Tag: Bianca Phillips

Taco Time! Eleven Memphians Share Their Favorite Local Tacos

Post author By Taco Enthusiasts
Post date October 7, 2020

CREDIT: Jesse Davis

Ah, tacos. Who doesn’t love ’em? A hard shell or a soft corn or flour tortilla can be the perfect, handheld vessel for any number of fillings. With the simplest of ingredients (black beans, lettuce, tomatoes) to the more unique (lamb, goat), local restaurants are making some damn-good, flavor-packed delights. We’ve asked a few folks to share their favorites. Read on, and you’ll see why every day can be Taco Tuesday in Memphis.

Fried Fish and Shrimp Tacos at Elena’s Taco Shop

Kim Vodicka — poet

This is tough because, though I love the tacos at pretty much any hole-in-the-wall restaurant or busted-ass taco truck on Summer Avenue, I wanna say Elena’s is my fave just because it stands out the most. It’s a totally different thing because it’s beach tacos, but like wow the fried fish and shrimp are excellent, especially if you get decadent and combine the two on one taco.

Jesse Davis

Their tacos remind me of the ones I had on tour in San Diego a few years ago, which were exceptional.

Maybe the best part of the whole thing is they have, like, 17,000 sauces to choose from. Pre-virus, they would set the sauces out on their own little buffet-like setup, and that’s really what made me fall madly in love. I am a fool for some sauce.

Elena’s Taco Shop is at 6105 Summer Avenue; 417-7915

Justin Fox Burks

Juan’s Tacos with Black Beans at Global Café

Justin Fox Burks — cookbook author, food blogger, photographer

There’s no magic tricks, no smoke, and no mirrors involved in this straightforward dish, and with just five ingredients, there’s nowhere to hide. Juan’s Tacos ($8.95 for four vegan tacos) feature perfectly seasoned vegan black beans inside a double layer of super-soft corn tortillas. These stellar tacos are topped with spicy house-made tomatillo salsa, red onion, and fresh cilantro. Ask them to add avocado because … avocado.

Don’t sleep on the fried plantains and a side of rice to round out your meal. If you want something “wow” to wash it all down, you can’t beat The Messy MangoRita (also a Juan specialty), which features a whole dang mango doused in hot sauce as a garnish. And hey, it’s all vegan, too!

I’m the Chubby Vegetarian, and I approve this taco.

Global Café is at 1350 Concourse Avenue, Suite 157; 512-6890

El Mero Taco/Facebook

Fried Chicken Taco at El Mero Taco

Cristina McCarter — owner, City Tasting Tours

My favorite taco is the fried chicken taco from El Mero Taco. It’s the combo of juicy fried chicken and that damn queso with that pop of fresh jalapeño pepper for me. It’s tacos like that that I will randomly crave. You know it’s good if you drive to the ‘Dova for it. But they are in my neighborhood a lot, too. So I’ll grab a six pack of beer while picking up my tacos and brisket quesadilla. Now I want a taco!

El Mero Taco is at 8100 Macon Station #102, Cordova, or elmerotaco.com/foodtruck; 308-1661

Enrique Reyes with the asada taco from La Guadalupana

Asada Taco at La Guadalupana

Enrique Reyes — Mexican wrestling promoter

The asada taco at La Guadalupana Mexican restaurant is Enrique Reyes’ favorite taco when he and his wife go out to eat.

“La Guadalapuna is my favorite restaurant,” says Reyes, who organizes La Lucha Libre wrestling matches in Memphis, as well as makes the colorful masks worn by wrestlers. “The food is so delicious there.”

He likes to eat at home. “My girl cooks for me, but when she doesn’t cook, I go straight to La Guadalupana … once a week, something like that.”

Carne asada, Mexican steak, is his favorite dish there, but if Reyes orders a taco, it’s the asada taco, which is “just steak and onions and cilantro.” He puts guacamole on top, “’cause that makes the difference in the flavor.”

Asked how many he eats at a time, Reyes says, “Really, only four. You order with guacamole, it makes it a little bigger. I don’t eat too much. I’m good with four tacos.”

And Reyes doesn’t use any utensils when he eats tacos. “Just pick it up like a real Mexican. You never eat tacos with a fork.” — Michael Donahue

La Guadalupana is at 4818 Summer Avenue; 685-6857

Colin Butler

Al Pastor Taco at Picosos

Colin Butler — DJ for Big Ass Truck, radio DJ on WYXR at Crosstown Concourse

I’m partial to the tacos al pastor at Picosos. Pastor, I think it means “shepherd’s style.” Basically, they grill that pork on a spit, like gyro meat, and they slice it off. It’s based on lamb shawarma brought by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico. So some of the spices used in al pastor include coriander, hot pepper corns, cumin, chiles, garlic. They marinate the meat in that and then they pile it up on a spit and it rotates and cooks.

They hand-make their own corn tortillas there. And they use double tortillas. They stuff that full of meat, and then use chopped onion, cilantro, and jalapeño, which is typical for street tacos.

Between the homemade tortillas, doubled, the flavor of the meat, and the fresh toppings, to me, they’re the best tacos in town. It comes with your typical red salsa, a badass salsa verde, and more of a smoky, kind of chili-based sauce. They’ll give you all three if you ask for them.

It’s super simple. They’ll give you a small bowl of limes, too. And I always ask for crema, like sour cream but different. I like the way the sour cream contrasts with the more acidic stuff.

Picosos is at 3937 Summer Avenue; 323-7003

Katrina Coleman

Chorizo Taco at Tacos El Gordo

Katrina Coleman — comedian

I haven’t left my house much, lately. Working from home, I depend on my husband to bring treasures from the Outside. One day, he came home with five street tacos from Tacos El Gordo. The beef and chicken were good, but Memphis, THE CHORIZO.

On Madison, the lot of the Marathon has an orange box on wheels. I been sleepin’ on it.

Grilled corn tortillas filled with meat, onions, and cilantro. Served with cucumber and carrot slices that are pickled so lightly, it seems as if they heard of the concept once in a dream. The red chile sauce is good, but the green will light you up like Montag himself decided you were obscene. The sausage inside is perfectly seasoned. Tossed on the grill with the onions, the texture of the tortilla and minimal crisp of the meat makes such a delightful chewing experience that one might consider that no other food has ever been good.

If you haven’t been, I have to say: WAKE UP, SHEEPLE. Treat yourself to the only chorizo ever to be perfect.

Tacos El Gordo is at 1675 Madison Avenue; 801-0936

Bianca Phillips

Black Bean Tacos at Evelyn & Olive

Bianca Phillips — communications coordinator, Crosstown Arts

This year has been a wild one, and if there was ever a time to make sure you’re putting the cleanest, most wholesome food into your body, it’s now. Greasy comfort food may be calling, but whole-food, plant-based options will provide the nutrition you need to keep your immune system strong.

Lucky for you, the black bean tacos at Evelyn & Olive are both healthy and comforting. They’re like the taco equivalent of a grandma hug, which you can’t get right now thanks to social distancing, so accept a hug in the form of a vegan taco instead. Two crispy taco shells are generously stuffed with seasoned black beans, sautéed tofu, crunchy cabbage slaw, and sweet-and-tangy kiwi salsa. They’re served with sides of fluffy Jamaican rice and peas and cool, refreshing cucumber-tomato salad.

Evelyn & Olive is open for dine-in or takeout, and when you order to-go, they thoughtfully package all the taco components separately so you can avoid the dreaded soggy takeout taco. Build your own tacos at home, queue up Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” and enjoy with a stiff Jamaican rum punch for maximum comfort effect.

Evelyn & Olive is at 630 Madison Avenue; 748-5422

Julie Ray

Goat Taco at La Guadalupana

Noelia Garcia — associate artistic director at New Ballet Ensemble and School

Happy goats perform dramatic joyous dances to the glee of onlookers — much like the fancy footwork of a Spanish dancer. Perhaps the secret to Noelia Garcia’s dance superpowers is the $2.75 goat taco at La Guadalupana.

Garcia is the associate artistic director at New Ballet Ensemble and School who studied Spanish dance and flamenco at the Institut del Theatre i Dansa de Barcelona. She lived and worked in Spain, performed throughout Europe, in China, Israel, and the Philippines, and was a founding member of Barcelona’s Increpacion Danza company before landing in Memphis nearly 20 years ago. Her favorite taco is a heaping pile of perfectly seasoned goat meat on two soft corn tortillas topped with onions and cilantro. The meat of this beast has the tender juicy texture of a pot roast with a delightful tangy taste.

Try it. Ewe’ll like it. — Julie Ray

La Guadalupana is at 4818 Summer and 8075 Cordova Road; 685-6857

Laura Jean Hocking

Al Pastor Taco at El Burrito Express

Laura Jean Hocking — filmmaker

“For so long, I thought tacos only had hard shells, and had cheese and sour cream in them,” says filmmaker Laura Jean Hocking. “But a street taco, or a food truck taco, is all about the quality of the protein. It’s this little showcase for meat or chicken or fish with accents, instead of gloppy, Americanized crap all over it.”

Hocking’s favorite Memphis taco truck is El Burrito Express. Ubalto Guzman started the business six years ago. “I used to be a contractor,” he says. “We moved from California to Memphis to get into the food business. This is a family business. It’s me and my wife, son, and daughter.”

Laura Jean Hocking

An El Burrito Express taco plate includes five tacos with your choice of meat. Hocking’s favorite is al pastor, marinated pork said to descend from shawarma brought to Mexico by 19th century Lebanese immigrants.

“I like al pastor because I’m a big pineapple fan. I love the subtleness of the pineapple in pastor. It’s very savory and juicy. It’s a new discovery for me. I had never had pastor until we went to L.A. in September 2019. Generally, I’m a pescatarian, but when I run into meat products that are very good, like a Soul Burger or some Bar-B-Q Shop glazed ribs, I’ll have them. Now, pastor is on the list because life is short.” — Chris McCoy

El Burrito Express is at 1675 Madison Avenue; 428-9626

Samuel X. Cicci

Smoked Brisket Taco at Elwood’s Shack

Cara Greenstein — food and lifestyle blogger

Stretching or, as I would argue, elevating the definition of a “taco,” Elwood’s Shack delivers a singular sensation you simply can’t miss on its menu: the smoked brisket taco.

Upon placing in the pizza oven, a single flour tortilla puffs into a pillowy yet crispy foundation for an unconventional combination of delicate field greens (no shredded iceberg to be found here), sliced avocado, pico de gallo, shredded mozzarella, and creamy horseradish. A generous portion of smoked brisket, a perfected in-house recipe that takes center stage across Elwood’s menu, brings this open-faced phenomenon back to its barbecue Memphis roots.

If you ask how many tacos come in an order at the counter, don’t be underwhelmed when they tell you “one.” One taco from the Shack is just right.

Elwood’s Shack is at 4523 Summer Avenue; 761-9898

Jon W. Sparks

Barbacoa Lamb Taco at Tortilleria La Unica

The workers of R.E. Michel Company — HVAC distributors

Tortilleria La Unica recently moved across the street to its new home at 5015 Summer in a one-time Wendy’s. It still has the Mexican fare that made it popular, particularly among the working people out in that area. Among those is the crew at R.E. Michel Company, a distributor of HVAC equipment. One of the bunch is Dave Godbout, a self-described Destroyer of Tacos who is particularly fond of La Unica’s offerings. A recent lunch spread at the warehouse had half a dozen varieties from chicken to beef to lamb to pork.

“It’s a perfect combination of food,” Godbout says. “You’ve got salsa with tomatoes that has lycopene in it. You’ve got cilantro, which is good for detoxifying. You got a little bit of fat, a little bit of protein, a lot of carbs. It’s the perfect street food, and especially in our area, it’s the most readily available food you can get.”

“I love tacos, Americanized, authentic, it doesn’t matter,” says manager James Hoffman. “I didn’t even like cilantro until I got older and now I love it more and more. And we do a lot of business in the Hispanic community and they send us tacos from their local taco truck all the time. Man, this lamb taco is really good!” — Jon W. Sparks

Tortilleria La Unica is at 5015 Summer Avenue; 685-0097

Cover Feature News

Memphis Hotties of 2016

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date February 11, 2016

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! We’ve got 14 of Memphis’ most attractive people right here in the 11th annual Hotties issue!

Every year, on the week of Valentine’s Day, the Flyer releases our hot list, culled from hundreds of photos submitted by our readers. We spend hours narrowing down those photos to 14 of our favorites, and then we ask the finalists a few silly, get-to-know-you questions. It’s like our cheesy love note to you. You’re welcome.

We chose our theme this year — “Hot Off the Presses” — because reading is sexy. And what better way to illustrate that than in our favorite Midtown used bookstore, Burke’s Book Store? A big thanks goes out to owners Cheryl and Corey Mesler for letting our Hotties take over their store for a few hours last week.

— BP

Brittney Bullock

28 – Aries – Married

By day, Brittney Bullock works as the community engagement manager for Crosstown Arts. But her real passion is creating her own art, which she sells through her company Don’t Blink. Bullock uses leather to create functional art — wallets, bookmarks, key fobs — inspired by the Memphis style of Italian furniture design of the ’80s. She also creates sewing-machine portraits inspired by the black experience. The artist gives back by donating a percentage of all her sales to a youth visual arts program.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that be?

Pizza

If you could be a Memphis Grizzly, who would you be and why?

I would be Tony Allen. He’s creative.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I listen to a wide range, but specifically, I’d say ’70s funk. Bootsy Collins is my favorite. Also some pop, R&B, and gangsta rap.

What’s your karaoke song?

“I Want to Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston.

Talk radio or music in the car?

I mostly listen to TED Talks on my iPod.

Dog person or cat person?

Both. I have a peekapoo named Henry with an underbite only a mother could love.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

Bootsy Collins, my grandfather (who recently passed away), and Tracee Ellis Ross.

Miles Tamboli

Miles Tamboli

27 – Scorpio – Single

Through his work with the Girls Inc. Youth Farm, Miles Tamboli trains girls to be young entrepreneurs. Girls ages 16 to 18 handle everything from farming to pricing to market research for their 10-acre industrial-scale farm in Frayser, which sells produce to local restaurants and at the Memphis Farmers Market. Tamboli is putting the finishing touches on his 500-square-foot tiny house in Binghampton, where he also raises chickens and bees in his backyard.

What did you eat for breakfast today?

Kale from the farm and eggs from my chickens, with smoked peppers and pork belly.

What’s your favorite dish in Memphis?

Ms. Girlee’s has an incredible soul-food lunch special on Fridays. Greens, boiled okra, catfish — really dynamite stuff.

Where do you get your news?

I get a lot of time out in the field to listen to NPR.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

I haven’t touched my iPod in five years. It’s probably just all Lil Wayne.

What’s your idea of a dream vacation?

It involves hammocks and fresh seafood and lots of scuba diving.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

George Washington Carver, Alice Waters, and Bob Dylan. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I see myself being a stay-at-home dad, raising up babies, and building things.

Meredith Shaw

Meredith Shaw

23 – Leo – In a relationship

Meredith Shaw struggled with body image issues until she discovered pin-up modeling. These days, she pushes a message of body positivity through her work as a model (her pin-up name is Billie Jean) for clothing companies and lingerie brands. The Germantown resident also works as a server at Brooklyn Bridge, and in her spare time, she tries to attend every local stand-up comedy event she can.

What did you eat for breakfast today?

A banana, a kiwi, and plain Greek yogurt with chia seeds, and a glass of water.

If you could be a Memphis Grizzly, who would you be and why?

I would be Marc Gasol because he screams a lot, and I do too.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I listen to everything. There’s no genre that I stick to, but my favorite artist is Michael Jackson.

Last concert or show you saw?

Amy Schumer at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

What shows are you watching right now?

I’ve been watching a lot of the documentaries — Hungry for Change and Making a Murderer.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

My grandmother (I call her my oma), Amy Schumer (I don’t know if they’d get along, but she’s freakin’ hilarious), and Bernie Sanders.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A police officer. I still want to be one.

Edward Bogard

Edward Bogard

33 – Leo – Single (“and loving it”)

Edward Bogard is a shoe designer, but he doesn’t put feet first. He puts people first. Through his charity shoe company, SoGiv, he donates 100 percent of the proceeds of shoe sales to worthy causes. For example, one $50 pair of SoGiv’s Espadrille-style shoe provides $150 in meals through the Mid-South Food Bank. When he’s not busy designing footwear and saving the world, the native Memphian enjoys golf, running, and yoga.

What’s your favorite dish in Memphis?

I love the Rendezvous’ ribs.

Where do you get your news?

Hoda and Kathie Lee on the Today show, because they start drinking early in the morning.

If you were a superhero, what would your super-power be?

I’d be Superman. That was my all-time favorite superhero. My late father would draw Clark Kent running and changing into Superman.

What shows are you watching right now?

I’m looking forward to the upcoming season of Girls.

What’s your idea of a dream vacation?

That would involve golf, a beach, and great restaurants.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

Elvis, Michael Jackson (he had an amazing heart, and he gave back so much), and Michael Jordan. But how can I forget Tiger Woods? Can I have four?

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always had a fascination with art and design. I would re-design all of the iconic Air Jordans, and I would put Air Bogard on the shoe. I always knew I wanted to be this amazing shoe designer.

Valentino Infante

Valentino Infante

29 – Gemini – Married

Originally from the Canary Islands, Valentino Infante relocated to Memphis three years ago by way of Miami (where most of his family lives). By day, he’s in charge of the radio program call centers for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. But his true love is surfing, and he catches waves in Miami every few months when he flies home to visit family.

What did you eat for breakfast today?

A green smoothie and eggs. The smoothie had spinach, wheatgrass, vegetable protein powder, and water.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that be?

Pizza from Whole Foods.

If you could be a Memphis Grizzly, who would you be and why?

Mike Conley because he’s a great point guard.

What’s your idea of a dream vacation?

Tahiti. You get good waves there.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

John F. Kennedy, Warren Buffett, and having Donald Trump there would be pretty funny.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully, living in a house close to the beach.

Describe an average Saturday.

I wake up early and go to the gym and play some basketball. I take the dogs to Shelby Farms and maybe grill out and go to a movie afterwards.

Julie Lauber

Julie Lauber

20 – Gemini – Single

Our “Hot Off the Presses” theme was practically made for Julie Lauber, a reporter at the University of Memphis campus paper, The Daily Helmsman. When she’s not dishing out the latest scoop, Lauber enjoys creative writing and playing video games. She also cares for two little girls in her day job as a nanny.

What’s your favorite dish in Memphis?

The bison burger at Fuel Café.

Where do you get your news?

I follow all of the major news networks on Twitter, and I follow them religiously.

If you were a superhero, what would your super-power be?

Teleportation. Everything would be so much easier if I could just appear somewhere. I also would like to be able to just snap, and anything that I needed to be done would be done.

Talk radio or music in the car?

I pretty much always listen to music. I can’t stand listening to people talking while I’m driving.

What fictional character do you most identify with?

Personality-wise, Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

It’d be a girly dinner with Audrey Hepburn, Brittany Murphy, and Zooey Deschanel.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was really little, I thought I’d be famous. And by middle school, I knew I wanted to do something involving writing.

Nuha Abuduhair

Nuha Abuduhair

26 – Cancer – Married

After having two kids, Nuha Abuduhair traded her career as a pediatric nurse at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital to run her own custom bakery out of her home. Called 17 Berkshire, the bakery specializes in French pastries, such as macaroons and cream puffs, and gourmet chocolates.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that be?

Lasagna.

If you were a superhero, what would your super-power be?

I’d want to make people feel good about themselves.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

The Spice Girls. But is that embarrassing though? ‘Cause I’m proud that I love the Spice Girls. I’m a child of the ’90s.

What kind of music do you listen to?

Anything. Mumford & Sons, Lana del Ray, Adele, some country, Tiesto.

What shows are you watching right now?

Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., and Law & Order: SVU.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a nurse or a fashion designer or a baker.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I really hope to expand my business. I hope to take 17 Berkshire to a bigger level. I romanticize about the idea of a restaurant.

Jad Davis

Jad Davis

28 – Gemini – Single

A model-turned-singer/songwriter, Davis used to produce fashion shows around town. But his passions turned to music a few years ago, and he put out a five-song EP of dark alternative rock called Rx. That work is available on iTunes, and he says he’s got another EP (with a more electronic vibe) coming out later this year. When he’s not striking a pose or laying down lyrics, Jad studies theology with an emphasis on esoteric practice.

What did you eat for breakfast today?

A hot toddy.

What’s your favorite dish in Memphis?

Babalu’s black bean burger.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

Is it embarrassing to say “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid?

What shows are you watching right now?

Game of Thrones and RuPaul’s Drag Race.

What fictional character do you most identify with?

Lestat from Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey, and David Bowie.

Do you have any hidden talents?

My hidden talents are Tarot and palm reading.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

On your TV doing pop star stuff.

Ronnie Foster Jr.

Ronnie Foster Jr.

30 – Scorpio – In a relationship

As a project manager for Allworld Project Management, Ronnie Foster Jr. has had a hand in some big projects around town — most notably the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid conversion and the still-underway Shelby Farms Park renovations. He’s worked on a system called VoteBuilder that captures data on Shelby County voters to assist in local political campaigns. Foster also stays busy coaching youth basketball for Memphis Athletic Ministries.

What did you eat for breakfast today?

A Twinkie and a mango Naked juice.

What’s your favorite dish in Memphis?

I go to Central BBQ every Friday and get the same thing — a half order of honey-gold wings and a half jerk wings.

If you could be a Memphis Grizzly, who would you be and why?

Probably Zach Randolph. I’ve met him a few times, and I know people who know him. He’s down to earth and approachable. He’s just a generous guy.

If you were a superhero, what would your super-power be?

I’ve always wanted to read minds.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

I wouldn’t say it’s embarrassing, but sometimes people are surprised that I was a huge NSYNC fan.

What’s your karaoke song?

Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”

Dog person or cat person?

I’m a loner by nature. I can be social, but I’d rather be at home watching TV. And a cat is like that. He’ll let you mess with him, but he’d rather just be chilling in the window.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I would like to be getting compensated while I’m asleep. I read a report about how much money Bill Gates makes in his sleep. If I come up with an invention by then, that’s where I’d like to see myself.

Yolanda Gates

Yolanda Gates

26 – Libra – In a relationship

If you’re a poetry fan, chances are you’ve seen Yolanda Gates performing spoken word around town. The Chicago native and mother of three has performed at the National Civil Rights Museum, The Tri-State Defender‘s “Best in Black” awards, and the Rumba Room, to name a few. By day, she’s a photographer at Sandbox Studio, where she shoots product ads for T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s national campaigns.

What’s your favorite dish in Memphis?

BBQ nachos from the Rendezvous. I never had those until I moved here.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

I have The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air intro song.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I listen to rap music — J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar.

What shows are you watching right now?

I’m a diehard Scandal fan. Also How to Get Away With Murder.

If you had to pick any fictional character that you most identify with, who would that be?

Wonder Woman.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

Jesus, Malcolm X, and Aaliyah.

Do you have any hidden talents?

I can sing, but I don’t sing anymore.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I’d love to have my own creative writing program to help inner-city youth, raising my children, and maybe married.

Shane Sommers

Shane Sommers

25 – Cancer – In a relationship

If you love Oreos and Triscuits, you can thank Shane Sommers for making sure your local store has plenty in stock. Sommers recently relocated to Memphis from South Jersey to be the logistics supervisor for Nabisco’s Memphis warehouse. He has a diehard love for the Star Wars films (but he hates the prequels), and he spends his spare time exploring Memphis’ restaurant and entertainment scene with his girlfriend. The Jersey boy says he feels welcome in the South “where people are generally nice and talk to you and smile at you instead of just putting their head down when they pass you on the street.”

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that be?

Com thit nuong dac biet. It’s a Korean dish made with thinly sliced grilled pork, rice, an egg, and pickled vegetables. My girlfriend introduced me to it, and I can’t get enough of it.

What’s your favorite dish in Memphis?

The Brussels sprouts at Bar DKDC.

If you were a superhero, what would your super-power be?

I like Spider-Man’s agility — being able to jump far and high and having a sixth sense, a Spidey-sense, to be able to avoid hazards.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

There are a couple of Miley Cyrus songs that I try not to tell anybody that I listen to. I like “Adore You.”

What was the last concert you saw?

Tool at the Landers Center.

What fictional character do you most identify with?

The fictional character I most relate to would be Mike from Breaking Bad. He is serious, stern when he has to be, and gets the job done.

You can invite any 3 people — real or fictional, dead or alive — to a dinner party. Who will you invite?

BB-8 (the new droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Tony Stark — Iron Man, and Maynard from Tool.

Do you have any hidden talents?

I’m a good bowler. I was on the bowling team in high school. My girlfriend laughed at me and called me a dork when I told her.

Stephanie Wallace

Stephanie Wallace

30 – Scorpio/Sagittarius cusp – Single

Photographer Stephanie Wallace spends her days working at LensRentals.com, a camera lens rental business in Cordova. But the Memphis College of Art grad, who shoots artistic self-portraits and street photography, hopes to someday have her own photography studio. At night, you’ll find her working the door at the New Daisy or bar-hopping with friends.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that be?

French fries.

What kind of music do you listen to?

Mostly ’80s goth and new wave, also jazz and Top 40 R&B.

Last concert or show you saw?

Tool in Southaven.

What’s your karaoke song?

“Hotline Bling” by Drake.

What fictional character do you most identify with?

It would probably be Claudia or Akasha from Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles.

Do you have any hidden talents?

I can be really tipsy in seven-inch heels and not fall over.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always just said I wanted to be okay.

Melissa Moore

Melissa Walker Moore

“Over 21” – Virgo – In a relationship

Local actress Melissa Walker Moore first got the acting bug when she was a kid cast as “shadow #2.” In adulthood, she went on to far more impressive roles in local productions of Rumors, Noises Off, Frankenstein, and Almost, Maine, to name a few. She’ll be playing the part of Eunice in A Streetcar Named Desire at Germantown Community Theatre beginning April 15th.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that be?

Cake.

If you could be a Memphis Grizzly, who would you be and why?

I can’t even name a Memphis Grizzly, but I do know one of the dancers, and I would love to be her. Her name is Taylor Rogoish.

If you were a superhero, what would your super-power be?

Telekinesis/Bewitched nose-twitch powers to move things at will, although that could get me into trouble.

Talk radio or music in the car?

I listen to Howard Stern.

What fictional character do you most identify with?

Elizabeth Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a boy or a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I wouldn’t mind if I’m exactly where I am.

Eso Tolson

Eso Tolson

31 – Scorpio – Dating

A self-described “Renaissance man,” Eso Tolson dabbles in all sorts of artistic endeavors. He’s graphic designer by trade, and if you’ve seen the Choose901 “Embrace Your Inner Memphis” tee or the “Let’s Stay Together” light pole banners along North Main, you’re familiar with Tolson’s work. He’s also part of a musical group called Artistik Approach, performing everything from a cappella to hip-hop to soul funk fusion. Every third Sunday, the St. Louis native hosts Artisik Lounge — a platform for local talent — at Minglewood Hall.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would that be?

It’s probably the unhealthiest thing, but I could probably eat macaroni-and-cheese every day.

Where do you get your news?

Facebook.

If you could be a Memphis Grizzly, who would you be and why?

I would probably be Marc Gasol. He captures the spirit of the Grizzlies, and he’s the center. He keeps it all together, and he keeps the show going.

What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

It’s “Toxic” by Britney Spears.

If you had to pick any fictional character that you most identify with, who would that be?

Doug Funny from Nickelodeon’s Doug. He was an art kid. He was always drawing. I identified with that.

Dog person or cat person?

I grew up being a dog person, but I ended up with a cat about three years ago. I used to think cats were obnoxious and sneaky, but this particular cat was really cool, and I’ve grown to love her.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an artist, but I also wanted be a fashion designer. At the time, I really liked the stuff Tommy Hilfiger was doing, Polo, Ralph Lauren, FUBU.

Tags Bianca Phillips, Burkes Books Memphis, Good-looking Memphians, Hottest people in Memphis, Memphis Flyer Hotties 2016

Cover Feature News

The Snarkiest Man in Memphis

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date December 10, 2015

Wonkette.com editor/writer Evan Hurst has called Sarah Palin “Our Lady of the Mesquite Moose-Scented Denali Farts” and Mike Huckabee a “presidential candidate and sometimes conjugal-visit-sex lover of Kim Davis.” But he makes certain to protect his journalistic integrity by following that moniker with an all-caps “ALLEGEDLY!”

Speaking of Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was briefly jailed for refusing to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples, Hurst wrote a Wonkette article in September comparing Davis’ jail sentencing, which happened on a Thursday, to Jesus’ sentencing before Pontius Pilate. (For all you heathens, that’s when Jesus was sentenced to die on the cross, and Jesus was sentenced on a Thursday, too).

That piece opens with “And lo it shall come to pass that on Thursday, the third of the month of September, that Kim Davis, clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, will be taken before the high priest, and all the chief priests … the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin will seek evidence against Davis so they may put her to death, but they will not find any, because the United States doesn’t put people to death for being a dirty adulteress … Instead they’ll probably just find her in contempt of court for refusing to do her job for Bigot Reasons.”

”It’s probably my favorite thing I’ve written for Wonkette,” says Hurst, who grew up in a religious household in Germantown, became an atheist, and says, “I’m somewhere in the Christian tradition, though I’m not sure where. Let’s just say I’m a hopeful agnostic who likes Jesus.”

Hurst is one of only three full-time staff writers at Wonkette.com, an online political satire magazine best-known for snarky social commentary, intentionally misspelled words for comedic effect, and lots of dick jokes. But they do all that while managing to present actual journalism and reliable reporting.

Wonkette is a national publication, so its writers are scattered all over, but Hurst lives in Memphis, and he cooks up his sarcastic columns from the comfort of his Cooper-Young home.

Ben Carson, Chick-fil-A, and Josh Duggar! Oh My!

Hurst posts multiple articles on Wonkette daily, averaging about 21 posts per week. And the topics range from whatever wacky idea Ben Carson is spouting that day (like that time he backed up Donald Trump’s claim of seeing a video of American Muslims partying it up on the Jersey Shore after 9/11 and then later admitted that maybe he was confusing New Jersey with the Middle East) to sex tips from Jim Bob Duggar, the father of accused molester (or as Hurst calls him “nasty-ass scum pervert”) Josh Duggar and 18 other kids made famous from their TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting.

The latter focused on a post the elder Duggar wrote about preventing sexual deviance by removing books, magazines, and other media “that have worldly or sexual content.”

“Well, praise Jesus, because Jim Bob Duggar knows how to keep your wangdoodle sparkly clean for Jesus and your broodmare wife,” Hurst wrote.

From the patio at Bar DKDC, one of his favorite haunts, the 35-year-old Hurst discusses his style over Wiseacre beers. He’s a self-professed introvert, but you’d never know from talking to him. He’s constantly cracking jokes, and he cusses like a sailor.

“I write about anything and everything,” says Hurst, who showed up to the interview in a Wonkette T-shirt. “You always end up getting your pet things when you’re a writer — some more serious, some less serious. The first two stories I posted on Wonkette this morning were one on Kim Davis (I read the 126-page appeal they filed in the Sixth Circuit) and one on which one of the Duggars is going to have sex next. Those are two pet things of mine.”

His style is snarky and filled with witty one-liners, even when he’s writing about far more somber topics, like last week’s mass shooting in San Bernadino.

His piece the day after the shootings was a harsh critique (a style he calls “journalism ‘splaining”) of the mainstream media’s tendency to sensationalize and jump to conclusions before the facts are known. Although more is known now on the shooters’ possible links to radical Islam, not much was known on the day after the shooting, yet mainstream networks were all over the terrorism angle.

From that story: “There are theories flying around: that it was an act of workplace violence after Farook’s stapler was stolen one too many times, or maybe he was a hardened jihadist doing ISIS in Southern California. (Fox News is already committed to the DUH, OBVIOUS conclusion that of course it is radical Islamic terrorism, just like in Paris, because Farook had a Muslimy name and his co-shooter’s name is just plain ‘weird.’) We don’t know yet, and neither does Fox News, and neither does your right-wing uncle.”

Most of the time, though, Hurst’s commentary focuses on less tragic stories of national interest. As a gay man, he tends toward stories that affect the LGBT community. Last month he wrote about the “wing-nut gay-hatin’ fans of Chick-fil-A” being up in arms about a Nashville Chick-fil-A franchise’s sponsorship of an LGBT film festival.

Since he’s located in Memphis, Hurst has the upper hand when a Memphis story goes viral. In September, he picked up on a story originally broken by the Flyer about Christian Brothers High School senior Lance Sanderson, who wasn’t allowed to bring his male date to prom.

Wrote Hurst: “The all-male Christian Brothers High School in Memphis — which SCIENCE FACT, was yr Wonkette’s rival high school back in the day, so you already know how many bags of dicks we think it sucks — has come up with a whole new thing in its desperate attempts to let this gay kid know how much the school hates him.”

Growing Up Gay and Religious

Hurst spent his early years in Little Rock, but his family moved to Memphis when he was 12, so he thinks he’s lived here long enough to claim “Memphian” status. He went to Germantown High School for a while but finished up his studies at Briarcrest Christian School.

“My parents are good, normal Christian people who live in the suburbs,” Hurst says. “We had gone to a church that I don’t care about naming. You won’t get much better church music in town than there, but their theology is insane. When you combine Calvinism and predestination — the whole idea that God decided before anyone was born who would end up saved and who wouldn’t — you get an attitude that’s very, very rigid.”

Right after high school, Hurst worked in the church music department as an intern, singing and playing piano. A classically trained pianist, Hurst was certain at the time that he was headed for a music career. He majored in piano performance at the University of Memphis.

“I didn’t finish. I left school like a common gadabout. Part of it was that I started to realize that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. Existential crisis right there,” Hurst says.

He quit his job with the church shortly before coming out at age 19. His pastor had made some anti-gay remarks in a sermon. And Hurst says he thought, “Am I really sitting here in the Republican Party of Prayer Memphis Country Club Church hearing this?”

He got a job at the Borders bookstore in Germantown. Many of his coworkers were also gay, and he says it was the first place he saw “out, happy, gay people.” He officially came out to a manager there before he came out to his parents. His parents struggled with the realization that their son was gay, but they eventually came around, and he has a good relationship with them now.

Hurst also spent 10 years as a knife peddler with Cutco, the direct-sales knife purveyor that employs mostly college students as independent salespeople. He credits the job with teaching him to be “assertive without being an ass.”

Hurst was still selling knives when he took on a job in 2010 as the social media director (and later as the associate director) for Truth Wins Out (TWO), a national organization aimed at taking down religious ministries that focus on reparative therapy that claims to “cure” people of homosexuality, often dubbed the “ex-gay movement.”

“At that time, I realized I had loud opinions that I wanted to share. I was in the very beginning of the process of learning how to harness that and make it productive,” Hurst says.

Hurst was ideal for the job, since one of the most well-known ex-gay organizations was the Memphis-based Love in Action (LIA). In its heyday, LIA was headed up by John Smid, a man who once claimed he’d been cured of homosexuality, and it operated a widely criticized youth “straight camp” known as Refuge.

LIA turned its focus to adults-only treatment and ended its Refuge program in 2007, a couple of years after it made national headlines when gay youth Zach Stark posted a Myspace entry about being forced into the program by his parents. Smid resigned in 2008. He denounced reparative therapy and came out as gay in 2011. He’s now married to a man.

By the time Hurst took the job at TWO, Smid was already out of the picture, but Hurst’s job as social media director was focused on the national ex-gay movement, which was very much alive and well in 2010.

“As social media director, I was making things up as I went along. I was doing a lot of writing [on TWO’s website] and trying to build an audience,” Hurst says. “There was a lot of improvisation and creativity. But I’m kind of a jack-of-all-trades, at least in areas that I know,” Hurst says.

Around the same time in 2010 that Hurst started with TWO, he began freelancing a semi-regular column on Wonkette called “The Homosexuals,” a tongue-in-cheek report on “what the homosexuals are doing to society.” But as his responsibilities grew at TWO, his freelancing fell by the wayside.

In recent years, though, more and more former ex-gay leaders have denounced reparative therapy. Leaders like Smid and former Exodus International president Alan Chambers and former Exodus chairman John Paulk have made formal apologies to the gay community for the harm the ex-gay movement caused. Hurst saw the need for TWO diminish as the movement changed, and in February, he contacted Wonkette publisher Rebecca Schoenkopf about getting back into freelancing for the site. Within a few months, Schoenkopf had moved Hurst into a full-time role. In addition to writing for the site, Hurst also serves as its social media director, meaning he’s responsible for Wonkette’s tweets.

“Evan is disgusting, and he’s my favorite person in the world,” Schoenkopf says.

Wonkette Value Added

Hurst and other Wonkette writers pride themselves on being more than just a news aggregator site. When a piece goes up on Wonkette, it typically contains new information or an angle not covered by the national media.

“If we write about something on Wonkette, there has to be what we call the ‘Wonkette value added.’ You might not hear about something from us the second it happens, but for our readers, they’ll see a big story happen, and their reaction is ‘I can’t wait for Wonkette’s take on this,'” Hurst says.

Take, for example, Hurst’s piece on Troy Goode, the Memphis man who died in police custody after being hog-tied. Goode had taken LSD before a Widespread Panic concert in Southaven, and when he began acting erratically, his wife attempted to drive him home. She pulled over in a parking lot on the way home. Police were called, and they attempted to restrain Goode by hog-tying him. He died in Southaven police custody at the hospital.

The Mississippi state autopsy report is claiming Goode overdosed on LSD, which, as Hurst reports in his story, is highly unlikely. Rather than simply rehashing what other Memphis media had reported, Hurst did some original reporting, comparing how much LSD was in Goode’s system (1.0 nanogram) to a 2008 Harvard Medical School study that looked at eight test subjects who had between 10 and 70 micrograms per milliliter of LSD in their bloodstreams. There are 1,000 nanograms in a microgram. Hurst mentions in his article that while some of those test subjects experienced comas and respiratory problems, none died.

“If we are doing our back-of-the-napkin math correctly, Troy had approximately A FUCKTON less acid in his system than the research subjects we just mentioned, who, again, did not die,” Hurst wrote.

Hurst prides himself on accuracy. Lately, he likes to point out that none of Wonkette’s San Bernadino coverage has been retracted.

“We’re dirty and vulgar, but we also pride ourselves on being one of the most accurate websites that we know of,” Hurst says. “When you read about a bill or a Supreme Court decision or a court filing on Wonkette, you can be sure that the author read the thing first. We have the source material.”

Wonkette.com was founded in 2004 by Gawker Media. Its founding editor Ana Marie Cox has gone on to work as the Washington correspondent for GQ and as the lead blogger on U.S. politics for The Guardian. The site went through a few editors and another owner before Schoenkopf purchased it in 2012. Schoenkopf has a background in alt-weekly journalism, having previously worked for OC Weekly, the Santa Barbara Independent, and LA CityBeat.

“In the early days, there were like a million posts a day, and they were a paragraph long with a link to something. Now it’s longer form, and each article should have an entire argument within it, instead of just like, ‘here’s a thing,'” Schoenkopf says. “I think it’s really well-done by smart people with a lot of institutional knowledge.”

The Wonkette style is unique in that each writer puts a personal spin on stories through any combination of made-up words, cursing, or run-on sentences.

“Some people see the style, and it personally offends them. For other people, it might take a minute, but then they’re like, ‘Oh, I get it. [The writers] really are smart people,'” Schoenkopf says.

Hurst is a fan of cursing, dick jokes, and funny asides written in parentheses and in all-caps. For comedic effect, he also likes to use phrases and slurs that he knows may offend some, but that’s his way to address what he sees as a tendency among liberals to be overly politically correct.

“There’s a reason I use phrases like ‘the gays and the BLTs’ for the LGBT-whatever-it-is community. We call all kinds of people on our own side funny things,” Hurst says. “But it’s like, get over yourself. There’s this sort of humorlessness that has taken over on a lot of the left that says we can’t even laugh at ourselves anymore.”

He crafts his vulgar prose from his home computer, likely with his 11-year-old dog Lula at his feet. He lives alone, since he’s “hopelessly single,” which suits him just fine, since he says writing for Wonkette is a 65- to 70-hour-a-week job.

“It’s always a struggle. I work on weekends too. It takes a lot just to make that happen, week after week. And then you have days where we have a presidential debate or when the name-a-shooting-here happens. Those days are completely different. That’s a whole different schedule,” Hurst says.

“If there’s a debate, I’m going to work a whole day, starting at 7:30 a.m., and, hopefully before the first debate, I’ll have an hour to do whatever — eat some food, play Scrabble on my computer, or whatever. And then we’re live-blogging, and then you get to the end of it, and it’s 10 p.m. Then you have to figure out what happened in the debate that deserves its own individual story the next day. I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t love it. But it’s a very time-consuming job.”

He’s so busy writing for Wonkette that Hurst says he’s completely let his passion for music fall by the wayside. He used to play at Mollie Fontaine, but he hasn’t done that in a while.

“I want to get back into it. It’s one of those things on my to-do list, forcing myself back into writing music and singing,” he says. “It’s a big thing to find the time.”

For now, though, Hurst is making a different kind of music — the kind where he writes lyrical blog posts about gun-crazed Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore’s Christmas card, which features the lawmaker posing with her entire family — even the 5-year-old grandson — posing with an arsenal of Glocks and assault rifles (The large-breasted Fiore famously released a 2016 calendar filled with pictures of herself in tight clothing, posing with guns).

Wrote Hurst: “For liberals, it is the War on Christmas season, where we get up every single day at early-o-clock to receive our marching orders for how to make the baby Jesus cry in his manger. REAL AMERICANS, though, are sending Christmas cards, with reindeer and funny faces and nativity scenes and #familyjokes. And boobs and guns. Mostly boobs and guns.”

Random Thoughts

As you might imagine, Hurst has a few strong opinions. Here are some of the Flyer‘s favorite quotes from our interview with him.

On Kim Davis: “[She] actually said this is a heaven or hell issue — doing her job as a representative of the government. You mean to tell me that she literally thinks that her belief system says this loving God she found four years ago who gave her life is going to turn around and throw her in hell because she signed a gay marriage license? That’s stupid. That’s a dumbass belief.”

On Ben Carson: “This guy, the poor thing, we think his brain is broken. I don’t understand how that’s the same person who walked into an operating room and said ‘I’m going to operate on your brain.’ We think something happened, and his brain is broken.”

On the presidential race: “The Republicans … don’t know what the hell they are doing. They have such high hopes, and I’ll eat my words if something happens, but I don’t see any of those Republicans having a prayer against Hillary Clinton. I wouldn’t say that about Bernie [Sanders], but I’d say that about Hillary. They’ve lost their last scandal with Benghazi.”

On disgraced former Congressman Aaron Schock, who resigned in March after he was caught spending government funds on lavish office décor, new cars, and a personal photographer, among other things: “There are the long-standing rumors about him being gay — you can look at his Instagram and draw your own conclusions. We never explicitly said he was, but we implied it. A lot. Regardless, he was misusing taxpayer funds to do all of these elaborate, ornate things for himself, starting with the office [decorated in the style of TV show Downton Abbey]. And then you find out about his hot, personal photographer Jonathon with an ‘O.’ And you see how Jonathon gallivants around the globe with him. He took him to India on what I imagine was a completely romantic trip. Not that I’m saying he’s gay.”

Tags Bianca Phillips, Cooper-Young district, Memphis, Evan Hurst, Ex-gay ministries, Kim Davis, Love in Action, Mike Huckabee, Moose-scented Denali Farts, political humor websites, Rebecca Schoenkopf, Sarah Palin, Snarkiest man in Memphis, wonkettecom

Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said… (August 13, 2015)

Post author By
Post date August 13, 2015

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bianca Phillips’ cover story, “Transgender in Memphis” …

When my oldest son came out as a transgender female last year, I immediately offered unconditional support to her. We attended the support group at MGLCC together. That is a great place to start. They are an awesome group that is ready to share their experiences. They are ready to listen to you. I am a big Southern, straight, non-trans man, and the people there made us feel at home. My daughter now knows she has support from family, friends, and the people at the group.

Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

Memphis has come a long way! And I, for one, am very happy about that.

Clint

This is a sin and an abomination. God have mercy on your souls. Trans people are dressing that way because they are confused and need help to define their appropriate roles. This nation was founded upon Christian principles.

Screamer15

Screamer15 seems to think he knows more about God’s plan than God does. But that’s okay. Someone who must rely on religious nonsense to hide their fear, hatred, and bigotry is obviously not someone who has any sort of ability for rational thought.

GoProtege

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Aborting the Truth” …

I find it fascinating how this new “culture war” crisis popped up as soon as being anti-gay marriage got firmly shut down by the Supreme Court. It is as if the GOP was looking for some new and shiny thing to get their base off of gay marriage and on to some other topic.

Charlie Eppes

In truth, no one “likes” abortion, but birth control not being 100 percent reliable, not all are willing to compromise the lives of their living children or those they hope to have in continuing a pregnancy that would capsize their lives. Thank you for speaking up.

Elizabeth Hinds Davis

If there is no smoking gun, why all the invective against an investigation? PP may be the most wonderfully altruistic organization on earth, but as long as my tax money is used to subsidize their activities, I think I have a right to find out what is going on with these body parts.

Arlington Pop

To me, the use of fetal tissue is no different than using donated organs. I’m an organ donor, because, the way I see it, when I’m dead and gone, my body is no longer of value to me, so whatever good can come of using the remaining parts is the best thing to do with it.

If you have an abortion and allow the aborted fetus or tissue to be used for research, why is that a bad practice? I fully understand those who are against abortion, but if it happens, why would you not want the tissue to be used for something positive if possible?

GroveReb84

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it interesting that there is an entire class of people who proudly display their “pro-life” bona fides, while simultaneously enacting and supporting policies that make actual living problematic?

Jrgolden

About Bruce S. Newman’s Viewpoint, “Pay the Band” …

On behalf of musicians and songwriters, I sincerely thank you, Bruce Newman.

Nighthawk

Correction: An image in last week’s calendar was misidentified. The caption should have read “Work by Nathan Yoakum at Jay Etkin Gallery.”

Tags Aborting the Truth, Abortion in Memphis, Bianca Phillips, Bruce S. Newman, Commercial Appeal, LBGT in Memphis, Mallard Fillmore, Pay the Band, Planned Parenthood, transgender, Transgender in Memphis

Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (July 16, 2015) …

Post author By
Post date July 16, 2015

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “Council Committee Agrees on Relocating Forrest Statue and Remains” …

Absolutely appalling and barbaric. May the Memphis council rot in hell.

Jack Spencer

Ah, to see all the whiney little neo-Confederates and their defenders being made to feel so sad that their homages to treason and racism are being called out for exactly what they are: bad history. I mean, why other than to honor a “great American patriot” would a bust of Jefferson Davis be erected in a Memphis park in 1964?

Kilgore Trout

I am afeared of black people, once this statue is removed. His stern visage is all that has kept them at bay. See what happens when you give them the vote.

This Belle

I can understand why black people dislike who this man was. Absolutely. But the war was over 150 years ago. This is a part of our history. Not a pretty part, yet a part nonetheless. And until the Democrat Party, the political party of slavery, the KKK, and Jim Crow laws, the party that fought all the way to the 1960s against civil rights for blacks, is disbanded, then I disagree with digging up the bones of a dead person, no matter who he was.

How can blacks claim to be offended by something in the public when the Democrat Party continues to this day in politics, in government, in making the laws and rules they live under? This same party had a former member of the KKK in the Senate until he retired just a few years ago.

Yet, instead, the people are ranting about a pile of bones under a statue hardly anyone sees or hears about? Shame on all of you. How stupid and appalling. Kim Anglebrandt

There are few things that fascinate me more than clingy Confederate idolators waving the Stars and Bars and telling black folks to get over their ancient history.

Chris Davis

About Frank Murtaugh’s post, “Austin Nichols/Marc Gasol: It’s About Relationships” …

Nichols’ departure is not exactly a surprise. Although I live in Nashville, I still try to catch every televised Memphis Tiger basketball (and football) game. It’s not easy up here in Vandyland.

Back to Nichols. Most Tiger fans could see the curtain falling toward the end of the season. Nichols’ season-ending injury was bad timing, for sure. But there is just something not right with the Memphis program.

I’ve read the rants and the praises of Coach Pastner. Most coaches only dream of the talent Josh has snagged the last six years. But when a talent like Tarik Black bails for Kansas, the blame goes to the top. Pastner is a class act and represents the university well. He had big shoes to fill and almost bigger expectations. I think it has been the culmination of disappointment, disillusion (among certain players), and (dare I say it) the shrinking appeal of Tiger basketball. Something has got to give.

Paul Scates

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “Ballet Memphis Overton Square Design Plans Revealed” …

I just wanted to comment on the fact that a hotel will not be moving into the space occupied by French Quarter Inn in Overton Square. As a Midtowner in the 1970s who enjoyed the heyday of the area, I have been thrilled with the amazing resurgence. I was disappointed to find out the space would be used as a school for Ballet Memphis. It is an excellent organization and I do appreciate the theater/arts expansion in the area, but it seems like they could find a more appropriate Midtown space for a largely non-public building.

That corner is so high-profile in terms of attracting tourists and Memphians to enjoy the shopping, music, and restaurants. So much is just right there at the doorstep in Overton Square. The walk to our fantastic Levitt Shell, Memphis Brooks Museum, the original Huey’s, Shangri-La Records, and our Memphis Zoo would be so easy for tourists who do not have cars.

A hotel is desperately needed in the area. People are interested in Midtown, so let’s give them a nice place to stay!

Edith Davis

Tags Austin Nichols, Ballet Memphis, Bianca Phillips, Frank Murtaugh, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Nathan Bedford Forrest statue in Memphis, Overton Square, University of Memphis

Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (July 2, 2015) …

Post author By
Post date July 2, 2015

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ cover story, “Engaging the Big Muddy” …

Toby Sells and Brandon Dill captured the mystery, the magic, and the majesty of the big river, not to mention the good-time fun. And Joe Royer is the Mississippi’s greatest Memphis protagonist!

The only thing not covered were details about safety, e.g., when to go and when not to go — and the myriad considerations paddlers need to make when approaching such a powerful force of nature. Fortunately, there is an excellent guide available on the internet: The River Gator’s Paddler’s Guide.

Anyone considering safe paddling in the Memphis area (and beyond), please visit the River Gator. Some of the Memphis routes described in the River Gator were pioneered by Joe Royer and his wife Carol Lee. Many Memphians were consulted as experts for the River Gator (including the editor of the Flyer!).

There are dozens of pages covering the many choices for paddlers in between Shelby Forest State Park and Memphis, including the main channel, and enticing alternate back-channel routes such as those behind Brandywine, Hickman, Loosahatchie, and Redman. There is a very detailed safety section describing the specific skills paddlers should know before attempting the challenges of the biggest river in North America.

John Ruskey

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “State Bill Would Allow Religious Clergy to Deny Same-Sex Marriage” …

I’m trying to remember anywhere in all of the arguments over this where gay people said they wanted to force ministers and other clergy members to marry them. Everything I’ve seen has been they wanted the government to allow them to marry and for the government to recognize it. That is all.

Charlie Eppes

I am pretty sure that religious clergy already have the freedom to refuse to marry two individuals regardless of the reason. The only purpose of this proposal is to score political points.

Barf

Today’s ruling clearly stated that no minister was going to be forced to marry a same-sex couple if they did not choose to do so. Again, this is a way of wasting Tennesseans’ taxpayer money on frivolous bills rather than working to decrease our uninsured or create jobs, neither of which the Republican majority has shown any interest in.

Lane Scoggins

This is just the first step toward man-turtle unions and the death of Christianity. I firmly believe that although Christianity survived the Roman empire, it is helpless in the face of gay marriage.

Jeff

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Black is the New White” …

VanWyngarden conveniently failed or refused to admit the lost war on poverty has much to do with the policies of the Democratic Party. Poverty, strife, and divisiveness will continue to swell until politicos stop rewarding bad behavior.

By his own admission, President Johnson’s “Great Society” entitlement programs were created to cement constituents to the Democratic Party. This nefarious scheme damaged the African-American communities most. Instead of the government concentrating on how to get citizens out of ghettos, the entitlement programs too often kept them there.

Victimization has become the key to successful Democratic election results. President Obama’s policies and that of most democratic strongholds in American cities have resulted in the greatest degree of black poverty and black-on-black crime in recent history.

There are no easy answers, but a strong economy fueled by less taxation and a healthier business climate will go far toward creating opportunity for all.

William Pollack

Many whites exist in a poverty of compassion that is compounded by the illusions created by what Douglas Adams called the “Somebody Else’s Problem” effect (SEP). SEP is a psychological effect where people choose to dissociate themselves from an issue that may be in critical need of recognition. Such issues may be of large concern to the population as a whole but can easily be a choice of ignorance by an individual.

Scott Banbury

Tags Bianca Phillips, Brandon Dill, Bruce VanWyngarden, Floating the Mississippi in a kayak or canoe, gay marriage, Memphis Flyer letters, The Mighty Mississippi, Toby Sells, white privilege

Music Music Blog

Win Tickets to Bonnaroo 2015!

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date June 8, 2015

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

Bianca Phillips

Bonnaroo Music Festival last year.

For one weekend in mid-June for 13 consecutive years, a massive field in rural Manchester, Tennessee — just outside Nashville — has been taken over by 80,000-plus music fans, four music stages, a water park, a Ferris wheel, and all manner of other attractions at the annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. This year is no different, and the Flyer is offering one lucky reader a set of free passes to Bonnaroo this weekend (June 11th-14th). Details can be found at the end of this post.

This year, Billy Joel, Deadmau5, Kendrick Lamar, Florence + The Machine, My Morning Jacket, Alabama Shakes, and Mumford & Sons will headline the festival alongside more than a hundred musical acts from a variety of genres. The full line-up is available here. The roster of stand-up comedians is fronted by Memphis’ own Chris Hardwick and Seattle-based Reggie Watts. You can see the Comedy Theatre line-up here.

Bonnaroo is so much more than just live performances though. Most of those 80,000-plus festival-goers camp on Bonnaroo’s grounds and make the fest their home away from home for the weekend. As such, there’s a post office, a general store, and hundreds of food options. For those who can’t let their workout routine slide for a weekend, there’s a full line-up of yoga classes and a 5K run. There are multiple parades planned, including a crazy hat parade. And there are plenty of costume theme parties to keep party animals busy all weekend. Fest-goers can keep cool inside the air-conditioned Cinema Tent, where cult classics, contemporary movies, and documentaries screen all weekend. Eighties teen actor Corey Feldman will be on-hand in the Cinema Tent for a 30th anniversary screening of The Goonies. New this year is The Grove, a wooded area on the 700-acre farm near the camping pods that that was previously unused. It will be adorned with lights, art installations, and hammock seating.

To win a pair of Bonnaroo tickets, send an email to Bianca Phillips, at bphillips@memphisflyer.com and we’ll randomly select a winner on Tuesday, June 9th, at 2 p.m. You must be able to come to the Flyer office and retrieve the tickets to win.

Tags Bianca Phillips, Bonnaroo, Music Festivals, Prepare for Bonnaroo, Summer Music Festivals

Book Features Books

Mid-South Book Festival Booked For September

Post author By Leonard Gill
Post date July 3, 2014

This may be the first week of July, but the last weekend of September is on the minds of the folks at Literacy Mid-South. That’s because planning is very much in the works (and has been for months now) for the organization’s first-ever, citywide, and mostly free Mid-South Book Festival September 25th-28th. Dozens of authors, panelists, speakers, and workshop leaders — the majority of them Memphians or Mid-Southerners — are set to appear. Multiple venues have agreed to serve as event sites, and sponsors are in place. So too festival apps, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account.

For a list of participating writers, events, venues, and updates, go to midsouthbookfest.org. Among the invited writers are Memphis Flyer Associate Editor (and cookbook author) Bianca Phillips and Flyer photographer Justin Fox Burks (cookbook co-author along with his wife, Amy Lawrence). Other Memphians slated to be on hand: Steve Bradshaw, Jennifer Chandler, Heather Dobbins, Robert Gordon, Aram Goudsouzian, Mark Greaney, Lisa Hickman, Corey Mesler, Lisa Patton, Courtney Miller Santo, and Barry Wolverton. But there are out-of-towners scheduled to appear too, among them: Julia Reed, Scott Heim, and Michael Lowenthal.

Dean, Heather Nordtvedt (Literacy Mid-South’s community relations manager), and the organization’s staff have been working hard since the idea for a book festival was raised at a board meeting last summer.

“Nobody thought it was going to happen anytime soon,” Dean admitted. “The festival was simply in our five-year plan — a signature event, not just a fund-raiser. Then our fall reading campaign fell through for this year, so we thought we’d try out the book festival idea. It was going to be a small thing. We thought: Let’s try it and see how it goes. If it doesn’t work, we’ll get rid of it.”

And indeed, the festival began small: a one-day event at the Memphis Botanic Garden. It’s now expanded to four days — with programs for children and young adults and live-music components — and the venues so far include, in addition to the Botanic Garden, the Booksellers at Laurelwood, Burke’s Book Store, and the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center.

What prompted the expansion? Immediate and enthusiastic local author interest, for one thing. Public response, for another. According to Dean, when the festival launched its Facebook page, the site received 250 “likes” the first day.

Early in the planning stages, Literacy Mid-South was thinking maybe a couple hundred people would show up for the festival. The organization is now expecting thousands. Which all goes to show, Dean is convinced, that Memphians have been looking for such a festival in their own town. Nashville has its Southern Festival of Books. Little Rock has its Arkansas Literary Festival.

It was at the festival in Little Rock this past April that Dean talked to author Mary Roach, who’s no stranger to the book-festival circuit. Dean told Roach of Literacy Mid-South’s plans. She immediately convinced him that the Mid-South Book Festival needed to expand beyond a single day and single venue — and the better to meet one of the festival’s goals: funding local literacy programs. Proceeds from Literacy Mid-South’s onsite Bookworm store, concessions, and three creative-writing workshops during the festival will go to supporting those programs.

“I’m a big proponent of growing things — starting small, then growing,” Dean said of the festival.

But growing this fast? Dean has just hired someone to manage the festival for the next couple of years. And there’s been talk about doing some publishing at Literacy Mid-South: a collection of writings by festival authors about Memphis.

“This all shows a need that we’re filling, even among people who don’t necessarily know what a book festival is,” Dean said of the Mid-South Book Festival. “And what’s crazy: We have all these best-selling authors in Memphis, and I didn’t even know they live here! Putting the festival together has been educational for me too.”

But as planning the festival reaches its final stages, Dean had this to add: “Everything’s nailed down. Now it just has to happen.”

midsouthbookfest.org; facebook.com/midsouthbookfest; @MSouthBookFest

News The Fly-By

Fly-By Flashback

Post author By Toby Sells
Post date June 5, 2014

Some things never change. The story former Flyer reporter Paul Gerald wrote in November 1994 about Janis Fullilove getting drunk and fighting with her husband could well have been written yesterday.

But, in some respects, Memphis is a very different place today than it was 25 years ago when the first Flyer rolled off the presses. We’ve scoured through the Fly-By sections (our news section, which used to be called City Reporter) in issues of the Memphis Flyer from the past 25 years to bring you a cross-section of news coverage to demonstrate how things have changed and how they’ve stayed the same. What follows are excerpts from those stories.

February 20, 1992

Riverboat Gambling in Memphis “Dead”

Riverboat gambling in Memphis, at least for now, is “dead,” according to Senator Steve Cohen.

Stillborn may be more like it. A state attorney general’s opinion that a constitutional prohibition on lotteries also applies to slot machines makes the issue moot, says Cohen. The constitution, of course, can be changed, but that takes some doing.

Riverboat gambling has replaced horse racing as the latest gambling fad in Mississippi, Iowa, Illinois, and other states. While Memphis would seem to have a leg up with its riverfront, music tradition, Mud Island, and other downtown tourist attractions, the idea of riverboat gambling hasn’t caught fire here despite support of the city administration and The Commercial Appeal. — John Branston

June 11, 1992

The Naked Truth

If you missed the comic strip “Outland” in Sunday’s Commercial Appeal, it’s because the paper — the same one that brought you editorial cartoons of gay soldiers wearing fishnet hose a couple of weeks ago — refused to run it because they found it offensive.

CA arts and entertainment editor John Sparks explains, “One panel showed a naked man’s rear … and we thought it was inappropriate for our family comic section.” — Richard Banks

August 6, 1992

Fred Smith Thinks Memphis Will Get NFL Team

Stay the course, Memphis. And we might just get a National Football League team when the NFL expands by two teams, possibly in the fall.

That’s the advice and prediction of Federal Express Chairman and President Frederick. W. Smith, who has been involved one way or another in the city’s chase for an NFL team for more than 15 years.

“I think we’re going to get it. I really do,” Smith told the Flyer Monday.

“We’ve got an NFL-quality stadium that’s paid for,” Smith said, adding that it is at least as good as the Tampa Bay Buccanneers’ stadium, which is a model of the Liberty Bowl. — John Branston

August 18, 1994

Grisham’s Empire Grows

With apparently no new worlds left to conquer, novelist John Grisham Jr. has turned publishing magnate. He’s made a substantial investment in the Oxford American, a critically acclaimed but finacially strapped literary magazine based in Grisham’s hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

Already notable for its ability to persuade the South’s best writers — such as Eudora Welty, Barry Hannah, Roy Blount Jr., and Larry Brown — to contribute material for little or no remunerations, The Oxford American now plans to use its greatly increased resources to evolve into a full-scale national magazine, with bi-monthly publication, a full-time staff, expanded departments, and an advertising budget. Money appears to be no object — especially since Grisham was reportedly paid at least $6 million last week (another industry record) for the movie rights to his first novel, A Time to Kill.

— Debbie Gilbert

August 25, 1994

Conditions at Mud Island Pool Questioned

Visitors to Mud Island River Park could swim in the Gulf of Mexico pool in the early ’90s, but a Flyer investigation found the pool was in operation without chlorine.

The largest swimming pool in the state of Tennessee — which happens to be within sight of city hall — has on at least three occasions this summer been in operation without any detectable chlorine in the water. Additionally, the head lifeguard at Mud Island said systematic neglect has led to a generally unhealthy situation surrounding the pool.

Denise Thomas, 19, in her third season at Mud Island, said she has been aware for most of the summer that the chlorination system was not working properly at the 1.5-million-gallon pool. She said she voiced her concerns to superiors but received no answers.

The Memphis Flyer took water from the pool on August 12th and had the sample tested at Memphis Pool Supply Inc. at 2762 Getwell Road. The sample showed zero amounts of chlorine.

Thomas recalled an incident earlier this month when a 4-year-old boy suddenly dropped his trunks and began urinating in the pool.

“I don’t mean to be gross,” Thomas said, “but all little kids pee in pools.” —Dennis Freeland

September 15, 1994

Tom Lee Park Finally Nearing Completion

After years of planning, several construction delays, and one landslide, Tom Lee Park is starting to take shape. Within a month or so, it should actually look like a park, with trees, walkways, scenic overlooks, sod, a sprinkler system, and a pedestrian bridge over Riverside Drive at Ashburn-Coppock Park.

The final product, which should be pretty much complete by next year’s Memphis In May festival, will give Memphis one of the biggest and prettiest parks on the Mississippi River. — John Branston

November 10, 1994

Hockey Fans Boo Herenton

The Mississippi RiverKings used to be based in Memphis.

Hockey fans solidified their reputation for boorish behavior at the Memphis RiverKings home opener by lustily booing Mayor W. W. Herenton when he was introduced before the game.

Herenton and other guests, including Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout, the RiverKings mascot, and Mid-South Coliseum officials arrived on the ice in a stretch limousine, and the booing came from more than a few of the more than 7,000 fans.

The sad thing is that Herenton was going out of his way to show a little support for the three-year-old Memphis team and a sport, which, understandably, is not exactly close to his heart. —John Branston

November 24, 1994

Trouble Befalls Janis Fullilove

WMC radio talk-show host Janis Fullilove was arrested for drunk driving early Tuesday morning by Memphis police officers. According to the police report, Fullilove, 44, ran four red lights with a police car in pursuit and registered .19 on a breathalyzer test.

The report said Fullilove was “obviously intoxicated” when she got out of her car and was “talkative but crying uncontrollably at times.” She was taken to the Shelby County Jail.

On October 29th, Memphis police answered a domestic violence call at Fullilove’s residence at 3985 Old Getwell. According to a police memo, Fullilove, whose full name is Janis Fullilove Chalmers, was intoxicated when officers arrived at her house. Fullilove’s husband, Vernon Chalmers, told police his wife was “pregnant and highly intoxicated” and upset over his taking her car to work. —Paul Gerald

May 9, 1996

Kenneth Neill

Want A Free Flyer? One Dollar, Please

When it comes to tourists downtown, it’s not that there’s a sucker born every minute, it’s that many of the old suckers have never visited Memphis before.

The large tourist population has given a way for panhandlers to make money on Beale Street and along the Main Street Mall. But forget cleaning car windows with squeegees. That makes you look too pushy. And forget straight begging. That’s too demeaning. Plus you have to get a permit.

Instead, look enterprising by taking stacks of the Memphis Flyer from racks and selling them to tourists who don’t see the word “Free” printed in small letters underneath the publication’s logo until after they’ve given out a dollar or two.

“In a way, we’re flattered to think that people would value our product enough to pay for it,” says Flyer publisher Kenneth Neill, who has been approached himself by panhandlers hoping to sell him copies of his own newspaper. “But we hope by now everyone knows the Flyer is free.” — Phil Campbell

June 12, 1997

Phase One of Riverfront Project to Begin This Fall

The 1997-1998 state budget allocated $7 million to Memphis for riverfront development, which means construction can begin later this year along the Mississippi River downtown. But whether Memphis gets the deluxe version of the limited edition depends on the federal government’s willingness to contribute additional funding.

According to Benny Lendermon, the city’s public works director, it will take about $35 million to construct the entire project envisioned by Mayor W. W. Herenton and other riverfront supporters.

Plans call for a paved, lighted walking/biking path running from Tom Lee Park to the new visitors center just south of The Pyramid; renovation of the historic cobblestones; and a floating boardwalk with boat-rental concessions at the water’s edge. Beale Street would be extended west to connect with the southern tip of Mud Island, closing off that end of the harbor, and a dam a little farther north, near the visitors center, would enclose the space to create a 30-acre lake for public use. — Debbie Gilbert

April 30, 1998

In 1998, Memphis hosted the annual Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) Convention, a trade event for papers like the Memphis Flyer. While he was here, the editor of the Albuquerque newsweekly was kidnapped.

Editor’s Attackers Are Awaiting Trial

Michael Henningsen can’t forget Amnesia. And Alexius Montgomery and James Gilmore probably won’t either.

At the end of September, Montgomery pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assaulting Henningsen, a senior editor of an Albuquerque newsweekly. The journalist was in Memphis for the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies hosted by the Flyer. After getting out of his car in Amnesia’s parking lot on Poplar, Henningsen was attacked by Gilmore and Montgomery, who allegedly struck him in the head with a chunk of asphalt and shoved him into the trunk of his rental car. The men drove him to an ATM, beat him again, and made him take money from his account. The alleged kidnappers then drove to Mississippi where a high-speed chase with police eventually ended in a car wreck in Memphis. Henningsen was in the trunk of the car, but was uninjured in the crash. He was hospitalized briefly for head injuries.

Henningsen has a wry sense of humor about the incident — the 6’4″ editor was quoted in the Flyer as saying that the next time he rents a car it’s going to be a vehicle with a larger trunk. But the crime has taken a toll on him emotionally. — Ashley Fantz

September 3, 1998

Curbside Program Still a Work in Progress

The city of Memphis has launched an advertising blitz urging people to recycle, but at least a few Memphians have complained that their curbside recycling bins aren’t getting emptied.

“It’s discouraging when we hear things like this,” says city recycling coordinator Andy Ashford, who acknowledges the system isn’t perfect yet. “As massive as this change has been, there have been problems.

“For a city this size, we need to be doing about twice what we’re doing now [in the percentage of residents who participate in recycling],” he says.

— Debbie Gilbert

November 19, 1999

Bars, Restaurants Come, Go

Going into just its third week of operation, the Blue Monkey, next door to Molly’s La Casita at 1999 Madison, is a hit with Midtown barflies. Chief among its attractions are the gourmet pizzas and the lovingly restored 100-year-old wood bar. But the Monkey had better enjoy the attention in light of some recent and upcoming changes in the city’s nightlife.

Downtown Memphis will have two new dance clubs in the coming months. Along Cotton Row at 94 S. Front … work is almost done on the Zoo, a five-story nightclub that will feature dining and dancing.

Meanwhile, developers associated with the departed Neon Moon are working on refurbishing the Lonesome Dove, an under-utilized Western-themed party room at 395 S. Second. — Mark Jordan

December 12, 1999

Library Doomed

The Main Library at Peabody and McLean is not long for this world. The city council has decided the building would be too expensive to maintain as a branch library after the new central library opens on Poplar Avenue. Instead, the old building will be torn down and replaced with private housing. — Heather Heilman

May 13, 2002

Prince Mongo’s house on Colonial

By the Book

For anyone wanting to imitate the decor of Prince Mongo’s Colonial Acres home, as initially reported in last week’s Flyer, city officials say it is your choice.

The “palace” of the prince (real name: Robert Hodges), at 925 Colonial, includes such front-yard amenities as animal heads, Halloween decorations, streamers, and a “bean poll” to pick your least-favorite politician.

“Every day, it’s something different,” says Jennifer Tobias, who lives in the neighborhood. “He currently has a collection of white chairs in the yard, and last Saturday, a group of elderly people came and sat in the chairs all day long. I don’t know what he was trying to say with that. We don’t want him to define the neighborhood.”

But Tobias and other residents can complain about Mongo’s antics until they’re blue in the face. According to the Building Department of Code Enforcement, homeowners can decorate their property as they see fit. — Janel Davis

Going Down in Germantown

The national tour of playwright Eve Ensler’s bona fide phenomenon The Vagina Monologues opens at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre on June 25th with Margot Kidder as the star vagina. Although Ensler’s play — and the movement to end violence against women that has grown up around it — is now seven years old and has been produced by over 800 companies worldwide in the past year alone, the surprisingly clinical name still carries a certain amount of shock value. A recent letter to The Commercial Appeal from an angry Germantown woman even declared The Vagina Monologues to be the work of Satan.

“This happens in every town the show goes to,” Ensler says. “How can anybody think of the vagina as Satan? What do vaginas represent? Life. It’s where we come from.” — Chris Davis

July 26, 2002

Last year, the Midtown Stewart Brothers closed its doors for good. They still blamed the Madison trolley line for their demise.

MATA vs. Madison

“Business has picked up some, but we are still down by at least a full 25 percent,” says James Dempsey Sr., owner of Stewart Brothers’ Hardware, which has operated at the corner of Madison and Cleveland since 1937. “I get calls from people every day saying that they were going to come down but they just think it’s too hazardous.”

And just why do people think it’s too hazardous?

Because in spite of efforts to keep Stewart Brothers’ parking lot open to the public, trolley construction has made driving down Madison an “extremely confusing and frustrating situation.” — Chris Davis

January 27, 2005

Marching in Memphis

About 25 people are standing at the northeast corner of Poplar and Highland holding signs that read, “No War” and “Not One Billionaire Left Behind,” waiting for the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center’s inauguration-day protest march to begin. A middle-aged man and two younger women are learning how to make a giant papier-mâché dove — with bedsheet wings — appear to fly, while others are walking around passing out peace bracelets.

“We’re here today to make sure Memphis is aware that there are still people out there who, despite what mandates Bush thinks he has, don’t agree with his policies, and we’re going to actively, nonviolently defy them,” says Jacob Flowers, director of the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center.

— Bianca Phillips

July 26, 2006

Identifying Jane Doe

The Mall of Memphis operated in the Bluff City from 1981 to 2003 and was demolished in 2004.

The building may be demolished, but the Mall of Murder is still living up to its nickname.

After two skeletons were found at the former Mall of Memphis site earlier this month, medical examiner Karen Chancellor was charged with identifying the victims and their causes of death.

The first skeleton, discovered by groundskeepers, is still unidentified at press time, but the second set of remains — discovered by police two days after the first body was found — was identified as 49-year-old Kathy Higginbotham.

Higginbotham was reported missing last November after her daughter dropped her off near Perkins and Knight Arnold. She was never seen alive again. — Bianca Phillips

August 3, 2006

Marijuana, Munchies, and Money

A supreme pizza and a bag of weed can make a pothead’s day. And it’s an even tastier deal when the entire purchase can be made with a debit card.

The Little Caesars on Byhalia Road in Collierville must have seemed like a dream for hourly employee — and alleged marijuana dealer — Steven Barton. But since the Collierville Police Department (CPD) busted Barton in June, the situation has become a nightmare for Little Caesars franchise owner Martin Mathews.

After Barton’s arrest on June 15th, the restaurant’s operating account was placed on hold by Collierville Judge William Hall. That’s because, on at least one occasion, Barton ran a debit card for someone’s marijuana purchase, taking $12 in cash from the Little Caesars cash register. Since funds from Barton’s pot sales were mixed in with the Little Caesars account, almost $240,000 was seized as drug money.

— Bianca Phillips

July 5, 2007

Sign of the Times

In 2004, 15-year-old Westside High School student Tarus Williams wanted to be a member of G-Unit, a small student-led gang. But in order to gain entry, Williams had to fight another member in the school bathroom.

Williams never joined the gang. During the fight, his heart ruptured after he was thrown into a bathroom stall.

Such fights — along with an increase in citywide gang violence — have led to a tougher anti-gang policy for Memphis City Schools (MCS). Starting this fall, students caught wearing gang colors, throwing gang signs, or participating in any type of gang activity will face expulsion. — Bianca Phillips

September 20, 2007

On Camera

In the movies, prison visits often end as visitors and inmates place their palms on either side of a glass panel separating convicts from the public. But as of last month, male inmates at the Shelby County Jail are no longer able to get so close to loved ones.

These days, jail visitors talk to inmates through a computer monitor. Thirty video visitation stations have been installed in housing units at the 201 Poplar facility, and another 31 will be operational soon.

“As opposed to moving inmates a few floors, now they can move a few steps to talk on a computer monitor that connects them instantly to a family member or attorney,” says Steve Shular, a spokesperson for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. “Every time you take an inmate out of a cell and move him off the floor, that movement creates a potential safety issue,” Shular says.

— Bianca Phillips

March 25, 2010

Fire Sale

On January 4th, 66-year-old Johnny L. Wicks opened fire outside a Las Vegas courthouse, killing a security guard and wounding a U.S. marshal. His weapon? A Mossberg 500 shotgun confiscated by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office several years ago.

The sheriff’s office traded the gun, along with about 1,000 other confiscated weapons, to a registered gun dealer in 2005 in exchange for new service weapons, a year before Sheriff Mark Luttrell instituted a policy to destroy all confiscated guns. But a new state law that went into effect March 3rd requires the sheriff’s office to reverse that policy and resale or trade any guns taken from criminals. With the new law, the only weapons that can be destroyed are those that are damaged in some way. — Bianca Phillips

Mario Jackson & Keshun Douglas

July 15, 2010

Great Escape

Memphians Keshun Douglas and Mario Jackson might not know one another, but they have more than a few things in common: They’re both 23 years old, both were charged with felonies, and until last week, the men were being held at jails or prisons in Shelby County. Now both men are on the run.

In separate incidents in two days, Douglas and Jackson managed to break free from guards at the Regional Medical Center of Memphis, commonly known as the Med.

On Wednesday, July 7th, Douglas, who was serving time for property theft at the Shelby County Corrections Center, snuck out of a prison transport van while six other inmates were being unloaded in front of the Med. Douglas was being taken to the hospital’s prison ward for lab work.

The following day, Jackson was in the Med’s prison ward when he overpowered two Shelby County corrections deputies. Jackson, who was arrested on charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary, escaped after a trip to the restroom.

Both men remained at large at press time, and both incidents are being investigated. — Bianca Phillips

Tags Bianca Phillips, Blue Monkey, Chris Davis, Commercial Appeal, Debbie Gilbert, Eve Ensler, Janel Davis, Janis Fullilove, john branston, Little Caesars, Princo Mongo, Steve Cohen, Vagina Monologues, ww-herenton

News The Fly-By

Juvenile Pall

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date October 19, 2006

At a glance, the charges against Alfredo Pavon and Abraham Nunes make them look like seasoned criminals: four counts of aggravated assault and four counts of attempted first-degree murder each.

Pavon and Nunes are accused of firing shots at four teenagers — wounding one — on September 27th near Kimball and Merrycrest. And at 17 years old, they are two of the most recent examples of juveniles involved in serious crimes.

So far this year, 143 adolescents have been transferred to Criminal Court to be tried as adults. Last year, 172 adolescents in total were tried as adults. The year before, 97 adolescents were. The numbers reflect an upward trend in juveniles committing serious crimes.

“We’re seeing a breakdown in parental oversight, and in many cases, the parents are involved in criminal activity themselves,” says Sheriff Mark Luttrell. “There’s a social web that’s woven in a family, and if you miss that, you have a tendency to run unfettered. That causes these kids to gravitate towards criminal activity.”

The District Attorney’s 2005 annual report, released last week, shows an almost 40 percent increase from 2004 to 2005 in adolescents prosecuted for “major violent crimes.” Those crimes include murder, rape, aggravated robbery, carjacking, and aggravated assault.

In 2005, 23 young people were prosecuted for first-degree murder, while only one was tried for that crime in 2003 and seven in 2004.

“We’re seeing a more aggressive effort on the part of gangs to recruit at the middle school level,” says District Attorney Bill Gibbons. “When [children are] recruited, they have to show their worth by committing violent crime.”

Gibbons estimates that many of these youngsters are between 14 and 15 years old. While gangs used to have an understanding that gang business was to be conducted outside of schools, he says, they’ve begun operating while school is in session.

“There’s less parental or adult pro-social engagement, so kids are just making it up,” says Leon Caldwell, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Memphis. “They’re all saying, I just want to belong to something. They’re getting bolder and brasher and that speaks to the level of emotional distress these kids are exhibiting.”

Though the numbers are increasing, they’re still lower than those exhibited in 1996, the highest year for juvenile incidents in recent decades. Comparing 1996 to 2005, there was an overall 35 percent decrease in the number of juveniles prosecuted for major violent crimes.

Luttrell says juvenile crime began to decrease in 1997, and the numbers didn’t begin to rise again until 2004. The sheriff’s office has begun training school teachers and resource officers in how to identify certain criminal characteristics in students.

“We’re going to every middle school and talking to student assemblies about the repercussions of violent crime,” said Gibbons. “We want to reduce the number of young people who want to commit violent crimes in the first place.”

Tags Bianca Phillips, Crime