Memphis Flyer 02/02/2023

NEXT LEVEL BENEFITS ARE HERE

SHARA CLARK

Editor

SAMUEL X. CICCI

Managing Editor

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MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS

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ABIGAIL MORICI

Arts and Culture Editor

GENE GARD, EMILY GUENTHER, COCO JUNE, FRANK MURTAUGH, IZZY WOLLFARTH

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Grizzlies Reporters

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OUR 1774TH ISSUE 02.23.23

e caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.

— Maya Angelou

I recently stopped at Petco to pick up some treats for my three pups. I usually go straight to the shelf, grab the package, and head right to the checkout counter. But on this particular day, I was called, quite literally, to the other side of the store.

As the doors swung open, the cheeps and chirps of the birds kept in the corner hit my ears, and, as if pulled by some homing device, I oated over to them. Normally, I steer clear of that area; seeing the feathered beauties behind bars brings me down. How many of them make their way to new homes? How many spend their entire existence under harsh uorescents in the back of a pet shop? And even if they’re bought, they’re forever in captivity. It just doesn’t sit well with me.

Anyhow, I was particularly drawn to the parakeets, their vibrant blues and greens and yellows, lovely creatures — like paintings come to life. As I stood simultaneously admiring and mourning them, an older gentleman walked up. “ ey’re beautiful, aren’t they?” he asked. I agreed, of course. He started telling me about his new puppy. How he works long hours and wishes he could make more time for it. How cute and u y and rambunctious it is. How he came to get some ea powder, but gured it’d probably be expensive, like everything else these days. He didn’t say so, but I sensed his loneliness, his urge to speak to a stranger in Petco just to make a small connection. We pointed out which birds were our favorites. e pale peach one, the one with the bright teal hue — we’d never even seen such rich color before. We agreed it was sad to see them there, perched in a line like unpicked fruit, yet living, breathing, stretching out their wings with nowhere to go. Before we parted, he said, “What’s that saying about the caged bird? It makes you think, if they can still sing like this, what are we worried about?”

All in all, it was maybe a four- or ve-minute encounter, but it le me with a warm, fuzzy feeling. Because amid all the noise in the news — from underground (the Earth’s core may have reversed rotation; what does it mean?), outer space (a solar polar vortex; is that a big deal?), nearer skies (spy balloons and UFOs), the nation (the toxic train derailment in Ohio), the city (another shooting spree last weekend; a separate shooting which claimed the life of a local beloved bartender) — the impression is that there’s a lot we could worry about. And that’s just scratching the surface. It’s enough to make you feel boxed in, caged without much reason to sing.

NEWS & OPINION

THE FLY-BY - 4

POLITICS - 8

FINANCE - 9

AT LARGE - 10

COVER STORY

e curious part of that brief meeting was that a er we talked, I made my way to the treats and then got in line to pay, but that nice gentleman who’d come for ea meds didn’t get anything at all. He walked away from the birds, and instead of browsing the aisles, went straight for the door. Maybe he forgot his wallet. Perhaps he changed his mind. Or maybe he got exactly what he was looking for: a moment of human connection, however eeting; a small escape from his own lonesome cage.

“SLICE, SLICE, BABY” BY FLYER STAFF - 12

WE RECOMMEND - 16

MUSIC - 17

AFTER DARK - 18

CALENDAR - 19

NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 20

FOOD - 24

METAPHYSICAL CONNECTION - 25

NEWS OF THE WEIRD - 26

ASTROLOGY - 27

FILM - 28

CLASSIFIEDS - 30

LAST WORD - 31

We are all tired, weary of the worry. Not unlike those birds, wings clipped, clustered in cages built by the world, our government, our own minds — longing for freedom.

Consider, though, that the cage door is open. You’re not alone in this lonesome mess. We need only to sing — and y.

Shara Clark shara@memphis yer.com

PHOTO: PAVAN ADEPU | UNSPLASH e cage door is open.

THE fly-by

ernet

Memphis on the internet. WHETHER TO WEATHER

e National Weather Service of Memphis stunned weather watchers last week with the most accurate forecast ever to be forecasted. “Weather,” tweeted the agency.

e tweet racked up nearly 124,000 views. It also attracted comedian commenters like WMC-TV meteorologist Erin omas who wrote, “Big, if true.”

Questions, Answers + Attitude

Edited by Toby Sells

By Toby Sells

Bud Control

A new state law would change the way you buy cannabis.

Anxiety ripples through the Tennessee cannabis industry when state lawmakers get involved, but a new bill this year could put the business on more solid footing here, leaders said.

Industry opposition lined up against a bill during last year’s session of the Tennessee General Assembly. at bill threatened to ban all hemp-derived THC products like Delta 8 gummies if they contained more than 0.3 percent of THC on a dry weight basis, which was (and is) already the federal legal limit for such products.

e Damn Weather of Memphis (DWM) on Facebook watched a big storm roll in last week. e account predicts weather the best it can but always hilariously hedges.

Of that storm last week, DWM said, “Some model guidance suggests these isolated cells start popping up as early as 11ish and as late as 3ish, with the accuracy of a drunk dart player at your local TJ Mulligans.”

Lawmakers explained that the bill was really an e ort to regulate these products in Tennessee. At the time, they described a marketplace with no limits on THC in products and no packaging requirements to alert consumers.

A bill led this year will do just this. Cannabis professionals said they worked with lawmakers on the regulations and believe it “will sustain a safe, legal marketplace for these products well into the future,” according to a blog post by Cultivate Tennessee, a hemp advocacy group.

e new framework does not rede ne hemp. It does not ban any products. It does not change how hemp professionals get licenses to grow or sell hemp here.

e bill sets the buying age to 21. It outlaws driving vehicles under the in uence of cannabis. It also adds a 5 percent privilege tax on product sales on top of local and state taxes.

on products. ey’ll see child-resistant packaging updates on products and clearly stated potency.

“ ey’ll notice a di erent dosage. So, there would no longer be edibles that are over 25 milligrams per serving.”

Meticulous testing of products has always been a foundation for Gold Spectrum CBD, an East Tennessee company that grows cannabis, makes products, and sells it online and at its franchise retail stores called the Smoky Grass Station. Company founder Zack Green said the new bill would up restrictions and require everything to be registered with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, something not done now. e move could help remove some y-by-night operators in the space, he said.

“ ere’s a lot of people that have gotten into this industry because they think of it as the ‘Green Rush,’ the next Gold Rush,” Green said. “ ey’re trying to quickly make a dollar and get out. … ey try to cut costs and do everything as cheaply as possible and are not as quality conscious as we would like for them to be.”

Ty Carpenter tweeted some nightmare fuel out of Eads last week. He said lightning struck a tree there, which caused a gas line underneath the tree to catch re.

e bill limits the amount of THC in a product to 25 milligrams. It also mandates all products available for sale in Tennessee to be tested a er being manufactured for cannabinoids and any toxic materials.

“[Consumers] are going to notice that products are most likely going to be behind the counter and having to show an ID to purchase,” said Devin Aracena, co-owner of Canvast, a Nashville-based cannabis company, and co-chair of Cultivate Tennessee. “ ey’re going to notice a lot of packaging updates

Cheaper oils in the marketplace might have pesticides in them, he said, and might not be backed with certi cates showing they’ve been properly analyzed. Some of the facilities might not be accredited or inspected by a lab certi ed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Doing all of this is expensive, Green said, and some companies operating in Tennessee are “ ying under the radar.” Without taking the necessary steps, it could put consumers at risk.

Aracena said the bill is a “great rst step,” especially to create trust between the industry and lawmakers.

would be behind the counter in child-safe packaging and capped at 25 milligrams THC.

PHOTO: VICTOR MOUSSA | DREAMSTIME.COM

e bill would set the buying age to 21, prohibit driving on THC, add a 5 percent privilege tax on products, and require higher safety standards for products.

TWO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

CITY REPORTER

By Kailynn Johnson

Cafe Noir

PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSE CARRY NARCAN

Anew Black-owned bookstore focusing on books written by BIPOC and LGBTQ authors will soon be opening in Memphis.

Cafe Noir originally started as an online bookstore founded by Jasmine Settles. Settles recently raised enough money for a brick-and-mortar location that is slated to open in the summer of 2023.

In recent years, there has been more attention brought to Black-owned bookstores in the United States, as more began to open. According to research compiled by WordsRated, as of 2023 there are an estimated 149 bookstores in America that are Black-owned. WordsRated said that this number has increased from pre-pandemic gures, but these bookstores only make up 6 percent of all independently owned bookstores in the United States.

“When I envisioned Cafe Noir, I always envisioned it as a space that you come to,” said Settles. “A space where you could kind of delve into these Black works. I also kind of wanted to create a safe space for folks in the community who might not feel accounted for in other spaces. I always saw it as a refuge.”

Physical bookstores are vital for community engagement and development, said Settles. “Only so much can happen in law o ces and political spaces. I think when it comes to the people, they need a place where they can feel safe and feel seen.”

Settles touts many titles as a native Memphian and a bibliophile. However, her identity as a Black woman plays an important role in her decision to provide such a speci c selection on her shelves.

Settles attributes her love of reading to her grandmother, who gave her an introduction to literature, focusing on the work of Shakespeare, world-building, and the importance of reading.

“As I got older, I didn’t do as much reading, but I still did reading here and there,” Settles said. “From there it kind of grew, and I went to college. I ended up kind of losing track because I went to college, played basketball, and that took up most of my time, so I didn’t really have that much time to devote to reading.”

Once Settles received her bachelor’s degree, she decided to go on and get her master’s. She said she got to pursue something that she always wanted, which was studying English and literature.

A er enrolling at the University of Memphis, Settles took a course in African-American women’s speculative ction writers, which she credits as the most “life-changing class of her life.”

“I think being introduced to so many Black women’s work … but not only just their work, you get to watch them world-build, grapple with societal questions. You get to see a lot more protagonist characters that are Black women.

So it kind of just felt good overall, and I was like, ‘Wow I’ve never heard of these authors. I feel like that’s a shame. I feel like I’ve been shorted. I wish I would have known of these authors when I was younger.’”

With this in mind, Settles said she began to think she should open a bookstore. She wanted to highlight and amplify the voices that were excluded from the curriculum she was taught in her formative years, and felt that including marginalized voices was also a step toward liberation.

“None of us are free until all of us are free,” said Settles. “ e only way liberation can happen is if we give space where everyone can be liberated.”

Photo Credit: Jeanine Michna-Bales, Capacity 105 , 2013

PHOTO: JASMINE SETTLES Cafe Noir is expected to open this summer.

A new Black-owned bookstore will o er customers a place “where they can feel safe and feel seen.”

Giving It Another Try

Former council members will be seeking a return to o ce. Plus: Carlisle’s PAC.

One of the bestknown lines in American literature was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who famously opined, “ ere are no second acts in American lives.”

Well, there are. And one of those lives belongs to former City Councilman Philip Spinosa, who — a er a stint with the Chairman’s Circle of the Greater Memphis Chamber and another spell with Prestigious Logistics, a company he founded — intends to run again for the council, presumably in District 5.

As a council member representing District 9-2 from 2015 to 2019, Spinosa concerned himself with issues of economic growth and crime and sponsored such legislation as the Neighborhood Sentinel Program, which established surveillance cameras in various neighborhoods and proved so crucial in the ongoing case involving the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of a police unit.

In addition to his prior service, Spinosa has the kind of economic connections that would ensure more than adequate nancing for his campaign — a fact which will not be lost on potential opponents, who at the moment include well-known activist Meggan Wurzburg Kiel and restaurateur Nick Scott. Others known to be considering a race in District 5 include Anna Vergos Blair, daughter of former councilman and restaurateur John Vergos, and activist/ entrepreneur John Marek.

Marek, who is also considering a race for Position 1 in Super-District 9, professes exasperation with the city council’s continuing delay in determining district lines for the forthcoming city election. Some of that hesitation apparently has to do with the view of some members that a 1990s judicial consent decree requires a charter amendment for certain outcomes, including one calling for single-member districts exclusively.

(At present, seven council positions

are elected by a single district, and another six are elected in Memphis’ two “super districts,” each comprising approximately half the city’s population. Runo s are permitted in the single districts, but not in the super districts.)

Two other former council members are apparently going to attempt returns to the city’s legislative body. Berlin Boyd, who served in District 7 and lost a runo in 2019 to current seat-holder Michalyn Easter- omas, is considering a run for the Super District 8-3 seat being vacated by the term-limited Martavius Jones. And Scott McCormick, who represented Super District 9-1 in the rst decade of this century, contemplates a race for District 2, now represented by mayoral contender Frank Colvett.

• Developer Chance Carlisle, whose brother Chase represents Council District 9-1, had strongly considered a race for mayor before deciding against it, but he still intends to have a major in uence on public policy. His instrument for doing so will be via the medium of a soon-to-becreated political action committee (PAC).

Still to be named, the PAC will have a strong pro-business slant, said Carlisle, who recently was at loggerheads with city government over Mayor Jim Strickland’s reluctance to support further public nancing for a proposed grand hotel on the riverfront.

e new PAC will support candidates in this year’s city election and will avoid any kind of partisan in ection, said Carlisle, who acknowledged that the recent announcement for mayor by Councilman Colvett, a well-known Republican, was a factor in his own decision not to run for mayor. at, plus another candidacy by former Mayor Willie Herenton, also recently announced, had the e ect of creating possible cleavages in the electorate, said Carlisle.

“ is election shouldn’t be about either political party or race,” said Carlisle, who stressed that a ordable housing and better mass transit were two of the city’s most important unmet needs.

POLITICS By Jackson Baker

PHOTO: JUAN MOYANO | DREAMSTIME.COM

FINANCE By Gene Gard

Behavioral Finance

Should you pay it off?

In personal finance, the numbers almost always suggest a single correct answer. Economics used to focus on “Economic Person,” a hypothetical being who would make the best financial choice based on numbers only. The field of behavioral economics has risen to prominence because we’ve learned we’re mostly nothing like an Economic Person, and regular people frequently make choices that are far from financially optimal.

Imagine you receive a windfall, which isn’t allocated to your financial life in any way. Then imagine you have one loan outstanding, with a payoff amount equal to the windfall. We’ll say for simplicity that it was a $6,000 check and your loan is at 5 percent interest with $500 payments and a year remaining on the loan, but feel free to scale these numbers up or down to a value meaningful for you. The question is, should you pay off that loan or not?

One school of thought would suggest immediately paying it off. The money is unexpected, and you could reduce your monthly outlays by $500 instantly. This would create more monthly net cash flow and reduce risk in case of a job loss or other unexpected event. And you would avoid the interest for the remaining life of the loan. Paying off debt is probably never incorrect, if for no other reason than peace of mind. There’s an old saying that it’s impossible to be bankrupt without debt, and there is a huge emotional dividend from being debt-free that can be a goal in itself. For example, we can show in our modeling that it almost never is likely to make long-term sense financially to pay off a mortgage early, but we will encourage you to do so if the peace of mind you experience exceeds the slight financial benefit of making the absolute optimal choice.

Economic Person might look at the long-term performance of investment portfolios and the expected returns based on current circumstances and say it is foolish to pay off the loan today. They would invest the windfall in their financial portfolio, pay the loan off on schedule as planned, and expect to be financially better off. Economic Person would even understand that the market might be flat or fall over the next year, yet be confident they made the best choice given the information and never have a second thought if they did not quite achieve the 5 percent break-even return. That is what I would do, but only because I have been hardened from years of watching the markets and truly believe in time in the market vs. timing the market in the long run.

We’ve talked about Economic Person,

but what would happen to a typical “Regular Person” in this scenario? If Regular Person did not pay off the loan immediately, they would probably put the funds aside. They may splurge on something with some of the “found money.” They would think about investing the windfall, but probably decide it’s not the best time to put money in the market and that they should wait for ever-elusive certainty to get invested. Without realizing, they’ll probably spend the money with not much to show for it. Maybe it’s okay to splurge with it, but we believe it is far better to make financial decisions intentionally.

It would be great if you like the Economic Person approach to the windfall, but if you are likely to behave like Regular Person, perhaps you should pay off your debt immediately instead.

If you identify too closely with Regular Person, you might go full circle and be better off not paying down your debt at all! For example, if you have a credit card nearly maxed out that you will likely max out again, you perhaps should leave it maxed out and consider the interest a tax on your mindset until you can truly shift your perspective. If you would see the extra monthly cash flow from paying off your car and get the itch to buy a brandnew car, then maybe keep the payment and focus on investing in your managed portfolio (and leaving it there!).

In today’s world, we have all the information we could possibly need to make good financial choices, be healthy, and accomplish anything we can imagine, but we have an execution problem. Regular Person is not maxing out their retirement contributions, eating kale, and learning to be a concert pianist on YouTube. Regular person is sitting on the couch, watching Netflix, and probably not making the best financial decisions (or making very many deliberate decisions at all).

It is okay to not be perfect. We all have a little bit of Economic Person and Regular Person within us. What is important when it comes to your financial future is that you understand yourself and where you fall on the spectrum and work to make the best choices — not in an absolute sense, but the best choices for you.

Gene Gard, CFA, CFP, CFT-I, is Chief Investment Officer at Telarray, a Memphisbased wealth management firm that helps families navigate investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions. Ask him your questions or schedule an objective, no-pressure portfolio review at letstalk@ telarrayadvisors.com. Sign up for the next free online seminar on the Events tab at telarrayadvisors.com.

AT

By Bruce VanWyngarden

Free Speech?

Y

ou’re likely to be hearing a lot more about the landmark Supreme Court decision New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in the coming weeks.

is is the seminal case upon which our nation’s libel law has been adjudicated since 1964.

e case involved an appeal by the Times against L.B. Sullivan, a commissioner of the city of Montgomery, Alabama, who had sued the Times and “four individual petitioners, who are Negros and Alabama clergymen,” based on the claim that an ad taken out in the Times by the defendants made false accusations and that he was entitled to libel damages.

e Alabama Supreme Court had ruled in Sullivan’s favor. e U.S. Supreme Court, however, overruled the state’s decision on the grounds that “mere negligence or carelessness is not evidence of actual malice or malice in fact,” and determined that the First Amendment requires the plainti show that the defendant knew that a statement was false or was reckless in deciding to publish the information without investigating whether it was accurate.

In recent years, conservatives, including former President Donald Trump have railed against the Times v. Sullivan decision, claiming it grants media outlets permission to publish false narratives under the protection of the defendant having to prove evidence of malice or intention. Here’s Trump in 2016: “I want to open up our libel laws so when the New York Times and Washington Post write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”

e voting machine company, Dominion, is suing Fox for $1.6 billion for promoting fabrications about it regarding the 2020 presidential election. e case will likely turn on the court’s interpretation of Times v. Sullivan and whether Fox knew its hosts’ promotion of lies by election-deniers such as Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and others were false.

Turns out, they did. Shocker, I know. In a court document released last week, Dominion claimed that “literally dozens of people with editorial responsibility — from the top of the organization to the producers of speci c shows to the hosts themselves — acted with actual malice.” And the company had receipts, dozens of pages of them.

Here’s a sample email exchange between hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham:

Carlson: “Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane.”

Ingraham “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy.”

ere are dozens more examples of internal communications between Fox News hosts, including Trump acolyte Sean Hannity, disparaging the false claims against Dominion. Here are a few other samples of various hosts’ descriptors of their nightly guests: “Ludicrous.” “O the rails.” “Fucking lunatics.” “Complete bullshit.”

Sean Hannity

In 2019, Justice Clarence omas further stirred the kettle, writing: “ e New York Times v. Sullivan and the court’s decisions extending it were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law.”

And just last week, not to be outdone by anyone in his ongoing choke-the-woke agenda, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis upped his attacks on the “le ist mainstream media,” saying he would push to loosen Florida’s libel laws: “I’d say these companies are probably the leading purveyors of disinformation in our entire society right now.”

Here’s some free advice for these folks: Be careful what you wish for. Libel reform cuts both ways, as Fox News is now nding out the hard way.

Yet, the election-deniers were put on the air night a er night and allowed to pump their duplicitous bilge without pushback. Most troubling for Fox is that the network’s knowing duplicity extended all the way to the top. Dominion’s ling includes records of Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch calling the voter-fraud claims “really crazy stu ,” among other things.

But the “really crazy stu ” went on the air in prime time for weeks, duping millions of Fox News viewers into believing the “Big Lie” that Dominion’s machines had altered millions of votes and helped steal the 2020 election for Joe Biden.

“Fox knew,” the Dominion ling declares. “From the top down, Fox knew.”

Fox News responded: “ e core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights a orded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan.”

Good luck with that. And you might want to give ol’ Clarence a call.

PHOTO: THE WHITE HOUSE | PUBLIC DOMAIN | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

SLICE, SLICE, BABY

By Flyer staff

When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore. It’s true that a good pizza, fresh out the oven, is akin to that warm, fuzzy feeling of love, but there’s no need to take one to the face to enjoy Italy’s culinary magnum opus. Memphis has long been cultivating its approach to the pizza game, with restaurants showing o their take on New York-style, to Chicagostyle, to Blu City-style (we’re always down for a barbecue chicken pizza).

For our 2023 pizza issue, we sent our intrepid reporters across the city to try out 10 di erent pizza joints. eir conclusion? Any way you slice it, Memphis’ pizza game is going strong.

Slim & Husky’s – P.R.E.A.M.

If you o en think to yourself that “Pizza Rules Everything Around Me,” then you’re ready for Slim & Husky’s P.R.E.A.M.

e artisanal pie’s highlight is a splendid white sauce along with the S+H cheese blend on top of a perfectly prepared and crunchy thin crust. It’s festooned with spinach, pepperoni, pulled Italian sausage, mushrooms, and red onions.

As the onion bits were sparse and the mushrooms merely present, it was up to the other elements to carry the day. e sausage was particularly good, with a distinctive avor, and the spinach and pepperoni rounded out the appeal of the dish.

e elongated pie is cut into squarish shapes and invites the hungry diner to dig in. If you eat inside, the atmosphere is welcoming, with soul music in the air and delightful artwork of luminaries such as Aretha Franklin and Isaac Hayes on the walls.

e sta is friendly and helpful, and it’s clear a lot of thought has gone into mak-

ing dishes that go far beyond the standard o erings of the big chains. Nashville-based Slim & Husky’s is also a chain, but you’ll feel right at home chowing down on a well-made pizza. — Jon W. Sparks Slim & Husky’s, 634 Union Ave., slimandhuskys.com

Little Italy – Grandma’s Pizza

Remember the pizza they served in elementary school? It was square because it baked on the cookie sheets the school kitchen already had. It was not great (or even good) by normal pizza standards, but it was the pinnacle of school kitchen culinary creation. Maybe, if you’re lucky, your grandma tried to recreate that magic at home with a scratch-made crust and an assist from Chef Boyardee.

Imagine that pizza made by a real pizzeria. at’s the Grandma’s Pizza at Little Italy.

“It’s a New York thing,” says owner Giovanni Caravello. “Somebody’s grandma used to make it like that. It’s a lot more popular up there than it is down here. If you tell people from the North it’s a Grandma’s pizza, they know what it is.”

On the menu, it’s listed as thin crust,

PHOTO: ABIGAIL MORICI Blobby chows down on le overs.

PHOTO: DAWID JÃ3źWIAK | DREAMSTIME.COM

Stop, collaborate, and listen. The Flyer’s back with its pizza edition.

With dogged determination, we hunted down 10 pizza joints serving tasty slices.

but in practice, the Grandma rises a bit more than the standard thin crust. It comes basic with fresh mozzarella patches and exposed sauce, but it’s substantial enough to load on the toppings, if that’s what you’re into.

Another good thing: It has more crust (thanks, geometry!). And if you ask for it to be cut in smaller pieces, it can be good nger food for a party.

Little Italy opened in Midtown in 2004 and recently expanded Downtown. And a third location is expected to open in early April to spread Grandma’s comfort to East Memphis. — Chris McCoy

Little Italy, 1495 Union Ave., 106 GE Patterson Ave., littleitalypizzamemphis.com

Slice of Soul Pizza Lounge – Al B. Green

When I rst glanced at the menu at Slice of Soul Pizza Lounge, located at 1299 Madison Avenue, an instant feeling of FOMO fell upon me. I was bitten by the “New Year, New Me” bug, and this trickled down to my eating choices. ere were so many appetizing options, with Memphis-themed names, such as the “Pyramid Parmesan Chicken” and the signature Bellevue loaded potato, that made my decision to settle for the vegetable pizza even harder. However, as I took a bite of the seven-inch Al B. Green slice, I realized I was far from settling.

According to Anthony Latiker, the owner of Slice of Soul, the Al B. Green is one of the most popular options, and it’s no surprise. Latiker explained that it can be hard to describe the style of their pizza, as it’s simply their own take on a classic food item.

e slice consisted of “obese deliciousness of spinach, black olives, green olives, mushrooms, onions, roasted red peppers, green bell peppers, and banana peppers.” Not only did this huge portion provide me with a lling dinner, but the presentation provided an aesthetic worthy of the “phone eats rst narrative.”

— Kailynn Johnson

Slice of Soul Pizza Lounge, 1299 Madison Ave., sospizzalounge.com

Dino’s Grill – Cheese Pizza

In 2018, at my rst visit to Dino’s Grill, I fell in love, not with my date sat across from me for my freshman year sorority formal — the one who didn’t know how to properly punctuate contractions and who didn’t take kindly to constructive criticism. Oh no, I fell in love with the plate of spaghetti with marinara before me. And while my standards for choosing a formal date were

low, my standards for spaghetti with marinara have always been high. And let’s just say Dino’s is now my new standard. It’s my favorite thing in all of Memphis. Seriously. And so as my deadline for this pizza issue loomed ahead of me, I dreaded ordering anything but spaghetti at Dino’s. How could I betray my love? And yet I did. For the sake of journalism. I ordered a cheese

I fear that the next time I go to Dino’s, instead of immediately ordering my go-to pasta, I’ll have to make a decision between pasta and pizza. Lord, help me.

— Abigail Morici

Dino’s Grill, 645 N. McLean Blvd., dinosgrill.com

Tamboli’s Pizza & Pasta – Cacio e Pepe

Tamboli’s Cacio e Pepe is an extraordinary and unusual pizza — and well worth a trip to the funky and delightful mother-ship restaurant on Madison Avenue.

pizza. And hot damn, have I been missing out! e pizza comes with Dino’s signature marinara, the marinara I already love, and the pizza crust is thin just like my grandpa would’ve made it. How could I not love it? It’s simply delicious, and I had to withhold myself from eating all eight slices. Now,

Cacio e Pepe is built on the premise that a pizza with courage and ambition can forge its own path, forgoing such conventional building blocks as red sauce, tomatoes, meat, or, you know, vegetables and stu . is is a pizza with heart — and lots of chewy and spicy goodness that will win you over.

is is a pizza that begins its climb to greatness with a whipped ricotta cheese base which is topped by a thick, gooey layer of mozzarella, some edgy pecorino Romano, freshly cracked black pepper, and the piece de resistance — white

PHOTOS (ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT): CHRIS MCCOY Little Italy; KAILYNN JOHNSON Slice of Soul; ABIGAIL MORICI Dino’s Grill

PHOTOS (BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT): JON W. SPARKS Slim & Husky’s; IZZY WOLLFARTH Memphis Pizza Café continued on page 14

PHOTO: TAMBOLI’S PIZZA & PASTA Tamboli’s Pizza & Pasta

continued from page 13

tru e oil. Get back, y’all!

Let’s be real, here: is is basically a mixed-cheese dance party that’s ovenbaked and wood- red on top of Tamboli’s wonderful house-made dough.

e pepper and tru e oil merely serve to elevate it to bliss level.

Pro Tip: Cacio e Pepe pairs beautifully with Tamboli’s Caesar Salad, which also features Pecorino Romano, plus toasted pine nuts with house-made dressing.

— Bruce VanWyngarden

Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza, 1761 Madison Ave., tambolis.com

Memphis Pizza Café – Bu alo

Chicken Pizza

Memphis Pizza Café has built its reputation on being one of the few pizza places that has mastered perfectly crispy and thin crust. But achieving that perfect crust harmony isn’t the only thing Memphis Pizza Café is famous for. What elevates this pizza joint is the balance of unique avors found in every variation of pizza. Whether this is through their traditional subs, calzones, or cheese sticks lling bellies during happy hour (Monday-Friday, 4-6 p.m.), there is not one place where avor is lost. And one

of the most popular avors is their Bu alo Chicken Pizza.

Taking a bite of their Bu alo Chicken Pizza will have diners begging for more.

e secret of these avors can be found in their marinated chicken tossed with mozzarella and cheddar on an olive oil-based pizza served with Frank’s special sauce and ranch dressing. While the contents of Frank’s sauce might not be known to us yet, our hunger for more will soon reveal the truth.

— Izzy Wollfarth

Memphis Pizza Café, multiple locations, memphispizzacafe.com

Boscos Squared – Palermo

Walking into Boscos on Overton Square, I feel a bit of nostalgia. Not only were they the rst brew pub in Tennessee when they opened their Germantown location in 1992, they had the rst wood- red oven in the city. Pizza and beer are a sublime combination, and Boscos perfected both a long time ago. More than 30 years later, how well I remember the rst wood- red pizza I had there: It was a revelation.

I’m happy to report that Boscos hasn’t lost their touch. e only di erence is that now you can see your pie being made

PHOTOS (ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT): MICHAEL DONAHUE Izzy & Adam’s; SAMUEL X. CICCI Silly Goose

PHOTOS (BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT): ALEX GREENE Boscos Squared; WISEACRE Little Bettie’s Pizza & Snacks

at the pizza bar. Ordering a Palermo, I settle in to watch Chef Ashley roll out the crust, trim the edges, and apply the sauce, cheese, and other toppings. Then she slides it into the roaring heat of the woodfired oven behind her. What emerges is transformed. The hard wheat crust rises ever so slightly, taking on an airy crunch, while the sauce tastes as fresh as farmers market tomatoes. The pepperoni and sausage crisp up nicely, but it’s the succulent portobello mushrooms that really make this pizza. Add a pint of Boscos’ own Famous Flaming Stone steinbier, and there you have it: a classic pairing done right, withstanding the test of time.

— Alex Greene Boscos Squared, 2120 Madison Ave., boscosbeer.com

Izzy & Adam’s – Chicago Dude

I invited singer-songwriters Dylan Dunn and Ava Carrington to try a deep-dish pizza from Izzy & Adams.

Only one slice of the 14-inch Chicago Dude pizza was left when we finished. Dunn took that slice with him in a to-go box to a band rehearsal. The pizza, obviously, was a hit. “It’s the best pizza I’ve ever eaten,” he says.

Carrington, who doesn’t like pizza, loved the Izzy & Adam’s pizza we tried. The Chicago Dude, which includes pepperoni, onion, garlic, and giardiniera pepper mix, is so mouth-wateringly

delicious. It’s dense, thick, and so full of flavor. It’s one of six speciality pizzas from Izzy & Adam’s.

Owner Ryan Long, who named the restaurant after his sons Isaac and Adam, describes the two-inch-or-so deep-dish pizza as a “cheese lover’s pizza.”

As Long told me in an earlier interview, “There’s a lot of cheese on it. It’s kind of a different pizza. There’s more filling. And it’s just unique to Chicago because it was invented there.”

With deep dish, “you put ingredients on the bottom, then the cheese, and the sauce goes on top of it all. And it’s garnished with Romano cheese and Parmesan.”

They use raw Italian sausage on their deep dish, as well as their thin-crust pizzas, Long told me. “We put on quarter-size pieces and it cooks in the oven. The grease from that pork gets released into the sauce. That’s what makes it damn good.”

Long knows whereof he speaks. He grew up in Rolling Meadows in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago.

— Michael Donahue

Izzy & Adam’s, 6343 Summer Ave., Suite 110

Silly Goose – Farm Daddy

So many bars turned to pizza as their solution to the Covid-induced financial and operating woes. I was surprised as anyone several years ago when I discovered that Downtown’s Silly Goose — a bar/lounge

where I’d before unwittingly stumbled into a sleazy-esque late-night poker tournament and had several shots bought for us by a blackout patron dressed as Woody from Toy Story — had reemerged as a gourmet pizza destination. (Don’t worry, it’s still a late-night hot spot.)

I posted up at the bar and ordered a Farm Daddy, which brought the farm-fresh tastes directly to my seat with a bevy of ingredients: scallions, mushrooms, smoked bacon, wood-fire baked chicken, mozzarella, and Parmesan tossed in a house-made roasted garlic cream sauce. Silly Goose’s pizzas are the perfect bar snack, enough heft to stave off that impending hangover, but just light enough to avoid feeling stuffed while downing beers at the bar.

As a bonus, it turned out I’d stumbled into Silly Goose during its Thursday “2 for $20” pizza deal, so I also snagged The Roni, their take on a classic pepperoni pizza with Grana Padano, mozzarella, and marinara sauce. All in all, it was a pretty good deal, and I think these pizzas make for a perfect late-night snack. And it’s easy to enjoy them in Silly Goose’s lounge area, combining the ski lodge aesthetic of rustic stacked log pillars with an airy walled garden vibe from a colorful sea of hanging wisterias.

— Samuel X. Cicci Silly Goose, 100 Peabody Pl., Suite 190, sillygoosememphis.com

Little Bettie’s Pizza & Snacks – Thud Butt Pizza and beer make for an iconic duo. And the crossover between two big names in Memphis’ hospitality scene made that combination even more enticing when Wiseacre’s Kellan and Davin Bartosch teamed up with Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman.

Little Bettie’s Pizza and Snacks, open at Downtown’s Wiseacre HQ, focuses on New Haven-style pizzas: thin-crust, wood fired pies with a bit of char and a chewier texture, almost made in a similar vein to classic Neapolitan pizzas. There are plenty of interesting choices to pick, but one pizza reigns supreme above all: the Thud Butt.

I haven’t quite found another pie around town like the Thud Butt. Whisking together both sweet and savory tones, the pizza blends the silkiness and rich, fatty taste of mortadella drizzled with black pepper honey and a pistachio stracciatella, with a heaping dollop of homemade cheesy mayo in the center for good measure. That’s a whole lot of different flavors combined together in a pretty innovative way.

But if, like me, you’re allergic to pistachios, fret not! Every pizza is a good pizza at Little Bettie’s, with the added perk of being able to enjoy a slice alongside Wiseacre’s top-notch brews. Now that’s amore. — SXC

Little Bettie’s Pizza & Snacks, 398 S. B.B. King Blvd., wiseacrebrew.com

steppin’ out

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Poetry’s Pleasures

By Abigail Morici

In high school, my English teachers told us to analyze poetry with the TPCASTT method. What do all those letters mean? I have no idea, but I remember the acronym and I remember when I saw that on the chalkboard, it was time for the dreaded poetry week and the dreaded method that dissected all the fun of what I thought poetry could be. What a way to turn a gal o from poetry, and I’m sure many people can empathize, right? Well, Richard Tillinghast gets where I’m coming from, and he’s a real-deal poet (and yes, he knows it).

“It seems like when you’re taught poetry in school, somebody is always kind of trying to drum it into your head: What does this mean?” Tillinghast says. “As I’m concerned, poetry isn’t particularly asking to be understood as much as it is asking to be loved. … Maybe one of the main things that I’m trying to do in my poetry is to communicate pleasure.”

Tillinghast’s latest collection of poems Blue If Only I Could Tell You does, admittedly, touch on the darkly complex history of America, particularly the American South, but the poet says, “Writing or singing about something that’s really painful, it really does have a cathartic e ect. … I write about a lot of dark subjects, but I don’t consider my points downers. Kind of talking, writing about stu like that, and experiencing it through the art of poetry, you feel better once you’ve done it.”

For this book, the poet has distinguished his topics by grouping poems into sections. One section, for instance, is about the Indigenous plight through the e ects of colonialism; another is about the systemic racism in the South. Set in Memphis, where he grew up, the poems in this section are mostly autobiographical.

e poem, “Cake,” is dedicated to Ollie, whom his family hired for housekeeping when Tillinghast was younger. “She kind of raised us,” he says of Ollie, whose last name he doesn’t remember though he remembers her fondness for country music and the cakes she would bake for his birthday. In the poem he writes, “ ere’s no going back in time/but I wish I could go back./I’d like to get inside/the mind of this woman/who was paid to look a er me.”

In all, Tillinghast uses poetry to grapple with his privilege stemming from the America’s violent past, while also acknowledging his love for the South’s culture and his upbringing in Memphis. “I feel so lucky to have grown up in the place that I did,” he says. Now, a er living all over the world from Ireland to Michigan, Tillinghast splits his time between living in Sewanee and Hawaii. “I love going to Memphis. It’s a big highlight for me whenever I’m able to go back to Memphis.”

is ursday, the poet will return to Memphis to discuss and sign his book at Burke’s Book Store.

“Tommy Kha: Eye Is Another”

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, on display through May 7

It’s not the eye of the tiger. It’s the eye of Tommy Kha. But, boy oh boy, is he here for the thrill of the ght — the ght to understand the theme of identity through art, that is.

Kha’s “Eye Is Another” is a sitespeci c installation, nestled in the dome of the Brook’s rotunda. e piece features a photo-mosaic of Kha’s eye, composed of images of the sky from the two cities where Kha splits his time: Memphis and New York. Plus, you can see Kha’s large-scale photographic prints of the Southern landscape as well as a blanket of collaged photographed items.

And if you haven’t heard, admission is free at the Brooks every Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to noon. Woot woot!

Afro-Latino Night Fiesta

Memphis Music Room, Friday, February 24, 7 p.m., $25-$50 Celebrate Black History Month with Cazateatro’s night of AfroLatino music. Performing will be the Cazateatro crew, DJ Xander, and special guest Las Bompleneras, a Chicago six-piece all-female ensemble. e ensemble will showcase traditional and original AfroPuerto Rican Bomba and Plena music through song, percussion, and dance.

Mardi Growl

Overton Park, Saturday, February 25, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

“ row me something, mister!” shouted the Mardi Gras revelers hoping for a pair of beads … or was it the dog hoping for a game of fetch? Or maybe the dog is a Mardi Gras reveler? Hollywood Feed and

Overton Park would stretch the limits of wordplay and have you call this Mardi Gras dog a Mardi Growl, but we won’t do that. We will, however, recommend you go to the Mardi Growl celebration because that sounds like a blast, despite the wordplay. ere’ll be a costume contest, giveaways, dog caricatures, food trucks, live music, and more.

Beatnik Manor

Malco Studio on the Square, Saturday, February 25, 3 p.m. & 5 p.m., $10 Mike McCarthy will show his new documentary on the Memphis Academy of Art with videos from the archives of sculptor John McIntire. McCarthy will also screen his short lm on David Bowie’s visit to the Memphis Academy of Art, in honor of the visit’s 50th anniversary — that is to the exact date: February 25, 1993.

READING WITH RICHARD TILLINGHAST, BURKE’S BOOK STORE, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD, 5:30-6:30 P.M.

MUSIC By Michael Donahue

Motel Mississippi

Tony Holiday debuts hill country album.

Tony Holiday didn’t gather a bunch of blues artists to perform on his upcoming album, Motel Mississippi, like he did on his 2019 Porch Sessions album.

“It’s not the porch concept,” says the blues harpist/singer. “It’s just me. It’s just my record. But it was written by A.J. Fullerton. ere are a couple of covers.”

And Holiday co-wrote a song with Victor Wainwright. “But I really chalk it up to A.J. Fullerton, a really cool artist out of Colorado. He moved to Memphis about a year ago.”

Holiday wasn’t looking for songs when he contacted Fullerton. “I called A.J. one day ’cause he’s a great hill country guitar player. I was going to make a new record and wanted to do more of a hill country thing. I called him and asked if he’d play guitar on the record. He said he would love to.”

Holiday says that Fullerton also said, “But I have these tunes.”

Fullerton thought they would be “a good t” for him, Holiday recalls. “ at’s when he moved to Memphis and we sat down with the material for about a week.”

e songs matched Holiday’s concept, Fullerton says: “He wanted to still have that Memphis feel, but he wanted it to be a lot more rural, south of the Mississippi border kind of thing.”

“A.J. is a killer songwriter,” Holiday says. “It’s impossible not to like A.J.’s songs. ey’re very catchy.

“I don’t know what it is about the songs he writes. It’s just if I knew what it was, then I would write the damn things myself.

“I can’t say if he’s a wild man or not, but he writes the songs from the perspective that is my wild life. And I was taken by that.”

He told Fullerton, “You wrote my life.”

Like Fullerton’s “Get By.” “Everybody just needs a little bit to get by. Whatever that is. Little bit of money, little bit of love, little bit of pain to get by.”

Describing what compels him to write, Fullerton says, “It’s about day-today things. It’s about life. It’s about love. It’s about losing people. For me, writing is just as natural as breathing. at’s why it’s so cool when somebody like Tony connects with my material.”

Holiday and Wainwright wrote “No Trouble.” “It’s like, ‘Don’t call me on the phone. Don’t come around my home,’” Holiday says. “It’s basically telling trouble, ‘Don’t come around.’”

Wainwright is “the Grammy-nominated piano player that ruled Beale Street for a few years back in the day. Victor Wainwright and the Train.”

“No Trouble” was conceived when Wainwright was “playing a little groove on the piano” at Holiday’s house. “We just came up with it sitting around the house being lazy.”

Mississippi Motel was engineered by Kevin Houston at Zebra Ranch in

Coldwater, Mississippi. In addition to Fullerton on guitar, Lee Williams Jr. plays drums, and Terrence Grayson plays bass.

Dave Gross co-produced the album with Fullerton and mixed and mastered it at his Fat Rabbit Studios in Montclair, New Jersey.

“We signed with Forty Below Records out of Los Angeles. ey have the release date at April 14th.”

Born in South Jordan, Utah, Holiday, who moved to Memphis three years ago, says, “Still happy in Memphis. I’m just a student here in Memphis. I just came here to listen and learn.”

He likes to spend as much time as he can with his family, but he’s got “cool projects coming up.”

Holiday already recorded 70 percent of a “Tony Holiday and friends record. I have eight to 10 really special guests on it.”

He adds, “I do have another record in the bank, as they say. at record is essentially a soul record, soul R&B.”

Holiday, who has three daughters, has a new daughter on the way. “I’ve got six sisters. I’m the only boy.”

e new baby’s name will be Barbara Mae Holiday.

“ e release date for the baby is May 22nd,” he says.

To hear the single, “Rob and Steal,” from the new album Motel Mississippi, visit fortybelow. m.to/rob-steal.

PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE

A.J. Fullerton and Tony Holiday

AFTER DARK: Live Music Schedule February 23 - March 1

Tiny Tree, JD Pinkus

Friday, Feb. 24, 10 p.m.

HI TONE

Turnt

Almost Elton John & the Rocketmen

ursday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m.

IBIS

Andrew Cabigao

ursday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Denver Massey

Friday, Feb. 24, 5:30 p.m.;

Saturday, Feb. 25, 6:30 p.m.;

Wednesday, March 1, 5:30 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Eli Adams Band

Friday, Feb. 24, 10 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 25, 10 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Eric Hughes Band

ursday, Feb. 23, 7-11 p.m.

RUM BOOGIE CAFE

Hunter Flanagan

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Jarred Kingrey

Saturday, Feb. 25, 3:15 p.m.;

Sunday, Feb. 26, 3:30 p.m.

TIN ROOF

McCrary Sisters

e McCrary Sisters sing a unique style of gospel. In uenced by classic soul, Americana, blues, and R&B, these sisters bring an indescribable joy to singing. $37.50. Friday, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.

THE HALLORAN CENTRE

Millstone Branch Boys

Wednesday, March 1, 7:45-9 p.m.

CANNON CENTER FOR THE PER-

FORMING ARTS

Richard Wilson

Soulful blues and jazz. Saturday, Feb. 25, 4-7 p.m.

RUM BOOGIE CAFE

Rodell McCord

Sunday, Feb. 26, 7 p.m.;

Wednesday, March 1, 8 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Schaefer Llana and Julianne Ankley

Friday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m.

SOUTH MAIN SOUNDS

Scratch and Snare

Every ursday night come to Tin Roof for Scratch and Snare with DJ Stringbean and Matt the Drummer. ursday, Feb. 23, 10 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Trevor Berryhill

Saturday, Feb. 25, noon

TIN ROOF

Zachary Scott Kline

Friday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Celebration of Life for Musician Jim Gambill

Featuring 8 Miles High, Jack Rowell Band, Scott Sudbury

Acoustic Set, Bubba Feathers Band, Bob Nelson & Natchez, and Memphis Funk n Horns.

Sunday, Feb. 26, 3-9 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

Satisfaction

Tribute to the Rolling Stones.

Saturday, Feb. 25, 8 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

ADUBB

Album listening event. Friday, Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS LISTENING LAB

Almost Famous

Friday, Feb. 24, 10 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Anders Osborne

Friday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m.

RAILGARTEN

Avon Park, New Avenues, and Shorty and the Grooves

$10-$12. Wednesday, March 1, 7 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Coyote Digital

Featuring Art by Haylstorm.

Friday, Feb. 24, 9 p.m.

CANVAS

Devil Train

ursday, Feb. 23, 9:30 p.m.

B-SIDE

Dystopia Productions:

Goth Night DJs Evonech and St. Faust will bring you music ranging from classic Goth club hits to current artists in Goth, darkwave, industrial, and dark electro! 18+. $12.

Friday, Feb. 24, 10 p.m.-3 a.m.

BLACK LODGE

El Perro with Sunweight

$15. Wednesday, March 1, 7 p.m.

GROWLERS EXILE

With special guest Taylor Matson. 21+. Free. Saturday, Feb. 25, 10 p.m.-3 a.m.

CANVAS

Graham Winchester

Song Swap

Friday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m.

BAR DKDC

Grape.

Graber Gryass opens. Friday, Feb. 24, 9:30 p.m.

B-SIDE

House In The MidSouth!

e GOODLife DJs bang out with legendary DJ Leonard Remix Roy. Saturday, Feb. 25, 8 p.m.

HOUSE OF MTENZI MUSEUM

Jamalamma

Sunday, Feb. 26, 8 p.m.

B-SIDE

J.D.’s Birthday Wish-fest Spacer, J.D. Reager & the Cold Blooded ree, comedian Caroline Allen, and DJs Bloody Elle and One-a-Day.

Friday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m.

B-SIDE

JD Westmorland Band

Monday, Feb. 27, 10 p.m.

B-SIDE

Jeremy Stanfill with Cyrena Wages

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 9 p.m.

B-SIDE

Jim Snidero Quartet

$10-$20. Friday, Feb. 24, 7:3010 p.m.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN

ARTS

Jive Talk

Saturday, Feb. 25, 8 p.m.

RAILGARTEN

Joe Restivo 4

Saturday, Feb. 25, 11 a.m.; Sunday, Feb. 26, 11 a.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

John Paul Keith

Saturday, Feb. 25, 10:30 p.m.

B-SIDE

Karaoke of Love: with Good Ole’ Tevin Sing, drink, and dance with karaoke master Good Ole’ Tevin. ursday, Feb. 23, 7-11:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS CURRENT

Lap, Second Life, whit3corset, PRESSED Friday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m.

LAMPLIGHTER LOUNGE

LetsGetLOUD: Season 6

Kickoff

Memphis’ original beat battle league returns. e main event: DJ Toonz vs. Track Coach.

Saturday, Feb. 25, 6-11 p.m.

GROWLERS

Levon

ursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Louise Page, Joybomb

Saturday, Feb. 25, 10 p.m.

BAR DKDC

Magnum Dopus with Ben Ricketts, The Smokin’ Jays

$10. Sunday, Feb. 26, 6 p.m.

GROWLERS

Mahogany Chamber

Music Series: “Vocal Juggernauts”

e Mahogany Chamber

Music Series is a series of three chamber music concerts curated by Artina McCain, spotlighting Black and other underrepresented composers and performers. $5-$20.

Sunday, Feb. 26, 6 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Making Movies

Making Movies is a psychedelic Panamanian band that makes American music with an asterisk, because Making Movies’ sound encompasses the entirety of the Americas. $20. ursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

Memphis Symphony

Orchestra: Dark with Excessive Bright e Robert Moody and the MSO Strings plumb the musical depths of the music for strings: Still’s Danzas de Panama, Tchaikovsky’s Seranade for Strings, Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, and Copland’s Old American Songs. Friday, Feb. 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2-5 p.m.

LAMPLIGHTER LOUNGE

An Evening with Lucero

Friday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

Colby Acuff with Sky

King

ursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

Grassfire Bluegrass Band

ursday, Feb. 23, 6-9 p.m.

RANCHO GRANDE MEXICAN RESTAURANT

Rooster Revival

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

The Soul II Soul Tour

With Kem, Ledisi, and Musiq Soulchild. Saturday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m.

LANDERS CENTER

The Steepwater Band

Saturday, Feb. 25, 8 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

Warren Zeiders

Niko Moon ursday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m.

MINGLEWOOD HALL

Oakwalker, Chris Hamlett, The Dirty Rain Revelers

Saturday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m.

HI TONE

Strooly ft. Nico and Z72.52

A night of techno, house, and club music. $10. Friday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m.

GROWLERS

Talibah Safyia Listening

Event

Meet soul singer Talibah

Safyia and hear her latest project recorded live in the Green Room ursday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS LISTENING LAB

The Dark Delaware ursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

HI TONE

The Freedom Affair

e Freedom A air is a ninepiece soul juggernaut from Kansas City, MO. e band formed in 2017 with a vision to write original soul music inspired by the traditions of the genre’s past with a universal message looking toward the future. $15-$20. Tuesday, Feb. 28, 7:30-10:30 p.m.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

The Sheiks

Friday, Feb. 24, 10 p.m.

BAR DKDC

Warren Zeiders’ distinctive, high energy country music is powered by a steady supply of youthful grit, honesty, and muscle. Hailing from Hershey, Pennsylvania, the 22-year-old singer/songwriter delivers outlaw sermons in a gravelly, world-weary voice that belies his young age. $25-$28. ursday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m.

GRACELAND SOUNDSTAGE

GPAC Youth Symphony

e GPAC Youth Symphony Orchestra joins forces with Briarcrest’s Soundscape for a special pops concert that is sure to rock! From the Scorpions to Chicago, to Lady Gaga and Adele, this concert will smash together two incredible student ensembles in one amazing venue. Sunday, Feb. 26, 4-6 p.m.

GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Jack Rowell and Triplthret

Saturday, Feb. 25, 8 p.m.

THE HAYSTACK CAFE

Peanut Butter & Jam: Pop Goes Strings!

Parents and children are invited to move and groove in these highly interactive performances. Free. Saturday, Feb. 25, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS

CENTER

The Dirty Rain Revelers

Sunday, Feb. 26, 4-6 p.m.

MEDDLESOME BREWING COMPANY

PHOTO: TRAVIS YOUNG Making Movies

PHOTO: AUSTIN SCREWS Warren Zeiders

CALENDAR of EVENTS: February 23 - March 1

ART AND SPECIAL EXHIBITS

“AI Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind & The Machine”

Learn how AI touches lives — now and in the future. Dozens of interactives, illusions, and videos make this the perfect STEAM exhibit to introduce children and adults to the world of arti cial intelligence.

rough May 6.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

“All Power to All People”

Hank Willis omas’ eightfoot tall Afro pick with a power st cast in aluminum.

rough May 7.

FOURTH BLUFF PARK

“American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection”

Exhibition of more than 100 works from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection, spanning 250 years of American history.

rough April 16.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“As It

Be”

Is, As It Could

A solo exhibition featuring new paintings by Ethiopian artist Dereje Demissie, whose paintings explore history, memory, and humanity’s place in the natural, physical, and cultural landscapes. rough Feb. 28.

UREVBU CONTEMPORARY

“Atmospheric Conditions”

Complete, imperfect, and narrative, Bill Killebrew’s narrative scenic paintings elevate something as commonplace as daylight, making it the unifying component in a painting.

rough April 1.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

“Between Two Worlds” Original works by John Torina. Wednesday, March 1-March 30.

GALLERY 1091

“Black Alchemy: Backwards/Forwards

Revisited”

A solo exhibition by photographer Aaron Turner that explores the depths of music through visual art. rough March 18.

TONE

“Community Art Gallery: Southern Buildings” is series of small-scale watercolor paintings by artist David Rawlinson gives new life to abandoned buildings and homes found in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

rough March 4.

MORTON MUSEUM OF COLLIERVILLE HISTORY

“Eric Echols”

Mixed media art exhibit by Eric Echols from Soulife Photography. rough Feb. 28.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

“Evocative Moments”

Exhibition of work by Marc Wheetley. rough March 31.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

“Gentle Awakenings, The Art of Keith Burns”

Exhibition of woodwork by Keith Burns. rough April 22.

MORTON MUSEUM OF COLLIERVILLE

HISTORY

“Jeanne Seagle: Of This Place”

Jeanne Seagle’s perceptive drawings portray the landscapes surrounding Memphis with a remarkable precision. rough April 9.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Jet Lag”

An exhibition of works from 16 of the artists comprising the new Art Collection at the Memphis International Airport’s Concourse B. rough Feb. 24.

THE MARTHA AND ROBERT FOGELMAN GALLERIES OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS

“Mending in a State of Abundance”

Exhibition of work by Katrina Perdue exploring the emotional and physical labor of repair, o ering an alternative response to the modern realities of material excess. rough March 5.

CROSSTOWN ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

“Never Done Making History”

Installation highlighting the legendary Tennessee State University’s (TSU) Tigerbelles track team and one of the most triumphant Olympic stories. rough Feb. 28.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

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

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

Maritza Davila, Tommy Kha, Richard Lou, and D’Angelo Lovell Williams. Through March 10.

CLOUGH-HANSON GALLERY

“The Making of Elvis Movie Exhibition”

Exhibition looking at the beginning of the creative process for Baz Luhrmann’s lm and following it through its journey to the big screen, taking the story from paper to lm. rough Sept. 4.

GRACELAND EXHIBITION CENTER

“Those Who Hold Dominion Here”

Exhibition of work by Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo takes inspiration from serpents in Incan mythology and Southern snakes. Through March 5.

CROSSTOWN ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

“Tommy Kha: Eye is Another”

A site-specific, photography-based installation by artist Tommy Kha exploring themes of identity, (in) visibility, and sense of place.

Through May 7.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“Who Is That Artist?”

“Old Gods, New Tricks: A Local Collective”

A colorful and eclectic show that is a playful take on the serious subject of religion, personal cosmologies, and life in general. Featuring work by Will Ferguson. James Ball, Jeshua Schuster, Leanna Carey, Alexandra Eastburn, Erica Qualy, and Michael McCown. Friday, Feb. 24-March 24.

ANF ARCHITECTS

Original Works by Denise Rikard

Original paintings by Denise Rikard. rough Feb. 28.

GALLERY 1091

“Remedy”

Exhibition of work by Mikayla Washington that calls to attention the ability of forms to create feeling. rough Feb. 28.

1910 FRAME WORKS & GALLERY

“Salmon Skin Fried … and Other Delicacies”

Exhibition of work by Sharon Havelka who constructs mixed-media quilt sculptures from old clothing and other found objects. rough March 5.

BEVERLY + SAM ROSS GALLERY

“Shared Spaces: Works by Rob Gonzo & Collabs with George Hunt” is colorful, fun show features pieces that were sketched by Hunt before his death and later nished with paint and collage by Gonzo.

rough March 4.

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST.

MARY’S SCHOOL

“Summer in Shanghai”

A three-part video series of re ections and meditations during the hottest time of the year in China’s biggest city. rough March 5.

CROSSTOWN ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

“Tarred Healing”

A photographic exhibition by award-winning Black photographer Cornell Watson. rough March 20.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

“Tend To”

A ora- lled group exhibition featuring works from Joel Parson, Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo, and Verushka Dior, exploring themes of healing, growth, and self identity.

rough May 7.

URBAN ART COMMISSION

“The Art of Friendship”

Show that features artwork by Danny Broadway, Wanda Donati, Leatha Frost, Lou Hoover, Laurie Samuels, and Vicki Shipley. Through Feb. 28.

MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

“The Ecstasy of Influence: Mid-South Artists Centering the Margins”

The work of this intergenerational, interconnected group draws attention to the diverse communities that have called the Midsouth home for generations, while maintaining distinct individuality that speaks to the present moment.

Featuring Ahmad George,

Visitors can explore interactive components created by Johana Moscoso, Karla Sanchez, and Danielle Sierra, who speak to Latinx identity, intersectionality, and transcendence. Through April 16.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

ART HAPPENINGS

Artist Talk: Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo and Katrina Perdue

Current exhibiting artists Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo and Katrina Perdue will discuss their work, processes, and in uences. Free. Sunday, Feb. 26, 2-4 p.m.

CROSSTOWN ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

“Atmospheric Conditions” Open House

Complete, imperfect and narrative, Bill Killebrew’s narrative scenic paintings elevate something as commonplace as daylight, making it the unifying component in a painting. Saturday, Feb. 25, noon-3 p.m.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

Creative Aging Concert Series: Memphis Symphony Orchestra and the Memphis Black Arts Alliance

An exciting afternoon bringing together vocalists from the Memphis Black Arts Al-

continued on page 20

Tommy Kha’s installation at the Brooks features a photo-mosaic of an eye, composed of images of the sky from the two cities where Kha splits his time: Memphis and New York.

Danielle Sierra’s Milagro de Hope is part of the Dixon’s “Who Is at Artist?” which explores Latinx identity.

continued

page

liance and a string quartet from the Memphis Symphony Orchestra! $5. Wednesday, March 1, 1:30 p.m.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

“Everybody Hurts ... Sometimes”

Opening Reception

Exhibition of paintings by Edge that focus on the pain and isolation of some of the church’s neighbors who are living on the street. Wednesday, March 1, 5-6:30 p.m.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Memphis Hangsuite – An Artist Collective

A social networking event and jam session for all creatives in the entertainment industry. $10. Tuesday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m.-2 a.m.

MEMPHIS MUSIC ROOM

Munch and Learn

The lecture series features presentations by local artists, scholars, and Dixon staff sharing their knowledge on a variety of topics.

Wednesday, March 1, noon-1 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

CALENDAR: FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1

“Old Gods, New Tricks: A Local Collective” Opening

A colorful and eclectic show, featuring work by Will Ferguson. James Ball, Jeshua Schuster, Leanna Carey, Alexandra Eastburn, Erica Qualy, and Michael McCown. Free. Friday, Feb. 24, 5-7 p.m.

ANF ARCHITECTS

BOOK EVENTS

Book Event with Author, Musician, & Record Producer Nabil Ayers Nabil Ayers discusses his book My Life in the Sunshine: Searching for My Father and Discovering My Family . Thursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC

February Book Club

Meet at the Museum with fellow Friends of the Morton Museum to discuss Sarah M. Broom’s memoir, The Yellow House . Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2-3 p.m.

MORTON MUSEUM OF COLLIERVILLE HISTORY

Meet the Author: Mark Greaney

Celebrating the book launch for NYTbestselling author Mark Greaney in honor of Gray Man #12: Burner . Saturday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m.

CHARLIE VERGOS’ RENDEZVOUS

The Jack D. Farris Visiting Writers Series Presents A Reading By Ada

Limon

Ada Limon, the 24th United States poet laureate, joins Rhodes for a reception and book signing. Thursday, Feb. 23, 5:30 p.m.

RHODES COLLEGE

CLASS / WORKSHOP

Line Dance Lessons

Whether you are just getting started or have been dancing forever, join Debbie Cooley for line dancing lessons every other Tuesday. $5. Tuesday, Feb. 28, 1-2:30 p.m.

ABANDON ANTIQUES

Memphis Bachata Escape

Maxi Solis (Argentina) and Carlos & Susan (Dominican Republic) will lead workshops before social dancing commences. Sunday, Feb. 26, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

WHISKEY JILL’S

Pruning Hydrangeas with Robin Howell

Join the curator of the Japanese Garden at MBG to learn how different hydrangeas require different pruning techniques and timing. Saturday, Feb. 25, 9-11 a.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550

Crossword

Edited by Will Shortz No. 1210

Show Your Daffodils!

Learn about picking, grooming, conditioning, storing, transporting, and staging daffodils to enter the 2023 Mid-South Daffodil Show. Free. Saturday, Feb. 25, 10:30 a.m.-noon.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Surviving Your Puppy’s Teenage Phase

A dog’s adolescent period can come with unique challenges, such as jumping, counter surfing, barking, and not listening. Hollywood Feed University presents a free, online course on surviving your puppy’s teenage phase. Thursday, February 23.

ONLINE

The Tingey Painting with Parkinson’s Program (TINCAN™)

An art therapy program that supports people living with Parkinson’s. Wednesday, March 1, 10 a.m.-noon.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Youth Workshop: Papier Mache (ages 10-13)

Hone your 3D sculpture skills in this gloopy workshop! Learn how to use recycled materials to build forms for papier mache. Saturday, Feb. 25, 1:30-3:30 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

COMEDY

A Comedy Show

Every Thursday. Thursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

MEMPHIS CURRENT

Benji Brown

In high demand, and in total control of his future, Benji Brown is well on his way to setting a new standard in the entertainment realm.

Thursday, Feb. 23-Feb. 25.

CHUCKLES COMEDY HOUSE

Comedians Casey Crawford & Zach Peterson Headline High Cotton Brewing

Touring comedians Casey Crawford ( Jimmy Kimmel , Just For Laughs) and Zach Peterson (Limestone & High Plains Comedy Festivals) headline at High Cotton Brewing. Hosted by Charlie Vergos. $10.

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 8-10 p.m.

HIGH COTTON BREWING CO.

Comedy Open Mic

This is where new comedians come to learn the ropes, good comedians come to try out new material that’s not quite there yet, and where bad comedians come to do what they do. Free.

Wednesday, March 1, 8:30 p.m.

LAMPLIGHTER LOUNGE

Comedy Open Mic Night

Every week veterans and newbies alike try their hand at entertaining a live audience with jokes! $10. Tuesday, February 28, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

Cowboy Fly Open Mic Night

If you think you are funny then showcase your skills and take it to the stage with Chuckles funny AF open mic night, hosted by Cowboy Fly. Wednesday, March 1, 7:30 p.m.

CHUCKLES COMEDY HOUSE

Grind City Comedy

Monday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m.

B-SIDE

Taylor Tomlinson: The Have It All Tour

Taylor Tomlinson’s witty perspective on navigating adulthood has undertones of wisdom, typically earned with age. Watching Tomlinson gives you the same comfort as a Swift concert or a Broadway show that’s been on for years. This is a professional. This performance will be ultraproduced. You do not need to be anxious. $29.75-$59.75. Friday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m.

THE ORPHEUM

continued on page 22

Do You Have High Blood Pressure?

RESEARCH STUDY NEEDS PARTICIPANTS

18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.

What is this study about?

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. This is why managing high blood pressure is essential to prevent heart disease.

This research study seeks to determine how well blood pressure is lowered with an investigational medication that combines 3 different blood pressure lowering medications into a single tablet taken once a day

See if you’re eligible for this study.

Why Participate?

• Participants will receive close monitoring and use of a blood pressure monitor during the trial at no cost.

•Participants may experience improvements in their high blood pressure levels.

•Participants will be contributing valuable information that may help others with high blood pressure.

• Participants will be helping to advance medical research.

Who Can Participate?

•18 years of age or older

• Must not have kidney disease, liver disease or uncontrolled diabetes

•Must not have a history of other heart disease or stroke

•Must not have tested positive for COVID-19 infection in the past 2 weeks.

• Must be able to attend 4-6 study visits at the research site over approximately 10-16 weeks

• There will be compensation for time and travel.

The Best Gift Shop Memphis!in

CALENDAR: FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1

continued from page 20

COMMUNITY

GiveCamp Memphis 2023

GiveCamp Memphis is a weekend-long gathering of professional web developers, graphic designers, social media strategists, digital marketers, and data scientists donating their time to nonprofit organizations. Since its inception in 2007 (national) and 2011 (Memphis), the GiveCamp program has provided millions of dollars in services to hundreds of nonprofits! Free. Friday, Feb. 24, 5-11 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 25, 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 26, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

FEDEX INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

MSPAL 2nd Annual SneakerBall

MSPAL annual fundraiser gala to help support Memphis PAL’s 6-Rock Juvenile Crime Prevention programming of education, mentoring, intervention, discovery, nutrition and sports. Live Entertainment by Gerald Richardson, Angie P. Holmes, and Bird Williams featuring The Marcus Malone Band. $100. Sunday, Feb. 26, 4 p.m.

THE GUEST HOUSE AT GRACELAND

FAMILY

Celebrate Black ArtistsKehinde Wiley Students will learn about Kehinde Wiley and his art, and create their own Kehinde inspired art. This series is open to children in grades kindergarten-2nd grade. $30. Saturday, Feb. 25, 10 a.m.-noon.

ARROW CREATIVE

Community Art Academy

Kids age 9-12 will learn to create original works of art, with the help of University of Memphis Art Education majors. All supplies and a Community Art Academy T-shirt are included! Wednesday, March 1, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

Kids Night Out: Studio

Ghibli

A night out for you and a night out for your kids. Drop your kids off at Arrow for a Studio Ghibli-themed art class followed by pizza and My Neighbor Totoro! $45. Friday, Feb. 24, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

ARROW CREATIVE

Peanut Butter & Jam: Pop Goes Strings

Introduce your little ones to the instruments of the violin family in this fun session led by local musician, Tamar Love. Saturday, Feb. 25, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

“Rube Goldberg The World of Hilarious Inventions”

Inspired by Rube’s original illustrations, the exhibit contains a collection of new 3D, life-size machines and handson, interactive components.

Through May 7.

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF MEMPHIS Sunday Afternoon Disco-Sockhop!

Bring your little ones for a bit of Sunday afternoon fun at this free disco-sockhop!

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m.

EVERGREEN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

FILM

AI After Dark: A High-Tech Happy Hour featuring the Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back

Join MoSH for a night of drinks and games and the exhibits “Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind & The Machine” and “Web of Innovation: AI in Memphis.” Screening Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back. $23-$28. Saturday, Feb. 25, 5:30 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

Black History Month: Horror Triple Feature!

A special triple feature of African-American horror masterpieces: Candyman (1992), Candyman (2021), and Us (2019). 18+. Free.

Thursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Dance, Magic, Dance!: A Screening of Labyrinth

A legendary fantasy family classic made by George Lucas (Star Wars) and Jim Henson (The Muppets) and starring Jennifer Connelly and the one and only David Bowie! Free.

Sunday, Feb. 26, 3 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

“Feb-Brewer-ary”

Filmmaker Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) will screen his hit film Dolemite Is My Name. Brewer and professor Marty Lang will conduct a Q&A session after the film. Free. Saturday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m.

SCHEIDT FAMILY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai plays like a popculture-sampling cinematic mixtape built around a one-of-a-kind tragic hero. $5.

Thursday, Feb. 23, 7-9 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Indie Memphis Screening: All That Breathes

A poetic documentary and Academy Award contender exploring humankind’s connection to wildlife and climate change. Wednesday, March 1, 7-9 p.m.

MALCO STUDIO ON THE SQUARE

Ladies Night Out! - A Women’s Comedy

Movie Marathon

Wind down your weekend with cold drinks, delicious food, and a lot of laughs, in the company of some very funny women. Screening three hilariously brilliant femme-centric comedies back to back: Bridesmaids, Booksmart, and Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar. 18+.

Free. Sunday, Feb. 26, 5 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Love and Mazel Tov

What starts as an innocent flirtation quickly snowballs into a comedy of errors in this witty and warm-hearted German rom-com. $5-$7.

Thursday, Feb. 23.

SH*TFEST - Best of the Worst: Showgirls

It’s disgusting, vile, garish, contemptible, misogynistic, and ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean we can’t love to hate it. So strap in and strip down for this extra-smutty trashtacular spectacle. 18+. Free. Friday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

The Apartment

One of the most celebrated romantic films of all time, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine and directed by the legendary Billy Wilder. Free. Tuesday, Feb. 28, 5 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Time Warp Drive-In: Only Talkin’ Bout Shaft! And We Can Dig It!

Double feature of Shaft (1971) and Shaft’s Big Score (1972). Saturday, Feb. 25, 7:15 p.m.

MALCO SUMMER 4 DRIVE-IN

Who Are the Marcuses?

Who Are the Marcuses? reconstructs the lives of Holocaust refugees Lottie and Howard Marcus. Followed by a discussion between Rabbi Abe Schacter-Gampel and Paula Jacobson. $5-$7.

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m.

MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

FOOD AND DRINK

California Deep Dive Wine Tasting

Showcasing 100+ wines from across California wine country. In attendance will be wine makers, winery owners, and other special guests to answer your most detailed questions. $80. Thursday, Feb. 23, 4-7 p.m.

FEDEX CENTER AT SHELBY FARMS

Jazz Brunch

Saturday will feature an artisan market. Sunday will feature live jazz from The Quiche Quartet. Brunch will be served both days with a jazz-inspired cocktail menu. Saturday, Feb. 25, noon

MEMPHIS CURRENT

MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

JAMES D.

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Shelby Farms Hike

Chickasaw Trail 2.75 miles

The Chickasaw Trail is 2.75 miles, paved, and has a wee bit of shade. Saturday, Feb. 25, 9:30 a.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

Taijiquan with Milan Vigil

Led by Milan Vigil, this Chinese martial art promotes relaxation, improves balance, and provides no-impact aerobic benefits. Ages 16 and older. Saturday, Feb. 25, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Tuesday Ruck

Regular weekly three-mile ruck that focuses on additional weight and occasional PT. Tuesday, Feb. 28, 6:307:30 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS

Winter Off-Road Series

10k

Trail race presented by the Memphis Runners Track Club. Sunday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS

PERFORMING ARTS

Dancing with the Stars

See the ballroom brought to life in this brand-new production featuring your favorite Dancing with the Stars pros, PLUS special guest stars! $49.50-$125. Thursday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m.

THE ORPHEUM

Gag On It! with Mary Gagz!

Mary Jane Gagdalene is here to make it clear … that you will indeed GAG on all this entertainment! Featuring Zoloft, Luna Luella, Brenda Newport, Will Ryder, and Eleanor K. Rigby! Friday, Feb. 24, 10 p.m.

DRU’S PLACE

Shugga Momma

Productionz Presents

“In The Heat of the Night” ft. The Blaque Queens of Burlesque

Celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Blaque Queens of Burlesque and friends. DJ SpaceAge will create the vibe, and Kelly Cassadine will be the hostess with the mostess, bringing the boys to the yard. $15. Saturday, Feb. 25, 8 p.m.-

midnight BLACK LODGE

Spillit Center Stage: Orange Mound Voices

Join Spillit for an evening of stories from Orange Mound in Orange Mound. Spillit is excited to partner with the Orange Mound Arts Council and The Family Tree Buff for the first of hopefully many neighborhood Spillits. If you are interested in sharing your story please reach out to spillitstories@ gmail.com. Saturday, Feb. 25, 6 p.m.

ORANGE MOUND ARTS COUNCIL BUILDING

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY

SATURDAYS

JANUARY 1 – APRIL 1

7PM – 10PM

Thee Open Mic

Calling all musicians, poets, and comedians. Hosted by Mak of Memphis and DJ Space Age on the ones and twos. Wednesday, March 1, 7-9 p.m.

CAROLINA WATERSHED

Thirsty Thursday

This month’s cast features the talents of Rebekah Random, Lady Pluto, Pepper SueSage, Liv Laflauv, and La Mixsi! Thursday, Feb. 23, 10 p.m.

DRU’S PLACE

Winter Mix

Dance is love in motion at Ballet Memphis’ first performance in 2023. Winter Mix: Love Songs/Love Stories explores the complexities of love through three pieces, including a performance of Gerald Arpino’s renowned classical work Birthday Variations set to the music of Giuseppe Verdi. $35-$55. Friday, Feb. 24-Feb. 26, 2-3:30 p.m.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

SPECIAL EVENTS

Afro-Latino Night Fiesta!

A night to celebrate AfroLatinidad connecting the valuable contribution of Afro-Latinos in America and Latin America through the Music. The evening will feature performances by the Cazateatro Crew, DJ Xander, and Las Bompleneras Unplugged, a six-piece all-female ensemble from Chicago. $25-$50. Friday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m.

MEMPHIS MUSIC ROOM

Mardi Growl at Overton Park

A Mardi Growl celebration with a dog costume contest, product giveaways, dog caricatures, food trucks, live music, and more. Presented by Hollywood Feed and Overton Park. Saturday, Feb. 25, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

OVERTON PARK

SPORTS

Memphis Americans vs. Columbus Rapids

See the Memphis Americans men’s and women’s National Indoor Soccer League teams as they battle for the 2023 championship! $20. Sunday, Feb. 26, 4 p.m.

LANDERS CENTER

Memphis vs. Cincinnati

Sunday, Feb. 26, 1 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

NBA Memphis Grizzlies vs. Denver Nuggets

Saturday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

NBA Memphis Grizzlies vs. Los Angeles Lakers

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

THEATER

Misery

Based on the novel by Stephen King. A successful romance novelist, Paul, is rescued from a car crash by his number-one fan, Annie, and wakes up captive in her secluded home. $20-$25.

Through Feb. 26.

THEATREWORKS

Shakin’ the Mess Outta

Misery

The play follows “Daughter,” the main character and 25-year-old narrator who shares memories of being raised by a community of women after losing her mother as a child. This timeless coming-of-age tale explores passage into womanhood, race, and rituals in the 1960s South. $35-$30.

Through Feb. 26.

HATTILOO THEATRE

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Earn 2x entries every Wednesday and Saturday.

GRAND PRIZE DRAWINGS

JANUARY 28 | FEBRUARY 25 | APRIL 1

27 winners per drawing day! Be the last winner standing each Saturday to win BIG!

50 slot points = 1 drawing entry.

PHOTO: CLAUDIO MARINESCO Join Mark Greaney for the launch of his 12th Gray Man novel.

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April 14-16

FOOD By Michael Donahue

A Baby and a Rebrand

Two things Dave Scott, founder of Dave’s Bagels, isn’t going to tell you: (A.) e name of his baby daughter, who is due any day. And (B.) e new name of Dave’s Bagels.

Changing diapers and changing his business name are both in Scott’s future.

Dave’s Bagels is going strong. “I am in 26 di erent places around town, including Grind City Grocery, Miss Cordelia’s [Cordelia’s Market], High Point and South Point Grocery, e Curb Market,” says Scott, 32.

“I’ve got clients in Hernando, Southaven, and West Memphis. I supply the Southland Casino.”

So, why change the name? “Basically, I started talking with Kroger and they’re interested in having my product,” he says, adding, “When I was going over the plans with my business partner and with the co-packers, one thing that kept getting brought up was ‘Dave’s Killer Bread.’ Our names being ‘Dave’ and both using them as the business name. A bit too similar and could cause issues about branding and trademarking.”

He never got a letter from Oregonbased Dave’s Killer Bread, but Scott says, “If we end up on the same shelf together, that logo could cause an issue.”

Changing the name isn’t a bad thing. “It’s very exciting. It feels like a bit of a fresh start with it. I get to be a bit more creative with it. e reason I named it ‘Dave’s Bagels’ was because I didn’t have a name before I got to the business department in city hall and lled out an application.”

Strangers don’t look at Scott and immediately think, “ at guy is a bagel maker.”

With his below shoulder-length curly hair, Scott looks more like a rock star, model, or actor. “Somebody at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago asked me how my new metal band was doing. at made me laugh pretty good.”

Ironically, Scott has played bass guitar since he was about 13. “I was in a couple of metal bands when I was a teenager.”

But, for now, it’s bagels and pretzels, not bands and performing.

A Morristown, New Jersey, native, Scott began making bagels similar to those he got in the Northeast. “I would ask for criticism and kept tweaking the recipe until we have what we have today.

“It’s just taken years and years of developing that recipe, using all traditional methods, and putting my own little twist on everything. I’m the rst person to start putting all the toppings in the bagels, so it’s all the avor and none of the mess.”

He began selling his bagels in Memphis a er he relocated here in 2016.

Scott came up with his pretzel recipe in 2017 for a Wiseacre Brewing Company Oktoberfest event. “ at pretzel dough is pretty close to bagel dough. I sold out in 45 minutes, maybe. Turns out pretzels and beer go very well together.”

Scott recently moved his business operation to a Tupelo, Mississippi, co-packing facility he heard about from Arbo’s Cheese Dip founder Andrew Arbogast. Scott helped build out the facility by putting in new ooring, doing all the electrical work, and more.

He was producing 10 to 15 cases at his old facility, but he’s now up to 20 cases. “I’ve slowed down a little bit in anticipation of the rebrand situation.”

But, he adds, “I’ve got the potential of doing 150 cases a week.”

Scott also slowed down in anticipation of the new baby. He and his wife, Markie Maloof, have been getting their house ready for the new member of the family. Scott completed all his tasks, including building new pantry shelves. “I nished those on Tuesday. I didn’t get out of my pajamas until 5 on Wednesday. It was my rst day o in many months.”

ere is one more thing Scott won’t reveal: new products he might be introducing. “We’ve got a few more ideas we’re bouncing around and experimenting with. Nothing I want to start talking about just yet.”

But Scott did give a hint: “We’ve got a few other bread varieties and product types coming out that will be pretty exciting. Just to diversify a bit.”

Stay tuned.

PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE

Dave Scott

e founder of Dave’s Bagels is ready for both.

Emily Guenther

Cut the Cord

is exercise can help remove energetic ties.

ord-cutting is a popular topic among spiritual practitioners. It can be a useful tool in helping you move on from a relationship or situation, and may be considered a form of self-care. It is a spiritual exercise that a person does when they need help releasing unhealthy energetic ties from a relationship or situation that has ended or no longer serves them.

Cord-cutting allows us to assert a measure of control over a situation that may be out of our hands. It can help facilitate a natural process and speed up the results. We will eventually get over our ex or stop thinking about them every time we go to a certain place. But why wait? Humans are pack animals, in need of connections, but we also want to feel in control of our own lives and we are not patient people.

loved ones from dwelling over disagreements or hurt feelings, and gave the family a sense of personal freedom to be themselves.

When we spend time with a person, whether romantic or platonic, we form energetic bonds with those people. You can also form energetic bonds to places such as your home, favorite co ee shop, or park. If you are a sentimental person, it can be easy to form attachments to objects. When it is time to move on from that person, place, or thing, we may nd it di cult due to those bonds.

When we have strong energetic bonds with someone, performing a cord-cutting ceremony once may not be enough. Depending on the length or strength of your bond, you may want to do it multiple times or make it part of regular spiritual practice. Healing and cleansing your energetic body is a process. Even if we do a cord-cutting to speed up the results, this can still take time. Only you will know when it has worked, so don’t be afraid to repeat it or don’t feel like a failure if you still feel a connection a er doing it.

is exercise does not have to be done just for romantic relationships gone bad. If you struggle with toxic relationships with family or friends, you can use a cord-cutting ceremony to help release those attachments and signal the moving away from that relationship.

Releasing energetic attachments does not have to be done only when things have ended badly. If your last relationship concluded amicably, you can do a cord-cutting to bring closure and signal that you are moving on with your life.

I have studied under a person who told me she practiced cord-cutting every day. As part of her daily spiritual practice, she would release all the attachments between herself and her loved ones that were not of unconditional love. She said this helped her and her

A popular method of cord-cutting is done using two candles and a piece of thread. I suggest using black candles for this, but use whatever color feels the most appropriate to you. Set the two candles on a re-safe surface, some distance apart. Tie the thread around one candle, leave a taut length of string between the two candles, and then tie the loose end of the thread to the opposite candle. Light both candles. As the candles burn down, the string will catch re and will burn. is is a physical representation of those energetic bonds burning and dying. Once your candles have burned down, dispose of any leover wax and string.

Cord-cutting can bring back emotions and trauma; it is part of the healing process. Once you have completed the ceremony, spend some time performing self-care. Meditate or journal as you process your experience and feelings. Because it can bring up old feelings, remind yourself not to reach out to the person you just cut energetic ties with. ey may be on your mind now, but it will pass. And you had to cut your ties with them for a reason, so remember that if the feeling to slide into someone’s DMs hits you.

Emily Guenther is a co-owner of e Broom Closet metaphysical shop. She is a Memphis native, professional tarot reader, ordained Pagan clergy, and dog mom.

PHOTO: EMILY GUENTHER Release energetic attachments.

STAY IN THE LOOP

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

By the editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication

Animal Antics

Carrier pigeons have been couriers of legitimate and nefarious items for centuries, but o cials at the Paci c Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia, nonetheless were stunned when a gray bird with a tiny backpack landed in a fenced inmate prison yard on Dec. 29. e CBC reported that o cers “had to corner it,” according to John Randle, Paci c regional president of the Union for Canadian Correctional O cers. “You can imagine how that would look, trying to catch a pigeon.” A er some time, they were able to grab it and remove the package, which contained about 30 grams of crystal meth. “We’ve been focusing so much on drone interdiction … Now we have to look at, I guess, pigeons again,” Randle said. ey set the little guy free and are investigating its origin. [CBC, 1/6/2023]

Family Values

It’s important to encourage your children in their scholastic endeavors. But an unnamed mother in LaGrange, New York, took parental support too far when she snuck into Arlington High School on Jan. 17 before school started to watch her freshman daughter beat up another girl. e Mid Hudson News reported that Mom was caught on video using vulgar language and egging her daughter on as the girls tussled. Superintendent Dave Moyer said the woman blended in with the students coming to school by wearing a backpack. “ e students and the mother involved … will be held accountable for their actions,” Moyer said. [Mid Hudson News, 1/18/2023]

WSMV-TV reported that a car that crashed into a mailbox in Nashville, Tennessee, on Jan. 14 was driven by an underage motorist —really underage, as in 5 years old. e child’s father, John Edwin Harris, 53, was seen by a witness grabbing the kid and running from the scene, police said. O cers found multiple open bottles of alcohol inside and ran the tags; when they arrived at Harris’ home, he was driving away in his wife’s car. He failed a eld sobriety test, could barely stand up, and smelled of alcohol. He was charged with DUI and leaving the scene of

an accident — where’s the child endangerment charge?! — and was released on $4,000 bond. [WSMV, 1/16/2023]

Repeat O ender

An unnamed 62-year-old man from Gar eld Heights, Ohio, was arrested — for the 70th time — in early January a er he allegedly stole a shopping cart full of packaged meat to sell to restaurants, WJW-TV reported. e Walmart in South Euclid alerted authorities to the the ; in the parking lot, the thief transferred the goods to a stolen suitcase and threw what wouldn’t t in a dumpster. He told o cers he sells the meat half-price to area restaurants. He was booked, again, for the . [WSW, 1/10/2023]

Payne. Or, he advised, if you do, declare them so you won’t be ned. irty eggs in Juarez, Mexico, cost $3.40 — a fraction of what they’d cost in the U.S. because of an outbreak of avian u that forced producers to euthanize 43 million egg-laying hens. [Fox5, 1/18/2023]

Least Competent Criminal

Federal prosecutors charged Mohammed Chowdhury, 46, of Boston with one count of murder-for-hire on Jan. 17, ABC News reported, a er he allegedly contracted with “hired killers,” aka federal agents, on the internet. Chowdhury had shared his wife’s and her boyfriend’s work and home locations, photos, and work schedules with the contractors, and wanted both of them snu ed out — all for $8,000, with a $500 down payment. e agents met with Chowdhury for two months to plan the murders. “No evidence. No evidence from like, you know, that, uh, I did something, you know?” Chowdhury told them. He was arrested as they met to collect the down payment; he could face up to 10 years in prison. [ABC News, 1/19/2023]

Awesome!

It’s Come to is

Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 of 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a 108 percent increase in a certain smuggled item at ports of entry, Fox5-TV reported on Jan. 18. It wasn’t fentanyl or heroin, though. Seized egg products and poultry were the hot catch as prices soared in the United States. “My advice is, don’t bring them over,” said CBP supervisory agriculture specialist Charles

Dominican sailor Elvis Francois, 47, was rescued by the Colombian navy on Jan. 18 a er surviving 24 days dri ing from the island of St. Martin in the Netherlands Antilles, NPR reported. Francois said he had been making repairs to a sailboat when currents swept it out to sea. He scrawled “help” on the boat’s hull, then survived on a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder, seasoning cubes, and collected rainwater while he waited for a rescue. “I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal,” Francois said. “ ere was nothing else to do but sit and wait.” He nally caught the attention of a passing airplane by signaling with a mirror. “I thank the coast guard. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be telling the story,” he said. [NPR, 1/19/2023]

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

© 2023 Andrews McMeel Syndication. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY By Rob Brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Philosopher John O’Donohue wrote a prayer not so much to God as to Life. It’s perfect for your needs right now. He said, “May my mind come alive today to the invisible geography that invites me to new frontiers, to break the dead shell of yesterdays, to risk being disturbed and changed.” I think you will generate an interesting onrush of healing, Aries, if you break the dead shell of yesterdays and risk being disturbed and changed. The new frontier is calling to you. To respond with alacrity, you must shed some baggage.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Right-wing religious influencers are rambling amuck in the United States. In recent months, their repressive pressures have forced over 1,600 books to be banned in 138 school districts in 38 states. The forbidden books include some about heroes Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez, and Rosa Parks. With this appalling trend as a motivational force, I encourage you Tauruses to take inventory of any tendencies you might have to censor the information you expose yourself to. According to my reading of the astrological omens, now is an excellent time to pry open your mind to consider ideas and facts you have shut out. Be eager to get educated and inspired by stimuli outside your usual scope.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I think we can all agree that it’s really fun to fall in love. Those times when we feel a thrilling infatuation welling up within us are among the most pleasurable of all human experiences. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do it over and over again as the years go by? Just keep getting bowled over by fresh immersions in swooning adoration? Maybe we could drum up two or three bouts of mad love explosions every year. But alas, giving in to such a temptation might make it hard to build intimacy and trust with a committed, long-term partner. Here’s a possible alternative: Instead of getting smitten with an endless series of new paramours, we could get swept away by novel teachings, revelatory meditations, lovable animals, sublime art or music, amazing landscapes or sanctuaries, and exhilarating adventures. I hope you will be doing that in the coming weeks, Gemini.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The scientific method is an excellent approach for understanding reality. It’s not the only one and should not be used to the exclusion of other ways of knowing. But even if you’re allergic to physics or never step into a chemistry lab, you are wise to use the scientific method in your daily life. The coming weeks will be an especially good time to enjoy its benefits. What would that mean, practically speaking? Set aside your subjective opinions and habitual responses. Instead, simply gather evidence. Treasure actual facts. Try to be as objective

as you can in evaluating everything that happens. Be highly attuned to your feelings, but also be aware that they may not provide all facets of the truth.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is there anything in your psychological makeup that would help you do some detective work? How are your skills as a researcher? Are you willing to be cagey and strategic as you investigate what’s going on behind the scenes? If so, I invite you to carry out any or all of these four tasks in the coming weeks: 1. Try to become aware of shrouded half-truths. 2. Be alert for shadowy stuff lurking in bright, shiny environments. 3. Uncover secret agendas and unacknowledged evidence. 4. Explore stories and situations that no one else seems curious about.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The country of Nepal, which has strong Virgo qualities, is divided into seven provinces. One is simply called “Province No. 1,” while the others are Sudurpashchim, Karnali, Gandaki, Lumbini, Bagmati, and Janakpur. I advise Nepal to give Province No. 1 a decent name very soon. I also recommend that you Virgos extend a similar outreach to some of the unnamed beauty in your sphere. Have fun with it. Give names to your phone, your computer, your bed, your hair dryer, and your lamps, as well as your favorite trees, houseplants, and clouds. You may find that the gift of naming helps make the world a more welcoming place with which you have a more intimate relationship. And that would be an artful response to current cosmic rhythms.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Are you aimless, impassive, and stuck, floundering as you try to preserve and maintain? Or are you fiercely and joyfully in quest of vigorous and dynamic success? What you do in the coming weeks will determine which of these two forks in your destiny will be your path for the rest of 2023. I’ll be rooting for the second option. Here is a tip to help you be strong and bold: Learn the distinctions between your own soulful definition of success and the superficial, irrelevant, meaningless definitions of success that our culture celebrates. Then swear an oath to love, honor, and serve your soulful definition.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The next four weeks will be a time of germination, metaphorically analogous to the beginning of a pregnancy. The attitudes and feelings that predominate during this time will put a strong imprint on the seeds that will mature into full ripeness by late 2023. What do you want to give birth to in 40 weeks or so, Scorpio? Choose wisely! And make sure that in this early, impressionable part of the process, you provide your growing creations

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

“What is originality?” asked philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Here’s how he answered: “to see something that has no name as yet, and hence cannot be mentioned though it stares us all in the face.” Got that, Pisces? I hope so, because your fun assignments in the coming days include the following: 1. to make a shimmering dream coalesce into a concrete reality; 2. to cause a figment of the imagination to materialize into a useful accessory; 3. to coax an unborn truth to sprout into a galvanizing insight.

with positive, nurturing influences.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I recommend you set up Designated Arguing Summits (DAT). These will be short periods when you and your allies get disputes out in the open. Disagreements must be confined to these intervals. You are not allowed to squabble at any other time. Why do I make this recommendation? I believe that many positive accomplishments are possible for you in the coming weeks, and it would be counterproductive to expend more than the minimal necessary amount on sparring. Your glorious assignment: Be emotionally available and eager to embrace the budding opportunities.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Actor Judi Dench won an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth in the film Shakespeare in Love — even though she was on-screen for just eight minutes. Beatrice Straight got an Oscar for her role in the movie Network, though she appeared for less than six minutes. I expect a similar phenomenon in your world, Capricorn. A seemingly small pivot will lead to a vivid turning point. A modest seed will sprout into a prismatic bloom. A cameo performance will generate long-term ripples. Be alert for the signs.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Most of us are constantly skirmishing with time, doing our best to coax it or compel it to give us more slack. But lately, you Aquarians have slipped into a more intense conflict. And from what I’ve been able to determine, time is kicking your ass. What can you do to relieve the pressure? Maybe you could edit your priority list — eliminate two mildly interesting pursuits to make more room for a fascinating one. You might also consider reading a book to help you with time management and organizational strategies, like these: 1. Getting Things Done by David Allen; 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey; 3. 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse.

FILM By Chris McCoy

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania

You think the title is bad? Wait until you see the movie!

When, exactly, did the MCU jump the shark? For me, it was with Avengers: Age of Ultron. ings were fun and getting funner on Earth-616 until 2015, when Joss Whedon assembled Earth’s mightiest heroes to ght another army of faceless, disposable enemies.

ere has been a lot of ups and downs in the approximately dozen lifetimes that have transpired since then, but the one thing we could take solace in was the comforting mediocrity of Marvel movies. e MCU had a low ceiling, but a high oor. ey were never great — the demands of branding always weighed the stories down with extraneous u — but they were never as awful as the DC super-turds they were extruding over at Warner Brothers.

I’m sad to report that with Ant-Man and e Wasp: Quantumania, the oor has nally dropped out.

Let’s begin with the title. When presented with director Peyton Reed’s idea to call the third Ant-Man lm “Quantumania,” who was the coward at Disney who failed to tag an exclamation point on it?

“Quantumania!” See how much better that is?

Second, let’s talk about e Wasp (Evangeline Lilly). She is not so much a character as she is an a erthought. Occasionally, you can catch writer Je Loveness remembering Hope van Dyne is in the movie. Lilly plays her with a resigned detachment I nd relatable.

ird, is there something I’m missing about Paul Rudd? He brings to Ant-Man a weird kind of anti-charisma, in that everything he does seems repulsive and wrong. Did he get this job because he is so bland and avorless no one nds him o ensive? Is “tolerability” really all we ask of our movie stars?

Fourth, M.O.D.O.K. (Corey Stoll) Where to even begin? Sorry, Jack Kirby heads, but M.O.D.O.K. is just a goofy character design that’s impossible to take seriously outside his Silver Age comics context. Every moment he’s on screen is excruciating.

e only characters I really liked in this meandering multiverse were Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) upli ed ants. When they’re sucked into the quantum realm alongside the aging super-scientist and his screwup family, they spend their time dilation doing something useful, like developing a Kardashev Type II civilization, so they can ride to the rescue like diminutive Rohirrim.

Speaking of the Pym family, all this Quantumania(!) could have been avoided

if Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfei er) had told her granddaughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) what happened while she was trapped in the quantum realm for 30 years. Janet claims she didn’t tell her family about the exiled supervillain Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) because she wanted to protect them. Not to second guess a super-scientist, but wouldn’t it have been logical to just tell them, “Hey, there’s this dangerous supervillain who is trapped in the quantum realm, so maybe don’t go poking around down there?” She wouldn’t have even had to broach the subject of her a air with Lord Krylar (Bill Murray, going big) or of her role in fomenting a minuscule rebellion against the forces of Kang’s tiny tyranny.

But the worst part of Quantumania is

Like stepping on an anthill, Marvel’s antics in this romp will have you itching to leave your seat.

not the stupid characters or the BaskinRobbins product placement. is movie looks bad. I saw it in 4K, and most of the time it was a dark, swirling CGI soup. e haphazard lighting and aggressive color grading conspire to make poor Majors look constantly sweaty. I thought the Marvel shark had been well and truly jumped, but it turns out the Fonz was just getting warmed up.

Ant-Man & e Wasp: Quantumania

Now playing Multiple locations

Our critic picks the best films in theaters this week.

Cocaine Bear

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for — the weekend when Cocaine Bear comes out to play! Based on the true story of a God-fearing Tennessee ursine led to drug-fueled damnation in Georgia by a forest cachet of yayo, this promises to be the most accurately named junt since Snakes on a Plane. Elizabeth Banks directs Keri Russell and O’Shea Jackson Jr. — and one completely wrecked bear.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

To answer your first question, yes, this is a real movie. Murder bear week continues with this unlikely gem. British schlockmiester Rhys Frake-Waterfield

noticed that Winnie the Pooh passed into the public domain in 2022, and now he’s here to destroy and corrupt the only thing in your childhood that gave you comfort. Thanks a lot, dude.

Bunker

A squad of soldiers is trapped underground with a malevolent spirit in this atmospheric horror. Is it a bear? You’ll have to watch to find out!

Knock at the Cabin Director M. Night Shyamalan returns with his latest psychological thriller. A young family on a mountain vacation is terrorized when a hulking figure appears at the door. Is it a bear? No, it’s Dave Bautista, here to present the mother of all trolly problems.

NOW PLAYING By Chris McCoy

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Black 4 door SUV, VIN #2CNDL8F786072237.

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EMPLOYMENT

LAN SUPPORT ANALYST II

needed at International Paper in Memphis, TN. Must have bachelor’s(or 3 years of post-secondary education in lieu of bachelor’s) in Comp Sci, Business Computing, or related & 10 yrs’ pulp & paperexp, including:Power Shell Scripting, Vb.net, SCCM, SQL, USMT, API, XML,WMI, Active Directory & Group Policy; Microsoft Azure; Configuration & setup/ support of Lansweeper & Lansweeper database. Microsoft Windows Imaging, Microsoft Windows & Apple Operating Systems & Cloning Software; Identify issues, perform testing & provide solution for enterprise and process control hardware, software applications, & operating systems; Project Management & coordination; LAN/ WAN connectivity, networks hardware architecture, network & hardware troubleshooting skills. Must be able to travel domestically 25% of time. May be assigned to any mill or IP office in the US. Required Certifications: HP and DellCertification, Project Management Certification, Cisco network certification. Email CVs to IT.HR@ipaper.com. Equal Opportunity/affirmative action employer including vets and disabled.

LEAD DATA SCIENTIST (STORE OPERATIONS)

needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN.

Must have Master’s in MIS, Statistics, or closely related & 5 yrs of exp incl: data engineering (Python/R/ SAS), data mining, mathematics, & statistical analysis & tests; feature engineering & feature selection; time series forecasting, machine learning techniques, causal modeling, & recommender systems; cost-sensitivity analysis to quantify the cost of misclassification errors; advanced pattern recognition & predictive modeling; model implementation, evaluation, testing & deployment; design test/control strategies for field tests to determine how to evaluate a test; Excel, PowerPoint, Tableau, SQL, & programming languages (Java, R, Python, SAS); 2 years of project managementexperience.

Email resumes to taresume@ autozone.com.EOE

SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS

needs High School Math Teachers in Memphis, TN. Must have a bach in math or any field & be eligible for a Tennessee teaching license with a high school math endorsement. Must be available for assignment at any school within the Shelby County School district.

Interested applicants send resumes to SCSRecruits@scsk12.org. with the subject line “HS Math Teacher Application.” SCS is an EOE M/F/D/V.

ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEER, Water/Wastewater needed at Fisher & Arnold, Inc. in Memphis, TN. Must have Bach degree in Civil Engineering or Environmental Engineering & 3 yrs of exp, including: Water & wastewater treatment process design; Proficient in utilization of Autodesk Civil3D; Construction document preparation; Pipe network modeling. Will accept a Master’s + 1 yr exp in lieu of the Bach + 3. Resumes to Careers@fisherarnold.com. EOE

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WOMEN DO YOU OWN A DIARY?

Have you been betrayed? Have you betrayed another? Feeling alone and unlucky in love? Woman wounded and alone, recovering from loss of once in a lifetime love, looking for stories from other Women who have experienced loss, heartache, and heartbreak and looking for reasons why. Send to: Moonlight Dreams, 6025 Stage Road, Suite 42, Box 437, Bartlett, TN 38134. All submissions strictly confidential.

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You’ve Got Mail

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Have you spotted a hottie around town? A missed connection been bugging you? Are you the one described in this ad? For more info on how to submit your missed connections or replies, email isawyou@memphisflyer.com.

Friendship Sets Us Free

Eight billion minds are better than one.

Classi ed documents, top secret les, spy balloons, clandestine surveillance. What kind of world are we living in where we hide information about and from each other, spying to get the upper hand? Why do leaders and legislators feel compelled to keep government secrets from the public?

In the current political system of independent, sovereign states, national governments seek to exact a competitive edge over perceived rivals by hiding information, spying, and governing secretively. Day-to-day governance becomes a zero-sum game. Governmental success comes at the expense of human interdependence, turning our fellow humans into foes rather than friends.

Nation-state secrets and spying come with economic, environmental, political, and social costs.

Nearly all countries have their own spies, covert agencies, and departments of “defense,” costing billions of dollars to conduct “intelligence” operations and keep secrets. Furthermore, national governments feel compelled to spend countless billions on embassies, consulates, border walls, and border guards for “national security.” Consider the two trillion dollars total that national governments spend on preparing for and waging wars every year.

Weapons manufacturers, military contractors, government o cials, and wealthy shareholders reap the pro t from producing and selling tools of deceit and destruction. Meanwhile, a billion people are starving, and millions must ee their homes to survive. Moreover, war preparation and clandestine operations are some of the most devastating despoilers of the environment.

To outmaneuver each other, national governments steadfastly control resources and data, refusing to share information with anyone they consider an outsider. Keeping secrets hampers leaders from governing e ectively, causing them to focus on their nation instead of humanity’s survival. State secrets for “national security” and “public order” allow governments to act extra-judicially and to violate human rights with impunity. Hiding information leads to public mistrust in government. When secrets take precedence over transparency, governing decisions are made without analysis, oversight, or consent. e public is precluded from participating in decision-making, and mistrust of government grows.

Secrets and the rhetoric of divisiveness — the “us versus them” approach — also take a psychological toll. Overzealous national pride turns our neighbors into enemies and ignites a mindset of fear, distrust, jealousy, and anger. We are constantly looking behind our backs, rather than looking forward. Human and natural resources would be better spent on environmental, scienti c, and technological advancements than on secrets, spying, and information suppression.

Governments, as representatives of the world’s people, could focus on information sharing and unifying humanity. Humans could work together to overcome the divisions that hold us back, rather than maintain nearly 200 separate national departments of defense, and science research, environmental, and intelligence agencies all seeking similar data and advancements. Access to more data would enhance governmental decision-making and lead to quicker scienti c, health, and technological progress.

By encouraging the open exchange of information, we would be better equipped to improve understanding among diverse cultures and governing styles, to interact more peaceably, and to share resources more equitably. With transparency and accountability as top priorities, we could build a framework of world security. Resources and funds, historically tied to the militaryindustrial complex, could be used to feed, house, and educate people. Human and planetary health could take precedence over con ict among people and contamination of the Earth. Global collaboration is far preferable to war or cloak-anddagger diplomacy.

Sharing ideas, solutions, technologies, and data would help humanity deal with global problems that can only be handled at the global level — problems that national governments cannot resolve on their own with hushed voices behind closed doors. Eight billion minds are better than one.

People united under one citizenship would see each other as friends with common goals that they implement together. Democratic world federation and world citizenship would provide a holistic framework for uniting our political governing structures and for uniting us as humans. World citizenship and government could liberate us from the shackles of a divided world.

Above all, governments could act like friends do.

Friends are free because they do not compel, restrain, or con ne each other. Friends do not keep secrets to feel special or better. Friends share their concerns. Friends are willing to consider others’ perspectives. Friends have empathy and love for one another.

e words “friend” and “free” come from the same ProtoIndo-European root which can mean both to love and to be free. Friendship, in place of secrecy, would free us to achieve a peaceful, just, sustainable, and united world. David Gallup is a human rights attorney, president of the World Service Authority, and convenor of the World Court of Human Rights Coalition.

PHOTO: OLIA DANILEVICH | PEXELS Secrets come at a cost.