Let out your nerd rage. (Photo: Courtesy Memphis Armored Fight Club | Facebook)
Where, oh where, is your knight in shining armor? Are they riding on a white horse, ready to slay a dragon? Climbing up your long rope of hair hanging from your tower window? Sitting at a round table to plan out a quest to find the Holy Grail? Or are they in Memphis? Knights are, after all, running amok around here, thanks to the Memphis Armored Fight Club.
Rusty Wagner is one such knight, having joined the club in 2018 after seeing a duel at a Renaissance fair in Millington. “Like most little boys, I wanted to be a knight,” he says. “I’m an older guy now, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It’s all kinds of fun.” The group fights in the style of 14th- and 15th-century European combat with real steel weapons and real-deal armor. For Wagner, his armor weighs 65 pounds and is based on the 14th-century English man-of-war suit. “It’s plain-Jane,” he says, but even “plain-Jane” armor can cost a pretty penny — about $1,800. After all, it’s custom-made and shipped all the way from Ukraine.
And, sure, there’s a bit of danger using all that heavy material and sharp metal, but that’s what the armor is for. “The first time you strap on your armor, you’re scared but also excited,” Wagner says. “The first time you get hit and don’t die, it’s thrilling. It’s like that wasn’t all that bad.”
The group duels with swords and shields, long swords and bucklers, and pole arms. The rules are you can hit but you can’t stab — stabbing, well, that’s a bad, potentially lethal, idea and doesn’t quite fit in with the “friendly competition” of their tournaments. Still, there’s catharsis in the fighting. “You get frustration out,” Wagner says. “We call it nerd rage.”
If you don’t believe him, for $5, you can try it yourself between matches at the club’s next tournament at the Black Lodge this Saturday. Of course, you’ll strap on some soft armor, not the stuff that weighs 65 pounds, and, for 90 seconds in the ring, you can fight your friends, family members, lovers, or even members of the club if you so dare. All ages can participate. “You don’t think 90 seconds is long till you’re in the ring,” Wagner says. “Even if you’re in a soft kit, it’ll take the gas out of you.”
In between duels, the Lodge will also screen Excalibur and will offer a special menu of roasted chicken or rabbit with roasted potatoes and seasonal veggies, along with mead as a drink special.
And if you fall in love with armored fighting the way Wagner has, the club is always looking for new members. “It’s exciting to see the fighting itself, and it’s even more exciting when you do it yourself,” he says. Keep up with the group on Facebook or Instagram.
“That’s so gay” is commonly and blatantly used among adolescents in schools. I can’t count how many times I’ve walked through a school hallway and heard this. What’s saddening is that it turns the word “gay” into one that describes someone society should be ashamed of — someone who isn’t “normal.” When name-calling is happening to our queer-identifying youth, who’s standing up for them? The fact that our children are still using the word “gay” as a derogatory term shows that our schools, teachers, parents, and community members aren’t doing enough to provide safe spaces that support our LGBTQ students.
Anu Iyer (she/they), youth volunteer coordinator at OUTMemphis, a nonprofit that serves the LGBTQ community through empowering, connecting, educating, and advocating, speaks on the issue: “There’s a big sense of isolation among LGBTQ+ youth.” Iyer has supervised OUTMemphis’ PRYSM youth groups for years. These are social groups coordinated for queer-identifying youth and allies between the ages of 13 to 17 and 18 to 24. As an intern, and later a staff member at OUTMemphis, Iyer has witnessed first-hand the effects that this sense of isolation can have on both LGBTQ students and their parents.
Iyer explains that due to the lack of safe and affirming spaces, parents of queer-identifying youth have been moving their children out of public schooling and into alternatives such as private schools or online schools. “There are some parents who are concerned about their kids and want to support them” she says. “They want to know how to take action against unconstitutional things that are happening. When kids don’t have a strong support system, it’s a slippery slope to anxiety, depression, and poor coping skills. Not feeling like there’s a sense of hope is probably the most dangerous feeling.”
This “sense of hope” not only depends on students, their attitudes, and responses to queer-identifying students, but it also depends on our schools’ teachers and staff members. A middle-school student in Memphis who identifies as nonbinary expresses that after months of being bullied for their gender expression, along with being name-called for being queer, their teacher did not stand up for them. “I feel frustrated and just nervous,” they explain. “I always feel like I’m on edge.”
Not only is it important to educate youth on how to give mutual respect to queer-identifying students, but it’s also important for teachers and staff to do the same. Part of the problem is that some adults may hold conflicting beliefs that cause them to ignore the topic or disregard what’s really happening. Some adults may find pronouns awkward or controversial, or may not understand that they are, indeed, a part of a person’s identity. Some may witness LGBTQ-related name-calling and bullying but not know how to handle it. Some may not understand why, for example, a nonbinary or trans student may feel unsafe in a boys’ locker room yet unaccepted in a girls’ locker room. The truth is that, quite often, our LGBTQ youth don’t feel safe.
How much do schools feel it’s their responsibility to hold space for topics that involve LGBTQ youth? The answer is that schools are responsible. Some students are queer-identifying. They are “gay,” LGBTQ, and everything else outside of the constructs society has created for us. Iyer says, “It’s important for people to pipe up when they see something happening to a kid. Teachers should be safe zone trained so they can be good mentors, good people for students to talk to if they’re going through something, and spaces where students can feel like their privacy and confidentiality will be respected.”
Safe zone training is recommended for anyone who wants to learn how to create safe spaces for the LGBTQ community and is something anyone can participate in. According to the Safe Zone Project, a free online resource for educators, “safe zone trainings are opportunities to learn about LGBTQ+ identities, gender, and sexuality, and examine prejudice, assumptions, and privilege.” There is no correct curriculum or course for safe zone training, but luckily, OUTMemphis provides such training as LGBTQ+ 101, Transgender 101, Creating a Trans-Inclusive Workplace, and Working with LGBTQ+ Youth and Creating a Safe School Environment.
At the school level, the goal is to work toward progression instead of regression. It starts with teachers and staff taking opportunities to stand up for LGBTQ youth and educate other students. Schools should provide resources for queer-identifying students — resources that they can relate to and find comfort in. As Iyer says, “If I had to say one more thing it would be a call-to-action for teachers, counselors, people who are working at the student level in schools to reach out to us and be the people in school who spread the resources.
“Come to us. Pick up some flyers, business cards, brochures. … We can give you all the literature. You don’t have to spend a dime, just help us spread the word.”
The author reminisces about her Mardi Gras escapades,
from taking in the sounds and sights of the French Quarter to attending the Rex Ball in a vintage red dress. (Photo: Rhett Ortego)
Occasionally in life, if we are fortunate, we may forge the kind of friendship in which both parties are completely comfortable with one another. I personally have found such a friendship in Rhett Ortego, a New Orleans native. Our particular, and perhaps peculiar, bond can be summed up in a tableau: Rhett sitting in my bathroom reading aloud a history of Mardi Gras to me while I am in the shower. (This may be a good time to mention that I am a heterosexual cis gender woman and Rhett is a homosexual cis gender man, and therefore, there is no danger of sexual tension in this anecdote. Much to the dismay of Rhett’s grandmother, who pulled him aside during my visit to his family home and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to be anything more to Coco?” But I’m getting ahead of myself.) This is how I ended up on my first-ever trip to New Orleans during Mardi Gras with my own personal tour guide.
On Sunday, February 19, 2023, Rhett and I are strolling through the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, and I am falling in love with the brightly painted houses and maze-like streets. It is a lovely day, the sun is shining, and everything is bright. I knew Mardi Gras was a big deal, but I was not quite prepared for the festive atmosphere that permeates the city. Beads hang off balconies and porches; lawns are decorated in purple, green, and gold; and businesses all over the city display repurposed Christmas trees — now Mardi Gras trees — in shop windows. People everywhere are wearing the most outrageous and fantastic clothes. I see a man dressed all in white, wearing giant white angel wings riding a bike down Napoleon Avenue, under a canopy of toilet-paper-rolled trees. A man who looks like he could be a Hell’s Angel sports a gold tiara.
Photo: Coco June
As we drive and walk through the city, Rhett nonchalantly peppers our conversation with statements such as, “That house was owned by a silent movie actress, and now it’s a library,” or “The Heebe family lived there.” He tells me the history of many buildings, often including the date they were built or what their original purpose was. As we enter Jackson Square, I notice that I am the fastest walking person in the crowd. I point it out and Rhett simply says, “The Big Easy.” Everyone is unhurried, including the albino horse wearing a unicorn headband pulling a carriage down the streets of the Vieux Carre. We eat lunch on a balcony (which differs from a gallery, I learn, in that it isn’t supported by columns or poles in any way). This particular balcony slants toward the street at such an angle that it feels as though we could spill over onto the sidewalk at any moment.
Photo: Coco June
What strikes me in many places are not the sights of the city, but the sounds. I take several videos just to capture the aural experience. Being from Memphis, I especially appreciate another city that is permeated with music. I hear violins, homemade drums, and saxophones, and they are all layered between the voices of thousands of people having a good time. On Lundi Gras, the Monday directly before Fat Tuesday, we go to one of the many parades. The walk to the route takes us along St. Charles Avenue, past houses whose architecture dates back to the 1800s. The parade offers up a completely different, more cacophonic, variety of sounds. Multiple marching bands, floats, and horses file through a throng of shouting people, and the distinctive sound of a wad of plastic beads being caught flashes periodically through the din.
On Fat Tuesday itself, Rhett and I get to experience our own grown-up platonic version of prom at the Rex Ball. After the event, I finally slow down to match the pace of the locals, mincing along in my four-inch heels and floor-length vintage red dress. When we get back to Rhett’s parents’ house, we rewatch the ball (apparently an Ortego family tradition) with his dad, a hilarious experience made more palatable by the bottle of whiskey he breaks out for the occasion. A fitting end to our Louisiana fairy tale.
Coco June is a Memphian, mother, and the Flyer’s theater columnist.
Financial infidelity is not uncommon. (Photo: Afif Ramdhasuma | Unsplash)
You may have heard of Ryan Reynolds’ financial infidelity in his marriage to Blake Lively. Reynolds confessed on Jimmy Kimmel Live that he spent $2.75 million to purchase a Welsh soccer team without first discussing it with his wife.
Unfortunately, acts of financial infidelity such as this are not uncommon. According to a survey by U.S. News & World Report, approximately 30 percent of Americans have dealt with financial infidelity. The most common examples include the following:
4 percent – Keeping purchases secret
7 percent – Hiding debts or accounts
6 percent – Lying about income
4 percent – Draining money from savings
9 percent – Lending without consent
How can you and your spouse recover from financial infidelity? Consider taking the following actions.
Discuss your feelings and the impact the infidelity had on your relationship.
One of the first steps to recover is by talking about it. If you were the victim of infidelity, how did that make you feel? What can your spouse do to help you regain trust in him/her?
If you were the one who committed financial infidelity, what are the reasons behind it? Do you feel that your partner is overly controlling with the finances? Maybe you desire to keep up with the Joneses? Whatever the reason for your indiscretion, work with your spouse to address the underlying cause and move forward together in a positive manner.
Discuss your money values.
Financial infidelity often occurs among couples who have different values when it comes to saving, spending, and investing. Perhaps one partner values image and is willing to go into debt to purchase a fancy car, big house, and nice clothing. In contrast, the other partner may value security and prioritize saving in an emergency fund while living a lifestyle that’s well within the couple’s financial means.
It’s important to share your own money values and gain an understanding of your spouse’s if you’re going to move forward as a team. Try to find common ground and agree on a financial strategy that meets both your needs. A good wealth manager can help facilitate a productive conversation and help you move forward with confidence.
Set common financial goals.
Without shared financial goals, it can be difficult for two people with different financial priorities to reconcile their saving and spending habits. Work together to establish financial goals that you both feel good about. Maybe you share the dream of retiring to a warm climate or hope to someday travel the world together. Remaining focused on shared financial goals can help both partners resist the urge to hide their financial transgressions.
Establish a budget.
It’s not anyone’s favorite task, but establishing a budget (and sticking to it!) can go a long way toward getting on the same financial page. Take a hard look at your savings, spending, and priorities, and establish a reasonable budget that you’re both comfortable living with.
Give each other an “allowance.”
This can be a way to allow room for each other’s different spending habits. Consider establishing separate checking accounts in each spouse’s name. Then, decide together on a monthly amount or “allowance” that will be deposited every month into each account. Give each other the freedom to spend that money as you wish. Providing each other the opportunity to spend on small purchases without judgment can help you both stick to a budget while also maintaining a sense of financial freedom.
Gene Gard, CFA, CFP, CFT-I, is a Managing Director with Creative Planning, formerly Telarray. Creative Planning is one of the nation’s largest Registered Investment Advisory firms providing comprehensive wealth management services to ensure all elements of a client’s financial life are working together, including investments, taxes, estate planning, and risk management. Visit CreativePlanning.com for more information or to request a free, no-obligation consultation.
The internet got busy dragging Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (again) last week. It all came after a high school yearbook photo emerged showing Lee in drag and after Lee quickly signed into law a bill to outlaw drag in many places here.
Posted to Facebook by Allan Creasy
“Drag is not a crime … But Bill Lee’s legs in that dress are.”
The Mo’Bay Beignet Co. team (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Mo’Bay Beignet Co. will open the first week of April in the former Midtown location of Muddy’s Bake Shop.
That means beignets — with your choice of butter cream, cinnamon, and other syrups — and coffee, espresso, and tea, says Theresa Monteleone, who, with her husband John, is the owner of the restaurant at 585 South Cooper.
Theresa was having a hard time finding a job after they moved to Memphis. “My husband John and I are originally from Mobile, Alabama,” she says.
She always worked in healthcare. John, who works for Results Physiotherapy, was an avionics mechanic and electrician in the Coast Guard for 23 years before becoming a flight medic for people injured on oil rigs.
They moved to Memphis after their daughter and her husband moved here in 2021. “We’ve always wanted to own our own business. At one point in time I wanted to open up my own women-only gym.”
And, she adds, “We thought maybe we’d open our own clinic here for mental health.”
Her son-in-law then suggested they look into Mo’Bay. “The Lord just kind of dropped this in our lap. Someone we knew, the actual owner of the franchise, created this in the middle of the pandemic. She was looking for franchisees.”
John will continue to work for Results Physiotherapy and work part time at Mo’Bay.
Working in a food-related job isn’t far-fetched, Theresa says. “My daughter and I are bakers. I grew up in South Alabama, so I grew up cooking things like chicken and dumplings, collard greens, fried chicken, beans, and cornbread.”
Theresa is still in the kitchen when she’s at home. “I have to cook every day. We’ve got five kids. The youngest is 16. He’s the only one left at home.”
She liked the idea of a beignet/coffee shop. “I’m a coffee and tea person. When that came up, I thought it would be perfect.”
They own the eighth Mo’Bay franchise. “We do have the secret recipe and what have you for the beignets. We do make those homemade.”
They’ll get their coffee from Carpe Diem Coffee Roasting Co. in Mobile.
The color scheme — inside and out — for the business will be black and white “with woods and metals incorporated.”
It will be decorated with graphics, including the USS Alabama battleship in Mobile.
Theresa had “carte blanche” to pick Memphis-related items, but she had definite ideas. She didn’t want just images of Elvis and other well-known Memphis icons. “I wanted something close to that line, but I wanted a female, number one.”
She chose the late blues guitarist, Memphis Minnie. “She was female. She wrote her own music. She was a vocalist. She played her own instrument.”
Theresa learned about Memphis Minnie online. “I was just Googling. I just started researching and I stumbled across a few females, but there was just something about her that stood out to me. I said, ‘This is what I want.’”
A large Memphis Minnie vinyl graphic mural is currently being made for the dining room. “She’s going to look really good in there.”
Growing their new business is not out of the question. “It’s not beyond us to open up other locations in Tennessee, or even branch out and maybe open up something of our own that is fully ours.”
Theresa loves Memphis, but, she says, “This is the first state that we’ve ever lived in that is landlocked. We’ve always lived on the coast.”
Her husband is a surfer. “It’s a little difficult not to be close to the beach.” But, she says, “We like Memphis. Definitely. Being military, we’re used to moving places.”
She likes the diversity in Memphis. “Memphis has got great food, great people, and we’re looking forward to serving them.”
And, adds John, “More than just having a little cafe, our goal is to bring a light to Memphis. To fellowship with the community. To love on them and just be a part of Memphis. And to make it a better place.”
Peter Bernstein is a jazz cat’s jazz cat, straight out of the New York scene. As such, he’s a perfect exemplar of what Crosstown Arts has dubbed “jazz month” — that is, a March calendar bursting with shows that reveal the many facets of what’s called jazz today. There’s quite a stylistic spread under that umbrella, but Bernstein, who’ll appear with the Ted Ludwig Trio at The Green Room on Tuesday, March 14th, is that rare player who has full command of standards and bop, yet revels in stretching out beyond anything safe or “traditional.”
As a leader, Bernstein has released nine albums, and as a sideman the guitarist has backed the likes of Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, Lou Donaldson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Fathead Newman, Joshua Redman, Diana Krall, Lee Konitz, Jimmy Cobb, and many more. Memphians will especially appreciate Bernstein’s work with George Coleman, the saxophonist who parlayed his music education at Manassas High School into a career that established him as a legend of 20th- (and now 21st-) century music.
Bernstein reflects on his time with Coleman as he prepares for his Memphis appearance with the Ted Ludwig Trio. “For the Green Room show, I feel like it’s really Ted Ludwig’s gig and I’m the guest,” says Bernstein, “so I told him we’d play whatever he wants to play and we can go from there. It’s all about finding a way to have some fun, whatever the format is. We’re going to do one of my tunes, ‘Dragonfly,’ and we have some standards and different things. It’s nice to play gigs where you don’t know what you’re going to play. I did a gig with George Coleman and we did three nights, and not only did we not repeat any tunes, he would just say a bunch of tunes before the set and then maybe play one of them. He would just call the tunes on the bandstand, and sometimes not even the keys. Just start playing the tune, and you have to figure out what key it is, and hopefully we knew the song. So I’m kind of in that space right now, and not preparing too much. It’s fun to just play what you want in the moment, and hope that everyone comes along with you.”
Indeed, seeing Bernstein at New York’s Village Vanguard last fall with his own quartet (featuring Sullivan Fortner, Doug Weiss, and legendary drummer Al Foster) was a study in spontaneity, as the loose-limbed ensemble would chat between numbers before settling on the next tune. At one point, they hit upon a lesser-known Ray Charles tune, “The Danger Zone,” a soulful blues with some minor chord tweaks that lend it an especially melancholy mood. It was a loose, relatable number that brought a bit of earthy Beale Street flavor to the Manhattan club, and it revealed just how important the blues are to Bernstein’s playing.
“I don’t know if anyone from Memphis would consider me an authentic blues player,” he confesses, “but to me, it’s a part of all the jazz I’ve ever loved, from early Ellington and Louis Armstrong all the way up through Ornette Coleman. And all the guitar players I really love can play the blues, from Grant Green, to Wes Montgomery, to George Benson, to Jim Hall, or Kenny Burrell. I like guys that are not coming from that place, also. But when I play gigs, that’s a form that’s a given. It’s a place we can start from. Everybody is down with playing the blues and playing the blues different ways. We’re not going to sound like Mississippi John Hurt, but we’re playing blues. I try to play the blues in everything, even when there’s a million chord changes. ‘Oh my god, there’s so many chord changes, what do I do?!’ Well, just play the blues. You play the blues because there are so many chord changes.”
As for playing with Ludwig, another guitarist, Bernstein relishes the opportunity to not be the only guitarist onstage. “I play with a lot of guitar players and I always enjoy the challenge to not just have it sound like one 12-string guitar. To distinguish yourself tonally and personality-wise, so people can see and hear a conversation. We guitar players hang out anyway, so if we can do it on a gig and make it work for people to listen to, then it’s always a lot of fun.”
The University of Memphis basketball program has had its share of “one-and-done” sensations since the turn of the century. In his lone year as a Tiger (2001-02), Dajuan Wagner led Memphis to its first NIT title. In 2008, Derrick Rose famously (some would say infamously) took the Tigers to the cusp of a national championship. A year later, filling Rose’s void nicely, Tyreke Evans was the star of another 30-win team. In 2020, playing in the vapor trail of the James Wiseman controversy, Precious Achiuwa became the first Tiger to be named American Athletic Conference Player of the Year. And just last season, Jalen Duren was the centerpiece for a Tiger team that returned to the NCAA tournament after eight long years.
But Kendric Davis is a different breed of the one-and-done species. His most obvious distinction from the five players mentioned above: Davis is not a freshman, but a fifth-year senior. Memphis is the third college program he’s represented. He turns 24 in May (Davis is three months older than the Grizzlies’ Ja Morant) and is a father. When Davis all but surely wins this year’s AAC Player of the Year trophy, it will be his second, having earned the award in his final of three seasons at SMU last year. Having led the AAC in both scoring (21.5 points per game) and assists (5.6), Davis will leave a permanent imprint on Memphis basketball history, and in a span of time that feels as brief as the point guard’s head-bob crossover.
“It’s been fun,” says Davis. “I wish I had more than a year.”
Kendric Davis broke the AAC’s career scoring record while leading the league in both points and assists. (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)
Why is Davis a Memphis Tiger for this one — perhaps historic — year? You might call it the value of a Penny. When Davis entered the transfer portal after the 2021-22 season, he fielded calls from the likes of Kentucky and Kansas, blue-blooded institutions where most college players would offer a kidney to play one season. But as his phone was blowing up with calls and texts, three numbers caught Davis’ eye: 901. “I didn’t know the number,” reflects Davis, “but I knew 901 was Memphis, and I knew Memphis was Penny Hardaway.”
Davis first got to know Hardaway as an opponent, more familiar with the former NBA star’s line of Nike shoes (and One Cent brand) than the rising coach of a conference rival. And when Davis struggled against the Tigers during the 2020-21 season (he shot a combined 5-for-27 in two games against Memphis), he actually approached Hardaway after one of the games to find out the coach’s secret for shackling his performance. Before granting a photo request from Davis, Hardaway advised him to look more for his own shot within the flow of an offensive possession. At that time a pass-first point guard, Davis became predictable when double-teamed or cornered with the basketball. The advice came back to bite Hardaway a year later, when SMU beat the Tigers twice and Davis averaged 23.5 points in the Mustang victories. Look for his own shot, he did. And when the opportunity surfaced for Davis to play for Hardaway instead of against him, he pounced.
Coach Penny Hardaway became a father figure to Davis while plotting a course for a second straight NCAA tournament. (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)
“Memphis has exceeded my expectations,” says Davis. “The city. The love. Great teammates. Coach Penny has been unbelievable to me, helping me grow on and off the floor, building a bond that’s probably going to last my whole life. Putting on that Tiger jersey is an honor.”
Davis’ father John went missing in the fall of 2021, shortly after an October visit with his son in Dallas. (A truck driver, John’s rig was discovered in November, but with no sign of its owner.) Davis acknowledges Hardaway filling a void in his life, one he didn’t anticipate or ask for, but one the Memphis coach has occupied beyond a basketball relationship.
“We clicked from the first phone call,” says Davis. “I was ecstatic. My parents, their friends, they used to wear his Orlando Magic jersey. He was before my time. I looked him up, and he was like a 6’7” Kyrie Irving. If he didn’t get hurt, he might have gone down as a top-five point guard. His game could exist in this era. And he’s taken my game to another level.”
Davis is a father himself, now. (Kendric Jr. will turn 2 this fall.) So there’s a multigenerational component to leaning on Hardaway as a role model, a standard for success beyond the hardwood. “I’ve struggled a long time,” he says, “finding that father figure you need. I have a son, and I need someone to teach me how to be a daddy. Penny’s someone you can look up to; I want to be like that someday. We can relate. Similar backgrounds. What he wanted in life, I want in life. His attitude, his passion for the game. Lots of people want things from you, and it can be challenging, balancing it all. I’ve learned more from him than anybody else. I wish I had two or three years [to play for him].”
Are the current Tigers built for March basketball, all the madness of win-or-go-home conditions? Davis nods emphatically when posed the question: “You look at teams that are successful in March: veterans, great guard play, and you’ve got a great four-man. Oral Roberts went to the Sweet 16 with that [in 2021], and we’ve got way more talent. We took Alabama [to the wire] at their house and lost by three points. That tells you how good we are. I guarantee you, in March Madness, teams won’t want to play Memphis.”
DeAndre Williams has averaged 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds on his way to all-conference honors. (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)
Davis points to a certain partner in crime in establishing expectations for the Tigers in the weeks ahead. That great “four-man” — or power forward — is DeAndre Williams, the 26-year-old fifth-year senior who may well join Davis on the AAC’s all-conference first team. Having struggled with a propensity for foul trouble his first two seasons as a Tiger, Williams has found a balance between defending aggressively and sloppily, with the result of one of the best seasons by a Memphis forward in the last decade. Averaging 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, Williams reeled off 26 consecutive games with at least 10 points. On February 12th against Temple, he scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds on his way to earning AAC Player of the Week honors. If that DeAndre Williams shows up, Memphis is a stiff test.
“I’m locked in,” says Williams, “on whatever it takes for us to win. Getting to the [NCAA] tournament is tough. We gotta put our hard hats on and just grind out wins. I wouldn’t think my last year would be my best year, but that’s how it’s gone. I’m happy. It’s a testament to my teammates and coaches, helping me succeed. I’m loving the ride, every moment. I want to leave my mark, on the team and the city.” On February 19th, Williams scored his 1000th point in a Memphis uniform, the first Tiger to reach that milestone in more than four years. So consider one significant mark already left.
There’s been an urgency this winter we don’t always see with the Tiger program. The roster is built almost entirely around seniors, six of them fifth-year players clinging to an extra year of eligibility granted in the aftermath of a Covid-restricted 2020-21 season. Davis has never played in the NCAA tournament. He has a fire in his belly, having been snubbed last season at SMU despite the Mustangs winning 24 games and finishing second in the AAC (ahead of Memphis, and the Tigers made the field). Keonte Kennedy (currently sidelined with a broken hand) and Elijah McCadden haven’t played in an NCAA tournament, each of them critical role players who transferred to Memphis to be part of one last attempt at the effervescent “madness” that can make a good season unforgettable.
Says Davis, “I remind my teammates all the time: We don’t have any redos. Whatever you’ve got, give it all. If there’s something you have left, it’s not gonna help this summer. Give it all. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. We’re in desperation mode now. Coach tells us we have family depending on this. Our lives are depending on this. I’ve got my son. I feel like I shine the brightest in the biggest games, and March Madness is all big games. I’m due. I feel like the nation needs that. I owe the [selection] committee one.”
At this point, the 2022-23 Tigers may enter the history books as the best Memphis team to go an entire season without being ranked among the nation’s top 25. And it doesn’t match the eye test. Just last Sunday at FedExForum, the country’s top-ranked team — the Houston Cougars — needed a buzzer-beating shot by Jamal Shead to win its 11th straight game. With a 23-8 record and second-place finish in the AAC, the Tigers will play in the NCAA tournament. First comes the AAC tournament in Fort Worth this week. If the Tigers are to win the event for the first time, they’ll likely have to beat a pair of teams (Tulane and Houston) that have already beaten them twice this season. Would Davis like to play the Cougars a third time? “Bad,” he says. “It’s on my mind.”
When asked about a factor that will determine the Tigers’ fate in the coming weeks, Davis goes back to his reason for wearing blue and gray to finish his college career. “Just listen to Coach Penny’s game plan. He spends hours and hours, studying habits of players, what teams like to do, what they don’t like to do, what you can expect out of time-outs. When we follow his game plan, we usually win.
“And also, taking it game by game. We can’t control what the committee thinks. If we keep stacking wins, that’s all that matters. We had one of the best nonconference schedules in the country. It’s prepared us. It’s built us. We’re ready for March. Coach always tells me, ‘It’s your time now.’”
As noted in this space last week, the current Memphis city election year is seemingly destined to become the most long-distance such event in the city’s history, with several mayoral candidates already declared and notably running months in advance of any actual voting.
To stress the point: No ballots will be cast until September 15th, when early voting begins for the election, which concludes for most purposes on October 5th. Should there be district council races in which there is no majority winner, runoffs will be held for those districts on November 16th.
Contestants for mayor and for city council positions will not even be able to pick up their qualifying petitions from the Election Commission until May 22nd, almost three months from now. And district lines for the 13 council positions are still under review.
All these facts indicate just how far off in time the election really is; though in key races, for city council as well as for mayor, there is a distinct flurry of activity as would-be candidates try to get their campaigns (and their fundraising needs) established and in order.
• Apropos long-distance campaigning, Monday night of this week saw a different application of the term. Memphis mayoral candidate James Harvey, speaking not in Memphis but before an audience in Germantown, held forth for an hour and a half. That’s the length of speaking time that occurs usually only for events like a presidential State of the Union address or an arena speech by Donald Trump to one of his devoted, cult-like audiences.
Harvey, a longtime FedEx administrator who now is proprietor of his own staffing service, is a former member of the Shelby County Commission and served a term as that body’s chairman. An African American, he was a Democrat in those days, but his party affiliation has become somewhat ambiguous. He has involved himself in several Republican races as a sponsor of other people’s events, but on Monday night he downplayed the issue of partisanship (appropriately enough for the Memphis city election, which is formally nonpartisan).
Monday night’s event, at the Perkins Restaurant & Bakery in Germantown, was sponsored by the Shelby County Republican Party’s outreach committee, and chaired by the indefatigable Naser Fazlullah, who advised attendees that Harvey had “the gift of gab.”
That’s one way of putting it. Another was voiced years ago by then County Commissioner Chris Thomas, who commented after one of colleague Harvey’s extended monologues, “I could have gone out and gotten a haircut during all of that.”
James Harvey does indeed love to talk, and, though several members of his audience Monday night had to leave before he finished, the body as a whole seemed to resonate with his remarks, which focused on public safety and crime and the value of strong authority. He declared himself in favor of age 15 as the outer limit for Juvenile Court supervision and fulminated against tinted car windows and the antisocial actions of wayward youths, whom he characterized by the terms “Li’l Billy and Li’l Pookie.” He also at one point singled out “Jay [sic] Morant,” the Grizzlies superstar who has recently been involved in a series of questionable incidents.
As a candidate, Harvey is something of an anomaly and would be well advised to limit his speaking time but, in the best of circumstances, could find appreciative audiences like the one Monday night.
• Businessman J.W. Gibson, who is able to self-fund if need be, formally announced his candidacy for Mayor at an event Monday at the Stax Museum, calling for a “different tune” in city government.
Michael B. Jordan takes to the ring once again as Adonis Creed to face off with Jonathan Majors, playing his wronged friend from the past.
Boxing has always been good fodder for filmmakers. The sport plays to the strengths of the form, offering compelling characters, clear conflict, and visceral violence. None did it better than Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and Rocky, the 1976 Best Picture winner directed by John G. Avildsen, but forever associated with its writer and star, Sylvester Stallone. They are both working-class stories about driven men overcoming long odds, but they have very different takes on what being a sports hero really means. For Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, the championship is an empty prize. For Rocky, the search for glory becomes less important than personal integrity.
In 2015, Ryan Coogler rebooted the Rocky story with Michael B. Jordan starring as Adonis “Donnie” Creed, the son of Stallone’s frenemy, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). The Black Panther helmer is one of the greatest genre directors of our age, and his skills fit perfectly with the needs of the boxing picture. For Creed III, Jordan followed in the footsteps of Stallone by directing the film he’s starring in. And whaddaya know, the guy’s got chops!
The film begins in flashback, where a 15-year-old Donnie (played by Thaddeus J. Mixson) sneaks out of his mom’s house to go to a Golden Gloves boxing match with his buddy Damian “Dame” Anderson (Spence Moore II). Dame wins big, but while they’re on their way home, Donnie gets into an altercation in front of a package store. Dame pulls a gun to get his friend out of trouble, but he’s the one who gets busted when the cops show up.
Fifteen years later, Donnie is fighting to unify the heavyweight championship. He retires a champ and is settling in with his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent), when he gets a visit from an old friend. Dame, now played by Jonathan Majors, is out of prison and wants to get back into the fight game. After all this time, he thinks he’s still got “a little gas left in the tank.” Donnie feels more than a little guilty that it was Dame who paid the price when he started the fight all those years ago, so he offers to help train him at his appropriately Greek-branded Delphi Gym.
Dame’s got a lot of aggression to work out, but he’s a ferocious fighter. Donnie, who is trying his hand as a manager, is trying to arrange a title bout for his protégé, Felix Chavez (José Benavidez Jr., an actual professional boxer.). When his would-be opponent is mysteriously assaulted at a party, Donnie recommends Chavez fight Dame instead. After all, it was great publicity when Apollo Creed gave Rocky a title fight. “Everybody loves an underdog.” But Donnie’s plan backfires, and you better believe that the two former friends are headed for a final showdown in the ring.
During his press junket for Creed, Jordan has talked a lot about how his anime obsession shaped the way he approached his first outing as director. You can see it in his bold compositions, particularly in the fight scenes. The first match plays out in sweeping Steadicam close-ups that are more Scorsese than Watanabe. But during the final showdown in Dodger Stadium, the fans melt away, and the two titans slug it out like gundams. Cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau shoots the fights in a high frame rate, allowing Jordan and editor Tyler Nelson to speed up and slow down the action as needed.
Jordan’s performance is fearless. The key to the Rocky stories has always been just the right combination of strength and vulnerability. Jordan is not afraid to cry in an extended double close-up with Tessa Thompson or wear a frog onesie to a tea party with his hearing-impaired daughter. Majors is a perfect foil to Jordan, delivering a nuanced performance that, like Jordan in Black Panther, is not, strictly speaking, villainous. Creed III can go toe-to-toe with the heaviest hitters of boxing cinema.
