Author: Julie Ray

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Outdoors Inc. Hosts Grit & Grind Gravel Grinder

CREDIT: Facebook/Outdoors Inc.

I guess the cat’s out of the bag — or rather, the bike’s out of the shop. Outdoors Inc. showed up in a big way for the Best of Memphis awards. The local sporting goods store took awards for Best Local Athletic Goods Store and Best Bicycle Shop. No wonder, with great events like the Grit & Grind Gravel Grinder.

On Sunday, get revved up and ready to bike a pancake-flat course that will be fast and rideable. With a mix of asphalt, gravel, and dirt, be ready to get muddy if it rains. You should be in the clear though. By all accounts, the weather is supposed to be a cool 67 degrees with cloud cover.

Facebook/Outdoors Inc.

“I want to ride my bicycle — I want to ride my bike!”

While the course is currently being updated, Outdoors Inc. says, “The newly improved gravel is complete and looks good. It will be even better with a little time. The race course [this year] is 55 percent tarmac, 45 percent gravel.”

Laps are roughly 6.5 miles long. There will be no separate starts for male and female divisions; each lap category will start at the same time. A reminder: Helmets are required. Stay tuned for awards, which will be given to the top five male and female winners in each division (5 Lap, 4 Lap, 3 Lap).

After the race, celebrate at Grind City Brewing Company, 76 Waterworks, with entertainment by Chinese Connection Dub Embassy.

Grit & Grind Gravel Grinder, Big River Crossing, Channel 3 Drive, Sunday, Nov. 1, 9 a.m., $45-$65.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Shroomin’: Wanna Learn Some Fungi Facts?

CREDIT: Facebook/Memphis Mushroom Festival

Here’s something useful. Learn all about the science of mycology. Sounds boring. What is mycology and why do you want to know about it? Mycology is a branch of biology dealing with fungi. Still confused? It’s all about the ‘shrooms, man.

A friend who goes faithfully to the Memphis Farmers Market every Saturday and buys from the Bluff City Fungi vendor says she has a theory: that mushrooms are not really poisonous, they just tell you that because some are psychedelic. She tells me this as she picks a little umbrella-looking mushroom off the ground and pops it in her mouth. “Now we just wait and see if it’s one of those poisonous mushrooms,” she says.

Facebook/Memphis Mushroom Festival

Looking to learn some fungi facts?

Meanwhile, I feverishly start googling mushroom identification websites with 911 on standby. My friend is (sometimes hazardously) obsessed with mushrooms for cooking as well as medicinal uses. Wouldn’t it be great to know the facts about mushrooms? Why yes, it would. Take a trip to the grassy park on the Vollintine-Evergreen Greenline at N. Auburndale this Sunday and listen to the experts with facts, not theories. Connect with like-minded people and learn about the ecosystem.

The class will explore two fungi that are in season and growing in our region. Learn the common name, the Latin name, identifying characteristics, how to forage, harvest, or grow, medicinal qualities, recipes, and more.

Mycology Class, Vollintine-Evergreen Greenline at N. Auburndale, 673 N. Auburndale, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2 p.m., free.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Theatre Memphis Resident and Scenic Designer Hosts Fall- and Halloween-Themed Photo Sessions

CREDIT: Facebook/Theatre Memphis

Are you a nerdy librarian by day, sexy schoolgirl by night? Corporate executive during the work week, but a weekend Hell’s Angel? Here’s the perfect holiday photo opportunity for you. Bring the family in for a sweet autumn photo, then get your nobody-understands-me emo gear together to memorialize your first Halloween pandemic experience.

How great is it? According to local creative Falon Karcher, “I think this is just a super-cool idea. It just shows that when the going gets tough, theater people build their way through it. This does my heart good and I can’t wait to be back on that stage.”

Facebook/Theatre Memphis

Season 3 of What We Do in the Shadows looks lit.

What Karcher and others are talking about is the work of Theatre Memphis resident and scenic designer Jack Netzel-Yates, who has created a Fall Harvest theme (great for families) and the Haunted Victorian (great for costumes) to create your next frame-worthy portrait. These photos will also look snazzy on the annual holiday cards that you’ll be sending in the next few months. Costumes are encouraged, and the whole gang can be in the shot, as this is a pet-friendly event. Whether you choose to come in costume or in classic autumnal attire, you’re sure to capture a delightful memory with this specialty Halloween photo shoot.

Hallowdaze: Photo Ops & Lollipops, Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Extended, Friday-Saturday, Oct. 23-24, by appointment, $10-$20, $5 additional person.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Time Warp: Zombies Take the Drive-In this Saturday

CREDIT: Facebook/Time Warp Drive-In

This dusk-till-dawn Halloween horrorthon movie event features four beloved flicks of undead insanity, including Zombieland, Re-Animator, Night of the Living Dead, and Return of the Living Dead.

Most of us are zombied-out after what seems like a decade of TWD. Oh, wait. It has been 10 years. Those jerks are no better off, and the series should have been canceled when (spoilers) Negan lost Lucille and became a wuss. But let’s stay on topic.

The films that will be showing at this edition of the Time Warp Drive-In are classics. You might have piled your friends in the trunk of your 1968 Dodge Charger to see cult classic gore at the drive-in for an original showing of Night of the Living Dead in the late ’60s. A quick internet search reveals that the Dodge Charger still has the roomiest trunk. Pile them in again for a night at the drive-in starting with Zombieland, the 2009 zom-com starring Woody Harrelson. These films are pure undead brain gold.

Facebook/Time Warp Drive-In

Braaaaaaaains!

Shout-out to former Contemporary Media co-worker Celeste Dixon who is part of the art and film collective Piano Man Pictures, which is offering “vintage intermission insanity between all films.” It’s nonstop horror, y’all.

We’re all pretty happy that the Time Warp is back after a COVID intermission. Just a reminder to wear your mask when outside your car or going to the snack bar so we can continue to enjoy future warped events.

Night of the Living Time Warp: Zombies Take the Drive-In, Malco Summer 4 Drive-In, 5310 Summer, Saturday, Oct. 17, 7:15 p.m., $10.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Edge Motor Museum Hosts Car Show this Weekend

CREDIT: Facebook/Edge Motor Museum

Call the Edge Motor Museum and you’ll be greeted by an enthusiastic vroom, vroom followed by the squealing of tires. Punch a series of buttons and you’ll be greeted by an even more enthusiastic museum director, Richard Vining.

Vining says that Mid-America Old Time Automobile Association (MOTAA), open since 2019, was going to host a car festival, but decided not to do it this year. That’s when museum tour guide Bob Watkins suggested they do it themselves.

“It’s free to come out and see all the cars for the festival or $15 to enter a car,” Vining says. “They’ll be outside, and the museum will be open. Tours are self-guided, but we do like to talk about cars, so you’ll probably get an earful.”

Facebook/Edge Motor Museum

Live life on The Edge at the old Auto Row.

The Edge District used to be Auto Row, and the museum is located in the old Cherokee Motors manufacturing plant from the 1920s. Right down the street is Sun Studio, where Elvis recorded his first record and drove his first car off the Madison Cadillac lot. There’s a lot of history there.

Inside the museum is the “American Speed” car exhibit, featuring vintage American cars from post-war years, the same era as the Sun Studio heyday.

Admission to the museum is $10 for adults and $5 for kids. “We have a rule here though,” says Vining. “No family pays more than $30.”

Inaugural Fall Edge Motorfest, Edge Motor Museum, 645 Marshall, Saturday, Oct. 17, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., free to look, $15 to register for car competition.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Black Lodge Hosts “Queer Horror” Outdoor Screening Event

CREDIT: Facebook/Black Lodge

This Friday, October 9th, Black Lodge will be screening two favorite queer camp horrors. One is ironically called Sleepaway Camp. It’s covered with the camp stamp. Teen movie — puh-leese. Made in the ’80s —so campy. If you haven’t seen it, here’s the rundown: A killer is at a teen sleepaway camp, and each night another person is found dead. What secrets lie there? The camp is called Arawak. They deserve it just for thinking they won’t get whacked at a camp with that name.

On their Facebook page, Black Lodge urges attendees not to google this sleeper film, “The less you know about this one, the better. The ending is iconic, and any research will pretty much spoil it.”

Facebook/Black Lodge

for you.”

The first movie of the night will be A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, another ’80s film about teenagers. In this film, the Freddy Krueger story continues when the Walsh family moves into a house on Elm Street. That house just happens to be the former residence of Nancy Thompson, the sole survivor from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Jesse Walsh finds himself up against Krueger. You always knew you were being set up for a sequel if someone survived. It’s a slasher film — I’m sure you know what happens. Nevertheless, you’ll want to follow Jesse and his girlfriend as they try to outsmart the dream slayer.

Black Lodge requests no children in attendance due to the adult nature of the films. Bring a friend for emotional support and a chair or blanket, as the screening is outdoors. Soft drinks will be sold, mask-wearing is mandatory, and donations are appreciated. Message the host on Facebook to reserve a space.

Queer Horror Night, Black Lodge, 405 N. Cleveland, Friday, October 9, 7-10 p.m., free.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Tennessee Shakespeare Hosts Coriolanus Salon (Live and Live-Streamed) This Weekend

CREDIT: Courtesy of Tennessee Shakespeare Company

Tennessee Shakespeare Company founder and producing artistic director Dan McCleary will lead the company of actors in the title role in Coriolanus. As well, viewers will be taken into the cesspool of politics of 493-489 B.C.E. It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This political powerhouse has been appreciated by both political leaders and progressive theater companies in the last two centuries for national propaganda and citizen protest mobilization.

Courtesy of Tennessee Shakespeare Company

Coriolanus

“For a story that was ancient and well-known, the play’s ending was and remains surprising and moving,” says McCleary. “It is a harsh, bloody, painful look at a young republic struggling with its checks and balances through the austere nurture of male Roman virtue. This leads to a personal sacrifice that we do well to remember during our own election season. We all must be Tribunes of the people right now. We all must vote.”

A fatherless Martius is raised as a killing machine being of the patrician class. Martius cannot help but speak of his disdain for the office and the plebeian class; and with his potent threats and opposition in the Senate, he is banished from Rome only to join his archenemy in laying vengeful siege to his home and his family. But when the women and children of Martius’ family are deployed in supplication to him, what happens next is knowingly mortal.

The salon will feature approximately 10 scenes extracted from the play, interspersed with conversation about their creation and relevance, both live and online.

Like to a Lonely Dragon: Shakespeare’s Election of Coriolanus, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, 7950 Trinity, tnshakespeare.org, Friday, live and live-streamed, October 9, 8 p.m., $15-$25.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Art in the Loop Returns October 2nd

CREDIT: Courtesy of Art in the Loop

Art in the Loop made a grand appearance on the art fair scene in April of 2018. It was a one-of-a-kind shindig held on the pavement of the Ridgeway Loop, featuring fine arts and crafts, food trucks, traveling troubadours, and other entertainment. That year it rained, snowed, sleeted, and the sun shined for a few minutes on the same weekend. There was a 50-degree temperature differential in 36 hours. Still, the artists were very happy with the concept and agreed to come back in 2019.

The second year looked promising. One and a half perfect days lulled the artists, vendors, and attendees into a false sense of security before the gale-force winds made a Jackson Pollock of the whole event. Still, many who attended said it was their favorite art fair in the city. Admittedly, it’s a good show.

Courtesy of Art in the Loop

Felted wool sculpture by Nashville artist Chris Armstrong

Welcome 2020 and COVID.

“This year is going to be the big earthquake,” quipped Greg Belz, executive director of Artworks Foundation. “Though the fair is in October this year. That might make a difference.”

If the quake doesn’t shake you up, perhaps the works of art in metal, glass, wood, clay, and fiber, as well as jewelry, paintings, photography, and more will do it. You’ll have plenty of outdoor space to be safe.

“It’s important to working artists that we continue the tradition of craft fairs when so many are being canceled,” Belz points out. “We are forging ahead and intend to show that it can be done safely.”

Art in the Loop, Ridgeway Loop between Briarcrest Avenue and Ridge Bend, artintheloop.org, Friday, October 2, 1-6 p.m., Saturday, October 3, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday, October 4, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., free entry.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Voices of the South Hosts Online Play, Goddess of Tears

CREDIT: Facebook/Voices of the South

Doesn’t it feel like 2020 is the result of mythological Fates standing over a cauldron stirring the pot of chaos as they use their knowledge of the future to toy with and destroy human beings?

Playwright, filmmaker, and performance artist Keegon Schuett certainly uses mythology to explain our fate at the moment in his original new work.

“This play is about how difficult it is to be isolated,” says Schuett of Goddess of Tears, which was written over the course of two months within quarantine.

Facebook/Voices of the South

As tears go by — Niobe is the Goddess of Tears.

The play reimagines Greek gods and goddesses as overwhelmed people working in the digital Cloud of Olympus and isolated from each other. Each has their own staggering department, but maybe none as staggering as Niobe, the goddess of tears, forced to approve or deny access to every single teardrop on Earth. Niobe cannot cry herself and goes on a journey to rediscover herself and her own fate.

“It is hard to make theater in Zoom,” Schuett says. “It’s just weird. But in those restrictions, there are freedoms.”

One of those freedoms is access to actors from all over the world. This performance features a team of actors from Memphis, New York, and Chicago collaborating across time zones. Some familiar names will be in this Cloud of Olympus, including Alice Rainey Berry, Ron Gephart, Christina Hernandez, Jenny Odle Madden, Gloria Swansong, and others.

Will Niobe conquer her passionless immortality? Let us see what the Fates have wrought.

Goddess of Tears, Online via Zoom from Voices of the South, voicesofthesouth.org, Saturday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m., $7-$20.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Glide Ride: a South Memphis Community Bike Ride

CREDIT: Facebook/The Works, Inc.

Looks like we are going to enjoy some beautiful weather in upper 70s this weekend. It’s just the kind of weather that makes you glad that Glide Rides are back.

What’s a Glide Ride? According to the organizer Lindsey Pender, research and evaluation specialist at The Works Inc., “We have a few routes through and leading out of South Memphis. Sometimes we head Downtown, visiting MLK Plaza and Martyr’s Park. Sometimes we go to the Metal Museum, Stax, or neighboring areas like Glenview. We switch it up, hang out, and have fun.”

You’ll meet Pender and the other riders at the South Memphis Farmers Market, so come early or make time after the ride and shop the South Memphis Farmers Market.

Facebook/The Works, Inc.

Glide Ride takes cyclists on an easy-going tour of the Bluff City.

Pender makes a point to emphasize that this fun, easy community bike ride is intended for all ages and experience levels from all areas of the city. While all bicycle riders are welcome, children must be accompanied by an adult. Participants will ride for about an hour at an easy pace.

Arrive early if you would like to borrow a bike or air up your tires. There are a limited number of adult-sized bicycles available to borrow on a first-come, first-served basis. Be ready to roll out at 10:40 a.m. The group leaves with or without you.

While you enjoy your scenic view through the South Memphis area and beyond, Pender asks that you consider how to improve bicycle facilities and connectivity within the South Memphis area and share your thoughts.

Glide Ride, Meet at South Memphis Farmers Market, 1400 Mississippi, Saturday, Sept. 19, 10:30 a.m.