This year has flown by at the speed of light. Maybe it’s the unending carousel of deadlines that comes with producing a weekly print publication and managing daily web posts and always planning content for the months ahead. Or maybe we’re traveling through some sort of time portal hurtling through space. Whatever the case may be, I’ve taken a look back at my evolving thoughts throughout 2023, which began, in this editorial space apparently, with eggs.
Last January, everyone was bok-bok-ba-gawking at soaring egg prices — upwards of $7 a dozen — and I took a crack at investigating why it was happening. A more complicated answer than inflation, involving “the ongoing conversion to cage-free egg production systems” and a shortage of laying hens after an influx of avian flu.
Within the first 23 days of 2023, though, Memphis suffered much greater pains. The city — and world — was outraged following the brutal beating and death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of MPD officers. In that first month, we also mourned the loss of Memphis icons Gangsta Boo, Lisa Marie Presley, Vincent Astor, and Dr. Charles A. Champion. In February, the Flyer team lost a member of our work family when longtime sales rep and forever bright light Hailey Thomas passed away. A rough start here, to say the least.
By March, after weeks of processing and writing and reading about the weight of it all, I took a brief hiatus, “seeking serenity,” and relocated a while to work from my grandparents’ former residence — a mobile home at the edge of the county line in rural Greenwood, Mississippi. They’d both passed away in 2022, and the land was unoccupied aside from me and an alligator friend who lived in a pond within eyeshot of the front porch. I say friend because it turned out to be quite docile, poking its head up from the water to sun its scutes and offer me daily salutations. Google told me it was in brumation, a form of hibernation, essentially — resting and preparing for the higher activity of the warmer months to come. I decided I, too, was brumating.
In April, beer went woke when Bud Light partnered with trans activist and TikTok sensation Dylan Mulvaney. The nation was astir with boycotts, unknowingly replacing their favorite beer brand with others that — oops — also supported LGBTQ and equality-focused programs. In the midst of it all, Kid Rock shot up a bunch of cans with a semi-automatic. What a time to be alive!
By May, gun violence was top of mind in the aftermath of the controversial expulsion of two Tennessee lawmakers — Justin Pearson and Justin Jones — from the legislature after protesting the issue from the floor of the chamber. And I pondered the negative impression a video that surfaced of Ja Morant flaunting a gun might have on youth.
June was arguably the best month of 2023 for me (and, like January, held much focus on eggs), as I had the opportunity to spend a month house sitting in Midtown and tend to a small flock of hens. Not only was the change in perspective nice, but caring for those lovely, peculiar ladies was a joy. The first week, I mustered the courage to pick up a broody hen and move her from her nesting box, and by month’s end, I petted and picked them up simply because I wanted to. A beautiful bond was built, and I managed to break my own broody mood.
Also in June, a handful of billionaires imploded in a tin can steered by a game controller on a failed Titanic excursion. Again, what a time!
In July, the Supreme Court voted to squash President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan (bummer), but I was happily writing my third column about chickens as I offered a wrap-up of my Midtown “staycation” and tribute to the five feathered beauties who made my summer (especially, Pancake: I love you, darling!).
In August, a former U.S. intelligence officer testified before Congress that aliens are real. As it turned out, we didn’t really care. I also received my first hate mail, blaming me and the Flyer for all of the city’s crime and “leftist bullshit.” That was fun.
September in Flyer land is all about Best of Memphis — the annual issue in which we celebrate the winners of our all-things-Memphis readers’ poll. In October, I suffered a bout of writer’s block and reflected on the desire to eat berries in the forest rather than fold clothes.
November was the one-year milestone for my editor role — thankful you’ve all tolerated me (and that I haven’t yet received any further hate mail).
December has been a blur as we worked weeks into the future on staggered holiday deadlines, and now, my friends, we’re at the finish line.
I hope this year has been kind to each of you. And a greater hope still is that 2024 is our collective best yet.
And just like that, it’s another year gone. With the snap of a finger, 12 months have flashed by and, gulp, is it the end of December already? Every year since 2020, we’ve wondered if maybe, just maybe, this upcoming year will be the one where we all shake off the doldrums of a post-Covid reality, rush out to the street en masse, and burst into glorious song and dance. Maybe not quite so much exuberance, but things are certainly ramping up. A completed Tom Lee Park is on the horizon, our local music scene is going strong, Memphis sports are gearing up for championship runs, and mayoral hopefuls are quietly slipping the gloves off. If that’s enough to get you giddy with anticipation, well, you’ve earned it. Prepare to take off the handbrake, and read on for our predictions for 2023.
Breaking News
Tom Lee Park
Maybe the most anticipated opening of 2023 is the renovated, completely re-imagined Tom Lee Park.
The massive, $61 million project is expected to completely transform Memphis’ riverfront, drawing visitors — locals and tourists alike — to see it. Gone will be the flat, wide-open plain of grass between the Mississippi River and Riverside Drive. It will be replaced with low hills, native plants, lookouts, bathrooms, sports and recreation areas, play equipment, concessions, and more. When the project was announced back in 2019, the new design was described as “a blend of landscaping and architecture meant to mimic and restore some of the 30-acre river park’s natural ecology and better connect the city to the river.”
The anticipation of the park’s opening comes with both excited expectation and some anxiety. The new park design is expected to better connect the park with the rest of Downtown Memphis, to the delight of city leaders. All of those tourists will come at the delight of Downtown business owners.
However, the new design will bring growing pains for Memphis in May. The organization has already predicted a much smaller festival in the park and, maybe, higher prices for festival-goers to pay for the higher fees for using the park.
Memphis River Parks Partnership officials said in September that the project was halfway complete. The park has to at least be ready enough to host Memphis in May in a few short months. Officials said a grand opening of the park will be held after May’s events.
The park’s opening was one major reason travel magazine Condé NastTraveler named Memphis one of the top places to visit in 2023, one of only two places in the U.S. — Toby Sells
Memphis Sports & Events Center
Expect to (probably) see the inside of the brand-new and newly opened Memphis Sports & Events Center (MSEC) in 2023. The $60 million facility was built in 18 months and will be the centerpiece of the new sports tourism hook for Liberty Park (or the Mid-South Fairgrounds if you’re old-timey).
At 227,000 square feet, the MSEC has a footprint the size of four football fields. Each of two wings features eight basketball courts that can convert into as many as 32 volleyball courts. The north wing includes stadium seating to accommodate 3,500 spectators, along with four VIP suites and boxes for media and recruiters.
The center is a gamble by city leaders that it will attract new visitors to Memphis via youth sports travel teams for indoor sports like basketball, volleyball, and more. Funding for the center, though, is expected to come from tax revenues generated from a zone around the facility, presumably enough to pay for itself. — TS
Outlawing Drag
The state of Tennessee saw numerous controversies regarding drag shows in 2022. In September, what was advertised as a “family-friendly” drag show at the Museum of Science and History (MoSH) was canceled after a group of Proud Boys showed up to the event armed. The Jackson Pride drag show was limited to participants aged 18 and older after weeks of battling between event organizers and lawmakers in Jackson, Tennessee.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) recently filed legislation for the 113th Tennessee General Assembly that could potentially make drag performances in Tennessee a crime. This legislation would define drag shows as “adult cabaret” and would prohibit these performances in public places.
The bill also goes on to make performing in “adult cabaret performance” on public property or “in a location where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult” a Class A misdemeanor. Repeat offenders face a Class E felony.
Local LGBTQ+ activists in Memphis such as Moth Moth Moth (Mothie for short) have voiced their concerns over social media and are actively working to raise awareness and fight back.
“This is a slippery slope that aims to force drag artists into our homes and LGBTQIA+ people out of public sight,” said Mothie in a Facebook post. “How can you fight this? Call your reps. And scream at them.”
It might be a while before this sticks, as the legislature does not reconvene until January. If passed, the law would take effect in July 2023. — Kailynn Johnson
On the Political Horizon
Much of the New Year will be devoted to the selection of a new mayor and city council by Memphis voters. The quadrennial process, which actually got under way in the late months of 2022, will formally conclude on Thursday, October 5, 2023. Long before the resolution of that contest, however, the actual first election of the year, a special election for the state House District 86 seat, will have already occurred. The primary date for the special election, which was called to decide a successor to the late Barbara Cooper, who died in October, is January 24th, with the general election scheduled for March 14th.
A referendum on the November 8th ballot allowing for a third term for the Memphis mayor and members of the city council was rejected by the city’s voters, thereby foreclosing on a possible re-election bid by Mayor Jim Strickland and ensuring that a new face would be at the helm of city government, come October 5th. The reality of an open seat also made it likely that the mayoral field would swell to include numerous challengers, several of whom had announced in late fall and early winter, with more expected after the turn of the year.
The first gauge of true candidate viability will come on or around January 15th, when end-of-the-year financial disclosures will be required of the mayoral hopefuls, with information on their campaign war chests to be made publicly available. Several of the so-far announced candidates — notably Sheriff Floyd Bonner, former County Commissioner and NAACP head Van Turner, and president/CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission Paul Young — are thought to have good fundraising prospects, with the potential to scare off rivals. Race is unlikely to be a factor, since all the actual or rumored candidates to date have been African Americans — a development consistent with the city’s demographic profile. Gender could be important, however, especially if either school board chair Michelle McKissack or state House Democratic leader Karen Camper stay in the race and get up a good head of steam. A few long-odds candidates, already in or thinking about it, include former TV judge Joe Brown and former County Commissioner Justin Ford.
In Nashville, the Republican legislative supermajority, somewhat further entrenched after redistricting, remains in charge, and two bills that are aimed at the state’s LGBTQ+ community have already been filed, and, with administration acquiescence if not outright support, will doubtless go to the head of the class. One would prohibit gender-affirmation surgery on behalf of transgender youth; another would place serious restrictions on public drag shows. Legislation to update the revenue sources undergirding the IMPROVE transportation act sponsored by former Governor Bill Haslam in 2017 is considered urgently necessary, especially in anticipation of the forthcoming needs of Ford’s BlueOval project at the West Tennessee megasite. Governor Bill Lee has made it clear, however, that further increases in the state’s gasoline tax are off the table.
Meanwhile, the version of the Shelby County Commission elected in August is Democratic-controlled (nine Democrats vs. four Republicans) and conspicuously more liberal (in every sense of the word) than the GOP establishment in the state Capitol. In a meeting just before Christmas, the commissioners put together a wish list of financial favors it wants from the state that may have hard going with the parsimonious Lee and his legislative leadership.
The commissioners’ list includes millions for Regional One Health (long known as The Med and, now as then, regarded as financially ailing) and more millions for new schools, a new jail, sewer expansion, mental health, and broadband improvements. All in all, the requests add up to $1.2 billion.
For some decades now, tension has developed between spokespersons for Shelby County and the state political establishment (regardless of political-party issues). Especially in view of the state’s apparently ever-mounting efforts to limit local options, the coming session should underscore these further. — Jackson Baker
Rock On: Live Music in 2023
With in-person performances roaring back to life over the past year, there are plenty of concerts to look forward to in 2023, though the various viral hazards still at large may still yet cause cancellations. For starters, of course, New Year’s Eve shows are just around the corner, including Blind Mississippi Morris and band at Blues City Cafe, Louder Than Bombs at B-Side, the Memphis Funk-N-Horns at Neil’s Music Room, and a double header of Formerly Known As and Twin Soul at Lafayette’s Music Room. With Jerry Lee Lewis’ recent death, many will likely flock to Hernando’s Hide-a-Way as they ring in 2023 with Jason D. Williams, who carries the Jerry Lee torch in his own inimitable way.
As January rolls on, local venues are bringing the entertainment without a pause. Lafayette’s general manager Julien Salley Jr. says, “It’s pretty exciting to see our ticketed shows return to full speed after what Covid did to us. Beyond a heavy schedule of the best local artists in Memphis, we also have incoming: Geoff Tate of Queensrÿche, Samantha Fish, Tab Benoit, Marc Broussard, Adelitas Way, Smile Empty Soul, and a ton of other exciting acts.”
Meanwhile, even more exquisite concerts will grace Memphis concert halls. The Germantown Performing Arts Center (GPAC) already has the likes of Tommy Emmanuel, Stacey Kent, and The Milk Carton Kids in January; Neko Case, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Pilobolus, and Samara Joy in February; and Step Afrika!, Marie-Stéphane Bernard, and Anthony Wilson in March.
Crosstown Arts will host more classical concerts than ever in the new year, including the Mahogany Chamber Music Series, three shows curated by Artina McCain that spotlight Black and other underrepresented composers and performers. There’s also the intriguingly titled “Mozart and Electric Guitar Concerto” by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Iris Collective’s “Spacetime.” But it’s the jazz curation that should win Crosstown medals, as they begin with guitarist Jimmy Bruno, then go deep in March when Crosstown’s “jazz month” will include another guitar giant, Peter Bernstein, as well as Marc Ribot, The Bad Plus, Deepstaria Enigmatica, singer Morgan James, and James Sexton’s The Otis Mission.
Of course, the rock world choogles on, so keep checking the offerings at Hernando’s, Growlers, Hi Tone, Bar DKDC, Young Avenue Deli, Railgarten, the Cove, Lamplighter Lounge, and B-Side. If you’re thinking big, Graceland Live will keep bringing the national touring acts — like Cinderella’s Tom Keifer and Mr. “Pretty Little Poison,” Warren Zeiders, in February. The Orpheum and Halloran theaters have even more on deck, from the Black Love Live soul concert to Don Bryant and the Bo-Keys, not to mention Mark Edgar Stuart’s ongoing songwriter series, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros., the McCrary Sisters in February, and a smashing lineup of Buddy Guy, Patti Labelle, Van Duren, and John Mellencamp in the months to follow. — Alex Greene
Future Film
There was much kvetching about the future of the theater business in 2022, as box office returns ranged from extraordinary (Top Gun: Maverick made $1.5 billion) to job-killing (Disney’s $100 million loss on Strange World cost CEO Bob Chapek his career). But 2023’s release calendar looks a little more stacked, money-wise, than 2022’s pandemic-ravaged offerings. January starts strong with M3GAN, a creepy doll robot horror movie, and a reboot of the ’90s hip-hop classic House Party. February has Soderbergh sprinkling stripper fairy dust with Magic Mike’s Last Dance, the year’s first Marvel movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and a true story whose name says it all, Cocaine Bear.
In March, star Michael B. Jordan takes to the ring as director of Creed III. Memphian Henry Gayden returns as writer for the sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Keanu Reeves kicks all kinds of ass in John Wick: Chapter 4, and Chris Pine leads an attempt to translate Dungeons & Dragons to the big screen with Honor Among Thieves. April dawns with The Super Mario Brothers Movie, featuring the other, lesser Chris — Pratt — as the Italian plumber, for some reason. Chris McKay helms Renfield, starring Nicolas Cage as freakin’ Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as the vampire’s thrall. Later, a new crew takes on the Deadites in Evil Dead Rise, and the beloved Judy Blume novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret finally gets an adaptation.
The big guns come out in May, when James Gunn takes his final bow as a Marvel director with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Fast X brings all the family back together to drive fast some more. In June, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse will test if Marvel can keep its Spider-streak alive. The next week, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will no doubt supply me with fodder for an entertaining pan. June 16th, everyone who’s anyone (Swinton! Cranston! Hanks! Goldblum!) will be in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, while walking PR crisis Ezra Miller tanks The Flash. The month ends with Harrison Ford’s swan song as the world’s favorite archeologist in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
In July, Tom Cruise hopes to repeat 2022’s box office triumph with Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. July 21st brings the strangest pairing of any weekend, with Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the man who invented the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer, and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. For the record, I’m up for both. August slows down with a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles flick, Disney’s long-delayed Haunted Mansion, and Blue Beetle. In a September with The Equalizer 2, The Nun 2, and The Expendables 4, the only potential bright spot is the latest installment of Branagh’s Agatha Christie kick, A Haunting in Venice. Kraven The Hunter leads October, and Saw X rounds out Halloween weekend. Return to Arrakis on November 3rd with Dune: Part Two (if you thought the first one was a snoozer, this is where all the good stuff happens). Was anyone asking for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? At least DreamWorks’ windfall from Trolls 3 will help pad Justin Timberlake’s retirement account. Currently scheduled for December is Timothée Chalamet in Wonka, a remake of The Color Purple, and a currently untitled Ghostbusters sequel, before the year squishes to a close with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. — Chris McCoy
2023 Tip-off: Memphis Sports
It’s the Sweet 16 or bust for Coach Penny Hardaway and his Memphis Tigers basketball team. This is especially the case for the nine(!) seniors that make up virtually the entire rotation for the fifth-year coach. New arrival Kendric Davis — a transfer from SMU — could pull off the rare feat of winning his league’s Player of the Year honors two years in a row for different teams. If Davis stays healthy and continues to excel, and supporting veterans like DeAndre Williams and Alex Lomax make the right kind of impact, reaching the NCAA tournament’s second weekend for the first time since (gulp) 2009 is within reach.
Three questions will follow the Memphis Grizzlies into 2023. Can Ja Morant win the MVP award (would be a franchise first)? Yes. Can the Griz win the freakin’ NBA championship? Yes. The third question is the most problematic: Can the Memphis Grizzlies ever play at full strength? The team has climbed to the top of the Western Conference standings without playing a solitary game featuring Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane all in uniform. Should the team be able to unleash their big-three on the rest of the NBA for a sustained stretch — preferably into May and June — there may be a large parade this summer on Beale Street.
The Memphis Redbirds will take the field for their 25th season in a refurbished AutoZone Park, a brand-new playing surface complemented by a brand-new video board. And the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate may feature two of the top prospects in all of minor-league baseball. Slugger Jordan Walker — a third-baseman and outfielder — could make the club’s big-league roster out of spring training despite his tender age (20). Shortstop Masyn Winn is another elite young talent, with an arm that makes many pitchers blush. The Redbirds are looking to make their first playoff appearance since joining the International League in 2022. — Frank Murtaugh
Memphis 901 FC are coming off their best-ever season after making it to the USL Eastern Conference semifinals. With titans in defense, midfield, and attack, coach Ben Pirmann unlocked the full potential of this squad, who were a penalty kick away from the conference finals. Pirmann will unfortunately no longer lead the team next season, having accepted an offer from USL rival Charleston Battery FC. Next year it’s Scotsman Stephen Glass, who has previous coaching experience in America with MLS side Atlanta United and its USL affiliate Atlanta United 2. And crucially, the organization has gone to great lengths to retain key players. Rather than building from scratch, star striker Phillip Goodrum (21 goals last season), midfielders Aaron Molloy and Laurent Kissiedou, defender Graham Smith, and captain Leston Paul, among others, will all return. Memphis came close to reaching the conference finals. For the following year, taking that next step is a distinct possibility. — Samuel X. Cicci