Author: Andrew Caldwell

One Midtown gas station is getting an artistic overhaul.

After a handful of failed attempts at beautifying Discount Gas on the corner of Poplar and Tucker, Loeb Properties, owner of the gas station and a number of other Midtown properties, turned to students at Memphis College of Art (MCA) to help spruce up the property.

Over the last few months, the design department at MCA dedicated one of their upper-level design classes, led by Hyuna Park, to head the project.

“Loeb is studying Midtown Memphis where we have a lot of our properties,” said Tom Hayes, vice president of construction for Loeb Properties. “We’ve done some murals in the past that have been well received, so we wanted to do more.”

Loeb left the vision for the project almost entirely up to the students, and at the end of the semester, they had drawn up plans for a mural and a completely new image for the exterior of the building.

For the students involved in the project, the mural and renovation of the property was an opportunity to work collaboratively with a business owner and the neighboring community on a real-world project, said John Pennington, one of the design students.

The theme was decided after students polled community members on what they’d like to see in the mural. The nearly completed mural on the east-facing wall, which represents the first step in renovating the property, boasts a dynamic, geometric, brilliantly colored design that reads “Midtown Is Our Memphis.”

“We knew we wanted a mural, but MCA ended up designing all four sides of the building and helping us with the overall design,” Hayes said. “They weren’t really obligated to paint it, but there are a couple of students who have stepped up to paint the mural.”

Loeb is footing the bill for all supplies, an anti-graffiti coating to protect the mural, and any outside labor costs, estimated at $12,000. They also paid for some recent landscaping.

“We wanted to get a working relationship set up with Memphis College of Art, and this is the first run with establishing that relationship,” Hayes said. “We didn’t know if they would just do the design and get out, but we’ve been delighted to see that they’ve done the design and they’re actually painting the darn thing. It also lets us connect with young, creative, and able-bodied artist types who we can work with in the future.”

Hayes said that Loeb is also interested in working with the sculpture department at MCA as they develop Overton Square and some of their other properties throughout Midtown.

They eventually hope to hold design competitions for the public art at some of the Overton Square properties. Those competitions would be open to the public, and the winning designer would get the job of implementing that design.

When an organized group meets weekly in a bar, one would expect them to do just one thing: drink.

But the Salty Dogs, now nearly three years old, put in a good calorie burn before they knock back their brewskis. Downtown’s only organized running group meets every Monday at Bardog Tavern on Monroe. While drinking is certainly involved, it’s less of an end than a means to lighten up each week’s run.

The group’s founder, Jen Barker, said she formed the Salty Dogs shortly after she moved to Memphis as an attempt to fill the gap of downtown running clubs.

“I was new to the Memphis area and was looking for a way to connect with people who were interested in the same things that I’m interested in: running. And I happen to like beer a lot,” Barker said. “I was also employed at Bardog at that time as a bartender, so it just made sense to meet there.”

The grassroots running club claims a humble beginning: After Barker posted flyers across Midtown and downtown, about 10 people showed up to the earliest meetings.

“I used to run in high school and took a four-year break through college,” said Jessica Grammer, one of the original members. “I wanted to get back into shape and into the running scene, which I had no clue existed outside of high school. Little did I know, there was a whole city filled with the running scene.” 

Slowly but steadily, the group has grown substantially over the years with up to 50 runners joining in by the time Barker moved to Boston in 2010.

The group’s name is not without rhyme or reason, and it’s more than just a reference to their home base, Bardog.

“I wanted to somehow pull in the fact that we were going to be drinking and also that we would be running,” Barker said. “The Salty Dog [a cocktail] is basically a Greyhound with salt on the rim of the glass, so there’s alcohol involved and you get salty [from the sweat] when you run.”

“There is no commitment, no fees, a new route each week, special events, and the opportunity to connect with others who are at all fitness levels,” Grammer said. “Not to mention Bardog Tavern gives us specials each week, which is another incentive.”

The route changes each week, but it always falls between three to six miles with shorter options available for beginners. The runs begin at Bardog at 7 p.m. every Monday, and all are welcome to join.

The Salty Dogs will host their annual Breakaway/Bardog Tavern 5K on August 18th. Proceeds benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and registration is open at Breakaway Running, Bardog Tavern, and online (http://breakaway-bardog5k.com/category/memphis/).

Memphis seems to be on the up-and-up when it comes to craft beer with Ghost River Brewing Company’s recent expansion into bottling and the ever-growing availability of craft brews imported from other cities. Now, the local beer scene is poised to reach new heights with another craft brewery slated to open downtown this September.

High Cotton Brewing Company, which should be able to produce about 14 kegs of beer at a time, will be located in an 8,700-square-foot brewery building at 598 Monroe across from Kudzu’s Bar & Grill in the Edge District. High Cotton founders Mike Lee of Mid-South Malts, lawyer Brice Timmons, Memphis Light, Gas, & Water utilities engineer Ryan Staggs, United Airlines pilot Ross Avery, and a silent investor eventually plan to open a taproom next door to the brewery. — Andrew Caldwell

Flyer: Where does High Cotton Brewing fit into the Memphis beer scene?

Mike Lee: We want to be very local. Hopefully, we can get some neighborhood participation and support the local community through quality craft beer.

Can you talk about the Southern feel you are aiming for?

Most of us have had family members involved in the cotton business, so that’s how we chose the name High Cotton Brewing Company. Of course, beer isn’t all that Southern in origin, but Southerners have always been known for doing things very well. There’s a lot of effort and high-quality products, especially with things like whiskey, so that’s what we envision doing with our beer.

It may be too early to say, but do you have any styles of beer lined up?

We’ll probably start with two regular beers. Once we can proceed with our taproom plans, we’ll have maybe eight to 10 beers at a time, so we plan to hit a bunch of different styles. There’s a bill going through the legislature now that is trying to change the definition of beer in Tennessee from 5 percent alcohol by weight to 12 percent. If that passes, you’d better believe we’re going to brew some big beers.

I understand you’ll be working with a relatively small system: seven barrels. Are you planning on distributing, or will all of your beer be served from your taproom?

We will distribute, and the good news is we can self-distribute in Shelby County, so we don’t need a distributor. We can save some money that way. Initially, we’re only going to do kegs, and we’ll be selling growlers [half-gallon containers] out of the taproom. We’re working on getting new 32-ounce, biodegradable growlers that we can fill and sell.

Last Saturday, crowds descended on Goner Records and Shangri-La Records to celebrate what may be among the most obscure of holidays.

Record Store Day was first celebrated in 2007 as a means of showing support and celebrating the culture and music provided by independent record stores. Celebrated nationwide in over 700 independently owned stores and hundreds more in Canada and Europe, the holiday marks a chance for musicians to make public never-before-released rarities and one-offs that are only available on Record Store Day.

“There’s a collective of independent record stores that came up with this idea, and it’s just grown from that,” said Zac Ives, co-owner of Goner Records. “It’s a nice way to get people out to support us.”

Because of the limited nature of these special releases, most stores only receive a few boxes with an assorted collection of the day’s goodies. A few widely anticipated releases included rare LPs from Widespread Panic and Animal Collective and studio releases from Stax Records. The devoted vinyl community gathered outside Memphis’ two participating stores hours before their doors opened at 10 a.m.

“I arrived at 7 a.m.,” said Chris Lemanski, after he’d finished shopping at Shangri-La. “You really felt secluded; that it was a special thing that only about 20 or 30 people would experience, only the diehard fans who are willing to sit outside and wait.”

Before the doors opened, the audiophiles who had lined up early began strategizing by asking each other what they were there to buy. At Shangri-La, three small boxes on the front counter held the day’s releases, and they were quickly surrounded in a free-for-all as the patient few rifled through the rare treasures.

“Going into the store, it felt like Christmas in a sense because you’re not really sure what you’re going to get,” Lemanski said. “You know you’re going to find something. Everyone was excited for the same thing: that they might be able to get something they’ve been looking for, something they know they won’t ever see again.”

“It’s always been a good day [for us],” Ives said. “This year may have been our best [Record Store Day], and it seems to get bigger every year.”

In the age of the mp3, it might seem strange that some share a passion for vinyl. But collectors still wax poetic about their love for the medium.

“‘Why vinyl?’ is like asking ‘Why drive a stick-shift car over an automatic?,'” Lemanski explained. “Automatic is easier, and you can get where you want without thinking too much. Vinyl for me is just simply about having much more control and closeness. It’s a bit more of a sincere sound. You have the warmth to it and the detail.”

“I don’t think [vinyl] has ever really left,” Ives said. “For me, vinyl is more tangible; it’s a real object. Especially now that everything is moving toward digital, the tangible aspect is really preferable to people who are looking for more of a listening experience instead of just clicking on iTunes.”

Many of Memphis’ historic structures may be at risk of collapsing if a New Madrid earthquake occurs.

But a group of businesses along South Main are teaming with structural engineers and seismologists on a seismic retrofit and historic conservation demonstration project to help protect some of the city’s more vulnerable buildings.

The group, with approximately six months of research under its belt, is now working on a fund-raising campaign to make one South Main building able to withstand an earthquake.

The retrofitted structure will then be opened to the public, offering educational programs and resources to help neighboring property owners make the first step towards reinforcing their own structures.

The group has not yet decided on which South Main building will be retrofitted for the example project, but they have been conducting a case study on the Grawemeyer’s restaurant building at 520 South Main.

“When I came here [after working as a structural engineer in San Francisco], it really shocked me that all of these old brick buildings aren’t fit to survive an earthquake, particularly those on South Main, where there are so many vibrant businesses, galleries, and culture. Yet they’re crumbling,” said Dmetri Ozeryansky of Ozeryansky Engineering.

There are currently no physical connections between many of the brick walls to the wooden joists. So when an earthquake occurs, the brick wall is likely to fall into the street.

Anchors, which fasten the exterior of the building to the wooden joists inside by using large bolts, will help stabilize the structure in case of an earthquake. Repointing mortar and replacing wooden decking can also help buildings withstand a quake.

“Even though people talk about the big [earthquake], we’re not expecting the big one for at least the next two or three hundred years,” Ozeryansky said. “But we are expecting something more moderate, something like they had in Virginia or Oklahoma City over the last year.”

A medium-sized earthquake is only expected to damage or destroy some of the older, more fragile buildings that were originally built using inexpensive materials like brick, while those built to code with steel and reinforced concrete should be in the clear.

“One of the really big distinctions we want to make is that we’re not saying, ‘Bring these structures up to code,'” Ozeryansky said. “A lot of people are saying that they can’t afford to bring their buildings up to code, which is true. It’s very expensive to bring one of these buildings up to modern code. That would require you to build a whole new structure within [the building], and that costs a lot of money.”

Instead, the group is proposing to bring these buildings up to or close to the International Existing Buildings code, which would still fortify properties against potential earthquakes while remaining affordable.

In a meeting on Tuesday, the group, including members from Memphis Heritage and seismologists from the University of Memphis, met with South Main property owners to discuss the cultural importance of Memphis’ old brick buildings and the need for structural reinforcement.

“We want to provide some kind of education for the buildings’ owners,” Ozeryansky said. “We want to show them what needs to be done and how much it costs. But we also want to advocate. We want to work with the city, bring the mayor in, and work with all of the different commissions.”

The group also hopes to provide some of the resources needed — tax breaks or monetary incentives — to help property owners begin the retrofitting process. Costs are expected to fall between $5 and $20 per square foot, depending on the size and condition of the building.

“All of the old neighborhoods have a lot of culture. These are very valuable properties, and they’re worth investing in,” Ozeryansky said. “Plus or minus 20 years, these buildings are around a hundred years old. And now that people are moving back in and reinvesting, we want them to last.”

The demonstration project is tentatively scheduled to open sometime next year.

School buses, notorious for spitting out smelly diesel exhaust, aren’t exactly known as green vehicles.

But around 120 Shelby County school buses are slated to get an eco-friendly facelift by June, thanks to efforts by the Shelby County Health Department.

To date, 70 of those buses have been retrofitted using clean diesel technologies such as closed crankcase ventilation systems and diesel particulate filters designed to reduce emissions and pollution upwards of 95 percent by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) estimations.

While the health department is focusing on the health of local children, the school bus retrofit project should prove beneficial for the entire community by helping reduce the amount of pollution going into the city’s air, water, and soil.

“These diesel retrofit [projects] are going on all around the country,” said Larry Smith, supervisor of the Shelby County Health Department. “Diesel vehicles, not just school buses, tend to have a longer service life than your average gas-burning car. So we have a lot of older vehicles that don’t have the pollution control equipment still running.”

Most diesel vehicles created after 2005 are equipped with clean diesel technology. By replacing the exhaust systems on older buses with technology to filter out most of the particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxides, the health department is mitigating the amount of noxious fumes students inhale inside and around school buses.

The pollutants have been known to cause a number of lung problems including asthma, bronchitis, non-fatal heart attacks, and several cancers, according to the EPA.

And while there is little data available on the amount of fumes and pollutants that leak into buses without clean diesel technology, the new eco-friendly systems should ensure only fresh air makes it inside the retrofitted buses.

Depending on the engine configuration on each school bus, the EPA estimates the cost of retrofitting to range from $8,000 to $50,000 per bus, though Smith argues that the Shelby County school buses tend to fall on the less expensive side.

“We only have two types of [school buses],” Smith said, “and both are beautiful fits with this technology.”

Funding for the project, which was approved by Shelby County government and the EPA, is coming from a past settlement with Cargill Inc. totaling $500,000. Smith said that’s enough money to cover the project.

“Every bus that qualifies for retrofitting is going to get it, which is a really great thing about this project. We’re not going to miss any [school bus],” Smith said.

The health department is also beginning to work with the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) on a similar project with older city buses, Smith said.

“With budgets being tight, [MATA] is running their buses a bit longer than usual,” Smith said, “so we’re talking with them about that project.”