Memphis Flyer 6/15/2023

SHARA CLARK

Editor

SAMUEL X. CICCI

Managing Editor

JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN

Senior Editors

TOBY SELLS

Associate Editor

KAILYNN JOHNSON

News Reporter

CHRIS MCCOY

Film and TV Editor

ALEX GREENE

Music Editor

MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS

Staff Writers

ABIGAIL MORICI

Arts and Culture Editor

GENE GARD, EMILY GUENTHER, COCO JUNE, FRANK MURTAUGH

Contributing Columnists

SHARON BROWN, AIMEE STIEGEMEYER

Grizzlies Reporters

ANDREA FENISE

Fashion Editor

KENNETH NEILL

Founding Publisher

CARRIE BEASLEY

Senior Art Director

CHRISTOPHER MYERS

Advertising Art Director

NEIL WILLIAMS

Graphic Designer

JERRY D. SWIFT

Advertising Director Emeritus

KELLI DEWITT, CHIP GOOGE

Senior Account Executives

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Account Executive

CHET HASTINGS

Warehouse and Delivery Manager

JANICE GRISSOM ELLISON, KAREN MILAM, DON MYNATT, TAMMY NASH, RANDY ROTZ, LEWIS TAYLOR, WILLIAM WIDEMAN

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I moved into my friends’ house last week. Well, I didn’t actually move in. How I got here is a bit of a loop-the-loop. I thought I may have to relocate for homeowners insurance to cover repairs from damage in icted by a tree that fell in an April storm, and they were looking to rent out their house for a month while traveling abroad — the timing might be right and insurance should reimburse the cost, I thought. Long story short, it’s June 13th and I still have a hole in my roof and the remains of a collapsed shed in my backyard — and the friends still wanted a non-stranger to occupy their space while away.

So here I am in Midtown, not 10 minutes from my own home near U of M, for what will essentially be a summer staycation in a happening ’hood. But even a few days in, 10 minutes away — just over four miles — it’s proving to be a whole new world, both geographically and mentally. My neighborhood walks are di erent now. Big, charming bungalows, every six or so in line painted vibrant yellows and blues. Any given a ernoon, a motley crew of people are out jogging, walking their dogs, or on leisurely couples’ strolls. Music wa s from not-far loudspeakers, and the area bustles with cars and pedestrians and cyclists in a distinctly Midtown way.

Back at the house, I’m the new caretaker for ve hens. Hannah is the oldest, the queen (she’s curious but keeps her distance); Tulip sports iridescent black feathers (a beaut who doesn’t mind a pet here and there); and Geli is the most nicky of the bunch (she jumped in my lap and pecked my side moments before I typed this). My rst day meeting them, either Pancake or Biscuit — both a lovely peachy blonde — was broody and didn’t want to budge from her nesting space in the coop, where she was determined to wait for an (unfertilized) egg to hatch. Knowing nothing about handling chickens, I puzzled how I’d go about getting the egg from under her or — gasp! — picking her up to move her and help ease her out of this state. Nope, can’t do it, gotta call for help. A kind neighbor sent her daughter over — she picked her up, placed her outside of the coop, and retrieved two eggs. Easy-peasy. But, day two, the hen was back in her nest, still broody, unwilling to come out even for chicken treats, and I thought — by god — I’m gonna do this today. A cup of co ee, some cover story editing, a sandwich, a phone call, a dozen emails, a little googling, and two false starts later, I nally said to me, “Shara, this can’t be that hard. If a kid can do it, you can do it.” So out I went, hyping myself up (“It’s just a chicken; she can’t hurt you!”). A deep breath, some gentle maneuvering to get the right hold on her, and 1, 2, 3 … go!

Pancake or Biscuit — “I’ve never been able to tell [them] apart and saying their name won’t help,” their owner told me — wasn’t too happy with me, raising all kinds of bawk-gawk hell outside the coop. But I got her egg and successfully, and without injury, picked up a chicken. A lot of you are probably thinking, “What’s the big deal? I’ve picked up chickens so many times.” Or “I picked up a chicken once, and I wasn’t even scared!” If that’s you, great! For me, this was the conquering of a small fear I didn’t even know I had — mustering the con dence to do something completely out of my scope of skill (or comfort) for the rst time.

Pancake/Biscuit has snapped out of it now, but I keep going back to the idea of this broody hen. How she was so set on hatching those eggs, ingrained in her nature to nurture them, steadfast, irritated at interruptions. Maybe before coming here I had been blindly incubating fruitless things I should have long let go. Set in my ways, rarely leaving the house, generally irritated and brooding. Perhaps I was meant to be plucked from my own comfy coop and moved — even if for a short time — to redirect my thoughts and refresh my perspective. Hey, I don’t have to sit on that egg anymore. ere are many paths outside my comfort zone worth exploring and cultivating. For now, I’ll graze and feast on the new sights and sounds, di erent daily tasks in an alternate environment — a break from my own broody mood. See ya around Midtown, folks. Shara Clark shara@memphis yer.com

PHOTO: SHARA CLARK e Cluck Crew

THE fly-by

MEM ernet

Memphis on the internet.

ERASING THE HATE

Questions, Answers + Attitude

Edited by Toby Sells

TRANSPORTATION

By Toby Sells

Getting on Track

With a state report pending, Memphis and other cities submit proposal for passenger rail line.

Passenger rail planning in Tennessee surfaced brie y last week in a Congressional hearing with Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner with a bit of recent news regarding Memphis.

A Saturday-morning power-washing erased the hate at Cooper-Young’s Rainbow Crosswalk last weekend. A hateful someone scrawled a hateful word on the street in white spray paint. e act was all over the MEMernet and local television broadcasts. Jerred Price, the principal mover to get the crosswalks installed, and others washed the word away.

“But this small act of hate was trumped with the outpour of love today from all those who helped clean it up,” Price wrote on Facebook. “ ank you [Memphis Police Department] for your help and investigation into this as well as to all those who helped clean this mess up.”

TINY BOMBED

Sarah Galyean put beer — Wiseacre’s Tiny Bomb, to be speci c — in her hair. e TikToker was testing a conditioning method used by Catherine Zeta-Jones, mixing beer with honey.

e two-part post had Galyean joking as she mixed the ingredients in a NutriBullet before pouring the mix in her hair in the shower. Verdict?

“Does my hair smell like the oor of a Dave & Buster’s? Yes,” she said. But, “this is the rst celebrity beauty secret I might actually do a second time because it really does work. I’m shook.”

JA 2K24

Not o cial or anything. But who are we to argue?

In a previous story, the Flyer described e orts underway by a state group to deliver a passenger rail plan to legislators and other state o cials next month. e Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) has been working on a rail plan since 2022, when the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill requesting one.

While TACIR works to meet the July deadline, several Tennessee cities led an application with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for grant money to help them begin to plan for a possible rail route for passengers.

In March, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly announced that his city had teamed up with Atlanta, Nashville, and Memphis in the submission that could draw $500,000 in planning funds for a route that would connect those cities.

at application surfaced in a hearing last week of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) asked Amtrak’s Gardner about passenger rail movement in the state. Gardner said the corridor “holds a lot of promise.”

Bus service from Memphis to Nashville has been around awhile, o ered by many di erent companies. A one-way Greyhound ticket costs $42 (on a recent search) and takes about three hours and 45 minutes. FlixBus and Megabus run the route, too. BizBus began o ering the route last month in a service that promised comfortable seating, Wi-Fi, and an onboard attendant for about $50.

“I have heard a great amount of support [for a passenger rail] in Memphis and Nashville,” Cohen said during last Tuesday’s hearing. “People in Memphis want to go to Nashville, the state capital, for all kinds of reasons. And people in Nashville have even more reasons to leave and come to Memphis. So, there’s this great synergy of energy there.”

He said the application is a “ rst critical step” in the passenger rail planning process. If nothing else, it simply gets the state and the cities into the federal system, to stand in line and be ready for funds when they become available.

Cohen said a rail line between Nashville and Memphis is more important now that Ford Motor Co. is building BlueOval City in Haywood County, just a few miles east of Memphis between the city and Nashville.

Also, Cohen said the “area’s not served by air transportation, commercial air.” No direct ights exist from Memphis International Airport to Nashville International Airport. Spirit Airlines will get you there with an 11-hour layover in Orlando (for $211), according to a search at Kayak. Delta Airlines will deliver Memphians to Nashville in just over three hours with a stop in Atlanta for $359, also according to Kayak.

While state o cials await TACIR’s report, they have signaled their support to the feds of passenger rail in Tennessee. Howard “Butch” Eley, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), has given that support in two letters to the FRA.

“Addressing growing transportation congestion in Tennessee’s major urban areas and along major commuting and commerce routes throughout our state is of paramount importance to [TDOT] as we work to meet the state’s growth, prosperity, and mobility needs,” Eley wrote to the FRA in March. “We believe Tennessee is an important state in the national discussion of long-distance passenger rail service.

“Between 2010 and 2020, Tennessee grew by nearly 600,000 people and our state continues to be a leader in job growth and economic development. Tennessee is also a major tourist destination and visitors to our state come to all parts of our state to experience our rich culture of music and entertainment as well as our natural and scenic beauty.”

“Tennessee is an important state in the national discussion of long-distance passenger rail service.”

POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY JERRED PRICE

POSTED

POSTED TO TIKTOK BY SARAH GALYEAN

PHOTO: ARIS | UNSPLASH

Memphis joined Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta in a federal proposal for a rail line that would connect the cities.

OPIOID OVERDOSE CARRY NARCAN

{CITY REPORTER

By Toby Sells

Hate in Memphis

The number of hate groups operating in the Memphis area was cut in half over the last two years, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Each year, the Montgomery, Alabamabased SPLC issues its Year in Hate & Extremism report, which details hate groups and anti-government extremist groups operating across the U.S. is year’s report found a total of 1,225 active groups (in both categories combined) in the U.S., up slightly from the 1,221 groups active in 2021.

e number of hate groups fell for the fourth year in a row in 2022. A record number of such groups (1,020) was recorded in 2018. is fell to 733 in 2021 and to 523 in the 2022 report. However, the number of anti-government groups rose. e number of such groups totaled 566 in 2020, fell to 488 in 2021, but rose steeply to 702 in the 2022 report.

In Memphis, four groups made the SPLC’s annual report. at’s down from the eight groups reported in 2020.

Gone from the report this year are

four Black nationalist groups — Great Millstone, Israel United in Christ, Nation of Islam, and the New Black Panther Party for Islam. e SPLC said, “Black nationalists typically oppose integration and racial intermarriage, and they want separate institutions — or even a separate nation — for Blacks.” e groups are also “anti-white and anti-Semitic,” the group said. No reason was given as to why these groups were not listed in this year’s report.

Also gone from this year’s report is Confederate 901, a seemingly inactive group that surfaced in 2017. At the time, its leaders were opposed to the removal of Confederate statues in Memphis.

Two new groups have been added to the SPLC’s report on Memphis over

the last two years. e Proud Boys and the Shelby County chapter of Moms for Liberty are now active here.

e local Moms for Liberty group says it is “dedicated to the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” Jennifer Martin is listed as the county chapter chair on the national group’s website.

e local Proud Boys group also made the list. e group’s pro le rose last year as they counter-protested a pro-choice rally here.

e West Tennessee Proud Boys website shows a photo of the group marching on Beale Street and tells its members to “walk your streets with your head held high.” An obviously fake Memphis address is listed as “Freedom Street, Memphis, TN 38503.” e ZIP code is for Cookeville, Tennessee.

In its website’s “Beliefs” section, the local Proud Boys say they “are proud Western Chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” ey say they want small government, freedom of speech, closed borders, the right to bear arms, to “venerate the housewife,” and more. e site also o ers a portal to join the group. Another button, for complaints, takes a visitor to a YouTube video featuring a tune called “ e You Are A Cunt Song.”

Two Bartlett radio stations also made the SPLC’s list this year, as they have for years. Blood River Radio believes “genocide is being pursued against white gentile people of the world.” e Political Cesspool hosts have said, “We represent a philosophy that is pro-white and are against political centralization.”

Four Black nationalist groups apparently don’t operate here anymore.

PHOTO: JASON LEUNG | UNSPLASH

Two Bartlett radio stations make the list every year.

Report nds two new hate groups here, four groups gone.

JANSON

POLITICS By Jackson Baker

Decisions, Decisions …

Businessman

J.W. Gibson is reportedly getting ready to retool his mayoral campaign with help from veteran political consultant

Susan Adler orp. Polls indicate that Gibson’s campaign has never really gotten o the ground. Nor has his initial slogan suggesting that Memphis needs a “new tune.”

And the professional respect Gibson enjoys as a result of his long-term philanthropic and developmental activities has not been general enough to have earned him much name recognition with the public. Despite a distinguished and vaguely mayoral appearance, he has also struggled to stand out at the many collective forums and meet-and-greets he has been a presence at.

With just under four months le before election day, Gibson, who has abundant private resources, could still make an impact, but only if he nds a viable message and can popularize it. Almost uniquely in the crowded mayoral eld, he has expressed openness to the idea of a possible property tax increase.

• Among observers who are closely following the mayoral race, there is a di erence of opinion as to whether there are three main contenders so far — Sheri Floyd Bonner, Downtown Memphis Commission CEO Paul Young, and NAACP president and former County Commissioner Van Turner — or four —those three, plus former longtime Mayor Willie Herenton.

Everyone acknowledges that Herenton, who has led at least one uno cial poll, has a dependable voting bloc, based on his long mayoral tenure and, especially, his precedentestablishing 1991 victory as the city’s rst elected Black chief executive. Some wonder if his budget, expected to be minimal, will allow for a serious stretch run.

Bonner and Young won’t have such worries. Both have cash-on-hand holdings in the vicinity of half a million dollars. And Turner, whose purse at this point is roughly a third of that amount, has a long-established base of dependable supporters.

• As has long been expected, former

City Councilman Berlin Boyd has pulled a petition to run for the open Super District 8, Position 3, seat held for the past two terms by Council Chairman Martavius Jones, who is term-limited.

Boyd’s name had also turned up on the petition list for Super District 8, Position 1 — something the once and possibly future councilman attributes to an error by one of his sta members. Boyd says he never had any intention of running against the 8-1 incumbent, JB Smiley, a friend, and he has done the paperwork to nullify that prospect. (He also denies a previously published report that he might take another crack at District 7, currently occupied by Michalyn Easter- omas, who in 2019 ousted then-incumbent Boyd in a runo .)

Boyd has, however, considered the “back-up” idea of running for Super District 8, Position 2, a seat being eyed by several others, who take seriously a rumor that incumbent Cheyenne Johnson will not end up being a candidate for re-election. But, he says, “I’m 99 percent sure I’ll be running for Position 3.” Eight other people have so far pulled petitions for Position 3.

• e aforementioned Smiley is one of four current holders of super district seats who, as of early this week, did not yet have declared opposition. e other fortunate ones were Chase Carlisle in Super District 9, Position 1, Ford Canale in 9-2, and Je Warren in 9-3.

PHOTO: JACKSON BAKER Mayoral candidate J.W. Gibson at last weekend’s Sidney Chism picnic

e pace has quickened for those anticipating serious runs in the city election.

AT LARGE By Bruce VanWyngarden

What a difference a day makes.

Boy, last Thursday was quite the news day!

We woke up to the startling revelation that New York City was basically paralyzed, hazed over by dense smoke from forest fires in Canada, our supposed “ally.” Eh?

Then it was announced that the Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey company had won its case over a dog-toy manufacturer that had created “poopthemed” chewies with a “Jack Spaniel’s” label. Justice was fetched. Woof!

Next we learned about the earthly departure of “Christian” broadcaster Pat Robertson, who made a career of claiming that LGBTQ folks caused hurricanes, earthquakes, and even the 9/11 attacks. Sadly, ol’ Pat missed out on a chance to blame extra-polite, denim-clad Canadian homosexuals for the smoke invasion, but he did have the good taste to leave us during Pride Month. Enjoy the eternal smoke, Pat.

Oh, and I almost forgot one other tiny bit of news from last Thursday: Former President Donald Trump announced that he was going to be indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for mishandling classified documents after leaving office.

Trump, no doubt intentionally, preempted the DOJ’s official announcement of the indictment with his own, and quickly began grifting funds for his defense. It was all so unfair! Send money!

The messaging from the usual GOP piss-pots and pundits was remarkably consistent. They bemoaned the country’s “two-tiered justice system” and “selective prosecution.” They raged about “Joe Biden’s Justice Department,” and alleged that the coming Trump indictments were just a distraction from the ever-imminent prosecution of Hunter Biden for giving his father a $5 million bribe, or something, which the GOP could prove if only they didn’t keep misplacing “FBI whistleblowers.”

In fact, the Trump World response was so uniform that one could almost imagine it had been coordinated. Either that, or grievance and whatabout-ism was the only ammo they had left. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s reaction was typical. He said “the indictment of Donald Trump was a dark day for the United States,” and that he “stood with” the former president, adding that “House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable.”

It’s worth noting that more than 30 elected Republican officials — including several congressmen and senators — are reputed to have exchanged texts and voice messages with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on January 6, 2021. Indictments for the January 6th insurrection case are presumably forthcoming, so there may be some understandable anxiety among those on Meadows’ speed-dial list.

Unsurprisingly, those defending Trump have it precisely backwards. President Biden didn’t indict Trump; the Department of Justice did, and only after months of investigation by a special counsel and his team. (Fun fact: When the feds prosecute somebody, their win rate is 99 percent.)

The first-ever indictment of a former president is a huge deal, and the DOJ is not about to file a frivolous case. As the Friday release of the indictments made clear, Trump mishandled and resisted returning hundreds of government documents, even after being subpoenaed for them. There is no parallel with President Biden’s — or Mike Pence’s — handling of the same situation; both cooperated with investigators.

A true dark day for this country would be if the DOJ did not investigate a former president for criminal behavior. It would put presidents above the rule of law, giving them a privilege granted to no other American, creating a true two-tiered justice system.

There was one other piece of news from last Thursday that was overshadowed by Trump’s indictment revelation — but it was potentially as important. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that Alabama’s Congressional Districts had been gerrymandered to minimize that state’s African-American vote. Only one of the state’s seven districts had a Black majority in a state with a 27 percent Black population.

In what most legal analysts considered a surprising ruling, the Court preserved at least a vestige of the 1982 Voting Rights Act by ruling that Alabama must redraw its district maps. It’s a decision with potential ramifications for similar cases in Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas. When future historians look back at June 8, 2023, they may see this SCOTUS decision — a blow to the plague of gerrymandering — as more consequential for the country than Trump’s whiny announcement. The years have a way of clearing the smoke.

Five Finance Tips

Follow these steps to find firm financial footing.

It can be difficult to know how to start building a solid financial future.

With all the responsibilities of early adulthood you may be tempted to put financial planning on the back burner. However, the sooner you start planning, the better off you’ll be in the long run. The following tips can help you get started.

1. Create a budget.

Identify how much money you spend each month and compare that to your monthly income, considering two types of expenses: fixed and discretionary.

Fixed expenses are those you pay each month, including rent/mortgage, minimum credit card payments, car payments, insurance, utility bills, and cell phone.

Discretionary expenses are costs you choose to take on that may not be essential, including eating out, movie and concert tickets, streaming TV subscriptions, gifts, and vacations.

Once you’ve added up your fixed and discretionary expenses, compare the total to the income you bring in. If you’re spending less than you earn, congratulations! You’re one step closer to a stronger financial foundation. If you find you’re spending more than you’re earning, you may need to trim some discretionary expenses to bring you back to level footing.

Look at the discretionary expenses. Where can you lower your spending?

Maybe you can cut back from eating out four times per week to one or two times per week. Perhaps you don’t need all your streaming services. Or maybe you choose to take your next vacation closer to home rather than paying for a plane ticket.

The key is to establish a budget that allows you to pay your fixed expenses and discretionary expenses while living within your means and taking care of obligations.

2. Pay off debt.

Regardless of the type of debt (student loan, credit card, auto loan, etc.), the sooner you pay it off, the sooner you’ll achieve financial security. While there are times when it’s necessary to take on debt, there are other times where outstanding debts can spiral out of control. Two effective strategies for paying off debt include:

• The snowball method — This involves paying off your smallest debt balance as quickly as possible, then moving on to the next-smallest debt. This approach can help you gain a sense of accomplishment as you knock out one loan after another.

• The avalanche method — You begin paying on the loan with the highest interest rate first. Once that is paid off, you move to the loan with the next-highest

interest rate. This allows you to pick up speed because each payment saves you more money than the one before.

3. Build an emergency fund.

An emergency savings account can enable you to keep up on your necessary expenses, pay down debt, and continue your lifestyle for a period of time. A rule of thumb is to have three to six months’ worth of living expenses saved. An emergency fund can protect you from taking on additional debts to meet your needs

4. Save for retirement.

The sooner you start saving, the better your chances of achieving or maintaining the lifestyle you want. The easiest way to start is by contributing to your employersponsored retirement plan at a rate that maximizes your employer matching contributions while still being sustainable.

Don’t have access to an employersponsored plan? Consider an individual retirement account (IRA). There are two main types of IRAs: traditional and Roth.

• Traditional IRA — Contributions are made on a pre-tax basis, which reduces your taxable income in the year you contribute. Money invested in a traditional IRA is free to grow tax-deferred until retirement. Distributions are taxed as ordinary income and may be subject to a 10 percent early withdrawal penalty if taken before reaching age 59½.

• Roth IRA — Contributions are made with after-tax funds, providing no tax benefits during the year in which you contribute. Contributions can be withdrawn after five years with no taxes or penalties (earnings are subject to tax and a potential 10 percent penalty if withdrawn before you reach age 59½).

5. Avoid lifestyle inflation.

As your income increases over time, it may be tempting to increase your spending. This tendency is sometimes referred to as “lifestyle creep,” and if not managed, it can get in the way of your financial goals. When your income increases, consider increasing your savings first.

Gene Gard, CFA, CFP, CFT-I, is a Partner and Private Wealth Manager with Creative Planning. Creative Planning is one of the nation’s largest Registered Investment Advisory firms providing comprehensive wealth management services to ensure all elements of a client’s financial life are working together, including investments, taxes, estate planning, and risk management. For more information or to request a free, no-obligation consultation, visit CreativePlanning.com.

A Juneteenth Celebration

By Kailynn Johnson

Kelsee Woods (below) dances to a performance by singer-songwriter Talibah Sa ya (above).

urved acrylic nails will be paired with Queen Charlotteapproved corsets, poker faces will be tested in a Spades tournament, and thousands will pour over to Orange Mound Tower to celebrate the culmination of Memphis-based art organization TONE’s annual Juneteenth weekend. A B.A.P.S-themed gala and a family reunion bash are the crowning jewels in this festive event honoring Black culture and freedom.

For Black Joy

According to TONE, Juneteenth is the day that “Black Americans were nally free to be seen as humans, and not objects.”

While many believe the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, marked the end of slavery, the National Museum of African American History and Culture reminds us that it “could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control.” All enslaved people were not considered free until June 19, 1865. On that day, 2,000 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform more than 250,000 enslaved people they were free. is holiday is celebrated as the formal end of slavery in America.

When considering the cultural signi cance of Juneteenth for Black Americans, it’s tting for TONE to host a celebration here. Victoria Jones, TONE’s executive director, says the organization is dedicated to holding a space for Black people to tell stories through lm, visual arts, photography, and more, and it seeks to “heal a city and its trauma around racial injustice and all the things that come with that, but really, truly centering the joy of Black folks in that space and li ing that up through innovation.”

“However Black folks are showing up and telling their stories, we’re really working on capturing them, liing them up, and putting them on a platform here at TONE,” Jones adds.

e organization has been around for about eight years, originally launched at Crosstown Arts as an initiative to diversify their audience.

But once TONE saw the capacity their work had for building community and empowering Black people, they hopped around nomadically. However, Jones says, a er having negative experiences at “legacy institutions” and “predominantly white organizations,” they realized they needed a place of their own.

“Realizing that those spaces were never really truly intended for us, even as they are trying to work on extending

thought it would be in our best interest, and necessary for our sustainability, to open up our own space.”

On January 11, 2019, TONE opened the complex known as TONE HQ — at 2234 Lamar Avenue — to more than 2,500 guests from around the city. Since then, the organization has hosted a number of events — lm screenings, exhibitions, and concerts — that have

become cemented as pieces of Memphis iconography.

“Really any creative outlet that we can create for Black folks,” Jones says, “so we can continue to li up the stories being told, in and around Memphis, and highlight the artists who are doing the courageous work of telling those stories.”

In 2020, the organization purchased property across the street from where

their gallery currently sits. With this addition, they began to imagine how the property could serve as a “beacon of cultural innovation for Black folks,” and how they could center and li up the work of “creatives and small business entrepreneurs.” TONE recently added an additional three acres to the property, making it 10-acres, where they are envisioning endeavors related to food, agriculture, health and wellness, education, job readiness, art, culture, tech innovation, and more.

e story of TONE itself is representative of the story of being Black in America. It’s a story that only those with lived experiences are quali ed to tell. And when these stories are told, recurring themes of perseverance, resilience, and redirecting play prominent roles in planting seeds to honor those before them, and to empower both current and future generations.

Jones explains there is o en a separation between the present and slavery, as though it existed “some very, very long time ago,” but that is not the case. She tells the Flyer that her Big Mama (grandmother) was raised by a man who was enslaved as a child. Jones says in her own youth, her understanding of Juneteenth was that it was a community service day. And while she agrees there is merit in choosing that as a way to commemorate the holiday, the day serves as a true reason to celebrate. Juneteenth is a time for Black Americans to celebrate their ancestors — and all there is to look forward to.

“N*ggas is free!” Jones exclaims. “ at’s not always been true. Very recently that was not true. So to have the opportunity to give folks night a er night of di erent experiences and touchpoints to just lean in and think about, honor, and celebrate the ancestors that got us here, the generations that it took for us to experience this level of freedom, and the celebration necessary to know that you gotta keep going. Sometimes we just need to be able to touch down, do a little dancing, so we can keep a good ght.”

At the center of Jones’ conversations on Juneteenth is Black joy, and when talking with the Flyer she makes sure the conversation concentrates on the freedom of Black people, as opposed to what they were being freed from.

For Culture

TONE’s Juneteenth: A Family Reunion, will host a variety of events from June 15th through 18th. e theme of a

continued on page 14

PHOTO: KAI ROSS

JuDa Ezell with David Hammons’ African-American Flag

continued from page 13

family reunion may seem obvious to those whose summers consisted of line dancing while wearing T-shirts adorned with family members’ names linked on a tree — and who know the realness of the “Cousin! What’s Up” gif of late rapper Tupac Shakur. However, to those who have no familiarity with these experiences, it may be less obvious.

“Families were destroyed during slavery,” Jones says. “Folks were stealing children and selling them to people.

“Folks were stealing mommas and selling them to people, stealing daddies and selling them to people, so the tradition of family reunions truly comes out of this desire to nd your people, know your people.”

She also says family reunions for most people are an invitation back to the South, where many Black people’s roots are planted, and the decision to promote the celebration as a family reunion is an invitation to bring people together to “celebrate and love on each other for a weekend.”

TONE’s Juneteenth commemorations have been an evolution, with the rst event being a Juneteenth Gala in 2019 where they invited Memphis musicians, visual and performing artists, and dancers to help energize the festivities.

e intention has always been to celebrate and showcase Black culture in the most authentic light, and that rst TONE Juneteenth celebration was nothing short of that, with Chef Fran Mosley catering a spread of soul food favorites like fried chicken, macaroniand-cheese, and peach cobbler, which Jones says “leans into what makes our people so special.”

Le : Chef Araba Esoun embraces family.

PHOTOS: NOAH STEWART

Below: A festival attendee matches the energy on their shirt.

This year’s weekend follows a format launched in 2022, the first year TONE was able to host both a gala and a festival. The weekend kicks off on Thursday, June 15th, with a screening of Robert Townsend’s 1997 film B.A.P.S (Black American Princesses), starring Halle Berry and Natalie Desselle, at Malco Studio on the Square in Midtown at 7 p.m., in collaboration with Indie Memphis.

In keeping the momentum of an authentic family reunion experience, TONE will host a Spades tournament on Friday, June 16th, with a prize of $200, where they’ll use custom-made playing cards. “The Spades tournament is a night for folks to come out and enjoy one of the most sacred card games known to man,” event organizers say. “It is a night for people to converse and convene over good music, food, and drinks. It is a night for all the big and all the bad to come out and claim their seat at the table.”

“If we’re going to have a family reunion, then we gotta have the Spades going,” Jones says.

For Empowerment

For those who can’t seem to get enough of the Black American Princess aesthetic and are privy to the words of Lady Whistledown, the Juneteenth Gala will provide the ultimate experience. The Cadre Building Downtown will take attendees “from the Met Gala to the

Mound” with some “ghetto fabulousness” in the mix.

“I haven’t had a number of opportunities to dress up and go to a gala, put on a gown, and all that,” says Jones. “Truly, what other reason than the freedom of my people. You know I gotta step out for that.”

The gala has become a staple in TONE’s Juneteenth weekend, as it was the organization’s inaugural celebratory event in 2019. “It was bursting at the seams then,” says Jones. “That’s how we knew we couldn’t do it here [at the TONE gallery] no more.”

Last year was the first time TONE pushed for a theme for the gala. They went with Afrofuturism, and people showed up in their “futuristic, beautiful, Black garb,” Jones says. This year, with the B.A.P.S theme, they anticipate baby hair galore, grills, and about 1,001 different approaches to corsets.

“If you could imagine a Met Gala with a Memphis twist — and when I say ‘Memphis’ I mean the actual city of Memphis, not the things we pretend it is, but true Memphis sh*t — I think that’s what you can expect.”

While these aesthetics may at times be shunned, Jones says it’s being embraced — and in a royal setting. “The emphasis has truly been on royalty, like Black folks showing up in this space of royalty. A lot of our belief system

revolves around the idea that Black folks show up however they show up, and that space is to be honored,” says Jones.

Perhaps the most iconic component of TONE’s Juneteenth celebration is the festival, which was first held in 2021 as a way to celebrate the holiday in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic — a way for TONE to bring the magic of their indoor gala outside.

“I think we hosted over 11 artists, we had the marketplace set up, 90 percent of the vendors sold out, and the ones that didn’t came real close to selling out,” says Jones.

The festival has historically been held at the Orange Mound Tower, which holds special cultural significance for Black Memphians. While the gala has been held at different locations throughout the years, Jones says the festival will always be held in Orange Mound, as the neighborhood was built by the first generation freed from slavery.

“If we’re thinking about the legacy that came out of enslavement, then Orange Mound is literally the most powerful display of perseverance and innovation,” says Jones. “The Black folks that were told they were nothing more than property found a way to build an entire community upon freedom.”

The festival has always promised an outstanding experience (and FOMO potential), and this year will be no

different, with headliners Project Pat, Hitkidd, and Duke Deuce and a slate of emerging talent including Talibah Safiya, Austin Crui$e, DJ Nico, Harley Quinn, and more, along with Black-owned food trucks and vendors.

Jones says this is also a moment for TONE to empower Black people economically. “The artists, we pay above what is market rate for the city, probably double for the city of Memphis.

The musicians leave with money in their pocket. Our artisans, our makers, are leaving with bread in their pocket, as are the chefs and the caterers that show up with the food trucks. So it’s a beautiful day to celebrate and a beautiful way to make money.”

At its core, TONE’s Juneteenth celebration encapsulates not only the phenomenon of Black joy but also further shines a light on what makes the Black experience so unique and special — characterized by tenacious spirit and dreaming big.

“I can’t think of a single holiday that matters more than the celebration of our freedom, when we talk about Black joy, Black empowerment,” Jones says. “I can’t think of a better opportunity for real.” For more information on TONE’s Juneteenth: A Family Reunion event (June 15th-18th, various locations), including schedule, lineup, and access to tickets, visit tonejuneteenth.com.

Live music at

steppin’ out

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Big Sam’s Funky Nation

Fingerpickin’ Good By

Abigail Morici

“Once the Europeans came to America in the late 1400s — Columbus, colonial invasion, all that stu — they brought three things with them: guns, foreign inuence, and guitars,” says Harvey Newquist, the founder of the National Guitar Museum. “Ever since then, the guitar has been a part of the American nation. … You can track American history through the way people have used guitars, not only for music but also as symbols of what they’re doing.”

june 17th

Funk You

Indeed, within the National Guitar Museum’s traveling exhibition “America at e Crossroads: e GUITAR and a Changing Nation” each of the 40 or so guitars represents a snapshot in U.S. history — “whether it’s an emblem or a symbol of the blues and emancipation of enslaved people going out and playing the blues circuit, onto country and Western music that became popular in the late 1800s, onto Hawaiian music which actually changed America in the early 1900s, on up into protest music and folk music,” Newquist says.

e exhibition, now on display at the Museum of Science & History, even has a bit of a Memphis touch, with one of B.B. King’s Lucilles and one of Elvis’ stage guitars on display. It also coincides with the museum’s “Grind City Picks: e Music at Made Memphis” exhibit, which centers around the guitar’s role in Memphis music history. “It’s a celebration of music and Memphis, but it’s not trying to be comprehensive,” says Raka Nandi, director of exhibits and collections. “We have 15 guitars and each one of them has an amazing story.”

From Albert King’s Flying V to e Bar-Kays’ James Alexander’s very rst guitar to the guitars of Eric Gales and Sid Selvidge, the exhibit borrows guitars from “the people that you expect to hear about” and guitars from people who are newer to the scene like MonoNeon, Julien Baker, the Lipstick Stains, and Amy LaVere, who has lent her banjo. “ ese guitarists have really been at the forefront of the evolution of music in Memphis,” Nandi adds.

june

To accompany “Grind City Picks,” the museum also created a downloadable Spotify playlist for those who visit the exhibit. Additionally, MoSH will host “ e Way ey Play” every second Saturday of the month for the duration of the exhibit. e event will spotlight special guest musicians, who will demonstrate and talk about their quirks, techniques, and styles. “You’ll get an insider view on how an artist sort of thinks about that, and how they manipulate the instrument and how they’re creative with it,” says Nandi. e museum, she adds, will also host a monthly Laser Live, where Memphis musicians will perform live to a full laser light show in MoSH’s planetarium.

For more information on either exhibits and their programming, visit moshmemphis.com.

june

Dirty STreets

“Songs from the Vine”

First Presbyterian Church, Friday, June 16, 5-6:30 p.m.

Composer-performer Matthew Petty presents an evening of art and music. e show will feature a series of graphic scores made from cyanotypes, a photography technique used to capture the images of plants in the form of light. ose same plants will be featured in a live performance using a device that transfers the energetic responses of plants into sound and music.

e cyanotypes will be on display until July 31st.

Groovy Garden Party

Memphis Botanic Garden, Friday, June 16, 6:30-9:30 p.m., $35-$45

Celebrate MBG’s 70th anniversary with a ’70s-themed party, complete with cocktails, music, and activities. Guests are encouraged to dress to

impress in their best ’70s threads. is event is for adults 21+ only. Each ticket includes admission to the event, three alcoholic beverages, and small bites.

Live Rich Die Poor, A Zora Neale Hurston One Woman Play eatreSouth, Friday-Sunday, June 16-18, $35

In 1973, famed writer Alice Walker discovered Zora Neale Hurston’s unmarked grave in a quest to honor Hurston and proclaim the late writer’s genius. But what if during Alice’s search for the unmarked grave and her desire to breath life into Hurston’s work, she accidentally awakens Hurston only to learn that Hurston, in the haziness of death and all of the places her spirit has been, no longer remembers the proli c, rich life she led and thus cannot understand

her impact? is is the premise of Live Rich Die Poor. So strap in and put yourself in Hurston’s shoes as she confronts her life choices and discovers the reach of her impact.

Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m., this weekend and next.

Dragon Boat Festival

Shelby Farms Park, Saturday, June 17, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., free

Since its origins in China more than 2,000 years ago, the Dragon Boat Festival has become a unique cultural event featuring adrenalinepumping action. Fans rave about the excitement, friendly competition, and community spirit surrounding this ultimate team sport.

e 2023 Dragon Boat Festival will be held on Hyde Lake behind the lawn and stage. ere will be food, music, and cultural performances.

“AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS: THE GUITAR AND A CHANGING NATION” AND “GRIND CITY PICKS: THE MUSIC THAT MADE MEMPHIS,” MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY, ON DISPLAY THROUGH OCTOBER 22.

PHOTO: COLLINS DILLARD Explore the guitar.

MUSIC By Alex Greene

Memphis Concrète

Synth Fest is IRL once more.

W

hen the days of lockdown struck in 2020, the Memphis Concrète Experimental Electronic Music Festival had to scrap plans for their fourth annual event. From 2017 to 2019, the gathering devoted to the unconventional sounds, rhythms, and textures of synthesizers, audio loops, and heavy processing had steadily gathered steam and a wider audience, culminating in the appearance of 2019’s headliners, Matmos. at momentum came to a screeching halt in the pandemic. And while a virtual version of the festival was held in 2021, the uncertainties of Covid’s Omicron variant prevented anything from happening last year.

at makes this week’s return to live Memphis Concrète performances at Crosstown Concourse very welcome, as the Green Room brightens up with the oscillating lights of synths once more, 3 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 17th, and 3 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, June 18th. Yet it’s more of a continuation of the Memphis Concrète brand than its rebirth: Even as the annual live festival has been on hold, the organization has promoted smaller shows throughout the year, such that Memphis Concrète has become a trusted name in electronic-leaning shows.

It’s no surprise, then, that the festival proper is more of a culminating endpoint to events that started last week and continue through the days leading to the weekend. Last Wednesday at the HiTone saw a four-band mix of “ambient/ noise/techno/hyperpop.” is Tuesday, the Memphis Listening Lab showcased the recordings of acts booked in the Green Room. And this ursday, June 15th, will see Memphis Concrète take to the spacious Crosstown eater, as festival founder Robert Traxler is joined by two collaborators — Revenge Body and Optic Sink’s Natalie Ho man — in a live score to 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch

“I’ve made a version of the movie with as much of the original sound taken out as possible — when there’s not dialogue — to give more room for what we’re doing,” says Traxler. “It’s a slightly modi ed version of the movie sound; I took out the sound, edited it, and put it back together.”

In the same gonzo spirit, the next night’s event will be a “Harsh Noise Karaoke” at the Lamplighter Lounge.

“It’s not karaoke in the traditional sense,” explains Traxler, “but we’ll have a table

with stu that makes sound on it and some microphones, and you come and you play around with it, making some noise. It will be a user-activated thing. You know, turn some knobs and have some fun.”

en comes the main attraction, a smorgasbord of 15 acts over two days, with four more “electroacoustic performances” tagged on at the end. While the festival has booked national touring acts more in the past, this year is somewhat more Memphis-centric, albeit with plenty of out-of-towners as well. Saturday’s headliner will be local synth heroes General Labor, who wowed audiences last summer with a live score to e Adventures of Prince Achmed. e group’s also known for their ’80s synth pop, and Traxler’s not sure which direction the band will go for the festival. “ ey’ve been really into pushing their sound in more experimental directions,” says Traxler. “I’m excited that they’re playing Memphis Concrète to showcase some of the new things they’re working on.”

One local act making their debut will be Stupid Lepton, whose music Traxler describes as “ambient and abstract and modular stu . He does a lot with biometrics and he’ll have a plant with him on stage, hooked up with some wires

and controlling the music.” Another Memphis group, W1ND0W, will bring some Sophocles to Sunday’s proceedings. “Because it’s Father’s Day, they’ll have a bunch of actors perform parts of Oedipus Rex, with microphones running through a vocoder.”

e grand nale will be a pet project of Traxler’s, though he’s not playing in it. Rather, the hour of “electroacoustic performance” will pair guest solo performers on acoustic instruments with electronic backing tracks, in a throwback to electronic music’s earliest days. “ ese are pieces that mix written scores with electronics. Two of them are classics from the ’60s and ’70s, with two newer composers for the other two,” says Traxler.

e composer Milton Babbitt is familiar to many synthesizer fans, though his piece Philomel, which will showcase soprano Rebekah Alexander, is more obscure. e other compositions showcase clarinet, alto saxophone, and ute. Staging this segment of Memphis Concrète will be a dream come true for Traxler: “I’m super excited about this one.”

Visit memphisconcretemusic.com for details.

PHOTO: JEREMY GOODSON W1ND0W

This year’s festival is somewhat more Memphis-centric than years past.

Caleb Orr

Saturday, June 17, 3:15 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Gia Welch Trio

ursday, June 15, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

CENTRAL STATION HOTEL

Jarred Kingrey

Friday, June 16, 6:30 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Memphis Quartet Show

e 10th annual Memphis Quartet Show will bring music lovers from around the country to a musical marathon of over 20 acts in four days. If you love quartet-style singing or gospel music, this is the show for you. Wednesday, June 21, 6-10 p.m.

CANNON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Miz Stefani and The Variants

Tuesday, June 20, 6-9 p.m.

CENTRAL STATION HOTEL

Peabody Rooftop Party:

Seeing Red Kick o the weekend with a hot band, cool drinks, and sky-high views of the sun setting over the Mississippi River. $15. ursday, June 15, 6 p.m.

THE PEABODY HOTEL

Rodell McCord

ursday, June 15, 8 p.m.;

Sunday, June 18, 7 p.m.;

Wednesday, June 21, 8 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Rowdy Franks

Saturday, June 17, 9-11 a.m.

MEMPHIS FARMERS MARKET

Rustenhaven

Friday, June 16, 6:30 p.m.

TIN ROOF

South Main Songwriter

Night

With Rachel Ross and Alexis Jade. Friday, June 16, 7-9 p.m.

SOUTH MAIN SOUNDS

Ted Horrell and Monday Night Card

Saturday, June 17, 6-9 p.m.

CENTRAL STATION HOTEL

The Dylan Morgan Band

Friday, June 16, 10 p.m.; Saturday, June 17, 10 p.m.

TIN ROOF

The Stax Music Academy Alumni Band, 926

Free. Tuesday, June 20, 2-4 p.m.

STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC

Trevor Berryhill

Saturday, June 17, noon-3 p.m.

TIN ROOF

AFTER DARK: Live Music Schedule June 15 - 21

Brian Conklan

Saturday, June 17, 9 p.m.-1 a.m.

ROCKY’S EAST MEMPHIS

Deb Jam Band & Erek Stone

Tuesday, June 20, 6-10 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

Elmo & the Shades

Wednesday, June 21, 7-11 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

Formerly Known As

Friday, June 16, 8 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

Front Porch Music

Series: Jazz on Juneteenth e Benjamin L. Hooks

Central Library is excited to welcome back the jazz band Symmetry to commemorate Juneteenth. Symmetry will play the music of African-American jazz giants such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. e band will also provide background information on the composers and their pieces. Free. Saturday, June 17, 2-3 p.m.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

John Williams and the A440 Band

$10. ursday, June 15, 8 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

MusicBoXx Rocks Bike Night

Wednesday, June 21, 7 p.m.

HADLEY’S PUB

PRIZM International Chamber Music Festival

Enjoy unique and exciting chamber music performed by PRIZM Summer Camp faculty.

$15. Friday, June 16, 7-8 p.m.

SHADY GROVE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Trouble No MoreAllman Brothers Tribute

Hear all the classics of the original Allman Brothers Band as performed by masterclass Memphis musicians, including Robert Allen Parker, Ron Herron, Evan Leake, Steve Spear, Walter Polk, and Mike Russell! Saturday, June 17, 8 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

All the Colors of the Dark DJs Dance and celebrate the night with your favorite DJs playing

dark and delicious tunes.

Saturday, June 17, 10 p.m.

BAR DKDC

Amber McCain Band

Friday, June 16, 6 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

An Evening with Ryan Monroe (Band of Horses) + Josh Roberts $15-$20. Saturday, June 17, 8 p.m.

MINGLEWOOD HALL

Area 51

Sunday, June 18, 8 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

8 Miles High

Sunday, June 18, 6-10 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

BigMixx

Saturday, June 17, 7 p.m.

SIDECAR CAFE MEMPHIS

Epoch of Unlight, Quinta Essentia, Autolith, Slumdog

$10. Saturday, June 17, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

Frankie Hollie

Saturday, June 17, 2 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Funk You

Saturday, June 17, 8-10 p.m.

RAILGARTEN

Half Slice, Wicker, Woodsage

Friday, June 16, 9 p.m.

B-SIDE

JD Westmoreland Band

Monday, June 19, 10 p.m.

B-SIDE

Jivebomb, Mexican Coke, Die $12. Tuesday, June 20, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

Joe Restivo 4

Saturday, June 17, 11 a.m.;

Sunday, June 18, 11 a.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Joybomb with Miss Blume, Gloom Girl

MFG, Late Night

Cardigan

$10. Friday, June 16, 7 p.m.

GROWLERS

Kevin & Bethany Paige

Friday, June 16, 10 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Lipstick Stains, Moon Mane, Billy Batts and the Made Men, Mothcat

Sunday, June 18, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

Nick Shoulders and the Okay Crawdad With Hannah Juanita and Bailey Bigger. $20. Monday, June 19, 7 p.m.

Belvedere Chamber Music Festival

e Belvedere Festival features chamber music written within the last 150 years. In addition to featuring well-known works, it also introduces new works by engaging living composers. Wednesday, June 21, 7-8 p.m.

GRACE-ST. LUKE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Ben Abney, The Hurts, Heels

Friday, June 16, 9 p.m.

BAR DKDC

Big Sam’s Funky Nation

Friday, June 16, 8-10 p.m.

RAILGARTEN Buckcherry

Tuesday, June 20, 7 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Catnip, Banales, Peacehead, Fearless

Dave, The Tsunamis

$10. Friday, June 16, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

Chloie P. & The Scouts, Colossal Death God, Wicker

All pro ts will go to RIP Medical Debt. $5. Saturday, June 17, 7 p.m.

SOCIETY SKATE PARK

Cole Ritter and the Night Owls

Wednesday, June 21, 6 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Devil Train

ursday, June 15, 9:30 p.m.

B-SIDE

Emo Nite with Special

Guest Brian Logan Dales

$16. Saturday, June 17, 9 p.m.

GROWLERS

GROWLERS

Orion Free Concert Series: Star & Micey, Dead Soldiers Picnic baskets, beverages, blankets, and lawn chairs are welcome. Friday, June 16, 7:30-9 p.m.

OVERTON PARK SHELL

Orion Free Concert Series: The Heavy Heavy Picnic baskets, beverages, blankets, and lawn chairs are welcome. ursday, June 15, 7:30 p.m.

OVERTON PARK SHELL

Orion Free Concert Series: The Rumble ft. Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr.

Picnic baskets, beverages, blankets, and lawn chairs are always welcome. Pre-show: Music Box at 6 p.m. Free. Saturday, June 17, 7:30-9 p.m.

OVERTON PARK SHELL

Overton Square Music Series: Deep Roots

Grab a chair or blanket and rock out under the stars on the courtyard stage, located on Trimble Place o Cooper Street. Free. Saturday, June 17, 7 p.m.

OVERTON SQUARE

PHOTO: EV MEMPHIS Papa Top’s West Coast Turnaround

PHOTO: COURTESY MOON GLIMMERS Moon Glimmers

AFTER DARK: JUNE 15 - 21

Peter Janson

Peter Janson’s newest release, Getting To Here, is an album of de arrangements and nuanced improvisations that come from his soul. $15-$20. Wednesday, June 21, 7:30 p.m.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

Pride in Overton Park

R&B sensation Inayah headlines. With Avery Wilson, the Blues Man Bird Williams, and 19 other local and national singers, poets, dancers, and rappers. Free. Sunday, June 18, 4 p.m.

OVERTON PARK SHELL

PRIZM Ensemble presents A Juneteenth Celebration

Join PRIZM Ensemble for a free concert celebrating Juneteenth with wonderful choral, chamber, and orchestral music, featuring the Sensational Barnes Brothers. Free. Saturday, June 17, 7 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Red Mesa, Doomstress, Deaf Revival

$10. Monday, June 19, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

Roxi Love

ursday, June 15, 7 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Scott Sudbury

Monday, June 19, 7:30 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Self Sabotage, The Runts, Seize and Desist

$8. Sunday, June 18, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

Six Feet Thunder

Saturday, June 17, 10 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Special Consensus House Concert

$25. Saturday, June 17, 6 p.m.

BELLEAIR WOODS

Susan Marshall, Brandon McGovern

Saturday, June 17, 7-10 p.m.

B-SIDE

The 502s with hey, nothing

$20. ursday, June 15, 7 p.m.

GROWLERS

TPC & Mos Eisley

Music Sanctuary with Tim Vee, Josh Stevens, and The Dizzy Dolls and the Doom

ursday, June 15, 7 p.m.

THE PETERSON COMPOUND Trippp

Saturday, June 17, 6 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Troy Highland, Jim Cannon, anon the mouse, Grawlix, Wicker All pro ts will go to RIP Medical Debt. $5. ursday, June 15, 6 p.m.

MEMPHIS CURRENT

Willie Farmer, Ryan Lee Crosby & Grant Smith, Shaun Marsh & Lynn

Greer

A special performance featuring the blues across time and space. $15-$20. ursday, June 15, 7:30 p.m.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

Writers in the Round with Moon Glimmers, Scott Taylor, and Graham Winchester

Enjoy original music in an intimate setting.

Tuesday, June 20, 8 p.m.

LAMPLIGHTER LOUNGE

Early James $15-$20. Wednesday, June 21, 7 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

Fantasia Barrino

Grammy Award-winning, platinum-selling artist, Fantasia Barrino, is set to perform with special guest Joe. $64.50.

Sunday, June 18, 7 p.m.

LANDERS CENTER

Greasy Tree

Saturday, June 17, 7 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

Songwriter Round

Hosted by Sky King

Featuring Sky King, Sarah Spain, Alexis Jade, and Rowdy Franks. $8. Friday, June 16, 6 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

Bluegrass on the Collierville Square

Bring a chair and have a picnic. Free family fun open to all spectators. Musicians welcome. Acoustic only.

Friday, June 16, 7-10 p.m.

COLLIERVILLE TOWN SQUARE

Concerts in The Grove at GPAC: Papa Top’s West Coast Turnaround

Enjoy music, food trucks, and corn hole, all in the beautiful, park-like setting of the TruGreen Lawn. $7. ursday, June 15, 6-8 p.m.

THE GROVE AT GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Happy Hour in the Grove

With live music by Josh relkeld and Friends. Friday, June 16, 5-8 p.m.

THE GROVE AT GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

PHOTO: HEATHER LITTLEFIELD Nick Shoulders

CALENDAR of EVENTS: June 15 - 21

ART AND SPECIAL EXHIBITS

“America at The Crossroads: The GUITAR and a Changing Nation”

Explore America’s evolution through the lens of its most popular instrument — an instrument that has been part of our cultural heritage since the country’s founding. Through Oct. 22.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

“[app-ah-lat-chuh-is-sisip-pee]”

Experience the South in a way you’ve never imagined with these vibrant landscape paintings by Hank Smith! Through June 22.

ANF ARCHITECTS

“Band of Brothers -

CBHS: America’s Oldest High School Band”

Take a trip back in time to explore the 150-year history of the Christian Brothers High School Band. Through Oct. 23.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

“Build a Heaven of My Own: African American Vernacular Art and the Blues”

This group show explores how the musical and verbal tropes, meaning, and context of the blues not only share traits but have informed the visual culture of African-American artists from Memphis. Through June 24.

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS (AMUM)

“Color Thread”

A mixed-media installation featuring works in acrylic, oil, and watercolor paired with text. Through Aug. 6.

ART BAR AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

“Deceive the Heavens to Cross the Seas”

Composed of videos from McLean Fahnestock’s Stratagem series, where the sea and sky flip and merge to generate a new, seductive yet false horizon. Through Aug. 6.

CROSSTOWN ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

“Edgewise: Exploring Pattern and Rhythm with Line”

Khara Woods presents a collection of paintings, sculpture, and creative devices developed since 2016. Through Aug. 6.

CROSSTOWN ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

“Entrances, Exits and the Spaces Betwixt”

Tangela Mathis presents contrasting aspects of personality, showcasing the yin and yang of pneuma. Through Aug. 6.

CROSSTOWN ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

“Every Picture Tells a Story”

Art exhibit by local artist Jana Jones, watercolor and pastel paintings. Through June 25.

ST. GEORGE’S ART GALLERY AT ST.

GEORGE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

“Grind City Picks: The Music That Made Memphis”

Learn about the evolution of notable music genres in Memphis through an impressive display of instruments from famous artists, band merchandise, and photographs.

Through Oct. 22.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

“Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative”

Paintings by Harmonia Rosales who challenges the concept of the master narrative. Through June 25.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART “Iterations”

John Salvest’s solo exhibition of articulate works developed out of obsessive collections of objects and a keen social awareness that has driven his practice for decades. Through June 24.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY “Juan Rojo”

Recent Paintings by Juan Rojo.

Through June 27.

JAY ETKIN GALLERY

“Passenger Pigeons and Ecological Tipping Points”

Experience the powerful col-

lage art of local artist Jennalyn Speer, exploring the extinction of the once most numerous birds in North America.

Through July 8.

MORTON MUSEUM OF COLLIERVILLE HISTORY

“RE(de)FINED”

A solo exhibition of new and recent paintings by Nigerian artist Johnson Uwadinma. Through July 31.

UREVBU CONTEMPORARY

“Reimagining the Real”

Artists Ana M. Lopez and Natalie Macellaio utilize the visual language of the everyday to create unique works of art that are both familiar and fantastical. Through July 9.

METAL MUSEUM

“Rich Soil”

Created by American artist Kristine Mays, these 29 sculptures are inspired by the movements and gestures of Alvin Ailey’s dance composition “Revelations.” Through Oct. 1.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

“Seeking to Capture the Marvelous”

The show includes paintings in plein air and those done or completed in the studio by Jacque’ Sligh. Through July 31.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

“Songs from the Vine”

The show by Matt Petty will feature a series of graphic scores made from cyanotypes, a photography technique used to capture the images of plants in the form of light. Friday, June 16-July 31.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

“Susan Maakestad: The Expansive Moment” Maakestad’s watercolors abstract the seemingly banal urban landscapes, removing any trace of human presence and transforming them into meditations on light and color. Through July 9.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“The Making of Elvis Movie Exhibition”

Exhibition looking at the the creative process for Baz Luhrmann’s film. Through Sept. 4.

GRACELAND EXHIBITION CENTER

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 EVENT LISTINGS, VISIT EVENTS.MEMPHISFLYER.COM/CAL

“Waddell, Withers, & Smith: A Requiem for King”

Honoring the 55th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through the artwork of James Waddell, Ernest Withers, and Dolph Smith. Through Aug. 28.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

“We Are Here: LGBTQIA+ Voices in the Contemporary Metals Community””

Jury-selected pieces that showcase the importance and richness of LGBTQIA+ artists working in metals. Through Sept. 10.

METAL MUSEUM

“Zao Wou-Ki: Watercolors and Ceramics”

Exhibition of Chinese-French artist Zao Wou-Ki’s lyrical watercolors and designs for ceramics blending the dynamic energy of expressionism with the formal qualities of traditional Chinese calligraphy. Through July 16.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

ART HAPPENINGS

Beyond the BlossomsA Tour of “Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative”

Are you interested in learning more about the variety of flowers that are depicted on the extraordinary paintings by Harmonia Rosales? Join Verushka Wilson, owner of Mane Wildling, for a tour.

Wednesday, June 21, 6 p.m.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“Boys 2 Men (If You Don’t See Black, You Don’t See Me) A Traveling Exhibition”

Opening Reception

This show energetically focuses on the diversity of

artistic expression within an African-American male pool of visual art creatives in Memphis. Saturday, June 17, 4-6 p.m.

ARKWINGS

New Works by Michael McDonald Opening Reception

McDonald finds his artistic inspiration in dreams, travel and the natural wonders of creation. He is adept at a variety of styles and enjoys oils and mixed media to create his vision. Friday, June 16, 5:30-7 p.m.

CHURCH HEALTH

“Paper Palooza”

Opening Reception

Group show of works on paper, featuring work by special guest artists Brantley Ellzey and Ed Hall. Friday, June 16, 6-8 p.m.

L ROSS GALLERY

“Songs from the Vine”

Opening Reception

An evening of art and music by composer-performer Matthew Petty. The show will feature a series of graphic scores made from cyanotypes. Friday, June 16, 5-6:30 p.m.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

“The Fabric of Memphis”

Opening Reception

With her sewing machine and creative imagination, Anna Kelly creates fabric-based pieces of art that she finishes with a resin cover. Friday, June 16, 6-8 p.m.

ECLECTIC EYE

BOOK EVENTS

An Evening with Chasten Buttigieg

Come celebrate Chasten Buttigieg’s recently published book, I Have Something to Tell You

— For Young Adults. Guests will get to hear from Chasten and have their books signed at

Through August 6th, take a stroll through Crosstown Arts’ galleries and Art Bar to see work by Tangela Mathis, Khara Woods, McLean Fahnestock, and Carl Fox.

Enjoy an evening of “Songs from the Vine” by composerperformer Matthew Petty, featuring cyanotypes and music made from the sounds of plants’ energies.

CALENDAR: JUNE 15 - 21

the event. Free. Saturday, June 17, 6:30-9 p.m.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

A Novel Book Club: Under the Whispering Door

A Novel Book Club invites you to a meeting to discuss

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. All are welcome, whether you’ve ever attended a meeting or not. No registration required. Wednesday, June 21, 7 p.m.

NOVEL

Bookhouse Book Club

A cinema-themed book club meeting discussing Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger and screening Magick Lantern Cycle. Sunday, June 18, 5 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Dixon Book Club

Book club members read fiction and nonfiction to learn about nature, the arts, and history. This month’s book is The Cloisters: A Novel by Katy Hays. Thursday, June 15, 6-7 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Explore Memphis Reading Challenge

Read each week to be entered into weekly prize drawings. Read up to 600 minutes to be entered into the Grand Prize drawing. Register at memphislibrary.org/explorememphis. Through July 31.

MEMPHIS PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Meet the Editor: Susan Cushman

Susan Cushman celebrates the launch of her new book All Night, All Day: Life, Death & Angels. Also speaking at the event: Nancy Mardis, Joanna Seibert, Sally Palmer Thomason, and Jacqueline Trimble. Tuesday, June 20, 6 p.m.

NOVEL

Valerie June June will read from and sign copies of her children’s book, Somebody to Love: The Story of Valerie June’s Sweet Little Banjolele. Tuesday, June 20, noon-1 p.m.

STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL

MUSIC

COMEDY

Black Lodge Open Mic

The best comics in the city come to practice their new material. A free event. Drinks and food available. Come hang out at Black Lodges great location Free. Wednesday, June 21, 7-11 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Comedy & Karaoke

Sing along to your favorite songs with the Grit & Grind Grannies, a senior hip-hop dance crew. $20. Thursday, June 15, 6:30-9 p.m.

CHUCKLES COMEDY HOUSE

Comedy Open Mic Night

Every week veterans and newbies alike try their hand at entertaining a live audience with jokes! $10. Tuesday, June 20, 8 p.m.-10 p.m.

HI TONE

High Cotton Comedy Club at High Cotton Brewing Co.

A weekly comedy showcase featuring best underground comedians in Memphis and around the country. $10.

Tuesday, June 20, 8-9:30

HIGH COTTON BREWING CO.

J. Anthony Brown Brown has performed stand-up comedy all over the country, and his warm, relatable and irresistible style is showcased every weekend on The J. Anthony Brown Radio Show. $25-$70. Friday, June 16, 8 p.m.; Saturday, June 17, 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m.; Sunday, June 18, 6 p.m.

CHUCKLES COMEDY HOUSE

Next Top Comic Florence, AL, comes to Memphis to battle it out for the top spot! Wednesday, June 21, 8 p.m.

B-SIDE

The Joke Money Tour

With Uncle Hank and Big Low Down. $22-$47. Sunday, June 18, 8:30 p.m.

CHUCKLES COMEDY HOUSE

The Motherf*ck ing

Comedy Show: Father’s Day Junt

A comedy show featuring some funny motherf*ckers.

$20. Saturday, June 17, 8 p.m.

THE COMEDY JUNT

Wanted Comedy Show 2

Hosted by Hunter Boros. Featuring Caleb McGraw, Cam Sheppard, Forrest Bopp, Daniel Hobbs, Jimmy, and Marcus Lustig. $10. Friday, June 16, 10 p.m.

HI TONE

COMMUNITY

Meet & Greet with D.A. Steve Mulroy

Come out to meet Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy. Wednesday, June 21, 6-8 p.m.

DOUBLETREE BY HILTON EAST

Pick Up for a Pint

Volunteer to pick up litter and enjoy a free pint from Memphis Made, Cooper House Project, and a $3 pint from Hammer and Ale. Plus get a goodie bag with coupons and discounts to C-Y businesses. Saturday, June 17, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

MEMPHIS MADE BREWING

COMPANY

Protect Our AquiferStatus Update

An overview of threats to the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the latest information about Blue Oval City, and updates on the recent campaign to get TVA off the Aquifer. Tuesday, June 20, 6 p.m.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

FAMILY

“Ocean and Me”

Spend the day in imaginative underwater play. Through Aug. 13.

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF MEMPHIS

Snakes & Spiders with Dr. Steve Reichling

Meet a snake and spider and then stick around to hear Dr. Steve Reichling speak about his work. Saturday, June 17, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

LICHTERMAN NATURE CENTER

Youth Summer Workshops (Ages 7-10)

Highlighting the theme, “Collierville’s Leaves & Trees,” with a hands-on activity.

Thursday, June 15, 10:30 a.m.-noon.

MORTON MUSEUM OF COLLIER -

VILLE HISTORY

FESTIVAL

2023 Memphis

Concrete Festival

Experimental music festival presented by Memphis Concrete in collaboration with Crosstown Arts. $20/singleday pass, $35/two-day pass.

Saturday, June 17-June 18.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

Douglass Juneteenth Celebration

A weekend of art, music, food, and celebration. Saturday, June 17, 3 p.m.

DOUGLASS PARK

Dragon Boat Festival

Along with boat racing, there will be food, live music, and cultural performances on the lawn for the family. Free. Saturday, June 17, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

Juneteenth Arts Fest

Memphis artists will be displaying and selling their goods. Local authors will also be available to sign their books. Special guests will have presentations on cooking and African dance. Saturday, June 17, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

CORDOVA BRANCH LIBRARY

Memphis Juneteenth Festival

Celebrating 30 years as a yearly event in Memphis, this year’s Juneteenth Festival is a MUST for the entire family.

Saturday, June 17, 10 a.m.

HEALTH SCIENCES PARK

Tristate Black Pride

Memphis

Showcasing unity and pride by promoting equity, equality and inclusion, human rights, education, outreach, arts, and culture of the Memphis and Mid-South’s LGBTQ community and allies. Thursday, June 15-June 18.

MEMPHIS

Whitehaven Heritage Fest

A family festival celebrating the great African-American heritage of the Mid-South. $5/admission, $25/unlimited ride band. Through June 18.

SOUTHLAND MALL

FILM

B.A.P.S.

Indie Memphis and TONE present a free screening of Robert Townsend’s 1997 Black cult-classic comedy,

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starring Halle Berry and Natalie Desselle Reid. Thursday, June 15, 7 p.m.

MALCO STUDIO ON THE SQUARE

Classics Tuesday - Westerns Month: The Good, The Bad, & the Ugly Screening arguably the greatest of the spaghetti westerns. 18+. Free. Tuesday, June 20, 4:15 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Disney Sing-Along: Episode 2 - Frozen Frozen headlines with “Let It Go,” but every song is an earworm. Sunday, June 18, 3 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Guitar Heroes Summer Laser Shows: The Beatles

Experience The Beatles in a brilliant laser light show in the full-dome planetarium. Friday, June 16, 7-8:30 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

The Crosstown Arts Film Series presents Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) with a live score by Robert Traxler, Natalie Hoffmann, and Revenge Body in collaboration with Memphis Concrete Festival. $10. Thursday, June 15, 7-9 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Looking for Langston

Indie Memphis presents a screening of the fantastical imagining of Langston Hughes and

CALENDAR: JUNE 15 - 21

Black queer Harlem. Wednesday, June 21, 7 p.m.

MALCO STUDIO ON THE SQUARE

Overton Square Movie Nights: North by Northwest Blankets, pets, and folding chairs welcome. Thursday, June 15, 8 p.m.

OVERTON SQUARE

Picks & Flicks: Blues Brothers

A night of drinks, games, and a film with the opportunity to see some great films with the traveling exhibition “America at the Crossroads: The Guitar and a Changing Nation” and “Grind City Picks.” Saturday, June 17, 7 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

Summer Movies in The Grove: The Greatest Showman Grab your chair and settle back for a familyfriendly movie! $12. Saturday, June 17, 7-9 p.m.

THE GROVE AT GPAC

Weird Wild Sinema: Brain Damage

A screening of the strangest, craziest, most unusual movies in history! It’s time to get WEIRD! 18+. Free. Thursday, June 15, 10:15 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

FOOD AND DRINK

A Night with Chef Vishwesh Bhatt

book, I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes From a Southern Chef. Friday, June 16, 6:30 p.m.

RESTAURANT IRIS

Black Farmers Market Festival

Fresh produce, food trucks, music, giveaways, and family fun. Saturday, June 17, noon-5 p.m.

PILGRIM REST BAPTIST CHURCH

Park + Cherry Dinner Series

If you ever wanted to try Chef Phillip Dewayne’s menu, but can’t get away during the day, Park + Cherry’s Dinner Series is for you! Thursday, June 15, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Project Green Fork Presents Loving Local

A culinary event celebrating sustainable restaurants and establishments. $65. Thursday, June 15, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

THE RAVINE

The Longest Day & Old Dominick Bottle Release Event

Old Dominick is releasing a single barrel whiskey benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association, in collaboration with Glass Half Full, that will only be available at the distillery. Wednesday, June 21, 4-8 p.m.

OLD DOMINICK DISTILLERY

Tri-Sate Black Pride Presents the 7th Annual Dragging You to Brunch

Celebrate the fiercest entertainers in the MidSouth as you eat, drink, and enjoy a wonderful brunch. Miss Sophia and Monica Lusk host. $50. Saturday, June 17, noon-3 p.m.

HYATT CENTRIC

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Cardi-O at the Shell

Enjoy a great workout with Cardi-O Fitness to start your Saturday morning. Saturday, June 17, 9-10 a.m.

OVERTON PARK SHELL

Mental Fitness with Breathwork + Meditation

Clear your mind through calming breathing and guided meditation. Bring a yoga mat and water. Free. Saturday, June 17, 10:30 a.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

Sassy Seniors’ Exercising Class

Vanessa Luellen will assist senior adults with chair exercises — an excellent way to build strength and improve flexibility without putting too much strain on your body. Free. Friday, June 16, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS PUBLIC LIBRARIES (NORTH)

Swing Dance Memphis

A live cooking demonstration with dinner to celebrate Chef Vishwesh Bhatt in honor of his

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, January 30, 2019

Crossword

Edited by Will Shortz No. 1226

Beginner swing dance lesson and dance!

Saturday, June 17, 7-9:30 p.m.

RUMBA ROOM

PERFORMING ARTS

Darius Strong: “The Artist”

A solo showcase performed by artistic director/ choreographer Darius Strong, in which he touches on layers and humanity of the person behind the artist. Free. Friday, June 16, 7:30 p.m.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

Memphis Angels Burlesque Show

Why go to Vegas when you can see some of the hottest performers right here in Memphis? Starring the beautiful and talented Felicity Fox!! 18+. Thursday, June 15, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

New Ballet Ensemble presents Summerdance

Summerdance features a range of works by New Ballet performing artists and original repertoire choreographed by Summer Intensive students. $15. Thursday, June 15, 7 p.m.

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST. MARY’S SCHOOL

Newcomer Sundays with Wednesday Moss & Moth! Moth!! Moth!!!

DOWN

1 Diamond unit

2 “You got me this game”

3 Like a contract awarded without competition

4 ___ Pet

5 Plane storage site

6 1950s Project Blue Book subject, for short

7 Figure on top of some cakes

8 Multiheaded monster of myth

9 Greets informally

10 Lyricist Gershwin

11 Kind of knife in old infomercials

12 Maître d’s handful

13 Not yet out of the game

18 “May I do the ___?”

22 Part of Santa’s workshop

26 Famous query in Matthew 26

27 Followed instructions

PUZZLE BY HOWARD BARKIN

28 Entrepreneur’s protection

30 One of the Yum! brands

31 Tool sometimes used with two hands

32

39 Ref. that added “cruciverbalist” (a person who does crosswords) in

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.

The newest Mid-South entertainers of all genres!! Sunday, June 18, 6 p.m.

DRU’S PLACE

Rainbow Rumble

Rainbow Rumble is a once-a-month drag competition hosted by Moth Moth Moth. $15. Saturday, June 17, 8-11:30 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

The Boom Boom Effect with Aubrey Ombre

The Boom Boom Effect blows up the stage every third Saturday with Aubrey “Boom Boom” Ombre and cast! Saturday, June 17, 10 p.m.

DRU’S PLACE

SPECIAL EVENTS

Collierville Cruise Night

Whether you have a set of wheels you want to show off or just looking for a fun night out, you can enjoy an evening with friends and family to check out the best rides the Mid-South has to offer. Wednesday, June 21, 5-9 p.m.

RIVER INN OF HARBOR TOWN

Community Unity Rooftop Party with Celebrity Host Carter the Body

An upscale event presented by Tristate Black Pride with live music, the best DJ, signature cocktails, celebrity influencers, and the best vibes in town! $25. Saturday, June 17, 6 p.m.

HYATT CENTRIC

Groovy Garden Party

Celebrate MBG’s 70th anniversary with a ’70s-themed party, complete with cocktails, music, and activities. $35-$45.

Friday, June 16, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Leather & Lace Pride

Party Tri-State Black Pride presents a party with celebrity hosts, two DJs, VIP area, food trucks, and bottle service.

$20-$50. Friday, June 16, 9 p.m.-2:30 a.m.

PREMIERE PALACE BALLROOM

Memphis Armored Fight Club!

Hear ye, hear ye, come one, come all! Memphis Armored Fight Club returns! Friday, June 16, 6-10 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Nerd Nite Memphis

Some great science talks and musical interludes! Friday, June 16, 6-8 p.m.

MEMPHIS CHESS CLUB

New Moon Sound Bath

Matt Petty, a certified sound therapist, will lead a meditative sound experience using crystal singing bowls, gongs, chimes, and multiple instruments. $20. Monday, June 19, 6:30-8 p.m.

THE BROOM CLOSET

Q-Up

Get ready to dance the night away at an electrifying Pride Month dance party with nonstop music, vibrant energy,

and pure celebration of diversity. $10/general, $75/VIP table, $100/VIP Large Couch. Friday, June 16, 9 p.m.-3 a.m.

BLACK LODGE

Up All Night: 1D Dance Party

A high-energy dance party celebrating the music of One Direction. Friday, June 16, 9 p.m.

MINGLEWOOD HALL

SPORTS

901 Wrestling, Vendors, Live Music @ Memphis

Current

An all-day event (all ages until 8 p.m.) with 901 Wrestling, art vendors, food, drinks, live music, and an evening burlesque show! Walk around and experience Broad Ave fun!

Saturday, June 17, 2-11 p.m.

MEMPHIS CURRENT

Birmingham Stallions vs. Memphis Showboats

Saturday, June 17, 3 p.m.

SIMMONS BANK LIBERTY STADIUM

Memphis 901 FC vs. Detroit Football Club

Saturday, June 17, 7:30 p.m.

AUTOZONE PARK

Memphis 901 FC vs. FC

Tulsa

Wednesday, June 21, 7 p.m.

AUTOZONE PARK

THEATER

Drag Queens on Trial

On the witness stand the drag queens reveal fantastic romantic lives; backstage they talk trash and throw shade!

$20. Through June 18.

THEATREWORKS

Jersey Boys

The Broadway smash hit, chronicling the rise and eventual breakup of the legendary dooop group Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, makes its regional premiere in the Bluff City!

Friday, June 16-July 16.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

Live Rich Die Poor, A Zora Neale Hurston One Woman Play

Based on the life of Zora Neale Hurston, the brilliant writer from the Harlem Renaissance who gave us her seminal work

Their Eyes Were Watching

God, comes a new look at her colorful life. Friday, June 16-June 18.

THEATRESOUTH

Mary Poppins

When Jane and Michael, the ill-mannered children of the wealthy Banks family of London, are faced with the prospect of a new nanny, they are pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Mary Poppins.

Through July 2.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Sistas: The Musical

After a matriarch’s death, the women in the family clean Grandma’s attic and find love and old memories packed away. Through June 25.

HATTILOO THEATRE

Comedians from Florence, AL, and Memphis will battle to become the Next Top Comic at B-Side, Wednesday, June 21st.

The Pulpit Is Not A Playground

A stage play production that conveys the power of words, how they hurt and heal. $45.

Saturday, June 17, 6 p.m.

CANNON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

TOURS

Experience Memphis Gardens

Sample different gardens, in different neighborhoods on different weeks. Go to

experiencememphisgardens. org for more info. $30.

Through July 2.

MEMPHIS

Haunted Pub Crawl

Visit three local bars for ghost stories, dark history, and tales of the paranormal. Friday, June 16, 7:30-10 p.m.

THE BROOM CLOSET

Memphis Brew Bus

Visit three local craft breweries for tours, talks with the brewers, and of course beer at each stop. $54. Saturday, June 17, 2-5:30 p.m.

THE BROOM CLOSET

Summer Solstice Plant

Walk with Glinda Rhodes

Join Master Herbalist Glinda Rhodes for a midsummer plant walk as you view and learn about some of the time-honored ways that plants can assist in our well-being, just in time for the summer solstice. $20-$25. Saturday, June 17, 10 a.m.-noon.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

The Plot Thickens: The Writers and Raconteurs of Elmwood Cemetery

Meet the novelists, journalists, broadcasters, and poets of Elmwood Cemetery! $20. Saturday, June 17, 10:30 a.m.-noon.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY

Twilight Tours

Slip into the bygone era while strolling the mansion’s darkened halls. Wednesday, June 21, 7-9 p.m.

WOODRUFF-FONTAINE HOUSE MUSEUM

FOOD By Michael Donahue

A Robust Coffee Business

Comeback’s expanded operations mean much more of our favorite co ee soda.

omeback Beverage Co. is “up and running,” says Hayes McPherson. “We ofcially moved into our new space roughly May 29th, and we started operations June 5th. at is, brewing our co ee sodas and also roasting our own co ee, as well.”

e impressive facility in the Pinch district, with its 160-gallon temperature brewing tanks, is at 354 North Main Street, right next door to Comeback Co ee, the comfortable co ee shop that Hayes, 28, and his wife Amy, 28, opened four years ago.

Comeback Beverage Co. is “four things in one,” Hayes says. “It is our headquarters for Comeback. It is our roasters. It is our co ee brewery.”

It also shares space with Amy’s plant shop, Golden Hour, which is set to open June 17th. It features an all-glass greenhouse, which is the front entrance to Comeback Beverage Co. “If you’re walking down North Main, it’s this beautiful all-glass greenhouse lled with beautiful green plants.”

With the new beverage facility, Hayes says, “We are essentially quadrupling our space.”

ey began producing canned co ee soda in 2021 during the pandemic. “We started o in our kitchen and we were doing 100 cans at a time. And we were selling out in 30 minutes or an hour.”

ey then moved the beverage business to a garage behind the co ee shop. “ at allowed us to do 600 cans at a time.”

e new space “allows us easily to do four times that with new equipment coming in and the scope in general.”

It also ful lls part of Comeback Coffee’s mission, which is to give people “an opportunity to grow with us.”

Ethan McGaughy, who has helped them “every step of the way,” is now their

“right-hand man,” helping brew, roast, and create recipes.

Hannah Sisson and Kelsey Taylor will “help us push this thing to a different level,” says Hayes, who wants Comeback beverages to be available “on the national stage.”

Comeback Beverage Co. currently makes two canned Comeback Co ee Sodas: Southern Style, which is lemon and thyme, and Field Day, which is strawberry and lime.

“We’ve got one coming up — pineapple cinnamon co ee soda — and a few up our sleeve as well.”

ey’re able to test their co ee beverage ideas in their co ee shop by putting a co ee beverage on their special menu and testing its popularity. “Memphis is literally creating these drinks with us, in a way.”

Hayes and Amy launched their co ee soda with their rst two avors at the 2018 Grind City Co ee Xpo and intro-

duced the cans at last year’s event. “We threw it on the bar last year. ey got a really good reception.”

ey knew from the overwhelming response they’d start making those two avors as soon as they got in their new space.

“Because of the space we’re in, we have the capacity to play how we want to. And get to be creative with our o erings. So, it allows us to be who we are at our core, which is co ee lovers and co ee professionals. What we’ll do is make fun, interesting, tasty co ee drinks for our co ee shop.”

And, Hayes says, “ e space and equipment we’ve got will also enable us to have cold black co ee. We pride ourselves on our ash chill co ee — how we make our cold brew co ee. It’s a special method that we believe holds all the good things of cold co ee, and co ee in general. And we’ll be canning that.”

Comeback has also partnered with

Grind City Brewing Co. “We’re roasting the co ee for them for their co ee beer.”

Future Comeback Beverage Co. plans include making their own “ avored sparkling waters.”

As for the big picture, Hayes says, “ e past two years we spent shaping out what this will look like. And, ultimately, what we want to do is be the Wiseacre for the co ee of Memphis.”

Like Wiseacre Brewing Company, which “put its beer on a national stage,” Hayes wants to do the same thing “for the co ee industry. Whether co ee sodas or canned ash chill or roasted co ee, when people think about Memphis, I want them to think about our co ee industry.”

“Memphis is known for barbecue, beer. I want them to think Memphis is also known for high-quality co ee.”

PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE Hayes, Finn, and Amy McPherson with Ethan McGaughy

“When people think about Memphis, I want them to think about our coffee industry.”

By Emily Guenther

The Page of Cups

is tarot card aligns with the optimistic exuberance of summer.

In many places, summer is a time to get out and be more active, and that energy is noticeable in Memphis as well. But our heat and humidity o en drive us back indoors as much as the idea of the sun and summer fun brings us outdoors. If you’re a tarot enthusiast, you may nd yourself beating the heat with an iced tea and a tarot deck somewhere cool and comfortable. Tarot, as I say, is re ective of the human experience, which means there are cards in the deck that touch on all aspects of our lives, including the seasons.

represent that part of our personalities that see things as opportunities and exciting adventures, and what a great attitude to carry into summer. What kind of trips or plans can you make? What kind of parties or events do you want to go to?

e Page of Cups encourages us to have an open and curious mind. Let yourself dream and think outside the box this summer and see what new things you can manifest.

e Page of Cups is a water card, and cups is the suit in tarot that deals with our heartfelt emotions, creativity, and intuition. Use this cycle of summertime to embrace your creativity and create something new. e Page of Cups can indicate a surge in creativity or intuition, and you don’t want to waste it. Summer has a feeling of excitement and freedom about it, perhaps a holdover from our school days. e sun is out, which makes everything better and brighter. e owers are blooming, the birds and butter ies are ying around us, everything seems like it is at its peak. Use the energy of the natural world around you for your own creative expansion and progress.

ere are generally multiple tarot cards representing an idea, and that is the case with summer. It’s easy to associate e Sun card from the Major Arcana portion of tarot with summer. But there are other cards that can represent the season, including e Chariot and the Page of Cups. e Chariot card is o en associated with summertime because the zodiac sign in power when the summer solstice arrives is Cancer, and e Chariot is the Cancer card in the Major Arcana. e Page of Cups is one of the more unique and interesting summertime cards we nd in tarot, and one we’ll explore here in more depth.

If you keep up with this column, you may notice a recent theme: water. Nothing makes Memphians think more about water than summer temps and humidity.

e Page of Cups is a water card, but that is not why I chose it this week.

Every day, every moment is an opportunity to start over and do better, if we embrace that idea. is is a sentiment that the Page of Cups reminds us of. e Page cards in tarot have an optimistic and youthful exuberance to them. ey

As each Page asks you to explore a new facet of yourself, the Page of Cups is asking you to explore your creative, emotional self. You may feel pulled to start something new, nd a new or better way to express your emotions, or learn more about developing your psychic abilities. Fantastic ideas might race through your mind, and you may nd yourself moved by the simple things. Don’t be afraid to let your feelings show and wear your heart on your sleeve. Expressing yourself and leaning into your emotions is all part of this Page card.

e Page of Cups, with its o enintriguing artwork, can mean you are being called to lean into your intuition and learn to trust yourself. Look for signs, symbols, and messages, and be open to the unique ways the universe communicates with us. Pages in tarot are also considered messenger cards, so be on the lookout for exciting and heartwarming news as you embrace the energy of the Page of Cups.

No matter what your plans are for summer, lead with your heart and have fun!

Emily Guenther is a co-owner of e Broom Closet metaphysical shop. She is a Memphis native, professional tarot reader, ordained Pagan clergy, and dog mom.

PHOTO: EMILY GUENTHER e Page of Cups cards from the New Era Elements (le ) and Fantastical Creatures (right) tarot

MUSIC SERIES

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

By the editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication

Extreme Measures

ILLUSIONS SERIES

In vino, vie … or something like that. Lillian Ip of Cheltenham, Australia, was stranded in the country’s remote bushland for five days in late April after she took a wrong turn and became stuck in mud, United Press International reported. Sgt. Martin Torpey of the Wodonga police said Ip had planned just a day trip, “so she had taken a couple of snacks and lollies with her, but no water. The only liquid Lillian, who doesn’t drink, had with her was a bottle of wine she had bought as a gift for her mother.” Without cell service, Ip couldn’t call for help. Her family notified police about her absence, and a four-day search over the region included helicopters. Finally, Ip was spotted waving her arms, and police were directed to her location. “I thought I was going to die there,” she said. [UPI, 5/9/2023]

Unclear on the Concept

2013. But in February 2022, Clifford testified in an employment tribunal that he had been treated unfairly because he hadn’t had a salary increase since the 2013 agreement went into place. He argued that inflation was causing his income to “wither” and sought a pay raise of 2.5 percent. “Your mortgage doesn’t go down because you are sick,” he noted. This spring, Paul Housego, an employment judge, rejected Clifford’s argument, saying Clifford was treated more favorably than others because he was being paid without having to work. Clifford plans to appeal. [Business Insider, 5/16/2023]

Field Report

FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO PURCHASE TICKETS VISIT ORPHEUM-MEMPHIS.COM/ONSTAGE

When cake-baker Brianna Romero of El Paso, Texas, got an order for a birthday cake this spring, she was on board, NBC New York reported on May 10. The customer wanted an emo cake, so Romero put her newly perfected black icing to the test and constructed the confection. Before she delivered it, she said, she asked the client if they wanted a number on the cake. “Yes,” the client answered, “it’s for my granddaughter and she’s turning 4.” Romero “thought it was a little bit weird … but maybe she just likes Wednesday or something like that.” Still, wanting to cover her bases, she asked the client for the theme of the party. When she got the answer — “Sesame Street” — it all became clear. “I misread emo and it says ‘Elmo cake.’” Romero rushed to a local grocery, where the bakery topped the cake with an Elmo image; Romero gave the cake to the client for free. Social media ate the story up, with more than 10 million views on Twitter. [NBC New York, 5/10/2023]

Cheeky

British IBM IT professional Ian Clifford, 50, has not worked since September 2008 as he battled mental health issues and stage 4 leukemia, Business Insider reported. Clifford has been on sick leave for 15 years, collecting a salary of almost $68,000 per year after reaching an agreement with IBM in

On May 9, officers from Boone County and Watauga County, North Carolina, tried to chase down Joshua Minton, 34, after he was pulled over for reckless driving, CBS News reported. Minton ran into an “undeveloped area,” where law enforcement got an unlikely helping … hoof. Cows in the field “quickly assisted our officers by leading them directly to where the suspect was hiding,” police announced in a Facebook post. “The cows communicated with the officers as best they could and finally just had the officers follow them to the suspect’s location.” Minton was arrested on multiple charges. [CBS News, 5/12/2023]

Precocious

Two brothers in Langkawi, Malaysia, were detained after crashing the car one was driving into a lamp post on May 10, CNN reported. It’s not hard to imagine why driving might have been difficult for them: They are 6 and 3 years old. Police Chief Shariman Ashari said the Toyota Vios they were in attracted attention from other drivers, who thought the driver might be intoxicated. The boys sneaked out of their home and took the car, hoping to buy a toy car at the local shops. “Mama is at home and we are going to the store,” the 6-year-old said. “We want to buy a black car,” the 3-year-old elaborated. The only injury was a cut to one boy’s chin. [CNN, 5/10/2023]

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

© 2023 Andrews McMeel Syndication. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

NATURALLY 7 AUGUST 24, 2023

THE MAGIC OF ROB LAKE NOVEMBER 11, 2023

JESSE COOK JANUARY 27, 2024

THE TRAVELIN’ MCCOURYS OCTOBER 13, 2023

CRAIG KARGES PRESENTS EXPERIENCE THE EXTRAORDINARY JANUARY 20, 2024

DIANE SCHUUR APRIL 5, 2024

MARCIA BALL NOVEMBER 18, 2023

ARTHUR TRACETHE ARTFUL DECEIVER MARCH 23, 2024

GINA CHAVEZ APRIL 26, 2024

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries-born

Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Potato Eaters shows five people in a dark room barely illuminated by lamplight. Seated around a small table, they use their hands to eat food they have grown themselves. Vincent wanted to convey the idea that they “dug the earth with the very hands they put into their bowls.” I don’t expect you to do anything quite so spectacularly earthy in the coming weeks, Aries, but I would love to see you get very up close and personal with nature. I’d also love to see you learn more about where the fundamental things in your life originate. Bonus points if you seek adventures to bolster your foundations and commune with your roots.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Renowned Mexican artist Diego Rivera emerged from his mother’s womb in 1886. But some observers suggest that Rivera’s soul was born in 1920: a pivotal time when he found his true calling as an artist. During a visit to Italy, as he gazed at the murals of 15th-century mural painters, “he found the inspiration for a new and revolutionary public art capable of furthering the ideals of the ongoing revolution in his native land.” (In the words of art historian Linda Downs.) I will be extra dramatic and speculate that you may have a comparable experience in the coming months, dear Taurus: a rebirth of your soul that awakens vigorous visions of what your future life can be.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): As religious sects go, the Shakers are the most benign. Since their origin in the 18th century, they have had as many women as men in leadership roles. They practice pacifism, disavow consumerism, and don’t try to impose their principles on others. Their worship services feature dancing as well as singing. I’m not suggesting you become a Shaker, Cancerian, but I do hope that in the coming months, you will place a premium on associating with noble groups whose high ideals are closely aligned with your own. It’s time to build and nurture your best possible network.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): For years, Mario

A. Zacchini worked at a circus as a “human cannonball.” On thousands of occasions, he was shot out of a cannon at 90 miles per hour. “Flying isn’t the hard part,” he testified. “Landing in the net is.” His work might sound dangerous, but he lived to age 87. Let’s make Mario your role model for a while, Leo. I hope he will inspire you to be both adventurous and safe, daring but prudent. I trust you will seek exhilarating fun even as you insist on getting soft landings.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): One of my favorite astrology teachers, Stephen Arroyo, notes, “Most people have a strong opinion

about astrology, usually quite extreme, even though 95 percent have never studied it whatsoever.” Of course, astrology is not the only subject about which people spout superficial ideas based on scant research. Viral epidemiology is another example. Anyway, Virgo, I am asking you to work hard to avoid this behavior during the rest of 2023. Of all the zodiac signs, you have the greatest potential to express thoughtful ideas based on actual evidence. Be a role model for the rest of us! Show us what it means to have articulate, wellinformed opinions.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Meditation teacher Cheri Huber wrote a book called Be the Person You Want to Find. This would be an excellent title for your life story during the next 10 months. I hope you will soon ruminate on how to carry out such a quest. Here are two suggestions: 1. Make a list of qualities you yearn to experience in a dear ally and brainstorm about how to cultivate those qualities in yourself. 2. Name three high-integrity people you admire. Meditate on how you could be more like them in ways that are aligned with your life goals.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Now is a good time to take stock of how you have fared in the Dating and Mating Games through the years. Why? Because you are entering a new chapter of your personal Love Story. The next two years will bring rich opportunities to outgrow stale relationship patterns and derive rich benefits from novel lessons in intimacy. An excellent way to prepare is to meditate on the history of your togetherness. PS: The term “fate bait” refers to an influence that draws you toward the next turning point of your necessary destiny. Be alert for fate bait.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian actor Samuel L. Jackson loves purple. He insists on it being featured in his films, and he often wears purple outfits. In Black Snake Moan, he plays a purple Gibson guitar. In the animated movie, Turbo, he voices the role of a purple racing snail. In his Star Wars appearances, he wields a purple light saber. Now I am endorsing his obsession for your use. Why? First, it’s an excellent time to home in on exactly what you want and ask for exactly what you want. Second, now is a favorable phase to emphasize purple in your own adventures. Astrologers say purple is your ruling color. It stimulates your natural affinity for abundance, expansiveness, and openness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): People who understand the creative process say it’s often wise to stay mum about your in-progress work. You may diminish the potency of your projects if you blab about them while they’re still underway. I don’t think that’s true for all creative efforts. For example, if we collaborate with partners

GEMINI

(May 21-June 20):

Among her many jobs, my triple Gemini friend Alicia has worked as a deepsea rescue diver, an environmental activist, a singer in a band, a dog food taster, an art teacher for kids, and a volunteer at a sleep lab researching the nature of dreams. Do I wonder if she would be wise to commit herself to one occupation? Not really. I respect her decision to honor her ever-shifting passions. But if there will ever come a time when she will experiment with a bit more stability and constancy, it may come during the next 11 months. You Geminis are scheduled to engage in deep ruminations about the undiscovered potentials of regularity, perseverance, and commitment.

on an artistic project or business venture, we must communicate well with them. However, I do suspect the transformative efforts you are currently involved in will benefit from at least some secrecy for now. Cultivate the privacy necessary to usher your masterpiece to further ripeness.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Musician Frank Zappa (1940–1993) was a freaky rebel, iconoclastic weirdo, and virtuoso experimenter. Everything normal and ordinary was boring to him. He aspired to transcend all categories. And yet he refrained from taking psychedelic drugs and urged his fans to do the same. He said, “We repudiate any substances, vehicles, or procedures which might reduce the body, mind, or spirit of an individual to a state of sub-awareness or insensitivity.” Zappa might have added that some substances temporarily have a pleasing effect but ultimately diminish the life force. In my estimation, Aquarius, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to re-evaluate your relationship with influences that weaken the vitality of your body, mind, or spirit. It will also be a favorable period to seek new modes of lasting liberation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If you are at a festival or fair where you could win a lot of money by smashing watermelons with your head, I hope you won’t do it. Same if you imagine you could impress a potential lover by eating 25 eggs in three minutes: Please don’t. Likewise, I beg you not to let yourself be manipulated or abused by anyone for any reason. These days, it’s crucial not to believe you can succeed by doing things that would hurt or demean or diminish you. For the foreseeable future, you will be wise to show what you do best and express your highest values. That’s the most effective way to get what you want.

The Persistence of Vision

Dalíland begins with Salvador Dalí’s appearance on What’s My Line?, the classic game show where blindfolded contestants try to guess the identity of the mystery guest. “Are you a performer? Do you have something to do with the arts?” e contestants are ba ed because Dalí answers “yes” to everything. What nally gives him away is a question about his famous waxed mustache.

Dalí wasn’t lying. He was an artist, one of the greatest of the 20th century — and he was also a performer. e character he played for most of his life was Salvador Dalí, the crazy artist who is also a super-genius. “Geniuses are not allowed to die,” he said near the end of his life. “ e progress of the human race depends on us!”

Where the act ends and the man begins? Nobody really knows. Dalí really was a super-genius artist, the most famous of the Surrealists who terrorized the buttoned-up art world of the 1920s and 1930s. He was also his own best hype man. Ben Kingsley plays Salvador Dalí with more perfection than a ection. Kingsley rst came to prominence playing Gandhi in Richard Attenborough’s classic biopic, so he’s got experience with historical personages. Watching Kingsley apply his world-class chops to mimicking one of history’s great lunatics is, as you might expect, the fun part of Dalíland e Surrealists learned the art of the high-pro le stunt from the Dadaists. Dalí perfected it. At one point in Dalíland, he asks his assistant James Linton

(Christopher Briney) to bring him live ants and a full suit of armor that must be Spanish in origin. “Is it for a painting?” James asks.

“No, it’s for a party.”

Dalí’s wife and muse was Gala (Barbara Sukowa), the quintessential muse and “art wife,” the reasonably sane member of the relationship who keeps the books and interfaces with the “real” world. To say they had a strange relationship is a massive understatement. Gala appeared in several of Dalí’s most famous paintings, o en in the guise of the Virgin Mary. According to Dalí hanger-on Ginesta (Suki Waterhouse), they rarely, if ever, had sex — at least with each other. Gala had a ery temper, and a er one particularly intense tirade, Dalí turns to James and declares, “Isn’t she magni cent?”

ere’s a lot for a lmmaker like American Psycho’s Mary Harron to

work with — the story of some of the greatest visual masterpieces of the last century, the legendary eccentric who created them, and the weirdly functional, dysfunctional relationship that sustained him. Which is why it’s so puzzling that Dalíland feels like such a damp squib.

e problem (one of them, anyway) is the point of view. Dalíland is not Dalí’s story, but James’, who we meet as a gallery owner in 1985, when Dalí was denying he was dying. en James ashes back to the early 1970s, when he was Dalí’s assistant for a few very eventful months. He rst meets the Dalís in New York, where the painter is holed up in a luxury hotel, creating a new batch of paintings for an upcom-

ing opening. e Dalís live in a constant state of cocktail party, with artists, models, and assorted rich people hungry for clout, drinking champagne and snorting coke on Dalí’s dime. e lm works best when Harron gives in to the chaos: Watching Ben Kingsley trying to disco dance as 70-year-old Dalí is a particular highlight. e Dalís only operated on a cash basis, and James becomes their bagman — which means he sees both the people who are stealing from the artist, and the extreme, o en fraudulent methods Gala uses to keep the money owing. It would be nice if Briney could have summoned some kind of recognizable emotional reaction to that or anything else. Briney was apparently a last-minute replacement for Ezra Miller, who now appears as Young Dalí in ashbacks. While the guy who will appear as e Flash in a few weeks is apparently a malevolent weirdo in real life, at least he can kinda act. Briney drags down everyone around him, killing any momentum the lm builds up from Kingsley and Sukowa’s terrifying love story.

e biggest problem with Dalíland is that you never get to see the artist’s paintings, only his eccentricities. Other people tell you how brilliant he is. Even though he was past his prime when James meets him, Dalí was the real deal. But unless you’re familiar with his work, and his biography, you won’t nd that out from Dalíland

Dalíland is playing at Malco Studio on the Square through June 15th and is available on VOD.

Mary Harron’s Dalíland needs more Salvador Dalí.

Ben Kingsley plays Salvador Dalí in Dalíland.

Our critic picks the best films in theaters. The Flash DC enters the multiverse with their speediest character. Star Ezra Miller, whose off-screen insanity and ensuing legal entanglements are bigger news than the film, plays multiple versions of Barry Allen, who uses his super-speed to travel back in time in an attempt to prevent his mother’s death. Is it a bad sign that Miller is being upstaged in his own solo movie by the return of Michael Keaton as Batman?

Elemental

Pixar storms back into theaters with a parable about earth, wind, fire, and water. Ember (Leah Lewis) is a no-nonsense fire elemental who falls in love

with Wade (Mamoudou Athie), a “gowith-the-flow” water elemental. Can the two opposites make it work? Are little steam babies on the horizon? The Good Dinosaur’s Peter Sohn directs, and listen for a voice cameo from Adult Swim’s calmest Yooper Joe Pera.

The Blackening

If you’ve watched a lot of horror movies, you know that the Black guy usually dies first. But, director Tim Story asks, what if it’s ALL Black people trapped in a cabin in the woods?

Checkmate, knife-wielding maniac! Not so fast, says the killer, who attempts to rank his prey by degrees of Blackness, so he’ll know where to start. The Prisoner’s Dilemma meets Get Out in this horror parody.

THE LAST WORD

By Andrew Moss

Why the Starbucks Union Fight Matters

For good reason, the ght to unionize Starbucks has drawn considerable public attention since workers at a Bu alo, New York, store voted to unionize in December of 2021. Since that time, workers at more than 300 stores, representing more than 8,000 workers, have so voted. e campaign has been met with strong company resistance, resulting in legal rulings that found Starbucks violating federal labor law by (among other things) illegally surveilling workers, ring workers involved in union organizing, and adding workers at speci c workplaces to dilute union strength. In an eventful year and a half, the company has failed to negotiate a single contract.

is union ght, like those at other large corporations, has exposed the public to current practices of “union busting,” and such exposure carries an additional charge in the case of Starbucks because of the personal connections many people have to their local stores and to the workers who prepare and serve their co ee. But there’s another dimension to the ght that, for many, is less readily apparent, and this has to do with the struggle’s implications for American democracy. As political scientist Danielle Allen put it, a democratic society means “equality entailed in sharing ownership of public life and in co-creating our common world.” at shared ownership and co-creation extends to the workplace as much as it does to other aspects of our everyday lives.

e issue came into sharp relief at a March hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, a hearing that served as grand political theater for an airing of ideas and attitudes about the Starbucks campaign and about labor relations in general. e committee chair, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), focused his introductory remarks and his questioning of former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to represent the company’s resistance to the union as sustained, pernicious, and illegal.

Some of the most revealing comments, however, were o ered by Sanders’ colleagues, including those of Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah). Romney began by acknowledging the legal right to form a union, and he a rmed the need for accountability if the law is broken. But he disclosed a rather di erent kind of attitude when he declared, “ ere are some employers who are not good employers, and a union is necessary to protect the rights of those individuals.” Here Romney implied that good employers obviate the need for unions in their workplaces, begging the question as to who determines who a good or bad employer is. Romney went on to say, “ ere are legitimate reasons why an employer might choose not to become unionized,” suggesting that the question could be decided by the employer, not the workers. Romney has it wrong.

e right to form a union and to bargain collectively is a fundamental human right, articulated in Section 7 of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act and in Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s a fundamental building block of a democratic society, strengthening workers’ capacity to impact the conditions and quality of their working lives. To resist good faith negotiations is to violate that fundamental right.

Recognizing these concerns, in March the Starbucks shareholders commissioned an independent investigation of the company’s behavior as measured by core labor standards of the International Labour Association. e shareholders did so over the objections of the Starbucks board.

Starbucks union members are demanding, among other things, a base wage of at least $20 an hour, full-time status for individuals working 32 hours a week or more, bene ts for those working fewer than 20 hours, and a ordable, 100 percent employer-paid healthcare. And on their union website, they list “the right to organize” as the rst demand, calling on the company to adhere to an “ethical code of conduct designed to safeguard the organizing process.” In pursuit of these aims, unionized workers have engaged in a wide range of strategies, from strikes to a bargaining strategy involving regional in-person meetings.

In their continuing struggle with a $133 billion company, the Starbucks unionized workers and organizers are engaged in ful lling a basic task of any e ective union, i.e. representing the economic and political interests of working-class Americans. In so doing, they underscore the important role that unions play as economic and political counterweights to the hyperconcentration of power by wealthy elites (with the top 1 percent now owning 32.3 percent of the nation’s wealth). is hyperconcentration contributes to the marginalization and precarity of millions, as well as to the degradation of democracy.

As an industry, union busting wastes immense amounts of money ($400 million a year), while suppressing human creativity and the potential for collaborative working environments.

is much has been acknowledged by scholars in management, who point out that unions can enhance morale and productivity in workplaces. And it has been understood in countries where the percentage of unionized workers far exceeds that of the U.S. (e.g. more than 60 percent in Denmark and Sweden versus 10 percent in the U.S.).

If you happen to be reading this column while drinking a cup of Starbucks co ee, it may be possible that the workers at the store where you bought it have voted union. Perhaps not. But whether or not that store is unionized, those workers — and the company — are now in a process of transformation, and the outcome of that transformation will a ect far more than a brand. In some ways visible, in some ways less apparent, that transformation will touch us all.

Andrew Moss, syndicated by PeaceVoice, writes on labor and immigration from Los Angeles. He is an emeritus professor (nonviolence studies, English) from the California State University.

PHOTO: KHADEEJA YASSER | UNSPLASH

is has to do with the struggle’s implications for American democracy.