Memphis Flyer 12/1/2022

SHARA CLARK Editor

SAMUEL X. CICCI Managing Editor

JACKSON BAKER, BRUCE VANWYNGARDEN Senior Editors TOBY SELLS Associate Editor

KAILYNN JOHNSON News Reporter CHRIS MCCOY Film and TV Editor ALEX GREENE Music Editor ABIGAIL MORICI Arts and Culture Editor

MICHAEL DONAHUE, JON W. SPARKS Staff Writers

GENE GARD, COCO JUNE, RICHARD MURFF, FRANK MURTAUGH, IZZY WOLLFARTH

Contributing Columnists

AIMEE STIEGEMEYER, SHARON BROWN Grizzlies Reporters ANDREA FENISE Fashion Editor

KENNETH NEILL Founding Publisher

CARRIE BEASLEY Senior Art Director

CHRISTOPHER MYERS

Advertising Art Director

NEIL WILLIAMS Graphic Designer

JERRY D. SWIFT

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Warehouse Facilitator

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In the olden days, these were used to contact people. Send us an email instead.

ICYMI, last week we announced some new and exciting things happening here at the Memphis Flyer. We’re still working out the kinks on a few items, but we have welcomed the glorious return of Rob Brezsny’s Free Will Astrology horoscopes and the always-fun (if not gross or creepy) News of the Weird column. We’ve got the bigger, better New York Times crossword puzzle for your brain-teasing enjoyment, and we’ve revived our A er Dark live music schedule.

Speaking on the latter, please help us ll out this schedule with your events! Send your live music info to a erdark@memphis yer.com to be included in our online and print (space permitting) calendars. For other events — arts, fests, tness, theater, lm, etc. — as always, send those to calendar@memphis yer.com for inclusion. It doesn’t cost you a thing to submit your listings, and we’ll do our best to t them in our weekly print editions, as long as you send them two weeks in advance of the issue date. Also be sure to check out the full calendar of events online, any time, at events.memphis yer.com. It’s searchable by category and date, and perfect for planning your free-time fun stu !

We also want to hear from you for 20<30 nominations. Every year, we highlight 20 inspiring folks under 30 years old who are doing outstanding things in our community. And believe us, there are a lot of you out there — narrowing down and selecting 20 from the list of nominees each year is a di cult task! For our 13th 20<30 class — the class of 2023 — we’re looking to nd and honor 20 of the city’s best and brightest young people. Candidates must be no older than 29 on January 1, 2023. Know someone who ts the bill? Send a brief bio/summary of the nominee’s work and activities, along with a photo, to under30@memphis yer.com. Use “20<30 Nomination” in the subject line. Deadline for nominations is December 9, 2022. Honorees will be announced in our January 26, 2023, issue.

NEWS & OPINION

THE FLY-BY - 4 POLITICS - 8 FINANCE - 9 AT LARGE - 10

COVER STORY

“MYSTERY TRAIN”

BY ALEX GREENE - 12

We want to hear from you on other stu , too! What would you like to see more of? Less of? What are we doing right? Or just plain awful at? What about bringing back our “I Saw You” missed connections? e personals ads? Do you have a lead on something we should investigate? Is your neighbor’s cat using your planter as a litter box and destroying your begonias? We won’t regret at all asking you to email or call (but really, who makes actual phone calls anymore?). So please do! Carrier pigeon, smoke signals, or messages in a bottle are all acceptable forms of communication, but you’ll probably fare best by emailing. And I will personally respond (even if it’s to tell you, “Heck no! We’re not pestering your neighbor or their cat! But sorry about your begonias.”).

SPORTS - 16

WE RECOMMEND - 17

MUSIC - 18 AFTER DARK - 19 CALENDAR - 20

NY TIMES CROSSWORD - 21 THEATER - 24 FOOD - 25

NEWS OF THE WEIRD - 26 ASTROLOGY -27 FILM - 28

CLASSIFIEDS - 30 LAST WORD - 31

If you’re not already, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (are people still using that or is it a dumpster re now?), Shplerble, Tweedle-Dee, and Tweedle-Do. (No, those last three aren’t actual things.) Add our website to your browser bookmarks. ere’s always more happening beyond these pages.

We’ll see you back here, same place, next week.

Shara Clark shara@memphis yer.com

THE fly-by

MEM ernet

Memphis on the internet.

ZOO WEED “Shout-out to whoever grew this at the Memphis Zoo,” Jimmy Cassidy wrote on Facebook last week. e post blew up with 274 comments and 889 shares as of press time. e “um, actually” crowd jumped in hot to point out the plant is “a weed, not the weed you think lol.”

HOLY WEATHER

{CITY REPORTER

By Toby Sells

Questions, Answers + Attitude

Edited by Toby Sells

Greensward Saga Ends, Probably

Last week city leaders, the Memphis Zoo, and the Overton Park Conservancy made nal a parking plan that came a er years of protests, battles at Memphis City Hall, and a host of proposals.

It’s a plan that will forever end parking on the park’s Greensward.

e zoo has parked cars on the Greensward for decades (at least since the 1980s) in a handshake agreement with city. Grumbling about the deal and the cars goes back at least as long as the deal has been in place.

Facebook commenters loved and hated WREG for using a Bible verse in a weather report last week.

Evan Hurst asked why a news station was posting Bible verses, to which Rich Martin replied, “Because we can. Now go f.” Hurst responded with, “Go ‘f’? You can type the word, big guy. Jesus already knows you thought it.”

MEMPHIS AF

Vehicles periodically cut deep, hard, muddy ruts on a northern edge of the Greensward, rendering it useless for recreation. Sometime around early 2014 an ad hoc group blocked o the Greensward with orange tra c cones and sat around their barrier in camp chairs, daring anyone to pass. is was the opening salvo of what would be a nearly nine-year battle between park advocates and the public, the zoo, members of the Memphis City Council, and two mayors.

Flyer columnist Bruce VanWyngarden de ly summed up the next few years in a 2021 column.

need to expand its lot.”

at plan was scrapped on cost concerns, replaced by the original plan that would remove green space for the parking lot. No work was done, however, and not an inch of the Greensward was taken. Winter weather was rightfully blamed at the time.

In 2018, zoo CEO Chuck Brady — seen as a zoo- rst hardliner and unrelenting negotiator — resigned. He was replaced in 2019 by Jim Dean, a native Memphian who had served as president of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens.

“ ings started getting really heated in 2014. Park lovers formed groups: Get O Our Lawn (GOOL) and Citizens to Preserve Overton Park (CPOP). Activists stood on nearby street corners urging zoo patrons to park on nearby streets, rather than despoiling the Greensward. Aerial photographs were taken that showed just how much of the people’s parkland was being taken over by a private entity. e pictures got national attention. Protestors were arrested. Houses all over Midtown bore signs urging Memphis to Save the Greensward.

Dean was largely seen as a diplomatic compromiser who helped lead the zoo, park, and city through to the new plan that got the nal approval last Monday. Dean was replaced this year by Matt ompson, the zoo’s former executive director and vice president (and the Zoo Dude personality on the zoo’s social channels).

Here’s how the zoo, park, and city described the new plan in a rare joint statement a er last Monday’s signing of the new memorandum of understanding:

“Ja Morant’s rookie card got Young Dolph and Key Glock on it,” tweeted Kollege Kidd. Yes, that was way back in May but it’s still [ re emoji]. H/T to MemphisAsFuck.

“In the winter of 2016, newly elected Mayor Jim Strickland managed to get both sides into mediation. A er months of costly negotiation, a compromise was struck. e zoo would be allowed to enlarge its lot to 415 spaces, taking some of the Greensward, but with the great majority of the land being preserved. e zoo subsequently announced that it would build a parking garage on nearby Prentiss Place and wouldn’t

“ e new plan, which has been approved by both the conservancy and zoo boards of directors, would move the zoo’s current maintenance area to the park’s southeast corner, making use of existing buildings in the northern portion of what is now the city’s general services area.

“ e zoo’s existing maintenance area, located along North Parkway, would then be converted into parking. Along with some re-striping of the zoo’s main lot, this recon guration would add the 300 spaces the zoo needs without

portion of the Greensward.”

carving out a

POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY JIMMY CASSIDY

PHOTO: SAVETHEGREENSWARD.ORG

e agreement sees the Memphis Zoo and Overton Park Conservancy swapping land, adding facilities, and adding back more park space.

{CITY REPORTER

By Kailynn

Judging Judges

Some of Shelby County’s criminal court judges “need to be more professional” and “less condescending,” according to Just City’s recent “Court Watch” report.

Just City is a Memphis-based nonpro t that works for criminal justice reform. e organization’s Court Watch is a project that seeks to bring “transparency and accountability to the county’s criminal legal system” and reduce barriers to justice.

ough most of the judges were commended for their ability to “explain things well,” each of the four judges observed had attributes that volunteers believed they could improve on. Responses ranged from professionalism, tone, and overall courtroom energy.

Just City’s Court Watch report is composed of observations from volunteers, who watch and evaluate the judges in the criminal courtrooms. All of the judges are scored on a scale from one to four, with one being the worst and four being the best.

e rubric consists of questions such as “Did the judge give the appearance of neutrality,” “Were both the accused and victim treated fairly,” and “Did you have any issues getting in.”

While all four judges seemed to receive a four in “access,” this is the only place where all judges received a consistent high score.

four judges in “timeliness.”

In terms of neutrality, Judge Chris Cra received the lowest score out of the judges being observed. While volunteers said that Cra was “friendly” and “e cient,” they also believe that Cra needs to “change his attitude.” A former client said that “he was repeatedly all over the place and disorganized.” Volunteers also observed that Cra was “blatantly disrespectful,” and that he “performs his job like he’s running a circus. Or a slaughterhouse.”

e report also said that Cra “heavily factors race into his decisions and uses racially charged language.”

Judge Lee V. Co ee scored relatively high in most areas. However, his lowest score was in “ability to hear.” Co ee was commended on his ability to explain things thoroughly and his ability to control the courtroom. However, Just City volunteers believe that Co ee should “have more interaction with people” and “give people more chances.” Co ee scored the highest out of the

Judge Karen L. Massey received the highest score in “ability to hear,” with volunteers saying Massey “talks to you and not ‘at’ you,” and that “she’s a good listener.” Massey received lower scores when it came to her sensitivity and timeliness. A former client said, “She can work on being on time. I never knew when I’d get out.” Another former client said that Massey can “work on her professionalism.” Volunteers said that Massey “has a very abrasive tone towards defendants,” and that she is “inconsistent in the way that she deals and judges individuals.”

Volunteers believe that Judge S. Ronald Lucchesi could be more consistent and can improve on expanding public defender appointments. On the report, Lucchesi is quoted as saying, “If you want a public defender, I can throw you in jail for a few days so you can qualify in this court.” While former clients believe that Lucchesi is fair and honest, others said that he needs to be more professional. Lucchesi is also noted as being in exible and “either really kind or really harsh.”

Volunteers said Judge Chris Craft runs his court like “a circus” and is “blatantly disresepctful.”

Johnson

Just City report scores criminal court judges on courtroom conduct.

PHOTO: TINGEY INJURY LAW FIRM | UNSPLASH

The Watchdog

e name “Tom Jones” is well known to students of literature (as that of a picaresque hero in a path nding 18thcentury novel by Henry Fielding) and to popular music fans (as that of a formidably talented 20th century cabaret singer). It is also familiar locally to followers of politics and journalism.

is latter Tom Jones is an author, a veteran of local government, and a highly respected watchdog of media and politics in Shelby County and, for that matter, in Tennessee at large. Jones is the proprietor of “All News is Local,” a well-read Facebook page that keeps tabs (and score) on the aforementioned subjects.

In an age in which journalism is demonstrably diminishing, quantitywise, Jones makes it his business to evaluate such quality as remains. He posts daily reminders — and sometimes whole essays — regarding which subjects and which writers are worth attending to.

Jones’ range is impressive, but, by and large, he is looking for, and recommending, cases of serious and detailed journalism about important subjects — as well as noting examples that fall short of the mark.

To be honest, he hasn’t had a whole lot to say about me personally of late. His last reference was, in fact, to a boo-boo of mine earlier this year when I carelessly quoted some lines of a playground jingle that, in one erstwhile version, has an overtly racist line. My quote was based on a sanitized version that involved “catch[ing] a tiger by the toe.” But still, shame on me.

My daughter Julia Baker, who toils for the Daily Memphian and whose coverage of criminal justice matters o en gets noted by Jones, reminded me of a Jones post, not too long ago, that referred to me as an “encyclopedia.” at’s good, I guess. What I best remember is a “To Whom It May Concern” letter he issued in 1991, during the rst full year of this column, in which Tom cited my

coverage of the then ongoing mayoral election of that year as exemplary.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that’s kept me going these 30-odd years since. at letter was long since framed and attached to my home o ce wall.

Tom has worked in harness with such other local lights as Carol Coletta (with Smart City) and Susan orp. In his government years he served as a right arm for three consecutive Shelby County mayors — Bill Morris, Jim Rout, and AC Wharton.

Check out “All News is Local.” You won’t regret it.

• Van Turner, the former Shelby County commissioner and local NAACP head who is one of several declared candidates in the 2023 Memphis mayor’s race, has several declared supporters among other well-known political gures, but one of them, the recently elected District Attorney Steve Mulroy, has become something of a doppelganger, appearing as a co-occupant of automobiles bearing his name along with Turner’s in formal parades in Orange Mound and Whitehaven.

“I don’t know if I have bootstraps, but I want it known that I do support Van wholeheartedly, and to the extent that it helps him, so much the better,” avers the reform-minded Mulroy, who may be getting some useful long-term community support himself from onlookers, who greet him, he says, with shouts of “Hey, Mr. DA!”

• e Flyer has not been able to conrm an interest in running for mayor on the part of J.W. Gibson, but the well-known businessman and former county commissioner is known to have discussed the race with friends and con dantes.

ere is a general feeling among pol-watchers that the eld of candidates, which so far includes Turner, Sheri Floyd Bonner, Downtown Memphis Commission President/CEO Paul Young, school board chair Michelle McKissack, state House minority leader Karen Camper, and former TV Judge Joe Brown, isn’t done yet.

PHOTO: COURTESY TOM JONES Tom Jones

Tom Jones is on the case for good journalism.

POLITICS By Jackson Baker

Thankful

s another anksgiving has passed, one of the things I’m thankful for is our modern global capital markets. e ability to retire by putting money to work in markets which provide a long-term positive real return is a very recent development on the long scale of humanity. Just as importantly, we can take money out with daily liquidity to fund retirement or other needs — though unfortunately this liquidity also facilitates less constructive activities like market timing and day trading.

As someone involved in the markets daily, it’s easy for me to take all this for granted. I was reminded that not everyone understands the long-term power of markets when I heard this question: “I understand I need to save for the future, but the idea of market volatility is very distressing. What if the market is having a downturn just when I plan to retire and my investments are losing money when I need them in 20 or 30 years?”

If you retire 30 years from now, your positions may be o their all-time highs, but the likelihood of actually being down on diversi ed positions you buy today is vanishingly unlikely. Despite the best justi cations from nancial media, usually there’s no particularly good reason for stocks to be up or down a half a percent in a given day. But as the days turn to years and the years turn to decades, stocks have almost always gone up.

In fact, I can’t nd a single 30-year period where a broad U.S. stock index has experienced a negative return. Even nding a losing 10-year period is di cult — and a er those bad periods usually very attractive returns are soon to follow.

ese attractive long-term returns above in ation are really an a erthought of our modern capital markets, not the purpose. Equity markets exist to nance the continued rise of civilization. Money under your mattress is just money, but when invested in the stock market it becomes capital — something truly magical. e returns from the market that allow us to retire are just a by-product of the fact that capital accomplishes something. e

inexorable rise of the stock market over time is not re ective of numbers bouncing up and down on a screen; it’s re ective of capital doing its work to continue to build out the greatest civilization the world has ever seen.

ere will always be market downturns, corporate missteps, accounting scandals, and Ponzi schemes, but even in a tough year like 2022, we can be thankful for the historical returns in the market. Will the magic continue? As long as productivity growth continues, technology advances, and in ation stays under control, the answer is likely yes.

We may have to measure things in di erent ways — for example, as demographic trends slow, we might have to measure the strength of the economy by GDP per capita rather than absolute GDP. Nevertheless, we continue to enjoy the best quality of life any generation has ever achieved. Even kings and queens of ages past didn’t have access to things like air conditioning, modern sanitation, immediate access to food from any season, and streaming entertainment. All of these things ( nanced by capital markets) are truly something to be thankful for.

We are all looking forward to what 2023 might bring, but there’s still a lot to celebrate before we draw the curtain on 2022. Markets have been disappointing this year, but December could still bring good news. Whether or not we see a positive December, you’ll be thankful for consistently investing through down times in the market once the inevitable market recovery ensues. We all bene t from the markets indirectly, but to get the most out of them personally, you have to be invested!

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, no-pressure portfolio review at letstalk@telarrayadvisors.com.

PHOTO: PICAS JOE | PEXELS

Capital is magical.

Even in a tough year, we can be grateful for historical returns.

Old and in the Fray

President Joe Biden turned 80 last week. When asked about it beforehand, he said, “I can’t say the age I’m going to be. I can’t even get it out of my mouth.”

I’m not near 80, but I’m old enough to relate to the president’s sentiment. It’s a weird phenomenon, how our bodies keep changing and our brains (and eyes) are always surprised by it. How the hell did I get wrinkles on my knees, for instance? Jaysus.

e president’s comment brought to mind a conversation I had with my paternal grandmother when I was a considerably younger man. We were having breakfast at her house, when, apropos of nothing, she said, incredulously: “Eighty! Sometimes I think, how can I be 80? I don’t feel any di erent than I ever did.” She was a woman with a air for the dramatic, including sighing at some point during each holiday season: “ is will probably be my last Christmas.” It usually wasn’t. Until it was. Anyway, for some reason, that conversation has stayed with me through the years, and I get it, now, Velma.

Age is front of mind nationally these days because it’s possible — though I don’t think Trump will make it through the gauntlet of indictments awaiting him — that the 2024 presidential campaign could feature an 82-year-old Biden against a 78-year-old Trump. Boy, that’ll stimulate the youth vote!

In 2016, Trump, at 70, was the oldest president ever elected, until Biden set the new age mark of 78, in 2020. By way of comparison, Ronald Reagan, who was 69 when elected in 1980 and addled by dementia by the time he le o ce eight years later, was previously the oldest elected president and the oldest to ever hold the o ce. e only reason Biden gets asked about whether he’ll run for re-election is because of his age. Is it a fair question?

Consider this list: Paul McCartney, Judi Dench, Morgan Freeman, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Pope Francis, Nancy Pelosi, Dustin Ho man, Harrison Ford, Billy Dee Williams, Bernie Sanders, Anthony Fauci, Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart, Quincy Jones, George Takei, Al Pacino, and last but not least, at 89, Willie Nelson. All are in their 80s, and all are still working and productive. I could have added dozens more, including many noncelebrities I know personally. But, with the possible exceptions of Bernie, Nancy,

and Morgan Freeman (who, a er all, has played POTUS three times), none are likely quali ed to handle the rigors of the highest o ce in the land. Neither is Trump, for that matter. In fact, given the choice, I’d prefer almost anybody on that list above, but that’s another story.

On the occasion of Biden’s birthday, e New York Times published a piece that looked at his health prospects, were he to win in 2024, citing 10 experts on aging. “Mr. Biden, these experts agreed, has a lot going in his favor: He is highly educated, has plenty of social interaction, a stimulating job that requires a lot of thinking, is married, and has a strong family network — all factors that, studies show, are protective against dementia and conducive to healthy aging. He does not smoke or drink alcohol and, according to the White House, he exercises ve times a week. He also has top-notch medical care.”

e article also stated: “It is true that older people tend to decline physically, and the brain also undergoes changes. But in people who are active, experts say, the brain continues to evolve and some brain functions can even improve — a phenomenon experts call the ‘neuroplasticity of aging.’”

e conclusion was that Biden’s odds of getting dementia before leaving o ce in 2028 were about one in 10. By contrast, the public has never gotten a health report from any of Trump’s doctors that Trump didn’t edit, so that’s sort of a crap shoot.

But 2024 is still a ways o , and anything that happens in the next 18 months — from a health crisis for either man to an indictment for Trump — could alter the course of history. I hope both men stay healthy, but I can’t help but think that it’s well past time to turn the page on geriatric candidates for both parties. Unless maybe Willie Nelson is interested.

PHOTO: RANDY MIRAMONTEZ | DREAMSTIME.COM Willie Nelson

When does age catch up with you? Depends.

mystery train mystery train mystery train

t was sometime in early 1952 when Don Paull and the Canyon Caravan released their debut 78 rpm single “Too Little Lovin’,” a record destined to fall into obscurity not long a er. It’s mainly notable for being the rst release on a edgling label that the world might still be celebrating now, 70 years later, if the music had borne any mark of distinction. But you can’t win them all, especially with what was presumably the standard-issue Western swing sound of the day. All that was memorable about that release was the label: Sun. And even that was a op. But wait, let’s rewind. A op? As it turns out, there’s an alternative history here, in a tale lled with what celebrated author Peter Guralnick calls “the other directions that might have been taken.” While the tiny Sun label of Albuquerque, New Mexico, simply evaporated within a year’s time, another company of the same name released its rst single, “Drivin’ Slow,” by 15-year-old “alto wizard” Johnny London. ere were twin Suns, you might say, born in 1952, only

one of which survived. Only one of which went on to change the world.

It’s no accident that that resonates with the mythology of Elvis Presley, of course, for the Memphis-based Sun Records kickstarted his global success; for many, that’s where the Sun Records story begins and ends. Yet there are whole worlds and many diverse roads, both taken and not taken, contained in the Sun story. at’s made abundantly clear in a new deluxe volume published by Weldon Owen International, e Birth of Rock ‘N’ Roll: e Illustrated Story of Sun Records and the 70 Recordings that Changed the World. Now, 70 years later, those diverse roads are what make the label’s story so compelling.

at those stories are foregrounded is a testament to the volume’s seriousness of purpose. While it strikes the eye as a lovely co ee table book, the glossy pages and beautifully rendered archival photographs are complemented by the

rst-class writing of both Guralnick, who penned the de nitive biography of Sun founder Sam Phillips, and Colin Escott, best known for his 1991 history of Sun, Good Rockin’ Tonight. All photos and layouts aside, it is their words which elevate e Birth of Rock ‘N’ Roll above the typical coffee table fare.

As Guralnick notes, “I think the book is a tribute to Sam’s statement: ‘If you’re not having fun, it isn’t worth doing.’ For me, this was just a lot of fun. It was such a pleasure working with both Colin and Karyn Gerhard, who was the editor on it. It was really a challenge at times, just making the book live up to what it was about, through its content. I’ve written a lot about Sun and Sam over the years, and when Karyn called up about this initially, ‘No’ was on the tip of my tongue. But I listened to Karyn’s vision of the book and what it could be, and ‘No’ never came out. I just said, ‘Yes.’”

COVER STORY By Alex Greene

PHOTO (TOP): COURTESY THE PHILLIPS ARCHIVE

Bob Johnson, who coined

“Million Dollar Quartet” (le ), with Sam Phillips, Elvis, and UPI’s Memphis bureau chief, Leo Soroka.

Beyond the Hits

It’s fortuitous that such a book might appear now, as Sun turns 70, fast on the heels of Baz Luhrmann’s lm Elvis, not to mention the 2017 Sun Records miniseries, for it radically reframes what really mattered about the indie label. “It’s focused, the book. It’s not just all over the place,” says Guralnick. “Colin and I clearly have written so much about so many of the subjects in the book, but just reading Colin’s accounts, to me, they’re fresh. He’s not just recapping what he’s said before. For both of us, the opportunity to write in a somewhat di erent context about something we’d both written about before a orded us with an opportunity to tell the story in a somewhat di erent way.”

For his part, Guralnick’s contribution tells the Sun Records story through 70 little slabs of wax: an historicalminded sampling of the singles that made Sun great. And, as the author emphasizes, each selection is notable for how it eshes out our understanding of Sun, above and beyond any commercial or musical success it may or may not represent. “I tried to use these selections of the di erent records to tell the story of Sun in a di erent way,” he says. “ ey’re not always my favorite. ere’s nothing there I would disown, but the point is that in choosing some of the records — whether it was a single by Charlie Feathers, which showed a di erent direction he might have gone in, or by the Brewsteraires or the Jones Brothers, which suggest yet another direction Sam might have

gone in — I’m trying to show that no paths were prescribed and no paths were proscribed. His curiosity was wide-ranging.”

Indeed, speci c stories aside, it is Sam Phillips’ curiosity and venturesome taste that are most striking when perusing the 70 singles, underscored by the many blues tracks on Sun, now regarded as legendary. e rst four on the list were never Sun releases at all, yet are crucial to the story, starting with the game-changing “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, whose guitar amp was damaged during the drive up from Clarksdale, Mississippi. As Guralnick writes, “When the incongruously dapper white man [Phillips] plugged it in and turned on the power, there was a loud buzzing noise … but Sam Phillips seemed strangely undaunted. He liked the sound, he said, it was original, it was di erent — which for him evidently was the hallmark of creativity.”

It’s the Phillips

Phillips’ embrace of strangeness helped establish his Memphis Recording Service, opened in 1950, as a go-to source of unique tracks for other labels like Chess and Modern to release. Sun Records did not yet exist, but its reigning aesthetic was already in place, expressed in Phillips’ o -quoted maxim, “If you are not doing something di erent, you are not doing anything at all.” It turned out that the Delta Cats’ guitar distortion, which has led many to name “Rocket 88” the “ rst rock-and-roll record,” was nothing new to Phillips by then. A year earlier, he had already put his faith in Joe Hill Louis, the one-manband.

A er recording Louis playing and singing “Gotta Let You Go” and “Boogie in the Park” in the summer of 1950, Phillips was moved to start his own label in partnership with the gonzo Memphis DJ, Dewey Phillips (no relation). Appropriately dubbed “It’s e Phillips,” the label went nowhere, but it did set the stage for Sun. Louis’ guitar sound added a greasy crunch to the instrument’s sound that was nigh-unprecedented, with the exception of John Lee Hooker’s 1948 release on Modern Records, “Boogie Chillen’.” Hooker’s single had become a guiding star of sorts for Phillips. It embodied the very strangeness that Phillips would end up chasing the rest of his life.

Regarding “Boogie Chillen’,” Guralnick notes today that “that record was so in uential, on Sam and the whole history of Sun. I forget how many remakes of it there were [on Sun], maybe just two or three, but you also have Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘Whole Lotta Twistin’,’ which is also a remake of John Lee Hooker’s tune.” Indeed, it was boogie

PHOTO (LEFT): COURTESY THE SHELDON HARRIS COLLECTION, UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI LIBRARIES

Joe Hill Louis

PHOTO (ABOVE): COURTESY THE JOHN BOIJA COLLECTION “Gotta Let You Go” Record Label

PHOTO (LEFT): COURTESY SHOWTIME

Junior Parker

PHOTO (BELOW): COURTESY THE JOHN BOIJA COLLECTION “Mystery Train” Record Label

and blues that defined the output of the Memphis Recording Service from the start, be it Howlin’ Wolf or B.B. King. It was only natural that Sam Phillips began to chafe at the limited possibilities of simply selling his masters to labels in other cities; serving as both their record ing engineer and A&R man, it was his aesthetic that guided the whole process. He deserved a bigger slice, and a greater say in what was or was not released.

Thus was Sun Records born, as Escott limns in his pithy yet brief overview of the label’s history. And if the first release was an uncharacter istically jazzy blues by a teenage “alto wizard,” it was followed, (after a brief hiatus) in January of 1953 with a string of unpolished blues by the likes of Wil lie Nix, Walter Horton, Rufus Thomas Jr., D.A. Hunt, Memphis Ma Rainey, Jimmy DeBerry, and The Prisonaires. It was a mix of the soon-to-be famous with those consigned to obscurity, all benefiting from Sam Phillips’ ear for unique sounds.

An Open Door Policy

As Guralnick puts it, “Sam set the entire direction of everything that was going on there, until Jack Clement came in. He did everything himself, along with Marion Keisker’s assistance in every

other aspect except the recording. She was invaluable, and someone he could lean on. But the point is, it was a oneman operation.” A crucial component of the operation was that man’s unique ly progressive vision.

Jerry Phillips, Sam’s youngest son, who oversees the living legacy of Sam Phillips Recording on Madison, reflects on his father’s character today. “Sam had an open door policy, particularly when he started out in 1950 with Black artists. You could walk in there and if he liked what he heard, he’d put a re cord out on you or lease your record to Chess or Modern or someone like that. He was looking for the talent, man. And he was looking for something different. He was a passionate guy who had to work really, really hard to record all those artists. While I was at home in bed or studying for school, he was up there in the studio, working his ass off with all these Black artists.”

Sam Phillips’ openness to Black music grew from a passionate love of the music itself, more than any sense that he could cash in on a particular sound. As Escott writes, “In 1952, R&B sales reportedly totaled less than kiddie discs. Phillips was chasing a tiny piece of a small market.” Yet, Guralnick writes a few pages later, “There was nothing, Sam felt, that could ‘tell the truth like the blues, something so absolutely true,

so close to life’ that it just cut to the core of human experience.” The sincerity of those words was embodied in Phillips’ willingness to take a chance on a rela tive unknown named Chester Burnett, aka Howlin’ Wolf. Upon first hearing Wolf, Phillips thought, “My God, this is where the soul of man never dies.”

That contrasts starkly with a grow ing counter-narrative of today, which often paints Elvis, Phillips, or both as the villains in a reductionist cartoon of cultural theft from the African Ameri cans whose music was deeply imprinted in the minds of both. In fact, though he surely hoped to profit from his work, Phillips’ deep appreciation of Black art ists in their own right helped launch the music careers of many. According to Guralnick’s write-up of record number three, Wolf’s “Moanin’ At Midnight,” Phillips always believed that Wolf could have been, as Phillips put it, “the coun terpart of Elvis — this guy would have been huge with white youngsters, along with Black.”

To Jerry Phillips, this makes sense if one considers how his father grew up, working on a farm in Alabama. “On the tenant farm they had both Black and white cotton pickers on there. He heard them all singing in the fields, and their hearts and souls coming up through that.” Furthermore, Sam was open to people of all classes as well as

races. “Most all of the people who came through his studio, except maybe Elvis, but like Carl Perkins or Jerry Lee Lewis, were country people all the way. All those people were. There was nothing sophisticated about them at all, until you got to Charlie Rich, who was pretty much a jazz piano player, actually. That’s what he liked. Yet Sam would tell you that Howlin’ Wolf’s about as sophisticated as you can get.

“His daddy died when he was in 10th grade, and he had to quit school,” Jerry continues. “He never got a high school diploma. He had to go to work. I think he got a lot of his work ethic from having to do that. He wanted to be a criminal defense attorney, and he would have been a good one. He was always for the underdog. He was always for those people who didn’t stand a chance. That’s where his interest in recording Black artists came in. In my family, there wasn’t any racism. There just wasn’t.”

Furthermore, Sam Phillips cultivated a culture within the Sun Records orga nization that reflected his values. The favorite Sun song of longtime employee Marion Keisker, who put her heart and soul into the organization, was a blues track, “Time Has Made a Change.” Gu ralnick recalls, “She loved that Jimmy DeBerry song. While she was almost exclusively focused on Sam, who drew

Carrying the Torch

The rest of the Sun story

burned into our collective consciousness, of course, through countless mythologiz ing iterations of the Elvis Presley story, not to mention the birth of rock-androll and its country cousin, rockabilly. After the first 40 pages of the 70 singles, we finally come to Sun’s first release of a white artist, in early 1954, and of course the discovery of Presley that year. Even there, The Birth of Rock ‘N’ Roll has some surprises, as we learn that the biggest selling artist on Sun was not Elvis, but Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes” in January of 1956. That, too, carried Phillips’ democratic ethos: It was the first song in history to top the country, R&B, and pop charts.

The label carried on for over a decade after those initial epochal hits by Perkins, Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and others, finally being sold to Shelby Singleton in 1969. But, according to Jerry Phillips, the label’s continued legacy was still championed by the Phillips family. It was a labor of love. “I can’t leave my late brother Knox out of this,” he says. “When Sam sold Sun to Shelby Singleton, Knox picked the torch up and carried it on through,

not letting people forget what Sun Re cords was. He was always on a crusade to keep people aware of Sun Records and its impact on the world. He was a real torch bearer for our family. And he’s the one who introduced Sam to Peter Guralnick. So we suggested that something Knox had written be used in the book [as the afterword]. Because we felt like Knox needed to be included. I was always the rebel of the family, and Knox was the one who was doing the heavy lifting.”

That heavy lifting has ensured Sun’s legacy, as the new book by Guralnick and Escott marks the Sun catalog once again finding a new home. “After 70 years, it just got bought again,” says Jerry in disbelief. “It sold once in 1969, and then got bought again last year by Primary Wave. Now they’re releasing a new compilation album once a month. That’s 70 years, and they’re treating it like it’s a brand-new product almost, you know? They’re looking at it like this stuff is just timeless. And it is. This new book, it’s educational. At one time, Sam Phillips was the hottest record producer in the world, when you think about it. And none of those artists sounded like each other.”

I love perfect imperfection, I really do. Perfect? That’s the devil. There’s too much powder and rouge around. People want the real thing. — Sam Phillips

My World Cup

his year marks the 40th anniversary of my World Cup championship. Watching the daily coverage from Qatar brings happy memories of the summer of 1982, when Italy beat West Germany for what many consider the greatest trophy in all of sports. And yes, that Italian team — the Azzurri — was my team. I’ve carried their iconic blue in my heart for four decades now.

Some backstory: My family spent the 1976-77 academic year in Torino, at the foot of the Alps in northwest Italy. My father was researching an era of Italian economics history as he pursued his Ph.D. I spent second grade in a private school where English was spoken as much as Italian, and I embraced the exotic of it all. I was just old enough for some memories to remain in full color today, including, ironically, those of a soccer team known worldwide for the black and white stripes on its uniform.

Juventus is the New York Yankees of Italian soccer.

ey’ve won more Serie A championships (36) than any other club and belong with Manchester United and Real Madrid in the pantheon of international soccer titans. And Juventus was my home team during our year in Torino. Before I discovered the likes of Roger Staubach and Ted Simmons, Roberto Bettega and Romeo Benetti were my rst sports heroes. I collected soccer cards (they were actually stickers), counting each Juventus player I landed as a jewel, particularly that of Dino Zo , to this day one of the greatest goalkeepers to ever don gloves on the pitch. at ’77 team won the prestigious UEFA Cup (beating Manchester United and Manchester City on the way), and Dad and I were part of a happy riot on the streets of Torino.

Fast-forward ve years, and I’m 13 years old, tuning in for what coverage I could nd of the World Cup in Spain. And there on my grandmother’s TV screen in East Tennessee, I see … Dino Zo . Tending goal for

Italy! ere’s Claudio Gentile. ere’s Gaetano Scirea. ere’s Marco Tardelli. My Juventus friends, names and faces I hadn’t seen in ve years — my cognitive lifetime and from another continent — were beating Argentina and Brazil and Poland and nally the Germans to win the country’s rst World Cup in 44 years. It was electrifying, particularly for a boy just entering the world of organized team sports.

ree years later, I played in a Vermont state championship for my high school team. We lost, but for one a ernoon, I felt like an American Bettega.

I’ve watched the World Cup every four years since 1982, some years more engaged than others. When the U.S. quali ed in 1990 (for the rst time in 40 years), it felt like a gap had been closed between “world soccer” and the kind I’d grown familiar playing here in the land of baseball, basketball, and tackle football. Italy reached the 1994 World Cup nal (played here in the States, a month a er I married a former all-state soccer player from Vermont), only to lose to Brazil on penalty kicks. e Azzurri nally won another World Cup in 2006 (this time beating France on PKs). Five members of that team played for Juventus, but we de ne heroes di erently as grown men. ere was no Dino Zo in goal.

You won’t nd the Azzurri in Qatar. Italy didn’t qualify for each of the last two World Cups, akin to America not qualifying for the World Baseball Classic. ( ere are 13 European squads in the 32-team eld.) is somehow magni es the joy I retain from 1982, knowing time, place, and moment seldom converge for the kind of precision I celebrated 40 years ago. A team of precision will win the World Cup on December 18th, just in time for you to include a Brazil jersey (or Spain, or France …) in the stocking of that favorite fan in your life. Me, I’ll likely have my Juventus scarf nearby for the championship match. No Italy in this year’s eld? No problem. I won the World Cup 40 years ago and the thrill lives on.

PHOTO: FRANK MURTAUGH

Dino Zo

Time, place, and moment occasionally converge to create jubilant sports memories.

SPORTS By Frank Murtaugh

steppin’ out

We Recommend: Culture, News + Reviews

Evicted

By Abigail Morici

For the months of December and January, the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library will host “Evicted,” a multimedia exhibition that explores the causes and consequences of housing insecurity. e exhibition, presented here by the Memphis Public Interest Law Center and the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, has traveled throughout the country, drawing inspiration from Matthew Desmond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, which followed eight families in Milwaukee navigating housing insecurity.

“ e book really cracked open the national debate around housing security,” explains Jamie Johnson with Memphis Public Interest Law Center. “It raised a lot of questions about root causes and consequences. One of the things that’s cool about the book and the exhibition is that they talk about eviction through the stories of people that have experienced it, not through the elites, not through the experts, not through somebody sitting in a corner o ce who’s not understanding what the daily consequences are for the families going through this.”

As such, the exhibition aims to tell the full scope of eviction, not just the quantitative data which itself is not well-recorded, but also the qualitative data — the stories that remind us of a shared humanity.

“Eviction is more than just the stu that you see on the curb,” says Shirley Bondon, executive director of the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis. “It’s more than the loss of belongings or possessions. We just want people to understand it’s more than just the individual. It’s about all of us and a ects all areas of life [from health and education to personal relationships and employment].”

With that being said, this exhibition is more than just a display; it’s meant to educate, engage, and spur more advocacy in Memphis. “We’re launching our storytelling e ort,” says Johnson. “We’re trying to gure out how we can meet people where they are. So we’ve got a survey online and a story booth that will be on-site, and we’re gonna ask people if they want to sign up for an interview that could really help with qualitative data analysis and some advocacy work.

“If you just go watch the courts for one day, you’ll see that it’s not something we can sustain,” Johnson continues. “And even if you are someone who doesn’t know anyone who’s ever been evicted, this will be impactful for you.”

To coincide with the exhibit, the two groups will o er educational opportunities like lectures, facilitated workshops, lm screenings, and a Youth Education Week. Plus, for the rst time in its travels, the exhibit has been translated to Spanish, thanks to funding from the Memphis Library Foundation. For more information or to share your story, visit housingmatters901.com.

“EVICTED” PUBLIC OPENING, BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 3-5 P.M. “EVICTED,” BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3-JANUARY 21.

Season of Delight

Crosstown Concourse, Friday, December 2, 5-7 p.m., free

On the rst three Fridays of December, Crosstown Concourse and Crosstown Arts will present a series of festive, holiday-themed music, movies, and more — a perfect combination for the whole family.

On the rst Friday in December, Crosstown Concourse will host live music in the Central Atrium, photo ops with Dino Claws, free holidaythemed caricature portraits, balloon art, and more. e holiday atrium lights in the Central Atrium will turn on at 6 p.m., accompanied by a brass choir. And the Crosstown Arts artist in residence studios will be open to visitors.

At 6:30 p.m., guests can catch a free screening of e Muppet Christmas Carol in the Crosstown eater.

2nd Annual Interactive Star Wars Holiday Special Screening Black Lodge, Friday, December 2, 6:30 p.m., free e Lodge presents an interactive Star Wars Holiday Special experience. ere will be singing, there will be shouting, and there will be throwing things.

e pantheon of interactive screenings includes gems, such as Rocky Horror Picture Show, or turds, like e Room, but this interactive screening will kick o a new holiday tradition. Prop bags will be for sale at the event but are not necessary to enjoy the insanity unfolding before you.

e screening is free to all but donations to Lodge are welcome. Star Wars-themed food will be available for purchase, as well as adult beverages which you will need to get through this.

Acoustic Sunday Live!: e Concert to Protect Our Aquifer First Congregational Church, Sunday, December 4, 7 p.m., $50+ Two of Memphis’ greatest natural resources — water and music — come together yet again this holiday season for an unforgettable night supporting the protection, conservation, and management of the Memphis Sand Aquifer.

is year’s Acoustic Sunday Live! will include Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Tom Paxton, Crys Mathews, Susan Werner, e Accidentals, and Terry “Harmonica” Bean. e concert will feature two sets, with each artist performing two songs per set, and then will end with a big nale sing-along.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 237-2972 or visit acousticsundaylive.com.

music

VARIOUS DAYS & TIMES December 1st - 7th

PHOTO: YASSINE EL MANSOURI e exhibition uses multimedia visuals.

Always Music

ylan Dunn remembers one of his earliest stage performances.

“I had a piano recital when I was 3,” he says. “And I was so enamored by the inner workings of the instrument, I got up in the middle of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ and excitedly exclaimed, ‘Hammers.’”

Now a veteran stage performer, Dunn, 19, released a new indie pop/rock single, “Sara Lee,” on November 30th. “ is song is about worrying if you chose the wrong avor, whether that be a person or a cake.”

Dunn’s music is currently playing in H&M stores on a sync deal. And Dunn also will play his second “We Found New Music” (WFNM) showcase on Monday, December 5th, at Hotel Ziggy in Los Angeles.

It’s always been music for Dunn.

“I’d hear these songs and make remixes of them in my head. I used a lot of Queen and the Beatles. I grew up on Electric Light Orchestra. I played them in the back of my head and remixed them like I created it. I started doing this when I was 4 or 5.”

Dunn, who turned to guitar, wrote all the singles for his rst band at 14. “We got on a couple of radio stations in Memphis.” And, he says, “ e moment when I rst heard myself on the radio was when I started to get a deeper drive for music than I ever felt previously.”

Dunn was in other bands, but, he says, “I got out of these bands and started writing for myself and for the music rather than just for the band. I felt more at home doing it.”

He sent a demo of his song, “Hopeless Romantic,” to Adam Castilla of e Colourist.

“I heard Adam’s tracks. ere was something about them. ey had this certain realness I didn’t hear anywhere else. Every time I heard something he had done, it had this magic glimmer.”

Castilla responded. “He said, ‘Hey, Dylan. You’ve got a really cool voice. I’m down to work with you.’”

Dunn, who was 17 at the time, began traveling to Orange County to work on his Blue Like You EP with Castilla. Since then, he’s gone to Orange County about three times a year to work with Castilla.

Dunn, who is also a producer, says, “Basically, Adam and I will take my demo, and we will slowly rebuild it into what will become the main track. And he’ll pitch in so many great ideas along the way.”

Blue Like You is “just about growing pains. Each song kind of delves into a dif-

ferent aspect of growing up, from youth to adulthood.”

“Lemonade Eyes” is “more of an ode to sadness. When writing it, I didn’t want to think about the situation, but to focus on the sadness.”

“I always try to make my lyrics and the way I write abstract. I will close my eyes and listen to what I’ve written and imagine I’m di erent types of people. I listen to it with all these di erent perspectives and see if I can resonate with it. And if I can resonate with it, most people will be able to, too.”

His band includes drummer Andrew Isbell and bassist Rhyan Tindall. Dunn also performs with singer-songwriter Ava Carrington.

Moreover, Dunn is related to the late bass guitarist, producer, and songwriter Donald “Duck” Dunn. “He was denitely a big in uence on me getting into music. I always knew there was someone in the family that got that chance to go pursue their dream. at always made it more real to me. I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

He never got to hang out with his famous great-uncle. “He was always busy. Always touring. He held me once when I was a baby, and that’s the only time I met him.”

Dylan’s mother played Duck’s music for him. “She used to play Booker T. & the M.G.’s and e Blues Brothers all the time. When I heard that bass line I got this exciting feeling: ‘Wow! He did that!’”

Stream “Sara Lee” on Spotify.

PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE Dylan Dunn

Dylan Dunn carries on music tradition.

MUSIC By Michael Donahue

Deck the Hall Ball Tour

The Band Camino, Andy Grammer, Dermot Kennedy. $39.50-$59.50. Wednesday, Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m.

ORPHEUM THEATRE

Kelsey Hart Friday, Dec. 2, 8 p.m.

TIN ROOF

Richard Wilson Friday, Dec. 2, 12:30-3:30 p.m.

RUM BOOGIE CAFE BLUES HALL

Acoustic Sunday LiveThe Concert to Protect Our Aquifer $50-$100. Sunday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Almost Elton John & the Rocketmen Friday, Dec. 2, 10 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Angry Bunny, Killbozby, Deaf Revival $8. Thursday, Dec. 1, 9 p.m.

HI TONE

Aquanet Saturday, Dec. 3, 10 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Ben Brainard $25-$30. Wednesday, Dec. 7, 8 p.m.

GROWLERS

Bendigo Fletcher $15-$18. Wednesday, Dec. 7, 6:30 p.m.

MINGLEWOOD HALL

Big Star’s 50th Anniversary of #1 Record

Jody Stephens (Big Star), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Pat Sansone (Wilco), Jon Auer (The Posies) and Chris Stamey (The dB’s), plus guests Greg Cartwright and Andrew VanWyngarden. $65$225. Saturday, Dec. 3, 7-11 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Cane Hill with Aversive, Control, East of Eden, Kill Command $15-$17. Tuesday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m.

GROWLERS

Carlos Ecos Band Friday, Dec. 2, 6 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

David Nance, Ibex Clone, Fake $12. Monday, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m.

HI TONE

Debbie Jamison Band Sunday, Dec. 4, 3:30 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Devil Train Thursday, Dec. 1, 9:30 p.m.

B-SIDE

Dope on Arrival: Saturday Sunset Takeover

Featuring Saturday Sunset, Jaeti, Austin Cruise, Mikey

Christian, and TKFM. Satur day, Dec. 3, 6 p.m.

GROWLERS

Driver Saturday, Dec. 3, 6 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Frankie Hollie Saturday, Dec. 3, 2 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Godbody Jones Wednesday, Dec. 7, 9 p.m.

HI TONE

Gravedweller with Civil Cypher $10. Sunday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m.

GROWLERS

JD Westmoreland Monday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m.

B-SIDE

Joe Restivo 4 Saturday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m., Sunday, Dec. 4, 11 a.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Karen Waldrup Sunday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Luna Nova Music An evening of chamber music. Monday, Dec. 5, 7-8 p.m.

GRACE-ST. LUKE’S EPISCOPAL

Mark Edgar Stuart + Blueshift Ensemble $15-$20. Friday, Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

Play Some Skynyrd Wednesday, Dec. 7, 6 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Rachel Maxann, Cyrena Wages, Odie Leigh Tuesday, Dec. 6, 8 p.m.

B-SIDE

Scattered Hamlet $10. Monday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m. GROWLERS

Southern Grind Sessions Tuesday, Dec. 6, 6 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM Spaceman’s Birthday Ball

Jason Freeman, Sagittarius Celebration Ritual, Electric Gryass, Hancock and Co. Friday, Dec. 2, 8 p.m. B-SIDE

Star & Micey with Jeff Hulett

$20-$15. Thursday, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m.

THE GREEN ROOM AT CROSSTOWN ARTS

Steve Hopper Monday, Dec. 5, 6 p.m.

LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

Sunday Jazz with David Collins & Friends Sunday, Dec. 4, 6-9 p.m. THE COVE

Supreme Rhymin’: Hip-Hop Showcase Alfred Banks, Iron Mic Coalition, Jakub Trunk. $10. Saturday, Dec. 3, 8:12 p.m.

HI TONE

Symmetry Jazz Band Wednesday, Dec. 7, 8 p.m.

B-SIDE

The Front Bottoms

With special guest Sydney Sprague. $27-$32. Wednesday, Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m.

MINGLEWOOD HALL

The Steel Woods Thursday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m. LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM

The Wailing Banshees, Stuck Lucky, Brother on Skates $10. Sunday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

WYXR’s Raised By Sound Fest

A free day-long event show casing local and regional tal ent. Saturday, Dec. 3, 1-11:45 p.m.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

A Baroque Christmas Christmas carols and classical masterpieces. Sunday, Dec. 4, 6 p.m.

SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH HeadRush Saturday, Dec. 3, 9 p.m. T.J. MULLIGAN’S

Martin & Taylor Band Thursday, Dec. 1, 6-9 p.m.

FOX RIDGE PIZZA

Memphis Blues Society End of Prohibition Party Chris Pitts & The Memphis Prime and Jerod Minnies. $35.

Saturday, Dec. 3, 4-7 p.m.

MEMPHIS MUSIC ROOM

Little Feat: Waiting for Columbus Tour $39-$69. Friday, Dec. 2, 8 p.m. HORSESHOE CASINO TUNICA

Rice Drewry Collective Joined by Shara Matlock and Ted Horrell and the MNC. $15. Thursday, Dec. 1, 6:30 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDEAWAY

The Smokin’ Jays, Metropolitan Ave., Madaline Collins $10. Saturday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.

HERNANDO’S HIDE-A-WAY

Carpenters’ Christmas

We’ve Only Just Begun’s Michelle Berting Brett. $35. Thursday, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m.

BPAAC

Creative Arts Ensemble: Latin Rhythms & African Beats with David & Wolf Saturday, Dec. 3, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. GPAC

Sounds of the Season Singer Kallen Soprano with pianist Gary Beard and cham ber orchestra. Sunday, Dec. 4, 2:30 p.m.

GPAC

LIVE THEATRE

Watch an angel get his wings as he reminds a down-on-his-luck George Bailey of all the things that make his a truly wonderful life. Don’t miss this heartfelt holiday classic.

MEMPHIS MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

CALENDAR of EVENTS: December 1 - 7

ART AND SPECIAL EXHIBITS

2022 CBU Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition

Work by full-time and adjunct faculty in the department of visual and performing arts at Christian Brothers University. Free. Through Dec. 3.

BEVERLY + SAM ROSS GALLERY

“A Better Life for Their Children”

An exhibition of photographs and stories that brings readers into the impactful yet largely unknown story of Rosenwald schools. Through Jan. 2.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

“Beyond, Part IV” Featuring Pam Cobb, Pamela Hassler, Sam Red, and Julie Schumer. Through Dec. 31.

JAY ETKIN GALLERY

“Beyond the Emerald City”

An exhibition of Oz-themed comics and artwork by Dale Martin. Through Dec. 28.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

“Cry Now”

Exhibition of work by Jesse Butcher. Through Jan. 21.

TOPS GALLERY

“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

“Emily Ozier: Marisol’s Dress”

Emily Ozier’s series of paintings based on her mother’s experi ence as a refugee fleeing Cuba in the 1950s. Through Jan. 8.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Evicted”

An immersive experience bring

ing visitors into the world of renter evictions and its impact on the family and community. Saturday, Dec. 3-Jan. 21.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

“Fun and Games”

Exhibition of work by John McIntire. Through Jan. 21.

TOPS GALLERY

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

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

Doris Lee’s paintings, on display at the Dixon, depict scenes of the simple pleasures of everyday life.

Perdue exploring the emotion al and physical labor of repair. Through March 5.

CROSSTOWN ARTS

“Men of Change: Taking It to the Streets”

“Josef

Albers: Opening Eyes”

A collection of paintings and prints by Bauhaus master Josef Albers and his colleagues.

Through Dec. 17.

ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS (AMUM)

“Les Paul Thru the Lens”

A collection of rare photo graphs that revel the behindthe-scenes life of the father of modern music, Les Paul. Through Dec. 30.

STAX MUSEUM OF AMERICAN SOUL

MUSIC

“Looking Back”

Exhibition of Lynda Watson’s work that incorporates materi als such as metal, felt, and charcoal, in addition to found objects, creating a detailed 3D scrapbook of her memories.

Through Jan. 29.

METAL MUSEUM

“Mending in a State of Abundance”

Exhibition of work by Katrina

Outdoor installation present ing the profiles of 24 sig nificant Black men across the decades. Through Dec. 16.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

“Nature’s Rhythms: Watercolor, Ceramics, and Mixed Media” Featuring work by by Sally Markell and Anne Froning. Through Dec. 12.

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST. MARY’S SCHOOL

“once a river, once a sea” Maysey Craddock examines growth and decay along the Gulf Coast in relation to space and time. Through Dec. 23.

DAVID LUSK GALLERY

“Simple Pleasures: The Art of Doris Lee” Rediscover one of the most popular figurative artists in American art history. Through Jan. 15.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

“Summer in Shanghai” A three-part video series of

reflections and meditations during the hot test time of the year in China’s biggest city.

Through March 5.

CROSSTOWN ARTS

“Those Who Hold Dominion Here”

Exhibition of work by Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo taking inspiration from serpents in Incan mythology and Southern snakes.

Through March 5.

CROSSTOWN ARTS

“Tripping Through Your Orbit”

Exhibition of large abstract paintings by Amy Hutcheson. Through Jan. 9.

GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

ART HAPPENINGS

Bartlett Association December Showcase Opening Reception

Presented by the Bartlett Art Association, this ex hibition includes a wide array of works in media ranging from oils and acrylics to photograph and digital art. Sunday, Dec. 4, 2-4 p.m.

GALLERY 1091

Christmas Craft Show at Agricenter Farmers Market

The big red barn will be full of crafters, mak ers, and bakers. Saturday, Dec. 3, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

AGRICENTER INTERNATIONAL

Holiday Bazaar

Come out and buy your holiday gifts from the students of Carpenter Art Garden! Monday, Dec. 5-Dec. 8.

CARPENTER ART GARDEN

“ID: Identifying Dimensions”

Opening Night Reception

Vivid multidimensional art, people, and vibes. Showcasing artists Eyes Have It Art, Dime’s Pieces, and This Is Intentional. Thursday, Dec. 1, 6 p.m.

ARKWINGS

“Life

Is Nigh” Closing

A collection of paintings using repurposed fabrics and found objects to create abstract compositions, by Memphis artist Hope Hud son. Saturday, Dec. 3, 2-4 p.m.

OFF THE WALLS ARTS

Memphis Arts Collective Holiday Artists Market 2022

The Memphis Arts Collective Holiday Artist Market is back for their annual holiday show. Through Dec. 24.

CORNER OF POPLAR & HIGHLAND

Metal Museum Holiday Open House Demonstrations, story time, art projects, treats, and more. Enjoy complimentary cookies and warm winter beverages including hot cocoa and apple cider. Free. Sunday, Dec. 4, 11 a.m.

METAL MUSEUM

DEBORAH FAGAN CARPENTER ART STUDIO | AGNES STARK POTTERY | EADS POTTERY

“This Is a Photograph” Exhibit Opening

Kevin Morby returns to Memphis after photo graphing and writing songs inspired by the city.

The exhibit will be on display during the Raised by Sound Fest. Through Dec. 3.

MEMPHIS LISTENING LAB

WinterArts

The South’s premiere holiday artists’ market Through Dec. 24.

PARK PLACE CENTRE

CLASS / WORKSHOP

How to Launch a Children’s Book

Learn from a published author and consultant what it takes to get your book written, pub lished, and in the hands of children around the country. Free. Saturday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

BENJAMIN L. HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY

COMEDY

Blindfold Comedy Slam

The three judges will be selecting the top three comedians of the night. Wear your best camo attire. Thursday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m.

BUTTERIFIC BAKERY & CAFE

Jayson Acevedo

With Alexi Barrientos and more. Hosted by Nate Jaxon $15. Friday, Dec. 2, 8 p.m.

HI TONE

Laughs & Crafts

The traveling live comedy and beer tasting event is coming to Memphis, for one night only! Agostino Zoida headlines. $50-$90. Saturday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.

COTTON BREWING CO.

HIGH

Melanie Comarcho

“Independent Woman” Melanie Comarcho brings the funny with hilarious observations on the relationships between men and women. $40. Thursday, Dec. 1-Dec. 4.

CHUCKLES COMEDY HOUSE

Nikki Glaser

Glaser has multiple stand-up specials and latenight TV appearances in which she jokes about her most humiliating moments as a woman in the modern world. $39.75. Friday, Dec. 2, 8 p.m.

GRACELAND SOUNDSTAGE

COMMUNITY

Christmas Tree of Remembrance

This annual program remembers those gone before. Ron Buck will be the guest speaker followed by music and food. All are welcome. Sunday, Dec. 4, 2-2:45 p.m.

MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY

Porter-Leath Toy Truck at Poplar Collection

Drop off new, unwrapped toys as well as cash or check donations. Bring puzzles, dolls, balls, blocks, and other toys that promote early child hood learning. Through Dec. 3.

POPLAR COLLECTION SHOPPING CENTER

FAMILY

Meet & Greet: Issac Ryan Brown & Christian Simon

Holiday meet and greet event with Disney stars Issac Ryan Brown (Booker from Raven’s Home) and Christian Simon (Leo from Sydney to the Max). Free. Saturday, Dec. 3, 1-3 p.m.

OAK COURT MALL

FESTIVAL

Acoustic Sunday Live!: The Concert to Protect Our Aquifer

Two of Memphis’ greatest natural resources — water and music — come together yet again this holiday season. $50+. Sunday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Raised By Sound Fest

From the airwaves to the stage, Raised By Sound Fest is a free day-long event showcas

Edited by Will Shortz No.

Nigerian princes offering you money, probably

Assn. like Oxfam or Doctors Without Borders

Degs. for entrepreneurs

___ milk (source of Roquefort cheese)

High cry at doggie day care

used at the border

High point

Fearsome figure of folklore

Flat tire’s need

Started back

Grp. of medical providers

Othello, e.g.

Fratty Silicon Valley techie, stereotypically

Cotton gin inventor Whitney

Quiet

Learns about through books

Flowed out, as the tide

Fitting place to order craft beer?

Name on a planter

Painful to the touch

Many an Eastern European

Doesn’t do anything rash DOWN

“E lucevan le stelle” source

Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie, to Madonna

Quit stalling

Girl saved by Don Juan

Moolah

Court #22 Egyptian Tea and Fashion Show

An evening of food, fun, and fashion. Join the tea party with an Egyptian experience. $20. Saturday, Dec. 3, 6-9 p.m.

MOOLAH SHRINE TEMPLE

MSCA Winter Dinner Gathering

Open to professional and amateur cartoonists and writers, and comics enthusiasts and col lectors. Tuesday, Dec. 6, 6 p.m.

GARIBALDI’S PIZZA

Open Studios

Crosstown Arts is proud to invite the Mem phis community to visit the artist studios. Friday, Dec. 2, 5-7 p.m.

ARTS AT THE CONCOURSE

CROSSTOWN

Otto Stok ’35

Photographic and canvas art show/sale, local art ists, with live music by for different local music artists’ bands. $10. Saturday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.

MEMPHIS CLOVER CLUB

Rural Route Holiday Open Studio Tour

Rural Route Holiday Art Studio Tour features the studios of Deborah Fagan Carpenter, Agnes Stark Pottery, and Eads Pottery. Free. Friday, Dec. 2-Dec. 3, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 4, noon-5 p.m.

Not lie, say

Prepare to take, as a test

Helps with a heist

Frappe Chiller offerer

Piper’s son who stole a pig in a nursery rhyme

Brand name that spells something not nice backward

Tennis great Roddick

Morse code O’s have three of them

Get ready to play, with “up”

Reason to ask “What do you see?”

England’s Isle of

Its East African equivalent is “bwana”

W.W. I fighter pilot who is Snoopy’s fantasy opponent

Gift that’s not always welcome

Classic actor who played Mr. Potter in “It’s

Go out of one’s way

Tab holder, e.g.

Was in a sorry state?

Golfer’s approach, often

Annual spring chore, for many

People with great head shots?

Subject of the 2009 biography “Stormy Weather”

memphisflyer.com

from page 21

ing local and regional talent, capped off with two different but equally exciting ticketed, fundraising events. Saturday, Dec. 3, 1-11 p.m.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

FILM

2nd Annual Interactive Star Wars Holiday Special Screening There will be singing, there will be shouting, and there will be throwing things. Friday, Dec. 2, 6:30 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Anime Night: Tokyo Godfathers Screening the beautiful, bit tersweet Christmastime drama. Stick around after the movie for episodes of Satoshi Kon’s brilliant TV series Paranoia Agent. Free. Thursday, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Friend Zoned Movie Jasmine (Jessica Valentine) and Ken (Igor Couch II) have a friendship no one could ever imagine. How loyal is their love for one another? $15. Thursday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m.

MALCO WOLFCHASE

George and Tammy Watch Party Watch party for the new Showtime series, featuring local actress Vivie Myrick. Sunday, Dec. 4, 7-9 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

’Round Midnight Legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon plays Dale Turner, a brilliant New York jazz veteran whose music aches with beauty but whose personal life is ravaged by addiction. $5. Thursday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

Shoot & Splice: Annual Movie Trivia Test your film knowledge against returning Trivia Masters, John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal and Chris McCoy of the Memphis Flyer Tuesday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m.

CROSSTOWN THEATER

FOOD AND DRINK

Stumbling Santa

Bringing thousands of jolly beer lovers — dressed in their finest Santa suits — to Downtown Memphis to raise money and collect toys for kids in need. Saturday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.

SAUCER DRAUGHT EMPORIUM

FLYING

Fire Pit Fridays

Enjoy free s’mores, fire pits, and holiday lights. Listen to your favorite holiday tunes and celebrate the season. Fri day, Dec. 2, 4:30-6:30 p.m.

RIVER GARDEN

Holidays in Da Haven

A coffee and ice cream experience that celebrates the 2022 holiday cheer. Saturday, Dec. 3, 4-6 p.m.

MUGGIN COFFEEHOUSE

Queer Happy Hour with OutMemphis Looking for a new queer-

centric after-work standard? Need a new date night spot? A new weekly hang for your friend group? Join one, join all, LGBTQIA+, questioning, and allies. Monday, Dec. 5, 7-10 p.m.

PANTA

HEALTH AND FIT NESS

Celestial Sound Bath

A certified sound therapist will lead you in a medita tive sound experience using crystal singing bowls, gongs, chimes, and multiple instru ments. $20. Monday, Dec. 5, 6:30 p.m.

THE BROOM CLOSET

St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend

The St. Jude Memphis Mara thon Weekend is the largest single-day fundraiser for St. Jude. Saturday, Dec. 3

DOWNTOWN

HOLIDAY EVENTS

Bluff City Christmas Parade & Experience Vendor shopping, family fun, family pics, chef taste testing, parade, and free food giveaway. Saturday, Dec. 3, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

HICKORY RIDGE MALL BALLROOM

Holiday Market Shop local vendors, enjoy music from DJ RMZI and wine from Rootstock Wine. Plus, free cocoa from Muggin Coffeehouse! Sunday, Dec. 4, 2-6 p.m.

HIGH COTTON BREWING CO.

Holiday Wonders

This season offers approxi mately eight acres of lights and cheer and and features the larger-than-life “Alice’s Adventures at the Garden” sculptures aglow. $10-$14. Through Dec. 23.

MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN

Home for the Howlidays

Enjoy great music, food, gifts, friendship, and fun while helping animals! $20. Sunday, Dec. 4, noon-4 p.m.

NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM

Merry and Bright

Enjoy the gardens in a vibrant spectrum of colored lights and create a holiday craft. Thursday, Dec. 1, 6-8 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 2, 6-8 p.m.

THE DIXON GALLERY & GARDENS

Midtown Holiday Party Wine, hors d’oeuvres, and con versation. Nominations for the 2023 Mojo of Midtown Awards will be open. Wednesday, Dec. 7, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

Overton Square Tree

Lighting

The Square will be filled with snow as you welcome Santa Claus, eat holiday treats, and listen to great music. The event will benefit Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. Saturday, Dec. 3, 6-8 p.m.

OVERTON SQUARE

Season of Delight

themed caricature portraits, balloon art, and lighting of the Central Atrium. Friday, Dec. 2, 5-7 p.m.

CROSSTOWN CONCOURSE

Starry Nights

Experience the magic of the holidays at Shelby Farms Park’s largest event, complete with dazzling displays featuring millions of lights. Through Dec. 30.

SHELBY FARMS PARK

The Enchanted Forest Festival

Visitors are invited to explore a forest of festive and aweinspiring trees decorated by professional designers, indi viduals, and local organiza tions. Through Dec. 24.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

The Wild Holiday Rumpus!

Kick off the holiday season at Memphis’ art museum with art-making, cookie decorating, live performances, Sendak’s Nutcracker film screening, and so much more. Free. Saturday, Dec. 3, 2-5 p.m.

MEMPHIS BROOKS MUSEUM OF ART

Ugly Sweater

Decorating and Contest

Bring a boring sweater or shirt with you and decorate it at the ugly holiday sweater station and then show it off in the crazy holiday costume contest. A screening of Elf will follow.

Friday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m.

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY

Winter Wonderland

Trees, twinkling lights, dancing snowflakes, and all the seasonal trappings. Through Dec. 31.

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF MEMPHIS

Zoo Lights

The zoo is decking the halls with gorgeous displays and some of your favorite features, plus some brand-new decora tions. $14-$19. Through Dec. 1.

MEMPHIS ZOO

PERFORMING ARTS

Clara & The Nutcracker Beautiful handmade costumes and amusing, lively choreogra phy transport the audience to Clara’s world in the late 1700s. $25-$75. Sunday, Dec. 4, 2 p.m.

CANNON CENTER FOR THE PER FORMING ARTS

Devon’s Dollhouse

Devon Davenport Phillips presents Devon’s Dollhouse. Also, the return of fan favor ite game, “Drag in a Bag.” Thursday, Dec. 1, 10 p.m.

DRU’S PLACE

Glitz and Glam

Saturdays Wednesday Moss brings the Glitz and Glam of some of the best in Memphis area drag entertainers to Dru’s stage and into your world. Saturday, Dec. 3, 10:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m.

DRU’S PLACE

Nutcracker: Land of Sweets

The timeless tale of Clara and her beloved Nutcracker. $20$35. Friday, Dec. 2-Dec. 4.

at

Crosstown Concourse

Live music, photo ops with Dino Claws, free holiday-

BUCKMAN ARTS CENTER AT ST.

MARY’S SCHOOL

The Edwards Twins

Presents: The Ultimate Christmas Variety Show Vegas Top Impersonators and Impressionists

Remember all the wonderful Variety shows we all grew up on in the ’70s and ’80s? Now is your chance to see them live and re-created by Las Vegas’ number one impersonators of all time. $30-$50. Sunday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m.

THE HALLORAN CENTRE

The Ho Ho Ho Burlesque Show

Memphis roller derby is so excited to announce the return of their annual fundraiser. $10. Saturday, Dec. 3, 9 p.m.

HI TONE

SPORTS 901 Wrestling

Your main event: “The Trust Fund Kid” Blake Banks vs. 901 Wrestling Champion “The Star of the Show” Andy Mack. Saturday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.

BLACK LODGE

Hardcore Holidays: Tommy Dreamer The Innovator of Violence Tommy Dreamer is coming to Memphis Wrestling. Plus, Big John Dalton goes one-on-one with Memphis Heritage Cham pion Mike Anthony. $10-$25. Sunday, Dec. 4, 1:45-4:15 p.m.

MEMPHIS WRESTLING WRESTLECENTER

NBA Memphis Grizzlies vs. Miami Heat Monday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

NBA Memphis Grizzlies vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday, Dec. 7, 7 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

NBA Memphis Grizzlies vs. Philadelphia 76ers Friday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m.

FEDEXFORUM

Zoo Lights is back, brighter than ever before, and will run select nights through January 1.

THEATER

A Christmas Carol Miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is approached by the ghostly vision of his former business partner and warned of an upcoming spiritual journey.

$15-$35. Friday, Dec. 2-Dec. 23.

THEATRE MEMPHIS

Cabaret Noel 7: A Marshmallow World Over 15 of Memphis’ great est talents performing your favorite holiday classics both new and old. $20. Friday, Dec. 2-Dec. 4.

THEATREWORKS

Dear Evan Hansen A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never

meant to be told. Evan Hansen is about to get one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to fit in. Through Dec. 4.

ORPHEUM THEATRE

I Dwell in Possibility: Emily Dickinson Emerges

The Belle of Amherst shares her poetic relationship to isolation, nature, literature, and love. Thursday, Dec. 1-Dec. 11.

TENNESSEE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

Junie B’s Essential Survival Guide to School

The Circuit Playhouse’s favorite first-grader is at it again in this hilarious, whole-hearted show about owning up to your mistakes and how no one is ever done learning. Through Dec. 22.

CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE

Navidad Spectacular!

A Christmas musical with Latin flavor, journeying through the music of countries like Colombia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, and much more. $25. Friday, Dec. 2-Dec. 4.

THEATREWORKS AT EVERGREEN

The Wizard of Oz Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away in a tornado to the magical land of Oz. Through Dec. 22.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

Velveteen Rabbit the Musical

The Velveteen Rabbit was the boy’s favorite birthday present. But when the party started the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten. $30, $35. Through Dec. 18.

HATTILOO THEATRE

Who’s Holiday!

In this adults-only rollick through Dr. Seuss’s classic tale, return to Mount Crumpit to find Cindy Lou Who … living in a trailer? A lot has happened to the little girl from Whoville. Through Dec. 22.

PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

ndulge me, please, in a brief ashback: It is January 1994, and

I am sitting in the audience at Playhouse on the Square, watching Peter Pan in complete awe. It is my rst theater experience. I am 3 years old. Fi een years later, I begin studying theater under the same director of that show, Ken Zimmerman.

It is March 2008. My dear friend and I are driving behind our classmate, slowly, because of the unseasonable snow. We cross a bridge and see his truck begin to shtail in front of us, then straighten out. We are all on our way to rehearsal for our high school’s rst big musical production in years. e show is e Wizard of Oz

Fourteen years later, my son — days away from his 5th birthday — and I sit in the audience at Playhouse. We are here for his rst theater experience. e show we are seeing is e Wizard of Oz

To say seeing this particular show with my child is a full-circle moment seems redundant. It feels like the sort of childhood trivia that will be repeated to him throughout his life. “You went to a live show before you ever even went to the movies!”

Any anxiety I had about a 4-yearold’s ability to sit still through an entire performance was quelled almost immediately. My son noticed the lights and asked, “When is that [the curtain] going to go up?” I had brought him not only so we could share a special memory, but also to get a child’s perspective of the play. He turned around in his seat when the actors were downstage during the twister scene; he was trying to see what they were reacting to. During “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” he excitedly whispered, “I know this song!”

One thing I knew my son in particular would love was the Wicked Witch of the West. In the program, Caroline Simpson, who plays the Witch, as well as Ms. Gulch, jokes that she “is very excited to have the opportunity to terrify the children of Memphis,” which I read with amusement as I sat beside my child, whose favorite characters in any story are villainous women. A picture of 17-year-old me as the Witch is on our refrigerator, a source of wonder for my macabre-loving son. As soon as Simpson ew o stage a er the Witch’s intro

in the tornado scene, my son turned to me, grinning under his mask and gave me a thumbs up.

e standout element of this production were the costumes. e Wizard of Oz is such a familiar show that it could easily look and feel rote, but Lindsay Schmeling’s designs were a delight to take in. Munchkinland looked as though the inhabitants had collectively raided a Manic Pixie Dream Girl’s closet, to absolutely fabulous e ect. Punk rock crows, glow-in-the-dark jitterbugs, umbrella-canopied trees, and a diaphanous rainbow-clad Glinda lent an innovative, even modern take on the familiar Oz attire. Ms. Gulch, who I would usually think of as drab, strutted onto the stage in balloon-style slacks, totally changing the dynamic of the character.

e only sour note in the show for me was unfortunately Patsy Detroit’s depiction of Dorothy Gale. It is my opinion that playing the “straight man” in any show is always the most di cult, and perhaps the vibrant nature of the other characters made the contrast sharper. However, I found Dorothy to be sti and unconvincing, especially when compared with the vitality of the rest of the cast. Although Detroit’s performance fell a bit at, it did not hinder the overall success of the show.

e Wizard of Oz is perfect for a rst-time theater-goer, and Playhouse on the Square’s production is an experience all ages can enjoy. My son was not the only young child in attendance, and seeing new Memphis audiences being introduced to the arts was a heartwarming thing. Witnessing the magic of live theater through my child’s eyes was enchanting, and something I hope neither of us will ever forget.

e Wizard of Oz runs at Playhouse on the Square through December 22nd.

PHOTO: BILL SIMMERS e Wizard of Oz at POTS

imberly Bolan and her brother, Kurt Kaiser, own Flipside Asia, a catering company that also sells Asian cuisine to the public.

And they have a mission.

“We’re educating people on what ai curry should taste like,” says Bolan, 53. “A lot of people don’t know. ey assume they hate it.”

“We get all our spices from Dubai and Southeast Asia,” says Kaiser, 43. “We do Indian food, but the focus is more on ai curry. Just the spices they use. ai curry is typically a paste. And you use the paste with coconut milk, lemongrass. Indian curry is more cumin, paprika, and chilis. It’s just completely di erent.”

Bolan and Kaiser, who cook out of the Memphis Kitchen Co-op Marketplace in Cordova, o er 20 dishes via @ ipsideasia on Instagram and Facebook.

rates ours is the spice we get directly from the Dubai market.”

ey have a travel connection that brings back spices from Dubai, Bolan says.

A native Memphian, Bolan began cooking exotic dishes when she started traveling around the world a er high school.

Seeing the di erent dishes in Peru and the Maldives, where she lived, made her want to learn. “It was fascinating to me that the food was such a huge part of their culture.

“ at’s what, I think, spurred me into this whole thing. I’ve always loved to cook for people. And I didn’t want to live the rest of my life not having this food in my life.”

Most of her recipes are family recipes she got from friends living around the world.

Kaiser, who got his master’s in biology, spent about eight months with Bolan in the Philippines a er graduation. “We started messing around in the kitchen in the Philippines,” he says. “We always kind of cooked a little bit together.”

He began cooking on his own a er he moved to Vietnam in 2018 to open tap rooms for a brewery. But that job ended when the pandemic hit. He moved back to Memphis.

Kaiser recalls the origin of Flipside Asia: “I remember saying, ‘Your recipes are badass and I can’t nd that avor.’”

ey do a lot of private parties. “ e spring roll class I’ve been doing for girls nights and birthday parties is really fun,” Bolan says. “We show you how to make a Vietnamese fresh spring roll.”

Usually, what they cook during the week, they’ll sell to the public at the co-op at 7942 Fischer Steel Road.

ey also sell at Curb Market, Grind City Grocer, and Cordelia’s Market. “Right now we’re just introducing our ai vegetable curries with jasmine rice. If people like those avors, they’ll love the others.”

eir food items, cooked fresh every week, include their popular laab namtok, or “lettuce wraps.” Kaiser described it as “a spicy minced pork with fresh herbs.”

ey also make an Indian butter chicken, which is popular. “I’ve been making it over 20 years,” Bolan says. “It’s a tomato-based Indian dish served over basmati rice. It is so good.”

“Butter chicken is probably the most ubiquitous Indian dish around the world,” Kaiser says. “One of the things that sepa-

“Here we are,” Bolan says. “Two white kids from Memphis. And we’re not Asian, clearly. And we’re not really chefs.”

But, she says, “You have these recipes that have been handed to you from generations of people. And you’re interested in this and you want people to taste it. You want them to open their minds.”

Kaiser made a list of what they were making and he began delivering the dishes to a couple of neighborhoods.

“All our curries are notoriously mild,” Kaiser says.

“We want it to be authentic without blowing somebody’s brains out,” Bolan adds. “ e general public doesn’t want it spicy in this part of the world. We want you to enjoy it. Like any food, you should taste it rst and then decide if you want to add spice.”

ey might open a food truck or a restaurant one day, but, Bolan says, “I’m riding this wave of happiness right now. I don’t want to mess anything up. And we’re having fun. If you can’t have fun, don’t do it.”

PHOTO: MICHAEL DONAHUE

Kimberly Bolan, Kurt Kaiser, and Katherine Terry

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

By the editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Michael Sherwood and his son Kyle, of Cleveland, come from a long line of morticians. So a few years back, when a friend wondered how he might have his tattoos preserved after he passes away, the two came up with an idea, Oddity Central reported. They figured out a method for removing and preserving tattoos, then started a business called Save My Ink Forever. “Some of these things really are pieces of art,” Kyle said. “Instead of having just the remains or the burial … [fami lies] have actually a piece of their loved one.” The Sherwoods say their technique is proprietary, but it takes roughly three or four months. Families are left with a parchment-like piece of art. “We are trying to do this in the most dignified manner possible,” Kyle added. [Oddity Central, 11/2/2022]

Dastardly Deed

Jerome Ellis, a Dollar General employee in DeLand, Florida, allegedly got into an argument with a co-worker on Oct. 24, which prompted him to a retaliatory move that could have been deadly, Fox35-TV reported. On Oct. 25, the victim set down a can of Pepsi and went to the restroom. When he returned, he took a drink of the soda and noticed it tasted like cleaning supplies. Sure enough, video surveillance cameras revealed that Ellis had poured bleach into the Pepsi can, wiped it off, then spit in it. Cameras also caught Ellis trying to unplug the surveillance system. He told investigators that he put cleaning solution in the drink to get back at the coworker, who he said was difficult to work with. [Fox35, 10/25/2022]

Up a Tree

Tyler County (Texas) Deputy Cory LeB lanc and other first responders under took an unusual assignment on Oct. 31, KFDM-TV reported. An unnamed man who was bow hunting for deer from a tree stand called 911 around 4:25 p.m. to report he had fallen from his perch and was stuck upside down, 18 feet above the ground. The man’s ankle had become lodged in the framework of the stand. “We had the Spurger Volunteer Fire Depart ment, DPS, Texas Parks and Wildlife on the way, all trying to help,” LeBlanc said. After an hour and a half of being heels-over-head, the man was lowered to the ground unhurt. His advice: “Use a harness. It was in my truck. I just got complacent.” [KFDM, 11/1/2022]

News You Can Use

Miller Lite wants to light up your Christ mas tree in more ways than one! The company is offering the Christmas Tree Keg Stand for the low, low price of $49.99, CNN Business reported. The tree stand is basically a keg with a small table on top, and when beer is dispensed, the design “makes it seem as if beer is being poured from the tree,” said Sarah Showak, as sociate marketing manager. According to Miller Lite, the stand will support up to a 5-foot-tall tree with ornaments and lights. [CNN Business, 11/3/2022]

Spooky

The Wozniak family of Baltimore, looking to up their Halloween game, ordered a prop casket on Facebook Marketplace, Fox News reported. But they got more than they bargained for when they found the ashes of Edith Crews, who had died in January of Covid-19, inside. They also found a photograph of Crews, her death certificate, and her hospital bracelet. The Wozniaks posted about the discovery on TikTok hoping to connect with her family members; Crews’ granddaughter hap pened to see the posting, and the items were returned. Crews’ family had rented the casket for the woman’s service from Freeman Funeral Services, and she had been cremated afterward. [Fox News, 10/31/2022]

Not Your Job

Mary K. Brown, 38, of Durand, Wiscon sin, was charged with physical abuse of an elder person after she performed sur gery on a man under her care, WQOWTV reported. Brown was working as a hospice nurse at Spring Valley Health and Rehab Center, where she cared for a patient suffering from severe frostbite on his feet. On May 27, Brown took it upon herself to remove the victim’s right foot — without a doctor’s order or permission. Another nurse, who held the victim’s hand during the procedure, said he was moaning and squeezing her hand, and he told yet another nurse that he felt everything, and it hurt very bad. Brown told one nurse that her family has a taxidermy shop and she intended to pre serve the foot and put it on display with a sign saying, “Wear your boots, kids.”

She is due in court on Dec. 6. [WQOW, 11/4/2022]

1130 Walnut, Kansas City, MO 64106; 800-255-6734

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Journalist Hadley Freeman interviewed Aries actor William Shatner when he was 90. She was surprised to find that the man who played Star Trek’s Captain Kirk looked 30 years younger than his actual age. “How do you account for your robustness?” she asked him. “I ride a lot of horses, and I’m into the bewilderment of the world,” said Shatner. “I open my heart and head into the curiosity of how things work.” I sug gest you adopt Shatner’s approach in the coming weeks, Aries. Be intoxicated with the emotional richness of mysteries and perplexities. Feel the joy of how unknow able and unpredictable everything is. Bask in the blessings of the beautiful and boun tiful questions that life sends your way.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Of all the objects on earth, which is most likely to be carelessly cast away and turned into litter? Cigarette butts, of course. That’s why an Indian entrepreneur named Naman Gupta is such a revolutionary. Thus far, he has recycled and transformed over 300 million butts into mosquito repellent, toys, key rings, and compost, which he and his company have sold for over a mil lion dollars. I predict that in the coming weeks, you will have a comparable genius for converting debris and scraps into useful, valuable stuff. You will be skilled at recycling dross. Meditate on how you might accomplish this metaphorically and psychologically.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Tips on how to be the best Gemini you can be in the coming weeks: 1. Think laterally or in spi rals rather than straight lines. 2. Gleefully solve problems in your daydreams. 3. Try not to hurt anyone accidentally. Maybe go overboard in being sensitive and kind. 4. Cultivate even more variety than usual in the influences you surround yourself with. 5. Speak the diplomatic truth to peo ple who need to hear it. 6. Make creative use of your mostly hidden side. 7. Never let people figure you out completely.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In my dream, I gathered with my five favorite astrologers to ruminate on your immediate future. After much discussion, we decided the following advice would be helpful for you in December: 1. Make the most useful and inspirational errors you’ve dared in a long time. 2. Try experiments that teach you interesting lessons even if they aren’t com pletely successful. 3. Identify and honor the blessings in every mess.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “All possible feel ings do not yet exist,” writes Leo novelist Nicole Krauss in her book The History of Love. “There are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written, or something else impossible to predict, fathom, or yet de

scribe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges and absorbs the impact.” I suspect that some of these novel moods will soon be welling up in you, Leo. I’m confident your heart will absorb the influx with intelligence and fascination.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Jeanette Winterson writes, “I have always tried to make a home for myself, but I have not felt at home in myself. I have worked hard at being the hero of my own life, but every time I checked the register of displaced persons, I was still on it. I didn’t know how to belong. Longing? Yes. Belonging? No.” Let’s unpack Winterson’s complex testimony as it relates to you right now. I think you are closer than ever before to feeling at home in yourself — maybe not perfectly so, but more than in the past. I also suspect you have a greaterthan-usual capacity for belonging. That’s why I invite you to be clear about what or whom you want to belong to and what your belonging will feel like. One more thing: You now have extraordinary power to learn more about what it means to be the hero of your own life.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s tempting for you to entertain balanced views about every subject. You might prefer to never come to definitive conclusions about anything, because it’s so much fun basking in the pretty glow of prismatic ambiguity. You LOVE there being five sides to every story. I’m not here to scold you about this predilection. As a person with three Li bran planets in my chart, I understand the appeal of considering all options. But I will advise you to take a brief break from this tendency. If you avoid making decisions in the coming weeks, they will be made for you by others. I don’t recommend that. Be proactive.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet David Whyte makes the surprising statement that “anger is the deepest form of compassion.” What does he mean? As long as it doesn’t result in violence, he says, “anger is the purest form of care. The internal living flame of anger always illuminates what we belong to, what we wish to protect, and what we are willing to hazard ourselves for.” Invoking Whyte’s definition, I will urge you to savor your anger in the coming days. I will invite you to honor and celebrate your anger, and use it to guide your constructive efforts to fix some problem or ease some hurt. (Read more: tinyurl.com/AngerCompassion)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The bad news: In 1998, Shon Hopwood was sentenced to 12 years in prison for com mitting bank robberies. The good news: While incarcerated, he studied law and helped a number of his fellow prisoners

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittar ian comedian Margaret Cho dealt with floods of ignorant criticism while growing up. She testifies, “Being called ugly and fat and disgusting from the time I could barely understand what the words meant has scarred me so deep inside that I have learned to hunt, stalk, claim, own, and defend my own loveliness.” You may not have ever experienced such extreme forms of disapproval, Sagittarius, but — like all of us — you have on some occasions been berated or undervalued simply for being who you are. The good news is that the coming months will be a favorable time to do what Cho has done: hunt, stalk, claim, own, and defend your own loveliness. It’s time to intensify your efforts in this noble project.

win their legal cases — including one heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. After his release, he became a full-fledged lawyer and is now a professor of law at Georgetown University. Your current trouble isn’t anywhere as severe as Hop wood’s was, Capricorn, but I expect your current kerfuffle could motivate you to accomplish a very fine redemption.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “I stopped going to therapy because I knew my therapist was right, and I wanted to keep being wrong,” writes poet Clementine von Radics. “I wanted to keep my bad habits like charms on a bracelet. I did not want to be brave.” Dear Aquarius, I hope you will do the opposite of her in the coming weeks. You are, I suspect, very near to a major healing. You’re on the verge of at least partially fixing a problem that has plagued you for a while. So please keep calling on whatever help you’ve been receiving. Maybe ask for even more sup port and inspiration from the influences that have been contributing to your slow, steady progress.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): As you have roused your personal power to defeat your fears in the past, what methods and approaches have worked best for you? Are there brave people who have inspired you? Are there stories and symbols that have taught you useful tricks? I urge you to survey all you have learned about the art of summoning extra courage. In the com ing weeks, you will be glad you have this information to draw on. I don’t mean to imply that your challenges will be scarier or more daunting than usual. My point is that you will have unprecedented oppor tunities to create vigorous new trends in your life if you are as bold and audacious as you can be.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

During the height of the streaming boom, when Net ix, Disney, and HBO were swimming in speculative stock market money, studios looking to feed the online content machine made a lot of big deals with lmmakers. e one that raised the most eyebrows was Rian Johnson’s $469 million deal with Net ix for two sequels to the writer/ director’s sleeper hit Knives Out. $234 million a pop is in line with what Johnson had to work with when he made Star Wars: e Last Jedi. But Knives Out was a classic cozy mystery in the style of Agatha Christie. ere were no space battles or expensive stunt sequences. One of the reasons these kinds of stories became so popular in the early days of cinema is that they’re cheap to produce. How was Johnson supposed to spend all that money?

e answer presented by Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is “expensive cameos.” Serena Williams’ cameo even makes a joke of the money burn rate. As “the world’s greatest detective” Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has an emergency conference with Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe) in the gym of tech billionaire Miles Bron’s (Edward Norton) island estate, a video screen in the background promises a private session with Serena. As they speak, what seems at rst to be a still image of the tennis star moves slightly. en Williams, bored with the details of a mystery she isn’t privy to, speaks up, “So you don’t want to work out?”

No, snaps Blanc. We’re busy. “Whatever. I’m still on the clock,” she sighs, then returns to her crossword puzzle book.

Serena Williams is not the only

A-lister in a funny cameo. When we rst see Blanc, he’s stuck inside his New York apartment during the height of the pandemic quarantine, playing Among Us on Zoom with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Natasha Lyonne, Angela Lansbury, and Stephen Sondheim — and losing. But his pandemic blues are relieved when he’s one of ve people invited to a murder mystery party weekend at Bron’s palatial estate on a Greek island, known as the Glass Onion.

e group, whom Miles calls his “beautiful disrupters,” includes Claire (Kathryn Hahn), the governor of Connecticut who is running for a Senate seat; Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.), lead research scientist for Miles’ rocket company; Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), supermodel and fashion designer; and Duke (Dave Bautista), a gun-toting, men’s rights YouTube in uencer. Andi, Miles’ former partner in his technology company, is also

invited, but the group seems very surprised when she actually shows up. Blanc quickly susses out that these alleged old friends don’t actually like each other very much. When the murder mystery dinner party game is interrupted by a real murder, Blanc (and Johnson) is in his element. I won’t spoil what comes next, except to say that the “onion” in the title refers to layers upon layers of ashbacks that Johnson uses to reveal the mystery and its ultimate solution.

An all-star cast solving a murder conjures visions of bad ’70s haircuts phoning in performances. But Johnson knows how to assemble a cast with chemistry and treats Glass Onion like a Robert Altman dinner party movie, where everyone’s having fun and giving it their all. Monáe is captivating as a woman whose secrets have secrets. Hudson disarms with a ditzy blonde routine before revealing the icy calculations beneath her facade. Odom

Glass Onion’s all-star cast exudes chemistry, treating the lm as a Robert Altman dinner party movie.

and Hahn, used to being scene stealers themselves, are excellent, but feel a little underutilized.

Like Knives Out, Glass Onion fronts as a frothy potboiler just out for a good time. But in its heart, it’s a scathing satire of our oligarchic ruling class. Exposing Miles, his “genius” Elon Musk gure, as a gardenvariety sociopathic manipulator feels particularly timely on Johnson’s part. Net ix execs might feel some buyer’s remorse when they see Monáe gleefully smashing the astonishingly expensive set, but we the audience get our money’s worth.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Stream on Net ix beginning Friday, December 23.

FILM By Chris McCoy

Daniel Craig leads an all-star cast in Rian Johnson’s hit brainteaser.

CRITIC’S PICKS

Our selections for films now playing in theaters.

Violent Night

David Harbour of Stranger Things fame plays Santa, who fights a group of mer cenaries, led by John Leguizamo as “Mr. Scrooge,” to save Christmas or something. Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola’s pre vious films include the Nazi zombie series Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, so just go with it.

Strange World

This production from Disney Animation Studios is a nod to 1930s pulp adventure stories. Searcher Clade (voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal) leads an expedition into the hollow Earth to find a solution to the energy problems plaguing his homeland.

Devotion

The true story of Jesse LeRoy Brown (Jonathan Majors), America’s first Black Naval aviator, and his partner Tom Hud ner (Glen Powell), who flew together in the Korean War. Top Gun: Maverick aerial stunt coordinator Kevin LaRosa designed the flying sequences, so you know they’re spectacular.

The Fabelmans

Steven Spielberg’s thinly veiled autobiog raphy of growing up as a film-obsessed kid trying to escape the pain of his broken home.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

What do you mean you haven’t seen this tear-jerking Marvel epic yet? What are you even doing with your life?

HOME OF THE TIME WARP DRIVE-IN SERIES

By Chris McCoy

SALES POSITION AT

SIGNWORKS Signage and large format digital printing company in Midtown has a career opportunity for an Account Development/Sales Representative, who is dependable and enthusiastic to join our team. General computer knowledge and skills including Microsoft Office excel, etc., as well as fluent skills in Adobe Illustrator and design layout are required. Our office is fast paced, fun and is suited for someone that is quick thinking, and can multitask in a changing environment. We offer competitive compensation, good benefits package plus working with people that appreciate and support your efforts.

Please call Dale at 272-3889 and/ or Email your resume to dale@ signworksmemphis.com and lsouthern@commtrans.com

SIGNWORKS

PRODUCTION TEAM

Signworks in Midtown is looking for a new member to join their production team! We are looking for the following skill sets:

- Valid driver’s license - Comfortable on ladders - Committed to finishing work started - Exhibit problem solving skills - Fabrication experience preferred, but not required - Sign experience preferred, but not required - Able to communicate

SHARED HOUSING

FURNISHED ROOMS

Bellevue/McLemore, Jackson/ Watkins, Airways/Lamar. Call 901-485-0897.

BUY, SELL, TRADE

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Wollfarth

Mystical Steps

A young runner nds reward in every stride.

Step. Step. Pause. Breath. Step. Step. Sprint. While wearing only a thin tank top and shorts, I recently found myself running a three-mile race in nearly 30-degree weather. For fun. My lungs felt like a oating icebox in my chest. In my ears, I could only hear my heavy breaths reverberating from side to side. I remember looking straight ahead at the trees and dirt path in front of me, not really comprehending what I saw. My head and thoughts were frozen in time, although my legs were still moving forward. All my body knew in that moment was that I was running. Running seemed to have this power over my body: My brain no longer controlled my movements, and my legs took their own course.

Upon nishing the race, I felt like my legs simply said, “You can stop now,” so I stopped. I was suddenly thrown back into reality, one that escaped me for the past 22 minutes. I had blurry vision and a hazy understanding of what my body just went through. Tears fell from my eyes and my forehead was cold with dried sweat. A doctor might think I was going to pass out, but this feeling was something beyond medical explanation. I didn’t realize it at the time, but running had an almost mystical power over me.

I felt something I never thought I could feel. I steadily came to realize that running has some power over people. is is the power to rise above human limitations and defy the notion that we humans are ightless.

Our species tends to assume we are the strongest and smartest creatures in the room. While scienti cally we are the most intellectual of creatures, the notion that we are the strongest is farfetched. e truth is, humans are fragile, not only physically, but mentally. Physically, we have several limitations on our bodies. We couldn’t even lick our own elbows if we wanted to.

While being physically restricted, people are also mentally fragile and have complex emotions that are hard to fully understand. One feeling that incapacitates us is fear. It can paralyze us in a matter of seconds. Like that feeling when running, when feeling fear, the brain and the body separate. Running, however, o ers a relief from that fear, a way that our body can rise above the things that hurt and hinder humans. Limitations are le behind, somewhere among the trees and that dirt path.

Running for pleasure is o en misunderstood. I’m o en asked, “Why do you run for fun? Are you crazy?” Having more than a few miles under my belt, I am acutely aware and have been on both sides of this question. e “fun” runner usually answers this with a mixture of modesty or the casual, “Well, good exercise, I guess.” Sure, running is a great exercise, but really, running is an escape. When you run, you might not realize it, but you are pushing yourself both mentally and physically. When I ran in high school, I would tell people that running was the hardest sport. ere’s no real equipment involved and no teammate that you are face to face with. You are running against yourself. ere are actually moments in running where reality’s problems become the driving force in your speed and your endurance. It’s a chance to escape.

Forces that once held you down and challenges that once seemed impossible simply disappear when you run. You can focus on where your legs are going and where they will take you. In this way, you are embodying what it means to take control and make your body move even when your brain might resist. is power, this conquering of limitation is attainable when you run. is is why running seems so crazy to people. When you run, you are attaining a seemingly impossible feat.

While not physically running all the time, I feel like I am constantly being outrun by the high standards and goals of perfection I set for myself. Trying to reach these standards is a constant race I may never nish. Somehow, I’m a minute too late, a few steps short, or too slow to start. e way I escape this is through the long stride, and the push I feel when I run. e feeling that my mind will nally release the white-knuckle grasp it has on me. Instead, the green grass and pavement cushion each heavy step. With each stride, my feet create a rhythm for my body to follow. With this rhythm, I feel strong, empowered, and secure in my own skin.

Izzy Wollfarth is a Rhodes College student and intern at Contemporary Media, Inc.

Sure, running is a great exercise, but really, running is an escape.

PHOTO: COURTESY IZZY WOLLFARTH

Running had an almost mystical power over the author.