Memphis Flyer 2/22/2024

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OUR 1826TH ISSUE • 02.22.24

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Forging Future

JAMIE HARMON

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OUR 1826TH ISSUE 02.22.24 “Remembering Jessica Lewis.” That was the subject line of an email that hit my inbox this morning from Legacy.com.

CARRIE BEASLEY Senior Art Director CHRISTOPHER MYERS Advertising Art Director NEIL WILLIAMS Graphic Designer JERRY D. SWIFT Advertising Director Emeritus KELLI DEWITT, CHIP GOOGE, PATRICK PACHECO Senior Account Executives CHET HASTINGS Warehouse and Delivery Manager JANICE GRISSOM ELLISON, KAREN MILAM, DON MYNATT, TAMMY NASH, RANDY ROTZ, LEWIS TAYLOR, WILLIAM WIDEMAN Distribution THE MEMPHIS FLYER is published weekly by Contemporary Media, Inc., P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101 Phone: (901) 521-9000 Fax: (901) 521-0129 memphisflyer.com CONTEMPORARY MEDIA, INC. ANNA TRAVERSE FOGLE Chief Executive Officer LYNN SPARAGOWSKI Controller/Circulation Manager JEFFREY GOLDBERG Chief Revenue Officer MARGIE NEAL Chief Operating Officer KRISTIN PAWLOWSKI Digital Services Director MARIAH MCCABE Circulation and Accounting Assistant

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CONTENTS

SHARA CLARK Editor-in-Chief ABIGAIL MORICI Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Senior Editors TOBY SELLS Associate Editor KAILYNN JOHNSON News Reporter CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers GENE GARD, EMILY GUENTHER, COCO JUNE, FRANK MURTAUGH Contributing Columnists SHARON BROWN, AIMEE STIEGEMEYER Grizzlies Reporters SYMONE MAXWELL Editorial Intern KENNETH NEILL Founding Publisher

I did take a look back at the “guest book,” a web page with her obituary, under which a handful of people wrote short notes in her memory. There’s still an option to send flowers, such as a $98 Eternal Affection™ Arrangement or the $78 Comfort™ Planter, which feels like a weird money grab all these years later. I think about her often and visit her grave in Millington at least once a year, but I don’t think writing a comment on a website or buying a bouquet will any better reflect “eternal affection.” I do need to go see her mother though. This isn’t a kind of grief that heals with time, but one that expands across it with no resolution — the unanswered questions filling the spaces between with anger and discontent.

Jessica was murdered on February 20, 2011. She was one of four women shot — three of whom died and one who survived — within a month’s time in South Memphis. She and Rhonda Wells were killed just days apart; their bodies both found in the unkempt Mt. Carmel Cemetery at Elvis Presley Boulevard and Elliston Road amid overgrown brush (above) Jessica Lewis; and crumbled, sinking headstones. Although the (below) composite of street just beyond the grounds is busy with traffic suspect in Jessica’s murder during the day, at night, the unilluminated graveyard is known to be host to criminal activity.

I’ve used my platform in media throughout the years to bring attention to Jessica’s case — and to those of Rhonda and Tamakia McKinney, whose lives were likely taken by the same perpetrator, according to investigators (although they were hesitant to officially label them serial killings). You may recall reading about Jessica before in this paper or in our sister publication Memphis Magazine, where I’ve shared various aspects of the story, from simply reporting and following up with investigators, to interviewing the survivor, to sharing more about Jessica, a mother of two who had a world of potential ahead of her until she fell into drug use.

I wish this column was an update of some sort, but after the passing of investigator W.D. Merritt in 2020 and the more recent retirement of his cold case partner — the two perhaps most familiar with the case — it seems we’re back to square one. Thirteen long years, so many new homicides, so many more cases gone cold. I’ve always felt the killings would have been solved swiftly if not for the lifestyles of the victims; it’s as if sex work gives a murderer a green light. With multiple casualties, DNA evidence, shell casings, and a surviving eyewitness, how have we come so far with no justice served?

I’m sharing here Jessica’s 2001 high school senior portrait, since all the photos of her and Rhonda and Tamakia that were ever shared by other news outlets were mugshots. These women were more than their addictions or life paths. They were people — as imperfectly human as me and you — who were loved and who are missed. The other image is NEWS & OPINION a composite sketch created by MPD THE FLY-BY - 4 POLITICS - 6 based on the 2011 description of the AT LARGE - 9 suspect provided by the survivor, who FINANCE - 9 was shot in the face on February 26th COVER STORY of that year, and left for dead less than “FORGING FUTURE MUSIC” a mile from Mt. Carmel.

BY ALEX GREENE - 10 With or without an email reminder, WE RECOMMEND - 14 SPORTS - 15 Jessica is always close to my heart, and CALENDAR - 16 I will forever hold a grain of hope that NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 16 the person who took her from us gets ASTROLOGY - 17 his due. I will use every opportunity FOOD - 19 to remind the community — and the FILM - 20 world — that we still care. Their lives NOW PLAYING - 21 mattered, and we will not forget.

CL ASSIFIEDS - 22 Shara Clark LAST WORD - 23 shara@memphisflyer.com

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

Dear Family and Friends of Jessica Lewis, Being remembered matters. The message you shared in Jessica’s guest book was meaningful. On the anniversary of Jessica’s passing, share another memory of condolence and help others hold Jessica a little closer in their hearts.

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MEMernet Memphis on the internet.

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CHILD WAXING The MEMernet was aghast this weekend over a viral TikTok that allegedly showed “a miPOSTED TO X BY MEMPHIS nor performPOLICE DEPARTMENT ing a wax on a nude female,” according to Memphis Police Department (MPD).

According to Memphis Reddit users, the video showed a 7-year-old that performed 24 Brazilian waxes on women in one day at a local salon.

MPD’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was made aware of the images and an investigation is now underway. Police said, “DO NOT screen save or forward these images to law enforcement or anyone. Please do not download or upload these images in any way.”

File further complaints on the incident to The Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or Cyber Tip Report.

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PENNY A fake statement announcing Penny Hardaway’s split with the UniverPOSTED TO X BY sity of @WILLGTG901 Memphis started circulating on X earlier this week. It came after a blowout loss to Southern Methodist University last Sunday that had a frustrated Penny ripping apart his players.

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P OSTE D TO FACEBOOK BY M E MPHIS MEMES 901

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Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells

W E E K T H AT WA S

By Flyer staff

Odd Bills, Guns, & Homelessness Lawmakers want “God’s” mercy but not cold beer, a prevention program, and new funds for LGBTQ youth.

NO COLD BEER? Lawmakers are taking aim at cold beer, service animals, the United Nations, and more in this session of the Tennessee General Assembly.

Here are some sort of odd bills under consideration: HB 1635: It “prohibits emotional support animals that are not trained, or being trained, to perform tasks or work for a person with a disability from indoor areas of food service establishments.”

HJR 0803: “Designates the period of July 1, 2024, through July 31, 2024, as a time of prayer and fasting in Tennessee and seeks God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee.”

HJR 0849: “Urges the United States to withdraw from the United Nations.”

SB 2636: This bill “prohibits a beer permittee from selling at retail refrigerated or cold beer.”

PREVENTING GUN VIOLENCE New federal Medicaid dollars may help Tennessee ease gun violence with a “proactive approach” sponsored by two state Democrats who say inaction

by Republicans has been “shameful” and that the party is “scared of the [National Rifle Association].”

State Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) and Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) filed legislation that could flow Medicaid dollars here for community violence intervention programs proposed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

So far, seven states have received the funds, which require a match by states. The money is used to bolster existing programs that hope to stop gun violence well before someone picks up a firearm.

“For example, violence interruption programs deploy trusted messengers to work directly with individuals most likely to commit gun violence, intervene in conflicts, and connect people to social and economic services to reduce the likelihood of gun violence as an answer,” reads a statement from the White House.

The bill from Lamar and Jones would authorize Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to request the federal funding and the state matching funds. Then, TennCare officials would be responsible for identifying existing programs or creating new ones to use the funds.

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A federal grant will help address homelessness; a new bill wants to prohibit the sale of cold beer.

FIGHTING HOMELESSNESS Memphis and Shelby County will receive $11 million in funding to address homelessness in vulnerable populations. This funding came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the Continuum of Care Program Competition, and was procured by the Community Alliance for the Homeless (CAFTH) and the Memphis & Shelby County Homeless Consortium.

Previously, Memphis and Shelby County received $8.9 million which was used for housing for youth, families, and other individuals. This year, the nearly $2 million increase will help LGBTQ populations and people fleeing domestic violence.

Emma Boehme, Continuum of Care project coordinator for CAFTH, said when they’re dealing with youth systems in CAFTH, they are also helping LGBTQ youth. Boehme added that the LGBTQ youth community, “especially in states like Tennessee,” experience homelessness disproportionately.

“Nationwide, LGBTQ youth are 120 percent more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ youth, and 22 percent of LGBTQ youth are actively experiencing poverty and housing insecurity, compared to 11.5 percent of the general population,” said Boehme.

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

U of M Complaints {

CITY REPORTER

By Kailynn Johnson

The university has three times more Title IX complaints than any other Tennessee college.

As required by Tennessee Code Annotated Section 67-5-903, the Shelby County Assessor will be mailing Tangible Personal Property Schedules to all active businesses within Shelby County by Friday, January 12, 2024. The filing deadline is March 1, 2024. Please call the Shelby County Assessor’s office at 901-222-7002, if you need assistance.

Office for Institutional Equity.

“It should be noted that a complainant has the right to the complaint being handled as confidentially as reasonably possible,” said the university.

Morgan Linsy is a senior at the University of Memphis and is the executive director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Coalition (SAPAC). This organization partners with the Title IX office for events and training such as their Healthy Relationships Fair and Walk a Mile in Her Shoes men’s march.

Linsy said her organization is advocating for more transparency regarding Title IX so they can tailor programming and support to best meet the needs of students. She understands the university has to protect victims as she also serves as a mandatory reporter for the university.

“They come to us knowing that what happens is going to stay with us and I think sometimes seeing the numbers can be scary for some people,” Linsy

PHOTO: JUSTIN FOX BURKS

The university had 125 complaints in 2023. said. “It’s important for us to know what those numbers are, but I think we also have to remember that there still is a certain level of privacy that they’re owed because at the end of the day they don’t have to report. However, we want them to so we can help bring awareness and see how we can increase resources for students on campus.”

Linsy thinks that transparency in numbers and reporting is important campuswide for current and prospective students as well.

“If we know what’s happening on campus, we’re more inclined to keep each other aware, keep each other accountable, and make sure we work together to help prevent it all together,” Linsy said.

WILLIS ALAN RAMSEY & KEITH SYKES THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 7:30 PM

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LEGAL NOTICES PERSONAL PROPERTY PUBLIC NOTICE

This is the third year in a row that the university reported the most incidents.

The report does not say why the university has so many reports nor does it detail the nature of them. University officials refused to respond to questions about Title IX complaints, including the most basic descriptions of the types of incidents that cause complaints. They also would not say whether complaints were up because of increased knowledge of campus resources.

“The University of Memphis is committed to providing an environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex and provides many resources to students, faculty, and staff to address concerns relating to discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes sexual misconduct,” the university said in a statement.

When asked for public records pertaining to the Title IX complaints, the comptroller’s office recommended the university be reached for “any records related to the cumulative report.”

Students, staff, and faculty can file complaints through the university’s

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he University of Memphis has the most Title IX complaints out of all state agencies in the state — almost three times the amount of other entities reporting.

The purpose of Title IX is to ban discrimination on the basis of sex for “any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

This includes admission consideration, employment, as well as “treatment of students” and “access to programs and courses,” among other things.

In 2023 the University of Memphis reported 125 Title IX complaints, according to a report from the Tennessee State Comptroller’s office. Other schools included in the report were Austin Peay State University (21 incidents), East Tennessee State University (19 incidents), Tennessee State University (5 incidents), and the University of Tennessee (24).

While U of M reported the most complaints compared to other agencies, the 2023 numbers show a 3.2 percent decrease from the previous year (129).

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Yep, another election is coming up, and this one, a primary election scheduled for Tuesday, March 5th, involves just two offices — one of them being the presidency of the United States, the other being the clerkship of Shelby County’s General Sessions Court. (Note, early voting has already begun and ends on February 27th.)

Where the presidential primaries are concerned, there is not much suspense.

Those voters selecting a Republican ballot will have eight choices, and that old saw about the value of a name being high up on the ballot list can safely be discarded.

Of the eight available GOP alternatives, one Donald J. Trump is last on the list. Those preceding the former president, in alphabetical order, are Ryan Binkley, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy, and David Stuckenberg.

Of these, only Haley, a former UN ambassador and the ex-governor of South Carolina, is still an active candidate opposing Trump, and she may be the only person in America or anywhere else who believes she has a ghost of a chance.

(It’s not against the law to believe in ghosts, but it’s certainly against the oddsboard.)

On the Democratic primary ballot, there is only one name — that of the incumbent president, Joe Biden.

Of course, voters who don’t cotton to the idea of a Biden-Trump repeat in the November 5th general election are free to fantasize and write in whomever they please on whichever ballot they choose.

Now, for the General Sessions clerk’s race: The two party candidates selected on March 5th will vie for the position in a general election on Thursday, August 8th. The same date holds for various elections in the county’s suburban municipalities and for primaries for state and federal positions on the November ballot.

Lisa Arnold, a former employee with the clerk’s office, is the only Republican on the March 5th GOP ballot, while Democratic voters have four

candidates to choose from.

The Democrats are: Rheunte Benson, who is currently serving as criminal administrator with the clerk’s office and is making her second race for the clerk’s position, having run for it four years ago; Shelandra Ford, who served as Shelby County register of deeds from 2018-22 and was defeated in a reelection bid for that office four years ago by current register Willie Brooks; Joe Brown, the incumbent Criminal Court clerk, who previously served several terms as a member of the city council and who won out in a crowded primary for the clerk’s office four years ago.

And there is Tami Sawyer, the former activiste par excellence, county commissioner, and 2019 candidate for mayor.

This is not the same Tami Sawyer who could “not wait” to seek the city’s highest office in what seems, in retrospect, to have been a premature move.

PHOTO: COURTESY TAMI SAWYER

Tami Sawyer This is a new Sawyer, inclusive rather than confrontational, a solid organizer, and backed by an impressive chorus of Establishment Democrats while maintaining her woke base.

Her main obstacle to election might be the ritual name-ID advantages of opponents Ford (not a member of the well-known political clan but possessor of the same surname) and Brown (whose election in the first place was probably due to voters’ familiarity with his TV-judge namesake).

Sawyer is, in any case, widely regarded as the favorite, and she is expected, if elected, to use the new perch not as a sinecure but as the springboard for further political action.

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his is a story about nazis, the rock group Paramore, a folk singer, and the GOP members of the Tennessee State House. Bear with me. It all comes together in the end.

First, the nazis: Last Saturday afternoon, a group of 30 or so white men demonstrated on the grounds of the state capitol in Nashville. They carried nazi flags, wore face masks (naturally), and red T-shirts proclaiming that they were members of a group called “Blood Tribe.” They then walked in loose formation down Broadway, along sidewalks filled with tourists.

The march was videoed by dozens of people, including by one brave stalwart who walked alongside the group, screaming, “Cowards!! Cowards!! Show your faces!!” They didn’t because — duh — they’re cowards. That video was posted on X and went viral.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, Blood Tribe members exalt Hitler as a deity, a reincarnation of the Norse god Wotan. They are “a hardcore white supremacist group, that sees themselves as the last remaining bulwark against enemies of the white race and the only path to a white ethnostate.” Blood Tribe members “emphasize hyper-masculinity,” and the group does not allow female members.

Here’s my favorite part: Once accepted into the Blood Tribe, “members take part in an initiation ceremony during which they cut themselves using the group’s ceremonial spear and then rub their blood on the shaft of the spear.” Uh huh.

Also possibly notable is the fact that the group’s first public demonstration was in March 2023, when they protested a drag queen story hour in Wadsworth, Ohio. According to news reports, attendees “wore matching red sweaters, waved swastika flags, and held a banner that read, ‘There will be blood.’” No word on whether their shoes matched their outfits.

But there’s really nothing funny about nazis, no matter how un-selfaware they are, unless hyper-toxic masculinity and ignorant racism amuse you. These guys are evil thugs, even if they are afraid to show their faces.

Among many others catching the nazis on phone video last Saturday were state Representative Justin Pearson of Memphis and state Representative Justin Jones of Nashville — the two Black members of the “Tennessee Three” who were excommunicated

from the state legislature last summer for advocating for gun reform in the House chamber. Pearson and Jones (who were reinstated by special elections) both denounced the Blood Tribe march and referenced their GOP colleagues in their X posts about the group.

Jones said: “This is exactly what my Republican colleagues’ hate speech is fostering and inviting.” Pearson said: “Tragically, [the Blood Tribe’s] views are shared by many who I serve alongside on the other side of the aisle.”

Too harsh, you say? This is where Paramore and the folk singer come in.

The Nashville-based rock band won Grammys for Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance.

The folksinger was Allison Russell, who won a Grammy for Best American Roots Performance. Jones made what is typically a perfunctory consent calendar resolution — noncontroversial motions that the legislature passes en masse — to honor both artists for their awards.

But, oops. Nope. GOP House Speaker Jeremy Faison removed the resolution honoring Russell from the consent calendar, saying he had been approached by other GOP members with questions about Russell “which made it appropriate for us to press pause on that particular resolution.”

What questions? He couldn’t say.

Here’s a guess: Russell is Black. The members of Paramore are white. The GOP reps decided to “press pause” on the Black woman because as they have shown time and time again, they are country-ass, cousin-humpin’ racist tools. In a real democracy, you could put that resolution on the consent calendar and take it to the bank.

Too harsh? I’m pretty sure Faison doesn’t like it when people bring up the 2022 incident in which he ran onto a basketball court during a game (between two “Christian” academies, no less) and attempted to “de-pants a referee” because he disagreed with a call. Probably should have pressed pause on that move, Jeremy.

To their credit, the lead singer of Paramore said the group would decline the “honor” from the legislature unless Russell was also honored. Oh, and if you’re still wondering about that “press pause” business? Last year, Russell criticized GOP legislators for enacting legislation targeting LGBTQ rights and banning drag shows.

Huh. How did we nazi that one coming?

FINANCE By Gene Gard

Tips for Procrastinators Five retirement strategies to help you get started now.

1. Determine how much you’ll need to retire.

The first step toward getting serious about retirement planning is to determine how much you’ll need to live in retirement. One of the best ways to arrive at this number is by working with a qualified wealth advisor to establish a comprehensive financial plan that takes into account your current financial situation, goals for the future, and any challenges with the potential to stand in your way.

Your financial plan should provide insight into your expected retirement lifestyle expenses, your estate planning goals, your tax liabilities, your investment return potential, your retirement income sources, inflation, and more. Taken together, this information can help you determine how much you may need to save to achieve your desired retirement lifestyle.

2. Evaluate your current expenses.

Are your current expenses making it difficult to save for the future? If so, it may be time to cut back. Start by tracking your spending over the last year. What patterns do you see? Maybe you spend a large portion of your income on housing. If so,

3. Enhance your income.

If you’ve put off planning for retirement, you may need to continue working longer in order to save. Not only does working longer allow you to set aside additional retirement savings but remaining in the workforce can allow you to delay taking Social Security benefits, which leads to a higher monthly benefit amount once you retire.

4. Contribute to a retirement account.

If you’re eligible to participate in an employer-sponsored plan but haven’t yet contributed, sign up immediately!

Qualified retirement plans, such as 401ks and 403bs, provide a taxefficient way to save for retirement. Also, many employers match a portion of your contributions, which means if you’re not saving in your employer-sponsored plan, you could be walking away from free money.

Even if you’re eligible for an employersponsored plan, you may want to consider saving additional dollars in an individual retirement account (IRA). In 2024, you can set aside up to $7,000 in a traditional or Roth (if your income is below a certain amount) IRA. For married couples filing jointly, your spouse can also make contributions, even if they’re not working.

5. Take advantage of catch-up contributions.

If you’re over the age of 50, the IRS allows you to make an additional $1,000 contribution. These catch-up contributions are especially helpful for those who procrastinate when it comes to saving for retirement, so make every effort to max them out.

Gene Gard, CFA, CFP, CFT-I, is a Partner and Private Wealth Manager with Creative Planning. Creative Planning is one of the nation’s largest Registered Investment Advisory firms providing comprehensive wealth management services to ensure all elements of a client’s financial life are working together, including investments, taxes, estate planning, and risk management. For more information or to request a free, no-obligation consultation, visit CreativePlanning.com.

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does it make sense to downsize? Perhaps you carry a lot of debt. Interest rates and fees can add up, so you may want to really focus on paying off your debt. Even cutting back on smaller expenses, such as regularly eating out, can free up money to add to your retirement savings.

NEWS & OPINION

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hen it comes to fun life experiences, planning for retirement may rank just a bit higher than a root canal. However, putting off your retirement planning strategy is only going to harm you in the future.

If you’ve been dragging your feet on establishing your retirement plan, now’s the time to get started.

Following are five important retirement planning strategies for procrastinators.

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Music COV E R STORY B y A l ex Gre e ne

wo years ago, only a month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO), the Memphis Symphony Chorus, and the University of Mississippi Concert Singers, before their rendition of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, launched into the national anthem, “Державний Гімн України,” aka “The Glory and Freedom of Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished,” and suddenly all the audience felt, as if through high-voltage cables, a direct through line to Ukraine’s history via a song written some 160 years earlier. The audience rose to their feet, stirred but also reassured, it seemed, to be sharing that historical moment in real time, celebrating a righteous cause through music.

A similar electricity surged through the crowd at the opening of a significant concert earlier this month. All were awaiting the premiere of the Harriet Tubman Oratorio by Memphis composer Earnestine Rodgers Robinson, when the familiar first strains of introductory

music caused the audience to rise from their seats and sing along: It was “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the 1900 hymn that’s now embraced as the de facto national anthem of Black America. Given today’s troubled racial politics, it was no less galvanizing than the Ukrainian national anthem had been in 2022, as a massive, diverse crowd stood to sing of hope and empowerment for all. In both cases it was that venerable old institution of the fine arts, the symphony orchestra, offering insight into today’s struggles by keeping history’s songs alive. It was as if remembering the past had become an act of resistance, as in Orwell’s 1984, and here was the MSO leading the charge, radically challenging us with our own cultural memories.

But even as the MSO and other classical ensembles offer that link with history, they’re also taking chances, delving into unexplored territory, and nurturing the music of the future. And it’s making this city’s classical scene one of the most vibrant in the country.

“I’ve Got Two Strikes Against Me” As it turned out, the Harriet Tubman Oratorio premiere succinctly captured what is fomenting in the Memphis classical world today. While honoring the historical figure of Tubman, devoted abolitionist and leader in the Underground Railroad, the oratorio itself was absolutely contemporary, the latest from Memphis’ self-taught composer Earnestine Rodgers Robinson.

Though her first major work, The Crucifixion Oratorio, premiered at Carnegie Hall as early as 1997, and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra performed her piece, The Nativity, in Prague more than 20 years ago, this would be the first time any of Robinson’s orchestral works would be performed in her hometown.

And so when the room swelled with the strains of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” that night, it was in tacit recognition of both Tubman and the composer herself, two Black women whose voices were set to be lifted to glorious new heights by no less than the MSO, four star singers

PHOTO (ABOVE): TARINA WESTLUND

The City of Tomorrow

from Opera Memphis, the Memphis Symphony Chorus, and the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church Choir. “Yet with a steady beat,” sang the choirs and the crowd, “Have not our weary feet come to the place for which our fathers died?” In that moment, for one night’s performance at least, it felt as though we had.

As the night went on, Robinson’s new oratorio lived up to the moment in all its gravitas, juxtaposing Tubman’s own words, brought to life by storyteller and griot Janice Curtis Greene, with Robinson’s memorable melodies woven into the intricate orchestrations of her arrangers, Heather Sorenson and Francisco Núñez, the chorus of voices sometimes exploding with earthshaking power. It was a testament to Robinson’s vision, matched with the vision of a major symphony orchestra embracing works from outside the conservatory. The fact that it was happening in Memphis’ own Cannon Center made clear how far Robinson had come since her first forays into writing devotional music half a century ago.

THE CITY’S CLASSICAL SCENE IS MORE INVENTIVE — AND INCLUSIVE — THAN EVER.

of color, both old and new, are being taken more seriously. Pianist Artina McCain, associate professor of piano at the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, often curates Celebration, a Black composers festival in Austin, Texas, that’s now in its 18th year. That in turn has led her to program concerts here with a similar brief, most notably in her Mahogany Chamber Music Series at Crosstown Arts, a series of chamber music concerts spotlighting Black and other underrepresented composers that McCain began in 2019.

(This year’s edition of the series takes place February 25th at Crosstown Theater.)

A major element in the revival of Black composers has been reaching back into history to revive writers who were neglected at the time, such as William Grant Still or Florence Price. “Florence Price is making a resurgence these days,” McCain told the Memphis Flyer in 2019. “She seems to be the composer of preference as far as being a female of color that symphonies are programming. People are becoming more aware of her musical style. And the rhythms and harmonies that she uses are very familiar in American folk music.

Black composers wanted to fuse the genres that were more readily associated with Black Americans — jazz, blues, gospel — with their training. So they came up with this genre that’s a thing in itself.”

That “genre” is regularly being celebrated by the MSO, as in their recent concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which opened with four compositions by Still, who was blending jazz with classical years before Gershwin’s famous work. Also including the eerie harmonies of Kurt Weill’s take on American jazz, and pianist Zhu Wang on the Gershwin piece, the concert was a study in diversity, from the repertoire to the audience to the musicians themselves.

Robinson’s daughter, Michelle McKissack, who sits on the MSO board, feels this diversity makes the MSO unique. “Memphis really is leading the way,” she says.

“You just don’t see the level of diversity in other orchestras, compared to what you see here in Memphis.”

Opera Memphis has also taken a commitment to diversity to unheard-of levels. Only a week before the Harriet Tubman Oratorio, they presented a recital of art songs crafted around the writings of Langston Hughes, including works by Still and Price. It felt as though the Harlem Renaissance, in which both Hughes and the composers were key players, had sprung to life once more, a century after the fact, through the voices of Marcus King, Kayla Oderah, and Marquita Richardson — opera singers who all happen to be Black.

In Search of Tomorrow’s Music Yet the classical world of Memphis is not only pushing the envelope in terms of traditional racial biases. Local ensembles are also embracing a diversity of sounds, a plurality of musics, if you will, in the form of contemporary composers. Championing what is sometimes called “New Music” has become a fundamental mission of some groups here, to the point where they’re helping bring new music into being by commissioning the works directly.

McCain, for example, while introducing the works she and her husband Martin (a trombone instructor at the U of M) performed at Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in late January, noted that “90 percent of what you’ll hear in this program is music that’s been commissioned by us.” Music for piano-trombone duets being rare, this is partly out of necessity, but also springs from the McCains’ commitment to fuel the continued evolution of classical music.

They’re not alone in commissioning new works. What was once called the Iris Orchestra, now the Iris Collective, has fostered new music for more than two decades. Conductor Michael Stern, onetime artistic director of Iris and still an advisor to the collective, noted in 2022 that “commissioning new works is part of our mission statement. When we started Iris 22 years ago, the express intention was, in part, to nurture and promote the music of our time, especially American composers.”

One notable Iris commission, in 2020, celebrated the city of Memphis

itself, in a symphonic tour de force by Conrad Tao inspired by Charlie Patton’s “A Spoonful Blues,” simply titled “Spoonfuls.” The piece’s inventiveness was bracing, as samples of Patton’s original recordings were followed by a brash, playful symphonic commentary that echoed the bluesman’s original singing, but with stop-start sonic blasts that made full use of an orchestra’s power.

Another work that Iris co-commissioned at the time was slated to enjoy its world premiere here in Memphis, but was delayed when pianist Awadagin Pratt contracted Covid in 2022. This March 2nd, he’ll finally make good on that commitment at the Germantown Performing Arts Center (GPAC) with his performance of Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds for piano and orchestra. At the time, Stern’s enthusiasm for the new work was palpable. “Jessie Montgomery is one of the most compelling voices to rise to the top of the scene over the last two or three years, for good reason,” Stern said. “I was also co-commissioner of this piece with my Kansas City Symphony. So I’ve got a double connection with that piece. I’ve done quite a few of Jessie’s works now, and I think she is a wonderful composer. This piece especially, Rounds for piano and orchestra, is playful and dancing and really lovely. And Awadagin is making his solo piano debut with us, playing on Jessie’s piece.”

Commissioning Rounds has, in retrospect, revealed just how prescient Iris’ commitment to the new can be. This year the piece won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, and Pratt is being recognized as one of the most accomplished pianists of his generation. It’s indicative of how great an impact commissioning new works can have, not to mention how the inventiveness of new music overlaps with challenging deep cultural preconceptions.

Indeed, Pratt has devised a multimedia experience focused on just that. On March 3rd, he’ll present (and perform a live soundtrack for) his film Awadagin continued on page 12

(left to right) PHOTO: ALEX GREENE Earnestine Robinson, PHOTO: ROB DAVIDSON Awadagin Pratt, PHOTO: COURTESY THE MCCAIN DUO The McCain Duo

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

It all started in the 1970s when Robinson was tasked to organize an Easter program for her brother’s church, and a melody poured out from her unbidden as she read some Bible verses. Encouraged by her late husband Charles, an accountant who played classical piano (and worked for Mercury Records for a time), Robinson continued to compose over the years in the same way. “I have to have the words first,” she says of her process.

“Then the words dictate the mood. They tell the story and that tells you how the music goes. It dictates to your spirit and you go with the flow.”

Working out the melodies thus, Robinson then records herself singing her compositions and mails the recording to herself, the dated postmark serving as proof of her authorship. “Then, once I’ve done that, I’m ready to give it to a person to score for me. They tell me these melodies I write are intricate. I don’t know they’re intricate, though. I just know I’m singing what I heard.”

Now 86, Robinson is still a little stunned that she’s found such acceptance in the classical milieu. When her work was performed in Prague, she says, “I was intimidated. I said, ‘Oh, my goodness! I’m in the wrong place, with all these supposed composers.’ I didn’t know how they were going to accept me. I’m Black, and I’m a woman, so I’ve got two strikes against me.”

Yet, as it turns out, the classical establishment’s embrace of her work reveals an increasingly progressive tendency in that world, and helps explain how the National Civil Rights Museum came to sign on as a sponsor of the concert. As Kyle Dickson, the MSO’s assistant conductor who led the orchestra through the Harriet Tubman Oratorio, says, “In the last four years there have been many classical organizations that have embraced this idea of performing more composers of color, or just simply presenting more concerts that are more inclusive, that reflect more of the communities that they exist in. These are composers whose contributions have been swept under the rug for so long.”

There are other signs that composers

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continued from page 11 Pratt: Black in America at the University of Memphis. As Rebecca Arendt of Iris notes, “It’s part live music, part film, and part panel discussion, and it really homes in on his individual story of racial profiling. We’ll also be joined by a representative from the National Civil Rights Museum to talk about racism in our country and reconciliation.” Incorporating Pratt’s live performance, the event represents a complete rethinking of the classical music experience.

The City of Tomorrow, a wind quintet with two members at the University of Memphis, is another ensemble committed to commissioning new works, and is creating some of the most inventive music in the city because of it. After their recent show at The Green Room at Crosstown Arts, one fellow audience member confessed to me, “I never knew that symphonic instruments like that could make so many sounds!” And the pieces favored by the ensemble did lean into the unorthodox, sometimes relying on the sounds of valves clicking, spoken-word interludes by the players, or strangely expressive growls and toots from the flute, oboe, French horn, bassoon, and clarinet players comprising the group.

The final piece of that night, The Faculty of Sensing, had been co-commissioned by the group and featured another composer

being widely celebrated now, George Lewis, who has won MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships. Elise Blatchford, the City of Tomorrow’s flutist, notes that Crosstown Arts has played a pivotal role in presenting such cutting-edge work in the traditionally conservative town of Memphis. “I think Crosstown Arts is a big part of the story here,” she says. “Where I used to feel like if I wanted to see some really hard-edged new music, or anything that I’ve been reading about in The New Yorker, I’d have to take a trip up to New York. But now I just pay attention to what they’re scheduling over at Crosstown and I go there. That’s really been a shot in the arm artistically, for me personally, just having cool shows to go to.”

That was made abundantly clear last spring, when Evan Williams, a composer who’d taught for years at Rhodes College before taking a position at Berklee College of Music in Boston, returned to Memphis to premiere a new piece, Crosstown Counterpoint, commissioned by Crosstown Arts and written in honor of the very building where it was to be performed. With members of Blueshift Ensemble (since 2016, a key group in promoting new music locally) stationed in disparate parts of the concourse’s atrium, the work made full use of the echoing space which inspired it.

Subtitled “for two antiphonal string quartets and audio playback,” Crosstown Counterpoint made use of the concourse’s

multiple levels, with one quartet on the ground floor and another on the mezzanine above. The stereo strings responded to each other’s hypnotic patterns as recordings of community voices were heard on the PA. In one moving passage, a Memphian observes, “The building has a personality,” then adds, “and layers of history,” a phrase which repeated as the strings played on, the words echoing through the very walls being remembered.

In pushing the limits of traditional instruments or resuscitating works, new music is not discarding the past, but reimagining it.

In such ways, the new music of today creates unexpected, inventive frames for our own history, just as “Spoonfuls” incorporated the voice of Charlie Patton, or Robinson’s oratorio evoked Harriet Tubman through her own words. In pushing the limits of traditional instruments or resuscitating the works of undeservedly

obscure composers of color, new music is not discarding the past, but reimagining it.

And finally, last weekend’s performance of Debussy’s La Mer by the MSO reminded audiences of the personal dimension of the past, and the fragility of the local community that makes such leaps of inspiration possible. At one point, cellist Zuill Bailey, a featured soloist, broke out of the program to acknowledge the recent deaths of two performers, the late MSO violinist Paul Turnbow, for whom a chair in the violin section had been left empty, and Jimmy Jones, the organ virtuoso and husband of MSO music director Bob Moody, who died suddenly this month at the age of 41.

“I usually can’t find the correct way to say, ‘I’m sorry’,” said Bailey. “But I certainly can find it on the cello. And I’d like to play this for Jimmy and Bob, a piece by Gluck called Dance of the Blessed Spirits.”

As the strains of a solitary cello filled the house, the silences seemed as eloquent as the notes, Bailey lingering over each pause with great care. As it ended, you could have heard a pin drop. Surveying the audience and the musicians, one could not have imagined a wider cross section of the Memphis melting pot. All of us shared the moment together, irrespective of race, class, or gender, to treasure the life’s work of two consummate music makers, and, by way of honoring them without prejudice, to simply listen with fresh ears.

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

DO GOOD. BETTER.

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steppin’ out

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Smokeshow

By Abigail Morici

It’s the Year of the Dragon as many of you may know. As our metaphysical columnist Emily Guenther wrote a few weeks ago, “The dragon represents success, intelligence, and honor in Chinese culture. The dragon is a symbol of power and wealth.” We can all embrace the creature, she says, and though the PHOTO: COURTESY OFF THE WALLS ARTS Lunar New Year fell on February 10th, Off The Walls Arts is gearing up for an Sara Fahr dances with fire. extravaganza celebrating the Year of the Dragon and the full moon.

The nonprofit gallery’s event will have an art show, live music from Marcella & Her Lovers, a tai chi fight demonstration with Milan Vigil, modern dance with Neile Martin, aerial performances with Ashley Keane, fire performances by Sara and Michael Fahr, acro with Wren and Starling, a “drag(on)” show by drag artist Blanca Flores, and a dragon procession and bonfire.

“At Off the Walls Arts, we really like to embrace different types of arts,” says co-owner Yvonne Bobo, “so we’re kind of combining sculpture, performance, music, live music, maybe some more traditional paintings, and bringing them together for the Year of the Dragon. … Dragons are powerful and fantastical creatures, right? So all the different performers and artists love the dragon, and we’re just out there to celebrate.”

For the visual art aspect of the evening, Bobo says the artists were prompted to create a piece inspired by the Year of the Dragon. The results have been varied, with artists interpreting the theme in myriad styles and mediums.

“It’s fun to do something a little outside of what you might think of,” says Bobo, who herself is sculpting a piece with Colleen Couch. “We’re doing a full moon, sort of. It’s a lighting piece in the event space, and we’re projecting a dragon in the moon.”

The event will also double as a fundraiser for Off the Walls’ latest project: Off the Rails Art Line. “We acquired a railroad property that goes by our warehouse,” says Brendan Duffy, Bobo’s husband and co-owner of Off the Walls.

“And so we’re trying to raise money to get a trail down for the future of neighborhood because we know that if we keep this trail surface down and we can build out from there, it’ll be a nice safe place for people to maybe walk from Sun Studio to Stax and then to Elmwood Cemetery, so there’s a lot of connectors on this trail that we’re trying to get put together eventually. And we want to have a sculpture walk where the artists in our space and other local artists can do some permanent and rotating installations on that so you’ll have some art on the trail.”

Admission for the night’s event will be based on donation. “We’re saying $20, but whatever people can give,” Duffy says. “We like to make it inclusive.”

EXTRAVAGANZA YEAR OF THE DRAGON CELEBRATION, OFF THE WALLS ARTS, 360 WALNUT, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 7 P.M.-MIDNIGHT.

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VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES February 22nd - 28th

TICKETS AVAILABLE ORPHEUM-MEMPHIS.COM/ONSTAGE THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

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The Memphis 13 Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Thursday, February 22, 7 p.m., free In October 1961, 13 first graders became some of the smallest pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement when they desegregated the Memphis City Schools. The documentary, The Memphis 13, is their story. A special guest panel discussion will follow the screening.

Latin beats, and Las Bompleneras showcasing traditional and original Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena music through song, percussion, and dance. And for the first time in Memphis, from Chicago, Illinois, Los Jarochicanos will perform traditional Mexican and AfroIndigenous music from Veracruz.

The suggested dress code is Latino Flair.

Afro-Latino Night Fiesta!

Memphis Music Room, 5770 Shelby Oaks Drive, Friday, February 23, 6:30 p.m., $30 Celebrate Black History Month with Cazateatro’s Afro-Latino Night Fiesta, an exciting experience to honor the valuable contribution of the Afro-Latinos in America and Latin America through music. The event features the Cazateatro crew, DJ Xander spinning the best Afro-

Women in the Arts The Dixon Gallery & Gardens, 4339 Park | Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Extd., Saturday, February 24, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., free This annual event, organized by Dixon Gallery & Gardens and Theatre Memphis, brings together a host of women of all ages for a day of performances, demonstrations, classes, and dialogues ranging from personal stories to championing

gender equality. The community celebration will also include food trucks and vendors that offer art and services.

The event takes place both at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens and Theatre Memphis. Free shuttles will be available to visit both locations.

For a full schedule of the day’s activities, visit dixon.org.

The 2024 Memphite Readings Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 927 E. McLemore, Tuesday, February 27 p.m., free Witness hoodoo theater brought to life by contemporary tribal healers of Memphis in a diverse range of artistic expressions, including music, dance, spoken word, and audience participation. This performance is designed to speculate on social, political, and cultural trends that will affect Memphis and the world in 2024.

S P O R T S B y Fr a n k M u r t a u g h

Memory Makers

PHOTO: WES HALE

2018-19: The Year of Jeremiah Before this season, no Tiger had ever scored 40 points in two different games. Jeremiah Martin did so in the same month (February). A player who averaged 2.7 points per game as a freshman under coach Josh Pastner

became the fifth to score 700 in a single season (19.7 average). The pride of Mitchell High School made a mediocre (22-14) season unforgettable.

2019-20: The Year of Our Precious Many in these parts remember this season as The Year Without Wiseman. The mighty NCAA decided Hardaway had violated rules in his recruiting of James Wiseman, leading to a suspension of the player and eventually his departure from the program. But let’s accentuate the positive. The team’s “other” five-star recruit, Precious Achiuwa, averaged 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds and became the first Tiger to earn Player of the Year honors in the American Athletic Conference. The season ended prematurely with the Covid shutdown, so we’ll never know if that team (21-10) may have rallied in the AAC tourney for a bid to the Big Dance. But again, one player made the season rather remarkable.

2020-21: A National Title (Sorta) Empty arenas and a team that couldn’t

seem to decide its star. Landers Nolley? Boogie Ellis? Lester Quinones?

A six-game winning streak late in the season wasn’t enough to get the Tigers into the NCAA tournament, so they headed to a slimmed-down NIT in north Texas. And they won the darn thing, beating Mississippi State in the final for the program’s second NIT crown. Did it fill a void? Meet Hardaway’s expectations? No and no.

Did it make for a memorable ending to a pandemic-heavy winter of Tiger basketball? Emphatically yes.

2021-22: Dancing Days Return This team beat a pair of Top-10 squads (Alabama and Houston) on its way to the program’s first NCAA tournament since 2014. Freshman Jalen Duren (12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds) played his way into the first round of the NBA draft and the Tigers gave top-ranked Gonzaga all it could handle in the second round of the NCAAs. A season that felt like Hardaway and the Tigers were on the right path.

2022-23: The Year of KD After transferring from SMU, point guard Kendric Davis led the AAC in both scoring (21.9) and assists (5.4), somehow falling short in the league’s Player of the Year voting. Better yet, Davis helped the Tigers knock off top-ranked Houston — the first such upset in program history — and win their first AAC tournament. An overlooked timeout near the end of their clash with FAU in the opening round of the NCAA tournament ended the season prematurely. Davis became the second player to put up 700 points in a season under Hardaway.

How will we remember the current season when all is said and done? As of now, it’s The Midseason Massacre, a four-game losing streak that, in rasslin’ terms, knocked a Top-10 team entirely out of the ring. David Jones leads the AAC in scoring and is the kind of player who could help Memphis make a run in the conference tournament next month. It’s a good time for Tiger fans to remember basketball memories aren’t born but made.

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

W

hen the University of Memphis hired Penny Hardaway to coach its basketball program in 2018, his task was to make Tiger hoops meaningful again, to make Tiger seasons memorable. (What stands out in your memory from the four seasons prior to Hardaway taking over? See how this works?) Hardaway’s first five seasons went well by some measures and fell short of expectations by others. But each, in its own way, was memorable. Which begs the question as March nears: How will the Tigers’ 2023-24 season stand out for local hoop historians? For context, a brief review of the Coach Penny era, seasons 1 through 5:

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

For good or ill, each Tiger season under Penny Hardaway has made its mark.

David Jones leads the AAC in scoring.

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CALENDAR of EVENTS: February 22 - 28

ART HAPPE N I NGS

Trinity Irish Dance Company will redefine Irish dance on GPAC’s stage this Saturday.

Gallery Activation at Coe Lapossy’s “School of Ooze”

An afternoon of refreshments and activations sited within Coe Lapossy’s exhibition with performances by Tamar Love and Taj Chandler.

Saturday, Feb. 24, noon-2 p.m.

F I LM

CLOUGH-HANSON GALLERY

Dinner & A Movie: The Boy and the Heron

B O O K E V E N TS

Send the date, time, place, cost, info, phone number, a brief description, and photos — two weeks in advance — to calendar@memphisflyer.com.

Mark Greaney: The Chaos Agent

Lunar New Year 2024

Novel welcomes Mark Greaney in conversation with editor Tom Colgan to celebrate the launch of his new Gray Man novel, The Chaos Agent.

Saturday, Feb. 24, 2 p.m.

DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, ONGOING WEEKLY EVENTS WILL APPEAR IN THE FLYER’S ONLINE CALENDAR ONLY. FOR COMPREHENSIVE EVENT LISTINGS, SCAN OUR QR CODE BELOW OR VISIT EVENTS.MEMPHISFLYER.COM/CAL.

Greet the Year of the Dragon at a banquet, featuring a nine-course dinner and live entertainment. Sunday, Feb. 25, 5-9 p.m.

DIM SUM KING

NOVEL

St. Jude Barrel Jam

An event benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Friday, Feb. 23-Feb. 25

C O M E DY

High Water Presents

AGRICENTER INTERNATIONAL

Richard Douglas Jones, Dannielle Wornall, Topher Shaw, Zach Williams, and KP Trymore. $23.18, $28.52. Sunday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m.

COM M U N ITY

Your Memphis Ghostbusters will be viewing Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Friday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

CLUES

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1 It emerges at

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dawn 2 Sch. with a campus in Providence 3 Dainty eaters 4 Prometheus’ gift 5 N.Y.C. subway letters 6 Rapping sound 7 Runs off to a justice of the peace 8 May honoree 9 “Awake and Sing!” playwright Clifford 10 Bygone Pan Am rival 11 Call to the hounds

12 Port up the

lake from Cleveland, O. 13 Clarify, as butter 14 “Either you do it ___ will” 15 Russia’s ___ Mountains 16 Source of some pop-ups 17 Contribution of Gilbert, but not Sullivan 18 Seminary subj.

19 Give a hand to 20 Implore 21 “___ from that …”

22 Old person, in Oldenburg 23 Presided over 24 Word of greeting 25 Notable stretches

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE H A M M Y S P F L U B E A P B I O C H E R A P O P R E A D Y W H E N Y O U A R E J O N I B U N G E E L I U B L U R I C A D A N N Y A I N G E H I S S A T S E A S E A M N I T M I T P R E C E D E S M U U N I S O A R S I T O N P A N S B R E A T H M I N T C H A I W W I A T E O B T A I N A L E C S O U N D S L I K E A P L A N L O A D O G R E C R E M E O N L Y N A E H O I S T

26 Help for a star

witness?

P E R FO R M I N G ARTS

The Breakup Shakeup

An immersive Valentine’s Day concert experience. $20. Friday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY

The Orchestra Unplugged: The Crazy Journey of Mozart’s Magic Flute

Edited by Will Shortz

No. 0206

The MSO teams up with Opera Memphis for this special Orchestra Unplugged experience of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. $39.50. Thursday, Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m.

THE HALLORAN CENTRE

Trinity Irish Dance Company 1

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Considered an American treasure by critics and enthusiasts worldwide. $25. Saturday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m.

GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

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rock

Movies at the Mansion: Ghostbusters: Afterlife WOODRUFF-FONTAINE HOUSE MUSEUM

620 PRESBYTERIAN Eighth Avenue, PLACE New York, N.Y. 10018 COSSITT LIBRARY For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Note: The clues in this “uniclue” crossword appear in a single list, combining Across and Down. When two answers share a number, they also share a clue.

The film follows the challenges faced by the medical teams, many of whom are descendants of Holocaust survivors, as they treat Ukrainian patients who have lost everything. $7. Sunday, Feb. 25, 4 p.m.

HALLORAN CENTRE

Sankofa African Diaspora Festival Guns to Gardens is an anonymous one-day Celebrate the rich culture, lived experiences, and safe surrender event where unwanted guns creative expression of African descended comare dismantled to be transformed into garden munities. Saturday, Feb. 24, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

The Newtools.

YorkSaturday, TimesFeb. Syndication Sales Corporation 24, noon-4 p.m.

Crossword

Hope Without Boundaries

MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

F E ST IVA L

Guns to Gardens

BLACK LODGE

Storyfest 2024

Showcasing the voices of young people from across the city. Wednesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Experience this epic fantasy adventure, as you enjoy a special five-course meal specifically designed for the event. $40. Wednesday, Feb. 28, 5:30 p.m.; Wednesday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m.

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23 27 30

direction 31 32 33 34 35 36 30 Sound from a rowdy crowd 37 38 39 40 41 31 Like Ganymede among Jupiter’s 42 43 44 moons 32 “Somebody 45 46 47 48 49 50 That I Used to Know” singer, 51 52 53 54 55 2011 33 Byron’s “before” 56 57 58 34 Light beige 59 60 61 62 63 64 35 Alternative to a cup 65 66 67 36 Dungeons & Dragons, for 68 69 70 one, in brief 37 Classify by type PUZZLE BY QUEENA MEWERS AND ALEX EATON-SALNERS 38 “Otello” and “Pagliacci” 65 Any of the Magi 48 British bottom 57 One of Donald 39 Carnival game Trump Jr.’s with bottles 49 Annoy parents 66 Nessie’s home 40 Author Sholem 50 Cpl. or sgt.

58 World Smile 41 Drinking Day mo.

51 Comment made game penalty, while yawning 67 Where you 59 Hair-coloring perhaps might get into technique 52 One practicing hot water 42 Many a self-help, 60 Dr. of rap character in informally Ann M. Martin’s 61 Fight finisher 68 Dissuades 53 Declares with “The Baby62 Facility at confidence Sitters Club” Quantico, Va.: 43 “Peter Pan” dog 54 Prime-time time Abbr.

69 “When all ___ fails …”

44 Language of 55 ___ factor 63 News inits. the answers since 1958 to this puzzle’s 56 Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the 64 Line on a 70 How many feet uniclues ___” receipt are in a fathom 45 Urban area 46 Good place Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past to be during a puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). blizzard Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

47 It might be left holding the bag

Winter Mix

A broad scope of ballet, featuring two new commissions and the reprise of an audience favorite. Friday, Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

S P EC IA L EVE NTS

Mediumship Spirit Gallery with Sid & Trenny

Psychics and mediums Sid Patrick and Trenny Simmons will host a spirit gallery, a public event where a psychic medium attempts to demonstrate the existence of an afterlife. $45.

Friday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

THE BROOM CLOSET

Zombie Slayer Carnivale

Memphis Zombies and Black Lodge invite you to throw on your best zombie or hunter wear for an evening a drinks, DJs, zombie hunting games, and a full-blown zombie rave. $15. Friday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

T H EAT E R

Harriet Tubman: One Woman’s Journey

Jackie Murray portrays American hero, Harriet Tubman, in this acclaimed play about her life. $20-$25. Friday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m.

WITHERS COLLECTION

Succession

Succession explores the world of Black theatre through the actions of Steve Harrison. Friday, Feb. 23-March 24.

HATTILOO THEATRE

The Glass Menagerie

A Southern classic favorite, the protagonist and narrator, Tom, recalls the family dynamic of a histrionic mother and a disturbingly shy sister who only wishes for a “gentleman caller.” Through Feb. 25.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “When a mountain doesn’t listen, say a prayer to the sea,” said Taurus painter Cy Twombly.

“If God doesn’t respond, direct your entreaties to Goddess,” I tell my Taurus friend Audrey. “If your mind doesn’t provide you with useful solutions, make an appeal to your heart instead,” my Taurus mentor advises me. This counsel should be useful for you in the coming weeks, Taurus. It’s time to be diligent, relentless, ingenious, and indefatigable in going after what you want. Keep asking until you find a source that will provide it.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson offered advice that’s perfect for you right now. He said, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” Here’s what I will add. First, you very much need to commune with extra doses of beauty in the coming weeks. Doing so will expedite your healing and further your education — two activities that are especially important. Second, one way to accomplish your assignment is to put yourself in the presence of all the beautiful people, places, and things you can find. Third, be imaginative as you cultivate beauty within yourself. How? That’s your homework.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I bet that sometime soon, you will dream of flying through the sky on a magic carpet. In fact, this may be a recurring dream for you in the coming months. By June, you may have soared along on a floating rug over 10 times. Why? What’s this all about?

I suspect it’s one aspect of a project that life is encouraging you to undertake. It’s an invitation to indulge in more flights of the imagination, to open your soul to mysterious potencies, to give your fantasy life permission to be wilder and freer. You know that old platitude “shit happens”?

You’re ready to experiment with a variation on that: “Magic happens.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): On February 22nd, ancient Romans celebrated the

holiday of Caristia. It was a time for reconciliation. People strove to heal estrangements and settle long-standing disagreements. Apologies were offered, and truces were negotiated. In alignment with current astrological omens, Leo, I recommend you revive this tradition.

Now is an excellent time to embark on a crusade to unify, harmonize, restore, mend, and assuage. I dare you to put a higher priority on love than on ego!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): My poet friend Jafna likes to say that only two types of love are available to us: too little and too much. We are either deprived of the precise amount and quality of the love we want, or else we have to deal with an excess of love that doesn’t match the kind we want. But I predict that this will at most be a mild problem for you in the coming weeks — and perhaps not a problem at all. You will have a knack for giving and receiving just the right amount of love, neither too little nor too much. And the love flowing toward you and from you will be gracefully appropriate.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If the devil card comes up for me in a divinatory Tarot reading, I don’t get worried or scared that something bad might happen. On the contrary, I interpret it favorably. It means that an interesting problem or riddle has arrived or will soon arrive in my life — and that this twist can potentially make me wiser, kinder, and wilder. The appearance of the devil card suggests that I need to be challenged so as to grow a new capacity or understanding. It’s a good omen, telling me that life is conspiring to give me what I need to outgrow my limitations and ignorance. Now apply these principles, Libra, as you respond to the devil card I just drew for you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A taproot is a thick, central, and primary root from which a plant’s many roots branch out laterally. Typically, a taproot grows downward and is pretty straight. It may extend to a depth greater than the height of the plant sprouting above ground.

Now let’s imagine that we humans have metaphorical taproots. They connect us with our sources of inner nourishment.

They are lifelines to secret or hidden treasures we may be only partly conscious of. Let’s further imagine that in the coming months, Scorpio, your taproot will flourish, burgeon, and spread deeper to draw in new nutrients. Got all that? Now I invite you to infuse this beautiful vision with an outpouring of love for yourself and for the wondrous vitality you will be absorbing.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Behavioral ecologist Professor Dan Charbonneau has observed the habits of ants, bees, and other social insects. He

says that a lot of the time, many of them just lounge around doing nothing. In fact, most animals do the same. The creatures of the natural world are just not very busy.

Psychologist Dr. Sandi Mann urges us to learn from their lassitude. “We’ve created a society where we fear boredom, and we’re afraid of doing nothing,” she says.

But that addiction to frenzy may limit our inclination to daydream, which in turn inhibits our creativity. I bring these facts to your attention, Sagittarius, because I suspect you’re in a phase when lolling around doing nothing much will be extra healthy for you. Liberate and nurture your daydreams, please!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Education is an admirable thing,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “but it is well to remember that nothing worth knowing can be taught.” As I ponder your future in the coming weeks, I vociferously disagree with him. I am sure you can learn many things worth knowing from teachers of all kinds. It’s true that some of the lessons may be accidental or unofficial — and not delivered by traditional teachers. But that won’t diminish their value. I invite you to act as if you will in effect be enrolled in school 24/7 until the equinox.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The planets Mars and Venus are both cruising through Aquarius. Do they signify that synchronicities will weave magic into your destiny? Yes! Here are a few possibilities I foresee: 1. smoldering flirtations that finally ignite; 2. arguments assuaged by love-making; 3. mix-ups about the interplay between love and lust or else wonderful synergies between love and lust; 4. lots of labyrinthine love talk, romantic sparring, and intricate exchange about the nature of desire; 5. adventures in the sexual frontiers; 6. opportunities to cultivate interesting new varieties of intimacy.

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

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was one of the greats. In his 30 films, he crafted a reputation as a masterful storyteller. A key moment in his development as an emotionally intelligent artist came when he was 13 years old. His older brother Heigo took him to view the aftermath of the Great Kantō earthquake. Akira wanted to avert his gaze from the devastation, but Heigo compelled him to look. Why? He wished for Akira to learn to deal with fear by facing it directly. I think you Aries people are more skilled at this challenging exercise than all the other signs. I hope you will call on it with aplomb in the coming weeks. You may be amazed at the courage it arouses in you.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Unlike the pope’s decrees, my proclamations are not infallible. As opposed to Nostradamus and many modern soothsayers, I never imagine I have the power to definitely decipher what’s ahead. One of my main mottoes is: “The future is undecided. Our destinies are always mutable.” Please keep these caveats in mind whenever you commune with my horoscopes.

Furthermore, consider adopting my approach as you navigate through the world — especially in the coming weeks, when your course will be extra responsive to your creative acts of willpower. Decide right now what you want the next chapter of your life story to be about. You can make it what you want.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY By Rob Brezsny

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SUE: The T. rex Experience was organized by the Field Museum and is part of the Griffin Dinosaur Experience, made possible by generous support from Kenneth C. Griffin.

C R O S S T O W N A R T S .ORG

Courtney Jones and Amy Bingham’s Oh Grate! Tropical Dressing taps into nostalgia.

O

h Grate! Tropical Dressing was a hit at the recent Super Bowl gathering at the home of Amy Bingham, who, along with Courtney Jones, owns Oh Grate!, a food business in Collierville.

That night they used about eight ounces of Tropical Dressing — aka “green sauce” — that comes in a 16-ounce jar, says Jones, who created the dressing. They used it with barbecue nachos, but, she says, “the fellas” were “continually dipping their chips straight in the container, breaking all of Amy’s rules.”

Jones began making her Tropical Dressing after she got tired of the grocery store continuously running out of Pancho’s green sauce. “I started making it years ago at home off the copycat recipe everybody has been sharing online,” she says. But she changed the recipe after she and Bingham moved into their first commercial kitchen. “That’s where I learned it could certainly be improved upon with better techniques and ingredients.”

About five years ago, Jones and Bingham opened Oh Grate! as a “frozen meal business to help busy families get dinner on the table.”

PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE

Courtney Jones and Amy Bingham For about three and a half years, they worked out of the kitchen at Crossings Church in Bartlett. Then, about a year and a half ago, they opened their Oh Grate! storefront at 2028 West Poplar Avenue Suite 104 in Collierville.

They began selling their Tropical Dressing last October. “But it didn’t take off until January,” Bingham says. “I think it was clouded by our holiday food.”

But about four or five weeks ago, their green sauce sales exploded. “The Tropical Dressing just went viral,” Bingham says, adding, “Someone posted it on Facebook and it kept getting shares.”

She believes the snow in late January had something to do with it. People were stocking up because they knew they were going to be snowed in.

“A lot of the secret lies in the process, meaning the equipment we use,” Jones

says. Theirs has “slightly different ingredients. I don’t know how Pancho’s made it, but the quality of our product, I personally feel, is better.”

The Tropical Dressing also has a nostalgic factor, Bingham says. “More the nostalgia of, ‘Hey, I used to eat this at Pancho’s. And you people have made this exactly like theirs or better.’ It’s bringing back memories even for me. My mom always had green sauce in the fridge and we had that on taco night.

“It’s a Memphis memory. And bringing people back to that. If you’re from Memphis, you know it.”

Their Tropical Dressing, as well as their sausage and chicken biscuits, chicken spaghetti, vegetable soup, and other frozen food products, also are available at various locations, including select Superlo Foods locations, Cordelia’s Market, and High Point Grocery in Memphis; Commerce Street Market in Hernando, Mississippi; and Naifeh’s Cash Saver in Covington, Tennessee.

Jones, who does the cooking, used to have “a little hole-in-the-wall barbecue business” called Plumpy’s BBQ in Arlington. She made meals for her family and froze them because she was working at the restaurant. Then her husband said, “Why don’t you sell these meals to more people?”

“I thought about it and thought about it and it made sense,” Jones says. She asked Bingham to help her. “I needed someone to handle the paperwork side.”

Bingham liked the idea: “The concept of the business model, to me, was brilliant.

We really started this to help families, like mine, who are just running from place to place and still like to have a good homemade meal at home.”

They also wanted the dinners not to be costly. “This shouldn’t have to be a luxury item. This is something we want people to be able to afford. And make it okay for them to not have to whip up a homecooked meal and do dishes every night.”

Jones came up with the name. Or, rather, her son Axel did. A picky eater, Axel used to say “great” when he found out what they were having for dinner.

Meaning, “Great. I’m not happy about that.” Or “Great. This is awesome. I can’t wait to eat this tonight.”

Axel, who is now 14, is “a little more polite” about what he says when it comes to what they’re having for dinner, Jones says.

They spelled “great” the way the “grater” utensil used for grating cheese and vegetables is spelled. To put a kitchen spin on their brand name, Jones says.

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APRIL 26st, 2024 THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS UC BALLROOM

Alcohol kills on average 95,000 Americans every year. Tobacco related deaths average 480,000 per year.

Once again, meth is back on the scene in full force and taking over US cities. Even recreational drug use is more dangerous than ever. Hear from local experts about current data and find out what we can do to help prevent unnecessary ATOD related deaths.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Students, Teachers, Therapists, School Counselors, Social Workers, Psychologists, Peer Specialists, Addiction & Mental Health Professionals, Treatment Centers, Churches, Outreach Ministries, Physicians, Nurses, Pharmacists, Law Enforcement, Judges, Media Representatives, Individuals In Recovery & Families

This project is funded under a Grant Contract with the State of Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

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FOOD By Michael Donahue

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FILM By Chris McCoy

Bob Marley: One Love Kingsley Ben-Adir shines as the misunderstood reggae legend.

Fe b r u a r y 2 2 - 2 8 , 2 0 2 4

B

efore embarking on a musical biopic, all filmmakers should be required to watch two films: Walk the Line, the made-in-Memphis story of Johnny Cash’s romance with June Carter, which is probably the best musical biopic ever made; then Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, which skewers musical biopics so expertly it almost killed the entire genre.

Director Reinaldo Marcus Green takes Walk the Line’s approach in Bob Marley: One Love, isolating one revealing incident out of an artist’s rich and complex life story to illuminate the character behind the music. In this case, it’s the story of the recording of Exodus, Marley’s 1977 album which Time magazine called the greatest musical achievement of the 20th century. After a brief opening sequence where young Robert Nesta Marley (Nolan Collignon) and his mother Cedella (Nadine Marshall) move from the plantation to Kingston, we meet adult Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir) as the already rich and famous king of reggae. Jamaica in the mid-’70s was riven by what amounted to a lowintensity civil war between supporters of democratic socialist Prime Minister Michael Manley and his reactionary rival Edward Seaga. As the violence intensified, Marley was asked to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, which was intended to, if not unify the country, at least convince people to stop killing one another by bringing them together in a shared love of reggae. During the promotional press conference, Marley refused to take sides, declaring that true peace could only be achieved through Rastafarianism, the cannabisinfused Pan-Africanist cult descended from Judaism which reveres Ethiopian

ruler Haile Selassie as a liberationist messiah.

His message does not go over well with the Powers That Be, and someone (probably Seaga, but maybe the CIA) ordered a hit on Marley. Two days before Smile Jamaica, as the band was rehearsing, gunmen infiltrated Marley’s family compound and shot Marley, his manager Don Taylor (Anthony Welsh), and wife Rita (Lashana Lynch). The wounded Marley promised to keep his commitment to his people and perform one song.

When Marley took the stage in front of 80,000 people at Smile Jamaica, he showed the crowd his still-bloody gunshot wounds and launched into “War,” whose lyrics Marley adapted from Haile Selassie’s 1963 speech to the United Nations. “Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; that until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation; that until the color of a man’s skin is of no more importance than the color of his eyes, and until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; that until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained.”

As you can see, Green and his three screenwriters have a much more complex job than, say, the makers of Bohemian Rhapsody. Green’s Smile Jamaica sequence is more compelling

than Queen at Live Aid, but you can be forgiven if you come out of One Love not knowing who was fighting whom, or why they wanted to kill a popular musician. The film’s fundamental flaw is that Bob Marley doesn’t deserve the Walk the Line treatment — he deserves Malcolm X, a sweeping historical biography which connects all the dots.

The filmmakers sense this and try to cover some ground with flashbacks.

Unfortunately, these flashbacks often come in exactly the way Walk Hard parodies, with the artist remembering his trauma before he walks onstage.

But my job is not to review the film that “should be,” but rather the one that exists. Yes, Bob Marley: One Love is a stodgy, conventional biopic, but at least it’s well-done. Ben-Adir, one of the most talented actors of his generation, struggles mightily to rise above mere mimicry of Marley’s distinctive patois and reveal the legend’s inner life. When Ben-Adir and Lynch are together as Bob and Rita, the film crackles with

Kingsley Ben-Adir stars as Bob Marley, with Lashana Lynch as his wife Rita. life — only to lose the momentum with meandering scenes in London recording studios and swanky Paris parties. Green and Ben-Adir take pains to emphasize their hero’s spirituality. One scene of a smoky Rastafarian ceremony makes clear that reggae is, like American soul, thinly secularized religious music. One Love sees Marley as a Rasta Apostle Paul, an evangelist who refined the message of a revolutionary cult into a universalist religion.

For a glimpse into the fuller story, I recommend the 2012 documentary Marley. While Bob Marley: One Love is far from perfect, at least its heart is in the right place.

Bob Marley: One Love Now playing Multiple locations

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Drive-Away Dolls Ethan Coen’s first solo directorial work is a collaboration with longtime Coen Bros. editor Tricia Cooke (who also happens to be his wife.) Jamie (Margaret Qualley) is having a bad breakup, so she decides to take her stick-in-the-mud friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) on a lesbian

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Demon Slayer: To The Hashira Training The anime series Demon Slayer birthed Japan’s biggest box office hit ever with Mugen Train. The third cinematic outing bridges seasons 3 and 4, as Tanjiro and Nezuko’s battle to take down Hantengu, the Upper Rank Demon, reaches its sakuga climax.

spring break road trip to Florida. Little do they know they’re about to cross paths with a gang of inept criminals.

ET

Our critic picks the best films in theaters.

K TIC

N O W P L AY I N G B y C h r i s M c C o y

Oscar Nominated Short Films Malco Ridgeway plays host to the full program of documentary and narrative short films up for gold at this year’s Academy Awards. Gain an important edge on your Oscar pool competition by having an informed opinion instead of just guessing based on title.

The Zone of Interest Jonathan Glazer’s searing portrait of the banality of evil is a serious contender for this year’s Best Picture Academy Award. Based on Martin Amis’ novel, it follows the cozy home life of the commandant of a Nazi death camp.

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MID-SOUTH HEART BALL CELEBRATING THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION’S CENTENNIAL

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Submit: Jan. 1-Mar. 15 Voting: Mar. 16-31 Winner photos will be in the May issue of Memphis Magazine. For more details, visit: memphismagazine.com/MemphisSceneWinter24

THE LAST WORD By Rob Okun

Will Men Organize to End Gun Violence?

Speaking out could be a first critical move toward change.

THE LAST WORD

It’s been six years since the Valentine’s Day massacre of 14 students and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and gun violence remains as virulent a disease as ever, with regular new outbreaks in states across the country.

In 2023, there were twice as many mass shootings as there were days in the year.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, in just the first six weeks of 2024 there were 42 mass shootings in which 74 people were murdered, and another 126 were injured. Those statistics, as of February 11th, almost certainly will have gone up by the time you read this. (The archive defines a mass shooting as when four or more people are shot.)

PHOTO: JOE SOHM | DREAMSTIME.COM In September, President Biden established the White House Office of Gun Violence Mass shootings have killed 3,000 people since 2006.

Prevention to help reduce the nation’s epidemic of gun violence. Nevertheless, the killings continue. “After every mass shooting, we hear a simple message,” the president said.

‘Do something! Do something!’’’

Don’t count on Congress to do anything anytime soon.

Despite the National Rifle Association’s fall from grace — and its former long-serving CEO, Wayne LaPierre, on trial on for corruption charges — support for gun ownership remains strong. Indicted former President Donald Trump said this month that if elected, he would undo every executive action President Biden enacted.

Describing himself as “the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House,” Trump promised that citizens’ “Second Amendment [rights] will always be safe with me as your president.”

Mass shootings have killed 3,000 people since 2006, according to an ongoing survey conducted by USA Today and the Associated Press, in collaboration with Northeastern University. Still, the debate about the ongoing gun violence emergency waxes and wanes, flaring after the latest shooting, “dying” down as the last candle at memorials to the murdered flickers and goes dark.

Also obscured in this urgent national conversation is an aspect that should be in the spotlight: the gender of the shooter. When will both the media and political leaders start making that undeniable fact central to the debate? The shooters are nearly always men and are usually white.

While the mental health of the shooters sometimes does play a role in their murderous acts, it’s a cop-out to claim that’s the primary trigger for their aberrant behavior. Better to look at how boys and young men are socialized, too many of whom are taught to believe that admitting feeling vulnerable, lonely, scared, and sad makes them less of a man. Think back to middle school and high school and you’ll undoubtedly be able to recall at least one alienated loner, often bullied, with few resources to assist him.

For years, I have been calling for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to be authorized by Congress to conduct a study of how we raise boys, beginning in preschool. Hopefully in 2025 there will be a Congress willing to consider the proposal.

Like many debates about social conditions in the U.S., too many men remain silent, rarely weighing in, whether the issue is mass shootings, women’s reproductive rights, or the climate emergency. What if, in this critically important election year, men organized themselves as men to speak out?

The 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School mass shooting is on April 20th. Imagine what it would mean if men organized a Million Men’s March Against Gun Violence! That could be just the beginning.

Just as Taylor Swift is influencing young women with support for progressive causes, imagine if her partner, Super Bowl-winning tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, begins speaking out about gun violence, reproductive rights, the climate crisis, and the presidential election. The potential impact he could have on men cannot be overstated.

The MAGA movement has not shied away from expressing its fear of Swift’s cultural power in this volatile political moment. If Kelce joins her, more men may begin to move from the cultural sidelines into the political endzone.

Rob Okun (rob@voicemalemagazine.org) syndicated by PeaceVoice, is editor emeritus of Voice Male magazine, chronicling the antisexist men’s movement for more than 30 years.

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

How many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, and how many deaths will it take ’til he knows That too many people have died?

— Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind”

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Memphis’ Top Lingerie Shop 710 S. Cox | Mon-Sat 11:30-7:00

21,000 sq ft. 100 + booths • 5855 Summer Ave. (corner of Summer and Sycamore View ) exit 12 off I-40 | 901.213.9343 Mon-Sat 10a-6p | Sun 1p-6p

MEET

TOBY! BARBARIAN SPORTS PICKS

Free Sports Picks EVERYDAY from 9:00AM to NOON 901•318•4143 SEND YOUR BUSINESS SKY HIGH WITH

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Missouri Military Academy Arrow Creative Parkwood Compass Intervention School of Rock Evangelical Christian School

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Toby is a handsome 1-year-old who is energetic and would do well in an active home. He’s good with other dogs, is house-trained, heartworm-negative, neutered, microchipped, and current on shots and preventatives. He will make a wonderful family pet.

If you are interested in giving Toby a home, please send us an email, and we will send you an application to fill out. saveonepet@gmail.com