OUR 1457TH ISSUE 01.26.17
DESHAUNE MCGHEE Classified Advertising Manager BRENDA FORD Classified Sales Administrator classifieds@memphisflyer.com LYNN SPARAGOWSKI Distribution Manager ROBBIE FRENCH Warehouse and Delivery Manager BRANDY BROWN, JANICE GRISSOM ELLISON, ZACH JOHNSON, KAREN MILAM, RANDY ROTZ, LOUIS TAYLOR WILLIAM WIDEMAN Distribution THE MEMPHIS FLYER is published weekly by Contemporary Media, Inc., 460 Tennessee Street, Memphis, TN 38103 Phone: (901) 521-9000 | Fax: (901) 521-0129 letters@memphisflyer.com www.memphisflyer.com CONTEMPORARY MEDIA, INC. KENNETH NEILL Chief Executive Officer MOLLY WILLMOTT Chief Operating Officer JEFFREY GOLDBERG Director of Business Development BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Editorial Director KEVIN LIPE Digital Manager LYNN SPARAGOWSKI Distribution Manager JACKIE SPARKS-DAVILA Events Manager KENDREA COLLINS Marketing/Communications Manager BRITT ERVIN Email Marketing Manager ASHLEY HAEGER Controller CELESTE DIXON Accounting Assistant JOSEPH CAREY IT Director KALENA MCKINNEY Receptionist
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1456TH ISSUE
20<30:
FREE IUDs
CHO CES
Memphis Center for Reproductive Health
1726 Poplar Avenue Memphis, TN 38104 901/274-3550 www.memphischoices.org
THE CLASS OF 2017
m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m
JUSTIN RUSHING Advertising Director CARRIE O’GUIN HOFFMAN Advertising Operations Manager JERRY D. SWIFT Advertising Director Emeritus KELLI DEWITT, CHIP GOOGE Senior Account Executives ALEX KENNER Account Executive ROXY MATTHEWS Sales Assistant
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CONTENTS
CARRIE BEASLEY Senior Art Director CHRISTOPHER MYERS Advertising Art Director JEREMIAH MATTHEWS, BRYAN ROLLINS Graphic Designers
Hep C
JUSTIN FOX BURKS
BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Editor SUSAN ELLIS Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER, MICHAEL FINGER Senior Editors TOBY SELLS Associate Editor CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor CHRIS SHAW Music Editor RICHARD J. ALLEY Book Editor CHRIS DAVIS, JOSHUA CANNON, MICAELA WATTS Staff Writers JESSE DAVIS, LESLEY YOUNG Copy Editors JULIE RAY Calendar Editor
Last week, the Flyer threw a party to celebrate its 20<30 Class of 2017. It was held at the Old Dominick Distillery on Front Street, yet another old downtown building being beautifully and creatively retrofitted. Three hundred folks showed up, most of them young and full of sass, hope, and dreams. And Memphis has a lot to be hopeful about, if these young people are an indication of the talent pool living here. I was blown away by the diversity, the brains, and the ambition on display in that room. And then I met Senator Brian Kelsey. I’m kidding. Well, not about meeting Brian Kelsey. We did meet, and it wasn’t as awkward as either of us probably expected, given that I have written some less than complimentary things about the man’s politics. I congratulated him on his work with fellow senator — and Democrat — Lee Harris on behalf preserving our Memphis Sand aquifer, and we chatted pleasantly for a few moments with a mutual friend. And that gives me hope, too. I’m sure that I’ll have plenty of reasons to criticize Kelsey’s politics in the future, but it’s always a good thing when political opponents can find common ground — or water, in this case. That’s the way things used to work, before we all got funneled into our ideological information silos, before the era of fake news and “alternative facts.” A couple days later, on Saturday, the Memphis Women’s March brought hope to thousands more people in downtown Memphis. It was a cathartic and BUSKERS & #BABYKILLERS P6 / NORRIS FOR GOVERNOR? P8 COLLAGE’S RISE P31 / SCORSESE’S SILENCE P34 energizing demonstration, one that was replicated all over the globe, as women and their allies served notice 01.19.17 they wouldn’t quietly surrender to the FREE forces of regression that have taken power in the nation’s capitol. It’s easy to discount the power of protests, but people taking to the streets drove President Lyndon Johnson into retirement — and eventually ended the Vietnam War and helped bring down Richard Nixon. Change can happen from the bottom up. Sometimes we forget that. Now we have a president who lies like others breathe. I don’t think it’s a moral failing in Donald Trump’s case; Our annual look at 20 young Memphians who I think it’s a mental illness, a crippling are making the city a better place. narcissistic disorder. How else to explain his going into CIA headquarters and trying to gaslight intelligence workers? Who does that? Trump told them he hadn’t attacked or disparaged them. A lie. He said his Inauguration crowd was the largest in history. A lie. He said he’d been on the cover of Time magazine more than anyone else. A lie. He even lied about whether it rained while he was giving his Inaugural speech. He left thinking he’d won them over, but post-speech interviews with CIA leaders and workers revealed that he’d done just the opposite. People, this president’s disconnect with reality is a serious liability for all of us — liberal and conservative. He doesn’t have any discernible principles, except self-aggrandizement. Spouting alternative facts doesn’t work when you’re running a country. This will come to a head. It may take weeks. It may take months. But this level of madness won’t stand for four years. There is precedent. In December 1973, conservative Republican Senator Barry Goldwater wrote a private note that said, “I have reason to suspect that all might not be well mentally in the White House. This is the only copy that will ever be made of N EWS & O P I N I O N this; it will be locked in my safe.” In 1974, NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 4 after nearly two years of investigations THE FLY-BY - 6 and hearings, it had become clear that POLITICS - 8 Nixon had ordered the Watergate breakEDITORIAL - 10 in to Democratic headquarters and tried VIEWPOINT - 11 COVER — “CLOWN SHOW” to cover it up. Goldwater led a delegation BY CHRIS DAVIS - 12 to the White House to tell Nixon it was over, that he’d lost Congress and needed STE P P I N’ O UT WE RECOMMEND - 16 to resign. I will not be surprised if history MUSIC - 18 repeats itself. AFTER DARK - 20 For the country’s sake, I hope it’s CALENDAR OF EVENTS - 22 sooner than later. I don’t agree with Vice TRAVEL - 31 President Mike Pence on much, but I’d FOOD - 32 much rather have a president with whom SPIRITS - 33 I disagree politically than one who is of FILM - 34 questionable sanity. C LAS S I F I E D S - 36 Bruce VanWyngarden LAST WORD - 39 brucev@memphisflyer.com
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