Tag: Libertyland

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Mike McCarthy’s Zippin Pippin Doc Destroy Memphis Returns To The Screen

Mike McCarthy is one of Memphis film pioneers. Starting in the 1990s, his feature films such as Teenage Tupelo, Superstarlet A.D., and Cigarette Girl forged a mondo, anything goes aesthetic from punk rock, trash cinema, and pop culture ephemera.

In the last few years, McCarthy has thrown himself into historic preservation, and his filmic output has migrated towards nonfiction. Destroy Memphis is his document of the years long quest to save Libertyland and the Zippin Pippin, Elvis’ favorite wooden rollercoaster. It’s a sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always riveting story of grassroots civic engagement.

The film premiered at last year’s Indie Memphis Film Festival. In today’s time of protests, letter writing, and Memphis accelerating but often controversial development, this film seems even more relevant. The controversy at the heart of the film, what to do with the Fairgrounds, has only grown more murky and heated over time. Destroy Memphis will screen at Malco’s Studio on the Square on Thursday, October 26 at 7:00 PM. It seems like a perfect time to, as McCarthy says, “Start celebrating our history, and stop tearing it down!”

Mike McCarthy’s Zippin Pippin Doc Destroy Memphis Returns To The Screen

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News The Fly-By

Q&A with the Carousel Doctor

He’s been called the “carousel doctor” by The New York Times and “America’s Last Carousel Craftsman” by The Atlantic Monthly. Last week, Todd Goings was in Memphis to assist with restoration of the old Libertyland carousel.

Goings will take possession of the classic wooden carousel that came to Memphis from Chicago in 1922 and left Libertyland for storage in 2006. Goings and his company, Carousels and Carvings, will collect the carousel from the Mid-South Coliseum and take it to his Ohio studio for a full refurbishment.

After two years of cleaning, repairing, fixing the mechanics, the lights, and the organ, and painting and polishing the carousel’s 32 jumping horses, 16 standing horses, and two chariots, the carousel will return to Memphis and its new home at the Children’s Museum of Memphis. — Toby Sells

Todd Goings

Flyer: So, what are you going to do with the carousel?

Todd Goings: We’ll lay it out in our shop, and everything will be cleaned before we can make an assessment of current conditions. We replace it with factory-original materials, including the casting, and the pieces, and the parts. We make our patterns, pieces, and parts because you can’t just go down to the hardware store anymore and buy the parts you need for this. They were made specifically by that company, like a Ford or a Chevy.

We start clear back at the basics, so we can get the ride to where it’s going to be here for another 100 years.

How did you start working on carousels?

Believe it or not, I started out in cabinet making, in furniture building. Then I got into carving. I read about a local carousel project, so I just went over — not to get into it — but I just thought it was interesting. One thing led to another, and now it’s been close to 25 years.

How many carousels have you worked on?

We probably work on about 20 different ones a year in various stages. Some of them, we’ve already done the restoration on them and we go back for annual visits. Some of them, we do bi-weekly maintenance on them. We’re there every two weeks going over it. Some of them, I go in and work with crews in some of the bigger amusement parks. We’re also making a few of them in our studio — the whole thing, from the ground up.

What’s the allure of carousels? Why do people want to hang onto them so badly?

I can tell you what grabbed me about it. It was the amazing craftsmanship. That’s why I like to do the work on them. When you’re 6 years old and wanting to ride the carousel, you’re looking at more of a fantasy thing.

The unique thing, too, is that grandma and grandpa have ridden these things. Mom and dad rode these things. Now, the grandchildren are riding these things. So, they’re one of the few things left . . . you know, grandma and grandpa never played on their cell phones when they were kids. So carousels are a broad connection to a fantasy. It’s like magic.

So, most of your work is on antiques?

I’d say about 60 percent of what we do is on antiques. It’s really hard to argue about the engineering of something that’s run more than 100 years and had millions of riders on it. We talk about all of our updates and everything like that. But here’s a machine that’s been sitting here doing its job all these years, whether it got really well taken care of or it got abused for a while.

Everyone used to have carousels. The industry, they still argue about it. They say, at one time there was somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 carousels. Nobody really knows. The only thing they know now is that there are roughly 150 antique ones left in the country.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

The On-Campus Stadium

As a resident of the Normal Station neighborhood immediately south of the University of Memphis, as a former board member of the Normal Station board of directors, and as a current Ph.D. candidate in the history department at the University of Memphis, I am appalled at the idea of an on-campus stadium (“The Football Stadium as Political Football,” September 27th issue).

I have long been a supporter of both the university and the neighborhood and the ability of both to work together. In the near-decade my husband and I have lived here, we have seen our housing value rise dramatically. This has been due in no small part to the exceptional working relationship and common future vision we have fostered with the university (despite some notable failures). This is a growing, vibrant community.

A stadium in the middle of our neighborhood would essentially put an end to all that. Urban blight would be the inevitable and sorry result. It is hard enough to deal with acres of parking lots, but a stadium would be a sheer and utter disaster. As it is, we have lost the town of Normal to the university. (Do you realize that the acres of parking lots south of the train tracks were once a thriving little town, taken by the university by eminent domain?) Please, let us not lose our neighborhood.

Laura Perry
Memphis

The Memphis Music
Commission

What can be said about a music commission (“Standing at the Crossroads,” September 13th issue) supposedly representing the interests of the rich history and current vibrancy of the Memphis music community, when it cannot even get the date right (on its own historical timeline on its Web site) of the death of Memphis’ most famous musician: the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley?

Tess Foley

Monroe, Connecticut

Pace’s Comments

We are pointedly uninterested in hearing General Peter Pace, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pontificate about what varieties of sexual relations between consenting adults are — in his vaunted opinion — “immoral” or “counter to the law of God.”

If he’s so interested in interpreting God’s law and parsing out the precise parameters of moral behavior, he might do well to pray for guidance in searching his own soul for having played apologist for the most horrifically immoral presidential administration in American history and its misbegotten $500 billion (and counting) war, which has ravaged Iraq and its citizens, siphoned our resources from our own vast and urgent needs in education, science, and health care, undermined a meaningful multilateral response to terrorism, and made a travesty of our leadership role in the world.

It is this kind of ignorant parochialism and self-blinding presumptuousness and hypocrisy for which our nation and our culture are paying such a bloody, soul-withering price.

Hadley Hury
Memphis

Crackheads or Rednecks?

I actually don’t know which group is scarier: the gun-wielding, crack-headed gang members or the close-minded, time-warped rednecks. We seem to have plenty of both around here. I can only pray that we somehow eliminate both of these extremes, thus allowing the rest of us — the vast majority — to live our lives in harmony.

Jerry Saunders

Memphis

Maliki

Poor Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. He rants and rails against Blackwater mercenaries as they shoot their way through his country, but quite soon, President Bush will tap him on the shoulder and remind him that the head of Blackwater is a top Republican donor, the scion of one of the wealthiest families in South Carolina, and co-founder of Focus on the Family to boot.

Bush will then remind Maliki that the only way Iraq’s Republican enablers will survive the 2008 election is if high-rollers like Blackwater keep donating. If that means U.S. contractors continue wandering the roadsides dispensing Saddam-style justice as they see fit, then so be it. The unspoken message is that Blackwater will be in Iraq long after Maliki has gone.

Being a figurehead isn’t always easy, but as another figurehead once reminded a roomful of federal prosecutors: “We serve at the pleasure of President Bush.” Like Alberto Gonzales, Maliki will soon realize he’s about as essential as table garnish and just as easily replaced.

Ellen Beckett

Memphis

Categories
News

Libertyland, Part 1,287

Libertyland advocates had another reason to say, “pip, pip hooray,” after Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The parks committee voted in favor of a resolution preserving and protecting both the Grand Carousel and the Zippin Pippin pending further study.

“Basically, [this will] save it for the time being,” said resolution sponsor Myron Lowery.

Committee chair Scott McCormick questioned whether the resolution might mean unforeseen expenditures.

“This could go on for another two years. The Pippin is a wooden structure. What if the wood starts to rot?” he asked. “Are we going to have to rebuild it?”

Lowery said the intent was to keep the roller coaster in its current state: “Let’s save the Pippin.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

Planned Obsolescence

CREDIT: Photographer: Einar Bog | Agency: Dreamstime.com

It’s a good thing the city can’t suffer motion sickness. Because all the ups and downs, twists and turns, and loop-de-loops surrounding the former Libertyland site are enough to make anyone sick.

Last week, in an attempt to remedy widespread vandalism and theft damage at Libertyland, city councilman Myron Lowery proposed appropriating $800,000 to bring the site back to its previous state of benign neglect. But at the very same meeting, Memphis CAO Keith McGee admitted that Mayor Willie Herenton will announce plans for the Fairgrounds site February 20th, and those plans do not include Libertyland.

In a virtual roller coaster ride, Kansas-based amusement-park company T-Rex has been actively pursuing the Libertyland site since 2006, but each time they go up, they come right back down. One day it will look like they’ll be operating the park in the near future; the next it will seem the park will be demolished.

Most recently, the City Council directed the administration to sign a letter of intent with the company. But the latest snag has been damage from vandalism and theft of copper at the park, which would increase T-Rex’s estimated initial cost to get the park up and running.

Law professor, county commissioner, and Libertyland champion Steve Mulroy brought his case to the council for loaning T-Rex the money.

“It’s going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to move, store, and restore the Grand Carousel. Maybe even $800,000 or a million dollars,” Mulroy said. “Why not spend that money and leave the carousel right where it is and refurbish the entire park?”

He also mentioned that the renovations would be self-sustaining, as opposed to the recently completed traffic roundabout on Mud Island, which had a similar price tag.

But the city administration, in the form of McGee, changed tactics and its tune, claiming that the majority of damage at Libertyland was caused by buyers retrieving what they bought at auction.

“The footprint you see is missing items, not destruction,” said McGee. “Libertyland has been closed since fall 2005, so no one has been maintaining it. We’ve been providing security … to prevent theft.”

McGee’s implication was clear: If the damage is not due to theft or vandalism but simply the condition of the property post auction, then the city shouldn’t need to lend T-Rex $800,000 or change the terms of the lease.

It’s not a bad strategy for the city, shifting the onus onto T-Rex. The administration is clearly not interested in saving any part of “LittleBitty Land,” and if T-Rex won’t or can’t afford to take over Libertyland under the new circumstances, the mayor can say he’s not to blame.

But he may be in for a surprise.

When Herenton makes his recommendations for the Fairgrounds property this week, expect a chorus of healthy debate … and not just from Libertyland supporters and naysayers. Judging from several recent events, the citizens of Memphis have a renewed interest in exactly what is going where.

Last week’s forum on a greenline from downtown to Collierville is probably the most startling example, with over 1,000 people in attendance (read more about it on page 11). A Saturday morning speech by former Portland, Oregon, parks and recreation director Charles Jordan just two days later was also packed.

And in terms of future urban planning, Memphians seem awake to the possibilities. The city has had a number of charrettes and planning sessions in the past two years: from Broad Avenue to the medical district to Brooks Road.

The Fairgrounds property is no more important than any other area, but it’s in the heart of Memphis. The city’s Fairgrounds reuse committee presented an array of options in 2005, but the council wanted an economic breakdown of the various prospects.

No matter what the mayor proposes — most likely a combination of residential and retail components and the new stadium project he presented New Year’s Day — the people of Memphis will be thinking and talking about it and, more than likely, acting on it.

Jordan attended the greenline meeting and called it one of the “most impressive gatherings” he’s ever seen.

“They stood there for two hours and didn’t leave,” he said of the standing-room-only crowd. “That’s commitment.”

That level of engagement is bound to be a driving force for something, maybe even a change in local leaders.

“Something is on the horizon for Memphis. I don’t know what it is, but, God knows, something is happening here,” said Jordan. “If anyone gets in the way, they’re going to be trampled.”

Categories
Opinion

Parachute Journalism

My friend and fellow columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson uses the term “parachute journalism” for when out-of-town reporters do their take on a story that may or may not be hot news, then leave.

Two stories in national newspapers last week focused on the past and future of the Mid-South Fairgrounds. First The New York Times did an overview of the Salvation Army and the Kroc Centers funded by McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc and his wife. A $1.5 billion gift to the Salvation Army will fund recreation centers for low-income and middle-income residents in 30 to 40 cities. A $48-million Kroc Center gift was awarded to the Salvation Army in Memphis, provided that a suitable location can be found and private funding can supplement it. The top site contender is the fairgrounds.

The second story was in The Washington Post, about the closing of Libertyland amusement park.

Outside perspectives can add important context to a local story or trivialize it by falling back on cliches. The Times story, which did not specifically mention Memphis, reported that some leaders of the Salvation Army are troubled by the “commercial mindset” of the Kroc Centers and worry that they give the impression that the Salvation Army is “a flush charity that operates sleek recreation complexes rather than a frugal church that devotes itself to serving the needy.”

The Post story, on the other hand, was a classic piece of parachute journalism, complete with the obligatory Elvis angle, in connection with the Zippin Pippin. The notion that Memphis lives and breathes a daily diet of Elvis, barbecue, and nostalgia is a staple of parachute journalism.

“The closure of the park left an unexpected void in Midtown Memphis,” the story said. “Just about every Memphian has a Libertyland story, park supporters say.”

Just about every Memphian has a story about eating too many hotdogs, getting overheated in July, and shopping at the Mall of Memphis, but what’s the point? Libertyland had a 30-year run and outlived Nashville’s Opryland amusement park. It was getting too expensive to operate, and there are other uses for the fairgrounds, of which it is but one piece.

The Midtown void was not unexpected. The fairgrounds used to boast a minor-league baseball park, a swimming pool, a robust annual fair and livestock show, and sold-out University of Memphis basketball games at the Mid-South Coliseum. All of that is in the past. But unsuspecting Post readers might think the city is in mourning for Libertyland.

In fact, a handful of supporters are in mourning for Libertyland. One of them is apparently Steve Mulroy, who leveraged his support into publicity that helped elect him to the Shelby County Commission last week. I voted for Mulroy, but it distresses me that he used his talents on this lost cause and that he used the cause as a springboard to elected office. I wonder how Commissioner Mulroy will handle appeals from special interests at budget-setting time.

The Post‘s story concluded with a tear-jerker from a 9-year-old Libertyland fan who reportedly said, “I wonder what Elvis would think about them taking this place down.”

Sadly, we’ll never know. Maybe someone will poll all the Elvis impersonators in town this month and draft an Elvis-impact statement and stall the redevelopment of the fairgrounds for another 10 years.

Memphis is trying to move ahead. That means finding new uses for key pieces of public property and making hard decisions without benefit of counsel from either Elvis or 9-year-olds. The serious issues at the fairgrounds include the location and components of the Kroc Center, the Salvation Army’s role, the private sector’s role, the kind of housing that might be developed, the aging football stadium and coliseum, the vast empty parking lots, the fate of Fairview Junior High School, and the relationship of the whole thing to Orange Mound, Cooper-Young, the Children’s Museum of Memphis, and Christian Brothers University.

It’s a complicated job that has nothing to do with Elvis. He’s been dead nearly 30 years, and we’re over it. Except during Elvis Week, of course.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Libertyland’s Last Stand

The Mid-South Fair board probably feels like it’s been playing Whac-a-mole for the past few months. The game, in which the player holds a mallet and tries to hit the mole as it pops out of several holes, is slated to be auctioned off with other rides and equipment from Libertyland later this month. And yet, things keep coming up to stop it.

The amusement park’s fate has been at issue ever since the Mid-South Fair, the body that has operated the park since its inception in 1974, decided to close it late last year. But due in large part to the advocacy group Save Libertyland — in this case, the mole — the fair hasn’t been able to quietly close the park and quickly liquidate its rides and equipment.

Save Libertyland has waged a from-the-ground-up campaign to save and re-open the park, citing summer jobs and affordable family entertainment. They’ve studied the lease, courted amusement park operators in other states, and found documents to support the claim that the city owns Libertyland and its assets. In response, the city realized it owned the Grand Carousel and the Zippin Pippin and found its own evidence to prove it.

Though it still asserts it owns the rides (its primary argument seems to rest on the principle that possession is nine-tenths of the law), the Mid-South Fair board has halted the sale of the carousel and the Pippin pending the outcome of the ownership issue.

But the board still planned to sell everything else: skee ball alleys, ice cream machines, log flumes, the Sea Dragon, a climbing wall, and the Revolution roller coaster.

And then Save Libertyland popped its head up again.

“Even if you ultimately decided that you’re going to let someone sell [Libertyland’s assets] off to the four winds, shouldn’t the city investigate whether it deserves some of the money?” asked Steve Mulroy, Save Libertyland spokesman, at a City Council parks committee meeting. “If we don’t take action by June 21st, they’ll dispose of the assets — I believe city assets — without any benefit to the city.”

Council members were responsive to the argument.

“It appears they are moving forward with the idea that it’s better to ask forgiveness than get permission,” said council member Barbara Swearengen Holt. “It’s like squatter’s rights.”

Councilman Joe Brown called the whole situation a shell game. Members of the fair board, in addition to publicly stating they are selling the rides and equipment to fund a possible move, apparently want to use the Libertyland area to expand this year’s midway.

“Mid-South Fair doesn’t own anything,” Brown said. “It was just a tenant. The simple solution is just to tell Mid-South Fair to vacate. If they’re not operating Libertyland, they shouldn’t even be on the property.”

But what seemed simple proved to be complex, as the council questioned what action they could take since the mayor is the city’s sole contracting authority. After much debate, the committee — and later the full council — decided to instruct the administration to terminate the lease and to protect the city’s assets pursuant to the terms of the lease.

But exactly what that will mean for Libertyland is unclear because the lease is subject to interpretation. City attorney Sara Hall could not be reached for comment, but there seems to be some reluctance on the city’s part to go to court.

Mulroy told the committee that members of the administration thought its case for both the Grand Carousel and the Zippin Pippin was solid, but they were not willing to fight for the other equipment. Any ambiguity in the lease would mean a ruling against the drafter, ostensibly the city.

“My opinion is that the contract language is not ambiguous,” says Mulroy, a law professor at the University of Memphis. “When you have a … transaction where each group is represented by legal council, they jointly draft the contract.”

Still, Mulroy considers the committee’s action a “victory” and a “significant step forward.” The group had hoped to facilitate a deal in which another company could begin operating the park by this season. Even though that is near to impossible, the decision means another company could be in place by next summer.

“The city becomes the sole decision maker,” he says. “The city can no longer use the Mid-South Fair as an excuse. Now we’ll have one party to work with instead of two.”

But that doesn’t mean the mole — or the group holding the mallet — will stop.

“I don’t think there’s any question that the city owns the equipment,” said council member Dedrick Brittenum. “This body is not going to resolve this issue. It’s going to have to go across the street, to court.”

Mulroy agrees. “I think the Mid-South Fair is so recalcitrant that someone will have to take them to court. It would be nice if it were the city or the county, but if it’s not going to be them, I guess it will be us.”