As of February 1st, the trolls have arrived at Memphis Botanic Garden. How they got there, no one knows, but they’re here to save the humans as part of a secret pact. So the story goes — or at least Thomas Dambo’s story. He’s the artist behind the larger-than-life Ronja Redeye, Kamma Can, Rosa Sunfinger, Sofus Lotus, Ibbi Pip, and Basse Buller, who have taken up residence at the garden as part of the “Trolls: Save the Humans” seasonal exhibition, on display through May 21st.
Made of reclaimed wood and natural found materials, Dambo’s trolls are scattered across the world, some in permanent installation. The one closest to Memphis is Leo the Enlightened at the Blackberry Mountain Resort in Walland, Tennessee.
Dambo has been making these trolls since 2014, and in 2023 he made his 100th. Growing up in Denmark, his parents, a bicycle smith and a teacher/seamstress, instilled in him a passion for recycling and upcycling, so he and his brother made their own toys, costumes, and tree houses out of the things they found. As he grew older, he turned his creativity to street art and graffiti, beatboxing, hip-hop, and eventually the large-scale installations that would catapult him into international fame and convey his love for sustainability, as he would only use recycled and found materials.
The trolls especially fall into that mission, says Gina Harris, Memphis Botanic Garden’s director of education and events. “They are sharing information on how to live more lightly on our Earth, which is part of the botanic garden’s mission as well — being good stewards of our environment.”
Harris hopes Dambo’s trolls inspire a similar call to action. “It’s another opportunity for kids and adults to be able to look at things kind of in a different way,” she says. “We all see these things laying around, but to look at this and think, ‘Oh my gosh, that was built out of recycled pallets,’ I’m hoping that that gives people an opportunity to stop and think maybe there’s an opportunity to do something different and to be creative.”
“Any of the events that we’ll have going on are going to be connected somehow to the trolls exhibit,” Harris adds. That includes tram tours that’ll take guests to see the trolls throughout the gardens, Troll Stroll Saturdays, a Troll Garden Party for adults, art classes, and much more.
For more information, including program scheduling and troll profiles, visit membg.org/trolls.
Comedian Sam Morril just kicked off “The Errors Tour” and is bringing his act to Memphis. A native New Yorker, Morril has been doing stand-up for 20 years. Last week, he talked with the Flyer about the tour, Bodega Cat Whiskey, and that one time he forgot his pants.
The slight wardrobe malfunction occurred last time Morril came to Memphis. “I forgot pants. I had to wear baggy Nikes.” He tried searching for alternatives, but only found cowboy jeans, which don’t exactly fit his style: “I’m gonna look dumber in this than sweatpants,” he says. That was two years ago, and, luckily, it wasn’t bad enough to keep him from the Bluff City. Since then, Memphians may have seen one of Morril’s six comedy specials, his recent Netflix performance, or his YouTube podcast.
Morril co-hosts the We Might Be Drunk podcast with comedian Mark Normand. Morril explains his role in the podcast as “the straight man,” meaning he maintains some composure while Normand can lean into his jokes: “Mark is literally farting on guests. … I kinda have to pull back a little bit.” The comedy duo started We Might Be Drunk roughly three years ago, and, with guests like Blake Griffin, David Spade, and Hasan Minhaj, have since amassed millions of views and nearly 200,000 subscribers.
Last December, Normand and Morril took part in Netflix’s Torching 2024: A Roast of the Year, sharing the stage with Jeff Ross, John Stamos, Tim Dillon, and Ms. Pat. Morril and Normand cracked jokes about Luigi Mangione, Jeffrey Epstein’s pilot, and Ross’ unlikely resemblance to a fat Jewish dictator (Benjamin “NetanYoo-hoo”). Morril’s on-stage persona at this event seemed less of “the straight man,” but the duo’s banter was still on point. Evidently, Morril’s podcasting and stand-up roles are different. “On stage,” he says, “it’s my show and I can control the tempo.”
Morril’s most recent solo work, You’ve Changed, premiered on Amazon Prime last summer.
He’s been described as “reliably funny,” but what’s more distinctive is his genuine passion for the art: “I love stand-up. I love writing jokes. I love writing scripts,” he says. And he’s made this more than clear. Back in 2020, Morril released his second comedy special, Up on the Roof, which was shot during the beginnings of the pandemic. The special was quite simple, really. All Morril needed was a roof and some New Yorkers in need of surefire comedic relief. With just an amp and a mic, Morril is good to go. “That’s the beauty of stand-up,” he says. “I can go on stage drunk and pretty much be the same. I really just need a mic and a crowd and I’ll be good.”
Despite his podcast name, Morril isn’t known for being a stage drunk (he prefers “stage-whore”), but he and Normand did recently launch their own brand of whiskey: Bodega Cat Whiskey, named after the feline population of New York’s iconic bodega stores. It’s not yet available in Tennessee, but Morril says, “It’s coming.”
Clearly, Morril is a busy man. Specials, whiskey, podcasting, touring, writing, the list goes on. This level of work can come along with the big stage of comedy. But Morril still reflects on his early days as a comedian (before people hit him up to do podcasts): “I do miss how much I was able to give to stand-up. … There’s something really cool about those low-stakes shows.”
Despite his packed schedule, Morril’s game has never been stronger. His relatability hasn’t dwindled with his rise to fame, and neither has his material. He talks about his motivation as a young comedian: “No one knowing who I was … was kinda cool. … Having a chip on your shoulder as an entertainer or a writer is a good thing. … It pushes you.”
Sam Morril’s The Errors Tour comes to Minglewood Hall, Sunday, February 16th. Hopefully he remembers pants.
Many know Jeremy Scott through his work with the now-defunct Reigning Sound, but there’s a lot more to this rock-and-roll lifer’s music career than that. After leaving that band for the first time (before the original group re-formed and then split again in this decade), he went on to found The Wallendas (featuring guitar pyrotechnics from Jim Duckworth), followed by Toy Trucks, The Subtractions, and a million ad hoc projects like the all-star tribute to Doug Sahm that he organized last month. (Full disclosure, I played with him in some of these groups.) One common thread through all of these has been the presence of the gritty, indie rock energy he often showcases on his weekly radio show on WEVL, Out On the Side, marked by a close attention to vocal harmonies.
That was also true for the first album under his own name, 2022’s Bear Grease, which he pieced together with multi-instrumentalist/engineer Graham Burks Jr. through the magic of overdubs. As the Flyer observed at the time, “though he started with acoustic intentions, he couldn’t help but let his rock instincts take over.” And, as that unfolded, the album took on a hard-rocking edge that required a full band.
And thus were the Drip Edges born, as Scott added Noel Clark on guitar and Mitchell Manley on bass to create a team that could present the album in a live setting. Now, with the release of their new EP, Kicking the Tires on the Clown Car, the quartet has come into its own. I spoke to Scott last week to see how this release compares to his solo debut.
The new EP
Memphis Flyer: The song “Dirty Sound” on the new EP seems the most like Bear Grease, and it’s the only acoustic-driven song on the record. You’ve said this new release was recorded by the Drip Edges as a band, but is that true for “Dirty Sound”?
Jeremy Scott: That’s 97 percent me, and Graham helped with the percussion tracks.
So that’s the only track done in the manner of Bear Grease?
Yes, it is. I put all the harmonies on. And Graham’s got a Mellotron, and I was playing around with it. And I’m like, “Well, maybe you can put some of this on?” Because he put Mellotron on “Fred Neil Armstrong” on the first record. And then he was like, “Well, why don’t you just do it?” I’m like, “Are you sure? People could get hurt!” But it wound up sounding not awful. Then there are weird things in there that sound almost like a trombone in spots. That’s just me on the guitar, running it through this pedal called a Slow Engine. Sometimes it can make it sound a little bit like a backwards guitar. It’s a pretty cool device.
You’ve certainly leaned into the hard rock elements of Bear Grease on this new release, but they’re revved up more, played by a seasoned band. I hear a lot of Hüsker Dü’s influence on some of the tracks.
Yeah. Hüsker Dü was so formative for me. Okay, I heard the Replacements first, and I dug them, but I got really burned out on the Replacements, and now I don’t really feel like I ever need to listen to them. Ever. That’s not their problem, that’s mine. Hüsker Dü, I can listen to whenever. It all holds up. And the one that really bit me in the ass was [1985 album] New Day Rising. That was a great combination of power and melody. That whole run from Metal Circus through Zen Arcade is so amazing. But New Day Rising is probably my personal favorite.
What exactly has stayed with you from those records, as you’ve written your own songs?
Just the songwriting combined with that guitar sound. And I picked up some things here and there from Bob Mould’s guitar style. Like, I was listening to the intro to the first song of ours — “Everything’s Gonna Have to Be Alright” — and thinking it probably sounds a little bit more like Sugar [Mould’s post-Hüsker Dü band]. Even though I didn’t have that Rat [distortion] pedal and the other stuff he used.
The intro to another song, “Nobody Wants to Drive,” almost sounds like Ratt, the band. The crunch and darker chord changes are a little more metal.
That one actually is probably more influenced by Sugar. And that one is funny because that started off when I was still doing the Toy Trucks band. We tried playing that song, but it was more like a really energetic, forceful waltz. It was in 6/8, and the chorus was the same, but the verse was entirely different — different melody, different lyrics. And I came back to it with these guys, thought about a little bit, and I’m like, “What the hell am I doing here?” So I just decided to make it 4/4, to make it more of a straightforward thing.
The band seems to really relish playing an outright rocker.
It’s a testament to how these guys can put a song over, and it’s good playing with these younger guys that have that energy. I mean, nobody’s going to confuse me with a spring chicken at this point. I guess I’m a little bit more of a winter chicken.
The Drip Edges will play a record release show at the Lamplighter Lounge on Saturday, February 15th, at 3 p.m. Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre will open.
“I knew what we had, and I wanted to knock everyone’s socks off with it.” — Jimmy Page (Photo: Courtesy Sony Pictures)
Given the oodles of gushing praise for the band written over the last half century, it’s kind of hard to believe that Rolling Stone’s music critics absolutely hated Led Zeppelin. “Dull and repetitious” is how the house organ of rock-and-roll described their 1968 debut album. It continued on like that for the better part of a decade, with reviewers going out of their way to trash records that are now unassailable castles in rock Valhalla.
There’s a lot of critical stuff you can say about Led Zeppelin. They had some good songs, but their legions of mediocre imitators over the years have soured their reputation. The issue of cultural appropriation in the popular music of the 20th century is often very fraught and complex, but in the case of Led Zeppelin, it’s pretty cut and dried. Jimmy Page heard Chicago electric blues and said, “Do that, but louder.” As Page says in Becoming Led Zeppelin, the music he heard as a teenager in the quiet Midlands of England “sounded like it was coming from Mars, but really it was coming from Memphis.”
But I think what really bothered those Rolling Stone writers was that Zep was never considered “authentic.” Of the four members — guitarist Jimmy Page, drummer John Bonham, singer Robert Plant, and bassist John Paul Jones — only Plant was “from the street.” Plant says he was living out of a brown suitcase, drifting from gig to gig when Jones invited him to his house for an audition.
(Photo: Courtesy Sony Pictures)
Page and Jones had both been session musicians in London for years before the Zeppelin took flight. One of the things I learned from Becoming Led Zeppelin is that they met while on the session for the James Bond theme “Goldfinger.” Yes, that’s half of Led Zeppelin playing smooth jazz behind Shirley Bassey. Later, Page backed Donovan, the psychedelic folkie who was Bob Dylan’s nemesis.
For me, it’s revelations like that which make the first hour of Becoming Led Zeppelin a fairly gripping watch. Director Bernard MacMahon made his name in the documentary world with the BBC miniseries American Epic. Those four films traced the lasting influence of recorded music on democracy. His assignment here is a little simpler: Tell everyone how awesome Led Zeppelin was, in their own words.
And how awesome were they? Pretty damn awesome. MacMahon unearths some stunning footage from the band’s early years. Some of it has been widely seen before, like the Yardbirds cameo in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up. Page joined the Yardbirds as a side gig when Jeff Beck got sick, and then stayed with the band until they broke up in 1968.
MacMahon does a good job keeping the famously bombastic band sticking to the facts of the story. Then Page describes the guitar that Jeff Beck gave him, which stayed with him throughout the band’s career, as “the great sword Excalibur.”
It’s also possible that Rolling Stone’s hatred of Zep stems from Page coming off as the bad guy who had hijacked the beloved Yardbirds, a narrative which is not even hinted at in Becoming Led Zeppelin. And yet we know those early reviews still sting because the film devotes quite a bit of screen time to detailing the pains. Time has clearly been on Jimmy Page’s side in this argument. To hear him tell it, he didn’t care about what the critics said because he didn’t have to. When the Yardbirds split up, he paid for Led Zeppelin’s debut record out of pocket. Jones shocked his friends and family by giving up a steady paycheck as an in-demand commercial music arranger and joining Page to make loud rock. Plant passed his audition by singing a folk song popularized by Joan Baez, “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” and insisted they get Bonham to play drums. Bonham agreed, if they could match the 40 quid a week he was making with his current band. After a short European tour as The New Yardbirds, that proved to be no problem. The Who’s drummer Keith Moon suggested the name Led Zeppelin about the same time Page took them into the studio.
To anyone familiar with the horrors of the recording industry, the next part of the story is the most shocking. Page took the completed master tapes to New York City to pitch directly to Atlantic Records’ Grand Poobah Jerry Wexler and secured a contract giving him complete creative control. As I do in many of the documentaries about Boomer-era musical legends, I found myself thinking, “Wow, the biggest difference between them and the also-rans is that they had really good lawyers.”
Page, the longtime studio rat, had plenty of time to absorb how the industry worked, and when his time came,“I knew what we had, and I wanted to knock everyone’s socks off with it,” he says.
The recordings speak for themselves, and for a big chunk of the film’s second hour, MacMahon allows them to do just that. Seemingly every time the band was in front of a camera from 1968 to ’70 is in this film. Veteran editor Daniel Gitlin makes the most out of the wildly variable film quality. Finally, in the climactic “Whole Lotta Love” sequence, he gives the film over to the kind of psychedelia the band was so deeply associated with in the 1970s. These “laser Zeppelin at the planetarium” bits hit pretty hard, while bearing the clear influence of the incredible Bowie doc Moonage Daydream. But Becoming Led Zeppelin never climbs to that film’s artistic heights. We get only the band’s perspective, which in this case means quite a bit of whitewashing. Even though their tours were notoriously decadent, Plant only mentions drugs once, in passing. So if you’re looking for dirt, it ain’t here. But if you’re looking for thunderous riffs delivered on a giant Dolby sound system, Becoming Led Zeppelin’s got ’em.
Becoming Led Zeppelin Now playing Select Malco theaters
Drew and Courtney Bryan co-own Blue Honey Bistro. (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Blue Honey Bistro is its name, but chef Drew Bryan, who owns the Germantown restaurant with his wife Courtney, is definitely not singing the blues these days. He was recently nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award as Best Chef: Southeast.
“We were not aware we were even in the running,” Bryan says. “We just got a text message: ‘Hey, congratulations for the nomination.’ We were like, ‘What?’”
Drew, who is from California, says cooking was not his passion growing up. He was even a picky eater as a child. He got a job as a dishwasher and moved up the line at the old Ciao Baby Cucina, but, he says, “I didn’t find it as a passion.”
Cooking was “more of a necessity than anything else. It was how I paid my bills.”
Things began to change in 2006. “It started to dawn on me, ‘I need to get serious about it. Or not.’”
He enrolled in the French Culinary Institute in New York, where he graduated on his 30th birthday. He began working in New York restaurants, an eye-opening experience. “It was completely different from what I’d seen in Memphis. … It was far more advanced — hydrocolloids and all these scientific things.”
Drew eventually moved back to Memphis, where he still owned a house. He worked under chef José Gutierrez at River Oaks Restaurant. That’s where he met Courtney, who was a bartender there. But there came a point when Drew was ready to make a change. “I wanted to take over a kitchen and do things my way. … I had to find my own way and my own place.”
After three years at River Oaks, Drew went to work at Spring Creek Ranch, where Courtney eventually joined him. They opened Blue Honey Bistro in 2017.
Courtney now runs the front of the house at Blue Honey Bistro. “[Drew] and I are very balanced with each other,” she says. “Where I’m weaker, he is stronger and where he is weaker, I am stronger. As far as our personalities, I would say we’re both bold, up-front people.”
“We are very much against-the-grain people,” Drew says, “so we wanted to open something that Germantown didn’t have.”
They wanted “an inviting environment that makes you feel okay to come in casual attire as well as your Sunday best,” Courtney says. “You’re going to feel comfortable either way.”
Blue Honey Bistro “has that Cheers atmosphere,” she says. “People come in and make friends with other regulars.”
The name “Blue Honey” refers to a rare phenomenon in North Carolina when bee honey turns from gold to blue. And it pertains to Drew and Courtney as well: “a rare couple enjoying working together and spending all their time together,” Courtney says.
As for the food, Drew says, “We started solely French because of my background in French cookery and technique.”
But they also do curries and different Asian-style dishes, among other cuisines. “I’ve tried to adopt certain cooking styles that are comfortable with the employees.”
Drew changes his menu every two to three weeks. “We try to change it as much as possible because I get bored really easily. For a while, just after Covid, we changed it weekly.”
They do have some staple items that don’t change, their most popular being “Mushrooms and Toast.” It’s ciabatta bread with sautéed mushrooms, Gruyere cheese, bacon, caramelized onion, beurre blanc, and a poached egg on top.
Drew wants his cooks to also make things they like to make. If not, they “aren’t building out to their abilities and complete potential that they have.”
January is typically a slow month for restaurants, but, Drew says, “Being nominated for James Beard has really kind of shaken the tree a lot.” Yet he didn’t “set out to try and garner a lot of notoriety or anything like that,” he says. “What we wanted was to open a restaurant because we really enjoy what we do.”
The James Beard Award finalists will be announced April 2nd, Drew says. “If you are a finalist, you are invited to the awards. And that is mid-June.”
Drew is pleased Acre Restaurant owner Wally Joe and Acre’s executive chef Andrew Adams are also nominated in his category. “I would love to win, but if there’s anybody I would not be disappointed in losing to, it is Wally and Andrew.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Love requires stability and steadiness to thrive. But it also needs unpredictability and imaginativeness. The same with friendship. Without creative touches and departures from routine, even strong alliances can atrophy into mere sentiment and boring dutifulness. With this in mind, and in accordance with astrological omens, I offer quotes to inspire your quest to keep togetherness fertile and flourishing. 1. “Love has no rules except those we invent, moment by moment.” — Anaïs Nin 2. “The essence of love is invention. Lovers should always dream and create their own world.” — Jorge Luis Borges 3. “A successful relationship requires falling in love many times, always with the same person, but never in quite the same way.” — Mignon McLaughlin
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In celebration of the Valentine season, I suggest you get blithely unshackled in your approach to love. Be loose, limber, and playful. To stimulate the romantic and intimate qualities I think you should emphasize, I offer you these quotes: 1. “Love is the endless apprenticeship of two souls daring to be both sanctuary and storm for one another.” — Rainer Maria Rilke 2. “Love is the revolution in which we dismantle the prisons of our fear, building a world where our truths can stand naked and unashamed.” — Audre Lorde 3. “Love is the rebellion that tears down walls within and between us, making room for the unruly beauty of our shared becoming.” — Adrienne Rich
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): To honor the rowdy Valentine spirit, I invite you to either use the following passage or compose one like it, then offer it to a willing recipient who would love to go deeper with you: “Be my thunderclap, my cascade of shooting stars. Be my echo across the valley, my rebel hymn, my riddle with no answer. Be my just-before-you-wake-up-dream. Be my tectonic shift. Be my black pearl, my vacation from gloom and doom, my forbidden dance. Be my river-song in F major, my wild-eyed prophet, my moonlit debate, my infinite possibility. Be my trembling, blooming, spiraling, and soaring.”
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian author Elizabeth Gilbert wrote, “The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all.” One of those strange jewels in you is emerging from its hiding place. Any day now, it will reveal at least some of its spectacular beauty — to be followed by more in the subsequent weeks. Are you ready to be surprised by your secret self? Are your beloved allies ready? A bloom this magnificent could require adjustments. You and yours may have to expand your horizons together.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 2025, the role that togetherness plays in your life will inspire you to achieve unexpected personal accomplishments. Companionship and alliances may even stir up destiny-changing developments. To get you primed, I offer these quotes: 1. “Love is a trick that nature plays on us to achieve the impossible.” — William Somerset Maugham 2. “Love is the ultimate outlaw. It won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is sign on as its accomplice.” — Tom Robbins 3. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. Yet each day reveals new constellations in our shared sky.” — Emily Brontë
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Psychotherapist Robin Norwood wrote that some people, mostly women, give too much love and kindness. They neglect their own self-care as they attend generously to the needs of others. They may even provide nurturing and support to those who don’t appreciate it or return the favor. Author Anne Morrow Lindbergh expressed a different perspective. She wrote, “No one has ever loved anyone too much. We just haven’t learned yet how to love enough.” What’s your position on this issue, Virgo? It’s time for you to come to a new understanding of exactly how much giving is correct for you.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Are you ready to express your affection with lush and lavish exuberance? I hope so. Now would be an excellent time, astrologically speaking. I dare you to give the following words, composed by poet Pablo Neruda, to a person who will be receptive to them. “You are the keeper of my wildest storms, the green shoot splitting the stone of my silence. Your love wraps me in galaxies, crowns me with the salt of the sea, and fills my lungs with the language of the Earth. You are the voice of the rivers, the crest of the waves, the pulse of the stars. With every word you speak, you unweave my solitude and knit me into eternity.”
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Among its potential gifts, astrology can raise our awareness of the cyclical nature of life. When used well, it helps us know when there are favorable times to enhance and upgrade specific areas of our lives. For example, in the coming weeks, you Scorpios could make progress on building a strong foundation for the future of love. You will rouse sweet fortune for yourself and those you care for if you infuse your best relationships with extra steadiness and stability.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I want you to be moved by intimacy and friendships that buoy your soul, inspire your expansive mind, and pique your sense of adventure. To boost the likelihood they will flow your way in abundance during the coming weeks, I offer you these quotes. 1. “Love is a madness so discreet that we carry its delicious wounds for a lifetime as if they were precious gems.” — Federico García Lorca 2. “Love is not a vacation from life. It’s a parallel universe where everything ordinary becomes extraordinary.” — Anne Morrow Lindbergh 3. “Where there is love there is life. And where there is life, there is mischief in the making.” — my Sagittarius friend Artemisia
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Every intimate alliance is unique, has its own rules, and shouldn’t be compared to any standard. This is a key theme for you to embrace right now. Below are helpful quotes. 1. “Each couple’s love story is a language only they can speak, with words only they can define.” — Federico Fellini 2. “In every true marriage, each serves as guide and companion to the other toward a shared enlightenment that no one else could possibly share.” — Joseph Campbell 3. “The beauty of marriage is not in its uniformity but in how each couple writes their own story, following no map but the one they draw together.” — Isabel Allende 4. “Marriages are like fingerprints; each one is different, and each one is beautiful.” — Maggie Reyes
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Borrowing the words of Aquarian author Virginia Woolf, I’ve prepared a love note for you to use as your own. Feel free to give these words to the person whose destiny needs to be woven more closely together with yours. “You are the tide that sweeps through the corridors of my mind, a wild rhythm that fills my empty spaces with the echo of eternity. You are the unspoken sentence in my every thought, the shadow and the light interwoven in the fabric of my being. You are the pulse of the universe pressing against my skin, the quiet chaos of love that refuses to be named. You are my uncharted shore.”
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Love and intimacy and togetherness are fun, yes. But they’re also hard work — especially if you want to make the fun last. This will be your specialty in the coming months. I’ve assembled four quotes to inspire you. 1. “The essence of marriage is not that it provides a happy ending, but that it provides a promising beginning — and then you keep beginning again, day after day.” — Gabriel García Márquez 2. “The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret. But those who follow the art of creating it day after day come closest to discovering it.” — Pearl Buck 3. “Love is a continuous act of forgiveness.” — Maya Angelou 4. “In the best of relationships, daily rebuilding is a mutual process. Each partner helps the other grow.” — Virginia Satir
Young thespians conjure up that Sunday morning feeling. (Photo: Juan Self)
Sunday mornings have always held special meaning in the fabric of Black culture. They’re filled with the hustle and bustle of getting ready — women waiting for curling irons to heat to the perfect temperature while men both young and old perfect the knots of their ties.
Congregations then begin to file into church pews as ushers greet them with white gloves. Church mothers fill the front rows dressed as elegantly as the grace they exude. The angelic choir voices sing songs of hope, faith, and praise before a sermon the pastor has mused to echo those sentiments.
“We all know Sunday morning,” Sabrina Norwood, executive director of the Young Actors Guild (YAG), says. “When you think about Sunday morning, that’s you getting up and getting dressed and coming to be rejuvenated. There’s a lot of hand clapping, a lot of foot stomping, and beautiful music that will not only connect you but will reinvigorate you.”
While images of these mornings may be different through the years, themes of hope mixed with the spirit of congregation remain. It’s an important scene to capture, one that YAG is working to encapsulate in their performance, aptly titled Sunday Morning: Dance to Freedom, on February 23rd at the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, located at 620 Parkrose Road in Memphis, TN.
The performance is timely — the organization celebrates Black History Month and its own 34th anniversary this February — but it also reflects the empowerment needed during this political climate.
“I think we’re all operating in uncertainty,” Norwood says. “One thing that stays true is the arts, and love for the arts, and everybody can relate to it. We hope it’s both healing and reflective to others.”
Community has been a mainstay for the organization since its inception. Founder and creative director Chrysti Chandler recalls coming back to Memphis in 1991 after seeing there were many children who didn’t participate in after-school activities. She was shocked to find out it was because students couldn’t afford it.
“Many of the young people we serve are from underrepresented populations,” Norwood says. “Those students are able to attend our program for little to no cost because we believe arts should be accessible for all.”
Norwood says through Chandler’s vision, more than 41,000 young people have come through their doors. YAG houses a performing arts academy that operates year-round with students ages 8 to 17. And Norwood says being in the Orange Mound community allows young people a platform they haven’t typically had. They are able to showcase their talent and creativity while also giving a voice to their generation.
Norwood says this age group is known for an outspoken and unconventional approach to social justice, and these themes are interwoven through Sunday Morning intentionally.
“This performance is all about a dance to freedom,” Norwood says. “About them finding ways to create their own avenues to bring justice, equality, accessibility to their community, and to create sustainability. This production will provide an opportunity to not only unify our young people but unify our community.”
As she reflects on YAG’s students, she says they’re a generation who will move mountains, and art gives them the opportunity to advocate on their behalf while celebrating how far their heritage has come. To amplify this, the production will include a performance from Orange Mound-founded band Black Cream. Gospel artist Deborah Manning Thomas — whom Norwood calls a “vocal powerhouse” — will also join. Rooted Souls, a group that developed from parents of YAG, will perform. And Sharonda Mcfield will come in from North Carolina to join the production, along with Kevin Davidson.
“Gospel music certainly is healing,” Norwood says. “We all know that. Just walking through that Sunday morning of getting there and sometimes feeling so burdened down, but leaving feeling like you can take over the world. That’s the experience we want to be able to create, and hopefully it’ll revive us with the climate we’re in. We really want this to be an amazing presentation of revival.”
David Krog, Ben Vaughn, and Erling Jensen (Photos by Michael Donahue)
A total of $231,000 was raised at this year’s Healthier Memphis Gala presented by Lifedoc Health.
And $48,000 of that was raised at the live auction.
Gary and Barb Meloni, Kert and Abbey KaisePilar Barquin, Diana, Gabriel, and Chet VelasquezJimmy GentryEmily LaForce and Ben SmithJose Gutierrez
Dr. Pedro and Dr. Astrid VelasquezNancy Weathersby, Tyler Tollison, and Mackenzie TollisonPedro Velasquez Jr. and Esther Calderon
The event, held January 31st at the old Summit Club space at the top of Clark Tower, provided a tasty way for guests to support Lifedoc Health’s work. Fifteen Memphis chefs provided the fare for guests, many of whom wore Gatsby-like attire — flapper dresses and tuxedos — from that other Twenties decade. “Our Roaring 20th: A Speakeasy Soirée” was the event theme.
John Adamstown, Tom Hughes, and Jaksen PoundersLauren Lammey, Tyler Jividen, and Joyce JividenTucker Hurdle and Chip DunhamJosh MutchnickMonique Jones and Sonya JohnsonR.J. Gillen and Chet VelasquezFanny and Andy Velasquez
Susannah Herring and Al GossettKelly English, Fatou and Bala Tounkara
According to its website, the mission of Lifedoc Health is “to build healthier communities by preventing diabetes through healthcare and research.”
As the invitation reads, “All proceeds will support Lifedoc’s investment in research and policy to transform healthcare for Memphis’s most underserved communities.”
The Hernando DeSoto Bridge over the Mississippi River in Memphis. A first-of-its-kind ecosystem restoration project seeks to rehabilitate habitats for native species along a 39-mile stretch of the Lower Mississippi River. If it receives funding, the project would restore wetland habitats of species like the alligator gar, a natural predator for invasive carp. (Credit: Karen Pulfer Foct for Tennessee Lookout)
A first-of-its-kind project seeking to restore river ecosystems along 39 miles of the Lower Mississippi River has federal approval to move forward — if it can secure a slice of the federal bankroll.
The Hatchie-Loosahatchie Mississippi River Ecosystem Restoration project would restore the habitats of endangered species, support natural culling of invasive carp and restore floodplain ecosystems severed from the Mississippi River by decades of flood control measures.
The project received legislative approval in January in the Water Resources Development Act, a law passed by Congress every two years that gives the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) authority to conduct studies and projects for water resource conservation and development.
Restoration efforts would touch more than 6,000 acres in Tennessee and Arkansas, stretching from the Hatchie River to the Wolf River near downtown Memphis. The project will cover the portion of the Mississippi River bordering Crittenden and Mississippi counties in Arkansas and Lauderdale, Tipton and Shelby counties in Tennessee.
The main goal is habitat restoration to support the hundreds of species along the river by reconnecting secondary river channels, reforesting bottomland hardwood forests, seeding wetland plants and fixing bridges, among other things. It will also include trail improvements in Meeman Shelby Forest and Wolf River Harbor. The project isn’t expected to negatively impact navigation or flood mitigation on the Mississippi.
Initial efforts to revitalize the Lower Mississippi River began about 25 years ago when a resource assessment identified eight sections of the river for habitat restoration. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie project is the first to complete its feasibility study and cross the legislative approval hurdle.
USACE Memphis District Program Manager Jason Allmon served as project manager for the Hatchie-Loosahatchie Ecosystem Restoration Study for three years, alongside supervisory biologist and environmental lead Mike Thron.
“Flood risk management and navigation have traditionally been the main mission areas, particularly in the Memphis District,” Thron said. “This is kind of the first time we’re taking a large-scale approach of ecosystem restoration.”
Allmon said this project is serving as a pilot for restoration that could extend to the rest of the Lower Mississippi all the way to New Orleans.
“This is a significant opportunity for this region and for the country, too, with the Mississippi River being the largest river in America,” Allmon said. “Doing this 39-mile stretch of ecosystem restoration … could make a big difference, and it could also lead the way for other projects in the future, which have already actually been authorized for us to study.”
Restoring Endangered Species’ Natural Habitats
Extensive flood protection measures have altered the river and threatened habitats since the early 20th century. The federal government and Corps began extensively fixing the river in place through a system of levees after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 inundated 27,000 square miles. The levees, along with navigation along the Mississippi, have also disconnected the river from its floodplain.
Michael Butler, CEO of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, said decades of alterations to the Mississippi River and nearly all of its tributaries in West Tennessee had major unintended consequences. The Hatchie River is the last remaining tributary that has not had its main stem channelized, which hampers a river’s natural meandering flow through a floodplain.
“When you look at that floodplain, it is a dynamic living system,” Butler said. “I think what the Corps is trying to do, which we support, is to restore some of those processes that are going to help recover some of those habitats that have been really, really damaged by early approaches.”
Flood risk management and navigation projects have removed about 152 miles of bends from the river, according to the Corps study. About 80 percent of forest habitat along the river has been converted to agricultural use.
Meander scarps, the remnants of those meandering river channels, were separated from the Mississippi’s main channel in the 1930s and 1940s. The few remaining meander scarps connect floodplains and provide ideal habitats for many species, including the federally endangered fat pocketbook mussel and its fish host, the freshwater drum.
“Fat pocketbook mussels are a good representative species for all the freshwater mussels that are out there in the river, and they do help with water quality,” Thron said. As bottom feeders, they filter water and naturally clean it.
The scarps also provide refuge from dredging and barge traffic, making them a fitting nursery for young pallid sturgeon, another federally endangered species. Only 14 meander scarps remain along the Mississippi, and they no longer occur naturally, due to engineering. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie project seeks to preserve the three that lie in the project area.
Eric Brinkman is the assistant chief of aquatic conservation at the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, which is part of the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee, the project’s non-federal sponsor.
“Hundreds of [species of] animals are dependent on that floodplain,” Brinkman said. He added that the floodplains have additional benefits, like sequestering nitrates and phosphorus that otherwise flow downriver and create the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico — which President Donald Trump directed the government refer to as the Gulf of America in a January executive order.
Native species are facing another challenge to their survival: invasive carp species that reproduce and grow rapidly, feeding on plankton and outcompeting native species for vital resources.
“The carp grow so fast that they don’t have many natural predators,” Thron said.
Enter the alligator gar.
Alligator gar are native to the Lower Mississippi River. They can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds, making them “one of the only native predators that grow large enough to eat these invasive carp,” Thron said.
But both Tennessee and Arkansas identify the alligator gar as a species of conservation concern, which means they’re at risk of going extinct. Changing habitats and overfishing have caused populations to decrease.
They rely on floodplains and wetlands to spawn, and Thron said restoring floodplains will provide more habitat.
Many of the measures in the Hatchie-Loosahatchie project are aimed at promoting the alligator gar’s spawning habitat. The study identifies the fish as a key component of the Mississippi River basin’s strategy to control invasive carp.
Funding, land acquisition remain hurdles
While the project has moved on track so far, Allmon acknowledged that it is a long-term endeavor.
Engineering and design work come next, but funding remains the biggest question. The cost of the restoration components of the project would be shared by the federal government (65 percent) and nonfederal sources (35 percent). The recreation projects would be split 50/50.
Included in the recommended recreation projects is an increase in boat ramps. There are currently six boat landings along the reach. Six are in Tennessee; one is in Arkansas.
Recreation in the lower Mississippi River generates $1.3 billion and employs 55,000.
USACE’s civil works budget falls within a multi-step federal budgeting process that is driven in part by political priorities from the presidential administration. Projects can also be funded with supplemental appropriations. USACE has received supplemental funds nearly every year since 2017 — with the exception of 2021 — but those are typically given for repairs following significant storm damage, according to a 2022 overview of USACE’s budget process.
Brinkman, with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, said he wouldn’t be surprised if it took decades for the funding to be approved.
“Something of this scale has not been accomplished before … it is a slow process, for sure,” he said.
Allmon said his team never knows what will get funded or when. “If it doesn’t get funded this cycle, it’s not to say it won’t get funded in the next cycle,” he said.
Working with local landowners is another potential hurdle. Most land within the batture — the area of the alluvial plain extending from the river to the levee — is privately owned.
The project as planned requires the purchase of more than 2,881 acres of private land, and easements for roads and construction at an estimated cost of $17.6 million, according to a project recommendation letter from USACE Chief of Engineers Scott Spellmon.
Of the total 3,044 acres of private and public land encompassed by the project, about half lies in Tennessee, and half lies in Arkansas.
Spellman’s letter lists real estate acquisition as one of the project’s “major uncertainty drivers.” But it also notes that the majority of the project benefits are expected to be successfully completed on public land and land purchased from willing sellers.
“There’s been some apprehension around that,” Brinkman said. “There will definitely be some negotiations. A lot of discussions are gonna have to happen before anything is done on the ground.”
Hooded, masked men show no identification as they take workers from TaconGanas Monday. (Credit: TaconGanas via Facebook
The men who detained workers at TACOnganas yesterday were, indeed, federal agents, according to Memphis Mayor Paul Young.
We’ll follow details of this story. For now, this is as much as we know:
At around 5:30 p.m. Monday, TACOnganas posted this to Facebook along with a video showing the encounter:
“Earlier today, individuals entered one of our trucks and took away several of our employees. We do not know what prompted this. We were not told beforehand, and we have not been told since. We understand it may be difficult to watch, but we’re sharing a video of it.
“We have heard from the employees. They’ve been told they’re being detained by (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – ICE). We don’t know if the men you see in the video work for ICE or for someone else. You’ll see they have no uniforms, do not show any badge or ID, and did not leave any identifying information or paperwork. If not for our security cameras, we would not even know this happened.
“We’ve contacted legal aid organizations to help the employees, and we’re gathering any information we have to share with their families. Our company complies with federal and local immigration laws, and we know everyone is dealing with situations like this. We know our community is scared. As the country navigates a new normal, we’re here to support the community and to support our workforce and people, too.”
As the video spread quickly across social media in Memphis, Young posted this statement to X at around 9:30 p.m. Monday:
“We understand the shockwaves that are reverberating through our community right now following the release of the TACOnganas video.
“Although these matters don’t fall under our jurisdiction, we reached out to federal authorities out of concern. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) confirmed that this action was carried out by federal agents.
We have been instructed to send all media inquiries to HSI.”
Media Statement: Monday, February 10, 2025
We understand the shockwaves that are reverberating through our community right now following the release of the TACOnganas video.
Although these matters don't fall under our jurisdiction, we reached out to federal authorities out…
