Tag: New Daisy Theater

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In Memoriam: Jim Green, Visionary Promoter For Three Decades

Jim Green

Since Monday, friends, family and the the music industry have been mourning the death of Jim Green, who suffered a heart attack in his Olive Branch home at the age of 50. While casual music fans may not have known of his influence, Green was a critical player in bringing alt-rock bands, both local and national, to Memphis stages since he began promoting shows in the 90s.

Green’s death was sudden and unexpected. “I just don’t know what to think,” Mike Glenn, a close friend and colleague of Green’s for most of his professional career, told me on the phone this week. Indeed, all of us who knew him are at a loss for words.

As Glenn and I spoke of days when his former venue, the New Daisy Theater, was at the cutting edge of the burgeoning indie scene, the magnitude of what Green accomplished in his twenties there, and then elsewhere, began to sink in.

Memphis Flyer: It seems as though you were a mentor of sorts for Jim, back in the early 90s.

Mike Glenn: He started working for me back then, and then he went to work for Mid South Concerts. He was fresh out of high school, pretty much. Taking some courses and stuff down at Ole Miss. He brought me a band called Ireland, and that was the first time I met him. And he was involved with Beanland and we did some Beanland shows together, and then he just came and sat in my office for three or four years. He and I did a lot of great shows together. It was right when the hair band stuff went away and the grunge stuff hit. Then 96X was on the air and Jim pretty much had his finger on the pulse of that stuff. We did everything from Oasis and Bush to Dave Matthews and the Big Star reunion. I could go on and on.

My last contact with Jim was when he was promoting a Tora Tora reunion at Minglewood last December. Did you guys have a hand in their early days?

My son and I ended up doing a bunch of stuff at Minglewood Hall with Jim. This year was gonna be our year. We had three sell-outs in January and February. Tora Tora were my first true success story, as far as local bands. We did a lot of their shows. I remember the first time Tora Tora played for me, there was a band called Quest out of Arkansas. A kid from Quest named Kelly Ranks came into my office in spandex and long hair and a friend said ‘What is that?’ And I told him, ‘That’s the future.’

And that was first hair band show I did. It was them and Tora Tora and Mistress. It was huge. At that point in time, I didn’t realize how many good local bands we had in this city. And every weekend, if we didn’t have a national act playing, I had a ten band local show going on.

Jim went on to work with Mid-South Concerts and Beaver Productions, then started his own company, Big Green Machine. What were some of his other accomplishments?

Jim had trials and tribulations, like we all do through our careers. We have bumps in the road. When he opened up Snowden Grove for the first couple years, it was the place to go see country. He had a few rock bands too, but it was the place to go see your top tier country acts.

He had an eye and an ear for quality, didn’t he?

He tipped me off on a few things. I remember doing Dave Matthews, before he was well known. I had the Cowboy Junkies playing the night before. And he calls me and says, ‘I’ve got this band, Dave Matthews, seems to be heating up in the college circuit. maybe we ought to try ’em. It’s not a lot of money.’ I said, ‘ How much is it?’ He said, ‘750 bucks’. I figured I’d make enough for that just on T-shirt sales from the Cowboy Junkies, so I said ‘Go ahead and do it.’ It sold out and I went home. Then I got a phone call from Jim, who said, ‘The manager wants to do a second show tonight, and I said, ‘Done!’ And I went back and watched the show. It was incredible. He was a breath of fresh air.

A celebration of Jim Green’s life will be held at 1 p.m. Monday, June 8, at Memorial Park. The service will be live-streamed at memorialparkonline.com. Masks will be available. Visitation will be from 4-6 p.m. Sunday, June 7, and from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, June 8. Donations in Jim Green’s memory can be made to the Tunica Humane Society or the Jim Green Music Scholarship Fund at the University of Memphis.

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Concert Review: Buckethead at the New Daisy

CREDIT: Haley Mitchell

Haley Mitchell

Shortly after making my way to the front of the crowd at the New Daisy, I asked the sound guy if he could hand me the set list after the show. A bunch of muttering started in the crowd surrounding him.

“I don’t think he has one. If I see one—I’ll bring it to you,” the sound guy replied.

“The last Buckethead show, all he had was a sign up that said, ‘Long Live Shaolin,’” someone else added.

The lights were red and blue in the theater, having an effect similar to the 3D glasses they used to give people in the ’90s to watch television—anytime you blinked, the room was frozen on the back of your eyeballs. The sound of dinosaurs growling and gnawing on dinner to the tune of cicadas permeated the air as the audience waited for the show.

“This is Bucketheadland,” I remember thinking. Brian Patrick Carroll’s performance art character, Buckethead, has claimed in rare interviews that his primary focus in life is building Bucketheadland, although it doesn’t have a physical address.

The sound of water dripping and echoing in a cave was followed by the sound of demonic female voices singing. Every time a guitar peppered into the soundtrack, sporadic clapping and shouting came from the audience.

Haley Mitchell

Haley Mitchell, the photographer who joined me on this assignment, said that Buckethead had gotten in trouble with his KFC bucket with an orange sticker on it that read, “Funeral.”

“He was raised by chickens and believes he can bring the dead chickens back to life through his guitar playing, which is a conflict of interest for Colonel Sander’s livelihood,” Mitchell explained.

On this tour, he’s just wearing a white bucket.

“I am becoming smaller and smaller,” a voice said as the night’s entertainment became eminent. It sounded like a voice from a 1950’s science fiction movie. “Nothing is solid no matter how it appears.”

Haley Mitchell

Buckethead walked out on stage and started playing. He doesn’t talk during the performance, although he does swing nunchucks in between handing out toys.

Fractal spider webs flipped around on the screen with red and blue lights. For his third song, he played “Soothsayer,” a prog rock track dedicated to his Aunt Suzie.

His dreadlocked assistant, P-Sticks, held a green light toward the audience as the people in the front row were allowed to press the red button on Buckethead’s white guitar. The red button is something like a Wah-Wah pedal for the face of his guitar, and as Buckethead held strings on the guitar neck, each member of the front row took a turn pressing it, forcing video game sounds to spit out of the speakers.

Haley Mitchell

As he started to play “Jordan,” one of his signature tunes, the bass attacked the audience like a rogue wave. It’s a song dedicated to Michael Jordan, which is supposed to be one of the hardest songs to play on Guitar Hero or on an actual guitar. On his 2011 release, It’s Alive, there is another song called “Lebrontron.” At 6’-4”, we can only assume that Buckethead is a basketball fan. 

Haley Mitchell

When he sampled “Pure Imagination,” it became evident that Buckethead is the Willie Wonka of guitarists, and we all had a golden ticket. After about an hour and a half of playing, he walked off the stage and giant red jellyfish floated across the screen as deafening drum and bass played on the speakers. We waited until the staff started to mop and decided he wasn’t coming back out.

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New Look for the New Daisy

CREDIT: Wes Youngblood

The legendary New Daisy Theater on Beale Street is undergoing a major transformation, and next weekend’s concert featuring the Chris Robinson Brotherhood will be the public’s first chance to see what the music venue has in store.

Since announcing that he would be taking over the New Daisy, music mogul Steve Adelman has been hard at work restoring the iconic Memphis theater.

In the midst of the major renovations, the New Daisy secured booking partnerships with Live Nation and Disco Donnie Presents, a move that Adelman hopes will bring more than 150 concerts to Beale Street annually.

From the removal of the stage backdrop to major improvements in lighting, sound, seating, and bar access, there’s a lot to look forward to at the New Daisy.

“This building had a lot of issues and needed a lot of work done to it — things like issues with plumbing and air conditioning,” Adelman said.

“We fixed all of that stuff to get a base for us to work from, and then we had multiple teams of engineers and lighting people come in and assess what we needed to do.”

One of the first things concertgoers will notice at the show on Saturday will undoubtedly be the new sound system. Major scaffolding has been erected onstage to support the new speakers and lighting system, giving the venue a much-needed updated look. By partnering with the sound company Funktion One, the New Daisy now has a sound system so modern that Adelman said the equipment isn’t available for mass production yet.

“People are definitely going to notice how much the room has changed,” Adelman said.

“It’s always been a great room, but the entire thing has gone through a major upgrade.

“I don’t know that people are used to seeing state-of-the-art stuff in this room, and I think that’s going to take a lot of people by surprise. Sound and lights are what it’s all about when it comes to today’s concert experience, and we aim to be the best.”

While the bare-bones charm of the New Daisy is still present, the seating and bar areas also received major makeovers. The venue now features three bars instead of one center bar, and a smoking lounge is being built on the side of the venue, giving patrons the option to smoke on a patio or walk out on to Beale Street.

The balcony at the New Daisy is also in the process of being renovated into a VIP area with plush seating and private boxes available. Christened the Big Star Room, the VIP balcony area will be curated with Big Star memorabilia handpicked by Big Star drummer Jody Stephens.

While the Big Star Room won’t be ready for next weekend’s concert, Adelman said that portion of the club should be open by September.

The Big Star Room will also have a private entrance from Beale Street and have its own bathrooms. A membership must be purchased to access the room, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting musicians’ health care and other charities of Stephen’s choosing.

Adelman said he expects the Big Star Room to be one of the main attractions of the New Daisy.

“The balcony here at the New Daisy is amazing. I know in a lot of places the balcony is the last place someone wants to sit, but there’s something about this room that makes the balcony just perfect,” Adelman said.

“I don’t want to give too much away, but it should be a very plush experience. Live Nation already has this type of thing in some of the Fillmores that they operate, and it works very well. Companies will be able to buy corporate boxes up there, which is another added dimension that we’re going to unveil. It’s going to be a loose membership club, but it will all be reserved seating.”

With more than 20 years in the music industry, Adelman has operated clubs in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. While he insisted that operating clubs is a similar business no matter where they are located, Adelman did acknowledge that the New Daisy and Beale Street in general have a history that no one can deny.

“We want bands to come through Memphis and say, wow, that’s the room to play,” Adelman said.

“Live Nation is our booking partner, and they also help out with some of our marketing. But the New Daisy is an independent room with a certain history, and no one wanted to mess with that. We just wanted to expand it. We are all about being able to improve the band’s experience as well as the patron’s experience.”

The public’s first experience with the transformed New Daisy will come on July 31st when the Chris Robinson Brotherhood performs at the renovated venue.

Most notably known as the singer for the Black Crowes, Robinson’s stop at the New Daisy will be toward the end of a tour that took him through the American Southeast. Adelman said that the “sneak peek of the New Daisy” couldn’t happen during a better concert.

“When we decided to work with Live Nation, we wanted a certain vibe and a certain act to get our feet wet, and the Chris Robinson Brotherhood fit what we were trying to do perfectly,” Adelman said.

“We got lucky with Chris Robinson, but sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Friday, July 31st, at the New Daisy Theater. Doors open at 7 p.m. $20.

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Music Music Features

GWAR: It’s Alive

After the death of lead singer, founder, and last-remaining original member Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus) this past April, most people considered GWAR to be finished. The band was 30 years into a career that spanned 13 albums and more than 20 live films and long-form music videos. They surprised everyone at Riotfest in Chicago last month when they showed up with their newest member in tow, Vulvatron, an imposing Amazon whose massive prosthetic breasts sprayed the crowd with goo through most of the band’s set. Kim Dylla, lead singer of kabuki-clad Kung Fu Dykes, depicts the time-traveling cybernetic female assassin.

Apparently, Vulvatron and new lead vocalist Blothar (portrayed by former bassist and Beefcake the Mighty originator Michael Bishop) arrived on earth through the same wormhole. Blothar gives his account of being jettisoned through the space time continuum: “I went into a trance of blinding rage. I must have killed a million space apes. I was sleeping it off, and I woke up with a piss boner. I figure, why waste it, you know? So I’m rubbing one out, and the next thing I know, I’m on stage with GWAR in front of thousands of hideous, acne-ridden teenaged humanoids. I was promised there would be wifi, but it’s hit or miss…”

GWAR rolls through Memphis with a show on Wednesday at the New Daisy. Rhythm guitarist BalSac the Jaws of Death describes it: “Dark clouds of war and ill omen have gathered around GWAR. In our hour of greatest peril, Oderus has left us and our enemies stand poised, ready to strike while they sense weakness, but we shall no longer cower in our Antarctic stronghold awaiting destiny’s final blow. This fall, GWAR sets out on the most trying quest of our career. We shall scour our leader’s favorite stomping ground, North America, leaving no city unsearched, no venue unraised, and no sheep unmolested. GWAR will venture to the depths of hell or to the very end of time itself, and though I fear what we may encounter out there, I know that we can never return home until we have the answer we seek: ‘Where is Oderus Urungus?'”

Bassist Beefcake the Mighty gave a heartfelt summation of the their upcoming 52-date tour: “Dave was our friend and anchor for as far back as anyone can remember. He’s held us together, and sometimes he drove us apart. He is our brother, and we love him. Unlike a lot of prominent musicians, he was friends with all of the fans. He made GWAR fans feel special on a personal level. The fans love Dave as much as we do and the GWAR Eternal Tour 2014 is our way of getting together and sharing that love.”

Most of mainstream America was introduced to GWAR during a 1993 episode of Beavis and Butthead. The series was a continual champion of the band and frequently showed their videos. GWAR was also a pivotal part of the 1994 Beavis and Butthead video game, wherein Beavis and Butthead had to search the town looking for the remnants of their GWAR tickets which had been ripped to shreds after a neighbor’s riding mower ran over them. The band popped up on daytime talk shows by Joan Rivers and Jerry Springer during the 1990s to discuss their brand of outlandish entertainment. Springer even attended one of GWAR’s concerts and was consumed on stage by a giant space worm. In 1995, the band popped up in the movie Empire Records when stoner store employee Marc eats some pot brownies and hallucinates that Oderus Urungus invites him through the TV to join the band. He then watches himself play guitar onstage with the band and be complimented on his skills before being devoured by the same space worm that engulfed Springer. From 2009-2010, Brockie portrayed Urungus on Fox News’ Red Eye as their intergalactic correspondent.

Make sure to get down to Beale on time to see American Sharks. The Austin trio are one of the best hesher/metal/stoner bands of the past few years. They’ve been touring behind their excellent self-titled debut that came out last year. The band has joined heavy hitters Clutch and fellow Austin retro riffers the Sword, whose bassist Bryan Richie recorded their LP, for extended stints on the road. For fans of Fu Manchu, St. Vitus, and C.O.C., don’t forget to wear a crisp, new white tee so Vulvatron can cover it in her mammary spew.