Tag: FreeSol

Categories
We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: Sean Winfrey: Dealing With Mental Illness and Grief Through Art

Sean Winfrey features 20 paintings in his current show. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Sean Winfrey’s art exhibit, “Lines Apart,” honors people he has lost.

“The overall theme, I guess, would seem to be healing,” says Winfrey, 31. “With kind of the emphasis on mental health and grief.”

His big brother, the late John Winfrey, was the initial inspiration for the show. “A few years ago, my brother committed suicide. He was bipolar like me. The art just came about by me just trying to fix myself a little bit and reflect on some of the good times I’ve had with him.

“And it kind of expanded. For a while, I was losing people every other year of my life. So, it was a way for me to eternally heal.”

Winfrey is an instructor in the Cloud901 team learning lab at Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, where he mentors young people in filmmaking, painting, and digital art. He’s also a member of the Memphis Flyer’s 20 < 30 Class of 2020.

“Lines Apart,” which will be on view through August 31st at the library, opened with a reception on July 29th.

The works in the show aren’t typical of Winfrey’s art. “I’m usually making art that is reactive in other ways — making people laugh and music videos and things like that. This is more of an internal struggle I’m trying to push out.”

“Matter” was the first painting Winfrey did for the exhibit. “It’s an abstract piece. And I continued doing this abstract method until it kind of formed into a concrete idea and concept. It’s black-and-white lines. I feel like my fascination with it came whenever I put the epoxy on and the lines started to come alive and feel like they’re moving a little bit.”

“Matter” by Sean Winfrey at “Lines Apart” (Credit: Michael Donahue)

He then began to “make more three-dimensional spaces with just these black-and-white lines. I wanted to create motion with a still image. Whenever I was creating a lot of these images, I was doing a lot of meditation. It was really just an attempt to push myself out of a dark place. I suffer from bipolar and I need to do very tedious things in order to fight through depression and fight through similar things my brother was going through.

“I think there’s a big misconception with people who commit suicide. My brother really did want to live. He just had a bad day and he didn’t have the resources to pull himself out.”

Making the paintings was therapeutic. “It gave me a source of healing. But I feel like this is relatable to anybody that’s experiencing grief.”

The exhibit features 20 paintings. “I was trying to do two paintings a week and just get lost in the process. I dropped all of my other gigs and things just to kind of focus on this. It took me nine months to finish this series.”

While he was working on the paintings, one of the teenagers he mentors at the library, Jonathan Killingsworth, looked at Winfrey’s work. “He came up and said, ‘Oh, this is really great.’ Two weeks later, he passed away from a very senseless gun crime. He got shot for a small sack of weed.”

LaQuindra Killingsworth, Chris Killingsworth, Jeremy Killingsworth, Sean Winfrey, and Amun Tyz with Winfrey’s painting of the late Jonathan Killingsworth at “Lines Apart” (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Winfrey began putting color in the paintings of people “to signify them being alive.” 

Then, he says, “I just kept diving deeper. When I was in my early 20s, I lost my best friend. And it was like five years ago when I lost my nephew’s father, my brother-in-law.”

His portraits of people he has known who have died cover a span of about 10 years, Winfrey says. “Doing the portraits probably was the most therapeutic because it was like I was having a conversation with them and reflecting on a lot of memories.”

Instead of pushing away memories of these people, Winfrey decided to “dive into some of those memories and the way they impacted me and shaped me. ‘Cause I wouldn’t be the same person without any of these people.”

“Portrait Of Joey Bingham” by Sean Winfrey at “Lines Apart” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
“Portrait of Mike McCabe” by Sean Winfrey at “Lines Apart” (Credit: Michael Donahue)

A native Memphian, Winfrey grew up in an artistic family. His parents are Jen and John Winfrey, owners of Winfrey Works. “My mom does all those ceramic flowers and my dad, all the metal work.”

Winfrey, whose first creative expression was writing his initials on everything he came across, wasn’t encouraged by his parents to become an artist. “My mom always told me not to become an artist because I’ll be broke. But I did anyway.”

Street art was his first artistic endeavor. “I was projecting big images of zebras and things. Spray painting them on walls around the city. There are still some around. I kind of slowed down on that when I was 18 because I didn’t want to go to jail.”

He created paintings on canvas using stencils while at Overton High School. “I did a lot of work about Memphis and about the history of Memphis. Like I did a lot of MLK paintings and just paintings of our trolleys. That was mostly high school. And when I went to college, I mostly focused on cartoons.”

The last pieces he did at Memphis College of Art were rotoscopes. “It’s basically taking film and tracing over each frame.”

“Suits,” which featured images of himself, was Sean Winfrey’s first experimental music video. (Credit: Sean Winfrey)
“Bad Scientist” (Credit: Sean Winfrey)

“Drift,” one of those pieces, is “about floating through life. Letting things affect you as you walk through life. Each little clip was a different obstacle. Like me climbing up a hill, climbing up a ladder, jumping off of something. And it all looped back to me going to sleep.”

That film was “just about the day to day struggle.”

Which Winfrey knew first hand. “I had a big struggle with my mental health. When I was in college, I had to take a couple of months off to come back to grips. I fell into a psychosis because I lost my best friend and it kind of threw me out of reality for a while.”

When he was in high school, Winfrey tried to take his own life by taking pills. “I was like 15 or 16. And I had to get hospitalized. I feel like that’s another big reason why I like working with kids around that age.”

Approaching adulthood and starting to think, “What am I going to do with my life?” when you’re that age is “very stressful,” Winfrey says. He wants to help kids “not feel so weighted down by adulthood.”

After he graduated from college, Winfrey worked as a creative producer for about five years at ABC-24. He began freelancing after he left that job. “I was doing a lot of skit shows and comedy skits with some friends of mine. They’re still on the Internet somewhere.”

He began working with Graham Brewer, who introduced him to his dad, filmmaker Craig Brewer. Craig introduced him to Muck Sticky, who then introduced him to Al Kapone. “We made a music video with Al Kapone and Muck Sticky cause he [Kapone] liked my work.”

Winfrey began making cinemagraphs. “It’s kind of like a photo that is slightly animated in that all the photos come alive.”

He made the water, wind, and the Hernando de Soto Bridge move in a cinemagraph in Kapone’s “Oh Boy” video. 

Al Kapone’s “Oh Boy” (Credit: Sean Winfrey)

Winfrey also worked on a podcast with the performer, FreeSol, for about a year and a half.

He made a video of rapper DaBaby at Beale Street Music Festival.

DaBaby at Beale Street Music Festival (Credit: Sean Winfrey)

He included his work in Indie Memphis Film Festival, where his “Oh Boy” video came in number two in the Hometowner Music Videos category in 2019.

Winfrey’s creativity doesn’t stop at filmmaking and painting. “I also  design a lot of clothes. I have a website I sell clothes through. It’s called existential67.com.”

He’s also a performer. “I used to have a band in college, as well: Emojicon1967.”

Sean Winfrey’s Emojicon1967 performing at a house show (Courtesy Sean Winfrey)

Winfrey rapped and wrote poetry. “It’s a lot of poetry on top of beats. I still write often. It’s another way I express myself. We had a few albums and we put on a lot of house shows. I still rap and I still write a lot of poetry, but I haven’t really brought it out to the public yet.”

He put the pause on a lot of his creative outlets to focus on his current show. “And try to find some sort of healing. I think this is going to be ongoing. I’m not going to be completely fixed until my last day of my life, I guess.”

Future plans include his upcoming marriage to Jamie Bigham.

Sean Winfrey and his fiancé Jamie Bigham, at “Lines Apart” (Credit: Michael Donahue)

As far as maybe moving someday, Winfrey says, “I definitely want to broaden my circle and get outside of Memphis. But I feel like there’s a lot of work that can be done on the ground floor here. And there’s a lot of talented people to work with constantly. I love working with kids and doing something for the community. That’s really fulfilling.”

And, he says, “My main goal is to be financially independent with only my art.”

But if he ever does move to another city, Winfrey says, “I’ve always got to come back to Memphis to drink the water. Because I guess there’s something in it.”

Keshia Williams, Taylor Jackson, Amanda Willoughby, Janay Kelley at “Lines Apart” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Michael Donahue and Carlos Valverde at “Lines Apart” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Memphis Public Libraries director Keenon McCloy and Sean Winfrey at “Lines Apart” (Credit: Michael Donahue)
(Credit: Michael Donahue)
We Saw You
Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Memphis Chefs Personalize Barbecuing: Part 1

Barbecue sushi from Poke Paradise (Photo: Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh)

If you’re a Memphis chef, chances are you’ve thought about creating some kind of barbecue. Or maybe you already have.

But what would be your “signature” barbecue? Even if the idea is still in your imagination?

Tamra Patterson, chef/owner of Chef Tam’s Underground Cafe: “If Chef Tam created her style of barbecue/meat, it would be barbecue catfish stuffed with a barbecue jambalaya. No matter what I cook, I always have to infuse my love of Cajun food and Cajun culture.”

Jonathan Magallanes, chef/owner of Las Tortugas: “My style would be twice-cooked for an extra texture. First, braised like carnitas with whole orange, bay leaf, lard, lime, and green chile. Then flash-fried in peanut oil. At Tops Bar-B-Q, I ask for extra dark meat on the sandwich. That bark and meat crust is divine. Then I would use a chipotle salsa. Pork is braised in a huge copper kettle. Chipotle, cilantro, lime, and onion for garnish. I like to do the whole rack of ribs this way, or shoulder. Crispy pork is the best pork, as it accentuates and concentrates the porcine flavor.”

Mario Grisanti, owner of Dino’s Grill: “I make my own barbecue sauce, but I make it sweet. I would make a beef brisket and smoked pork barbecue lasagna with layers of meats, mozzarella cheese, etc. Thin layers of each covered in barbecue sauce.”

Chip Dunham, chef/owner of Magnolia & May: “One of my favorite barbecue dishes I’ve created is our Tacos con Mempho. I smoke my own pork shoulder for 12 hours and serve it on two corn tortillas with American cheese melted between them, avocado salsa, and tobacco onions. At brunch, we simply just add a scrambled egg and it’s a breakfast taco. Another one of my favorites was our barbecue butternut squash sandwich. We roast butternut squash and toss it with some Memphis barbecue sauce. It’s a vegan sandwich that satisfies the biggest meat-eater.”

Kelly English, chef/owner of Restaurant Iris and The Second Line: “If I were to try to put my own fingerprints on what Memphis already does perfectly, I would play around with fermentations and chili peppers. I would also explore the traditions of barbacoa in ancient Central American and surrounding societies.”

Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh, Poke Paradise food truck owner: “I made a roll with barbecue meats a long time ago. Made with Central BBQ ribs. I made them plenty of times when I hung out with my barbecue friends. I did it in my rookie years. Inside is all rib meat topped with rib meat, barbecue crab mix, thin-sliced jalapeño, dab of sriracha, furikake, green onion.”

Armando Gagliano, Ecco on Overton Park chef/owner: “My favorite meat to smoke is pork back ribs. I keep the dry rub pretty simple: half brown sugar to a quarter adobo and a quarter salt. I smoke my ribs at 250-275 degrees using post oak wood and offset smoker. … The ribs are smoked for three hours and spritzed with orange juice and sherry vinegar every 30 minutes. After three hours, I baste with a homemade barbecue sauce that includes a lot of chipotle peppers and honey. Wrap the ribs in foil and put back on the smoker for two hours. After that, remove from the smoker and let rest in the foil for another hour. They should pull completely off the bone, but not fall apart when handled.”

FreeSol, owner of Red Bones Turkey Legs at Carolina Watershed: “I am already doing it with the turkey legs. We are smoking these legs for hours till they fall of the bone. … We [also] flavor them and stuff them.”

Ryan Trimm, chef/owner of Sunrise Memphis and 117 Prime: “Beef spare ribs are a personal favorite of mine. A nice smoke with a black pepper-based rub followed by a fruit-based sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce is my way to go.”

And even Huey’s gets in on the act. Huey’s COO Ashley Boggs Robilio says, “Recipe created by Huey’s Midtown day crew: Huey’s world famous BBQ brisket burger. Topped with coleslaw and fried jalapeños.”

Continuing to celebrate barbecue month in Memphis, more chefs share ’que ideas in next week’s Memphis Flyer.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

FreeSol’s Red Bones Turkey Legs are Music to Your Taste Buds

Tony Westmoreland and FreeSol (Photo: Michael Donahue)

FreeSol is drumming up business with his Red Bones Turkey Legs.

“It’s been non-stop steady growth,” FreeSol says. “We were doing 15, 25, 30 a day at the beginning and then 60 to 80 and now 80 to 100 a day. Maybe more.”

Since he began selling the turkey legs last May at Carolina Watershed, FreeSol has a new business partner: Tony Westmoreland of Tandem Restaurant Partners. The Carolina Watershed kitchen now features the Red Bones Turkey Legs expanded menu that includes salads, loaded fries, sandwiches, and pizzas — just about all with a turkey twist.

And Red Bones will be moving into a new brick-and-mortar location in the future.

FreeSol, lead singer of the alternative band also called FreeSol that was formerly signed to Interscope Records, knew his turkey legs business would be a success. “I just saw the vision of it. I cook food for myself and my family.” He comes “from a family full of” cooks. “All these recipes we’re using are family recipes.”

Most of the recipes, including the stuffing, came from his late grandmother, Sarah Harris. His mother came up with the seasonings. “My dad is the one who has the recipe for the falling-off-the-bone turkey legs.”

FreeSol, who was always “a little hustler,” says his family members “cooked for the love. I see the business opportunity, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I always felt my family’s food should be out in the world. I knew people would like it when they tasted it.

“My dream has always been to own a restaurant chain, even when doing music. That was always the plan.”

FreeSol equates food with music. “I was an entertainer. I know what people want. I’m very passionate about that.

“I think things need to be flavored certain ways. There needs to be layers of tastes. And I’m confident with my taste buds.”

Westmoreland gave him “the freedom to create whatever I want to create,” he says, “whatever menu I thought would work.”

Everything is “mostly turkey-related.” They sell turkey cobb salad, turkey barbecue pizza, and turkey bowls. “We have a turkey barbecue sandwich that tastes just like pork.”

The menu includes greens, mac and cheese, and corn bread. They sell a range of turkey legs, which are served by themselves or flavored with buffalo, garlic Parmesan, Cajun Alfredo, or Tennessee whiskey sauces, and stuffed with dirty rice, mac and cheese, spinach casserole, or a mixture of all the toppings.

“I feel like the turkey leg is a spin on steaks. My stuffed turkey legs start at $12 and go up to $37. I feel like it’s its own steak. The way we do turkey legs is not the old-school way. … It’s a fall-off-the-bone, sit-down-and-eat-it kind of thing. It’s similar to a steak house.”

Future plans include maybe adding a vegan black bean chili that he and his wife make at home to the menu. But, he says, “The idea is to build a franchise, so we’re keeping the menu somewhat controlled and realistic and easy.”

FreeSol describes himself as a businessman and entrepreneur. In addition to flipping homes, he also has an interest in Sweet Cali Candies, an edible cannabis business. In the future, he’d like to open “more bars, more music-related venues, not just in Memphis, but around the world.

“I want to be in the cannabis world, music world, and food.”

As for his turkey legs, FreeSol says he sees melt-in-your-mouth Red Bones Turkey Legs “all over the world, an international brand.”

FreeSol believes turkey leg restaurants are “the new wave” of the culinary scene. “My goal is to get it established and branded before everybody catches on.”

Carolina Watershed is at 141 East Carolina; (901) 207-6172.

Categories
Music Music Features

Kickman Teddy is Cruising with a New Hit Song

Kickman Teddy (Photo: Ramon Johnson)

Kickman Teddy is cruising solo these days.

Teddy, who played drums in the alternative hip-hop/rock band, FreeSol, is now singing, writing, and producing. His single, “Crusin’,” currently is No. 2 on iTunes and No. 23 on the Billboard R&B/Soul charts. 

The single, which he produced last June, is “basically about me and this female just cruising the city, enjoying life, having fun together,” Teddy says.

“Crusin’,” which includes Memphian Mike Sweep and Atlanta-based Kanard Thomas, is on the Hotline Miami compilation.

Teddy and his manager decided to add the song to “make people aware that the song is out there … build momentum around [it]. We got it to the people we needed to and it took off from there.” His new single, “Get the Paper,” will be released in late May.

Born in Memphis, but raised in Julius, Arkansas, where his grandparents lived, Teddy says his family members sang in churches. “They would go around and tour churches and so forth and let us hang around and learn from them.”

As for his drumming talent, Teddy says, “Man, it was in my blood. It’s always been there.”

But he didn’t have a drum set at first. “I was beating on anything I could get my hands on — shoes, my desk. I would just make noise. All the rhythms going. Kids would go crazy over it. It’s just a natural thing for me to do, and I enjoyed it.”

Teddy originally went the “choir scene” route, drumming and touring with community choirs. He says people began saying, “Who is this guy? This little young drummer? He’s got a fast foot and he can play songs fast.”

Teddy began performing for Billy Rivers & the Angelic Voices of Faith. One night, he played Rivers part of a song he’d written. “He was like, ‘Keep going.’ I was making up lyrics on the spot. Before I knew it — I don’t know if he knew this — he was pushing me into being a writer.”

Teddy toured Europe with the group for about a month. But things changed after he met FreeSol at Applebee’s. They struck up a conversation and formed the FreeSol band that day. “I had to make a choice because I started touring with FreeSol pretty heavy.”

The group was signed to Justin Timberlake’s production company, Tennman Records, in 2006. “Man, one of the high points for me was just being in the studio with Justin and learning … his whole work ethic and how he could come in and command a room.”

FreeSol then signed with Interscope Records, but was dropped from the label. “For a minute, I lost my love and drive for what I was doing.”

Teddy reached his low point. “I was locked in a cell overnight. I got locked up for DUI — intoxicated, drinking at a party.”

But, he says, “It changed my life. When I got there, man, I saw murderers around me. I saw drug addicts around me. And nobody cared about who I was or who I worked with. I was just like everybody else.”

When he got out, FreeSol bass player/keyboardist Daniel “Primo Danger” Dangerfield, called and asked him to join him playing on a cruise ship.

“God always has a plan for your life,” Teddy says.

Teddy began writing raps every day. Writing hip-hop came naturally. “I just liked being challenged, doing something different. I was beating on my desks again. It brought me back and grounded me.”

He released his first full-fledged album, Xrayvision, in 2014. “For a solo project on my own, I thought it was pretty dope. That was just me and my writing skills.”

Teddy formed a production company, Martian Boy Music, and he also got the FreeSol members back in the studio to record the song “Out of Love,” which is slated to be released in July. “It brought a feeling over me like, ‘Man, we can still make music and enjoy each other.’”

Now, Teddy says, “I’m not thinking about fame. I’m not thinking about money. I’m thinking about putting out great music.”

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

FreeSol and Hi-Que are Smokin’ – Turkey Legs

Richard "Hi-Que" Forrest and FreeSol of Red Bone Turkey Legs Photo by Michael Donahue

FreeSol and Richard “Hi-Que” Forrest are cooking at Carolina Watershed.

But not on stage.

Free and Forrest are owners of Red Bones Turkey Legs, which is housed at the venue off South Main.

“Kind of like a constant pop-up,” Free says.

Their fall-off-the-bone turkey legs are served by themselves, or flavored with buffalo, garlic parmesan, white Alabama barbecue, or Tennessee whiskey sauces, and stuffed with dirty rice, macaroni and cheese, spinach casserole, or a mixture of all the stuffings.

“Then we top off those with Cajun Alfredo sauce,” Forrest says.

Free, lead singer of the alternative band also called FreeSol that was formerly signed to Interscope Records, got the idea to do a restaurant while living in Southern California, where he was inspired by the late rapper/entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle. “Just that connection to that Nipsey Hussle spirit. Just wanting to come back home and be a part of the community and start small businesses within the community. For me, I’ve always wanted to be in the food business in Memphis. Memphis is known for its music and its food.

“I come from a family full of cooks. My granny was an amazing chef. People would come from all over the neighborhood to eat her food every Sunday. My uncle was a pit master. He was always in Memphis in May. I think he he won a couple of awards. When I have memories of him, there’s always smoke in the air.”

Free specifically wanted to do turkey legs. “It’s the way my music is,” he says. “I wasn’t trying to make the same music everybody else was making. It’s just not my style. I didn’t want something like a wing place. I wanted to be something different.”

Turkey Leg Hut in Houston, Texas was an inspiration. Someone told him they cooked “2,900 turkey legs a day,” Free says. “This is insane. On a slow day, 2,200.

“I just became almost obsessed with that. I didn’t want to go to Houston and taste their turkey legs. I’m not trying to copy them.”

But he liked the idea of “meat falling off the bone.”

He told his idea to Andy “Kaz” Westmoreland, who works at Carolina Watershed. Kaz introduced him to Tony Westmoreland, one of the owners. “He instantly was like, ‘Man, you can use my smoker and use this place. We’ll figure out a way to make this work.’”

Free got reacquainted with Forrest, who he had met on another occasion, at Carolina Watershed. They immediately hit it off. 

“I come from a background of cooks as well,” Forrest says. “It was my dad that raised me who introduced me to the grill. I would cook hotdogs on the grill. I was about 9. And about 11 or 12, I started cooking chicken and steaks on the grill. My dad would work overtime and one day my mom said, ‘Would you fire up the grill by yourself?’ I did. And from that day I never stopped.”

Forrest later found out he had another cooking connection. “My history of cooking is really in my blood.”

His biological grandfather, Franklin Jones Sr., was “a professional cooker, pit master, out of Munford. He had his own food truck, Franklin’s BBQ.”

Franklin Sr. was known as ‘the barbecue man’ in Munford. “I’m known as ‘the barbecue man’ in Memphis.” 

Forrest, who worked on the grill for 10 years at Cozy Corner Restaurant, got to cook with his grandfather, whose style was slow. In 10 or 12 hours during holiday season at Cozy Corner, Forrest cooked “250 slabs of ribs, 28 turkeys, a couple of cases of Cornish hens, a couple of cases of chickens, and a couple of cases of wings.” He told his grandfather, “It takes 12 hours to cook one thing on your grill.

“He said, ‘Listen to me. It’s something that’s needed for your deadline. You got to cook fast.’

“That taught me an understanding of how to be versatile.”

Jonathan Kiersky, who owned Hi Tone at the time, asked Forrest to become “the official food truck at the Hi Tone” after the club moved to its first Crosstown location. He and Kiersky came up with his nickname. “He said ‘Hi.’ I said, ‘Que.’”

Forrest eventually began cooking barbecue and fresh vegetables in a smoker in front, including his smoked vegan greens, for the bands that performed at the club.

He could still be grilling into the early morning hours, Forrest says. “People would leave other clubs and pass by and see if I still had the smoker going.”

Forrest, who went on to work at Ferdinand Catering, originally met Free at a pop-up with Kaz at Sidecar Cafe. “Free was talking about doing stuffed turkey legs.”

When they met again at Carolina Watershed, Free asked him to help him with his turkey leg idea. Forrest saw “an idea that could really blossom.”

They began working on how to create the perfect smoked turkey leg. “It took us some time to figure out how to make the turkey leg the right way,” Free says. “Three or four days of cooking and two weeks of thinking about it.”

“The first thing, honestly, is it’s not pre-smoked,” Forrest says. “A lot of people buy legs that are already pre-cooked and penetrate smoke into the turkey leg. And, basically, all they do is warm it up until it falls off the bone. We take a special blend of seasonings, which is his [Free’s] mom’s dry rub, marinate it over night and do other secret things to make it tender.  Smoke it low and slow.”

Red Bones Turkey Legs is now open. They’re planning a grand opening at a later date. “I want to tie in some entertainment,” Free says. “Do some shows as well. Do some FreeSol events up there tied up with Carolina Watershed. Basically, tie music and food together. That’s what I really want to do.”

So, where does the name “Red Bone” come from? “It was my uncle Red Bone,” Free says. “He worked at WLOK and did the MLK Celebration every year in January at the Cannon Center. Everybody knew him as ‘DJ Red Bone’ and everybody called him ‘Bone.’ I called him ‘Uncle.’ And I know he just lead me through this whole process. From Kaz who lead me to Tony. He lead me to the concept of the turkey leg. He lead me to the idea of wanting to grill food and cook in Memphis. And tie it all together with music. That all comes from my Uncle Bone. From Heaven, he’s been guiding this.”

The name fits his uncle, Free says. For one thing, turkey legs are red.

His dad told him the night they opened also was Red Bone’s birthday. Free told his dad, “I know you don’t know this, but Bone has been part of this process spiritually and opened doors.”

His uncle, who was “a very big boaster,” would, of course, take credit for their turkey leg business, Free says “He thought he was the first to do everything. According to him, he was the first person to do turntables. He loved to expand on a story. Exaggerate his ass off.”

Comparing Red Bone Turkey Legs to music, Free says it’s “slow. It melts in your mouth. It’s Marvin Gaye kind of. It’s Frankie Beverly and Maze. But it also has a Pink Floyd. And it’s outside music. It’s festival music.

“It’s also sweet and smooth and sexy like Sharde. But it also hits you. It’ll get Tupac on you real quick.”

Also, Free says, “When you eat it, it brings out the beast in you. People say, ‘I can’t eat all of that.’ And you see them eat all of it. Eat the whole thing. It’s got a Biggie Smalls Fat Boy type of thing as well.”

Red Bone Turkey Legs is open from 5 p.m. until closing Thursdays through Sundays at Carolina Watershed, 141 East Carolina Avenue, (901) 207-6172

Categories
Cover Feature News

Free at Last: The Story of FreeSol

CREDIT: Courtesy of FreeSol

FreeSol is a free soul again.

After getting his musical start as lead singer of the alternative soul band also known as FreeSol, which formed in 2003, “Free” moved back to Memphis two years ago after several years of ups and downs.

FreeSol was originally signed to Justin Timberlake’s production company, Tennman Records, in 2006. After then signing with Interscope Records, the band debuted its first single,”Fascinated,” on American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, and appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. The band was also presented the Memphis Sound Award at the Blues Ball in Memphis. The future looked bright.

Courtesy of FreeSol

FreeSol appeared on Late Night with David Letterman.

Then, in 2012, everything stopped.

“As soon as we got dropped from Interscope Records I bounced to California,” says Free, now 42. Trying to “re-find himself,” he worked in real estate and became involved with the legal marijuana industry. “I was on the verge of opening my own brand, Sweet Cali,” he says. “We’d been in business since 2014 and we were looking for investors. It’s a marijuana THC/CBD edible brand and street apparel brand.”

But in late 2019 Free decided to move back to Memphis. “I wanted to use some of my new hustle, and the things I learned about business and put that with music. I want to be an inspiration and a motivator for the city. I want to be a personality here. I had only been seen here in a dark, thuggish, rough, sexual light. I came to Memphis to get busy.”

Free, a native Memphian whose real name is Christopher Anderson, is now vice-president of Elite Home Flippers and wants to open a restaurant.

“I’m a hustler, man. I like food and I’m from Memphis. I have always felt I was going to come home and do something for Memphis. And one of those things needed to be Memphis food. Growing up, I loved good Southern food.”

There will be music along with the food, Free says. “If I’m going to be in the business, we’re going to have music there.”

Courtesy of FreeSol

Free

Free says he also will be bonding with young, local musicians. “I really want to connect myself to up-and-coming cats and do whatever I can. And do what I did with FreeSol, just trying to build a network — be connected and throw events and collaborations. If you remember the rise of FreeSol — how we played often at different events.”

Free says the late California rapper Nipsey Hussle was the inspiration for his moving back to Memphis and getting involved here. “He died in 2019. He was shot outside of his store. The cool thing about him was that he had rented out a store in this building and he sold T-shirts, sold suits, while he was building up his music. He ended up buying the whole building. Then he owned a restaurant. He became a local entrepreneur, but he also was a national rapper.

“As soon as he was murdered, it was like his spirit was released and a lot of people built up a Nipsey Hussle mindset. I knew I had to build up an empire, a business, and be an inspiration and motivation in my city. I see myself as a Nipsey Hussle. He made me want to come home, basically, to be here to be an entrepreneur while opening up a restaurant, putting on shows, eventually starting a record company. We can do it all and we can inspire and make friends. And do it all with a smile on our face.”

Free says art was his first creative outlet, but when he was 12, he began rewriting lyrics to the music of Boney James and the Yellowjackets in his mother’s record collection. He began writing his own rhymes when he was 14. “Fourteen was a big year for me. I started smoking weed, lost my virginity, and started rapping — all in the same summer.”

Courtesy of FreeSol

FreeSol was ahead of the curve in rapping over music by a live band.

He gave his first performance during an overnight lockdown at Bishop Byrne High School. His friend, a DJ, told him he was going to get him on stage. “I was so nervous. I’ll never forget. The crowd went crazy.”

Rap music was all he wanted to do after that, he says. “They talk about that ‘drug’ of being on stage. That addiction. That was it. I had 100 kids screaming, having a good time. After it was over it was like I just invented the cure for cancer.”

Free then started his first band, Sol Katz, with two other rappers. Their agent signed them to do talent shows in Atlanta and Texas. A little later, while going to school at Clark Atlanta University, he got a call from Beyoncé’s father, Mathew Knowles. “He heard about us and he called Orin Lumpkin at Elektra, who wanted to work out a deal. But it all fell through. When that didn’t work out, the band kind of broke up.”

FreeSol says he got his name when he was 21. He was teaching Bible class at his church when he came across Galatians 5 verse 1, which “talks about freedom. So that was the birth of me wanting to be called ‘Free.’ Never being held by the yoke of slavery. I lost all religion and became ‘Sol,’ son of light. It just came to me. It had to do with wanting to follow the light. From the darkness comes the light. To be the son of light, the son of goodness, is the highest form of energy.”

In 2001, Free got a $25,000 loan from his cousin and recorded his first solo record, FreeSol. 

“I got in my car and drove all over the country and sold that record.”

He then ran into drummer James “Kickman Teddy” Thomas at Applebee’s on Union. “He was drinking this big ass beer at 12 on a Monday,” he remembers. He offered his headphones to Thomas and asked him if he’d listen to his record. “He loved it.”

Bass player and keyboardist Daniel “Primo Danger” Dangerfield joined them that afternoon. “That Thursday we had our first rehearsal,” Free says. “Three to six months later we had our full band.”

Songwriter/co-producer Elliott Ives, longtime studio and touring guitarist with Timberlake, recalls how impressed he was with FreeSol when he saw the group perform at Automatic Slim’s. “There were not many rappers performing with bands,” he says. “And not just that, but also having auxiliary members of the bands singing hooks.”

When he joined the band, Ives says, “I pretty much sang every hook. You’ve got this white boy Memphis guitar player singing these hooks and this Memphis rapper with a live band. A few years later, people started doing that. Now you rarely see a hip-hop artist without a band.”

FreeSol “was just different,” Thomas says. “We were on a different vibe at the time. There weren’t too many bands doing what we were doing. We were breaking down so many boundaries and breaking down so many doors as far as being new, energetic. For me, it was special, man. From the day I met Free, there was something special about what he was bringing, what he was trying to do at the time. It was a brotherhood as well as being a band. It was fun times, man.”

Describing their music, Free says, “I don’t believe in race. I don’t believe in labeling music. I think we think too much about things and try to divide things and put things in boxes. I take a little bit of Islam, atheism, Christianity, Buddhism, and find truth in my own lane. I took rock, rap, hardcore rap, hardcore rock, jazz music, pop music, and never tried to label it. And in all our songs I put elements of what we love. We tried to create something new for everyone to fit into.

“Everyone came to our shows, from ‘hood, straight-up crack dealers to the silliest of the white girls. I had everybody included. We were able to wrap it up because we had pieces of everything people wanted and respected in music and art. The real strength we had was our versatility.”

FreeSol’s most popular songs included “Busy Watching Me,” “Don’t Give a Damn,” and “Crazy.”

Lightning struck when they met Timberlake at a private showcase and were subsequently signed to Tennman Records and then, Interscope Records. Between 2006 and 2011, the band released Role Model and Hoodies On, Hats Low. One of their songs “Fascinated,” was co-produced by Timberlake and featured Timbaland.

Timberlake, who also appeared in the video, produced an album with FreeSol for Interscope. But in January 2011, FreeSol was dropped by Interscope.

“The politics of the major label music business got in the way of the actual talent and the music, and had nothing to do with the success we were having or the success we were about to have,” Ives says. “It was pure politics.”

Everybody in the band “took it really hard,” Free says. “We had made it — and to have all it taken from us right then and there, everybody was heartbroken. We did everything we were supposed to do. We had a fan base. We had a work ethic. But things didn’t work out.” 

Courtesy of FreeSol

Christopher “Free” Anderson with his wife, Melissa Anderson

Free and his wife, Melissa, moved to California. They were married three years later. 

In California, Free says his “main bread and butter” was real estate, but that he was also “figuring out how to learn the game with [legal] marijuana and how to get your own brand, your own farm, your own store. My passions have been weed and music. I always cared about those two things a lot. I wanted to be involved.”

But he reached a point when he felt it was time to move back home.

Free says he continues to write music but his subject matter has changed. “A lot of songs in my past are about sex, women, being a player — a young, childish perspective on life. Now I’m an older man. My lyrics are more mature. I’m a prouder. I love a lot of the music I made, but I hadn’t seen anything, and that’s apparent. I was just pulling things out of my head and was trying to make them sound cool.

“Now, I can talk about life. I’m a business owner, a father of two, a husband. Everything I eat comes from my own hustle, my own inventions. I haven’t worked for anybody since I was 21 years old. I take care of myself and my family.”

One recent song is called, “Is It the Way?” It’s about “how I thought I’d never get married. How I met my wife. How it feels after losing the record deal with Interscope and taking that fall. A lot of people lost jobs, chased dreams, weren’t happy, or came up short. I know how you feel. You don’t know how it feels until you walk in those people’s shoes.”

Ives is producing two of Free’s recent songs — “Quit Playin'” and “Money Magnet” — at Ives’ Domination Station studio at Young Avenue Sound. 

Would FreeSol ever reunite? “Absolutely,” Free says. “We talk about it all the time.”

In addition to his music and business ventures, Free also hosts a podcast, Ice to Eskimos, with comedian Rob Love and artist Frances Barry Moreno.

“I’m an extremely happy man,” Free says. “I realized life is what you make it. Your thoughts, your perspective matters a lot. No one is in control of your happiness, your days. I’m where I need to be.”

Categories
We Recommend We Saw You

Music Comings and Goings: Alexis Grace, Thomas Bergstig, FreeSol, Andrew Smith. And Sushi Jimmi Returns!

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Alexis Grace and Thomas Bergstig

If you think you recently saw Alexis Grace around town, you’re right. The Memphis singer, actor, and “American Idol” finalist who moved to Los Angeles with her husband, Thomas Bergstig, in 2017 is back in Memphis. For a while.

“We’re here temporarily,” says Grace. “We came back because of family circumstances.”

Her daughter, Ryan Zabielski, 12, was injured in a car accident. “We did a Go Fund Me (and raised) $15,000 in four days for us to move back so quickly so she could go to rehab.”

Zabielski is “fully recovered from her accident,” says Grace, who says she and Bergstig plan to be in Memphis “right now until December.”

A native Memphian, Grace was a finalist who came in 11th place on season eight of TV’s “American Idol.” For eight years, she was a Memphis deejay on Q-107 FM.

Bergstig, who is from Sweden, is the former music director at Playhouse on the Square. He and Isaac Middleton are the tap-dancing-musical-instrument-playing performers in Swedish Jam Factory.

Grace is working with film productions in Memphis. She played Kellie Pickler’s stand-in in the Hallmark Films production of Christmas at Graceland and she played the part of Pickler’s wedding cake baker in Hallmark’s Wedding at Graceland. “Here’s the funny thing: Kellie is also from ‘American Idol.’ So, we have a lot of similarities in our career and stuff.”

Grace is excited about the film and TV opportunities in Memphis, including the Bluff City Law series, which is filming in Memphis.

She’d love to be a part of that series. “I know a lot of people in town are happy that happened because now they have work. I think it’s really important the city knows about these productions providing work for artists and people who work in the industry right now.

“Take me, for example. I moved out to Los Angeles because I needed to find more work as an artist, as an actor, as a singer. It’s very hard to find work here in the city that sustains a whole family. It really is. Unionized type of work.

“So, the fact that a lot of people who work in the film industry in town travel to work in other cities when they want to be a part of big productions to make money and things, the fact the series and Hallmark are coming here I know so many people who are like, ‘Thank you.’ It’s a really big deal.”

Grace loves living in Los Angeles. “It took about a year. I hated the first year. Well, I miss my family. I’m a big family person and it was weird to not be able to run to my mom’s house if I want to see her. And family get-togethers.”

It’s more expensive to live in L.A., but, she says, “The opportunities that are there are endless in any line of work ‘cause it’s such a big city. But especially entertainment. If you work hard and you’re talented and creative and you’ve got a go-getter personality and you put yourself out there, it will work itself out. It just takes time.”

Grace did a lot of background singing for TV shows in L.A. “And that was thanks to ‘American Idol.’ Because I was a contestant on that show I made a lot of contacts with musicians and vocalists and arrangers. When I moved to L.A. I let them know I was in town. I did a gig with Katy Perry at the Hollywood Bowl, just singing background.”

Swedish Jam Factory will be working on a full-length show this summer, Bergstig says. “We’re creating our show, actually,” he says. “We’re building a full-length show that we can do in theaters.

“The longest we’ve done is 30 minutes. We’re building something more like 70 minutes. It’ll be a lot of tap dancing incorporated with folk music, classical music, electronic music.”

Will Grace and Bergstig stay in Memphis? “You can act and perform anywhere, but if you want to do that for a living, it’s very helpful to live in a place where you can make a living by doing that. Plus, the weather is amazing.You do miss thunderstorms every now and then.”

But will they remain in LA? “Seriously, I feel like at my age and the career that I chose it’s still a little hard to say I’m going to stay in one place forever,” Grace says. “You never know where you’re going to. You never know what your next phone call is going to be.”


Michael Donahue

FreeSol – back in Memphis.

FreeSol is back in Memphis. He has been living in California since 2012.

He’s lead singer of the alternative soul band also known as FreeSol, which formed in 2003.

“Soon as we got dropped from this record deal — Interscope and Tennman Records, Justin Timberlake’s label — I bounced to Cali,” says Free. “‘Cause I always wanted to be in Cali. You know me and Cali have something special. I really wanted to be out there. I went out there to re-find myself.”

He was “let down by the whole record deal.”

“We received a call on a Monday that we were No. 1 priority of Interscope. By that Friday

were dropped. Just some political stuff.”

And, he says, “FreeSol wasn’t a free soul. I had to escape out West. I felt trapped”

In California, FreeSol says he’s been “learning how to breathe. Meditate. Calm down and not chase things so much. It’s like a ‘finding myself-type situation’ right now. I felt like I learned more about what I am. And who I am.”

Now, he’s “chasing a lifestyle and philosophy rather than finance, riches, and fame.”

He’s been able to “live in the moment with happiness.”

FreeSol learned about the marijuana industry while in California. “I just recently got a company called Sweet Cali. A partner and I took it over. It’s been a business since 2014. We’re slowly building that up.”

Sweet Cali is “an edible line. We’re focusing on turning it into more of a lifestyle brand from clothes to CBDs, anything related to marijuana.”

FreeSol never stopped performing, but he says, “I feel like I want to make music again. I want to to do it here. There’s an energy pulling me back home. A lot of love for me. I feel something coming in this direction.”

And, he says, “I’m happy to see so much excitement. So many people doing cool things. So many artists being supportive. I want to be a part of it.”


Michael Donahue

Andrew Smith on guitar with Bailey Bigger…..

Michael Donahue

….and then lap steel…..

Michiael Donahue

…..and back to guitar.

Andrew Smith, former creative director at Highpoint Church, and his wife, Jordan, recently moved to Nashville, where, he says, he’s “pursuing the music thing.”

If you were at the Hear 901 festival back in April at The Bluff, you probably noticed Smith, 25, who moved from instrument to instrument on stage. He backed Bailey Bigger on her set at the show, which featured University of Memphis music students.

“I was playing electric guitar on a couple of songs,” says Smith. “I switched over to lap steel. It was funny. When we made the set list I was thinking of all the changes I had to do, flip flop every single song. It was fun, man. Her songs are great. Her songs are super cool. She’s really talented.”

Smith isn’t a U of M student; he’s a 2015 graduate of Visible Music College.

 “I haven’t really been playing lap steel that long. I got a lap steel for my birthday back in November. I locked myself in my room and tried to learn songs and basic chords I could play with my friends. I played a show around Christmas time with Ben Callicott. Old News. With Kyle and Harrison Neblett. All of those guys are so good.”

Smith, who is from Kansas, began playing guitar when he was 10. “It was because of the iconic scene in Back to the Future when Michael J. Fox grabs that red Gibson 355 and just rips out ‘Johnny B. Goode.’”

He knew it had to be guitar for his first musical instrument. “I knew guitar was way cooler than piano or whatever. I was a little kid. You think like that. I wanted to be [Marty McFly]

in ‘Back to the Future’ and play guitar.’”

Why the Nashville move? “No kids. No mortgage or anything like that. We just wanted to have a little bit of adventure.”

He plans to make trips back to Memphis. “We both have family back in Memphis and definitely will be coming back and forth. I actually still am part of the band I play with called ‘Junior Year.’ Josh Maze, worship pastor at Highpoint, is the front man. We’ll continue to do shows in Memphis as they come up.”

It was “bittersweet to leave Memphis.” But, Smith says, “I’m definitely not going to be a stranger to the 901.”

Michael Donahue

Andrew Smith

……………..
Michael Donahue

Jimmy Sinh and his brother, David Sinh, toast during the grand re-opening of Sushi Jimmi Asian fusion restaurant.


In honor of International Sushi Day – June 18th, raise a glass, and toast Sushi Jimmi, the Asian fusion restaurant that re-opened with a buffet dinner June 15th.

Fans showed Sushi Jimmi some love, and loved them some sushi at the grand re-opening at the restaurant at 2895 Poplar.

Gustavo Gomez, 20, didn’t know it was the grand re-opening. He didn’t know the restaurant was, again, open for business.

“I just got off work,” says Gomez, who delivers pizzas for Little Italy restaurant. “I was passing by going home and I saw people there. I knew it was closed. Man, so sad. Then I see lights and I see people there. I was like, ‘Oh, why don’t I just stop here and see what happened?’ ‘Cause I used to go there a lot.”

He went twice a month before the restaurant closed May 23rd, Gomez says. The rolls are big and the prices are reasonable, he says.

And, Gomez says, “It’s just a cool place to hang out with friends and stuff.”

The Big Boy is Gomez’s go-to sushi roll. “It’s crab and some type of fish and it has this spicey sauce. It’s one of the big ones. I’ve tried other ones, but I always go with that.”

Jimmy Sinh, former owner now head chef, planned to close the restaurant and move to Florida, but his family didn’t want to let the place go. And Sinh already put a lot of money in the restaurant.

Jimmy and his brother, David Sinh, the new owner, and the staff toasted with champagne. Everyone gathered at the front of the restaurant for the bubbly and good wishes.

Michael Donahue

Sushi Jimmi regular Gustavo Gomez was at the grand re-opening.

Michael Donahue

Sushi Jimmi regulars Regan Dickerson and Jaylen Roach were at the restaurant’s grand re-opening.

Michael Donahue

Sushi at Sushi Jimmi’s grand re-opening.