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OUR 1696TH ISSUE 08.26.21

JERRY D. SWIFT Advertising Director Emeritus KELLI DEWITT, CHIP GOOGE, HAILEY THOMAS Senior Account Executives MICHELLE MUSOLF Account Executive BRYCE HAYES Classifieds Coordinator ROBBIE FRENCH Warehouse and Delivery Manager JANICE GRISSOM ELLISON, KAREN MILAM, DON MYNATT, TAMMY NASH, RANDY ROTZ, LEWIS TAYLOR, WILLIAM WIDEMAN Distribution THE MEMPHIS FLYER is published weekly by Contemporary Media, Inc., P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101 Phone: (901) 521-9000 Fax: (901) 521-0129 memphisflyer.com CONTEMPORARY MEDIA, INC. ANNA TRAVERSE FOGLE Chief Executive Officer LYNN SPARAGOWSKI Controller/Circulation Manager JEFFREY GOLDBERG Chief Revenue Officer MARGIE NEAL Production Operations Director KRISTIN PAWLOWSKI Digital Services Director MARIAH MCCABE Circulation and Accounting Assistant KALENA MATTHEWS Marketing Coordinator

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TONIGHT!

CONTENTS

JESSE DAVIS Editor SHARA CLARK Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Senior Editors TOBY SELLS Associate Editor MAYA SMITH Senior News Reporter 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

Years ago, I was riding in the passenger seat of a friend’s car on the way to a small party at a house in the Vollintine-Evergreen district. During some lull in the conversation, I asked where exactly the house was located.

“Close to Snowden, on Faxon,” she said. “About four or five houses down.”

“Wow, I used to live on Faxon,” I said, or something close to that. “I think we must be going to my old neighbor’s house. How crazy, right?”

We pulled up in front of my childhood home. I recognized the red brick, the nowshaggy hedges my dad used to trim so diligently, the dogwood tree I used to climb, and the sycamore my dad planted when he and my mother brought my younger sister home from the hospital.

We lost the house when I was about 8 years old. It was the first time in my lifetime one of my parents would be evicted, but not the last. Since then I’d lived in duplexes and apartments all over Memphis and Phoenix and in a little white house that was slowly caving in on itself near the borderline between Chester and Madison counties. So, back at that party, it was a Big Deal to be able to walk around my childhood home. I spent most of the night telling anyone who would listen what the place used to look like and how it had changed — the red-and-black linoleum floor in the kitchen was gone, as was the rotary phone with its long, coiled cable.

At some point, people were standing on the front porch smoking cigarettes, and someone spotted an orb-weaver spider clinging to a web near the porch light. There was a call to “squash” the little arachnid, but I intervened. I remembered watching the same kind of spider build webs when I was a child.

“This is the great-great-great-grandPHOTO: JESSE DAVIS daughter of the spider I used to watch — A familiar view with a new perspective we can’t kill her!”

I share this memory because I recently moved and have once again returned to my old neighborhood, just a stone’s throw from my old craftsman-style abode on Faxon. It’s strange. I feel a bit like a rabbit, settling down less than a mile from my childhood home. It seems a bit uninspired. On the other hand, I now find myself once again in the neighborhood where I felt a touch of the magical alongside the mundane. How could I not have?

From our front porch, we could hear the lions and the howler monkeys at the Memphis Zoo, and we used to walk to the zoo on free admission day. We walked to Overton Park, and I could walk to and from school. But that was two-dozen moves ago. And besides, that old house is a rental now.

When I was a teenager, my mother, sister, and I lived for a time in my aunt and uncle’s garage. Their un-airconditioned garage. In Phoenix, Arizona. To say that was uncomfortable would be the understatement of my life. After a stretch there, my sister and I moved in with my dad in a little house in the woods of Chester County, about 80 or so miles northeast of Memphis. The house was dilapidated and slowly giving up the ghost. My room was the dining room, which acted as something of a hallway. It was the only way to get to the bathroom or kitchen or my sister’s room. If you were in one of those rooms and wanted to get to the living room, my dad’s room, or to leave the house, you had to traipse through my quarters. I was teaching myself to play guitar at the time, and it used to drive my dad absolutely up the walls. Privacy wasn’t really a part of my life back then. Neither was hot water or walls without mice in them.

It’s amazing how acclimated we can get to those kinds of things. Taking cold showers beN E WS & O P I N I O N THE FLY-BY - 4 fore school, brushing mouse poop out of the NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 bed before sleep. So to me, even years later, POLITICS - 8 our half of this duplex feels like a mansion.

FINANCIAL FEATURE - 9 Sure, we share a wall with a neighbor, but he COVER STORY seems like a nice guy. He’s quiet as a mouse — “GENERATION JAMS”

BY ALEX GREENE - 10 quieter, actually. Those little suckers can make WE RECOMMEND - 14 a racket completely out of proportion with CALENDAR - 16 their size.

FOOD - 19 I just hope he doesn’t climb the walls if I FILM - 20 play a little guitar now and then.

C LAS S I F I E D S - 22 Jesse Davis LAST WORD - 23 jesse@memphisflyer.com

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THE

fly-by

MEMernet Memphis on the internet.

K I D S N OT ALR I G HT Call them the “Blue Kids” or the “Big Kids,” but one of those big blue statues on the Vollintine-Evergreen Greenline was vandalized — partially burned — last week.

An eyewitness said they spotted two people near the statues last Monday morning. Investigators said an accelerant — probably lighter fluid — was used to start the fire.

POSTED TO NEXTDOOR BY V&E GREENLINE

F I NALLY F I N C H “Work on the Larry Finch Plaza will be completed this fall,” tweeted University of Memphis President David Rudd. “Here’s what it’ll look like (and that’s not the statue just a place holder!).”

August 26-September 1, 2021

POSTED TO TWITTER BY DAVID RUDD

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D E LTA, D E LTA, D E LTA The Memphis subreddit roasted this year’s Delta Fair, especially as the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus sweeps across the land.

“More true than ever this year,” wrote original poster u/trailsonmountains.

“Truth in advertising,” wrote u/ MatttheBruinsfan. “They should have set it up in a hospital parking lot instead.”

“One of the 901 Day events is called Exposure,” said u/scd73. “Terrible choice.”

POSTED TO REDDIT BY U/TRAILSONMOUNTAINS

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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells

W E E K T H AT W A S

By Flyer staff

Anti-Semitism, PILOTS, & Covid-19 Facebook remarks investigated, a new minimum wage for tax-break jobs, and the virus.

ANTI- S E M ITI C R E MAR KS A Houston High School assistant principal and teacher were under investigation last week after they allegedly made antiSemitic remarks on social media. Assistant principal Janna Matykiewicz and teacher Tony Benzing allegedly posted remarks comparing the Covid vaccine to the Holocaust.

“What’s the difference between papers and a yellow star?” Matykiewicz allegedly asked in a Facebook post. “82 years.”

MAS K MAN DATE R E D UX Face masks were, once again, mandated for all indoor public settings in a new order from the Shelby County Health PHOTO: SHELBY COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT / Department (SCHD).

FACEBOOK; UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS The requirement is for everyone over the age of 2, regardless of vaccine status.

Masks can be removed at restaurants, Clockwise from top left: Face masks bars, and other eating/drinking estabmandated for all indoor public lishments by customers when they are settings in Shelby County; UofM seated. Masks can also be removed for students petition for hybrid classes. other activities like doing cardio activity inside a gym, some grooming activities like getting a facial, and theater performances. Masks will S C H O O L MAS K U N-MAN DATE remain optional in outdoor settings.

Parents in Tennessee can now decide if their child wears a mask to school, regardless of their districts’ guidelines, thanks “STR AI N E D AN D STR ES S E D” to an executive order signed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee last Healthcare workers are “strained and stressed” as Covid-19 week. Parents who want to opt their child out of the mandate hospitalization numbers rise in Shelby County. Officials with must notify the local school district or school personnel, acMethodist Le Bonheur Healthcare said expansion departcording to the order. ments have been deployed, Covid-19 units are full, emergency The move was blasted by many concerned about the rising departments are “saturated,” and morale is down. spread of Covid-19.

HYB R I D C LAS S P ETITI O N Students at the University of Memphis petitioned last week for hybrid (in-person/online) learning options for the 2021-2022 school year.

“Students would not have to choose between their education and the health and safety of themselves or others,” the petition reads.

N EW M I N I M U M WAG E Memphis City Council member Martavius Jones wants a $21 minimum wage for companies receiving city/county tax breaks.

The minimum wage requirement for PILOT-program jobs is now $13 an hour, which Jones said is less than a livable wage.

PAN D HAN D LI N G D OWN Panhandling arrests in Memphis took a dip during the pandemic (like everything else), but while local leaders want solutions to lower panhandling rates in general, law enforcement officials said arrests have “limited effect.”

A recent Memphis City Council hearing brought Memphis panhandling to the fore. Memphis Police Department (MPD) data shows an average of 670 arrests or tickets given in 2018 and 2019 for aggressive panhandling and/or obstructing a highway or road. Those arrests sunk last year to 377.

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

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Shared Surveillance Sheriff ’s office’s new surveillance program raises concern.

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31 Shorts go-with

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17 Six-time Grammy winner who is half of the group Gnarls Barkley

Edited by Will Shortz

CITY REPORTER

By Maya Smith

artcentermemphis

The Shelby County Sheriff ’s Office launched a new platform for the public to anonymously upload videos of criminal activity, and some are questioning the timing of its rollout and the program itself.

The sheriff ’s office introduced its Sheriff ’s Hub and Resource Exchange (SHARE) two days after one of its deputies, who has not been identified, shot and killed 26-year-old Antonio Johnson.

Following the shooting, the sheriff ’s office said there is no body or dash cam footage of the shooting after previously stating that footage of the incident had been sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations.

Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, called the timing of the SHARE program launch “brazen.”

“It flies in the face of the community,” he said. “It’s quite galling for them to be asking people to contribute videos and photos when they shot and killed a man this week and are now telling us there’s no video or photo evidence.”

The sheriff ’s office describes SHARE as an “initiative to assist in addressing neighborhood crime” through a “proactive, problem-solving partnership with the community.”

Residents and businesses can upload videos or photos of crime anonymously on an online portal, which the sheriff ’s office will subsequently investigate.

Spickler said SHARE could lead to civil liberty issues and that the growth of surveillance is “troubling.”

“This community is already over-

PHOTO: SHELBY COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

SHARE is for public video uploads. policed and this only reinforces that,” Spickler said. “The more surveillance the sheriff ’s office has available to it, the more people of color that will be rounded up and implicated in crimes they may or may not have committed.”

Pastor and activist Earle Fisher agreed, saying that the program will likely lead to increased unwarranted contact with law enforcement and not a decrease in crime.

He worries that the public’s implicit bias and a lack of knowledge about the law will form a “perfect storm of constitutional violations.”

“This ultimately means you have untrained individuals commentating to law enforcement about what they think may be inappropriate,” Fisher said. “Now police can do illegal surveillance and couch it under the umbrella of an anonymous source.”

Spickler said programs like SHARE can lead to better public safety outcomes, but there needs to be a balance between people’s right to privacy and the need to be protected.

Spickler said SHARE does nothing to address the root causes of crime or police overreach and brutality.

“This is simply another quick, cheap, and easy move,” Spickler said. “That’s all law enforcement does anymore. It’s easy to pour that money into guns, cars, and bullet proof vests, but it’s difficult to question policies and programs like this at its very core.”

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POLITICS By Jackson Baker

Salinas or Strong?

Local Democrats caucus, prepare to choose a new chair.

Shelby County Democrats completed Phase One of their biennial reorganization on Saturday, conducting 13 separate caucuses via Zoom to elect delegates to this coming Saturday’s convention, which will complete the cycle with the selection of a new chair and other party officers.

Outgoing Chairman Michael Harris expressed satisfaction at the online turnout, which included some 550 registrants and 300 active participants, of whom roughly 100 were elected as members of the party’s Grassroots Council, along with 26 members to serve as SCDP’s executive committee.

Those elected to the two bodies will

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August 26-September 1, 2021

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F O R T I C K E T S , G O TO C R O S S TOW N A R T S .O R G

PHOTOS: SALINAS / FACEBOOK; COURTESY COREY STRONG

Gabby Salinas and Corey Strong serve as the voting members at Saturday’s convention, which will take place on Zoom and will also be watchable on YouTube and on the website of the Shelby County Democratic Party.

The two declared contestants for the party chairmanship are Gabby Salinas and Corey Strong. Salinas is making her third try for a significant office, having in recent years won the Democratic nomination for two legislative seats, which she narrowly lost to Republicans in general election races. Despite these losses, she is in the unusual position, politically, of still being regarded as something of a face for the future. This is largely owing to her inspiring backstory as a dual survivor.

A native of Bolivia, Salinas came to this country with her family as a toddler to be treated for cancer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. After

successful treatments for the disease, she then survived a catastrophic automobile accident that took the lives of several family members. As an adult graduate of Christian Brothers College, Salinas would herself become a researcher with the St. Jude Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics.

Strong, too, has an interesting biography. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he did active duty in Kabul, Afghanistan, and maintains his membership in the Navy Reserve with the rank of Commander. He possesses a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and has an extensive history as a party activist.

After the Shelby County Democratic Party was recommissioned by the state party in 2017 after a period of being defunct, Strong was elected as chairman of the restored party and served until 2019. His term included the local party’s electoral “sweep” year of 2018.

• Former Senator Bob Corker, who was one of the few congressional Republicans (and one of the first) to have a public falling-out with the Trump administration, was quoted by the Nashville Tennessean as saying, apropos the current Afghanistan debacle, “It appeared to me that [President Joe] Biden basically continued the Trump policy.” Corker delivered similar sentiments in a weekend address at Monteagle to members of the Episcopal Churchmen of Tennessee.

As far back as 2011, Corker, who later became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed frustration with the American military effort in Afghanistan, seeing Pakistan to be the actual haven for Al Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups. “The fact is,” he told the Flyer at the time, “if you travel through Afghanistan, as I’ve done many times, and you talk to our military leaders, they’re unbelievably frustrated because they’re fighting a war in a country where our enemies are not.

“And on the other hand we’re providing aid to a country where our enemies are. To me — and this is what I really pressed hard in this last hearing — this is where our focus needs to be.”

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idea of a device in your pocket that can make calls, send messages, and listen to or watch almost any media created in all of human history is a pretty nifty innovation and means you don’t have to buy as many products you might previously have bought. In the 1990s, one CD cost around $15 — now you can have access to almost all the music in the world for about half that per month.

Nobody is exactly sure what the future holds, and everyone loves to second-guess our elected and appointed officials. However, the employees and appointees at the Fed are not stupid. If inflation were the only thing we have to fear, the Fed wouldn’t continually try to push inflation up to a higher long-term average target. I believe they’re preemptively erring on the side of inflation to prevent disinflationary pressures from taking root too strongly. Deflation sounds nice as a consumer, but its effect on the economy is much worse than mild to moderate inflation. By the way, debt itself is deflationary too (for one reason, money that could be spent goes to pay off bonds instead), and there’s plenty of debt in the system.

In the end, it’s not too useful to speculate as to whether inflationary or deflationary pressures will win. Probably both will happen at some point; it’s just a matter of time.

The important thing for investors to remember is to stay diversified. Exposure to U.S. investments and the dollar could continue to outperform for years into the future. On the other hand, if our outsized stimulus spending starts to catch up with us, then exposure to non-U.S. developed markets and even emerging and frontier markets (and currencies) will play an extremely important role going forward.

We’re all feeling the pressure from inflation in the short term, but there’s no guarantee it will persist. We might even miss it if it goes away.

Have a question or topic you’d like to see covered in this column? Contact the author at ggard@telarrayadvisors.com.

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

T

he Senate recently passed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that seems likely to eventually become law. How much debt does that mean, and should we worry about it?

Since the beginning of 2020, the total public debt has gone from around $23 trillion to about $28 trillion. Keep in mind that overall U.S. GDP is just over $20 trillion on average, so we could apply the entire output of the U.S. economy for a year and a half and just barely pay off the debt. Another way to look at it is that the government spent all the taxes taken in since the beginning of the lockdown and then an additional 25 percent of the entire country’s total income. These are big numbers!

Is this a problem? Is it going to inevitably lead to inflation? The answers might surprise you.

Conventional wisdom, as well as recent feedback at the grocery store and gas pump, suggests inflation has definitely arrived. However, there are a number of strongly deflationary pressures at work, too, and there’s a good chance over the next 10 years the Fed could have a hard time keeping inflation above or even near their target of 2 percent annual inflation.

For one thing, population growth is slowing down. Population growth was close to 1.4 percent a year as recently as the 1990s and now sits at 0.35 percent.

Absent big changes in immigration policy (unlikely) or big changes in birth rates for Americans already here (even more unlikely), America will start seeing population decline soon. Japan has been losing population on average for more than 10 years, and this is one reason Japan has frequently experienced years of falling consumer prices in the last few decades. The number of consumers is not growing and the population is aging, leading to more retirees and fewer workers.

Another strong deflationary factor is the rise of technology. Much recent inflationary pressure is likely transient, in things like used car prices, airfare, and hotel rates. At the same time, lots of stuff is getting cheaper, like televisions and computing power. And while smartphones may not seem cheap, the

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PHOTO: ABRAHAM ROWE

Cedric Burnside at Royal Studios

Generation

Jams

August 26-September 1, 2021

The enduring legacy of Memphis’ great musical families.

COVER STORY BY ALEX GREENE

“The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.” — George Carlin

T

he term “family values” is bandied about in political discourse a great deal, but what it really means is hard to pin down. While some bemoan the loss of the family life portrayed in Cold War textbooks, a look at the institution at street-level reveals a more complex picture.

For many, leaving the family can have a liberating effect, as with countless alienated youths, be they counterculture or LGBTQ, who establish their own “family” of friends.

And that’s not just a contemporary phenomenon. Memphis Minnie regularly ran away from the hard scrabble farming life of Walls, 10 Mississippi, to play on Beale Street in the years before World War I, eventually staying

gone for good while still in her teens. It all started when they gave her a guitar.

And yet families need not be so oppressive, as so many of us know.

Indeed, families are a distinctive feature of this region’s musical heartbeat. The late Herman Green’s father played in W.C. Handy’s band, and his stepfather was a pastor whose church piano further sparked Green’s love of music. Phineas Newborn Sr. led a local orchestra that fostered the storied careers of his sons Calvin and “Junior,” the latter becoming one of the 20th century’s greatest pianists.

Al Jackson Sr. fostered the talent of Al Jackson Jr., celebrated worldwide as the pulse behind Stax Records. From that same milieu arose Rufus Thomas, his daughters Carla and Vaneese destined to become celebrated singers, his son Marvell a distinguished soul pianist, composer, and arranger.

Though a full listing of contemporary performers with musical family roots would

take a book, we highlight three such artists here whose kin inspired them. Once upon a time, people talked about the “generation gap,” with rock-and-roll marking the hard divide between young and old in the ’50s and ’60s. Now, in the 21st century, it’s all about the Generation Jams.

Meet the Burnsides True, Cedric Burnside’s latest release, I Be Trying, might be seen as the culmination of his family’s story, grounded in the talent and guidance of his legendary bluesplaying grandfather, R.L. Burnside. But Cedric’s latest, perhaps the greatest of his career so far, also represents the confluence of several families. Around here, when families befriend families, you wind up with a lot of kin.

The haunting collection of sparse blues, their unique aesthetic echoing African bluesman Ali Farka Touré at times, was produced by Boo Mitchell, himself the keeper of a family legacy. Willie Mitchell

went from success to success as a band leader, then as a producer of megahits for Hi Records; he treated and taught the three musical Hodges brothers like family, and they became the Hi Rhythm Section.

Along the way, Willie raised his grandson Boo as his son. “Every night he’d come home, I’d be messing around on the piano, and he’d come lean over my shoulder, those whiskers hitting me, and show me some stuff,” Boo recalls.

Now Boo co-manages Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studios, and working on Burnside’s album took on a uniquely cathartic aspect after Boo’s son fell victim to a vicious gun attack that left the Mitchells wondering if he’d ever walk again. “I didn’t know I Be Trying was going to become the soundtrack to my life,” Boo reflects.

“When that thing went down with my son, all I kept hearing were Cedric’s songs.

‘The world can be so cold. …’ It was stuck in my head for a long while. Because he means that stuff. It is not an act.”

Sid and Steve Selvidge

C

edric has inherited the gravitas and heartfelt approach to the blues of his grandfather. “I was born into this music,” Cedric says. “It was in my blood when I was birthed into this world. I have a very musical family. My Big Daddy [grandfather] and Big Mama [grandmother] had 13 children. Just about everybody turned to music, to have as their passion.

“My first instruments was the cans and buckets. We’d get done cooking, clean all the grease outta the jug, and I’d use that jug for a drum, you know? And my Big Daddy and my dad would play house parties around, and somehow I just found the courage to step up on the drums when they took a break. Instruments were all around me as a kid.”

Having been raised in his grandparents’ home, long before he mastered guitar, drumming for R.L. Burnside gigs at juke joints was an easy jump for Cedric. “It was fascinating, being that young, knowing I wasn’t supposed to be in the juke joints, me or my Uncle Garry. I was 10, he was 12, and we were in the juke joint! But there was something so special about that. Being kids that young, we’d know that we weren’t supposed to be there, but every grown-up in there welcomed us. They would hide us behind the beer coolers when the police came in because if we left, they didn’t have no band to play music! It was really, really cool, just knowing that you were one of the cool kids, at the juke joint with all grownups. It was scary, it was weird, and it would get your adrenaline pumping. You think of

any scenario, and we probably went through all of those at that juke joint.”

Nowadays, Cedric is able to pay the tradition forward. “My youngest daughter, Portrika — she just turned 16 — sings on ‘I Be Trying.’ She always loved to sing, which makes me proud. And I’m just trying to feed her all I can give her, you know? While I’m here to do it.”

Direct descendants aside, for Cedric, “family” was never merely the classic nuclear arrangement, but an extended flock, some not even related by blood. Among the latter were Jim and Mary Lindsay Dickinson and sons. “With some musicians I play with, I have been around them for so long that they are like family to me. Like the North Mississippi Allstars. Luther and Cody Dickinson, we’ve been around each other since we were kids. Luther was the big brother of the group, the first one who could drive. That’s 30-plus years we’ve been knowing each other. So they are really like family to me. Even though we wasn’t blood.

Just the closeness that we had made us family.” To this day, when Luther makes a cameo on Cedric’s album, you can hear the telepathy between them.

Meet the Selvidges It turned out the Dickinsons weren’t the only family bonding with local geniuses of the blues and forging whole new family legacies.

While Jim Dickinson was an early champion of under-recognized blues musicians of the area, he wasn’t alone. Standing right by his side at those first blues festivals of the ’60s

was Sid Selvidge, whose family in Greenville, Mississippi, had not been particularly musical, but who nonetheless made his own way in the musical world of Memphis with the raw talent of his voice and fingers and his deep understanding of the blues and other song forms.

Today, Sid’s son Steve carries the tradition forward, best known as a guitarist in The Hold Steady. He says his early love of the guitar was sparked by his father’s encouragement — albeit with a light touch.

“He was absolutely perfect,” recalls Steve.

“Because he was not a stage dad. He was just so smart about it. He made everything available but didn’t push it on me or my brother. There was music around a lot, but all he offered was his enthusiasm.”

Showing young Steve a handful of chords was enough to get him started; from there, the son taught himself licks by rock gods like Led Zeppelin while the father looked on, adding only the occasional detail. “The biggest thing he showed me was open-G tuning and how to play ‘Cassie Jones’ and stuff. And while I played, he’d be shouting at me from downstairs, ‘It doesn’t go to the V chord!’ That’s literally something that happened,” laughs Steve.

P

erhaps more than the technical niceties, Steve picked up a unique feeling for the blues via his father’s friends, namely the composer of “Cassie Jones” himself, the great Furry Lewis. “I only got fully hip to North Mississippi when Luther started digging deep down in there.

Meet the Thomases Steve and Sid Selvidge came to play together, including the time Steve accompanied his father at Carnegie Hall at age 19. Luther and Cody also joined their father Jim starting in their teens, continued on page 12

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

PHOTO: JUSTIN FOX BURKS

My dad knew who R.L. Burnside was, but we hung out with Furry because they were friends. I have lots of memories of going over there and sitting on Furry’s bed and him being really sweet and really cool. And as he got older, the visits fell off a little bit.

And I got into other things. I was still in single digits when he died.”

But there were other friends to learn from. As it turned out, Sid Selvidge, Jim Dickinson, Lee Baker, and Jimmy Crosthwait had a little band known as Mud Boy and the Neutrons. They were mostly local heroes but, by forging their own brand of heavy roots rock, have become highly regarded in hindsight. And the band itself was a kind of family. “They were still holdling on to the ethos of the counterculture,” muses Steve. “Even though they were middle-aged men by that point, there was still that ‘don’t trust anyone over 30’ vibe. I remember the smell of marijuana, and it was all very attractive. It was all connected with fun.”

Indeed, for young Steve, the visceral elements of musicianship were as alluring as the actual playing. “I can remember on Sundays, or after the weekend, I would open my dad’s guitar case, and this almost visible plume of aroma would come out, a cigarette smell, basically. Which is not that great, but it was really intoxicating as a kid. I would open it up and you could almost see the vapors, the smell of the bar. I was like, ‘Wow, man!’ I wasn’t even able to put it into words, but it was like, ‘This is a working musician’s instrument. He did something. And now he’s done for the weekend.’ It was like battle scars and it took on its own energy. It was almost like a living thing.”

Today, with Crosthwait the only Mud Boy member still living, Steve, Luther and Cody, and Ben Baker carry on that living thing as Sons of Mudboy, playing their fathers’ classic repertoire at free-ranging gigs that often include an extended family of other players. As he continues playing his father’s songs, Steve’s appreciation for what he achieved only grows. “Later, I got hip to how intricate and deep my dad’s selfaccompaniment on guitar was. Originally I was looking for flash and guitar solos and crazy stuff,” Steve recalls, “but later I realized his whole playing and singing by himself was so hard to do. I can remember being in the first grade and being asked what your parents do. I said my dad was a magician.

And maybe that was true, after all.”

11

continued from page 11

August 26-September 1, 2021

Jim often dubbing the Dickinson family outfit the Hardly Can Playboys. But one local virtuoso didn’t have a chance to do that until very recently. Dywane Thomas Jr. bears the name of his father but mainly admired him from afar as a kid. “My dad, the bassist Dywane Thomas, is my first music hero,” writes the son in an email. To clear up any confusion, the son goes by a different name: You likely know him as MonoNeon, also a bassist, so renowned for his jazz, funk, and soul chops that he even played with Prince in the Purple One’s final days.

“Even though my dad moved to Europe when I was young,” MonoNeon writes, “his influence was just in me (the blues, funk, Southern-soul). Till this day I’m always searching for records my dad played on. I actually found an old vinyl record my dad played bass on with J. Blackfoot, entitled Physical Attraction (1984).”

Searching for records involving his family has been a long-time obsession for the bass wunderkind, for the family ear for music goes beyond his father.

“My grandfather, Charles Thomas, a jazz pianist, was a later influence on me. I became aware of who my granddad was musically in my early teens. My granddad

12

↬

PHOTO: JUSTIN FOX BURKS

MonoNeon

played with Ron Carter and Billy Higgins on the album called The Finishing Touch! by the Charles Thomas All Star Trio. I used to listen to those recordings a lot during high school wishing I had a chance to play with my granddad Charles.”

M

ore recently, MonoNeon has taken to celebrating his grandmother Liz as well. It’s most obvious in the song “Grandma’s House,” on his 2021 album Supermane, a Funk-

adelic-tinged celebration of piling into the car to visit his grandmother and eat her fine cooking. “I’ve always just wanted to play some music with Grandma Liz,” he reflects. “I used to go to choir rehearsal with her with my bass and play. The whole thang with me and my grandma jammin’ together started when my mom brought her over to come hang and I told my grandma, ‘Let’s do a quick jam thang’ on a song she use to sing in church, ‘Oh, When I Come to the End of My Journey.’

Since I’ve started singing more, I’ve noticed I kinda sound like my grandma. My early gospel influence comes from going to the Baptist church with my grandma and aunties. Now I’ve just taken all those influences and made it neon I guess.”

As MonoNeon has become more celebrated, he seems to value family more than ever in his work, and recently he too was able to accomplish what the Selvidges and the Dickinsons did: create music with his father, keeping the cycle of family influences ebbing and flowing — “a living thing,” in the words of Steve Selvidge. As MonoNeon relates, “Me and my dad had a chance to record and jam recently at Niko Lyras’ Cotton Row Studio, with Steve Potts on drums. That was a dream I had to bring to realization in some way.”

Cedric Burnside plays an album release party, featuring Luther Dickinson, at B.B. King’s Blues Club, Wednesday, August 25th, 7 p.m. $20. He plays the 2021 Memphis Country Blues Festival at the Levitt Shell Thursday, October 7th, 7 p.m. $35.

Steve Selvidge plays with Big Ass Truck at the Levitt Shell, Saturday, September 11th, 7 p.m. Free.

MonoNeon plays Railgarten, Wednesday, September 1st, 8 p.m. $10.

CORDOVA I N T E R N A T I O N A L

FARMER’S MARKET

THE BEST PRICES

Open everyday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

1150 N. Germantown Parkway, Cordova, TN 38016 901.417.8407 •

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

in PRODUCE, MEAT and SEAFOOD in the Mid-South!

13

first annual

steppin’ out (& stayin’ in)

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

September 1–5, 2021

9/1 - 8pm

9/2 - 8pm

MonoNeon

Lucero

9/3 - 9pm

9/4 - 9pm

Lord T & Eloise

dead soldiers

plus

Detective Bureau The PRVLG CYC Obruni Dance Band Lucky 7 brass band Max Kaplan & the Magics The Sensational Barnes Brothers

VISIT August 26-September 1, 2021

railgarten.com

FOR FULL LINEUP 8/25 - 6:30pm

Duwayne Burnside Blues Hour

8/26 - 7pm

Nappy Roots

8/27 - 8pm G3

8/28 - 8pm The MDs

railgarten.com

14

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

Memphis TN 38104

Wings of Fire

By Julie Ray

The Memphis homegrown Southern Hot Wing Festival spread its wings in 2020. After wrangling interest in Memphis wings from around the world, the event changed its name to World Championship Hot Wing Contest & Festival. But the tasty festival’s wings were clipped due to Covid, forcing fans from 34 states, 14 countries, and four continents to wing it online. This year is the first in-person world championship event.

“It’s great to be back live again,” says chairman and founder of the festival, Paul Gagliano. “Everyone is excited, especially our international teams from Canada and South Africa.”

Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) sanctions the World Championship Hot Wing Contest & Festival. Wayne Lohman of KCBS garnered a lot of enthusiasm last year and into 2021 from international teams. Though all the international teams who added to the excitement last year wanted to participate this year, Brazil and Costa Rica had to fly the coop for the 2021 competition. This turn of events might be a good thing for Memphis-based New Wing Order who lost to the GRILLdroids from Costa Rica last year. The Costa Rican team won with a spicy strawberry wing dish.

More than 70 competition teams will be vying for the hot wing world championship this year, and you can sample their wings for a small donation to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis. There will be live music, hot wing-eating and cornhole contests, a kids corner, and more.

PHOTO: COURTESY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP HOT WING CONTEST & FESTIVAL

Costa Rican team, the GRILLdroids, won the 2020 contest with these spicy strawberry wings.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP HOT WING CONTEST & FESTIVAL, LIBERTY BOWL STADIUM, 940 EARLY MAXWELL, SATURDAY, AUG. 28, 11 A.M.-7 P.M., $15.

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES August 26th - September 1st Classic Film Trash with Steve Ross: Duel in the Sun Black Lodge, 405 N. Cleveland, Thursday, Aug. 26, 7 p.m., free Watch a screening of the 1946 overproduced epic Western movie described as “film trash” and join the discussion with Steve Ross.

Dinner & Dive-In Movie: The Lion King Graceland, 3717 Elvis Presley, Saturday, Aug. 28, 6-10 p.m., $25 A fun family evening out with dinner and a movie — plus an after-hours tour of the “Inside the Walt Disney Archives” exhibition.

Jammin’ for Pets: Save1Pet Benefit Hernando’s Hide-A-Way, 3210 Old Hernando, Sunday, Aug. 29, 3 p.m., $10 Features silent auction, adoptable pets, and music by Queen Ann Hines & The Royal Gents, The Wampus Cats, Nancy Apple, and more.

Hello, Dolly!

Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Ext., opens Friday, Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m., continues through Sept. 19, Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., and Sundays, 2 p.m., $35 In 1890s New York City, the bold, brassy, and enchanting widow Dolly Levi is a socialite-turned-matchmaker.

Moonlight Classic Bike Tour and Tailgate Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, 3030 Poplar, Saturday, Aug. 28, 9 p.m., $50 Join hundreds of Memphis bike lovers, plus their families, for a late-night 14-mile ride in Midtown, guided by the light of the moon and under the watchful eye of the Memphis Police Department.

901 Day: Exposure FedExForum, 191 Beale, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 5-6:30 p.m., free Citywide celebration featuring live entertainment, giveaways, local bites, and several organizations representing our city’s landscape of social, civic, recreational, and entertainment offerings.

FOOD VENDORS, PHOTO BOOTH AND MORE!

sept 17

OVERTON Square Tickets Available at:

memphistequilafestival.com

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

WITH TEQUILA TASTINGS, LOCAL

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

GET IN THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON

15

CALENDAR of EVENTS:

Aug. 26 - Sept. 1

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

Grand Hall. Through Sept. 30.

“After the Storm”

“Indefinitely Wild”

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST.

WKNO.ORG

MARY’S SCHOOL

“Invisible Aquaphobic Art”

Paintings and pottery by Meghean Warner and Amy Hertz in the Levy Gallery. Through Oct. 11.

Artists’ Link Summer Show

Work by members of Artists’ Link. Through Sept. 2.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

“Divine Legacies in Black Jewelry”

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.

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

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Highlighting the historic and current plights of Black women in America. Through Aug. 31.

Work by Angi Cooper and Janet Weed Beaver. Wednesday, Sept.

1-Sept. 30.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“Piece of Cake”

Confectious sculptures by Greely Myatt. Through Sept. 26.

Installation in the plaza fountain that will reveal artworks only when exposed to water by Stacey Williams-Ng. Through Aug. 31.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Point of View: Beauty in the Small Things” Paintings by Anna Parker.

Through Aug. 31.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

Jewelry to contextualize the history of modern Black American jewelry production during the 20th and 21st centuries. Through Sept. 12.

New Art by Dr. Tom Gettelfinger

FRATELLI’S

METAL MUSEUM

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

2021 PROJECTS

“Drift”

“On the Road: Chocolate Cities”

“The Machine Inside: Biomechanics”

Two-dimensional paper pieces and sculptures by Tim Crowder.

Through Aug. 28.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

“Escape to Water and Sky” Paintings by Ann Brown Thomason on display in the

“Strata”

Work by Coriana Close and Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo. Through Sept. 13.

Exhibition in the West Atrium and the Church Health Welcome Center. Through Sept. 30.

Explores notions of Blackness coupled with the convergence of place and space. Through Sept. 18.

TONE

Bid on more than 75 pieces of artwork by pediatric occupational therapy patients and professional artists, like Whitney Winkler, NJ Woods, and Dana Shoops.

An intriguing journey into the marvels of natural engineering.

Through Aug. 31.

MEMPHIS PINK PALACE MUSEUM

August 26-September 1, 2021

presents

august 27

TICKETS ON SALE NOW liveatthegarden.com

16

REO SPEEDWAGON september 17

SHERYL CROW

october 21

EARTH, WIND & FIRE SOLD OUT

CALENDAR: AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 1 “Uncommon Vessels”

New work by Niles Wallace and Alisa Free. Through Sept. 11.

L ROSS GALLERY

“Yellow Jack”

The dimly lit mansion will be staged as the 1871 yellow fever epidemic will be recounted.

Through Aug. 29.

WOODRUFF-FONTAINE HOUSE MUSEUM

ART HAP P E N I N G S

Fantastical Fairy Houses Make your own fairy house. All skill levels. Children age 10 and up are welcome with a parent. $65. Sunday, Aug. 29, 1-4 p.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Fashion Week Bling with Mimi Beasley of Amulet

Create your own beautiful statement jewelry to wear to the runway shows. $85. Thursday, Aug. 26, 6-9 p.m.

ARROW CREATIVE

Good Juju Elvis Shrine

Write your wish and leave it at the foot of the temporary exhibit. You can also make your own king mug and relax with a glass of wine (BYOB) as you paint your pottery. Through Aug. 31.

SEIZE THE CLAY

MGAL Member Showcase and Sale View and purchase artwork by members of the Memphis Germantown Art League. Through Aug. 31.

WKNO.ORG

Muddy Friday: Wine Goblets and Beer Steins

Create beautiful drinking vessels with Becky K. Blackburn. $75.

Friday, Aug. 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

ARROW CREATIVE

Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center Art Show and Auction

Access more than 75 pieces of artwork by children in the community, who receive OT services, and professional artists. Thursday, Aug. 26-Aug. 29.

32AUCTIONS.COM/RKSTC2021

Senior Studio: Mosaics for the Garden

Design and create your own piece with Creative Aging and teaching artist Kristi Duckworth. Thursday, Aug. 26, 1:30 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

The Movable Collection Artist Talk Series

Artist talks featuring Carol Buchman and Carl Moore. Thursday, Aug. 26, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

UACMEM.ORG

“Victoria Dubourg FantinLatour: Delicious Still Life” Curator will speak on topic via Zoom. Wednesday, Sept. 1, noon.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

WE Gallery

Gallery benefiting artists.

Through Aug. 31.

WOMAN’S EXCHANGE OF MEMPHIS

C O M E DY

Lester Bibbs

Friday, Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m. Second performance on Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m. $20.

CHUCKLES COMEDY CLUB

Precious J

Two nights of comedy with headliner Precious J. $20.

Friday, Aug. 27, 8 p.m.

THE COMEDY JUNT

COM M U N ITY

Altown Skatepark Community Cleanup

Bring gloves, trash bags, and gardening tools for the cleanup and talk about the skatepark’s future.

Sunday, Aug. 29, 2-5 p.m.

ALTOWN SKATEPARK

Be a Good Neighbor Vaccination Series

Those that receive their vaccine will get a free cold beverage and hotdog. Tuesday, Aug. 31, 3-6 p.m.

GREENLAW COMMUNITY CENTER

Keepers of the Dream Award Applications

Honors students in grades 6-12. Award winners will be highlighted during the Freedom Award Student Forum. Apply online. Due by Sept. 10.

FREEDOMAWARD.CIVILRIGHTSMUSEUM. ORG

Pledge to Protect 901 Community Walk

Grassroots and nonprofit organizations, activists, government agencies, education, and healthcare organizers bring awareness to stand against gun violence.

Saturday, Aug. 28, 9 a.m.

Choose901: Block Party

Celebrate the 901 under the streamers for an evening of entertainment featuring DJs, dancing, food trucks, and more festive fun to commemorate the occasion. Wednesday, Sept. 1, 4-9 p.m.

EDGE PLAZA

World Championship Hot Wing Contest & Festival Sample wings from more than 70 competition teams, benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis. $15. Saturday, Aug. 28, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

LIBERTY BOWL STADIUM

Calling all seniors for #SeniorEdition walking club. Earn a free Fitbit after a month of walking.

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 8-9 a.m.

CORNER OF MISSISSIPPI AND GAITHER

F E ST IVA L

901 Day: Exposure

Citywide celebration featuring live entertainment, giveaways, local bites, and several organizations representing our city’s landscape of social, civic, recreational, and entertainment offerings. Wednesday, Sept. 1, 5-6:30 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

GRACELAND

Movie Go Presents: Indie Film Night & Award Show See some of the most talented producers, screenwriters, and directors. Enjoy indie films, performances, giveaways, food, and more. $10. Sunday, Aug. 29, 7-10 p.m.

HEIGHT LOUNGE

Stripes: 40th Anniversary Also screening at Collierville Towne Cinema. $15. Sunday, Aug. 29, 3 p.m.

MALCO PARADISO CINEMA GRILL & IMAX

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH BROAD

South Memphis Senior Walking Club

the Walt Disney Archives.” $25.

Saturday, Aug. 28, 6-10 p.m.

F I LM

The Show

Arthouse Film Series: After Hours

A possible romantic encounter devolves into a chain of worst-case scenarios. $5. Thursday, Aug. 26, 7:30 p.m.

Welcome to the British nightmare, with its flesh, tinsel, and monsters. $15. Thursday, Aug. 26, 7 p.m.

MALCO PARADISO CINEMA GRILL & IMAX

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

FO O D A N D D R I N K

Classic Film Trash With Steve Ross: Duel in the Sun

Boots & BBQ Gala

Screening and discussion about overproduced epic Western film trash. Thursday, Aug. 26, 7 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Dinner & Dive-In Movie: The Lion King A family evening with dinner, a movie, and a tour of the “Inside

Benefiting The Arc of Northwest Mississippi. $50. Saturday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m.

LANDERS CENTER

Southern Belles Inc: Sip, Shop, Brunch

Enjoy food, music, games, prizes,

continued on page 18

WWW.MEMPHISMUSEUMS.ORG

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Memphis Museum of Science & History

Laser light shows in the Planetarium, Friday nights at 7PM, 8:30PM, 10PM

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

FAB FRIDAYS

17

CALENDAR: AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 1

PRESENTED BY

PRESENTED BY

OCT. 23

RIDGEWAY

8 A.M. CENTER 105KMILER 8:30 A.M. EARLY BIRD

T. 3 P 10 MILER - $45 5K RUN/WALK - $25 E RS YOUTHVILLAGES5K.ORG FTE A Y! ES DA AS O E T R INC TER S G I N G ICI RE PR

continued from page 17 shopping, and bottomless mimosas. Sunday, Aug. 29, 11 a.m.

TOP OF THE LINE BANQUET HALL

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

Tai Chi

Classes held near Woodland Discovery Playground. $8.

Wednesdays, 3 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

Yoga

Weather permitting. Free.

Saturday, Aug. 28, 10:30 a.m.

August 26-September 1, 2021

Home Furnishings Everything from Leather, Jewelry, Sports, kitchen, Vintage,Primitive, Mid-century, Furn.,Glassware,Rugs and ART The Biggest Estate Sale in Midsouth

SALE thru Sept 3 3455 Summer Ave 11-5 Closed Labor Day Weekend

18

Memphis Fashion Week

Original poetry developed in Orpheum workshops focusing on how today’s actions impact the future and the legacy that will be left behind. Saturday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m.

Rainbow Rumble

Drag performances hosted by Moth Moth Moth. $10. Saturday, Aug. 28, 8:30 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

We help Mid-South nonprofits succeed.

Heritage Building Supply Grand Reopening Celebration

History Around Memphis Poetry Slam

THE ORPHEUM

901.726.5725 momentumnonprofit.org

AUTOZONE DOME PLANETARIUM

P E R F O R M I N G ARTS

WOLFRIVER.ORG

PAR K I N R E AR

toddauction@gmail.com Todd’s Auction Services • TAL 591 aquaTreasures Estate Sales 901-488-0640 Helen/Lamar Todd CHECK Facebook and website for updates www.aquaTreasures.com

Three shows nightly, Dark Side of the Moon at 7 p.m., Welcome to the Machine at 8:30 p.m., and The Wall at 10 p.m. $10.

Friday, Aug. 27, 7 p.m.

Items salvaged from some of Memphis’ most iconic buildings and homes reopens at a new location featuring live music by Bailey Bigger, shopping, and supporting historic preservation. Saturday, Aug. 28, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

A discussion on the diverse world of insects and their interactions with plants. Thursday, Aug. 26, 10:30 a.m.

3455 Summer Ave

Test your Disney knowledge and compete for prizes during an evening at the Graceland Exhibition Center, home to the “Inside the Walt Disney Archives.” Free.

Thursday, Aug. 26, 7-9 p.m.

L E CT U R E

Ladybugs, Fireflies, and More

Public Auction Sat. Aug 21, 5:30

Adult Disney Trivia Night

Fab Friday Laser Shows: Pink Floyd

ST. PATRICK’S CHURCH

DO GOOD. BETTER.

S P EC IA L EVE NTS

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Virtual and in-person, with a focus on residents of South Memphis, but all are welcome.

Thursday, Aug. 26, 5:30-7 p.m.

Spillit Slam: Just Like the Movies

Tell your story about life’s most cinematic moments. $10.

Friday, Aug. 27, 7-10 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Save1Pet Benefit

Featuring music, silent auction, and adoptable pets. $10.

Sunday, Aug. 29, 3 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

S PO R TS

GRACELAND

South Memphis Financial Summit

Antiques & Collectibles Showcase of Estates

To stand against gun violence, First Baptist Church will host the Pledge to Protect 901 Community Walk.

HERITAGE BUILDING SUPPLY

Join Arrow Creative for a tour of the new location, runway show, designer networking, parties, and more celebrating fashion. $150/VIP pass, $60/EMDP general admission, $60/Fashion Night Out. Wednesday, Aug. 25-Aug. 28.

Forrest Spence 5k

Benefiting the Forrest Spence Fund. Saturday, Aug. 28, 8 a.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

Memphis 901 FC vs.

OKC Energy FC

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 11 a.m.

AUTOZONE PARK

Memphis Redbirds vs.

Columbus Clippers Tuesday, Aug. 24-Aug. 29.

AUTOZONE PARK

T H EAT E R

Days of Rage

Young revolutionaries who are disavowed with the status quo search to make change.

Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m. $42. Through Sept. 19.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

Hello, Dolly!

In 1890s, bold, brassy, and enchanting widow Dolly Levi is a socialite-turned-matchmaker.

Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., and Sundays, 2 p.m. $35.

Through Sept. 19.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Now I Am Alone

Performance written by Shakespeare, conceived and performed by Geoffrey Owens.

Friday, Aug. 27-Sept. 4.

HATTILOO THEATRE

ARROW CREATIVE

TO U R S

National Civil Rights Museum’s 30th Anniversary Celebration

Moonlight Classic Bike Tour

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

Extended hours through Labor Day, free admission on 9/25, opportunities to share your memories, and a special fall exhibition. Through Sept. 25.

Enjoy a family-friendly fun ride through the heart of Memphis by moonlight, benefiting Mid-Southerners who receive services through Meritan. $50.

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oaf isn’t your average slice of Thailand, Laos, Taiwan, Malaysia, and food truck.

Singapore on his trip. “I was sitting as “Our style of cuisine I would close to the kitchen as I could, watching describe as New American everything and figuring out how I could with a focus on Memphis and deep recreate it.”

South dishes,” says Loaf chef/co-owner Back in Memphis, Carm started a Kale Carm. “Also, inspiration from a pop-up called Round Table Food at lot of influences and ingredients from Lamplighter and Launch Process Coffee. immigrant communities in Memphis.”

“I would pick a different style of cuisine Loaf, which opened about two months that we didn’t have in Memphis. Like, I did ago behind First Congregational Church Japanese home cooking.” at 1000 Cooper Street, features a variety In 2019, Carm moved to Austin, Texas, of unique offerings, including Carm’s take where he worked as a cook at Uchi, a fine on an East African collard greens dish he dining Japanese restaurant, until he was learned how to make in Kenya. “It’s collard furloughed after the pandemic hit. greens cut thin and quickly braised. It’s Back in Memphis, he began cooking not like our collard greens. It’s soft, but a for First Congo Food Justice Program, little body to it.” which provides Instead of ham home-cooked hocks, Carm meals to those uses chile ancho, in need. Carm a dried chili. “It purchased a food has a smoky, truck to continue umami flavor.” preparing The Tomato food while Tomate, a the church’s PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE seasonal item, is commercial Zack Sunda, Kale Carm, “a play on that kitchen Rachel Elfezouaty, Fatima Bahloul classic Southern was under tomato renovation. sandwich … just a slice of fresh tomato The name fits perfectly. “Our truck is with mayonnaise and salt and pepper. a renovated Airstream. It looks like a big But instead of pepper, it’s based on loaf.” And, Carm says, “I am a bit of a Oaxacan mole negro. I take mole loaf. I’m a little lazy.” sauce, dehydrate it, and grind it into a He and his business partner Nick powder.” He uses McCormick mayo.

Riley operate the truck. “Our tagline is “It’s the No. 1 mayonnaise you find in ‘Modern Memphis Cuisine.’ I really want Mexican and Central American homes.” to give back to … and honor Memphis Carm was a “very adventurous” eater as much as I can.” growing up in Memphis, but after trying Loaf offers a range of exotic fare, but sushi for the first time at age 10, he says the Memphis Honey Gold fried chicken he “got into eating the most far-out sandwich — a thigh dipped in honey things I could find.” gold sauce — is the most popular item.

He began cooking professionally “Memphis is known as a city for barbecue, five years ago to earn money for a trip but Memphis has the highest-quality to Southeast Asia. He asked his friends chicken wings. Honey gold sauce is a who own Lamplighter Lounge, “Can I very Memphis-y chicken wing thing, so I bring some food up here and sell it on translated that to our honey gold sandwich.”

Friday night?”

Carm once took the sauce for He made pupusas, which are “like a granted. “I didn’t realize it was a Central American pancake but made Memphis thing until I moved to Texas with corn masa instead of flour and and I couldn’t get it anywhere.” usually stuffed with beans and cheese Honey gold sauce is “something and pan-fried.” pretty much every wing shop in He also made Thai curries. “I was Memphis has.” And, Carm says, “It just going to Thailand and wanted to get a seems very Memphis to me.”

To see Loaf’s menu, go to eat.loaf on feel for the food I was about to eat.”

Instagram.

Carm took notes in restaurants in

19

FILM By Chris McCoy

A Night at the Opera Adam Driver sings in Sparks’ brilliant rock opera Annette.

T

August 26-September 1, 2021

he music of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, better known as the band Sparks, has always invited the descriptor “cinematic.”

Maybe it’s their elaborate arrangements or Ron’s literate, self-aware lyrics. Or maybe it’s their album covers, which always hinted at little stories, like Propaganda, where they were bound and gagged in the back of a speedboat, apparently being taken by unseen kidnappers to be dumped in international waters. Why? Who knows. That’s Sparks for you.

As detailed in Edgar Wright’s excellent documentary The Sparks Brothers, the Maels, who started in the late 1960s, had their first hit in the glam rock era, and practically invented synth-pop, took to music videos like fish to water. At the end of the MTV ’80s, they tried to expand into film with hot new director Tim Burton, pitching a musical version of the manga Mai, the Psychic Girl. It sounded impossibly weird back then, especially once Burton became the biggest filmmaker in the world with Batman, and it never came to fruition. But looking back from 2021, where Japanese manga and anime artists have conquered the globe,

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the idea seems way ahead of its time. Again, that’s Sparks for you.

With Wright’s doc premiering at Sundance and getting wide release, it seems finally, 50 years into their career, Sparks’ time has come. (Of course, the film had the misfortune of premiering the same year as Oscar-shoo-in Summer of Soul, which is perfectly on-brand for the band’s snakebite career.) Now the brothers have finally gotten to fulfill their big screen musical ambitions with Annette, a long-brewing collaboration with French director Leos Carax. It’s beautiful, elaborate, obtuse, uncompromising, and either ahead of its time or outside of the concept of time. In other words, it’s very Sparks.

Annette stars Adam Driver as Henry McHenry, a comedian in the perpetually aggrieved style of Lenny Bruce, who falls deeply in love with opera singer Ann Defrasnoux, played by Marion Cotillard. After a whirlwind (and extremely horny) courtship and marriage, the couple gives birth to Annette, a beautiful baby girl played for most of the movie by a puppet. But there’s trouble in paradise.

Ann’s ex is her accompanist

Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) and Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard) are parents to a baby played by a wooden puppet.

(Simon Helberg), and his continued presence brings out Henry’s jealous side. Meanwhile, Henry’s new show “The Ape of God” — which is little more than Henry lashing out at the audience — is bombing, while Ann’s career is taking off. Things come to a head when a drunken Henry sails the couple’s yacht into a storm.

Then the really weird stuff starts.

About halfway through Annette, I turned to my wife and said, “Adam Driver is our Brando.” The guy is good at everything from stealing the show as Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy to embodying the gawky, quiet poet in Paterson. Annette proves he’s game for anything.

It’s like Brando singing in Guys and Dolls, only instead of appearing in a popular Broadway musical, it’s a deeply weird, experimental glam rock opera. Who else would risk their career for this? Who else could pull it

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FILM By Chris McCoy off so well?

Speaking of pulling it off, a few minutes later I said to my wife, “Wow, he sure is shirtless a lot.” Carax knows he’s got two of the most beautiful people on the planet, and he’s not afraid to shoot them in all their glory, with sex scenes that look like Caravaggio paintings. Did I mention they’re singing during the sex scenes?

Carax isn’t afraid of anything. The visuals are just as striking and experimental as the music. He puts his stars on the back of a real motorcycle, singing into the wind with no helmets. The emo-

tions are big and brash, flirting with the outlandish, until it comes to a boil in an absolute barn burner of a final scene.

Annette is going to be called “too weird” by a lot of people whose favorite films involve space wizards and flying men in tights, but for me, it was the perfect amount of weird. In an industry that promises magic but delivers conformity, it’s a fresh breath of originality. That’s Sparks for you.

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SR. SYSTEM SPECIALIST (IT Service Management & Network Operations Center) needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN. Must have Bachelor’s in Comp Sci or related & 5 yrs of Incident, Problem, & Change management exp, including: Utilizing Service Manager Automation X (SMAX) app for Incident, Problem, Change, Service Requests, Workflow, & reporting; Monitoring tools HP Operations Manager i (OMi), Grafana, SolarWinds, SiteScope, Dynatrace; Analyzing technical functionality of IT outage components (apps, infrastructure, firewall & database) to identify root cause; Reviewing Change Requests for authorization, participating in CAB meetings, producing Change Management metrics & KPIs; Communicate effectively w/ stakeholders using appropriate language about major IT incidents. ITIL v3 foundations certification required. Fax resumes to DeAngelo at 901-495-8207 (ref #921). EOE SR. SYSTEMS ENGINEER (DevOps) needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN. Must have Bachelor’s in Comp Sci, MIS or related & 7 yrs of software development or support exp, including: Designing/developing/ supporting high volume 24/7 customer facing applications; Utilizing Spring Boot, WebLogic/ JBoss, Apache/Nginx, CDN (Akamai/Cloudflare), ATG, Endeca, Linux/Unix, RDBMS; API Gateway & Cloud installations; Exp leading an engineering team; Troubleshooting critical production issues spanning applications/ infrastructure & tuning high volume online apps; CI, CD & Automation tools Jenkins & Ansible. Fax resumes to DeAngelo at 901-495-8207 (ref #922). EOE

SYSTEMS ENGINEER (Infrastructure - Unix Systems) needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN. Must have Bachelor’s in Comp Sci or related & 5 yrs of exp supporting Unix/ Linux systems, including: Data center infrastructure w/ focus on supporting day-to-day operations; OS platforms AIX, CentOS, & Red Hat; Testing, validating, & improving disaster recovery procedures; Installing & supporting database (Oracle, DB2, MySQL) & middleware application packages (Apache, Tomcat, Java); Infrastructure automation w/Korn & Bourne shell scripting; Creating & managing file systems (NFS, extX, jfsX, ASM cluster), Volume groups, & logical volumes on SAN (IBM, Hitachi Storage). Must be avail. for after-hours/weekend support as needed. Fax resumes to DeAngelo at 901-495-8207 (ref #919). EOE

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SYSTEMS ENGINEERQuality Engineering needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN. Must have Bachelor’s in Comp Sci, MIS or related & 5 yrs of Quality Assurance exp. Must include at least 3 yrs of retail domain and e-commerce exp, including: Utilizing Rest Assured, SoapUI, Postman for API testing; Point of Sale (POS) automation & testing; Automating mobile applications using Appium & cloud platform; CI/CD using Jenkins & Docker containers; Working in Agile environment using Jira; Configuration management tools GIT & SVN; Designing automation frameworks using Java Selenium & Ruby Cucumber. Fax resumes to DeAngelo at 901-495-8207 (ref #923). EOE

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T H E L A S T W O R D B y B r y c e W. A s h b y a n d M i c h a e l J . L a R o s a

Tempest-Tost Welcoming immigrants is a core value of the United States.

THE LAST WORD

Vice President Harris, early last month, traveled to Guatemala and directed the people there, “do not come” (to the United States); she actually said it twice, for emphasis. This statement was off, stylistically; historically, it’s neither an inspiring message nor a reflection of the traditional mission of the United States of America. More importantly, it fails to address the needs of our nation at this moment.

The vice president delivered that particular message with an eye toward domestic politics.

The Biden Administration has wisely overturned some of the more egregious anti-immigration measures laid down by the previous president. For example, we’re no longer constructing a costly and unnecessary “China Style” wall between the U.S. and Mexico. But the current administration seems far too focused on a strategy designed to please the inflexible right on immigration. President Obama tried to placate these people, and that strategy failed, spectacularly, to produce any congressional action on our long-outdated immigration policy.

Pushing domestic politics aside, the longer historical arc is important here: The United States helped overthrow Guatemala’s democratically elected government in 1954, which triggered a 36-year civil war that led to about 300,000 deaths in the tiny Central American nation. The U.S. then oxygenated that war by supporting some of the most reprehensible tyrants in the hemisphere, including General Efraín Ríos Montt, accused (and convicted) by a Guatemala Court of genocide.

“Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.” The inspiring language inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, penned by Emma Lazarus, does not include the words “Do Not Come.” The United States must continue to act as a hopeful beacon where a more perfect union is possible to people from all over the world, especially to people in the western hemisphere where America’s actual priorities and policies have often (as noted above) had deleterious consequences for ordinary people.

Central American nations like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are ruled by corrupt autocrats, and de facto rule has been ceded to criminal gangs who profit through narcotics and arms transfers. There are few options other than the United States for a person who wants a better life. Mexico, struggling with its own economic deterioration and chaotic rule, has never had an especially enlightened immigration policy toward its southern neighbors. Mexico “was” a destination for refugees escaping Nazi Europe as well as Spain during the dreary Spanish Civil war and fascist take-over (1936-1975), but poor, indigenous peoples from below its southern border? Mexico has been reluctant, historically, to roll out the bienvenido mat for those folks.

Moreover, the current minimum wage in Mexico, a relatively well-off nation (an “upper-middle income country,” according to official economic wonky classifications), fails to offer much of a path out of poverty. Its minimum wage is 7.10 (dollars, converted) per day despite being the 15th largest economy in the world.

Our federal national minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but driving down Union Avenue here in Memphis, a McDonald’s posted marquee advertises job openings starting at $13.50 per hour.

We could, now and in the future, benefit from “more” not less immigration. We’ve all noticed how there’s an acute labor shortage right now in the USA and plenty of people are willing to work, if given the opportunity.

This is not a clarion call for “open borders.” It’s a reflection of our historic need for labor. Sadly, we have an inflexible labor/ immigration system that allows labor shortages to metastasize while profit, productivity, and economic gains (in certain sectors of the economy) stall. In the past, Republicans led by the Chamber of Commerce-wing of the party and liberals found common ground in reforming our immigration system by seeking to create a nimbler system that paired the need for labor with the desire to provide opportunity for those arriving at our borders. That wing of the Republican party, however, is now dead. Replaced with shortsighted nationalists.

Given our need for labor and our historical role as a welcoming home for new immigrants who energize and remake our collective culture, the national leadership’s message of “do not come” to our neighbors is problematic. There is little appetite for the type of federal structural reform needed to fix this problem, but our local leadership can move us in the right direction with a different message.

Come! We need immigrants here in Memphis who want to live here, study here, work here, and contribute to the overall fabric of society. It’s pretty simple. Welcoming immigrants is a basic, essential core value of this nation, and if we as a nation are unable currently to live up to that promise of America, then we as Memphians should lead until the rest of the country catches up.

Bryce Ashby is a Memphis-based attorney and the board chair of Latino Memphis. Michael LaRosa teaches history at Rhodes College.

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