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BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Editor SHARA CLARK Managing Editor JACKSON BAKER Senior Editor TOBY SELLS Associate Editor CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor SAMUEL X. CICCI, MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers JESSE DAVIS Copy Editor, Staff Writer JULIE RAY 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

OUR 1680TH ISSUE 05.06.21 Dispatches from an alternate universe … 1) “Any fair examination of President Joe Biden’s policies would conclude that his first 100 days in office have been a complete failure. His presidency has largely consisted of taking credit for Republican achievements and undoing common-sense Republican policies — with disastrous results.” That was the opening paragraph of an op-ed by Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, which ran in the local print daily last week. McDaniel’s birth name, you may recall, was Ronna Romney, and she is the niece of Senator Mitt Romney. Ronna is not a fan of her uncle, having become a full-on Trumper a couple years back. 2) “Aren’t you embarrassed?” That was from Mitt, who had a rough weekend at the Utah Republican Convention, where he was booed mercilessly as he tried to begin a speech. The Utah Republicans weren’t at all embarrassed. They saw Mitt as a traitor because he voted for impeachment and dared to say he doesn’t think Donald Trump won the election. 3) “I think if you’ve got your weight right, and your lifestyle right, and your diet right … I don’t think this virus will bother you.” This touching paean to the benefits of clean living came from Republican state Senator Frank Niceley, who was discussing a bill he co-sponsored that would give Tennesseans the freedom not to get a COVID vaccine — a freedom they already have. But you can’t be too careful with Biden in the White House. 4) “I want you to hear every single word of the Pledge of Allegiance. That is our pledge to each other. That is our pledge to this country. … I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America … individual … ” That’s former national security advisor, convicted felon, and QAnon true believer Mike Flynn, who was leading the Pledge of Allegiance, then forgot the words. The rally where he was speaking was being held in support of Lin Wood, who’s running to oust the GOP chairman of South Carolina for not being QAnon-ish enough. 5) “No Joey in the Oval Office. But I did run into our President of the United States. President Trump is hanging out and working in the office in which we reelected him to serve in a historic landslide victory on November 3, 2020.” That’s a post on Telegram (accompanied by a picture of Trump at his White House Desk) from the aforementioned Lin Wood, who claimed to be touring the White House last week, where he found Donald Trump still in the Oval Office. Lin also called for former Vice President Mike Pence to face the firing squad for allowing Congress to certify the presidential election results. 6) “How are we doing with Iran? They would have done anything … China, the same thing, they never treated us that way, and the border … massive amounts of people in our hospitals and schools … Do you miss me? They said, ‘Sir, get 66 million votes and the election’s yours.’ Well I got 76 million and they say I lost. Who are they kidding? It was stolen big-time and everybody knows it.” That was the former president himself, who dropped in on a wedding reception at Mar-a-Lago last week while the band was on break to offer some words of wisdom. Good to know he’s still got the gift of gab and has moved on gracefully. 7) “While Newsmax initially covered claims by President Trump’s lawyers, supporters, and others that Dr. Coomer played a role in manipulating Dominion voting machines, Dominion voting software, and the final vote counts in the 2020 presidential election, Newsmax subsequently found no evidence that such allegations were true. Many of the states whose results were contested by the Trump campaign after the November 2020 election have conducted extensive recounts and audits, and each of these states certified the results as legal and final.” N E WS & O P I N I O N A statement from right-wing news THE FLY-BY - 4 outlet Newsmax, which joined Fox News NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 5 and OANN in aggressively back-pedaling FINANCIAL FEATURE - 6 from the lies they spread on election POLITICS - 8 fraud and Dominion voting machines. COVER STORY Nothing like a multi-million dollar “THE ?S ISSUE” lawsuit to bring out truth and destroy BY FLYER STAFF - 10 WE RECOMMEND - 14 propaganda, I suppose. After reading the MUSIC - 15 quotes above, it’s pretty obvious nothing CALENDAR - 16 else will. FOOD - 18 C’mon, Republicans, aren’t you embarFILM - 20 rassed yet? C LAS S I F I E D S - 21 Bruce VanWyngarden LAST WORD - 23 brucev@memphisflyer.com

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CITY REPORTER By Jackson Baker

“Black Candidates Should Matter”

VAC C I N E H ES ITANT

U of M Law School faces charges of racial bias in hiring, promotions.

S US H I J I M M I R E D UX MEMernet citizens had thoughts about our story last week announcing Sushi Jimmi would leave Memphis. “Haven’t we heard this story like five times before?” asked CaptainInane-O on Reddit. On Twitter, @ViewFromBoxSeat wondered, “Anybody seen an update on Sushi Jimmi? It’s been over 24 hours since the last article about him.”

May 6-12, 2021

Edited by Toby Sells

A roundup of Memphis on the World Wide Web.

In the first in a sort of Reddit grab bag this week, Memphis user Jwiley92 shared this infographic (from the Centers for Disease Control) to show which populations in Shelby County were the most hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccination.

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Questions, Answers + Attitude

“B O OTY C LAP PAR K I N G PAS S” No one on the Memphis subreddit could quite explain just what was going on with this photo captured at Overton Park and posted by benefit_ of_mrkite.

User baabahope got closest, maybe, noting “that’s a booty clap parking pass.” Other users agreed, though, that whatever was going on was Memphis AF.

A major potential revolt is brewing in the University of Memphis Law School, based on what Black PHOTOS BY U OF M LAW SCHOOL students and a senior AfricanAmerican faculty member see as continuing racial injustice on the part of the institution. The disaffected faculty member is Alena Allen, the wife of Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, and she has announced via a letter to school authorities her intention to resign in order to underscore her dissatisfaction with a system in which she writes “[f]aculty-favored Black candidates have been denied opportunities to lead.” Allen’s pending resignation has prompted the University chapter of the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA) to charge the university with “racial bias” and to put forth a series of The Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law (left); Alena Allen is an Associate demands of the administration. Professor of Law (inset) This document drew further reproach in the form of an anonymous email from a “concerned faculty member” who calls ing to say that what has happened was quite simply offensive.” upon the rest of the faculty to support the student demands so In their supportive protest, the NBLSA members say, “The as to avoid “a catastrophic crisis at the law school.” law school has never had a Black dean. Ole Miss has had a In her letter of resignation — written, she says within it, Black dean. University of Arkansas has had a Black dean. “in the wake of George Floyd’s murder” — Allen, listed on Memphis, a city where roughly 66 percent of the population the law school website as an associate professor and director is Black, has never had a Black dean. … There is real value in of faculty research, reviews several instances in which she having a diverse leadership team.” says credentialed Black applicants were bypassed for promoAs Professor Allen had done, the students also profess tion and for the position of dean, in favor of less well-qualicriticism of the current law school dean, Kate Schaffzin, hired fied white applicants. by the university president and provost three years ago over a “The law school has never had a woman of color attain the faculty-endorsed Black male candidate despite her own lesser rank of full professor,” Allen writes. An email from her elaboendorsement by faculty members. rating on that line suggests that it does not apply to herself. Allen writes, “My body tenses every time that Kate proShe adds, “The Provost approved my promotion in January. I motes her diversity and inclusion efforts because I view Kate’s resigned after he met with the faculty on March 12th and sughire as the exact opposite of diversity and inclusion. Facultygested that he did me (and the white male who also applied) favored Black candidates have been denied opportunities a favor by granting our promotions. He said our promotion to lead. I sincerely grapple with whether a non-problematic standards lacked rigor. It was incredibly offensive. He later explanation can exist for why a white candidate with a negative expressed regret and tried to clarify his remarks via email.” vote is hired over a Black candidate with a highly favorable She writes: “I have tried to move past all of this but I figura- faculty vote.” tively can’t breathe. … If Black Lives Matter, then Black candiThe students, in their protest, say, “Students were shocked dates should matter. If Black Lives Matter, then the feelings of to learn that for the past two dean cycles the faculty voted and Black faculty should matter. … I don’t view the status quo as ranked Black candidates higher than the white deans that the business as usual or acceptable, and I am exhausted from havProvost chose to hire.”

Crossword

Memphis Zoo rebuts claims from group on treatment of Le Le and Ya Ya.

ACROSS 26 Infuse with bubbles 1 Writing on a book jacket 29 Black tea variety 6 Leveling wedge 10 Be on the mend 14 Total, as expenses 15 Mario who wrote “The Godfather” 16 Farmland measure 17 Part of a book that’s rarely read straight through 18 Shortly 19 Brand of beans 20 Ring result, for short 21 Actor Cameron + actor Fairbanks = actor ___ 24 Is the right size 25 Temporary support for a bone fracture

50 Basketball player Walton + basketball player Westbrook = basketball 31 Comedian Carell player ___ + comedian Short = comedian ___ 53 ___-mo replay 33 Bluesy woodwind 56 Frenzied way to go 36 Curly cabbage 57 Flapjack franchise, briefly 37 Where a mole 58 = shouldn’t be, in brief 60 Two-wheeler 61 Commotion 38 Place that’s 62 Cuban dance buzzing 63 Got a perfect 39 Hog’s home score on 40 Singer Brown 64 Thumbs-up votes + singer Swift 65 Full of attitude = singer ___ 44 Elaine of “Seinfeld” 45 Provides funding for 46 Drug for insomniacs 49 Assign stars to

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Memphis Zoo officials rebutted claims last week from a group of “international panda fans” concerned for the wellbeing of the zoo’s two giant pandas, Le Le and Ya Ya. A change.org petition and a letterwriting campaign by Panda Voices, a group “brought together by the ongoing mistreatment of pandas Lele [sic] and Yaya [sic] at Memphis Zoo,” has mobilized thousands across the globe. Dozens of form letters have been sent to the Memphis Flyer newsroom. “I am informed that YaYa [sic] and LeLe [sic] has [sic] been suffering from hunger, incompatible low-quality bamboos, lack of enrichments, and excessive caging time, causing them to be underweight and malnourished,” reads a form letter submission sent this week from Judith Echeverria in Miami, Florida. “From 2007 to 2012, the zoo has performed four artificial inseminations on YaYa [sic] which ended with four abortions and caused irreversible damage to her body.” Memphis Zoo leaders said Wednesday morning that they have “been in an ongoing conversation with this group who has passionately voiced their concerns over our pandas here at the Memphis Zoo.” “I assure you that both pandas are monitored by keeper and veterinary staff daily,” Jessica Faulk, a zoo spokesperson, said in a statement. “We are also in constant communication with our colleagues in China, as well as [the Association of Zoos and Aquariums], and send

PHOTO BY MEMPHIS ZOO/FACEBOOK

Zoo says Ya Ya is a “healthy bear.” them monthly updates.” While the letter and the group’s website provide links they say prove their allegations of mistreatment at Memphis Zoo, they don’t clearly substantiate any of their claims. For example, for proof of Ya Ya’s “four abortions” that caused “irreversible damage to her body,” the group points to a 2012 web post from Giant Panda Global sourced from a story from The Commercial Appeal. In it, Ya Ya was 11 and had been inseminated four times since her first fertility period when she was six, “including a miscarriage in March 2010.” Panda Voices also looked to the discoloration and patchiness of the pandas’ fur and claimed, for Ya Ya, the panda has “been tortured by parasite infection for over a decade.” Zoo officials said the bear does have a skin condition but said it does not cause “itching or severe discomfort.” “According to our veterinary staff, Ya Ya has a skin mite condition, which in bears who do not have a perfect immune system, could cause the fur symptoms she displays,” said Faulk, the zoo spokesperson. “However, she does not present any additional signs of disease such as itching or severe discomfort that could be caused by staff or anything else. Otherwise, she is a very healthy bear; she just doesn’t have the fluffy fur like most other pandas.”

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DOWN 1 One whose car has a bonnet and tyres 2 Blockhead 3 “Erase” on a computer 4 Traveling salesperson’s assignment: Abbr. 5 Flying toy that’s open-ended 6 Practices pugilism 7 Object of an ogler 8 Polo competitor 9 Relative of a snowboard 10 Try to get a better deal 11 Reason for a food recall 12 Early Indus Valley inhabitant 13 Bare minimum

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35 Gen ___ (postbaby boomers) 23 Atop 38 Jekyll’s counterpart 24 Top choice, 40 Loudly razz informally 26 Raises a question 41 Retirement income, for some 27 Coup d’___ 42 Bluish green 28 Bank (on) 43 Stag’s pride 29 Gets nosy 44 Swindled 30 Greek H’s 46 Addis ___, 32 Pinnacle Ethiopia 33 Barn adjunct 47 Copycat 34 Openly declare 48 Chap

49 Seized vehicles 51 Loafer or pump 52 Drink at an ice cream shop 53 Simplest arithmetic problems 54 Hands-on science classes 55 Neutrogena competitor 59 Sine ___ non

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ne of the first things a financial planner talks about with a new client is goals. That makes sense, as planning for something without a target in mind is tough. For most people, expressing goals is actually one of the hardest parts of the process. The goals discussion usually drifts into topics like paying down debt, saving for retirement, and preparing for college. Those goals seem appropriate and are likely to be what the advisor wants to hear, but are side effects rather than the core of a real goal. Financial planning should support the rest of your life, not exist in an abstract sense disconnected from your true hopes and dreams. Many people don’t even make it to the point of an awkward conversation about goals with an advisor. The ostrich syndrome is very real — if you don’t look at your long-term financial plans, then they don’t really exist, right? One way to think about goals is how long you want to work. These are a few approaches I’ve seen as a financial advisor.

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YOLO: Work Until You Die A surprising number of people deliberately have no retirement or financial goals, even after achieving an income where they could save. They create a false dichotomy between delaying gratification until later and enjoying life while they’re young(er). In exchange for a slightly more carefree and extravagant now, those with a You Only Live Once philosophy take on a lot of risk. Unexpected life events happen, and not everyone gets to work as long as they

think they can. To me, this seems more about rationalizing a way to avoid a difficult topic than a real strategy. Go With the Flow: Work Until Retirement Age This is the normal approach: Keep down debt, balance saving and spending, get that 401(k) match, accrue Social Security credits, and retire around your mid-60s. Your main financial goal would probably be: “I don’t know, but more is better.” Any big income advances are met with commensurate lifestyle increase, so retirement around traditional retirement age is a self-fulfilling prophecy, regardless of how much money you actually make. Financial Independence: Work Until … ? Some people decide to draw a lifestyle line in the sand. As income increases, they don’t spend more. The magic of compounding means that investments can cover living expenses surprisingly quickly. Then anything is possible, including travel, volunteering, a new career, or even keeping the current job. This approach creates a lot of resilience and opportunities in the future, but isn’t for everyone. Where Are You? Brainstorming your wildest dreams on a piece of paper with no regard to finances is a great way to start figuring out what your actual short-, medium-, and long-term goals might be. Your wildest dream might be exactly what you’re doing now, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Just figuring out what you want to do and finding the commitment to follow through is the hard part. Advisors can model a path to almost anything you can imagine, if you just know what you want. If you decide what you want to accomplish and develop a willingness to commit and follow through, your future advisor — and your future self — will find that planning for it might be the easiest part. Gene Gard is Co-Chief-Investment Officer at Telarray, a Memphis-based wealth management firm that helps families navigate investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions.

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POLITICS By Jackson Baker

Power Grabs Weakened Legislators transforming proposed state chancery court into an appellate body.

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NASHVILLE — As the Tennessee General Assembly entered into its last week, two bills that, if passed in their original form, would drastically change the nature of Tennessee jurisprudence, were official cliffhangers. One bill, the brainchild of state Senator Brian Kelsey, was in serious jeopardy. This was SB 915/HB 1072, which would have prohibited local governments from suing the state and guaranteed the state an automatic stay of any injunction levied against its constitutional authority, pending the ultimate evolution of appeals. The bill was rebuffed on the Senate floor via a 14-14 tie vote and, despite frantic attempts by Kelsey to promote ameliorated versions to his colleagues, remained unamended. The bill has been set and reset by its author for successive floor sessions of the Senate but, as of Tuesday, with time running out, had not incurred any more discussion. Another bill, SB 868/HB 1130, whose primary author was state Senator Mike Bell, undertook, as originally conceived, to establish a new three-member state Chancery Court, which would become the mandated trial court for any litigation against the state’s constitutional functions. The three judges would represent the state’s three grand divisions, but all would be elected statewide. In his introduction of the measure, Bell had been candid about the fact that such a court would reflect the state’s current political bias — i.e., have a Republican slant. Bell’s bill, like Kelsey’s, was clearly motivated by recent state judicial rulings perceived as favoring Democrats — notably, last year’s decision by Nashville Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle expanding availability of mail-in absentee ballots as a response to the coronavirus pandemic. The state appealed her ruling, meanwhile slow-walking its compliance, and the state Supreme Court, a majority of whose members were Republican appointees, watered down its impact. But Lyle, who was originally appointed by former Republican Governor Don Sundquist but has won successive re-elections as a Democrat, succeeded in establishing the pandemic as a factor to be considered in applications for absentee ballots. In theory, Bell’s bill reflected the will to

power of the General Assembly’s Republican supermajority, which, Democrats feared, would steamroller it into being, a sentiment that got fatalistic expression from a participant or two last week in a Zoom meeting of the Germantown Democratic Club. A group of statewide Democrats launched an emergency campaign against the bill under the scare email headline “Gov. Lee’s Judicial Branch Power Grab.” In fact, Lee was a mere bystander of the process, and there was enough independence of mind among Republican legislators with former service in local governments to weaken support for so fundamental a change in the relationship between jurisdictions. And sentiment in the House had been divided on the bill’s merits from the beginning. Democrats in both chambers, augmented by serious lobbying efforts, including those by Memphis attorney Steve Mulroy, had a fair chance to make their case.

JACKSON BAKER

State Senator Mike Bell with pet terrier during bill-review session Ultimately, it was in the House where the measure got rewritten. The House version posited the new tribunal not as a trial court but as a “court of special appeals” with original jurisdiction only for challenges of redistricting plans. Otherwise the court would be required to hear any case in which the state attorney general should intervene. And the court’s members, who would originally be appointed by Lee, would be subject, not to periodic direct election but only to yes/no retention elections, as state appeals judges are at present. As the legislative chambers prepared for an inevitable last-week reconciliation meeting, the likely end result would be a redefinition of judicial authority, but nothing like the power grab so fearsomely advertised.

So, as we enter this new year, resolve to support the free, independent local paper that’s always here for you. Even a little helps a lot.

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or this story, we asked our readers “What questions do you have about Memphis?” We got back a fantastically varied group of queries, too many to answer in one issue. Then we scrambled to find the answers. What follows are the answers to some of your questions in what we’re calling the Flyer’s first Questions Issue. — Toby Sells

Was there really a crystal skull placed in the top of the Pyramid?

May 6-12, 2021

It’s Memphis’ weirdest urban legend: Soon after the Pyramid was opened in the early 1990s, someone found a box containing a crystal skull attached to the apex of the arena. The story periodically bounces around the internet, and was picked up by InfoWars’ Alex Jones as proof of the existence of a sinister Illuminati conspiracy. According to Tom Jones (no relation to Alex), it is true — just not the Illuminati part. In 1992, Jones worked in the office of Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris. The public/private partnership between the city and county and developers Sidney Schlenker and John Tigrett had collapsed, leaving the governments holding the bag on a halfcompleted arena of questionable utility. “We were put in charge of putting it back together,” says Jones. “We were renegotiating all the contracts, trying to get the building open in time for the first event. It was a pretty chaotic time.” Soon after the arena’s opening, Jones recalls, “The company that managed the Pyramid called and said they had found a box at the top of the Pyramid, welded to the superstructure. ‘You want to come over and see us take it down?’” Jones and four other people climbed the stairs to the glass top of the building where a maintenance man named Joe went up on a ladder and pried the box loose. “Then we took it back down to a conference room, inside the Pyramid, to open it.” Paul Gurley from the city mayor’s office opened the box. “Inside the metal box was this blue velvet box, kind of a hinged box.” When the velvet box was opened, a burst of dust flew out that smelled like incense. 10 Inside, covered by a velvet cloth “… was this

COVE R STORY BY F LYER STA F F

s Issue

You had questions. We found answers. little skull. It was made out of crystal, and was about the size of your fist.” The find baffled all present. “Why had someone put it there? What was the belief that led them to put that there? What did they think was going to happen as a result of it being there?” Jones was put in charge of the skull. “I took it over to the Shelby County administration building, now, the Vasco A. Smith administration building, and locked it up in a safe in the finance department.” Soon, Jones learned that Isaac Tigrett, founder of the Hard Rock Cafe and House of Blues, was responsible. Tigrett was a devotee of Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba, whom he credited with saving his life after a

probably send it to the Pink Palace.” The Tigrett family appealed to thenMayor Bill Morris, who eventually relented. “After a while, I got a call from the head of finance, saying, ‘Just wanted you to know, the mayor told us to turn the skull back over to the Tigretts.’ So, it went back to where it had come from.” Although the unboxing was allegedly captured on video, and the skull photographed, no authenticated images of it are known to survive. Inquiries to Isaac Tigrett regarding the skull were not returned. But something else Tigrett said has stuck with Jones for 30 years. “He also said, ‘Well, they found one of them.’” — Chris McCoy

PHOTO COURTESY BASS PRO SHOPS AT THE PYRAMID/FACEBOOK

The Memphis Pyramid — tourist attraction or home to a crystal skull?

serious car accident. Baba had given Tigrett the skull along with specific instructions on how it should be aligned. “He had it affixed up there because of the cosmic impact it could have at the top of the Pyramid.” When Tigrett heard that the skull had been removed, he reportedly said, “They have no idea what they have done.” Tigrett immediately asked that the skull be returned, but Jones disagreed. “The contract we had with Schlenker and Tigrett said anything that was permanently affixed to the building became the property of city and county government. So, I took the attitude that it was now property of local government. I don’t know exactly what I thought we were going to do with it —

I keep hearing about copperheads in Overton Park. How worried should I be on my runs? Overton Park is a century-old piece of Southern hardwood forest set in the middle of a modern city. It’s a rare treasure for an urban area, and the attendant wildlife is included. The park is home to hundreds of species of birds, mammals, amphibians, insects — and reptiles, including the eastern copperhead. They are poisonous but reclusive, so how worried you should be depends a lot on how far off the beaten path you get. Copperheads tend to hide under logs and in leaf litter, and mostly avoid high human-traffic areas

— except in the spring, when males go looking for love and are more often seen on public pathways. Snakes and other grounddwelling animals also become more visible when the earth becomes soaked and dens get flooded after heavy rains. “All snakes, venomous or not, are shy, secretive, and definitely afraid of humans,” says Dr. Steve Reichling, the Director of Conservation and Research at the Memphis Zoo. “It’s rarely a good day for a snake if they cross paths with one of us.” In July 2016, a joint study conducted by the University of Memphis and the Memphis Zoo counted and tagged 73 copperheads in Overton Park. A recent study over three or four years found about 250 copperheads in the park, Reichling said. He said the snakes are “abundant” in the park and there are likely more in the Old Forest than other natural sites. If he had to guess, Reichling would put the number of copperheads in Overton Park at 350-400. Sounds like a lot, but a Google search brought up no reports of a human being bitten in the park. “I know of only one time when someone was bitten,” Reichling said. “Think about how many people walk those forest trails every year and you get an idea of how peace-loving snakes are.” The Overton Park Conservancy offers the following advice: “If you ever encounter a copperhead, just give the snake its space. The only time you’d be likely to step on one and trigger a defensive response is if you’re walking off-trail, which is just another great reason to keep to the paths.” — Bruce VanWyngarden

How did Germantown get its name? Not, as people presumably think, from some influx during its settlement of immigrants from central Europe (though one such did occur), but from a 19th century American surveyor who laid out the town, a gent named N.T. German. Before Mr. German did his thing, the place had been called, briefly, Pea Ridge, and, before that, “Neshoba” (the Chickasaw name for “wolf.” You know, like the river that flows through the town?). In 1825, and for the next three years or

What’s up with all of these apartments and Memphis real estate in general? When it comes to the business of apartments, Memphis is among the top competitive markets, ranking 25th nationally. A recent survey by RENTCafé shows why the local market is growing, even with rents on the rise. There is a 95 percent occupancy rate in the area, with apartments staying vacant on the market for an average of 34 days. To compare, there are 11 prospective renters competing for an apartment, which is equal to the national average. And the national occupancy rate is 94 percent while units stay vacant for an average of 39 days. We may align with national trends, but there are a multitude of market forces driving rentals, some shared all over and

some singular to Memphis. Younger people are waiting longer to get married and/or have children, if at all. More Baby Boomers are now empty nesters, and senior housing is a growth market. Shifts in housing are happening constantly. And Millennials are entering the workforce and are moving to urban centers across the country, and Memphis’ evolving PHOTO BY BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN

Snakes on a park path! Should hikers worry about copperheads at Overton Park?

provide one of the cooler residential addresses in town. There is even what might be considered adaptive reuse of an entire neighborhood: South City, a $250 million project, is going up on the site of the former Foote Homes public housing complex and is bringing mixedincome apartments, rental homes, and green space. The Downtown area is the most visible and has changed remarkably in recent years, but there is growth all over town and well into the suburbs. As long as the economy stays stable, which it’s largely PHOTO BY CHISCA HOTEL/FACEBOOK

The Chisca on Main (below) is just one example of new development.

PHOTO BY CITY OF GERMANTOWN

Who put the “German” in Germantown? Downtown is doing much to lure younger workers. Back in the 1980s, developer Henry Turley saw gold in the then-wasteland of Downtown. He built homes and apartments in Mud Island and along South Main. He was ahead of the demand, but the people did come. Since then, it’s been a matter of meeting the demand, not only in burgeoning Downtown but all over the city. Recent years have seen a boom in housing construction, even in the pandemic. Not only new buildings but adaptive reuse of existing structures, as was done with the old Chisca Hotel into shiny new apartments. And the longabandoned Tennessee Brewery building was saved from the wrecking ball to

PHOTO COURTESY MEMPHIS AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY/FACEBOOK

The trolleys are back on Main — but will we ever see them elsewhere? managed to do in a pandemic, there should be a good market for apartments and housing around town. But never say never. John Gnuschke, the former director of the Sparks Bureau of Business and Economic Research and the Center for Manpower Studies, has

said that housing construction is sensitive to the fiscal winds. If there’s a depression or recession (remember 2008?), the availability of financing for developers might well disappear and put the quietus on housing expansion. — Jon Sparks

Will the trolleys ever return to the Riverfront Loop or Madison Avenue? The most-recent era of the city’s trolley system began with fire. Two fires, to be exact — both on the Madison Line — caused a lengthy shutdown of the Memphis trolley system. Trolley 452 caught fire in November 2013 on the I-240 overpass just west of Bellevue. Trolley 553 caught fire in April 2014 on the Danny Thomas overpass bridge. Both were burned beyond repair. The Madison Line was closed that April. The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), the agency that oversees the trolleys, closed the entire system in June 2014. MATA officials then began the slow, grueling process of bringing trolleys back to Memphis. In 2015, thenMATA president Ron Garrison likened the process to “birthing a baby” and said “we are redoing our rail and rail safety program from the ground up.” That’s just what they did. Bringing trolleys back wasn’t as simple as figuring out why the other ones burned and fixing the problem, or even buying new vintage trolleys from other cities. A report from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) found MATA’s trolley infrastructure dated, found records of repairs lacking, and the oily, trolley-repair station called “the pit” to be dangerous. That report, too, found that in the three months before they caught fire, Trolley 553 had been discovered to have 43 defects and Number 452 had 29. MATA leaders predicted and ultimately punted on numerous dates for the trolleys’ return to Main Street. The trolley tracks would remain largely empty for another four years. The trolleys returned with their familiar hum and rumble to the Main Street Line on April 30, 2018, three years ago. Current MATA CEO Gary Rosenfeld says the agency’s board recently approved the purchase of three vintage trolley cars from the Charlotte Area Transit Authority. That city is upgrading its rail continued on page 13

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

so, Neshoba was the name of a utopian community founded by one Frances “Fanny” Wright with the idea of training slaves in various trades as a way of preparing the abolition of their servitude. The community existed in the vicinity of the Wolf River and presumably at or near the locale that still bears the name of Neshoba Road. The abolitionist project never got very far, and white participants in the project lorded it over the Blacks, none of whom, so far as is known, succeeded in earning their freedom and, as Wright proposed, emigrating back to Africa in the western spur of that continent that became Liberia. Neshoba had meanwhile become somewhat notorious for its flourishing free-love practices. The name “Neshoba” was next used briefly during the course of World War I as a fallback name for what had meanwhile become Germantown. At a time of conflict with Germany, the semantics of the name seemed inappropriate to residents of the community, which reverted back to being called Germantown with the cessation of hostilities. There was one more revival of the name “Neshoba,” when city/county school consolidation was first being discussed in the early ’90s, and the six outer-county suburban municipalities threatened secession from Shelby County and prepared, if need be and the state constitution permitted, to form a new county. To be named … yep, Neshoba. — Jackson Baker

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Where did the “Blue Kids” on the V&E Greenline come from?

system, moving away from vintage cars like Memphis has to modern cars, which Memphis may have soon. (More on that in a minute.) The vintage cars MATA bought from Charlotte will be put into service most likely on the Riverfront Loop, Rosenfeld said. He said cars may return to that line (a tourist favorite) in the next 18 months. “When we bring the Riverfront Line back in service, I would be willing to guess that we will see a little bit more of an increase in tourism opportunities there and, then, in transportation,” Rosenfeld says. The Riverfront Loop intersects the Main Street Line, and will increase the frequency of service on Main, too. This will have a positive effect on those using the trolleys for transportation. It’s this dual purpose, tourism and transportation, says Rosenfeld, that will likely keep vintage cars on the Riverfront Loop for a while. But expect to see something totally different on the Madison Line soon. Rosenfeld said MATA now has a modern railcar like the ones in use in Atlanta and Charlotte. Those are tall and boxy with huge windows and are enclosed for modern amenities like air conditioning. Such a car may be seen doing runs down the Madison Line sometime soon. But Rosenfeld was quick to say that MATA is not running a “pilot program” and such a car won’t be available for the public until “the line is perfect.” Runs of the modern car will help MATA “create a list of stuff that needs to be done in order for us to safely operate it.” “It makes sense for us — rather than stick to heritage trolleys on that line — to recognize the development that’s going on there and be able to handle the density and increase of demand for streetcars along that corridor,” Rosenfeld said. — Toby Sells

What’s the deal with the Blue Kids statues on the V&E Greenline? Have you seen the big, blue vaguely person-shaped statues near Crosstown Concourse? They recline on a grassy hill at the western end of the V&E Greenline, a walking trail in the Vollintine-Evergreen neighborhood, which itself grew out of community involvement and the defunct L&N Railroad. But I didn’t really know anything about them — not even their official name — until I called Joshua First, secretary for the V&E Greenline Committee, for answers. “I call ’em the ‘Blue Kids.’ Other people call them the ‘Big Kids,’” First says. The statues don’t have an official name at all; in the minutes of the meeting in which the committee discussed the proposed statues, as First puts it, “they were simply called ‘the sculptures at the west end of the trail.’” The idea for the art installation came from Memphis-based artist Ben Butler, who was then teaching an art class at Rhodes College. He presented a series of potential public art pieces, the Greenline Committee selected the Blue Kids, and Butler and his students designed, built, and installed the statues as a class project. A happy coincidence — last week marks the 10th anniversary of the statues’ installation. What’s more, this year the trail celebrates its 25th anniversary. “It quickly became an embodiment of the trail,” First says of the installation, noting that the student-built statues are an example of the independently operated trail’s DIY ethos. And, First says, the V&E Greenline is dotted with other public art projects, like Jeannie Tomlinson Saltmarsh’s metal trout weathervanes, or a new spherical structure installed last week. “It’s going to be a memorial to one of the founding members of the trail, Jan Kirby,” First says. “We’re building our public art profile on the trail,” First says, “but the Blue Kids are where it all started.” — Jesse Davis

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

continued from page 11

steppin’ out (& stayin’ in)

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Mother Nature

By Julie Ray

Roses are red, violets are blue, moms are the best, so it is Mother’s Day at the Memphis Botanic Garden for you. In case you have not heard, festivities at the garden are back starting with an outdoor picnic for mom. “We’re very excited to be able to start phasing in our normal events this spring, albeit in a slightly different format,” says Gina Harris, director of education and events. “The return of a Mother’s Day Picnic is another step toward normalcy at the garden, and we are looking forward to welcoming families to the garden on this special day.” Pre-order a picnic brunch or pack a lunch to bring with mom’s favorite treats. Local jazz musician Kenneth Jackson will be entertaining with smooth jazz. Sit at a table, available throughout the garden, or bring a blanket. Enjoy cocktails from the cash bar. Special brunch menus and picPHOTO BY FRANK CHIN, COURTESY OF MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN nic pre-order information can be found on MBG’s website Mother’s Day at the Garden is Sunday, May 9th. at memphisbotanicgarden.com. Did you forget to get a gift? Kids can plant a flower for mom, and table floral arrangements will be available for purchase. Best of all, celebrating mom doesn’t have to break the bank — the event is free with garden admission. No reservations are required. You can also bring mom to the Garden Food Truck Party series, starting May 13th. Listen to live music from Tracking Giants and enjoy food from 9 Dough 1, Lynnie’s Links and Drinks, El Mero, Soi #9, Smokin’ Hot BBQ, and Muddy’s Bake Shop. MOTHER’S DAY AT THE GARDEN OUTDOOR PICNIC, MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN, 750 CHERRY, SUNDAY, MAY 9, 10 A.M.-2 P.M., FREE WITH GARDEN ADMISSION.

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES May 6th - 12th

May 6-12, 2021

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Thursdays on the Plaza Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Ext., starts Thursday, May 6, 6:30 p.m., continues on Thursdays through July 15, free-$5 Enjoy the Menke Sculpture Garden during a variety of events, from blues to trivia. Cash bar with wine and craft beer, as well as a nosh or two. Opening night features musical theater trivia. Birth of Soul Music The Halloran Center, 225 S. Main, Friday-Sunday, May 7-9, 7 p.m., $75-$125 A documentary film exploring music history from Memphis, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Screening plus live concerts by Bobby Rush, Larita Shelby, and Brigitte Purdy.

Great Steak Cook-Off Eugene Woods Civic Center, 212 W. Polk, West Memphis, AR, Saturday, May 8, noon-6 p.m., free Featuring live music by Albert King Jr., Reba Russell Band, and Cecily Wilborn & Kymestri, plus food and fun. Mother’s Day at AutoZone Park AutoZone Park, Third and Union in Downtown Memphis, Thursday, May 9, 11 a.m., $12-$60 Enjoy a pre-game brunch. Stay for the game where the Memphis Redbirds will take on the Durham Bulls. There will be special giveaways and treats for mom.

Reader Meet Writer: Laura Dave Online from Novel, novelmemphis.com, Tuesday, May 11, 6 p.m., free with registration Author discusses on Zoom, The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel, a mystery about a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life until he disappears. Introduction to Meditation Memphis Rox Climbing, 879 E. McLemore, Wednesday, May 12, 6:30 p.m. In celebration of Mental Health Awareness Month, join Dean Graves from Prema Healing Meditation for a brief discussion followed by a 20-minute guided meditation.

Steve Cropper lives by the groove and fires one up. Speaking with a player whose work dates back to the first days of Satellite and Stax Records, I didn’t expect to hear about rods and reels. “I have always compared making hit records to fishing. The thing is, you have to remember that fish do not bite on the same lure and the same hole every day. They just don’t do it. They move around a little bit. So fishermen have to change the lure and be with the seasons. You have to do that with music, too.” The man telling me this should know a thing or two about hit records. Steve Cropper not only played on them, he wrote and produced them. And just as classic Stax records still sound fresh today, so too does Cropper himself when the spry 79-year-old calls from his home near Nashville. On this day, he’s talking about Fire It Up, his new solo album that harkens back to that classic work at Stax, not to mention his records with the Blues Brothers Band. And, to hear him tell the tale, it’s an album that could only have been made in the age of quarantine. “Fire It Up was definitely done because of the pandemic and the lockdowns,” he tells me. “The guys that are on the album were never in the studio at the same time. All of the vocals were done through an iPhone! Jon [Tiven] and I wrote the tracks at his house. He’s five minutes from here and has a studio in his house. And he called me and said,

‘I’m going to finish up some of those things we PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILSON started writing. I know Steve Cropper you don’t want to put out an album, but what if we put out some of these tracks?’ I said, ‘Well, you’re going to need a record company and a singer.’ He said, ‘I’ve got a singer.’ I said, ‘You’d better play me something he’s done, then.’ And he did, and I said, ‘Where’s this guy been all my life?’” That singer would be Roger C. Reale, a Rhode Island native who’s made his name in New England since before the 1980s belting out classic rock-and-roll with a feverish, new wave intensity. Like the album’s co-writer, multiinstrumentalist, and producer, Jon Tiven, Reale had an early connection to the Big Sound label, who released Memphian Van Duren’s first records in the ’70s. But his singing, it turns out, was a perfect fit for the songs Cropper and Tiven had been writing, steeped in classic soul riffs. “Roger’s fantastic,” says Cropper. “I think he put everything into it. All of his life, he’s been a blues singer, basically. And he was able to put his voice to the groove for a change. And that’s really good to know. Not knocking

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

Fire It Up

anything he’s done in the past, but he’s never really worked with a band or a musician that lives by only groove. “When I’m writing, I’m grooving. I’m feeling the groove. In this particular case, Jon Tiven was playing bass, so he would feel the groove, too. And we worked together real good that way. It took me years to play with other bass players besides Duck [Dunn]. I always loved playing live with Duck. Why? Because he always kept a groove going, and you could feel Duck’s bass in your back. “I miss Duck, but Jon was so on top of playing the groove, it didn’t matter. And I don’t look at Jon as being an expert at groove. But he was at that time, when we wrote all those songs. All we were doing was playing to a loop, which we took off later and put real drummers on. And he put on real music [keyboards and horn arrangements] and so forth. And Roger’s treatment to it is just mind-boggling to me. I’m still hearing it fresh.” “Fresh” is a good word for Fire It Up, and Cropper’s clearly proud of the finished product, only his fourth solo work in a career defined more by collaborations. “This new record has some sticking power,” he says. “I am convinced that people are ready to party and dance, after this lockdown. And if they are, this is the album for them.”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC By Alex Greene

CALENDAR of EVENTS:

May 6 - 12

T H EAT E R

Hattiloo Theatre

Neat, the story of an urban African-American girl bursting into adulthood, experiencing first love, and embracing both Black pride and feminism. $150 for four seats. Sat., Sun., 2 p.m., and Fri., 7:30 p.m. Through May 9. 37 S. COOPER (502-3486).

Theatre Memphis

Thursdays on the Plaza, enjoy the atmosphere of the Menke Sculpture Garden during a variety of events from blues to trivia. Cash bar with wine and craft beer, as well as a nosh or two. Free-$5. Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. Through July 15. 630 PERKINS EXT. (682-8323).

ART I ST R EC E P TI O N S

Mid-South Artist Gallery

Artist reception for exhibition by gallery artists. Refreshments served. Sat., May 8, 2-4 p.m. 2945 SHELBY (409-8705).

Mother’s Day at the Garden Outdoor Picnic at Memphis Botanic Garden, Sunday, May 9th

S PO R TS / F IT N ES S

UACMEM.ORG.

Virtual Metals Conference Studio visits, demonstrations, artist talks, and workshops explore the 2021 conference theme: transitions. $150. Wed.-Sat., May 5-8. METAL MUSEUM, 374 METAL MUSEUM DR. (774-6380), METALMUSEUM.ORG.

Pre-order a picnic brunch from Fuel or Fratelli’s Cafe or bring outside food. Music by Kenneth Jackson and cash bar. Tables will be available or bring a blanket. Free with admission. Sun., May 9.

FEDEXFORUM, 191 BEALE, FEDEXFORUM.COM.

Memphis Grizzlies vs. New Orleans Pelicans Mon., May 10, 7 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM, 191 BEALE, FEDEXFORUM.COM.

Create beautiful printed patterns on bandanas. $85. Sat., May 8, 6 p.m., and Sun., May 9, 9 a.m.

A virtual conversation with the artists working on the concourse renovations at Memphis International Airport. Free with registration. Thurs., May 6, 5:30 p.m.

Mother’s Day at the Garden Outdoor Picnic

Tues., May 11, 7 p.m.

Blueprint Bandanas with Ariana Sellers

MEM Airport Artist Talk

FO O D & D R I N K EVE NTS

Memphis Grizzlies vs. Dallas Mavericks

OTH E R A R T HA P P E N I N G S

ARROW CREATIVE, 2535 BROAD, ARROWCREATIVE.ORG.

Send the date, time, place, cost, info, phone number, a brief description, and photos — two weeks in advance — to calendar@memphisflyer.com or P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, ONGOING WEEKLY EVENTS WILL APPEAR IN THE FLYER’S ONLINE CALENDAR ONLY.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN, 750 CHERRY (636-4100).

Memphis Redbirds vs. Durham Bulls C O M E DY

L E CT U R E / S P E A K E R

Chuckles Comedy Club

Tuskegee Airman, Lt. Col Luke Weather and His Flight Academy

Faizon Love. $25-$45. Fri.-Sun., May 7-9, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. 1700 DEXTER.

The Comedy Junt

Bryant Moufpiece Hannah, thecomedyjunt.com. $20. Fri.Sat., May 7-8, 8 p.m. 4330 AMERICAN WAY (249-4052).

Join the talk via Zoom. Free with registration. Wed., May 12, noon. THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS, 4339 PARK (761-5250), DIXON.ORG.

Reader Meet Writer: Josephine Caminos Oria Author discusses Sobremesa via Zoom. Free with registration. Thurs., May 6, 6 p.m. NOVEL, 387 PERKINS EXT. (922-5526), NOVELMEMPHIS.COM.

Mother’s Day Brunch at the Peabody

Through May 9.

AUTOZONE PARK, THIRD AND UNION (721-6000), MEMPHISREDBIRDS.COM.

THE PEABODY HOTEL, 149 UNION (529-4000).

S P EC IA L EVE NTS

Mental Health Saturday Series

Free food giveaway and resources by area organizations. Saturdays, 1-3 p.m. Through May 29. MEMPHIS ROX CLIMBING, 879 E. MCLEMORE (401-6104), MEMPHISROX.ORG.

Brunch served in high style in the Continental Ballroom. $88. Sun., May 9, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

F I LM

Birth of Soul Music

Screening plus live concerts by Bobby Rush, Larita Shelby, and Brigitte Purdy. $75-$125. Fri.Sun., May 7-9, 7 p.m. THE HALLORAN CENTRE, 225 S. MAIN (525-3000), ORPHEUM-MEMPHIS.COM.

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Cheese Wiz Andrew Arbogast’s dip is cheesy, in a good way.

heese has been a key him socks or cookies, Andrew asked them ingredient in Andrew to send him a George Foreman grill. Arbogast’s life. Andrew also was deployed to AfArbogast, 36, is the ghanistan. “Before I left, I shipped myself founder of Arbo’s Cheese Dip, which will five huge packages of summer sausage debut at its first grocery store, High Point and cheese.” Grocery, on May 15th. While planning for their mission to The dip, which he’s sold at pop-up Afghanistan, Andrew, who was the air misevents, is made from a recipe his dad, sion commander, sat down with his soldiers Charlie Arobogast, concocted years ago. and said, “We’re going to break bread to“He may have run across some version of it gether first.” “I came in with this foot-andin a magazine,” Andrew says. “And he just a-half summer sausage and smoked Gouda added some different things down the road cheese and cut it on the table.” and made it what it was.” His philosophy? “Food is morale.” But Andrew, who grew up on his While in the service, Andrew married dad’s cheese dip, says, “All other cheese and he and his wife, Erin, became the pardips will never meet my expectations.” ents of twins. But, he says, the service “was His dad’s dip was an essential at rotatnot where my future was meant to be.” ing “Sunday dinners” put on by about a Andrew eventually got a job at Internadozen families. Everyone said, “Charlie, tional Paper, where he is category manager. bring your cheese dip.” Apparently, the culinary Andrew also loved to life still nagged at him. cook. “I remember cookLast November, he woke ing macaroni and cheese up and his first thought in the sixth grade.” He was, “You need to figure didn’t go by the recipe. “I out how to sell your dad’s was just doing everything cheese dip. You have the by touch, taste, feel, look.” willpower, the drive, the Andrew also loved to passion.” He told his idea eat. “You can say the pasto an entrepreneur friend, sion is not only cooking, who said, “If it’s good, it it’s food. It’s all food. I love will sell.” cheap or high-quality — Andrew enlisted his five-star restaurants, but friend and four other also Big Macs.” people to do a blind He went to boarding tasting between his dip PHOTO BY MICHAEL DONAHUE school at Subiaco Acadand two other popular Andrew Arbogast emy in Arkansas, but he local dips. All five people looked forward to two chose his cheese. things on his trips home: his dad’s sweet tea Andrew chose the name “Arbo’s” beand cheese dip. cause “it’s short, to the point, and it works.” Andrew wanted to pursue cooking as Needing a catchy slogan to go with his logo, a career after high school. “I wanted to go he came up with “Cheese Fix Mafia.” to culinary school ’cause that was my main Describing the dip, Andrew says it passion. I learned that passion from my has “character and body.” It’s smooth, but dad.” But his mother told him, “You need chips won’t break when you stick them in to get a real education first. And if you still the container. want to do that, you can pursue that.” Andrew is excited about Arbo’s Cheese Andrew began working toward a food Dip hitting High Point Grocery, but, he service degree at Northwest Missouri State says, “My vision for this is to not stop at the University, but he found he had to give that local level. I want to be in Kroger. I want up after he got an ROTC scholarship to finto be in Walmart. I want to be everywhere ish his education. So he switched his major that sells cheese dip.” to general psychology. Future plans may include a “spicier verAfter he graduated, Andrew, who besion,” but Andrew says, “right now, I’m not came an Apache helicopter pilot, spent 10 messing with a good thing.” High Point Grocery is at 469 High Point years in the Army, which included a stint in Terrace; (901) 707-8102. Iraq. Instead of asking his parents to send

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FILM By Chris McCoy

Techno-pocalypse Now! The Mitchells vs. the Machines faces down Big Tech with hearts and rainbows.

“

May 6-12, 2021

on’t be evil” was the company motto adopted by Google in 2000. It was suggested by Paul Buchheit, the mind behind both Gmail and AdSense, because he saw other software companies in the dot-com revolution taking advantage of their users. He wanted something simple and easy to remember, so that “once you put it in there, it would be hard to take out.” AdSense and its derivatives became Google’s biggest cash cow, allowing it to suck up $109 billion a year in advertising revenue — and decimate the business model behind publications such as the Memphis Flyer. In 2015, when Google reorganized as Alphabet, the motto was changed to “Do the right thing.” (Spike Lee presumably received no royalties, because you don’t get to $800 billion market capitalization by paying creators.) By 2018, “Don’t be evil” had vanished from Google’s official code of conduct. Today, tech companies still routinely spew the utopian language of the dot-com boom. But we’re decades into implementing Silicon Valley’s consumer paradise, and it’s becoming more and more obvious that most of the disruptor’s big ideas boil down to “brutally exploit labor, but make it go viral.” Meet the new boss, a glowing fondle slab.

For the titular family in The Mitchells vs. the Machines, the techno-pocalypse is not metaphorical. The Mitchells are not what you’d call a perfect family; as 18-year-old Katie (voiced by Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson) says, most families have their strengths, but “my family has only weaknesses.” Katie is an aspiring filmmaker, and, in a nod to the cult Adult Swim show Home Movies, we see her perception of the world through the lens of her long-running, no-budget film series Dog Cop. Dad Rick (Danny McBride) is a technophobe at odds with his artist daughter, and not too impressed with dinosaurobsessed son Aaron (Michael Rianda, the director). Mom Linda (Maya Rudolph) is a long-suffering supporter of her brood with a bad case of Instagram envy over their too-perfect neighbors, the Poseys (voiced by real-life envy-fluencers Chrissy Teigen and John Legend). After an awful fight the night before Katie is to head off to film school, Rick decides to cancel her flight and take the family on a crosscountry trip to drop her off in California. Dad’s lack of emotional intelligence turns out to be fortuitous when the robot uprising finally kicks off while the family is at a Kansas tourist trap. The turtlenecked founder of Pal Labs, Mark Bowman (Eric André) has

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upgraded his hit line of personal A.I. assistants (voiced by Olivia Coleman) to include humanoid bodies that will do the dishes and make you a burrito. But wait, I’ve seen I, Robot. Won’t these droids just take over and kill all the humans as retaliation for Battle Bots? “We promise you that they will never, ever turn evil,” Bowman says, seconds before his inventions get that telltale red-eyed look and start caging meatbags. Naturally, it’s up to our family of weirdos to save the day, but they’re not exactly The Incredibles. Produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and created by the same Sony Pictures Animation department that made the epochal Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a visually stunning, mixed-media collage of a movie. Unless you’re a weirdo like me, who haunts the experimental programs at film festivals, it’s sure to be the wildest thing you see on screen this year. Like the criminally under-viewed Diary of a Teenage Girl, Katie fills in the details of her world with floating on-screen text and

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Bad robot — director Michael Rianda’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines finds one family squaring off against the techno-pocalypse.

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EMPLOYMENT If it had debuted in theaters, it would have killed in front of a real audience. But there’s irony in the fact that this big-tech paranoia story is brought to you by billions in capital provided by speculative investors who are betting that Netflix will one day run all other film and television producers out of business and rule over entertainment like Google does search. Rest assured, such power will never turn Netflix evil! Anyway, please share this review on your social. The Mitchells vs. the Machines is streaming on Netflix.

LEGAL NOTICES

IT/COMPUTER

I, RUPALI daughter of Krishan Ahir, resident at 1687 Peach Ave, Memphis, TN 38112, have changed my name to Rupali Ahir.

IT APPLICATION DEVELOPER III - SITECORE needed at Terminix BSC, LLC in Memphis, TN. Must have bach in Comp Sci or related & 5 yrs’ ecommerce development exp. Must include 3 yrs’ Sitecore exp, including: Sitecore XP, Sitecore Experience Analytics, Sitecore Upgrade; Unicorn or TDS; Glass Mapper & Slowcheetah; SOLR or AZURE search optimization; Powershell, Gulp, TFS, & Git; ASP.NET MVC/ Web API, Agile, C#, JavaScript, HTML, CSS; Azure infrastructure: SQL Server, MongoDB, App Service, Virtual Machines, & PaaS; Must have Sitecore 9.0 certification. Email resumes to Angela Clark at angela.clark@terminix. com. EOE

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

animated rainbows. This is a film that lessens the blow of a scary action scene by replaying it with Snapchat cat filters applied to the faces. And the visual fireworks are not only aesthetically pleasing, they’re also good business. If you’re competing with Pixar, you’d better be swinging for the fences. The screenplay by Rianda and Gravity Falls writer Jeff Rowe is consistently funny and relentlessly self-referential. It addresses the angst of the connected age by asserting that our individual weirdness is ultimately too much for the forces of surveillance capitalism.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

FILM By Chris McCoy

EMPLOYMENT • REAL ESTATE • SERVICES

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IT BUSINESS ANALYST needed at International Paper in Memphis, TN. Must have Bach in Comp Sci, Info Sys or related. Must have 6 yrs’ exp in SAP data mgmt, including: SAP ECC: data governance, cut-over & golive activities; SAP ETL & data modeling analysis tools to complete SAP data migration activities; SAP ECC: LSMW & BDC for data migration activities from legacy to SAP & SAP to SAP; Interface w/ customers on issue resolution & apply bug fixes. Data base tools: MS SQL Server & Oracle. Must have 3 yrs’ exp w/ SAP Data Services & SAP DQM, supporting & building data migration & data quality solutions for SAP. Email resumes to IT.HR@ipaper.com. Equal Opportunity/affirmative action employer including vets and disabled. SR. SYSTEMS ENGINEERS (eCommerce) needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN. Must have a Bach degree in Comp Sci, MIS or related & 5 yrs of eCommerce exp, including: Software development using Java, ATG 11.x, Endeca, RDBMS; Designing/developing/ supporting high volume 24/7 customer facing applications; Utilizing Spring Framework, API Gateway, Apache, CDN (Akamai or Cloudflare), WebLogic or JBoss; Monitoring tool Dynatrace & code quality tool SonarQube; Project tracking using JIRA; Utilizing CI, CD & Automation tool Jenkins; Source code management systems using SVN & GIT. Fax resumes to DeAngelo Sears at 901495-8207. EOE.

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SYSTEMS ENGINEER (EDI Integrations) needed at AutoZone in Memphis, TN. Must have a Bach degree in Comp Sci or related & 5 yrs of EDI exp, including: Interfacing EDI transactions including design, mapping, testing, & troubleshooting; EDI transactions 850, 856, 810, 846, 820, 110 & 214; Collaborating with vendors & their trading platforms in the process of onboarding EDI; Data transmissions using communication protocols AS2, FTP, SFTP & VAN; Utilizing SQL & XML. Fax resumes to DeAngelo Sears at 901495-8207. EOE.

PROFESSIONAL/ MANAGEMENT POSITION TITLE: Seeking Commercial Project Estimator for Grinder, Taber and Grinder, Inc. located in Memphis, TN to estimate advanced commercial level bid documents including quantity takeoffs for self-performed work. Position requires a Bachelor’s degree in a Civil Engineering or related engineering field or equivalent and 2 years of commercial level experience. Experience to include commercial construction project management; reading and understanding bid documents and construction documents; solving means and methods of construction to determine proper scopes for bids; calculating bid scopes and quantities

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AUTO ABANDONED VEHICLE 2004 Red Chevrolet Colorado, VIN 1GCCS196X48212481. Vehicle will be sold if not redeemed in 10 days. Call John @ (901)292-7638.

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TH E LAST WO R D By Juan Williams

Immigration Economics

THE LAST WORD

Here’s an idea you may have heard from President Biden last week when he spoke to a joint sesRRODRICKBEILER | DREAMSTIME.COM sion of Congress: Immigration reform is free money for the American economy. How? Citizenship for millions of immigrants already working here opens the door to new tax dollars and increased consumer spending. Now that’s a new look at immigration. Suddenly, alarmist talk about scary immigrant caravans seems old. So, too, is former President Trump’s screaming about immigrants as people bringing crime and drugs, and as “rapists.” The big idea now is that Congress might actually get something done on immigration reform — for the first time in the 35 years since President Reagan’s 1986 bill. That idea got a boost last week on three fronts. First, Biden met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and bought into the idea of including immigration reform and its economic benefits in his infrastructure bill. “I specifically urged the president to lean in on the question of getting some significant reform done in the Senate, if necessary through reconciliation,” Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) told reporters after the White House meeting. If Biden includes immigration reform as part of the infrastructure deal, and the Senate rule-makers permit it to stay, it will be protected from sure death by a GOP filibuster. Second, immigration reform gained new life as deals on small pieces of the big package began taking shape. Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) introduced a bill to speed up processing for people seeking asylum, give them better legal representation, and improve detention facilities. There is no cap on people seeking asylum. Cornyn and Sinema are both members of a larger, bipartisan Senate group, brought together by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). They are looking for a deal to attract at least 10 Republicans, which would allow a bigger bill to pass even with the filibuster in play. That bigger bill, along the lines of House legislation that passed earlier, would tighten border security while also granting legal status to young people who arrived in the U.S. as children — the “Dreamers.” People who fled disasters and are currently in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status would also gain protections. New ideas are also in play on steps to citizenship for the 12 million people in the country without proper authorization. Americans want the bigger version of immigration reform, according to polls. A Quinnipiac University poll from February found that 65 percent of adults believe that undocumented immigrants in the United States should be allowed to stay and apply for citizenship. Just 20 percent said they should be required to leave. The same poll found 83 percent support for allowing the “Dreamers” to remain in the United States and apply for citizenship. Just 12 percent were opposed. The third big change helping immigration reform along is the backlash against anti-immigrant, “replacement theory” fear-mongering from the far right of the GOP. House Republican leaders had no choice but to condemn a recent proposal to create an anti-immigrant “America First Caucus.” With the largest share of immigrants currently coming from non-white countries in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, the America First group called for limiting immigration to people in line with “uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.” They even praised past “pauses” to immigration intended to slow the arrival of Catholics, Jews, and people from southern Europe. The group, led by far right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), ignored the powerful history of immigrant contributions to the U.S. The antagonism to anyone coming to America from anywhere but whitemajority Western Europe is hard to miss. That forced the GOP House leadership to distance themselves from the haters. “America is built on the idea that we are all created equal, and success is earned through honest, hard work,” tweeted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “It isn’t built on identity, race, or religion.” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the third-ranking Republican in the House, also rebuked the America First Caucus by tweeting that “Racism, nativism and anti-Semitism are evil. History teaches we all have an obligation to confront & reject such malicious hate.” More rebuttals to the anti-immigration Republicans came from two former leaders in the party, former President George W. Bush and former Speaker John Boehner. Both said they have major regrets over not passing immigration reform. The 43rd president tried to pass bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform in his second term. He was thwarted when hard-right talk radio hosts used fear to whip up opposition to the bill. Now Bush is promoting a new book, Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants, and urging Congress not to fail again. Juan Williams is an author and political analyst for Fox News Channel.

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

Biden and a bipartisan coalition are bringing fresh thinking to immigration reform.

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Memphis Flyer 5/6/2021

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