Memphis Flyer 7/15/2021

VACCINATION SENSATION P3 • BRUCE WATSON’S JUST LEG IT P15 • BLACK WIDOW P20

OUR 1690TH ISSUE 07.15.21

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CONTENTS

JESSE DAVIS Editor SHARA CLARK Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Senior Editors TOBY SELLS Associate Editor CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor SAMUEL X. CICCI, MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers ABIGAIL MORICI Copy Editor 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 1690TH ISSUE 07.15.21 Once again, I’m scrapping a half-finished column for this space in favor of something more timely. The other piece was a little more hopeful, a little less serious. It’s evergreen, good beyond this news cycle, so I hope to get a chance to share it with you soon. I will if our state leaders will cool their jets for a week. (Smart bets say you’ll never see it.)

This morning, I read something in The Tennessean that seriously frightened me. On Monday, July 12th, (yesterday as of this writing), the Tennessee Department of Health fired Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the top vaccine official in the Tennessee state government. Fiscus claims she was fired to appease Republican state lawmakers who are angry about efforts to vaccinate teenagers. Maybe you remember the month-old consternation about state health officials “targeting” teens with ads on Facebook and social media? First of all, teens don’t spend too much time on Facebook these days, and, second, “targeting” youth with ads for a life-saving vaccine is a little like “attacking” people with a campaign encouraging them to eat their vegetables and drink eight glasses of water a day.

Fiscus issued a statement, published by The Tennessean, that recounted the pushback she received for doing her job, for simply trying to protect Tennesseans. Though it deeply disturbs me to think that any of our elected officials would prize political party over the health and safety of their constituents, I would be lying if I said it surprised me. That’s been the play, hasn’t it? The messages have been “get back to work” and “don’t live in fear” and “come visit Tennessee,” totally ignoring that if every eligible Tennessean were vaccinated, we could all go back to work — and to restaurants and on vacation and wherever — with relative safety.

Why have we wasted time and energy and money pursuing unconstitutional and discriminatory laws about who can use which bathroom? (A law that was in effect for just eight days before a federal judge issued an injunction — those are our tax dollars at work paying lawyers to defend a disgusting piece of legislation.) Why does our governor spend his time on trips to the southern border of the U.S., on promotional videos with Brad Paisley? Wouldn’t it promote travel to Tennessee if our vaccination rate was above 40 percent? Well, sure, but that’s not going to win anyone a spot on a GOP ticket. The game now is to out-Trump the competition, to vie for a sound bite on Fox News, the only currency that matters.

I think these people are far beyond shame, and I want to use this space for something constructive. So I am again writing an earnest plea for all who can to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

I say “all who can” because I recognize that some Memphians cannot be vaccinated.

There are people with health conditions that preclude their ability to get the shot. And of course, there are children younger than 12 years old who can’t legally get the vaccine.

Those kids will be back in school this fall. It’s for the sake of those who can’t that the rest of us must do so.

And I’ll say right now, I’m fully vaccinated. It was quick, relatively painless, and absolutely free. I’m not asking anyone to do something I wouldn’t do myself. The side effects were mild. The day after each shot, my shoulder was a bit sore. The day after my second shot, I felt a little tired and muddle-headed. To be honest, I’ve had worse hangovers and far more uncomfortable bouts of the common cold.

Why am I writing this now? Well, it seems we could use a boost. Hospitalizations and positive test rates are rising. The Flyer’s Toby Sells reports that the seven-day COVID-19 averages have more than doubled since last week. The reproductive rate of the virus is 1.22, the highest it’s been since June 2020. Meanwhile, The Tennessean’s vaccine tracker site reports that about 34.56 percent of Shelby County’s population is fully vaccinated, and the Delta variant is knocking on the door.

Remember, every single person the virus infects is another chance for it to mutate, to become resistant to vaccines. To undo all the work we’ve done to claw our way back N E WS & O P I N I O N toward being able to see each other in public THE FLY-BY - 4 again. Because an incompletely vaccinated NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 population presents multiple opportunities POLITICS - 6 AT LARGE - 8 for this dreadful disease to become more FINANCIAL FEATURE - 9 contagious, more resistant to vaccinations COVER STORY and treatment measures, choosing to be “BLACK ARTS RISING” vaccinated is in the public interest. It’s not just

BY CHRIS MCCOY - 10 a personal choice. No, it’s the cost of living in WE RECOMMEND - 14 this world with other people.

MUSIC - 15 CALENDAR - 16 Sometimes you have to do things to FOOD - 19 help protect your neighbors. It’s really FILM - 20 that simple.

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. N EW PAI NT, O LD B R I D G E The Hernando DeSoto Bridge got some new paint last week. Crews completed the second-phase repairs of the crack that shut the bridge down in May. While no timeline for the bridge to reopen is public, new paint seems a good sign the job is nearing completion.

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S WI F T R EACTI O N Sen. Marsha Blackburn, 69, a duly elected, supposedly serious-thinking government official, took jabs last week at Taylor Swift, 31, a musician, stoking an internet beef that goes back to 2018, when Swift called Blackburn “Trump in a wig.”

Blackburn made dark predictions in a Breitbart interview about Swift’s future in “Marxist, socialist societies.”

It was supposed that Swift wants such a society, as she and “the left [are] all out now and trying to change country music and make it woke,” Blackburn said. In these societies, Blackburn said, “they do not allow women to dress, or sing, or be on stage, or to entertain.”

Swift — somehow — had not replied as of press time.

C R AF TS AN D D R AF TS Crosstown Concourse posted this cool, bird’s-eye view of Saturday’s Crafts and Drafts event on Facebook. The event was organized by the Memphis Flyer.

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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells

W E E K T H AT W A S

By Flyer staff

Border, Bathrooms, & COVID-19 Gov. Lee goes to Texas, anti-trans bathroom law blocked, and virus cases rise again.

C OVI D -19 SPIKE COVID-19 cases have spiked here recently.

Health officials said the Delta variant is the likely culprit, and they urged residents to get vaccinated.

The strain is 50 to 60 percent more transmissible than the original strain. With it, the seven-day COVID-19 case average had more than doubled in a week, and the reproductive rate of the virus is as high as it’s been since this time last year.

Case rates continued to climb into the weekend and the beginning of this week.

PHOTO COURTESY MEMPHIS TOURISM

Clockwise from top: Renasant Convention Center’s first big event to generate $2 million in economic impact; Gov. Lee bashed for grandstanding at Texas border.

G OV. LE E’S B O R D E R VI S IT Tennessee Governor Bill Lee visited the country’s southern border last weekend, reviewing “the most severe border crisis we’ve seen in 20 years,” though many called the visit political grandstanding.

Lee visited with 300 Tennessee National Guard members at the Texas border to “evaluate needs in securing the border.” Lee and other Republican governors sent guard troops to the border at the behest of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who said, “record levels of illegal immigrants, drugs, and contraband” were pouring into Texas.

But Lee is really only using the trip “to score political points” and using “time and resources for a photo op,” according to Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) Executive Director Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus.

“What the governor is doing is playing on the fear of his constituents to further feed into the narrative of there being a crisis at the border,” said Sherman-Nikolaus.

B ATH R O O M LAW B LO C K E D A federal judge blocked a new Tennessee law that would require business owners to post warning signs on their bathrooms if they allow transgender people to use the public restroom that matches their gender.

A lawsuit asserts that the law violates the First Amendment and requests that the judge issue a preliminary injunction to prevent the

PHOTO COURTESY STATE OF TENNESSEE

law from being enforced while the lawsuit proceeds.

The so-called “bathroom bill” went into effect on July 1st. A lawsuit to fight the law was filed on June 25th.

“Trans youth already experience a disproportionate amount of bullying in school from their peers. They don’t need to also experience it from adults in power,” OUTMemphis leaders said in a statement before the law was blocked. “What trans youth need from laws, communities, and leadership is the protection of equal access to school programming, life-saving healthcare, and the protection of environments where they can thrive.”

B I G C O NVE NTI O N WI N Memphis Tourism scored the first major event for the newly renovated Renasant Convention Center.

AutoZone’s national sales meeting in September will be the center’s first big event after a $216 million renovation and modernization project.

Around 3,000 are expected at the event, generating about $2 million in economic impact, according to Memphis Tourism.

Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of these stories and more local news.

PHOTO COURTESY NATHAN BEDFORD

Bust Out Now

FORREST BOYHOOD HOME/FACEBOOK

After a 120-day waiting period, the State Capitol can remove Forrest’s bust from its hallways.

Tennessee state Senate Democrats urged officials to “finish the job” to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol.

Friday, July 9th, marked the first day the statue could legally be removed, following a 120-day waiting period from the Tennessee Historical Commission vote to remove the bust in March. Friday also marked the one-year anniversary of the vote by the Tennessee State Capitol Commission to recommend its removal.

“Our state capitol should be a place that celebrates the values and causes that unite us as Tennesseans,” said Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis). “It was never a place for Nathan Bedford Forrest, and now the day has come for us to finally remove his bust from these hallowed halls — and it should be done without delay.”

Sen. Brenda Gilmore (D-Nashville),

who has called for removing the bust for decades in the legislature, said state law has been followed and it’s time for the bust to go.

“I have dedicated years of my life to racial justice, and one fact I have learned time and time again: To overcome inequality, we must confront our history,” Gilmore said. “No figure in the modern history of Tennessee better encapsulates this lesson than the bust of KKK grand wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest.

“If we cannot remove a memorial to an enslaver from our state capitol, how can we begin to make progress on equitable school funding, fair policing, and adequate healthcare for all people?” she said.

“Removing this bust today does not usher in racial equality, but it shows progress can be made. And the work of justice will

continue.”

Gone in the removal process will be busts of Admiral David Farragut and U.S. Navy Admiral Albert Gleaves in order to move them to a new military exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum. The move will leave no busts in the Capitol hallway alcoves. These additions were made by the

Capitol Commission a year ago. Nine months after that vote, the Tennessee Historical Commission gave its final okay to remove the busts in a 25 to 1 vote.

All of these came after Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s recommendation to remove the Forrest bust. In a statement last year, Lee said Forrest was “a renowned military tactician … but he represents pain, suffering and brutal crimes committed against African Americans.”

“That pain is very real for many of our fellow Tennesseans as they walk the halls of our statehouse and evaluate how he could be one of the just nine busts elevated to a place of honor and reverence,” Lee said.

“Symbols matter. Proclamations and statues are not just snapshots of our history, they are a window into what we value.”

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

Leaders urge the swift removal of Nathan Bedford Forrest bust.

NEWS & OPINION

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Political parties, as is surely no secret, are constantly looking for converts, and, to that end, normally have what is designated as an “outreach” officer or branch.

The Shelby County Republican Party, which in recent years has lost a shade of its former demographic edge, has one of the best and most effective outreach officials in Naser Fazlullah, a native of Bangladesh and a small business owner who, in the 20 years or so of his American experience, has employed his natural enthusiasm and work ethic to forge ties and friendships across all sorts of boundaries, political and otherwise.

A case in point was an event he conceived and brought to fruition on Saturday at Morris Park on the edge of Downtown.

Called “Elephants in the Park,” it had cadres of the local Republican party working side by side with off-duty judges, members of law enforcement, and community activists like Stevie Moore, founder of Freedom From Unnecessary Negatives (FFUN), a renowned anti-violence group — all toiling at food tables handing out meal boxes (fish, spaghetti, fries, coleslaw) to a population of hungry Memphians recruited from three local homeless agencies, an estimated 300 people before the day was over. The food came from both Fazlullah’s own Whitehaven restaurant and from other donors.

Politics, as such, figured not at all.

The idea was to make people-to-people connections, for the sake not merely of the beneficiaries but of the servers who worked for the day on their behalf — like John Niven, a veteran GOP activist who commented, “I’ve never done anything that made me feel as good as this did. The homeless basically don’t vote, and those who do probably vote Democratic, but so what?”

• The most common political name right now? That’s an easy one. It’s “Harris.” There’s Lee Harris (county mayor); Sheleah Harris (school board); Michael

Harris (Shelby County Democratic Party’s chairman); and Linda Harris (candidate for district attorney general).

And, of course, there’s Kamala Harris (vice president of the United States).

The one who was on display Monday morning at The Hub in East Memphis (to a group of politically astute ladies calling themselves “Voices of Reason”) was Torrey Harris, first-term state representative for House District 90.

State Rep. Harris discussed with a rapt audience the ins and outs of how Democrats struggle to make their influence felt in the supermajority Republican legislature.

His auditors were especially interested in — and aggrieved by — the majority’s passage in the last session of a bill outlawing the teaching in the state’s public schools of “critical race theory,” which, as Harris noted, is (a) not taught in the public schools, and (b) is the GOP’s catchphrase for attempts to deal honestly with the nation’s racial history.

KRISTINA GARNER

Servers at Saturday’s “Elephants in the Park” homeless feed. (Naser Fazlullah front and center, with shades on) Running as a Democrat last year, Harris had defeated former state Representative John DeBerry, whose long-term sympathy with Republican positions caused the denial of his right to run under the Democratic party label.

The defeated DeBerry, who ended up running as an independent, was rewarded by GOP Governor Bill Lee with a well-paid job as gubernatorial advisor, and one of the ex-Democrat’s main functions, Harris explained, is — wait for it — that of liaison with the House’s Democratic members.

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Pandemic of Ignorance It’s just as deadly as any disease, and we’re infected.

More than 10,000 nearly identical bills This pandemic is anti-science. have been introduced by Republicans in It is anti-common-sense. And it is legislatures around the country to stop killing people. It is one thing to deny what they say is a rampant movement that raging forest fires, record floods, to install Sharia law in our courts, unprecedented droughts, record-setting governments, and schools. Muslims, heat waves and deep freezes, melting the GOP alleges, are planning to start ice caps, and rising sea levels are just teaching Sharia law to our children. “weather.” Yes, that’s ignorance, and yes, Local chapters of the Washington, D.C.it is literally killing people, but it is not based ACT for America, which describes as clearly ignorant as refusing to take a itself as the “NRA of national security,” vaccine that could save your life. That are encouraging their supporters to is next-level stupid. And it appears to show up at school board meetings have infected around 30 percent of the and legislative hearings and to flood country’s adults. lawmakers’ inboxes and phone lines in Those resisting the vaccine give a support of anti-Sharia law bills. Rightnumber of reasons: Vaccines may have wing media hosts are stirring up their bad side effects. (COVID definitely has bad viewers and listeners with a constant side effects.) I have powerful T-cells and drumbeat against the impending peril of natural immunity. (No, you don’t.) I don’t Sharia law. … trust the government.

Wait a minute. …

(But you trust conspiracy Oooh, shoot. This is websites and Tucker embarrassing. Folks, I Carlson?) It’s my body accidently used some and my choice! (You of my notes from 2012 know who doesn’t have to start this column. a choice? Millions of Damn. I hate to retype unvaccinated school all that. Here’s an idea: children headed back to Wherever you see class in August. Maybe “Sharia law” in that first think about them.) paragraph, substitute The evidence could “critical race theory.” not possibly be clearer So here we are, once that the vaccines stop GAGE SKIDMORE Tucker Carlson again dealing with a COVID. In one study well-organized campaign released just last week, over a non-issue meant to divert the 99.2 percent of those who’d died from the mouth-breathing GOP base — and the Delta variant were unvaccinated. national media — from any substantive In Arkansas, the Delta variant is debate on real issues. File this with: spreading rapidly. Just north of there, Liberals will take your guns, gay marriage Missouri has become the poster child will destroy society, transgender folks for the pandemic of ignorance, a blotch will take over women’s sports and pee of deep purple on The New York Times’ in the wrong bathroom, climate change daily map showing COVID hot spots is bogus, and COVID vaccines are a and high-risk areas. Springfield hospitals government plot akin to the Holocaust. have sent out a request for ventilators.

We are in the middle of a fullMost counties in Southern Missouri blown pandemic of ignorance, and it’s have vaccination rates in the 25 percent an aggressive strain — easily spread range. It’s going to get worse there before by social media campaigns, cynical it gets better, since many are still resisting politicians, and television hosts who getting the shot (unlike the Fox News prey on human gullibility, naivete, and hosts ranting against the vaccine — most plain old stupidity. This pandemic is of whom got the jab months ago). being spread intentionally. You don’t Meanwhile, here in Shelby County, have to be within six feet of another our vaccination rate hovers at around 35 person to get it. A mask won’t save you. percent. Local officials are urging those The viral ignorance is everywhere, but who are still unvaccinated to get it done it’s particularly rampant in red states soon. I hope people listen. I mean, if we and among Republicans and other can stop Sharia law, surely we can stop consumers of right-wing media. the pandemic of ignorance.

F I N A N C I A L F E AT U R E B y G e n e G a r d

Let the adventure begin!

Value vs. Growth They might seem interchangeable, but don’t confuse the two terms.

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often referred to as growth companies.

Mature companies that are not growing quickly attract investors through things like dividends, share buybacks, and mergers and are considered value companies. This is probably the least clearly defined facet of value vs. growth, and is probably best summarized as young companies (growth) vs. mature companies (value). There’s no widely accepted definition here, but most people know it when they see it.

To further confuse things, there is the matter of mutual fund regulation. Each fund is required to state a prospectus objective. A pure bond fund with the goal of generating investment income from bond coupons is likely to have an income objective. A stock fund targeting share price appreciation with little or no dividend yield tends to state growth as an objective. Funds targeting a mix of the two often declare they are “growth and income” funds. Here, growth means “stuff we hope will increase in price over time,” or just stock exposure. It has nothing to do with the specific qualities of the companies being purchased.

When an average person chooses funds in a 401k, they probably aren’t applying any of these definitions. Sadly, it can end up being like a Rorschach test — does value or growth define you as a person? (Side note: Don’t pick funds like this!)

There’s a deep desire in our reductionist culture to simplify complex concepts into single numbers or labels, which is the reason why the investment community has tried to cram a wide variety of concepts into these two simple terms. There’s no simple answer that will always work perfectly in every market environment; otherwise, everyone would be doing it and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Whether you choose your own investments or use an advisor, always make investment decisions deliberately and with full understanding of how investments are picked by the fund manager and why.

A mistake compounded over time can have profound negative implications, just as good choices can pave the long-term path to a secure financial future, whether those choices are labeled value, growth, or something else entirely.

Gene Gard is Co-Chief-Investment Officer at Telarray, a Memphis-based wealth management firm that helps families navigate investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions.

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NEWS & OPINION

Q

uestion: I see a lot of articles about value vs. growth and which stock will do better over time, but I’m not sure what that means. What should an average investor know about value and growth?

Answer: This is a confusing topic because there are many definitions and they are used loosely and interchangeably.

Here are a few examples of what value and growth mean to different people: Professors Eugene Fama and Kenneth French did research into factors that drive investment returns. Dividing the overall market value of a company by the value of assets they own creates a metric called the “price-to-book” (p/b) ratio. This is one way of considering whether a company is cheap or expensive. Famously, the Fama-French research found that cheap stocks (low p/b) tend to outperform expensive stocks (high p/b). They called the cheap stocks “value” and the expensive stocks “growth.” It’s unfortunate that they decided to use these terms because “growth” sounds much more alluring than “expensive,” which is what the authors really meant by growth in this context.

There’s a category of active investment managers known as value investors, and they don’t give a darn how a couple of finance professors define value and growth.

Value investors simply like to try to buy a dollar for less than a dollar by finding undervalued, underpriced, misunderstood opportunities. Their picks might often have a low p/b ratio but just as easily might not. For example, Alphabet (Google) is a position widely held by value investors today. They likely choose it not because it is cheap by traditional valuation metrics, but rather because they believe there are aspects of the company the market doesn’t fully understand or appreciate. A value investor could easily buy an “expensive” stock like Google if their calculations suggest it’s worth more than its market price today.

Note that expensive and cheap have nothing to do with the share price. In this context, it doesn’t matter if the share price is $5 or $5,000.

A more informal definition of value vs. growth has to do with earnings.

Companies that are growing quickly might not pay a dividend today, but the promise of big future dividends or an eventual payout due to the company being acquired is enough to draw investors in. These are

9

BLACK ARTS RISING

COVER STORY BY CHRIS MCCOY COURTESY KQ COMMUNICATIONS

BLP Film Studios partners (l-r) Cecilia Barnes, Jason Farmer, and Carolyn Henry

A new generation of Black-led arts organizations is poised to transform Memphis’ cultural and physical landscapes.

July 15-21, 2021

M

emphis is a city of innovation — from rock-and-roll to self-service grocery stores, FedEx to Gebre Waddell’s Sound Credit software, that fact is undeniable. It’s also a city known for Black arts, in myriad forms. Now, three local Black-led organizations adept at marrying art and innovation, BLP Film Studios, Tone, and Unapologetic, aim to make Memphis a beacon in the South. In doing so, they’re making the city a better place.

THE ROAD TO WHITEHAVEN

J

ason Farmer’s journey to arts entrepreneur started simply enough. In 2008, he took his son Jason II to see the first current-era Marvel movie, Iron Man. “He started saying, ‘I want to be a filmmaker,’” recalls Farmer. “As a parent, you think that’s going to be a quickly passing thing, but he stuck to it. He started to make little sets at the house. We bought him a camera, and he started to film his sister acting out roles.”

Farmer decided he needed to figure out 10 how to support his son’s ambitions, but

since his background is in military and law enforcement, he knew nothing about the movie business — or even where to begin.

“I posted on social media that I needed someone to reach out to me who may be in a film space, and a friend, who I hadn’t seen in a number of years, reached out to ask what it was that I needed. I told her what my dilemma was, and she started to send me out to various independent film projects, to various agencies and film festivals. And that’s what started the journey.”

Now, Jason II is a film student at Morehouse College, and Farmer is spearheading BLP, an ambitious project to create one of the largest film production facilities in the South right here in Memphis.

F

armer is not the first person to try to kickstart a homegrown film and television industry here. In 1929, one of the earliest sound films in history was filmed in Memphis. Director King Vidor’s Hallelujah was a musical with an all-Black cast, which introduced many people to authentic gospel and blues. Modern filmmaking in Memphis can be traced back to the establishment of

University of Memphis’ film department and the creation of Marius Penczer’s 1982 monster noir, I Was a Zombie for the F.B.I. In 1989, Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train, filmed entirely in the then-moribund South Main neighborhood, became a seminal work in the independent film movement. That inspired some Memphians to see the city through Jarmusch’s eyes as a shabby chic nexus of popular culture waiting to be rediscovered. In the 1990s, homegrown auteur Mike McCarthy made three psychotronic films by the skin of his teeth. Meanwhile, the city played host to its first major Hollywood productions in decades: the John Grisham adaptations, The Firm and The Rainmaker, and Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt. In 2000, an upstart-film festival called Indie Memphis found its first star in Craig Brewer, who gained attention in Hollywood with the pioneering digital film The Poor & Hungry, and then fought for four years to produce

COURTESY KQ COMMUNICATIONS

(left) Jason II’s passion for filmmaking inspired his father Jason Farmer to start BLP Film Studios.

Hustle & Flow in his adopted hometown. The aughts brought more big productions, such as the Oscar-winningWalk the Line and 21 Grams.

But after the 2008 financial crisis, things changed. Hollywood productions became much more reliant on state-level tax incentives; in the South, Georgia and Louisiana offered more generous deals than Tennessee. In 2010, Brewer’s remake of Footloose, which was originally written to be set in rural West Tennessee, was lured away to Georgia. The nascent Memphis film industry essentially collapsed, as experienced crew members departed for the greener pastures of Atlanta. Local filmmakers continued the indie tradition of creating daring works on shoestring budgets, but the city would not host another

O

ne big problem has always been a lack of adequate facilities. “For 30 years now, major productions in Memphis have always been able to ‘make do’ with such existing spaces as warehouses and factories — or various other empty spaces that fit the specifications for a soundstage space,” says Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commissioner Linn Sitler. “The minimum specifications have always been the same: 28-foot to 30-foottall ceilings, clear span, no windows, and non-metal roofs. Our clients look for a space that would also provide an overall quiet outside environment with lots of parking and nearby offices.”

The lack of suitable soundstages was almost a deal breaker for Bluff City Law, Sitler says. “Only at the last possible moment was a former skating rink located, which did meet the minimum soundstage requirements. The offices were still miles away. The traffic noise of Summer Avenue was right outside, but it was the best we could offer.”

The Atlanta area, by contrast, offers producers several full-service production facilities, including Trilith Studios, where much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is produced, and the homegrown Tyler Perry Studios. “I spent really a lot of time doing background research on these other places,” Farmer says. “What emerged from that was, without challenges here in Memphis and in Tennessee, we had an opportunity to carve out a niche space that had really not been

COURTESY TONE; TAE NICHOL

(left) Victoria Jones of Tone; (right) IMAKEMADBEATS explored. We really needed to look at it as creating infrastructure and the supporting ecosystem that it takes to support projects.

We want to go after the industry, as opposed to going after one-off projects.”

Farmer says his research suggested that the situation was far from hopeless. “We came up with a model that allowed us to use our natural asset, which is the great cultural history here. … At the same time, there were some things that were starting to happen with the industry trying to be more attentive to marketing to Black and brown audiences.”

F

or decades, Black productions were a hard sell in Hollywood.

Conventional wisdom in the whitedominated boardrooms was that white people would not see Black films, and that African-American casts could not sell a picture in vital overseas markets like China.

CHRIS MCCOY

Orange Mound Tower as seen from below

12 soundstages and assorted support and administrative facilities. Farmer says the area meets the criteria of available land and easy access to air and ground transportation. “I knew that Whitehaven had a lot of untapped potential,” he says. “There were just a lot of things that, from a business standpoint, when you looked at creating a platform to attract people from around the world, made Whitehaven the obvious choice. And I had great confidence because I come from that community. Whitehaven embraces its children, so to speak.”

ORANGE MOUND TOWER RISES

V

acant for two decades, the United Equipment building is an Orange Mound landmark. From the front door of Tone’s gallery space, Victoria Jones can see the former feed mill towering over Lamar Avenue.

Jones, whose first job out of college was with Crosstown Arts, founded Tone in 2015 as The CLTV. “My goal originally was just, how do I get more Black artists into Crosstown?” she says. “But we had an opportunity to see through programming how needed it was for the rest of the city and for artists.”

Jones says Black artists have never had the freedom to create like their white counterparts, immersed in the privileged high-art world. “What does it mean for Black artists to have a touch point, to do some experimenting, to get creative outside of this kind of white space? A lot of times, when we get new spaces, we have to toe the line of perfection for fear of losing access to the space. What happens when we carve out a space where Black folks can show up authentically and fully themselves in that experimentation? We got to see that start to happen as we were doing programming at Crosstown. It just became really important to us to dig in somewhere, create a home, and build a foundation, so that artists have this touch point consistently.”

Jones’ nascent organization signed a lease on a former retail space at 2234 Lamar, where they could stretch out and mount new and daring shows and performances by Black artists. But Jones says their eyes were always on the future. “We weren’t the first for Black artists, but the lack of sustainability has caused every generation to have to start over. So we have been thinking since we started for real about what it means to sustain. What does it mean to hand this baton off to the next generation of artists?

And so for us that came with property, having access to consistent space. What continued on page 12

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

major production until 2019, when NBC filmed the TV series Bluff City Law here.

That’s the environment Farmer found himself working in — and trying to change.

“I’m not a creative,” says Farmer. “I started to look at it from a business aspect. What was the business case for the Memphis film industry — or lack thereof? What were those challenges?”

This thinking willfully ignored counterexamples, like the immensely successful films of Tyler Perry. Recent breakthroughs, such as the success of 2016 Best Picture winner Moonlight and Jordan Peele’s Get Out, have exposed conventional wisdom about race in Hollywood as myth. Earlier this year, Craig Brewer’s Coming 2 America, which features an all-Black cast led by Eddie Murphy, became Amazon Studios’ biggest hit ever, driven by huge international interest, particularly in Africa. Black films, Farmer says, are good business. “There have been a number of studies that have supported the argument, most recently the McKinsey & Company study that said the industry is leaving about $10 billion a year in potential revenue on the table by not backing productions that are reflective of the communities we live in.”

It’s not enough to just market to BIPOC audiences. Hallelujah might have been a groundbreaking Black musical, but since King Vidor was a caucasian raised in Jim Crow Texas, it is also rife with harmful stereotypes. Many big content producers are now actively recruiting Black producers and directors to create stories that better reflect the community. “With Memphis positioned as the largest suburban minority population in the country, it makes it easy for us here,” Farmer says. “We’re trying to help them answer questions around DEI — Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — and we can do it in an organic manner here in Memphis because of the community makeup.”

BLP Film Studios seeks to close Memphis’ infrastructure gap by creating a sprawling film and television production campus in Farmer’s native Whitehaven.

Located just west of Highway 51 near the Mississippi border, BLP Studios will feature

11

continued from page 11 would that mean for generations of artists, creatives, entrepreneurs?”

T

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he arc of urban gentrification goes something like this: Artists looking for cheap studio space move into blighted neighborhoods where they can create art, mount shows, and host events without getting the cops called on them for disturbing the peace. People who would normally avoid such places attend the events, have fun, and get used to the neighborhood. Landlords see the renewed activity in properties they had long ago given up on and encourage more artists and associated businesses to move in. Then, when a critical mass of activity is reached, they raise the rents, which makes the area unaffordable to the very people who put in the work to make it attractive again. Artists are evicted in favor of more well-heeled businesses looking to burnish their brands among young people flocking to the hip neighborhood. The poor people who lived there all along are also evicted as collatoral damage to the landlords’ rising fortunes.

Unapologetic founder IMAKEMADBEATS says the only way to break the cycle is for the creatives to become owners, not tenants. When he tells people he grew up poor in Orange Mound, “People look at me like I survived Baghdad or something. We didn’t think anybody was fighting for us or fighting for change.

Nobody cared. We were just the selected ones to go through it, the 6 percent to 8 percent that’s got to go through poverty.”

As Unapologetic’s fortunes increased, IMAKEMADBEATS says finding a permanent home in Orange Mound became an urgent priority. “Whether it was to fulfill our ideas as founding partners or to protect the neighborhood or doing our part to help establish wealth and sustainability for the community to be able to buy into, there’s so many reasons to take the longer, harder route of ownership and doing what’s necessary to become developers.”

With the successful Crosstown Concourse model as a guide, Tone and Unapologetic set out to buy the LamarAirways Shopping Center, where Tone’s gallery is located, but the deal fell apart at the last minute. Then Jones looked out the window and saw Orange Mound Tower. “I think as soon as we really started considering the tower as a viable option, it became the best option. It’s obviously way more work, but we can start from scratch and build a state-of-the-art campus for Black innovation, Black artists, Black culture, and Black businesses.”

W

ith the vital assistance of Historic Clayborn Temple Executive

Director Anasa Troutman, Tone and Unapologetic secured a grant from The Kataly Foundation in Lancaster, California.

“She brought those funders to Memphis to introduce them to other organizations,” recalls Jones. “On their trip, they stopped by the gallery. We didn’t even go on-site.

They just looked at [the tower] from the gallery, and we told them what it would mean to Black creatives, what it would mean to this community, what it would mean to Memphis as a whole. They are so dedicated to empowering grassroots, community-led organizations, as opposed to paying somebody from outside the community to come fix or save it. They empowered us to purchase the building, with the catch that we find a local match.”

The Catalyst grant encouraged local donors and investors who were on the fence to join the project. “It set us up to get a funder that we had kind of warmed up, but couldn’t get them fully commit,” says Jones. “They saw someone else believe in us.

It’s the domino effect that can happen with matches.”

T

he Orange Mound Tower development will include ample residential and commercial space, as well as a massive performance venue and incubator facilities for nascent entrepreneurs.

Unapologetic will occupy a three-story office and recording-studio space.

The prospect of refurbishing such a huge space for creative reuse is daunting, but Jones says they have had nothing but encouragement from the community. “We got a chance to watch Crosstown work through some of that. Todd Richardson offered up the advice to pilot as much of it over here as we can before we move across the street. I’m talking about Memphis becoming the cultural beacon of the South.

We’re actively putting those pieces in place now.”

Unapologetic and Tone celebrated the purchase with a massive Juneteenth celebration that attracted thousands to the first of what will be many concerts on the grounds of Orange Mound Tower. “If our success is any indication, every time we open our doors, people come,” says Jones.

“These folks have been wanting a place to go. Our folks have been needing a home, and so to be able to offer up a home that we actually own is going to truly change the city.”

She also sees this as an opportunity to encourage more grassroots activism and local Black ownership. “Memphis is too big and too Black for us only to be one, so every move where we can kind of stretch out some and offer up space to even more folks, we’ll take it. Then just watch what happens.

“It’s going to transform the city, I believe.”

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14

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

Memphis TN 38104

By Julie Ray

On a quiet Monday night, I found a parking spot behind the Hi Tone between two overflowing dumpsters. A sign on the front door facing the street led me there, stating, “Entrance in back, upstairs.” Pink spilled out of the doorway from the stage illuminated by vivid red lights.

Steve Fox, the host, sat near the stage where a woman read poetry from her phone. She spoke of a young girl with flowers in her hair. Fox pointed to the next to last name on a list of poets who had signed up to read. It said Ce Jay. When she finished, Fox snapped his fingers. Others clapped.

Along with writing poetry, Ce Jay has been an educator for 16 years.

“My background starts with Bridge Builders, where I not only worked but am a product of the program.”

The last name on the list was Shiloh Grace, who recited a poem written in 1993, “Ode to the American Dick,” inspired by Lorena Bobbitt. Ouch.

“I’ve felt like the Hi Tone has been my home base for decades now, across three locations.” Grace extols the virtues of her safe space without mincing words, “It’s the quintessential dive bar sans hipster shit. It’s the kind of place where subcultures collide, where we can all be ourselves.

No pretense. It’s easy to lose track of time ’cause the drinks are strong and conversations are long. It feels like an alternate reality where all the rest of life’s crap can just get lost for a while.”

Proceeds benefit the artists.

JULIE RAY

Shiloh Grace takes the audience on a phallic journey at the Hi Tone.

901 POETRY SLAM SERIES FINALE, HI TONE, 282 N. CLEVELAND, MONDAY, JULY 19, 8-10 P.M., $9.01.

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES July 15th - 21st Meet the Author: Ace Atkins Novel, 387 Perkins Extended, Thursday, July 15, 5:30 p.m., free with book purchase Meet the bestselling author at this outdoor event. Line tickets are free with a purchase of Atkins’ thriller crime novel, The Heathens.

Elemental Yoga: Metal Metal Museum, 374 Metal Museum, Friday, July 16, 8 a.m., free with registration Join Gary Berglund for yoga that will focus on the element of metal, which corresponds to the body’s organs and governs the emotional states of grief, sadness, apathy, insensitivity, and depression.

GPAC Summer Movies Series: School of Rock The Grove at GPAC, 1801 Exeter, Friday, July 16, 7-9 p.m., $10 Features a family-friendly film, cocktails, live local music, and Fuel Food Truck, plus the chance for you to learn more about the evening’s community partner.

Meet and Greet for “Structure(s)” 2021 Projects, 55 S. Main, Saturday, July 17, noon-3 p.m., free Meet artist Lester Merriweather, whose works recontextualize printed ad material from fashion and lifestyle magazines in an effort to restructure the socioeconomic standing and acknowledgement of people of color.

Artist Talk and Open House for “Watch for My Signals” David Lusk Gallery, 97 Tillman, Saturday, July 17, 12:30 p.m., free Exhibition of works using found materials such as plastic, toy pieces, shotgun shells, lottery tickets, and bottle caps, by Alex Lockwood.

Enormous: The Gorge Story Malco Paradiso Cinema, 584 S. Mendenhall, Wednesday, July 21, 7 p.m., $16.50 This screening weaves together personal stories from music legends Dave Matthews, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Jason Mraz, Dierks Bentley, and Steve Miller.

Producer Bruce Watson’s Just Leg It captures the spirit of ’60s dance records.

“Just Leg It” sounds like slang somebody made up in the ’30s or ’40s.

It’s not. It’s the title of a new album produced, mixed, and recorded by Bruce Watson of Fat Possum and Big Legal Mess Records.

“It’s a term for dancing I made up,” says Watson.

“When people hear the record, I hope they ‘just leg it.’”

The album includes 19 party instrumentals from Memphis and North Mississippi artists, including Matt Ross-Spang, Jimbo Mathus, Will Sexton, Jack Oblivian, and Memphis Flyer’s Alex Greene.

There was “really no idea” behind the album, which Watson began working on nine years ago. “It was an excuse for a bunch of friends and musicians to get together and hang out. And make up songs, basically.

“I would come in with old records and say, ‘Okay.

Let’s kind of build something inspired by this.’ Someone would come up with a riff and we could record it on one-inch eight-track tape.”

Watson began recording with a few musicians at Dial Back Sound, a recording studio he owned in Water Valley, Mississippi.

He recorded nine tracks and then put the album

away for a while. “I sold that studio and moved to Memphis five years ago,” he says. “I put a little studio in a building in Memphis and started working with guys like Matt Ross-Spang, Will Sexton, George Sluppick, Jack [Oblivian] Yarber, Mark Edgar Stuart. We would just kind of hang out and do the same thing. So, that’s how the whole thing came together. There wasn’t any big plan.”

Also, he says, “I had been in production for about 10 years and hadn’t been engineering. I used this as an excuse to get my engineering chops back. It was really to go back in the studio and twist some knobs and do the engineering thing.”

Why did it take nine years to complete? “We did two songs, and then we wouldn’t do anything for six months.

There was no urgency. I was producing and recording a lot of other records, running Fat Possum Records.

“About two years ago I said, ‘Well, I’ve got all these songs. Why don’t I do something with it?’ So, I reached out to Kerri Mahoney, a graphic designer, and said, ‘Let’s come up with a concept. I’ve got this idea — Just

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Shake a Leg

Leg It. People dancing on the front. And just a fun party record.’ So she came up with the design.”

The cover and selections evoke the ’60s, Watson says.

“And it also ties into a whole tradition of instrumental music. It was really inspired by the Hi Records catalog of instrumental records.”

Watson didn’t just make up the album title. “All the titles on the record I just made up. Man, when I would go on trips — especially driving around small towns — I would see stuff to give me inspiration for a name and I’d jot it down. When I was putting it all together, I had a list of about 100 names, and I’d pick one and assign it to a song.

“I can’t remember if I was in the Arkansas Delta or Mississippi Delta, but I saw a pawn shop that said, ‘We have machine guns.’ I thought, ‘That’s a good name for a song: Delta Machine Gun.’” Watson currently is involved in recording gospel music at his Bible & Tire Recording Co. in Memphis.

“We are approaching sacred soul or gospel music kind of in the way it would have been recorded in the ’60s and sounded in the ’60s — pretty stripped down, pretty raw.”

Meanwhile, Watson is pleased with Just Leg It. “There’s something about improvising a song on the spot, capturing it in one or two takes, and that’s it.”

Then there’s “the party aspect,” he says. “Something you can put on and not really think too much about it.

It’s fun. You don’t have to sit there and analyze lyrics.

You don’t have to think about this.

“The songs are happy. A couple are dark, but for the most part, it’s a pretty happy and upbeat record.”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC By Michael Donahue

15

CALENDAR of EVENTS:

July 15 - 21

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

38th Annual Juried Student Online Exhibition 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)

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

“IEAA Ancient Egyptian Collection”

“Persevere and Resist: The Strong Black Women of Elizabeth Catlett”

Exhibition of Egyptian antiquities ranging from 3800 B.C.E. to 700 C.E. from the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology collection. Ongoing.

Exhibition highlighting the historic and current plights of Black women in America.

Through Aug. 31.

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS (AMUM)

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“Piece of Cake”

“Images of Africa Before & After the Middle Passage”

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

Exhibition of photography

by Jeff and Shaakira Edison.

Ongoing.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Pieta Mondrian”

SLAVE HAVEN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD MUSEUM

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

“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.

TOPS GALLERY

“Point of View: Beauty in the Small Things”

Exhibition of paintings by Anna Parker. Through July 31.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

FRATELLI’S

“King of Karate”

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

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

Ongoing.

GRACELAND EXHIBITION CENTER

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

“Light and Color Inspired”

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

Online viewing only. Through July 31.

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS (AMUM)

“Structure(s)”

GALLERY 1091

“Meet the Dixons”

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

Through Sept. 26.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Micro-Aesthetic”

Exhibition of microscopic images forming a connection to everyday-life patterns presented

by Dr. Amir Hadadzadeh.

Through Sept. 30.

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS (AMUM)

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.

Faced with deception and danger, Sheriff Quinn Colson returns to the page in Ace Atkins’ The Heathens.

“Mona Hatoum: Misbah”

Exhibition of a contemporary art installation where the viewer stands in a darkened room, lit only by a rotating lantern dangling from the ceiling. Through Jan. 9.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“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.

Through Sept. 18.

TONE

Exhibition of works by Lester Merriweather. Through Aug. 6.

2021 PROJECTS

July 15-21, 2021

Veterans’ work on view.

Through July 31.

MID-SOUTH ARTIST GALLERY

“Watch for my Signals”

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

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

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

Artist Talk and Open House for “Watch for my Signals” Saturday, July 17, 12:30 p.m.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

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)

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.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

WE Gallery

Gallery benefiting artists.

Through Aug. 31.

WOMAN’S EXCHANGE OF MEMPHIS

“The Machine Inside: Biomechanics”

B O O K EVE NTS

MEMPHIS PINK PALACE MUSEUM

Online event with author Karin Slaughter, in conversation with Alafair Burke and surprise guests, to launch False Witness via Zoom.

Tuesday, July 20, 6 p.m.

An immersive exhibit that takes visitors on an intriguing journey into the marvels of natural engineering. Through Aug. 31.

Tributaries: Andrew Meers I “Amalgamations” Exhibition which recognizes emerging and mid-career artists in the metals field. Through July 17.

METAL MUSEUM

16

Vietnam Veterans & Desert Storm Veterans Exhibition

A Night with Karin and Friends

NOVEL

Book Launch for Brad Thor

Author launches his newest thriller, Black Ice: A Thriller (The

C A L E N D A R : J U LY 1 5 - 2 1 Interactive discussion on great reads. Email for more information. Thursday, July 15, 6-7 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

NOVEL

Meet the Author: Ace Atkins

Line tickets to meet the author are required and free with purchase of The Heathens.

Thursday, July 15, 5:30 p.m.

NOVEL

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.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS UNIVERSITY

Reader Meet Writer: Lydia Dugdale

Author discusses The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom via Zoom. Thursday, July 15, 6 p.m.

C O M E DY

Lavell Crawford

Friday, July 16, 7:30 p.m. Additional 10 p.m. performance on Friday and Saturday. $37.

CHUCKLES COMEDY CLUB

Old School Comedy Show Features Mzzz Kecia, Lomax, Donna Lewis, and PA Bomani. $20. Friday, July 16, 8 p.m.

F E ST IVA LS

Crafts for Care

GET LOUD Concert Series

Online and in-person shopping of curated, locally made homeware, jewelry, art, and more, benefiting Church Health Center. July 20-July 27.

BEALE STREET

Memphis Bridal Show

Soulin’ on the River: Carmen Hicks

See Santa and plan your wedding at the Christmas-in-July-themed wedding expo. Brides and grooms can plan their wedding.

Features games, music, prizes, fashion show, vendors, and more.

Sunday, July 18, 1 p.m.

THE WHISPERING WOODS HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTER

COM M U N ITY

Small Business Shopping Expo

Thistle & Bee Ambassador Program

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

Free. Ongoing.

THISTLEANDBEE.ORG

Tennessee R.E.A.D.S.

United Way of the MidSouth: Driving The Dream

For those impacted by COVID-19. Puts callers in contact with essential services nections were made. Ongoing.

UWMIDSOUTH.ORG

READS.OVERDRIVE.COM

Outdoor music series in Handy Park on Beale Street’s biggest stage. Visit Handy Park’s Facebook page for more information. Thursday, July 15, 6 p.m.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

THE COMEDY JUNT

NOVEL

Use your library card to check out e-books and audiobooks at reads.overdrive.com. Includes Big Library Read connecting readers around the world with the same book at the same time.

Ongoing.

E X PO / SA L E S

Shop the best and most diverse selections under one roof. $2.

Saturday, July 17, 9 a.m.; Sunday, July 18, 10 a.m.

LANDERS CENTER

FA M I LY

KangaZoo Outback Experience

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

Free. Through Oct. 31.

MEMPHIS ZOO

Features music, food trucks, and more. Friday, July 16, 6 p.m.

MUD ISLAND RIVER PARK

Watermelon Festival

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

PRIDDY FARMS

FI LM

Enormous: The Gorge Story

Weaves together personal stories from music legends Dave Matthews, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Jason Mraz, Dierks Bentley, and Steve Miller. $16.50. Wednesday, July 21, 7 p.m.

MALCO PARADISO CINEMA GRILL & IMAX

Family Movie Night: Fly Away Home

Movie, hot dogs, chips, drinks, nature scavenger hunt, and education owls. Bring a chair or blanket.

Popcorn, coffee, and drinks provided. Friday, July 16, 6 p.m.

THE ARK TRAILS PAVILLION

Memphis Museum of Science & History

WWW.MEMPHISMUSEUMS.ORG

Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel III: Spring Song Thriller trilogy conclusion. Also screening at Collierville Grill & MXT, 380 Market. $15. Sunday, July 18, 3 p.m.; Tuesday, July 20, 7 p.m.

MALCO PARADISO CINEMA GRILL & IMAX

GPAC Summer Movies Series: School of Rock

Features film, cocktails, live local music, and food trucks. $10.

Friday, July 16, 7-9 p.m.

THE GROVE AT GPAC

TCM: The African Queen 70th Anniversary

Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, two mismatched strangers, join forces in a common cause. Also screening at Collierville Grill & MXT, 380 Market. $15. Sunday, July 18, 3 p.m.; Wednesday, July 21, 7 p.m.

MALCO PARADISO CINEMA GRILL & IMAX

The DCI Celebration Countdown

Features amazing sights and sounds from five of the nation’s top Drum Corps International ensembles. $15. Thursday, July 15, 7 p.m.

MALCO PARADISO CINEMA GRILL & IMAX

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 16, 7 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

City Tasting Tours

Savor tastings at eateries, interact with chefs and managers, and sample local flavors while learning about the city. Visit citytastingtours.com to make reservations. Ongoing.

CITYTASTINGTOURS.COM

Food Truck Friday

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

Fridays, 11:30 a.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Wilson Wine Experience: Heitz Cellar Tasting

Taste the big, bold, and beautiful cabernets of Heitz Cellar in Napa. $25. Friday, July 16, 4 p.m.

WILSON CAFE

H EALTH AN D F ITN ES S

Elemental Yoga: Metal

Explore the elements of traditional Chinese medicine through yoga in this free outdoor pop-up. Friday, July 16, 8-9 a.m.

METAL MUSEUM

NEW EXHIBIT NOW OPEN

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

Scot Harvath Series #20), via Zoom. Order a signed copy to attend. Tuesday, July 20, 6 p.m.

Virtual Dixon Book Club

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

continued from page 15

17

C A L E N D A R : J U LY 1 5 - 2 1

JULY 21-27 WE’RE BACK FOR

ANOTHER

BITE!

Go see School of Rock at GPAC. As Dewey Finn (Jack Black) would say, “It will test your head, and your mind, and your brain, too.”

Tai Chi

Classes held near Woodland Discovery Playground. $8.

Wednesday, July 21, 3 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

PRESENTED BY

PARTICIPANTS

Cafe Conversation: Race, Art History, and the Museum

901 Poetry Slam Series Finale

University of Memphis professor William McKeown will lead the conversation examining Carl Gutherz’s painting, I Promised the Missus I’d Bring Him Home (or Faithful Unto Death). Wednesday, July 21, 6 p.m.

Hosted by award-winning writer, author, spoken-word artist, and actor Steve Fox. Sign up to perform one poem (3 minutes & 10 seconds or less) via Eventbrite. $9.01/performance ticket, $9.01/general admission. Monday, July 19, 7-10 p.m.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

HI TONE

GHOST RIVER BREWING

2

WHITE ON BLACK

3

BLACK W/KNOCKOUT TEXTURE

4

W/KNOCKOUT TEXTURE

“Grooming Your Dog at Home: Tips and Tricks from a Professional Dog Groomer” Join groomer Chris Coopwood as he gives three mini sessions on basic grooming methods online from hfu.hollywoodfeed.com. Wednesday, July 21, 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

9

July 15-21, 2021

5

HFU.HOLLYWOODFEED.COM

BENEFITTING

BLACK ON WHITE

BLACK ON WHITE

6

WHITE ON BLACK

Lupus Support Group 7

BLACK W/KNOCKOUT TEXTURE

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W/KNOCKOUT TEXTURE

Join us as our participating local restaurants serve up special $5.99 custom Burger Week burgers just for YOU! restaurants every day. Eat, more We are adding drink, and be merry as you enjoy some of the very tastiest burgers in the Mid-South.

10

11

12

Check out MEMPHISFLYERBURGERWEEK.COM for an updated list of participating Burger Week restaurants and all of the juicy Burger Week details!

WHITE ON BLACK

COLOR

COLOR BLOCK

Group’s mission is to ensure that patients in Memphis with lupus, as well as their caregivers, family, and friends, have a safe and supportive place to connect. Free. Saturday, July 17, 1-3 p.m.

NESHOBA COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER

Novel Virtual Book Club

For more information on joining book club discussion, visit novelmemphis.com. Free.

Wednesday, July 21, 7-8:15 p.m.

NOVEL

S P EC IA L EVE NTS

Bingo Night

Games are free to play and there’s a prize for every game.

Tuesday, July 20, 7-9 p.m.

CASUAL PINT

Collierville Cruise Night

Enjoy an evening with friends and family to check out some of the best rides that MidSouth has to offer with Memphis Street Rods. Wednesday, July 21, 5-8 p.m.

COLLIERVILLE TOWN SQUARE

Curtis Givens Annual All White Affair

Enjoy an outdoor party experience hosted by Kenny Burns & Tank. All white attire mandatory. $30. Saturday, July 17, 3 p.m.

MUD ISLAND RIVER PARK

Inaugural MAM Helicopter Golf Ball Drop

Register a golf ball for a chance to win up to $10K. $100.

Saturday, July 17, midnight.

GOLF & GAMES FAMILY PARK

Mirimichi Live Music and Entertainment

Enjoy live music, local performers, movie nights, and more in the outdoor bar. $5.

Friday, July 16, 7 p.m.

Dine-in and to go/curbside options.

18

T.O. FULLER STATE PARK

P E R FO R M I N G ARTS

Discuss monthly selections over a beer. Join the group on Facebook to learn more. Free.

Thursday, July 15, 7-8:30 p.m.

BLACK ON WHITE

Call for more information.

Wednesday, July 21, noon.

L E CT U R E

Get Lit Book Club

1

T.O. Fuller State Park Monthly Meeting

MIRIMICHI

13

ICON

14

SMALLER

15

NA

16

NA

S PO R TS

Memphis Redbirds vs.

Norfolk Tides

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

AUTOZONE PARK

Straight 8 Tournament Benefiting 3 Wishes for Her

Charity pool tournament and raffle for a Meucci SB1-S Smoke Grey pool cue. Friday, July 16, 6 p.m.

LIT CAFE & BILLIARD

Yoga

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

Saturday, July 17, 10:30 a.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

T H EAT 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. Through July 25.

THEATREWORKS

TO U R S

Calvary Episcopal Church Tours

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

Sunday, July 18, 11:15 a.m.

CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Old Dominick Distillery Tours

See firsthand the dedication and passion put into every bottle.

Experience the spirits and learn recipes from experts. See the state-of-the-art distillery and learn about what makes it so special. $15. Thursdays-Saturdays, noon, 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 6 p.m.

OLD DOMINICK DISTILLERY

FOOD By Michael Donahue

It Takes Two, Baby

JUSTIN FOX BURKS

Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence “Instead of cooking it in a wok, which has you sort of manning the wok the whole time, you just spread it out on a sheet pan and stick it in the oven for 20 minutes. It’s crispier. The flavor gets concentrated and you don’t end up with a watery stir-fry like a lot of people do when they try and stir-fry at home.”

Spiked Hot Cocoa Tiramisu is one of Lawrence’s favorites. “You use marscapone cheese and whipped cream,” she says. “We put a quarter-cup of bourbon in it. We like Blue Note Bourbon. We put hot cocoa mix in it and dark chocolate chips and mini marshmallows on top.”

The book is divided into breakfast

and brunch, salads and handhelds, soups and stews, hearty mains, and desserts. “The first chapter is directions on how to shop,” Burks says. “How to think about cooking every day for two.”

They instruct the reader on “how to go to the grocery store and shop for the smaller can of coconut milk or a jar of salsa that will fit this recipe, so you don’t end up with a bunch of odds and ends in your refrigerator.

“If you’re a small household, you don’t want to have to cook for four or six people and have your freezer fill up with a bunch of the same food. Or, God forbid, waste the food.”

Their goal was to come up with a recipe a day. “It takes me a lot longer to put an idea for a recipe together than Justin,” Lawrence says. “He’s pretty quick. His always seems to turn out the first time. I have to give it a few tries.”

It took a few tries to get their chickpea chicken sandwich patties together, Burks says. “Since we’re a little more health-conscious, we didn’t want to deep-fry anything, which is how you get things crispy. We figured out how to shallow-fry these chickpea patties, and they are fantastic.”

Too many cooks might spoil the broth, but Burks says, “We’re a great team. We both know our strengths. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but I’m pretty good with the savory stuff and she’s pretty good with the sweet stuff and salads.”

Burks and Lawrence became vegetarians when they were 12 years old. After getting a hamburger at a dairy bar, Burks decided meat wasn’t for him anymore. “The idea was out there that an animal was a living thing,” he says. “I’d done some reading and research. It was just at that moment it all kind of hit me.”

“It seems less cruel to avoid meat,” says Lawrence, who already cared about the environment when she was 12.

Some people have a misconception about vegetarians, Burks says. “People think if you’re a vegetarian you’re going to be this scrawny little guy. Anybody who’s seen me, I’m kind of a big dude. I bike. I run. I’ve done five marathons.”

Burks goes by “The Chubby Vegetarian” in his books and on social media.

“Whenever I say I’m a vegetarian, people say, ‘Really?’”

Visit thechubbyvegetarian.com for more information.

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B

eing stuck at home for months, Justin Fox Burks and his wife Amy Lawrence turned to the pan during the pandemic. Instead of vegetating, they wrote a cookbook about preparing vegetarian meals for two.

“We were cooking vegetarian meals for two, morning, noon, and night,” Lawrence says. “We weren’t going out to eat or having anybody over. So, the publisher came to us and we agreed on this idea. And it turns out it’s a really good idea. People are responding.”

Vegetarian Cooking for Two: 80 Perfectly Portioned Recipes for Healthy Eating is the couple’s fourth cookbook. “Simple” is what they went for, Burks says. “There’s nothing that takes a particular set of skills ahead of time. You’re not going to have to study up on chiffonade or brunoise your red peppers. It comes together very quickly.”

Also, he says, “We used some prepared ingredients like salsas and sauces, so you don’t think you’re making everything from scratch. One of my favorites we do is a sheet pan stir-fry with peanut sauce, and it uses any vegetables you have on hand.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Couple writes vegetarian cookbook for duos.

19

FILM By Chris McCoy

Girl Power The long-overdue Black Widow is a dazzling feminist triumph.

F

irst of all, Black Widow should have happened five years ago. It took 11 years — from Iron Man in 2008 to Captain Marvel in 2019 — for Disney super-producer Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe to make a solo super-movie starring a female superhero.

Considering how aggressively mediocre Captain Marvel was, it’s especially galling that it took so long for Scarlett Johansson to get her own starring vehicle as Natasha Romanoff. From a character standpoint, Natasha is the most interesting of the Marvel A-team. Trauma has always inflected the best superhero origin stories, and Natasha was trained from childhood to be an elite assassin and intelligence operative by the Red Room, a secret Soviet supersoldier program notorious for its brutal methods.

Somehow, the stone-cold killer’s conscience survived the ordeal, and she defected to SHIELD, where she became Nick Fury’s most trusted confidant. Natasha’s adamantium-tough exterior hides a broken person, deprived of human connection, riven with guilt for all the “red on my ledger,” trying to balance the books with world-saving good deeds. But she’s always gotten short shrift. During The Avengers’ iconic Battle of New York, Black Widow was fighting flying aliens while armed only with a pair of pistols. Couldn’t SHIELD at least

get her an assault rifle?

Natasha’s emotional potential is realized in Black Widow’s unexpectedly moving cold open. It’s 1995, and she’s living in suburban Ohio with her mother Melina (Rachel Weisz) and sister Yelena (played as a 6-year-old by Violet McGraw). Just as they’re about to sit down for an ordinary family dinner, father Alexei (David Harbour) comes home with bad news. Turns out, the family are deep-cover spies, and their cover’s been blown. As the fake family rushes to get to the escape plane to take them to Cuba, Natasha stares longingly out the window, saying a silent goodbye to the closest thing to a normal life and human connection she will ever have. Her family may be fake, but it felt real to her.

Fast forward to 2016. (Natasha died in Avengers: Endgame, so Black Widow’s story takes place while she was on the lam after the events of Captain America: Civil War.) Yelena (played as an adult by Florence Pugh) is hunting a target who turns out to be another member of the Black Widow Ops Program. After Yelena administers a mortal blow, the dying Widow exposes her to a red gas

Scarlett Johansson (left) and Florence Pugh that undoes the chemical mind control regime the Red Room has imposed on her. Yelena goes rogue, stealing the remaining doses of Widow antidote, and sending them to her estranged, faux-sister Natasha for safekeeping. Natasha decides to track down Yelena, and the pair team up to kill the Red Room mastermind Dreykov (Ray Winstone) and dismantle the Widow program.

With director Cate Shortland at the helm, Black Widow is the best superhero picture since Black Panther. It’s not just an acceptably entertaining Marvel product but an actual good film in its own right. The second-act action set piece, when Natasha and Yelena break their pretend-father Alexei

July 15-21, 2021

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Left to her own devices, Black Widow doesn’t choose to save the world from xenocidal aliens. Her heroism serves a more practical, down-to-Earth purpose.

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out of a Siberian prison, stands with the airport brawl from Civil War as an all-time, kinetic highlight of comic-book cinema.

Natasha’s been making life-or-death decisions since she was a teenager, so Johansson plays her with a deep worldweariness. Pugh is her kid-sister foil, knowing exactly where to needle to get a rise out of the ice queen. The comic relief is left up to Harbour as the Red Guardian, Captain America’s Soviet counterpart gone to seed, still bitter about losing the ideological struggle with the West.

Black Widow’s ideology is overtly feminist. It’s a quintessential female gaze movie.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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Born in the U.S.A.

THE LAST WORD

Now that the Fourth of July is past us and we’ve had the usual full-plate serving of ridiculous posturing of how great we are, can we have an honest discussion about what a shithole this place has become? At what point does a great society hit a point of no return? At what point do you have to throw in the towel? Let’s play a game of divorcing you from your beliefs.

What if, let’s say, Ecuador were only 250 years old, and — depending on how you defined it — they’d been in anywhere from 83 to 134 wars. What if it weren’t even clear if their president needed congressional approval to declare war anymore? Now, except for the War of 1812, what if Ecuador had never been invaded? How would you feel about Ecuador if they did this? Seriously? Wouldn’t you think they were a warlike people? What if they said it was all in the name of defending their country and democracy as a whole? But they only attacked other places and fought on foreign soil? Wouldn’t you think that was pretty stupid? What if Ecuador spent more money on their military than the next 10 countries combined? Would you think that was coincidental? What if Ecuador were the number-one arms manufacturer in the entire world, and the people who made the weapons controlled their government? And made billions from war? And they had the second-highest instance of gun-related civilian deaths in the entire world? Would you think that was sort of kind of suspicious? Or would you just blow it off ? © LIGHTFIELDSTUDIOSPROD | DREAMSTIME.COM What if, on closer examination, you realized that Ecuador had the highest taxes in the world, but 40 percent of their discretionary budget went to the military? Wouldn’t that be nuts? What if you then found out that they were the only country out of the top 35 industrialized countries in the world that didn’t have free healthcare provided, despite taking all that tax money? What if you realized they were the only country in the world whose public education was funded by local taxes, thus ensuring the poorest people got the shittiest education, thus continuing an endless cycle of poverty?

What if in Ecuador, 1 percent of the population owned more wealth than the bottom 92 percent of the country? And could give as much money to politicians as they wanted during elections? And 75 percent of people lived paycheck to paycheck with zero savings? Would you think they were a democratic and representative society? Would you think that was a good standard of living or low-stress?

What if Ecuador had 4.25 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prison population? And the jails in Ecuador were privately owned, and the companies that owned them made about $46,000 per person per year through forced labor and making them pay for supplies? Would you begin to wonder if maybe a lot of those people shouldn’t be in jail?

What if in Ecuador, the number-one cause of bankruptcy was medical bills, and one in three GoFundMe campaigns were to raise money for medical needs because it was too costly to get sick? What if Ecuador had a declining life-span age, as well as the fastest-growing chronic disease, suicide, depression, and addiction problems in the world and was the only country in the world that allowed pharmaceutical companies to advertise on TV? What if Ecuador had giant farms that had completely taken over food production, if there were almost no regulation on pesticide use, GMOs, steroids — in fact, what if the biggest chemical agribusiness in the country sat on the FDA or EPA there? Would you think maybe that was a conflict of interest and not good for people’s health?

What if in Ecuador, if you had enough money, you could pollute as much as you wanted? What if you also didn’t have to pay any taxes if you were rich? Would you think it was a corrupt society, or is that normal? What if Ecuador was 44th in the world in freedom of the press? Would you think there was probably a lot of government-controlled propaganda? What if Ecuador was 128th in the world in safety? How would you feel about going there or living there if you had kids?

What if Ecuador was the country most in debt in the entire world, despite being the largest economy, and if, in fact, that debt was greater than their total GDP? Wouldn’t you think that the government there was totally corrupt and irresponsible? What if, to combat this, 40 percent of the currency in circulation in the entire country was printed in the last 12 months? Would you think of investing in that currency? Would you think maybe that would be why Ecuador was seeing rampant inflation of goods?

What if there was rampant racism, fascism, mass shootings, childhood poverty, homelessness, and violence in Ecuador?

Would you think it was awesome? Would you feel that was normal? If five to 10 people every day on the news in your city died or were wounded from gun violence that had nothing to do with the military — how would you feel about that? Is that good? Is that normal?

At what point do you guys think a great society has hit a point of no return? Would you say maybe Ecuador was about to collapse? Or is it just something that needs to be sorted out?

Kevin Ferner is the owner of The Memphis Guitar Spa and Ferner Fine Instruments, and is not dead yet.

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

What if patriotic propaganda keeps us from working to make the American dream realistically achievable for all Americans?

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