Tag: 2007

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

POLITICS: Odds and Ends from 2007

Most Unlikely Sanctification Rite: the ceremony of praise heaped by various legal authorities on Darrell Catron, whose felonious behavior while serving as an aide in the Juvenile Court clerk’s office some years back led to a cascade of further criminal activity and to the wreckage of several careers.

Catron, who got his walking papers at year’s end via an 18-month probation, was credited with having helped the feds haul in a passel of other predators on the public purse and, indeed, with making the entire Tennessee Waltz sting possible.

Catron’s prize: a Golden Stool. (Well, okay, it may look like gold, but it doesn’t smell like it.)

Most Unexpected Appellation: the term “maverick” used as a descriptor for county commissioner Steve Mulroy in a December Commercial Appeal profile.

That was something of an eyebrow-raiser, given Mulroy’s undeviating party-line votes on commission issues and the U of M law professor’s eloquent and detailed rationales on behalf of the Democratic majority, statements which often have the ring of Supreme Court majority opinions.

Can “maverick” also mean “team player”?

The CA‘s prize: a dictionary of antonyms.

Most Unsurprising Outcome: the reelection victory of Mayor Willie Herenton over two major opponents, City Council member Carol Chumney and former MLGW president Herman Morris.

It was elementary mathematics that Herenton’s base was large enough, after 16 years’ service, to withstand such a divided challenge — especially given the obvious imperfections in the campaigns of Chumney, who never managed to transcend the role of fault-finder, and Morris, who could not escape his dignified cocoon long enough to bond with any sector of the electorate.

Herenton’s prize: Well … you know what the prize is.

Most Promising Outcome: the sea change in the composition of the Memphis City Council, via an election which saw nine newbies chosen to serve along with four veterans at a time when almost everybody foresees a necessary change of course — maybe even in the long-deferred direction of consolidation.

Their prize: celebrity, in exchange for the irreversible surrender of their privacy.

Most Unexpected (and Most Overlooked) Passing of the Baton: the withdrawal from the presidential race of Republican congressman Tom Tancredo (whose candidacy almost no one had noticed) and the subsequent claim by Memphis presidential candidate David F. Diamond (whose candidacy even fewer people had noticed) that Coloradan Tancredo’s downfall had begun with his failure at a nationally televised debate to understand a call-in question from Diamond.

The Memphian had asked: “Do you have a plan to solve the shortage of organs donated for transplant?” Tancredo drew a blank, accusing the questioner of being a mad cloner.

Diamond’s prize: the Tancredo body part of his choice.

Second Most Unexpected Passing of the Baton: the failure thus far of University of Memphis grad/ex-Senator/ex-actor Fred Thompson to make a dent in the presidential race despite the biggest advance ballyhoo of any candidate in recent memory, followed by the rapid rise of ex-Arkansas governor/ex-Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee.

As a sort of consolation prize, sometime abortion-rights lawyer Thompson picked up some key endorsements, of the kind longtime pro-lifer Huckabee might have expected, from various right-to-life organizations. Go figure.

Huckabee’s prize: an Academy Award nomination for his current ability to upstage the rigid fundamentalism of his preacherly past.

Most Unanticipated Reversal of Fortune: the decline of former media cynosure Harold Ford Jr. into relative anonymity, despite ex-Senate candidate Ford’s acquisition during the year of the leadership of the Democratic Leadership Council, a post at Merrill Lynch, and various other perches and perks that should have kept him front and center.

Possible reasons for his back-benching: the absence from the airwaves of disgraced radio/TV host Don Imus, a longtime Ford cheerleader; the advent of 9th District congressman Steve Cohen, whose nonstop media presence has put that of predecessor Ford in the shade.

Ford’s consolation prize: Guess what? Imus is back.

Till we meet again, holiday happily!

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

2007: A Lot To Swallow

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Wording Their Eats: Nationally, LA Weekly writer Jonathan Gold’s 2007 Pulitzer Prize in the criticism category — the first Pulitzer ever presented to food writing — was a great accomplishment. Not so great was Colby Buzzell’s Esquire article about the tamale trail, which presented a disappointingly stereotypical view of the South.

Locally, Commercial Appeal food critic Leslie Kelly departed the Bluff City in early 2007 and now freelances for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. During her three-year stint at the CA, Kelly’s enthusiastic, stranger-in-a-strange-land approach drew her share of both loyal followers and angry detractors. And steadily building a following of its own is local-foods quarterly Edible Memphis and the local chapter of the Slow Food Movement, both spearheaded by newcomers Melissa and Kjeld Petersen.

Waffles: When Interim opened in early 2007, owner Fred Carl Jr. intended for the restaurant to be a short-term replacement for the restaurant Wally Joe. Interim, under the direction of chef Jackson Kramer, did well, and Carl decided to stick with it. More recently, Carl, who is the founder and CEO of Viking Range Corporation, has partnered with Amerigo’s former owners Bill Latham and Al Roberts. No change in concept or food is expected for Interim, but the group plans to develop other restaurant concepts in the Memphis and Mississippi areas.

La Tourelle was another Memphis eatery that couldn’t quite decide what it was going to be for 2007 — opened or closed, a French restaurant with white tablecloths, or a laid-back Italian bistro. In August, La Tourelle, after 30 years in business, changed flags to become Tuscany. But then, just a few months later, owners Glenn and Martha Hays sold the restaurant to Kelly English, who will be opening Restaurant Iris early in the new year.

While Marena’s Gerani was long-rumored to be for sale, owner Mortez Gerani declared back in June that the restaurant would remain open. A month later, Marena’s was sold to Kevin Rains, former executive chef at Equestria. Rains opened Roustica and has kept much of the Midtown restaurant’s charm intact. Meanwhile, Gerani has opened a new restaurant, Marciano Mediterranean and Italian Cuisine in East Memphis.

Opening Acts: After much anticipation, Judd Grisanti opened his Italian restaurant Spindini in the South Main Historic Arts District in early 2007. Grisanti’s approach is not just old-school, it’s the oldest-school: cooking with fire. In his case, the fire is smoldering in a $30,000 custom-built, wood-burning oven that is the focal point of every seat in the house.

John Bragg, who had relatively brief stints at La Montagne and River Oaks, opened Circa by John Bragg last spring, vowing to “provide a culinary taste adventure centered on the freshest food ingredients and a very interesting, welcoming, and sociable atmosphere.” The restaurant is a current downtown hot spot.

Also, Memphis got a little sweeter this year with the openings of Sweet, the Exquisite Desserterie in Cooper-Young and Blues City Pastry in the former Viking space downtown.

The Westin Hotel, also downtown, opened with Penny McGraw as its executive banquet chef and the Daily Grill, a California-based eaterie, as the hotel’s restaurant.

The opening of the River Inn of Harbor Town added two new restaurants to the downtown dining scene: Currents, a fine-dining restaurant, and Tug’s, the inn’s more casual alternative. In charge of both is executive chef Brian Flanders.

And there’s more: Pearl’s Oyster House opened in the South Main arts district; Karen Carrier re-invented Cielo by turning it into the Mollie Fontaine Lounge; and Ken Lumpkin, a Jose Gutierrez protégé, opened Umai, a small French/Japanese restaurant on Madison where On Teur used to be located.

RIP: Memphis bid farewell to Romulus Morgan Hammond Jr. — the “Buster” of Buster’s Liquors and Wines. Hammond, who died September 8th at the age of 97, was the face of Buster’s for more than 50 years.

Among the restaurant closings in 2007 were Meditrina, Lulu Grille, Café Francisco, and Garland’s.

Also departed from much of the Memphis restaurant scene: smoking. The Comprehensive Workplace Smoking Act became a reality on October 1st.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

In the Mix

Twelves months, thousands of records, five critics. Here’s what our 2007 sounded like:

Chris Herrington:

1. Super Taranta! — Gogol Bordello (Side One Dummy): Hedonistic utopian Eugene Hutz opens Super Taranta! on a leap of faith: “There were never any good old days. They are today. They are tomorrow. It’s a stupid thing we say, cursing tomorrow with sorrow,” the Gogol Bordello frontman spits on “Ultimate,” kicking our collective sense of dread square in the teeth. From there Hutz and his Brooklyn-based “gypsy punk” ensemble embark on an epic journey to re-imagine rock-and-roll via a crosscurrent of Eastern European melodies riding on violin and accordion riffs and to reposition America as the pluralistic, multicultural society it is. How appropriate in this election year that the best rock band in America is a group of immigrants who mock assimilation and taunt our (or anyone else’s) patriotism. How glorious it is that they do so with raucous wit, rootsy party music, and such a magnanimous spirit.
2. Kala —

M.I.A. (XL): Sri Lankan-born world citizen M.I.A. mashes up Western pop (Modern Lovers, Pixies, Duran Duran) with Third World rhythms on this follow-up to her ecstatic debut Arular. Where the earlier record was an intensely pleasurable, beatwise brass-ring grab, Kala is a more rattled, woozy sonic miasma. Fantasizing about a Third World stick-up of First World wealth as she demands (or does she?) that soulja boys the world over toss away their guns; losing her mind in the midst of putting “people on the map who never seen a map”; falling in love on a Darfur tour, rapping joyfully with Aborigine kids: No album this year took in more of the world or did so with such a playful, disorienting rush of ideas.

3. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — Miranda Lambert (Columbia): A big fan of Miranda Lambert’s 2005 debut, I was initially underwhelmed by its follow-up because the songwriting seemed more formulaic, less personal — a common second-album pitfall. But repeated listens revealed what a formal triumph Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s early, spitfire singles are and, more crucially, how much better, more seemingly modest stuff is hidden later. The clinchers are late-album sureshots “Guilty in Here” and “More Like Her” — both piercingly ambivalent about the emotional downside of walking on the wild side.

4. New Wave — Against Me! (Warner): On their major-label debut, this Florida punk band sells out the way Nirvana and Sonic Youth did: with music that’s bigger, bolder, and better than what they made before. This is strident political rock that turns stridency into a good joke (“White People For Peace” — har, har). The band articulates its dissatisfaction, which is achievement enough (indie rock: take note), but never lets righteous, reasonable anger crowd out the empathy, humor, and fierce self-doubt that make their shout-along anthems special.

5. The Real Thing: Words and Music, Vol. 3 — Jill Scott (Hidden Beach): Jill Scott is the reigning poet laureate of neo-soul, a strong, precise lyricist in a genre without many. At its very best, The Real Thing is a sex album simultaneously as clinically carnal as Dirty Mind-era Prince and as warm and mature as Sign ‘O the Times-era Prince. Praising her lover for doing her “as if this year’s harvest depended on it,” Scott’s career peak is funny, weird, and erotic all at once. And she purrs, scats, sighs, and shouts the hell out of it.

6. Neon Bible — Arcade Fire (Merge): I never quite connected with the drama on Arcade Fire’s beloved in some quarters 2004 debut, Funeral, but on Neon Bible this Canadian band of ex-pat Americans take their previously private agonies and anxieties public by naming what they fear: “holy war,” inherited debt, salesmen at the door, a rising tide that could drown us all. Musically, this sweeping, mournful lament is more stirring than engaging, in a manner that I’ve rejected in bigger bands such as U2 or Radiohead. But this music is more intimate, more ragged, more organic. I think the range of voices — male and female — helps considerably. I’ve also decided that, rather than an indie-rock U2, they’re more a middle-class Mekons. Clincher: “The Well and the Lighthouse,” a subtle parable about cultural (read: indie-rock) isolation in which the band chooses the lighthouse and the responsibility that comes with it.

7. Sound of Silver — LCD Soundsystem (DFA/Capitol): The snarky glee of James Murphy’s great early LCD Soundsystem singles (“Beat Connection,” “Losing My Edge”) here blooms into dance-rock as melancholy and beautiful as the best of New Order. No album in 2007 peaked higher than Sound of Silver does with the middle-section trifecta of “North American Scum,” “Someone Great,” and “All My Friends,” the last a song-of-the-year frontrunner that feels universal even as it evokes a club/rave culture I know little of.

8. Alright, Still … — Lily Allen (Capitol): This 2006 British debut got an official stateside release back in January, introducing a grounded, sassy songwriter whose persona is around-the-way-girl (London edition) and who takes a cheerfully dyspeptic tone while negotiating a life plagued by bad credit and worse boyfriends.

9. Turn Out the Lights — The Ponys (Matador): The most purely pleasurable guitar-rock album I heard this year: The dense, echoey sound-over-sense world these Chicago garage-rock grads create on Turn Out the Lights is one of clipped, shivery guitar interplay dancing woozily over a rhythm section that takes Motown on a farewell tour of CBGBs.

10. More Fish and The Big Doe Rehab — Ghostface Killah (Def Jam): The late-2006 leftovers collection More Fish and the late-2007 proper album The Big Doe Rehab fall well short of this Wu-Tang master’s ’06 hip-hop insta-classic, Fishscale. But, in a bad year for hip-hop, nobody made more crucial music than can be found on these combined efforts — deep-soul ghetto and/or crime stories (not the same thing) that are vulgar, funny, and vivid, with an underlying moral gravity.

Honorable Mentions: The Voice of Lightness — Tabu Ley Rochereau (Stern’s Africa); Icky Thump — The White Stripes (Warner); Under the Blacklight — Rilo Kiley (Warner); Graduation — Kanye West (Roc-a-Fella); The Hair, the TV, the Baby, and the Band — Imperial Teen (Merge); La Radiolina — Manu Chao (Nacional/Because); Back to Black — Amy Winehouse (Universal/Republic); Let’s Stay Friends — Les Savy Fav (Frenchkiss); Sirens of the Ditch — Jason Isbell (New West); It’s a Bit Complicated — Art Brut (Downtown).

Singles: “All My Friends” — LCD Soundsystem; “Umbrella” — Rihanna featuring Jay-Z; “Beautiful Girls” — Sean Kingston; “The Good Life” — Kanye West featuring T-Pain; “Valerie” — Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse; “Rehab” — Amy Winehouse; “What a Job” — Devin the Dude featuring Snoop Dogg and Andre 3000; “Ticks” — Brad Paisley; “Lip Gloss” — Lil Mama; “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” — T-Pain featuring Yung Joc.

Stephen Deusner:

1. Boxer — The National (Beggars): The blog-rock album of the year, which doesn’t ensure it’s the album of the year. In this case, however, Boxer‘s dark tales of white-collar anonymity, delivered in Matt Berninger’s skewed imagery and resonant baritone, make it immensely relevant as well as endlessly rewarding.

2. The Stage Names — Okkervil River (Jagjaguwar): Roughing up their sound, Okkervil River from Austin continue to prove themselves the darkest portrayers of band life. The moment that closer “John Allyn Smith Sails” turns into a sinister cover of “Sloop John B” is the year’s best plot twist.

3. Ears Will Pop and Eyes Will Blink — Bodies of Water (Thousand Eyes): These four Christian indie kids come across like a ’60s L.A. hippie cult and make music that imagines the Arcade Fire starring in Jesus Christ Superstar, but their curiosity about the nature of God is not an end in itself. Instead, faith is a springboard for the most musically and lyrically ambitious debut of the year.

4. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? — Of Montreal (Polyvinyl): Kevin Barnes recorded one half of Hissing Fauna in Norway, where his wife was giving birth to their daughter, and the other half in Athens, Georgia, where the rest of his problems lived. Setting his songs in the real world — a first for him — didn’t diminish the playfulness of the band’s music but only ratcheted up the urgency of his Prince-meets-Beatles hooks.

5. Night Falls Over Kortedala — Jens Lekman (Secretly Canadian): The Swedish crooner Jens Lekman finally lives up to the promise of his exceptional early EPs with an album that is both hilarious and devastating.

Honorable mentions: Kala — M.I.A. (XL); Sound of Silver — LCD Soundsystem (DFA/Capitol); Mirrored — Battles (Warp); For Emma, Forever Ago — Bon Iver (self-released); Let’s Stay Friends — Les Savy Fav (Frenchkiss).

Andrew Earles:

1. Turn Out the Lights — The Ponys (Matador): The different elements that made previous albums from this Chicago band occasionally great made this album consistently great. Much to their original audience’s chagrin but to my liking, the early garage-rock roots have been totally shed in favor of a consistently catchy hybrid of early Dinosaur Jr., Rough Trade post-punk circa 1980, Disintegration-era Cure, and the Television influence the Ponys have always held close to the chest. They’re also really nice, unpretentious folks, exemplified when they recently played Memphis with …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead. They were the band that didn’t spend pre-performance time holed up in an unnecessarily huge tour bus.

2. Saw a Halo — Mouthus (Load): Often incorrectly classified as a noise band, this Brooklyn duo operates far outside the boundaries of that style. The album-opening “Your Far Church” might be the most haunting song I’ve heard in years, putting to shame compositions by Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhardt, or any flag-bearer of the awfully named “freak folk” genre.

3. Beyond the Permafrost — Skeletonwitch (Prosthetic/Red): It’s easy for me to get behind a band like Skeletonwitch, which effortlessly cherry-picks the best aspects from 30 years of real metal, starting with Thin Lizzy and going all the way to contemporary black-metal moves. Mastodon sort of managed this trick as well, but the likelihood is slim that the Atlanta band will put out another great album, and this will do just nicely for now.

4. The Flying Nun 25th Anniversary Box Set — Various Artists (Flying Nun): At last, what may be the final word in indie-rock history lessons and all of it courtesy of a country the size of California. Over most of the 1980s and into the early ’90s, New Zealand’s Flying Nun label diligently released the world’s best underground art-pop music in the form of the Chills, the Clean, the Bats, the Verlaines, Straightjacket Fits, the Tall Dwarfs, and many, many others. If you regard the Arcade Fire as groundbreaking, prepare to get floored.

5. The Brit Box — Various Artists (Rhino): Less a history lesson than a highly entertaining collection for the car, The Brit Box provides a thorough introduction to Britain’s ’80s and ’90s contribution to indie and alternative rock forms, covering indie pop, its noisier shoe-gazing cousin, and the eventual worldwide takeover propagated by Brit Pop.

Werner Trieschmann:

1. Under the Blacklight — Rilo Kiley (Warner Bros.): That most fans of this brainy former indie band revolted against this glorious, glittery, and audacious album is probably the best argument for it. But there are others. Such as: Lead singer Jenny Lewis has the best voice in rock. Or that “Dreamworld,” the lone instance where Lewis isn’t on lead, is the greatest Fleetwood Mac song since “Hold On.” Or that this album springs not from the head but from the hips, where all great rock comes from.

2. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — Miranda Lambert (Columbia): It opens with a shotgun blast at an abusive male and ends with “Easy From Now On,” an unsettled hope for domestic bliss. In between, Miranda Lambert goes twangy and traditional (“Dry Town”) and modern-rock edgy (“Gettin’ Ready”). Every song hits a different pleasure center, with maybe the ballads (“More Like Her” and “Guilty in Here”) being the most surprising for being so naked and raw.

3. Because of the Times — Kings of Leon (RCA): The third album for this band of three brothers and a cousin benefits from ambition and discipline. The songs are longer than on the Kings’ first two albums, and the hooks that were in short supply before are plentiful here. Opening with the mesmerizing seven-minute “Knocked Up,” Because of the Times never lets up from there.

4. Release It to the Sky — Jim Mize (Fat Possum): Jim Mize works as an insurance adjuster out of Conway, Arkansas, which might in part explain why this Fat Possum release was, for all intents and purposes, dumped on the market. Writing his own blues-tinged songs and belting them out with the force of a hurricane, Mize will probably remind you of vintage Bruce Springsteen. Certainly this album has the reach of the Boss at his best.

5. White Chalk — PJ Harvey (Island): The power of PJ Harvey’s bleak and odd little album isn’t apparent on first or even fifth listen. Since she sings in a high warble accompanied by her own rudimentary piano playing (she learned the instrument for this record and it shows), there are many who’ll find White Chalk maddening — not to mention depressing. But it is all of a piece and it is haunting.

Honorable Mentions: Spring Awakening soundtrack — Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater (Drifter’s Church); Traffic and Weather — Fountains of Wayne (Virgin); 5th Gear — Brad Paisley (Arista); A Place To Land — Little Big Town (Equity); Neon Bible —Arcade Fire (Merge).

David Dunlap Jr.:

1. Wagonmaster — Porter Wagoner (Anti-): It wasn’t just the last recording made by a country legend. It also marked the end of an era in country music. I had the pleasure of seeing Porter Wagoner perform this past May at the Grand Ole Opry, and his incredible performance was exemplary of his entire career — a goofy, cornpone persona that often betrayed a deeper, disturbed melancholia. There was a slightly uncomfortable moment when Wagoner forgot Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs’ name, but then he quickly righted himself and tore into a couple of infidelity classics.

2. Comicopera — Robert Wyatt (Domino): Full disclosure: I had a stake in Robert Wyatt’s Comicopera being a great record. A month prior to its release, I had named my second-born after him. When you gamble with the repercussions of naming your child after a Communist paralytic prog-rocker who sings like a porpoise, you can only hope that the honoree’s subsequent output will dispel any feelings of regret by virtue of its genius. Thankfully, Comicopera is, like the man behind it, warm, cynical, and brilliant. 

3. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — Miranda Lambert (Columbia): Nashville Star may not be a better program than American Idol, but it has definitely yielded the most legitimate music star of either program. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is undeniably a product of the new Nashville, but Miranda Lambert’s powerful delivery and insightful lyrics are evidence that there’s a real live human beneath the layers of Music Row gloss. “Gunpowder and Lead” easily bests the Dixie Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl” as a country music domestic-abuse revenge fantasy.

4. The Western Lands — Gravenhurst (Warp): This Bristol-based outfit has, on its third full-length, perfected a distinctly British hybrid sound that blends pastoral folk with shoe-gazer rock. Band leader Nick Talbot moved to Bristol because the blissful haze of Flying Saucer Attack inspired him, and his band is carrying on FSA’s shimmering sonic legacy. 

5. Double Up — R. Kelly (Jive): Without getting into the apocalyptic maelstrom of nonsense that perpetually follows in Kel’s wake, Double Up probably entertained me more than any other release this year. You could write a thesis on the harrowing relationship complexities of “Real Talk,” and yet the song is hilarious enough to warrant a spot on Dr. Demento’s playlist. 

Honorable Mentions: 5th Gear — Brad Paisley (Arista Nashville); Person Pitch — Panda Bear (Paw Tracks); Werewolves and Lollipops — Patton Oswalt (Sub Pop); Ire Works — Dillinger Escape Plan (Relapse); The Art of Field Recording (Dust-to-Digital). 

Categories
Music Record Reviews

The Year in Memphis Music

A lot of the usual suspects in local music were quiet in 2007. Recent headliners Three 6 Mafia, North Mississippi Allstars, Lucero, Snowglobe, the ex-Oblivians (Jack Yarber and Greg Cartwright), and ex-Lost Sounds (Alicja Trout and, to an extent, Jay Reatard) all took the year off as far as releasing new albums. Meanwhile, the past loomed large again in the form of a relaunch of Stax records, which spurred a welcome avalanche of reissue and archival material.

But into this new-music breach, lots of good stuff emerged, including (obviously or arguably) improved sophomore releases from the likes of Tunnel Clones, Harlan T. Bobo, and breakout star Amy LaVere.

Here’s the local music that hit hardest for us in 2007:

Chris Herrington:

1. Anchors & Anvils — Amy LaVere (Archer Records): This second album from the versatile Amy LaVere transcended the local scene more than any non-rap record this year and deservedly so. Produced by Jim Dickinson, it slays her too tasteful, too dawdling debut, This World Is Not My Home, drawing great songs from sources generally close to LaVere (including three from the artist herself and two from boyfriend Paul Taylor) and putting them across with a gritty musical intimacy that echoes Dickinson’s own fine recent solo work. LaVere doesn’t have a showy American Idol voice but arrives here as a sharp, rich interpretive singer, especially on such sure-shots as her own “Killing Him” (one of the best album-openers on any 2007 record) and Taylor’s personal, perceptive “Pointless Drinking.” Smart, sexy, swaggering, funny — this star turn was the highlight of Memphis music in 2007.

2. King Cobras Do — Vending Machine (Shoulder Tap): Where so much indie rock this year (ha — “this year”) felt insular, Robby “Vending Machine” Grant’s King Cobras Do is instead cozy. It’s a home-recorded gem that takes domestic intimacy as its great subject: His son contributes free-associative lyrics; his toddler daughter is the subject of the delicate “Tell Me the Truth and I’ll Stop Teasing You”; his wife gets a tribute on “Rae” that includes images of “dancing in the den” and memories that are palpably lived-in (“Remember when our room was just a bed?”). Even the house itself gets into the act with “Good Old Upstairs,” a song about the attic studio where King Cobras Do was created.

3. I’m Your Man — Harlan T. Bobo (Goner): Harlan T. Bobo became an instant icon in his corner of the local music scene with his lovelorn 2004 debut Too Much Love. To his credit, Bobo declined to offer up Too Much Love 2 with this follow-up, which instead investigates the roots and limitations of the romantic messiness that made his debut so popular. And, over time, I’ve found I’m Your Man to be smarter, funnier, and braver (especially on “Baptist Memorial,” “Pragmatic Woman,” and “So Bad”) than the local masterpiece-by-acclamation that it followed.

4. Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson — Ross Johnson (Goner): Not the most accessible local record of the year, that’s for sure, but Ross Johnson’s “career”-spanning collection of spoken-word rants “set” to music is a sneaky-smart and self-aware series of whooping nonsense, comic tall tales, and raw-but-funny confessionals from a self-described “king of the middle-aged garage-band losers” whose self-deprecation and shamed moral center punctures any threat of hipster romanticization.

5. World Without End — Bob Frank & John Murry (Bowstring): Expatriate Memphians Bob Frank, 62, and John Murry, 27, found each other in Northern California and concocted a high-concept album — a collection of original murder ballads written about legendary crimes — that tops what either of them produced when they lived here.

6. Killers From Space — Jim Dickinson (Memphis International): Dickinson has been making music in one form or another since the ’60s but, until 2006, had (as near as I can tell) only released a grand total of two solo albums. Now he’s released two in two years and both on the same label! I didn’t find Killers From Space quite as revelatory as 2006’s terrific Jungle Jim & the Voodoo Tiger, but Dickinson’s charismatic growl, ragged-but-intimate musical tone, and talent for finding good songs you’ve never heard before are all very much present here. Highlight: Dickinson’s phrasing of the word “mendacity.”

7. World Wide Open — Tunnel Clones (Hemphix): More than just a useful alternative to the aggressive monotony of most local rap product, World Wide Open is strong, assured hip-hop on its own terms: soulful and ambitious; sad, but defiant.

8. Blood Visions — Jay Reatard (In the Red): A late 2006 release that I didn’t get hold of until 2007, this solo debut unites the skeletal drive of the artist’s teen band the Reatards with the musical ambition of Reatard’s subsequent band, the Lost Sounds. Even then, as impressive as this locomotive blast (15 songs in 29 minutes) of pop-rock is, it’s still transitional; a sneak preview of even better things to come, as witnessed by Reatard’s 2007 single for Goner.

9. Break This Record — Deering & Down (self-released): I’m far from the world’s foremost expert on Fleetwood Mac, but I wonder if, had blues guitarist Peter Green and pop chanteuse Stevie Nicks ever crossed paths in various incarnations of that band, the stylistic result would have been something like the charged guitar-and-voice duets of Deering & Down on this novel-yet-familiar local debut.

10. City Lights — Ron Franklin (Memphis International): Whereas too many young musicians who dabble in roots forms like blues and country play up the gravity and torment, Ron Franklin never lets concept impinge on musicality. There’s a playful assurance to his music that suggests jug bands and early rock in the Chuck Berry (covered here) or Bo Diddley vein.

Chris Davis:

1. Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson — Ross Johnson (Goner): A year ago, if somebody told me that Goner was going to put out a best of Ross Johnson collection, I would have probably split my britches laughing. A whole disc devoted to the Panther Burns drummer and longtime Memphis scenester with a reputation for getting sloshed and ranting hilariously on the mic? What a nutzo idea. But Goner did it, and it turned out to be a transcendent collection of wickedly funny Southern gothic literature you can shake your ass to. The liner notes — a thoughtful, funny, and endearing history of the birth of punk in Memphis — are worth the price.

2. Accidentally stumbling across Harlan T. Bobo’s homemade video for the unreleased song “Dreamer of Dreams”: Don’t misunderstand. The release of Bobo’s I’m Your Man was a big deal too. As doomed follow-ups to celebrated debuts go, the new disc is strong. But this impossibly low-tech and completely irresistible video showcases Bobo’s alchemical ability to turn garbage into gold.

3. Falling in love with Amy LaVere … again: Let’s face it. Until this year, the gorgeous, throaty-voiced chanteuse had never put out a recording that lived up to her vast potential. But all of that changed with the release of Anchors & Anvils. “Killing Him” is probably the year’s best original song. And if there were any justice in the music industry, “Tennessee Valentine” would be the theme to every prom from Memphis to Bristol from now until the crack of doom.

4. Among the Wolves — The Third Man (self-released): Smart pop is hard to come by, and the Third Man’s latest release, Among the Wolves, is borderline brilliant. The relentlessly dark, organ-soaked groove of “Psyops Marching On” borrows elements from such great local bands as the Satyrs and Snowglobe and wraps it all up in Nuggets-worthy psychedelia. Mixing electronic flourishes with guitar thunder sounds old as dirt and brand spanking new.

5.The Blasters at the Hi-Tone: In the spirit of full disclosure, my own band, the West Coast Turnaround, opened for the legendary L.A. roots-rock band. And boy, did we get schooled when the Blasters took stage and played the greatest set of pure American rock-and-roll I’ve ever seen anywhere. Period. These guys have been the most underrated band in the world for 30 years. And there they were in Midtown Memphis, in front of maybe 50 people, mixing country, rockabilly, blues, and jazz into a genre-defying stew of sonic bliss.

Andrew Earles:

1. Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson — Ross Johnson (Goner): I’m not sure what I can write about this fascinating document that I or someone else hasn’t already written, so I’ll defer to Johnson and Monsieur Jeffrey Evans’ performance earlier this year at Gonerfest 4. Strategically slotted around 10 p.m. on one of the festival’s busiest nights, their music-to-banter ratio (about 75 percent the latter) resulted in hilariously confounded stares among patrons expecting another succinct set from one of the event’s rock bands. Aside from the messy King Khan & BBQ Show set from two years ago, it was the closest the Gonerfest institution has come to providing a stage for a Situationist prank.

2. Among the Wolves —The Third Man (self-released): Among the wolves is indeed the place that any young indie band will find themselves this day and age, but the Third Man play a strong card with their Southern-tinged, Memphis-centric answer to psych-rock contemporaries like Dungen. Memphis’ shining beacons within the realm of indie rock can usually be counted on one hand at any given point in history (or at least the last 10 years), and Among the Wolves puts the Third Man ahead of the pack for the time being.

3. Oscars/Evil Wizard Eyes split 7-inch (Soul Is Cheap): Solid sides from both bands, with the sludgy Evil Wizard Eyes providing (perhaps unwittingly) Memphis’ fuzzier, friendlier version of the agro-noise-rock revivalist movement led elsewhere by bands such as Pissed Jeans and Clockcleaner.

4. Songs by Solutions — Final Solutions (Goner): In the words of the Goner Records website, Final Solutions finally “belched up” their second full-length album this year. That pretty much says it all.

5. Walkin’ Bank Roll — Project Pat (KR Urban): If you’re thinking this is my token local hip-hop entry,” you’d be 100 percent correct. Regardless, Walkin’ Bank Roll is a great album.

David Dunlap Jr.:

1. Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson — Ross Johnson (Goner): I must confess, Ross Johnson used to drive me crazy. I’m sure that he, in his self-deprecating way, would say that that was the point. But what used to be drunken yammering now seems to my ears to be clever, soul-baring music that is an artistic cousin to classic confessional literature like the books of Frederick Exley or the comics of Jeffrey Brown. With a lifetime’s worth of mistakes stuffed into a decade and a liver that throbs like an injured appendage in a Tex Avery cartoon, I now understand Johnson’s songs much better these days, and he makes it worth the price.

2. William Bell live at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music: William Bell may not be considered first-tier talent on the Stax roster, but his songwriting skills were second to none. Without a doubt, Bell was an A-lister when he performed in the legendary Studio A this past July. His delivery was as smooth as ever, and he was the consummate showman. His performance even featured a half-time wardrobe change. All class.

3. “I Know a Place”/”Don’t Let Him Come Back” 7-inch — Jay Reatard (Goner): My favorite single of the year, Memphis music or otherwise, “Don’t Let Him Come Back,” the Go-Betweens cover, is as beautiful as it was unpredictable, but “I Know a Place” is the best example yet of Jay Reatard’s growing talent. It’s a tuneful strummer that somehow manages to be cocky and contemplative at the same time. When Reatard’s inevitable Behind the Music episode is made, this is the song that will be playing during his slo-mo, “suffering-from-the-ravages-of-fame” final act.

4. “Memphis Flu” — Elder Curry, compiled on People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, 1913–1938 (Tompkins Square): This stomping, energetic gospel song from 1930 about Memphis’ catastrophic epidemic is one of the most rocking pre-war recordings I’ve ever heard. The disturbingly judgmental lyrics — “Yes, you see!/Yes!/He killed the rich and poor/And He’s going to kill more/If you don’t turn away from your shame” — only add to the song’s emotional power.

5. “Is This Love?”/”Don’t Talk To Me” 7-inch — The Preacher’s Kids (Wrecked ‘Em): The A-side of this single is high-energy garage rock for which Oxford’s Preacher’s Kids are known. The flip, though, is a great cover of a snarling punk classic from G.G. Allin’s old band, the Jabbers. It’s a testament not only to the rocking abilities of the Preacher’s Kids but also to the fact that Allin had the ability to write infectiously catchy rock tunes.

Categories
Art Art Feature

Taking Stock

From rockabilly and Philip Glass to diamond mines in Africa, this year’s exhibitions ran the gamut of culture, art, and current events, and some of the most evocative artworks were created by already accomplished artists moving in new directions.

For “Perspectives,” the Brooks Museum’s juried exhibition this summer of regional artists, abstract painter Bo Rodda filled an entire wall with a computer-generated world, one with laws of physics different from our own. There were no horizon lines, no solid ground in this alternate universe. Instead, swerving lines, printed on metallic paper in endless shades of gray, read like infinitely complex galvanized interstates careening simultaneously toward and away from the viewer.

Warren Greene, an artist best known for saturate pigments oozing down large canvases, also went beyond color and form to infinite shades of gray in three of his strongest works in “Paleoscapes” at Perry Nicole Fine Art in December. Like a Phillip Glass symphony, the subtle rapid shifts in tone in “Searching for P. Glass” generated unexpected images as what looked like trails of electrons, interference patterns, jet streams, ectoplasm, and snippets of dreams slid our point of view across surfaces sanded as smooth as glass.

David Comstock’s exhibition “Flow” took black-and-white abstractions to new levels of raw power at L Ross Gallery in March. Rods pierced egg-like shapes on frayed and torn canvases in what looked like moments of procreation and checkmate in the well-worn board game of life.

Jonathan Postal’s Waitress, Roadside, TX

Also in March, in an otherwise empty David Lusk Gallery, Terri Jones drew delicate, nearly invisible lines on the wall and on large sheets of vellum that were bathed in the sunlight pouring through plate-glass windows. Those of us who stayed awhile in Jones’ spare luminous space experienced something akin to Buddhism’s Sky Mind.

Bob Riseling’s “Halcyon Days” premiered Memphis College of Art’s new gallery On the Street in November. Pale colors, deep shadows, and haunting monolithic shapes paid homage to the dead trees standing sentinel on Horn Island’s post-Katrina beaches, an ancient hulk of a barge stranded on one of its sandbars, and countless pieces of driftwood washed up on its shores.

Highlights of the year also included Hamlet Dobbins’ luminous textural abstractions at David Lusk in October and John McIntire’s summer show at Perry Nicole that transformed smooth, cool stone into sexual icons, fertility fetishes, and sacrificial gods. And at L Ross Gallery in November, in some of the best works of his career, Anton Weiss scattered scratched and gouged scraps of metal across large earth-toned paintings accented with thalo blue, scarlet, and cadmium yellow.

Last year’s most riveting works of art confronted brutality and oppression. Memphis College of Art’s March exhibition, “Reasons To Riot,” included Zoe Charlton’s searing mixed-media drawing Destiny, in which a man leaned back on his haunches. His face and upper body were whited-out, and the prow of a 17th-century slave ship was strapped around his waist like a dildo. Humanity’s unexpressed (repressed, denied, watered-down) passions were crammed into his phallus, which was as pointed as this artist’s insights, as unadorned as truth, as double-edged as our species’ capacity for cruelty and joy.

A work from David Comstock’s exhibition at L. Ross, ‘Flow’

In early fall, Clough-Hanson Gallery showcased 15 works from Eliot Perry’s collection of contemporary works by African artists, many of them internationally acclaimed. Among them was Wangechi Mutu’s sinuous, cinematic, horrific collage Buck Nose. The images depicted an antelope shot with a high-powered rifle, blood exploding around its head and horns and entrails coiling around a starving girl curled in a fetal position. Most chillingly there’s a manicured hand caressing a gemstone, reminding us that in today’s global market, African diamonds are prized, but life is still cheap.  

In “Two Years,” Jay Etkin Gallery’s December show, we saw Sandra Deacon Robinson’s paintings evolve from Klimt-like mosaics of glittering gemstones to abstractions of Louisiana wetlands. At the top of one of her most beautiful works, the 40-by-60-inch painting Protected, wisps of ochre almost brushed our foreheads, delicate tangles of lines at the bottom reached toward our torsos and legs, and muted golden light at top right suggested we were at the edge of a moist, dark cocoon with a clearing just ahead.

Also at Jay Etkin in December was photographer Jonathan Postal’s “On the Road.” In one of the show’s most disarming images, Waitress, Roadside, TX, a woman with jet-black hair dressed in a white apron and light-pink uniform stands at the side of a thoroughfare. Whether she waits tables in an upscale diner with a retro theme or is working in a smalltown café that looks pretty much like it did when it opened in the Fifties, this woman looks comfortable in her own skin. With a wry, sensual smile she leans back and sizes up Postal (and any gallery viewer who dared to look her in the face).

Postal is best-known for his black-and-white photographs of people living at the edge. While his images of burlesque queens scowling after a swig of hard liquor and wrestling fans howling for blood are fever-pitched and powerful, this body of work’s wide-open spaces and wry waitress boded well for a country at moral and political crossroads in need of citizens, whatever their lifestyles, who can step back and see things clearly.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Making Room for 2008

Next year is going to be a great year. It has to be, because 2007 was disappointing at best. Sure, some good things happened. But somehow the resignation of Alberto Gonzales, a very brief Police reunion tour, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows really can’t get rid of the Virginia Tech shootings, the never-ending war in Iraq, and Barry Bonds’ continuing major-league career. Even locally, 2007 delivered a fractious mayoral election, and The Pyramid is still waiting for someone to pay its rent.

So, what exactly is it that’s going to make ’08 so great? For starters, it’s a leap year, which is always fun; Indiana Jones should be returning to theaters in May; and the first new president in eight years will be elected in November. And the Olympics are in August. Come on. It’s never a bad year when they hold the Olympics.

However, to make room for the utopian dreams of 2008, you need to cleanse your minds of the impurities of this one. December 31st is right around the corner, and no doubt many of you have begun considering how you’ll spend New Year’s evening. Well, we at the Flyer have prepared a list of party destinations. But what’s more, we also have included some of those 2007 memories that we hope an evening of “holiday cheer,” a few Advil, and an afternoon of football on January 1st will wipe from your memory permanently. Cheers!

Obnoxious 2007 Memory: Cable News Coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s Death

Purge: New Year’s Eve Spectacular with Kallen Esperian at GPAC

The late Anna Nicole Smith loved attention. But even she would have been outraged by the weeks of nonstop cable drivel on her untimely death. So, as a remedy for the most obnoxious news coverage of the year, we recommend a drive to the Germantown Performing Arts Centre, where Kallen Esperian, along with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, will ring in the New Year with music that will shove even the most relentless talking head out of your head.

Tickets are $75 plus handling. Call the GPAC box office, 751-7500, for more info.

Troubling 2007 Memory: The U.S. Economy

Purge: Tunica

The dollar has seen better days. Dropping consistently against the euro, competing in the booming Asian markets, and suffering from a troubled housing market and high oil prices at home, the greenback has taken quite a beating this year. What better way to both celebrate the New Year and reinvest in the economy than an evening down at “the Boats”?

Hollywood Casino has a great New Year’s Eve lineup. Buy the two-night hotel package for $299, dine on a four-course meal at Fairbank’s Steakhouse for $125, then join Andy Childs in the Safari Lounge for live music, champagne, and a countdown and balloon drop at midnight. Roll out of bed before 2 p.m. and order a mimosa with brunch at the Epic Buffet.

For Hollywood hotel and dinner reservations and information, call (800) 871-0711.

Sam’s Town also is offering its New Year’s revelers a big time. Eat all day on New Year’s Eve at the Great Buffet or sit down for dinner at Twain’s Steakhouse or Smoky Joe’s Café. Join Pat Sullivan & One Night Stand in the Atrium or catch the country beat of Mickey Utley & J Jam Inc. at Roxy’s Live. There’s a champagne toast and balloon drop at midnight, and guests can eat breakfast at the crack of dawn or brunch until 3 p.m.

For Sam’s Town hotel and dinner reservations and information, call (800) 946-0711.

Aggravating 2007 Memory: Hannah Montana and High School Musical

Purge: Take the kids to the Children’s Museum or the Memphis Zoo Snooze.

Let’s be honest: We’re glad they keep the kids happy, but these two pre-teen hits are as vapid as they come. So get involved with the kids at the Children’s Museum in the afternoon or have an evening away from it all at the Memphis Zoo.

The Children’s Museum of Memphis is celebrating 2008 with an afternoon of noisemakers, karaoke, and a parade to “Times Square” for a bedtime-friendly countdown to the New Year at noon.

Kallen Esperian

Cost is free with museum admission. For more info, call 320-3170.

On December 31st, the Memphis Zoo is opening its gates after hours to families, church groups, scout troops, and other organizations for an evening of nocturnal adventure. The Zoo Snooze offers 6- to 12-year-olds a night safari, games and learning activities, and a warm, indoor sleeping space to “camp out” at night. Security will be around the clock, and in the morning after a continental breakfast, snoozers are free to tour the zoo.

Cost is $50 per member child, $60 for nonmember children. For more info and to register, call 333-6572.

Ridiculous 2007 Memory: O.J Simpson’s Armed “Memorabilia” Robbery

Purge: Downtown Hotel Galas

As if we wanted to hear anymore from O.J Simpson, in September, the former Heisman Trophy winner and three other men, all armed, burst into a Las Vegas hotel room to “reclaim” sports memorabilia from Simpson’s tarnished football career. “O.J,” one witness reported thinking at the time, “how could you be so stupid?” So, head down to the Madison Hotel or The Peabody for New Year’s Eve parties and celebrate the freedom that comes with being a law-abiding citizen.

The Peabody New Year’s Eve party has become one of the best attended in the city. Start the evening off with dinner packages from Chez Philippe or the Capriccio Grill and then join an estimated 4,000 partygoers in the hotel’s lobby, dancing 2007 into the history books to the sounds of Cowboy Mouth, Lord T & Eloise, and DJ Party Train. Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 at the door.

Amy LaVere

Dinner is by reservation only. For Chez Philippe, call 529-4188; for Capriccio Grill, call 529-4199.

At the 83 Lounge inside the Madison Hotel, guests can spend the evening at the carved-ice martini bar and for $83 dine on gourmet hors d’oeuvres, regaled by the music of the critically acclaimed Amy LaVere. The hotel also offers dinner at Grill 83 for $80, not including tax and gratuity, and hotel rooms starting at $440.

For the Madison Hotel, dinner reservations, and info, call 333-1200.

Unsurprising 2007 Memory: The U.S. Movie Box Office

Purge: Boscos Squared

This year in movies left many fans of the cinema disappointed. While some true diamonds shined, they shined in a very murky rough. A discussion of this year’s releases is, of course, replete with as many opinions as there are moviegoers. But for every dollar wasted and every hour lost, Boscos Squared — where many meet before meeting their movie fate at Malco’s Studio on the Square — will make up in a matter of minutes on New Year’s Eve. The microbrewery will have eight choices of award-winning beers on tap, a special menu, Lynn Cardona singing, and champagne at midnight. This will be the perfect place to forget that you saw Norbit.

For information, call Boscos Squared at 432-2222.

Lucero

Embarrassing 2007 Memory: President Bush’s “[Nelson] Mandela’s dead.”

Purge: Dinner Out on the Town

President Bush’s gaffes have come to be like knock-knock jokes, even when he is saying that the late Saddam Hussein has killed world leaders who are still alive. (Now would be a good time to reflect on two things about Bush’s quips: They are unscripted, and he has actually said them.) So, as 2008 rolls in, celebrate the guarantee of a new leader over dinner before painting the town red … or blue.

Esplanade’s New Year’s Eve gala will feature music by Almost Famous, a premium cash bar, hors d’oeuvres, and bubbly at midnight. $75 at the door. 901 Cordova Station, 753-3333

Make your way to the Majestic Grille on Main Street for dinner specials, live music all evening, and champagne at midnight. 145 S. Main, 522-8555

Circa’s New Year’s Eve celebration will offer an impressive meal and live jazz. $150 (includes wine). 119 S. Main, 522-1488

Encore will offer a four-course prix fixe menu for $65, which includes a midnight champagne toast, as well as their regular menu offerings. Jim Wenger and the Jim Spake Duo will provide live music. 150 Peabody Place, 528-1514

Pearl’s Oyster House will offer a prix fixe, four-course menu starting at $50 with free admission to the downstairs party featuring DJ Andy Boone and complimentary champagne at midnight. 292 S. Main, 522-9070

WTF? 2007 Memory: Britney Spears’ MTV Video Music Awards “Performance”

Purge: Memphis Rock-and-Roll

No need to mention the above performer at all other than to say that it’s about frickin’ time. Let the pop idols self-destruct. This New Year’s Eve head out into the town that invented rock-and-roll, find a cutie, and rock out. The shows go on all night all over town. Give “The Man” the finger one last time in 2007 (before you go buy that new iPod with the Christmas money your parents gave you).

Lucero tops the bill at the Young Avenue Deli New Year’s Eve bash. Pick from one of the best beer selections in the city and enjoy the sights. Glossary and Ghostfinger will open for the hometown alt-country rockers. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Murphy’s will make your ears bleed for one last time in 2007 with Mouserocket, Evil Army, and the Red Mollies. Doors open at 9 p.m. Cover is $10.

The Hi-Tone lets you rock out your New Year’s in the very building where Kang Rhee taught Elvis to kick. Jack O and the Tearjerkers headline with Moto and the Perfect Fits opening. Doors open at 9 p.m. The cover is $8.

Newby’s will get the Highland strip rowdy with On a Dead Machine, Stonecreek, and Perspective on the bill. The doors open at 9 p.m. Cover is $10.

FUBAR: Everything Else

Purge: Beale Street

From rampant wildfires, to invisible tanks, to the entire Bush administration, there is a plethora of noteworthy detritus that could make its way onto this list. And so for everything we’d rather forget about this year, there’s Beale Street. Whatever your poison, the Birthplace of the Blues is bound to provide it.

New Year’s Eve on Beale is huge. With every venue packed with partiers, live music at Handy Park, and unending food and drink specials, there will be enough noise, dim lighting, and eye candy to scrub every unwanted memory of 2007 from your brain.

So grab a Diver from Silky’s and find someone to smooch at midnight. But be careful: Don’t start 2008 with a bad memory you’ll carry around for the rest of the year.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Odds and Ends from 2007

Most Unlikely Sanctification Rite: the ceremony of praise heaped by various legal authorities on Darrell Catron, whose felonious behavior while serving as an aide in the Juvenile Court clerk’s office some years back led to a cascade of further criminal activity and to the wreckage of several careers.

Catron, who got his walking papers at year’s end via an 18-month probation, was credited with having helped the feds haul in a passel of other predators on the public purse and, indeed, with making the entire Tennessee Waltz sting possible.

Catron’s prize: a Golden Stool. (Well, okay, it may look like gold, but it doesn’t smell like it.)

Most Unexpected Appellation: the term “maverick” used as a descriptor for county commissioner Steve Mulroy in a December Commercial Appeal profile.

That was something of an eyebrow-raiser, given Mulroy’s undeviating party-line votes on commission issues and the U of M law professor’s eloquent and detailed rationales on behalf of the Democratic majority, statements which often have the ring of Supreme Court majority opinions.

Can “maverick” also mean “team player”?

The CA‘s prize: a dictionary of antonyms.

Most Unsurprising Outcome: the reelection victory of Mayor Willie Herenton over two major opponents, City Council member Carol Chumney and former MLGW president Herman Morris.

It was elementary mathematics that Herenton’s base was large enough, after 16 years’ service, to withstand such a divided challenge — especially given the obvious imperfections in the campaigns of Chumney, who never managed to transcend the role of fault-finder, and Morris, who could not escape his dignified cocoon long enough to bond with any sector of the electorate.

Herenton’s prize: Well … you know what the prize is.

Most Promising Outcome: the sea change in the composition of the Memphis City Council, via an election which saw nine newbies chosen to serve along with four veterans at a time when almost everybody foresees a necessary change of course — maybe even in the long-deferred direction of consolidation.

Their prize: celebrity, in exchange for the irreversible surrender of their privacy.

Most Unexpected (and Most Overlooked) Passing of the Baton: the withdrawal from the presidential race of Republican congressman Tom Tancredo (whose candidacy almost no one had noticed) and the subsequent claim by Memphis presidential candidate David F. Diamond (whose candidacy even fewer people had noticed) that Coloradan Tancredo’s downfall had begun with his failure at a nationally televised debate to understand a call-in question from Diamond.

The Memphian had asked: “Do you have a plan to solve the shortage of organs donated for transplant?” Tancredo drew a blank, accusing the questioner of being a mad cloner.

Diamond’s prize: the Tancredo body part of his choice.

Second Most Unexpected Passing of the Baton: the failure thus far of University of Memphis grad/ex-Senator/ex-actor Fred Thompson to make a dent in the presidential race despite the biggest advance ballyhoo of any candidate in recent memory, followed by the rapid rise of ex-Arkansas governor/ex-Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee.

As a sort of consolation prize, sometime abortion-rights lawyer Thompson picked up some key endorsements, of the kind longtime pro-lifer Huckabee might have expected, from various right-to-life organizations. Go figure.

Huckabee’s prize: an Academy Award nomination for his current ability to upstage the rigid fundamentalism of his preacherly past.

Most Unanticipated Reversal of Fortune: the decline of former media cynosure Harold Ford Jr. into relative anonymity, despite ex-Senate candidate Ford’s acquisition during the year of the leadership of the Democratic Leadership Council, a post at Merrill Lynch, and various other perches and perks that should have kept him front and center.

Possible reasons for his back-benching: the absence from the airwaves of disgraced radio/TV host Don Imus, a longtime Ford cheerleader; the advent of 9th District congressman Steve Cohen, whose nonstop media presence has put that of predecessor Ford in the shade.

Ford’s consolation prize: Guess what? Imus is back.

Till we meet again, holiday happily!

Categories
Opinion

Best, Worst Ideas of 2007

I don’t think it’s a good idea for anyone to serve five straight terms as mayor, but 42 percent of the people who voted in October thought otherwise. Underestimating Mayor Willie Herenton’s political base was not a good idea, and neither was relying on polls to tell you to run against him in a three-way.

It was a good idea for seven City Council incumbents to decide not to run again. (Rickey Peete and Edmund Ford had little choice.) Fresh horses and all that, plus the next four years won’t be any picnic if Memphis slides into a recession.

Going to trial against federal prosecutors in public corruption cases was not a good idea. They’re unbeaten. John Ford put up a good fight, but the tapes were devastating and a jury convicted him on one count to get him a 66-month prison sentence, slightly more than the 63 months given to Roscoe Dixon, who also went to trial.

Cooperating with federal prosecutors was a good idea. Second-offender Rickey Peete got 51 months, and Michael Hooks, who held three elected positions in his career, is serving 26 months. Darrell Catron, who kicked off Tennessee Waltz, got probation plus a new house and spending money without, so far, even having to testify in a trial. Ralph Lunati pleaded guilty and got 18 months for running what investigators called the wildest and most wide-open, drug-infested strip clubs in the country.

Building a team for the future was not a good idea. The Grizzlies will be eliminated from playoff contention about the time March Madness begins.

Building a team for the present was a good idea. You can complain about college basketball stars leaving school early for the pros or you can accept the fact and go get them, as Coach John Calipari has done. No one has done a better job than Calipari of making the best of a bad situation — competition, Beale Street clubs, a weak Conference USA schedule, early departures, a resurgent University of Tennessee. Memphis against UT will be the hottest ticket of 2008.

Hanging around until the shit hits the fan was not a good idea. Joseph Lee, a nice guy who got terrible press, would be in a lot less trouble today if he had not stayed so long at MLGW or had never gone over there from City Hall in the first place.

Resigning before the shit hits the fan was a good idea. Andy Dolich, a nice guy who got great press, couldn’t sell out FedExForum for the Grizzlies. Two weeks later, he landed on his feet as chief operating officer for the San Francisco 49ers. And has anyone seen Jerry West or remember why he was the toast of the town? And why didn’t Carol Johnson tell us any of this stuff was going on at the Memphis City Schools before she left for Boston to be superintendent?

More fun downtown, in the form of roller coasters at The Pyramid, is not a good idea. Look at it this way: Nashville has state government and office buildings and corporate headquarters of insurance companies and telecoms, Knoxville has the University of Tennessee, Little Rock has the Capitol and the Clinton library, and the front door of Memphis might be an amusement park in an abandoned landmark?

Less fun and more work downtown is a good idea. If Mud Island is going to be closed more than half the year, then why not let a private developer have a go at it? Closing streets and turning St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ALSAC into a true campus was another good idea. So was signing a deal to bring the University of Memphis law school downtown to the old Customs House and post office on Front Street.

Monetizing content by selling sponsorships for stories in The Commercial Appeal was not a good idea, unless you’re in the public relations business.

But monetizing content somehow in the Internet age is a good idea, unless you think reporters and editors should work for nothing. And so was the CA‘s decision to admit a mistake and back off before any more damage was done.

Building a new football stadium at the Fairgrounds was a bad idea. The problem is the teams on the field, Conference USA, and the stadium’s shabby surroundings.

Flat screens, high def, and the new no-smoking regs in bars were good ideas. The best seat in the house is at a sports bar or on your couch.

Categories
News The Fly-By

The Last Word

In January, city councilman Edmund Ford declared 2007 the year of truth.

Now, we’re not saying it wasn’t a truthful year, but maybe — especially since Congressman Steve Cohen found himself on The Colbert Report — it was the year of what Colbert calls truthiness.

Rickey Peete, under an indictment of bribery, resigned again from the City Council. Ford, facing a similar indictment, decided to stay on the council until his term ended. When the election rolled around, Ford’s son ran and won his father’s former seat.

Below is a month-by-month guide to 2007. Or, in all truthiness, as close as we could get.

January

At his annual New Year’s Day Prayer breakfast, Mayor Willie Herenton proposes building a brand-new football stadium to replace the aging Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Meanwhile, the City Council commits $15 million to upgrade bathrooms and disabled access at the Liberty Bowl.

Memphis Zoo female panda Ya Ya gives Le Le the cold shoulder when he tries to impress her by doing handstands, apparently a panda mating ritual.

Memphis-based Stax Records turns 50 and celebrates the big day with a party not in Memphis but in New York City.

February

A national survey ranks Memphis number one in the amount of time we spend watching television.

City Council member Edmund Ford racks up a $16,000 utility bill, but his power stays on. Turns out he and other politicians, like E.C. Jones, Myron Lowery, and Jack Sammons, are on a special VIP list.

Memphis director Craig Brewer’s Black Snake Moan, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci, premieres. Brewer held off on its release to give people plenty of time to forget that other Samuel L. Jackson film with a serpent title: Snakes on a Plane.

March

Congressman Steve Cohen appears on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. Host Steven Colbert asks Cohen if he’s the first Jew from Tennessee.

Church of God in Christ (COGIC) presiding bishop G.E. Patterson dies of heart failure on March 20th. Bishop Charles Blake of the West Angeles COGIC in Los Angeles is named presiding bishop at the annual convocation in November.

Twenty-five-year-old Anna Clifford makes national news after she appears in a mugshot with a 12-inch Mohawk. The attention started after her mugshot, the result of a DUI charge after leaving a Midtown bar, was posted on TheSmokingGun.com.

April

Dale Mardis is sentenced to 15 years in prison for the slaying of code-enforcement inspector Mickey Wright. Mardis admitted to killing Wright, then dismembering and burning the body. Wright’s family becomes outraged that Mardis only received a charge of second-degree murder.

Thieves steal more than $11,000 worth of brass valves from the Sears Crosstown building’s plumbing and fire-control system. It is just one of countless “scrap metal” thefts — air conditioning parts and vehicle catalytic converters are also routinely stolen — across the city during the year.

In Selmer, Tennessee, Mary Winkler is convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of her preacher husband Matthew Winkler. While on the stand, she showed a pair of white, high-heeled shoes she said her husband forced her to wear.

May

Former Senator John Ford is convicted of bribery. Ophelia Ford — who won John’s vacated state Senate seat — falls off of a barstool in Nashville after informing attendees of a Senate hearing that they “need to get knowledged.”

Zookeepers at the Memphis Zoo artificially inseminate Ya Ya, starting a panda pregnancy watch that ultimately ends with a miscarriage.

After playing “Ice Ice Baby” one time too many, Raiford’s Hollywood Disco closes, only to reopen under new ownership in the fall.

June

Robert F.X. Sillerman, owner of Elvis Presley’s image, announces plans to invest $250 million in upgrades to both sides of Elvis Presley Boulevard around Graceland.

John McCain threatens to name FedEx founder Fred Smith to his cabinet if elected president.

July

The Memphis Light Gas and Water board decides to sell Memphis Networx to Colorado-based Communications Infrastructure Investments at a more than $28 million loss.

August

A Raleigh man grabs national headlines when he became the victim of a gunshot wound — inflicted by his dog.

An overzealous Elvis fan steals one of the King’s firearms from a museum across the street from Graceland but “dumps” the pistol in a nearby port-a-potty.

September

Local Air America station trades liberal politics for sports scores.

An FBI report says Memphis is the most dangerous city in the country. U of M football player Taylor Bradford is shot on campus in a botched robbery attempt and later dies at the Med.

October

Noted photographer Ernest Withers dies.

A Memphis high school student shoots his friend during an English class. The friend recovers; the Memphis city school district asks its schools to beef up security.

November

Bruce Thompson is indicted on corruption charges. The former county commissioner allegedly received $260,000 in consulting fees as part of an MCS construction job.

Though Mayor Willie Herenton once vowed he would conduct a national search for a new president of MLGW, after being reelected for his gazillionth term, Herenton appoints the city’s public works director, Jerry Collins, to the job.

New evidence in the West Memphis Three case points to animal attacks to explain evidence once considered signs that the young victims were part of a Satanic ritual.

December

While waiting for outdoor retailer Bass Pro to move forward with plans for The Pyramid, county commissioners hear an alternative reuse plan: a $250 million indoor theme park with a 300- to 400-room hotel and a shopping mall.

Local Scientologists put their Midtown mansion on the market.

Justin Timberlake’s family buys the Big Creek golf course in Millington and promises a new clubhouse, new golf carts, and maintenance to the course itself. He’s bringing BigCreek back!

Categories
From My Seat Sports

FROM MY SEAT: 2007 Top 10 (Part 2)

5)
Memphis 1, Sacramento 0 (July 26) — A one-hitter and a game-winning hit with two
outs in the bottom of the ninth. In terms of fan engagement — you know, the
crowd at AutoZone Park actually paying attention to the action on the field, as
opposed to nurturing cellphone relationships — this was the highlight of the
2007 Redbirds season. Starting pitcher Chris Narveson pitched five and
two-thirds hitless innings against the first-place Sacramento River Cats, and
was relieved more than capably by Matt Ginter and Troy Cate. With two outs in
the ninth, Memphis drew three consecutive walks before Nick Stavinoha ripped a
hit into the rightfield corner for a walk-off victory. For a night, at least,
the standings didn’t matter.

4) Jazz
104, Grizzlies 88 (February 28) — In the closest parallel to Jack and Joe Buck
my family is likely to realize, 7-year-old Sofia Murtaugh was part of a media
contingent during a pregame press conference on Kids’ Night at FedExForum. Her
question for Grizzlies coach Tony Barone: “Which NBA player is the toughest to
defend?” (Barone’s answer: Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki.) Suited up in a mini-Grizz
outfit for the pregame introductions and a dunk contest following the third
quarter, young Murtaugh saw the home team jump out to a 20-4 lead, only to
witness the Northwest Division-leading Jazz chip away and end the Grizzlies’
two-game home winning streak. Pau Gasol’s 28 points and 13 rebounds weren’t
enough to offset Utah’s Carlos Boozer (24 points and 16 boards) and Deron
Williams (14 points, 10 assists). The loss kept Memphis tied with Boston in the
Greg Oden Sweepstakes, with an NBA-worst 15 victories on the season. Ms.
Murtaugh was tucked snuggly in bed by the time Barone opened his postgame
session.

3)
Memphis 25, UAB 9 (November 17) — In terms of probability — or lack thereof —
this was the Game of the Year. The Tiger football team had been handled by the
likes of Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee, UCF, and East Carolina (giving up 56
points to each of the latter two). They had lost a member of the team — reserve
defensive lineman Taylor Bradford — in an on-campus murder not even two months
earlier. They had not beaten the Blazers since 1999, and that was with DeAngelo
Williams carrying the ball four of those years. Yet there in the end zone at
game’s end, hoisting the bronzed rack of ribs that has come to symbolize the
“Battle for the Bones,” was Tiger backup quarterback Will Hudgens. With Joseph
Doss rushing for 168 yards, Duke Calhoun catching four passes for another 159,
and Martin Hankins passing for 298 yards, the U of M earned bowl eligibility for
the fourth time in five seasons. With a win over SMU the following week, Memphis
finished with a conference record of 6-2, its best in 12 years of C-USA play.

2)
Memphis 71, Houston 59 (March 10) — For the second straight year, John
Calipari’s Tigers finished off a sweep of Conference USA’s regular season and
tournament championships with a win at FedExForum. (And for the second straight
year, the victory gave the Tigers 30 wins for the season, on their way to a 33-4
finish.) The Tigers essentially had the Cougars beaten by halftime, up by 11
with a capacity crowd roaring for the national-television audience. Chris
Douglas-Roberts scored 17 points on his way to earning tourney MVP honors.
Fellow sophomore Antonio Anderson matched CDR’s point total and dished out five
assists. This marked the fifth time in Tiger basketball history that Memphis won
both conference titles in the same year.

1)
Dallas 35, St. Louis 7 (September 30) — In the fine tradition of Dean Moriarty
and Sal Paradise, a friend and I packed up the horseless carriage and headed
west, our destination Texas Stadium. Lifelong Cowboy fans, Johnny G and I
counted the RV dealerships and cotton fields over our 450-mile journey, all for
a chance to cast our shadows under that famous hole in the roof where Someone
Else is rumored to keep watch over His favorite football team. We saw the
Cowboys rack up 502 yards (their most in a non-overtime game since 1998) and
improve to 4-0 for the first time in more than a decade. Tom Landry statue
aside, the highlight was seeing Dallas quarterback Tony Romo retrieve a
shotgun-snap over his head, turn upfield, and dodge at least three Ram tacklers
to gain a first down. How ’bout them Cowboys, indeed.