Month: May 2024

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IPA All the Way

Soul & Spirits’ Hoochie Coochie wins this year’s Beer Bracket. (Photos: Justin Fox Burks)

Soul & Spirits Brewery’s Hoochie Coochie IPA is the best craft beer in Memphis, according to the more than 800 voters of the Memphis Flyer’s 2024 Beer Bracket Challenge, sponsored by City Brew Tours, Eagle Distributing Company, and Cash Saver.

This marks the first time Soul & Spirits has won our challenge. The brewery had not yet opened its doors in 2021 when we last held it. Their win unseats Crosstown Brewing Company, who has held onto the VanWyngarden Cup since 2021. Back then, Crosstown’s Traffic IPA upended Meddlesome Brewing’s three-year reign atop the Flyer’s annual beer bracket contest with its 201 Hoplar.

Soul & Spirits takes home the prestigious VanWyngarden Cup.

Ghost River Golden took top honors in 2017, the first year of the competition. But it’s been IPA all the way since then. That’s five wins for an IPA — apparently the top style in Memphis — almost every year we’ve done this.

Since Soul & Spirits opened in 2021, it’s won top honors — Brewery of the Year — in 2022 and 2023 in the Tennessee Championship of Beers.

“Winning a competition against your peers is really cool but to have people locally vote for us — that this is their favorite beer in Memphis — that means a lot,” says Blair Perry, who co-founded and owns Soul & Spirits with her husband, Ryan Allen. “We’re still really new, so it is nice that people acknowledge that we’re around and like what we’re doing.”

Allen and Perry say Hoochie Coochie IPA started as an American IPA, “but it just turned into chasing a flavor.” When asked what flavor, Allen says “goodness.” Hoochie Coochie’s hops change from batch to batch, he says, based on what’s available.

“But just trust me, we’re going on a road,“ Allen says. “We’re going on a journey.”

Perry says they’re always chasing a “juicy, citrusy flavor with a nice bitterness that makes you want to keep drinking.”

As for the name? It’s fun to say, they note, and one of the first beers they named. But it also fit with the Soul & Spirits naming convention. Memphis-area music plays onto the labels and into the names of Soul & Spirits beers. So conjure up “I’m a Hoochie Coochie Man” by Muddy Waters next time you sip a pint and search the can label for song references.

Blair Perry, Ryan Allen, and the ever-famous writer Toby Sells

This year was completely different for the Beer Bracket. First up, we opened up the challenge to any brewery in Memphis, any size, whether or not they had beers in stores or not. That brought in Boscos, who, one could argue, blazed the path for craft beer in Memphis. The change also made room for some newcomers like Urban Consequence Brewing, Memphis Filling Station, Cooper House Project, and Memphis-area beer bar and brewpub, Mississippi Ale House.

Gone were any divisions that have, in the past, separated our bracket into very basic beer categories — light, dark, IPA, and seasonal. The beers commingled — stouts vs. IPAs, for example. Though, we made sure no two beers from the same brewery were seeded against one another.

In the end, we had 32 beers from 16 breweries. Each brewery selected two beers for random seeding. (I literally pulled the match-ups out of a hat.) These went right on our bracket. That bad boy was digitized, and over two weeks these beers faced off, fell out, or advanced to the next round.

The final round had Hoochie Coochie up against Cooper House Project’s Midtowner lager, which won a narrow victory over Hampline’s Tandem Pilot double IPA to make the finals. In the end, Hoochie Coochie emerged as the winner, edging out Midtowner by only 130 votes.

The Memphis Flyer Beer Bracket had more than 10,500 votes this year from states across the nation, though most votes came from Midtown Memphis.

You know we love beer at the Flyer. And we know you do, too. (Well, at least hundreds of local voters do, anyhow.) So, we felt a duty to let you know that state lawmakers had you on their minds this year. Here’s rundown of some legislation that could find its way to a pint glass near you.

The Law and Your Beer

It wouldn’t be a regular session of the Tennessee General Assembly if lawmakers didn’t change the way you drink, or try to, anyway.

Lawmakers thought about cold beer, drunk cops, and Sunday sales. They also thought about more serious matters like date rape and treatment programs for DUI offenses. Some ideas worked. Some didn’t.

No Cold Beer for You

Rep. Ron Gant (R-Piperton) knew his legislation “got quite the buzz,” a phrase pounced upon by another GOP lawmaker with “no pun intended!” Har har.

That legislation would have banned the sale of cold beer at stores. So you don’t have to go back and make sure you read that right, here it is again: That legislation would have banned the sale of cold beer at stores.

Eyebrows raised everywhere. Headlines stacked up. Message boards dripped with disbelief.

But when Gant first spoke about the bill, he said “the buzz” about banning cold beer sales was moot. It was part of the original legislation, but after meeting with stakeholders across the state (probably meaning lobbyists for retailers), it was no longer part of his proposal.

He clarified this during an early committee review of the bill. The intent was never to target 12-packs or 24-packs, it was on “high-alcohol, single-serve containers.”

“Some people have educated me on this,” Gant said. “They call them 2x4s or tallboys. You see them laying on the side of the road where they’ve been obviously thrown out. So, we know that they’re being abused, and people are drinking these, and not making it home to enjoy at their house.

“So, there was never going to be any intent — by me as the sponsor — to take away the right and the privilege for the good actors of being able to buy a 12-pack or 24-pack and take that home as responsible adults. I just want to make that clear, you know, for the record. So that everybody feels at ease. But none of that is included in this legislation.”

And feel at ease they did, it seems. Those hard headlines that read like “Proposed Tennessee Bill Bans Selling Cold Beer” (from VinePair) had softened to jokier ones like “Tennessee’s Cold Beer Ban Bill Is Officially On Ice” from Nashville’s News Channel 5.

For many, though, the idea seemed in range and on-brand for the GOP. Memphis Reddit users called it “stupid shit” and “bullshit” and that (sarcastically) these lawmakers were “tackling the real issues.” It also reminded them of another GOP fave: gun control.

“But … but … beer is an inanimate object,” wrote u/Boatshooz. “It doesn’t drink itself. And we don’t need to pass further laws that just hurt responsible drinkers, we just need to enforce existing laws.

“I swear I’ve heard that same argument from those same legislators about something else … can’t remember what it was. Why are they taking the opposite stance with beer?”

The law would, however, create a new group to study alcohol consumption and abuse in the state, with a report due annually. Gant said (but didn’t cite sources for his information) that drunk driving and alcohol consumption has surged in recent years. The bill was passed by the legislature but had not been signed by Gov. Bill Lee as of press time. 

Sunday Sales

You’ve been there, probably. You’re headed to your Sunday Funday, walk into the grocery store only to find the beer section dark, maybe with shades drawn over them or a lock on the cooler door.

Then it hits you. That backward-ass state law says I can’t buy beer here until noon. You may even have a thought about some pious state lawmaker sitting in a church somewhere, praying that the law will somehow nudge you out of the beer aisle and into a pew somewhere. Well, those beer lights will remain off on Sunday mornings, at least for another year.

Nashville Democrats Rep. Bob Freeman and Sen. Jeff Yarbro tried to change that. They described the bill simply as “the alignment of the sale of alcohol on Sunday to every other day of the week.” They said many sporting events are overseas and on different time zones. Some venues, they said, would like to sell alcohol to those who want to watch them. 

The only real vocal opponent of the bill was Rep. Tom Leatherwood (R-Arlington), the former Shelby County Register of Deeds. He tried hard to marry the Sunday-sales legislation with another Freeman bill focused on preventing sexual assault.

He called them “twin bills” even though they could not have been more different. But still he told his GOP colleagues that limiting Sunday sales could save a life, and someday, maybe, end up on your end-of-life sizzle reel.

“Now, any of us that have drunk the alcohol [yes, he said the alcohol] before … it will just naturally reduce the natural defenses of some. It’ll increase the natural aggressiveness of others,” Leatherwood explained. “Hence, it’s good to be aware of what can happen, as we will hear more about later. If you vote no on this bill, you may never know what young lady you save from sexual assault and harassment, to use the language coming up. You may never know. But then again, on the other hand, in that final judgment we will all face, you may find out who you save by voting no on this bill.”

For his part, Freeman tried to separate the two, saying, “You should be able to drink responsibly without being raped.”

Loaded Cops, Loaded Guns

Sen. Joey Hensley swore he had no idea where the idea came from or how it ended up in his legislation. But there it was, raising almost as many eyebrows as the cold beer ban: We were going to allow drunk cops to carry and use concealed firearms.

“As introduced, allows law enforcement officers to carry a firearm when under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances and certain other circumstances,” reads the bill description on the state website.

Hensley said all he wanted to do was allow everyone to carry weapons on college campuses, for crying out loud. (That idea didn’t even get the support of his GOP colleagues. The bill failed.) The drunk cops thing was added without his knowledge, he told Fox 13. But there it was in black and white pixels and the damage was done.

“TN GOP probably: Wait guys, I’ve got an idea,” tweeted Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville). “I know Missouri one-upped us with their bill arming 3 [year olds], but I think we can counter with arming police officers who are drunk or high. Hear me out on this one …[three clown emojis].”

One supporter, though, over on a forum at tngunowners.com had another take.

“I know many seem to find fault with the concept of being armed and drinking, but really, as long as you’re not impaired,” wrote a user named Defender. “If you feel that strongly against it, maybe we should allow cars at bars or restaurants that serve alcohol.”

Date Rape

Rep. Freeman’s legislation (discussed earlier here) on alcohol and sexual assault passed this year, was signed by Lee, and will go into effect in January. That law will require anyone who serves alcohol to the public to take a course on the role of alcohol in sexual assault and harassment and on recognizing and reporting signs of human trafficking.

“If any of you remember, several years ago, the horrible rape case on a university campus here locally where a bunch of men carried a passed-out woman past 20 or more individuals that allowed it to happen,” Freeman said. “Not one of them stopped, said anything, felt empowered to do it, [or] understood what they could say.”

After this, the Safe Bar Tennessee program was developed by the Sexual Assault Center of Middle Tennessee. The program’s slogan is “See Something. Do Something.” Such training is already underway in Nashville, including some 50 bars Downtown, Freeman said.

Odds and Ends

Right now, certain folks under 21 can taste alcohol legally in the state. But they can’t drink it. Make sense?

Motlow State Community College, Jack Daniel’s, and Uncle Nearest have developed an associate’s degree in distilling that could produce more professionals in that industry’s workforce. Tasting the product gives students “real-world, practical experience” to “meet the critical need for their industry.” But they have to spit it out.

If you get a third DUI or BUI, you’ll have to wear a transdermal patch that will send a report to law enforcement if you have a drink. The main part of this legislation reduces jail time for the third DUI. Yet that only serves to give more time to commit to a 28-treatment program.

But the stranger, kind of Big Brother-y part of the law would make you wear that tattletale patch under your skin (so many questions) for three months or until your case is resolved, whichever came first. It goes into effect in July.

A bill would have yanked the alcohol license of a venue that served someone who later got into a car wreck that killed someone. It failed. Another bill sounds like it’s from the Prohibition era. It would have reduced “from two to one the number of credible witnesses who must be present when a law enforcement officer destroys an illegal distillery, a still, fermenting equipment, or related property.” It failed, too.

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

(Don’t) Break a Leg

I can’t even think about my bones. I’m not sure why, but envisioning the inside of my body — nerves, muscles, veins, and organs — gives me the ick. I’m the type to faint while a nurse gathers blood for a routine lab test. And I’ve learned my veins are small and hard to find, so even the pushing and prodding of my flesh as they attempt to plump up a good one to poke makes me woozy. Once I was watching a TV show where a character had undergone breast augmentation surgery and described the feeling as having salt rocks in her chest, and I went pale and tingly and had to splash cold water on my face and lie down on the bathroom floor. Until recently, although I’m probably the clumsiest person I know, I’d prided myself on never having broken a bone. All my structural pieces were intact and in working order, aside from some likely weak tendons from many ankle sprains through the years — most recently a gnarly sprain to the left ankle last May (and another the previous December). Walking is harder than one might think.

Today, there are seven prescription bottles on my nightstand, and I am writing this from bed with my left foot iced and elevated on a pile of pillows. Some of you may have noticed I’ve been absent from this space for a few weeks — and a shiny new table of contents with accompanying photos teasing the week’s feature stories took the place of my editorial. We already had plans to occasionally run an illustrated table of contents in lieu of an editor’s note on those pesky weeks when words escaped me, but wound up launching it unannounced. I was down for nearly a week in early April with a flu-like illness, and in my feverish haze was unable to conjure up a column. So the first of the designed table of contents pages was set forth into the world. When I started feeling better, I decided to get dressed and go visit a friend. I’d been cooped up for days, swapping out one pair of pajamas for another, and at that point needed desperately to speak to another human in person before turning into a goblin. I put on some makeup and real pants and my favorite clunky platform Doc Martens (middle-school Shara would think today Shara was so cool with those boots) and left the house — free at last!

As I mentioned above, walking is harder than one might think, especially for a person who is prone to rolling their ankle, and even more especially when that person is wearing heavy platform boots. All I know is I was walking down the sidewalk one second, and the next I was on the ground in pain. When I managed to get that super-cool boot off, my ankle shifted unnaturally and sort of dangled at the end of my leg like a pendulum on a grandfather clock. Needless to say, a trip to the emergency room was in order, and what followed was as close to me living my actual nightmares as I’ve yet to get in this life. (I had to think about my bones!)

Medical staff sedated me and attempted to perform a manual “reduction” on the dislocated ankle. A funny aside, one of the medications they gave me before the procedure was propofol, which, a nurse informed me while I was still somewhat alert, was the drug that killed pop star Michael Jackson. After a dose of morphine that didn’t quite do the trick, I saw them coming toward me with another needle and asked, “Is that the Michael Jackson drug?” Then proceeded to sing, “got to be startin’ somethin’ …” as I drifted off to dreamland (I have no recollection of this). The reduction — basically several medical professionals roughly tugging at my foot — was unsuccessful, there was mention of risk of necrosis, and I was rushed to the OR for surgery. I awoke with metal pins in both sides of my heel and two in my shin. The contraption — a multiplanar external fixator, to be exact — holding everything together was bulky, heavy, and increasingly uncomfortable, and I laid up for several days in the hospital awaiting the second surgery, in which I had a titanium plate installed to hold my “blasted” fibula in place. (The surgeon said the mess I made by simply falling looked like a “high-impact” injury. I never half-ass anything.) There’s a pin in there somewhere holding things in place that will have to be removed in a few weeks. So, yeah, a broken fibula and tibia, a dislocated ankle, 30 staples, bionic parts, and seven nights and eight days in the hospital. (I’ll spare you the gruesome photo of my mangled Frankenstein leg.) The past couple of weeks since surgery have been both physically and mentally taxing, as I consider myself an incredibly independent (and stubborn) person — laying around unable to do things on my own is a pain unlike any other. Well, aside from that hospital bill.

Anyhow, that’s where I’ve been. I’ll be recovering for several more weeks at least but now I’m on the other side of the worst of this ordeal (and mostly out of the pain-killer coma). See you here again soon. In the meantime, don’t break a leg!

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

The Fall Guy

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt

Hollywood is not exactly a place where justice flourishes. But aside from all of the sexual assault, and the way some white guys keep failing upward, one of the biggest injustices in Hollywood is the fact that there is no Academy Awards category for stunt work. 

I don’t know if you’ve looked at a movie lately, but stunt performers are getting more screen time than ever. Many great pioneers of cinema built their reputations on hair-raising stunts: Think Charlie Chaplin roller-skating backwards on the edge of an abyss in Modern Times, or Buster Keaton riding on a locomotive cow catcher, batting railroad ties off the tracks in The General. Jackie Chan, the king of the Hong Kong stunt performers, has broken so many bones his injuries were shown as outtakes in his film’s credit sequences. Chan’s pain became part of his star attraction. 

It’s not like stunt work is not artistic. Look at the greatest film of the 21st century, Mad Max: Fury Road, and tell me the pole cat attack, where the performers are swinging on 20-foot poles mounted on vehicles traveling 80 miles per hour, is not artistic. Even if you do define “art” more narrowly, there’s still the existence of technical categories like Best Sound Design and Best Visual Effects. Stunt work is every bit as necessary for the success of the film as the talented professionals in those categories.

And look, if you want to jazz up the rating of the Academy Awards (and who doesn’t want jazzier ratings?), adding categories where Mission: Impossible and Fast & Furious could win something is just the ticket. 

One person who definitely agrees with me on this, the most pressing issue of our time, is director David Leitch. He’s a former stunt performer himself, having been at one time Brad Pitt’s stunt double of choice, before directing the star in Bullet Train. He’s also the co-creator of the John Wick franchise, which has taken fight choreography into the realm of modern dance. The Fall Guy is his love letter to the world of stunt performers. It’s the rare action movie that really feels like it’s made with love. 

It’s also relentlessly inside baseball because there’s nothing film people like more than films about themselves, or “self-reflexivity” in film theory-speak. The Fall Guy is ostensibly based on a TV series from the 1980s starring a post-Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors as a stunt man who solves crimes. (In the 1980s, it was a requirement that every TV star had to solve crimes. But I digress.) In a weird way, The Fall Guy owes a great deal to Francois Truffaut’s Day for Night, the 1971 romantic comedy about a film set that’s always on the verge of falling to pieces but never quite does.  

Leitch’s star is Ryan Gosling, and to say he’s perfect for the role of Colt Seavers is a profound understatement. The source material is a notoriously rich vein of Reagan ’80s masculinity, with Majors driving a truck and singing country music between bringing in bounties. Gosling brings some much needed Kenergy to the role. This Colt Seavers cries to Taylor Swift songs. There’s not too many actors who could convincingly make a phone confession of their love to their girlfriend, director Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), while also fleeing from assassins in a stolen speedboat. 

Jody and Colt met years ago when she was a camera op and he was the preferred stunt double for megastar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). While filming Tom’s latest sci-fi blockbuster, their relationship evolves from a semi-recurring, on-set fling (which is a fairly common thing in the film world) to something more serious. Then, producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) insists Colt do another take of a dangerous high fall. Colt’s luck runs out, and he wakes up on a stretcher with a broken back. 

Eighteen months later, Colt is hiding out in Los Angeles, working as a valet at a Mexican restaurant, when Gail catches up with him. Jody is directing her first big feature film, a passion project she and Gail have worked for years to put together. They need Colt for a big stunt, a dangerous cannon roll on a beach. Jody has personally asked for him, Gail says, to support her as she tries to make good on her first big break. More inside baseball: Jody’s “passion project” is apparently a remake of the 1983 movie Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, a 3D debacle so notoriously awful it is nowadays only watched by sick cinematic masochists such as myself. 

Colt arrives on set in Sydney and pulls off the spectacular stunt, which in real life broke the Guinness World Record for most on-screen rolls by a car — a fact the film-within-a-film’s stunt coordinator Dan (Winston Duke) points out. But Jody’s not happy to see Colt. She was crushed when he cut off contact after the accident, and tells him via bullhorn as she repeatedly sets him on fire. “That was perfect! Let’s do it again!” 

When Colt confronts Gail, she reveals the real reason he’s been brought on board. Tom Ryder has gone missing, and since he and Colt used to be tight, Gail thinks he would be the best at discreetly tracking down the wayward movie star before Jody and Universal Pictures find out he’s gone AWOL. 

Gosling and Blunt are breezy and charming, and the supporting cast all understand the assignment. The whole point of the now-forgotten TV series was to cut to the chase, forget about all those pesky story beats, and get to the good stunts. The Fall Guy is at its best when it’s putting its small army of crack stunt performers through their paces with the safety wires and crash bags fully visible for once. It only makes the stunts more harrowing by emphasizing the human frailty of the performers. 

The Fall Guy
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Categories
Art Art Feature

Ocean Deep

“The blue color, which dominates my art collection,” the artist says, “is a symbol of the oceanic beauty and serenity, but it also has secrets, which like our oceans, are never completely revealed and discovered.” (Photo: Courtesy Iwona Rhodes)

In literature and art, water holds many symbolic meanings — rejuvenation, renewal, sorrow, purification, to name a few. But for artist Iwona Rhodes water represents home — her seaside home in Gdynia, Poland, and the home “where we come from and eventually we all will return to one day.”

The ocean, Rhodes writes in her artist statement for her upcoming “Seaside and Beyond” show at ANF Architects, is “a place of creation.” It’s “like a God-Father figure who serves us, forms us, and through his beautiful nature is also comforting us.”

It’s only natural for Rhodes to see water this way. She grew up close to the beach. She worked on a cruise line. She now lives in a river city. Water, despite its versatility, has been the most constant theme in her life.

“I’ve always been obsessed,” she says of the organic form that inspired the more than a dozen paintings in “Seaside and Beyond.” “My paintings are a reflection of the majestic nature of oceans with their endless forms and capabilities.”

“When I was creating this collection, I felt like it was coming to me, so this is something I’m just enjoying,” Rhodes says. “I had a sudden desire to paint blue abstraction and experiment with media.”

Part of that desire stemmed from her dad’s passing three year’s ago. “I was just missing him, and the ocean always. Why I’m so far from the ocean? When I came back home [from Poland to Memphis], I felt this coldness.”

Photos: Courtesy Iwona Rhodes

So she painted her own oceans — 14 times over on canvas using acrylic and mixed media, opting for impressionist and expressionist styles over realism. “I’m good at realistic painting, but this is more honest,” she says, adding that the paintings tap into her own emotions — her nostalgia for the shores that raised her, her longing for the depths of the oceans and the mysteries they contain.

Though she initially agreed to 20 new paintings for this ANF exhibit, Rhodes was satisfied with her 14. “I said, ‘I’m done.’ This is pure.”

But then she started her new job teaching art at Compass Community School to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Since she immigrated to America, she’s worked in the corporate world, and teaching, as one can imagine, has been a completely different experience.

“I love this job,” she says. “Literally when I’m leaving school, I’m physically exhausted, but I’m so happy. I’m coming back home and I cannot stop talking about my schooling, showing artwork to my husband. And it’s just amazing. It’s also very inspiring for me. … Teaching only for 10 months inspired me so much, I’m doing an extra six [pieces] inspired by my students. Now I have an idea for another collection.”

In February, Rhodes explains, she taught her students about Alma Thomas, an African-American artist who taught in Washington, D.C. in the 20th century. “She was so successful. Like, every second kid in Washington, D.C., could say that there was a point in his life she was teaching him art. But for me, she’s an inspiration because she was so well educated and she wanted to give back to society by educating tons and tons of kids, and at the end of her life she was rewarded by becoming a true artist. And I love her art. It’s very inspiring.”

For her classes, Rhodes asked her students to create sunrises and sunsets by using pieces of construction paper. “I was in shock when I saw [the results,” she says. As Rhodes scrolls through photos of her students of her work, she praises each one genuinely: “Mind-blowing,” “The creation of this, how she came with this? I have never seen anything like that,” “This is mesmerizing. I love this,” “Okay, this is my inspiration.”

These works inspired by Rhodes’ students will be revealed at the ANF show. “There’s a lot of things altogether, but it’s very honest,” she says, adding that she’ll also display a few line drawings, some of which have been published in her book Heart Traces.

These graphics are linear profiles, witty, ambiguous, and self-reflective in nature. It’s a kind of visual poetry, in a way, which is fitting for Rhodes as she grew up loving to write. “My Polish language and literature professor hated me when she discovered I was going to study fine arts, not literature,” she laughs.

Always the creative, Rhodes says these linear graphics came during a drought of creativity while working in advertising. “I was craving ‘true art,’” she says. “Advertising is like compilation; you use somebody else’s ideas. I was so depressed. I was really unhappy with myself. I wasn’t painting. I knew so much about art, and I wasn’t using it.”

So she turned to a divine intervention of sorts and waited for inspiration to come to her in a dream, and it did — at least, the vision for her Angelic did, a simple line drawing of an otherworldly profile with angel wings capping off the ends of the lines at the neck.

While her other drawings didn’t come from a dream, Rhodes says, they are “a treat for the intellect.” They’ll make you think; some may make you laugh.

In all, for “Seaside and Beyond,” Rhodes hopes viewers will feel a range of emotions. The ocean-inspired paintings might offer profound feelings of serenity or a bit of wonder. The Alma Thomas-inspired works might provide a bit of light or inspiration, and the line drawings may extend a sense of reprieve as they once did for the artist herself.

Join Iwona Rhodes for the opening of “Seaside and Beyond” on Friday, May 10th, from 5 to 7 p.m., at ANF Architects, 1500 Union. Admission is free, and refreshments will be provided. “Seaside and Beyond” will be on display through June 5th, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

RiverBeat Crowd Photo Was Altered

Photo Credit: RiverBeat Music Festival

A viral photo of the RiverBeat Musical Festival’s crowd has been confirmed to have been edited, event organizers say.

In a statement from Forward Momentum, which organized the event, a spokeswoman said it was brought to their attention that the photographer had altered the image of the crowd at the weekend’s festival.

The photo, now deleted, was posted to the event’s social media page featuring elements users speculated to be “altered with AI.”

“The entire crowd along the inside of the fence appears to be altered with AI (weird body shapes, missing arms, blurs, etc.,” Jerred Price said on a Facebook post sharing the image with the festival’s watermark.

The spokeswoman, Michele Anderson, went on to say they had been “transparent about their numbers,” and the event had 30,000 people in attendance.

“We had no knowledge that this photographer altered the image until it was brought to our attention,” she said in a statement. “We will not be working with him going forward, and the image has been removed from all our social media channels.”

Despite this, the festival organizers said they are still “excited about the potential and early success of RiverBeat.”

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Music Video Monday: “Camouflaged in a Color Wheel” by Misti Rae

You may have seen Misti Rae Holton perform her music, or seen her visual art. In the pandemic and post-pandemic era, she’s been recording with her husband, musician and producer Adam Holton, and engineer (and longtime friend of Music Video Monday) Graham Burks. Her first single is “Camouflaged in a Color Wheel,” a proggy mini-opera reminiscent of Kate Bush.

Misti Rae directed and created all of the imagery in the music video, which was edited by Laura Jean Hocking (who, in the interest of full disclosure, is this columnist’s wife). “Creating my own music video from my art has always been a dream,” says Misti Rae. “Following my dream helped me to survive a nightmare: the pandemic. I hope the song and video help you along in your healing journey as creating and sharing it has helped me in mine.”

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

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Special Sections Sponsored Content

Get Ready to Shake, Rattle, and Roll in Tupelo, Mississippi

Dean Z in Crowd - photo credit Tupelo Elvis Festival

While Tupelo, Mississippi, celebrates its favorite native son throughout the year, the city rolls out the blue suede carpet each June during the Tupelo Elvis Festival. Held June 6-9, 2024, the festival honors the legacy of Elvis Presley and his immense impact on popular culture in the city where it all began.

The celebration kicks into high gear June 6th with the “Becoming Experience” Youth Day & Competition at the Elvis Presley Birthplace. Young Elvis fans participate in workshops with Elvis tribute artists and compete to earn $1,000, a guitar from Tupelo Hardware Company, and the opportunity to perform on the main stage at the Cadence Bank Arena during the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist finals Saturday morning. A showcase featuring the 30 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist contestants and the “Welcome Back to Tupelo” concert round out Thursday’s events, followed by the Tupelo Elvis Festival After Party at the Silver Moon Club.  

The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Competition begins June 7th at the Cadence Bank Arena with festival host Tom Brown and the Tributes in Concert band. Festival participants are invited to Food Truck Friday featuring Tupelo’s delicious food truck fare and a special Stax Museum of American Soul Music Pop-Up experience featuring the Stax Soul Mobile. Other events on Friday include the “Behind the Jumpsuits” Conversations event that delves into the stories of those individuals who keep Elvis’ memory alive, and the “From Tupelo with Love” concert. More after parties round out Friday night’s festivities.

TCB Fights is one of the newest festival events, and features fighters from UFM, HIT Fitness, and other local gyms. The TCB Fights “Decked Out” Weigh In happens June 7th, with the Boxing Event June 8th at 7 p.m. in the Cadence Bank Conference Center. Dress to impress and enjoy fight night with the king.

Lace up your running shoes for the Running with the King 5K at Veteran’s Park June 8th. This annual race takes participants past the Elvis Presley Birthplace and through the neighborhood where Elvis grew up. Sponsored by the Tupelo Running Club, the race is a fast, flat course and benefits the Northeast Mississippi Boys & Girls Club.

The Elvis Tribute Artist Meet & Greets and Tupelo Elvis Fan Club activities take over Downtown Tupelo June 8th. Visit Downtown retailers, meet the tribute artists, and enjoy living history demonstrations. Tupelo Hardware Company, where Gladys Presley purchased Elvis’ first guitar, holds a reenactment of the famous purchase, and guitars are still sold there today. The Stax Museum Soul Mobile makes another appearance Saturday with music, giveaways, and fun for the entire family.

With more than 200 restaurants in Tupelo, planning your next meal is as much fun as the festival revelry. Eat like the king with a visit to Tupelo’s oldest restaurant, Johnnie’s Drive-In, where Elvis liked to eat. Sit in the Elvis booth inside or enjoy carhop service at this operating drive-in. Try the doughburger, a North Mississippi delicacy. Tupelo’s restaurants serve up plenty of other Elvis eats including his favorite fried peanut butter and banana sandwich at Café 212 in Downtown Tupelo. Visit tupelo.net/blog/eat-like-a-king/ to explore all of the scrumptious food inspired by Elvis. Follow #tupelofoodie on Instagram and drool over all of the culinary delights just waiting to be enjoyed.

Johnnies Doughburger – photo: Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau

Looking for an experience you can only have in Tupelo? Mississippi’s first and only meadery, Queen’s Reward, is the only meadery in the world that makes mead with 100 percent Mississippi honey. Enjoy a tasting in their exquisite west Tupelo tasting room or enjoy mead by the glass. Mead slushies are a crowd favorite. Can’t decide which one to try? Order the mead slushie sampler and try them all.

Tupelo has more than 2,200 accommodating hotel rooms, so you are sure to get a great night’s sleep after a full day of festival fun. Hotel Tupelo is the city’s newest boutique hotel. Located in the heart of Downtown Tupelo’s Fairpark, Hotel Tupelo has 79 rooms, a bar and restaurant on-site, and an array of local touches that make it a truly unique stay. Just across the street, the Hilton Garden Inn offers guests a comfortable stay in walking distance of all Tupelo Elvis Festival events.  

The Tupelo Elvis Festival is the perfect excuse to visit the city where anything is possible. To learn more about the events or to purchase tickets, visit tupeloelvisfestival.com. Plan your trip by visiting tupelo.net and imagine what you can do there!

Elvis Festival Concert – photo: Tupelo Elvis Festival

This article is sponsored by the Tupelo Main Street Association.

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Group Gatherings: An Extension Of Black Joy And Culture

Temperatures are rising, and the sun sets a little later, ushering in the perfect setting for group gatherings and parties. Nostalgia has become the trendiest accessory for a summer to remember, with Freaknik-themed parties flooding social media feeds.

Freakniks pay homage to the epic Atlanta, Georgia festival made popular in the ’90s. Ahead of Hulu’s recent documentary Freaknik: The Greatest Party Never Told, National Public Radio (NPR) said “Freaknik was an annual party held in Atlanta over spring break in the 1980s and ’90s that attracted tens of thousands of people at its peak.”

The original Freaknik proved to be a seminal moment in Black popular culture, producing images that exude Black joy, with hordes of carefree men and women blasting tunes from boomboxes and hot cars. Vibes were immaculate.

The recent iterations of these parties may come off as fleeting trends, with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it social media invites and FOMO-inducing disappearing posts. But there’s true cultural significance that comes from these massive events rooted in the reclamation of spaces and narratives.

“The reason why the new generation is so obsessed with ’90s culture is because there’s been a renaissance of Black people realizing that the things we were shunned for, and the things that we were supposed to be convinced were ghetto and not relevant to culture, are actually a very big part of what makes us who we are,” Zorine Truly said. Truly is a native of North Memphis, and known lovingly as a Hoochie Historian on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. 

Zorine Truly the “Hoochie Historian” (courtesy Zorine Truly)

Through her social media presence and her annual event, Hoochiecon, Truly has been able to reclaim Black fashion and culture trends and respectability politics.

“The renaissance of the whole ’90s Freaknik is just basically giving honor to our immediate ancestors who a lot of people brushed as just being ghetto,” Truly said.

Freaknik-themed parties are just an extension of creating space for Black people to be themselves, and it’s not uncommon for them to spill out into the city for the masses to observe.

With this however, there’s bound to be people from outside the culture writing off these experiences as superfluous with harmful rhetoric.

It’s important for Black people to have spaces where they can exist without fear of judgment, especially in the South, Truly said. She said she’s always found comfort in going places where she’s going to be around people who like her. She adds that these are the results of many places in the city “cater to white folks,” with seemingly anti-Black dress codes and restrictions.

“We all have to constantly code-switch and wear these masks,” Truly said. “It’s very important for us to be in an environment where we can relax and enjoy ourselves without the worry of judgment or somebody calling the police on us.”

Degarrett Javoll grew up in the heyday of Black-Memphis party life, calling them the “Denim and Diamond days,” and shares that these events gave Black people the opportunity to see a life they saw on television and popular media, play out in the city. 

Degarrett Javoll Photo Credit: Wiley Brown

“If I had to put it in a nutshell, it was Memphis ’90s night-life as we saw it on television,” Javoll said. “We had the big club, the big parking lot — people had a little money so we had cars –  so we got a chance to display our cars, put on our good clothes, and go to a place that was available for 21-year-olds, and 19 and 18-year-old people to go to and get away from the house and act like we were in Atlanta.”

There’s always been a need for these spaces and experiences in the lives of Black Americans, and they’ve always created them, whether publicly or privately. However, they don’t always come in the forms of large parties and gatherings.

Javoll’s career has taken him from Memphis to Atlanta, being able to serve as a celebrity barber with clientele such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Robin Thicke and more. He currently serves as the residency DJ at Paula Raiford’s Disco and owns Headquarters Beauty & Barber Spa in Southaven, Mississippi.

“The salon experience for Black people — barber shops or beauty shops — is not really just a service,” Javoll said. “It’s who we are. It’s our own country club, it’s our own space. Barbers and beauticians are our mentors, our therapist — pretty much someone you can depend on that’s going to listen to you and be our ear.”

These spaces, whether for grooming and community or for a good time, are integral for Black people, and both Truly and Javoll agree that they made them who they are. But when these institutions are seen by those on the outside, without understanding the cultural value and significance they hold, it can lead to misconceptions and calls for culture erasure.

“It’s something that you can’t get rid of,” Javoll said. “Even if you try, it’s a part of who we are, and you can’t stop us from being who we are. We’re going to find a way to be who we are regardless — whether you want us to or not.”

Javoll goes on to say that big, often rowdy parties are common to all cultures, but they are typically viewed differently when Black people are involved. Rather than trying to write them off as merely frivolous disturbances, both Javoll and Truly agree that these can be opportunities to appreciate and understand the Black community.

Truly said her biggest takeaways from these events is that Black people get to have joy. She advises that people who see Black people “together and having a good time” without harm should “mind their business.”

“Everything is not catering towards you and the things that you don’t understand — it might just not be for you and that’s okay,” Truly said. “Everything is not for everybody, and I think one of the most important things as the summer comes around in Memphis and we begin to celebrate things that are for us and by us is to just enjoy ourselves and be safe. “

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MLGW Rates Remain Among Lowest in the Country

Photo Credit: MLGW via Facebook

Memphis Light, Gas and Water’s (MLGW) 2024 Comparative Rates Survey concluded that the company’s combined rates remain to be among the lowest in the United States. The agency has also marked 10 years among “lowest winter utility bills.”

“We want to earn our customers’ business every day by providing great value,” MLGW president and CEO Doug McGowen said in a statement. “Reliability and the best possible rates are what we strive to deliver to our customers.”

According to MLGW, this survey compares Memphis’ combined electric, gas, and water utility rates to 39 other cities in the country that were “geographically close to Memphis, as well as utilities that are similar in size to MLGW.” Among those cities were Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; Nashville, Tennessee; and Houston, Texas.

The costs measured in the survey are those that are effective as of January 2024. The rankings include “what a homeowner would pay for 1,000 kilo-watt-hours (kWh) of electricity, 200 hundred cubic feet (CCF) of gas, and 10 CCF of water.”

Some of the guidelines included calculations based on monthly consumption and applicable seasonal rates. Components such as special early payment discounts, time differentiated rates, and “taxes not booked as revenue by the utility” are excluded.

Memphis ranked lowest on the list of “typical residential winter bills,” with its combined electricity, natural gas, and water bill totaling to $246.42. The city with the second lowest total was Omaha, Nebraska, averaging at $272.43, with Springfield, Missouri, coming in third at $307.19.

MLGW ranked 10th among residential electric bills. This is measured in kilowatts per hour (kWh).

“One kilowatt-hour equals ten 100-watt light bulbs staying on for an hour,” the report said.

For 500 kWh the city averaged $69.22. Springfield, Missouri, ranked number-one at $54.70 for 500 kWH. 

The city ranked number-one for low residential gas bills — measured in one hundred cubic feet (Ccf) — with an average of $15.28 for 10 CCF. MLGW also came in first in low general service gas bills at $113.24 for 200 CCF.

Memphis ranked second for low residential water bills at $11.97 for five CCF, and third in low general service water bills averaging $273.18 for 100 CCF.

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On the Fly: Week of 5/3/24

May the Fourth be with you. (Photo: Tommy van Kessel | Unsplash)

RiverBeat Music Festival
Tom Lee Park
Friday-Sunday, May 3-5
We got the beat. We got the beat. Yeah, the RiverBeat! The inaugural lineup has the Fugees, Odesza, and Jelly Roll, plus a bunch more including lots of local acts. Full lineup here. Purchase tickets here. Three-day pass is $249. Single-day pass is $99. (Before you go, read Alex Greene’s cover story from this week.)

Drink a Beer, Save a River
Grind City Brewing Co.
Friday, May 3, 6-10 p.m.
Do something good with your life: Drink beer. Yes. Drink beer. For every beer you drink $1 will be donated to the Wolf River Conservancy. You can also enter a drawing for a chance to win an unforgettable paddle trip for you and a friend with the Wolf River Conservancy. AND attendees will get to meet Dale “Greybeard” Sanders, a true legend and Guinness World Record holder who conquered the entire length of the Mississippi River by canoe at the age of 87. RSVP here.

May the Fourth Be With You
Black Lodge
Saturday, May 4, 2 p.m.
May the Fourth be with you. And also with you. Lift up for a Star Wars triple-header during the day and costume up for our all-night Star Wars Cantina Dance Party later that night. Screening for free are Solo: A Star Wars Story at 2:45 p.m., Revenge of the Sith at 5 p.m., and Rogue One at 7:30 p.m. Sabacc tournament starts at 7 p.m. as does the lightsaber dueling competition with Memphis Armored Fight Club. Pre-registration is encouraged at the ticket link for dueling. The dance party kicks off at 9:30 p.m. and will go till 3 a.m. You’ll enjoy an evening of cosplay, DJs, dancing, lightsaber duels, themed food and drinks, artist vendors, and more. It’s $10 for the dance party.

Beer Mile – Benefitting Spay Memphis and All 4s Rescue League
Crosstown Concourse
Sunday, May 5, 10 a.m.
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the most pawfect way by supporting Spay Memphis and All 4s Rescue League at Global Cafe’s Beer Mile, where you’ll drink a beer, run a quarter mile, and repeat that three more times. You must be 21 or older, and registration includes four beers and a coupon for a free Juan Margarita ($10 value). Register here for $40. Brunch will be available to purchase post-race at Global Cafe.

Libration
Wiseacre
Sunday, May 5, 2-5 p.m.
Feel the libration. It’s such a good libration. It’s such a sweet sensation — to attend an event supporting the Memphis Public Libraries. Bring the family, friends, even the four-legged kids for live music by the Turnstyles, activities, games, giveaways, and more. Tickets include a beer or a premade cocktail. Early bird tickets are $30/one or $50/two. You only need to purchase tickets for those 21+. 

Spring Flicker Fest
Urban Earth Gardens, Nursery & Market
Saturday, May 4, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Celebrate the spring with Urban Earth’s Spring Flicker Fest. Free sodas and beer will be provided by Memphis Made, and Amurica Photobooth will be available for free photos. There will be giveaways, free gardening-themed activities throughout the day for kids and adults alike, free face-painting and balloon-twisting (noon to 2 p.m.), live music from Lucky 7 Brass Band (1 to 3 p.m.), and meet-and-greets throughout the event with local community partners including The Memphis Native Tree Works and Experience Memphis Gardens. Lunch and snacks will be available for sale from Donna’s Taste of Love food truck.

“Summer Art Garden: Creatures of Paradise” Opening Celebration
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Wednesday, May 8, 6-8 p.m.
The Brooks brings its Summer Art Garden, this year with featured artist Memphis-based duo Banana Plastik and their installation “Creatures of Paradise,” where monstrous bugs and tiny Thumbelinas relax in a fantasy landscape. Wednesday marks the opening, so celebrate with a party featuring DJ AD, drinks, and food by Feast & Graze. Teachers, who show their teacher ID, can get a free drink ticket. 


There’s always something happening in Memphis. See a full calendar of events here.

Submit events here or by emailing calendar@memphisflyer.com.