Tag: Bartlett

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Theater We Recommend We Recommend

BPACC’s 25th Season

Having opened its first season in September 1999 with a performance by Art Garfunkel, Bartlett Performing Arts & Conference Center (BPACC) is now gearing up for its 25th season opening this fall. This season, as with every season, promises an array of performing arts, with everything from concerts to theater productions.

For Michael Bollinger, BPACC’s director, the variety built into the venue’s programming is intentional for one simple reason: “Because not everybody likes the same thing.”

The 25th season kicks off with a Neil Diamond tribute concert by Jay White on October 7th. “He’s the only [tribute] artist that Neil Diamond personally has kind of sanctioned,” says Bollinger, whose standards for tribute artists are pretty high. “There are a lot of bad tribute artists, but what I look for is they’ve got to be exceptional musicians and do the music well, and not try to be [the original artists by cosplaying as them] but instead pay good homage to their music.”

Other tribute artists this season include an Everly Brothers Experience Holiday Show with brothers Zach and Dylan Zmed on December 7th, ABBA Revisited on January 13th, and a Salute to the Eagles on February 10th. 

In addition to tribute concerts, BPACC, of course, has your typical concert offerings. This season’s concert lineup includes country musicians Morgan Myles and Jay Allen from The Voice on October 28, Grammy Award-winning Crystal Gayle on November 3rd, and bluegrass band The Dillards on November 17th to close out 2023. Next year’s half of the season includes country and gospel trio Chapel Hart on January 26th, Bartlett Community Concert Band on March 12th, Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer on April 6th, and Tom Wopat on April 19th.

Leigh Nash, known for songs like “Kiss Me” and “There She Goes,” will perform at BPACC in April 2024. (Photo: Courtesy BPACC)

One point of pride that Bollinger mentions is BPACC’s Music by the Lake series, which he started after assuming his role in 2016. As he puts it, “It’s just a fancy title for outdoor concerts that are free. We do two concerts, one in May and one in June, and each one features only musicians from the Mid-South.”

In the same vein, last year, BPACC, in partnership with Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC), launched Theater by the Lake, with the theater group putting on a free performance of Macbeth as part of their Free Shout-Out Shakespeare Series. This year, TSC will perform an abbreviated version of The Tempest on October 18th. 

“So, Music by the Lake and Theater by the Lake, those are free things that anybody in the whole Mid-South can come to,” Bollinger says. “You just bring your chair. It’s a nice big green park area that Lake Appling surrounds, so it’s just a really pretty place to have a concert or something.” 

With these free events, as well as the arts and education program, Bollinger also hopes to expand accessibility to the arts, particularly live performances. Through the arts and education program, BPACC offers free school performances of certain shows for Bartlett students. This season’s show is Peter Pan, which will also have ticketed performances for the public from March 8th to March 10th. 

“It’s just important, I think, for kids to have that experience [of a live theater performance],” Bollinger says. “And then the other thing is kids — this is a generalization — but a lot of kids, and adults, learn by more traditional ways, like reading or lectures. But a lot of kids don’t. They learn very well by watching and by participation.”

To that end, this season will also feature The Dinosaur Quest of Dr. T-Rex, where “Dr. T-Rex” will teach audiences about everyone’s favorite dinosaurs with help from the audience and his dino friends. Other family-friendly performances include Mark Nizer 4D (November 18th), It’s a Wonderful Life: The Live Radio Play (December 1st-3rd), and BPACC and Esprit de Corps’ The Nutcracker Ballet (December 15th-17th).

BPACC will put on It’s a Wonderful Life for the second year in a row this holiday season. (Photo: Courtesy BPACC)

With such a diverse menu of events for BPACC’s season, Bollinger hopes to capture the interest of everyone, and maybe even expose some folks to something new altogether. “One thing about our theater, if you’ve never been here,” he adds, “is we have 350 seats, and the nice thing about 350 is, even if you’re sitting in the back row, it’s like they’re performing in your living room.

“It’s not unusual that the artists will come out and personally meet the audience afterwards in the lobby and take photos or sign autographs or whatever,” Bollinger continues. “But the most important thing is, that intimate venue is really what makes the place special.”

Find more information about BPACC’s 25th season and purchase tickets at bpacc.org. Tickets for a comedy night with Henry Cho are already sold out. 

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Opinion The Last Word

Memphis is My Boyfriend: A Stanky Retreat

Nesbit Park, where you don’t have to make a decision or review a budget. (Photo: Patricia Lockhart)

Sometimes my days are hectic. I’m a wife, mother of four, sister, writer, librarian, fitness instructor, and friend. My calendar is color-coded and full. Once I showed my therapist my calendar, she bluntly replied, “What am I looking at? What is this?” When I told her it’s my calendar that shows how my days are constructed, she was flabbergasted. I literally make hundreds of decisions a day. I’m emotionally, physically, and intellectually present at every job and every endeavor. I listen with enthusiasm to my kids about their days. I even follow up from the previous day’s conversation. I laugh at my husband’s jokes and the reels he sends me on Instagram. And I love every minute of it. I have a good life! No, seriously. I have the life I’ve always dreamed about! But sometimes, my days get so filled and busy that I’m too tired to enjoy the life that I’ve built. Crazy, isn’t it? To work so hard at something only to pass out from exhaustion before you can even marvel at its existence.

In the times where everything seems so heavy, I find myself wanting to be lost, just so I can find myself again. I want to wander around without a serious thought in my head. I want to walk at a “grocery store” pace without any pep in my step. Nowhere I gotta be and no one I gotta see. I don’t want anyone calling my name or tapping me on my hip. (IYKYK … especially if you work with little kids.)

In other words, I don’t want to be bothered by the life I’ve created. I know … First World Problems1.

Photo: Patricia Lockhart

So I go to where time feels like it’s standing still. I go where I can lose myself only to remember what it is that I love so much. Where I can go listen to the birds chirp, the squirrels scramble around, and maybe get stared at by the occasional deer. I take a walk through Nesbit Park2, aka Stanky Creek. Where the only thing required of me, taken in exchange, is CO2.

Nesbit Park is located in Bartlett, Tennessee3. (5760 Yale Road to be exact.) It has some amazing bike and walking trails. It’s a place of peace and adventure. During my first Nesbit Park, aka Stanky Creek, experience, I learned how strong I truly am. It was during a Memphis Runners Club Winter Off-Road Race Series. I’d never ventured inside the park before, so this was a completely new experience. During this 8K race, I struggled through narrow paths, hills, and ravines where I had to use my non-existent upper-body strength to pull myself up. (There was a lot of cheering and several attempts before I accomplished it.) Somewhere along the marked path, I started listening to the birds. At some point, I looked up and around at the trees. I realized that I hardly ever look up anymore. Eventually, I looked down to find that I couldn’t see any of the race markers. I couldn’t hear anyone. I couldn’t see anyone. So I stopped moving, put my hands on my hips like Forrest Gump, and I took a deep breath in and exhaled. And I wandered. I skipped. I frolicked. I jogged. I walked. I didn’t think. I didn’t worry. I just existed. With no requirements, I just existed and lived in that moment. Or moments, if I’m honest.

(Don’t fret. I was never truly lost during this race. An earlier runner had knocked a race marker down and I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t see or hear anyone because I was dead last and very far behind.)

But in the end, I came out better and stronger than I was before. And most importantly, my mind was so clear. Like that breath of fresh air I was gasping for because they cheered for me to run up a hill and cross the finish line.

So now, when I step inside of Nesbit Park, I promise it’s like stepping into another world. I don’t hear any loud music or the steady hum of cars on the streets. I’m not being asked to make a decision, run an errand, review a budget, or even be considerate of anyone other than myself.

Sounds selfish? Well, it’s my truth. As much as I love being around the public and people, I find peace in being alone. I love the way my heart beat feels in my chest. I love the way silence and soft nature sounds press against my ears. I love it as a breeze grazes my cheeks like a soft kiss. I love me and don’t mind my own company.

While in Nesbit, I simply breathe … exist … move forward …

And eventually the heaviness wears away and I’m left with a solid foundation of peace.

1 First World Problems — A term used when First World Nations complain about something that is perceived as small in comparison to global problems.

2 Nesbit Park — Once upon a time, it was the farm of Katherine Nesbit. Now it’s a public trail. It’s also called Stanky Creek due to the smell that comes from a creek. (But it smells just fine to me.)

3 Bartlett, Tennessee — Incorporated in 1866 and named after Major Gabriel Bartlett. Now known as the place where Memphians don’t dare speed.

Patricia Lockhart is a native Memphian who loves to read, write, cook, and eat. Her days are filled with laughter with her four kids and charming husband. By day, she’s a school librarian and a writer, but by night … she’s asleep. @realworkwife @memphisismyboyfriend.

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Politics Politics Feature

Roadblock in Memphis Mayor’s Race?

Michelle Robinson McKissack (Photo: Facebook)

Complications have already set in regarding next year’s race for Memphis mayor, inasmuch as a ruling by Federal Judge John Fowlkes about a residential requirement in the city of Mason could affect the legality of races in Memphis, which has similar residential requirements. Neither would-be contestants Van Turner or Floyd Bonner at the moment has a Memphis residence.

And sexist talk by candidate Joe Brown at a weekend forum would seem to make it necessary that either Karen Camper or Michelle McKissack or both follow through with their mayoral plans.

Meanwhile, not the least interesting item on the November 8th election ballot is an amendment removing a restriction against ministers of the cloth holding office in the legislature. Given long-standing sentiment for dividing church and state, this one will doubtless require of voters some serious meditation — prayer, even.

Three other amendments are of more-than-usual interest. One, the “Right-to-Work” amendment would enshrine in the Tennessee Constitution the state’s existing bar against mandatory union membership. Business wants it. Labor doesn’t. Another amendment provides for the house speaker to assume the office of governor temporarily during an emergency. And another amendment abolishes explicitly the practice of slavery in any form.

Other matters of interest on the ballot include a governor’s race pitting GOP incumbent Bill Lee against Democratic hopeful Jason B. Martin and a whole squadron of Independents.

Of other competitive races, 8th District Republican Congressman David Kustoff and 9th District Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen face Lynnette Williams (D) and Charlotte Bergmann (R), respectively, plus a bevy of Independents in each case.

The state Senate District 31 seat is contested by well-heeled Republican Brent Taylor and Democrat Ruby Powell-Dennis. The district is heavily Republican but has been run close by Democrats.

Democrat London Lamar is favored in state Senate District 33 over Republican Frederick Tappan and Independent Hastina Robinson.

A special circumstance prevails in state House District 86, where Democrat Barbara Cooper, recently deceased, is pitted against Independent Michael Porter. If Porter should finish first, he wins the seat. If Cooper ends up ahead, the Election Commission will call a special election and permit new candidates to file.

State House District 95 sees GOP incumbent Kevin Vaughan challenged by Democrat Patricia Causey, and in state House District 97 incumbent Republican John Gillespie also has a Democratic challenger, Toniko S. Harris.

Memphis has a special election for City Council, District 4. Contestants are LaTonia Blankenship, Barry Ford, DeWayne Jackson, and Jana Swearengen-Washington. A vacancy exists for Municipal Court judge, as well. Vying for that position are Patience “Missy” Branham, Latonya Sue Burrow, John Cameron, Varonica R. Cooper, Lynnette Hall-Lewis, Latrena Davis Ingram, William “Bill” Larsha, Christine Stephens, and Carolyn Watkins.

Bartlett has a full slate of candidates in that city’s municipal election. For mayor: Steven Brent Hammonds, John Lackey, David Parsons, and Kevin Quinn. For alderman, position 1: Casper Briggs, Harold Brad King, Jimmy D. Norman, and Victor Read. For alderman, position 2: Robert Griffin, Stephen Spencer, Thomas Stephen Jr., and Brandon S. Weise. Paul Kaiser and David Reaves vie for position 3. Aislinn McEwen and Bryan Woodruff are contesting school board, position 4.

Collierville has aldermanic races, too. In position 1, William Boone vies with Maureen J. Fraser. In position 2, Jewel Jordan and Billy Patton compete. In position 4, the contestants are Emily Fulmer and Missy Marshall. Wanda Chism and Alissa Fowler are competing for school board, position 2. Position 4 on the board is sought by Keri Blair, Chelsea Glass, Heath Hudspeth, and Jeremy Smith.

Contested positions in Germantown are for alderman, position 1, with Manjit Kaur and Scott Sanders running. Daniel Chatham and Jeffrey Chipman are competing for school board, position 2, and Angela Rickman Griffith and Carrie Schween are vying for school board, position 4.

In Lakeland, Michele Dial and Connie McCarter are competing for commissioner, and Keith Acton, Laura Harrison, and Deborah Thomas are running for school board.

Millington has competitive races for alderman, position 3, with Chris Ford and Tom Stephens; school board, position 3, with Brian McGovern and Gregory L. Ritter; and school board, position 6, with Mandy Compton and Larry C. Jackson.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Priddy Farms’ Inaugural Watermelon Festival Kicks off This Weekend

You won’t be melon-choly when you visit Priddy Farms. (Photo: Julie Ray)

Spencer Priddy’s farm sits on 24 acres in Bartlett, Tennessee. When the tree farm where his family got their yearly holiday tree in Millington closed, he thought, “I can do that.”

That was 23 years ago. Priddy has created a successful pumpkin and Christmas tree farm by researching best practices and proper planning. He started getting requests for a summer event and decided to roll out the inaugural Watermelon Festival this year. The summer festival features giant waterslides, bounce houses, a petting zoo, hayrides, and watermelons.

Animals like the watermelons, too. Be sure to share some with Chocolate Chip, Oreo, Clara Belle, Sherman, Dolly the Llama, and Pork Chop — just some of the miniature horses, pigs, and assortment of other friendly farm animals. Some of the animals are even rescues, like Nigerian goats, Biscuit and Butter. And some have unlikely allies like Mr. Peabody and Ms. Scarlett, a pair of peacocks who share their pen with a white rabbit.

“You can take a train ride to the watermelon patch,” says Priddy as he motions to the back 20 acres. “But it’s not really watermelon season around here yet. We brought these watermelons in for the festival until ours ripen.”

The festival has a garden gnome theme and is open Wednesday-Sunday through August 15th.

“Call me patriotic,” says Priddy. “We stuck some flags in our summer decorations, too.”

Fall will be here soon enough, and Priddy is busy planning a new corn maze for the upcoming season to add to the Haunted Woods attraction.

Watermelon Festival, Priddy Farms, 4595 N. Germantown, Bartlett, Tennessee, July 1-August 15, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m, Saturday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.-7 p.m., free-$8.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Now Open: Ani Joe’s Karaoke Kafe

Joe first spotted Anita on the dance floor. It was salsa night, and Joe thought to himself that he must meet the Asian lady with the moves. Nine years later, Joe and Anita are now engaged, though many think they are already married.

Joe Torres and Anita Chu (Ani) also own Ani Joe’s Karaoke Kafe, which opened in February in the cute section of Bartlett. Both are pretty big karaoke-ers. Anita likes the classics. We’re talking Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” or something by Journey. While Joe likes rock, gospel, and hits from the ’50s.

They say they’ve been thinking about opening a place for several years now. They loved to do karaoke, but it wasn’t always easy to find the ideal spot. Most good places only offered it toward the end of the week. They envisioned a family-friendly, non-smokey space that offered karaoke seven days a week, with no tipping, so you wouldn’t be waiting until midnight to belt out “My Funny Valentine” after all the owner’s friends got a turn at the mike.

Through their karaoking, they had come to meet different groups of like-minded folks, who’ve since made their way to Ani Joe’s.

“It’s kind of funny because normally when you go to a restaurant, everybody’s sitting at their own table,” Torres says. “But when they do karaoke here, everybody’s all over the place. It’s like a family reunion.”

Anita is originally from Hong Kong. Her family moved here in the ’80s. Torres hails from New Jersey and moved here for work. Torres has a background in pharmaceuticals and start-ups.

“I thought it was going to be easier because of the start-ups I did, but this is a completely different monster,” he says.

The first order of business was to decide on the menu. They knew that Mexican, Chinese, and Italian are always popular. The spot they took over was once a Mexican place, so they decided to go with that.

They have nachos and fajitas and burritos — all the standards. They decided to cover all the bases by offering American dishes, such as burgers, and breakfast all day.

Ani Joe’s also has a full bar, with all the cocktails you could want such as margaritas, an apple martini, Sex on the Beach, and Cuba Libres. There are drink specials on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. With every bucket of beer, you get the seventh free and there are discounts on shots. 

Torres says that the difference you get at Ani’s is the human touch. “We talk to people,” he says. “We get to know them. They get to know us. We make them feel at home.”

5808 Stage Road in Bartlett

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

How ’Bout Them Apples?

CREDIT: Richard Murff

Let’s just start with the meat-hook reality that anyone who starts a conversation with, “Hey gang, let’s drive out to the country and get some cider!” is going to sound a bit daft. However, if your aspiration is to out-hipster the craft beer crowd, it may be your only course. And cider is really old school. Even if you don’t care about any of that and just want something a little different, it’s still a pretty good option. The Long Road Cider Company in Barretville, on the slightly far side of Bartlett, is worth the drive.

And that drive is long enough for you to contemplate America’s protracted history with cider. The settlers of Jamestown planted an orchard in 1607. The Mayflower had in its hold apple tree saplings, as well as a cider press for its 1620 voyage to the New World. The press was dismantled en route after a rough storm damaged the ship and they used its giant screw to keep the ship from breaking apart — thus, ensuring that America’s first batch of well-armed religious lunatics arrived safely.

The true-life legend Johnny Appleseed wasn’t planting orchards everywhere because frontier moms needed something to wrap up with the kid’s lunch. He was planting apples because our Founding Mothers (and Fathers) — just like their descendants — need a drink sometimes. John Adams, for example, was noted for quaffing two tankards of cider a day.

Cider remained a common drink in the U.S. until prohibition was established in 1920. The legal dry spell lasted until 1933, and liquor and beer bounced back immediately after repeal. But it took wine until the 1970s or so to really re-enter the American mainstream. Cider never seemed to find its legs again. (And to be honest, I’d always mentally put it in the same category as those god-awful wine coolers.)

Richard Murff

The Long Road Cider Company

Long Road Cider Co., Tennessee’s first, wants to change that. And there is a decidedly old-school method to their madness, a “Methode Champenoise” to be exact. Which means that there is a third fermentation in the bottle, creating a natural carbonation. (Like champagne, if you hadn’t guessed.) All the ciders are made in-house, as is the non-alcoholic root beer. The suppliers are family-run businesses, and they add nothing artificial; what happens in their barrels and bottles is just the product of Mother Nature and time.

Long Road is located in an old general store. When you first enter, you think: “Well, of course, this is a cidery.” What you notice after you’ve ordered a flight (because you know nothing about cider) is how light they are. In a world of double and triple IPAs and chocolate coffee stouts, there doesn’t seem to be much heft to it. I think this is what makes the ciders so refreshing. The folks at Long Road are mercifully unpedantic about this: There is always a local beer on tap, in case you simply don’t care what the Romans do.

It is a drive, but not that long, and worth more than one trip to sample the revolving selections. We had the Bourbon Slingshot, which is made like any other cider, then stored in used barrels from the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. It works well. The cider starts with a light taste, and the whiskey barrel storage gives it an interesting bite. We also tasted a very dry and tart number called Applerater, and a subtle Rhonissippi — a traditional cider that tastes exactly like you imagine that stuff John Adams was knocking back must have tasted like.

Be warned though, even though the cider is very light tasting, these drinks have plenty of alcohol. The “lite” cider, for example, is 5.8 percent ABV. The others run around 8 percent. (In a world before modern sanitation and heavy machinery, our forebears would put away a lot of alcohol.) Fortunately, it’s easy to remember to eat something while you’re there. The menu is solid. I “split” the Ploughman’s Plate — a board of nuts, olives, meats, and cheeses — with the short-changed Mrs. M.

John Adams could relate, no doubt.

Categories
Calling the Bluff Music

Bartlett, Collierville Among Top Places To Seek Employment

Bartlett_TN_Welcome_to_Bartlett.JPG

According to a recent statewide study conducted by consumer advocacy website NerdWallet, Bartlett is the best place in Tennessee to seek employment.

NerdWallet analyzed communities across the state with a working-age population (ages 16 and older) greater than 20,000 for the study, which was titled “The Best Places in Tennessee for Job Seekers.” The study was based on a city’s growth in the working-age population, median household income, monthly homeowner costs, and unemployment rates from 2009 to 2011.

The list of communities were narrowed down to the top 10 locations in Tennessee that attracted workers and exhibited a trend of upward population growth over the two-year period. The study revealed that there was a 13.9 percent increase in the working-age population in Bartlett. Furthermore, Bartlett households earned a median income of $75,988 from 2009 to 2011.

Another Shelby County town highlighted in the study was Collierville. The town was labeled the third best place to obtain employment in Tennessee. According to the study, Collierville saw a 9.1 percent increase in the working-age population, and households earned a median income of $102,298.

To check out “The Best Places in Tennessee for Job Seekers,” click here.

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