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Mile-High Art The installation, removal, and reinstallation of Tommy Kha’s art at the Memphis Airport.

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CONTENTS

JESSE DAVIS Editor SHARA CLARK Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Senior Editors TOBY SELLS Associate Editor CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor SAMUEL X. CICCI, MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers ABIGAIL MORICI Copy Editor, Calendar Editor 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

If you own a copy of Detective Comics No. 27, published in March 1939, you own a piece of history, and one worth a gold mine. Batman debuted in the 27th issue of Detective Comics, and he’s been punching and POW!-ing his way through the collective unconscious ever since. Not bad for an octogenarian who wears his underpants on the outside.

Producer Bill Dozier’s Batman television series, starring Adam West in the titular role, aired as reruns when I was younger, and I watched them with my dad. But my Batmania kicked into high gear when Batman: The Animated Series was released in 1992.

Decades later, I’m still a fan. Recently, my sister and I ate dinner at a local restaurant before catching a screening of the newest Bat-film. As we waited for our food, I drank a Memphis beer — a risky move considering the film’s nearly three-hour runtime — and asked my sister when she thought her son might be ready to visit Gotham for the first time. He’s about six months younger than I was when I started watching the Adam West reruns, so the timing seems right. Not to mention that my nephew tends to prefer characters who dress in black and act dramatic (He’s a huge fan of the evil queen in Snow White), so a cape-wearing weirdo who hangs out in a stalactite-encrusted cave should be right up his Crime Alley. The conversation got me thinking about different generations.

Batman, a part of the cultural milieu for so long, is a convenient vehicle for observing changing cultural norms and aesthetics. Though superheroes have conquered the box office in the last decade, somehow Batman seems to stand apart. Who knows why?

Maybe it’s that Bats works on his own without elaborate stories mapped across the entire DC intellectual property universe. Maybe it’s just that he’s been around for 83 years.

My dad was the one who made sure I saw the 1966 Batman TV show. He also took me to see Mask of the Phantasm in theaters, and he was the one who rented Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns on VHS. He usually has kind things to say about Burton’s Bat-flicks, but if pressed, he always makes fun of Michael Keaton. Adam West, he’d say, is the best Batman, the “real” version. West is best; he didn’t need no stinkin’ rubber armor.

Whereas, if you ask me, Kevin Conroy, who voiced Bats in the animated series, is the best Batman. No contest. And my favorite Joker? Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger can sit down; Mark Hamill takes the crown as the Clown Prince of Crime. Why? His vocal range — he can go from mirthful to menacing on a dime. Or, more probably, because I watched the animated Batman show religiously while I was in the target age group.

So, if my nephew ends up being a Bat-fan, I’m sure someday I’ll be disappointed in the version of the character his generation loves. To be honest, I hope that Batman becomes more and more anachronistic as society changes, as our understanding of crime and its causes and solutions evolves.

In fact, as our film editor pointed out in his review of the newest Bat-flick, Batman is already out of date. According to Forbes, “Overdraft banking fees, specifically, cost consumers $12.4 billion in 2020. Though it’s a decrease from the authors’ findings of overdraft fees totaling $17 billion in 2018, it’s still steep.” When we think of crime, though, we often think of shady-looking individuals in ski masks breaking into homes.

But according to the FBI’s website, “Victims of burglary offenses suffered an estimated $3.0 billion in property losses in 2019.” Granted, Forbes is talking about 2018 and 2020, and the FBI statistics reference 2019, but there’s still between a $9 billion and $14 billion difference between losses attributed to overdraft fees versus burglary. It seems Bruce Wayne could do more good for Gotham by buying Gotham Bank and eliminating those fees. And I hope wage theft isn’t an issue at Wayne Enterprises, or Batman needs to haul himself into Arkham for questioning.

Maybe, like King Arthur and Camelot, Batman and Gotham will be enjoyed long after the world portrayed on comic pages and on-screen loses any resemblance to our own. Or maybe we will sacrifice the World’s Greatest Detective on the altar of a changing world. Even a super-fan such as myself can see that’s a worthy trade. So keep Batman in mind when considering a potential solution to one of our many challenges.

N E WS & O P I N I O N Whether we’re combating income THE FLY-BY - 4 inequality, climate change, racism, or any NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 other of the world’s worst villains, those of POLITICS - 8 AT LARGE - 10 us old enough to legally buy a drink might COVER STORY be uncomfortable with the changes we “MILE-HIGH ART” must make. “That’s not how we did things

BY EILEEN TOWNSEND - 12 in my day,” we might be tempted to say.

WE RECOMMEND - 15 “Not my Batman.”

MUSIC - 16 Well, it’s a new world, old chum, and CALENDAR - 17 FOOD - 19 this ain’t your father’s Batman.

FILM - 20 Jesse Davis C LAS S I F I E D S - 22 jesse@memphisflyer.com

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THE

fly-by

MEMernet Memphis on the internet.

MAR S HA, MAR S HA

POSTED TO YOUTUBE BY C-SPAN

Tennessee’s senior Senator Marsha Blackburn rolled through just about every political and Tennessee subreddit last week, thanks to her performance during the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Blackburn asked Brown Jackson to define “woman,” hinted her “personal hidden agenda” was to incorporate critical race theory into the legal system, and said white privilege was made up. Marsha, Marsha.

JA V. E LVI S

March 31-April 6, 2022

POSTED TO YOUTUBE BY ESPN

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ESPN came to Memphis last week.

NBA Countdown host Stephen A. Smith hoped Ja Morant’s face would start to replace Elvis’ on Memphis billboards. “Elvis is dead,” he said.

“He’s not coming back.”

M E M P H I S M AYO A MEMernet classic resurfaced last week as many pointed out that Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s Wikipedia page still has the fake mayonnaise content after years. The “personal life” section says Strickland is “an avid mayonnaise enthusiast” with an “extensive collection“ of 69 varieties of the condiment. It says while some have criticized Strickland’s mayonnaise spending, many in the city “adoringly refer to the mayor as ‘Mayo Strickland.’”

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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells

C A N N A B E AT B y To b y S e l l s

Coming for Your Gummies A new bill threatens sales of “unregulated” hemp-derived Delta 8 and more.

State lawmakers are reviewing a bill that threatens a number of hemp-derived THC product sales in Tennessee, would slightly increase felony incarcerations, and would cost the state millions of dollars.

The bill seems to tackle the thorny issue of federally legal, hemp-derived THC products like Delta 8, HHC, and THC-O in Tennessee.

It would ban the sale or possession of such products that have a THC concentration of more than 0.3 percent on a dry-weight basis, which is already the federal legal limit for PHOTO: ELSA OLOFSSON | UNSPLASH such products.

The Tennessee Growers Coalition says the new bill would “re-criminaliz[e] what is now legal.”

The bill, sponsored

by Republicans in the House and Senate, would redefine hemp products with fiscal year and about $1.9 million in following years, according more than the federally legal limit as “marijuana,” according to the review. These figures are based on a study from the to an official review of the bill. This would make selling or Brightfield Group, a hemp market study firm. Tennessee possessing these products criminal offenses equal to marijuana sales of the products targeted by the legislation were about in state law. $4.7 million in 2020, according to the study. State researchers The Farm Bill was updated in 2018 to clarify the main valued the overall market for the products in question at $73.4 difference between hemp and “marihuana,” as it is spelled in million in Tennessee. federal law. It says marijuana does not include hemp. Hemp As for felonies, the Tennessee Department of Corrections has a dry-weight THC concentration of less than 0.3 percent, told state researchers that an average of 6.6 Class C felons have the law says, and marijuana contains more than that. been admitted to its system each year for the last 10 years.

The review of the bill from the Tennessee General Assembly That figure would increase by one under the new legislation, Fiscal Review Committee is built on a set of assumptions. according to the review. With this, incarceration costs would It says such products are unregulated at the state and rise by $2,900 annually under the legislation. federal level. Sales of the products are assumed to be due to For this and more, the Tennessee Growers Coalition, psychoactive effects of the cannabinoids found in them. a political action committee that supports hemp-friendly Also, products sold here are “assumed to significantly politicians, told its supporters on Facebook last week that “we exceed the concentration threshold of 0.3 percent.” Finally, must organize to oppose” the bill. “it is assumed that the majority of retailers who currently sell “This is to all but make [Delta 8] and all other hempsuch products will cease sale of such products across the state, derived THCs illegal, re-criminalizing what is now legal under rather than risk criminal penalties.” state and federal law,” reads the post.

If retailers stopped selling these products, state and local House and Senate committees were scheduled to review the taxes would decrease by more than $4.8 million in the next proposal this week.

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NEWS & OPINION

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Crossword ACROSS 1 Objective worked toward during crunch time?

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22 Successful hacker’s declaration 23 Tubes 24 Agrees to compromise 25 Chihuahua, for one

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40 Some Girl Scout cookies 42 Any of three sisters of old Hollywood

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46 The worst of times

2 PC modem or drive

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3 Novelty item in vintage comic book ads

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4 Law enforcers, in slang

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Pollution Solution Cutting-edge devices will clean dirty Tennessee River watershed.

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PUZZLE BY TRENTON CHARLSON

13 “___ and happiness are an impossible combination”: Mark Twain

32 Official birds of Quebec 33 Center of a Scrabble board 35 Kind of phase for 14 Where Nemo was some teens found in “Finding 37 Place to get ribs Nemo” or pulled pork 21 Nip in the end 38 Literally, “little 24 A.F.C. North team wheel” 25 Notable ring 39 Low-cal version bearer of a classic cookie 27 A.F.C. East team, informally 41 From 29 Intangible quality 43 Deep blue

44 Director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “This Is 40” 45 Fail to follow suit 47 Missionaries of Charity founder 49 Button material 51 Mother of Perseus 54 Only 55 Recorder button 57 “Frasier” role 59 Post’s Honey ___!

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For cleaning up the polluted Tennessee River watershed, the future is now — with a new network of cutting-edge devices to remove litter, debris, oils, and more.

Last week, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTRB), and others launched a network of electric Seabin skimmer devices to clean the water. The project will launch 18 of the skimmers, making it the largest network of such devices in the world. The project was funded with grants from TDOT and Keep America Beautiful.

“Until now, all of our work has only been able to prevent microplastics in our waterways, so we are thrilled to be making an effort to actually mitigate microplastics out of the water,” said Kathleen Gibi, KTRB executive director.

The Tennessee River starts in Knoxville, flows south through Chattanooga, dips into Alabama, back up through West Tennessee, and into Kentucky. The clean-up network stretches across the watershed with devices located in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Alabama.

Here’s how KTRB described the skimmers: “The Seabin device, a product out of Australia, works 24/7 to collect marine debris from the surface of the water, much like a pool skimmer that’s electrically operated.

“Each device can remove up to 3,000 [pounds] of marine debris a year, meaning that the 18 devices installed along the Tennessee River watershed will have the potential of removing up to 54,000 [pounds] a year. Even more than that,

PHOTO: STATE OF TENNESSEE

The Tennessee River is one of the most plastic-polluted rivers. the devices will also filter out gasoline, oils, and microplastics from the water.”

In 2017, researchers called the Tennessee River “one of the most plasticpolluted rivers ever recorded in the world.” A study showed the Tennessee contained 16,000 cubic feet of microplastics per cubic meter of water, nearly twice as much as China’s polluted Yangtze River and 8,000 percent higher than levels found in the Rhine River.

Microplastics include plastic bottles, shopping bags, Styrofoam, straws, and more. Some of these items remain intact.

Others disintegrate into smaller particles that remain in the water, threatening fish and drinking water.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said nearly 70 percent of the trash found in rivers comes from inland sources, like litter left on streets that flows into storm drains, which flow into rivers. This is why TDOT said it got involved in the new Seabin clean-up system.

“TDOT’s partnership with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful demonstrates the link between roadside litter and debris that ends up in our waterways,” said TDOT commissioner Joseph Galbato.

“Investing in this substantial network of litter removal devices is another example of how TDOT promotes innovative solutions to making our state cleaner and keeping our waterways clear.”

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Discord and Unity Local events of the weekend focused on both aspects of public consciousness.

With only days Morrison’s serving last year as vice chair remaining before of an ad hoc commission committee to the financial examine a joint city-county proposal disclosures of on future Metro consolidation. That, county candidates Carpenter said, was “an issue that people for the first quarter care about a lot … a forced marriage, of 2022 will be where half the residents of the county made public, don’t want to be in it.”

Shelby County He continued: “And there are people Commissioner Brandon Morrison that say that issue is dead. And I say, you says she is satisfied with her fundraising shouldn’t believe those people while the efforts to date and is focusing on meetpolitical action committees are being the-public events. formed. And the money is being given Jordan Carpenter, her Republican in the background. And the swords are primary opponent and a political being sharpened behind closed doors …” unknown before this race, is meanwhile Apprised of Carpenter’s statement, having as many fundraising events as Morrison, back in Memphis late he can manage. Addressing an audience Monday after a trip to Nashville, where at a Germantown residence on Sunday, she presented the legislature with a he recalled asking “all the big names” commission’s wish list, said her opponent to head up his financial efforts as he was “being divisive, and I’m not going planned his race, “and to play that game. I’m they’re like no, no, we’re looking forward.” not gonna.” So he settled on Jason McCuistion, • Political acrimony was a banking attorney and wholly absent from two his friend “since the other weekend events. eighth grade,” to be his One was the opening at treasurer.

Poplar and Highland on The newcomer has the Saturday of Sheriff Floyd support of the current Bonner’s campaign four Republicans on headquarters. Inasmuch the commission, three as Bonner is unopposed of whom — Amber on the Democratic Mills, Mick Wright, primary ballot and PHOTO: COURTESY DOWNTOWN and Mark Billingsley, the Shelby County MEMPHIS COMMISSION who is term-limited and Republicans are offering Memphis Suffrage leaving office — were no candidate for sheriff, Monument unveiled present on Sunday. the event was readyDavid Bradford, the made for a massive fourth GOP member, was absent. The turnout, and an enormous number newly reapportioned District 4, which of candidates from both sides of the Carpenter and Morrison are competing political aisle, as well as independents, in, is a montage of East Memphis and showed up for a share of the dais.

Germantown precincts.

The other big event of the weekend, Contending that Morrison has also crowded, was nonpartisan by “failed” to represent the district, design. It was the official unveiling on Carpenter cited two issues he thought Sunday of the new Memphis Suffrage important to suburban Republicans.

Monument on the riverfront in a space One was the lingering issue of support behind the University of Memphis for MATA, something Morrison Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. The has expressed openness toward by tribute to the women who worked to reorienting present funding. “You don’t extend the ballot to womankind was the take county taxpayer money and send brainchild of Memphis activist Paula it to a Memphis city entity when they’re Casey, who labored 20 years to bring it not using the money that they already into being. On hand for the unveiling have correctly,” he said. was a virtual who’s who of local officials And the challenger took issue with and civic figures.

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The Price of Gaffes Tribal politics is taking us all down a slippery slope.

F

“

or God’s sake, this man a real estate deal. The remark didn’t get cannot remain in power.” much play on the morning shows, though.

With these nine Not gaffe-y enough, I guess. words — apparently an Biden, by contrast, was saying the quiet ad-lib departure from his scripted speech part out loud, something most decent in Poland last Saturday — President Joe people wish would happen: Putin has got Biden started the media’s hearts a-thumpin’ to go. Forty years ago, President Reagan and created a field day for pundits, routinely called for the Berlin Wall to commentators, and other opinionistas. fall and labeled the Soviet Union “an evil The next morning, the front pages of the empire.” Today, that’s not prudent. And, as country’s major newspapers led with the with everything else in the U.S. these days, story of Biden’s “gaffe.” The Sunday cable the political tribal divide defines how we shows were all over it. Quelle horreur! react to things.

Biden was speaking of Vladimir Putin, We have only to look at the circus of course, the man who has singlesurrounding the Supreme Court handedly shoved Europe into disorder, nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson for destruction, and bloody conflict over the another example. Despite having no real past month, the man who unilaterally blemishes on her record and more judicial invaded and attempted a takeover of a and trial experience than any nominee in sovereign nation by brutal force. decades, she suffered the slings and rubberBut, apparently, suggesting that such tipped arrows of GOP opportunists such as a man should be removed from power Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, is a bridge too far. Biden’s improv sent Josh Hawley, and our homegrown Washington media elites to their fainting lightweight, Marsha Blackburn, who couches. What will Vlad accused Jackson of having think? Will he be peeved? a “hidden agenda to bring Sensing that the president critical race theory into the may have taken a step law” (Huh?) and asked the too far, the White House judge to “define a woman.” immediately walked back (I would dearly love to see the statement, saying that Marsha try to answer that the president only meant latter question. Or “what’s that Putin should be eight times seven?” for that removed from power in matter.)

Ukraine. Right.

Speaking of SCOTUS, PHOTO: Here’s the thing: There how about that wacky PALINCHAK | DREAMSTIME.COM are two sets of rules in Ginni Thomas, amirite?

President Joe Biden play here. Donald Trump (Fun fact: Ginni’s number used to utter more “gaffes” before lunch on was 867-5309.) Copies of texts she sent any given Tuesday than Biden has offered to Trump chief of staff, Mark Meadows, up in 14 months. “Little Rocket Man,” were released to the media last week, anyone? Redrawing the path of a hurricane and it’s clear she was a major force in on a map with a Sharpie? Suggesting organizing the January 6th insurrection that scientists figure out a way to “do an and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 injection into the lungs” with bleach? Now election. Kind of unseemly for the wife of those are gaffes. a Supreme Court justice, don’t you think?

And remember that Trump loves Putin, Surely, even Republicans would agree with repeatedly calling him a “genius.” At a Mar- that? Nope. Crickets. a-Lago gathering a month ago, Trump But, to be honest, I’m hard-pressed to said, “Putin’s taking over a country for two think of any Republican senator who would dollars’ worth of sanctions. I’d say that’s put principle and/or love of country over pretty smart. He’s taking over a country party hackery and self-interest. Maybe Mitt — really a vast, vast location, a great piece Romney? Lisa Murkowski? I know the of land with a lot of people — and just Democrats have their own hacks, but the walking right in.” country has come to a sad state of affairs How remarkable is that? The former when we can’t find agreement on issues president of the United States is rooting with such an obvious demarcation between for the current iteration of Hitler’s invasion right and wrong. It’s always tribes über alles of Poland to succeed, discussing it like it’s — much to our mutual detriment.

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COVER STORY BY EILEEN TOWNSEND

MileHigh Art The installation, removal, and reinstallation of Tommy Kha’s art at the Memphis Airport.

PHOTO: JON SPARKS

The removal of Tommy Kha’s Constellations VIII/Golden Fields from Concourse B inspired national outcry.

T

March 31-April 6, 2022

ommy Kha has always had trouble in airports. The Memphis-born, New York-based fine art photographer uses a variety of props in his photographs — life-sized cardboard cutouts, Greek busts, improbable kitsch baubles — all of which make for peculiar carry-on luggage. Passing through airport security on his way to photo shoots across the country, Kha would often have to have what he terms “the conversation” with Transportation Security Administration agents. “I got the most responses when I was carrying 3-D printed plastic masks of my face,” Kha told the Memphis Flyer. TSA agents would become suspicious when they discovered the lifelike masks peering out of Kha’s baggage. Kha would hurry to explain to the officers: “It’s for art!”

In recent weeks, Kha once again found himself having to explain his artwork in an airport. Only this time, Kha’s work wasn’t hidden in luggage, but displayed in large format on the airport walls. And this time, “the conversation” played out on an international stage, between livid social media posts, corporate boardrooms, and in the press. The firestorm over Kha’s photo series, Constellations VIII/Golden Fields, led to the artwork’s removal and subsequent reinstallation within a week. It garnered the Memphis International Airport accusations of censorship and racism and roped in such 12 unlikely players as the mayor of Memphis, a notable Hollywood film director, and the

CEO of Memphis’ largest tourist business.

It might be difficult to explain why Kha’s photos elicited such a dramatic public response to anyone not from Memphis, but Memphians will have no problem understanding. Kha’s photographs depicted Elvis Presley.

A New Symbol and an Old Icon In early March, Jon Daly arrived at the newly renovated Memphis International Airport to catch a flight to Denver. Daly, who owns the nearby Elvis Presley Boulevard Pawn Shop, was excited to see the new Concourse B. The $245 million project both downsized and modernized an airport that, in its previous incarnation, more closely resembled an offhours bus station than an international flight destination. Once a busy hub, Memphis International has struggled in recent years with declining crowds, a loss that airport CEO Scott Brockman described to The New York Times in 2018 as “death by a thousand cuts.” Brockman feared that the airport’s decline symbolized something greater to Memphians, about the transformation of the city from a bustling urban center to a place that no longer felt like “a real city.”

Concourse B was an attempt not only to save the airport as a functional utility but to renew it as a symbol of a resilient Memphis.

The remodel opened in January 2022 to much praise. The renovation replaced low ceilings and beige brick with soaring glass

galleries. The crowning jewel of Concourse B is a million-dollar contemporary art collection sourced from predominantly local visual artists. The tourism blog I Love Memphis called the collection “The coolest part of the new terminal.”

When Jon Daly arrived at the airport for his trip, he expected to be impressed.

He travels frequently around the country in search of Elvis-related memorabilia and archival material for his shop. His business in Whitehaven is near both Graceland and the airport. “Being a big Elvis fan, I was excited to see how they would honor Elvis in the airport,” said Daly. As he progressed through the concourse, however, he became frustrated. “I didn’t see Elvis in the airport.

I did see this artwork, and I’ve got to be honest, it was very disheartening.”

The artwork Daly saw was Kha’s. The piece consists of two photographs. The first — Constellations VIII, installed as a large vinyl sheet directly on the wall — is a self-portrait of Kha dressed in a white bejeweled Elvis-style jumpsuit and red scarf, standing in a blue retro kitchen. Kha’s black hair is twisted into a gelled pompadour. He stands impassively behind a table, appearing strangely flat. The flatness derives from the fact that the Kha in the photo is in fact a cardboard cutout of Kha, a prop of himself that he made to insert in his photos. The second photo, Golden Fields, is installed in a small frame set within the first photo. It

features a red room and another cardboard cutout, this one a golden Elvis Presley, lying prone in gold sheets.

These were not the photos of Elvis that Daly had imagined. He was expecting to see Elvis in an iconic light. He wanted a figure closer to the one he’d first admired as a 6-year-old, a wax sculpture in a Myrtle Beach museum. There, Elvis was dressed in his Aloha from Hawaii getup, complete with a floor-length white cape. To the young Daly, Elvis looked like “a superhero” at a time when Daly needed a superhero. Growing up in rural Ohio, he had what he describes as “a rough early life” and Elvis’ gospel music and movies helped get him through. Said Daly, “I would come home and put on Elvis on Tour or Girl Happy. And then it would be okay.”

In 1999, he went to his first Elvis Week and met friends who “are more like family now.”

These days, Daly is an informal figurehead for Elvis fans and collectors internationally.

He lives in Memphis, runs his own Elvis festival, and has a sizable online following of other Elvis aficionados.

After seeing Kha’s photograph in the airport, Daly did what people do when they want to air grievances — he posted on Facebook. “For those of you flying in for Elvis Week,” he wrote, “the city of Memphis has forgotten Elvis fans. I saw no photos of him or Graceland. This however is half of a wall near the bathrooms. What a joke.” He posted an image of Kha’s artwork and tagged

Tommy Kha as Andy Kaufman as Elvis Minus the Singing In their evaluation of the photograph, the Elvis fans had gotten one thing wrong.

Constellations VIII is not a portrait of Elvis.

It is a portrait of Tommy Kha. Kha grew up, almost literally, in the shadow of Graceland. He attended

Graceland Elementary (which closed in 2013) and remembers school field trips where he and his classmates would walk around the walls where Elvis fans signed their names. As a young person, Kha was “not exactly a fan” of Elvis, but he didn’t have to be. Elvis was everywhere, a fact of life, a figure whose name decorated streets and marked the change in seasons. For Kha, Elvis Week represented the end of summer and the beginning of the school year.

Kha is a second-generation immigrant from a Chinese-American family who came to Memphis following the Vietnam War, when the city opened its doors to refugees.

He grew up in a neighborhood that shifted from a white suburb to a predominately Black one following bussing in the 1970s.

He attended Overton High School and Memphis College of Art. As a young artist, he often felt invisible but found community in Memphis’ punk art and music scenes.

In the years since graduating MCA, his talent carried him far away from Whitehaven. His meticulous formal photography, which takes visual cues from William Eggleston, earned him a place in Yale’s prestigious MFA program. His photos of Memphis build on Eggleston’s colorful vernacular of the South but twist it into the South that Kha knows — one of quiet curtained backrooms that threaten as much as they welcome. Kha’s South is a place where things don’t appear quite as they are or even as they pretend to be.

“

That Elvis is at once a real person who did real things — good and bad — a superhero or a joke. He is a symbol we can’t seem to agree over, and he belongs to all of us, for better or worse.

” Throughout his life, Kha has made work about his identity — a queer AsianAmerican man from the South — and work that makes a visual pun of his appearance.

Kha knows he doesn’t look like the American masculine ideal, and he uses that to play with viewers’ expectations.

Kha didn’t really get interested in Elvis until he left Memphis. At grad school in New Haven, he felt homesick and lonely. He bought his first cardboard of Elvis because he needed “someone to keep me company,” and Elvis reminded him of home. He would use the cutout to help him frame shots, to

focus his camera. He didn’t find a way to really incorporate Elvis into his work until 2015, when he met an Elvis tribute artist in Brooklyn. “I thought it would be amazing to make a body of work that is sort of about Memphis but through the filter of meeting [tribute artists] from all over who are doing this thing that I think is art.” That year, he returned to Memphis to photograph tribute artists at Elvis Week. He watched hours of Andy Kaufman videos in preparation. He made a video piece called “Tommy Kha as Andy Kaufman as Elvis Minus the Singing.”

He also tried his hand at performing as Elvis but realized he was “not a performer in that regard.” What he prized most about this work were the conversations, the fleeting connections he felt with the Elvis community.

He also felt a peculiar joy in his own failure to be or imitate Elvis. “I thought it was more poetic to talk about not being able to look the part at all or actually be an Elvis tribute artist. It is not about mockery, but about my own failures. I always try to place myself in a position of disparaging myself.”

Another thing the Elvis fans who critiqued Kha’s photo got wrong: If there is a joke in Constellations VIII, the butt of the joke isn’t Elvis. It’s Tommy Kha. Kha doesn’t mind being the punchline of a joke, so long as it’s one he has constructed.

And so long as, when you get it, you’re not sure if you should really be laughing.

A Respectful Representation When Kha got a call, on March 10th, that the airport was considering removing Constellations VIII because of controversy it had caused among Elvis fans, he was distraught. He was also not surprised.

Kha hasn’t had the best luck showing in the South. In past showings, his work had been spit on, censored, and threatened with destruction. He only submitted to the airport’s call for artists because he was specifically invited by the project managers, the UrbanArt Commission (UAC). He also submitted because, for Kha, there is something that feels different about being recognized as a Southern artist, rather than a gay artist or an artist of color, though he identifies as both. Said Kha, “I know I am from the South, but it is one thing to be seen and to know yourself as a certain way, and it is another thing to be seen by other people that way. I always thought of myself as an artist, but I never considered how it would feel when other people started looking at me and seeing me as an artist.”

The airport offered that visibility.

Kha initially submitted a series of pictures from a decade-long project called “Return to Sender,” or “Kissing Pictures,” photos that show Kha receiving kisses from different people and not returning them.

One of the photos shows Kha being kissed

by another man. In January of 2021, they were initially accepted by a subcommittee and then rejected after debate among a larger decision-making committee. Kha felt that the photos were not accepted because they depicted a same-sex kiss, and he felt let down. Here, again, was a Southern exhibition he would not be able to participate in because his work spoke too plainly about his own Southern experience.

In January, he wrote to the UAC, “I owe a lot to Memphis, I still make work about it.

But I wish to push for the ‘Kissing Pictures’ as I think the work is fresh, peculiar, and, more importantly, could reflect nicely for Memphis to open to art that isn’t necessarily safe or censored.” From there, he let it drop.

That summer, UAC approached him again, suggesting he instead submit other works, some of which referenced Elvis. Kha was still wary, worried about complaints from the Elvis estate, but decided to go forward with it. In August, he found out the work had been approved by the board for purchase. He was happy, even stunned to be a part of the collection, which includes work by 62 artists with Memphis connections, half of whom are artists of color.

His happiness was short-lived.

On March 10th, Kha was contacted

by Lauren Kennedy, UAC director, telling him that complaints from Elvis fans might lead to his piece’s deinstallation. Kennedy was on vacation with her husband, driving through a remote part of West Texas. She’d spent the day frantically attempting to find high ground with cell phone service so that she could speak to the people at the airport authority and determine exactly what was going on. She’d been aware of the Facebook complaints but initially, said Kennedy, “I was more amused than concerned. I didn’t expect it to become what it did. It escalated really quickly. Within the day, it escalated to the airport saying they were being told to take it down, which I understand to have been a board decision.”

No one could give her exact information on who was involved: “I know the airport got a lot of complaints, though I don’t know what ‘a lot’ means numerically. I was told that the mayor’s office had been contacted and that in some capacity Elvis Presley Enterprises participated in some kind of conversation. But I don’t know who that included and what was communicated.”

Both the mayor’s office and EPE denied multiple requests for comment on this story.

Kennedy cautioned the airport against removing the piece. “We thought it was a really bad idea. … We shared our thoughts on how things could transpire if it did come down and just really advocated to keep the piece up.” But the airport did not heed Kennedy’s warnings or wait to remove the continued on page 14

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

Memphis International Airport in the post.

The post immediately went viral among Elvis fans. Nearly 300 people commented, and many shared it. The comments ranged from confused (“Who is that supposed to be in the jumpsuit?”) to livid (“The idiots running Memphis need to realize without Elvis nobody would care about their city!!!!” and “This is disgusting!”) to threatening destruction (“Needs a little spray paint.”).

Comments also involved Kha’s race. A commenter named Karol Donath described Kha as “Kim Jong Un in a poorly made copy of Elvis Stage wear.” In response to a commenter asking, “And what the hell does that picture mean?” a commenter named Alan Wade said, “It means they don’t want to offend the black community …”

A commenter, Paul Snell, asked, “Has the Chinese bought the airport too?” Daly told the Flyer he attempted to delete “ignorant” comments and does not support racism.

To Daly, Kha’s work was just one more mockery of Elvis that reduced the singer to a pop-culture punchline. He interpreted the refrigerator in Kha’s photo as a reference to Elvis’ poor eating habits in his last years. He didn’t like the fit of the jumpsuit. But when asked what else struck him as disrespectful and mocking about the photo, Daly also brought up Kha’s race: “If we were going to go to the Detroit airport, would we have someone who is Asian dressed up as The Temptations? Probably not, because Motown is a respectable record company. If we were to go to the Nashville airport, would we see someone who is of Asian descent dressed as Dolly Parton? Or Hank Williams Sr.? No, we would not … so if we are not going to do it in Detroit [or] Nashville, why is it okay to represent Elvis in that light?”

Kha looking like he does in the photo — a short Asian man in an ill-fitted, cliched jumpsuit — confirmed to Daly that “Elvis is not viewed as a historic figure” in Memphis.

In Daly’s view, there was no way that Kha’s Elvis could be anything other than a mockery. Many fans seemed to share Daly’s sentiment. Within hours, hundreds of Elvis fans from all over the world had flooded the airport authority, Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), and the city of Memphis with comments demanding the photo’s removal.

The story could have ended there, with a few hundred Elvis fans, upset because their favorite singer didn’t look the way they wanted him to. But it didn’t. Instead, the airport listened.

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continued from page 13 piece. Over the weekend, without notifying either Kennedy or Kha, Constellations VIII/ Golden Fields came down.

On Wednesday, March 16th, Kha met via Zoom with Kennedy and the airport’s communications manager, Glen Thomas.

Kha scribbled two notes to himself to prepare for the meeting: “You did not do anything wrong” and “I love Memphis. I’m from Memphis. I love Elvis and I love the community.” In the meeting, the airport explained that they’d received complaints, some of which were racially motivated.

They’d decided to “temporarily” remove Kha’s piece — a move that effectively destroyed its delicate vinyl. The decision was made, according to the airport, because they now saw the piece and its depiction of Elvis as too much of a “lightning rod.” They worried about tourism during Elvis Week.

In the meeting, Kennedy pressed the airport: “It is hard to see the decision to remove without it seeming like giving into the ugly racist part of what has been shared. That needs to be addressed.”

Kha was asked if he would consider doing a recommission for the space, which he declined. “I’ve been trying to avoid this,” said Kha. “If that is how people feel — okay. … It just feels like I was left out of the conversation. To even consider a recommission for me is exhausting.” Kha became emotional in the meeting. “I teach students how to navigate a world where they will face this sort of thing, and I think that conversation is way more important than what happens to me in this moment.”

March 31-April 6, 2022

Speaking Out Kha shies away from controversy. He knew that if he wanted to speak about the piece’s removal, he had a platform to do so: In New York as well as Memphis, his work is well-known, and his fans include members of the national press and prominent artists.

He is followed by around 30,000 people on Instagram. But he felt tired. He’d tried to avoid being in this position. He was teaching and chasing several deadlines. Was saying something even worth it?

When he decided to post something to Instagram that let people know what happened, it was after reading the formal statement from the airport on Monday, March 21st. The airport’s statement emphasized that they did not want to feature “public figures or celebrities,” that the purchase of Kha’s work had been an exception to that concern. It also said that “Among the complaints, there were a small number of comments that included language that referred to Mr. Kha’s race, and such comments are completely 14 unacceptable. The Airport Authority does not support those comments, nor does it

form the basis for the Authority’s decision regarding the piece.”

For Kha, this felt like erasure. The complaints the airport had listened to called for a respectful representation of Elvis. “I know,” said Kha, “that ‘respectful representation’ is code. It just immediately reminded me of how much I have to explain myself. Explain why I am in the room, why I am here. What does that mean, ‘respectful representation’? It is just another way to say ‘Where are you from? Why are you here?

Why is this here?’”

On Instagram, Kha once again found himself having to explain. “For many years, I have created work that explores my own experiences of becoming an artist in the South,” he posted. “I love Memphis still, and I love the countless contributions from many voices and people that have [made] Memphis what it is to me: home.”

Much like the response to Jon Daly’s post had been, the response from Kha’s followers was instant. Hundreds of fans from Memphis, New York, and elsewhere commented to voice confusion, anger, and a call to action. Everyone from the photo editor of The New Yorker, to a national association on censorship, to The Shops at Saddle Creek voiced support of Tommy Kha’s work in the comments of his post.

Soon, the airport was flooded with more complaints. Only these accused the airport of affirming racism and censorship and called for the reinstallation of Constellations VIII/Golden Fields.

By the next day, Tuesday March 22nd, the story had made the local news and national journalists were inquiring: How had this happened? And what did it mean about Memphis that it had?

The Weird World of Airport Art What is airport art, anyway? A porous category. Airport art programs, according to Kennedy, have only existed in living memory, and each airport has a different take on what art might inspire tired passengers. Perhaps the question is easier answered in the negative: Airports are not usually where people go to see the most challenging selection of art.

From the beginning, the Memphis airport’s collection was different. It is striking and contemporary. Kennedy said she has heard the new airport described as “an art gallery with planes” — a compliment she cherishes. The airport authority wanted, according to Kennedy, an art collection that reflected Memphis — not as a city mired in decades-old history, desperate for tourism dollars — but as a city that offered new accomplishments to culture. The airport tapped UAC for the project because they had a proven track record of being able to undertake large projects and work well with local artists. When selecting work, Kennedy

said, “We wanted to be representative of Memphis in the broadest possible sense.

There was also an element of ‘Memphis art canon,’ folks who really deserve to be included in this space that are part of the artist community here in a meaningful way.”

From UAC’s perspective, Kha was canon and needed to be a part of that collection.

Kha is a studio artist. He does not make colorful abstracts for public art commissions. But that was okay — even desirable — because the airport’s collection was not going to be public art in the strictest sense. It’s a private collection of art that is shown to the public and ideally reflects a public ethos. Because of this distinction, the artwork occupies a strange space symbolically and legally. True public art, site-specific commissions for public entities, usually involve lots of paperwork, extensive meetings, and Artists Rights clauses that dictate legal procedure if a work has to be removed or changed. The airport’s purchase of Kha’s work involved none of that. Kha didn’t even sign a contract. So, when the airport decided to remove his piece, there was little legal difference between removing Kha’s artwork and removing an outdated advertisement from the wall.

But there is far more symbolic significance to removing artwork than removing a poster. To the public, removing the artwork was censorship.

Concerns over censorship were why filmmaker Craig Brewer got involved.

Brewer posted to his social media in response, writing, “The folks at Memphis International Airport removed a perfectly inoffensive photo by our own famous photographer, @Tommykha, because they got some complaints from ‘Elvis fans’ on a Facebook thread. This is not who we are.

WE ARE MEMPHIS! Our artists don’t act like other artists in other cities.”

Brewer, an influential figure, also placed two calls — the first, to Mayor Jim Strickland, who was aware of the controversy and voiced his support for Kha’s piece being reinstalled. Strickland said he had called the airport and voiced his concerns. The second call Brewer made was to EPE CEO Jack Soden. Said Brewer, “I don’t know if Jack went further on any of that; all I know is that he was very sympathetic, and I was grateful that he listened. He has always been a really stellar guy.” EPE had no comment.

It is unclear what factors — potential calls from the mayor or EPE, social media complaints, news coverage, or internal discussion — inspired it, but by Tuesday evening, the airport issued a statement of their decision to reinstall the piece. When reached by phone, CEO Scott Brockman claimed responsibility for the decision to both remove and reinstall Kha’s work.

“There was dialogue with a number of

entities …” Brockman said. “There were other people who were involved but that is not relevant to this discussion. I was the lead.” Brockman also stuck to the airport’s initial statement and denied that censorship was its goal: “Things have gotten blown out of proportion and there are a lot of negative things that were said that weren’t true. …

Ugly things … that don’t provide any value.

Our goal was never to create any angst or issue with Tommy Kha. … In hindsight we realized there was a bigger impact than we anticipated. We are not art people. We are airport people.”

By Wednesday night, Kha’s piece was reinstalled. The reinstallation was celebrated across social media and made local and national news. Kha thanked his supporters on social media. The news cycle moved on.

Disembarking In the week that has followed, Kha has had more trouble moving on.

For Kha, Constellations VIII/Golden Fields was never supposed to be a statement on race, an insult to Elvis, or anything so clear-cut. It was meant to be a self-portrait.

“It was my face in the photo,” said Kha. “I was hoping people could make fun of me!

I was there and I was happy to be included.

Now, after everything, I don’t feel that way.”

As with Daly, you can’t tell the story of Kha’s life without talking about Elvis. Kha’s Elvis is not just the one-version Elvis, but the many Elvises all Memphians know — the Elvis who signed autographs at the gate for our grandmothers, who has been endlessly reproduced in velvet paintings and on tchotchkes, who Andy Kaufman and many others have imitated for 50 years, the Elvis who speaks to the lonely and can bring you to tears singing gospel. That Elvis is at once a real person who did real things — good and bad — a superhero or a joke. He is a symbol we can’t seem to agree over, and he belongs to all of us, for better or worse.

Kha says he still loves Elvis, but this experience has spoiled something for him.

He doesn’t want to have to explain himself again, to justify his right to be in the room.

Said Kha, “I think there is so much work to be done. Though it may have worked out for me, I know it may not have worked out for other people. There’s so much at stake and I’m pretty sure it is not good for people who don’t have the same microphone that I have, or the same support system.” Kha wants to ensure this doesn’t happen to others. He doesn’t know quite what that would look like but is continuing conversations with UAC to try to see what protections can be put in place for artists in similar situations.

As for his Elvis photographs, said Kha, “It does make me rethink if I want to explore this project. I don’t know what more I can say, at the moment. I don’t think I’ll go to Elvis Week this year.”

steppin’ out (& stayin’ in)

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Live music at

Worth a Gogh

By Abigail Morici If Vincent van Gogh were on a panel of artists introducing themselves with a fun fact, you might expect him to mention the whole “I cut off my own ear” thing. But who can really say? After all, as art historian Fanny Curtat says, “There’s so much more to him than that. He was much more than this dramatic one-time episode in his life.”

PHOTO: TIMOTHY NORRIS “We tend to remember him for the darkness in his life,” Curtat adds. “For sure, he struggled, for sure. But when you read his letters, he’s very lucid.” When Watch the joy of van Gogh’s paintings come to life in this immersive exhibit. you look at his paintings, especially the later paintings, Curtat says, you don’t see that darkness; you see color and bright beauty. “[Painting] was his way to communicate with the world and really have his message go through. He was trying to communicate and bring joy and help the people around him.”

This story of an artist seeking to sow joy, rather than sulk in tragedy, is the narrative Curtat and her peers sought to showcase in creating “Beyond Van Gogh,” which immerses viewers in more than 300 of van Gogh’s paintings, beginning with his earlier darker work and ending with the bright and colorful paintings we’ve come to expect. “You feel an explosion of color as he gets to the end of his life,” Curtat says.

The traveling exhibition, now on display at the Graceland Exhibition Center, reintroduces the artist and his story to the public consciousness by relating his work to today. “It’s really about showcasing the timelessness, and it really, really helps you connect with the work differently,” Curtat says. Music fills this space as cutting-edge technology projects and animates van Gogh’s work onto the walls and floors of the gallery. “The audience can literally step foot in [the paintings] and really be a part of his vision of the world, feel its movement, light, color.”

The show is family-friendly. Visits take around an hour. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit vangoghmemphis.com.

March 31st The Band of Heathens

Opera Memphis: Live at Health Sciences Park Health Sciences Park, Friday, April 1, noon-1 p.m., free Opera Memphis kicks off its 30 Days of Opera with a performance at Health Sciences Park this Friday, coinciding with the park’s Food Truck Friday, which will feature Millie’s Garden and Barbeque Off Da Chainz food trucks. For a full schedule of the free performances, visit operamemphis.org.

Taking Over: Women in the Music Industry Crosstown Arts, Friday, April 1, 7:30 p.m., $10/advance, $15/ day of show This concert, featuring four female performers and a fully female crew, benefits A Step Ahead Foundation.

Blackspring Farms Spring Kickoff Blackspring Farms, Saturday, April 2, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., free Kick off the last of the freezing weather with the crew at Blackspring Farms as they till up the new sunflower fields. Enjoy live music, a bonfire, and the opportunity to hang out barefoot in freshly tilled soil while the kiddos have plenty of space to chase the chickens. Browse cut flower seedlings that are available to purchase and check out the free yard sale (that’s right, just take what you want for free!).

Visit blackspringfarms.com/events to register.

Overton Park’s Center of a Century Celebration Overton Park, Saturday, April 2, 6-9 p.m., $150 Join Overton Park Conservancy for a special event celebrating 50 years since the Supreme Court decision that prevented Interstate 40 from being built through Overton Park.

This event honors attorney Charles F. Newman and other individuals and organizations who embody and uplift the conservancy’s mission through volunteerism, activism, and leadership.

Enjoy food, drinks, live music from Ensemble X, live painting by Jamond Bullock, exclusive tasting of Old Dominick whiskey, and Overton Park Stories collection by WYX. Tickets benefit Overton Park Conservancy and can be purchased online.

The iguanas & Kevin Gordon

4/28 - 7pm

Neal Francis

4/29 - 8pm

Kaleta & Super Yamba Band

railgarten.com 2 1 6 6 C e n t r a l Av e .

Memphis TN 38104

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

4/9 - 8pm

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES March 31st - April 6th

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

“BEYOND VAN GOGH: THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE,” GRACELAND EXHIBITION CENTER, ON DISPLAY THROUGH JUNE 5, $36.99+.

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MUSIC By Alex Greene

Spaces That Sing Jennifer Higdon conjures whip-poor-wills, crickets, and a room’s emotions.

March 31-April 6, 2022

W

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hen Pulitzer Prize- and Grammywinning composer Jennifer Higdon appears at Rhodes College this week, it will be a homecoming of sorts. But it goes far beyond being a simple return to the South from Philadelphia, her base for decades. (Higdon spent her formative years near Seymour, Tennessee, in the eastern end of the state, a world away from Memphis.)

Rather, for Higdon, it’s more about seeing people she’s known and worked with for years.

“I have over 200 performances a year, and I have a really busy writing schedule. So I don’t go to most of those performances,” she explains. “But I love working with the Rhodes music department and Bill Scoop there. Not to mention the choir and the Memphis Symphony. So I try to make sure that I have time to get down there when they put something like this on the schedule.

There’s something nice about coming back and visiting with people you know and care about. Something about making music that way — it’s special.”

The performance Higdon speaks of will indeed be a charmed moment.

On Saturday, April 2nd, at Rhodes’ McNeill Concert Hall, the MasterSingers Chorale and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra will perform “The Music of Jennifer Higdon” with Rhodes professor of music William Skoog conducting.

At the heart of the concert will be one of Higdon’s most powerful works, The Singing Rooms. While the title may suggest intimate chamber music, the seven-movement composition is really a dynamic rendering of the overwhelming passions that familiar rooms can evoke.

Describing how the piece came to be, Higdon notes that “I was looking at the poetry of Jeanne Minahan [which is incorporated into the work], and it made me think of walking around a big farm house, where each room has a personality. It dredges up these emotions. There’s a lot of energy in

that piece. When I wrote it, it was an interesting challenge to have a solo violin with a huge chorus and an orchestra backing it. That’s a difficult thing to balance.”

That’s especially true in a live setting.

Yet Higdon can barely conceal her delight that in-person concerts are once again happening, after so many livestreamed performances at the height of quarantine. “I think the pandemic made us appreciate the live music experience. Especially with something like The Singing Rooms,” she says. “That piece takes the roof off the hall it’s in.

The third movement comes at you like a freight train. It is unbelievable when you hear it live because when you have a full orchestra, with the brass section and the choir, it’s hair-raising! And that’s the kind of thing you start to appreciate in a live music scene. There’s something about it that’s magical.”

Such magical, emotional experiences are at the heart of Higdon’s work. “My music doesn’t fall in the category of an academic sound. To me, it’s important that the music speaks to the performers because if the performers believe in it and are moved by it, they play it differently.”

The roots of Higdon’s music-making are decidedly non-academic as well. “I grew up on a farm in East Tennessee, and I was self-taught on the flute. I can

PHOTO: ANDREW BOGARD

Award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon will appear at Rhodes College for a concert and lecture. remember walking out on the farm, all the sounds. The soundtrack of my childhood was the whip-poor-wills and the crickets and even the mountain lions.” She also stresses the influence of non-auditory experiences. “I grew up in a visual arts family with a lot of experimental painting, and even animation,” she notes. “My dad was an artist who listened to rock-androll at home. So my childhood wasn’t populated with classical music.”

Such aesthetic cross-pollination between different mediums will be the topic of Higdon’s talk on March 31st, as a Rhodes College Springfield Music Lecturer. “I’ve always thought in terms of pictures and paintings,” she says.

“You’re constantly having to visualize the stuff going around your head.

Sometimes writing music means exactly that. So I put a little film together for this presentation, and the very first segment is on Jackson Pollock because I have a chamber piece called American Canvas, based on three American artists and their styles of working. It’s all connected and it’s fascinating. And the pandemic put me in a frame of mind where I’m thinking about it a lot more.”

Send the date, time, place, cost, info, phone number, a brief description, and photos — two weeks in advance — to calendar@memphisflyer.com.

DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, ONGOING WEEKLY EVENTS WILL APPEAR IN THE FLYER’S ONLINE CALENDAR ONLY. FOR COMPREHENSIVE EVENTS LISTING, VISIT EVENTS.MEMPHISFLYER.COM/CAL.

CALENDAR of EVENTS:

March 31 - April 6

Show by David Mah, reflecting the introspection of people living in confinement, disconnected from the outside world and sometimes each other. Through April 10.

MEDICINE FACTORY

“Dream Weaver II”

Exhibition by artist Sandra Marson. Through April 1.

EAST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

“Family Means No One is Left Behind” Virtual exhibition of work

by Katie Jones. Friday, April 1-April 30.

GALLERY 1091

“I Had The Strangest Dream and You Were All In It”

Exhibition of Amy Hutcheson’s works that respond to daily life, exploring relationships between space, line, color, and form.

Friday, April 1-April 30.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Art in Bloom at the Japanese Garden

Unveiling of a new sculpture in the Japanese Garden, Budding Flowers by Ernests Vitins. Refreshments, a koto demonstration, haiku writing, origami, and ikebana. Saturday, April 2, 2-4 p.m.

C O M E DY

Hasan Minhaj: The King’s Jester

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Patrick McGee Opening Reception

Hasan Minhaj is back with a brand-new one-man show. $35-$94.50. Monday, April 4, 7:30 p.m.

Silent auction featuring art by local artists will benefit Youth Villages. Saturday, April 2, 2-4 p.m.

ORPHEUM THEATRE

MID-SOUTH ARTIST GALLERY

Pinch District Artists’ Market

C O M M U N I TY

Herbal Work Study: What To Do with the Herbs You Just Bought/Are Buying

Shop local artists and artisans.

Sunday, April 3, 1:30 p.m.

WESTY’S

“Waves of Change” Opening Reception

Opening reception for exhibition of fused glass works by Christie Stratton Moody. Thursday, March 31, 5-7 p.m.

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST. MARY’S SCHOOL

B O O K E V E N TS

Meet the Author: Joshua Hood Novel welcomes Joshua Hood to celebrate the launch of

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Robert Ludlum’s The Treadstone Transgression. Wednesday, April 6, 6 p.m.

Learn from the herb garden curator, while helping out at the garden. Saturday, April 2, 9 a.m.-noon.

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“Days Like These”

David Mah returns to Memphis for his first show in a decade: “Days Like These,” a body of work about empathy and shared connection.

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CALENDAR: MARCH 31 - APRIL 6 continued from page 17

FA M I LY

International Transgender Day of Visibility

Baby Shark Live

Panel discussion highlighting many of the issues and challenges facing those who identify as trans. Refreshments by Park + Cherry. Thursday, March 31, 6-8 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Memphis Astronomical Society Meeting

Sing and dance through some of your favorite new and classic songs! $28-$68. Thursday, March 31, 6 p.m.

ORPHEUM THEATRE

Easter Egg Hunt

Open to children ages 2 through 9. Bring a basket or bag. $5. Saturday, April 2, 9 a.m.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY

Fossil Fest

Two days of fun for everyone with an interest in science, archaeology, paleontology, and just digging in the dirt. Saturday, April 2-3.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

FI LM

Jurassic Quest

First Contact Day

MidMOM 2022

RENASANT CONVENTION CENTER

Shoot & Splice: Hair & Makeup with Faizah Husniyah

MID-SOUTH MISSION OF MERCY

Meet BGCM staff and register for summer camp and afterschool opportunities. Enjoy free food, music, and games/ activities. Saturday, April 2, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

A two-day free dental clinic providing care to underserved people. Friday, April 1, 6 a.m.

Remembering MLK: The Man. The Movement. The Moment.

This remembrance will honor Dr. King’s life and legacy on the 54th anniversary of his death and will feature a keynote speaker, musical tribute, changing of the balcony wreath, and a moment of silence Monday, April 4, 4:30 p.m.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

Spring Fair presented by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis

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Tuesday, April 5, 1 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Live demonstration with film and television hair and makeup artist, Faizah Husniyah. Free.

Tuesday, April 5, 7 p.m.

FOOD AN D DR I N K

S P EC IA L EVE NTS

Crawfish Boil 2022

Overton Park’s Center of a Century Celebration

DRUS is teaming up with Crawfish Haven to bring you the best crawfish in Memphis!

Sunday, April 3, 1 p.m.

DRU’S BAR

Drew Rainer Memorial Crawfish Boil

Crawfish, music, and fun honoring Drew. $30. Saturday, April 2, 3-7 p.m.

RAILGARTEN

H E A LT H A N D F IT N ES S

Sista Strut Memphis 3K Breast Cancer Walk

The goal of Sista Strut is to heighten awareness about the issues of breast cancer in women of color, as well as provide information on community resources. Saturday, April 2, 8 a.m.

LIBERTY BOWL STADIUM

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Thrilling Bloody Sword

A head-spinning slice of Taiwanese psychotronic cinema. $5.

Thursday, March 31, 7:30-9 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

3rd Annual River City Jazz and Music Festival

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March 31-April 6, 2022

CANNON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

A herd of life-sized animatronic dinosaurs are roaring into the Renasant. Enjoy dinosaur rides, a fossil dig, inflatables, and more. $19. Friday, April 1, 9 a.m.

Jeremy Veldman will give a revised presentation on navigating the Virgo Cluster. Friday, April 1, 8 p.m.

18

saxophonist Joe Johnson. $59$95. Saturday, April 2, 6:30 p.m.

Weird Wild Sinema: Ichi the Killer

A screening of this gore-soaked nightmare masterpiece! $5.

Friday, April 1, 10 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

P E R F O R M I N G A RTS

Mid-America Passion Play 2022

Celebrate Easter and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thursday, March 31-April 3.

MID-AMERICA SEMINARY

Celebrate the advocates who saved Overton Park from Interstate 40 fifty years ago. $150.

Saturday, April 2, 6-9 p.m.

OVERTON PARK

Playhouse Wine Night

Enjoy wine with light snacks and connect with Mid-South professionals, business leaders, and startups at this networking event for young professionals. Thursday, March 31, 6-7:30 p.m.

OVERTON SQUARE

Tango Memphis

Sol Orozco will be coming to Memphis for three days of tango, including lessons at TheatreWorks, weekend workshop, milonga party, and private lessons. Wednesday, April 6-10.

THEATREWORKS

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901 Wrestling

Scheduled to appear: 901 Wrestling Champion KONTAR the Great, Hunter Havoc, Bobby Ford, T.I.P., Tip Toe Wilson, and more. Saturday, April 2, 7 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

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AUTOZONE PARK

T H EAT E R

A Doll’s House & A Doll’s House: Part Two

Henrik Ibsen’s classic revolutionized the concept of modern theater with his play about the Helmer family. Now, with Lucas Hnath’s Part Two, the complete story of the Helmers can be told. $27. Through April 10.

CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE

Cicada

Set in rural Mississippi, this coming-of-age ghost story is deeply rooted in the life of a small Southern family on the verge of transformation. $25.

Friday, April 1-April 16.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Tumbling Down

The play revisits the Jim Crow era when many Confederate statues were erected as symbols of white supremacy and shows the stratagems that led to the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest tumbling down. $30.

Through April 3.

HATTILOO THEATRE

Friday, April 1, 7 p.m.

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FOOD By Michael Donahue

Celebrating CCC New S. Main pop-up eatery to become a restaurant.

Rande Johnson and Meredith and Keith Clinton CCC, which is open Friday through Sunday, began with the Casserole Cat Club, which Meredith formed with her friends.

That’s why they chose the letter C, Keith says. “Also, our last name starts with C.” “I have an affinity, a love for casseroles,” Meredith says. “I love casseroles so much I have a casserole tattoo.”

Also in the kitchen is chef Rande Johnson, who worked with them when they were at Erling Jensen: The Restaurant, Keith says.

But CCC is temporary; a new restaurant will take its place. “We’re doing construction on the whole building for the future restaurant,” Keith says. “While we’re waiting on permits to be pulled, we decided to do this CCC pop-up.”

They’re operating the business in the building known as the Puck Building.

“The concept of CCC is because we

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needed something kind of small and easy that can handle a lot of foot traffic,” Keith says. “We decided to go with fried chicken because Meredith has been working on this fried chicken her whole life. She grew up working in a gas station in Hayti, Missouri.”

Meredith loves that gas-station fried chicken, but for the past three years she’s been trying to make “the best.”

“I feel like I’m always working on it.

Always slightly tweaking it” she says. “The marinade is super important. And the things that are in it contribute to the flavor.”

She only uses chicken thighs. “The dark meat. They’ve got more flavor, are more moist. Chicken breasts are good, but they don’t have a lot going on.”

There will be a range of champagnes, including medium- to higher-grade. The caviar will primarily be “a kaluga hybrid,” Keith says. “Kind of medium-sized eggs … amber colored. Not too salty. A little cheesy.

Not too oily.” They also will offer some of their high-grade “private stock,” including Oscietra.

You don’t have to order all three Cs. “Everything is a la carte,” Keith says.

The Clintons aren’t ready to reveal the name or much about the upcoming restaurant, but just about everything will change, including the decor and layout.

For now, they’ve turned downstairs into a “mini living room” with an eclectic mix of furniture, including lounge chairs and couches. The new restaurant will feature a small lounge area, a bar, an area for formal dining, and a chef’s table.

As for the food, Meredith says, “I’m very conscious of sustainability and local and things in season and foraging.” The menu will “always be changing, and hyperfocused on share-ability.”

She and Keith have their special strengths, Meredith says. “My main strength is writing menus and creating dishes.” Plating is one of Keith’s strengths. “I can create a dish and think of all the flavors that go into it and Keith makes it look absolutely beautiful.”

So, who is the executive chef? “I would say we’re both the executive chef,” Meredith says, adding, “We’re both the boss, but I’m more of the boss, maybe. I’m more of the final say. I’m very particular about things.”

For instance, Keith wants to hang a large chandelier in the kitchen. Meredith wants to hang a disco ball there.

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“But it’s going through a lot of evolutions,” says chef Keith Clinton, who operates CCC, a new pop-up restaurant, with his wife and fellow chef, Meredith Clinton.

“We can change it … make different concepts. She’s already thinking about different things to change it to.” Like “cheeseburger” and “corn dogs.” They also do “catering.” “‘Contribute’ is another C-word,” Meredith says. They wanted to create a space where people “can do their own thing. If you want to sell T-shirts or temporary tattoos, sell it, make some money.” The Clintons also want to “collaborate” with other chefs. “A lot of our friends are helping us cook, make the cocktails, and serve.”

19

FILM By Chris McCoy

Sandra Bullock and the Temple of Doom The Lost City has romance, action, and Channing Tatum’s bare bum.

March 31-April 6, 2022

L

20

ast weekend, I was at the Time Warp Drive-In for the screening of the classic Indiana Jones trilogy.

Yes, there was lots of stuff to do around town on Saturday night, and I’ve seen Raiders of the Lost Ark hundreds of times, but I just couldn’t resist the rare opportunity to watch a masterpiece of adventure cinema at the drive-in. As Harrison Ford and Alfred Molina skulked through the booby-trapped Peruvian temple, I glanced over to Malco Summer Drive-In’s screen three, where I saw Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in an overgrown jungle temple, surrounded by snakes, lorded over by a guy in a fedora who looked a lot like Indy’s arch enemy Belloq.

The movie was The Lost City, and its existence in 2022 speaks to the enduring influence of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s collaboration in the early 1980s.

The dashing archeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones has deep roots in the pulp literature of the early 20th century, where characters like Doc Savage and Allan Quatermain were both scholars and two-fisted men of action who traveled to exotic locales to find treasure and thwart the plans of other well-educated, but evil, Westerners.

Lucas encountered these hyper-competent heroes in films like 1937’s King Solomon’s Mines and the adventure serials which ruled the Saturday matinee.

You can still see those kinds of heroes get out of unlikely scrapes, most recently in Uncharted.

Almost as soon as Spielberg set the new template for the colonial adventure tale, people started

You’ve seen it before and you’ll happily see it again: An intellectual woman (Sandra Bullock) falls for a big-hearted himbo (Channing Tatum). parodying it.

The earliest light ribbing of Indiana Jones was Romancing the Stone, Robert Zemeckis’ 1984 romantic comedy starring Kathleen Turner as Joan Wilder, a romance novelist thrust into an adventure right out of one of her books, and Michael Douglas as a rakish big-game hunter who comes to her rescue. In The

Lost City, Sandra Bullock’s Loretta Sage is the direct descendant of Joan Wilder. She’s the author of a highly profitable series of books about an extremely sexy hero Dash and his on-again, off-again archeologist love interest Angela Lovemore. Loretta can’t come up with a good end for her latest romantic escapade, in which the couple searches for the legendary Lost City of D, and her publishing company publicist Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) is increasingly agitated about it. When she finally gives up and tacks on a stupid ending, she finds herself thrust into a book tour opposite Alan (Channing Tatum), the hunky model who lends his image to Dash for her book covers.

As with all good rom-coms, we know they’re destined to get together long before they do. Just as the book tour is falling to pieces, Loretta is kidnapped by Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), the embittered scion of a Murdoch-esque publishing fortune who spends his ample free time and disposable income treasure hunting. The mysterious artifact Loretta used as the MacGuffin for her latest novel, the Crown of Fire, is real, and it turns out that, in researching her book, she came closer to discovering its final resting place than anyone in history. Fairfax whisks her away to the island where the crown is allegedly located to help finish his search. Meanwhile, a frantic Beth convinces Alan to contact his old friend Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt), a former Navy Seal who promises to return with Loretta in 48 hours “or your next rescue is free.”

Directed by brothers Aaron and Adam Nee, The

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FILM By Chris McCoy Lost City is not breaking any new ground, but it’s a pretty tight little film which does exactly what it sets out to do. It succeeds based mostly on the chemistry between Bullock and Tatum, never missing an opportunity to wedge them into a cramped sleeping bag or confront Loretta with Alan’s bare bum. It’s a given that the intellectual Bullock will eventually fall for Tatum’s big-hearted, thick-headed himbo. The supporting cast is all in on the joke.

Pitt once again proves he’s a character actor trapped in a leading man’s body.

Radcliffe steals scenes as the civilized

villain whose luxury MRAP has a minibar. Randolph carries her own comic B-plot almost single-handedly. The selfreferential script, like its protagonist, is often too smart for its own good.

Ultimately, it’s very refreshing to see a lighthearted romantic adventure where the stakes are human-sized. Sure, it’s derivative, but as Radcliffe’s villain says when he knocks Bullock out with chloroform, “It’s a cliché for a reason.”

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THE LAST WORD By Kristen Smith

Ain’t I a Woman?

Let’s wrap up this Women’s History Month by continuing to honor all expressions of femininity and womanhood.

I liked wearing shorts and baggy tees.

Hair dancing unapologetically with the breeze.

Finding me outside with a ball in tow.

I never had a need for any hair bow.

Looking in the mirror asking, “Ain’t I a woman?”

Declaring back proudly, “Shit yeah, I’m a girl.”

Kristen Smith is a Memphis-based writer and storyteller passionate about the transformative power of words for healing and joy.

THE LAST WORD

Womanhood is as fluid as the wind blowing through bloomed spring trees.

As beautiful as all the sunsets combined on the mighty Mississippi.

As strong as a live oak withstanding many hurricanes.

As diverse as a wild country garden in full bloom.

And bold enough to be the only one in a room.

Femininity not defined by actions.

Virtue not defined by compliance.

No appearance can be a criteria.

For womanhood is limitless.

Bound by no requirements.

Girls with shorts.

Or ladies with fades.

Ain’t I a woman?

Shit yeah, I’m a girl.

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

While most of the other girls in the competitive junior tennis circuit wore skirts and bows in their hair, I wore shorts and sometimes a backwards baseball cap. In addition to tennis, I played basketball and softball, and field day was my favorite day of the year. I preferred being outside over any indoor activity. My hair was known to be wild and loose. I was what the world would call a “tomboy.” Because of this, by the sixth grade, I was no longer invited to the slumber parties with the other girls. I had lost my seat at the girls’ table.

There were times I would wonder if I had been born a boy would I have fit in better? But deep inside I knew the answer — I was proud to be a girl, even if it looked different from my peers. When my period came at 12, I asked myself, “Ain’t I a woman, now?”

A friend of mine recently told me a story about when she went to her university’s tutoring center for help with a paper she was writing. At the end of the meeting, the instructor asked her, “Are you a ‘she’?” My friend looked back at her and declared, “Shit yeah, I’m a girl.”

My friend keeps her hair shaved low and rocks sneakers with her joggers. She’s currently serving in the military, protectPHOTO: COURTESY KRISTEN SMITH ing the country that does not appreciate her womanhood. I’ve stood next to her when someone said, “Excuse me, ‘sir’.” A Proud to be a girl, a woman, a lady few weeks later it happened to me, too.

Throughout my life, I’ve been told to either act “like a girl” or “like a lady.” Or as my mom would sometimes say, “Kristen, that’s not very ladylike.” And I would always question her and the world, “How is a lady supposed to act?” Because even as a younger form of myself, I did not believe that my behavior nor my appearance should define my gender.

For over three decades, I have had to defend my gender identity to a world that has a certain perception of what womanhood should look or act like. But there is no universal woman. There isn’t a standard in which we must all follow to pass the womanhood litmus test. Actions and behaviors don’t define gender. They never have. It was culture, society, and religion that attempted to define womanhood in terms of looks and actions. But today’s culture is waking up and digging up the weakly planted roots of sexism (and all the -isms). There is no universal woman, except that she is a woman universally.

In 2022, it’s time to let go of any preconceived notions of gender. We are free to express all gender identities however we choose. Women of all backgrounds are forging ahead and making their marks in Congress, in Hollywood, in the Supreme Court, and in sports. However, are they forging ahead in our backyard and neighborhood? In our community and city? It’s time to amplify and listen to women’s voices.

All women.

The next little girl is waiting in the wings and watching to see if she’ll be able to step on stage as her full self. We should not want her to have any doubts on her persona as a woman. Beautiful. Strong. Graceful.

Unique. Woman.

23

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