Categories
Film Features Film/TV

A Minecraft Movie

Jack Black brings all the personality to A Minecraft Movie.

First of all, for the record, yes, I have played Minecraft.

I know I’m an Old, fellow teenagers. I come from the first generation of video gamers, and I know what it is to be obsessed with moving pixels on a screen. I like to at least try the latest and greatest games from time to time, so a few years after it was released, I paid my own money for a copy of Minecraft. It sounded fun in theory. Dropped into a procedurally generated open world, you have to gather resources and use them to create the tools you need to survive. It’s kind of like playing with Legos, only with a computer. 

Once I got started, I could see the appeal. Combining different resources in different ways results in novel items, and it’s fun to learn how to use them. Watching complexity arise from very simple elements was the original appeal of Minecraft. But I gotta admit, it didn’t stick. I got frustrated wandering around looking for things and getting attacked by creepers, and lost interest. I guess it just wasn’t my kind of game. 

Also, it’s time for me to admit that I kinda suck at video games. 

My experience was far from typical. With 350 million copies sold, Minecraft is the most popular game of all time, and it’s not particularly close. In second place by more than a hundred million is Grand Theft Auto V — although GTA V is, by some measures, the most profitable entertainment product of all time, having earned $8.5 billion on a $260 million budget. (That’s roughly four times Avatar’s take or seven times Barbie, for those keeping score.)

In the recent Apple TV+ series The Studio, Seth Rogen is promoted to head a major film studio, but the first assignment thrust upon him by the chairman of the board (a hilariously orange Bryan Cranston) is to make a movie based on Kool-Aid. Rogen’s chagrin must have been familiar to the parade of people who have tried and failed to exploit the Minecraft IP over the last decade. Five people have writer credits, and three received “story by” credits. It’s a difficult nut to crack because Minecraft famously doesn’t have a story. It’s an open-world sandbox game. Granted, many quests have been added to the game over the years, but many, if not most players are content to clear out a few blocks and build a cool little house for themselves. Or, if you grind out a lot more crafting hours, you own a personal amusement park. Or maybe a Turing-complete difference engine, aka a primitive computer within a computer, which is a feat for extremely advanced nerds. 

My level of gamer is represented by Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), a neon-sunglasses- and pink-leather-jacket-wearing fugitive from 1989. Actually, he’s not my level of gamer because he was once really good at it. He was the 1989 World Champion of Hunk City Rampage, a fictional beat-’em-up arcade cabinet that I admit looks kind of fun. These days, he’s the owner of Game Over, a video game and nostalgia store in Chuglass, Idaho. Trying to rescue his failing store, Garrett has a side hustle buying the contents of abandoned storage lockers at auction. In one, he spies the Atari Cosmos, a (fictional) rare game console from the ’80s that sells for big bucks. He digs deep to buy the lot, only to be frustrated when the box is empty. But what he does find among the junk is a pair of crystal cubes that fit inside each other like nesting dolls. 

Also stuck inside of Chuglass are Natalie (Emma Myers) and her brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen), who moved to town when their mother passed away. Natalie’s got to raise her little brother, while adjusting to a new life as a social media manager for the local potato chip company. 

After a bad first day of school, where Henry’s experimental jet pack destroys the potato chip factory mascot (don’t ask), Henry retreats to The Garbage Man’s store, where he discovers the crystals and wonders what they do. As you might have guessed, when combined, the crystals create a portal where our heroes, plus their (don’t ask) real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks), are sucked into the Overworld of Minecraft, Tron-style. 

The real star of the show, and the only thing that makes A Minecraft Movie something other than an wildly successful corporate branding exercise (Variety reported more than 40 tie-in promos!), is Jack Black as Steve, one of the skins players can choose to represent themselves on the map. The person who finally caught the falling knife and got the assignment to direct this film is Jared Hess, who also directed Napoleon Dynamite and, crucially, Nacho Libre, a completely over-the-top cringe comedy starring Black as a friar who secretly moonlights in the wrestling ring as a luchador. 

Black and Hess are on the same manic wavelength, and the Tenacious D star outshines literally everything in this sprawling production. Despite some nominal attempts to give them personalities, or at least motivations, Henry, Natalie, and Dawn are blank slates. Maybe that’s the intention, in an effort to make them more relatable to a wider audience. But it’s Black’s job to take these nonentities on a tour of the Minecraft universe, gesturing wildly at points of interest and dodging arrows from the minion of Malgosha (voiced by Rachel House). The leader of the piglins rules the Nether, a hellish underworld that looks a lot like the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings, only, you know, in Minecraft. She is the avowed enemy of creativity and just wants to enslave everyone to collect gold. 

Imagine that, a country ruled by a piggish tyrant who only values money, and wants to destroy and subjugate everything to feed their megalomania. I dunno, sounds bad. 

A Minecraft Movie

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Categories
Politics Politics Feature

The Cycle Starts Anew

A freed Kelsey with well-wisher Naser Fazlullah at celebration party (Photo: Courtesy Naser Fazlullah)

King Arthur was not present. In fact, the ranking attendee at the Roundtable in East Memphis last Saturday night for Brian Kelsey’s out-of-prison celebration was Brent Taylor, the fellow Republican who won a special election to succeed Kelsey in the state Senate.

A crowd of some 50 family members and well-wishers braved street floods and a thunderstorm of generational ferocity to help Kelsey rejoice at his recent pardon by President Trump — a circumstance that a grateful Kelsey  kept referring to as a “miracle” in the course of a 15-minute speech to the gathering.

Kelsey had been convicted of conspiring with others in a scheme to illegally funnel campaign finance money from his state account into his unsuccessful 2016 congressional race. He consented to a plea arrangement of guilty but later tried and failed to get his plea rescinded.

Ultimately, he would surrender and had spent two weeks in a federal prison in Kentucky before getting the surprise pardon from President Trump two weeks ago. After his indictment, he had contended that he was being unjustly targeted by then-President Joe Biden. Though the claim appeared far-fetched to many observers, Trump may have regarded it as credible. In any case, Kelsey had a network of GOP supporters who had kept up his fight for vindication.

On the morning that he learned of his pardon, Kelsey told the crowd, guards were conducting a shakedown of the prison population, looking for illicit drugs.

Kelsey said that he was writing a book about his brush with the law, presumably including information about his trial as well as his incarceration.

• Another Go
Mark Billingsley, the once and possibly future county commissioner, speaking with KWAM on Monday morning, announced his candidacy in 2026 for the District Four commission seat, now held by the term-limited Brandon Morrison, saying, “The last couple of years I’ve been really concerned with our leadership. The way we change things is getting involved. People are voting with their taillights, they are leaving, and I want them to have better opportunities in Shelby County for young and old.”

Republican Billingsley mentioned a dilapidated jail and a defective educational system as things in need of remedy. 

“All Shelby County residents deserve better, and they should demand more common sense and real accountability from their elected officials, no matter their party affiliation,” he said, pledging to work across the aisle with the commission’s majority Democrats.

And Terry Roland, who served as commission chair during his two terms on the body, wants to return to his old District One seat, now held by the also term-limited Amber Mills.

Roland, another Republican, is well known to followers of local politics as a colorful ideologue with pronounced MAGA sympathies. But, like Billingsley, he boasts his record of working across the aisle and was in the forefront of efforts to resolve racial disparities in the county workforce.

A specialist in economic development tools, Roland is the immediate past president of the Millington Area Chamber of Commerce. He recently cofounded a consultancy group with Cary Vaughn and Jon Crisp to focus on development issues. 

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

I Don’t

Defining success in terms of marriage is misguided. (Photo: Rui G. Santos | Dreamstime.com)

On Monday, the Tennessee state House approved the “success sequence” bill in a 73-20 vote. The bill, which would require the state’s public schools to teach a specific life path to “success,” previously passed the Senate in a 25-5 vote and is now headed to the desk of Governor Bill Lee for signing. That life path: education, marriage, kids. 

In fact, the text of HB0178 focuses heavily on marriage as the crux of a “successful” life: “WHEREAS, children raised by married parents are more likely to flourish compared to children raised in single-parent families; and WHEREAS, children raised in stable, married-parent families are more likely to excel in school, and generally earn higher grade point averages than children who are not; and WHEREAS, children raised by married parents are about twice as likely to graduate from college than children who are not; and WHEREAS, children not raised in a home with married parents are twice as likely to end up in jail or prison before reaching thirty years of age …”

Perhaps data somewhere shows these things are more or less likely for children who had both parents around, but setting curriculum to teach youth that marriage is a required part of a “successful” life is an overstep. Will they, too, teach how to maintain a successful marriage? According to the National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 41 percent of first marriages and 60 percent of second marriages end in divorce. In 2021, the most recent state report showed Tennessee had a divorce rate of 3.3 per 1,000 inhabitants. And in 2024, U.S. News & World Report listed Tennessee among the top 10 states with the highest divorce rate. A crucial piece in teaching marriage as an asset would be teaching people how to navigate the commitments, challenges, and changes of marriage. 

State Senator London Lamar, raised by a single mother, recently commented on the bill, noting it implies single parents are “less than.” “If you are not married, it does not mean that you are less than anybody else. I think this bill is misguided, it’s very offensive, and I’m living proof that this bill has no merit,” Lamar said.

I’m no senator. But I have what some may consider a successful life and career. My parents divorced when I was 5 years old, but I excelled in K-12, graduating with the fourth-highest grade point average in my high school class (a difference of mere tenths from valedictorian). I finished college at University of Memphis summa cum laude, with the highest GPA among all graduating journalism students that year. I held jobs while earning an education, taking an internship here with the Flyer as a working student. Dedicated to this publication, and with immense respect for the talented people with whom I work, I took positions in various departments to stick around — editorial, ad sales, advertorial — and wrote/edited for other magazines published by Contemporary Media. Through the years, I learned the ins and outs of the processes that make this thing work. In 2022, my bosses deemed me fit to run the whole Flyer shebang. I’m grateful and honored. 

I’m also childless (by choice) and have never been married. I knew at a very young age I didn’t want children. And marriage is not for me. Do my life choices make me less than? By not following a rigid “sequence,” did I somehow fail?  

Did my parents parting ways make me a bad kid? A dumb kid? A kid with less potential? No. My mother struggled at times as a single mom. But through her, I learned perseverance, determination, and the value of hard work. I knew that for most people, success (however it’s defined) would be a climb, and not a straight one — and that I was most people. I think the fact that I’m here, writing love notes to my dear city on a regular basis — and that you’re here, reading my words — is, by some measure, success. 

Marriage and kids not required. 

Categories
Music Music Blog Music Features

SmokeSlam: It’s More Than Just BBQ

Southern Avenue (Photo: courtesy Alligator Records)

Even as many are eyeing their favorite bands in the three-day blow-out known as the RiverBeat Music Festival, another music fest is just over the horizon, perhaps obscured by the delicious clouds of barbecue that enshroud it. That would be SmokeSlam, aka “The World’s Ultimate BBQ Showdown,” yet another production by Mempho Presents.

This year, the festival at Tom Lee Park will be held May 15-17th. In addition to nearly 75 teams competing for the largest purse in BBQ competition history, SmokeSlam promises an immersive experience for the whole family, bringing together world-renowned pitmasters, carnival games and ferris wheel rides, fireworks shows, and electrifying music.

The three-day music experience will feature some celebrated musical guests on the Main Stage sponsored by ZYN:

  • Thursday: Headliner Shane Smith and The Saints, with performances by Waylon Wyatt and Mark Edgar Stuart
  • Friday: Headliner The Revivalists with performances by Southern Avenue, The MDs, and Jombi
  • Saturday: Country music giants Big & Rich close out the festival, with supporting acts Neon Mooners and Cyrena Wages

It will be an especially powerful homecoming for Southern Avenue, who will be celebrating the April 25th release of their Alligator Records debut album, Family. Known worldwide for their inclusive, message-driven songs fueled by hard-hitting grooves and electrifying guitar, the band’s new album is a very personal one for Southern Avenue, telling the band’s story via musical storytelling magic. With their unique blend of Hill Country Blues and Memphis stomp, the band is unlike any other on the scene today.

Southern Avenue announced, “Memphis is home, and every time we get to hit the stage here, it’s something special. We’re beyond excited to bring the energy to SmokeSlam and celebrate a night of raw, real, and soulful music – Memphis style!” 

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Interim MATA Leadership Focused on ‘Stabilizing’ Agency

Photo: Justin Fox Burks

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) said their primary goals are to improve the agency’s operational and financial viability as interim leadership continues efforts to transform the agency.

Today the interim leadership team, comprised of TransPro consultants, gave a monthly update to Memphis City Council’s transportation committee.

John Lewis, interim CEO, said the leadership team has reviewed all non-employee spending to identify “unnecessary and redundant” charges while also stopping “non-safety certification-related travels” for MATA personnel. They have also changed the employee expense reimbursement policies.

“The majority of spending has got to be focused on putting transit service on the street and not towards supporting unnecessary or redundant administrative funding, as has been the practice in the past,” Lewis said. 

Officials also said they have gained access to the agency’s American Express account to suspend usage and look into the previous spending. Lewis said this is to stop future misappropriation of agency funds.

Aaron Headley, interim CFO, said MATA is also working to optimize the city’s investment. They are currently working on minimizing the amount of past-due payments with a target of less than 10 percent.  

Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas questioned whether the agency had the data to show optimization of the city’s investment, to which officials said this is an intended outcome.

The presentation showed that the amount of past due payables was at 94 percent as of March 7th, and it stayed the same as of March 26th. Headley said this is because they are “laser-focused” on getting more buses on the road and making sure they don’t run out of money.

Lewis said they are working to finalize their FY26 budget with extra focus on “eliminating wasteful spending” from both administration and vendor services.

Councilman Jeff Warren questioned whether or not the agency could switch to smaller buses on routes that aren’t as full. He suggested that this may be a better spend than to continue purchasing larger buses as they could improve cost-saving measures, efficiency, and timeliness.

Lewis explained there are opportunities for smaller vehicles; however, their main concern is stabilizing the agency.

“Getting into service design is further down the road for us,” Lewis said.

Warren responded that stabilizing the agency may be difficult if only a percentage of buses are available to complete routes.

Thomas asked if they are able to receive the data that the agency is using to complete their monthly reports even though officials said they are “ongoing.” Board chair Edmund Ford Sr. said that questions such as these could not be discussed in regular session, but rather in attorney-client session.

Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton asked how MATA plans to rebuild the community’s trust in terms of reliability and on-time performance. She said the current model is a “failing” one and advised MATA to not ask for more money if they plan to do the same thing.

“I understand that getting the money is most important, but getting the trust back — what does your model look like?” Sutton asked. “More service on the street, but you don’t have the people to ride. They’ve made other means because they were forced into a place where they had to find other means.”

Anna McQuiston, vice chair of MATA’s board of commissioners, said the interim leadership team realizes that community trust is broken, yet she didn’t think the model was broken; rather, the agency did not deliver on their promises.

“Our number-one priority right now is to deliver on the service that we tell people we’re going to provide,” McQuiston said. “We’re not doing that right now. We’ve got to deliver on time. We need the buses to show up, and that to me is the first step of many that we need to make to build back that community trust. That has been one of the priorities the board has asked for considering all these things.”

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Mayors: Storm Impact Varied Widely Along the Mississippi River

The Wolf River at Germantown Parkway on Sunday. Credit: Ian Ripple on X
Credit: Ward Archer

Last week’s storm affected Mississippi River towns differently, ranging from a mass rescue in West Memphis to “nothing happened at all” in Caruthersville, Missouri. The total damage, however, could cost $90 billion, according to one weather company. 

The relentless bouts of severe weather began with tornado warnings on Wednesday, April 2nd. Lines of high wind threatened the Mid-South Thursday through Saturday. The storm finally moved on Sunday but not before dumping nearly 12 inches of rain in Memphis. 

The storm fronts were wide, of course, and did not affect towns the same way. Mayors of towns up and down the Mississippi River gave highlights of their challenges and lucky misses during a news conference Monday by the Mississippi River Mayors Cities and Towns Initiative.   

Memphis Mayor Paul Young said “the last few days have been a challenge.” He said the city had “historic levels of rainfall,” which created more than 600 tickets to the city’s 311 system. Also, wind and rain felled 109 trees that blocked roads, Young said. Traffic lights at intersections went out, too, and the massive amounts of water were a challenge for the city’s drainage system, he said. 

“Thankfully, our teams worked really hard and they were very responsive and very prepared for the storms that took place,” Young said. 

Across the river in West Memphis, teams in boats rescued nearly 100 people caught in the floodwaters created by nearly 13 inches of rain. 

However, up the river in Alton, Illinois, Mayor David Goins said, “we’re doing fine.” 

“I believe we dodged a bullet because most of the rain was south of us,” Goins said, noting Alton got between 3 inches to 5 inches of rain. 

In Cape Girardeau, Missouri, though, limbs and trees were down all over town, said Mayor Stacy Kinder. Downtown buildings suffered roof and facade damage and blown-out windows. Flash flooding backed up sewage and water into basements in homes across town. In a typical few days, the city’s waste water treatment plant treats about 26 million gallons of water, Mayor Kinder said. Between April 2nd and 6th, the system treated 91 million gallons of water, she said.  

Caruthersville, Missouri, Mayor Sue Grantham said “we got really lucky. The dear Lord was with us; we don’t have any flooding around us except at the river,” Grantham said. “Nothing happened at all. I did see one small car in a ditch. But by the time I got back around, it was gone.”  

Experts at AccuWeather, a weather media company, projected Monday morning that the storm caused an estimated $80 billion to $90 billion in total damage and economic loss.

Credit: AccuWeather

”We’re heartbroken by the loss of life and destruction from this once-in-a-generation storm,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter. “ Houses and businesses were destroyed by tornadoes. Homes and vehicles were swept away by fast-moving floodwaters. Bridges and roadways were washed out or destroyed in some areas. Travel, commerce and business operations were significantly disrupted. It will take years for some of the hardest-hit communities to recover.”

Memphis Mayor Young said his team is watching the Mississippi River now, though. The river is expected to peak here on April 14 at about 37 feet. 

“For us, flood level is about 34 feet,” he said. “We do think we have enough things in place to manage [flooding] at that level, however. It is something that we’re going to be paying attention to.”

David Welsh, a senior hydrologist with the National Weather Service, said he anticipates a “long, broad crest” on the Mississippi that could last for up to two weeks. However, no rain fall is yet predicted for the next week, which might give the river a little bit of time to start coming down.   

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Music Video Monday: “Worst of the World” by Brennan Villines

Memphis music maker Brennan Villines is a longtime friend of Music Video Monday. Check out “Ahead of Your Time”, get stabby with “Better Than We’ve Ever Been”, feel “Free”.

His latest, “Worst of the World” combines a heartfelt and soaring melody with images of people and spaceships soaring high into the heavens, while Villines bares all. “I just wanted to feel something,” indeed! Watch this video, and you’ll feel it, too.

If you would like your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Billy F. Gibbons to Play Guitar He Had Made in Muddy Waters’ Name

Billy Gibbons (Photo: Blain Clausen)

It’s appropriate that when ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons makes his appearance at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale this Wednesday, April 9th, he will be celebrating both the creation of the “Muddywood” guitar, in honor of Muddy Waters, and the longevity of the museum itself. His vision of commissioning a guitar paying tribute to Muddy Waters went hand-in-hand with his discovery of the museum some 37 years ago.

“One of my associates in Memphis came back from a sales run which allowed him to pass through Clarksdale,” Gibbons tells me, recollecting events from more than three decades ago. “And he spotted a tiny sign simply stating ‘Blues Museum,’ stuck in the grass next to the curb.”

That alone should indicate how long ago it was, for now the Delta Blues Museum is one of Clarksdale’s and the Delta’s crown jewels. It’s educational programs are the toast of Mississippi, inspiring young people such as Grammy-winner Christone “Kingfish” Ingram to throw themselves into the blues. But when the museum opened in 1979, it was merely a single room, and a little hard to find, even well into the ‘80s, when ZZ Top frequently worked at Ardent Studios, and Gibbons heard tell of the place from his associate.

“The following week,” he says, “we headed down to Clarksdale in search of this blues museum. For a good hour, we were stopping around town asking about it, but no luck. But right as we were about to give up, we were filling up on petrol, and the gas station attendant overheard us talking. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘you must be talking about Sid Graves and his blues museum, which is located in the public library.’ And with that, we turned around, marched up the steps to the library, and sure enough, found the annex room where Sid Graves had made a place to park his personal collection of artifacts from that great American art form called the blues.”

But there was more afoot than seeing artifacts on the day that Gibbons and company showed up. Graves had his finger on the pulse of the whole Delta region and beyond, including a wide network of blues aficionados. On this day, Graves was consulting with a fellow scholar.

“Lo and behold, visiting Sid was none other than Jim O’Neill,” says Gibbons, “who was the founder of Living Blues magazine. I had met Jim on a couple of occasions. He and Sid had gathered to discuss their concern over a recent storm where the high winds had dislodged a few timbers in the cabin that Muddy Waters grew up in. And they said, ‘It’s just a few miles down the road next to Stovall Farm.’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we will go.’

Muddy Waters’ cabin (Photo: courtesy Delta Blues Museum)

“Sure enough, there was a pile of rubble that had been gathered up and placed next to the highway. We had a nice visit for a while, and on departure, Sid said, ‘Listen, they’re hauling this refuse away tomorrow. Why don’t you take a stick of this wood as a souvenir?’ And there was a big, big square timber, about six feet long, and we piled it in the trunk of the car. About halfway back to Memphis, my buddy said, ‘What are you going to do with this log?’ I thought for a minute and then I said, ‘Well, I know a guitar maker. We could probably saw this thing, and glue the planks together and cut a guitar out of it.’”

That guitar-maker was none other than Rick Rayburn, Gibbons explains, who owned Pyramid Guitars at the time. Others have identified the cabin plank as cypress wood, and Gibbons said it just happened to be perfect for its new purpose.

“Once it was all together in one piece, there was a bell-like resonance. It was just a match made in heaven, and it turned out to be a really resounding and very strident-sounding instrument.” Its basic shape was a design Gibbons had been toying with at the time. “I had outlined the perimeter of a guitar, and we had it in in a blueprint form. And I thought, ‘Gee, now’s the time to break it out!’ We handed it over to Rick, and he said, ‘How shall we finish it out?’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s give it a nice, bright coat.’ And then I said, ‘I’ve got a design for a graphic.’”

The paint job Gibbons had in mind spoke to the very muddy waters that the great bluesman (born McKinley Morganfield) had lived beside for so long. “The squiggle down through the body and down all the way down the neck is the Mississippi River,” Gibbons notes. “The two colors represent the water and the banks of the river. And it culminates in the headstock, which is kind of a deltoid shaped piece, representing the Mississippi Delta.”

Muddywood (Photo: courtesy Delta Blues Museum)

It came out better than anyone had dreamt possible. “We tagged it the Muddywood guitar,” says Gibbons, “and it was such a delightful instrument, we thought, ‘Gee whiz, this would make a nice addition to the collection that Sid Graves put together.’”

The rest is history, as that encounter led ZZ Top to contribute funds to the museum, which in turn spawned matching grants and an ambitious event in which Muddywood was added to the museum’s collection. John Lee Hooker even showed up. It was just the kickstart that the Delta Blues Museum needed, paving the way for its eventual move into a train depot in Clarksdale, which it still calls home today.

This Wednesday, the support that Gibbons and his band gave to what is now a Delta landmark will be honored in a full-circle moment, as the museum pays tribute to ZZ Top at a “Crossroads Connection” event, part of its annual Muddy Waters Month celebration. The program kicks off at 2:00 PM at the Delta Blues Museum Stage where local musicians, civic leaders, and state dignitaries will help the Museum thank Billy and ZZ Top for their long-time support of the blues and the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Live music will be provided by the award-winning Delta Museum Student Band, joined by Gibbons, who will play the Muddywood guitar for the occasion. That event in turn will serve as a lead up to the 2025 Juke Joint Festival that kicks off in Clarksdale this Saturday. 

At 3:00 PM, festivities will continue inside at a ticketed reception in honor of Gibbons and in support of the museum’s programs. There, Gibbons will be joined in conversation by the Delta Blues Museum’s “Blues Ambassador,” Charlie Musselwhite, a Delta native, Grammy winner, and Blues Hall of Fame and Memphis Music Hall of Fame inductee. The two will discuss the life and legacy of Muddy Waters and his enduring influence on music. Visit this link for tickets.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports Uncategorized

Grizzlies Take Down Pistons to Win Second Straight

Desmond Bane shoots the ball against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, April 5, 2025 (Photo by: Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Memphis Grizzlies secured the season series against the Detroit Pistons with a 109-103 win Saturday night, marking their ninth consecutive victory over Detroit. 

The Grizzlies dominated Detroit on the glass, out-rebounding them 64-44 and converted 17 offensive boards into 23 second-chance points. 

Grizzlies All-Star guard Ja Morant was sidelined due to food poisoning. His backcourt mate Desmond Bane led Memphis in his absence.

Bane exploded for 38 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dished out three assists, while shooting 15-for-23 from the field. His 15 made shots tied for the second-most in his career, behind the 19 he made in a 49-point outing against the Pistons last season.

“He’s a good player and he can score in so many different ways,” Piston’s head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of Bane after the game. “He can make open shots; he can put the ball on the floor and create his own. He’s good at driving the ball and creating contact. He’s just a well-rounded offensive player.”

Memphis held Detroit to just 38 percent shooting, a promising sign that the team’s defense might be back on track. Have the Grizzlies finally figured out their identity on that end of the floor? Let’s hope so. The question on everyone’s mind is: Can they sustain this level of defensive intensity going forward? 

Bane said of the defense after the much-needed win , “That’s got to be our calling card for now, and for the rest of the season. We (have) to be able to get stops.”

Jaren Jackson Jr. posted 27 points, and added 11 rebounds, two assists, and a steal. He’s now scored 20+ points in five of his last six games and has reached double figures in 12 consecutive games.

Scotty Pippen Jr. added 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots.

Zach Edey set a new career high and Grizzlies rookie record with 21 rebounds, adding six points, six assists, and a block. He’s been dominating on the glass, grabbing 13+ rebounds in each of his last three games. Edey currently ranks second among rookies with 8.0 rebounds per game, just behind Yves Missi’s 8.2. His impressive rebounding effort also tied for the 12th-most in a single game in Grizzlies franchise history.

Grizzlies interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo on Edey’s night: “He had a huge impact. He’s had an incredible stretch of games, 21 rebounds today. I think that’s a franchise rookie record. He also had six assists on top of that. There’s a lot of noise in an individual game basis, but he’s grasping the tactical nuances, he’s disciplined and executing the game plan. He’s relentless in getting after the second shots and screening for our shooters. He’s got a very bright future ahead of him.”

The Grizzlies improved to 46-32 on the season, putting them in a heated contest for postseason aspirations with only four games left to play. Every game matters at this point.

Up Next

The Grizzlies will face the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Grizzlies Edge Heat at the Buzzer

Ja Morant drives to the basket against the Miami Heat. (Credit: NBAE/Getty Images.)

Thursday night, the Memphis Grizzlies snapped a four-game losing streak with a 110-108 victory over the Miami Heat.

Itwas the Grizzlies’ first win since longtime head coach Taylor Jenkins was fired and replaced in the interim by lead assistant Tuomas Iisalo.

This might be one of the most important wins of the season for this Grizzlies team, which has been in a tailspin for the past few weeks. After spending most of the season in second place in the Western Conference, Memphis is now trying to avoid falling past the sixth seed and the play-in tournament.

This brings us to Thursday night’s game in Miami. The game started out with Heat big man, Bam Adebayo, torching the Grizzlies for 12 points in the first period, setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Memphis was able to cut Miami’s nine-point lead to one by midway but did themselves no favors by giving up 10 points off 12 turnovers in the first half. It was not a great matchup for Jaren Jackson Jr., as evidenced by his game-high five fouls and five turnovers.

The second half was a back-and-forth battle that saw Memphis barely snaring out a win, thanks to a pullup at the buzzer by Ja Morant.

But there is an elephant in the room: the ongoing controversy regarding what the league calls a “finger-gun” gesture made between Ja Morant and Golden State guard Buddy Hield during Tuesday’s game against the Warriors.

The league issued a warning yesterday afternoon to Morant and Hield regarding the gesture: It was determined “not intended to be violent in nature” but still inappropriate. It was a warning Morant opted not to heed.

Now the league is issuing a $75,000 fine to Morant after he made the same gesture during last night’s game.

Hopefully, he will heed that warning going forward because the Grizzlies desperately need him on the court.

By The Numbers:

Morant led the team in scoring with 30 points on 11 of 22 overall shooting and 3 of 7 from beyond the arc. He added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal.

Desmond Bane finished with 17 points on 6 of 23 overall shooting and 1 of 9 from three-point range, plus 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal.

Jaylen Wells added 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 13 points, and added 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.

Scotty Pippen Jr. led the bench with 17 points on 6 of 9 overall shooting and 3 of 4 from beyond the arc, plus 1 rebound, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.

Who Got Next?

The Grizzlies will be in Detroit Saturday night to take on the Pistons. Tip-off is at 6 PM CDT.