The MEMernet was wild for the white stuff last weekend. It was that “good snow,” making snowmen, snowballs, and snow sledding all easy and fun and driving not so dangerous.
“These children give added meaning to ‘birdie’ while taking flight Saturday above the Overton Park golf course,” said Tom Bailey on Facebook.
The Memphis Zoo’s socials were blown up last weekend. Reels showed tigers playing, a grizzly bear rolling in the snow, and Babu, a mandrill, knocking over a snowman.
Posted to Facebook by Memphis Zoo
There was also lots of love out there for the often-maligned city and Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW). Redditors tipped their hats to MLGW’s tree-trimming efforts, which helped to keep the lights on, and to the city for keeping the roads clear. Wow.
CA for Arts?
Posted to Facebook by Jay Etkin
Art gallery own Jay Etkin wants to turn the former Commercial Appeal building on Union into the Flow Museum of Art & Culture. Etkin said he is in talks with city, county, and state leaders on the idea.
The building is on the auction block at the end of the month. Another idea would turn the building into a vocation training center for youth (see here).
Elmwood Cemetery has announced its annual Snowden Spirit Series Writing Contest, asking for historical fiction short stories about Elmwood’s residents.
Entrants can choose to write about an individual, a couple, or a group, so long as they are buried at the cemetery. Prizes will be awarded to first through third place, with third place receiving $500, second $750, and first $1,000. Winners will be announced on Facebook and Instagram, and all three winning entries will be published on the cemetery’s blog. The winning stories will also be read aloud at a reception on a date to be announced.
Entries are due February 14th at 4 p.m. Stories are to be 1,500 words at maximum, with no more than two submissions per applicant. A $20 donation is required (donate here). Email your submission to amanda@elmwoodcemetery.org.
Read 2023’s winning stories by Jeffrey Posson, Katherine Fredlund, and Beverly Cruthirds here.
The Snowden Spirit Series is sponsored by the Snowden family in honor of the creative spirit of Memphis.
Memphis Light, Gas & Water last week invited customers to play bingo with a card holding squares that said, “bragged about my low utility bill,” “didn’t lose power during a storm,” and more.
Commenters (not so gently) reminded MLGW of the impending 4-percent energy rate increase this month and that their power can still be unpredictable. Many said the post was “tone-deaf,” with some suggesting that it was proof of MLGW’s “toxic” relationship with customers.
New Year’s Tear
Posted to Facebook by Moth Moth Moth
Drag artist Moth Moth Moth was on a Facebook tear New Year’s Eve morning, saying, “Understand this. I will rip this town apart and sew it back together myself if I have to.”
By that afternoon, though, Mothy softened: “I’m not feeling grumpy anymore! I just needed to eat some toast.”
“Distinctive Weapon”
Posted to Facebook by WREG
Comments went wild-larious on two WREG posts about the search for and arrest of Jayden Burns. He allegedly robbed Midtown stores, using an old-timey, long-barreled pistol. Steve Clarke said, “Hear ye! Hear ye! Unhand thy currency!”
So it begins — 2025 has arrived. A new year, a new horizon, a new spectacle to behold. We don’t have much to say about 2025, not yet. But we do have our hopes and resolutions, which we must share with you in our “New Year, New You” issue because our editor said so. And since this is the new year and a new us, we’re actually listening to her. And, hey, maybe, you’ll listen to us and adopt a few of our resolutions.
Put Down Your Phone
We all love our smartphones. They help us connect with each other. They’re windows to the world. They serve us dank memes. We can’t go to a game or the club without taking video and sharing it with friends and strangers on the internet.
But these days, it’s easy to feel that you have too much of a good thing. You might have already guessed from your weekly average screen time reports that smartphone addiction is real. In many cases, that’s because your apps are working as designed. Social media platforms are designed to keep you engaged as long as possible. They don’t care if that engagement makes you mad, sad, or happy. A public, friendship-splintering fight sparked by an Instagram post is actually a win as far as Meta is concerned. Other apps are designed to deliver a steady drip feed of dopamine, a chemical your brain associates with rewards, like a slot machine.
If you think your smartphone use is out of control, try deleting the most problematic apps. Maybe you only need to access X on your laptop instead of on your phone — or maybe you don’t need to access it at all. iPhones have features that can help you decrease your dependency, such as Focus settings which limit your notifications. On Android systems, the Digital Wellness settings can also be helpful. If that doesn’t work, consider getting a “dumb phone” — that is, an old-fashioned flip phone that will send and receive calls and T9 text messages. — Chris McCoy
Photo: Jon Tyson | Unsplash
Cook Some Barbecue
You’re Memphis AF. We get it. You’re a Stax scholar, an Overton Park zen master, Midtown shortcut navigator, and a top-rated commentator on r/Memphis.
Take that AF-ness one step further this year: Add pitmaster to your Memphis CV.
Barbecue is a mysterious art. Tough pork cuts tenderize in a dark sauna of smoke and low heat. To watch this process spoils the magic, a sin immortalized in the phrase, “if you’re looking, you’re not cooking.” It emerges hours later, dark, rustic, supple to the touch, and maybe hissing but still needing a rest — a tiny dose of extra magic — to make it Memphis barbecue.
But they sell everything you need for this so-called magic at nearly every grocery store in town. So, how hard can this be?
Folks on barbecue subreddits and YouTube say you’re probably overthinking it. Folks on barbecue subreddits and YouTube say you’re not thinking about it enough. Do I wrap ribs? How long should I rest a pork butt? Should I use yellow mustard to hold a dry rub? Will sauce anger the Memphis barbecue gods?
It can be tough to cut through the noise. The only way to know what is going to work is to do it yourself.
You probably already have the gear. All you need is an outdoor, low-heat source (around 225-275 degrees) and some wood chips. Almost any grill can smoke, yes, even most gas grills. (Google “aluminum wood packets for smoking” for help here.)
Pork cuts for smoking are usually cheap, too. Ribs run around $15 a slab. Feed a crowd with a pork butt for about $20. Also, a shaker of dry rub can start as low as $5.
The low cost helps take the sting out of a bad batch (ask me how I know). A pro tip here, if you’re just getting started, and your barbecue is the star dish of a get-together, have the pizza man on speed dial in case things go south. — Toby Sells
Photo: Michael Donahue
Plant the Seeds
Your New Year, New You could be “Johnny Appleseed” in 2025. Or some other seed.
Plant some seeds this spring and watch what happens. Not only will you see something green grow into a plant that (a.) blooms, (b.) turns into something you can eat, or (c.) both; it’s also one of the oldest head-trips.
I’m talking about seeds that are easy to grow. Each year I plant seeds I know I’ll get results from. As somebody once said, if you grow a lot of something that’s easy, people will think you know what you’re doing.
I feel great all over the rest of the day after I plant some balsam, tomato, marigold, or other easy seeds. I don’t buy boxes of already blooming plants or already growing herbs and vegetables. That’s not fun. I want to watch the growing process from the time the seeds sprout until they’re fully grown.
I wait until mid-May to plant most of my seed because the soil is warm and it doesn’t take long for the seed to sprout.
These are what I plant every year. And you can get seeds for all of these at nurseries or online:
• Balsam, or “touch-me-not.” After the blooms on the side of the stem fade, they will produce seed pods. When the seeds are ripe, the pods will burst open when you touch them.
• Gomphrena, or “globe amaranth,” is my favorite. I started them from some little round purple flower globes I snipped off some plants one summer. In mid-May, I crush the dried blooms and just plant the flat seeds in shallow rows.
• Tithonia, or Mexican sunflower, is one of the most fun for me. The plants, which bear vivid orange daisy-looking flowers, can grow over 7 feet tall.
• Celosia, or “cock’s comb,” are very easy to grow and they also reseed. These have the velvety red blooms that look like rooster combs.
• To round out your garden, plant the super-easy sweet basil seed. They come up fast and last all summer until frost.
Just make sure you water your plants. Don’t let them dry out. I plant my flower, vegetable, and herb seed in big pots and just keep them there. They’re a lot easier to manage. — Michael Donahue
Free Jazz: Just What the Doctor Ordered
If you should find yourself asking, “New year, new me, sure — but how?” this January, try my surefire way of dusting off the mental cobwebs, shaking up old habits, and finding a fresh perspective: free jazz.
Of course, very few free, out, experimental, or avant-garde musicians would use that antiquated term anymore. I still like it, even as a punch line, but let’s just call it improvisatory music. By any name, it can be the perfect catalyst for rethinking your own personal big picture.
Ra Kalam Bob Moses and one of his most recent works (Photo: Courtesy Ra Kalam)
Because it grows from extemporized thought, such music stays unpredictable, making it a sure tonic for anyone stuck in a rut. Yet it’s not incoherent. Just listen to one of last year’s finest releases, one of many emerging from our city’s thriving improvisatory scene: Sonic Alchemy Suprema, featuring a world-class improvisational drummer now based in Memphis, Ra Kalam Bob Moses. Technically, the album is by Alma Tree, a group that includes Ra Kalam, Vasco Trilla, and Pedro Melo Alves — all drummers. And though three horn players also join them, the sheer richness of the percussive tones alone will keep your ears fascinated. Give the album a few minutes and, as the virtuosic players speak to each other through sound, the tales they seem to spin emerge organically, sewing dramatic threads of thought and imagination.
At times meditative, at times frenetic, the moods they conjure will surely get you thinking outside of the box — or the algorithm. On the surface, it sounds like a punch line: Hey, try rethinking your life to the sound of bells, gongs, ratchets, drums, and horns on a free jazz album. But really, it’s a matter of “kidding on the square,” as the old jazzers would call it: a joke that tells the truth. — Alex Greene
(The Young Actors Guild is known to improve graduation rates. Photo: Craig Thompson)
Be a Part of the Solution
With my job requiring me to be tuned in to how current events affect specific communities, I’m also inclined to research how citizens grapple with solutions to certain problems. It doesn’t take a deep dive into the city to show that people are concerned about our youth and their trajectories. For decades there’s been a heavy emphasis on law enforcement to intervene aggressively on youth crime and intervention. While enhanced conversation on the relationship between law enforcement and young people is always encouraged, there are ways for the community to be proactive as well.
For 2025, I’d like to see more community engagement and involvement in nonprofits and organizations that focus on improving the lives of youth in Memphis. Crisis and crime intervention are always at the forefront of community involvement; however, at-risk youth are not monolithic and don’t exclusively occupy these spaces. As a community we can consider volunteering and supporting arts organizations who seek to provide an outlet for our youth. Organizations like the Young Actors Guild have prided themselves in improving graduation rates and college enrollment by cultivating an interest in the arts for young people. Not to mention the plethora of schools that are always looking for tutors to help students in need.
Improving the lives of young people requires involvement from all sectors. Youth need to know that the people in their community are invested in their well-being and interests. This can lead to confidence and improved outcomes in so many areas, which can positively impact Memphis as a whole. — Kailynn Johnson
Consider paring back your media intake or completing your to-do list. (Photo: Pexels | Pixabay)
No Spin New Year
I’m cable news sober since November 5th. Not one second of MSNBC, CNN, Fox, or any other network’s “news analysis” has crossed my eyes. Yet, I’m better informed than ever because I’m no longer consuming the garbage I used to watch every night — the garbage that fed my outrage machine and my confirmation biases. Instead, I’ve signed up for AP News, which is ranked the most down-the-middle news site. Also good are Reuters, BBC, The Guardian, and the straight news reporting by the major dailies. They all send links to your phone through the day, so you don’t miss anything.
Sometimes on social media a teaser will spin its way through to my attention. Last week, CNN wanted me to watch a clip where apparently resident troll Scott Jennings was trashing the legacy and integrity of former President Jimmy Carter on the day of his death. No thanks. The more clicks that stuff gets, the more they publish it. I’m out. For good. I’m getting my news the old-fashioned way; I’m reading it on my phone. — Bruce VanWyngarden
Photo: Pexels | RDNE
Get to It!
The only task any of us should be concerned with as we enter yet another new year is that of cooking the seeds. That is, finishing the leftover business we’ve put aside or not gotten around to.
Cases will differ from person to person, but for most of us, that entails a lot of catching up to do. Dust off that incomplete manuscript and finish the book. Patch up that broken friendship. Stop griping about how slow the boat is going and put your own oar to work. And, since you’re not really going to be an expatriate, swallow your disappointments about the public weal and find some volunteer organization that can use your two-cent’s worth.
Instead of wishing you’d said this or that to him or her, go ahead and say it now. Even though it’s no longer timely, it may well clarify the outcome.
None of this should preclude any new initiatives on your part. In fact, clearing off the cluttter will give you a clean new desk and good ideas for filling it up again. You’ll likely discover that this process can begin at once.
And don’t worry about getting it all done and having to face some terrifying void. You’ll never get through. That’s kind of the idea.
Oh, and if you’re that rare individual who’s always caught up on everything, here’s an idea: Learn a new language; you’ll confront the same old world, but with a wholly different way of looking at it. — Jackson Baker
• A state report found “out of control” inmates, drug overdoses, staff shortages, and more in Tennessee state prisons, especially at Tiptonville’s Northwest Correctional Facility.
• Cannabis industry leaders began working against new state rules that would remove smokeable products from their shelves and damage the industry.
• Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis kept her job but on an interim basis.
• SmokeSlam BBQ Festival was introduced.
• We got to the bottom of the “Dicc Dash” car that had been seen all over Memphis.
• Winter Storm Heather left five dead in Shelby County, pushed a record-breaking demand for electricity, and put all residents under a boil-water advisory.
FEBRUARY
• Artis Whitehead was exonerated 21 years after he was convicted of a 2002 robbery at B.B. King’s Blues Club.
• Governor Bill Lee pushed for more school vouchers and big business tax cuts in his State of the State address.
• The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board picked Marie Feagins as its new superintendent.
• Data showed that Black residents got four times as many traffic tickets than whites.
• A bill was filed to mandate gun safety training for every Tennessee school student.
Tyre Nichols (Photo: Dakarai Turner)
MARCH
• American Queen Voyages closed.
• Eighteen anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced from GOP lawmakers in the state legislature.
• State House members voted to stop the Memphis City Council from a proposed ban on pretextual traffic stops, which came in the wake of the beating death of Tyre Nichols by MPD officers.
• The Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) gave an early look at new trails on land ceded to the park by the Memphis Zoo.
• Memphis ranked as most dangerous city for pedestrian deaths.
• Renting a home in Memphis became more affordable than buying one.
• Elon Musk announced Memphis would be the new home for his supercomputer, Grok.
• New census data said nearly half of Tennesseans could not afford the basic cost of living in their counties.
• Tina Sullivan announced she would step down from the OPC.
• The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) asked the city council for $30.5 million after revealing a $60 million deficit.
• A federal judge blocked some protections of transgender people in Tennessee allowed by new Title IX rules.
JULY
• Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi said more than 10,000 people had left Tennessee for an abortion in the two years after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
• The U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
• The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s new Memphis Art Museum project was allowed to move ahead after a judge denied a challenge from Friends for Our Riverfront.
• City council members asked for more transparency from MATA after the announcement of its big budget deficit.
• New state laws went into effect including a death sentence for child rapists, one against “abortion trafficking,” a declaration of the Bible as a state book, one against “chemtrails,” and another for singers’ protection from AI.
• A court denied former state Senator Brian Kelsey’s (R-Germantown) request to rescind his guilty plea for campaign finance violations.
• The former leader of Shelby County’s Covid vaccine rollout lost a bid to declare she was wrongly blamed for allowing hundreds of doses to expire.
• A court ruled transgender Tennesseans cannot change the gender marker on their birth certificates.
• Memphis International Airport was green-lit for a $653 million modernization of its main terminal.
• The school board settled with the Satan Club for $15,000 and a promise to end its discriminatory practices.
• A court ruling allowed a ban on drag shows in public places.
• Tennessee tourism hit a record spend of more than $30 billion in 2023.
AUGUST
• Environmental groups asked Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) to deny an electricity deal for xAI’s supercomputer.
• The Links at Audubon Park opened.
• Memphis cases of HIV and syphilis spiked 100 percent over the past five years.
• Leaders warned of a tax surge coming after property reappraisals next year.
• Black Lodge closed.
• Serial scammer Lisa Jeanine Findley was arrested in Missouri for her attempt to steal Graceland from the Presley family.
• MATA suspended trolley service.
• Kaci Murley was named OPC’s new executive director.
• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) raised electricity rates by 5.25 percent.
SEPTEMBER
• Carol Coletta stepped down as CEO of the Memphis River Parks Partnership.
• A state land deal could protect the Memphis Sand Aquifer.
• Cannabis industry leaders sued the state over new rules that would ban smokeable products.
• Tennessee ranked near the top for arresting people for cannabis.
• For the third year in a row, water levels were down in the Mississippi River after Midwest droughts.
• AG Skrmetti proposed warning labels for social media.
• Social media threats made for a turbulent week at local schools with disruptions and some lockdowns.
OCTOBER
• Lawmakers want to replace the now-fallen statue of racist newspaper editor Edward Carmack at the State Capitol Building with David Crockett.
• A court decision mandated schools offer “reasonable accommodation” for transgender students to use bathrooms of their choice.
• Three MPD officers were convicted in the beating death of Nichols.
• Memphis Mayor Paul Young replaced every member of MATA’s board.
• State Democrats pressed for financial reforms to address the state’s “crumbling transportation infrastructure.”
• Judges blocked discipline for doctors who provide emergency abortions.
NOVEMBER
• Atomic Rose closed.
• A new school voucher bill was filed.
• The Memphis-area crime rate fell.
• Tuition at state schools looked likely to rise again next year.
• TVA approved xAI’s request for power.
• Teachers scoffed at Lee’s $2,000 bonus as a “bribe” to go along with school vouchers.
• 901 FC left Memphis for Santa Barbara.
• University of Tennessee Health Science Center began a plan to demolish the “eyesore” former hotel building on Madison.
• Gun Owners of America sued the city of Memphis to block the gun referenda approved by voters from ever becoming law.
• A new $13 million plan will help redesign the intersection of Lamar, Kimball, and Pendleton.
• Crime fell Downtown in 2024 compared to 2023.
• Cannabis industry leaders filed another suit against the smokeables ban after lawmakers left it in the final rules.
DECEMBER
• Buds and Brews, a restaurant featuring cannabis products, opened on Broad.
• Blended sentence laws could usher hundreds of kids into the adult criminal justice system.
• State revenue projections flagged on big business tax breaks.
• A blistering report from the U.S. Department of Justice found that MPD used excessive force, discriminated against Black people, and used “harsh tactics” against children.
• Houston’s abruptly closed.
• The SCOTUS heard Skrmetti’s case against gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
• The former Velsicol facility in North Memphis could enter into a state-run environmental response trust.
• Feagins narrowly survived the board’s ouster move but the situation will be reviewed in 2025.
So, like, apparently, 2025 is around the corner. Around the corner of what? From what? That’s just semantics. And at the Flyer, we’re basically already in 2025. That’s just how our deadlines are — always working a week ahead, or maybe two days ahead. Because of that, we can see into the future. Not really, but here are some of our predictions/expectations/hopes for the new year in Memphis.
In the Headlines
Police Reforms
It’s easy to predict that reforms for the Memphis Police Department (MPD) will dominate headlines at least in the early part of 2025.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) blistering review of the agency said police here used excessive force (which included tons of Tasers and pepper spray), discriminated against Black residents, and used harsh tactics against children. The review came after the beating death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of MPD officers in 2023.
The DOJ wants to enter into a consent decree with the city. This would install federal monitors to watch and make sure reforms are moving ahead. But, so far, local leaders, including Memphis Mayor Paul Young, have said they don’t want the monitors for various reasons, including the fact that consent decrees cost too much money.
Young has promised to reform MPD in-house. Criminal justice reform advocates say they want the DOJ oversight because the police should not police themselves.
The need for reform comes, too, as the city prepares to pay what could be a $500-million verdict in the civil suit to the family of Nichols’ for his death.
Photo: Frank Gaertner | Dreamstime.com
Cannabis Fight
Cannabis will certainly be in Tennessee news in 2025.
Rules that would ban smokeable products containing THCA were issued from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) in January 2024. Industry leaders fought the rules all last year. A lawsuit on the matter was pending as of press time.
TDA says THCA goes over the legal THC limit when it’s burned or smoked. This gets consumers high, which is why a lot of conservatives don’t want “intoxicating” cannabis products. Their ability to get consumers high is why the industry says these products — allowed by laws passed by the legislature — are so popular and are a major portion of their business.
Those industry leaders complained that bureaucrats, not elected officials, made the new rules. So expect legislation from the Tennessee General Assembly when they reconvene in January 2025.
Pissed About Reappraisals
Also, expect your property taxes to go up — maybe way up.
January will bring a new property tax appraisal in Shelby County. And Shelby County Property Assessor Melvin Burgess began warning locals about this in 2024, maybe to try to get folks used to the idea.
In an August news release, Burgess said data showed property values increasing. That will likely mean a “significant increase in tax assessments” for homeowners. And that means higher taxes.
Add higher assessments to the Memphis City Council’s new 49-cent property tax rate hike approved in 2024, and it could mean outrage when those tax bills hit mailboxes.
Photo: Ford Co.
BlueOval City
More concern and hand-wringing is likely on deck for Ford’s BlueOval City project next year.
Expectations were high when Ford unveiled the project in 2021. The $5.6 billion manufacturing facility in Tennessee was the largest investment in the state’s history. Since then crews have been hard at work raising the massive plant on six square miles of West Tennessee about an hour from Memphis.
However, global electric vehicle (EV) demand softened. While the automaker planned to begin production of its all-electric Ford Lightning truck here next year, it pushed production back to 2027. In that time, the company awaits lower-cost battery technology and a higher demand for EVs in general. In that time, too, worries will persist about the future of Ford in West Tennessee. Still, the company did pull Santa behind a Lightning in the recent Brownsville Christmas parade. — Toby Sells
MATA
2024 will be remembered as the year in which conversation regarding transit consistently found its way to the forefront. And Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) has faced a tumultuous year — from the revelation of the $60 million deficit that the agency had been operating under, to the route and staff cuts, to the entire board’s dismissal.
The new board decided to pause proposed changes until February 2025. While this temporarily stalled one problem, questions over MATA’s future and leadership prevail.
On Tuesday, December 17th, the MATA board voted to continue negotiating a contract that could lead to temporary leadership changes. If approved, TransPro employees would take over as interim CEO, CFO, and COO for eight months. The proposal prompted several questions from board members, but they voted to form a committee to gain more clarity.
Looking ahead, the board will need to address the February 2025 changes which could lead to service cuts and layoffs. The agency will also need to identify more funding sources, while potentially welcoming a new team of leadership. — Kailynn Johnson
Political Forecast
The coming year happens to be the one year out of every four-year cycle in which there are no major elections scheduled in Memphis/Shelby County. But that is not to suggest that there will not be intense political activity. In fact, potential candidates for the county, state, and federal offices in the elections of 2026 will be working feverishly during the year to organize and declare their campaigns. At stake will be contests for Shelby County mayor, to succeed the term-limited Mayor Lee Harris, and for the 13 members of the county commission, as well as races for governor, the state legislature, Congress, and the U.S. Senate seat now held by incumbent Republican Bill Hagerty.
Announcements of candidacies for these offices should be forthcoming early in 2025.
There will be one more major attempt by Governor Bill Lee and his allies in the Republican legislative supermajority to pass comprehensive school voucher legislation when the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes in January. Preliminary estimates are that this time the measure to extend taxpayer-funded private school stipends statewide has good chances for passage. Also to be expected are further efforts by GOP members to impose stricter controls (or more severe usurpations) on the law enforcement infrastructure of Shelby County. It remains to be seen if GOP state Senator Brent Taylor gains any traction in his effort to seek legislative removal of Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy.
Both major political parties in Shelby County will be selecting new chairs, the Republicans in January, the Democrats in April. State GOP chair Scott Golden of Jackson was reelected in December, but Democrats will be choosing a new leader in January to succeed Hendrell Remus. One of the major candidates is state Representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in November.
The Shelby County Commission will face the new year not only with some last-minute updates in its funding priorities, but with a stepped-up formula for establishing a budget and meting out allocations. In an effort to adhere to previous commitments to build two new schools for Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Mayor Harris and the commission will be seeking means to compensate for lower than anticipated revenue aid from the state government.
Both local governments may come in for support and new modes for inter-governmental cooperation through the aegis of a newly formed and privately endowed ad hoc organization called More for Memphis. But the mechanics and prospects for such an arrangement remain obscure, for the moment. — Jackson Baker
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) dunks the ball. (Photo: Wes Hale)
On the Roster
One year without playoff basketball for our Memphis Grizzlies is quite enough, thank you. A trio of healthy star guards (Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart) and the addition of a towering rookie center (Zach Edey) have the Grizzlies near the top of the NBA’s Western Conference standings. Better yet, the Grizz are among the top scoring teams in the Association, averaging more than 120 points per game. Where might this take a franchise that’s reached the conference finals only once in three decades? Go back to that word: healthy.
Morant only played in nine games a season ago (he served a lengthy suspension before his shoulder injury). Smart only played in 20. Bane barely played half the season (42 games). The end result was a 27-55 campaign. Morant is an All-NBA talent, Smart a former Defensive Player of the Year, and Bane an All-Star-to-be. If they stay on the floor through April, Memphis could well reverse that 2023-24 record and earn a top-four seed for the postseason. Can the West be won? Five different teams have gone to the Finals out of the Western Conference the last five seasons. There’s no current behemoth that would be considered unbeatable in May. The NBA Finals at FedExForum? Let’s believe.
At the college level, coach Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers captured attention in November with an upset of Connecticut — the two-time defending national champions — at the Maui Invitational, bringing enough attention to climb into the Top 25 (16th) before an upset at home to Arkansas State. Is this another fall tease like the 2023-24 season, the Tigers setting up an immense fan base for a middling conference schedule? The answer is in the hands of two more star guards: transfers PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter. A pair of glass-cleaning rim protectors — Dain Dainja and Moussa Cissé — give Memphis something it didn’t have a year ago, suggesting a repeat of the winter blues may be unlikely. A December upset of Clemson on the road and a less-than-intimidating American Athletic Conference are positive signs for a return to the NCAA tournament.
There will be life after basketball season for Memphis sports. Baseball America’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Quinn Mathews, will likely start the 2025 season with the Memphis Redbirds. Another pair of rising stars — pitcher Tink Hence and infielder JJ Wetherholt — have AutoZone Park in their sights. The Redbirds hope to end a postseason drought that dates back to 2018. The club will open the season with an exhibition against the parent St. Louis Cardinals on March 24th.
On the gridiron, the Memphis Tigers will enter their 2025 season on a pair of impressive streaks. The program has reached bowl eligibility 11 consecutive seasons and has scored at least 20 points in 40 consecutive games, tops in the country. Antwann Hill, the highest-ranked quarterback ever signed by Memphis, will don blue and gray for the first time and hope to replicate the success enjoyed by the departed record-setting Seth Henigan. One nugget Hill could grab that Henigan didn’t: a conference championship. — Frank Murtaugh
Mickey 17
Coming Soon
It’s not so much that 2025 is getting off to a slow start as 2024 finished strong. Christmas week brought a torrent of new releases beyond the usual awards season crush. So you can spend your first week of dry January catching up with titles like Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, directed by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins; the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet and directed by Walk The Line’s James Mangold; and Babygirl, an erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman. I will never understand the decision to release Robert Egger’s vampire creepfest Nosferatu on Christmas instead of two weeks before Halloween, but you should probably see it if you’re into that kind of thing.
It’s not until January 10th that we get our first new releases of the new year, and that’s Den of Thieves 2: Pantera starring Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. The next week things start to pick up again with Wolf Man, a Blumhouse horror reboot of the lupine Universal monster. One of Them Days is a buddy comedy with Keke Palmer and SZA, which sounds promising. The month closes out with comedy: You’re Cordially Invited starring Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, and an alligator.
In February, somebody learned the lesson about seasonal programming and scheduled Love Hurts for the week before Valentine’s Day. It’s an action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose. On the holiday proper, we’ve got Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Captain America: Brave New World, a combo which is sure to provoke many lovers’ quarrels over Valentine date night viewing. Then there’s The Monkey from Osgood Perkins, so that’ll be weird/scary. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is a sci-fi Bugs Bunny feature aimed directly at me. Paul W. S. Anderson adapts George R.R. Martin’s In the Lost Lands.
March comes in with Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s dip into horror, Sinners, and the Zambian black comedy On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. March 14th is a showdown between Steven Soderbergh’s techno thriller Black Bag and Avengers maestros Russo brothers’ The Electric State. Disney’s live action Snow White boasts a screenplay by Greta Gerwig and stars Rachel Zegler as the drowsy protagonist.
In April, many of you will be dragged to A Minecraft Movie. I am eagerly awaiting Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson as a disposable space hero. Blockbuster season starts in May with Marvel’s first swing of the year, Thunderbolts. The ever-creative Michel Gondry’s first musical, Golden, bows on May 9th, and the millennials’ favorite ambient horror franchise Final Destination: Bloodlines follows on the 16th. The 23rd looks to be a showdown between Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch reboot. June’s looking stacked with a John Wick spin-off Ballerina, Pixar’s Elio, the How to Train Your Dragon reboot, and the long awaited zombie capper 28 Years Later. July’s got James Gunn’s Superman, a new Jurassic World film for some reason, and The Smurfs Movie. August closes out the summer with Freakier Friday and the Paul Thomas Anderson crimer One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
October brings Tron: Ares, but besides The Black Phone 2, looks pretty slim on horror. In November, we come back after the intermission with Wicked: For Good, and Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man. December will be dominated by Avatar: Fire and Ash. Never bet against James Cameron. — Chris McCoy
Yo-Yo Ma (Photo: Courtesy MSO)
Live Music, Ho!
A multitude of ways to ring in the new with live bands await you on New Year’s Eve. Growlers will host Blacklist Union, Line So Thin, and Josey Scott, erstwhile lead singer for Saliva who won acclaim as a solo artist with “Hero” from the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man. For something completely different, crooner Gary Johns will serenade Beauty Shop patrons that night, while Bar DKDC sports another incredible singer, Jesse James Davis, from big beats to ballads, not to mention the dance-inducing bounce of Bodywerk. For some Beale bounce and soul, aside from the street party, Eric Gales tops the Rum Boogie bill and the B.B. King All Stars shine at their namesake club. Or tribute bands can bring yesteryear alive, with Louder Than Bombs’ Smiths sounds at B-Side, or Play Some Skynyrd and Aquanet at Lafayette’s Music Room. Prefer freshly spun wax? That’s it’s own kind of live. Try DJ Funktual at Eight & Sand.
Once January is underway, our musical arts institutions resume their 2024-25 seasons. The Iris Collective will present the New York-based Overlook Quartet in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts on January 16th, showcasing music’s healing powers through meditative practice. On the edgier tip, Iris’ March 8th concert at Germantown United Methodist Church, with guest violinist Elena Urioste spotlights works by Max Richter, Astor Piazzolla, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Meanwhile, Germantown Performing Arts Center will present the groovier side of innovation with bassist-composer Meshell Ndegeocello’s show, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, on January 11th. And Opera Memphis brings Carmen in late January.
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra comes out swinging with its tribute to the “American Maestro,” Leonard Bernstein, on January 18th and 19th, in a program culminating with his Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Another maestro will be celebrated a month later, when the MSO welcomes guest soloist Yo-Yo Ma February 25th at the Cannon Center of Performing Arts.
On the more rocking side of things, early January marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley, and Graceland Live will honor it in style with shows spanning January 8th to 10th. Yet the venue has lately embraced some distinctly non-Presley-esque music as well, like the February 6th appearance by 21st-century rockers Theory of a Deadman (an Elvis reference?), experimenting with an unplugged approach to their heavy sound. The unplugged aesthetic will also be celebrated at the Halloran Centre’s Memphis Songwriters Series, with Mark Edgar Stuart welcoming Hannah Blaylock, Rice Drewry, and Raneem Imam on January 6th. Soon after, Sweet Honey in the Rock will bring the raw power of the human voice to the Halloran on January 24th. And speaking of powerful voices, Mary J. Blige will appear “For My Fans” — like some of us who saw her in 1995— at the FedExForum on February 2nd.
But what’s a mere human voice compared to The Man-Machine? Many are laser-focused on Kraftwerk taking over the Overton Park Shell on March 25th. For the Wo-Man-Machine, see the twin-goddess cyber-hybrid multimedia of Marcella Simien and Talibah Safiya at Crosstown Theater January 25th. For everything in between, scan our weekly After Dark listings to see the artists making it happen in our thriving smaller clubs every day. — Alex Greene
Looking for unique gifts this giving season? Here’re a few posted recently on Facebook Marketplace Memphis.
“Homemade Iron Throne chair. Made for a murder mystery party and used during that night. It is crafted from a plastic Adirondack chair, wood supports, and different types of foam. $100.
Posted by Charlie Barnett
One of two oil paintings on offer; $150 for both.
Posted by Sky Sirling
Banksy Keep It Real graffiti sign original, 2004. $3,000.
“A holy grail piece for any street art collector.”
Posted by David Comstock
Autographed photo of Dr. Phil with the quote: “Walking around with a stick up your butt will not make you a corndog!” $20.
The MEMernet was dominated late last week with the news that chain restaurant Houston’s closed its longtime Memphis location, citing staffing and safety challenges.
Reactions online followed a familiar rhythm — shock at the news, sadness over the dishes that will be missed, remembrance of good times had at the chain restaurant, a wave of pffffftt about safety concerns in one of the safest parts of town, a review of all the other restaurants in the area that are thriving, undertones of racism in the motivation to close, context on how the restaurant never engaged with the Memphis community, news that a local wanted to step in to reopen the place, and, finally, a meme showing Houston’s could reopen as a Jack Pirtle’s Chicken.
Haunted Hepburn
Posted to Facebook Marketplace
Someone bought some Halloween just for Christmas. A recently purchased poster ($50) of Audrey Hepburn was described as “haunted” in a Facebook Marketplace post from Collierville. The poster said whatever spirit was attached to the poster was “escalating” things by touching them and even leaving red marks.
UFO on Sam Cooper?
Posted to X by @the_paranormal_chic
A video posted to X by Myra Moore The Paranormal Chic apparently showed a UFO transported through Memphis last weekend on a flatbed trailer, driving down Sam Cooper Boulevard.
Reactions are pouring in after a blistering report from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Wednesday detailed the agency’s findings from an investigation into the Memphis Police Department. This probe was launched in the aftermath of Tyre Nichol’s death following his deadly beating after a traffic stop.
“Based on this investigation, we found that the police in Memphis use excessive force; that they stop, search, and arrest people unlawfully; that their policies have a discriminatory effect on Black people; and that they discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities,” the DOJ said in a statement. “Furthermore, we are concerned that Memphis police officers unnecessarily escalate encounters with some of the most vulnerable members of the community — its children.”
The DOJ found that the agency used excessive force, discriminatory practices against Black people, and imposed harsh and “aggressive” tactics on children.” The agency found these to consistent practices where they “violat[ed] people’s rights.”
Career attorneys and staff from the Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney’s Office, and “more than a dozen experts who specialize in police department management, use of force, statistics and other areas,” were consulted in what the Justice Department called a “comprehensive and exhaustive” investigation. They also interviewed police officer, city employees, community members and more.
“We received hundreds of incidents, watched hundreds of body-worn camera videos, read thousands of documents, and conducted statistical analyses of the department’s data regarding officer activities and enforcement,” the statement said.
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said MPD’s practices do not make Memphis safer and urged the city to intervene in terms of police reform and consent decrees. They said they are also committed to working with the city to remedy these patterns.
“Achieving meaningful constitutional policing reform costs time and resources,” Clarke said. “ But not implementing systemic reforms also imposes enormous costs — cost in terms of citizens’ rights that are trampled, personal, and financial costs in injuries and deaths due to excessive, unnecessary use of force, costs in diminished public safety, and millions of dollars in legal judgments against the city due to constitutional violations.”
During a press conference Mayor Paul Young said for those who had not read the report that it would be “difficult to read” and that some types of incidents are “not acceptable.”
“Policing in Memphis must always be ever-evolving, constantly improving, and I’m confident that our team is ready to further the work of creating ongoing change,” Young said. “We believe that adjustments we’ve already begun making must continue and that they must expand.”
In a letter addressed to Justice Department officials, Tannera Gibson, city of Memphis attorney and Chief Legal Officer, said the city will not willfully enter a consent decree based on the report. She said a legal process is required for them to question how they evaluated information, witnesses, and facts used to reach their conclusions.
“Until the city has had the opportunity to review, analyze, and challenge the specific allegations that support your forthcoming findings report, the city cannot — and will not — agree to work toward or enter into a consent decree that will likely be in place for years to come and will cost the residents of Memphis hundreds of millions of dollars,” Gibson said in a statement. “From what we understand, consent decrees remain in place for an average of more than ten years, with absolutely no controls to ensure timely completion or consideration for the financial impact to the affected community. Such a proposal is not the right solution for Memphis.”
“Confirms what activists and organizers have been saying about the police department for years.”
Cardell Orrin, executive director of Stand for Children – Tennessee, echoed these sentiments saying this is what they’ve “heard many times and has been debated, disputed, and diminished.”
“Thanks to the investigators from DOJ for validating the experiences of people in Memphis when the people’s representatives have not been willing to acknowledge and do something about it,” Orrin said in a post. “You can go back to the many CLERB (Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board) recommendations that never got addressed by MPD leadership or the city.”
This story will be continually updated as more reactions come in.
