Gus Carrington – Memphis Flyer

Just seconds into the song “Art School” during Blvck Hippie’s first hometown show following a six-week tour in support of their album If You Feel Alone at Parties, singer/guitarist Josh Shaw’s mic stand dipped downward, seemingly of its own volition. As I watched the musician follow a rapidly descending microphone (while still singing into it) I thought to myself, “This is what Josh does — roll with the punches.”

But the latest Memphian musician to sing on the popular indie music platform Audiotree Live later described this mic stand snafu as simply “hilarious.”

“I was like ‘Oh god, I need to bend down,’” Shaw said. “And then ‘Oh god, my knees.’”

Making light of a moment like this illustrates something essential about the singer/guitarist: What has been accomplished with the band is other-worldly, but Shaw is still as endearing a person as ever.

Still, the band’s success is undeniable. Blvck Hippie sits at just over 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. On January 26th it was announced that Blvck Hippie will be joining the South by Southwest official festival lineup this year in Austin, Texas.

Admittedly, I have a history with Shaw that’s getting more and more difficult not to brag about. In 2017, I shared the bill with him in what was his first live performance fronting a band (then going by St.John). In 2018, we were tourmates, and 2019 saw us become roommates. I remember when he burst out of his room with an unplugged electric guitar and the opening riff to “Bunkbed” — “You gotta hear this thing I came up with today!”

All this to say that catching Blvck Hippie at Black Lodge was far from my first rodeo with Shaw, drummer Casey Rittinger, and their brand of self-proclaimed “sad-boy indie rock.”

Shaw says, if he had to guess, the band’s big sound comes from the group maturing, as well as an improvement in the way he writes his guitar parts. The current lineup is composed of “really great artists who have their own things to add.” Undoubtedly this includes the suave Celest Farmer, joining Shaw on guitar, and the talented bassist Tyrell Williams.

“During tour, we really came into our own as a band, and we really want to come out to every show punching people in the face with our sound,” Shaw says.

That description may not be far off from what listeners can expect from the next Blvck Hippie record. “We’re going to get angrier and more aggressive with our music,” Shaw says. “While on tour I saw Black people in a ton of different cities headbanging to my songs. That affirmed that what I’m doing matters and is reaching people. It gives me the confidence to be myself more and make the music I want to make.”

This confidence has enabled Shaw to elevate not just one voice, but to increase representation for POC in indie/alternative music in general. When it came time to fill the bill for Blvck Hippie’s first show of the year, Shaw made sure to provide a platform for Black out-of-town artists, the surfy Bluphoria and math-rock-inspired Rest Ashore.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Rest Ashore for two years so it was amazing to get to play with them,” Shaw says. “It’s important to me that when Black bands come to Memphis we give them a reason to want to come back. It’s important to put on a safe welcoming show for them.”

Shaw says that they felt the safest they’ve ever felt in a musical space during Blvck Hippie’s past tour at a Black-run DIY venue in Cleveland. While Josh cites Black bands like Bartees Strange and Enumclaw rising to mainstream prominence since summer of 2020, the singer says more Black-owned and Black-run venues are necessary to inspire representation in the scene.

“Through touring and the internet, especially TikTok, we’ve been able to reach new audiences and a lot of times we’ve been the first band people have seen that look like us,” Shaw says. “We get comments all the time from Black people that it’s nice to see people that look like them making indie rock, and this is amazing to hear.”

As for their own group’s recent success, Shaw says things have been “wild” since the Audiotree performance. The band hasn’t processed everything yet.

“It’s very humbling to be able to represent Memphis in all the places we’re getting to play,” Shaw says. “Playing shows in Memphis solidifies that for me — I wouldn’t want to be doing this for any other city.”

New names for an education center and a music school, a partnership with charity group Porter-Leath, and a salary reimbursement for President M. David Rudd were among the topics discussed by the University of Memphis Board of Trustees at a Wednesday meeting.

The meeting took place at the Madison Academic Magnet High School on the U of M Lambuth campus in Jackson, Tennessee. The setting was appropriate considering that much of the meeting related to a presentation updating the board about the “entire compendium” of non-college facilities run by the university. U of M Associate Vice President Sally Gates Parish, who holds a Ph.D. in education, shared that the university will host facilities that are set to serve 1,600 non-college students in the Memphis community.

In addition to the ELRC (early childhood) and campus school (now expanded to serve Kindergarten in addition to 1st through 5th grade), a partnership with charity group Porter-Leath was announced during the meeting that will lead to the PLUM Early Childhood Academy in Orange Mound, which is expected to open in February 2022. Another partnership with the Harwood Center will see the university opening seven classrooms on the south U of M campus in the spring for children with special needs.

Parish shared that a university-located middle school was fully enrolled for their on-campus home. She also noted that, in August of 2022, a university high school will open with its inaugural 9th grade class in the same center.

“I think I speak for a number of faculty and staff who are also parents of children in these schools that this experience is something that is truly life-altering for us as professionals, for our children who go to these schools, but also for the children in the community at large who have access to an innovative, engaging, high-quality education that starts right here at the university,” Parish said during the meeting.

University President M. David Rudd then revealed that the building these schools function in will be named the Orgel Educational Center. The motion was later carried unanimously after trustee David Kemme stated that $1 million was given by Billy and Robin Orgel to the university.

The music library in the Rudi E. Scheidt school of music was also voted to be named the Efrim and Caroline S. Fruchtman Music Library at the request of an anonymous donor who gave the university $100,000. In documents provided before the meeting it was stated that the Fruchtmans were a married couple on faculty in the music department from the ’60s through the ’80s and were mentors to the anonymous donor.

It was also agreed by the trustees that 10 percent of Rudd’s own salary would be reimbursed after a pay cut he took alongside members of the president’s council during the pandemic. This contribution tackled “issues around the pandemic and affordability for students,” according to Chairman Doug Edwards.

“As the year unfolded, and as we received federal funds, we found ourselves in a position where we were able to reimburse our present council members for the money that they had given as a result of the president’s request for everyone to take a pay cut,” Edwards said during the meeting. “Unfortunately it didn’t apply to him … the president’s salary was not included in those discussions, so we had a conversation this morning and recommended that we reimburse 10 percent of his gross salary for approval.”

Dean of the Lambuth campus Dr. Niles Reddick took a moment to thank guitar player Wes Henley, who was in attendance at Madison Academic Magnet High School. In August of 2020, Henley committed a $250,000 estate gift to the Lambuth campus. This included Henley’s Highland House Productions, a Jackson recording studio that saw the likes of Carl Perkins record music within the space.

“Wes is a career musician who played guitar for Carl Perkins, George Harrison — I think you all know who that is — and the group Survivor,” Reddick said during the meeting. “His talent [helps] our students meet their goals. Thank you so much, Wes, for all you’ve done for our music program.”

Reddick also shared that, come January, the Lambuth campus will be admitting its largest nursing class to date. Reddick said he expected over the next two years to reach 300 nursing students.

“That’s been an incredible journey,” Reddick said during the meeting. “We’re excited about our partnership with West Tennessee Healthcare, who have in the past given us quite a bit of scholarship money, so we’re very excited to grow that program.”

Chairman Doug Edwards adjourned the meeting by thanking all involved for the work done at the university over the past year and “giving people an opportunity to have an education that will allow them to live a better life.”

“This has been an incredibly challenging year for all of us,” he said at the meeting. “The university has come through a period where many universities have really fallen on hard times.

If you look at enrollment around the world of higher education, at what’s happened to some universities in terms of their enrollment during the pandemic, I think we’ve done a terrific job at doing exactly what we’re here to do.”