Categories
Music Music Features

Kid Maestro’s Tajin Tapes

Kid Maestro (Photo: Catherine Patton)

If you search for Kid Maestro on your favorite streaming platform, you’ll find the bulk of his credits couched after the names of the rappers and singers he produces. One playlist is proudly headlined, “OMG It’s the Tajin God!!” (echoing the sonic tag he inserts into all his beats — the guy loves Tajín seasoning), then notes “Everything Produced, Co-Produced, Recorded, or Mixed by Kid Maestro,” before listing over five dozen tracks, largely with the Unapologetic-adjacent artists with whom he’s worked for the better part of a decade: PreauXX, AWFM, Cameron Bethany, MonoNeon, Aaron James, and IMAKEMADBEATS.

At the top of that playlist is a collaboration Kid Maestro did with PreauXX and AWFM in late 2020, the single “10K,” which, being about the proverbial 10,000 hours of experience one needs to master a craft, stands out as the perfect foreshadowing of where Kid Maestro — the artist — finds himself now, over three years later. These days, Kid Maestro is actually racking up those hours that his rappers boasted of in 2020. Indeed, that’s the key to understanding his new series of ambitious, sprawling, and unorthodox releases on the Unapologetic app, the Tajin Tapes.

As Maestro writes in a preamble to the collection, “I refuse to allow myself to stay the same, so I came up with the Tajin Tapes beat series. I’m releasing a beat tape every week.” Having just dropped Tajin Tapes Vol. 5 this Monday, the series is already proving to be a massive collection of music. But beyond sheer volume, this self-challenge was aimed at mastering a new tool in his arsenal, the Ableton Push, which Ableton is hyping as a standalone “instrument” for playing samples as easily as other instruments play notes. As Maestro notes, “I just upgraded to the Ableton Push 3 and I want to be one of the greatest users in the world of that machine. I have to get my 10,000 hours in.”

Yet he’s also philosophical about it. “It’s more of a practice, an exercise,” he says of his one-beat-tape-per-week discipline. “It’s a punching bag; it’s going into the gym. The only thing I can do is just get my reps in. So it’s a myriad of different kinds of self-improvement, on multiple fronts, not only in music-making, but in being an artist, and accepting that I’m an artist and valuing my art. All of those things are wrapped up into Tajin Tapes.”

The result feels a bit like getting a rare view into an artist’s sketchbook, as one soundscape after another, each built on layers of samples, synths, and effects, unfolds effortlessly and then is gone. Aside from the ever-inventive beats and basslines, these loops are especially distinctive for their samples, which range from the symphonic to the folkloric — a global smorgasbord of sonic flavors. As Kid Maestro explains, that’s partly due to the touring he’s done in recent years as the playback engineer for Lauryn Hill.

“I started digging for samples when I started going to other countries to do playback for Ms. Hill. The first place I went was Brazil, so I got some Brazilian records. And from there, it just became a thing. Every time I go out of the country, I make it a point to get some records. Then I get them organized for me to use the sample when the time comes.”

From there, Maestro moves quickly. “I have this personal goal of averaging two beats a day right now,” he says. “It takes an incredible amount of focus to keep up the pace because a new tape drops every week. But because of the pace of it, there is not too much that you can overthink if you plan to keep up. It’s very freeing to work through an idea, then say, ‘Okay, this is done. I’m going to move on and let it do what it’s supposed to do in the world.’ Like, stop holding on to it and let it grow into whatever it grows into.”

That reveals the true potential of these mostly instrumental tracks: Each is a kind of seed that could grow into more fully developed tracks in time. “PreauXX has already released a song that’s in the app and he put out a visual for it on social media. He’s recorded and chosen multiple beats from the Tajin Tapes, and AWFM just did the same last night. And that’s really exciting because it’s just great when an artist can see their art being accepted and used in ways that they couldn’t have imagined.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Palestine Protest

Posted to Instagram by Memphis Voices for Palestine

Memphis on the internet.

Palestine Protest

“WE TOOK OVER THE BRIDGE Y’ALL!!!!!” Memphis Voices for Palestine (MVP) posted to Instagram last Saturday. “FREE PALESTINE!!!!”

The event was called Shut It Down for Palestine: Memphis Protest. A flyer for the MVP event said, “Biden, no more U.S. aid to Israel! The people demand a ceasefire! Free, free Palestine!”

The protest began at Memphis City Hall last Saturday afternoon. Protesters then made their way to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. Once they amassed on the bridge, they stopped traffic for more than an hour. Though the group promoted the event for a week online, Memphis Police Department did not respond until protesters took the bridge.

Posted to X by Chelsea Chandler

“The amount of people in my comments who act as if they’d be willing to commit vehicular homicide is alarming,” Fox13 meteorologist Chelsea Chandler tweeted Sunday. “Regardless of the circumstances, it’s still murder.”

On Monday, state Sen. Brent Taylor tweeted that he requested a review of the event by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations “to determine which individuals are responsible for this action and refer the findings to the appropriate office to be fully prosecuted.”

Categories
News News Feature

Explaining the Tax Relief Act

The Tax Relif act means there are some changes in store. (Photo: Kelly Sikkema | Unsplash)

The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 was passed by the House of Representatives on January 31, 2024, by a 357-70 vote. It now heads to the Senate where it faces an uncertain future. Although the bill hasn’t become law yet, it’s important to be aware of the potential changes, outlined below.

Child Tax Credit

The refundable portion of the credit would be increased over a three-year period (2023, 2024, and 2025). For 2023, the maximum refundable portion would be increased from $1,600 per child to $1,800. In 2024, it would increase to $1,900 and then in 2025 it would be $2,000. The calculation of the refundable credit would change in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Research and Experimental Expenditures

The bill would allow taxpayers to deduct currently (rather than capitalize and amortize) domestic research and experimental costs that are paid or incurred in tax years beginning after December 31, 2021, and before January 1, 2026. Foreign costs would continue to be capitalized and amortized over a 15-year period.

The bill doesn’t provide any commentary related to claiming the deduction in a tax year for which a return has already been filed. We’re not sure if this will mean amended returns for 2022 will need to be filed or if there will be a way to claim the deduction on a subsequent year’s return.

100 Percent Bonus Depreciation

The bill would extend 100 percent bonus depreciation for property placed in service after December 31, 2022, and before January 1, 2026 (January 1, 2027, for longer production period property and certain aircraft). The 20 percent and 0 percent rates would continue to apply to property placed in service in 2026 and 2027.

Increased Code Sec. 179 Deduction

The bill would increase the amount of the Sec. 179 deduction to $1.29 million in 2024 and increase the beginning phase-out amount to $3.22 million. These amounts would be indexed for inflation for taxable years beginning after 2024.

Business Interest Expense Limitation

The bill would make the limitation on business interest expense deduction less severe. Prior to 2022, when companies computed adjusted taxable income for the purposes of seeing whether their interest expense deduction was limited, they were allowed to add back depreciation, amortization, and depletion expense. This add back was taken away in 2022, making adjusted taxable income smaller and therefore making it more difficult to deduct the full amount of interest expense paid or incurred.

Disaster-Related Tax Relief

The bill would eliminate the requirement that casualty losses must exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) to qualify for the deduction. Each separate casualty would still be subject to a $500 floor. The casualty loss would be able to be taken even if taxpayers don’t itemize their deductions, meaning they would be allowed to claim the casualty loss in addition to the standard deduction. The bill would extend the relief to apply to any federally declared disaster during the period beginning on January 1, 2020, and ending 60 days after the date of the enactment of this bill.

Employee Retention Credit (ERC)

The period for filing ERC claims for both 2020 and 2021 would end as of January 31, 2024. Even if the bill is signed into law after January 31, 2024, the January 31st deadline will likely apply retroactively.

It would also increase the penalty on any “COVID-ERTC promoter” who “knows or has reason to know that an understatement of the tax liability of another person would result from the use of his aid, assistance, or advice.” The penalty would increase from the current $1,000 to “the greater of $200,000 ($10,000 in the case of a natural person) or 75 percent of the gross income of the ERTC promoter derived (or to be derived) from providing aid, assistance, or advice with respect to a return or claim for the credit refund or a document relating to the return or claim.

Gene Gard, CFA, CFP, CFT-I, is a Partner and Private Wealth Manager with Creative Planning. Creative Planning is one of the nation’s largest Registered Investment Advisory firms providing comprehensive wealth management services to ensure all elements of a client’s financial life are working together, including investments, taxes, estate planning, and risk management. For more information or to request a free, no-obligation consultation, visit CreativePlanning.com.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Metal Museum’s “Radical Jewelry Makeover”

The Metal Museum’s latest exhibit turns recycling into art. (Photo: RJM Press)

Reduce, reuse, recycle. It’s a mantra we’ve all heard so many times that it’s been reduced to a bit of white noise amid loudening concerns about the environment, climate disasters, supply chains, ethical consumption, the list goes on. Still, the three Rs are a good practice to keep, most would agree, but it’s hardly enough to feel special or creative. But the practice of repurposing has gotten a bit of a new shine thanks to a project that’s been around for the past 15 or so years that reuses and recycles donated jewelry into something beautiful. And now, that project is coming to Memphis’ Metal Museum in the form of an exhibition: “Radical Jewelry Makeover: The Artist Project.”

“Ethical Metalsmiths is a group of artists and they started this project called Radical Jewelry Makeover,” explains Laura Hutchison Bhatti, director of collections and exhibitions at the museum. “Their focus is sustainability in the jewelry industry. So it’s a lot about putting focus on things like over-mining and all the discarded stuff that people just get rid of, and they take these crazy pieces, they send artists bags and bags of this discarded jewelry that’s really set to go to, like, Goodwill or just sits in jewelry boxes, but instead, the artists make these beautiful pieces out of them.”

For the exhibition, the Metal Museum will have over 70 works on display by over 25 artists, all invoking their own styles. Some use costume jewelry; others use precious heirlooms. “There’s a lot of play with the unexpected and with elevating low-quality jewelry pieces to a high-end market,” says Alicia George, special projects advisor, who curated this exhibit. “And then also melting down heirloom jewelry pieces and repurposing them into more artful modern jewelry, so there’s a constant flux between expectation and what you actually see.”

“They all tell a story,” adds Bhatti. “And with metalwork, there’s always an element of metal being repurposed or melted down or refabricated into something new, but the story of these pieces is much more tangible because you can see the remnants of what it used to be.”

The exhibition space itself is set up to look like a jewelry box, George says, with red and purple velvet panels and velvet-lined display cases. To boost the museum’s own sustainability efforts, the velvet is mostly recycled. Plus, the drapes that also decorate the space are on loan from Opera Memphis, and all the label information for the pieces is printed on recycled paper. “We’re trying to be a part of the movement and maintain the idea behind the Radical Jewelry Makeover,” George says.

The exhibition is on display through April 14th. Radical Jewelry Makeover co-directors, Susie Ganch and Kathleen Kennedy, will join the Metal Museum for the opening reception and artist talk on February 11th. RSVP to attend at metalmuseum.org.

To coincide with the exhibition’s run, the Metal Museum will also offer two classes (February 10th and March 16th) for those who want to create a one-of-a-kind piece of their own. Students will be able to bring their old jewelry or use provided pieces, and then will learn how to take apart old jewelry and repurpose it into new jewelry using rivets, glue, and wire. Register for a class at metalmuseum.org.

“Radical Jewelry Makeover: The Artist Project” Reception & Artist Talk, Metal Museum, 373 Metal Museum Drive, Sunday, February 11, 3-5 p.m.

Categories
Book Features Books

Paperboy Trilogy

I worked with Vince Vawter at the old Memphis Press-Scimitar when it was in the now-demolished Memphis Publishing Co. building (what we veterans still call “the old building”) at 495 Union Avenue.

It looked like those old newsrooms in the movies of the 1930s and ’40s. And it was full of characters that rivaled any character actors in those old newspaper movies.

Vawter brings that old newsroom — and the Memphis of another era — to life as part of the background of his latest book, Manboy, which is part three of his Paperboy Trilogy.

Vawter’s 40-year career in newspapers includes publisher and president of the Evansville Courier & Press, managing editor of The Knoxville News Sentinel, and news editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar.

Vawter, who lives in Louisville, Tennessee, will be at a book signing at 2 p.m. on February 10th at Novel.

I recently asked Vawter some questions about the book.

Vince Vawter at the Blount County Public Library (Photo: Betty Vawter)

Memphis Flyer: Were you ever a copy boy? I seem to remember you telling me you weren’t.

Vince Vawter: I was never a copy clerk. I started my newspaper career as a sportswriter at the Pine Bluff Commercial in Arkansas. My first job at The Press-Scimitar was on the copy desk. I thought that placing the protagonist, Victor Vollmer, as a copy clerk was a good way for him to enter the newspaper business, just like somebody else I know.

What was it about the old Memphis Publishing building that made it so special?

The Memphis Publishing Company building was once owned by the Ford Motor Company and was re-adapted for newspaper publishing. It had the openness and feel of a newsroom with its 20-foot ceilings and desks jammed together with pneumatic tubes running hither and yon. I liked to feel the concrete floors rumble when the giant presses would crank up to full speed. I wanted readers to experience the feel of a genuine newsroom in the heyday of newspapers and explain how a newspaper was actually produced on deadline. All the newspaper headlines in Manboy are verbatim from The Press-Scimitar and The Commercial Appeal.

How much of your lead character is like you?

Victor Vollmer is certainly based on my early life in all three books of the trilogy, especially the portions dealing with my stutter. … Some readers question the naivete of the protagonist, but you have to remember this was the ’60s and another world from what we have now.

I love all the history of Memphis that I can relate to because I grew up in the ’50s and ’60s.

Of the three books in the trilogy, this is the one that treats the city of Memphis as almost a character in itself. When Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, I rushed back to Memphis from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

I spent that weekend in April 1968 just watching the city and listening. I remember those four days like it was yesterday. My most vivid memory is watching the Downtown march on that Monday after the assassination and then being swept up in it. I can still hear one of the parade marshals telling everyone “not to chew gum” while they were marching. The march was orderly and personally inspiring.

Will there be another one of these? Maybe the lead character becomes a newspaper reporter or an editor.

Paperboy introduces Vic when he is 11. In Copyboy, Vic is 17. He is 21 in Manboy. I envisioned the trilogy after the publication of Paperboy when literally hundreds of readers emailed me questions wanting to know what happened to the characters in the book. I decided to bring readers along on the complete journey. I doubt there will be another Paperboy book because a four-book set is known as a “tetralogy,” which seems a little off-putting and Jurassic.

What kind of feedback do you get from readers of these three books?

Readers say they appreciate that I shared the entire journey from adolescence to adulthood with them. This is rarely done in literature these days. Although most of my readers seem to be older than the “young adult” label, I did want the narrative to grow along with my readers.

The books were published over a 10-year period, just as the narrative encompasses 10 years of Vic’s life. Close readers, especially speech-language pathologists, say they admire how Vic’s attitudes about his stutter change over the 10-year period. After the success of Paperboy [Newbery Honor, quarter-million in sales, translated into 18 languages], I was a little taken aback that Penguin Random House chose not to continue with the story. The reason given was that the publisher did not like popular protagonists to grow older. That’s not life, I said, and my books are my life. My publisher said that it may not be life, but it’s publishing.

Any news on the musical made from Paperboy? Anything else happening? A movie maybe?

The musical’s creative team entered Paperboy and its 22 original songs in two musical theater competitions this spring in New York City. We hope that this will result in another production besides the one we had at the Manhattan School of Music last year. We continue to hear rumblings from movie types, but nothing to report so far. I think the trilogy itself and the boy’s 10-year journey would make a more complete movie narrative and satisfy more viewers, but we’ll just bide our time.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Young, Sullivan in Talks?

Maura Black Sullivan (Photo: Courtesy Maura Black Sullivan)

The Memphis Flyer has confirmed that Mayor Paul Young and a veteran public official now serving in Nashville are in continuing conversations about her possible employment here. This would be Maura Black Sullivan, a native Memphian who now holds the position of chief operating officer of Nashville Public Schools.

Sullivan, who previously served as COO for former Memphis Mayor AC Wharton and later for former Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, confirmed that conversations with Young are ongoing for the position of his chief administrative officer.

On Tuesday of this week, the city council was prepared to deal with some unfinished business — including a controversial healthcare allowance for council members of two terms’ service or more, and a decision on yet another mayoral appointment — this one of public works director Robert Knecht.

A vote on Knecht, whom Mayor Paul Young submitted for renomination week before last, was deferred after council chairman JB Smiley publicly criticized Knecht for “attitude” issues and asked for the deferral.

Several of Young’s cabinet choices were viewed negatively by Smiley and other council members — notably Police Chief CJ Davis, whose reappointment the council narrowly rejected via a 7-6 vote. (She was later given an interim appointment by Young, pending a later reexamination by the council.)

Another issue with several council members has been unease at the mayor’s inability so far to complete his team with credentialed new appointees in other positions. He has not yet named permanent appointees for the key positions of chief operating officer and chief financial officer, for example.

That circumstance could change soon. Sullivan is frank to say that she has not been in a job search, enjoys her present circumstances in Nashville, and has made no decision to leave them, but acknowledges that a possible return to Memphis would be attractive as well.

Sullivan is the daughter of the late Dave Black, a featured radio broadcaster of many years in Memphis, and the late Kay Pittman Black, who was a well-known journalist and government employee here.

• With Governor Bill Lee’s appointment this week of Mary L. Wagner to the Tennessee Supreme Court, the state’s high court continues with an unmistakably red hue politically.

As a judicial candidate in her two elections as a Circuit Court judge in Shelby County, Wagner campaigned without ideological inflection and enjoyed relatively diverse support, and there was no hint of political bias in her judgments. But her background was that of a Republican activist, and she both was a member of the right-leaning Federalist Society and served a term as chair of the Shelby County Republican Party.

In appointing Wagner, Lee said, “Her understanding and respect for the rule of law and commitment to the conservative principles of judicial restraint make her well-suited for the state’s highest court, and I am proud to appoint her to this position.”

Technically, Wagner is a justice-designate. The justice she was named to succeed, Roger Page,will keep his position for some months.

• District Attorney Steve Mulroy was in a celebratory mood last Monday evening after the Shelby County Commission voted unanimously — except for three abstentions — to pass an ordinance imposing guidelines ensuring that all members of his office, whether their technical employment is by the county or by the state, are paid according to the same pay scale.

As a county official, Mulroy had recently trimmed his own pay according to the lower county rate. He has now restored the voluntary pay cut.

Update: After our print deadline, Mayor Young clarified to the Flyer: “I can confirm that we had early talks with Maura Sullivan about a different position with the Young administration, not the COO/CAO position. We have a strong leader currently acting in the COO role who has my full faith and confidence.”

The mayor’s spokesperson/CCO, Penelope Huston, added: “The role we initially discussed was a high level position on the Mayor’s cabinet. And while talks about that position haven’t continued, we do have an ongoing dialogue with her and many others who we consider allies in the work of creating a stronger Memphis.”

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Dream Big — The Earnestine Robinson Story

Earnestine Rodgers Robinson (Photo: Courtesy Todd Robinson)

There are many ways to communicate a message of great passion and thought. Preachers and politicians speak from pulpits and podiums. Poets wrestle words to a page. Painters wield brushes dipped in acrylics. Dancers jook and jump. Musicians sing and play musical instruments.

Born in 1938, Earnestine Rodgers Robinson is a Memphis artist, gifted with a mysterious mode of “speaking.” She has never studied music or learned to play an instrument. And yet, in the tradition of Handel’s Messiah, Earnestine Robinson composes oratorios steeped in Old and New Testament Bible stories. Her musical compositions, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and Exodus have been performed in Carnegie Hall and across international waters in Prague. How did music arrive at her command without instruction? Some degree of an answer begins with her parents. Rev. James Rodgers was a pastor and self-taught contractor with a keen ability to read blueprints and build houses. His wife, Euber, was a skilled cook and the mother of his 11 children. Earnestine was the fifth child. Five is the number of grace.

The Rodgers were a Black family of conquering fortitude. They had arrived in Memphis from Arkansas while seeking refuge from the Great Flood of 1937. A few years later, when Earnestine was a toddler, a stomach ailment almost killed the listless child. But God gave a prophetic word to her wise Aunt Ruth. She told James and Euber that Earnestine would survive the sickness because God had plans to use her life in a mighty way. As Earnestine traversed the various stages of childhood to graduate valedictorian from Douglass High School in 1956, the prophecy on her life never left her memory.

When Earnestine was an undergraduate at Fisk University, her father died. Relatives convinced her to leave college and seek employment. Unhappy with the segregated South, she moved to Chicago and trained to become a medical photographer. While in Chicago, she fell in love with Charles Robinson, a Black accountant and pianist. Charles and his casual tinkering included piano riffs from Rachmaninoff. Earnestine told him of a reoccurring dream. She often saw herself playing piano. Maybe the frequent dream was a wink to love on the horizon because Earnestine married Charles. They moved to Memphis in the late ’60s and were blessed with five children: Todd, Cheryle, Craig, Michelle, and Gaius.

When 1972 arrived, Earnestine and Charles settled into a new house in the Memphis community called Cherokee. With the arrival of spring flowers, Flora Rodgers asked Earnestine to organize an Easter program for church. Flora’s husband, Jonathan, was not only the pastor, he was Earnie’s brother. So, sister went right to work! However, when Earnestine could not find a proper Easter play in local bookstores, she was forced to write the narrative herself. As for music, a miracle happened. While seated alone in her bedroom preparing for a church rehearsal, Earnestine opened her mouth to read Bible verses John 3:16-17. The first verse poured from her in the flourish of a symphonic melody. When she tried to read the second verse aloud, the spoken words hurtled through the air in the spirit of a sacred song. She told a news reporter once, “I was singing the scripture and it was not of my own volition.”

The mysterious unfolding of melodies rendered her speechless. A church pianist advised her to follow the music saying, “If God has given you two verses, surely he can give you a whole song.” She agreed. And for the past 40 years, Earnestine has turned her ear toward Heaven. She uses mathematical symbols to convey the feeling of the music. Then she hires a musician to translate her symbols into a symphonic score. While her work has been featured before crowds in New York, Chicago, and Europe, no Memphis orchestra has ever performed Earnestine Robinson’s music until this year. This weekend, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra with the National Civil Rights Museum will debut Earnestine Robinson’s Harriet Tubman at the Cannon Center. The three-part oratorio explores Harriet Tubman’s birth into slavery, her journey on the Underground Railroad, and her joy and celebration of freedom in the aftermath of slavery.

Years ago, when Earnestine and her husband visited Memphis churches, colleges, and concert halls encouraging the local community to feature her work, doors were slammed in their faces. She asked God to explain the rejection and in the stillness of that moment she heard God say, “Your vision is too small.” It was then that Earnestine began to dream big. She prayed for national and international stages. This seed of faith reaped a great harvest as her music has now been featured at Carnegie Hall, numerous times.

Carnegie conductor, Jonathan Griffith, once explained the soul of Robinson’s music. He told her, “Your use of repetition gives it a gospel feel. … Your harmonies and rhythms are more like jazz. And somehow, you bring it all together under a classical format.”

Get ready for Earnestine Robinson’s world debut of the Harriet Tubman oratorio. Experience her BIG DREAM in BIG MEMPHIS at the Cannon Center on February 11th.

Alice Faye Duncan is the author of Coretta’s Journey, Traveling Shoes, and Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop. She can be reached at alicefayeduncan.com. Purchase Harriet Tubman tickets online from the NCRM at civilrightsmuseum.org.

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater Theater Feature

A World of Pure Imagination

Playhouse’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is sweet, uplifting, and, most importantly, fun. (Photo: Sean Moore)

Having read Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory many times growing up and having seen both the 1971 and 2005 movie adaptations, I thought I knew exactly what to expect walking into Playhouse on the Square’s opening night of the stage musical. However, I’m happy to say that I was entirely mistaken. The production, directed by Dave Landis, told a familiar story in a way I had never seen before, and the entire show was — appropriately — a sublime display of eye candy.

Though the onstage version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory shares quite a few similarities with the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, such as several of the same musical numbers, there are also a few differences. For one thing, this play takes place in a contemporary setting, with many references of modern relevance — Violet Beauregarde’s Instagram following, as one example. These nods to a present-day timeline help make the humor in the musical more accessible to a 2024 audience, and much of that humor is surprisingly dark, though in my opinion all the more funny for it.

The story of this musical is the same one most people have grown up knowing: Plucky daydreamer Charlie Bucket, played on opening night by McCager Carver, wins one of five golden tickets to gain entry to the Wonka Chocolate factory, a place that’s been operating behind mysteriously closed gates for decades by the reclusive genius Willy Wonka. Carver, in his Playhouse debut, absolutely shone as young Charlie Bucket, bringing a mischievous and carefree energy to the character while maintaining what the audience must know about Charlie from the get-go and never question: He is good.

Photo: Sean Moore

As in the ’70s film version, Mr. Bucket is deceased, meaning Mrs. Bucket is a single mother working alone to maintain a household of five dependents, if we’re including the four immobilized grandparents. Amy Polumbo Nabors’ interpretation of the character was slightly different from what I’ve come to expect from the onscreen versions of Mrs. Bucket, less overtly nurturing and more anxious, which makes perfect sense given her circumstances. Still, one moment that I thought was extremely touching took place once the optimistic Charlie starts to lose hope after failing to find a golden ticket in his annual birthday chocolate bar. It’s his seemingly more cynical mother who makes a wish for his dream to come true — a wish that of course comes to fruition. A mother’s love isn’t really of thematic importance in this show, yet it’s nonetheless a hidden linchpin to the plot if you’re paying attention.

Without question, my favorite section of this musical was the introduction of the golden ticket winners. Each one came with their own musical number, and each one was somehow even funnier than the last. A surprising standout was Brooke Papritz as Mrs. Teavee, which would never have been a character I would have thought warranted much attention. Papritz, however, managed to make Mike Teavee’s introduction just as entertaining with an almost entirely solo performance as the other kids’ intros were with all the glitz and glamor an onstage musical has to offer.

The character of Willy Wonka has a duality in this musical, as he disguises himself as a mere chocolate shop owner during the first half of the show. Jimmy Rustenhaven’s Wonka in act one is somewhat quiet and unassuming, though by act two we are introduced to someone who doesn’t seem particularly bothered by occasionally straying over the line that separates eccentric, creative genius from rich, outlandish asshole. Watching that transformation take place was a highlight of the show.

For a musical about chocolate and candy, I expected the production to be visually decadent, an expectation that was met and surpassed. Lindsay Schmeling’s costume design was spectacular to look at, with a variety of textures, colors, sequins, and accessories constantly on display. The reporter Cherry Sundae? Style icon. The choreography of the ensemble was also highly entertaining, at times like watching a delightfully riotous fever dream (I’m thinking particularly of the squirrel ballet that delivers Veruca Salt’s comeuppance).

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has much to offer to Memphis audiences: It’s sweet, uplifting, and, more than anything, fun.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory runs at Playhouse on the Square through February 18th.

Categories
Letter From An Editor Opinion

An Untalented Chef and Lent: A Recipe for Catholic Guilt?

Photo: Abigail Morici

Editor’s Note: Flyer writers will occasionally share this space.

I have a few good cooks in my family. My grandpa mastered a recipe for red gravy, passed down through generations of Sicilians — yes, red gravy, not red sauce. My mom has her signature chocolate chip cookies; my dad has perfected his crab and crawfish boils, and he also makes red gravy now. And my sister, as much as I hate to admit (because of sibling rivalry and all that), can make a mean red velvet cupcake. Today, my cooking set off the smoke detector. I burnt butter. It’s fine. It’s whatever. I’m definitely not insecure about my apparent un-inherited culinary skills.

I was also told that the way I was holding the knife was wrong and that I was bound to slice a finger off. My “nice” cooking knife privileges were swiftly revoked before I was handed a less nice cooking knife. But it’s fine. It’s whatever. I definitely didn’t take it personally.

I also might have let a few chickpeas explode in my boyfriend’s oven. But, again, it’s fine. It’s whatever. He said it was, as he ushered me away from the kitchen. I’ll make it up to him one day, perhaps by sticking my head in the oven. To clean it.

These days, I’m trying something new: cooking something other than pasta with three ingredients. You see, I’ve got about three recipes I know — three recipes that, for the most part, are harder to mess up than to get right, yet somehow only come out right for me about 75 percent of time. But there’s only so much pasta a human can/should consume in a given week, at least that’s what the internet says, so I’ve enlisted my boyfriend into a Hello Fresh trial as advertised in every true crime podcast you could listen to. Three packages of ingredients come delivered to the door, and it’s up to us to assemble them into something edible. A bonding experience that hopefully won’t make him think less of me. It’s fine.

So far, I’m mostly the sous-chef … or the anti-sous-chef, more of a menace in the kitchen than anything. (It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem.) I’m not sure where my culinary incompetence stems from — if it’s a nature vs. nurture thing. I guess it doesn’t really matter because the problem is here nonetheless. Growing up, I never really wanted to be in the kitchen to learn to cook; that was my sister’s thing (and we couldn’t possibly like the same things, God forbid), and I was (am) a picky eater, so there was no way I was going to touch half of the stuff that was being prepared. Rolling up meatballs with my dad might sound like a charming generational memory, but that is one my sister can cherish ’cause I won’t, just won’t do that. I don’t eat meat, never had, couldn’t tell you why, but I can tell you that the thought of rolling ground beef between my knuckles makes my skin crawl. (It’s just one of those things, okay?)

But I eat seafood. And for most of my life that’s been the caveat that restarts people’s judgy hearts and unrolls their eyes after they hear that I don’t eat meat, especially since I’m from New Orleans, land of the seafood fanatics.

This is why I love Lent, which is coming up in about a week and means no meat on Fridays (or Ash Wednesday) for us Catholics. Growing up, Lent for me was a certified guarantee that every Friday no matter what we were eating as a family it was going to be something I liked. Alleluia. Red gravy without meatballs? Hell yeah! Boiled crabs? Music to my ears! Grilled cheese? Sure thing! Crawfish? Yes, please! Shrimp? You know it!

Sure, Lent is supposed to be a time to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ and to pray and make your own sacrifices, blah blah blah. Like, my dad would give up sweets for those 40 days, so that just meant more dessert for my sister and me (score!). I did do my own sacrifices, too, like giving up meat on Fridays (score!). For a few years, I gave up watching the Disney Channel. It was hard. I missed my Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Hannah Montana, but I lived. Obviously.

The idea of Lent is nice, though. It makes you see what you can live without, makes you respect the important things and practice gratefulness. Could you go without TikTok for 40 days? What about cursing at traffic? My fourth-grade teacher once told us we could also commit to do something extra every day instead, like saying the rosary (what fourth-grader is going to do that?) or picking up an extra chore (nah). I think my new 40-day commitment might be cooking a new recipe on the weekdays/not burning the house down (whichever ends up less ambitious). The great thing about it is that it’s only 40 days to give something up or add something new, and it’s only your relationship with God on the line, which is fine. It’s whatever. If you’re not Catholic, it’s a nice challenge for mindfulness.

But the best part of Lent has always been gathering for meals on Fridays, usually seafood boils back home in New Orleans, and since I’m not in New Orleans, these mostly edible meals with my boyfriend will do. It’s better than fine.

Categories
At Large Opinion

Fast Car

I’m old enough to remember when Tracy Chapman released “Fast Car” — old enough to remember how stunning and incongruous it was, coming out at the end of the techno-Eighties, a softly strummed acoustic song with lyrics that indelibly captured what it meant to be young and poor and stuck in a bad place with no way out. I bought the album, bought the cassette, played it, and played it again.

I didn’t watch the Grammys Sunday night, but the video of the song’s performance by Chapman and country singer Luke Combs — who resurrected the song and released his own version last year — was everywhere the next day. No doubt there were millions of people who’d never heard of Tracy Chapman or heard the original version who were seeing her sing it for the first time. It was a beautiful and moving performance, and I must admit it got a little dusty in my office as I watched it on my laptop. Twice.

It’s a testament to the song’s power that it could be sung together by a queer Black woman and white male country star who says he used to hear it in his dad’s truck when he was a kid. The lyrics transcend categories that too often put us in our separate silos, unable to see what we could have in common with one another.

See, my old man’s got a problem
He lives with a bottle
that’s the way it is
He says his body’s too old for workin’
His body’s too young to look like his
When mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life
than he could give
I said, “Somebody’s got
to take care of him”
I quit school and that’s what I did.

In 1988, when Chapman released “Fast Car,” it became a big hit, rising to number six on Billboard’s Hot 100. Chapman won three Grammys that year — a year in which the other top songs belonged to INXS, Guns N’ Roses, Cheap Trick, George Michael, Billy Ocean, and Rick Astley (who is never going to give you up). Mostly white guys with guitars and hair.

In 2023, 35 years later, Combs’ version of “Fast Car” hit number one on the Billboard country charts in July and earned the number two spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. Other number one country songs on the chart in 2023 were by Jelly Roll (a country rapper), Kane Brown (a multi-racial singer who was discovered on social media), and Morgan Wallen, who famously once used the “n-word,” got drunk at Kid Rock’s Nashville club, and has been fervently rebranding himself ever since. Country music ain’t what it used to be (totally white, except for Charley Pride), and that’s mostly due to TikTok stars coming into the picture. It can’t hurt, I say.

Speaking of country music … I don’t know how many of you have heard of this girl, Taylor Swift. She also won a Grammy or two and is becoming something of a big deal these days. I predict major success for her. Sure, she’s gotten famous mostly because of her boyfriend — Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce — but I’ve seen a couple of her videos and she seems to have a real knack for making snappy songs for young people. Of course, it can’t hurt that Taylor’s boyfriend is playing in the Super Bowl this weekend. Talk about your lucky timing! Plus, he’s rich!

There are those who say Taylor Swift’s rise to fame isn’t based on talent or luck. They say it’s all part of a deep-secret government operation that goes all the way to the top: namely, President Joe Biden. Certain MAGA types now say that the Super Bowl is rigged and that after the Kansas City Chiefs win on Sunday, Swift is going to come out and endorse Biden.

It makes sense, when you take a minute to think about it. What does Biden famously have in his garage? A 1967 Corvette. And what is that? A fast car. Boom! Game, set, and match, sheeple!