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CONTENTS

JESSE DAVIS Editor SHARA CLARK Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Senior Editors TOBY SELLS Associate Editor CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor SAMUEL X. CICCI, MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers ABIGAIL MORICI Copy Editor, Calendar Editor LORNA FIELD, RANDY HASPEL, RICHARD MURFF, FRANK MURTAUGH, MEGHAN STUTHARD Contributing Columnists AIMEE STIEGEMEYER, SHARON BROWN Grizzlies Reporters ANDREA FENISE Fashion Editor KENNETH NEILL Founding Publisher

Have you ever heard of The Motels? They were a California-based new wave band fronted by singer/guitarist Martha Davis (no relation), primarily active in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Their single “Only the Lonely” is pretty great, and though it shares a name with the Roy Orbison number, it’s a different song completely. My favorite track, though, has got to be “Total Control,” in which Davis muses that she would sell her soul for control of a lover’s heart. You know the type — it’s one of those obsessive love songs that sounds romantic until you realize the portrayal of romance is, uh, problematic at best. It’s probably safer to say anyone who would sell their soul to control someone else is experiencing something that has only the thinnest relation to love. But would you? Sell your soul for total control? Well, several Tennessee legislators have made up their minds on that issue. As I write these words, bills are due for votes — about local control of land use, about a woman’s right to control her body. Just last month, a bill to ban instant-runoff voting (IRV), which Memphis has twice voted to implement, passed. From the Associated Press, “Voters there still haven’t used the method since voting in 2008 to adopt it for city elections.” I would point out the blatant hypocrisy of the “party of small government” undercutting our right to local control, but at this point it’s clear that the hypocrisy isn’t a cause for shame. On Monday, March 7th, the state Senate rejected a bill that had already passed the House, which would have eliminated residency requirements for first responders — for Memphis and Shelby County only. That may or may not seem like a big issue, but as someone who has lived in a small, rural town in West Tennessee, I can say with certainty that I wouldn’t want anyone consuming out-of-town media to police Memphis, a community they had little other exposure to. I’m glad the state Senate rejected the bill, and I hope it’s never signed into law. But that would be going against the trend of how our state views local control when it comes to Memphis and Shelby County. As I mentioned previously, HB 2246/SB 2077 would remove local government control of zoning for fossil fuel infrastructure. I guess that would give the Byhalia Connection another crack at that pipeline. The bill has been delayed for two weeks, so now would be an excellent time to let your representatives know how you feel about it. And an amendment to HB 2779/SB 2582 is the abortion ban to end all abortion bans. It would even award “damages if the plaintiff has suffered harm from the defendant’s conduct, including, but not limited to, loss of consortium and emotional distress.” And yes, there’s a $10,000 bounty as well. Anti-abortion laws, like gun owners’ rights and immigration, are blank checks for Republicans seeking campaign donations. And the fossil fuel industry has deep, deep pockets. So I’ve always assumed many of these issues have, at heart, a financial incentive. There are oodles of Tennesseans willing to write a check — or set up a recurring donation — based on a promise to protect the right to bear arms or a promise to end abortion. And, of course, there are the true believers. The people who have a passion for these issues. But more and more I’m forced to believe that much of this is about control. The most recent abortion ban isn’t so much anti-abortion as it is pro-forced-birth. Through that lens, it seems more about keeping women out of the workforce than about protecting zygotes. When we in Memphis were told we couldn’t decide which statues would be in a position of prominence in our parks, that wasn’t about protecting history. It’s about making sure the state’s majority-Black city knows who is in charge. There’s a resurgence of authoritarian politics in this country and this state, and when you strip away the star-spangled wrapping paper, at the heart of it is a desire for control. I believe some people remember the days before a woman could legally open a checking account, before those people had to be counted as equals of people with a different skin color or a different faith. And they remember those days fondly. N E WS & O P I N I O N By the time this column is in print, votes THE FLY-BY - 4 will have been cast on some of these issues. NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 6 So why write about it if I can’t tell you to call SPORTS - 7 your reps? Because in the end, we have to AT LARGE - 8 decide, if we truly believe everyone deserves FINANCE - 9 agency, are we willing to protect their right COVER STORY “STAYING POWER” to it? Even if we’re not directly impacted by BY ALEX GREENE - 10 one of these decisions, are we willing to let WE RECOMMEND - 14 someone else’s rights be curtailed? CALENDAR - 15 Well, would you? Would you sell your ARTS - 18 soul for total control? FOOD - 19 FILM - 20 Jesse Davis C LAS S I F I E D S - 22 jesse@memphisflyer.com

THE

fly-by

MEMernet

W H AT E V E R H A P P E N E D T O B y To b y S e l l s

The Poplar-Cooper Connector?

SHELL YEAH

Construction has not begun, though the project was announced in 2014.

Praise thundered across the MEMernet last week with the news that the Overton Park Shell, which changed to the Levitt Shell after some funding, was changed back to the Overton Park Shell after a split with the Levitt Foundation. REAL TALK The Memphis subreddit tackled the big issue last week: Why do people talk on speaker phone in public? Here are some of the best responses: “Main character syndrome,” wrote u/lokisilvertongue. “Why? Because they’re assholes,” wrote u/FrancisFApocalypse. “They’re called DGAFs,” wrote u/dgtfnk. “It’s a huge overlap of those who identify with that other four-letter acronym on red hats.” PRETTY FUNNY COPS

March 10-16, 2022

Edited by Toby Sells

Memphis on the internet.

POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY THE OVERTON PARK CONSERVANCY

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Questions, Answers + Attitude

POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY THE BARTLETT POLICE DEPARTMENT

Giving credit where it’s due, the Bartlett Police Department (BPD) is pretty dang funny on Facebook. They post dank Leo memes (above), photos of their cops in wigs, profiles of BPD employees, and Motorcop Mondays, in which a motorcycle cop ponders things like, “technically, didn’t aliens invade the moon on July 20, 1969?”

Whatever happened to that project to add a pedestrian and bike entrance at Poplar and Cooper to Overton Park? For the second installment of our occasional series, called “Whatever Happened To,” we’re checking in on a proposed street-improvement project intended to make Memphis more bike- and pedestrian-friendly. Announcements for the Cooper-Poplar Connector — the project to make a bike- and-pedestrian-friendly crossing from Cooper across Poplar and into Overton Park — came as early as 2014, nearly eight years ago. In March 2016, the project won a $25,000 grant from the First Tennessee Foundation (the bank has changed hands twice since that announcement). The grant was set to help the project unlock federal funds, which it did. At the time, we reported that the Connector “was designed by Ritchie Smith Associates and calls for a second crosswalk on the west side of the intersection, a protected bike crossing at the traffic signal, a new landing pad on the park side for bikes and pedestrians, and a new path that will connect to the park’s trail system.” To get an update on the project, we talked to Nicholas Oyler, Bikeway and Pedestrian Program manager for the city of Memphis. Memphis Flyer: Whatever happened with the CooperPoplar Connector at Overton Park? Nicholas Oyler: Let me make sure we’re on the same page of what this project is. It’s targeting the intersection of Cooper and Poplar. We’d be building a new entrance plaza to Overton Park on the north side of Poplar. It would have a new, little paved area with some minimal landscaping. There would be a paved path that connects this plaza over to Veteran’s Plaza and other existing sidewalks that lead into the park. It would also improve pedestrian and bicyclist crossings on Poplar so that you can be able to get across Poplar a lot safer and more comfortable than you can today. The city just installed bike lanes on Cooper leading up to Poplar. Then, they kind of stop abruptly. Once this plaza and that connection goes in, it will be made more seamless and it’ll feel a lot safer getting across.

PHOTO: BIANCA PHILLIPS

Despite setbacks, plans to build the Connector are still underway.

Thank you for the refresher, sir. So, what happened with this project? It’s received a federal grant to cover 80 percent of the costs. Any time you have federal funds — and I am very grateful for the funding source; it really helps us out — it comes with a lot of hoops we have to jump through, a lot of paperwork. On this project, we were caught off guard a little bit by the requirements we had to go through for the environmental

review. The Tennessee Department of Transportation determined that we would need to do … more work on the environmental review than we had originally anticipated because it is in a park. So, that added to the scope a little bit and just another box we had to check, so that slowed it down. But the good news is that we do now have the environmental clearance. We received that in late 2018. Since then, the project has been in the design phase. At this point, we anticipate breaking ground in mid-2023. Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for more local news.

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The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Tuesday, November 20, 2018

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28 Serving in a bowl with milk

Edited by Will Shortz 1

30 33

37 44

Diners notice restaurants are adding tips to bills.

38 46

March 10-16, 2022

49 54

57 64

39 47

55 58 65

59 66

PUZZLE BY ED SESSA

30 Expressive rock style 31 Westernmost state capital in the contiguous United States 36 Gotham City hotline 38 Seafood item often served with a lemon wedge 40 “Who ___?” (amnesiac’s query) 41 Did a 5K, say

42 Quickest tennis point 44 Dirt road feature 45 Talking horse of ‘60s TV 47 “It’s ___” (“O.K. for liftoff”) 48 Scuba necessities 50 Volkswagen sedan 51 Dream up 52 T-shirt material 53 Letter to the ___ 54 Fanatical supporter

59 Political figure granted asylum by Anwar Sadat 61 Product of the Coors Brewing Company 62 A ways away 63 Leader whose death sparked the Year of the Four Emperors 65 Shrimper’s accessory 67 Baggage checker at the airport, for short

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CITY REPORTER B y To b y S e l l s

Automatic tipping is arriving on checks at more Memphis restaurants and it may be here to stay. Some diners believe tipping is sport, a lagniappe earned on a server’s hustle. Some diners can’t bring themselves to tip less than 20 percent — no matter what — because servers depend on them as a big part of their salaries. Automatic tipping, usually 18 to 20 percent on every check, became more widespread during the pandemic. The demand for restaurants was high for diners looking for something familiar, normal. The supply of servers dwindled as many were laid off, quit on health concerns, or looked for new jobs. Many restaurant owners made tips automatic. They wanted to retain their valuable, in-demand servers with steady cash, rather than leaving it to the whims of customers to determine their paychecks. This sentiment is said out loud at Margaritas in Cooper-Young. There, a sign in the dining room read recently that automatic tips would be included on all checks to keep servers. “In the wake of the current employee shortage in the restaurant industry, many employers are beginning to understand that they cannot maintain quality [front of house] staff at $2.13 [per hour] plus optional tipping,” said Allan Creasy, a political consultant and longtime Memphis bartender. This tipping structure, called automatic gratuity, has been around and discussed long enough to have an abbreviated portmanteau: “autograt.” But it’s not for all. “Me and my operation at [Patrick’s Neighborhood Bar & Patio], I’m opposed to it,” said Mike Miller, the restaurant’s owner, past president of the Memphis Restaurant Association, and 2019’s Tennessee Restaurateur of the Year by the Tennessee Hospitality and

Tourism Association. “I have never, nor do I have any desire or intent ever to institute an autograt. … I want my staff accountable to their customers. The idea of a gratuity is to ensure proper service.”

PHOTO: JESSIE MCCALL | UNSPLASH

Has the pandemic changed the shape of our tipping system? Tipping is ingrained in American society, Miller said. But the model is also ingrained in the American restaurant business. Profit margins at independent restaurants are thin, Miller said, probably around 3 to 6 percent. Raising server wages would likely wipe them out and make the business no longer viable. Numerous restaurants around Memphis have gone to the autograt system, sometimes quietly. But diners are taking notice. Will it last? Miller thinks maybe so. “I would say that once you go down this road — it’s kind of like the wheel tax — you never go back.”

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NEWS & OPINION

unday at FedExForum they’ll likely have to face nemesis SMU felt like big-time college in the semifinals. But the two wins over basketball. Jim Nantz and Houston and the upset of sixth-ranked Bill Raftery were courtside to Alabama in December should be enough describe the Memphis-Houston game for a for Memphis to play on even if it comes up national television audience, the same CBS short in Texas. tandem we’ll see for the national chamThree proverbial “intangibles” to pionship on April 4th. The 14th-ranked consider for a lengthy Tiger march toward Cougars stormed out of the visitors’ locker glory: room, eager to avenge their only home loss • Health. Landers Nolley, DeAndre of the season (to the Memphis Tigers on Williams, Jalen Duren, and Alex Lomax February 12th). Best of all, the arena was each missed multiple games with injunear capacity, fans almost entirely dressed ries this season. All four players are now in white, cheers raining down from the healthy, and the same goes for the other upper deck. It felt a lot like 2009, or at least five members of Hardaway’s rotation. It’s a lot like 2019. no coincidence that winning ways were The Tigers won, and it was never close. discovered when players emerged from the Said senior guard Alex Lomax after his trainer’s room. Nolley himself has said, “it’s team had secured a program-record 13th on us” if the Tigers fall short this month. win in the American Athletic ConferNo excuses, least of all injuries. ence, “The crowd is like a sixth man, and • Experience. The Tigers have no some teams can’t handle NCAA tournament it.” A Memphis team experience, but this is a that would have been veteran bunch. Lomax described as maligned — and Harris are playing as at best — a dozen games seniors and Williams is ago, completed its regular 25 years old, for cryseason with a record of ing out loud. (For some 19-9, having won 10 of its perspective, Williams is last 11 contests. Regardthree years older than Ja less of what happens at Morant.) Junior guard this week’s AAC tournaLester Quinones has ment in Fort Worth, started 76 games in a Memphis should end an Tiger uniform. Perhaps eight-year drought with most significantly, each a return to the NCAA of these players knows tournament, where bighow hard it is to reach PHOTO: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI time college basketball is the NCAA tournament. Lester Quinones played for three glorious Nary a minute of playing weekends. time will be taken for “I feel blessed,” said Memphis coach granted, should Memphis make the field of Penny Hardaway, a man who appeared in 68. And pressure? These young men have the NCAA tournament twice as a Tiger spent their college days trying to live up to player but seeks his first dance ticket in his Memphis Tigers history (including that of fourth year at the helm of the program. their head coach), and under pandemic “To showcase who we are against one of conditions. The lights will not be too bright the best teams in the country, to the entire for them. nation … It’s a great day to be a Tiger. The • Confidence. Lomax, Harris, and guys came together at the right time. I call Nolley appeared together for the postgame it spiritual momentum. An understandpress conference after Sunday’s win over ing of where we want to be, leaving egos at the Cougars. And what sticks with me from the door, and the entire building coming their appearance are the smiles. The levity. together as one.” The joy from finishing the regular season With the postseason here, the Tigers’ on a high and all the hopes for postseason first order of business is the AAC tourney, success that kind of high delivers. The Uniwhere they’ll open with a quarterfinal game versity of Memphis program has so much Friday night. The Tigers have only reached yet to gain, but there’s also some big-time the AAC final once (they lost in 2016), and college basketball yet to be played.

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AT L A R G E B y B r u c e Va n W y n g a r d e n

Woke Like a Man What’s with all the macho cosplay on the right?

March 10-16, 2022

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ow many sexes are there in Russia, Brad?” “Two, Steve.” “Exactly.” “And Putin’s army ain’t ‘woke.’” “Huh, huh, huh.” That exchange came at the end of a discussion on Steve Bannon’s podcast a couple weeks ago about how Vladimir Putin’s Russian army was going to walk all over Ukraine because it was a manly fighting force that didn’t fret about wussy stuff like pronouns and wokeness. Putin was a man’s man and his soldiers would waltz in and kick ass. This would be a good thing, Bannon continued, since Ukraine was a corrupt autocracy run by a crook. (Project much, Stevie?) Since then, we’ve seen an underequipped Ukrainian fighting force made up of people of all ages and genders, sometimes using borrowed and homemade weapons, battle overwhelming numbers of Putin’s manly conscripts to a standstill. And now Ukraine is getting resupplied by the U.S. and “woke” countries from all over Europe. Putin’s forces may eventually capture Ukraine, but this isn’t turning out the way he and Bannon hoped it would. Now let’s switch to Florida and take a listen to Governor Ron DeSantis waxing eloquent on foreign policy last week: “Can you imagine if [Putin] went into France?” he asked, with a sneer. “Would they do anything to put up a fight? Probably not.” I’m not sure why DeSantis felt it necessary to insult America’s oldest historical ally and disparage the fortitude of a country whose citizens resisted Hitler’s nazis for six years (and a country, I might add, that has 300 nuclear warheads). But, hey, France, amirite? Cheese-eatin’ sissy boys. Huh, huh, huh. What’s with all these displays of ignorant machismo emanating from the right these days? Why all the pathetic sucking up to bully-boys like Putin by the GOP and its media enablers? And when did “woke” become the official MAGA shorthand for “liberal wussies”? Maybe it’s because “caravans are coming,” “build the wall,” “liberals will take your guns,” and “gays will force you to marry them” are played out, and the GOP needs a new boogeyman to stir up the rubes. Woke is the handy code word for everything the right hates and fears: considering more than one side

of a question, thinking before reacting, acknowledging the existence of gender and sexuality issues, racial justice, scientific analysis — not to mention nuance, kindness, and empathy. It’s so much easier if you can just ignore all that stuff and go straight to painting political opponents with simplistic insults about their manliness — and hating them. And it’s not just right-wing men. CongressClown Lauren Boebert said last week that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has to learn to “chest-feed,” because, you know, he’s a gay man who is a father. Huh, huh, huh. Who are the role models for these fools? Beavis and Butt-Head? Have they even done the math on some of these issues, or is that too complicated? The latest Gallup poll has the American public’s support for gay marriage at 70 percent. Another Gallup poll found that 87 percent of Americans approved of France. And around 75 percent of Americans are at least partially vaccinated, meaning they probably didn’t find having to wear a mask in certain spaces during a pandemic infringed enough on their freedom that they needed to start a truck convoy.

Woke is the handy code word for everything the right hates and fears. Seriously, how deranged is driving across the country to protest having to wear a mask two weeks after the CDC ended mask mandates? People are dying for freedom in Ukraine and these bozos are wasting thousands of gallons of fuel driving around the outer loop of Washington, D.C. — to demand what? Lower gas prices? The right to drive around in circles? It’s just more stupid macho cosplay. Because I’m of a certain age, I am reminded of the old Saturday Night Live skit “¿Quién es Más Macho?,” in which game-show host Bill Murray asked contestants to pick which of three male actors was “más macho.” As I recall, Gilda Radner won by picking Lloyd Bridges, who beat out Ricardo Montalbán and Fernando Lamas for the title. It was stupid and racist by today’s standards, so it may be time to bring that show back for real. Bannon vs. Boebert vs. DeSantis? It would kill on Fox.

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a big stock drawdown can mean investors must sell their equities while markets are depressed. This can impair retirement plans even if the market has an attractive return over the full retirement period. Every dollar not invested in stocks has to go somewhere else. You can’t just stick money in cash and say it’s “off the table.” That capital is still acting as a drag on your portfolio in most markets and therefore must be included in your returns. Diversifiers such as real estate, gold, or other commodities may be part of the answer, but they are likely to have no real return greater than inflation in the long run. Even today, bonds are not hopeless. Bonds can perform entirely adequately in environments of rising interest rates and bond yields, such as the period from 1962 to 1982. The performance is not stellar, but bonds do what they need to do, which is mitigate the volatility of equities, especially in big equity drawdowns. When you watched the news of the invasion in Ukraine last week, did you worry about your stock portfolio? Did you wish you had more bonds in your portfolio? Did you even momentarily think about going to all cash? If so, then you should seriously consider a little more defense (aka more bonds) in your portfolio. The time you need to decide on a less risky portfolio is before the bad news comes out, not after. Bonds have an important portfolio role in bad times, which is why it’s a good idea to get them in place when things are good. Gene Gard is Chief Investment Officer at Telarray, a Memphis-based wealth management firm that helps families navigate investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions. Ask him your question at ggard@telarrayadvisors.com or sign up for the next free online seminar on the Events tab at telarrayadvisors.com.

NEWS & OPINION

e have been closely following the conflict in Ukraine. While the situation is evolving rapidly, it appears for the moment that Russia remains steadfast in its desire to prosecute this ill-advised offensive while Ukraine remains steadfast in its desire to defend the country. If recent decades of history are any guide, the Russians will be unsuccessful attempting a long-term occupation, but in the meantime, they can inflict a great deal of damage. Bonds are getting a lot of negative press these days, and some of that negative press is rightfully earned. Bond yields are as low as they’ve been at any time going back at least to the early 1960s. More importantly, given the relatively high inflation we’re experiencing, most bonds are currently experiencing negative real returns. This means that the purchasing power of money invested in bonds could decline, at least slightly, as time goes on.

COVE R STO RY BY AL E X G R E E N E

Staying Power Celebrating Let’s Stay Together and I’m Still in Love With You, 50 years later. PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS ARCHIVE

March 10-16, 2022

vonne Mitchell had to be patient He just looked at me and said, ‘This is a when her father, producer Willie masterpiece.’” Mitchell, was at work. Since she’d He wasn’t wrong. Half a century later, turned 18, she’d been working at Royal hearing Al Green sing “How Can You Studios, where all of Hi Records’ output Mend a Broken Heart?” can still give was recorded. “He’d be working in the you goose bumps. It’s a different beast control room, and I would be in than the Bee Gees’ original version. my office. Then I’d go back to The intimacy of Green’s voice, help him when he needed the sacred steps of the Hi me during recording and Rhythm Section playing mixing sessions,” she behind him, those strings, recalls. But this day was and other sonic surprises different. She hadn’t all carry the listener on heard from Willie for a a twilit journey. It was a while. breakthrough moment in Wandering back to the history of soul music, the control room, she saw or any music. Willie seated at the mixing Yet the track was but one board. A voice echoed of many breakthroughs, through the speakers, “I PHOTO: COURTESY YVONNE MITCHELL both personal and can still feel the breeze …” Yvonne Mitchell artistic, that were going as eerie tremolo strings down then in the former shivered with cinematic urgency. “That little cinema known as Royal Studios, rustles through the trees …” An organ chord one of the oldest continuously operating suddenly chopped the silence like a pang of recording facilities in the world to this day. loneliness. And then Yvonne saw her father’s Fifty years on, it’s worth revisiting those face. He was in tears. months, starting in late 1971, during which “He had to piece so many parts together Hi Records became the epicenter of the for that song,” Yvonne recalls. “He would musical universe, culminating in Al Green’s take it apart, then stop and start tearing up. twin masterpieces of 1972: January’s Let’s Th at particular song took him a whole day Stay Together and October’s I’m Still in Love 10 to mix. I said, ‘Dad, why are you crying?’ With You.

A Long Time Coming For Willie Mitchell, it had been a long time coming, marking the culmination of many years’ worth of craftsmanship as he toiled to create a distinctive sound. What he arrived at, with tracks that flowed with watery chords underpinned by an inexorable rhythm section and topped with Green’s silky delivery, sounded like nothing else on the pop landscape at the time. Willie’s grandson Boo Mitchell, whom he raised as his own son, recalls the trajectory that took the trumpet-wielding Willie, aka Pop, to the apex of the 1970s hit parade. “Pop came from the big band era,” says Boo. “But when Pop got back from the Korean War in ’55, he was tired of big band. He wanted something different. So he started a band with [drummer] Al Jackson Jr. and his younger brother [and baritone saxophonist] James. That grew into the Memphis soul sound.” It was a new brand of strippeddown, hard-hitting, groovy R&B, ultimately popularized globally when Jackson and others began recording at Stax Records, and it had its roots in Willie’s outfit. “He had the most famous band in town,” Boo says. “Everybody played with him at some point.” James would later play a major role in the classic Al Green oeuvre. But it all began when Willie was hired by Hi Records in the early ’60s, with the brothers’ horn sound

Hi Records reached its commercial peak in the 1970s under the helm of the innovative producer Willie Mitchell.

Hi Rhythm Bit by bit, he was coming closer to realizing the sounds in his head. His sonic perfectionism paid off with more instrumental hits on Hi, made all the more compelling by the house band he assembled. By the mid-’60s, Willie’s stepsons, Horace and Archie “Hubbie” Turner, were playing in an R&B band called the Impalas with two brothers, Mabon “Teenie” Hodges on guitar and Leroy “Flick” Hodges on bass. Willie brought them in to his sessions at Royal, starting with Flick. Speaking from the studio’s tracking room floor today, Flick points to where he stood. “Right here. I was 17 years old. I’d never done a recording in my life. And I was right here with Al Jackson Jr., Joe Hall, James Mitchell, Willie, and Reggie Young. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing!” The compelling grooves of Mitchell’s solo records argue otherwise, especially after Willie assembled a new house band derived from the Impalas. By 1968, the Hi Rhythm Section boasted a young Howard Grimes on drums, who had played on early Stax hits and whose beat was so insistent that Willie dubbed him “Bulldog.” Teenie joined on guitar and Hubbie on keyboards, and the band took on a chemistry all its own. When Hubbie was drafted and left for Vietnam, another Hodges brother, Charles, stepped in on keys and the group carried on both in the studio and on the road. And, as Flick notes today, that time together was key. “The five of us worked together every weekend. We really knew one another.” To this day, as Charles Hodges notes, “We are as one. And there are not many musicians that can say that. You just feel each other.” One of their early successes, a cover of King Curtis’ “Soul Serenade,” led them to tour the country. In Texas, they met one Al Greene, a soul crooner struggling in the business with one modestly successful

single, and Willie invited him to record for Hi in Memphis. Wisely having dropped the “e” from his surname, Al Green was getting closer to the stardom Willie imagined for him, but he had an unremarkable start on Hi. “Al Green’s first record, Green Is Blues, didn’t sell anything,” Boo Mitchell notes. But as Willie and the band worked with Green, the producer was working toward a new goal: breaking away

He’d say, ‘No it’s not right’ and beat on the snare drum some more. Finally he said, ‘I got it! I got it! Come listen to the room!’ I said, ‘Listen to the room?’” The sound of that room colors Green’s second album, Al Green Gets Next to You. The LP took a quantum leap musically as well, chiefly in perfecting the simmering, slow funk of the rhythm section. With slamming tracks like “I Can’t Get Next to

PHOTO (ABOVE): LANSKY BROS.

Back row (left to right): James Mitchell, Teenie Hodges, Charles Hodges, Leroy Hodges; front row: Willie Mitchell and Howard Grimes PHOTO (LEFT): COURTESY YVONNE MITCHELL

Willie Mitchell

from the instrumental hits and reinventing the Memphis sound again. Listen to the Room Willie’s daughter Yvonne remembers that time well. “He wanted a new sound,” she says. “When I would drive him to the studio, we couldn’t play the radio. He’d say, ‘Would you please turn the music off ?’ He said, ‘People steal from me, I don’t steal from them.’” Once they were at Royal, he put the acoustics of the space under a microscope. “It took him almost two or three years to find his sound,” says Yvonne. “He’d be buying burlap and putting all this stuff on the walls. Then he would just sit here in the middle of the floor, beating on a snare drum.

You,” “I’m a Ram,” and “Right Now, Right Now,” Green’s naturally silky voice turns on a dime to growls and shouts. But the singer insisted that his original, the more pensive “Tired of Being Alone,” was the hit, and, after lingering low in the charts for months, this proved true. As Boo says, “Al Green Gets Next to You was right before Pop perfected the room with Bill Cantrell. And then he gets to ‘Tired of Being Alone,’ and that’s more like the Al Green sound that you’re used to.” To Boo, this expresses Willie’s drive to reinvent himself. “See, people kept jacking his sound. He basically invented the Memphis soul sound in the ’50s, before anybody. So at the height of soul music, he was like, ‘Okay, everybody’s doing what I did. Let me change

my sound again.’ So he started making his stuff with Al a little more sophisticated.” Soul music was getting more sophisticated everywhere at the time, but where some artists, like Isaac Hayes, took their jazz influences in a more orchestral direction, Willie Mitchell combined sophistication with the intimacy that came from “listening to the room.” When “Tired of Being Alone” finally clicked in the charts, just when Hi Records co-owner Joe Cuoghi died and left his company shares to Mitchell, the producer was encouraged on all fronts to go with his instincts. The next Al Green single, released in November 1971, embodied that. “This Could Be Something” As Willie himself says in Robert Mugge’s documentary, Gospel According to Al Green, “The style came about because Al was singing; he was really singing hard. I used to tell Al, ‘You need to soften up some.’ … I said, ‘Al, you’ve got a good falsetto. You need to settle this music down.’ All my life, I’d tampered in jazz chords, and I began to write some jazz chords, trying to get another sound for Al. Finally one Saturday afternoon, I was tampering around on the piano, and I came up with this melody of ‘Let’s Stay Together.’ And I said, ‘This could be something.’” At the same time, the final pieces of the recording puzzle fell into place for the producer. “Let’s Stay Together was the album where he perfected everything,” says Boo. “He perfected Al on microphone #9. That’s why that album sounds different from Al Green Gets Next to You. It has a smoother, more deliberate sonic tone to it. Every record after that had that smooth, silky sound, like Al Green is in your living room.” The singer’s delivery went hand in hand with the production. “Really, ‘Let’s Stay Together,’ the song, was where Al discovered himself,” says Boo. “[Al and Willie] had a big fight about getting the vocals to that song. Al was singing hard like the other soul singers at the time. And Pop was like, ‘No, I want Al Green.’ And Al said, ‘Well I don’t know who that is.’ And he left! But when he came back, Al said, ‘Well I’m just not gonna try at all.’ And that ended up being the sound.” Yet, beyond Willie Mitchell’s painstaking craftsmanship, another facet of the Hi sound from 1972 onward was the producer’s openness to the unpredictable. That, too, was captured in the single that started it all. “We put the track down, and that’s when everything happened,” Willie explains in the film. “We are in the ghetto area, and there’s a bunch of winos out there, and they were all out there drinking. So Al said, ‘Why don’t you go and get four or five gallons of wine, let’s bring these people into the studio.’ So continued on page 12

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

propelling several instrumental singles for the label, including the hit “20-75” in 1964. That track was the first where Willie had complete control of the production, a giant leap forward in more ways than one. “Pop went through all of this racial oppression to get to where he was,” Boo explains. “The engineer that was at Royal in the early ’60s, Ray Harris, told him that Black people couldn’t touch the mixing board.” Both the injustice and the aesthetics of it rankled Mitchell, so he threatened to quit unless he could engineer his own productions. “The first song Pop engineered was ‘20-75,’” says Boo, “and you can hear the difference: The music just jumps out of the speakers. So he spent the next several years perfecting the sound of the room. And after he finally bought Ray Harris out in 1968, he was the lead engineer, full-time. That’s when he really got the room the way he wanted it.”

continued from page 11 we brought about 50 people in here. All the winos were drinking wine, laying on the floor when we cut the record. And we’d all tell ’em to be quiet.” Careful listening still reveals the guests who were present that day. Perfect Imperfection The loose atmosphere extends to the band itself. Indeed, the Hi Rhythm Section, who still records as a unit today despite the deaths of Al Jackson Jr., Teenie Hodges, and Howard Grimes, brings a magic to Let’s Stay Together, I’m Still in Love With You, and subsequent albums that transcends even Willie Mitchell’s vision. And that’s just how Willie wanted it. As Hubbie puts it, “Willie was kind of like Miles Davis, when Miles got his [mid-’60s] group together, with Herbie Hancock and those guys. They were really young when Miles got them. Willie was the same way. Like an older guy with the young guys. ‘You guys do you guys. Do what you do.’ He’d let you go ahead and do it. Be creative.” Speaking of his dramatic organ swipe on the track that brought Willie to tears — “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” — Charles recalls just such a creative moment. “Al was the type of singer that could lead you to a chord. I’m right there listening and

PHOTO: BRANDON DILL, COURTESY BOO MITCHELL

Willie Mitchell perfected Al Green’s sound on microphone #9 while recording Let’s Stay Together. I want to be on him like a duck on a june bug. So when he sang, ‘I can feel the breeze,’ I thought of a breeze in the trees. I just felt it. And I felt self-conscious about it when I heard it back. I wanted to do it again, but Willie said, ‘No, no. This is the take right here. You all can go home.’” Ultimately, of course, Willie was always alone at the mixing console and thus had the final say. This extended even to the

unique string arrangements by his brother James, more edgy string quartet than symphonic bombast, and yet another novel element introduced to the Al Green sound in 1972. As Boo reflects, “Uncle James was an absolute genius. I’ve been studying his arrangements recently, both the strings and horns, and they were so unorthodox and unpredictable. That’s why they work.” Listening to the multitracks reveals “even more there that Pop would take out on the mix. Like extra horn parts and stuff you don’t hear on the record. He just muted them. … He knew how much to take from Uncle James and how much not to take.” Willie’s exacting approach to mixing meant he always did it on his own, right there at Royal. It was partly a point of pride. After finally being allowed to engineer himself in the ’60s, then ascending to partial ownership of Royal and Hi, he’d personally pieced together the gear with the same ear for detail that had shaped his acoustic room design. As Boo describes it, the studio was such an extension of Willie’s vision that working elsewhere was unthinkable. “That’s the most ridiculous idea. It never happened. It would be like Michael Jordan wearing another player’s basketball shoes.” Instead, Willie Mitchell remained comfortably ensconced in the sonic temple of his own making, never changing his

approach after perfecting it with Al Green in 1972. He made stars out of many singers through the decade, but as the flashier sounds of disco and new wave became ascendant, Hi Records’ star dimmed. Al Green, of course, made a sharp turn to gospel and is the bishop of his Full Gospel Tabernacle Church to this day. When he finally returned to Royal to work with Willie on his return to secular soul, 2003’s I Can’t Stop, sure enough, Royal was there just as it was back in the day. And since Willie’s death in 2010, Royal continues under the stewardship of the Mitchell family, with nearly all of its vintage gear intact, albeit with a few upgrades to digital capabilities as well. Perhaps most importantly, the Hi Rhythm Section and the Mitchell family carry the torch of Willie’s philosophy, mixing spontaneity, sophistication, and simplicity. As Boo puts it, “I grew up watching him produce. There’d be a studio full of worldclass musicians, and everybody’s playing their thing perfectly, and Pop would — Pzzzew! — stop the tape. And he’d be like, ‘Hey man, it’s got a false feel!’ Then they’d do it again, and even if someone hit a clam or something, he’d be like, ‘That’s the take!’ He was more concerned with the spirit and the vibe and feel of a record than the technical correctness. Talk about perfect imperfection! Pop knew when God was in the room.”

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March 10-16, 2022

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We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Love in the Club By Abigail Morici

PHOTO: MICHAEL ABRAMSON

“Love in the Club” features photos of Chicago nightlife in the ’70s.

A new nightclub is about to hit Memphis. Well, it’s more of a photography exhibition than a nightclub. “[‘Love in the Club’] is unlike any exhibit we’ve ever done,” explains Jeff Kollath, executive director of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. “We’re doing some aesthetic work in our gallery to make it feel like a Chicago nightclub.” The exhibit contains 30 or so black-and-white photos by Michael Abramson. Between 1974 and 1977, Abramson, then a student at Chicago’s IIT Institute of Design, photographed the nightlife at Chicago’s legendary clubs. “He was white, and the patrons of the nightclubs were predominantly African-American,” Kollath says. “People were really excited to have their picture taken, but also he provided photos to them. … He documented the Black working class in Chicago in their best clothes on Friday, Saturday night with live music, dancing, DJs. It’s just a really great snapshot of a scene that’s not documented that much. “The nightclub is an expression of oneself, an expression of individuality and style,” Kollath continues, “and you bring in the idea of love in the club and human relationships, whether it’s for one night or for a lifetime. Those are some of the most formative memories that not just folks in Chicago but any of us can have.” Accompanying the photos in the exhibit are Patricia Smith’s poems. Smith is a Chicago native, who, having grown up not far from the clubs that Abramson photographed, published a collection of poems about her connection to the photos in her book Gotta Go Gotta Flow. “Her poetry is way better than any caption or cutlines that I could ever write,” Kollath adds. At the opening reception for this exhibit, DJ Bizzle Bluebland will spin records, bringing the gallery/nightclub to life and encouraging guests to dance as the photos’ subjects once did. Food and beer by Soul & Spirits Brewery will be available. “Love in the Club” will be on view through September 4th. To find out about other upcoming events at the Stax, visit the Stax’s website or socials. “LOVE IN THE CLUB” OPENING RECEPTION, STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC, 926 E. MCLEMORE, FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 6-8 P.M., FREE.

March 10-16, 2022

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VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES March 10th - 16th ChalkFest 2022 Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 1934 Poplar, Saturday, March 12, 10 a.m. Join local artists in transforming the Brooks Plaza into the most colorful canvas. Bring your own chalk or you can purchase some for $5. Between masterpieces, dance to Lucky 7 Brass Band and DJ Siphne Aaye; explore the galleries for inspiration; enjoy Mempops, Voodoo Cafe, and El Mero Taco; and watch local artists Craig Thompson, Sam Reeves Hill, and Somijah Archer craft versions of works in Memphis’ collection at the Brooks.

Mental Health Matters Workshop First Congregational Church, 1000 S. Cooper, Saturday, March 12, 11 a.m. Playback Memphis presents its second Mental Health Matters Workshop. Whether you are in need of shaking off the isolation of the pandemic or seeking new, creative ways to nurture your mental health or are just curious about Playback theater, this workshop is for you. Small and intimate by design, the workshop will focus on inquiry around the perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs handed down to us about mental health. Activities will include reflection and sharing, Playback improv warm-ups and games, mindful movement and listening, and sharing through Playback. Participant sharing is always by invitation.

Silky Sullivan St. Patrick’s Day Parade Beale Street, Saturday, March 12, 3 p.m. Spectators are invited to wear green and bring the family to the city’s largest parade with bands, cars, dancers, floats, and more. Participating organizations include the Shelby County Sheriff ’s Department, the Memphis Fire Department, the Shriners, the Memphis Redbirds, the Bluff City Mafia, and the senior women’s dance squad, the Sassy Seniors. The parade is the public highlight of a full week of commemorations, including a motor caravan to pick up visiting dignitaries on March 10th, the Africa in April Salutes Ireland luncheon on March 11th, and the pub crawl and raising of the goat on St. Patrick’s Day itself, March 17th.

CALENDAR of EVENTS:

March 10 - 16

Exhibition of work by Rahn Marion that reimagines ancient stories and mythologies through the Black male figure. Through March 19. TONE

“From Shadow to Radiance: Jeannine Paul Art Exhibit”

Exhibition of work by Jeannine Paul. Through March 15. MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

“Learn Sing Plants Counting Monsters Colors Alphabets”

Exhibition of experimental cartoons. Through March 11. CLOUGH-HANSON GALLERY

“One Part of My Small Story” Exhibition of paintings by Hamlett Dobbins. Tuesday, March 15-April 23. DAVID LUSK GALLERY

Exhibition that brings together 12 contemporary Native American visual artists. Through March 16. MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

“Waves of Change”

in Chicago. Saturday, March 12, 2-4 p.m.

Exhibition of fused glass by Christie Stratton Moody. Through April 2.

STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST. MARY’S SCHOOL

Meet the Author: Eli Cranor

Eli Cranor in conversation with Ace Atkins to celebrate the launch of his debut novel, Don’t Know Tough. Friday, March 11, 6 p.m.

ART HAPPE N I NGS

ChalkFest 2022

Transform the Brooks Plaza into the most colorful canvas. Saturday, March 12, 10 a.m.

NOVEL

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

C O M E DY

Opening Reception: “Love in the Club”

Kevin McCaffrey

Join Chicago-based author and DJ Ayana Contreras and other guests at this special opening reception for “Love in the Club.” Free. Friday, March 11, 6-8 p.m. STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC

“Remembering” Open House

Open house for paintings by Michael Crespo. Saturday, March 12, 1-3 p.m. DAVID LUSK GALLERY

B O O K E V E N TS

A Novel Book Club: The School for Good Mothers Wednesday, March 16, 7 p.m. NOVEL

Book Event with Ayana Contreras

Join Ayana Contreras for a lecture and book-signing for her book Energy Never Dies: Afro-optimism and Creativity

Touring Comedian Kevin McCaffrey headlines a fun lineup on Pokeweed Comedy. $10. Sunday, March 13, 8 p.m. LAMPLIGHTER LOUNGE

continued on page 17

LET THE MEMORY LIVE AGAIN m e m p h i s f l y e r. c o m

“Ecce Homo”

Alton Brown of Good Eats fame is bringing a new culinary variety show to Memphis, packed with comedy, cooking, and mayhem.

“Savages and Princesses: The Persistence of Native American Stereotypes”

MARCH 22-27

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A RT AN D S P E C I A L E X H I B ITS

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CALENDAR: MARCH 10 - 16 continued from page 15

H O LI DAY E V E N TS

Darius Bradford

Silky Sullivan St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Friday, March 11, 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m.; Sunday, March 13, 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m. CHUCKLES COMEDY CLUB

Leanne Morgan

Morgan’s style of comedy combines her Southern charm and hilarious storytelling about her own life into an act that keeps fans coming back for more. Saturday, March 12, 8 p.m. ORPHEUM THEATRE

Ricky Franklin

$20. Friday, March 11, and March 12, 8 p.m. THE COMEDY JUNT

Smokin’ & Jokin’ Hookah Comedy with Bubba Dub

Opera Memphis presents Pygmalion 2.0

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with all sort of sights! Saturday, March 12, 3 p.m. BEALE STREET

A delightfully naughty duo of operas about destiny, desire, and robot lovers! Saturday, March 12, 7:309 p.m.; Sunday, March 13, 5-6:30 p.m. PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

T H EAT E R

Bright Star

A sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and 40s. Through March 13. GERMANTOWN COMMUNITY THEATRE

S PO R TS

P E R F O R M I N G A R TS

Alton Brown Live: Beyond The Eats

Alton Brown is hitting the road with a new culinary variety show. Audiences can expect more comedy, more music, more highly unusual cooking demos, and more potentially dangerous sciencey stuff. $35-$125. Wednesday, March 16, 7:30 p.m. ORPHEUM THEATRE

901 FC vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds

La Cage aux Folles

Saturday, March 12, 10 a.m.

Centers on Georges and his lover Albin, star at their drag nightclub in St. Tropez. $35. Through March 27.

AUTOZONE PARK

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Memphis Grizzlies vs. New York Knicks

Tumbling Down

Friday, March 11, 7 p.m. FEDEXFORUM

Revisits the Jim Crow era and shows the stratagems that led to the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest tumbling down. $30. Friday, March 11-April 3. HATTILOO THEATRE

Wednesday, March 16, 7:30 p.m. CHUCKLES COMEDY CLUB

C O M M U N I TY

Amtgard, Morrighan’s Bluff - LARP

A day of quests, padded weapon combat games, arts and sciences, and fun for participants of all abilities. Saturday, March 12, noon. W. J. FREEMAN PARK

Community Baby Shower

The first year of a baby’s life is usually costly and can be a financial struggle for most parents. The Independent Parent Inc. wants to help. Saturday, March 12, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. 1776 FRAYSER BLVD.

Pride Sports Memphis: Jersey Party!

Meet fellow kickballers, pick up your uniform, and have a few drinks. Friday, March 11, 6:30-9 p.m. CROSSTOWN ART BAR

SHE’S JUST A GIRL. STANDING IN FRONT OF HER ROBOT BOYFRIEND. ASKING HIM TO LOVE HER.

The Power of Women

Featuring a krav maga lesson and a discussion about making positive changes in the world. Free. Tuesday, March 15, 5:30 p.m. MEMPHIS JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

Waffle Shop

Offering outstanding speakers and serving up homemade waffles and more. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH

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The Big Bird Cage

CROSSTOWN THEATER

FO O D AN D D R I N K

Make Ice Pops with the Well

Celebrate National Nutrition Month and create your own fruit-filled ice pop Monday, March 14, 10 a.m. CHURCH HEALTH

Memphis Black Restaurant Week

Dine in, order food via delivery apps, or pick up orders to support Black-owned restaurants. Through March 12. BLACKRESTAURANTWEEK.COM

Soulful Food Truck Festival

Food trucks, vendors, and live entertainment. Sunday, March 13, noon-6 p.m. TIGER LANE

H E ALT H AN D F IT N ES S

T.O. Fuller State Park 7k/14k

This is a trail event consisting of a 7K (one loop) or 14K (two loops) combining the T.O. Fuller Discovery Trail with the Chucalissa Trail. Saturday, March 12, 9 a.m. T.O. FULLER STATE PARK

MARCH 12.13.18.19 PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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Inside the hellish women’s prison called The Big Bird Cage, inmates struggle to survive but then get their chance to escape. $5. Thursday, March 10, 7:30-9 p.m.

2021-2022

SEASON

ARTS By Abigail Morici

Behold the Man Rahn Marion’s exhibition at TONE reinterprets religious narratives into the Black queer experience.

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hen Pontius Pilate presented Jesus to the riotous crowd before his crucifixion, he uttered the phrase, “Ecce homo,” Latin for “Behold the man.” “He’s all battered and bruised,” artist Rahn Marion says of the Biblical scene. “It’s kind of a gross phrase.” Yet this phrase is the title of Marion’s latest show at TONE. To many, religion in the Christian context is laced with guilt and shame, especially for those whom the mainstream Christian, Eurocentric rhetoric disenfranchises. The “gross” parts of religion. But Marion, in his show, is reclaiming those parts. “It’s a celebration of man and all these stories of where we’ve come from and where we’re going,” says Marion, the art director at the First Congregational Church. “A lot of these things that I’m interested in [are] Eurocentric, and I think it’s interesting to put it in a Black queer experience. And I feel like a lot of the martyrs and stuff like that is so blatant that it can be translated into the Black experience or a person of color.” Marion began the 12 paintings of the show in the depths of lockdown and the social and political unrest that followed, when sacrifice and martyrdom were at the forefront. “Every time people really get together and create change, there’s always a sacrifice that happens and that really gets people’s attention, and these people don’t want to be martyrs,” he says. At times like these, people look to religion for comfort or to confront. With this in mind, incorporating and reinterpreting religious iconography and themes was a natural step for Marion, and considering that he has lived in and worked with First Congo since he graduated college and even began his relationship with art by drawing on bulletins during sermons at Boulevard Disciples of Christ, Marion is well-equipped to take on such a challenge. One of Marion’s paintings reflects on the martyrdom of St. Sebastian. “He’s seen more as a queer icon,” Marion explains, because religious images often depict the saint in the nude. “It was like a way people could see a nude male body and not be freaked out by it.” Marion does not shy away from nudity in this show as he infuses homoeroticism with religious imagery and

themes, but given his religious background, he admits, “It took me a while to feel comfortable painting nude men.” Eventually, Marion confided to his pastor at First Congo about his worries, and she pointed out the prevalence of nudity in Greek and Roman sculpture and throughout art history. “I think it was mostly that I’ve never seen Black men in that way, in the way of Greek sculptures and stuff.”

PHOTO: RAHN MARION

Saint George, oil on canvas, 2020-2021 Though Marion uses oils as his preferred medium for their “delicious and tactile” qualities, the paintings themselves take on that powerful sculptural element. The artist constructs his paintings around symmetry, bringing his figures to the forefront with bodies formed by striking geometric shapes with deep shadows and intense highlights. “I wanted to blend muted tones of the medieval kind of look with more contemporary bold colors,” Marion says, “so there’s a nice play between those two things that kind of puts you in an in-between of historical eras.” By playing with these different artistic eras, Marion captures the timelessness purported of Eurocentric narratives, all the while subverting it by centering the Black queer experience within his pieces. “I’ve heard people call my work kind of outsider,” Marion says. “And I think that’s just because I stay true to what I like.” “Ecce Homo” is on view at TONE through March 19th.

FOOD By Michael Donahue

Magic in the Kitchen Mexican chef Israel Loyo relocates to Memphis.

to chef at his first job at a French restaurant. “At first, they didn’t really care or pay attention, but I persisted, and they eventually started teaching me after I finished all my work.” Loyo worked at 18 restaurants. “Every one has been a piece of the puzzle. They’re all unique in their characteristics and provided more experience to my expertise. “I like to be organized,” he says. “I like to take a recipe and disassemble it and see where I can integrate my special touch, then bring it all together in an organized way where everyone in the kitchen is a part of it — it’s truly a product of a team effort.” When he was 23, Loyo was invited to be a chef for the Mexican government. “I had no idea who I was going to serve. When I got there, I started doing what I normally do — organizing the kitchen and making my plates.” He discovered he was cooking for Samuel del Villar, the chief of the government.

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PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE

Chef Israel Loyo, Damaris Diaz, and Greg Diaz

“I made a plate called Angels al Caballo. It was shrimp and I would stuff them with cheese and wrap them with bacon.” Loyo served it with soup. “Like a tomato cream. And it was perfumed with white wine. The guests absolutely loved it. They loved it so much they popped a bottle of champagne.” Villar gave him a hug and kissed him. “He said that was the best they ever had. This was a big moment of honor.” Loyo was executive chef for the Mexican government until his term finished eight years later. He was called back two more times to work for them. He then helped restaurants stabilize their menus, but he missed working in the kitchen. “I wasn’t practicing my passion,” he says. Through contacts, Loyo heard Greg Diaz wanted to open an authentic Mexican restaurant in Memphis, where Diaz’s TacoNganas food trucks already were popular. Damaris Diaz says her father was impressed with Loyo, who “sold himself as someone who has been through all of Mexico City in different capacities in the kitchen.” “What Greg Diaz had to offer was so appealing,” Loyo says. “It was a job where I could be the head chef. And it came with security and a three-year contract.” Loyo, who moved to Memphis about two months ago, says, “I’d never left my country until now.” Memphis “is calm,” he says. “The city is beautiful in its diversity. And I truly believe that what we’re bringing to the table with this cuisine is going to make an impact because it’s something people here have never experienced — a contemporary touch” to traditional Hispanic recipes. As for experiencing the Bluff City, Loyo says, “I’m dedicating myself completely to the kitchen, which is why we’re able to have such a quick turnaround. I would love to get to know more of your gastronomy and your people — what makes Memphis unique.” But, he says, “I love the barbecue ribs you guys prepare here.” Loyo is ready for people to try his food. “When they get here, they’re going to find magic.” Uncle Goyo’s Mexican Restaurant is at 1730 South Germantown Road in the Thornwood community.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

fter working as head chef for the Mexican government and at numerous Mexico City restaurants, Israel Loyo is now executive chef at the new Uncle Goyo’s Mexican Restaurant. Through an interpreter Damaris Diaz, Loyo talked about his life and cooking. Born in Mexico City, Loyo was drawn to cooking as a child, being in the kitchen with his grandmother. Her Sopa de Fideo, or vermicelli soup, is on Uncle Goyo’s menu. “The heart of my cuisine is my connection to that soup,” he says. Loyo began his cooking career at 16 “out of necessity” after his parents separated and he had to get a job to pay for his schooling. He worked his way from dishwasher

FILM By Chris McCoy

Die Batman It’s German for The Batman.

March 10-16, 2022

atman is the most capitalist of superheroes. Superman is an immigrant raised by farmers who moved to the big city to become a journalist. Spider-Man is from the urban working class, the first in his family to go to college, who always struggles with money. Bruce Wayne is the scion of a billionaire family who never had to work a day in his life. He lives in a city plagued by squalor and poverty, but when he is personally affected by street crime, he doesn’t pledge a part of his vast fortune to improve the lives of the most wretched, but instead decides to spend a mint on weapons, dress like a bat, sneak around at night, and beat up people. This is not a new criticism of the most popular superhero of the last 30 years. Bruce Wayne is not a hero — he’s a traumatized psychotic with messianic delusions whose violent tendencies are enabled by his great wealth. That’s not really the sympathetic framing you want for your comic book hero, especially now when the pandemic has laid bare the oligarchs’ inhuman greed. Director Matt Reeves does attempt to address that less than generous framing in The Batman. His Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) is a rich heir who lives in a Trumpian tower penthouse, but early in the film, Alfred (Andy

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Serkis) tries to get him to meet with the WayneCorp accountants, who are apoplectic because of Bruce’s excessive spending and neglect of the core businesses. Bruce isn’t really into that capitalism stuff. He wants to be left alone to use his tactical bat gear and jet car to fight crime. Gotham is plagued by a serial killer who is targeting the rich and powerful, beginning with the mayor. When Batman is called in to assist with the investigation by Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), Reeves teases out the Sherlock Holmes in the character’s DNA and lets Bats do some actual detecting. It seems the mysterious Riddler (Paul Dano) is leaving greeting cards addressed “To The Batman” at each crime scene. Bruce’s investigation leads him to Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), a waitress braving crappy electronic music to work in a sprawling warehouse nightclub run by the Penguin (an unrecognizable Colin Farrell). “You sure do have a lot of

Zoë Kravitz (left), Robert Pattinson cats,” says the guy dressed as a bat when he breaks into her apartment. Turns out, Selina is plotting elaborate revenge on the crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). Is everyone in Gotham some kind of costumed maniac? Only the ones who aren’t cops on the take. The bat and the cat team up with Gordon to take down a web of corrupt city officials (which included Bruce’s beloved dead father), the Riddler,

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FILM By Chris McCoy and Falcone’s criminal syndicate. You might think that’s a lot to fit in a movie, but this one is 176 minutes long, so there’s plenty of time for too many bad guys, multiple false endings, and loving close-ups of the Batmobile. Much of it works when taken on its own terms. Pattinson smears his eyeliner and broods with the best of them. The new Batmobile looks cool. Wright and Turturro own the screen. Dano is the best psychotic batvillain since Jack Nicholson put on the Joker paint in 1989. But none of it can overcome the fact that this is yet another gritty reboot of Batman.

There’s a good two-hour film buried in this bladder-busting, three-hour mess. If it had climaxed with the crackerjack scene where Batman confronts an incarcerated Riddler, I’d be singing a different tune. Instead, The Batman cops out and goes on for another 45 minutes of generic henchmen punching. “Maybe this is the end of the Batman,” muses a disillusioned Bruce Wayne. We should be so lucky. The Batman Now playing Multiple locations

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THE LAST WORD By Courtney McNeal

Transportation Gaps

THE LAST WORD

In a place like Memphis, living without easy access to a car seems impractical, if not impossible. Crisscrossed by highway-like boulevards that rival Atlanta or Los Angeles, and occasionally narrow-shouldered by thin pedestrian sidewalks, this is a city where both daily essentials and places of interest are largely dependent on automobile travel. Perhaps unsurprisingly, only 11 to 12 percent of households do not own at least one car. Many of them are elderly and cannot afford to shoulder the costs of purchasing, insuring, and maintaining even a used vehicle. Furthermore, the sections of the city where walking or even bicycling are more practical are considerably more expensive than those that are not — putting them out of reach for economically disadvantaged people, consistent with systemic racism in housing and the historical realities of segregation and redlining in Memphis. Anyone without a car relies on a patchwork of family help, ridesharing such as Uber and Lyft, and a public transportation system that remains patchy despite improvements and plans for the future. With relatives’ busy work schedules, the cost and heavy demand PHOTO: JUSTIN FOX BURKS on a limited number of rideshare cars, and bus lines that don’t go where some people in need are located, these are incomplete solutions. The consequences are more profound than mere inconvenience. Our organization, which focuses on providing transportation options to senior citizens needing to get to healthcare appointments, is particularly invested in the relationship between disrupted travel options and care outcomes. A study in the Journal of Community Health pointed to such an impact weighing especially heavily on those who live in poverty — and cutting harshly across racial and socioeconomic lines. For example, an analysis of cancer patients living in Texas showed that while 38 percent of white adults cited poor access to a vehicle as a barrier that could result in missing a cancer treatment, the same figure was 55 percent for African-American adults and 60 percent for Hispanic adults sampled. It would not be an exaggeration, in this sense, to argue that transportation gaps can literally shorten life spans and reinforce existing inequities. It is heartening to see plans for infrastructure updates in Memphis that include express bus lines, more pedestrian and bicycle paths, and new bridges. But with the city still taking public comment and input on what is needed and how it would impact its residents, there is plenty of opportunity left for advocacy. In particular, it is our hope that certain core principles do not get lost. First, it will continue to be important to think outside the box in getting Memphians, particularly the elderly and disadvantaged, where they need to go. The public sector and MATA will continue to play their essential roles, but the question remains how nonprofit organizations, religious groups, hospitals and clinics, and neighborhood partners can step in, both to connect those in need with existing transportation resources and to pool our financial and logistical wherewithal to plug the remaining gaps. This is especially the case for organizations whose projects benefit from the opportunity provided by federal funding: What can be done to maximize its impact, and focusing more on granular, neighborhood-based projects, what can be done to address direct, rather than large-scale transport needs? Second, charitable organizations that provide rides to people, as well as their partners, need to work to bridge the information and communications gaps that exist. Individuals, as well as their families, are often unaware of the services available to them, and whether through an online or social media-based approach or through traditional marketing and advertising, the different groups in the city providing such services need to make their work and partnerships with one another clearer to members of the community. Third, to take a higher up view, the city must not only embrace, but also encourage even more updates to Memphis’ physical infrastructure to allow for more connections made on foot. In the medium- to longterm, the impact from decreased pollution levels, more physical activity, and more direct connections between once-isolated sections of our city will have a positive cumulative impact on many health conditions, including chronic illnesses, which many Memphians face. Current efforts form an encouraging and welcome beginning, but when it comes to creating physical spaces more conducive to good health and social inclusion, the only direction is forward. Even if Memphis remains a “city of the car” for the foreseeable future, we can still ignite a new approach to transportation that benefits everyone. Courtney McNeal is the Strategic Partnerships Manager at Innovate Memphis. Her work enables her to focus on social equity while helping the people of her hometown.

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In a city where the car is king, what can we do to ensure Memphians who are often forgotten can get where they need to go?

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FOOD

LAST WORD