Memphis Flyer 10/20/2022

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Tim Scalita was pretty sure he had died.

He was, after all, in a war zone in Ukraine. The Memphian had gone there this spring to be a combat medic with the idea of saving fighters who were casualties in battles against the invading Russians. But his reckoning with his own mortality was not from incoming artillery or hostile gunfire. “It was an allergic reaction to some thing combined with a bacterial infection,” he said. “It was just a mess. I couldn’t open my eyes to see. I was breathing fire. Everything was pain.”

I did a Memphis Flyer cover story on Scalita in May, about a month after he’d arrived. He’d joined a multi-national medical evacuation outfit and was kept busy training Ukrainian soldiers on combat life-saving techniques and battlefield tactics. He was still angling to get into the field, but bureaucracy was holding things up.

In the months since, Scalita has had to change the groups he’s been with for vari ous reasons. For a while, he was with Dnipro-1, an equivalent to the national guard. “But they got hit. They had a spy in their midst, and it ended up that we lost about 15 guys, and another 40-something wounded. I have no idea which of those guys passed away or were wounded. There were people on the front page of the Memphis Flyer who are no longer with us, but I couldn’t tell you who that is.”

Scalita, a filmmaker and writer who was a corpsman in the U.S. Navy, continues to look for ways to get meaningfully involved. There was a time he and several other Westerners were ready to donate blood, but the offer was foiled by bureaucracy.

He continued giving training to the Ukrainians. “It’s fine, you know, good to train everybody,” he said. “But as time went on, there was just more and more of nothing happening. A whole lot of standby.”

A Ukrainian officer told Scalita that there wasn’t much prospect of getting around the bureaucracy. Unless he joined Dnipro-1. “I couldn’t do that. I’m not joining the Ukrainian military. I’m not swearing allegiance to another country. And as a veteran, I lose all of my benefits if I take active-duty orders from another country.”

There has been another problem that he hadn’t imagined until he saw it when he got there: Americans. “It’s totally understandable,” he said. “Some of us are good. Some of us came as professionals with great intentions in our hearts and we’ve come to help and we’ve been very good. Then there are those other Americans, not as many as you think, but they’re loud and they’re rude and they stand out. I was in Lviv because of volunteer opportunities and a lot of people to talk to, but Lviv was also where everyone comes into. There were a lot of loud, problematic Americans. And I’m like, yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and leave. I’m gonna go to Kyiv.”

He was able to do some teaching, but that wasn’t entirely useful. “In a classroom setting, it’s absolutely calm,” he said. “But in the field, we teach how to set up tourni quets. I’d tell them to thread it and put it on that person. I got a loaded rifle and when they’d go to thread it, I start popping on the ground. And they can’t do it.”

He spent some time in Kyiv and some time closer to the action. He was with a group working out of a hospital in Dnipro when he got sick. But the presence of his outfit was proving to be a danger to the staff and patients at the hospital, so they decided to relocate to a safe area. “They all moved out and forgot about me,” Scalita said. “For 24 hours, I can’t see, and no one speaks English. I was absolutely alone, no food, no water. I’d given myself over to the void because I had an insanely high fever. The next morning one of the guys wakes me up and he goes, ‘Hey, we’re gonna take care of you, buddy. It’s gonna be okay.’ I look at him and I say, ‘I’m pretty sure I died, man.’”

In his time over there, he’s made and lost friends, gained an appreciation of the Ukrainians, got a splendid tattoo for his birthday, lost at least four phones, and re fined his ability to read the people in a bar. He’s had good times and hardship.

Scalita hopes to be back home around Christmas. “Do not forget there is a great war happening. Do not forget that we are doing our best to keep it here. The Ukrai nians are a wonderful people and worth fighting for. Never stop supporting them regardless of popular politics. The future is here.”

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Last month, he wrote: “The Rus sian propaganda machine has me as a Ukrainian Nazi. I’m not sure if I should be offended by the accusation or proud that I am on their radar. Not a Nazi. Hate fascism. Love democracy and equal rights for all. Also, fuck you Russia for the attempt.”

Last weekend he wrote: “I was in the attack this morning. First time I’ve ever run for my life. They killed civilians. A married couple expecting. It’s 10:41 p.m. and they’re coming at us again. Ukraine is wonderful. Their people sweet.”

Come home safe, Tim. Jon W. Sparks sparks@memphisflyer.com

THE fly-by

MEM ernet

{CITY REPORTER

By Kailynn Johnson

Questions, Answers + Attitude

Edited by Toby Sells

Drag for Kids

Drag artists ght the “right wing apparatus” for a voice in the debate on age-appropriateness.

Tennessee news and social feeds have roiled the past few weeks with arguments on this question: “Are drag shows appropriate for younger audiences?”

POSTED TO TWITTER BY WILLIAM FROGGE

Storm chaser William Frogge ew drones over the Mississippi River recently to show just how low the water level has dropped. He said the levels are the lowest they’ve been since 2012 and are the thirdlowest reading on record. Check his YouTube channel for more details.

#ARCHIE CooperYoungers know Archie. e dog roams the neighborhood streets enough to merit his own hashtag on Nextdoor.

A September post about the dog was still rolling last week. e original post had Archie’s neighbor claiming no responsibility for the dog. e owner’s mother intervened to say the owner had done everything she could and that the Nextdoor posts were hurtful. Commenters o ered solutions, got a bit nasty, and, then, called for kindness. Typical day in the Nextdoor neighborhood.

LIL BUCK

Memphis’ Lil Buck shows up in amazing and unlikely places. Last week, he shocked the crowd at a Hollywood Bowl performance by Pentatonix. Acting rst as conductor, Buck turned to the crowd, did his thing, and was joined by beatboxer/cellist Kevin Olusola.

It le one commenter saying, “ ey better be careful the stage doesn’t collapse under all that #BlackExcellence!”

According to Moth Moth Moth (Mothie, for short), it’s a “stupid” argument.

“Watch your kids as they play,” said Mothie. “What do they play? ey play dress up.”

In between balancing a nine-to- ve job as the program director of the Focus Center Foundation and performing drag shows throughout the week, Mothie and others have been “re ghting a ght” against the “right wing apparatus.”

“Queer people get to be in charge of our sexuality,” said Mothie. “But that does not mean that straight people and the rest of the world get to constantly sexualize us in all that we do.”

On September 23rd, a family-friendly drag show at the Museum of Science and History (MoSH) was scheduled as the ending celebration of the museum’s Summer Pride programming. However, the event was canceled by event organizers a er a group of armed Proud Boys arrived at the event.

Keleigh Klarke is the entertainment director of Dru’s Place (Dru’s Bar), producer of “Beauties on Beale” drag brunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Memphis, and the host of Around the Pink Table podcast. Klarke moved to Memphis in the early 2000s and remembers the days where there were only three or four venues that had drag shows.

Klarke said that as drag became more “mainstream,” it found its way into more spaces, presenting opportunities for drag shows to take place outside of LGBTQ+ bars.

While drag has always existed, shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube have exposed more people to the art and nuances of drag.

Mothie said that the demographics for drag are changing drastically. e art once reserved solely for adults is now nding an audience with an age range that now includes 14- to 22-year-olds. With this in mind, Mothie believes that younger audiences deserve to have a “piece of this culture.”

Exposure to material like this can be bene cial for children, said Mothie. is includes queer and transgender

children who are going to be “queer and trans whether I’m around or not. at’s just the way that they are.”

With more exposure, though, comes the opportunity for misinformation and harmful stereotypes that contribute negatively to the conversation.

“Drag for me is all about my expression of that character that I play,” said Klarke. “It is an expression of my feminine side, but there’s nothing of a sexual nature attached to it.”

Klarke sees no di erence between drag and seeing someone play a character in a play. It’s the same thing essentially, but in a di erent format and in a di erent setting.

“Every entertainer I’ve worked with is smart enough to, you know, understand what they are doing,” said Klarke.

Every other Sunday, Klarke and others perform at the Hard Rock Cafe in a show that is catered to all ages.

“ ere’s not anything done at that show that is a fraction spicier than the Hokey Pokey,” said Klarke. “What I would do in a nightclub at 10:30 p.m., 11 p.m., [midnight] is not what I am going to do at noon on a Sunday, in the middle of the day, when there are children sitting in front of me.”

Klarke explains that performers have the agency and intelligence to be able to navigate what’s appropriate for certain venues and audiences; however, the power of exposure essentially lies in the hands of the parents.

“We’re all intelligent enough to know that and what we’re getting into. But at the same time, if you don’t want your kids to see it, there’s nobody telling you that you have to go.”

“There’s not anything done at that [drag] show that is a fraction spicier than the Hokey Pokey.”

Memphis on the internet. RUNNING LOW

PHOTO: MOTH MOTH MOTH VIA INSTAGRAM Memphis drag artist Moth Moth Moth said some children are going to be “queer or trans whether I’m around or not. at’s just the way they are.”

POSTED TO NEXTDOOR BY GERTRUDE MOELLER

POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY MEMPHIS JOOKIN’

PUZZLE BY DAVID STEINBEREG

Demonstrations.

{CITY REPORTER

By Toby Sells

‘Worst Lab in the U.S.’

AUniversity of Memphis research laboratory violated numerous federal protocols concerning the care of test animals over the last year resulting in numerous animal deaths, and a national animal welfare group wants the lab investigated and penalized.

e violations were found during a routine inspection of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in August. Agents with that group found nine violations in the lab, which is not speci cally identi ed in the report.

are small rodents related to hamsters. e report says U of M did not have an alarm or monitoring system in place at the time to warn of ventilation problems. e lab xed the problem before the August inspection.

Other critical violations for the lab came as “animals [were] simply found dead, su ering with broken bones, or missing a limb. One vole was euthanized for having a swollen, red, hairless, le , front limb.” Lab o cials could not tell inspectors what research study the animal was on, nor could they nd any care records for it a er attendants found it injured.

Further, a mole rat was discovered missing a “rear leg from a ght with other mole rats.” e animal was euthanized. On another occasion, mole rats were discovered with a broken rear leg, a hurt leg, and an eye swollen shut. ey were euthanized “due to ght wounds on the head and face.” e report says the animals may have been agitated because lab attendants put a noise-making dehumidier in the room and le the lights on in the room around the clock. Both issues were corrected, the report says.

It is unknown how many animals are in the lab. e report does list at least 270 mole rats. But for scale, consider that the Memphis Zoo with its vast menagerie had no violations during its inspection in the same time frame, and neither did other research facilities like the University of Tennessee Health Science Center or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

A federal group, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), oversees animal welfare in research settings. It produces protocols to which laboratories must adhere to test on animals.

One of the U of M lab’s major violations of these protocols came on April 1st this year. e building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) broke overnight, causing higher temperatures and a lack of ventilation in a room containing animals. When lab attendants returned to the lab, they found 12 dead voles, which

Another, simpler protocol mandates daily observations of lab animals. However, during the August inspection the “assistant director stated that this is not being done and has not been done in a long time.”

Another violation said the lab did not list exactly how many animals it had. It also incorrectly listed species of animals it had.

For this and more, the national group Stop Animal Exploitation Now! (SAEN) led a federal complaint and wants the lab investigated further and ned at the national maximum of $10,000 per violation.

“Amassing a total of nine federal violations, including three criticals, clearly shows that the University of Memphis is the worst lab in the U.S.,” said SAEN co-founder Michael Budkie. “University of Memphis sta apparently can’t tell when animals are sick because they are just found dead, and even when they determine an animal is seriously ill and needs to be euthanized, they can’t even nd the veterinary records.”

“Animals [were] simply found dead, suffering with broken bones, or missing a limb.”

PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS VIA FACEBOOK Twelve animals died in one night.

U of M facility posts numerous violations in routine animal welfare inspection.

JOURNEY

/ 7:30PM

Enjoy the music, look & feel of Journey with Departure! Performing:

TONY JACKSON

NOV 11 / 7:30PM

Tony makes his much anticipated return to BPACC. A Grand Ol’ Opry favorite, Rolling Stone said Tony Jackson was “One of the best Country & Americana artists to hear now!”

& INFO 24/7

O

AT LARGE By Bruce VanWyngarden

Rough Water Ahead

On Sunday, former President Donald Trump attacked American Jews on his Truth Social plat form. His message: Jews in the United States need to “get their act together” and show more appreciation for the state of Israel and Donald Trump “before it is too late.”

That concluding sentence caused a lot of blowback from Jewish groups, who saw Trump’s post as a veiled threat and a thinly disguised message to his MAGA and white supremacist base that Jews were a problem. It was remarks like these that got Trump banned from Twitter and led to his forming Truth Social, where his audi ence is relatively minuscule but where he can post whatever lies and racist tropes that arise in his addled brain without constraint.

litical views. In the early 20th century, William Randolph Hearst owned 30 influential newspapers that featured lurid stories on crime, corruption, politics, and sex. Hearst controlled the editorial positions and political news in his papers and is considered to have almost single-handedly influenced the United States to declare war on Spain and invade Cuba in 1898.

Little has changed. Consider Rupert Murdoch (Fox News, Wall Street Journal), Michael Bloomberg (Forbes, Business Week), Jeff Bezos (Washington Post, Amazon), Warren Buffett (70 regional newspapers), and Mark Zuck erberg (Meta, Facebook, Instagram). Throw in Musk and Twitter, and that’s a lot of influence and power in the hands of six self-interested billionaires.

Republicans, the majority of whom are now election deniers and Trump enablers, are naturally quite happy about the possibility of these three social mediums being owned by their kind of people. The official GOP House Judiciary Committee tweeted last week: “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” Not subtle, and even more disturbing when you consider that the anti-Semitic garbage Trump and Kanye posted garnered no criticism from any Republican of note.

MLM Medical Labs

Volunteers to donate blood for a research study.

MLM Medical Labs is currently seeking Volunteers to donate blood for a research study.

MLM Medical Labs is currently seeking Volunteers to donate blood for a research study.

If you are between the ages of 18 and 80, weigh more than 110lbs, and are currently taking a blood thinner such as Aspirin, Brilinta, Eliquis, Lovenox, Plavix or Xarelto, or have been diagnosed with Kidney Disease, you may be eligible to participate.

Speaking of addled brains: Earlier in the week, wealthy rapper and confirmed lunatic, Kanye West, offered his own anti-Semitic post on Twitter, stating he was going to “go death con 3 [sic] on JEWISH PEOPLE.” He later posted that George Floyd was not murdered but died of a Fentanyl overdose (a racist trope that was disproved at trial). West was banned from Twitter and restricted on Instagram for his remarks, but he immediately announced that he was going to buy the troubled wanna-beTwitter social medium, Parler.

Speaking of addled brains …

If you are between the ages of 18 and 80, weigh more than 110lbs, and are currently taking a blood thinner such as Aspirin, Brilinta, Eliquis, Lovenox, Plavix or Xarelto, or have been diagnosed with Kidney Disease, you may be eligible to participate.

This is a blood collection study only. No drug treatment will be provided.

Participants will be paid for blood donation.

If you are between the ages of 18 and 80, weigh more than 110lbs, and are currently taking a blood thinner such as Brilinta, Eliquis, Lovenox, Plavix, Xarelto, or Coumadin or have been diagnosed with Kidney Disease, you may be eligible to participate.

For more information, call: 901-866-1705

Participants will be paid for blood donation.

This is a blood collection study only. No drug treatment will be provided.

For more information, call:

Participants will be paid for blood donation. For more information, call: 901-866-1705

Meanwhile, the world’s richest man, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, was nearing a final deal to take over Twitter, the most influential social medium for news and opinion in the world. Musk’s recent remarks on the war in Ukraine make it clear he is a Putin enabler, which could be a prob lem. Musk has also stated that when he takes over Twitter he will “reduce content moderation” and will allow “all speech that stops short of violating the law,” meaning Trump, Kanye, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other racists cur rently banned from Twitter would be reinstated and allowed to spew what ever garbage they want, as long as it’s “legal.” And meaning that Truth Social, Parler, and Twitter would all be owned by egocentric billionaires. Good times.

This is a blood collection study only. No drug treatment will be provided.

We are three weeks out from a mid term election that no one seems to have a handle on. The polls are all over the place, with most indicating the Demo crats will hold the Senate and lose the House. Still, no one knows, and accurate polling has never been more difficult. When was the last time you answered a call from an unknown number to take a poll? Democrats can take hope from this summer’s landslide pro-choice vote in deep-red Kansas, which the polls missed by double-digit percentage points. Republicans can take hope from the fact that a hypocrit ical, prevaricating moron like Herschel Walker is polling competitively in the Georgia Senate race, a staggering indictment of the electorate.

This is nothing new, of course. American mass media has long been dominated by wealthy men who used their influential mass-media platforms to further their own ambitions and po

In addition to the election drama, Trump is facing multiple indictments in state and federal courts, with the DOJ hovering, waiting for the election to be over before making any moves in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. What we’ve learned after six years of Trumpinduced chaos is that democracy is a fragile thing, and that rough water is likely still ahead. Buckle up.

A pivotal election looms and no one knows anything.

FINANCE By Gene Gard

On Bond Durations

With bond yields on the rise, it may be tempting to extend bond durations, but the risk may not be worth it.

Bonds have had a challenging year, and many people are wondering whether to extend their average bond maturity/duration now that yields have risen. is might be tempting, but there are a few reasons that it might be best to stay the course rather than make dramatic changes in your bond allocations:

get exposure to those higher yields.

• In fact, the yield curve is inverted currently, meaning that longer bonds actually yield less than shorter duration bonds. While there’s more opportunity for price appreciation if you buy longer bonds, there’s also more risk if there is a downturn in the bond market, and you simply aren’t getting paid to go out long on the yield curve right now.

e highest yields are in the two- to three-year range and bonds 10 years and beyond yield meaningfully less.

Keep bond risks low.

• Stocks and bonds are more correlated than ever, so if we experience another year like 2022 when stocks and bonds are down meaningfully in the same year you would probably want to have the protection of a relatively short/low duration bond portfolio. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “duration,” it essentially means the average amount of time until you get your payments for a bond. For example, bonds with longer maturity have longer duration than bonds with shorter maturities, and bonds with higher coupon payments have lower duration than bonds of similar maturity with lower coupon payments.

• We are bene ting from higher yields already. Yield calculations can be confusing and there are many di erent ways to look at yields, but everything comes back to the coupon payments from individual bonds or the distributions from bond mutual funds. Regardless of when you bought in, the price of the bond/fund, or whether you have a loss or gain, those payments represent the income on your bonds. ese distributions are starting to creep up in many bond mutual funds and this trend is likely to continue as long as yields remain elevated. is means that even without trading in your current portfolio for longer bonds, you’ll still

Fall

Savings

Looking at history, longer bonds almost always outperform shorter duration bonds, so you might be surprised that we don’t suggest a very long duration in our bond portfolios.

At my rm, we believe in taking risks in stocks and keeping the risk on the bond side relatively low. In fact, we believe our bond portfolio is the security that allows for the risk we take in the stock market. It’s possible that longer bonds could dramatically outperform shorter bonds in the near term, but it’s also possible the worst isn’t over for bonds in 2022.

Nobody knows exactly what the Fed will do in the coming months or the impact those actions will have on the markets, but there is still hope. It’s remarkable that even in one of the worst years ever for bonds they still are providing support to portfolios in a year where stocks are mostly down even more. As always, we believe a measured, consistent, short- to intermediate-bond approach will probably serve you well in bad times for bonds as well as the good years that are inevitably on the horizon.

Gene Gard is Chief Investment O cer at Telarray, a Memphis-based wealth management rm that helps families navigate investment, tax, estate, and retirement decisions. Ask him your questions or schedule an objective, nopressure portfolio review at letstalk@ telarrayadvisors.com. Sign up for the next free online seminar on the Events tab at telarrayadvisors.com.

PHOTO: AUSTIN DISTEL | UNSPLASH

SPORTS By Samuel X. Cicci

Goal-Getters

Last Saturday’s game was a chance for Memphis to lay down a marker ahead of its home playo match this weekend. And by the time Dylan Borczak thundered in the nal goal of Memphis’ 3-0 win against FC Tulsa, 901 FC made sure that all comers would be on high alert walking into AutoZone Park over the next few weeks. e positive, ruthless, front-foot performance was the perfect tone to set before Memphis embarks on its playo run.

fully he’ll be ring on all cylinders and fully t for the Eastern Conference round of 16. But that was the only low mark for the game. Luiz Fernando continued his habit of twisting, turning, and confounding opposition defenders, this time to tangible e ect when he drew a penalty from his marker, which mid elder Aaron Molloy duly dispatched. A note about Molloy: He’s been on the bench only once for 901 FC this season. Out of 34 total matches, it’s 33 games, and 33 starts for the Irishman. at speaks to his in uence in the middle of the park, and it’s been a great personal season for him with eight goals and 11 assists to his name.

Laurent Kissiedou oated through the nal third time and again, untouchable as always, while captain Leston Paul held everything together in the center of the park and even grabbed an assist for Goodrum’s opener. At the back, it was great to see John Berner get another appearance in goal a er a long series of injuries. e backline ahead of him once again stood rm to keep a clean sheet.

On paper, Memphis looked like the odds-on favorite to win this match, such is their impressive away form this season. In reality, it was a straightforward victory for 901 FC. e teams enjoyed even possession, but Memphis shot straight out of the blocks, pinging the ball around with intent and creating chance a er chance while Tulsa labored to get any sort of rhythm. We saw plenty of the hallmarks of head coach Ben Pirmann’s side this season, chief among them Phillip Goodrum’s blazing hot goal-scoring form. e forward made 901 FC history in the ninth minute, converting Leston Paul’s delivery with a diving header past Tulsa goalkeeper Dallas Odle to score his 21st goal of the season. at took him one clear of Kyle Murphy’s record of 20 goals, set last season. at’s a stellar haul for any forward, and unfortunately Goodrum just missed out on being this year’s golden boot winner. Orange County SC’s Milan Iloski, over in the Western Conference, took home the award with 22 goals.

Goodrum unfortunately had to be subbed out before hal ime, and hope-

Memphis closes the regular season having locked up the second seed in the Eastern Conference a er a 21-8-5 record, setting a club record for wins, points (68), and goals scored (67). Much of that was built on rock-solid away form and Memphis’ ability to build on con dent rst-half performances. (Memphis kept opponents scoreless in the rst half in 22 of their 34 matches.)

With a best-ever season under their belt and having proven they can beat anyone, the players should feel condent that they can go all the way this season. And the second seed means that Memphis will enjoy home eld advantage at AutoZone Park in the rst two rounds of the playo s. e win against Tulsa was the perfect warmup, but the business end of the season starts now. is Saturday, 901 FC welcome their rst playo opponent, Detroit City FC, at 8 p.m. e Blu City Ma a will be out there doing their part, but it’s up to the rest of the fans to ll out the stadium and create a rocking atmosphere. A er all, big things may lie in wait down the line.

PHOTO: USL CHAMPIONSHIP Jeremy Kelly helped 901 FC keep another clean sheet.

901 FC dismantles Tulsa in playo dress rehearsal.

INDIE MEMPHIS AT 25

These days, it seems that lm discourse is dominated by discussions about the future. But while there are real issues facing the unique combination of art and commerce we call cinema, there’s more to movies than just the multiplex — and that’s what Indie Memphis has specialized in for the last 25 years.

“We are kind of in our own lane,” says Executive Director Kimel Fryer. “Indie Memphis is like no other lm festival, because Memphis is like no other city.”

Indie Memphis was founded in 1998 by a group of University of Memphis lm students led by Kelly Chandler. Known then as the Memphis Independent Film Festival, it attracted about 40 people to a Midtown co ee shop, where they watched student movies projected on a sheet hung on the wall. Nowadays, the annual festival boasts an attendance of more than 11,000, and the organization hosts programming and events year-round, such as the monthly Shoot & Splice programs, where lmmakers provide deep dives into their cra . e Indie Grants program was created in 2014 to help fund Memphis-made short lms. e Black Creators Forum began in 2017 to help address the historic racial inequalities in lmmaking. During the pandemic, Eventive, a Memphis-based cinema

services company that began as Indie Memphis’ online ticketing system, pioneered the virtual programming which is now an established feature of lm festivals worldwide.

“It took 25 years for Indie Memphis to become an organization that re ects the city,” says Artistic Director Miriam Bale. “But each step along the way has added to what makes it special now.”

A New Leader

Kimel Fryer took over as Indie Memphis’ new executive director only a few weeks ago. But she is no stranger to either Memphis or the world of independent lm. She’s a West Tennessee native whose mother has taught at Oak Elementary since the mid-1990s.

“My mom was always tough on me, and I’m grateful for it because I ended up kind of inheriting that from her,” she says. “In my mind, I’m supposed to reach for the stars. I’m supposed to overachieve.”

Fryer holds graduate degrees in law and business from the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She has worked for companies as diverse as Lincoln Paci c and P zer, and le FedEx to take over the reins of Indie Memphis when Knox Shelton resigned a er only a year on the job. e mother of two saw it as an opportunity to merge her professional

life with her passion for lm. “When I was working for Chrysler, I realized that I had this amazing job that I worked my butt o for,” she says. “It was a great company with great bene ts. But I was depressed. If I wanna be completely honest, it was one of the saddest periods of my life.”

Growing up, Fryer had tried her hand at writing, and she had been involved with theater and band programs in high school and college. In Detroit, she found a new outlet for her creativity when she volunteered as casting director for lmmaker Robert Mychal Patrick Butler’s Life Ain’t Like the Movies. “ e independent lm world is very visible in Detroit,” she says.

(top) Indie Memphis honors the 100th anniversary of the pioneering 1922 horror lm Häxan with a new live score from Alex Greene and the Rolling Head Orchestra.

(middle) Howard Bell’s Jookin is a Memphis-made drama about the world of street dance. (bottom) Butter y in the Sky pays tribute to Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton.

will screen at Indie Memphis 2022. She says she got her acceptance email just a few weeks before she found out she was going to be the new executive director. “I’ve found this career where I could kind of wrap all my skills into one job,” she says. “I could actually be my full self all the time, which is really my dream.

When she landed Coming 2 America star Paul Bates for a role in the lm, Butler promoted her to producer. “I said, ‘What is a producer?’ He said, ‘You’re kinda already doing it.’”

Fryer wrote and directed her own short lm, “Something’s O ,” which

“I’m very eager to learn and eager to meet other people, understand how they do things. But I’m also cognizant of the fact that I am coming back to Memphis, and we’ve always been a di erent city that has marched to the beat of our own drum. We’ve got to continue that as we continue to grow and strive for greatness in the lm community. I’m really excited about what’s next. I believe in Indie Memphis. I believe in the sta . I believe we are headed towards a great lm festival.”

COVER STORY By Chris McCoy

The Bluff City’s premier film festival celebrates 25 years of cinematic independence.

“We’ve always been a different city that has marched to the beat of our own drum.”

The Picture Taker

From the 1950s to his death in 2007, it seemed that photographer Ernest Withers was everywhere. “We keep calling him a Zelig-like gure or like Forrest Gump,” says Phil Bertelsen, director of Indie Memphis 2022’s opening night lm e Picture Taker. “He was at every ash point in Civil Rights history, and then some.”

Withers was a tireless documenter of Black life in the South. His work even appeared in publications like Jet and the Chicago Defender. “Some of my favorite photos of his are street portraits — the photos he took of everyday people just going about their daily business,” says Bertelsen.

“I think what made him almost like a father gure in Memphis was the fact that he recorded his community’s lives literally from birth to death,” says producer Lise Yasui. “He le behind an estimated 1.8 million photos. ey are of every major event in every family’s life — as we say, it’s celebrations as well as sorrows. He locked that into their histories and made sure that they had these records of the lives they lived.

ose photographs are really beautiful. ey have an intimacy that can only come from someone inside the community.”

ree years a er Withers’ 2007 death, Commercial Appeal reporter Marc Perrusquia revealed that the trusted photographer had been a paid informant for the FBI. e news came as a shock to many in the community, who saw it as a betrayal of the Civil Rights activists who had trusted Withers. “When you go behind the headlines and the surface of it all, you recognize that there’s a lot of nuance and complexity to that choice that he made at that time,” says the director. “What we attempted to do with the lm is to try to understand that time, that choice, and the man who was at the center of it all.

“I think it could be said, without question, that Ernest was a patriot who believed in the hope and promise of this country,” continues Bertelsen. “Don’t forget he was a fourth-generation American war veteran.”

Withers was far from the only one talking to the FBI — their reports refer to him as source #338. “I had the privilege and the workload of reading as many of the FBI les as we could get our hands on,” says Yasui. “ ey tell a story that’s pretty intense and really detailed in terms of names, places, a liations, and friendships — everything down to personal gossip. e other thing that you have to understand is they are FBI records written by FBI agents. So there’s not a single document in the 7,000+ pages that I’ve read that is a direct quote from Ernest himself. It’s always through the lens of his

FBI handler. at’s not to say that what he wrote was not accurate, but it’s ltered through their agenda, which was to root out radicals who were allegedly inside the Civil Rights movement. …

We heard testimony that he basically kept people from harm’s way because he knew what he knew.

But at the same time, he damaged the reputations of people by informing on them.

It was a doubleedged sword that he was wielding.”

(top) Memphis Grizzlies superstar Z-Bo in Michael Blevins’ 50 for Da City. (middle) Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová in Daisies.

(bottom)Tahar Rahim is a jilted lover in Don Juan.

Ironically, it’s people like Coby Smith, a member of the Memphisbased Black Power group e Invaders, prime targets of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program, who defend Withers in e Picture Taker. “He was a man of great reputation and appreciation,” says Bertelsen. “In fact, we were hardpressed to nd anyone who had anything negative to say about him, even

a er it was shown that he informed on them.”

For Bertelsen and Yasui, this is the end of a six-year journey. “We are so grateful to the many people of Memphis who helped us get this story, especially the family who really took a leap of faith by trusting us with his images,” says Bertelsen. “ ey’ve had to face some very painful revelations about their patriarch, and they’re still facing them. I think it shows a certain amount of grace and trust and understanding. ere are a lot of ways you can interpret this story, and they haven’t shied away from the truth. ey told us they learned things about their dad that they didn’t know before, through this lm. at’s very gratifying to us.”

The Poor & Hungry

In 2021, Craig Brewer directed Coming 2 America. It was his second collaboration with comedy superstar Eddie Murphy, and the biggest hit in the history of Amazon Studios.

In 2000, the biggest job Brewer had ever held was a clerk at Barnes & Noble bookstore. at was the year his rst feature lm, e Poor & Hungry, premiered at Indie Memphis. “I still feel that it was the biggest premiere that I’ve ever been to, and the one with the highest stakes,” he says. “Winning Best Feature for 2000 is still the greatest award I can ever remember winning in my life. … e festival back then was a beacon. It was the North Star. We were all making something so we could showcase it at Indie Memphis. It’s something I hope is still happening with the younger lmmakers today. I had another short that year called ‘Cleanup In Booth B.’ It was a big, productive time for me. But it was also the rst time ever to see my work being shown in front of people at a movie theater.”

e Poor & Hungry is the story of Eli (Eric Tate), a Memphis car thief who accidentally falls in love with one of his victims, a cellist named Amanda (Lake Latimer). e characters’ lives revolve around the P&H Cafe, a legendary Midtown dive bar which was run by the amboyant Wanda Wilson, who plays herself. To call the black-and-

PHOTO: COURTESY WITHERS FAMILY TRUST Ernest Withers

white feature, shot with a handheld digital camcorder, “gritty” is a massive understatement. But Brewer was able to wring some striking, noir-like images from his cheap equipment, and the film features a series of great performances, most notably Lindsey Roberts’ stunning turn as Harper, a lesbian street hustler.

“I think what I got right on it is something that I tried to carry over to Hustle & Flow, which was, how do you create characters that, if somebody were to just describe them to you, you would say, ‘I don’t think I would like them’? But then, when you start watching them in the story, you find that you not only love them, but you want them to succeed, and you feel for them when they’re in pain.”

Made for $20,000, which Brewer inherited when his father Walter died suddenly of a heart attack, The Poor & Hungry would go on to win Best Feature at the Hollywood Film Festival, defeating films which had cost millions to produce. It got his foot in the door in Hollywood and earned him the oppor tunity to direct his second feature film Hustle & Flow, which was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning one for Three 6 Mafia’s song “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp.”

The Poor & Hungry will return to the festival where it premiered as part of Indie Memphis’ 25th anniversary celebration. “When I look at it now, I view it as an artifact of a time in Memphis. There are so many places that aren’t there anymore. The P&H Cafe that it’s named after is no more, and Wanda has left this planet in bodily form but remains in spirit. I’m so glad that I captured all that. It’s good to see a Memphis that may not be there anymore. But most importantly, I hope people come see it because it’s the movie that I point people to when they say that they want to make a movie but they think it’s impossible. Well, I made this with just a small camcorder, a microphone, four clamp lights, and a lot of effort.”

Hometown Heroes

It’s a bumper crop year for the Home towner categories, which showcase films made here in the Bluff City. In addition to anniversary celebrations of Brewer’s The Poor & Hungry and this columnist’s punk rock documentary Antenna, nine features from Memphis filmmakers are screening during the festival.

Jookin is Howard Bell IV’s story of an aspiring dancer caught up in Memphis street life. The ’Vous by Jack Porter Lofton and Jeff Dailey is a documentary about the world-famous Rendezvous restaurant. Ready! Fire! Aim! is Melissa Sweazy’s portrait of

Memphis entrepreneur Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inn. Show Business Is My Life — But I Can’t Prove It by G.B. Shannon is a documentary about the 50-year career of comedian Gary Mule Deer. Michael Blevins’ 50 for Da City recounts Z-Bo’s legendary run as a Memphis Grizzly. Cxffeeblack to Africa by Andrew Puccio traces Bar tholomew Jones’ pilgrimage to Ethiopia to discover the roots of the java trade. United Front: The People’s Convention 1991 Memphis is Chuck O’Bannon’s historical documentary about the movement that produced Memphis’ first Black mayor. Daphene R. McFer

ren’s Facing Down Storms: Memphis and the Making of Ida B. Wells sheds light on the Black journalist’s early years in the Bluff City. The Recycle King is Julian Harper’s character sketch of fashion designer Paul Thomas.

On opening night is the Hometown er Narrative Shorts Competition. In recent years, this has been the toughest category in the entire festival, where Memphis filmmakers stretch their talents to the limits for 10 minutes at a time.

Janay Kelley is one of eight film makers whose works were chosen to screen in the narrative shorts competi

tion. A junior at Rhodes College, she’s a product of the Indie Memphis CrewUp mentorship program, and two-time Grand Prize winner at the Indie Mem phis Youth Festival. “This is my first film festival as an adult,” she says.

Kelley’s film is “The River,” an exper imental marriage of imagery and verse. “My grandmother told me once that the river that you got baptized in could be the same river that drowns you in the morning. I like that dichotomy of heal ing and of destroying, of accepting new people into your life and saying, ‘Will

continued on page 28

steppin’ out

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Find Your Zen

By Abigail Morici

e age-old debate pits nature against nurture, but being in nature can nurture the mind, body, and spirit. To that point, Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) is hosting its rst-ever NatureZen Week.

e week, which kicked o on October 16th, features short mindfulness walks, led by volunteers from various disciplines — spiritual, artistic, wellness, ecology — to encourage people to slow down, take in their surroundings, and disconnect for a bit. “ ey’re kind of like the Japanese concept of forest-bathing where it doesn’t take a very long time to feel the bene ts of nature,” says Melissa McMasters, OPC’s director of communications. “You just have to intentionally go and kick your mind o of other things while you’re there, and your body and your mind start to respond.”

e ultimate goal of these walks and of the week overall is to serve as a launching pad for OPC to implement more mindfulness walks and activities. e idea arose from the times of lockdown. “We started running a NatureZen series on our blog and in our email,” McMasters explains, “and we kept putting out all this messaging to encourage people to still get to the park if they could and enjoy the beauty of nature, just as some kind of a counterbalance to the pandemic. Now we are looking more into public programming.”

To conclude the week, OPC invites all to Club House Zen at the Brooks Museum Plaza. “It’s gonna be kind of a happy hour,” McMasters says. e celebration will also mark the closing of the Brooks’ outdoor pop-up exhibit, “Evanescent,” a collection of larger-than-life bubbles.

“It’ll be really cool to have a dance party with the bubbles,” McMasters adds. DJ Bizzle Bluebland and Ross al Ghul will spin tunes, and food and drink will be available for purchase. A donation of $25 to the conservancy will get you a wristband for free food and drinks for the evening. For more information and a full schedule of mindfulness walks, visit overtonpark.org/naturezenweek.

Terrance Simien brings zydeco to GPAC. Music, p. 18

Ales for Alzheimer’s

e Arcade Restaurant, Friday, October 21, 6-9:30 p.m., $100 Get ready to taste some rare cra beers you won’t nd in the Memphis market: It’s time for another Ales for Alzheimer’s bene ting the Alzheimer’s Association.

is event features more than 100 beers from across the country, even from parts of Europe. ere will be three pouring stations, and new beers will be released every 30 minutes. Volunteers will pour the beer, so you don’t overserve yourself and as many people as possible can try a beer. e Arcade is donating all of the food, and there will be plenty of it.

“CHOICE”

Marshall Arts Gallery, on display through October 21 “CHOICE” is a group exhibition that demonstrates solidarity among artists who identify as or support women and people with uteruses in the face of threats to individual and reproductive rights. e exhibit also serves as a fundraiser with 50 percent of all art sales being donated directly to Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, and the other 50 percent given back to the participating artists.

To request a tour, email NastyWomenMemphis@gmail.com.

A closing reception will be held Friday, October 21st, 6 to 8 p.m.

Hattiloo Wellness Symposium

Hattiloo eatre, Saturday, October 22, 9 a.m.-1:45 p.m., free

Knowing that Black people face unique and speci c barriers to total well-being, this symposium provides a place for Black artists to be seen and heard, both collectively and individually. It has been designed to equip participants with tools to help them heal and thrive by connecting them with culturally speci c health professionals.

e symposium is divided into four sessions, each led by leaders in their respective disciplines. Panelist bios and the schedule are available at hattiloo.org. Registration is recommended.

RiverArtsFest

Riverside Dr., Saturday-Sunday, October 22-23, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $5-$15 RiverArtsFest is a celebration of ne arts and ne local music with live artist demonstrations and hands-on art activities for all ages! More than 150 artists from around the country and right here in Memphis will gather to exhibit and sell their latest works in what’s become the largest juried artist market and urban festival in the Mid-South.

One-day tickets cost $10, and two-day tickets cost $15. Tickets for kids, age 6 to 10, are $5.

CLUB HOUSE ZEN, MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART PLAZA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 5:30-7:30 P.M., FREE.

e future of the internet is in the Supreme Court’s hands. Last Word, p. 31

VARIOUS

PHOTO: ABIGAIL MORICI e pop-up “Evanescent” closes Friday.

PHOTO: COURTESY TERRANCE SIMIEN

PHOTO: OLEKSII

LITVINOV ON DREAMSTIME

PHOTO: CARLA MCDONALD

Mostly Ghostly

By Abigail Morici

“I was the creepy girl in school,” Tanya Vandesteeg says. “I guess I still am, but we moved a lot when I was a child. And to make friends with everybody in my new school, I would always ask them things like, ‘Oh, what’s the local legend in your town?’ I was always really wanting to debunk it.”

Despite this desire to debunk, Vandesteeg has never doubted the existence of the paranormal. “I was really into it. I would see portals in my room when I was a small child — like these really spinning weird things. And I would hear voices and have visions.”

Once at college, her paranormal proclivities led her to ghost hunting, a hobby that she continued as she moved from place to place until she landed here in Memphis, where she joined her rst “o cial paranormal group.” at’s also where she met fellow paranormal investigator Stephen Guenther. “We decided to break o that group and form our own group,” Vandesteeg says.

Since then, the Historical Haunts team has performed and continues to perform a number of paranormal investigations, and eventually the two founders branched out into o ering haunted tours, where guests can learn about Memphis’ ghostly history and try their own hand at ghost hunting. And, yes, there will be paranormal activity on these tours, Vandesteeg assures.“We don’t fake anything.”

In fact, whether you see a ghost or not depends on your intentions and energy. “If you’re all closed o and negative about it you’re not going to be vibrating on the same level as the spirits,” she says. “We always say if you’re loving and caring and grateful, you’re going to vibrate on that level.” With that in mind, the group does not tolerate provoking spirits.

Historical Haunts Ghost Tours’ various tours — including the Haunted Memphis Bus Tour, Haunted Pub Crawl, and Walking Ghost Hunt — run weekly. For more information or to buy tickets, visit historicalhauntsmemphis.com.

Frayser Local Arts Festival

Arkwings, Saturday, October 22, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., free Frayser Local Arts Festival is a celebration of local talents, encompassing all forms of art, speci cally featuring creative community performers, artists, and artisans.

e festival includes a monthlong visual arts exhibit throughout the Arkwings house, all-day performances in the Labyrinth, an artisan market with a variety of handmade items, outdoor creativity stations, food trucks, and more, all in a safe, familiar neighborhood space.

Day of the Dead Preview

Crosstown Concourse, Saturday, October 22, 5-8 p.m., free

In partnership with Crosstown Concourse, Cazateatro Bilingual eatre Group presents a Day of the Dead Preview celebration with music, folklore, dancers, altars, and cra s.

Día de Muertos takes place on November 1st and 2nd in Mexico. It’s a time when families gather to honor and remember deceased loved ones. is is a joyful festivity for families and the community. As such, the preview will feature performances by Cazateatro Catrinas/Catrines, Ballet Meztli, Mariachi Guadalajara, Don Ramon Music, DJ Alexis White, and more!

Experimental Music for Flute

e Green Room at Crosstown Arts, Tuesday, October 25, 7:30 p.m., $15 Flutist and experimental musician Elise Blatchford will share works for utes, electronics, and multimedia. Composers will include Eve Beglarian, Du Yun, Raminta Šerkšnytė, and others, with music exploring the Me Too Movement, loss, and imagery.

A chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician, and teacher, Blatchford is a utist who embraces the independent, the experimental, and the DIY.

w/ special guests Nikki and Matt Hill

HISTORICAL HAUNTS GHOST TOURS, HISTORICALHAUNTSMEMPHIS.COM.

eatre Memphis’ Arsenic and Old Lace is the perfect show to see as spooky season comes upon us. eater, p. 24

PHOTO: ABIGAIL MORICI Tours meet at the Broom Closet before embarking.

KRIS SHAW

FROM

MUSIC By Alex Greene

The Zydeco Experience

The zydeco tradition is to evolve,” Terrance Simien tells me. It’s a refreshing idea in a genre that’s so identied with roots music that purists of all kinds gravitate toward it, and that unique reading of the tradition will take center stage when Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience appear at the Germantown Performing Arts Center (GPAC) this Saturday.

“You’ve got a lot of people that hear zydeco music from a certain period, and think, ‘Oh, if it doesn’t sound like that, it’s not zydeco.’ But when I listen to zydeco music as a whole, I’ve always heard an expansion. Every zydeco artist has their own interpretation of the music, in their own voice.”

It’s a lesson that Simien learned right out of the gate, when he was still a teenager, unexpectedly catapulted from his hometown of Mallet, Louisiana, into the world of rock royalty. “My career started out like this,” he explains. “I did two 45s that I produced myself, released in 1982 and 1983. I was still a kid. Around that time, Paul Simon was thinking, ‘I’ve got to have a zydeco song on my next record.’ It was before he was even calling it Graceland. So he had Dickie Landry nd three bands to do a session with him, and my band was one of them. In the end, he decided that we weren’t gonna

make the album, but he wanted to do something special for us. So I recorded this Cli on Chenier song, ‘You Used to Call Me,’ and Paul went back and put these ve-part harmonies on it, making it sound like Simon & Garfunkel! To hear Paul take a zydeco song and bring it into that world, I couldn’t sleep for days with all the ideas I got from what he did. at was in 1985, and I’ve been on the road ever since.”

Simien kept evolving, and so did his brand of zydeco. Many of his mentors were not zydeco artists at all. “I was mentored by some of the best. In addition to John Delafose and Cli on Chenier, Dr. John, Art Neville, Allen Toussaint, Dickie Landry, and Taj Mahal all mentored me,” he says. “Every last one of them did their best to help me any way they could. My mission now is to pay it forward and do the same with younger artists. I’m nowhere near the level those guys were and will never be, but I see it as a mission. My wife and I have a nonpro t called Music Matters, and we try to mentor people in the business.”

He also pays special attention to bringing his history and music to much younger folks, and he’ll be hosting a kid-friendly matinee show on Friday, October 21st, at 10 a.m., where children are encouraged to dance and sing along. He’ll also bring a strong family

vibe to his Saturday show, where his daughter, local singer/songwriter Marcella Simien, will make a cameo. Seeing her thrive here is one reason Simien is especially fond of Memphis.

“I can’t thank Memphis enough for embracing my daughter like they did,” he says. “Marcella has seen what a roller coaster the music business is, but she’s embraced it. at’s what she wanted to do. She went to the Memphis College of Art, and what an awesome school. at’s where she learned to have con dence in being creative, knowing what it takes, that it’s a process.”

But Marcella won’t be his only guest: Drummer George Receli will also make an appearance. “At 17, George le Hammond, Louisiana, to tour with Edgar and Johnny Winter,” says Simien. “Since then, he’s played with Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, James Brown, Keith Richards, and many others. I’m even going to do a little interview — he has these amazing stories. And we’re going to play together. He played on and produced our last record that won a Grammy, Dockside Sessions.”

Ultimately, re ecting on his daughter’s cameo, Simien is encouraged by zydeco’s continued appeal to young people. “Because the music evolves,” he says, “it connects with the youth of today. We’re not just doing this to keep it alive; we’re doing it because it is alive.”

Terrance Simien brings zydeco to GPAC with a special guest: his daughter.

“

PHOTO: COURTESY TERRANCE SIMIEN Terrance Simien

CALENDAR of EVENTS: October 20 - 26

ART & SPECIAL EXHIBITS

“Alice’s Adventures at the Garden”

Meet larger-than-life Alice in Wonderland-themed sculp tures. Through Oct. 31.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

“ARTober”

Members of Artists’ Link pres ent an exhibition of a variety of artistic media and creative subjects. Through Oct. 31. GALLERY 1091

“be/longing”

A solo exhibition exploring the work of Nigerian vi sual artist Amarachi Odimba. Through Oct. 31.

UREVBU CONTEMPORARY

“Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Designs for Opera and Ballet”

Exhibition dedicated to children’s book author and il lustrator Maurice Sendak’s set designs and clever costumes.

Through Jan. 8.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

“Flowerful: Fashioning the Armored Feminine”

Exhibition of Ramona Sonin’s couture gowns and drawings of fantastical women. Through Oct. 23.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Mourning Memphis”

Hear the tales of the first families while viewing the beautiful Victorian mourning collection. Through Oct. 30.

WOODRUFF-FONTAINE HOUSE MUSEUM

“New Works by Claudia Tullos-Leonard”

Claudia Tullos-Leonard’s bright and vibrant palate reflects her fascination with the constantly changing shapes and colors of nature. Through Nov. 18.

CHURCH HEALTH

“Rapid Response Exhibition: POVERTY TODAY!”

Exhibition that highlights the current Poor People’s Campaign Movement and

Volunteers from all fields of metalworking will convene for the Metal Museum’s Repair Days to complete restorations of your broken metal objects.

dire issues impacted by the pandemic. Through Dec. 31.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

“Singing in the Response” Exhibition of work by Hasani Sahlehe, whose paintings invite the viewer into a dream. Through Nov. 19.

TOPS GALLERY

“Time’s Circle” Exhibition of work by Emi Brady and Michelle Duck worth. Through Oct. 24.

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST. MARY’S SCHOOL

ART HAPPENINGS

Archipelago: An Immersive Sonic Experience

A party. An art installation. A sonic portal. A three-day immersive experience. $10. Friday, Oct. 21-Oct. 23.

TONE

“CHOICE” Closing Reception

Group exhibition that demon strates solidarity among artists who identify as or support women and people with uteruses in the face of threats to individual and reproductive rights. Friday, Oct. 21, 6-8 p.m.

MARSHALL ARTS GALLERY

Family Fun Day at the Metal Museum

Visitors of all ages curious about the art and craft of metal work can experience an afternoon of activities and interactive learning. Saturday, Oct. 22, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

METAL MUSEUM

“Looking Back” Gallery Talk

Exhibition of Lynda Watson’s work that incorporates metal, felt, and charcoal, in addition to found objects, creating a detailed 3D scrapbook of her memories. Friday, Oct. 21, 10 a.m.; Saturday, Oct. 22, 4 p.m.

METAL MUSEUM

“Miscellany” Open House

Carroll Todd’s collection of small bronze works. Saturday, Oct. 22, noon-3 p.m.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

Plein Air Season

Guest artists will be on site painting and sharing Plein Air techniques. Visitors are invited to bring their art supplies and create work inspired by the autumnal scenery at the garden. Sunday, Oct. 23, 3-5 p.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Repair Days

Join the Metal Museum for this beloved event that draws volunteers from around the country to Memphis to help restore metal objects brought to the museum for repair. Thursday, Oct. 20-Oct. 23.

METAL MUSEUM

Senior Arts Series presents Collage Dance Collective

These performers are sure to leave you feeling energized and moved with their artistry. $5. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 1:30 p.m.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

“These Days” Opening Reception

Exhibition of work by Colleen Couch and Bill Webb. Exhibi tion runs through Nov. 4. Friday, Oct. 21, 7-10 p.m.

MEDICINE FACTORY

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

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

“Transparent and Translucent” Open House

Exhibition that focuses on the visual complexity of the subtle layers within Robert Yasuda’s paintings that encourage contemplation and focus. Sat urday, Oct. 22, noon-3 p.m.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

BOOK EVENTS

Book Signing by Jayne Thompson-Reagor

The author will discuss and sign her first children’s book, Lulu and the Magical Tutu

The self-published book has a message of dreaming your way to your goals, in this case through dance. Thursday, Oct. 20, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 21, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

WOMAN’S EXCHANGE OF MEMPHIS Dixon Book Club

This month’s book is The Mur mur of Bees by Sofia Segovia. Thursday, Oct. 20, 6 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Horticultural Book Club

Join the Memphis Horticul tural Society and Memphis Botanic Garden for a horticul tural book club. This month’s book is Braiding Sweetgrass Tuesday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Meet the Author: T. Durant Fleming Novel welcomes T. Durant Fleming to celebrate the release of Splendid Agony: Cel ebrating Dyslexia. Thursday, Oct. 20, 6 p.m. NOVEL

Memphis Reads 2022:

CBU “Writer’s Talk”

Memphis Reads is a commu nity-wide read each year. This year’s book is Noor by Nnedi Okorafor. The award-winning author is coming to Memphis to celebrate Memphis Reads 2022. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 7-10 p.m.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS UNIVERSITY

Russ Thompson’s The Owls of Sedgemount Book Signing

Celebrate the release of Russ Thompson’s new children’s book. Saturday, Oct. 22, 1 p.m. BLACK LODGE

COMEDY

FAF Open Mic

Hosted by comedian AC. Free. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m.

THE COMEDY JUNT

Kevin Hart

Pollstar’s comedy touring artist of the decade Kevin Hart brings fans his first major tour in over four years. Friday, Oct. 21, 8 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

The Rated R Comedy Show: The Hangover

Starring Wild Beale, Basial, Derrick Jack, Ross Turner, Louise Page, and John Miller. Sunday, Oct. 23, 8 p.m. HI TONE

COMMUNITY

2022 Freedom Award

The National Civil Rights Mu seum presents The Freedom Award, which honors individ uals who have dedicated their lives to the advancement of civil and human rights. Thursday, Oct. 20, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

THE ORPHEUM

A Spotlight on Wellness: The Art of Caring for the Black Mind, Body, & Spirit

Providing a place for Black artists to be seen and heard, both collectively and individu ally. Saturday, Oct. 22, 9 a.m.1:45 p.m.

HATTILOO THEATRE

Club House Zen

Join DJ Bizzle Bluebland and Ross al Ghul for a party on the Brooks Museum plaza with drinks, food, and a closing celebration of the museum’s latest pop-up exhibit. Friday, Oct. 21, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

FAMILY STEAMFest

A host of community partners will be on hand to celebrate all things STEAM and offer fun activities and demonstrations, like Pen dulum Painting, Exploding Pumpkins, Balloon Zipline Races, and more. Saturday, Oct. 22, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

FESTIVAL

2022 Indie Memphis Film Festival

The 2022 Indie Memphis Film Festival celebrates its 25th an niversary. Though Oct. 24.

MEMPHIS

Cooper-Young Beerfest

Bringing all of your favorite regional breweries to CooperYoung for an afternoon of beer sampling. Saturday, Oct. 22, 1-5 p.m.

COOPER-YOUNG BEERFEST

Frayser Local Arts Festival

A celebration of local talents, encompassing all forms of art, specifically featuring cre ative community performers, artists, and artisans. Saturday, Oct. 22, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

ARKWINGS

RiverArtsFest

Rich, cultural, artistic diver sity and talent from all 50 states. $5-$15. Saturday, Oct. 22-Oct. 23, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

RIVERSIDE DR MEMPHIS TN

The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Legacy Awards

Various artists pay tribute to Jimmie Lunceford in their own unique way. Saturday, Oct. 22, 5-9 p.m.

THE ORPHEUM

FILM

Fright-tober

A kid-friendly mati nee screening of Coco at 2:30 p.m., followed by a slightly spookier screening of Rosemary’s Baby at 6:30 p.m. Free. Saturday, Oct. 22.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Halloween Forever: A Michael Myers Triple Feature

Get your fright fix with a triple

“CHOICE,” a group exhibition benefiting Planned Parenthood, will close this weekend at Marshall Arts.

feature of one of the greatest horror series of all time: the Halloween films. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 9:30 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Laser Show: Stranger Things Turn your Friday night upside down! $13. Friday, Oct. 21, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY Movies & Mixers: The Shining Academy Award-winner Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall star in director Stanley Ku brick’s disturbing adaptation of Stephen King’s blockbuster horror novel. $23. Saturday, Oct. 22, 5:30-9:30 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

Overton Square Movie Series: Hoosier Free. Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m.

OVERTON SQUARE

Screening: Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy

It’s time for his hilariously disturbed end-of-the-world films, that together are known to fans as the Cor netto Trilogy. Free. Sunday, Oct. 23, noon.

BLACK LODGE

The Beyond

A remote and cursed hotel, built over one of the seven gateways, becomes a yawning, malevolent abyss that begins devouring both the bodies and the souls of all who enter in a graphic frenzy of gore. $5. Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER Time Warp DriveIn: Kids Shocktober Spooktacular

Three fantastic fright flicks for kids of all ages — Cora line, Goosebumps, and The Monster Squad! Costumes encouraged. $25. Saturday, Oct. 22, 7:15 p.m.

MALCO SUMMER 4 DRIVE-IN

-

FOOD & DRINK

Ales for Alzheimer’s This event features more than 100 beers from across the coun try, even from parts of Europe. Friday, Oct. 21, 6-9:30 p.m.

THE ARCADE RESTAURANT Boots and Brews: Rai$in’ on the River

A night of brews, games, and live music, benefiting the Madonna Learning Center. Friday, Oct. 21, 6 p.m.

ACE HARDWARE CORDOVA

Lunchin’ with Lunceford

Give honor to the legendary, Jimmie Lunceford at Elmwood Cemetery. You can talk, sing, play an instrument, etc. Thurs day, Oct. 20, noon-1 p.m.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY

Park + Cherry Dinner Series

Take a stroll through the galleries and have dinner in the cafe. Thursday, Oct. 20, 5:30 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Zootoberfest

Guests can purchase a com memorative stein to sip beer from while they enjoy a fall afternoon at Memphis Zoo. Saturday, Oct. 22-Oct. 23.

MEMPHIS ZOO

HALLOWEEN EVENTS

8th Annual Memphis Monster Mash

The annual fundraiserturned-massive party will feature an expanded outdoor dance floor, video DJ, a huge drag show stage, and an open bar. Saturday, Oct. 22, 9 p.m.

BRADFORD-MAYDWELL HOUSE

Cryptid Tails Halloween Show

An evening of fantastical creatures, presented by Mem phis Burlesque Productions. $20. Friday, Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Day of the Dead Preview

In partnership with Cross town Concourse, Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group presents a Day of the Dead Preview celebration with mu sic, folklore, dancers, altars, and crafts. Free. Saturday, Oct. 22, 5-8 p.m.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

Edge of Halloween

A costume party extravagan za featuring local food trucks, DJs, spooky activities, and a live performance by Raneem Imam + Better in Color. Saturday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m.

STOP 345

Halloween Spooktacular

It’s all treats and no tricks at this must-do annual festival for the family. $20. Saturday, Oct. 22, 10 a.m.

THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF MEMPHIS

School of Rock Halloween Party!

Performances will be given by

continued on page 22

Cyrena Wages Concerts in The Grove POSTPONED OCTOBER 20

Jazz in the Box: Verve Jazz Ensemble OCTOBER 28

John Paul Keith & the Rhythm of the City Concerts in The Grove NOVEMBER 3

Peanut Butter & Jam Mömandpöp NOVEMBER 5

Veterans Day Concert in The Grove FREE! Featuring Memphis Wind Symphony NOVEMBER 11

Marty Stuart NOVEMBER 18

Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra NOVEMBER 19

|

PM

Germantown Symphony Orchestra: Holiday Concert DECEMBER 10

Stacey Kent JANUARY 14

Milk Carton Kids JANUARY 21 And More!

all three schools’ housebands, as well as featured staff performances and a chance to win some SoR swag! Saturday, Oct. 22, 2-5 p.m.

THE BLUFF

Spillit Slam: Spooky

An evening of your stories about being scared of the things go bump in the night. $10. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Welcome to the Freak Show Halloween Extravaganza

This year the party will be even more frightful with a new wicked haunted en trance. Dance the night away! Stuff your face with carnival food! It’s going to be one hell of a shindig. $15-$20. Satur day, Oct. 22, 9 p.m.-2 a.m.

BLACK LODGE

Zoo Boo

Grab your boo crew, your costumes, and your trick-ortreat bags to make sure you score those hallowed sweets. Through Oct. 31.

MEMPHIS ZOO

HEALTH & FITNESS

2nd Annual Ride for Education Ride for Education is back and bigger than ever to benefit Bornblum Jewish Community School, STAX Music Academy, and the Refugee Empowerment Program. Sunday, Oct. 23, 8:30 a.m.-noon.

BORNBLUM JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Body Attack

Whole body workout that burns calories while ton ing and shaping. Saturday, Oct. 22, 9-10 a.m.

OVERTON PARK SHELL

Mindfulness Walks

These short and slow walks are designed to take advan tage of the physical, mental, and emotional benefits. Visit overtonpark.org for a full schedule. Through Oct. 22.

OVERTON PARK

Race for Recovery 5K Color Run

Memphians can support the Shelby County Drug Court Foundation’s mission by participating in a festive 5K color run. Saturday, Oct. 22, 10:30 a.m.

OVERTON PARK

Relay for Life of the Mid-South

There will be food, fun, and entertainment for all, benefit ing American Cancer Society. Saturday, Oct. 22, 4-7 p.m.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

Ruck & Roll! Community Rucking Group

This group is open to all ages and levels of fitness. Very simply, rucking is walking a set distance while carrying a weight in a backpack. Saturday, Oct. 22, 8:30-9:30 a.m.

SEA ISLE PARK

PERFORMING ARTS

Poetic Blues Flow

The artist Yella P provides live entertainment with a laidback bluesy sound while local poets share their creative word flow. It’s a cool vibe for artists to network and enjoy positive energy. $10-$15. Sunday, Oct. 23, 7-10 p.m.

VENTURE SOUTH STUDIOS

SPORTS

Memphis Grizzlies vs. Brooklyn Nets Monday, Oct. 24, 7 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

THEATER

Arsenic and Old Lace

The outrageous and comedic play by Joseph Kesselring. Through Oct. 30.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Invisible Me 901 Church comedy stage play. Saturday, Oct. 22-Oct. 23

THE EVERGREEN THEATRE

Kill Move Paradise

Four Black men find them selves stuck in a waiting room for the afterlife. As they attempt to make sense of their new paradise, they are forced to confront the reality of their past. $30-$35. Through Oct. 30.

HATTILOO THEATRE

The 6th Annual FREE Shout-Out Shakespeare Series: Macbeth

This 85-minute adaptation features six actors perform ing as Shakespeare’s players did while touring: with character/costume changes on stage and sound effects accomplished by hand. Free. Through Oct. 23.

MEMPHIS

The Upside Down is taking over the zoo for its annual Zoo Boo, this year with a Stranger Things theme. Zoo Boo runs select nights through October 31st.

TOURS

Backstage Experience Tour

Each week, the Shell is open ing up the Green Rooms for an incredible and immersive guided tour that will take you from its 1936 beginnings all the way to the present. $15. Monday, Oct. 24, 2-3 p.m.

OVERTON PARK SHELL

Haunted Memphis Bus Tour

Informative and entertaining guides will share the dark his tory of Memphis, including murders, hauntings, and tales of the paranormal. Friday, Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.; Wednes day, Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m.

THE BROOM CLOSET

Scandals & Scoundrels: A Tour of Elmwood Elmwood Cemetery is the final resting place to many people who have interest ing stories. But, some of the deeper history found at Elmwood comes with a ques tionable ending. $20. Friday, Oct. 21, 5:30-7 p.m.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY Staying Alive! A Triumphant Cemetery Tour

Cats have nine lives. These Elmwood residents did, too. These are the proverbial lucky ducks of Elmwood Cem etery. $20. Saturday, Oct. 22, 10:30 a.m.-noon.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY Tales at Twilight Tour of Elmwood Cemetery

Join Elmwood’s Executive Di rector Kim Bearden for this after-hours tour and learn about Victorian cemetery symbolism, the majestic trees, and the many fascinating people who reside in the cemetery. $20. Saturday, Oct. 22, 4:30-6 p.m.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY Tours at Two Meet in the Catmur Foyer for a tour of a current exhibition with a Dixon docent or staff member. Sunday, Oct. 23, 2-3 p.m.

THE

presented by

memphisflyer.com

By Coco June

Arsenic and Old Lace

itting in the Lohrey eatre in the middle of what has culturally become known as “spooky season,” you might be inclined to notice, if you are on the lookout for such things, a skull motif in the pattern of the purple wallpaper on the set of eatre Memphis’ Arsenic and Old Lace. If you are unfamiliar with this 1940s Broadway play, you should know that it exempli es the term “dark comedy.”

e plot of Joseph Kesselring’s zany play is convoluted at rst glance. Dramatic critic Mortimer Brewster is shocked to nd out that his sweet old aunts, beloved and known throughout their community for their generosity of spirit, are in fact totally o -the-rails serial killers. Of course, they don’t see their morbid hobby as anything more than another charitable act in their repertoire.

manages to bring o Mortimer’s energy and quirkiness without a hitch, excelling especially at physicality. Mortimer practically jumps around the stage, much to the delight of the audience.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Abby and Martha Brewster, played by Jeanna Juleson and Martha Jones. e hilarity of these characters is achieved with subtlety, and Juleson and Jones allow the humor of the dialogue to come through by adding just the right dose of guilelessness.

Maness explained in a release, “What I’ve tried to do is make this wildly believable, too. By focusing on the subtle acting details to support the dark comedy, we’ll get the result of a lived-in, truthful world despite the zany goings-on of the plot. Every character knows where they’re coming from. … We want the audience to just enjoy the ride about where they are all going!”

ere were a few hitches during the performance that could be chalked up to opening-night jitters — a couple of lines tripped over and some pacing that seemed a little o -kilter. However, by the top of the third act, the entire cast was seamlessly in their stride.

Corrupt politicians sold out Tennessee’s working families to line their pockets. Voting "NO" on Amendment 1 is not a partisan issue, it’s defending our rights as working people.

Corrupt politicians sold out Tennessee’s working families to line their pockets. Voting "NO" on Amendment 1 is not a partisan issue, it’s defending our rights as working people.

Paid for by the Tennessee Workers Alliance

Paid for by the Tennessee Workers Alliance

Aunts Abby and Martha Brewster aren’t the only colorful members of Mortimer’s family. One brother believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt, another previously-thought-to-bemissing brother shows up with an altered face to conceal his identity, and a prospective member of the family, Mortimer’s new ancée, lives next door in the church parish.

e cast, directed by John Maness, brings this bizarre group of characters to life in a well-balanced ensemble. Each character has their own brand of hilarity, carefully wrought through physical comedy, vocal in ection, and timing. Kinon Keplinger especially shines as Mortimer Brewster, the keystone that the rest of the group rests on. Mortimer could be seen as a stock straight man evening out the eccentricity of the other members of the cast, but Keplinger

According to Maness, “ e play is a classic for a reason, and we aren’t shying away from what we’ve been calling that ‘Turner Classic Movies’ feel.” is is a play that non-theatergoers might think of as “basic,” but when performed with the energy and comedic dexterity I saw on opening night, it clearly deserves, instead, to be called a “classic.”

As I observed during intermission, this show is one that all audiences can enjoy. A grandfather glanced at the TV monitor downstairs near the bathrooms, depicting a live stream of the show. He remarked to his granddaughter (who was maybe around 10 years old), “Looks even better on camera, doesn’t it?” She replied, “I think it looks better in real life.” us the magic of live theater was demonstrated in a simple tableau.

Arsenic and Old Lace is the perfect show to see in October for both those who enjoy getting into the Halloween feel and those who just want to have a fun night at the theater. e play is just macabre enough to be called “dark” while still maintaining a buoyant tone.

Arsenic and Old Lace runs through October 30th at eatre Memphis.

PHOTO: CARLA MCDONALD eatre Memphis’ Arsenic and Old Lace

is 1940s Broadway play exempli es the term “dark comedy.”

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By Michael Donahue

Spaghetti Southern

Elfo Grisanti’s, by Alex and Kim Grisanti, opened in November of 2020 at 5627 Getwell Road in Southaven, Mississippi.

“We built this thing in the beginning of the pandemic and we succeeded,” says Alex Grisanti. “We did what everybody else told us we were pretty much stupid for doing.”

e restaurant, which customers dubbed “Grisanti’s Southaven,” is still going strong.

When Covid hit, Charles Cavallo, owner of e Cupboard Restaurant, let the Grisantis open their 9Dough1 food truck in his parking lot. “ is was when all the restaurants were closed,” Alex says.

e food truck, which they still operate, specializes in atbread pizzas, Italian salad, cannelloni, and panna cotta. “Instead of sitting around waiting for something to happen, I got out there and got a er it. It threw us into a whole other level of being back on our feet and being able to take care of our family and get us to where we are now.”

e Grisantis originally brought their food truck to Southaven in March 2020 and parked it in front of a liquor store. Before they le work that day, developer John Reeves asked them if they wanted to open a restaurant. e space was perfect.

Grisanti’s originally was split into two sides with a wall. Alex and Kim opened up the side with a brick oven as a to-go pizza spot. “People were stircrazy from being inside. ey wanted any opportunity they could to get out.”

ey opened up the other side for ne dining that November. A lot of the locals weren’t familiar with the Grisanti name, he says. But, he adds, “We stayed. We never shut our doors since we opened in November.”

ey later closed the pizza section, which they turned into a bar.

“I ripped the wall out and I did a big U-shaped horseshoe-type bar like we had at Ronnie’s,” Grisanti says, referring to his father’s old restaurant, Ronnie Grisanti & Sons, which was on Poplar and Humes.

“ at’s where so many memories were made in our family,” he says.

“ ose are the things that make Grisanti’s. We don’t ever want that to die.

We want people to have their special times and memories of Grisanti’s being good times and happy times.”

ey hired interior designer Teresa Brown to design the bar area. She did the walls in white-brushed concrete.

“ ey look like they’re a thousand

and whimsical things.”

PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE Alex and Kim Grisanti

years old,” Grisanti says. “It’s very European. Heavy. Antique looking. And then she did another wall. It’s black with gold leaf on it. I told her ‘Ma a modern’ is what I wanted the vibe to be, the feel of the restaurant.”

To run the bar, Grisanti also hired Tim Harris (one of the old bartenders from Ronnie’s), Missy Katz, and Janay Carmona. e bar is now open — and customers love it.

“ ey’re calling Grisanti’s ‘the Cheers of Southaven.’”

But, he says, “Hopefully, by the end of November will be the o cial christening of the new bar.”

Similarly, the dining room color scheme is gold with black accents. “I want everything to be serene and comfortable and white tablecloth. I don’t want you to feel that it’s all stu y and proper. I want it to have some fun

Like Ronnie’s old restaurant on Poplar, Grisanti’s has photos of customers hanging on the bathroom walls. “All the restaurant is lled with black-and-white pictures of the family. e decor is very upbeat and modern with twists of the past.”

Grisanti’s also features live music on ursday nights.

As for the food, Grisanti says he’s hired “a top-notch chef.”

His next step? “To get back to focusing on my kitchen and my recipes.

“My rst concentration is to do what we’ve been doing for 115 years and do it right. I want people to eat my Miss Mary’s salad, Elfo’s special, lasagna, spinach, and manicotti and say, ‘ is tastes like it did 40 years ago, 60 years ago, 70 years ago, 100 years ago. I want people’s taste buds’ memories and everything to go, ‘Wow. Why I come here is for the camaraderie of what you’ve been doing since 1909.’”

Grisanti also does his specials. “I stay pretty true to my Northern Italian way of cooking, which is pretty much what is fresh and seasonal. I try to live by my heritage in cooking, which is take a natural raw product and let it speak for itself. I’m not into all this freeze it, shock it, put gelatin on it. I’m not the scientist here. I’m just an oldschool, burn-and-bruise chef.’”

MAKE YOUR CLOSET HAPPY, MANE.

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“Those are the things that make Grisanti’s. We don’t ever want that to die.”

Grisanti’s Southaven nears its second anniversary

you help me or will you harm me?’”

Kelley provides her own narration for the lm, which was based on a prose poem she wrote while still in high school. “I take a lot of inspiration from my Southern heritage, especially from the women in my family,” she says.

e visuals reference several Black artists of the 20th century, especially the painting Funeral Procession by Ellis Wilson, which was famously featured on e Cosby Show. Kelley treats the many women, young and old, who appear in the lm with a portraitist’s touch.

“Before I started in lms, I was really into photography, and you can see a lot of that still in my work,” she says. “I come from a very poor background. ere is a speci c picture of my mother, my grandmother, and my aunt, and they got it taken at the fair. Back in the day, they used to take people’s portraits there, so some families would get dressed up to go to the fair to get their portraits taken, because they couldn’t a ord to get it done any way else. What you need to know about being poor and Black in the South is that a lot of us don’t live long. So some of the stories I’ve heard about my family members, I’ve heard a er they have died, and I’ve

had to kind of stare at their pictures. I think it comes out of a genuine love of the history of photography, and what it meant for people like me.”

Witchcraft

Through the Ages

Indie Memphis’ October spot on the calendar means that it coincides with what Bale calls “the spooky season,” when many horror movie a cionados embark on a monthlong binge watch. For this year’s festival, Bale programed a pair of rarely seen horror classics that have signi cant anniversaries. e rst

is Ghostwatch, a British mockumentary which debuted 30 years ago.

In the tradition of Orson Welles’ infamous Halloween radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds,” Ghostwatch was presented as a Halloween special in which real-life BBC journalists Sarah Greene and Craig Charles would broadcast a live investigation of a supposedly haunted house. But their goofy Halloween jokes turn serious when the house’s real ghosts show up and start causing mayhem. When it was rst broadcast on Halloween night in 1992, the BBC switchboard was jammed with more than 1 million calls from viewers concerned that their favorite newscasters were being slaughtered by ghosts on live television. “ is is a sta favorite,” says Bale.

e second Halloween special is Häxan, which has its 100th anniversary this year. Indie Memphis commissioned a new score for the silent lm from Alex Greene, who is also the music editor for the Memphis Flyer. For this performance, Greene’s jazz ensemble e Rolling Head Orchestra — Jim Spake, Tom Lonardo, Mark Franklin, Carl Caspersen, and Jim Duckworth — will be joined by theremin virtuoso Kate Tayler. “We’ve been wanting to work with Alex for a long time, and this was a great opportunity,” says Bale.

Director Benjamin Christensen based Häxan on his study of the Malleus Male carum (“ e Hammer of Witches”), a guide for clergymen conducting witch hunts, published in 1486. Upon its premiere in 1922, Häxan was

Bartholomew Jones in Andrew Puccio’s documentary Cx eeblack to Africa

Jack Oblivian in the Memphis punk rock documentary Antenna

“I take a lot of inspiration from my Southern heritage, especially from the women in my family.”

the most expensive silent film made in Europe. Christensen’s meticulous recreations of witches’ Sabbath celebra tions, complete with flying broomsticks and an appearance by a mischievous Satan (played by the director himself), still look incredible. Its frank depictions of the Inquisition provide the horror. “I was shocked by how much of it is framed by the torture of the witches,” says Greene. “It implies that a lot of this crazy behavior they described was just victims trying to make up anything to stop the thumbscrews.”

Released a decade before Dracula ushered in the modern horror era, Häxan is a unique cinema experi ence. “I think of it as kind of like Shakespeare’s time, when the English language was not as settled in spell ings and meanings of words. It was a fluid language,” says Greene. “This film came at a time when the language of

cinema was very fluid and kind of up for grabs, which is why you could have this weird hybrid of documentary/re enactment/essay.”

“It’s within the Halloween realm, but not necessarily a horror movie,” says Bale. “That’s part of what’s so in teresting about it. There are some silent films that just feel so fresh, they could have been made yesterday. Häxan is one of those.”

The 25th Indie Memphis Film Festival runs from October 19th to the 22nd at the Orpheum Theatre’s Halloran Centre, Crosstown Theater, Black Lodge, Malco Studio on the Square, The Circuit Play house, Playhouse on the Square, and virtually on Eventive. Festival passes and individual film tickets can be purchased at indiememphis.org. The Memphis Flyer will feature continuing coverage of Indie Memphis 2022 on the web at memphisflyer.com.

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THE LAST WORD By Thomas L. Knapp

The Future of the Internet

An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling could forever change social channels like Twitter and Facebook.

e U.S. Supreme Court has agreed, in its coming session, to hear an appeal in the case of Gonzalez v. Google. e case deals with one aspect of “the 26 words that created the internet” — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

As is usually the case when Section 230 comes up, the punditmedia industrial complex goes into overdrive describing Section 230 as a “liability shield” that provides “immunity” for Big Tech. It isn’t a “liability shield,” nor does it provide “immunity,” except in the sense that you neither are “liable” for nor need “immunity” from prosecution over a crime you didn’t commit.

Here are the “26 words” in question:

“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

e important thing to understand about those 26 words is that they should have been condensed to 23 words that say the same thing:

“No provider or user of an interactive computer service IS the publisher or speaker of any information published or spoken by someone else.”

Today’s internet thrives on self-publishing platforms — social media like Twitter and Facebook, commenting services like Disqus, blog platforms like WordPress.

ose platforms are analogous to printing presses, which can be used by anyone to print anything, and are not analogous to newspapers or magazines where an editor pre-selects what content gets published.

If I sell you a hammer, I’m not the one who beats your spouse to death with it. If I sell you a car, I’m not the one who gets drunk and rams it into a tree. If I give you a printing press, I’m not the one who uses it to publish a Ku Klux Klan tract or a stack of revenge porn yers.

Gonzalez v. Google takes that obvious fact of reality a little far a eld. It’s not about who published what, but about Google subsidiary YouTube’s “recommendation algorithm.” e plainti s assert that because YouTube’s algorithm recommended recruitment videos for the Islamic State to viewers, Google is responsible for that organization’s 2015 terror attacks in Paris (in which a relative of the plainti s was killed).

But YouTube didn’t publish those videos. ey just made a video “printing press” available to all comers, then used an algorithm to recommend videos particular viewers might be interested in watching. e makers of the videos made the videos. e people who were interested in the videos watched — and may have acted in response to — the videos.

If I give you a printing press, I’m not the one who uses it to publish a Ku Klux Klan tract or a stack of revenge porn flyers.

Yes, YouTube helped make that possible but only in the same sense that a magazine running an ad for chain saws helps make it possible for some nitwit to bring a tree down on your house.

Attempting to unmake reality by repealing or undoing the e ect of Section 230 won’t stop terrorism. It won’t keep us safe. It will just make us easier to muzzle.

e lower courts were correct in ruling against the Gonzalez v. Google plainti s. e Supreme Court should likewise recognize reality and put this vexatious lawsuit out of its misery.

omas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PHOTO: DOLE777 ON UNSPLASH e platforms are analogous to printing presses.