Tag: Matthew Burdine

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Feels Like Summer

Slider Inn’s Jameson Slushie (Photo: Justin Fox Burks | Memphis Tourism)

June is upon us, and with it comes the start of the fearsome Memphis summers: sweltering heat waves, thick walls of humidity, and plenty of time designated to sitting around a pool.

While true summer won’t begin for another couple of weeks, it sure feels like summer already, and an arbitrary start won’t stop anyone from seeking out early ways to beat the heat. Here at the Memphis Flyer, we asked our team for some advice on how they cool off, and our writers delivered.

Whether it’s sweet treats, canoe trips, or a jaunt to the drive-in, there’s plenty of summer fun to be had. Just don’t forget the sunblock.

Darious Sumlin at Coney Island (Photo: Michael Donahue)

Coney Island

I have this idyllic summer scenario in my head of swimming for hours on a hot day and then going to a local drive-in for a hamburger and milkshake. That scenario dates to the 1950s and ’60s for me. But I relived it the other day (except for the swimming part) when I pulled into Coney Island at 2351 Elvis Presley Boulevard.

I’ve passed this place for years and years, but I never stopped. Driving over, I suddenly realized maybe the name “Coney” was a play on ice cream “cone.”

The friendly, efficient Darious Sumlin, 19, who’s worked at Coney Island for five or six years, took my order at the window. I ordered a hamburger (double patty) and a vanilla milkshake. I asked Sumlin what Coney Island item he thinks is the most popular. He immediately said, “Everybody comes for the Chicago-style Polish sausage.”

It comes with mustard, relish, jalapeños, and grilled onions. It’s Sumlin’s favorite, too. “I just make mine different.” He gets his with just mayonnaise, peppers, and cheese. “A lot of people make it their own way. Some people get just plain meat and bread. I don’t like to eat it like that.” So, I also ordered the Polish sausage sandwich with the works.

That hamburger was great. Just like they tasted in my scenario. And that Chicago-style Polish sausage was the bomb. It was so good.

And, yes, you can get a “vanilla cone” at Coney Island.

Coney Island is open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Sunday. — Michael Donahue

Enjoy Memphis’ Signature Cocktail

If Memphis has a civic cocktail, it’s the Jameson slushie.

Thanks to Old Dominick Distillery, the city can lay claim to a host of Memphis versions of famous drinks, like the Memphis Mule. And, yes, Wet Willie’s has been serving frozen drinks on Beale for years, but it’s a chain. Now Willie’s is even competing with another frozen drink chain — Fat Tuesday — for dominance.

But Slider Inn’s signature slushie seems to have been born, raised, and celebrated here. The cocktail’s birthday is unclear. The Memphis Flyer and The Commercial Appeal first mention the drink in 2015. But so many years on, one thing is clear: The Jameson slushie is a bona fide Memphis institution.

“The drink consists of Barritt’s Ginger Beer, house-made lemonade, delicious Jameson Irish Whiskey, and bitters,” according to a Flyer story from 2015.

First off, though — it’s coooold. Mixed in a frozen drink machine, its tiny pebbled ice grains drink like a milkshake. Yes, this is likely how the slushie first beckons hot and sweaty Memphians to Slider’s patios.

But they stay for the flavor. The lemon citrus is bright, sweet, bitter, and subtly spiced underneath with the ginger beer. While it’s clear the slushie is alcoholic (I mean, the name, right?), it’s not boozy. The Irish whiskey is present but not overpowering.

So sit a spell on a Slider patio with friends and a slushie. Jameson shows up and works some Memphis magic on the weather and your troubles. But watch yourself. One (or maybe two) is all the fuel you’ll need to get a start on a fun evening. — Toby Sells

Summer Drive-In (Photo: Abigail Morici)

The Drive-In: Branded Cool

Ever since my eyeballs took in the glorious scenes of Grease while parked in front of a hotel TV at 6 years old, I longed for the day I could be as cool as the 30-something-year-olds playing teenagers going to the drive-in movie. The drive-in, I imagined, would be the pinnacle of my high school experience. It wasn’t. I wouldn’t go to a drive-in until a week after my 24th birthday, just a year older than John Travolta was when he crooned about being stranded in the drive-in, being branded a fool, worrying what his classmates would say Monday at school.

At the Malco Summer Drive-In, though, there was no swing set for John Travolta to sulk on, no gossiping in the girls’ bathroom, no Pink Ladies, and no T-Birds. But there was a movie playing on the big screen and air conditioning in the car — and that was enough to make me feel pretty cool. Plus, you can bring your own snacks, and you don’t have to sit next to a stranger who chews too loudly, like in a regular (read: not cool) movie theater. Not to mention that tickets are only $25 per carload. What’s not to love?

The drive-in has movies playing pretty much every night this summer — from Evil Dead Rise to The Little Mermaid. And, of course, there’s the Time Warp Drive-In every month, where you can catch back-to-back screenings of some of your favorite films. (Time Warp’s screening on June 24th is themed “It’s War! Human vs. Aliens,” featuring Edge of Tomorrow, Starship Troopers, and The Blob [1988].) So, if you consider yourself cool, head on over to malco.com for movie times. — Abigail Morici

Wolf River Beach (Photo: Alex Greene)

The Beach Within Reach

“For some Memphis summer fun, nothing beats hitting the beach!” said no one ever? Don’t forget that hidden gem, Wolf River Beach. Truth be told, some call it a sand bar, but my bare feet did not care one whit as they stepped into the sublime cool of the Wolf River’s waters. And, looking 50 yards in either direction at the other parties dotting the white sands, I thought, “This is a beach!”

It turns out that this shady getaway is hidden in plain sight, just off Germantown Parkway, South Walnut Bend Road, where signs lead you to Shelby Farms’ Gate 19, with a well-maintained road to the Germantown Trailhead of the Lucius E. Burch Jr. State Natural Area. Note that the beach itself can be elusive — and sometimes disappears completely.

Don’t be alarmed: It’s only the river submerging the sandy strip after heavy rains. Luckily, wolfriverbeach.com provides a link to the current USGS water level readings for the site, which you can check before making the trip.

Once you park you’re only a few yards from the waterside, if you bear left from the trail head. Bearing right will lead you into a few miles of wild forest — a hiker’s and birder’s paradise — before looping back to the beach. There, I said it: THE BEACH.— Alex Greene

Suga Mama Snoballs (Photo: Kailynn Johnson)

Have a Snoball

Some of my favorite summer memories took place in the Mississippi Delta when I was growing up. My grandma would always treat me to a strawberry-daiquiri-flavored snow cone and nachos from a local food truck in our town. As I grew older, this combination became a delicacy. While there were local snow cone joints that were the envy of everyone’s Instagram stories, everything felt commercialized, and I couldn’t find that balance and innocence associated with my childhood combo.

I remember scrolling on Instagram one day and spying a snow cone with a giant piece of cheesecake in the center of it. I had heard of sweet cream, and even ice cream paired with snow cones, but this was a first. Intrigued, I clicked on the profile for Suga Mama Snoballs, and I was instantly transported back to my childhood. Not only does the shop have your basic “snoball” flavors (I tried the birthday cake with sweet cream), but the more adventurous patrons may be privy to the “Ain’t It Mane,” which comes with a piece of strawberry shortcake in the middle, or a Suga Mama Specialty.

What makes Suga Mama so special to me is that the shop also carries foods that are true fan favorites in my household but not necessarily sold in restaurants, such as Rotel tacos and Kool-Aid pickles. The shop has two locations, with one at 1717 East Holmes Road and the other at 7041 East Shelby Drive, Suite 117. — Kailynn Johnson

Writers love a good Mississippi River canoe trip. (Photo: Chris McCoy)

Canoe the Mississippi

When I thought about it, I couldn’t believe I’ve been in Memphis this long and never gone canoeing on the Mississippi. I’d been out on the river in riverboats with fake paddle wheels, but there were cocktails involved. But I had never been as close to Big Muddy as I was a few weeks ago, when I set out on a Saturday paddle with Matthew Burdine of Mississippi River Expeditions and a few colleagues from Contemporary Media, Inc.

The canoe, Burdine told us, is a modern version of the vessels Native Americans had perfected thousands of years before Columbus arrived. It would seat 20 comfortably and included a mount for a sail — although we were about to find out that on this day, the sail would have worked against us.

Burdine radiated calm as he went over the safety procedures. Then the boat full of greenhorns launched into the muddy waters. Seen from the point of view of the first people to ever navigate it, the Mississippi seems vast and unforgiving. It had stormed the night before, and at one point we saw an entire tree rushing southward on the river. Paddling did not seem super strenuous, until I imagined doing it for days on end.

Our goal was to cross the river to Robinson Crusoe Island, a game preserve directly across from the mouth of the Wolf River, where we had put in. But as we paddled into the main channel, a strong west wind whipped up, and it was obvious this boat full of novices lacked the muscle power to buck it. Instead, we paddled around the harbor, taking in the angle at which Downtown looks most fetching. After this taste of aquatic wilderness, I will definitely go back for a full day trip when the wind is a little calmer. — Chris McCoy

Abe Goodman Clubhouse (Photo: Bruce VanWyngarden)

Kick Back at Overton Park’s Abe Goodman Clubhouse

“We could just go play Overton.”

Those words were often uttered by Memphis golfers over the past 40 years or so — “Overton,” meaning the once-scruffy little nine-hole course that wound through the Old Forest in Overton Park. For decades, it was a course of last resort, the track you went to when you couldn’t get a tee time anywhere else. Overton Park was short and funky, with tiny greens and erratic maintenance that made each round an adventure.

That’s decidedly no longer the case. In 2021, the course underwent a $4 million makeover, the result of a private/public partnership that produced a delightfully revamped course that opened last June.

It was a long time coming. The original course in Overton Park opened in 1906 and was reputedly the first public course opened in the South. Twenty years later, in 1926, Memphis businessman and philanthropist Abe Goodman donated $25,000 for the construction of a clubhouse. In those days, $25,000 went a long way. As Memphis magazine’s Vance Lauderdale put it in a 2018 article about Goodman: “The Tudor-style building featured a vaulted-ceiling dance hall, massive brick fireplace, snack bar, golf shop, and kitchen facilities on the ground floor. Downstairs, players could find showers and changing rooms. Upstairs was a cozy apartment for the resident golf pro.”

I suspect there is no longer an apartment for a resident golf pro upstairs, but the newly remodeled Abe Goodman Clubhouse is now reopened — with its 100-year-old bones nicely intact. It’s a worthy companion to the reinvented links.

And I should mention that the shady patio is an inviting spot to enjoy a cool beverage on a summer afternoon, even if you’ve never played a round. — Bruce VanWyngarden

Ghost River patio (Photo: Samuel X. Cicci)

Brain Out on a Patio

Most summers, I find myself craving a beer when the heat starts to creep in. And most times, I’ll seek out a patio to drink said beer upon. My balcony works, sure, but sometimes I need to just get outside the confines of my home space and find a new spot.

But while I’ve done plenty of drinkin’ and patio relaxin’ in my time, I have a constant need to be entertained. So with that in mind, our crew set out to find patios that could provide fun activities.

Like the nerds we are, we eventually settled on the weekly “Geeks Who Drink” trivia at Ghost River Brewing Co. that lets us chill outside (the end of South Main is quite nice and calm at dusk) and work those brains as we guzzle a Grindhouse or Riverbank Red. Trusty Mike behind the bar gives us the proverbial hat tip now that we’ve established ourselves as regulars, and then the games can begin.

There’s plenty of brainteasing trivia fun to be had around town, but the chill vibe at Ghost River gives trivia some room to breathe, with this iteration providing some truly bizarre categories. Take, for instance, a music round that requires you to identify different songs, usually with a twist. My favorite is one that replaces all vocals with the sounds of chickens clucking, or another that features iconic Darth Vader lines dropped into the middle of a song. It’s a whole lot of shenanigans, a whole lot of beer, and a whole lot of patio. An excellent summer combo. — Samuel X. Cicci

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Matthew Burdine: River Man

Matthew Burdine (Photo: Fern Greene)

Matthew Burdine briefly pursued a career in finance on Wall Street after he got his master’s degree in business from the University of Mississippi at Oxford.

But, “I decided, ‘Nah,’” Burdine says.

Instead, he became a “river man.”

Burdine, 37, now gives professionally guided canoe trips with his Mississippi River Expeditions, guiding people down the Mississippi River in multi-person Voyageur canoes. Throughout the year, he offers a range of trips on the river. People camp on islands, sleep outside, and cook meals over a fire.

Born in the Mississippi Delta, Burdine grew up on Lake Ferguson in Greenville, Mississippi. His father, Hank Burdine, is now an author and Delta Magazine writer as well as a levee board commissioner in the Mississippi Delta.

When Burdine was 9, he moved with his family to Colorado, where he fell in love with the mountains.

Photo: © Huger Foote

While working on his master’s degree, he heard a presentation given by John Ruskey, owner of Quapaw Canoe Company in Clarksdale, Mississippi. “He builds these huge cypress canoes and takes people out on the river on multi-day trips,” Burdine says. “Sleeping under the stars on islands. Being in the river world.”

That clicked.

While still in graduate school, Burdine met Ruskey. He was completely hooked when he saw one of Ruskey’s 30-foot canoes parked in front of his Clarksdale shop. “I was like, ‘Man, what am I doing? I want to do what this guy does. I want to share with people this type of passion and attitude toward this huge wilderness.’

“Up until a couple of hundred years ago, the main way to travel was by canoe. It wasn’t just on the Mississippi River, but all the tributaries.”

After his brush with the finance world, Burdine moved back to Colorado. “I started living in the back country, spending time in the mountains,” he says.

Burdine will take any size group out on his tours of the Mississippi. (Photo: Mark River Peoples)

He also stopped shaving and he let his hair grow out.

“I gave myself a five-year walkabout to live off the grid, live differently — and try to learn everything I didn’t learn in business school.

“Over the course of living in the mountains and spending time on the river, I became a white water river guide on the Arkansas River in Buena Vista, Colorado, and a ski instructor in the winter in Vail, Colorado. At the five-year mark, I found myself in a 16-foot canoe at the head waters of the Mississippi River with 2,400 miles in front of me to the Gulf of Mexico, and no time limit.”

His mother, Sallie Astor Burdine, died from breast cancer in 2003. So, in addition to the trip being his own “spiritual odyssey,” Burdine partnered with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in New York to raise money with his river trip, which he called “A Million Strokes for a Cure.”

Burdine began the trip in fall 2015 and ended it in the spring of 2016. “I took my sweet time down the river. That’s where the magic is,” he says. “I was photo-journaling so people would have their own river trip through my pictures. All the while raising money for breast cancer research in honor of my mother.”

He always “felt safe in a canoe,” even though he knew “how big water moves” and “all the different levels of the Mississippi River. Every year it fluctuates 10, 20, 30, 40 feet, depending on where you are on the water.”

Burdine with one of his canoes (Photos: Michael Donahue)

When he pulled into the Gulf of Mexico after six months, Burdine had “an amazing feeling of internal calm. I was ready for anything at that moment.

“Once you reach a goal in life, you just start moving on a course,” he says. “Sometimes life can take you in ways you never imagine.”

In fall 2020, Burdine began thinking about starting a sailing career. “I was getting ready to move to the Virgin Islands and start sailing. After a decade in the mountains, it was time for something different.”

But “it was the islands of the Mississippi River, not the islands of the Caribbean, that were calling.”

While visiting his family farm in Lake Washington during the ice storm of 2021, Burdine called Ruskey. “I said, ‘If you need help guiding on the Mississippi River, I’ll be around.’ He basically said, ‘Yeah, you can help me guide, but maybe it’s time for someone to start thinking about opening their own operation in Memphis.’

Photo: Fern Greene

“Right then, there was a lightning bolt down my spine. Three weeks later I was driving to British Columbia to pick up the first canoe of the fleet for Mississippi River Expeditions. The wooden ones John Ruskey makes take a year or so to build, but I needed a canoe sooner than later.”

His new canoe was built to “handle the big waves in the Great Lakes and the big waves of the Pacific Coast. So, they’re a super-safe craft, and a whole new way to experience river travel with a sail. It’s the perfect, capable craft for the Mississippi River.”

Burdine decided to base his business in Memphis. “After 10 years of living out in the mountains and trekking all around America, I never thought I’d be moving back home. I wasn’t ever running away from the South, but during that time I realized that some of the biggest hearts were down here. I missed the lushness of the South.”

He also missed the mighty Mississippi. “I love all rivers. Those river canyons in Colorado and the deserts of the West. The rivers out in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, and California. The river canyons of the West are a vertically grand world, but on the Mississippi River, it’s a horizontally grand world. All of the old feelings I had on the wild rivers of the West, I have all of the same feelings here on the Mississippi. You don’t need rapids to enjoy a river. It’s one of the largest rivers in the world. Once you’re out there on it in these canoes, you feel like you’ve stepped into a long-lost world.”

Being on the Mississippi River is “in our psyche because of Huckleberry Finn and Mark Twain,” Burdine says, “but not a lot of people get out and play on the Mississippi.”

Of Burdine, Ruskey, whose Quapaw Canoe Company partners with Mississippi River Expeditions, says, “His heartfelt charisma comes from a deep passion for adventure, education, and conservation of the American wilderness, of which the lower Mississippi River is the single most important natural landscape here in the center of the country.”

With all his experience, Ruskey, adds, Burdine “brings together the maturity and charisma and ethics and strength and grit and wherewithal in one person to overcome the challenges and obstacles he’s sure to encounter as a small businessman.

“As a storyteller and a speaker, he’s in that salty vein of the river-rat tradition of the Mississippi River — the keelboats, the flat boats, the explorers, and the captains of other steamboats, and the crew. He carries the tradition forward. Mike Fink and Jim Bowie were keelboatmen. Twain writes a bit about their salty characters and very colorful and passion-filled speeches and stories, which were often self-aggrandizing, but also full of self-humor.”

During the summer, Burdine offered half-day trips because of the heat. His sunset and morning cruises took place during the coolest parts of the day. “They became a hit,” Burdine says.

Like all his trips, people met at the Memphis Yacht Club at Mud Island Marina. From there, they shuttled up river, where they put in at the mouth of the Wolf River. They then paddled across to Loosahatchie Bar, where they swam and explored the beaches of the island and ate Burdine’s hors d’oeuvres, which he calls “river charcuterie.”

In September, Burdine resumed his full-day and camping trips. They meet at the marina mid-morning for the six-hour trip. From there, they put in at Shelby Forest and canoe 17 miles back down to Memphis while stopping on islands, eating lunch, and exploring all the main and back channels.

Each canoe holds up to 14 people. Burdine will take out any size group, whether it’s one person or 30.

Burdine also does yoga and artistic retreats, friends and family groups, youth groups, and corporate retreats. These include Full Moon Floats, Creative Retreats, and Supper Club on the River.

Huger Foote, an internationally known photographer and native Memphian, has been on the river many times with Burdine. “It’s pure magic being out on those waters with Matthew,” Foote says. “At first, I was uneasy about being on the mighty Mississippi in a canoe. But with Matthew, I felt so confident and comfortable on the water, that fear drained away and was replaced by a sense of awe and a connection with the river. Matthew’s experience navigating rivers all over the country makes you feel secure in the canoe as a paddler at one with those swirling currents.

“As an artist,” Foote continues, “I found real inspiration on the sand bars. As a photographer, I found a lot of inspiring subjects. The river, every time it rises and recedes, it reveals a new landscape.”

Burdine is ready for fall with a fleet of new canoes. “It’s an honor to be able to show people this Mississippi River wilderness,” he says. “This Mississippi River we all live on the side of, but rarely go into.”

Burdine is a fan of “this rare, unique city nestled on a bluff overlooking this iconic river. It’s a great way to experience it and see the city from a new perspective. At sunset, the city is a glowing orange.”

It’s a treat “to see Downtown Memphis rising out of the trees and seeing the silver Pyramid glowing, and to be paddling under the bridge as the lights light up the Mississippi River.”

The professionally guided canoe trips also are a way to rid people’s fear of the river, Burdine says. “For thousands of years people have been telling their youth to stay away from the river. ‘It’s dangerous.’ In all different cultures across the world, it’s a common thing. We grow into our adult life being told to be scared of it.”

People refer to it as “old man river,” but, Burdine says, “I see it more as a feminine river. A great mother river. It can turn wild out here in a split second if strong winds blow. But most of the time it’s calm, flowing beauty.”

For more information or to book trips, go to canoememphis.com or search Mississippi River Expeditions.

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We Saw You: Take Me to the River

Matthew Burdine of Mississippi River Expeditions with one of his canoes (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Beat the heat. Get out on the river with Matthew Burdine for a professionally guided canoe trip on one of his Mississippi River Expeditions.

“We guide canoe trips down the Mississippi River in our big multi-person Voyaguer canoes, which include a custom-made sailing canoe,” says Burdine, 36.

In spring and fall, he offers “multi-day camping trips” on the mighty Mississippi: “Camping on islands, sleeping under the stars, and cooking meals over the fire.”

For now, Burdine offers half-day trips. “With the heat, we’re offering these sunset cruises and morning cruises in the coolest part of the day. It’s always cooler on the river. We all meet at the marina of the Memphis Yacht Club. From there, we’ll shuttle up river where we put in at the mouth of the Wolf River. From there we paddle across to Loosahatchie Bar. We’ll swim, hang out and explore the beaches of the island.” And river-goers get to eat: “I do hors d’oeuvres. River charcuterie.”

The sunset cruises are BYOB, Burdine says. “We’ll be paddling underneath the bridge to downtown Memphis with the city glowing as the sun is setting.”

Morning trips basically follow the same formula. Sunset trips are from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and the morning trips are 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Matthew Burdine of Mississippi River Expeditions (Credit: Michael Donahue)

In early September, they will resume full-day trips and camping trips, Burdine says. “We meet in the midmorning. It’s about a six-hour trip. From there, we put in at Shelby Forest and canoe 17 miles back down to Memphis while we stop on islands and have lunch, swim, explore all the main and back channels.

“Each canoe holds up to 14 people. We’ll take out any size group, whether it’s one person or 30. They’re all professionally guided custom trips.

Burdine also is doing yoga retreats, friends and family groups, youth groups, and corporate retreats. These include “full moon floats,” “creative retreats,” and “supper club on the river.” Check Misssissippi River Expeditions on Instagram and Facebook. “Before school starts is the ideal family trip,” he says. “Ages six and up.”

Burdine, who was born in Greenville, Mississippi, finished his MBA at the University of Mississippi at Oxford. Instead of pursuing a career in finance, he moved to Colorado, where he became a white water river guide and ski instructor at Vail. He describes himself as “a Mississippi native who has spent the past 10 years in Colorado guiding white water rivers in the mountains and deserts of the west.”

He’s spent thousands of hours on “big moving water.” In the fall of 2015, he began a six-month source-to-sea solo trip taking his time canoeing the length of the Mississippi River. 

Mississippi River Expeditions is a partner and is affiliated with Quapaw Canoe Company out of Clarksdale, Mississippi.

 “It’s been really cool and amazing this past year to take people from Memphis down the river who have never seen Memphis from that point of view.”

To book a trip, visit canoememphis.com.

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