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OUR 1668TH ISSUE 02.11.21

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CONTENTS

BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Editor SHARA CLARK Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER Senior Editor TOBY SELLS Associate Editor CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor SAMUEL X. CICCI, MICHAEL DONAHUE, CHRISTEN HILL, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers JESSE DAVIS Copy Editor, Staff Writer JULIE RAY Calendar Editor MATTHEW J. HARRIS Editorial Assistant LORNA FIELD, RANDY HASPEL, RICHARD MURFF, FRANK MURTAUGH, MEGHAN STUTHARD Contributing Columnists AIMEE STIEGEMEYER, SHARON BROWN Grizzlies Reporters ANDREA FENISE Fashion Editor KENNETH NEILL Founding Publisher

OUR 1668TH ISSUE 02.11.21 Remember “supermarket tabloids”? They were called that because when you stood in the checkout line at the grocery store, you were invariably confronted with a rack of newspapers featuring headlines such as: “HILLARY CLINTON ADOPTS ALIEN BABY!” Or, “BIGFOOT KEPT LUMBERJACK AS SEX SLAVE!” Or, “DICK CHENEY IS A ROBOT!” (All actual headlines, by the way.)

There was the Star, the Weekly World News, The Sun, and, of course, the still extant National Enquirer, most recently famous for burying stories about former President Trump’s extramarital liaisons.

I like to think most people who saw these tabloids in the checkout line back then were like me — they chuckled, rolled their eyes, maybe even bought a copy of a particularly outrageous issue ironically, thinking “Who the hell would believe this?”

But the tabloids sold millions of copies a week in their prime, and they weren’t all being purchased ironically. Some people bought tabloids because they wanted to know exactly how a “174-MPH Sneeze Blows Off Woman’s Hair,” or details about the “FBI Captur[ing] Bat Child,” or the woman who claimed “I Had Bigfoot’s Baby.”

We used to think the kind of people who believed tabloid stories were unsophisticated rubes who didn’t know any better. It wasn’t a big problem. If some goober in Horn Lake believed that Hillary Clinton adopted an alien baby, what was the harm, really? Morons gonna moron. We’ve come a long way from that sort of lunacy.

Oh wait, no we haven’t. Countless numbers of QAnon faithful believe Hillary Clinton and Anderson Cooper (and many others) are involved in a cannibalistic pedophilic sex-slavery ring. I guess for Hillary it probably all started with that alien baby.

It would be funny, except that most Republicans are now basically members of the “Tabloid Party,” because what is the QAnon conspiracy if not a gory tabloid fantasy writ large? Let’s review: A cabal of cannibalistic satan-worshipping pedophiles (cool band name) — including Democratic politicians, media moguls, and bankers (shorthand for Jews), journalists, and other powerful government figures — control the “deep state” and thereby rule the country. And remember, they eat babies. Let that sink in. Thousands of people believe this shit. Which is terrifying.

The QAnon conspiracy further alleges that a battle between good and evil is raging and that Donald Trump was sent to turn the tide for good. “Q” himself is deep within the deep state, giving cryptic clues to the faithful and orchestrating two great upcoming events: The Storm (mass arrests of the deep state evil-doers) and The Great Awakening, in which all will be revealed and made obvious to non-believers — and Donald Trump will return to his rightful place as president of our great and noble land. (Trump, by the way, is supposed to be sworn in on March 4th. Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C., has tripled its rates for that night. Look it up. Used to be that morons just bought tabloids.

Now they book $1,000 hotel rooms.)

This is all insane, right? Surely, most sentient beings can agree on this.

I mean, except for most Republicans in Congress, who gave freshman Congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene a standing ovation after she slightly backed off a couple of her more controversial QAnon-related remarks. Among her many outrages, Greene has denied 9/11 happened, called several mass shootings “false flag operations” and berated one of the students at Parkland High School as a “coward,” claimed Bill and Hillary Clinton were involved in numerous murders, including that of John F. Kennedy Jr., and alleged that Jews in the banking business used lasers from space satellites N E WS & O P I N I O N to start last summer’s California forest THE FLY-BY - 4 fires. I could go on, but I’d run out of NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 space. Greene is a walking, talking issue of POLITICS - 8 Weekly World News, only more dangerous.

FINANCIAL FEATURE - 9 She’s racist and vile, and frankly, nuts.

COVER STORY “TAKE HEART” And yet, only 11 Republicans in ConBY CHRIS MCCOY - 10 gress had the courage to vote for removing WE RECOMMEND - 14 Greene from her committee positions last MUSIC - 15 week. Only Liz Cheney had the guts to CALENDAR - 16 forcefully speak out against this madness.

FOOD - 19 And her father’s a robot.

FILM - 20 Bruce VanWyngarden C LAS S I F I E D S - 21 brucev@memphisflyer.com LAST WORD - 23

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THE

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MEMernet A roundup of Memphis on the World Wide Web. B EAUTI F U L B LAC K

Memphis craft breweries raised $8,662 for the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH), they announced on Instagram last week.

The money came from sales of Black Is Beautiful, an imperial stout brewed locally as part of a national campaign to “raise funds for police brutality reform and legal defenses for those who have been wronged.”

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P U P PY PANTRY Memphis Animal Services said on Instagram last week that it distributed more than 36,600 pounds of pet food last year through its Pet Food Pantry. The figure included about 30,890 pounds of dog food and 4,117 pounds of cat food.

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H E R O TO M LE E The Mississippi River Parks Partnership remembered civic hero Tom Lee last week on the first day of Black History Month. In 1925, Lee, who couldn’t swim, saved 32 of the 72 people aboard a steamship that capsized on the Mississippi River.

E LECTR I C M I ST

Reddit user mikeclark1982 captured this image of the bright M Bridge climbing from the fog last week.

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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells

W E E K T H AT W A S

By Flyer staff

Pipeline, Groove, & COVID-19 Opposition rises on project, a citywide ride-share, and the virus numbers slide.

C OVI D -19 N U M B E R S Virus numbers continued to soften last week. Total current active cases of the virus — the number of people known to have COVID-19 in the county — started the week with a milestone. On Monday, the number fell below 4,000 for the first time in many weeks.

Friday, the figure was 3,378.

Monday: new, 376; total, 83,029; deaths, 1,280 Tuesday: new, 206; total, 83,235; deaths, 1,289 Wednesday: new, 254; total, 83,489; deaths, 1,296 Thursday: new, 220; total, 83,709; deaths, 1,318 Friday: new, 414; total, 84,123; deaths, 1,348 TERO VESALAINEN | DREAMSTIME.COM

C O LLEG E C U R E? State university presidents recently Clockwise from top left: Groove On-Demand cruises into the Bluff City, and asked Governor Bill Lee to distribcurrent active cases of COVID-19 fall below 4,000 for the first time in weeks ute COVID-19 vaccines to faculty and staff on their campuses.

A recent letter from the presidents to Lee expressed concil members, say the pipeline endangers the city’s famously cerns about being excluded from the vaccination queue. Tenpure drinking water and runs unfairly through several of the nessee has yet to put college faculty and staff in the vaccination city’s predominantly Black neighborhoods. line. Plans in Mississippi and Arkansas include K-12 teachers, childcare workers, and higher education employees.

STATE MAY HAVE E XTR A $3B Tennessee lawmakers may have an extra $3 billion to budget PO LI C E R E S I D E N CY this year, according to a policy report from the Sycamore InLast week, the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission anstitute. State coffers declined less and rebounded faster during nounced support of a new state bill that would eliminate the the pandemic than in other states, according to the nonparresidency requirement for local law enforcement and other tisan think tank based in Nashville. This spiked tax revenue local first responders. The bill would abolish all existing, local collections above projections. While some of the $3 billion has residency provisions statewide and prohibit them in the future. been appropriated, much of it remains for the governor and The crime commission cited rising violent crime rates and a lawmakers to spend. shortage of officers as reasoning for their support of the bill.

G R O OVE O N BYHALIA P I P E LI N E R EVI EWE D The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), Downtown A Memphis City Council committee will reconvene next week Memphis Commission, and Memphis Medical District Collabto reconsider opposition to the proposed Byhalia Connection orative have partnered to create a new transit service that will Pipeline. offer an alternative to Uber and Lyft in the city of Memphis.

Valero and Plains All American Pipeline want to build the Called Groove On-Demand, the dynamically routed public 49-mile, 24-inch pipeline from Memphis to Marshall County, transit service will launch on the 10th of February.

Mississippi, to connect existing lines and, eventually, run crude Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of oil through it to the Gulf of Mexico. these stories and more local news.

Opponents of the pipeline, including at least two city coun-

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The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Monday, September 17, 2018

Edited by Will Shortz

Crossword ACROSS 1 Pear variety 5 Fiction’s opposite 9 Peruvian animal 14 Toledo’s home 15 Carpet layer’s measurement 16 Common golf shirts 17 Leave a lasting legacy … or do worse at school 20 Drug giant ___ Lilly 21 English school on the Thames 22 The Gershwins’ “Of ___ I Sing” 23 Succeed on the gridiron … or invite a slap in the face 26 Word after Near, Middle or Far 27 Waders with curved bills 28 Gunky roofing stuff 30 Diplomat’s forte 31 Cannabis variety used for rope

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33 Damage somewhat

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46 U.S. city with the world’s busiest airport

57 Big name in grills

36 Nongovernmentally owned ship decked out for war

48 Margin 50 Under the covers

37 Brought to ruin

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39 Health products chain

52 Sing-___ (hootenanny feature)

40 Sch. near Hollywood 42 A pelican has a big one

53 Temperamental 55 Lou with more than 70 albums

62 Bit of fishery equipment 63 Stephanie Clifford ___ Stormy Daniels 64 Jokester 65 Letters suggesting a sellout

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

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Protest to Progress A new plan pushes Black economic development in Memphis.

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DOWN 1 Spongy ground 2 “Well, whaddya know!”

3 Trusty companions 4 Most hip 5 Devoted follower 6 Zodiac ram 7¢ 8 Chevy model named for a Western lake 9 Carole King’s “Tapestry” and “Music” 10 Small chance to win big bucks 11 Hawaiian hello 12 Group’s basic customs 13 Up to now 18 Clean (off) 19 The “I” of M.I.T.: Abbr.

23 Barack’s opponent in 2012 24 Demean 25 Arthur with a namesake stadium 29 TV journalist Curry 32 List shortener: Abbr.

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No. 0813

CITY REPORTER B y To b y S e l l s

405 N Germantown Parkway Memphis, TN 38018

A new plan from the Greater Memphis Chamber aims to align community goals from activists with business goals of local business leaders to move from “Protest to Progress.”

The plan was presented to the Memphis City Council’s Economic Development, Technology and Tourism Committee on Tuesday, February 2nd.

The overarching goal for the plan is for a more positive Black economic impact in Memphis.

Memphis activists, clergy members, and business leaders were convened 10 days after the city’s first protest of the public killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last summer. Chamber president and CEO Beverly Robertson told council members the original meeting gathered about 50 people and was a “powerful listening session” and that “this has never been done before.”

Activists included in the discussions included members of Black Lives Matter, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens, Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH), and more. It included various clergy members from across Memphis and representatives from businesses like FedEx, Triumph Bank, November 6 Investments, and more.

“It’s important to hear the voices of activists because they are rarely heard in situations and circumstances where there can be mutual respect,” Robertson said. “I also realized that because we are charged with economic development, it is hard to attract new investment and

LARYN KRAGT BAKKER | DREAMSTIME.COM

A scene from a Take ’Em Down 901 protest in 2017

higher-wage jobs to drive growth in cities that are rebuilding from riots and burning.”

Members of the business community were quiet during the first meeting, Robertson said. But they and clergy members spoke at the second. At the third meeting of the groups, they began identifying specific issues and building frameworks for solutions. The groups focused on neighborhood investment, increased spending with minority businesses, transportation, Black entrepreneurship, living wage considerations, and Black representation on corporate and community boards.

Examples of changes included lobbying for more funding for the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) to help ease access to better-paying jobs, and a Black business incubator.

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POLITICS By Jackson Baker

State of the State Democrats propose new education, healthcare, justice reform measures; Lee offers “conservative” civics classes and open carry.

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On Friday, three days before Republican Governor Bill Lee’s State of the State address, Tennessee’s Democratic legislators launched their own idea of the state’s political agenda, and, though the General Assembly’s Democratic contingent is a tugboat compared to the GOP majority’s ship of state, the tone of Senate Democratic caucus chair Raumesh Akbari’s remarks was that of “Pull up the Drawbridge.”

On behalf of her party, Akbari, a Memphian, challenged Lee and the assembly’s dominant Republicans with an ambitious program designed to confront conditions that, even before the pandemic, had included “a long and uneven economic recovery, a crisis in healthcare affordability and access, huge gaps in education, and a reckoning with decades of racial injustice.”

Akbari said it would not do merely to return to the status quo. “The truth is, the old normal was not good enough then. And it’s not good enough now.” A year of the pandemic has been brutal, she said. “Per person, Tennessee’s coronavirus outbreak is one of the worst in the world. More than a million people in Tennessee have lost their jobs and more than 10,000 Tennesseans have died.”

Things were worsened, she said, by the “lax response” of the governor, whose “interventions started too late, ended too early, and did too little.”

Republican government had not only ignored last summer’s “pleas for racial justice,” but the GOP legislative supermajority has already in the current session “approved a Trump-inspired scheme to radically alter TennCare … without hearing testimony from a single doctor, nurse, patient, or any of the 1.4 million Tennesseans who rely on TennCare” and begun “an overhaul of education without hearing from a single teacher — not one principal, no school board members, and not even a member of the PTA.” Akbari said Democrats believe that, “whether it’s policing, housing, healthcare, or education, we need profound changes that address our nation’s deep racial injustices.”

Democrats are proposing what

Akbari termed Tennessee’s Path to Recovery, “a multi-year reform package, backed by billions worth of our own tax dollars, to build thriving schools, guarantee doctors for every family, expand access to child care, ensure good pay and benefits, reform what’s broken in our justice system, and restore and revitalize our democracy.”

In his formal State of the State address, Lee acknowledged “heartbreaking losses” in the state as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic but defended his reluctance at any point to impose statewide restrictions on mobility. “It’s a natural temptation to think growing the size of government and reaching for the nearest mandate will save everything,” he said, a maxim he applied to other spheres of both public and private life — but not without an occasional irony. Though Lee boasted that “as of today, 146 of our 147 districts have an in-person option for students,” he made no direct mention, as he has in the recent past, of possible measures to punish the school systems of Shelby and Davidson counties for not mandating in-person classes.

The governor celebrated the Trump administration’s awarding of an unprecedented waiver for block-grant spending of Medicaid funds and warned that legislative resistance to the block-grant formula could threaten “savings” gained by the state thereby. Lee also touted his “Governor’s Civic Seal” program, which routes federal funding into a conservatively couched program of “civics” instruction in the state’s public schools.

A strong supporter of Donald Trump, Lee boasted that Tennessee had avoided the post-election controversies that had arisen in other states.

In an apparent rebuke of the national outcome, Lee declared, “With elections behind us, we will watch with patriotic skepticism to see if politicians in Washington try to force more government on the states than the 10th Amendment allows. … Tennessee knows what we need a lot better than the federal government.”

Among things that he thinks Tennessee needs, the governor proposed marginally increased salaries of teachers and state employees, improved internet access, an enhanced program of foster care, and a “constitutional carry” bill eliminating the need for firearm permits.

When it comes to money talk with your children, listen to their point of view.

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“

ife is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you,” says the author John Maxwell.

When you combine Maxwell’s thoughts with the estimate that each person makes somewhere around 35,000 choices per day, it’s no wonder that parents often feel a little extra pressure when it comes to teaching their children how to navigate decisions, especially the financial ones.

One of my favorite theories — and entirely unproven, as far as I know — is that children are equipped with a sixth sense for when parents are at their lowest energy point of the week. The instant that sensory moment is triggered, the negotiations for needs and wants can begin. When this happens in my own house, I often think of A Christmas Story and Ralphie’s internal monologue on how to manipulate the adults around him in his quest to get a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas.

careers. Although these discussions may also begin in those parental moments of low energy, they typically blossom into longer-lasting debates. Unfortunately for some families, they can even begin a decades-long snowball of unresolved conflict and resentment.

A parent sits on one side of the table, suffering from the many financial stresses that adulthood brings, as well as the pressure to make a decision that is in the ultimate best interest of the child’s health and welfare. On the other side of the table sits a young adult suffering from the pressure of trying to shape a life for which they only have partial control and a limited frame of reference.

It is so easy as a parent to fall into the role of teacher and begin to explain the “adult” point of view to the child — the stress, the value of a dollar, and the “one day you’ll understand.” As a financial planner working with families, I see the most magic happen in any financial discussion when a bit of Dale Carnegie floats into the room, and one seeks to understand the other’s point of view.

Recently, a friend Ralphie in A shared with me that Christmas Story he caved in a debate with his daughter even though he disagreed with her argument.

So, there we all are: parents at our low- Curious as to why he caved, I followed est point of mental acuity, our children up, and he added that it would have been armed with who-only-knows how many different if he had not understood her hours of pre-negotiation strategizing, point of view. Even though he disagreed, and on both sides, a collection of lessons he sought to understand her position, and waiting to be learned. The two easiest he granted her wish because he could tell ways out of this trap are, of course, the how much it meant to her. When parents quick, absent-minded “Okay, fine” or take the lead on listening to the reasoning the infamous “No” followed by “Because behind their child’s desires and considerI said so.” And as we all know, the “No, ing their perspective, children learn to do because I said so” is really only a few the same for their parents in the long run. persistent nudges away from an “Okay, My friend’s comment brought a smile fine, but … !” to my face, as it reminded me of the other Even more challenging moments side of A Christmas Story. In the end, arrive as our children grow older. They Ralphie’s dad, Old Man Parker, is the become much more adept at negotiating hero — the man with the knowing smile and more like us — biased by their own and the secret final gift of the morning. experiences and beliefs. Furthermore, Who knows if his dad totally agreed, but often by the teen and young adult years, we all know he totally understood!

Teresa Bailey, CFP, CDFA, is Director of items on the table for discussion add up Development and Wealth Strategist at to “real money” decisions: cell phones, Waddell & Associates. cars, clothing, colleges, and eventually,

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F I N A N C I A L F E AT U R E B y Te r e s a B a i l e y

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e k Ta ! t r a e H

COVER STORY BY CHRIS McCOY PAINTING BY LILY BEASLEY

Stories of love going right when the world is going wrong.

Morgan and Webb

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Morgan Stewart lives alone. A self-described workaholic, she likes it that way — or she did until the coronavirus upended the world last March. “I was lonely and bored,” she says. “Before, I had the excuse of, ‘I don’t have time to date.’”

Webb Hunt works at a Covington Pike car dealership. He was having no luck meeting people. “I thought, maybe I just need to go outside of my bubble and date people. But I don’t know how to do that.”

So, in April 2020, Morgan and Webb both decided to download the dating app Tinder. “I matched with her because she was cute, and she liked charcuterie and Sailor Moon.”

“I thought he was a little bit too cute for me,” says Morgan. “But in one of his pictures, he had a carrot butt in his eye like a pirate, and was kind of scowling. That made me think he’s silly enough for me. The thing that got my attention about Webb when he started messaging me — and I feel like men 10 on dating apps don’t do this — he asked me personal questions about myself based on

the information I provided in my pictures in my biography. There was a lot of witty banter back and forth between us, then I gave him my phone number.”

“From my perspective, that was the most important part of it — letting her decide,” Webb says.

Morgan and Webb

For date nights, Webb would have a meal delivered to Morgan, and they would watch You’ve Got Mail and the Sharknado films in their respective homes. Morgan sent Webb chocolates from Phillip Ashley, and they started exchanging love songs on Spotify.

They were on FaceTime every night. “We

read a book together,” Morgan says. “We have a lot of overlapping nerdy interests.

He’s a sci-fi person and I’m a children’s book person. So we read a sci-fi children’s book.”

“It was just really cool,” Webb says. “It seemed like an active relationship, even though we’d never met in person yet.”

Finally, in May, they decided to take the next step. “I had a lot of anxiety about deciding to meet each other,” says Morgan.

They took COVID tests, and then he came over for grilled cheese sandwiches.

“I’m adding one person to my household,” Morgan says. “For as long as this thing is going on, I have one human being in the whole world who I’m allowed to touch.”

Lyncola and Markus “I will tell you the truth,” says Lyncola Odell.

“I was just dating little fuckbois, who didn’t want to grow up and be a man.”

One night, she told her friend Angela Field she was ready to start dating seriously, and asked her to “please pray to God to send me the right one.”

“She said she prayed and saw my face,”

Lyncola and Markus

really all I needed to know. Even though it hurts, I don’t have to go through pain alone. … Dealing with heavy grief in the midst of a relationship, that’s also the atmosphere of 2020. Everybody’s stressed, everybody’s upset, everybody’s grieving their losses.”

Mitchell doesn’t know their relationship is being featured in the Flyer. Michaela wanted it to be a Valentine’s surprise. “I have definitely picked a person who I want to love for a very long time.”

M❤M

Michaela and Mitchell

Matthew and Joy

isolation started to wear thin. But they had each other. “There were just moments where I honestly had to tell Lyncola, ‘You know what? I am not okay.’ Thankfully, my severance pay did include a little therapy. I really need Black people to get off their hang-ups. They say in the Black community, ‘Just pray.’ And I’m like, ‘Perhaps God made therapy.’”

Michaela and Mitchell It was the fall of 2019, and Michaela Walley was done with Tinder. “I hate this app. It’s trash. I don’t want to use it. Then I pulled it back up, for whatever reason.”

When they opened the app, Michaela found a response waiting. It was from Mitchell Carter, and it said: “Out of all of the people on here, you look like you’re having the most fun.”

Their first date was to the Black Lodge Halloween Ritual — even if they didn’t quite know it was a date at the time. “It was a

really interesting dynamic, because I’m very much an extrovert, and he’s an introvert. I’d want to go out all the time, and he would be very shy, and didn’t know how to talk to people. We’d even discussed it. ‘Hey, if you want to stay in, we can.’”

Michaela was successful at pulling Mitchell out of his shell. “I still remember the date, weirdly. It was March 13th, the Black Lodge goth party. We got all dressed up in makeup and stuff, went out, and had a really great night. Then the pandemic hit, and we all had to quarantine. It was fun getting to experience that with this person, like having that outward fun in public. But then I felt like, when we had that time to be alone with each other, it made us a lot closer.”

In November, Michaela’s roommate, Lisa Michaels, a comedian and beloved figure in the Memphis trans community, died suddenly. “He’s helped me in getting through that loss. I know that I’ve put a lot of stress on him, but him showing me that he’s there to stand by me no matter what is Matthew and Joy

Matthew Marseille met his future wife because he skipped a training session. In the summer of 2014, he was a counselor at a Christian sports camp. “We were working with kids between ages nine and 12. … I missed the staff training weekend. So to kind of bridge the gaps and fill me in on things I missed, Joy decided to reach out.”

Joy was his counterpart on the girls’ side of the camp. “From there, we sparked the whole conversation,” she says. “It was very clear, I think, to both of us that we would hit it off, at least as friends. I don’t think either of us were looking for a relationship at all. … That’s when you tend to find your spouse, I think.”

Their jobs threw them together for eight to 12 hours a day. “Everyone picked up on our chemistry,” says Matthew. “It was hard to deny it.”

One person who noticed their attraction was Joy’s father. He came to camp for a birthday visit. “It was just me and my dad in the car,” Joy recalls. “He said to me, ‘I think Matthew is in love with you.’ And I was really thrown.”

The next day, on a boat in Missouri’s continued on page 12

COVER STORY m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

says Markus Seaberry.

Markus had met Angela while acting in an Anwar Jamison film. He was going through a rough patch. “I’m going to be real — 2009 sucked,” he says.

Markus had had an allergic reaction to a medication, which laid him up for a while. His work was suffering. His love life, nonexistent. “I’m a nerd. I’m weird. I have no game with the ladies,” he says.

Lyncola friend-requested him on Facebook, followed up by a message from Angela. “Yo, that was my friend, and you should meet her. Y’all should go out, and you’re welcome,” Markus remembers.

Markus thought Lyncola was cute, and they went on a date to Chili’s in Southaven, then to see the Steve Carell/Tina Fey movie Date Night. They started seeing each other regularly. “I think it was Memorial Day 2010. She was like, ‘If you want to tell people that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, that’s okay.’ I was like, ‘Wait a minute! New information!’ I felt like I was Charlie Brown, and I finally kicked the football!”

They dated for almost four years before deciding to get married. Lyncola, whose grandparents were married for 70 years, says she was thinking long-term. “I was collecting data. I can see us being husband and wife someday, and him being a great father. We don’t have children yet, but eventually we do want to foster or adopt and mold a young mind. My parents will be married for 50 years in June, so that’s what I wanted. One thing both of them told me, they said, you gotta communicate with your spouse. If you don’t communicate with him, it’s not gonna work. Even if there’s something you don’t want to tell him, it will eventually come out.”

The pandemic hit the Seaberrys hard.

Both were forced to change jobs during 2020. They lost three members of their extended family. Lyncola went back to school to earn an education degree. The

11

Mark and Ben

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continued from page 11

Mark and Ben

Table Top Lake, Matt made his move. “I was like, ‘Yeah. So you’re my girl now.’”

“Do I have any say in this?” Joy responded.

“Sure, what do you have to say?”

Matthew said.

“Oh my God. Okay!” says Joy. “We decided to keep it a secret for the rest of the summer. I think it was pretty obvious to most of the staff, but we were trying to keep things on the low key.”

The couple pursued their careers while keeping up a long-distance relationship before eventually landing in Memphis in 2018. When the pandemic hit, the busy couple found themselves thrown together once again.

“Our biggest struggle has been wanting to hang out, hanging out a lot, annoying each other, and then having to take some space, and then being like, ‘I want to hang out again,’” Joy says. “We’ve done that in three- to 14-day cycles throughout the quarantine.”

But the crisis has been good for their marriage. “I think there’s physical evidence of a baby that would argue that it has drawn us closer together,” says Joy. “We had been talking about having kids.

We had not planned to have them now, but potentially starting a family in the next year or two.”

Matthew says the pregnancy in the midst of a pandemic is a blessing. “I really wasn’t concerned about the pandemic.

Joy does a great job of keeping away from people during the shut-down. She gets on me when I don’t wear my mask when I’m out. I knew she wouldn’t put herself or the baby at risk. This is just another part of life that we have to figure out and navigate around, as opposed to freaking out about it.”

“My stepsister Ruth was getting married,” says Ben Helm. “I was living in San Francisco at the time, so I flew home to Memphis for the wedding. It was one of those weddings where there are a lot of parties. The maid of honor threw a party, and I didn’t really know anyone there, so I was just standing there awkwardly. Then Mark comes up to me and introduces himself. Within a few minutes, he’s like, ‘Oh, I’m gay, by the way.’”

Mark Jones’ friend group in Memphis was full of actors and filmmakers, including Ben’s stepsister Ruth. “Ruth had told me that Ben was coming, and she did try to play matchmaker. She had us sit next to each other at the rehearsal dinner. She knew me a lot better than she knew Ben.” “We were a newly blended family,” Ben says. “It was a family joke for a good decade that Ruth had fixed up her new, gay stepbrother, but not her sister.”

Nevertheless, something clicked, and when Ben moved to New York City for graphic design school, Mark followed. “It was a double whammy,” Mark says. “I went from living in a 1,600-square-foot house on Roland that I owned to a two-room apartment on the fourth floor of a fivestory walk-up. And we moved there in the coldest of winters.”

The couple bonded through the hard times by going to Broadway shows. When Ben graduated, they decided to return to Memphis, where there was less competition in his chosen field, and Mark was preparing to direct his first film, Fraternity Massacre on Hell Island. “I love New York, but living in New York was rough for me,” Ben says.

Now, years later, the experience prepared them for COVID life. “We’ve been together a lot more. It’s kind of like New York during the day,” says Mark. “Thankfully, we’re not

sharing the phone line for the internet.”

They are comforted by memories of their 2019 wedding at Idlewild Presbyterian Church. Mark proposed with a replica of his Christian Brothers high school ring and a shower of white rose petals. “Looking back, that was the last time we saw so many people before COVID hit,” Mark says.

Ryan and Xanthe Ryan Saucier met Xanthe Mumm just as he was about to move to Miami. His band was playing a farewell gig at Murphy’s when she walked up to him at the bar. “I thought she was kind of crazy, or already too drunk, because women like her don’t usually approach me.”

The next night they met up at the P&H Cafe. “We talked and talked and talked, and she just blew me away. It was karaoke night, and she got up and sang a couple of songs, and my jaw dropped. Of course I’m meeting this amazing woman right before I’m leaving!”

They closed down the bar, and kept talking on the back patio until early in the morning. “We left, giving each other the most awkward hug, and that was basically it.”

They kept in touch, and Xanthe flew

to South Florida for a visit. “Everyone thought I was crazy,” she says. “‘You’re flying to see a man that you’ve met twice?’ We had been talking almost every day. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. We obviously liked each other in a romantic way, but because he was living so far away, that wasn’t even an option. We were just so much ourselves.

We weren’t trying to impress each other.

We were just real and raw.”

Ryan took her to a romantic spot on the beach to watch the sunset. “That’s when I almost kissed her. We were such good friends, I don’t want to ruin that.”

After less than a year, Ryan returned to Memphis. They went to a Blink-182 show, and later that night at Murphy’s, Xanthe made her move. “At the time, we were still drinking pretty heavily, and I guess that kind of helped with it all, because I decided to kiss him.”

Five months later, they moved in together and started a band called Lipstick Stains. But their drinking was becoming a problem. “Long story short, it caught up with us,” Ryan says. “It was definitely having a negative effect on our relationship.

We decided, if we’re going to be together, both of us are quitting drinking, or we’re going our separate ways. For me, that’s all I needed to hear.”

Ryan and Xanthe

They had been sober about six months when the pandemic hit. “It was definitely hard at first, because there were a few moments when I thought I was going to break,” says Ryan. “She was like, ‘No, you’re not doing that.’”

The couple had originally planned on throwing a big wedding in June 2020. As the pandemic dragged on, the date was pushed back to October. “I think around August we said, ‘This is clearly not gonna

happen,’” says Xanthe.

Instead, they had a small ceremony with only family present. “It was an awesome wedding. I would tell people to keep it as small as possible, even not during a pandemic. It’s just so much more chill.”

Now, the Saucier-Mumms are ready for normal life to resume. “We’re testy with each other sometimes,” Xanthe says. “And we’re bored a lot of times, but I’d rather be bored with him than anyone else.”

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COVER STORY m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

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Stax Celebrates

By Julie Ray

Traditionally, the Stax Music Academy has hosted live, in-person performances in celebration of Black History Month. That’s now history due to the COVID-19 pandemic and safety-related issues.

This year, an online variety show will be made available for free to students, schools, and youth organizations. A pay-what-you-can donation option will be available for others to enjoy this show honoring Black history.

The performance event, Rhythm & Revolution: Expressions of Struggle, Collaboration, and Peace, will feature songs by well-known artists in a blend of R&B classics mixed with original music from Stax Music Academy students, plus Civil Rights Movement music and more.

“As important as the Black History Month lessons are in this virtual production, it is more than anything a show of sheer entertainment,” says COURTESY OF STAX MUSIC ACADEMY Stax Music Academy executive director Pat Mitchell Worley.

Young Stax Academy performer Companion study guides will be available for those who register as “Educator” on Eventbrite. The guides will offer a deeper educational experience helping young people to process some of the thoughts and feelings that arise in the concert topics. Youngsters in grades 4-12 can also enter a songwriting competition with a cash prize for the winner.

Significant locations in Memphis including Stax Museum will be featured in the show. Also online for Black History Month is the Stax Museum Virtual Tour, featuring elements of a traditional museum tour with other components highlighting the history of Stax Records and Memphis music through those who lived it and continue to be impacted by its legacy.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION: RHYTHM & REVOLUTION: AN EXPRESSION OF STRUGGLE, COLLABORATION, AND PEACE, ONLINE FROM STAX MUSIC ACADEMY, STAXMUSICACADEMY.ORG, AND STAX MUSEUM, STAXMUSEUM.COM, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17, FREE WITH REGISTRATION.

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES February 11th - 17th Virtual Black History Speech Series: “Say It Loud: Shirley Chisholm” Online from Hattiloo Theatre, hattiloo.org, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 6 p.m., free Deirdre Malone will introduce Jackie Muskin, who will portray Shirley Chisholm — educator, author, and the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress in 1968.

“African-American History of Elmwood Cemetery” Online from Elmwood Cemetery, elmwoodcemetery.org, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 5:30 p.m., $10 Hear the stories of African Americans resting in Elmwood who contributed to local history and beyond, via Zoom. The virtual tour and talk will be led by Mable Barringer.

Lunar New Year Family Hike Pinecrest Camp and Retreat Center, 21430 TN-57, Moscow, TN, Friday, Feb. 12, 10 a.m.-noon, $5 Families can enjoy a hike for the Lunar New Year, featuring trail activities that celebrate the seasonal new year and offer opportunities to explore nature.

Ray Malco Paradiso Cinema, 584 S. Mendenhall, and Collierville Grill & MXT, 380 Market, Collierville, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m., and Sat., Feb. 13, 7 p.m., $15 A triumphant and remarkable story of one of America’s true musical geniuses, Ray Charles.

Levitt Shell Virtual Black History Month Series: Bette Smith (2018) Online from Levitt Shell, levittshell.org, Saturday, Feb. 16, 7:30 p.m., free Delve into the archives for a live concert by a Brooklyn-born singer who injects soul and gospel into Southern rock for an unforgettable performance.

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Lucero takes ’80s radio rock to very dark places.

Part of Lucero’s identity has always rested on being unpredictable. That’s why I’m surprised/not surprised when the first sounds emanating from the speaker from their latest record are the shadowy, atmospheric tones of an analog synthesizer, with chunky guitar chops following close on their heels. With just a few swift notes, I was having an ’80s flashback.

That decade has lately been celebrated and rediscovered, as with series such as Stranger Things. Something different is at work on When You Found Me, the record just dropped by Lucero on the Liberty & Lament label last week. But singer/ songwriter Ben Nichols is frank about evoking that time.

“I was going back and listening to the ’80s radio rock catalog that I grew up on — and rebelled against for a while — and then eventually returned to,” he says. “And some of the stuff from that era is well-respected, like Tom Petty and Devo and some other things. Some things maybe aren’t quite as venerated, but they’re still part of my musical background. It’s something I wanted to reference in a way that still sounds like Lucero.”

Oddly enough, it really does sound like Lucero — and Memphis. Imagine drunken, desperate friends singing along to Journey or Golden Earring while driving on Madison or Beale, and you’ll have a sense of what Nichols

and the band have crafted. And yet, unBOB BAYNE like such “not quite Lucero venerated” bands, the lyrics take you in unpredictable directions. Writing songs like short stories, as Nichols says, “was the approach I brought to Among the Ghosts,” the band’s last album. “This new record is kind of a continuation of that,” he says.

But while the previous album evoked, sonically and lyrically, journeys on open roads and interstates, this one focuses more on small, local details — the endpoints or way stations on those journeys. It conjures up starker contrasts, as between a cityscape and the sky above.

“Cigarette smoke in the neon/There must’ve been a hundred shades of red/Now she’s running through the moonlight/Her only plan is getting somewhere else,” Nichols sings on “Outrun the Moon.” The chorus, like some of his characters, literally trades in half-measures, a mixture of hope, trepidation, and regret.

“I weigh my deeds on my father’s scales,” he sings on the next track. “I balance them with coffin nails.”

The heartbeats of these characters propel them forward, evoked by the powerful, inventive rhythm section of Roy

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m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

When You Found Me

Berry (drums) and John C. Stubblefield (bass), as well as the twin attack of Nichols and Brian Venable, who’ve always brought rich guitar tones to Lucero albums.

But what’s especially remarkable here is keyboardist Rick Steff ’s work, and it doesn’t just come down to his deep knowledge of and love for synthesizers. When I comment on Steff ’s sparse, effective piano flourishes, Nichols heartily agrees. “He’s a master at that. Like the piano line on ‘Coffin Nails’ stands out to me. He’s always been good at that. On this record, you’ve got synth pads creating the atmosphere and floating around in the background, but that allows the space for the piano to exist in these very delicate, nuanced kinds of ways.”

For Nichols and the band, the keyboard textures felt like a natural progression. “I didn’t want to make a retro record.

I wanted it to be a straight-ahead Lucero album, but with sonic elements that I’ve wanted to incorporate for a while.”

The real experiment, according to Nichols, was to push himself further as a writer. “I have tried to write more storybased songs, from other characters’ points of views. Which doesn’t come as naturally to me. I’m getting closer to what I want to do. On this record, you can see that I’m at least putting in the effort.”

Lucero will live-stream a record release show from Memphis Magnetic Recording, Friday, February 19th, at 9 p.m. CST. See luceromusic.com/tour for details.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC By Alex Greene

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CALENDAR of EVENTS:

February 11 - 17

T H EAT E R

A R TI S T R EC E PT I O N S

Hattiloo Theatre

Binder Projects

From the Frontlines of COVID-19, online series that spotlights healthcare workers who share emotional insight of their critical work as they care for those who have been impacted by the virus. hattiloo.org. Free. Ongoing.

37 S. COOPER (502-3486).

Kudzu Playhouse

Kudzu Playhouse Virtual, join Kudzu social media for donation-based classes, games, scholarship opportunities, and more. Download the app for more fun theater activities and information. Ongoing.

P.O. BOX 47 (888-429-7871).

The Orpheum

Orpheum Virtual Engagement, join Orpheum staff, artists, and students for activities, interviews, and more on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Visit website for more information. Ongoing.

203 S. MAIN (525-3000).

Playhouse on the Square

Registration for Winter Adult Theatre School, a fun and challenging experience, in-person or online, for both the beginner and the experienced performer.

Visit website for more information and registration. $150.

Through March 1.

Playhouse on the Square at Home, a series of digital content through POTS website and social media platforms. View past performances, engage in quizzes, enjoy digital playwriting, and more. Free. Ongoing.

66 S. COOPER (726-4656).

Fe b r u a r y 1 1 - 1 7 , 2 0 2 1

Theatre Memphis

Online on Stage, a Theatre Memphis Facebook group that serves as a clearinghouse for performers wanting to share their talents.

Featuring storytime, readings, or performance art. Ongoing.

630 PERKINS EXT. (682-8323).

650 EAST PARKWAY SOUTH (321-3243).

Buckman Arts Center at St. Mary’s School

“From Folk to Fine,” exhibition of new works by Billy Moore featuring traditional art pieces incorporating new canvas abstracts. Through March 1.

74 FLICKER (634-1698).

OTH E R A R T HA P P E N I N G S

Craft with Us: Raining Copper Hearts

60 N. PERKINS EXT. (537-1483).

David Lusk Gallery

A Valentine’s-themed online class through Zoom for kids and parents to craft together.

The activity kit includes all tools and materials needed to create a heart sculpture. $20. Sat., Feb. 13, 1 p.m.

“In Conversation,” exhibition of woodcuts by modernist Ted Faiers. Through Feb. 13.

97 TILLMAN (767-3800).

The Dixon Gallery & Gardens

“Learning to be Astonished,” exhibition of impressionistic landscapes created during the COVID-19 pandemic by Jimpsie Ayres. Through April 4.

METAL MUSEUM, 374 METAL MUSEUM DR. (774-6380).

Online Art Auction: “Incognito”

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN, 750 CHERRY (636-4100), MEMPHISBOTANICGARDEN.COM.

Memphis Flyer Coloring Book

Order your book today benefiting local artists and journalism. $35. Ongoing.

MEMPHISMAGAZINESTORE.COM.

Metal Museum Online

Peruse the art and craft of fine metalwork digitally. Featuring past gallery talks from previous exhibitions, interviews with artists, and demonstrations including “Beauty in the Boundary,” the museum’s

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16

large-scale drawings that utilize augmented reality, creating an immersive, multimedia experience by artist Karina Alvarez.

By appointment only. cbu.edu.

Through March 5.

Artist reception for “Begin Again,” exhibition of work by Alex McClurg, Marja Vallila, Alex Paulus, Ed Rainey, Lauren Fogg, Jim Buchman, Nancy Cheairs, Erin Wright, Linda Wallis, and Whitney Lorenze.

Sat., Feb. 13, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Peruse work online or in person by over 90 artists who have donated original unsigned work.

Artist identity revealed after the auction. Bidding exclusively online. Through Feb. 25.

2316 S Germantown Rd. Germantown 6779 Stage Rd. Bartlett 1149 Union Ave. Downtown/Midtown 901.753.2400 • hollidayflowers.com

Send the date, time, place, cost, info, phone number, a brief description, and photos — two weeks in advance — to calendar@memphisflyer.com or P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101.

DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, ONGOING WEEKLY EVENTS WILL APPEAR IN THE FLYER’S ONLINE CALENDAR ONLY.

4339 PARK (761-5250).

Craft with Us: Raining Copper Hearts, Metal Museum online, Saturday, February 13 exhibition of gates and railings.

Free. Ongoing.

METAL MUSEUM, 374 METAL MUSEUM DR. (774-6380).

The Peace Project

Hear the peace offerings made up of artists’ voices, instruments, ambient noises, and reverberations in a healing space featuring work by Hank Willis Thomas. Ongoing, 6 a.m.-6 p.m.

MEMPHIS PARK (FOURTH BLUFF), FRONT AND MADISON, MEMPHISRIVERPARKS.ORG.

Works of Heart Online Art Auction

Featuring heart-inspired works by leading regional artists, such as Dolph Smith and Alex Paulus. Browse and bid for free. A Big Heart Lounge (VIP) ticket includes live, virtual preview and early bidding. Proceeds benefit children served by Memphis Child Advocacy Center. Free, $200 VIP. Through Feb. 14.

MEMPHISCAC.ORG.

ONGOI NG ART

Beverly and Sam Ross Gallery at Christian Brothers University

“Flatus Vocis,” exhibition of

FireHouse Community Arts Center

“SANKOFA!,” exhibition celebrating Black History Month recognizing Memphis creative legends for their achievements and integral roles in shaping the fabric of Memphis and the world. Through Feb. 28.

985 S. BELLEVUE (948-9522).

Gallery 1091

“The Elements,” exhibition of work by the Tennessee Craft: Southwest Fine Craft Showcase. wkno.org. Free. Through Feb. 28.

WKNO STUDIO, 7151 CHERRY FARMS (729-8722).

Jay Etkin Gallery

Permanent Collection: “The Flow Museum of Art & Culture,” ongoing.

942 COOPER (550-0064).

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art “Arts of Global Africa,” exhibition of historic and contemporary works in a range of different media presenting an expansive vision of Africa’s artistry. Through June 21.

“Drawing Memory: Essence of Memphis,” exhibition of works inspired by nsibidi, a sacred means of communication among male secret societies in southeastern Nigeria by Victor Ekpuk. Ongoing.

1934 POPLAR (544-6209).

Memphis College of Art

“Intrepidly Yours,” exhibition of Spring 2020 BFA work by last graduating class. mca2020bfa. com. Through Feb. 28.

1930 POPLAR (272-5100).

Memphis Heritage

“Newman to Now” Virtual Exhibit, exhibition of historic photographs taken by Don Newman between the 1940s and ’60s and contemporary photographs of the same sites taken by photographer Gary Walpole to explore continuity and change in Memphis’ built environment. Ongoing. memphisheritage.org.

2282 MADISON (272-2727).

Metal Museum

“Tributaries: Ben Dory,” exhibition of works paying homage to traditional granulation, an ancient and intricate technique of fusing primarily gold spheres.

Through April 3.

374 METAL MUSEUM DR. (774-6380).

Mid-South Artist Gallery

Mid-South Artist Gallery Artists, exhibition of work by becky McRae, Sandra Horton, Jean Wu, Jon Woodhams, Marina Wirtz, Michelle Lemaster, Pat Turner, and others. Ongoing.

2945 SHELBY (409-8705).

C A L E N DA R: F E B R UA RY 1 1 - 1 7 ing keynote speaker Olen M. “Mac” Bailey Jr. of The Bailey Law Firm. Receive five CEUs including one in ethics. $75.

Thurs., Feb. 11, 7:30 a.m.

Palladio International Antique Market and Gallery

Porter Rivers, exhibition of watercolors and oil paintings of nature, still life, and scenes of the Mid-South. Through Feb. 28.

PNAMIDSOUTH.ORG.

2169 CENTRAL (276-3808).

TO U R S

Tops Gallery

Metal Museum Audio Tour

“An Angle to the Place I Live In,” exhibition of sculptural paintings by Ezra Tessler that contend with both the physical and ontological limits of the medium. Through April 10.

400 S. FRONT.

OPERA

Wednesday Opera Time

Join Opera Memphis every Wednesday on Facebook for an assortment of live events including “Opera for Animals,” Bingo Opera, and more. Free.

Wednesdays, 7 p.m.

OPERA MEMPHIS, 6745 WOLF RIVER (257-3100).

C O M E DY

Chuckles Comedy Club

Mojo Brooks & Prince T-Dub, $27-$50. Fri., Feb. 12, 6:45 & 8:45 p.m.

DC Young Fly, $37-$60. Feb. 13-14, 6:45 & 8:45 p.m., and Mon., Feb. 15, 6:45 p.m.

The Comedy Junt

Living Single Virtual Comedy Show, Valentine’s Day comedy special just for singles featuring a night of laughs as LaToya Tennille and a special guest host talk about the highs and lows of single life. $10. Sun., Feb. 14, 7 p.m. thecomedyjunt.com.

4330 AMERICAN WAY (249-4052).

Hi Tone

Live Weekly Comedy with John Miller, open mic style. Free. Tuesdays, 8-10 p.m.

282 N. CLEVELAND (278-TONE).

P O ETRY / S P O K E N WOR D

The Poetry Society of Tennessee

Tennessee-Resident Challenge, this challenge invites anyone

residing in the state of Tennessee to submit an original and unpublished poem related to Janet Qually’s artwork. $25 to the winner and publication in Tennessee Voices. $1. Through March 1. poetrytennessee.org.

P.O. BOX 770688 (264-7532).

L E CT U R E / S P E A K E R

“African-American History of Elmwood Cemetery”

The stories of African Americans resting in Elmwood who contributed to local history and beyond are illuminated via Zoom by Mable Barringer. $10.

Tues., Feb. 16, 5:30 p.m.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY, 824 S. DUDLEY (774-3212), ELMWOODCEMETERY.ORG.

Rhythm & Revolution: An Expression of Struggle, Collaboration, and Peace, Stax online, Wednesday, Feb. 17 Novel at Home: Mark Greaney

Author of Gray Man series in conversation with Joshua Hood for a live online event to launch Renlentless. Free with registration. Tues., Feb. 16, 6 p.m.

NOVEL, 387 PERKINS EXT. (922-5526), NOVELMEMPHIS.COM.

Reader Meet Writer: Jerry Mitchell

Author discusses Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era. Free with registration. Thurs., Feb. 11, 6 p.m.

METAL MUSEUM, 374 METAL MUSEUM DR. (774-6380).

NOVEL, 387 PERKINS EXT. (922-5526), NOVELMEMPHIS.COM.

Old Forest Hike

Virtual Black History Speech Series: “Say It Loud”

A free Black history series featuring well-known locals portraying historical figures with an introduction by other well-known locals. Visit website for full online series. Free.

Tues., Feb. 16, 6 p.m.

HATTILOO THEATRE, 37 S. COOPER (502-3486), HATTILOO.ORG.

C O N F E R E N C ES/C O N VE NT I O N S

PNA Professional Conference on Aging

Professionals in the field of aging can learn and connect with sponsors and vendors. Featur-

Walking tour of the region’s only urban old-growth forest. Second Saturday of every month, 10 a.m.

OVERTON PARK, OFF POPLAR (276-1387).

Stax Virtual Tour

Museum tour, interviews, and live musical performances sharing the history of Stax Records and Memphis music through those who lived it and continue to be impacted by its legacy. Free with registration. Through Feb. 28.

STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC, 926 E. MCLEMORE (946-2535), STAXMUSEUM.COM.

continued on page 18

PINK PALACE WWW.MEMPHISMUSEUMS.ORG

DINOSAURS IN MOTION Exhibit Now Open sponsored by

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

1700 DEXTER.

Explore the newly updated Sculpture Garden and accompanying audio tour while adhering to safe social distancing. PWYC. Ongoing, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

17

[ P A I D

C O N T E N T ]

C A L E N DA R: F E B R UA RY 1 1 - 1 7 continued from page 17 E X PO S/ SA L E S

Be Mine Boutique

Featuring handmade local artisan items and vintage gifts. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m.

Through Feb. 13.

FOUND STUDIO, 497 N. HOLLYWOOD (652-0848).

WE Consign

Fe b r u a r y 1 1 - 1 7 , 2 0 2 1

The Visine Thief 11-11-11

18

Take a very good look at the picture above. This book was autographed for me by Debbie Allen in 2001 at her studio in California. Debbie had written two books when her children were born.

One for her son and the other for her daughter. I was lucky enough to be one of the people standing in line as she signed books at her studio. Debbie Allen is one of the nicest, most beautiful ladies I’ve ever met. This is one of my personal treasures and they were stolen from my home and I want them back! I know who stole these books and this person has also stolen about $20,000 worth of my personal property from my home. The Matter of the heart is the reason for this letter. Today, I’m only concentrating on my personal property.

On 11-11-11 I married this person, by the summer of 2012 we were separated and legally divorced by 2013.

From 2013 to 2016 this person came to my home in the middle of the night giving her hot pocket away just like she did when we were married. This took place about 25 times or more. During this time she was dating other men but they didn’t know she was hooking up with me just like I didn’t know what she was hooking up with them when she was married to me.

In 2016 she showed up at my front door one night when she didn’t see my new girlfriend’s car in the driveway. I opened the door and she gave me her hot pocket like she always did. In early 2017, she told me that she had transferred to the credit card fraud department at one of the largest companies here in Memphis, shortly after that, I noticed that my Capital One credit card statement had been stolen after seeing unauthorized charges totalling $2567.28. After realizing what had been done, I called her and asked her if she stole my monthly credit card statement from my nightstand in my bedroom and she replied “ha ha you cannot prove it”. I made a police report. The credit card company told me that I was not responsible for the charges so I moved on with my life and stopped communicating with her. In 2019, on June 25 at 11:34 PM my Ring doorbell video rang and she was at my door. At this point we hadn’t spoken in almost 2 years. She had on three pieces of clothing

- earrings, shoes and a piece of a jumpsuit. Yes, I let her in but this was a premeditated and a well planned operation. I still have that doorbell video!

She stole my solid gold watch that I paid $5000 for.

She took other merchandise, pictures and valuables from my home like my personal stamp collection that is priceless. She disconnected my Wi-Fi so I would have no picture of her going in and out of my house but I have an eye witness that saw her coming out of my house and going to her car with a bag. The witness saw her put the bag in her car and go back into my home early the following morning.

I had no idea that Visine and alcohol would knock you out when both are combined together. That’s what she did to me in my own home. She told me that a bug had gotten in her eye at the front door and that she needed Visine to wash it out. I never saw the Visine container again, we had been drinking wine and she made sure that I drank my full glass. I later realized that I had been drugged in my own home by my ex-wife with a Visine & wine combination! She’s been doing this for a long time.

She’s done this to other men. She’ll come to your home in the middle of the night and leave with your personal property after giving you her hot pocket. Once you realize that your stuff is gone she denies it! This is one of the conversations we had that night she said to me, “I see you have a new car” and “I see you have new windows in your house”, “I see that you have a new air-conditioning unit outside” I said, “wow you’ve been checking me out a lot I also have a new fridge a new washer”. She’s basically stalking me because I live on a dead end street with no through traffic. I am a nonviolent person but I need to tell my story because I know she likes to brag and has bragged about what she has done to me. I’m asking anyone that may have information to please come forward! One of the main reasons I’m doing this is because I don’t wanna get the virus and die without my loved ones having my personal property because someone came and stole something that I wanted to pass on to my grandkids! P.S. I will pay for a polygraph test for you at any company here in Memphis that is proven by BBB!! Oh by the way I found a little gift you left in my toaster for ME!!

*The views and opinions expressed are those of the advertiser and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Memphis Flyer. Any content provided by our advertisers are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.

Featuring a large selection of items for sale, benefiting the Woman’s Exchange of Memphis. Mondays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Through April 16.

WOMAN’S EXCHANGE ART GALLERY, 88 RACINE (327-5681).

“Dinosaurs in Motion”

Interactive STEAM experience featuring recycled dinosaur sculptures with exposed mechanics inspired by fossils. $15.

Through May 2.

MEMPHIS PINK PALACE MUSEUM, 3050 CENTRAL (636-2362).

Virtual Take Care Family Day

Day of movement, play, and creativity with activities, performances, make-a-longs, and more. Free. Sat., Feb. 13, 10 a.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS, 4339 PARK (761-5250), DIXON.ORG.

JX2 Muddy River Classic Fri.-Sun., Feb. 12-14.

AGRICENTER INTERNATIONAL, SHOWPLACE ARENA, 105 S. GERMANTOWN, JX2EVENTS.COM.

Lunar New Year Family Hike

Hike for families featuring trail activities to explore nature and celebrate the seasonal new year. $5. Fri., Feb. 12, 10 a.m.-noon.

PINECREST CAMP AND RETREAT CENTER, 21430 TN-57 (878-1247), CAMPPINECREST.ORG.

Memphis Grizzlies vs.

New Orleans Pelicans Tues., Feb. 16, 6:30 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM, 191 BEALE.

Memphis Grizzlies vs.

Oklahoma City Thunder Wed., Feb. 17, 8 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM, 191 BEALE.

Memphis Tigers vs.

Cincinatti Bearcats Thurs., Feb. 11, 6 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM, 191 BEALE.

M E ETI NGS

Churches from the Presbytery of the MidSouth: Sunday Worship Livestream

Combined livestream worship.

Visit website for more information and livestream link.

Sun., 11 a.m.

IDLEWILDCHURCH.ORG.

Virtual-T

Weekly Zoom gathering for anyone 18+ who identifies as a member of the trans or GNC community. For login information, email ahauptman@outmemphis.org. Tuesdays, 6 p.m.

OUTMEMPHIS.ORG.

S P E C IA L E V E NTS

Clean, Organize, Donate: IKEA + Junior League of Memphis

Junior League of Memphis will be at IKEA collecting household goods in good condition. Gift for first 30 donations. Sat., Feb. 13, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

IKEA, 7900 IKEA WAY (888-8884532), JLMEMPHIS.COM.

HOLLYWOOD CASINO, 1150 CASINO STRIP RESORT, TUNICA, MS (662-357-7700), HOLLYWOODCASINOTUNICA.COM.

Nominations for Memphis Parent Mom of the Year Nominate a mom who makes you smile. Prizes include $1,000 orthodontic work for the child and teeth whitening for mom from Saddle Creek Orthodontics. Submit nomination online. Winner announced in May issue.

Through Feb. 28.

MEMPHISPARENT.COM.

H O LI DAY EVE NTS S PO R TS / F IT N ES S

$199. Through Feb. 14.

Rhythm & Revolution: An Expression of Struggle, Collaboration, and Peace Featuring the music of soul greats mixed with jazz, spoken word, and original music from students. Wed., Feb. 17.

STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC, 926 E. MCLEMORE (9462535), STAXMUSICACADEMY.ORG.

Can’t Help Falling in Love Package

Celebrate with special deals for your Valentine’s weekend.

Includes room, dinner for two, and more. Feb. 12-14.

GUEST HOUSE AT GRACELAND, 3600 ELVIS PRESLEY (332-3322).

The Date Night Cabaret

Featuring champagne, cupcakes from Macaronagerie Memphis, $25 gift card to Pugh’s Flowers, and an hour-long digital cabaret featuring musical theater love songs. $100. Sat.-Sun., Feb. 1314, 6 p.m.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE, 66 S. COOPER (726-4656), PLAYHOUSEONTHESQUARE.ORG.

Galentine’s Day Flower Arrangements Join Joana Bernadini with your ladies and a bottle of wine to create some floral arrangements. Materials included. $85. Fri., Feb. 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

ARROW CREATIVE, 2535 BROAD.

Levitt Shell Virtual Black History Month Series

Featuring concerts from the archives. Free. Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. Through Feb. 27.

LEVITTSHELL.ORG.

Love Notes

Order one of three audio files. Add basket, for pick-up February 10-13, noon to 4 p.m.

Includes goodies from Theatre Memphis, Dinstuhl’s, and more. $10-$50. Through Feb. 13.

THEATRE MEMPHIS, 630 PERKINS EXT. (682-8323).

Lovers Stay Here

Hotel special featuring two nights and a $100 credit at Fairbanks Steakhous, with a Valentine’s Day add-on for $39 including a bottle of champagne and gourmet snacks.

St. Valentine’s Virtual Run

Complete your run at your leisure, on a course that you choose during the week. Benefits Bartlett Parks and Rec. $25, $40 per couple. Through Feb. 13.

RACEROSTER.COM

Valentine’s Day Prix Fixe Menu

Reserve your table now at Fairbanks Steakhouse inside Hollywood Casino Tunica for a special Valentine menu. $35 lunch, $65 dinner per person.

Feb. 13-14.

HOLLYWOOD CASINO, 1150 CASINO STRIP RESORT, TUNICA, MS (662-357-7700), HOLLYWOODCASINOTUNICA.COM.

FO O D & D R I N K EVE NTS

Science of Beer Pick 6

Visit breweries and get your card stamped to enjoy free museum admission.Through Feb. 28.

MEMPHIS PINK PALACE MUSEUM, 3050 CENTRAL (636-2362), MEMPHISMUSEUMS.ORG.

Vive Le Brooks: Savor at Home

Series of chef-led virtual dinners with special wines brought to you live via Zoom from Brooks Museum featuring Chef Jimmy Gentry and Buster’s. $90. Fri., Feb. 12, 6:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART, 1934 POPLAR (544-6209), BROOKSMUSEUM.ORG.

F I LM

Hood Film Junkie: The Pull Up Drive-In Series A very Black drive-in experience highlighting Black men from all over the world. $25 per car. Mon., Feb. 15, 7 p.m.

MALCO SUMMER 4 DRIVE-IN, 5310 SUMMER (681-2020).

Morris and Mollye Fogelman International Jewish Film Festival

Features nine films ranging from feature films, to documentaries, to comedy. $12 members, $15 nonmembers.

Through March 3.

MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, 6560 POPLAR (761-0810), JCCMEMPHIS.ORG/FILM.

FOOD By Michael Donahue

Your Heart’s Desire Area restaurants offer Valentine’s take-out specials.

Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza is providing a “fun, interactive Valentine’s meal” for two, says owner Miles Tamboli. His Valentine’s Dinner Date Meal Kit, which will be available February 13th and 14th, includes a bottle of rosé wine, an appetizer, pizza dough, sauce, and toppings; a recipe card so you can make your own pizza; and tiramisu.

Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Catherine & Mary’s, and The Gray Canary are offering a four-course Valentine’s Day Take & Bake dinner for two. First course: salmon tartare with trout roe, apple, crème fraîche, fine herb, versus bianco, and C&M cracker. Second course: Gemelli lobster

CROSSTOWN

CONCOURSE

FOR A CHANGE OF SCENE, VISIT YOUR CONCOURSE. C R O S S TOW N CO N CO U R S E .CO M @YOURCONCOURSE

@ CROS S TOW NCONCOURSE

RESOLVE TO SUPPORT LOCAL MEDIA. The Memphis Flyer tells you what you need to know in good times and in tough times. That’s what we’ve done since 1989, and not even 2020 could stop us. So, as we enter this new year, resolve to support the free, independent local paper that’s always here for you. Even a little helps a lot.

s u p p o r t . m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

BECKY GITHINJI

Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza

amatriciana, with panna gratta and basil.

Third course: beef tenderloin with root vegetable purée and black truffle bordelaise. Fourth course: chocolate sticky butter toffee pudding with brown butter pecan powder and salted caramel gelato.

Wine is an Arnaud Lambert Château de Brézé Crémant de Loire cabernet rosé.

Iris restaurant partnered with Muddy’s Bake Shop, Joe’s Wines & Liquor, and Rachel’s Flower Shop. The package for two includes an artisan cheese and accoutrement plate, your choice of slow-roasted American kobe short ribs or red snapper and Gulf shrimp court bouillon. These are served with sides of grits and roasted Brussels sprouts. Also, two Muddy’s cupcakes, six roses from Rachel’s, two chocolate martinis from Second Line, and a bottle of Constantia Uitsig South African sparkling wine from Joe’s.

Magnolia & May is offering a Filet and House-Made Pasta Magnolia Farm Chef Box for two. It includes local veggies, including Bluff City Fungi mushrooms, and a mustard cream sauce. The box comes with a recipe card and a YouTube video link with preparation instructions. Wine pairings can be added, or you can order a cocktail box, which features Maker’s Mark whiskey and includes a recipe card and video link with directions to make an old fashioned and a blueberry basil smash.

Sweet Grass is featuring a Valentine’s Day Prime Rib Dinner for Two that includes a winter cobb salad, loaded baked potatoes, horseradish cream, Boursin- and pistachio-stuffed piquillo peppers with black garlic honey, artisan rolls with whipped butter, chocolate-covered strawberries, and a bottle of wine.

Sunrise Memphis is doing Valentine’s Day breakfasts: brioche bread with cheesecake frosting and a chocolate drizzle, topped with a chocolate-covered strawberry, for $14; and a Southern Surf and Turf Benedict: pan-fried country ham with fried oysters on an open-faced biscuit, topped with champagne hollandaise and scallions, for $15. Sunrise also will offer “breakfast in bed” delivery via Chow Now online at sunrise901.com. Sunrise recommends ordering early in the day because delivery orders between 10 a.m. and noon are sometimes severely delayed.

For prices, location details, and more info, visit memphisflyer.com.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

L

ight the candles. Start the mood music. Scatter the rose petals. And let Memphis area restaurants provide the romantic Valentine’s Day dinners. Several local establishments put all their hearts into creating dinners you can pick up and enjoy in the privacy of your own love nest. Here’s a sampling: Erling Jensen: The Restaurant is featuring its Valentine’s Day To-Go, which includes clam and potato bisque and an arugula, pear, chèvre, and almond salad with saba vinaigrette; your choice of a 16-ounce beef Wellington or prosciuttowrapped sea bass served with au gratin potatoes and roasted asparagus; and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Chef Tam’s Underground Cafe is offering a Steak Valentine’s Box for two, which includes one tomahawk steak with buttered mushrooms, butter-herb asparagus, garlic smashed potatoes, four honey-butter rolls, grilled strawberry shortcake, two premium cocktails, and one bottle of champagne.

19

FILM By Chris McCoy

Nomadland Frances McDormand stuns as a working-class vagabond in modern America.

C

“

Fe b r u a r y 1 1 - 1 7 , 2 0 2 1

hickenization” is a term coined by journalist Christopher Leonard to describe a phenomenon that has become ubiquitous in the American economy in the 21st century. In his 2014 book The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business, he traced the trajectory of Tyson, the giant corporation that controls the vast majority of poultry produced in this country.

Beginning in the 1960s, Tyson was a pioneer of vertical integration — owning every link of the supply chain necessary to make your product — by buying up 33 competitors and stripping them of valuable assets.

Then, armed with the data they collected from running every aspect of the operation, they outsourced the less profitable portions to independent contractors. In this case, that means small farmers who, in times past, had a number of food companies competing to buy their chickens. But since Tyson owns everything from the feed mill to the slaughterhouse, now the small farmers have to play by the rules the monopolist lays down. As a result, the chicken farmers “own” the dirty and expensive parts of the poultry business while Tyson controls the profitable portions, and there’s no way for the farmers to get ahead. People who used to be employees with

benefits are now expected to bear the cost of their own employment.

Chickenization has spread throughout the economy. Uber drivers completely depend on the company’s largesse to assign them rides, but they are stuck with the cost of maintaining their own cars. When Leonard visited towns in Arkansas whose economies are dominated by Tyson, he called it “feudalism by another name.”

In Nomadland, Fern (Frances McDormand) is experiencing the endgame for the fully chickenized worker.

She and her husband lived in Empire, Nevada, where they both worked in the same gypsum plant. Fern’s middle-class lifestyle suffered a fatal one-two punch when her husband died unexpectedly and the plant shut down. With the town’s sole economic engine gone, everyone moved on, and her home, which represented all of her wealth, became worthless overnight.

Fern sells what she can, puts the rest in storage, and buys a van. She roams through the American West, going from one seasonal contract job to another. When the story opens, she is working the Christmas rush at an Amazon fulfillment center and living, along with dozens of other members of the precariat class, in an Amazonsubsidized RV park.

Is there a purer example of

Frances McDormand (above) plays Fern in Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, based on the 2017 book by Jessica Bruder. the Orwellian use of language in late-stage capitalism than “fulfillment center”? It sounds positively transcendental. But the reality is a vast, bleak building powered by disposable people.

Fern’s predicament is driven home early in director Chloé Zhao’s film. Laid off as soon as the holidays subside, and unceremoniously informed she’s being evicted from the trailer park, she spends New Year’s Eve alone, wearing a battered “Happy New Year!” tiara while passing out sparklers to her neighbors.

As the trailer park exodus begins, Fern learns of a gathering of nomads in the Arizona desert, run by reallife van-dwelling YouTuber, Bob Wells. In the remarkable scenes that close out the film’s first act, Fern learns survival skills and, for the first time in a long time, feels like she’s part of a community. She also meets Dave (David Strathairn), a ruggedly good-looking nomad who takes an interest in her.

Like Hillbilly Elegy, Nomadland was adapted from a nonfiction book about the ignored and rapidly growing

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the dreary reality of the small towns where Fern scrambles to find work and keep her van running. When Fern is finally forced to swallow her pride and ask for help, there is real tension. Will she choose the illusion of self-sufficiency or a modicum of comfort and security at the cost of dependence on others?

Messy, morally complex, and never less than moving, Nomadland brings to mind Ma Joad’s final words: “They can’t wipe us out, they can’t lick us. We’ll go on forever, Pa, ’cause we’re the people.”

Nomadland is showing at Malco Paradiso, and streaming on Hulu starting Feb. 19.

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HOSPITALITY/ RESTAURANT

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American underclass. But Nomadland lives up to the social realist tradition of The Grapes of Wrath by portraying Fern’s quiet dignity. McDormand’s performance might just be the best of her storied career.

Zhao’s direction has one foot in the DIY underground. She and McDormand took to the van life for months during filming, capturing scenes set in real places, like the famous South Dakota roadside mecca, Wall Drug. Spectacular vistas of little-seen parts of the American landscape representing the freedom of the open road contrast with

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

EMPLOYMENT

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THE LAST WORD By Julie Ray

Dream Safaris

THE LAST WORD

We are coming up on the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 lockdowns. It’s been a tough year for everyone. My family learned that it would have been a tough year even without COVID. A couple of months after the lockdown last March, my dad was diagnosed with acute leukemia. He was gone by August. It left a hole in our family and uncovered a secret: My mom has dementia. My dad had covered for her to the point that my siblings and I had no idea. With my dad gone, I moved into my mom’s home to care for her.

I always said that dad was my mom’s oldest child. It was a description he relished and often bragged about. He was fun. He laughed at his own jokes, usually because no one else did. Mom, on the other hand, was a pragmatist. The two of them together were a living sitcom.

There was the time they accidentally left the video cam running while touring on vacation. When they queued up the VCR to show the family their tour on film, the tape rolled and mom’s voice said sweetly, “There’s the town square,” while filming a nondeMARTINBERGSMA | DREAMSTIME.COM script government building. Things changed dramatically as the camera jostled on the Cruising down memory lane looking for curbside “treasures” seat and mom’s shrill voice said, “Turn left! Turn left! I told you to turn left. You ruin everything!” The camera slid back and forth on the seat filming the dashboard as the screeching U-turn was heard, followed by a single word from my dad, “Goddammit!”

You could hear a pin drop as mom shut off the VCR saying demurely, “I guess we left the camera on.”

Everyone in the room simultaneously burst into laughter because those few seconds of video evidence encapsulated every single car ride with those two. Bar none.

Now, dad’s gone, and when I moved in with mom, it was strange at first. She was my mom. But she wasn’t my mom. She forgets what happened five minutes ago but remembers details from decades ago. When we made our traditional ravioli at Christmas, mom insisted that we could only use Italian sausage from Barzizza’s Italian Meat Market. A Google search told me that the market hadn’t been open for business in 50 years. I did find Dino’s Meat Market off Chelsea on North Willett, thanks to Google.

We went on an Italian sausage adventure. The meat market was not as mom remembered. It was the kind of place where you bring a deer you just shot to be processed. Not really a storefront, though they did sell us some sausage.

Mom asked, “Where are the meat cases?”

To which I replied, “Mom, they don’t really do that anymore.”

“Then where do people buy their Italian sausage?”

Ugh. Then I realized we were near Tad Pierson’s new digs. Y’all know Tad with American Dream Safari. He drives the pink Cadillac tours around town. He honks and waves while he’s entertaining guests to our city. I turned the corner. His truck was a signal that he was home. We spent the day with Tad telling us stories and giving the nickel tour of his place. He showed us some weathered wood he’d found from a felled tree that resembled Trump’s hair. It was fun.

Mom’s quest for bygone days turned into a magical adventure.

One activity she really likes is curb shopping. She calls the items she picks up from the curb “treasures.” Recently, she hit a new low with this activity. While we were cruising for treasures, she said, “Oh, look. There’s something red on the curb. What is that?”

I said, “A riding lawnmower.”

“Let’s get it.”

“Mom. The guy is sitting on it and cutting his lawn with it.”

“Well, it’s on the curb isn’t it?”

“Let me get this straight. We are going to pull over, knock the guy off his mower, and load it in your minivan. Is that what you are proposing?”

“I guess we better leave it.”

“Yeah. Let’s go with that plan.”

The next day, she decided she wanted to clean out her garage.

I did what any dutiful daughter would do and took a nap. When I woke up, she had a mound of discarded items on the curb. It made me tired. I took another nap. When I woke up, she was curb shopping from her own pile.

Even though the past year has been in the crapper, sometimes the best treasures are the ones you already have — like this extra special time with my mom.

Julie Ray is the Flyer’s calendar editor.

m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

Savoring the treasures of a difficult year.

23

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