Candy Date
Fly on the Wall would like to congratulate the Tri-State Defender for rising above easy racial clichés and taking its role as the voice of Memphis’ African-American community so seriously. We were particularly impressed by a front-page headline asking if 9th District congressional candidate Steve Cohen was “White Chocolate” or an “opportunist.” All this time we thought he was either café au lait or vanilla fudge.
Overstatement
Commenting on the 72-foot, Christianized Statue of Liberty erected by the famously nipple-shaped World Overcomers Church at the corner of Kirby and Winchester, WMC-TV newscaster Ben Watson breathlessly announced, “It’s like a piece of New York in Hickory Hill.” The newsman didn’t mention the irony of re-imagining Lady Liberty as a theocratic icon or of making a graven image of the Ten Commandments. He did point out Pastor Anton Williams’ Christ-like concern for tourism and commerce. According to Watson, Williams hopes the statue will inspire people “not only to pray, but to pay.”
Grace Landing
Writer/director Brian Jun, whose Steel City was nominated for the grand jury prize at January’s Sundance Film Festival, is planning to make a biopic about Jeff Buckley, the clarion-voiced singer who tragically wore his boots for a swim in the Mississippi River and never came out again. We can’t help but wonder who will be tapped to play the Grifters, the local musicians who befriended Buckley on the road and inspired him to move to Memphis. Is Keanu Reeves’ band, Dogstar, still together?
