Memphis Flyer 11/05/2020

BEST OF MEMPHIS: THE PARTY P14

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11.05.20 • 1654TH ISSUE

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CONTENTS

BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Editor SHARA CLARK Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER Senior Editor TOBY SELLS Associate Editor CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor MICHAEL DONAHUE JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers JESSE DAVIS Copy Editor, Staff Writer JULIE RAY Calendar Editor MATTHEW J. HARRIS Editorial Assistant 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 1654TH ISSUE 11.05.20 This Election Day has been a long time coming.

For months, it has beckoned, a distant light at the end of the weirdly dark tunnel that has been the Year of Our Lord 2020. The past few weeks have been a blur of debates and non-debates, of rumor and accusation, of Joe Biden’s modest masked rallies and events, and of President Trump’s unmasked and unbridled traveling sideshows, where several times a day the president unleashed a blitz of lies, threats, complaints, whines, conspiracy theories, and rambling stories to crowds around the country. Given Biden’s favorable polling, Trump’s performances seemed less a strategy for winning new votes than an airing of grievances to his die-hard base.

But now, the fateful day is here, almost over, in fact. Millions of votes remain to be counted as I write this, but we are going to press at midnight with what we know now — and what we know now is that we have more waiting to do. The totals will be coming in for a couple of days in some states, longer in others.

We’d like to think that the American people have rejected this toxic presidency, this tragic mistake we made in 2016, but we don’t know yet. We do know that President Trump will do his best to sow chaos and unrest in the coming days, win or lose. Buckle up.

And Trump will remain in office (win or lose) until January, so there will be at least a couple more months of chaos and drama, of tweeting and conspiracy theories, and who knows what other kinds of outrages. But while we wait, we should be taking stock of how these past four years happened, how the vaunted American system of checks and balances fell apart like a cheap suit under the duress put upon it by Trump.

We’ve learned that there are intrinsic flaws that can be taken advantage of if a president just ignores the law. This is especially true if he or she is enabled by a compliant majority in either house of Congress or, as has been the case recently, by a politicized Department of Justice. The system is only as good and as honorable as the people we elect to run it.

The U.S. attorney general, for example, was intended by the Constitution to be the steward of justice and law enforcement for the people of this country, a person who would tell the president the truth and stand up for the rule of law. President Trump didn’t see it that way, and after trying several candidates who were insufficiently mewling, finally found one in Bill Barr who would supplicate himself and do Trump’s bidding like a Mafia capo. This should never happen again, whether the president is Republican or Democrat.

Under President Trump, most departments of the U.S. government have been politicized. The Education Department is being run by a woman with no education background who is in the pocket of privatized education, and who had never even been in a public school before taking office. The Centers for Disease Control, once an incorruptible and reliable fount of scientific data and medical guidance, has been turned into a disinformation and propaganda agency, forced to bury scientific data or alter it to suit the president’s agenda on COVID-19.

The State Department, once a bastion of statecraft and international diplomacy, is now merely another arm of the Trump political machine, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offering political speeches from around the globe, with trusted allies thrown aside, and dictatorial regimes propped up and stroked at the president’s bidding.

The U.S. Postal Service, a department with one job — getting Americans their mail, their medicine, their checks, their letters from loved ones — has become another political weapon, its services and workforce intentionally slowed or reduced in efficiency to serve the Trump agenda of keeping legitimate votes from reaching their destination on time. This cannot stand or be allowed to happen again.

I could go on. The Treasury, Energy, and Interior departments are run by lobbyists in the pocket of those they’re supposed to be regulating. Even the military has been politicized, used as backdrops for political rallies.

But there’s more to address: the suppression of votes — by gerrymandering, by reducing the number of voting places, by arbitrarily cutting voting rolls, by N E WS & O P I N I O N limiting the number of drop-boxes, by THE FLY-BY - 4 unnecessarily rigid voter ID laws that NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 don’t accept student IDs but will take a SPORTS - 8 gun permit. And don’t get me started on COVER STORY that quaint little Emoluments Clause.

“TOO CLOSE TO CALL!” So much to be done. So much to fix.

BY JACKSON BAKER - 10 This newly elected Congress and Senate BEST OF MEMPHIS PARTY - 14 WE RECOMMEND - 20 have a heavy lift ahead, whether or not MUSIC - 22 Trump manages to win re-election. But CALENDAR - 24 there is perhaps a new dawn of sorts on ARTS - 30 the horizon, and for that, at least, we can FOOD - 32 give thanks.

BREWS - 33 And now we wait. The hardest part.

FILM - 34 Bruce VanWyngarden C L AS S I F I E D S - 35 brucev@memphisflyer.com LAST WORD - 39

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THE

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MEMernet A roundup of Memphis on the World Wide Web. #YO U CAN B EAB CS The internet blew up last week on an Instagram post by Memphis cool kid @samuelw3. He and his dad grooved through the alphabet, naming a profession that you can be for every letter.

The original post had more than 570,000 views as of press time. But it’s gone around the country with even a Facebook share from former First Lady Michelle Obama.

C OVI D -WE E N Memphis streets were spookily empty last Saturday in a largely COVIDcanceled Halloween. But it didn’t stop some Memphis neighbors from stoking the spirit of the holiday.

Idlewild resident Regina Newman planted individual bags of candy in her yard.

November 5-11, 2020

POSTED TO NEXTDOOR BY REGINA NEWMAN

Over in Highpoint Terrace, Tony Milam slid treats through a 14-foot candy luge.

POSTED TO NEXTDOOR BY TONY MILAM

Then, there was this awesome bicycle built for two.

4 POSTED TO REDDIT BY U/FART_SUMMONER

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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells

W E E K T H AT W A S

By Flyer staff

Early Voting, CodeCrew, & the Virus Record number of Tennesseans cast ballots, tech nonprofit gets cash, and fall surge surges on.

WE E K LY VI R US C O U NTS The fall surge of new virus cases continued last week with new daily cases usually over 200.

Active cases of the virus swelled to nearly 3,000. Shelby County topped 37,000 total cases of the virus last week in another dismal milestone.

Monday: new cases - 404 total cases - 36,492, total deaths - 563 Tuesday: new cases - 301, total cases - 36,793, total deaths - 563 Wednesday: new cases - 211, total cases - 37,004, total deaths - 569 Thursday: new cases - 188, total cases - 37,129, total deaths - 570 Friday: new cases - 288, total cases - 37,480, total deaths - 571 Saturday: new cases - 284, total cases - 37,764, total deaths Clockwise from top left: Tennesseans got out and voted early in record numbers - 573 this year; the projected fall virus surge is here Sunday: new cases - 109, total cases - 37,873, total deaths - 573 The latest weekly positivity rate surged more than one casting ballots each day. If it had carried on until the end of percent from the week before. The average rate of positive early voting last Thursday, more than 2.3 million Tennessee tests for the week of October 18th was 8.7 percent. That’s voters would have voted early this year. They almost did. up over the 7.2 percent rate recorded for the week of By the end of early voting, 2,280,767 cast early ballots.

October 11th. The new weekly average rate is the highest With that, 51 percent — half of Tennessee registered voters since mid-August.

— voted early this year.

The weekly average of people testing positive for the virus In six Tennessee counties — Cheatham, Davidson, rose to a record 17.3 percent last week. The figure topped Loudon, Rutherford, Williamson, and Wilson — turnout the mid-July average of 16.8 percent. This figure is solely from early and absentee voting exceeded all turnout totals the number of people testing positive. It does not include all from 2016. tests, in which a person could be tested multiple times.

The number of contacts in quarantine rose above a record C O D EC R EW & VE R I Z O N 8,000 last week.

Memphis nonprofit CodeCrew was donated $50,000 by Active virus cases — the number people known to have Verizon to help the tech startup continue to impact the COVID-19 in the county — rose by 2,000 last week. city of Memphis. The donation also marked a partnership between Verizon and CodeCrew.

EAR LY VOTI N G “S MAS H ES” R EC O R D Through the donation, Verizon has pledged to coTennesseans hit the polls in record numbers last week to sponsor and fund CodeCrew’s after-school and summer cast their votes early in the 2020 presidential election. programs at Lester Community Center and to establish four In the first 11 days of the 14-day early voting period, new after-school programs at local schools.

Tennessee voters beat the early-voting record set in 2016, CodeCrew was founded in 2015 as a summer camp according to Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett. When program at Lester Community Center and, since then, polls closed last Monday, 1,808,546 voters had cast ballots has taught more than 2,000 thousand students across ahead of Election Day on November 3rd. The number Memphis. beat the previous record set during the 2016 presidential Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of election, when 1,689,989 voters cast early ballots.

That total showed an average of 164,413 Tennessee voters these stories and more local news.

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For Release Monday, August 20, 2018

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Crossword ACROSS

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14 French parish 36 Some detox diets priests 37 Modern college major 15 Piece of merchandise 38 Former Giants G.M. Al 16 “___ homo” 39 Big name in Art 17 Camaraderie Deco 19 Autumn spice 40 Many a time suck 20 Words to the 41 Social reformer disloyal Dorothea 21 Cheryl of “Curb 44 Comment after a Your Enthusiasm” bump 49 Caustic soda, 22 Binge-watch, chemically maybe 51 What you might 23 Like a Hail Mary charge for a ride 25 “By the way …”

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by Will Shortz Memphis Crossword Best of Edited

55 Part of many an N.Y.C. subway station wall 57 Lip 58 Video game neophyte, informally 59 Mod bottoms 60 Kvass grains 61 Workers on the hill 62 Brno-born, e.g.

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Annual “Best Of ” party continues to celebrate the city’s best.

26 Classic game 57 Georgia’s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 capital: Abbr. now sometimes 1 Australia’s national 14 15 played with 58 Approach gemstone respectfully, in “lasers” modern parlance 17 18 5 “___ Surfin’” 27 Faux money (2008 rap song) 64 Indian yogurt dish 20 21 33 Wolf Blitzer’s 66 Boys’ school 9 Lead-in to frost channel near Windsor 24 25 34 Madam’s 4 Walk back and 67 Of all time counterpart forth nervously 27 28 29 30 31 68 Ringo of the 35 Latest dope 5 What a fisherman Beatles 36 Couches 33 34 might bring home 69 Political even if he doesn’t 39 Dental problem competition It was a party (kind of) on 36 wheels Amy LaVere and (with 37 38 Will Sexton39 40 fixed by braces catch any fish (kind of) but there was no doubt all in Shawn Zorn on drums) perform 70 Farm structure attendance were the best of Memphis.

41 Annual award The results of the Memphis Flyer’s and meteorologist Ron Childers.

44 45 46 6 “Later!”

71 Weirdly spooky from Stockholm annual Best of Memphis survey hit After that, winners wound around 72 Space newsstands on a last week. A hallmark of the the back of the museum to a west-side 7 Singer Fitzgerald 44 “You said it, awards (along with the annual parking lot. There, they were treated 49 arguments 50 51 schedule brother!” about the results themselves) is our Best with cocktail pouches, Beale Street 8 Yoked animals Brewing beer, and barbecue popcorn The employees at First South Financial thank 73 Friend ofinMemphis war party.

46 Open ___ night 54 one-of- from the Rendezvous.

55 For about an The normal party is an annual, you for voting us one of the TOP 3 in the a-kind, exclusive celebration of all things hour, they could hang in their cars (comedy club 9 Weavers’ devices Memphis with the best food, the best or in distanced groups to listen to a offering) 60 booze, and the best crowd 57 comprising in performance by58 Memphis artists Amy 59 DOWN 0 Start of an equal parts of cutting-edge scenesters and LaVere and Will Sexton.

48 “Many years ___ movers and shakers in business In the cocktail line, Paula Raiford, overseas 1 Oil grp.top-level …”

64 65Paula & Raiford’s Disco,66 and politics. owner of wore telephone InCalif. the past, this party has pumped life her trademark glasses, smile, and a 2 ___ Alto, Memphis Flyer’s What a 2020 Best of Memphis Poll. into venues that were barely venues (or T-shirt featuring her father, Robert number category of the49 68 Best of 69 anything else) at the time. One Raiford. This year the club won best micromanager 3 Org. defending party rocked on the then-dead nightclub, an honor Raiford said it’s won would like to the BillMemphis of ofRights 3 Former org. for bones the Tennessee Brewery. Another for the last 11 years.

WINNER! 71 rooftop of 72for have f party found folks on the garage “I look forward to people voting James Comey 4 Move so as to Bmeesmtpohis the then-dim Sears Crosstown building me, people thinking about me, and for 54 “Yes, ma chérie” hear better, say Concourse). Another people not forgetting about me,” Raiford (now Crosstown 4 Three on a retrofitted the then-shuttered Imperial said. “Slowly but surely, you can get 55 “This might be 5 The Empire State PUZZLE

BY ERIK Bowling Lanes into a party complex with immuneAGARD to it, but everyone’s still keeping sundial of interest,” on a bands and a burlesque show.

It’s a Planet that little bright light on for me and I Building has 102 now. appreciate it.” memo 28 Musicaltruly Yoko R&B singer of themFitness 5 Test in a hospital The party pivoted this year on Back at the goodie-box45 station, concerns of COVID-19, of course.

WMCTV sports reporter Jarvisthe Greer hits “So tube, for short 56 Fish eggs 29 Alien 6 Like candles Instead of the throngs gathering under smoothed his tie and put his carSick” in park. and “M one roof to eat, drink, dance, and He’s won the best sportscaster category 30 Fix, as every an year since 1994.

7 Smart ___ Independen schmooze together, our winners drove ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE election (wiseacre) their cars through the party at the Pink “I’m just so proud and pleased that the 47whatPrincess’ Palace Museum but with plenty to still folks in Memphis think that we do 8 Human ___ 31 Picture holder celebrate. is really good,” Greer said. headwear O R N A T E D I S B A R hours to Eric Vernon, owner of The Bar-B-Q Project They arrived at assigned Dove’s Shop, sound ensure small crowds and 32 safe distancing. adjusted his mask after a brief H O T R O D S O N T I M E Winners received a Memphis Flyer goodie interview at the WMCTV49 tent. Sandpaperl He said 9 Add even more 37 Item concert box at one station. They drove through toonhea didn’t ask anyone — employees or B E E R N U T S T H E G A P criticism 50restaurant.

Bested in a another for a Best of Memphis photo op. customers — to vote for the stage A P S6 I S R O M D E L T A 10 Music genre Some paused to give live interviews with “It feels good because I knowdog we got contest WMCTV anchor/reporter JoyceTending Peterson here because of the work,” Vernon said.

38 to one’s B E T S G O F O R L E O I related to punk own well-being 51 Stopwatche Y R S C A B A R E T C A R D 11 Place to see sand clocks 40 Instagram ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE A B L U S H

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13 What an asterisk may mean 18 “Nigerian prince,” often 24 Sink 26 Some of life’s twists and turns 29 Nick of Hollywood

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by Pat Sajak

37 More sweeping 42 Book that’s the basis for the movie “What’s Love Got to Do With It”

46 River crossed in 1945’s Operation Plunder 47 Thing often described redundantly as “of the past”

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The Tigers are better than they looked against Cincinnati.

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• We’ll learn a lot about Ryan Silverfield’s motivating skills over the next

five weeks. For the first time since 2016 — Norvell’s first season as the Tigers’ head coach — Memphis isn’t playing for the American Athletic Conference championship. Saddled with two league losses, it’s highly improbable the Tigers can secure one of the league’s top two spots in the standings. (Four teams have fewer than two losses, and another pair also have two in the loss column.) But an 8-2 record beats 7-3, and the Tigers have wins in reach.

Their next two opponents (USF and Navy) have been outscored by more than 100 points each. Stephen F. Austin (November 21st) should be an FCS walkover. Then it’s Tulane (currently 3-4) Thanksgiving weekend and the season finale at home against Houston (2-2). Memphis won’t play in a New Year’s Six bowl game this season. It’s again the name on the front of their jerseys that should make the difference.

JASON WHITEMAN | MEMPHIS ATHLETICS

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he Tigers are better than they looked in Saturday’s 49-10 loss at Cincinnati. They couldn’t have looked much worse, particularly after the no-call on what appeared to be pass interference in the Bearcat end zone early in the second half. (A Memphis touchdown would have closed the Cincinnati lead to four points.)

You’re forgiven if you suffered a “Larry Porter flashback” on Halloween, 39-point losses once being more customary in these parts. But this ain’t 2011, Ryan Silverfield isn’t Larry Porter, and there’s too much talent on the Tiger roster for last weekend’s result to suggest anything more than a very good team (Cincinnati is now ranked 6th in the country), motivated to the shoulder pads (Memphis beat the Bearcats twice last season, including for the conference championship) finding its groove on home turf.

Few football teams win without a ground game, and the Cincinnati defense eliminated half of the Tiger attack, allowing merely five yards(!) on 29 carries by Memphis running backs. It’s easy to miss Kenneth Gainwell (the sophomore opted out of the season instead of attempting to repeat his 1,000-yard 2019 campaign). But it’s a good time to look carefully at the Tiger offensive line and measure its strengths (and weaknesses) with half a season yet to play. Right tackle Dylan Parham is an all-conference candidate and left tackle Obinna Eze was one of Mike Norvell’s highest-ranked recruits. Sophomore guards Isaac Ellis and Evan Fields have fewer than 10 career starts, and center Manuel Orona-Lopez was among those helping Brady White back to his feet after six sacks. These are the five players to watch this Saturday against USF. Cincinnati is the seventh-ranked defense (based on points allowed) in the country. USF is 77th. Should be a different story for the Tigers’ O-line when they square off against the Bulls.

The Memphis Tigers lost to the Cincinnati Bearcats on Halloween.

• The Tiger D is … disheartening. For years now, Memphis has been able to get away with allowing 30 points, sometimes 40, because the program has featured one of the country’s topscoring offenses. We saw Saturday how things might look if the Tiger offensive machine blows a piston. With half the season behind us, Memphis ranks 101st in total defense (556.8 yards per game). That’s out of 103 teams, and the two teams behind them (Minnesota and New Mexico) have played a combined three games. The case could be made that, right now, Memphis has the worst defense in the country. No one has more to gain (or perhaps lose) over the season’s second half than defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre. His unit hasn’t been good enough, not without the Memphis offense in highest gear.

Personnel, scheme, play calls, whatever.

Changes must be made.

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(left) Donald J. Trump and (right) Joe Biden

COVER STORY BY

JACKSON BAKER

REUTERS | MIKE SEGAR

TOO CLOSE TO CALL! America awaits the count in battleground states.

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November 5-11, 2020

rom the very beginning, it was obvious that calling the 2020 presidential election would take a while. Joe Biden was doing well enough in the nation’s suburbs to raise Democratic hopes, but Donald Trump’s re-election campaign was performing tenaciously enough to suggest that his 2016 victory was more than a fluke.

Both parties were gaining in areas where they trailed four years ago, and leads were being swapped back and forth in several key states.

Democrats seemed likely to prevail in some key Senate races, though it was uncertain whether they could close the gap with the GOP in the upper chamber.

The outlook was complicated by the fact that the president is certain to follow through on his frequently voiced threats to litigate in areas where the outcome of the vote did not turn out to his satisfaction. All in all, the main thing demonstrated by the unprecedented outpouring of votes from both halves of the American 10 electorate was that the United States of America remains profoundly disunited.

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ever before in an American national election had questions of turnout loomed so large. Both sides strained to get every one of their identifiable supporters to the polls, and not a day had gone by without President Donald Trump or his surrogates expressing over-hyped concerns about the prospect of unprecedented numbers of voters — especially via the medium of mail-in ballots, a mode of voting that was liberalized in virtually every state as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There had been big-time anxiety on both sides of the mail-in issue, as on the election results themselves. On the one hand were Trump’s daily accusations, totally without evidence, of inevitable ballot fraud and his stated refusal — as in 2016 — to accept the possibility of an unfavorable verdict by the voters; on the other hand were the fears of the Democratic opposition that Trump would stop at nothing to obstruct such a verdict. The new director of the U.S. Postal Service, a billionaire Trump donor with the Dickensian name of DeJoy, seemed determined to do his bit by decimating pre-election postal

services, reducing employee overtime, uprooting mailboxes, and destroying mail-sorting machines.

Closer to home, Tennessee state government, overwhelmingly dominated by the president’s GOP party, hunkered down in an attempted last-ditch defiance of judicial mandates that had relaxed the state’s restrictions on absentee voting.

Tre Hargett, Tennessee’s secretary of state, insisted to a congressional investigating committee that state law did not countenance fear of COVID-19 as a reason to vote absentee. “Pitiful,” responded Senator Agus King of Maine, an Independent. And reflecting both concern about the intractable virus and, as polls would indicate, a zeal for change, the applicants for mail-in ballots multiplied everywhere, as, for that matter, did the number of early voters.

So, for better or for worse, did the crowds that continued to flock to the site of mass rallies conducted by the barnstorming Donald Trump: For better, in that the president continued to be the source of legitimate mass enthusiasm on the part of his sizable hard-core base and thereby reinforced the importance

of populist energies; for worse, in the sense that each one of Trump’s showy and largely maskless assemblies threatened to be a super-spreader event to the detriment of the general health and welfare.

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mong the other rolls of escalating numbers was the one that could only be called a national casualty list: On election eve, the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States had risen past 9 million, the number of deaths was more than 230,000 at a national rate of nearly 1,000 new fatalities a day, and there was as yet no light at the end of this tunnel. The president himself, of course, had come down with the ailment; so had First Lady Melania Trump and numerous other denizens of the White House, including several members of the staff of the president and of Vice President Mike Pence.

With first-rate state-of-the-art medical facilities at their immediate disposal to facilitate recovery, they were still the lucky ones. For the rank and file of Americans, the outlook was more ominous. The Trump administration

BIDEN BY REUTERS | BRIAN SNYDER; TRUMP BY WHITEHOUSE.GOV

There was no denying that an air of crisis accrued to the presidential election of 2020.

Suddenly that non-word inadvertently coined by Warren G. Harding in the presidential campaign of 1920 has come into its own: “normalcy.” Harding was speaking in the context of a just-concluded world war of then-unprecedented savagery and, not incidentally, of a marauding virus, the Spanish influenza bug of 1917-18 that killed an estimated 100 million people worldwide.

If there is any quality that Democratic nominee Joe Biden demonstrated during his run for the presidency, it was that of being normal — not dull-normal,

as Trump’s preternaturally stolid vice president, Mike Pence, often seemed to be, but normal in the sense of having recognizable neighborly qualities. Biden lacks Trump’s capacity for theater, as he also lacks the charismatic personality of his former governmental partner, Barack Obama. But his ability to be convincing with a vernacular (or normal) phrase like “C’mon, man!” is unparalleled.

During the Democratic presidential primaries of the winter and spring, most of the score or so of Democratic presidential aspirants declared themselves on the cutting-edge side of public issues. Biden was singular in his hewing to the center. It held him back in every primary contest but the deciding one, South Carolina, when the race had narrowed down from the field at large to one of Biden versus the party progressives’ main man, Bernie Sanders.

In that context, it was both ironic and appropriate that Biden’s eventual choice of a running mate came down to Kamala Harris, the liberal California senator who had chided him in an early debate for being too willing to work across the aisle with the other side.

There was a time, back in the summer, when domestic disturbances arising from the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the ever-simmering fact of racial inequities seemed to give an electoral opportunity to Trump and the advocates of the social status quo. And there was arguable hypocrisy on the part of those participating in the demonstrations or defending them while turning a blind eye to the violence and potential superspreader aspects of them. But if polls are correct, the specter of looters has proved as irrelevant to the case of Joe Biden as has the imputation to him of socialism.

S

till, there was no denying that an air of crisis accrued to the presidential election of 2020. Conservatives did sense the onset of long-pending social and demographic changes that frighten them. Liberals did abhor the continued power and influence of a monolithic continued on page 12

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

largely eschewed a national anti-virus policy, leaving it to the individual states to devise strategies of their own insofar as they had means or inclination to do so. Bizarrely and tragically, attitudes toward the coronavirus pandemic began to bifurcate according to the nation’s political divisions, with “red” or Republican states largely following the president’s exhortations to open things up — business, schools, whatever — and “blue” Democratic states attempting in various measures to keep the clamps on overtly public activity.

For all practical purposes, the nation resembled (and still does) an isolation ward. No plays, movies, or other dramatic entertainments save those that were streamed online; meetings, too, conducted via computer; workforces operating from home; athletic events taking place without their audiences and in locations other than the cities that teams supposedly represented.

Everything was down the rabbit hole or through the looking glass.

11

continued from page 11

November 5-11, 2020

monied economic class and its attendant rampant income inequality. And Americans at large could not fail but take alarm at such existential threats as the nonstop environmental disasters — fires, hurricanes, floods — that have afflicted the country’s coasts and its heartland alike. Trump may be the most important skeptic in public life regarding the reality of climate reform.

And so it went, up until Election Day. Pulses racing in anticipation, hearts pounding in dread. This was not like the World Series or the Super Bowl. There is no “life goes on” sense in case of a loss.

It was not even like the nomination (and subsequent rushed Senate confirmation) of the conservative Amy Coney Barrett, a Rhodes College graduate, to the Supreme Court. For all the fear and trembling Democrats endured over that, some pundits were divining in it — the possibility of post-election judicial interventions notwithstanding — a silver lining: The more-than-likely nullification of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) would create both the opportunity and the incentive for a Biden administration to consider Medicare for All, and what the Court might take away from Roe v.

Wade, either the states or Washington itself would presumably have a chance to restore — or improve. A Democratic Congress and Senate would surely

12

attempt to legislate a return to the status ante quo. Meanwhile, looking forward, there might be more Democratic votes in the heartland for voters estranged from the party for a generation on social grounds.

But Trump has been Trump for four years. Millions of Americans, and not only progressives, counted it as a miracle that the country’s social fabric had held together at all during this era of persistent turmoil and raging divisiveness, amid a tweet-driven cultof-personality presidency that seemed more like a TV reality show gone amok than a process of government. None of this is to gainsay what many, and not only Republicans, will acknowledge to have been the country’s pre-pandemic economic successes — though the long tough slough back from the fiscal crash of 2007-08 was begun during the presidency of Barack Obama, Trump’s Democratic predecessor.

And Trump’s stock-market numbers, boosted by his huge corporate tax cut in late 2017, arguably signified a widening wealth gap between haves and havenots at least as much as it did a sense of general prosperity. Whatever the case, Trump could, and did, trumpet a win in the declining numbers of Black and Hispanic unemployment, as he also did (through draconian means) a measurable decrease in both legal and illegal immigration into the country. He could

Trump may be the most important skeptic in public life regarding the reality of climate reform. not, however, keep out another more powerful immigrant, a strain of highly contagious coronavirus that came to be known as COVID-19.

History may ultimately judge the Trump administration to have been snake-bit, though the bad luck (or karma) implied by that term may have been the natural consequence of the president’s penchant for snake-handling — i.e., his eccentric or risky or downright dangerous deviations from the hitherto accepted (here’s that concept again) norms of American government. All things considered, his four years to date seem in retrospect to have been favored by the indulgence of the gods.

As significant as the presidential race has been, the consequences of the 2020 election transcend what will have happened in it. The reality is that, even as you read this and possibly for weeks afterward, we may not know for sure

what direction American government will be taking henceforth. There were 11 or so Senate races that, going into the election, were regarded as being competitive. Given the near certainty that litigation of the election results will occur, it will be difficult for a time to assay the prospects for legislation or to tell who actually is in charge, or to what extent.

And, no matter who commands the technical majority, there is likely to remain some vestige of the impasse between parties that has in recent years turned self-government into something like a Cold War of the civil variety.

Though it caused him some grief, initially, as he began his primary run, Biden’s belief in reconciliation as an aim in itself would become a major selling point to the nation at large and especially to independents and Never-Trumper crossovers from the Republicans. And, though Trump had offered little but scorn to the leaders of the political opposition, his very demagogic success in appealing to working-class remnants of a onetime Democratic consensus had suggested something of a pathway across the divide.

In a true sense, factionalism — or as it is now being called, tribalism — may have run its course. As had been the case at other turning points in the nation’s history, the twain would have to meet — or else.

WINNER! of t s e Bmemphis

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

2020

13

f o t s e

Bmemphis

The votes were cast, the ballots were tallied, and it was celebration time!

While we couldn’t celebrate our 2020 Best of Memphis winners with our typical blowout party, we created a drive-through event just for these times and just for our winners, and celebrated with them on Friday, October 30th, at the Pink Palace Museum. Guests enjoyed live music from Amy LaVere and Will Sexton, tasty libations from Milagro Tequila, Fistful of Bourbon, and Beale Street Brewing, and got to enjoy their win at a safe and distanced event. Special thanks to our partners WMC-TV, who broadcast live all afternoon from the event, and to our event partners — European Wax, Beale Street Brewing, Milagro Tequila, and Fistful of Bourbon. Head to the Flyer Flyer’s’s Facebook page for a full album of pictures from the event!

November 5-11, 2020

Photos by Don Perry and Cole Wheeler

The Party!

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(l to r) Amy LaVere, Shawn Zorn, and Will Sexton

New Wing Order

Kontji Anthony, WMC

Victor Sawyer, Lucky 7 Brass Band

Paula Raiford, Paula & Raiford’s Disco

Wizard’s

BEST OF MEMPHIS 2020 m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

Yo Clark, Any Body Yoga

Julie Upchurch, McWaters & Associates

Joe Birch, WMC

Stax Museum

Continued on page 16

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Continued from page 15

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798 S. Cooper St. • (901) 315-5350 www.croneconstruction.net

Continued on page 18

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2020

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Continued from page 16

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steppin’ out (& stayin’ in)

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Resin Ability

Mathew J. Zachariah’s plastics become art.

By Julie Ray

COURTESY OF MATHEW JOSEPH ZACHARIAH

Mathew Joseph Zachariah was told as a child that he had an allergy to plastic. As an adult, Zachariah learned his mom was allergic to plastic. Wanting to spare her son the adverse allergic reaction she experienced, an overabundance of caution was exercised. Zachariah is not allergic to plastic.

“How ironic that now I own a plastics recycling company and create art with post-industrial plastics,” he says.

Zachariah is a scientist who one day took notice of the colors in his product. After 28 years in the recycling business, for the first time, he saw the processed orange safety cones, red auto tail lights, green city trash bins, and clear blue water cooler bottles in the form of shavings, pellets, and re-grinds as a tool and not a product. Maybe it was the result of moving from Flint, Michigan, to Memphis and living among creatives in Crosstown Concourse for the past two years.

However it happened, Zachariah has been creating mosaics with his product. He talks about his art in industrial terms — HTPE and nylon 66. Then, he suddenly stops.

“I’ve realized that art is emotional,” concedes Zachariah, who says he’s learned to speak differently about his art.

“And not just for the observer. It’s therapeutic for me. My hand has been on every piece, placed with love on the canvas giving my product a second life.”

Meet Zachariah online or in person for an artist talk on Friday. Be sure to ask about the hidden images in his art.

ARTIST TALK FOR MATHEW JOSEPH ZACHARIAH, JAY ETKIN GALLERY, 942 COOPER, AND ONLINE FROM JAY ETKIN GALLERY FACEBOOK LIVE, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 5-7 P.M.

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Artist Reception for “Magellan’s Medicine” Buckman Arts Center at St. Mary’s School, 60 N. Perkins Extended, Friday, Nov. 6, 5-7 p.m., free Exhibition of ceramics hand-painted with a variety of modified medical tools in motifs that celebrate the culture of the Mediterranean and Western Asia by Dr. Malini Gupta.

All pieces are mounted on 24-inchby-24-inch wooden board and ready to hang.

Wine Down: Virtual Edition dixon.org, Friday, Nov. 6, 7 p.m., $25-$60 members, $35-$70 nonmembers Instructed by Charlie Purpura, certified specialist of wine at Buster’s Liquors and Wines. Tickets purchased in advance include wine and an appetizer pairing.

“Million Dollar Art Exhibit” Mid-South Artist Gallery, 2945 Shelby, Saturday, Nov. 7, 6-9 p.m., free View paintings by Gauguin, Picasso, and Rembrandt, plus work by area artists benefiting St. Elisabeth’s Andrews Charity. Wine and light refreshments will be served.

Agape Heartlight: We are a Movement agapemeanslove.org, Friday, Nov. 6, 7-9 p.m., free A celebration of Agape’s 50th anniversary of serving children and families in Memphis. Featuring performances, speakers, and a silent auction.

Opening Reception for Kelly Fischer Medicine Factory, 85 W. Virginia, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2:30-5 p.m., free Exhibition of semi-abstract, expressionist portraits noted for color and texture, which imbue them with a feeling of spontaneity.

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Optic Sink

COURTESY OPTIC SINK

Optic Sink: Ben Bauermeister and Natalie Hoffmann

MUSIC By Alex Greene

Confronting the heavy wheels running us down.

N

atalie Hoffmann is on unfamiliar terrain, and that’s just where she likes it. It’s a gray, treacherous landscape where the boundaries between human and machine are not so clear.

And that tension between the heart and the gears, between our souls and the clockworks in which we’re caught, makes for music that’s both thoughtprovoking and, somehow, fun.

This is not a new project by NOTS, the group she’s better-known for, but Optic Sink, her duo with Ben Bauermeister (Magic Kids, Toxie, A55 Conducta), where she sets aside her guitar in favor of stark electronic minimalism, mixing both sequenced and freestyle synthesizer lines with clean, cold drum machine beats and a touch of percussion. In an age where we’re all at the mercy of algorithms and hidden networks of power, their new self-titled debut on Goner Records captures the zeitgeist beautifully.

Memphis Flyer: The feeling of this alienated voice struggling to be human while caught in the gears seems especially appropriate during this election season. It seems you take that subject head-on with “Personified,” where you sing, “plain hate/personified/under your heavy wheels/are we alone?”

Natalie Hoffmann: I was trying to express this idea of how things ripple throughout the country and affect people’s way of thinking and actions. So if hate is on display at the magnitude that it is with Trump, then of course that’s going to embolden more hate in our country from his supporters. The trickle-down effect is on display. And then you see things like Fox News, and it’s like a wheel. That’s where the “heavy wheel” part of that song comes from.

Your voice on this record is like a deadened character in an automated landscape.

I really like the tension of a more human voice that is sounding pretty machine-like, but mixed with these actual machines. And I like the tension between a sequencer [playing automated patterns of notes] with stuff that I play completely by hand. And Ben has that going on, too, with his drum machine parts mixed with his live percussion overdubs.

In the song “Girls in Gray,” it’s like you’re both protesting the machine and being assimilated into it.

“Girls in Gray” is about women in power who use that power against other women. Unfortunately, we’re seeing that on display right now, too. “They laugh at all other pain,” which could mean being bullied at school, and of course that’s what’s happening on a larger scale, when women who come into power think it’s their job to tell

other women what to do with their bodies or how they should live.

How did Optic Sink get started?

I always give Chris Williams and Amy Schaftlein a shoutout, and their Sonosphere podcast. They’re really the ones who got me to play a show. When I started writing these songs, I didn’t know what to do with a sequencer, but it was exciting to learn it. Just learning the process had a huge influence on this record. We recorded onto tape with Andrew McCalla at Bunker Audio. Andrew usually does really guitar-driven music. So having him doing this cold electronic thing, but through his setup, added a whole other layer to our theme of the human/machine.

There’s a more intimate, personal side to the album, too, like the closing track, “Set Roulette.”

That song is pretty heavy with the tension between wanting to feel hopeful and feeling stuck. Whether it’s grief or a mental health condition, or whatever cycle you find yourself stuck in. It could be a more political cycle, of being depressed by the state of things right now. It applies to all of that at once. I wanted those lyrics to contrast with the synth. It’s a sequenced pattern, but I manipulate it and give it a more human tension. Going from playing guitar, which is a more visceral thing, affects how I play synth, because I always want to mess with it [laughs].

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2020

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CALENDAR of EVENTS:

November 5 - 11

T H EAT E R

OT H E R A R T HAP P E N I N G S

Hattiloo Theatre

God’s Trombone, enjoy the original production of inspirational sermons by African-American preachers reimagined as poetry, reverberating with the musicality of spirituals. Free. Ongoing.

Sarafina!, past production about human rights in the 21st century, written by Mbongeni Ngema. Ongoing.

Iola’s Southern Fields, enjoy an online past performance drawn from the writings of Ida B. Wells. Free. Ongoing.

Art + Environmental Justice Conversation Series

Weekly series featuring Cannupa Hanska Luger and Rita Harris, Shana M. Griffin, Shanai Matteson and Clean Memphis, and UAC and Mural Arts Philadelphia speaking on topic. Free with registration. Thursdays, 6 p.m.

Through Nov. 12.

UACMEM.ORG.

37 S. COOPER (502-3486).

Memphis Flyer Coloring Book

Kudzu Playhouse

Kudzu Playhouse Virtual, join Kudzu social media for donation-based classes, games, scholarship opportunities, and more. Download the app for more fun theater activities and information. Ongoing.

Order your book today benefiting local artists and journalism. $35. Ongoing.

MEMPHISMAGAZINESTORE.COM.

Metal Museum Online

Peruse the art and craft of fine metalwork digitally. Featuring past gallery talks from previous exhibitions, interviews with artists, and demonstrations including “Beauty in the Boundary.” Free. Ongoing.

P.O. BOX 47 (888-429-7871).

The Orpheum

Orpheum Virtual Engagement, join Orpheum staff, artists, and students for activities, interviews, and more on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Visit website for more information. Ongoing.

METAL MUSEUM, 374 METAL MUSEUM DR. (774-6380).

Orpheum Mini Golf

203 S. MAIN (525-3000).

Playhouse on the Square

Playhouse on the Square at Home, a series of digital content through POTS website and social media platforms.

View past performances, engage in quizzes, enjoy digital playwriting, and more. Free.

Ongoing.

66 S. COOPER (726-4656).

Tennessee Shakespeare Company From Dublin to the Sea: John M. Synge, salon curated by Stephanie Shine in honor of Pat and Ernest Kelly. Sun., Nov. 8, 3 p.m.

7950 TRINITY (759-0604), TNSHAKESPEARE.ORG

Theatre Memphis

Online on Stage, a Theatre Memphis Facebook group that serves as a clearinghouse for performers wanting to share their talents. Featuring storytime, readings, or performance art. Ongoing.

630 PERKINS EXT. (682-8323).

A R TI S T R EC E P TI O N S

Buckman Arts Center at St. Mary’s School

November 5-11, 2020

Artist reception for “Magellan’s Medicine,” exhibition of hand-painted ceramics by Dr.

LICHTERMAN WWW.MEMPHISMUSEUMS.ORG

24

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.

Malini Gupta. Fri., Nov. 6, 5-7 p.m.

60 N. PERKINS EXT. (537-1483).

Jay Etkin Gallery

Artist talk for Mathew Joseph Zachariah, exhibition of work in post-industrial resin and plastics. Fri., Nov. 6, 5-7 p.m.

942 COOPER (550-0064).

Medicine Factory

Opening reception for Kelly Fischer, exhibition of semi-abstract, expressionist paintings.

Sun., Nov. 8, 2:30-5 p.m.

85 W. VIRGINIA (581-5815).

Artist Talk by Mathew Joseph Zachariah at Jay Etkin Gallery, Friday, November 6, 5-7 p.m.

Mid-South Artist Gallery Artist reception for “Poppies,” exhibition of work by Barbara Garstecki. Sun., Nov. 8, 2-4 p.m.

2945 SHELBY (409-8705), MID-SOUTHARTIST-GALLERY.PIXELS. COM

Putt on nine socially distanced Broadway-themed holes, including Hamilton, The Phantom of the Opera, The Color Purple, Memphis, and more. $10. Saturdays., Sundays., 10:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Through Nov. 29.

THE ORPHEUM, 203 S. MAIN (5253000), ORPHEUM-MEMPHIS.COM.

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, 6 a.m.-6 p.m.

MEMPHIS PARK (FOURTH BLUFF), FRONT AND MADISON, MEMPHISRIVERPARKS.ORG.

St. George’s Independent School Annual Art Show

A virtual show featuring 2020 featured artist Danny Broadway and artwork of all mediums by more than 45 regional and national artists.

Free. Nov. 7-14.

SGISARTSHOW.ORG.

St. Elisabeth’s Andrews Charity & Art Exhibit

Paintings by Gauguin, Picasso, and Rembrandt will be featured. Proceeds benefit St. Elisabeth’s Andrews Charity. $300 per couple. Sat., Nov. 7, 6-9 p.m.

MID-SOUTH ARTIST GALLERY, 2945 SHELBY (409-8705), MID-SOUTHARTIST-GALLERY.PIXELS.COM.

DAN C E

Get Back to the Barre

From creative movement for 3-year-olds to advanced, preprofessional training under the guidance and direction of Mandy Possel. All levels invited to join Fall classes.

Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., and Mondays-Fridays, 4-7 p.m. Through Dec. 12.

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST. MARY’S SCHOOL, 60 N. PERKINS EXT. (537-1483).

TO U R S

Ghost Walk

Join the Historical Haunts Investigation Team and explore the macabre and dark history of Downtown Memphis. $20.

Fridays-Sundays, 8 p.m.

THE BROOM CLOSET, 546 S. MAIN (497-9486), HISTORICALHAUNTSMEMPHIS.COM.

Tour de Midtown

Join Breakaway Running for a group run starting from 2109 Madison. Free beer after the run. All paces are welcomed and the distance of runs vary from 3 to 5 miles. Free. Thursdays, 6 p.m.

OVERTON SQUARE, 2101 MADISON, OVERTONSQUARE.COM.

continue on page 26

NATURE BY FIRELIGHT Telescopes, Hikes, Animals, S’mores, Hot Chocolate, Fires, and Wine at the Nature Center on November 14, 2020

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CALENDAR: NOVEMBER 5 - 11 continued from page 24 Tree Tour of Elmwood Cemetery

As a Level 3 arboretum, there are 90 species identified and tagged. Staff will share what makes a select portion of these exceptional. Sat., Nov. 7, noon.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY, 824 S. DUDLEY (774-3212).

E X POS/SALES

Crafts Fair Pop-Up Shop

From paintings and home decor to jewelry and candles in a safe and socially distanced pop-up experience. Fridays, Saturdays, 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., and Sundays, 12-5 p.m. Through Dec. 27.

MEMPHIS PINK PALACE MUSEUM, 3050 CENTRAL (636-2362).

Gifts of Green at the Garden

Seasonal pop-up shop inside the garden’s newly renovated visitors center. Through Dec. 30, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN, 750 CHERRY (636-4100).

Virtual PuppyUp Memphis Walk

Walk to promote awareness of canine cancer and fundraise for cancer research to benefit both pets and people. Through Nov. 14.

Run or walk wherever and whenever you want during the two-week Kick It dates benefiting Herb Kosten Foundation. Register online.

Nov. 5-19.

KOSTENFOUNDATION.COM.

Experience the show via simulcast in real-time with former Miss USA Winners and Contestants from years past, plus some of the Miss 2020 contestants. Mon., Nov. 9, 6-9 p.m.

PUPPYUPWALK.ORG.

Ruby Buckle Barrel Race

GRACELAND, 3717 ELVIS PRESLEY (332-3322).

Wed.-Sat., Nov. 4-7.

“The Negro Motorist Green Book”

AGRICENTER INTERNATIONAL, 7777 WALNUT GROVE (801-602-7873), THERUBYBUCKLE.COM.

Exhibition highlighting an annual guide started in 1936 that helped African Americans travel the country and was a resource for the era’s Black-owned businesses. $10.

Through Jan. 3, 2021.

Tennessee Virtual Team Hope Walk

Choose your own course: You can walk in your driveway, local park, neighborhood, in your house, and even on the treadmill for Huntington’s Disease. Sat., Nov. 7.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM, 450 MULBERRY (521-9699).

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Travel and Virtual Run Around the World 2020

Run a 5K, 10K, half-marathon, or marathon and experience a new place virtually. $30. Sat., Nov. 7, 8 a.m.

MEMPHIS PARK (FOURTH BLUFF), FRONT AND MADISON (326-3526), THEBESTRACES.COM.

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Miss USA Finals: Live Viewing Party

M E ETI NGS

Churches from the Presbytery of the MidSouth: Sunday Worship Livestream

Combined livestream worship.

Visit website for more information and livestream link.

Sun., 11 a.m.

IDLEWILDCHURCH.ORG.

Virtual-T

Weekly Zoom gathering for anyone 18+ who identifies as a member of the trans or GNC community. For login information, email ahauptman@ outmemphis.org. Tuesdays, 6 p.m.

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Agape Heartlight

Themed “We are a Movement,” a celebration of Agape’s 50th anniversary of serving children and families in Mem-

phis. Featuring performances, speakers, and a silent auction.

Free. Fri., Nov. 6, 7-9 p.m.

(323-3600), AGAPEMEANSLOVE.ORG.

Drive-Thru Free Flu Shots

Nov. 7 held at Baptist Medical Group–Humphreys Family Practice Clinic, 6685 Poplar.

Nov. 14 held at Baptist Medical Group–Memphis Primary Care Associates at 1520 Union. Free. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Through Nov. 14.

BAPTISTONLINE.ORG.

Miss USA 2020 Finals Live Viewing Party at Graceland, Monday, November 9, 6-9 p.m.

Lunchtime Meditations with Amy Balentine

Explore a variety of meditation practices. Join live or enjoy past meditations online. Fridays, noon.

DIXON.ORG.

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Pandemic Parenting: Staying Calm in a Year of Chaos

For those experiencing the unrelenting stress of the pandemic and finding themselves struggling to handle the excessive needs placed on them due to school closures and other challenges. Free. Saturdays, 10-11 a.m. Through Nov. 28.

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Tunes and Trivia

Know trivia, earn prizes featuring a Memphis music artist and Memphis Library Foundation staff benefiting

Fri.-Mon., Nov. 6-9.

GRACELAND, 3717 ELVIS PRESLEY (332-3322).

continue on page 28

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participating restaurants.

Through Nov. 7.

Memphis Public Library Foundation. $20. Fri., Nov. 6, 6-7:30 p.m.

DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS, DOWNTOWNMEMPHIS.COM.

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United Way of the MidSouth: Driving The Dream

For those impacted by COVID-19. Puts callers in contact with essential services, without individuals having to repeat the circumstances for the call. Follow-up ensures those connections were made. Mondays-Fridays, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

(888-709-0630), CALL.DRIVINGTHEDREAM.ORG.

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Campsite Grilling Classes

Ain’t Nothing Better Than a Potater, Breakfast of Champions, and Glamping Feast classes taught by Melissa Petersen benefiting Church Health. Thursdays, 5:30 & 6:30 p.m. Through Nov. 19.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE, 1350 CONCOURSE.

Downtown Dining Week More than 60 restaurants have specials available for dine-in, patio dining, or carry-out. Visit website to enter contest and view

Memphis Dawah Association: Mobile Food Pantry

A weekly mobile food pantry organized by Memphis Dawah Association and MidSouth Food Bank. Saturdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

MEMPHIS DAWAH ASSOCIATION, 837 CRAFT (601-672-0259).

One Pot Wonders

Promoting healthier meal options for optimal health by providing nutrition education, cooking lessons, and learning how to cultivate a self-staining herb garden. Second Monday of every month, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Through Dec. 14.

RALEIGH BRANCH LIBRARY, 3157 POWERS (386-5333).

Party Off the Plaza: Wine Week

Featuring online wine experiences and virtual workshops, plus a drive-through wine pull. $85. Through Nov. 7.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE, 1350 CONCOURSE, CHURCHHEALTH.ORG.

Wine Down: Virtual Edition

Instructed by Charlie Purpura, Certified Specialist of Wine at Buster’s Liquors and Wines. Tickets include wine and an appetizer pair-

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Dinosaurs of Antarctica In ancient times, dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures roamed freely in a lush landscape. $10. Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Through Nov. 30.

CTI 3D GIANT THEATER, IN THE MEMPHIS PINK PALACE MUSEUM, 3050 CENTRAL (636-2362).

Great Barrier Reef

Spanning more than 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia and home to unique species of aquatic life.

Experience the awe of this natural cityscape. Narrated by Australian actor Eric Bana. $10. Sundays, 1 p.m. Through Nov. 30.

CTI 3D GIANT THEATER, IN THE MEMPHIS PINK PALACE MUSEUM, 3050 CENTRAL (636-2362).

Indie Memphis Movie Club

Weekly virtual screening opportunities (for brandnew films and classics), plus online Q&As on Tuesday evenings between programmers and special guests. Visit website for more information and schedule. Ongoing.

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ARTS By Jesse Davis

CROSSTOWN ARTS

Peace Project

Bertram Williams and Talibah Safiya’s meditative music.

U VIRTUAL RESIDENT ARTIST TALKS

November 5-11, 2020

featuring DEVAN COLLINS DEL CONTE LEXUS PHILLIPS

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ntil 2017, Fourth Bluff Park in Downtown Memphis hosted a Confederate monument. After the removal of the statue’s last remnants, as over 30 trees were planted and connective pathways were installed, the space began to transform. That transformation has only been gaining steam, as evidenced by “The Peace Project,” a new sound installation produced with Memphis River Parks Partnership with actor, producer, and Deep Water Media CEO Bertram Williams and genre-bending songwriter and performer Talibah Safiya.

Readers may recognize Williams as Woddy from the Katori Hall-helmed drama P-Valley. He’s a native Memphian with experience working with community development, arts, and nonprofits. “I’ve produced, with my team, several concerts and tours,” Williams says. “I’m turning a corner in this exploration of sound healing. I say now that I’m a producer and I am dead set on exploring sounds and experiences that help people feel better.”

Williams’ partner, Safiya, is a Memphis-born singer, songwriter, and performer. “The Peace Project” is far from her first collaboration with Williams, though it may be their most ambitious work to date. “Last year, we did a 10-city tour,” she says. “This partnership with Memphis River Parks is a continuation of that work we started last year.”

The work of the most recent project was no small task. It required partnerships and communications across mediums and between different organizations. The work itself is a microcosm of what Williams and Safiya want the park to be — a meeting place for Memphians from all walks of life.

“We’re told about the dark stories of our past and our city’s history of racism,” Safiya says. “We haven’t been given very much instruction on how to move forward, what it would look like to get healthier as a city.

So the opportunity to have some form of guidance to be in the park that once had a Confederate statue, this is laying the foundation of what we expect to be for the future of Memphis. It’s really beautiful to be a part of.”

Safiya and a team of musicians recorded new music for the project at Memphis Magnetic Recording Co. with Scott McEwan. “I was able to sit in on some of the recording sessions,” Williams says, “watching her guide this group of musicians, some of whom had never worked together, to tap into a specific energy, one that is aligned with healing. Listening to

the final product, I find myself feeling all the feelings but also nodding my head ’cause it’s good freakin’ music.”

Williams explains that Safiya maestroed an energy-guiding session with the musicians before they began recording.

“We wrote some new ‘I Ams’ and ‘We Ares’ to create an experience of inspiration in the park,” Safiya remembers. “We also collaborated with some other writers in the city — some poets and storytellers — and made new content for this project.”

The team is trying to strike a balance between the sense of bliss music can convey and a healing force for introspection.

“We’ve been joking throughout the process that we’re putting the medicine in the Kool-Aid,” Williams laughs. He explains that accessibility is important. Hence the public park setting.

Bertram Williams

“We spent a lot of time [in the park], even before the project,” Williams continues. “We know that space is frequented by our unhoused population. In this endeavor, too, we’ve been thinking about how to create something that would be a support to them.”

The speakers installed for “The Peace Project” are permanent additions to the park. They expect the individual recorded programs to have roughly three-monthlong “seasons,” then to be cycled out, hopefully with new music from Safiya as well as new submissions from other local artists. “We imagine this being like a living organism,” Williams says.

“We need, now more than ever, to be able to gather, and to be able to do it safely. So if we can add an additional layer of love and healing, I think we’re on the right track.”

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FOOD By Michael Donahue

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T

he fruits of Michaela Dockery’s labors are now on sale at Whole Foods Market in Germantown.

Dockery, co-owner with her husband, Dee Dockery, of the upcoming Hen House Wine Bar, introduced Memphis to three wines: Flocking Fabulous rosé, sauvignon blanc, and red blend. And she had a hand — and feet — in their creation.

“I had kept it under wraps, but I collaborated last year in Los Olivos with a winemaker and his partners, who I met totally by chance,” Dockery says.

Making wine “is their love. This is their life, and that’s where I really learned the right way to do wine. It’s a non-pretentious way.”

Winemaker John Wright, owner of Standing Sun Wines in Buellton, California, is partners with Tim Tighe and Jeremy Fraser, who are owners of The Hideaway tasting room in Los Olivos.

“The whole town is wine, this tiny little town. A lot of celebrities go there on the weekend, just to get away.”

641 South Cooper | (901) 278-4994

Michaela Dockery’s new wines are just Flocking Fabulous.

Dockery, who originally is from California, was introduced to the winemaker and his partners last year on a visit to Los Olivos. “I met these guys through my girlfriend who lives there. We’re all sitting in their tasting room, and they bring out some of the wine. They bring out a bottle and it’s this amazing label. One of the partners is a photographer, so they actually are licensed to make their own label.”

The wine, which was a rosé, had flamingos on the label, says Dockery, who is a fan of the bird. One of the rooms at Hen House is devoted to flamingo decor.

“I said, ‘How did you shoot this picture?’ And Jeremy goes, ‘Oh, I was in Memphis at the Memphis Zoo.’ And

I just about fell over because they didn’t know who I was. And I said, ‘Okay.

Well, I’m not leaving until you guys agree to do business with me.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

Dockery was in Los Olivos for the first gathering of the grapes in September 2019. “The process was just magical. To be able to be there for all these incredible steps in the winemaking process. I’ll never forget. We all piled in a minivan about four o’clock in the morning in about 35 degrees to go to the wine harvest.”

And, she says, “I’ll never forget walking up that hill and seeing the crew there when they started picking.”

They were back at the winery about 8 a.m. waiting for the fruit to arrive. “One of the boys said, ‘Are you ready to stomp your grapes?’ So I jumped in and probably got the best leg workout of my life.”

Dockery returned to California once a month for testing and racking of the wine. “Everything was ready April 1st.

And so we’re sitting here, ‘Oh, we’re in the middle of a pandemic and we have all this wine.’ Jeremy said, ‘We’re either going to sell it all or drink it all.’ Thankfully, the wines came out just wonderful and the sales have been great.

This week, for the first time, the wine hit the shelf at Whole Foods in Germantown.”

Describing Flocking Fabulous rosé, Dockery says, “Rosé has become extremely popular and something you can drink every day during the year.

And there are a lot of different types.

My favorite is a rosé that is very bright.

Something that has a lot of effervescence with it. Something that’s not too sweet, but just something that’s very refreshing.

And that’s exactly how this rosé turned out. The color is absolutely beautiful.”

The sauvignon also is effervescent.

“It’s light, but not too light.” Instead of the traditional wine bottle, all three Flocking Fabulous wines are in a bourbon bottle.

“You’ve got this feminine label on the front of the bottle, which is more masculine, so it’s a really cool balance.”

Dockery will include Flocking Fabulous wine at Hen House Wine Bar, which is slated to open later this month at 679 South Mendenhall Road.

Whole Foods Market is at 2825 US-72 in Germantown; (901) 896-3245

BREWS By Richard Murff

The Art of Beer

Checking out Crystal Bridges and some Arkansas brews. heavy for a stout, but it’s got presence.

The next day was warmer, but the wind still cut. Honestly, I don’t remember either of us actually choosing to go on a hike; it just happened. You step off the sidewalk thinking you’re going through a hedge and there you are, hiking. Afterward, we stopped at a restaurant called The Hive where I ordered a Fallen Queen Belgian Witbier made by another northeastern Arkansas outfit called New Providence Brewing Co. As a rule, I’m not a witbier guy, but I’m glad I colored outside the lines. This one had a lot of citrus, orange peel, and a lemon tart along with coriander. Like a saison or a bier de garde, it was just refreshing, the sort of beer that would go well with a really good turkey sandwich. That may not sound very grand, but a good turkey sandwich can be hard to beat.

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Because I’m a workaholic, I ordered a second round and landed back on another Ozark Beer, but on the far side of the spectrum from a cream stout.

Ozark’s American Pale Ale is what gets called a session beer, or less coherently “sessionable” by beer sorts. What they mean is “drinkable.” If I’m going to use a funny word for it, I’ll stick with the very British and much more visceral “quaffable.” That does this American pale ale more justice. It’s hoppy, even a little tart, and the right amount of bitter. It too will also rock the turkey sandwich, and so much more.

So, the next time you are gallivanting through Arkansas, you have a to-do list: Take in some nature, see world-class art and really cheese off a Yankee in the bargain, and try the local beer. The only drawback to the three listed here is that none are high enough in alcohol to make having a conversation with a tree seem normal.

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T

he charming Mrs. M and I were headed to Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas — which has a worldclass art collection and is running a stunning outdoor installation called “Forest Lights” through April.

Most museums that can conceivably call themselves world-class will do so, but, thanks to the Walton family, Crystal Bridges caused a Vanity Fairgrade scandal with the Northeastern art establishment by buying up some of the best pieces in the country and carting them off to Arkansas. Yes, the Euro-snobs had the same complaint about the best Old World art being carted off to New York and Boston a century or so ago, but this time the argument is that Bentonville sounds like it’s in the middle of nowhere.

And you’re damn right it is! But thankfully, pretty much every time you get up in the mountains with a decent economic base, great craft breweries sprout like dandelions.

Of course, we were there for cultural pursuits, namely wandering through the “Forest Lights” exhibit, which looks like a Pink Floyd laser light show in the woods but sounds like Enya. One installation, Whispering Tree, involved talking at a tree, which, evidently, had opinions. I don’t know what it says about my marriage because we’ve been stuck together without a lot of company for the better part of a year, yet neither of us were desperate enough to have a chat with a tree. Certainly not if it was going to talk back.

I thought that the next installation looked an awful lot like a beer garden and Mrs. M — an art history major — explained that is exactly what it was.

It was beautiful — nice lines, bold colors. My general rule is to always ask the bartender for a local brew. She recommended a cream stout by Ozark Beer Company because it was chilly and windy. It’s a lot of roasted coffee that balances out the sweetness of the caramel with some chocolate thrown in. The ABV is 5.3 percent; it isn’t too

33

FILM By Chris McCoy

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb How Memphian Ryan Earl Parker captured the archeological find of a lifetime.

I

November 5-11, 2020

n early 2019, Memphis cinematographer Ryan Earl Parker got a call from director James Tovell. “He said, ‘Hey, you wanna go dig up some mummies?’”

Parker, who got his start in the Indie Memphis scene, formerly worked with Tovell on a documentary for National Geographic. This project had the potential to be much bigger. Archeologists searching the Egyptian desert near the sacred city of Memphis had found a tomb that had apparently been untouched for four millennia. It was the biggest find in Egyptology in 50 years. “They basically sold the film rights, and through that process, they were able to pay for the diggers and the scientists to do their work,” says Parker.

In April 2019, with the deep-pocketed backing of Netflix, Tovell and Parker went to Egypt with a small crew to document the excavation in the Saqqara ne-

cropolis. The site was less than a mile from the step pyramid of Djoser, the oldest pyramid in the world.

Egyptian archeology has been an obsession in the West since Napoleon’s armies dug up the Rosetta Stone. It also makes good TV, as you can tell from a quick perusal of the History Channel lineup. “The director said, ‘I don’t want this to feel like another BBC documentary,’” recalls Parker. “‘It needs to feel like a movie. I want it to be cinematic.’”

What makes the film Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb special is the access the crew had to the archeologists at work. Instead of a group of talking heads expounding on the burial traditions of the Old Kingdom, Parker’s cameras captured the painstaking process of archeological research, the dusty frustration of an empty shaft, and the joys of discovery as they happened. The diggers and scientists become fleshed out characters. There’s Ghareeb, the serene excavator whose family has been digging in the desert for generations; the ruggedly good-looking Hamda, an archeologist whose smile tells you he’s doing what he was meant to do; and Amira, the anthropologist tasked with reconstructing the bones of the ancients. This is not a standard colonialist narrative of sophisticated Europeans coming to loot forgotten treasures. “These people are all Egyptians. They live very modestly. From a social standpoint, they all understand that these are the

In Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb, the diggers and scientists are locals. They’re captured on film by Memphis-based cinematographer Ryan Earl Parker. remnants of their people. To us, it’s ancient Egypt, but these are their ancestors. They seemed to all have a reverence for that.”

One of the first events Parker’s camera captured was linguists reading the tomb’s hieroglyphs for the first time. The 4,500-year-old text revealed that the owner of the tomb was named Wahtye, and his whole family was buried there. At the same time, the area surrounding the main tomb was yielding rich treasures, such as the first mummified lion ever discovered. “At first, we were like, ‘Let’s set up great frames and let the action just unfold in them,’” says Parker. “But our approach had to change because they were just constantly finding so many things outside the tomb. We just had to go on the shoulder and run to get these shots.”

The climax of the six-week dig was the discovery of Wahtye’s mummy in the bottom of the burial shaft. Parker was looking over Hamada’s shoulder as he carefully brushed away the accumulated dirt of the centuries. “It was a two-and-a-half-foot square,” he says. “I’m crammed in the corner, the camera extended over his body, trying to get shots without disturbing him. I was praying that I was not gonna drop the camera on these old bones. I don’t speak Arabic, so I barely knew anything they were saying.

After he had gotten all the bones collected and sent them up, we sort of took a break while we were waitcontinued on page 36

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FILM By Chris McCoy continued from page 34

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36

ing for the ladder to be dropped down.

He turns to me and says, ‘You know, Ryan, you and me were the first to see Wahtye in 4,500 years.’ In that moment, I just sort of stepped outside of myself.

You compartmentalize things, you know? I’m a cameraman. I’m looking through the viewfinder. I’m capturing images with all this calculus going on in the back of my head — my focus, my framing, thinking about the edit. But this is beyond me capturing a moment for this project. This is Ryan Parker, country boy from Tipton County, in this moment. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Since Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb hit Netflix last Wednesday, it has

captured the imagination of viewers.

By the weekend, it was the secondmost-watched film on Netflix in the entire world. “It’s on in 190 countries,” says Parker. “What we did is reaching millions of people. I’ve been getting random Instagram messages from complete strangers all over the globe saying they really loved it.”

The key to the film’s success is in how the process of archeology reveals our common humanity. As the anthropologist Amira says while arranging the bones of a teenager who died tragically more than 2,000 years before the founding of Rome, “These people were like us — exactly like us. That is the real story.”

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb is streaming on Netflix.

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EMPLOYMENT COPELAND SERVICES, L.L.C. Hiring Armed State Licensed Officers/ Unarmed Officers Three Shifts Available

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SHELBY COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING FY 2020 CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT Shelby County Department of Housing (SCDH) is preparing its Consolidated Annual Performance Report (CAPER) for the program year that began July 1, 2019 and ended June 30, 2020. The CAPER is required by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to describe CDBG and HOME activities undertaken by SCDH to address housing and community development needs, especially in low- and moderate-income areas of Shelby County, outside the City of Memphis. SCDH utilized approximately $1,130,543 in Community Development Block Grant funds and $318,871 in HOME funds for the following activities: low-to-moderate income housing rehabilitation and minor home repair; infrastructure/community development improvements to benefit low-to-moderate income communities within the Urban County; public service activities to benefit Urban County seniors; administrative expenses; and program delivery costs.

The CAPER will be available for public review and comment from Monday, November 16, 2020 through Monday, November 30, 2020 on the Department of Housing website https://www.develop901. com/housing/planningReporting. The proposed CAPER will also be distributed via email to the City of Memphis main library listserv.

To solicit comments on the CAPER, Shelby County Department of Housing will host a virtual public hearing on Monday, November 30, 2020 at 5:30pm via GoToMeeting. To join the virtual public hearing from a computer, tablet, or smartphone, follow this link: https://global. gotomeeting.com/join/263730605. Or, dial into the meeting using a phone with the following details: +1 (312) 757-3121, access code 263730-605.

Written comments or suggestions regarding the CAPER will be accepted through 4:30p.m. on November 30, 2020. Written comments should be sent to Mr. Scott Walkup (scott.walkup@shelbycountytn.gov) at Shelby County Department of Housing, 1075 Mullins Station Road, Memphis, TN 38134. SCDH will respond to all written comments within 15 working days of receipt. For questions concerning the public hearing or the CAPER, please contact the Department of Housing at 901-222-7600 or TTY at 901- 222-2301.

Those with special needs that plan to attend the public hearing are encouraged to contact SCDH at (901) 222-7600 or TTY at 901- 2222301 by 4:30 p.m. Monday November 23, 2020 and we will work to accommodate you.

Para mas información en Español, por favor llame al 901-222-3993.

The Shelby County Department of Housing does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age or disability in employment or provision of services. Equal opportunity/equal access provider.

Lee Harris Shelby County Mayor Attest: Scott Walkup, Administrator Department of Housing

901-252-3434

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T H E L A S T W O R D b y To m J o n e s

Superheroes to the Rescue!

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

Faced with serious questions about its operations, environmental commitment, and budget priorities, what’s the Tennessee Valley Authority’s latest response to the possible loss of its largest customer, Memphis? “Let them eat cake,” packaged as a 20-page coloring book — Power With Purpose, Memphis Edition.

Once again demonstrating its tone-deafness, TVA released its T.E.A.M. (TVA Energy Allies Member) coloring book October 15th under the name of the Allen Fossil Plant.

While the coloring book’s timing is strange enough, coming in the midst of a serious and high-stakes debate about TVA’s future in Memphis, launching a coloring book as a product of the Allen Fossil Plant suggests a bout of amnesia. That plant was closed — or “retired,” as TVA puts it — in March 2018 in the wake of an outcry about the 3.5 million cubic yards of toxin-laden coal ash that remains here.

In 2017, high levels of arsenic and other toxins were found in the plant’s monitoring wells, sparking widespread concern about the risks to Memphis’ drinking water. The Allen Fossil Plant is a poor chapter in TVA’s history and it’s beyond odd that TVA dedicated this coloring book to that plant, which TVA operated in Memphis for half a century.

In retrospect, doing what was right at the plant throughout the years didn’t require superheroes. It just required that TVA pay attention to the city on the western edge of its service area. But Memphis never seemed to matter.

After being ignored by TVA for decades, Memphis decided there must be a better way.

Looking west across the river, Memphis saw a yellow brick road leading to competitive energy prices. It led away from TVA, to buying power on the open market and paying a lot less money for electric power than it had been paying TVA for nearly a century.

TVA would have none of that, so it created an ace team of comic book superheroes for Memphis, promising to prevent Memphis from leaving the fold. Backed by a slick public relations and lobbying campaign, and checks written to what it saw as politically influential organizations, TVA finally discovered Memphis, after years of donations and incentives that never made their way west of the Tennessee River.

What else did Memphis get from this energy giant that pays its president an annual salary of $8.1 million and sports a fleet of private aircraft? TVA went overboard and printed a coloring book, the message of which is a deliberate oversimplification of how TVA generates power. Although TVA says this coloring book was created as an educational tool for elementary school children, TVA apparently hopes that if it can teach the children of Memphis how TVA generates power, then perhaps that knowledge will rub off on their parents.

“The free coloring book features stickers, trading cards, and age-appropriate information … and features ethnically diverse superheroes drawn against the backdrop of the iconic Memphis landscapes,” TVA’s website announced. Naturally, the superheroes all wear a TVA patch.

So, who are the coloring book’s superheroes? There’s Environmental Eddy, Fossil Fred, Solar Sally, Natural Gas Nita, Transmission Ted, and Windy Walda, each featured on a trading card you can remove from the coloring book and swap with your friends.

There’s even a page of colorful stickers designed to win over any fiveyear-old’s heart.

It’s BYOC (bring your own crayons) to color illustrations of all of TVA’s superheroes, plus Killowatt Kim, Hydro Henry, and Nuclear Nella. Inside the slick full-color front cover there’s a caricature of President Franklin Roosevelt that eerily resembles Boss Crump.

As Memphians open their electric bills these days, it’s with the knowledge that they pay the highest percentage of their incomes for energy in the nation, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. Maybe a coloring book will ease the pain.

Or maybe this coloring book is a subtle reminder that, historically, coloring has been considered inferior to drawing, much like Memphis has been to TVA over the years.

Or perhaps this coloring book is little more than an expensive public relations blunder bearing a less-than-subtle warning to Memphis: Stay within the lines.

Tom Jones is the editor of Smart City Blog.

Patronizing PR attempt … assemble!

THE LAST WORD

TVA apparently seeks to keep Memphis’ power-generation business by winning over the city’s children.

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