State Representative Justin Pearson, whose presence during this year’s legislative session has been fragmentary, has resumed regular attendance as the General Assembly heads into its stretch drive.
Pearson, who has avowedly been dealing with the aftereffects of his brother’s death in December, was a speaker at the meeting of the Shelby County Democratic Party (SCDP) convened Saturday at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church to elect new party officers.
Things went downhill after rousing unity speeches by Pearson and others, as the assembled Democrats could not reach agreement on the bylaws needed to continue with the meeting, which was to have elected a new chairman and other officers. Amid chaos, the meeting was aborted, with the professed intent by those present of reconvening within 30 days.
The Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP), whose chair Rachel Campbell of Chattanooga was on hand, temporarily decommissioned the local party, as it had nearly 10 years earlier during a previous period of public disorder in the SCDP.
• The Democrats’ foreshortened meeting was the site for a fair amount of schmoozing from potential near-term political candidates. One such was Michael Pope, a former sheriff’s department deputy who served a brief tenure as the SCDP’s last nominal chair before its previous shutdown by the state party in 2016.
Pope later became police chief in West Memphis. He resigned during a controversy over allegedly suppressed evidence in the case of the West Memphis Three, who were subsequently released after serving several years for a notorious murder.
Pope is now an announced candidate for sheriff in 2026. An expected opponent is Anthony Buckner, the current chief deputy to Sheriff Floyd Bonner.
• Former state Senator Brian Kelsey will hold a celebration in East Memphis on Saturday for his recent release from prison. “It’s time to party!” say the invites. Kelsey, who had been convicted of campaign finance violations and served only two weeks at a federal prison in Kentucky, was pardoned last month by Trump.
• State Senator Brent Taylor is trying again after his bill seeking the legislative removal from office of DA Steve Mulroy failed to gain traction and was taken off notice.
Taylor and state Senate Speaker Randy McNally made public their request that the state Supreme Court create a panel to investigate Mulroy, Nashville DA Glenn Funk, and Warren County DA Chris Stanford. Like Mulroy, Funk is a liberal who has ruffled the ideological feathers of the state’s GOP supermajority. Stanford is something of a throw-in. He is under indictment on charges of reckless endangerment after firing a pistol in pedestrian pursuit of an accused serial killer.
The shift in tactics from legislative to judicial was an effort to avoid the appearance of being politically partisan, said Taylor, who acknowledged that any action on the new proposal would be delayed at least thorough the summer.
• Entities in Memphis and Shelby County seem to have done well in their entreaties for financial aid from the state. Included either in Governor Bill Lee’s original budget or his supplemental budget, announced last week, were such petitioners as the city of Memphis, the Memphis Zoo, the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, Agape Child & Family Services, Youth Villages, Memphis Allies, Operation Taking Back 901, Church of God in Christ (COGIC), PURE Academy, YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South, Tech901, Moore Tech, Southern College of Optometry, Hospitality Hub, Memphis Teacher Residency, Memphis City Seminary, Africa in April, Stax Music Academy, and Tennessee College of Applied Technology (for the Memphis aviation campus).
Also included was funding for an audit of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Conspicuously missing so far are allotments for Regional One Health and the Metal Museum. Additions and subtractions are to be expected before the session ends.
Learn how to attract native pollinators like this tawny emperor butterfly in your own garden. (Photo: Courtesy Overton Park Conservancy)
Ever dream of waking up to a beautiful garden full of roses and peonies every morning, but you just don’t have a green thumb? Or do you want to be more sustainable in your gardening practices? Well, the Overton Park Conservancy can help with its Pollinator Paradise workshop this Saturday.
The workshop is designed to help beginner gardeners learn more about the art of gardening and how to properly care for their plants. Importantly, this event stresses the need for native plants to be cultivated to help preserve our native wildlife and pollinators, instead of using generic plants that are often sold at many stores. “Eighty percent of food in this country is dependent upon pollination,” says Mary Wilder, former Overton Park Conservancy board member and Master Gardener. “We could starve to death if you didn’t have a bee, a butterfly, a beetle, or a bat because the plants wouldn’t get pollinated. They wouldn’t be able to make their fruit or grow up to be whatever plant they’re supposed to be.
“If we can educate folks to garden more naturally with the locally sourced plants, then we are helping in the long run the whole bigger [eco]system. So that’s part of why it’s significant,” Wilder adds.
And if you are unsure about where to purchase your domestic plants or which plants will survive in Memphis weather, there will be plants for sale to help give you a head start on improving your garden. If you are interested in attending, the workshop will be held this Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and it is pay-what-you-can, with a recommended donation of $5. To register, visit overtonpark.org/event/workshop-pollinator-paradise.
Happy Gardening!
Pollinator Paradise: Cultivating a Wildlife-Friendly Backyard, Abe Goodman Golf Clubhouse, 2080 Poplar Ave., Saturday, April 5, 10:30-11:30 a.m., $5/recommended donation.
A pelican glides by just offshore, there, out where the blue dolphins dance, emerging and disappearing into the sea. The kite hangs overhead, side-slipping in the ocean breeze, tethered to your umbrella pole by a gracile thread. You push your new sunglasses up on your nose and soak in the sun, the blue sky, the bleached sand; you hear the surf mumbling, “Stay.”
I could do it, you think, shifting in your canvas chair. “I could get a job renting beach umbrellas or maybe working on a fishing boat. In the evenings, I’ll sip margaritas and finish the novel.”
Your young daughter hands you a sand dollar from a plastic bucket filled with saltwater currency. “Let’s go cash this in,” you say. “We’ll buy this place.
The cast is perfect, a dry fly circling at the deep end of an eddy. There is a flash of silver and a tug that feels like you’ve hooked the river and it wants off. The trout streaks into the current, jumps once, twice, takes line, gives it back a reel-turn at a time. You stand in the riffle, gravel crunching, sliding under your feet. “This is a good one,” you think. Minutes later you net the fat rainbow, admire it for a few seconds, and release it back into the pool.
“I wonder what a piece of land on this stream would cost,” you wonder. “I could live here, deep in these dark woods, enjoying a life of fishing, solitude, and contemplation — become a wise old man.”
You’re sitting on the pool steps, waist-deep in cool water, deep in the steamy jungles of Quintana Roo, south of Cancun. The house is modern, open, with glass walls overlooking the pool on one side and the twisted green jungle on the other. Every morning, a troop of monkeys swings by, screeching through the trees as you sit outside with your coffee, marveling at the strangeness of it all.
“I’ve decided this must be a drug lord’s house,” your wife says from her chaise lounge, not opening her eyes. “Who else would build a place like this in the middle of nowhere?”
“They didn’t mention that in the rental brochure,” you say, “but whoever owns this house certainly knows how to get away from it all.”
Two grackles land near the diving board and begin dipping their heads in the water and shivering it off. They chortle and chatter like an old couple in the park. You slip neck-deep into the pool and they fly away, complaining at the intrusion.
“Hey, I’m thinking maybe we should look into property in this area.”
“Sure,” she says.
Two-hour layover in the Atlanta airport. You’re sitting in a bar that has a stupid name, talking to a man in gray — gray suit, socks, tie. He’s on his way to St. Louis, a software rep for a company you’ve heard of. You both watch as five men walk into the place — scruffy hair, tattoos, colorful funky clothes — obviously a band. You overhear them talking about going to the Bahamas to record.
“Nice work if you can get it,” says the gray man.
“I used to be in a band myself,” you say.
“Really?” says Mr. Gray. “Me, too!”
You sigh and take another pull on your beer.
How many times have you been tempted to start over, to ditch your life, your career, and make a big change? If you’re like me, those moments occurred, but were seldom followed up on, unless you count moving to a new city to take a job, which last happened to me in 1993.
Change is difficult, even when the goal is worthy and attainable. It’s much more difficult when it’s not worthy and it’s forced upon you, and when you’re not sure how to fight against it. That’s where we all are now, in the midst of an attempt to change how our country will be governed, to overturn our core human values. Democracy itself seems tethered by a gracile thread. I take solace in knowing we’re all in this together, and that that’s the only way we’ll get out of it. I don’t know how it ends. I do think that we’re well past the “have a margarita and watch the dolphins” stage. Courage, my friends.
Tradición Cultural Dance Group (Photos: Michael Donahue)
Overton Square in Memphis turned into the Plaza de Armas in San Juan for a few hours during Puerto Rican Night. The inaugural event featured music, dancing, and food.
Destinee and Zak Baker Sonya and Yvonne Johnson Bryan Rollins and Jeannette Gill Caleb Castillo, Justin Thomas, and Adriana Prieto Ivan Estevanott, Sonia Estevanott, Kenneth Estevenott, and Caspian Estevanott
More than 500 turned out for the free event, which was held March 22nd in Overton Square’s Trimble Courtyard, says Dorimar Cruz with Darts Productions, which put on the event. Darts also put on Colombian Night in October 2024. And Darts wants to put on more community events, Cruz says.
Leo Ramos and River Myers Lamont Nesbit Sr., Gabriela Nesbit, and Lamont Nesbit Jr. Nick and Remy Bogdanovich Wendy, Thiago, Veronica, Salvador, and Giovanni Alvarado
The event was a great opportunity for the local Puerto Rican community to “celebrate their own culture,” Cruz says, and at the same time let others learn about Puerto Rico as well.
Brad Walton and Genie Doty Rahul Kodali, Kayla Ibarra, and Zeus Ramirez Carlos EcosCheryl and Darrin Ruddy, Jonathan Marrero, Lucy Marrero, and Efrain Marrero
A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago was forced to divert to Denver on Feb. 9 after a passenger became unruly, LiveandLetsFly.com reported. The man was up out of his seat repeatedly and argued with flight attendants before demanding to know “Where are the Mormons?” One passenger said the incident “escalated into a big physical altercation and several passengers had to rush out of their seats to help the crew pin down this person.” Although the troublemaker was removed from the flight in Denver, the plane sat on the ground for about five hours before continuing to Chicago.
News That Sounds Like a Joke
A high school teacher in Queensland, Australia, has taken to identifying as a cat, 7News-TV reported on Feb. 10. “Miss Purr,” as she prefers to be known, teaches at Marsden State High School, where she “screeches and growls when [her students] don’t listen,” one person posted on Facebook. She also hisses and licks the backs of her hands during class and wears a headband with cat ears. One concerned mother said Miss Purr had made her daughter “purr for a lolly.” The Department of Education said the school was aware of the complaints and the principal was speaking with the teacher.
Cultural Diversity
On Feb. 10 in Inazawa, Japan, more than 7,000 men wearing only loincloths participated in the Konomiya Naked Festival at a Shinto shrine, The Mainichi reported. The event, which has been held for more than 1,200 years on the 13th day of the first lunar month, features a “god-man” who is thought to carry away misfortune if you touch him. This year’s “god-man” was 26-year-old Ryota Kato, who threw himself into the crowd as the men chanted and fought to touch him. About an hour later, he emerged from the crowd and entered the shrine.
Inexplicable
Law enforcement officers in South Holland, England, are stumped by a rash of pet cats returning to their homes with patches of missing fur, The Spalding and South Holland Voice reported on Feb. 12. The cats have apparently been shaved. “This behavior is completely unacceptable,” said inspector Matt Dickinson. “The cats in question are someone’s pet, part of their family.” Evidently, it’s not the first time the mysterious cat shaver has struck; two Facebook commenters said their cats had been shaved in past years.
It’s Come to This
A manufacturer of fortune cookies contacted the owner of a Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney, Australia, to announce they would no longer fill her orders for custom messages that are offensive or contain expletives. 9News reported that Nahji Chu, owner of Lady Chu, ordered profanity-laced cookies for Valentine’s Day. But after the manufacturer mistakenly sent some of Chu’s cookies to fulfill another order, causing distress with that customer, they changed their policy. Chu wasn’t happy: “If you’re getting it mixed up with other restaurants, that’s not my fault,” she said. Some of Chu’s more PG-rated cookie messages include, “You are capable of great things. But all you do is look at your phone all day. You won’t be that great sorry! #ladychu” and “The year of the snake bears good fortune! Your divorce is coming soon.” She said she’ll “take out the profanities and be creative” with her next order.
Oops!
The Lee County (Florida, where else?) Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a Feb. 7 incident involving an allegedly intoxicated man riding on a lawnmower, WESH-TV reported. A video camera caught the mower plowing into a mailbox along the street; the man went heels over head and stumbled away from the mower, then returned and drove off, apparently hitting multiple other mailboxes along the way. Matt Clardy, whose mailbox was among the victims, called it “absolutely disgusting” but admitted, “It’s so funny. I can watch it 100 times.” The man left behind a Pittsburgh Steelers hat and sunglasses at one of the scenes; police are still trying to identify him.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Have you ever been part of an innovation team? Its goal is not simply to develop as many new ideas and approaches as possible, but rather to generate good, truly useful new ideas and approaches. The most effective teams don’t necessarily move with frantic speed. In fact, there’s value in “productive pausing” — strategic interludes of reflection that allow deeper revelations to arise. It’s crucial to know when to slow down and let hunches and insights ripen. This is excellent advice for you. You’re in a phase when innovation is needed and likely. For best results, infuse your productivity with periodic stillness.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Barnacles are crustaceans that form vast colonies on rocks, pilings, whales, and boats. They may grow so heavy on a ship that they increase its heft and require as much as a 40-percent increase in fuel consumption. Some sailors refer to them as “crusty foulers.” All of us have our own metaphorical equivalent of crusty foulers: encumbrances and deadweights that drag us down and inhibit our rate of progress. In my astrological opinion, the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to shed as much of yours as possible. (I’ll be shedding mine in June.)
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1088, the Chinese polymath and statesman Shen Kuo published his book Dream Torrent Essays, also translated as Dream Pool Essays. In this masterwork, he wrote about everything that intrigued and fascinated him, including the effects of lightning strikes, the nature of eclipses, how to make swords, building tall pagodas resistant to wind damage, and a pearl-like UFO he saw regularly. I think the coming weeks would be an excellent time for you to begin your own version of Dream Torrent Essays, Gemini. You could generate maximum fun and self-knowledge by compiling all the reasons you love being alive on this mysterious planet.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): The mimosa is known as the “sensitive plant.” The moment its leaves are touched, they fold inwards, exposing the sharp spines of its stems. Why do they do that? Botanists say it’s meant to deter herbivore predators from nibbling it. Although you Cancerians sometimes display equally extreme hair-trigger defense mechanisms, I’m happy to say that you will be unlikely to do so in the coming weeks. You are primed to be extra bold and super-responsive. Here’s one reason why: You are finely tuning your protective instincts so they work with effective grace — neither too strong nor too weak. That’s an excellent formula to make fun new connections and avoid mediocre new connections.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): While sleeping on a recent night, I dreamed of an old friend I had lost touch with for 20 years. It was wonderful. We were remembering mystic breakthroughs we had while younger. When I awoke the next day, I was delighted to find an email from this friend, hoping for us to be back in touch. Hyper-rationalists might call this coincidence, but I know it was magical synchronicity — evidence that we humans are connected via the psychic airways. I’m predicting at least three such events for you in the coming weeks, Leo. Treat them with the reverence they deserve. Take them seriously as signs of things you should pay closer attention to.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): A star that astronomers call EBLM J0555-57Ab is 670 light-years away. Its diameter is the smallest of any known star, just a bit larger than Saturn in our solar system. But its mass is 250 times greater than Saturn’s. It’s concentrated and potent. I’ll be inclined to compare you to EBLM J0555-57Ab in the coming weeks, Virgo. Like this modest-sized powerhouse, you will be stronger and more impactful than you may appear. The quality you offer will be more effective than others’ quantity. Your focused, dynamic efficiency could make you extra influential.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk was an influential musician in part because he didn’t conform to conventions. According to music writer Tarik Moody, Monk’s music features “dissonances and angular melodic twists and [is] consistent with his unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of switched key releases, silences, and hesitations.” Many of Monk’s most innovative improvisations grew out of apparent mistakes. He explored and developed wrong notes to make them into intentional aspects of his compositions. “His genius,” said another critic, “lay in his ability to transform accidents into opportunities.” I’d love to see you capitalize on that approach, Libra. You now have the power to ensure that seeming gaffes and glitches will yield positive and useful results.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Author Richard Wright said that people “can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” That’s rarely a problem for Scorpios, since you are among the zodiac’s best sleuths when exploring your inner depths. Does any other sign naturally gather more self-realization than you? No! But having said that, I want to alert you to the fact that you are entering a phase when you will benefit from even deeper dives into your mysterious depths. It’s an excellent time to wander into the frontiers of your self-knowledge.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Andean condors hunt for prey while flying through the sky with their 10-foot wingspan. They’ve got a good strategy for conserving their energy: riding on thermal currents with little effort, often soaring for vast distances. I recommend that you channel the Andean condor in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. Always be angling to work smarter rather than harder. Look for tricks and workarounds that will enable you to be as efficient and stress-free as possible. Trust that as you align yourself with natural flows, you will cover a lot of ground with minimal strain. Celebrate the freedom that comes from embracing ease.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): While hiking in nature, people often rely on their phones to navigate. And what if their battery dies or there’s poor cell service out in the middle of nowhere? They might use an old-fashioned compass. It won’t reveal which direction to go, but will keep the hiker apprised of where true north lies. In that spirit, Capricorn, I invite you to make April the month you get in closer communication with your own inner compass. It’s a favorable and necessary time to become even more highly attuned to your ultimate guide and champion: the voice of the teacher within you.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool.” Aquarian author John Steinbeck wrote that. I think it’s useful counsel for you in the coming weeks. What does it imply? Here are a few meditations: 1. Be tuned in to both the small personal world right in front of you and the big picture of the wider world. Balance and coordinate your understandings of them. 2. If you shift your perspective back and forth between the macrocosmic and microcosmic perspectives, you’re far more likely to understand how life really works. 3. You may flourish best by blending the evaluative powers of your objective, rational analysis and your intuitive, nonrational feelings.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The earliest humans used bones and pebbles to assist in arithmetic calculations. Later, they got help from abacuses and crude mechanical devices. Electronic calculators didn’t arrive until the 1960s. All were efforts to bypass tedious reckonings. All were ingenious attempts to manage necessary details that weren’t much fun. In that spirit, I encourage you to seek time-saving, boredom-preventing innovations in the coming weeks. Now is an excellent time to maximize your spacious ability to do things you love to do.
MemphisForgotten’s Insta is an amazing Bluff City Wayback Machine. It features news clips and interviews, from Playa Fly to Mr. Chuck and from America’s Most Wanted to Germantown High School’s 1992 homecoming and prom.
Posted to Facebook by Re-Elect Melvin Burgess, Shelby County Assessor
Property Appraisals
Confusion and surprise roiled the MEMernet last week as property reappraisals from Melvin Burgess, assessor of property, landed in Shelby County mailboxes. First, many thought the slick, glossy mailer — largely featuring a photo of Burgess for some reason — looked like junk mail or a political ad. Many landed in trash cans, unopened. After fishing them out, property owners were surprised to find their appraisals rose by a lot.
Posted to Facebook by Taylor Berger
Railgarten
Taylor Berger, one of the forces behind the establishment of Railgarten back in 2016, made a bittersweet Facebook post last week, after news broke that the entertainment complex was closed and on the market.
“The best parts were the surprises,” Berger wrote. “People on skateboards, live band karaoke, drag before it was mainstream.”
April showers bring April festivals, and then there are May festivals, and June ones, and July and August. And we don’t even have time to get to September. That’s right, friends (may we call you that?): It’s time for the Spring Fairs & Festivals Guide.
April
Month of Jazz at Crosstown Arts A monthlong celebration of jazz. Crosstown Arts, various dates through April 30
Memphis Tattoo Festival (Photo: Courtesy Memphis Tattoo Festival)
Memphis Tattoo Festival If you can dream it, you can tat it. Renasant Convention Center, April 4-6
TrollFest Don’t be a troll; instead, learn how to take better care of the environment at this festival. Memphis Botanic Garden, April 5
Wine, Food and Music Spring Festival Wine all you want. Notice I said “wine,” not “whine.” Beale Street Landing, April 5
Foodees Food and Culture Festival Does it bother me that it’s not spelled “Foodies”? A little. Do I care? Not when the festival is bringing 70 food trucks and 100 crafters and makers. Riverside Drive, April 11-13
TrollFest (Photo: Abigail Morici)
Brewfest You’re cruising for a brewski. Mississippi Ale House, Olive Branch, MS, April 12
Cooper-Young Porchfest Get out of my head and onto my lawn (for free porch concerts, obviously). Cooper-Young Historic District, April 12
Juke Joint Festival No need to be a juke box hero when you can go to the Juke Joint Festival. Clarksdale, MS, April 12
Orbit Fest You’ll want this fest in your orbit: seltzers, vendors, music. It’ll be a blast. Crosstown Brewing Company, April 12
Cooper-Young Porch Fest (Photo: Brandon Dill)
Shelby Forest Spring Fest A Mardi Gras-themed fest with wildlife and cultural exhibits, plus music, food, arts and crafts, and more. Meeman Shelby Forest State Park, April 12
Shop Black Fest Black businesses for the win. Bass Pro Drive + Riverside Drive, April 12
The Mid-South Korean BBQ Festival A backyard cooking competition of traditional American barbecue and Korean barbecue. Grind City Brewing Company, April 12
Juke Joint Festival (Photo: Courtesy Juke Joint Festival)
Black Arts & Wine Festival Shop visual art by Black creatives and sample wines and liquors from Black brands. Pink Palace Museum & Mansion, April 13
Concerts in the Grove Enjoy an outdoor concert or two. Germantown Performing Arts Center, select Thursdays, April 17-June 26
Africa in April Salute the Republic of South Africa. Robert R. Church Park, April 18-20
Good Vibes Comedy Festival LOL IRL. Hi Tone, April 18-20
Earth Day Festival (Photo: Courtesy Shelby Farms Park)
Earth Day Festival Where fun meets sustainability, and sustainability meets you. Shelby Farms Park, April 19
Shell Daze Dazed and confused, more like dazed and I don’t know where I was going with this … so I guess I am confused. But this festival is not confusing! It’s all about music: Lettuce, Daniel Dato’s Cosmic Country, Grace Bowers & the Hodge Podge, and The Velvet Dog. Overton Park Shell, April 19
Art in the Loop Let me loop you in: It’s the art festival in East Memphis. Ridgeway Loop Road, April 25-27
Double Decker Arts Festival A two-day (a double-day?) celebration of food, music, and the arts. Oxford Courthouse Square, Oxford, MS, April 25-26
Trolley Night Explore galleries, restaurants, bars, and shops open late with activities on the street every month. South Main, last Friday of the month
23rd Annual World Championship Hot Wing Contest and Festival Wing, wing, wing, this festival is calling for you. River Garden Park on Riverside Drive, April 26
Spring Craft Fair Find crafts and one-of-a-kind treasures. Meddlesome Brewery, April 26
Taste the Rarity Get weird with beer. Wiseacre Brewing Company, April 26
Mimosa Festival (Photo: Courtesy Mimosa Festival)
Mimosa Festival Mimosa is a fun word to say, and this festival is even funner (and that’s a fun word). Autozone Park, April 27
32nd Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival Heads, you suck. Tails, you pinch. Riverside Drive, April 27
May
Experience Memphis Gardens Roses are red; violets are blue. I’d love to walk Memphis’ gardens with you. Various locations, May 1-June 15
Memphis in May International Festival Salute South Korea at this festival. Memphis, May 1-31
Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Festival Go wild with food, art, games, expos, contests, crawfish, and more. Downtown Leland, May 2-3
RiverBeat Music Festival This year’s headliners are Missy Elliot, The Killers, and Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals. Tom Lee Park, May 2-4
Cigar & Whiskey BBQ Festival Cigars, whiskeys, barbecue — it’s in the name. Agricenter International, May 3
Bookstock This fest is for the books. Literally. Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, May 3
Café du Memphis Beign-yay! (And shrimp and grits and café au lait. Yay for all!) Overton Park Shell, May 3
Overton Square Crawfish Festival Go cray for the crayfish. Overton Square, May 3
The Big Squeeze Food Truck Festival When life gives you lemonade, wash it down with food truck fare and music. Germantown Performing Arts Center, May 3
Memphis Greek Festival Say: Opa! And bring three cans of nonperishable food for free admission.
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, May 9-10
World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest Mind your Ps and ’cues — mostly your ’cues because I’m not sure how helpful those Ps will be. Liberty Park, May 14-17
SmokeSlam Talk about a smoke show. Tom Lee Park, May 15-17
DreamFest Weekend Sweet dreams are made of this: a weekend of Memphis music. Overton Park Shell, May 16-18
Ruby Bridges Reading Festival Enjoy book giveaways, children’s activities, and storytelling. National Civil Rights Museum, May 17
Trans-Fest A celebration of the trans community. Wiseacre Brewery, May 17
Uptown Arts Festival Expect art, music, beer, and a good time. Grind City Brewing Company, May 17
Bluff City Fair This fair isn’t bluffing when it comes to fair foods, carnival rides, and attractions. Tiger Lane at Liberty Park, May 23-June 1
Memphis Dragon Boat Festival Dragons will race. Well, dragon boats. Hyde Lake at Shelby Farms Park, May 31
Memphis Italian Festival Where everyone’s Italian. Marquette Park, May 29-31
Memphis Margarita Festival Some people claim there’s a festival to blame, and it’s this one. Wastin’ away again at the Memphis Margarita Festival … Overton Square, May 31
Memphis Vegan Festival No animals were harmed in the making of this festival. Fourth Bluff Park, May 31
June
Juneteenth Shop Black Festival Shop from 100 Black businesses. Fourth Bluff Park, June 1
Tupelo Elvis Festival Get ready to rock and roll. Downtown Tupelo, June 4-7
Memphis Pride Fest Weekend (Photo: Courtesy Mid-South Pride)
Memphis Pride Fest Weekend A four-day celebration embodying the spirit of the LGBTQ community. Various locations, June 5-8
Memphis Crafts & Drafts Festival Summer Market This event is no rough draft. It was perfectly crafted to fit all your summer market needs. It’s also put on by the Memphis Flyer, which I’ve heard is pretty awesome. Crosstown Concourse, June 7
Fried Chicken Fest Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the Fried Chicken Fest? That doesn’t sound right. The fest is fun for humans though! It’s got fried chicken (with apologies to the chickens that crossed the road), music, and lawn games. Germantown Performing Arts Center, June 7
Craft Food & Wine Festival Delicious food, exquisite wines, and live music, all while supporting Church Health. The Columns, June 8
Betonia Blues Festival With a lineup with the likes of Nick Wade, Jimmy Duck Holmes, Chris Gill & Sole Shakers, and Bobby Rush featuring Mizz Loew, you know you’re in for a good time. Blue Front Cafe, Bentonia, MS
Memphis Brewfest Just brew it. Shelby Farms Park, June 21
Record Fair Girl, put your records on. Tell me your favorite songs from Goner Records, River City Records, and Shangri-La Records ’cause this is the place to buy all your music. Soul & Spirits, June 21
July
Delta Soule Picnic Festival Expect R&B and Southern soul music. Warfield Point Park, Greenville, MS, July 5
Memphis Summer Cocktail Festival Get your drink on. The Kent, July 12
August
Planted Rock Vegan Festival We will … we will … rock you (as long as you’re a plant). This fest promotes vegan foods and will give healthy living tips. Collage Dance Center, August 5
FedEx St. Jude Championship Here’s where I’d insert a golf pun, if I knew any. If you know about golf, I assume you know about this championship. TPC Southwind, August 6-10
Elvis Week (Photo: Courtesy Elvis Presley’s Graceland)
Elvis Week The Elvii are coming! The Elvii are coming! And they’re showing up for music, panels, contests, movies, fan meet-ups, tours, and more. Graceland, August 8-16
Skol-astic Book Fair Ah, book it. Book it real good. Soul & Spirits, August 9
Memphis Chicken & Beer Festival People like chicken; people like beer. Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium Field, August 16
If there’s one thing Preston Lauterbach excels at, it’s creating an almost novelistic sense of place in which his thoroughly researched histories can play out. It’s something many noted about his ambitious surveys of Memphis in the 19th and 20th centuries, Beale Street Dynasty: Sex, Song, and the Struggle for the Soul of Memphis and Bluff City: The Secret Life of Photographer Ernest Withers, which conjure up scenes of a city buzzing on every corner, before zooming in to the subjects at hand.
That also applies to his latest work, Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King. True to its title, Lauterbach, who proclaims from the start that “Elvis Presley is the most important musician in American history,” delves into the stories of those geniuses of 20th-century Black culture who inspired Presley and made him what he was, offering a deep appreciation of their music and their lives as he does so. But he also evokes the sea in which they all swam, as waves of disparate cultures crashed on the bluffs of Memphis at the time.
“The city in the years between 1948, when the Presleys moved there from Tupelo, Mississippi, and 1954, when Elvis recorded his hit debut single,” Lauterbach writes, “was the type of furnace in which great people are forged, fundamentally American in its devastating hostility and uplifting creative energy. Elvis came of age in a revolutionary atmosphere.”
And yet Lauterbach’s first deep dive is, counterintuitively, into the Nashville scene of the ’40s and ’50s. The revolution in radio going on there may have been the Big Bang of rock-and-roll itself, and a hitherto unappreciated element of Presley’s exposure to African-American music in Tupelo, as the 50,000 watt signal of Nashville’s WLAC carried it “from middle Tennessee to the Caribbean and Canada.” When pioneering DJ Gene Nobles broke precedent and began playing African-American jazz, R&B, and blues, he “cracked the dam of conservative white American culture,” and that included Tupelo, a full two years before the Presleys moved to Memphis.
This, Lauterbach posits, was the most likely way a young Elvis would have heard Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right,” prior to making his own version a hit some years later. It had already been a hit for Crudup, who very likely did not play in Tupelo, as Presley later claimed. And from there, Lauterbach begins his fine-grained appreciation of Crudup’s life and career, including the ascent of “That’s All Right” up the charts in the ’40s, fueled in part by its spins on WLAC.
Zooming out for context, cutting to close-ups of Black artists’ lived experiences, and periodically panning over to how young Presley soaked it all in are what make this book a tour de force of both history and storytelling. A host of African-American innovators are celebrated along the way: Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton and her “Hound Dog,” Herman “Little Junior” Parker and his “Mystery Train.” But lesser knowns also receive their due. The influence of guitarist Calvin Newborn’s performance style, and brother Phineas Newborn Jr. along the way, is thoroughly explored, with Newborn’s anecdotes of Presley’s presence on both Beale Street and the family dinner table. And we read the tale of Rev. W. Herbert Brewster, the African-American minister at East Trigg Baptist Church, who not only composed classic gospel songs, but pioneered multiracial services in the Jim Crow era. One direct result of that was Presley’s regular attendance there. But Brewster’s story also reveals how mercenary the music publishing game was, as Mahalia Jackson and her accompanist Theodore Frye claimed at least one of Brewster’s compositions as their own.
Lauterbach does not shy away from the matters of song theft or cultural appropriation that continue to haunt Presley’s legacy. But he notes that Jackson’s usurpation of Brewster’s rights to his own song “was a theft as bold as anything Elvis Presley has been accused of and worse than anything Presley actually did.”
Tellingly, Lauterbach reminds us of the courage it took to blur color lines that seem so hard and fast to many Americans, and for many African Americans this was seen as a positive change. In the final pages, we return to Calvin Newborn’s assessment, who harbored no bitterness over his protégé’s success: “He was a soulful dude.”
Preston Lauterbach will discuss his new book with Robert Gordon at the Memphis Listening Lab on Friday, April 4th, 6 p.m.
Louis Connelly and Mickey Blancq at Kickstart Bar & Grill (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Louis Connelly, owner of Louis Connelly’s Bar for Fun Times & Friendship in Midtown, is continuing his brand of buying “dive bars” with his latest addition, Kickstart Bar & Grill at 5960 Highway 51, about 10 minutes from Millington, Tennessee.
“This is just OG dive bar feel,” Connelly says. “You can tell it’s been around for many years.”
People are going to see motorcycles parked outside. “It’s always been a biker bar. Back in the day, it was probably pretty rough, but from what I hear, all the bikers consider it neutral ground,” says Mickey Blancq, Connelly’s business partner.
Small diamond-shaped windows flank the entrance to Kickstart. A 15-foot Miller High Life beer glass made out of concrete stands on one side of the building. Inside, the place explodes with the colors of the neon beer signs that dot the walls along with photographs and old album covers. “Weasel,” one of the regulars, attached various things to the walls over the years, Blancq says. “Every inch is covered,” he says. “All kinds of stuff. Old beer signs, license plates. You name it. Elvira cutouts.”
“You look around and you’re in a totally different world,” Connelly says.
Two pool tables stand in a separate room to the right of the bar. And a “really beautiful shuffleboard table” stands to the left when you walk in. Adam Phillips, who, along with his wife Mitzi, previously owned Kickstart, “services shuffleboards all around the city,” Connelly says.
The clientele ranges from “young 30s” to people “in their 80s,” Connelly says.
“Everyone here looks out for everybody else,” Blancq says. “If they have a bad character, they all band together: ‘You’re not welcome here’ kind of deal. ‘This is our house,’ you know.
“They have a list of people who have been banned over the years,” Connelly says. “It’s passed down. People who currently work there have never met them. They’ve been banned in previous administrations, so to speak. We’re keeping that list going.”
Connelly is impressed with his customer base. “Every time we’ve been out here, everyone is so super nice,” he says. “They all know each other and they’ve all got names for each other. That’s how they introduce themselves: ‘My name is this, but people call me this.’”
One guy goes by “Bobby Two Hats.” Another goes by “Dog.” “He barked at me,” Connelly says.
Another “Bobby,” Bobby Crisel, goes by his “Bobby Big Head” nickname. “Ever since I was in elementary school I’ve been called ‘Big Head,’” Crisel says, adding, “I’ve had it my whole life. I just have a big head.”
Crisel, 56, who lives in Shelby Forest, owned Kickstart for about four years around 2016 when it was known as The Point. But he’s been around the bar most of his life. “I kind of grew up in that place.”
Kickstart Bar & Grill went by other names over the years. It was known as The Point before Crisel owned it. Then it changed to Tom Cat’s and then Chuck’s before going back to The Point. “It’s an old dive bar,” Crisel says. “Been that way my whole lifetime.”
It was called The Point because it’s at Old Millington Road and Highway 51, Crisel says. “Right there at the point of them. Still today, all the old people say, ‘We’re going to The Point.’”
For now, Kickstart serves “just beer and a couple of nice hard lemonade-type drinks,” Connelly says. “We have applied for a liquor license, and we’ll be adding liquor in a couple of weeks.”
As for its cuisine, Connelly says, “There’s a small food menu. All bars are required to serve food.”
Kickstart’s menu is “not as extensive” as their Midtown bar at 322 South Cleveland Street in Midtown. “They don’t have fryers. It’s pizzas and nachos. We may end up changing that a little bit. We just bought a new pizza oven. The current pizza oven was Bobby Big Head’s dad’s pizza oven they were borrowing.”
They’re considering putting in one of those “gas station hot dog grilling stations,” Connelly says. And bringing in food trucks is “probably something down the road,” Blancq says.
We don’t want to change too much, but we want to put a slightly more professional face on this,” Connelly says. “Make sure the equipment is up to code.”
Like its regulars, Connelly and Blancq love Kickstart Bar & Grill, which is about a 15- to 20-minute drive from Midtown. “We want it to succeed,” Connelly says. “This is a nice place to be when you’re not home or at work.”
