Energy States, 2023 (Photo: Courtesy Scott Carter)
Scott A. Carter has worked in art installation for years. He’s worn the nitrile gloves to handle priceless works, like when he worked as a preparator at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Shoboygan, Wisconsin. He’s hung framed photographs not to be touched on the walls of Christian Brothers University’s Beverly + Sam Ross Gallery, which he runs as assistant professor of art. He’s placed pieces in tempered glass display cases at local museums as an occasional art handler. It’s a delicate practice, art installation — a practice that Carter was ready to disrupt.
It started with the display cases. As a sculptor, Carter says, “I was interested in using the surface to add jacks and cut holes, and treat them as a material, not so much like it’s going to preserve something.”
So, without much of a plan, he took a display case, laser-cut a hole, inverted a corner, added guitar cables, electronic components with exposed wiring, a silk plant, and topped it with a beer bottle. Now, it works as an amplifier of sorts. “You can plug [your instrument] in, and there’s three different modes you can switch between, and it’ll distort [the sound],” Carter says. “I ended up adding a contact mic, too.” Even without an instrument plugged in, the piece will make a loud buzzing sound, disrupting the typically quiet gallery space.
This piece, titled Energy States and made in 2023, would become the first of many semi-functional sculptures by Carter. For the first time, when he goes in to create a piece, he doesn’t have a plan; he just lets inspiration take over. “It’s a mashup of all the things that I like, furniture-ish design, electronics, engineering,” he says. “For years, I tried to combine my musical interests, interest in electronics with art, but they were always separate things.”
Most of these pieces now make up the Dixon Gallery & Gardens’ “Energy States” exhibition, on display through January 19th. Like the first, many of the pieces have sound and interactive components built in, with their mechanics exposed to the viewer, wires and tubing looping through grids made by the artist. Carter evokes mid-century modern or art deco styles with clean lines and simple use of materials, like recycled Modelo beer bottles and hardware the artist 3-D printed himself. He wants viewers to get up close to his works to engage with the elements from all sides layered under plexiglass and in display cases.
“I do get joy from looking at them and plugging them in a way that I haven’t gotten from other work I’ve made,” Carter says. “I think with this show, I finally got it to the point where I feel like, oh, everything together, I’m happy. Which is weird.”
“Scott A. Carter: Energy States,” Dixon Gallery & Gardens, 4339 Park, on display through January 19, free.
So, like, apparently, 2025 is around the corner. Around the corner of what? From what? That’s just semantics. And at the Flyer, we’re basically already in 2025. That’s just how our deadlines are — always working a week ahead, or maybe two days ahead. Because of that, we can see into the future. Not really, but here are some of our predictions/expectations/hopes for the new year in Memphis.
In the Headlines
Police Reforms
It’s easy to predict that reforms for the Memphis Police Department (MPD) will dominate headlines at least in the early part of 2025.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) blistering review of the agency said police here used excessive force (which included tons of Tasers and pepper spray), discriminated against Black residents, and used harsh tactics against children. The review came after the beating death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of MPD officers in 2023.
The DOJ wants to enter into a consent decree with the city. This would install federal monitors to watch and make sure reforms are moving ahead. But, so far, local leaders, including Memphis Mayor Paul Young, have said they don’t want the monitors for various reasons, including the fact that consent decrees cost too much money.
Young has promised to reform MPD in-house. Criminal justice reform advocates say they want the DOJ oversight because the police should not police themselves.
The need for reform comes, too, as the city prepares to pay what could be a $500-million verdict in the civil suit to the family of Nichols’ for his death.
Photo: Frank Gaertner | Dreamstime.com
Cannabis Fight
Cannabis will certainly be in Tennessee news in 2025.
Rules that would ban smokeable products containing THCA were issued from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) in January 2024. Industry leaders fought the rules all last year. A lawsuit on the matter was pending as of press time.
TDA says THCA goes over the legal THC limit when it’s burned or smoked. This gets consumers high, which is why a lot of conservatives don’t want “intoxicating” cannabis products. Their ability to get consumers high is why the industry says these products — allowed by laws passed by the legislature — are so popular and are a major portion of their business.
Those industry leaders complained that bureaucrats, not elected officials, made the new rules. So expect legislation from the Tennessee General Assembly when they reconvene in January 2025.
Pissed About Reappraisals
Also, expect your property taxes to go up — maybe way up.
January will bring a new property tax appraisal in Shelby County. And Shelby County Property Assessor Melvin Burgess began warning locals about this in 2024, maybe to try to get folks used to the idea.
In an August news release, Burgess said data showed property values increasing. That will likely mean a “significant increase in tax assessments” for homeowners. And that means higher taxes.
Add higher assessments to the Memphis City Council’s new 49-cent property tax rate hike approved in 2024, and it could mean outrage when those tax bills hit mailboxes.
Photo: Ford Co.
BlueOval City
More concern and hand-wringing is likely on deck for Ford’s BlueOval City project next year.
Expectations were high when Ford unveiled the project in 2021. The $5.6 billion manufacturing facility in Tennessee was the largest investment in the state’s history. Since then crews have been hard at work raising the massive plant on six square miles of West Tennessee about an hour from Memphis.
However, global electric vehicle (EV) demand softened. While the automaker planned to begin production of its all-electric Ford Lightning truck here next year, it pushed production back to 2027. In that time, the company awaits lower-cost battery technology and a higher demand for EVs in general. In that time, too, worries will persist about the future of Ford in West Tennessee. Still, the company did pull Santa behind a Lightning in the recent Brownsville Christmas parade. — Toby Sells
MATA
2024 will be remembered as the year in which conversation regarding transit consistently found its way to the forefront. And Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) has faced a tumultuous year — from the revelation of the $60 million deficit that the agency had been operating under, to the route and staff cuts, to the entire board’s dismissal.
The new board decided to pause proposed changes until February 2025. While this temporarily stalled one problem, questions over MATA’s future and leadership prevail.
On Tuesday, December 17th, the MATA board voted to continue negotiating a contract that could lead to temporary leadership changes. If approved, TransPro employees would take over as interim CEO, CFO, and COO for eight months. The proposal prompted several questions from board members, but they voted to form a committee to gain more clarity.
Looking ahead, the board will need to address the February 2025 changes which could lead to service cuts and layoffs. The agency will also need to identify more funding sources, while potentially welcoming a new team of leadership. — Kailynn Johnson
Political Forecast
The coming year happens to be the one year out of every four-year cycle in which there are no major elections scheduled in Memphis/Shelby County. But that is not to suggest that there will not be intense political activity. In fact, potential candidates for the county, state, and federal offices in the elections of 2026 will be working feverishly during the year to organize and declare their campaigns. At stake will be contests for Shelby County mayor, to succeed the term-limited Mayor Lee Harris, and for the 13 members of the county commission, as well as races for governor, the state legislature, Congress, and the U.S. Senate seat now held by incumbent Republican Bill Hagerty.
Announcements of candidacies for these offices should be forthcoming early in 2025.
There will be one more major attempt by Governor Bill Lee and his allies in the Republican legislative supermajority to pass comprehensive school voucher legislation when the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes in January. Preliminary estimates are that this time the measure to extend taxpayer-funded private school stipends statewide has good chances for passage. Also to be expected are further efforts by GOP members to impose stricter controls (or more severe usurpations) on the law enforcement infrastructure of Shelby County. It remains to be seen if GOP state Senator Brent Taylor gains any traction in his effort to seek legislative removal of Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy.
Both major political parties in Shelby County will be selecting new chairs, the Republicans in January, the Democrats in April. State GOP chair Scott Golden of Jackson was reelected in December, but Democrats will be choosing a new leader in January to succeed Hendrell Remus. One of the major candidates is state Representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in November.
The Shelby County Commission will face the new year not only with some last-minute updates in its funding priorities, but with a stepped-up formula for establishing a budget and meting out allocations. In an effort to adhere to previous commitments to build two new schools for Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Mayor Harris and the commission will be seeking means to compensate for lower than anticipated revenue aid from the state government.
Both local governments may come in for support and new modes for inter-governmental cooperation through the aegis of a newly formed and privately endowed ad hoc organization called More for Memphis. But the mechanics and prospects for such an arrangement remain obscure, for the moment. — Jackson Baker
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) dunks the ball. (Photo: Wes Hale)
On the Roster
One year without playoff basketball for our Memphis Grizzlies is quite enough, thank you. A trio of healthy star guards (Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart) and the addition of a towering rookie center (Zach Edey) have the Grizzlies near the top of the NBA’s Western Conference standings. Better yet, the Grizz are among the top scoring teams in the Association, averaging more than 120 points per game. Where might this take a franchise that’s reached the conference finals only once in three decades? Go back to that word: healthy.
Morant only played in nine games a season ago (he served a lengthy suspension before his shoulder injury). Smart only played in 20. Bane barely played half the season (42 games). The end result was a 27-55 campaign. Morant is an All-NBA talent, Smart a former Defensive Player of the Year, and Bane an All-Star-to-be. If they stay on the floor through April, Memphis could well reverse that 2023-24 record and earn a top-four seed for the postseason. Can the West be won? Five different teams have gone to the Finals out of the Western Conference the last five seasons. There’s no current behemoth that would be considered unbeatable in May. The NBA Finals at FedExForum? Let’s believe.
At the college level, coach Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers captured attention in November with an upset of Connecticut — the two-time defending national champions — at the Maui Invitational, bringing enough attention to climb into the Top 25 (16th) before an upset at home to Arkansas State. Is this another fall tease like the 2023-24 season, the Tigers setting up an immense fan base for a middling conference schedule? The answer is in the hands of two more star guards: transfers PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter. A pair of glass-cleaning rim protectors — Dain Dainja and Moussa Cissé — give Memphis something it didn’t have a year ago, suggesting a repeat of the winter blues may be unlikely. A December upset of Clemson on the road and a less-than-intimidating American Athletic Conference are positive signs for a return to the NCAA tournament.
There will be life after basketball season for Memphis sports. Baseball America’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Quinn Mathews, will likely start the 2025 season with the Memphis Redbirds. Another pair of rising stars — pitcher Tink Hence and infielder JJ Wetherholt — have AutoZone Park in their sights. The Redbirds hope to end a postseason drought that dates back to 2018. The club will open the season with an exhibition against the parent St. Louis Cardinals on March 24th.
On the gridiron, the Memphis Tigers will enter their 2025 season on a pair of impressive streaks. The program has reached bowl eligibility 11 consecutive seasons and has scored at least 20 points in 40 consecutive games, tops in the country. Antwann Hill, the highest-ranked quarterback ever signed by Memphis, will don blue and gray for the first time and hope to replicate the success enjoyed by the departed record-setting Seth Henigan. One nugget Hill could grab that Henigan didn’t: a conference championship. — Frank Murtaugh
Mickey 17
Coming Soon
It’s not so much that 2025 is getting off to a slow start as 2024 finished strong. Christmas week brought a torrent of new releases beyond the usual awards season crush. So you can spend your first week of dry January catching up with titles like Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, directed by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins; the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet and directed by Walk The Line’s James Mangold; and Babygirl, an erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman. I will never understand the decision to release Robert Egger’s vampire creepfest Nosferatu on Christmas instead of two weeks before Halloween, but you should probably see it if you’re into that kind of thing.
It’s not until January 10th that we get our first new releases of the new year, and that’s Den of Thieves 2: Pantera starring Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. The next week things start to pick up again with Wolf Man, a Blumhouse horror reboot of the lupine Universal monster. One of Them Days is a buddy comedy with Keke Palmer and SZA, which sounds promising. The month closes out with comedy: You’re Cordially Invited starring Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, and an alligator.
In February, somebody learned the lesson about seasonal programming and scheduled Love Hurts for the week before Valentine’s Day. It’s an action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose. On the holiday proper, we’ve got Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Captain America: Brave New World, a combo which is sure to provoke many lovers’ quarrels over Valentine date night viewing. Then there’s The Monkey from Osgood Perkins, so that’ll be weird/scary. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is a sci-fi Bugs Bunny feature aimed directly at me. Paul W. S. Anderson adapts George R.R. Martin’s In the Lost Lands.
March comes in with Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s dip into horror, Sinners, and the Zambian black comedy On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. March 14th is a showdown between Steven Soderbergh’s techno thriller Black Bag and Avengers maestros Russo brothers’ The Electric State. Disney’s live action Snow White boasts a screenplay by Greta Gerwig and stars Rachel Zegler as the drowsy protagonist.
In April, many of you will be dragged to A Minecraft Movie. I am eagerly awaiting Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson as a disposable space hero. Blockbuster season starts in May with Marvel’s first swing of the year, Thunderbolts. The ever-creative Michel Gondry’s first musical, Golden, bows on May 9th, and the millennials’ favorite ambient horror franchise Final Destination: Bloodlines follows on the 16th. The 23rd looks to be a showdown between Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch reboot. June’s looking stacked with a John Wick spin-off Ballerina, Pixar’s Elio, the How to Train Your Dragon reboot, and the long awaited zombie capper 28 Years Later. July’s got James Gunn’s Superman, a new Jurassic World film for some reason, and The Smurfs Movie. August closes out the summer with Freakier Friday and the Paul Thomas Anderson crimer One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
October brings Tron: Ares, but besides The Black Phone 2, looks pretty slim on horror. In November, we come back after the intermission with Wicked: For Good, and Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man. December will be dominated by Avatar: Fire and Ash. Never bet against James Cameron. — Chris McCoy
Yo-Yo Ma (Photo: Courtesy MSO)
Live Music, Ho!
A multitude of ways to ring in the new with live bands await you on New Year’s Eve. Growlers will host Blacklist Union, Line So Thin, and Josey Scott, erstwhile lead singer for Saliva who won acclaim as a solo artist with “Hero” from the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man. For something completely different, crooner Gary Johns will serenade Beauty Shop patrons that night, while Bar DKDC sports another incredible singer, Jesse James Davis, from big beats to ballads, not to mention the dance-inducing bounce of Bodywerk. For some Beale bounce and soul, aside from the street party, Eric Gales tops the Rum Boogie bill and the B.B. King All Stars shine at their namesake club. Or tribute bands can bring yesteryear alive, with Louder Than Bombs’ Smiths sounds at B-Side, or Play Some Skynyrd and Aquanet at Lafayette’s Music Room. Prefer freshly spun wax? That’s it’s own kind of live. Try DJ Funktual at Eight & Sand.
Once January is underway, our musical arts institutions resume their 2024-25 seasons. The Iris Collective will present the New York-based Overlook Quartet in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts on January 16th, showcasing music’s healing powers through meditative practice. On the edgier tip, Iris’ March 8th concert at Germantown United Methodist Church, with guest violinist Elena Urioste spotlights works by Max Richter, Astor Piazzolla, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Meanwhile, Germantown Performing Arts Center will present the groovier side of innovation with bassist-composer Meshell Ndegeocello’s show, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, on January 11th. And Opera Memphis brings Carmen in late January.
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra comes out swinging with its tribute to the “American Maestro,” Leonard Bernstein, on January 18th and 19th, in a program culminating with his Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Another maestro will be celebrated a month later, when the MSO welcomes guest soloist Yo-Yo Ma February 25th at the Cannon Center of Performing Arts.
On the more rocking side of things, early January marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley, and Graceland Live will honor it in style with shows spanning January 8th to 10th. Yet the venue has lately embraced some distinctly non-Presley-esque music as well, like the February 6th appearance by 21st-century rockers Theory of a Deadman (an Elvis reference?), experimenting with an unplugged approach to their heavy sound. The unplugged aesthetic will also be celebrated at the Halloran Centre’s Memphis Songwriters Series, with Mark Edgar Stuart welcoming Hannah Blaylock, Rice Drewry, and Raneem Imam on January 6th. Soon after, Sweet Honey in the Rock will bring the raw power of the human voice to the Halloran on January 24th. And speaking of powerful voices, Mary J. Blige will appear “For My Fans” — like some of us who saw her in 1995— at the FedExForum on February 2nd.
But what’s a mere human voice compared to The Man-Machine? Many are laser-focused on Kraftwerk taking over the Overton Park Shell on March 25th. For the Wo-Man-Machine, see the twin-goddess cyber-hybrid multimedia of Marcella Simien and Talibah Safiya at Crosstown Theater January 25th. For everything in between, scan our weekly After Dark listings to see the artists making it happen in our thriving smaller clubs every day. — Alex Greene
(top left) CJ Berretta, (top right) Chad Getchel, (bottom left) Sydney Lewellyn, Albert, Oscar, and Leah Getchel (Photos: Michael Donahue)
Sipping hot chocolate or hot chocolate with something in it is always a delight at Holiday Wonders at the Garden, which continues to enchant children and adults at the Memphis Botanic Garden.
(left to right) Sarah Strong, Kole Turner, Cathy Strong, and Anthony StrongDrew Garrison, Ivy Garrison, Ted Werthmuller, Wayne Parr, and Lily ParrKristen Taylor and John Boykin
Helen Stritzel and Chris Cullum Lela Garlington, Finn Herrington, and Steve Herrington
Olivia Wall, director of marketing and communications, describes the attraction as “an outdoor seasonal exhibition. It includes acres of light displays, photo ops.”
MaryLynn Mack and Olivia WallHannah Gay and Liretha WalkerNada Dryn, Tamara Dryn, Igor Bosim, and Kirill DrynMaurice McGill and Tavist Carter
It also includes concessions and fire tables, Wall says. “We have costumed characters every night we’re open. Snow queens, gingerbread men, elves.”
Evelyn Torres and Liam Ferguson Jay Threlkeld, Joseph Threlkeld, and Lindsey GarnerBrandi Ray, Denny Stanley, Katherine Johnson, and Jarrod Bivens Anna Vo, Gina Harris, Patti Berry, and Peg Parish
Wonders, which closes December 28th, traditionally opens the day after Thanksgiving. “We’ve been doing it for 12 or 13 years. It was originally much smaller. In a very small area garden. And it expanded from there.”
Jamie Acor and Angie JonesDanny and Amelia Cole
Wonders originally was called “Snowy Nights” and took place at Memphis Botanic Garden’s “My Big Backyard,” notes Wall.
Some dates during this season’s event could have been dubbed “Rainy Nights.” But, with the exception of some of the wet stuff, Wall says “Holiday Wonders at the Garden” 2024 will go down as successful.
The year that just passed promised at various points to be one of dramatic change in this or that public sphere, but such changes as did occur fell way short of transformative.
A new order was unveiled in the city government of Memphis with the inauguration of Mayor Paul Young, for example, but the dominant issue of Young’s first days in office — that of police authority vis-à-vis the citizenry in a climate of anxiety about crime — remains mired in uncertainty a year later.
Young’s reappointment of MPD Police Chief C.J. Davis was rejected by the city council, for example, and she still lacks that validation, serving in an interim capacity. Her second-in-command, Shawn Jones, turned out to be ineligible as a Georgia resident, and the mayor’s announcement of a new public safety director continues unfulfilled, although a “consultant” on the subject got added to the patroll..
The shadow of the Tyre Nichols tragedy lingers on at year’s end, reinforced by harsh judgements levied against the MPD by the U.S. Department of Justice, and state government continues to impose its iron will on local law enforcement, countering the brave stands taken by the city’s voters in referenda intending to assert the city’s own efforts at self-protection.
Those referenda, all essentially meant as rebukes to state policies favoring gun proliferation, were a highlight of the election season, which otherwise saw the status quo reassert itself. Though Democrats held on to their legislative seats in the inner city and fielded plausible candidates in races for the United States Senate and a key legislative district on the city’s suburban edge, the ongoing metamorphosis of Tennessee into red-state Republicanism continued more or less unabated.
In the presidential election, Shelby County reasserted its identity as a Democratic enclave, one of two statewide, the other being Nashville. Unlike the capital city, whose electoral districts had been systematically gerrymandered by the General Assembly’s Republican supermajority, Memphis could still boast a Democratic congressman, Steve Cohen, a fixture in the 9th Congressional District since 2006. The adjoining, largely rural, 8th District, which takes in much of the Memphis metropolitan area, continued to be represented by Republican David Kustoff.
As always, the Memphis area serves as an incubator of individuals with clear potential for further advancement. Among them are Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, a prolific deviser of developmental projects; state Senator Raumesh Akbari, a shining light both in Nashville and in national Democratic councils; and Justin J. Pearson, a member of the “Tennessee Three” who famously galvanized the case for gun safety legislation in the Tennessee House in 2023 and who added to his laurels with rousing appearances at the 2024 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
Meanwhile, amid rampant speculation as to the identity of contenders for the Tennessee governorship in 2026, two surprising new names were added to the list — those of the state’s two Republican senators, Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn.
An unexpected situation began to simmer late in the year with a virtual mutiny of members of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools system against first-year superintendent Marie Feagins, who was threatened with a rescission of her contract with the board. Action on the matter was postponed until January, but, coming on the heels of the ouster of her predecessor Joris Ray due to a personal scandal, it was clear evidence that major things were amiss on the schools front, which had been a highly politicized landscape a decade earlier and could well become once again.
All in all, 2024 seemed destined to go into the history books as a time of preamble, with weighty circumstances likely to follow in its wake.
Often a meme will circulate listing the hits of bygone times. A roll call of great releases in, say, 1977 will leave one feeling it was a golden age of recorded music, our contemporary sounds paling in comparison. Looking over this year’s best-of list, however, I’m inclined to think that 2024 will be celebrated in much the same way. And if you should beg to differ, I would only refer you to those wise wake up call offered by GloRilla herself, “Do y’all know what the f*ck goin’ on?? (goin’ on … goin’ on … goin’ on …)”
Aquarian Blood – Counting Backwards Again (Black & Wyatt)
This caps off a trilogy of sorts, over which the sometime punk screamers dialed it back into the acoustic realm. Meticulously crafted yet loose, these songs are dark, primitive missives haunted by trauma and desire, as if German sonic artists Can reinterpreted the Incredible String Band.
Cedric Burnside – Hill Country Love (Provogue)
Burnside’s latest album turns the volume up, yes, but not the distortion. Bringing more of a full-band sound, this particular Burnside eschews the hard rock guitar tones that were his grandfather R.L.’s trademark. There are echoes of 2021’s I Be Trying’s quieter soul-imbued originals (“Smile”), but funkier, staccato riffs predominate — at least until he breaks out the acoustic for traditional numbers.
GloRilla – Ehhthang Ehhthang and Glorious (CMG/Interscope)
Rolling Stone ranked October’s Glorious among the year’s best, but we in the city where “everything is everything” tapped into the Ehhthang Ehhthang mixtape way back in April. While the 2024 releases are two peas in a pod, Ehhthang was arguably more significant as Glo’s triumphant debut in the full-length format. And tracks like “No Bih” slay (in Latin, no less) in such a stark, Memphis way: “F*ck it, carpe diem/I make ‘em motivated (okay)/Grammy-nominated (okay), f*ck whoever hatin’.”
IMAKEMADBEATS – WANDS (UNAPOLOGETIC)
While there are mad beats throughout this instrumental journey, there are also orchestral passages both ethereal and bombastic, at times sounding eerily like the ’70s synth-meister Tomita. It’s an interstellar trip in audio form, in which you’re never sure if you’re hearing a sample or an intricate new composition by MAD himself. “I’m Losing My Mind I’m OK” even features lyrics, hauntingly sung by Tiffany Harmon.
Juicy J and Xavier Wulf – Memphis Zoo
While Juicy J co-founded the dark horror-hop of Three 6 Mafia, this collab with fellow Memphian Wulf is, paradoxically, dark, ominous, and … fun. But there’s a gravitas here, too, as on the most popular track, album opener “The Truth,” an exhortation to cut the BS, stop fronting, and face facts. And a deeper truth about our times comes out in personal fave “Alley Oop”: “We’re living in the era of the alley oop,” and it’s not a good thing.
MonoNeon – Quilted Stereo (Court Square)
“I walked in the room and got butterflies.” So MonoNeon described his studio work with Mavis Staples on “Full Circle,” a highlight of Dywane “MonoNeon” Thomas Jr.’s latest work. With its doo-wop-ish vocal bass riff evoking a gospel bounce right out of the last century, it embodies funk and soul’s past, present, and future. Then there’s the sing-along jam with George Clinton, the perfectly Clinton-esque [and downright bluesy] “Quilted!” – an ode to flying your sartorial freak flag high, even if that means walking down the street decked out in bespoke, multicolored quilts. Then there’s the chugging New Wave pop of “Church of Your Heart,” the jungle beat rap of “Segreghetto,” and the sparkling sizzler of the summer, “Jelly Roll,” full of glossy synth warbles and bass stabs, its video overflowing with extras seemingly right out of the Crystal Palace roller-skating scene. MonoNeon’s greatest work yet.
NLE Choppa – SLUT SZN (Warner)
One of four releases by Choppa this year, all carry on his raunchy “Slut Me Out” variations, most audaciously with this album’s shuffling, acoustic guitar-driven “Slut Me Out 2 (Country Me Out),” featuring J.P., who sings, “If I was a cowgirl/I’d wanna ride me too!” Both versions skew gender in new ways for hip-hop, but it’s the stylistic mash up of the galloping, dancehall-flavored “Catalina” with Latin star Yaisel LM that truly takes Memphis hip-hop into global waters, reflecting Choppa’s Jamaican roots.
The Lisa Nobumoto Jazz Masters Orchestra – A Tribute to Jazz Singer Nancy Wilson
Having performed with the great Teddy Edwards for decades, this Memphian knows how to give Wilson’s catalog her own individual stamp. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” becomes a ballad, worlds away from Frankie Valli’s stomper. “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” verges into boogaloo territory, yet with a relaxed delivery. Carl Wolfe’s big, brassy arrangements give the album a rare jazz classicism.
Jerry Phillips – For the Universe (Omnivore)
Though this is Phillips’ debut album, his decades of experience recording with great songwriters like John Prine at the studio his father built lend it the feel of a career-topper from the last century. The wry observations and hard-won wisdom of songs like “Specify” (exhorting his lover to say what she wants) or “She Let Me Slip Right Through Her Fingers” are carried by Phillips’ voice, echoing Charlie Rich or Johnny Rivers, and a band of ace Memphis session players.
Talibah Safiya – Black Magic
As artist-in-residence at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music last year, Safiya tapped into the High Water Recording Company’s back catalog, working with producer/engineer Ari Morris to weave generous helpings of Mississippi blues and soul into her samples. Erstwhile Memphian-turned-international-producer Brandon Deener lends his sonic touch as well, not to mention guitarist MadameFraankie, who brings a simmering soul vibe to underpin Safiya’s powerful-yet-playful voice.
Marcella Simien – To Bend to the Will of a Dream That’s Being Fulfilled
For this most personal of journeys into her family’s past and her own well-being, Simien’s playing nearly all the instruments, crafting a setting in a kind of synthetic world-building, evoking the sweep of generations with the sweep of electronic filters. Rootsier sounds also make an appearance, as the artist conjures a timeless space to commune with her ancestors.
Snowglobe – The Fall
Like much of Snowglobe’s earlier output, this is rich with layers of ear candy. Though grounded by chords on an acoustic guitar or piano, the arrangements fill out with all manner of harmonies, synthesizers, or electric guitar riffs and hooks. Think Badfinger meets “Soul Finger,” with hints of Harry Nilsson’s darker moods and post-‘90s quirks all their own.
Cyrena Wages – Vanity Project
Produced and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang, this album has some of the rootsy, vintage elements of his previous work with Margo Price, yet with the contemporary pop instincts once championed by one of Wages’ heroes, Amy Winehouse. Most of all, the sounds jump out of the speakers with the grit of a real band, which includes guitarist and songwriting collaborator Joe Restivo.
In the first year after dual writer and actor strikes rattled the Hollywood establishment, there was much fretting about lackluster box office returns in the first half, followed by much celebration in the second half. But there were gems everywhere for those who searched. We celebrate the best with Flyer Film Awards for 2024. But first, the worst.
Worst Picture
Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, and Jamie Lee Curtis search for alien treasure in Borderlands.
Borderlands
2024’s good video game adaptation was Amazon Prime’s Fallout series. The best thing you can say about Eli Roth’s epic flop is that everyone got paid in advance.
MVP
Timothée Chalamet
Timothée Chalamet, Dune: Part 2, A Complete Unknown
Muad’dib came alive as the cursed savior of Arrakis, torn between his love for Zendaya’s Chani and the imperial destiny he was bred for. Then, Chalamet sang 40 Bob Dylan songs, live on set, in A Complete Unknown and slayed every one of them. Give this boy some flowers.
Best Performance by a Nonhuman
Joy and Anxiety in Inside Out 2
Anxiety, Inside Out 2
Our Age of Anxiety found a mascot in the orange emotion, voiced by Maya Hawke, that invades our tween heroine Riley’s brain when she’s thrown into a competitive situation at hockey camp. I wish I had Inside Out 2 when I was growing up.
Best Interior Spaces
I Saw The TV Glow (Courtesy A24)
I Saw the TV Glow
Jane Schoenbrun’s ode to fandom is as inexplicable a film as you’ll see this year. Owen is a shy outsider who finds his people when he discovers a cult TV show called The Pink Opaque. He and his friend Maddy slowly lose their own identities as they tune out the rest of the world. But was it all a dream? Where does the dream end and reality begin?
Grossest Picture
Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley star in The Substance.
The Substance
If Sunset Boulevard were directed by David Cronenberg, it would look something like The Substance. Coralie Fargeat directs Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkles, an aging star who will try anything to stay young, including a dangerous drug pushed by a secret organization. When Margaret Qualley bursts from her body as her younger self, she’s reluctant to get back in. Then the real body horror begins.
Boys Go to Jupiter
Best Animated Film
Boys Go to Jupiter
It was a banner year for animation, with the triumphal Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, the plucky Latvian animal eco-fantasy Flow, and the epic Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim. But this tiny team from Pittsburgh, led by Julian Glander, made a joyously subversive story of a delivery boy trying to beat the system, and the alien egg he finds along the way.
RaMell Ross’ story of two Black boys sent to a brutal reform school in 1960s Florida works its empathetic magic through first-person camera work, courtesy of cinematographer Jomo Fray. Equal parts gorgeous and brutal, but never banal.
Biggest Performance
Chris Hemsworth as Dementus (Courtesy Warner Bros.)
Chris Hemsworth, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Director George Miller’s origin story of his Fury Road protagonist is as epic as it gets, and Hemsworth has the juice as the biker warlord Dementus. Hemsworth’s words and deeds are as big as the Wasteland’s horizon, but he leads us through decades, subtly changing Dementus’ bluster to show his loosening grip on sanity. When he gets his comeuppance from Furiosa, you almost feel sorry for him. Almost.
Best Documentary
Union
Union
Against all odds, the warehouse workers at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island successfully got their union recognized by the NLRB, after years of grinding organizing and union busting goons. You won’t find Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s Sundance-winning documentary on Amazon Prime, and if Jeff Bezos gets his way, you won’t see it anywhere. The filmmakers are self-distributing, so seek it out.
Best Picture
Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikey Madison in Anora. (Courtesy Neon)
Anora
Sean Baker’s masterpiece follows stripper and sometime prostitute Ani as she falls in love with one of her clients, the wastrel son of a Russian oligarch. But when they marry in Las Vegas, and his parents (and the Russian mafia of New York) get wind of it, the whole fantasy falls apart. Baker and Mikey Madison get my personal Best Director and Best Actor awards. Everything about Anora is perfect.
Shelby County had the highest rate of vehicle fatalities in Tennessee over the last five years, according to a new state report.
The Tennessee Highway Safety Office’s (THSO) latest report says that between 2018 and 2022, 640 died in Shelby County as a result of a car crash. The figure made Shelby County the site of nearly 16 percent of all vehicle-related deaths in Tennessee.
However, Shelby County saw a decline in these deaths in 2022.
Source: THSO (Memphis Flyer via ChatGPT)
Davidson County (Nashville) was the runner-up in this metric. But with its 305 deaths, it had fewer than half of the vehicle-related deaths than Shelby. Davidson County deaths accounted for 7.5 percent of all vehicle-related deaths in Tennessee.
However, Davidson Countians drove more each day than Shelby County drivers. The THSO figures said more than 24.6 million miles are driven in Shelby County each day. In Davidson County, the figure is more than 25.3 million.
Source: THSO (Memphis Flyer via ChatGPT)
The number of car-related fatalities here is way up from nearly 20 years ago. The same THSO report found that in the five years from 2005 to 2009, there were 397 fatal crashes crashes in Shelby County. Fewer average daily miles were driven back then, nearly 1 million fewer miles per day.
The number of car-related fatalities here is way up from nearly 20 years ago.
Source: THSO
Roads Most Traveled
The new report shows that Shelby County has the most miles of roadways in the state. It has 10,759 miles of roads. Knox County comes in second with 9,903 miles. Davidson is third with 9,448. Hamilton County (Chattanooga) is a distant fourth with 7,962 miles.
The busiest road in Shelby County is the 240 stretch between Mt. Moriah and Perkins (segment 3 in the chart above) with about 194,040 cars daily. The next busiest was at the flyover around the Sam Cooper Blvd. exit (segment 2) with around 156,970 cars daily. The third-busiest was two-mile stretch of I-240 between the Walnut Grove and Poplar exits (segment 1 in the graph above). That portion saw about 149,320 cars each day in 2023. But it is the most-driven road in the county, with about 337,463 miles driven on it each day.
The busiest local roads were Germantown Road (59,980 cars daily), Lamar (39,410 daily), and Covington Pike (21,460 cars daily).
Source: THSO (Memphis Flyer via ChatGPT)
Buckle Up
The new report shows that Tennesseans buckled up at record rates in 2024 for the second year in a row.
The Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) said the 2024 statewide seat belt usage rate was 92.2 percent, a slight increase from the 2023 rate of 92 percent. Shelby County’s usage rate was only slightly lower at 91.7 percent.
The THSO collected data at 190 roadway locations across the state, involving nearly 29,000 vehicle occupants.
Key figures:
• Sport utility vehicle occupants had the highest seat belt usage rate (96.3 percent), while pickup truck occupants had the lowest (84.6 percent).
• Female occupants wore seat belts more frequently (96.2 percent) compared to males (89.2 percent).
• Front-seat passengers wore seat belts (92.3 percent) more than drivers (92.1 percent).
• McMinn County had the highest seat belt usage rate at 97 percent.
Gov. Bill Lee addressing members of the Tennessee National Guard while on a trip to the Texas-Mexico border in July 2021. Lee has indicated he may use state personnel, including National Guard troops, to aid in the deportation of millions of immigrants.(Photo: tn.gov)
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is set to use state personnel, likely National Guard troops and highway patrol officers, to back President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of immigrants when he takes office in January 2025.
The Republican governor issued a statement on the social media platform X last week saying, “I have asked key state agencies to begin making preparations & stand ready on Day 1 to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our Nation’s borders & keep communities safe.”
The statement marked the governor’s first confirmation that he is willing to use Tennessee personnel, which could include troops and state officers, to remove undocumented immigrants as part of a national effort by Trump to deport millions of people.
Lee sent the message on the heels of a statement from the Republican Governors Association saying it stands “united” in supporting Trump’s commitment to deal with the “illegal immigration crisis and deporting illegal immigrants who pose a threat to our communities and national security.”
Via X: “I have asked key state agencies to begin making preparations & stand ready on Day 1 to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our Nation’s borders & keep communities safe.”
A one-time mass deportation of about 11 million people who lack permanent legal status and 2.3 million more who crossed the U.S. southern border from January 2023 through April 2024 could cost an estimated $315 billion, according to the American Immigration Council.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition condemned Lee’s commitment, saying such a move would hurt families and the local economy. The group said Lee and 25 Republican governors signed a letter committing to “utilize every tool” at their disposal, which would include state law enforcement and the National Guard.
The immigrant rights group said such a plan has been deemed “disastrous” by business leaders, economists, faith leaders and legal experts.
“Whether fleeing danger or seeking opportunity, immigrants enrich our state and strengthen our communities. Rounding up families is not just a moral disaster, but an economic one, crippling our businesses and agriculture and grinding production to a halt,” the coalition said in a statement. “Further, the state resources wasted on mass deportations could instead provide housing, healthcare, and education for Tennessee working families.”
“I don’t think ICE is big enough to handle all that due to the number of people who’ve come across the border who are criminals and committed crimes,” said House Speaker Cameron Sexton of using state resources. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Yet key Republican lawmakers are in the governor’s corner.
In a statement to the Tennessee Lookout, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said, “The illegal immigration crisis, which has been untenable for many years, exploded under the Biden administration. The voters of our state and our nation have made it clear that they want the crisis resolved and President Trump is committed to resolving it. Activating the National Guard to secure our border and assist with deportations is entirely appropriate. I believe the legislature would and should approve such an effort.”
House Speaker Cameron Sexton told the Lookout last week governors would make decisions with the federal government but added that he supports removal of some immigrants.
“You’ve gotta get illegals who’ve committed crimes in our country out of the country,” Sexton said. “I don’t care where they are, you’ve gotta get them out. I don’t think ICE is big enough to handle all that due to the number of people who’ve come across the border who are criminals and committed crimes.”
While Sexton spoke about immigrants charged with crimes since coming to America, Trump hasn’t always differentiated between that group and other immigrants who make up a large sector of the nation’s workforce.
Trump’s pick for “border czar,” Tom Homan, has said the president-elect made it clear he would prioritize deportation for immigrants who are gang members and considered dangerous, while also saying anyone in the country illegally “shouldn’t feel comfortable.”
Although the Republican Governors Association accused President Joe Biden of failing to secure the border, a report by the Migration Policy Institute shows the Biden Administration is on track to remove nearly as many people as the Trump Administration — 1.1 million for the roughly three years from the start of fiscal 2021 through February 2024 — compared to 1.5 million deportations during Trump’s four years of 2016 to 2020.
The report says the Biden Administration also undertook 3 million migrant expulsions during the Covid pandemic era from March 2020 to May 2023 for a total of almost 4.4 million repatriations.
Since the Covid ban on migration ended, the Biden administration increased deportations and removed or returned 775,000 migrants, the most since 2010, according to the migrationpolicy.org article.
Still, Trump has touched on using federal troops to assist in deportation, and Republican governors are showing a willingness to put state troops and officers into the fray.
The immigrant rights coalition said the governor’s statement gives local law enforcement and the National Guard a “rubber stamp” to “overstep their jurisdiction and forcefully detain our neighbors,” which sets a “dangerous precedent for all Tennesseans.”
If illegal immigration is as big a problem in Tennessee as Lee now claims and we have the legal authority to do something about it, then Tennesseans should ask Gov. Lee and this Republican supermajority why the state has failed to do more.
– Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville
The coalition’s statement adds the governor is “placing a dark stain on our state” and that it is “ready to defend our communities and protect one another.”
State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said the governor’s use of “bigoted talking points” is causing hostility toward his constituents. He encouraged the governor to visit his district in South Nashville to see the “thriving” businesses and children studying in local schools.
Clemmons acknowledged that dangerous criminals, gang members and terrorists in the country illegally should be removed. He added that the legislature approved $161 million for the Department of Homeland Security, $110 million to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and $18 million to the Military Department for related purposes.
“If illegal immigration is as big a problem in Tennessee as Lee now claims and we have the legal authority to do something about it, then Tennesseans should ask Gov. Lee and this Republican supermajority why the state has failed to do more,” Clemmons said.
Clemmons, though, said he believes the state’s jurisdiction and ability to enforce federal immigration policies could be entangled in “complex legal questions.”
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Desmond Bane shoots the ball in Saturday night's win in Atlanta. (Credit: NBAE/Getty Images)
The Memphis Grizzlies were in Atlanta Saturday night, facing off against the Hawks, and came away with a 128-112 victory.
It was the second consecutive wire-to-wire win for Memphis after Thursday night’s 51-point beatdown of the Golden State Warriors.
Both teams were missing their star point guards — Trae Young was out for the Hawks, and Ja Morant was sidelined for the Grizzlies.
There is no question about the value of Morant to this Memphis team, but the Grizzlies have developed a style of play that has allowed them to win with whoever is available on a given night.
It was a commanding victory for the Grizzlies, who led by as many as 29 points while staying true to their brand of basketball — fast-paced and unselfish, with 35 assists on 50 made shots. Memphis outscored Atlanta in the paint 62-46 and 12-4 in second-chance points.
Seven Grizzlies players, including all five starters, ended the night in double figures.
Scotty Pippen Jr. has seamlessly shifted in and out of the starting lineup this season in Morant’s absence. His performance Saturday night against the Hawks was one of the driving forces behind the Grizzlies’ success.
Pippen Jr. finished the night with 22 points, five rebounds, nine assists, and two steals on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc and 9-of-12 overall, with 10 points and four assists in the first quarter.
Desmond Bane led the Grizzlies with a team-high 23 points, five rebounds, eight assists, and four steals while shooting 4 of 8 from three-point range. Bane has missed eight games this season due to a right oblique strain he suffered early in the season but appears to be returning to his pre-injury form.
Jaren Jackson Jr. spent much of the game in foul trouble and finished with 13 points and five rebounds.
Two of the top five players favored for Rookie of the Year honors wear a Memphis Grizzlies uniform: Zach Edey drafted 9th, and Jaylen Wells drafted 39th.
Both rookies did big work for the Grizzlies in this game: Wells put up 13 points, along with three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Zach Edey added 10 points and six rebounds in his third game after missing the previous 11 games due to a left ankle sprain.
Jake LaRavia led the second unit with 16 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals while shooting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and 6-of-10 overall.
Santi Aldama contributed 10 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Aldama is another player who has moved seamlessly in and out of the starting lineup this season according to team needs.
Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies return to their home court for one more game before the Christmas holiday. They will be facing off against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night. Tip-off is at 7 PM CST.
In a news statement, Lee explained that pardons are “an official statement of forgiveness.” They are granted to those who have completed their sentences and have been living freely in their communities for at least five years.
Other forms of clemency include exoneration and commutation. Lee did not grant either of those Friday.
“After thoroughly reviewing the merits of each case, I have decided to grant 43 individuals executive clemency,” said Lee. “Each individual case is unique and warranted consideration, and I thank the Board of Parole members for their thoughtful recommendations throughout this process.”
Executive clemency decisions are made in consultation with the Tennessee Board of Parole. That board issues non-binding recommendations for each case.
