Tag: Overton Square

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Ballet Memphis Overton Square Design Plans Revealed

CREDIT: Archimania

From the street, Overton Square patrons and passers-by will be able to watch Ballet Memphis dancers and students practice in their planned new building at the old French Quarter Hotel site.

Plans for the new studio space, which is being designed by Archimania, were unveiled in a meeting on Thursday night at Memphis Heritage’s Howard Hall. The new studio that would replace the long-abandoned and blighted hotel will feature large windows on all the studios and public courtyard spaces between each studio. 

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square facility daytime view

The current hotel building would be demolished, and a new two-story, 27,000-square-foot studio space would be constructed in its place. In keeping with the Midtown Overlay standards, the new building would be closer to the corner of Cooper and Madison, and the parking lot would be moved to the back, blocking the lot from view and creating a pedestrian-friendly area in front of the building. The parking lot would be blocked off from the alley that runs behind the building by a masonry wall. There will entrances to the parking lot on both Cooper and Madison.

The new space will serve as practice space for Ballet Memphis’ professional company, and it will also serve as classroom space for the ballet’s younger students. Ballet Memphis intends on keeping its current facility on Trinity Road to serve students who live in the suburban areas. Most of the ballet’s professional company shows are held at the Orpheum or Playhouse on the Square, so the new Overton Square space won’t host many performances.

But at Thursday’s meeting, Ballet Memphis Director Dorothy Gunther Pugh indicated that they may host some smaller events and performances there for donors. She said she may also rent the space out to other nonprofits for events.

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square facility nightime view

Several Overton Square neighbors in attendance raised concerns about the sudden change in plans from a new boutique hotel, which was announced for the site a few months ago, to the Ballet Memphis facility. Some expressed disappointment that the 1.73-acre site was no longer going to be a hotel since Midtown is lacking in hotels.

Brenda Solomito, the land planner on the project, said the hotel deal just didn’t work out but didn’t really elaborate. The property owners purchased the hotel land in 2013, and she said they were toying with different versions of a hotel for the site and had even gained some of the necessary approvals to go forward. 

“Everything [with the Ballet Memphis deal] has happened in the last three weeks. It’s been a very compact process,” Solomito said.

Gunther Pugh couldn’t give an official timeline for the project, but she said she’d love for construction to break ground in the spring and be in the building by the summer of 2017.

“No one needs to worry that this isn’t going to happen. We’re not going to do that to Midtowners,” Gunther Pugh said.

The project goes to the Shelby County Land Use Control Board on July 9th at 10 a.m. If there’s no opposition, it should get approval on the consent agenda. But the final site plan will also have to be approved.

Archimania

Proposed Ballet Memphis Overton Square floor plan

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Opinion The Last Word

The Rant … (May 21, 2015)

This week’s 45th anniversary celebration of Overton Square brings back a flood of memories which, in itself, is an accomplishment. TGIFriday’s was a year old when I showed up, so if my math is correct, I was 23 when I began singing in the Square.

I’d just moved back to town after a six-year absence, when I got the call. A new club had opened across the street from Friday’s where Boscos now stands, called The Looking Glass. In contrast to the frenzy at Friday’s, this was more of a businessman’s club with the long wooden bar leading into a plush lounge area. They wanted live music but not a whole lot of noise, so I got the solo job, playing nightly, Wednesday through Saturday.

The sitting room was constructed to look like a library, with overstuffed couches and bookshelves filled with someone’s castoff antiquities. There was a platform in the corner with a high bar stool on top. Every time I took the stage, it was like climbing an obstacle course, but from there I could watch the whole crazy scene of Memphians celebrating the passage of an ordinance allowing liquor by the drink. The Southern Baptists had kept Memphis a cocktail-free town for 50 years, and now the city was ready to party.

As for personal exposure, a student from Ole Miss named Holmes Pettey came in one night, and the next thing I knew, I was opening for the Allman Brothers in Oxford.

When Lafayette’s Music Room opened in August of 1972, I became the Square’s unofficial go-to guy for a warm-up act. Friday’s manager and former Box Tops drummer, Thomas Boggs, moved me across the street where, instead of playing four sets a night, I became the opening act for some of the major artists of the day. Lafayette’s wasn’t just a rock club. They booked jazz musicians like Herbie Hancock, Buddy Rich, and Chick Corea, or you could drop by the next week and catch Waylon Jennings or Earl Scruggs.

Billy Joel was touring behind his first album, Piano Man, when he played Lafayette’s. I strummed pleasantly for the packed house, but Billy Joel blew them away. Between shows, I went to the dressing room and, after introducing myself, I told Billy that I really believed he was going to make it. He smiled and told me he appreciated it. Hey, you’ve heard of the “butterfly effect.” Who’s to say my few words of encouragement didn’t make all the difference?

When I was finishing up my set before Barry Manilow made his Memphis debut, I told the audience that they would love this guy with the piano that lights up like a Christmas tree, which sent Manilow’s manager into a rage, chasing after Thomas Boggs, screaming that I had ruined Barry’s schtick.

Then there was the night Kiss performed.

By this time, the jam-packed Square had created a burgeoning local music scene that went for three blocks in either direction. At one point, there were at least a dozen clubs within walking distance featuring hometown pickers — 13, if you counted Yosemite Sam’s. Lafayette’s was filled with curiosity seekers when Kiss shook the stage. I stood in the back, and when Kiss cranked up, it was like being cuffed across the ear. The band wasn’t halfway through their grotesque routine when the audience started jamming the exits. Kiss cleared out Lafayette’s in 30 minutes. Wanna know why? There were 10 local bands on the street with better musicians than Kiss, and they didn’t need stage make-up to get the message across. Kiss made no waves here and were considered to be a short-lived novelty act, reeking of desperation. Of course, now they’re in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while I’m here, 40 years later, still reminiscing about the gig.

Kansas was another band too loud for the room. They hadn’t even gotten to “Dust in the Wind” before the decibel level sent customers running into the night with bleeding ears. On the other hand, Minnie Ripperton was heavenly and Leon Russell was cool. Henry Gross became a Memphis favorite after his Lafayette’s appearance and returns to the same room this weekend for a long-anticipated encore.

When Boggs asked me to put a band together for a slow Tuesday night, I called some guys and we started a weekly jam that drew in some of the city’s best players. One night, I looked around and four of the six musicians onstage were in the teen sensations, Randy and the Radiants — only now we were old enough to drink. The band reformed on the condition that we drop the “Randy” from the name. The Radiants became one of Lafayette’s rotating house bands, playing for a month at a time, and the place was jammed every night. Some of the waiters would periodically line the foot of the stage with vodka tonics, which the legendary Andrew Love referred to as “show-biz medicine.”

The room was jumping when Rufus Thomas walked in. None of us had met Rufus yet, but we were booked to back him up at a charity show later that month. I was delighted to invite Rufus up to the stage while the audience roared its approval. Mr. Thomas called the key and the tempo and the band broke into an uproarious 10-minute blues jam with Rufus pulling out every risque verse he knew. The audience went nuts and screamed so loudly it was hard to hear him when he walked back to me and said tersely into my ear, “Never invite me up again without asking my permission first.”

It was as heartbreaking to see Lafayette’s Music Room close back then as it is heartwarming to see it reopened now. So get out there and start making some new memories. This week’s gathering of original Overton Square performers is our chance to pass the torch.

And guess who’s opening?

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News The Fly-By

New Art Center for Kids Opening in Overton Square

Anna Vergos Blair is the mother of two creative toddlers, but when they make art in her house, they leave a mess behind. She figured other moms must have the same problem, so she and her sister Katherine Vergos Riederer decided to open an art center for kids in Overton Square.

“It’s a space where kids can get messy,” Blair said. “My little ones love all the stuff that makes a mess — paint, glitter, glue, the stuff you don’t want all over your house. So we want this to be a space where kids aren’t scared to drop a container of glitter on the floor.”

The Art Project is set to open this summer at 2092 Trimble Place in Overton Square. The center will operate like a gym but for art. Parents can buy monthly or annual memberships and stop in with their kids any time. Or they can pay a one-time drop-in fee to check it out. The center will cater to kids ages 18 months to 12 years old.

Anna Vergos Blair and Katherine Vergos Riederer

There will be classes in various mediums — like painting or woodworking — led by local artists. But the main studio at The Art Project will be a bit of a free-for-all where kids can work without instruction.

“Kids can just create whatever they want in all different kinds of mediums. It’s not project-driven. It’s more Montessori-style,” Blair said.

All manner of art materials — paint, glitter, chalk, crayons, markers, feathers, googly eyes, etc. — will be available. Kids can choose whatever they want, pick a workstation, and let their little imaginations run wild.

Parents can help their kids if they want to be involved, but if they’d rather sit back and get some work done, there will be free wifi, coffee, and, if all goes as planned, beer and maybe wine. Artist facilitators will be available to assist or inspire kids.

Additionally, The Art Project will offer digitization services, so parents can have all their kids’ artwork scanned and saved.

“Parents have piles and piles of their kids’ artwork. We want to digitize that for parents, so they can create photo books or notecards or posters,” Riederer said.

Blair and Riederer’s family owns The Rendezvous restaurant, and they both grew up helping out there. Blair, now an attorney, began toying with the idea of opening an art center for kids around Christmas. She didn’t know where to start, so she reached out to local entrepreneur Taylor Berger.

“I emailed Taylor in January, and I said, ‘I don’t know you, but I see you’re always launching new businesses.’ So I asked for guidance on starting a business. We met for coffee, and he said, ‘Let’s do it,”‘ Blair said. “He and his partner Michael [Tauer] have little kids, and they signed on to help us right away. They had a space ready for us two days later.”

Riederer, who has a degree in apparel design, sees The Art Project as an opportunity to put her artistic skills to use. She spent some time designing clothing in New York, but since she’s moved back to Memphis, she’s found herself working again with the restaurant. She says she’s ready to pursue something in the creative realm.

“I always assumed I’d start my own company, but I kind of got hooked into the family business. I’ve lost my way for creating art,” Riederer said. “Plus, I have a baby on the way, so I thought this would be a good way to do something I really enjoy, something more fun and creative.”

The sisters enlisted their friend Dom Price, an architect in San Franciso, to design the space.

“There’s a center area that we call the ‘scribble space.’ It’s a rounded area on the inside with tables and chairs and an easel. And the outside of the circle will house the art supplies,” Blair said. “On the opposite wall, there is an area for hanging and drying art, and there’s a wash-up station. We want kids to be wowed when they walk in.”

The sisters are aiming for a June opening. The Art Project is online, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram at @artprojectmemphis. The organizers can also be reached by email.

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Opinion The Last Word

The Rant (April 30, 2015) …

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Memphis always seems to me to be on the brink of something. Sometimes it’s on the brink of something bad, like this insane and cowardly new mob attack trend. Sometimes it’s on the brink of something mediocre,like the Cheesecake Factory restaurant chain opening a location here (did that ever happen?) and making front-page news.

And sometimes it’s on the brink of something very cool, like the focus now on development in Midtown between Overton Square and Cooper-Young and the possibilities being discussed to finally do something more productive with Mud Island, now that Bass Pro in the Pyramid is expected to draw a lot more people to the west entrance to the city and its surrounding neighborhoods.

Justin Fox Burks

Boo Mitchell at Royal Studios

And who can dispute the cool factor in Bruno Mars and company recording “Uptown Funk” at Boo Mitchell’s Royal Studios, one of the most hallowed spots in the world because, simply, that was the House That Al Green Built. And Ann Peebles and Donald Bryant and Otis Clay and so many others under the tutelage of the great Willie Mitchell. The fact that it is still a working, thriving recording studio is something of which Memphians from all walks of life should be immensely proud.

The other night, I had one of the coolest Memphis moments I’ve had in a long time. If you’ve never been to Itta Bena, the sign-less, almost hidden restaurant on the third floor of B.B. King’s Blues Club at Beale and Second, you are really, really missing out. It’s dark and clubby and has blue-tinted windows, through which the neon lights from Beale Street flood in once the sun goes down. It has a very special feel, great food, and great service. I was having dinner there the other night with someone from out of town (from way up Nawth) who is moving to Memphis pretty soon, and I couldn’t have scripted this one any better.

After we finished dinner, we made our way down the secret stairway that leads to the second floor of the club. When I opened the door, there was a singer on stage whose name, I think, was Angela Atkinson. I was appalled that I wasn’t familiar with her, because, well, you know how cool I think I am. Anyway, B.B. King’s was packed wall-to-wall (and this was a weeknight), and she was busting into a version of “Proud Mary,” much more along the line of Ike and Tina Turner’s version than the original by Creedence Clearwater Revival, not that there’s anything wrong with that version.

So I just stood there trying not to embarrass myself by dancing, and it was a surreal, spontaneous experience that made me think Memphis had passed the point of being on the brink of something cool; it had happened and couldn’t have been any cooler. And it couldn’t have been more “Memphis.”

I got separated from the people I’d been having dinner with and figured they were fine, as two of them were Memphians and they had the out-of-town guest in tow. So I just sauntered down Beale Street alone, smoking cigarettes and watching the Beale Street Flippers and all of the tourists and listening to music being played on outdoor stages and coming out of the windows of bars. All I could think was, Wow, why are there not any residential apartments upstairs from the clubs on Beale Street and how could I possibly get one? Yes, it would be kind of noisy, but that kind of noise would be fine with me. I’m a massive fan of the French Quarter in New Orleans, where people do live upstairs from the bars, restaurants, and clubs, and Beale was giving me that same feeling — at least on that night. No, it’s not perfect and I have no clue why some of the clubs play country music, but still, it’s a place I would like to live, or at least have an escape pad to shack up in from time to time.

And this weekend, I walked around the corner from my house to Overton Square, where there must be 10 patios that are regularly filled with people, chilling. I walked over there to see the Stax Music Academy’s Spring Concert. Yes, I am a little biased about that academy because I work there by day, but I gotta tell you that you could’ve cut the energy in the air with a knife. Hundreds of people came out to support those talented kids, and, again, it was just a pure Memphis thing.

And speaking of the incomparable Ann Peebles, she was in the audience with her husband, the aforementioned Donald Bryant, and when the students and their music teachers brought Ann up on stage, the crowd went crazy. The “I Can’t Stand the Rain” icon had to be feeling all that love for her. And when the students performed one of her songs, she had to be thinking that she made a difference in the world that’s not going away any time soon.

I know sometimes I drone on and on about Memphis being the coolest city in the world, and every time anyone says anything to the contrary, I just wonder how they could be so miserable. They need to have dinner at Itta Bena and quit whining.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Belly Acres Owner Ben McLean Takes Steps to Feed Hungry Seniors

Step into Belly Acres, and you’ll spot something a bit unusual, even for freaky-deaky Midtown: a 38-year-old heterosexual male with bright green hair. What’s even more surprising is that the guy isn’t a customer or a waiter…he’s the owner.

“I like it, but my kids aren’t crazy about it,” admits Belly Acres’ Ben McLean. “They asked me not to get out of the car when I pick them up from school.”

Of course, nobody needs a reason to go green. To be honest, the troll doll look kind of suits him. But in McLean’s case, it’s more than just a fashion statement. He’s raising money to help feed hungry seniors.

“When I was a kid,” recalls McLean, “my dad drove Meals on Wheels in the church van. I got to see how it would touch these families’ lives, how appreciative they were.”

“MIFA is helping people who really need it,” he adds, “and I always knew I wanted to be a part of that. It just gives them one less thing to worry about, you know?”

[jump]

It’s called FitBen, and here’s how it works. During the month of March, McLean is wearing a Garmin Vivofit, which tracks his steps. He’s posting weekly totals and asking people to donate to MIFA based on those numbers.

For instance, you could pledge 1 cent for every 100 steps that McLean takes in March. If he ends up taking 312,440 steps, you would donate $31. (Click here to find out more and sign up.)

“It’s March for Meals,” says McLean, “and as a restaurant owner, I march around all day. At any given moment, I’m a waiter, a dishwasher, a cook, or a cashier. So I figured, why not use that as a way to raise awareness and help feed hungry seniors?”

During the first week of the challenge, McLean walked 117,000 steps. Then, in week two, he upped it to 216,000 steps. Although he doesn’t know how much money has been pledged to MIFA, he says his dream is to raise $50,000.

“You gotta shoot for the moon,” says McLean. “If we get to $50,000, then I’ll keep my hair green all year long.”

Want to celebrate with McLean? There’s a wrap party at Belly Acres on March 31st. He adds that his shoes and Vivofit were donated by Breakaway Running, and his hair was donated by Dabbles Hair Company.

So here’s my question. The hair is green…why not go all the way? Eyebrows?

“Yeah, I couldn’t do that,” answers McLean. “I had to draw the line somewhere, and I drew it at the eyebrows.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

The Latest on Parking, Permits, and Sidewalks

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

Here’s an update on some of the stories that we began covering in 2014 and will continue to follow in the New Year.

• Overflow parking for the Memphis Zoo will continue on the Greensward at Overton Park for a period that could stretch until 2019.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said while his “clear preference” was not to use the space for parking, the experience of this past summer made it clear to him that the Greensward “will be an important relief for zoo parking until such time as a viable alternative is realized.” 

The news came in a letter from Wharton to Tina Sullivan, Overton Park Conservancy executive director, on Wednesday, December 31st. The sentiment is a complete departure from a Wharton letter in May that said the city was committed to eliminating Greensward parking by the end of 2014.

“We were very surprised and disappointed to receive this letter from the city a few hours ago,” read a Facebook post from Get Off Our Lawn, a group organized to fight Greensward parking. “The fight for a car-free Greensward continues.”

Going forward, Wharton wants zoo and park stakeholders to work together to develop a viable plan for parking that does not include the Greensward. 

He called Overton Park a “great treasure” and called the zoo a “tremendous asset.” Wharton wrote, “The city will allow parking on the Greensward, as may be absolutely essential to zoo operations, until a plan is implemented, [or] Jan. 1, 2019, whichever comes first.”

Brandon Dill

Naomi Van Tol and Stacey Greenberg protest Greensward parking.

• Special parking permits will be issued to some residents who live around the Overton Square entertainment district but not as many as originally thought. 

The move to start a special parking permit program there surfaced in April. Residents complained to Memphis City Council Chairman Jim Strickland that Overton Square visitors were blocking their driveways and alleys with their cars and sometimes even parking in their yards. 

The program was approved by the council in August. Petitions were sent to neighbors in the proposed new parking district, an area bound by Cox Street on the east, Morrison Street on the west, Union Avenue on the south, and Jefferson Avenue on the north. A section of Lee Place North was also included. 

If at least 75 percents of residents on the individual streets approve permit parking for their street, they would be placed in the special parking district and permits would be issued to them. 

In all, only 10 permits will be issued to residents on a section of Monroe Avenue between Cooper and Cox. The council approved those permits on an unannounced agenda item during its last meeting of 2014.  

“Basically, [Restaurant] Iris agreed to pay for half of the first-year of permits for 10 permitees who live on the street,” said councilmember Kemp Conrad. “The neighbors … and Iris have agreed to basically split the north side of Monroe in the middle of the street.”

• The moratorium on forcing residents to fix their sidewalks was extended in late December.

City officials began enforcing a long-standing rule last year to make homeowners either fix their sidewalks or be hauled into Environmental Court. 

The council passed a two-month moratorium on the enforcement of the rule in May. Once that expired, a six-month moratorium was approved. 

The council approved its latest moratorium to last either six months or until the Wharton administration officials could propose a viable alternative. City engineer John Cameron said he and his office are working on the project and should present an alternative to the council in the first two months of 2015.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Sneak Peek at Belly Acres

You’ve probably heard that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. True enough. But there may be such thing as a free dinner.

Case in point: Belly Acres. Late yesterday afternoon, The Flyer got a hot tip that the much-anticipated Overton Square restaurant would be giving away free burgers in advance of its grand opening on Saturday.

Ever the committed journalist, I decided to investigate.

Full coverage coming soon. In the meantime, suffice it to say that the burgers I tried were finger-lickin’ good. In particular, I enjoyed the Early Riser ($10.75, pictured above), a breakfast-inspired bricolage of bacon, cheddar, beef patty, fried egg, bibb lettuce, and black pepper aioli.

And get this. The whole thing is sandwiched between a pair of home-made waffles.

“I’m serving better beef than most steak houses in this city,” says executive chef Rob Ray. “And I’m competitive on price. So I say, bring it.”

Ray adds that all his beef is grass-fed, from Joyce Farms in Winston-Salem, NC. The bibb lettuce is from Tanimura & Antle Farm in Livingston, TN. And the fried egg was sourced by Bring It Food Hub.

I’ve got to admit, I was impressed by the provenance of the burger. Most of the ingredients seem to have come from within a day’s drive of Memphis. To cook and serve something like that for $10.75?

Not bad, Belly Acres. Stay tuned for The Flyer’s full coverage.

Belly Acres, 2102 Trimble Place, 529-7017
http://bellyacres901.com

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Cover Feature News

Indie Memphis Film Festival 2014

History will record 1998 as the year technology demolished the barrier for entry into filmmaking, bringing together high-quality digital cameras and desktop computer editing to enable resourceful would-be directors to bring their visions to fruition. But just because you can make a movie doesn’t mean you can get it to an audience to be seen, so that year, a group of Memphis film geeks put a sheet up on the wall of a downtown bar and projected movies they had made and movies they wanted to see.

A lot has changed since the Indie Memphis Film Festival’s humble beginning. Cameras and editing software have capabilities undreamed of at the turn of the century, rendering celluloid all but obsolete. Home theater and streaming video have opened new avenues for distribution that have theater owners looking over their shoulders and Hollywood studios pushing out bigger and more elaborate spectacles. Indie films still struggle, but now there are thousands of them produced each year, by specialty studios and plucky visionaries with DSLRs. The festival itself has grown from its underground bar-room roots into one of the most respected — and fun — festivals in America. For audiences, the problem has evolved from “How can I find something different to watch?” to “How can I make sense of all these choices?”

That’s where carefully curated festivals like Indie Memphis remain relevant. This year, more than a thousand entries were winnowed down to two dozen competition features, as well as showcases and gala screenings that not only explore the state of the art, but also celebrate classics that have left indelible marks on indie history.

The lineup of narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and experimental videos that will roll out over the four-day weekend at Overton Square venues Playhouse On The Square, Circuit Playhouse, The Hattiloo Theatre, and Malco’s Studio On The Square is among the most diverse in the festival’s history, offering something for every taste. Choosing from such a wide selection of movies can be a daunting task, so we’ll break down your choices by areas of interest to help you explore one of Memphis’ premiere cultural events.

HOME-GROWN

The Bluff City cinema underground looks healthy, as 2014’s crop of local features include both veterans and newcomers. Three narrative features and one documentary will vie for the Hometowner prize.

Eric Tate, star of The Poor & Hungry, which launched director Craig Brewer’s career at Indie Memphis in 2000, returns to the screen in Chad Allen Barton’s Lights Camera Bullshit. Tate leads as Gerard Evans, a film school graduate who returns to Memphis to direct art films, but instead finds himself embroiled in a sordid comedy of filmic errors by his unscrupulous boss Don (Ron Gephart). Tate plays straight man to a cast of Memphis indie all-stars, including Markus Seaberry, Don Meyers, Jon W. Sparks, Dorv Armour, Brandon Sams, McTyere Parker, and the late John Still as a terrorist disguised as president William Henry Harrison.

5 Steps to a Conversation

Director Anwar Jamison returns to the festival with his second feature, 5 Steps to a Conversation. Jamison stars as Javen, an easygoing guy who is having a great day until his wife leaves him, saying he needs to grow up and get a job. He signs on with a sleazy, cult-like multi-level marketing company selling free pizza coupons door to door for $20. The film manages to be both funny and affecting (imagine Glengarry Glen Ross as a comedy) featuring strong performances by Jamison, David Caffey, Memphis slam poet Powwah, and 4-year-old Amari Jamison.

Satan (Sylvester Brown) tempts a married couple on the rocks in Just a Measure of Faith, the debut feature of husband/wife team Marlon and Mechelle Wilson. This sincere expression of religious conviction envisions a pair of souls hanging in the balance after a car wreck leaves Jacob (Tramaine Morgan) near death while his wife Kayla (Maranja May-Douglas) is haunted by past sin. It also features stirring musical scenes by gospel singer Euclid Gray.

Director Phoebe Driscoll

Director Phoebe Driscoll’s debut documentary Pharaohs of Memphis traces the history of jookin’, Memphis’ indigenous dance form, from its inception in the 1980s as a way to defuse tense situations on the street to its present as an international sensation, through interviews with the form’s pioneers and its present star, Lil’ Buck. Archival and contemporary footage illuminate the dancers’ athletic beauty.

Rory Culkin in Gabriel

ON THE ROAD

There has never been a film adaptation of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher In The Rye or Franny and Zooey, but the writer’s disaffected teenage characters drifting through upper-class environs have inspired films like The Graduate and The Royal Tenenbaums. Opening night feature Gabriel takes Salinger’s theme of mental illness upending families to a harrowing extreme. Rory Culkin plays Gabriel, who we meet clutching a much-read letter on a long-distance bus ride. He is searching for a lost love named Alice, whom he wants to marry, but he’s on thin ice with his family. Gabriel’s father killed himself, and they are afraid that he will follow suit, or worse. Culkin turns in a finely tuned performance, carefully crescendoing Gabriel’s encroaching mania as his antipsychotic meds wear off. Director Lou Howe’s pacing is as tight as his visual compositions, and his screenplay is compassionate and affecting, making Gabriel a festival must-see.

Frank Hall Green

Bruce Greenwood and Ella Purnell in WildLike

Frank Hall Green’s WildLike is also the story of a troubled young loner on the road. Mackenzie’s (Ella Purnell) father is dead and her institutionalized mother has sent her to live in Alaska with her uncle (Brian Geraghty), who is sexually abusing her. She runs away during a trip to Denali National Park and lives by her wits until she chances across Rene (Star Trek‘s Bruce Greenwood), a widower who is hiking through the mountains to forget his grief. The pair form an unlikely bond among the sweeping vistas of the Alaskan wilderness as they avoid the pain of their lives. Purnell’s fearless performance is the highlight of this elegant work.

Halloween’s Mike Myers

Halloween

HORROR

Friday night of Indie Memphis weekend is Halloween, and what better way to celebrate than with a midnight screening of the movie that kicked off the slasher genre: John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween is a textbook of filmic scare tactics. The random jump scare, the relentless menace, redirected sexual guilt — you will never see them done better. Halloween made Jamie Lee Curtis a movie star and set Carpenter on a trajectory that would take the exploitation underground mainstream. If you’ve never seen it or if it’s been a while, the elegance of the film’s construction will make its distant descendants like Saw and Hostel look sloppy and amateurish.

Onur Tukel

On the other side of the horror coin is Onur Tukel’s Summer of Blood. Tukel stars as an obnoxious Brooklyn wannabe hipster who runs across a mysterious stranger in a dark alley and is transformed into a vampire. But just because he’s an undead blood sucker doesn’t mean he’s done trying to score with women, and his vampiric powers make him the chick magnet he’s always wanted to be. Of course, there’s the never-ending thirst for human blood to contend with, but that’s just a minor annoyance in this hilarious deconstruction of both mumblecore pretension and good-guy vampire movies.

Thomas Allen Harris, director of Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

An untitled photograph by Lyle Ashton Harris as seen in Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

AFRICAN AMERICAN

This is the first year the Hattiloo Theatre will show Indie Memphis films and, appropriately, the festival’s slate of African-American-themed films has never been stronger. In addition to two homegrown narrative features by black directors, a pair of documentaries is worthy of attention. The first is opening night’s Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People. Director Thomas Allen Harris digs deep to find the forgotten and ignored images that African-American photographers made of themselves and their world while America pretended they didn’t exist. These images provide glimpses into the everyday lives of people long dead and who were suffering the persecution of Jim Crow.

Director Lacey Schwartz was raised in a middle-class Jewish household in New York. She had a bat mitvah and went to synagogue and was never treated any differently than anyone else. But when she went to college at Georgetown University, she was forced to confront a secret: Her biological father was African American, and the people she met at school didn’t consider her Jewish. In her documentary Little White Lie, she confronts her dual identities and asks hard questions about society’s assumptions and her own.

Wild Canaries

Lawrence Michael Levine, director of Wild Canaries

CRIME STORIES

Since The Great Train Robbery, filmmakers have turned to transgression as a way to highten stakes for their characters. Brooklyn-based Indie Memphis alum Lawrence Michael Levine tops his acclaimed 2010 Gabi on the Roof in July with Wild Canaries. The comedic take on Rear Window finds Levine and Gabi herself, Sophia Takal, starring as Noah and Barri, a New York couple who suspect their elderly neighbor was murdered by her son. Or maybe as part of a real estate scam. Or maybe she died from old age. Their hilariously incompetent investigation shows very little chance of finding out, until it does.

Man Shot Dead

Director Taylor Feltner

Two documentaries take similar, first-person approaches to examine the ripple effects single criminal acts can have on families — from the perspective of the victims and the perpetrators. In Man Shot Dead Arkansan Taylor Feltner investigates the 1966 murder of his grandfather, Glen Wade Dickson. This real-life Rashomon uses interviews with his family and a search for the only surviving witness to the killing to find meaning, but as the director’s grandmother Bernie says, closure doesn’t come easy, even after 48 years.

Evolution of a Criminal

Director Darius Clark Monroe

Evolution of a Criminal is the story of how director Darius Clark Monroe, a bright, seemingly happy kid, came to rob a bank at age 16. Using interviews with his family, his accomplices, customers in the bank, and the prosecutor, as well as reconstructions of the events, he shows how good intentions soured into bad decisions and the fallout that will haunt him and his family for the rest of their lives.

SCIENCE FICTION

In legendary director John Carpenter’s 1988 They Live, a drifter named Nada (wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper) stumbles across a pair of sunglasses that show him a horrible truth: Earth is controlled by a group of aliens who use subliminal messages in advertising to brainwash the population into compliance with their plans for colonization and genocide. This low-budget exploitation movie sank with barely a ripple upon release, but 25 years of cult adoration and critical reappraisal have recognized it as one of the most brilliant and subversive science-fiction movies ever made. In the brave new world of today’s media landscape, its themes of deception and manipulation are more relevant than ever.

Matt O’Leary in Time Lapse

Two very different time travel movies reveal the sci-fi trope’s versatility. What would you do if you could see the future? That’s the question that Bradley King’s Time Lapse asks. Reminiscent of the tightly plotted puzzle films of Christopher Nolan, the film follows a group of roommates as they find out that their neighbor, an eccentric inventor, has created a camera that sees 24 hours into the future and has pointed it at their apartment. Once they start winning big at the races, their bookie comes sniffing around and their secret puts them all in grave peril.

Alex Boling’s Movement + Location is a more subtle take on time travel. Kim (screenwriter Bodine Boling) is an refugee from the resource-starved 25th century living a peaceful, if confusing, life in New York City with her roommate Amber (an excellent Anna Margaret Hollyman). But things start to unravel when she meets fellow time travelers and they must keep their presence hidden, first from Amber, and then the world of 2014 that can’t know what’s about to happen to it.

MUSIC

Memphis is a music town, and Indie Memphis has always sought out the best music documentaries. Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back is actor/director Regina Russell’s debut documentary, chronicling the rise, fall, and rebirth of 1980s hair metal pioneers Quiet Riot. Singer Kevin DuBrow and drummer Frankie Banali started rocking the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles in the late ’70s, but were virtually ignored in the New Wave-loving ’80s until their cover of Slade’s “Cum On Feel The Noize” unexpectedly topped the charts. After decades of heavy metal decadence, DuBrow OD’d in a Las Vegas apartment in 2007, ending the band. The second half of the film follows Banali (who will be on hand for the screening) as he comes to grips with his friend’s death and tries to stage a comeback.

Director Kenneth Price was a hit at Indie Memphis 2011 with his documentary The Wonder Year, which profiled hip hop producer 9th Wonder. When Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates saw the film, he worked to bring its subject as a class at the Ivy League school. Price’s sequel, The Hip-Hop Fellow, documents the process of 9th Wonder trying to win academic respectability for hip hop, as he creates a curriculum and gives fascinating insights into the origin and evolution of one of America’s most popular music genres. His year-long teaching and research project seeks to deconstruct and research the origins of the samples that went into creating 10 of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.

For more Memphis-centric music films at Indie Memphis, see our Music section feature, “Soundtrack to Indie Memphis.

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Heathers

HEATHERS

Cultural phase changes are rarely noticed at the time they happen; only in retrospect do they become obvious. The cynical, slacker 1990s didn’t start with Twin Peaks or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” — it began in1988, with the barely noticed release of a teenage comedy called Heathers.

The 1980s was the decade of Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America,” where we collectively decided to put on a happy face and let the wealth trickle down. The movies of the decade were escapist science fiction epics, He-Man action, and angsty teen coming-of-age movies that said we could all resolve our differences and just get along. Then the caustic, gonzo Heathers flipped the table.

Great satire always predicts the future. Just as Network predicted Fox News way back in 1976, Heathers predicted school shootings and the cynical exploitation of public opinion that would follow. Winona Ryder and Christian Slater star as a teenage Bonnie and Clyde who upend the social pecking order at Westerburg High School by killing some of their frenemies and staging them as suicides. Memphian Shannen Doherty is one of the titular mean girls.

The film remains blazingly funny on its 25th anniversary. Its whip-smart dialogue wrings laughs out of the horror, and gave Generation X the tools to laugh off the world’s casual cruelties. Director Michael Lehmann and writer Daniel Waters will be on hand at the Indie Memphis screening for what is sure to be a spirited and hilarious discussion of the film’s creation and legacy.

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American Cheerleader directors David Barba (left) and James Pellerito (right)

SPORTS

For sports fans, the can’t-miss film at Indie Memphis is Hoop Dreams, the 1994 epic that launched a thousand 30 for 30 episodes. On the short list of the best documentaries ever produced, it tells the story of Arthur Agee and William Gates, two high school basketball players trying to make it to the big leagues, and who will reunite at this 20th anniversary celebration.

American Cheerleader is as optimistic as sports documentaries get. The practice footage and interview segments argue that competitive cheerleading empowers girls by transforming them from walking sexist clichés into skilled practitioners of a very difficult, very dangerous prep sport. It follows the two-time defending champions from New Jersey’s Burlington Township High School, as well as the up-and-comers from Kentucky’s Southwest High. You may develop a rooting interest as the final round begins, but tiresome good vs. evil conflicts seldom appear.

In contrast, Amir Bar-Lev’s ambitious, disturbing Happy Valley, which looks at the sexual-abuse scandal involving Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and its impact on the residents of State College, Pennsylavania, is a headfirst dive into a mine shaft flooded with subterranean prejudices, moldering messiah complexes, and cracked, sunken chunks of community pride. In archival footage, Penn State football coach and unofficial town paterfamilias Joe Paterno comes across as an eminently sensible public servant who once called football “a silly game.” But Paterno set his moral high ground ablaze when he swept Sandusky’s abuse under the rug. As Happy Valley shows, the repercussions from his actions are still visible as statues and murals become public battlegrounds, and community residents turn over media vans in protest. The film is complex enough to dredge up tons of issues and sure to leave interested parties waiting more. — Addison Engleking

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SHORTS

There is no better way to sample the endless variety of perspectives film festivals have to offer than the shorts programs. The key is to stumble upon as many contradictory things as possible.

The Hometowner Narrative Shorts program presents a sampler of Memphis talent on Friday night. One unifying theme in the varied program is violence, usually with a gun drawn for either comedic or dramatic effect. In Robert Rowan’s Friendly Faces, two gleeful idiots laugh maniacally at each other for long periods and attack someone on a basketball court for no reason. The block is chock full of familiar faces behind and in front of the camera: For example, Don Meyers, the aforementioned basketball court victim, also directs Fade To Black, a short about Parkinson’s disease dedicated to his father. On the other end of the spectrum, Adam Remsen’s Quicken celebrates the joy of new life.

Elsewhere, an office worker fails beautifully in Lights Camera Bullshit lead actor Eric Tate’s hallucinatory, darkly humorous directorial debut Default Settings. A young woman teeters on the edge of madness in Laura Jean Hocking’s experimental Two Whole Days of Nothing But Uppercase “F*CK.”

Shane Watson’s documentary Untold Stories focuses on Trayvon Martin and other recent cases of unarmed black shooting victims. It shares with other Memphis docs a philosophical inquiry about the nature of civic life and an appeal to change it. Emily Heine’s No One Sees You asks why public, non-moneyed art on walls is illegal. Lara Johnson’s Geekland: Fan Culture in Memphis shines light on our pop culture outcasts.

The music documentaries likewise have a kind of a direct, barebones emphasis on their subjects, from Matt Isbell making guitars in Once There Was a Cigar Box to multi-instrumentalist Sean Murphy making haunting sounds in Sketches of Crosstown. The eulogy Jim Dickinson: The Man Behind the Console, is bookended with simple old images of a performance at Otherlands.

The best of the non-local shorts is Buffalo Juggalos by Scott Cummings, a dry, ironic provocation consisting of brief portraits of Insane Clown Posse fans. At first the shots are naturalistic, on front lawns, with babies and pet ferrets. But slowly, it becomes more and more exploitative until the movie resorts to fake crime, simulated sex, and an explosion. It is queasy, and yet often the images add up to a celebration of grassroots art. — Ben Siler

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Sophie Traub in Thou Wast Mild and Lovely

ARTHOUSE

Joy Kevin is a closely-cropped portrait of a financially strapped New York couple whose life together butts up against age-old difficulties of money, boredom, and wandering attention, but whose solutions are never predictable. The simple subject allows the film to meander gracefully through Kevin’s (Jordan Clifford) mumbled, joking evasions, and Joy’s (Tallie Medel) dancer’s charisma.

The movie is light as a feather but stiff as a board. Kevin, an aspiring comedian, is a kind of post-feminist Woody Allen. Joy is tough, a real estate agent by day and experimental dancer/choreographer by night, forced to be in control even as she badly needs to be vulnerable. It is in this generationally familiar lightness, and the final failure of the film’s smooth, joking likability, that Joy Kevin achieves gravitas.

In Josephine Decker’s Thou Wast Mild and Lovely Akin (Joe Swanberg), a married school teacher, takes farmhand work for the summer on Jeremiah’s (Robert Longstreet) homestead, where he becomes sexually obsessed with Jeremiah’s adult daughter, Sarah (Sophie Traub). Akin’s obsession is twisted into the unhealthy (but never explained) dynamic between father and daughter, and metered with the quiet cruelty of farm life. Flies swarm a cow, the blood from a chicken stain’s Sarah’s dress, and Akin dreams of Sarah suspended by ropes in a red barn. The unslept tension that drives the movie is realized through sharp sound editing and Terrence Malick-inspired cinematography.

There is no shortage of media about teen pregnancy, whether cool and controversial or tough and possibly romantic. In Nathan Silver’s Uncertain Terms, teen pregnancy is none of these. Instead, it serves as a backdrop for the slow gestation of Robbie’s (David Dahlbom) marital troubles when he takes up residence as a handyman at a boarding house for knocked-up girls. There, he becomes infatuated with the somehow virginal Nina (India Menuez), who, despite her advanced pregnancy and serious relationship with a ne’er-do-well boyfriend, dresses in flowing white and floats detachedly around the house. Desperate to escape the growing complexities of their respective situations, Nina and Robbie bond quickly. Uncertain Terms, like The Virgin Suicides, is a portrait of girlhood-becoming-womanhood as experienced by a misled man who, despite his attempts to find meaning for himself in the power of the girls’ situations, remains a hopeless outsider. — Eileen Townsend

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Whiplash

Whiplash

WHIPLASH

As Terence Fletcher, the black-clad music instructor at the center of writer-director Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, J.K. Simmons is a compact, muscular demon, unfettered by the rules of teaching, etiquette, and human decency. Sometimes Chazelle uses shadows or offscreen sound to foreshadow Fletcher’s arrival, but most of the time he simply bursts into a scene, and the effect is as jarring as a smoke alarm going off. Fletcher’s pupils are terrified of him; they look down whenever his head looms above them like a menacing moon. But young drummer Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), a student at the New York conservatory where Fletcher “teaches,” wants to play in his studio band. Yet once Andrew gets his big break, it’s tough to fathom why he stays. The physical and psychological abuse he absorbs leaves him doubting whether he’ll ever become anything at all, much less the next Charlie Parker.

Chazelle’s aggressive, up-tempo account of Fletcher and Andrew’s evolving relationship follows loose and shifty rhythmic lines. It charges along like Buddy Rich, then plays around with the beat like Elvin Jones. The result is an uneven, slightly overlong affair that nonetheless yields several rich, well-measured scenes: a dinner-table pissing contest between Andrew and his brothers; a pair of quiet romantic interludes with Andrew and his girlfriend (Melissa Benoist); and a highly contrived yet deeply affecting (and profoundly ambiguous) musical finale.

As a movie about teachers and education, Whiplash is as phony and false as Dead Poets Society. But as an expressionist riff on the price of artistic greatness, it’s thoughtful, exciting, and difficult to shake. — Addison Engelking

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Sing All Kinds We Recommend

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup

At a gala party last night at the High Cotton Brewing Company, Indie Memphis announced the lineup for their 17th annual film festival, which will be held October 30 to November 2. More than 40 feature length narrative and documentary films, as well as dozens of short subjects, will screen over the course of the four-day festival.

John Carpenter’s They Live

Four classic films will receive gala anniversary screenings. Director Michael Lehman and writer Daniel Waters will be on hand when Heathers, the 1989 black comedy starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, will celebrate its 25th anniversary at the festival.

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup

Friday night of the festival is Halloween, so it is appropriate that the work of one of America’s greatest horror directors, John Carpenter, will be honored with two gala screenings, beginning with his 1988 science fiction classic They Live, starring Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David.

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup (3)

At midnight, Carpenter’s Halloween will screen. A direct descendant of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Jamie Lee Curtis’ film debut defined the 80’s slasher genre and holds up better than ever today.

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup (2)

The festival will also celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the best documentaries ever made, director Steve James’ Hoop Dreams.

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup (4)

Hometown filmmakers are well represented at the festival with three narrative features: Chad Barton’s comedy of filmmaking errors Lights, Camera Bullshit; Anwar Jamison’s workplace comedy 5 Steps To A Conversation; Marlon Wilson and Mechelle Wilson’s Christian drama Just A Measure Of Faith. The sole local documentary is Pharaohs Of Memphis, director Phoebe Driscoll’s history of jookin’.

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup (5)

Twelve films will compete for Best Narrative Feature, including the Brooklyn heist comedy Wild Canaries, Onur Tukel’s vampire comedy Summer Of Blood, the time travel drama Movement & Location, and the Texas-based crime drama Two Step.

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup (6)

The thirteen films up for Best Documentary Feature include the kenetic sport doc American Cheerleader; The Hip Hop Fellow, tracing producer 9th Wonder’s experience as a teacher at Harvard; Man Shot Dead, an intimate history of a family torn apart by an unsolved murder; and Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back, about Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali’s fight to keep the heavy metal dream alive.

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup (7)

Other notable films include Sundance winner Whiplash, a music drama starring Miles Teller as a young jazz drummer and J.K Simmons as his demanding teacher, and The Imitation Game, an early Oscar contender starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, the eccentric British codebreaker whose work in World War II led directly to the invention of the modern digital computer.

Indie Memphis Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup (8)

The festival, which will also include numerous panels, special events, and parties, will take place in venues around Overton Square, including Playhouse On The Square, Circuit Playhouse, the Hattiloo Theater, and Malco’s Studio On The Square. The Memphis Flyer will have an in-depth examination of the festival as the cover story for our October 30th issue. Go to indiememphis.com for details on how to buy passes for Memphis’ greatest film weekend.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Sneak Peek at Lafayette’s Music Room

When I received an email invite to Monday night’s soft opening of Lafayette’s Music Room, I immediately searched the web for a menu. I’m vegan, and I wanted to see if there were options before committing to a reservation.

But the website for Overton Square’s newest (and, perhaps, oldest since it’s based on the 1970s music venue of the same name) concert hall is still a bare-bones placeholder site. No menu. But I responded back to the invite asking about vegan options and was informed there were none on the menu, but they could make something vegan.

On Monday night, my partner Paul and I were seated at a table on Lafayette’s second floor indoor balcony, which overlooks the stage and tables below. A gypsy jazz band was playing, and nearly every table in the joint was full. And the crowd even spilled out onto tables on both levels of the outdoor balcony. The music from the band (and later from the sound system when the band was taking a break) was a little too loud for making conversation, but Paul and I typically spend most meals looking at our individual cell phones anyway. It’s 2014. Who talks to each other anymore, anyway?

We ordered beers — me a Wiseacre Ananda IPA and Paul a Bud Light — which arrived at the table quickly despite the large crowd. When I informed our server that I was vegan, he retrieved someone from the kitchen who said he’d be more than happy to throw together a wood-fired vegetable pizza without cheese. Cheese-free pizzas really allow the crust to shine, and thankfully, this was some fantastic crust. Chewy and soft and crispy all at the same time.

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The only pizzas on the limited soft opening menu were a Cajun Crawfish Pizza, a Buffalo Chicken Pizza, and a Shrimp & Andouille Pizza. But the kitchen staff just combined some of the veggies from each for my vegan version.

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Paul and I also split a Lafayette’s Salad — bibb lettuce, roasted tomatoes, crispy wonton strips, and citrus vinaigrette. This typically comes with feta, but I asked for that on the side so Paul could have it all. The roasted tomatoes paired well with the citrus dressing, and that bibb lettuce was so tender. And nothing beats a salad with fried stuff on top.

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Paul had the Amberjack with Corn Maque Choux and Pickled Okra. I didn’t get a picture, but he said the fish was delicious, and it reminded him of chicken, whatever that means. It was served in a cast iron skillet atop the creamy corn.

And for dessert, Paul had the Chess Pie. Again, not vegan, so I didn’t photograph it or try it, but Paul really enjoyed it. He secretly loves dining out with me because he doesn’t have to share his food.

Overall, the atmosphere was light and fun. Although the music was a bit loud for dining, Lafayette’s is primarily a music venue, so I think that’s okay. It’ll be fun to see what acts they book in the coming months.