Paul Mescal on his hero’s journey, looking a little lost
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” That’s Karl Marx, who was not, of course, talking about Gladiator II. He was talking about real capital-H History, the kind we’re all living in. But like Gladiator II, our era of historical do-overs is rapidly descending into the farcical.
After decades of excellence, director Ridley Scott won his Best Picture Academy Award for Gladiator in 2000. The film also earned A Beautiful Mind star Russell Crowe a Best Actor trophy and made him a household name. Yet since the film ended with Crowe’s character, the unsubtly named Maximus, dying in the Colosseum, the prospects of a sequel were unlikely. But finally, the Hollywood history-repeating machine came calling, and Scott, fresh off telling the story of Napoleon with Gladiator co-star Joaquin Phoenix, strapped on his armor for another bout in the arena.
Like the first, Gladiator II begins with a battle. This time, it’s in the North Africa province of Numidia, where farmer Hanno (Paul Mescal) and his wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen) are called to defend their home against the invading legions of General Acacius (Pedro Pascal). After a spectacular opening sequence, the city falls, and Hanno is thrown into the arena for the first time. His first opponents are baboons, which is actually a thing Romans did. But these are obviously CGI creations, which makes it look like the Geonosis arena scenes in Star Wars: Episode 2 – Attack of the Clones. This is not a serious historical epic, like Kubrick’s Spartacus or Scott’s Napoleon. It’s more like a half-remembered, sword-and-sandals melodrama from the 1950s, like Quo Vadis, which Spartacus was a reaction against.
Naturally, there is a Spartacus joke in Gladiator II, when a slave-master asks the assembled gladiators who fired an arrow at General Acacius, and they all answer, “I did!” Like Spartacus, Hanno is also destined to lead a gladiator rebellion against his masters. But where Kirk Douglas’ gladiator revolutionary is a common slave who organized a civilization-shaking rebellion while in chains, Hanno turns out to be yet another Hollywood chosen one on a standard-issue Hero’s Journey. His real name is Lucius. His father, we eventually learn, was Maximus, and his mother is Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), which makes him the rightful heir of Marcus Aurelius, the last “good” emperor of Rome. Not that the Roman Empire really respected such niceties, as Macrinus (Denzel Washington) points out. Macrinus is a scheming upstart power broker who latches on to Hanno/Lucius as a disruptive force to the rule of co-emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).
Washington’s gleeful wheelings and dealings, as Macrinus whispers poison into the ears of the emperors, are easily the best thing about Gladiator II. He seems to know exactly the level of camp to bring to the proceedings.
Washington’s greatness brings into great relief Gladiator II’s biggest failure: It lacks Russell Crowe. The original’s script wasn’t that great, either, which seems a chronic problem with Scott (I’m looking at you, Prometheus). But an actor with Crowe’s charisma can make the nonsense go down easier. When he bellowed, “Are you not entertained?” to the Colosseum crowd, Crowe filled up the screen. Paul Mescal, on the other hand, always looks a little lost in the arena. When Macrinus opines that he’s betting on Lucius’ all-consuming rage to help him survive the arena, I roll my eyes. Kirk Douglas’ Spartacus would have made mincemeat of him.
Still, there are pleasures to be had in Gladiator II. Scott still knows how to stage a battle scene, and the sweeping vistas of Rome provide some eye candy. If that’s all you’re looking for, it delivers. Otherwise, you can skip this Roman holiday.
On Saturdays, my grandfather used to take me and the other grandkids to Wiles-Smith Drugstore for lunch. We would sit, hang out and be kids, drink malted milkshakes, and eat hot dogs or club sandwiches or tuna-fish salads. He would always get the same thing: a bowl of chili with three or so crackers, and he’d bring his own Mississippi-style tamales with him.
I remember there was a vintage copper-plated weighing scale when you first entered. My cousin Will and I would play with it, feeding it coins, taking turns getting weighed. It spat out a paper card with a fortune on it. What was mindless scrawl for an adult had seemed like wisdom to our little-kid-brains, with our wild imaginations. Gumball machines and tchotchkes littered the store. Above the register were mindless doodles and political cartoons. One of those cartoons I remember fondly: a duck looking calm above the water, but paddling maddeningly below the surface. The joke, I don’t remember. That’s not the important part to me. The cashier was an old man, the owner I believe, who wore tiny half-moon glasses and knew my grandfather by name. When I went to the bathroom, there was a dingy glow to the bulb and the towel was a recycled cloth roll. I spent half my bathroom breaks just tugging on it, making the Sisyphean object endlessly move, imagining that each rotation was actually a brand-new roll.
Wiles-Smith burned down in 2014, a year before I graduated from college.
Recently, another Memphis staple lost its home to rising rent: Black Lodge.
When I first encountered this wonderful establishment, it lived in Cooper-Young, every wall covered in DVDs, each section its own genre. Movies weren’t categorized as just Horror or Comedy. Instead, as Auteurs or Moods. One section, I recall, was Anime Classics. Neon Genesis and Akira rested on the shelves. David Lynch had his own dedicated section. Every single iteration of that man’s genius sat on its own shelf. That’s how I found DumbLand, the greatest “stupidity” I’ve ever enjoyed.
It wasn’t just a rental shop, though. Kids of all ages would be there, lounged and perched like cats in an adoption center, just hanging out and shooting the shit. Once, I went on a date there, and all we did was watch a movie on the TV. I think it was Ennio Morricone’s Django. Or maybe the director was Sergio Corbucci. Matt, the proprietor, would know. He knows every movie, and, in fact, a secret of his was to know the movie you wanted before you could even say so.
Black Lodge, a year or so after I went to college, had to move. When I came back to Memphis after my six-month stint in Portland, I got a room next door to the old location and watched as the landlord slowly transformed the place into a music venue. A piece of my heart broke with each hammer against board.
When Black Lodge found a new home in the Crosstown area, they put all their money and sweat and tears and, possibly literally, blood into it. At first, it was a success. They drew in old heads and new ones, too. Slowly, they added a bar and kitchen and started having movie nights. A local chef, Jimmy, had crafted five-course meals for $60 a seat, designed around a certain movie. The event for Everything Everywhere All at Once had hot-dogs, congee, and an everything bagel dessert. It was a perfect experience.
There were other events, too: drag performances, wrestling shows, and even a few raves. Local musicians got their start on the stage, comedy troupes hosted sketches twice a month, and still, yes, folks rented tons of movies. There were spots for gamers and board-game enthusiasts. Truly, Black Lodge was the third space to end all third spaces.
But not even they could survive the Covid-19 pandemic and rising rent in Memphis. Alas, they shuttered their doors mid-August 2024.
As I write this, I think of these other third spaces in danger right now: local cafes especially. One place, Java Cabana, is renovating, and I hope they get business when they reopen.
Oh, where are those diners? Where are our lodges? How much longer will we even have our green spaces? I can already hear a developer singing out: You can build apartments there, you know …
I may miss my milkshakes and my grandfather. But I hope I don’t add third spaces to that list as well. Cherish what you have while it’s here.
William Smythe is a local writer and poet. He writes for Focus Mid-South, an LGBT+ magazine.
Right here last week we poked fun at a big typo in The Commercial Appeal with a legacy headline “Dammit Gannett.” We left off a “t” at the end of Gannett in a typo-inside-a-typo-meta-Inception kind of situation. We regret the error!
The Business
Speaking of newspapers, The Daily Memphian launched its online marketplace last week. The first item listed was an anti-circumcision book titled “This Penis Business.” History, folks.
Prepare
Posted to Facebook by The Damn Weather of Memphis
Speaking of penises, “prepare for penetration,” wrote The Damn Weather of Memphis about last week’s bomb cycle weather event that brought cooler temps here.
Tonya Dyson and Chef Eli (Photos: Michael Donahue)
“Soirée” is French for “evening party,” so the “Orpheum Soirée” was a perfect name for the event held on November 15th at the Orpheum Theatre.
And to make it more perfect, the theme of the event was the Moulin Rouge, in a nod to the musical of the same name that recently played the Orpheum.
Cindi Younker and Christopher BlankJake and Suzanne BrownSpring and Taurus BaileyRod Jones and Lan BoganGary Beard and Joe LackieKristin Bennett-BanksBrandon Arrindell, Ebony Arrindell, Dr. Robin Hobbs-Carter, Patrick “Trey” Carter, and Jonathan White
“This sold-out event, inspired by the legendary Moulin Rouge dance hall in Paris, transformed the entire theater and transported our guests to Paris for the evening,” says Tracy Trotter, Orpheum Theatre Group’s vice president of development.
Tonya Dyson and Chef Eli
More than 800 people attended the event, which included 12 live auction items and hundreds of items in the online auction.
Carol Casey, Brian and Lauren KennySteve and Lura Turner and Ryan and Catherine TurnerDiana and Gabe VelasquezLatty Latimer and Nicole DouglasJeff Morris and Brett BattersonMorgan Goad and Haley WilsonPedro Velasquez Jr. and Esther CalderonPedro, Diana, and ndres Velasquez
The event, originally known as “The Orpheum Auction,” began in 1980. The name changed to “Soirée in the Spotlight” in 2017. In 2018, it was rebranded to “The Orpheum Soirée.”
“Tickets, sponsorships, and donations help power the Orpheum’s education and community engagement programs to provide unmatched arts access and top-tier education opportunities for Memphis and communities across the Mid-South,” Trotter says.
Turkey breast at Tops Bar-B-Q & Burgers (Photo: Courtesy Tops Bar-B-Q & Burgers)
Maybe you don’t want to pull out grandma’s tarnished silver turkey tray and gravy boat this year.
Maybe you don’t want to hold a big frozen turkey under a sink faucet for an hour because you forgot to thaw the bird.
Maybe you really just want a “happy” Thanksgiving this time.
So, here are a few places that can redress Turkey Day stress.
Tops Bar-B-Q & Burgers is offering its Pit-Smoked Turkey Club. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht)
Tops Bar-B-Q & Burgers
Just in time for the holidays, Tops is offering its Pit-Smoked Turkey Club as well as whole turkey breasts.
The sandwich comes with pit-smoked turkey breast slices, “barbecue mayonnaise,” applewood bacon, American cheese, lettuce, and tomato.
That barbecue mayonnaise — Tops’ original sweet barbecue sauce blended together with some spices — is a special component, says Tops CEO Randy Hough.
“Guests have been asking us for years — around the holidays, especially — ‘What do you have in terms of a turkey for the holidays?’” says Tops exec Hunter Brown.
They ask, “Are you going to have anything like a seasonal ham or turkey this year?” Hough adds.
This year, the restaurant chain has obliged. The five-pound breasts, which serve up to 10 or 12 people, are “100 percent usable,” Brown says. “You don’t have to carve around any bones.”
Tops will be closed on Thanksgiving, but customers can preorder the turkeys or just pick them up at a Tops location. “It’s already ready. We’re serving it as a sandwich and are able to get them one.”
And, Brown says, “Where else can you roll through a drive-through on your way home and say, ‘I want to get one of those pit-smoked turkeys,’ and several minutes later have it in your car on your way home as if you’re getting a cheeseburger combo? And we will hand it to you out the window.”
“We’ve got you covered until 9 at night,” Hough adds. “I could have used this a couple of times in my lifetime.”
Another Tops Thanksgiving option? Their turkey burger, which they offer all year round. “What’s cool about turkey burgers is turkey burger eaters love it, but cheeseburger eaters also love it,” Brown says.
Chef Keith Clinton’s sweet potato and chèvre with sauce poivrade (Photo: Courtesy Chez Philippe)
Chez Philippe
This might not be the year you want to whip up truffle-stuffed squab and Chateaubriand for your Thanksgiving feast. So, let Keith Clinton make it for you from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Thanksgiving night at Chez Philippe at The Peabody.
Clinton, the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, and Konrad Spitzbart, the hotel’s executive pastry chef, created an elegant four-course prix fixe Thanksgiving dinner.
“At Chez, we are detail-oriented,” Clinton says. “We want to emulate the nostalgia and memory of a family meal by way of taste and service. We have familiar staples of holiday tradition. We just tweak the approach and keep it interesting.
“I’m going to use cranberries, turkey, and sweet potato. But I’m also going to use truffle, squab, and edible gold.”
Clinton also is also paying tribute to his own Thanksgivings past. “My grandmother has a patch of persimmon trees on her land. I’m going to use them in our opening canapé sequence as kind of a memory of those family gatherings of my own.”
That will be his persimmon and merengue, which he is featuring with pear and port gelée.
There will be sweet potatoes: Clinton’s “sweet potato and chèvre with sauce poivrade,” which he will serve with Heritage Farms turkey. “I have a distinct memory of watching the marshmallow bubble on top of the sweet potato casserole when I was a kid. I’m leaning on that memory to cook a course for our guests this holiday season.”
Spitzbart is offering pumpkin bavarois along with chocolate brûlée with brown butter and micro sponge crisp honeycomb for the dessert course.
Turkeys ready to go at Neil’s Music Room (Photo: Courtesy Neil’s Music Room)
Neil’s Music Room
If you want a more laid-back Thanksgiving dinner, but still desire traditional turkey and all the trimmings, head over to Neil’s Music Room at 5725 Quince Road. Owner Neil Heins is continuing his more than 30-year tradition of offering Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day.
Heins began doing the dinners when his club was on Madison Avenue. “I started doing them ’cause I was broke,” he says. “Everything was closed on Thanksgiving. I said, ‘Shit. I’ll open up.’”
His menu includes smoked turkey, homemade dressing, “real mashed potatoes,” cranberry sauce, green beans, corn, English peas, and rolls. “And then we give them a dessert. And most of the time it’s pumpkin pie.”
Dinner is served until they run out. “We start at 11 in the morning. And we normally close at 1 in the morning. It usually dies down at about 4 or 5. We’ll serve all day as long as we have it.”
John Williams and the A440 Band will perform.
Neil’s also is selling its Thanksgiving meal to-go.
Chicken and dressing at Dale’s (Photo: Courtesy Dale’s)
Dale’s
Dale’s is continuing its 20-year-tradition of serving dinner on Thanksgiving. It’s featured from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the restaurant at 1226 Main Street in Southaven, Mississippi.
Customers get a choice of chicken and dressing or baked ham along with three vegetables, homemade rolls, and cornbread. “And it comes with a piece of sweet potato pie,” says owner Larita Mathis.
They normally serve the same items on their regular Thursday and Sunday menus. “So, we thought, ‘Why don’t we open on Thanksgiving?’” Mathis says.
Customers include “regulars that come every year and new people that just heard about it — or that we do everything from scratch.”
Dale’s also offers to-go orders to feed approximately 10 or 20 people. “All our vegetables and pies are available. So, that’s a big part of our business. People can place orders a few days before Thanksgiving.”
The dressing is made from her grandmother’s recipe, Mathis says. They boil the chickens to make the broth. And they make the cornbread that goes in it.
“We don’t use turkey because the turkey broth has a wilder flavor. If you try to make dressing with that, your dressing has a totally different taste. We tried that one year and it’s just not the same.”
Mathis and her family may grab something to eat that day. But, she says, “By the time we feed everybody, we just want to eat a hot dog or something. We don’t want to look at chicken and dressing.”
With pressure building for potential tax increases in Memphis city government, the outlook for additional aid from state government took a hit Monday, as the State Funding Board acknowledged weaker-than-expected revenues and set a deliberately slow growth rate.
The board, composed of the state’s three constitutional officers and the state finance commissioner, set a growth rate in general fund revenue of 1 percent to 2 percent and total tax growth at 1.25 percent to 2.15 percent for fiscal 2025-26. That is on the heels of an estimated total growth rate projection for fiscal 2024-25 of -1.68 percent to -1.34 percent.
Economic growth has ground down considerably in Tennessee after a double-digit revenue windfall of two years ago. Among other factors, the state is facing a $1.9 billion business tax reduction stemming from legislative approval of Governor Bill Lee’s proposal to eliminate the property portion of the state’s franchise and excise taxes. That move followed additional tax breaks for businesses the previous year. The Department of Revenue has processed nearly $900 million in rebates this year, and more are expected.
On the eve of the oncoming 2025 legislative session, the weak budget outlook could affect lawmakers’ decisions, leaving in the lurch not only localities’ requests for aid but funding requests from state agencies totaling over $4.2 billion. The revenue forecast isn’t expected to come close to matching that figure, even with anticipated federal funds covering some of the costs.
• Two Memphians are finalists to succeed soon-to-be-retiring state Court of Appeals Judge Arnold Goldin of Memphis: Shelby County Circuit Judge Valerie Smith and interim Memphis Chancellor Jim Newsom. A third candidate is Jackson Chancellor Steve Maroney, a former chair of the Madison County Republican Party.
Smith was a member of a three-judge chancery court panel that dismissed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the state’s school voucher program. The decision was later reversed by the Court of Appeals.
Newsom was named in 2015 to a Chancery Court position by former Governor Bill Haslam but was defeated for re-election in 2016 by current Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins. He was reappointed interim chancellor this past summer by Governor Lee to assume the duties of Chancellor Jim Kyle, who has been disabled by illness.
• The three gun-safety measures approved resoundingly by Memphis voters earlier this month via ballot referenda have predictably come under legal challenge. The Tennessee Firearms Association has filed a lawsuit in Shelby County Circuit Court seeking to block city government from activating the measures.
In a sense, the gun-lobby group’s suit is pointless, in that backers of the referenda conceded that voter approval of the measures was conditional on the will and pleasure of state government, which had made clear that state policy at this point would disallow the implementation of the three measures.
State House Speaker Cameron Sexton had angrily opposed the referenda as antithetical to state law and threatened to retaliate by cutting Memphis off from various state-shared revenues if the measures were enacted.
The measures, certified for the ballot by the city council, would re-institute a requirement locally for gun-carry permits, ban the sale of assault weapons, and enable the local judiciary to impose red-flag laws allowing confiscation of weapons from individuals certified as risks to public safety.
Mindful of Sexton’s attitude, backed by Governor Lee, the Shelby County Election Commission originally acted to remove the referendum measures from the November ballot, but they were approved for the ballot by Chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson.
• It begins to look as though the beleaguered Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert will survive various ouster attempts and will survive in office until the election of 2026, when she will be term-limited.
Her latest reprieve came from Circuit Court Judge Felicia Corbin-Johnson, who disallowed an ouster petition from attorney Robert Meyers, ruling that such an action had to be pursued by Shelby County Attorney Marlinee Iverson, who had recused herself.
Judge Corbin-Johnson had previously disallowed an ouster attempt from Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp, who was acting as a special prosecutor.
It was a sunny, mild November Saturday. I was on South Idlewild Street, stopped at the corner where it intersects Madison, waiting for traffic to clear so I could pull out and turn left. I was headed to Home Depot to get a couple of keys made and pick up some paper towels. A big day, no doubt.
Madison was busy, and I’d been idling there a bit before I noticed the man in the red jacket and khaki pants sitting on a low wall by the intersection. It appeared he was trying to pull himself upright using the nearby wrought-iron fence and was having no luck at it.
After watching for a moment, I lowered my window and said, “Do you need some help?”
“Yes, I do,” he said.
There was no one behind me, so I backed up a little, parked at the curb opposite from him, and crossed the quiet street. He had a stout wooden walking stick in his right hand, and I took his left hand in both of mine and pulled him to a standing position.
“I got to be careful. It’s my knee,” he said. “It gives out after a while and I have to sit down. But then, getting up can be a problem.”
“Where are you going?”
“Walgreens. I need to pick up my prescriptions.”
“Well, let me give you a ride.”
“Thank you. I’d appreciate it.”
As we made the short drive to the pharmacy, he told me his name was John A ___ and spelled it out for me, and that he lived at St. Peter Manor, a few blocks away. He said he’d been to the doctor the day before and had been prescribed some new meds.
As I dropped him off at Walgreens, I said, “I’ve got to run to Home Depot but I’ll swing back by here in 20 minutes or so, and if you’re here I’ll take you home.”
“That’s kind of you. I’ll keep an eye out for you.”
I got to Home Depot, went in, and grabbed a jumbo package of paper towels. They were on sale, stacked right by the front door. But when I got to the key-making machine, there was a line and it took a while. Afterward, I drove back to Walgreens and cruised the lot but saw no sign of Mr. A. On a hunch, I turned off of Union onto South Idlewild, and there he was, slowly limping along by the Goodwill store, not too far from where I’d picked him up earlier. I stopped next to him, lowered the passenger-side window, and said, “You want a lift, John?”
“Boy, I sure do,” he said. “Can you come around and open the door for me?”
“No problem. I got you.”
On the short trip back to St. Peter Manor, John asked me if I’d ever been inside the place. “It’s pretty nice,” he said.
I told him I had and that at one point several years ago, I’d looked into getting my mother a place there, but that she’d decided she wanted to stay in New Mexico, where one of my brothers lives.
“Oh, she’s smart. New Mexico is beautiful,” John said. “I remember the sun and the desert … and the mountains and sky. Everything is so big. I loved New Mexico. And I like the West a lot. Plenty of room to move around out there.”
“It really is beautiful,” I said.
“Well, thank you again for the ride,” John said, as we pulled up to his home base. “I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. Glad to do it,” I said. And I was. I got out and went around to the passenger side and helped him get to a standing position.
“Hey,” he said. “Let me give you my phone number, in case you want to get ahold of me.” So he told me his seven digits (I assumed the “901” was a given), and I entered them into my phone as he headed toward the glass doors of St. Peter Manor.
I don’t know that I’ll call him, but I texted him my number, and you never know. We didn’t get into how or why John lived out West, but I suspect he might have some good stories. Meanwhile, happy Thanksgiving, y’all. Count your blessings.
On December 1st, Memphians will be transported to the rainforest as models take to the runway in exotic and elegant looks at Cossitt Library. Some of them will be literary-themed, harkening to genres and books; some will be high-fashion, while others will be streetwear. All will be a part of the third-ever Category Fashion Show, presented by designer Demi Blvck, this year in support of the Memphis Library Foundation (MLF).
Of his choice to partner with MLF, Blvck says, “I felt like I had a different story to tell” — one being that, in between designing for Miss Universe, New York Fashion Week, LA Fashion Week, the upcoming Paris Fashion Week, and the like, he also “low-key, I mean, low-key” writes short stories. One of these stories is set in a rainforest, about a panther, the king of the jungle, whose unorthodox romance with a serpent becomes the center of unwanted gossip, hence the rainforest theme. “I felt like this show was the perfect way to introduce to the world that I’ve written stories for years, but I’ve always kept it to myself,” Blvck says.
The fashion show will also kick off Cossitt Library’s fashion literacy education program that came about from listening to the needs of patrons, says Brian Lyles, director of Cossitt Library. “It will feature a diverse range of fashion-related events and activities, including sewing classes, T-shirt printing workshops, AI-driven fashion design courses, dedicated areas for merchandise entrepreneurship, financial literacy in the fashion industry, and more.”
Blvck will lend a hand in the implementation of the program. With so many experiences under his belt, he says he wants other Memphians to know about the possibilities in fashion and to have access to gaining those skills. Having learned his own design skills from his mom and “YouTube University,” he never imagined having the career he has for himself, especially since his first time “designing” was hand-sewing sleeves on shirts he bought from Walmart to better fit trends, he says.
Blvck’s desire to give back is also how the Category Fashion Show got started. “I wanted to bring a show to Memphis that felt something like the Met Gala. I design couture, and a lot of designers in Memphis don’t do that, so it’s just good to show that side of things,” he says. “But I also wanted it to be a platform for new designers. That’s very important to me because when I first started designing, I really didn’t have those platforms.”
This year’s designers are Maximus Jewels, Fovrce, Unconvent, Brezerk Clothing, and K.O. Designs, with Blvck headlining, of course. Reserve your spot on the wait-list or purchase a VIP ticket at tinyurl.com/433bddpm. VIP tickets include priority seating, a pre-show lounge, a cocktail experience, hors d’oeuvres, a gift bag, meet and greet, and red carpet experience. The attire is high-fashion rainforest.
The Category Fashion Show: The Library Collection, Cossitt Library, 33 South Front Street, Sunday, December 1, 6 p.m., free/general admission, $50/VIP.
We, the writers of the Memphis Flyer, promise we’ve been good boys and girls. Really good. We only made fun of The Commercial Appeal once this year — just one time — well, one time this month. Sure, we misspelled Gannett while we were at it. Maybe that was karma; maybe that was you, Santa. But we’ve been good. We started showing up to meetings, occasionally on time. We’ve learned about spell-check — who knew that existed? We even got on Bluesky. We’re keeping up.
Oh, Santa, we only have a few things on our list this year, and we put them all in our gift guide for our readers. We’re sure they’d like some things from our list, too. They like to support local businesses. So you don’t mind that we put it all in print, do you? And that we tell our readers to also get their gifts for their loved ones from these shops and makers? We can only write so much; being so good these days has made us so tired. So, yes, Santa, your letter and our gift guide will have to pull double-duty. Take it or leave it. And, readers, please do take it; don’t leave it.
Flashback
Millett and Gene Vance describe their well-known emporium on Central Avenue as a “vintage department store,” and that’s a very good description. They should know. The couple opened Flashback in 1984, just in time for Christmas that year. Forty years later, they’re still at it. Describing the kaleidoscope of merchandise inside is a challenge because there’s just so much of it. It’s a world-class vault of collectibles — everything you could imagine, and much you couldn’t begin to. You’ll find clothes from several eras, hats of all kinds, kitchenware and glassware, posters and paintings, groovy new mobiles, funky furniture, fun-house mirrors, and even a giant mounted swordfish. Go in and poke around. There’s probably something at Flashback for everyone on your gift list, no matter your budget. Get funky. — Bruce VanWyngarden 2304 Central Avenue, (901) 272-2304, flashbackmemphis.com
9906 Candle Co.
Candles and fragrances are key to setting the perfect vibes. Whether you’re trying to curate the ultimate homey experience or looking to mimic the ambience of that luxurious getaway you find yourself slipping back to, scents can help you achieve that goal. This holiday season, instead of setting an alarm to stand in line at a mass-market retailer, consider supporting a local Black-owned business that specializes in hand-poured, coconut soy candles and skin-safe room and linen fragrance mists.
9906 Candle Co. is a Memphis-based brand founded by Denise Weary. Weary’s brand is driven by “the philosophy of providing luxurious yet affordable home fragrance.” The founder goes on to say that her products reflect her commitment to simplicity and elegance with her minimalistic and charming packaging.
“Are you ready to treat your nose, treat your space? We’re out here changing atmospheres,” the company asserts.
Some of the “best smellers” include the Coco and Cedar candle with scents of jasmine, vanilla, coconut, and sandalwood, and the Sweet Stones mist with notes of citrus, cranberry, champagne, musk, praline, and caramel. Other scents include Lure, Floral Cacti, and Mandarin Escape.
You can purchase an item directly from the website at 9906candleco.com, or you can shop a local pop-up this holiday season, such as the Lightfoot Farm Market in Millington on Saturday, December 7th, or the Holiday Market at the Memphis Farmers Market on Saturday, December 14th. — Kailynn Johnson 9906candleco.com
River City Records (Photo: Chris McCoy)
River City Records
The vinyl records boom shows no sign of slowing down. This year, the hot records are all by women artists, says Chris Braswell, owner of River City Records. “A lot of the new pop artists are women, like Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Sabrina Carpenter, [Charli XCX] Brat, and Chappell Roan. She was on Saturday Night Live three weeks ago, I believe. I didn’t see it, but I had several people come in Sunday saying, ‘Did you see Chappell Roan last night?’”
Now entering its fourth year of operation at 101 S. Main, River City Records has a huge selection of music, and the equipment to play it on. “Our turntables have been really popular,” says Braswell. “People are still getting turntables for Christmas, and we’ve got several to choose from.”
If you don’t know what to get, don’t despair. “People sometimes don’t know the right album to buy for somebody, or if they’ve already got that particular album of a certain artist. Gift cards are really popular here, so they can stroll through the store and decide what record they want.”
River City Records’ Dave Anderson says there’s even more to choose from. “We’ve got vintage T-shirts, and then we’ve got our own brand, and other studios. Our T-shirts are really popular.”
Braswell says to be on the lookout for specials this holiday season. “We’re gonna have a big $2 record sale. We’ll have 12 to 14 crates of $2 records. That’s a good way for people to add to their collection on the cheap.” — Chris McCoy 101 South Main, (901) 359-5597, rivercityrecordshop.com
Memphis Arts Collective Holiday Market (Photo: Alex Greene)
Memphis Arts Collective Holiday Market
Feeling a little disgruntled with the standard corporate online shopping options, I decided to gift locally made art to friends and family this holiday season. And as soon as I stumbled upon their unassuming holiday-only storefront in Gattas Plaza, near the Knowledge Tree, I knew I’d found the right place. Through those double doors, a world of color opened up like I’d landed in Oz, as I surveyed the booths of nearly three dozen craftspeople and their wares, with all manner of pottery, glass, jewelry, metal, fabric and fiber, mixed media, and photography on display before me. What’s more, the vibe was pleasant and welcoming, perhaps because of a kind built-in camaraderie among members of the Memphis Arts Collective, organizer of the holiday market.
Cat Snyder, a glass sculptor who’s selling her work there, as well as helping to produce the event, was just as enthused about the other members’ handiwork as her own. “Oh, you’ll love Brian Maness’ stained glass over there! And there’s an incredible potter next to him,” she exclaimed. I was drawn in by both the conviviality and the vivid artwork, from objets d’art to paintings to prints to hats to cards, all fresh out of the artists’ studios, looking for the perfect wall, shelf, or wardrobe to call home. — Alex Greene Gattas Plaza, 4998 Summer Avenue, through December 24th, Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. | Sunday, noon-5 p.m. | closed Thanksgiving Day | Christmas Eve, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. | silent auction to benefit Miracle League of Memphis, memphisartscollective.com/holiday-artist-market
Photo: Courtesy Hound Dog Apparel | Facebooks
Hound Dog Apparel
You’ve seen someone wearing that bright yellow T-shirt from the old Buccaneer Lounge and thought you’d been out-Memphised.
It must be the best thrift store find of all time, you thought. But it looks so new. How did …? But you push the question away before allowing yourself to truly consider the person might be a time traveler.
While not a traveler, per se, Rachel Ford does have a time machine. Her Hound Dog Apparel can transport Memphians back to an age when lemongrass tofu flowed freely from Pho Binh, browsing at Bookstar was an option, and birthdays were made for Celebration Station.
The small, locally owned and operated clothing company specializes in reproductions and reimaginings of some of your favorite bygone Memphis establishments stretching all the way back to the ’70s. If you’ve spent any time in Memphis over the last few decades you’re sure to find a solid dose of nostalgia browsing through their tees.
Hound Dog is not a one-trick pony, though. (Though, you can find a design from The Pony, iykyk.) There’s a Barbie/barbecue mash-up you never knew you needed. There’s also plenty of Grizz and Tigers shirts to make you stand out in the crowd. Only the truly enlightened Memphian will grasp the timely nostalgia of Hound Dog’s “Knuc-ee’s” tee. *chef’s kiss*
Hound Dog can be found at most major festivals around town — just look for the booth with the giant crowd around it. But if you can’t make it to town, place your order by December 5th to ensure it’s on time for the holidays. — Toby Sells hounddogapparel.com
Jimmy Crosthwait’s clocks and chimes (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Jimmy Crosthwait’s Clocks and Chimes
Give people more time for the holidays. As in a Zen clock made by Jimmy Crosthwait.
The puppeteer, artist, and musician (who co-founded Mudboy and the Neutrons and now plays with Sons of Mudboy) is again offering his Zen clocks and Zen chimes as well as his candlestick sculptures at WinterArts. He also will be featuring new pieces which he calls “Karmic Wheels.”
“The Wheel of Karma is a Hindu and Buddhist concept of just life and rebirth and death and rebirth,” Crosthwait says. “How you live this life will determine your status in the next life. … I’m taking a certain artistic license when I design these.”
The wooden pieces are about 21 inches across, he says. “And have, for the most part, ceramic centers with spokes radiating out to the rim.”
The spokes are metal wires onto which Crosthwait threads beads. Some of the pieces, which are stained, have appliqués around them. Others are etched into the wood around the hub with a laser printer. “Some are cut out of a Masonite-like material,” he says. “And I will glue that to the wood and stain it.”
Crosthwait, whose clocks have no hands or moving parts, says the pieces essentially look like clocks. They’re round and they have a pendulum. But there are no hands.
This year, Crosthwait’s clocks are a little bit different. “I was mostly putting them on serving trays, platters. And I would have pendulums hanging down that were usually some sort of metal or tinsel. This year, I’m doing, essentially, a lot of wooden pieces that have either appliqué on the rims or are etched with the laser printer. Just carved into the wooden circles.”
Some feature spoons containing “a little ceramic orb to complement the ceramic centers of the clock.” — Michael Donahue WinterArts, The Shops of Saddle Creek, 7509 Poplar Avenue, Germantown, November 30th-December 24th, winterarts.org
Five in One Social Club (Photo: Abigail Morici)
Five in One Social Club
For those who like to get crafty — whether the gifter or the giftee — Five in One Social Club is the place to go. For starters, it’s full of stationery, crafting supplies, embroidery kits, felting kits, and locally made goods from Memphis-y T-shirts to Baby Creep’s creepy baby vases, all of which have great gifting potential.
But the shop also offers a whole calendar of craft workshops, including Stained Glass Ornaments on December 10th and Woodburning Ornaments on December 28th. Now, the options with these workshops and gift-giving are endless, kinda. You can a) make something in one of these workshops to give to your recipient (throwback to childhood DIYs you gave to your parents; these will look better though, hopefully, depending on your skill level); b) you can bring your fellow crafty giftee to a workshop with you (quality time = the gift a lifetime, as long as your presence isn’t god awful); or c) you can get your loved one a Five in One Social Club gift card to choose a workshop they can attend with someone whose company they actually enjoy any day of the year — well, mostly, there’s a calendar and all.
Five in One Social Club is also featured in the Women-Owned Passport, through which shoppers who visit certain women-owned businesses can collect stamps and receive a special offer with purchase between now and December 31st. If you collect stamps from every shop, you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of three prizes valued at over $300. The best part? You’ll be supporting women-owned businesses! There are 17 businesses participating, but I’ve reached my word limit, so … I can’t list them all. Sorry! I recommend you Google “Women-Owned Passport Memphis” or follow this link here. Happy shopping! — Abigail Morici 2575 Summer Avenue, (901) 308-2104, fiveinonesocialclub.com
Pile of Threads (Photo: Courtesy Pile of Threads)
Pile of Threads
Everyone loves a bit of embroidery to add just the right amount of pizzazz to any garment, and Pile of Threads does it best. With recycled, hand-dyed, neon-embroidered totes proclaiming “I Love Memphis Women” and cheeky “F Around & Find Out” baseball caps, Pile of Threads has something for just about anyone. Especially because you can also get customized work. That includes monograms, lettering, pet portraits, pennants, custom patches, small designs, embroidered jeans, wall art — just about anything you can think of. All you have to do is fill out the form provided on pileofthreads.com and allow three to four weeks for owner Whit Washington — the self-proclaimed “Stitch Bitch in Charge” — to work her magic on her 100-year-old embroidery machine.
Washington also has items available for purchase at Stock & Belle and Falling into Place. And she’ll be hosting a pop-up shop during WYXR’s Raised by Sound Fest’s after-party on December 7th, with vintage goodies on hand for you to get embroidered — or you can bring your own. Items should be 100% cotton, non-stretch material like denim or canvas. Prices begin at $30 for this service. Sounds like the perfect stitchuation. — AM pileofthreads.com, Stock & Belle, 387 South Main | Falling Into Place, 2613 Broad Avenue | Raised by Sound Fest’s After Party, Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse, Saturday, December 7, 9-11 p.m.
Mac, Derelick, and Duke of the Iron Mic Coalition, performing at the Undugu Hip Hop Festival. (Photos: Courtesy IMC)
Memphis is known for its world-class rappers; trap is the new “Memphis Sound.” But while we might hear BlocBoy JB shout out, “901 Shelby Drive, look alive, look alive,” on the radio, there’s a cohort of lesser known but very active hip-hop artists among us who live and breathe such lyrics, depicting life in our place and time like no others. Does any recent rhyme capture the feeling of living under the weight of this city’s history like: “I rap Memphop, I rap the deep quadrant/I come from the marshes, the shady tree garages/The torn-down projects, the cotton on the barges”?
Some readers will instantly recognize that as a line from “Maybap Music” by Iron Mic Coalition (IMC), as a devoted following has developed around the group over the past 20 years. If you know, you know. Part of that comes down to IMC’s undeniable grounding in this region. That comes across both lyrically and musically, as on 2014’s “Home,” driven by a minor key soul blues sample, with the lyrics: “A stranger in his own land, a Delta blues homeland … Crossroads demon summit, now the blues man cometh with the truth boom bappin’ hell on ’em.”
Jason Da Hater, Duke, Milk, and Mac of the Iron Mic Coalition (Photo courtesy IMC)
Indeed, IMC’s music over the years has been full of Southern soul and blues, (or even the tweaked voice of Billie Holiday singing “Gloomy Sunday” on “Crown”). Case in point: the hard-hitting blues guitar lick on their best-known single, “Memphop,” done many years before Al Kapone began experimenting with his own style of blues-infused rap. Clearly, IMC is fully rooted down, devoting a whole track (not just one line of a hit single) to the “901 Area Code” on their 2005 debut.
Skipping back and forth across the decades is par for the course with IMC’s music, as the collective of DJs and MCs have been remarkably true to their vision and consistent in their output for 20 years, across three releases whose titles speak to their shared coherence: The1st Edition (2005), The2nd Edition (2008), and The3rd Edition (2014). These artists have always been playing the long game, as should be clear this Friday, November 29th, at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, where the IMC will make a rare appearance to celebrate their 20th anniversary, revisiting their debut album in full and hinting at what a fourth work-in-progress might hold in store.
The Memphis Flyer, it should be noted, has been with IMC for the whole ride, starting with Chris Herrington’s 2004 survey of Memphis hip-hop, but as I speak now with IMC member Quinn McGowan, aka The Mighty Quinn, there’s one thing he’d like to clear up about how the group’s been described here in the past. “The popular misnomer was always we were like the Wu-Tang [Clan] of the South, but actually a more accurate description would have been the Native Tongues of the South, right? Because we were always a group of groups. Native Tongues was the Jungle Brothers, Black Sheep, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah — all those folks kind of wrapped up in a loose association.” The same affiliation of like-minded groups coalesced in Memphis “because we were all doing shows together, right? And we were carving out what would become Memphop, throwing our own kind of shows, with b-boys [breakdancers] and the artists out front. We were adhering to the four elements.”
Those would be the four elements of hip-hop — DJing, MCing, breakdancing, and graffiti art — and the IMC members’ adherence to them as a way of life might explain the collective’s longevity, despite having never blown up coast to coast. Through the decades, the core group of groups, including Fyte Club (General MacArthur, The Mighty Quinn), M.O.S. (Duke, Derelick, and Milk [aka Yasin Allah]), Kontrast (Jason Da Hater, EMPEE, and DJ Capital A), and Fathom 9 (aka Avenging Wind), have continued as a tightly knit cohort, despite Fathom 9’s untimely passing in November of 2014.
“There have always been eight MCs and our DJ Capital A,” says McGowan, before noting the involvement of another stealth participant of sorts. “My son was always a secret 10th member. I drew a future projection of him as a silhouette inside of the eye in the Iron Mic borders.” That was back when McGowan was helping craft the visuals for the fledgling group. McGowan’s son, then very young, uttered the first line of the first IMC release. An upcoming album now in the works will echo that when Eillo, as McGowan’s son is known, now a key player and artist in his own right with the Unapologetic collective, will join the IMC. “Eillo is finishing a verse at the end of the project for the point of the symmetry, right?” says McGowan. “He starts out The1st Edition. So we wanted to make sure to have him, you know, get his lyricism on to close out The4th Edition.”
In keeping with the four elements of hip-hop, expect a visual element at Friday’s show as well. McGowan’s other creative outlet is his visual art, including a line of comics called Wildfire, published by his own Legends Press. “My approach to comics is very much rooted to my approach to hip-hop. There’s this lineage of comic books in hip-hop that goes back to Rappin’ Max Robot.” It’s all been part of living the hip-hop life for McGowan, staying true to his vision and offering commentary on the state of the world. (It’s no accident that IMC opened for knowledge rapper KRS-One back in the day). “My band of brothers are a group of men that I have a great deal of respect for, and we try to live the values that we espouse,” says McGowan. And part of that involves embracing the unabashedly local “Memphop” tag, a term McGowan coined when the group began.
“There’s always going to be a culture of hip-hop or Memphop in Memphis. Hip-hop has its own very distinct expression here, even in the ways that we execute those four elements. Our graffiti is different. We have not only have b-boys; we’ve got jookin, right? You can still hear a Southern twang, so to speak. Memphop is bigger than us. So we want to do something that’s dedicated to that. And this thing at Stax is about our own placement in that.”
