The first words of Marcella Simien’s new album, To Bend to the Will of a Dream That’s Being Fulfilled, are the perfect introduction to the journey that awaits listeners: “May I heal this family bloodline, forwards and backwards through time.” It’s an incantation of sorts, delivered with a devotional energy that sets the tone for what’s to come. Musically, it’s a departure from Simien’s previous recorded work by way of its minimalism, her main accompaniment for this song being a piano, so evocative of New Orleans and Louisiana. That region, of course, is where the Simiens have been for generations, and where any journey into the singer’s family bloodline must take her.
But while that’s zydeco country (her father Terrance being one of the most celebrated artists of that genre), this is not a zydeco album. Nor is it “swamp soul,” as the rootsy-yet-eclectic sound of Marcella Simien’s band has come to be called. For this most personal of journeys, she’s playing nearly all the instruments, crafting a setting in a kind of synthetic world-building, evoking the sweep of generations with the sweep of electronic filters.
With the new sound comes a new performance style, as Simien will unveil on Saturday, November 23rd, at Off the Walls Arts. “Yvonne [Bobo] built this structure out of metal,” Simien says, “with a screen on the front, and Graham [Burks] will be projecting visuals on this cylinder. It’s gonna be this really interesting experience for the audience, something new.”
Yet the electronic approach itself is not especially new to Simien. “I don’t even know where to begin with my love for synths, from Kraftwerk to Gary Numan to Gorillaz,” she says. “I always wanted to explore that more. Then we finally invested in a Korg recently.” With the new album, that investment has come to fruition, but in a subtle way. This sculpted audio universe doesn’t wear its synths and drum machines on its sleeve, yet it doesn’t shy away from them, either.
Other, rootsier sounds do make an appearance. Speaking of a song honoring her late great-grandmother, Simien says, “With the song ‘Lelia’ in particular, which was the guiding light for the whole idea, I intentionally used instruments that Lelia would have heard in her life and in the 1930s, when she was young and building her family.” Lelia is a centerpiece of the album, and the track bearing her name begins with the sounds of crickets in a field at night, then Simien saying, “Recently I’ve been writing with my great-grandmother.” Indeed, listening to the album, it feels as though Lelia is sitting in the room with us, though Simien never met her.
Nor did her father, Lelia having died when he was an infant. Yet Simien felt a deep bond with her father’s grandmother, and the small town where she helped raise him. “I spent a lot of time in Mallet, Louisiana, a very small community outside of Opelousas,” she says. “And I feel this deep, deep connection to the Simiens. I spent so much of my time around them there, where our family goes as far back as the early 1700s, when they settled on that land.” Simien recalls imagining Lelia when visiting the old family house, where “there was this old photo of her when she was 15, taken on the day she got married. And you can see this beautiful Creole woman with long, dark hair, and these hands of hers reminded me of my hands. I would just stare at that picture, and I think she became a deeper part of me, beyond the DNA.”
Paradoxically, the first word of “Lelia” is “hydrated,” probably not a word used much in Mallet back in the day. Yet that’s also a clue to the power Simien finds in her family past: She came to it through her yogic practice, as a source of strength when she herself was navigating some dark days of her own. It was a time when she struggled with pharmacological dependence. “After a decade of being prescribed Adderall,” she confides, “I decided to get off it. It’s been over three years now, and I don’t miss it at all, but it was scary because I really didn’t trust myself for so much of my 20s, you know?”
Through the struggle, Lelia and others in her family lore were guiding lights. “I started to think about just how challenging her life was,” Simien says. “Giving birth to 15 children, living off the land, making your own stuff, and building a life with next to nothing — I couldn’t comprehend it, but I always thought, ‘If she could handle that, I can handle whatever I’m going through.’ She was tough, and it showed me that there’s so much I can learn from these women. And I want to honor them any way that I can.”
Lawson Day, Margo Araoz, and Justin Weirich (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Cooper-Young Porchfest 2022 was the catalyst for Macrophonics, which features lead singer Lawson Day, lead guitarist Justin Weirich, and drummer Margo Araoz.
“It was the first Porchfest I’d been to,” Day says. He told Weirich, “We need to play this.”
The two met when they were in the seventh grade at DeSoto Central Middle School in Southaven, Mississippi.
“I think when we really started hanging out more was in 10th grade,” Weirich says. “Physical science class.”
They would “talk about music and movies for an hour,” Day says.
“I wouldn’t really pay much attention in school. I was more focused on learning music and listening to different stuff,” Weirich says.
Weirich was 11 when he bought his Fender Starcaster with leftover birthday money and $300 winnings from a family golf tournament.
Day began singing six years ago. He originally was “too lost in video games and things.” Also, he says, “I was terrified to hear my voice for a long time.”
He didn’t sing in front of an audience until he sang karaoke on a cruise. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to sing karaoke.’ And I did it every night on the cruise.”
“Get Down Tonight” by KC & the Sunshine Band was his first song. “I can remember being pretty nervous the first night. And then, I think, from every night onward, I didn’t really care.”
Araoz, who is from Birmingham, Alabama, joined the drumline in high school when she was about 10 years old. “Half the people in my school were in the band,” she says. “That was what the school was known for. I got to see a drumline play live. It was the first time I got to do this. I remember as a 9-year-old feeling the vibrations in my body. I said, ‘I need to do that. I’m put on this Earth to do that.’”
Araoz stopped playing drums and percussion when she was 14 to focus on her high school studies.
She majored in environmental science at North Carolina State University before moving to Memphis in 2021. She met Weirich when they worked together at Otherlands Coffee Bar. “I didn’t have a drum set when I moved here. I hadn’t played since I was 14. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s behind me. I’m no longer a drummer.’”
But, she says, “Justin encouraged me to buy a drum set and he just got the ball rolling for me to retry it.”
The trio got a practice space at Off the Walls Arts, “all hanging out playing music and having fun with it,” Weirich says.
“It was such a cool experience,” Day says. “It felt like being in some kind of coming-of-age movie.”
Macrophonics at the practice space at Off the Wall Arts (Credit: Michael Donahue)
The name “Macrophonics” was Weirich’s brainchild. “I like the imagery of ‘macro,’ being ‘big,’ and ‘phonics’ — ‘big sound,’” he says.
They’ve described their music as “punk rock,” he says. “More the attitude for us in terms of musicality. We try to make songs that sound aggressive, but still kind of catchy.”
“Some of our songs, while they all have a bit of pop structure, sonically can be different,” Day adds. “They don’t fit what people think of as ’80s punk.’”
Their songs are “just do-it-yourself” with “a little absurdist humor,” Weirich says. “Because humor helps the reality go down smoother.”
They only had two originals when they signed up for their first Porchfest in 2023. Day describes their show as “overwhelming. It was me and Margo’s first show.”
Macrophonics at 2023 Cooper-Young Porchfest (Credit: Michael Donahue)
“I remember being very, very nervous. At that point I was kind of yelling instead of singing. I felt it was a controlled yell. But I was nervous as hell. Freaked out.”
Because it was hot, Day took off his shirt while he sang. He now sings shirtless most shows. “I didn’t want it to be a trademark, but I feel it kind of is.”
Their Porchfest experience was a success. “We wanted to keep doing it: ‘Okay. We’re pretty good at this. We can actually do this. Let’s keep it chugging along.’”
They played shows at Growlers, Hi Tone, Black Lodge, and “a lot of Lamplighter shows,” Weirich says.
Macrophonics is about to have its first EP mastered. They hope to release it “within the next month or so,” Weirich says.
Macrophonics: Justin Weirich, Margo Araoz, and Lawson Day (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Weirich doesn’t like to define their music genre. “I think we like keeping it vague like that. Who wants to be just a punk band? I feel like we have a lot more musical influences to branch into, more things we want to do with the band. For now, it’s more about the ethos of punk than necessarily the direct sound.”
Araoz also makes the band shirts. “I thrift the material for the T-shirts,” she says. “And I carve out my rubber stamps myself. Me and a friend.
“Environmental science shapes how I move through the world in every aspect. I did find a wholesale T-shirt company that uses a closed loop system for fabrics. There’s no waste being produced from any part of the company. They make new T-shirts out of old fibers.
“I wanted to make sure I was producing a product that can be broken down and reused again, not end up in a landfill in Ghana.”
Macrophonics played their second Cooper-Young Porchfest this April with “a lot more confidence going into it,” Day says. “I had a whole year of experience kind of flowing through my body.”
And, Weirich says, “We actually got our first encore. When they asked us, all we had to add on was ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ by the Ramones. We played it double time. We played it faster than the Ramones played it.”
Macrophonics: Lawson Day, Margo Araoz, and Justin Weirich (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Mike McCarthy lent a hand as guests climbed a ladder in front of his 10-foot, papier-mache sculpture work-in-progress of David Bowie.
Guests at his “Glam Rock Picnic” were given little pieces of clay to tap onto the sculpture to help build the statue.
Colleen Couch and Stevan LazichChris McCoy, Craig Brewer, and Natalie EnsmingerJohn Marvel McCarthy and Nya Goble
The statue, which portrays Bowie in the “Tokyo Pop” jumpsuit by Kansai Yamamoto, has four heads, which represent Bowie’s predilection for taking on different identities.
The goal of McCarthy’s nonprofit, Sculpt Memphis, is to preserve Memphis music through sculpture. He believes placing the statue in Overton Park near the site of the old Memphis College of Art in Overton Park would be a good spot for the Bowie statue when it’s completed. In 1973 Bowie visited the school, then known as Memphis Academy of Arts, to accept a watercolor by Dolph Smith, an instructor at the time.
Vincent and Misti Rae HoltonHanna McCarthy
Smith and his son, Ben Smith, attended the picnic.
“I thought it was a great kickoff to phase one,” McCarthy says.
The ultimate goal is to cast the sculpture in bronze. Which may mean another party or two in the future.
Aladdin Sane Weather Vane in progress (Photo: Mike McCarthy)
Few things are more noteworthy than seeing a photo of your coworker in the crotch of a 10-foot, papier-mache sculpture of David Bowie in progress. That coworker is, of course, Michael Donahue, one of our writers here at the Flyer. In fact, Mike McCarthy, creator of the sculpture, has covered Bowie in Flyers. We’re honored to say the least, but this sculpture is not in honor of us, but rather of a mostly unknown Memphis music history moment.
In 1973, while on his Aladdin Sane tour stop in Memphis, David Bowie visited the now-closed Memphis Academy of Art at the invitation of Dolph Smith, an instructor at the school. Smith had a watercolor he wanted to give the musician, which he happily accepted. Of this story, McCarthy says, he only heard glimmers during his time at the school in the ’80s, but it’s stayed with him ever since.
These days, McCarthy is running a nonprofit Sculpt Memphis, with the goal of preserving Memphis music history through sculpture. His Johnny Cash stands on South Cooper now, and, for the last year, he’s made statuettes of Howlin’ Wolf, Aretha Franklin, Memphis Minnie, Rufus Thomas, Muddy Waters, and the like. “Everybody loves them,” he says, “but [the question becomes] how do these things get to become like eight-foot-tall block sculptures. I think Memphis is extremely under-sculptured, under-statued.
“Maybe this is a little counterintuitive on my part,” he continues, “but I thought, maybe if I do a 10-foot tall David Bowie, it will draw attention also to the fact that there’s lots of Memphis music history, obviously closer to home, that people should be thinking about. If you had Bowie in Overton Park, that would be one more reason to go to Overton Park. If you had all these other sculptures in locales throughout the city, it could drive tourism, create international interest.”
For the Bowie statue, McCarthy chose to portray him in the “Tokyo Pop” jumpsuit by Kansai Yamamoto. Also, instead of one head, the musician has four atop a weather vane, with the four faces representing Bowie’s affinity for taking on different identities — from Ziggy Stardust to Halloween Jack. Why a weather vane? “I don’t know,” McCarthy says, “but I thought, okay, I’ll do a weather vane. Oh, weather vane rhymes with Aladdin Sane. Aladdin Sane Weather Vane.”
So far, McCarthy has been working on sculpting the piece since December with help from friends, like Terance Brown, who made the resin 3D image of Bowie’s face; Colleen Couch, who made the paper for the Bowie faces for the weather vane;
Yvonne Bobo and Brendan Duffy (owners of Off The Walls Gallery)Alison Heaverly, Off The Walls assistant Terance Brown (3-D artist, maker of the resin 3-D image of Bowies face)Colleen Couch (paper maker, maker of the paper Bowie faces for the weather vane)Geordan Lugar of Lugar Foundry, created the A frame inside the Aladdin Sane Weather Vane.Frank Smith, patron.Jana Wilson of VINTAGIA (Arkmania) and curator of the vendors.Kasey Dees with The Prettiest Star face painting.Drew Whitmire, assistant.Eat At Eric’s Food truckBlack and Wyatt Records (sponsor)The Memphis Flyer (sponsor) Kansai Yamamoto – costumer designerMasayoshi Sukita – photographer
but this Sunday, he’ll invite the public to begin the process of covering Bowie with clay at what he’s calling the Glam Rock Picnic. “The ultimate goal is to climb the ladder and start from the heart and start spreading the clay,” he says. “I want people to be involved.”
The Glam Rock Picnic will also have DJ Kitschy Kat spinning entire Bowie albums, a Bowie bar, Eat at Eric’s food truck, face painting by Kasey Dees, and vendors curated by Jana Wilson of Vintagia.
Glam Rock Picnic, Off The Walls Arts, 360 Walnut, Sunday, June 30, noon-5 p.m., $10.
Sara Fahr dances with fire. (Photo: Courtesy Off the Walls Arts)
It’s the Year of the Dragon as many of you may know. As our metaphysical columnist Emily Guenther wrote a few weeks ago, “The dragon represents success, intelligence, and honor in Chinese culture. The dragon is a symbol of power and wealth.” We can all embrace the creature, she says, and though the Lunar New Year fell on February 10th, Off The Walls Arts is gearing up for an extravaganza celebrating the Year of the Dragon and the full moon.
The nonprofit gallery’s event will have an art show, live music from Marcella & Her Lovers, a tai chi fight demonstration with Milan Vigil, modern dance with Neile Martin, aerial performances with Ashley Keane, fire performances by Sara and Michael Fahr, acro with Wren and Starling, a “drag(on)” show by drag artist Blanca Flores, and a dragon procession and bonfire.
“At Off the Walls Arts, we really like to embrace different types of arts,” says co-owner Yvonne Bobo, “so we’re kind of combining sculpture, performance, music, live music, maybe some more traditional paintings, and bringing them together for the Year of the Dragon. … Dragons are powerful and fantastical creatures, right? So all the different performers and artists love the dragon, and we’re just out there to celebrate.”
For the visual art aspect of the evening, Bobo says the artists were prompted to create a piece inspired by the Year of the Dragon. The results have been varied, with artists interpreting the theme in myriad styles and mediums. “It’s fun to do something a little outside of what you might think of,” says Bobo, who herself is sculpting a piece with Colleen Couch. “We’re doing a full moon, sort of. It’s a lighting piece in the event space, and we’re projecting a dragon in the moon.”
The event will also double as a fundraiser for Off the Walls’ latest project: Off the Rails Art Line. “We acquired a railroad property that goes by our warehouse,” says Brendan Duffy, Bobo’s husband and co-owner of Off the Walls. “And so we’re trying to raise money to get a trail down for the future of neighborhood because we know that if we keep this trail surface down and we can build out from there, it’ll be a nice safe place for people to maybe walk from Sun Studio to Stax and then to Elmwood Cemetery, so there’s a lot of connectors on this trail that we’re trying to get put together eventually. And we want to have a sculpture walk where the artists in our space and other local artists can do some permanent and rotating installations on that so you’ll have some art on the trail.”
Admission for the night’s event will be based on donation. “We’re saying $20, but whatever people can give,” Duffy says. “We like to make it inclusive.”
EXTRAVAGANZA Year of the Dragon Celebration, Off the Walls Arts, 360 Walnut, Saturday, February 24, 7 p.m.-midnight.
This weekend, artists Robby Johnston, the late Anthony Biggers, and John Ruskey will present “Delta Chique” at Off the Walls Arts. “All three of us are inspired by living around the Delta,” says Johnston. “[The show] gives you three different perspectives, three different mediums, one subject, one night of fun.”
The longtime friends, who met “probably drinking beer,” as Johnston says, had always talked about doing a show together before Biggers passed away in 2020. “We just never got around to it,” Johnston says. “So this is just a way of paying respect to him now that he’s gone.”
Color pencil drawing by Anthony Biggers, courtesy the artist.
Biggers, who made his living as a graphic artist and later a graphic arts professor, never exhibited his work publicly, though he did design WEVL’s Blues on the Bluff posters. “His personal work kind of took backstage,” Johnston says. “When he passed away, we got with the family and found volumes of these incredible color pencil sketches. So we’re going to be showing his work in kind of a retrospective.”
The late artist was born legally blind, Johnston adds. “When he would draw, his face would be about three inches from the paper, sketching from memory. If you get to see his work, they look like photographs. It is amazing.”
While Biggers gravitated towards the people of the Delta for his drawings, Johnston is more interested in the landscapes of the Delta. “I’ve always been a Delta artist,” he says. “It’s a land of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, history, pain and suffering, but also, it’s a hotbed for creativity.”
Johnston works mostly with acrylics, having picked up his first paintbrush some 12 years ago. “It was a little bit of a midlife crisis, really just trying to find my voice, and, I don’t know, I just started painting. … I’m really coming into the realization that it’s something I want to try to transition into full-time.”
Like Johnston, Ruskey is a self-taught artist. He builds dugout canoes in Clarksdale and owns Quapaw Canoe Company, which offers voyages on the Mississippi River. Ruskey, Johnston says, “started taking sketchbooks on his trips [for note-taking], and then he started taking watercolors. And then they started evolving into paintings. The river taught him how to paint, that’s what he says.”
“Delta Chique” will be on view through November 17th at Off the Walls Arts.
The Nakatani Gong Orchestra (Photo courtesy of Goner Records)
As if Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, wasn’t notable enough due to its name, a Japanese composer and musician based there, who’s taught master classes far and wide, is making the burgh the world’s center of musical innovation. And this coming Sunday, Tatsuya Nakatani will bring that innovation to Memphis. But he needs the help of Memphians to do it. For he’s not only re-imagining sound, he’s re-imagining how musical ensembles are created.
For a few weeks now, followers of Goner Records’ social media have been responding to requests for volunteer gong-bowers. It’s not in everyone’s skill set, to be sure, but it may be in yours without you even knowing it. To bow a gong, and tune in to the layered vibrations that emerge, can be a very intuitive thing. And that’s what local volunteers for the Nakatani Gong Orchestra are finding as they prepare for a November 13th concert at Off the Walls Arts, at 8 p.m.
To find out a few more details about what promises to be one of the most remarkable performances in recent memory, I chatted with Nakatani about the ins and outs of gong-bowing.
Memphis Flyer: How does it work, as you tour through towns and recruit local players? Are you looking for any skills in particular?
Tatsuya Nakatani: Yes and no. Playing a gong is a difficult thing to do. Hitting a gong with a mallet is quite easy, but bowing a gong, the player has to have a real sense of it. So I don’t know until the day of the show how many people can do it. Sometimes, an experienced musician can handle it well, but sometimes not. It’s very difficult to explain this! One player I worked with was a yoga teacher, and she could play so well, because you need to feel the vibration of the gong growing, and bow on top of it. So it’s quite different from a usual musical instrument, compared to pressing a button or bowing a concert bass or cello or violin. It’s similar, but it’s unique.
So it’s not dependent on musical training, but more on a certain musical sensitivity?
Yeah, exactly. Sensitivity. Musical training is helpful, but I’m asking people to play together as a kind of string instrument. So five or six gongs playing together is kind of like five or six violins or cellos playing together.
How many players do you usually use?
Currently on this tour, I ask for 14. And usually the local curator manage the players. So I don’t deal with who’s playing and who’s not playing.
So you show up that morning, and rehearse for the show that night?
Yeah. There’s a training video you can watch on my website, about how to bow the gong, hear the vibration and follow my conducting. So they are trained by video. And the day of the workshop, we have two or three hours to rehearse. And then we perform that evening.
Is it all gongs, or is there other percussion?
No, it’s only gongs.
How do you lead them through a compostion? Do you have some kind of graphic score?
I prepare a score for myself. I memorize each gong’s vibrations and then compose from there. And then I hand conduct. Once the players understand how to read my hand signs, I can freely improvise as well. It’s based on the group. Some venues have different acoustics and frequencies, so I change the composition. I have to manage between the composition and improvisation.
So you alter the score for each performance, in each location?
Yeah.
Do you rely on your recruited players to improvise?
Yes, in a way, but mostly I’m improvising. And they are just trying to play their best. Someone recently said the orchestra is like a gigantic synthesizer, and each person is a kind of module, and I’m operating the modules [laughs]. So it’s a very large scale synthesizer, making vibrations.
I bet it’s a pretty eerie sound, with all those bowed gongs.
Yeah, it’s eerie, but also there’s more than just sound. There are lots of vibrations. In music, people focus on the sound, the melody and harmony, but there are also these secret vibrations. Combining the formation of the vibrations, and orchestrating the vibrations is really interesting. The vibrations merge and shift.
So the vibrations between the gongs are more like a felt thing?
Yeah, exactly. You probably can’t even record it. This is a live sound project. It’s 14 gongs, and with me there are 15. And the 15 gongs together are like a gigantic metal speaker system, and that projects vibrations and waves in a different way than conventional music.
Who have your influences been in creating this?
There’s no particular person who influenced me. I have been playing solo percussion since the ’90s, and I started bowing cymbals and gongs, and started thinking, ‘What about eight or ten people bowing?’ Just multiplying and dividing numbers of players. I knew a gong orchestra could work very early on. And then I started making bows to do my project, out of wood. There is no conventional bow for bowing percussion, so I needed to have some specific tools, so I started building them some time ago, before I started the Gong Orchestra. This project has been going 13 or 14 years now. I’ve done close to 200 shows.
Firebird at Off the Walls Arts (Credit: Hattie Greene)
Last night’s soft opening of Firebird, a new immersive modern dance work being staged at Off the Walls Arts through August 7, was a paradox: using only the simplest of forms and set pieces, it transported the audience to new realms.
Staged in the same space that once housed the elaborate Baron von Opperbean’s Exploratorium by Christopher Reyes, the contrast couldn’t have been greater. Where neon forests and planetary landscapes once stood in the former exhibit, there now stands a stark, spare area, stone gray except for a few black arboreal forms and a vivid mural of a phoenix on one wall. At one end, velvet curtains hang.
Those curtains were the only real indication that the space has now become a dance stage. Some audience members even clustered on the floor informally at the foot of the curtains, while others sat in folding chairs behind a strip of tape that established the edge of the performance area.
“This blue line marks the edge of the action,” one usher noted to those of us in the front row. “There’s going to be a large swinging structure. Stay back or you might end up with someone in your lap.”
Being perched on the precipice of the performance made it all the more effective when the lights went down, the aggressive techno-flavored opening music revved up, and the five-person ensemble burst out from behind the curtains, ferociously dragging a large spherical framework. From that point on, we were transported.
The spherical frame proved to be a versatile structure for myriad movements, inspiring vigorous dance and gymnastics from the performers. While the piece may have been sparked by The Firebird ballet that premiered in 1910, there was not a hint of Stravinsky here. The music, composed by Michael Wall, a faculty member at the University of Utah, varied abruptly from pounding industrial jams to gentle, ambient sound design, making for sonic contrasts that perfectly matched the stark lighting and shifting movements.
Firebird at Off the Walls Arts (Credit: Hattie Greene)
Meanwhile, the dance itself, choreographed by Neile Martin and Ashley Volner, embraced such contrasts, from gritty interpersonal struggle to the tenderest of romantic duets, sometimes in the space of a breath. The dancers — Martin, Volner, Aiyanna LaRue, Kimberly Madsen-Thomas, and Connor Chaparro — gravitated to the sphere, dragging it to and fro, climbing it, imprisoned by it, sometimes abandoning it altogether as they moved across the space. And then it was done, the entire work lasting only about a half hour.
Reluctant to shake off the spell cast by the dancers, I spoke with Off the Walls Arts founder and set-builder Yvonne Bobo and the choreographers to hear how such a piece, unmoored from any established dance company, came to be.
Memphis Flyer:Yvonne, in your opening remarks, you said you envisioned a space that fostered interdisciplinary arts. Could you expand on that?
Yvonne Bobo: I’ve been doing sculpture on my own for a long time. And when I left Crosstown, I was looking for a building where I could be long term, and where other artists could be. A lot of us are working on the outskirts by ourselves. So I bought the building, not knowing what would happen. But we have, including this group, thirty artists in the building. Dance, woodworkers, mixed media, photographers, sculpture, everything.
Recently, I met Ashley at a friend’s house, and I ran into Neile at Memphis Rocks, and we all were talking about Elizabeth Streb’s choreography, using big metal structures. So I said, ‘Why don’t we do a collaboration? I’ll build the structures, you guys dance.’
Ashley Volner: The third piece is actually a tribute to one of Elizabeth Streb’s dancers who passed away about two months ago. I’m from Memphis, but when I lived in New York, I ended up working with Elizabeth Streb in JAMPack’d, which is a company under her main company. I also train upper level gymnasts.
There’s a lot of gymnastics in Firebird. It reminded me of Cirque de Soleilin places.
AV: Yes. And we have incredible gymnasts in Memphis.
So this piece was inspired by The Firebird?
Neile Martin: It’s a Russian folk tale, but you see phoenixes and firebirds in a lot of mythology. And when we started looking at the story, we knew we wanted to use a story that was familiar, to make modern dance feel more palpable to people who aren’t sure what they’re supposed to be thinking or feeling when they see modern dance. We’ll use something that people know, and then play in that framework of a familiar story. Something that came out in the past couple weeks was the dynamic shift when something powerful meets something equally powerful, and they recognize in each other what it means to have that kind of power. And that’s the struggle that occurs between the sorcerer and the firebird at the end. And out of that recognition of self and self, comes kindness and forgiveness and acceptance.
YB: That moment is very powerful, when they come to forgive. The quiet moments are as strong as the loud ones.
NM: What does it mean to have such a burden of power? What do you do with it? What do you want?
YB: That’s what’s interesting about the sphere, too. You feel all the pieces that are moving. You think there are two sides to a story, but there are so many more. And you see them all.
NM: The language and vocabulary of modern dance gives us freedom to express that complexity with a larger physicality.
Firebird at Off the Walls Arts (Credit: Hattie Greene)
Even in modern dance, you don’t always see works so driven by the set pieces. Maybe in work by Meredith Monk or Twyla Tharpe.
NM: Yeah, Twyla’s quite a force to be reckoned with. But it also comes down to the brilliance of Yvonne. [To Bobo] You hearing us talk, and then making Betty…
YB: That’s what we call the big structure.
NM: We named her Betty. But she’s Liz when she’s feeling feisty.
YB: What’s funny is, that was my mom’s name. They just coincidentally named the structure Betty. And my mom liked to be the center of everything.
NM: Seeing Betty for the first time, our vision just took off from that moment.
AV: I think Neile immediately climbed on it. There was no verbal response at first, it was just like this frog climbing up.
It evokes jungle gyms and childhood. And when you’re a kid, in a jungle gym, that’s your universe. You can create a million stories in that structure.
YB: To be inside, to be outside, even to be trapped inside. And then get out! It’s an orb that’s a cage; it may just be an idea, or magic. It’s a sentiment.
But also liberating: climbing upside down, or climbing to the top.
YB: Yeah, getting really high! Like when you’re a little kid and get brave enough to get to the top. You’re king of the orb, right?
The audience seemed absorbed the whole time.
YB: This is our soft opening, which sold out, and that was a little daunting. We were like, ‘Great! Oh crap! It’s happening!’
NM: That’s what I love about performing live. You get to live in the moment. And then you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s done! Okay, I’m gonna do it again.’
The rawness of the space evokes venues in New York where I’d see performances in the 80s, like P.S. 122 or warehouses that hosted performance art. It creates that feeling of an urgent, urban wellspring of creativity that you don’t always get in Memphis.
YB: As a public artist, I feel like the committees, the approvals, the calls, all the things where they tell you what they want you to do, it’s like they dilute us over and over again. There can be so many stages of approval that there’s just nothing left to look at. So when I imagined Off the Walls, I thought, why don’t artists run a nonprofit? So what I see in Firebird is, artists want to do stuff! But where are they going to do it?
NM: There’s no other place in Memphis that’s an incubator for professional artists to have time and space to play and build to create a product like this.
YB: And I have no idea what we’re going to do next.
Firebird Immersive Modern Dance runs through August 7 at Off the Walls Arts, 360 Walnut Street. For showtimes and to purchase tickets, click here.
If the upcoming festival season was a road sign, it would read “Road Work Ahead.” After the year we’ve all endured, reconstruction of public events is underway. Some annual fairs and festivals are putting the brakes on events until 2022. Others are proceeding with caution by announcing a TBA festival date. Still, others that were to be inaugural 2020 events are pulling out of the parking lot in 2021.
This list of those that gave the green light should help with planning. Buckle up, you’re now in the fairs and festivals carpool lane. Full speed ahead!
If you like that new car smell, you won’t want to miss a couple of breakout festivals this year. The Mighty Roots Music Festival in unincorporated Stovall, Mississippi, near Clarksdale, is one of them. Though the festival is just sprouting, the roots are deep, according to festival producer Howard Stovall.
And not just the roots of the Delta region’s music, but the roots in the soil, too. That’s one of the unique features of this festival: It’s agri-centric. In fact, the festival is taking place at a long-defunct cotton gin.
“We’ve spent a year and a half converting an old cotton gin on 18 acres of land for this festival,” says Stovall. “There hasn’t been power in that gin for 40 years.”
Stovall has invited 150 young farmers from the Delta Council’s Future Delta group. They’ll meet near the main stage before the first act performs and stay for the entertainment.
It’s also the only festival that has a reading list. Check out the website, mightyrootsmusicfestival.com, and you’ll find not only a suggested reading list highlighting the music, art, and culture of the Delta, but also the history of the Stovall Cotton Gin, the Stovall Store, and former tenant Muddy Waters.
Waters lived on the property for nearly 30 years. The house, in which he lived with his grandmother, is where his music was first recorded in 1941 by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. Long after Waters moved, the house was restored and resides at the Delta Blues Museum to this day.
The festival is not just blues music; it’s roots music: reggae, bluegrass, country, and Americana, as well blues. In fact, when Stovall calls his production partner the “ambassador of music in Mississippi,” he’s not kidding. Co-producer Steve Azar was appointed by Governor Phil Bryant as Music and Culture Ambassador of Mississippi in 2017. Azar is a country-music singer and songwriter with a dozen albums under his belt. He also founded the Mighty Mississippi Music Festival in his hometown of Greenville in 2013.
According to Stovall, Azar’s festival had all the right components except for the location. It was just too far from Clarksdale, and way too far from Memphis. Once that fact sunk in, Stovall and Azar worked together to produce a similar concept for Mighty Roots. This time they think they’ve hit the right note with timing and location. It’s sure to be a hit. Check them out.
$30-$65. Friday-Saturday, October 1-2. Stovall Gin Company, mightyrootsmusicfestival.com.
Another breakout fest that should be on your radar: the Carnival of Creativity.
Organizer and founder Yvonne Bobo refers to it as an “innovative art experience.” She promises “big and crazy” events from some of the most creative minds in Memphis. In addition, the carnival is a community builder. Off the Walls Arts has partnered with some familiar South Memphis neighbors — Girls Inc., Vance Youth Development Center, and Streets Ministries.
The artist incubator and exhibition space already hosts workshops from STEAM projects with Dunbar Elementary and Girls Inc. to continuing education and creativity classes for all ages. The carnival is just another way for the collaborating artists to showcase their talents. One of the most interesting features will be a parade of puppets — Second Line-style. Lucky 7 Brass Band will perform. There will be dancing, art exhibits, and classes. The carnival is a free, family-friendly event.
Saturday, October 2, noon-5 p.m. Off the Walls Arts, offthewallsarts.org
While some festivals are just getting started, others are well into their journey. It’s time to set the cruise control and let those drive themselves.
Gonerfest is a fun festival if you like music on the edgy side. The music lineup describes every dude in the ’80s at the Antenna Club — Spits, Nots, Cool Jerks. Fans of punk, garage rock, the bizarre, and unconventional should find their way to this music festival that is old enough to join the armed forces but not old enough to drink.
30 bands in four days, streaming or in-person. $30, $100 for four-day festival pass. Thursday-Sunday, September 23-September 26. Railgarten, goner-records.com
River Arts Fest (Photo: Mike Baber)
Did you know that River Arts Fest began under another name in 1984? At its inception, River Arts Fest was called Arts in the Park and held in Overton Park. I happened to be a vendor in one of the last years the festival operated under the old name. I even won an award for the best decorated booth. I also got a slap on the wrist from code enforcement because part of my winning decorations were hay bales. Something about how someone could drop a cigarette and catch the whole park on fire. Arts in the Park made its way to South Main with a new name in 2006.
A street celebration of the visual, performing, and culinary arts with attractions and activities for all ages. Saturday-Sunday, October 23-24. Riverside Drive along the bluffs, riverartsmemphis.org
The Pink Palace Crafts Fair is the largest fundraising event for the Museum of Science & History and one of the largest volunteer-run events in Memphis. Funds from the fair support museum exhibits, planetarium shows, Mallory-Neely tours, and the Lichterman Nature Center. The crafts fair started nearly 50 years ago in 1973. It’s grown from about 30 craftsmen to more than 200.
Shop for arts and crafts including woodwork, leatherwork, pottery, jewelry, paintings, sculpture, woven goods, and more. $10, $20 for weekend pass. Friday-Sunday, September 24-26, 10 a.m. Audubon Park, memphismuseums.org
Mid-South Fair (Photo: Courtesy of Obsidian Public Relations)
A lot of fairs and festivals in Memphis have staying power, though most haven’t exceeded the 50-year mark. Two come to mind: the Memphis Greek Festival, in its 62nd year; and the longest-running celebration by a mile — the Mid-South Fair.
In its 165th year, it might not surprise you that the Mid-South Fair was created for business networking purposes. Long before the internet or even phones, farmers and merchants struggled to find ways to communicate and meet one another. The first fair in 1856 was held so that the best in agricultural produce and the latest in machinery and inventions could be showcased to the public.
Shortly after the success of the first fair, fun and games were added for more appeal. The event weathered the Civil War, the yellow fever epidemic, the Depression, and two world wars. At the Centennial Fair celebration in 1956, Elvis made a surprise appearance. A time capsule was buried, to be opened in 2056.
Featuring a petting zoo, fair food, rides, attractions, contests, and more. $10. September 23-October 3. Landers Center, midsouthfair.com
Though it’s been a rough road this past year for festivals, it’s in our rearview mirror. Let’s take the rest of the year to celebrate the things that matter most — art, culture, music, heritage, history, and each other.
AUGUST
Memphis Film Prize
A film festival and contest featuring 10 short films made by filmmakers in and around Memphis. Audience votes for the winner of the $5K cash prize. Friday-Saturday, August 6-7. $30.
Malco Studio on the Square, memphisfilmprize.com
Elvis Week 2021
A lineup of events to celebrate the music, movies, and legacy of the King of Rock-and-Roll. August 11-17.
Graceland, graceland.com
Memphis Summer Cocktail Festival
Enjoy summer-inspired cocktails from more than 30 of your favorite spirits, local food, an epic dance party, and more. $39. Friday, August 13, 6-9 p.m.
Overton Square, memphisfestivals.com
Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival
A celebration of blues and gospel music in the Delta. Headliner James “Super Chikan” Johnson opens the festival. VIP tickets include food and beverages. Free. Friday-Sunday, August 13-15.
Clarksdale, Mississippi, sunflowerfest.org
Live at the Garden (Photo: Mike Baber)
Live at the Garden
• Brad Paisley, Friday, August 13, 7:30 p.m.
• REO Speedwagon, Friday, August 27, 8 p.m.
• Sheryl Crow, Friday, September 17, 8 p.m.
• Earth, Wind & Fire, Thursday, October 21, 7:30 p.m.
Summer music series featuring country, rock, pop, and soul-funk superstars. $55-$131.
Memphis Botanic Garden, radiansamp.com
Memphis Chicken & Beer Festival
Chicken, beer, yard games, live entertainment, and more. Benefiting Dorothy Day House. $40. Saturday, August 14, 6-10 p.m.
Liberty Bowl Stadium, memphischickenandbeer.com
Beale Street Artcrawl Festival
Family-friendly event featuring artists on Beale Street. Free. Saturday, August 21, 1-7 p.m.
Beale Street, dearmusicnonprofit.org
Memphis Fashion Week
Take a tour of Arrow Creative’s new Midtown space, join a class for fashionistas, meet designers and local makers, and watch a runway show. $50-$150. Wednesday-Saturday, August 25-28.
Sample wings from more than 70 competition teams vying for the hot wing world championship title. Benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis. $15. Saturday, August 28, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Liberty Bowl Stadium, worldwingfest.com
SEPTEMBER
901 Day: Exposure
City-wide celebration featuring live entertainment, giveaways, local bites, and several organizations representing the Memphis landscape of social, civic, recreational, and entertainment offerings. Wednesday, September 1, 5-6:30 p.m.
FedExForum, newmemphis.org
Delta Fair & Music Festival
Features carnival rides, fair food, live music, attractions, vendors, livestock shows, cooking contests, and more. $10. Friday, September 3-12.
Agricenter International, deltafest.com
River City Jazz & Music Festival
Features Damien Escobar, Karyn White, Con Funk Shun, Kenny Lattimore, and Julian Vaughn. $60. Sunday, September 5, 6:30 p.m.
Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, thecannoncenter.com
Memphis Chevy Show (Photo: Mike Baber)
Memphis Chevy Show
The largest car show in the Mid-South region and a thrilling Pro Show featuring Larry Dixon’s Top Fuel Experience, fire-breathing Jet Funny Cars, and Open Outlaw Racing. $20. Friday-Saturday, September 10-11, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Memphis International Raceway, racemir.com
Memphis Rox Yoga Festival
Features a variety of local and regional studios and vendors, lectures, workshops, film screenings, yoga classes, live music, food trucks, and kids activities. $35-$55. Saturday, September 11, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Featuring bacon-inspired dishes from Memphis restaurants, plus an array of distilled spirits. $39. Friday, September 24, 6-9 p.m.
Metal Museum, memphisbaconandbourbon.com
Latin Fest
Kicks off Hispanic Heritage Month with a family-oriented festival featuring live Latin music, Latin food and drinks, crafts for kids, and vendors. Free. Saturday, September 25, noon-6 p.m.
Overton Square, cazateatro.org
Soulful Food Truck Festival
Featuring more than 100 vendors, 35 food trucks, game zone, and music by J. Buck, Keia Johnson, Courtney Little, DJ Zoom, and DJ Alpha Whiskey. $5. Sunday, September 26, noon-6 p.m.
Tiger Lane, cdcoevents.com
OCTOBER
Mempho Music Festival
Three days of performances, Pronto Pups, art pop-ups, and tunes. $80, $185 for three-day pass. Friday-Sunday, October 1-3.
Memphis Botanic Garden, memphofest.com
King Biscuit Blues Festival
Featuring blues legends and up-and-coming acts to preserve and promote the music of the Delta. $45, $85 for three-day pass. Thursday-Saturday, October 6-9.
Featuring the 2021 Beerfest mug, unlimited samples of beer, and local food trucks. Saturday, October 9, 1-5 p.m.
Midtown Autowerks Inc., cybeerfest.org
Harvest Festival (Photo: Courtesy of Agricenter)
Harvest Festival
Pumpkin-painting, kid’s activities, arts and crafts, hayrides, and educational stations. Saturday, October 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Agricenter International, agricenter.org
The Tambourine Bash
Featuring 30+ musicians performing for the benefit of Music Export Memphis. Funds go directly to the artists. $25. Thursday, October 14, 7 p.m.
Levitt Shell, musicexportmemphis.org
Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival
Highlights stories of the people, music, and history along the Mississippi River through discussion, performances, and presentations. Thursday-Saturday, October 14-16.
Various locations and online from Clarksdale, Mississippi,deltawilliamsfestival.com
Brewfest and Brunchfest
Local food trucks, live music, games, vendors, and unlimited beer samples from 40+ breweries from around the world. $45. Saturday-Sunday, October 16-17.
Liberty Bowl Stadium, facebook.com/memphisbrewfest
Indie Memphis Film Festival
Brings a range of independent features, documentaries, and short films to Memphis from all corners of the world. Wednesday, October 20-25.
Playhouse on the Square, indiememphis.org
Mushroom Festival
Camping festival dedicated to mushrooms. Features classes and demonstrations, live music, tastings, wild food forays and dinners, identification tents, guided hikes, and more. Thursday-Sunday, October 21-24.
Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, memphismushroomfest.com
Dia de los Muertos Parade and Festival
Enjoy a reverse parade where families are invited to honor ancestors and celebrate the cycle of life and death. Free. Saturday, October 23, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Memphis Brooks Museum, cazateatro.org
Vegan BBQ Cook-off & Festival
This Halloween edition will feature a cooking contest, food samples, fitness information, and costume contest, plus candy for the kids. Free-$20. Saturday, October 30, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Tiger Lane, missfitnessdiva.com
Crafts & Drafts Holiday Market
Showcases independent local artists, makers, and crafters. Enjoy shopping, family activities, and local brews. Thursday, November 11, 10 a.m.
Crosstown Concourse, memphiscraftsanddrafts.com
Whiskey Warmer
Features 40 labels of whiskey, bourbon, and Scotch, plus local food trucks, a cigar lounge, and bluegrass music. Benefiting Volunteer Memphis. $39. Friday, November 12, 6-9 p.m.
Overton Square, whiskeywarmer.com
Craft Food & Wine Festival
Celebrate culinary magic, benefiting Church Health. $65. Sunday, November 21, 3 p.m.
The Columns, craftfoodandwinefest.com
DECEMBER
Memphis Israel Festival
Enjoy all things Israel, including food, culture, market goods, and activities. Sunday, December 5.
Agricenter International, memphisfoi.org
Holiday Spirits Cocktail Festival
Sip cocktails, listen to music, and wave to the big man in red himself. Each ticket includes 12 sample-sized yuletide cocktails. Food and full-sized drinks will be available for purchase. $39. Friday, December 10, 6-9 p.m.
Neile Martin takes center stage with Bea Dawg. (Photo: Julie Ray)
There is a lot of talent under the roof at 360 Walnut — and one Bea Dawg.
“Bea Dawg is the star of the show,” says Neile Martin, one of the choreographers for the upcoming dance production of The Firebird. The affable, tail-wagging, tongue-lolling Off the Walls Art warehouse dog is limited to one talent — an overload of cuteness. But that’s okay. The talent pool is covered by the many artists working in the shared space.
Yvonne Bobo and Brendan Duffy had planned events for 2020 in their renovated mid-century 12,000-square-foot warehouse. Everything had to wait. Until now.
“Before and after the performances, we are having an art exhibition down here where my office is,” says Duffy. The basement office has a handmade, wall-length bar. “I’ll be back there serving drinks.” Upstairs, the dancers are practicing. Co-choreographer Ashley Volner steps in time with fellow dancers Grace Byrd, Aiyanna LaRue, and Conor Chaparro. Including Martin, the dancers have nearly 100 years of combined dance experience. “When I ran into Yvonne at Memphis Rox and she talked about a collaboration, I conferred with Ashley and said, ‘Put me in coach,’” says Martin.
A fiery bird wall mural created from an original sketch by local artist Melanie Pyron is the backdrop for the performance utilizing Bobo’s metal sculpture. Stravinsky’s score, adapted for modern dance, provides the music. “We wanted music that was well-known, beautiful, and could be adapted. Not only is Stravinsky’s musical score well-known and beautiful — it’s public domain,” says Martin.
The Firebird, Off the Walls, 360 Walnut, opens Saturday, July 31, 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m., continues Sunday, 4 p.m., 5 p.m., and 6 p.m., Thursday-Saturday, 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m. through Aug. 7, $12.
