Tag: P&H Cafe

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Flyer Flashback News

Craig Brewer’s Big Break

“Hollywood is like a stick of chewing gum. The flavor is refreshing — for a minute — but once all the sweet has been sucked away, what remains is a gooey, spit­slick blob even the most befouled degenerate would be loath to touch. Nevertheless, if you are a dreamer who wants to make movies, you might as well plan on getting Hollywood stuck to your shoe for a while. There is just no avoiding it.”

That’s how Chris Davis began his September 7, 2000, cover story about Craig Brewer’s trip to Hollywood to premiere his first feature film, The Poor & Hungry, at the Hollywood Film Festival. Then 28, Brewer was hoping his little $20,000 movie, shot in black-and-white and in a then-­revolutionary digital format, might create some buzz and get him a movie deal.

The film was named for the P&H Cafe, then as now, a venerable Midtown beer joint. It told the story of a reluctant car thief who falls in love with one of his victims, a sensitive soul who happens to be a cellist. It was a blue­-collar Romeo and Juliet tale that starred Eric Tate and Lindsey Roberts and a host of other Memphians, many of whom had never acted before. Wanda Wilson, who at that time was the flamboyant owner of the P&H, also had a meaty role.

The Poor & Hungry had been nominated for Best Feature and Best Digital Feature at the fest, and Brewer was taking most of his cast and crew to Hollywood for the award ceremonies. Davis went along to chronicle the trip, and Flyer readers got to witness Brewer, a Memphian who has since become a bona­fide Hollywood film­maker with such films as Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan, and Footloose, making his first tentative foray into the shark­-infested waters of Los Angeles’ movie-­making machinery. Davis accompanied Brewer to a big­-time producer’s office, followed by a golf­cart tour of Paramount Studios; he hung out at the hotel as the Memphis cast and crew readied themselves for the big night.

“The hotel room seems to shrink amid the hair brushing, tooth brushing, lint brushing, shirt buttoning, drink pouring, and occasional raucous laughter. Various cast members wander in and out. John Still, the rough-talking actor who plays a rougher­talking car thief in the film, enters with a bang, eyes bugged out and talking a mile a minute.

“‘Guess who I saw today while I was driving? Heather Locklear! Boy, I thought really hard about just running into her car just so she would have to stop and exchange information with me.'”

In the end, The Poor & Hungry lost in the Best Feature category to a $35 million bio­pic about Marlene Dietrich, but Brewer’s film won Best Digital Feature. Brewer gave a touching speech about his father, who’d first suggested that he shoot in video and who’d passed away before the film had gotten made.

After the trip, Brewer, his cast and crew, and Davis returned to Memphis. But Brewer would never be Poor & Hungry again. His world had irrevocably changed.

Categories
Music Music Features

Get Together

For years, Memphis’ place along touring routes into and out of Austin, Texas, has created a surge in club shows each March, when Austin hosts the South By Southwest Music Festival (see cover story, page 19).

If the density of SXSW-connected local shows has, at times, felt like a mini-festival, that relationship is being formalized this year with the first Fareveller Music Festival, which moved from a prospective fall date to this weekend in large part to take advantage of bands’ SXSW-based touring schedules.

“The fall is so packed, with the Cooper-Young Festival, Gonerfest, River Arts Fest, etc.,” says Fareveller organizer Brandon Herrington, who is booking roughly 40 acts in four venues across three nights. “Spring just made more sense. Picking the weekend after SXSW made it a lot more interesting in terms of artist availability. We had to pick and choose wisely because our budget is limited.”

A member of local rock bands such as Dora and This Is Goodbye, Herrington — who recently finished a stint with the South Main Association as president of the arts district — was looking for a different way to impact the local music scene. A friend he’d met while touring, Seth Fein, runs a similar multivenue festival — the Pygmalion Festival — in Champaign, Illinois, and Herrington talked to Fein about duplicating the Pygmalion fest in Memphis.

“I called him and said I wanted to do that same concept here. He handed me the golden book, so to speak, and is now acting as my talent buyer. His festival is a really cool niche festival, with about 6,000 people attending every year,” Herrington says. “I wanted to stay involved in making Memphis better. I thought that the easiest way to do that was to go deeper into the music scene and find something that isn’t happening and then do it.”

In addition to working with Fein, Herrington has sought advice locally from Louis Meyers, the Folk Alliance director who helped found SXSW.

“Indie music is so weird, and that term doesn’t really mean much these days, but that’s definitely our focus,” Herrington says. “I’ll probably focus the most on indie rock and singer-songwriter stuff, but there will also be electronic and some hip-hop.”  

Among the touring acts hitting town as part of Fareveller is Portland’s psychedelic roots-rock band Morning Teleportation, who got some nice buzz in Austin. They’ll be at Newby’s on Friday. There’s Indianapolis’ chamber-pop band Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, who are playing the Hi-Tone Café on Thursday. And there’s New Zealand guitar band Surf City, who will be playing the Hi-Tone Saturday.

Though there are lots of out-of-town touring acts at the festival, the lineup is 60 to 70 percent local.

“There has to be a lot of local artists,” Herrington says. “Memphis isn’t that big, but we’re cliquish. I hope this creates more connections in the local scene. I definitely want local bands to take some ownership of this festival.”

Among the local acts are folk-rockers Star & Micey (Young Avenue Deli, Saturday), newish shoegazer/metal band American Gods (Newby’s, Friday), and emerging rapper Cities Aviv (Young Avenue Deli, Thursday).

“I don’t have overly inflated hopes and dreams for it,” Herrington says of his goals for what he hopes will become an annual event. “I just want it to be a part of everything, much in the same way Live From Memphis, Goner Records, and the Hi-Tone are permanent fixtures in this scene. I want to give people something to look forward to every year and, hopefully, bring some amazing talent to this city.

“My personal opinion is that festivals appeal to a new generation of people who are inundated by technology, media, etc. People don’t commit anymore until the last minute, because there are always so many options. Festivals bring all that together. They satisfy that A.D.D. urge to have a lot of choices. They let you preview lots of music. And there’s usually beer involved. In my mind, Fareveller is a no-brainer.”

Thursday, March 24th

Hi-Tone Café: Mobley, Dignan, Young Buffalo, Margot &

the Nuclear So and So’s

Young Avenue Deli: Cities Aviv, Total Savage

Friday, March 25th

Hi-Tone Café: Greenside Manners, While I Breathe I Hope, Pezz, The Subteens, Mouserocket

Newby’s: American Gods, Youniverse, The Oldest Profession, Nicos Gun, Morning Teleportation

Young Avenue Deli: Andrew Bryant, The Wealthy West, Damien Jurado, Chase Pagan

Saturday, March 26th

Hi-Tone Café: Rainy Saturdays, Modern Convenience, Death on Two Wheels, Surf City, Bare Wires, Pujol, Turbo Fruits

Newby’s: Electrocity

P&H Café: Animal Sounds, Holly Cole & the Memphis Dawls, Andrew Kelley Simons, Jeremy Stanfill, The Near Reaches

Young Avenue Deli: Myla Smith, The Sheriffs of Nottingham, Rainy Day Manual, Jamie Randolph and the Darkhorse,

Star & Micey

Individual show tickets range from $10 to $15; three-day festival wristbands are $25. For set times and more info, see fareveller.com.

Categories
Sing All Kinds We Recommend

Sound Advice: “The Best Summer Ever” at the P&H Cafe

chinamen.jpg

This Saturday, August 28th, the P&H Cafe will host the second annual “The Best Summer Ever” party, a special event combining raw rock music with a host of wild-and-crazy diversions, including “Double Dare-style” challenges and adult-themed trivia.

“The show was inspired by a small group of friends who decided to take what was one of the hottest times in one of the hottest towns and celebrate being alive during ‘the best summer ever,'” says show organizer Alex Pilkington. “I think this summer has topped that, and we hope to celebrate that at this Saturday’s party. It’s just a celebration of being alive and being young (or young at heart) and loving the summer, even though in everyday life it seems to be a tough time for everyone. It’s about being happy to be alive.”

Pilkington will also headline the musical portion of the show with his raucous-but-tuneful garage/punk band the Chinamen. The group is currently at work putting the finishing touches on a new LP, tentatively titled Gook, and gearing up for a fall release and tour. Saturday’s appearance at the P&H will likely be their last before the new record is unveiled.

“We’re going to take a break to get our affairs in order before the tour,” says Pilkington. “So this is it for a while. It’s going to be an amazing party.”

“The Best Summer Ever” w/ the Chinamen, Hosoi Brothers, and Deuce and the Pit Vipers
The P & H Cafe
Saturday, August 28th
9 p.m.; $5

Categories
Best of Memphis Special Sections

Best of Nightlife

CREDIT: Alex Harrison

Alex Harrison

For a long time, people went to Earnestine & Hazel’s for another kind of box. But now that it’s no longer a brothel, they go there for the jukebox and its selection of classic Motown, blues, jazz, and soul. It goes great with a Soul Burger.

The category “Best Pick-Up Joint” is a fount for interesting
responses. To wit: There were two votes for No Regrets Tattoo
Emporium (second-place winner of “Best Tattoo Parlor” in Goods &
Services). “I always did well at Young Avenue Deli,” one voter
helpfully responded. 201 Poplar got a vote, as did a couple of
places that were too disturbing (and potentially illegal) to include
here. For the voter who entered ”You tell me,” see below.

Justin Fox Burks

Minglewood Hall, 1st place: ‘Best Place To See Live Music’

Best Place to See Live Music

1. Minglewood Hall

2. Hi-Tone Café

3. Mud Island Amphitheatre

Minglewood Hall, located in the old Strings & Things building on
Madison, bounced onto the Memphis music scene with a bang. Boasting a
massive seating area, a fancy raised stage, and plenty of room for
dancing or headbangin’, Minglewood is Midtown’s largest rock venue in
decades. Since opening in February, Minglewood has hosted MGMT, Gwar,
Lucinda Williams, and Of Montreal. Expect plenty more huge acts in the
years to come.

Best Local Band

1. The Dempseys

2. The Sheriffs of Nottingham

3. Lucero

This unique local rockabilly trio is no stranger to fame. Members
Joe Fick, Brad Birkedahl, and Ron Perrone portrayed Johnny Cash’s
back-up band in the 2005 biopic Walk the Line. They even
performed for Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi when he was in
town with President George W. Bush in 2006. So it should come as no
surprise that these local faves placed number one in the Best of
Memphis poll.

Best Local Singer

1. Amy LaVere

2. Harlan T. Bobo

3. Valerie June

Amy LaVere’s trademark Southern twang, accented by the deep rumble
of her upright bass, has made her an unforgettable staple on the
Memphis music scene. She entered the Bluff City in the early ’90s as
part of the Nashville-based Gabe & Amy Show, but she quickly broke
free, establishing her own place in a scene deficient in rootsy
Americana music. These days, she’s all over the place — Craig
Brewer films, the Americana Music Conference, the Austin City Limits
Festival, and tons of local gigs in bars across the city.

Best Karaoke

1. Windjammer Restaurant & Lounge

2. Yosemite Sam’s

3. P&H Café

Despite the tragic shooting of DJ Donald Munsey last year, karaoke
lovers still tout this bar as the best place in Memphis to sing along
to their favorite tunes.

Best Hole in the Wall

1. Earnestine & Hazel’s

2. P&H Café

3. Alex’s

Downstairs, this ages-old bar offers pool, a generous dance floor,
and a jukebox loaded with the classics. Upstairs, curious customers can
explore the rooms that once played host to ladies of the night during
the building’s brothel days. Thankfully, the whole place is very dimly
lit. The sheer age of the building, doubled with years of serving
greasy burgers, gives the place a dingy vibe. Of course, isn’t that
what makes dive bars so special?

Best College Hangout

1. Newby’s

2. RP Tracks

3. Blue Monkey

Newby’s bills itself as the “college bar you never graduate from.”
Truer words have never been spoken. This roomy Highland Strip hangout
attracts an even mix of University of Memphis students, college grads,
and likely a few college dropouts. The crowds gather to hear live
music, play pool, watch the game, or down Newby’s energy cocktail: the
Rock Star.

Justin Fox Burks

Tara White, 1st place: ‘Best Bartender’

Best Bartender

1. Tara White at Celtic Crossing

2. Brian “Skinny” McCabe at Newby’s

3. Brad Pitts at Bari — tie —

Michael Luckey at Ciao Bello

Every Monday night at Celtic Crossing, beer lovers descend on the
tiny Midtown pub for $2.50 drafts. Despite the shoulder-to-shoulder
crowds, bartender Tara White manages all the drink orders on her own.
With 15 years experience in bartending, White knows what she’s doing.
Co-workers describe her as a “high-volume bartender” with a loyal
following.

Best After-Hours Club

1. Earnestine & Hazel’s

2. Blue Monkey

3. Alex’s

After a night of sipping wine and gazing at local art on the South
Main trolley tour each month, patrons cram into this downtown dive for
a cold beer and a Soul Burger. Though it’s not open any later than many
downtown bars, Earnestine & Hazel’s makes for the perfect gathering
place after a Beale Street blues show.

Best Pick-up Joint

1. Peabody Rooftop

2. Flying Saucer

3. Blue Monkey

Patrons dressed to impress, a steady flow of cocktails, and live
music to dance to set the stage for seduction at the Peabody’s rooftop
parties.

Best “Cougar” Bar

1. Spindini

2. T.J. Mulligan’s

3. Blue Monkey

Mature ladies on the prowl know they can find hot young hunks at
this South Main restaurant. Spindini boasts upscale dining and
signature cocktails. It’s the kind of place you don’t frequent unless
you’ve got some cash to plop down, making it even more conducive to
attracting young professional men. Ladies, don your best animal print
cami, order a glass of Caldora Pecorino, and reel ’em in. Roar!

Best Beer Selection

BOM 1. Flying Saucer

2. Boscos Squared

3. Young Avenue Deli

Um, duh. Of course the Flying Saucer was voted “Best Beer
Selection.” With more than 200 beers on tap, both the downtown and
Cordova locations have a huge leg over the competition. Need a pale
ale? Check. How about a lager? Got it. Sample trays of beers from
around the world? No problem. Beer and cheese pairings? Got it.

Justin Fox Burks

Peabody Lobby Bar, 1st place: ‘Best Place To Get a Martini’

Best Place To Get a Martini

1. Peabody Lobby Bar

2. Side Street Bar & Grill

3. Beauty Shop

Not only does this historic Memphis hotel serve a tasty dirty
martini, it offers some of the best downtown people-watching. Order a
‘tini and plop down in a comfy chair in the hotel lobby. You won’t even
need a friend to chat with or a newspaper to scan. Just watch the
tourists and rooftop partygoers as they amble about the hotel.
Fascinating!

Best Place To Get a Margarita

1. Molly’s La Casita

2. Happy Mexican

3. Café Ole

Molly’s La Casita is a Midtown institution when it comes to Mexican
food, so it’s only fitting their margaritas would find a place, as
well.

Best Happy Hour

1. Chili’s Grill & Bar

2. Flying Saucer

3. Boscos Squared

Okay, yes, Chili’s is a chain restaurant. But if that’s a problem,
you just need to get over it, because their happy hour is two-for-one
and it lasts all day. And you don’t even have to ask. Finish one drink,
and before you even nod at the bartender, there’s another.

Best Dance Club

1. Hollywood Disco

2. Club 152 Beale

3. Backstreet

Is it the light-up dance floor? The lone pole in the corner? The
smoke machines? All of it. It’s the Hollywood Disco

Best Place To Shoot Pool

1. Fox & Hound English Tavern

2. Young Avenue Deli

3. RP Billiards

Want a casual place to make a nice, clean break? According to
Flyer readers, the Fox & Hound English Tavern is the place
to go for eight-ball, nine-ball, and all sorts of billiards. Fox &
Hound has good grub, multiple pay-by-the-hour tables, and a full bar.
What more do you need? Just remember to call your pocket.

Best Sports Bar

1. Fox & Hound English Tavern

2. Buffalo Wild Wings

3. T.J. Mullligan’s

Maybe it’s because our readers consider pool a sport, or maybe it’s
because of all the televisions. Either way, the Fox & Hound is also
the “Best Sports Bar.”

Best Gay Bar

1. Backstreet

2. The Pumping Station

3. Metro

Backstreet has been our readers’ fave for years, but don’t try to go
right now. The Midtown bar was closed at the beginning of September
after a police operation uncovered gambling and the unlawful sale of
alcohol. At press time, the court date for Backstreet owner Shane Trice
had been re-scheduled, but he’s vowed that the club will reopen.

Best New Bar

1. Bardog Tavern

2. Silly Goose

3. Dru’s Place — tie —

Paula and Raiford’s Disco

Sometimes you just want to sit and stay. Bardog is a perfect place
to do just that. A new favorite downtown, Bardog is a two-story bar
with a neighborhood feel, an Italian-influenced menu, and a cute
logo.

Categories
Art Art Feature

What a Trip

CREDIT: Gadsby Creson's installation at the P&H Caf

It’s 8 a.m. Saturday morning. Too early for gallery-hopping? Not if you love to mix java with artwork. We’re at Republic Coffee, and the walls are lined with some of the best paintings and photographs of Eric Swartz’ career.

In Dash, Swartz records the part of a vehicle we see as we slide into the driver’s seat. The rudimentary control panel inside this antique truck or sedan has become a rusted metal hulk. The windshield is clouded with algae and age. At the right edge of the image, a surprisingly intact steering wheel takes us back to mid-century when we were crisscrossing America’s brand-new interstates in the vehicles of our youth. Most of them are junkers now, metaphors for time and memory and a good jumping-off point for our exploration of the accomplished, richly symbolic artwork found in a wide variety of Memphis venues.

Through August 31st at Republic Coffee

Our next stop is Material, the cutting-edge gallery that helped jump-start the now-burgeoning Broad Avenue Arts District. Niki Johnson’s and Melissa Farris’ exhibition “Moral Fiber” fills the small space with artworks charged with irony, intense emotion, and complex meaning. Nothing feels off-limits for these two sassy, savvy young artists who ask us to look into the face of power and sexuality, to question authority, and to challenge sexual taboos and the artificial distinctions between high and low art.

Johnson’s appliquéd portrait of a screaming Donald Trump, titled Old Yeller, asks us to consider whether we value cold corporate power more than the faithful companionship and courage typified by the stray dog in the American movie classic of the same title.

Viewers are encouraged to pull back curtains covering Farris’ shadow boxes. Inside are graceful, peach-and-pink watercolors of same-sex partners making love.

Many of Johnson’s and Farris’ artworks are charged with playful innuendo. Cupcakes, Johnson’s needlepointed studies of women’s breasts framed by fluted cupcake tins, are bite-sized and beautiful. Jonathan’s Quilt, Farris’ appliquéd portrait of a young man on an eight-pointed-star quilt with hand inside his jeans, transforms the “security blanket” into something we can hang onto from cradle to grave.

Through August 29th at Material

Gadsby Creson’s installation at the P&H Caf

Just off Main Street, the walls of Power House Memphis are montaged with iPhone photos that internationally renowned contemporary artist Rob Pruitt took of Memphis. His most evocative work records Graceland’s 1960s décor and fans’ floral tributes to the man who revolutionized music, swiveled his hips, and helped thousands of youngsters come of age in the sexually repressive 1950s.

Pruitt’s images of an empty wheelchair imprinted with the word “Graceland” and a large statute of Christ resurrected on Presley’s gravesite most poignantly tell the story of the love affair between Elvis and his fans.

Through August 9th at Power House Memphis

Several blocks farther north on South Main, we discover Micah Craven’s monotype Simple Food Simple Taste, one of the most powerful artworks currently on view anywhere in Memphis. It’s one of the prints in the group exhibition “Oh Lord, Won’t You Send Me a Sign!” at Memphis College of Art’s On the Street gallery. The show was curated by University of Mississippi chair and associate professor of art, Sheri Fleck Rieth.

Craven’s expressive linework and deep shadows depict a child’s cracked teeth, protruding ribs, emaciated arms, and what could be a belly bloated by starvation or a pregnant girl unable to feed herself or her fetus. An empty fishing pole in the child’s left hand and the work’s title make the figure a powerful poster child. Instead of raping the world for quick profit, Craven suggests that we leave enough natural resources intact to allow humanity to farm, fish, and fend for itself.

Through August 9th at On the Street

This has been a long, rich day, but we’re not done yet. We stop by the P&H Café for one last cup of coffee.

On the wall behind the bandstand, also known as P&H Artspace, is Gadsby Creson’s installation, “The Price Is Even More Right,” one of the smallest, most original shows in town.

Each of Creson’s mixed-media paperworks is mounted on two 4-by-4-inch squares of foam core. Some of the works are glued to the foam core like tiny abstract paintings. In others, the foam-core squares serve as backdrop and stage for minuscule paper sculptures.

Two of Creson’s most dramatic pieces suggest a line of narrative. In the first, a Matisse-like dancer moves with frenzied grace above a dark-red sea. In the second, another ebony figure folds her body onto the floor like a dancer taking her final bow.

Creson’s dancers are a good way to end our day. I’m headed home to begin writing this column. But stay as long as you like. The P&H crowd of music lovers, literati, and art enthusiasts keeps jamming way past midnight.

An opening reception for “The Price Is Even More Right” is Friday, August 8th, from 8 to 10 p.m.

Through September 8th at the P&H Café