Memphis Flyer 7/8/2021

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PENNY STAYS! P12 • THE DIXON’S “MEMPHIS 2021” P13 • ZOLA P20

OUR 1689TH ISSUE • 07.08.21

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Style and Substance

Memphis’ “Parisian Bob” Caruthers is the greatest baseball player you’ve never heard of and he belongs in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

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THURSDAY

CONTENTS

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

OUR 1689TH ISSUE 07.08.21 Plains All American Pipeline announced last Friday that the company would abandon plans for the proposed Byhalia Connection oil pipeline, which would have linked two existing oil arteries, the Diamond Pipeline and the Capline Pipeline, to pump oil from southwestern Tennessee to Marshall County, Mississippi.

As a reason for the move, the company cited low U.S. oil production resulting from the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. © JFUNK | DREAMSTIME.COM That sounds like half a reason to me, Mississippi River especially considering they dropped that piece of news near the end of business on the Friday before the Independence Day holiday weekend. A fuller version might be, “Given the current low oil production in the U.S., the pipeline just wasn’t worth the hassle.”

And there was hassle. The project received overwhelming opposition from a broad coalition of local and national parties. Local activists, members of local government, and even former Vice President Al Gore voiced their opposition to the proposed pipeline. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy opposed it, as did Protect Our Aquifer, and the Memphis Community Against the Pipeline group was created to do the same.

The reasons for the opposition were twofold — namely that the pipeline would have been built across the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the source of our famously pure drinking water, and that, in Memphis at least, it would have gone through a predominantly Black neighborhood, a move that some critics claimed was intentional and an example of environmental racism.

Earlier in the year, Memphis City Councilmen Dr. Jeff Warren and Edmund Ford submitted a resolution opposing the plan. To quote Flyer news editor Toby Sells, “The resolution says African Americans were and are 75 percent more likely to reside near ‘toxic’ oil and gas infrastructure. It points to data from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that living within 30 miles of this infrastructure increases the risk of developing cancers including lymphoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer.”

It’s true the Byhalia Connection project would have brought some dollars to town.

Someone’s got to be paid to build the thing, after all, but that would have been a onetime, temporary gain — paying off on a gamble against long-lasting consequences.

There are no quick fixes for a community saddled with unfair health burdens — or for a tainted aquifer.

One million people get their clean drinking water from the Memphis Sand Aquifer, and we all owe a debt of thanks to the activists, organizers, political figures, et al. who spoke up against the pipeline. Certainly, there may never have been a problem with it. I can’t claim to know the future. It’s worth noting, though, that Memphis is within the radius of the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Also, I can’t help but think of the short video that made the rounds on social media over the weekend.

In the clip, shared by Manuel Lopez San Martin, a section of the Gulf of Mexico was ablaze due to the rupture in an underwater pipeline. I hope to never see the Mississippi River alight with flames. With that image in mind, in a zone with known seismic activity, an oil pipeline above some of the cleanest drinking water in the country does not sound like a recipe for success.

So yes, the risk was far too great for such a small reward — a reward to be reaped by a few. It takes time for water to filter through the aquifer — a long time — and that investment of time creates a shared resource to which we should all have an equal claim and responsibility to protect.

But it’s those who organized and attended N E WS & O P I N I O N rallies, circulated and signed petitions, THE FLY-BY - 4 wrote letters to local leaders, started NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 hashtags on Twitter, and generally refused POLITICS - 6 AT LARGE - 7 to give up who took on that responsibility.

COVER STORY To them, I offer my wholehearted thanks.

“STYLE AND SUBSTANCE” I also can’t help but be impressed at

BY CLAYTON TRUTOR - 8 the organization and determination on SPORTS - 12 display. So I say that congratulations, too, WE RECOMMEND - 13 are in order.

MUSIC - 14 CALENDAR - 15 It’s no small thing to stand up to power, FOOD - 19 and I wonder what other activism might FILM - 20 be inspired by this victory.

C LAS S I F I E D S - 21 Jesse Davis LAST WORD - 23 jesse@memphisflyer.com

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THE

fly-by

MEMernet A roundup of Memphis on the World Wide Web. TH E R E D STAI R S Utah-based guitar string and accessory manufacturer, Black Harbor Sound, posted an announcement, featuring Memphis-based band Honoré astride a familiar set of red stairs, to Instagram last week. The guitar company was welcoming Honoré to their roster of endorsed artists with a shot of the frequently photographed stairs inside Crosstown Concourse.

July 8-14, 2021

M E M P H I S I S D I F F E R E NT A hilarious tweet from @panduh__ said, “Memphis is DIFFERENT different.” The tweet showed a screenshot of several messages from a DoorDash delivery person who was picking up from the Happy Mexican.

“Aye, bruh,” the message reads.

“They said they can’t make yo food cuz they chefs arguin. They said cancel the order.”

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C R AC K I N G U P Memphis Bridge Crack, the official unofficial Twitter account of the crack in the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, has kept the comedy flowing as strong as the waters below it.

For example, on a tweet from a Wall Street Journal story that noted “how one failed bridge in Memphis is costing business,” the Crack commented, “Ahem. I think you mean one *failed inspection team.* I didn’t do any of this myself.”

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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells

W E E K T H AT W A S

By Flyer staff

Guns, Airport, & “69PWNDU” Leaders brace for open carry, passenger traffic picks up, and a lawsuit against license-plate censorship.

P LATE C E N S O R S While the state of Tennessee cannot censor billboards, it can censor your vanity license plate, but a new lawsuit hopes to change that.

A Nashville woman sued state officials after they revoked a vanity license plate that she’s had on her car for MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT/FACEBOOK more than 10 years.

Leah Gilliam ordered and received a vanity Clockwise from top: MEM gives preview of the license plate that reads brand-new Concourse B after this week’s uptick in “69PWNDU.” Her checkpoint totals; Russell Wigginton will become lawyers say the “69” president of the National Civil Rights Museum. part references the 1969 moon landing.

2019. “MEM The “PWNDU” part references “pwnd,” a common gaming continues term for “owned.” to recover In May, she received a “threat letter” from the Vehicle NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM at a faster Services Division of the Tennessee Department of Revenue pace than saying her “personalized plate has been deemed offensive.” the national average,” the airport said in a statement. “TSA’s The department revoked the plate, citing state law. nationwide checkpoint totals last week represented a 24.4 Gilliam’s lawyers argue the Tennessee law banning “offensive” percent decrease compared to 2019.” vanity plates is an “unconstitutional statute that expressly The airport also gave a sneak peek of its brand-new discriminates on the basis of viewpoint.”

Concourse B on Facebook last week, ahead of its planned If Gilliam does not comply with the state’s order to get opening this fall. a new license plate, she faces a fine and up to 30 days in jail. Her attorneys want a permanent ban on revoking such C O N STITUTI O NAL CAR RY plates and for the court to rule Tennessee’s vanity-plate law This story is co-published with MLK50: Justice Through unconstitutional.

Journalism.

A new Tennessee law that allows most adults to carry a N C R M NAM ES N EW P R ES I D E NT handgun without a permit could lead to more tragedies in Russell Wigginton will become president of the National Civil Memphis Black communities, already beleaguered by gun Rights Museum (NCRM) on August 1st. violence, and exacerbate tensions with police, some local and Wigginton worked at Rhodes College as a history professor state leaders said. and senior-level administrator for 23 years. He succeeds Terri The law took effect Thursday and allows most people 21 Lee Freeman as museum president and will resign his museum and older to carry a handgun, openly or concealed, without board post to assume his new leadership role. a permit or training. Memphis community leaders, including Stevie Moore, fear what may come next.

AI R PO RT G ETS B USY (AGAI N) “It makes me sick in the stomach to think about July 1st,” Memphis International Airport (MEM) just marked its busiest said Moore, founder of Freedom From Unnecessary Negatives, week since December 2019. a nonprofit focused on ending gun violence.

Last week, 49,481 people passed through the checkpoint at Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of MEM. That figure is 219 percent higher than the same week these stories and more local news. in 2020. But it’s still 14.1 percent lower than the same week of

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

It’s a (Foot) Sign Some think they’re gross, but the feet billboards are federally protected.

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billboards was given. No one from the Vascular & Vein Institute of the South responded to a call for comment on this story. No one from Lamar Advertising, the billboard’s owner, responded either.

As for billboard content, Dan Springer, Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the city of Memphis, said no one in the city controls it.

“Our sign code does not regulate content, per United States Supreme Court precedent,” Springer said in a statement.

“Signage is protected free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution.”

The state does not control billboard content either, said Shawn Bible, manager of the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Beautification Office. Her office does handle complaints, but she said, “I’ve been here 17 years and I have not had any complaints about billboard content. We haven’t had any naked ladies, or, you know …”

But in 2017, state attorneys argued the state should have some control over billboards. Germane, perhaps, to the Memphis foot billboards, they argued state laws around billboards should protect public aesthetics. However, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said, “public aesthetics was not a compelling governmental interest” and ruled Tennessee’s billboard law unconstitutional.

In 2020, a new law fixed Tennessee’s billboard rules to fit the court’s ruling.

NEWS & OPINION

The foot looks diseased, glossy in brownblack, and rot has taken the smallest toe, replacing it with a black mass of corrupted flesh.

This is not a line from a zombie horror novel. It’s a description of a foot on a billboard that rises over Union Avenue, one that has greeted commuters, tourists, and more for ages. It’s hard to miss, hundreds of feet in the air, and it looks to be the size of a Honda Civic.

The billboard and others like it have grossed out many Memphians.

Some have wondered what would have to be done for them to come down.

But billboard content — even those diseased feet — is protected by the First Amendment. Tennessee had to shift its existing billboard law just last year to comply with a free-expression ruling from a federal court that was years in the making and started in Memphis.

“Don’t let this happen to you,” read the foot billboards from the Vascular & Vein Institute of the South. As long as these billboards have been up, Memphians have complained about them online.

“2020 is awful enough,” Hannah Zaleski wrote in a Facebook post in October. “Can someone PLEASE take down the vascular rotten feet billboards around Memphis?”

Replies to the post said the billboards are “so gross!” and “I legit hateeeee them,” and “I get so vomity in the back of my throat EVERY. TIME.” No official explanation of the disease or the strategy behind posting the feet on

97 per lb.

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The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Thursday, October 11, 2018

Crossword ACROSS

23 So-called “Goddess of Pop” 25 Idle on the set 27 Ribs 30 “Heck if I know” 5 Japanese 34 Apex predators of roadster the deep 10 Images on 35 Phishing target, Australia’s for short 50-cent coins 38 Sticks, as a 14 Dweller along the landing Don 39 Peter or Paul 15 Shades for many 40 Tasted window shades 42 Sub 16 Mom’s mom 43 Major ___, “Dr. 17 Success for a Strangelove” closer in baseball character who rides the bomb 18 ___ and Link (popular online 44 Blather comedy duo) 45 Exchange of swear words?

19 Compact arms 46 Literally, “a 20 Mosque of hopeful person” ___ (shrine in Jerusalem) 49 It may involve dips, in two 21 “Check it out for different senses yourself!”

52 Nickname 22 Keepsakes for March Madness 53 Ingredient in victors black jelly beans 1 City where you can view Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE J A C O B

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57 Culinary phrase 58 Ones reading the Book of Shadows 61 Kind of operation in number theory, for short 62 Hidden trouble indicator … or what you’ll need to finish this crossword?

65 Superhero’s defining quality 66 Recount 67 It’s between an A and a B 68 Yoga poses

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27 Athletic type … or athletic wear 28 Pasta common in minestrone 29 Digitize 31 Word on a gravestone 32 Muppet who refers to himself in the third person 33 The snakes in the movie line “Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?”

35 Like one-sizefits-all garments 36 The Admiral’s Cup, e.g.

37 Words after “Oh, no!”

40 Waze or WeChat

51 Rabbit fur 54 “Let me clarify …”

55 In a way 56 Nips

41 Bog

59 Teensy

47 Deemed appropriate

60 Indianapolisbased sports org.

48 Shockers 49 Leader of the land down under?

50 Out

63 “Hurrah!”

64 No ___ Day (October 13)

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

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Campaign ’22 Are legal fireworks on tap for campaign year 2022?

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DOWN 1 ___ buco 2 It’s symbolized by a star and crescent 3 It flows and glows 4 Entry fees 5 Comes out 6 Blood of the gods, in Greek myth 7 Exposes 8 Alexander the Great, to Aristotle 9 Like Confucianism or Taoism 10 Formal rejection 11 Puzzle in which people take turns solving 12 Put the pedal to the metal 13 Stylishness 24 Fathers and sons 26 F-, e.g.

POLITICS By Jackson Baker

Among the races the office if elected. “And what does on next year’s local integrity look like? Honestly, it looks like ballot expected to disclosing evidence when it is helpful generate some heat to people and when it is not. It looks is that for district like following the guidelines of the attorney general, American Bar Association that teaches the position held you how to be ethical prosecutors.”

by Republican That would appear to be an indirect incumbent Amy allusion to a recommendation by the Weirich since 2011 via appointment and state Board of Professional Responsibility successfully defended by Weirich in the that Weirich be censured for appearing 2012 and 2014 election seasons. to withhold potentially exculpatory Other candidates may yet file for evidence while prosecuting a murder case. the position, but at this point the race The charges against Weirich were later is shaping up as one dismissed. between Weirich and announced Democratic • The DA’s race will be challenger Linda Nettles on the ballot along with Harris, a veteran of both a lengthy list of state prosecutorial and legaljudicial races that, like defense ranks. it, will be subject to At a generously eight-year terms for the attended fundraiser on winner. Some measure South Front Street last of just how extensive the week, Harris offered a list of contested races preview of her campaign, might be was indicated promising to work “the by the turnout last week road less traveled” and at a happy-hour affair to heed “the voices of for Democrats at the people who have felt that Mellow Mushroom they have been neglected pizzeria on Park. Several JACKSON BAKER by the criminal justice attendees at the event Jerri Green system … people who professed interest have felt marginalized, in races for General who have felt ostracized, Sessions positions who have been left out.” without specifying particular seats.

Referring to herself as a “statisticaldriven person,” Harris said, “FBI • Jerri Green, who ran a tight race last statistics show that crime has gone up year as a Democrat for the District 97 and prisons have been built, but crime state House race won by Republican has steadily increased.”

John Gillespie, has been hired by Shelby Harris laid special emphasis on County Mayor Lee Harris as a policy a pledge to maintain “integrity” in adviser.

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Discussing their intentions to run for judge next year at a “Drinks with Democrats” event were (l to r) Erim Sarinoglu, Lisa Stanley, and Sanjeev Memula.

An Arkansas horror story.

BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN

Join me today for a trip to Elaine, Arkansas. It’s a long drive, and I could use some company.

As Highway 61 winds its way down the bluffs to the big-sky alluvial plain of the Mississippi Delta, towering clumps of clouds drift on the western horizon, distant rainstorms visible in the morning light. We’ll probably get wet later.

In Tunica County, signs for casinos appear. Some are thriving, others are ghostly shells, losers on the gaming wheel of fortune that began spinning 30 years ago. The outlet mall south of town, once a thriving retail mecca, now features several empty storefronts, the formerly heady thrill of wandering through J.Crew, Victoria’s Secret, and Nautica having been replaced by porch-box fairies in FedEx trucks.

We turn onto Highway 49, a slim two-lane running string-straight to the Helena Bridge, a narrow and rusty looking structure with kudzu and trumpet vines adorning the side rails. It does not inspire confidence. Once across, we take the Great River Road 20 miles south to Elaine, where in 1919, the greatest race massacre in U.S. history occurred. But you knew that. Didn’t you?

Late winter through early autumn of 1919 has become

known as “Red Summer,” a time when white supremacist terrorism and racial riots took place in more than three dozen cities across the U.S. — and in one small town, Elaine, Arkansas — where we are now parked in front of a vacant building with a sign that says “Birdhouse Capital of the World.” There are no people in sight. In 1919, thanks to Jim Crow election laws, Black Americans couldn’t vote, hold office, or serve on juries. At the same time, thousands of African-American soldiers were returning from World War I and were beginning to feel resentment at the racism they came home to. The nascent NAACP had begun to speak out for racial justice.

The reaction to Black activism was swift and brutal.

The KKK and other groups began ginning up violence and hate against the “negroes” for “spreading socialism.” Jingoistic newspapers around the country fed the fire with articles about “armed negroes in revolt.” Racial violence soon broke out in Chicago, Omaha, Tulsa, Washington, D.C., and more than 30 other cities. Black communities were destroyed. Hundreds were killed.

Lynchings were common.

In Phillips County, Arkansas, 100 residents of Elaine held a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and House-

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

Red Summer

hold Union of America in a church north of town on September 30, 1919. Three white men monitored the gathering. Shots were fired and returned. A white security officer was killed; a deputy sheriff wounded. The word went out in Helena that there was an “armed negro revolt” underway.

Over the next couple of days, as many as 1,000 vigilantes, soldiers, and police swarmed into Elaine and committed horrific acts of violence. From an eyewitness account: “Soldiers in Elaine committed one murder after another with all the calm deliberation in the world, either too heartless to realize the enormity of their crimes, or too drunk on moonshine to give a continental darn. … several hundred of them began to hunt negroes and shotting [sic] them as they came to them.”

Accounts of how many Black men, women, and children were killed range from 150 to 800. No one knows for sure, but there is little doubt that it was the worst race massacre in U.S. history. The ensuing kangaroo court trial and imprisonment of 12 Black “rioters” changed U.S. civil rights history and is worth your time to learn about, because like most Americans, you’ve probably never heard about any of it.

Thanks to the folks at the Elaine Legacy Center, that’s changing. They are organized and pushing forward with presentations, lectures, and other programs to restore life to the area and tell its story. On September 30th, there will be a service to honor the victims of the massacre. I’m going to write more about Elaine and the Legacy Center later this summer. I’ll hope you’ll join me for a return trip.

NEWS & OPINION

AT L A R G E B y B r u c e Va n W y n g a r d e n

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DANAICHIDSIN | DREAMSTIME.COM

Style and Substance

Memphis’ “Parisian Bob” Caruthers is the greatest baseball player you’ve never heard of — and he belongs in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

July 8-14, 2021

COVER STORY BY CLAYTON TRUTOR

8

I

n the world of sports, contemporary curmudgeons complain about nothing more than a young athlete they regard as having “style over substance.” Ever since Statler and Waldorf took their place in a private box high above The Muppet Show stage, a parallel mindset has prevailed among a selfappointed group of sports fans who resemble the rumpled pair in disposition, if not demographics.

These guardians of the game are often correct in their assertions about modernizing meddlers who strip away more of the essence of sports every year in a quest to make the games “relevant.”

Ghost runners in Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League’s “delay of

game” penalty, the National Basketball Association’s new preoccupation with replay, and the National Football League’s new everybody-gets-a-turn overtime rules are the most flagrant examples of the game-show gimmicks that these curmudgeons find so abhorrent.

One showbiz element in modern sports that the traditionalists are completely wrong about is the idea of showmanship.

The Statlers and Waldorfs of the sporting fraternity often assert that flash or panache on the playing field demonstrate the lack of fortitude or professionalism of a particular participant. But decades before the good old days — which the when-it-was-still-just-a-game guardians opine as an era when professional sports

and popular entertainment were not so disparate — that was the age of Memphis’ own “Parisian Bob” Caruthers.

Style and guile were the substance of this well-coiffed and diminutive dandy of a pitcher. Pitching in the 1880s and 1890s, Caruthers won more than 200 career games and completed all but a dozen of the games he started. His career winning percentage of .688 is the highest of any big league pitcher before 1950 and second only to Yankees legend Whitey Ford (1950-1967) on the all-time list.

Caruthers, like the 5’10 Ford, relied on excellent control and an array of off-speed pitches to befuddle opposing batters, rather than relying on raw power. The most obvious difference between the two

is that Ford is in Baseball’s Hall of Fame while Caruthers, inexplicably, is not.

On Deck

Robert Lee Caruthers was born on July 5, 1864, in Memphis, which was then occupied by the Union Army during the Civil War. “Bobbie,” as he was known in his youth, was the third of four children born to John and Flora (McNeil) Caruthers. John Caruthers was one of Tennessee’s most highly regarded jurists of the 19th century. His uncle Robert Looney Caruthers had served on the state’s Supreme Court and founded Cumberland University as well as its law school, one of the oldest in the South.

Caruthers was small and sickly

throughout his childhood, preventing him from partaking in many of the pleasures that came with life in a prominent family in late 19th century Memphis. In 1877, the Hon. John Caruthers decided to move his family north to Chicago, seeking out a new start after the death of Robert’s younger sister Emma, who died at the age of 9 after an extended illness.

Bobbie up to Bat

Caruthers was a genuine overnight sensation in St. Louis. Playing roughly halfway between his hometown of Memphis and adopted home of Chicago, Caruthers asserted himself in his first full big league season as the best pitcher in the sport.

Caruthers won a league-leading 40 games and posted a 2.07 earned run average (ERA), the lowest figure in the league. He pitched 483 innings that season, more than twice as many as Major League Baseball’s innings-pitched leader in 2019. Caruthers followed up his rookie campaign with another 30-win season in 1886 while posting impressive numbers as a hitter as well. He batted .342 in his second season, making him the second-best hitter for average in the American Association. In both seasons, the Browns won the pennant in the American Association, largely due to the pitching prowess of their young ace.

The diminutive Caruthers had a unique

approach to pitching.

Unlike many other aces in baseball history, he did not throw particularly hard. Instead, he relied on psychology and a wide range of unconventional pitching deliveries to confuse hitters, manipulating the speed and location of his pitches to trip up big league batters.

PHOTOS WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The Brooklyn Bridegrooms owed their 1888 name and success to Parisian Bob.

The young ace’s flair for the dramatic extended beyond his approach to pitching, too. Indeed, Caruthers was known to be a natty dresser with a taste for expensive clothing as well as fancy food and drink. He wore a stylishly groomed moustache and kept his hair neatly trimmed at all times.

“Parisian Bob”

After games, Caruthers frequented saloons, poker tables, and pool halls. He earned the nickname “Parisian Bob” after the 1885 season, when he traveled to France with a teammate for an extended vacation in the City of Lights, all the while conducting contract negotiations through telegrams across the Atlantic. In the end, Parisian Bob agreed to play for a then-record $5,000 a year in 1886, which did nothing to quell his appetite for high-end clothing and evening entertainments. His desires for the many pleasures of the flesh may have been the result of immaturity. They may have also been evidence of an accurate self-appraisal of the number of opportunities he had left to enjoy such things. It was widely reported that Caruthers suffered from a heart ailment, likely the result of his childhood illnesses. To borrow the suddenly overused phrase, Caruthers may not have been here for a long time but was certainly here for a good time.

Despite his growing off-the-field reputation, Parisian Bob continued to excel on the field. In 1887, Caruthers won

another 29 games and led the Browns to their third consecutive pennant.

Parisian Bob put up his best season at the plate as well, finishing in the top 10 in the American Association in hitting with a .357 average. The Browns played the National League champions from Detroit in a traveling “World Champions Series” that was played in several cities. Caruthers and his teammates had played in more modest iterations of the event in 1885 and 1886, losing the first time while winning the latter series.

The 1887 event, by contrast, was a much more heavily promoted and elaborate spectacle, which showcased professional baseball at stops across the eastern half of the United States. The Detroit Wolverines overwhelmed the Browns throughout the 15game series, allegedly due in part to the Browns’ carousing in the after-hours.

Caruthers, well known for his enthusiasm for extracurricular activities, took the blame from team owner Chris von der Ahe, who sold his star pitcher to the Brooklyn franchise in the American Association for a reported $12,500 (roughly $375,000 in 2021 dollars). At the time, the price that Brooklyn paid for Caruthers was the highest one ever paid for a ballplayer.

Bobbie and the Bridegrooms

In early 1888, Parisian Bob settled down in his typically grand fashion. He made Mary “Mamie” Danks, a 22-year-old Chicago debutante originally from Lexington, Kentucky, his bride. Friends and family lavished the stylish young pair with wedding gifts reportedly worth in excess of $4,000 (roughly $120,000 in 2021 dollars). Shortly after Caruthers’ lavish wedding, his new team in Brooklyn adopted the moniker “Bridegrooms” for the season to capitalize on their star pitcher’s off-season notoriety.

Almost singlehandedly, Caruthers made the Bridegrooms a contender. He won 29 games in 1888 and posted a second 40-win season in 1889, transforming the perennial also-ran into a pennant winner in 1889. Unfortunately, Caruthers’ baseball continued on page 10

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

As young “Bobbie” reached adolescence, his body grew stronger. Paralleling the development of his generational peer Theodore Roosevelt (who also suffered from a series of childhood ailments), Caruthers grew into a strong and sinewy man during his teenage years. Though he only stood 5’7 as an adult, Caruthers boasted a trim and muscular 140-pound physique, which looked something like a gymnast’s.

He applied himself to baseball and soon became a star. Caruthers was a crafty pitcher, robust hitter, and elite fielder for amateur clubs on Chicago’s North Side.

At age 19, he signed his first professional contract with a club in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A little more than a year later, Caruthers debuted in the Major Leagues, playing for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association in September 1884.

PHOTOS WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

As evidenced by these vintage baseball cards, Parisian Bob had style both on and off the field.

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continued from page 9 skills deteriorated rapidly in the early 1890s. A half-decade’s worth of 300-plus inning seasons (few pitchers in 2021 even throw 200 innings in a season) strained and atrophied his right arm, which had recently been the most valuable weapon in baseball. Caruthers’ win total plummeted from 40 in 1889 to 23 in 1890 to just two in 1892, while his ERA ballooned to nearly 6, making him one of the least effective pitchers in the National League.

After a brief stint playing outfield for the Cincinnati Reds, Caruthers’ big league career came to an end just weeks before his 29th birthday, when the Ohio club released the one-time superstar. All told, Caruthers won 218 games in a 10-year career while losing just 99.

Caruthers spent much of the late 1890s trying to revive his baseball career, playing in a half-dozen minor league towns.

Unfortunately, his right arm never bounced back. He played his final professional games in 1898 for a short-lived independent team in Burlington, Iowa.

After the Show

Following his playing career, Parisian Bob drifted through baseball circles, working

primarily as an umpire. On the field, the flamboyant former pitcher often got into scrapes with players and managers, which did nothing for his umpiring career. Neither did his apparent troubles with alcohol, which had developed over the course of his career.

Drinking likely exaggerated the lifelong health problems Caruthers had suffered.

The former star worked his way steadily down the baseball food chain over the course of the 20th century’s first decade. He served in 1902 and 1903 as an American League umpire. By 1911, he was working the “Triple-I” League, a Class B circuit that consisted of teams in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. The former big league ace had earned the reputation as a thin-skinned and foul-mouthed official by that time and was apparently out of pocket, a fate suffered just as frequently by athletic stars of the 19th century as those of the 21st. Caruthers, his wife Mamie, and their two children took up residence at his in-laws’ home in Peoria, Illinois, after moving out of a three-family rental unit in Chicago.

At the Old Ball Game

Caruthers’ physical and mental health declined rapidly in 1911. Apparently, he

PHOTO COURTESY OF SABR

Robert Caruthers’ grave marker suffered what the contemporary press referred to as a “nervous breakdown” that spring. Soon thereafter, he was sentenced to 20 days in an Illinois state work-house for public drunkenness. Before serving his sentence, Caruthers fell gravely ill and died at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria on August 5th. He had just turned 47 years old.

Caruthers was buried in an unmarked grave in Section N of Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery. Memory of Parisian Bob faded as those who followed his career became ever fewer in number. A new generation of baseball fans, particularly those interested in the early history of the sport, have helped to revive interest in the colorful star. In recent years, members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) provided him

with a headstone worthy of his legacy, more than a century after his death. In 2018, SABR members installed a beautiful marker in Caruthers’ honor, which cited the Memphis native as “baseball’s most versatile player prior to Babe Ruth.”

While SABR is rekindling the memory of Caruthers, the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Early Baseball Committee has an opportunity to further cement Parisian Bob’s legacy. In December 2021, the committee meets to select new inductees into the Hall; the committee meets every five years to weigh the merits of potential inductees from the 19th and early 20th centuries. It seems like momentum has started to swing in Caruthers’ direction and, hopefully, the electors make use of this opportunity to honor one of the game’s greatest talents. Though Caruthers’ career was short (he played 10 seasons, the minimum for induction), he proved to be one of the most effective and interesting players of his generation.

Clayton Trutor holds a Ph.D. in U.S. History from Boston College and teaches at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.

He is the author of Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta—and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports (University of Nebraska Press), which is available now for pre-order.

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Decorations Handwriting Dolls Stained Glass Gardening Recycling Knitting Wood Crafts

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

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Sept. 3-12, 2021

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S P O R TS B y Fr a n k M u r t a u g h

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xhale, Memphis.

It appears there will be a Year Four of the Penny Hardaway Era 2.0 at the University of Memphis. After exchanging winks with the NBA’s Orlando Magic last month, the living face of Tiger basketball retains his office at the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center on Getwell. As a statue of Larry Finch is literally rising outside that facility, Hardaway continues his quest to return a long-proud program to a place where far more than an NIT championship will be celebrated.

How close did Hardaway come to leaving? When an interview is part of the equation, that’s close enough for Tiger fans, boosters, and sponsors. Enough to raise blood pressure, even as the MidSouth summer seems to slow movement of any kind to a lazy crawl. Hardaway had some very special seasons as a player with Orlando — he was twice named first-team All-NBA and helped the Magic to the 1995 Finals — so a fit exists, even if it crosses a couple of basketball generations. Having never coached a game in the NCAA tournament, Hardaway’s credentials for an NBA job — on paper — may seem thin.

But he would sell tickets and sponsorships in Florida just as he has here in Memphis.

Some have insisted Tiger basketball would be fine had Hardaway left. It’s an institution larger than any individual, larger even than The Guy. Finch himself received a pink slip (after 11 seasons as head coach) on the concourse of the Pyramid. Legends expire, particularly in a time where patience is nonexistent, where popularity is today’s Twitter trend, where a gamechanging recruiting class spends no more than a season together. Had Hardaway left, well, next man up.

I’m not sure that would be the scenario here in Memphis, not with a premature farewell from Penny Hardaway. Think about how much Hardaway loves University of Memphis basketball, how much he adores his hometown. He could live anywhere in the world he chooses, but has kept a home in the Bluff City. When he was named head coach in 2018, there was a “finally!” feeling at the Laurie-Walton press conference but, more generally, throughout the city. We had Our Guy, and Our Guy had embraced us. If he had left after only three seasons, and with nothing to show but that NIT hardware? Over the course

of a lifetime, you’ll have people give up on you or seek greener pastures. And you move on. But when that perfect match — you know it’s perfect — proclaims things aren’t right? That kind of cut leaves a scar.

So exhale, Memphis. And back to work for Penny Hardaway. Instead of trying to rebuild the Magic (Orlando finished 14th among 15 Eastern Conference teams last season), Hardaway will study his own revamped roster — bye-bye Boogie Ellis and D.J. Jeffries, hello Johnathan and Chandler Lawson — and plot a course toward the Tiger program’s first Big Dance since, gulp, 2014. Instead of chasing the Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks, and Philadelphia 76ers, Hardaway must close the gap with the University of Houston. (The Cougars

PHOTO BY BRANDON DILL

Penny Hardaway reached the 2021 Final Four, remember.)

That’s Penny’s challenge, really, in summation. Do for Memphis what Kelvin Sampson has done in East Texas. And frankly, it’s a lower hurdle to leap than the one (the many) he’d face in the NBA. Penny Hardaway is still Our Guy. As he reaches a life milestone — Hardaway turns 50 on July 18th — the “kid” from Binghampton remains the personification of all that is wonderful about Tiger basketball.

Temptations are part of the mix for a man with Hardaway’s profile. But making the right relationship work brings rewards of a rare and distinctive kind. There’s reason to believe University of Memphis basketball is getting closer to such a prize.

steppin’ out (& stayin’ in)

Live music at

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

By Julie Ray

There’s just something about Memphis that inspires creativity, making it a national center for innovative cultural production. Dixon’s outgoing exhibition, “Memphis 2021,” boasts more than 50 original works by 20 diverse artists.

In the exhibition, you’ll find examples of fiber art by Paula Kovarik, Sharon Havelka, Jennifer Sargent, and Johana Moscoso. Also featured are colorful paintings by some familiar artists, including Alex Paulus, Roger Allan Cleaves, Juan Rojo, Debbie Likley Pacheco, Katherine George, and Danny Broadway. Creative work incorporating ink by Meredith Olinger and Rick Nitsche, plus an unusual integration of charcoal by Frances Berry and Jonah Westbrook, add depth to varied mixed media pieces.

“The artists in ‘Memphis 2021’ are talented, hugely creative, sometimes hilarious, and always hard-working, but they are also some of the nicest people PHOTO COURTESY OF DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS you would ever want to meet,” says Kevin Sharp, Linda W. and S. Herbert Justin Bowles, Heirloom Friendship, Rhea director at the Dixon. “Their show is amazing and I am very proud of 2018-2019; acrylic paint, them all.” screen printed and painted papers Sharp might be referring to exciting detours from traditional mediums (poster, scrapbook, giftwrap, Stonehenge, when he touts the artists as “hugely creative.” Mae Aur works with hand-cut Canson, craft, magazine, tissue), fabric wood and incorporates sound. Nick Hewlett showcases digital illustrations.

Mary Jo Karimnia incorporates seed beads into works highlighting feminine imagery. Justin Bowles utilizes the entire Crump gallery for a sculptural installation. And Carrol McTyre and Mary K VanGieson use found objects in sculpture.

All of the artists give an exciting look at what’s to come in Memphis in the 2020s. See the exhibition, a feast for the senses, before it leaves the gallery this weekend.

CLOSING WEEKEND FOR “MEMPHIS 2021,” DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS, 4339 PARK, FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 9-11, FREE.

Ivanka vs. Reality TheatreWorks, 2085 Monroe and livestreaming at playhouseonthesquare.org, opens Friday, July 9, 8 p.m., continues Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m., through July 25, $25-$42 A divorced Hollywood screenwriter is losing her grip as her career slides into middle-aged female oblivion.

Winner of the 2019 NewWorks@ TheWorks playwriting competition.

Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears

July 10th - 8:00pm Shamarr Allen and The Underdawgs

7/7 - 6:30pm

Duwayne Burnside Blues Hour

7/8 - 8pm

Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears

7/9 - 7pm

Memphis Crafts & Drafts Summer Market Crosstown Concourse, 1359 Concourse, Saturday, July 10, 10 a.m.4 p.m., free to attend Guests will enjoy a fun day of local shopping, creative family activities, and tasty local brews.

Taste of Uptown Grind City Brewery, 76 Waterworks, Tuesday, July 13, 6-9 p.m., $100 Features art exhibition, live music, and five-course small plate dinner by local chef Jimmy Gentry of Paradox Underground & Catering paired with Grind City beer.

Alex Greene & the Rolling Head Orchestra The Grove at GPAC, 1801 Exeter, Saturday, July 10, 7-9 p.m., $15 Alex Greene & the Rolling Head Orchestra with special guests present an original live score to Buster Keaton’s 1928 silent classic, The Cameraman.

“Tom Lee, a Memphis Hero” Online from Dixon Gallery and Gardens, dixon.org, Wednesday, July 14, noon, free with registration Charmeal Neely Alexander, greatniece of Thomas “Tom” Lee, will speak on topic via Zoom. Register to attend.

7/10 - 8pm

Shamarr Allen and The Underdawgs

7/11 - 1pm

Mighty Souls

7/14 - 6:30pm

Duwayne Burnside Blues Hour

7/15 - 7pm

Papa Top

7/16 - 8pm

Lucky 7 Brass Band

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

Memphis TN 38104

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

Spank!

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES July 8th - 14th Velvetina’s Blue Moon Revue Hernando’s Hide-A-Way, 3210 Old Hernando, Thursday, July 8, 7-9 p.m., $15-$100 Classic burlesque dinner show featuring live Memphis rock-and-roll hosted by Velvetina Taylor.

July 8th - 8:00pm

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

50 by 20

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MUSIC By Jesse Davis

All I Have to Do is Dream Los Psychosis release a dynamo of a debut on Memphis-based Black and Wyatt Records.

July 8-14, 2021

Javi Arcega is living the dream. The frontman of Memphisbased Latinx psychobilly band, Los Psychosis, is pleased to release the band’s debut LP Rock and Roll Dreams on Memphis-based Black and Wyatt Records.

“I had no clue that this would ever come back again,” Arcega tells me, referring to live music in a, if not post-pandemic, at least post-crisis world. Now, fresh off a performance at Black Lodge’s Telethon fundraiser and having just released his band’s first full-length record, it would seem Arcega and Los Psychosis are poised to make the most of a world that, once again, sways and hums with live music.

Arcega wears a lot of hats — songwriter, bandleader, guitarist, occasional bassist, business person. He’s ginned up opportunities for Los Psychosis while working as a sound tech at other bands’ gigs. In fact, it was while Arcega was running sound at a Toy Trucks concert that folks from Black and Wyatt approached him about releasing the Los Psychosis record. “They asked me to cut 1,000 copies of the record,” Arcega remembers. “They told us they had already gone to some of our gigs.”

But, for all Arcega’s extensive work on the project, the saga of Rock and Roll Dreams is one that involves multiple Memphis studios, businesses, and media personalities.

14

“We also had a handful of people who had a lot of faith in us. Like Lee Grant,” he says, thanking the host of WEVL’s The Modern World and Mood Swings programs, who helped fund additional studio time. “We couldn’t have made it without him.”

But Grant is just the latest in a line of local music luminaries to inspire Arcega. “I half-assed it through my teenage years,” the singer admits.

“I had a few mentors who said, ‘You need to get your shit together if you really want to sound good.’” Jim Duckworth, who once played in Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and has worked as a session musician, was one such mentor. “I used to play in a band with him,” Arcega says.

Los Psychosis cut some of the album with Memphian Toby Vest in the producer’s chair. “I really liked what Toby did,” Arcega says, before uttering the oft-repeated musician’s lament: “At that point the lineup was kind of funny. I guess it’s always been kind of funny.” As so often happens, lineup

PHOTO BY JAMIE HARMON

Los Psychosis changes forced a pause on recording. Later, spurred by interest from Black and Wyatt, Arcega sought out a studio where the band might finish the record. “We decided to finish the rest of the record at Sun Studios with Crockett Hall.”

The end result is something special — a shot of adrenaline and take-on-the-world enthusiasm. As wonderful a soundtrack it makes to cooking dinner (I can verify), Rock and Roll Dreams is a tantalizing invitation to see the band perform these songs live. Lap steel, organ, and backing vocals are used to excellent effect, creating a layered sound that fleshes out the raucous rock-and-roll of the band.

“Glittered Eyes” is enough to raise even the most placid listener’s heartbeat as it pairs swooping lap-steel lines with a frantic drumbeat. “Astral Dreams” is chugging, sultry stuff that would make The Cramps proud. In the end, the album sounds like what it is — the culmination of years’ worth of hopes and dreams.

For more information on Rock and Roll Dreams, check out blackandwyattrecords.com.

CALENDAR of EVENTS:

July 8 - 14

Featuring work by University of Memphis students. Ongoing.

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS (AMUM)

“Africa on My Mind”

Exhibition featuring new and recent artwork by Ethiopian artist Dereje Demissie and Nigerian artist Johnson Uwadinma. Ongoing.

UREVBU CONTEMPORARY

“Contemporary & Ethnographic Works of Art”

Exhibition of contemporary and ancient works by multiple artists. Ongoing.

JAY ETKIN GALLERY

“Drip”

Exhibition of paintings by Kevin Ford. Through Aug. 21 TOPS GALLERY: MADISON AVENUE PARK

“Folk Art”

Exhibition of works from the collection of Judy Peiser, cofounder and executive director of the Center for Southern Folklore. Through July 31.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

“Hillbilly Rock”

Exhibition featuring items from The Marty Stuart Collection.

Ongoing.

GRACELAND

“Hindsight 2020”

Exhibition by four student curators, three professional mentors, and two student graphic designers offering a reflection of the events of 2020 through the lens of artists of color, LGBTQ+ artists, and others. Through Sept. 30.

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS (AMUM)

Tributaries: Andrew Meers | “Amalgamations” Exhibition which recognizes emerging and mid-career artists in the metals field. Includes a selection of knives and forged work. Through July 17.

METAL MUSEUM

“Images of Africa Before & After the Middle Passage”

Vietnam Veterans & Desert Storm Veterans Exhibition

Exhibition of photography

by Jeff and Shaakira Edison.

Ongoing.

Veterans’ work on view.

Through July 31.

MID-SOUTH ARTIST GALLERY

SLAVE HAVEN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD MUSEUM

“Watch for my Signals”

Exhibition of works made from found objects by Alex Lockwood. Through July 31.

“Invisible Aquaphobic Art”

Exhibition of art installation in the plaza fountain that will reveal artworks only when exposed to water by artist Stacey Williams-Ng. Through Aug. 31.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

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

Parts of a Whole: Sculpting the Human Figure in Ceramic Clay.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

“King of Karate”

Exhibit highlighting Elvis’ lifelong passion of the art of karate.

Ongoing.

GRACELAND EXHIBITION CENTER

“Light and Color Inspired”

Exhibition of original work by Barbara Hicks, Katie Lindsey, and Ann Brown Thomason.

Online viewing only. Through July 31.

GALLERY 1091

“Meet the Dixons”

Exhibition highlighting Margaret and Hugo Dixon’s personal lives, collections, and legacy.

Through Sept. 26.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Memphis 2021”

Exhibition of new work by favorite and emerging artists emphasizing color, texture, scale, community, and an exciting look at what’s to come in Memphis in the 2020s. Through July 11.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Memphis Artists In Real Time”

Exhibition of photographs by Memphis photojournalists Johnathan “Malik” Martin and Andrea Morales. Through July 10.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“Micro-Aesthetic”

“Persevere and Resist: The Strong Black Women of Elizabeth Catlett” Exhibition highlighting the historic and current plights of Black women in America.

Through Aug. 31.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

Exhibition of microscopic images forming a connection to everydaylife patterns presented by Dr. Amir Hadadzadeh. Through Sept. 30.

“Piece of Cake”

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

MEMPHIS (AMUM)

“On the Road: Chocolate Cities” Exhibition featuring multiple artists curated by Larry OsseiMensah, which explores notions of Blackness coupled with the convergence of place and space.

Saturday, July 10-Sept. 18.

TONE

Exhibition of confectious sculptures by Greely Myatt. Through Sept. 26.

“Pieta Mondrian”

Exhibiton of sculptures by Christopher Chiappa. Through Aug. 21.

TOPS GALLERY

“Point of View: Beauty in the Small Things”

Exhibition of paintings by Anna Parker. Through July 31.

FRATELLI’S

“Sketching Europe: A Tour through the Eyes of Memphian Samuel H. Crone”

Exhibition of sketches and watercolor paintings by Samuel Hester Crone in the permanent collection. Ongoing.

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS (AMUM)

“The Machine Inside: Biomechanics”

An immersive exhibit for all ages that takes visitors on an intriguing journey into the marvels of natural engineering.

Through Aug. 31.

MEMPHIS MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY (MOSH)

Join ceramic artist C.A. Traen for this series on ceramic sculpting of the full human figure using a unique and approachable method suitable for artists and hobbyists alike. Saturday, July 10, 9 a.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Saturday Sketch

For ages 15+. Sketch in the gardens or galleries with a special guest instructor each month. Bring a pad of paper or a sketchbook. Pencils and colored pencils only. Free. Saturday, July 10, 10 a.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

The Peace Project

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

MEMPHIS PARK (FOURTH BLUFF)

continued on page 16

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

38th Annual Juried Student Online Exhibition

Try not to get slammed at Hi Tone’s 901 Poetry Slam Series, hosted by award-winning author Steve Fox.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

ART AN D S P EC IA L E X H I B ITS

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

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

15

C A L E N D A R : J U LY 8 - 1 4 continued from page 15 Virtual Tours at Two

Join a Dixon docent or member of the curatorial staff on a virtual tour of the current exhibitions. Free, $5. Tuesdays, 2 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

WE Gallery

Gallery benefiting artists.

Through Aug. 31.

WOMAN’S EXCHANGE OF MEMPHIS

B O O K EV E N TS

Memphis Reads

Selected book, Thick: and Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom engages Memphians in the Black female experience in today’s America. Through Oct. 31.

C O M E DY

Drafts and Laughs

Features some of the best stand-up comedians from the Mid-South, free of charge, celebrating Drafts and Laughs’ five-year anniversary. Saturday, July 10, 7:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS MADE BREWING COMPANY

Karlous Miller

Read and explore written works by women and LGBT authors.

Wednesday, July 14, 7 p.m.

OUTMEMPHIS: THE LGBTQ CENTER OF THE MID-SOUTH

Reader Meet Writer: Shannon Dingle

Author discusses Living Brave: Lessons from Hurt, Lighting the Way to Hope via Zoom. Thursday, July 8, 6 p.m.

NOVEL

KangaZoo Outback Experience

Soulin’ on the River: Dottie

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish

MEMPHIS ZOO

LaToya Tennille

Teen Book Club

Watermelon Festival

THE COMEDY JUNT

Read and discuss the book of the month, eat a few snacks, play a review game, discuss the book read, vote on the next book. For teens, 6th-12th grade.

Free. Monday, July 12.

COLLIERVILLE LIBRARY

C O M M U N I TY

Thistle & Bee Ambassador Program

Become a steward for the Thistle & Bee mission. Email Oriana for more information, oholmes@thistleandbee.org.

Free. Ongoing.

THISTLEANDBEE.ORG

United Way of the MidSouth: Driving The Dream For those impacted by COVID-19. Puts callers in contact with essential services, without

F E ST IVA LS

GET LOUD Concert Series: Paul Thorn + Amy LaVere & Will Sexton

Outdoor music series in Handy Park on Beale Street’s biggest stage. Visit Handy Park’s Facebook page for more information. Thursday, July 8, 6 p.m.

BEALE STREET

Features film starring Whoopi Goldberg, music by Memphis Jazz Workshop, bar, and food trucks. $10/general admission.

Friday, July 9, 7-8:45 p.m.

THE GROVE AT GPAC

CHUCKLES COMEDY CLUB

It’s the one-year anniversary of The Comedy Junt and a live taping of Tennille’s special, Sex, Jokes, and Therapy. $25. Friday, July 9, 8 p.m.

GPAC Summer Movies Series: Sister Act

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

RENAISSANCE PARK

WWW.MEMPHISMUSEUMS.ORG

July 8-14, 2021

FA M I LY

Guests will enjoy a fun day of local shopping, creative family activities, and tasty local brews.

Free. Saturday, July 10, 10 a.m.4 p.m.

Second performance at 9:30 p.m., Friday-Sunday. $32.

Friday, July 9, 7 p.m.

Memphis Museum of Science & History

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UWMIDSOUTH.ORG

Memphis Crafts & Drafts Summer Market

Experience the outback and meet one of Australia’s largest marsupials, the red kangaroo.

Free. Through Oct. 31.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS UNIVERSITY

Meristem Women’s Book Club

individuals having to repeat the circumstances for the call.

Follow-up ensures those connections were made. Ongoing.

Features music, food trucks, music, and more. Friday, July 9, 6 p.m.

Features petting zoo, bounce houses, giant water slides, hayrides, train rides, watermelons, and more. Through Aug. 15.

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Alex Greene & the Rolling Head Orchestra

Alex Greene & the Rolling Head Orchestra with special guests Blueshift Ensemble & Kate Tayler Hunt, thereminist, present an original live score to Buster Keaton’s 1928 silent classic, The Cameraman. $15/ general admission. Saturday, July 10, 7:30-9 p.m.

THE GROVE AT GPAC

With dreams of diving abroad, Tsuneo gets a job assisting Josee, an artist whose imagination takes her far beyond her wheelchair. $15. Monday, July 12, 7 p.m.

MALCO PARADISO CINEMA GRILL & IMAX

Rocky Horror Picture Show Absent Friends present the cult classic with a live shadow-cast and costume contest. $10.

Friday, July 9, 11:30 p.m.

THE EVERGREEN THEATRE

Spring Movie Series: A League of Their Own Thursday, July 8, 7:30 p.m.

GREENBELT PARK

Champagne Thursdays

$6 bubbly by the glass. Thursday, July 8, 5 p.m.

THE TERRACE

City Tasting Tours

Savor tastings at eateries, interact with chefs and managers, and sample local flavors while learning about city. Ongoing.

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Food Truck Friday

Every Friday in Garrott Court through September. Features food trucks and lunch in the gardens. Zio Matto Gelato will also be on-site for a sweet treat to cool off in the gardens.

Friday, July 9, 11:30 a.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Taste of Uptown

Features art exhibition, live music, and five-course small-plate dinner by local chef Jimmy Gentry of Paradox Underground Catering and P.O. Press, paired with Grind City beer. $100. Tuesday, July 13, 6-9 p.m.

GRIND CITY BREWERY

FO O D A N D D R I N K

Canoes + Cocktails

Enjoy a guided evening sunset paddle on the lake followed by socially distant cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, yard games, and music at Hyde Lake Pavilion.

Friday, July 9, 7 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

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

Kosten Foundation Monthly Pancreatic Cancer Support Group

Open to pancreatic cancer patients, families, caregivers, friends, and anyone interested in learning about pancre-

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Laughter Yoga

Join Baptist Cancer Center on Zoom for a unique combination of breathing, fluid movements, and voluntary laughing to make you happier and healthier. Free.

Monday, July 12, 6 p.m.

BAPTISTCANCERCENTER.COM

Zoo Dude

Hosted by Chief Zoological Officer Matt Thompson, Memphis Zoo updates.

Free. Sunday, July 11, 8 a.m.; Wednesday, July 14, 8 a.m.

GAISMAN PARK

Stroke Support Group

The latest updates for stroke survivors and caregivers hosted

by Connie Holland, RN, AMI/ Stroke Coordinator. Refreshments served. Tuesday, July 13, 2 p.m.

METHODIST NORTH HOSPITAL

Tai Chi

Classes held near Woodland Discovery Playground. $8.

Wednesday, July 14, 3 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

Yoga

Join Peggy Reisser in the Garden, weather permitting. Free.

Saturday, July 10, 10:30 a.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

L E CT U R E

Memphis Astronomical Society Held on YouTube channel.

Free. Friday, July 9, 8 p.m.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS UNIVERSITY

“Tom Lee, a Memphis Hero”

Charmeal Neely Alexander, great-niece of Thomas “Tom” Lee, will speak on topic via Zoom. Register to attend.

Wednesday, July 14, noon.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Come meet your new family member. Potentials provided

by Real Good Dog Rescue.

Saturday, July 10, noon.

HOLLYWOOD FEED GERMANTOWN

Old Forest Hike

Walking tour of the region’s only urban old-growth forest.

Saturday, July 10, 10 a.m.

OVERTON PARK

MEMPHIS ZOO

Self Defense

Monthly recap and new defense techniques including how to defend against an attacker who traps you near a wall. RSVP on the Center for Transforming Communities Facbook event page. Saturday, July 10, 9:30 a.m.

Meet and Greet Adoptable Pets

S PO R TS P E R F O R M I N G A R TS

901 Poetry Slam Series

Hosted by award-winning writer, author, spoken-word artist and actor Steve Fox. Sign up to perform one poem (3 minutes and 10 seconds or less) via Eventbrite. $9.01/performance ticket, $9.01/general admission. Mondays, 7 p.m.

HI TONE

TM Thursdays on the Plaza

Enjoy the atmosphere of the Menke Sculpture Garden during a variety of events from blues to trivia. Cash bar with wine and craft beer, as well as a nosh or two. Thursday, July 8, 6:15-8:30 p.m.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Velvetina’s Blue Moon Revue

Classic burlesque dinner show featuring live Memphis rockand-roll hosted by Velvetina Taylor. $15/general admission, $100. Thursdays, 7-9 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

S P EC I A L EVE N TS

Caribbean Foam Rave

Features reggae, dance-hall, and other music, Jamaican food, bottle service, and hookahs available. $20. Sunday, July 11, 3 p.m.

CAROLINA WATERSHED

Memphis Redbirds vs.

Norfolk Tides

Daily special events including Nacho Tuesday, Throwback Thursday, and weekend fireworks. Monday, July 12July 18.

AUTOZONE PARK

T H E AT E R

Ivanka vs. Reality

A divorced Hollywood screenwriter is losing her grip as her career slides into middle-aged female oblivion. Desperate for work she takes a job writing a movie. $25/streaming, $42/ live. Friday, July 9-July 25.

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TO U R S

Calvary Episcopal Church Tours

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Gemstones, Gifts,Tarot Cards, Jewelry, Incense, Books, Tarot Readings, and More.

Docent-led tours discuss stained glass windows, architecture, and symbols in Christian art. Private tours available upon request. Free.

Wednesday, July 14, 11:15 a.m.

CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Haunted Memphis Bus Tour

Informative and entertaining guides will share tales of murders, hauntings and dark history. $25. Friday, July 9, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 10, 7:30 p.m.

THE BROOM CLOSET

Memphis Ghost Tours Memphis Ghost Walk and Haunted Memphis Bus Tour

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Shop from 35+ local makers and artists at the Crafts & Drafts Summer Market, July 10th, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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FOOD By Michael Donahue

The Olympics of Food Zach Thomason offers his take on global dishes.

“We try to develop a menu that brings in flavors from around the world,” Thomason says. “You begin to accept and gain an awareness of others through food by talking about the different flavors that each culture is bringing to a dish.”

Thomason, whose cooking experience includes jobs at Interim, Next Door Eatery, and The Gray Canary, describes Savannah’s Food Co. as “a gourmet meal-delivery and catering company using farm-fresh ingredients. I source either from the farmers markets or have some of the local farmers bring me their goods, and we go from there.”

People order 24 hours in advance for next-day delivery. “I do Memphis, Arlington, Collierville, Germantown, and Bartlett.

All of the suburbs. We offer individual portions and family-size portions.” They also feature a kid’s menu.

As for desserts, Thomason says his fiancée, Gillian Lepisto, makes “some of the most astonishing desserts you can have.

Delicious and homey. The point of food is

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PHOTO BY MICHAEL DONAHUE

(l to r) Mason Whitman, Zach Thomason, Gillian Lepisto, and Nick Myers

to make you feel like someone cares about you.” They offer six desserts, including Lazy Lemon Cheesecake Bars. Prices for meals range from $12 to an $85 family-size.

Thomason, who is assisted by Lepisto, his brother Nick Myers, and Mason Whitman, is currently working out of Jimmy Gentry’s Paradox Catering. “Savannah” is Lepisto’s daughter Savannah Lepisto.

He would like to eventually open a brick-and-mortar business. “We definitely will have a deli counter. And the location will offer some lunch options with sandwiches and soups and to-go items. Takeand-bake things like we’re currently selling, but with more space. That opens up the possibility for countless things. We could begin hosting dinners and serving our meals hot, rather than have our customers heat them themselves.”

“There’s just more we can do with it,” he adds. “We’ll have the opportunity to talk about selling locally produced goods.”

Thomason’s main goal is to eventually be able to sell his locally sourced food to lowincome families at a lower price. “I have a passion to get this food to people who need it and can use it.”

And, he says, “I truly believe when we eat closer to where we live, we are inevitably going to feel good.”

Thomason came up with the idea for his business during the pandemic. “I had been working with 275 Food Project and helping them deliver, at the time, emergency food CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] boxes. I started talking to one of the women who owns the place, Diane Terrell, and she was really helping me move my thoughts along with it.”

She told Thomason, “Think about something that you think would be impactful. Think about what you can do.”

Thomason believes he can teach people through his food. “It all starts with the fundamentals. Right now, the only thing I have to offer is food.”

“This is just dreaming,” he continues, “but in the future, I hope to have a 501c3 that helps feed and take care of people who cannot get this source of food. And also giving jobs to those who cannot get them.

Whether they’re coming out of jail or rehab, homeless shelters. But none of that is possible until we can get the business up and rolling.”

To order from Savannah’s Food Co., go to savannahsfoodco.com.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

I

f you want to take a trip around the world without leaving your dinner table, visit Savannah’s Food Co. The current menu of the mealdelivery/catering company includes the Vietnamese-inspired North Memphis banh mi, Mumbai beans and rice, Welsh potato leek soup, Asian sesame noodles, Persian saffron and citron salmon, and Moroccan chicken.

“We represent 10 countries,” says chef/ owner Zach Thomason. “We are the Olympics of food.”

He also serves fried chicken, which he describes as “your typical comfort fried chicken.” There’s also the Soul Food Catfish Special with roasted red bell pepper and goat cheese hush puppies.

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FILM By Chris McCoy

Street Hassle Zola brings the greatest Twitter stripper story ever told to the big screen.

O

July 8-14, 2021

ne October evening in 2015, a woman named A’Ziah King tapped out the 148-tweet long story of her weekend in Tampa. Zola, as she is known, was a waitress at a Hooters in Detroit who sometimes danced at local strip clubs for extra cash. One particularly crappy night, she had a customer named Jess, and they bonded over stripper stories. The two became friends, so Jess invited her on a road trip to Florida, where she knew a guy at a high-class club where the talent could rake it in. Intrigued by the prospect of making rent for the rest of the year in a couple of days (Florida has a reputation among strippers as being profitable territory), Zola accepts the offer. Then, things go south.

It is Florida, after all.

Along for the 20-hour ride is a hulking man, whom Jess calls her roommate but who won’t give his name, and Jess’ boyfriend, who Zola quickly finds out is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Once they reach The Big Guava, Zola is drawn into a vortex of motels, prostitution, dysfunction, and finally, spiraling violence.

But she lived to tell the tale on Twitter, and her thread went viral under the hashtag, #TheStory.

Because of my shamefully intense Twitter addiction, I,

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and thousands of others, read @_zolarmoon’s epic thread with bursts of queasy laughter while mumbling, “This can’t be real.” It was real. There are pictures.

There’s a saying on the hellsite that Twitter has a new main character every day, and you’d better pray it’s not you. Achieving vitality at the level of #TheStory usually means fleeting, ephemeral fame that is extremely hard to monetize.

The kind of attention you are likely to attract is negative. Zola King is the exception. After freelance scribe David Kushner sold her story to Rolling Stone, Hollywood came calling. This is the kind of thing that’s catnip to a producer. Not only is there sex and violence, but lots of people already know the story, and there’s a hook that ensures folks like me spend the first half of their reviews recounting 6-year-old social media trends.

What executive producer Zola King has, beyond a level of street smarts that counts as a superpower, is a strong, unique voice; a fantastic ear for dialogue; and an innate sense of how to pace a narrative — vital ingredients for a good film that something, like The Angry Birds Movie, lacks.

Zola also has director Janicza Bravo, who has an eye for Kubrickian symmetry and a grasp of film grammar that seems lacking in Hollywood today.

It’s kind of a funny story — Nicholas Braun, Riley Keough, Taylour Paige, Colman Domingo (above, l-r); Keough and Paige (below) star in Zola.

Maybe the most unusual thing about this movie about digital natives is that it’s shot on film and positively revels in the grain. Ari Wegner’s cinematography captures that hyper-real yet dirty feel of beachside Florida hotels.

But none of that works unless the pair of frenemies at the center of the story can carry the picture. I once described Pulp Fiction as “a Seinfeld episode with gangsters” — a delicate balance of mortal fear and slapstick comedy that inspired a thousand flaccid neonoir imitators in the 1990s. It’s the acting that ensures Zola succeeds where films like 2 Days in the Valley failed. Taylour Paige and Riley Keough are perfection as Zola and the lawyer-renamed Stefani. Paige faces the life-threatening absurdities as just another day at the office. Keough starts out doing an uncanny imitation of Taryn Manning in Hustle & Flow, then imbues the manipulative Stefani with a little pathos. They communicate in a thick stripper patois that narrator Zola occasionally translates for the audience. Think

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EMPLOYMENT this extraordinary picture. Everyone on screen — except for poor Derrek — is constantly putting on airs. Before stepping onto the stage, Zola asks herself, “Which me am I going to be tonight?”

Stefani sells different versions of herself to a parade of Florida men; a quick shot of Keough’s mid-coitus, thousand-yard stare stuck with me after the credits rolled.

No one but us, Zola’s Twitter confidants, knows the true content of anyone’s heart — and Zola might be zooming us, too.

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(R/3, APO); Statistical analysis; Kaizen; Excel, Access, .Net, SharePoint; Data Visualization Software; LEAN certification (Yellow Belt). Must have 2 yrs’ LEAN Improvement exp. Email resumes to laquesha.washington@ ipaper.com. Equal Opportunity/ affirmative action employer including vets and disabled.

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CONTAINERBOARD REPLENISHMENT PLANNER NEEDED at International Paper in Memphis, TN. Must have bach in Supply Chain Mgmt, Logistics, Industrial Engr, or related & 5 yrs’ supply chain exp in the pulp & paper industry, including: Operating Model Expertise; SAP EEC and SCM

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of Zola as Jackie Brown’s Instagram account come to life.

The film builds a parallel power dynamic between Zola and Stefani’s male companions. Nicholas Braun is hilarious as Derrek, Stefani’s dimbulb boyfriend who takes the ultimate pratfall. Colman Domingo is stunning as X, Stefani’s unnamed pimp. His charming Floridian drawl can turn on a dime into a menacing Nigerian snarl.

Even though this is a story told from the point of view of a marginalized Black woman, X’s overt code-switching is one of the keys to the success of

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King of the Slide After more than a year of isolation, a trip to the playground can quickly devolve into a parody of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS WALTER

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

One parent sees the social effects of pandemic isolation.

THE LAST WORD

There is no doubt in my mind that children will have to deal with the long-term social effects of the COVID pandemic more than any other group. Just like there was an entire generation that was turned into hoarders because of the Great Depression, there are kids who are going to come out of this thing addicted to putting hand sanitizer on everything.

They may even continue wearing masks past the point of needing them. After my grandmother died and we cleaned out her house, we found hundreds of Ziploc bags full of crumbs she saved from restaurants. She knew good and well she was never going to eat those crumbs, but she had been turned into a weirdo from her childhood of rationing.

When it’s my son’s time to go, his grandchildren are going to find barrels of industrial cleaner and hydroxychloroquine in his cabinets.

We are only now starting to see the damage of what has happened to our children after being isolated for more than a year. There were a few times when my son got so frustrated at being distanced, that he and some other kids rebelled and ran through the neighborhood together just to feel what it was like to play. Other than that though, he has been kept away from most human contact aside from what you can get through a telephone. No carousel rides at the mall, no amusement parks, no movies, my 6-year-old son wasn’t even allowed to go to a playground … until now.

For the first time in more than a year, we took our son down to the local playground.

There were maybe 20 or 30 kids there, all emerging like the cicadas, buzzing around one another and squealing. It was nice to hear the laughter of a group of children. I didn’t realize that I missed it. Then my son comes running up in tears. Here we go.

Apparently there was some kid running around who was in his kindergarten class in the “before times.” This kid, let’s say his name is Toby — it isn’t but for the purposes of this story it is. It’s a name like that for sure. I guess my son went to talk to this Toby, and of course this Toby didn’t remember him. They used to sit together every single day for eight hours, and the kid had no recollection of my son. Yes, this was a year or so ago, but my son was confused. Devastated. Crying his eyes out. He thought he had a true friend in this Toby.

Now I can confirm that Toby was in his class because I spent a good hunk of time volunteering down there. I am also not surprised in the least that this kid didn’t remember my son. I am kind of shocked that he remembered his own name. You know the type, Kool-Aid mustache, boogers hanging out of his nose. Pushy.

I told my son to not worry about it and just play with some other kids. Then this kid starts picking on my son. Taunting him. All the kids are playing tag, and this Toby with his red mustache is hurling insults. That kind of stuff doesn’t fly with me, and I learned that intolerance must be on a genetic level.

I then watched as this 6-year-old of mine managed to herd all the other kids on the playground. One by one, he goes up to all 20 or 30 of them and somehow turns them all against this Toby. My son climbs to a lookout position high on top of the tallest slide and is commanding this group of children to run after and chase this kid. At first the mood was jovial, but eventually Toby became overwhelmed by the force and ran away bawling his eyes out, tears washing away his mustache, tripping over his flip-flops.

I am well aware that this was a teachable moment and I shouldn’t laugh. If I did, I made sure my son didn’t see me do it.

When he finally climbed down from his command center, I asked him why he did what he did. Maybe he didn’t even know what he did? He’s 6. Well, he did. He knew. His answer was, “Toby told me he didn’t remember me, but next time, next time he will.”

What have I done?

Chris Walter is a Southern writer and artist. His recent book, Southern Glitter, and more can be found at his website kudzuandclay.com

23

YOUNGAVENUEDELI.COM 2119 Young Ave • 278-0034

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IG/FB/TW @CocoandLolas Memphis’ Top Lingerie Shop

710 S. Cox | Mon-Sat 11:30-7:00

Radians Amphitheater

ALL ABOUT FEET $35-$55

October 1-3, 2021 Tickets On Sale Now at

Mobile foot care service, traveling to you for men & women, ages 50+. Over 25 years of experience. Traveling hours M-F, 9a-6p.

Call now 901-270-6060

Widespread Panic, The Avett Brothers, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Black Pumas, Billy Strings, Lucinda Williams, Julien Baker, and more.

*TEAM CLEAN*

memphofest.com

LEGAL CANNABIS MADE EASY

SAFE AND AFFORDABLE. BePainFreeGlobal.com Call (888) 420-3848 for a private consultation. Ask how to receive 15% off your first order.

All natural cleaning for your home • office • studio environment Contact Candace @ 901-262-6610 or teamcleanmemphis@gmail.com ESTATE Vintage Home Decor China, Crystal, Glasses, Art, Plates, Pottery, Leather, Furniture, Beds, Tables, Baskets, Orgonite, Heirlooms. Much more!

2830 Airways (S.of Democrat) Call (901) 907.3214 Wed-Sun, 10-4 for appts.

ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES 21,000 sq ft. 100 + booths • 5855 Summer Ave. (corner of Summer and Sycamore View ) exit 12 off I-40 | 901.213.9343 Mon-Sat 10a-6p | Sun 1p-6p

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BLACKSMITH

Midtown manufacturer of hand-crafted lighting fixtures is seeking a disciplined and creative individual to work in our blacksmith department.

Starting at $16 per hour /401k/insurance available.

Email resume to info@FourteenthColonyLighting.com

ONLINE * WEBSITE * MOBILE PHONE

call us @ (877)-879-9XM7

SIMPLY HEMP SHOP

We carry a variety of CBD products.

Full Spectrum oil, sprays, skin care, and even CBD for Pets. Find us at Oothoon’s at 410 N Cleveland St or online at simplyhemp.shop 901-443-7157