Tag: Brian "Skinny" McCabe

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Memphis Grilled Cheese Fest Returns

Memphis Grilled Cheese Fest founder Brian "Skinny" McCabe with "The Big Cheese" created by Josh McLane at South Point Grocery (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Thank goodness. The gooey, tantalizing Memphis Grilled Cheese Fest returns November 5th.

The annual event is back after four years with lots of grilled cheese sandwiches from competing teams as well as live music, cheesy gifts, a cheese-eating competition, and food trucks. It takes place between noon and 4 p.m. in front of and inside the Hi Tone at 282-284 Cleveland Street, which will be blocked off between Larkin Avenue and Peach Avenue. The Hi-Tone will be open with live bands on both floors. Deejays will provide tunes outside.

The event’s creator, Brian “Skinny” McCabe, will be back, too. “I don’t even know when or how I thought of the idea, but it was a really, really long time ago,” he says.

McCabe had just moved his club from Poplar Avenue to its first address on Cleveland Street. “I was sitting around thinking of stuff to do and cool things to bring to the neighborhood,” he said.

He originally thought about holding the event inside the club. “Then I put the Facebook event up and got crazy response and had to figure out how to talk to the city and get the street shut down.”

The festival was a hit. “A couple of thousand people showed up.”

Jack Gould and Claire O’Connell sample grilled cheese at the 2018 Memphis Grilled Cheese Fest (Credit: Michael Donahue)

McCabe chose grilled cheese sandwiches because he likes the sandwich. “It’s one of my favorite comfort foods of all time. So easy. So cheap. Bread, butter, and cheese. It’s so straightforward.”

He also likes them made a certain way. “I personally love Texas toast and Country Crock butter,” he says, adding, “And then you sprinkle some Everything Bagel seasoning on there. Two or three Kraft singles. And then toast it up. Cut it corner to corner — not width wise.”

Memphis Grilled Cheese festival is always held on a Sunday to accommodate restaurant people who can attend on their day off.

McCabe raises money for charities with event proceeds. This year, the festival will benefit Thrive Memphis — “an organization that helps special needs and handicapped children.”

He has his reasons for always holding the event in November. “I don’t want to eat hot food when it’s hot outside. I want it to be the last street festival of the year. And warm people up. And if the grilled cheese doesn’t warm you up, the Hi Tone will be open with lots of whiskey to sell.”

McCabe doesn’t yet know how many teams will participate this year, but the competition is open to everybody. “It can be you and your buddies. It can be restaurants, law offices, Wiffle ball teams.”

Participating teams pass out grilled cheese to those who give donations for the fundraiser. Whichever team raises the most money is the grand champion. 

And some of those teams load on the cheese, McCabe says. “You have so much cheese on there you won’t be able to whistle for days.”

But he has a solution to that problem. “Whisky will get things moving. Because alcohol is the cause and solution of all problems.”

Teams also can compete for “Best Tomato Soup.” Grilled cheese and tomato soup just go together, McCabe says. Growing up, he “always had tomato soup to either dip it in or accompany it. Some people use chicken noodle soup instead. That’s totally fine. I’ve tried it both ways.”

And teams can vie for “Most Ridiculous.” McCabe has seen all types of ingredients, including steak, pork belly, a quail egg, and even stuffed animals, on the grilled cheese sandwiches. “One year I saw a grilled cheese sandwich dipped in funnel cake batter and fried. And that was wild.”

Some of the braver attendees participate in the grilled cheese-eating contest. “We set down a plate of 20 or 30 grilled cheese sandwiches in front of you. Whoever eats the most in a designated amount of time is the winner.”

Winners receive prizes. “We’ve got all kinds of little knick-knacks and stuff.”

Bram Bors-Koefoed, who won the grilled cheese eating contest in 2018, received a pair of socks dotted with images of cheese along with a toaster. “I think my wife and I found those just out and about somewhere,” McCabe says. “We collect stuff all year long. Anything that has grilled cheese on it.”

Bram Bors-Koefoed won a toaster and a pair of socks in the 2018 grilled cheese eating contest at the Memphis Grilled Cheese Fest. With him is Brian “Skinny” McCabe (Credit: Michael Donahue)

For the first time, McCabe had trophies made for the grilled cheese team winners. The metal-and-plastic trophies are topped with grilled cheese and tomato soup statues.

This year’s festival will feature “a whole kids’ activity section” with balloon animals and face painting, McCabe says.

Live music will be provided by Sunweight, The Memphis Winslows, and The Heavy Pour.

Memphis Grilled Cheese Festival sounds like it would be heaven for its creator, but, McCabe says, “I rarely get to eat any grilled cheese. I have to go home and make my own after the festival because I’m just busy.”

For more information or to participate as a team, go to memphisgrilledcheese.com.

Categories
Art Art Feature

Poop — Not Pop —Art

Art by Hi Tone Cafe owner Brian "Skinny" McCabe will be featured in a one night show at his club. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Get ready.

Artwork by Brian “Skinny” McCabe (and artist Michael Roy) will be featured in a new one-night exhibit on Saturday, June 10th, at his club, the Hi Tone Cafe.

Those who were at McCabe’s one-night show (“di-ART-rrhea”) last July at the old Seraphim gallery probably haven’t forgotten some of those art works — like the one of a bird relieving itself while perched on a teacup.

This new show features more birds doing the same thing. And at least one or two throwing up. 

McCabe creates his art by making additions to pictures done by others. “A lot of what I do is find other works of art and then kind of desecrate them,” McCabe says.

His work could be referred to as “Poop Art” as opposed to “Pop Art.” Whatever. McCabe says his paintings were a hit in that last show. “People were buying them left and right.” 

Works in his new show are going to follow along the same lines. “This one is pretty much focused around birds,” he says. “I don’t really have a title for it. I kind of let it speak for itself.”

The idea began with that bird/teacups painting in his last show. “I found this painting: A bird sitting on a teacup. It was really pretty. but the way it was positioned it was perfect to have it taking a shit down the handle of the teacup.

“I had four people try to buy that one right off the top. And it got into kind of a small bidding war. And I was like, ‘What?’”

For his new show, McCabe says, “I’ve been collecting stuff here and there. I just find funny stuff when I got to City Thrift or Goodwill or something.”

He found a print of two birds sitting on a branch when he was at a Cooper-Young shop. “I just thought to myself,  ‘Man, it would be hilarious if one or the other ripped the other’s one eye ball out and it was bleeding and stuff.” So, he doctored the print and wrote, “Fuck Around and Find Out.”

Brian “Skinny” McCabe will feature his art work at his club, Hi Tone Cafe (Credit: Michael Donahue)

“The eyeball is my favorite one,” McCabe says. But, he adds, “They’re all kind of equally weird and gross. Not gross to the point where you have to look away or anything, but just funny.”

McCabe says he uses acrylic paint, and sometimes a Sharpie. “I’ll fill in here and there,” he says. “It’s kind of whatever’s around.”

In a Memphis Flyer story last year, McCabe said he was in Honors Art 1, 2, and 3 in high school. But, he said, “my conduct kept me out of Art 4.”

McCabe often makes attention-grabbing posters for bands playing at the Hi Tone. When there was downtime at the club during the pandemic, his wife suggested he get back into art.

He ran across a black-and-white painting of John Mayer at a thrift shop. “And I was like, ‘It would be hilarious to make him shitting his pants.’ I don’t know why it struck me that day. So, I just started buying paintings at thrift stores and stuff and painting poop on them.”

A Brian “Skinny” McCabe art work (Credit: Michael Donahue)

McCabe decided to do his current show at the Hi Tone. “I’m just a dingy bar dude,” he says. “A gallery just felt too bright and open.”

He wasn’t really planning to do another show, but then the artist Birdcap dropped by the bar. “We were just chilling” says McCabe, “and I was like, ‘Dude, what if we do an art show?’ He said, ‘Pick a date. I’m down.’ It was that easy.”

McCabe compares his art shows to the music shows he features at the Hi Tone. “I don’t know anything about producing art shows. I don’t know the first thing about it. But I do know how to book bands and have concerts. And that’s one night. Very rarely it’s a two-night thing. Bands play one night and hit the road.”

Just like McCabe’s paintings.

Art by Brian “Skinny” McCabe and Michael “Birdcap” Roy will be featured from 6 to 11 p.m. June 10th at Hi Tone Cafe  at 282-284 North Cleveland Street

Categories
Art Feature

New Multi-Media Gallery Opens July 15th in Crosstown Area

Walt Phelan in his new multi-media gallery, Seraphim (Credit: Natalie Brashear)

Seraphim, a new multi-media gallery, will open Friday, July 15th, at 437 North Cleveland in the Crosstown area. And the first featured artist is about as Crosstown as you can get — Hi Tone Cafe owner Brian “Skinny” McCabe.

The gallery owner is Walt Phelan, who is becoming something of a Renaissance Man when it comes to the visual and performing arts. Phelan, 27, a guitarist in the Walt Phelan band, is a veteran of several Memphis bands, including Super Low. He also owns a recording studio, Purple Church Recording, which is located above the art gallery.

A print shop was in the space where the gallery is now located, but it was expanding and had to move to a warehouse, Phelan says. “I always wanted to open a multi-media gallery and that space was big enough to do it.”

He opened Purple Church Recording in March, 2021. “Originally, it was just going to be for me,” Phelan says. “Then we started accumulating a lot of equipment.”

He then realized he could make more money from the studio by letting other people record their music there. “I’m having engineers come in. They rent out the studio and they can record their own artists. So, it’s kind of like a community-type thing. Anybody can rent it.” 

Walt Phelan with art work by Brian “Skinny” McCabe at Seraphim (Credit: Natalie Brashear)

He describes Seraphim as “a dynamic exhibition space intended for local artists to rent for a period of time.” That includes people who want to show a film, or hold a listening party for an album, or talk about a book they wrote. “I’ve got some guys that are holding a motorcycle show in there,” Phelan says. “It’s like a vintage bike show, where the guys have rebuilt the things. They’ll roll them in, set them side by side, sell them, or auction them off.”

Phelan also is considering “vendor pop-ups” that would include food and vintage clothing. And he might add music to the mix. “Not a full-on band. I’m thinking individual artists do singer-songwriter with just an acoustic guitar or keyboard.”

His main goal with Seraphim was “to build a space that serves and brings people together in Memphis.” He wants to cater to less established artists. “I really want it to be a community thing. People can walk in and feel comfortable even if they’ve never had a show before. I want them to be able to come in and do their thing.”

Phelan, who performs around town, got into guitar in a roundabout way. He and a friend played the video game, Guitar Hero, when they were in the sixth grade at St. Dominic School. “We got pretty good at it.” They then decided to learn to play actual guitars. “That’s what shot it off, man.”

Phelan joined his first band, China Gate, which later became Super Low, when he was a junior at Christian Brothers High School. “It was kind of power-pop indy rock. We toured the country with those bands. But the pandemic hit and it just kind of fizzled out.”

Now, Phelan’s band current band, Walt Phelan, is “a singer-songwriter kind of thing with a band behind it.” The group released World’s Away, an album of originals, in February, 2021. He describes their music as “synth-driven singer-songwriter indy music.”

When he announced he was opening a gallery. “It was just, ‘Oh, what is this guy doing? He’s never done anything with art before.’ But artists need an outlet. It really fell in my lap and I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve got to do this.’”,

Seraphim and Purple Church have nothing to do with religion. Quite the contrary. “Platinum Plus was a strip club in Southeast Memphis, says Phelan, “so, when anybody who knows what that is hears ‘Purple Church,’ it’s a nostalgia thing.”

Asked how he happened to choose McCabe, Phelan says McCabe’s wife, Katey, is an owner of the print shop that was downstairs. “He said, ‘Oh, man. I’ve been working on pieces during the pandemic I want to show off.’ Every time he posts, people think it’s a joke. But it’s the real thing. It’s a slew of things. Some graphic art pieces that he made on his computer. Some tapestries he painted on.”

“I’ve always been the creative type,” McCabe says. “Basically, in high school I was in Honors Art 1, 2, and 3. As things go, my conduct kept me out of Art 4. But that’s another story.”

Brian “Skinny” McCabe (Credit: Brian “Skinny” McCabe)

“I’d always doodle on stuff. I’m not taking myself seriously about this at all.” The “funny stuff,” he says, was “kind of fecal drawing. Doo-doo on stuff. And being silly. Cheeseburgers. Things that motivate me.”

He kept his creativity up while running The Hi Tone Cafe. “You have to make posters for upcoming bands and attention-grabbing stuff. So, I’ve always had this creative side. And doing the booking for 300 plus shows a year for 18 years — or however long I’ve been doing it — there’s always something to create.”

McCabe says had a “ton of down time” during the pandemic. He’d just moved The Hi Tone Cafe to a new location at 282-284 North Cleveland Street, and wasn’t getting crowds because of COVID. “My wife suggested I get back into art.”

He began making some “geometric color pop stuff” on the computer. Then he ran across a black and white painting of singer-songwriter John Mayer at a thrift shop. “And I was like, ‘It would be hilarious to make him shitting his pants.’ I don’t know why it struck me that day. So, I just started buying paintings at thrift stores and stuff and painting poop on it.”

That’s why he titled his Seraphim show, “di-ART-rrhea.”

A Brian “Skinny” McCabe work in his di-ART-rrhea show at Seraphim (Credit: Brian “Skinny” McCabe)

McCabe’s show will open with a wine and cheese reception from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday, July 15th. “And then Josh McLane is going to have some sandwiches,” Phelan says.

Seraphim and Purple Church Recording are night-time projects for Phelan, who also is a guitar technician at American Musical Supply in Olive Branch, Mississippi, working on guitars Monday through Friday.

A recording studio, a mixed media gallery, singing and songwriting, and working on guitars — what’s next for Phelan? “This is kind of it for me right now. The plan is in 20 years to be sitting in a mountain home in East Tennessee. But for now, this is what I’m doing.”

For bookings and enquiries, go to natalie@purplechurchrecording.com