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Murray Street

Sonic Youth

(Geffen)

Rock-and-roll is just full of surprises, isn’t it? Just when I thought it was safe to assume that avant-garde avatars Sonic Youth would age nobly and ease (relatively) quietly into some songless netherworld — where guitar tunings, dreamy vocals, and amplified buzz and percussion were the only virtues worth pursuing, with an LP every 18 months or so — they return with a new record that reconnects their signature noise with some long-lost signature riffs in a compact, endlessly listenable package. Rock-and-roll is a renewable power source after all.

Most music fans know who Sonic Youth is and what they “stand” for in the indie-rock community. Following that, you probably fall into one of two broad categories: You’re a lifelong fan who already owns the new album and loves it to pieces, or you’re a pop generalist who has Daydream Nation and possibly Goo but really doesn’t feel the need to seek out other Sonic Youth product since they seem to do the same thing over and over.

Okay, it’s true you can break every Sonic Youth album of the last decade into its constituent parts: the enveloping feedback, the alienating feedback, the snarling Kim Gordon vocal, the meandering, “quiet” part of the album (lasting anywhere from five to 40 minutes), the flirtation with pop melodies, the light stomping of drummer Steve Shelley somewhere beneath the waves of lilting skronk. But will it make a difference if I say there’s less noise-as-noise-and-music and more music-with-noise-as-noise-and-music this time around, and while all the parts are on the new record, the bracing, clear-eyed result begins with the best 25 minutes of music I’ve heard all year on this band’s best record in 10 years?

Because Murray Street really is all that, and the opening four songs — “The Empty Page,” “Disconnection Notice,” “Rain On Tim,” and “Karen Revisited” — show off a sweet lyricism and brute riff-rock power that only bands like the late-model live Velvet Underground and the late-model live Miles Davis space-funk confederacy ever approached. Sonic Youth’s considerable accomplishment deserves mention alongside those rock-and-roll legends now more than ever: All three showed the ability to inspect and rework their sound to suit their own creative impulses. But as geniuses, they don’t owe anything like this to you or me. Take a chance. Who knows how long it will be before Sonic Youth accidentally step in sync with contemporary pop demands again? — Addison Engelking

Grade: A

Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape

Me’Shell NdegéOcello

(Maverick)

On her fourth release, Me’Shell NdegéOcello embarks on an intimate musical odyssey, taking the old axiom “The personal is political” to new heights of awareness. Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape is all about how NdegéOcello came to be the person she is today — a bisexual black female and mother as well as a musician with outspoken views on some rather taboo subjects. In particular, she addresses the way traditional roles and beliefs regarding race, sex, and religion have warped our self-images.

Daughter of jazz saxophonist Jacques Johnson (she adopted her Swahili surname, which means “free like a bird,” as a teen), NdegéOcello earned her chops on the D.C. go-go circuit in the ’80s. She’s done session work with everyone from the Stones to Herbie Hancock to Madonna and is the first female to grace the cover of Bass Guitar Magazine. She describes her music as “improvisational hip-hop-based R&B,” but soul, blues, and rock-and-roll feature in her mixtape as well.

True to form, Cookie contains some controversial material. She rants about everything from the complacency and materialism of some African Americans (she lists “priorities 1 through 6” as “gaudy jewelry; sneakers made for $1.08 but bought for $150; wasted weed, wasted high; the belief that we are legendary underworld figures being chased; sex like in the movies; a mate to pay bills, bills, and automobills”) to Christianity and its links to corporate sponsorship (“If Jesus Christ was alive today, he’d be incarcerated like the rest of the brothers, while the Devil would have a great apartment on the Upper East Side and be a guest VJ on Total Request Live“). She also celebrates loving women in sexually explicit detail framed by sweet soul music.

NdegéOcello has put together a hypnotic musical collage interspersed with words of wisdom from black activists and poets. “Akel Dama (Field Of Blood)” is a beautiful piece — sheer poetry set to a pulsating heartbeat rhythm. “Earth” is a dreamy paean to Mother Earth with a signature Stevie Wonder harmonica riff, while the remix of “Pocketbook” by Missy Elliott and Rockwilder features a guest rap by Redman and background vocals by newcomer Tweet for some seriously righteous in-ya-face funk.

In a sense, the music here is more a soundtrack to NdegéOcello’s search for selfhood than a cohesive musical statement. Her last two albums flowed better musically than this work. Yet Cookie is still a mesmerizing glimpse into the psyche of a woman struggling to break through the artificial boundaries of race, sex, politics, and religion. As she sums it up so beautifully in her liner notes, “No longer do I search for a messiah. I believe salvation and truth will come in the form of Spirit, not in flesh, not with melanin, not man or woman, from east or west, neither great nor powerful. Freedom is not given or taken, it is realized.” Amen! — Lisa Lumb

Grade: B+

Young Criminals’ Starvation League

Bobby Bare Jr.

(Bloodshot)

Named for his country-music mainstay father, Bobby Bare Jr. continued the family’s musical-outlaw tradition when he scandalized Nashville with his hard-rockin’ outfit Bare Jr. a few years back. With his latest release — a solo album — Bare nearly burns down the house, pointedly addressing has-been rock stars, eccentric local characters, and even himself on occasion. He’s a clown but a soulful, sad-faced one, tripping over oversized shoes as his own teardrops obscure his vision. “Good news sounds better while I’m falling down,” he sings on the folky acoustic number “Mehan.” Bare’s voice, rusty as an old screen door, matches his soul-baring mood, apathetic lyrics contradicting his underlying tenderness.

A 21st-century variation on Townes Van Zandt’s gut-wrenching ’70s masterpieces, Young Criminals’ Starvation League manages to simultaneously deliver scathing diatribes and loving tributes — often within the same song. Fire up “Dig Down,” a talking-blues number directed at Pete Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, and others. “Thanks for nothing,” Bare Jr. tells Townshend, “your generation used up all the feelings/If we rock, it looks like we’re ripping you off.” Yet, a few verses later, he comes to his own conclusion: “I do the best with the leftovers that I’ve got.” Cynicism never sounded so good. — Andria Lisle

Grade: A-

Bare Jr. will be at the Hi-Tone Café on Thursday, July 18th, with the Drive-By Truckers.

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Music Music Features

sound Advice

For all the publicity Wilco got for having their art-rock opus Yankee Hotel Foxtrot rejected by their (major) label only to have it picked up and released by a smaller subsidiary of the same corporation, the tide seems to be turning when it comes to major labels taking a chance on interesting music. First, the White Stripes’ White Blood Cells gets picked up and rereleased by minimajor V2, then punk-rock indie Epitaph teams up with Warner Bros. to introduce America to the Hives, and now Clinic’s recent indie Walking With Thee is set to be rereleased by Universal. But perhaps the happiest example of this recent trend is Alabama’s long-suffering Drive-By Truckers, who self-released their prize project, the double-disc concept record Southern Rock Opera, last fall and are now seeing it rereleased this month by Mercury subsidiary Lost Highway, the roots label behind Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, and the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

No offense to Jeff Tweedy and company, but Southern Rock Opera is the kind of hubris I can get with — one in which the guitars burn like the missing link between Crazy Horse and Hüsker Dü, the jokes crackle with down-home flair, and the conceptual concerns are intensely engaged, whether frontman and talker extraordinaire Patterson Hood is giving his take on “The Three Great Alabama Icons” (Bear Bryant, George Wallace, and Ronnie Van Zandt), musing on the “duality of the Southern Thing,” or reliving the glory of a Molly Hatchet (?!?) concert.

The Truckers hit town this week for their first local show since Southern Rock Opera‘s initial release and will be joined by like-minded Nashvillians Bare Jr. This loud and raw showcase of regional pride will be at the Hi-Tone Café on Thursday, July 18th. — Chris Herrington

So you’ve never heard of garage torchbearer Ben Vaughn? Well, I’m not too surprised. Lots of people haven’t, though they are no doubt familiar with his work on the idiot box. Thanks to Vaughn, an audiophile’s audiophile and longtime Alex Chilton crony, Big Star’s ever-catchy “In the Street” is the theme to That ’70s Show, even though nobody in the show’s Wisconsin (except maybe a super-hip music writer or two) had even heard of Big Star back in their ’70s heyday. Vaughn is likewise the alien force behind the surf-rock guitar that punctuates the zany John Lithgow vehicle 3rd Rock From the Sun. In addition to his film and television work, he’s also served as producer for groups as dissimilar as the foolishly perverse (but nonetheless awesome) Ween, the savvy instrumentalists Los Straitjackets, and Memphis’ late, great country artist Charlie Feathers. On top of all that, Vaughn has toured constantly and released a string of unique recordings (one was recorded almost entirely in a car) since sometime back in the mid-’80s. His clever, often laugh-out-loud lyrics never seem like mere novelty as they ride along on a variety of slick rock, rockabilly, punk, pop, blues, soul, and country riffs. He’ll be playing the Blue Monkey with a pickup band of Memphis all-stars (including sax man Jim Spake, drummer Paul Buchignani, and bass player Scott Bomar) on Friday, July 19th. — Chris Davis

Categories
Sports Sports Feature

City Sports

Tough Competition

For many local youngsters, baseball is a full-time summer job.

By Ron Martin

Finding a good mango can be tricky. Too ripe, and it’s soft and mushy; not ripe enough, and it’s too hard to bite into.

Competitive Baseball is the mango of youth sports. It isn’t church-league or recreational-league baseball but rather baseball as serious as you’ll find in high school, college, or the pros.

Competitive Baseball is a national program involving youngsters ranging in age from 8 to 18. The local arm of the program centers on the Snowden Grove Complex in Southaven, which features 17 fields and hosts tournaments for teams from 23 states. These tournaments produce over a million dollars a year for the Memphis area in hotel revenue, second only to the COGIC convention. Approximately 100 competitive teams call Memphis home, but most play a majority of their games on the road, from Florida to Oklahoma. Parents pay an average of $2,000 a season to support the program, which can involve as many as 85 games in a summer.

Tim Dulin, of Dulin Sports Academy and Southeastern Sports Management, which oversees Snowden Grove, says burn-out by the young players can be a problem. “Even pro players take time off,” he says. “I tell parents and coaches that they need a weekend off every summer.” A typical weekly schedule for a Competitive Baseball team includes games on Monday and Thursday, with a possibility of five games on a weekend, depending on how well a team performs in tournament play.

Competitive Baseball’s name is appropriate. Teams aren’t traveling around the country just for the scenery; they’re playing to win.

“It’s important that coaches are making sure it’s not a win-at-all-cost situation,” says Dulin, adding, “but baseball is a sport that teaches kids to react to different situations. Each play demands instant reaction.”

Watching Competitive Baseball is both a wonderful and troubling experience. Youngsters take to the field with enthusiasm and teamwork. They can develop lasting relationships with players from around the country. In some cases, these relationships can last a lifetime.

Watching the parents is a different story. Some are reliving their youth through their children and seem hell-bent on their sons becoming the next great major-leaguer.

The situation isn’t lost on Dulin. “Sometimes, you’ll see a kid strike out and look right over to his dad. They always know where he’s sitting,” says Dulin. “I try to tell the kids that while Babe Ruth was the home-run king, he also led the league in strikeouts.” Some parents pace around, acting as if losing was devil’s work and the umpires are their servants. Others are less intense and seem to genuinely enjoy watching their offspring compete.

It’s a fine line that parents need to toe. They need to understand that their kids need to be kids. Competitive sports at this level means missed family vacations and family reunions and the freedom pre-teens should experience during the summer.

It’s simple, really. Win or lose, there should always be joy in Mudville. It’s a lot like finding the perfect mango.

Flyers The Titans and the Nashville city government aren’t happy with each other. At stake is $2.3 million in interest owed by the metro area government to Titans owner Bud Adams. The government wants to change the lease and Bud wants his money. Look for a court date soon.

The University of Memphis could own Hawaii during the holidays. If the football team goes to the Aloha Bowl and the basketball team heads to the Rainbow Classic, the U of M athletic department will have a presence in the islands for about three weeks. Aloha.

Ramblings I miss the real Jerry Dover Classic. The current incarnation is a poor reflection on his good name Why did fight promoter Brian Young bypass Memphis for Tunica to create his Olympic Boxing Club? Was it the casino money? Thanks to former U of M players Idrees Bashir and Isaac Bruce for coming back to Memphis for the DeSoto County Athletic Club Pro Football Camp. Oh, I forgot — Memphis isn’t a part of DeSoto County This quote from Sports Illustrated was attributed to the Grizzlies draftee Drew Gooden about his being able to go to Graceland: “I thought Elvis was born in Tennessee.”

Every Day Is Saturday

Grizzlies rookies get a taste of NBA life.

By James P. Hill

For Drew Gooden and Robert Archibald, their childhood hoop dreams of playing in the NBA are now reality. After being drafted and working out in the daily-double format of rookie and free-agents camp, the neophyte Grizzlies are playing in the Summer Pro League at Long Beach State University in Southern California.

For Gooden, the former Kansas All-American and Oakland, California, native, the experience of playing in front of his home-state crowd is very encouraging. “I’m very excited,” he says. “I’m from California, and I’ve got some family coming down — and I’m excited to win.” Gooden, the fourth pick in the 2002 draft, is finding out NBA life is more than fun and games. It’s about competing and winning. Gooden explains the difference between playing three or four times a week in the NBA as compared to one or two college games a week. “It’s big-time; it feels like every day is a Saturday,” says Gooden. “You just practice and then you’re sitting around in the hotel all day, but I’m trying to get used to it. I’m trying to adjust, and I’m coming along.”

After losing their first three games, the Grizzlies collected their first win in a 120 to 95 rout of the Dallas Mavericks. In that contest, Memphis shot 61 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free-throw line. The Dallas win also served as a breakout game for Gooden. In 41 minutes, Gooden made 12 of 16 shots and scored 36 points. He also pulled down 14 rebounds, dished out three assists, and collected a steal.

For Archibald, the 6’11” center/forward out of the University of Illinois, being selected as the Grizzlies’ second-round pick was a dream come true. “I think my role will be to provide an inside presence, to be a big body down low, and play tough,” says Archibald. Archibald’s focusing on playing quality defense and getting rebounds, but he can also score when opportunities arise. In the Grizzlies’ second summer-league win, over the Clippers, Archibald poured in 18 points and collected seven rebounds in 32 minutes. He also hit eight of 11 free throws for the Grizzlies.

While Archibald, Gooden, and the rest of the Grizzlies of summer play ball, Jerry West sits courtside, watching and evaluating. He is still searching for pieces of an incomplete puzzle and is still committed to building a winner for years to come for Memphis basketball fans. “We think we brought some players in who are talented enough to increase our talent level,” says West. “That will help us get to a different level than we were last year.”

After the Grizzlies finish their schedule in California, they’ll travel to the highly competitive Rocky Mountain Revue in Salt Lake City, which has been hosted by the Utah Jazz for the last 19 off-seasons. The Grizzlies have a six-game schedule there, including games against the Phoenix Suns, the Portland Trailblazers with Qyntel Woods, and on Tuesday, July 23rd, against Dajuan Wagner and the Cleveland Cavaliers on ESPN.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Of Men and Girls

Men In Black was something of an anomaly: an effects-generated summer blockbuster that was actually more fun than anticipated. Like George Lucas’ recent Star Wars movies, this series is basically a cartoon, with half of every frame digitally animated. But if Star Wars‘ cartoon sensibility is that of pulpy sci-fi cover art come to life, Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men In Black is more like a space-age Looney Tunes.

Sonnenfeld’s first foray into the workings of a mythical INS for extraterrestrials was inventive and charming up until its dully conventional action climax, Will Smith’s charismatically nonchalant braggadocio and Tommy Lee Jones’ deadpan gruffness updating and improving on the salt-and-pepper buddy-flick comedy approach of Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in the 48 Hours movies but freeing the concept of its racially charged undertones in the course of a gentle satire on negotiating the diversity of modern urban life.

The actual plot of the first movie escapes me (some kind of saving-the-planet thing), but plot hardly mattered because we were encountering a fascinating new world for the first time and were too busy scanning the background to care how the dots were being connected; the viewer could while away an air-conditioned hour or so just taking in the cool gadgets, sleek furniture, and gaggle of alien “scum” that littered the Men In Black headquarters. Besides, the movie skipped along too briskly to get worked up about narrative lapses.

This time out, the equally slapdash and pointless plot (an evil alien has come to steal something — it’s hard to figure out exactly what — that can destroy Earth, and Smith’s and Jones’ agents Jay and Kay have to stop her) is more of a stumbling block. The film is merely a visual rehash of something we’ve already seen.

Rather than attempt to further the original story, Sonnenfeld and company seek to repeat the same formula in streamlined, dumbed-down fashion. And so most of what was fresh the first time around seems stale here. Rather than the sly gags of the first film, MIIB (as the marketers are writing it) reaches desperately for easy laughs with moments of Adam Sandler-style gross-out humor and obvious (yet unavoidably effective) crowd-pleasers like a talking pug who sings “I Will Survive” and barks along with “Who Let the Dogs Out.”

Rip Torn returns as supervising agent Zed, but in place of the dry, crisp demeanor that was so entertaining in the first film, they have him engaging in gravity-defying fight scenes à la The Matrix and uttering out-of-character comments about the Kama Sutra for the sole purpose of setting up a stupid Will Smith double take. Linda Fiorentino, who was set up as Smith’s new partner to end the first film, has been axed, unfortunately, and replaced by a game Rosario Dawson, who, as a conventional love interest, doesn’t have much to do.

There’s some good new stuff here. It’s hard to argue with the stunt casting of Lara Flynn Boyle as a reptilian alien baddie named Serleena. And her assistant, Scrad (Jackass Johnny Knoxville), is a two-headed buffoon who makes a compelling sight gag. Other moments, such as a multilimbed alien working inside a post-office sorting machine and a universe of small creatures who live within a Grand Central Terminal locker, are more reminiscent of the inventiveness of the first film.

MIIB also has an uneven tone in relation to the first movie. At times, it assumes a working knowledge of the first, and at other times, it clumsily goes out of its way to give context to the audience (“Agent Kay! He was the most dangerous man on earth, the most famous MIB agent ever,” a succession of bit players repeatedly exclaim, just in case we weren’t suitably excited about the return of Tommy Lee Jones).

The first installment of Men In Black agreeably evoked a wealth of sources — The X-Files, Joe Dante (the underrated auteur behind Gremlins and Small Soldiers), comic books, cartoons, and Sonnenfeld’s earlier Addams Family films. It was a fun movie.

The new one attains the same good-time vibe only sporadically. And what it reminds me of most is that commercial from a few years ago in which a group of Hollywood suits present a series of tie-ins and ancillary products for a film before the studio head asks about the script, to which they reply that they can knock that out in a couple of days.

The principle players have been locked up, flashy casting decisions put in place, new creatures and gadgets dreamed up, product-placement deals inked (Sprint and Burger King particularly noticeable), Will Smith single and video produced, etc. But no one seems to have spent much time figuring out why the movie needs to exist outside of its profit potential for a movie studio. If sportswriter Tony Kornheiser hadn’t beaten them to it with the title of his recent book, the studio could have tagged this Men In Black II: Back For More Cash.

— Chris Herrington

If there is one thing to aspire to in the cartoon kingdom, it is the success of The Simpsons. The formula is deceptively simple: The kiddies get bright colors and preadolescent characters; their parents get sly humor and subtle satire. And the result? A marketing bonanza. Remember the shirts that read “Don’t have a cow, man” or the dance, the Bart-man?

To reach this type of success, a show doesn’t have to be as socially aware as The Simpsons; it just has to resonate with wildly different audiences. It has to have something for everyone.

One of my friends, a 23-year-old woman, loves the Powerpuff Girls. She loves the TV show; she loves the characters; but she especially loves the merchandise. She loves to carry around her Powerpuff Girls lunchbox and wear her Powerpuff Girls T-shirt. I think she feels a connection with Buttercup, the surliest of the three Cartoon Network superheroines. The Powerpuff Girls, in other words, already has a very healthy audience of kids and “adults.” Which I guess is what makes the film a little disappointing. To adults.

Originally conceived as the Whoopass Girls (a name I rather like), The Powerpuff Girls came to Cartoon Network as a series of shorts in 1995 and as a regular series in 1998. The movie is the backstory, the prequel, or the creation myth, if you will, of Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles.

Professor Utonium is unhappy about Townsville’s moral decay, so he decides to create a perfect little girl whom he can raise to do good for the town. But, like the beginnings of so many superheroes, something goes wrong while he’s in the lab.

His monkey/lab assistant Jojo accidentally adds “Chemical X” to the professor’s mixture of sugar, spice, and everything nice. One explosion later, the professor has three precocious youngsters with superpowers on his hands.

Like the television show, the movie has a stylishly mod feel: The professor’s bachelor pad is straight out of a Doris Day/Rock Hudson flick with a touch of A Charlie Brown Christmas. It all hearkens back to a simpler, sweeter era, except it’s infused with non-stop action and a score full of fast rock.

What’s disappointing is that the movie is essentially a longer version of the show, and there’s nothing really new here. The girls’ creation, while not revealed in the series, came as no surprise. The plot seems to clumsily straddle catering to the show’s hard-core fans while introducing the material to new audiences. There’s a chase scene that made me realize how much animation can make live action look dull, but for the most part, the film was a tad predictable for my taste.

However, that’s my taste. The simple ideas and warmed-over concepts are perfect for the younger set. Throughout the film, the kids in the theater were laughing and giggling. And on the way out, many of them were already jumping, jabbing, and posturing, taking on the roles of the girls and their archenemy, Mojo Jojo.

I bet they’re already begging their parents to buy them the T-shirt.

— Mary Cashiola

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Short Cuts

18 Again

Amy Rigby

(Koch)

Rock critics get (most of) their records free and, as a result, have a responsibility to tell people about them. I’ve always believed this to be an important service, especially with major-label control of radio and MTV putting a serious limit on information music consumers have to draw from. Long before I ever wrote a word about popular music, it’s how I discovered most of the records I cared deepest about.

And along with this service is the advocacy function of trying to convince readers to take a chance on music they’ve never heard. I go into all of this because I can’t think of a single contemporary pop-music artist I want to turn readers on to as much as Nashville-via-New York singer-songwriter Amy Rigby: In Rigby’s case, it isn’t a matter of her merely deserving a wider audience; it’s the certainty that the audience is out there and just hasn’t discovered her yet. Apparently, her record label feels the same way. Why else release an anthology of previously released material (with two exceptions) after only three solo albums?

A post-punk grad (the ex-wife of dB’s drummer Will Rigby and member of a band, the Shams, who released a couple of records for indie-rock label Matador in the early ’90s), a former temp worker, and a single mom, Rigby made her bid to be American music’s poet laureate of structural underemployment and bohemian domesticity with her 1996 debut Diary Of a Mod Housewife. A much-cherished cult item that became an unlikely critical smash, Diary was Exile In Guyville for grown-ups. But if Diary Of a Mod Housewife was about saving a life, subsequent efforts (1998’s Middlescene and 2000’s The Sugar Tree) were merely about living one.

18 Again taps six songs from Diary but holds off introducing them until track five, with her definitive anthem “Beer and Kisses.” And while the considerable triumph of 18 Again may be how it integrates flawlessly chosen highlights from Middlescene and The Sugar Tree into the ubernarrative of Rigby’s career album, you can hear the difference immediately. “Beer and Kisses” sounds like a standard now, a (tough)love song that begins “We met in the supermarket” and somehow turns “Get home from work/Turn on the light (Get in a fight/Make it alright)/Sit on the couch/Spend the whole night there” into one of the decade’s great sing-along choruses.

Musically, Rigby works in a residual-culture milieu that anyone but the most tight-assed avant-gardist should be able to feel: sturdy bar-band rock-and-roll occasionally spiked with sharp flourishes, like the subtle Spectorisms of “All I Want,” the Chuck Berry moves of “20 Questions,” and the steel-guitar accents on “Beer and Kisses.”

And in the course of finding the right balance between “All I Want” and “What I Need,” Rigby traces what happens when urban daydreams of art and freedom dissolve into workweek monotony and how relationships take a hit along the way. If you’ve ever had a day job that subsidized a dream and felt the dream slipping away, put your liberal-arts degree to work in the service industry, felt adulthood and domesticity creep in on your fantasy of never-ending nightlife, tried to patch together a marriage that’s falling apart, or just felt like stopping in the middle of your daily routine to shout something like “I’m not just some soulless jerk/Hey, I got a band/I know what life is for!” then Amy Rigby writes songs for you. — Chris Herrington

Grade: A

Title TK

The Breeders

(4AD/Elektra)

It probably wouldn’t have mattered if the Breeders had waited one year or nine to release a follow-up to their popular 1993 career album Last Splash. It was destined to live up to its name, at least commercially: Despite its kick-ass attitude and crunchy guitar pop, it was the single “Cannonball” — a novelty hit from a serious band — that put twins Kim and Kelley Deal on the pop-culture map. And novelty songs have little return value careerwise, so any subsequent release from the sisters was likely to garner critical praise but sell only to diehards.

So don’t expect that long-long-awaited follow-up, Title TK, to fly off the shelves. It may not prove as popular as its predecessor, but in place of commercial success comes invigorated artistry. Instead of updating their sound to the Noughts or reliving their glory days of the Nineties, the Breeders find a place somewhere in between: The new album is somber, more mature, but no less alive. It’s as if they traveled back to ’93 and imagined what sort of album they might make nine years later, if things had gone a bit differently.

The Deals were never afraid of a pop hook or a catchy guitar riff, and Title TK is full of both, from the instantly memorable choruses of “London Song” and “Son Of Three” to the countryesque angularities of “Full On Idle.” But it’s “Off You” that leaves its mark on the few of us left listening; it’s a disarmingly quiet moment, all gently strummed guitar and harsh vocals. “I am the autumn in the scarlet,” Kim sings almost tenderly, “I am the makeup on your eyes.” Time has ravaged her voice, which sounds torn with sandpaper, but it is all the more evocative and vulnerable for its imperfections.

If nothing else, Title TK shares with its predecessor a loose spontaneity and a musical adventurousness that ensure surprises, one of which will hopefully be a quick follow-up. — Stephen Deusner

Grade: A-

The Land Beyond the Mountains

Don Howland

(Birdman Records)

Ever wonder where the White Stripes got a big chunk of their stripped-down blues-skronk approach? Chances are Jack White’s record collection contains more than one title by Don Howland’s rockin’ guitar and drums duo the Bassholes. If you were being particularly uncharitable, you might say that the White Stripes completely co-opted the Bassholes’ sound and turned it into dollars and sex in much the same way Jon Spencer used his experience playing with the Gibson Brothers (an influential band Howland formed with transplanted Memphian Jeff Evans) into something eminently marketable in the form of his Blues Explosion.

By now, Howland and Evans are probably resigned to their roles as crud-rock pioneers ripe for plunder as source music. Too bad there’s no copyright law covering musical-style infringement, because Howland and Evans might have a pretty good case against pretty boys White and Spencer.

Such legal action ain’t likely to happen anytime soon, so Evans and Howland just keeping making darn fine records that deserve a wider audience. Now, it’s Howland’s turn to make another good ‘un, and he does with The Land Beyond the Mountains. It’s just Howland on guitar, bass, and organ and in spooky voice (he sounds a lot like Iggy Pop on “Gimme Danger” on several tracks here — nothing wrong with that). Funny thing is … Howland sounds like a full band because he uses a kind of layered lo-fi production approach that is amazingly rich and horribly distorted at the same time — a Southern gothic Pet Sounds for the four-track home-recording set. n — Ross Johnson

Grade: A-

Categories
Music Music Features

sound Advice

The California-based all-female four-piece Erase Errata hit town this week carrying with them a string of dubious comparisons to bands such as Public Image Limited and Gang Of Four. Well, Erase Errata’s sound is a lot messier than those groove-oriented post-punks. Instead, judging from the band’s debut album Other Animals, Erase Errata sounds like a more arty strain of riot-girl. The band traffics in antsy, tense punk-funk with taut, angular guitar lines and everygirl vocal chants. At times (see “High Society”), the band’s kitchen-sink art-skronk evokes Captain Beefheart as much as any similar guitar-bass-drums indie band. Other Animals comes across as a compelling work in progress, but Erase Errata are reportedly a pretty hot live band. And their local tag-team partners this week, The Lost Sounds,need no qualifier when it comes to the intensity of their live set. With this double bill Sunday, July 14th, at the Hi-Tone Café serving as an unofficial release party for that band’s most recent release, an outtakes and demos record, the Lost Sounds are likely to set a pretty high standard for their out-of-town colleagues to live up to.

—Chris Herrington

If you don’t already own a copy of the Ray Price album Nightlife, by all means, rush out and get one. It’s a breakthrough album where lush, smoky jazz meets hard-corn honky tonk, and it might be the single greatest country album of all time. It begins with Price thanking his fans for being so kind and introducing what he believed to be a new kind of country music: more suave and sophisticated. The first, iconic track, Price says, is “by a boy from down Texas way.” That boy was Willie Nelson, then Price’s sideman in the Cherokee Cowboys. Nelson’s uniquely expressive voice, both as songwriter and performer, have made him a national treasure. He never lost track of his country roots, even as his music shifted in a decidedly Waitsian direction with the release of 1998’s Teatro, his best album of the ’90s. It almost seems silly to recommend such a known commodity as Willie Nelson, especially since his constant touring brings him our way so often, but by golly, he’s worth it. Just like Merle Haggard or George Jones, you should see him every chance you get. Catch Willie at the Grand Casino on Friday, July 12th, with current Nashville darling Lee Ann Womack and ask him if we can get Buck Owens touring again. — Chris Davis

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Sports Sports Feature

City Sports

Shootout At the SEC

Task force to oversee Southeastern Conference.

By Ron Martin

When Mike Slive was introduced as the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, the theme song from the old television show Gunsmoke should’ve been playing in the background.

“The perception of justice is as important as justice itself,” said Slive after announcing he will create a task force to oversee the rogue schools of the toughest conference east of the Pecos.

The biggest non-secret in college sports is why Mike Slive was named as the replacement for Roy Kramer: The SEC needs a Judge Roy Bean. The cattle rustlers have taken over the town; the lawless outnumber the lawful. The schoolmarm (Vanderbilt) is afraid to venture into town. Slive’s first order of business should be to nail a sign outside his Birmingham jail (SEC office) stating, “Check your guns at the door.”

Because Alabama and Kentucky are already on the convicted list and not eligible for post-season play and Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU are in the investigation mode, the presidents are trying to take control of the conference from the athletic directors. The upcoming battle will make the gunfight at the O.K. Corral look like a church social.

The SEC presidents are trying to prove with their actions their intent to become a law-abiding conference. Slive is perfect for the task. He has lived on both sides of the fence — as a conference commissioner-policing member school and as a lawyer who’s defended those who tried to play on easy street.

Remember this: A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse.

Now that Slive has moved on to greener pastures, who will the presidents of C-USA pick to lead the conference that counts the University of Memphis as a member? Their needs are totally different from those of the SEC. C-USA is at a crossroads. It is too big yet too small. The tail is wagging the dog. A “yes man” is not the answer. The presidents should remain in control of the conference, but the new commissioner will need a strong will and comprehensive new ideas.

Slive’s legacy of assuring five bowl trips for conference members looks great on paper, but in reality, three of the bowls are in their infancy and need partners as bad as the conference needs them. A 12th football school is needed, and the four basketball-only schools should be given notice. A championship football game is also a must, but that can’t happen until the conference decides it wants to be more than just a basketball conference. C-USA is supposed to be an all-sport conference. Until that philosophy is acted upon, it will remain what it is today: a wanna-be.

This is a great opportunity to start fresh. The right commissioner can do that for C-USA. The place to start looking is the Mountain West Conference. Under Craig Thompson’s leadership, that conference has marched into areas that many said were off-limits. If he can do it there, he can do it for C-USA. Oops, did I just endorse him? It wasn’t my intent. Or was it?

Flyers The last-minute maneuvering by interested parties during the state’s budget crisis included some by UT football coach Phil Fulmer. A few lawmakers said they were reminded of their season-ticket status and how important it was for football players to attend summer-school sessions to maintain their eligibility.

When the state furloughs occurred, UT women’s basketball coach Pat Summit reminded lawmakers she was losing her recruiting advantage because she couldn’t travel during the three-week “touch the athlete” season. One day later, the budget was passed and Summit was on the road.

Ramblings During this wheeling-and-dealing period of the Grizzlies’ off-season, one name is never mentioned: Lorenzen Wright. Could there be a reason? … Verties Sails should receive a lifetime-achievement award for his contribution to Memphis basketball and the lives he’s touched in a positive way … Albert Means, a name we’ll soon see in the headlines again.

Dig It!

New Grizzlies arena on schedule so far.

By James P. Hill

Point guard Eddie Gill races down court and throws the ball inside to a slashing Drew Gooden, who grabs it out of the sky and jams it down for two points. Slam dunk! You dig it?

As the new-look Memphis Grizzlies continue trying to build a team that can compete against the NBA’s elite, the site of their new Grizzlies Den is being invaded by construction workers, bulldozers, and dump trucks. As the trucks haul away tons of dirt and gravel, Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley is very upbeat about the project. “I feel it’s going to be great, not just for the city of Memphis but for the whole surrounding area,” he says. Smiling as he looks at the fenced-off section downtown between Third and Fourth streets, he adds, “I think it’s going to bring the community together, and it’s also going to be a landmark for the city.”

Some of the amenities planned for the multipurpose sports-and-entertainment venue include 2,500 club seats, four party suites, 80 luxury boxes, a sports bar with a patio, two restaurants, and a team store. The arena will seat 18,400 people for basketball games; concert seating will range from 3,500 to 19,000. For ice events, the arena should seat at least 12,500. Authorities maintain the arena project is on schedule to finish on time. The groundbreaking began in late June; construction should begin in September, after excavation is completed. Officials are now targeting September 2004 for the opening.

Grizzlies president of operations Jerry West is also enthusiastic about the positive effect the new arena can have on the Memphis economy and the team. West reflected on when the Los Angeles Lakers moved from Inglewood to the Staples Center, located in an older section of downtown Los Angeles, much like the site of the new arena here. “It worked out to be a success not only for the Lakers but for the city of Los Angeles,” says West. “There is going to be an enormous retail/commercial area around this arena. And I think Mr. Heisley is going to allow us to do some things financially that will help us bring a better team to Memphis.”

Memphis mayor Willie Herenton looks at the new arena as one way to market Memphis worldwide. “This arena represents the largest public-building project in the history of this city — a $250 million state-of-the-art arena,” he says. “The Tyson-Lewis fight helped to give Memphis national visibility, and the Grizzlies are helping to give Memphis national visibility.”

Playing in a new arena might also offer on-court benefits for the Grizzlies. In the NBA, a strong home-court advantage adds up to more wins. Scott Roth, Grizzlies assistant coach and former NBA player with the Jazz, Spurs, and Timberwolves, reflects on the excitement and success he was a part of in Minneapolis. “We set an attendance record there for an expansion team, and it was wonderful,” says Roth. “It’s exciting coming up here and seeing this piece of property. I’ve never seen it this way, and it’s gonna sit beautifully in the city.”

Meanwhile, as Drew Gooden and Robert Archibald work their way through summer-league games and Jerry West continues to rebuild the Grizzlies, bulldozers are making room for future fast breaks south of Beale Street. And owner Heisley says he’s growing fonder of his young team and its future in Memphis. “I think we’re going to enjoy the two years leading up to this arena,” he says. “And then, when the arena comes, it’s gonna be like 2000 all over again.”

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News The Fly-By

City Reporter

Case Closed?

Shooting suspect’s lawyer raises questions.

By Janel Davis

Attorney Jeffrey Jones is not ready to concede that his client, Harold Noel, is a murderer. Noel is the suspect charged in the June 21st murder of Memphis lawyer Robert Friedman.

According to Jones, several inconsistencies surrounding the homicide lend reasonable doubt to his client’s guilt, including eyewitness descriptions that Jones says are not consistent with Noel’s description. “One witness supposedly described the shooter as having corn rows,” says Jones. “My client is in the 50-year-old age range and told me that he has never had corn rows or anything resembling corn rows on his head.” Jones says he has also interviewed several alibi witnesses placing Noel somewhere other than the location of the shooting, the parking garage at 100 North Main.

Jones also cites a surveillance video of the parking garage that shows the suspect walking to a car and fleeing the scene. The person in the video is taller and does not fit Noel’s description, according to Jones.

“There is considerable belief in the legal community that Mr. Noel didn’t kill Mr. Friedman. It was reiterated to me time and time again that in virtually every case [Friedman] handled, he left behind lawyers, clients, and witnesses who had ill will or ill motive toward him,” says Jones. “I’m by no means saying that Friedman deserved murder. No one deserves that. But if dozens of lawyers, ex-clients, and ordinary folks had a motive, then who knows?” He says that Noel’s reported confession to the murder may have been coerced by the police.

Jones is known for representing difficult cases. His current caseload includes one of the four men charged in the recent Tennessee driver’s license fraud, a suspect charged in the “Candyman” child-pornography case, and several large-quantity drug cases. “A lawyer goes where the cases go, and in the last three or four months, I’ve had my share of hard cases,” says Jones. He says Noel’s family retained his services for this case.

Although Jones has his suspicions, homicide supervisor Lt. Walter Norris says the police are 99 percent certain that Noel is the correct and only suspect..

Assistant District Attorney Paul Goodman was unable to be reached for comment.

Noel is currently being held without bond and is scheduled for a July 17th preliminary hearing.

“We just want to remind everyone, including the press, that there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty,” says Jones.

Food Fight

Parking causes rift between businesses in Cooper-Young.

By Chris Davis

Things are heating up between restaurants in Cooper-Young, and we’re not talking about tasty vittles either.

On Saturday, June 29th, Dr. Michael Counce and his partner Paul Mitchell, owners of Cafe OlÇ, placed flyers in their windows and inserted them into their menus. The flyers explain that Cafe OlÇ has an exclusive lease for the parking lot behind their building. They further explain that because patrons of other Cooper-Young businesses use their parking lot freely, they will begin to charge a $5 parking fee redeemable for $5 worth of product at Cafe OlÇ.

Though all Cooper-Young businesses are implicated, Tiger Bryant, owner of the Young Avenue Deli next to Cafe OlÇ, and Karen Blockman Carrier, owner of the as-yet-unopened Beauty Shop restaurant across Cooper, were singled out as chiefly responsible for this decision.

Signs designating it as private have since been erected at the entrance to Cafe OlÇ’s parking lot and vehicles have already been towed away. On Saturday night, Bryant paid $175 to the towing company to release one patron’s vehicle. Claims concerning damage to towed vehicles remain unverified. Towing continued even after Cafe OlÇ closed for the evening.

Neither Carrier nor Bryant knew that they had been named on Cafe OlÇ’s flyers until they were contacted for this story. Both have contacted their attorneys, claiming the flyers might constitute libel.

Carrier, who will not open her newest restaurant for at least another week, had a well-attended “soft opening” on Saturday night. She and Bryant have small parking lots adjacent to their businesses and both rent additional parking space from First Congregational Church just south of their businesses.

“I can’t control the world,” Carrier says. “I can’t be responsible for where my customers park. [Cooper-Young] is a destination. People will have drinks at [one restaurant], dinner [at another], and dessert [at another]. That’s how it should work. This kind of thing just hurts all of us.”

According to Bryant, his own parking lot is regularly half-full of Cafe OlÇ’s patrons. “But we don’t tow,” he says. “And we’re not going to start towing. The way we look at it, the more businesses that open here, the better everyone does.”

Parking has been an ongoing issue between Cafe OlÇ and Young Avenue Deli, and in recent weeks, harsh words have been exchanged between representatives of Cafe OlÇ and the Beauty Shop.

“We want to welcome Karen to the neighborhood,” Counce says. “And we hope she does well. We just can’t be responsible for parking for all of Cooper-Young.”

No one from the Cooper-Young Business Association was available for comment about the parking feud. The district is zoned as light-commercial, which means that all restaurant owners must meet certain parking requirements prior to opening. Both Carrier and Bryant have met these standards.

Asking For Advice

More time for transition plan for ADA.

By Bianca Phillips

Disabled citizens will now have a little more time to look for flaws in the city’s Americans With Disabilities Act Transition Plan. A new 15-day comment period was granted Friday by city attorney Robert Spence after receiving a petition with over 200 signatures collected by the Memphis Center for Independent Living (MCIL). The dates for the new period, July 1st through the 15th, were released Monday.

The Transition Plan, which MCIL executive director Deborah Cunningham described as “10 years overdue,” will guide the city for the next 25 years in making facilities accessible to disabled citizens.

MCIL felt the initial comment period of two weeks, which ended Friday, was not long enough to allow affected citizens to look over the plan and propose corrections. The group gathered outside City Hall on Friday to petition for Spence, the city’s ADA coordinator, to extend the period for public comment by 60 days, making the cut-off date August 27th.

Spence said he could not extend the period due to legal reasons, but he could start a new one. He said a 60-day comment period was more than he could agree to, but stated that he would think over the decision. On Monday, he released the dates for the a 15-day comment period.

“We are pleased with the extension of time for public comment, and we fully intend to encourage our constituents to take advantage of this opportunity,” says Cunningham. “We had hoped for 60 days, but were told that was impossible.”

The transition plan involves 55 surveys of the city’s public facilities to determine physical obstacles that limit accessibility at each facility. These surveys were to be made available for public inspection, but MCIL claims only half were available.

Other flaws MCIL discovered included no appeal or review process in the grievance procedure, no details of compliance methods, no mention of the city’s schools, and no signature or date on the document.

The plan also leaves out several obvious public venues, such as AutoZone Park, the new NBA arena, and recipients of the Center City Commission’s “facelift project.”

“They talk about what they intend to do but give no time lines as to when. It’s a bit too strange and ambiguous,” says Cunningham.

The transition plan can be viewed on the city’s Web site, www.cityofmemphis.org. Copies are also available at City Hall and at various branches of the public library.

Storm Brewing

School board squabbles about students and buses.

By Mary Cashiola

Thunder and lightning kept setting off car alarms Monday night outside the Memphis City Schools board meeting. But with Commissioner Sara Lewis screaming at Superintendent Johnnie Watson, Reverend James Robinson yelling at the entire board (and then threatening security, transportation, and risk-management director John Britt), and a melee of people carrying on in the hall, the real storm was inside.

At issue was an allegation that an East High School student had been locked in a closet every day last year during one of his class periods.

“I suggest you keep your day jobs,” East High guidance counselor Marilyn Williams told the board Monday night. “The staff who looked into the situation at East were not very good private investigators.” Williams said she had gone into the class one day to give out some information and the boy was in a separate room by himself. “We’ve been told by the administration that it never happened. … To this day, I have not been questioned.”

The mother of the child as well as East High parent and frequent crusader Robinson and a classmate of the boy’s also spoke.

After the allegations surfaced in May, Superintendent Watson, optional schools and special-projects executive director Linda Sklar, and Zone 2 schools director Rick Potts all visited the school to investigate.

“It was not a closet,” says Potts, reached by phone Tuesday. “It was a separate room. It has windows, desks, chairs.” There is a closet off the room, but Potts says it was full of books. After interviewing students, Potts learned that students sometimes ask to go into the 10-by-12-foot room to do their work.

“We have no vested interest in protecting anyone,” says Potts. “We found that nothing was done inappropriately. If anything comes up that was, people will be reprimanded.”

After the East High student spoke at the meeting, Sara Lewis waved her hands in disgust and walked out of the room. When she returned, she was visibly more agitated.

“It’s wrong, Johnnie! It’s wrong,” she yelled. “And you know it’s wrong!” When Commissioner Wanda Halbert tried to calm her, Lewis violently brushed her off. In the audience, Robinson stood and began yelling at the board. Britt quickly approached him and asked him to be seated. “Britt, if you lay a hand on me, you’ll hit these four walls,” Robinson said.

Watson told the board that there was an ongoing investigation into the matter. “Investigations usually take some time. … When I feel comfortable with the situation, then I will deal with it. For example, a recent investigation started in February and was not ended until June 28.”

That investigation, conducted by internal auditor Waldon Gooch, concerned the 1997 transportation contract with Laidlaw Inc. At heart were a number of complaints, including a “shared-savings” clause that seemed to favor the contractor. As written into the contract, the base number of routes was set in October 1997 when the district was running 410 buses. Savings for eliminated bus routes would be shared 60/40 with the district. However, as reported in the Flyer in May, the base number of routes established for the clause was set at 434 routes. “It appears,” wrote Gooch in the report, “that we should not have been billed or paid Laidlaw the shared-savings cost of $1,184,840.”

As a result of that investigation, Watson plans to ask board attorneys if any of those moneys can be recovered.

After asking for quiet, board president Michael Hooks Jr. said that the superintendent had given him his personal word that he would continue investigating the East High situation and the meeting was adjourned.

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Sports Sports Feature

City Sports

A League Of Their Own

The Grizzlies’ summer camp will help separate the pros from the wanna-bes.

By James P. Hill

Every summer, people from all over the world travel to Memphis to party on Beale Street, search for Elvis Presley, or just eat barbecue. And for the second time in as many years, at least 19 professional basketball players have traveled to Memphis to take part in the Grizzlies’ summer camp.

Jerry West, Grizzlies president of basketball operations, explains why summer leagues are great for free agents, rookies, and veterans alike. “We want to get a read on our younger players and any player we want to invite to training camp,” says West. “We have a bunch of veteran players here, but it’s still to be determined who and what we need to do with some of our other free agents.”

As Grizzlies management continues its makeover of the roster, basketball standouts from leagues worldwide are here, hoping for a chance to prove themselves. You know about Drew Gooden (fourth pick overall out of Kansas) and Robert Archibald (second-round selection from Illinois), but there are several players at camp you may not be too familiar with, such as 6’5″ guard Rico Hill (Illinois State).

“I was fortunate enough to be drafted in 1999,” Hill says. “I went in the second round [to the Clippers]. But my mentality wasn’t where it needed to be and I took my opportunity for granted. I got cut and I got a lot of bad rumors put on my name because of that,” he adds, shaking his head. “I want to reach my full potential, and until I sign, I’m not gonna stop working. And when I sign, it’s gonna get that much stronger. I’m just hungry.”

Gooden may be a lottery pick with a guaranteed contract, but he’s also excited to be in Memphis and wants to improve his game on the hardwoods. The former college All-American has already set some goals for his new team. “I want to just show guys I can play at this level, ” says Gooden, “and make a statement that we are a team that can make the playoffs next year.”

For the Grizzlies’ coaching and scouting staff, summer camp and games are a great way to measure the potential, progress, and skill levels of several players in a short period of time. “Drew and Robert will be involved in those games right away, and I think it’s a great learning experience for them,” says Tony Barone, Grizzlies director of player personnel. “Shane [Battier] did a great job last year in the summer because he could come and play. Pau [Gasol] couldn’t [get here],” says Barone.

This year’s camp format is called “daily doubles.” Players work out for two hours in the morning and for another two hours in the afternoon. Fatigue can be a factor for players who are not used to the grueling NBA workouts.

“You’re starting to see which guys prepared for this and which guys took it for granted,” says Hill. Hill played for the Dakota Wizards in the CBA last season, averaging 11.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg, and 3.7 apg.

According to Grizzlies team officials, only 12 players will be selected to represent the team during summer-league competition. The Grizzlies begin playing games July 7th in the Southern California Pro Summer Basketball League held annually on the campus of California State University-Long Beach. The Grizzlies first game? The Los Angeles Lakers, featuring rookie Kareem Rush out of Missouri.

Memphis will also play in the Rocky Mountain Review Summer League held annually in Salt Lake City, Utah. The schedule has Memphis playing Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, the L.A. Clippers, Portland, Cleveland, Utah, Chicago, and Denver. The games will be something of a barometer for the talent the team has assembled. But for most of these players, the goal is not so much winning as being invited to remain in Memphis for fall camp.

A Daly Dose

The mercurial golfer loses his grip.

By Ron Martin

John Daly’s down-to-earth personality makes it easy to like him. It’s a Southern thing. His “you never know what you’re going to get” life is just as compelling. It’s a human thing.

The moment Daly set foot on the grounds of the TPC at Southwind for the FedEx St. Jude Classic last week, he was the crowd favorite. If he had received a cut of the gate, it would probably have surpassed his week’s prize money. When he finished his round Saturday, most of the fans deserted the course. Only a sprinkling of spectators remained at 18 when the leaders approached. They came to see Daly and got what they paid for — almost. If they came to see a train wreck, they saw one; if they came to see him give it his best shot, they should ask for a third-round refund.

Daly’s third-round collapse was more than a matter of losing his game. He lost his will to play. By the ninth hole, Daly was just walking the course, hesitating for brief moments to hit his ball. The only thing he was aiming for was finishing — and getting into the clubhouse. He paused longer to sign autographs at the 18th hole than he did when he addressed the ball. If this were a baseball game, he would be the player who failed to run out a grounder. Oddly, if this were a baseball game, he would have been booed. But this is golf; Daly’s lack of concern for the ticket-buyer was mostly met with polite applause — and some quiet grumbling.

When he left the final green on Saturday, you had to wonder if he would even wake up in Memphis on Sunday, much less return for his final round. He did show up, and, for that, he should be given a little credit, even though he played the round as though his pants were on fire and with little or no regard for his score. A man who cared what people thought about him would have been embarrassed, but Daly has never worried about what people think of him.

He proved that with his lack of professionalism during the third and fourth rounds of the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

Daly played Sunday without a partner. When he finished, less than two hours later, he was still alone and alone in last place. There wasn’t much of a gallery to witness the debacle, at least not when compared to earlier rounds. Apparently, a 7:45 a.m. tee time is too early for Daly’s fans, even those who come to see the train wreck.

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monday, 1

(Tim Sampson‘s inimitable offerings are on vacatiom, along with him.)