Duran Duran is at the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica. I can t tell you how much I d like to go see them. There s a Battle of the Bands at the Hard Rock, with Valhalla, Spank, Sammy s Good Eye, Bad Apple, Cloud 9, and those wild boys of rock-and-roll, Accidental Mersh. And Scott Sudbury and Patrick Dodd are at Newby s.
Call it Nashville envy. How else to explain the surprisingly warm reception that greeted the news that the Vancouver Grizzlies, one of the worst teams in the slumping NBA, is flirting with Memphis?
What about the NBA? Would it be a good fit with Memphis? Could the Grizzlies coexist with the University of Memphis, which is trying to achieve national prominence itself? And what about a new arena, price $250 million or so, U.S. dollars, of course?
The Flyer posed those questions to Memphis political leaders, executives, coaches, boosters, agents, and promoters who have been closely involved in pro sports, from buying and selling luxury suites and stadium naming rights to negotiating multimillion dollar contracts.
Our sampling is anything but a cross-section of Memphis. Many a fan on the street and, more important, many non-fans think it is ridiculous that people are seriously talking about replacing the 10-year-old Pyramid with a new arena that could cost $250 million, especially when property reappraisals and utility bills are soaring. Popular AutoZone Park, after all, cost “only” $72 million, and most of that was privately financed.
But without a new arena, the discussion is probably moot.
“No one should kid themselves,” said Steve Ehrhart, the general manager of the Memphis Maniax who has been involved with pro sports here for two decades. “They are not going to move here for The Pyramid.”
Memphis lacks at least one other important element this time around. Even if the Grizzlies are there for the taking, no one seems ready to play the part of Grizzly Adams. There is no prime mover to do what the Jernigans did for AutoZone Park and the Redbirds, what Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen did for the Titans and Predators, what Billy Dunavant did for the Kroger St. Jude tennis tournament, and what Fred Smith and Dunavant did for the failed NFL drive: publicly take charge. Project-by-committee has not worked well in Memphis, witness the Grammy Museum, consolidation, and the riverfront.
Smith, CEO of FedEx, said he has “no inside information” and has not seen the numbers on the Grizzlies. And AutoZone Park, with $400 season tickets, was embraced because it is the antidote to major-league greed. As for Mayor Willie Herenton, he told the Flyer he was involved in the talks with the Grizzlies but agreed to keep them secret for now.
On the plus side, the Grizzlies are going somewhere and have to say where by March 26th, the NBA’s deadline. One theory has it that Memphis is the stealth candidate because it is what Nashville was four years ago: virgin territory. Shelby County mayor Jim Rout, not given to wild speculation, puts the odds on Memphis at better than 50-50. And U of M basketball coach John Calipari says Memphis should go for it, even if it means more competition for him.
Every time a major-league team flirts with Memphis it touches a nerve. The debate is not just about sports, it’s about the future of Memphis. So read on.
Fred Smith, chairman and CEO of FedEx: “I’m not close enough to it to know whether refurbishing The Pyramid is enough or you would have to build a new arena. A certain amount of skybox leases, club seats, and season ticket sales is needed however you get there.
“I have not seen the marketing studies. I am too much of a numbers person to voice an opinion as to the likelihood of success without seeing the numbers. If the numbers support it, I think it would be terrific. But I have no inside knowledge.
“FedEx would look at anything they wanted us to do but that doesn’t mean we would do it. The economics are different here than in Washington, D.C. with FedEx Field. That particular stadium has a tremendous amount of national prominence. I can’t remember how many times we were on Monday Night Football, but it was a bunch.”
U of M basketball coach John Calipari: “How can you raise the quality of life? You’ve got to raise the image. FedEx has trouble sometimes hiring people. We have problems attracting students. Why? Because they don’t look at Memphis as a big-time city. It is a big-time city. We just have to get a professional franchise here to prove it. Will it help us in recruiting? Absolutely it will. Will it hurt my endorsements? Absolutely it will. And the university will have to make it up. Right now the responsibility of the university is not what it has to be in Louisville, Cincinnati, or some other place because you can go into the private sector and make it up. But if that doesn’t happen — whether it’s me or any other coach — the school will have to step up.
“How do you afford to build a new arena? You do it. Because if you don’t do it, Louisville’s going to do it or someone else is going to do it and then you’re done. I’ve been to Louisville and Memphis is a much better city. Much better quality of life here, in my opinion. Get a pro team here and see what happens to downtown then.
“Now if I am selfish, I don’t want an NBA team here. I don’t want any more endorsers here. I haven’t taken full advantage of that here. I’ve only done one or two things here, but if I wanted to, I could be selling chips, popcorn, pizzas.
“What’s good for the city of Memphis is good for the university. What’s good for the university is good for the city. Whether we want to be or not, we are arm-in-arm.”
Shelby County mayor Jim Rout: “It’s nice to be pursued instead of being the pursuer. Everything indicates Memphis is either at the top or near the top of the list. It’s exciting that we’re being courted and that our growth rate has not gone unrecognized.
“As far as a new arena, it would depend on the package that can be put together that includes things like the state sales-tax rebate, maybe tax-increment financing. No one knows where it would be or what it would cost.
“I think the odds of the Grizzlies coming here are better than 50-50 but I don’t know how much. I would say about 60-40.”
Fred Jones, head of Summit Management and founder and promoter of the Southern Heritage Classic: “I want to buy the first skybox. The NBA will work in Memphis because Memphis wants it and needs it. I think people want to dispel the notion that there are too many poor people here to support anything. Memphis is much bigger than that.
“If people get the sense that a new arena is going to be successful, that is going to be different from when we built The Pyramid or Mud Island, when we committed these public dollars and we didn’t seem to get it done right. Then I think people will be more inclined to get behind it.
“I have been very successful, but when I walk into a room in Memphis I am still just a black man, regardless of what I can bring to the table. As I travel around the country, where most of my business is, I run into people from Memphis enjoying themselves away from Memphis because they feel like people really don’t care.
“Because most of Memphis is African-American and there’s a lot of poor people here, everybody is lumped into that boat. There are a lot of poor people everywhere — New York, Chicago, Atlanta — but they still manage to get the people involved that have a few dollars. They don’t treat all African Americans as if they don’t have any money.”
“The economics of the black community always comes up, but the reality is we have the wherewithal in the black community to do whatever we want.”
| PHOTO JOHN LANDRIGAN |
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| Kevin Kane |
Kevin Kane, executive director, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau: “We don’t have to look any farther than 200 miles to see the impact of major-league sports on a community. What the Predators and Titans have done for Nashville has had a dramatic positive impact on their self-image and national image.
“The regional appeal of the NBA would be such that we would probably receive some additional tourism impact, more so than Chicago or Los Angeles where the local population supports those teams. It’s expensive, but every major community that has lost a franchise has gone out and spent more money to get it back, two examples being Houston and Cleveland. There must be some tremendous value there.
“From the university perspective, I think the U of M has such a solid foundation that the NBA couldn’t undermine it. The two can easily coexist. If you love basketball you can support both. If anything, I think it probably helps recruiting to have an NBA franchise.
“The time is now. When people are yelling that is when you should be selling and when people are crying that is when you should be buying. The NBA is down but it will cycle back up.”
Allen Morgan, chairman and CEO of Morgan Keegan: “The demographics have changed in the last 10 years in Memphis. There’s no question we can support a major-league team, especially the NBA. We [Morgan Keegan] would help any way we could. The mayors, I think, are working out what makes sense, whether you build a new arena or upgrade The Pyramid. One of the keys there is the University of Memphis supporting it, and it appears they do.
“AutoZone Park successfully selling 45 corporate boxes should be an eye-opener as to what kind of support you can get if you have a good marketing program. That’s the key to somebody coming here, no question about it. If the mayors get behind it, I think the odds are high.”
Rick Spell, past president of the Memphis Tigers booster club: “A pro team could effect the resurgence of the U of M basketball program. Memphis basketball dominates the Memphis media. An NBA team could take the spotlight off the U of M to the new show in town and to visiting teams with name draws like Vince Carter and Shaquille O’Neal. Expect talks around the water cooler to shift to the Grizzlies.
“Calipari set a Pyramid attendance record but I’m sure he would admit that the last 3,000 seats are soft sells that will not return if the team doesn’t perform or attention shifts. Does that make it easier for him to consider another college offer? We all know he will be receiving offers. It’s not worth the chance. And don’t expect Calipari to say this in the press as none of the university officials will want to be publicly negative about competition.
“I will attend and enjoy the Grizzlies. But only after primary support for the Tigers. I’m a Tiger booster. Will less committed fans do the same? To keep Calipari, I certainly hope so.”
Jimmy Sexton, sports agent, Athletic Resources Management: “I contacted [Grizzlies owner] Michael Heisley in early February and asked to put together a meeting with the mayors and the sports authority. That meeting was on February 19th at Memphis Country Club.
“They are not moving to Memphis with a retrofitted Pyramid. All these people that want to run around and talk about The Pyramid are living a pipe dream. It’s got to be a state-of-the-art, first-class, knocked-out arena. It’s not going to happen any other way. The people who say that in this city have never even been in NBA cities and seen the competition.
“There are two schools of thought. In New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the NBA can work because it has large corporate presence and lots of ticket sales. There is also the school of thought that in medium-sized markets like Memphis and Orlando and San Antonio it might have a chance to succeed because it is a one-horse town. I think that is what the Vancouver people are assessing.
Steve Ehrhart, executive director of the AXA Liberty Bowl and general manager of the Memphis Maniax: “In 1993, when we were selling premium seats [for the NFL pledge drive], we sold something like 9,000 seats at $1,500 apiece. It really opened my eyes. And for 42 NBA home games at a $40 average, you are still at that $1,600 season-ticket level. I used to be concerned that on a Tuesday night or a Thursday night, would you be able to sustain that turnout over a number of years, after the honeymoon wears off? I think that is the challenge that Memphis has. Along with the $200-plus million to build a new arena. And no one should kid themselves. They are not going to move here for The Pyramid. The Pyramid just doesn’t have the kind of amenities that the NBA demands these days.
“I am a believer that having big-time professional sports is good for every community. Can the community raise the dollars? We are going to need a lot of help from Nashville. Are we going to get it? That’s the big question.”
Frank Banks, C.P.A. and organizer of MemphisFirst Community Bank: “I think we’re at the point where we realize the importance of major-league sports. I’m real high on this. I think we have the income in Memphis to do it. I thought Memphis would have supported the Oilers if they had come here to stay.”
Allie Prescott, general manager of the Memphis Redbirds: “As a lifetime Memphian, anything that is ultimately good for our city I support. But I would have to understand more about who is going to pay for a new arena or the retrofit of The Pyramid before I would really want to go 100 percent out there. As a general proposition, if NBA basketball is something that will make this a better city then I guess I would be for it.
“We play about twice as many home games as the NBA for a substantially lower ticket price ($900 for a season ticket for a club-level seat). The Redbirds might feel competition for corporate support, but if it came in and was a big success and it made Memphians feel better about themselves, I think it would create a larger pool of corporate support.”
R.C. Johnson, athletic director, University of Memphis: “I don’t think retrofitting The Pyramid is a viable option. I say give the Grizzlies The Pyramid and build us a new arena [laughs]. As the athletic director, I have absolutely no desire to have any major-league sports team here. But if it is something that is really good for the city, we certainly should pursue it.
“I don’t know if we can support an NBA team but there would certainly be some excitement for the city.
“I think any team that comes here will be competing for corporate dollars. There would be less coverage in the media, too. I think that’s one of the things that makes the Tiger athletics special. We are without doubt the domineering force. Right now we’ve got a pretty good situation.”
The Houston Kid
Rodney Crowell
(Sugar Hill Records)
This is easily the best thing Rodney Crowell has ever done. With his finely tuned ear for writing pop-inflected country, you would have thought that Crowell would have been a runaway success in the genre that’s today termed “country” music. Although he’s written songs for a bevy of artists in Nashville and beyond, individual success has eluded him. With this self-financed album, clearly a labor of love, he’s stopped trying to please the record company or a target audience, and the result is magnificent. Also, with the death of his mother in 1998, he’s finally free to write about his tumultuous Texas childhood.
The Houston Kid vividly evokes the rough and tumble milieu of growing up in Houston on the wrong side of the tracks and the traumas and triumphs involved in coming of age in that particular place and time. Intensely personal and often painful, it graphically draws on Crowell’s father’s alcoholism and spousal abuse, with portraits of the white-trash criminals and desires that marked his youth.
The grit and rawness of this album are surprising but very powerful. Moments of bleak beauty, like the lachrymose guitar riff on “Wandering Boy” and the spooky spoken piece “Highway 17,” are juxtaposed with joyful, healing tunes like the redemptive closing track and the ruminations of “Banks of the Old Bandera.” “I Walk the Line (Revisited)” is a rockabilly recounting of Crowell’s epiphany when he was a 9-year-old kid and heard the Johnny Cash classic for the first time, with the Man in Black himself as a guest vocalist on the track. (Damn, does that old man’s voice still send shivers down your spine or what!?) A welcome return to live recording effectively nixes Crowell’s tendency to overproduce and keeps things fresh. The Houston Kid is a tale of paradise lost and regained, a wonderful and, by turns, terrible tale of a Texas boy’s life. — Lisa Lumb
Grade: B+
Jeb Loy Nichols
(Rykodisc/Rough Trade)
Jeb Loy Nichols’ 1997 debut, Lovers Knot, was an earthy, organic album that belied his roots in alt-country music while revealing his adventurous spirit. Pulsing with unique beats and marked by his seemingly effortless songwriting, Lovers Knot positioned Nichols — with his froggy voice and dry delivery — as a less quirky, more substantial Lyle Lovett.
Just What Time It Is, Nichols’ follow-up to that modest masterpiece, is a more upbeat affair, recorded in Jamaica and boosted by a wider array of musicians bringing reggae and island flavors to his songs. Such influences are readily apparent in the production on the new album, which seems designed to both highlight the grooves and beats that thread the songs together and to add a richer texture to Nichols’ signature vocals. The beats are, for the most part, no significant departure from those on the previous album, and some reggae-styled elements like the unintelligible Jamaican patois on “Perfect Stranger” and the female backup singers seem arbitrary, if not out of place completely. In playing up these extraneous elements, the exacting production unfortunately achieves an antiseptic, flavorless atmosphere.
But that’s just the surface. Shining through the fretted-over sound are Nichols’ awkwardly beautiful voice, his quietly soulful delivery, and his elegant songwriting. A dark mystery permeates the call-and-response verses on “Say Goodbye to Christopher,” the album’s best track, as Nichols describes the last time he saw a friend. And “Sadly Sometimes” proves to be the most bittersweet lament since Freedy Johnston’s “Bad Reputation.”
Ultimately, Just What Time It Is exudes a certain charm that heralds a genuine talent. On songs like “Heaven Right Here” and “Trying to Get Over,” his lyrical and emotional pitch is dead-on. Such generosity of spirit overwhelms any misguided recording decisions and makes Just What Time It Is a truly compelling showcase for Nichols’ skill and sincerity. — Stephen Deusner
Grade: B+
Kings of Convenience
(Source/Astralwerks)
In a scene from Animal House, John Belushi encounters a slick hippie-type singing “I gave my love a cherry” to a bunch of googly-eyed, toga-clad girls on the steps of the Delta house. In a brilliant act of primitive rock criticism, Belushi pauses to consider the scene, yanks the acoustic from the dude’s hands, smashes it in a rage against a wall, then hands the shards back and says, “Oops.”
On their major-label debut, Quiet Is the New Loud, Norway’s Kings of Convenience — Erlend Oye and Eirik Glambek Boe — are that hippie on the stairs, and whether or not you smash their acoustic guitars against a wall depends on your threshold for self-consciously intelligent, supersensitive, beauty-as-rebellion pop music in the vein of Ida, Kingsbury Manx, and Belle and Sebastian. Quiet Is the New Loud is pleasant enough — nice to listen to and unobtrusive.
But like the Animal House hippie — who was really looking to get in some coed’s toga — Kings of Convenience have some ulterior motives, and theirs are much more sinister than party sex. They are, in short, looking for someone to rescue and nurture, someone who’ll reinforce their role as the strong protector.
On “Winning the Battle, Losing the War,” they sing, “I am on my feet to find her, to make sure that she is safe and sound,” then they feel compelled to add, “To make sure that she is safe from harm.” In “Toxic Girl,” a girl won’t return the protagonist’s affection, so he regards her as damaged. Underneath all the sympathetic crooning, tasteful guitars, and pastoral strings, Kings of Convenience view women as weak and diseased.
At worst, that’s an extremely insidious attitude. At best, it’s certainly unhealthy. Either way, it means you’ll want to aim for their heads when you smash their guitars. — SD
Grade: C-
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
(Mantra/Beggar’s Banquet)
Change is meant to be embraced first and reviled after it’s been assessed as a crap move. I’m getting a lot better about dealing with music in that particular order, but then again, I’m getting a lot older. Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci (oh-so-very sadly pronounced “Gorky’s Zygotic MUNCHIE”) enjoyed their medium-profile salad years sharing a rambunctious unpredictability with fellow Welshmen Super Furry Animals, although theirs was an uglier eclecticism saturated with prog-rock love. As the millennium approached, Gorky’s steered clear of copying SFA’s grandiose endeavors (genre-allergic double-album sung entirely in their native tongue) and cuddled up to subtlety.
Granted, I get a little put off with this band’s now perfected Belle and Sebastardization of the Fairport Convention/Richard Thompson legacy, but I am not one to turn a cold shoulder to face-slapping beauty, which pops up more often than not during these 28 well-spent minutes. The title track even lifts a riff (but leaves behind the emotional wallop) from Thompson’s “End Of the Rainbow” — launching a record that not only delivers a big salute to Britain’s wildly fertile ’60s/’70s folk-rock scene, but also gives fans of Nick Drake and John Fahey something contemporary to obsess about. Good stuff. — Andrew Earles
Grade: B
Tonight’s Memphis Brooks Museum of Art First Wednesday Series features a Scottish celebration. And one final note: In case you haven t heard, Anderton’s is back open for lunch again. Now that is reason to celebrate. Which is up to you. As always, I couldn t care less what you do this week, because I don t even know you, and unless you are the original sender of the e-mail that featured flames coming out of Britney Spears (well, there’s that word again that I really don t want to mention in print) while she sang a song about passing gas, I m sure I don t want to meet you. Besides, I have to go remove all the Swiss cheese from my refrigerator because the leader of our country says it doesn t work. The cheese, that is.
Hate to harp again, but Tuesday s Songwriters Showcase with the Memphis Troubadours at the Flying Saucer seems to be the ticket.
Hate to harp again, but deejay night at Melange seems to be the ticket.
One more art opening: Today s is this afternoon at the Jewish Community Center for A World of Colors, paintings by Dottie W. Sachritz. The Sidney Kirk Trio is at the Precious Cargo Coffee House. Unforgettable , the Nat King Cole story, with Monroe Kent III, is at the Buckman Performing and Fine Arts Center.
Looks like Diva Night to me. The legendary Gladys Knight is at the Grand Casino down in Tunica. And here at home, Ms. Di Anne Price & Her Boyfriends are at the Blue Monkey one of the best shows in town, and she ll be signing copies of her new CD. Carmen, presented by Opera Memphis, opens tonight at the Orpheum. If you want to have a taste of the grape and help out a worthy cause in a very cool place, then check out tonight s Girls Incorporated 11th Annual Wine Tasting at the Rock N Soul Museum, where there will also be a silent auction of entertainment, hotel, recreation, restaurant, vacation, and other packages. The Fieldstones are at the Center for Southern Folklore tonight. The Iguanas are at the Hi-Tone CafÇ. Geraldine and The Porch Ghouls are at Young Avenue Deli. Alfred Rudd and Karl McKinney are playing this afternoon at Java, Juice, and Jazz. Good ol Sidestreet Bar and Grill is presenting the opening of their new wine cellar, with jazz and complimentary imported cheeses in their Red Bar (6-9 p.m. every Saturday).
Lots of art openings tonight. At Joysmith Gallery, there s an opening reception for Directions, works by Bill Dallas and Greg Rumph. An exhibition of paintings by Samuel Hester Crone opens at the Art Museum of the University of Memphis. At Perry Nicole Fine Art, there s an opening for a show of works by Connie Hendrix and Adele Sypesteyn. And last but certainly not least, American Impressionism opens at Lisa Kurts Gallery tonight, featuring works by Mary Cassatt, Frederick Carl Frieseke, and Edward Potthast. And there s yet more theater: Freak Engine a show of performance art, dance, improv comedy, and more is held at midnight tonight at TheatreWorks. Proving that anyone can sustain a career, Engelbert Humperdinck is at Gold Strike Casino, while Finis Henderson performs his all-new comedy routine elsewhere at Gold Strike. Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets are at the Black Diamond on Beale tonight. Hamilton Louis is just a few doors down at B.B. King s. Southern Culture on the Skids with The Forty-Fives are at the New Daisy. The Memphis Soul Revue is at the High Point Pinch. Filthy Diablo, Few Left Standing, and Incineration are at the Map Room. And Shangri-La Records starts its annual Porch Concert Series at 5:30 this afternoon with Tyler Keith (former lead of the Neckbones) and the Preacher s Kids.
Blue Mountain (Blue Mountain Music)
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The Oxford, Mississippi, band Blue Mountain have endured some tumultuous times during the past few years. Expanding from a three-piece to a quartet, the band released their third album, Tales of a Traveler, in 1999. While it ambitiously expanded their sound, it failed to garner any critical or commercial attention.
Shortly thereafter, the band left its long-time label, Roadrunner, which specialized in heavy-metal acts and didn’t seem to know how to effectively market a country-rock band. Subsequently, singer Cary Hudson and bassist Laurie Stirratt’s marriage ended in divorce. Because their romance had spawned several songs, many fans thought the band would likewise split.
But, as their self-released fourth album testifies, Blue Mountain — again a trio with Hudson, Stirratt, and drummer Frank Coutch — are made of tougher stuff than that. A thoroughly researched, sensitively played collection of traditional Southern and Appalachian songs, Roots captures the jangly rowdiness and rambunctious spirit of the band’s most memorable work as it relates stories of boozers, losers, outlaws, and railroad hobos.
“Banks of the Pontchartrain” tells of a railroad stray who finds love in the black hair and warm home of a Creole girl. It is a gentle ode to a lost opportunity, and Hudson’s voice shines with a warm grace, subtly drawing out the tale’s bittersweet emotion. The raucous send-up of the well-known “Rye Whiskey” sways like a drunk, and “Spring of ’65” sounds ancient and otherworldly, Hudson’s plaintive vocals and precise guitar evoking 1865 as if it were 1965.
And “Rain and Snow,” the album’s most haunting track, resonates with an appropriate storminess. Hudson invests the tale of a man who murders his wife with a sense of deep regret and profound loss. Lending the song an atmosphere that is no less than gothic, he howls and moans like a truly tortured soul, while his elemental guitar work lurks threateningly.
The album’s closer, “Little Stream of Whiskey,” finds Coutch assuming vocal duties as he tells of a dying hobo’s last wishes. His rusty-hinge voice fits the song perfectly, lending its unique vision of a whiskey-soaked afterlife a rough, drunken swagger.
Ultimately, Roots serves as a reassertion of the band’s identity, a reconnection with its influences and with the dark corners of Southern music. Despite the band’s several recent splits — with its fourth member, with Roadrunner, and between Hudson and Stirratt — Blue Mountain haven’t sounded so together in a long time. — Stephen Deusner
Grade: B+
Blue Mountain will be at the Hi-Tone Café on Friday, March 2nd.
Stephen Malkmus (Matador)
When Pavement first emerged from the indie scene in the early Nineties with a sound both rawer and richer than any of their cohorts, mystery was part of the allure. Band photos were scarce and the group’s core members — high school buddies Steve Malkmus and Scott Kannberg — were known solely by the monikers SM and Spiral Stairs. The mystery matched the music: cryptic, dissonant, yet stunningly melodic noizetoons that made the post-punk milieu of Suburban Anywhere seem strange and romantic for the first and last time. Back then, no one saw a conventional rock story in the band’s future — “maturation,” break-up, solo moves.
But here we are. With Pavement no more, generational icon Malkmus has released his first solo record and it’s a doozy. Stephen Malkmus doesn’t compare with the three essential Pavement albums — Slanted and Enchanted; Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain; and Brighten the Corners — but it’s a more focused, more engaging affair than fine second-tier-band works like Wowee Zowee and Terror Twilight. Backed by a Portland indie duo Malkmus has dubbed the Jicks, this solo move is close enough to the mid-tempo, sugary crunch of late-era Pavement to confirm that Malkmus was the musical as well as verbal soul of his old band, though the spark-filled guitar interplay between Malkmus and Kannberg is missed.
Malkmus’ hyperliterate songwriting here is more direct and narrative-focused than before, displaying a more distanced, literary wit than he did in Pavement: songs about Ancient Greece, autobiographies of Yul Brynner and Captain Hook. But the best moments are still the most personal. “Jennifer and the Ess-Dog,” a sardonic yet compassionate take on young love amid the upper middle-class — “Jennifer takes a man/in a Sixties cover band/He’s the Ess-Dog/Sean, if you wish/She’s 18/He’s 31/She’s a rich girl/He’s the son/of a Coca-Cola middleman” — returns Malkmus to his native turf with truly stunning results. It’s the most straightforward song he’s ever written, and one of the best. Almost as great is the soaring “Church on White,” the most intimate and emotional song on the album, which has Malkmus taking stock of his own shape-shifting legacy with the chorus, “All you really wanted was everything/Plus everything/And in truth I only poured you/Half a lie.”
How many other artists have stepped immediately out of a great band and released a solo album this good? John Lennon definitely, Paul Westerberg maybe. It’s a short list. — Chris Herrington
Grade: A-
Southern Culture on the Skids (TVT)
I remember the intense feeling of joy that rushed through me a couple of years back when I saw that big marquee over East Parkway. It read “Southern Culture on the Skids at the Mid-South Fair.” It was perfect. It was beauty. It was at once an announcement of a party pending and a statement of undeniable fact. It also contained the exact blend of verity and irony that puts SCOTS songs a dozen diesel lengths ahead of all the other guitar-shredding trailer-park poseurs who cropped up in the mid-’90s. Now, after two years without a record deal, SCOTS is finally back with Liquored Up and Lacquered Down, a mighty fine 13-song release that, in spite of its technical superiority, lacks the rocket-fueled punch of the group’s previous efforts.
“I Learned to Dance in Mississippi” is far and away the best song on the album. With its fat Stax groove and approving nod to the funky bluff city we all live in, this song about a wild night at Junior Kimbrough’s juke joint should certainly appeal to the Memphis hipsterati. Likewise, when Mary Huff, whose husky voice sounds better than ever, croons the soulful garage-girl anthem “Hittin’ on Nothin’,” it sounds like a Hellcats reunion.
Memphis isn’t the only Southern music town whose sound gets sampled on this disc. The groovy retro licks on “Pass the Hatchet” and Rick Miller’s spoken “Let me chop it/Let me chop it/TIMBER!” will remind folks that SCOTS owes a great debt to Athens’ own B-52s. And while we’re talking Georgia, it should be noted that both “The Haw River Stomp” and “King of the Mountain” sound too much like the Georgia Satellites to be taken very seriously. Even worse, the Mexicali-pop of the album’s title track creeps into territory hitherto solely owned and operated by the parrot-king himself, Jimmy Buffet. Sadly, the thin ode to booze, big hair, and beauty queens isn’t exactly a vast improvement on “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”
Southern Culture on the Skids have always worn their roots on their sleeve, but Liquored Up and Lacquered Down almost seems like some kind of tribute album. It’s solid front to back but desperately in need of some hellfire to make it cook. — Chris Davis
Grade: B
Southern Culture on the Skids will be at the New Daisy Theatre on Friday, March 2nd, with the Forty-Fives.
You can e-mail Chris Herrington at herrington@memphisflyer.com.