One of the best-known lines in American literature was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who famously opined, “There are no second acts in American lives.”
Well, there are. And one of those lives belongs to former City Councilman Philip Spinosa, who — after a stint with the Chairman’s Circle of the Greater Memphis Chamber and another spell with Prestigious Logistics, a company he founded — intends to run again for the council, presumably in District 5.
As a council member representing District 9-2 from 2015 to 2019, Spinosa concerned himself with issues of economic growth and crime and sponsored such legislation as the Neighborhood Sentinel Program, which established surveillance cameras in various neighborhoods and proved so crucial in the ongoing case involving the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of a police unit.
In addition to his prior service, Spinosa has the kind of economic connections that would ensure more than adequate financing for his campaign — a fact which will not be lost on potential opponents, who at the moment include well-known activist Meggan Wurzburg Kiel and restaurateur Nick Scott. Others known to be considering a race in District 5 include Anna Vergos Blair, daughter of former councilman and restaurateur John Vergos, and activist/entrepreneur John Marek.
Marek, who is also considering a race for Position 1 in Super-District 9, professes exasperation with the city council’s continuing delay in determining district lines for the forthcoming city election. Some of that hesitation apparently has to do with the view of some members that a 1990s judicial consent decree requires a charter amendment for certain outcomes, including one calling for single-member districts exclusively.
(At present, seven council positions are elected by a single district, and another six are elected in Memphis’ two “super districts,” each comprising approximately half the city’s population. Runoffs are permitted in the single districts, but not in the super districts.)
Two other former council members are apparently going to attempt returns to the city’s legislative body. Berlin Boyd, who served in District 7 and lost a runoff in 2019 to current seat-holder Michalyn Easter-Thomas, is considering a run for the Super District 8-3 seat being vacated by the term-limited Martavius Jones. And Scott McCormick, who represented Super District 9-1 in the first decade of this century, contemplates a race for District 2, now represented by mayoral contender Frank Colvett.
• Developer Chance Carlisle, whose brother Chase represents Council District 9-1, had strongly considered a race for mayor before deciding against it, but he still intends to have a major influence on public policy. His instrument for doing so will be via the medium of a soon-to-be-created political action committee (PAC).
Still to be named, the PAC will have a strong pro-business slant, said Carlisle, who recently was at loggerheads with city government over Mayor Jim Strickland’s reluctance to support further public financing for a proposed grand hotel on the riverfront.
The new PAC will support candidates in this year’s city election and will avoid any kind of partisan inflection, said Carlisle, who acknowledged that the recent announcement for mayor by Councilman Colvett, a well-known Republican, was a factor in his own decision not to run for mayor. That, plus another candidacy by former Mayor Willie Herenton, also recently announced, had the effect of creating possible cleavages in the electorate, said Carlisle.
“This election shouldn’t be about either political party or race,” said Carlisle, who stressed that affordable housing and better mass transit were two of the city’s most important unmet needs.
Like stepping on an anthill,
Marvel’s antics in this romp will have you itching to leave your seat.
When, exactly, did the MCU jump the shark? For me, it was with Avengers: Age of Ultron. Things were fun and getting funner on Earth-616 until 2015, when Joss Whedon assembled Earth’s mightiest heroes to fight another army of faceless, disposable enemies.
There has been a lot of ups and downs in the approximately dozen lifetimes that have transpired since then, but the one thing we could take solace in was the comforting mediocrity of Marvel movies. The MCU had a low ceiling, but a high floor. They were never great — the demands of branding always weighed the stories down with extraneous fluff — but they were never as awful as the DC super-turds they were extruding over at Warner Brothers.
I’m sad to report that with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, the floor has finally dropped out.
Let’s begin with the title. When presented with director Peyton Reed’s idea to call the third Ant-Man film “Quantumania,” who was the coward at Disney who failed to tag an exclamation point on it?
“Quantumania!” See how much better that is?
Second, let’s talk about The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly). She is not so much a character as she is an afterthought. Occasionally, you can catch writer Jeff Loveness remembering Hope van Dyne is in the movie. Lilly plays her with a resigned detachment I find relatable.
Third, is there something I’m missing about Paul Rudd? He brings to Ant-Man a weird kind of anti-charisma, in that everything he does seems repulsive and wrong. Did he get this job because he is so bland and flavorless no one finds him offensive? Is “tolerability” really all we ask of our movie stars?
Fourth, M.O.D.O.K. (Corey Stoll) Where to even begin? Sorry, Jack Kirby heads, but M.O.D.O.K. is just a goofy character design that’s impossible to take seriously outside his Silver Age comics context. Every moment he’s on screen is excruciating.
The only characters I really liked in this meandering multiverse were Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) uplifted ants. When they’re sucked into the quantum realm alongside the aging super-scientist and his screwup family, they spend their time dilation doing something useful, like developing a Kardashev Type II civilization, so they can ride to the rescue like diminutive Rohirrim.
Speaking of the Pym family, all this Quantumania(!) could have been avoided if Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) had told her granddaughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) what happened while she was trapped in the quantum realm for 30 years. Janet claims she didn’t tell her family about the exiled supervillain Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) because she wanted to protect them. Not to second guess a super-scientist, but wouldn’t it have been logical to just tell them, “Hey, there’s this dangerous supervillain who is trapped in the quantum realm, so maybe don’t go poking around down there?” She wouldn’t have even had to broach the subject of her affair with Lord Krylar (Bill Murray, going big) or of her role in fomenting a minuscule rebellion against the forces of Kang’s tiny tyranny.
But the worst part of Quantumania is not the stupid characters or the Baskin-Robbins product placement. This movie looks bad. I saw it in 4K, and most of the time it was a dark, swirling CGI soup. The haphazard lighting and aggressive color grading conspire to make poor Majors look constantly sweaty. I thought the Marvel shark had been well and truly jumped, but it turns out the Fonz was just getting warmed up.
Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania Now playing Multiple locations
The cage door is open. (Photo: Pavan Adepu | Unsplash)
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. — Maya Angelou
I recently stopped at Petco to pick up some treats for my three pups. I usually go straight to the shelf, grab the package, and head right to the checkout counter. But on this particular day, I was called, quite literally, to the other side of the store.
As the doors swung open, the cheeps and chirps of the birds kept in the corner hit my ears, and, as if pulled by some homing device, I floated over to them. Normally, I steer clear of that area; seeing the feathered beauties behind bars brings me down. How many of them make their way to new homes? How many spend their entire existence under harsh fluorescents in the back of a pet shop? And even if they’re bought, they’re forever in captivity. It just doesn’t sit well with me.
Anyhow, I was particularly drawn to the parakeets, their vibrant blues and greens and yellows, lovely creatures — like paintings come to life. As I stood simultaneously admiring and mourning them, an older gentleman walked up. “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” he asked. I agreed, of course. He started telling me about his new puppy. How he works long hours and wishes he could make more time for it. How cute and fluffy and rambunctious it is. How he came to get some flea powder, but figured it’d probably be expensive, like everything else these days. He didn’t say so, but I sensed his loneliness, his urge to speak to a stranger in Petco just to make a small connection.
We pointed out which birds were our favorites. The pale peach one, the one with the bright teal hue — we’d never even seen such rich color before. We agreed it was sad to see them there, perched in a line like unpicked fruit, yet living, breathing, stretching out their wings with nowhere to go. Before we parted, he said, “What’s that saying about the caged bird? It makes you think, if they can still sing like this, what are we worried about?”
All in all, it was maybe a four- or five-minute encounter, but it left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling. Because amid all the noise in the news — from underground (the Earth’s core may have reversed rotation; what does it mean?), outer space (a solar polar vortex; is that a big deal?), nearer skies (spy balloons and UFOs), the nation (the toxic train derailment in Ohio), the city (another shooting spree last weekend; a separate shooting which claimed the life of a local beloved bartender) — the impression is that there’s a lot we could worry about. And that’s just scratching the surface. It’s enough to make you feel boxed in, caged without much reason to sing.
The curious part of that brief meeting was that after we talked, I made my way to the treats and then got in line to pay, but that nice gentleman who’d come for flea meds didn’t get anything at all. He walked away from the birds, and instead of browsing the aisles, went straight for the door. Maybe he forgot his wallet. Perhaps he changed his mind. Or maybe he got exactly what he was looking for: a moment of human connection, however fleeting; a small escape from his own lonesome cage.
We are all tired, weary of the worry. Not unlike those birds, wings clipped, clustered in cages built by the world, our government, our own minds — longing for freedom.
Consider, though, that the cage door is open. You’re not alone in this lonesome mess. We need only to sing — and fly.
A.J. Fullerton and
Tony Holiday (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Tony Holiday didn’t gather a bunch of blues artists to perform on his upcoming album, Motel Mississippi, like he did on his 2019 Porch Sessions album.
“It’s not the porch concept,” says the blues harpist/singer. “It’s just me. It’s just my record. But it was written by A.J. Fullerton. There are a couple of covers.”
And Holiday co-wrote a song with Victor Wainwright. “But I really chalk it up to A.J. Fullerton, a really cool artist out of Colorado. He moved to Memphis about a year ago.”
Holiday wasn’t looking for songs when he contacted Fullerton. “I called A.J. one day ’cause he’s a great hill country guitar player. I was going to make a new record and wanted to do more of a hill country thing. I called him and asked if he’d play guitar on the record. He said he would love to.”
Holiday says that Fullerton also said, “But I have these tunes.”
Fullerton thought they would be “a good fit” for him, Holiday recalls. “That’s when he moved to Memphis and we sat down with the material for about a week.”
The songs matched Holiday’s concept, Fullerton says: “He wanted to still have that Memphis feel, but he wanted it to be a lot more rural, south of the Mississippi border kind of thing.”
“A.J. is a killer songwriter,” Holiday says. “It’s impossible not to like A.J.’s songs. They’re very catchy.
“I don’t know what it is about the songs he writes. It’s just if I knew what it was, then I would write the damn things myself.
“I can’t say if he’s a wild man or not, but he writes the songs from the perspective that is my wild life. And I was taken by that.”
He told Fullerton, “You wrote my life.”
Like Fullerton’s “Get By.” “Everybody just needs a little bit to get by. Whatever that is. Little bit of money, little bit of love, little bit of pain to get by.”
Describing what compels him to write, Fullerton says, “It’s about day-to-day things. It’s about life. It’s about love. It’s about losing people. For me, writing is just as natural as breathing. That’s why it’s so cool when somebody like Tony connects with my material.”
Holiday and Wainwright wrote “No Trouble.” “It’s like, ‘Don’t call me on the phone. Don’t come around my home,’” Holiday says. “It’s basically telling trouble, ‘Don’t come around.’”
Wainwright is “the Grammy-nominated piano player that ruled Beale Street for a few years back in the day. Victor Wainwright and the Train.”
“No Trouble” was conceived when Wainwright was “playing a little groove on the piano” at Holiday’s house. “We just came up with it sitting around the house being lazy.”
Mississippi Motel was engineered by Kevin Houston at Zebra Ranch in Coldwater, Mississippi. In addition to Fullerton on guitar, Lee Williams Jr. plays drums, and Terrence Grayson plays bass.
Dave Gross co-produced the album with Fullerton and mixed and mastered it at his Fat Rabbit Studios in Montclair, New Jersey.
“We signed with Forty Below Records out of Los Angeles. They have the release date at April 14th.”
Born in South Jordan, Utah, Holiday, who moved to Memphis three years ago, says, “Still happy in Memphis. I’m just a student here in Memphis. I just came here to listen and learn.”
He likes to spend as much time as he can with his family, but he’s got “cool projects coming up.”
Holiday already recorded 70 percent of a “Tony Holiday and friends record. I have eight to 10 really special guests on it.”
He adds, “I do have another record in the bank, as they say. That record is essentially a soul record, soul R&B.”
Holiday, who has three daughters, has a new daughter on the way. “I’ve got six sisters. I’m the only boy.”
The new baby’s name will be Barbara Mae Holiday.
“The release date for the baby is May 22nd,” he says.
To hear the single, “Rob and Steal,” from the new album Motel Mississippi, visit fortybelow.ffm.to/rob-steal.
A. J. Fullerton and Tony Holiday (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Cord-cutting is a popular topic among spiritual practitioners. It can be a useful tool in helping you move on from a relationship or situation, and may be considered a form of self-care. It is a spiritual exercise that a person does when they need help releasing unhealthy energetic ties from a relationship or situation that has ended or no longer serves them.
Cord-cutting allows us to assert a measure of control over a situation that may be out of our hands. It can help facilitate a natural process and speed up the results. We will eventually get over our ex or stop thinking about them every time we go to a certain place. But why wait? Humans are pack animals, in need of connections, but we also want to feel in control of our own lives and we are not patient people.
This exercise does not have to be done just for romantic relationships gone bad. If you struggle with toxic relationships with family or friends, you can use a cord-cutting ceremony to help release those attachments and signal the moving away from that relationship.
Releasing energetic attachments does not have to be done only when things have ended badly. If your last relationship concluded amicably, you can do a cord-cutting to bring closure and signal that you are moving on with your life.
I have studied under a person who told me she practiced cord-cutting every day. As part of her daily spiritual practice, she would release all the attachments between herself and her loved ones that were not of unconditional love. She said this helped her and her loved ones from dwelling over disagreements or hurt feelings, and gave the family a sense of personal freedom to be themselves.
When we spend time with a person, whether romantic or platonic, we form energetic bonds with those people. You can also form energetic bonds to places such as your home, favorite coffee shop, or park. If you are a sentimental person, it can be easy to form attachments to objects. When it is time to move on from that person, place, or thing, we may find it difficult due to those bonds.
When we have strong energetic bonds with someone, performing a cord-cutting ceremony once may not be enough. Depending on the length or strength of your bond, you may want to do it multiple times or make it part of regular spiritual practice. Healing and cleansing your energetic body is a process. Even if we do a cord-cutting to speed up the results, this can still take time. Only you will know when it has worked, so don’t be afraid to repeat it or don’t feel like a failure if you still feel a connection after doing it.
A popular method of cord-cutting is done using two candles and a piece of thread. I suggest using black candles for this, but use whatever color feels the most appropriate to you. Set the two candles on a fire-safe surface, some distance apart. Tie the thread around one candle, leave a taut length of string between the two candles, and then tie the loose end of the thread to the opposite candle. Light both candles. As the candles burn down, the string will catch fire and will burn. This is a physical representation of those energetic bonds burning and dying. Once your candles have burned down, dispose of any leftover wax and string.
Cord-cutting can bring back emotions and trauma; it is part of the healing process. Once you have completed the ceremony, spend some time performing self-care. Meditate or journal as you process your experience and feelings. Because it can bring up old feelings, remind yourself not to reach out to the person you just cut energetic ties with. They may be on your mind now, but it will pass. And you had to cut your ties with them for a reason, so remember that if the feeling to slide into someone’s DMs hits you.
Emily Guenther is a co-owner of The Broom Closet metaphysical shop. She is a Memphis native, professional tarot reader, ordained Pagan clergy, and dog mom.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Philosopher John O’Donohue wrote a prayer not so much to God as to Life. It’s perfect for your needs right now. He said, “May my mind come alive today to the invisible geography that invites me to new frontiers, to break the dead shell of yesterdays, to risk being disturbed and changed.” I think you will generate an interesting onrush of healing, Aries, if you break the dead shell of yesterdays and risk being disturbed and changed. The new frontier is calling to you. To respond with alacrity, you must shed some baggage.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Right-wing religious influencers are rambling amuck in the United States. In recent months, their repressive pressures have forced over 1,600 books to be banned in 138 school districts in 38 states. The forbidden books include some about heroes Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, and Rosa Parks. With this appalling trend as a motivational force, I encourage you Tauruses to take inventory of any tendencies you might have to censor the information you expose yourself to. According to my reading of the astrological omens, now is an excellent time to pry open your mind to consider ideas and facts you have shut out. Be eager to get educated and inspired by stimuli outside your usual scope.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I think we can all agree that it’s really fun to fall in love. Those times when we feel a thrilling infatuation welling up within us are among the most pleasurable of all human experiences. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do it over and over again as the years go by? Just keep getting bowled over by fresh immersions in swooning adoration? Maybe we could drum up two or three bouts of mad love explosions every year. But alas, giving in to such a temptation might make it hard to build intimacy and trust with a committed, long-term partner. Here’s a possible alternative: Instead of getting smitten with an endless series of new paramours, we could get swept away by novel teachings, revelatory meditations, lovable animals, sublime art or music, amazing landscapes or sanctuaries, and exhilarating adventures. I hope you will be doing that in the coming weeks, Gemini.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): The scientific method is an excellent approach for understanding reality. It’s not the only one and should not be used to the exclusion of other ways of knowing. But even if you’re allergic to physics or never step into a chemistry lab, you are wise to use the scientific method in your daily life. The coming weeks will be an especially good time to enjoy its benefits. What would that mean, practically speaking? Set aside your subjective opinions and habitual responses. Instead, simply gather evidence. Treasure actual facts. Try to be as objective as you can in evaluating everything that happens. Be highly attuned to your feelings, but also be aware that they may not provide all facets of the truth.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is there anything in your psychological makeup that would help you do some detective work? How are your skills as a researcher? Are you willing to be cagey and strategic as you investigate what’s going on behind the scenes? If so, I invite you to carry out any or all of these four tasks in the coming weeks: 1. Try to become aware of shrouded half-truths. 2. Be alert for shadowy stuff lurking in bright, shiny environments. 3. Uncover secret agendas and unacknowledged evidence. 4. Explore stories and situations that no one else seems curious about.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The country of Nepal, which has strong Virgo qualities, is divided into seven provinces. One is simply called “Province No. 1,” while the others are Sudurpashchim, Karnali, Gandaki, Lumbini, Bagmati, and Janakpur. I advise Nepal to give Province No. 1 a decent name very soon. I also recommend that you Virgos extend a similar outreach to some of the unnamed beauty in your sphere. Have fun with it. Give names to your phone, your computer, your bed, your hair dryer, and your lamps, as well as your favorite trees, houseplants, and clouds. You may find that the gift of naming helps make the world a more welcoming place with which you have a more intimate relationship. And that would be an artful response to current cosmic rhythms.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Are you aimless, impassive, and stuck, floundering as you try to preserve and maintain? Or are you fiercely and joyfully in quest of vigorous and dynamic success? What you do in the coming weeks will determine which of these two forks in your destiny will be your path for the rest of 2023. I’ll be rooting for the second option. Here is a tip to help you be strong and bold: Learn the distinctions between your own soulful definition of success and the superficial, irrelevant, meaningless definitions of success that our culture celebrates. Then swear an oath to love, honor, and serve your soulful definition.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The next four weeks will be a time of germination, metaphorically analogous to the beginning of a pregnancy. The attitudes and feelings that predominate during this time will put a strong imprint on the seeds that will mature into full ripeness by late 2023. What do you want to give birth to in 40 weeks or so, Scorpio? Choose wisely! And make sure that in this early, impressionable part of the process, you provide your growing creations with positive, nurturing influences.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I recommend you set up Designated Arguing Summits (DAT). These will be short periods when you and your allies get disputes out in the open. Disagreements must be confined to these intervals. You are not allowed to squabble at any other time. Why do I make this recommendation? I believe that many positive accomplishments are possible for you in the coming weeks, and it would be counterproductive to expend more than the minimal necessary amount on sparring. Your glorious assignment: Be emotionally available and eager to embrace the budding opportunities.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Actor Judi Dench won an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth in the film Shakespeare in Love — even though she was on-screen for just eight minutes. Beatrice Straight got an Oscar for her role in the movie Network, though she appeared for less than six minutes. I expect a similar phenomenon in your world, Capricorn. A seemingly small pivot will lead to a vivid turning point. A modest seed will sprout into a prismatic bloom. A cameo performance will generate long-term ripples. Be alert for the signs.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Most of us are constantly skirmishing with time, doing our best to coax it or compel it to give us more slack. But lately, you Aquarians have slipped into a more intense conflict. And from what I’ve been able to determine, time is kicking your ass. What can you do to relieve the pressure? Maybe you could edit your priority list — eliminate two mildly interesting pursuits to make more room for a fascinating one. You might also consider reading a book to help you with time management and organizational strategies, like these: 1. Getting Things Done by David Allen; 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey; 3. 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “What is originality?” asked philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Here’s how he answered: “to see something that has no name as yet, and hence cannot be mentioned though it stares us all in the face.” Got that, Pisces? I hope so, because your fun assignments in the coming days include the following: 1. to make a shimmering dream coalesce into a concrete reality; 2. to cause a figment of the imagination to materialize into a useful accessory; 3. to coax an unborn truth to sprout into a galvanizing insight.
In high school, my English teachers told us to analyze poetry with the TPCASTT method. What do all those letters mean? I have no idea, but I remember the acronym and I remember when I saw that on the chalkboard, it was time for the dreaded poetry week and the dreaded method that dissected all the fun of what I thought poetry could be. What a way to turn a gal off from poetry, and I’m sure many people can empathize, right? Well, Richard Tillinghast gets where I’m coming from, and he’s a real-deal poet (and yes, he knows it).
“It seems like when you’re taught poetry in school, somebody is always kind of trying to drum it into your head: What does this mean?” Tillinghast says. “As I’m concerned, poetry isn’t particularly asking to be understood as much as it is asking to be loved. … Maybe one of the main things that I’m trying to do in my poetry is to communicate pleasure.”
Tillinghast’s latest collection of poems Blue If Only I Could Tell You does, admittedly, touch on the darkly complex history of America, particularly the American South, but the poet says, “Writing or singing about something that’s really painful, it really does have a cathartic effect. … I write about a lot of dark subjects, but I don’t consider my points downers. Kind of talking, writing about stuff like that, and experiencing it through the art of poetry, you feel better once you’ve done it.”
For this book, the poet has distinguished his topics by grouping poems into sections. One section, for instance, is about the Indigenous plight through the effects of colonialism; another is about the systemic racism in the South. Set in Memphis, where he grew up, the poems in this section are mostly autobiographical.
The poem, “Cake,” is dedicated to Ollie, whom his family hired for housekeeping when Tillinghast was younger. “She kind of raised us,” he says of Ollie, whose last name he doesn’t remember though he remembers her fondness for country music and the cakes she would bake for his birthday. In the poem he writes, “There’s no going back in time/but I wish I could go back./I’d like to get inside/the mind of this woman/who was paid to look after me.”
In all, Tillinghast uses poetry to grapple with his privilege stemming from the America’s violent past, while also acknowledging his love for the South’s culture and his upbringing in Memphis. “I feel so lucky to have grown up in the place that I did,” he says. Now, after living all over the world from Ireland to Michigan, Tillinghast splits his time between living in Sewanee and Hawaii. “I love going to Memphis. It’s a big highlight for me whenever I’m able to go back to Memphis.”
This Thursday, the poet will return to Memphis to discuss and sign his book at Burke’s Book Store.
Reading with Richard Tillinghast, Burke’s Book Store, Thursday, February 23rd, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Carrier pigeons have been couriers of legitimate and nefarious items for centuries, but officials at the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia, nonetheless were stunned when a gray bird with a tiny backpack landed in a fenced inmate prison yard on Dec. 29. The CBC reported that officers “had to corner it,” according to John Randle, Pacific regional president of the Union for Canadian Correctional Officers. “You can imagine how that would look, trying to catch a pigeon.” After some time, they were able to grab it and remove the package, which contained about 30 grams of crystal meth. “We’ve been focusing so much on drone interdiction … Now we have to look at, I guess, pigeons again,” Randle said. They set the little guy free and are investigating its origin. [CBC, 1/6/2023]
Illustration: Jeanne Seagle
Family Values
It’s important to encourage your children in their scholastic endeavors. But an unnamed mother in LaGrange, New York, took parental support too far when she snuck into Arlington High School on Jan. 17 before school started to watch her freshman daughter beat up another girl. The Mid Hudson News reported that Mom was caught on video using vulgar language and egging her daughter on as the girls tussled. Superintendent Dave Moyer said the woman blended in with the students coming to school by wearing a backpack. “The students and the mother involved … will be held accountable for their actions,” Moyer said. [Mid Hudson News, 1/18/2023]
WSMV-TV reported that a car that crashed into a mailbox in Nashville, Tennessee, on Jan. 14 was driven by an underage motorist —really underage, as in 5 years old. The child’s father, John Edwin Harris, 53, was seen by a witness grabbing the kid and running from the scene, police said. Officers found multiple open bottles of alcohol inside and ran the tags; when they arrived at Harris’ home, he was driving away in his wife’s car. He failed a field sobriety test, could barely stand up, and smelled of alcohol. He was charged with DUI and leaving the scene of an accident — where’s the child endangerment charge?! — and was released on $4,000 bond. [WSMV, 1/16/2023]
Repeat Offender
An unnamed 62-year-old man from Garfield Heights, Ohio, was arrested — for the 70th time — in early January after he allegedly stole a shopping cart full of packaged meat to sell to restaurants, WJW-TV reported. The Walmart in South Euclid alerted authorities to the theft; in the parking lot, the thief transferred the goods to a stolen suitcase and threw what wouldn’t fit in a dumpster. He told officers he sells the meat half-price to area restaurants. He was booked, again, for theft. [WSW, 1/10/2023]
It’s Come to This
Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 of 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a 108 percent increase in a certain smuggled item at ports of entry, Fox5-TV reported on Jan. 18. It wasn’t fentanyl or heroin, though. Seized egg products and poultry were the hot catch as prices soared in the United States. “My advice is, don’t bring them over,” said CBP supervisory agriculture specialist Charles Payne. Or, he advised, if you do, declare them so you won’t be fined. Thirty eggs in Juarez, Mexico, cost $3.40 — a fraction of what they’d cost in the U.S. because of an outbreak of avian flu that forced producers to euthanize 43 million egg-laying hens. [Fox5, 1/18/2023]
Least Competent Criminal
Federal prosecutors charged Mohammed Chowdhury, 46, of Boston with one count of murder-for-hire on Jan. 17, ABC News reported, after he allegedly contracted with “hired killers,” aka federal agents, on the internet. Chowdhury had shared his wife’s and her boyfriend’s work and home locations, photos, and work schedules with the contractors, and wanted both of them snuffed out — all for $8,000, with a $500 down payment. The agents met with Chowdhury for two months to plan the murders. “No evidence. No evidence from like, you know, that, uh, I did something, you know?” Chowdhury told them. He was arrested as they met to collect the down payment; he could face up to 10 years in prison. [ABC News, 1/19/2023]
Awesome!
Dominican sailor Elvis Francois, 47, was rescued by the Colombian navy on Jan. 18 after surviving 24 days drifting from the island of St. Martin in the Netherlands Antilles, NPR reported. Francois said he had been making repairs to a sailboat when currents swept it out to sea. He scrawled “help” on the boat’s hull, then survived on a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder, seasoning cubes, and collected rainwater while he waited for a rescue. “I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal,” Francois said. “There was nothing else to do but sit and wait.” He finally caught the attention of a passing airplane by signaling with a mirror. “I thank the coast guard. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be telling the story,” he said. [NPR, 1/19/2023]
Sean Hannity (Photo: The White House | Public Domain | Wikimedia Commons)
You’re likely to be hearing a lot more about the landmark Supreme Court decision New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in the coming weeks.
This is the seminal case upon which our nation’s libel law has been adjudicated since 1964.
The case involved an appeal by the Times against L.B. Sullivan, a commissioner of the city of Montgomery, Alabama, who had sued the Times and “four individual petitioners, who are Negros and Alabama clergymen,” based on the claim that an ad taken out in the Times by the defendants made false accusations and that he was entitled to libel damages.
The Alabama Supreme Court had ruled in Sullivan’s favor. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, overruled the state’s decision on the grounds that “mere negligence or carelessness is not evidence of actual malice or malice in fact,” and determined that the First Amendment requires the plaintiff show that the defendant knew that a statement was false or was reckless in deciding to publish the information without investigating whether it was accurate.
In recent years, conservatives, including former President Donald Trump have railed against the Times v. Sullivan decision, claiming it grants media outlets permission to publish false narratives under the protection of the defendant having to prove evidence of malice or intention. Here’s Trump in 2016: “I want to open up our libel laws so when the New York Times and Washington Post write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”
In 2019, Justice Clarence Thomas further stirred the kettle, writing: “New York Times v. Sullivan and the court’s decisions extending it were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law.”
And just last week, not to be outdone by anyone in his ongoing choke-the-woke agenda, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis upped his attacks on the “leftist mainstream media,” saying he would push to loosen Florida’s libel laws: “I’d say these companies are probably the leading purveyors of disinformation in our entire society right now.”
Here’s some free advice for these folks: Be careful what you wish for. Libel reform cuts both ways, as Fox News is now finding out the hard way.
The voting machine company, Dominion, is suing Fox for $1.6 billion for promoting fabrications about it regarding the 2020 presidential election. The case will likely turn on the court’s interpretation of Times v. Sullivan and whether Fox knew its hosts’ promotion of lies by election-deniers such as Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and others were false.
Turns out, they did. Shocker, I know. In a court document released last week, Dominion claimed that “literally dozens of people with editorial responsibility — from the top of the organization to the producers of specific shows to the hosts themselves — acted with actual malice.” And the company had receipts, dozens of pages of them.
Here’s a sample email exchange between hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham:
Carlson: “Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane.”
Ingraham “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy.”
There are dozens more examples of internal communications between Fox News hosts, including Trump acolyte Sean Hannity, disparaging the false claims against Dominion. Here are a few other samples of various hosts’ descriptors of their nightly guests: “Ludicrous.” “Off the rails.” “Fucking lunatics.” “Complete bullshit.”
Yet, the election-deniers were put on the air night after night and allowed to pump their duplicitous bilge without pushback. Most troubling for Fox is that the network’s knowing duplicity extended all the way to the top. Dominion’s filing includes records of Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch calling the voter-fraud claims “really crazy stuff,” among other things.
But the “really crazy stuff” went on the air in prime time for weeks, duping millions of Fox News viewers into believing the “Big Lie” that Dominion’s machines had altered millions of votes and helped steal the 2020 election for Joe Biden.
“Fox knew,” the Dominion filing declares. “From the top down, Fox knew.”
Fox News responded: “The core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan.”
Good luck with that. And you might want to give ol’ Clarence a call.
When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore. It’s true that a good pizza, fresh out the oven, is akin to that warm, fuzzy feeling of love, but there’s no need to take one to the face to enjoy Italy’s culinary magnum opus. Memphis has long been cultivating its approach to the pizza game, with restaurants showing off their take on New York-style, to Chicago-style, to Bluff City-style (we’re always down for a barbecue chicken pizza).
For our 2023 pizza issue, we sent our intrepid reporters across the city to try out 10 different pizza joints. Their conclusion? Any way you slice it, Memphis’ pizza game is going strong.
Photo: Jon W. Sparks
Slim & Husky’s – P.R.E.A.M.
If you often think to yourself that “Pizza Rules Everything Around Me,” then you’re ready for Slim & Husky’s P.R.E.A.M.
The artisanal pie’s highlight is a splendid white sauce along with the S+H cheese blend on top of a perfectly prepared and crunchy thin crust. It’s festooned with spinach, pepperoni, pulled Italian sausage, mushrooms, and red onions.
As the onion bits were sparse and the mushrooms merely present, it was up to the other elements to carry the day. The sausage was particularly good, with a distinctive flavor, and the spinach and pepperoni rounded out the appeal of the dish.
The elongated pie is cut into squarish shapes and invites the hungry diner to dig in. If you eat inside, the atmosphere is welcoming, with soul music in the air and delightful artwork of luminaries such as Aretha Franklin and Isaac Hayes on the walls.
The staff is friendly and helpful, and it’s clear a lot of thought has gone into making dishes that go far beyond the standard offerings of the big chains. Nashville-based Slim & Husky’s is also a chain, but you’ll feel right at home chowing down on a well-made pizza. — Jon W. Sparks
Remember the pizza they served in elementary school? It was square because it baked on the cookie sheets the school kitchen already had. It was not great (or even good) by normal pizza standards, but it was the pinnacle of school kitchen culinary creation. Maybe, if you’re lucky, your grandma tried to recreate that magic at home with a scratch-made crust and an assist from Chef Boyardee.
Imagine that pizza made by a real pizzeria. That’s the Grandma’s Pizza at Little Italy.
“It’s a New York thing,” says owner Giovanni Caravello. “Somebody’s grandma used to make it like that. It’s a lot more popular up there than it is down here. If you tell people from the North it’s a Grandma’s pizza, they know what it is.”
On the menu, it’s listed as thin crust, but in practice, the Grandma rises a bit more than the standard thin crust. It comes basic with fresh mozzarella patches and exposed sauce, but it’s substantial enough to load on the toppings, if that’s what you’re into.
Another good thing: It has more crust (thanks, geometry!). And if you ask for it to be cut in smaller pieces, it can be good finger food for a party.
Little Italy opened in Midtown in 2004 and recently expanded Downtown. And a third location is expected to open in early April to spread Grandma’s comfort to East Memphis. — Chris McCoy
When I first glanced at the menu at Slice of Soul Pizza Lounge, located at 1299 Madison Avenue, an instant feeling of FOMO fell upon me. I was bitten by the “New Year, New Me” bug, and this trickled down to my eating choices. There were so many appetizing options, with Memphis-themed names, such as the “Pyramid Parmesan Chicken” and the signature Bellevue loaded potato, that made my decision to settle for the vegetable pizza even harder. However, as I took a bite of the seven-inch Al B. Green slice, I realized I was far from settling.
According to Anthony Latiker, the owner of Slice of Soul, the Al B. Green is one of the most popular options, and it’s no surprise. Latiker explained that it can be hard to describe the style of their pizza, as it’s simply their own take on a classic food item.
The slice consisted of “obese deliciousness of spinach, black olives, green olives, mushrooms, onions, roasted red peppers, green bell peppers, and banana peppers.” Not only did this huge portion provide me with a filling dinner, but the presentation provided an aesthetic worthy of the “phone eats first narrative.” — Kailynn Johnson
In 2018, at my first visit to Dino’s Grill, I fell in love, not with my date sat across from me for my freshman year sorority formal — the one who didn’t know how to properly punctuate contractions and who didn’t take kindly to constructive criticism. Oh no, I fell in love with the plate of spaghetti with marinara before me. And while my standards for choosing a formal date were low, my standards for spaghetti with marinara have always been high. And let’s just say Dino’s is now my new standard. It’s my favorite thing in all of Memphis. Seriously.
Blobby chows down on leftovers. (Photo: Abigail Morici)
And so as my deadline for this pizza issue loomed ahead of me, I dreaded ordering anything but spaghetti at Dino’s. How could I betray my love? And yet I did. For the sake of journalism. I ordered a cheese pizza. And hot damn, have I been missing out! The pizza comes with Dino’s signature marinara, the marinara I already love, and the pizza crust is thin just like my grandpa would’ve made it. How could I not love it? It’s simply delicious, and I had to withhold myself from eating all eight slices. Now, I fear that the next time I go to Dino’s, instead of immediately ordering my go-to pasta, I’ll have to make a decision between pasta and pizza. Lord, help me. — Abigail Morici
Tamboli’s Cacio e Pepe is an extraordinary and unusual pizza — and well worth a trip to the funky and delightful mother-ship restaurant on Madison Avenue.
Cacio e Pepe is built on the premise that a pizza with courage and ambition can forge its own path, forgoing such conventional building blocks as red sauce, tomatoes, meat, or, you know, vegetables and stuff. This is a pizza with heart — and lots of chewy and spicy goodness that will win you over.
This is a pizza that begins its climb to greatness with a whipped ricotta cheese base which is topped by a thick, gooey layer of mozzarella, some edgy pecorino Romano, freshly cracked black pepper, and the piece de resistance — white truffle oil. Get back, y’all!
Let’s be real, here: This is basically a mixed-cheese dance party that’s oven-baked and wood-fired on top of Tamboli’s wonderful house-made dough. The pepper and truffle oil merely serve to elevate it to bliss level.
Pro Tip: Cacio e Pepe pairs beautifully with Tamboli’s Caesar Salad, which also features Pecorino Romano, plus toasted pine nuts with house-made dressing. — Bruce VanWyngarden
Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza, 1761 Madison Ave., tambolis.com
Photo: Izzy Wollfarth
Memphis Pizza Café – Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Memphis Pizza Café has built its reputation on being one of the few pizza places that has mastered perfectly crispy and thin crust. But achieving that perfect crust harmony isn’t the only thing Memphis Pizza Café is famous for. What elevates this pizza joint is the balance of unique flavors found in every variation of pizza. Whether this is through their traditional subs, calzones, or cheese sticks filling bellies during happy hour (Monday-Friday, 4-6 p.m.), there is not one place where flavor is lost. And one of the most popular flavors is their Buffalo Chicken Pizza.
Taking a bite of their Buffalo Chicken Pizza will have diners begging for more. The secret of these flavors can be found in their marinated chicken tossed with mozzarella and cheddar on an olive oil-based pizza served with Frank’s special sauce and ranch dressing. While the contents of Frank’s sauce might not be known to us yet, our hunger for more will soon reveal the truth. — Izzy Wollfarth
Walking into Boscos on Overton Square, I feel a bit of nostalgia. Not only were they the first brew pub in Tennessee when they opened their Germantown location in 1992, they had the first wood-fired oven in the city. Pizza and beer are a sublime combination, and Boscos perfected both a long time ago. More than 30 years later, how well I remember the first wood-fired pizza I had there: It was a revelation.
I’m happy to report that Boscos hasn’t lost their touch. The only difference is that now you can see your pie being made at the pizza bar. Ordering a Palermo, I settle in to watch Chef Ashley roll out the crust, trim the edges, and apply the sauce, cheese, and other toppings. Then she slides it into the roaring heat of the wood-fired oven behind her. What emerges is transformed. The hard wheat crust rises ever so slightly, taking on an airy crunch, while the sauce tastes as fresh as farmers market tomatoes. The pepperoni and sausage crisp up nicely, but it’s the succulent portobello mushrooms that really make this pizza. Add a pint of Boscos’ own Famous Flaming Stone steinbier, and there you have it: a classic pairing done right, withstanding the test of time. — Alex Greene
I invited singer-songwriters Dylan Dunn and Ava Carrington to try a deep-dish pizza from Izzy & Adams.
Only one slice of the 14-inch Chicago Dude pizza was left when we finished. Dunn took that slice with him in a to-go box to a band rehearsal. The pizza, obviously, was a hit. “It’s the best pizza I’ve ever eaten,” he says.
Carrington, who doesn’t like pizza, loved the Izzy & Adam’s pizza we tried. The Chicago Dude, which includes pepperoni, onion, garlic, and giardiniera pepper mix, is so mouth-wateringly delicious. It’s dense, thick, and so full of flavor. It’s one of six speciality pizzas from Izzy & Adam’s.
Owner Ryan Long, who named the restaurant after his sons Isaac and Adam, describes the two-inch-or-so deep-dish pizza as a “cheese lover’s pizza.”
As Long told me in an earlier interview, “There’s a lot of cheese on it. It’s kind of a different pizza. There’s more filling. And it’s just unique to Chicago because it was invented there.”
With deep dish, “you put ingredients on the bottom, then the cheese, and the sauce goes on top of it all. And it’s garnished with Romano cheese and Parmesan.”
They use raw Italian sausage on their deep dish, as well as their thin-crust pizzas, Long told me. “We put on quarter-size pieces and it cooks in the oven. The grease from that pork gets released into the sauce. That’s what makes it damn good.”
Long knows whereof he speaks. He grew up in Rolling Meadows in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. — Michael Donahue
Izzy & Adam’s, 6343 Summer Ave., Suite 110
Photo: Samuel X. Cicci
Silly Goose – Farm Daddy
So many bars turned to pizza as their solution to the Covid-induced financial and operating woes. I was surprised as anyone several years ago when I discovered that Downtown’s Silly Goose — a bar/lounge where I’d before unwittingly stumbled into a sleazy-esque late-night poker tournament and had several shots bought for us by a blackout patron dressed as Woody from Toy Story — had reemerged as a gourmet pizza destination. (Don’t worry, it’s still a late-night hot spot.)
I posted up at the bar and ordered a Farm Daddy, which brought the farm-fresh tastes directly to my seat with a bevy of ingredients: scallions, mushrooms, smoked bacon, wood-fire baked chicken, mozzarella, and Parmesan tossed in a house-made roasted garlic cream sauce. Silly Goose’s pizzas are the perfect bar snack, enough heft to stave off that impending hangover, but just light enough to avoid feeling stuffed while downing beers at the bar.
As a bonus, it turned out I’d stumbled into Silly Goose during its Thursday “2 for $20” pizza deal, so I also snagged The Roni, their take on a classic pepperoni pizza with Grana Padano, mozzarella, and marinara sauce. All in all, it was a pretty good deal, and I think these pizzas make for a perfect late-night snack. And it’s easy to enjoy them in Silly Goose’s lounge area, combining the ski lodge aesthetic of rustic stacked log pillars with an airy walled garden vibe from a colorful sea of hanging wisterias. — Samuel X. Cicci
Pizza and beer make for an iconic duo. And the crossover between two big names in Memphis’ hospitality scene made that combination even more enticing when Wiseacre’s Kellan and Davin Bartosch teamed up with Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman.
Little Bettie’s Pizza and Snacks, open at Downtown’s Wiseacre HQ, focuses on New Haven-style pizzas: thin-crust, wood fired pies with a bit of char and a chewier texture, almost made in a similar vein to classic Neapolitan pizzas. There are plenty of interesting choices to pick, but one pizza reigns supreme above all: the Thud Butt.
I haven’t quite found another pie around town like the Thud Butt. Whisking together both sweet and savory tones, the pizza blends the silkiness and rich, fatty taste of mortadella drizzled with black pepper honey and a pistachio stracciatella, with a heaping dollop of homemade cheesy mayo in the center for good measure. That’s a whole lot of different flavors combined together in a pretty innovative way.
But if, like me, you’re allergic to pistachios, fret not! Every pizza is a good pizza at Little Bettie’s, with the added perk of being able to enjoy a slice alongside Wiseacre’s top-notch brews. Now that’s amore. — SXC
Little Bettie’s Pizza & Snacks, 398 S. B.B. King Blvd., wiseacrebrew.com
