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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (April 2, 2015) …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About the Flyer’s cover story, ”Spring Brews” …

Local craft beer is one of those rare issues that Memphians, regardless of political affiliation, can come together on. Right now, a David-versus-Goliath fight is brewing in Washington between two competing beer bills. The big guys are pushing the Small Brew Act, which essentially benefits four brewers by redefining the “small brewer” as 6 million barrels. On the other side is H.R. 767, the Fair Brewers Excise and Economic Relief (Fair BEER) Act, which cuts the federal excise tax to zero for brewers who produce less than 7,143 barrels.

The Fair BEER Act will help small craft breweries survive and grow and will make it easier for future entrepreneurs to pursue their craft-beer dreams. If you love local beer, then it is time to support your local breweries and encourage Tennessee’s delegation to co-sponsor and support the Fair BEER Act.

Brandon Chase Goldsmith

A terrific piece. Thanks, gang. A whole bunch of new reasons to day drink.

Dave Clancy

About the Flyer’s editorial, “No to Vouchers” …

I hate to keep beating a dead horse here, but people really don’t seem to grasp the point of education in the state of Tennessee. No one is getting properly educated because it costs too much. But that money still has to be spent. Do you really want to give it to all those unionized school teachers so they can teach (destroy the minds of Tennessee youth with) their socialism and evolution theory and feminazi tolerance fascism?

So if you’re not going to actually educate anyone, but you still have to spend the education money, why not give it to your pastor and his private school, or to your friends and retired mayors who are trying to get a piece of that sweet, sweet charter school grift? The money has to be spent. So spend it in the right places, not the wrong places.

That’s the whole point of charter schools and school vouchers. The longer we continue to pretend the voucher proponents and the representatives of charter schools have a legitimate desire to educate the children of Tennessee and that we merely disagree on the best method to accomplish this goal, the quicker they will accomplish their goal of destroying public education altogether. Because that is their goal. Jeff

I don’t know that you will get much agreement that “no one is getting properly educated.” We are sure that a lot of our suburban children are getting educated pretty well. At least standardized testing says so, and they do seem to succeed when they move on to college.

Teachers are not allowed to unionize in Tennessee, either. They can have educational associations, but without the possibility of striking, these are pretty much advisory rather than adversarial relationships with their school boards.

The legislature is determined to fix the educational system in Tennessee. So far, they have tried the ASD which, let’s face it, has produced mixed and uneven results. Charter schools have been tried, with perhaps more success. We shall see as time passes whether the charter school experiment will pan out.

I think the voucher bills in the legislature are headed for passage, and we shall see what comes of it. Proposing an ulterior motive for all these efforts is just wrong. Ill conceived, foolish, wasteful, (add your adjective of choice here), maybe. But an intentional effort to enrich some at the expense of public education? Nah.

Arlington Pop

About Jackson Baker’s Politics column, “Bobby Jindal Talks Tough on Islam” …

After reading this, I have to wonder if Bobby Jindal has ever been to Louisiana.

Autoegocrat

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (March 26, 2015) …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s editor’s note, “Sammons ‘R Us” …

I read Bruce VanWyngarden’s editorial for the March 12th issue with stunned disbelief. We’re all supposed to be happy not only that this “connected” character, Jack Sammons, has lots of power but also will now “run” a newspaper? Never mind how irrelevant your paper is now. Surely one doesn’t have to go all the way back to the great muckraker days to find journalists who would be troubled by a chief officer of anything running their own paper? And I guess your new position on “pesky laws” that prevent conflict of interest is that they are unnecessary relics of the past? But congratulations on thoroughly brown-nosing your new boss on his way through the door.

John E. Cox

Editor’s note: Mr. Cox, I read your letter in stunned disbelief, as well.

About Bianca Phillips’ cover story, “Getting Schooled” …

Sounds like a lot of territorial bickering between two entities, “This is my school yard and I don’t care if you want to put down green grass for the children to play on; our dirt yard is just fine, so go away.” Our local school system has failed for years in educating our children and it sounds like the schools that have been taken over by the ASD are making a lot of positive gains and turn-arounds. The priority here is educating our children and we should be willing to do whatever it takes to get this done.

Pamela Cates

About Wendi C. Thomas’ column, “The Long Shadow” …

If the family structure is a primary predictor of an individual’s life chances, and if family disintegration is the principal cause of the transmission of poverty and despair in the black community over the past 50 years, then family integration will stabilize the institution and offer children hope.

For once and for all, we must reach out and “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Walking on eggshells out of fear or guilt, being angry at the sins of the past, or throwing money at a problem that only the heart can solve must end.

MempHis1

It’s a puzzle: “middle and upper class parents who hoard opportunity for their kids” are the same people who oppress by riding in bike lanes.

Brunetto Latini

About Jackson Baker’s post, “Flinn: Change of Venue Not the Reason for Leaving Council” …

Personally, I’m glad Shea is leaving. His lack of lunacy and apparent common sense really took away from the overall character of the council. Ditto for that other stick in the mud Jim Strickland. We need more dancing and redacted credit card invoices!

Smitty1961

About Tim Sampson’s Rant …

It was interesting to discover that three of the seven Republicans who did not sign Senator Tom Cotton’s letter to the leaders of Iran were Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander, and Thad Cochran.

For these three men, it would have been in their best political interests to go along with the rest of their Republican colleagues. But they put their country above their own political interests and refused to sign a letter that was so wrong and dangerous in so many ways and one that may guarantee that a deal in the best interests of the U. S. and the entire world is not reached.

These Senators should be praised for showing real leadership and real political courage.

Philip Williams

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s editor’s note, “The Heart and Soul of Memphis” …

I was born and raised in Memphis but now call Nashville home. I live in the middle of one of the hottest neighborhoods in the country’s “It City,” but still miss the soul of Memphis. It’s something that all the new money, popularity, real estate prices, and relocated hipsters will never understand … and certainly can’t replicate.

MT Blake

Categories
Editorial Opinion

No to Vouchers

One of the more significant pieces of news reported on Tuesday was that Governor Bill Haslam had met in Nashville with the superintendents of Tennessee’s four largest urban school systems, including Shelby County

Schools (SCS), in an effort to avert litigation against the state on behalf of those systems.

Apparently, the governor made some efforts to meet the superintendents halfway on their joint concern that the state’s funding of their districts is woefully inferior to what is required. SCS head Dorsey Hopson was typical of the other superintendents in his optimistic assessment afterward that the governor is “committed to improving education outcomes in Tennessee.” For his part, Haslam acknowledged the urban districts’ special needs in saying, “Our challenge in a budget is always how do you make everything work.”

As we were reflecting on that challenge, we were struck by a statement submitted to us this week by Shelby County Commissioner David Reaves, a Republican like Haslam and a former member of the SCS board. Reaves’ words, which address the prospect of ongoing school-voucher legislation in the General Assembly, are relevant to the governor’s dilemma and bear repeating:

“The state of Tennessee has proven that it is not willing to adequately fund education. And the proof is in the pudding as the state ranks 47th in education funding and places a significant tax burden on county governments to make up the rest. This is the main driving force behind the high tax rate in Shelby County. Sixty percent of our county property tax rate is made up of county education funding and the associated debt. 

“Case in point is Governor Haslam, as he promises to raise the funding for pay increase for teachers while systematically cutting the Basic Education Program allocations in other areas. … [T]he State of Tennessee requires certain standards and ratios for things like classroom size that cannot be changed. If fewer tax dollars are available, the difference will fall to local tax authorities or either a cut in quality education programs. 

“Vouchers will take already underfunded schools resources at the state level and place more burden on local governments to make up the difference, while at the same time raising the classroom sizes and cutting course offerings. 

“To do this across the backdrop of the low literacy rate in the State of Tennessee is a disaster for traditional public education for Shelby County and a disaster for our tax rate. If the state would fund education appropriately, I would support a voucher program for school choice. But I contend that, if we funded education appropriately, we probably would not need a voucher system. 

“The reality is that we want quality education for all but do not want to pay for it. A voucher would give a quality education to a few and leave the rest behind. And I cannot support it.”

The point made by Reaves is well taken. We have previously made a similar point about private-school vouchers, which could ultimately drain some $70 million annually from Tennessee’s public schools under the formula embedded in the voucher plan now up for consideration in the legislature. 

Resisting the lure of vouchers will not fully resolve the challenge of which the governor spoke. But it’s a start.

Categories
News News Blog

50 Crazy Pics from the Mid-South Con

Frank Chin caught up with all the costumes and fun at last weekend’s Mid-South Con.

[slideshow-1]

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Jackson Baker’s cover story on Mike Matthews, “It Only Hurts When He Laughs” …

I commend Jackson Baker for this article. Mike is a compelling enough personality by himself, but he becomes even more larger-than-life thanks to the excellent writing in this piece. Very nice work, Jackson, and welcome back, Mike. You can’t keep a good Watchdog down.

Ken Jobe

Wonderful story about a real reporter with a heart and courage. As a photographer and videographer in Memphis for over 40 years, I have often found myself at news events, back in the line of cameramen and reporters. The people we all know from TV sometimes are very different off-camera. Some are not very nice. Over the years, I have seen some offensive behavior from reporters who magically transformed when they picked up a mic and stood in front of a camera. Most are not like this, but Mike Matthews is even better off camera.

He is exactly what we need on the air — and in our city: depth, truth, humility, humor, and most of all, love.

Peter Ceren

About Toby Sells’ post, “MATA Hopes for May Return of Trolleys” …

So MATA’s short-term solution is returning some trolleys to service 11 months after they were supposed to be down for only three or four months? As the late Don Poier used to say, “Only in the movies, and in Memphis.”

Midtown Mark

About Les Smith’s column, “The Natural” …

Right on point. I agree about Lee Harris and Berlin Boyd, too. We have too much talent in Memphis just sitting around on their hands, waiting for a chance at the plate. We shouldn’t settle for another retread, no matter how great a guy he is. There is, quite simply, too much at stake. It’s time for fresh people and fresh ideas.

OakTree

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s column, “Sammons ’R Us” …

I’m available to take over the airport authority. I’m totally unqualified, so I can give it my full, unqualified attention.

Jeff

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s column, “The Museum of Terrible Ideas” …

Surely there was a typo in the statement that the Riverfront Development Corporation put up $200,000 and got $800,000 more from the Feds to study that goofy water taxis on the river idea. If it was not a typo, what in the world are they spending the money on? Is the contractor one of the decision-maker’s brother-in-law?

Harry Freeman

About Chris Davis’ Viewpoint, “The 75 Percent Rule” … I am writing on behalf of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to request a correction to the op-ed “The 75 Percent Rule,” which appeared on the Memphis Flyer website on March 5th.

Specifically, the piece states: “The proposed legislation, in the long run, benefits nobody but Todd’s fellow ALEC member, the Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that operates three of Tennessee’s 14 prisons.” This is false. CCA’s non-voting membership with ALEC ended in 2010. As such, CCA is not a current member of ALEC.

Jonathan Burns

Senior Manager, Public Affairs, CCA

Categories
Editorial Opinion

“No Deal”

It has only been a few weeks since the speaker of the House of Representatives, without seeking the concurrence of the president of the United States or even bothering to consult him, chose to invite the head of state of another nation to

address a joint session of the Congress. And it was on a matter, moreover, which was even then the subject of delicate negotiations between this country and a potential adversary, Iran.

As expected, that leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, had a view of the issue that was diametrically opposed to that of President Obama. No problem on that point: People and nations differ. The timing, however — just as negotiations with Iran were reaching the crucial point and (no accident, either) just before Netanyahu faced an election back home — was atrocious. And the issue — the very sensitive one of a deal with Iran to restrain that country’s ability to make a nuclear weapon — was no small matter. Neither was the matter of this country’s constitutional checks and balances, which Speaker John Boehner’s partisan power move, at the very least, put in jeopardy.

Steve Cohen, the 9th District congressman who happens to represent Memphis, more or less said all the above back then, and we were happy to quote his words editorially, deferring to him as a Jewish American, a lifelong supporter of Israel, and a patriot.

Putting all the breaches with tradition and good sense aside, the fact is that Netanyahu spoke well and forcefully in his address, the point of which was to condemn the proposed agreement with Iran as a “bad deal,” which, in his view, made it worse than no deal at all.

But there was something terribly wrong with his logic, as there is, to an even worse degree, with a follow-up letter by 47 Republican senators to the reigning Ayatollah of Iran instructing him, in essence, to disregard the proposed deal — to reject it, rather, on grounds that the Republican Congress had the power to strike the deal dead by not ratifying it and would almost certainly do so.

Now this effort to scuttle a pending treaty, to further hobble the elected chief executive, and to nullify, not just weaken, the checks and balances of our political system, is not only egregious, it is patently in violation of the Constitution, both in letter and in spirit. It is in fact, borderline treasonous. Once again, though, leaving that aside, it ignores the fundamental point of view, as did Netanyahu, that the five other nations participating in negotiations with Iran — Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany — have made it clear they will not join the United States if it should follow Netanyahu’s advice and jettison the pending deal. They, in fact, are likely to forgo the existing multi-national sanctions they have adopted in deference to the U.S. position and to resume trade with Iran, leaving the United States out of the loop and Iran home free to do as it chooses with its nuclear program. That’s what’s wrong with Mr. Netanyahu’s logic and with that of  the GOP barn-burners in Congress. And, along with a trampling of the Constitution, that’s the bottom line of what “no deal” actually means.  Iran wins outright.

Categories
Music Music Features

SXSW 2015: Prepare For Impact

While Memphis musicians are gearing up to head down to South By Southwest this week, local venues like the Hi-Tone are already experiencing the surge of shows that come along with the more than 2,300 bands traveling to the festival in Austin, Texas.

“I start getting emails in December from bands that are trying to come through Memphis on their way to South By Southwest,” said Hi-Tone owner Skinny McCabe.

“On our calendar for March, 29 of the 30 dates are booked, mostly by bands traveling to the festival.”

McCabe said that Memphis probably gets more South By Southwest traffic than other cities because of its location.

“Being off of I-40, Memphis is an attractive place for bands to stop and play music, and us having two rooms to do shows has really helped some of the smaller bands still have a good show.”

With so many bands coming through town, the Hi-Tone can’t host everything (McCabe said he’s had to turn down around 100 bands wanting to play the venue in March after filling his schedule), and local venues like Murphy’s and Bar DKDC in addition to house venues like Carcosa have also hosted bands making the annual trip down to Austin.

So if all of these great groups are coming through Memphis, why even bother going down to Austin? Two words: unofficial showcase. Sure you can purchase the $895 wristband when you get to Austin, but be prepared to stand in line for a very, very long time. That experience will get you ready for the rest of the official side of SXSW, a freak show complete with never-ending lines, not enough port-a-johns and enough drunk college students to rival an MTV Spring Break party.

Any show that has “official showcase” listed next to it means that without a wristband, you’re probably not getting in. “Unofficial showcase” means get there early, and it will probably be free. While I’m not sure which rebellious soul held the first ever unofficial showcase, it didn’t take long for Austin business owners to figure out that they could get in on some of the action that mostly takes place downtown. Every single place with electricity in Austin now hosts unofficial showcases, and you pretty much can’t do anything without hearing some form of music. Think that coffee shop is going to be a quiet place to start your day at South By Southwest? They’ve got bands booked ’til midnight. That barbecue food truck you’ve been meaning to check out? They’ve got 15 bands playing there too. This is what South By Southwest has become, a nearly 24-hour concert held all over Austin.

Goner Records has hosted an unofficial showcase for more than five years at Beerland, a venue in the heart of downtown Austin and directly in the chaos of South By Southwest. In addition to using the festival as a way to check out new bands for the annual Goner Festival, Goner Records publicist Madison Farmer said they also use their showcase to expose the label to new listeners.

“We like to see a band live before we invite them to play Goner Fest, and South By Southwest provides a great chance for us to do that,” Famer said.

“Because we have the Friday night slot, we end up drawing a lot of people into Beerland who may not have seen any of our bands before, and that’s exciting especially for the bands who are only playing one show.”

Farmer said that Goner Records plans to keep their annual showcase unofficial:

“We’ve been working with Beerland for as long as I’ve been at this label, mostly because they approach South By Southwest the way we do. They don’t plan on working with the official side of the festival and neither do we.”

Some of the Memphis artists playing South By Southwest this year:

Luther Dickinson at SXSW:

Thursday, March 19th at Threadgills, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, March 20th at Continental Club, 12:40 a.m.

Friday, March 20th at Auditorium Shores, 7 p.m.

The Memphis Dawls at SXSW:

Thursday, March 19th at the St. Vinny Freebirds stage, 2:15 p.m.

Thursday, March 19th at Lamberts, 11 p.m.

Amy LaVere at SXSW:

Tuesday, March 17th at Ginny’s Little Longhorn, 10 p.m.

Wednesday, March 18th at Goorin Brothers Hatshop, 8:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 19th at the Broken Spoke Twangfest, 1 p.m.

Thursday, March 19th at Threadgills, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, March, 20th at the Continental Club New West Showcase, midnight

Friday, March 20th at One 2 One’s Memphis Showcase, 11 p.m.

Saturday, March 21st at The Roost, 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Mark Edgar Stuart at SXSW:

Thursday, March, 19th at Lamberts, 7:25 p.m.

Friday, March 20th at St. Vincent DePaul, noon

Saturday, March 21st at St. Vincent DePaul, noon

Nots at SXSW:

Thursday, March 19th at the Yellow Jacket Social Club Brixton Party, 4 p.m.

Thursday, March 19th at the Casa de Reyna She Shreds Party, 5:10 p.m.

Friday, March 20th at the Beerland Goner Party, 1 a.m.

Saturday, March 21st at the Hotel Vegas Burgermania Party, 2:45 p.m.

Saturday, March 21st at the Third Man Records Rolling Record Store Party, 5:30 p.m.

Goner Records Friday night showcase at Beerland:

Friday, March 20th at Beerland, 7 p.m. $10.

8:30 p.m. – James Arthur’s Manhunt

9:15 p.m. – Spray Paint

10 p.m. – Aquarian Blood (only Austin show)

10:45 p.m. – Lake City Tigers

11:30 p.m. – Manateees

12:15 a.m. – Giorgio Murderer (only Austin show)

1 a.m. – NOTS

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (March 12, 2015) …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Les Smith’s column, “Next Stop, Belize” …

The crocodiles do keep the lazier components of the Guatemalan death squads at bay.

Dayn Rand

Don’t listen to these naysayers, Les. You know you want to retire to a life of ease and adventure for just $15 a day in Belize. If Liam Neeson can make action movies at 62, you can fend off a few tweekers with their screwdrivers. Only, do me a favor, before you move, obtain several high ranks in a martial art of your choice.

Jeff

On Toby Sells’ cover story, “The Coliseum” …

The issue is not whether to demolish it or save it, the issue is Memphis City government. Are we to believe that they will do anything other than what they want? Surely you must be fooling yourself if you think so. The die is cast. The building will be demolished to make way for more ineptitude. A youth athletic center? My God, more wasted money from the bankrupt city coffers under the cry of “doing what is right.” 

Instead of trying to be developers and business people, why not get back to taking care of the things city government is mandated to do, like infrastructure and crime prevention? Whether it be the Pyramid, Beale Street Landing (aka the “Hump and Screw”), our public parks, or you name it, our leadership has proven themselves incapable.

Solution: Declare the Coliseum and the acreage around it a tax-free/regulation-free zone for 50 years. Auction it off to the highest bidder and get the hell out of the way. We may have to suffer the tasteless aesthetics of yet another Billy Big Mouth Bass, but it will serve as a great reminder into the future of a most important fact: City government is not to be trusted with matters of commerce at any level. They couldn’t run a popcorn stand at a charity function.

Peter Calandruccio

Enough already! Why are these Memphis nitwits even considering anything other than rehabilitating the Coliseum? Typical Memphis ridiculousness. My teen years were spent making the two-hour drive to see great music shows at the Coliseum. I stood in line for six hours to get tickets to see George Harrison. I was on the front row to see Diana Ross. The chatter at school on Mondays was always about who went to Coliseum over the weekend.

It would be nothing less than a tragedy for the Coliseum to be destroyed. 

John Churchwell

My first visit to the Coliseum was in the early ’70s. Living in Jackson, Tennessee, I came down to a Chicago concert. The whole experience was good. I moved to Memphis in 1980 and went to a few concerts. In 1985, I learned that a donation would help get U of M basketball tickets, so I had season tickets till the Pyramid was built and the team moved.

The Coliseum was used for a number of years for different events, but I only made a couple of hockey games. Then came FedExForum, with its exclusive entertainment contract, and that pretty much killed the Pyramid. I am on the bridge between tearing it down and keeping it. The only way I see keeping it is by the Forum giving up the exclusive rights to entertainment contract, otherwise we spend millions of dollars to fix it up to be used for minor events and slowly but surely degrading to where it is today.

Sportfan46

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Get It Together

Four aspirants to succeed local Democratic Party Chairman Bryan Carson, who resigned under pressure recently (though his term was about to expire anyhow), made their cases Saturday in a forum at the IBEW Union Hall. They were

Reginald Milton, Jackie Jackson, Randa Spears, and Del Gill.

Party caucuses will be held on March 14th, a party convention to name a new executive committee and a new chairman on March 28th.

Meanwhile, the Shelby County Republicans caucused at Bartlett Municipal Center on Monday night of this week, selecting delegates for their own convention at the Bartlett location on March 29th. There are two declared candidates for chair to succeed the outgoing Justin Joy: Arnold Weiner and Mary Wagner.

All the names mentioned here, be they sinners or saints, are committed activists, with personal histories that indicate that they possess the energy to acquit themselves well in the positions they are seeking. “Zeal” might even be a better descriptor in some cases. There’s the rub. Particularly if partisanship per se commands the electoral environment, the nature of our political debates is often nothing less than poisonous.

Strong feelings have always been a feature of political life in Shelby County, but only since the mid-1990s, when first the Republicans and later the Democrats adopted partisan primaries as a means of selecting preferred candidates for local office, have local political contests become as divisive as they are today, at least at the level of countywide elections. Until the advent of local partisan primaries, it was the rule, not the exception, for various components of the body politic to form coalitions behind this or that candidate. Blacks, whites, Democrats, Republicans, atheists, Christians, and Jews, plus whatever other categories come to mind — the more different sectors of the community were accounted for in a political campaign, the greater the likelihood for that campaign to succeed.

These days, that situation is reversed. One of the questions asked of the Democratic chairmanship aspirants at Saturday’s forum was how each of them would deal with the flight of white former-Democrats into the Republican Party. One of the candidates rejected the question as irrelevant. He was in error, as would have been demonstrated by a look at Monday night’s GOP caucus crowd — almost entirely white, though there is presumably some variance in their political complexion. That configuration was an inverse mirror image to Saturday’s predominantly African-American Democrat crowd.

This is not a suggestion that either of the county’s parties avows or practices racism, as such. The increasing racial polarization of the local parties is largely a result of the primary process — which has magnified ethnic and social differences that have always existed and assigned them to opposite ends of the spectrum.

Contrast this troublesome phenomenon with the city elections — including the one to be held this fall — where the absence of party affiliation will, as it always has, encourage some serious coalition-building across party and ethnic lines.

In the long run, we’d like to see local partisan primaries done away with as detriments to the political process. In the short run, we would merely express a wish that whichever of the chairmanship candidates mentioned above actually ends up at the controls of our two major parties understand that we all are — or should be — a single community.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (March 5, 2015) …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Joe Boone’s cover story, “All About That Uptown Funk” …

In Greymouth, New Zealand, in a pub housed in a structure that leaned with age, I witnessed local men stop their drinking and their conversations to dance and sing uninhibitedly to “Uptown Funk.” They had no idea where the song was recorded. Memphis travels everywhere, with influence!

David Rainey

About Toby Sells’ cover story, “The Coliseum” …

Save the Coliseum. It can still be a vital use to the city. I can’t imagine that it would cost more to upgrade/repair the Coliseum than to tear it down and build this sports complex that no one seems to want except Wharton and Lipscomb. I don’t trust Robert Lipscomb’s or Kevin Kane’s assessment of the building since they both want to tear it down. And that no-compete clause with FedExForum was the most stupid business decision this city has ever made.

Pamela Cate

About Chris Shaw’s story “Music Fest Mayhem” …

Don’t miss Savoy Brown, old school, heavy metal English rock at its finest. Some of their members were in town last year for the Blues Foundation awards, and they after-partied at Earnestine & Hazel’s and put on a killer show with some other old English rockers.

MemphisTigers

The indie/folk/Americana genre is particularly strong this year with Avetts, Wilco, Jenny Lewis, Shovels and Rope, Alejandro Escovedo, Bela, and Ryan Adams. Very excited.

Priceless109

About Jackson Baker’s story, “MPA’s Mike Williams Promises Viable Campaign” …

We sure don’t need a union boss running the city.

Clyde

Union boss or not, Mike has shown his love and concern for the city of Memphis. He stood up to the mayor and city clowns to let them know they are hurting the proud city employees. Yes, there are slackers, thugs, and clowns mixed in, but at the heart of all of it, there are more good employees than bad. The good ones are leaving because this has harmed our families. Voters, you get what you paid for. Put in someone who’s looking out for Memphis, not themselves. Look at the whole picture, not just pieces. And make a choice you will not regret after a year.

Misery

About Randy Haspel’s Rant on Rudy Giuliani …

I’ve never cared for Rudy. Somehow, he thought New Yorkers couldn’t be trusted exercising their inherent constitutional rights, unlike citizens in other cities and states. Of course, the NYC elitists enjoyed their rights, but it was taboo for everyone else. But Rudy’s spot-on about Obama, and only a simpleton who has been living in a leftist progressive hole for the past seven years would not know it.

As for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, what he forgot about executive administrative performance, creating budget surpluses, and putting the people’s money taken from them by corrupt public unions back in their pockets, Obama will never know. If the timid and passive Republicans decide to back him for president in 2016, he just might win. At this stage, they’re not gonna win the White House with anyone else.

Nightcrawler

About Toby Sells’ post, “Allegiant Brings Low-Cost Air Service to Memphis” …

As long as travelers watch their baggage plans, Allegiant is going to be a great addition to Memphis’ airport. Just don’t get caught without prepaid luggage and measure carefully, and take advantage of their aggressive prices!

Flights to all three destinations look to be only on Fridays and Mondays. Which is a good start, but not ideal for cruisers, as you’ll likely have to spend a night on at least one end of the cruise. Still, a great start!

better by design