School of Rock, Moxy, Crawfish

If you haven’t heard one of the School of Rock house bands perform, make sure you do. They’re amazing.

I wrote about the school’s owner, president, and operator, Marc Gurley, years ago when he was in Dust for Life and Southbound. Now, he’s helping young people learn everything from the fundamentals of playing an instrument to performing live on stage and transitioning into a professional musician.

School of Rock includes Memphis, Germantown, and Wolfchase schools. Each school has a general manager. “Roughly 500 students between the three schools,” says Gurley, who opened the Memphis school in 2013. He later acquired Germantown and recently got Wolfchase. All are franchises of the worldwide School of Rock, which has over 250 schools around the world.

I went to some of the school’s recent shows featuring School of Rock students and I was blown away. Brown Eyed Girl, which I’ve heard a million or so times, sounded so fresh and, well, great. That was at a show featuring the Memphis house band as well as the Germantown house band at Newby’s. These bands gig around town and tour across the country.

I also went to a show, which was held at Lafayette’s Music Room, that featured students from the Memphis school performing together on stage.

The next part of that show featured students paired with members of noted Memphis bands: Lucero, FreeWorld, Marcella & Her Lovers, The Dirty Streets, Chinese Connection Dub Embassy, and Star and Micey. “We’ve only done that twice,” Gurley says. “It’s hard to pull off and find flexibility in the musicians’ schedules.”

But it’s important, he says, “that in a city that’s so rich in music heritage that we also pay tribute to what is happening currently.“

And it’s also important to expose the students to great Memphis performers, Gurley says.

Harlan Hutton, a graduate of School of Rock, went on to form her own band. Harlan is “a former student that goes to school at Rhodes and has a successful band that is touring: Harlan. She learned her craft and really came to us at the beginning. She had been a hard core dancer all her life and was on that path and she chose to take a different path. Her guitar playing and songwriting, we feel a big part of that.”

Other respected members of the Memphis music scene taught at School of Rock. These include Joshua Cosby, Jeremy Stanfill, and Geoff Smith from Star & Micey.

Gurley has great memories of being in bands. “It led me to where I belong – doing this and not being on the road. ‘Cause that was not my path – being on the road and touring – although it’s awesome. I ended up where I needed to be.”

“Moxy” means “confidence” and “courage.”

So, the Moxy Memphis Downtown hotel lives up to its name. It’s the opposite of a traditional hotel. There are no “bellmen,” “deskmen,” or other hotel job titles. All employees are referred to as crew members. Their uniform consists of jeans, T-shirts, and tennis shoes.

The hotel at 40 North Front Street held its “Coming Out VIP Party” March 5th.

“The purpose was really to announce to the Memphis area that we’re here and to show Memphis what we’re all about,” says operations manager Ryan Marsh.

To help them announce, the hotel featured a range of activities, including henna tattoo artists, a tarot reader, “drag queen bingo,” fire performers, live music, deejays, a Gibson’s doughnut wall, a taco truck, and more.

There were about 400 attended, Marsh says. “It was a huge hit.”

If you missed it, you still can take advantage of Moxy Memphis Downtown gatherings beginning in April. “We will start every Friday and Saturday to have a live band or deejay in our public space,” Marsh says.

“Public space” is Moxy’s word for “lobby.”

Michael Donahue

Curtis Pandas and Ryan Marsh at Moxy.

Michael Donahue

Harbinger of Spring IV: Crawfish. Glaze Hardage is on the job at ‘Glaze’s Crawfish’ at Max’s Sports Bar.

Crawfish definitely is one of the harbingers of Spring.

Glaze Hardage and his business partner, Ricky O’Rourke, began selling boiled crawfish February 1st at “Glaze’s Crawfish” at Max’s Sports Bar in the South Main Arts District.

“I think we did about 270 [pounds] that day,” Hardage says. “We’re there every Saturday that it’s not raining until June. The bar opens at 11. We start serving at noon until about 4 or 5.”

You’ll know when Hardage is at Max’s. “Look for the crawfish flags flying out front on Saturdays.”

His boiled crawfish comes with corn, sausage, and potatoes. And, he says, “We use pineapples. And we have a special seasoning blend we call ‘G Bomb.’”

I asked Hardage to tell me what was in that special seasoning. “A little this. A little that.”

His crawfish comes from Billy’s Crawfish in Southaven. “He brings them up about three or four times a week from South Louisiana.”

Crawfish will get cheaper, Hardage says. “As the season progresses our prices will drop as the price of crawfish drops.”

Max’s provides a variety of libations to wash down the crawfish. “Max’s is also the home of the $2.75 PBR pint. Along with a good assortment of whiskies. And they also have frozen drinks.”

During most of the rest of the week Hardage is a cook at Blink, the restaurant in Southern College of Optometry. His mother, Melissa Williams, is the chef.

Hardage will concur crawfish is a sign of spring. And March 20th – the first day of Spring   – is a special occasion in another way. “My birthday is the first day of Spring. Next Friday.”