpkin story time, bat crafts, a bone dig, and much more! Plus there’ll have family-friendly food trucks on-site for a picnic lunch.
Memphis Botanic Garden, Saturday, October 29, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., $10-$15

Día de los Muertos Parade & Festival 2022
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, along with the Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, invites you and your family to honor your ancestors and celebrate the cycle of life and death. The parade will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the Tower Courtyard at Overton Square with floats and performers making their way to the Brooks. The festival at the Brooks will offer art-making activities, face painting, music, costumed performers, dance performances, and more!
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Saturday, October 29, 11:30 a.m., free

Halloween Family Story Time
The bewitching hour is here at last. Join the library for stories and songs. Attendees will receive trick-or-treat goodies and a Halloween take-home craft. Costumes are encouraged.
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, Saturday, October 29, 1-2 p.m., free

Fun Fall Bash
This fun day will have games, activities, Halloween prizes, face painting, food, a costume contest, candy, and trick-or-treating.
Kroc Center, Saturday, October 29, 1-3 p.m., free

Trunk or Treat at The Edge Triangle
Bring your family and friends for an afternoon of fun, with costumes, food trucks, photobooth, music, and a screening of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Edge Triangle, Saturday, October 29, 2-5 p.m., free

Pumpkin Carving Contest
Join the Lodge for a good ol’ fashioned pumpkin carving competition with prizes. Your ticket price will get you one pumpkin and a kit you can use to carve the pumpkin. Halloween favorites, appropriate for all ages, will be screening throughout the contest.
Black Lodge, Sunday, October 30, noon-6 p.m., $25

👿 Eat, Drink, and Be Scary Adults 👿

Fright at the Brewery
Join Wiseacre Brewing Company on Broad Avenue for a Halloween fundraiser benefiting United Housing’s many housing-focused programs in Memphis. There’ll be a costume contest, live entertainment provided by the one and only DJ Stan Bell, a wine pull, and so much more.
Wiseacre Brewing Company, Thursday, October 27, 5-9 p.m., $25

Dystopia Nights: Halloween Party
Join the Lodge for a night of music and dancing, complete with a costume contest! DJs Evonech and St. Faust will bring you music ranging from classic goth club hits to current artists in goth, darkwave, industrial, and dark electro!
Black Lodge, Friday, October 28, 10 p.m.-3 a.m., $12, 18+

Women and Witches in Beer: Halloween Candy Pairing
Did you know that the original beer brewers were women or that for the vast majority of history women ran the beer world? Did you also know that Halloween candy and beer are actually a delicious combo? Well, this is the class to find out as you embark on a tour of Wiseacre’s Downtown HQ to learn about beer history, women in beer, and where witches come into play. The class will also include a special Halloween candy/beer pairing.
Wiseacre HQ, Saturday, October 29, 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., $25

Fright Night
Take a trip to Midtown for Memphis’ newest Halloween Party! This spectacular soiree will have unlimited cocktails all night, a $500 grand prize costume contest, and two DJs in two different rooms, so you can pick your vibe for the night. Arrive early for light bites from 7-9 p.m.
Collage Dance Collective, Saturday, October 29, 7-11 p.m., $20-$40

21st Annual Black Lodge Halloween Masquerade Ball
Join the Lodge for a night of mirth and mischief, of costumes and chaos, as a devilish mix of music, drinks, dancing, and debauchery is unleashed. Featuring hoop and flow dancers, fire performers, sideshow performances, and more.
Black Lodge, Saturday, October 29, 7:30 p.m.-3 a.m., $25, 18+

Loflin Graveyard
Party with your ghouls and jam to DJ Bassventura in the Haunted Coach House. Compete in an adult costume contest at 9 p.m. with singles, couples, and group cash prizes for winners.
Loflin Yard, Saturday, October 29, 9 p.m.-midnight, no cover

Costumes and Cocktails on The River VI: The Halloween Happy Hour Edition
A multi-cultural event including an open bar, live entertainment, vendors, and costume contest in a mature adult atmosphere.
Robinson Gallery, Monday, October 31, 6:30 p.m.-10 p.m., $40-$250, 25+

Black October
Just in time for spooky season, TONE is bringing back its infamous Black October Halloween party for all the girls, goblins, and everything in between. Taking you through the night are DJs Breezye, Nico, Qemist, and Space Age. There will also be a BOOty shaking contest, so secure the wigs and bring ya knees!
Orange Mound Tower, Monday, October 31, 9 p.m., $15-$20

👻 Eerie-sistible Performances 👻

Arsenic and Old Lace
Mortimer Brewster is a drama critic who must deal with his crazy family as he debates whether to marry the woman next door whom he loves. Two spinster aunts “lace” their wine to poison lonely old men and engage the help of one brother (who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt) and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the basement. And then there is the murderous other brother who has altered his appearance to conceal his identity. How will it all end? See for yourself! Performances run Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Theatre Memphis, performances run through October 30, $25

Spillit Slam: Spooky
Join Spillit for an evening of your stories about the time when things got spooky. Spillit is live storytelling told in front of an audience. This is a Slam event. Come prepared to share a story. If your name is picked, you have seven minutes to tell a tale of all true personal narratives (well, mostly true). After 10 stories the audience will judge and a Slam winner will be picked for the evening.
Black Lodge, Wednesday, October 26, 7-10 p.m., $10

Phantom Phavorites: A Halloween Concert
Revel in the music! St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral is decorated for Halloween with ghouls and spirits. The Phantom Phavorites concert features vocal selections from Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Funeral March of a Marionette, Danse Macabre, and many other spooky selections.
St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Friday, October 28, 7 p.m., free

Dracula
Ballet Memphis launches the season with the suspenseful and gripping thriller, Dracula. Reimagined by Artistic Director Steven McMahon, this version of the chilling classic will be sure to tantalize and mesmerize in equal measure. Recommended for audiences 12 years and older. Performances run Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Orpheum Theatre, Friday-Sunday, October 28-30, $28-$78

Evil Dead: The Musical
This hilarious show takes all the elements of the cult classic films The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness and combines them into one of the craziest theatrical experiences of all time, complete with a Splash Zone, where guests will get (fake) blood on them from the stage’s ongoings. Performances run Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Theatre Works, Friday, October 28- November 13, $25-$35

What’s Scarier Than Halloween? Poetry Slam
Poets will be tasked in round one to share an original poem surrounding the theme “What’s Scarier Than Halloween?” in which they must pay tribute to a celebrity who has passed. The audience is tasked to come rocking a celebrity look of their choosing. The celebrity can be living or no longer with us.
Butterific Bakery, Saturday, October 29, 7 p.m., $20

Scheidt at the Shell: Frankenstein in Concert
The University of Memphis Wind Ensemble will play the 1931 classic movie score as the film plays on giant screens. So grab your picnic baskets, chairs, and spookiest costumes, and join in on the fun. Come early for the costume contest, Monster Mash dance party, and instrument petting zoo.
Overton Park Shell, Sunday, October 30, 5:30-8 p.m., free

🎃 Fa-boo-lous Films 🎃

Halloween Forever: A Michael Myers Triple Feature
Get your holiday fright fix and join Lodge for a triple feature of one of the greatest horror series of all time — with Halloween (1978) at 9:30 p.m., Halloween (2018) at 11 p.m., and Halloween Kills (2021) at 12:30 a.m.
Black Lodge, Wednesday, October 26, 9:30 p.m., free, 18+

Overton Square Movie Series: Edward Scissorhands
Bring a blanket or chair for a screening of this fantasy romance film directed by Tim Burton.
Overton Square, Thursday, October 27, 7 p.m., free

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch
When a girl named Sayuri is reunited with her family after years in an orphanage, she’s plagued with phantasmagorical visions involving a fanged demon, wild monsters, and murder by snakes. This theremin-fueled gothic nightmare is easily the most traumatizing movie ever aimed at a kids audience. Rated PG-13.
Crosstown Theater, Thursday, October 27, 7 p.m., $5

S**TFEST Halloween Marathon: Best Worst Horror Movies Ever
The Lodge has an especially painful triple feature for Halloween: The Gingerbread Man (5:30 p.m.), Troll 2 (6:30 p.m.), and Shock Em Dead (8 p.m.). This is no silent screening. Razzing, riffing, and drunken yelling at the screen is highly encouraged!
Black Lodge, Friday, October 28, 5:30 p.m., free

Fright-tober
A kid-friendly matinee screening of Hocus Pocus at 2:30 p.m., followed by a slightly spookier screening of Return of the Living Dead at 6:30 p.m. Register in advance.
Crosstown Theater, Saturday, October 29, free

Cemetery Cinema Double Feature: Soul of the City & Hocus Pocus
Cemetery Cinema is back with a special double feature showing of Elmwood Cemetery’s original film, The Soul of the City: Memphis Music, and Hocus Pocus. Films are projected onto the roof of the historic 1852 cottage, a National Register Landmark since 1978. Lawn chairs and coolers are welcome. Children aged 9 and up will be permitted.
Elmwood Cemetery, Friday, October 28, 6-8 p.m., $18

Tags halloween, Halloween events, Memphis, Memphis Flyer

News News Blog News Feature

West TN Farmers Struggle to Get Crops to Market on Low Mississippi

Post author By Anita Wadhwani, Tennessee Lookout
Post date October 24, 2022

The banks of the Mississippi River at Memphis. (Photo: Dulce Torres Guzman)

John Dodson’s corn, cotton and soybean fields lie fewer than 10 miles from the Mississippi River, the key transportation artery for west Tennessee grain farmers. But they might as well be a thousand miles.

Historically low water levels on the river are coming at the worst possible time for him. It’s peak harvest season, but he can’t get his crop to market.

West Tennessee farmers have long relied on proximity to the Mississippi, delivering their crops directly from the field to the river. The ease of access has meant many farmers lack large grain storage silos that farmers in the Midwest and elsewhere rely on.

While drought strangles transportation on the Mississippi, many of these farmers are now being forced to leave crops in the field and pray for rain to fall anywhere and everywhere else but above their harvest-ready crops.

“It’s a double-edged sword for us right now,” Dodson said. “We need rain for the river to go up, but we don’t need it in terms of our crops in the field.”

“I haven’t ever seen this before. We have the Mississippi right on our back doorstep and we’ve always been able to rely on it.”

The Mississippi River last week reached the lowest levels ever recorded — at minus-10.75 feet near Memphis, according to the National Weather Service.

It is the most critical artery for grain exports in the nation. About 60% of all U.S. grain exports flow down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico for overseas export, according to the National Park Service.

It’s a double-edged sword for us right now. We need rain for the river to go up, but we don’t need it in terms of our crops in the field.

– John Dodson, Dyer County farmer

Barge traffic has been restricted and the U.S. Coast Guard has limited the weight borne by each barge, measured in drafts — or the distance between the waterline and the deepest point of the boat. Draft limits are typically 12 feet. Last week the Guard limited drafts to 9 feet below the waterline in an effort to avert groundings in shallow water.

“There’s been a lot of groundings,” said Jamie Bigbie, vice president of Southern-Devall, which operates fleets of towboats and liquid barges that typically carry fertilizer to farmers.

The delays have been have costly, he said. A recent trip that typically takes seven days down the Mississippi took the company’s crew 14 days, he said. Weight restrictions limiting the amount of cargo still require the same number of crew, driving up costs.

Crews stay on board for the entirety of the trip so the delays require additional supply boats bringing provisions and fuel to the barges, he said. And barges running aground imperil the safety of the crews on board and require expensive repairs, he said.

“We need rain, obviously,” he said. “And I hope we get rain before it turns into snow. That’s how we get the ball rolling. I pray for rain.”

Nashville-based Ingram Barge, the largest barge operator in the United States, notified customers it had declared record water levels a “force majeure event,” the company said in a statement on Friday. The declaration invokes an “act of God” provision in their contracts.

“Chronic low water conditions throughout the inland river system have had a negative effect on many who rely on the river, including Ingram Barge,” the statement from John Roberts, Ingram Barge’s CEO, said. “We recently informed customers that given the difficult operating conditions posed by this low water, we were providing formal notice of a force majeure event — namely that circumstances out of our control were preventing normal river transport operations in certain areas.”

The banks of the Mississippi River at Memphis. (Photo: Dulce Torres Guzman)

Dodson, the Dyer County farmer, said he is more fortunate than most. He and his father took advantage of a state cost-sharing program to build large grain storage structures on their farm. The situation for neighboring farms is more dire, he said. More than 90% of Dyer County is devoted to agriculture.

The wait to load grain onto Consolidated Grain & Barge in Dyersburg has been running 4-7 hours a day. Dodson’s other loading destination in Lauderdale County has experienced multiple day-long closures entirely in recent weeks.

Those two locations handle the majority of crops in Dyer, Lauderdale, Obion, Tipton, Crockett and other west Tennessee counties, including Dodson’s.

The weather in west Tennessee has been beautiful – sunny, temperate and perfect for harvesting crops. Any substantial rain now could imperil crops in the field. Dodson is setting his hopes on rain anywhere north – Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota – to replenish the river.

“We need rain in the United States, but it doesn’t need to be in Dyer County,” he said.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

Tags drought, farming, Memphis, Mississippi River

Hungry Memphis

Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q Has New Owners

Post author By Michael Donahue
Post date October 24, 2022

NaMario Yancey is the new co-owner with his brother, Napoleon Yancey, of Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

By December, customers should be able to order barbecued chicken at Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q.

That’s just one of the new items slated to be added to the menu. For the first time since 1989, the iconic restaurant at 5145 Quince Road has new owners. NaMario Yancey and his brother, Napoleon Yancey, bought the restaurant October 7th.

“My brother, when he tried the food, said, ‘This place has the best breakfast, burgers, and barbecue.’ Like the three B’s,” says NaMario. “And it actually made sense.”

Napoleon was first to discover the restaurant was for sale. “My brother saw a listing ‘For Sale’ under business and Three Little Pigs was one of them. He just told me when he was looking at it. We saw great potential from the start.”

The sale of Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q follows the sales of other legendary Memphis eating spots, including The Pancake Shop, Leonard’s Pit Barbecue, and Bryant’s Breakfast.

Three Little Pigs originally was a Loeb’s barbecue restaurant when it opened in 1968, says former owner Charlie Robertson. Around 1982, Jack Whitaker, who owned the nearby Yorkshire Launderette, bought the restaurant. Robertson bought the restaurant from Whitaker in 1989.

“Jack is the one who changed the name to ‘Three Little Pigs,’” Robertson says.

Asked why he decided to sell the restaurant, Robertson says, “Well, I guess (I’m) just tired. Ready to slow down. Not work as much.”

And, he says, “The help situation is another big thing. You can’t get any help. Can’t get anybody to work. Everybody’s got that problem.”

Robertson will still be at the restaurant, though. “Oh, yeah. I’m going to work part time there.”

NaMario wasn’t skeptical about buying Three Little Pigs. “I was not dubious because I’ve been in the business for 23 years, selling barbecue and selling food, so we were going to make it work,” he says. “My dad started his own concession business in 1999: Yancey’s Cool Stuff & More.”

NaMario says they’ve sold at the Delta Fair, Mid-South Fair, Bluff City Fair, Mud Island Amphitheater, Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival, and Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. “We’ve been all over this city for a long time.”

He and his three brothers continue to work at their dad’s concession business. They sell “funnel cakes, corn dogs, barbecue nachos, turkey legs, chicken on a stick, Polish sausage, all your fair items.”

NaMario got in his dad’s business when he was in the fourth grade. “Started off making snowballs.”

He’d only eaten at Three Little Pigs once before buying the business, and that was several years ago, when he was taking a University of Memphis elective bowling class at Billy Hardwick’s All-Star Lanes, right next door. “I had the cheeseburger,” he recalls.

NaMario ate at Three Little Pigs for the second time just before he and Napoleon bought the business. “It’s actually a different perspective when you’re going to buy than when you’re going to eat.” Usually, people aren’t thinking about purchasing the business when they go out to eat at a restaurant. “You’re going to get what you want and that’s it.”

But he and Napoleon wanted to check out everything: “The employees and how they greet you and how they smile. They know customers by name and they know what they’re going to order before they get there.”

NaMario ordered barbecue on that visit. “I thought it was great.”

NaMario Yancey at Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

They won’t change the barbecue. “The original is staying the original because that is what the taste is for the customers.” But they are planning to add a selection of different sauces.

The first thing NaMario did after they bought Three Little Pigs was to get in the kitchen and see how breakfast was done. “I hadn’t been there for breakfast, and it was a great experience. The police officers coming in and the firefighters. And the early morning line workers were in there. I took over the griddle from watching Mr. Charlie my first day. Just to get into it. I did well. I’ve been cooking for 23 years, so it was easy to catch on and cook.”

So far, NaMario and Napoleon haven’t made any changes. But they will be eventually be offering new items. “I’m going to add grilled chicken to the menu,” says NaMario. “And charcoal`smoked and hickory-smoked turkey legs.” He also plans to add beef brisket, and macaroni and cheese, as well as some new desserts.

Nothing is leaving the menu, NaMario says. “If I got rid of something, you never know the backlash you might get on it. It’s there for a reason.” It had been a while since anything new was added to the restaurant’s menu. “I guess they were keeping it simple. And it worked.”

NaMario has a ballpark date when he he’s going to begin carrying more food items. “I’m trying to push before Thanksgiving adding items,” he says. “If anything, by the beginning of December.” As for the restaurant itself, NaMario says, “I do want to add some TV and music.”

He wants customers to be able to watch the University of Memphis Tigers and Memphis Grizzlies games. “People get to-go orders on game day. They grab barbecue to go. Why not create a place where customers can stay and watch the Grizzlies and the Tigers.”

So, what about franchising Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q? All NaMario will say is, “The sky’s the limit. The potential is great.”

Tags Charlie Robertson, NaMario Yancey, Napoleon Yancey, Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q

Film Features Film/TV

Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis 2022 Winners

Post author By Chris McCoy
Post date October 24, 2022

Today on Music Video Monday, we’re celebrating the winners of the music video competitions at the 25th annual Indie Memphis Film Festival. Two music video blocs screened during the six-day festival: The National competition, which actually included videos from all over the world, and the Hometowner competition for made-in-Memphis music videos.

The winner of the National award for Best Music Video was “Vacant Spaces” by Joe Baughman and the Righteous Few. Baughman is an Indiana-based singer songwriter who also directed the visually stunning stop-motion video. “Vacant Spaces” isn’t available on YouTube or Vimeo yet, but you can see it with an Indie Memphis virtual pass.

[Update: “Vacant Spaces” just went public on YouTube! Aaron Charles of The Righteous Few says “Joe worked for 3 years on this video, and it is so exciting to see that work rewarded.”]

The Best Hometowner Music Video was awarded to Emily Rooker’s “Don’t Come Home,” co-directed by Rooker and Mitchell Carter. As seen previously on Music Video Monday, “Don’t Come Home” was filmed at the Bartlett Performing Arts Center, and features the singer and some friends celebrating themselves after a bad breakup. Check it out!

The Indie Memphis Film Festival concludes tonight at Crosstown Theater.

Tags Emily Rooker, Indie Memphis, Joe Baughman, Mitchell Carter

Film Features Film/TV

Indie Memphis 2022 Sunday: Revolution, Anarchy, and Comedy

Post author By Chris McCoy
Post date October 23, 2022

Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová in Daisies.

Indie Memphis Sunday is full of local treasures, fascinating new movies, and some stone cold classics.

James Gray, director of The Lost City of Z and Ad Astra, is back with an autobiographical film about growing up on the cusp of the Reagan era. Armageddon Time (named for a classic reggae track by Willie Williams) stars Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway, and Jeremy Strong as a Jewish family struggling against prejudice in Queens, New York.

Melissa Sweazy, a Memphis director whose 2017 documentary Good Grief swept the Indie Memphis awards, returns with Ready! Fire! Aim! The new doc is a biography of Kemmons Wilson, the Memphis entrepreneur who founded Holiday Inn, and changed the way the world travels.

Director Bart Shannon is another Indie Memphis veteran. His new film Show Business Is My Life—But I Can’t Prove It is the story of Gary Mule Deer, a comedian whose 50 year career has touched the lives of millions. Among the friends of the comedian who appear in the film are David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Steve Martin, and Alice Cooper. The film also features recreations of incidents from Gary’s life starring a host of Memphis actors.

Director Chuck O’Bannon is a Memphis video production legend. You might not have heard his name, but if you’re of a certain age, you’ve seen the commercial he produced for Brother James Salton’s Up From The World ministries hundreds of times. You know the one.

O’Bannon’s latest film is United Front—The People’s Convention 1991 Memphis. “I got a phone call from Annie Robinson,” he says, “who was one of the original community activist people involved with creating the People’s Convention back in 1991. They were getting ready to do their 30th anniversary, and she realized that the story had never been documented. When I read the script she sent to me, I was really excited about the idea of documenting one of the most historical events in Memphis history.”

The 1991 People’s Convention brought together the fractured Black community in Memphis to choose a consensus candidate for mayor. Their choice was Dr. Willie Herenton, a former school superintendent who would go on to become the first Black mayor in Memphis history. “Getting everybody to agree on one of anything in Memphis is always the problem,” says O’Bannon. “This is the one time that the community came together on one accord and promoted one candidate—and it was successful! From that position, you were able to create other consensus candidates, consensus movements throughout Memphis, that allowed for what was at that time, the minority numbers to have a chance. And to show that, yes, this can be done. There were other communities in other cities that saw what Memphis had done and decided, if they can do it, we can do it too. So it’s sort of set a precedent around the idea of consensus-ism in political elections and probably in other parts of life as well.”

At 6 p.m. is one of this year’s best revival screenings. Daisies was banned in Czechoslovakia upon its 1966 release for being too subversive. Věra Chytilová’s feminist classic takes on authority of all kinds, with a cinematic freedom rarely seen today. Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová as Marie I and Marie II provided the template for anarchist flamethrowers like Pussy Riot, who are still fighting authoritarianism in Eurasia today.

For full information about everything playing today at Indie Memphis, check the festival website.

Tags Indie Memphis

Film Features Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis 2022 Saturday: A Full Plate of Films

Post author By Chris McCoy
Post date October 22, 2022

LeVar Burton stars in the Reading Rainbow documentary Butterfly in the Sky.

The 20222 Indie Memphis Film Festival is in full effect on Saturday, with a crowded lineup of films from all over the world.

French director Alice Diop has gained acclaim for her documentaries. Her latest film Saint Omer is her first narrative feature. It tells the story of a young journalist covering the trial of a horrific crime who is forced to come to terms with her own traumatic past.

Directors Jack Porter Lofton and Jeff Dailey dig into the past and present of a Memphis institution. The ’Vous is a documentary about Memphis’ most famous barbecue restaurant, The Rendezvous, which has been a hub for culture and tourism Downtown for 70 years. The 2:50 p.m. screening will be preceded by a reception at Playhouse on the Square.

If you’re looking for some snack-sized docs, there’s the Hometowner Documentary Shorts Competition bloc at 3 p.m. at Circuit Playhouse. Five Memphis directors bring stories of courage and shine lights on injustice with these moving and challenging films.

If you grew up in the ’80s or ’90s, odds are you remember Reading Rainbow. In Butterfly in the Sky, directors Brett Whitcomb and Bradford Thomason put the spotlight on LeVar Burton, the beloved host who taught millions of kids to love books. Oh, and did you know he was also in Star Trek: The Next Generation?

Eighty-four-year-old Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski has had a rich and varied career as a writer, actor, and director. His latest film has an unlikely star: a donkey. EO is a reimagining of Robert Bresson’s 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar, which tells the tale of a lowly farm animal’s travails as he is passed from one owner to another. This one’s a real heartstring-tugger.

For something completely different, Indie Memphis has a new program. A subcategory of Departures, which houses the more experimental short subjects, Travels showcases the mid-length films that often get left out of shorts programs. The four films include “Nosferasta: First Bite,” Bayley Sweitzer and Adam Khalil’s story of Oba, a 400-year-old Rastafarian vampire.

The Art of Eating: The Life and Appetites of M. F. K. Fisher is a biography of the legendary travel and food writer who was once called “the best prose writer in America.”

And finally, if your rock doc appetites were not satisfied by Antenna on Friday night, there’s Meet Me In The Bathroom, the documentary about the 2000’s indie rock scene in Brooklyn which produced The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, and Interpol, among others. This is an exciting and well-made doc with some incredible performance footage and a soul-bearing interview with rock goddess Karen O.

Tags film, Indie Memphis, Memphis

News News Blog News Feature

“Where’s Those Pieces of Shit At?”: Olive Branch Man Sentenced on January 6th Charges

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date October 21, 2022

An Olive Branch man was sentenced to two years in prison for his involvement in the January 6^th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Matthew Bledsoe, 38, of Olive Branch, was found guilty by a jury in Washington D.C. on Friday. His sentence includes the felony offense of obstruction of an official proceeding, four misdemeanor offenses, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

“According to the government’s evidence, in the days immediately following the Nov. 3rd, 2020, election, Bledsoe began posting to social media about the presidential election,” reads a statement from the U.S. District Attorney’s office. “On January 6th, 2021, he attended a rally near the Ellipse. Bledsoe then headed to the Capitol, and illegally entered the Capitol grounds shortly after 2:13 p.m.

“He then moved to the Capitol building itself. He scaled a wall at the Upper Northwest Terrace and entered through a fire door at the Senate Wing. Among other things, he yelled, ’In the Capitol. This is our house. We pay for this shit. Where’s those pieces of shit at?’

‘In the Capitol. This is our house. We pay for this shit. Where’s those pieces of shit at?’
Matthew Bledsoe, according to government evidence

“He climbed a statue and was outside the corridor to the House Chamber and hallways near the Speaker’s Lobby. He left the building about 2:47 p.m., after approximately 22 minutes inside. Within two hours, however, Bledsoe returned, lingering outside the East Rotunda Doors as law enforcement officers worked to secure the building and grounds.

“In the days following the riot, Bledsoe continued to message with friends and family and post on social media regarding what happened on January 6th. For example, on January 7th, he posted on Facebook photos of members of Congress taking cover and security officers defending the members during the riot. One caption read, “How corrupt politicians should feel.”

Bledsoe, formerly of Cordova, was arrested on January 13^th, 2021. Following his prison term, he will be placed on three years of supervised release. He also must pay $2,000 in restitution and a fine of $2,000.

In the 21 months since January 6th, 2021, more than 880 have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 270 people charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

Tags January 6, Matthew Bledsoe, Memphis

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Photo Gallery: Unreal Sights of Historically Low Mississippi River

Post author By Chris McCoy
Post date October 21, 2022

The exposed beach on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River across from Memphis has grown to more than a mile in width. Hiker Sallie Sabatini lends perspective on the epic scale of the scene.

Flyer staffers Chris McCoy and Bruce VanWyngarden went out to get some fresh views of the shrinking Mississippi River on Thursday. Here are some of their shots. VanWyngarden hitched a boat ride from local river expert John Gary. McCoy and several friends hiked along the Arkansas side.

Tags drought, Memphis, Mississippi River

News News Blog News Feature

A Natural Affair Beauty Lounge Partners with MSCS

Post author By Kailynn Johnson
Post date October 21, 2022

A Natural Affair Beauty Lounge, located at 2869 Poplar Avenue in Memphis and at 1250 North Germantown Parkway in Cordova, recently became the first salon to become a signature partner with Memphis Shelby County Schools’ College, Career, and Technical Education cosmetology program.

Takeisha Berry Brooks, the owner of A Natural Affair, said that a path was created so that her student and stylist, Alicia, could obtain work study. This means that Alicia would attend school during the day, and after her classes she would go to the salon to not only work, but to obtain her cosmetology license while in high school.

Brooks prides herself on being able to give young stylists a place to start. She has been offering apprenticeship programs at her salon even prior to becoming a signature program.

According to Phil Dotson, partnership director of the division of college, career, and technical education for MSCS, it’s through partnership programs that MSCS is able to connect students and their coursework to companies in the community.

“Our kids have to be able to see the careers that are in their backyard, their communities, so that they can make that choice that they know what they want to do when they leave school,” he said.

There are two models of the partnership program. Dotson explained that the community partner program is the Adopt-A-School model, meaning that companies can partner with one specific school to “give kids what they need and to provide supportive services to the school.” Dotson said that the signature partnership program is what they “like to hang their hat on.”

Dotson said MSCS works to ensure that they are offering the right type of certifications, ones that will “make students more attractive candidates when they interview for jobs.” He added that there are more than 40 academic pathways, which gives partners the opportunity to introduce these pathways in real life.

Brooks is a graduate of Kingsbury High School, and was in the school’s cosmetology program. She said without that that foundation, she wouldn’t be where she is today. “This opportunity to partner is just a full circle moment, because I feel like I was chosen to show that vocational works in high school.”

“It’s a tight ship,” said Brooks. “To know that every day that I impact lives, and that they come to A Natural Affair to survive and have the confidence to say ‘Hey I can do this,’and to watch these girls get houses, go from driving raggedy to cars to brand new cars, and to see these girls moving up in life because of something I’ve established. My mind is blown.”

Brooks also focuses on teaching her students the business side of cosmetology. “They have to have some sense of direction when it comes to how money is dispersed,” she said.

“It teaches them how to create a work-life balance,” said Brooks. “Whether they’re single or have families, it creates a system, gives them some type of stability. That way when they do go out on their own, I hope that they continue to practice what they’ve learned at A Natural Affair.”

Tags A Natural Affair, MSCS, natural hair

Film Features Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis 2022 Friday: Antenna

Post author By Izzy Wollfarth
Post date October 21, 2022
No Comments on Indie Memphis 2022 Friday: Antenna

Jack Oblivian on stage at the Antenna club circa 1993.

One of my first questions for director Chris McCoy after watching Antenna was what punk rock means to him today. To this, he responded, “I don’t know. What do you think punk rock means today?” Being born in the 2000s, I don’t think I have ever really listened to punk. Not being born in Memphis, I had never even heard of the legends from the Antenna club, until I watched McCoy’s documentary.

The story of the Antenna is told through the many faces of punk rock, including writer and stealth narrator Ross Johnson, director Chris McCoy (who is also the film and TV editor for the Memphis Flyer), editor/producer Laura Jean Hocking, Antenna club owner Steve McGehee, and former Flyer music writer John Floyd. All together, this team took three years to create the documentary. Hocking details the beginning stages of the film where they started “with more than a hundred hours of archival footage. We had 1,100 still images and 88 interviews, some of which were three and four hours long.” Hocking describes her editing process as “a big project that at the time, when I was making it, I had a lot of nervous breakdowns.”

The inspiration behind Antenna was McCoy’s desire to tell “a story about Memphis that needed to be told, that had not yet been told.” This was the story of the Antenna, a punk rock club that stood on Madison Avenue from 1981 to 1995, a forgotten era of Memphis music — specifically Memphis punk rock music. McCoy calls it a “weird mutant strain of music that grabs little bits from a whole bunch of different kinds of music.”

Jimmy Barker at the first Antenna party, 1980.

As such, the Antenna club was “a place where you could be weird,” Hocking says. The club was not your usual Beale Street bar but an eclectic refuge where outsiders, weirdos, gays, and anyone without prejudice could be their authentic selves. Especially in its early days, Antenna’s punk rock spirit made it a place for experimentation, dedicated to the fight against conformity. A specific example McCoy uses is “one of my favorite shots in the movie is the video we found of that dude heckling The Replacements, saying, ‘We don’t care how famous you are!’ That’s the essence of the entire club right there in one moment.”

Between the crime, the poverty, and the political turmoil, Memphis can sometimes seem cursed and hopeless. This is even mentioned with Johnson’s opening line of the film: “Memphis is cursed.” McCoy comments on this idea saying, “I always call Memphis your drunk uncle. I can complain about him and what a deadbeat he is, but nobody else can say something about it.” This spirit is encapsulated in the Antenna’s story, in “the story of those musicians who are still here and who didn’t get the recognition that they deserved,” McCoy says. Indeed, the Antenna club hosted various artists like R.E.M., Big Ass Truck, The Panther Burns, and The Modifiers, but these are just some of the artists that defined the era of punk rock and the resistance against conformity.

Outcasts like Milford Thompson, Melody Danielsen, Alex Chilton, and The Klitz were able to express their true selves to the world. When daytime talk show host Marge Thrasher told The Panther Burns they were “the worst thing that ever came out on television,” bandleader Tav Falco just smiled. The Modifiers took pride in being “the most hated band in Memphis.” They were simply just, being themselves, and any hate or fear simply fell at their feet as they performed. “The attitude was, we dare you to like this music,” says McCoy.

Tav Falco and the Panther Burns on Marge Thrasher’s talk show.

This film is truly a labor of love and takes the audience back to the time where music not only united a community but also created a place to escape from the prejudices of society. McCoy remembers “hanging out at the Antenna from ’89 to ’95, when it closed.” Watching the film, I understood what it might feel like to be transported back to the ’80s, with a front row seat at the Antenna. Hocking says this was intentional. “We wanted you to feel like you’re at the club or hanging out with these people or in a round table discussion with them.”

Framing the film this way makes for a very intimate connection with something that to me, previously seemed foreign. Throughout the film, I found myself identifying with the Antenna crowd and their love for a place that shielded them from the rest of society. Seeing the many faces of punk rock and former Antenna attendees profess their love for the Antenna club, made me wonder if there was anything similar to the Antenna club today. When the film ended, I felt like I had just been to my first and favorite rock concert in my life.

Antenna speaks for itself with its continued and growing popularity even after its premiere 10 years ago in 2012 at the Indie Memphis Film Festival. The film has been awarded the Audience Award, Special Jury Prize, and other various awards at the Oxford Film Festival, and it is recognized as one of the most popular films in the 25 year history of the Indie Memphis Film Festival. Although the film has an immense love among its audience, it cannot currently be released commercially because of issues with obtaining music rights for the 50 different songs present in the film. McCoy and the film’s producers have spent the last 10 years trying to raise money to pay the artists for their songs and give them the recognition they deserve. Despite several investors’ and distributors’ interest in the film, fundraising efforts have always come to a halt and been unsuccessful. Thus, the film can only be caught at film festivals and on rare occasions.

The next screening of this film will be on Friday, October 21st, 8:45 p.m., at Playhouse on the Square during the Indie Memphis Film Festival to celebrate the film’s 10-year anniversary. Tickets ($12/individual screening) can be purchased online or at the door if not sold out already.

Tags Antenna, Chris McCoy, film, Indie Memphis, Laura Jean Hocking, Memphis, Memphis Flyer, Music, punk rock