That's me and Stax legend David Porter at the Night Train Fundraising Gala at Stax (Credit: Kontji Anthony)
It was great being back at a Staxattraxion.
Guests rubbed shoulders with some of the people who personify Stax at the Night Train Fundraising Gala, which was held April 29th at Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Guests included music legends David Porter, Eddie Floyd, Lester Snell, and James Alexander of the Bar-Kays, and Larry Dodson, who was formerly with the group.
James Alexander and Eddie Floyd at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Larry and Marie Dodson at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Lester and Patricia Snell at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Deanie Parker with Nashid Madyun at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Yvonne Mitchell and Willie Mae Bland at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Karl and Gail Schledwitz, Kontji Anthony, and David Porter at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Andy and Allison Cates, Soulsville Foundation president & CEO Pat Mitchell Worley, and Carissa Hussong and David Lusk at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
This is how the news release described the event, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Stax Museum: “A celebration of African-American music and culture, it will feature the Stax Museum filled with live music, a silent auction, fantastic cuisine, cocktails, dancing, DJs, and more, all in our newly renovated lobby, gift shop, and mid-century modern lounge, as well as Studio A, Isaac Hayes’ gold-trimmed Cadillac exhibit, and other spaces.”
Geri and Hal Lansky at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Alfred and Sherita Washington at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Henry Turley and Wanda Shea at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Caroline and Troy Parkes at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ryan Peel at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Chris Franceschi and Kirby Boyd at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
I covered many Staxtacular parties at the museum. This was the one where you got to also rub shoulders with Memphis Grizzlies players. That is, if you could get your shoulder up that high. The Night Train event was, as the release says, “fashioned to replace our beloved Staxtacular event that raised over $1 million over 10 years.”
So, guests dined on Delta tamales while listening to fife and drum music by Rising Stars, which features Shardé Thomas, granddaughter of the late Othar Turner.
Rising Stars at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
That fife and drum music brought back memories of Turner’s picnics held at his home near Senatobia, Mississippi. That was the first time I ever had goat barbecue. I also locked my truck with the keys inside and the truck running one year at the picnic. Nobody, including a Mississippi sheriff, could get the door open. So, I just walked around and enjoyed the party until a friend opened the truck door with his Ole Miss dorm room key.
But I’m digressing.
Night Train guests also ate shrimp and grits while listening to the great Joyce Cobb and Charlton Johnson perform jazz music.
Joyce Cobb at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Kimberly Weaver at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Elliot and Kimberly Perry at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Simone Alex and Dame Mufasa at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Michael Ivy and Nico Hatchett at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Lauren Berry and Logan Bennett at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Mary Haizlip, Ross McDaniel, and Caroline Cook at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)
They heard the Stax Music Academy Alumni Band play soul music, the Street Corner Harmonies perform a cappella tunes, and DJ Battle play music for dancing and/or relaxing. These were all held in different parts of the museum, so guests got a musical tour of the building. Which was appropriate.
About 350 people attended, says Tim Sampson, Soulsville Foundation communications director. They don’t have a total for the amount raised as yet, he says.
The format was changed this year because Staxtacular had run its course, Sampson says. This year’s format will be “the new one going forward.”
And, Sampson adds, “We definitely thought it was a success. People were very very happy with what we presented.”
It’s always cool to visit Stax, even if it’s just to run in and take a peek at the seemingly city-block-long gold-plated peacock blue 1972 Cadillac El Dorado that belonged to the late, great Isaac Hayes.
Estella Mayhue-Greer at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Courtney and Matt Weinstein at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ari Morris and Alex Greene at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Asima Farooq and Molly Wexler at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Trip Trezevant at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Angela and Terrell Richards at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)Martavious McGee at the Night Train Fundraising Gala (Credit: Michael Donahue)We Saw You
Ahh, spring! It’s a time of renewal. It’s the season of flowers. It’s that brief window of time when Memphis weather is nice.
Alexis Grace‘s new music video “Golden” is suffused with seasonal energy. Edward Valibus conjures deep video magic to bring multiple Alexises together — each dressed for a different season — to breeze through her (their?) incredibly catchy new tune.
You can catch the singer/songwriter live at the Hyatt Centric on Sunday, May 7th, and at the GPAC Grove on June 29th. While you’re waiting for those shows, you can watch this video and imagine you’re dancing with Alexis in her amazing kitchen.
If you would like to see your new music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
For years, Republican state Sen. Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains has been a walking Tennessee gaffe machine, a man who provides fodder for the Capitol Hill Press Corps legislative session after legislative session.
We’ve been able to count on Niceley to advocate for cockfighting, a bloody sport in which two roosters — armed with metal spurs — fight to the death, or near death. Niceley defended the sport by calling it a “cultural tradition” and claiming, erroneously, that President Abraham Lincoln partook of the sport.
In 2015, he said, to the consternation of animal rights advocates, “It’s been going on for centuries. I don’t know what the big deal is.”
It was Niceley who, during the 2022 legislative session, held up Adolf Hitler as a good example for homeless people. The worst dictator of all time, said Niceley, was able to practice his oratory on the streets of Vienna and connect with the masses.
(Credit: John Cole, Tennessee Lookout)
“So it’s not a dead end to productive life, or in Hitler’s case, an unproductive life,” Niceley said.
Extending his analogies with World War II dictators, he said of Gov. Bill Lee’s 2023 transportation plan, which included toll roads, “Mussolini liked those public-private partnerships. They called it fascism back then.”
While Niceley didn’t dominate a 2023 session characterized by feet in mouth, we honor his legacy by giving you the inaugural end-of-legislative session “Niceley Awards,” for the lawmakers who distinguished themselves through their missteps, faux pas, and foolishness, and managed to make Tennessee a regular topic on Saturday Night Live.
The Winner: Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton
House Speaker Cameron Sexton claims the prize as the first winner of the Niceley Award. He scored the win for a pattern of overplaying his hand in a fashion we’ve come to expect from Republican House speakers. (Maybe we should christen this category the “Casada Cup” for Rep. Glen Casada, whose scandals prompted a resignation in 2019 after only seven months in the role.)
All seemed to be going well for Sexton in the early months of the session as he presided over a spate of bills to criminalize some drag performers and performances, ban care for transgender youth, and wreak havoc on the City of Nashville’s Metro Council.
Then came the March 27 shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in which six people were killed.
Days after the shooting, more than a thousand protesters packed the Capitol to urge lawmakers to take up gun-reform laws, with three Democrats taking to the House floor to join the protests. In short order, Sexton went on right-wing radio to compare the teen-led event to the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, presided over the ultimately unsuccessful expulsion hearings of three Democrats, and drew an investigation into his personal affairs. Independent journalist Judd Legum established Sexton owns a $600,000 house in Nashville and downsized his home in Crossville, the district in which he was elected, to a small condo in a retirement community.
(Credit: John Cole, Tennessee Lookout)
Meanwhile, the “Tennessee Three” have become the darlings of national media, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars each, and enjoyed a trip to meet President Joe Biden in the White House, while a member of Sexton’s caucus was forced to resign after being found guilty of sexually harassing an intern. Now, a progressive nonprofit watchdog group is asking for a full investigation of Sexton.
Among insiders, it’s no secret Sexton has his sights on the 2026 governor’s race and has been working to shore up his credentials on the right. He may survive as House Speaker, but his handling of the expulsion issue will no doubt be used against him by opponents in 2026.
Runner-up: Rep. Paul Sherrell
Rep. Paul Sherrell (R-Sparta) held a strong lead for the Niceley Award until late March, when Sexton edged him out of contention. Sherrell rarely makes news, save for an occasional campaign finance ethics issue, plodding about his business on the House floor with little of note emerging.
That changed when he filed a bill to rename Rep. John Lewis Way, which runs past the Cordell Hull State Office Building, to President Donald Trump Boulevard. Lewis, unlike Trump, attended college and began his career in Nashville, so the naming of the street in Lewis’ honor by Nashville’s Metro Council in 2020 made sense.
But members of the Republican supermajority chafed at receiving their mail at an address named for the late congressman and civil rights leader, and Sherrell’s bill may have gained traction were it not for his next move.
During a February House Criminal Justice Subcommittee in which members discussed offering death row inmates a choice of ways to die — What’ll you have, sir? Electrocution in Old Sparky or firing squad? We’re fresh out of those lethal injection drugs today — Sherrell piped up: “I was just wondering if I could put an amendment on that that would include hanging by a tree also?”
(Credit: John Cole, Tennessee Lookout0
The statement conjured up images of lynchings, and the House Black Caucus pushed for punishment of Sherrell, who issued a statement of apology and then saw his renaming bill stall out. John Cole’s Tennessee: Hoisted by his own petard.
Dishonorable mentions
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally
McNally was elected to the House in 1978, moving to the Senate in 1986. During his 45 years in office, he’s been known for brokering middle-of-the-road solutions and made his bones when helping the FBI bust Democratic lawmakers in “Operation Rocky Top,” an expose of corruption.
Tennesseans got a fresh view of McNally this year, when the Tennessee Holler reported McNally had been using his verified Instagram account to comment with hearts and fire emojis on the account of a 20-year-old gay man. “You can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine,” McNally posted on one picture of the nearly nude young man.
(Credit: John Cole, Tennessee Lookout)
McNally’s fondness for thirst traps likely wouldn’t have caught fire were it not for the legislature’s propensity to target members of the LGBTQ community annually, which he’s largely supported. Now, McNally’s legacy will be marked by an asterisk for hypocrisy.
Gov. Bill Lee
When the legislature passed a measure to criminalize “adult cabaret” performers — that’s legalese for drag performers — Lee signed it into law within hours, giving Tennessee the dubious distinction of becoming the first state in the nation to pass such a law.
Imagine the schadenfreude felt by the left when photos surfaced of an 18-year-old Lee, dressed in a cheerleader outfit — complete with wig and pearls — for a Franklin High School homecoming event.
Gov. Bill Lee, middle, dressed as a cheerleader for the 1976 Franklin High School powderpuff football game. (Credit: 1977 Franklin Rebel yearbook)
Lee didn’t see a conflict with his effort to ban drag: He lost his cool when questioned about it at a press conference, calling the comparison “ridiculous,” although it earned him a mention on Saturday Night Live.
Rep. Jeremy Faison
Had the Niceleys launched in 2022, Faison would have been a strong contender to win after he tried to pull the pants off a high school basketball referee with whom he disagreed. This year, however, the House Republican Caucus chair fell to the bottom of the list, only earning an honorable mention for walking out of a CNN interview in the aftermath of the House expulsion hearings, leaving the anchor mid-question.
All this would be funny were it not for the fact that the men involved are in charge of steering our state’s policies. Few would care about politicians busted for wearing skirts and flirtatiously engaging with members of the same sex on social media were they not the same ones piously legislating morality. It is frankly appalling in 2023 — or any time — that state leaders think joking about lynching is amusing or that they wouldn’t anticipate a national uproar over the expulsion of two young, Black lawmakers.
It is cowardly to dismiss teens and their mothers advocating for sensible gun laws as insurrectionists.
But this is the situation in Tennessee, and as the old saying goes, sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.
The St. Louis Cardinals have demoted prize prospect Jordan Walker to Memphis and there’s a sniff of panic in the air. The Cardinals are off to the franchise’s worst start in half a century, having lost 16 of their first 25 games. (The 1973 Cards opened with a 5-20 record and somehow finished the season break-even, at 81-81.) St. Louis pitchers are getting clubbed (ERA of 4.45, ninth in the National League). St. Louis hitters are not clubbing (32 home runs, ninth in the National League). So their solution is to demote a young man who set a franchise record by opening his career with a 12-game hitting streak? Cardinals Twitterverse, do your thing. Yikes.
The fourth-ranked prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, Walker turns 21 on May 22nd, exactly 20 days after his debut at AutoZone Park. How young is 21 in the career of a baseball player? Consider the Cardinals’ two current superstars. Paul Goldschmidt — last season’s National League MVP — had a season of Rookie League ball behind him on his 21st birthday. Nolan Arenado — owner of 10 Gold Gloves at third base — turned 21 in Double-A. And yet there are citizens of Cardinal Nation screaming that Walker is being punished, vanquished to the land of Triple-A for not having what it takes to carry the St. Louis Cardinals right now.
This is silly. Walker made headlines by starting his big-league career with that hitting streak, a record first achieved by a player his age in 1912 (Eddie Murphy of the Philadelphia Athletics). And this may have been the worst possible development for the Georgia native. Walker earned the Cardinals’ Minor League Player of the Year award in 2022, but his first game with the Redbirds last week was also his first above the Double-A level. Players who skip the highest tier of the minor leagues and make an immediate impact in the big leagues are few and far between. The last such player in the Cardinals’ system was one Albert Pujols, and that was 703 big-league home runs ago.
With St. Louis, Walker found himself in a five-man battle for three outfield positions. And this is a crucial component of his recent demotion. Walker was drafted (in 2020) as a third-baseman, and spent the majority of his first two professional seasons at the hot corner. With Arenado entrenched at the position for the Cardinals, Walker is tasked with learning to play right field. The innings he puts in defensively with Memphis will be as important to Walker’s long-term success as his plate appearances.
There’s one more factor to consider in Walker’s change of scenery: classroom culture. The Cardinals are in their second season under 36-year-old manager Oliver Marmol, but their first in 20 years without franchise icon Yadier Molina, who retired after the 2022 season. And something’s amiss in the St. Louis clubhouse. Stars aren’t starring. Role players aren’t filling their roles. Meanwhile in Memphis, the Redbirds are playing their fourth season under 41-year-old Ben Johnson, a relentlessly positive skipper who has overseen the two longest winning streaks in franchise history (one of 15 games in 2021, then a 12-gamer just last month).
For a young man of college age, atmosphere is everything. At least for the time being, Jordan Walker is likely better off in the Memphis “classroom” than he would be in a confused, turbulent Cardinals setting. The irony, of course, is that the long-term beneficiary of Walker’s baseball growth will be the St. Louis Cardinals. Triple-A exists for a reason: the final test for a player with a lengthy big-league career in sight. It should be fun watching Jordan Walker hit the books in Memphis.
Walker homered in his second game with the Redbirds, a Friday-night loss at Durham.
