Arcade Restaurant – Memphis Flyer

Daisy Glaze Video, Shot in Memphis, Out Now

Alix Brown is no stranger to Memphis Flyer readers, who likely recall this 2019 profile of her work as a DJ in New York. Even before then, she was a player as well, lending bass to a Jay Reatard track and recording with bands like Golden Triangle. And she was also branching out into film-music supervision.

Since 2016, she’s been playing in a combo that combines a bit of both. Daisy Glaze, her duo with guitarist Louis Epstein (HITS, Jump Into the Gospel) that often performs live as a five-piece, brings a dark cinematic sweep to their songscapes, full of reverb-drenched guitars, atmospheric lyrics and somber melodies. And they’ve been productive, with their third single and video, “Ghost of Elvis Presley,” going live today, just ahead of Friday’s release of their eponymous debut LP on The Sound of Sinners label.

The video brings Brown’s Memphis ties to the fore, having been shot in some of this city’s most iconic locations, with a noirish twist.

Directed by Michele Civetta (The Gateway, Agony), who has helmed music videos for Lou Reed and Sean Lennon, among others, much of the video was filmed at the Arcade Restaurant. Other segments shot at the historic Molly Fontaine Lounge feature a guest appearance by producer Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell of Royal Studios.

Photographer Jamie Harmon was on hand as the musicians and crew shot the video over the weekend of January 22-23, offering a rare glimpse into the making of a video with rather cinematic ambitions. In some particularly striking scenes, the duo catch glimpses of themselves as elderly Arcade workers, serving coffee in a kind of all-night diner purgatory. Look for some familiar Memphis faces like Stevan Lazich and Mitchell in these revelatory shots.

Filming Daisy Glaze’s “Ghost of Elvis Presley” in Memphis (Credit: Jamie Harmon)

Despite taking their name from a Big Star song, Daisy Glaze is not so much power pop as what they call a “psych-outlaw sound.” The dank atmospherics come courtesy of producer Peter Kember, aka Sonic Boom, who gained prominence as a member of Spacemen 3 and has distinguished himself as a solo artist and producer since the 1990s. He’s clearly in tune with the Memphis scene, having produced MGMT’s Congratulations and the under-recognized synthetic cult classic, An Arabesque by Cloudland Canyon. Daisy Glaze, who already considered Kember “an outsized influence on their sound and songwriting,” recorded their debut at his studio in Portugal in 2019.

Michael Donahue

Peanut Butter N’ Banana Sandwich at the Arcade Restaurant

It’s time to get your Elvis on.

Elvis Week – with all the tributes to the King – begins August 8th. If you want a taste of what’s to come, try one of Elvis’ favorite delicacies – a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. You can get one at the Arcade Restaurant.

If you like peanut butter sandwiches, this is one to the nth degree. It’s called the “Peanut Butter N’ Banana Sandwich.” The runny peanut butter melts into the creamy banana on toasted bread.

You’ll want more than one. I know I did. I could have eaten at least three.

Asked how they make the sandwich, Arcade owner Jeffrey Zepatos says, “You’ve got to fry up a good bit of butter on the old griddle, where we cook our bacon and everything.”

They use Texas toast, Zepatos says: “It’s just a little bit thicker. Texas toast has more of an egg base than regular bread. So, it fries a little better.”

They make the sandwich with the peanut butter and banana before they put it on the griddle. Everything is squished together. “You want to hold in the heat while you’re cooking it.”

They use about a half of a banana. “You want to get a little banana in every bite.”

The sandwich is fried for about two and a half minutes each side. “It’ll get a good brown crust to it.”

They added the PBB sandwich to the menu after his parents Karan and Harry Zepatos took over the restaurant in 2001, Jeffrey says. They wanted to serve an Elvis food item.

People mistakenly think peanut butter and banana sandwiches are strictly an Elvis food item, Zepatos says. The sandwich was “made famous by Elvis, but that was a North Mississippi meal. My mom grew up eating those even before Elvis became famous. It’s a good bit of protein with the peanut butter and the banana.“

The sandwich is a popular Arcade item, Zepatos says. “Oh, goodness. We sell five to 10 a day. On Saturday and Sunday we go through 30, 40. I’m talking at least 100 a week.”

They sell many more during Elvis Week, says Zepatos, who tried to keep count during last year’s Elvis Week. “We went through around 300 of those sandwiches. Maybe more. So, we’ve got to order many cases of bananas.”

Elvis actually was a customer at the Arcade, Zepatos says. “Elvis’ cousins would come in and wait for Elvis and they’d all hang out.”

If his fans became too aggressive, Elvis literally would leave the building. “When Elvis started getting famous, he’d get up and walk out that back door.”

Elvis fans love that door, Zepatos says. “It’s become a thing for people to do the old Elvis door. They’ll pay, obviously, but they’ll walk out the back door.”