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Let the Good Times Grill

Fire flames on black background

May means barbecue in Memphis. It’s like something comes over this city. This year we have two whole barbecue festivals on the same weekend: Memphis in May’s World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and the new SmokeSlam. (How will Memphis eat so much barbecue?) Our food writer Michael Donahue profiled two barbecue joints in his food column this week: Pollard’s Bar-B-Que and Jimbo’s Brickhouse BBQ (see page 25). He rarely ever does a double-feature, but the barbecue got to him, it pulled at him. (How did he eat so much barbecue?) And then the writers at the Flyer simultaneously started craving barbecue — like some sort of supernatural phenomenon — and all they could think about was barbecue, barbecue, barbecue. Or is it barbeque? BBQ? Bar-b-que? Our editors argued; tears were shed. Barbecue was expensed, for the sake of journalism. We had to capitalize on this madness and make a whole barbecue issue. We had no choice; we had to share what we learned. So please read about the barbecue places and dishes that have made us go mad with gluttony. Join us, won’t you?

Arnold’s Smokehouse (Photo: Bruce VanWyngarden)

Arnold’s Smokehouse

Located in the Castalia Heights neighborhood, a few blocks behind the Kellogg’s plant, Arnold’s Smokehouse is off the beaten path, but well worth the effort to find. It’s in a non-pretentious building, hard by some railroad tracks, making it clear Arnold’s isn’t about atmosphere; it’s all about the food. And the food is very good.

The owners are sister and brother Ivy and Shanon Arnold, and they have each created their own extensive menu. Ivy’s is vegan, and features creative smoked ingredients including jackfruit, cauliflower, mushrooms, grilled veggies, tomatoes, greens, pasta, gumbo, and, of course, tofu. Shanon’s menu is more traditional and meat-friendly. Both are stellar and varied, with some ambitious and unexpected offerings. But this story is about barbecue, so we went the more traditional route.

We started with the cauliflower puffs and green beans as sides, and went with the pulled pork sandwich and pulled pork fajitas as our main dishes. Everything was superb. In fact, I’d rank both the sandwich and the fajitas as among the best I’ve eaten in my 30 years here in Barbecue-Ville. Seriously delicious food, y’all.

A little logistical advice: Because of the varied menu, I suspect, our wait time was around 30 minutes after ordering. It wasn’t unpleasant. We chatted with Willie Arnold, the father of the owners, and some of the patrons and watched an episode of Martin, but next time, I’ll probably call in our order ahead of time or use DoorDash. However you do it, you’d be wise to give Arnold’s Smokehouse a try.

— Bruce VanWyngarden

2019 East Person Avenue, 901-922-5950

Payne’s BBQ Tacos at Molly’s La Casita (Photo: Chris McCoy)

Payne’s BBQ Tacos at Molly’s La Casita

Most of the other restaurants in this story are devoted to barbecue. Molly’s La Casita is not. It’s a Midtown staple, long known for its hearty Tex-Mex fare, including some of the best refried beans you will ever experience. One of the newest additions to the menus fits into the Memphis barbecue story. It’s a collaboration between two Memphis culinary institutions.

“We bought the restaurant about three years ago,” says Jessica Cornell, owner of Molly’s La Casita. “We were just ordering our pork through one of the vendors. I was like, we’re in Memphis. We have so many barbecue options that are made locally. We should try to do something with a local restaurant. Ron Payne is a regular customer. He comes in here once a week and I approached him and asked him what he thought about us using his barbecue pork for our tacos. He thought it was a great idea. So now that’s what we do. It goes in the pork tacos and our pork tamales.”

The Payne’s Pork Tacos differ from the classic pork tacos only in the protein. The dinner portion is two tacos, served with soft tortilla or crunchy shell, with a sprinkling of onion and cilantro. The shredded, slow cooked pork barbecue elevates the dish way beyond the average taco. It’s a match made on Madison Avenue, which is kind of ironic, given that Molly’s original location was on Lamar Avenue, just around the corner from Payne’s.

“Everyone loves them,” says Cornell. “We sell out of the pork all the time. Every time he [Ron Payne] comes, he has to bring us more pork.”

— Chris McCoy

2006 Madison Avenue, 901-726-1873

Eddie “Bossman” Patterson (Photo: Michael Donahue)

Bossman Pit Stop

Eddie “Bossman” Patterson’s logo is “Come Get Lost in the Sauce.” It’s on the back of the T-shirts for his Bossman Pit Stop.

And that’s easy to do. I recently tried one of Patterson’s pork barbecue sandwiches for the first time. There’s so much going on with those delectable flavors. I asked him if it had buffalo sauce in it. He says no. He uses Cattlemen’s barbecue sauce as a base and then adds his own ingredients.

A native of Tunica, Mississippi, who grew up in Memphis, Patterson tells me he learned how to barbecue from his mother and grandmother. He also learned barbecuing when he worked at the old Papa Chuck’s BBQ on Getwell Street. Papa Chuck’s later moved to the Airways location, which Patterson bought a year after the owner died.

The NBA player Antonio Burks gave him his nickname 19 years ago, Patterson says. “He said I was ‘the boss’ in barbecue. He called me ‘The Bossman.’” They both attended Booker T. Washington High School, he says.

Patterson says he barbecues every day. He goes to bed at 4 a.m, takes his grandson to school the next morning, and then at some point starts barbecuing. “I barbecue for eight hours, put it to the side, and let it do its own thing.”

The secret to good barbecue? “Cook it slow in its own juices.”

Patterson, who also does catering for businesses and events and also operates a food truck, says he eats barbecue every day. “I have to test it to make it right.”

His wife, Patricia, isn’t too happy with him not getting enough sleep, Patterson says. “She’s the ‘Bosslady.’”

— Michael Donahue

2251 Airways Boulevard, 901-743-5426

BBQ Tofu Nachos at RP Tracks (Photo: Abigail Morici)

BBQ Tofu Nachos at RP Tracks

I’ll be honest with y’all because that’s what journalism is all about: honesty. I wasn’t looking forward to this issue because I don’t eat meat; therefore, I don’t eat barbecue. So I was planning on playing hooky and just not writing anything for this cover story — not because I’m a slacker but because I’m picky (I swear I’m not just saying that to keep my job). But then I remembered that I once heard that RP Tracks had BBQ Tofu Nachos, and I eat tofu and I eat tortilla chips. Have I eaten them together? No, but, hey, I have a job to do.

So I moseyed on down to RP Tracks — which, no, isn’t a barbecue joint, I’ve been informed, but it’s a place where this non-barbecue-eater can eat some barbecue, so deal with it. To my surprise, the menu has quite a few barbecue tofu options — the nachos plus a quesadilla and a sandwich — so I had choices for barbecue which, normally, I don’t. And that was kinda nice (and they have other barbecue meat, but I don’t care about that).

I stuck with the nachos for my visit, and they did not disappoint. They came topped with cheese (good), lettuce (good), jalapenos (I didn’t eat), and sour cream (good). I got the black bean chili on the side because, like I said, I’m picky and just don’t like black bean chili, but my boyfriend does and he gave it a thumbs-up. Now, for the pièce de résistance, the barbecue tofu — the rating? Pretty dang good. Cooked just right — not chewy, not mushy, perfect, dare I say. Since I’ve never had “real” barbecue, I can’t make any comparisons, but the flavor was like barbecue chips, especially when you put it on a tortilla chip, which, duh, makes sense. (That was an embarrassingly late-in-life epiphany for me.)

All in all, with this being my first foray eating barbecue in Memphis, I’d say RP Tracks serves up a great vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian option. Try it. I did. And this picky eater liked it.

— Abigail Morici

3547 Walker Avenue, 901-327-1471

Cozy Corner (Photo: Alex Greene)

Cozy Corner

When I dine at Cozy Corner, my longtime go-to barbecue sandwich joint, I think one thing: savory. While many of the slow-cooked meats around town have flavor profiles leaning more towards a vinegary edge or a sweet edge, I feel that Cozy Corner approaches the great quality recognized by Japanese culture: umami. Yes, there is a very subtle sweetness to their sauce, balanced with an equally subtle touch of vinegar, but those are mere elements in a whole that’s far greater than the sum of its parts.

That earthy, slow-roasted whole comes through in every delectable bite of a Cozy Corner barbecue sandwich, complemented with a bit of slaw, of course. Unlike many joints offering pulled pork, the meat here is thinly sliced, but the difference in texture matters little to this diner. It’s the flavor profile that’s key. And that’s also true of Cozy Corner’s ribs.

Served (of course) with slices of the whitest of white breads, the meat on these ribs practically falls off the bone. Perhaps one key to that is the Chicago-style smoking technique they use, with the coals placed a bit further from the grill. Starting the meat on the lowest rack and then progressively moving upward increases its time in that luscious smoky environment.

Aside from their classic ribs and sandwiches, Cozy Corner is also famous for their whole Cornish hens, whole chickens, and barbecued bologna sandwiches. But it’s at Thanksgiving that they really shine: My family always pre-orders a whole smoked turkey from them that never disappoints.

— Alex Greene

735 North Parkway, 901-527-9158

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On the Queue for the Weekend

Barbecue smoke plumed blue and beautiful (and mouth-watering) over Liberty Park Wednesday and another will rise Thursday right on the river.

Two barbecue festivals do it low and slow this year in Memphis. The Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (WCBCC) opened to the public Wednesday. SmokeSlam, the brand-new festival, was slated to open doors at Tom Lee Park Thursday afternoon.

The Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest returns to Liberty Park. (Photo: Memphis In May via Facebook)

Everyone used to just call the WCBCC “Barbecue” or “Barbecue Fest.” Time will tell what shorthand or nickname will arise with two contests in town at the same time.

One thing is the same, though. Memphis in May has attracted some of the biggest, most-winning teams in barbecue. The roster shows Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q competing in shoulder. Barbecue celebrity Myron Mixon’s Jack’s Old South team will compete in whole hog. Sweet Swine O’ Mine is back cooking shoulder.

In all, Memphis in May boasts about 130 teams from 22 states and five foreign countries. All of them compete in the traditional categories of ribs, shoulder, and hog, as well as hot wings, sauce, and “Anything But Pork.” Winners will take home a share of $150,000 in prize money.

Down on the river, SmokeSlam’s three-day event promises a “fan-first” experience. This means barbecue, of course, but also fans can shop the National Barbecue & Grilling Association (NBBQA) BBQ Bazaar, a central marketplace with a wide array of products from celebrity chefs and other curated goods. The marketplace will also feature live demos from big-name pitmasters like Carey Bringle, Thyron Mathews, Ray Sheehan, Melissa Cookston, and more.

Other high-profile pitmasters will show their stuff at the B&B Charcoal: Live Fire Extravaganza. This will feature demos and live-fire samples from pros like Al Frugoni (Open Fire Cooking), Derek Wolf (Over the Fire Cooking), and others.

The biggest buzz around SmokeSlam in Memphis has been the music lineup. It includes Tone Loc, Young MC, War, The Bar-Kays, and St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Every night ends with a fireworks show.

SmokeSlam attracted some heavy-hitting teams, too: 10 Bones BBQ from Nesbit, Memphis-loved caterers Hog Wild BBQ, and Nashville’s barbecue-famous Peg Leg Porkers. In all, nearly 60 teams will compete. They’re mostly from the Memphis region but the contest pulled in teams from South Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, and elsewhere.

SmokeSlam boasts the biggest purse in barbecue competition history. Teams will share $250,000 in prize money. 

— Toby Sells

World Championship Barbecue Cooking
Contest, Liberty Park, Wednesday-Saturday, May 15-May 18, $15.00-$549, memphisinmay.org

SmokeSlam, Tom Lee Park, Thursday-Saturday, May 16-May 18, $15.13-$544.74, smokeslam.com  

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IPA All the Way

Soul & Spirits’ Hoochie Coochie wins this year’s Beer Bracket. (Photos: Justin Fox Burks)

Soul & Spirits Brewery’s Hoochie Coochie IPA is the best craft beer in Memphis, according to the more than 800 voters of the Memphis Flyer’s 2024 Beer Bracket Challenge, sponsored by City Brew Tours, Eagle Distributing Company, and Cash Saver.

This marks the first time Soul & Spirits has won our challenge. The brewery had not yet opened its doors in 2021 when we last held it. Their win unseats Crosstown Brewing Company, who has held onto the VanWyngarden Cup since 2021. Back then, Crosstown’s Traffic IPA upended Meddlesome Brewing’s three-year reign atop the Flyer’s annual beer bracket contest with its 201 Hoplar.

Soul & Spirits takes home the prestigious VanWyngarden Cup.

Ghost River Golden took top honors in 2017, the first year of the competition. But it’s been IPA all the way since then. That’s five wins for an IPA — apparently the top style in Memphis — almost every year we’ve done this.

Since Soul & Spirits opened in 2021, it’s won top honors — Brewery of the Year — in 2022 and 2023 in the Tennessee Championship of Beers.

“Winning a competition against your peers is really cool but to have people locally vote for us — that this is their favorite beer in Memphis — that means a lot,” says Blair Perry, who co-founded and owns Soul & Spirits with her husband, Ryan Allen. “We’re still really new, so it is nice that people acknowledge that we’re around and like what we’re doing.”

Allen and Perry say Hoochie Coochie IPA started as an American IPA, “but it just turned into chasing a flavor.” When asked what flavor, Allen says “goodness.” Hoochie Coochie’s hops change from batch to batch, he says, based on what’s available.

“But just trust me, we’re going on a road,“ Allen says. “We’re going on a journey.”

Perry says they’re always chasing a “juicy, citrusy flavor with a nice bitterness that makes you want to keep drinking.”

As for the name? It’s fun to say, they note, and one of the first beers they named. But it also fit with the Soul & Spirits naming convention. Memphis-area music plays onto the labels and into the names of Soul & Spirits beers. So conjure up “I’m a Hoochie Coochie Man” by Muddy Waters next time you sip a pint and search the can label for song references.

Blair Perry, Ryan Allen, and the ever-famous writer Toby Sells

This year was completely different for the Beer Bracket. First up, we opened up the challenge to any brewery in Memphis, any size, whether or not they had beers in stores or not. That brought in Boscos, who, one could argue, blazed the path for craft beer in Memphis. The change also made room for some newcomers like Urban Consequence Brewing, Memphis Filling Station, Cooper House Project, and Memphis-area beer bar and brewpub, Mississippi Ale House.

Gone were any divisions that have, in the past, separated our bracket into very basic beer categories — light, dark, IPA, and seasonal. The beers commingled — stouts vs. IPAs, for example. Though, we made sure no two beers from the same brewery were seeded against one another.

In the end, we had 32 beers from 16 breweries. Each brewery selected two beers for random seeding. (I literally pulled the match-ups out of a hat.) These went right on our bracket. That bad boy was digitized, and over two weeks these beers faced off, fell out, or advanced to the next round.

The final round had Hoochie Coochie up against Cooper House Project’s Midtowner lager, which won a narrow victory over Hampline’s Tandem Pilot double IPA to make the finals. In the end, Hoochie Coochie emerged as the winner, edging out Midtowner by only 130 votes.

The Memphis Flyer Beer Bracket had more than 10,500 votes this year from states across the nation, though most votes came from Midtown Memphis.

You know we love beer at the Flyer. And we know you do, too. (Well, at least hundreds of local voters do, anyhow.) So, we felt a duty to let you know that state lawmakers had you on their minds this year. Here’s rundown of some legislation that could find its way to a pint glass near you.

The Law and Your Beer

It wouldn’t be a regular session of the Tennessee General Assembly if lawmakers didn’t change the way you drink, or try to, anyway.

Lawmakers thought about cold beer, drunk cops, and Sunday sales. They also thought about more serious matters like date rape and treatment programs for DUI offenses. Some ideas worked. Some didn’t.

No Cold Beer for You

Rep. Ron Gant (R-Piperton) knew his legislation “got quite the buzz,” a phrase pounced upon by another GOP lawmaker with “no pun intended!” Har har.

That legislation would have banned the sale of cold beer at stores. So you don’t have to go back and make sure you read that right, here it is again: That legislation would have banned the sale of cold beer at stores.

Eyebrows raised everywhere. Headlines stacked up. Message boards dripped with disbelief.

But when Gant first spoke about the bill, he said “the buzz” about banning cold beer sales was moot. It was part of the original legislation, but after meeting with stakeholders across the state (probably meaning lobbyists for retailers), it was no longer part of his proposal.

He clarified this during an early committee review of the bill. The intent was never to target 12-packs or 24-packs, it was on “high-alcohol, single-serve containers.”

“Some people have educated me on this,” Gant said. “They call them 2x4s or tallboys. You see them laying on the side of the road where they’ve been obviously thrown out. So, we know that they’re being abused, and people are drinking these, and not making it home to enjoy at their house.

“So, there was never going to be any intent — by me as the sponsor — to take away the right and the privilege for the good actors of being able to buy a 12-pack or 24-pack and take that home as responsible adults. I just want to make that clear, you know, for the record. So that everybody feels at ease. But none of that is included in this legislation.”

And feel at ease they did, it seems. Those hard headlines that read like “Proposed Tennessee Bill Bans Selling Cold Beer” (from VinePair) had softened to jokier ones like “Tennessee’s Cold Beer Ban Bill Is Officially On Ice” from Nashville’s News Channel 5.

For many, though, the idea seemed in range and on-brand for the GOP. Memphis Reddit users called it “stupid shit” and “bullshit” and that (sarcastically) these lawmakers were “tackling the real issues.” It also reminded them of another GOP fave: gun control.

“But … but … beer is an inanimate object,” wrote u/Boatshooz. “It doesn’t drink itself. And we don’t need to pass further laws that just hurt responsible drinkers, we just need to enforce existing laws.

“I swear I’ve heard that same argument from those same legislators about something else … can’t remember what it was. Why are they taking the opposite stance with beer?”

The law would, however, create a new group to study alcohol consumption and abuse in the state, with a report due annually. Gant said (but didn’t cite sources for his information) that drunk driving and alcohol consumption has surged in recent years. The bill was passed by the legislature but had not been signed by Gov. Bill Lee as of press time. 

Sunday Sales

You’ve been there, probably. You’re headed to your Sunday Funday, walk into the grocery store only to find the beer section dark, maybe with shades drawn over them or a lock on the cooler door.

Then it hits you. That backward-ass state law says I can’t buy beer here until noon. You may even have a thought about some pious state lawmaker sitting in a church somewhere, praying that the law will somehow nudge you out of the beer aisle and into a pew somewhere. Well, those beer lights will remain off on Sunday mornings, at least for another year.

Nashville Democrats Rep. Bob Freeman and Sen. Jeff Yarbro tried to change that. They described the bill simply as “the alignment of the sale of alcohol on Sunday to every other day of the week.” They said many sporting events are overseas and on different time zones. Some venues, they said, would like to sell alcohol to those who want to watch them. 

The only real vocal opponent of the bill was Rep. Tom Leatherwood (R-Arlington), the former Shelby County Register of Deeds. He tried hard to marry the Sunday-sales legislation with another Freeman bill focused on preventing sexual assault.

He called them “twin bills” even though they could not have been more different. But still he told his GOP colleagues that limiting Sunday sales could save a life, and someday, maybe, end up on your end-of-life sizzle reel.

“Now, any of us that have drunk the alcohol [yes, he said the alcohol] before … it will just naturally reduce the natural defenses of some. It’ll increase the natural aggressiveness of others,” Leatherwood explained. “Hence, it’s good to be aware of what can happen, as we will hear more about later. If you vote no on this bill, you may never know what young lady you save from sexual assault and harassment, to use the language coming up. You may never know. But then again, on the other hand, in that final judgment we will all face, you may find out who you save by voting no on this bill.”

For his part, Freeman tried to separate the two, saying, “You should be able to drink responsibly without being raped.”

Loaded Cops, Loaded Guns

Sen. Joey Hensley swore he had no idea where the idea came from or how it ended up in his legislation. But there it was, raising almost as many eyebrows as the cold beer ban: We were going to allow drunk cops to carry and use concealed firearms.

“As introduced, allows law enforcement officers to carry a firearm when under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances and certain other circumstances,” reads the bill description on the state website.

Hensley said all he wanted to do was allow everyone to carry weapons on college campuses, for crying out loud. (That idea didn’t even get the support of his GOP colleagues. The bill failed.) The drunk cops thing was added without his knowledge, he told Fox 13. But there it was in black and white pixels and the damage was done.

“TN GOP probably: Wait guys, I’ve got an idea,” tweeted Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville). “I know Missouri one-upped us with their bill arming 3 [year olds], but I think we can counter with arming police officers who are drunk or high. Hear me out on this one …[three clown emojis].”

One supporter, though, over on a forum at tngunowners.com had another take.

“I know many seem to find fault with the concept of being armed and drinking, but really, as long as you’re not impaired,” wrote a user named Defender. “If you feel that strongly against it, maybe we should allow cars at bars or restaurants that serve alcohol.”

Date Rape

Rep. Freeman’s legislation (discussed earlier here) on alcohol and sexual assault passed this year, was signed by Lee, and will go into effect in January. That law will require anyone who serves alcohol to the public to take a course on the role of alcohol in sexual assault and harassment and on recognizing and reporting signs of human trafficking.

“If any of you remember, several years ago, the horrible rape case on a university campus here locally where a bunch of men carried a passed-out woman past 20 or more individuals that allowed it to happen,” Freeman said. “Not one of them stopped, said anything, felt empowered to do it, [or] understood what they could say.”

After this, the Safe Bar Tennessee program was developed by the Sexual Assault Center of Middle Tennessee. The program’s slogan is “See Something. Do Something.” Such training is already underway in Nashville, including some 50 bars Downtown, Freeman said.

Odds and Ends

Right now, certain folks under 21 can taste alcohol legally in the state. But they can’t drink it. Make sense?

Motlow State Community College, Jack Daniel’s, and Uncle Nearest have developed an associate’s degree in distilling that could produce more professionals in that industry’s workforce. Tasting the product gives students “real-world, practical experience” to “meet the critical need for their industry.” But they have to spit it out.

If you get a third DUI or BUI, you’ll have to wear a transdermal patch that will send a report to law enforcement if you have a drink. The main part of this legislation reduces jail time for the third DUI. Yet that only serves to give more time to commit to a 28-treatment program.

But the stranger, kind of Big Brother-y part of the law would make you wear that tattletale patch under your skin (so many questions) for three months or until your case is resolved, whichever came first. It goes into effect in July.

A bill would have yanked the alcohol license of a venue that served someone who later got into a car wreck that killed someone. It failed. Another bill sounds like it’s from the Prohibition era. It would have reduced “from two to one the number of credible witnesses who must be present when a law enforcement officer destroys an illegal distillery, a still, fermenting equipment, or related property.” It failed, too.

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Take Me to the River

Jelly Roll (Photo: Courtesy Mempho Presents)

“It must be something in the water” is a phrase you often hear when the subject of Memphis music arises. It resonates because the beats, bards, and blues springing from this city for over a century have a mysterious power matched only by the majesty of the Big Muddy itself, our sounds evolving over time like a river in its banks, their shape-shifting flows connecting north and south, east and west, old and new alike. Setting a music festival on the Mississippi’s banks was the stroke of genius that defined the Beale Street Music Festival (BSMF) for decades. Now a new player is keeping it there, and it’s called RiverBeat.

Spring: A Time for Music

A kind of imperative informed the founding of RiverBeat Music Festival in its infancy — the feeling that, regardless of the promoters or the festival’s name, when spring comes to Memphis, some kind of music must be made at the water’s edge. So when Kevin Grothe, vice president of sponsorships for the nonprofit Memphis in May, announced last October in an email to media outlets that “the Board of Directors has made the very difficult decision to suspend the Beale Street Music Festival in 2024,” many felt a powerful sense of loss.

There was even some bitterness evident in the announcement, as James L. Holt, Memphis in May president and CEO, noted that, as well as losing nearly three and a half million dollars due to low attendance in 2023, BSMF was being sued for $1.4 million in property damages by the Memphis River Parks Partnership. “With a pending lawsuit and the event now unwelcomed in the new Tom Lee Park, future Beale Street Music Festivals will face fundamental challenges,” he wrote.

But the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP) clearly wasn’t opposed to music by the river in principle. Within days, MRPP president Carol Coletta had announced that Forward Momentum, the private company behind the Mempho Music Festival and Mempho Presents, would be taking the reins. “With its successful track record and deep financial strength, Forward Momentum was a great fit for a signature music event in Memphis,” she said.

Indeed, as Mempho Presents spokesman Jeff Bransford says today, the MRPP actively sought out the company, which by then had a presumably successful track record with the Mempho Music Festival every October since 2017, as well as growing success in promoting one-off shows through the year. “We were approached to fill the gap in springtime and we jumped at the opportunity to do it,” he notes.

And “jumped” is the right word, as the Mempho team had only a few scant months to book the open weekend in May. “We’ve been dealing with a very compressed timetable to get year one off the ground,” Bransford says, but he is clearly proud of what they accomplished. The lineup has “a little wider demo[graphic] compared to what we’ve traditionally done at Mempho. That means more urban, more pop, and more country types of things that typically we have not done as much of.”

Odesza (Photo: Courtesy Mempho Presents)

Now, with headliners like Odesza, the Fugees, and Jelly Roll topping the bill at Tom Lee Park each night, May 3rd through May 5th, it seems Mempho Presents has pulled off the impossible in a very short time, with the momentum of over four decades’ worth of gatherings by the river maintained and only growing.

Take Us to the River, Boo

One noticeable difference between RiverBeat and the BSMF is the lack of focus on the blues. The Blues Tent, once a fixture in the older festival due to its roots on Beale Street, is no more. And yet, as if to compensate, the city’s legacy of R&B and soul music is more present than ever. As Grammy-winning producer/engineer Boo Mitchell notes, that can be summed up in just five words: “Take Me to the River.”

That’s the title of the 1974 Al Green hit produced by Boo’s dad, Willie Mitchell, of course, but since 2014 it’s also served as a catch-all title for projects in film, music production, and education that are deeply connected to Memphis music history. It started as the brainchild of North Mississippi Allstar Cody Dickinson and director Martin Shore, who wanted to connect the legendary blues and soul musicians of Memphis with younger artists. The resulting film documented the in-studio creative collaborations between Mavis Staples, Snoop Dogg, Al Kapone, Frayser Boy, Yo Gotti, Lil’ P-Nut, Otis Clay, Bobby Rush, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Charles “Skip” Pitts, and William Bell, all underpinned by the Hi Rhythm Section, who had played on the original Hi Records hit from which the film took its title.

Boo Mitchell (Photo: Ronnie Booze)

Take Me to the River, the film, then grew into a franchise of sorts, leading to years of touring, a similar film pairing classic New Orleans players with younger artists, and an educational curriculum developed with the Berklee College of Music. Now a third film, Take Me to the River: London, is in the works. Yet for Boo Mitchell, nothing can top the initial epiphany he had when the original film was made. “That movie changed my life,” he says. “I started working on the film around 2011, about a year after Pop [Willie] had passed away, and I didn’t really have any of my own [production] credits up until that point. And then my whole my career changed. The film gave me a chance to show people what I was, what I could do.”

Original Hi Rhythm members Leroy and Rev. Charles Hodges, Archie Turner (Photo: Ronnie Booze)

Now, 10 years on, Mitchell is especially proud to bring the Take Me to the River Live band to the RiverBeat stage, tying together multiple threads of Memphis music history. While technically not the headliners, their performance on Friday is arguably the heart and soul of the entire festival.

In part, that’s because of artists who died since the film was made, singers Otis Clay and Bobby Bland and guitarists Skip Pitts and Teenie Hodges. The latter, brother to fellow Hi Rhythm players Charles and Leroy “Flic” Hodges, was critical to their unique sound and left some big shoes to fill. Yet Mitchell feels they’ve bounced back by adding someone from the younger generation.

Lina Beach (Photo: Caleb suggs)

“Now,” says Mitchell, “Hi Rhythm features Lina Beach, who is officially filling in the Teenie Hodges guitar spot. The band has adopted her as their sister. She’s the official guitarist and she’s also an artist. So she’ll be opening with Hi Rhythm because she’s working on an album at Royal [Studios] that I’m producing.”

Eric Gales (Photo: Courtesy Mempho Presents)

That alone keeps the current touring band true to the film’s original mission of connecting generations, yet Take Me to the River Live will feature more legends than just Hi Rhythm (which also includes Archie “Hubbie” Turner and Steve Potts). “We’ll also have local hero Jerome Chism, who sings three nights a week at B.B. King’s Blues Club and is a really incredible performer,” Mitchell says. “Then next, Eric Gales. And then Carla Thomas, and lastly, the great William Bell.”

Hearing these virtuosos, including Gales’ stunning guitar work, plus originals by Beach and the classic hits associated with Thomas and Bell, just as dusk settles in on the Mississippi River, will surely be a charmed moment in Memphis musical history that may never be repeated.

The Memphis Flex

Yet Mitchell is excited about far more than just his own band’s performance. Because of his deep absorption in local music history, he can see Memphis refracted through most of the acts featured at RiverBeat. He rattles off the many acts who developed in Memphis only to achieve national recognition: The Band Camino, 8Ball & MJG, Al Kapone, Talibah Safiya, Lawrence Matthews, Marcella Simien, the Lucky 7 Brass Band, Qemist, Mark Edgar Stuart, Salo Pallini, Bailey Bigger, Dirty Streets, and Southern Avenue. The latter, Mitchell notes, are the latest in a long history of Memphis success stories who have worked at Royal Studios. “They were in the studio the day before yesterday,” he says. “I recorded and mixed their new album. I mean, this is going to be a next-level record. And they’ve got a crazy tour coming up, opening for Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.” Festivals like RiverBeat, Mitchell notes, are the perfect training grounds for local bands like Southern Avenue to level up. “Putting local artists on big stages is so huge.”

That’s always been in Mempho’s brief, and RiverBeat will be no different. The curated acts reach across generations and state lines alike, from the world-touring Don Bryant, who once wrote songs for Hi Records, then found success later in life fronting classic soul aficionados The Bo-Keys, to Rodd Bland’s tribute to his father, Bobby “Blue” Bland, to Mississippi acts who’ve long been associated with Memphis like Charlie Musselwhite, Kenny Brown, The Wilkins Sisters (who once backed up the late Rev. John Wilkins), and Jimbo Mathus. Looking at it this way, putting all this regional talent in front of thousands of music fans this weekend might be considered quite a flex for Memphis and the Mid-South. And no other festival compares to it in that sense.

Surprising Connections, and Making Memphis Proud

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that some of the other major names on the bill have deep Memphis connections. Mitchell vividly recalls his first encounter with Sacred Steel virtuoso Robert Randolph a decade ago. “I cut a record with him under the band name The Word, which is when Robert Randolph, the North Mississippi Allstars, and John Medeski got together. My aunt cooked for them during the sessions and they ended up naming the album Soul Food,” Mitchell laughs.

Kid Maestro with Lauryn Hill (Photo: DJ Rampage)

Another local tie-in, and perhaps the most consequential, is with festival headliners the Fugees. When the Memphis Flyer recently profiled producer Kid Maestro, who’s been a standout member of the Unapologetic collective for years, he revealed his enviable side gig as playback engineer for Ms. Lauryn Hill. Hill, of course, first gained prominence as the cofounder of the Fugees, with Wyclef Jean and Pras. When their second album, The Score, blew up in 1996, she became the first woman to win a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, then went on as a solo artist to craft one of the best-selling albums in history, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

Hill has resumed performing in recent years, including extensive touring last year to celebrate Miseducation’s 25th anniversary. Along for the ride has been Kid Maestro, who, as playback engineer just offstage, is essentially a member of the band. Not often acknowledged, playback engineers are critical players in hip-hop performances.

“Ms. Hill’s needs are very unique in terms of playback engineering,” he says. “You’ve got to be super fast, paying attention, and when she puts her hand up to mute, you’ve got to be ready to stop with the band. Otherwise, if the band stops but there’s a beat playing in the background, it just doesn’t have that impact.”

He even interacted with hip-hop history on a very deep level with Hill, preparing him for his upcoming role in the Fugees’ RiverBeat show. “Right before this particular tour started,” he recalls, “they found the DAT tapes for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album. So we got to really break down the original stems in the live show. It was really cool.”

Now he’s living the dream of working with one of the most influential and creative hip-hop groups of all time. “My first time meeting the rest of the Fugees,” he says, “it just became immediately clear why they worked. They were so intensely creative and powerful. Their energy, simply being in the same space working on the same thing, was palpable. And it was inspiring to see how different they are as people.”

Other Memphis artists will be thrilling to the Fugees as well, albeit from the audience, or possibly backstage. Talibah Safiya makes it clear that they had a profound impact on her life and her art. “I grew up listening to them. Lauryn Hill has been a huge influence, as somebody who could both rap and sing so well. I don’t think we’d had anybody able to do both of those things at her level. And to be able to stand next to these men who are such incredible lyricists and rappers, the combination of them really has guided my understanding of blending genres, for sure. To be able to be on the same stage as the Fugees, I’m incredibly honored.”

As Boo Mitchell noted, sharing the stage with such stellar talent is a boon to any artist and will only help foster the local scene all the more. It’s part of what makes RiverBeat unique, and don’t be surprised if the city’s up-and-coming artists rise to the occasion and blow your socks off. “This RiverBeat festival is going to be something that Memphians are going to be proud of,” says Mitchell. “There’s never been anything like this in Memphis. There’s even going to be a Ferris wheel at the top of the hill! It’s going to be next-level.”

Categories
Cover Feature News

Here Comes Santa Claus

Genma Holmes, Ms. Santa (Photo: Courtesy Genma Holmes)

Hope you’ve been good so far this year. Because it’s not just that Santa Claus is coming to town, but that hundreds of Santas are already streaming into Memphis. While they already know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, you might catch a break this week since they’re busy attending the International Santa Celebration (ISC) April 25th through 28th at the Renasant Convention Center.

That’s a lot of whiskers. And ho-hos. And twinkly eyes, all of which will be taking in Memphis for days of workshops, conferences, baseball, a river tour, a parade on Beale Street, and a hall full of vendors.

The ISC happens every two years and is open to all types of Christmas performers. Don’t expect all of them to embrace the traditional in their roles, although you can expect them to all share a love of children, a message of kindness, a belief in giving, and an affinity for wearing red.

The Santa Parade is a highlight of the ISC. (Photo: Courtesy Genma Holmes)

Yes, there will be mostly old guys with white hair and beards, but there’s room for Mrs. Clauses and elves. If you’re really lucky, you’ll get to meet Genma Holmes, who is Ms. Claus and devoted to the role.

For Holmes, it started when she was a child growing up in Fayette, Mississippi. “My grandparents were my Mr. and Mrs. Claus,” she says. “So I learned the heart of serving others through watching my grandparents be that example. They did it for their grandchildren, and they taught us to serve other people and give back in our communities.”

It was a perfect fit for her, blending not only the joy of the season, but the culture of the South, particularly one where civil rights leaders set the tone. “Nobody was a stranger,” she says. “Everyone got fed, everybody got a hug no matter who you were — that whole spirit that embodied serving others and taking care of your community.”

Holmes, outgoing by nature, carried it even further: “I wasn’t a Mrs. Claus; I wasn’t an elf. I just said I’m going to be everything my grandfather could be. Except I’m not a male. But I didn’t want to get into anything other than just being Santa, so I took on the persona of Ms. Santa — and the rest is history.”

That’s been 27 years of taking the spirit of Santa all over the country. Holmes calls herself a serial entrepreneur, and her list of accomplishments prove it. She’s based in Nashville and runs a pest control company; she has a media consulting firm, edits publications, and is a media influencer. As Ms. Santa, she is deeply involved in promoting the Yule spirit and is on the board of directors of International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, better known as IBRBS, which is the primary sponsor of the ISC.

Stephen Arnold, Fabled Santa (Photo: Olivia Marino)

The president and CEO of IBRBS is Stephen Arnold, a Memphian and member of the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame. Arnold is a longtime member of the local MidSouthern Santa Society and astute observer of the Santa industry who you’ve almost certainly seen around town at the major Christmas events. Known as Fabled Santa, he’s been interviewed in The New York Times and knows as much about the business of being the jolly old elf as anyone in or out of the North Pole.

Arnold ran the Only Kids specialty toy shop for 22 years, a store familiar to many Memphians for its location at the Regalia Shopping Center. Having a toy store was his entrée to being Santa, although it wasn’t his goal. There were times during the holiday season when the Santa he hired wouldn’t show up, so the hefty Arnold would don a suit and entertain the youngsters. It wasn’t something he could do or wanted to do on a regular basis since, after all, he had a toy store to run at the busiest time of year. Eventually, though, he closed the store in 2002 and found his calling as a Santa Claus who got into it in a big way.

He’s been wrangling the details in putting on the ISC, and the lineup will have plenty for anyone in the Christmas entertainment sector. “The conference itself is primarily an educational opportunity,” he says. “We will be offering 48 classes on various topics pertaining to the Christmas community at any one time.”

As happens with conferences, there are often sessions that overlap, but the schedule mixes them in a way that allows for choices. There are classes, for example, for Mrs. Clauses. There are meetings aimed at Santas who have real beards, and then those who wear fake beards, more elegantly described as Designer Bearded Santas. Although the IBRBS is for real-bearded Santas, the ISC is open to anyone, no matter the status of their chin whiskers. There will be elves, reindeer handlers, and more.

“The advantage to this conference versus attending a specialized Santa school,” Arnold says, “is that every school has the master who’s developed the curriculum and they obviously teach what they’re most familiar with. There are guest speakers they may have during the usually two-day events. This is a three-day event with 42 talented, experienced speakers. As an attendee, you can choose the curriculum that you want to choose, so you have a big selection. At a school, every attendee will attend every class — there’s no choice except what’s decided upon by the owners of the school.”

Then there is the networking. “There’s the camaraderie, the sharing of experiences, the meeting of people that you may have only met on Facebook or heard about through something else,” Arnold says. “The attendees are coming from France, England, the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, Canada, and almost every state, so there’s real opportunity to meet people that you wouldn’t ordinarily meet.”

It wouldn’t be much of a convention if there weren’t vendors. It’ll be something like a huge toy store, but for Santas.

“If you’re looking for a new suit, we’re going to have three, I think four people who specialize in suits,” Arnold says. “We’ve got four vendors that are going to be purveying leather goods. We’ve got two, three beard maintenance, beard oils and bombs. We’ve got several of them for other accessories like the belt buckles and pins and bells, things like that.”

Does this sound tempting? Well, you’re in luck since the vendor area is open to the public. It’s especially useful for those Santas who can’t make the entire event. “There are a lot of Santas who can’t attend because of timing or a commitment with work or money,” Arnold says. “We know that there are quite a few coming from Arkansas and some from Mississippi who are just coming up for a day to shop. And we expect that there will be some interested people in the community, maybe even some prospective Santas who may have been thinking, ‘Boy, I think I’d like to do that.’ They can come in and see all of the goods.”

But what about the programming of the convention? What’s on the wish list? There is a variety of offerings that will appeal to the novice elf or the seasoned Santa. Here’s a sampling:

• Mrs. Claus Flying Solo

• Ho Ho How to Market Your Santa Business

• The Enduring Magic of the Classic “Twas the Night Before Christmas”

• The Santa Clause: What to Include in Your Booking Agreements

• American Sign Language — Practical Use for Santa and Mrs. Claus

• The Art of Projecting Your Voice

• Setting Up a Virtual Workshop

• How to Stay Cool in Your Costume

• Santa and His Pipe

• Working With Children With Special Needs

• Miracle on Diversity Street

• How to Create Magical Home Visits

• Reading to Children

• Developing Your Christmas Brand

• Developing Your Christmas Wardrobe

• Surviving the Season

And that’s just a partial listing. But every one of those topics means something to Christmas performers. It’s fun to be with kids and amuse them, but there are scads of details for a successful Santa to tend to and there are lots of ways things can go wrong. And that’s not the impression anyone wants to leave.

Arnold says the workshops and sessions are geared to being a successful Santa. “Let’s talk about the business of being a Christmas performer,” he says of the program lineup. “So many of them see themselves as Santa and try to learn how to portray the role, but so many don’t know anything about being in the business of being Santa, how to take care of your receipts, what’s deductible, what’s not, how to be a professional in the industry.”

For all the tradition that seems to be part of the Santa mythos, change is very much a factor in what Santas do, how they present, and what they can bring to keep the holiday spirit alive.

Social media has changed so much of how Christmas entertainers interact with the public. And of course the pandemic really did a number on the idea of a child sitting on a lap and whispering what she wants to Santa. In 2020, the business of doing Zoom encounters or taping videos got a big boost. It kept the Santa connection alive, but is it really a good move in the long run?

Santa convention in Atlanta two years ago (Photo: Courtesy ISC)

The state of being Santa today is vastly different than just a few years ago. “There was a lot of trepidation about what was going to happen because of Covid, what the residual effect would be, and would Santa in person ever recover,” Arnold says. “And the answer is that the state of the Santa business is good. People have not withdrawn from having Santa, wanting to either visit with Santa in mall situations or big box stores or in person at events or their own events. I was never busier than last year. I had to turn down so many people for home visits and things.”

He mentions Steve Dodd, a local Santa who does a lot of work in the community. Arnold says that Dodd is just about booked up for the rest of the year. And Arnold himself is quickly filling up his calendar. “Last year I tried to cut back and I still did I think 75 appearances and probably have that many this year. I’m going to deliberately try to move more of my business into video visits so that I don’t have to physically go out and meet with people. I’ll try to still do the big events like Graceland, the Christmas parade, and maybe the St. Jude tree and the LeBonheur tree. I got some pretty good gigs, but I think I’m going to have to do less of the other things.”

Still, there’s plenty of new talent coming onto the scene and it’s adapting to changing times. “The prices have gone up to cover the expenses that have happened in both the accessories and suits that we have to buy, but also obviously transportation,” Arnold says. “But the community seems to accept the fact that it costs a reasonable amount of money to have a true professional come and visit. And more people started picking up home visits because they realized that they didn’t have to wait in line for an hour or two and get a picture from somebody who wasn’t a professional. They realized they could actually hire a photographer or a good friend to come and take pictures in their home and have a different kind of experience.”

While the scene is improving for the Santa industry, there have been lots of changes.

Holmes, as Ms. Santa, has seen it all go down. “A lot of the newest Santas are competing with each other,” she says, “literally on social media, versus becoming their own Santa.” No, she says, it shouldn’t be that way. “We should grow our own. We see children who were babies when I used to go to their schools as Ms. Santa. They are adults with children, and that customer base is built right in.”

While it’s perfectly sensible for a Santa to do some traveling wherever the business takes him, there is a caution, Holmes says. “Like I say to the younger folks coming in, you’re spending a lot of money, and yet you haven’t bloomed in your own backyard. I believe in starting where you are, bloom where you’re planted, bloom right there. Then watch yourself grow and grow and grow. Become a household name right in your own community.”

It’s a classic case of changing with the times while trying to preserve long-held traditions.

“Social media has changed everything,” Holmes says. “And sometimes I wonder if we are trying to be a social media Claus versus the heart of Santa. Those are two different titles, and we see that. I’m not knocking it, but there’s a dynamic of social media. I’m into social media. I actually work for companies that use social media. I handle their business, their communications and everything. I totally understand that. But I also know that sometimes we have to, in order to become bigger, we must become smaller.”

Related to that, Holmes also cautions against aiming too high. She once used the Nextdoor networking app where she’d established a presence. “Are you looking for Santa photos?” she asked. The result? “It was 72,000 people coming at me at one time.”

But with all the changes going on in the industry, she finds a great deal of satisfaction in working with other Santas, which is what prompted her to get involved with IBRBS and the ISC. “I wanted to go deeper in my relationships with other Clauses to help sharpen them, whether I’m being sharpened or they’re being sharpened. We can get the big head because we wear the suit in red and we can lose that humility that is so vital to being a Claus. I was seeing a lot of things online. You’re behind the screen and you could just type anything out, and then you wonder why your business is the way it is.”

Holmes remembers when some students had come in to help her with a project, and they were all watching these people online who listed their names as Santa. “They were making comments and saying, ‘I don’t think I would want my child to be engaged with Santa Claus because these Santas are really mean.’ We don’t realize how we look or sound to the rest of the world until the rest of the world tells us this is what we sound like.”

So, she feels it’s important to keep the communication among Santas open and share the success stories. “We have achieved our goals, and we also have watched some of the things that are concerning to us about the Claus community get addressed, not just by us, but by others as well,” she says. “I believe in that community of getting together and really having someone to be your partner in sharpening you. Iron sharpens iron, and that has been one of the most beautiful things. I have since found several Ms. Clauses who were single, solo Ms. Clauses and they have done the same thing. They wanted to have someone not tell them how to be a Ms. Claus, but to help them be a better person. I say, if we’re going to help each other be a better person, then you’re going to naturally be a better Ms. Claus.”

Even as the ISC is bringing together Christmas entertainers from all over the globe, Holmes finds in that expanding world a powerful way to carry on the message of good will. “Santa World comes in all shades, colors, hues, shapes, sizes, different backgrounds, different nationalities,” she says. “When I travel to other places, I meet people from all different places, a microcosm of the real world. And when I go, I see people from all backgrounds. But here’s one thing — they’re all unified around the love of the holidays. No matter what their beliefs are, when they see me show up with toys, they’re like, ‘Baby, get in line!’”

For Holmes, there is a purpose to being Ms. Claus, and to work with individuals and organizations to raise the Christmas spirit, and to perpetuate joy. “My goal is to show that the happiness that we can bring to the world, we can be that to the world,” she says. And then she laughs: “Because sometimes Santas are just grumpy old men! I want us to be the happiness that we show. We can be that too. And then we can represent that no matter what background that we are from.”

That happiness should, she believes, rise above the everyday. “It doesn’t have to get into a race conversation or a female-versus-male conversation. It’s like, no, just be the happy you. That’s what people are going to love and gravitate to.”

And for all holiday entertainers, whether versions of Santas or elves or reindeer impersonators, she holds forth with this sentiment about the ISC: “We hope that this attracts new members, and for members who have stepped out for a minute to say, ‘Hey, let me catch my breath,’ please come back. We can’t do this without you. We need each and every one of us to be the best that we can be by helping each other.”

Categories
Cover Feature News

The Fight for the Wetlands

Sarah Houston kayaks the Mississippi. (Photo: Courtesy Protect Our Aquifer)

Huge cypress trees rise from placid waters of the Wolf River, moss clinging to their trunks. This land where the Wolf’s channels widen and the flow slows in Fayette County is called the Ghost River. It is one of West Tennessee’s most beautiful natural wonders.

Jim Gafford knows the magic of the Ghost River. As recreation coordinator for the Wolf River Conservancy (WRC), he leads paddling trips on the first Saturday of every month along different sections of the 100-mile-long Wolf. “The water is a natural element to everybody. If you get on the water, it supports you, it relaxes you, it has a calming effect on you,” he says.

Jim Gafford (Photo: Courtesy Wolf River Conservancy)

Nowadays, the Ghost River is a Class I Scenic-Recreational State Natural Area. But it wasn’t always like that. It’s hard to believe that, as recently as 1995, the ancient wetland was almost destroyed. “The Conservancy was founded in ’86,” Gafford says. “In the mid-’90s, we found out that Peter Beasley had sold the Beasley Plantation to a development company. The development company actually published plans to go in and harvest all of the cypress and all the usable timber in the bottom land, and then sell off the land into what they called ‘farms’ — they were just narrow strips of land with river access that would have no restrictive covenants at all. So people could have purchased the land and done what they wanted to with it and just have a little access to the river. Our first conservation effort was to save that 4,000 acres from development. Fortunately, we were able to, and we’re still using it now. It’ll be here for thousands of years and allowed to evolve naturally.”

After that first victory almost 30 years ago, the WRC has continued their mission of protecting the waters of the Wolf and making sure they’re available to everyone. But not all wetlands have the Ghost River’s rizz. Most of Tennessee’s approximately 787,0000 acres of wetlands are swamps, bayous, and muddy creek beds, tucked away in neglected corners of farms or undeveloped land on the edges of suburbs. But that does not mean wetlands are not valuable, says Sarah Houston, executive director of Protect Our Aquifer. In flood-prone West Tennessee, wetlands act as a buffer against too much rain. Less wetland acreage means more and bigger floods.

Sarah Houston (Photo: Courtesy Protect Our Aquifer)

“Wetlands really do us a big favor in absorbing floodwater, holding on to it,” Houston says. “And that water is either going to be slowly released into surface water or it’s going to be slowly released into groundwater. … Housing developments get built in what used to be wetlands or downstream near floodplains, and then they see regular flooding. Those developments probably should have never been approved in those places because the water is gonna keep flowing. Now, it’s just flowing into your house.”

Wetlands also play an important role in mitigating climate change. The trees, plants, and mosses in swamps and bayous absorb carbon dioxide, the buildup of which causes global warming, from the atmosphere. In a regular forest, when the leaves fall and the trunks die, their decomposition can release methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas, into the air. Or they can burn, throwing soot and carbon dioxide high into the atmosphere. But in swampy areas, organic debris falls into the water and is buried in sediment, where it cannot contribute to global warming. Much of the coal and oil we burn today was formed from remains of wetlands buried during the Permian period 290 million years ago.

As wetlands are drained, developed, or paved, they lose the ability to sequester carbon, and some of the stored carbon dioxide and methane is re-released into the atmosphere. A 2016 paper by A.M. Nahlik and M. S. Fennessey, published in the journal Nature, found that “wetland soils contain some of the highest stores of soil carbon in the biosphere.” In some cases, up to 40 percent of wetland soil was carbon, compared to the 0.5 to 2.0 percent found in agricultural soils. The study found that freshwater wetlands were much more efficient at storing carbon than river deltas or saltwater estuaries. All told, the study estimated that the continental United States’ wetlands contain a whopping 11.52 gigatons of sequestered carbon.

Gafford says West Tennessee’s wetlands are valuable in another way. “In the Memphis, Shelby County, Fayette County, Tipton County area, the most important value of that swampy area is what percolates down and actually recharges our water supply. If you talk to any expert, they’ll tell you that Memphis has the best water in the world.”

Houston’s organization, Protect Our Aquifer, watches over that valuable resource. Memphis is built over an underground aquifer containing as much freshwater as one of the Great Lakes. “It is our sole source of drinking water in Memphis, Tennessee,” she says. “It’s also all the water that industry and farmers use, too. It is one of the purest sources of water in the country, and it just happens to be right below our feet, easily accessible. Because of the way it was formed, over millions of years back when this area was actually a shallow ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and through a series of deposits of gneiss, quartz sand, and then thick clay layers, it created what we now call the Mississippi embayment. The majority of the water that’s actually below Memphis in the Memphis sand aquifer fell as rain 2,000 years ago, and has been infiltrating and filtering slowly over time to bring us that pure drinking water. And it is all out of sight, out of mind.”

Fresh water enters the Memphis aquifer through creek beds such as this one, where the Memphis sands are close to the surface (Photo: Courtesy Protect Our Aquifer)

What Is a Wetland?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines wetlands as “areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year, or for varying periods of time during the year.”

That’s a broad definition that has been more or less enforced since the passage of 1972 Clean Water Act. Federal protections for wetlands were expanded during the Obama administration, and then rolled back during the Trump administration. Then, in May 2023, a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Sackett vs. EPA forced the agency to limit its jurisdiction to only wetlands that have “continuous surface connection to bodies that are Waters of the United States.”

“If you can get a boat on it, it’s a ‘Water of the United States,’” says Houston. “If you can’t, then that’s not a federal government issue. What changed was this whole definition of technically isolated wetlands, where they’re not directly next to a stream.”

The ruling removed approximately 63 percent of wetlands from federal protection, including most ephemeral wetlands. The rollback alarmed wetlands fans like Gafford. “The results of the EPA and the wetlands protection acts have been so effective, I don’t think that we need to do anything at all to loosen those restrictions,” he says. “Because of agriculture practices and building practices, we let the water get pretty bad, just from the runoff. It was deemed appropriate to put those protections in place, and I think we need to adhere to them because the results have been, in my mind, fantastic.”

The state of Tennessee has defined protected wetlands even more strictly than the federal government since the 1970s. “The Supreme Court justices actually noted that this should be a state-level regulation because states differ so much in their water resources and their landscapes,” says Houston.

After Sackett v. EPA, Rep. Kevin Vaughan (R-Collierville) introduced HB 1054, a bill which proposed to bring the state’s definition of a wetland in line with the new federal rules. According to a January, 2024 report by the Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee, adoption of the bill would result in a 55 percent decrease in the amount of currently protected wetlands, or approximately 432.850 acres of the states’ 787,000 acres of wetlands.

Vaughan is a real estate broker and owner of Township Development Services, which offers site selection, land planning and management, and government relations services to developers. In February, he told a legislative committee, “It’s your property, but a third party is going to tell you if you can use it. And if you can’t use it, then you have to pay another party money for you to be able to use your property. That’s the origins of where this bill came from.”

Houston says, “The main argument was too much bureaucracy and red tape, and there is some validity to the concerns of the sponsor Chairman Vaughan. Sometimes, small wetlands that might have kind of sprung up require a permit, and it can add additional cost [to development] because with our wetlands regulations, you have to get a permit if you’re gonna damage them or remove them, and then you have to pay into a mitigation bank.”

The BlueOval Factor

Much of the wetland acreage which would lose protection under the bill is in West Tennessee. That includes Haywood County, where the new Ford BlueOval City is currently under construction. The $6 billion facility to produce electric vehicles and batteries is the largest single investment in Tennessee history. Houston calls the area “ground zero for this development pressure. … Haywood County is seeing tremendous growth. They’re getting permit application after permit application for these new developments. That is also the county that has the highest number of wetlands in the state. … Originally, the argument was, ‘These muddy tracts with some sprouts in them are being classified as wetlands, but they’re not and we need to get rid of them.’ Then it became more about the pressure for growth and the timeline that we’re on. Getting rid of these wetlands in big tracts, acres and acres at a time, would speed up the opportunity for development to occur right now, especially in West Tennessee.”

The potential impacts of wetland development would go farther than just BlueOval City. “We know that there are connections to the aquifer in that area,” says Houston. “The wells that have been drilled for the [BlueOval] megasite are in the unconfined part, so they’re in the recharge zone of the aquifer. And we know that band of the recharge zone extends into half of Haywood County and pretty much all of Fayette County.”

A big unknown is exactly how much of a role wetlands play in recharging the aquifer. It was long thought that water seeped through the soil in a relatively uniform manner, but recent studies in North Mississippi suggest that most of the recharging occurs in relatively small areas where the Memphis Sands are near the surface. The science remains uncertain, but as the POA puts it in a report distributed to legislators, “It’s not necessarily the type or size of wetlands, but the location that determines how valuable it is to recharge.”

Pushback

Once the stakes of HB 1054 became clear, environmental advocates mobilized against it. “To me, wetland preservation represents one of our state’s most vulnerable natural ecosystems at this moment. Wetlands provide a safe haven for our country’s wildlife and serve as a crucial space for aquifer recharge. The preservation of our wetlands serves as a litmus test for the well-being of our environment,” says Memphis Community Against Pollution President KeShaun Pearson.

The bill’s proponents were also mobilized. Adam Friedman of Tennessee Lookout recently reported on Build Tennessee, a political action committee formed in July 2022 by 18 owners and partners in real estate and construction companies, including Keith Grant, a Collierville developer and the former president of the West Tennessee Home Builders Association. In less than two years of existence, the PAC became the fourth-largest spender on lobbying in Tennessee and donated to 90 lawmakers of both parties.

Protect Our Aquifer led the charge against the bill. “We don’t do a lot at the state level,” says Houston. “So we were planning on playing a supportive role in this. But since the majority of the wetlands were in West Tennessee, our mission is all about protecting the drinking water supply that happens to be underneath all of West Tennessee, and the majority of the House subcommittee members represented West Tennessee, we kind of got shoved into the forefront.”

The activists found allies on Capitol Hill. “I think it’s an abhorrent bill that is bad for our state,” says Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis). “It’s bad for our environment, and it is showing the influence of private corporations and entities and developers in our Tennessee legislature. It’s bad for democracy when elected leaders are literally carrying legislation for private companies and developers to the detriment of 7 million people’s environment. And as a person who cares deeply about environmental justice, I think this is a complete affront to the causes, the beliefs, the values that many of us share, Republicans and Democrats, people who are progressive and people who are conservative.”

Houston says they were open to revisiting Tennessee’s strict wetlands definitions. “Right now, any type of wetland is considered the same value. But in reality, there are some wetlands that are much higher quality. They’ve got no invasive species. They’re nice and healthy, and haven’t been trampled on by humans. A middle ground we want to find is, how do we categorize wetlands in the state based on low, moderate, and high values that could then determine how much mitigation credits are required, what really needs to be permitted, and what is okay with being removed.”

Houston says when the bill was first introduced in 2023, “it was put on hold because TDEC [Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation] promised that there would be stakeholder meetings to draft a good bill that everyone could agree upon that would create new categories for wetlands and address some of this red tape bureaucracy issue. Well, those stakeholder meetings never really happened in earnest last year.”

A Temporary Victory

Houston and the POA testified in front of both Senate and House committees who were considering the bill. “Our information was really well received,” she says. “No matter where you live in West Tennessee, you have a pretty high regard for our aquifer and the drinking water supply.

“In early March, when the Senate committee heard the bill, the senators on that committee said, ‘Trying to categorize wetlands and create all these new definitions is a really complex process. We’re not gonna get it right this first try. So let’s move this to summer study and actually have the stakeholder meetings.’ Commissioner David Sellers, on record, promised to have the stakeholder meetings. So they, 6 to 2, voted it to summer study. We were like, ‘Holy smokes! We won! It’s dead!’ But then Chairman Vaughan in the House kept pushing the bill despite it being dead on the Senate side, which you don’t really see that.”

Pearson says, “Kevin [Vaughan]’s only aim is to open up more land for development with fewer regulations, especially around BlueOval, and over any potential objections from community members in majority-Black Haywood County or other areas that could be exploited by developers, with building happening that does not take into account environmental justice. … We know environmental justice and racial justice oftentimes coexist and you cannot have one without the other.”

As this legislative session winds down towards an expected late April adjournment, Pearson says he is wary. “It is not likely that this legislation will move forward this session. However, due to [Governor Bill Lee’s school] voucher bill also being sought to be passed by this General Assembly, it may become a bargaining chip for Kevin Vaughan and the Republicans to use to try and get it passed for his vote on the voucher bill. The reason I say that is, a number of Republicans have come out vehemently against the governor’s bill, and they’re operating on a very thin majority when it comes to the passage of that legislation, which is the governor’s signature legislation for this General Assembly. That’s why we must continue to pay attention and be engaged in this process because anything is still possible. I have seen how racism and white supremacy and capitalistic exploitation works here, and if you trust the process too much, then you will likely be duped by it because they don’t care too much about the process here.”

During the final week of committee meetings, HB 1054 was not reconsidered, much to the relief of activists like Houston. “Officially, the wetlands 2024 legislative session saga is over, and there will be a summer study this year to dig into the details and try to refine what our wetland protection laws can look like,” she says. “It’s good news. There’s still work to do, but there is good news.”

In the interest of transparency, we note that the Memphis Flyer is owned by Contemporary Media, Inc., whose board chairman, Ward Archer Jr., also founded Protect Our Aquifer. This reporting was conducted independently and relies on multiple sources.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Coming Into Focus: Kevin Brooks

Kevin Brooks (Photo: Ziggy Mack)

Memphis filmmaker Kevin Brooks has 15 tattoos.

“I have a rose on my thumb because I just love love,” he says. “I love the idea of love. I just struggle with it a lot.”

He has a sailboat tattoo on his wrist. That’s a reminder to “remember to just go with the flow. Life will take you this way and that way.”

Since Brooks, 30, began making movies as a child, life has taken him to the Sundance Film Festival as winner of the Sundance Ignite award. He won the $10,000 Memphis Film Prize twice for his movies in 2018 and 2019. And he’s earned several awards for his short films and music videos at the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

His recent movie, “What Were You Meant For?,” which deals with Black male identity, is included in the current Crosstown Arts film exhibition.

Filmmaker Craig Brewer is a Brooks fan. “I remember seeing this short he had made and thinking, ‘I’ve never seen Memphis kids skateboarding look so epic and beautiful,’” Brewer says. “It was cinema. It wasn’t just skateboarding. Ever since then Kevin has been growing as a storyteller, as a director.”

It all began with Power Rangers when Brooks was 5 years old. “I used to have toy Power Rangers as a little kid,” Brooks says. “And I used to mimic their voices and make them do certain things.” He reenacted scenes from the Power Rangers shows. “I guess that was my way of storytelling and making movies.”

When he was 6, Brooks began using a VHS camcorder his dad bought. “I remember him taking it around the house saying, ‘Press this button,’ which was the red button. ‘And you go and record things. Then if you hit the rewind button, you can watch it back.’ I thought that was the most amazing thing ever. He taught me stop-motion animation.”

Brooks began filming his Power Rangers with his dad’s camera. “I’d just pan back and forth, left and right. After I did that first recording, I would go around recording the dog and just anything.”

That same year, his parents took him to see The Matrix. “That movie was more visually appealing than any movie I had ever seen. It just blew me away. For one, I visually remember the infamous Keanu Reeves-dodging-the-bullet scene. And I remember trying to recreate that. Just myself. Just in my room. Trying to bend backwards. Keep falling over and over again.”

After viewing the movie 20 times on a VHS tape, Brooks discovered the movie included a special feature at the end of the credits that showed how the moviemakers created that bullet effect. “I knew movies weren’t real, but seeing what went into it and seeing the directors telling people it would be this and that, I think that is what got me. Just, ‘This is a world I have got to be in.’”

Skating to Sundance

By the time he was 7, Brooks was making short 30-second films. He didn’t think he wanted to make a living as a filmmaker, but, he says, “I knew I wanted to be in the realm of making movies. At the same time, I was playing basketball really heavy.”

Basketball overshadowed moviemaking for a while. But Brooks continued to get blown away by cinema. He loved films by Quentin Tarantino, Terrence Malick, and Steven Spielberg.

Basketball, eventually, took a backseat to filmmaking. “That’s when things started to change. Before that, I was really wanting to go down the path of being a basketball player. Trying hard. My love just wasn’t there for it anymore. Before the games, I dreaded playing. It was a weird feeling.”

Plan B was moviemaking. “It was always around.”

To make a little cash on the side, Brooks made music videos for local artists. Making videos as well as short films in high school helped him as a filmmaker. “It taught me how to record on the fly. How to grab what I need for the edit and think of the edit while I’m recording — that taught me a lot. At the same time, I knew I wanted to tell my own stories and gear more toward narrative and documentary filmmaking.”

Brooks, who majored in film and production at University of Memphis, made a short film, “Keep Pushing,” during his senior year. “That was my first thing I was super proud of.”

His idea was to cast real skateboarders to showcase their expertise. He then met skateboarder Husain Razvi, who told him, “Man, what if you just follow me around?”

“I was like, ‘Follow you around?’ Husain can skate, but he’s not doing tricks. What he’s doing is just kicking the board, going down the ramps, but nothing exciting like I was going to have these guys doing.”

Then, Brooks says, “A light bulb clicked. And I was like, ‘I was trying to tell the story of all these people who are great skaters.’”

Instead, he shot Razvi. “I filmed him every single part of his day.”

The 10-minute film turned into a documentary. “It was great footage. Him interacting with kids. Him talking about life.”

Brooks was looking at his phone one day in geology class when something caught his attention. “I see that Sundance has this program for 18- to 24-year-olds for short films. It has to be 10 minutes long. You have to turn it in within the next two weeks.”

Brooks went to work on his film about Razvi. “For the next two weeks, all I did was edit. I stayed up every night editing it. I put my own music to it.”

Four weeks later, Brooks received an email that read, “You have been selected as one of the top five filmmakers to be part of the Sundance Ignite program. We will fly you out. We will take care of everything.”

Brooks was stunned. “I literally almost started crying.”

He attended the festival in Park City, Utah. People praised the film. “They were saying that it just felt like you were really there in that world. And the camera movement really made you analyze things differently. They were saying they fell in love with Husain as a character because he felt so real.

“They were saying after the film they had this different outlook on what it means to be successful, what it means to go through life, and how it’s not right to always be in competition with one another.

“The film is about Husain. He’s not great at skateboarding, but he loves doing it every single day. No matter what, you’re not going to stop him. I don’t care if you’re the best skateboarder. He’s not going to compare himself to you. That’s just his nature. He’s like, ‘I’m in my own world and I’m going to take my place and I’m going to do what I do and I’m in love with what I’m doing.’ I think that’s remarkable. That story worked out because of Husain being the most honest human being.”

“Keep Pushing” follows amateur skateboarder Husain Rasvi. (Photo: Courtesy Kevin Brooks)

Keep Pushing

Brooks continued to make movies after Sundance. “Marcus,” which made it in the top 10 for the Memphis Film Prize, is “a short film that examines the retaliatory state of gang violence.”

“Myron,” which stars Lawrence Matthews, is about “a young Black man who embarks on a day full of skateboarding with his friends who are predominantly white.” He returns home “with a different outlook on life, and how he’s truly seen in society.”

“Grace,” which stars Rosalind Ross, is about a prostitute who always dreamed about singing on the big stage. “She gets her chance when she comes across a flier for a karaoke contest,” Brooks says.

His next film, “Bonfire,” is a “meditative piece on the nature of love and heartbreak. I was inspired by a big breakup that took place. I wanted to get my emotions out, and the best way for me to do that was through film.”

“So, I got my friends together and gave them cameras. And we would go out on the weekend and film scenes with different people and ask them, ‘What is love to you?’ It was very cathartic, and the making of it was experimental. It was highly influenced by Terrence Malick films.”

The movie premiered at the Indie Memphis Film Festival, where it won the Hometowner Documentary Short award in 2018.

His narrative film, “Last Day,” is “about a guy’s last day with his family before he’s sent off to prison.” He won his first $10,000 Memphis Film Prize with that film.

Brooks won his second Memphis Film Prize for his movie, “A Night Out.” “After a bad breakup a woman goes out with her friends for a girls’ night out. But the night doesn’t end the way she expects.”

Indie Memphis awarded Brooks and his co-director Abby Meyers $10,000 for their film “A Night Out.” (Photo: Courtesy Kevin Brooks)

He collaborated on “Night Out” with his friend Abby Meyers, who co-directed the film. “That came from hearing so many stories of women being sexually assaulted,” he says.

Brooks continued to make music videos, including one for Talibah Safiya’s “Healing Creek,” which won the Best Hometowner Music Video award in the Video Memphis competition.

In 2020 Brooks was included among the Memphis Flyer’s 20<30 honorees. He then went to work for Kellogg’s, shooting five episodes around the United States for a mini series, Black Girls Run. The series, which was about “promoting health in the Black community,” featured young women training for their first 5K.

Brooks also did a project for McDonald’s, where he traveled to Los Angeles and “highlighted kids in different sectors who were doing amazing things in the Black community,” he says.

One young man was into finance and a young woman was into fashion. But they were all “game changers.”

“I love connecting with people through stories, and opportunities just come about,” Brooks says. “If it’s a story or an opportunity for me to use my voice in that capacity, I’m 100 percent in.”

In 2022, Brooks went to work in his present job as a videographer for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He interviews and films patients telling their stories.

Brooks won the Hometowner Documentary Short for “Bonfire.” (Photo: Courtesy Kevin Brooks)

Enjoy the Journey

In 2023, Brooks got serious about working on his own feature film. “I wanted to do a feature for so long and put so much pressure on it. When I felt every door was closing, I felt jaded. I just wasn’t sure what my next move would be in terms of independent filmmaking.”

But, he says, “Through that period, I also found that inner kid who was in me again, who just wanted to go out and make movies for fun.”

Brooks returned to moviemaking when he made “Embers of Self,” which played opening night at Indie Memphis Film Festival’s Hometowner Shorts Showcase. “That really got me going, just because it was me being free and making things without a result,” Brooks says. “That’s how art should be. I had gotten away from that.”

Brooks felt he had been “focusing on the end result and not the process.”

That’s when he came up with his Crosstown Arts film. The movie is “just about masculinity and the ways that I have maneuvered in this world because of that label.”

He deals with the idea that Black men “always have to be super masculine,” and that it’s okay to be vulnerable.

Brooks currently is knee-deep into preproduction for a feature film. “I’m really 100 percent going headfirst into it. And I’m doing it my way.

“If it touches one person, that means a lot,” he adds.

Says Brewer: “The thing I’m most impressed with him is, he is hungry for knowledge and always looking for a way to improve himself and keep in the game of filmmaking. Some people burn out. Some people get discouraged. And there’s a lot in this craft that can turn you off to it. But he manages to push through and stay positive and stay creative.”

“He’s a rare one,” says filmmaker Tom Shadyac. “Full of passion, commitment, and talent. He doesn’t just make movies to tell stories. It’s not just a means to an end for him. It’s more holistic for Kevin. He cares about his subjects and subject matter. For him, the means are the end.”

Among the tattoos Brooks sports are ones that read, “Keep Pushing” and “Enjoy the Journey.”

“You’ve got to do those two things,” he says. “You just have to keep pushing. You have to enjoy the journey that you’re on and know that things are not going to happen fast. But if you just follow Husain’s route and just wake up every day and do what you love, then things will work out.”

“What Were You Meant For?” is on view at Crosstown Arts through April 26th.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Spring Fairs & Festivals

Grind City Music Festival (Photo: Courtesy Grind City Brewing Company)

Hello there, spring! We’ve been sorely missing you, and thank goodness you’re here because that means it’s time for the Flyer’s “Spring Fairs & Festivals” issue. From April all the way through the summer, you won’t want to miss any of these events.

APRIL

Cooper Young Night Out
Restaurants, bars, retail, and service businesses will stay open late to offer live music, discounts on food and drink, sidewalk sales, trivia games, shuffleboard, and more.
Cooper-Young, first Thursday of the month

First Fridays on Broad
Shop from your favorite Broad Avenue businesses after hours, and enjoy discounts and special activities, often with a theme.
Broad Ave. Arts District, first Friday of the month

South Main Trolley Night
The longest-running street festival in the city has returned this spring for its 24th season. Catch it on the last Friday of every month through September.
South Main, last Friday of the month

Grind City Music Festival
Are you a little bit country? A little bit rock-and-roll? Well, this two-day festival of Americana, alternative country, and rock-and-roll music will hit that sweet spot.
Grind City Brewing Co., April 5-6

Memphis Tattoo Festival
Some tattoos aren’t meant to be seen, but at the Memphis Tattoo Festival you’re gonna see them all, whether or not you like it. The three-day tattoo spectacle will have live tattooing from over 200 of the world’s best artists, plus merchandise, tattoo contests, and art-making.
Renasant Convention Center, April 5-7

Bookstock (Photo: Courtesy Memphis Public Libraries)

Bookstock
This fest is one for the books. Literally. Bookstock is the largest annual local authors festival in Memphis. Expect local author exhibits, cultural performances, book giveaways, keynote speakers (this year’s are Avery Cunningham and Sidney Thompson), and so much more.
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, April 6

Delta Groove Yoga Festival (Photo: Courtesy Delta Groove Yoga)

Delta Groove Yoga Festival
It’s not that big of a stretch to say that this festival is for posers — yoga posers, of course. The day will feature lots of — you guessed it — yoga, plus live music.
Overton Square, April 6

Central to the Arts Festival
For this artsy fest, the University of Memphis campus along Central Avenue will be filled with live performances, film showings, fashion shows, and interactive arts booths.
University of Memphis, April 6

Art in the Loop (Photo: Courtesy Art in the Loop)

Art in the Loop
Let me loop you in on this arts festival in East Memphis. It’s got an artists market, it’s got live music, it’s got food trucks, and it’s got demonstrations. What doesn’t it have? Beats me.
Ridgeway Loop Road, April 12-14

Mid-South Poets & Writers Festival
This literary-focused two-day extravaganza will have a neighborhood barbecue, workshops, mixers, showcases, and more.
Various locations, April 13-14

Terry Bean at Juke Joint Festival (Photo: Lou Bopp)

Juke Joint Festival
Be a juke joint hero, with stars in your eyes, at this fest that’ll keep on rockin’ (just can’t stop) with more than 100 blues performances and real-deal juke joints.
Clarksdale, MS, April 13

Shelby Forest Spring Fest
This year’s Shelby Forest Spring Fest goes back to the wildest decade — the ’70s — for the wildlife-forward day that has live music, food, arts and crafts vendors, wildlife and cultural exhibits, and more. It’s gonna be a hoot.
Meeman Shelby Forest, April 13

Bluff City Fest
This music fest presented by the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music will bring some of the best music in Memphis: rap, contemporary rock and pop, blues, jazz, and classic rock.
The Bluff, April 17

The Memphis Uke-N-Roll Jamboree, a ukulele festival put on by the Memphis Ukulele Flash Mob. Festival was at the convention center on April 24, 2022. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht)

Ukulele Festival
Uke can expect all things ukulele at this festival — open mics, workshops, sing-alongs, vendors, and more. Tickets must be purchased ahead of time at memphisukenroll.com.
Renasant Convention Center, April 18-21

Africa in April
Africa in April has chosen to salute the Republic of Gambia for its family-friendly festival, filled with live performances, food and merchandise vendors, and the International Diversity Parade.
Robert R. Church Park, April 19-21

Good Vibes Comedy Festival
The vibes will be just right, good even, when Memphis’ largest comedy festival brings you talent from all over the country to participate in podcasts, roast battles, themed shows, and stand-up comedy. The 2024 headliners are Renard Hirsch, Jayson Acevedo, Hannah Belmont, and Night Classy podcast’s Kat Barnhart and Hayley Madden.
Hi Tone, April 19-20

Shell Daze
You’ll be dazed but not confused by this lineup of musical acts, headlined by JJ Grey & Mofro and Oteil & Friends.
Overton Park Shell, April 19-20

Cooper-Young Porchfest
Porches were made for more than Amazon deliveries and spying on your neighbors. They can be stages, too — at least that’s the case for this unique music festival of free concerts on, yes, the front porches of the homes in Cooper-Young.
Cooper-Young Historic District, April 20

Earth Day Festival
The way the Earth rotates makes my day, and it oughta make yours, too. So celebrate the Earth on its special day (Earth Day, duh) at Shelby Farms Park, where adults and kids alike will have opportunities to experience, explore, and learn different ways of going green in Memphis.
Shelby Farms Park, April 20

Knowledge Is Flower Festival
This festival’s mission is to promote local farmers, herbalists, artists, and entrepreneurs. The day will have workshops, installations, community engagement opportunities, and local vendors.
Arkwings, April 20

Regen Farm Festival
Join Riley Family Farms for an afternoon of music and local farm-raised food, and celebrate farms helping build a better Mid-South through regenerative agriculture.
Wiseacre Brewery, April 20

Spirit Fest Holistic, Metaphysical, & Crystal Expo
Get physical … er, I mean, metaphysical at this holistic, metaphysical, crystal expo with vendors, readers, and healers from across the country.
Agricenter International, April 20-21

World Championship Hot Wing Contest & Fest
Wing, wing, wing, we have a winner. A winner, winner chicken-dinner. That’s what you’ll be hearing at this contest for the best wing. Oh, and it’s supporting The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis.
River Garden Park, April 20

Mimosa Festival
Feeling mimosional? It’s okay. You’re in a safe space where you can indulge in all the mimosas.
Tom Lee Park, April 21

Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival
Let’s get cray. What’s the o-cajun, you ask? The Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival, supporting Porter-Leath. It’s a day of crawfish bobbing, eating, and racing, plus music, vendors, and more.
Riverside Drive, April 21

Wine, Food and Music Spring Festival
Prepare your tastebuds for this annual festival, whose flagship event features all things wine and food — wine vendors, classes, chef demonstrations, and more.
The Medicine Factory, FedEx Event Center, Sunday 20-21

Double Decker Arts Festival
Take part in this two-day celebration of food, music, and the arts.
Oxford Courthouse Square, April 26-27

Overton Square Crawfish Festival
Heads, you suck. Tails, you pinch. But the Overton Square Crawfish Festival doesn’t leave anything up to a coin toss when it comes to serving good crawfish.
Overton Square, April 27

OttoFest
Enjoy artists, bands, food trucks, and a playground at this arts and music fest.
Peabody Park, April 27-28

Taste the Rarity
Beer gets weird at this event that features breweries from all over the country.
Wiseacre Brewing Company, April 27

MAY

Memphis in May International Festival
For the month of May, this festival every year brings the world to Memphis and Memphis to the world, and this year it is saluting France through cultural events and performances, educational experiences, museum and gallery exhibits, films, luncheons, and the Memphis in May International Festival Gala.
Memphis, May 1-31

River Beat Music Festival
We got the beat. We got the beat. Yeah, the River Beat! The inaugural lineup has the Fugees, Odesza, and Jelly Roll, plus a bunch more.
Tom Lee Park, May 3-5

Cigar & Whiskey BBQ Festival
Talk about a smoke show. Cigars, whiskey, and barbecue come together for this celebration of flavor and fun.
Meddlesome Brewing Company, May 4

Ruby Bridges Reading Festival
Children pre-K through elementary school can receive free books at the festival, and they’ll enjoy storytelling and entertainment, including a reading and signing with Ruby Bridges herself.
National Civil Rights Museum, May 4

Sunset Jazz
Jazz up your summer plans with this free family-friendly jazz concert series.
Court Square, May 12, June 9, July 14, August 11, September 8, October 13

World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (Photo: Courtesy Memphis in May)

World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest
Watch as barbecuers try to smoke the competition at this annual contest.
Liberty Park, May 15-18

SmokeSlam
Cue another barbecue contest. The inaugural SmokeSlam will include a carnival with games and rides, a marketplace, and an interactive area where fans will be able to sample food and participate in fun food-related events.
Tom Lee Park, May 16-18

Memphis Vegfest
This is one of the few events where you can truly veg out in a family-friendly environment full of vegan food options and sustainable and cruelty-free products.
Agricenter International, May 19

Bluff City Fair
We aren’t bluffin’ when we say the Bluff City Fair is a quintessential fair. It’s got attractions and shows, all your favorite fair fare, carnival rides, and kiddie rides, and it’s just plain fun.
Liberty Bowl Stadium, May 24-June 2

Memphis Italian Festival
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore. When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine, that’s just the Memphis Italian Festival, “where everyone is Italian.”
Marquette Park, May 30-June 1

Memphis Pride Fest Weekend (Photo: Kevin Reed Photography)

Memphis Pride Fest Weekend
June is the time for Pride, and Memphis Pride Fest does it best. Spanning four days, the celebration includes a Drag N Drive, complete with a movie screening and drag show; a dance party; the signature parade and festival with two stages, over 150 vendors, food trucks, and so much more; and a delightful brunch crawl.
Various locations, May 30-June 2

JUNE

Memphis Margarita Festival
Wasting away again in Margaritaville? Searching for a lost shaker of salt? The Memphis Margarita Festival, where you can sample from the city’s best margarita-makers, might be to blame.
Overton Square, June 1

Memphis Dragon Boat Festival (Photo: Courtesy Memphis Dragon Boat Festival)

Memphis Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon boat races, stage performances, arts and crafts, Asian street food — what more could you ask for?
Hyde Lake at Shelby Farms Park, June 1

TriState Black Pride
TriState Black Pride presents four days of fun, education, and community, with workshops, lectures, a drag show, stand-up comedy, and a free Community Appreciation Day to cap off the weekend with musical performances by national and local artists.
Various locations, June 13-16

Memphis Juneteenth Festival
The annual Memphis Juneteenth Festival celebrates African-American culture, food, entertainment, and the overall significance of the holiday.
Health Sciences Park, June 14-15

Memphis Crafts & Drafts
This event is no rough draft. It was perfectly crafted to fit all your summer market’s needs.
Crosstown Concourse, June 15

Memphis Vegan Festival
On the veg (of glory)? This festival is for you. It’s a day full of vegan food, live entertainment, and a marketplace featuring local businesses, plant-based health and beauty products, clothing, and accessories.
Fourth Bluff Park, June 16

Craft Food & Wine Festival benefiting Church Health
Indulge in a delightful evening of delicious food, exquisite wines, and live music, all while supporting Church Health.
The Columns, June 23

JULY

Memphis Summer Cocktail Festival
Get your drink on at the hottest festival of the summer featuring seasonal sips, tasty eats, and throwback vibes.
The Kent, July 12

Asian Night Market
Enjoy authentic Asian street foods at this unique festival.
Tiger Lane, July 20

AUGUST

Elvis Week
Feel your temperature rising? Higher and higher? It’s not just the August heat. It’s your spidey (Elvis?) senses tingling, burning through to your soul ’cause here in Memphis we know that August means more than hot weather: It means Elvis Week.
Graceland, August 9-17

Memphis Chicken & Beer Festival (Photo: Courtesy Memphis Chicken & Beer Festival)

Memphis Chicken & Beer Festival
If you appreciate your chicken friend, a cold beer on a Saturday night, a pair of jeans that fit just right, and the radio up, you’ll appreciate the Memphis Chicken & Beer Fest where you can get all that — except the jeans, you’ll have to figure that out yourself.
Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium Field, August 17

Shop Black Fest
Connect with and shop from Black-owned small businesses at the Shop Black Fest.
Riverside Dr., August 17

SEPTEMBER

Oxford Blues Festival
This year’s Oxford Blues Festival promises unforgettable experiences with a lineup featuring Lurrie Bell, Libby Rae Watson, Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, Ra’Shad the Blues Kid, Randy Ferguson, Cricket and the Brim Hooks, Kenny Kimbrough & Davis Coen Duo, and DuWayne Burnside. A portion of profits will be donated to furthering the music education of Mississippi youths.
Oxford, MS, September 13-14

Cooper-Young Festival
There’s no need to stay cooped up in your house when you can join in on the fun at the Cooper-Young Festival, where art, music, and crafts come together to celebrate Memphis’ culture and heritage.
Cooper Young Historic District, September 14

Gonerfest 21
Going, going, gone — that’s what they’re gonna say about Gonerfest tickets as soon as the lineup is announced. Already, the first batch of Gonerfest tickets have sold out, so keep your eyes peeled for when more tickets go on sale.
Railgarten, September 26-29

Categories
Cover Feature News

In the Shadow of the Moon

Photo: jrossphoto | Adobe Stock

Throughout the day on Monday, April 8th, the moon’s vast shadow, 100 miles across, will pass over the face of the Earth like some great mother ship, blocking light in a creeping path from the Pacific Ocean’s Cook Islands to a point in the Atlantic Ocean some 200 leagues west of France. Those under the hundred-mile-wide band of the shadow will experience a total eclipse of the sun, wherein the apparent size of the lunar disc will exactly match and obscure the sun’s disc, in one of the great coincidences of orbs and orbits in our cosmos, dimming the day as it swings into place and finally blocking all direct sunlight for a few minutes. Then the moon will move away and the day will enjoy a second dawn.

“It’s like a fast-forward sunset and sunrise,” says Quintron, the New Orleans-based musician and inventor who created Weather Warlock, an analog synthesizer and audio processor triggered by signals from an array of wind, humidity, sound, and light sensors. The eclipse, with its stark contrasts, is a time for his creation to shine. He’s noted the Weather Warlock’s sensitivity to the changing light of dusk or dawn before, but the eclipse, he says, is “approximately 10 times as fast.”

Quintron and the Weather Warlock, with control panel schematic (Photo: Panacea Theriac)

The Ecliptic Festival

Like thousands of others, Quintron will be in Hot Springs, Arkansas, when it all goes down. The classic resort town lies directly in the path of totality, as does much of the Natural State. In Hot Springs, the eclipse’s timing corresponds to a time-honored tradition, the Valley of the Vapors music festival, now in its 20th year. This year’s version will be unique, as it’s being co-produced by Atlas Obscura, a company specializing in unorthodox travel packages. Together, they’re calling this hybrid celebration the Ecliptic Festival, and it’s huge.

From April 5th to April 8th, up to 4,000 attendees will gather at Hot Springs’ Cedar Glades Park for musical performances and events with artists, philosophers, astronomers, and other speakers — along with ringside seats to the spectacle of a full solar eclipse. These astronomical pilgrims will be staying in glamping tents, camping on their own, or booking other accommodations (quickly filling up) in Hot Springs or nearby Little Rock.

The startlingly eclectic lineup includes performers like Allah-Las, Blonde Redhead, Deerhoof, and Shannon and the Clams; mythologist and storyteller John Bucher; theoretical physicist Kelly Reidy; and author and astronomer Rebecca Boyle, who will conduct a guided stargazing session. Of course, the first three days of the bash will be much like any other festival, albeit with more telescopes, as the moon and sun won’t yet be engaged in their cosmic pas de deux. Then on Monday, the music will take a left turn.

When the moon begins its creep across the face of the sun, experimental harpist Mary Lattimore will help usher in the darkness. Though faster than a sunset, the dimming of the day occurs over more than an hour and 20 minutes. Halfway through it, music on the main stage will stop and the headlining “artist” leading up to and through the total occultation of the sun will be a robot, tuned in to the sounds of nature.

The sensor array triggering Weather Warlock (Photo: Panacea Theriac)

All Hail the Weather Warlock

Although Quintron sometimes assembles a band that’s billed as Weather Warlock, at the heart of it is the machine he designed some 10 years ago, a device that “uses sun, wind, rain, and temperature to control a monster analog synth designed by Quintronics,” as his website explains. Multiple sensors convert changes in wind speed, barometric pressure, rainfall, and light into voltage and thence synthesizer tones. When the weather or light is shifting, no band is necessary: The device creates fascinating tonal paintings entirely on its own, worth recording and releasing.

“During Hurricane Ida,” says Quintron, “we knew a weather event was coming and I knew it was going to get really nuts. So I tuned up all the sensors, dialed it in, and then just set it to record as long as the power stayed on. And it stayed on quite a while, pretty deep into extreme hurricane winds and rainfall. And that became the record, PEOPLE = ANTS.”

Well before Ida, of course, Quintron and his device were active during the 2017 total solar eclipse, perched on the roof of Third Man Records in Nashville, the audio of which was later released as the record, Occulting the Sun. But Quintron’s approach has evolved somewhat since then.

“I’m going to have mics set up in the area too,” says Quintron of his Hot Springs setup. “My whole microphone system and the electronic filtration of that source has now come to be called the Wildlife Organ, which is just a series of all-weather microphones at different elevations in the wilderness, capturing the critters. Because how the animals and insects and birds respond to an eclipse is kind of the most mind-blowing thing about it.”

As day turns to night, birds and bees stop their activity and the crickets come out to sing. While the Weather Warlock’s mics and sensors will in fact be running throughout the festival, “like a little weather station that people can visit, going on 24/7 during the entire fest,” he says, the approach to and immersion in totality will make for the most dramatic effects from Quintron’s device. “This is the Super Bowl Sunday for Weather Warlock, so during totality it’s only going to be Weather Warlock playing. I’m not going to mess with it too much. I just want to experience this machine that I built, reacting to the sky.”

Accordingly, he hopes the festival attendees will respect the moment. “I begged [the festival organizers] to please let me be the only sound-generating human during the actual eclipse,” he says, and his wish has come true, assuming festival partiers cooperate and simply listen. “I just want to let the lords of the skies and Mother Earth do their thing. I don’t want to comment or interact or join in because it’s such a rare weather event.”

During totality, from roughly 1:49 to 1:53 p.m. in Hot Springs, the sun’s disc will be blocked, but it won’t be entirely dark. Rather, an eerie twilight will set in, and stars will appear. As in 2017, Venus and Jupiter (and other less visible planets) will appear on either side of the occulted sun. For close to four minutes, observers will be able to remove their protective sun-viewing glasses (the only time it’s safe to do so) and marvel at how small we are. People = ants, indeed.

And then, gradually, Weather Warlock will surrender its command of the festival, giving way to what many, including Quintron, are most keenly anticipating: an appearance by the acolytes of Sun Ra himself.

The Sun Ra Arkestra, led by Marshall Allen (center) (Photo: Courtesy El Ra Records)

The Sun Ra Arkestra

Booking the Sun Ra Arkestra on the day of the eclipse was an inspired choice by Atlas Obscura and Valley of the Vapors, and not just because it’s arguably the longest-running, continuously operated jazz ensemble in the world today. Sun Ra, born Herman Blount in Birmingham, Alabama, transformed himself and his music by putting the transcendent possibilities of cosmic bodies — the moon, Saturn, the stars, the sun — at the heart of his creativity. Changing his name to honor the Egyptian god Ra in the mid-Fifties, he never looked back, assembling an ever-shifting big band that paired increasingly free jazz with more disciplined compositions and even the sounds of exotica, as they chanted, “We travel the spaceways/From planet to planet …”

Though its leader passed away in 1993, the Arkestra — pairing “orchestra” with an allusion to a wandering ark — sailed on, led today by its oldest surviving member, Marshall Allen, who joined the group in the late ’50s. And Allen, now 99, has kept the Arkestra’s guiding aesthetic in place, from the bold, colorful costumes to the eclectic mix of big band swing tunes (Fletcher Henderson is a favorite), chanted songs of space, and free improvisation.

Tyler Mitchell, who first played with Sun Ra in the ’80s before rejoining the Arkestra in 2010, still marvels at the saxophonist’s vigor. “Marshall’s amazing,” he says. “He still moves around and is in good shape, man! I admire him. He’s just such a great example to mankind, to people. Not just to musicians.”

Quintron, for his part, is especially excited that the Arkestra will immediately follow him. “I’ll be taking the baton between the harpist, Mary Lattimore, and Sun Ra. I’ve been given the go-ahead to overlap and kind of join those two artists.” And he couldn’t be more pleased. “Sun Ra,” says Quintron, “is on my personal Mount Rushmore of how to think about music and how to approach music.” Having said that, neither Quintron nor the Arkestra members themselves know exactly what to expect when they take the stage.

Recalling the Arkestra’s performance at Atlas Obscura’s 2017 eclipse event in Oregon, Mitchell explains, “The last time we did it, we just followed Marshall’s cues. Neither Sun Ra or Marshall tell you what they’re going to play. Sometimes Marshall is known to just get up and have us play a space chord, where everybody just blows a note, and he directs you with his hand. And just the different textures of the space chords would be the song.”

But things could be more arranged. “We also have what we call stomps,” says Mitchell, “like the old Fletcher Henderson stuff. Marshall covers all the different styles in jazz when we do a concert. And if a song’s too nice and neat and clean, and all too perfect, he’ll come in and just mess it all up. You don’t want it to be too perfect. He likes to have that chaos.”

And so, as the sunlight gradually reemerges, expect the unexpected, but know that the Sun Ra Arkestra, having such songs in their repertoire as “When Sun Comes Out,” “Solar Differentials,” “Dancing Shadows,” and “Satellites Are Spinning” are well-prepared to capture the moment.

The path of totality across North America, moving from southwest to northeast (Photo: courtesy Atlas Obscura)

Lighting Out for the Graze Zone

For Memphians who want to experience totality, Hot Springs is arguably the most musical destination on April 8th, but there are other options, from low-key gatherings to camping on your own. The zone of complete occultation stretches from the southwest to the northeast of the state, with many planned events and over two dozen state parks in that area. The Crystal Garden in Mt. Ida, Arkansas, for example, will have camping and acoustic music amidst the largest quartz crystal deposit in the world, nestled in the Ouachita National Forest. The University of Arkansas in Little Rock will have a family-friendly event, and Arkansas State University in Jonesboro will participate in the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, sponsored by NASA, releasing dozens of weather balloons laden with scientific instruments to record atmospheric changes during the eclipse. Meanwhile, the website ozarktotaleclipse.com lists several smaller-scale celebrations in the Ozark foothills, all in the path of totality.

As the site ar-eclipse.info notes, some prefer to be on the margins of that path, in what’s called “the graze zone.” In some ways, being on the borders of totality’s path can make the eclipse even more striking. As described by NASA, “An observer positioned here will witness a solar crescent which is fragmented into a series of bright beads and short segments. … These beading phenomena are caused by the appearance of photospheric rays which alternately pass through deep lunar valleys and hide behind high mountain peaks as the moon’s irregular limb grazes the edge of the sun’s disk.” Properly viewed with protective glasses, this near-total eclipse ringed with beams and flares of light can be spellbinding, especially for astrophotography buffs.

Closer to home, outside the path of totality, the eclipse will still be impressive. Indeed, the village of Wilson, less than an hour away, will be especially active. Their Crawfish Festival takes place through the day of April 6th, giving way to live music that evening and ultimately an eclipse-viewing gathering two days later, when the sun’s disc will be 99.38 percent blocked at its peak. (Protective glasses must be worn the entire time when observing the sun.)

Just down the road in Dyess, Arkansas State University’s KASU radio station will host the Arkansas Roots Music Festival in front of the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home on the 6th, with El Dorado-native Jason D. Williams headlining, plus a “lunch and learn” with NASA scientist Dr. Les Johnson on the 7th, and the option to park campers near the historic home for the following day’s astronomical event.

And finally, lest one forget the wide-ranging impact the eclipse will have on all of nature, one NASA initiative may persuade you to eschew the music and hoopla and simply listen. Known as the Eclipse Soundscapes Project, it puts the invisible at the center of the celestial experience, encouraging people from all walks of life to document the stark changes in animal behavior when all goes dark. As noted on the NASA website, the eclipse offers “the perfect opportunity for a large-scale citizen science project.” Volunteers will be asked to use a low-cost audio recording device to capture nature’s sounds during the eclipse, or to write down their multisensory observations for submission to the project website.

“I’m so glad that they’re doing that,” says Quintron of NASA’s Eclipse Soundscapes Project. “I’m very happy that I won’t be in a big city, but in a forest. And making recordings out in the field, where there is not a large amount of human influence, is really important. We need recordings of what the critters and the birds and the insects are doing during this event because it’s really remarkable. They’re not reading on the news that the eclipse is coming. They’re purely reacting to it. And in a similar way, I just really want to draw people’s attention to the physical world that they live in, in whatever way I can.”

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Cover Feature News

Who’s Got the Power?

Illustration: Adobe Stock

Tennessee Republicans cannot stand the federal government telling them what to do — especially when a Democrat’s in the White House — but they do love telling Tennessee’s biggest cities what to do.

Republicans cry “overreach,” in general, when the feds “impose” rules that “overrule the will of the people of Tennessee.” (All of those quoted words came from just one statement on abortion from Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who yells “overreach!” the loudest.) But they call it “preemption” when they do it to Memphis and Nashville — their favorite targets — leaving big-city locals to bemoan that same overreach.

When punching up at the federal government, Tennessee conservatives send angry letters to the president lamenting rules they have to follow to get big “seductive” tax dollars. But they don’t often win much in this process.

When they punch down at cities, the power struggle really comes down to rural conservatives exerting whatever influence they have to temper (squash) the sometimes “woke” ideas of urban progressives. They have a lot of power to do this, as state law does, usually, preempt local law.

So, Republicans do what they want in the Tennessee General Assembly and say, “See you in court,” because cities don’t typically give up their authority without a legal fist fight. (This happens so much state Democrats say Republicans pass lawsuits, not laws.)

But cities lose these fights often. Some of that is thanks to the powerful state AG’s office, who gets in the ring for state conservatives. That office has even more punching power with a brand-new $2.25 million, 10-member unit. It force-feeds conservative priorities in Tennessee cities and blocks D.C.’s liberal agenda.

Here’s an example of this double-edged subversion: Skrmetti, the Republican AG, cried “overreach” when a 2022 USDA rule said LGTBQ kids had to have access to lunch at school. But when Memphis and Nashville tried to decriminalize cannabis in 2016, a state Republican said, “You just can’t have cities creating their own criminal code, willy-nilly.”

Same coin. Two sides. Yes, state law rules most times, but the premise of the argument is the same. State citizens and city locals know what’s best for them and pick their leaders accordingly. Then, an outsider who, maybe, doesn’t share their values, swoops in to make locals comply with theirs. It’s like, “Hi, you don’t know me but you’re doing it wrong and are going to do it my way.”

In this game, Memphis has been on the ropes at the legislature this year. State Republicans want to take away some of the power from the Shelby County district attorney. They want to remove a Memphis City Council decision on when Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers make traffic stops. They also wanted to dilute local control of the Memphis-Shelby County School (MSCS) board with members appointed by the governor. But they decided against it. Details on many of these and some from the past are below.

Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers have looked up, wondering if they could really cut ties with the federal government. They took a serious, hard look at giving up $1 billion in federal education funding for state schools. They wanted to do it “the Tennessee way.” Left to guess what that meant, many concluded they hoped to eschew national discrimination protections for LGBTQ students.

This year, a state Republican hopes to establish state sovereignty. He wants to draw a clear line between state and fed powers and to install a committee to watch that line. It’s not a new idea, but it’s always had “don’t tread on me” vibes.

The road from Memphis City Hall, to the State Capitol, to Congress and the White House is littered with complaints (usually court papers) about political subversion. All the hollering and legal fights along the way have to leave voters wondering, who’s got the power?

Steve Mulroy (Photo: Steve Mulroy | Facebook)

District Attorney Power Battle

A legal battle over who has the power to decide on some death penalty cases has been waged since Republicans passed a bill here last year.

That bill stripped local control of post-conviction proceedings from local district attorneys and gave it to Skrmetti, the state AG. In Memphis, the bill seemed largely aimed at Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, with some concerned he may be lenient for those facing the death penalty.

“This sudden move appears to be a response to the choices of voters in both Davidson County and Shelby County, who elected prosecutors to support more restorative and less punitive policies,” Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said at the time.

Larry McKay, who received two death sentences for the murders of two store clerks in Shelby County in 1981, requested a court review of previously unexamined evidence in his case. Despite the new law, McKay’s attorney sought to disqualify Skremtti’s office from reviewing the case because he was not elected.

His attorney argued the new law infringes on the responsibilities of local district attorneys. The big changes made in the legislation also violated the state constitution, the attorney said.

Mulroy agreed.

“The newly enacted statute is an unconstitutional effort to divest and diminish the authority granted to Tennessee’s district attorneys general by the Tennessee Constitution,” Mulroy said at the time. “The new statute violates the voting rights of such voters because it strips material discretion from district attorneys, who are elected by the qualified voters of the judicial district.”

But state attorneys did not agree.

“The General Assembly was entitled to take that statuary power away from the district attorneys and give it to the Attorney General in capital cases,” reads the court document. “They have done just that and their mandate must be followed.”

But in July Shelby County Judge Paula Skahan ruled the Republican legislation did violate the state constitution. New arguments on the case were heard by the Tennessee Criminal Court of Appeals earlier this month. No ruling was issued as of press time. However, an appeal of that ruling seems inevitable, likely pushing the case to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Pretextual Stops

State Republicans are actively trying to undermine a unanimous decision of the Memphis City Council to stop police from pulling over motorists for minor things like a broken taillight, a loose bumper, and more.

This council move came three months after MPD officers beat and killed Tyre Nichols, who was stopped for a minor traffic infraction. The local law is called the Driving Equality Act in Honor of Tyre Nichols.

Council members said police time could be better spent, that the stops expose more people to the criminal justice system, and, as in the Nichols’ case, could be dangerous. The stops also disproportionately affect Black people, who make up about 64 percent of Memphis’ population but receive 74 percent of its traffic tickets, according to Decarcerate Memphis.

The council’s decision made national headlines. But it found no favor with Republican lawmakers.

Rep. John Gillespie (R-Bartlett) introduced a controversial bill this year that would end that practice and reestablish state control over local decisions on criminal justice.

“We’re simply saying a state law that’s been on the books for decades is what we’re going by here,” Gillespie told Tennessee Lookout earlier this month. “And if there are people that have problems with what state law is, then maybe they should change state law instead of enacting local ordinances that are in conflict with state law.”

He initially cooled on the matter, promising to pause his bill for further review after Nichols’ parents spoke at a press conference.

“I am just appalled by what Republicans are trying to do in this state,” Nichols’ father, Rodney Wells, said at the event.

Gillespie promised Nichols’ family he’d hold the bill but surprised many earlier this month when he brought it to the House floor for a vote, which it won. Some said Gillespie acted in bad faith. State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) said he straight-up lied to Nichols’ family and subverted local power to boot.

“You, as a person who lives in Shelby County, seek to undo the will of the people of Memphis and Shelby County,” Pearson said on the House floor. “The Wells family spoke with him briefly; he told them this bill wouldn’t come up until probably next Thursday.”

The Senate approved the bill last Thursday. It now heads to Gov. Lee for signature.

Six school board members for Memphis-Shelby County Schools met with three state lawmakers representing Memphis on Feb. 14, 2024, at the state Capitol. Their agenda included pending legislation from Rep. Mark White and Sen. Brent Taylor, both Republicans, to authorize Gov. Bill Lee to appoint additional members to the board. (Photo: Courtesy Memphis-Shelby County Schools | Chalkbeat)

MSCS School Board

State Republicans want to control schools here, too.

Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis), chair of the House Education Committee, filed a bill earlier this year that would add six governor-appointed members (read: more Republican influence) to the MSCS board. When he filed the legislation, he said he was unimpressed with the slate of those vying for the district’s superintendent job and concerned about students falling behind state standards on reading and math.

“I’m very concerned about the district’s direction, and I just can’t sit back any longer,” White told Chalkbeat Tennessee. “I think we’re at a critical juncture.”

However, MSCS board chair Althea Greene said at the time that White’s proposal was unnecessary.

“We may have had some challenges, but more interference from the General Assembly is not warranted at this time,” she said. “We have to stop experimenting with our children.”

Since then, the MSCS board chose Marie Feagins as the district’s superintendent and she got to work early, before her contract was supposed to start. Also, White paused his bill earlier this month to give board members a chance to submit an improvement plan. White said the plan should show how they’ll improve on literacy, truancy, graduation rates, teacher recruitment, underutilized school buildings, and a backlog of building maintenance needs, among other things, according to Chalkbeat.

While it’s the newest move in state “overreach” into schools here, it’s hardly the first. State Republicans once seized dozens of schools in Memphis and Nashville as laboratories for what they called “Achievement School Districts.” After more than a decade, these schools only angered locals, showed abysmal student performance, and now seem to be on their way out.

Cannabis

For six weeks back in 2016, Memphis City Council members debated a move that would have decriminalized possession of small amounts of cannabis in the city.

Hundreds were (and are) arrested each year on simple possession charges, and most of those arrested were (and are) Black. Council members didn’t want cannabis legalization; they wanted to steer folks away from the criminal justice system. They hoped to keep them out of jail and avoid a criminal record, which could hurt their chances at housing, employment, and more.

The city council — even though some had reservations about it — said yes to this. So did the Nashville Metropolitan Council. State Republicans said no.

Upon their return to the Capitol in 2017, they got to work ensuring their control over local decisions on the matter. A bill to strip this control easily won support in the legislature and was signed by then-Gov. Bill Haslam, who said he acted on the will of state lawmakers.

“You just can’t have cities creating their own criminal code, willy-nilly,” Rep. William Lamberth (R-Cottontown), the bill’s House sponsor, told The Tennessean at the time.

Then-Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery issued an opinion that said, basically, cities can’t make laws that preempt state law. With that, Memphis resumed regular enforcement of cannabis laws.

Ranked Choice Voting

In two elections — 2008 and 2018 — Memphians chose how they wanted to pick their politicians, but they never got a chance to use it. State Republicans said no.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) would have allowed voters here to rank candidates on a ballot, doing away with the need for run-off elections that always see lower voter turnout. It was new and different but voters here “decided, over and over again, to give it a try,” reads a Commercial Appeal op-ed from 2022 by Mark Luttrell, former Shelby County mayor, and Erika Sugarmon, now a Shelby County commissioner.

However, state Republicans then-Sen. Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) and Rep. Nathan Vaughan (R-Collierville) filed a bill to upend the voters’ decision for good with a bill to end RCV in Tennessee. Kelsey said it was about voter clarity. Opponents said it was about more.

“If the bill passes, it will disrespect Memphis voters, make a mockery of local control,” Luttrell and Sugarmon said in the op-ed.

In the end, the state won. The bill passed and RCV was banned, with added support and sponsorship of Memphis Democrats Rep. Joe Towns Jr. and the late Rep. Barbara Cooper.

State Sovereignty

“So, you hoe in your little garden and stay out of our garden,” said Rep. Bud Hulsey (R-Kingsport).

He was explaining to the House Public Service Committee last year how the country’s founders designed the separation of powers between the state and the federal governments, how it was supposed to work, anyway.

But federal government agencies — not elected officials — issue rules pushed on to “we, the people,” he said. They tear families apart. They split marriages. They end lifelong friendships, he said. They bring bankruptcy and suicide. He gave no more details than that. But he was sick of it and said the bill he brought would fix it.

When some Republicans here aren’t busy in committee or court, rending control from local governments, they like to think about state sovereignty. They want to defend Tennessee from the feds, especially when a Democrat is in the White House. They want to know what the exact rules are and to tell D.C. “don’t tread on me.”

Since at least 1995, bills like these have been filed here and there in the state legislature. There’s a new one pending now. In them, “sovereignty” sometimes sounds like a preamble to “secession.”

Hulsey’s bill didn’t go that far. He really wanted to set out a way to nullify D.C. rules he didn’t like. Lee’s office was against it, though. Senate Republicans were, too. The idea failed to even get a review in the Republican-packed Senate State and Local Government Committee. Conservatives worried “nullification” could also nullify big federal tax dollars.

That 1995 bill demanded, “The federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers.” Another Republican sovereignty bill later would have voided the powers of any representative of the United Nations once they entered the state.

One in 2014 (that was signed by the governor) simply expressed the state’s sovereignty to set educational standards. A 2016 bill said the feds “seduce” states to go along with their new rules with federal funds they treat as grants, not as tax funds for the state. Another in 2013 would have formed a committee to see what financial and legal troubles could be in store for Tennessee if it scaled back or quit the “state’s participation in the various federal programs.”

Ten years later, this idea is back. The “Tennessee State Sovereignty Act of 2024” would form a 10-person committee to watch and see if any federal rule violates the Tennessee State Constitution. If it does, “it is the duty of both the residents of this state and the General Assembly to resist.”

Now, if that don’t say “don’t tread on me” …

In the Senate, the bill was deferred until near the end of session (usually meaning they’ll get to it if they can). A House review of the idea was slated for this week, after press time.

Education Funding

Sovereignty bills rarely go anywhere but in talking points for reelection campaigns.

However, last year high-ranking Republicans took state sovereignty a step beyond rattling a saber. They announced a bold plan to have a serious look at if and how Tennessee could cut ties with the feds and their $1 billion in education funding. If it did, Tennessee would have been the first state in history to decline such funds.

“We as a state can lead the nation once again in telling the federal government that they can keep their money and we’ll just do things the Tennessee way,” House Speaker Rep. Cameron Sexton said at an event in February last year.

He didn’t outline what the “Tennessee way” entailed, though he complained about testing mandates and strings attached to funding. Many said the big federal string Republicans wanted to cut was the one attached to Title IX mandates. Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that get federal money. The Biden administration has promised an update to these that could strengthen protections for LGTBQ students.

Tennessee has passed more anti-LGBTQ laws than any other state, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The week of March 4th alone, 18 such bills were before state lawmakers and targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; made it easier to ban books; and attempted to legalize discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

State Republicans have passed bills to mandate transgender students only play on sports teams that match their gender at birth. They have mandated which bathrooms trans people have to use (a decision struck down by a federal judge). They’ve allowed teachers to go unpunished if they refuse to use pronouns that students identify with. They’ve wanted certain books with LGBTQ themes banned at school. They’ve wanted LGBTQ, especially gender identity, issues banned from discussion in sex-ed classes. This list goes on and on.

However, the precise motive for looking into cutting those federal education dollars was never stated. Some said it was always good to review the relationship between nation and state. In the end, Republicans spent a lot of time and money to research the idea but set it aside. They took the federal money and the strings attached anyway. But taking it so seriously was maybe that “don’t tread on me snake” just shaking its rattle.

“Deep in my Soul”

Separation of powers is a doubled-edge sword. It’s that cartoon drawing of a big fish eating a small fish that is getting eaten by the even bigger fish. It’s a “layer cake” form of federalism.

Call it what you will, but it’s clear locals want to make their own decisions. For Hulsey, the Republican talking about who tends whose garden, the idea runs deep.

“I stood up on that House floor over there a few weeks ago and we raised our hand, and we swore to 7 million people in this state, we swore not that we would rake in all the federal money we could get,” Hulsey told committee members. “We swore that we would always defend the inalienable rights of Tennessee people by defending and upholding the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Tennessee.

“We should not be for sale. I want to tell you that deep in my soul, I have a conviction that is deep-seated. I believe that if state legislatures in this country do not stand up and hold the federal government to obey the Constitution of the United States, we could very easily lose this republic.”

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Cover Feature News Sports Sports Feature

Good Times, Bad Times

Penny Hardaway (Photo: Wes Hale)

I’m appreciative of the people who have stood by us through these hard times. You can pinpoint a lot of things, but the one thing I do know: God doesn’t make mistakes. All of the negativity through this entire thing … these are still kids. They can have a bad day, a bad game, a bad week. That doesn’t mean there’s a disconnect between coach and players because you’re losing. Everything gets heightened here in Memphis. I was chosen to do this, not by the University of Memphis but by God, honestly. I took this job when it was at its lowest moment. I only want to do well for the city. I’m going to be hardest on myself. It guts me, because I want our city to be known for something other than what it’s known for. These are some tough times. Everybody has an opinion. But I know God has a plan, and there’s a plan for this team. I’m happy that I’m coaching this team. — University of Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway, after the Tigers ended a four-game losing streak with a win over Wichita State

On February 3rd at FedExForum, the Memphis Tigers found themselves down 14 points with less than 10 minutes to play against the supposedly inferior Wichita State Shockers. A loss would give a proud program not only its first five-game losing streak in six seasons under coach Penny Hardaway, but the program’s first five-game losing streak in 24 years.

Point guard Jahvon Quinerly — a senior transfer from Alabama — came to the rescue with a three-pointer to give Memphis its first lead of the game with 44 seconds on the clock. (It was the only field goal Quinerly made on an otherwise forgettable afternoon.) After the Shockers evened the score with a free throw, David Jones — a senior transfer from St. John’s — buried a short jumper from the left wing to snatch a Tiger win, as they say, from the jaws of ugly defeat. Losing streak over. A season that found the Tigers ranked 10th in the country merely three weeks earlier had been somewhat saved. At least until the next tip-off. The season has seen dreadfully ugly losses (at SMU) and the kinds of wins that seem to lift an entire region (the “get-back” over FAU in late February).

Like any decent Hollywood production, a college basketball season has a setup (nonconference play), a confrontation (league competition), and a resolution (postseason). This winter’s Tiger flick has, at times, made the popcorn tasty and, at others, forced fans to hurl the bucket in disgust. All with a resolution yet to come.

Point guard Jahvon Quinerly leads the Tigers in assists. (Photo: Wes Hale)

THE SETUP

In over a century of Tiger basketball, never had Memphis run a nonconference gauntlet like the one Hardaway scheduled for last fall. Seven teams from power conferences (ACC, SEC, and Big 10) plus a showdown with Villanova (national champions in 2016 and 2018) in the championship of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. Making the challenge even greater, four of these teams took the floor against Memphis ranked among the country’s top 25. (For perspective, nonconference foes in 2017-18 — Tubby Smith’s final season as coach — included Northern Kentucky, Mercer, Samford, Bryant, and Albany.)

The Tigers beat 20th-ranked Arkansas in the Bahamas. They beat 21st-ranked Texas A & M. They beat 13th-ranked Clemson. They beat 22nd-ranked Virginia. They handled Michigan, Missouri, and Vanderbilt. Before the year turned, Hardaway and his team seemed to have grabbed a national microphone and collectively screamed, Look at us!

“I love winning close games,” said Hardaway after a two-point victory against Vanderbilt at FedExForum, the fifth in what would become a 10-game winning streak. “They make you tougher.” And the Tigers were masters of the nail-biter early this season: four points better than Michigan, five better than Arkansas, two better than Clemson, overtime escapes against VCU and UTSA. Quinerly drilled game-winning three-pointers near the buzzer in consecutive wins over Tulsa and SMU. Jones earned some national spotlight with 36 points against Arkansas, a performance that launched him onto the short list for the Julius Erving Award, given to the top small forward in the country.

“We never said it was going to be easy,” stressed Hardaway after the SMU win on January 7th. “The rest of the nation thinks it’s going to be easy in this conference. I have so much respect [for the American Athletic Conference]. These kids are capable. They read the clippings about us and [league favorite] FAU. It’s more than a two-bid league. Adversity is okay; you can learn from it.”

On January 15th, a day after the Tigers eviscerated Wichita State in Kansas for their tenth straight win, the Associated Press released its weekly poll and there was Memphis at number 10 in the entire country, the program’s highest ranking so late in a season since 2009, when one John Calipari stomped the sidelines. The nine programs above Memphis? If you pay attention to college hoops, they’re familiar: UConn, Purdue, Kansas, North Carolina, Houston, Tennessee, Duke, Kentucky, and Baylor. (Six of these programs have won at least one national title since 2012.) If the Memphis program was indeed screaming into that proverbial national microphone, the right folks were listening.

Nae’Qwan Tomlin has provided an energy boost at both ends of the floor. (Photo: Wes Hale)

THE CONFRONTATION(S)

Then came the freeze. The Tigers took the floor against USF on January 18th in a virtually empty FedExForum. That week’s winter storm had left Memphis streets so icy that the U of M actually released a statement advising fans to stay home (in which case ticket-holders could exchange for a later game). The Tigers raced out to a 20-point lead … before the team from South Florida made things that much colder, earning a 74-73 upset with a late-game comeback.

Three days later in New Orleans, another supposedly undermanned squad knocked off Memphis when Tulane won, 81-79. A week later in Birmingham, old rival UAB beat the Tigers, and rather easily (97-88). But the three losses that knocked the Tigers out of the Top 25 were merely prelude to January 28th, when the Rice Owls — 7-13 at tip-off, and 1-6 in the AAC — beat Memphis on its home floor.

For 17 games, the Tigers had played with a swagger, if not quite the flash, that reflected their coach’s All-NBA playing days with the Orlando Magic. They won 15 of those games. Then suddenly, shortly after the year turned, shoulders seemed to collectively slump, and Hardaway alluded to discontent between players. When asked about his team’s precipitous drop in confidence after the Rice loss, Hardaway had this to say: “That’s player-led. I’m trying my best, going to games, going to practice, talking about the pride we need to have, to have more fun playing defense, to communicate. It just seems like there’s a huge disconnect with this group right now. I can’t put my finger on it. You can tell in our play. When the game starts, the energy isn’t there.”

Following their second win over Wichita State (and the end to that four-game losing streak), Quinerly shared some perspective on what he hoped was a team-culture shift. “We didn’t have any player meetings,” he noted, “but you could tell the communication and the focus was different at our practices and film sessions. You could feel the tension in the air. Guys were super locked-in. It showed. We guarded the ball better [against the Shockers].”

Victories over Temple and Tulane followed, but then came a mid-February trip to the Lone Star State and double-digit losses to both North Texas and SMU (the latter a 106-79 mockery of the Tigers’ win over the Mustangs at FedExForum in early January). On February 24th, the university announced an inquiry involving fifth-year senior Malcolm Dandridge, sidelining an important member of the Tiger rotation entering the most important stage of the season. Memphis partially avenged its 2023 NCAA tournament loss to FAU the very next day. Ups and downs. Downs and ups.

How and why did a team mentioned as a Final Four contender in mid-January fall so precipitously, and so fast? You might start with a pair of hideous defensive measures. Through the end of the regular season, Memphis ranks 348th in three-pointers allowed: 9.1 per game. (This is according to College Basketball Reference, which tracks 362 teams in Division I.) And the Tigers rank 359th in offensive-rebounds allowed: 12.8 per game. These are effort stats. Bottom line: The Tigers haven’t guarded the perimeter and they haven’t hit the glass. In other words, they do a lot of standing and watching on defense. It’s murder on a team’s Final Four chances.

And there’s luck. Had Quinerly not hit those buzzer-beaters against Tulsa and SMU, there may not have been a 10-game winning streak or Top-10 ranking. Right player, right time, right moment … until the same player often looked like the wrong player, in the wrong time and moment. If you’re looking for a mercurial personification of a mercurial team, sadly, it’s Jahvon Quinerly.

Not to be discounted in the Tigers’ plight is the loss of Caleb Mills, yet another senior transfer (from Florida State and, before that, Houston) who suffered a catastrophic left-knee injury at Tulsa on January 4th. The team’s best perimeter defender and cultural “glue guy,” Mills embraced a role off the bench and contributed mightily in the Tigers’ four upsets of ranked teams. “I didn’t know Caleb’s magnitude until he went down,” said Hardaway in early February. The Tigers were 12-2 with Mills on the floor and have gone 10-7 without him.

If the loss of Mills exposed a susceptible Tiger rotation, the addition of Nae’Qwan Tomlin — a 6’10” midseason transfer from Kansas State — may have rescued that rotation’s integrity. (Mills and Tomlin only played three games together.) Tomlin’s ability to impose himself on both ends of the floor while providing visible, emotional energy has called to mind the play of former Tiger DeAndre Williams, the all-conference forward who completed his eligibility with the 2022-23 season. He earned Player of the Week honors from the AAC for his impact in wins over Charlotte and FAU in late February. Furthermore, Tomlin has a strong March track record, having helped the Wildcats to the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA tournament. “He’s a big part of what we’re doing, moving forward,” emphasizes Hardaway. “We need his scoring ability, his rebounding ability, and his shot-blocking.”

However the Tigers’ postseason unfolds, Jones will leave a historic mark on the program. He’s the second consecutive Tiger (after Kendric Davis) to lead the AAC in scoring and earned first-team All-AAC recognition. He’s the only player in the country to average 21.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists and with 26 more points will become only the seventh Memphis player to score 700 in a single season. Jones is among five finalists for the Julius Erving Award, given to the nation’s top small forward.

THE RESOLUTION?

How does this four-month movie — to this point, a tragidrama — conclude before the credits roll? The happiest scenario has the Tigers banding together around their star trio (Jones, Quinerly, and Tomlin) and winning four games in four days at the AAC tournament this week in Fort Worth for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Once in the field, a rocky regular season would be forgotten in exchange for hopes of a glass slipper that leads to the Sweet 16 (at least). Hardaway teams have done this before, both last year when the Tigers knocked off top-ranked Houston to win the AAC crown and in 2021 when Memphis won a scaled-down NIT in North Texas.

A more likely scenario is a win or two this weekend and a return to the NIT, college basketball’s sock hop for those without prom tickets. Not the kind of consolation anyone near the Memphis basketball program will embrace. “God has a plan for this team,” said Hardaway after the Tigers erased a 22-point deficit and beat UAB by 19 on March 3rd. “For all we’ve gone through, I never gave up. … We have a better resume than all these teams: first four out, next four out. I don’t understand why our name isn’t up there. We’ve won enough big games for us to be in the conversation. We have some great wins.”

Remain in your seats, Tiger fans. However this season ends, it’s become clear we don’t want to miss it.

David Jones (Photo: Wes Hale)

The 700 Club

David Jones hopes to become only the seventh Tiger to score 700 points in a single season.

* Larry Finch — 721 (1972-73)

* Penny Hardaway — 729 (1992-93)

* Dajuan Wagner — 762 (2001-02)

* Chris Douglas-Roberts — 724 (2007-08)

* Jeremiah Martin — 708 (2018-19)

* Kendric Davis — 744 (2022-23)

* David Jones — 674 thru March 10th