Month: August 2023

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Now Playing in Memphis: Gran Turismo, Jurassic Park, and Indie Rock

 

Jann Mardenborough loved the auto racing simulation Gran Turismo, and was picked to compete on GT Academy, a British reality show where video game players competed to get a shot at driving in a real Formula One race. He went on to a successful career driving for Nissan. In Gran Turismo, his story has been dramatized by District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, starring Midsommar’s Archie Madekwe as Mardenborough and Stranger Things‘ David Harbour as his trainer. Expect inspirational speeches about cars that go vroom.

Blue Beetle, the latest superhero story from DC, stars Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes, a Hispanic college student who is unexpectedly gifted with superpowers by an alien robot scarab. As he tries to come to terms with his new identity and new responsibilities, he has help from his large extended family, including comedian George Lopez as his uncle. 

While Barbie and Oppenheimer dominated the headlines this summer, Talk To Me, the debut horror film from Aussie YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou has become a sleeper hit. 17-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde) tries to use a mummified severed hand to contact the spirit of her dead brother, and gets a lot more than she bargained for. 

In Golda, Helen Mirren stars as Golda Meir, the prime minister who led Israel to victory during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  

Speaking of biopics, here’s one about baseballer Ricky Hill, who overcame a physical handicap to … play baseball.

What would late summer be without Liam Neeson receiving a mysterious phone call which thrusts him, an everyman, into an unfamiliar world of violence and danger? Just so happens, he possesses certain skills. This time, they got a little Speed in the mix to liven things up a little.

Remember when Jurassic Park movies were good? If so or if not, the still unconquered original Jurassic Park is getting a 30th anniversary run in theaters starting Friday.

Thursday, August 31, the Crosstown Arts Film Series presents The Elephant 6 Recording Co. The music documentary traces the Ruston, Louisiana collective which produced indie wonders like Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, and Of Montreal.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Banana Pudding Coming to Tops Bar-B-Que

Banana pudding is the newest addition to the menu at Tops Bar-B-Que. (Photo: Michael Donahue)

What means “South” as much as barbecue?

Banana pudding.

That’s why Tops Bar-B-Que is debuting its banana pudding Tuesday, August 29th, at all 17 of its locations. That includes the newest store, which will open September 8th at 7960 Cordova Road at Germantown Parkway.

“We’re a place in the South and it’s a requirement to have a banana pudding,” says Hunter Brown with Tops Operations LLC. “We wanted another dessert option outside of our apple turnover. It just makes a lot of sense to add this to our repertoire.”

While he was talking, Brown was driving to Tops locations to watch employees make the pudding. He wants to “make sure everybody is calibrated and doing it the right way.”

They’ve never sold a banana pudding before, even though it’s a natural at barbecue cookouts across the South.

As for creating the banana pudding, Brown says the Tops banana pudding “definitely was designed for the South. It had to have real bananas in the ingredients.”

And, he adds, “We could have gone with a banana puree instead of using real bananas. I’m sure people do. It’s a less expensive way to get a banana pudding out there. We didn’t take any short cuts out there. And we’re real proud.”

In addition to real bananas, the pudding has the traditional vanilla wafers. “It had to have wafers. And then it has to be easy for QSR. It needs to come in containers so you can eat it through a drive-through-window.”

You might think you’re tasting whipped cream in it, but their banana pudding doesn’t have any in it, Brown says. “It’s very fluffy on its own.”

Like any new product, they “do a lot of testing” before it shows up at the Tops locations. “We try all different kinds and types of ways to do it. The main objective is that it’s good for the guests. Right? So, that’s got to be one of the boxes checked.

“But another box that has to be checked is, it’s not going to get in the way of important things we do like pork and burgers. It’s got to be operationally fitting for us as well. Not only do guests get what they deserve with a new product, but they get what they expect from all of our great products.”

For more than two years, Brown and Tops CEO Randy Hough talked about adding banana pudding to the menu.  “And then we prioritized things that we need. A smoked barbecue bologna sandwich was number one on our list.”

This was followed by a chicken option for their customers. Tops Fire Braised Chicken was born.

They then looked at their sides and came up with their macaroni and cheese.

And, like their mac and cheese, the banana pudding can be added to the Tops combo for $1 more.

Tops banana pudding is here to stay. “It’s a Southern thing. Absolutely.”

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

“Shout Your Abortion” Launches I-55 Billboard Campaign

Photo Credit: Shout Your Abortion via Facebook

Shout Your Abortion (SYA), an organization with the goal of “normalizing abortion and elevating safe paths to access,” has launched a “multi-state, pro-abortion” billboard campaign, ahead of the anniversary of Tennessee’s abortion ban.

The campaign features six billboards along I-55. from Memphis to Carbondale, Illinois, which according to SYA, is a popular route for abortion seekers.

Data provided by UCLA’s School of Law’s Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy said that “between 9,277 and 18,554 more people will travel to Illinois each year for abortion care.

“Anti-abortion groups have lined I-55 with negative, guilt-based billboards shaming abortion seekers headed to Illinois, and this new campaign aims to offer support and affirmation to those traveling for care,” said SYA in a statement.

In August 2022, providing abortions became a felony, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. Tennessee’s Human Life Protection Act, which was initially passed in 2019, does not allow abortions in cases of rape, incest, or any fetal abnormality that could prove fatal to the baby. Clinics like Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi were forced to stop abortion services completely.

As abortion providers in the state stopped services, many women began to consider traveling out of state for abortions. Choices-Center for Reproductive Health, opened a clinic in Carbondale, Illinois. According to the clinic, they have provided close to 3,800 abortions since the Dobbs decision.

Amelia Bonow, co-founder and executive director of SYA, said that because abortion is banned in so much of the south, I-55 is a highway that “tens of thousands of people” will take into southern Illinois to a place like Choices.

Messages on the billboards feature pro-abortion messaging like “ABORTION IS OKAY, YOU ARE LOVED,” and “GOD’S PLAN INCLUDES ABORTION,” which are an intentional contrast to “hateful, shaming, and intentional” anti-abortion billboards.

“We were motivated by the desire to tell people that it’s okay,” said Bonow. “You may just be used to hearing this judgment and shame and hatefulness, but that is actually not the majority. The vast majority of Americans support abortion rights.”

Vanderbilt University’s 2023 Statewide Poll said 82 percent of registered voters think “abortion should be legal in Tennessee if it would prevent the death or serious health risk of the mother.”

“Support is highest among Democrats (95 percent), followed by Independents (86 percent), MAGA Republicans (74 percent) and non-MAGA Republicans (72 percent),” the poll said.

Bonow said because the anti-choice movement has been so “loud and scary,” they have terrified people who have abortions into hiding. She said that the billboard campaign is a powerful way to claim space.

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Special Session Day 3: Senate Aims to End Session With Just Three Bills, Judge Strikes GOP Sign Law

State Capitol (Photo: Tennessee State Government)

State lawmakers will likely end up passing only three bills (of the more than nearly 200 filed) as the Tennessee General Assembly’s special session seems set to wrap on Thursday. 

The substance of the special session on public safety continued to collapse Wednesday morning as Senate Republicans tabled 21 bills in about a minute. This came after similarly cutting 52 bills on Tuesday, setting the total number of Senate bills that could be voted on to three.  

Those bills all came from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. One provides free gun locks to Tennessee residents, mandates a safety course on safe gun storage, and exempts gun safes and safety devices from sales taxes. Another sets into law Lee’s executive order from April that tightens up background checks for the sale of firearms in the state. The last requires the Tennessee Bureau of Intelligence to file an annual report on human trafficking. 

One final bill just sets aside the money from state coffers to pay for the legislative costs of the special session. That cost? It’s $58,000 per day, or $232,000 for the four-day run. State leaders said Wednesday they could not detail ancillary costs of the session, such as paying for the increased security around the Capitol by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

House leaders were 30 minutes into a meeting of the State Government Committee Wednesday morning when a Senate leader effectively made moot discussions on bills that would continue the rest of the day on the House side. 

Moments after the Senate Education Committee was gaveled in at 8:30 a.m., Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) moved to table the 21 bills — from Republicans and Democrats — on the committee’s agenda. With no other information about the move at all, the committee adjourned. The Senate GOP supermajority, it seemed, had finished its work and was ready to head home.

House Republicans weren’t happy. 

“Congratulations @tnsenategop on receiving the 2023 Ostrich Egg!” read a post on X (formerly Twitter) from the Tennessee House Republicans Tuesday afternoon. “It must be egghausting sending so many bills to [the general subcommittee, meaning no action taken during committee] instead of doing the work people sent us here to do.”

Credit: Tennessee House Republicans via X [This post has since been deleted.]

And a great many weren’t happy with that posting. Rep. Jeremy Faison, the apparent author of the post, apologized to members Wednesday morning. The post was deleted.

“Members, I have offended you with my actions yesterday and I want to offer you my sincerest apologies,” he wrote to fellow GOP members. “My only intention was to provide some levity while we are dealing with some very serious matters. It was not funny at all.”

Even Sen. Paul Bailey [the lawmaker who wanted to hang those set for executions here “from a tree”] wrote “You should be apologizing to the moms that were unjustly removed!”

To some, the Senate’s move to table so many bills seemed orchestrated, a continuation of Tuesday’s playbook.   

“Now the House GOP is trying to blame Senate GOP for how this special session is playing out?” posted Rep. John Ray Clemmons [D-Nashville]. “Do they honestly think Tennesseans fail to realize that this whole taxpayer funded charade of nothingness and harm was jointly (albeit clumsily) scripted from start to finish?”

Tuesday’s Senate floor session had Lt. Gov. Randy McNally curiously chiding one Senator that “if you don’t follow the script, then we have to follow the rules.”

But the House plowed on with committees Wednesday, even though many of their bills would never make to the floor nor immediately into law.

Public sentiment got an early-morning win after a Davidson County judge ruled against GOP rules that banned the public from holding signs during meetings. Protest signs and applause from audiences members had the House Civil Justice Committee chairman Rep. Lowell Russel [R-Vonore] to use state troopers to clear the entire room, including mothers of Covenant School children. 

That committee met again Wednesday morning, this time with another Representative — Rep. Andrew Farmer [R-Sevierville] chairing the meeting while Russell sat quietly to the side. Applause, boos, and jeers from the sign-holding crowd came easily. Farmer adroitly managed to get the legislative work done while tempering the crowd without raising their ire. 

However, Farmer did ask for troopers help after lawmakers approved a measure that would allow certain people (with enhanced gun permits) to carry guns on schools as a way to help secure them against possible mass shooters. The crowd erupted, shouting “their blood is on your hands!, “cowards,” “you can’t un-kill our kids!” and “shame on you.” Farmer recessed the meeting until order was restored, though he never asked troopers to clear the room. 

Senate leaders have tentatively set floor sessions for  9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday. It is expected the session will wrap during one those.         

Categories
Music Music Blog

Cheyenne Marrs’ Debut, Born in Tragedy, Finds a Home

Cheyenne Marrs (Credit: Anna Rose Williams)

A lot of budding songwriters languish away, hoping to be noticed by a record label that will recognize their gift. But Cheyenne Marrs found that such a deal fell into his lap. Of course, fortune favors the bold, and it didn’t hurt that Marrs, best known for his work with local band Spacer, already had an album ready to go. Still, he thought he was just previewing tracks for a friend — when lightning struck.

“You can’t make this stuff up!” Marrs says. “I went to Otherlands and saw a friend sitting outside with his laptop on the patio. He played me a couple tracks he’d recorded, so I pulled up the stuff I’ve been working on with Graham Winchester. And while I was playing it, the guy next to us at the other table was like, ‘Hey man, I really liked that song you were playing, it gave me Pink Floyd Meddle vibes!’ And I was like, ‘Dude, that’s my favorite Pink Floyd record!'”

Better yet, the bystander had a plan. “It turned out it was Patrick Carey of Out on the Eaves, and he was like, ‘I really liked that stuff. I’d like to hear more. And if you don’t have a home for it, me and Scott McEwen of Memphis Magnetic are starting a label, Red Curtain Records, and we’d love to release it.'”

Some months later, Marrs’ baby, the nine track album Everybody Wants to Go Home, will soon see the light of day, as he plays a 9 p.m. record release party this Saturday, August 26 at B-Side Memphis.

Preview tracks released to the press foreshadow a fine work of sonic craftsmanship, somehow evoking both Radiohead’s eerie melodies and chords and Tom Waits’ sonic palette, while remaining utterly unique. The imaginative use of the studio is all the more impressive for being cut at Graham Winchester’s up-and-coming home recording space.

“Working with Graham was just so easy,” says Marrs. “I went over to his house and I just didn’t know what to expect. Spacer, my other band, and Turnstyles played a show together, and Graham was talking about recording his solo record all with one mic. And I was like, ‘Man, I want to do that!’ He said to come on over, and I just expected to record one song. But it worked so well, and just came out so easily and organically, that I said, ‘Fuck it. I’ve been wanting to do a whole record. So let’s just do it here and now.'”

While Marrs didn’t record everything with one microphone, he did feel comfortable enough to play most of the instruments himself, with the occasional assist from Winchester on keyboards or drums. And the dynamics apparent in the tracks are sweeping and bold, ranging from quiet acoustic passages to full-blown guitar rave-ups and sonic collages built from bits of found sound.

Most of all, Marrs gelled with Winchester on a personal level, the bond between them becoming all the more important when Marrs suffered a horrific loss in his life. “I have a son who’s 12,” he explains. “He’s actually the kid on the record cover, falling in the snow. But his mother [Semelea Jensen] passed away in the middle of doing this recording. So it was pretty hard. It was a lot harder on me than on my son. He was my rock through it all.” As it turned out, so was Winchester.

“I told Graham, ‘Dude, your studio has become my therapist’s office and you’re my therapist. And the guitar and mic and drums are my couch,'” Marrs recalls. The emotional rawness of the record is a testament to that. Now, months later, Marrs is more philosophical about the experience. “I was pretty torn up over it,” he says. “But that’s the best time for me to write songs. It’s like through heartbreak, and shitty things happening, the songs just come out effortlessly.”

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Special Session Day 2: GOP Clips 52 Bills, Considers Three

Mothers of Covenant School children sob after being kicked out of a House Committee hearing for holding 8.5-x 11-inch pieces of paper with messages. (Photo: John Partipilo)

The Senate Judiciary Committee turned into the Grim Reaper Tuesday, killing a long list of bills designed to respond to the Covenant School mass shooting while allowing only three to pass — setting the tone for the rest of the special session.

The panel’s decision to table 52 other bills, many dealing with juvenile justice, red-flag proposals, and mental-health reporting requirements are effectively dead for the session, according to Judiciary Committee Chairman Todd Gardenhire.

Measures that passed — and could be the only ones that become law this session — came from Gov. Bill Lee’s office: Senate Bill 7085 dealing with safe storage of weapons and allowing sales tax breaks on safes and gunlocks; SB 7086 codifying the governor’s executive order on gun background checks, which requires court clerks to notify the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation about felony convictions within three business days instead of 30; and SB7088, requiring the TBI to make an annual report on human trafficking.

This seems clearly orchestrated to do the absolute bare minimum, and it’s clear that the Legislature isn’t in a position to take gun safety seriously right now, and it’s damn depressing.

– Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville

The full Senate could take a vote on them Wednesday or Thursday. 

House bills that weren’t considered Thursday won’t be taken up by the Senate Judiciary and won’t be sent to the Senate floor, according to Gardenhire.

“The House is the House and the Senate is the Senate,” he said.

Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat, said afterward the meeting had been carefully plotted.

“This seems clearly orchestrated to do the absolute bare minimum, and it’s clear that the Legislature isn’t in a position to take gun safety seriously right now, and it’s damn depressing,” Yarbro said.

Asked about that comment, Gardenhire said, “Sen. Yarbro is always welcome to his conspiracy theories, and I’ll let him speak for himself.”

The Chattanooga Republican said the other bills on Tuesday’s calendar deserved a “proper hearing,” which would have required more time than is being allowed in this week’s special session.

Earlier in the day, Bishop Aaron Marble, who led a group of ministers at the legislative office building Tuesday, expressed disappointment in the legislature’s actions but maintained some semblance of hope.

“We’re committed to understanding that the road to justice and freedom is a long one,” Marble said.

He pointed out “common sense” is being ignored and defeated, but he said the small number of bills likely to pass could help lead to a coalition that could put pressure on lawmakers.

A Senate Commerce and Insurance Committee meeting Tuesday morning wound up being a harbinger of things to come when it tabled a bill designed to require TennCare to cover mental health treatment the same way it would handle drug and alcohol abuse.

Committee Chairman Paul Bailey wrapped up the meeting in less than a minute as the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Shane Reeves, R-Murfreesboro, requested the matter be postponed until January 2024.

Reeves said afterward the “complex” bill needs more work.

“We’re trying to do what we normally do in four months in four days, and this bill deserves a little more than a quick discussion today,” Reeves said.

Senate Minority Chairman Raumesh Akbari said she had hoped the legislature would do more than postpone bills until next year, considering the sacrifices lawmakers made to prepare for the special session.

“I don’t know if this is the beginning of things to come, but again I want us to do what the people sent us here to do,” said Akbari, a Memphis Democrat.

Democrats have been calling for restrictions on military-style weapons since the school shooter used an AR-15 to kill six people; tighter background checks on gun purchases; a red-flag law to enable confiscation of guns from mentally unstable people; and a gun storage requirement.

Bailey, chairman of the Commerce and Insurance Committee, pointed out his panel takes up “complex” bills that require “full consideration and due diligence.” He could not speak to whether his committee’s action would be indicative of other committees, and he pointed out Reeves’ bill is not dead, even though the sponsor said he plans to bring it back in 2024.

In a mid-day press conference, Rep. Harold Love, D-Nashville, pointed out the Legislature wouldn’t have been called to a special session if not for the shooting that claimed six lives at the Covenant School in Green Hills. He was disappointed that lawmakers are “milling around” in the halls for three or four days and passing only a handful of bills that could have been taken up in January.

Covenant Families Action Fund, a group made up of parents and family members from the school, issued a statement Tuesday saying it supports secure storage of guns, including a provision to give away gun locks, as well as tax exemptions.

“We still have a ways to go today,” said David Teague, father of a Covenant student. “We want to encourage sane and reasonable people to engage in the political process by voting in primaries, seeking office, and supporting those who want to focus on solutions, and not foster anger and division.”

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.

Categories
News News Feature

Five Common Investing Mistakes

Avoid these five common mistakes. (Photo: Kier in Sight Archives | Unsplash)

Investing is one of the best ways to build your wealth and help achieve your long-term financial goals. However, several common and expensive missteps have the potential to derail your investment progress. Recognizing the following mistakes and taking proactive steps to avoid them will likely improve your investment outcomes and, ultimately, give you a better chance of achieving your long-term financial goals.

1. Chasing the trends

A common mistake many investors make is choosing investments based on short-term market forecasts and chasing current trends without first researching and doing their due diligence. Without a full understanding of each investment in your portfolio and its risk and return characteristics, underlying holdings, costs, etc., how can you know your investments align with your objectives?

It’s critical to educate yourself on various investments’ risk characteristics, return potential, underlying holdings, tax treatment, asset class characteristics, expenses, and more. Your wealth manager is a great source for insight into how specific investments may impact your overall portfolio and financial goals.

2. Failing to properly diversify

Regardless of where you live, it’s always wise to maintain a diversified investment portfolio. Investing in different types of asset classes will spread out your risk. When one sector or investment type is performing poorly, another investment type that’s performing better can help smooth out overall portfolio volatility. While diversification won’t prevent losses, it can reduce the risk of being too heavily invested in the worst performing part of the market.

To achieve adequate diversification, consider combining stocks with bonds, large company stocks with small company stocks, U.S. stocks with international stocks, and investments from different sectors, such as technology, financial, energy, real estate, healthcare, etc. It’s also important to be aware of the underlying holdings in your investment funds to ensure you’re not overly weighted in a certain area.

3. Trying to time the market

Knowing that the market is unpredictable, time in the market is more important than trying to time the market by buying low and selling high. This strategy can backfire on even the most seasoned investors. Attempting to predict short-term market movements is risky and can lead to missed opportunities or significant losses.

Instead of timing the market, smart investing involves patience and a long-term investment approach that aligns with your goals and time horizon. Invest regularly and consistently, take advantage of dollar-cost averaging, and maintain a diversified portfolio. Over time, this strategy will help smooth out some market volatility.

4. Not rebalancing

It’s important to regularly review and rebalance your investment portfolio to help ensure it remains aligned with your objectives. Failing to rebalance on a regular basis can result in certain investment types or sectors becoming overweighted. Over time, this can cause your portfolio to drift away from your target risk profile.

By regularly rebalancing to your asset allocation, you can lock in gains from top-performing sectors and ensure your portfolio remains in line with your investment objectives and risk tolerance.

5. Neglecting the power of compounding

Compounding is a powerful force that can significantly increase your investment returns over time. The earlier you begin saving and investing, the more compounding interest works to your advantage. Focus on re-investing your dividends and maintain a long-term approach to your investment portfolio to maximize your compounding potential.

Gene Gard, CFA, CFP, CFT-I, is a Partner and Private Wealth Manager with Creative Planning. 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. For more information or to request a free, no-obligation consultation, visit CreativePlanning.com.

Categories
At Large Opinion

A Digression

This layabout lacks ambition. (Photo: Bruce VanWyngarden)

I have been living by myself for the past week or so. My wife went to a legal convention in Minneapolis, and then went to visit our grandchildren in New York. In the old days, I would have said I’ve been “batching it,” meaning I’m living like a bachelor. But now, as I type it, I don’t understand why there’s a “t” in “batching.” Or is there? If I weren’t temporarily living alone, I’d ask my wife. She probably wouldn’t know, but she’d have an opinion, and that’s all you can really ask for in a relationship.

And now I’m reminded of the phrase, “confirmed bachelor,” which those of you of a certain age will remember. My favorite uncle was a confirmed bachelor. He lived for 30 years or so with his friend Richard, who was also a confirmed bachelor. That was some seriously confirmed batching it. My father always said he wished his brother would find a “nice gal” and settle down. I never knew if he was really that clueless or just trying to hide the truth from his children.

Anyway, I digress. But, to be honest, this column is beginning to look like a string of digressions in search of a point. I hope you’ll bear with me. I’m on my own here. Except for my dogs, who are both lying on the floor in my office. Their lack of ambition is appalling.

Sorry, another digression. My bad. I will find a point. I promise.

So, I read this week about the Sentinelese Tribe, who for 50,000 years have lived on one of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. They are the most isolated group of people in the world. They violently reject all visitors, firing arrows and slinging spears at any who dare approach their beaches. They killed the last person who tried to land, in 2018. It is thought that they are so violent against visitors because whenever an outsider has made contact in the past, the tribe was exposed to diseases that wiped out large segments of the population. After decades of various attempts at contacting them, the government of India has determined that no further attempts shall be made to communicate with the Sentinelese and that they should be left alone. Like me. So I can finish this column.

A friend recently sent me a video of a compelling commencement speech at Northwestern University by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. It addressed the subject of kindness: “When we encounter someone who doesn’t look, live, love, or act like us,” he said, “our first thought is rooted in fear or judgment. It’s an evolutionary response. We survived as a species by being suspicious of things that we aren’t familiar with.”

The governor went on: “In order to be kind, we have to shut down that animal instinct, that fear, and force our brain to travel a different pathway. Empathy and compassion are evolved states of being that require the mental capacity to step past our basic instincts. … When someone’s path through this world is marked by acts of cruelty, they have failed the first test of an advanced society. They never forced their animal brain to evolve past its first instinct.”

I disagree somewhat with the governor on this latter point. Yes, there’s an instinctual cruelty that comes from fear — like that of the Sentinelese — but there is also rampant in our society — and our politics — an intentional cruelty that uses weak and disadvantaged people for personal gain, that weaponizes the fear in others, that mocks their disabilities, body shape, and speech, that demonizes skin color, religion, gender, and sexuality, not because of some primordial fear, but for selfish ambition.

Governor Pritzker ended his speech by saying that in his experience, “the smartest person in the room was often also the kindest.” In my experience, the reverse is also true. Dumbasses are often mean. Avoid them. Don’t vote for them.

So, all of this digression needs a finish. Maybe this quote from Kurt Vonnegut will work: “And how should we behave during this Apocalypse? We should be unusually kind to one another, certainly. … Jokes help. And get a dog, if you don’t already have one.” Or two. At least. You’ll never be alone. Or cruel.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Indie Memphis Youth Film Fest

CrewUp Youth Mentorship film Fight 4 Your Love

Indie Memphis began in 1998 when University of Memphis film student Kelly Chandler wanted to create a space where her fellow students could showcase their work. As the festival grew into a major Memphis cultural event, artist development remained a major part of the mission. In 2016, the Indie Memphis Youth Film Fest was launched to help give middle- and high-schoolers a taste of the highs and lows of filmmaking.

“We’re giving these students an opportunity to really explore it before they say, ‘This is definitely what I wanna do,’” says Joseph Carr, Indie Memphis’ managing director.

Students in the CrewUp program are partnered with adult mentors, experienced filmmakers who will guide them through the process of writing, planning, and producing a short film. Carr says that even those who discover filmmaking is not for them get valuable experience in creative collaboration. “It can apply to every part of your life. If you can’t collaborate, you’re not gonna be successful in any field you work in.”

Memphis Youth Showcase feature Blood and Roots

One Youth Film Fest participant who did decide it was for her is Vivian Gray, who won awards at the 2017 and 2018 festival. Gray says she entered her work “on a whim,” but found “it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It shaped so much of my future, just by being able to participate, period. I met other peers who made films, I met the folks at Indie Memphis who are so supportive, and just to show my work for the first time publicly was really special, and I’m very grateful for it.”

Carr acted as her mentor when she won a production grant as a prize in 2017. (The grant program is now awarded by application, separate from the main student competition.) “When you’re young, you don’t have any concept of how much work it’s going to be,” says Carr. “You just have great ideas and you want your ideas to come to life. Vivian was just so game to jump in and just run with her idea. You could tell very early just how comfortable she was on set, and just how comfortable she was in her voice. When you’re in the presence of a true artist, you can tell very quickly that they have a lot to say.”

Gray went on to earn a degree from the acclaimed University of Southern California film program. Her short film, “Tape 23,” debuted at Indie Memphis ’22 and has spent the last year on the festival circuit with “Providence,” a television pilot she directed. She will return to Youth Fest as a juror this year. “I feel like it’s grown even more, and continues to do what it did for me and so many other young filmmakers and artists. It is near and dear to my heart.”

Another artist coming full circle this year is Vivie Myrick. The actor made her screen debut at the Youth Festival and recently appeared on the Showtime TV series, George & Tammy. “She directed a film last year as her last output for her age group in the Youth Film Fest,” says Carr. “Now she’s now back to host an acting workshop.”

The festival will kick off on Saturday, August 26th, with a keynote address by screenwriter Hennah Sekander. The recent Memphis transplant has written for the Apple TV+ series Hello Tomorrow! and the Amazon Prime Video Chris Pratt vehicle The Terminal List. “I’m gonna talk about ‘The Slingshot Effect,’ which is something that I coined under pressure on a phone call with Joseph Carr because he said we needed a title, and it just felt like the most potent symbol for how you marry character and plot to tell a good story.”

When Craig Brewer introduced Sekander to Carr, she immediately asked how to get involved with Indie Memphis’ youth program. “I think a big reason why this writer strike is happening right now is there’s this feeling of resistance from the studio side to invest in new talent and kind of support younger voices as they try to make their way up the ladder,” Sekander says. “So I think that means it’s all the more important for writers to do that work that probably wasn’t done for them.”

The festival is free for students who sign up for passes and pay-what-you-can for adults. The short films which premiere this Saturday at the Halloran Centre will represent the culmination of a year of work by the young filmmakers. “I’m always just beside-myself thrilled when these students finish their movies,” says Carr. “Some teams will drop out, or something will come up, and they can’t finish. But seeing these completed films on the big screen, all the problems we have leading up to it are just melted away.”

The 2023 Indie Memphis Youth Film Fest is Saturday, August 26th, at the Halloran Centre. For the schedule, visit indiememphis.org.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

“Got You Last!”

Van Turner speaks at his weekend HQ opening. (Photo: Jackson Baker)

We have reached a point in the mayoral contest that, if not yet the stretch drive itself, is about to get there.

The candidates with money are beginning to spend it on TV ads (Floyd Bonner, Paul Young, Van Turner, and J.W. Gibson all had fresh spots running last week) and yard signs (certain well-traveled thruways — think South Parkway and Walnut Grove, as two examples — are sprouting them like mushrooms). And, be advised, slickly printed mail-outs, in which the aspirants view themselves with pride and unlucky opponents with alarm, will soon be filling up your mailbox.

They’ve already gotten busy doing what, in athletic contexts, is called trash-talking. They’ve all done their calculations and have determined who among their adversaries can safely be ignored and who needs to be cut down to size.

Examples: Two weeks ago, when businessman Gibson opened his campaign headquarters, he not only boasted his own native-son credentials but was the beneficiary of a question voiced out loud by a key supporter, Reverend LaSimba Gray: “Mr. Gibson, you didn’t have to move to Memphis to run for mayor, did you?”

Gibson himself may or may not have been in on that one, but he certainly beamed to hear it said. The jibe was clearly aimed at two Gibson opponents, Bonner and Turner, both recently residents of the outer county, who had to weather a short-lived mandate from the Election Commission which, before being struck down in court, required of mayoral candidates a long-term presence within the city limits.

And on more than one occasion of late, candidate Michelle McKissack has called attention to the matter of what she — and various others — consider an undue number of inmate deaths in the county jail on Sheriff Bonner’s watch. The issue seems likely to keep on bedeviling Bonner, who, coincidentally or not, is widely considered a frontrunner in the race.

Candidate Turner, who until recently headed the local NAACP and is a former Democratic Party chair, has been making the most of his ideological convictions, and, at his weekend headquarters opening, publicly lamented what he saw as the apostasy of fellow Democrats Paul Young, the Downtown Memphis Commission CEO, and Bonner, both high-odds contenders with plenty of late-campaign cash.

“How you vote and what you’ve done in the past makes a difference,” said Turner. “We have one candidate who voted Republican at a time when we needed everybody in this country to support Hillary [Clinton]. Because we did not support Hillary we have a renegade Supreme Court. … I appreciate what Mr. Young has done in the city, but he was wrong on that. You have to be committed to this call and not work the other side and compromise.”

Turner’s reference was to Young’s past decision to vote in three Republican primaries, including the 2016 GOP presidential primary.

And Turner continued: “Another candidate, Mr. Floyd Bonner, has been supported by the Republican Party.” He likely was referencing the 2022 county election when Bonner, the Democratic nominee, was unopposed by the GOP and endorsed by key local Republicans.

The upshot, according to Turner: “We cannot allow this opportunity to take Memphis forward to take us back. We need progressives working for this city and working to make the city better.” “… And working to help me win,” was the unspoken quiet part.