V15n31 - Crossroads Film Fest

vol. 15 no. 31

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EFFECTS OF 2017 #MSLEG Dreher pp 7 - 8

THE RETURN OF UNDERGROUND 119 Thiel, p 22

JAZZING UP TOWNSHIP Smith, p 26

LIGHTS, CAMERA, INACTION Edwards, pp 16-17

FILM REVIEWS pp 18-20

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JACKSONIAN Wade Acuff Imani Khayyam

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rowing up in Greenville, Miss., Wade Acuff loved to draw. During his high-school years while determining what career path he would take, he did not shy away from his creative roots. Instead, he decided that he would make a career out of his passion.

He went to Mississippi State University and received his bachelor’s degree in graphic design in 2002 and then continued there, earning his master’s degree in animation in 2005.

Acuff found his way to Jackson a couple of years later when a position became available at Eyevox Entertainment, a local production company. There, he worked in children’s programming. For the last five years, he has done freelance work in motion graphics, animation and visual effects. When he is not working on contract assignments, he focuses on his own artwork.

Last October, Acuff participated in Inktober, a worldwide art event for which visual artists create one ink drawing every day for the duration of the month. While working on this, he began creating a series of robot drawings.

During that time, the Crossroads Film Society also began accepting design submissions for the 2017 Ruma Award, which the organization awards to the most

contents

promising Mississippi filmmaker each year.

Crossroads left the image design up to the discretion of the artists, and Acuff decided that this was the right time to apply.

“I already had an idea in mind, so I kind of completed it all but the watercolor,” he says. “They liked it and got back to me saying, ‘You’ve been selected.’”

His winning piece, “Always recording, so make something beautiful,” depicts a robot that is holding a video camera on its shoulder and has multiple camera lenses as its eyes.

“There’s a little retro element to it and based in our reality,” Acuff says. “The idea behind it was, ‘We’re going to be recording things in our lives, so we might as well make something beautiful.’”

In the midst of this, Acuff says he is pushing himself to do more artwork and less motion-graphic work. In the last year, he has opened his process up to the public with social media. In November, he created a Twitch channel on the website Planet Destiny that allows him to live stream while he’s working. It opens the community around his artwork where people can talk to him and ask questions.

He says it is all part of his commitment to continue to “try harder and put the best effort in.”

—Alexis Ware

cover photo of the Ruma award art

by Wade Acuff

6 ............................ Talks 12 ................... editorial 13 ...................... opinion 16 ............ Cover Story 18 ............ Film Reviews 22 ........... food & Drink 24 ......................... 8 Days 25 ........................ Events

10 Special Session? Likely.

The Legislature will most likely have to meet again before July 1 to fund the Department of Transportation and the attorney general’s office.

22 Underground 119 Is Back

“I hope people just realize that blues is part of who we are, and we should try to enjoy that.”

—Michael Rejebian, “Underground 119 Revival”

25 ....................... sports 26 .......................... music 27 ........ music listings 28 ...................... Puzzles 29 ............... Classifieds

26 Jazzin’ in Ridgeland

Read about the Township Jazz Festival before the event on April 8.

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

4 ............ Editor’s Note

flickr/Derek Bridges; Alex Thiel; Imani Khayyam

April 5 - 11, 2017 | Vol. 15 No. 31

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editor’s note

by Amber Helsel, Managing Editor

Don’t Cut the Creative Industries

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recently joined the creative team at CityHeart Church in Jackson. We’ve been working on our Easter campaign, and we’re doing a video for it that’s centered on the church’s motto, “All hearts matter.”

This means that I have been helping creative-team ringleader Roderick Red of Red Squared Productions with the footage.

This also means that for the first time in my life, I got to fly a camera drone. If you saw my face when I got the controls, I probably looked like a delighted kid in Sugar Ray’s Sweet Shop.

From the feed on Red’s cell phone, I saw midtown and the railyard on Mill Street in a new way. I felt small standing there, watching as his drone buzzed through the air, traveling over people, homes and businesses. It was a different perspective, and I loved it.

We all need a different perspective sometimes. Occasionally, I have a desire to be at a higher altitude than my normal one, which means climbing to the top of the M/V Mississippi IV or going up the spiral walkway to the pedestrian bridge on Mill Street.

Some people use reading to escape the mundane, and I’m guessing that, sometimes, most people just want to get out of their own heads. There’s only so long you can take listening to your own voice before you get tired and aggravated with it.

A ton of art mediums can provide that different point of view, from painting something in an unfamiliar style, to getting low to the ground and capturing that perfect photo, to telling other people’s stories.

Art is an escape, and film is no exception. That’s why the Crossroads Film Festival issue of the Jackson Free Press is always one of my favorites. It’s an issue that cel-

ebrates Jackson and the state’s burgeoning film industry, and by extension, celebrates our intrinsic ability to tell stories. It shares the voice of people who otherwise may not have the opportunity to share their work.

Though still small, the film industry is a vital part of our state’s creative economy. Data from the Mississippi Film Office shows that there are more than 1,200 actors and crew members working across the state now. The workforce has increased

The arts improve outcomes for everyone. by 170 percent since 2012. Since that year, eight colleges and universities, including Belhaven University, Hinds Community College and Mississippi College, have created or expanded their film programs or film-based curricula.

Also a telling fact, the number of films shot in Mississippi increased from four in 2012 to 15 last year, and seven productions are scheduled to film here in the first quarter of 2017.

In this week’s cover story, Crossroads Film Society President Robbie Fisher talks about how the number of Mississippi filmmakers in the festival has increased over the years. This year, the schedule includes

entries from about 24 Mississippi filmmakers, including musicians Stace and Cassie Shook, journalist Ellen Ann Fentress, and activist Wilma Mosley Clopton.

But even though our film industry is blossoming, it still faces issues. For example, the state opted out of renewing the nonresident rebate, which gives filmmakers a 25-percent rebate on the payroll for people who travel here to work on films. That rebate will now expire on July 1.

It may not seem like a big deal because these people don’t have residence here, right? But that incentive has allowed Mississippi filmmakers to employ better-known actors from bigger-budget television and film, helping to shine a brighter light on films from our state. What the cover story drove home for me is that legislators don’t seem to realize that by letting the tax rebate expire, they are hurting Mississippians, not Hollywood or outsiders.

Even beyond film, the arts have come under fire recently. The Greater Jackson Arts Council almost lost funding from the City last year. State legislators tried to take away funding for the Mississippi Arts Commission earlier in this year’s legislative session.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump could hurt Mississippians and the rest of the nation if Congress agrees with his budget recommendation to cut funding to organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

A Washington Post article reports that, together, these organizations spent a total of $3.899 trillion in 2016, which sounds like a lot, but it’s actually only about .02

percent of the total federal budget. And the federal dollars that go toward these organizations assist state, local, and some private entities in supporting museums, libraries, and public radio and television, among others arts and educational organizations.

If that funding cut does go through, Mississippi Public Broadcasting could also be affected. The Mississippi Arts Commission could suffer, as could public libraries.

Cultural cornerstones such as museums wouldn’t be as effective as they are with federal funding. There’s an argument to make them private organizations and effectively make government a little bit smaller, but in a state as poor as Mississippi, many of them may not survive.

My question when it comes to this stuff is always, “Why cut arts?” It is probably the easiest to slash because they may seem extraneous to some, but the arts improve outcomes for everyone. Creative work can provide income to some people and offer an emotional outlet for others. Arts help kids learn to focus, to think for themselves, to develop motor and neural skills. The humanities and arts also give people different perspectives and help them to better understand the world around them.

When it comes to this, I always remember the fact that, although many people didn’t like George W. Bush as president, he has a passion for art. What would have happened if the right person had encouraged him to focus on that instead of following in his father’s footsteps as a politician, or what might have happened if he had decided to do both?

Managing Editor Amber Helsel is a curious Gemini and otaku-in-trainig who likes art, food, music and kawaii things. Email story ideas to amber@jacksonfreepress.com.

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

contributors

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Tyler Edwards

Malcolm Morrow

Brynn Corbello

Mike McDonald

Emerald Alexis Ware

Richard Coupe

Sherry Lucas

Imani Khayyam

Events Editor Tyler Edwards loves film, TV and all things pop culture. He’s a Jackson native and will gladly debate the social politics of comic books.

Send events to events@jacksonfreepress.com. He wrote the cover story.

Malcolm Morrow has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Southern Mississippi. He is the founder of Jackson-based entertainment blog The Hood Hippie. He reviewed “Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs.”

Brynn Corbello is a freelance musician, occupational therapist, writer, photographer and born-and-raised Fondrenite, whom you just may “spot” walking her Dalmatian. She reviewed “The Five Wives & Lives of Melvyn Pfferberg.”

Mike McDonald attended the University of Montana. He enjoys listening to rap music, writing short stories and reading books about American history. He wrote Crossroads Film Festival reviews.

Emerald Alexis Ware is a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi. She has raging wanderlust and an obsession with Pinterest and all things 20-something.

She wrote about Jacksonian Wade Acuff.

Freelance writer Richard Coupe, a longtime resident of Mississippi, is currently living and working in Strasbourg, France, with his reluctant wife and youngest child. He wrote Crossroads Film Festival reviews.

Freelance writer Sherry Lucas is an arts junkie, wordsmith and incurable home cook who likes playing with fire as long as it’s contained and regulated by her Bosch stove. She wrote Crossroads Film Festival reviews.

Staff Photographer Imani Khayyam is an art lover and a native of Jackson. He loves to be behind the camera and capture the true essence of his subjects. He took photos for the issue.

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“Any funding that comes into City of Jackson is a win for Jackson. It will give us an opportunity to move funds in certain areas, to areas that typically haven’t seen any real investment.”

-Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber praising the Legislature for passing the Capitol Complex bill this session.

Thursday, March 30

Republican legislative leaders in North Carolina repeal HB2, the state’s anti-LGBT “bathroom bill,” in a special session and send the legislation to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who signs it.

Friday, March 31

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocks attorney Carlos Moore’s effort to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag.

Moore announces that he appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Saturday, April 1

FOX News host Bill O’Reilly claims that he is “vulnerable to lawsuits” because of his high-profile job in response to a New York Times report detailing payouts made to settle accusations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior against O’Reilly.

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

Sunday, April 2

The Mississippi State Bulldogs lose 67-55 to SEC rival South Carolina in the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game.

6

Rains Bring Flood Control Front of Mind

by Donna Ladd

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he rains came in torrents overnight Sunday, causing flooding around the Jackson metro. As the sun returned early in the week, the City of Jackson warned of more gradual rising water along the Pearl River, which was expected to rise about flood stage by Tuesday night and continue to crest at about 32.5 feet by early Thursday.

At those levels, the City warned ominously, water can back up into local streams and creeks, flood Byram homes near the Pearl and Sidney Street; and even stream into businesses on South President and South Farish Streets in downtown Jackson.

The reality and unpredictability of the mighty Pearl waters bring the issue of longdelayed and debated flood control back front of mind in the metro, as the RankinHinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District, commonly call the Levee Board, prepares to unveil specifics of its “One Lake” plan to dredge and widen parts of the Pearl. The project, which its proponents prefer over strengthening levees and other anti-flooding options, is a still-ambitious strategy to create both public and private waterfront and developable property, including public-recreation access.

But the real pearl of the plan, its advocates say, is that it will rewrite 100-year flood maps—the level of devastating flooding likely to happen at least once every century—and vastly reduce expensive flood insurance that many who live and own busi-

Monday, April 3

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears arguments about House Bill 1523 that would let merchants and government employees cite religious beliefs to deny services to same-sex couples.

Lights, Camera & Legislature

Tuesday, April 4

Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas hears arguments in a charter-school lawsuit that alleges that the state’s method of funding charter schools is unconstitutional and hurts public schools in Jackson.

Get breaking news at jfpdaily.com.

Sure, Mississippi’s legislative session may have changed the course of the state for years to come, but some people need a little more “zing” in their politics. We thought we’d liven things up by borrowing a few taglines from successful films. See if you can guess the film from our “Mississippified” version!

by Micah Smith

Imani Khayyam

Wednesday, March 29

The Mississippi House and Senate pass Capitol Complex Improvement District legislation to divert revenue to fund Jackson infrastructure within a certain district in the capital city. …

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, a federal judge in Hawaii who temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s revised travel ban, hears arguments on whether to extend his order until the state’s lawsuit works its way through the courts.

The governor will have to call a special session to fund the attorney general’s office p 10

The Pearl River waters are expected to crest at 32.5 feet by early Thursday, April 6. This photo is of the Pearl from Old Brandon Road on April 4.

nesses in the river’s floodplain now pay.

The main financial benefit to One Lake, Levee Board attorney Keith Turner told the Jackson Free Press last week, is making that insurance affordable again for property owners now paying thousands of dollars to mitigate the high risk of flooding.

“Our project is designed on flood-protection benefit, not financial benefit,” he said.

“That’s what we have to look at first.”

One Lake grew out of the ashes of earlier and more audacious lake plans that promised dramatic commercial value and flood relief—but flood control is the main thing now, Turner said. “Lots of people are going to talk about the economic-develop-

ment components as a driving factor,” he said. “There clearly is (economic benefit).

We’ve got to help pay for the project, and that allows that.”

The project got a boost when Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1585 on March 22. The new law allows the Levee Board—Turner prefers the term “Floodcontrol District”—to assess taxes on property within One Lake’s projected property area once it has expanded the district to include additional land that will no longer need pricey flood insurance. The additional properties, which the Levee Board has not fully identified yet, will have a variable tax rate depending on its proximity to the proj-

In the legislative session, no one can hear you scream.

Just when you thought it was safe to go over a road or bridge.

You don’t hurt the education of 500,000 kids without making a few enemies.

You’ll believe a bill can die.

Be afraid. Be very afraid (because the Legislature cut millions from healthcare).

Cocktails first. Careful deliberation later.

The first casualties of legislation are innocents.

“Had a heck of a year, man. We’ve beaten two No. 1’s to get here.

We played on the last day. Are we disappointed? Absolutely.”

-Mississippi State Women’s Basketball Coach Vic Schaefer to the Associated Press after the Bulldogs lost to South Carolina in the championship game on Sunday.

“Neither staff nor inmates should have to fear being assaulted or exploited. Whether you are staff or inmate, if you are caught with contraband, you will be dealt with accordingly.”

-New Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall in a press release on “Operation Zero Tolerance,” an initiative to crack down on contraband in state prisons and jails.

The 2017 Legislature’s Lasting Effects on Mississippians

by Arielle Dreher

dures will affect residents who apply to receive Medicaid medical coverage, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs. Currently, Medicaid and MDHS check their clients’ eligibility status once a year. House Bill 1090 would

tice and the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative oppose the legislation and say in a press release that the bill will “take a serious toll on Mississippi’s safety net.”

If Medicaid or MDHS workers find problems with an application, they send the applicant a notice about the issue. Under Imani Khayyam

‘A Sweetheart Deal’

In the final hours of the session, Senate Republicans fixated on cracking down on welfare fraud in the state, while Democrats were reluctant to accept their proposal.

It took over an hour for the Senate to pass the formerly titled “HOPE Act,” now called the “Medicaid and Human Services Transparency and Fraud Prevention Act.”

If it becomes law, the Division of Medicaid and the Department of Human Services could contract with third-party vendors in order to improve how the state checks a Mississippian’s eligibility for government medical coverage and food assistance programs. The new screening proce-

change that, making eligibility verification a faster, more seamless process.

The act’s critics say it will kick families and children off government assistance rolls for minor problems, such as clerical errors in reporting or how a person filled out their application. The Mississippi Center for Jus-

HB 1090, that person then has 10 days to respond, before losing their benefits. Both the Division of Medicaid and MDHS are working on speeding up their process of verifying and checking to see if clients are eligible—but not fast enough.

Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula,

ect and risk of flooding, he said.

“People getting the most benefit will pay the highest fees,” Turner said, citing a homeowner near Jackson Academy whose flood insurance is now $3,000, but who might pay less than $300 a year in taxes, although the tax strategy is not yet final.

Turner also pointed to a commercial owner off Lakeland Drive on the Jackson side who pays $9,000 but would be taxed at less than $1,000—and see the value of his lakefront property go up. “He won’t have to have flood insurance any more,” he said.

The attorney downplayed comments made by legislators such as Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, that the plan would create 1,000 acres of valuable waterfront property and lift

property values. He opted to keep the focus on both the flooding and the public-access potential, such as potential new soccer and baseball fields along the Pearl on South Jefferson across from WLBT’s station.

Even though the Levee Board has the legal ability to levy those taxes when the law takes effect on July 2, it cannot do so until it has finalized the plan and submitted it with “ample notice” to the public for comment and challenges, Turner added.

The Levee Board has worked for years with the Pearl River Vision Foundation, which raised about $1.8 million to fund the “One Lake” plan, including to engineers it hired. The foundation, first created in 2000 to push forward the larger lake schemes, is

loudly discussing environmental mitigation concerns now, locally and downstream.

Once the project’s environmental impact study, or EIS, is ready to go public— by the end of April, Turner hopes—the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requires that an independent engineering group vet the plan and suggest changes before final approval. During the same period, the Levee Board will solicit public feedback on the plan. Turner hopes that the often-delayed project plan will be final by this fall.

Turner said the Levee Board must control all the land within the “project area,” whether temporarily for permanent, to create the lake. The board has eminentdomain authority, he said, “but we don’t in-

Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, faced a barrage of questions from Democratic senators about a welfare fraud measure on the last day of session.

who chairs the Senate Medicaid Committee, told his chamber that the goal is to ensure that the state’s welfare programs use the taxpayers’ dollars effectively.

Senate Democrats grilled the chairman on several provisions that have little to do with eligibility, like the 10-day response rule as well as how much the legislation will cost the state with most agencies already taking budget cuts. Wiggins said the law would cost $500,000 to implement, but an independent analysis from the New Hampshire-based Stephen Group, a contractor with a current $966,000 deal with MDHS, shows that HB 1090 will cost between $1 million to $2.6 million annually.

John Stephen, who prepared the analysis, told the Jackson Free Press that his study used what Texas, Florida, Illinois and Michigan do to check a person’s eligibility for assistance. He estimates that the law could save the state $30 million to $60 million, mostly on the Medicaid side.

“Currently, if someone moves out of state within the year they’re on Medicaid, they’re supposed to tell the state that they moved,” Stephen said. “The state is paying a managed-care vendor, so if they’re able to identify that someone has moved out of state, then they can stop paying (that venmore EFFECTS see page 8

tend on using it.” Instead, he predicts using one or a combination of strategies to control the land during the development stage: (1) acquiring all the property in the project area from “cooperative sellers”; (2) acquiring just portions of the property; or (3) acquiring property and using easements.

“The land ownership concept is still being fleshed out … and will be finalized and presented to the board,” he said. “We have working models; a lot can change.”

See jfp.ms/onelakemap to view the footprint. Orange areas in orange are the “project area.” A full archive of coverage is at jfp.ms/ pearlriver.

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

C

ities and universities can no longer establish sanctuary policies in Mississippi. Any felony targeting a law enforcement officer is subject to enhanced hate-crime penalties. Domestic violence could be a “cruel and inhuman” ground for divorce in the state. Mississippians receiving government assistance may have a harder time applying for government assistance.

The raucous legislative session ended a few days early on March 29 with those successful bills headed to Gov. Phil Bryant for signature, but without budgets in place for the state’s transportation needs or to fund the attorney general’s office.

7

TALK | state

EFFECTS

8

dor) for the rest of the year.”

The legislation says that the amount the state “saves” should exceed the total cost for implementing the system, but the system cannot start without upfront costs.

Stephen said it is expensive to pay thirdparty vendors for information like credit and banking records, which the bill would enable Medicaid and MDHS to pay private vendors to do, but paying third parties is much cheaper than the agencies trying to go get the data themselves.

Wiggins reiterated the cost-savings point several times last week.

“We’ve given the ability to re-negotiate or cancel the contracts. … We put the efficiency language in there to give them the flexibility to ensure that the savings exceed the cost,” Wiggins said on the Senate floor.

Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, was the only lawmaker of the six assigned to work on the final version bill who did approve of it. He said finding fraud and using data to assess the problem is important. But, he added, he and his colleagues are resisting the assumption at the heart of the bill.

“What is driving some of us up the wall and what is frustrating about this is the notion that somehow an entire class of people who are receiving TANF, Medicaid and other benefits are a bunch of clever, crafty people out to steal money from hardworking folks, and if we could crack down on this we could balance the state budgets,” Bryan said.

“That’s what creates so much of the turmoil. This legislation did not originate in the state of Mississippi; it originated from a think tank. (The bill) is not tailored to Mississippi; it contains pages and pages of complicated and not necessary language—and it certainly seems to be intended to create a sweetheart deal for a private entity.”

The Foundation for Government Accountability, based in Naples, Fla., wrote the bill template.

After an hour of debate on the last day of the session, the Senate approved the measure mainly along party lines, with most Republicans sending it to the governor’s desk. If he signs it, the Division of Medicaid and MDHS will have to enter into contracts and implement the new eligibility verification system by July 2019.

Target: ‘Sanctuary’

Despite news of several Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids throughout the state, Gov. Bryant has continued

foster care in certain cases. Gipson’s amendment added that the state’s “cruel and inhuman” ground for divorce includes spousal domestic abuse—physical, emotional and verbal. On the House floor, he said the State was clarifying the definition already in state law. The seventh ground for divorce now says, “spousal domestic abuse may be established through the reliable testimony of a single credible witness, who may be the injured party….”

Expanding Dyslexia Vouchers

The House won the dyslexia voucher fight when both chambers adopted Rep. Toby Barker’s, R-Hattiesburg, initial bill Imani Khayyam

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

from page 7

to toe his hard line on immigration in the wake of Trump’s presidency. It was no surprise when Bryant signed Senate Bill 2710 to prohibit “sanctuary” policies statewide last week. The only city with such a policy is Jackson, which passed an anti-profiling ordinance in 2010 that makes it unlawful for law enforcement officers to ask about a person’s immigration status.

“We want to make sure today that they clearly understand as do all Mississippians that it will be against the law to form such a sanctuary city or university,” Bryant said before signing the bill, comments released in a Facebook video.

In March, ICE released a detained im-

Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Canton, questioned Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, about how his bill targeting welfare fraud would affect Mississippians in need of government supports.

migrant raised in Mississippi, who was in the process of applying for her Deferred Action status. Daniela Vargas was in prison for several days before her story drew national attention and ICE agents released her. Lawyers and advocates are preparing families with action plans in case ICE detains a family member.

Divorce Law Clarified

After a public backlash for killing legislation to add domestic violence as grounds for divorce, Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, waged a media campaign saying domestic violence was already grounds for divorce under the state’s “habitual cruel and inhuman” ground, even as critics pointed out that the word “habitual” still indicated the need for repeated incidents.

Under fire, Gipson eventually added language to Senate Bill 2680. The bill states that abused and neglected children can go to relatives or family members instead of

language: making the vouchers available to students in grades 1-12 instead of through 6th grade. The bill also includes language to beef up the required dyslexia screener tests local school districts are required to administer to kindergartners and first graders.

The voucher bill caused uproars in both chambers this session due to amendments that would have allowed students to take their vouchers to out-of-state private schools, but all of that language died in conference. Students can use the vouchers at public or state accredited nonpublic special-purpose schools. Vouchers are about $5,000 per student, a cost far below most private school tuitions in the state.

Rebuilding Jackson

The Capitol Complex Improvement District bill, promising to give a portion of sales-tax revenues collected on business activities in Jackson back to the city for infrastructure costs, passed both chambers by

large margins last week. The funding influx is set to start on or before Aug. 15, 2018, the bill says, and Mayor Tony Yarber said that the initial dollar amount would be more than $3 million.

“Any funding that comes into City of Jackson is a win for Jackson. It will give us an opportunity to move funds in certain areas to areas that typically haven’t seen any real investment,” Yarber said.

“So it’s a win whether you live in north, south, east or west Jackson.”

The diverted tax revenue starts at a 2-percent level and incrementally increases in subsequent years. Unlike Jackson’s 1-percent sales tax, these new diversions are not additional taxes; instead, more of the money currently collected from Jackson businesses will fund the district’s expenditures.

The Capitol Complex district’s western border is at Jackson State University with its area including downtown and north to include the Jackson Medical Mall, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and a chunk of Fondren.

The district expands east, across Interstate 55, to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and the Pearl River.

House Bill 1226 has been in the works since 2014, Yarber told the Jackson Free Press, and likely passed because the City engaged state leaders early and often.

The legislation establishes a ninemember committee to advise the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration on what improvement projects need funding. The Jackson mayor, a city council representative and several government appointees, including from Jackson State University and the University of Mississippi Medical Center, will be on the committee.

“Improvement projects shall be coordinated with the City of Jackson to the greatest extent possible,” the bill says. However, improvement projects “shall not be subject to approvals, permits or fees assessed by the City of Jackson.”

Yarber said he has a list of projects the committee could consider.

Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, who is running for mayor against Yarber this spring, held a press conference to celebrate the legislation on Wednesday.

Explaining one potentially controversial component, Horhn said the law will extend the Mississippi State Capitol police’s authority to make arrests in the entire district. He emphasized that their law-enforcement authority will run in concurrence with the Jackson Police Department and the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department.

Email state reporter Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacksonfreepress.com and follower her at @arielle_amara on Twitter.

april 6-9

award-winning CROSSROADS malco FILM FESTIVAL grandview

@

crossroadsfilmfestival.com

Festival Highlights You Are Everything

Thursday, April 6 at 5:00 PM @ Malco Grandview

Journalist Georg and his girlfriend Vera meet DJ Dave at an open-air festival. As their trip unfolds, they learn what it means to be alive.

1 Mile to You

Thursday, April 6 at 7:00 PM @ Malco Grandview

After a teenager’s friends die in an accident, he finds running allows him to remember them perfectly. Running, however, also brings him notoriety. Starring Billy Crudup, Graham Rogers, Liana Liberato, Stefanie Scott, and Tim Roth.

Black Magic: Stories from the Black Experience Friday, April 7 at 4:45 PM @ Malco Grandview

Films curated in partnership with the Independent Black Film Collective!

I Am Not Your Negro

Friday, April 7 at 6:15 PM @ Malco Grandview

Girls Just Wanna Make Films

Saturday, April 8 at 1:00 PM Malco Grandview

A collection of films made by Mississippi women filmmakers! Followed by moderated panel with these amazing women.

Powerful Medicine and other Mississippi stories

Saturday, April 8 at 3:45 PM @ Malco Grandview

Home-grown films made by home-grown filmmakers!

Hate Crime: an LGBT story

Saturday, April 8 at 7:15 PM @ Malco Grandview

As a killer is executed for murdering a young gay man, two sets of parents struggle to deal with the consequences.

“Late Night Radio” and other music videos

Saturday, April 8 at 7:30 PM @ Malco Grandview

Music videos from Mississippi artists – and from a few Southern region bands!

Oscar-nominated documentary is a compelling look at a proposed book by James Baldwin. Followed by moderated panel. Sponsored by Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Mississippi Humanities Council.

Train to Busan

We can sum up this block in just 3 words: Korean zombie apocalypse! Stay after the film and enjoy some delicious eats!

Sponsored by Hoodoo Vodka/Cathead Distillery

Eyes on Mississippi

Saturday, April 8 at 11:45 AM @ Malco Grandview

Since 1947, Bill Minor has been documenting his eyewitness account of milestones in Mississippi’s — and the nation’s — history.

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

Friday, April 7 at 8:00 PM @ Hal & Mal’s

9

TALK | state

Special Session Ahead for Unfinished Business

by Arielle Dreher

10

Most viral stories at jfp.ms:

1. “Capitol Complex Bill with Funds for Jackson Passes, Heads to Governor” by Donna Ladd 2. “Sarah MacInnis” by Tyler Edwards 3. “Legislature Passes Cap Complex, Funds Will Kick in by 2018”

by Arielle Dreher 5. “Life in Code: Nader Dabit” by Amber Helsel 4. “The Poverty-Crime Connection” by Lacey McLaughlin

interpretation, that’s my belief…. [T]o those that say it’s not a tax, my view is this: if it looks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it’s a tax.”

No Gas Tax, Though

Both Gunn and Reeves agree that raising the gas tax is not an option for funding roads and bridges, which means the two leaders must try to reach an agreement in upcomImani Khayyam

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

A

bi-partisan attempt to fund road and bridge repair, as well as Mississippi’s top attorney’s legal budget, stalled in a last-hour fight between the two houses in the Capitol last week. That stalemate means that Gov. Phil Bryant must call lawmakers back to Jackson before July in order to pass two budgets for the Mississippi Department of Transportation and another for Attorney General Jim Hood’s office.

The Senate blames the House for the hold-up. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who oversees the Senate, maintains that both sides had agreed in conference on the three appropriations bills, and the House just decided not to pass them.

The House decided to send the two transportation budgets back for more work on deadline day in a sign to the Senate that they were serious about getting more funding to roads and bridges. House Speaker Philip Gunn, RClinton, and his committee chairmen say they have made three attempts to work with the Senate, including diverting online sales-tax revenue and issuing additional bonds to get additional funds to roads and bridges. But the Senate kept sending the House proposals back, or killing them, they say, in part because Reeves steadfastly refuses to use alreadycollected Internet sales taxes to pay for roads and bridges.

“[I]t wasn’t an impasse on those (budget) bills at all; that was led over frustration over (not) getting the Senate chairmen and me to agree to raise the Internet sales tax,” Reeves told reporters Wednesday after the session ended.

Gunn denies that the House’s proposal raises taxes.

“Every day we wait, the cost goes up exponentially, and we’ve got to start shifting some dollars towards roads and bridges, and the plan we brought forward does that, and it does not raise anybody’s taxes,” he said.

The House proposal would divert Internet sales tax from “voluntary taxpayers” such as retailers like Amazon that choose to pay the state Department of Revenue even though they are not required to by law.

Reeves counters that collecting the tax is unconstitutional based on the Quill v. North Dakota U.S. Supreme Court case that said businesses had to have a physical presence, called a “nexus,” in the state to collect online sales tax.

Reeves told reporters that Amazon’s rationale for collecting the tax is not “out of the goodness of their hearts.”

“They (Amazon) are voluntarily collecting it in fear that Quill is going to be overturned, and they will be liable for past years’ collections…. [I]f they collect it, and they remit it to the state, and Quill is overturned, then the state has no cause of action to go back three years and collect what they should have otherwise been collecting,” Reeves said.

“It shifts the liability from their income and statement balance sheet to the individuals paying the fray—that’s my

Attorney General Jim Hood said he expects the governor to call a special session so lawmakers can pass a budget for his agency before July.

ing weeks. The House has pushed most of the proposals to fund roads and bridges this session. The Senate proposed a $50-million bond for infrastructure, as did the House, but compromise was elusive.

“The last (proposal) we made had four different options, proposals to put money towards roads and bridges. If you don’t like all four, then pick three or pick two or give us something—but there’s been absolutely no conversation, so we’ll continue to put forward ideas,” Gunn said.

Gunn said if they could agree on a strategy, the governor could call a special session to address funding for roads and bridges in addition to the three budget bills.

If not, the special session to pass budgets could be as short as one afternoon, he said.

Reeves says the special session will be an opportunity to look at MDOT’s budget under a microscope.

Most viral events at jfpevents.com:

1. Music in the City, April 11 2. Trivia Fight Night, April 5 3. Crossroads Film Festival, April 6-9 4. 10th Annual Zoo Brew, April 7 5. Holi Mela, April 8 Find more events at jfpevents.com.

“If, in fact, as we have been told, there are real safety issues … with some of these bridges, I think it will be really interesting to see what have they prioritized to ensure that safety is our priority,” Reeves said last week.

The Federal Highway Administration closed 72 bridges in March, due to their critical condition.

The Mississippi Economic Council estimates that the state needs to allocate $375 million annually to repair and restore the state’s roads and bridges.

Last-minute Poison Pill

Lawmakers need to pass Attorney General Hood’s office budget in a special session, due to a last-minute poison pill. Rep. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, objected to a provision added at the last minute that would require Hood’s office to deposit lawsuit settlement receipts into the general fund within 15 days of receiving it in order to receive any state money to run the office.

Hood said his office is not delaying sending checks to the general fund, as implied. He said he had rushed lawmakers some of the original funds from the $34.4 million settlement with Moody’s Corporation back in January because he knew what the budget situation looked like.

Still, Hood added, just because his office gets a check does not mean they are ready to distribute it. He said sometimes court orders mandate some money be spent on certain things. Hood says his office works as fast as it can, and that lawmakers can call to inquire about fund status.

House leaders agreed to take the measure out, using a special rule, but the Senate then needed to approve those changes. But Reeves told reporters that under Senate rules, it cannot re-consider budget bills. He said members of both Houses had agreed on the budget before Baria raised the final issue that delayed a final attorney general’s budget.

Hood, the only Democrat elected to statewide office, said he is sure “cooling heads will prevail” between the chambers, and the governor will call a special session to finalize the budget.

The Legislature also considered several measures this session to limit Hood’s authority to file lawsuits and litigate cases on behalf of the state, and while none of those attempts to curb his power prevailed, the majority tried to dictate what his office can and cannot do in order to receive state funding. The attorney general has the authority to sue corporations and brings those settlement funds from cases he wins into the state’s treasury—which has long created political fissures between Hood and Republicans, including their corporate donors.

“It’s just juvenile games that they’re playing over there.

When legislators start worrying about someone else getting credit for something, that’s frustrating, and it’s worse now than I’ve seen it in my 13 years as attorney general—where people do these little petty partisan moves that don’t help people,” Hood told reporters in his office Monday.

The governor could also include bonding authority for community colleges and universities in a special session because the initial legislation died due to the funding feud.

Email state reporter Arielle Dreher at arielle@jacksonfree press.com and follow her on Twitter at @arielle_amara.

April 7, 12 p.m.

April 22, 8 a.m.

Nussbaum Lecture: Lamees S. El-Sadek

Executive M.B.A. Breakfast Information Session

Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex, Room 215 | Admission: Free

Murrah Hall, Room 22 | Admission: Free | Reservations required, please go to admission.millsaps.edu/register/breakfast_apr2017

April 17, 7:30 p.m.

April 23, 7:30 p.m.

Duo Piano Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex, Recital Hall | Admission: Free

April 21, 3 p.m.

A Performance of Original Student Compositions The Reclaimed Miles, 140 Wesley Avenue, Jackson, MS | Admission: Free

April 25, 7 p.m.

IVI Hour: Patrick Hopkins Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex, Room 137 | Admission: Free

Arts & Lecture Series: The Russell Welch Hot Quartet Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex, Recital Hall | Admission: $10

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April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

Mixx

11

The Enduring Legacy of Emmett Till

W

hen the news broke that Carolyn Bryant Donham—the white woman infamously at the center of the murder of Emmett Till—admitted to lying in court during the 1955 trial of her husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, public outrage exploded. Historian Timothy Tyson revealed the news in advance of his new book, “The Blood of Emmett Till.” Tyson is the only historian known to have interviewed Donham, and having sat down with her in 2007, he claims that Donham, still alive, is remorseful for her role in the tragedy and that she thinks of Mamie Till Mobley, Emmett Till’s mother, with a sense of regret.

In the public’s eye, those drastically inadequate and seemingly insincere revelations added fuel to the fire to condemn Donham and bring her to long-awaited justice, which was denied since her husband and brotherin-law were acquitted. Much of the public indignation, anguish and hostility, particularly in black communities, must be understood in the context of well-publicized, often officially condoned and systematically perpetrated brutality against black bodies.

For many white Americans, the fact that Donham outed herself is a shock. Her admission has given these people stones to throw for her guilt in Till’s murder. In turn, they will soon feel inclined to shut the door on this ugly chapter in American history and claim that it is all behind us.

But the condemnation from African Americans is not born from surprise that Donham had perjured herself. The news that she had lied did not shock African Americans or those of us who work with black communities.

We knew she was going to lie before she took the stand in 1955.

Mose Wright, Till’s uncle, knew she was lying when he stood up in court and identified Bryant and Milam as the men who abducted his nephew. Mamie Till Mobley knew Donham was lying as she sat in the segregated courthouse in Sumner, where a billboard declared that it was “A Good Place to Raise a Boy” without any hint of cruel irony. Wheeler Parker, Till’s cousin, who was there during the whistling incident, knew that Donham was lying and has told anyone who would listen for the past 60 years. Bryant and Milam themselves admitted it when they confessed to kidnapping and murdering Till for a 1956 Look magazine article. Historian Devery Anderson, whose 2015 book “Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World” is the most definitive account so far, told us as much.

Instead, Donham’s confession, far from providing a national scapegoat for the murder of Emmett Till, emphasizes that violence, untamed and unpunished, aimed at African Americans is not a modern story but has a long legacy in America. The assault against African Americans has been at the heart of the power structure in this country since the days of the Founding Fathers and their commitment to the institution of slavery. If anything, the renewed interest in Till and in Donham, who should go to prison if her role is proven to be prosecutable today, reminds us that the Civil Rights Movement was not that long ago and that the struggle continues.

If anything “good” comes from this news, it may be the inspiration of a new generation of activists, much like Till inspired six decades ago. It will not be some kind of satisfactory conclusion to the Till saga or Mississippi’s racist history. Rather, it will be a recommitment to the work of black empowerment and racial reconciliation, which can allow us to use our past to shape our present. My son, who is 2 years old and named Emmett for the boy who inspired my own activism, has the chance to inherit that legacy.

Robert Luckett is the director of the Margaret Walker Center and a history professor at Jackson State University.

12 April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

We knew she was going to lie before she took the stand in 1955.

State Budget Cuts Mean Dramatic Job Loss

R

epublicans made good on their promise to slash state government funding in the 2017 legislative session, including public health and (parts of) public education.

The state’s mental-health department took a $10-million cut, despite Mississippi litigating two legal challenges to its institutionalized system of mental-health care for children and adults. The state Department of Health is looking at an almost 50-percent reduction in funding. Lawmakers voted to cut the Mississippi Adequate Education Program by $20 million (versus last year’s funding—it is still drastically underfunded in general), instead rewarding the state’s best schools (which are largely in more affluent, Republican-run districts) instead of giving additional funds to the “failing” ones.

For the most part, Republican are not apologizing for their “small government” priorities to legislating, even if it means health needs and equitable education suffer. Shrinking the size of government as a philosophy, however, has another natural outcome: the loss of vital jobs.

In the debates over budget cuts this session, lawmakers did not voluntarily share the number of jobs potentially lost due to cuts—unless pressed to share those numbers. Why? Because Mississippians who work for the state live in every county, pay taxes—and vote. The Department of Mental Health cut means hundreds of lost jobs. Cuts to other agencies likely mean the same.

Lost jobs means the newly unemployed need to find jobs elsewhere, presumably in the private

sector, but in Mississippi this isn’t the trend. Local, state and federal government is the second-highest nonfarm employer in the state of Mississippi, behind services (which includes business, food, health care and education), data from the state’s university research center show.

State government alone employs 61,000 Mississippians, the latest “Mississippi’s Business” report shows. That is more jobs than the entire construction industry in the state.

Democrats called for the repeal of the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act this session to stop the bleeding of state revenue, but the cries fell on deaf Republican ears. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves still boasts of the legislation, passed in 2016, as the biggest tax cut in Mississippi history. The cut, he believes, will stimulate more economic activity and growth in the state’s economy as well as attract large corporations.

How long will Mississippians have to wait to see if this actually comes to pass? Lawmakers passed a massive tax break for a mere 2,500 jobs guaranteed by Continental Tire last year too. The catch?

Those jobs won’t all materialize until 2025—if the German corporation sticks around that long.

No matter which way you slice it, the policies coming out of the statehouse mean a stretch of unemployment for hundreds, and eventually thousands, of Mississippians working in state government. It is unclear how long those workers will have to wait for tax cuts to turn into new jobs, if they do.

Or will the 2019 election be their only opportunity to vote in favor of better job security?

Email letters and opinion to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019 or mail to 125 South Congress St., Suite 1324, Jackson, Mississippi 39201. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, as well as factchecked.

JOE ATKINS

EDITORIAL Managing Editor Amber Helsel State Reporter Arielle Dreher JFP Daily Editor Dustin Cardon Music Editor Micah Smith Events Listings Editor Tyler Edwards Writers Richard Coupe, Bryan Flynn, Shelby Scott Harris, Mike McDonald, Greg Pigott, Julie Skipper Consulting Editor JoAnne Prichard Morris ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY Art Director Kristin Brenemen Advertising Designer Zilpha Young Staff Photographer Imani Khayyam ADVERTISING SALES Sales and Marketing Consultants Myron Cathey, Roberta Wilkerson Sales Assistant Mary Osborne Digital Marketing Specialist Meghan Garner BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS Distribution Manager Richard Laswell Distribution Raymond Carmeans, Clint Dear, Michael McDonald, Ruby Parks Assistant to the CEO Inga-Lill Sjostrom Operations Consultant David Joseph ONLINE Web Editor Dustin Cardon Web Designer Montroe Headd CONTACT US: Letters letters@jacksonfreepress.com Editorial editor@jacksonfreepress.com Queries submissions@jacksonfreepress.com Listings events@jacksonfreepress.com Advertising ads@jacksonfreepress.com Publisher todd@jacksonfreepress.com News tips news@jacksonfreepress.com Fashion style@jacksonfreepress.com Jackson Free Press 125 South Congress Street, Suite 1324 Jackson, Mississippi 39201 Editorial (601) 362-6121 Sales (601) 362-6121 Fax (601) 510-9019 Daily updates at jacksonfreepress.com

The Jackson Free Press is the city’s awardwinning, locally owned newsweekly, reaching over 35,000 readers per week via more than 600 distribution locations in the Jackson metro area—and an average of over 35,000 visitors per week at www.jacksonfreepress.com. The Jackson Free Press is free for pick-up by readers; one copy per person, please. First-class subscriptions are available for $100 per year for postage and handling.

The Jackson Free Press welcomes thoughtful opinions. The views expressed in this newspaper are not necessarily those of the publisher or management of Jackson Free Press Inc. Š Copyright 2017 Jackson Free Press Inc. All Rights Reserved

O

XFORD—Over the intercom in the Mississippi Capitol pressroom one day back in 1984, a House member harangued his colleagues on the floor over a stalled bill. “When are we ever going to enter the 20th century?� the politician cried. “Never!� our mentor and senior Capitol press corps member, Bill Minor, shouted into the wall speaker.

We younger reporters got a laugh out of that but perhaps a little apprehension, too. Minor had been covering Mississippi since 1947. Maybe he wasn’t joking.

That memory came back to me last week when I learned of Bill Minor’s death at the age of 93. He was indeed a mentor, a comrade-in-arms, a hero to me then and now. I began my journalistic journey in Mississippi in 1981 around the same time Minor published the farewell edition of his amazing alternative newspaper, The Capital Reporter. I still have a copy of that edition. “The Ten Most Powerful: Who Are the Movers and Shakers in Jackson?� was the top-of-the-fold headline. In an editorial inside, he wrote of the paper’s “sympathetic treatment of the underdog� and his “hope that there will be others to take up the slack in keeping the pressure on public officials� as well as “those in the private sector who enjoy the public trust.�

Bill wrote with authority. He had been a frontlines warrior ever since his first big story in Mississippi, the funeral of ranting, racist U.S. Sen. Theodore Bilbo. From there, he had gone on to cover practically every major event in the state’s bloody civil rights-era history. As a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Capital Reporter editor, and later, a statewide syndicated columnist, he suffered the slings and arrows— death threats, cross burnings, smashed windows, even a stolen typesetting machine.

I was proud to be part of a new generation of journalists in Mississippi taking up his challenge, and I kept in close touch with Bill over the years to see how we were doing. Not always so good, he would sometimes lament.

Too much of “our journalism is unfortunately go along, get along,� he told an audience of students and professors at the University of Mississippi in 2004. “To be a journalist is to be prepared to take a risk.

Newspapers are the closest to my heart. I

see us engaged in an endless war. This is not just a cozy little political sideshow. It is serious business. ‌ Journalists are still the first eyes and ears of the nation, but it takes reporters out there on the ground. There’s no substitute for reporters on the ground.�

He didn’t let the professors in the audience off the hook. He recalled one who lost his job for exercising “academic freedom� and standing up for civil rights in the ’60s, former Ole Miss history professor James Silver—“a great old professor here back in the day any professor who spoke up against the system was run out of the state.�

I was fortunate to come to Mississippi at a time when a lot of the legends were still alive. I once interviewed Silver, and also civil-rights crusader and journalist Hazel Brannon Smith. I’ll never forget talking with another legend from that era, reporter Homer Bigart, and I actually worked for the great Claude Sitton in my native North Carolina before coming here.

However, none of them impressed me more than Bill, a Louisiana native who could have easily left Mississippi for a glorious career in Washington, D.C., but instead chose to stay. “I used to yearn for Bill to come to Washington and take on such sacred cows as Russell Long and Jim Eastland,� New York Times and former Mississippi newspaper and wire reporter John Herbers once wrote. “But he may have succeeded better, as a reporter, by staying in Mississippi. I know of no other state that has been transformed as much. And as the eyes and ears for many outside the state, as well as in, he may have contributed more to that transformation than any other journalist.�

Over the past years, Bill and I would catch up on life and politics with a phone call every few weeks or at an occasional gathering. I loved those conversations, which usually included a good bit of grousing over the politics of the day and the fact that, dammit, Mississippi was still trying “to enter the 20th century� more than a decade into the 21st! Then we’d have a good laugh and talk about the latest hell he had given a deserving politician.

Joe Atkins is a veteran journalist, columnist, and professor of journalism at the University of Mississippi. His blog is laborsouth. blogspot.com and he can be reached at jbatkins@olemiss.edu.

“To be a journalist is to be prepared to take a risk.�

Listings for Fri. 4/7 – Thur. 4/13 Smurfs: The Lost Beauty and the Village PG Beast (2017) PG Going in Style Kong: Skull Island PG13 PG13 The Case for Logan R Christ PG The Shack PG13 The Zookeeper’s R Wife PG13 Get Out Ghost in the Shell Life R PG13 (Sun – Thur only) The Boss Baby PG The Belko Experiment R Power Rangers (2017) PG13 (Sun – Thur only)

T k WO i t cSISTERS h e n Spring has Sprung Join Us on the Patio Best Fried Chicken, Best of Jackson 2003-17

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April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

Editor-in-Chief Donna Ladd Publisher Todd Stauffer Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin

Bill Minor: Mississippi’s Eyes and Ears

13

W O R S H I P

W I T H

U S

S U N D A Y, A P R I L 1 6 DAYBREAK Sanctuary | 8:30AM TRADITIONS Sanctuary | 10:45AM THE BRIDGE Fellowship Hall

8:30AM & 10:45AM SUNDAY SCHOOL | 9:30 - 10:30AM and EVENING WORSHIP SERVICE

Gallant Hearts Guide Dog 7th Annual

HOT DIGGITY DOG 5K

HUMANS WELCOME. April 8 2017. @ MS SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND 5K REGISTRATION: GALLANTSHEARTS.ORG

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THE BRIDGE Fellowship Hall | 6:00PM

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ADMISSION!

A N N U A L

T O W N S H I P

JAZZ FESTIVAL Saturday, April 8, 2017

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

Astral Project

14

Raphael Semmes Jazz Ensemble The Musicians Southern Miss Jazztet

CHRIST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Bill Summers & Jazalsa The Vamps Southern Komfort JSU Jazz Ensemble

Rain or shine! Food, beverages, & covered seating!

6000 OLD CANTON ROAD | JACKSON, MS 39211 | 601-956-6974

Lawn chairs & blankets welcome. No coolers please.

WWW.CHRISTUNITEDJXN.ORG

www.Townshipjazzfestival.com

A MISSISSIPPI CHRISTIAN COLLEGE OF DISTINCTION NAMED AMONG SCHOOLS LIKE: Baylor University Samford University Wheaton College Union University Calvin College Pepperdine University ...just to name a few.

A WORLDOUTREACHVIEW At Belhaven University, Christian worldview and outreach is an everyday part of our rigorous academic life. Consequently, for the seventh consecutive year, Belhaven joins a select group of 56 colleges and universities nationwide and is recognized as a Christian College of Distinction in Mississippi.

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AMERICAN~HISTORY

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Visit Vicksburg this Spring for our signature events!

Vicksburg Pilgrimage March and April Gold in the Hills March and April RiverFest April 7th & 8th

Old Court House Flea Market April 22nd

VisitVicksburg.com

/VisitVicksburg

Scan this QR to visit our mobile site and get your keys to Vicksburg.

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

Alcorn State University Jazz Fest featuring Ramsey Lewis at the Vicksburg Convention Center April 22

15

2017 Crossroads

Film

Festival

Crossroads Film Festival begins on Thursday, April 6, with premieres of “You Are Everything” and “1 Mile to You” at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, on screen A at Malco Grandview Theatre (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). On Friday, April 7, the film screenings begin at 1 p.m. at Malco at 1 p.m. That Friday, Crossroads will also do a screening of “Pastime” and “Train to Busan” at Hal & Mal’s from 8 p.m. to midnight. The screenings on Saturday, April 8, begin at 11:15 a.m., and the music video showcase is from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on screen C with an after party at Offbeat (151 Wesley Ave.). Tickets are $8 for a single film block, and $6 for students, Crossroads members and seniors 65 and older.

All Access passes are $35-$45, Friday and Saturday passes are $15-$20, and student and industry passes are $20. For more information, visit crossroadsfilmfestival.com.

Lights, Camera, Inaction

by Tyler Edwards

F

“Mississippi Damned,” Keith Beauchaump’s documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Till” and his soon-to-shoot feature film, “TILL,” and Wilma Mosley Clopton’s “Elport Chess and the 1947 Lanier Bus Boycott,” which will screen during Crossroads Film Festival this year. As of press time, Mississippi currently has seven productions scheduled to shoot in the first quarter of 2017.

Robbie Fisher, who is the president of the Crossroads Film Society and co-organizer of the Mississippi Production Group, a local film-focused networking group, has been a part of the industry full-time for the past six years and reiterates the program’s success. “I’ve seen the number of films increase, and the budgets of films increase,” she says. “I know it’s in direct correlation with when we began courtesy Ben Matheny

or its modest size, Mississippi has an illustrious history in its contribution to the arts. From authors Richard Wright and William Faulkner to musicians Elvis Presley, B.B. King and now hip-hop artists Rae Sremmurd, the state has long exported cultural value.

Filmmaker and actor Ben Matheny is a part of this heritage and takes pride in his Mississippi upbringing.

“I feel lucky to have grown up in Mississippi,” Matheny told the Jackson Free Press in December. “I’m really happy I grew up in a state where (the arts) were nurtured.”

Matheny, an Ocean Springs native, graduated from the University of New Orleans in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in film arts and immediately went to work in the industry, cutting his teeth on projects such as “True Detective” and “12 Years a Slave.”

Despite working in Louisiana’s initially thriving film industry, things started to slow down around 2015 when then-Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a bill placing more stringent limits on state tax incentives. With Louisiana a less viable option, Matheny and his friends decided it was a good time to work on some independent films and chose to shoot their first feature, “Easy Does It,” in Mississippi.

What’s Going Right

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

Matheny’s story is not an uncommon one, as Mississippi currently offers a competitive tax-rebate program for filmmakers, especially compared to nearby productionheavy states like Louisiana and Georgia. Established in 2004, the Mississippi Motion Picture Incentive Program is mostly know for its simple, three-pronged system. Once a qualified film has finished production, it receives a 25-percent rebate from the state on all money spent in Mississippi, a 30-percent rebate on the payroll of Mississippi residents and a 25-percent rebate on the payroll of non-residents.

This program has led to many independent pictures and major features filming in Mississippi such as Katherine Dieckmann’s “Strange Weather,” John Krasinski’s “The Hollars” and Tate Taylor’s James Brown biopic, “Get On 16 Up.” Other films shot in the state include Tina Mabry’s

Actor-director Ben Matheny is an Ocean Springs native who is returning to Mississippi in May to shoot his first feature film, “Easy Does It.”

the incentive rebate program and because we’ve continued to fund it. … It’s the financial impetus people have to come and make films in Mississippi.”

Fisher says she believes that Mississippi has more to offer than just financial incentives, too.

“We have great locations, hospitality and things that are more intrinsically, less financially, beneficial,” she says.

The first of those attributes of Mississippi is on display in Matheny’s “Easy Does It,” which begins production in May and takes place in across much of the Southwest, despite mostly being filmed in the Magnolia State.

In the 13 years since its inception, 222 productions have used Mississippi’s incentive program and spent more than $188 million in direct production expenditures with Mississippi businesses and payrolls across the state, statistics from the Mississippi Film Office show. Fisher also credits the productions that the program has brought in to the growth of other aspects of film culture in Mississippi.

“I have seen a dramatic growth in the number of film festivals around our state, and I think there’s a direct correlation there, from the growth of festivals to the films being made here,” she says. “From our perspective, from Crossroads, there are many more films now being submitted (to the Crossroads Film Festival) from Mississippians than there were just a couple of years ago.”

The Mississippi Film Office reports that, since 2012, the industry workforce has seen an increase of more than 170 percent in the state. Eight colleges and universities have created or expanded film programs, including Behaven University, the University of Southern Mississippi and Hinds Community College. In addition, six new film festivals have launched in Mississippi in that same time period, including the Rails to Reels Film Festival in Meridian, the Grenada Afterglow Film Festival, and the Sun & Sand Music and Film Festival on the coast.

What’s Going Wrong

Despite the industry’s growth, the incentive program is now in danger. Each of the three rebates has a “sunset”

Where We Go From Here

Following the end of this year’s legislative session on March 31, Mississippi lawmakers did not move to extend the July 1 sunset of the non-resident rebate, despite an attempt from Rep. David Baria, D-Handcock to extend the provision through 2020.

This has left those in the industry wondering where the state goes next, including Ben Matheny.

“Mississippi film has grown to be something very exciting and something that has a tremendous amount of potential,” he said in April, “but it’s not going to be able to continue that growth without the non-resident payroll.”

courtesy Robbie HEad

provision, meaning the Department of Revenue will stop approving applications for the rebates after a certain date.

For the non-resident payroll rebate, that expiration date is July 1, which the legislature did not step in to extend.

On a surface level, it is easy to look at the non-resident portion of the rebate system and think that, of the three, it would be the most logical one to cut if necessary. After all, the rebate is for non-residents—not Mississippians.

During Gov. Phil Bryant’s Executive Budget Recommendation last November, he suggested that the state legislature should allow the expiration to happen, saying, “While I support the jobs and attention that films bring to Mississippi, taxpayers should no longer subsidize the motion picture industry at a loss.”

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn have also echoed this sentiment toward film in Mississippi, and the state legislature doubled down on it when they allowed the bill vying to extend the non-resident rebate to die in committee in February.

The monetary loss Gov. Bryant is referring to was extrapolated from the Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review’s report, which calculates that the rebate program returns about 49 cents for every dollar invested. University of Southern Mississippi professor, filmmaker and actor Miles Doleac says he takes issue with the way state officials are reading the report, though, and with the thought of the non-resident rebate ending.

“I’m someone who’s directly benefited from the rebate package here,” he says. “I wouldn’t have been able to hire someone like William Saddler (of ‘Law and Order’ and ‘Iron Man 3’) for my film without the non-resident payroll rebate. My films alone have infused over a million dollars into the economy of the greater Hattiesburg area.”

Doleac has done three feature films in Mississippi— “The Historian,” “The Hollow” and “Demons”—that received distribution deals, and he says the non-resident incentive tax played no small role in that.

Fisher says it’s more complicated than just a simple statement of facts.

“We have data that shows that this is an incomplete, bullet-pointed statement,” she says. “It’s taking a very narrow view, and when you’re going to fairly assess an industry,

Matheny echoes Doleac’s sentiment that ending the non-resident portion is mostly hurting Mississippians who have worked hard to establish a footing in the industry.

“The Mississippi Legislature owes it to the working professionals and businesses of Mississippi to protect this blossoming industry,” Matheny says. “Even if in a special session, they should renew or extend this rebate. There’s just too much potential both creatively and financially in the film industry for Mississippi to let it die.”

Despite the reported loss of 49 cents on the dollar, the PEER report shows that Mississippi’s return on investment is high in contrast with neighboring states, according to reports from other state audit offices and from private organizations such as the Motion Picture Association of America.

Moving forward, perhaps the easiest way to chart a path is to look no further than the PEER report itself. It lays out three recommendations on how the state can improve the incentive program financially—none of which includes of removing one of the three rebates.

The report suggests that the Mississippi Film Office should take additional steps to upgrade workforce and infrastructure, including creating a certification program

Robbie Fisher is the president of the Crossroads Film Society and a co-organizer of Mississippi Production Group, a local film-networking group.

for local businesses; developing programs for Mississippians interested in producing films who do not currently have the technical knowledge of film production; and conducting ongoing analysis of its effectiveness by tracking the film office’s strategies and the number of residents employed in film projects.

While the numbers are not perfect, or exactly where the legislature would like them to be, as Matheny said, the industry is still young, still growing, and leaders in the film industry like Fisher and Doleac believe it will continue and become a significant source of income, tourism and recognition for a state that lacks all three.

“There is this beautiful and sublime creative legacy of our state that can be the foundation of a thriving economic engine called the film industry,” Doleac says. It’s there; the creativity is there. We just need to remember who we are.”

See reviews of multiple 2017 Crossroads film in upcoming pages. Full schedule at crossroadsfilmfestival.com. 17 April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

courtesy Wilma Mosley Clopton

Wilma Mosley Clopton’s documentary, “Elport Chess and the 1947 Lanier High School Bus Boycott,” will screen during the 1 p.m. block on Saturday, April 8, at the Crossroads Film Festival.

you should look at all of the aspects of it.”

While the PEER report does show that for each invested dollar, the state gets approximately 49 cents, it also presents caveats alongside that fact. It acknowledges that other states’ film incentive programs have also been criticized for sometimes-low return on investment but points out that many states still offer these programs because of potential economic growth in areas such as employment opportunities, infrastructure and support services.

In addition, the report does not consider tourism in regards to the projected revenue or job creation, and film tourism is certainly a factor in Mississippi. Doleac and Fisher both cite “The Help” tours, which still take place in Greenwood and Jackson, the Laurel Mercantile Co., which opened as a result of the HGTV show “Home Town,” and the Canton Film Museums.

The PEER report also states that the loss is tied to the assumption that the money that the state is currently spending on film incentives would instead go to manufacturing or service sectors, which are in no way the guaranteed destinations for the funds should the incentives expire.

Fisher looks to numbers from the Mississippi Development Authority to show how the film industry’s growth has directly impacted Mississippians. MDA data show that film-industry payrolls for Mississippians are up from $619,475 in 2012 to $6,594,219 in 2016. This increase ties back to not only the significant growth of the industry as a whole, but also the growing number in the state’s trained film-specific workforce, which increased from 334 to 902 over the past four years.

“I have a friend who was in the film school at Hind Community College, and he worked on a small film I produced just to get experience,” Fisher says.

“Now, that friend is working almost all of the time on big features and is a member of the (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 478 union), and his salary has gone dramatically up, and he’s just one of many people I know like that.”

It is Mississippians like this that Doleac says he is the most worried about with the legislature allowing part of the incentive program to expire.

“This is really pulling the rug out from under us and out from under this grassroots effort,” Doleac says.

“What I really think that our Legislature doesn’t get is that they’re not hurting Hollywood liberals—they’re hurting Mississippians.”

Having seen firsthand what disrupting a state’s incentive program looks like, Matheny told the Jackson Free Press that he was equally concerned with how this could affect Mississippi.

“If things go for Mississippi like they went for Louisiana, you could definitely see a downturn,” he says. “If the rebate program is scrapped, it could not only be a downturn but could end major filming in Mississippi altogether.”

before the swarm

by Mike McDonald

RAISING THE STEAKS

by Micah Smith

Love With a Guarantee

by Brynn Corbello

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

A Thankless Job

by Micah Smith

Airport baggage screeners have theme of racial prejudice at work here an important position that is not only that is best left for festivalgoers to discover thankless but also, on occasion, out- and consider for themselves. right despised. In German filmmaker Although I could see some viewFlorian Heinzen-Ziob’s dramatic short ers criticizing Heinzen-Ziob for teasing film “For Your Own Safety,” he puts a at that darker subject matter instead of face to that station through the story of sinking his teeth in, I think his approach Jonas, a senior bag-checker who follows security guidelines to the letter.

As is often the case with sticklers for the rules, Jonas is unpopular with his coworkers, who don’t see the urgency that he does. Throughout a single day, the weight of his fellow agents, his superiors and air“For Your Own Safety” port patrons disliking him bears down harder and harder until he would do just about anything benefits the film. A lesser writer or dito win someone’s approval, even if just for rector might have centered the story on a moment. one particular moment and fallen into

Even early on, Heinzen-Ziob and melodrama, but here he focuses on telllead actor Steffen Will do a brilliant job ing a simple yet emotionally complex of setting up Jonas as a sympathetic char- narrative that is more about character acter, yet one flawed enough that the an- rather than conflict. imosity toward him feels warranted. It’s “For Your Own Safety” will screen a tough line to walk, but it’s absolutely during the “Mixtape” film block on Saturpivotal to the film’s resolution. day, April 8, on screen C from 5:30 p.m. to

There is also a timely, bigger-picture 7:30 p.m.

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

We’ve all had the thought, “What if?” visually dazzling, with its bright jewel-tone when it comes to romance. In the short colors and vintage design—more than film, “The Five Wives & Lives of Melvyn enough to keep you entertained as the Pfferberg,” director and lead actor Damian quick-moving plot forward. Viewers won’t Samuels brings this question to light in a want to blink during this love adventure. whimsical fantasy-comedy. After Melvyn is jilted at the altar, he stumbles upon an infomercial selling the “Cupidatron,” which promises to help customers select a successful partner with only a handshake. Of course, things go awry for Melvyn when the device malfunctions.

The film takes a lighthearted jab at modern dating and romance, demonstrating the “The Five Wives & Lives of Melvyn Pfferberg” protagonist’s relationship phases with various women that he meets while at a speed-dating event.

Viewers will follow Melvyn’s romantic “The Five Wives & Lives of Melvyn rollercoasters through playful first dates, Pfferberg” screens during the “The Five first forays together in his geometric 1960s- Wives & Lives of Melvyn Pfferberg & a Bufstyle bedroom, his and his significant oth- fet of Other Comedies” film block on Saturers’ weddings, and even parenthood. day, April 8, on screen B from 3:15 p.m. to

The short, which is mostly silent, is 5:15 p.m.

18

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

It’s a classic tale of politics, power who make meals out of their screen time— struggles and savory revenge, albeit in an Robson Catalunha, who plays Rodney; Zé unexpected setting. Writer-director Felipe Geraldo Jr., who plays Guilherme; and Lui da Fonseca Peroni’s aptly named short film, Strassburger, who plays Mr. Álvaro, a career “Brazilian Steakhouse,” follows Rodney, server and friend to Rodney. who is the butt of the joke as a garlic-bread “Brazilian Steakhouse” has already server at a steakhouse named Gauchão. In an environment where, as Rodney puts it, “you are what you serve,” he is the lowest rung of the ladder, whereas the illtempered Guilherme, the picanha (a type of steak that is popular in Brazil) server, is on top.

“Brazilian Steakhouse” is undoubtedly a comedy, with its less-than-flattering shots of fatty “Brazilian Steakhouse” foods and restaurant patrons and its Wes Anderson-like imagery, although Peroni adds a touch more realism. won several awards since first hitting the At the same time, he also instills the film festival circuit in 2016, including Best with a legitimate sense of foreboding and Male Performance and Best Short at the actual stakes (pun intended), and I quickly 2016 Internacional de Cortos in Tesape, became invested in Rodney’s small-scale, Paraguay, and Best Script at the 2016 Tres slice-of-life revenge tale.

Passos Festival de Cinema in Brazil.

When a 20-minute short can make “Brazilian Steakhouse” screens in the a “Where are they now?” epilogue feel “’The Five Wives & Lives of Melvyn Pfferwarranted, you know you’ve done well in berg’ & Buffet of Other Comedies” block on building your characters. It helps that the Saturday, April 8, on screen B from 3:15 p.m. film has three excellent principal actors to 5:15 p.m.

In “A Swarm Come April,” director who is more than a little creepy, is proud Mary McDade Casteele tells the story of of what she ends up doing.

If you begin to expect that you a small religious, cultish community that’s preparing for a springtime plague, using know what she’s up to, you may or may scenery, aesthetics and costume not un- not be right. Just be ready for the ending. like M. Night Shymalan’s “The Village.”

Viewers may note the film’s simple setting, with only the church and a house as its location, and stilted dialogue, with the occasional choppiness. These only add to the air of mystique.

The film opens with main character Lina talking about the ceremony before the impending plague, and then a “A Swarm Come April” shot of her wearing a gas mask and gray cloak.

“A Swarm Come April” shows just

Lina has a cold and callous demean- or, showing condescension to both her how scary a religion can be if practitioners mother, Elyse, and a friend that she speaks take it too far. to in the film. While she mostly displays “A Swarm Come April” screens during no emotion, the occasional devilish grin the “Girls Just Wanna Make Films (Films shows viewers that she’s up to something by Mississippi Women Filmmakers)” film possibly heinous. Elyse and Lina’s friend block on Saturday, April 8, on screen A from both seem afraid of her, but the preacher, 1 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.

The U.S. has had many important and his wife helped to bring the nation to presidents, but one that doesn’t always come the rest of the world through travels after up in the conversation is Ulysses S. Grant. his presidency.

Though student films sometimes The student film “The Legacy of Ulysses S. Grant” explores Grant’s importance in the have a bad reputation, this documentary history of the U.S., including his years in does not feel like one. It sheds light on a the Civil War, his presidential tenure and life after his presidency.

What makes this film well worth taking the eight minutes to watch it are the interviews with two emeritus professors from Mississippi State University, John Marszalek and William Parrish, who have studied, taught and written about the “The Legacy of Ulysses S. Grant” Civil War and the post-war years man who helped shape the nation after one for their entire lives.

The film talks about Grant’s strategy of its most trying times.

“The Legacy of Ulysses S. Grant” during the Civil War, which was to destroy the Confederacy as opposed to just taking screens during the “‘Powerful Medicine’ and territory like many generals before. The Other Mississippi Stories” film block on Satfilm also talks about how he was the first urday, April 8, on Screen 8 from 3:45 p.m. modern president in the U.S., and how he to 5:15 p.m.

Friendship and loss in the face of illness and death find a poignant voice in Shayna Connelly’s short narrative, “Gardening at Night.”

The film follows a last, lonely day into night as Samantha, whom actress Janelle Snow plays, awaits news of her oldest friend, Anne (Suzanne Culp), who has slipped into a coma and is near death some distance away.

Samantha, who is haunted by hospital conversations, tethered to her cell phone and pricked by guilt, grief and dread, finds temporary relief in being outdoors. Digging in the dirt and tucking in blooms seem to quiet the voices and connect her to Anne across the distance.

The film shows that, sometimes, a simple act may ease the fear of letting go and the ache of being left behind.

Snow’s reserved performance pulls “Gardening at Night” viewers in closer. A touchstone of youth in a silhouetted pair of teen friends and a mourning dove’s perfectly placed coo are examples of thoughtful details that add layers to this lean production. But the final credits are what bring the story’s emotional weight home to rest. “In Memory of Anne Vattendahl” shows on the screen, then viewers hear a soft voice, belonging to Anne, who goes over the things that she is grateful for—the real things that, in the end, matter, comfort and resonate.

“Gardening at Night” screens during the “‘The Truth of Us’ and Other Stories of Universal Experience” film block on Friday, April 7, on screen B from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The “All Are Welcome Here” campaign began around the Mississippi Gulf Coast after the passage of House Bill 1523, also called the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.”

The documentary features interviews from citizens, professors, lawyers and business owners about House Bill 1523 and what the campaign means to them.

For example, in the film, Jamie Temple, who owns Bay St. Louis’ The Buttercup on Second Street and is gay, tells the filmmakers about how he feels unsafe when traveling to areas of the state, and talks about how the coast’s laissez-faire attitude. He displays “All Are Welcome Here” signs as a way to spark conversation with people who come into his restaurant.

The film juxtaposes these interviews with scenes from the Gulf Coast in order to express the atmosphere that Temple mentioned, and show how some Mississippians are changing the state for the better.

“All Are Welcome Here” screens during the “‘All Are Welcome Here’ & Other Films to Make You Really Think” film block on Saturday, April 8, on screen C, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Director Justin Gaar’s latest documentary short, “Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs,” looks much further than its title may suggest.

Gaar gives viewers an in-depth look at the life of Christo Roppolo, who records unexplained lights in the sky in the coastal town of Monterey, Calif.

The world that he inhabits is filled with wonder and the search for truth. The film shows that he has led an interesting life beyond his interest in the extraterrestrial, as well, performing in punk bands, directing films and falling in love.

I came into this film expecting to watch someone talk about aliens and spaceships—he does plenty of that, but there was a great deal of heart, as well. Roppolo is a man in a great deal of emotional turmoil, and his exploration of the unknown serves almost as a form of therapy for him.

The film also had plenty of cool facts about classic science-fiction and horror films, and unexpected revelations about Roppolo’s family and love life. By the end of it all, it is apparent that Roppolo and Gaar had formed a bond while shooting.

This is a film that is sure to surprise the audience at this year’s Crossroads Film

“Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs”

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

At a time when issues such as law enforcement’s treatment of people of color are at the forefront of social discussions, films such as “On Time” can play a crucial role in highlighting what’s wrong.

The film, which Xavier Burgin directed, follows the story of African American mother Renee and her daughter, Imani. Renee has a job interview lined up and has plans for a friend to watch Imani while she’s there. After her friend doesn’t answer her door, Renee makes the hard decision to leave Imani in the car while she goes to the interview.

The film seamlessly combines beautiful images of the city and of Imani playing, and a haunting score with the mother-daughter duo’s tough reality.

The end is heartbreaking and reminds the viewer of the harsh realities that many people face in the United States and all over the world, and why it’s important to face the difficulties head on.

“On Time” screens during the “Black Magic: Stories from the Black Experience” film block on Friday, April 7, on screen A from 4:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

“All Are Welcome Here”

A Wonder-Filled Life

by Malcolm Morrow

Festival with its combination of emotional depth and sci-fi sensibility.

“Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs” screens during the “Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs” film block on Saturday, April 8, on screen C from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

more CROSSROADS, see page 20

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

“On Time”

a welcoming place

by Mike McDonald courtesy Crossroads Film Society

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

A Timely Tale

by Amber Helsel

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

Exploring Love and Loss

by Sherry Lucas

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

The First Modern President

by R.H. Coupe

19

Legacy of a Blues Legend

by Amber Helsel

Tinkering Life Away

by R.H. Coupe

A Story of Survival

by R.H.Coupe

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

“Shake ’Em on Down”

Through giving viewers a look into McDowell’s experiences, the film also shows what it was like to live in that time period. It is an intimate portrayal of life in the Delta, and is something of a love song to both McDowell and blues music itself.

“Shake ’Em on Down” screens during the “Memories Station: Punk, Oldies & Blues” film block on Friday, April 7, on screen B from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Bayou Corne Won’t Sink Away, Forgotten

by Sherry Lucas

The potent combination of striking visuals, indelible personalities and compelling narrative make the feature documentary, “Forgotten Bayou,” one to remember.

The film, which Victoria Greene produced and directed, focuses on the giant sinkhole that formed over a salt dome in Bayou Corne, La., in 2012, and its aftermath. A mandatory evacuation divided and displaced around 350 residents of the once-lively community. Their joie de vivre, stories and loss are at the film’s heart.

“Life on the bayou—would utopia be too strong a word?” a homeowner asks early in the film.

“Forgotten Bayou” explores the legacy of a community deeply attached to its swamp surroundings, and the industrial accident that made living there a risk. Residents, government leaders and industry all weigh in during the film.

South Louisiana’s atmospheric beauty looms as large as its cypress trees, and the jarring, recurring scene of those long-lived giants tumbling into the swamp’s sinkhole is as heartbreaking as the ache of leaving a beloved home behind.

Imagery of the petrochemical industry that relies on the area’s natural resources and is the key employer there also enjoys a share of impressive views. But the image courtesy Crossroads Film Society

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

Though ”The Parchman Ordeal: The ride to Parchman Prison, and the subseUntold Story” is not a feel-good film, it quent humiliation and degradation they is a must-see film. It will leave you horri- suffered there. fied and slightly sick to your stomach. It’s In the end, you realize that the aulike visiting a Nazi concentration camp thorities did this just because they could, and having the tour guide describe to you that there was no reason for it other than how the gas chambers worked using every- raw intimidation. day words. “This can’t be real,” you say to This is a particularly apt film now, givyourself. “This couldn’t happen. No gov- en the political climate concerning refugees, ernment treats its people like this just because they look different.

Where are the lawyers? Where are the people who know better?

Where are the good guys?”

In 1965, more than 150 civil-rights activists, mostly young African Americans, attempted to march from their churches in Natchez, Miss., to protest segregation, “The Parchman Ordeal: The Untold Story” unfair treatment and obstruction of voting rights. Law enforcement intercepted them and bussed them directly and people of other races and religions. It’s to Mississippi’s infamous Mississippi State a tale of what happens when those who are Penitentiary (also known as Parchman), unable to expand their horizons and accept where the activists were verbally and physi- other ways of life are allowed to pervert juscally abused until their release. tice and the rule of the law.

Participants in the ordeal tell the story “The Parchman Ordeal: The Untold in a series of interviews. Now in their late Story” screens during the “When Speak60s and 70s, even after 50 years, the activ- ing Up Gets You Locked Up” film block on ists give visceral descriptions of the fear and Friday, April 7, on screen A from 2:45 p.m.

20 panic they felt taking the four-hour bus to 4:45 p.m.

with performances from McDowell and footage of the Mississippi Delta.

One of the more interesting pieces of the film lies in the juxtaposition between McDowell’s career as a rising blues musician and his everyday living in Como. courtesy Crossroads Film Society

courtesy Crossroads Film Society

“Tinker” is a somewhat sappy film stilted in places, and the backstory isn’t as told on two levels, as the protagonist Lenny developed as it could be, but overall, “TinHale (Todd Barnett) looks for happiness ker” is a funny little southern story about forgiveness, expectations and not giving up and purpose in his life.

He battles his own inner demons your dreams, even if modifications may be while struggling with a sassy cookie-selling necessary.

Girl Scout (Rachel Thaggard) and with his sister Kara (Casey Dillard) and her husband (Coley Bryant), who desperately want and need Lenny’s help in taking care of their aging mother.

Lenny is an inventor, or so his business card says, but he hasn’t sold an invention in years, and many of them seem a little “Tinker” impractical. His latest one is a can opener with a butane torch to heat up soup as the person opens the can.

“Tinker” screens during the “Girls When his sister asks if they have stopped Just Wanna Make Films (Films by Missiscausing fires, he replies that it is down to sippi Women Filmmakers)” film block on about 20 percent now.

Saturday, April 8, on screen A from 1 p.m.

The dialogue in the film is a little to 3:45 p.m.

While blues music has a lot of betterknown legends, musicians such as Mississippi Fred McDowell quietly helped to shape the genre into what know today.

The short film “Shake ’Em on Down” chronicles McDowell’s life, rise to fame, and his contribution to defining the sound of hill-country blues.

McDowell, whose nickname was “Shake ’Em on Down,” was born in Rossville, Tenn. His parents, who were farmers, died when he was young, and he moved around the South for work until coming to Mississippi in 1928 to pick cotton. He settled in Como around 1940.

In the documentary, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill history professor Bill Ferris says that when McDowell moved to Mississippi, he had largely given up on playing music until ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax went to Como and recorded him in 1959.

The film mixes insightful interviews from people such as blues musician Cedric Burnside, who is the grandson of R.L. Burnside, folk musician Dom Flemons, and singer Shirley Collins, who was there when Lomax first heard McDowell play,

“Forgotten Bayou”

of tanks emblazoned with the “Responsible Care: Our Commitment to Sustainability” recurs, too, almost as a silent reminder.

In the tension of use versus love, there’s little doubt where viewer sympathy will fall. It will go with those who hurt the most; you can hear and see that in Bayou Corne homeowners.

“Forgotten Bayou” screens during the “Forgotten Bayou” film block on Friday, April 7, on screen A from 1 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

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Hal and Mal’s 4 $PNNFSDF 4U +BDLTPO t Pub favorites meet Gulf Coast and Cajun specialties like red beans and rice, the Oyster Platter or daily specials.

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Martin’s Restaurant and Lounge 4PVUI 4UBUF 4U +BDLTPO t Lunch specials, pub appetizers or order from the full menu of po-boys and entrees. Full bar, beer selection.

STEAK & SEAFOOD

Eddie’s Snack Bar 7BMMFZ 4U +BDLTPO t Eddie’s Snack Bar is one of the original fish houses that still serve their original homemade batter recipe.

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Griffin’s Fish House 8 $BQJUPM 4U +BDLTPO t Griffin’s Fish House focuses on casual dining with mainstream American dishes. Now with a bar area serving alcoholic beverages.

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T’Beaux’s serves up fresh seafood including oysters, shrimp and crab legs and the best crawfish this side of Louisiana.

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21

LIFE&STYLE | blues

Underground 119 Is Back

by Alex Thiel

Alex Thiel

Shouldn’t your perfect party come with pizza and ice cream?

Ask about our build-your-own-pizza party possibilities today!

Though Underground 119 has been renovated, elements from the previous iteration such as the mural on the front wall remain.

601.368.1919 • SalandMookies.com • 565 Taylor St, Jackson, MS 39216

RELAX

ON THE ROOFTOP

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April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

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22

226 N State St, Jackson, MS 39201 (601)359-900 @OldCapitolInnJacksonMS

F

or all of Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s storied blues history, Michael Rejebian canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pinpoint many destinations for live blues in downtown Jackson, which has been his home for the past decade.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re coming from Indiana, and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re at the King Edward Hotel,â&#x20AC;? he says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;you expect to be able to walk out of your room and hear the blues whenever you want â&#x20AC;Ś (but) itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not as prevalent as you might imagine.â&#x20AC;?

So the former political consultant and journalist teamed up with Mike McRee to re-open Underground 119, the subterranean club in just steps from the Governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mansion. This time, the bar has re-made itself info a no-frills blues destination.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think when it closed, it kind of had lost its personality,â&#x20AC;? Rejebian says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a lot of consistency, so you didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really know what you were going to get when you came in, as far as music.â&#x20AC;?

Underground 119 enjoyed its soft opening on the last full weekend in March, and will be opening its refurbished doors to tourists and locals alike in the month of April with a full slate of the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best blues acts, including regular performances from Jesse Robinson and Friends.

Underground 119 also boasts a renovated interior, an overhauled menu, andâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; most obvious to newcomersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a newly lit facade that washes the building in blues when the sun goes down each night.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re coming over the Pearl Street bridge, just look for the blue building to the right,â&#x20AC;? Rejebian says.

The new menu focuses on dishes that can be shared out of a basket (including the rotating dessert feature, the aptly named â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pie in a Basketâ&#x20AC;?). The names, however,

reflect the new ownershipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest in educating customers about downtown Jacksonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rich history. For example, the menu features â&#x20AC;&#x153;Malaco Catfish Poâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Boy,â&#x20AC;? which is named after legendary Jackson recording studio Malaco Records.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want to be â&#x20AC;Ś ambassadors for downtown,â&#x20AC;? Rejebian says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If people have questions, if they see a name and say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;What is that?,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; our servers are well-versed enough to explain the history behind it.â&#x20AC;?

Some signs of Underground 119â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s previous iteration remain, from the colorful mural on the front wall to the old house pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glass top, which has been repurposed as a cocktail table.

A few big changes mark Underground 119 as a new space: The stage has been moved up front; a new deck supplants the side parking lot as a smoking section; and a state-of-the-art sound system engulfs the bar in live music, inside and out.

The new cosmetic touches are secondary to Underground 119â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission to bring the blues to the masses. The bar is off to a fast start, with all but a handful of dates booked through June. Each Thursday, for example, local legend Jesse Robinson will perform a set as the artist in residence. Musicians such as Jamell Richardson, Southern Komfort Brass Band and the King Edward Blues Band will also play at the venue.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hope people just realize that blues is part of who we are,â&#x20AC;? Rejebian says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and we should try to enjoy that.â&#x20AC;?

Underground 119 (119 S. President St.) is open Thursday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday nights have no cover charge, and the cover on Fridays and Saturdays is $10.

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BARBEQUE

Chimneyville Smoke House )JHI 4U +BDLTPO t Family style barbecue restaurant and catering service in the heart of downtown Jackson.

E & L Barbeque #BJMFZ "WF +BDLTPO t Serving BBQ to Jackson for over 25 years, we smoke every rib, tip and link and top it with our award winning BBQ sauce!

Hickory Pit $BOUPO .BSU 3E +BDLTPO t The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Best Butts in Townâ&#x20AC;? features BBQ chicken, beef and pork along with burgers and poâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;boys.

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MEDITERRANEAN GRILL

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Cinco de Mayo

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23

WEDNESDAY 4/5

SATURDAY 4/8

TUESDAY 4/11

Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors perform at Duling Hall.

The HBCU College & Health Fair is at College Hill Baptist Church.

The “April in Paris” Wine Dinner is at Seafood R’evolution in Ridgeland

BEST BETS April 5 - 12, 2017

“Meet the Next Mayor” Night is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Millsaps College (1701 N. State St.). The candidates running for mayor interact with students, faculty, staff, alumni and other members of the community. Free; call 601-974-1438; find it on Facebook.

Author Bren McClain signs copies of her latest book, “One Good Mama Bone,” on Tuesday, April 11, at Lemuria Books.

Susan Anand

WEDNESDAY 4/5

THURSDAY 4/6

“Gypsy” is from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Hal & Mal’s (200 Commerce St.). The musical follows the determined stage mother, Rose, as she carts her two young children through the dying landscape of Vaudeville in the pursuit of making them stars. Proceeds benefit R U Hungry and Jackson Friends of the Animal Shelter. $15; call 601-613-9202; find it on Facebook. courtesy Ashima Franklin

is the host. Comedians Ashima Franklin, Nardo Blackmon and Toya Free perform. Doors open at 7 p.m. $15, $60 reserved table; call 601-291-4759; thehideawayms.com.

SATURDAY 4/8

The Mississippi Girlchoir Spring Social is from 10 a.m. to noon at Highland Village (4500 Interstate 55 N. Frontage Road). Features a brunch, a father-daughter fashion show and music from the Mississippi Girlchoir. $10; call 601-667-9226; msgirlchoir.org. … The 18th annual Crossroads Film Festival starts at 11:15 a.m. at Malco Grandview

by TYLER EDWARDS (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison).

Screens feature and narrative and jacksonfreepress.com documentary, shorts, experimental animated, student and youth Fax: 601-510-9019 films, and music videos. AddiDaily updates at tional dates include: April 6, 9:30 jfpevents.com a.m., April 7, 1 p.m. $45 all-access pass, $20 Friday pass, $20 Saturday pass; crossroadsfilmfestival.com.

events@

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

Ashima Franklin performs as part of the Joking Around Comedy Series: Ladies’ Night Edition on Friday, April 7, at The Hideaway.

FRIDAY 4/7

The 10th annual Zoo Brew is from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). Features craft-beer samplings, a wing-eating competition, a home-brew competition, food, animal encounters, music and more. $20, designated driver, $45 individual, $70 VIP; call 601-3522582; jacksonzoo.org. … The Joking Around Comedy Series: Ladies’ Night Edition is from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 24 The Hideaway (5100 Interstate 55 N.). Skipper da Comic

SUNDAY 4/9

“Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream” is at 2 p.m. at the Mississippi Coliseum (1207 Mississippi St.). The iceskating show features Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse hosting the stories of four Disney princesses, including Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella and Tiana. Additional dates: April 6, 7 p.m., April 7, 10:30 a.m., 7 p.m., April 8, 2 p.m., 6 p.m. $15-$75; disneyonice.com.

MONDAY 4/10

“Murder Is Golden—A Golden Girls Parody” Dinner Theater is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Georgia Blue (223 Ridge Way, Flowood). The murder-mystery play includes a three-course meal. $48; fringedinnertheatre.com. … “Am I Enough?” is from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.). Features spoken-word performances from Smiley Abrams, Will Fonch and Lo Alaman. Free; call 954-934-6485; find it on Facebook.

TUESDAY 4/11

Bren McClain signs copies of “One Good Mama Bone” at 5 p.m. at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202). Reading at 5:30 p.m. $27.99 book; call 601-366-7619; lemuriabooks.com. … Music in the City is at 5:45 p.m. at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Soprano Sibyl Child and pianist John Paul perform. Free; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

WEDNESDAY 4/12

Creative Arts Festival is at 1 p.m. at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.). The festival features keynote speaker Cornelius Eady and sessions on the arts and African-American culture. Free; call 601-979-2121; jsums.edu. … Paws on the Patio is from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at The Library at Fairview Inn (734 Fairview St.). Features food for both owners and dogs, music, beverages, raffles and prizes. Proceeds benefit the Animal Rescue Fund of Mississippi. Free entry, $2 raffle tickets; find it on Facebook.

Mississippi Girlchoir Spring Social April 8, 10 a.m.-noon, at Highland Village (4500 Interstate 55 N. Frontage Road). Features a brunch, a father-daughter fashion show and musical entertainment from the Mississippi Girlchoir. $10; call 601-667-9226; msgirlchoir.org.

COMMUNITY 1 Million Cups April 5, April 12, 9 a.m., at Coalesce (109 N. State St.). Participants hear from new startup companies, non-profits and project pitches in the Jackson Metro area.

Includes free coffee. Free; call 601-985-7979; 1millioncup.com.

Spring Benefit 2017: Icing on the Cake April 7, 7-10 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). The benefit kicks off the state’s bicentennial celebrations with music, a seated dinner, birthday activities and cake. Proceeds go toward the museum’s upcoming educational programs and exhibitions. Reservations start at $150; call 601-960-1515; msmuseumart.org.

HBCU College & Health Fair April 8, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., at College Hill Baptist Church (1600 Florence Ave.). Meet with representatives from HBCU colleges and universities. Includes HIV/AIDS and hypertension screenings, CPR lessons and more. Free; find it on Facebook.

Paws on the Patio April 12, 5-8 p.m., at The Library at Fairview Inn (734 Fairview St.).

Features food for both owners and canines, live music, beverages, raffles and prizes. Raffle proceeds benefit the Animal Rescue Fund of Mississippi. Free entry, $2 raffle tickets; call 601948-3429; find it on Facebook.

Spring Fling April 12, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Meadowbrook Church of Christ (4261 Interstate 55 N.). Includes food, bounce houses, a train, photo opportunities, an Easter egg hunt for ages 10 and under, and the opportunity to donate paper products, canned meat and mac ‘n’ cheese.

Features music from Bryan & the Accumulators.

Free; call 601-362-5374; meadowbrook.org.

KIDS “When Night Dreams” April 7, 9:30 a.m., April 8, 11 a.m., at Mississippi Children’s Museum (2145 Museum Blvd.). The production brings to life tales of night from three cultures: “The Night Troll” from Iceland, “Anansi and the Moon” from West Africa and “Coyote Places the Stars” from the Navajo people of North America. $5-$8; call 977-9840; mschildrensmuseum.org.

KidFest! April 8, 10 a.m. April 9, noon, April 15-16, 9:30 a.m., at Freedom Ridge Park (253 W. School St., Ridgeland). Includes circus-esque acts, a children’s activity tent, music, food, characters from children’s shows and more. $10; call 601-853-2011; kidfestridgeland.com.

FOOD & DRINK Farm to Ferment April 6, 5-8 p.m., at Coalesce Jackson (109 N. State St.). Dorothy Killen discusses her experience with sustainable farming and selling fresh vegetables in Jackson, and Lauren Rhoades demonstrates creative ways to ferment vegetables. Free; find it on Facebook.

10th Annual Zoo Brew April 7, 6-9 p.m., at Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). Features craft-beer sampling, a wing-eating competition, a home-brew competition, food, animal encounters, music and more. $20, designated driver, $45 individual, $70 VIP; jacksonzoo.org.

“April in Paris” Wine Dinner April 11, 6-9 p.m., at Seafood R’evolution (1000 Highland Colony Pkwy., Flowood). Features a five-course dinner paired with French Chablis, Rosé, Pinot Rouge and Sauternes. $99; call 601-853-3474; find it on Facebook.

SLATE

STAGE & SCREEN 18th Annual Crossroads Film Festival April 6, 9:30 a.m., April 7, 1 p.m., April 8, 11:15 a.m., at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). Includes feature, short and documentary films, music videos and more. $45 allaccess pass, $20 Friday pass, $20 Saturday pass; call 601-345-5674; crossroadsfilmfestival.com.

“Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream” April 6, 7 p.m., April 7, 10:30 a.m., 7 p.m., April 8, 2 p.m., 6 p.m. April 9, 2 p.m., at Mississippi

the best in sports over the next seven days

by Bryan Flynn

Even in defeat, there is no denying that this Mississippi State women’s basketball team elevated the program to new heights.

These young women will be a part of state sports lore forever.

Thursday, April 6

Golf (2-7 p.m., ESPN): Round one of the first major golf event of the year, the 2017 Masters Tournament, kicks off at the Augusta National Golf Course.

Friday, April 7

College baseball (6-10 p.m., SECN+): MSU hosts one of the top teams in the SEC, the Kentucky Wildcats. … College baseball (6:30-11 p.m., SECN+): The UM Rebels need a bounce-back series as they host lowly Alabama.

Saturday, April 8

Softball (noon-3 p.m., SECN+): MSU hosts South Carolina, with both teams looking to move up the standings. …

Softball (3-6 p.m., ESPNU): The UM Rebels look to move from the bottom of the standings as they host Auburn.

Sunday, April 9

College baseball (1-4 p.m., SECN+): MSU finishes its series with Kentucky. … College baseball (3-7 p.m., SECN): The UM Rebels finish their series with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

SPORTS & WELLNESS Hot Diggity Dog 5K & Walk April 8, 7-11 a.m., at Mississippi School for the Blind (1252 Eastover Drive). Includes a 5K and one-mile run.

Participants are encouraged to bring pets. $20 5K, $10 one-mile run; call 601-853-6996; gallanthearts.org.

Racin’ for the Seed 5K April 8, 8 a.m., at Lakeshore Park (6023 Lakeshore Park, Brandon).

Includes a 5K run/walk, a 14.6-mile bike ride and one-mile run/walk. $30 5K walk/run, $50 duathlon; call 992-3556; racinfortheseed.com.

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure April 8, 8 a.m., at Old Capitol Museum (120 N. State St.).

The 10K and 5K promotes breast health awareness, celebrates survivors and honors those that have passed. $40 10K, $35 timed 5K, $30 5K walk; komencentrlms.org.

Monday, April 10

MLB (7-11 p.m., ESPN): The Chicago Cubs look to defend their championship—how strange is that to say?— against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Tuesday, April 11

College baseball (6:30-10 p.m., SECN+): Mississippi Valley State hits the road looking to pull off an upset at MSU in a midweek clash of state universities.

Wednesday, April 12

Softball (6-9 p.m., SECN+): The UM Rebels step out of conference to face longtime rivals Memphis as the team looks to begin a winning streak.

While the season ended without the Mississippi State University women’s basketball team raising a championship trophy, the future is bright. The core of the squad that reached the title game will return next season.

Follow Bryan Flynn at jfpsports.com, @jfpsports Coliseum (1207 Mississippi St.). The ice-skating show features Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse hosting the stories of four Disney princesses. $15-$75; call 601-961-4000; disneyonice.com.

“Gypsy” April 6-8, 7-10 p.m., at Hal & Mal’s (200 Commerce St.). The musical is about a stage mother who pushes her children to pursue Vaudeville stardom. Proceeds benefit R U Hungry and Jackson Friends of the Animal Shelter. $15; call 601-613-9202; find it on Facebook.

“White Rabbit Red Rabbit” April 7-9, 7:30 p.m., at Warehouse Theatre (1000 Monroe St.).

The Nassim Soleimanpour play features a different actor reading the script cold for the first time at each performance. For mature audiences. $10 (cash or check); newstagetheatre.com.

“Am I Enough?” April 10, 7-10 p.m., at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.).

Features spoken-word performances from artists

Smiley Abrams, Will Fonch and Lo Alaman.

Includes a panel discussion on current issues.

Free; call 954-934-6485; find it on Facebook.

CONCERTS & FESTIVALS Events at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave.).

• Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors April 5, 7 p.m. The Americana band performs. $20 in advance, $25 at the door, $70 VIP tickets; call 877-987-6487; ardenland.net.

• Jojo’s Slim Wednesday April 8, 9 p.m. The New Orleans-style jazz and blues band performs. $25 in advance, $30 at the door; call 877-987-6487; ardenland.net.

Events at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.) • Rain—A Tribute to the Beatles April 5, 7:30 p.m. The Beatles tribute band performs. $35-$100; call 601-960-1537; raintribute.com.

• “Bravo! Beethoven!” April 8, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra performs works from Beethoven. Cash bar available. Includes a pre-show lecture at 5:15 p.m. $20-$62; call 601-960-1565; msorchestra.com.

Township Jazz Festival April 8, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., at Fusion Coffeehouse (1111 Highland Colony Pkwy., Ridgeland). The lineup includes Astral Project, Bill Summers & Jazalsa, Raphael Semmes Jazz Trio, The Vamps, The Musicians and more. Free; townshipjazzfestival.com.

Holi Mela—The Festival of Colors April 8, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., at Hindu Temple Society of Mississippi (173 Vernon Jones Ave., Brandon). Features Indian food, herbal tattoos, children’s activities, music, and more. Free; find it on Facebook.

Spring Concert 2017 April 9, 3-4:30 p.m., at Millsaps College (1701 N. State St.). The Mississippi Youth Symphony Orchestra performs. $5; call 601-376-9760; mysoms.org.

Creative Arts Festival April 12, 1 p.m., at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.). The festival features keynote speaker Cornelius Eady and sessions on the arts and African-American culture. Free; call 601-979-2121; jsums.edu.

LITERARY & SIGNINGS Events at Lemuria Books (Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202) • “A Second Blooming” April 6, 5 p.m. Susan Cushman signs copies. Reading at 5:30 p.m. $18 book; call 366-7619; lemuriabooks.com.

• “Out of the Earth” April 8, 1 p.m. L. Pete Heard signs copies. $19.95 book; call 601-3667619; lemuriabooks.com.

• “One Good Mama Bone” April 11, 5 p.m.

Bren McClain signs copies. Reading at 5:30 p.m. $27.99 book; lemuriabooks.com.

“Write and Publish Your Book” Workshop April 7-8, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame & Museum (1152 Lakeland Drive). Neil White, Ace Atkins, Julie Schoerke and Jeff Kleinman, teach participants about creative writing and publishing. $150 one day, $250 both days; neilwhiteworkshop.com.

Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings, or to add your own events online. You can also email event details to events@jacksonfreepress.com to be added to the calendar. The deadline is noon the Wednesday prior to the week of publication.

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

JFP-SPONSORED

25

DIVERSIONS | music

Jazz Fest Fellowship

by Micah Smith

Flickr / Derek Bridges

New Orleans fusion act Bill Summers & Jazalsa perform for the Township Jazz Festival on Saturday, April 8, in the Township at Colony Park in Ridgeland.

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

H

26

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Mon. - Sat., 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Maywood Mart Shopping Center 1220 E. Northside Dr. 601-366-5676 www.mcdadeswineandspirits.com Please Drink Responsibly

itting the “big 1-0” is a significant milestone for any annual event, which is why jazz musician Raphael Semmes and owner Tripp Douglas wanted to do something spectacular for the 10th anniversary of the Township Jazz Festival, which takes place Saturday, April 8, in the Township at Colony Park in Ridgeland.

Before launching the festival in 2007, Semmes, who won Best Jazz Artist in this year’s Best of Jackson, and Douglas, who owns Fusion Coffeehouse in Ridgeland, had been hosting the monthly Fusion Jazz Series for about three years. They wanted to hold a larger-scale event in the green space in front of the coffee shop, celebrating jazz in the Jackson area. They also wanted to make the event free to allow more people to experience and be moved by the music.

“There are a couple things that are of great import to us on this festival,” Semmes says. “(One) is that it’s free to the public so that everybody can come, whether it’s a jazz aficionado or an aspiring junior-high jazz student or anyone in between.”

A decade later, the duo says it is still committed to the festival’s founding tenets, even as it has grown in scope. More than 2,000 people attended last year, doubling the number from the inaugural event.

“That was one of the things that was a great problem to have last year,” Douglas says. “At the peak time of the afternoon, it started getting very crowded in there, which was great. We were excited about that. So we’re looking at ways to expand not only the festival area but also the viewing area.”

For the latest iteration of the festival, the music lineup is expanding, as well. Saturday’s proceedings will fea-

ture local favorites such as The Vamps, The Musicians, Semmes’ own ensemble and Southern Komfort Brass Band, and groups from schools around the state, including the Murrah High School Jazz Band, the Jackson State University Jazz Ensemble and the University of Southern Mississippi’s Jazztet.

Audiences can also catch two renowned New Orleans-native headliners, Astral Project and Bill Summers & Jazalsa.

Astral Project has been a fixture of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival since the band formed in 1978, and Summers is an Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz percussionist who has worked with legends such as Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones.

After a decade of hosting the event, Semmes and Douglas say one of the most enjoyable parts of the Township Jazz Festival for them—besides the music, of course—is being able to take a step back and watch people from all walks of life come together and share an experience.

“You look out there throughout the day at the festival, and you see this just fantastic example of diversity in every way,” Douglas says. “I mean, you have racial diversity, age diversity, high-school kids and college kids out there all the way up there to senior citizens, all coming out to enjoy the same music. I think that’s something so unique about jazz as an art form. It truly crosses all the divides, more than any other type of music that I can think of, to bring people together.”

The 10th annual Township Jazz Festival is from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, April 8, next to Fusion Coffeehouse (1111 Highland Colony Pkwy., Ridgeland). For more information, visit townshipjazzfestival.com.

Music listings are due noon Monday to be included in print and online listings: music@jacksonfreepress.com.

Alumni House - Double Ramm Outlaws 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Duling Hall - Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors 7:30 p.m. $20 admission $70 VIP Fitzgeraldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Barry Leach & Adib Sabir 7:30 p.m.

Johnny Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Terrell Moses 5-8 p.m. free Kathrynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Gator Trio 6:30 p.m. free Pelican Cove - Andy Tanas 6 p.m. free Shuckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Silverado Band 7:30 p.m. free Thalia Mara Hall - Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles 7:30 p.m. $35-$100

APRIL 6 - THURSDAY Burgers & Blues - Jesse Smith 6 p.m.

Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

F. Jones Corner - Raul Valinti & the F. Jones Challenge Band 10 p.m. $5 Fitzgeraldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Ron Etheridge & Jeremy Burnham 5:30-9 p.m.; Joseph LaSalla 9:30-11:30 p.m.

Georgia Blue, Flowood - Aaron Coker Georgia Blue, Madison - Jason Turner Hops & Habanas, Fondren - Bad Magic, Surfwax & Kicking 7 p.m. free Iron Horse Grill - Brian Jones 6 p.m.

Kathrynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Amanda Jones 6:30 p.m. free Lakeshore Park - Sunset Concert feat. Sid Thompson 6-8 p.m. $5 per car Martinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Papadosio w/ Psymbionic 9 p.m. $17 advance $20 door Pelican Cove - Acoustic Crossroads 6 p.m.

Shuckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Road Hogs 7:30 p.m. free

APRIL 7 - FRIDAY Bonny Blairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Joseph LaSalla 7-11 p.m. free Burgers & Blues - Three Hour Tour 6 p.m.

Char - Ronnie Brown 6 p.m.

CSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Greater Pyrenees, El Obo & Bob Chiz 8 p.m. $8 F. Jones Corner - The Blues Man 10 p.m. $1; Stevie J Blues midnight $10 Fitzgeraldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Ronnie & Grant McGee w/ TJ Hall 7:30 p.m.

Georgia Blue, Flowood - Phil & Trace Georgia Blue, Madison - Shaun Patterson

The Hideaway - Joking Around Comedy Series Ladiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Night Edition feat. Ashima Franklin, Nardo Blackmon, Toya Free & more 8 p.m. $15 admission $60 VIP table for four Iron Horse Grill - Adib Sabir Trio 9 p.m.

Jackson Zoo - Zoo Brew feat. AJC & the Envelope Pushers 6 p.m. $40 admission $70 VIP $20 designated driver Kathrynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Acoustic Crossroads 7 p.m. free M Bar - Flirt Fridays feat. DJ 901 free Martinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - And the Echo w/ Shake It Like a Caveman 10 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Third Degree 7 p.m.

Reed Pierceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Byram - Snazz 9 p.m. free Shuckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Steele Heart 5:30 p.m. free; Lovin Ledbetter 8 p.m. $5; Jason Turner 10 p.m. free WonderLust - DJ Taboo 8 p.m.2 a.m.

APRIL 8 - SATURDAY Bonny Blairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Chasinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Dixie 7-11 p.m. free Burgers & Blues - Three Hour Tour 6 p.m.

Reed Pierceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Byram - Snazz 9 p.m. free Shuckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Sofa Kings 3:30 p.m. free; Lovin Ledbetter 8 p.m. $5; Josh Journeay 10 p.m. free Thalia Mara Hall - MS Symphony Orchestraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bravo!

Beethoven!â&#x20AC;? 7:30 p.m. $20-$62 WonderLust - Drag Performance & Dance Party feat. DJ Taboo 8 p.m.-3 a.m. free before 10 p.m.

APRIL 9 - SUNDAY Burgers & Blues - Jesse Smith 4-7 p.m.

Char - Big Easy Three 11 a.m.; Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fenianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Mostly Monthly CĂŠilĂ­ feat. Emerald Accent w/ BrĂ­an Ă&#x201C; hAirt 4-6 p.m. free Kathrynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Jay & the Roundup Band 6 p.m. free Millsaps College - MS Youth Symphony Orchestra 3 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Hunter Gibson & Ronnie McGee noon; Larry Brewer & Doug Hurd 5-9 p.m.

Shuckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Acoustic Crossroads 3:30 p.m. free Table 100 - Jazz Brunch feat.

Raphael Semmes Trio 11 a.m.

APRIL 10 - MONDAY

Jojoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Slim Wednesday Duling Hall - Jojoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Slim Wednesday 9 p.m. $25 advance $30 door ardenland.net F. Jones Corner - Big Money Mel & Small Change Wayne 10 p.m. $1; Stevie J Blues midnight $10 Fusion Coffee, Ridgeland Township Jazz Festival feat.

Astral Project, Bill Summers & Jazalsa, The Vamps, Raphael Semmes, The Musicians & more 11 a.m.-7 p.m. free Georgia Blue, Flowood - Andy Tanas Georgia Blue, Madison - Jim Tomlinson Hal & Malâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Rod Melancon The Hideaway - Miles Flatt 9 p.m. $10 Iron Horse Grill - Bernard Jenkins 9 p.m.

Kathrynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Steel Country 7 p.m. free Lucky Town - Midtown Tartan Day & CrawďŹ sh Boil feat.

Stonewalls 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Martinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - The Sal-Tines 10 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Chris Gill 2 p.m.; Acoustic Crossroads 7 p.m.

4/7 - Explosions in the Sky - Varsity Theatre, Baton Rouge 4/8 - Olivia Newton-John - IP Casino, Resort & Spa, Biloxi 4/9 - Dwight Yoakam - The Lyric, Oxford 4/10 - Marco PavĂŠ - Proud Larryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Oxford

Bonny Blairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Lumpy Lumbley 7-11 p.m. free Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fitzgeraldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Sonny Brooks 7:30 p.m.

Hal & Malâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Central MS Blues Society (rest) 7 p.m.

Kathrynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Stevie Cain 6:30 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Brian Jones 6 p.m.

APRIL 11 - TUESDAY Bonny Blairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Sonny & Don 7-11 p.m. free Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fenianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Open Mic Fitzgeraldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Larry Brewer & Doug Hurd 7:30 p.m.

Kathrynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Andrew Pates 6:30 p.m. free MS Museum of Art - Sibyl Child & John Paul 5:15 p.m. free Pelican Cove - Stace & Cassie 6 p.m.

APRIL 12- WEDNESDAY Alumni House - Pearl Jamz 5:30 Char - Tommie Vaughn 6 p.m.

Fitzgeraldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Hunter Gibson & Rick Moreira 7:30 p.m.

Johnny Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Adib Sabir 5-8 p.m. free Kathrynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Larry Brewer & Doug Hurd 6:30 p.m. free Pelican Cove - Chad Perry 6 p.m.

Shuckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s - Lovin Ledbetter 7:30 p.m. free

April 5 - 11, 2017 â&#x20AC;˘ jfp.ms

APRIL 5 - WEDNESDAY

COURTESY JOJOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SLIM WEDNESDAY

MUSIC | live

27

BY MATT JONES

41 Tacks on 42 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Are You There God? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Me, Margaretâ&#x20AC;? author 44 Prefix with byte or hertz 48 Nabokov ending?

49 Fencing weapon 50 Take, as a coupon 51 Cy Young Award stat 52 Vegas headliner?

53 Day-___ (fluorescent paint) 55 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kneel before ___!â&#x20AC;? (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Superman IIâ&#x20AC;? line) 56 â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was impervious to constant chatterâ&#x20AC;?

60 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aliceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Restaurantâ&#x20AC;? singer Guthrie 61 Kerfuffles 62 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sounds like a plan!â&#x20AC;?

63 Henchman created by J.M. Barrie 64 Loses it 65 Borscht ingredient

33 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fishâ&#x20AC;? star Vigoda 34 Little dog 35 Deodorantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s place 36 Like mechanical bulls and rocking horses 37 Drive headlong into 38 Cuprite, e.g.

39 Cut down on driving, say 42 Speaks too proudly 43 Champ before Ali 45 Source of a breakdown?

46 Rent co-payer, casually 47 Burning with desire

49 Reason for a yearly shot 50 Companion to five â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wâ&#x20AC;?s 53 Unappetizing food 54 Word often confused with â&#x20AC;&#x153;fewerâ&#x20AC;?

57 Strummer or Cocker 58 Agcy. overseeing cosmetics 59 Lobster wearerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clothing Š2017 Jonesinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Crosswords (editor@ jonesincrosswords.com)

Last Weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Answers

For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800 655-6548. Reference puzzle #818.

BY MATT JONES

Down

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Spellboundâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;just pretend youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re texting.

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1 Over again 5 Alcohol pads for wound care 10 ___ buco (veal entree) 14 Church or movie ending?

15 Drama with the fictional firm McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak 16 Indian restaurant basketful 17 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t point the finger ... the freeze was an accident!â&#x20AC;?

20 School crossing sign word 21 It may be copied for family members 22 Mitt Romneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alma mater, for short

23 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ology,â&#x20AC;? for short 24 Grass-like surfaces 26 Startle 27 Extremely 28 Far-sighted person?

29 Adjective for 2017 (but not 2018) 31 Uprising of a sort 32 Desert rest stop 34 Genre for many â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weird Alâ&#x20AC;? Yankovic medleys 35 â&#x20AC;&#x153;That coffee holder wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ginormousâ&#x20AC;?

39 Nastily derogatory 40 FX series with Billy Bob Thornton

1 Certain discriminators (var.)

2 What the befuddled have 3 Kiddie-lit character with a pinned-on tail 4 Amusingly twisted 5 Swing around a pivot 6 On guard 7 The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aâ&#x20AC;? in many beer acronyms 8 Former pro wrestler ___ Bigelow 9 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donnie Darkoâ&#x20AC;? actor Patrick 10 Put ___ show 11 Stayed put 12 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Twistinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the Night Awayâ&#x20AC;? singer 13 The tiniest amount 18 Green-lights 19 Owed right now 25 Palm features 26 Dollar amount in a Western?

29 Next-to-last Greek letter 30 Semi, to a trucker 31 Surname in a Styx song

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Last Weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Answers

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sum Sudokuâ&#x20AC;?

Put one digit from 1-9 in each square of this Sudoku so that the following three conditions are met: 1) each row, column, and 3x3 box (as marked off by heavy lines in the grid) contains the digits 1-9 exactly one time; 2) no digit is repeated within any of the areas marked off by dotted lines; and 3) the sums of the numbers in each area marked off by dotted lines total the little number given in each of those areas. Now do what I tell youâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; solve!! psychosudoku@gmail.com

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Be interested in first things, Aries. Cultivate your attraction to beginnings. Align yourself with uprisings and breakthroughs. Find out what’s about to hatch, and lend your support. Give your generous attention to potent innocence and novel sources of light. Marvel at people who are rediscovering the sparks that animated them when they first came into their power. Fantasize about being a curious seeker who is devoted to reinventing yourself over and over again.

Gravitate toward influences that draw their vitality directly from primal wellsprings. Be excited about first things.

Are you weary of lugging around decayed guilt and regret?

Is it increasingly difficult to keep forbidden feelings concealed? Have your friends been wondering about the whip marks from your self-flagellation sessions? Do you ache for redemption? If you answered yes to any of those questions, listen up. The empathetic and earthy saints of the Confession Catharsis Corps are ready to receive your blubbering disclosures. They are clairvoyant, they’re non-judgmental, and best of all, they’re free. Within seconds after you telepathically communicate with our earthy saints, they will psychically beam you 11 minutes of unconditional love, no strings attached. Do it! You’ll be amazed at how much lighter and smarter you feel. Transmit your sad stories to the Confession Catharsis Corps NOW!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

Now is an excellent time to FREE YOUR MEMORIES. What comes to mind when I suggest that? Here are my thoughts on the subject. To FREE YOUR MEMORIES, you could change the way you talk and feel about your past. Re-examine your assumptions about your old stories, and dream up fresh interpretations to explain how and why they happened. Here’s another way to FREE YOUR MEMORIES: If you’re holding on to an insult someone hurled at you once upon a time, let it go. In fact, declare a general amnesty for everyone who ever did you wrong. By the way, the coming weeks will also be a favorable phase to FREE YOURSELF OF MEMORIES that hold you back. Are there any tales you tell yourself about the past that undermine your dreams about the future? Stop telling yourself those tales.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

How big is your vocabulary? 20,000 words? 30,000?

Whatever size it is, the coming weeks will be prime time to expand it. Life will be conspiring to enhance your creative use of language ... to deepen your enjoyment of the verbal flow ... to help you become more articulate in rendering the mysterious feelings and complex thoughts that rumble around inside you. If you pay attention to the signals coming from your unconscious mind, you will be shown how to speak and write more effectively. You may not turn into a silver-tongued persuader, but you could become a more eloquent spokesperson for your own interests.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

We all need more breaks from the routine—more holidays, more vacations, more days off from work. We should all play and dance and sing more, and guiltlessly practice the arts of leisure and relaxation, and celebrate freedom in regular boisterous rituals. And I’m nominating you to show us the way in the coming weeks, Leo. Be a cheerleader who exemplifies how it’s done. Be a ringleader who springs all of us inmates out of our mental prisons. Be the imaginative escape artist who demonstrates how to relieve tension and lose inhibitions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

People in your vicinity may be preoccupied with trivial questions. What’s more nutritious, corn chips or potato chips? Could Godzilla kick King Kong’s ass? Is it harder to hop forward on one foot or backward with both feet? I suspect you will also encounter folks who are embroiled in meaningless decisions and petty emotions. So how should you navigate your way through this energy-draining muddle? Here’s my advice: Identify the issues that are most worthy of your attention. Stay focused on them with disciplined devotion. Be selfish in your rapt determination to serve your clearest and noblest and holiest agendas.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

I hope that by mid-May you will be qualified to teach a

workshop called “Sweet Secrets of Tender Intimacy” or “Dirty Secrets of Raw Intimacy” or maybe even “Sweet and Dirty Secrets of Raw and Tender Intimacy.” In other words, Libra, I suspect that you will be adding substantially to your understanding of the art of togetherness. Along the way, you may also have experiences that would enable you to write an essay entitled “How to Act Like You Have Nothing to Lose When You Have Everything to Gain.”

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TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD:

Post an ad, call 601-362-6121, ext. 11 or fax to 601-510-9019.

Deadline: Mondays at Noon.

RePublic Schools is looking for dynamic, determined teachers to join our Jackson middle schools. Must have an unwavering belief that all children can achieve at high levels and change the world. Must be willing to obtain certification if not currently licensed.

Competitive salary and full benefits. Visit www.republiccharterschools.org/careers to apply

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

If you have a dream of eating soup with a fork, it might mean that in your waking life you’re using the wrong approach to getting nourished. If you have a dream of entering through an exit, it might mean that in your waking life you’re trying to start at the end rather than the beginning.

And if you dream of singing nursery rhymes at a karaoke bar with unlikable people from high school, it might mean that in your waking life you should seek more fulfilling ways to express your wild side and your creative energies.

(P.S.: You’ll be wise to do these things even if you don’t have the dreams I described.)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

If you’re a Quixotic lover, you’re more in love with love itself than with any person. If you’re a Cryptic lover, the best way to stay in love with a particular partner is to keep him or her guessing. If you’re a Harlequin, your steady lover must provide as much variety as three lovers. If you’re a Buddy, your specialties are having friendly sex and having sex with friends. If you’re a Histrionic, you’re addicted to confounding, disorienting love. It’s also possible that you’re none of the above. I hope so, because now is an excellent time to have a beginner’s mind about what kind of love you really need and want to cultivate in the future.

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Your new vocabulary word is “adytum.” It refers to the most sacred place within a sacred place—the inner shrine at the heart of a sublime sanctuary. Is there such a spot in your world? A location that embodies all you hold precious about your journey on planet Earth? It might be in a church or temple or synagogue or mosque, or it could be a magic zone in nature or a corner of your bedroom. Here you feel an intimate connection with the divine, or a sense of awe and reverence for the privilege of being alive. If you don’t have a personal adytum, Capricorn, find or create one.

You need the refreshment that comes from dwelling in the midst of the numinous.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

You could defy gravity a little, but not a lot. You can’t move a mountain, but you may be able to budge a hill.

Luck won’t miraculously enable you to win a contest, but it might help you seize a hard-earned perk or privilege. A bit of voraciousness may be good for your soul, but a big blast of greed would be bad for both your soul and your ego. Being savvy and feisty will energize your collaborators and attract new allies; being a smart-ass show-off would alienate and repel people.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Here are activities that will be especially favorable for you to initiate in the near future: 1. Pay someone to perform a service for you that will ease your suffering. 2. Question one of your fixed opinions if that will lead to you receiving a fun invitation you wouldn’t get otherwise. 3. Dole out sincere praise or practical help to a person who could help you overcome one of your limitations. 4. Get clear about how one of your collaborations would need to change in order to serve both of you better. Then tell your collaborator about the proposed improvement with lighthearted compassion.

Homework: Who’s the person you’d most like to meet and have coffee or a drink with? Why? Testify at Freewillastrology.com

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April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

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633 Duling Ave, Jackson, (769)216-2323 Quality wines and spirits in a relaxed environment. Voted Best Wine and Liquor store by Jackson Free Press readers.

Nandyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Candy

Maywood Mart, 1220 E Northside Dr #380, Jackson, (601)362-9553 Small batch confections do more than satisfy a sweet tooth, they foster fond traditions and strong relationships. Plus, enjoy sno-balls, gifts for any occasion and more! $b@-mÂ&#x2039; ;Â&#x2039; Ć&#x2018;Ć?Ć?Ńľ 7];u Ĺ&#x; _bŃ´7 b=; "r;1b-Ń´bv| -|vom _bŃ´7u;mÄ˝v ovrb|-Ń´

!*&+3 /$! "0*

McDadeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wine

Maywood Mart, 1220 E Northside Dr #320, Jackson, (601)366-5676 McDadeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wine and Spirits offers Northeast Jacksonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest showroom of fine wine and spirits. Visit to learn about the latest offerings and get professional tips from the friendly staff!

Playtime Entertainment

1009 Hampstead Blvd, Clinton, (601)926-1511 Clintonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest high energy video gaming and sports grille destination.

-------------------- TOURISM/ARTS ----------------------Mississippi Museum of Art

April 5 - 11, 2017 â&#x20AC;˘ jfp.ms

) , ) / $ /$! #!-. ,,!( % . 0* +*! 4 ++ 4 0.% 4 +-!

30

1%.%/ +0- 2! .%/! /+ ) '! +* /%+* /+ 3

380 South Lamar St. Jackson, (601) 960-1515 MMA strives to be a fountainhead attracting people from all walks to discuss the issues and glories of the past and present, while continuing to inspire progress in the future.

Ardenland

2906 North State St. Suite 207, Jackson, (601) 292-7121 Jacksonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premiere music promoter with concerts around the Metro including at Duling Hall in Fondren. www.ardenland.net

Natural Science Museum

2148 Riverside Dr, Jackson, (601) 576-6000 Stop by the museum and enjoy their 300-acre natural landscape, an open-air amphitheater, along with 2.5 miles of nature trails. Inside, meet over 200 living species in the 100,000 gallon aquarium network.

Mississippi Children's Museum

2145 Museum Boulevard, Jackson, (601) 981-5469 The Mississippi Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum provides unparalleled experiences that ignite a thirst for discovery, knowledge and learning in all children through hands-on and engaging exhibits and programs focusing on literacy, the arts, science, health and nutrition.

---------------- BEAUTY SHOP/SALON ------------------Barnetteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Highland Bluff

4400 Old Canton Rd, Jackson, (769) 230-4648 Barnetteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s specializes in custom hair color as well as beautiful precision cuts.

H AP P Y HOUR ALL DAY, EVERY DAY IN OUR BAR AREA S P ECIAL S IN CL UD E

BAR DRINKS

16oz DOMESTIC ............ $2 HOUSE WINE ................ $3 MARGARITAS ................. $3

SMALL PLATES

PORK TACO ................... $3 CHIPS AND QUESO ....... $4 BBQ NACHOS ............... $5

1060 E County Line Rd #22, Ridgeland, MS 39157 601-899-0038

E TH G

O RO M

E RE N

-Pool Is Cool-

We’re still #1!

Best Place to Play Pool Best of Jackson 2017

INDUSTRY HAPPY HOUR Daily 11pm -2am

DAILY 12pm BEER- 7pm SPECIALS

POOL LEAGUE Mon - Fri Night

THURSDAY

4/6

PAPADOSIO

(PATTERN INTEGRITIES SPRING TOUR) W/ PSYMBIONIC 9 P.M. // 18+

FRIDAY

4/7

AND THE ECHO W/ SHAKE IT LIKE A CAVEMAN 10 P.M.

SATURDAY

4/8

THE SAL-TINES 10 P.M.

MONDAY

4/10

OPEN MIC NIGHT

$5 APPETIZERS (DINE IN ONLY)

TUESDAY

4/11

SHRIMP BOIL

KARAOKE UPCOMING SHOWS 4/14 - CBDB

4/15 - The Low End Theory Players (Tribe Called Quest Tribute) 4/28 - The Weeks Record Release Show w/ the Lonely Bicsuits 4/29 - Backup Planet & the Heavy Pets “The Heavy Planet Tour” 5/4 - the Funky Knuckles (Ground Up Music / Snarky Puppy’s Label)

DRINK SPECIALS "52'%23 s 7).'3 s &5,, "!2 GATED PARKING BIG SCREEN TV’S LEAGUE AND TEAM PLAY B EGINNERS TO A DVANCED I NSTRUCTORS A VAILABLE

5/5 - Heart Byrne (Talking Heads Tribute Band)

444 Bounds St. Jackson MS

DOWNTOWN JACKSON

601-718-7665

5/11 - Naughty Professor WWW.MARTINSLOUNGE.NET

214 S. STATE ST.

601.354.9712

COMING UP WEDNESDAY 4/5 MARK & JAMIE Dining Room - Free _________________________ _________________________

Wednesday, April 5

THURSDAY 4/6

“GYPSY”

7-10pm $15 Tickets available on Eventbrite THE Dining Room - Free _________________________

ROOMSOUNDS FRIDAY 4/7

“GYPSY”

7-10pm $15 Tickets available on Eventbrite Crossroads Film Festival Presents

DREW HOLCOMB & THE NEIGHBORS sean mcconnell

drawing influences from tom petty and bob dylan, they have found their place in today’s landscape of singer/songwriter americana

Saturday, April 8

“TRAIN BUSAN” 8-midnight - Brew Pub/Patio TO

$5 for Festival Passholders $10 for General Admission

SWING DE PARIS Dining Room - Free _________________________

JOJO’S SLIM WEDNESDAY the band focuses on the sound of new orleans

“GYPSY”

Friday, April 14

ROD MELANCON

CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD

SATURDAY 4/8

that keeps listeners dancing all night

7-10pm $15 Tickets available on Eventbrite

“An Evening With”

Dining Room - Free _________________________

MONDAY 4/10

CENTRAL MS BLUES SOCIETY PRESENTS:

BLUE MONDAY Dining Room - 7 - 10pm

$3 Members $5 Non-Members _________________________

TUESDAY 4/11

ON IDEAS TAP Red Room Free 5:30

PUB QUIZ

w/ Jimmy Quinn

Dining Room - 7:30pm - $2 to Play _________________________

UPCOMING _________________________ 4/12 New Bourbon Street Jazz Band 4/13 D’Lo Trio 4/14 ZZQ’s 4/15 Crooked Creek _________________________ OFFICIAL

HOUSE VODKA

Visit HalandMals.com for a full menu and concert schedule

601.948.0888 200 S. Commerce St. Downtown Jackson, MS

touring in support of “anyway you love, we know how you feel,” which is both a light funk and a rootsier folk rock album

Saturday, April 22 RAY WYLIE HUBBARD down ‘n’ dirty roots ‘n’ roll, nobody in the wide world of americana music does it better

Wednesday, June 7 LADY PARTS JUSTICE LEAGUE’S

just announced!

VAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR a coven of hilarious badass feminists who use humor and pop culture to expose the haters fighting against reproductive rights

just announced!

Monday, June 12

THE BACON BROTHERS

“hollywood hangs like an albatross around the neck of any movie star turned musician, but this duo shakes off the burden of fame with sharply executed rock that has a blue-collar, rootsy edge” - the new yorker

JX//RX

COMPLETE SHOW LISTINGS & TICKETS

dulinghall.com

April 5 - 11, 2017 • jfp.ms

HIGH TOP

31

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Year Round

The Snoball Window is Open (Limited Flavors Until Easter)

Handcrafted Easter Treats

Mon-Sat 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. t 601.362.9553 t Maywood Mart t Jackson, MS t nandyscandy.com

Come experience our one of a kind dishes by

Call For Your

Chef Danny Eslava

Easter Catering

2016 - 17 Best of Rankin Best Chef 2481 Lakeland Drive Flowood | 601.932.4070

Today!

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Try our custom blends.

Come see us in The Quarter off Lakeland, near Cups

2SHQ VHYHQ GD\V D ZHHN 1030-A Hwy 51 • Madison Behind the McDonalds in Madison Station

601.790.7999

1002 Treetops Blvd • Flowood Behind the Applebee’s on Lakeland

601.664.7588

DAILY SPECIALS STARTING AT

2 FOR $3.00

...and check out our

“Country Squire Radio” podcast every Wednesday at Podasterynetwork.

learn more about our historic shop at www.thecountrysquireonline.com

CHICKEN SANDWICHES 2 FOR $3.00

CHICKEN ON-A-STICK 2 FOR $5.00 CHICKEN TENDER BASKET $2.75 õôôöĝjąĝ uÇ Õ¼®ĝUÕąĝþĝ4u «Î¼µĝ 601.968.5171