Memphis Flyer 4/28/2022

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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

OUR 1731ST ISSUE 04.28.22 Of all the subgenres of rock-and-roll, “songs about playing music” is in my top three. I love the demystification of it all, the lyrics about jet lag and long bus rides and hoping to scrape a few dollars together. And maybe, when it comes down to it, I just love selfreferential art.

When Big Star’s Alex Chilton sings, “I can’t get a license/To drive in my car/But I won’t really need it/If I’m a big star,” on “O My Soul,” casually dropping the band’s name into the lyrics, what can I say? I eat that up.

So, against my natural inclinations, I’ve done my best not to talk too much about the inner workings of the Flyer in these weekly columns. Partly to preserve an aura of mystery, which, I hope, our readers will find alluring. Partly because I’ve realized that the minutiae of what I think is interesting might not always make for the most entertaining or enlightening column. (And no, I don’t want to talk about my all-Batman column from a few weeks back. If you didn’t like it, I’m forced to believe that, ideologically speaking, you fall on the side of anarchy, violence, and mayhem — one of the Joker’s cronies for sure.)

When the news is big enough, though, it warrants spilling a little ink. And speaking of big, if you’re reading this issue of the Memphis Flyer in print, you might have noticed we’ve gone back to our previous larger tabloid size.

It took a lot to get here. Some of our readers might not remember that in the dismal days of 2020 we actually, briefly, went to a biweekly printing schedule. Not only that, but due to our longtime printer in Jackson, Tennessee, shutting down in early 2021, we’ve switched printers twice since the beginning of the pandemic, moves that then necessitated the change in layout size.

So, while our stalwart staff adapted to all the other changes the last two years have brought, they were also forced to adapt to different word counts and deadlines and image restrictions. The folks in our art department weren’t only shifting to work with far fewer opportunities for photos from the field, they had to redo (and redo again) our paper’s templates. Of course, each major change kickstarts a cascade of smaller ones, and that’s before we even begin to consider the rising costs of paper and freight, the dozens of other behind-the-scenes adjustments that would bore all but the most avid aficionados of alt-weekly newspaper production.

My point, though, is not only that it’s been an interesting two or three years.

Everyone, the world over, has had to make changes, to adjust their expectations and long-held habits. No, my hope is to lay the groundwork for a well-earned celebration of where we are right now, at this precise moment, as you scan these words on your phone or laptop screen or hold the paper in your hands. I’m proud of and thankful for such a hardworking, creative, and unflappable team — the reporters, writers, editors, copy editors, designers, sales staff, and others who make this paper possible.

Thanks are also due to the businesses who choose to advertise with the Flyer, who recognize the worth of the investment and who keep this paper free and the website without a paywall. I offer my most sincere and heartfelt appreciation of you all, and I hope that our readers will patronize these local businesses (I know I do).

It’s fitting, too, that this return to our pre-pandemic paper size falls on the week of our much-beloved and highly anticipated annual “Music Issue,” absent for two years, in which we celebrate the triumphant return of another Memphis institution, Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Festival. And that this year’s BSMF boasts the most Memphis bands on the bill in the past 20 years? Well, if that’s not a reason to celebrate, I really don’t know what is.

So let this be a reminder that none of the things we love in Memphis should be taken for granted. I know without asking NEWS & OPINION them that the bands playing Music Fest THE FLY-BY - 4 this weekend worked and dreamed and NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 denied the odds to be on those stages.

POLITICS - 8 They kept a candle burning, so to speak, VIEWPOINT - 9 COVER STORY through the long night of uncertainty, “HOMETOWN HEROES” when no one could predict when we

BY ALEX GREENE - 10 might come together for something as WE RECOMMEND - 16 magical and, at one time anyway, comMUSIC - 18 monplace as a concert. And I, for one, am CALENDAR - 20 thankful that they did.

ARTS - 24 FOOD - 25 When you think about it, it all seems FILM - 27 like nothing short of a minor Memphis CLASSIFIEDS - 30 miracle. Doesn’t it?

LAST WORD - 31 Jesse Davis jesse@memphisflyer.com

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THE

fly-by

MEMernet Memphis on the internet.

JOOKIN’ AND CLOGGIN’ The Memphis Jookin Facebook group had some love for that blue-shirted, smoothas-hell clogger guy last week. The viral video of the smiley dancer hit 15 million views and made its way across TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Even if the dance style was not their thing, nearly all on the Jookin page paid respect to his skills. “I don’t care what nobody else said,” Patrick Gatewood commented, “bro cuttin up.”

POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY MEMPHIS JOOKIN

NBA CHICKEN PROTESTS

April 28-May 4, 2022

POSTED TO TWITTER BY DIRECT ACTION EVERYWHERE

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The MEMernet watched again as the Grizzlies playoff game last week against Minnesota Timberwolves was interrupted by a protestor.

So far, one woman glued her hand to the floor, another chained herself to the goalposts at FedExForum, and another ran onto the court wearing a shirt that read “[Wolves owner] Glen Taylor roasts animals alive.”

They are all angry that Taylor, who owns a chicken farm, recently killed 5.3 million birds after positive tests of bird flu.

PORCHFEST CooperYoung sang with music and visitors Saturday for Porchfest, which bring musicians to porches all over the neighborhood.

POSTED TO INSTAGRAM BY COOPERYOUNGMEMPHIS

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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells

WEEK THAT WAS

By Flyer staff

Ford, MATA, & Lasering Planes A $16M stream restoration project, no more masks, and probation for an aviation no-no.

FORD RESTORES WATERS At the 2022 Memphis International Auto Show, Ford Motor Company and the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) announced a partnership that would see the restoration of stream waters flowing through the University of Tennessee’s Lone Oaks Farm in Middleton, Tennessee, about 80 miles east of Memphis.

Ford’s planned investment of $16.5 million into the project would boost UT’s plans to turn the farm into a 1,200PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE INSITUTE OF AGRICULTURE acre, 4-H and STEM The large lake and surrounding wetlands at Lone Oaks Farm education center. Educaare part of the Cub Creek Watershed. tional programs at Lone Oaks serve around 5,000 K-12 students annually, but Ford’s investment will allow LASERING PLANES UT to grow its offerings and provide more overnight STEM A Mississippi man will spend three years under probation programs and camps. and nine months under home confinement for pointing a Development projects that have an impact on streams and laser pointer at airplanes flying to and from Memphis Interwetlands must offset that by restoring and permanently pronational Airport (MEM). tecting an equivalent amount of habitat in another location.

Eugene Conrad, 52, of Michigan City, Mississippi, was The project gave Ford a local opportunity to meet its regulasentenced earlier this month after pleading guilty to the tory requirements while constructing the Blue Oval City proj- charges in federal court in December. For the crimes, he ect. The $16.5 million will specifically target the restoration faced up to five years in federal prison, three years superof 20,000 feet of streams at Lone Oaks and provide long-term vised release, and a $250,000 fine. financial support for the educational programs.

On July 15th, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notified the FBI Memphis Field Office of reports that planes MASKS AND MATA flying into MEM from the east were consistently being Face masks are no longer required in vehicles or on Memstruck in the cockpit and cabin by a green laser. The laser phis Area Transit Authority (MATA) properties, the agency beams seemed to be coming from the Hardeman County, announced last week.

Tennessee, and Benton County, Mississippi, areas near the The move follows federal court action that struck down Tennessee/Mississippi border. From January 1, 2021, to July the mask mandate for public transportation issued by the U.S. 15, 2021, there were 49 strikes by a green laser on aircraft, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Also, the mainly FedEx planes.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it would no Using a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation airplane, law longer enforce the mandate after the federal court decision. enforcement officials found Conrad’s location. They watched “This means that passengers and MATA employees will no until they saw him lasering the planes. He admitted he’d longer be required to wear a mask on vehicles and transit propbeen doing it for several months. erties,” the agency said in a statement issued last Tuesday.

“It is important that people understand this is not a However, MATA said it was unclear whether or not the game,” said Douglas M. Korneski, special agent in charge of U.S. Department of Justice will appeal the decision, and the FBI Memphis Field Office. it will monitor the situation. Masks are still welcome on Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of MATA vehicles and in its facilities, and “anyone needing or these stories and more local news. choosing to wear one is encouraged to do so.”

2021-2022

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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 Wednesday, November 28, 2018

ACROSS

35 Burgundy or claret

1 Discuss, as an issue

38 Secret DC headquarters 8 Internet nuisance … or a hint to 39 Crateful from four answers in Florida this puzzle 40 Like many 15 Birthstone for chicken cutlets most Leos 41 Most welcoming 16 Noted piranha habitat 42 Like seven teams in the N.H.L. 17 Shade of green

58 Fictional African kingdom in “Coming to America” 61 Bubble gum brand

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26 Ancient relative of a flute

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27 It’s black and white and wet all over

37 Perch for a bouncing baby 38 Original airer of 10 One of a famous “The Office” seafaring trio 29 Tiny bits of work 44 It may be found 11 Loosened, as 30 Bygone Nair rival between “here” laces and “there” 31 Some N.F.L. 12 “The Star46 Mujer’s boys highlights Spangled 47 Jambalayas Banner,” basically 32 Reid of “American Pie” 48 Ring around a 13 Zoning unit watch face 33 “Do you have two 14 Fashion mag 49 Bowlful next to a fives for ___?” suggestions, in restaurant cash 34 Misguided register two senses 36 Sped 50 “Golden” song 21 ___ Xing 24 “How tragic”

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24 It’s off the beaten 52 Labor path 54 Where you 27 “How cool!” may be going nowhere fast 28 Hedonistic

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51 Finish second at the track 52 Warty creature 53 Like mud 55 Pioneer in commercial spaceflight 56 Bit of news in the W.S.J. 57 Squeeze (out) 59 Teléfono greeting 60 China’s ___ Zedong

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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Mississippi River threatened by pollution, flooding, and climate change.

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19 Classic strategy in the boxing ring

23 Your: Fr.

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46 Better than expected

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22 What inmates do until they’re released

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Endangered Waters

Edited by Will Shortz

Crossword

ENVIRONMENT B y To b y S e l l s

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T

he Mississippi River is one of the most endangered rivers in America for 2022, and several groups are asking Congress to protect it.

American Rivers, a national river conservation group, ranked the Mississippi sixth on its top 10 list for the year.

Pollution and habitat loss are the major threats to the river that runs through 10 states, according to the group.

The report says the Mississippi River is an “internationally important river ecosystem” and an “ecological lifeline” for North America. It provides “vital” habitat for more than 870 species of fish and other wildlife.

The river is also a “crucial economic engine,” the report says. Agricultural economists have put the value at $400 billion annually. American Rivers’ report said its current economic impact is $500 billion per year. Manufacturing, tourism, and agriculture account for most of the nearly 1.3 million jobs provided by the river.

The report says nearly 20 million people live in the 123 counties that border the Mississippi River. It provides drinking water for more than 50 cities and towns. But the river is threatened, the report says, primarily by pollution and flooding.

Pollution is contaminating drinking water and causing toxic algae blooms in and along the Mississippi. For example, Des Moines, Iowa, residents will pay $333 million over the next four years to remove nitrogen from their drinking water. Pollution in the river is delivered to the Gulf of Mexico where it has created a 6,000-squaremile “dead zone” that kills marine life.

Microplastics and pharmaceuticals rise as new threats to water quality.

Flood damages are escalating, according to the report, thanks largely to

PHOTO: USGS

The river supports the economy, wildlife, and drinking water. climate change. Damages hit hardest in under-resourced communities, especially those comprised of people of color, the report says.

“Historically, white colonists segregated Indigenous, immigrant, Black, poor, and other non-dominant social groups to the Mississippi River floodplains,” reads the report. “They bear the brunt of flooding and poor river management to this day.”

For all of this and more, a coalition of about 50 groups is calling for Congress to pass the Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Initiative (MRRRI). It would coordinate and increase resources for restoration and resilience opportunities up and down the river.

For one, it would set aside about $300 million annually for federal, state, tribal groups, cities, and organizations for improvements in and along the Mississippi River. A quarter of that money would go to projects in communities of color or low-income communities.

It would also set up a geographic program office within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to do this.

That office could work across state lines to better organize efforts by the many organizations working there.

“At the moment, the restoration and resilience programs on the Mississippi River are disjointed and poorly coordinated,” said Olivia Dorothy, American Rivers restoration director.

The EPA already has such geographic program offices that serve the Great Lakes, Puget Sound, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Everglades.

The MRRRI bill is co-sponsored in the U.S. House by Rep. Steve Cohen (DMemphis).

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POLITICS By Jackson Baker

… Back at the GOP

April 28-May 4, 2022

Republicans plan a run at Cohen’s seat and will rule on a race for Kelsey’s.

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Surprise! Repubstate GOP executive committee permits licans, who have him to be on the primary ballot. generally ended On his financial disclosure, Toney, a up mounting a pro nurse practitioner, lists cash on hand of forma opposition $404,964.86 — a competitive sum, though to long-term 9th almost all of it is money loaned by Toney District Demoto himself. cratic Congressman Toney’s problem is that he was one of a Steve Cohen (if anything at all), may have handful of potential Republican primary a serious contender this year — Brown candidates statewide whose bona fides Dudley, who is associated with Indewere denied by the state party last week. pendent Bank and was the entrepreneur The ostensible reason, according to Shelby behind resale establishment Plato’s Closet.

GOP chair Cary Vaughn, who professes According to his recently filed financial neutrality in the matter, is that Toney has disclosure, first-time candidate Dudley failed a requirement that Republican priraised $385,968 in the first quarter of the mary candidates must have voted in any year and has $292,771.69 on hand. That’s one of the last four GOP primaries. real money at this point. He has two Toney and his local campaign manopponents on the GOP primary ballot ager, Kristina Garner, are crying foul and in August — Charlotte calling his exclusion a Bergmann, a perennial put-up job on Taylor’s candidate, and Leo Awbehalf. They maintain GoWhat, a performance that Toney has done artist of sorts, also a pesolid grunt work for past rennial. Neither should Republican candidates, give Dudley a tussle. including former PresiEven with redistrictdent Donald Trump, ing, which modified and was not able to the northern or rural/ PHOTO: COURTESY BROWN DUDLEY vote in recent primaries suburban part of the Brown Dudley because he was dodistrict, the 9th is still ing around-the-clock heavily Democratic in its work combatting the demographics, though, Covid-19 pandemic at and Cohen will not be Mid-South Pulmonary financially handicapped Specialists. in the race. He reports Toney has appealed first-quarter receipts his original denial and of $297,528.50 and has submitted addicash on hand totaling tional evidence of his $1,372,863.23. His oppo- PHOTO: COURTESY KRISTINA GARNER party credentials to the Brandon Toney nent in the Democratic state GOP executive primary is M. Latroy committee, which will Alexandria-Williams, another perennial. meet and weigh the matter before week’s Dudley, by the way, professes openend. If he should be certified to run, he mindedness on the subjects of LGBTQ would become something relatively rare rights and climate change.

— a Republican candidate opposed to private-school vouchers (though his three • Another potential surprise confrontachildren attend private schools) and in fation on the August ballot is for the District vor of accepting federal Medicaid support.

31 state Senate seat (Germantown, East “I’m not a ‘moderate.’ I’m just determined Memphis) being vacated by Republican to be sensible,” he says.

Brian Kelsey. Democrat Ruby PowellDennis is unopposed on the Democratic • The aforementioned Republican chair ballot. The surprise is that Brent Taylor, Vaughn says that former Trump chief who has had virtually wall-to-wall support of staff Mark Meadows, who will be from the GOP establishment (as well as the keynote speaker at this weekend’s from Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, a annual GOP Lincoln Day banquet at nominal Democrat), may be opposed in the Agricenter, is not meant to be a the Republican primary by a candidate symbol of the Republican Party but with financial resources close to Taylor’s as someone who can aid local GOP on-hand total of $442,566.62. fundraising efforts. Meadows is under The operative term here is “may.” Tayfire these days for his alleged ties to lor’s would-be primary opponent, Branthe January 6, 2021, insurrection at the don Toney, will find out this week if the U.S. Capitol.

VIEWPOINT By Mel Gurtov

Take the Gloves Off It’s bad political strategy to take the deceitful, inflammatory, and often baseless accusations of the far right at face value.

Democrats seem to think facts speak for themselves. Any intelligent person can surely see through the baseless far-right charges. But polls suggest that most conservatives want to believe them, must believe them if their candidate is to succeed.

In this new era of social mediagenerated “alternative facts,” where the loudest voices are instantly magnified and often win out, we can make no assumptions about the intelligent voter.

Liberals and progressives need to go beyond polite dismissals of the big lies.

The liberal media need to stop making it appear that there are two legitimate sides to every debate.

And the president of the United States needs to stop ignoring the far right’s hateful attacks.

It is time to take the gloves off — to call things for what they are. Donald Trump is a traitor; he is responsible for an attempted coup on January 6, 2021.

We cannot continue to be merely “shocked and saddened” by every deceit.

We, people like her, need to fight back, with a passionate defense of human rights, social equity, and environmental justice — “liberty and justice for all,” remember?

And we should mount a vigorous campaign to pressure the justice department to start bringing federal charges against all these outliers.

Mel Gurtov, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is professor emeritus of political science at Portland State University and blogs at In the Human Interest.

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

PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Marjorie Taylor Greene

(His financial chicanery also makes him a common white-collar criminal.)

The far-right House team of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Mike Lee, et al. are treasonous coconspirators who should be barred from office. The Trump inner circle of Michael Flynn, John Eastman, Roger Stone, Mark Meadows, and the rest are cowards and seditionists. Kevin McCarthy is an ambitious liar. Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are bullies and bigots. Sean Hannity and the rest of the Fox “news” team are repulsive serial liars.

Get the picture? We no longer treat these people as being sadly wrong or merely narrowminded. They are, as a group, anti-American — determined to remake our country into an authoritarian state founded on white Christian nationalism. They should be either voted out of office or jailed for criminal behavior.

We cannot continue to be merely “shocked and saddened” by every deceit, every racist act, every homophobic comment the far right comes up with.

As Mallory McMorrow said, “Hate wins when people like me stand by and let it happen.”

NEWS & OPINION

M

any of you have no doubt watched a video of Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow’s forthright response to a far-right colleague’s attempt to paint her as a “groomer” for the LGBTQ community and a supporter of pedophilia.

The larger import of McMorrow’s courageous pushback should not be lost: Democrats need to respond, with controlled anger and potent language, to the deliberate lies and bullying the far right is using these days to win power.

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COVER STORY By Alex Greene

HOMETOWN HEROES THE BEALE STREET MUSIC FESTIVAL BOASTS MORE MEMPHIS ARTISTS THAN EVER. + YOUR GUIDE TO THE FESTIVAL

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April 28-May 4, 2022

e’re back!” There ought to be a banner with those words draped over the Hernando DeSoto Bridge this weekend, marking the grand return of the Beale Street Music Festival. After being shuttered for the last two years, making it three years since the last edition, the perennial gathering of music lovers is roaring back to life with more momentum than ever.

The typical BSMF experience always runs the spectrum from your favorite blockbuster artist to that new unheardof band that blows your mind. And as for the former, concert-goers need little additional information on why Megan Thee Stallion, Weezer, or Van Morrison are phenomenal. But for the typical out-of-town fan, too many artists based in Memphis fall in the latter category. Naturally, given that Memphis still rules the airwaves and charts as in days of yore, plenty of our local artists need no introduction, either.

But chances are good that everyone will discover something new about the Bluff City after this weekend.

Randy Blevins, vice president of marketing and programming at the Memphis in May International Festival, thinks this makes BSMF especially valuable to the city. “People talk about going to other places and exploring to learn about new music,” he says. “Most of our ticket-holders come from over 200 miles away. They’re coming from all 50 states and five or six different countries. So most of the people there are not Memphians. There are a lot of people coming here from out of town; exposing them to these Memphis acts that Memphians know and love is part and parcel of helping promote Memphis. You might show up because you bought tickets to see Counting Crows, 10 and out of nowhere you learn about Don Bryant. The average person may

or may not know about him. That’s Memphis pumping through the blood.

We’re helping to spread the word.”

Sure, we all love songs by Smashing Pumpkins or DaBaby or Sarah McLachlan. Of course the Indigo Girls and Shaggy and Lindsey Buckingham are phenomenal. Toad the Wet Sprocket, Soccer Mommy, and Robert Randolph are worth a special trip. But given that it’s such a point of pride for the festival, and in light of the fact that this year’s BSMF boasts the most local acts ever — “at least over the past two decades for sure,” Blevins says — today we celebrate the native talent that makes Memphis ground zero for so much musical innovation and style. Here, by the day of their appearance, are the hometown heroes that make this music festival a little different from most.

and also contributed to the awardwinning Hustle & Flow soundtrack.

His “Whoop That Trick” from the film lives on as an anthem for the Memphis Grizzlies. Lately, he’s become more eclectic but always grounded, telling the Memphis Flyer’s Michael

Donahue: “At some point I’m still just a songwriter, a guy from the projects and the hood.”

Amy LaVere Zyn Stage, 5:45 p.m.

This singer, songwriter, and bassist extraordinaire is such a fixture on the local scene that it’s easy to forget that she’s a Louisiana native. It was in Memphis that she really found her voice, and she even lured her husband Will Sexton here from his native Texas. We dubbed LaVere’s most recent album, 2020’s Painting Blue, “dark and beautiful.”

Kenny Brown Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 9:05 p.m.

Hailing from North Mississippi, Michael Donahue calls Brown a “Hill

FRIDAY Three 6 Mafia Bud Light Stage, 10:35 p.m.

No group represents the staying power of Memphis hip-hop like Three 6 Mafia, who’ve parlayed their relatively obscure, ’90s cult status into global celebrity through the staying power of their game-changing beats and attitude. Now their horror-movie soundtrack to life on the Memphis streets, which won them an Oscar, has morphed into the crunk and trap genres. See where it all began.

Al Kapone Bud Light Stage, 6:15 p.m.

Kapone came up alongside Three 6 Mafia back in the day,

PHOTO: SP STYLISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY

AL KAPONE

MONEYBAGG YO

PHOTO: @DAMNJOHNNIE

NLE CHOPPA

Earl the Pearl Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 6 p.m.

Born in 1936, Earl Banks is a living link to the blues in its rawest, earliest expression. Having first played with Joe Hill Louis, he went on to define the Memphis blues style for decades and can still be seen on Beale Street nearly every week. From Jimmy Reed to Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King, Earl the Pearl makes every blues his own, with a guitar tone like quicksilver.

PHOTO: TODD V WOLFSON

AMY LAVERE

SATURDAY NLE Choppa Zyn Stage, 7:30 p.m.

With “one of the greatest flows in current hip-hop,” as M.T. Richards wrote in 2020, NLE Choppa brings a unique angle to trap music. This “creature of Memphis’ strobelit skating rinks” honors his Jamaican heritage by “sprinkling patois in rap’s everyday vocabulary.” He’s created a unique sound and credits his hometown: “So many good artists are in Memphis,” he says.

Project Pat Zyn Stage, 6:15 p.m.

Few artists are as close to the Three 6 Mafia orbit as Project Pat, self-described brother of Juicy J, whose biggest hits were on the Hypnotize Minds label owned by J and DJ Paul. Yet Project Pat has crafted his own identity with

Dirty South classics like “Chickenhead,” “Ballers,” “Don’t Save Her,” and the ever-relevant “Ghetty Green.”

Duke Deuce Zyn Stage, 4:50 p.m.

With his hit single “Crunk Ain’t Dead,” Duke Deuce has let it be known where he’s coming from. Son of Duke Nitty, a producer for Gangsta Blac and Nasty Nardo, the rapper’s name-checked his hometown in debut tracks, “Memphis Massacre” and “Memphis Massacre 2.”

Last year, his debut album Duke Nukem debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.

Lil Wyte Zyn Stage, 3:25 p.m.

It’s no accident that Lil Wyte is a natural ally of rapper Frayser Boy. Growing up in Frayser helped Lil Wyte transcend any racial barriers, as he proved himself in the world of Three 6 Mafia enough to release his debut on the Hypnotize Minds label, with hits like “Oxy Cotton” and “My Smokin’ Song.”

White $osa Zyn Stage, 3:25 p.m.

Kicking off the Zyn Stage string of Memphis rappers, White $osa is unique in that his name inspired his rapping, rather than vice versa. Originally gaining fame through an Instagram account that’s now up to 129,000 followers, it turned out he had a flair for flowing rhymes as well. Since turning to music, his collaboration with NLE Choppa has garnered 21 million streams on Spotify.

Blvck Hippie Bud Light Stage, 2 p.m.

As Jesse Davis wrote in the Memphis Flyer, this group’s 2019 track “Hotel Lobby” is “one of the catchiest Memphis-made songs in recent memory.”

With indie-pop songs marked by “excellent arrangements” and group founder Josh Shaw’s “open and honest lyrics,” and fresh off a series of concerts at South by Southwest, Treefort Music Fest, and Audiotree promoting their new LP, If You Feel Alone at Parties, Blvck Hippie is one gem to keep an eye on at this year’s festival.

Tora Tora Terminix Stage, 2:15 p.m.

If you thought that Memphis was all about blues, soul, and hip-hop, think again. These metal masters have been honing a distinctly Mid-South variant of their chosen genre since the ’80s, when a trio of hits like “Walkin’ Shoes,” “Guilty,” and “Dancing with a Gypsy” (the latter featured in the film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) powered a career that includes 2019’s Bastards of Beale.

Don Bryant & the Bo-Keys Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 9:25 p.m.

Don Bryant has lost none of the power of his voice since he began performing over half a century ago. Indeed, his delivery has matured as if aged in an oak barrel, and now that he has ace neo-soul group the Bo-Keys backing him up, we dubbed his latest LP, You continued on page 12

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

Country Hero.” Given the way the blues ebbs and flows, only to be reinvented by stalwart artists like Brown, that’s not an exaggeration. He learned well from the likes of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. No wonder his latest album, with The Black Keys and Eric Deaton, snagged a 2022 Grammy nomination.

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Cory Branan Zyn Stage, 2 p.m.

Rolling Stone got it right when they dubbed this consummate singer/songwriter “a country boy with a punk-rock heart.” Since the late ’90s, when he found his voice in the Memphis indie scene, he’s been perfecting the combination of those elements in his music and lyrics.

He’s also a phenomenal guitarist. Watch for a new album later this year.

Make Me Feel, an “instant classic” of pure, down-home soul.

Ghost Town Blues Band Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 7:55 p.m.

This group is proof positive that the blues still offers plenty of room for innovation. Not your typical bar combo, Ghost Town Blues Band blends traditional blues with Stax-era soul and even includes novel instruments like cigar box guitars and electric push brooms in their arrangements. Expect the unexpected.

Barbara Blue Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 2:10 p.m.

Blue is a queen of Beale Street, a regular performer at Silky O’Sullivan’s who has worked with some serious contenders in the past (including three albums with Taj Mahal’s Phantom Blues Band in the 1990s). Her latest album even features the legendary Bernard “Pretty” Purdie on drums. World-class blues, soul, and jazz live on with Barbara Blue.

SUNDAY Moneybagg Yo Bud Light Stage, 7:40 p.m.

It was only five years ago that Zandria

CORY BRANAN

Robinson reported on Moneybagg Yo’s album release party for his debut, Federal 3X, and now he’s a leading star in the trap music universe. His 2020 album, A Gangsta’s Pain, debuted at No. 1 on the charts. Yet he continues to appreciate his hometown, gifting Covid-related supplies to local schools after that album conquered the charts.

Jucee Froot Bud Light Stage, 2:10 p.m.

If Memphis hip-hop is dominated by male stars, Jucee Froot is bucking that trend with her meteoric climb to fame. Since 2020, when she released her debut Black Sheep on Atlantic, she’s had tracks featured in soundtracks for the film Birds of Prey and the series PValley and Insecure.

SO MANY COLORS!

Blind Mississippi Morris Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 3:25 p.m.

Blind Mississippi Morris is Beale Street royalty, and no festival named for the famed blues district would be complete without his uniquely powerful harmonica playing and singing. The recipient of the Mississippi Music Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a two-time winner of the Premier Player Grammy Award for Harmonica Player of the Year, Morris combines the grit and grind of the blues like no other.

Melvia “Chick” Rodgers Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 3:25 p.m.

A vocal powerhouse, Melvia “Chick” Rodgers-Williams grew up in the historic Black neighborhood of Orange Mound, singing in her father’s church.

Being steeped in the passions of gospel music stuck with her, as she followed

her musical star on USO tours and a successful career in Chicago. With BSMF, she’s bringing it all back home.

BSMF 2022: LIBERTY PARK LOGISTICS The Beale Street Music Festival is such an institution in Memphis, and so closely associated with Tom Lee Park, that any change to the winning formula is hard to fathom. Yet fathom it we must, as the BSMF situates itself on new grounds this year so that work may continue apace on the riverfront space where it typically lives. And if Tom Lee Park, once given its remake, promises to be better than ever, the 2022 iteration of the festival will have a glory all its own, nestled in the shadow of the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

To get a sense of what has changed and what has remained, Memphis Flyer asked BSMF’s Randy Blevins to give us the lay of the land.

Memphis Flyer: It must have caused quite a shake-up to relocate away from your continued on page 14

WE’RE ON YOUR WAY TO MEMPHIS IN MAY

April 28-May 4, 2022

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BEALE STREET MUSIC FESTIVAL SCHEDULE 2022 Saturday, April 30, 2022

Friday, April 29, 2022 Gates at 5 p.m.

Bud Light Stage Three 6 Mafia DaBaby Waka Flocka Flame Al Kapone (Memphis)

10:35-11:50 p.m.

9:15-10:05 p.m.

7:45-8:45 p.m.

6:15-7:15 p.m.

Zyn Stage Sarah McLachlan Van Morrison Kurt Vile & The Violators Amy LaVere (Memphis)

10:15-11:45 p.m.

8:15-9:45 p.m.

6:35-7:40 p.m.

5:45-6:20 p.m.

Terminix Stage Sammy Hagar & The Circle Dirty Honey Glorious Sons Black Pistol Fire

10:30-midnight 9-10 p.m.

7:30-8:30 p.m.

6-6:55 p.m.

Blues Tent JJ Grey & Mofro Kenny Brown (Memphis) Janiva Magness Earl the Pearl (Memphis)

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Gates at 1 p.m.

10:45-12:15 p.m.

9:05-10:15 p.m.

7:30-8:35 p.m.

6-7 p.m.

Bud Light Stage Death Cab for Cutie Spoon Grouplove Toad the Wet Sprocket Soccer Mommy Blvck Hippie (Memphis)

9:35-11:05 p.m.

7:55-9:05 p.m.

6:20-7:25 p.m.

4:45-5:50 p.m.

3:15-4:15 p.m.

2-2:50 p.m.

Zyn Stage Megan Thee Stallion Sarkodie (Ghana) NLE Choppa (Memphis) Project Pat (Memphis) Duke Deuce (Memphis) Lil Wyte (Memphis) White $osa (Memphis)

10:45-11:35 p.m.

9-10:15 p.m.

7:30-8:30 p.m.

6:15-7:05 p.m.

4:50-5:45 p.m.

3:25-4:25 p.m.

2:15-3 p.m.

Terminix Stage Smashing Pumpkins Stone Temple Pilots Chevelle Rival Sons Ayron Jones Tora Tora (Memphis)

10:15-11:45 p.m.

8:30-9:45 p.m.

6:50-8 p.m.

5:15-6:20 p.m.

3:45-4:45 p.m.

2:15-3:15 p.m.

Blues Tent Robert Randolph & the Family Band Don Bryant & the Bo-Keys (Memphis) Ghost Town Blues Band (Memphis) Hurricane Ruth Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88’s Brandon Santini Barbara Blue (Memphis)

11-12:15 p.m.

9:25-10:30 p.m.

7:55-9 p.m.

6:25-7:30 p.m.

5-6 p.m.

3:35-4:35 p.m.

2:10-3:10 p.m.

Gates at 1 p.m.

Bud Light Stage Lil Wayne Moneybagg Yo (Memphis) Shaggy Stonebwoy (Ghana) Third World Jucee Froot (Memphis)

9-9:50 p.m.

7:40-8:30 p.m.

6:10-7:10 p.m.

4:45-5:45 p.m.

3:20-4:20 p.m.

2:10-2:50 p.m.

Zyn Stage Counting Crows Lindsey Buckingham Grace Potter Patty Griffin Cory Branan (Memphis)

8:15-9:45 p.m.

6:30-7:45 p.m.

4:55-6 p.m.

3:20-4:25 p.m.

2-2:50 p.m.

Terminix Stage Weezer Modest Mouse Goose Indigo Girls Cory Henry

8:40-10:10 p.m.

6:55-8:10 p.m.

5:05-6:25 p.m.

3:30-4:35 p.m.

2-3 p.m.

Blues Tent Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio Trigger Hippy Sue Foley The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band Blind Mississippi Morris (Memphis) Melvia “Chick” Rogers (Memphis)

9:25-10:40 p.m.

7:50-8:55 p.m.

6:20-7:25 p.m.

4:50-5:55 p.m.

3:25-4:25 p.m.

2-3 p.m.

2022 PARTY line up

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DJ Epic Seeing Red DJ Epic Cruisin Heavy DJ Epic Walrus DJ Epic 8.04 SouthBound

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

THURSDAYS • APRIL 28 - AUGUST 4 • 6PM - 10PM COVER CHARGE $15

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usual home. How will the experience be different for festival-goers?

Randy Blevins: We’re going to be at the fairgrounds at Liberty Park just for this year while Tom Lee Park is under construction. As far as the festival is concerned, the layout is a different shape.

Where everything at Tom Lee Park is kind of lined up north to south, the fairgrounds at Liberty Park are in a big rectangle. It’s still a big site. Two of the main stages will have the Liberty Bowl in the background, and the other main stage will have East Parkway in the background. There’ll be two main entrances on the north and on the south. And in the middle is Tiger Lane.

It actually surprises people who may have only driven on Tiger Lane or to the Coliseum. Once you’re there, you realize that’s a really big space. The fairgrounds had the Mid-South Fair for such a long time, and there’s plenty of room for the experience. So it’ll include all the things you’re used to seeing, just placed a little differently. All three stages will be triangulated with plenty of space between them. From the fountain at Tiger Lane, you’ll be able to see one stage to the south and another to the north. So it’ll create a really electric atmosphere.

How will parking be handled this year?

We’re trying the best we can to make things easy and nice for everybody. There is on-site parking, and that area is accustomed to holding big events. And there are all these other locations, like CBU and other places that turn their surface lots into parking. We’ve also arranged with MATA to have a free rapid shuttle coming from Downtown. Most of our fans are coming from 100, 200 miles away, spending on average two to three nights at a hotel in Memphis. And most of our hotels are Downtown. That’s why Tom Lee Park works so well. So this year we’ll have a rapid shuttle, which will pick up at two locations: B.B. King and Union, and on Second Street by the [Renasant] Convention Center. Ticket-holders will be able to hop on the rapid shuttle and get dropped off at two locations, then take the shuttle back Downtown to continue to hang out on Beale Street and enjoy all the nightlife down there. If you’ve ever been Downtown after the festival, it’s packed. So we want that to continue. And if people want to use that, it’s free, but they have to register online first. They just show their ticket and they can hop the shuttle and ride about every 10 minutes or so, depending on traffic.

We’re also coordinating to set up a couple hundred spaces at the University of Memphis, and you’ll be able to buy access to a parking spot next to the Holiday Inn there, and then ride a shuttle from the U of M to the site and back. That’s just for Memphians who might not want to go Downtown and don’t want to deal

with congestion around Liberty Park. It might be a nice option if you’re coming in from Cordova or Germantown.

The festival’s been delayed for years because of the pandemic. What procedures are in place to address Covid?

We have a disclaimer on everything and we have a plan ready to go if anything happens, as we did last year when we had a half festival with the barbecue cooking contest at limited capacity. Whatever comes down from the Shelby County Health Department, we’ll comply and do what needs to be done. The world’s used to this now.

Have artists made different requests as far as vaccinations and the like?

There have been different requirements from artists, but that’s become less and less part of the conversation as the months and weeks have come along.

Currently we’re not asking for proof of vaccination from the public. But currently, anything is possible. Some of the artists have different requirements for ground transportation that’s picking them up or in the backstage areas. They might request masks. The vendors and backstage crews will meet each specific artist’s requirements.

After the 2020 festival was canceled, did many ticket-holders opt to just redeem their tickets when the festival resumed?

We have a decent number of deferrals.

We did not get a lot of refund requests.

Many folks just decided, “Whenever you come back, we’re in.” It shows the staying power of the story. It’s a great deal of trust, if you’ve paid hundreds of dollars for tickets, in some cases, and you’re flying blind because you don’t know who we’re going to book. So we felt pretty good that 90 percent of the people weren’t just saying, “Give me my money back.” It could have happened. We were prepared for whatever.

Has it been difficult to gear up for this after such a long hiatus?

Just a short time ago, we were at a skeleton staff of only five people and the future of everything was a giant question mark. A festival depends on bringing people together in big groups. We don’t receive money from the city or the state or anything to cover overhead. And we had a reserve saved up for a rainy day, but a rainy day is a bad year, not a year with literally nothing. Who would have ever predicted that, right? So it was really tough. To be in the situation we’re in now, back to doing a big, full-on festival, is really good. There were no guarantees just a short time ago, when everything was shut down and there were just five of us, basically, living month to month. We just started hiring people and getting back up to full staff this fall. And we’re glad to be back, and glad that we’re getting such a good reception to this.

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THURSDAY, MAY 5

43RD BLUES MUSIC AWARDS Renasant Convention Center | 5:00pm | Tickets $150+ Celebrating the best in blues recording and performance from the past year

FRIDAY, MAY 6 - MONDAY, MAY 9

37TH INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

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

Beale Street | Passes $100 | Daily Wristbands $10+ The worldwide search for those blues acts ready for their big break | 9 countries represented with over 150 performances

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steppin’ out

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Whet Your Curiosity

PHOTO: METAL MUSEUM

Ring by Stacey Lee Webber

By Abigail Morici

If ABBA can come back after a 40-year hiatus, so can the Metal Museum’s Whet Thursdays. Admittedly, Whet Thursdays return every summer, but that doesn’t make this comeback any less special. After all, like ABBA, the museum is ready to embrace your inner ’70sdream-self with a themed night of Soul ’70s and dressing in your best garb from the disco era.

For this free event, attendees can enjoy an outdoor performance by the five-piece band Soul & Parliament, which blends Motown, funk, and modern R&B. Plus, Opera Memphis will perform during the band’s intermission. Food from Pok Cha’s Egg Rolls and MemPops as well as refreshments from Tipsy Tumbler, which will include a signature ’70s-themed cocktail, will be available to purchase.

Guests can also expect lawn games, metalsmithing demonstrations, hands-on activities, and, of course, free admission to the museum and its grounds.

Current exhibitions include “RINGS! 1968-2021” and “Evaluating Essentials.” “RINGS!” features more than 160 rings made of a variety of materials from wood and metals to Keurig cups and found objects. In terms of jewelry, Brook Garcia, collections and exhibitions manager, says, “Rings especially have such deep meanings: engagement rings, wedding rings, graduation rings.” And Garcia points out how rings are also more intimately placed on the body than, say, an earring or a necklace, since we use our hands so frequently to feel and touch, to write and cook, to clap and shake hands.

Meanwhile, “Evaluating Essentials” features work by Becky McDonah, whose metal reliquaries enshrine the simplest of objects like hand sanitizer, shower curtains, and pill bottles. “I would like the viewers to take the time to stop and think about little things that have an impact on their lives or the lives of others around them,” the artist says.

Whet Thursdays will occur on the last Thursday of every month until September, with the last one being members-only. Each event will introduce a new theme.

WHET THURSDAY, METAL MUSEUM, THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 6-8 P.M., FREE.

Tops Bar-B-Q celebrates 70 years in Memphis.

Food, p. 25

What makes a nation happy?

Last Word, p. 31

April 28-May 4, 2022

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES April 28th - May 4th

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Spring Book Sale Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, Friday, April 29, noon-7 p.m.; Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, May 1, noon-2 p.m.

After a two-year hiatus, the Friends of the Library’s Spring Book Sale is back with thousands of books in great condition available to purchase for a mere $2 (or less). All proceeds support programming for the Memphis Public Libraries.

Sunday, book-lovers can partake in the $5 bag sale. Plus, Friends members receive a 10-percent discount and can enjoy a member preview day on Thursday, April 28th, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Art in the Loop Ridgeway Loop, Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., free

Storyfest The Halloran Centre, Friday-Saturday, April 29-30, 7 p.m., free

Shop and peruse works of fine-craft in metal, glass, wood, clay, and fiber, as well as 2-D disciplines. Enjoy the fare of the town’s top food trucks and a performance of classical music.

These stories by 40 Memphians from across the city, ranging in ages from 9 to 93, will touch on a variety of questions: What does it mean to put your trust and faith in God? What happens when your life seems to hit a wall or obstacle so big that you completely crash? What makes a family a family? What does it mean to come of age? What was it like to grow up in historic Black neighborhoods before integration?

Storyfest features live performances, engagement activities, and community reflections. Saturday will also have a performance at 2:30 p.m.

Black Art Walk at the Edge The Edge District, Saturday, April 30, noon-4 p.m., free The Black Art Walk will take over the Edge District, offering attendees a chance to experience visual art by Black creatives. Shop local vendors, vibe with DJs, and try dishes from popular food trucks.

We Women Do It Better Evergreen Theatre, Friday-Saturday, April 29-30, 8 p.m., $20 Presented by Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, this comedic monologue invites the viewer to walk through the reality of women, showing us everything that is hidden behind skirts and lipsticks.

Pollinator Party Beale Street Landing, Saturday, April 30, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m., free Enjoy an exciting presentation to explore natural plantings and pollinators at the riverfront, help plant the riverfront’s newest pollinatorfriendly garden, and go home with a pollinator giveaway.

Live music at

PHOTO: UW MADISON

Quentin Robinson and Cameron Murphy

Meta

By Abigail Morici

In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, for reasons outside of his control, Gregor Samsa wakes up one day as a giant creepy-crawling critter — some say a cockroach — so Gregor has to navigate the world as a giant bug, which as you can imagine is quite an isolating experience. This isolation, in turn, leads to a bleak ending with neglect, hatred, and ultimately death. After going through a year of isolation ourselves, much like Gregor, it’s likely that some of us have a pretty bleak, Kafkaesque outlook on life. But for others, isolation brought new values and a refreshed will to create, learn, and collaborate. This latter case was true for the Grammy-winning percussion quartet Third Coast Percussion and Movement Art Is, founded by dancers and choreographers Jon Boogz and Memphis’ Lil Buck.

When in-person interactions could not take place with the two groups based in Chicago and Los Angeles respectively, they worked together over many Zoom meetings to create their own Metamorphosis, a much more hopeful performance that explores the experiential lens of young Black men growing up in America today. “It’s about the dancers as the main characters — them growing and discovering who they are through their experiences through their life,” says Jenny Davis, music department manager at Crosstown Arts, where the show will be performed on May 3rd.

In this performance, the street-style, popping and Memphis jookin’ choreography by Lil Buck and John Boogz is transferred onto different bodies — dancers Cameron Murphy and Quentin Robinson — so that the dancing itself represents how one artist’s energy becomes absorbed and translated by another. Meanwhile, the dance will be set to Third Coast’s interpretation and reimagination of music by contemporary composers, electronic artists Jlin and Tyondai Braxton as well as Philip Glass. Such modern classical music, Davis points out, “is really fascinating because it’s influenced by all these other genres, too.”

With this blending of different styles and interpretations of music and dance, Davis says, “I think that’s inspiring to see how things that kind of exist separately can work together.”

METAMORPHOSIS , CROSSTOWN THEATER, TUESDAY, MAY 3, 7:30-9:30 P.M., $25-$40.

april 28th - 7:00pm Neal Francis

april 29th - 7:00pm Afro Legend Kaleta & Super Yamba Band

april 30th - 8:00pm

May Day Festival Theatre Memphis, Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., free Enjoy live entertainment on the hour performed on an outdoor stage, an array of artists’ and artisans’ booths, and more … all on the new grounds of the renovated Theatre Memphis. Food trucks currently committed to the day include Good Groceries, El Mero Taco, MemPops, Dim Sum, and Cousins Maine Lobster.

Also on April 30th, Theatre Memphis will be hosting the Memphis Children’s Theatre Festival in the Lohrey Theatre as a pay-whatyou-can event.

Coming to Africa Film Screening and Q&A Session Malco Powerhouse Cinema Grill & MXT, Monday, May 2, 7-10 p.m., free Produced by Memphis film producer Anwar Jamison, Coming to Africa is a feature-length comedic drama that aims to shatter stereotypes and provide a refreshing view of life on the continent of Africa while entertaining audiences. The film explores the thoughts, feelings, ideas, and beliefs of people living on the African continent.

A Q&A after the premiere will be hosted by Tina Tilton and Christie Taylor. Reserve your seat online. Find more information on Memphis in May’s Facebook page.

May the 4th Be With You Black Lodge, Wednesday-Thursday, May 4-5, noon-9 p.m., free A two-day celebration for all things Star Wars. Starting at noon on Friday, the Lodge will be screening select episodes of Clone Wars and Rebels until 5:30 p.m., with Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back to follow. At 7:30 p.m. a Sabacc Tournament ($5 entry fee) will commence.

The second day includes more screenings, a lightsaber dueling competition with a cash prize, and dance party/Cantina hangout.

Costumes are highly encouraged. Themed lunch and dinner will be available to purchase.

5/7 - 8pm Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears

5/12 - 6pm Lucky 7 Brass Band

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

Memphis TN 38104

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

5/5 - 7pm Joey Fletcher

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

Tom Petty Tribute

The Northman is the most Viking work of art in the last thousand years.

Film, p. 27

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MUSIC By Jesse Davis

The Words Come First Singer/songwriter Alex da Ponte gets anthemic with new single, “The Revolution.”

April 28-May 4, 2022

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t’s no easy thing to pin down something as mercurial as a memory, as fleeting as a feeling, with nothing more than mere words. But to singer/songwriter Alex da Ponte, such an act comes naturally. Da Ponte is a poet’s songwriter, as evidenced by her recently released single, “The Revolution,” recorded at Pete Matthews’ and Toby Vest’s High/Low studio.

Da Ponte was surrounded by music and storytelling from an early age. There was always a piano around the house, and her family members are no strangers to singing as a means of passing the time.

In fact, her great-great-grandfather was Lorenzo da Ponte, librettist for Mozart, who wrote the words to Mozart’s operas. So her felicity with a turn of phrase comes as no surprise.

“I’ve written songs in a lot of different ways but it always turns out best when the lyrics come first and I put guitar to it later. I’m a writer before I’m a musician,” da Ponte says. “Writing, by blood, is my strong suit, I think.”

The songwriter has done the work of self-discovery, both as an artist and an individual, and her lyrics resonate with the hard-won wisdom of a gentle soul. As an out member of the LGBT community in the South, da Ponte’s journey toward embracing herself is one that has not always been met with approval. “I’ve always hated the idea of perpetuating the ideology that these things are abnormal because they’re not,” da Ponte says. “We are here. We have always been. I hope that as a gay artist my openness is one account of many that allows a more human view of people and relationships. Something for people to connect with and come together over.”

Perhaps that’s why so much of da Ponte’s work feels anthemic. She knows something as natural as expressing love can be deemed a dangerous act.

So her songs become a rallying cry for everyone brave enough to live in love, to show up for family when life gets messy, to be their truest selves.

Still, for da Ponte, openness has not

“I’m a writer before I’m a musician. …

Writing, by blood, is my strong suit, I think.” always been easy. She found out earlier this year that she is autistic. “Finding that out was really incredibly helpful.

Like finding out that I have a place in the world and in that place everything about me that was so bizarre or unusual suddenly makes sense,” da Ponte says. “There’s this new culture where people are embracing their otherness and ironically this is bringing people together and closing these gaps.

I absolutely want to be a part of that movement.” She aspires to make music that people can relate to while also being a voice for lesser-heard groups.

“There were so many times when the merch table after a show was flooded with people who were touched by my lyrics and they wanted to connect with me as a person and I couldn’t give them that. That’s where my autism hurt me,” da Ponte says.

“A big part of being successful in this industry is being able to cultivate a following and build relationships. So I felt I really held back, and at the time I didn’t know why. Now I know why. The diagnosis has allowed me grace with myself but it has also given me a better understanding of myself and the ways in which connection is possible.”

If da Ponte seems driven to accomplish much — self-examination, deeper connections, musical maturity and meaningfulness — she has her reasons. For a young artist, she has had more than her fair share of close brushes with death.

Her younger brother died almost exactly a month before her son was born. “It was such an intense experience to watch my child be born and go home with a newborn all while in the thick of grief,” she remembers.

The singer’s late brother has inspired several songs. His voice and his laugh are even memorialized on “That Sibling Song” from da Ponte’s third album. She strove to capture her family’s passion for music in song, so she invited her family members to come sing on her album. “At the very end of this track you can hear my little brother say, ‘We’re related to Alex da Ponte. She’s aight,’ and then laugh.

Had to incorporate him in some way.

Any excuse to hear his voice. Part of grief, for me, has meant finding ways to keep him alive. Now he’ll forever be chuckling at the end of one of my songs and I love that.”

As da Ponte puts it, the songs keep coming still, but the songwriter confesses that she has held back some of herself in the past, stopped just shy of giving her all to her musical career.

That’s why these days she’s throwing herself into her craft. Galvanized by the knowledge that life offers no guarantees of second chances, made self-assured by newfound knowledge of herself, da Ponte is devoting herself to her music, without excuses or inhibitions. Da Ponte has been hard at work on new songs — “Dead Horses” and “The Revolution” — and has resumed rehearsals with her bandmates Joe Austin and Kevin Carroll, after a pandemic-induced hiatus.

“I know real magic can happen if you stay open,” da Ponte says. “I can’t wake up 20 years from now wondering ‘What if?’ So this is it. I’m going all in.”

Alex da Ponte’s “The Revolution” is available on all the usual streaming services.

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19

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:

April 28 - May 4

AR T AND S PECIAL E X H IBITS

“Beautiful Metals of Ghana, Adornments, & Wearables”

Exhibition featuring a selection of metal objects exploring the culture and craftsmanship of Ghana. Sunday, May 1-May 31.

METAL MUSEUM

Contemporary Art of Ghana

Featuring a selection of artists from Artists Alliance Gallery, Accra. Monday, May 2-May 31.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

“Don’t Let the Sun”

“Focus on Light: Paintings by Gary Gibson”

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Ghanian Exhibition Bed

Exhibition that examines Ghana’s role and contribution to trans-Atlantic slavery.

Sunday, May 1-May 31.

Featuring the work of MAC members in several media.

Saturday, April 30, 11 a.m.

“the space between us”

Exhibition of work by Brittney Boyd Bullock. Through April 29.

CORNER OF POPLAR & HIGHLAND

Parker Talley’s Debut Gallery Opening

BEVERLY + SAM ROSS GALLERY

“Views from Ghana”

UREVBU CONTEMPORARY

“Every Human Being is a Human Being”

Memphis Arts Collective Spring Show

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

Exhibition that highlights the country of Ghana and its native plants. Sunday, May 1-May 30.

Exhibition featuring work by Theresah Ankohmah. Sunday, May 1-May 31.

Exhibition of various local artists’ interpretations of the White Rabbit. Sunday, May 1-Dec. 31.

An evening of storytelling and conversation with Ke Francis, celebrated artist and founder of Hoopsnake Press in Tupelo, Mississippi. Free. Wednesday, May 4, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Exhibition of paintings inspired by the beauty of nature.

Monday, May 2-May 31.

Exhibition of paintings by Leslie Holt. Through May 28.

“Down the Rabbit Hole”

OFF THE WALLS ARTS

Rural Route Art Tour: Burst of Spring

“A Matter of Taste” Artist Reception

Reception for collage exhibition by Alisa Houseal Botto.

Drinks and noshes. Friday, April 29, 5-7 p.m.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

MEMPHIS MUSEUM

OF SCIENCE & HISTORY WWW.MOSHMEMPHIS.COM

Leslie Holt’s “Don’t Let the Sun” exploits the aesthetic qualities of scans of healthy brains and those affected by mental illness.

“Don’t Let the Sun” Artist Talk

Artist talk for exhibition of paintings by Leslie Holt. Saturday, April 30, 11 a.m.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

Spring Book Sale

Thousands of books, records, etc. All prices $2 or less. Friday, April 29, noon-7 p.m.; Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, May 1, noon-2 p.m.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

Unapologetic Tour: Books & BBQ

Drop in and say hi to former Memphian Kristi Hemmer, author of Quit Being So Good, and check out her book. Thursday, April 28, 5-8 p.m.

TY’S SMOKEHOUSE

Experience Parker Talley’s abstract mind at Off the Walls Arts Downtown. Friday, April 29, 6 p.m.

ART H APP E N IN G S

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

BOOK EVEN TS

Ke Francis and the Art of Storytelling

Two studios from the Rural Art Tour join forces to present this spring exhibit of unique sculptures by Jimmy Crosthwait, paintings by Deborah Carpenter, and pottery by Agnes Stark. Friday, April 29-30, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, May 1, noon-5 p.m.

FAGAN-CARPENTER STUDIO/AGNES STARK POTTERY

COM EDY

Memphis Queens of Comedy

Presented by LaToya Tennille Productions. $25. Saturday, April 30, 8 p.m.

THE COMEDY JUNT

The Rated R Comedy Show 20: The Bad Boyz Edition

Adult stand-up comedy show infused with hip hop and R&B. $25. Sunday, May 1, 6 p.m.

SALT MEMPHIS

continued on page 22

ISAAC HAYES: BLACK MOSES GIVES BACK EXHIBIT OPEN NOW

2 0 2 2

OFF BROADWAY IN WEST MEMPHIS • 212 WEST POLK AVE.

F R E E L I V E M U S I C

April 28-May 4, 2022

MAY MA M AY A Y5

IINFINITY NFINITY B BAND AND CLASSIC SOUL C LASSIC S OU UL L BAND BA D WITH WITH A TWIST TWIS ST

MA MAY M AY A Y 12 12

LUCIOUS L UCIO OU US S SPILLER PILLER B BLUES LUE ES SB BAND AND W/SPE PECIAL G UE U EST W/SPECIAL GUEST W ATER ERMELON S LIM WATERMELON SLIM

Isaac Hayes: Black Moses Gives Back

is an engaging exhibition that showcases Hayes’s unique dashikis collection and his humanitarian work in Ghana.

Developed in partnership with

STAX Museum of American Soul Music

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C A L E N D A R : A P R I L 2 8 - M AY 4 continued from page 20 T. Murph

T. Murph is an American comedian, actor, and writer that broke out of the Chicago comedy scene and has been quickly rising. $20- $55. Thursday, April 28, 8 p.m.; Friday, April 29, 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m.; Saturday, April 30, 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m.; Sunday, May 1, 8 p.m.

CHUCKLES COMEDY HOUSE

COMMU NITY

Arbor Day Tree Planting Help plant trees and stick around to enjoy snacks and drinks amid a spectacular riverfront sunset! Friday, April 29, 4:30-6 p.m.

MUD ISLAND PARK

Herbal Work Study: Herbal Miscellany

Learn about the various uses of herbs while weeding, grooming, thinning, planting, or whatever else needs doing in the garden. Sunday, May 1, noon-5 p.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Pollinator Party

An exciting presentation to explore natural plantings and pollinators at the Mississippi riverfront. Following the presentation, you will help plant the riverfront’s newest pollinatorfriendly garden. Saturday, April 30, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

BEALE STREET LANDING

Spring Clean-Up Volunteer Work Day

Volunteers are needed to help with spring cleaning to help pick up litter, limbs and debris, and other clean-up projects. Saturday, April 30, 8-11 a.m.

Join Theatre Memphis as they celebrate a century of entertaining the community with this May Day of live entertainment, an array of artists’ and artisans’ booths, food trucks, and more. Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

Trans Social Night

Special community event hosted

by Aubrey Ombre. Guest speakers, information specialists, and special entertainment. Friday, April 29, 7 p.m.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

World Wish Day Celebration

Art in the Loop will feature works of fine-craft in metal, glass, wood, clay, and fiber, as well as 2-D disciplines.

WISEACRE BREWERY

FAM ILY

Bilingual Storytime at Overton Square

Do not miss the opportunity to travel with your imagination and learn a little bit of Spanish! Saturday, April 30, 11 a.m.-noon.

OVERTON SQUARE

Carnival of Creativity

Showcasing puppets that participating middleschoolers made at OTWA’s puppet workshop. The day

MORE THAN A MEAL

will include open studios, art making, live music, and food trucks. Saturday, April 30, noon-5 p.m.

OFF THE WALLS ARTS

F E ST I VA L

Annual Wilson Crawfish Festival

Music, vendors, kids activities, food trucks, and so much more. Free. Saturday, April 30, noon-6 p.m.

Art in the Loop

Some of the region’s most talented artists will set up shop at this festival celebrating the arts. Friday, April 29-May 1.

RIDGEWAY LOOP

Beale Street Music Festival

Back bigger and better than ever to enjoy live music!

Friday, April 29-May 1.

BEALE STREET

Black Art Walk at the Edge

Offering attendees a chance to experience visual art by Black creatives. Shop local vendors, vibe with DJs, and try dishes from popular food trucks.

Saturday, April 30, 4-8 a.m.

Bringing the world to Memphis and Memphis to the world. There are several ways to experience the culture of this year’s honored country, and the thrills are unlike any you’ve ever seen. Sunday, May 1-May 31.

MEMPHIS IN MAY FESTIVAL

Soul Fest

Live music, games, arts and crafts, dancing, and more.

Presented by Stax Music Academy. Thursday, April 28, 5-7:15 p.m.

HANDY PARK

Storyfest

A free two-day event featuring the stories of 40 Memphians from across the city, ranging in ages from 9 to 93. Storyfest features live performances, engagement activities, and community reflections. Friday, April 29-April 30.

THE HALLORAN CENTRE

THE EDGE DISTRICT

Coming to Africa Film Screening and Q&A Session

Feature-length comedic drama that aims to shatter stereotypes and provide a refreshing view of life on the continent of Africa. Monday, May 2, 7-10 p.m.

MALCO POWERHOUSE CINEMA

Dinner & a Movie: Ratatouille

Memphis in May International Festival

DRU’S PLACE

Presented by the Make-AWish Mid-South Associate Board. Enjoy a beer with friends and meet new people, all while helping grant wishes for children with critical illnesses. Thursday, April 28, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

FI LM

May Day Festival and Memphis Children’s Theatre Festival

Movie is free to attend, price is only for themed dinner. $30.

Thursday, April 28, 7-9 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Hometown Glory, The Documentary

Join the Germantown Fire Department and director Ray Costa for a special screening of Hometown Glory. Friday, April 29, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Love Jones

An unconventional love story between a young poet and a photographer. $5. Thursday, April 28, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

May the 4th Be With You

Includes screenings, a card tournament with a cash prize, and Squadrons in VR available for play. Costumes highly encouraged. Wednesday, May 4, noon-9 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

WILSON TOWN SQUARE

When volunteers deliver hot meals to homebound seniors, they also bring joy, security and independence along with the nutrition those seniors need. And more seniors than ever need our help today with MIFA Meals on Wheels. Just $10 delivers a hot meal, and so much more. Give today at mifa.org/mealsmeanmore.

PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSE

CARRY NARCAN (Narcan provided at no cost)

Free Individual and Agency trainings are available

April 28-May 4, 2022

Qualifying Agencies are: • Health Organizations • Treatment Centers • Churches • Schools • Local Businesses • Non Profits • Restaurants/Bars/Clubs • Hotels etc...

To schedule training, please call: David Fuller (901) 484-2852

memphisprevention.org

If you need help, support, or referral to treatment, please call Lincoln Coffman (901) 495-5103

22

MIFA Meals Mean HOPE

This project is funded under a Grant Contract with the State of Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

C A L E N D A R : A P R I L 2 8 - M AY 4 Mississippi Masala

Starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhur. Free.

Wednesday, May 4, 7-9 p.m.

Enjoy 30-minute kayak rentals and a waterborne DJ. Free.

Thursday, April 28, 6-8 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

MUD ISLAND PARK

Overton Square Movie Nights: Hitch

LECT U RE

Bring a blanket or a chair to watch this motion flick.

Thursday, April 28, 8 p.m.

OVERTON SQUARE

FOOD AND DR IN K

Lightfoot Farm Market

Local farmers market full of fresh farm-raised meat, produce, eggs, baked goods, artisan cheeses, jams and jellies, canned goods, spices and rubs, honey, bottled barbecue sauces, and more. Saturday, April 30, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

LIGHTFOOT FARM

Pedal to the Meddle: Big Wheel Race Big wheel race and beer release of Pedal to the Meddle (sour IPA). Saturday, April 30, 3 p.m.

MEDDLESOME BREWING COMPANY

HEALTH AND FI TNE SS

Amur Leopard Conservation Run 5K

Walk or run and support amur leopard conservation. This is a virtual run, which means you track your own time and create your own course. Free. Saturday, April 30, 7 a.m.-noon.

T H EAT ER

Sunset Kayak

Mean Girls

Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. $29-$135. Through May 1.

2022 Homeownership Summit

ORPHEUM THEATRE

Smokey Joe’s Cafe

Learn the benefits of homeownership from on-site experts in order to head down the road to financial empowerment. Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

The Broadway sensation celebrating the songs of Leiber and Stoller returns to the birthplace of rock-and-roll. $27. Friday, April 29-May 29.

BELIEVE MEMPHIS ACADEMY

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

Architecture in Ghana: Yesterday, Today, and the Future

The Rebound Stage Play Written, produced, and directed Nadia Matthews. $30.

Saturday, April 30, 3 p.m.

American Institute of Architecture speaking engagement featuring guest speaker, S.M. Quartey. Tuesday, May 3, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

LANDERS CENTER

We Women Do It Better

AIA MEMPHIS

Memphis Jewish Federation’s 60th Annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration

Memphis Jewish Federation’s annual Yom HaShoah honors Holocaust survivors living among us, pays tribute to those we have lost, and transmits the legacy of the Holocaust to the next generation. Thursday, April 28, 6:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

Find the perfect additions to your garden, like garden peonies and pansies, at Memphis Botanic Garden’s Spring Plant Sale.

SA L E S

Spring Plant Sale

Great selections of sun and shade annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, and more.

Through April 29.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Shelby County History Day

A day of educational talks, tours of the Davies Manor historic home, music, games for kids, food, and even axe throwing. Free. Saturday, April 30.

DAVIES MANOR HISTORIC SITE

Whet Thursday ’70s Edition

A ’70s-themed party with games on the lawn, food truck fare, live music, metalsmithing demos, and more. Visitors are

encouraged to dress in their best ’70s-themed outfit. Free.

Thursday, April 28, 6-8 p.m.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

S P O R TS

901 FC vs. Miami FC Saturday, April 30, 7 p.m.

AUTOZONE PARK

Memphis Redbirds vs.

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp Monday, May 2-May 8

THE EVERGREEN THEATRE

You Can’t Take It with You

The George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart comedy is a zany and delightful play with all the expected … and some unexpected ... bits that make it a classic. $25. Through May 8.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

AUTOZONE PARK

Hyle King Movement Silvery Dawn Volume 1 - Volume 2 www.wraysong.com

Wraysong Records copyright 2022 all rights reserved

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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

OVERTON PARK

S P EC I A L E V E N TS

Comedic monologue, written by the Puerto Rican playwright Roberto Ramos Perea, that raises the questions: What do they do best? Is it true that they do it better than men?

Friday, April 29-30, 8 p.m.

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A R T S B y E i l e e n To w n s e n d

Going Surfside “Lonesome” walks the line between abstraction and realism.

April 28-May 4, 2022

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n his new solo exhibition, “Lonesome,” on view at TOPS Gallery through May 7th, the Los Angeles-based painter Adam Higgins throws a small tantrum about mindfulness. The tantrum takes the form of light purple lettering, inscribed backwards around the border of an oil painting of tumultuous water merging with sand. The lettering reads, “EYE CANT STOP THE WAVES AND EYE DONT KNOW HOW TO SURF,” a riff on the well-known mindful refrain of you can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf.

Higgins’ paintings could easily be misinterpreted as being concerned with a perpetually present moment.

His minutely detailed depictions of sea and sand and wildlife meld into abstracted fields of dots, suggesting a meditative process. But the paintings in “Lonesome” are hardly zen.

Both their subject matter and formal qualities hang at the frustrated edge of abstraction and realism, the visible and invisible, figure and ground, and of life and death.

Higgins, who was born in California but raised in Tennessee, received a BFA from Memphis College of Art in 2012 and an MFA in painting from Yale in 2018. As a younger artist, he gravitated toward the inwardgazing abstract paintings of artists like Agnes Martin and Forrest Bess. His more recent works are abstract in the sense that they are unconcerned with any objective reality, but they engage photography as a reference and counterpose realist and abstract techniques.

Higgins’ first solo show in LA featured paintings of California halibut, a flat fish that camouflages itself in the sand. In these works, Higgins attempted a visual double-entendre by flattening a fish that is already trying to flatten itself by making combinations of flat marks. A living fish becomes the ground, becomes a photo, which becomes a painting, then emerges to the viewer as a fish again, or at least the idea of one.

“Lonesome” extends Higgins’ concern with this ontological gray territory, but the series of paintings is less unified in terms of subject matter. The exhibition is organized less like a single proposition and more like a poem. To make the paintings in the show — five of which hang at TOPS main gallery and an additional three of which in a new storefront window-style gallery at Madi-

son Avenue Park — Higgins worked from snapshots he took wandering the beaches near his home. For the triad of paintings in the park, he photographed moths that landed on the window of his studio at night. Only one painting, of a poodle lying prone on a sea of purple, departs from this theme.

Higgins’ strength as a painter shows when he leans into a challenge. Sand is a nearly impossible subject for a painting because it is simultaneously indivisible and made of infinite parts, at once every color and no color at all. Higgins painting hidden surf perch with line attempts the impossible by showing the sand as a penumbra of abstracted color around the disappearing edge of a perch and the thin record of a fishing line. Higgins’

PHOTO: COURTESY TOPS GALLERY

Adam Higgins’ “Lonesome” is on view at TOPS Gallery. triad of nocturne paintings of moths vacillate between hyper-visible descriptions of the insects and dark abstracted backgrounds, an effect that makes them appear more graphic than the other work, perhaps to a fault. Another painting, dead seagull with live walleye surf perch, is violently bright and somehow the light appears reflective, the way it does on an actual beach.

If the job of science has been to divide up nature into the smallest possible parts, the job of painting might be to recompose it as whole. Impossible, of course — the best a painter can do is show the moment when the fish, the sand, the moth, or the wave disappears from view. Higgins’ “Lonesome” succeeds because it manages to hint at an edge of violence in this shifting terrain of becoming and unbecoming without overexposure.

Artist talk this Saturday, April 30, 4-6 p.m. Adam Higgins’ “Lonesome” is on view at TOPS Gallery through May 7th.

FOOD By Michael Donahue

Two New Tops Tops Bar-B-Q celebrates 70 years in Memphis.

PHOTO: LYNN HANTZ

Randy Hough and Hunter Brown

SPRING MERCHANDISE

ARRIVING DAILY

A Very Tasteful Food Blog m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

shift colors. “Some of that is because of city ordinances and what’s allowed. It’s got more red, white, and gray.”

Some of the old locations feature a logo of a pig standing on a spinning top, Hough says, and “neon is used on some of the buildings where it says ‘Memphis Best Bar-B-Q Since 1952.’”

Neon is “not on all of our Tops, but that’s another thing that you’ll notice that’s kind of unique.”

Tops founder J.W. Lawson came up with the name Tops. Their slogan is “Tops in barbecue. Tops in Memphis, too.”

The first store, which was on Macon Road near National Street, “closed many years ago,” Brown says.

The second location, which opened in 1954 at Rhodes Avenue and Getwell Road near the University of Memphis, is “still going strong today,” he says. “It was an old house. And it was the last house in the neighborhood on Rhodes at Getwell. And you certainly can tell if you look at it. It kind of blends in the neighborhood. That’s a special one to us.

It has a lot of memories. There are a lot of people who lived and grew up in that area who talk about it all the time. It has an emotional connection.”

The taste of the barbecue — which is cooked in an open pit — and the hamburgers hasn’t changed since the 1950s, Hough says. The recipes may have been tweaked back in the ’50s, but they’re “the same ones we know of that would be back in the ’50s. I just don’t know if it’s ’52.”

They want people to experience the same taste people did in the 1950s. “That’s really important to us. When you taste the sauce, the beans, the pork — those are the same.

“We tried to stay true for that long.”

New food items at Tops are rare. Tops Bar-B-Q recently added the Smoked BBQ Bologna sandwich — the first new item in 10 years.

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T

ops Bar-B-Q will open two new locations this year during its 70th anniversary.

“The first one we’ll launch this year will be in East Memphis,” says Tops Operations LLC vice president Hunter Brown.

They’re not ready to give the exact addresses, but the first one will be “the farthest east location we’ll be,” Brown says. The second location, which also will launch this year, will be in Cordova.

That will add two more locations to their 16 Tops locations.

Tops plans to expand as Memphis expands. They’re checking out neighborhoods “in terms of where we would be next,” says Tops CEO Randy Hough.

Tops has plans for “at least two more” locations in 2023.

They like to tell people, “If we’re not close by, I’d be on the lookout.”

As for opening Downtown, their store at 1286 Union Avenue is “as far west as we’ve gone outside of Marion, Arkansas,” Hough says.

“The pandemic changed the way Downtown exists today. Just in terms of foot traffic.” But, he adds, “We’re looking pretty heavy at just how the footprint would expand.”

As for existing Tops locations, Brown says, “We’re not looking to close any that are still here. We’re simply adding more restaurants to neighborhoods we’re currently not in.”

They’re using a drawing of the Tops Summer Avenue/National Street location to promote their 70th anniversary.

“That’s what Tops is all about,” Hough says. “That’s the way a lot of our guests remember Tops — some of the nostalgia.

It takes you back to that feeling of driving up. You’ve got the neon. That’s the sixth store that was built. It’s just a special one in terms of nostalgia.”

The Tops brand is ingrained in the memory of so many Memphians. “Our colors are red, white, and yellow. Those are the kinds of colors you’ll see on Tops.”

The new Bartlett store was the first to

25

NOTICE TO ALL PROPERTY OWNERS

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As required by Tennessee Code Annotated § 67-5-508, the property assessment records of Shelby County will be available for public inspection at 1075 Mullins Station Road. These records may be inspected Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Any person desiring to inspect these records may do so at the above times and places. Property assessment records may also be reviewed through the Assessor’s website at www.assessormelvinburgess.com THE SHELBY COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION WILL BEGIN ITS ANNUAL SESSION TO EXAMINE AND EQUALIZE COUNTY ASSESSMENTS ON MAY 2, 2022.

THE COUNTY BOARD WILL ACCEPT APPEALS FOR THE 2022 TAX YEAR UNTIL 4:30 P.M., JUNE 30, 2022, THE LAST DAY OF ITS REGULAR SESSION. The Shelby County Board of Equalization (SCBoE) is open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 1075 Mullins Station Road, Suite C-142. Any property owner who wishes to appeal to the County Board of Equalization may file in person, online or by mail. Appeals may be filed online by 11:59 p.m. on June 30 th . Mailed in appeals must be postmarked on or before June 30 th . Failure to appeal may result in the assessment becoming final without further right of appeal. Please contact the SCBoE at 901-222-7300 for additional information or you may visit their website at boe.shelbycountytn.gov.

April 28-May 4, 2022

Melvin Burgess Shelby County Assessor of Property

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FILM By Chris McCoy

To Valhalla!

Robert Eggers’ The Northman is a bloody, muddy Viking epic for the ages.

W

Valkyries appear to ride the spirits of dead warriors to Valhalla.

This is not the sanitized, hornedhelmet-wearing, Marvel comics Thor vision of Viking-hood. This is blood and mud and ice and pagan gods — and reader, I am here for it.

We meet young Prince Amleth (Oscar Novak) when his father Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) returns from plundering the English coast. The fight was hard, and the king sports a nasty sword wound that has him thinking about his mortality.

Against the objections of his wife Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman), Aurvandil decides to initiate Amleth into manhood, so he can be prepared to take his place on the throne if and when the king dies in battle. The ceremony, in which the father and son ingest a psychedelic tea brewed by the shaman/ fool Heimir (a gloriously crazed Willem Dafoe), is the first taste of just how

(above, l-r) Alexander Skarsgård and Anya Taylor-Joy look relatively mud-free in at least one scene; (below) Björk as a seeress bonkers this movie is going to get.

Turns out, Aurvandil was prescient.

As they’re leaving the ceremony, the king is bushwhacked by his brother Fjölnir (Claes Bang), and young Amleth escapes by sea. As he rows away, he chants his new checklist: 1. Avenge father, 2. Rescue mother, 3. Kill uncle.

Years later, Amleth has grown into the extremely healthy form of Alexander Skarsgård, whose ab muscles ripple from pulling longboat oars. He’s pillaging with a band of berserkers operating in the land of the Kievan Rus, which is now known as Ukraine. There, continued on page 28

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

metal chants. We see Yggdrasil the World Tree framed by the Northern Lights. It’s constantly snowing, but people are half-naked anyway. Nicole Kidman threatens to eat someone’s heart. A dead warrior is set adrift on a burning boat. There’s sex in a volcanic hot spring. Björk instructs the hero on how to acquire a magic sword by fighting an undead barrow-wight.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

illiam Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably the greatest work of literature in the English language — despite the fact that it is set not in England, but in Denmark. The texts the Bard was drawing on were already 400 years old when he was writing at the turn of the 17th century, but the story of Amleth, the Viking prince who seeks revenge after his uncle murders his father and marries his mother, is believed to be much older. The original saga is lost to history, but it probably came from Iceland around 900 CE. The Northman, directed by Robert Eggers and written by the Icelandic poet and musician Sjón, is on some level an attempt to reconstruct that lost story. At times, you can be forgiven if you think it seems like an attempt to adapt Hamlet as a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. But one thing is for sure: This is the most Viking work of art in the last thousand years.

How Viking are we talking? Burley men raise drinking horns to their liege in fire-lit mead halls. Longboats ferry warriors to raid and pillage.

Priests of Odin whip berserkers into a murderous frenzy with guttural death

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FILM By Chris McCoy continued from page 27 he meets a seeress (Björk) who tells him Fjölnir has lost the kingdom and fled to Iceland, where he has set up a new settlement with Gudrún at his side.

Amleth stows away on a ship bound for Iceland, disguised as a slave, and meets the extravagantly named Olga of the Birch Forest (Anya Taylor-Joy), a Slavic sorceress who pledges to help him seek revenge in return for her freedom.

Eggers creates worlds that follow the mythology of their inhabitants while also offering sly comment on said mythology. Like the Puritan patriarch in The Witch, the evil Fjölnir is exposed as an incompetent braggart hiding behind machismo. When his

men discover a group of warriors slain by the rampaging Amleth, they are convinced their “savage” Christian enemies must be behind it because “their god is a corpse nailed to a tree” — never mind that we’ve just spent the last 90 minutes watching these “civilized” Norsemen rape and pillage everything in sight.

Eggers is a director with a vision who has been given the kind of budget that lets him explore the outer limits of his talent, and he does not throw away his shot. The Northman is a living, breathing, spitting, farting, bloodspurting trip to cinematic Valhalla.

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THE LAST WORD By Lawrence Wittner

Military Might Fails to Produce Happiness

THE LAST WORD

Although the rulers of the world’s major military and economic powers have repeatedly claimed that they are making their nations great again, their policies have not resulted in widespread public happiness among their citizens.

That conclusion emerges from the recent World Happiness Report 2022, published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Based on Gallup World Polls conducted from 2019 through 2021, this extensive study provides a revealing look at how roughly 150,000 respondents in 146 countries rated their own happiness. The study’s findings underscore the limited levels of happiness in the world’s major military-economic powers.

There is little doubt about which nations belong in this category. In 2020 (the latest year for which accurate figures are available), the world’s biggest military spenders were the United States (No. 1), China (No. 2), India (No. 3), and Russia (No. 4). Collectively, they accounted for nearly 59 percent of the world’s military spending and the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons.

When nations are ranked by total wealth, a similar pattern appears: United States (No. 1), China (No. 2), India (No. 7), Russia (No. 13). Despite their ostensibly different economic models, they all boast a hefty share of the world’s billionaires, and once again their ranking is rather similar: United States (No. 1), PHOTO: CHRISTINE ROY | UNSPLASH China (No. 2), India (No. 3), and Russia (No. 5).

The U.S. ranks 16th when it comes to public happiness.

And what has this enormous array of military and economic power produced for their citizens? Well, as it turns out, not a great deal of happiness. The most positive thing that can be said for it is that the United States currently ranks a rather dispiriting 16th on this score. China ranks 72nd. Russia ranks 80th. And India is 136th. Furthermore, over the decade since the annual world happiness surveys began, in 2012, none of these major powers has ever appeared among the 10 happiest nations.

In 2022, the 10 happiest countries were: Finland (No. 1), Denmark (No. 2), Iceland (No. 3), Switzerland (No. 4), the Netherlands (No. 5), Luxembourg (No. 6), Sweden (No. 7), Norway (No. 8), Israel (No. 9), and New Zealand (No. 10).

It is deceptively easy to conclude that the explanation for this high level of happiness lies in the fact that these 10 are all fairly comfortable, economically advanced nations. Even so, there is no significant correlation between a nation’s rank in happiness and its per capita income. Indeed, seven of the nations (Finland, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Israel, and New Zealand) did not place at all among the top 12 nations in per capita income during 2021. Finland, ranking No. 1 for happiness for the fifth year in a row, ranked No. 25 in per capita income. New Zealand, ranking No. 10 for happiness, ranked No. 31 for per capita income. Conversely, Singapore, which ranked No. 3 in per capita income, ranked No. 27 for happiness, while United Arab Emirates, which ranked No. 6 in per capita income, ranked No. 24 for happiness. Factors other than top incomes were clearly at work in producing the happiest nations.

One such factor appears to be the provision of substantial public services. A striking feature of the world’s nations is that all five Nordic countries rank among the 10 happiest. What these five countries have in common are social democratic policies that counteract income inequality and dramatically reduce poverty by providing free or low-cost healthcare, dental care, housing, education, and childcare, as well as ample pensions and a range of other “welfare state” benefits. Moreover, the other five happiest countries also maintain significant social welfare systems.

The happiest nations also stand out for their relatively egalitarian distribution of wealth. Each of the 10 happiest nations, except Israel, has greater equality of wealth than do the four major military-economic powers. And even that nation’s wealth distribution is considerably more equal than that of the United States and only slightly more unequal than China’s.

Yet another contrast appears when it comes to military spending. Given the enormous GDP of the four biggest military-economic powers, an adequate “defense” of their nations should be less of an economic burden on them than it would be on the economies of these 10 much smaller, less wealthy nations. But, in fact, the reverse is true in eight of the happiest nations, which devoted a smaller percentage of their GDP to military spending in 2020 (the latest year for which accurate figures are available) than did all but one of the four major military-economic powers. Sweden, for example, spent only 1.22 percent, Denmark 1.44 percent, and Finland 1.53 percent of their small GDPs on their armed forces, while India spent 2.88 percent, the United States 3.74 percent, and Russia 4.26 percent of their much larger GDPs to fund their military might.

Admittedly, poverty and national insecurity do appear to play important roles in reducing human happiness. The lowest ranking nations in World Happiness Report 2022 are very poor nations or nations plagued by violence or both, such as the Palestinian territories (No. 122), Myanmar (No. 126), Yemen (No. 132), and Afghanistan (No. 146).

Even so, as the global happiness studies indicate, great military and economic power bring nations only so far. Ultimately, a high level of happiness requires social solidarity.

Lawrence Wittner, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is professor of history emeritus at SUNY/Albany and the author of Confronting the Bomb (Stanford University Press).

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

According to the World Happiness Report-2022, military, economic power don’t guarantee happiness.

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