Month: May 2023

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Rocket’s backstory forms the emotional core for one last adventure with James Gunn’s Guardians.

The first installment of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy foreshadowed the wacky space antics to come by opening with Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), grooving to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” on a deserted planet. Volume 2 followed Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) as he boogies to Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky,” blissfully unaware that his fellow Guardians are locked in combat with a giant octopus monster.

But Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 offers no such playful dance number intro from a joyful audience surrogate. Director James Gunn’s Marvel swan song (he’s now creative director for rival DC Studios) opens in darkness. A group of baby raccoons in a dirty cage hears footsteps echo from a hallway, and a silhouette emerges. All the raccoons flee from the cage door except one, his eyes wide in terror as a hand extends slowly into the cage.

That frightened face morphs into the present-day Rocket (Bradley Cooper), the anthropomorphic gunslinging raccoon (but don’t call him that) and Gunn’s preferred “secret hero” of the franchise. When the bristles on Rocket’s face come into sharp focus — the most accomplished CGI that we’ve seen in a Marvel film for quite a while — it’s clear Gunn is not interested in repeating himself.

The rage and frustration of Radiohead’s “Creep” follow Rocket in an early scene as he walks through Knowhere, the Guardians’ new HQ. His found family of oddballs are in a bad place following the events of Avengers: Endgame. A permanently drunk Quill is despondent that former teammate and love interest Gamora (Zoë Saldaña) doesn’t remember her time as a Guardian, while Nebula (Karen Gillan), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) do their best to pick up the pieces. Meanwhile, comic relief Kraglin (Sean Gunn) is joined by newcomer Cosmo the Space Dog (voiced by Maria Bakalova), cracking wise, playing cards, and trying to keep the mood up.

The early sidelining of Quill establishes that this is Rocket’s story, with frequent flashbacks to his time as a genetic experiment under the eye of the maniacal High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a man that harbors a twisted obsession to create the perfect being. Rocket is critically injured during an early skirmish with newcomer Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), but the crew needs the High Evolutionary’s tech to save him. From there, the story gets dark and even depressing, at one point delivering the franchise’s first “Fuck.”

Previous Guardians films have explored the core crew’s backstories, but Rocket’s tragic past has only been hinted at. Guardians has always been about fatherly trauma, whether it’s Gamora and Nebula’s years of torture under Thanos, Drax’s failure to protect his late daughter, or the revelation that Quill’s father was Ego the Living Planet. Rocket’s grueling backstory gives the movie something that’s been missing from recent Marvel films: an emotional core.

Young Rocket dreams big with his fellow experimental subjects; they’re excited to be a part of the High Evolutionary’s new world, even as they undergo grotesque, body-horror alterations. Pet lovers beware: There are some pretty brutal depictions of violence enacted upon animals in this movie.

Star-Lord’s attempts to win back Gamora provide the series’ usual semi-comic tone, and we get the requisite space shoot-outs, and even a Nathan Fillion cameo. But pathos is never far from the surface; Rocket’s journey through his trauma is always front and center. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the sanitized corporate slop that has given moviegoers superhero fatigue during the MCU’s latest phase. Gunn even manages to introduce Warlock, who is set to be a big player in future MCU films, as an organic part of this story, rather than a distraction.

Guardians Vol. 3 is the most creative Marvel film in years, a fitting end to Gunn’s time with Disney. It should serve as the template going forward, but will it? It seems unlikely super-producer Kevin Feige will afford this much creative leeway to directors with lesser reputations, and with Gunn off to DC, the MCU will probably return to the assembly line approach that’s left Phases 4 and 5 feeling stale. At least Gunn, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Nebula, Mantis, Groot, and especially Rocket can all go out with a bang.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
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Categories
Politics Politics Feature

In Harm’s Way

Congressman Steve Cohen with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week (Photo: Courtesy Steve Cohen)

We hear a lot these days about “bullet trains,” which whisk commuters from place to place with incredible speed. The train which took Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen last week from U.S. ally Poland into Kyiv, the capital of wartime Ukraine, took all of 10 hours. But the ride was surely worth it.

It was Cohen’s privilege, as ranking member of the congressional Helsinki Commission, to ride that slow train (hampered by security precautions) into harm’s way so as to present the gallant Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the formal support of the commission for himself and his beleaguered nation.

The Helsinki Commission is an official government body created in 1975 to support compliance with that year’s Helsinki Accords, a nonbinding agreement pledging the nations of Europe and the Americas to the pursuit of peace and detente.

Accompanied by fellow House members Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Cohen was ushered into the president’s office as an air raid siren blared, reminding the visitors of the potential dangers involved.

The American delegation spent an hour with Zelenskyy, who, says Cohen, was the affable and resolute figure the world has grown familiar with during Ukraine’s courageous stand against the nonstop attacks of the Russian invader.

According to Cohen, Kyiv itself, relatively unscarred, remains determined to persevere and comports itself like any other busy metropolis. He described seeing workers rebuilding a bridge that was demolished during the war’s early phase to prevent Russian access into the city.

The American group also visited suburban areas — notably Bucha, the site of widespread massacres and other atrocities by occupying Russian troops, who were later forced to withdraw. Aside from that, says Cohen, “Bucha is actually an upscale sort of place, kind of like Germantown,” but one marked by numerous mass graves.

How would the congressman rank his Ukrainian experience? “Inspiring, and right up there with anything I’ve ever done.”

• However the tangled matter of mayoral residency requirements gets resolved, and it likely will get sorted out on a May 18th hearing in the courtroom of Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins, former Mayor Willie Herenton remains unworried, insisting that, as a new online broadside of his puts it, “My residence has never changed.”

He cites an official definition by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett of a residence as a “place where the person’s habitation is fixed and is where, during periods of absence, the person definitely intends to return.”

In Herenton’s case, that means a house on Barton Street, near LeMoyne-Owen College, an ancestral place of sorts where Herenton’s mother lived, as did the former mayor, despite his subsequent acquisition of other dwellings, including one in Collierville which he later sold.

Herenton contends that would distinguish him from two other mayoral candidates, Sheriff Floyd Bonner and NAACP president Van Turner, both of whom lived just outside Memphis before acquiring dwelling places in the city during the past year.

The issue to be determined by Jenkins is whether, as a vintage city charter maintained, a five-year prior residency is mandated for mayoral candidates or was made moot by a 1996 referendum of Memphis voters that imposed no such pre-election requirement.

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Sweet Cheeks, Gonna Be May, and Gun Safety

Posted to Facebook by Sweet Cheeks Espresso

Memphis on the internet.

Sweet Cheeks

Searcy, Arkansas, is now home to “central Arkansas’ first drive-thru bikini coffee shop.” Sweet Cheeks Espresso opened last month. It serves lattes, cold brew, frappes, chai tea, and Red Bull-infused drinks like the Bubble Butt and Fruity Booty. Yep, all of it made and served by women in bikinis.

It’s Gonna be May

Posted to Facebook by Mike Doughty

May’s Memphis arrival means two things: Memphis in May and Justin Timberlake memes.

NSYNC’s 2000 hit “It’s Gonna Be Me” is the genesis for the “It’s Gonna Be May” meme that blooms each year around this time. Know Your Meme says the original “May” meme was posted to a Tumblr blog in 2012. It’s still going strong 11 years later, as evidenced by the photo above posted to Facebook by Memphis musician Mike Doughty.

Tweet of the Week

Photo: State of Tennessee

In the wake of last week’s shooting at FOX13, state Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis) seemed ready to work on some sort of gun control in a special session promised by Governor Bill Lee.

“The solution as we know is going to be a complicated one but I am willing to roll up my sleeves, work with my colleagues in Nashville and figure it out. I am here to protect my constituents and speak on behalf of all of those scared for their own safety and the safety of their families and friends. WE MUST DO BETTER AND WE MUST DO IT NOW.”

Categories
Theater Theater Feature

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 at POTS

Nathan McHenry as Anatole and Katy Cotten as Natasha (Photo: D’angelo Connell Photography)

The week before I saw Playhouse on the Square’s regional debut of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, I was asked what the play was about. I wasn’t quite sure, having deliberately avoided finding out beforehand, as is sometimes my practice when seeing a show I’m unfamiliar with. This continued until the morning I was to attend, when a coworker read aloud a short synopsis. The words “electropop,” “opera,” and “Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace” gave me the impression it had the potential to be either really cool or a complete disaster. I’ll tell you now: It was utterly insane, and I loved it.

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 is a sung-through musical; there is no spoken dialogue. Everything is performed in song, which can be a lot to take in for the average theatergoer. Coupled with the fact that it’s is an adaptation of Part 8 of War and Peace, you might be forgiven in expecting the effect to be too much. Instead, the show leans into its own weirdness, breaking the fourth wall before the action even begins. Performers enter through the lobby, where they mingle with the audience before the show. Almost immediately the musical makes fun of itself; in the first number, the company scatters additional programs containing a family tree with notes about each character, such as “eccentric” and “slut” (it’s tongue-in-cheek, don’t worry). The actors warn to pay attention because everybody has, like, eight names.

The set design feels like a cast member in its own right. Throughout the show, the ensemble performs in and around the audience, entering from the back of the auditorium and moving toward to stage, or utilizing the half-moon runway that goes from downstage out into the rows. A staircase curves artfully up from stage left to the balcony overhead. Scenic designer Phillip Hughen created something that lends itself to the spectacle called for by the script and also feels incredibly intimate, as if the audience were peering into the secret back room of a speakeasy or brothel.

Another unique aspect is the live music performed by an orchestra half-hidden by velvet curtains nestled upstage. The music is wild, ranging from moving operatic solos to a bouncing bass-heavy rave. At one point, the characters attend an opera-within-the-opera, which can only be described as delightfully bizarre. The note I jotted down reads, “Holy shit. This is hot.”

I’m refraining from going over the broad strokes — such as the plot — if only because I was so enamored with the details. Every actor, from the leads to the individuals of the ensemble, brought such an energy that everywhere you looked there was something interesting going on — which is an accomplishment in a musical this busy. Dave Malloy has written a play scattered with poignant vignettes. One such moment especially stood out, during a song in which an old man repeatedly asks, “Where are my glasses?” only for his daughter to remark that they are on top of his head. She then says quietly, “I disgust myself,” a moment I found incredibly relatable (from both perspectives).

While Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I found it a fully immersive escape from reality and a complete theater success.

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 runs at Playhouse on the Square through May 21st.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Little Italy East

Giovanni and Brooke Caravello and Molly and Riccardo Marciano (Photo: Michael Donahue)

The story of “Little Italy East,” slated to open around the beginning of June at 6300 Poplar Avenue, Suite 113, began in Italy.

Two of the owners of the new location are from Italy. Giovanni Caravello is from Sicily and Riccardo Marciano is from Calabria.

They met their wives — owners Brooke Caravello and former Memphian Molly Marciano — in New York.

Giovanni’s mom did the cooking when he was growing up. He worked at the family restaurant after his family moved to New York.

He met Brooke, who was majoring in psychology at Queens College, when they were both working at a New York pizzeria. “I was a pizza maker there,” he says. “She was a waitress.”

They moved to Memphis in 2013 and got married the next year. “I had some family down here,” Brooke says.

Giovanni began working as a dishwasher at the Little Italy at 1495 Union Avenue. “Before we moved to Memphis we were looking at jobs around here. Little Italy was hiring, so I applied. And they hired me.”

He worked his way up. Little Italy’s owner Bill Giannini, who was commuting from Nashville, decided to sell it. “We bought it from him in 2014,” Giovanni says.

And, he adds, “We changed all the recipes, too.”

“Most of the ingredients they were using was frozen, processed, and pre-packaged,” Brooke says. “The biggest change was everything we used was fresh produce.”

And, she says, “The sauces are all made from fresh ingredients. High quality. Everything is made in-house daily. The pasta dishes are made to order.”

In 2016, they opened the Little Italy at 7717 US-70 in Bartlett. “I ran that one,” Brooke says. “And Giovanni ran Midtown.”

They sold the Bartlett restaurant to Giovanni’s cousin in 2018. “He purchased it outright, but it’s still Little Italy,” Giovanni says. “Same recipes.”

Giovanni and Brooke did the same thing with their old Downtown location at 106 GE Patterson Avenue. They bought it in 2019 and sold it in 2020. But, he says, “It’s still Little Italy.”

The new location in East Memphis will be their “first partnership going into it,” Giovanni says.

As for that partnership, he says, “I met Riccardo. He just came into the restaurant, Little Italy in Midtown, with a few friends. We started talking. And down the road we became friends.”

“Just finding another native Italian in Memphis is pretty unique,” Brooke says. “And they immediately bonded.”

And Molly “being an American wife married to an Italian” was “super unique,” she adds. “They became like family pretty quickly.”

Riccardo told Giovanni he always wanted to open a restaurant. “East Memphis came up and we had the opportunity to open one together.”

“I knew how to cook Italian food,” Riccardo says. He used to help his grandmother make her “Sunday homemade sauce,” he says. “Every Sunday was a feast in my house. A lot of my family and friends.”

Molly met Riccardo “on a blind date in New York,” she says. “We met outside of an Italian restaurant.”

They moved to Memphis in 2018. Riccardo always felt Memphis is “more like Italy. The hospitality. The Southern mentality is like Southern Italy.”

The Little Italy in East Memphis will be similar to the Midtown Little Italy, which the Caravellos still own and operate.“The base menu is the same,” Giovanni says. “Also, the recipes are going to be the same. There will be a couple of different pasta dishes. More Italian inspired.”

They also will serve paninis and New York-style pizzas.

They’ll serve Grandma’s Pizza, which uses “the same mozzarella cheese and fresh garlic and fresh basil.”

It’s one of their most popular pizzas on Union Avenue. “It’s the love that we put in it,” Brooke says. “The Italian love.”

The Little Italy “East” is their last Little Italy for now, Giovanni says. “None in the near future. We want to see how this goes first. And then we can plan some other locations.”

They’re always open to new ideas “as long as we can maintain the quality and level of service and everything that I think the community has grown to appreciate,” Brooke says.

“I’m so thrilled,” Riccardo says. “Real excited. Nervous. And overwhelming. Because my life will change a lot when I open that door.”

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Lawmakers React to Governor Lee’s Special Session on Gun Violence

Credit: state of Tennessee

Lawmakers reacted to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s call on Monday for a special session that is aimed to focus on reining in gun violence in the state. 

The GOP supermajority in the Tennessee General Assembly did not allow a review or a vote on Lee’s gun control proposal that came toward the end of the legislature’s 2023 regular session. Before they quit Nashville, though, Lee promised to bring them back to review the issue.

All of it came after the April shooting at a Nashville school that left three teachers and three students dead. Lee’s wife, Maria, previously taught with Cindy Peak and Katherine Koonce, two teachers killed at the school.

The gun-violence issue dominated the final weeks of the 2023 session. The turbulent days brought massive protests at the capitol, GOP efforts to remove three Tennessee House members, the expulsion of two of them, and the reinstatement of them both. 

GOP members wanted to see the Covenant shooter’s so-called “manifesto” before plunging into any kind of discussion on gun control. They also chided Democratic members for bringing gun control measures to the body after the shooting. 

The GOP was largely silent on the issue directly following the announcement. No official statements from their press offices and no Twitter mentions of the session came immediately from House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) nor Senate Speaker Randy McNally. 

However, Rep. John Gillespie (R-Memphis) had plenty to say on the topic before Lee’s announcement. In a series of tweets last week, the lawmaker said he was ready to get to to work on the issue and admitted “guns may be part of the problem.”

Democratic lawmakers from both state houses issued statements from their respective press offices after Lee’s announcement. 

Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis):

Akbari I State of Tennessee

“The General Assembly should embrace this opportunity to pass sensible gun laws that stop future gun violence. The people demanding action have brought us to this moment and now we need every Tennessean who cares about this issue to tell their elected leaders to show up in August and support legislation that truly addresses gun violence.

“Once we see the official call for the special session, we’ll know exactly what kind of legislation can be introduced. But we already know that broad majorities of voters, from all parts of the state and all political backgrounds, support common sense gun reforms, like extreme risk protection orders, waiting periods, and universal background checks.

“House and Senate Democrats will have a comprehensive package of gun safety bills and we’re ready to get something done.”

Sen. Sara Kyle (D-Memphis):

Kyle I State of Tennessee

“In Memphis, we know all too well the deadly consequences of firearms falling into the hands of people who would do us harm. Gun violence has buried too many of our citizens and ripped apart too many families.

“I appreciate the governor’s commitment to a special session. Now it’s time for this legislature to do its job and address the epidemic of gun violence.”

House Minority Leader Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis):

Camper I State of Tennessee

“The House Democratic Caucus is looking forward to working with Governor Lee and our Republican colleagues to enact meaningful legislation regarding sensible, bipartisan gun reform and public safety.  We know that Tennesseans across the state in both urban and rural communities are watching closely to ensure that we address the issues of unlicensed gun sales, extreme risk and protection orders and access to assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

Our caucus was prepared to meet this challenge during the regular session to keep Tennesseans safe.  It is unfortunate that our Republican colleagues decided to ignore our calls for action.  As we wait for the August special session we will continue to work towards our goal to create a Tennessee where public safety is a priority.”

Clemmons I State of Tennessee

House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville):

“While I am glad to see Gov. Lee finally responding to the ongoing pleas of an overwhelming majority of Tennesseans begging us to take immediate, necessary action, I remain seriously concerned about the inexcusable delay and his willingness to legislatively address the real problem that is causing these continued threats of harm to our children and communities.”

Categories
Music Music Features

Beale Street Music Festival Celebrates New Stars in Tom Lee Park

The Friday night audience dances to Earth, Wind & Fire. (Photo by Laura Jean Hocking)

The question on everyone’s lips this Monday after the 2023 Beale Street Music Festival is “Well, how was it?” The answer, from my perspective, is “It was okay.” 

After the pandemic disruption was extended into a construction delay which moved the festival to the fairgrounds in Midtown, BSMF returned to a Tom Lee Park that is very different than it was in 2019. I’ve attended the Beale Street Music Festival for the better part of 30 years, and this year was unlike any other I’ve experienced. 

Tom Lee Park has been transformed from a flat flood plane to a modestly hilly area spotted with with copses of trees, split by winding concrete paths. The official opening of the park isn’t until Labor Day weekend, and things were still very much under construction. Several areas with freshly planted trees were roped off from public access, and people seemed to respect the restrictions for the most part. The paths were a welcome addition to many people I spoke with, but several pointed out that being on your feet for several hours on concrete is much harder on the joints and bones than walking on turf — or more accurately to the historical Memphis in May experience, mud. 

Threatening clouds over Tom Lee Park never delivered heavy rains. (Photo by Chris McCoy)

The forecast called for rain all weekend, but nothing beyond the lightest of drizzle ever came down from the threatening clouds. The newly installed turf and landscaping seemed to hold up very well under the onslaught of tens of thousands of boots and flip flops. (Seriously, don’t wear flip flops to a music festival.) But the ultimate test, in the form of a rainy weekend, never came. 

But could the new Tom Lee Park handle a real crowd? On Friday before I headed down to Tom Lee for the first time, I said we’d find out the answer to that question about 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, when GloRilla took the stage. I was right on that account. Official attendance figures are not available as of this writing, but Memphis Travel’s Kevin Kane was pre-spinning low numbers to Channel 3 on Friday. But the Saturday night audience for GloRilla stretched the central Bud Light stage to its limits. 

About a third of the crowd gathered for GloRilla on Saturday night of Beale Street Music Festival, as seen from the bluff. (Photo by Laura Jean Hocking).

It was GloRilla’s homecoming show after blowing up in popularity over the last year, and she got a hero’s welcome. Raw charisma is more important to a rapper than any other performing artist. There are a lot of people who can spit fire bars in a recording studio, but who wilt under the glare of the stage lights. GloRilla is a fighter. She will not be ignored in favor of your phone. Backed by a 30-foot inflatable gorilla which seemed to embody her fierceness, she surround herself with six of the best dancers in Memphis — and this is a city with a very, very deep bench of dancers. Dripping in jewels and a shiny gold outfit, GloRilla grabbed the crowd out of the gate and roared through bangers like “Internet Trolls.” When she paused to monologue about the difficulty of being a woman shut out of the hip hop boys club, and ended with “we kicked the door in!”, everyone in Tom Lee Park believed her. 

GloRilla on stage. (Photo by Laura Jean Hocking)

From ground level, and later the bluff, the new park appeared to handle GloRilla’s horde of fans without much trouble. The biggest innovation in crowd movement turned out to be the walkway that now runs the length of the river bank, which served as a kind of freeway for people going from one stage to the next on the long, park. The weekend provided three great sunsets, and on Saturday, people were lined up along the path to take selfies with the river in the background. 

Selfies with the sun on the new river walk in Tom Lee Park. (Photo by Chris McCoy)

The biggest challenge to the Beale Street Music Festival’s attendance may be simple timing. This year, the festival fell on the second weekend of New Orleans Jazz Fest, which, judging from its A-list lineup, is much better capitalized than Memphis In May. To make things worse, this was the weekend Taylor Swift made a three-night stand in Nashville. Since the Swiftie fandom is the closest thing we have to a monoculture in 2023, the vast majority of Memphis’ younger, musically inclined folks made the trip to the Music City this weekend rather than checking out The Lumineers in the new Tom Lee Park. 

Earth, Wind & Fire. (Photo by Laura Jean Hocking)

They missed some good sets on Friday night, beginning with Memphis gospel duo The Sensational Barnes Brothers, then moving directly to The Bar-Kays. (One of my favorite things about being a long-term Memphis music fanatic is watching yet another audience lose their collective minds when The Bar-Kays remind them about “Freakshow On The Dance Floor.”) Earth, Wind & Fire paid tribute to Memphian Maurice White during their high-voltage vintage funk set. Then the crowd at the Zyn Stage swelled for 311, the ’90s cult band that has found the key to long-lasting success is just making sure you throw a great party every night. 

311. (Photo by Chris McCoy)

Aside from GloRilla’s rapturous reception, BSMF ’23 never reached those heights again. The most puzzling addition to the bill was a band called Colony House who replaced White Reaper on the Volkswagen stage on Saturday. MIM had more than a week to find a new act after the lead singer of White Reaper broke his collarbone, but instead of picking up the phone and calling any one of the dozen of hungry Memphis rock acts who could kill on 30 minutes notice, they chose to spend the money on a mushy mess of warmed-over worship band music from the ritzy Middle Tennessee enclave of Franklin. 

Living Colour. (photo by Laura Jean Hocking)

It didn’t help that Colony House followed Living Colour, the legendary ’90s prog-punk pioneers who haven’t lost their edge. Guitar god Vernon Reid and throat-ripping vocalist Corey Glover provide the band’s formidable one-two punch. Early songs like “Open Letter to a Landlord,” which takes on gentrification, and their smash “Cult of Personality,” which pretty much explains the Trump era of American politics in four minutes, are, if anything, even more relevant today than when they were written. The Beale Street Music Festival may have evolved, but some things never seem to change. 

Allison Krauss and Robert Plant. (photo by Chris McCoy)
AJR
Jazmine Sullivan
Gary Clark, Jr.
Lucinda Williams
Beale Street Music Festival attendees rest on a new hillside in renovated Tom Lee Park.
Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Governor Lee Calls Special Session on Gun Reform

State Capitol (Photo: Tennessee State Government)

On Monday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called for a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly “to strengthen public safety and preserve constitutional rights.” Lee’s proposed session would convene on August 21st.

Lee had promised a special session after the legislature closed its 2023 session without taking up his proposal to pass legislation to curb gun violence in the state. The final weeks of the session were dominated by talks of gun violence after a shooter killed three students and three teachers at a Nashville’s Covenant School, but no gun-reform measures were enacted.   

“After speaking with members of the General Assembly, I am calling for a special session on August 21st to continue our important discussion about solutions to keep Tennessee communities safe and preserve the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens,” said Lee. “There is broad agreement that action is needed, and in the weeks ahead, we’ll continue to listen to Tennesseans and pursue thoughtful, practical measures that strengthen the safety of Tennesseans, preserve Second Amendment rights, prioritize due process protections, support law enforcement and address mental health.”

Many state GOP members weren’t convinced a session was needed. Some, like House Republican Caucus Chairman Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby), said they wanted to understand the Covenant School shooter’s motive before moving on gun control. 

Faison I State of Tennessee

”Audrey Hale murdered 6 Christians, and many Tennesseans are demanding that their state legislature ’do something.,’” Faison tweeted in late April. “We cannot possibly address this horrific situation until we know what was in her manifesto. I am calling on the Metropolitan Nashville Police Deparment [sic] & the FBI to immediately release this document so we can examine it, then take the appropriate steps.”

”There were 6 innocent lives taken & we are told that the killer left a manifesto,” tweeted state Rep. Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville). ”I urge  @MNPDNashville and @TBInvestigation to release the document in order to look at effective policy that addresses the root of the issue.” 

Governor Lee urged Tennesseans to ”engage in the conversation” by sharing comments on a designated state website here. 

“Gov. Lee will meet with legislators, stakeholders, and Tennesseans throughout the summer to discuss practical solutions ahead of the special session,” reads a statement for his office. ”The governor’s office will issue a formal call ahead of the special session.” 

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Music Video Monday: “Local News” by Jeff Hulett

Local news is what we do here at the Memphis Flyer. Our local news is mostly about fun stuff, with some very unfun stuff thrown in here and there so we can continue to call ourselves “news.”

That’s a joke, of course. News can be good, bad, indifferent, or ambiguous, because it’s just stuff that happens in life. But some folks have to dress it up and spin it in an attempt to attract more clicks or better ratings. Hey, I get it. It’s hard out there for a content pimp. But constantly harping on the bad stuff, while good for attracting those sweet, sweet anxiety clicks, can make for very unpleasant viewing.

Memphis musician and friend of Music Video Monday Jeff Hulett takes on the needy fearmongering with “Local News” from his 2022 album Note To Self. With an assist from Jake Vest, Hulett takes us on a nightmare tour of local happenings, with giant cave dogs and the walking dead. Looks like a slow news day to me.

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Tyler Keith Throws Down with Hell to Pay

Though Tyler Keith is based in Oxford, Mississippi, he’s a well known voice among Memphians. That’s as a rock and roll singer, of course, though Keith has also cultivated an authorial voice with a noir novel, The Mark of Cain. But don’t expect any of the usual trappings of the author-turned-songsmith in Keith’s rock and roll records. They are not filled with intricate word plays or flights of verbal finesse. But he does have a way with a phrase.

Take the catchphrase of his new album, Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt). It rolls off the tongue in the title song as naturally as fallen fruit. And that’s what a big, pile-driving rock song needs. Right after that comes one of the album’s best, “Ghost Writer,” which steers clear of literary tropes even as he sings about writing.

“I tried to write my book/All by myself/I couldn’t find my hook/I needed somebody’s help/I need a Ghost Writer/I need you!” he sings with the perfect primitivism of the Ramones, and the simplicity of it allows the words’ meanings to breathe. Most importantly, it provides a chant-worthy chorus over an ace guitar riff.

Keith has been known to rock Memphis clubs for over 20 years now, and The Last Drag, his previous album, also reveled in guitar crunch. Yet this time around, the riffs are a little grittier, and one might say a bit more “seventies.” As opposed to the neo-60s rock of the last outing, this is neo-70s rock that borders, at times, on Stooges territory. Yet unlike that seminal group, it’s not drenched in guitar solos. It’s all about the riff.

Most of the album leans to the more thundering side of the guitar, sometimes complemented with ragged-but-right harmonies and swooping falsetto “oooohs.” The Apostles — Max Hipp (guitar, vocals), Van Thompson (bass, vocals), and Beau Bourgeois (drums, vocals) — can all carry a tune, and do so with gusto. Their playing is a perfect match for Keith’s songwriting, loose but on point.

One outlier is “Nothing Left,” which evokes the stomp of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. And like the best Young, Keith can philosophize regret and faith with a deft touch. “All I had were some words that washed away/Nothing left for me to do but pray.” Even then, the narrator isn’t sure what he’s praying to. “I don’t know if I believe in anything that I can’t see/For these times today have brought me to my knees/I’m asking someone to help me please.”

Tyler Keith and the Apostles celebrate the release of Hell to Pay at Bar DKDC, Saturday, May 6th, in an incredible lineup also featuring Jack Oblivian & the Sheiks and power pop adventurers Silver Synthetic.