Categories
News News Blog News Feature

US Department of Transportation Allocates Millions to Memphis Intersection Improvement

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT)has allocated $13.1 million for improvements to one of the most dangerous intersections in the city of Memphis.

Last week the department announced its fiscal year 2024 (FY24) Safe Streets and Roads for All grants, which totaled $172 million, nationwide. Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced that the city would be using its funding to redesign the intersection at Lamar Avenue, Kimball Avenue and Pendleton Street.

“This complex intersection at Lamar Avenue, Kimball Avenue, and Pendleton Street has a confusing array of signals, fading and disjointed pedestrian connectivity, and little guidance on appropriate movements,” USDOT officials said.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) said this corridor faces “crippling congestion” affecting freight facilities, warehouse and distribution centers, as well. The agency applied for funding for Lamar Avenue in 2018 through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program, receiving $71.1 million for improvements.

According to USDOT, the city plans to close one of the roads at the intersection to provide a simpler design in hopes of improving safety. Other enhancements will include a public education campaign, a pilot program for a camera magnification system, and crash data analysis technology.

Another allocation was made to the MidSouth Development District for $2, 419, 870 from the FY 2024 Planning and Demonstration Grant Award to further address traffic-related injuries.through a “Comprehensive Safety action Plan.” 

USDOT officials said the grant will use data analysis, stakeholder input, and best practices to implement a plan to reduce “roadway fatalities” across the region.

“The demonstration activities will include a Safe Routes to School demonstration and EMT post-crash care training,” USDOT added.

Cohen said he was pleased to vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which has lead to the funding for these improvements.

“ I am sure that having this new investment in comprehensive safety planning will help save lives,” Cohen said in a statement.

Memphis was ranked the most dangerous metro city for pedestrians earlier this year by the nonprofit organization Smart Growth America. Their data showed that more than half of pedestrian deaths (65 percent) over the last decade happened in the last five years.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Grizzlies Fall to Warriors

In their first meeting of the season, and the Grizzlies’ first game of NBA Cup group play, the Golden State Warriors defeated Memphis 123-118, making the Grizzlies 1-2 on their three-game West Coast road trip.

The Emirates NBA Cup is the official name given to the in-season tournament that was added last season. Teams from each conference are split into groups of five, and the tournament games themselves are part of the regular season schedule.

The Grizzlies are part of West Group C, which also includes the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, and Golden State Warriors. A more in-depth breakdown of the tournament can be found here.

On to this game:

Memphis struggled mightily from beyond the arc in this matchup, going just 7 of 42 from three-point range. Jaylen Wells (2 of 6) was the only Grizzlies’ starter to hit a shot from long range, while Zach Edey (2 of 2) had the best three-point shooting percentage overall.

This game gave us the return of Desmond Bane, who had been sidelined since suffering a right oblique strain in the game against Brooklyn on October 30, as well as the season debut of Vince Williams Jr., who has been rehabbing a left tibia stress injury.

Star point guard Ja Morant remains sidelined with a posterior hip subluxation suffered in the November 6 home game against the Los Angeles Lakers. According to the Grizzlies’ medical staff, Morant’s status is listed as week to week.

Jaren Jackson Jr. remains this team’s dominant offensive player, and he scored a game-high 32 points, to got with six rebounds and two blocks against the Warriors.

Jaylen Wells was the only other starter to score in double digits, finishing the night with 16 points, four rebounds, and two assists.

From the bench:

Desmond Bane put up 18 points, six rebounds, and two assists in his return.

Zach Edey contributed 14 points, nine rebounds, one steal, and one block.

Who Got Next?

The Grizzlies return home Sunday to face off against the Denver Nuggets. Tip-off is at 5 PM CST.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Indie Memphis 2024: David Goodman on Adopting Greyhounds

Director David Goodman is an associate professor of film and television production at University of Memphis. His new film, Adopting Greyhounds, premieres at Indie Memphis on Sunday, November 17th, at 5 p.m. (Get tickets here.)

I spoke with Goodman about the film, dogs, and editing. Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

A still from Adopting Greyhounds (Courtesy David Goodman)

Tell me how this project got started.

I always meant to catch a race over the years. I never got a chance to, and some folks that I knew had come through the area and filmed one of the races on 8mm [film]. I remember seeing that and thinking it looked neat. Then I heard it was closing, and that piqued my interest, because in making the kind of documentary films that I make, it’s hard to find an ending sometimes, to find a way for everything to feel like it comes to a conclusion. The idea of racing ending really got me. I started my whole train of thinking in terms of this being a documentary. So I reached out to some people, and it took quite a number of months to get in touch with some of the folks who ran the adoption center. I really wanted to focus on what happens to the greyhounds after they finish racing. So I wanted to look at racing from across the road, so to speak, because the adoption organization was really across the street from Southland Racing. So I reached out to them and I just started a relationship and began filming. I thought greyhounds were cool dogs. I’ve seen a lot of people with adopted greyhounds in Memphis, and it sparked my interest that this aspect of the Mid-South was going to be gone.

Do you have dogs?

I’m a dog owner. I’ve almost always had a dog, and while filming this documentary, two stray pit bull/boxer mix dogs turned up in our driveway, and we ended up keeping them. I actually was considering adopting a greyhound, but it just so happened that some other dogs showed up that ended up living with me, my wife, and family.

How long did you work on it?

I started filming in February 2022 and filmed throughout the year until January 2023. Racing was set to end in December 2022. Then I stuck around to film a little bit of the final weeks, as well. So, a year of filming, and basically a year of editing the footage down. The way that I approach documentaries, or try to, is from a more observational perspective. I go into a space, and I just film the processes and conversations that people have. I try to avoid sit-down interviews or at least I did in this documentary. What would naturally happen is people would speak to me while I was holding the camera, or they would speak to one another. And in that way, I try to capture more naturalistic scenes that happen in a space, and try to convey the story in that way, rather than creating an interview-driven narrative.

It’s kind of a Les Blank-like technique, it seems

Oh, yes, that’s right. Les Blank, Frederick Wiseman, and a lot of my mentors, David Appleby, who did plenty of work in interview-based documentaries, but his earlier films followed this more observational approach.

It’s a direct cinema, ’60s kind of vibe.

Yes, it’s definitely an approach that you don’t see as often these days. 

Why do you think that is?

I think it takes less time to do that. You can go in and interview someone, and you can really shape a narrative more clearly. With a more observational or direct cinema approach, I think the experience can be that there are more questions for a viewer. A lot of popular modern documentaries are constantly sort of answering questions very explicitly, with people speaking the answers. Whereas, I think it’s more fun to watch a film and kind of try to figure out a world and be dropped into it without exposition and too much set up. It’s just more of a challenge, I would say, to piece together things, and there’s more mystery to it.

Did you edit this yourself?

I did, yes.

That’s where it gets really daunting, in that phase especially, because you end up with this pile of undifferentiated footage, and you’re like, ‘Wow I could continue to put this together in different combinations until the heat death of the universe!’ It’s hard to know when you’ve got it right.

It really is. And with documentaries, the editing becomes the writing of the documentary in a lot of ways. There’s prep, and there’s consideration of structure when filming, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. New things, unexpected things, happen, and as the person out there in the field, filming, I inevitably get attached to stuff. You gotta wrestle with yourself as the editor. Definitely on this project, I felt the need to begin thinking maybe for the next one I’ll get an editor.

Let me ask you about greyhounds. I get the impression that they’re very skittish dogs.

They’re much like any other dog. They have certain different kinds of ailments than other dogs. Their skin is very delicate, and the way they’re built, they’re prone to certain injuries. All of the greyhounds I encountered were very friendly. 

What opinion did you come away with about racing? 

You know, that’s a good question. It’s one of those questions I avoid. I tried to not have an opinion, and I felt like I had the luxury of not having to form an opinion because I was really focused on the adoptions and where these dogs go from here. I remained as unbiased as I could, and I just wanted depict the things I saw and tried to avoid the politics of the issue and just look at the dogs and all the work that goes into transitioning them to the next phase of their lives.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Blake Rhea’s Final Encore at Railgarten

A week later, and the Memphis music community is still reeling from the cold-blooded murder of bassist Blake Rhea. As Bob Mehr reported in the Commercial Appeal last Thursday, the musician was at Louis Connelly’s Bar for Fun Times & Friendship on South Cleveland Street in the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 6th, when he was involved in an argument with another man. That led to the two stepping outside, where security cameras recorded the other man first possibly stabbing, then shooting Rhea point blank in his car before running off. Rhea was pronounced dead on the scene. Later that day, police “arrested and charged 51-year-old Edward Wurl with first degree murder in the shooting.” Wurl was also charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Fox 13 News later reported that two witnesses in the bar claimed that “Wurl and Rhea had both been recently involved in a romantic relationship with the same woman. The witnesses then positively identified Wurl from a six person photo lineup.” WREG News Channel 3 reported that “court records show that Wurl was convicted of burglary and unlawful wounding in 1994.” WREG then quoted bar owner Louis Connolly as saying, “Stories like this are so common that we have become almost numb to them. We are thankful that the violence did not come into the bar. But that doesn’t make this any less heartbreaking, and our thoughts go out to the victim and the victim’s family.”

Since that fateful night, those who knew Blake best having been struggling to pick up the pieces, recalling his easygoing humor, his skill and sensitivity as a musician, and his role as a much-loved teacher at School of Rock Germantown. Having played in such pivotal bands as CYC, American Fiction, John Németh, Lord T & Eloise, The Gamble Brothers Band, Marcella Simien, and, most recently, Southern Avenue, his brilliance had been celebrated for years by fans and fellow musos alike.

Just how many lives Rhea touched will be apparent on Saturday, November 16th, from 4-8 p.m., when Railgarten will host “Blake Rhea’s Encore,” a celebration of his life, featuring performances by bands who were especially close to him, including Jombi, American Fiction, Salo Pallini, and (possibly) “Tierinii, Tikyra, and Ori from Southern Avenue.”

Speaking to the Flyer this Thursday, Southern Avenue’s drummer, Tikyra Jackson, was still trying to get past a feeling of unreality, having toured extensively with Rhea over the past year. “I’m still just taking it in,” she confided. “We spent all year together. It’s so weird, knowing that we’re gonna get back into the vehicle and it won’t be the same vibe.

“He had already toured a lot [in the past], and so he kind of was, like, staying home. He was a teacher. But he came back out on the road for us, because he liked us and he enjoyed what we were doing. So over this past year we were able to create something together. I was able to be a part of his life.”

Asked if there was a special bond, as there so often is, between the drummer and the bassist, Jackson replies, “Yeah. And it’s all on camera too. I have my camera set up by my drum. So when I’m watching this footage, it’s like, you can see that connection between us. And for this latest record that we’ve made, he recorded on half the record. Luther [Dickinson] was on bass on the other half. So yeah, Blake was a great part of what we played. We played the new record before we even went into the studio. We had some shows before the studio session, just to go into the studio more comfortable. So he was a part of the early process of getting from the stage of the writing to actually making it happen, making it happen live.”

In the studio, Jackson notes, Rhea’s contributions were memorable. “He was open to trying different things,” she said, noting that “his touch, his flavors in the music” were memorable. “One of the songs, ‘So Much Love,’ is very iconic to me because of the bassline that he came up with.”

Recalling all this, it was hard for Jackson to go on. “I don’t know, man, even talking to you now, I’m like, I feel like I’m experiencing new emotions and new realizations. But what a beautiful thing to capture his soul on the record, you know. And it’s not like it was 30 years ago. This was him living and breathing just yesterday, you know?”

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Memphis Sued on Gun Control Measures

As promised, Guns Owners of America (GOA) and others sued the city of Memphis to block from ever becoming law gun-control referenda items passed by an overwhelming majority of voters. 

The gun rights groups promised a lawsuit on the ballot referenda before the election. It filed the lawsuit in Circuit Court in Memphis on Wednesday. 

The suit’s core argument is that the Memphis City Council, who put the questions on the November ballot, did so “in blatant contravention of Tennessee’s preemption law.” With this, the measures are “invalid and void.”

The GOA joined the suit with Memphian Ty Timmerman, the Gun Owners Foundation, and the Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA). Timmerman is a member of the GOA and the TFA. The suit says he carries a handgun for protection in the city and in his vehicle with no permit, which is legal under the state’s permitless carry law. He also owns a number of semiautomatic rifles, especially noting he owns an AR-15. 

Timmerman, the suit says, wants to keep carrying his handguns and collect more semiautomatic rifles. The GOA argues Timmerman will be “adversely affected” by the city’s proposed gun-control rules.

“Tennessee has one of the strongest preemption laws in the nation, and the very reason it exists is to prevent radical anti-gun cities from enacting the very sort of draconian policies Memphis just ‘adopted,’” said Erich Pratt, GOA’s senior vice president. “We are hopeful that Tennessee courts will quickly block this insubordinate violation of state law.” 

City council chairman JB Smiley Jr. said none of the agencies who sued are from Memphis, called the lawsuit “short-sighted and “ill-conceived,” and said it is “not against the city of Memphis, but against the people who call it home.” At best, the GOA’s opposition is based on “flawed” logic, he said. At worst, the suit could lead to “record-breaking homicides.”

“Opposition to gun reform, and consequently this lawsuit, is deadly, dangerous, and disrespectful to the people of Memphis, whom this will directly impact long after these out-of-state entities leave,” Smiley said in a statement posted to X Thursday. “But, here’s what I know — when you come against the people of the 901 and when you try to silence our voice, we stand up and defend our neighbors and our values every single time. We must continue [to] take a stand against anything that would stand in our way of achieving that.” 

Along with the suit, the GOA posted a YouTube video titled, “We’re Suing Memphis.” It shows Smiley saying that should the body be sued, “in the words of our attorney [Allan] Wade, ‘Tell them to bring it on. We’ll fight about it in court.’” The video then shows a photo of Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn Davis set to funky music, and video of Bill Hader dancing and making faces cut from a Saturday Night Live sketch.

“Memphis voters overwhelmingly chose to strip their fellow citizens of their fundamental rights, and now city officials, knowing full well these ordinances will patently violate Tennessee law, are planning to implement them,” said Chris Stone, GOA’s director of state and local affairs. “This is unacceptable, and we are eager to fight back.” 

The suit seeks the blocking of enforcement of the ordinances, a statement making the rules invalid, and damages, court costs, and legal fees.   

Categories
News News Feature

20<30 Class of 2025 Nominations Are Open

The Memphis Flyer is seeking nominations for candidates for the 20<30 Class of 2025. This is our 15th year of highlighting the best and brightest of young Memphis.

We’re asking you to help us identify the Bluff City’s future leaders. Nominate your friends, your colleagues, the outstanding young members of your community. Candidates must be no older than 29 on January 1, 2025. Send a brief bio/summary of the nominee’s work and activities and a photo to under30@memphisflyer.com. Use “20<30 Nomination” in your subject header. Deadline for nominations is January 3, 2025. The 20<30 Class of 2025 will be revealed in the February 6, 2025 issue of the Memphis Flyer.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

FOOD NEWS BITES: Everyone’s Favorite Irish Lass is Back

Jo Delahunty Chetter — aka “Josie,” “Irish Jo,” and “Irish Red Jo” — is back at Patrick’s.

The popular server from County Laois, Ireland, went back to visit her native Ireland June 16th.

She’s now back joking and chatting with the restaurant’s customers, who she sometimes calls “laddies” or “lassies” in her Irish brogue.

And diners love her.

She’s been at Patrick’s at 4972 Park Avenue for 18 years, Chetter says. But she worked and got to know people at other places since she moved to Memphis. “I came for a three-week holiday,” she says. “That was in 1992. I fell in love with the pub I worked in and the people.”

The pub was the old Kudzu’s. But Chetter didn’t stop there. “I got a job offer to go to Dan McGuinness Pub. I was there for about three years and then opened Celtic Crossing. And then came to Patrick’s.”

She loves her job. “I can be myself. I can chat with customers in my accent or my way of speaking and joke with them. Having the craic with them. That’s like having the fun with them.”

And, she adds, “It’s a great place to work. A lot of perks. Easy to work with. One of the easiest jobs I’ve had.”

People began calling her “Josie” about three years ago to avoid confusion with another employee. “We had a fellow in the back. His name was ‘Joe.’ I love ‘Josie.’ I wish I had been ‘Josie’ forever.”

Chetter suddenly interrupts the interview. “I need a potato salad,” she calls out. She then says to someone after a bit, “I went by the table and they didn’t have it.”

She resumes the interview. 

Chetter says she loves being able to act up with the customers. “I can be a fool. Like laughing and joking and be kind of crazy. A bit of everything.”

And, she says, “It’s more like you’re making a fool of yourself. Really laughing and joking and taking the piss out of people.”

Asked where she gets her energy, Chetter says, “I eat loads of peanut butter and raisins. I’ve always been very active. And it pays off when you’re busy running around taking care of tables, customers’ demands. I built up a tolerance.”

Chetter is also known for her wild-looking red hair. “I think it gives me a lot of personality,” she says, adding, “It’s very Irish. Amadain. That’s Irish for ‘crazy.’ It’s very unmanageable. Very untamed.’

Whether they’re first timers or regulars, Chetter makes people feel at home at Patrick’s. “I have a lot of customers who specifically ask for me. A lot of them wrote to me in Ireland asking me when I was coming back.”

Chetter was away for about four months. “Longest I have not worked in 40 years.”

“I just wanted to go for a holiday and get reacquainted with my family. I haven’t really been at home for a long time.”

She’s gone home for a  “quick holiday” on occasion, Chetter says. “To get a feel of what I left behind. I often regret not staying longer.

“I just got that again. I got that feeling of when I was younger and enjoying conversations with my family and sitting by the fire and going for walks. It was really healthy and good. Going down to the moors with the cows and calves looking at me like, ‘Who is this crazy redhead flying down the road?’ And being followed by the dogs and cats like the Irish Pied Piper.”

Her absence made customers a bit nervous, thinking she wasn’t going to return. “A lot of people kept texting me saying they missed me and couldn’t wait for me to come back. I was planning on coming back. I came back about the 16th of October.”

And people expressed their joy when Chetter returned to work. “Oh, my God. There was a banner from the owner’s wife welcoming me back. It was like the ‘prodigal daughter,’ really. I got a massive reception. Overwhelming.”

By the way, Chetter’s actual name is “Josephine.” But, she says, “The only time I was called ‘Josephine’ was at home when my mother was mad at me.”

Categories
News News Blog News Feature Uncategorized

Gov. Lee Backs Trump Plan to Abolish U.S. Department of Education

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters

Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday that he’d welcome closing the U.S. Department of Education under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, adding that states can do a better job of deciding how to spend federal dollars on students.

“I believe that Tennessee would be more capable than the federal government of designing a strategy for spending federal dollars in Tennessee,” Lee told reporters when asked about the prospect.

“We know Tennessee. We know our children. We know the needs here much better than a bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. does,” Lee said.

The Republican governor’s comments come as Trump assembles his cabinet after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris last week to win a second term in office. As of Wednesday, he had not named his choice to be U.S. Secretary of Education.

During his campaign, Trump said one of his first acts as president would be to “close the Department of Education, move education back to the states.” The Republican Party’s platform also calls for shuttering the federal agency, as does the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

Tennessee’s governor called it “a great idea” to dismantle the agency, which was created under a 1979 federal law during President Jimmy Carter’s administration.

“I think the federal bureaucracy that was built into the Department of Education starting in 1979 has created just that: a bureaucracy,” Lee said.

Tennessee has a template for spending federal funds

Trump has not provided a detailed plan for what would happen to federal funding or particular programs if the U.S. Department of Education were shuttered — a move that would require an act of Congress.

Lee suggested that education funding could be distributed to states similar to how Tennessee negotiated a Medicaid block grant waiver program with the first Trump administration, giving the state government more control over how it spent the money.

“We saved Tennesseans a billion dollars in taxpayer money over four years,” Lee said, “and we split the savings with the federal government.”

Federal funds typically make up about a tenth of a state’s K-12 budget. For Tennessee, that amounts to about $1.8 billion distributed to local districts for its public schools, most of which supports students with disabilities, from low-income families, or still learning English.

Lee said Tennessee would continue to spend that money to support its neediest students.

“I think that Tennessee is incredibly capable of determining how dollars should be spent to take care of kids with disabilities, to take care of kids that live in sparse populations, or with English as a second language,” he said.

Asked about the federal agency’s enforcement of civil rights protections — which some have suggested could pivot to the U.S. Department of Justice — Lee said the state would have a role in that work, too.

“The complaint process could and would still exist,” Lee said. “We would make sure that it happens in this state.”

Critics question the state’s commitment to special student groups

Tennessee doesn’t have a very good track record of educating and caring for its students who need significant additional support.

It was one of many states, for instance, that once had laws excluding children with disabilities from public schools. The premise was that those kids would not benefit from a public school education. Before the passage of a 1975 federal law establishing the right to a public education for kids with disabilities, only 1 in 5 of those children were educated in public schools.

Recently, the Tennessee Disability Coalition gave the state a “D” grade on its annual performance scorecard that includes education services.

Students with disabilities comprise a significant part of Tennessee’s public education system.

About a tenth of the state’s public school students use an individualized education plan, or IEP, that’s intended to ensure that the student receives specialized instruction and related services for their disability.

Federal laws protecting students with disabilities would remain on the books even if the education department went away, but it’s not clear how enforcement would work or what would happen to funding. The authors of Project 2025 suggested that funding be turned into something resembling a voucher and given to families.

Federal education funding has been hotly debated in Tennessee

Tennessee has gone further than any other state in recent history in rethinking its relationship with the federal government.

A year ago, after House Speaker Cameron Sexton suggested that Tennessee should look into the idea of rejecting federal funds, a legislative task force spent months studying the feasibility of such an idea.

Citing testing mandates, Sexton had complained of federal strings attached to those dollars. And the governor voiced support for the panel’s work and complained of “excessive overreach” by the federal government.

But some critics said the bigger issue was the U.S. education department’s role in enforcing constitutionally guaranteed civil rights protections for students.

Ultimately, the panel’s Senate and House members disagreed about their findings and issued separate recommendations. The Senate report highlighted the risks of taking the unprecedented step of rejecting federal funding, while the House report recommended taking incremental actions to further explore the idea. Nothing specific happened in the ensuing months.

Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Memphis Democrat who served on the panel, said the Senate’s conclusions should give the governor pause.

“There are reasons why we have the U.S. Department of Education — to make sure that all kids have the opportunity to receive a public education and to have their civil rights protected,” Akbari said.

She noted that segregated schools existed less than 75 years ago across the nation.

“It’s unthinkable that we would move away from these very sacred and important protections, not just regarding race but gender, children with special needs, the handicapped community,” Akbari said.

Alexza Barajas Clark, who heads the EdTrust advocacy group in Tennessee, said the federal role in education is “to level the playing field for all students,” especially those from rural communities and low-income families or who have a disability.

“Let’s not lose focus about what is at stake,” Clark said. “At the center of every education policy decision is a student.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Indie Memphis 2024: The Magic of LOC: LeMoyne-Owen at 160

When he was growing up, Caleb Suggs wanted to be a zoologist. “But when I went to Germantown High School, they have a TV station in their school, so I got involved with that and that kind of set me on my path to major in broadcast journalism and film. When I was at University of Memphis, I got my first film job through the journalism department. My teacher, Roxanne Koch was directing a documentary on the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. I got a producing gig, and I edited it and narrated the movie through the film department. I got to do my first film that I directed in 2020, and I have made films every single year since then with my brother. We started the film production company called Studio Suggs in 2021.” 

Suggs’ film in Indie Memphis 2024 was the brain child of Debbie Robertson at WKNO-TV. “They came to me, because they knew about what I did in video and film, and pitched to me the idea, because they really wanted um to have something that showed up our local HBCU,” says Suggs. “They saw that other cities had some kind of documentary or program that highlighted their HBCUs, but Memphis didn’t have one. So they wanted them to put LeMoyne-Owen College on the map and raise more awareness.” 

Suggs says making The Magic of LOC: LeMoyne-Owen at 160 was as much of a learning experience for him as it will be for the audience.. “I actually didn’t know much of anything about LeMoyne-Owen College at all until we started the project. … I had no idea that it was really the students who spearheaded the desegregation of Memphis, and how they were the main ones doing the sit-ins in town. I learned what the draw was for HBCUs. You know, I’ve never been to an HBCU. I went to the University of Memphis. So I got first-hand experience about the culture. The first thing we shot for the documentary was their homecoming week. It was their 160-year anniversary. Seeing how everybody down there was really a family, and seeing how tight the connections were was something that was just completely new to me.” 

Suggs, who had directed indie comedies like “Homeboys Haunted”, was new to documentary helming. “I would say that documentaries are easier than narratives on the front end, but way harder on the back end,” he says. For narrative films “… you plan everything out — the lines, the camera movement, the lighting, everything — all the work at the front end. Then for me, because I typically edit everything, I direct, I know how everything has been shot and pieced together. It’s easier for me to get the skeleton of the film, and then really, editing just becomes putting on the finishing touches. For documentary, you’re showing up and you can’t really set too much stuff up, because you’re just kind of dropping in and following people or setting up interviews. The hard part becomes taking what everyone said and trying to build a skeleton from what you have, rather than from what you’ve planned out. Documentaries just take a lot more time, and a lot of playing around until you kinda get the feeling of the movie and the aesthetic from the words that people give you, not from something that you pre-plan. So especially for something like this, going in where it was my first experience with it. We just had to figure out the vibe of school before we could figure out the real tone and feeling of the movie, and the aesthetic that came with it. The movie is called The Magic of LOC, and it has this magical type of theme to it. We didn’t even know that until we walked in and started interviewing people.” 

Suggs says he loves to show his work at Indie Memphis. “I think it’s cool that we have a film fest to go to in town! It gives a lot of people here in town something to do with their movie, once they make it. It gives them something exciting to put it in, instead of just on Youtube. It gives you an audience. It gives you a way to meet other filmmakers. It’s just an overall cool experience. When I was first graduating college, and I had my first movie, that was just like the goal. It is the holy grail of where my movie could end up. Now that I’m a bit older, I’ve gone to other festivals, I realize Indie Memphis is a lot better than a lot of other film festivals around the country.” 

The Magic of LOC: LeMoyne-Owen College at 160 screens Saturday, November 16 at 3:15 pm at Studio on the Square. Tickets are available at the Indie Memphis website.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Lakers Edge Grizzlies in Thrilling Matchup

Two Western Conference rivals delivered an electrifying performance Wednesday night, with the Lakers narrowly defeating the Grizzlies 128-123, capping off their second exciting matchup this season. After allowing L.A. to score nearly 40 points in the first quarter, Memphis rallied to pull within one point at halftime. The game see-sawed through the second half, but All-Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined to hold off a late Memphis charge.

In the loss, Memphis show-cased impressive depth and balanced scoring, with seven players — including four reserves — reaching double-digits.

The Lakers achieved a season-best 20 three-pointers, but were outpaced by the Grizzlies, 58-36, in points scored in the paint.

Jaren Jackson Jr. led the way for Memphis with 29 points and seven rebounds. Despite the team’s injury-plagued start to the 2024-25 season, Jackson Jr. has been a consistent bright spot, scoring in double digits in every game he’s played. Through 10 appearances, he is averaging 22.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game. 

After the game Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins shared his thoughts about the team’s performance, “Yeah, great fight by the guys. [We] dug ourselves a pretty big hole. [We] can’t give up 40 points in the first quarter on the road. I thought we let them get a little too comfortable. Way too comfortable, honestly. In the first quarter, we were taking the ball to the net too much and there were fouls and then we couldn’t run.” 

“Luckily, we found our groove in the second and third quarters,” added Jenkins. “We made that run in the fourth quarter. It just was a battle until the end. [I’m] proud of the fight. We definitely had a learning opportunity here. We got to come up better in the first quarter on the road.”

Jenkins concluded, “We had a couple of breakdowns defensively. They had some great execution with some zooming action and backdoor play for LeBron [James]. I thought we had some pretty good looks from the offensive side that didn’t fall. But I give them credit. They executed pretty well the last five minutes.”

History Maker

LeBron James will go down as one of the best players who ever stepped on a basketball court. He continues to make history, and Wednesday night against Memphis was no exception, as James, at 39, became the oldest player in NBA history to record three consecutive triple-doubles, surpassing his own record, set five years ago. Against the Grizzlies, he racked up 35 points, 14 assists, and 12 rebounds. It marked James’ 40th career 30-point triple-double and his fourth triple-double this season, solidifying his position as one of the all-time NBA greats.

That’s What They Said

Before fouling out, Zach Edey finished with 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench. 

“He’s a big body. He’s 7’4,” said Davis, who defended Edey. “When you have a guy like that, it’s hard to score and rebound, especially on the rebounding. He made a couple shots over me. And then you go to Friday against another guy in Victor Wembanyama. These guys are extremely tall, so you definitely have to put your work in a little early trying to push him out.”

The Grizzlies’ Luke Kennard on Edey:  “He’s been doing a great job of continuing to run the floor, being aggressive, protecting the paint, and that’s big for us. One of our biggest defensive keys is protecting the paint with everything that we’ve got. So having him down there, just being that presence; it really defers a lot of guys going to the rim. It’s stuff that really doesn’t show up on stat sheets. But I know personally, if I drive and I see a dude like that in there, it makes me want to pass the ball. But he’s been doing a great job. I feel like he’s picking stuff up really fast. We’re only … 11 games in now, or 12? He’s done a great job and [I’m] proud of him, how he’s really handled things.”

Who Got Next

The Grizzlies are set to face off against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on Friday at 9 p.m. CT, for NBA Cup Group Play. The matchup marks their first meeting of the season. The Warriors, with a 9-2 record, are looking strong. The Grizzlies stand at 7-5.