Author: Julia Baker

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Love Doesn’t Hurt Benefit this Weekend

CREDIT: Love Doesn’t Hurt

Local agency Love Doesn’t Hurt is hosting its inaugural Rock for Love event this Friday, featuring entertainment by Mama Honey, Native Blood, Chinese Dub Connection Embassy, Gloryholes, PXLS, Midtown Queer, and Magnum Dopus.

These talented local artists will help raise awareness for the organization, which provides emergency resources to victims of domestic abuse within LGBTQ+ partnerships and relationships.

“Domestic violence is one of those things that does not discriminate,” says Phillis Lewis, CEO of Love Doesn’t Hurt. “It affects all walks of life, people from many different backgrounds and demographics.”

Love Doesn’t Hurt

Songs of love

Lewis, who formerly worked at the district attorney’s office, founded Love Doesn’t Hurt in 2011 after a client of hers, who’d been a victim of domestic abuse, had trouble receiving help from a counselor Lewis had referred her to.

“Instead of focusing on the trauma that she had experienced, they were more shaming her for being a lesbian,” says Lewis. After this revelation, Lewis began vetting service providers to ensure her clients were taken care of in a more inclusive environment.

“But there weren’t a lot of shelters that were very welcoming and accommodating to the LGBTQ community,” she says.

So she founded the agency, and since then, they have helped between 200 and 300 individuals by providing emergency services and other resources to help them get back on their own two feet.

“It’s important to provide the resources because if the person doesn’t get out of the situation they’re in, they’ll fall into a sense of hopelessness,” she says. “You want to get the person into safety. That way they can thrive. Otherwise, they’re going to continue to experience that abuse.”

Rock for Love, Growlers, Friday, February 7th, 7 p.m.-12:30 a.m., $10.

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Memphis Pets of the Week (2/4/20-2/10/20)

Each week, the Flyer will feature adoptable dogs and cats from Memphis Animal Services. All photos are credited to Memphis Pets Alive. More pictures and more information can be found on the Memphis Pets Alive Facebook page.

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Truckin’: Grateful Dead Tribute at Growlers

Jerry Garcia is dead and gone, but his music lives on. Thankfully, we can all still get our fill of music inspired by the Grateful Dead from tribute bands like The Grass Is Dead.

The group is due to make a stop in Memphis this Friday at Growlers, but not before they make their way around the solar system.

“We’re going to Jupiter, [we’re going to] outer space, and then we’re going to Mars later tonight,” jokes Brian Drysdale, drummer, percussionist, and a vocalist for the band.

The Grass Is Dead

While we can only assume this celestial quest is a ritualistic rite of passage, they’ll be back down to Earth soon, and we can revel in their Dead-inspired sounds, mixed with elements of bluegrass, blues, rock, and soul.

“We’re just a collection of friends,” says Drysdale. “You’ve got Drew Matulich, who’s not only a guitar player, he’s also a mandolin player. He can pretty much play any of the strings, and he’s super talented with swing music, jazz, bluegrass, reggae, all of that. And Ed Richardson, he’s the bass player. He’s a phenomenal musician and knows the Grateful Dead catalog so well. You’ve got Jared Womack with his bluegrass roots, and Billy Gilmore, he’s an encyclopedia of Dead tunes.”

Drysdale rattles off a long list of the group’s musical influences that include greats like the String Cheese Incident, Galactic, Sturgill Simpson, and, of course, the Grateful Dead.

“We’ve just been exposed to this insane kaleidoscope of tunes,” he says. “The best thing about it is to be able to meet these awesome humans and hear them play and be healed by music — because music is therapy, and everybody needs it.”

The Grass is Dead, Growlers, Friday, January 31st, 10 p.m.-1 a.m., $13/advance, $15/door.

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The Comedians Following Tool On Tour at 1884 Lounge

Last year, after a 13-year hiatus, rock band Tool released a new album, Fear Inoculum, and now they’re bringing the new tunes to the road with a U.S. tour. Three funnymen, Nick Youssef, Rory Scovel, and Freddy Scott, are big fans, so they’ve decided to follow the band while making a comedy tour out of it.

“[The idea] came up at a dinner in Los Angeles, when we all decided to go watch the [Tool] show at Staples Center,” says Youssef. “And almost in passing, I think as just this joke, I was like, ‘Yeah, if they do more dates in 2020, we should start a little tour and go follow them around.'”

Comedians Following Tool on Tour

Two weeks later, Tool released tour dates for January, and Youssef and the others decided to go for it.

“Everyone who knows us knows we love Tool,” he says. “And this is one of those moments where the stars sort of aligned in the sense that they haven’t had a new album out in a while. We thought we might not have this opportunity for a while, so we jumped on it.”

The three have since followed the band to places like San Diego and Austin, where they had the opportunity to meet Adam Jones, Tool’s guitarist.

“He came to the show in Austin and watched all of us and had a great time,” Youssef says. “He said a lot of very nice things, and we were all beyond thrilled. We all felt like teenagers again. … They have been so supportive. They put out a tweet and an Instagram [post] telling people about our tour, and we were absolutely floored by that because they don’t tweet much about other comedy or music acts.”

The Comedians Following Tool On Tour: The Tour, 1884 Lounge at Minglewood Hall, Thursday, January 30th, 7-11 p.m., $26-$31.

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Scribble Me That: Exhibition of Pizza Box Drawings

CREDIT: Photos by Shelda Edwards

This Friday, the Hive Collective presents its first Scribble Exhibition, a collection of works scribbled on pizza boxes.

These works materialized from The Hive’s monthly Scribble events at Midtown Crossing Grill, where artists and creatives are invited to join and doodle their hearts out on whatever materials are around.

Shelda Edwards, founder of the Hive, says Scribble began in September 2019 when she approached the owner of Midtown Crossing about doing a type of “drink and draw” event.

Photos by Shelda Edwards

Pizza plus art equals awesome.

“I had a relationship with Octavia, the owner of Midtown Crossing Grill, and I asked if she would be willing to let us take over half of her restaurant once a month,” she says. “She is the one who suggested, ‘Well, I can get y’all pizza boxes if you want to draw on those, too.’ So that’s where that came from. She just offered it, and we were very pleased and happy to draw on pizza boxes because, if you know creatives, they will draw on anything.”

Edwards says the subjects sketched onto these unique canvases are up to the artists’ imaginations.

“The subjects range from pizza-themed things to nothing that has to do with pizza,” says Edwards. “They’re basically just representations of the various different artists who have come together and created things.”

This and other Scribble events are free to attend, and all ages are welcome.

“We’re not there to get super lit,” says Edwards. “We just want to draw together.”

This event will be hosted by Shelda Edwards, Sarah Edelstein, and Kathryn Hicks. 

Scribble Exhibition Vol. I, Midtown Crossing Grill, Friday, January 24th, 7-10 p.m., free.

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Con Talk at this Month’s Nerd Nite Memphis

CREDIT: Jessi Gaston

Nerd Nite Memphis hosts its monthly talk series at Highland Axe and Rec this Wednesday, where speakers will talk about conventions in Memphis.

Nerd Nite was originally established in Boston in 2003 as a way for nerds and non-nerds to get together, drink, and learn. Since its inception, the series has become so popular that more than 100 cities worldwide have adopted the programming.

Nerd Nite Memphis has covered a multitude of subjects like sperm transfer, string theory, and Aztec mythology. Now, they’re bringing their first talk of 2020 with a cons (short for “conventions”) theme, featuring Jessi Gaston, adult track director of Anime Blues Con, and Danny Chamberlin, chairman of MidSouthCon.

Jessi Gaston

Talkin’ that nerdin’ out, cosplay, anime blues

Gaston has been with Anime Blues Con since its first meeting 10 years ago at Starbucks.

“I showed up to that meeting and George [the co-founder] asked me what I wanted to do,” she says. “I told him I wanted to do programming, and he said, ‘Okay, do it.'”

Since that encounter, Gaston has stuck with the Japanese arts and culture convention crew, volunteering her time as adult track programming director and briefly as con chair.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize it’s actually pretty much a 365-days-a-year job,” says Gaston.

Despite that, Gaston says the last 10 years with the convention have been rewarding.

“One year, we brought in a famous Japanese fashion designer, and being able to meet him and see him in person was really special for me because I’ve been a fan of his work for a long time,” she says. “It was kind of like the culmination of putting in these hours, and you actually get to be a part of this.”

Nerd Nite, Highland Axe and Rec, Wednesday, January 29th, 7-9 p.m., free.

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Memphis Pets of the Week (1/21/20-1/27/20)

Each week, the Flyer will feature adoptable dogs and cats from Memphis Animal Services. All photos are credited to Memphis Pets Alive. More pictures and more information can be found on the Memphis Pets Alive Facebook page.

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King Day Celebration at NCRM this Monday

CREDIT: National Civil Rights Museum

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said.

Dr. Noelle Trent, director of interpretation, collections, and education at the National Civil Rights Museum and the project leader for the museum’s annual King Day celebration this Monday, says that this was one thing King told fellow citizens to encourage them to activate themselves in society.

“Being silent on an issue means that you’re being complicit,” she says. “The idea [of this event] is that people can go to the museum and see regular folks making some very basic decisions about their lives and making some sacrifices. It’s something that helps move the movement forward. And that was what Dr. King encouraged people to do.”

National Civil Rights Museum

Still dreaming

Vitalant (formerly Lifeblood) and the Mid-South Food Bank will be on site to encourage attendees to give back. In addition to receiving free entry to the museum during the event thanks to FedEx, guests who donate nonperishable foods will receive a $2 coupon toward admission on any future visit to the museum this year, and guests who donate blood will receive free admission for four people (in exchange for the four people a pint of blood could help) on any day in 2020.

“We’re offering people reasonable ways to engage with Dr. King’s story and the story of the movement, but also to do good for the medical community,” says Trent.

To help celebrate King’s life and legacy, entertainment will be provided by the Soulsville Charter School choir, Karen Brown, and more; and kids will be able to partake in face painting and balloons.

“We’re celebrating who he is and what he means to us,” says Trent. “This is not a somber moment.”

King Day, National Civil Rights Museum, Monday, January 20th, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., free.

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Memphis miniFEST Showcases Local and Regional Musicians

CREDIT: Lucky 7 Brass Band

Experiencing festival withdrawals in these not-so-cold winter months? A collection of various up-and-coming local and regional musicians will showcase their talents at this Saturday’s Memphis miniFEST at the Hi Tone.

The mini fest, organized as part of a series of similar events held in cities throughout the country, was put together by Colorado-based company Bridging the Music Productions as a means of providing a platform for exposing local talents’ music to the public.

“We want to give artists the opportunity to be able to play an event where they can get their music out in front of new people, play at a great venue, and where we can create an opportunity for them to expand as an artist,” says Jonah Lipsky, head event producer for Bridging the Music.

Lucky 7 Brass Band

Lucky 7 Brass Band

The production company has presented concerts around the country for artists from the likes of Steve Molitz (Particle/Phil Lesh & Friends), Jason Hann (Eoto), SunSquabi, and more. Now, they’re touring the country, giving local artists in cities across the nation the opportunity to shine. One of those cities is Memphis, and Lipsky says they’re looking forward to bringing the series to the city to highlight some of our local and regional artists like Lucky 7 Brass Band, Jalan Veasley, and Woody & Sunshine.

“This will be our first event in Memphis, and we are excited to branch out into Tennessee,” says Lipsky. “MiniFEST has really great momentum, and people love the idea of a festival and community. And being able to see a ton of different acts throughout the night keeps people very entertained.”

Memphis miniFEST, Hi Tone, Saturday, January 18th, 6 p.m.-2 a.m., $17.99/advance, $20/door (+$5 for persons below 21 years of age).

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Memphis Pets of the Week (1/14/20-1/20/20)

Each week, the Flyer features adoptable dogs and cats from Memphis Animal Services. All photos are credited to Memphis Pets Alive. More pictures and more information can be found on the Memphis Pets Alive Facebook page.
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