Tag: Cooper-Young Fest

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Dolph Love and Scenes from Cooper-Young Festival

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Memphis on the internet.

Dolph Love

The Tennessee State University band paid tribute to Young Dolph during its half-time performance at the recent (and last) Southern Heritage Classic.

Scenes from CY Fest

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Thousands descended upon the 2022 Cooper-Young Festival Saturday, September 17th. The event was back in full force after Covid canceled the fest in 2020 and reduced it in 2021.

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Festival fashion was on display everywhere Saturday, including this look from @memphisfiredancer, showing off some new henna.

Posted to TikTok by @musicismydrugofchoice

CY Fest stages (and audiences) were full once again. Singer/songwriter Bailey Bigger (right) played the Young Avenue stage.

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We Recommend We Saw You

Mike Conley, Cooper-Young Festival, Southern Heritage Classic

CREDIT: Cameron Mann

Cameron Mann

Mike Conley and another guy who sometimes goes by ‘MIke’ and is a big fan.


People passing by the Orion Federal Credit Union headquarters (the old Wonder Bread factory on Monroe) Sept. 13th probably were bowled over to see Mike Conley enter the building.

Conley, the former Memphis Grizzlies guard, was in Memphis to host his 11th annual Bowl-N-Bash to benefit the Methodist Healthcare Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center.

The pre-bash reception was held at Orion, which was the event’s presenting sponsor. The affable Conley, dressed in a black-and-silver shirt and skinny black jeans, chatted with guests.

He wore a T-shirt and black-and-silver shorts the next day at Bowl-N-Bash at Billy Hardwick’s All-Star Lanes.

“Saturday’s event was really special,” says Sarah Farley, Methodist Healthcare Corporate communications specialist. “Mike and his family were all there. And we had over 300 people in attendance. We raised over $90,000 to benefit the Methodist Healthcare Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center.”

Conley was inspired by the health challenges of two of his cousins living with sickle cell disease to partner with Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in 2011 to create a medical environment to help people with the disease. The Sickle Cell Center at Methodist University Hospital opened in 2012.

Michael Donahue

Zach Pretzer, Mary and Mike Conley, and Daniel Weickenand at the Bowl-N-Bash pre-bash reception.

Lisa Buser

Bowl-N-Bash

Lisa Buser

Bowl-N-Bash

Michael Donahue

Cooper-Young Festival

Blame it on the heat.

This year’s Cooper-Young Festival, which was held Sept. 14th, was down by 15,000 to 20,000 people, says Tamara Cook, executive director of the Cooper-Young Business Association. “It was just fantastically hot,” she says. “That’s what got everybody.”

The artists’ booths did great, but, she says, “We got hit by the heat. You didn’t see a lot of people standing in the sun in front of the main stage. People were standing in the shade.”

About 115,000 attended this year’s event. They had three stages, 17 bands, and more than 425 booths.

But the temperature reached 96 degrees around 4 or 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. And it might have felt hotter.

Says Cook: “We’re not used to seeing concrete, you know? When we look across the
crowd we see heads and bodies. This time we saw concrete, which is unusual for us.”

MIchael Donahue

Cooper-Young Festival

Michael Donahue

Sammy Rosenberg, Meitav Menachem, Max Abraham, Gil Brav, and Hadas Brav at Cooper-Young Fest.

Michael Donahue

Cooper-Young Festival

MIchael Donahue

Coltrane Duckworth at Cooper-Young Festival

MIchael Donahue

Cooper-Young Festival

Michael Donahue

Cooper-Young Festival

Commodore Primous and Fred Jones at the Classic Gala.


Southern Heritage founder Fred Jones and Mayor Jim Strickland spoke at the Southern Heritage Classic’s Classic Gala, held Sept. 11th at the Soundstage at Graceland.

Strickland presented the gala, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Southern Heritage Classic.

Alumni from Jackson State University and Tennessee State University attended. The teams played in the Classic, which was held Sept. 14th at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

Trio Plus performed at the gala. Stephanie Scurlock was emcee.

“It was a spectacular opening event for the 30th anniversary,” Jones says. “The location, the food, the music. I’m glad we were able to take the event to the Graceland Soundstage. Graceland is a big part of Memphis and we wanted to showcase Memphis as we celebrate the 30th anniversary.”


Trio Plus at the Classic Gala.

Michael Donahue

Singer-songwriter Ken Stringfellow, who worked with The Posies, R.E.M., and re-formed Big Star, performed at a house concert Sept. 13th at the home of Madelyn Gray.

MIchael Donahue

Nikki Schroeder created the official festival art for the Memphis Food & Wine Festival 2019. The painting was on view at an announcement party at Acre restaurant for the festival, which will be Oct. 12 at Memphis Botanic Garden. With her are chef Andrew Adams and chef/owner Wally Joe.

Michael Donahue

Aldo Dean, owner of Bardog Tavern, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, and Slider Inn, gave visitors a sneak peek of the new Slider Inn on South Main and Talbot at a South Main Association meeting, which was held Sept. 10th.

                                        WE SAW YOU AROUND TOWN

Michael Donahue

Gabriel Valadez at his birthday party.

Michael Donahue

Gabriel Valadez birthday party.

Michael Donahue

Gabriel Valadez birthday party.

Michael Donahue

Grant Slattery and Alex Espinosa on Slattery’s last day Wine Depot.

Michael Donahue

Duff Smith and John McArthur at Fam.

April, Ryan, Jack, Lucille, Maddie, and JR McDaniel on their first visit to Gibson’s Donuts.

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

Tigers, Redbirds, Trump, Porn, and Co-Yo

What a week it was. The football Tigers beat UCLA using a combination of great offense, timely defense, and good ol’ Mid-South heat and humidity. Those California dudes never knew what hit ’em.

And the Memphis Redbirds won the Pacific Coast League championship, beating out all the other teams on the Pacific Coast, including the Nashville Sounds, El Paso Chihuahuas, Omaha Storm Chasers, and the fearsome New Orleans Baby Cakes.

To sum it up: Memphis 2, “Pacific Coast” 0.

It was a week where I found myself agreeing with Donald Trump, at least for a few hours. After a Wednesday night meeting with Democratic Congressional leaders, “Cryin’ Chuck” Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, Trump began his Thursday morning by tweeting: “Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated, and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!” Followed by: “They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own — brought in by parents at young age.”

The paleo wing of the GOP went nuts. Ann Coulter tweeted, “Who doesn’t want to impeach Trump?” Sean Hannity blamed it all on Mitch McConnell for “forcing” his hero to “work with Democrats.”

Trump had seemingly done a complete flip-flop on DACA overnight. My guess is that Pelosi shook Trump’s hand and said, “Oh my, it’s so BIG!!” and Trump agreed to everything she asked, including a deal to save the Dreamers and turn the border wall into a cheery Tex-Mex restaurant.

Sadly, the “deal” only lasted a few hours, and Trump quickly deleted his tweets.

So it goes with this guy. Save DACA. Eliminate DACA. Build the wall, and the Mexicans will pay for it. The wall’s already being built, and we’ll bill Mexico later. Wall? What wall? Trump is a presidential pinball, caroming from one “decision” to another, depending on the last player who flips him.

So what else happened? Oh yeah, Ted Cruz got caught watching porn, or better said, “liking” a porn video with his Twitter account. The New Yorker‘s Andy Borowitz tweeted: “Porn Industry Irrevocably Damaged by Association with Ted Cruz.” Cruz blamed it on his staff, of course. His staff. Huh-huh.

The Emmys happened. Alec Baldwin won an award for his Saturday Night Live impression of Trump. Kate McKinnon won for her SNL impression of Hillary Clinton. And America wept, thinking either of these two comedians would probably make a better president than what we’ve got. Then Sean Spicer got up and reprised his acting gig from the actual White House, and the already fuzzy line between reality and comedy was blurred beyond recognition.

What else? Oh yeah, Trump supporters held the “Mother of All Rallies” in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. About 800 people showed up. Which, as someone pointed out on Twitter, is what happens when you name your march after Mike Pence’s wife. The MOAR crowd was outnumbered by a marching contingent of Juggalos, who are fans of the band, Insane Clown Posse. Write your own Trump joke. You can’t make this stuff up. Though I kind of wish you could.

Back in Memphis, 130,000 people attended the Cooper-Young Festival. I heard a record 37,000 windchimes were sold. I also heard we’re supposed to call Cooper-Young “Co-Yo” now. And I got this from a beardy guy drinking a craft beer, so it must be true.

Overton Park Conservancy director Tina Sullivan went to the Co-Yo Fest and tweeted: “Highlight of this year’s CY Fest was the elderly gentleman asking my opinion on public nudity & saying he might organize a Naked Bike Ride.”

First, I’d like to say that I’m not that “elderly.” And second, I think we should do it around the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue as it’s being taken down.

And in a final somber note to a weird week, British writer Kathy Lette wrote: “Sad news. I’ve just heard that the bloke who invented predictive text has pissed away. His funfair is next monkey.”

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We Recommend We Saw You

Cooper-Young Fest, Big Bugs, Art of Caring

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Pauldarius Brown and Paula Raiford at Cooper-Young Festival.

You probably bumped into somebody you knew at the Cooper-Young Festival. Literally.

About 125,000 people attended this year’s event, which was held Sept. 17, said Tamara Cook, Cooper-Young Business Association executive director.

“We were down about 5,000 or 10,000, but they think it was probably the football game,” she said.

Cook was referring to the University of Memphis/UCLA game, held the same day. Many Tiger blue shirts were seen at the festival after U of M’s win.

Music was in the air – and not just from the jubilant pigskin fans. “We had 17 bands on three stages,” Cook said. “And that’s not counting the fringe festivals that were going on. Memphis Made had six bands down there. I think Cafe Ole in their back parking lot had bands all day. And bands were at 381 South Cooper. I can’t keep up with all those people. It’s always something new every year.”

This year’s festival also included 425 artists booths, Cook said.

She rated this year’s event as great. “Everything is always good in Cooper-Young. How can it not be?”

…….

Michael Donahue

Terri Fox and David H. G. Rogers at Big Bugs.

Guests drank green “Bug Juice” (not made with bugs, but with green Kool-Aid) and ate bug (made with icing)-decorated cookies at the VIB (Very Big Bug Party) Sept. 14 at Memphis Botanic Center. The event was a preview party for the new exhibit, “David Rogers’s Big Bugs at the Garden.”

The party included sponsors, donors, media, board members and others. As well as the children and grand-children of guests.

David Rogers, who created and built the giant wooden bugs, also attended. The bugs, which stand up to 18-feet tall, represent eight different species.

“It was fun to see the bugs change personalities as the evening grew darker and the colorful lighting of the bugs came up,” said the center’s executive director Mike Allen.

The exhibit, on view through Jan. 1, is “important to MBG in that we hope it will raise awareness about our gardens as a local attraction, break down any barriers or misconceptions people might have about what a botanic garden is, drive more visitors from all parts of our community ot the Garden, increase attendance and, ultimately, create more members.”

OBJECKT 12 will provide the tunes and local food trucks, the food.

Note: Those who want some grown-up “bug juice” can attend the Bug Crawl at the Garden 7 to 10 p.m. Sept. 30. While viewing the big bugs, guests can sip beer from numerous breweries at stations adjacent to each wooden insect.

……

Michael Donahue

Jim and Missy Rainer at Art of Caring.

About 250 people attended Art of Caring Sept. 14 at Shelby Farms Park FedEx Event Center, said Missy Rainer, who co-chaired the event with her husband, Jim.

The event benefits the Baptist Reynolds Hospice House in Collierville and the Center for Good Grief.

Dana and Frazer Gieselmann were honorary co-chairs of the event, which included food from A Moveable Feast and a silent auction.

Judy Vandergrift worked on a painting in the midst of the partiers. The completed work then was included in the silent auction.

Ken Hall was art curator.

[slideshow-1]

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Music Music Features

Guitar Wolf at Cooper Young Fest

This Saturday afternoon, Japanese rock-and-rollers Guitar Wolf will invade Cooper-Young Fest for a performance on the stage sponsored by Goner Records and the Grizzlies. Formed in Nagasaki in 1987, Guitar Wolf are the living embodiment of garage rock, complete with stage names (Guitar Wolf, Bass Wolf, Drum Wolf), blistering fuzzed-out rock riffs, and a whole lot of leather. The band is the only out-of-town act to perform at any of the stages during Cooper-Young Fest, but their ties to Memphis run deep, as Goner Records released Wolf Rock! way back in 1993. That record would be the first release for Goner, followed by the release of the Oblivians album Call the Shots. Not a bad start.

Guitar Wolf

If there were a best-case scenario to see a band like Guitar Wolf, Cooper-Young Fest is probably it. The festival will no doubt be packed, and watching a band like Guitar Wolf blow the minds of innocent bystanders who only wanted to buy some artisan craft goods could and very well may be your best source of entertainment all month. After working with Goner, Guitar Wolf released records on Matador and even Sony before forming their own record label and releasing T-Rex from a Tiny Space Yojouhan earlier this year. The band is also playing at the Hi-Tone later that night with tour mates Hans Condor (another band pushing the limits of live rock-and-roll), but that show will cost you $12.

Other highlights at Cooper-Young Fest include Chickasaw Mound (also on the Goner Stage), the Dirty Streets (headlining the main stage), and Reverend John Wilkins (playing the Mulan Stage). Plan accordingly.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Cooper Young Fest Announces 2016 Music Lineup

Guitar Wolf from Nagasaki, Japan play the 2016 Cooper Young Fest.

Last week the music lineup for the 2016 Cooper Young Festival on Saturday, September 17th was announced. The lineup features a diverse array of twenty different acts, with the only non-local band being Guitar Wolf from Japan. Other highlights include Chickasaw Mound, Rev. John Wilkins, and The Dirty Streets.

The festival runs from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is 100% free to attend. The Galloway house will also be hosting an after party sponsored by Rock 103, with the proceeds from the night going towards the Johnny Cash statue fundraiser. Check out the lineup below. 

Music Lineup for the Main Stage:
11:15 Los Cantadors
12:15 Brennan Villines
1:15 Detective Bureau
2:15 Hope Clayburn
3:15 James and the Ultrasounds
4:15 Susan Marshall w/special guest, Reba Russell
5:15 HEADLINER – Dirty Streets

Music Lineup for the Memphis Grizzlies/Goner Records Stage:
12:30 Chickasaw Mound
1:30 Mark Edgar Stuart
2:30 Alicja Pop
3:30 Tyler Keith and the Apostles
4:30 Guitar Wolf

Music Lineup for the Mulan Bistro Stage:
11:15 Brandon Taylor
12:00 Jana Jana
12:45 Me and Leah
1:30 Rev. John Wilkins
2:15 Grace Askew
3:00 Dave Cousar
3:45 Marcella & Her Lovers
4:30 Motel Mirrors

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About the Flyer’s editorial, “Suburbs of Nothing” …

Please let us folks in the ‘burbs know when Memphis becomes one of those walkable, lively urban environments. By ‘lively,” I don’t mean lively with gunfire, either. Or perhaps the Memphis mayor could start to heal the breach by simply sitting down and talking with the suburban mayors, something that has not happened in years.

Perhaps he could start the conversation by explaining why the city filed a lawsuit in federal court during the schools debate and described us as racists. Actually used that word, too. Because that is one of those things we still, as the article says, “perceive as undesirable.” Until then, I think we are happy being “nominally independent.” Seems to be working for us pretty well.

Arlington Pop

“Seems to be working for us pretty well.” It’s all relative. Compared to other metropolitan areas, suburban Memphis is performing at about the same level as the central city. What the article did not mention from Mayor Cornett’s speech was the fact that demographics show that those under the age of 35 are overwhelmingly choosing to reject the suburbs of their parents’ generation for vibrant central cities with more urban settings. They are choosing community and character over acres of bermuda and lengthy commutes. If a metropolitan area’s central city lacks the quality of life this group prefers, they are simply bypassing the entire metropolitan area for destinations with vibrant urban centers. In other words, the decline of a city inevitably yields a decline (or stagnation) of its suburbs.

Barf

The only “under 35s” moving into Memphis are those without children, those with children who can afford private school, and those who have no idea what they are doing (the uninitiated) because they transferred here from wherever and made the mistake of believing what HR-recommended realtors told them. And those without any other choice.

Ichabod McCrane

Sorry, but a bad day in Midtown Memphis is better than a good day in Arlington.

Gpearson

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s column on magical thinking …

“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” — H.L. Mencken, 1926.

OakTree

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “CBHS Student Not Allowed to Bring Same-Sex Date to Prom” …

Maybe this Catholic school needs to listen to their leader, Pope Francis: “Religion has a right to give an opinion as long as it is in service to the people. If someone asks my advice, I have the right to give it to them. The religious minister, at times, draws attention to certain points of private or public life because he is the parishioners’ guide. However, he does not have the right to force anything on anyone’s private life. If God, in creation, ran the risk of making us free, who am I to get involved? We condemn spiritual harassment that takes place when a minister imposes directives, conduct, and demands in such a way that it takes away the freedom of the other person.”

Charley Eppes

About the Cooper-Young Fest …

I attended the Cooper-Young festival Saturday and had a great time, except the crosswalk at Central and Cooper does not have a cross signal for pedestrians.

This event was heavily attended. I crossed the intersection twice. The first time, there were no police to direct or to ensure the safety of pedestrians. On the return trip, there was a policeman with his back to Central so he could not see, and he was engaged in a conversation on his phone. When he got off his phone, he finally realized the 200 pedestrians had taken matters into their own hands, or their own feet, so he began blowing his whistle and began yelling at the final stragglers.

This was a great crowd of decent respectful citizens. Can’t the city afford an automated crosswalk? It would utilize the cops better and would be a hell of a lot safer for everyone else.

David Blakely