ARIES (March 21-April 19): Greek philosopher Socrates declared, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” That extreme statement is a foundational idea of Western philosophy. It’s hard to do! To be ceaselessly devoted to questioning yourself is a demanding assignment. But here’s the good news: I think you will find it extra liberating in the coming weeks. Blessings and luck will flow your way as you challenge your dogmas and expand your worldview. Your humble curiosity will attract just the influences you need.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Recently, I brought an amazing Taurus to your attention: the German polymath Athanasius Kircher, who lived from 1601 to 1680. Once again, I will draw on his life to provide guidance for you. Though he’s relatively unknown today, he was the Leonardo da Vinci of his age — a person with a vast range of interests. His many admirers called him “Master of a Hundred Arts.” He traveled extensively and wrote 40 books that covered a wide array of subjects. For years, he curated a “cabinet of curiosities” or “wonder-room” filled with interesting and mysterious objects. In the coming weeks, I invite you to be inspired by his way of being, Taurus. Be richly miscellaneous and wildly versatile.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): How does a person become a creative genius in their field? What must they do to become the best? In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell said that one way to accomplish these goals is to devote 10,000 hours to practicing and mastering your skill set. There’s some value in that theory, though the full truth is more nuanced. Determined, focused effort that’s guided by mentors and bolstered by good feedback is more crucial than simply logging hours. Having access to essential resources is another necessity. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Gemini, because I believe the coming months will be a favorable time to summon a high level of disciplined devotion as you expedite your journey toward mastery.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): There’s a story from West African tradition in which a potter listens to the raw material she has gathered from the earth. She waits for it to tell her what it wants to become. In this view, the potter is not a dictator but a midwife. I believe this is an excellent metaphor for you, Cancerian. Let’s imagine that you are both the potter and the clay. A new form is ready to emerge, but it won’t respond to force. You must attune to what wants to be born through you. Are you trying to shape your destiny too insistently, when it’s already confiding in you about its preferred shape? Surrender to the conversation.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Here’s my odd but ultimately rewarding invitation: Tune in to the nagging aches and itches that chafe at the bottom of your heart and in the back of your mind. For now, don’t try to scratch them or rub them. Simply observe them and feel them, with curiosity and reverence. Allow them to air their grievances and tell you their truths. Immerse yourself in the feelings they arouse. It may take 10 minutes, or it might take longer, but if you maintain this vigil, your aches and itches will ultimately provide you with smart guidance. They will teach you what questions you need to ask and how to go in quest for the healing answers.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Wise gardeners may plan their planting by the moon’s phases. Through study of the natural world, they understand that seeds sown at the ripe moment will flourish, while those planted at random times may be less hardy. In this spirit, I offer you the following counsel for the coming weeks: Your attention to timing will be a great asset. Before tinkering with projects or making commitments, assess the cycles at play in everything: the level of your life energy, the moods of others, and the tenor of the wider world. By aligning your moves with subtle rhythms, you will optimize your ability to get exactly what you want.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In parts of Italy, grapevines were once trained not on wires or trellises, but on living trees, usually maples or poplars. The vines spiraled upward, drawing strength and structure from their tall allies. The practice kept grapes off the ground, improved air circulation, and allowed for mixed land use, such as growing cereals between the rows of trees and vines. In the coming weeks, Libra, I advise you to be inspired by this phenomenon. Climb while in relationship. Who or what is your living trellis? Rather than pushing forward on your own, align with influences that offer height, grounding, and steady companionship. When you spiral upward together, your fruits will be sweeter and more robust.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Migratory monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles, guided by instincts and cues invisible to humans. They trust they will find what they need along the way. Like them, you may soon feel called to venture beyond your comfort zone — intellectually, socially, or geographically. I advise you to rely on your curiosity and adaptability. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, the journey will lead you to resources and help you hadn’t anticipated. The path may be crooked. The detours could be enigmatic. But if you are committed to enjoying the expansive exploration, you’ll get what you didn’t even know you needed.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Your assignment is to uncover hidden treasures. Use the metaphorical version of your peripheral vision to become aware of valuable stuff you are missing and resources you are neglecting. Here’s another way to imagine your task: There may be situations, relationships, or opportunities that have not yet revealed their full power and glory. Now is a perfect moment to discern their pregnant potential. So dig deeper, Sagittarius — through reflection, research or conversation. Trust that your open-hearted, open-minded probing will guide you to unexpected gems.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The legendary jazz musician Louis Armstrong said, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” What did he mean by that? That we shouldn’t try to use words to describe and understand this complex music? Countless jazz critics, scholars, and musicians might disagree with that statement. They have written millions of words analyzing the nature of jazz. In that spirit, I am urging you to devote extra energy in the coming weeks to articulating clear ideas about your best mysteries. Relish the prospect of defining what is hard to define. You can still enjoy the raw experience even as you try to get closer to explaining it.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In the Andean highlands, there’s a concept called ayni, a venerated principle of reciprocity. “Today for you, tomorrow for me,” it says. This isn’t a transactional deal. It’s a relational expansiveness. People help and support others not because they expect an immediate return. Rather, they trust that life will ultimately find ways to repay them. I suggest you explore this approach in the coming weeks, Aquarius. Experiment with giving freely, without expectation. Conversely, have blithe faith that you will receive what you need. Now is prime time to enhance and fine-tune your web of mutual nourishment.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): How often do I, your calm, sensible counselor, provide you with a carte blanche to indulge in exuberant gratification, a free pass for exciting adventures, and a divine authorization to indulge in luxurious abundance and lavish pleasure? Not often, dear Pisces. So I advise you not to spend another minute wondering what to do next. As soon as possible, start claiming full possession of your extra blessings from the gods of joy and celebration and revelry. Here’s your meditation question: What are the best ways to express your lust for life?
The people in this play are messy and are all the more realistic for their complications. (Photos: @itsjusthalo)
The regional premiere of A Bronx Tale at Playhouse on the Square delivers on one of the show’s key messages: There’s nothing worse than wasted talent. No talent was wasted here, as the seamless performance left nothing to be desired. This musical feels like a mash-up of Goodfellas and West Side Story, although I’d make a case that it also proves one of my own favorite maxims: patriarchal society really screws up everyone involved. Look up the lyrics to “Hurt Someone” and you might see my point.
A Bronx Tale experienced quite a journey before being brought to the stage in the musical format. First performed as an autobiographical one-man show by playwright Chazz Palminteri in 1989, the story then appeared on the silver screen in 1993 as the directorial debut of Robert De Niro. It finally came to Broadway as a musical in 2016. I note its many successful formats because its adaptability supports my opinion that the truly special thing about this show wasn’t the music or choreography — enjoyable though they both were — but rather the thematic elements and emotional depth of the story.
The musical follows the early life of Calogero Anello, who witnesses a shooting at a young age and, when he makes the decision not to rat on the shooter, gets taken under the wing of Sunny LoSpecchio, a mob boss. It doesn’t take long before Calogero is completely embroiled in the dealings of the underbelly of his neighborhood, an involvement that his father, a local bus driver, is vehemently against. Thus we have some major elements of the play laid out immediately. The weight of decisions, the mistakes our choices can lead us to, the push and pull of conscience, and the influence our heroes can have on who we become.
The characters in A Bronx Tale are wonderfully three-dimensional, with almost every person making at least one horrible decision, a theme that comes up again and again in the show, right along with the choice to forgive and the choice to try to do better.
Choice seems to be a major part of what drives the musical, and the actors all brought an honesty to their characters that made their emotional turmoil feel all the more urgent and compelling. Aden Pettet was captivating in his Playhouse debut as Calogero, managing as if by magic to evoke charm without appearing arrogant and earnestness without appearing saccharine. The audience roots for Calogero, when we could just as easily wish for his comeuppance.
Kent Fleshman as the manipulative but charismatic Sunny was so believable I can’t begin to conceive of what the actor’s personality could be off the stage, as he so utterly became Sunny on it. Stephen Garrett’s quieter presentation of Lorenzo, Colgero’s father, was a perfect foil for Sunny, representing a much sweeter father/son relationship than one would expect for a show set in the 1960s. It makes the moment when Lorenzo shows his prejudice all the more devastating.
What makes this show so engrossing is the continual set up for the audience to hope that the characters will grow. The way the framework of optimism is constructed throughout this musical is genius, and honestly, in June of 2025, it’s a message we all need to see and hear as much as possible.
In this play, as in life, no one is perfect. The people in this play are messy and are all the more realistic for their complications. These characters are confronted with classism, sexism, and racism, among other complex social issues, and while I sincerely wish those themes weren’t acutely relevant 60 years after this story takes place, the fact is that they are more pertinent now than ever.
Art is a mirror, and this play reflects so many of the biases and struggles we grapple with today. Hopefully, what will ring true is the message that there are those who are willing to spearhead the changes they want to see in the world. This musical is entertainment, of course, but it is also a reminder to be true to your heart and make room there for all people, no matter their background.
A Bronx Tale runs at Playhouse on the Square through July 13th.
Thom Tillis (Photo: United States Congress | Public Domain,
Wikimedia Commons)
The free world, a term which covers a significant portion — varying from time to time in its dimensions — of these United States, has taken note of the bold stand pursued by U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), who this week rebelled against the sheepish instincts of his fellow Republicans in their support of Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill.”
Declaring that, among other things, the bill would drastically undercut the protections extended to the populations of his and other states with severe cuts in Medicaid funding, Tillis publicly declared his opposition to the bill. Knowing that this would land him on Trump’s burgeoning enemies list and ensure that he would face a primary challenge from a Trump acolyte in his reelection bid next year, Tillis went further and, even before the president called for such a thing, said he wouldn’t be running.
An independent streak apparently runs in the Tillis family. The senator’s brother, Rick Tillis, a Lewisburg jeweler and a political moderate like the senator, was for two terms a Republican state representative from District 92 in the Tennessee legislature and ascended to the office of majority whip. But he had difficulty suppressing his sense of anguish at the authoritarian instincts evinced by Glen Casada, the GOP’s house speaker in the 2019 legislative term.
Representative Tillis began operating an anonymous Twitter account entitled “The C.H.B. Blog” (for “Cordell Hull Building Blog”), which mercilessly satirized the speaker’s repressive tactics, including Casada’s clandestine snooping measures against the chamber’s members.
So heavy-handed was Casada’s regime that he was ousted as speaker by his fellow Republicans in the immediate aftermath of that 2019 session, and Tillis’ Twitter barbs had been instrumental in that outcome.
There was payback. A pool of urine was subsequently discovered in one of Tillis’ office chairs, and it was alleged, but never proved, that the donor had been a Casada loyalist.
And Representative Tillis was defeated for reelection in 2020, thanks largely to unusually well-funded support for his primary opponent, largely channeled via a mystery consulting firm called Phoenix Solutions.
In a recent postscript of sorts to the affair, Casada and various others were recently convicted of illegal activities related to the firm, where the former speaker had been a silent partner.
It remains to be seen what degrees of vengeance might end up being leveled at Thom Tillis for his act of apostasy toward Donald Trump, especially since the senator is no longer a candidate for reelection. But the president has long since demonstrated that he is without peer in his zeal for exacting retribution.
Like his brother in Tennessee, however, the senator from North Carolina is clearly unafraid of bullies. It would seem to be a family thing.
This Fourth of July hits differently. Maybe it’s the ongoing warrantless abductions of minorities by unidentified agents of the state, purportedly officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but who knows? On the surface, they’re sadistic acts of human trafficking, yet they’re draped in the American flag. So are the massive unlawful cuts to academic research, including the medical sciences, the current threats to Medicaid, and even the assassination of elected representatives by a MAGA zealot: All bedecked in the ol’ red, white, and blue.
But not everyone’s buying it. And many of us with a little punk deep down inside, or just a penchant for critical thinking, are speaking out — on the microphone. So on this Independence Day, the Memphis Flyer celebrates a dozen songs broadcasting from the heart of the rebel alliance, right here in the Bluff City, by those of us who “do not go gentle into that good night” of sheer kleptocracy, but are instead raging against the dying of democracy.
FAKE (Photo: courtesy Tim Prudhomme)
“UnAmerikan” — FAKE
In keeping with the minimalist songwriting style he perfected in the band Fuck, Tim Prudhomme hits the nail on the head with brevity and wit in this unreleased song from his latest group. FAKE is a very real quartet, and this song has been a popular favorite in their live sets. As Prudhomme notes, the devil’s in the details. “I played it for a friend the other day and she mistakenly thought I was singing ‘UnAmerican,’” he explains. But no, this is aimed squarely at a particular slice of our society, signified with a “k,” that’s obsessed with alpha male fantasies of power and performative patriarchy. Bro culture? Prudhomme ain’t having it: “I don’t like sports bars/I don’t like endless war,” he sings. And, happily, he offers an alternative. “I am a socialist/I am limp of wrist.” He’s hit upon the secret to being 100 percent Proud Boy-free. And so can you.
Mighty Souls Brass Band at one of the regular Monday protests against the Trump agenda (Photo: Anne J. Froning)
The No Kings demonstration on June 14th was full of progressive patriots waving the stars and stripes, even as they rejected the punitive patriotism of the most Trump-loving cultists. Instead, the diverse, decent, compassionate America championed by the marchers was a country fired by joy and community. And that’s where the Mighty Souls Brass Band came in, as the rattling rhythm of a snare drum and the fat bottom of group founder Sean Murphy’s sousaphone kicked in and sent a jolt of electricity through the crowd, reportedly 4,000-strong. That was in part due to the power of the street parade tradition. New Orleans-style brass bands have always involved the joy of movement, the power of the groove to bring us together. And that was on full display for the No Kings event, especially in a tune Murphy recorded with Paul Taylor, written “right around the first time that Trump was elected,” Murphy says, simply titled “People Over Profits.” Even a slower number, “St. James Infirmary Blues,” had a visceral impact derived from its deep history, evoking both the topic of healthcare, including the inequities of archaic medical systems that we thought we’d moved beyond, as well as the historical roots of the protest.
Yet one piece, played in the finest brass band street parade style, was even more on point. “Another song that is really important to me on a bunch of different levels, and that we always try to play at all the protests, is ‘This Land Is Your Land,’” Murphy says. “It’s such an amazing song. It’s sort of an alternative national anthem. And you know, it does help that Woody Guthrie could not stand the current president’s family.”
As Murphy points out, his group is especially well-suited to mass gatherings. “A brass band in particular is a great ensemble for protesting. We’re mobile, obviously, and we don’t require any sort of electrification. And, you know, we are loud! At one of the Monday protests that we did, we had a Trump supporter show up who tried opening the doors to their car and pumping out whatever music they were playing. We didn’t even know they were there until we took a break because they could not be heard over our playing! It was like the viral video from the No Kings march in Atlanta, where a brass band drowned out the Proud Boys.”
Haley Ivey burns Old Glory in 2023. (Photo: Michael Pertl)
Of course, as all punks know, there’s more than one way to drown out the fascists. Haley Ivey, the singer-songwriter behind the band Little Baby Tendencies, is a flutist by training but makes up for that instrument’s delicacy when she straps on an electric guitar. Lately, she’s been singing the lead tune from the band’s Inauguration Day release, Burn Down the State, where she screams at breakneck pace, “Let’s show up with a torch and burn down all their mansions/Rising up to their height and taking charge of all our freedoms … We’ll find out how fast it burns, you fascist piece of shit!” It pairs well with Ivey’s more performative side, which led her in 2023 to ’24 to stage flag burnings in honor of Independence Day.
Not one to mince words, Ivey’s up front about the song’s practical value for rabble-rousing, which gives her mixed feelings. “It’s a little too all-encompassing and a little too shallow,” she says. “I feel like other songs on the album discuss very specific facets of what’s going on, you know, like the complicity of all of us human beings. ‘Sun Song’ on there, I really like because I am, honestly, at the end of the day, very, very passionate about the climate crisis, which I feel like is probably our number one most like the biggest peril that we face.”
While we’re on the subject of heavy guitars recruited to the antifa cause, we can’t sleep on one of the city’s most outspokenly political bands, Red Squad. Their latest, released just before the election last year, brings the riffs and the power chord crunch to spin a somewhat tongue-in-cheek fantasy about tracking down fascists to deliver death metal justice. While presumably not to be taken literally, the scenario is one all lovers of democracy can embrace: “1/6/21, this dipshit storms the Capitol/Bear sprays a cop and fucks off on the lam/They want the best, and we’re deputized by Kamala/We say fuck that, knight us or we walk!”
It’s a unique spin on activism in the video game era, but what matters most are the riffs and the hammering rhythm. And, for all the song’s neo-vigilante romanticism, it now works as a resounding cry of frustration in an era when Trump’s insurrectionists walk free. This had an immediate impact on Memphis’ No Kings march, as activist Hunter Demster pointed out on social media when he noted that “The guy who showed up yesterday to troll the No Kings protest and did a Nazi salute was Joshua Lee Hernandez. He was a J6er who was convicted of assaulting a police officer. Trump pardoned him.”
Red Squad could have been singing about that very convicted criminal: “We swore to catch him/We’ll put his ass on ice/Oath keeping fascist!” But instead of calling modern day knights and screeching eagles, the protesters just swiped his oversized MAGA hat and let him look like a fool.
As Joybomb’s founder and singer-songwriter Grant Beatty told the Flyer recently, “When I was a kid, I got into punk rock and went to the Warped Tour, and there was Rock against Bush. ‘Political punk’ sounds so cheesy, but at the time, you know, there was a war going on. Being a kid, I was super inspired by a lot of that stuff and those bands, even going back to the Clash, you know? Protest music through the power of good lyricism and clever writing and rock-and-roll.”
He brings that energy in full to this tune, an ironic take on the omnipresence of microplastics in our environment, our food, and our bodies. “We’ll call it human progress,” he sings. “And forever we’ll flow/Adapting to your new home/Wash it down your sore throat,” goes the chorus, before a spoken word interlude makes clear that we’re living in dark times indeed. “The land mourns and all who live in it languish/Together with the wild animals and the birds of the air/Even the fish are perishing.” It’s a perfect wake up call for an age when the president aims to defund the Environmental Protection Agency research and staff until we’re blue in the face.
Los Psychosis, the city’s only “Latinx psychobilly band” (Photo: Mariana Mondragón)
In a similar vein, Los Psychosis, a self-described “Memphis-based Latinx psychobilly band,” takes a hard look at the big picture of the environment. Translated as “The Last Lake in China,” the song mourns the disappearance of clean environments where humans can thrive.
As the band’s singer, Javi Arcega, notes, “On NPR, they were talking about the last lake in China that is clean enough to drink water from, and what locals were doing to save it. And at the end of the story, the narrator said that it is no longer the last clean lake in China. It made me think about how great the nation of China is, how huge and powerful it is, and yet there are no clean lakes there. I didn’t even know I was intentionally writing a political environmental song. I had this conscious feeling of like, ‘Hey, we’re destroying the Earth!’ And you can think, ‘I’m so glad that’s not happening in my town,’ but if you’ve heard about Flint, Michigan, you’ll realize it is happening in your town.”
Beyond that, thanks to the current administration, Arcega feels as though, being a Latino, his very existence is a political act. “I feel like it’s so important to be a voice for the people because there’s only a handful of us Latin musicians in town that are very active in the music scene. At the same time, it’s easy to be a target. So I’ve just got to play it cool and [try to] not be a target. But it’s very hard because you just want to sing about what’s going on.”
If you’re wondering where Aktion Kat is coming from, look no further than the title of his 2023 album, It’s Fun to Transgress! The subtitle puts a finer point on it: Rock ‘n’ Roll for the Revolution. And, like Los Psychosis, Aktion Kat is ready and willing to embrace a more international perspective, especially on the hard-hitting, yet surprisingly folksy, “Ferguson to Palestine,” where he sings: “Riot police and flash grenades/Tear gas canisters Amerikkkan made/All funded by the taxes we pay/Occupation is a crime/Ferguson to Palestine. It’s about class, it’s about race/It’s about fuckin’ time that we smash the state and we all participate/Revolution in our time. Ferguson to Palestine/We oughta know, we all should know, this is for real/It’s not a show. There’s blood in the streets wherever you go/Hands up, don’t shoot. I’m young and Black/I wanna live and not get shot in the back.”
It’s an unflinching embrace of radical chic, and if some feel it’s merely a fashion statement, note that Aktion Kat has played a supportive role in nuts-and-bolts politics, as with last December’s Community Distro event that passed out harm-reduction gear and collected contributions for a food pantry. Also note that the group’s allies are legion, and, as they write, “Their myriad komrades are molotov kocktail-slinging kittens from the 9th dimension.” Moreover, they’re armed with a comic strip and action figures. Who said smashing the state couldn’t be fun?
Iron Mic Coalition (Photo: courtesy Quinn McGowan)
While many of the aforementioned artists are on the new side, the Iron Mic Coalition (IMC) is a 20-year-old Memphis institution. And, although one of their most outspokenly political members, Fathom 9, has passed away, this local hip-hop collective is more relevant than ever. Case in point, their release from this March, IMC 4th Edition: Still Iron, keeps the politics front and center. But, as founding member Quinn McGowan puts it, their politics are woven into a whole way of life, built on the four pillars of hip-hop: DJ’ing, emceeing, break dancing, and graffiti.
The way McGowan sees it, all four of those elements are inherently political. “Hip-hop has never been designed to be passive, right? It is an active culture.” Yet at the same time, he emphasizes that rapping is meant to convey the totality of human experience. “I try to be careful about the idea that hip-hop has to adhere to a singular identity, right? People who are rapping are doing activist type stuff, or they are doing poetry, or they are sampling. Activists need to relax, too. It can’t be marching and chanting and fighting all the time.”
Having said that, one can hear McGowan mulling over that tension in the lead cut, “Original Man,” when he raps, “The navigator relapsed to a state of inattentiveness/Which in a last-moment scenario requires the sort of inventiveness/That suggests that I was meant for this!” He’s grappling with the need to be awake to the world’s injustices, even as he feeds his needs as a complete human. Ultimately, he’s down with the resistance. “In the ’90s ran with the mujahedin/Over dunes like Muad’Dib,” referencing the native rebels in Dune.
It’s a balancing act that McGowan has maintained for decades; it’s now carried on by his son Eillo, who also raps on the track. The way he sees it, IMC is playing the long game. “The funny thing about this fourth project, is that, you know, without being contrived or manufactured in any way at all, the album speaks to the moment, not because we as a group are particularly prescient, but more because we’re literally doing what we have always been doing. We’re not doing anything different. We’re trying to speak to the moment that we’re living in and trying to stay with the truth that formed us.”
Joseph and David Higgins of Chinese Connection Dub Embassy and Negro Terror (Photo: Jamie Harmon)
These twin groups are familiar voices of protest in Memphis, both having the Higgins family at their core. The late, great Omar Higgins helped jumpstart both CCDE, a roots reggae group, and Negro Terror, a hardcore band, before his death in 2019, and his brothers Joseph and David now carry the torch.
The CCDE single “Stay Focused” was written by Joseph and Jasira Olatunji and released just before the election last year. Much like IMC’s “Original Man,” it conjures up the personal work one needs to attend to in order to stay active politically over the long haul, this time with an eerily prescient line about neo-fascists actually pursuing those who resist. “You got to stay focused alright cause ya know they coming for ya/Babylon a try to come for you/Wanna distract I and the ghetto youth/But we stand firm on our square/We not goin’ anywhere for this fight, yes we are prepared.”
As Joseph observes, “If you see what’s going on the news and TV and everything, like obviously they’re trying to take our focus off some things that are going on in the world right now. We’re seeing trafficking even in our own backyard, in Memphis! This song is really a call to action. Like people, y’all need to stay focused because Babylon is out here!”
Meanwhile, on more punk note, his brother David carries on as the guitarist and singer of Negro Terror. Their latest release, “KKKaren Anthem,” features these lines, chanted over some very metal chords of doom: “Karen you just won’t quit/You say I fit the description when I ain’t did shit/Then you say you wanna stand your ground, telling me to go to my side of town/Back off trick we just wanna be free because the ugly side of me you don’t wanna see/All you can do is hope and pray because the real street justice is on its way.” If it reads like a threat, it’s also a forceful act of self-defense in the face of white privilege — another side of the personal, interior work one needs to carry on.
Meanwhile, after Omar’s death, two original Negro Terror members, guitarist Rico Tha Akronym and drummer Ra’id Khursheed, went their own way to carry on the hardcore activist spirit. And their 2022 debut EP, The Cease and Desist Letter, is full of hard-hitting riffs paired with trenchant political lyrics. The kickoff track, like the tracks by IMC and CCDE, is not only a call to action, but an exhortation to adopt an activist’s state of mind. It’s something that many of us need to be reminded of. “No longer asking why/At this point it’s do or die/Stand for something, fall for nothing! Betrayed! Enslaved! Led history astray! The lies! Replies/No matter what we try.” It bears repeating, especially when, as Rico observes, “I’ve watched a lot of people stand on one thing, but then when it was gonna ruin their fun, or when it was gonna be uncomfortable, all of a sudden, no one’s talking anymore.”
As a final note, a look backward. The great supergroup Mud Boy and the Neutrons had more than a few songs that conjured up the rebellious spirit of the ’60s, but one of their most effective was “Hitler Lives,” written by Red River Dave and Bill Crouch and first released by Rosalie Allen and the Black River Riders in 1947. Far from being a rallying cry for neo-Nazis (all too imaginable in this day and age), it’s actually a warning. It was revived in powerful fashion in 2010 by the Reba Russell Band, great colleagues of Jim Dickinson and the Mud Boy crew, who slowed it down into an aggrieved country soul ballad. And while it was originally meant to decry the plight of homeless World War II veterans, it rings ever more true for all of us today, on this very twisted Fourth of July:
“Is your memory so numb/You’ve forgotten ’41/When the world was all aflame from shore to shore?/You can count on this my friend/You let Hitler live again/If you should ever turn a hero from your door … Hitler lives … if we hurt our fellow man/Hitler lives … if you forget.”
As I typed those words, I literally shook my head because there is very little I like when it comes to the bizarro bazillionaire from South Africa. I don’t like that he wormed his way into Donald Trump’s inner circle by spending $250 million to help get him elected. I don’t like that after the election Musk was given a pseudo title to run a pseudo government organization called DOGE, under the auspices of which he managed to disassemble critical federal agencies and capriciously fire thousands of federal workers.
I don’t like that while “down-sizing” those federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, Musk enabled his team of hackers to access the personal information of every American. Nor do I like that what Musk and his fellow tech bros — and the Trump White House — will do with that information is yet to be determined. (I’m willing to bet it will be financially and politically profitable for a precious few at the top, and will expose the rest of us to data mining of our finances, political views, shopping habits, travel, social media posts, and sexual preferences, to name just a few possibilities.)
And I don’t trust Musk. I don’t trust that his xAI facilities in Memphis will follow environmental regulations if the regulations don’t suit their mercurial CEO. Musk has never played by the rules, and frankly, Memphis lacks the clout to make him do so, should he choose not to.
But Elon Musk is dead right about one thing: The “big beautiful bill” currently bouncing around the halls of Congress is an absolute environmental disaster. Here’s what Musk posted on his X account: “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country! It’s utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”
He is exactly right (and yes, I’m aware he owns an electric car company). The bill proposes to basically reverse what has been U.S. energy policy for years by eliminating billions of dollars in incentives that were slated to go to solar production facilities, wind energy projects, factories to build energy saving appliances, and, yes, electric cars. On the strength of those incentives, billions of dollars in clean energy production investments had been made and construction had moved forward on thousands of projects, large and small. Under the latest incarnation of the BB Bill, that funding would be summarily eliminated, stranding production and construction, and ending what Musk called “millions of jobs.”
The new bill also eliminates consumer subsidies for rooftop solar, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and other energy-efficient technologies.
And it gets worse. Not content to merely claw back promised investment incentives in clean energy projects, the bill also imposes new taxes on existing wind and solar projects and farms, and penalizes them further if they utilize materials from China, which supplies many of the materials used in the production of renewable energy.
“They’re proposing an outright massacre with punishing new taxes on these industries,” said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. “It’s a death penalty.”
So why would Republicans cut the legs out from under all the country’s investments in green energy, even the ones benefiting their own states? Here’s a hint: Donald Trump thinks the United States should get its energy from oil drilling and coal mining, as God intended. He campaigned vociferously against green energy because, well, … heavy batteries will sink boats and sharks will eat you? Who knows? It’s Trump. It doesn’t have to make sense. It’s been made abundantly clear over the past eight years that Republicans will do whatever Trump wants them to do. The stupid is a feature, not a bug. And besides, global climate change doesn’t exist because windmills will kill bald eagles. So there.
Let’s give the last word on the bill to my new pal, Elon: “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” he said. “Shame on those who voted for it.” Musk added that if the bill is passed, “It would be political suicide for the Republican Party.” Right on, Elon! Let’s hope you’re right again.
Alfie Williams,
Jodie Comer, and
Ralph Fiennes run from rage zombies in 28 Years Later. (Courtesy Columbia Pictures)
George Romero invented the modern zombie film starting in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead. There had been zombie-themed horror films in the 1930s and ’40s, like White Zombie and I Walked with a Zombie, but they had been focused on the Haitian Vodou roots of the zombie myth, filtered through the era’s ubiquitous racism.
Night of the Living Dead is not about a witch doctor using magic to control a white woman. In Romero’s vision, an unknown cosmic force reanimates “the unburied dead” who kill and eat the living. The word “zombie” is never uttered in the film; Romero and co-writer John Russo called them “ghouls.” But by the time Romero filmed the sequel, 1978’s Dawn of the Dead, they were zombies, and his vision had replaced the original meaning of the word.
The 21st century has seen a huge surge in zombie media. (How many seasons did The Walking Dead and its spinoffs run? Too many!) The zombie renaissance started in 2002 with 28 Days Later. Written by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle, it captured the imagination with its opening sequence where Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakens from a coma and wanders through an empty London. While Romero’s zombies were shambling corpses who were easy to avoid but hard to escape, Boyle and Garland’s zombies were very fast and very mean — and not, technically speaking, dead. The highly infectious rage virus destroyed the thinking parts of the brain while amping up the victim’s fear and violence.
Shot in the early days of digital, 28 Days Later was an early example of chaos cinema. Liberated from the cost of film stock, Boyle shot his action sequences handheld with lots of coverage, then jammed the whole thing together in the editing room, creating excitement out of the combination of shaky cam and quick cuts. It was a big factor in the film’s success and, along with The Bourne Identity, inspired a decade’s worth of disorienting and often sloppy action.
The 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, was produced by an entirely different team. Now, after a decade in development hell, Garland and Boyle have returned to zombieland with 28 Years Later. At the end of the last film, the rage virus had spread to Paris. But apparently, the Europeans had more luck combatting the zombies than the British did. Now, Britannia is a total quarantine zone. Anything that gets out is shot on sight by EU patrols, and if you go in, you’re on your own.
That’s not only EU policy; it’s also how they do things at Lindisfarne, an island off the Scottish coast connected to the mainland by a causeway which is only passable at low tide. That’s where 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) lives with his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and mother Isla (Jodie Comer). The survivors’ commune is pretty well protected by fortifications both natural and manmade, but they have virtually zero connection to the outside world. Isla is sick with an unknown ailment which leaves her confused and weak. When Jamie decides it’s time for 12-year-old Spike to come of age by killing his first zombie with a bow and arrow, Isla is terrified she’ll never see her son again. But she quickly forgets, and Spike reassures her he’s just going to school. The townsfolk give them a big sendoff, but not before the commune’s matriarch (Stella Gonet) reminds them, “No rescues. No exceptions.”
Once on the mainland, Spike and Jamie loot houses that have been already picked over. In the forest, Jamie finds an obese rage zombie crawling on the ground eating worms. He goads a shaking Spike into putting an arrow in its jugular — and almost misses the second zombie sneaking up behind them. As they traipse through the ruined uplands, they attract the attention of an Alpha zombie (Chi Lewis-Parry). It seems that when some people are infected by the virus, their pituitary gland goes into overdrive, and they grow much larger and smarter than normal zombies. Since the ragers are mostly naked, we see that ALL of the Alpha’s bodily appendages have grown much larger than normal.
While hiding in an attic from the Alpha and his minions, Spike sees a fire on the horizon. Jamie believes it belongs to Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), another survivor whom the Lindisfarne folks believe has gone stark raving mad. But what Spike hears is “doctor.” The commune hasn’t had a physician in years, and he’s hopeful that a real MD could cure his mother’s mysterious disease. When they finally make it back to their island, Spike makes a plan to escape to Dr. Kelson’s with Isla in tow. But what chance does a 12-year-old and a sickly dementia patient have in a Scotland swarming with zombies?
The most surprising thing about 28 Years Later is how retro it is. Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle shot the bulk of the movie on an iPhone 15 Pro Max — a much more advanced camera than the Canon XL1 they used on 28 Days Later. The edit is a blast of full frontal chaos cinema, circa 2003. The inhabitants of the British Isles have been reduced to a medieval state, while their European neighbors across the channel enjoy iPhones and cosmetic surgery. Editor Jon Harris gets the point across by intercutting Spike’s longbow practice sessions with scenes from Laurence Olivier’s wartime masterpiece Henry V. If you liked Natural Born Killers for the editing, this film is for you.
But if you’re not into being pummeled by a W-era digital image flood, you might come away from 28 Years Later with a headache. Let’s just say the post-screening conversation in the Malco Studio on the Square men’s room grew quite heated.
I was on the “pro” side of the argument. Boyle and Garland are all out of fucks to give, and I found their big swings exhilarating. At age 14, Alfie Williams is already a breakout talent; he and Jodi Corner are grounding presences amidst the chaos. Then Ralph Fiennes shows up painted red from head to toe, looking like things have gotten out of hand at the Grand Budapest Hotel. The British Isles isolated from the European Union, crawling with infected people who are too stupefied to help themselves, feels eerily familiar in our post-Brexit, post-Covid world, and that’s no coincidence. As George Romero taught us, the real villains are always the humans.
Central Gardens July 4th Parade (Photo: Chris McCoy)
The Fourth of July is always an anticipated time of the year and Central Gardens is the place to spend it. Its celebration will be on Belvedere Boulevard and will have food and beverages available for purchase, entertainment, contests, activities, and a parade for everyone to enjoy.
The Central Gardens Association’s (CGA) event committee has planned contests such as best costume for adults, children and pets, best float design, and most patriotic house. Spay Memphis will be in attendance to show their good work in Memphis while keeping pets hydrated with water bowls. Food and beverage options will include the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, TopDawgz, and Byway Coffee Company. Residents of Belvedere Boulevard will also be serving watermelon slices, lemonade, and water to enjoy. For entertainment, the Memphis Second Line Jazz Band will be leading the parade, and local bluegrass band Grassfire will be participating as well. They will be joined by the Westwood High School cheerleaders and the Boy Scouts in the parade. Representatives from the Memphis Police Department and the Memphis Fire Department are expected at the parade as well.
This parade has been a tradition since the ’70s and was held on Carr Avenue until the CGA got neighbors involved to volunteer and put on the parade. So, in recent years, it has been relocated to different streets so everyone can make the parade special in different ways.
“This is an event for everyone to come together and celebrate America’s birthday. It’s the perfect opportunity for neighbors to come together and be reminded of what unites us and to spend time with friends, old and new,” says Stephanie Bennett, leader of the Community Building and Events committee at CGA. The parade will be on Friday, July 4th, from 9:00 a.m. to noon.
July 4th Parade, Central Gardens, Belvedere Boulevard north of Peabody, Friday, July 4, 9 a.m.-noon.
Music lovers at the 2018 Beale Street Music Festival (Photo courtesy Memphis in May)
Tennessee tourism broke yet another record last year with visitors spending more than $31.7 billion in the state last year, according to new state data.
A new report from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development (TDTD) said direct visitor spending grew 3.3 percent in Tennessee last year. That figure has grown 35.5 percent since 2018.
Visitors here spent nearly $87 million each day in Tennessee, according to the new report. State officials said total tourism spending here yielded $3.3 billion in state and local tax revenue, saving residents $1,170 in taxes for the year.
“Tennessee’s tourism momentum is built to last, creating jobs, fueling small businesses, delivering real returns on public investment and generating substantial tax revenues that directly benefit Tennesseans,” Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement.
County-by-county breakdowns of tourism trends were not yet available for 2024. However, here are some key takeaways from Shelby County in 2023:
• County rank: 2 (behind Davidson County)
• Total visitor economic impact: $4.2 billion
• Employment: 28,354
• State taxes: $264 million
• Labor income: $1.2 billion
• Local taxes: $153 million
• Daily tourism expenditures: $11.5 million
• Largest spend category: food and beverage, $1.4 billion
• Second largest category: transportation, $1 billion
The TDTD report classifies one overnight trip by one person a “person-trip.” So, if one person stays overnight away from home in Tennessee, that’s one person-trip. If a family of four does the same, that’s four person-trips.
Analysts recorded 146 million person-trips in Tennessee last year, according to the report. Of those, 81 million were day trips and 64.9 million were overnight trips.
Of the overnight trips, 85 percent were repeat visitors to Tennessee. Most of these trips (77 percent) were taken by adults. Most of these trips (38 percent) were made to visit family and friends. Just 16 percent of these trips were made for touring.
The largest share of trips (22 percent) to Tennessee were made by Tennesseans. Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Florida followed. Most trips to Tennessee originated in Nashville (9 percent), Memphis (5 percent), and Atlanta (4 percent). Other top visiting cities outside of Tennessee included Chicago, New York City, Asheville, NC, and Dallas.
Most visitors (45 percent) stayed in hotels. Most (69 percent) came for entertainment activities. The top three activities were shopping, sightseeing, and going to bars and nightclubs.
Nearly half (48 percent) of Tennessee visitors did some outdoor activity while on visits here. The top three activities included swimming, national and state parks, and local parks and playgrounds.
Jaren Jackson Jr. after 119-104 win over the Dallas Mavericks on January 6, 2025. (Photo by: @memgrizz Instagram/X)
The Memphis Grizzlies are set to sign big man Jaren Jackson Jr. to a massive five-year, $240 million max contract extension, solidifying his future with the team. The deal, reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania, cements Jackson’s position as a cornerstone player for Memphis, alongside Ja Morant.
The Grizzlies prioritized locking up Jackson Jr. this offseason. With the extension, Jackson will remain in Memphis through at least the 2028-2029 season, providing a strong foundation for the team to build around.
The Michigan State alum averaged 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game last season. He has steadily improved his offense since entering the league as the No. 4 pick in the 2018 NBA draft.
Jackson Jr.’s resume:
18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steal per game career averages
NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2022-23)
Two-time NBA All-Star
Three-time All-Defensive Team
All-Rookie Team
NBA Defensive Player of the Month
NBA Player of the Week
Jackson Jr.’s new proposed deal makes him the highest-paid Grizzlies player ever.
Jackson Jr. professed his love for the city on social media:
the M will teach you who you are . w love . it’s always grit n grind when we’re out here at all costs
still feel like I remember moving here yesterday. year 7. I am incredibly thankful for everyone who has impacted my time here. to much more ahead . always been the M 💙💙💙
Here’s what the restaurant and bar said on Facebook Monday afternoon:
“Celtic Crossing is currently closed.
“As the Memphis community is beginning to see from media reports, a vehicle crashed into our patio shortly before 9 a.m. this morning. Our team is currently dedicating their attention to this incident.
“We are very thankful there were no injuries among our staff, and we’re keeping the driver in our thoughts.
“We are currently closed as we evaluate the damage and clean up. Please continue to check our social media pages for updates about reopening.”
