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SHARA CLARK Editor SAMUEL X. CICCI 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 ABIGAIL MORICI Arts and Culture Editor GENE GARD, EMILY GUENTHER, COCO JUNE, FRANK MURTAUGH Contributing Columnists SHARON BROWN, AIMEE STIEGEMEYER Grizzlies Reporters ANDREA FENISE Fashion Editor KENNETH NEILL Founding Publisher
OUR 1808TH ISSUE 10.19.23 An X post last month from Janel Comeau (@VeryBadLlama) made the viral rounds, eventually finding its way to my Facebook feed: “hey sorry I missed your text, I am processing a non-stop 24/7 onslaught of information with a brain designed to eat berries in a cave.” Relatable, Llama. I’ll admit (as I have before) there are weeks when there’s so much floating around in my head — and in my email inbox, and in my news feeds, and in the world — I don’t always know where to land on words for this space. It’s not that I don’t have thoughts on wars or crime or politics or the hottest topic of the past week here in Memphis — “Beale Street Music Festival! Tom Lee Park! WE’RE MAD! RAH RAH!” It’s just that sometimes, my berry-eating cave-brain takes over, and it’s either too much to rein in or too little to devote deep reflection to. Of course, the human brain has evolved (most of them, anyway, heh), but I’m not sure our evolution is yet in line with the 24/7 onslaught. Aside from keeping up with news cycles, television shows, notifications, deadlines, or social media feeds, take my Flyer email as an example. Dozens of important messages come through daily, but there are at least 10 times as many that take up unnecessary space: “Memphis ranks #1 city with the nosiest neighbors”; “Over a third of Americans report candy-related accidents to their teeth”; “Jumpiest Horror Movies Of The Last Five Years.” The trivial mail continues (and often gets a sweeping “select” and “delete”). Anyhow, did you all have a chance to see last weekend’s solar eclipse? While we weren’t in the path of totality, signs of the event could be caught via crescentshaped shadows cast on sidewalks through leaves. Or in lens flares from cameras pointed toward the sky. I didn’t acquire any eclipse glasses, knowing the western part of the U.S. was where the real action would happen, but I’m happy to have paused to catch a glimpse — not staring at the sun, but through my phone’s viewfinder. In today’s hurried culture, we don’t PHOTO: SHARA CLARK often stop to think about our place A solar eclipse during a weekend of errands in the vastness of the universe, or the life- and light-giving gift of that ball of fire in the sky, or the wonder of the moon’s glow as everything rotates endlessly in space. It’s nice to have those awe-inspiring glimmers that remind us we’re not just here to process a constant onslaught of information. Speaking of the universe, an article by Adam Frank published in The Atlantic this summer has sat with me (with due credit to the headline that initially drew me in): “Scientists Found Ripples in Space and Time. And You Have to Buy Groceries.” Well, damn. According to that recent discovery, “The whole universe is humming. Actually, the whole universe is Mongolian throat singing. Every star, every planet, every continent, every building, every person is vibrating along to the slow cosmic beat,” Frank wrote. Reverberations of galactic collisions from perhaps as far back as the birth of the universe itself are woven into the fabric of our existence. “The gravitational-wave background is huge news for the cosmos, yes, but it’s also huge news for you,” he continued. “The nature of reality has not changed — you will not suddenly be able to detect vibrations in your morning coffee that you couldn’t see before. And yet, moments like these can and should change how each of us sees our world. All of a sudden, we know that we are humming in tune with the entire universe, that each of us conNEWS & OPINION tains the signature of everything that THE FLY-BY - 4 has ever been. It’s all within us, around POLITICS - 7 AT LARGE - 8 us, pushing us to and fro as we hurtle FINANCE - 9 through the cosmos.” COVER STORY Knowing this, with an evolved cave“REDEFINING PRESTIGE AT brain that deep within yearns to eat INDIE MEMPHIS 2023” berries in the forest rather than stand in BY CHRIS MCCOY - 10 line for overpriced groceries, forgive me WE RECOMMEND - 14 MUSIC - 15 if I sometimes have trouble drumming CALENDAR - 16 up commentary on the current state of NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 16 things. The universe hums across eterASTROLOGY - 17 nity. A gentle breeze blows against my FOOD - 19 face. The mortgage is due. And there’s a FILM - 20 sink full of dirty dishes. CLASSIFIEDS - 22 Shara Clark LAST WORD - 23 shara@memphisflyer.com
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THE
fly-by
MEMernet Memphis on the internet. FEST-TROVERSY “With a heavy heart, we share the news of the Beale Street Music Festival’s hiatus in 2024,” Memphis POSTED TO FACEBOOK in May BY MEMPHIS IN MAY INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL International Festival (MIM) said in a Facebook post last Thursday. MIM attributed the move to “soaring expenses and a decline in attendance” and laid much of the blame on the redesign of Tom Lee Park by the Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP). The news baffled many. Cancel it altogether? Not just move it?
October 19-25, 2023
POSTED TO INSTAGRAM BY MEMPHO MUSIC FESTIVAL
Clarity came last Friday when MRPP and Forward Momentum, the organizers of the Mempho Music Festival, announced a new, three-day music festival to be held in the park next year. Press releases about the move went to reporters’ inboxes, but those involved kept the news quiet on their socials.
POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY TIFFANY HARMON
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The news warmed up the MEMernet, however. Opinions and speculation flew and some dank memes (like the one above) were born.
{
Questions, Answers + Attitude Edited by Toby Sells
ENVIRONMENT B y To b y S e l l s
Fighting the Power Tennessee Valley Authority plan put on blast by environmental groups. Environmental groups immediately blasted plans by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build new electric power generators that run on fossil fuels, saying the move will bring higher electric bills and more pollution. The federal agency unveiled plans last week to build six new aeroderivative combustion turbine (CT) units at the Allen Combustion Turbine (ACT) site. That site sits close to the now-closed Allen Fossil Plant, which used PHOTO: DEEBROWNING | DREAMSTIME.COM coal to make electricity. The Tennessee Valley Authority’s plan for new turbines has environmental groups The ACT site should not worried about negative impacts on the climate and more. be confused with the new-ish Allen Combined Cycle Plant, which uses natural gas to make power and is Construction would take about a year, TVA said. If the main source of the city’s electricity. approved, it would begin sometime in 2025 or 2026. The Allen Combustion Turbine facility houses 20 turbine Environmental groups quickly criticized the move. As it units that use a mix of diesel and natural gas to produce would use fossil fuels, they called it “dirty gas” and said the energy. These smaller turbines run “rarely,” according to a plan was “the federal utility’s latest move in its multi-billionTVA spokesperson, and “are designed to only be used when dollar gas spending spree, which is the largest fossil fuel peak demand requires.” buildout in the country.” Further, the new turbines “will lead However, 16 of those units failed to start during to higher monthly power bills, reduce grid reliability, and December’s Winter Storm Elliott. This cut TVA’s overall worsen the impacts of the climate crisis.” power generation here by 240 megawatts. Those 16 units “Enough is enough,” KeShaun Pearson, president ceased operations completely and now only two units at the of Memphis Community Against Pollution, said in a facility are operable, providing a total of 120 megawatts of statement. “Memphis families shouldn’t be forced to foot the power at the site. bill for TVA’s fossil fuel spending spree.” Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) senior attorney Amanda Garcia said TVA “is once again plowing ahead with plans to build expensive, unreliable, and TVA said last Wednesday it hopes to build six of them outdated fossil fuel infrastructure.” to generate a total of 200 megawatts. This will “help meet “Families across the Tennessee Valley already felt the the growing system demand,” the utility said. It will also impacts of the federal utility’s obsession with fossil fuels help “facilitate the integration of renewable generation onto when TVA’s coal and gas plants failed during last year’s the TVA bulk transmission system.” This means the new winter storm, causing rolling blackouts throughout the turbines would offer backup power to stabilize the TVA region,” Garcia said in a statement. “Instead of putting grid, should renewable sources of energy fail or simply not all its eggs in the fossil fuel basket, TVA should invest in produce enough power. more diverse sources of energy — including renewables “For instance, cloud patterns that temporarily block the and energy efficiency — which can lower power bills while sun and reduce solar generation require other generating creating a more reliable grid.” units to respond to continue to reliably supply power to The public will have 30 days to weigh in on TVA’s new customers,” reads the TVA document. “Aeroderivative CTs plan, after it is published Thursday. The agency will also are inherently well-suited to provide flexibility, enabling the host an in-person, public open-house meeting. Go to remainder of the system to better integrate renewables.” tinyurl.com/2b7w66pj for more information on that meeting.
“Enough is enough.”
Innocence Work {
CITY REPORTER By Kailynn Johnson
Tennessee Innocence Project opens new office in Memphis.
Van Dyke. The Flyer spoke with Van Dyke about the need for an office in Memphis, high caseloads, and more. — Kailynn Johnson
PHOTO: TENNESSEE INNOCENCE PROJECT
The Tennessee Innocence Project What are some of the things that contribute to the high volume of cases from Memphis? You have more criminal courts doing business in Memphis because there’s more cases here. When there’s greater volume, we’re going to just at a baseline see a greater number of applications. We talk a lot about how wrongful convictions are often the result of a perfect storm of factors. Maybe there was an ineffective defense attorney. Maybe the judge didn’t gatekeep. Maybe the prosecutor didn’t turn over evidence, or the police didn’t turn over evidence. … All these factors that go into why a wrongful conviction happens, and a lot of them really do boil down to resources.
How do you all prioritize what cases you work on since you all have a large number of cases here? We obviously try to look at every application in the light most favorable to the applicant, in great detail. We want to make sure that if people are writing [to] us, that we are really giving it a good look. Sometimes that means we may have to put people on a wait list. When we’re looking at cases, we’re just trying to [spot issues]. What’s going on in this case? We’re really looking at those red flags of wrongful convictions, and seeing if they exist for us. If a case has some scientific testing or evidence that we can evaluate, that’s probably going to rise to the top. This interview was condensed for space and clarity.
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Memphis Flyer: What were some of the reasons behind the decision to open an office in Memphis? Van Dyke: When the legal clinic was at UT, there was no other organization doing innocence work in Tennessee. Tennessee was one of the last states without a full-time innocence organization. When the clinic was open in Knoxville, they did not handle Memphis cases. So when we opened up our first office in 2019, which is in Nashville, that was just good, common sense. We need to be centrally located in the state, that’s where I personally lived at the time — how do we build out from here? We accept our cases through an application process. Of all of those applications, we get more applications from Memphis than any other jurisdiction.
NEWS & OPINION
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he Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP) opened its Memphis office in September, marking the group’s second office location and in a key area in the state for the number of cases. Jessica Van Dyke, executive director and lead counsel for TIP, said the group investigates and litigates cases across the state to help free innocent Tennesseans from the sentences they are serving. “Usually those sentences are behind bars, but it can also be someone who is serving a sentence on parole or other collateral consequences of being convicted, like being on the sex offender registry,” said Van Dyke. The nonprofit organization had operated the Innocence Clinic at the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville until it was closed in 2018. Then TIP’s first permanent office was opened in 2019 in Nashville. “Even though we are a statewide organization, working here and being part of the Memphis community has always been a priority for us,” said
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In the Crystal Ball
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Cohen declares for reelection; who else will be running and for what? whether Cohen and other Democrats, in the interests of bipartisan government, would be willing to help break the logjam by casting votes for an acceptable Republican to be speaker, he says he definitely would, though he doubts that such a nominee could emerge from the GOP caucus. Looking ahead to 2026, the aforesaid Lee Harris will be term-limited, and at least three Democrats are likely to be aspirants to the job of county mayor — Assessor Melvin Burgess, current County Commissioner Mickell Lowery, and recent city mayor candidate Van Turner. Just as it was known for years that Turner would at some point seek the job of Memphis mayor, it was also known that he has from time to time considered running for county mayor. A veteran of two terms on the county commission, he certainly has credentials and he allows that, while he’s in no hurry to decide, such a race might be in his future.
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For that matter, he hasn’t totally turned his back on the election just held. Turner’s name was among those mentioned as interested parties in the matter vented post-election by defeated council candidate Jerred Price, who wants county Election Coordinator Linda Phillips to give a more complete accounting than she has thus far of the reported pre-election theft of election codes from the parked car of an Election Commission employee. Though he is not an active part of Price’s effort, Turner agrees that an investigation of some sort is in order.
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NEWS & OPINION
After what amounted to yet another paltry turnout in a local election, most people are turning their attention to more everyday matters — the car note, the mortgage, the approaching holidays, the prospect of yet another Rolling Stones tour, or what-have-you. Not so for the class of political junkies, who form a major part of those who choose to peer into this space. Many of them are already looking forward to the election year 2024, or even to 2026. Some are still mulling over what happened in 2023. (We’ll get to that in a minute.) The big deal next year, of course, is the race for the presidency, and most reliable pollsters, commentators, and news gatherers — not to mention the minions of social-media savants — are pretty much in unison about that. It looks to be Biden vs. Trump, and a clear majority of Americans seem to be nothing less than disconsolate about that. There will be a statewide election, too, and no doubt there will be some interesting legislative races. Democratic state Representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, she of the Tennessee Three, is already well into a campaign against incumbent Republican Marsha Blackburn for the U.S. Senate, and that definitely should generate some buzz. Closer to home, 9th District Democratic U.S. Representative Steve Cohen says he’s running again, for a 10th term next year, and he’ll be heavily favored, though it’s probable that, as usual, some Republican will hazard a long-odds race against him. Ambitious Democrats will likely bide their time until such time, years hence, as Cohen might opt to retire, and contestants at that point might include Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, state Representative Justin J. Pearson, and state Senator Raumesh Akbari. Cohen, incidentally, is as frustrated as other House members that the Republicans, who own a bare majority there, can’t seem to decide who, among their number, should be speaker to succeed the now-deposed Kevin McCarthy. In case you’ve wondered, as I have,
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A T L A R G E B y B r u c e Va n W y n g a r d e n
A Big Ass City It’s time to come down out of the jungle.
October 19-25, 2023
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hese days, the Flyer staff mostly produces the paper and its web content from home. We communicate on an app called Slack, which is like a never-ending group text. We can upload copy, share photos, and discuss web posts as they’re being edited and loaded onto memphisflyer.com. We can also use Slack for snark, gossip, jokes, emojis, opinions — and did I mention snark? Sure, we have weekly in-person meetings when possible, just to make sure we’re all still breathing, but Slack is where the daily action is. Last week, Michael Donahue wrote a story for the paper about the seminal Memphis band, Big Ass Truck, which is still performing around town when the mood hits them. The band became a subject of a long, rollicking discussion on Slack, as Donahue reminisced about the first time he wrote about Big Ass Truck — which was in the early 1990s for the Commercial Appeal. “It was the first time the word ‘ass’ appeared in the CA,” said Donahue, proudly. “I had to get permission to use it. I even wrote about that in my lede for the story.” So there you have it, folks. Some Big Ass history. (Also, here’s a free business idea for some enterprising Memphis culinarian: Big Ass Food Truck. You’re welcome.) Speaking of history, some recent Memphis events have reminded me of the story of Hiroo Onoda. Onoda (as at least three of you may recall) was a Japanese soldier who famously refused to surrender at the end of World War II. Instead, he retreated into the Philippine jungles and fought on until 1974, when his aging former commanding officer managed to get orders delivered to him, and Onoda surrendered. Similarly, some Memphians seem determined to keep on fighting long after a war is over — the war, in this case, being the one to preserve Tom Lee Park as a flat, barren field designed for partying, cooking pigs, and having a big-ass music fest two weekends a year for Memphis in May (MIM). In their eyes, that park has been maliciously redesigned by the Mississippi River Parks Partnership (MRPP) as a human-friendly area with trees, grass, wildflowers, playgrounds, basketball courts, walking and biking trails, picnic areas, water features, shaded seating with river views … and did I mention trees? Some supporters of MIM have retreated into the jungles of the internet, where
they lob insults and threats at MRPP and its leader, Carol Coletta, refusing to surrender, refusing to accept reality — or truce papers. In response to its ongoing conflict with MRPP, Memphis in May announced that it is putting the Beale Street Music Festival “on pause” for 2024. The group had previously announced that it was moving the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest to Tiger Lane near the Liberty Bowl. And that was that. For a minute or so. But there’s another group in town that makes Memphis in May seem, well, flexible. It’s called Friends for Our Riverfront (FfOR), and it claims to represent the wishes of the city’s founders as decreed in — get this — 1828. As “heirs” of those fine gentlemanly white landowners, the FfOR Ffolks have filed a legal motion to stop the ongoing construction of the new Memphis Art Museum on the bluff at Union Avenue and Front Street. They say the city’s founders wanted the bluff preserved for “public use,” which apparently doesn’t include a world-class art museum that will be free to the, er, public. For, you know, use.
PHOTO: MARCUS JONES | ADOBE STOCK
Put the Big Ass park to good use. It’s well past time to move on from this petty silliness. The museum is going to be built, and those opposed to it need to get over it. The park is already built, like, completed. Those opposed to it (the Tom Lee Flat Earth Society?) need to come down out of the jungle and move on. Time waits for no man. In fact, within about 30 seconds of MIM announcing it wouldn’t hold a music fest next year, MRPP announced a deal with the Mempho Music Festival folks to put on a 2024 festival in, yes, the brand spanking new Tom Lee Park. Will it be just like the old music fest? Probably not. Can it be as good or better? We’ll find out, won’t we? At the least, it’s a better plan than everybody throwing a Big Ass hissy fit.
FINANCE By Gene Gard
F
or most soon-to-be retirees, the idea of no longer receiving a paycheck and relying on savings and retirement income to make ends meet is scary. With proper planning and strategy, you can create your own retirement “paycheck” using various sources of retirement income. The following tips can help you get started. 1. Understand your current financial situation. The first step in establishing a retirement paycheck is to gain a full understanding of your current financial situation, including your savings, investments, potential Social Security benefits, pension benefits, and any additional sources of income you expect to receive during retirement. 2. Estimate your monthly expenses. Once you understand your current financial situation, the next step is to determine how much you’ll need to spend each month based on your desired retirement lifestyle. This will include your required monthly expenses like the cost of housing, healthcare, transportation, food, etc. Additionally, you’ll want to include discretionary spending (“the fun stuff ”), such as travel, entertainment, and hobbies. You should also consider if there are any large purchases you hope to make in retirement, such as a second home, a boat, new cars, big trips, gifting to family members, etc. 3. Identify any potential income gaps. Compare your expected retirement income sources to your estimated expenses. Do you have enough to pay for your desired lifestyle? If not, you’ll need to review your monthly spending expectations, focusing on the amount, timing, and/or frequency of your discretionary spending and big-ticket purchases. Alternatively, identify additional sources of retirement income (e.g. part-time work) to bridge the gap. 4. Implement a strategic withdrawal strategy. A tax-efficient, strategic withdrawal strategy can provide a steady stream of monthly income and help ensure you don’t outlive your assets. If you have retirement accounts with different tax characteristics (taxable, tax-deferred, taxexempt, etc.), you’ll likely have flexibility to minimize your tax obligations while optimizing your monthly income. The benefit of following a disciplined
withdrawal strategy is that you can monitor your ongoing expenditures, making changes as needed to ensure you don’t spend more than you can afford in any given year. This practice can help you maintain adequate assets to last a lifetime, regardless of market volatility. 5. Maintain an emergency fund. Once you retire and say goodbye to your earned income stream, the first priority is to fund and maintain an emergency fund for unexpected expenses. This fund should be prioritized above all other savings and helps ensure you don’t need to dip into retirement savings or sell investments at inopportune times to pay for unforeseen expenses. 6. Plan for healthcare and long-term care expenses. We can all count on healthcare expenses at some point in our lives. It’s imperative to have a plan to cover the possibility of increased healthcare needs in retirement. While there are many ways to account for these expenses, retirees should consider supplemental health insurance, use of tax advantaged health savings accounts (pre-retirement), and whether long-term care insurance is appropriate to help protect their retirement savings from unexpected medical expenses. 7. Incorporate Social Security planning. It’s important to carefully consider the timing of your Social Security benefits in order to maximize the amount you’ll receive over your lifetime. Filing for benefits early means you’ll start receiving payments earlier but at a reduced monthly amount. On the other hand, delaying until age 70 to begin taking benefits means you’ll receive an increased monthly payment, growing at 8 percent per year following your full retirement age through age 70. You and your wealth manager can determine a Social Security timing strategy that makes sense given your personal financial situation, benefit options, and retirement goals. 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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Paid in Retirement
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REDEFINING PRESTIGE AT INDIE MEMPHIS 2023
(this page) Friday, American Fiction, and May December (right page) All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt Salt, Thank You Very Much, and I Am
THE BLUFF CITY’S PREMIER FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES ART, BOTH HIGH AND LOW. COVER STORY By Chris McCoy
W
October 19-25, 2023
hen the curtain rises on Indie Memphis 2023 at Crosstown Theater on Tuesday, October 24th, it will be into a film world in chaos. For the art of cinema, it’s the best of times. The financial success of films like Everything Everywhere All At Once, Barbie, and Oppenheimer have proven that audiences are hungry for original ideas after decades dominated by corporate blandness. For the film business, it’s the worst of times. Tensions within the increasingly consolidated industry came to a head this year with twin strikes against the studios by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG/AFTRA). Like the old saying goes, the problem with the art of film is that it’s a business, and the problem with the film business is that it’s an art. In a world where so much film discourse is devoted to the business end, Indie Memphis artistic director Miriam Bale’s job is to foreground the art. “A lot of what we do as programmers is to try to have something for everyone, but also be really selective, so that no matter what you go see, you’re gonna have a good ex10 perience,” she says. “We’ve always tried to keep those very DIY, slightly weird, funny,
and bizarre films that are so important to our identity. But in the last few years, we’ve expanded to have a lot of bigger titles and more international titles — the whole art house and beyond.” One of the highest profile films screening at this year’s festival is American Fiction (Oct. 26th, 5:30 p.m.). Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who tries to expose the shallow stereotypes embedded in media by writing a satirically bad book that leans heavily on tired Black tropes. But instead of exposing the publishing industry’s hypocrisy, Monk finds himself perpetuating it when the book becomes a bestseller. Cord Jefferson, who won a writing Emmy for HBO’s Watchmen, makes his directorial debut adapting Percival Everett’s novel Erasure. “A piece of art has never resonated with me so deeply,” he says. He says Network and Hollywood Shuffle were his inspirations as he tried to set the perfect tone for this difficult material. “I don’t want this movie to feel like we’re scolding anybody,” he says. “I wanted to make sure the satire never traveled into farce. I wanted it to feel authentic to real life.” Among the other hotly anticipated films is Todd Haynes’ May December, starring Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, and Natalie Portman, whose performance is already attracting Oscar buzz. Italian filmmaker Alice
Rohrwacher’s La Chimera (Oct. 28th, 5:50 p.m.) is a comedy/drama about a hapless English archeologist who falls in with a crew of unscrupulous grave robbers. “Those are two of the best films I’ve seen all year,” says Bale. One of the festival’s goals, Bale says, is “redefining prestige. We do that with some of the new films we play, but we also do that with some of the older films we play.”
Audiences are hungry for original ideas after decades dominated by corporate blandness. When deciding how to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, Bale says, “I’ve noticed a lot of organizations are showing the classic documentaries on hiphop. We wanted to find a different way to mark this important anniversary. Two just absolute bangers are Friday and Belly.” One of the GOAT stoner comedies, F. Gary Gray’s Friday (Oct. 27th, 6:20 p.m.) launched Ice Cube’s film career. Belly (Oct. 27th, 10:30 p.m.), by music video legend Hype Williams, features Nas, DMX, and Method Man as New York gangbangers
expanding their empire. “What’s interesting about those films is that they influenced indie film, but they were both by music video directors before they got big, and they’re starring rappers.” “We’re always evolving,” says Bale. “I’m always listening to feedback. After the pandemic, we had a lot of heavy films. So this year we’ve leaned more to the comedy.” The festival is truly redefining prestige with a tribute to the Wayans Brothers, including White Chicks (Oct. 28th, 6:10 p.m.) and Keenen Ivory Wayans’ 1988 Blaxploitation romp I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (Oct. 29th, 4:45 p.m.), which Indie Memphis executive director Kimel Fryer says is her mother’s favorite movie. “I am a huge Wayans fan,” Fryer says. “I don’t know if anyone knows that about me. I have literally seen every Wayans movie, good, bad, or ugly.” Bale’s mother recently passed away, and in tribute to her on what would have been her birthday, the final film of the festival will be one of her favorites: Joe Versus The Volcano (Oct. 29th, 9:30 p.m.), the 1990 cult surrealist comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (in three roles). It’s a perfect fit for Indie Memphis’ eclectic spirit. For 26 years, it’s been the only place in Memphis where you can see unique films like Czech director Vojtěch Jasný’s film The Cassandra Cat (Oct. 29th, 11:15 a.m.). “It’s about a cat with sunglass-
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt The opening night film has a special connection to Indie Memphis. Writer/director Raven Jackson was the recipient of Indie Memphis’ 2019 Black Filmmaker Residency for Screenwriting. Originally from Tennessee, Jackson lived in Memphis for two months while finishing her screenplay, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Indie Memphis alum Barry Jenkins judged the applicants that year, and once Jackson was finished, he took her under the wing of his production company Pastel. “We do a lot of things at Indie Memphis, but to watch a film go from seed to this incredible flower has been just so rewarding,” says Bale. “The way that everything came together is really beautiful,” says Fryer, who saw the film at its Park City, Utah, premiere, where it was picked up for distribution by A24. “I’m at Sundance for the first time ever, and I’m a first-time executive director from Memphis. I’m completely out of my element. I walk in, I watch this film, and I felt like I was back at my grandma’s house. … I have never seen rural America portrayed as beautifully as this, especially with Black people at the helm. It brought tears to my eyes.” The film tells the life story of Mack, a young Black woman who grows up in 1960s Mississippi. Jackson uses long, meticulously composed shots to take the
viewer inside Mack’s memories of love, loss, and connection. “Some films you watch, right? But some films you experience,” says Fryer. Jackson and her cinematographer Jomo Fray will be in attendance for opening night on Tuesday, Oct. 24th, at 6:30 p.m. Then on Wednesday, the pair will be at Playhouse on the Square for an in-depth discussion about the film and their process. “The [Terrence] Malik comparisons have come up, but really, I feel like it’s doing something different,” says Bale. “People are having such emotional responses. She made something kind of new, and I can’t think of anything more exciting than to witness the birth of it.” Thank You Very Much As I watched Alex Braverman’s fantastic new portrait of comedian Andy Kaufman, Thank You Very Much (Oct. 29th, 2 p.m.), the word I kept writing in my notebook was “deconstructed.” Kaufman took apart stand-up comedy, TV variety shows, professional wrestling, and even human behavior itself, and then reconstructed something new (and often disturbing) out of the pieces. It’s a tribute to Kaufman’s commitment to the bit that when he died in 1984 at age 35, many people believed it was yet another put-on. “It is a daunting, overwhelming subject matter to try to tackle,” says Braverman, who self-identifies as a Kaufman superfan. “But what could be more fun?” Braverman managed to get unparalleled access to Kaufman’s best friend and writing partner Bob Zmuda and his
girlfriend Lynn Margulies. “We were lucky enough to catch them at a time when they had spent decades having a lot of fun with the legacy, but now they really just wanted to tell the true story as best they could. … Bob in particular has access to a lot of material, some of which people are familiar with and some of which people haven’t seen before. A lot of that material’s in the movie.” Kaufman denied he was a comedian (he claimed to be a “song and dance man”), and many have suggested he was a performance artist. This notion is reinforced by some of the rarest film the documentary uncovered: a faked, onstage confrontation between Kaufman and Laurie Anderson. “I think they just saw in each other some sort of connection or kindred spirits,” says Braverman. “I don’t think that term ‘performance artist’ was really in his mind at the time, but he was coming from a discipline that was more about creating an experience for people and getting them to react to what he was doing, more than it was about, ‘How do I be funny?’” Anderson and Kaufman’s bit presaged Kaufman’s obsession with professional wrestling, which would eventually land him in a ring in Memphis with Jerry Lawler. “There’s some spiritual connection between Andy and Memphis,” says Braverman, pointing out that Kaufman wowed with a dead-on Elvis impression on the first episode of Saturday Night Live. “As far as the wrestling connection goes, he was really ahead of his time, in a way, as far as understanding how we like our entertain-
ment in this country. It’s good-versus-evil, extreme showmanship at all costs.” I Am “The quality of the Hometowner Features is growing every year, so the selection process gets harder,” says Bale. “The films this year are very strong, but also so diverse, with documentaries and comedies and horror.” This year’s Indie Memphis presents eight feature-length films made in Memphis. Princeton James’ psychological thriller, Queen Rising (Oct. 26th, 9 p.m.), and George Tillman’s documentary about Club Paradise, The Birth of Soul Music (Oct. 28th, 10:30 a.m.), are screening out of competition, while six films will compete in the juried Hometowner category: Lee Hirsch’s vérité documentary about Crosstown High, The First Class (Oct. 27th, 7:30 p.m.); Jaron Lockridge’s voodoo horror, The Reaper Man (Oct. 25th, 9 p.m.); Alicia Ester’s historical essay, Spirit of Memphis (Oct. 28th, 3 p.m.); Joann Self Selvidge and Sarah Fleming’s sweeping issue doc, Juvenile: 5 Stories (Oct. 27th, 6 p.m.); Sissy Denkova’s Bulgarian immigrant comedy, Scent of Linden (Oct. 29th, 12 p.m.); and Jessica Chaney’s testimonial mental health documentary, I Am (Oct. 25th, 8:30 p.m.). Chaney says I Am began when she was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder just before the 2020 pandemic. Her therapy regimen caused her to “seek community for people who are going through the same thing, and undercontinued on page 12
COVER STORY m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m
es, who takes off his sunglasses and literally sees people’s true colors,” says Bale. “If that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will.”
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MUSIC FRIDAY NOVEMBER 10
October 19-25, 2023
THE GREEN ROOM
MARCELLA SIMIEN CROSSTOWN ARTS DOORS 7:00PM / SHOW 7:30PM 1350 CONCOURSE AVE $20
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C R O S S T O W N A R T S .ORG
standing that you’re not alone in your feelings and what you’re experiencing. I think the worst thing for anything that you’re going through — whether it be physical, medical, mental, whatever — is to isolate yourself.” Chaney enlisted Amanda Willoughby, her co-worker at Cloud901, as producer. Their proposal for a short film won a competitive $15,000 Indie Grant at Indie Memphis 2021. But as they shot, it became clear they had a feature length film. “We were surprised by how good every interview went,” says Chaney. “We got so much more than we anticipated, sat with every woman much longer than we anticipated.” “Jessica was still gung-ho on this being a short, and I was like, ‘Jessica, I’m the editor. It’s all going to fall on me. We don’t have to pay anybody. We got so much stuff. Let me do this!’” says Willoughby. “It took some arm pulling, but she was like, ‘Okay, I trust you.’ And I’ve lived with that hard drive. It goes everywhere with me because I have constantly put so much work into it.” Willoughby says collaborations with Crystal DeBerry, life coach Jacqueline Oselen, and composer Ashley K. Davis made the film stronger and reinforced one of its most important messages. “I’ll just say I learned that there are a lot more people that want to help you than you think.” “We’re presenting these stories from these women, and it’s not all gloom and doom,” says Chaney. “There’s hope. Every last woman gives hope.” Donna and Ally Street-level, DIY comedies, made with little more than a camera and determination, have been a staple of Indie Memphis since the very beginning. It’s the perfect festival for the world premiere of Donna and Ally (Oct. 27th, 6 p.m.). The film follows the titular pair of best friends as they try to make their way through the Oakland, California, underworld as sex workers. Donna’s got a legendary bad temper, which is attractive to a certain kind of client. The problem is, Donna’s mean streak is the result of premenstrual dysphoria disorder, which writer/director Cousin Shy describes as “PMS on steroids,” so she’s only good as a dom for a couple of weeks a month.
Shy says the film is inspired by real life. “I spent some time growing up in the [foster care] system, and a lot of those kids were bigger than life, just really fun. They’re geniuses in their own way. I found one of the leads, Ally, her name is Kinky Online, and she just has this bigger-than-life presence.” Shy is a Bay Area native who has both worked for Apple and as a first responder. “I worked on an ambulance, and that actually was some inspiration for Donna and Ally,” she says. When we first meet the pair, they run away from a Catholic foster care home to avoid being locked up on a 5150. “Regardless of where they are in life, and what they go through in their trials, they love each other, and they’re on this journey. You really don’t even see how that’s affecting them in the movie because I think it’s just their life, and they’re laser-focused on becoming somebodies and having that happy ending. So, it’s a comedy.” Donna and Ally’s obsession with social media stardom leads them to ridiculous circumstances. “A lot of kids, especially kids from the underclass, are just like, ‘I feel like I’m somebody, but I was born a nobody, and I want to make it.’ What are the options to make it that are not the traditional routes? For some kids from the underclass, it doesn’t feel like that’s their route, going to university, going through the systems that they felt have failed them before. And so what are the alternatives? It’s social media. You see kids who are getting famous and being seen on social media. And so that was a huge part of the movie — just getting those viewers on Instagram and building an audience that can see you. You have a thousand views and you feel like you’re Beyoncé! … We wanted to take the characters very seriously, just as serious as they took themselves. We wanted it to be really raw. It’s very normal to them. There’s no shame in anything they do.” The 26th annual Indie Memphis Film Festival runs October 24th through 29th, with films screening at Crosstown Theater, Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Playhouse, and Malco Studio on the Square. The complete schedule, passes, and tickets to individual movies are available at indiememphis.org. For continuing coverage of the festival, go to memphisflyer.com.
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COVER STORY m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m
VICTOR WOOTEN AND THE WOOTEN BROTHERS
steppin’ out
We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews
RiverArtsFest
FRIDAY, NOV 3 8:00 PM
In the Duncan-Williams Performance Hall
Co-presented by
BAILEY BIGGER
PHOTO: COURTESY RIVERARTSFEST
By Abigail Morici
The volunteer-run fest returns.
This Saturday and Sunday, the RiverArtsFest returns to Riverside Drive for its 17th year, bringing more than 150 artists from around the country to show off and sell their latest works. “The event is a celebration of the arts,” says Kelley Morice, the fest’s director of marketing and public relations. “We have the longest-running and the largest fine arts festival in the region.” And that’s not all, Morice says: The festival has been ranked among the best fine arts festivals in the nation by Sunshine Artist magazine and Art Fair Source Book. Each year, a blind jury selects the more than 150 artists from hundreds of applications, making sure that the artists span a variety of media from jewelry to woodworking. “As a festival, we want to make sure when people come they get to see really amazing, unique work that’s not all the same.” Part of the appeal of the market, Morice adds, is that you can interact with the artists. “You can see what’s inspired them, and maybe leave inspired.” And to lend an even more immersive experience, the festival will also have demonstrations, with local artists demonstrating their craft live: Kendra Burchett in fiber and leather, Rick Cannon in wood turning, Katey Henriksen in papermaking, Danielle Sierra in painting, Kenny Hayes in assemblage, Nicola Uphoff-Tupis in glassblowing, and David Johnson in pottery, and Brittney Boyd Bullock in metalsmithing. Plus, festival-goers can enjoy live music from local artists and bands, and this year, the fest has added a dedicated stage for local performing arts to offer an all-encompassing arts experience. On Saturday, the Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Harmonic South String Orchestra, Memphis ChoralArts, Hot Foot Honeys tap dance company, and Hattiloo Theatre will perform, and on Sunday, you can catch performances by the Memphis Youth Symphony Program, Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, PRIZM Ensemble, Opera Memphis, and SubRoy Movement. In addition, the festival will have two planned craft stations for children and the young at heart, food courts, and beverage vendors. All proceeds from the festival support RiverArtsFest’s Community and Arts Education initiatives, which offer free programming to students of all ages and abilities, art educators, and the public, while providing paid opportunities for local artists. One such initiative, reintroduced this year after a Covid hiatus, is the Emerging Artists program, which mentors local budding artists in exhibiting and selling their creations. This year’s selected artists are Jana Wilson and William Lescheck, both of whom will showcase their original work at the festival. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit riverartsmemphis.org. RIVERARTSFEST, SATURDAY-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21-22, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., $10/GENERAL ADMISSION; $5/65+, VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY, CHILDREN (6-18); FREE/CHILDREN (5 AND UNDER).
THURSDAY, OCT 19
6:30 PM, Gates open at 5:30 PM
October 19-25, 2023
DEVIL TRAIN
THURSDAY, OCT 26
6:30 PM, Gates Open at 5:30 PM
IT’S ALL HAPPENING AT GPAC!
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gpacweb.com (901) 751-7500
VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES October 19th - 25th International Archaeology Day C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa, Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., free The C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa celebrates its annual Archaeology Day celebration with flintknapping, atlatl dart throwing, pottery craft, pine doll craft, garbology, musical story times, trench tours, birds of prey meet and greets, and guided hikes. Cooper-Young Beerfest Midtown Autowerks, Saturday, October, 21, 1-5 p.m., $60.54 The 13th annual Cooper-Young Beerfest will be bringing all your favorite regional breweries to Cooper-Young for an afternoon of fun. All of the money raised goes to the CooperYoung Community Association. Tickets include a 2023 Beerfest mug, unlimited samples of beer,
and a great time. Goner Records will supply tunes, and food will be available for purchase from local food trucks. “Lens Language” Opening Reception Saturday, October 21, 4-7 p.m. TONE invites you to the opening of “Lens Language,” a photography exhibition where femme-presenting queer photographers MadameFraankie and Kai Ross have explored the depths of love. These photographers have managed to capture all five of the languages love can be shown in: romantically, platonically, selfishly, familiarly, and communally. Throughout this exhibition TONE hopes you feel the love that exists in the pieces that hang on the walls and ask yourself: What would love look like from behind your lens? The exhibition is on display until December 12th.
Day of the Dead Preview Crosstown Concourse, Saturday, October 21, 5-8 p.m., free In partnership with Crosstown Concourse, Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group presents a Day of the Dead Preview celebration with music, folklore, dancers, altars, and crafts. “3:33 AM” Opening Brantley Ellzey’s Summer Studio, Sunday, October 22, 2-6 p.m. In this debut solo show, artist Moth Moth Moth reveals a side to their skill set and imagination that is seldom shown. As a body of work, “3:33 AM” represents a grounded and sober conclusion that stardom is overrated, werewolves are gay, and America is a haunted house. Through printmaking and papermaking Moth Moth Moth balances control and the giving over to chaos that these substrates allow.
MUSIC By Alex Greene
The Blues Society felt like it was like the zombie film that wouldn’t die.” So says Augusta Palmer, filmmaker and associate professor of communication arts at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, about her latest movie, The Blues Society, enjoying its world premiere at the Indie Memphis Film Festival this coming Sunday. But the producer/director isn’t talking about any scary on-screen content; her “zombie” comment refers to the film’s half-genesis nearly 10 years ago, and the way it insisted on being made despite Palmer’s other commitments. She had compelling personal
were rich subject matter indeed, marking a turning point in the history of Memphis and the blues, eminently worth telling in full. When Fat Possum Records bought Rosenthal’s 1969 footage and tasked directors Joe and Lisa LaMattina to edit it down to a feature-length film, Memphis ’69, there was still much left to explore. While that film drops the viewer directly into the experience of a single weekend, Palmer wanted to situate the entire four-year run of festivals within the context of the blues devotees who initiated them, a coterie of artists, musicians, and beatniks (or
reasons to see it through: Her father was the late musician and writer Robert Palmer, who helped found the Memphis Country Blues Society in the mid-’60s. Her mother Mary Branton was also deeply involved in the blues festivals that the society staged at the Overton Park Shell from 1966-1969. A decade ago, Augusta Palmer saw footage from the final year of those concerts — shot by Adelphi Records owner Gene Rosenthal — and it resonated deeply with her. “Gene played me a segment of my mom speaking at the festival when she was pregnant with me in 1969. So I was pretty much hooked, but it seemed really difficult to figure out the rights and everything, so I just sort of let it go. A few years later I thought, ‘Well, no. I am interested in this, but I want to tell the whole story, from ’66 to ’69.’” The festivals and their backstory
PHOTO: RANDALL LYON | COURTESY OF THE HOGAN JAZZ ARCHIVE AT TULANE
Bukka White and Jimmy Crosthwait proto-hippies) who comprised the Memphis Country Blues Society and its supporters. “I was very interested in the whole trajectory of it,” she says. And so the film roared back to life, lurching in fits and starts as Palmer assembled footage and interviews from sprawling and diverse sources. It helped that some of those involved were film buffs and loved shooting casual, oddball footage of themselves and their friends. Today, their LSDfueled hijinks live on in the glorious black and white scenes that Palmer uses to set the stage for the festivals-inthe-making, though she found a little of that went a long way.
“The footage of crazy artists in Memphis was shot by an experimental filmmaker named Carl Orr who was part of John McIntire’s Beatnik Manor scene,” Palmer says. “There’s actually a ton more of that stuff. But when I was able to get some of that, at first I felt like I’d sprayed my film with patchouli and I couldn’t breathe! So I dialed it back a little bit. But that stuff really captured the spirit of the time so beautifully.” So too does the archival footage of great Memphis blues artists that Palmer uses to establish the importance of the blues to Memphis, even as it was ignored by the city’s racist establishment. That historical context underscores why it was down to the beatnik misfits to celebrate the innovations of the Black men and women in their midst, rendered invisible by the mainstream. And, as the engrossing festival performance scenes of Furry Lewis, Bukka White, and others reveal, their exquisite artistry very much deserved celebration. Yet Palmer also complicates the beatniks’ utopian motivations with some well-considered comments from scholars and writers like Zandria Robinson and Jamey Hatley, who insist on a more critical perspective. Robinson notes that, in presenting poor, often rural Black artists, the white festival organizers had an attitude of “let’s be friends in spite of power dynamics!” Palmer leans into that critique unflinchingly, perhaps best expressed by Furry Lewis’ white protégé, the late Zeke Johnson. “Some of it was paternalistic,” Johnson reflects, “and we didn’t even realize it at the time.” The Blues Society screens at Playhouse on the Square on Sunday, October 29th, 3 p.m. An after-party will be held at the 1884 Lounge at 5 p.m. that day, featuring The Wilkins Sisters and Sharde Thomas and the Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band. Visit indiememphis.org for more information.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m
Augusta Palmer’s documentary digs into race, music, and Memphis’ freaky side.
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CALENDAR of EVENTS: October 19 - 25 Send the date, time, place, cost, info, phone number, a brief description, and photos — two weeks in advance — to calendar@memphisflyer.com.
11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 21, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 22, noon-5 p.m.
A R T A N D S P E C IA L E X H I B ITS
“Commune (verb)”
Memphis artist Kaylyn Webster’s paintings feel at once familiar and otherworldly. Through Jan. 7.
Kaylyn Webster, The Procession, 2023; oil on canvas; courtesy of the artist.
DEBORAH FAGAN CARPENTER ART STUDIO
THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS
“Grind City Picks: The Music That Made Memphis”
C O M E DY
Corey Holcomb
Learn about the evolution of notable music genres in Memphis. Through Oct. 22.
$35.50. Friday, Oct. 20, 8-10:30 p.m.
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY
Mempho Presents: BAM! Wiseacre Beer and Music Festival
GRACELAND SOUNDSTAGE
Katt Williams: The Dark Matter Tour
ART HAPPE N I NGS
“3:33 AM” Opening
Friday, Oct. 20, 8 p.m.
Moth Moth Moth reveals a side to their skillset and imagination that is seldom shown. Sunday, Oct. 22, 2-6 p.m.
LANDERS CENTER
Shelarious Shenanigans Comedy Showcase
BRANTLEY ELLZEY’S SUMMER STUDIO
Showcase featuring local stand-up comedy queens and their allies. Thursday, Oct. 19, 7-9 p.m.
Family Fun Day
Bring the entire family to watch an iron pour, see artists at work, tour the museum for free, participate in hands-on activities, and more. Saturday, Oct. 21, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
CAMEO
A Memphis-centric music festival that stretches to far-away lands. Saturday, Oct. 21, 1 p.m. WISEACRE BREWERY
F I LM
Cemetery Cinema presents Psycho Mother? $15. Friday, Oct. 20, 6-8 p.m. ELMWOOD CEMETERY
F E ST IVA L
METAL MUSEUM
DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, Cooper-Young Beerfest “Lens Language” Opening Reception All your favorite regional breweries come to ONGOING WEEKLY EVENTS A photography exhibition exploring the depths Cooper-Young for an afternoon of fun. SaturWILL APPEAR IN THE FLYER’S of love from behind the lens of MadameFraanday, Oct. 21, 1-5 p.m. ONLINE CALENDAR ONLY. kie and Kai Ross. Saturday, Oct. 21, 4-7 p.m. COOPER YOUNG BEERFEST FOR COMPREHENSIVE EVENT TONE Fall Fest at the Nest LISTINGS, VISIT EVENTS. October Opening Live music, vendors, car show, cornhole, barbecue MEMPHISFLYER.COM/CAL. The New AYork showing of art by Jimmy Crosthwait and Corporation contest, rides, and more. Friday, Oct. 20-Oct. 21. Times Syndication Sales Deborah Fagan Carpenter. Friday, Oct. 10018 20, ST. BENEDICT AT AUBURNDALE HIGH SCHOOL 620 Eighth Avenue, NewFree. York, N.Y.
For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Wednesday, February 20, 2019
P E R FO R M I N G ARTS
Barbie Wyre’s Halloween Raving Drag Show
A deliciously dark Halloween variety show! Tuesday, Oct. 24, 9 p.m. BLACK LODGE
RuPaul’s Drag Race - Night of the Living Drag
Free your mind this fall at the world’s largest live drag production. $41-$121. Wednesday, Oct. 25, 8 p.m. ORPHEUM THEATRE
Crossword ACROSS 1 Lid attachment 5 Mixes in 9 Make art on
glass or metal
13 Billy the Kid
vis-à-vis Henry McCarty
15 Lecherous
person
16 Boutique-
filled N.Y.C. neighborhood
17 “___, do these
jeans make me look fat?”
19 Perfectly 20 “You’re
oversharing!”
21 Levine of
October 19-25, 2023
Maroon 5
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22 Big swigs 23 Part of a movie
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attendant just swatted a bug!” 28 Smooth sailing site 30 Place with treatments 31 Club with travel advice, for short 32 Pay attention to 33 Mark that’s just above average 35 Place where you can get stuck 36 “___, would you like to purchase some religious music?” 40 Not just any 43 Peer through a window, maybe 44 Myriad 48 Mr. Rogers 49 The Na’vi in “Avatar,” e.g.
50 Meet (with) at
midday, say 53 “___ and those crazy sheep costumes!” 56 Bakery-cafe chain 57 Bikini part 58 Actor Neeson 60 “On the other hand …” 61 Where Paris took Helen 62 “___! Petr, I’m begging you again to let me get this!” 65 Break in the action 66 Really cool, in slang 67 “Me, too!” 68 Slippery 69 Teensy 70 Harness racing gait
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Memphis Grizzlies vs. New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m.
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PIPKIN BUILDING
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PUZZLE BY BRUCE HAIGHT
11 The Louvre,
Memphis Roller Derby Double Header Home Bout
The Memphis Minions take on the Ghost River Ghouls in their thrilling home team debut. $5-$15. Saturday, Oct. 21, 4-9 p.m.
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34 Fraternity letter 51 Colorful fish originally 37 Exhaust 52 Genie holders 12 Spot where one assistant, ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE might get grilled 38 Dubious informally Tibetan sighting 54 In a jovial way 2 Female 14 Some origami 39 Ostracize C R U S H B A S E M O H S graduates birds 55 Choose H E N I E O X E N I R A N 40 Part of a bridge 3 Not get used 18 Advantage I T S M Y T R E A T C I T I 59 Ugh-worthy 41 “Amen!” 4 Makeshift 22 Quarry noise C A N I S E E T R E E D 42 “Puh-leeze!,” in 62 TV drama of receptacle for O P A L D R I N K S O N M E 24 Website for film facial form ballots 2000-15 buffs S E G A L S N E A K T A S 5 “O mio babbino 45 Lease term, R O N S T L W A I T 26 Upscale kitchen 63 Benzoyl caro,” e.g. often feature peroxide target, I L L G E T T H E B I L L 6 Foundational 46 Loud subgenre informally A T O Y W R Y L I Z 27 Told, as tales teachings of punk N C C I D O L S C A S C A 7 “Obviously, 29 Hacker’s goal 47 “Bingo!” 64 Fate Y O U R M O N E Y S R A H S Sherlock!” L U T E S N O O D G E S 8 Wimbledon unit Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past U P I N N O G O O D H E R E puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). 9 First name in C L O D G R A D D A L I S perfumes Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay. K E N S O O P S S T Y E S 10 Windows strip
that can be spoiled
CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE
Dress in your dark finery for a special masquerade ball celebrating both the vampire and witch clans. $25, $30. Friday, Oct. 20, 9 p.m.
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Music, folklore, dancers, altars, and crafts. Saturday, Oct. 21, 5-8 p.m.
Vampire and Witches Masquerade Ball
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Day of the Dead Preview
BLACK LODGE
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No. 0116
A crime writer who has been creatively blocked since the death of his first wife is now tensely remarried to an uptight second wife. So he summons a spiritualist who summons his first wife’s ghost. Through Oct. 29. THEATRE MEMPHIS
Father Comes Home From the Wars
An explosively powerful drama about the mess of war, the cost of freedom, and the heartbreak of love. Through Oct. 22. HATTILOO THEATRE
Reefer Madness The Musical
This raucous musical comedy takes a tonguein-cheek look at the hysteria caused when clean-cut kids fall prey to marijuana. Friday, Oct. 20-Nov. 5. THEATREWORKS @ THE SQUARE
TO U R S
Scandals & Scoundrels
A tour of Elmwood Cemetery with intrigue, gossip, and whispers. $20. Saturday, Oct. 21, 2-3:30 p.m. ELMWOOD CEMETERY
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Sometimes, we droop and shrivel in the face of a challenge that dares us to grow stronger and smarter. Sometimes, we try our best to handle a pivotal riddle with aplomb but fall short. Neither of these two scenarios will be in play for you during the coming months. I believe you will tap into reserves of hidden power you didn’t realize you had access to. You will summon bold, innovative responses to tantalizing mysteries. I predict you will accomplish creative triumphs that may have once seemed beyond your capacities. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini novelist Meg Wolitzer suggests that “one of the goals of life is to be comfortable in your own skin and in your own bed and on your own land.” I suspect you won’t achieve that goal in the coming weeks, but you will lay the foundation for achieving that goal. You will figure out precisely what you need in order to feel at home in the world, and you will formulate plans to make that happen. Be patient with yourself, dear Gemini. Be extra tender, kind, and accommodating. Your golden hour will come. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Some astrologers say you Crabs are averse to adventure, preferring to loll in your comfort zones and entertain dreamy fantasies. As evidence that this is not always true, I direct your attention to a great Cancerian adventurer, the traveling chef Anthony Bourdain. In the coming weeks, I hope you will be inspired by these Bourdain quotes: 1. “If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.” 2. “What a great way to live, if you could always do things that interest you, and do them with people who interest you.” 3. “The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that’s enlightenment enough — to know there is no final resting place of the mind.” 4. “Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.” LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Author Iain S. Thomas writes, “The universe is desper-
ately trying to move you into the only spot that truly belongs to you — a space that only you can stand in. It is up to you to decide every day whether you are moving towards or away from that spot.” His ideas overlap with principles I expound in my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings. There I propose that life often works to help dissolve your ignorance and liberate you from your suffering. I hypothesize that you are continually being given opportunities to grow smarter and wilder and kinder. In the coming weeks, everything I’ve described here will be especially apropos to you. All of creation will be maneuvering you in the direction of feeling intensely at home with your best self. Cooperate, please! VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Never do anything that others can do for you,” said Virgo novelist Agatha Christie. That’s not a very Virgo-like attitude, is it? Many astrologers would say that of all the zodiac’s signs, your tribe is the most eager to serve others but not aggressively seek the service of others on your behalf. But I suspect this dynamic could change in the coming weeks. Amazingly, cosmic rhythms will conspire to bring you more help and support than you’re accustomed to. My advice: Welcome it. Gather it in with gusto. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): As much as I love logic and champion rational thinking, I’m granting you an exemption from their iron-grip supremacy in the coming weeks. To understand what’s transpiring and to respond with intelligence, you must partly transcend logic and reason. They will not be sufficient guides as you wrestle with the Great Riddles that will be visiting. In a few weeks, you will be justified in quoting ancient Roman author Tertullian, who said the following about his religion, Christianity: “It is true because it is impossible.” SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As a Sun-conjunct-Uranus person, I am fond of hyperbole and outrageousness. “Outlandish” is one of my middle names. My Burning Man moniker is “Friendly Shocker,” and in my pagan community, I’m known as Irreverend Robbie. So take that into consideration when I suggest you meditate on Oscar Wilde’s assertions that “all great ideas are dangerous” and “an idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea.” Oscar and I don’t mean that interesting possibilities must be a risk to one’s health or safety. Rather, we’re suggesting they are probably inconvenient for one’s dogmas, habits, and comfort zones. I hope you will favor such disruptors in the coming days. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Some people might feel they have achieved the
peak of luxury if they find themselves sipping Moët & Chandon Imperial Vintage Champagne while lounging on a leather and diamond-encrusted PlumeBlanche sofa on a hand-knotted Agra wool rug aboard a 130-foot-long Sunseeker yacht. But I suspect you will be thoroughly pleased with the subtler forms of luxury that are possible for you these days. Like what? Like surges of appreciation and acknowledgment for your good work. Like growing connections with influences that will interest you and help you in the future. Like the emotional riches that come from acting with integrity and excellence. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): There are over 20 solutions to the riddle your higher mind is now contemplating. Several of them are smart intellectually but not emotionally intelligent. Others make sense from a selfish perspective but would be less than a blessing for some people in your life. Then there are a few solutions that might technically be effective but wouldn’t be much fun. I estimate there may only be two or three answers that would be intellectually and emotionally intelligent, would be of service not only to you but also to others, and would generate productive fun. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Naturalist John Muir didn’t like the word “hiking.” He believed people ought to saunter through the wilderness, not hike. “Hiking” implies straight-ahead, no-nonsense, purposeful movement; whereas, “sauntering” is about wandering around, being reverent towards one’s surroundings, and getting willingly distracted by where one’s curiosity leads. I suggest you favor the sauntering approach in the coming weeks — not just in nature but in every area of your life. You’re best suited for exploring, gallivanting, and meandering.
m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m
ARIES (March 21-April 19): JooHee Yoon is an illustrator and designer. She says, “So much of artmaking is getting to know yourself through the creative process, of making mistakes and going down rabbit holes of research and experimentation that sometimes work out — and sometimes don’t.” She adds, “The failures are just as important as the successes.” I would extend this wisdom, applying it to how we create our personalities and lives. I hope you will keep it in mind as you improvise, experiment with, and transform yourself in the coming weeks.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I’m not enamored of Shakespeare’s work. Though I enjoy his creative use of language, his worldview isn’t appealing or interesting. The people in his stories don’t resonate with me, and their problems don’t feel realistic. If I want to commune with multifaceted characters dealing with fascinating dilemmas, I turn to French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). I feel a kinship with his complex, nuanced understanding of human nature. Please note I am not asserting that Shakespeare is bad and Balzac is good. I’m merely stating the nature of my subjective personal tastes. Now I invite you to do what I have done here: In the coming weeks, stand up unflinchingly for your subjective personal tastes.
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FOOD By Michael Donahue
Sweet Dreams Carrington Wise turns her bakery idea into reality.
Carrington Wise Singing is another skill Wise also knows something about. She grew up around music in the Washington, D.C., area. Her father was a classically trained amateur musician. “We all took lessons, but what I remember growing up was that he would often invite people who were musicians who he knew some other way and we would have musical evenings.” Wise, who “ended up being a singer,” performed baroque and contemporary songs. “These were art songs. As I grew up, I was often a guest soloist with an orchestra. It was usually a local orchestra or with a college. “While a member of the Choral Arts Society of Washington, I sang under the
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direction of Leonard Bernstein, Robert Shaw, Antal Dorati, Mstislav Rostropovich, Lorin Maazel, and others.” She began teaching music after she got married. “I started children’s choirs wherever we lived.” And, she adds, “Every one of them is still going.” Wise continued teaching after she, her husband, and four children moved to Memphis around 2007. But she became dissatisfied with where she was working and decided she was going to stop teaching. She wanted another job, but she announced, “I don’t know what else to do.” Her daughter, Margaret, had the solution. “She had noticed when I was in the dumps there were two things that would always pull me out of them. One was working with children, drawing them out, and the other was baking. So, I did that.” It took about a year for Wise to figure out how to go about it. “I could see myself in a small bakery with awnings and flowers and it being this very inviting place. And decided against that because of having to man it. I didn’t have a place, either.” So, she started her business in the Calvary Episcopal Church kitchen. “I was baking lemon tarts and pies and cookies. One of the first things were the sweet potato biscuits with country ham. It was mainly that sort of thing. And then I started adding scones, cheese wafers. That was a big thing. I didn’t want to do just sweets. I wanted to do some savory as well.” People at church began buying her items. She also set up at the Downtown Memphis Farmers Market. Now working out of Memphis Kitchen Co-Op & Marketplace at 7942 Fischer Steel Road, Wise sells at Agricenter Farmers Market and Graz’n Tables Charcuterie & Bakery Bar in Collierville. “Our catering is for maybe up to 150 people. I don’t tend to do weddings, but I love to do the functions around the weddings. Like teas, showers, luncheons, and things like that. I also do box lunches. We cater dinners. Cocktail receptions are a big thing.” And yes, she does sing — at times — in the kitchen. It can be Bach, Shubert, a bluegrass tune, or a folk tune her mother taught her. But, Wise says, “My voice bothers me. I don’t like the sound of it so much. Sometimes I will hum or whistle. I will sing in church. And some days I feel like I got it back. And the other times, no. Too much bravado.” But, she confesses, “I almost named my business ‘With a Song in My Tart.’” To order, text Wise at 901-481-4206 or email info@carringtonscatering.com.
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arrington Wise sings the praises of her lemon tart. The sweet-but-not-toosweet tarts are one of the many items she bakes and sells at her business, Carrington’s Catering. “When I was about 16, I was looking through my mother’s cookbooks — one of my favorite things to do — and came across a cookbook all handwritten in different peoples’ handwriting,” Wise says. Her mother’s friends compiled recipes as a wedding gift. “This particular recipe jumped off the page at me. ‘Lemon tarts.’ And it just looked so fresh and lemony and tangy.” Wise began baking the tarts. And people loved them. Everything she makes has a certain criteria: “Everything has to taste good. So, these are recipes I have pulled together over the years. I do research, figure out what looks good to me, and the best way to do it. And then if that goes well and gets a good reception from my primary customers, that might go into my repertoire.”
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FILM By Kailynn Johnson
The Forgotten Children Memphis directors Joann Self Selvidge and Sarah Fleming’s Juvenile: 5 Stories premieres at Indie Memphis.
E
ven before its premiere at Indie Memphis 2023, directors Joann Self Selvidge and Sarah Fleming’s film Juvenile: 5 Stories received Evident Change’s 2023 Distinguished Achievement Award. This is given to pieces of media that offer “profound insight into the realities of our nation’s social system and the way they impact people and communities.” The award almost seems like it was made for the film, given the journey it takes audiences on through the true stories of five individuals whom the filmmakers describe as “justice involved” as teens. The film dives into the lives of Shimaine Holley from Georgia; Ja’Vaune Jackson from Springfield, Missouri; Romeo Gonzalez from Brooklyn, New York; Ariel Cortez from California; and Michael Dammerich from rural Missouri, as they share their stories and reflect on the many factors that contributed to becoming enmeshed in the juvenile justice and foster care system. Each of the subjects comes from different backgrounds, both geographically and demographically.
However, as the filmmakers note, “as their individual narratives unfold in the film, a cohesive narrative emerges of the broken promises of our juvenile system across all American communities.” The project began in 2017 as part of the National Juvenile Defender Center’s Gault at 50 campaign, which celebrated the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision In re Gault that gave people under the age of 18 the right to due process in the legal system. Shortly after, it was announced that the Shelby County Public Defender’s office would be required to offer juvenile defender service. Selvidge was inspired to create a series of short films through her nonprofit, True Stories Pictures, which shines a spotlight on the experience of juvenile defendants in Shelby County. One of those films, “Viola,” won awards at both the Indie Memphis and Oxford Film Festival. After completing these shorts, Selvidge
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Shimaine Holley in Juvenile: 5 Stories and Fleming knew they wanted to expand their project to feature young people from across the country to show where “transformational change was happening.” The initial goal was to expose people in Memphis and elsewhere to new ideas that were being developed in the juvenile justice system. Selvidge explains that they began
developing networks through people on X (formerly Twitter) who were doing work within youth justice. They connected with people across the country including New York, Chicago, and St. Louis through advocacy organizations, youth defender organizations, and more. One of the most profound components of the film is hearing the stories told by the people who experienced the inequities of the system first-hand. According to Selvidge, this was intentional. During production, the filmmakers conducted on-camera interviews with academics who study the subject and other experts in juvenile justice. But those interviews, while informative, were eventually relegated to appear on the project’s website. The film is filled with stats and facts, but the bulk of the information is imparted by the real experts — those who experienced incarceration and emerged to tell their stories. “We wanted to focus
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FILM By Kailynn Johnson ready to take action, to partner with young people to change the system. Even those who feel they are not directly impacted by the juvenile justice system need to take note, Selvidge says, because their tax payments “enable these systems to thrive. … I think about the ways in which people, who aren’t thinking of themselves as being directly impacted, are indirectly impacting the lives of these children by the choices that they make with the ballot box, and the ways that their elected leaders are using their funds to sustain these types of systems that are doing real harm to our young people and their families.” Juvenile: 5 Stories premieres Friday, October 27th, at Playhouse on the Square as part of the Indie Memphis Film Festival and streams on Eventive, October 24th-29th, as part of the virtual festival.
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on the young people who’ve had these experiences as the experts on the system, and learn from them the different ways their experiences can teach us how to not make mistakes with current and future generations of young people who are being harmfully treated by the system,” Selvidge says. Shimaine Holley says sharing her story was not easy, but it’s what she does. And she wanted to tell it as bluntly as possible. “Because this was a film documentary, I did want to be very cutthroat, so they’ll know what actually went on. I feel like it was needed for this specific space because of the audiences we knew that we were probably going to attract.” When thinking about the intended audience for the film, Selvidge says they wanted it to be seen by people who are
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T H E L A S T WO R D B y Fr a n k M u r t a u g h
Dear Mr. Mayor
A memorable Memphis mayor will battle that apathy every day he serves in office.
THE LAST WORD
I have a single wish for newly elected Memphis mayor Paul Young, and it’s a big one. I hope Paul Young becomes the most memorable mayor in Memphis history. Let’s not call Young’s election a mandate. Not by a long shot. In a city with a population of more than 630,000 people, a paltry 24,408 voters decided this town’s new CEO. That’s 4 percent of the citizenry firmly behind you, Mr. Young. Now get to it, and make 100 percent of us happy. I’ve yet to meet Paul Young, but from what I hear and read, he’s been a capable leader at the Downtown Memphis Commission. Most importantly, he wants to lead on a larger scale and is young enough (44) to map out a long-term, big-picture agenda that can lift this city and region at a time when we need lifting. Where to begin? I’ve got three recommendations, Mr. Mayor-elect. Start with the first of what will be an annual summit of Memphis clergy. Make it a two-day gathering of leaders from every church, synagogue, mosque, and temple in the city. And make it mandatory. (If a faith organization chooses not to attend, it will be made conspicuously absent with a publicly shared list of attendees. If you have nothing to say at this summit, it’s important that you hear what is said.) Why is such a gathering so important? There may be no time of the week taken more seriously by more Memphians than Sunday morning. And there’s certainly no more segregated time of the week in Memphis than Sunday morning. For at least two days, let’s ask leaders to share their thoughts, priorities, concerns, and, yes, wishes with their peers from different worship groups. And this is where the magic will happen: We’ll discover, I’m convinced, that most thoughts, priorities, concerns, and wishes are parallel to one PHOTO: BRANDON DILL | MLK50 another, guided by the same proverbial North Star. Paul Young We also need a summit of educators. (Maybe three days for this one.) If Sunday morning is uncomfortably segregated in this town, so are our children, public schools being predominantly Black and private schools predominantly white, and for more than two generations now. We simply have to make smarter efforts at blending Memphis youth, particularly across economic gaps that often feel too vast to bridge. If crime (read: guns) is a weight on the shoulders of this community, educators must be part of the solution. What kind of programs — involving both public- and private-school communities — can reduce the pull of street life and the desperation of poverty? We have too many bright people of impact in too many institutions of learning for there not be some worthy ideas we’ve yet to consider. Again, attendance is mandatory. We need every Memphis school rowing the same direction. Follow these summits, Mr. Mayor-elect, with a sit-down in which you share what was learned with the Memphis Police Department. This won’t take two or three days, as it will be a time to tell (as opposed to ask) law enforcement how they can serve the community better. Because I promise you, the MPD will be among those thoughts and priorities for both clergy and educators. Why do only 85,000 Memphis voters take the time to choose the city’s new mayor? Because apathy seeps. The feeling that a single vote won’t make a difference as crime numbers rise is a form of communal cancer. And a memorable Memphis mayor will battle that apathy every day he serves in office. I interviewed Kerry Kennedy a few weeks ago. The daughter of Robert F. Kennedy is a 2023 Freedom Award honoree, a personification of the National Civil Rights Museum’s global mission. To gain ground in the fight for human rights requires the collaboration of myriad agencies (public and private) and human beings. It’s a reasonable starting point — collaboration — for a city like Memphis, and would be the kind of priority that makes a city leader unforgettable. In all the right ways. Frank Murtaugh is the managing editor of Memphis magazine. He writes the columns “From My Seat” and “Tiger Blue” for the Flyer.
m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m
A few gentle suggestions for the city’s new CEO.
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