v8n33 - JFP Mother's Day/Graduation Issue

Total Smoking Ban for Jackson?

Lynch, p 7

The Tea Party Justice Schaefer, p 11

Celebrating Mother’s Day pp 16 - 19

Graduation Goodies pp 21 - 26

Vol. 8 | No. 33 // April 9 - May 5, 2010

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DAILY BREAKING NEWS @ JFPDAILY.COM

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April 29 - May 5, 2010

jacksonian

If anyone you know gave birth at Woman’s Hospital at River Oaks over the past 25 years, chances are they crossed paths with Betty Fortenberry.

Fortenberry is secretary of the hospital’s labor and delivery unit, and she cannot think of anything else she would rather be doing, except maybe spending more time with her seven grandchildren. “I just love babies,” Fortenberry says. “The best thing about working here is when a child is born sick and then leaves here healthy and happy, practically waving at me.”

Fortenberry has stayed with Woman’s Hospital through renovations and countless deliveries. “Working here was difficult at first, before the building remodel. We had open rooms with sheet dividers. One woman would be giving birth on one side and another woman would be losing a baby on the other,” she says. “But now, we have private rooms. On any given day, we can have as many as 12 births. The most I can remember being born in a day is 17 babies.”

Born in Mendenhall, Fortenberry, 68, moved to Jackson soon after high school to attend dental technician school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Her dental technician degree landed her a job in the Banker’s Trust Building downtown, where she met and fell in love with a barber, Bobby Fortenberry, who kept shop on the first floor. She and her husband are

WRIJOYA ROY

betty fortenberry still married more than 48 years later, and he continues to cut hair to this day.

After having her second son, she left her dental technician job to raise her children, she says, because she didn’t want them to grow up without her. “One day, a friend called and asked if I was ready to get out of the house yet. My boys were in school by then, so I figured I could at least work part-time.” She worked through 1985 as a part-time secretary at Women’s Hospital and went to full-time status a year later.

Being the smiling face at the doors leading to the Labor and Delivery Unit of Woman’s Hospital also leads to special recognition.

The hospital honored her as Employee of the Year in 2004 and Employee of the Quarter on numerous occasions. Fortenberry says that the only real qualification for her job is to love people. “That, and I never shut my mouth,” she says. “I ask everybody everything. It helps to calm folks down.”

But don’t let her saccharine-sweet persona fool you; Fortenberry is very serious about her job. “In all my years, I’ve only had to call security on one person, and that’s because he was drunk and loudly questioning the baby’s paternity,” she says.

As far as retiring, Fortenberry says that she plans to stick around, if only on a part-time basis. “I love it here; everyone is so dedicated,” Fortenberry says. “We are just one big family.” —Amanda Kittrell

Cover photograph by James Patterson. Silk wrap by Sami Lott Gallery

contents

Apr il 29 - May 5, 2 0 1 0

VOL.

8 NO. 33

14

21

36

Racists Be Gone

Mama Minnie

All Things Greek

Might Could

Some Jackson City Council members want to change street and building names reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.

Mother of 11 and grandma to 16, Minnie Spicer epitomizes a mother’s unconditional love.

Shopkeeper Oleta Stokes specializes in gifts for grads, especially those in the “divine nine.”

Deejays Hot and Lonely headline a CD release party at the North Midtown Arts Center to benefit tornado victims.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 4 Editor’s Note 35 Arts

4 Slow Poke 36 Music

7 Talk 38 Music Listings

12 Stiggers 40 Food

12 Editorial 44 Sports

28 8 Days 44 Slate

31 JFP Events 45 Astro

jacksonfreepress.com

KENYA HUDSON; JAMES PATTERSON; WRIJOYA ROY; JOSH HAILEY

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editor’snote

Anita Modak-Truran Anita Modak-Truran is a Southern convert, having moved here from Chicago over a decade ago with her husband and son. She loves the culture, cuisine and arts in these parts. She wrote about Minnie Spicer.

Ayatti D Hatcher Design intern Ayatti D Hatcher enjoys the Discovery Channel, drawing, painting, printmaking, writing and graphic design. His art can be found at www.angelfire.com/ms/AYATTI. He hates Zombies. He helped design pages.

Adam Lynch Award-winning senior reporter Adam Lynch is a graduate of Jackson State. He and his family live in North Jackson. E-mail tips to adam@jacksonfreepress.com, or call him at 601-362-6121, ext. 13.

He wrote Talks for this issue.

Lacey McLaughlin News editor Lacey McLaughlin is a Florida native who enjoys riding her bike around Jackson. She is always on the hunt for news tips.

E-mail Lacey@jacksonfreepress .com or call 601.362.6121 x. 22.

She wrote a music piece.

Amanda Kittrell Amanda Kittrell is a Jackson native with near-perfect comedic timing. She loves big hair and puppy breath, and is honored to write for the JFP. She wrote the Jacksonian.

Wrijoya Roy Photo intern Wrijoya Roy is sophomore at Millsaps College planning to study Public Health in the near future. In her spare time, she loves photography, facebooking, and dancing. She took many photos in this issue.

Jesse Crow Editorial intern Jesse Crow, a Pensacola, Fla., native, is a sophomore at Millsaps College.

She enjoys playing with puppies, summer camp and going on long drives in her station wagon named Herman. She wrote about snickerdoodles.

April 29 - May 5, 2010

Jesse Yancy

4

Jesse Yancy, a long-time editor and award-winning writer in the Jackson area, is a former chef and caterer who lives in Belhaven. He wrote the food piece.

by ShaWanda Jacome, Assistant to the Editor

I Still Believe

M

y mind was restless and my thoughts wandered as I sat on the second row in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in downtown Jackson at the Extraordinary Women’s conference April 16. I was excited to be there, but I could feel the weight of the week, the weight of my life on my shoulders. I clapped and sang along to the praise and worship, going through the motions––preoccupied.

I listened intently while EWomen President Julie Clinton talked about the theme of the conference, “Embracing Powerful Peace,” yet I still felt uneasy. True peace is something I hadn’t felt in quite some time.

Still, I laughed as Christian comedian Chonda Pierce took the stage and talked about topics ranging from menopause to Spanx, her battle with depression and how the church needs to do better at loving without judgment. I was still detached, though.

But then Jeremy Camp, seated at his red piano, began the concluding set to the evening. After a few songs, he stood with his guitar in hand and talked about how as believers the Lord doesn’t promise us that our lives will be without problems and obstacles. The promise is that he will love and comfort us through this life.

Did I believe that promise?

As he began to sing “I Still Believe,” written after losing his first wife to cancer when he was 23, I started to feel a stirring of emotions as I thought of my own mother who is battling cancer. The words of the song began to penetrate through the walls around my heart, and I allowed myself to be vulnerable to the moment.

Scattered words and empty thoughts seem to pour from my heart. I’ve never felt so torn before. Seems I don’t know where to start.

It’s been just over four years since my mom, Charlotte, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a progressive cancer where plasma cells in the bone marrow grow out of control. According to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, more than 56,000 Americans are living with the disease.

It’s still hard to believe that my mom has cancer. How did it go from business as usual to where we are now? I’ve seen her cry as excruciating pain rippled through her body. And I’ve seen her lying fragile and helpless in the ICU. She is the strongest woman I know. But this disease has stolen pieces of her. It has tried to break her.

This is not how things were supposed to be; she’s only 51. She should be enjoying her grandchild, traveling and taking up a hobby.

She should be happy and healthy. She’s led a good life and hasn’t done harm to anyone.

So why is this happening to her?

“But it’s now that I feel Your grace fall like rain from every fingertip, washing away my pain.”

I get angry. I believe in God, but I don’t

understand his ways. I get angry that this is happening to my mom and to our family. If you had asked me when I graduated from college where I’d see myself in 10 years, I wouldn’t have told you, “Mississippi.”

But I had a friend in California who gave me some life-changing advice. She said one of her biggest regrets in life is not being there to say goodbye when her mom died. She told me that no amount of money in the world can replace being there for a loved one.

I remembered that when I sat in the hospital watching mom sleep, I felt grateful that I was there. Although I miss my life in California, I’m glad I’m here.

I still believe in your faithfulness. I still believe in your truth. I still believe in your holy Word.

I don’t know what tomorrow is going to be like. Hell, I don’t know what it will be like 10 minutes from now. But what I have is the here and now with my mom. And I have all our memories from the past.

She’s been my advocate from my childhood to adulthood. She encouraged me through school and made me believe that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. She helped me with my school projects and drove me here and there to all my activities and social functions—speech contests, track meets and football games. She cried and beamed with pride as I graduated from high school and college.

Her love has been a fortress. She’s protected me from the evils of this world and prayed for my safety always. She held me when my heart was broken and sat by my bedside after I gave birth to my 3-pound12-ounce premature baby boy.

She has been my mentor, showing me how to be a wife and a mother. I’ve seen her sacrifice to ensure our families’ happiness as I now do that for my husband and son.

Her love has been endless and unfailing.

But, best of all, my mother’s love is still here, not in spirit, but in flesh. I still have time to see her, hug her and sit with her. I get to share another Mother’s Day with her.

The only place I can go is into your arms where I throw to you my feeble prayers. In brokenness I can see that this was your will for me. Help me to know that you are near.

I am sure there will be dark clouds in our future, but I’m grateful for today, moments where we laugh. It’s because of those moments I can endure the tears that are sure to come.

I still believe in your faithfulness. I still believe in your truth. I still believe in your holy Word.

On my drive home, I called my mom just to hear her voice. Although I am unsure of what’s on the road ahead, I will keep holding on to my faith and continue supporting and loving my mom through this terrible disease.

When I first found about the cancer, I thought if I ignored it and pretended it wasn’t true, it would go away. But it is real and it is here. Life is what it is. There is good, bad and in between. None of us can escape it. But I know that things could be worse, so I am thankful for the blessing of a mother’s love and my time with her.

Even when I don’t see, I still believe.

Through this song, I found peace. I spent the rest of the evening focused on the positive. I still believe in miracles. I still believe my mom will get better.

I still believe.

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T

he new north Jackson Cajun food restaurant Zydeco is a place where you can get delicious crawfish pie. It is also one of the few restaurants in the city where you can still smoke, so long as you sit in the bar area. Zydeco General Manager Patrick Barnes is confident his restaurant is obeying city codes—only it isn’t.

The Jackson City Council Rules Committee is trying to make things simpler for businesses like Zydeco. The committee will soon consider an ordinance that could impose a comprehensive smoking ban in all city businesses, including bars and clubs.

“The Rules Committee stands ready to move forward with this as early as Monday if you want to send the no-smoking ordinance to us,” said Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill to Council President Frank Bluntson at an April 20 council meeting.

Although there is no guarantee that the council would unanimously approve the ban, all council members agree that a blanket ban is considerably easier to understand and enforce than the current city ordinance. The current ordinance restricts smoking to establishments that qualify as “stand-alone bars” by state law. The city and state defines a bar as an establishment in which the gross receipts for the sale of food do not exceed 25 percent of the total gross receipts. However, the Mississippi Tax Commission requires businesses that sell hard liquor, and wine and beer with alcohol content higher than 5 percent, to

WRIJOJA ROY

Complete Smoking Ban in the Works

Zydeco General Manager Patrick Barnes says he believes his restaurant is adhering to the city’s complicated smoking ban.

have food sales of 25 percent or more of their gross receipts to qualify for an alcoholic beverage license. The only “bars” released from the requirements of the smoking ban, therefore, are those that only serve light wine and beer—no liquor—and do not share entries or indoor areas with restaurants.

Many businesses understand the 25-percent aspect of the ban, but lose the conversation on the light wine and beer part. Some businesses are convinced—incorrectly—that if they carefully monitor their sales receipts and make sure they reflect alcohol sales generating 75 percent or more of the total revenue that they can sell liquor and allow smoking.

Barnes said he believes his business qualifies as a bar under the city ordinance because

Lumumba looks to rename streets. p 10

by Adam Lynch

food sales comprise less than 25 percent of total revenue.

“The city said you have to have a certain percentage of your food verses a certain percentage of your alcohol sales. We have great food, but we haven’t been meeting our margin on food sales,” Barnes said. “We’re monitoring that and making sure our food isn’t at that margin so we won’t be in trouble. We certainly wouldn’t mind if food sales would go up over that, but it saves us some trouble for now.”

Zydeco’s policy of only allowing smoking in the business’ bar section is a deviation from the policy of the last restaurant that occupied the same building last year. Garfield’s Restaurant, which closed its doors in 2009, interpreted the city ordinance differently and restricted smoking in both the restaurant and bar section immediately after the Jackson City Council upgraded a 2003 smoking ordinance to restrict smoking in restaurants in 2008.

Katherine Bryant, state advocacy director for the American Heart Association, told the council last week that the ordinance is easy to misinterpret. “A stand-alone bar of the kind that is excluded from the no-smoking ban in the city ordinance is one that only sold beer, which does not sell (liquor),” she said. “It’s easy to confuse that. Some restaurants may be violating the ordinance on purpose, but plenty are probably doing it by accident, too.”

Businesses that violate the ordinance are SMOKING, see page 8

THINGS OUR MAMAS SAID In honor of Mother’s Day, the JFP staff wanted to share with readers the kinds of things our mothers said to keep us in line.

Clearly, they didn’t need to actually make sense.

RN G OV E

ING

“The only reason I’m still here is I’m very hopeful.

I believe we can make Mississippi better. I believe we can make Jackson a capital city that’s representative of the kind of good governing and community we want it to be. When I look back at what was, it only reinforces what can be.” —Jackson Public Schools board member Otha Burton speaking about why he continues to serve in city government.

Don’t make that face; it’ll stick.

Always bloom where you’re planted.

Stop scratching, and it’ll get better.

Don’t believe everything you see on TV. You’re a day late and a dollar short.

They won’t buy the cow if they get the milk for free.

It’s not a fashion show.

You can’t eat with the Queen of England if you keep acting that way.

E You’re making the baby Jesus cry.

ILL Do I have to separate you two?

If I have to stop this car …

Always wear clean underwear; you never know when you’ll be in an accident.

Eat that; children in China are starving.

Were you raised in a barn?

Because I said so; that’s why.

ME LV

GOOD

ALEX AN DE R

BUTT

Wednesday, April 21 Attorney General Jim Hood requests that the Mississippi Supreme Court set execution dates for Paul Woodward, Joseph Burns and Gerald Holland.

Thursday, April 22 White supremacist Richard Barrett is found dead at his home in Pearl. Officials arrest parolee Vincent McGee, charging him with murder. … Gov. Haley Barbour calls a special session to pass a 1.75 percent increase to the amount that state, county and municipal employees pay toward retirement, saying that the increase, to 9 percent, could potentially avoid 1000 layoffs.

Friday, April 23, 2010 The Mississippi Supreme Court suspends Lamar County Justice Court Judge Bill Anderson for 30 days without pay for judicial misconduct. Anderson reportedly failed to issue or delayed rulings, and improperly ordered a defendant to be held without bond.

Saturday, April 24 Tornadoes rip through eight southern states, killing at least 12, 10 of whom were Mississippians. … Former Mississippi State running back Anthony Dixon and linebacker Jamar Chaney get picked in the sixth and seventh rounds of the NFL draft, respectively. Dixon goes to San Francisco and Chaney to Philadelphia.

Sunday, April 25 More than 90,000 Okinawans protest the relocation of an American air base on their island, pressuring Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to keep his campaign promise. … Owner of the colt Eskendereya, perhaps the best 3-year-old running, scratched him from the Kentucky Derby.

Monday, April 26 Senate Republicans block the Democratic financial-reform bill passed by the House from reaching the floor for debate. … The U.S. Coast Guard says that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a result of a BP oil-rig explosion last Tuesday, now covers 1,800 miles.

Tuesday, April 27 Goldman Sachs executives go before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in Washington, D.C. The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the company with fraud. … Gov. Haley Barbour declares a day of prayer for those affected by Saturday’s tornados and last week’s oil-rig explosion in the Gulf.

jacksonfreepress.com

news, culture & irreverence

The high-school graduation rate in Mississippi is about 61 percent. The rate for whites is 66 percent; African Americans, 55 percent; and for Native Americans, an abysmal 37 percent. —source: Alliance for Excellent Education, all4ed.org.

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SMOKING, from page 7

liable for a misdemeanor fine of up to $100.

A second conviction within the same year doubles that fine to $200, and a third conviction raises the fine to $500.

Kenneth Taylor, code enforcement director for the city, could only cite a few businesses that have been cited for violating the ordinance since it went into effect in 2008, but was convinced that the number is huge.

Taylor admitted that the ordinance is difficult to explain to business owners, and refers to a point-by-point list of ordinance requirements presented by the American Heart Association when talking to restaurant and bar owners.

“It would make my job easier if they would just change it to include all businesses,” Taylor said.

A majority of the council agrees with him. “The best way to go is the comprehensive smoke-free ordinance that covers everything,” Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said. “We know enforcement

has been an issue. There should not be a problem whatsoever if you have a 100-percent comprehensive smoke-free ordinance.”

“I think not only can it be enforced, but it will be less confusing to enforce a ban like this, as opposed to the last one,” said Weill, who believed that some restaurants that were fully compliant with the ordinance could be losing business to restaurants in violation.

The partial ban arose from the council’s inability to agree on a total ban in 2008. The current ordinance began life as “Alternative A,” an altered 2003 city ordinance that called for local restaurants containing bars to install individual ventilation systems for their bar and restaurant sections or restrict smoking according to the parameters of the 25 percent rule.

The council originally voted down “Alternative A,” with only Weill, former Ward 6 Councilman Marshand Crisler and Barrett-Simon voting in favor. The council then

by Staff

O

FILE PHOTO

n May 10, the Jackson Chamber of at Fondren Nails, located in the Fondren Commerce will host a ribbon-cut- Corner building. Grizzell, a Jackson native, ting ceremony for J Woods Public is certified through the International PediRelations. Owner Jamie Woods, cure Association and specializes in maniwho lives in Brandon, said. “I’ve made a cures and pedicures. On May 22, from 8 a.m. to noon, Fondren lot of contacts over the Nails will host a “Princess years with chambers and Party” for girls. $15 innon-profits, and helped cludes a mini-manicure, a lot of small businesses pedicure, photo shoot and grow,” Woods said. “There more. For an appointment is a need to help small and or information, call 601medium businesses that Fondren businesses are 362-6292. … Con “Cowmay not be able to afford a working together to fight boy” Maloney reported the full-time (public relations) crime after a break in at The highest sales day in the hisposition.” The ribbon cut- Orange Peel last week tory of his company, Mating is at 4:30 p.m., loney’s Electric City, last Friday thanks to May 10 at Olga’s (4760 Interstate 55). the new State Energy Effi cient Appliance … Fondren business owners are joining Rebate Program.

The state is eligible for to combat crime after a break in at The $2.8 million from the American Recovery Orange Peel and theft of a flat-screen TV and Reinvestment Act for the program that last Wednesday. Tangle Salon owner Brian Brower and Orange Peel owner Kristin ends when funds run out. Call 1-877-304Tubb are working with other business 4451 or visit www.mississippirebate.com owners to hire a security guard to patrol for more information.

Get business updates at jpfdaily.com. the Fondren area after business hours. …

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brought forth “Alternative B,” a blanket ban on smoking in all Jackson businesses, which would include bars. That amendment failed with only minority support from Bluntson, Ward 5 Councilman Charles Tillman and then Council President Leslie McLemore.

With two amendments dead, the council then killed the original ordinance that survived the planning committee, with only a minority of council members in support, including McLemore, Bluntson and Tillman.

But then Crisler, after conferring with members of an antismoking group Smoke Free Jackson, submitted a motion to reconsider “Alternative A.” The motion passed council with a 6-to-0 vote, with Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes not present.

McLemore, who originally championed the smoking ban, said last week that the council could have saved themselves some time and confusion by keeping the ban simple.

“If Margaret Barrett-Simon and the others hadn’t been playing politics, then we would have gotten a proper smoking ban last time,” said McLemore, who retired from the council in 2009. “All that stuff with the standalone bars was impossible anyway. It was really just crap—couldn’t work. At least now, we might get a real ordinance that everybody can understand and comply with.”

Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes had voted against multiple attempts to expand the city smoking ordinance in 2008, and remained skeptical of the ban last Tuesday.

“I don’t smoke … but what’s the winwin in expanding this ban?” Stokes asked Bryant, while pointing out that not everybody who smokes dies of lung cancer, just as not everybody who drinks dies in a car crash.

“It’s a huge health issue,” Bryant responded. “You can compare smoking to drinking, but your drinking doesn’t run the risk of killing me unless you hit me while you’re driving a car. But breathing secondhand smoke does kill. That’s a proven fact.”

“A lot of people have to inhale secondhand smoke and don’t get cancer. Don’t make it seem like everybody dies of cancer for inhaling secondhand smoke,” Stokes responded.

Jackson Assistant City Attorney Monica Joiner told Weill she would begin drafting the ordinance for the committee this week.

Comment at jacksonfrepress.com.

d MOTHER’S DAY SPECIAL f April 29 - May 5, 2010

e

8

j

by Adam Lynch

KENYA HUDSON

Racist Names, Beware

Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba said city residents should be able to more easily change names on streets and public facilities to reflect the changing population around the streets.

W

ard 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba said he voted with a majority of the council to remove a controversial petition requirement for the renaming of city streets or facilities because he felt city residents deserved a “more fair system” for changing street and place names.

Prior to the April 20 meeting, city ordinances required petition approval from 75 percent of residents and property owners within 150 feet of a public facility or street to approve changing the street or facility’s name.

Lumumba agreed to side with Councilmen Kenneth Stokes, Charles Tillman and Council President Frank Bluntson to approve the city ordinance removing the petition requirement, but only after assuring the council that he would help put together a new ordinance creating a petition requiring only 51 percent approval from local residents.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the petition exists to keep things as they are,” Lumumba told the Jackson Free Press during the April 20 council meeting that eliminated the petition requirement. “The face of the city has changed, but there are plenty of places in the area that still bear the names of people who didn’t always embrace the needs of the kind of people who now live here.”

Lumumba then referred to many of the current names on city streets as products of racism. Lamar Street, in downtown Jackson, bears the name of Confederate officer, plantation owner and Associate Justice Sen. Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, for example.

“A lot of the people were getting streets named after them a long time ago, when nobody with darker pigmentation were sitting up here on the council, and we did not have a black mayor, and it was a quite different city—and in many respects a very racist city.

To lock us into a 75 percent petition requirement is not good,” Lumumba added.

Author Todd Sanders, who wrote the book “Jackson’s North State Street,” said many places in Jackson commonly got their names from people who lived around them, but that many of the more controversial names currently on city signs typically arrived prior to the 1930s—well within the age when segrega-

tion was required by state law.

“The majority of them were only named for people who lived around them, or developed it or had property there,” Sanders said.

“This was a different time when segregation wasn’t recognized as bad (by whites).”

The entire issue stemmed from Councilman Kenneth Stokes’ continuing crusade to name streets and city facilities after community figures from the last three decades, many of whom are black. Stokes succeeded in leading an effort to name a library on Northside Drive (which was not in his ward) after Jackson Advocate Publisher Charles Tisdale.

Opponents of the Tisdale name on the building argued that Tisdale was not a book author, as requested by the Hinds County Library Commission, and frequently referred to black leaders as Uncle Tom. The issue strikes home with Jackson resident Ineva May Pittman, who campaigned hard for naming the city airport after slain civil-rights activist Medgar Evers, and for renaming a library on Northside Drive.

“I feel offended by some names on city streets and buildings,” Pittman said, referencing the name of Sen. James Eastland, a Mississippi segregationist, on the federal courthouse in downtown Jackson. “I even took offense at the name of Lynch Street near JSU, until the council clarified the name as John R. Lynch Street, a prominent black historian.”

Stokes pressed the issue last week to rename two Jackson streets after Jackson resident Dr. Robert Smith and former Jim Hill High School coach Fred Harris before the Jim Hill senior class graduates May 30. Stokes said he needed to remove the time-consuming 75 percent petition to do this.

The petition removal could also facilitate the renaming of streets after more contentious personalities, however. Stokes seeks to name a section of Pascagoula Street after controversial former Jackson Mayor Frank Melton. The city’s legal department is still attempting to settle a lawsuit over Melton’s 2006 illegal demolition of a home on Ridgeway Street.

Members of the council who oppose the removal of the petition claimed at the last council meeting that removing the petition requirement was a strike against democracy.

Ward 6 Councilman Tony Yarber, in particular, warned that removing the petition requirement entirely would anger Jackson residents who want more influence over the street and facility re-naming process.

After Lumumba voted for changing the ordinance, Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. pointed out that the petition removal would not take affect for another 30 days unless the council voted unanimously on the issue. Bluntson offered to revisit the issue in the same meeting in hopes of garnering unanimous council support, but the remaining council members who formed the opposing minority refused to revisit the issue, leaving the city without a petition requirement for now.

Comment at Jacksonfreepress.com

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WARD SCHAEFER

O

tha Burton may be one of the newest appointees to the Jackson Public Schools board, but he is a veteran of city government. Burton served as chief administrative officer for Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., during Johnson’s first two terms as mayor, from 1999 through 2005. Before that, he worked in the city’s Planning and Human and Cultural Services Departments.

Burton is now associate dean of Jackson State University’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

Behind his desk in the Universities Center, Burton has hung a small wooden plaque with a hand-carved inscription: “I love it when a plan comes together.” Burton speaks deliberately, and you get the sense that his place on the school board is just the latest step in a wellordered plan to make Jackson better.

Airbrush Tanning

How did you get involved in city government?

When I was working on (my) master’s at Jackson State, I started working a part-time job with the city of Jackson in the Planning Department. … I worked my way up from a research assistant to, eventually, a senior planner. … When the city changed its form of government in 1985, I became one of the early department directors, when they reorganized from the commission to the mayor-council.

Jackson Public Schools board member Otha Burton was Jackson’s first chief administrative officer.

What happened then?

It has a lot to do with the evolution— not only in terms of government, but also the other kinds of cultural and social issues. The mayor and two (city) commissioners were elected at large and it was very difficult to ever get an African American elected. Prior to that time there was never a female elected to city government. Prior to the referendum, there had to be a whole lot of education, and the groundswell support for changing the form of government took several years. …

We went from two commission members, elected citywide, to seven council members, elected by ward. We had the first elected African Americans as well as females. So that was quite a major shift.

Is that something that you think Jackson hasn’t always done?

We let those things that divide us divide us, whether it’s race, whether it’s income. And believe me, income does (divide), within racial groups, but also within sectors of the community.

How do we get there? We don’t need to be just driven by national policy, whether it’s No Child Left Behind or something else. Those are good, because they talk about connecting with the global and national agenda, but as all things local, that’s where the rubber meets the road, we should be vigilant in terms of what we want and how to get it.

What is the role of schools in addressing community divisions?

One, within the districts, parents need to be more engaged. Sometimes this is more

of a challenge in the central city than in the suburbs. … Students are giving their best.

Where are they going after graduation? Are we tracking that? Are we getting them through K-12 and somebody else picks up then? Do we know where they’re going?

Do you want JPS to revise its tracking of graduates?

I’m so new at the position I can’t say they’re not. As a board member, I’d like to be very engaged in standards and policy and accountability. Not to get the lines blurred from the board to the district administration, but to forge a sense of mutual collaboration and respect, and also results. If that’s the challenge for the districts in a central city, you see the suburbs often doing a better job of it.

Of what?

Community engagement. I’m not saying it’s not happening in JPS, not at all. I’m just saying that that’s what we have to (do). If we’re talking about moving the bar, we’re talking about building relationships.

What do you want to focus on as a board member?

I’d like to see where we are in terms of curriculum and managing resources. I want to make sure we’ve got the right structure in place. That means organization, management.

If not, then let’s get the best system in place.

To get an idea of how recruiting is, in terms of getting the best principals and teachers.

How are students placing not only in terms of state standards but also standards we have in place, the well roundedness of our kids. Do we know, other than some mathematical computation of what they should be? … We’ve got to set the “where we want to be.”

Is there anything else you want say?

The only reason I’m still here is I’m very hopeful. I believe we can make Jackson a capital city that’s representative of the kind of good governing and community we want it to be. When I look back at what was, it only reinforces what can be.

April 20 - May 5, 2010

LAUGHTER IS A GIFT FROM GOD

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statetalk

by Ward Schaefer

Judge Ditches Post for Tea Party

F

presents

FILE POTO

ormer Mississippi Supreme Court pects to fill for at least a year.

Justice Kay Cobb has raised concerns Cobb served on the Supreme Court from about politics in the judiciary with 1999 until her retirement in 2007. In the three her involvement in the newly formed years she has served as a senior status judge, Oxford Tea Party. Cobb, Cobb heard four cases, who chairs the Oxford one of which is still active. group, recently asked to Cobb says she has recused be temporarily suspended herself from that case. from her duties as a senior Before her term on status judge, following the court, Cobb was a complaints.

Republican state senator, “If I’m active in this representing Lafayette and leadership, I don’t want Yalobusha counties from there to be any appearance 1992 to 1996. of impropriety,” Cobb told Cobb’s interest in the Tea the Jackson Free Press.

Party grew with negotiaCanon 5 of the state’s tions on federal health-care Code of Judicial Conduct Former state Supreme Court legislation. After beginning calls for judges to “refrain Justice Kay Cobb has suspended to organize in late 2009, from inappropriate politi- her duties as a substitute judge the Tea Party Oxford ofwhile she organizes the Oxford cal activity.” That includes Tea Party. ficially incorporated as a contributing to or holding non-profit April 23. “The a position in any political federal government has organization that works for the election or just abdicated the whole Tenth Amendment,” appointment of candidates for political of- Cobb said. “They’ve taken over, telling the fice. The code makes exceptions, however, states what to do and not paying for it.” for currently serving part-time judges, which Tea Party rallies and protests have drawn includes senior status judges like Cobb, as well criticism from Democrats and commentaas municipal and justice court judges. tors, both liberal and conservative, for signs “I felt like … as long as I did not use my and rhetoric that flirt—and sometimes emtitle, that it would be a part of the exception,” brace—racism, xenophobia and secessionism.

Cobb said.

Cobb said she was aware of the criticism. “We In press releases about its April 17 tax- don’t endorse that. I cringe when I see those day rally, the Oxford Tea Party did not include signs,” Cobb said. “We’re going to keep the titles for Cobb or other organizers, Cobb said. tenor high.”

Still, newspaper reports of the event referred to Between sign-ups at its April 17 Tax Day her judicial role. rally and other events, the Oxford Tea Party “As soon as I heard that, I took the posi- has roused roughly 300 “interested parties,” tion that I never wanted to do anything that Cobb estimates, although she adds that that gets close to skirting the issue of propriety,” may be a conservative estimate.

Cobb said. She asked the Supreme Court to The Oxford Tea Party welcomes political temporarily remove her from its list of senior candidates to events but does not feature them status judges while she serves as chairman of as speakers, Cobb said. For now, the group will the Oxford Tea Party, a position that she ex- also refrain from endorsing candidates.

Our Community - A Sense of Place

an exhibit of student work 24 Elementary Schools Jackson Public Schools

Hurry! Closes April 30!

Mississippi Arts Center Monday-Saturday, 10am-6pm, Sunday, 1pm-5pm 201 E. Pascagoula For more information: 601.969.6015

Suspect Arrested in Barrett Slaying

by Staff

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jacksonfreepress.com

DAVID RAE MORRIS

he Rankin County Sheriff’s Department movement based in Learned, Miss. Bararrested Vincent McGee, 22, on April rett was raised in New York City and East 23 for the alleged murder of Orange, N.J., and attended white supremacist Richard Rutgers University in New Barrett. McGee, who was Jersey. He moved to Missison supervised release for assippi in 1966 and later got saulting a police officer and his law degree from Memgrand larceny in 2007, lived Officials found white phis State University. with this mother just a few supremacist Richard A Vietnam War veteran, he became a vocal doors down from Barrett Barrett dead in his Pearl segregationist after moving in Pearl, and had done yard home last week. south and organized protests work for him. against civil rights issues such as the state’s Rankin County Sheriff Ronnie Penretrying Edgar Ray Killen for his role in the nington told reporters that Barrett suffered 1964 murders of three civil-rights workers several stab wounds to his neck, blunt force in Neshoba County. trauma to the head, fractured ribs and McGee will face a preliminary hearburns over 35 percent of his body. ing next week, if convicted; he could face a Barrett, 67, was the founder of the maximum life in prison sentence.

Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist

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jfp op/ed

opining, grousing & pontificating

EDITORIAL

Women’s Fund Gets It Wrong … Twice

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he Jackson Free Press has been a strong supporter of The Women’s Fund—including giving proceeds raised by our production of “The Vagina Monologues” this year to the group. We applaud the Fund for tackling the issue of domestic abuse and, like the JFP, focusing on tackling the systemic causes of the epidemic rather than just the outcomes.

We were also pleased to see The Clarion-Ledger run a guest column by The Women’s Fund last Sunday that started with the story of Adrienne Klasky, who was brutally murdered by her stalking ex-husband in Pascagoula in 1989.

This story always helps answer the blame-women response of “why does she stay?”—because he might just find her and kill her if she doesn’t.

But the end of the column was factually challenged and a serious disappointment. The worst factual error was the statement that “our state” has pardoned or suspended the sentences of five men, four of whom had killed wives or girlfriends.

That statement is grossly unfair to people of both parties in “our state”—from the lieutenant governor to the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Gov. Haley Barbour, and Barbour alone, signed executive orders freeing those four killers, as the JFP exposed two years ago. Trying to spread the blame around so as not to offend—donors or whomever—is not the way to educate our populace about the serious problems we are facing with domestic abuse.

There are many abuse stories: Use one you are comfortable telling accurately.

The other factual issue with the column speaks to a serious problem in Mississippi—the tendency not to acknowledge the hard work of women in our own state. The column attributed the exposé of Barbour’s pardons to Reason editor Radley Balko, who wrote a recent column blasting Barbour for the pardons. But in his column, Balko was ethical and credited the Jackson Free Press for reporting that Barbour was pardoning domestic murderers all the way back in 2008.

Now-managing editor Ronni Mott and then-intern Sophie McNeil spent days digging through state archives and calling small newspaper editors around the state to figure out the crimes of those Barbour let off easy. To this day, we have seen no other state media outlet even report this information—although national outlets such as Slate and MSNBC.com have picked it up, crediting the JFP for our work. It is a slap in the face of Ronni Mott—who has done the hardesthitting domestic-abuse reporting this state has seen—for the “Women’s” Fund to act as if it took a man halfway across the country to bring this vital news to Mississippians when it happened right here in Jackson. If they read his column, as they purported, they knew that this fact was exposed in Mississippi. By women.

When it comes to improving the status of women in our state, we won’t get there by back-peddling or political pandering. The Women’s Fund should set an example and find their voice when addressing injustices against women—and not commit their own in the process.

KEN STIGGERS

The Four-Way Test

April 29 - May 5, 2010

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iss Doodle Mae: “The staff of Jojo’s Discount Dollar Store just finished the daily staff meeting, similar to the meeting seen on the television series ‘Hill Street Blues.’ Our morning meeting is a great opportunity to prepare for the work day. After a strategy session, it’s time for questions, concerns, and answers from the staff and Jojo.

“The concern of the morning came from Chief Crazy Brotha, our new arts and creative endeavors section manager. Chief Crazy Brotha asked Jojo if it’s necessary to capitalize on ghetto citizens by having various and different store sale throughout the year.

“Jojo appropriately addressed Chief Crazy Brother’s concern.”

Jojo: “If you’re wondering if I’m a capitalist, maybe I am. But I consider myself a concerned businessperson who capitalizes on providing needed services to my community. When I started Jojo’s Discount Dollar Store, I promised to fulfill the needs of my customers by selling them affordable products.

I vowed to provide health-care benefits for part-time and full-time employees from the Ghetto Science community. And I committed to maintain the dignity and trust of my staff and customers by applying the guidelines of the Four-Way Test: Is it the truth; is it fair to all concerned; will it build goodwill and better friendships; will it be beneficial to all concerned.”

Miss Doodle Mae: “Jojo made it plain for Chief Crazy Brother. Immediately, we opened the store for our Pre-Mother’s Day Church Hat, Purse and House Shoe sale—where everything’s a dollar.”

KAMIKAZE

New Breed of Renaissance Man

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f you’re an avid fan of the NFL, then you were probably glued to your TV this past weekend as the 2010 draft unveiled America’s newest millionaires. The draft always holds a few surprises, and after 72 hours of picks, a few players are always left who have yet to be picked up by a pro team. The stories, and the players, are different. There’s the athlete whose checkered past made him a pariah to NFL squads. There’s the athlete who doesn’t quite have the “speed” or the “strength” to play pro football.

And then there’s Myron Rolle. The Florida State cornerback wasn’t the best defensive back in college last year. He didn’t have great stats, and his team had a less than stellar year by Seminole standards. However, Rolle’s story is one that bears repeating.

Rolle went late in the draft not particularly due to physical attributes but because, in my opinion, he was a man with a bigger vision. See, Rolle is a Rhodes scholar, one of only 32 collegians chosen worldwide each year to study in Oxford, England.

Rolle, who one day hopes to be a neurosurgeon, took a year off from football to study abroad. And that decision apparently has peeved some purists.

In pre-draft interviews, Rolle’s “commitment” was questioned. Some coaches even asked him how it felt to “desert” his team during the season.

So now we’re penalizing student-athletes for putting the “student” part first? What a great example you’re setting, NFL; great precedent there.

America seems to like its athletes (and musicians, apparently) monolithic and dumb. We want them to entertain us, and any attempt to get

outside of that stereotypical box that we’ve been placed in is met with trepidation.

Rolle doesn’t “need” football. He wants to play, yes, but he has chosen not to be defined solely by an oblong pigskin.

He is part of the new breed of renaissance men: African American males who do several things well; who are well versed and successful in many areas. Rolle doesn’t want you to call him the football player who happens to be a Rhodes scholar, but the Rhodes scholar who happens to play pro football. There is a substantial difference.

Methinks America likes our black athletes of average intelligence, coming from single-parent homes in the “hood,” who could only see success if they played football or rapped.

That’s a more comfortable scenario.

It hits home because it seems no matter what I do—whether it’s my radio show, or this column; whether its my work with Farish street or my entrepreneurial endeavors—there are those who still only see me as a “rapper.” Not knowing my experiences or background, they still pigeonhole me as “that rapper.” My boss gets questioned for hiring “a rapper.” Folks refuse to see anything else.

Myron Rolle, congratulations for being drafted by The Tennessee Titans. You’ll have a great career. But kudos mostly for sticking it in the face of naysayers, for proving what being a college student is ultimately supposed to mean: getting an education.

When you do decide to hang up your cleats, you’ve got plenty to fall back on.

And that’s the truth ... sho-nuff.

E-mail letters to letters@jacksonfreepress.com, fax to 601-510-9019, or mail to P.O. Box 5067, Jackson, Miss., 39296. Include daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

TERRI COWART

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Pompous and Circus

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o walk or not to walk, that is the question. Or is it?

Thousands of students, maybe millions, will take their last exams, write their last paper, turn in their old or resalable books and graduate this spring. “Graduation is a ritual or ceremony that marks one stage of a person’s life to another,” according to brownielocks.com. But let’s face it: No matter how important or hugely significant graduation is, the ceremony itself is typically long and boring—especially if you’re not the graduate—and for some, it can be quite costly.

While graduating is monumental, walking in the ceremony can be the physical way to reassure yourself that you actually did accomplish something. Wearing all the regalia furthers the feeling of “I’ve done something important.” And it feels so good when you can prove to your parents that in the midst of all your fun and wild times, you really did manage to graduate. Of course, it’s certainly icing on the cake when you’re the focus of all that flash photography.

If you really want to consider your family, though, other questions might arise: Do my parents, who have already paid out thousands for my education, want to sit through a long ceremony? Do they want to listen to a boring speaker drone on about my future? Will it be exciting watching hundreds of other students receive their diplomas? Is it fiscally responsible to burden them with the additional cost of a cap and gown? Do they want to pay for a hotel stay (which usually requires a minimum of two nights, because college towns know parents are going to come to graduation, so why not take advantage of them)?

And most importantly, do I want to spend another day here?

I graduated twice, and both times I participated in the ceremonies. I made sure I walked after graduating college. My dad didn’t think I could finish after I got married and had a baby. He threw down the, “You’ll never graduate now” gauntlet, and I wasn’t about to lose. So, like the thoughtful daughter I was, I chose to walk, forcing him to drive up to Mississippi State to watch. I wanted to revel in my victory.

Funny thing: My dad volunteered to babysit his new granddaughter that day. I think it was the only time he babysat—anything to get out of that long ceremony.

Looking back, when I returned to MSU’s campus to participate in that spring ceremony (I had actually finished in December) was when I must have cursed my future. In my failed attempt to have dear old dad watch me walk, I have now experienced the joy of getting to sit through three of my husband’s graduations. I wasn’t in the picture for his high school and under-graduate degree walks. But since those earlier two, the hubby has gone on to acquire three more degrees.

Sitting on a plush, green lawn in Atlanta, I watched my man graduate from the Chandler School of Theology at Emory University, followed by a worship service inside its cha-

pel—two ceremonies for the price of one.

His second master’s degree was from Mississippi College.

I sat out in the bleachers and watched Bernie Ebbers—co-founder and CEO of WorldCom, who is now serving a 25-year sentence in a Louisiana prison for fraud—give his rendition of a motivational speech to the graduates. I hope they weren’t paying too close attention.

For his fourth and final degree (and I say “final” lightly; if there is a fifth, I’m not sure who the wife will be), I sat in Humphries Coliseum, “The Hump” in Starkville, freezing to death. As per instructions, we refrained from hollering out and yelling as the students began their march to receive their faux diplomas. (As usual, the authentic document was mailed only after we returned his cap and gown unharmed.)

During their sacred ascent to the stage, a beach ball floated out onto the floor where the graduates sat, and they began to toss it back and forth. If there had only been sun and sand, I might have been warm and could have enjoyed myself.

This spring, as graduation rolls around again, I will attend graduations. Yes, that’s right: plural—graduations. I have one daughter graduating from the University of Mississippi nursing school. The pinning ceremony the night before adds to the fun-filled festivities. Also, my sixth-grade daughter is graduating, too. Oh yeah, and it’s on the same day as daughter No. 1’s graduation.

I was thinking I needed to clone myself—like dolly the sheep—so I can see people get their sheep skin. But I found out that the UMMC graduation is in the morning and the elementary graduation is in the afternoon. So I guess I can bypass cloning and just gas up the Suburban, double up on the deodorant and wear a wrinkle-free outfit.

OK. I’ve made fun of graduation, but I realize it is an important time in one’s life: It is a rite of passage. As Gary Bolding, art professor at Stetson University said in his commencement address at Emory University in 1998: “Your families are extremely proud of you. You can’t imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing.

This would be a most opportune time to ask for money.”

Last month, my uncle graduated from the University of Phoenix, an online school.

I watched via Internet. Now there’s a graduation ceremony I can handle. I watched in my robe with a cup of coffee in hand. I hadn’t even brushed my teeth.

To walk or not to walk?

Whether walking or watching, this quote from Arie Pencovici really spoke to me: “Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you’ll make a difference.”

There’s my answer to the question: walk.

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Disney’s Oceans G

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Kick Ass R Death at a Funeral R Date Night PG13 Clash of the Titans 3-D PG13 Why Did I Get Married Too? PG13

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Editor in Chief Donna Ladd Publisher Todd Stauffer

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by Anita Modak-Truran photos by James Patterson

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April 29 - May 5, 2010

he nostalgically delicious aroma of a family feast is the first thing to envelope the senses in Minnie Spicer’s home in Flora. Skillets of cornbread sit on a stove worn to vintage chic from years of large-scale dinner productions. Carefully laid out on the solid dining room table is a southernstyle extravaganza of home-cooked chicken, ribs, sausage, greens, macaroni and cheese, barbecue beans, pecan pies, and strawberry, lemon and coconut pineapple cakes.

Despite recuperating from a recent hip surgery, having a bad knee and the chronic pain of gout and arthritis, nothing was going to prevent Minnie from preparing her family’s favorite dishes for an impromptu Spicer family get together. Minnie has spent countless hours standing in front of a hot stove. She refused to go to bed until she was done, and she wasn’t done until the wee hours of the morning.

The result is beyond impressive; this is matriarchal heroism.

Minnie expresses her love for her 11 children (one of whom is deceased) and 16 grandchildren through the culinary arts.

“My mother has always viewed cooking as a way to get and keep the entire family together—to laugh, to cry, to celebrate and to mourn,” says Adam Spicer, Minnie’s eighth child and one of my law colleagues.

“If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Soul Food,’ you know what I’m talking about.

Because of the size of our family, she never learned to cook small portions. Once, after she’d realized the meals were too large for regular plates, she went to the local high school and asked if they would sell her serving trays. They did. And we ate off of them for years.”

“My mom is a great cook,” says Timothy, the ninth Spicer child who is nicknamed “Buddy” because he gets along 14 with everyone.

But Minnie wasn’t always the grand master of fine dining. Minnie’s interest in cooking began when her son John came back with stories of sumptuous food cooked by a friend’s mother.

“So I started baking cookies,” Minnie says. “I would put in a little of this and a little of that until they tasted right.” “(Minnie also) used her cooking to convince children in the neighborhood to attend Sunday school and church,” Adam says. “She would agree to have them over for dinner on Sunday, as long as they went to church. It didn’t take long for those kids to fall in love with church. At least one of those kids is now a minister.”

With only two hours of sleep, Minnie, 63, looks fresh and radiant. She has gorgeous translucent skin, large eyes and the kind of electric smile that makes you want to be her friend. Hardly noticeable are burn scars from the fire she survived when she 7.

Minnie is happy. Her children are home. Two of her boys, Daniel and Joseph, drove all night from Arkansas. Daniel brought all four of his kids, Jeremy, Danielle, Briana and LaKeisha Spicer. Adam, Timothy and Elizabeth Spicer, who live in the metro Jackson area, also join the festivities.

Surrounded by her family, Minnie beams with maternal pride.

“Everyone tells me I should open a restaurant,” Minnie says, as she relaxes in a soft white-leather recliner in the living room.

“Have another piece of cake.”

I accept. This woman should not be denied.

A Lost Childhood “When I was growing up, my mother was my heart,” Minnie says. But to this day, Minnie does not understand why her mother did not rescue her from a house fire that started when she was playing hide-andgo seek with her older sister. And when she looked closer at their relationship, she never

One way that Minnie Spicer expreses her love for her 10 children and 16 grandchilren is with plenty of home-cooked food.

understood why her mother called both her daughters Minnie.

“I was 7 years old,” Minnie says.

“I was hiding behind a heater, and my poodle skirt caught on fire. I was screaming with everything I had ‘Madea, Madea,’ which is what I called my mother. I screamed for her until I saw her through the window, and I fainted. It was a man from another house who rescued me.”

“My mother was not sympathetic,” Minnie says, telling everyone that her daughter was “all burned up.”

Traumatized by the “burned child” label and feeling emotionally abandoned by her mother, Minnie felt betrayed.

She attended school through the second week of seventh grade and then quit, taking a job in a boarding house cooking, washing sheets and cleaning.

“Every week I would go home and give my money to my mama,” Minnie says.

But it was never enough to win back her mother’s affection.

Tired of her mother’s contempt and the verbal abuse, Minnie sought a way out of Mississippi. She met a couple who drove her to Memphis. They offered to take her to Massachusetts, but she said “no.” She smiles when she thinks of that couple, whose name she never knew.

Into the Frying Pan of Matrimony With only verve and snap, 15-year-old Minnie made her way from Memphis to a small town in Missouri, where she got work as a waitress in the Star restaurant. She met her future husband, Clifton Spicer, at the Star.

The teenager was awestruck by Clifton’s classic good looks. He was tall, towering above Minnie at 6 foot 3 inches. He loved to wear a cowboy hat and boots, a 45-caliber pistol at his side. He idolized John Wayne.

Like Wayne, Clifton was muscular and dignified. He had served his country in the Navy during World War II. He was also 22 years older than Minnie, and Minnie was at an impressionable age.

“He put his hand on my knee,” Minnie says, reminiscing about Clifton.

“I pushed his hand away. And then I realized he was interested.”

Clifton wooed Minnie until she finally agreed to marry him if he bought her a house to raise a family. They were married within two weeks of their first meeting. “My husband was a traveler,” Minnie says.

Clifton’s restless spirit moved them to new places, and the family grew with each move. Minnie, a devout Baptist, named her 11 children with Biblical names: John, Daniel, Paul, David, Martha, Joseph, Mark, Adam, Timothy, Mary and Elizabeth. The only rea-

Eleven Joys of Motherhood After a miscarriage during her sixth month of her pregnancy and the birth of a stillborn daughter (which still makes Minnie’s eyes swell with tears), Minnie gave birth to her first son, John, in Mercy, Calif. Now 43, John lives in Pine Bluff, Ark., with his wife, Janette, and two children. Inspired by a calling that was in his nature since he was a small child, John has become a successful minister.

Minnie and Clifton had their second son, Daniel, in McComb. Daniel, 41, also lives in Pine Bluff with his four children and has had an impressive career at International Paper.

Paul, the third son in the Spicer clan, was born in Edwards, but died in a car accident when he was 22. David, 39, was born in Canton. He had a promising future in the NFL, but a legal indiscretion led to his incarceration.

Born in Vicksburg, Martha, 37, is Minnie’s fifth child and first daughter. She now lives near her mom in Flora. Martha has three children and manages an office.

“Martha always knew how to handle her four older brothers and her daddy,” Minnie says.

Joseph, 36, was born in Edwards, and is an entrepreneur and business owner living in Pine Bluff. “Joseph likes to joke around, but he’s always there for me. He doesn’t want me to want for anything,” Minnie says.

Around 1973, the family settled down in Flora, and that’s where the rest of the Spicer kids were born. Mark, 33, lives with his family in Jackson and works as a surgical technician. Adam, 31, lives in Madison and is a successful lawyer. Before going to law school, Adam served in the Navy like his father.

“When I left for the Navy, my mother hugged me and cried,” Adam says.

“She told me that she was so proud of me and knew that I would succeed. Every time any of us left home, she’d always say: ‘The same God who watched over you at home, will watch over you wherever you go.

Just remember to pray.’

“So, I went … and I prayed. When I returned home after boot camp, I had lost about 30 pounds. My mother took one look at me and said: ‘Come on in here and let me fix you something to eat.’”

Timothy, 30, is a commercial truck driver who lives in Flora with his family. Like his mama, Timothy can sing church hymns and belt the blues. Mary, 28, works as a patient representative. She lives in Jackson with her husband Corey and Corey’s sister Shundra, who has Down syndrome. Shundra calls Minnie “grandma.”

At 25, Elizabeth is the baby of the Spicer clan. She also lives in Flora with her

two children. She is a customer-service representative and nursing student.

“Elizabeth was only 22 months old when her father died,” Minnie says. “She never knew her daddy.”

When they were young, Elizabeth and her other brothers and sisters would give Minnie a “Father’s Day” card, because she was both their mother and father after Clifton died.

Keeping The Faith “When each of my babies was in the womb, I prayed, ‘Lord let me love my child like a mother should. Let my child love me as a child should love their mother,” Minnie says.

“I would line them up and have them say their prayers,” Minnie recalls of her young family. “Then they would scamper off into their bunk beds and do things that kids do.

‘Your breath stinks,’ one would say. And another would respond, ‘your feet stink,’ Minnie says with a laugh.

Saying grace before dinner sparks another fond memory of the children: “I would tell them ‘say your grace and eat it all.’” Each child would say their own grace, except for Mark, who was 6 at the time. “When I put the food on the table Mark would repeat, ‘Say your grace and eat it all.’”

Mark loved to stay up late and watch horror films, like ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ or ‘Chuckie’,” Minnie adds. “And I would tell him: ‘Mark, you do not need to be watching that stuff.’ One night he knocked on my bedroom door: ‘Mama, can I spend the night with you?’”

Minnie is quick to admit she’s not a flawless mom. “Parents are going to make mistakes,” she says. “I’ve made some. I do not consider myself a perfect mother.”

Ask Minnie’s children, though, and you will hear a different story. “My mother was always there for us. No matter how bad our

father treated her, she was always there for us,” Martha says.

“There are two things very important to me,” Minnie says. “That my children know that I love them and that they get an education. … I was uneducated, and I didn’t want them to have to go through that.”

The mother of 11 also taught her children that there was more to life than the possession of material things.

“One year I got all my children together and said, ‘I am so sorry I cannot afford to get you anything for Christmas. Adam looks to me and says, ‘We’ve never missed a Christmas, so if we’re not getting us anything, then you’re not able. We understand.’”

But fortune smiled on Minnie that year, and she was able to surprise the children with a big Christmas. “God had blessed us,” she says.

“They had everything that Christmas they could possibly want.”

Minnie saved money for her brood any way she could.

“I learned a long time ago not to fight with my husband,” she says.

“I would never win. … My husband was disabled so when I got his Social Security and (Veteran’s Administration) checks, I would cash his checks, pay the monthly bills, and if he said or did something that really made me mad, I charged him for it.”

The money Minnie charged Clifton for his meanness, she would save to buy presents for the kids.

Still, she was far from an indulgent parent. “When my husband passed away, I called my children, and I said: ‘When I tell you something one time, I mean it. If I say go mow the law, that’s it. If I say go clean the kitchen, that’s it,’” Minnie says. If they didn’t listen, she used a time-tested motherly method: “All I had to say is, ‘What you did hurt me,’ and that was the end of that.”

Her kids say that Minnie could have been a military commander with her natu-

ral talents for understanding people and getting the best out of them.

“What really makes my mom special is that she mastered the art of shifting back and forth between being a loving, kind mother and a stern disciplinarian and teacher,” Adam says. Minnie was adamant that her sons would grow up to be “real men.” She often wondered whether Clifton would have been proud of the way he reared their sons. But she also wanted her children to know unconditional love.

“I can’t remember a day that went by that I didn’t hear my mom say, ‘I love you,’” Adam says.

“It’s important to me to know that when I die, my children can survive,” Minnie says.

“When I look around, all of them grown, all of them have their own houses, I know they can make it on their own.”

Living Day to Day “My mother never measures anything,” Adam says. “Never a cup of this or an ounce of that. In cooking, she just does what tastes right and she always does it with love. I suppose the same recipe can make for a very savory life.”

Singing helps, too, apparently. “When I cook, I like to sing,” Minnie says. “I could always sing.” As if to make a point, Minnie breaks out in song during our interview: “I don’t know about tomorrow,” she sings spontaneously. “I just live from day to day.”

Hanging on the walls behind Minnie’s recliner are two large paintings, each featuring a loving angel protecting small children.

Beside the paintings are family photographs, showing happy kids and adults at different stages of life.

Every inch of space in Minnie’s house holds a family memory. Many exceptional memories have been made in the sunny house on Norris Street, but there are some not so happy ones, too.

Minnie Spicer’s home is a warm place, and Minnie is the family’s heart and soul.

From left to right (back row): Joseph Spicer (son); Daniel Spicer (son); Jeremy Spicer (grandson); Adam Spicer (son); Timothy Spicer (son). Left to right (front row): Lakeisha Spicer (granddaughter); Danielle Spicer (granddaughter); Minnie Spicer; Elizabeth Spicer (daughter); Briana Spicer (granddaughter).

jacksonfreepress.com

son she stayed with her husband was for the children; Clifton commonly flew into abusive rages against his wife.

When Minnie was 39, Clifton died of a heart attack.

“It was much better after my dad died,” Martha says. Martha vividly remembers her father throwing scalding water on Minnie when she was pregnant with Adam. “I was over there,” Martha says, pointing to a corner of the dining room. Minnie was burned, but the baby was all right.

15

MOM MO MOM Reminder of Home

April 29 - May 5, 2010

S

16

My mom let me do that because it kept me busy and out of the way, a trick used by many members of the Branberg clan.

When my mom was growing up, she and her two sisters would visit their Grandma Branberg in Rock Island, Ill., during winter break. They lived in a tiny house, so Grandma would make snickerdoodles with the girls in the kitchen to give the grown-ups some time of their own. My mom’s favorite parts of the cookie-making process were the rolling and the eating, much like mine.

When my bumpa was growing up, his mom would store big tins (the kind that the holiday trifecta of popcorn comes in) filled with snickerdoodles in the attic of their house. Snickerdoodles still are bumpa’s favorite cookie, and as a curious boy with a large appetite, he found them and left nothing but crumbs.

Ever since I moved to Jackson to go to Millsaps College, I’ve gotten numerous packages from home with enough snickerdoodles for all my friends and me. Freshman year I used my cookie surplus to meet new people. No one says “no” when asked, “Do you want a homemade cookie?”

My mom and I also bake them when I’m home for winter break. To me, snickerdoodles are a perfect comfort food and reminder of home.

GRANDMA BRANBERG’S SNICKERDOODLES (makes about 60 cookies) Cookie Dough: 1 cup soft shortening, part butter 1-1/2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs 2-3/4 cups flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon

JESSE CROW

nickerdoodles are a Branberg family tradition, passed down from my great grandma to my bumpa (the term I coined for my grandpa when I was very young), to my mom and finally to me. Usually, snickerdoodles are made during the winter and served with Russian spice tea, but they’re just as tasty all year long.

When I was little, “Jesse, do you want to make snickerdoodles?” were some of my favorite words to hear. Not only did they mean I would get to spend quality time with my mom (my dad would appear when there were cookies on the cooling racks) but there would also be cookies galore in the house. The recipe makes around five dozen, much more than my mom, dad and I could eat at once.

Mom and I would make snickerdoodles mainly in the wintertime, as my mom had done when she was a child. We don’t use the heat or air in our house, so baking anything during the summer in Florida is out of the question. During the winter, though, it helped warm parts of the house the wood stove couldn’t reach.

I would try to mix all the ingredients together, a job I quickly passed off to mom, but I was always the one to roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar.

by Jesse Crow

To make the dough, mix together well the shortening, all but two tablespoons of sugar and the eggs. Sift the flour, cream of tarter, baking soda and salt together, and stir into the shortening mixture. Roll cookie dough into balls the size of small walnuts.

In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining two tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon. Roll the dough balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Place dough balls two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 400 degrees for eight to 10 minutes, until lightly brown but still soft. Watch carefully after seven minutes, because snickerdoodles can burn easily.

COURTESY RANDOM HOUSE

COURTESY REAL SIMPLE

COURTESY HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

COURTESY REAL SIMPLE

“Real Simple: Celebrations” (Real Simple, 2006, $27.95) Another title from Real Simple will help mom become a rock star at plan-

Massage for healing and wellness.

Gilly MacMillan, BSN LMT #1500 PREGNANCY SWEDISH SHIATZU THAI YOGA REFLEXOLOGY

“Real Simple Solutions: Tricks, Wisdom and Easy Ideas to Simplify Every Day” (Real Simple, 2006, $27.95) If your mom likes Real Simple magazine, she’ll love this book. Do you know the proper way to set a table? I didn’t, but I learned from this book. “Real Simple Solutions” offers easy and low-cost fixes to everyday household dilemmas, with ideas for cooking, cleaning, decorating, entertaining, dressing, grooming, working and more.

“The Lucky Shopping Manual: Building and Improving Your Wardrobe Piece by Piece”

by Kim France and Andrea Linett (Gotham, 2003, $30) Who doesn’t like the “Yes,” “No” and “Maybe” stickers in Lucky Magazine? Armed with the information learned in “Dress Your Best,” this book will become mom’s fashion playbook to build a better wardrobe.

She’ll learn shopping tips, how best to care for clothes and how to wear a favorite item all year round.

COURTESY GOTHAM

“The Power of a Praying Parent”

by Stormie Omartian (Harvest House Publishers, 2007, $16.99) My mother has been praying for my sister and me for as long as I can remember.

And although we still face challenges in life, prayer has been a constant and powerful force that has helped us prevail. Omartian offers specific prayers moms can say daily for their children to protect them from harm, help with handling peer pressure, maintaining good health and excelling in education.

“Women’s Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness”

by Tori Hudson (McGraw-Hill, 2nd edition, 2007, $24.95) Did you know that valerian root can help with stress, anxiety and restful sleep? The earth offers tons of natural remedies that can help alleviate a plethora of medical conditions. The “Women’s Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine” can help build mom’s knowledge of homeopathic medicine to bring greater wellness to her life.

COURTESY THREE RIVERS PRESS

“Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That’s Right for Your Body”

by Clinton Kelly and Stacy London (Three Rivers Press, 2005, $19.95) “What Not to Wear” on The Learning Channel is one of my favorite TV shows.

My mom and I can’t get enough.

Now you can give mom all the tips from Kelly and London in a colorful guide that will be permanent fixture on her bedside table. She’ll learn what styles flatter her body type, which in return will help boost selfconfidence and improve how she present herself to the world.

ning parties for any occasion. The book breaks down parties into categories: annual (holidays), occasional (birthdays and BBQs) and anytime celebrations. It leads readers through timelines, menu planning and decorations with checklists and game ideas.

COURTESY MCGRAW-HILL

“Letter to My Daughter”

by Dr. Maya Angelou (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2009, $15) Maya Angelou has compiled 28 short essays and poems on life, faith and motherhood. Although Angelou gave birth to only one child, a son, she writes this to the women of the world, taking us all in as her daughters.

The lessons she shares are poignant and honest. This is a great read, offering invaluable lessons from the remarkable Angelou, who has led a rich and full life.

by Shawanda Jacome

Precise Research Centers Telephone: 601-420-5810

jacksonfreepress.com

Books for Mom

“I’ve worked as a nurse for nearly 15 years.

Massage offers another path for our bodies to heal.”

17

Yazoo Tornado Charity Event raising money for families in need.

Saturday, May 1st Featuring members of: Full Moon Circus • Cleverform • StillFrame Creep Left • Jason Turner Band • Black Wolf American Automatic • Diesel 255 and more! $5 dollar donation to enter. Charity raffle and more!

Daily Lunch Specials - $9

Come in for the perfect gift for Mom!

Happy Happy Hour Hour Everyday Everyday 4-7 4-7 LATE NIGHT HAPPY HOUR Sun. thru Thurs. 10pm - 12am Two-for-One, YOU CALL IT! “BADGE SPECIAL” 2-for-1 drinks all day, everyday!

601.978.1839 6270 Old Canton Rd. Jackson, MS 39211

FReelance Writers Wanted!

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601.933.0074

69,500 adults in the Jackson metro read us in print or online.

April 29 - May 5, 2010

Our multimedia promotion offers aggressive rates on a combination of print, web and JFP Daily advertising.

18

For more information, call 601-362-6121 x11 or write ads@jacksonfreepress.com!

the Jackson Free Press is looking for freelance writers to cover events, food, sports, personalities, local businesses and weddings.

Email writing samples to: ronni@jacksonfreepress.com

Minnie’s Shopping Guide

by ShaWanda Jacome

On Minnie:

Handmade Guatemalan scarf, $26.95, Rainbow Fair Trade Handicrafts Friends of Uganda paper necklace, $25, Rainbow Fair Trade Handicrafts

Glass earrings, $26.95, Rainbow Fair Trade Handicrafts

PHOTOGRAPHY: JAMES PATTERSON STYLISTS: ANN HERLIHY AND ANITA MODAK-TRURAN MAKE-UP: SHONDRA MACKLIN, BLAQUE BUTTERFLY OF BUTTERFLYFACES MAKEUP ARTISTRY

Plus floral blouse, $7, Orange Peel Glass bead bracelets, $3-5 each, Orange Peel

Bohemian bag, $8, Orange Peel Mod necklace, $14, Orange Peel

Black scarf with red flowers, $5, Orange Peel

Faux alligator purse, $9, Orange Peel

Elizabeth Scokin Haute Hostess apron, $240, Maison Weiss

Fresh Sake Bath perfume, $80, Maison Weiss

WHERE2SHOP Maison Weiss Highland Village 4500 I-55 N. , Suite 109 601-981-4621 Orange Peel Consignment Boutique 3026 N. State St, 601-364-9977 Rainbow Fair Trade Handicrafts 2807 Old Canton Road 601-987-0002 Sami Lott Designs and Gallery 1800 N. State St. 601-212-7707

Tory Burch sunglasses, $155, Maison Weiss

Chandelier earrings, $24, Libby Story

Tory Burch scandals, $115, Maison Weiss

Vintage rhinestone flower pin, $14, Libby Story

Libby Story recycled belt, $18, Libby Story

jacksonfreepress.com

Blithe and Vine Fondren Corner 2906 N. State Street 601-427-3322 Dream Beads 605 Duling Ave. 601-664-0411 Jonah’s Salon 1800 N. State St. 601-983-7467 Libby Story & Company 120 West Jackson St., Ridgeland 601-717-3300

Bond No. 9 High Line perfume, $220, Maison Weiss

19

WEIGHT LOSS 101 • Avoid yo-yo dieting • No long-term contract • Weight loss plan based on medical history, dieting history and body type

Tailored to Your Body’s Needs Adipex and herbal weight loss aids available - $99

710 Poplar Boulevard in Jackson | 601-487-6670

April 29 - May 5, 2010

(Located across the street from Keifer’s in Historic Belhaven)

20

SHOPKEEP SH SHOPKEEP Oleta’s Gifts, Greeks and Baskets

WRIJOYA ROY

Shopkeeper: Oleta Stokes

I

by ShaWanda Jacome ents, now deceased, owned a moving and storage company, grocery store, restaurant and motel in Philadelphia. “I guess it’s just kind of in my bloodline,” she says. “ I love people and I love what I do.”

Have you always owned your own business and been your own boss?

When you say a “real entrepreneur,” that’s me.

My first love was to open up a restaurant because my mother had a restaurant.

And that was really my first business dream … in the early ’80s. But I decided against that.

How do you set yourself apart from other stores, and why Ridgeland?

Customer service. I wanted to be in a central location to service the needs of many people in the metro area.

Why do you think it’s important to have black-owned businesses in the community?

So that we can help promote one another, to put ourselves out there in the business community.

n a gray two-story building off Highway 51 in Ridgeland just beAny advice for others looking to start a business? low a comic book store sits a shop You really need to know what you’re doing. It’s more that celebrates the history of African than a notion. You may walk in and see a business owner or American fraternities and sororities. business and say: “Oh that’s easy.” No, it’s not. … You have The shop, Oleta’s Gifts, Greeks to make sure it’s what you want and do your legwork. and Baskets (579 Highway 51 N., Ridgeland, 601-856-8886), opened What’s the biggest challenge of owning a business?

How did it come about? in 2007, and is filled with unique Advertising. Trying to get the message out that we’re Retiring at age 55 (from the Southgifts that bear the colors and letters of here.

Our products are kind of unique—the gift baskets, the ern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Comthe “Divine Nine.”

HBCU products—for where we are located. So just trying to pany as a service specialist), I didn’t think Owner Oleta M. Stokes, 57, get out in the community, into the area and let them know I would open up a business because my is a helpful and talkative woman Oleta M. Stokes says being a entreprenuer is “in her bloodline.” that we are here, what we do and what we have to offer. thing was to go to work with fl oral, who warmly welcomes you when something dealing with fl owers because you enter her store. She takes the time Since this is our Mother’s Day issue, can you share with me I enjoy doing that as well. to meet the individual needs of her any special memories of your mom? customers.

Tell about your products and services?

I remember going home and buying my momma a gift, Before opening at her current location, she began We do a Divine Nine Greek line, that’s that was before people went out to eat creating and selling gift baskets in 1996 out of her home. your (African American) sororities and your and all that stuff. My mother was a hard From the gift baskets, she expanded to sell Jackson State Hours of Operation fraternities, as well as your Masons and worker. And whenever we went home, University products like stadium seat cushions. she always wanted to make sure she had A Philadelphia, Miss., native, Stokes attended Jackson Eastern Star. We also carry (Southwestern 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., fried chicken ready and some type of State University where she studied special education. These Athletic Conference) school products, which Monday-Friday cake. My mother loved to cook. Growing days, she still sets up a booth at the Mississippi Veterans include Jackson State, Valley State and Al11 a.m. to 4 p.m. up I worked late nights with her and she Memorial Stadium on North State Street to sell her wares corn. … We do gift baskets to fit the need of Saturday would fry up chicken for us. That’s what I the receiver. We also do T-shirts, choir robes, during JSU football season.

Closed Sunday remember, things like that.

Stokes comes from a family of business owners: Her par- choir and clergy attire.

Shopping Strip

Mother’s Day glass show piece $9.95

Alpha Kappa Alpha stainless steel tumbler, $15 Delta Sigma Theta cappuccino mug, $11.50 Sigma Gamma Rho photo album, $10.50 Zeta Phi Beta picture frame, $18.99

Alpha Phi Alpha wooden plaque, $21.99 Omega Psi Phi trinket box, $17.99 Phi Beta Sigma coffee cup, $10

Iota Phi Theta car tag, $20

Kappa Alpha Psi raised letter baseball cap, $20

THIS MOTHER’S DAY Make a One of a Kind Piece for a One of a Kind Mom

Happy Mother’s Day From

398 Hwy. 51 • Ridgeland, MS (601)853-3299 • www.villagebeads.com

MIS TEE V-OUS, Rosalina, Snips n’ Snails, Double Daisies, Itzy Bitzy, Vistra’s, The Everyday Baby and more...

PEPPY & POSH’S STORE HOURS: Monday - Wednesday and Friday 10am - 6pm Saturdays 10am - 2pm (Closed on Thursday and Sunday)

305 Clinton Blvd. Clinton, MS • 601.924.2728

jacksonfreepress.com

Spring Inventory:

21

GRAD

Books for Grads ransitional states such as graduation can render a person wide open emotional lows and highs.

This is actually the perfect moment to go out and explore the world. The following is a sampling from an ocean of books to get you amped up to splash into life freshly, wildly and mindfully.

April 29 - May 5, 2010

“Walden”

by Henry David Thoreau (Beacon Press, 2004, $10.95) From his detailed accounts of his day-to-day observations while living in seclusion in the Massachusetts woods

22

COURTESY BEACON PRESS

COURTESY HARPER

“The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace: Core Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism”

by Dalai Lama (Harper San Francisco, 1997, $16) As in all his books, the Dalai Lama espouses advice, lodged in the tenets of Tibetan Buddhism about compassion and peace, as well as selfawareness and techniques for filling up your heart with happiness. Through his seemingly endless wisdom, the Dalai Lama can simultaneously calm and empower readers to benevolently interact with the world.

COURTESY LITTLE BROWN

COURTESY WW NORTON & CO.

“Letters to a Young Poet”

by Rainer Maria Rilke (WW Norton & Co., 1993, $9.95) If you’re not a poet, take solace; this little book is still applicable. In addition to the creative encouragement he dispenses through his lettercorrespondence, Rilke covers all terrain from developing the self into a mature being (while reconnecting with one’s inner child), romantic relationships and the depths of human existence itself.

COURTESY MIDDLEWAY PRESS

T

by Charlotte Blom

during the 1800s, during a two-year “experiment,” transcendentalist Thoreau discovered profundities about himself and society.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

“The Buddha Next Door: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories”

by Zan Gaudioso and Greg Martin (Middleway Press, 2007, $15.95) This book details countless personal stories by Nichiren Buddhists who have been in the darkest places, only to pull themselves up by their bootstraps through their determination. It is testimony that people can change their lives no matter how dire their circumstances.

“Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference”

by Malcolm Gladwell (Little Brown and Company, 2000, $15.99) From a corner of pop-anthropology, Gladwell pulls various societal examples to demonstrate that every vote really does count. For instance, he asserts the “word of mouth” phenomenon can overpower even the slickest coercive advertising. The world has changed tremendously since this book was published, but his simple snowball effect stance is still valid.

Stay in school for your master’s and live at home if you can while you work toward finding the perfect job without creating bills for yourself.

-Michael Jacome, JFP freelance writer and distribution driver

DREAM! And don’t be afraid to chase your dream. Never allow the actions or words of others to predict the outcome of your future. -Wes Shivers, MSU alum and mixed martial-arts fighter

23

jacksonfreepress.com

GRAD

Living Cheaply, Living Well

fter years of hard work, your time has finally come. You’ve walked across the stage, received your diploma, perhaps even been offered a fulltime job. Graduating college is a big plunge into the real world of work, paying bills and managing your time.

During this time of transition, it can be important to live on the cheap. Even a decent starting salary is often stretched thin when it has to cover “grown-up” costs such as rent, insurance, utilities, debt payments and the like. To add struggle to stress, many recent college grads are starting out with less income than they might have expected.

My husband and I are living in this stage of life. I graduated three years ago and became a junior-high teacher; he is employed as a graphic designer, while still completing his degree. It requires some effort to balance the budget every month, but we manage to make it work. As I learned as a single woman right out of college—and as we continue to learn together—you don’t need a lot of money to live with gusto.

For an inexpensive, fun-filled life, here are some helpful guidelines we have discovered: Set long-term goals. With only the demands of full-time work and the benefit of a regular paycheck, it can be tempting to drift aimlessly, spend money without a real plan and become satisfied with mediocrity. Instead, ask yourself what you want to get out of your life. Do you want to buy a house? Move overseas? Go to graduate school? Decide what you want and prepare to achieve it.

Make a budget. Most long-term goals will require money, so you need to make a plan to manage your paycheck

A

well. If you have taken your first full-time job, you may at first think that you are rolling in money. However, rent, utilities, food, insurance and other expenses quickly add up.

Be prepared for what you can spend on fun, decorating and entertainment, and stretch that money creatively.

Learn to cook. It is startling how eating out, even at fast-food restaurants, can completely consume a paycheck. If you will take the time to prepare your meals at home, you will save money and eat better. You might even lose weight! There are websites and cookbooks galore that will teach you to create simple and delicious meals that will spare your budget and please your stomach.

Manage your expectations. Does your idea of a good life involve designer clothes and $150 dates? Consignment stores and homemade picnics can provide the same enjoyment as their more expensive counterparts—and a good deal more adventure. Still, you don’t have to completely forsake that expensive coat or nice date. Just make sure you have planned for the expense. And enjoy it. Splurges are more fun when they are occasional.

Exercise creativity. If you’re furnishing an apartment, check out garage sales, online classifieds and thrift stores. These present endless possibilities for the college grad.

If you find a furniture item with a good aesthetic but awful paint, you can always re-do it. If you’re willing to look around, you can also find dishes, vintage electronics, pots and pans, and picture frames for inexpensive prices. Some of my favorite items in our home were almost free.

Live intentionally. To live cheaply, you do not have

MEDITERRANEAN GRILL

Visit our Gro cery Store next door

by Katie Stewart

to abandon your values. Mason and I support local businesses, welcome friends into our home, eat well and do things we like. Our lives are better because we don’t spend haphazardly.

Rather, we spend our paychecks on purpose and choose to enjoy our lifestyle. We don’t see our frugality as deprivation; we see it as freedom to be creative, prepare for the future and cherish a simple life.

HELP! 101cookbooks.com: Find here some excellent vegetarian recipes with delicious and healthful ingredients—they are definitely worth a try.

Daveramsey.com: Dave Ramsey is a wellknown financial expert who has helped many couples and families manage their money and get out of debt.

MDES.ms.gov: Want to improve your financial situation and job opportunities? The Mississippi Department of Employment Security offers a free job search, job hunting tips and resources for additional vocational training and education.

Mint.com: A free money management website designed to track your spending and worth, produced by the makers of Quicken.

Rainbowcoop.org: Get local advice from Rainbow Whole Foods about organic foods, healthy living, eating vegan and promoting a clean environment. Also sign-up for their free newsletter.

Smittenkitchen.com: One of my favorite recipe sources, this blog is invaluable help for those with small kitchens.

Thekitchn.com: The cooking blog of apartmenttherapy.com, this lovely site emphasizes simple meals and efficient kitchens.

Youneedabudget.com: This is the program that we use for our budget—and it’s fabulous. It helps you quickly assess your costs and build up a “buffer” for emergency expenses.

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nstead of delving into a 9-to-5 pace, Colleen Kinder sought out a national fellowship that took her to Cuba. The 2003 Yale graduate spent her first year out of college marching with students opposed to Fidel Castro, volunteering in a nursing home, salsa dancing and writing. She received an offer to publish a book midway through her adventure, a book that would spur young people to look beyond the cubicle and revel in possibility.

“Delaying the Real World: A Twentysomething’s Guide to Seeking Adventure” (Running Press Book Publishers, 2005, $12.95) invites recent grads to redefine the “real world” by creating their own life-changing adventures. Written as a guidebook, “Delaying” draws on anecdotes that span the gamut of post-grad opportunities––from entertaining on a cruise ship to leading spiritual service projects in rural communities.

Five years after the book’s publication, its ideas, resources and stories continue to inspire recent grads to seize their 20s as a prime, possibility-filled decade.

Broken into seven chapters that cover international opportunities, outdoor pursuits, volunteer ventures, careers in creative arts, and how to reframe living in one’s hometown again, “Delaying” suggests that “you can never go wrong in doing what you love, because it will only lead you further into your passion.”

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Since her year in Cuba, Kinder has obtained a master of fine arts degree in nonfiction writing; been published widely in the United States; and traversed the globe with academic grants, taking up residency in Iceland, Mexico and New Hampshire.

Her advice to restless and eager 20somethings? “Read on, dream big, be gutsy, and make your 20s the sweetest decade of your life.”

Everclear is not your friend. -Lacey McLaughlin, JFP news editor Just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you’re entitled to anything special. You do not deserve the top-level job in your field. You don’t need to go buy a new house. These things come with time and experience. You may know more than you did four years ago, but you still do not know everything. Never pass up an opportunity to continue your education; consider graduate school. And ladies, there is more to life than getting your MRS. degree: Have fun, travel, live your life and don’t be in a hurry to settle down! -Andi Agnew, Programs Manager, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and JFP freelance writer

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BEST BETS April 22 - 29

by Latasha Willis events@jacksonfreepress.com Fax: 601-510-9019 Daily updates at jfpevents.com

SATURDAY 5/1

John Grady Burns signs copies of “Personally Yours & Evergreen” and gives a floral-design demonstration at The Everyday Gardener (2905 Old Canton Road) at noon. $40 admission, $50 book; call 601-981-0273. … Jesse Robinson performs during the blues lunch at Lumpkin’s from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., and Sherman Lee Dillon performs during F. Jones Corner’s blues lunch starting at noon. Free. … Bill & Temperance and Fred Knobloch perform at Highland Village (4500 Interstate 55 North) at 6:30 p.m. in the courtyard. Free with cash bar; call 601982-8111. … Download the free Mississippi Happening podcast at 7 p.m. at mississippihappening.com. …T.B. Ledford and Matthew Magee perform at The Parker House on the patio. Call 601-856-0043.

Free Comic Book Day at Heroes and Dreams (5352 Highway 25, Suite 1650, Flowood) starts at 10:30 a.m.

Free; call 601-992-3100. … The Eudora Welty New Plays Series at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.) includes readings of “Hurricane Baby” at 1 p.m. and “See Jane Quit” at 3 p.m. “Mid-Strut” will be read May 2 at 2 p.m. Free; call 601-948-3531. … The Capital City Roller Girls take on the Pred Swamp Dolls at the Mississippi Trade Mart (1200 Mississippi St.) is at 7 p.m. $10 in advance, $12 day of bout, $5 children; call 601-961-4000 or 601-527-3540. … The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s “Mozart and Pachebel’s Musical Gems” concert at St. Joseph Catholic School (308 New Mannsdale Road, Madison) begins at 7:30 p.m. $15, $5 students; call 601-960-1565. … Chris Gill performs at Fitzgerald’s from 8 p.m.-midnight. Call 601-957-2800. …

The JFP’s Southern Fried Karaoke “May Day Edition” at Hal & Mal’s kicks off at 9 p.m. Free; call 601-362-6121, ext. 16.

COURTESY JACKIE DOBRINSKA

THURSDAY 4/29

SUNDAY 5/2 The Howard Jones Trio plays at the King Edward Hotel from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. … Ballet Mississippi performs “Paquita” and “The Perfect Man” at Thalia Mara Hall at 3 p.m. $15; call 601-960-1560. … See “Steel Magnolias” at The Black Rose Theater in Brandon (103 Black St., 601-825-1293); $15 adults, $10 students and seniors, or “All Shook Up” at the Actor’s Playhouse in Pearl (121 Paul Truitt Lane); $10, $8 students/seniors, $5 children 12 and under. Today is the final staging of both plays. … The Mike & Marty Open Jam Session at The Warehouse is from 6-10 p.m. Free.

MONDAY 5/3 The “Tasty Bite Out Of Crime” fundraiser at Highland Village (4500 Interstate 55 North) at 7 p.m. includes gourmet food and music. Proceeds benefit the Jackson Police Department, Metro One and other local law enforcement. $50 in advance, $60 at the door; call 601-212-0016; visit tastybiteoutofcrime.com.

Sean Johnson (pictured) and The Wild Lotus Band will perform April 30 at the LemuriaBooks.com building at 7:30 p.m.

April 29 - May 5, 2010

Arts Alive! at Smith Park (302 E. Amite St.) is from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and continues through Sunday. Enjoy music, dance, art and food. Free; visit artsalivejackson.com. …

Come to the Welty Commons Gallery (719 Congress St.) for open-mic poetry at 6:30 p.m. Free; call 601-540-1267. …

Sean Johnson and The Wild Lotus Band perform kirtan chant music at the LemuriaBooks.com building (4506 Office Park Drive) at 7:30 p.m. $15 in advance, $20 at the door; call 601594-2313. … The UpNext Kids CD release party at The Auditorium is at 8 p.m. $25 (includes CD); call 601-454-3745. … Carlton’s South Carolina Show Band is at Shucker’s from 8 p.m.-1 a.m. $5. … Eric Stracener and Brian Ledford are at Hal & Mal’s at 8 p.m. Free. … Cucho’s Amigos of Jazz are at 28 Underground 119 from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Call 601-352-2322.

The Legislative Shoot-Out Golf Tournament at Annandale Golf Club (419A Annandale Parkway, Madison) begins at 1 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi. $250; call 601-957-7878. … Jackson State and Mississippi State compete in the 2010 College Series baseball game at Trustmark Park (1 Braves Way, Pearl) at 6:30 p.m.

Mississippi State and Southern Miss compete on May 5. $13$15 per game; visit ticketmaster.com.

WEDNESDAY 5/5 The Parents for Public Schools Lunch Bunch at Jackson Medical Mall’s Community Meeting Room (350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave.) is at 11 a.m. An RSVP is required. $5 lunch; call 601-969-6015. … Cinco de Drinko at Fenian’s starts at 5 p.m. and includes specials on drinks and Mexican-inspired dishes. Call 601-948-0055. … The Downtown Cinco de Mayo at Dreamz (426 W. Capital St.) at 5:30 p.m. includes Mexican food, salsa dancing and music by Jesse Robinson, the El Patrillo Band and DJ Reign. Free admission until 9 p.m.; call 601-720-0663. … Emma Wynters, Mark Whittington and JFP’s own Adam Perry perform at Kathryn’s from 6:309:30 p.m.; visit emmawynters.com. … The Drum Circle at Welty Commons Gallery (719 Congress St.) is at 7:30 p.m.

Free; call 601-540-1267.

THURSDAY 5/6 The reception for Buck Winter’s photography exhibit at Cups, Fondren (2757 Old Canton Road) is from 6:308:30 p.m. Free with items for sale; call 601-362-7422. …

Shaman’s Harvest, Season’s After and The Veer Union play at Fire at 9 p.m. $10 and up. … The Deadstring Brothers and Jonathan Tyler & Northern Lights are at Hal & Mal’s at 9 p.m. Call 601-948-0888.

More events and details at jfpevents.com.

The CD release party for the UpNext Kids will be April 30 at The Auditorium at 8 p.m.

COURTESY DERRICK MARTIN

FRIDAY 4/30

TUESDAY 5/4

29

jacksonfreepress.com

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jfpevents Radio JFP on WLEZ ongoing, at WLEZ 100.1 FM and wlezfm.com. Join Donna Ladd and Todd Stauffer every Thursday from noon-1 p.m., where they discuss vital issues, play local music and feature special guests. This week’s guest is Beneta Burt of Jackson Roadmap to Health. Free; call 601-362-6121, ext. 17.

Mississippi Happening April 29, 7 p.m., at Mississippi Happening Web site. The live monthly broadcast is hosted by Guaqueta Productions and features a special musical guest. Download the free podcast at mississippihappening.com.

Southern Fried Karaoke, May Day Edition May 1, 9 p.m., at Hal and Mal’s (200 Commerce St.). Todd Stauffer and Donna Ladd are the hosts.

All singers welcome; great singers are hugged, kissed and sometimes make it into documentary films!

Free; call 601-362-6121, ext. 16.

Downtown Cinco de Mayo May 5, 5:30 p.m., at Dreamz Jxn (426 W. Capitol St.). Celebrate Jackson’s diversity with partygoers from all backgrounds. Enjoy authentic Mexican food, salsa dancing and music by DJ Reign, Jesse Robinson, the El Patrillo Band and many others. Free admission until 9 p.m.; call 601-720-0663.

ArtRemix May 7, 5 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). The premier after-hours event is a mix of music, food, drinks and art. Performers include Eden Brent, Afrissippi and Jon Cleary. There will also be museum scavenger hunts and adult art activities. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. $20, $15 members in advance; $25, $20 members at the door; call 601-960-1515.

3rd Annual ZooBrew May 14, 6 p.m., at Jackson Zoo (2918 W. Capitol St.). Enjoy beer and wine samplings, food from the Tyson Hot Wing CookOff and live music by Time to Move. Buy a raffle ticket and get a chance to win a vacation package.

You must be 21 or older to participate. $40, $35 members, $5 raffle; call 601-352-2580.

Pickin’ & Paddlin’ Outdoor Festival May 15, 11:30 a.m., at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, Mayes Lake (115 Lakeland Terrace). Enjoy games, rock wall climbing, canoe and kayak races, and music from acts such as the Vernon Brothers and Horse Trailer. The event includes a barbecue lunch and a free T-shirt. Proceeds benefit the Neighborhood Christian Center. $10, free for children 12 and under, $10 for canoe or kayak race; visit nccjackson.com.

COMMUNITY Mississippi Afterburner Jet Rally April 26May 1, at John Bell Williams Airport (4100 Airport Road, Bolton). The rally is from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. each day. See radio-controlled jet and unmanned aerial vehicle demonstrations. The event is part of Radio Controlled/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Aviation Week. Refreshments will be available, and all proceeds go to the Hinds Community College Aviation Scholarship program. $5 per car; call 601857-3884 or 601-857-3300.

SafeHeart Screenings April 29-30, 8 a.m., at Jackson Medical Mall (350 W. Woodrow Wilson Ave.) in the Community Room. SafeHeart Health Screens of Hattiesburg will do five ultrasound and EKG screenings that target risk for heart attack, stroke, abdominal aortic aneurysm, atrial fibrillation, and peripheral arterial disease. Call to register or come early. $129, free for those who qualify; call 601-450-5483 or 866-548-3006.

Central Mississippi Ole Miss Alumni Club Scholarship Luncheon April 29, 11:30 a.m., at Capital Club (125 S. Congress St.), on the 19th floor. The club will present metro-area students with special scholarship awards. Reservations are preferred and can be done online. $15; call 601506-3186.

Solutions for Urinary Incontinence April 29, 11:45 a.m., at Baptist Medical Center (1225 N. State St.). In the Baptist for Women Conference Center. Get all the details from urologist Charles Secrest, M.D., including information about new bulking agents and the mini-sling procedure. Registration is required. $5 optional lunch; call 601-9486262 or 800-948-6262.

Spring Spa Experience April 29, noon, at The Face & Body Center (Riverchase Medical Suites Building, 2559 Flowood Drive, Suite 101, Flowood).

Free spa services such as chair massages, skin-care tips and makeup consultations are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Attend mini-seminars on cosmetic surgery procedures. Prize drawings, gift bags, hors d’oeuvres and drinks will also be offered.

Free admission; call 601-939-9999.

“Buy Your Own Home” Seminar April 29, 4 p.m., at Stronger Hope Baptist Church (223 Beasley Road). Representatives from three housing organizations will give tips on ways to purchase your own home. A question-and-answer session is included.

Free; call 601-956-4784.

Toastmasters International’s 85-Year Celebration Reception April 29, 6 p.m., at Charles Tisdale Library (formerly Northside Library) (807 E. Northside Drive). Come learn about the speech and leadership programs offered by the High Noon Toastmasters. Free admission; call 601-372-5276.

Closet Control April 29, 6 p.m., at Millsaps College (1701 N. State St.). This is the class to find out how organization of your closet is more than just a rod and a shelf. Find out how to assess what you have and how to store it. $25; call 601-974-1130.

Arts Alive! April 30-May 2, at Smith Park (302 Amite St.). Hosted by a number of local churches and the City of Jackson, this event features local restaurants, artists, and performances by the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra Ensembles, Mississippi Opera, Swing de Paris, Ballet Mississippi, the Mississippi Chorus Chamber Choir and Ballet Magnificat. Arts, crafts and concessions will be available April 30-May 1 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 2, the choirs of sponsoring churches such as St. Andrew’s and Galloway will perform from noon-2:30 p.m.

Free admission; call 601-832-4324.

Lynch Street Cultural Arts Festival April 30, 7 p.m., at John R. Lynch St. April 30, the cabaretstyle banquet at the Masonic Lodge (1072 John R. Lynch Street) includes music by the Manhattans.

May 1, the Tobacco Freestyle Children’s Village and health screenings will be held outside on John R. Lynch St. $30, $500 table for banquet; free outdoor activities; call 601-352-6993.

Benjamin Cone III & Worship Gospel Music Experience Conference V April 30, 7 p.m., at New Horizon Church International (Renaissance South, 1770 Ellis Ave.). Come for a performance by the popular local mass choir. Free; visit myspace.com/ benzworship.

Jackson Arts Collective Annual Meeting May 3, 6 p.m., at Welty Commons Gallery (719 Congress St.). The meeting is an opportunity to hear a report of the previous year’s activities and initiatives as well as to elect new steering committee members. Elections are open to all residents of the greater Jackson area, and voting is open to all Jacksonians who are present. Free; e-mail om_peace2you@hotmail.com.

“On the Brink in Mississippi” May 4, noon, at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). Biologist Scott Hereford will talk about efforts underway to save the Mississippi sandhill crane. $3-$5, children under 3 and museum members free; call 601-354-7303.

Financial Education Seminar May 4, 6 p.m., at 3000 Fondren Building (3000 Old Canton Road), in suite 550. The topic is “Homeowner Preparation – Where Do I Start?” Free; call 601-969-6431.

More EVENTS, see page 32

jacksonfreepress.com

JFP SPONSORED EVENTS

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jfpevents

from page 31

2010 College Series Baseball Game May 4, 6:30 p.m., at Trustmark Park (1 Braves Way, Pearl). Mississippi State plays against Jackson State. $13-$15; visit ticketmaster.com.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Call for Scholarship Applications through May 8. The Rho Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. is currently taking scholarship applications from high school seniors with a 3.0 GPA who plan to attend a historically black college or university.

Applications must be received by May 8. E-mail kimberlydgriffin@gmail.com.

Building Fund for the Arts Call for Grant Applications through June 7, at Mississippi Arts Commission (Woolfolk Building, 501 N. West St., Suite 1101A). The program provides funding for the renovation or expansion of arts facilities owned by arts-based non-profits or local governments. The program has a thorough application and review process. Organizations interested in applying must submit an “Intent to Apply” form by May 3 and a full application package by June 7. Call 601-359-6031.

Greater Belhaven Market through Dec. 18, at Mississippi Farmers Market (929 High St.). Buy fresh produce, and other food and gift items. The market is open every Saturday from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Free admission; call 601-506-2848 or 601-354-6573.

STAGE AND SCREEN “All Shook Up” through May 2, at Actor’s Playhouse (121 Paul Truitt Lane, Pearl). The play with 24 Elvis songs is the story of a small-town girl and the guitar-playing roustabout who brings excitement into her life. Show times are 7:30 p.m. on weeknights and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays. $15 adults, $10 students and seniors; call 601-664-0930.

Events at Black Rose Community Theatre (103 Black St., Brandon). Call 601-825-1293.

• Talent Showcase May 1, 10 a.m. The event includes snacks, homemade goodies, a silent auction and lots of great entertainment. $5.

• “Steel Magnolias” through May 2. The play about the strength of women is directed

by Ron Pirtle. Proceeds from the April 29 performance benefit the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi. $12, $10 students/seniors Thursday-Saturday; $10, $8 students/seniors, $5 children 12 and under on Sunday. Call 601-825-1293.

• “Plaza Suite” Auditions May 4-5. The auditions are for an upcoming production in June.

Free; call 601-825-1293.

National Dance Week Celebration April 30May 1, at Belhaven University Center for the Arts (835 Riverside Dr.). The dance showcase on April 30 is from 7-8:30 p.m. May 1, the benefit dancea-thon for local children’s charities is 8 a.m.-1 p.m., and the dance concert is 6-8 p.m. Performance locations vary. $10, $5 students for performances; $10 for dance-a-thon; call 601-238-3303.

April 29 - May 5, 2010

“Dead Man’s Cell Phone” April 30-May 2, 7:30 p.m., at New Stage Theatre (1100 Carlisle St.), in the Hewes Room. The play is an odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world. $5; call 601-948-3533.

32

Ballet Mississippi Spring Production May 2, 3 p.m., at Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.).

This production will feature guest artists Mikhail Ilyin and Nicole Graniero of American Ballet Theatre in New York City in “Paquita,” and will include “The Perfect Man” by choreographer Marcus Alford. $15; call 601-960-1560.

Emerging Mississippi Filmmakers Grant Program through May 21. Qualified applicants may receive up to $2,500 in funding from the Mississippi Film and Video Alliance to assist with the completion of their project. Applications must be received by May 21. E-mail bblack@mississippi.org.

MUSIC Song Cycles April 29, 7:30 p.m., at Welty Commons Gallery (719 N. Congress St.). The concert series features music by Taylor Hildebrand, and Jamie Weems and the Innocent Pilgrims. Proceeds benefit the Jackson Bike Advocates. $6; call 601540-1267.

Sean Johnson and The Wild Lotus Band April 30, 7:30 p.m., at LemuriaBooks.com Building (4506 Office Park Drive). The New Orleans chant band will perform songs from their new album, “Devaloka.” $15 in advance, $20 at the door; call 601-594-2313.

“UpNext Vol. 1” CD Release Party April 30, 8 p.m., at The Auditorium Restaurant (622 Duling Ave.). The CD by the UpNext Kids includes Mississippi youth ages 10-21 performing original songs in several genres. The project was produced in part

by D’Mar. Other performers include Focus Performance Group and Jan Jefcoat. Admission includes a copy of the CD. $25; call 601-454-3745.

“Might Could Right Quick” CD Release Party April 30, 10 p.m., at North Midtown Arts Center (121 Millsaps Ave.). The party for the duo Hot and Lonely’s new CD includes music, body painting and a copy of the CD. Proceeds go to the Mississippi chapter of the Red Cross to benefit tornado victims. $5; call annie.blazer@gmail.com.

“Mozart and Pachebel’s Musical Gems” May 1, 7:30 p.m., at St Joseph Catholic School (308 New Mannsdale Road, Madison). The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra will perform Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nacht Musik,” Pachebel’s “Kanon in D” and Vivaldi’s “Bassoon Concerto” featuring Jon Wenberg. $15, $5 students; call 601-960-1565.

LITERARY AND SIGNINGS Events at Lemuria Books (202 Banner Hall, 4465 Interstate 55 North). Call 601-366-7619.

• “An Unfinished Score” April 29, 5 p.m. Elise Blackwell signs copies of her book. $24.95 book.

• “The Swimming Pool” May 5, 5 p.m. Holly LeCraw signs copies of her book. $25.95 book.

CREATIVE CLASSES Polymer Clay Frame Workshop May 1, 2 p.m., at ArtWorks Studios (160 W. Government St., Brandon). Create a customized polymer clay picture frame. Space is limited; registration is required. $35 (includes materials); call 601-622-5511.

Introduction to Contemporary Art May 3, 5:30 p.m., at Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). The 90-minute class for teens and adults is held on May 3, May 10 and May 17. Stephanie Busbea is the instructor. Space is limited, and the registration deadline is April 30. $50, $40 members; call 601-960-1515.

Jewelry Making Class ongoing, at Dream Beads (605 Duling Ave.). This class is offered every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Free; call 601-664-0411.

Belly Dance Class ongoing, at Lumpkin’s Restaurant (182 Raymond Road). The class is held every Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Monique Davis is the instructor. $5; call 601-373-7707.

GALLERIES Outdoor Days at the Center May 1, 9 a.m., at Mississippi Craft Center (950 Rice Road, Ridgeland). Meet the craftsmen who create the work you see in The Gallery and at the Chimneyville Craft Festival, and enjoy local music and food. Free admission; call 601-856-7546.

“Songs of Innocence/ Songs of Experience” through May 6, at Gallery 119 (119 S. President St.). Jerrod Partridge’s artwork on paper and canvas is on display. Free; call 601-969-4091.

from page 29

2010 Exhibits ongoing, at One Blu Wall (2906 N. State St.). Featured artists include Katie Drummonds, Kyle Goddard, Allan Inman, LaTricia Graves and more. Photography by Christina Cannon, Howard Barron, Roy J. Gattuso, Gerard L. Howard, William Patrick Butler and others will also be on display. Free; call 601-713-1224.

Art at the Auditorium ongoing, at The Auditorium Restaurant (622 Duling Ave.). On the first Tuesday of each month, a variety of artwork by local Jackson visual artists are showcased until 7:30 p.m.

Free admission; call 601-982-0002.

Jason “Twiggy” Lott Exhibit ongoing, at Nunnery’s Gallery (426 Meadowbrook Road). See paintings, collages and assemblages constructed from discarded objects called “reconstructions.”

Free admission; call 601-981-4426.

EXHIBITS AND OPENINGS Events at Arts Center of Mississippi (201 E. Pascagoula St.). Hours are 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday–Saturday and 1 p.m.–5 p.m. Sunday.

• JumpstART Exhibit through April 30. The works created by 24 Jackson elementary schools during a collaborative teaching residency with an artist will be on display. JumpstART is a program of the Ask for More Arts initiative. Free; call 601-969-6015, ext. 301.

• All-Level Visual Arts Exhibit through May 5.

Art by Power APAC students is on display in the Atrium Gallery. This exhibit coincides with the Ask for More Arts display. Free; call 601960-5387.

• Power APAC Student Exhibit through May 6.

See artwork from students in the Visual Arts program. Free; call 601-960-1557.

• “Just Dance” Call for Entries through May 7.

The Greater Jackson Arts Council is calling for entries to its juried invitational in media such as painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, film/ video, mixed media and installation. $25 entry fee; call 601-960-1557.

“Mound Bayou: The Promise Land, 1887-2010” through June 30, at Smith Robertson Museum (528 Bloom St.). See photographs related to the history of the founding of the city. Museum hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. $4.50 adults, $3.00 seniors, $1.50 children under 18; call 601-960-1457.

Events at Manship House (420 E. Fortification St.).

Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tuesday-Friday and 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. Free; call 601-961-4724.

• “Growing Up In Mississippi: 1857-1888” through April 30. Hands-on activities teach children what life was like for 19th-century children in Mississippi. Reservations are required.

• “Mothers, Music, and May Flowers” May 1, 1 p.m. Tour the historic gardens of the Manship House Museum, the Eudora Welty House Museum, and the Oaks House Museum. Musical entertainment is included.

“Petitions, Protests, and Patriotism: Mississippi Women in Preservation, 1900-1950” through May 9, at Old Capitol Museum (100 S. State St.). In honor of National Women’s History Month, this exhibit features influential Mississippi women who have led efforts to preserve our state’s valuable cultural resources. Free; call 601-576-6920.

Mississippi Junior Duck Stamp Art Competition Exhibit through May 1, at Mississippi Museum of Natural Science (2148 Riverside Drive). See winning artwork by students from Madison, Meridian, Natchez and North Carrollton. Museum hours are 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. MondayFriday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. $3-$5, free for members and children under 3; call 601-354-7303.

Congressional Art Competition Call for Entries through May 7. The annual competition provides high school students with an opportunity for their artistic talents to be recognized and showcased in our nation’s capital. All entries are due by May 7. The competition will be held at the Gum Tree Museum of Art in Tupelo on May 15. The winner receives a $1,500 art scholarship. Call 202-225-4306.

Check jfpevents.com for updates and more listings. To add an event, e-mail all details (phone number, start/ end date and time, street address, cost, URL, etc.) to events@jacksonfreepress.com or fax to 601-510-9019.

The deadline is noon the Thursday prior to the week of publication. Or, add the event online yourself; check out jfpevents.com for instructions.

BE THE CHANGE Vietri Pottery Event April 29, 11 a.m., at Persnickety (2078 Main St., Madison). Vietri founder Susan Gravely will discuss the leading Italian decorating and entertaining trends, and Italian artisan Francesco Venzo will give a pottery demonstration. Gravely and Venzo will sign Vietri pieces with Italian phrases. Twenty percent of pottery sales will go to The Mustard Seed. Free admission with items for sale; call 601-856-6038.

Walk MS May 1, 8 a.m., at Renaissance (1000 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland), in front of Barnes & Noble. The check-in starts at 8 a.m., and the walk begins at 9 a.m. Proceeds benefit the Alabama-Mississippi Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Donations welcome; call 601-856-5831.

Oyster Open May 1, noon, at Meadow Oak Golf Club (169 Meadow Oak Lane). The golf tournament is a benefit for the Harold T. White Scholarship Fund. Beverages and oysters on the half shell will be served. The entry fee includes a cart, green fees, a golfer ditty bag and a T-shirt. Individual and team awards will be given at the awards banquet at Hal & Mal’s (200 Commerce St.) at 7:30 p.m. $125, $250 team; call 601-948-0888.

Day at the Derby May 1, 4 p.m., at Providence Hill Farm (2600 Carsley Road). The event includes riding demonstrations, a contest for the best hat and the most colorful tie, refreshments and watching the Kentucky Derby on a widescreen TV. Proceeds benefit the University Transplant Guild, a nonprofit organization that assists transplant patients and their families. $50; visit universitytransplantguild.com.

Tasty Bite Out of Crime May 3, 7 p.m., at Highland Village (4500 Interstate 55 North).

The Jackson Police Foundation will host the event, which will showcase the metro area’s finest restaurants and eateries and feature live musical performances. Proceeds benefit the Jackson Police Department, Metro One and other metro-area law enforcement. $50 in advance, $60 at the door; call 601-212-0016.

Legislative Shoot-Out Golf Tournament May 4, 11:30 a.m., at Annandale Golf Club (419A Annandale Parkway, Madison). Registration is at 11:30 a.m., and the four-man scramble tournament is at 1 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi. $250 per person; call 601-957-7878.

New Orleans’ mantra musicians Sean Johnson and The Wild Lotus Band are a critically acclaimed kirtan trio appreciated equally for the spiritual depth and dynamic musicality of their sound. The soul of New Orleans meets the spirit of India.

“Their music will ignite the world ... a hybrid of east and West that will bring joy to your heart and get you body boogieing.” - Yoga Chicago

April 30, 7:30 pm at LemuriaBooks.com Building $15 Advance/$20 At Door Purchase tickets at www.butterflyyoga.net

jacksonfreepress.com

Mississippi Watercolor Society Exhibit through June 30, at The Cedars Historic Home (4145 Old Canton Road). Artwork by society members is on display in The Cedars Gallery. The show is part of The Four Seasons of the Cedars performing and visual arts series. Gallery hours are Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free admission; call 601-981-9606.

33

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arts

Mother’s Day - Moms get $2 off Sunday buffet!

by Katrina Byrd

Ringing After Death AMILE WILSON

With a cast of six, “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” shows how we remember the dead and how even the most reluctant can be drawn into the world of technology. Ruhl’s comedy illustrates how much our lives are linked to those tiny devices that can fit into our pockets. The author places Jean, a reticent young woman who admits that she doesn’t want to own a cell phone, Jean (Lesley Raybon) and Dwight (Bret Kenyon) in “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” part of the “Unframed” series at New in an awkward situation Stage Theatre. The play runs April 30 through May 2. where she becomes heir to Gordon’s cell phone. ean is sitting in a café when she hears a “Jean is similar to me,” Raybon says, cell phone ring at the next table where a admitting that she’d probably do the same well-dressed man sits in front of a bowl thing if she were faced with a similar situaof soup. tion. Raybon describes Jean as sentimental, “Ring! Ring!” yet she brings forth the wholesome, simple Jean becomes agitated. qualities of the character with an effortless “Ring! Ring!” grace. “She wants to make everyone feel betHer agitation quickly grows to annoy- ter,” Raybon says. ance.

Clinging tenaciously to the dead man’s “Ring! Ring!” cell phone, Jean answers it obsessively even Finally her annoyance gives way to an- during special moments with Dwight, Gorger as the man makes no attempt to answer don’s brother and her new found love. Jean his phone. She then discovers that he can’t and Dwight, who is played by Bret Kenyon, answer it. He’s dead. find themselves entering into a romantic relaThe next moments are frantic as Jean tionship, which may be destroyed by Gordon’s nervously decides how to handle the situa- ringing cell phone. tion. After calling 911, Jean decides to wait Dwight has spent his life in Gordon’s with the deceased until help arrives. His shadow, no doubt from living with an overphone rings again. This time she answers bearing mother (Mrs. Gottlieb, played by it. “Hello,” she says, hesitantly. Jean tells the Denise Halbach) who proclaims that Gorcaller that he’s unavailable. She offers to take a don is her only son. The ringing cell phone message then disconnects. keeps Dwight in that shadow, even after his “It was your mother,” she says sadly brother’s death. to the man who she now knows is Gordon “Dwight is kind of pathetic,” Kenyon Gottlieb. And before she realizes it, Jean is says. pulled into a stranger’s life.

Kenyon is a local writer and actor As “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” progress- who breathes life into his broken character. es, Jean, played by Lesley Raybon, finds that Other than New Stage, Kenyon is involved Gordon Gottlieb is an ominous business- with several community theaters and has man with an arrogant, stylish mother, an op- performed on several films screened during pressed younger brother, a peculiar mistress the 2010 Crossroads Film Festival. and a wife. Jean sets out to bring comfort to “It’s a great play,” says Kimberlee Wolfthem by lying, creating fabricated stories of son, who plays the role of Gordon’s mistress. a Gordon that none of them ever knew. She “The mistress is mysterious. She’s a difficult tells Gordon’s mother (Mrs. Gottlieb) that character to develop.”

Gordon tried to call her on the day he died, Like Kenyon, Wolfson has performed for example, a story that is hard to believe with several local community theaters insince Gordon and his mother hadn’t spoken cluding Fondren Theatre Workshop and in a while.

The Center Players.

Written by Sarah Ruhl, “Dead Man’s “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” is a timely Cell Phone” is a comedy about life and comedy, complete with lots of laughs, rodeath and the role technology plays in con- mance and even a glimpse into the surreal. necting the two. It’s about how connected “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” runs Friday, we are to our cell phones and how we have April 30, through Sunday, May 2, at 7: moved away from old ways of communicat- 30 p.m. in the Hewes Room at New Stage ing: face-to-face and letter writing.

Theatre. The ticket price is $5 and can only “Ruhl does a great job of presenting be purchased at the door, cash or check only. both sides of the issue,” says director Chris For more information about the show and the Roebuck, who is also the education director “Unframed” series, contact Chris Roebuck at at New Stage.

601-94-.3533 ext. 232.

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35

music

by Lacey McLaughlin

Tre Pepper

JOSH HAILEY

Fusion of Fun

Tre Pepper and Melvin Priester, “Hot and Lonely,” have remixed local musicians’ songs on the compilation CD “Might Could Real Quick.”

M

elvin Priester and Tre Pepper want Jacksonians to get down. This deejay duo, called Hot and Lonely, have joined forces to create “Might Could Real Quick,” a Special Passenger Records CD that remixes 10 songs by local musicians Emily Baker, Lizzie Wright, Johnny Bertram and The Bachelorettes.

Pepper, 24, shies away from calling his creation electronic music—it’s more of a combination of hip-hop, dubstep and electro music that layers vocals and beats together.

Wright’s “You are a Tree,” for example, is transformed from a warm acoustic harmony to a dance-inspiring track layered with whistling, energizing beats and precise vocals.

Pepper says that Hot and Lonely’s compilation CD is an effort to promote a different style of music and create a non-stop dance party.

“We wanted Jackson to get excited and realize that its not your typical electronic music, but something organic and different,” he says. “Jackson needs more opportunities to dance. People love to dance; I love to dance. There doesn’t

April 29 - May 5, 2010

36

seem to be a lack of an outlet (in Jackson), but there needs to be more of a focused outlet on fun, upbeat music.”

Pepper, a native of Greenville, started mixing tracks on his home computer when he was 12. After a stint playing bass for the now-defunct band Zim Zam, he moved to Austin in 2008 where he “stole” his music education at the Mediatech Institute of Austin. Pepper worked out a deal with a friend who attended the school: He would pay for equipment, while his friend paid for tuition. At Mediatech, he sat in on classes and used the school’s recording studio to mix tracks. He made his way back to Jackson last year, ready to apply what he learned. “(The Jackson music scene) is gloriously burgeoning ,and there’s this community that holds it all together,” he says. “ It’s a tight-knit group of friends that support each other, and go to each other shows—that’s why I love this place, since I’ve been back, it’s more collaborative.”

One of Pepper’s recent collaborations with Jackson artists is the formation of J-TRAN, consisting of himself, Josh Hailey, Amanda Rainey and Daniel Guaqueta. The band’s first song and music video, “Give it Away,” debuted in December, and the Crossroads Film Festival screened the video at its music video showcase earlier this month.

Pepper combined underlying tracks from Wham’s “Last Christmas” and a freestyle rap by Hailey to produce a pop/electro song. In the video, Hailey, clad in a gold speedo, dances and sprays champagne in the midst of kitschy Christmas decorations, while other band members play fake accordions, guitars and keyboards. It’s obvious that these band members don’t take themselves too seriously.

“I had the idea to do it for musicians that don’t like electronic music and then playing on the irony of that,

artists such as Johnny Bertram, Emily Baker, The Bachelorettes, Lizzie Wright and Taylor Hildebrand. Hot and Lonely will spin the dance music, and Joosy will be on hand for the body painting, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., 21 and older. The $5 cover also gets you the CD. Alternative/college rockers The Quills and kitschy indie-pop showman Dent May will return to Martin’s this Saturday night. The Quills have gone through a few line-up changes; current band members include Andrew Fox and Morgan Jones (King Elementary), William Fox (Champagne Heights) and Justin Cook.

If you’re a fan of any of these guys’ music you’ll dig the Quills. Dent’s four-man group is laden with highly stylized pop hooks and complete with ukulele. He has an amazing stage presence destined for pop stardom.

Pink Floyd tribute band Eclipse returns to Fire this Saturday, 10 p.m. They put on a pretty tight show; so if you’re a fan of the more club-friendly Floyd tunes, check them out at myspace.com/pinkfloydeclipse. Speaking of Floyd, Roger Waters is about to go on tour doing “The Wall” live.

Register now for a shot at the pre-sales which start this weekend on rogerwaters.com for

“The Kill Tone Two” by Odd Nosdam “January Twenty Something” by Why? “Street Trash” by Tobacco “Pelican Narrows” by Caribou “The Teen Keen Skip” by CloudDead

because we are not really playing anything,” Pepper says.

“The whole point was to make people enjoy the music and have fun.”

Pepper and Priester, 31, met through mutual friends in January and found they had a knack for mixing music.

Pepper, who is a customer-service manager at Rainbow Grocery, and Priester, a lawyer and Jackson native who just moved back to the city from San Francisco, took the name Hot and Lonely from a 1995 Ace Records album

by Frankie Ford. Pepper’s background in production from Mediatech and Priester’s experiences as a deejay in house, disco and breakbeat music complement each other. In February, the two made a mix of songs and deejayed at the Zombie Prom at the Ole Tavern on George Street.

Pepper hopes to create more opportunities for artists to diversify their work and is currently working on producing several J-TRAN songs.

“Electronic music has always been really interesting to me, you are taking things that are already concrete and taking them apart and putting back together in a different way to create something that is a match up of many different things,” he says.

The “Might Could Real Quick” release party is Friday April 30 at North Midtown Arts Center (121 Millsaps Ave.).

Admission is $5 and includes a CD. Participants are encouraged to take part in body-painting festivities. Proceeds from the event benefits the Central Mississippi Chapter of the Red Cross for tornado victims.

shows in Atlanta Nov. 18, Houston Nov. 20 Morrison Sunday. Find all the information and Dallas Nov. 21. Tickets will be readily on nojazzfest.com. While you are in New Orleans this weekend, check available for those willing out the House of Blues for to give up their first-born old-school soul meets reggae child or can order with legends Toots & the Maytals an American Express. this Saturday night.

There are still a few This weekend at the seats left for B.B. King’s Beale St. Music Festival show this Saturday night in Memphis with (among at the Silver Star Casino many others) Widespread in Choctaw. Call 866Panic, Blues Traveler, Jeff 44PEARL for tickets.

Beck, B-52’s, Neon Trees Tickets are also still availFriday; Alice in Chains, able for the return of the popular old-time string Dent May & His Magnificent Flaming Lips, Puddle of Ukulele performs Saturday Mud, Drive by Truckers, band Old Crow Medi- at Martin’s with Quills.

North Mississippi Allstars, cine Show at Hal & Gov’t Mule Saturday; Band Mal’s this Monday night, May 3. Also Monday is the annual Take a of Horses, Alison Krauss; Earth, Wind Tasty Bite Out of Crime event benefiting & Fire; 3 Doors Down Sunday. Go to public safety initiatives in the Highland Vil- thebealestreetmusicfestival.com for comlage Courtyards with Fingers Taylor & the plete lineup and info.

Mark your calendars for the return of Soulshine Allstars, Faze 4 and Chris Gill with Will & Linda, 7-10 p.m. Tickets are Good Enough for Good Times at Martin’s $60 at the door, on tastybiteoutofcrime.com, next Friday, May 7, with members of Galactic and Charlie Hunter Trio and the New or call 601-212-0016.

At the New Orleans Jazz Fest this Orleans-based alt/rock Roosevelt Noise reweekend are Blues Traveler, Gov’t Mule union show next Saturday night. Martin’s is and Elvis Costello Thursday; Band of also the place to be Saturday, May 22, when Horses, Galactic, Jeff Beck and Pearl New Orleans street-jazz super group Dirty Jam Saturday; The Dead Weather, Richie Dozen Brass Band takes the stage.

—Herman Snell Havens, B.B. King, the Neville’s and Van COURTESY DENT MAY

S

tarting the weekend off early, Fire hosts a full night of rock Wednesday with Papa Roach, Puddle of Mudd, 12 Stones and Adlieta’s Way starting at 8 p.m.

Jazz favorites, the Denny Burkes Quartet, will be at Hal & Mal’s Thursday night, and if you’re in the mood for even more jazz, head to Underground 119 where Barry Leach of The Vamps will perform, 8-11 p.m.; free. Also, local favorites Taylor Hildebrand with Jamie Weems & the Strange Pilgrims will be at the Eudora Welty Commons on Congress Street, 8 p.m. $6. An early free show Thursday night is harp icon Fingers Taylor’s weekly show at the Soulshine Pizza on Highland Colony.

7-9:30 p.m. Upon request, they will serve Southern Pecan in a dirty mason jar with your muffaletta pizza.

Friday night the party is at the North Midtown Arts Center at 121 Millsaps Ave. for the Special Passenger Records “Might Could Real Quick” CD release party. It’s a remixed compilation of songs by Jackson

What’s on My iPod

BANDS/DJS FOR HIRE Disc Jockey (DJ) Service Professional DJ - 20 Years Experience - Holiday Parties/Weddings/Birthdays/Private Parties, Lights/Fog/Etc available, Photography Services Available, Live Band Availble (601) 850-4380

GEAR Warwick bass 4 sale Warwick Corvette Standard bubinga 4 string passive with gig bag, warranty, manual, hercules stand, and acoustic B20 practice amp. $850. obo (601) 278-7854 Bach stradivarius trombone Bach Stradivarius professional trombone w/ F -rotary valve, Excellent condition. Dynamic tonal quality. $1,600.00 Call:- 769 232 2415 Bass gear Quality professional gear. Swr Silverado combo.

350 watts RMS. $400. New aoustic 200 watt bass head $200. Two Swr 1 15’ and horn cabinets $250 ea. Loud and Clean Sold seperately or together.

(601) 214-4412 Professional Sound Engineers Need sound equipment or just a couple of engineers at your next event call Daniel 601.488.0436 any venue large or small anywhere in the south.

Complete PA Huge carvin pa for sale, all accessories, cables, processors, mics, stands, lights, amps, etc. Over $20,000 in gear to sell for best offers. Equipment is in as new condition. (225) 341-9391 Guitar Gear - Must Sell!!

Vox AD120VTH Valvetronix Stereo Head $400, 1x12 and 2x12 cabinets- $80-$125. (601) 540-1739

MISCELLANEOUS Need A Few Good Musicians Interested in helping to set up music non-profit organization (centered around the blues) for disadvantaged youths in the jackson metropolitan area?

If so, i am looking to talk to you. Need musicians who can teach everything from banjo, guitar, dobro, mandolin, fiddle, accordion, harmonica, piano, etc., Etc. Come be a part of this great project! (601) 924-0210.

MUSICIANS AVAILABLE Rock Singer Available Male Rock/Metal Singer looking for experienced cover band. Many years experience. Contact myspace or facebook: Crystal Quazar. Phone: 601-572-6253 Drummer Available Mature/seasoned drummer available. Have played everything from country to Christian Contemporary.

Would like to join existing band or form new one with seasoned musicians ONLY...no beginners please! Would like to play classic rock, blues and/ or contemporary. Call if interested. (601) 613-5835 Musician Available 25 Years experience playing Drums, Guitar & Bass.

Recently relocated to Jackson from Memphis, TN. All genres of music. Contact Tim at 601-665-5976.

Or email: reeves@cgdsl.net Serious inquires only.

Looking to Start Band I am a bass player new in town and am looking to start a band in the Jackson area. I need a guitarist, drummer and lead vocals. No specific genre is preferred, but the band will be based on rock and metal (no death or black metal). I’ve played in several bands and played out hundreds of times and am able to get gigs. If interested or for more info please call Chris @ 386-365-2944 Female Vocalist Seeking Band I am a 16-year-old female vocalist seeking a synthpop or rock band. Ages of band members preferrably 25 years or younger due to parental objections. Contact by email at freezepopforever10 29@hotmail.com.

Old Drummer Available!

Drummer available: most recently, i have played with the veterans of foreign bars band. Interested in playing blues, funk, soul, maybe country. I am an older guy and settled in for the duration.

I would be interested in a steady band, fill-in, and, possibly, a new start-up. Let me hear: mcdrum89@yahoo.com or call 601-832-0831 Drummer Looking For Band I’m an experienced drummer looking to form/join a band. I have mostly played metal, but I am open to rock/hard rock/metal, etc. Call Dave at (769) 226-0845.

Female Vocalist/Songwriter Seeking fellow musicians. Serious inquiries only. Call Nikki 601-259-1288.

MUSICIANS WANTED A New Sound Need original band. Old Deftones/old Clutch/ She Wants Revenge. www.myspace.com/anzalduasongs Radio-play. Album on iTunes. anzaldua@mail.com (512) 787-7840 Deathcore guitarists Metal band looking for 2 exp’d guitarists. Influences include WhiteChapel, Carnifex, Opeth, etc.

Call David for more info (601) 201-3815 Metal Singer & Bassist Wanted AnnX is looking for a Experienced Energetic METAL Vocalist and a Bass Player to play shows and write new material. (601) 383-4851 Become our Next Instructor Major Scales Studio is accepting applications for a classical or rock or jazz guitar teacher. Must have professional appearance. Please email your resume to Majorscales@aol.com.

Cellist Needed For Album/tour Cellist needed for my album and possibly to tour shortly after. I am signed with South City Records. I need to start recording ASAP! Must be reliable and dedicated. Please contact me at scorpiano31@gmail.com Drummer/Bassist needed - Metal We are in need of a drummer and a bassist. Experience in metal (death, black, etc.) is preffered, but not completely necessary. Call Buddy at (601)5025647. Thanks for reading.

-Buddy Bass Player Needed for eclectic cover band that features pedal steel guitar. -Vocals a plus- want to gig once or 2x a month and have lots of fun -Buck Owens to REMcall 601 488 6907 +leave msg

Looking for band mates? Wanting to sell your gear?

Advertise here for free! Visit JFP Classifieds.com.

If you are interested in sponsoring the Musicians Exchange call JFP Sales at 601-362-6121 ext. 11.

Friday and Saturday Night Music

jacksonfreepress.com

BANDS WANTED vocalist looking for band im a rock vocalist looking for a band in need of a lead singer please call at any time my name is shane (601) 940-0510

37

NOW SELLING LIVE & BOILED CRAWFISH!

livemusic APRIL 28, WEDNESDAY

LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR ALL SHOWS 10PM UNLESS NOTED WEDNESDAY

HAPPY HOUR

OPEN M-F 4P M ‘ T IL

M -TH 5 -7

WEDNESDAY - APRIL 28

KARAOKE W/ MIKE MOTT THURSDAY - APRIL 29

DYLAN MOSS 4/28

LADIES NIGHT (FREE DRAFT CUP 9-11)

LADIES NIGHT LADIES DRINK ALL YOU CAN 8PM-12AM FOR $5 - NO COVER THURSDAY

4/29

80’S NIGHT

DIFFERENT THEME EACH WEEK FRIDAY

4/30

THE PEOPLES

SATURDAY - APRIL 30

FAZE 4 SATURDAY - MAY 1

GHOST TOWN SUNDAY - MAY 2

8 BALL TOURNAMENT TUESDAY - MAY 3

POOL LEAGUE NIGHT 2636 S. Gallatin Jackson, MS 39204

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QUILLS W/ DENT MAY

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KARAOKE MONDAY

5/3

OPEN MIC JAM TUESDAY

5/4

MATT’S LATE NIGHT KARAOKE $2 MARGARITAS $1 HIGHLIFE & PBR

April 29 - May 5, 2010

WEDNESDAY

38

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Battle of the Bands Every Friday Night at Fire, 8PM

VISIT WWW.ROCK939.COM FOR DETAILS ABOUT THE MILLER LITE ROCK 93.9 RAMPAGE AT FIRE!

TOPTEN SONGS THIS WEEK 1 BREAKING BENJAMIN – Give Me A Sign (Forever and Ever) 2 DROWNING POOL – Feel Like I Do 3 GODSMACK - Cryin’ Like A Bitch 4 SICK PUPPIES - Odd One 5 THREE DAYS GRACE - Good Life 6 FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – Walk Away 7 SHAMANS HARVEST - Dragonfly 8 SEASON’S AFTER - Cry Little Sister 9 SEVENDUST - Unraveling 10 BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE – Your Betrayal

Fire - Papa Roach, Puddle of Mudd, 12 Stones, Adlieta’s Way 8 p.m.

F. Jones Corner - Jesse “Guitar” Smith (blues lunch) free Fenian’s - Virgil Brawley & Steve Chester (blues) 9 p.m.

Underground 119 - Emma Wynters, Mark Whittington & Adam Perry 8-11 p.m. free emmawynters.com Kathryn’s - Hunter Gibson 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Shucker’s - DoubleShotz 7:30-11:30 p.m. free Parker House - Scott Albert Johnson & Bob Gates (crawfish/blues) The Auditorium - Karaoke 9-12 a.m.

Regency Hotel - Snazz 8:30 p.m. myspace.com/snazzband2 Pelican Cove - Jam Session 7:30-10 p.m.

Footloose - Karaoke 8-12 a.m. free Electric Cowboy - Karaoke

APRIL 29, THURSDAY Lumpkins BBQ - Jesse Robinson (blues lunch) 11:30-1:30 p.m. free Hal & Mal’s - Denny Burkes Quartet (jazz) 9 p.m.

Welty Commons - Taylor Hildebrand, Jamie Weems & the Strange Pilgrims 8 p.m. $6 Highland Village - Bill & Temperance, Fred Knobloch 6:30 p.m. free F. Jones Corner - Jason Bailey (blues lunch) free; Blues at Sunset Challenge Band 8-12 a.m. free Underground 119 - Barry Leach (jazz) 8-11 p.m. free 930 Blues Cafe - Jackie Bell, Norman Clark & Smoke Stack Lightning 8 p.m. $5 Fenian’s - Jim Flanagan (Irish Folk) 8:30-11:30 p.m.

Jackson One Place (Plaza) - The Juvenators (blues rock) 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Burgers & Blues, County Ln - Delta Mountain Boys Shucker’s - Hunter Gibson & Rick Moreira 7:30-11:30 p.m. free Parker House (patio) - T.B. Ledford & Matthew Magee (crawfish/roots) Footloose - Karaoke 8-12 a.m.

Soulshine, Township - Fingers Taylor & friends 7-9:30 p.m. free The Auditorium - Tiger Rogers (lunch); Welch-McCann 7:30-9 p.m.

Pelican Cove - Team Trivia 7:30 p.m.

Cherokee Inn - Steve Chester w/ Bofus (Americana) 6:30 p.m.

Regency Hotel - Karaoke 7 p.m. free Poets II - Karaoke 10 p.m.

Electric Cowboy - DJ Cadillac (country/dance/rock) 9 p.m.

McB’s - Karaoke 7 p.m. free Hot Shots, Byram - Karaoke 8 p.m. free Eli’s Treehouse, V’burg - Karaoke 8 p.m.

APRIL 30, FRIDAY Shucker’s - Carlton’s South Carolina Show Band 8-1 a.m. $5 121 Millsaps Ave - Special Passenger Records Jxn Remix CD

4/30 5/01 5/05 5/08 5/15 5/17

Release w/Joosy Body Painting (dance/DJ music) 10-2 a.m., 21+, $5 (includes CD) Martin’s - The Peoples 10 p.m.

Hal & Mal’s Restaurant - Eric Stracener & Brian Ledford 8 p.m. free 930 Blues Cafe - Blues/Jazz 5:30-8 p.m.; Jackie Bell, 9 p.m. $10 Electric Cowboy - DJ Terry (country/dance/rock) 9 p.m.

The Auditorium - Tiger Rogers (lunch); D’Mar & the UpNext Kids (cd release party) 8 p.m. $25 F. Jones Corner - Stevie J (blues lunch); Stevie J & the Blues Eruption 11:30 p.m.-4 a.m. $5 Footloose - Karaoke 9-1 a.m. free Underground 119 - Cucho’s Amigos of Jazz (Latin Jam) 9-1 a.m.

Fitzgerald’s, Hilton - Sofa Kings 8-12 a.m. free McB’s - Johnny Crocker Welty Commons - Open Mic Poetry 6:30 p.m. free Regency Hotel - Back 40 Cultural Expressions - Reggae/HipHop/Old School Night 10 p.m. $5 Pelican Cove - Karaoke 7-10 p.m.

Reed Pierce’s - Snazz 9 p.m. free RJ Barrel - Sean Patterson Hot Shots, Byram - Karaoke 8 p.m. free Recess 101, Brookhaven - Virgil Brawley 8 p.m.

Thirsty Hippo, H’burg - Furrows, Johnny Bertram & The Golden Bicycles 10 p.m.

MAY 1, SATURDAY Fire - Eclipse (Pink Floyd Tribute) 10 p.m. myspace.com/pinkfloydeclipse Martin’s - Quills, Dent May 10 p.m. www.dentmay.com Hal & Mal’s - JFP Southern Fried Karaoke Underground 119 - Tiger Rogers Jazz Ensemble 9-1 a.m.

F. Jones Corner - Jesse Robinson’s 500lb. Blues Band 11:30-4 a.m. $5 930 Blues Cafe - Blues/Jazz 5:30-8 p.m.; Jackie Bell, 9 p.m. $10 Cultural Expressions - Kamikaze & Yardboy (hip-hop/Soul) 9 p.m. $5 Fitzgerald’s - Chris Gill 8-12 a.m.

Fenian’s - The Juvenators (blues rock) 9 p.m.

McB’s - Doug Frank Regency Hotel - Back 40 Huntington’s - Ralph Miller 6-9 p.m.

RJ Barrel - Karaoke 7 p.m.

Reed Pierce’s - Kacey Swift 9 p.m. free Hot Shots, Byram - Karaoke 8 p.m. free Silverstar, Choctaw - B.B. King (blues) 9 p.m. 866-44PEARL

MAY 2, SUNDAY King Edward Hotel - Howard Jones Trio (jazz brunch) 11-2 p.m.

Warehouse - Mike & Marty Open Jam Session 6-10 p.m. free Fitzgerald’s - Andy Hardwick (brunch) 11-2 p.m.

Sophia’s, Fairview Inn - Knight

Bruce 11 a.m. (brunch) The Hill - Open Blues Jam 6-11 p.m.

Footloose - Karaoke 7-11 p.m. free Cultural Expressions - Open Mic Poetry 8 p.m. $5 Hot Shots, Byram - Karaoke 6-10 p.m. free

MAY 3, MONDAY Hal & Mal’s Big Room - Matt Andersen, Old Crow Medicine Show (old-time string band) 8 p.m. 18+, $20 crowmedicine.com Hal & Mal’s Restaurant - Central Miss. Blues Society Jam 8-11 p.m. $5 Highland Village Courtyard - Take a Tasty Bite Out of Crime: Fingers Taylor & the Soulshine Allstars, Faze 4, Chris Gill w/ Will & Linda 7-10 p.m. $60 tastybiteoutofcrime.com , 601212-0016 F. Jones Corner - Jesse “Guitar” Smith (blues lunch) free Fitzgerald’s - Hunter Gibson & Rick Moreira 8-12 a.m. free Philip’s, Rez - Big Juv Brawley (blues) 6-10 p.m.

Martin’s - Open Mic Free Jam 10 p.m. free Fenian’s - Karaoke 8-1 a.m.

Dreamz - Marley Mondays/DJ (world) 6 p.m.

MAY 4, TUESDAY Fire - Smile Empty Soul; Soil, Black Sunshine 9 p.m. $7 myspace.com/ smileemptysoulmusic Pizza Inn, Madison - Larry Brewer (classic rock) 6-8:30 p.m.

Hal & Mal’s Restaurant - Pub Quiz 8 p.m.

Fenian’s - Open Mic 9 p.m.

Martin’s - Karaoke 10 p.m.

Shucker’s - The Xtremes 7-11 p.m. free Time Out - Open Mic 8 p.m.

McB’s - Karaoke 7 p.m. free

MAY 5, WEDNESDAY F. Jones Corner - Sherman Lee Dillon (blues lunch) free Dreamz Jxn, 426 Capital St - Downtown Cinco De Mayo Celebration: Jesse Robinson, DJ Reign (music/food/salsa dancing) 9 p.m. free Kathryn’s - Emma Wynters, Mark Whittington & Adam Perry 6: 30-9:30 p.m. emmawynters.com The Auditorium - Karaoke 9-12 a.m.

Hal & Mal’s Red Room - Comedy 8 p.m.

Regency Hotel - Snazz 8:30 p.m. myspace.com/snazzband2 Parker House (patio) - Chris Gill & friends (crawfish) Fitzgerald’s - Rainmakers (classic rock) 8-12 a.m.

Footloose - Karaoke 8-12 a.m. free Electric Cowboy - Karaoke Pelican Cove - Jam Session 7:30-10 p.m.

Welty Commons - Drum Circle 7:30 p.m. free

Beale St. Music Festival - Tom Lee Park, Memphis thebealestreetmusicfestival.com Ani DiFranco - Tipitinia’s, New Orleans Saliva - Sam’s Town Casino, Tunica Norah Jones - Orpheum, Memphis; 5/09 Birmingham, AL. Theatre Big Star - Levitt Shell, Memphis Matt Pond PA - Hi-Tone, Memphi

venuelist Wednesday, April 28th Freelon’s Bar And Groove 440 N. Mill St., Jackson, 601-353-5357 (hip-hop) Fusion Coffeehouse Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland, 601-856-6001 Garfield’s Restaurant & Pub 6340 Ridgewood Court, Jackson, 601-977-9920 Gold Strike Casino 1010 Casino Center Drive, Robinsonville, 888-245-7529 Grand Casino Biloxi 280 Beach Boulevard, Biloxi, 228-436-2946 Grand Casino Tunica 13615 Old Highway 61 North, Robinsonville, 800-39-GRAND The Green Room 444 Bounds St., Jackson, 601-713-3444 Ground Zero Blues Club 0 Blues Alley, Clarksdale, 662-621-9009 Grownfolks’s Lounge 4030 Medgar Evers Blvd, Jackson, 601-362-6008 Hal & Mal’s 200 S. Commerce St., Jackson, 601-948-0888 (pop/rock/blues) Hamp’s Place 3028 W. Northside Dr., Jackson, 601-981-4110 (dance/dj) Hard Rock Biloxi 777 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, 228-374-ROCK Hat & Cane 1115 E. McDowell Rd., Jackson, 601-352-0411 Hauté Pig 1856 Main St., Madison, 601853-8538 Here We Go Again 3002 Terry Road, Jackson, 601-373-1520 The Hill Restaurant 2555 Valley St., Jackson, 601-373-7768 Horizon Casino Mulberry Lounge 1310 Mulberry St., Vicksburg, 800-843-2343 Horseshoe Bar 5049 Hwy 80 West, Jackson, 601-922-6191 Horseshoe Casino Tunica, 800-303-7463 The Hunt Club 1525 Ellis Ave., Jackson, 601-944-1150 Huntington Grille 1001 E. County Line Rd., Jackson, 601-957-1515 The Ice House 515 S. Railroad Blvd., McComb, 601-684-0285 (pop/rock) JC’s 425 North Mart Plaza, Jackson, 601-362-3108 James Meredith Lounge 217 Griffith St. 601-969-3222 Julep Restaurant and Bar 105 Highland Village, Jackson, 601-362-1411 Kathryn’s Steaks and Seafood 6800 Old Canton Road, Ridgeland. 601-956-2803 Koinonia Coffee House 136 S. Adam St., Suite C, Jackson, 601-960-3008 LaRae’s 210 Parcel Dr., Jackson, 601-944-0660 Last Call Sports Grill 1428 Old Square Road, Jackson, 601-713-2700 The Library Bar & Grill 120 S. 11th St., Oxford, 662-234-1411 The Loft 1306 A. Washington St., Vicksburg, 601-629-6188 The Lyric Oxford 1006 Van Buren Ave., Oxford. 662-234-5333 Main Event Sports Bar & Grill 4659 Hwy 80 West, Jackson, 601-922-9987 Manda’s Pub 614 Clay Street, Vicksburg, 601-638-6607 Martin’s Lounge 214 S. State St., Jackson, 601-354-9712 (rock/jam/blues) McB’s Restaurant 815 Lake Harbor Dr., Ridgeland, 601-956-8362 (pop/rock) Mellow Mushroom 275 Dogwood Blvd., Flowood, 601-992-7499 Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music 103 Magnolia, Edwards, 601-977-7736 Mississippi Coliseum 1207 Mississippi St., Jackson, 601-353-0603 Mississippi Opera P.O. Box 1551, Jackson, 877-MSOPERA, 601-960-2300 Mississippi Opry 2420 Old Brandon Rd., Brandon, 601-331-6672 Mississippi Symphony Orchestra 201 East Pascagoula St., Jackson, 800-898-5050 Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium 2531 N. State St., Jackson, 601-354-6021 Monte’s Steak and Seafood 1855 Lakeland Dr., Jackson, 601-362-8182 Mugshots 1855 Lakeland Dr., Jackson, 601-713-0383 Okasions 1766 Ellis Avenue, Jackson, 601-373-4037 Old Venice Pizza Co. 1428 Old Square Rd., Jackson, 601-366-6872 Ole Tavern on George Street 416 George St., Jackson, 601-960-2700 Olga’s 4760 I-55 North, Jackson, 601-366-1366 (piano)

One to One Studio 121 Millsaps Ave., in the Millsaps Arts District, Jackson One Blue Wall 2906 N State St., Jackson, 601-713-1224 Peaches Restaurant 327 N. Farish St., Jackson, 601-354-9267 Pelican Cove 3999A Harborwalk Dr., Ridgeland, 601-605-1865 Pig Ear Saloon 160 Weisenberger Rd., Gluckstadt, 601-898-8090 Pig Willies 1416 Washington St., Vicksburg, 601-634-6872 Pool Hall 3716 I-55 North Frontage Rd., Jackson, 601-713-2708 Pop’s Saloon 2636 Gallatin St., Jackson, 601-961-4747 (country) Proud Larry’s 211 S. Lamar Blvd., Oxford, 662-236-0050 The Pub Hwy. 51, Ridgeland, 601-898-2225 The Quarter Bistro & Piano Bar 1855 Lakeland Dr., Jackson, 601-362-4900 Que Sera Sera 2801 N. State St., Jackson, 601-981-2520 Red Room 200 S. Commerce St., Jackson (Hal & Mal’s), 601-948-0888 (rock/alt.)

Reed Pierce’s 6791 Siwell Rd., Byram, 601-376-0777, 601-376-4677 Regency Hotel Restaurant & Bar 420 Greymont Ave., Jackson, 601-969-2141 Rick’s Cafe 318 Hwy 82 East, #B, Starkville, 662-324-7425 RJ Barrel 111 N. Union 601-667-3518 Sal and Mookie’s 565 Taylor St. 601368-1919 Sam’s Lounge 5035 I-55 N. Frontage Rd., Jackson, 601-983-2526 Sam’s Town Casino 1477 Casino Strip Blvd., Robinsonville, 800-456-0711 Schimmel’s Fine Dining 2615 N. State St., Jackson, 601-981-7077 Scrooge’s 5829 Ridgewood Rd., Jackson, 601-206-1211 Shuckers on the Reservoir 116 Conestoga Rd., Ridgeland, 601-853-0105 Silver Star Casino Hwy. 16 West, Choctaw, 800-557-0711 Soop’s The Ultimate 1205 Country Club Dr., Jackson, 601-922-1402 (blues) Soulshine Pizza 1139 Old Fannin Rd., Brandon, 601-919-2000 Soulshine Pizza 1111 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland, 601-856-8646 Sportsman’s Lodge 1220 E. Northside Dr. at I-55, Jackson, 601-366-5441 Steam Room Grille 5402 Interstate-55 Frontage Road. 601-899-8588 Stone Pony Oyster Bar 116 Commercial Parkway, Canton, 601-859-0801 Super Chikan’s Place 235 Yazoo Ave., Clarksdale, 662-627-7008 Thalia Mara Hall 255 E. Pascagoula St., Jackson, 601-960-1535 Thirsty Hippo 211 Main St., Hattiesburg, 601-583-9188 (indie/ alt.rock/jam/world) Time Out Sports Bar 6270 Old Canton Rd., 601-978-1839 Top Notch Sports Bar 109 Culley Dr., Jackson, 601- 362-0706 Touch Night Club 105 E. Capitol St., Jackson, 601-969-1110 Two Rivers Restaurant 1537 W. Peace St., Canton, 601-859-9979 (blues) Two Sisters Kitchen 707 N. Congress St. 601-353-1180 Two Stick 1107 Jackson Ave., Oxford, 662-236-6639 Tye’s 120 N. Congress St., Jackson, 601949-3434 Under the Boardwalk 2560 Terry Rd., Jackson, 601-371-7332 (country/ classic rock) Underground 119 119 S. President St. 601352-2322 VB’s Premier Sports Bar 1060 County Line Rd., Ridgland, 601-572-3989 VFW Post 9832 4610 Sunray Drive, Jackson, 601-982-9925 Vicksburg Convention Center 1600 Mulberry Street, Vicksburg, 866-822-6338 Walker’s Drive-In 3016 N. State St., Jackson, 601-982-2633 (jazz/pop/folk) The Warehouse 9347 Hwy 18 West, Jackson, 601-502-8580 (pop/rock) Wired Expresso Cafe 115 N. State St. 601-500-7800

Ladies’ Night w/ Snazz 8:30 p.m. - Guys’ Cover $5

BUY 1, GET 1 WELLS Thursday, April 29th

Bike Night w/ Krazy Karaoke 7:00 p.m. - No Cover

Weekly Lunch Specials

$2 MARGARITAS! Fri & Sat April 30th & May 1st

Parking now on side of building

Open for dinner Sat. 4-10pm thursday

Back 40 8:30 p.m. - $5 cover Exquisite Dining at

The Rio Grande Restaurant

APRIL 29

LADIES NIGHT with MR. NICK! LADIES DRINK FREE WELLS & PONIES 9PM-2AM

friday

400 Greymont Ave., Jackson 601-969-2141 www.regencyjackson.com

BASEBA LL SEASON IS FINALLY HERE! WATCH YOUR TEAM @ THE LODGE lunch specials $7.95 - includes tea & dessert

Smoke-free lunch

APRIL 30

CARY HUDSON and The Piney Woods Playboys saturday

MAY 1

weekdays 11am-3pm

WED. LADIES NIGHT & KARAOKE

THURS. $1.50 BEER (BUD, BUD LIGHT, BUD SELECT & ULTRA)

$10 Buckets of Beer during Tournaments

FRI.

BRIAN JONES OF FULLMOON CIRCUS

9:30PM - 1:30AM NO COVER CHARGE

COLLEGE NIGHT

GUNBOAT tuesday

MAY 4

OPEN MIC with Cody Cox *DOLLAR BEER* wednesday

MAY 5

BRING STUDENT ID

SAT. MAJOR LEAGE

BASEBALL MON. S.I.N. NIGHT TUES. JACKPOT TRIVIA

KICK ASS KARAOKE w/ KJ JOOSY

$2 DOMESTICS

ON SUNDAY, BLOODY MARYS $4 & MIMOSAS $3 THURSDAY 2-FOR-1 MONDAYS, $1.50 PINTS ON

FREE WiFi Open Mon-Sat, Kitchen open Mon-Fri 11 am-10 pm & Sat 4-10 pm

jacksonfreepress.com

61 South - Rainbow Casino 1380 Warrenton Rd., Vicksburg, 800-503-3777 88 Keys 3645 Hwy. 80 W in Metrocenter, Jackson, 601-352-7342 930 Blues Cafe 930 N. Congress St., Jackson, 601-948-3344 Alamo Theatre 333 N. Farish St, Jackson, 601-352-3365 Alley Cats 165 W. Peace St., Canton, 601-855-2225 Alumni House Sports Grill 574 Hwy. 50, Ridgeland, 601-855-2225 America Legion Post 1 3900 W. Northside Dr., Jackson, 601-605-9903 Ameristar Casino, Bottleneck Blues Bar 4146 Washington St., Vicksburg, 800-700-7770 Beau Rivage Casino 875 Beach Blvd., Biloxi, 800-566-7469 Belhaven College Center for the Arts 835 Riverside Dr, Jackson, 601-968-5930 Bennie’s Boom Boom Room 142 Front St., Hattiesburg, 601-408-6040 Borrello’s 1306 Washington St., Vicksburg, 601-638-0169 Buffalo Wild Wings 808 Lake Harbour Dr., Ridgeland, 601-856-0789 Burgers and Blues 1060 E. County Line Rd., Ridgeland, 601-899-0038 Capri-Pix Theatre 3021 N. State St., Jackson, 601-981-9606 Central City Complex 609 Woodrow Wilson Dr., Jackson, 601-352-9075 Cerami’s 5417 Highway 25, Flowood, 601-919-2829 Char Restaurant 4500 I-55, Highland Village, Jackson, 601-956-9562 Cherokee Inn 1410 Old Square Rd., Jackson, 601-362-6388 Club 43 Hwy 43, Canton, 601-654-3419, 601-859-0512 Club City Lights 200 N. Mill St., Jackson, 601-353-0059 Club O’Hara 364 Monticello St., Hazlehurst, 601-894-5674 Club Total 342 N. Gallatin St., Jackson, 601-714-5992 The Commons Gallery 719 N. Congress St., 601-352-3399 Couples Entertainment Center 4511 Byrd Drive, Jackson, 601-923-9977 Crawdad Hole 1150 Lakeland Dr., Jackson, 601-982-9299 Crickett’s Lounge 4370 Hwy 80 West, Jackson, 601-922-0500 Crossroads Bar & Lounge 3040 Livingston Rd., Jackson, 601-984-3755 (blues) Cultural Expressions 147 Millsaps Ave., Jackson, 601-665-0815 (neosoul/hip-hop) Cups in Fondren 2757 Old Canton Road, Jackson, 601-362-7422 (acoustic/pop) Cups in the Quarter 1855 Lakeland Dr., Jackson, 601-981-9088 Davidson’s Corner Market 108 W. Center St., Canton, 601-855-2268 (pop/rock) Debo’s 180 Raymond Road, Jackson, 601-346-8283 Diamond Jack’s Casino 3990 Washington Street, Vicksburg, 1-877-711-0677 Dick & Jane’s 206 Capitol St., Jackson, 601-944-0123 (dance/alternative) Dixie Diamond 1306 Washington Street, Vicksburg, 601-638-6297 Dollar Bills Dance Saloon 103 A Street, Meridian, 601-693-5300 Edison Walthall Hotel 225 E. Capitol St., Jackson, 601-948-6161 Electric Cowboy 6107 Ridgewood Rd., Jackson, 601-899-5333 (country/ rock/dance) Executive Place 2440 Bailey Ave., Jackson, 601-987-4014 F. Jones Corner 303 N. Farish St. 601983-1148 Fenian’s 901 E. Fortification Street, Jackson, 601-948-0055 (rock/Irish/folk) Fire 209 Commerce St., Jackson, 601592-1000 (rock/dance/dj) Final Destination 5428 Robinson Rd. Ext., Jackson, (pop/rock/blues) Fitzgerald’s Martini Bar 1001 E. County Line Road, Jackson, 601-957-2800 Flood’s Bar and Grill 2460 Bailey Ave., Jackson, 601-713-4094 Footloose Bar and Grill 4661 Hwy 80 West, Jackson, 601-922-9944

39

food

by Jesse Yancy

M

y mother, Barbara Yancy, was a very fine cook, and if she deemed a simple mixture of an emulsion and a tomato-based sauce appropriate for a honeymoon salad (lettuce alone) at a steak dinner, so be it.

But Barbara’s version of comeback dressing needs some catching up with what passes for comeback today.

All sorts of exotics have found their way into this basic combination, and the recipe is well past its salad days. I suspect that because the basic ingredients (mayonnaise and ketchup) are available to most people, and since the resulting mixture looks and tastes a lot like Thousand Island dressing without the pickle relish, comeback soon became a popular substitute for bought dressing at home. Its commercial popularity (at least in Jackson) harkens back to the Rotisserie, a restaurant the Dennery family ran at Five Points, probably around the time poodle skirts were popular.

Nowadays, people use comeback for almost everything. I’ve even seen recommendations for it with meats such as chicken and (Lord deliver us) beef. Me, I’ve always liked it on seafood; I do a version of it with a little horseradish, chopped parsley and lemon juice that’s just fine with shrimp or fish.

You’re also likely to find another version of it in stores that’s marketed specifically for those deep-fried onion “blossoms” that have become so popular lately.

Dare I add that while nobody’s stopping you from dipping a whole Vidalia in some sugar-saturated batter and deep-frying it, by doing so you’re pretty much denying

the vegetable’s essential nature as an onion, a vegetable you should have an intimate relationship with already.

Comeback dressing has come to be a signature recipe of our state, so as a Mississippian of any degree, knowing how to make comeback dressing should be as much a part of your repertoire as knowing how to pass a batwing bushhog on a two-lane highway. I’ve even seen it referred to as “Mississippi Comeback.” I like that. If Mississippi were to have any sort of signature dish, then it should be one that beckons her weary children home.

The ingredients of comeback are a bone of contention. Most recipes for it involve an emulsion combined with something red, which in our locale usually involves a processed tomato. Now, you could probably very well take a little tomato paste and add a bit of vinegar to it yourself, but be nice to yourself and just use ketchup. There are those who prefer salad dressing instead of mayonnaise, and those who seem to think that cocktail sauce (with or without horseradish) is superior to the more pedestrian ketchup. As to other additions, I’d stop well short of ground rosemary, but you’re the cook.

As I said, my version of comeback, like my mother’s, is quite simple, involving not much more then mayonnaise, ketchup and black pepper. She may have put Worcestershire in there, too, but just a dab for a little color, nothing more. Any recipe for comeback dressing is always improved by the addition of a bit of finely minced onion and a smidgen of garlic. If you’re serving with seafood, a little lemon juice in the mixture is a nice touch.

JESSE YANCY

Comeback: The Taste of Home

COMEBACK DRESSING 1 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup ketchup dash Worcestershire sauce black pepper to taste

Mix together until smooth.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

April 29 - May 5, 2010

A

40

food odyssey began for Linda and Jim Burwell over 30 years ago, which has now culminated into a new restaurant venture for them: Mimi’s Family and Friends, now located in Jackson’s hip Fondren District at 3139 North State Street.

Traditional breakfast with French-pressed coffee and lunch with offerings such as soups, sandwiches, salads and hot plates is what Mimi’s Family and Friends offers customers.

“A small, intimate breakfast and lunch establishment with Mimi’s Family and Friends local, funky art” is how Linda Burwell, also known as Mimi, describes the restaurant. They are open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“Being a newly established restaurant in Fondren, the menu and hours are on a trial basis right now,” Burwell says, “we want to see what our customers’ needs are, and then adjust our times and menu selections based on what they like.”

The Burwells have been in the restaurant business for 30 years in various places in Jackson, Mississippi. The most recent was Burwell’s Deli in downtown Jackson, where they could seat 214 people.

“Mimi’s is a more relaxed atmosphere where no one feels rushed while dining in a neighborhood-like setting,” says Linda Burwell.

Mimi’s Family and Friends offers a full breakfast: bacon, eggs, French toast, sausage, ham and more. Cheese grits are a breakfast favorite, and guests love to choose from fresh seasonal fruit, toasted croissants, muffins and biscuits.

Lunch promises Cuban-style sandwiches and dishes. Order Gran Jenny’s Pimiento Cheese on wheat, red beans and rice, a chicken salad sandwich or even the blue cheese egg salad sandwich, an uncommon lunch delicacy you will find nowhere else in Jackson. There’s always a special quiche and soup of the day. And then there’s dessert -- a tough choice of tasty treats every day. Mimi’s also creates different specials each day from pork tacos, catfish tacos with black beans to pork chops. Usually, they are going to be a clever twist on something traditional.

Mimi’s eclectic presence in Jackson is motivated by the restaurant owners’ desire to create their own identity, especially based in the middle of Fondren’s business district.

“We want to fit into Fondren and not compete with other restaurants, but offer an unusual yet fun dining experience,” says Linda Burwell. “We draw a lot of customers in because of the unique, funky art we sell. The building is like an artist’s palette of red, blue, purple and gold: colors used to fit into Fondren’s artsy design scheme.”

When discussing the creation of the restaurant’s name, Burwell says family and friends are the motivation behind the name selection. “The art comes from many of our friends, and our talented children and grandchildren contributed to the start up of Mimi’s,” she says.

Visit them at 3139 North State Street in Fondren and take a bite of some funky, fun cuisine.

Customer service is top-notch. Call 601-366-6111 for more information.

DINEJackson

Telephone:

601-665-4952

Paid listyour yourrestaurant.r restaurant.r Paid advertising advertising section. section. Call Call 601-362-6121 601-362-6121 x11 x1 totolist

Sportsmanʼs Lodge

1120 E Northside Dr. (in Maywood Mart) 601-366-5441 Voted Best Sports Bar in 2010, Sportman’s doesn’t disappoint with plenty of gut-pleasing sandwiches, and fried seafood baskets. Try the award-winning wings in Buffalo, Thai or Jerk sauces!

COFFEE HOUSES Cups Espresso Café (Multiple Locations, www.cupsespressocafe.com) Jackson’s local group of coffeehouses offer high-end Arabica beans, a wide variety of espresso drinks, fresh brewed coffee and a selection of pastries and baked goods. Free wi-fi!

Wired Espresso Café (115 N State St 601-500-7800) This downtown coffeehouse across from the Old Capitol focuses on being a true gathering place, featuring great coffee and a selection of breakfast, lunch and pastry items. Free wi-fi.

For the sizzling taste of real hickory smoke barbeque -

LUNCH: MON.-FRI., 10AM-2PM See Us Come kfast! a e r B r o F

THIS IS THE PLACE! B.B.Q., Blues, Beer, Beef & Pork Ribs Saturday & Friday Night Blues Band Coming Soon!

7AM -10AM

Lunch & Dinner Hours: Tuesday - Thursday 11a.m. to 8p.m.

Friday & Saturday 11a.m. to 10p.m.

168 W. Griffith St. • Sterling Towers Across from MC School of Law

601-352-2364 • Fax: 601-352-2365 Hours: Monday - Friday 7am - 4pm

932 Lynch Street in Jackson (Across from the JSU Baseball Field)

BAKERY Broad Street (4465 Interstate 55 N. 601-362-2900) NEW MENU! Hot breakfast, coffee espresso drinks, fresh breads and pastries, gourmet deli sandwiches, quiches, soups, pizzas, pastas and dessert. A “see and be seen” Jackson institution!

Crazy Cat Bakers (Highland Village Suite #173 601-362-7448 & Fondren Corner Bldg) Amazing sandwiches: Meatloaf Panini, Mediterranean Vegetarian, Rotisserie Chicken to gourmet pimento cheese. Outlandish desserts. Now open in Fondren Corner on North State Street.

Campbellʼs Bakery (3013 N State Street 601-362-4628) Now serving lunch! Cookies, cakes and cupcakes are accompanied by good coffee and a fullcooked Southern breakfast on weekdays in this charming bakery in Fondren.

For Heavenʼs Cakes (4950 Old Canton Road 601-991-2253) Cakes and cupcakes for all occasions including weddings, parties, catered events. Owner Dani Mitchell Turk was features on the Food Network’s ultimate recipe showdown.

Italian Done Right.

Remember you can buy our lasagna by the pan!

910 Lake Harbour Dr. Ridgeland | 601-956-2929 Monday - Saturday | 5 - until

ITALIAN Basilʼs Belhaven (904 E. Fortification, Jackson, 601-352-2002)

i r e d

re

a sso C

Wood-fired pizzas, vegetarian fare, plus creative pastas, beef, and seafood specials. Wonderful atmosphere and service. Bravo! walks away with tons of Best of Jackson awards every year.

p

f

s

BRAVO! (4500 Interstate 55 N., Jackson, 601-982-8111)

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The signature Paninis are complimented by great Italian offerings such as spaghetti and meatball, tomato basil soup, cookies and cupcakes. Dinner menu includes fresh tilapia, shrimp and risotto, seafood pasta, generous salads—and don’t forget the crab cakes. Party menu includes a “panini pie.” BYOB.

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Ceramiʼs (5417 Lakeland Drive, Flowood, 601-919-28298) Southern-style Italian cuisine features their signature Shrimp Cerami (white wine sauce, capers artichokes) along with veal, tilapia, crawfish, chicken and pasta dishes. Now with liquor license!

Fratesiʼs (910 Lake Harbour, Ridgeland, 601-956-2929)

2003-2010, Best of Jackson

“Authentic, homey, unpretentious” that’s how the regulars describe Fratesi’s, a staple in Jackson for years, offering great Italian favorites with loving care. The tiramisu is a must-have!

BARBEQUE Hickory Pit Barbeque (1491 Canton Mart Rd. 601-956-7079)

707 N. Congress Street Downtown Jackson • (601) 353-1180 Open 11am-2pm, Sunday thru Friday

The “Best Butts in Town” features BBQ chicken, beef and pork sandwiches along with burgers and po’boys. Wet or dry pork ribs, chopped pork or beef, and all the sides.

Lumpkins BBQ (182 Raymond Rd. Jackson 866-906-0942) Specializing in smoked barbeque, Lumpkin’s offers all your favorites for on-site family dining or for catered events, including reunions, office events, annivesaries, weddings and more.

Come see Why We Were Voted One Of Jackson’s Best Mediterranean Restaurants

Rib Shack B.B.Q. & Seafood (932 J.R. Lynch Street, Jackson, 601-665-4952) Hickory-smoked BBQ beef or pork ribs, BBQ chicken, giant chopped BBQ beef or pork sandwiches. Fried catfish, pan trout, fried shrimp, po boys. Tues-Thurs (11-8pm) Fri-Sat (11-10pm).

Alumni House (574 Hwy 51 Ridgeland 601-605-9903, 110 Bass Pro, Pearl, 601-896-0253) Good bar food, big portions and burgers (with “blackened” as an option) known for their sweet buns. Televisions throughout, even small tubes at your table. Po-boys, quesadillas; good stuff!

Fenianʼs Pub (901 E. Fortification St. 601-948-0055) Classic Irish pub featuring a menu of traditional food, pub sandwiches and beers including Guinness and Harp on tap. Free live music most nights; Irish/Celtic bands on Thursdays.

DINE LOCAL, see pg. 42

Mediterranean & Lebanese Cuisine

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BARS, PUBS & BURGERS

Lunch starting at just $6 .99 Hours of Operation: Everyday 11am-until

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DINEJackson

Bring this ad for a FREE order of Beignets!

KaRAOKE TUESDAY Family Karaoke at 8pm

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6340 Ridgewood Court, 601-977-9920

Call Us: 601-352-2002

“Now Dats Italian”

A metro-area tradition since 1977 Dinner Hours: Lunch Hours: Tues-Fri 11am-2pm

Tues-Thurs 5pm-9pm Fri & Sat 5pm-10pm

601-919-2829 5417 Lakeland Drive ~ Flowood, MS 39232

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Cool Alʼs (4654 McWillie, 601-713-3020) A standard in Best of Jackson, Al’s stacked, messy, decadent, creative burgers defy adjectives.

Or try pineapple chicken, smoked sausage...or the nationally recognized veggie burger.

Fitzgeralds at the Hilton (1001 East County Line Road, 601-957-2800) Bar favorites with a Gulf Coast twist like Gumbo Ya Ya, Shrimp Cocktail and Pelahatchie artisan sausage and cheese antipasto. Plus grilled oysters, tournedos of beef, chicken pontabla and of course the fried stuff—oysters, catfish, shrimp, seafood or chicken. Did we mention the bar?

Hal and Malʼs (200 S. Commerce St. 601-948-0888) Pub favorites meet Gulf Coast and Cajun specialties like red beans and rice, the Oyster Platter or each day’s blackboard special. Repeat winner of Best of Jackson’s “Best Place for Live Music.”

Last Call (3716 I-55 N. Frontage Road 601-713-2700) Burgers, sandwiches and po-boys, plus sports-bar appetizers and specialities. Try chili cheese fries, chicken nachos or the shrimp & pork eggrolls. Pay-per-view sporting events, live bands.

Martinʼs Restaurant and Lounge (214 South State Street 601-354-9712) Lunch specials, pub appetizers (jalapeno poppers, cheezsticks, fried pickles) or order from the full menu of po-boys and entrees. Full bar, massive beer selection and live music most nights.

Shuckerʼs Oyster Bar (116 Conestoga Road, Ridgeland 601-853-0105) Serious about oysters? Try ‘em on the half shell, deep-fried, charred from the oven or baked in champagne. Plus po-boys, pub favorites, burgers, mufalettas, pizza, seafood and steaks!

The Regency (400 Greymont Ave. 601-969-2141) Reasonably priced buffet Monday through Friday featuring all your favorites. Daily happy hour, live bands and regular specials.

Time Out Sports Café (6720 Old Canton Road 601-978-1839) 14 TVs, 1 projector and two big-screens. Daily $9 lunch specials, pub-style appetizers, burgers, seafood and catfish po-boys, salads, and hot entrees including fish, steak and pasta.

Ole Tavern on George Street (416 George St. 601-960-2700) Pub food with a southern flair: beer-battered onion rings, chicken & sausage gumbo, salads, sandwiches and weekly lunch specials. Plus, happy hour 4-7pm Monday through Friday.

Pelican Cove Grill (3999A Harbor Walk Drive 601-605-1865) Great rez view! Shrimp and seafood appetizers, soups, salads, burgers and sandwiches, plus po-boys, catfish baskets, and dinners from the grill including mahi-mahi and reggae ribs.

Underground 119 (119 South President St. 601-352-2322) Jumbo lump crabcakes, crab quesadillas, beef tenderloin parfaits, orange-garlic shrimp, even “lollipop” lamb chops. Add a full bar and mix in great music. Opens 4 p.m.-until, Wed-Sat.

ASIAN Tokyo Express (5050 I-55N 601-957-1558 and 900 E County Line 601-899-8838) Lunch or dinner hibachi orders (chicken, shrimp, steak, scallops) and cooked sushi rolls (snow crab, philly, crawfish, dynamite, titanic) along with fried rice and appetizer.

Ding How Asian Bistro (601-956-1717, 6955 Old Canton Rd, Suite C, Ridgeland) Dishes from Thai; Chinese; Japanese and Korean. All the dishes are prepared with healthy ingredients, offering low oil, low salt, no MSG cooking. Hong Kong-style dim sum on weekends.

STIX (109 Marketplace Lane off Lakeland Dr Flowood 601-420-4058) Enjoy the quick-handed, knife-wielding chefs at the flaming teppanyaki grill; artful presentations of sushi; the pungent seasonings and spicy flavors of regional Chinese cuisines.

Nagoya (6351 I-55 North #131 @ Target Shopping Ctr. 601-977-8881) Nagoya gets high marks for its delicious-and-affordable sushi offerings, tasty lunch specials and high-flying hibachi room with satisfying flavors for the whole family.

Ichiban (153 Ridge Drive, Ste 105F 601-919-0097 & 359 Ridgeway 601-919-8879) Voted “Best Chinese” in 2010, cuisine styles at Ichiban actually range from Chinese to Japanese, including hibachi, sushi made fresh with seafood, and a crowd-pleasing buffet.

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n” g us ks o 10 t i n n Ja c 9 • 20 o V Fo r e c ue i • 200 a r b 008 B st 06 • 2 e B “ • 20 3 200

!

Best Butts In Town! since 1980

601-956-7079

1491 Canton Mart Rd. • Jackson

Julep (1305 East Northside Drive, Highland Village, 601-362-1411) Tons of Best of Jackson awards, delicious Southern fusion dishes like award-winning fried chicken, shrimp and grits, blackened tuna and butter bean hummus. Brunch, lunch, dinner and late night.

Primos Cafe (515 Lake Harbour 601-898-3400 and 2323 Lakeland 601-936-3398) A Jackson institution featuring a full breakfast (with grits and biscuits), blue plate specials, catfish, burgers, prime rib, oysters, po-boys and wraps. Save room for something from the bakery.

Sunioraʼs Sidewalk Cafe (200 South Lamar Street 601-355-1955) Homecooking, soul food, buffet and pizza for lunch in downtown Jackson. Soup and salad bar every day, plus daily lunch specials. “Mama’s in the kitchen!” Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm.

Sugarʼs Place (168 W Griffith St 601-352-2364) Hot breakfast and weekday lunch: catfish, pantrout, fried chicken wings, blue plates, red beans & rice, pork chops, chicken & dumplings, burgers, po-boys...does your grandma cook like this?

DINEJackson

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The Strawberry Café (107 Depot Drive, Madison, 601-856-3822) Full table service, lunch and dinner. Crab and crawfish appetizers, salads, fresh seafood, pastas, “surf and turf” and more. Veggie options. Desserts: cheesecake, Madison Mud and strawberry shortcake.

Two Sisters Kitchen (707 N. Congress St. 601-353-1180) 2010 Best of Jackson winner for fried chicken offers a sumptious buffet of your choice of veggies, a salad bar, iced tea & one of three homemade desserts. Lunch only. M-F 11-2, Sun. 10:30-2.

STEAK, SEAFOOD & FINE DINING Huntington Grille at the Hilton (1001 East County Line Road 601--957-1515) Chef Luis Bruno offers fresh Gulf seafood, unique game dishes and succulent steaks alongside an expansive wine selection; multiple honors from Best of Jackson, Wine Specator and others.

Schimmelʼs (2615 N. State St. 601-981-7077) Creative southern fusion dishes at attractive prices make the appointed dining room that much more enticing. Daily lunch specials, red beans and rice, angus burgers. Dinner menu includes pork tenderloin, basil-pesto pasta with chicken, cajun shrimp, steaks, seafood and more.

Steam Room Grille (5402 I-55 North 601--899-8588) Known for seafood featuring steamed lobster, crab, shrimp and combo patters. Grilled specialities include shrimp, steaks, and kabobs. Fresh fish fried seafood, lunch menu, catering, live music.

MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EASTERN Aladdin Mediterranean Grill (730 Lakeland Drive 601-366-6033) Delicious authentic dishes including lamb dishes, hummus, falafel, kababs, shwarma and much more. Consistent award winner, great for takeout or for long evenings with friends.

Jerusalem Café (2741 Old Canton Road 601-321-8797) Yes, it’s a hookah bar in Jackson, which also happens to have a great Meditterean menu, including falafel, lamb shank, feta salad, kabob, spinach pie, grape leaves and baba ghanouj.

Kristos (971 Madison Ave @ Hwy 51, Madison, 601-605-2266) Home of the famous Greek meatball! Hummus, falafel, dolmas, pita sandwiches, salads, plus seasoned curly fries (or sweet potato fries) and amazing desserts.

Petra Cafe (104 West Leake Street, Clinton 601-925-0016) Mediterranean and Lebanese cuisine in the charm of Olde Towne Clinton. Stuffed grape leaves, spinach pie, shrimp kabobs, greek salads, hummus and more. Lunch and dinner served seven days a week.

PIZZA Mellow Mushroom (275 Dogwood Blvd, Flowood, 601-992-7499) Pizzas of all kinds, munchies, calzones, grilled hoagies, salads and more make up the extensive and “eclectic” menu at Mellow Mushroom. Award-winning beer selection. Dine in or carry out.

The Pizza Shack (1220 N State St. 601-352-2001) 2009 and 2010’s winner of Best Pizza offers the perfect pizza-and-a-beer joint. Creative pizza options abound (“Cajun Joe, anyone?”), along with sandwiches, wings, salads and even BBQ. Sal & Mookieʼs (565 Taylor St. 601-368-1919) Pizzas of all kinds plus pasta, eggplant parmesan and the local favorite: fried ravioli. Voted Best Chef, Best Dessert, Best Kid’s Menu and Best Ice Cream in the 2010 Best of Jackson reader poll.

CARRIBBEAN

- SCHIMMEL’S MENU -

Taste of the Island (436 E. Capitol, Downtown, 601-360-5900) Jerk chicken or ribs, curry chicken or shrimp, oxtails, snapper or goat, plus bok choy, steamed cabbage and Jamaican Greens, Carry out, counter seating or delivery available. 11a-7p.

This is just a sample of our specials and specialties; stop in to enjoy our full menu.

VEGETARIAN

JAPANESE SUSHI BAR & HIBACHI GRILL

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NAGOYA JACKSON 6351 I-55 North, Ste. 131 (next to Target) in Jackson | 601-977-8881

LUNCH MENU DAILY

DINNER MENU

Daily Specials $8.95 Tuesday Beef Stroganoff and Egg Noodles/One Side Wednesday Pork Chops w/ Red Skin Mashed Potatoes/One Side Thursday Baked Chicken w/Mushroom Rice/One Side Friday Grilled and Fried Catfish w/Two Sides

Seafood, Steak & House Specialties Stuffed Pork Tenderloin w/Garlic Cheese Grits 21.95 Chicken Pasta w/Basil Pesto 18.95 Cajun Shrimp and Pepperjack Grits 22.95

HAPPY HOUR

Made In-house Daily $7.95

EVERYDAY SPECIALS Red Beans & Rice w/ Smoked Sausage 8.95 Angus Burger w/Sweet Potato Fries $8.95 Fried Oyster Po Boy $8.95

DESSERTS

Tuesday-Friday 4:30pm-6:30pm All Drinks Half Price

top rated restaurants

2615 N. State StREET 601-981-7077 www.schimmelsonline.com

Follow Schimmel’s on Twitter, Myspace and Facebook for music updates!

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High Noon Café (2807 Old Canton Road in Rainbow Plaza 601-366-1513) Fresh, gourmet, tasty and healthy defines the lunch options at Jackson’s own strict vegetarian (and very-vegan-friendly) restaurant. Daily lunch specials -- like mexican day and the seaside cakes on Fridays -- push the envelope on creative and healthy; wonderful desserts!

43

sports

by Emma Sloan

May 5, 2010

Cinco de Drinlokose 5pm-c drink

Food and specials all day!

for Beers we’re shipping in this event only!

Presidente Light, Dos Equis, Modelo Especial, and Tecate!

Our Kitchen will be cooking up southwestern d eggrolls, quesadillas, an tacos al pastor

WEDNESDAY 4/28

Virigil Brawley & Steve Chester (Blues) THURSDAY 4/29

Jim Flanagan (Irish Folk) FRIDAY 4/30

Thomas Jackson Orchestra (Classic Rock Party) SATURDAY 5/1

The Juvenators (Blues & Rock) SUNDAY 5/2

Brunch 11am-3pm

Open 11am - Midnight MONDAY 5/3

Karaoke w/ Matt TUESDAY 5/4

April 29 - May 5, 2010

Open Mic with Robbie Peoples

44

EMMA SLOAN

Maple Street Mentor

Lanier High School baskeball coach Thomas Billups at the Mississippi Coliseum during the 2006-2007 season.

A

s the head coach of the Lanier High School basketball team, Thomas Billups has developed future NBA players and won state championships.

“Coach Thomas Billups’ success at Lanier High School may be unmatched in the history of Mississippi high school boys basketball,” adopting during a 2006 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature Senate Resolution 631 reads. “Coach Billups has built a hoops machine at Maple Street in Jackson.”

Despite his success, he still considers himself mostly misunderstood by the fans that praise him. “They say I’m like Bobby Knight,” he says. “But I’m not like Bobby Knight.”

Outspoken coaches are inevitably going to be compared to Knight, perhaps the sport’s largest coaching personality. And, in terms of wins, Knight and Billups are in the same league. Knight won 900 games as a college head coach; Billups has won over 500 high school games. Knight took home three NCAA championships at Indiana; Billups has won eight MHSAA state titles at Vicksburg High and Lanier High.

In 2005, Billups’ team defeated South Gwinnett High, coached by Roger Fleetwood, on a Saturday night. The game, featuring Monta Ellis and current Philadelphia 76er Louis Williams, went to double-overtime.

A few days later, at a neutral court, South Gwinnett would go on to beat Oak Hill Academy, whose starting line-up was Ty Lawson, Eric Devendorf, Jamont Gordon, K.C. River, and Kevin Durant. (Fleetwood’s team, on the other hand, eventually lost to Joseph Wheeler High School in the Georgia state tournament.)

“Each summer, Louis Williams, the other players, and I get together at a summer camp in Snellville, Georgia, and reminisce.

With the exception of the Wheeler loss, the loss to Lanier was the toughest, all these years later,” Fleetwood said. “He had his team playing aggressively, and they played the game 84 feet. If you can get really good players to play really hard, that’s the sign of a great coach.”

Billups credited his faith, not his fury, for his success.

“I coach the way God wants me,” he says.

“I don’t break rules. I don’t think I would have won that many championships if God wasn’t in my life. I could name a lot of times when

we’re behind, if I go blank, I stop and ask him for help. I know I didn’t do it by myself. I’m not the smartest coach in the world. That’s who I always ask for help.”

Ellis, his most famous pupil, played almost every position well and served as a leader in the locker room and on the court. Ellis is having his best season in his fourth season, with the Golden State Warriors. During the 2009-2010 season, Ellis has averaged 25.4 points a game. Their relationship was close and extended beyond the court.

“It was like daddy and son,” Billups said of their relationship. “When he needed help, he came to me and I helped him. He talked to me about other coaches. He wanted to win, and he wanted to win every game.”

Billups took a little credit for developing the former second-round pick (40th overall) of the Golden State Warriors. But he admitted that their relationship has been strained since Ellis landed in the pros. “Right now, [our relationship] is not the best in the world. Sometimes we talk once or twice a year. Sooner or later, God will put us back together.”

Billups’ career path, winding throughout the state, began in football. A native of Louisville, Miss., Billups spent time as a multi-sport coach at Vicksburg High School and Blackburn Junior High before being hired by Lanier High School.

“Basketball was not my sport,” Billups says of his own athletic career. “I played football, baseball, and I ran track. I played a little bit of high school basketball, but not much.”

Once Billups focused on coaching basketball, he rose to prominence quickly, winning his first state championship at Vicksburg High School. After a few years in that position, Billups wanted to move to Jackson to be closer to his family.

“I got a job in Vicksburg, and my wife was working in Jackson,” Billups says. “After 12 years at Vicksburg, I got tired of driving (back and forth), and my kids were growing up and I wanted to be at home with my daughter and my sons, so I tried to get a little closer.”

Even though Billups has sometimes had the advantage of exceptional talent like Ellis, he has more often had to rely on discipline to secure victories. “I’m real tough on the kids; I won’t let them do what they want to do. We got a lot of rules that we follow, and if you don’t follow them you don’t play.”

Quentin Watkins, an 11th grade point guard at Lanier, noted that Billups’ coaching style is particularly involved and intense. “His coaching style is just. …” he trails off. “It’s a ‘get out there’-type style—very hard-nosed basketball.” “(Players) always haven’t had a lot of talent,” Billups says. “I always try to make them the best they can be. Some players I brought in weren’t very good, but after two or three years with me, they became good. Some became great basketball players.”

Doctor S sez: The distance from star to bust is short.

Just ask former Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead.

THURSDAY, APRIL 29 Southern League baseball, Mississippi at Jacksonville (6:05 p.m., Jacksonville, Fla., 103.9): The M-Braves open a five-game series with the Suns on the edge of the Atlantic.

FRIDAY, APRIL 30 College baseball, Ole Miss at Mississippi State (7 p.m., Starkville, FSN South, 97.3 FM, 105.9 FM): The Rebels and Bulldogs begin a delightful weekend of hate at Dudy Noble. Both teams need a series in the worst way.

SATURDAY, MAY 1 College baseball, Ole Miss at Mississippi State (6:30 p.m., Starkville, SportSouth, 97.3 FM, 105.9 FM): The SEC should schedule this series for the last weekend of the season. You know, to increase the angst.

SUNDAY, MAY 2 College baseball, Ole Miss at Mississippi State (1:30 p.m., Starkville, CSS, 97.3 FM, 105.9 FM): Neither one of these teams plays particularly well on Sundays.

This could be interesting.

MONDAY, MAY 3 Southern League baseball, Mississippi at Jacksonville (10:05 a.m., Jacksonville, Fla., 103.9): The M-Braves conclude their series on the East Coast.

Do they have to ride a bus back to Mississippi?

TUESDAY, MAY 4 International League baseball, Pawtucket at Gwinett (6 p.m., CSS): Catch up with what your favorite former M-Braves are doing for the G-Braves up in Class AAA. WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 Southern League baseball, Birmingham at Mississippi (11:05 a.m., Pearl, 103.9 FM): The M-Braves and Barons open their series with a midweek matinee.

The Slate is compiled by Doctor S, who’s drinking lots of gin-and-tonics to ward off malaria. You can’t be too careful. For disease-free sports, go to JFP Sports at www.jacksonfreepress.com.

BY MATT JONES

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) ittle knowledge can be dangerous. I constantly meet people who have boxed themselves into tight spots by misusing their smattering of astrological information. There’s no better example of this than the superstition about Mercury retrograde, which is supposedly a bad time to begin anything new. During one such period last year, an acquaintance of mine decided to delay accepting a dream job offer as editor of a magazine. By the time Mercury returned to normal, the magazine had hired another applicant. I wish I’d have known, because I would have told her what I’ll tell you: Some of America’s biggest, most enduring Fortune 500 companies began when Mercury was retrograde, including Disney, Goodyear and Boeing. The moral of the story: Of all the signs of the zodiac, it’s most important that you Tauruses don’t worry about launching new projects during the current Mercury retrograde.

Would you really prefer it if you had no problems? Do you imagine you’d enjoy life more if everything was pure fun and smoothly easy? Here’s an astrological perspective: People who have an over-abundance of positive aspects in their natal horoscopes often turn out to be lucky but lazy bums who never accomplish much.

So I say, be thankful for the complications that are visiting you. I bet they will make a man out of you if you’re a woman or a woman out of you if you’re a man. If you’re white, they’ll help you get blacker, and if you’re black, they’ll make you whiter. Catch my drift? As you do your best to solve the knotty riddle, you’ll become better balanced and more versatile than folks who are rarely challenged.

carry on two or more intimate relationships but don’t lie about it. Their lovers know about each other and have agreed to the arrangement. I applaud those who have the inclination to pull off this tricky work, even though I personally couldn’t manage it. Handling just a single intense bond takes improbable amounts of my ingenuity. If I were trying to weave my fate together with more than one partner, I wouldn’t have any energy left over to write these horoscopes or do anything else. How about you, Scorpio? You’re in a phase when splitting your attention might be tempting, not just in regards to your love life but in other areas, too.

Whether that’s the right thing to do, I can’t say. Here’s what I do know: You can either go deeper or wider, but not both.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Here’s the most important rule for you in the coming week: Keep your eyes fixed on a vision of your shining destiny. If you do, you’ll be unflappable, indefatigable and irrepressible. Your luck will be so crazy good it’ll be almost spooky. Noble deeds you did in the past will finally bring the rewards you deserve. Allies will conspire to assist you, sometimes in ways you couldn’t have predicted. I’m not exaggerating, Cancerian. If you stay focused on the highest prize, you’ll live a charmed life.

“Never bear more than one trouble at a time,” wrote author and clergyman Edward Everett Hale. “Some people bear three kinds—all they have had, all they have now and all they expect to have.” That’s good advice for you, Sagittarius. Please just stick to the trouble you have, and drop the other two kinds. There’s no need to fill up your beautiful head with extra torment. Besides, you’re much more likely to wrestle the current trouble into submission if you’re not weighted down by unnecessary extras.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

In 1990, my rock band World Entertainment War played at a San Francisco nightclub on the same bill as the Beatnigs, an assemblage fronted by Michael Franti.

Their avant-garde industrial music featured band members rhythmically hitting a steel bar with a power saw and slapping a long chain against a piece of sheet metal hanging from the back wall. Fast-forward to 2009, when Franti’s latest band Spearhead released a catchy romantic pop ditty titled “Say Hey (I Love You),” which reached number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. I predict a comparable development for you in the next six months, Leo: moving from a state of raw, dark, obscure power to a state of bright, refined, accessible power.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Mangosteens and rambutans are exotic fruits that grow in faraway places. The mangosteen is creamy and purple, with a peachy citrus taste, while the rambutan is like a big hairy red grape. This is a perfect moment, astrologically speaking, to invite them into your mouth.

Likewise, the time is right for you to consider welcoming other colorful, striking and foreign elements into your life. So maybe consider making friends with a Paraguayan acrobat. Sing Vietnamese folk songs. Read the memoirs of an Iranian exile. Exchange conspiracy theories with an Icelandic fairy.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) A reader named Emory proposes that we add a new meme to the cultural lexicon: interpersonal intellectual orgasm. Here’s how he describes it: “It happens when your conversation with another person becomes so intense that nothing else matters except the dialogue you’re creating together. The two of you are so in tune, so intellectually bonded, that the sensation is almost like making love. For that time, it’s like that person is in you, and you are in that person; you are one because you understand each other so completely.” I bring this to your attention, Libra, because you’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when the interpersonal intellectual orgasm is far more likely than usual to occur.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Unlike people who cheat on their mates, polyamorists

What excites you? What makes you itch with a longing to be surprised? What fills you to the brim with curiosity and an agitated sense of wonder? You may not know even half of what you could potentially realize about these matters. Have you ever sat down and taken a formal inventory? Have you ever dedicated yourself to figuring out all the things that would inspire you most?

Do it sometime soon, please; attend to this glorious task. According to my reading of the omens, it’s prime time to do so.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

“Who Wants Crabs?”—we got ‘em right here!

Across 1 Luge, e.g.

5 Cindy Brady’s impediment 9 Large battery size 14 Auto racer Yarborough 15 Hydrox rival 16 Dog-___ (like some book pages) 17 Getting from ___ (achieving a goal) 18 Crabby holiday figure?

20 2010 Jude Law thriller 22 Small jazz combo 23 “___ Jacques” 24 “See ya” 25 Go off on a tirade 29 How some bonds are valued 32 2009 movie subtitled “The Rise of Cobra” 33 Crabby protest song?

38 Dangerous, as some driving conditions 39 Al fresco 40 Kal ___ pet foods 41 Crabby dogs?

44 Sewing machine inventor Howe 45 “Would you like to swing on ___...”

46 Guitarist Lofgren

47 Word before club or mail 49 “Robinson Crusoe” author Daniel 53 Long swimmers 55 Term that may trigger an emotional response 57 Crabby villain?

61 Prefix in some drinks 62 It’s made letter writing a dying art 63 Come down 64 School whose mascot is Bruin Bear 65 2002 M. Night Shyamalan film 66 Has a right to 67 “Marketplace Money” radio host Vigeland

Down 1 Wolf (down) 2 “See ya” 3 Get hitched quick 4 TV anchor Norville 5 Get the highest score, in golf 6 It was once ruled by a shah 7 Capitol Hill figure: abbr.

8 Word before break or training 9 Prefix meaning “one-tenth” 10 Related to dietary intake 11 Memorable time period 12 ___ Alcindor, aka Kareem Abdul-

It’s a good thing Margaret Mitchell suffered a broken ankle back in 1925. She got so bored as she lay around the house recuperating that she started writing a book.

Eventually it blossomed into the 423,000-word blockbuster “Gone with the Wind,” which sold 30 million copies and won her the Pulitzer Prize. Judging from your current astrological omens, Aquarius, I suspect that you too may soon be offered an opportunity disguised as a ho-hum problem.

©2010 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers to this puzzle, call: 1900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute.

Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-6556548. Reference puzzle #0458.

Last Week’s Answers

BY MATT JONES

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) I was pleased when I discovered a website with a video of quirky songstress Cat Power singing David Bowie’s iconic song “Space Oddity.” I love her, I love Bowie, and I love the tune. And yet a wave of disappointment broke over me when I realized, 30 seconds into the performance, that it was actually a car commercial. I felt duped. Appalled. Outraged. Any pleasure I’d gotten from the experience was ruined. Don’t be like me, Pisces. You, too, may soon receive a blessing that has some minor annoyance. Don’t overreact like me. Look past the blemish and enjoy the gift.

Last Week’s Answers

ARIES (March 21-April 19) “In a recipe for salsa published recently, one of the ingredients was misstated, due to an error,” said an apology run by a local newspaper. “The correct ingredient is ‘2 teaspoons of cilantro’ instead of ‘2 teaspoons of cement.’” This is an example of the kind of miscue you should be alert for in your own life during the coming week, Aries. As long as you pay close attention and spot the tiny booboos as they arise, you won’t end up dipping your chips into a gritty, gravely mess.

Homework: Practicing unconditional love is the toughest, most heroic task of all. Here’s my attempt to get better at it: http://bit.ly/WorldKiss. Can I see yours?

“Greater-Than Sudoku” For this ìGreater-Than Sudoku,î Iím not giviní you ANY numbers to start off with! Adjoining squares in the gridís 3x3 boxes have a greater-than sign (>) telling you which of the two numbers in those squares is larger. Fill in every square with a number from 1ñ9 using the greater-than signs as a guide. When youíre done, as in a normal Sudoku, every row, column, and 3x3 box will contain the numbers 1ñ9 exactly one time. (Solving hint: try to look for the 1’s and 9’s in each box first, then move on to the 2’s and 8’s, and so on).

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GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

Jabbar 13 Mormon gp.

19 “Beds ___ Burning” (Midnight Oil hit song) 21 Shower figures 24 “Percy Jackson & The Olympians” actor Pierce 26 “Is this some kind of ___?”

27 Six-time All-Star Garciaparra 28 Frigid temperature range 30 Professor in Clue 31 ___Vista (search engine) 32 Lobbed weapon 33 Add more lanes to 34 Bacteria in some food poisoning 35 1976 Sally Field title role 36 They get the royal treatment 37 Fix a manuscript 42 Accesses gradually 43 It’s far from “a little off the top” 47 Swine ___ 48 Elroy’s dog 50 Friction, e.g.

51 Some exams 52 Ferber and Krabappel, for two 54 Letter-shaped building wings 55 Arcade game need 56 Coffee dispensers 57 Electric guitarist Paul 58 Big label 59 Couch ___ (recurring visual opener on “The Simpsons”) 60 Hem and ___

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