Tag: pyramid

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News The Fly-By

Bass Pro Shops Expected to Also Draw Memphis Urbanites

CREDIT: Courtesy of Bass Pro Shops

Downtowners, Midtowners, Harbor Towners, and Uptowners will soon have some of the shortest drives to one of the largest selections of duck hunting gear ever assembled in America.

Bass Pro Shops officials unveiled details of their massive Pyramid project in a tour last week. They boasted that the store will, indeed, have an enormous selection of water fowling gear, maybe the biggest in the country.

It’s an intended draw for duck hunters. But what about Paul Ryburn? He’s a consummate Downtown Memphian whose love of living and playing in urban spaces is detailed on his blog, Paul Ryburn’s Journal. 

He said he’s excited that Bass Pro Shops will bring more people downtown, and it will give him a reason to hang out in the Pinch District. Also, the new bowling alley inside the Pyramid will be a place he and his friends will go regularly, he said. 

“For shopping, I don’t know whether I am in Bass Pro’s target market, but it will be nice to have a place to buy clothes without leaving Downtown,” Ryburn said. “With the May 1st opening date, I will probably stop by the first week to pick up a rain jacket for Barbecue Fest.” 

Courtesy of Bass Pro Shops

Artist’s rendering of Bass Pro’s grand entry

On the outside, the Pyramid is still that shiny, sleek, modern-looking building that defines the Memphis skyline. Nearly every inch of the inside has now been rustically hewn like a vintage hunting camp in worn, knobby lumber and weathered steel, accented with antler chandeliers. Taxidermy and animal pelts line the walls, and wildlife tracks are stamped into the floors. 

The inside/outside juxtaposition of the building is a lot like the demographic juxtaposition it sits in. The Mid-South’s largest outdoor retail destination will be set right in the midst of perhaps the least outdoorsy people in the Mid-South. Still, many Memphis urbanites said they will go to Bass Pro when it opens.

Regena Bearden is a self-proclaimed Memphis “cheerleader” as the vice president of marketing and public relations for the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau. But she also lives in Harbor Town and said she hasn’t heard many complaints about the Pyramid from her neighbors. But she knows there are naysayers. 

“The fact that [the Bass Pro Shops] is in a really unusual place and that it’s in an iconic building with a great view, people are going to be curious,” Bearden said before trailing off with a shrug, “…and if [naysayers] happen to have a good time while they’re there…”

Pam Mackey also lives in Harbor Town. She doesn’t hunt or fish. But she’s been to other Bass Pro Shops across the country. The stores are like “hunting Disney,” she said, and she’s been drawn to them because they looked “pretty, exciting, and entertaining.” 

Mackey said she’ll go to the Bass Pro Shops for the peripherals — the spa, the restaurants, the wildlife, and to satisfy her curiosity. 

“I’ll definitely be in there when it opens, and once I go in, I’m more than likely going to buy something,” Mackey said.    

Construction on the Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid is now two-thirds complete. The attraction is now slated to open on May 1, 2015.

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Opinion

Pigging Out on Riverfront Projects

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The city’s pursuit of riverfront projects, spearheaded by Mayor A C Wharton and go-to guy Robert Lipscomb, looks manic, unsynchronized, and a bit desperate.

The latest play pretty in hot pursuit is the Empress of the North, a white-elephant steamboat replica envisioned as a floating hotel. As reported by Amos Maki of The Commercial Appeal, Wharton said “we have submitted a proposal.”

Whoopee. I was reminded of the parental admonition to “clear your plate” before going back to the buffet for more when I was a lad.

Here’s the tally of what’s on our plate already.

Bass Pro Shops. The latest rendering shows a major makeover of the exterior of the Pyramid, with a band of glass to admit natural light. The fate of the observation deck is unknown. The connection to The Pinch, and what will be developed in the Pinch, is unclear. The interstate connection to Front Street is on the drawing board. The interior construction, including the indoor swamp and hotel, is in the very early stages. The project was first proposed seven years ago. Bass Pro has other megastores in the works in Little Rock and New Orleans. I would bet a bass lure the Pyramid opening is delayed.

Beale Street Landing. Low water forced the American Queen to dock at Greenbelt Park this summer. The dock itself was moved to the cobblestones to allow dredging at the landing. The blockish structure at the top of the hill, trust me, is going to open some eyes. The “floating islands” have yet to be constructed. The usefulness of a boat dock for an occasional steamboat visit is questionable. The relative scarcity of parking concerns the current Memphis boat company. The marriage with Memphis in May will be interesting. The price is $42 million, and the concept is nearly 10 years old, and the opening is supposed to be later this year. The cobblestones work has been pushed back so many times I have lost count.

Pinch District. The connection between Bass Pro and St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and the prospective retail anchor for the north end of downtown and the convention center. Forget the colorful handouts and renderings, The Pinch is a small collection of restaurants, condos, blight, and vacant buildings. The convention center and hotel are not part of Phase One of Bass Pro. Nor is funding for it included in the $200 million budget.

Mud Island River Park. Closed half the year. Nice summer concert venue, though.

Tom Lee Park. Too hot in summer. Given to Memphis in May in April and May. Torn up for a few weeks after that. No major structures or big trees because that would cramp Memphis in May activities. Called “the worst riverfront park in the country” by Benny Lendermon of the Riverfront Development Corporation.

Harahan Project. Bike and pedestrian path over the river is slated for 2014 and funding has been secured. Now it needs focus.

Floating hotel. Kitschy. There’s one in Chattanooga. Nice place to have a drink on the Tennessee River. But the boat is old, the ceilings low, and the space cramped. The fact that the Empress of the North has been docked for several years and is in custody of the United States Maritime Administration speaks volumes about its viability. And the subsidies that would be required to sustain it.

Add to this, Lipscomb is also point man for the fairgrounds, Overton Square, Triangle Noir, replacement of public housing, and he has two city jobs.

Focus. Finish. Clear your plate.

Categories
Opinion

A Darn Good Week for Downtown

riverfront.jpg

Wow. First the Harahan Bridge Project funding announcement Tuesday, then the Bass Pro Pyramid media event Thursday. Two projects that bookend a third project, Beale Street Landing and the steamboats, that is also changing the face of the riverfront. Over $300 million in public and private investment by my math. And a successful relaunch of the Outdoors Inc. Canoe and Kayak Race last Saturday.

At the Bass Pro deal, someone collared me to say “nanny nah-nah” in reference to some skepticism I expressed over the years, and someone else grabbed me to say how much she likes Bass Pro but the only problem is their clothes hardly ever wear out. A third person came over to reminisce about the Pyramid groundbreaking or “Big Dig” we both witnessed in 1989. It seems like it was only 20 years ago.

Sturdy footwear and garments, along with ammo and camo and Tracker boats and fishing rods and bait and stuffed animals and zip lines and big ole trees in a swamp and live demonstrations and restaurants serving fried catfish and hushpuppies. As the King and the Duke say of their tomfoolery in “Huckleberry Finn,” if that don’t fetch ’em then I don’t know Arkansaw. Or Tennessee either.

Except that Bass Pro is putting another store in Little Rock at about the same time. The apologists who say no big deal are kidding themselves. I’ll drop at least a couple hundred bucks a year at Bass Pro Pyramid and take every visitor there for the rest of my Memphis life. But that 4 million visitors estimate sounds high with so many outlets within 220 miles. I like the band of glass on the exterior of the building but was surprised to see such a major change in the renderings at such a late date in this deal that has been in the talking stages if not the doing stages for seven years. And the fate of the observation deck is still unknown. Sounds like someone hasn’t decided where to spend those funds yet.

The $30 million Harahan Bridge Project, also known as “Main Street to Main Street” is a classic example of politics and creative draftsmanship. Get some repairs done on the mall in Memphis and on Broadway in West Memphis and a very cool but expensive bike and pedestrian bridge paid for in part with federal transportation and stimulus funds. As Bill Dries of the Daily News pointed out, Whitehaven and Graceland got screwed, if you will, on the TIGER funds allotment. Hats off to Charlie McVean, the driving force behind the bike deal. Others have talked and written about it for at least 40 years, but McVean, nothing if not determined, got it done. I agree that every able-bodied soul in this area with a bike will want to do it at least once.

And “once” may be the operative word. It’s no greenline, people. While you’re waiting for the completion of the Harahan Project, which is a couple years away, here are two things to try: bike to Mud Island park on the walkway above the monorail, envisioned as a dramatic sky train 30 years ago. And, for the adventurous, drive to Crump Park next to the National Ornamental Metals Museum, park your car, jump on your bike or put on your Bass Pro sturdy boots, and climb the embankment to the narrow walkway on the south side of the Interstate 55 bridge just south of the Harahan. There is absolutely nothing stopping you. Step out on it and head for “the other side of the river” which can be as much as a mile or more away depending on the river level. You can hear the roar and feel the wind as trucks speed past so close you could reach out and touch them.

It shakes. It shakes a lot. There is a 30-inch concrete wall on one side and a 40-inch railing on the other side. Scary. And hot on a day like today. Nice view, and about the same one you can get from Martyr’s Park or the metals museum. I know there will be all sorts of safety features on the Harahan bike and pedestrian walkway, but that’s the point. This stuff is expensive. It takes maintenance. I can’t remember a day in the last few years when I did not see workmen working on the pilings under the interstate ramps near Riverside Drive and the Pyramid. I wonder how many people have thought this through.

Once it is completed, I hope the Harahan path connects to the levee in Arkansas and a true bike trail on the Tennessee side to make a national destination worthy of attention from Adventure Cycling Association, this Missoula, Montana outfit.

The key to both deals (and Beale Street Landing), says downtown visionary Henry Turley, is leveraging them into lasting broad benefits to downtown and Memphis in general. The Downtown Memphis Commission and the Riverfront Development Corporation have their charge. Whatever mistakes they may have made in the past don’t matter now. That was yesterday, we move on. We bought it, we got it. Now get the cobblestones done, figure out Front Street and Memphis in May and Mud Island Park and the Pinch. Then we’ll really have something to celebrate. We better do this, because a bike bridge, a boat dock, steamboat cruises for $3000, and tax money for a retailer sure doesn’t sound like government belt-tightening or a city and a country supposedly in the throes of a great recession.

Categories
Opinion

Johnny Morris on Pyramid and Bass Pro

CREDIT: John Branston

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Johnny Morris looks and talks like a regular guy you might see shopping at Bass Pro Shops. And the pyramid will look very different both inside and out when Bass Pro opens in it in October of 2013.

Morris, the founder of the hunting and fishing retailer, met with local politicians and members of the media inside the pyramid Thursday. He praised Mayor A C Wharton, the City Council and County Commission, and Robert Lipscomb for their help in a project that began some seven years ago as a wild idea to fill a big empty building.

As pro fisherman Bill Dance told it, Morris asked him, “Should we put a Bass Pro in the Pyramid?”

“Are y’all crazy?” Dance replied.

After thinking about it for a few days, Dance still could not quite commit.

“I was as nervous as a cricket swimmin’ across a bluegill bed,” Dance said.

The deal was sealed, the course was set, and a legend was born on a fishing trip when they agreed that if one of them caught a catfish weighing at least 30 pounds, Bass Pro in Memphis was a go.

FISH ON!

Johnny Morris

Accompanied by bursts of fire into a Bass Pro hot-air balloon — no wisecracks, readers — Dance and Wharton did most of the hype in the half-hour ceremony inside the pyramid, which will feature a swamp, a 210-room hotel, restaurants, bowling, and of course a retail store in a couple of years.

“It’s going to be one of the biggest tourist attractions Memphis has ever seen,” said Dance.

The low-key Morris patiently answered questions, bowled one ball (knocking down four pins), then moved over to a table where he huddled with architects and partners over some blueprints. He has apparently been visiting Memphis unannounced several times a month for the last year. He envisions not only a hotel but also an R.V. campground, launch ramps, and connecting features to the harbor and river.

“It’s a big sheet of paper to work with,” Morris said.

As for an observation deck, “That hasn’t been worked out yet.”

The store and restaurants are scheduled to open in October of 2013, with the hotel to follow some months later. Asked what he would like to see on the other side of Front Street in the Pinch District, Morris said more retail “could be good” and he would not see it as competition.

One of the biggest changes unveiled Thursday was a new look for the exterior of the pyramid that adds a band of glass midway up the four sides under the Bass Pro signs.

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Opinion Viewpoint

The Pyramid: Too Big to Ignore

In opinion writing and investing, it’s good to remember that, as the cliché says, every day is the first day of the rest of your life. All those mistakes and misjudgments and lost causes don’t matter. Move on.

So, The Pyramid. It’s too big to ignore and it won’t go away, at least not without engineers and high-grade blasting materials.

First, readers should check out the Smart City Memphis blog. Author Tom Jones and, apparently, many of his readers were around at the inception of The Pyramid and saw many of its signature moments first hand. There are some good comments. I also saw The Pyramid come out of the ground, and these are some of the things I remember.

The Pyramid was the vision of one man, John Tigrett. It simply would not have happened, period, without him. Off hand I cannot think of another “big deal” in Memphis that you can say that about. This is one reason why adapting it to a new use is so hard.

Tigrett was charismatic, reclusive at times, very smart and sometimes aloof and he would refer to mayors Bill Morris and Dick Hackett as “sport” and “boy” in a way that was part avuncular and part hard-edged. My impression was that he usually knew exactly what he was doing.

He wanted to do something big and lasting for Memphis, and other than fame of a sort, which I don’t think he cared that much about, there was nothing in it for him. He could afford to lose some money, but the damage to his reputation hurt him.

His vision was also the building’s great limitation. Once it got rolling, there was no stopping it because The Public Building Authority that studied it and ultimately blessed it held several public meetings that were personally chaired by Tigrett’s friend Fred Smith. If you thought you had a better idea or had a nagging feeling that the whole thing was a great mistake, you were advised to have your ducks in a row because this was one powerful train.

I vividly remember three things during the construction period. The original location was the South Bluff, but it was moved for practical and political considerations that depreciated its appeal as a landmark, probably fatally. When the steel skeleton was finished, I went to the top with county engineer Dave Bennett. Ironworkers were balancing on beams 300 feet in the air like it was nothing and one guy was perched at the end of a beam with a video camera like a dad taking movies of his children at the mall. There was about a three-foot gap between walkways at one point, with a straight drop to the floor if you stumbled, lost your nerve, or looked up to admire the scenery. Three or four feet doesn’t seem like much until you’re way up in the air. I let my photographer do that one.

On another tour a few months later after the building was enclosed, I remember attorney Bill Farris, a PBA member, Tigrett contemporary, and a pretty powerful guy politically, quietly saying to noone in particular “would you say too much space?” when our guide pointed out all the open space between the arena floor and the “ceiling.” Farris clearly had an opinion, but he also knew the cards had been dealt and played and it wasn’t his day.

You had to meet Sidney Shlenker to believe him. Some people think The Pyramid was his idea but it wasn’t. It was like the gods decided to play a great practical joke on Memphis and sent us Mr. Shlenker. He had a track record with big arenas in Houston and Denver and I think he tried his best.

You also had in the mix one Isaac Tigrett, son of John Tigrett, and cofounder of Hard Rock Café, which was the hottest, hippest thing going in the late 1980s. The Pyramid never got a Hard Rock, but it did get some of Isaac’s mystical crystals stashed in the apex, which was seriously weird and possibly a continuation of the cosmic joke.

The practical limitations and wasted space inside the building were obvious from Day One to anyone attending a basketball game or concert, but it still hosted some very cool sold-out events that Memphis would not have had otherwise, including the Grizzlies. And the view from across the river when The Pyramid is lit up at night the way it should be but isn’t, and the view from the top (there are actually two levels and a whole lot of space) if you ever get a chance to see it, are spectacular. There should be a public open house so everyone can do that. I bet if they put in an elevator a lot of people would still take the stairs.

So that’s what we’ve got. As Robert Lipscomb says, people are not exactly lining up to buy it and Bass Pro would be a pretty good idea, IMHO. On the other hand, tearing it down might also be a pretty good idea given all that’s come before.

Categories
News

Time to Fish or Cut Bait for Bass Pro/Pyramid Deal?

“Bass Pro has had enough time,” said Commissioner Joyce Avery. “Either they make their decision or let’s go with something else.”

“Something else” could be the Ericson Group’s proposal for a $250 million indoor amusement park. The plan includes a “Disney-esque” theme park, a shopping mall at the foot of The Pyramid, improvements to Mud Island, and a 300- to 400-room hotel. Under the proposal, which would rival the Graceland expansion, Ericson would buy the property, pay off The Pyramid’s existing debt, and do so without public tax dollars …

Read the rest of Mary Cashiola’s column on the various Pyramid schemes being tossed around in the public arena in this week’s Flyer.

Categories
News The Fly-By

With Baited Breath

“Bass Pro has had enough time,” said Commissioner Joyce Avery. “Either they make their decision or let’s go with something else.”

“Something else” could be the Ericson Group’s proposal for a $250 million indoor amusement park. The plan includes a “Disney-esque” theme park, a shopping mall at the foot of The Pyramid, improvements to Mud Island, and a 300- to 400-room hotel. Under the proposal, which would rival the Graceland expansion, Ericson would buy the property, pay off The Pyramid’s existing debt, and do so without public tax dollars.

“I’d like to see it judged on its own merits,” said Memphian Greg Ericson, “but I think it’s a superior project to what’s out there.”

In its ongoing flirtation with Memphis, Bass Pro has signed three letters of intent with city and county government, the latest of which expires January 31st. This week, the commission asked Mayor A C Wharton not to sign any additional letters of intent with Bass Pro.

“We’ve been told repeatedly that a deal was just around the corner with Bass Pro,” said Commissioner Steve Mulroy. “I think an amusement park is a better use for the public than a glorified bait shop.”

Though the letters of intent were both non-exclusive and non-binding, some commissioners felt the conversation with Ericson was a bit premature or that they were somehow cheating on Bass Pro. But after three years, it’s hard to imagine when the right time for this conversation might be.

Ericson not only went through the initial Pyramid re-use committee process several years ago; the committee recommended his proposal in its final report.

After a meeting with Willie Herenton, in which the mayor suggested Ericson buy the land, he included that in his proposal. The last time Ericson met with the County Commission, they wanted to know if he could actually get financing for an indoor theme park, even though he didn’t have a letter of intent. When he came back last week, he had a team of moneymen with him.

“We don’t need three-and-a-half years to go through the letter of intent phase,” Ericson said. “If we started today, we could have everything funded and signed one month from today.”

The administration said it would study Ericson’s financing and present a report to the commission before the end of January.

On the face of its proposal, I’m not for or against Bass Pro. But I get the sense that the company is just — if you’ll excuse the paraphrase — not that into us. And when you compare that to the boy next door who has been persistently pursuing The Pyramid, it’s all the more apparent.

Besides Ericson’s financial proposal, which greatly outscopes Bass Pro, and all the pretty pictures of roller coasters, a few things turned my head.

Outside of the initial $250 million investment, the Ericson group would spend $5 million a year on marketing the amusement park to the 85 million people within a day’s drive of Memphis. That’s New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas, and even Chicago.

By comparison, there are already Bass Pro stores in Atlanta, Dallas, and Chicago and one planned for Denham Springs, Louisiana, outside of Baton Rouge. Heck, there’s already a Bass Pro located here.

As part of the retail-space component in its plan, Ericson could also easily incorporate Bass Pro. “The beauty of our proposal is that there is plenty of room for both of us,” Ericson said.

I think the community at large has been more than patient and fair to Bass Pro. At the commission’s committee meeting, there was some discussion about whether the county would need to issue a request for proposals (RFP). Ultimately, it was decided it would not, but not before Ericson reminded commissioners his company already did that.

“We already went through an RFP process,” Ericson said. “Bass Pro never did.”

Just having another suitor for The Pyramid is good news. In July, Memphis chief financial officer Robert Lipscomb said the city didn’t have any leverage because no one else was interested. If this gets a proposal out of Bass Pro — and it’s the best proposal for The Pyramid — then I say, Cheers, here’s to a long and happy life together.

Perhaps Mulroy put it best: “We have another option,” he said. “It would be foolish of us if we didn’t consider it.”

Categories
News

County Commission Committee Urges No More “Letters of Intent” for Bass Pro/Pyramid Deal

A County Commission committee has
approved a resolution asking Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton not to sign another letter of intent with Bass Pro for The Pyramid if nothing further with the company develops before the January 31st deadline.

The commission is looking at a proposal for an $250 million redevelopment plan with an indoor amusement park and a hotel proposed by the Ericson Group.

The city and county have signed three letters of intent already with
Bass Pro. The county has something of a gentleman’s agreement to let the city be the lead agency in negotiating for a new use for The Pyramid.

Commissioner Mike Ritz expressed the commmittee’s concerns: “The city may want to extend the letter of intent some more … How do we keep that from happening?”

The resolution will come before the full County Commission on Monday.

Categories
Opinion

Are You Wasting Words?

It’s a long road for big public projects. The ones that make it to the finish line — Mud Island, expansion of Liberty Bowl Stadium and skyboxes, The Pyramid, FedExForum, AutoZone Park — have a prime mover, state and private-sector support, and good timing. Getting built, of course, is no guarantee of success, but that’s another story.

Four multimillion-dollar proposed projects are in various stages of development as Mayor Willie Herenton and members of the City Council enter the home stretch of their four-year terms. They include Beale Street Landing, turning The Pyramid over to Bass Pro Shops, expansion in and around Graceland, and a new football stadium.

How likely are those things to happen, given a possible changing of the guard at City Hall? And what are the key factors that will make or break them? I asked four former Memphis politicians with combined experience of more than 40 years in local government — former mayor Dick Hackett and former council members TaJuan Stout Mitchell, John Vergos, and Jerome Rubin. Mitchell now works full-time for city government. Hackett is director of the Children’s Museum. Rubin works for the Center City Commission. And Vergos is in private business.

The odds are that one or more projects will falter in Memphis or Nashville. All of them except Beale Street Landing require hefty state tax rebates. The total cost of all four projects, based on published estimates, could easily exceed $200 million.

“On the council, there is collective memory loss about prior projects,” Vergos said. “Each one is a new project with no relevance to fiscal responsibility.”

Beale Street Landing. The $29 million Tom Lee Park riverfront project, financed with federal and local funds, has been in, out, then back in the budget. City Council members were expected to vote Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s on go,” said Mitchell. “The council made it clear it wants to see that project.” (At least three members have opposed it.) Hackett agreed it is likely to get built because it complements other downtown investments. “The riverfront has to always be one of the significant priorities, whoever is in office,” he said. Rubin agreed the project is “very likely,” in part because so much money has already been spent on it. Vergos called it “somewhat likely” if backers can show that tour boats would otherwise bypass Memphis.

Bass Pro in The Pyramid. The hype and the local private-sector involvement faded last year. Mitchell remained bullish that “we will see a happy conclusion of that project sooner than we think.” Vergos rated it highly likely, if Bass Pro assumes the debt on the building. Hackett, who was mayor when The Pyramid was built, called the marriage “somewhat unlikely” because “from the outside looking in, there appears to be lukewarm interest on Bass Pro’s part, although I would love to see it happen.” Rubin rated it somewhat likely that Bass Pro will fulfill its end of the tentative deal.

Graceland expansion. Elvis Presley’s name and home were in the news last week when investor Robert S.X. Sillerman announced his plan to take Graceland operator CKX Inc. private. In an interview with The Commercial Appeal, Sillerman said the plans for a new hotel, visitors center, and other improvements depends on public investment.

Mitchell, who represented Whitehaven for eight years, called that scenario “somewhat likely” but only “if Tourist Development Zone legislation gets passed so we get resources from the state.” Rubin, a self-described “big fan” of Whitehaven, called it “not very likely” and said the key issue is “What is the connection between [CKX’s] interest and the public assistance?” Hackett, who grew up in Whitehaven, called it somewhat likely “if the city and Graceland can document some payback to the city.” Vergos rated it highly likely because “cleaning up Elvis Presley Boulevard is a city obligation.”

New $150 million stadium. Mayor Herenton unveiled the idea on New Year’s Day, but five months later, nobody of much influence has seconded the motion. Hackett, Vergos, and Rubin said it is unlikely to happen. “It’s strictly a question of affordability versus other priorities,” Hackett said. “State funding is key.” Rubin said the limited usage of the stadium, which hosts nine or 10 events a year, is the problem. Vergos said the key is an independent estimate of making the existing stadium compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Mitchell, the city’s administrator of intergovernmental relations, discreetly said, “It’s too early to call.”

Categories
News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall

DOH!

Last Sunday, The Commercial Appeal ran a feature titled “The Last Pyramid Show,” a look back at the brief life of Memphis’ pointiest entertainment venue. The article, containing many heartrending uses of the word “Ah,” recalled visits by superstars such as Prince, the Rolling Stones, and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This is what it said about the heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis:

“Ah, the fight. ‘The Slaughter on the Water,’ to recall a catchphrase that somehow didn’t catch on. ‘The Bloody on the Muddy,’ to quote another. It may have been the building’s finest moment, a too-hot-for-Vegas bout that had the world craning to look in on li’l ol’ Memphis and its Pyramid.”

There’s a reason why “The Slaughter on the Water” never caught on in Memphis. It was a satirical catchphrase used to describe a fictional boxing match between Mike Tyson and the racehorse Secretariat in an episode of The Simpsons.

Headline of the Week

From the CA: “Ooo, ahhh at IMAX screening of the Oscars.” Sounds more like an IMAX screening of Deep Throat, doesn’t it?

Seniors ’07

According to various news outlets, Memphis mayor W.W. Herenton promised this week that he would find a location for Memphis high school students to hold their graduation ceremonies. Now if he could just figure out a way to make sure Memphis high school students actually graduate …

The Shell You Say

Who is writing the headlines for The Daily News? A few weeks ago, Fly on the Wall teased them for titling a brief about an amputee support group “Out on a Limb.” Now they’ve titled a piece about impending renovations to the Overton Park Shell as “To Shell and Back.”