Author: Andrew Caldwell

Enlighten us. But make it quick.

That was the challenge given to 16 presenters at LaunchMemphis’ third annual Ignite Memphis event, held on November 10th at the Memphis BioWorks auditorium.

With events hosted across the globe, community-powered Ignite events feature rapid-fire presentations on random subjects. Presenters are given five minutes to share their passion using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds.

Topics at Ignite Memphis ranged from the secret history of the city to how James Bond ruined the martini.

“James Bond doesn’t know jack squat about cocktails, as smart and cunning as he may be,” said presenter Dan Price. “Not only is he ordering his drinks not shaken, but he’s also ordering vodka martinis most of the time. And that presents two fundamental problems: in the technique and in the ingredients.”

In the presentation “The Secret History of Memphis, Tennessee,” Zachary Whitten discussed the legalization of prostitution in Memphis, how The Memphis Appeal (the forerunner to The Commercial Appeal) was originally a pro-seccession publication, and the rise of opiate abuse during the Civil War.

Derwin Sisnett spoke on “The Psychology of a Healthy Community,” where he provided ideas, like creating communities that center around schools and combining residential and commercial elements into a single space (like Harbor Town), to fulfill the entrepreneurial and educational needs of Memphis.

There was also a collection of more eclectic and light-hearted topics, like “The Wonderful World of ComiCostuming” in which presenter Laurel Amatangelo explained the intricacies of creating costumes for events like ComiCon. And then there was the totally absurd (but kind of brilliant) presentation by Jonathan McCarver titled “This Is Why You Are Dumb!”

“I’m not calling you dumb, but so many people just don’t think,” McCarver said, before going into a diatribe about “morning wood,” which he said is simply an evolutionary mechanism. He also explained “why teenagers are assholes” (because they’ve developed to the point of being ready to move out) and why you can’t sleep at night (“You haven’t done anything”).

“We like to steer away from cohesive themes,” said Eric Mathews, president of LaunchMemphis, which provides support for start-up businesses. “We’re more interested in selecting more diverse speakers and topics: stuff that’s fun, enlightening, educational, and represents different parts of our community.”

There were 25 submissions for last week’s Ignite Memphis, and 16 were selected for presentations.

“Our primary goal is to build community in our connectivity,” Mathews said. “We also want to give people some interesting things to talk about.”

Attendees were asked to vote the People’s Choice Award by ranking their top-three favorite presentations. The winners, who will get bragging rights until the next Ignite event, will be announced later this week.

LaunchMemphis is already accepting proposals for the next Ignite Memphis, slated to be held next spring. Submissions may be made at ignitememphis.com, which also includes videos from past Ignite presentations.

Tourists visiting Memphis can now access the city’s hidden gems and well-frequented haunts in the palm of their hands.

Two weeks ago, the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) released their Memphis Travel Guide app, allowing visitors to travel like a local. Users pinpoint attractions, hotels, restaurants, and events located nearby using the app’s GPS-mapping function. The free app is currently available for iPhones, with a scheduled Android release later this month.

“If you’re on the corner of Front and Union and you want to know which bands are playing nearby, [the app] can pull up all of those that are within walking distance and give you directions,” said Bob Hazlett, the CVB’s director of online marketing.

Mobile guides are emerging as the latest trend in the tourism industry, according to CVB public relations manager Jonathan Lyons.

“Cities like Kansas City, Asheville, and St. Louis are all adapting by creating official apps for their destinations,” Lyons said.

“With the explosion of smartphone ownership, we knew it was important for us to create a pocket-guide app, [which lets users] know where they’re going and how to find everything around them. It’s much easier than trying to use a printed brochure,” Hazlett said.

The app also provides a direct link to the “I Love Memphis” blog and insider articles, providing itineraries, top 10 lists, and cultural and historical information on Memphis’ well-known spots.

The CVB recently revamped their website to list more events, reviews, and daily deals offered by businesses and restaurants around town. All of the information from their website is automatically streamed into the mobile app.

But the app isn’t just for tourists. Besides acting as a guide to restaurants and events that locals may not be aware of, the app also contains digital coupons for attractions and restaurants, much like the popular apps for Groupon or Living Social. There are discounted admissions to local museums, like the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and the Pink Palace Museum, as well as coupons to local bars, restaurants, and shops. There’s even a deal on subscriptions to the Flyer’s sister publication, Memphis magazine.

“Right now, it’s an efficient tool, but there are so many different possibilities in terms of where to take this,” Lyons said. “We’ve got some cool stuff planned, like an alternate-reality feature, where you can actually hold your phone’s [camera] up and get reviews. You’ll get a better guide to the city by looking through the lens of your camera.”

Besides offering a more user-friendly way to navigate the city, Lyons said the app also has an environmentally friendly advantage.

“We’ve cut back the number of printed brochures produced,” Lyons said. “This year, we’ll probably print about the same number as last year, but those numbers have been dwindling over the past couple of years. There will probably be one day when we don’t print any more [brochures].”

With its ceiling illuminated by scattered holes from a 2009 fire, the bedroom on the second floor of 406 Lucy Avenue in South Memphis doesn’t look like it had been home to a queen.

But, indeed, this was where the “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin laid her head for her first three years of life.

“This is the room she was born in,” said Herb Jackson, director of development for the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Foundation, as we enter the charred bedroom.

Franklin’s childhood home is slated to become a museum in her honor, and Jackson’s R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Foundation is behind the project. Jackson said though there’s much work to do, big things are in store for the property.

“I believe it’s a great project, probably one of the biggest things to hit Memphis in a long time,” Jackson said.

While still in the early planning stages, the home’s restoration is the first thing R.E.S.P.E.C.T. plans to address.

“We’re going to restore this to as close to the original state as possible. We don’t want to move it because we’ll lose a lot of it in translation, considering the age and condition of the house. So we’re going to keep it right where it is and build around it,” Jackson said.

The home is currently owned by Memphian Vera Lee House, and she was in the process of fixing the place up to become a tourist attraction before fire struck in 2009. Now, Jackson’s R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Foundation, which is currently fund-raising for the project, is stepping in to help.

Their multi-million dollar plan includes two additional facilities across the street and next door to Franklin’s home, which will house a community center, coffee shop, an exhibit displaying a timeline of Franklin’s life, a gift shop, and the C. L. Franklin Memorial Chapel dedicated to Aretha’s father, a Baptist minister in Memphis before they moved to Detroit. The museum also will offer music and arts education classes for kids.

“You might look at this as an economic revitalization tool for this community, and at some point in time, we plan to expand further down [Lucy]. It’s kind of long-range but definitely doable,” Jackson said.

The neighborhood around Franklin’s childhood home has deteriorated over the years. But Jackson said the museum project has inspired a few residents to fix up their homes.

“We planned this center as a beacon of hope for the community, and they’re definitely enthusiastic about the project,” Jackson said. “We’re getting calls from some of the neighbors, who have already started working on their properties. We’ve done some inspiring and encouraging.”

There’s no projected completion date for the museum, but Jackson said he hopes to have it open by the spring of 2013, around Franklin’s 71st birthday. He said the project has Franklin’s blessing.

“Aretha’s worthy of this honor,” Jackson said. “She’s won 18 Grammys. She was the youngest person to be honored at the Kennedy Center. She’s had 45 Top 40 singles since 1965. We think she’s more than deserving.”

For Memphis College of Art’s 75th birthday, the school got a new president.

Ronald Jones, the 12th president in MCA’s history, was inaugurated earlier this month in a ceremony at the Levitt Shell. Jones is replacing Jeff Nesin, who led the school for nearly 20 years.

Before arriving at MCA, Jones served as dean of the College of the Arts at the University of South Florida, and he was appointed co-chair of the National Arts Education Council while promoting the role of the arts in higher education.

In an increasingly unstable economy, Jones says he hopes to teach art students a little about business and entrepreneurialism. — Andrew Caldwell

Flyer: What’s your vision for the future of MCA?

Jones: I’ve had the good fortune to come to an excellent institution that’s going in the right direction, and it doesn’t need a major overhaul or a new motor. What it needs is to be more focused in a way that’s more attentive to the primary mission: the preparation of future artists and designers.

How do you plan to achieve that?

Before I came to MCA, the faculty made a 10-year commitment to preparing [students] for things that go beyond what we normally teach in art schools: creativity, inventiveness, design sensibilities.

Unlike the artist of yesterday, the artist of today and tomorrow must be able to communicate in a skillful and practiced way. This is something that’s not embedded in the current curriculum. We are intending to start doing that. It won’t be a course at the end where we say, You’re almost ready to step out into the real world. Let us dust you off and fine-tune you to go out into the world. We’ll do it over the four years that the student is here.

Would that mean a stronger emphasis on the liberal arts?

I think it will mean a lot of things, and we’re just in the first stages. The role of liberal studies is going to increase because significant work coming out of an artist or designer requires that it be informed by liberal studies. There’s also the need to understand business, entrepreneurial models, to make things happen when there’s no job out there for you because you’ve chosen to be a freelance designer or a painter.

Can you say something about MCA’s role in the Memphis community?

I think [the Nesin Graduate School] is the best example of the role we see ourselves playing in Memphis. A part of the city, South Main, needs attention and an infusion of energy and excitement, and we’re willing to spend our energy and time with the downtown graduate center to help stimulate the area, to be a catalyst for other businesses and other arts entities coming in, and through that process, inviting other kinds of economic activities.

What do you think it means for a city like Memphis to serve as home for an arts institution?

If you think of any really significant city, you’ll always find a lively arts community. The odds are, you’re going to find colleges and schools of the arts and music that are participating and contributing to the liveliness, vitality, excitement, and vigor that can only come from the arts.