… And we’re back for 2023! Now that you’re over your New Year’s Eve hangover, we’ve got plenty of great stuff on Memphis’ big screens to distract you from the work you must perform now that the holidays are over.
If your post-holiday blues are leading you to a dark place, we recommend M3GAN. Nepo baby Allison Williams stars as a roboticist named Gemma who unexpectedly has to raise her orphaned niece Cady (Violet McGraw). Her big labor saving idea to create a robotic best friend for Cady who will protect her from all harm, both physical and emotional. What could possibly go wrong?
If Terminator Babies doesn’t scratch your itch for total reality escape, now is the time to catch Avatar: The Way of Water in 3D IMAX. James Cameron’s long-gestating sequel is actually pretty good, and you’ve got to see it in a theater to get the full effect.
Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt lead an all star cast in Damien Chazelle’s decadent tribute to Old Hollywood, Babylon. Did you know they did cocaine in the silent era? Because they absolutely did.
British actress Naomi Ackie tackles a hell of a difficult role in the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. How do you play someone with a very distinctive look and a once-in-a-generation voice?
Black Lodge is spending the new year plumbing its collection for classics. On Sunday, that means David Cronenberg’s 1996 masterpiece Crash. Adopted from the J.G. Ballard novel about people who sexually fetishize automobile accidents, this slow-burn erotic thriller boasts one of Holly Hunter’s greatest (and strangest) performances.
January Tuesdays at Black Lodge are dedicated to Alfred Hitchcock, and the next one features what may be my personal favorite Hitch: 1951’s Strangers on a Train. Robert Walker was fresh out of being hospitalized for mental illness at the Menninger Clinic when he was cast as the film’s villain, and died under mysterious circumstances shortly after the premiere. Watch as the best “murderous, yet charming psychopath” in film history reels in his mark.
Thursday, Crosstown Theater screens a very different kind of classic. Werner Herzog is best known today for doing compelling, personal documentaries and guest shots on The Mandalorian. But before he was famous for his world-weary voice, he directed a string of intense films in the 1970s, many starring his frenemy Klaus Kinski. In Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Kinski stars as a Spanish conquistador who leads his band of soldiers and camp followers on a suicide mission into the Amazon jungle. In this trailer, watch for the scene where Kinski intimidates a horse. I’m betting that was an improv.
Big Star tribute featuring Andrew VanWyngarden on vocals (Photo: Alex Greene).
There was an unmistakable feeling of history being made at the Crosstown Theater on Saturday night, as the ultimate Big Star tribute band, featuring original drummer Jody Stephens, took to the stage and delivered a stunning set of power pop classics.
The quintet featured Stephens and latter-day Big Star alum Jon Auer, who performed extensively with Ken Stringfellow and Alex Chilton from 1993 until Chilton’s untimely death in 2010. Filling out the lineup were Pat Sansone (Wilco, Autumn Defense), Chris Stamey (the dB’s), and Mike Mills (R.E.M.). All players brought impressive vocal chops and multi-instrumental abilities to bear on recreating the band’s classic tracks from the 1970s, especially its debut, #1 Record. The show, presented by Mempho for community radio station WYXR’s Raised by Sound Fest, celebrated the 50th anniversary of that album, originally released in June of 1972.
As such, it marked an apotheosis of sorts for the band, which suffered from poor distribution in its heyday. While critics raved about their recorded output, the group never became the phenomenon that their debut’s title seemed to presage. Yet that was forgotten as the band played to a sold-out house last week, with the original arrangements lovingly recreated by the current quintet.
Auer’s Gibson SG launched the proceedings with the opening crunch of “Feel,” and with that, they were off. Sansone and Stamey often wielded Fender guitars, though both could frequently be seen manning the keyboards on stage right, which included a digital Mellotron. Mills, for his part, played bass on most of the tunes, though he relinquished that duty when he sang lead vocal, or, on “In the Street,” played cowbell.
Holding it all down was Stephens’ powerful drumming, true to his original parts nearly roll for roll, and bursting with the energy of a much younger man. Stephens has also come into his own as a singer, as made clear when he sang “Thirteen,” often associated with Chilton’s original vocal, with great delicacy.
Guest vocalists made brief appearances, with MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden taking the stratospheric lead on “Give Me Another Chance,” and Greg Cartwright of the Oblivians, Reigning Sound, and other bands, delivering “Try Again.”
After playing #1 Record in full, the group took a short break and returned with other songs from the band’s catalog, including Radio City standouts like “September Gurls,” “Back of a Car,” “You Get What You Deserve,” and “O My Soul.” After launching into the latter, the players seemed stymied in the middle of the song, and ground to a halt. With Auer quipping that they were playing “the single version,” Sansone struck up the band once again and they carried off the tune with aplomb.
Several Chris Bell songs were also featured, much to the crowd’s delight, including “You and Your Sister,” “There was a Light,” and “I Am the Cosmos.” Tracks from Third/Sister Lovers were also featured, including “Jesus Christ,” “Thank You Friends,” and an impassioned vocal on “Nighttime” by Stamey. Stephens and Auer also sang a song they co-wrote for the latter-day band’s In Space album, “February’s Quiet.” Generally, the band hit their marks expertly throughout the show: the guitars rocked or lilted, as needed, the vocal harmonies soared, and the grooves grooved.
The crowd was loath to let the band leave, standing for multiple encores. While many Memphis albums from 1972 are surely deserving of such an anniversary show, the fact that this one took place stands as a testament to the band’s panache and power, half a century later.
One striking thing about WYXR, a relative newcomer to the Memphis community radio game, is the synergy it’s been able to develop with its partners: The Daily Memphian, the University of Memphis, and Crosstown Concourse. Their ties to the latter really pay off when it comes to public happenings, and this coming weekend epitomizes that. The inaugural Raised By Sound Music Festival, presented by MEMPHO, will make use of nearly all the spaces available at the Concourse.
It begins Saturday with an afternoon of free music, in both the central atrium and Crosstown Brewing Company. Listeners can check out a remarkably eclectic lineup that reflects the station’s commitment to diversity. The atrium will feature Mak Ro (1:30), Whelk Stall (2:20), and Erin Rae (6:30), while Crosstown Brewing will host Lemon’s (3:10), Doll McCoy (4:00), Idi X Teco (4:50), and Nots (5:40).
But the highlight is undoubtedly an example of WYXR not only reaching across genres, but deep into history as well: a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Big Star’s #1 Record in Crosstown Theater, with an all-star version of the band led by founding member Jody Stephens. Beyond that, there’s still more happening in The Green Room, where MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and Bodywerk will DJ an after-party.
Big Star’s appearance will be a crowning moment in the band’s history, which began in 1971 with the high hopes, ambitions, and talents of founders Chris Bell, Alex Chilton, Andy Hummel, and Jody Stephens, but didn’t include large audiences or record sales — at the time. Now, of course, the band’s onetime cult status is recognized as the inspiration for many bands that came after, including R.E.M. and the Replacements.
The ultimate sign of their renaissance, long after Bell’s tragic death in 1978, was the version of the band led by Chilton that began playing in 1993, featuring Stephens and erstwhile Posies Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. Since Chilton’s death in 2010 (followed that same year by Hummel’s passing), lone survivor Stephens has curated a series of tribute shows, typically honoring Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers album, but including other songs from the band’s catalog, built around a large, rotating cast of talents that often included orchestral players.
This time around, the revival of Big Star will bring it back to it’s founding principle: a tight, sparse rock band with an ear for dynamic arrangements, riffs, and vocal harmonies. Pared down to a quintet featuring Stephens, Auer, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Pat Sansone of Wilco, and Chris Stamey of the dB’s, this iteration of Big Star will likely rock harder than any version of the group since Chilton’s death.
To get a sense of how this quintet is approaching #1 Record‘s 50th Anniversary show, I reached Jody Stephens in Athens, Georgia, where he was waiting to play later that night. The group is taking the anniversary show on the road, but for Stephens, playing Memphis is ground zero.
Memphis Flyer:You’re playing Athens tonight. Big Star really had an impact down there, very early on.
Jody Stephens: Yeah, Mike Mills and Peter Buck were the first two musicians that had some popularity to start talking about Big Star. And then of course there were the Replacements and several others. But what initiated that was, first of all, John Fry was the genius behind engineering and mixing the Big Star records. So they sounded amazing. But John King made sure they got into the hands of all the rock writers. And he was really effective at that. And because he was able to do that at the rock writers convention, people who were into music, especially pop rock or alternative music, at least knew who Big Star was. The whole reason we can play these dates, celebrating #1 Record‘s 50th Anniversary is that we had a lot of things going for us in the early ’70s. Now, the music’s had an impact on us all. And then there are the communities that gather for these shows. And the various lineups we’ve had. This one in particular: Mike Mills, Pat Sansone, Chris Stamey, Jon Auer, and myself — being able to get out and play these shows means a lot to us.
I remember the sense of discovery I felt when a friend first played me #1 Record, back in our twenties. It felt like you were going into a parallel universe with a whole other body of radio hits. Every song was just a gem, so finely crafted, it sounded like the LP was meant to be a hit.
Thanks! That’s a good way to put it. A parallel universe!
I guess it was a hit, just in very slow motion.
Yeah. I’m glad we did that record early on in my life, or I wouldn’t be around to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. Or at least be capable of playing. You know, I just turned 70, and I don’t give up playing because I’d give up this community of people.
It must feel great to be doing these songs live. I suppose it’s the first time some of them will be performed live?
We’re doing “Life is White” now, and that was never performed live by Big Star. The Lemon Twigs joined us when we played the Wild Honey Foundation concert in Los Angeles, and they’re joining us again in Jersey City. And that’s kind of what prompted our doing “Life is White,” but we’ll be doing it in Memphis now, just as a five piece. Also “There was a Light,” and things like “Try Again.”
You’ve done several as part of the Big Star’s Third concerts, correct? But not all of #1 Record.
Yeah, there are a bunch of new ones. All of these people treat these songs with great care and great feel. Chris Stamey has been brilliant in picking people that come with the right spirit and feel for this music.
This current quintet looks like the best ensemble you’ve had yet.
What we’re doing with a five piece rock band is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. And it just happens to make it all more feasible. It’s hard to take ten people on the road, with string sections and brass sections, and even break even. But that’s the other cool thing: everybody comes to this with a heart to do it. Just to do it. So it’s cool. I’m excited about playing Memphis with this line up.
I suppose it’s freeing to be a more stripped-down rock band again, just as it all started. There’s nothing like a small rock band to rock a little harder.
It’s true — you can’t hide! There aren’t 18-20 people onstage, so what you do becomes a lot more pronounced and featured.
I imagine that it will be pretty emotional, bringing these songs to life in Memphis.
Yeah, it is. There are some wonderful people in Memphis, and we’ve had a lot of support over the years. We were lucky. Sometimes it’s hard for local bands to get support, locally. But we’ve always had a lot of support in Memphis, and the audience for Big Star has certainly grown over the years. It feels good. Memphis is home, and it’s really nice to be embraced by your home.
As a performer, with so much of the past wrapped up in these songs, is the memory of band mates and friends who have passed away a distraction?
It is from time to time. It’s a nice one. I know on “The India Song,” sometimes I get a little emotional, to the point of having to look away for a second. Because Andy was … I’d known Andy since the seventh grade, and I just had this kinship with Andy all those years. I was closer to Andy than Chris and Alex. I always admired him. So singing “The India Song” and certainly “Way Out West,” that Andy wrote too, yeah, it can get emotional.
I believe you sang “Way Out West” on the record. Did Andy sing “The India Song”?
Yeah, Andy sang it with Alex. There are two voices on “The India Song,” and it could be that Andy’s is the primary voice. And you know what, we might even have the multitrack of that. I know Chris [Bell] erased the multitracks for most of #1 Record. But I think “The India Song” may have escaped. But that’s another story! [laughs]. It got to the point where, on one of our tape boxes someone wrote something like, “Ten songs conveniently grouped for bulk erasure.” That was probably John Fry, or maybe Andy.
Like a little dig at Chris?
Yeah.
I suppose this quintet is playing the whole album, and then some.
We are. Things from Radio City, a couple from Third, and some of Chris’ songs. “I Got Kinda Lost,” “There Was a Light,” “Fight at the Table,” I think. Jon Auer will sing “I Am the Cosmos.” Chris did some great rock and roll songs. “Fight at the Table,” with Jim Dickinson on piano on that recording, is just raucous. Especially if you focus on Jim’s piano playing. He tore it up.
Big Star had some real rockers, right out of the gate. It was cool to see that the title for this tour is Don’t Lie to Me. It wasn’t one of the bigger hits. You’re highlighting a real rocker.
It’s kind of an action phrase, really. Chris Stamey asked me, “What do you want to call this tour?” And I thought about it and said “Don’t Lie to Me.” Because it’s a declarative statement. There’s no deep, profound message to it, it’s just declarative.
In a sense, “Don’t Lie to Me” really captures the sort of fearless vulnerability and radical honesty of the original Big Star aesthetic.
It’s true. It definitely does. That was the thing. Alex and Chris and Andy were all writing from that perspective. In an honest way, they were pouring out their feelings. It’s a reflection of where they were in their lives. And that’s pretty key to connecting with people.
I’m really looking forward to the harmony singing with this quintet. Everyone in the group has great vocal chops.
Well, we’ll have a couple of dates under our belt by Saturday, as a five piece. And you know the cool thing about starting in Athens is, we’re rehearsing at the R.E.M. building in downtown Athens. You walk in the space and… it was like the incubator for all those R.E.M. records. All the time and thought and creative moments that must have taken place in that space… it’s pretty inspirational. It’s a lot like going into Ardent and practicing and recording.
While rehearsing, have you had any drop-ins? Like Peter Buck jamming?
Peter lives in Portland, as far as I know. So not Peter, but Bill Barry will be coming around today. I’d love for him to sit in on drums. I know he’s gonna sit in on cowbell for “In the Street.”
That’s the ultimate ‘more cowbell’ song.
Yes. It is.
Working with WYXR was what caused this show to happen. What does WYXR mean to you?
WYXR and Robby, Kate, and Jared have been so supportive and accommodating over Big Star shows, and Those Pretty Wrongs, my duo with Luther Russell. That continued hometown support really initiated this tour. Without that Memphis show being the anchor, I don’t know that these other shows would’ve happened. So I’m very grateful for that.
(from top to bottom) Scenes from the pioneering 1922 horror film Häxan, Howard Bell’s Jookin, and Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb's Butterfly in the Sky.
These days, it seems that film discourse is dominated by discussions about the future. But while there are real issues facing the unique combination of art and commerce we call cinema, there’s more to movies than just the multiplex — and that’s what Indie Memphis has specialized in for the last 25 years.
“We are kind of in our own lane,” says Executive Director Kimel Fryer. “Indie Memphis is like no other film festival, because Memphis is like no other city.”
Indie Memphis was founded in 1998 by a group of University of Memphis film students led by Kelly Chandler. Known then as the Memphis Independent Film Festival, it attracted about 40 people to a Midtown coffee shop, where they watched student movies projected on a sheet hung on the wall. Nowadays, the annual festival boasts an attendance of more than 11,000, and the organization hosts programming and events year-round, such as the monthly Shoot & Splice programs, where filmmakers provide deep dives into their craft. The Indie Grants program was created in 2014 to help fund Memphis-made short films. The Black Creators Forum began in 2017 to help address the historic racial inequalities in filmmaking. During the pandemic, Eventive, a Memphis-based cinema services company that began as Indie Memphis’ online ticketing system, pioneered the virtual programming which is now an established feature of film festivals worldwide.
“It took 25 years for Indie Memphis to become an organization that reflects the city,” says Artistic Director Miriam Bale. “But each step along the way has added to what makes it special now.”
Memphis Grizzlies superstar Z-Bo in Michael Blevins’ 50 for Da City.Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová in Daisies.Tahar Rahim is a jilted lover in Don Juan.
A New Leader
Kimel Fryer took over as Indie Memphis’ new executive director only a few weeks ago. But she is no stranger to either Memphis or the world of independent film. She’s a West Tennessee native whose mother has taught at Oak Elementary since the mid-1990s. “My mom was always tough on me, and I’m grateful for it because I ended up kind of inheriting that from her,” she says. “In my mind, I’m supposed to reach for the stars. I’m supposed to overachieve.”
Fryer holds graduate degrees in law and business from the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She has worked for companies as diverse as Lincoln Pacific and Pfizer, and left FedEx to take over the reins of Indie Memphis when Knox Shelton resigned after only a year on the job. The mother of two saw it as an opportunity to merge her professional life with her passion for film. “When I was working for Chrysler, I realized that I had this amazing job that I worked my butt off for,” she says. “It was a great company with great benefits. But I was depressed. If I wanna be completely honest, it was one of the saddest periods of my life.”
Growing up, Fryer had tried her hand at writing, and she had been involved with theater and band programs in high school and college. In Detroit, she found a new outlet for her creativity when she volunteered as casting director for filmmaker Robert Mychal Patrick Butler’s Life Ain’t Like the Movies. “The independent film world is very visible in Detroit,” she says.
When she landed Coming 2 America star Paul Bates for a role in the film, Butler promoted her to producer. “I said, ‘What is a producer?’ He said, ‘You’re kinda already doing it.’”
Fryer wrote and directed her own short film, “Something’s Off,” which will screen at Indie Memphis 2022. She says she got her acceptance email just a few weeks before she found out she was going to be the new executive director. “I’ve found this career where I could kind of wrap all my skills into one job,” she says. “I could actually be my full self all the time, which is really my dream.
“I’m very eager to learn and eager to meet other people, understand how they do things. But I’m also cognizant of the fact that I am coming back to Memphis, and we’ve always been a different city that has marched to the beat of our own drum. We’ve got to continue that as we continue to grow and strive for greatness in the film community. I’m really excited about what’s next. I believe in Indie Memphis. I believe in the staff. I believe we are headed towards a great film festival.”
The Picture Taker
From the 1950s to his death in 2007, it seemed that photographer Ernest Withers was everywhere. “We keep calling him a Zelig-like figure or like Forrest Gump,” says Phil Bertelsen, director of Indie Memphis 2022’s opening night film The Picture Taker. “He was at every flash point in Civil Rights history, and then some.”
Ernest Withers, courtesy of the Withers Family Trust.
Withers was a tireless documenter of Black life in the South. His work even appeared in publications like Jet and the Chicago Defender. “Some of my favorite photos of his are street portraits — the photos he took of everyday people just going about their daily business,” says Bertelsen.
“I think what made him almost like a father figure in Memphis was the fact that he recorded his community’s lives literally from birth to death,” says producer Lise Yasui. “He left behind an estimated 1.8 million photos. They are of every major event in every family’s life — as we say, it’s celebrations as well as sorrows. He locked that into their histories and made sure that they had these records of the lives they lived. Those photographs are really beautiful. They have an intimacy that can only come from someone inside the community.”
Three years after Withers’ 2007 death, Commercial Appeal reporter Marc Perrusquia revealed that the trusted photographer had been a paid informant for the FBI. The news came as a shock to many in the community, who saw it as a betrayal of the Civil Rights activists who had trusted Withers. “When you go behind the headlines and the surface of it all, you recognize that there’s a lot of nuance and complexity to that choice that he made at that time,” says the director. “What we attempted to do with the film is to try to understand that time, that choice, and the man who was at the center of it all.
“I think it could be said, without question, that Ernest was a patriot who believed in the hope and promise of this country,” continues Bertelsen. “Don’t forget he was a fourth-generation American war veteran.”
Withers was far from the only one talking to the FBI — their reports refer to him as source #338. “I had the privilege and the workload of reading as many of the FBI files as we could get our hands on,” says Yasui. “They tell a story that’s pretty intense and really detailed in terms of names, places, affiliations, and friendships — everything down to personal gossip. The other thing that you have to understand is they are FBI records written by FBI agents. So there’s not a single document in the 7,000+ pages that I’ve read that is a direct quote from Ernest himself. It’s always through the lens of his FBI handler. That’s not to say that what he wrote was not accurate, but it’s filtered through their agenda, which was to root out radicals who were allegedly inside the Civil Rights movement. …We heard testimony that he basically kept people from harm’s way because he knew what he knew. But at the same time, he damaged the reputations of people by informing on them. It was a double-edged sword that he was wielding.”
Ironically, it’s people like Coby Smith, a member of the Memphis-based Black Power group The Invaders, prime targets of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program, who defend Withers in The Picture Taker. “He was a man of great reputation and appreciation,” says Bertelsen. “In fact, we were hard-pressed to find anyone who had anything negative to say about him, even after it was shown that he informed on them.”
For Bertelsen and Yasui, this is the end of a six-year journey. “We are so grateful to the many people of Memphis who helped us get this story, especially the family who really took a leap of faith by trusting us with his images,” says Bertelsen. “They’ve had to face some very painful revelations about their patriarch, and they’re still facing them. I think it shows a certain amount of grace and trust and understanding. There are a lot of ways you can interpret this story, and they haven’t shied away from the truth. They told us they learned things about their dad that they didn’t know before, through this film. That’s very gratifying to us.”
The Poor & Hungry
In 2021, Craig Brewer directed Coming 2 America. It was his second collaboration with comedy superstar Eddie Murphy, and the biggest hit in the history of Amazon Studios.
In 2000, the biggest job Brewer had ever held was a clerk at Barnes & Noble bookstore. That was the year his first feature film, The Poor & Hungry, premiered at Indie Memphis. “I still feel that it was the biggest premiere that I’ve ever been to, and the one with the highest stakes,” he says. “Winning Best Feature for 2000 is still the greatest award I can ever remember winning in my life. … The festival back then was a beacon. It was the North Star. We were all making something so we could showcase it at Indie Memphis. It’s something I hope is still happening with the younger filmmakers today. I had another short that year called ‘Cleanup In Booth B.’ It was a big, productive time for me. But it was also the first time ever to see my work being shown in front of people at a movie theater.”
Craig Brewer’s The Poor & Hungry, which premiered at Indie Memphis Festival in 2000, will return to the festival.
The Poor & Hungry is the story of Eli (Eric Tate), a Memphis car thief who accidentally falls in love with one of his victims, a cellist named Amanda (Lake Latimer). The characters’ lives revolve around the P&H Cafe, a legendary Midtown dive bar which was run by the flamboyant Wanda Wilson, who plays herself. To call the black-and-white feature, shot with a handheld digital camcorder, “gritty” is a massive understatement. But Brewer was able to wring some striking, noir-like images from his cheap equipment, and the film features a series of great performances, most notably Lindsey Roberts’ stunning turn as Harper, a lesbian street hustler.
“I think what I got right on it is something that I tried to carry over to Hustle & Flow, which was, how do you create characters that, if somebody were to just describe them to you, you would say, ‘I don’t think I would like them’? But then, when you start watching them in the story, you find that you not only love them, but you want them to succeed, and you feel for them when they’re in pain.”
Made for $20,000, which Brewer inherited when his father Walter died suddenly of a heart attack, The Poor & Hungry would go on to win Best Feature at the Hollywood Film Festival, defeating films which had cost millions to produce. It got his foot in the door in Hollywood and earned him the opportunity to direct his second feature film Hustle & Flow, which was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning one for Three 6 Mafia’s song “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp.”
The Poor & Hungry will return to the festival where it premiered as part of Indie Memphis’ 25th anniversary celebration. “When I look at it now, I view it as an artifact of a time in Memphis. There are so many places that aren’t there anymore. The P&H Cafe that it’s named after is no more, and Wanda has left this planet in bodily form but remains in spirit. I’m so glad that I captured all that. It’s good to see a Memphis that may not be there anymore. But most importantly, I hope people come see it because it’s the movie that I point people to when they say that they want to make a movie but they think it’s impossible. Well, I made this with just a small camcorder, a microphone, four clamp lights, and a lot of effort.”
Hometown Heroes
It’s a bumper crop year for the Hometowner categories, which showcase films made here in the Bluff City. In addition to anniversary celebrations of Brewer’s The Poor & Hungry and this columnist’s punk rock documentary Antenna, nine features from Memphis filmmakers are screening during the festival.
Jookin is Howard Bell IV’s story of an aspiring dancer caught up in Memphis street life. The ’Vous by Jack Porter Lofton and Jeff Dailey is a documentary about the world-famous Rendezvous restaurant. Ready! Fire! Aim! is Melissa Sweazy’s portrait of Memphis entrepreneur Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inn. Show Business Is My Life — But I Can’t Prove It by G.B. Shannon is a documentary about the 50-year career of comedian Gary Mule Deer. Michael Blevins’ 50 for Da City recounts Z-Bo’s legendary run as a Memphis Grizzly. Cxffeeblack to Africa by Andrew Puccio traces Bartholomew Jones’ pilgrimage to Ethiopia to discover the roots of the java trade. United Front: The People’s Convention 1991Memphis is Chuck O’Bannon’s historical documentary about the movement that produced Memphis’ first Black mayor. Daphene R. McFerren’s Facing Down Storms: Memphis and the Making of Ida B. Wells sheds light on the Black journalist’s early years in the Bluff City. The Recycle King is Julian Harper’s character sketch of fashion designer Paul Thomas.
Bartholomew Jones in Andrew Puccio’s documentary Cxffeeblack to AfricaJack Oblivian in the Memphis punk rock documentary Antenna
On opening night is the Hometowner Narrative Shorts Competition. In recent years, this has been the toughest category in the entire festival, where Memphis filmmakers stretch their talents to the limits for 10 minutes at a time.
Janay Kelley is one of eight filmmakers whose works were chosen to screen in the narrative shorts competition. A junior at Rhodes College, she’s a product of the Indie Memphis CrewUp mentorship program, and two-time Grand Prize winner at the Indie Memphis Youth Festival. “This is my first film festival as an adult,” she says.
Kelley’s film is “The River,” an experimental marriage of imagery and verse. “My grandmother told me once that the river that you got baptized in could be the same river that drowns you in the morning. I like that dichotomy of healing and of destroying, of accepting new people into your life and saying, ‘Will you help me or will you harm me?’”
Kelley provides her own narration for the film, which was based on a prose poem she wrote while still in high school. “I take a lot of inspiration from my Southern heritage, especially from the women in my family,” she says.
The visuals reference several Black artists of the 20th century, especially the painting Funeral Procession by Ellis Wilson, which was famously featured on The Cosby Show. Kelley treats the many women, young and old, who appear in the film with a portraitist’s touch.
“Before I started in films, I was really into photography, and you can see a lot of that still in my work,” she says. “I come from a very poor background. There is a specific picture of my mother, my grandmother, and my aunt, and they got it taken at the fair. Back in the day, they used to take people’s portraits there, so some families would get dressed up to go to the fair to get their portraits taken, because they couldn’t afford to get it done any way else. What you need to know about being poor and Black in the South is that a lot of us don’t live long. So some of the stories I’ve heard about my family members, I’ve heard after they have died, and I’ve had to kind of stare at their pictures. I think it comes out of a genuine love of the history of photography, and what it meant for people like me.”
Witchcraft Through the Ages
Indie Memphis’ October spot on the calendar means that it coincides with what Bale calls “the spooky season,” when many horror movie aficionados embark on a monthlong binge watch. For this year’s festival, Bale programed a pair of rarely seen horror classics that have significant anniversaries. The first is Ghostwatch, a British mockumentary which debuted 30 years ago.
In the tradition of Orson Welles’ infamous Halloween radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds,” Ghostwatch was presented as a Halloween special in which real-life BBC journalists Sarah Greene and Craig Charles would broadcast a live investigation of a supposedly haunted house. But their goofy Halloween jokes turn serious when the house’s real ghosts show up and start causing mayhem. When it was first broadcast on Halloween night in 1992, the BBC switchboard was jammed with more than 1 million calls from viewers concerned that their favorite newscasters were being slaughtered by ghosts on live television. “This is a staff favorite,” says Bale.
The second Halloween special is Häxan, which has its 100th anniversary this year. Indie Memphis commissioned a new score for the silent film from Alex Greene, who is also the music editor for the Memphis Flyer. For this performance, Greene’s jazz ensemble The Rolling Head Orchestra — Jim Spake, Tom Lonardo, Mark Franklin, Carl Caspersen, and Jim Duckworth — will be joined by theremin virtuoso Kate Taylor. “We’ve been wanting to work with Alex for a long time, and this was a great opportunity,” says Bale.
Indie Memphis honors the 100th anniversary of the pioneering 1922 horror film Häxan with a new live score from Alex Greene and the Rolling Head Orchestra.
Director Benjamin Christensen based Häxan on his study of the Malleus Maleficarum (“The Hammer of Witches”), a guide for clergymen conducting witch hunts, published in 1486. Upon its premiere in 1922, Häxan was the most expensive silent film made in Europe. Christensen’s meticulous recreations of witches’ Sabbath celebrations, complete with flying broomsticks and an appearance by a mischievous Satan (played by the director himself), still look incredible. Its frank depictions of the Inquisition provide the horror. “I was shocked by how much of it is framed by the torture of the witches,” says Greene. “It implies that a lot of this crazy behavior they described was just victims trying to make up anything to stop the thumbscrews.”
Released a decade before Dracula ushered in the modern horror era, Häxan is a unique cinema experience. “I think of it as kind of like Shakespeare’s time, when the English language was not as settled in spellings and meanings of words. It was a fluid language,” says Greene. “This film came at a time when the language of cinema was very fluid and kind of up for grabs, which is why you could have this weird hybrid of documentary/reenactment/essay.”
“It’s within the Halloween realm, but not necessarily a horror movie,” says Bale. “That’s part of what’s so interesting about it. There are some silent films that just feel so fresh, they could have been made yesterday. Häxan is one of those.”
The 25th Indie Memphis Film Festival runs from October 19th to the 22nd at the Orpheum Theatre’s Halloran Centre, Crosstown Theater, Black Lodge, Malco Studio on the Square, The Circuit Playhouse, Playhouse on the Square, and virtually on Eventive. Festival passes and individual film tickets can be purchased at indiememphis.org. The Memphis Flyer will feature continuing coverage of Indie Memphis 2022 on the web at memphisflyer.com.
Jesus Christ Superstar rocks the Orpheum as the last show of the “pandemic” season.
October 5, 2021 is a day Brett Batterson will never forget. That’s when Come From Away opened at the Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Memphis, marking the return to live performance after 18 months of pandemic shutdown.
“That opening night is one of the greatest nights I’ve ever experienced in my career,” says Batterson, the Orpheum’s president and CEO. “Everybody was so excited to be there, and the audience was just so grateful for Broadway to be back in the Orpheum. The cast was excited to perform for people. It was like a magic stew of emotions that was just wonderful.”
When Jesus Christ Superstar opened on June 28th, it marked the belated end of the star-crossed season that began in March 2020. “It feels really good to have what we call the pandemic season behind us, and we start our new season in just a few weeks with My Fair Lady, followed by To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Located at the western edge of Beale Street, the century-old theater has witnessed a lot of changes Downtown, but nothing like the last few years. It has been a time of both growth and tragedy. “I think Downtown Memphis is starting to see the resurgence, the coming out of the plague. If you come down here on a Friday or Saturday night, there are people everywhere. I don’t think we’ve seen the return of all the office workers that we need for the restaurants to have a lunch crowd, but on a weekend night, there’s a lot of people down here.”
Batterson sees the crowds as a continuation of positive trends the pandemic interrupted. “When I first arrived in Memphis six and a half years ago, I think Memphis was just at the tail end of the low self-esteem problem that Memphis has suffered from since the assassination of Dr. King. Shortly after I arrived, people started making plans and talking about how great of a city it is. Nashville is a tourist trap while Memphis retains its soul and authenticity. That’s the big change I’ve seen — Memphis is proud of itself again, as it should be.”
The Orpheum is about to dance into its next season in late July with My Fair Lady, followed by To Kill a Mockingbird.
Downtown Delights
The Orpheum was once a movie palace owned by Memphis-based Malco Theatres. Just a short hop down Front Street, Malco’s newest movie palace is the Powerhouse, a seven-screen multiplex built around a historic structure which once provided steam power for next door’s Central Station. On Saturdays, the Powerhouse’s parking lot plays host to the Downtown Memphis Farmers Market. Sergio Brown is one of the dozens of vendors who gather under the T-shaped shelter every week to hawk their locally produced wares. His company, Earthworm Plants, is based across the river in West Memphis. “We just started, so this is our first year here in Memphis,” he says. “The support we’ve gotten from Downtown has been amazing. When people from other states come here, they’re just amazed at what we do.”
Earthworm Plants is part of a wave of new businesses that have opened in the pandemic era. A few blocks to the east is South Point Grocery, the latest venture by Castle Retail’s Rick James, which filled a need created by Downtown’s growing population. But South Point’s biggest draw is the sandwich counter, run by Josh McLane.
Like many people in Memphis, McLane is a man of many hustles. He’s a well-known comedian and drummer in the punk-folk duo Heels. (Their new album, Pop Songs for a Dying Planet, will be released in October.) His sandwich skills first got attention when he manned the kitchen at the Hi Tone music venue. “Unlike other people, when I’m hammered and make a sandwich at 3 in the morning, I write it down,” he says.
At lunch time, there’s a steady stream of foot traffic coming through the door for McLane’s creations. “I genuinely get a kick out of being able to say, ‘Come see us for lunch, and I will get you outta here in five minutes, unless we have a giant line — and even then, it’s gonna take 10, tops.’”
McLane says the wave of new businesses was born of necessity. “That first year of Covid, everybody started opening something, either because you had nothing to do or you had no money coming in. And after that first year, everybody who wasn’t good at it or didn’t have a good enough sustaining idea got weeded out and everybody else just kept going.”
Good Fortune Co. is a new eatery that has been earning raves Downtown. Co-owner Sarah Cai lived in Collierville until she was 13, when her father was sent to China to open a new FedEx hub. “I’m from here, and I always wanted to come back,” she says. “We had been paying attention to restaurants in the area and what was popular. There was really nothing like this kind of cuisine, and from what I could tell, there was nobody who could bring the kind of experience that we have had, traveling and working abroad in different places.”
All of the food at Good Fortune Co. is made by hand. “The kimchi is important to me,” Cai says. “It’s something I’ve always made on my own because when you buy it, it just doesn’t taste the same. The whole [restaurant] concept stemmed from scratch-made noodles that have always been a huge part of my food. Dumplings are my food love, my passion. I’ve been making them since I was a kid with my family. They had to be on the menu. I knew I wanted it to be Asian, but influenced by a lot of different regions, not necessarily Chinese or Japanese. My background is really mixed. My mom’s Malaysian and my dad’s Chinese. I’ve traveled all around Southeast Asia, so I’ve been inspired by a lot of different flavors. What I wanted to showcase here is the fusion of those authentic flavors. The food itself is kind of Asian-American — like myself.
“I’ve been able to come back and rediscover the city as an adult. It’s a totally different experience. Memphis is really cool! I’ve lived in China, Austria, Europe. I’ve traveled all around the world, and Memphis is one of the most authentic cities I’ve ever been in. It’s gritty, but it’s all part of the charm — it’s just a genuine place. I’m really happy to be able to be a part of this world now.”
A larger-than-life Red Queen plays her twisted game of croquet at the Memphis Botanic Garden.
New Growth
She’s 19 feet tall, weighs 15,110 pounds, and her dress is made from 6,507 plants. The Red Queen is the most spectacular creation of “Alice’s Adventures at the Garden,” the larger-than-life new exhibit at the Memphis Botanic Garden. The living statuary of the timeless characters from Alice In Wonderland, like the Cheshire Cat, the Queen’s chessboard full of soldiers, and Alice herself, originated at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
Alice and her companions have made a big splash, says Olivia Wall, MBG’s director of marketing. But the exhibit is just one of the new features at the 96-acre garden. “We have gone through a lot of transformation,” she says. “We are just finishing up a capital campaign that was focused on campus modernizations, so part of that, like the visitor center, was completely redone in 2022. It’s been a lot of change and a lot of transformation for the better. We are always focused on our mission, which is connecting people with plants. How can we best do that?”
The Alice figures are made from steel armatures and given color and shape by plants and flowers. In the summer heat, it can take 90 minutes just to water the Red Queen. Other artists were invited to participate. “We have these renditions of the White Rabbit around the grounds that local artists created,” Wall says.
There are also interactive elements. “It’s classic literature, so we have quotes from the book around to help put it into context. Kids can have their own imaginary tea party. They can pretend to be the March Hare or the Mad Hatter.”
Wall came to Memphis in 2014 to get her master’s degree from Memphis College of Art. The Cooper-Young resident says she’s a “Midtowner through and through.”
Midtown has been the focus of intense development in the pandemic era, with new apartment complexes springing up everywhere. “They’re called ‘five-over-ones,’” says F. Grant Whittle. “They’re the apartment buildings like they’ve got on McLean and Madison. They are built with concrete on the first floor and then stick on the upper floors. They’re easily put up. They’re not hideous, and they’re not beautiful, but just getting apartments in place for people to live is important right now.”
Whittle and his husband Jimmy Hoxie recently opened The Ginger’s Bread & Co. on Union Avenue. “Jimmy was working at City & State making pastries, and they didn’t need him anymore because they didn’t have many customers. At the same time, a man moved out of a duplex we owned and I said, ‘Jimmy, why don’t you go over there and start baking? We can sell your stuff online.’ And so, that’s what we’ve been doing since the beginning of the pandemic. Then, I was let go from my job. I needed something to do. So we sold the duplex, and we used the money to open this place.”
Since they opened earlier this summer, bread, cookies, and cheesecake have been flying off the shelves. “I think that this little part of Union is ripe for renewal and regrowth,” Whittle says. “I really like Cameo, which is a bar that just opened at Union and McLean. I can walk there in five minutes. They’re still getting their sea legs. They’re trying to do a good product there, and the food is not too bad.”
Midtown remains a cultural center. The history of Memphis music is enshrined on Beale, but the present and future lives in places like The Lamplighter, B-Side, and Hi Tone. The reopened Minglewood Hall is once again hosting national touring acts. In the Crosstown Concourse, the Green Room offers intimate live music experiences, and the 400-seat Crosstown Theater recently put on a blockbuster show by electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. Not far from the towering Concourse is Black Lodge.
The movie mecca began life more than two decades ago as a tiny Cooper-Young video store. Now, it not only boasts one of the largest DVD and Blu-ray collections in America, but also a state-of-the-art sound system and multiple projection screens. “We’re proud to be serving a full menu of food as well as a full bar,” says Lodge founder Matt Martin. “Come in and check out some of our signature cocktails and dishes designed by our chef and co-owner James Blair. We are pleased to finally offer a full nightclub experience to Midtown Memphis. We’ve got great EDM shows, great bands, movie screenings, burlesque and drag shows, comedy, and video game tournaments — and our AC is amazing!”
Jessica Hunt tends bar at the artsy and new Inkwell.
Another Midtown dream realized is Inkwell. The popular Edge District bar was founded by Memphis artist Ben Colar. “The concept was to create a super dope cocktail bar where people could just kind of be themselves,” says bartender Jessica Hunt. “It’s Black-owned, so Ben wanted to show the city that there are Black bartenders that can do really good craft cocktails.”
The relaxed vibe is maintained via cocktails like the Sir Isaac Washington, a complex, rum-based, summery drink. “It’s always a breath of fresh air to come in here and work around people I love,” says Hunt. “Plus, I get to meet so many cool, artsy people!”
Yola, Oliva DeJonge, Baz Luhrmann, Tom Hanks, Alton Mason, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Jerry Schilling, Pricilla Presley, Riley Keough, and Lisa Marie Presley at the Graceland premiere of Elvis.
Music for the Masses
“Memphis’ identity is its musical history,” says the Orpheum’s Batterson. “Our tourism is music tourism. There may be some Broadway fans, or the timing may be right so that we’ve got Bonnie Raitt or Bob Dylan at the Orpheum, but most of the tourists are music people who want to hang out on Beale Street, go to Graceland, go to the Stax Museum, go to Sun Studio.
“I think we have some real gems in our museum system, from the National Civil Rights Museum to the Brooks and the Dixon and MoSH. An hour at Sun Studio is probably one of the most important hours you can spend in Memphis — that and going to Stax and seeing Isaac Hayes’ gold-plated car!
“I am shocked at how many Memphians have told me they’ve never been to Graceland. To me, you’ve got to go once. If you never go back, that’s up to you. But you’ve got to go once. How could you have this huge, international tourist attraction in your city and not ever go? I don’t get that.”
With Elvis, the spectacular new biopic from Australian director Baz Luhrmann, the King of Rock-and-Roll is once again topping the box office. After earning a 12-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, Luhrmann and his stars, including Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, made their American debut at the Guest House at Graceland. “It’s something that younger people don’t understand,” said Luhrmann to a packed house. “They know they’re very interested in this film because they’re very interested in instant fame. You can get on TikTok and have 20 million followers the next day, and you’re famous. But when Elvis came along, the teenager had just been invented. The idea of young people with money was a new idea. There was no precedent for someone driving a truck one minute and being a millionaire and the most famous man on the planet the next.”
As he stood on stage with Elvis’ wife Priscilla Presley, daughter Lisa Marie, and granddaughter, actor/director Riley Keough, Hanks, who plays Elvis’ infamous manager Col. Tom Parker, recounted the welcome they had received. “We visited the home of the King last night. It is a place that is, I think, as hallowed as any president’s home, as any museum dedicated to a particular type of art. What’s unique about it is, it is so firmly stamped with the name Presley, and it would not have existed were it not for the city of Memphis and the genius of a one-of-a-kind artist who, more than anybody else in music or any sort of presentational art, deserves the moniker of the singular word ‘King.’”
Quentin Robinson and Cameron Murphy (Photo: UW Madison)
In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, for reasons outside of his control, Gregor Samsa wakes up one day as a giant creepy-crawling critter — some say a cockroach — so Gregor has to navigate the world as a giant bug, which as you can imagine is quite an isolating experience. This isolation, in turn, leads to a bleak ending with neglect, hatred, and ultimately death. After going through a year of isolation ourselves, much like Gregor, it’s likely that some of us have a pretty bleak, Kafkaesque outlook on life. But for others, isolation brought new values and a refreshed will to create, learn, and collaborate. This latter case was true for the Grammy-winning percussion quartet Third Coast Percussion and Movement Art Is, founded by dancers and choreographers Jon Boogz and Memphis’ Lil Buck.
When in-person interactions could not take place with the two groups based in Chicago and Los Angeles respectively, they worked together over many Zoom meetings to create their own Metamorphosis, a much more hopeful performance that explores the experiential lens of young Black men growing up in America today. “It’s about the dancers as the main characters — them growing and discovering who they are through their experiences through their life,” says Jenny Davis, music department manager at Crosstown Arts, where the show will be performed on May 3rd.
In this performance, the street-style, popping and Memphis jookin’ choreography by Lil Buck and John Boogz is transferred onto different bodies — dancers Cameron Murphy and Quentin Robinson — so that the dancing itself represents how one artist’s energy becomes absorbed and translated by another. Meanwhile, the dance will be set to Third Coast’s interpretation and reimagination of music by contemporary composers, electronic artists Jlin and Tyondai Braxton as well as Philip Glass. Such modern classical music, Davis points out, “is really fascinating because it’s influenced by all these other genres, too.”
With this blending of different styles and interpretations of music and dance, Davis says, “I think that’s inspiring to see how things that kind of exist separately can work together.”
Metamorphosis, Crosstown Theater, Tuesday, May 3, 7:30-9:30 p.m., $25-$40.
The Bang On a Can All-Stars (Credit: Peter Serling)
Since its founding in 2009, Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival has become one of the premier events in alternative music. The city’s downtown springs to life with genre-bending, exploratory music events in historic theaters, clubs, churches, parks, galleries, and repurposed industrial spaces, leading The New York Times to call it “one of the world’s greatest music bashes,” and the Oxford American to pronounce it “one of the most quietly earth-shattering, subtly luminous festivals the world over.” This year’s lineup alone features such artists as Patti Smith, John Zorn, Sparks, and Marc Ribot.
It’s a breath of fresh air in a state too often associated with banned books and other radical right flash points, but the drive to Knoxville can prove daunting to many Memphians. Luckily for those of us in such far western lands, Crosstown Arts has curated a taste of Big Ears right here at home, as artists performing at this year’s festival, from March 24th-27th, make pit stops on their way to or from Knoxville.
Those in the know have already seen some of these artists. Pianist Craig Taborn, who’s worked with the likes of Lester Bowie, John Zorn, Evan Parker, William Parker, and Vijay Iyer, appeared at the Green Room on Wednesday. And last night, trumpeter jaimie branch performed with cellist Lester St. Louis, double bassist Jason Ajemian, and percussionist/mbira player Chad Taylor. But there’s still more to see.
Maeve Gilchrist (Photo courtesy Crosstown Arts)
Saturday, March 26 brings Maeve Gilchrist to the Green Room, playing the relatively rare Celtic lever harp. As with so many Big Ears artists, she’s re-imagined this ancient instrument in decidedly postmodern ways. She’ll be playing selections from her recent album, The Harpweaver, for harp, voice, samples, and electronics. As she told NPR recently, “I really enjoy exploring some of the grittier sounds of the harp. We all know it can make this ethereal, kind of luminous sound. But actually, it’s such a versatile instrument.” Her hybrid approach should appeal to fans of ambient, classical, Scottish folk, and experimental music.
Arooj Aftab (Credit: Blythe Thomas)
As it happens, Gilchrist also plays with the following evening’s ensemble, backing Arooj Aftab at Crosstown Theater on Sunday, March 27. The Brooklyn-based Pakistani vocalist, composer, and producer blends jazz, minimalism, neo-Sufi music, and other genres, and has been nominated for the 2022 Best New Artist and Best Global Music Performance at the at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards. Aftab’s latest album, Vulture Prince, has been widely praised, as has the haunting single, “Mohabbat.” The track was named one of the best songs of 2021 by Time and The New York Times, and Brenna Ehrlich ranked the album sixth on Rolling Stone‘s “Best Music of 2021” staff list.
Finally, Tuesday, March 29 brings not just a musical group, but an entire experience to Crosstown Theater. The six-member Bang On a Can All-Stars are recognized for their dynamic live performances, freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world, and experimental music. The New York Times called the All-Stars “a fiercely aggressive group, combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble,” and one can imagine no better venue than Crosstown Theater to match both the nuance and the energy of such a show.
Being a notable music city, it seems only a matter of time before Memphis can play host to its own major alternative music festival. Of course, with the Continuum and Memphis Concrète festivals, we are inching toward that. And thanks to the curation of world class, edgy music that continues apace at Crosstown Arts, we already have a taste of the Big Ears Festival here at home.
Bryce Christian Thompson stars as Shah in "The Devil Will Run."
For a person who’s never been a film critic in any real capacity (okay, I thoroughly bashed a couple films while on my college newspaper staff a lifetime ago), I was both eager and anxious to take on the task of covering a snippet of what’s on offer in the Indie Memphis Film Festival.
The selection of eight short films in the Hometowner Narrative Shorts Competition — clocking in around an hour and half total —will close out the festival on Monday, October 25th, at Crosstown Theater. They run the gamut from weird and whimsical to thought-provoking and heart-tugging.
Kayla Myers, Indie Memphis Film Festival programmer, says, “One of the first things that struck Brighid [Wheeler] and I in programming is that almost all of the filmmakers in this bloc are filmmakers whose work we’ve seen before, but it showcases an incredible amount of growth and daring choices.
“I think people will be excited to see this work, especially with them being able to screen in person, since so many of our local filmmakers have only really been screening virtually. The pandemic has been such a trying time for all of us, but there are some bright spots in the fact that this work was created, a lot of it, during the pandemic, and we get to showcase it.”
Here’s a rundown of what to expect.
Director Laura Jean Hocking received the first-ever Indie Memphis Women’s Short Film grant for “Hot Singles.” The film opens with Daisy (Shannon Walton) seeking shelter from an apocalyptic event in a flower shop basement. Alone and unable to get cell service, she begins to unravel as days pass. A glimmer of hope arrives as she sees a flickering bar of signal strength — but there’s just one person she’s able to get through to, and unfortunately it’s not her father.
Jean Jackson directs “The Nest,” a Beats by Dre Black Creators short film, and a five-minute glimpse into the cyclical and mundane life of Byrdie (played at various ages by Chelsea Dargba, Autumn Whetstone, and Sallay Fofanah), who’s trapped in a repetitive loop of daily routines, alone in her room — until one day she chooses to venture outside, ready to embrace all that lies beyond the door.
2019’s Best Hometowner Narrative Short winner Kyle Taubken is back with “In a Bad Way.” The film introduces us to Mike (Keith Johnson) after he’s lost big at the casino. The money was meant for his kids’ Christmas presents, and he has a chance to make it right. Will the gambling addict save Christmas?
In “Beale Street Blues,” director Daniel R. Ferrell explores a world of crooked cops on the streets of Memphis. As an FBI investigation is underway, officer Arthur Breedan (Keith Johnson) enlists his cousin Floyd (Edward Fields) to assist in his ongoing scheme of robbing drug dealers. Though Floyd is hesitant, Breedan pushes, and things go a little too far — potentially bringing the rogue cop one step closer to justice. “Beale Street Blues” was funded by the 2020 Indie Grant for Proof of Concept, which means Ferrell intends to expand it into a feature film.
Joshua Woodcock directs “Main Street,” starring JS Tate, who is homeless and living along Main Street after losing his wife. His lonesome days are spent reading through her old journal pages, collecting change from passersby, and having solo lunches in the park. Until he meets an unexpected friend who, for a time, brings much-needed companionship.
“Chocolate Galaxy” is a futuristic musical journey.
Noah Glenn’s “The Devil Will Run” is a standout among this hometowner selection. Bryce Christian Thompson stars as 7-year-old Shah, who is convinced a hole in his backyard is a portal to hell, and whose brother teases him for it. After a precious and pivotal backyard scene with his best friend Nella (Posie Steinmetz), Shah confronts his fears. “The Devil Will Run” was a 2019 Indie Grant recipient and was co-written by Glenn and IMAKEMADBEATS.
“Chocolate Galaxy” (directed by Blake Heimbach, Ryan Peel, and David Parks) is — and I’m pulling this directly from the Indie Memphis site — “an Afrofuturistic Space Opera.” That’s an apt description for the Black Mirror-esque musical journey that takes Fuzzy Slippers (David Parks) to Sector 9 for a night out, where he meets — and falls for — The Goddess (Taylor Williams). Set design, costumes, and interspersed animation transport the viewer — moonrocks or not.
In “Watch,” directed by Mars Lee McKay, Sarah (Adrienne Lamb) finds an old tube TV on the street while she’s taking out the trash. It mysteriously powers on, and through shifting scenes and static, has a message for her.
The Indie Memphis Hometowner Narrative Shorts Competition films are available for online viewing Oct. 20th-25th and will screen at Crosstown Theater Oct. 25th beginning at 9 p.m., $10.
Arlo McKinley plays the Green Room tonight (Photo courtesy Mempho Presents)
Before the pandemic, one of the freshest spots for new, unpredictable music was Crosstown Concourse. Thanks to Crosstown Arts, both the Crosstown Theater and the Green Room set a new standard for world-class, often edgy music in the Bluff City, hosting everything from down home soul by Booker T. Jones to wildly eclectic jazz by Marc Ribot to the avant-garde classical outings of the Continuum Festival.
As of tonight, that spirit is back in force, and Memphis is the better for it. Yet when I hear from Crosstown Arts Music Department Manager Jenny Davis that both Crosstown Theater and the Green Room will be presenting live music again, the first question that springs to mind is, “That’s great! Will the Art Bar be reopening?”
She laughs and says, “I think I hear that question more than any other.” But, she notes, while drinks will be available at tonight’s show in the Green Room, she can’t commit to a set date for the watering hole. “But,” she reassures me, “it will be reopening sooner rather than later.”
The artist set to bring Crosstown Arts’ venues back to life for the first time since the pandemic, singer/songwriter Arlo McKinley, who plays the Green Room tonight at 7:30 p.m., will be presented by Mempho, a familiar name in the Memphis music scene, thanks to the Mempho Music Festival. Later in the fall, Mempho will be presenting another concert, The Wood Brothers, at Crosstown Arts in the Crosstown Theater.
There will be plenty more between those two, however. “Of course we have Reigning Sound on Saturday, July 24th,” she laughs, partly because (full disclosure) I’m playing in that one, but also because she’s just getting used to how much music is already slated for the two venues. The staff has done a sudden hard pivot into the here-and-now. “Up until just a few weeks ago, we were anticipating late 2021, definitely 2022, for shows happening again here. So we were working on 2022 shows and that was all really looking exciting. Then we found out that we can have shows now. And both the Green Room and the Theater will be fully open, at full capacity.”
Elizabeth King (Photo courtesy Bible & Tire Recording Co.)
Many films dot the upcoming dates, but the one screening on July 29th is actually a hybrid film and live music event. “This is part of our film series,” she says. “We’ll have a weekly film every Thursday for $5, and this will be our first one: Elizabeth King singing on stage at Crosstown Theater to a silent film from 1930, Hell-Bound Train. It’s a film that presents all these terrible situations, with Elizabeth King singing gospel songs in contrast. It’s going to be a really cool combination. She’ll be singing with Will Sexton and Matt Ross-Spang and Will McCarley.” Other live-score events may be part of Crosstown Arts’ future, but nothing is settled yet.
“Then we have two shows in the Green Room that same week,” Davis adds. “The film is Thursday, and then on Friday, July 30th, in the Green Room, it’s Rachel Maxann, a Memphis-based musician, with Oakwalker opening. I’m really looking forward to that show. Then Those Pretty Wrongs, with Jody Stephens and Luther Russell, will be at the Green Room on July 31st.”
Davis stresses that what’s being announced on the Crosstown Arts event calendar is far from all the music being planned. “There’s definitely more to come,” she underscores. “We’re still working on details. We should be back to having shows every single week, starting this weekend. Although there will be no Continuum Festival per se, Blueshift Ensemble is still going to perform pieces by the ICEBERG composers from New York, in two concerts with five pieces each, Friday, August 20th and Saturday, August 21st.” Beyond that iceberg’s tip, she hints, there lurk many other musical delights, including a special screening of the recent chronicle of female electronic music pioneers, Sisters with Transistors, on September 2nd. As always, keep checking the Crosstown Arts website for the updated schedule.
“My first guitar was a Sears Silvertone,” quipped Booker T. Jones during his appearance at Crosstown Theater Saturday. Looking up at the walls around him, he added, “I must have bought it right here.”
Crosstown Concourse, of course, was then the regional warehouse and retail center for Sears. He went on to recall how he quit buying records at Sears after he discovered the Satellite Record Shop, the storefront at the entrance to Stax Records in its heyday. At Sears, he noted, you couldn’t hear the record until you bought it. “But Steve Cropper was happy to play records for you.”
Such are the perks of hearing one of the progenitors of classic soul play his hometown, where, once upon a time, lightning was captured in a bottle, or at least on vinyl. And Jones seemed to revel in the memories.
But the magic of such anecdotes paled before the majesty of the music, unerringly played by Jones and his band (which included his son Ted on guitar, Melvin Brannon, Jr. [aka M-Cat Spoony] on bass, and Darian Gray on drums). Time stood still as the sounds of Jones on the Hammond organ, complete with rotating Leslie speaker, filled the auditorium with the harmonies known from so many classic records.
Though Jones’ latest album, Note by Note, surveys tunes from across his lifetime as a player and a producer, Saturday’s set was decidedly Memphis-heavy, with a heaping dose of originals by Booker T. & the M.G.’s. There was “Green Onions” in all its minimalist glory, and “Time Is Tight,” complete with its powerful coda. “Hip-Hug Her” also was honored, albeit with a twist: flowing lyrics rapped over the tune by Gray. Alex Greene
Booker T. Jones and son Ted Jones
“And now, here’s a piece by George Gershwin,” Jones noted, before launching into the M.G.s’ arrangement of “Summertime,” as perfect a showcase of his organ mastery as any of their cuts.
But the legacy of that Silvertone guitar was also alive and well, as Jones picked up a Telecaster and sauntered to the front of the stage from time to time, delivering very personal interpretations of “Hey Joe,” a la Jimi Hendrix, “Purple Rain” by Prince, and others. At times, he sang sublime harmonies with his son. Alex Greene
Booker T. Jones on guitar
But the most sublime harmonies of the night came when Jones called “an old friend” to the stage, none other than the Queen of Memphis Soul, Carla Thomas. Jones, noting the importance of the Thomas family, and especially Carla’s father Rufus, described seeing the movie Baby Driver and unexpectedly hearing her sing in the soundtrack. Then they launched into “B-A-B-Y,” one of Carla’s greatest Stax sides. She was in fine voice, her delivery full of her trademark sweetness and wit. It was a luminous moment, with Carla, Jones and the band breaking out into beaming smiles throughout.
It was a dramatic moment, especially because Jones typically approached each song with a solemnity that seemed to exhort the audience to listen with care. And listen they did, the entire room rapt with adoration for the grooves and the moves that helped put Memphis on the map.
Opening the set were students from the Stax Music Academy, who did right by such classics as “Soul Man,” “Soul Girl,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” and even Peter Gabriel’s Stax-influenced “Sledgehammer.” For those who slept on it, let it be known that Memphis Soul is alive and well and kicking.
Alex Greene 
Alex Greene 
Alex Greene