Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Fresh Start: A New Year Means New Drinks

hile I’ve heard that “Dry January” is a trend for many people who might have rung in the new year a bit too heartily, and I do know a few friends who abstain from alcohol for a month to recalibrate their drinking habits, I’ve never been one to “just say no.” I am devoting a bit of time this month to contemplate my own reasons to drink — of course they’re emotional, as well as physical — and, as I do every new year, recalibrate my consumption.

Wine-wise, that means avoiding reds in the winter months. My allergist has convinced me that when it’s cold outside, the histamines and sulfites found in Cabernets and Merlots stress my sinuses. White wines, particularly those without added sulfites, are a much better bet, so my refrigerator is currently stocked with a few bottles of Pinot Grigio and Vinho Verde.

This year, I’m on a mission to discover more varietals. I lean toward crisply acidic whites, so why haven’t I sampled more Viognier? The bold, fruity wine has been popular across Europe since Roman times; today, it’s the star of vineyards that span the globe, including Virginia, California’s Central Coast, Oregon’s Willamette Valley, British Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Japan, and South Africa. For several years, the Chilean Casillero del Diablo Viognier was in my repertoire — now it’s time to try the equally affordable Cline Viognier 2016, which hails from Sonoma County, and the Yalumba Y Series Viognier 2017, an Australian variety. Both are available on Memphis shelves for around $15 per bottle.

Also on my shortlist: the dry, sweet Gewürztraminer, originally made from grapes that ripen on vines planted in northern Europe, and now a banging crop in vineyards as far-flung as New Zealand. Likewise, I plan to delve deeper into the realm of Moscato — I love to pair this wine with spicy Indian and Vietnamese take-out, but often fail to keep a bottle stashed in the fridge at home.

Sherry, that fortified white wine loved by grandmothers the world over, is rumored to be making a big comeback in 2019 as a cocktail component. I hope to experiment over the next few months and report back soon with a few recipes. I’ll start with a Sherry and tonic this weekend.

Spiritually speaking, like many boozehounds, I’ve been leaning heavily on tequila the last several months, so why not move on to mezcal, its desert-based “agave cousin”? According to metrics reported by the Distilled Spirits Council and published on BeverageDynamics.com, mezcal sales have exploded from less than 50,000 cases in 2009 to around 360,000 cases in 2017. By 2022, the mezcal industry is expected to exceed 1.2 million cases. The liquor tends to lean earthy/smoky or fresh, with characteristics that fall everywhere in between. It’s good with brandy, tequila, Vermouth, fruit juice, and ginger beer.

I’m headed to New Mexico later this month, and I plan to hit up every bartender in the state for their favorite recommendations, recipes, and techniques. Once I’ve identified the flavors I like the most, I’ll experiment at home, although truthfully, mezcal might remain more of a special occasion go-to, since at the lower end, it runs approximately $30 per bottle.

While I’m on the subject of drinking out of town, I hope to do that more frequently, too. Just last weekend, The New York Times‘ business section ran an article about the Napa-fication of American whiskey distilleries as a billion-dollar tourism industry. From the Kentucky Bourbon Trail to the Willamette Valley, destination drinking is a major influencer on my travel plans.
And, of course, I want to sample more local talent. There are dozens of new bars to visit and bartenders to meet, and even more breweries, taprooms, and distilleries in the region to try on for size. Each place, person, and taste has its own personality, which is part of what makes responsible drinking so much more fun.

Cheers — or, as an old Gaelic saying goes, here’s to a healthy heart and a wet mouth!

Categories
Music Music Features

New African-American Art Space Opens in Orange Mound

CREDIT: Ziggy Mack

Last Saturday, an unprecedented assembly of African-American artists gathered in Orange Mound. It was ostensibly for a photo shoot organized by the nonprofit known as the Collective, but it was obvious, as dozens of local black creatives socialized and networked all morning, that much more was going on. “It’s the first time so many of Memphis’ black artists have come together all at once,” said Collective program director Lawrence Matthews. “This represents millions of dollars worth of talent.”

In a sense, it was the unofficial grand opening of the nonprofit’s new space, the CMPLX, next to the Orange Mound Gallery (OMG) in an unassuming strip mall at Park and Airways. The official event takes place this Friday evening, with an impressive lineup of visual artists, musicians, and others. But on this crisp Saturday morning, the collection of talent showed how the Collective, aka the CLTV, represents a movement that goes far beyond its nominal membership. As Matthews explained, “We don’t want to just make it about black visual artists and black musicians, but black dancers, black writers, black filmmakers. Even black thinkers. If you’re an individual that loves creativity, you have a place and a safe space with us, to get paid and to create things.”

After working for four years without a headquarters, executive director Victoria Jones emphasizes the importance of having the CMPLX. “How do we create really strong black artists? Create space for them to actually exist. We’ll also promote professional and creative development opportunities, host critiques, round tables, and sharing work with peers.” She adds that the CLTV will also guide artists’ careers. “We’ve got funding from the Tennessee Arts Commission and ArtsMemphis to put together a professional development series, once we open the space. We’ll be talking about the business side of being an artist.”

Ziggy Mack

Rapper Great Dame throws down at the CLTV photo shoot

A dedicated space will improve the CLTV’s business as well. While institutions like Crosstown Arts or the Brooks Museum of Art have hosted their events, Jones points out that they have been the most poorly attended. In contrast, the opening of last summer’s “Thug” exhibit at the OMG was packed. Says Matthews of being hosted by other organizations, “It’s like, why should I come to this space? If I’m in Hickory Hill or whatever, why should I come to this space, which charges me whatever to come in here, and I get followed around? We spent a year trying to cultivate those relationships. At the end of it, I don’t know how much we took away from it, besides, okay, we should do this on our own.”

Friday’s grand opening will bring in a wealth of talent, including performances by NuJas, Erlee, Magnolia, AWFM, Cameron Bethany, Don Lifted, Ricky Davaine, Rudy Rhymer, and Cities Aviv, not to mention works by over a dozen visual artists. It foreshadows the relaunch of the CLTV’s monthly Decibel concert series in February, not to mention other, smaller performances in the large studio room in the back. “It’ll almost be like a Tiny Desk show,” says Jones, “because this room will indeed be used as an art studio. We won’t make people move their artwork. But we’ll have a photo backdrop so musicians’ whole setup will fit neatly into that.”

Jones hopes such events will attract other collectives to the area. “I don’t think it stops with us. We have partnered with other black arts organizations, like Unapologetic. Folks are ready to invest. We’re just the first domino.” And, she adds, the CLTV’s relationship with the neighborhood is reciprocal. “Orange Mound is already a very energized space. We’re just trying to find ways we can exist within that.” From the looks of it, the CLTV is in Orange Mound to stay.

The CMPLX grand opening takes place Friday, January 11th, 6:30-9:30 p.m., 2234 Lamar.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Making carrot and coriander soup.

CREDIT: Ari Levaux

Last year at about this time, I sat down with a stack of seed catalogs, a warm beverage, and a pantry full of dreams. I repeat this ritual every year, fully aware that it’s only a game and that only a token amount of my food will ever come from my garden, regardless of how many seeds I order. But tokens like this have a way of taking me to some cool places, so each winter as I peruse my seed catalogs, I choose a few more. Last winter, I ordered a token pound of cilantro seeds, aka coriander. As a result, I didn’t have to buy cilantro all summer, or coriander all winter, and I became acquainted with one of England’s favorite comfort foods.

In the U.K., where cilantro is called “coriander leaf,” cooks use both seed and foliage in a velvety carrot soup. Carrot and coriander soup is so popular that entire top 10 lists have been written, ranking and comparing the various retail options available on the British market. When I started making batches of my own this winter, I began to understand why.

Ari Levaux

I had ordered my pound of coriander based on conversations with a farmer friend named Luci, who plants cilantro every two weeks, from April through September. It’s her most profitable summertime crop, in terms of output vs. return, she says. Luci recommended the Calypso variety because it can handle more heat than most cilantro plants, she can plant it tightly and cut it like salad mix, and she gets a second cutting from each planting. In the middle of summer, when cilantro wants to flower as soon as it sprouts, Luci uses shade cloth to cool the soil before planting, but token gardeners like myself can use the shade of other plants.

And we don’t need to plant our coriander in perfect rows, either. We token gardeners can just toss our coriander toward the garden by the handful. I tossed mine toward locations that were specifically chosen based on the changing angle of the sun.

When tossing seeds at the garden, one should make an effort to cover them, either by raking them in or sprinkling with topsoil or compost. Unless rain is imminent, give them a good soaking.

My Calypso seeds arrived in February. In April, I began throwing coriander into the middle of the garden, where it would get the most sun. As the days grew longer and hotter, I threw seeds into shadier spots, between raspberry bushes, under the tomatoes, beside the spinach. I threw seeds toward the pathways, the garlic patch, the chicken yard.

In the heat of summer, as expected, most of my cilantro flowered and went to seed. Most, but not all. Because I had so much cilantro in the ground, in so many spots, from full sun to full shade, it was always possible to find enough cilantro when I needed it. That token sack of cilantro seed, which cost me 14 bucks, returned free cilantro all summer long. There wasn’t always a ton of it, but it never quite ran out.

I did what you do when you have cilantro. I made salsa, chutney, curry, tacos. By the end of summer, the garden was full of cilantro plants gone to seed, some of which had dropped and sprouted anew.

I thought about trying to save some of my homegrown coriander for the pantry. Then I remembered I still had about a quarter pound of Calypso cilantro seed.

So I’ve been making a lot of coriander and carrot soup, sometimes without the fresh coriander leaf that most recipes call for — it’s great either way. I use carrots and onions from the winter farmers market, and garlic and coriander from my pantry. What I find most striking about this mellow, satisfying soup is how the coriander disappears. The carrots and onions neutralize the strong-flavored seed to the point where you can barely taste it in the soup. My version is assembled from ideas and ingredients picked and chosen from other recipes. With a dish as simple as this one, even mild deviations can have a big impact on the final character, so there is no need to get fancy. Just get some coriander, and you will be fine.

Coriander Carrot Soup

This soup is pureed, ideally in a blender. An immersion blender or food processor does the trick, eventually. We want zero chunks.

Makes 12 cups; serves 6

1 ½ pounds carrots, sliced (about 5 cups)

1 pound onion (one large one), sliced

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 large garlic clove

¼ pound potato, peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon coriander seeds or 1 teaspoon ground coriander

½ cup cilantro, loosely packed

1 teaspoon salt

8 cups water (no stock necessary)

Garnish: some kind of cream, such as heavy cream, mayo, or sour cream

Place the carrots, onion, potato, garlic, salt, and water in a large pot, and bring to “the boil,” as they would say. Simmer for 30 minutes, skimming any scum that floats to the surface.

Meanwhile, toast the coriander seeds in a dry pan on medium-low heat. When browned and aromatic but not burnt (about five to 10 minutes), grind them (If you don’t have a spice grinder, use the ground coriander) and add to the pot. Simmer until everything is tender, about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool to a temperature you can manage in a blender. Blend in batches. Add fresh cilantro and blend again, until the green flecks of fresh coriander are to your liking: not too big, not too small, but just right.

Serve hot or cold, garnished with the cream of your choice, extra coriander, or some grated ginger, if you wish.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Works in Progress

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

“Nine days! That’s all we’ve got!” Thus did George Chism exhort the supporters gathered around him last Wednesday for a meet-and-greet/fund-raiser at the Bank of Bartlett branch on Highway 64. The reference by Chism was somewhat obscure, since voting in the special-election primaries for the vacant District 32 state Senate seat, which he and four others are seeking, won’t end until primary-election day on January 24th.

What former Shelby County Commissioner Chism apparently meant was that the climax of the special-election primary race would occur between January 14th, when ad hoc neighborhood voting sites became active, and January 23rd, election eve.

Chism, former state Representative Steve McManus, and former County Commissioner Heidi Shafer are competing for the Republican nomination for the seat vacated by former state Senate majority leader Mark Norris, a federal judge now, by appointment of President Trump. Meanwhile, the sole Democrat on the primary ballot, Eric Coleman, is assured of a chance to run against the GOP winner on the special general-election date of March 12th.

In any case and by any arithmetic, time is scarce, and all the candidates are hustling up multiple occasions to create or augment voter awareness of their identity and credentials. Chism claims among his supporters several of Shelby County’s suburban mayors, including Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald, who was on hand for his fund-raiser. Also there was David Reaves, who, like Chism served a single term on the County Commission and, again like Chism, was something of an outlier there, dedicated, or so said both of them, to the gospel of fiscal solvency.

Verbal homage by Chism and several other speakers was paid both to the idea that the seat, formerly held by Republican Norris, should remain in the GOP fold and to the idea that attention should also be paid to the Democratic voters in the district, which incorporates large parts of northern and eastern Shelby County, and Tipton County as well.

Similar concepts were to be heard a day before Chism’s event, when McManus had held a meet-and-greet at the Bartlett household of Republican state Representative Jim Coley. McManus was well aware that Democrats are beginning to gain a foothold in District 32. After all, he had been upset in 2016, losing his seat as state Representative for House District 96, in the southeastern suburbs of Shelby County, to Democrat Dwayne Thompson, who held on to the seat against the GOP’s Scott McCormick in November.

In the judgment of many observers, McManus had started slow in 2016, taking his victory for granted. Not so this time around. Advised by consultant Becky West, he was first among the candidates to air a TV spot and first also to sprout billboards in the district. Among the topics McManus discussed with visitors to his event were non-doctrinaire aspects of his prior service in the General Assembly, like his involvement in the legislation enabling the creation of tax-increment-financing districts (TIFs).

Another Republican candidate, former Commissioner Shafer, would hold a well-attended fund-raiser last Friday in Memphis, where her Commission district was located and where she lived until a family move to Lakeland last year. Like Chism and McManus, Shafer is unmistakably Republican in ideology, but her Commission service, both in 2018, when she served as the body’s chair, and beforehand as well, was marked by an obvious ability to work across the partisan aisle. She was the acknowledged leader of bipartisan efforts to mount the now ongoing legal effort both to curtail the ravages of opioid addiction in Shelby County and to compensate the county for damages caused by careless and unscrupulous over-prescription.

There was a bipartisan flavor, as well, to Shafer’s remarks at her Memphis event, at which she staked out positions for remedial action on both the education and health fronts. While not espousing previous Medicaid-expansion formulations as such, she made it clear that she would seek some means of remedying a circumstance whereby the state had not claimed its share of federal health-care funding, allowing it to go to other states by default.

Perhaps more than the other Republicans running, Shafer has a foothold in Tipton County, especially in the southern portion of it, a de facto bedroom suburb of Memphis. But she, like Chism and McManus, is aware of the vote-pulling power in Tipton County at large of a fourth Republican, Paul Rose of Covington. Rose, a businessman and a well-established presence in Tiption County, is a conservative who has emphasized his strong religious faith.

As of now, Rose is weaker than the others in Shelby County, but he would clearly stand to gain from anything resembling an even vote split between the other three.

Coleman, the sole Democrat running, is a business logistics specialist and evidently quite successful as such. He is an African American and a Navy veteran, severely wounded in the service of his country, and as such has a compelling backstory capable of winning him votes across party lines.

Coleman is not as hyper-active yet as the Republicans seeking the state Senate seat, but he has more time to develop his profile before testing it at the polls in March.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Tru at Evergreen Theatre

Mark Chambers

Mark Chambers lives in San Francisco these days, but he’s Memphis to the bone. Chambers made his stage debut at the Overton Park Shell as one of 50 flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. He made an indelible impression on Memphis audiences in adult roles, especially that of Frank-N-Furter in Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Picture Show. He grew up in Midtown reading In Cold Blood and other Truman Capote stories with his grandmother and watching movies like Eraserhead and Zaza Gabor’s The Queen of Outer Space at The Guild, a Poplar Avenue movie house that’s now home to the Evergreen Theater. “It’s such a great space,” says Chambers, who’s come home to the Evergreen to play Capote, in Cloud9 Theatre Company’s production of Tru, a one-man show about the author’s infamous struggles with booze, drugs, and fame.

Memphis Flyer: Obviously, you like this material. You’ve performed it elsewhere four times now.
Mark Chambers: I think it’s good writing. In a one-man show, you’re always wondering, “Who is this person talking to?” In this one, he just comes out and says, “I like to talk to myself, and for myself, so there.” And it’s all his words. You can trace them back; there are clips. It’s a good fit for me, too, at this time in my life, and I like him.
This is a Capote after he’s passed from being a great writer into being just a celebrity.
That’s in the show, “I used to be famous for writing books, now I’m famous for being famous,” and it’s at the absolutely worst part, emotionally and professionally, of his life.
Capote has to be one of the most impersonated celebrities ever …
I think I’m not doing an impersonation. I’m going to call it an insinuation. I sort of look like him — or I’m told by the end of the play I look like him. I do, but I don’t. If you let the words work, the audience makes connections.

Cloud9 presents “Tru” at the Evergreen Theatre January 10th-January 20th. Theatreworksmemphis.org $20

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

America Divided: Whose History? at the Brooks

Future historians will have a lot of material to work with when they write about the first quarter of the 21st century and the last days of the American Confederacy, when statues memorializing white supremacy and the old South slave economy were taken down in many places, including Memphis. Few documents cut to the heart of the moment like the “Whose History?” episode of the Epix docuseries, America Divided, which originally aired in May 2018.

Jussie Smollett

When Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesperson Lee Millar says these statues celebrate “our ancestors,” episode narrator and Empire actor Jussie Smollett is quick to remind that this narrative erases black history and a legacy of violence and social control. “I don’t think that’s trying to extract that, or trying to cover that up, I think the emphasis is on promoting the good side and the bravery of the soldiers,” Millar answered, unaware that he was demonstrating in the clearest possible terms, the difference between history and neo-Confederate narratives and illustrating Rhodes College history professor Tim Huebner’s earlier claim that Confederate monuments and their defenders “were really good at not telling the whole truth.”

“Whose History,” which gets a repeat screening at the Brooks Museum this week, courtesy of Facing History and Ourselves, spends most of its time in Memphis, but it opens in Chattanooga with the last words of Ed Johnson, an African-American male accused of committing a crime against a 21-year-old white female and hung from the Walnut Street Bridge by an angry white mob. “God Bless you all, I am a innocent man,” he said. Those words resonate hard with the show’s concluding moments in another corner of Shelby County, and a story about the vicious lynching of Jesse Lee Bonds. “Some things you can’t put behind you,” Bonds’ surviving brother Charlie Morris said. “You look back and it’s in front of you.”

These conflicts may seem like yesterday’s news, but like the man said, they’re still in front of us. Solid perspective on recent history.

“America Divided: Whose History?” at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Wednesday, January 16th, 7 p.m.

Categories
Film/TV TV Features

Roma

Yalitza Aparicio as Chloe in Roma

A new film from Alfonso Cuarón is a rare treat. Roma is only his ninth film in the 27 years since Solo con Tu Pareja, his directoral debut. The four films he directed so far in the 21st century have all been various shades of masterpiece: The sexy, tragic road trip Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001), the best Harry Potter movie, Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), the prescient Children of Men (2006), and the $700-million orbital juggernaut Gravity, which earned him a Best Director Academy Award.

So, why did we have to wait five years after Cuarón pumped up Warner Brother’s bottom line by half a billion dollars for a new work from the master director? The politics and economics of Hollywood are as obscure as any Byzantine court, but having seen Roma, I’m going to go with “executive cowardice” as an explanation. Because that’s usually a safe bet. An even safer bet is the Hollywood establishment’s whinge and whine when Roma, produced by Netflix instead of an old guard studio, is clearly superior to anything they put in theaters in 2018.

The heart of Roma is Yalitza Aparicio, a 25-year old preschool teacher who had never acted before Cuarón cast her as Cleo, a servant in the Mexico City home of a wealthy doctor Antonio (Fernando Grediaga). Cleo takes orders from his wife Sofia (Marina de Tavira), and nannies the couple’s four children. We meet her cleaning up dog poop left by the family’s canine, whose digestive system is apparently hyperactive. The opening shot, which layers stone, water, and sky, is the most beautiful poop joke setup in cinema history.

A lot of bad stuff happens to Cleo in Roma, but part of Cuarón’s genius is to recognize that a great film should take the viewer through a wide range of emotions, from laughter to tears and everything in between. Thus, one of our greatest living directors spends a long time lovingly photographing dog doo-doo.

I could spill a lot of words on Roma’s technical achievements. The photography, which the director did himself, is not so much black and white as it is creams and grays. Cuarón is the undisputed master of the long take. A couple of scenes in Roma are the equal of the epic, one-take battle scene in Children of Men. Most incredible is the climactic beach scene filmed at dusk with the camera looking directly into the setting sun. Cuarón even playfully throws in references to his other films, Gravity most hilariously.

Roma is, on one level, an epic story about Mexico at a political crossroads. Political violence is everywhere in Chloe’s world, but she takes little notice until it crushes her future. On another level, it’s a feminist story of male violence and irresponsibility devastating the human and natural worlds. But fundamentally, it’s a character piece about Chloe. Aparicio’s placid, yet expressive face sometimes recalls Renée Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc. Hers is a brilliant, unmannered performance.

As far as the streaming vs. theater debate goes, the home theater experience of Roma is satisfying. Even on my moderately priced, consumer-level TV audio system, the sound design is outstanding. But Cuarón’s sweeping vistas of the Mexican countryside cry out to be seen on the big screen. Just when it looked like we would not get a theatrical screening of Roma, Indie Memphis has announced it will be sponsoring one on January 29 at the Paradiso. Even if you’ve already seen Roma — maybe even especially if you’ve already seen Roma — it’s not to be missed.

Roma

Categories
Intermission Impossible Theater

New Comedy Takes Us “Back When Mike Was Kate.”

Astrid and Kate

There’s a specific Chicago train platform where Howard goes to connect with his past. That’s were he meets Mike and, after first mistaking him for a panhandler, it’s where Howard learns that this bearded transit stop vagrant is the same person who broke his heart four years ago. Only back then Mike was a woman named Kate.

Filled with questions, Howard becomes immediately desperate to rekindle romance where there was never more than friendship in the first place. It’s awkward for a number of reasons, but primarily, because he’s theoretically cis/hetero and already married to Astrid, an unsatisfied artist with a “stripper name” and a history of dancing her problems away. Howard’s basically a nice, confused doof of a guy, who wants to make his fantasy crush work out for everybody without hurting anybody, or making things weird for the people close to him. He does both of the things he doesn’t want to do pretty quickly.

How weird does it get, you ask? Aprons and fuzzy handcuffs weird.

Back When Mike Was Kate is a promising little play that might be better as a quirky little film with art direction bordering on OCD and a vintage indie rock soundtrack. Ben Kemper’s script whips elements of mystery, suspense, coming of age, and farce into a kind of romantic comedy with easy charms that almost make up for stiff expository dialogue and plot points that test belief. Also, Astrid’s not very likable, Howard is either clueless or selectively insensitive, and while Mike’s presented as something of a pleasant cypher, Kate’s so cool and complete it’s hard to imagine why he might want to enter/re-enter these evidently unhappy lives. 

Howard and Kate

In keeping with past POTS@TheWorks premieres, Back When Mike Was Kate contains top notch  performances by a tight ensemble comprised of Joshua LaShomb (Mike), David Hammons (Howard), Brooke Papritz (Astrid), and Ronnie Karimnia (Cameron the transit guy), with a terrific performance by R. Franklin Koch,* whose Kate is the grounded “old soul” tying the whole play together.

Mike/Kate may be the titular character but Howard and Astrid are the play’s dueling protagonists. It may even be Astrid’s play, ultimately, though she’s also the least developed among principle characters. 

Director Claire Rutkauskas’ production doesn’t draw hard lines between present action and things that happened four years ago. It’s only a short temporal span, sure, but a disproportionately big leap forward in terms of where all the characters are in life. This huge juxtaposition of time-versus-change brings a faintly surreal and potentially lovely edge, like something by Sarah Ruhl, minus the flights of poetry. These possibilities are unfortunately never rigorously explored in a show that tidies up and refines threads that might want to be woolly and teased out.

Following deliberately provocative scripts like Crib, extraordinary productions like All Saints in the Old Colony, and well-crafted plays like Evan Linder’s Byhalia, Mississippi, this latest winner of Playhouse on the Square’s New Works@TheWorks series feels a little undercooked. It knows where it wants to go, but not always what it wants to say or how to accomplish its goals believably. New works are often still works in progress — even after the “world premiere.” It could be that the script remains a draft or two away from done or maybe there were some finer points glossed over in this finely acted but often chilly production. Maybe it just needs enough warmth to mistake for heat. Either way, it’s nice when playwrights find new wrinkles in old storylines, and nicer still that POTS is identifying nifty new scripts with potential to grow and go places outside the 901.

And I do hope this romcom makes it to celluloid eventually, where it can build past relationships out of something other than words and recollection.

Mike

*UPDATE: R. Franklin Koch was originally identified as Rebekka Koch per the cast list on the Playhouse on the Square website. Intermission Impossible sincerely regrets the error. 

Categories
News News Blog

Council Makes History, Three Appointees’ Priorities Vary

Back at full strength with 13 members, the Memphis City Council saw many historical firsts Tuesday night with the appointments of Gerre Currie, Sherman Greer, and Cheyenne Johnson.

This is the first time in council history:

•Eight African-American members make up the majority of the body.

•Four African-American women will serve together on the council.

•Three appointed members will serve at the same time.

•A member of the Ford family has not held the District 6 seat (since 1972).

City Council chair Kemp Conrad anticipates working with the group, collaborating, executing, and “getting stuff done.”

“I was thrilled and privileged to lead the meeting last night,” Conrad said. “I think we have a great group down there. It’s amazing what can happen when you bring people together with different backgrounds and experience for a common purpose. It’s powerful.”

The three newly-appointed members will serve through 2019, with the option of running in October for a full four-year term.

In the meantime, some of the priorities of the trio include economic development, housing, and retiree benefits.

LinkedIn

Sherman Greer of District 1

Representing District 1, Greer is the executive director of government relations at Southwest Tennessee Community College. In the past, Greer has worked with U.S. Reps. Steve Cohen and Harold Ford Jr.

Greer said he wants to focus on engaging youth through programs in his district.

“I was one of those kids with a single parent, at home with nothing to do at times,” Greer said. “I don’t think one council member can change that, but we have to find some way to get young males engaged and employed.”

Greer also said he’d like to see Frayser, which sits in his district, to “flourish more.”

“Frayser is one of the best communities in the whole city,” Greer said. “I lived in Frayser and grew up in Frayser. It’s situated in a perfect spot for growth.”

Additionally, Greer said he plans to address city retiree benefits down the road.

Shelby County

Cheyenne Johnson of Super District 8-2

“I’ll probably take a hit for this, but it’s something we have to go back to and address down the road,” Greer said. “I think that’s something we have to look at and really come to a consensus.

“Like I said, it’s all about compromising and doing what’s right by people who have served.”

Johnson, who now represents Super District 8-2, is a former Shelby County Assessor of Property. She said her main goal is to promote economic growth in the district and throughout the city.

“What can we actually do to bring resources to the city?” Johnson said. “How can we encourage people to understand what economics is all about?”

LinkedIn

Gerre Currie of District 6

Gerre Currie, representing District 6, is a community development officer at Financial Federal Bank. During her time on the council, she said her main priority will be improving Memphis’ housing stock, as well as commercial development.

“Housing is always needed,” Currie said. “It’s important and it’s critical. My focus will not only be on housing, but the development that the city is experiencing now.”

Currie said she’s also looking to make sure minority businesses get their “fair share of the pie in anything that goes on in this city.”

“I’m interested in fairness across the board,” Currie said.

Categories
News News Blog

Council Ends Impasse Over District 1 Seat

Sherman Greer taking oath of office

After two months of debate and delay, Tuesday the Memphis City Council filled the District 1 seat, appointing Sherman Greer.

None of the remaining original contenders were considered after the floor was opened up to new nominees who met the requirements for the position. Councilwoman Patrice Robinson nominated Greer, and no other nominations were made by council members or the public.

Greer, the executive director of government relations at Southwest Tennessee Community College, was given an opportunity to speak to the council. Greer, who said he’s lived in District 1 for more than 20 years, highlighted his willingness to serve.

Without any discussion or pushback, the council proceeded to vote, awarding eight votes to Greer.

Cheyenne Johnson, center, is chosen for the Super District 8-2 seat.

Greer took the oath immediately after being appointed and took his seat behind the dais, as the council moved forward with filling the Super District 8-2 and District 6 seats.

Eleven qualified candidates made their cases for an appointment to the Super District seat, which was ultimately won by Cheyenne Johnson. Johnson, former county property assessor, received seven favorable votes during the first round of voting and, like Greer, immediately took the oath of office and joined the rest of the council.

Moving on, the council heard from six candidates looking to fill the District 6 seat. After an initial round of voting, Lynette Williams, who ran in this year’s Democratic primary for Tennessee House District 85, and former council member Edmund Ford Sr. were the two top vote-getters. However, neither were able to get the seven votes required to be appointed.

Aiming to avoid a repeat of the District 1 appointee process, councilman Worth Morgan added another candidate to the mix, nominating Gerre Currie, who vied for the Super District 8-2 seat. Currie was given a chance to speak to the council.

In the next round, council members Martavius Jones, Jamita Swearengen, and Joe Brown maintained their support for Ford Sr., as Currie garnered five votes, two shy of winning.

After recessing for more than 40 minutes, dispersing into smaller groups of discussion, the council returned to their seats. Jones, echoed by Robinson, and Canale expressed disappointment over the council’s inability to reach a consensus.

“I was hoping we could leave 2018 in 2018,” Jones said.

After a few more rounds of voting, newly-appointed member Johnson, who had abstained in previous rounds, ended the deadlock by casting a vote for Currie, giving her the seven needed to win.

This this is the first time the council has had four African-American women.


Earlier in the meeting, council members played a bit of musical chairs, as Kemp Conrad was appointed by his colleagues as the 2019 chairman, replacing Berlin Boyd. Robinson was chosen as the vice chair, taking over for Frank Colvett Jr.