Bluff City Liars (Photo: Courtesy Bluff City Liars)
Improv and music go hand in hand. After all, how do you make music without a little bit of improv? But Zephyr McAninch, director of the improv troupe Bluff City Liars, wanted to add more music into their improv because who doesn’t like a little bit of music with their improv? So they came up with the two-night Liar’s Ball, where the Liars will play improv games inspired by and backed by the tunes of Louise Page on Friday and Rosey on Saturday.
“Our regular shows typically don’t have a musical element,” McAninch says. “Every now and again, we’ve been able to work in a musical game. … But the ball aspect is there’s music very heavily integrated into the show [with the special musical guests].”
This ball will be the Liar’s second, with last year’s featuring Dandelion Williams and HEELS. “It was just such a success. I think it’s my favorite show we’ve ever done,” McAninch says. “It makes me feel like more of a rock star right there with the band. Everything we’re doing is a little bit silly, but it feels cooler when you’ve got Rosey giving you the backing track for your doo-wop song, or you got Louise Page laying down the piano for Hoedown [a musical improv game you might recognize from Whose Line Is It Anyway?].”
The show will also give audience members a chance to hear Page’s and Rosey’s originals in between games. “I can’t recommend these bands enough,” McAninch says, “so I’m excited for the possibility of getting to introduce somebody to either of them.”
But, of course, being the improv aficionado they are, McAninch is also excited about the possibility of introducing anyone and everyone to improv. “I think everyone should try improv,” they say. “I was the quiet, shy one before I started doing improv [in college], and when I told my parents I joined an improv troupe, they said, ‘You?’ … I just kind of fell in love with it. It’s a wildly fun, massively accessible art form, and it’s weirdly applicable to so many other parts of your life.
“Improv is just not knowing what’s happening. That’s everything that’s ever happening in your life. And on top of that, when kids play, they’re just improvising; they just have fun. We forget how to do it, so I just want to help people remember how to do it.”
So, in addition to shows like the ball this weekend where folks can watch childlike play in action, Bluff City Liars hosts a free improv workshop where attendees can take part in the play themselves at TheatreWorks@The Square on the first and third Monday of each month at 6 p.m. “It is no-commitment,” McAninch says. “You just drop in whenever you feel like it. We adapt what we’re talking about that week to who is there and what skill level is present.”
Keep up with the Liars at bluffcityliars.com, where you can also purchase tickets for the upcoming Liars’ Ball.
Liars’ Ball, TheatreWorks@the Square, 2085 Monroe, Friday, June 7, 8 p.m. | Saturday, June 8, 8 p.m., $12/advance, $15/at the door.
Wearing a green ribbon can mean a lot of things, or nothing at all. That’s part of the mystery at the heart of Louise Page’s new music video, where the core message is “I want to see you dance the way you dance in your kitchen,” and the stylish art direction assures us that, in that part of the house, green pairs well with pink.
For many, the green ribbon signifies mental health awareness, and there’s a primal call for sanity in the way Page calls out the kitchen boogie as an integral part of mental hygiene. But maybe that’s reading too much into a song that just wants to make you dance.
To that end, Page musters the full power of her band, complete with violin and horns, to make the most danceable track she can. And the video captures that energy perfectly, tacking back and forth between that kitchen and a sweaty, stomping club scene, where drag queens Moth Moth Moth and Baby Mas, plus dancer Felicity Fox, match the singer’s moves strut for strut, and even producer/engineer Boo Mitchell gets down on the dance floor.
As Page says in her artist’s statement, she was “trying to write a song that was both a dance and a celebration, but also acknowledging how absolutely bat shit insanely difficult it has felt to be a functioning human being in a dysfunctional, often dangerous world. Joy can be a revolution. You can dance for the dead. That’s what this song celebrates to me.”
It’s a perfect way to bring out the power of Page’s crack combo. “Huge shoutout to my band — Annalisabeth Craig, Jawaun Crawford, Gunter Gaupp, and Michael Todd — for playing the hell out of this song and for riding with me. Huge shoutout to my friend Calvin Lauber for mastering the song, and Boo Mitchell for recording, producing, and believing in it!”
Director Laura Jean Hocking also hails the group effort that made such a wild party of a video possible. “I am credited as director on this video,” she says, “but so many people were vital in making these visual worlds come to life — the fabulous art direction team of Sallie Sabbatini/Erica Qualy/Annalisabeth Craig, Robbie Eubanks’ beautiful hair & makeup, Chad Barton’s excellent lighting and color timing, Sarah Fleming’s stellar camerawork — the list goes on. Being able to showcase Moth Moth Moth and Baby Mas was important to me, with the government trying to enact laws to ban drag performances. I wanted them to convey the message, ‘You cannot make our art form a crime. We’re not going away.’ And any time Louise calls me to do a music video, the answer is yes. She’s a great collaborator and a joy to work with.”
One of the hallmarks of Louise Page’s sound is the arranging skill she brings to her songs. Her solid piano playing always keeps things grounded, but her crack band often supplements that with horns, inventive rock guitar, and other elements. That’s not the case with her latest album, though. The whole point of Play Nice, an album written and recorded during the first year of the pandemic and released in 2021, is to strip all of that away. Befitting the isolation of those times, the album presents only a singer and her piano: intimate, raw, and real.
The unvarnished sound is matched with some of her most personal lyrics as well, and that’s one of the striking qualities of this single, “Little Icarus,” where she questions both her own trustworthiness and that of her lover or other person in her life. And yet, like the fabled mortal of Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun and suffered for it, there’s a romantic yearning in the song as well. It’s a theme ripe for bringing to life visually, and Page, director Ben Siler, and producer Chris McCoy (the Memphis Flyer’s film editor) have done so with stunning clarity.
As Page herself writes, “I’ve always loved using mythological references in my music, and the story of Icarus has been one that I’ve loved for quite some time — it has inspired so much art, both ancient and contemporary. Something I loved about working with director Ben Siler was his interest in making homages both to the original story of Icarus and also to the various works across time inspired by Icarus.”
Look for local rapper and producer Lawrence Matthews for his star turn as Icarus here. Often celebrated for crafting his own videos with a painterly sense of the visual, he brings that same attention to detail and artful integration to this project. And if the song asks some tough questions, it also revels in romance, with palpable chemistry between Page and Matthews as the video progresses.
“Little Icarus”
As Page further contemplates the song and the video, there is certainly love here, but … it’s complicated. “From my perspective as the writer, the song ‘Little Icarus’ is a love song, albeit a tragic one, that the Sun is singing to Icarus,” she writes. “My thought process was, while the sun isn’t a personified character in the original myth, the sun is responsible for melting Icarus’ wings. One might say the sun is responsible for his downfall — although most would say his own hubris brought about his fall. This thought process of personifying the sun became a metaphor for myself and my own fears about hurting others and being hurt by love.”
Page is also quick to share the credit for this vivid teleplay with her collaborators. “Ben Siler, the director, had the idea of there being two Louises in the video — one inspired by Sun God imagery and one more inspired by David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth. These two versions of self are open to interpretation by the viewer. Is one version of Louise reality and the other fantasy? If so, which is which? It’s up to the viewer to decide.”
Looking around, it’s pretty obvious America is in the midst of a full-blown mental-health crisis. More people are discovering therapy to help them deal with the world. But what happens when you start to have inappropriate feelings for your therapist? Who do you talk to about that?
This scenario can be especially hard if your therapist is chanteuse Louise Page. That’s the conundrum The Stupid Reasons‘ Gus Carrington finds himself in in “How Does That Make You Feel?”
The Stupid Reasons’ third video (after the slickly animated “The Moon (From Heaven)” which the Flyer covered last November) was directed by Justin Malone. It stars Carrington on the couch and Page as his beautiful counsellor. Can The Stupid Reasons keep it professional?
You can find out at the Belltower Coffeehouse on Thursday, August 4 when Carrington and bandmate Daniel Wasmund—along with Carrington’s dad Charley on drums—will celebrate the release of their new album (Petunias). Meanwhile, here’s the video.
Every year, the Memphis Flyer asks our readers to nominate the city’s best and brightest young leaders. From sports to government to tech, here are the Memphians who will be shaping our future.
Photo: Matthew Hise
Carrie Bernans Actor, stunt performer, film producer
Carrie Bernans had already lived all over the world by the time she came to the Bluff City. “I loved Memphis. It’s a place that I consider home — the longest place I really stayed in my childhood.”
She turned down scholarships at Fordham and Vanderbilt to study international business and theater at the University of Memphis, where she became a track and field star. “I wanted to be a black belt. I speak six languages, and I knew some martial arts, but I needed to learn more. So I got into it and found out that there was a niche market for girls like me.”
Her athleticism made her a natural stunt performer. “It became a very lucrative side job,” she says. “People were hustling tables to make ends meet, and I was just going to sets to do some stunts.”
In 2018, she was cast as a Wakandan warrior in the Dora Milaje in Black Panther, a role she reprised in Avengers: Endgame. “Show business for me was a way of telling stories that were important to tell. I want younger people of color to see themselves on screen in other ways beyond what we were already used to. It wasn’t only rappers and drug dealers, but also astronauts and warriors and many other things.”
Photo: Courtesy Alfonso Canady
Alfonso Canady Lead Software Engineer, Cinilope
It was a middle school Minecraft obsession that introduced Canady to programming. He recalls the first time he was able to make a computer say, “Hello world!” “Even just doing something really simple like that, I was dumbfounded by the power at my fingertips.”
Now, Canady works on more complex problems. At the Memphis tech company Cinilope, he develops new technology for drones and self-driving cars. “You get a lot of titles when you’re in a start-up,” he says.
While he was at Rhodes College, he found another passion: introducing others to programming. “CodeCrew is a nonprofit organization that brings computer science classes and programs to individuals who are historically underrepresented in the field.”
Ultimately, he wants to help make the Bluff City a world-class tech hub. “That would mean people taking the initiative, these young people who are intelligent, who are bright, staying in Memphis. That’s what we’re doing here within Cinilope.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Kevin Carpenter Music educator, Shelby County Schools
“My mom’s family is full of teachers, and my dad’s family is full of varying degrees of musicians. I had two amazing elementary school music teachers when I was a kid, and then had great band directors after them. I grew up with church choir.”
When the trumpet player first stepped in front of a class to teach, he knew he had found his calling. “The most important thing for me is to be a meaningful agent of change. And that means delivering equitable, high-quality music education to every student that needs it.”
When the pandemic hit, he used his skills as a recording engineer by organizing the Memphis Area Virtual Youth Choir. “It was a really beautiful thing to see come together. Then I realized this isn’t just a thing that our kids need here. This is a thing that everybody needs access to everywhere. So I opened up my own virtual performance studio and have put together performances for over a thousand musicians, all around the world.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Irah Gates Mental Health Outreach and Engagement Specialist, CMI Healthcare Services
Irah Gates says attending Rust, a historically Black college, “was very important to me, to learn about myself, my history, about our people and give back to the community.”
Giving back has been a major theme in her life. “That’s just the way my mother raised us,” she says. “I had lost my father at the age of 7, so she struggled to put us through school, my two big sisters and myself. So we built that resilience.”
She has organized volunteers for St. Jude’s Pantry Restock project through her church, New Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal; raised funds for Ronald McDonald House; and spearheaded the Operation Warm Hearts winter clothing drive. She traveled to South Africa, where she tutored and organized after-school programs in the low-income townships near Cape Town.
“My passion is working with children since I went through what I went through at an early age, and I just wanted to give back and let people know — and their students know — that it’s okay to go through adversities in life. You can always turn that into positivity and you can accomplish anything that you put your mind to.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Alex Gordon Project Manager, LEO Events
“We are the only destination management company in Memphis. We work with a lot of outbound or inbound, groups and corporations. … I feel very fortunate to be able to wake up and love what I do every day.”
If you were one of the 20,000 people who ran the St. Jude Marathon, you were greeted in the Edge District by Alex Gordon. Organizing comes naturally for her.
Gordon is also on the Edge District board of directors, and volunteers with Best Buddies International, where she helps throw the Joy Prom, an annual event for high schoolers with special needs. “It’s so awesome,” she says. “You get to walk them down a red carpet, get their photo taken, and then you just go and dance all night! It is just such a great thing because those kids are so happy to be alive.”
Photo: Brandon DIll
Margaret Haltom Director of Emergency Rent Assistance and Housing Policy, The Works Inc.
“Urban planning to me is all about building relationships and working in partnership with communities,” says Haltom. “I wanted to start my planning career working in the city I knew best, my hometown.”
She’s come a long way since her first job at Shelby Farms. “I tended to the giant compost pile of bison manure after school and on the weekends,” she recalls.
Now, she works to save pandemic-strained families from losing their homes in the midst of a nationwide eviction crisis. “Since March of 2021, we’ve paired over 6,000 households facing eviction in Shelby County with free legal representation, and administered over $40 million in rent relief across over 15,000 households. … I want to build a city where all Memphians have access to stable, high-quality, affordable housing, and when crises come, have the support they need to stay in their homes.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Alex Hensley Former Special Assistant to Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris
“I’ve had a sense of injustice since I was little and always wanted to make life a bit easier for folks,” Hensley says. Through their work at BRIDGES and the county mayor’s office, they have devoted themselves to the larger good. “What is rewarding about my work is tangibly improving quality of life — even if it’s for a few families. Policy-level work has allowed me to make change on a larger scale and that’s rewarding as a big-picture kind of human.”
Hensley became notorious when Councilman Edmund Ford obnoxiously objected to their email signature identifying their preferred pronouns. “I use both ‘she’ and ‘they’ pronouns because my sense of myself goes beyond being a woman,” they say. “We don’t have to understand how people identify to respect it. Our communities and our world is better when everyone can feel safe to embody themselves authentically.”
Whether it’s affecting change at the governmental level or bringing together artists for the Art Kognito collective, Hensley says, “Organizing is crucial because we can only address the urgent issues of climate change and social and economic injustice by electing and building power among folks who prioritize people over profit.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Emily Jennewine Pediatric nurse practitioner, Lifedoc Health
Keeping Memphis’ children healthy is a big job, but Emily Jennewine is on the case. “Providing care to patients in the school setting not only provides healthcare that students may otherwise not receive, but also allows for early intervention to address identified health concerns. Together with a team of school nurses, we are able to provide close, school-based follow-up and coordinate further care for these patients. Beyond that, through community partnerships, we are able to provide interventions such as nutrition education and access to nutritious foods through a food bank at the schools,” Jennewine says.
“My goal is to build a future for Memphis that is healthier. I believe we need to invest in preventative healthcare for our children and shift the focus to disease prevention. This should include an emphasis on health education and access to health resources. One of the first places we can start to build a healthier Memphis is in our school systems.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Valencia Jennings Human Resources, Baptist Hospitals, COO HomeT3amHoops
“During my undergraduate years, I realized I needed to have a career in business where I can be around people,” says Jennings. “I am very much a people person, and I thrive off human interaction.”
After earning a master’s degree in human resources, she joined Baptist Hospitals two years ago. “HR healthcare professionals must acknowledge that the group of individuals under their stewardship includes not only employees who receive a paycheck, but also patients who are receiving treatment,” she says.
Outside the hospital, she co-founded HomeT3amHoops. “Since high school, I’ve known that I wanted to create a non-profit to afford the youth of my community opportunities that are not usually afforded to them. My best friend and I [Trey Draper, 20<30, Class of 2019] created this vision in 2021. Our focus is to not only impact the lives of youth by helping them gain the fundamental skills through basketball, but also by giving them needed life skills, educational resources, and volunteer opportunities. We want to ensure that the children of our community know that there are opportunities for them in arms reach and we will help get them there.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Marissa Manthongkham Director of Operations and Educational Programming, PRIZM Ensemble
Raised in a music-rich Memphis household, Manthongkham left to pursue her career as a clarinetist, eventually earning a Ph.D. at Michigan State University. “After 11 years of performing and studying in various regions of the country and abroad, I realized I wanted to return home to apply these global perspectives. I am so thrilled to be back in Memphis as a leader in the local musical community.”
With PRIZM Ensemble, she helps provide musical opportunities for a wide range of marginalized groups. “It has been proven that students who study music excel academically above their classmates. These studies show that music is the key to a more well-rounded education. Since I have personally benefited from these advantages, I feel obligated to share my knowledge and experiences with others in an effort to encourage more youth to study instrumental music. As an advocate, I will ensure that I reach as many young children as possible to inspire them to recognize the full benefits of music. As a woman of color, I understand the importance of community and how music functions within the cultural structure.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Andrew Mok Category Manager, AutoZone
The son of Korean immigrants, Andrew Mok knows what it’s like to struggle. Now he is one of the youngest executives at AutoZone. “I’m very fortunate to be in the position that I am today at such a young age, but I wouldn’t be here if it was just me working. I had leaders in the community who really invested in me to help me get to this point.”
Mok gives back to the community with the Technical Center at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis. “I don’t want us to just focus on the big things, like making Downtown better. There are a lot of areas that need our help. That’s the reason why I am drawn to the Boys & Girls Club. I volunteered to take the lead on that project because I know what they’re going through. I’ve seen it firsthand growing up.”
He is also on the board of directors for the University of Memphis Alumni Association, a position that “means everything to me. There’s a lot of characteristics and qualities and traits that I have today that I wouldn’t have had if it wasn’t for the University of Memphis.”
Photo: Ja Morant courtesy of Joe Murphy / NBAE | Getty Images
Ja Morant Point Guard, Memphis Grizzlies
Memphis has seen our share of basketball stars, but no one has ever thrilled our city like Ja Morant. The 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year has led the Memphis Grizzlies to a record 11-game winning streak, putting the team in playoff contention and his name in the conversation for MVP. In the process, he has become the hero to the city.
“Since day one, Memphis made me and my family feel comfortable here and made us feel like home. I love everything about it, from the front office down, the fans, the community. Me and my family couldn’t ask for anything better, I want [Memphis] to receive more recognition. I feel like we have something good going here and just got to continue to grow.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Jonathan Mosley Program Director, Memphis in May International Festival; actor
As an event manager, Mosley has been responsible for Diner En Blanc, the Downtown Riverfront Market, and the Covid-era “Santa in a Bubble.” “Luckily in Memphis, it’s not too hard to have a good time! You can throw a rock and hit singer or DJ, the community will always come through, and our city has some of the best scenic backdrops for any event-type venue. Mix in a good cause and you’re bound to have a good event for good people looking for a good time.”
Mosley’s passion is acting. In 2018, he got the role of a lifetime at Hattiloo Theatre. “Playing the role of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an extreme honor, privilege, and challenge. This was my first lead role in the city that MLK died in, and the show was running during the 50th anniversary of his assassination. The pressure was on, to say the least, but with the help of Hattiloo, I was ready. One of the most rewarding moments from that run of shows was being able to perform in front of seniors who had actually seen and heard Dr. King in person. Their compliments, stories, and comparisons are words that I will cherish forever.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Cori McCleskey She-E-O, Remember Media
“I wasn’t a leader growing up,” McCleskey says. “I was really, really shy. I couldn’t even go through a drive-through or order a pizza over the phone. It was that type of social anxiety. I did not like that about myself.”
The Marion, Arkansas, native sought to overcome her fears by facing them head-on. Her first exposure to social media was as an art gallery coordinator for the University of Arkansas. “At one point in college, I was running a little agency. I had eight accounts, and that led to me doing social media for the Arkansas Razorbacks for two football seasons.”
McCleskey was working a corporate job when the pandemic forced her to re-evaluate her path. “I knew it was time for me to jump off that entrepreneurial ledge. Around that time, all my friends were asking me to manage their social media accounts for their small businesses. So I was like, ’Why do I keep refusing?’”
Her company Remember Media now counts many Downtown businesses among its clients. “Even through the highs and lows of running a business over the last 18 months, I’ve always believed in myself and believed in my team. We can overcome anything together.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Nora Murray Director of Community Impact, New Memphis Institute
When Murray moved to Memphis in 2018, she says she had a lot of trepidation about a place where she knew no one, and which gets a lot of bad press. “Memphis and Memphians quickly wrapped their arms, souls, and hearts around us, and we love sharing that experience to continue working to change the narrative about Memphis.”
Now, greeting newcomers is one of her duties at the New Memphis Institute. “Having been a newcomer myself, I love to ensure that each person I meet becomes connected to Memphis and feels a sense of community here.”
Last year, she took over as the organizer of TEDx Memphis. “Bringing TEDx Memphis to a new, outdoor location certainly had its challenges, but it was so rewarding to see the tradition continue and to amplify the Memphis voice on a grander stage. We have so many incredible people in this city doing really innovative work,” she says.
“What makes our city unique is that when Memphians have an idea, they can quickly garner a community to support that idea and put it into action.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Louise Page Musician
Louise Page didn’t expect to stay in Memphis after graduating from Rhodes College. “But I’ve just never wanted to move. I love it here. I’ve established myself in a really good community of artists and musicians.”
The English major worked as a librarian for two years before quitting to pursue music full-time. “I started playing the original songs I’d been writing since high school, but never performing, right after I graduated. That was organically picking up steam, and I felt like I could make it my real job.”
Since then, she has released three independently produced albums, most recently Play Nice, a collection of solo piano and vocal songs she wrote during the pandemic. “All of my songs are really personal,” she says. “I don’t necessarily write what I think will be popular. I write what I need to write.”
Before the pandemic sidelined her gigging and touring, she devoted time to organizing benefit shows for organizations like Mariposas Collective. “My parents instilled these values in me,” she says. “If you have more than you need, you should share. You should help your community. You should do good things for people just because they’re good, not because you want something in return.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Justin J. Pearson Founder, Memphis Community Against Pollution
“I’m an unlikely leader of the environmental justice movement,” says Pearson. “I didn’t truly understand those words until our fight with the Byhalia Connection Pipeline.”
Memphis Community Against the Pipeline fought the construction of a new oil pipeline that would have bisected the predominantly Black, Southeast Memphis community where he grew up. “What I believed, and what I think our team and neighborhood association believed was, ‘We may not win, but they don’t expect a fight. So they’re not prepared for us; whereas, we mentally can be prepared for them.’”
But after a bruising few months of protests and City Council meetings, win they did. Now, Pearson has pivoted the organization he founded to fighting for environmental justice for all Memphians. “I want to build a Memphis where we can live in peace,” he says. “People deserve to not live in fear that the air we’re breathing is going to kill them.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Lyndsey Pender Research and Evaluation Specialist, The Works Inc.
“I’ve always been really interested in people — making authentic connections and genuine interactions with people,” says Pender.
The Memphis native decided to switch course from photojournalism to anthropology while in college, and returned from Kentucky to her hometown. “I was lucky because the anthropology program at the University of Memphis is nationally ranked, a great program.”
Now, with The Works, Inc., her mission is to make life better for all the people of Memphis. “We are a Community Development Corporation, a 501c( 3), and our focus has historically been on housing,” she says. “But we really take a holistic approach. For the health and wealth and safety of a family, you have to have a stable home environment, but we understand that you can’t address housing without addressing some other problems at the same time. … I do work across all of our programs. My background is medical anthropology.
“I think Memphis is unique, in that we are a predominantly Black city. But like a lot of Black Americans, our Black citizens don’t have the same job opportunities and educational opportunities. I want a city where everyone can flourish, regardless of the ZIP code that they were born into.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Shelby Smith Director of Communications, Choose901
“I was always talking about moving away,” says Smith, who grew up in the eastern portions of Shelby County. It was a college internship at Choose901 that changed her mind. “I wasn’t really coming to the city very often, because the media was only telling me about the bad things. I wasn’t hearing about the good things.”
Now, it’s her job to tell people about the great things her city has to offer. “I’ve been here my whole life, and I’d rather put on my gloves and fight than see someone from a different city think they know what’s happening here and try and fight that battle on their own,” she says.
Smith “grew up as a dancer” and taught for Collage Dance Collective before the pandemic. “Dancing is my happy place. If I’m on stage, it doesn’t matter if I’m wearing shoes or if I’m barefoot, if I’m in my Nike Dunks or my heels, that form of expression is a release for me.”
Smith is set to continue spreading the good news about the Bluff City with an upcoming partnership with Unapologetic. “I want to continue to build a Memphis that’s proud of itself.”
Photo: Brandon Dill
Brennan Steele Author & Director of Advancement, Believe Memphis Academy
Brennan Steele says he was drawn to teaching by the many small acts of kindness he received from teachers. “I was taught to whom much is given, much is required,” he says. “Over the course of my educational journey, I was afforded a lot of educational wealth by people, specifically teachers and counselors, who were looking out for me. … What really pushed me over the edge was when I had my first and only Black male teacher in the 11th grade.”
Having an AP English teacher who looked like him made Steele believe anything was possible, which “made me want to have that impact on all students.” Soon after he came to Memphis to teach, he had the idea for Breathe: A Guided Healing Journey for Black Men, a journal with 45 days of writing prompts designed to facilitate self-discovery. “I think there are so many times where Black people are reduced to a hashtag, especially after people have been murdered,” he says. “This is like the active reclaiming of your story.”
Memphis-based singer/songwriter/pianist Louise Page is set to release her first solo album, Play Nice, this Saturday with a sold-out concert at Mollie Fontaine Lounge.
Since her debut with 2017’s Salt Mosaic, Page has charted her own path, crafting a unique chamber-pop sound over the course of her successive releases. She’s been a frequent star of the Flyer’s “Music Video Monday” series, and along with her band — complete with horn players, a violinist, and others — is a fixture of Memphis’ musical nightlife. So her absence has been felt keenly in the past 20 or so months of the necessarily pandemic-restricted live music landscape, making the release of her new album, recorded with engineer Calvin Lauber at Young Avenue Sound, a balm for fans who have missed her wit, piano prowess, and ethos of radical empathy.
In advance of Page’s album-release concert, I spoke with her about settling in to record a solo album, knuckle tats, overwork, grief and the healing process, and the importance of learning to play nice.
Louise Page’s new album, Play Nice, shows off the singer’s more introspective side.
Memphis Flyer: Tell me about the title of the album. I’m sure “Play Nice” isn’t just a reference to your piano playing.
Louise Page: Definitely I wanted the first connotation to be piano playing, especially considering this is my first solo album without a band and it is therefore very piano heavy. “Play Nice” is pulled out of the lyrics of my song “Treatment” — which was released on my 2019 album Silver Daughter, and is on this album in a fresh solo form. The lyric is “Most people are broken or breaking so try to play nice.” So it’s a reference to moving through the world with kindness, a reference to my piano playing, and a reference to the song “Treatment” which is all about healing. Also, if I were to ever get knuckle tats, they would say “PLAY NICE.” That is probably never gonna happen, so I’ll use it for an album title instead.
What made you want to record a solo album? There were several reasons, some artistic and some practical. I wrote all of these songs in my bedroom in the breadbox tiny one-bedroom Midtown apartment I lived in at the beginning of the pandemic, mostly in April and May. They are solitary songs, they are very personal, and they were written to be solo tunes — just me and the piano. The past two albums I released, Simple Sugar and Silver Daughter, were both written with both my band and my audience in mind. I intentionally made those albums full of songs that would be fun to dance to, fun to add horns and strings and percussion to, fun to play to a crowd. These songs were a little different — I didn’t necessarily write them thinking about playing to a big crowd. I felt so removed from crowds and parties and shows when I wrote them. I wrote these by myself, in quiet introspective moments, and they are intended to be listened to by oneself in quiet introspective moments. I think the ideal listening experience for this album would be in a bubble bath by yourself with a glass of wine, or a cup of tea, or a joint, and nothing but time.
The pandemic also created practical reasons for recording a solo album — for starters, recording is really expensive, and the more moving parts you add the more expensive it ends up being. The solo album was far more in my budget with all the work and money I lost in 2020. It also just felt a lot safer, in 2020, to get into the studio with just one other person instead of a whole crew. Shoutout to Calvin Lauber for recording this with me, I can’t thank you enough for your support.
The final reason it was important for me to record a solo album is because genuinely about half the shows I play are solo shows, and I wanted some recorded streamable discography that reflected that facet of my work. Playing with a band helps fill in the gaps in a song. Did it make you nervous to put yourself out there so much? Yes! Very nervous, I am so nervous about this album honestly. I recorded it almost a year ago and sat on it for this long because I was afraid to release it. I struggle with depression, and for a lot of 2021 I kind of had these songs shelved away, because I was overwhelmed at the prospect of offering my little pandemic brainchildren up to the rest of the world for consumption and critique. It felt scary. But I have moved past that fear. I love the songs, and they are special to me, and at the end of the day that’s what’s important. But I do hope someone else will love them and find them special too. Sharing my music and connecting with others is part of what makes music so special to me.
Are there any songs that feel like stand-outs to you? Or that you’re particularly excited for people to hear? Honestly all the new stuff, I’m really excited and proud of it. “Plastic Crowns” is a really different track for me and it opens the album. I wanted it to be hypnotic, and kind of put the listener into a trance that would set the tone for the rest of the album. Very fond of that song. I am also personally very fond of “Little Icarus,” which explores relationships, trust issues, the unintended ways we isolate ourselves from or hurt the ones we love, and the connection between love and pain.
What should fans expect from the album release show? I wanted the release show to reflect the intimacy of the album. It will be very beautiful. I am so happy to be playing at Mollie Fontaine Lounge, which is a stunning venue with a gorgeous baby grand piano. I am going to play through my album, as well as some other new unreleased and unrecorded material. After I perform, DJ Chandler Blingg will spin a fun dancey DJ set and we will all celebrate! There will also be exclusive event merch available. I am so honored to say this show has sold out, which is amazing, so it seems like there is some good positive energy and enthusiasm brewing already.
Every story is a pandemic story these days. What have the last 20 or so months been like for you? It seems like every time I look, you’re in a music video or on tour or releasing an album or single — was it hard to slow down? That is genuinely so sweet of you to say because from my end it has not felt that way [laughs]. I have tried my best. I learned some big lessons with the pandemic — pre-pandemic I was without a doubt a workaholic. So losing so many shows and gigs and opportunities was honestly devastating for me. I felt like I had worked so hard for so long to gain a little bit of momentum, and then out of nowhere it was taken from me. I spent large swaths of 2020 incredibly depressed and living on my couch watching TV. There are probably months where that’s all I did. I was afraid, I missed my immediate family who lived together in Pennsylvania, and I was questioning my career choice. I mourned, absolutely mourned not being able to play live in-person shows, which is my passion in this life and my absolute favorite thing to do. So yes, it was hard to slow down. But once I was slowed down and depressed, it felt hard to do anything. So I guess I’m happy that from the outside looking in it seemed like I got a lot done, because it didn’t feel that way to me! [laughs] My mental health has been steadily improving this year, thankfully. And one thing I did take from the pandemic was that I was overworking myself in 2018 and 2019, and I need to slow down. I’m my own boss, and I am allowed to give myself days off!
Would you talk a little bit about your single “In Lieu of Flowers”? I know it’s been out for a while, but I love it. Thank you so much! “In Lieu of Flowers” is actually not on this album — it’s a stand alone single — but I may include it as a bonus track on the CD. “In Lieu of Flowers” is incredibly personal to me. In 2013 a dear friend of mine passed away from a heroin overdose. I was a sophomore in college, and absolutely devastated. I’m honestly still absolutely devastated. I, and several of his friends, read short eulogies at his funeral. And I just remember thinking — there is nothing I can write or do or say in this moment that could ever convey the horror and tragedy of losing this bright young wonderful person who should still be with us. Who am I to look into the faces of his family and say anything? It was genuinely one of the saddest things I’ve ever been through. It took me seven years to write a song about it because I wasn’t ready. We recorded “In Lieu of Flowers” in January of 2020, and I sat on it until December. I released it on New Year’s Eve because I promised myself I would release it in 2020. Much like “Play Nice” — I sat on “In Lieu of Flowers” for almost a year because it was just so personal, I was petrified at the thought of it not belonging to me alone anymore. I also really care about my friend and his family, and I in no way wanted anything about the song to come off as disrespectful, so I really agonized over releasing it at all, honestly. But ultimately I’m glad I did. In short, the song is about grief. And my friend, Knight, was an amazing bass player — the beautiful bass solo by Gunter Gaupp is an homage to that. I really do feel like Knight was with me when I wrote that song, his spirit is in it, and all the love in my heart for him is in it, and I hope he would like it.
Is there anything on the horizon you can talk about? After this release I am chillin’ with my family for the holidays! Excited to slow down, although I do have a full band album cooking in my brain that I would love to record and release in 2022. I will be playing a song off of that future release at the album release tomorrow, as a treat. I also recorded an electronic dreamy song, different from much of my work, with my friend Blair Davis at Young Avenue Sound earlier this year. It’s called “Sunday Forever” and we are tentatively planning to release it in December. I’m excited to share that with everyone.
Is there anything else you would like people to know? Most people are broken or breaking so try to play nice.
Black Lodge, the video store reborn at 405 N. Cleveland.
Black Lodge Video started out as an independent video store in Cooper-Young in the late 1990s. Founders Matt Martin and Bryan Hogue were mostly looking for a way to feed their passion for collecting movies on VHS and DVD, but when they outlived their corporate competition to become the last video store standing in Memphis, it was clear that the Lodge had become something more. It was a hangout store, an artist’s salon, a no-budget film school, a venue for outré music, and a haven for the weird kids.
But even the Black Lodge couldn’t stand against the power of Netflix, finally closing in 2014. Bryan Hogue bowed out, but Matt Martin and a group of would-be entrepreneurs kept searching for ways to bring back the Lodge magic. Finally, in late 2019, the re-envisioned Black Lodge opened at 405 N. Cleveland in the Crosstown neighborhood. It was a much bigger space, meant to combine the video store with an arcade and a flexible theater space for film screenings, bands, DJs, or theatrical performances.
But thanks to the pandemic, the Lodge is on shaky financial ground. They’re asking for help with a crowdfunding campaign and an upcoming live-streaming telethon.
I spoke with Martin about the campaign to save the Black Lodge. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Photo by Ashlee Tierney
Black Lodge owner Matt Martin.
Chris McCoy: The new Black Lodge opened just six months before the pandemic lockdown started, right?
Matt Martin: Literally six months. Obviously, there were years of planning, and once we implemented it in September, 2019, we knew we were going to be having to run thin. Everybody’s going to have to work a lot and get paid very little for that first six months. But we could make it work if we fought and cut every corner. We had gone through Halloween and New Year’s, which for us like any other venue is the big time. They were hugely successful nights. It told us what we needed to know, which was the space was working. The people liked it. Cut to February of 2020. We can actually get the last of the loans together that will help us build out a kitchen. And then of course, what no one could have expected showed up. The entire new business model was designed around live shows, movie screenings, club nights, parties, so 80 percent of our revenue disappeared overnight. Not just us, every bar, every venue all over the country, same exact thing. We’ve lost a bunch that may never get to come back. We knew when it came here to Memphis and when it was time to shut everything down, that the only hope of survival was to lean on the video store and see if we could just pay the basics and make it to the other side.
Right off the bat, we were absolutely touched. Huge numbers of people at the beginning of COVID didn’t want to go out anywhere, and rightfully so. Many could have canceled their memberships with us. We sent an email about that and said, look, for the first month of this, we’ve got to completely shut the doors just to be safe. And we’re going to hope to crawl it back open in May, which is when we wound up reopening. It was one of those early signs that Memphians are wonderful people who love art and fight for the things we have that are unique in this city. Almost no one canceled. People would call me and say, ‘I am not going to be able to come during COVID, but I don’t want you to stop charging me. I want you all to survive.’ That was a beautiful and touching. And it really has been our saving grace from when COVID broke till now, just the goodness of people agreeing to let their memberships keep going. As COVID stretched on, we actually started to gain people, because there were so few things for anyone to do. And of course, we had to implement all kinds of safety precautions, like temperature checks at the door, mass required hand sanitization, no more than five or six people in the store at a time. We’ve tried to be as safe as humanly possible.
This all went on so much longer than any of us thought. We knew there’s only so long we can survive at this level. A lot of the reason we were able to make it was because the landlords were good enough to slash the rent down to the very basic, just to give us some time.
CM: They’ve got to realize that, if you guys aren’t here, what’s going to be here? There’s not gonna be like an Urban Outfitters coming in here to replace you in the middle of a pandemic.
MM: Exactly. Like, you might eventually, but for now, you’re just going to be stuck with an empty building you’re paying insurance and utilities on. That’s worked very well, even though we’ve even had to limit the hours we’re open, just because we can’t afford to pay enough people to be here. When we got past New Year’s, it became clear that if, if this is going to drag on as long as we’re fairly sure it will, safe shows of the nature of which we give are not feasible probably till the fall. And even that is speculating that vaccinations go well over the next six months. We realized we’re cutting so close to the bone we may not make it. For every bar right now, it’s a waiting game. How long can you go with a minimal amount coming in and still get the bills paid, keep the heat on and make it to the other side? Because we all know, especially those of us in the business of throwing nightlife, that when it’s safe to do so again, it will be huge, bigger than it was before, because so many people have gone so long without being able be around other people and see a band, or sit in a movie theater and watch a movie together.
We’ve hesitated a long time in asking for help, mainly because everyone needs help right now. It almost felt bad to say something when other places were suffering, when other people were suffering more. When we set it up, we were like, let’s do an Indiegogo so that we can offer rewards for every level and give something back, make it something more exciting for people to get involved.
And right off the bat, we were flabbergasted at the generosity of everyone. We went over the analytics of the donations. It wasn’t, you know, 19 rich people out in East Memphis gave us $500 to $1000. It was nickels and dimes, five bucks, 10 bucks — the norms were low and clearly large numbers of people just gave what they had at a time when no one has anything. That blows me away. Obviously, I’m touched personally, and thankful for the business, but there’s another level of it that I think speaks loudly about how good people can be, and how giving they can be, even when they have nothing left. Memphis is an arts town. We make music here. We make great food. We make movies. It’s wonderful to see the populace show once again, as they have time and time before, that they’re ready to fight for unique things and don’t want them to go away. They don’t want those things that make Memphis Memphis to disappear. And I’m proud to have gotten to that point where people think that way about Black Lodge, We started as just two guys in a video store, in the middle of a beat-down house. I never thought that many people would ever come around. It turned into something very big in the cultural zeitgeist of the city.
CM: If the pandemic wasn’t enough, you lost Bryan Hogue last year, too.
MM: That was the most painful thing of all. He’d had some health problems, and it was something we feared. I was heartbroken as a friend and heartbroken as a business partner to lose Brian from the world. But after it happened, not dozens, but hundreds of people came in, sometimes just to say, ‘He was a gruff, crazy guy, but when he would talk to me about movies, he inspired me to want to see new things and to find new art.’ It helped them and changed their lives a little. I wish he had been here to see how many people he touched. I wish he’d been here to see how well this fundraiser has gone! When we put it together, even I’m like, you know, nobody’s got anything right now. It’s not that people don’t want to give, it’s that they don’t have anything to give. And yet they did.
Louise Page onstage at Black Lodge on New Year’s Eve 2019.
CM: Tell me about the streaming telethon.
MM: It’s the third weekend in March, the 19th and 20th. We are going to be doing a two-day streaming telethon that’s going to incorporate a good dozen bands — local, of course— local films, local music videos, and local performance art of various types. It’s going great so far. I would love to say I thought of this telethon, but I want people to know this is, again, about the goodness of other people who walk in the door. Sara Moseley, Frank McLallen of the Sheiks, they came to me. We never asked them for any of this. We can all do prerecorded sets, but none of us want a dime for this. We just want to help because all of us have played a show at Lodge had a great time. But they’re also saying, we’ve got to work together. We’re musicians. We need places to play when this is over.
CM: What is Memphis without juke joints and punk clubs?
MM: Exactly. There’s a whole universe of phenomenally talented musicians that need places to play, places to do their sound. They’re not easy to sell in a simplified bar venue on Beale, where there’s a certain sound, and that’s what we do here. So when they came to me, they said let us arrange this. We’ll do all the work. They went and looked for sponsors. They reached out to sound engineers. They reached out to people who just said, yes, I will give of my time, expect nothing back. And that alone brought me to tears. It really hit home right then. We’re lucky enough to be in a city that cares about art and artists. We’re lucky this city is full of good people.
It’s election day in America, so get out there and vote! While you’re waiting for those results, the Indie Memphis Film Festival has announced the results of their own polls for the best films of the 2020 festival. Everyone who purchased a pass or ticket for the online and outdoor screenings was given a ballot to rate the films on a scale of 1-5.
The big winners were director Emma Seligman’s comedy Shiva Baby, which took home the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and director Tali Yankelevich’s experimental film My Darling Supermarket, which took home the Audience Award for Best Departures Feature. Both Shiva Baby and My Darling Supermarket had previously won the Jury Awards in their respective categories at the awards ceremony last Wednesday night. Camrus Johnson and Pedro Piccinini’s animated short “Grab My Hand: A Letter To My Dad” also won both Jury and Audience awards in its category. Director Zaire Love scored a rare split two-fer by winning the Audience Award for Best Hometowner Documentary Short for “The Black Men I Know” after winning the Jury Award for Best Hometowner Short for her film “Road To Step.”
The Audience Award for Best Hometowner Feature went to Anwar Jamison’s bi-continental romantic comedy Coming to Africa. Jamison’s film prevailed despite having its original premiere screening, which was scheduled for the riverfront, postponed due to stormy weather.
The audience ballots chose What Do You Have To Lose? for Best Documentary Feature, directed by Dr. Trimiko Melancon. What Do You Have to Lose? is the Rhodes College professor’s first feature film.
The Audience Award for Best Hometowner Narrative Short went to the “The Little Death,” a personal drama about miscarriage written and directed by husband and wife team Justin and Ariel Harrison.
For the Best Sounds Feature, awarded for the always-crowded category of music films, the audience chose Andy Black’s documentary Shoe: A Memphis Musical Legacy.
The Audience Award for Best Documentary Short went to “Still Processing,” a moving experimental documentary by Sophy Romvari in which she filmed her real-time reaction to finding lost pictures of her two brothers, who had recently passed away. The voters awarded Best Departures Short to Amin Mahe’s “Letter To My Mother.”
For the music video categories, Lewis Del Mar’s song “The Ceiling,” directed by rubberband, won the National Audience award. The Hometowner Audience Award went to Louise Page’s “Paw In The Honey,” directed by Laura Jean Hocking.
The audience voters chose Hisonni Johnson’s “Take Out Girl” for Best Poster Design.
The winners were informed of their awards via a surprise Zoom call. You can watch their reactions, which range from the funny to the tearful, in this video.
Indie Memphis Announces 2020 Audience Award Winners
“In my work, I like to explore themes of love, loss, beauty, betrayal, revenge, classical art, and not-so-classical gender roles,” says Page.
“Paw in the Honey,” the latest from her album Silver Daughter is “…about feeling like someone’s affection for you is based purely upon their attraction to you, and the humiliation, frustration, anger, and hurt that comes with that feeling.”
To express her themes visually, Page worked with a female director for the first time. Laura Jean Hocking (who, full disclosure, is your columnist’s wife) was inspired by “…an uncredited 1950s color photo I found a few years ago of Vegas showgirls playing chess in their dressing room. I’ve always been intrigued by the dichotomy between the stage and the dressing room, our public and private faces.”
“Burlesque is all about people reclaiming their body, their nudity, their sexuality, and their power—themes that interlaced perfectly with the content of the song,” says Page. “Women are often reduced to two-dimensional, decorative, sexy objects in film—especially in music videos. Women, both in life and in film, are also often pitted against one another rather than presented as a cohesive team. In this video, we take the trope of the ‘sexy music video woman’ and make her dangerous, unhinged, thirsty for revenge. People are more than two dimensional vehicles for your sexual pleasure, and to treat them as such is incredibly dangerous.”
Music Video Monday: Louise Page
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
The Memphis Flyer is proud to feature music videos from Memphis artists on Music Video Monday. Judging from the mind-bending difficulty of putting together this top ten list, 2019 was a good year. I scored the year’s videos on concept, song, look, and performance. Then, I shook my head at all the ties and did it all over again. It was so close, it was an honor just to be in the top ten, and I had to include three honorable mentions. Congratulations to all our winners!
C. Louise Page’s “Future Runaway Bride,” directed by Joshua Cannon and Barrett Kutas, will get you to the church on time, but what happens then is on you.
TOP TEN:
10. PreauXX – “Steak and Shake ft. AWFM”
The Unapologetic crew gets behind the counter of a sandwich joint in this video from director 35 Miles. This is one of those videos where you can just tell that everybody had a great time making it, and the fun is infectious.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019
9. Uriah Mitchell – “Might Be”
Everything is wound up tight in Waheed AlQawasami’s video of a surreal night at the club with Uriah and his friends.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (2)
8. Heels – “King Drunk”
Director Nathan Parten transforms Midtown into a D&D fantasia in this incredible animated video for Memphis’ hardest rocking duo.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (3)
7. Talibah Safiya – “Healing Creek”
Director Kevin Brooks brought out Talibah Safiya’s beauty and charisma in this spiritual video, which won the Hometowner Music Video award at Indie Memphis 2019.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (4)
6. Sweet Knives – “I Don’t Wanna Die”
Shannon Walton is outstanding as a stranded aviator in this video by director Laura Jean Hocking for the reunited veterans of the Lost Sounds, led by Alijca Trout.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (5)
5. The Poet Havi – “Shea Butter (Heart of Darkness)”
Director Joshua Cannon and cinematographer Nate Packard took inspiration from Raging Bull for this banger from The Poet Havi, who clearly has more and better dancers than Martin Scorsese ever did.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (6)
4. Impala – “Double Indemnity”
Director Edward Valibus and actress Rosalyn Ross created a heist movie in miniature for the kings of Memphis surf’s comeback record.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (7)
3. John Kilzer – Hello Heart
Memphis lost an elder statesman of music this year when John Kilzer tragically passed away in January. Director Laura Jean Hocking created this tone poem in blue for his final single.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (8)
2. Al Kapone – “Al Kapeezy Oh Boy”
Director Sean Winfrey knows how large Al Kapone looms in Memphis music, and he finally blew the rapper up to Godzilla size in this video for one of Kapone’s best jams since “Whoop That Trick”.
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (9)
1. Louise Page – “Harpy”
When this one dropped in October, MVM called it “an instant classic.” Animator Nathan Parten transformed Louise Page into a mythological monster and sending her off to wreak havoc on Greek heroes. Don’t feel sorry for Odysseus. He got what he deserved. Memphis, look upon your best music video of 2019:
Music Video Monday: Top Ten Music Videos of 2019 (10)
If you would like to see you music video on Music Video Monday, and maybe in the top ten of 2020, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com. Happy New Year!
Photo by Ashlee Tierney 
