May 2013
MED Night Brooks Uncorked Krewes for Kids Phoenix Club Mardi Gras Party BRIDGES Screen on the Green Germantown Charity Horse Show Royal Ball Q&A with Dr. James Downing
CONTENTS
Contents May 201 3
From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Signature Memphis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Jim Meeks invites RSVP to Northwestern Mutual’s East Memphis office. The Ambassador Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Ellistrations Actor Chris Ellis talks about his career, as well as one of his other passions: caricature drawings.
14 BROOKS UNCORKED Marina and Cmdr. John Bogan
Brooks Uncorked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Wines flowed aplenty during the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s second event in the Memphis Wine and Food Series.
StreetSeens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 & 24 This blogger’s been showing Memphians and tourists alike the best of Memphis
52 BRIDGES SCREEN ON THE GREEN Donna Davis
offerings for four years now. She’s helping refugees find their footing in the Bluff City. StreetSeens highlight Kerry Crawford and Cam Echols.
M AY 2 013
Germantown Charity Horse Show Royal Ball . . . . . . . . . . .26 Woodland Hills Event Center provided the perfect elegant backdrop for the announcement of the Germantown Charity Horse Show’s queen and princesses.
Vox Popular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Q&A with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientific director, Dr. James Downing.
RSVP
4
Krewes for Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 The Grand Krewes of Carnival Memphis joined together to celebrate the organiza-
26 GERMANTOWN CHARITY HORSE SHOW ROYAL BALL Nancy Douglas and Bobby Lanier
tion’s Children’s Charity Initiative.
Onsites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46, 47, 60 & 66 Gatherings that have earned an honorable mention.
56 PHOENIX CLUB MARDI GRAS PARTY DeAngelo Brooks and Deidra Chapman
RSVP Room View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 This Midtown kitchen received a show-stopping renovation. BRIDGES Screen on the Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 BRIDGES opted for a The Wizard of Oz theme for its annual spring benefit. Phoenix Club Mardi Gras Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Phoenix Club members threw down New Orleans style at the Cadre Building to help raise funds for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis.
MED Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Supporters of the Regional Medical Center at Memphis came out in full force for the hospital’s yearly soul celebration at The Peabody.
40 KREWES FOR KIDS Martha and Glenn Carr
RSVPhillippi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Porktastic Dennis Phillippi discusses why there’s room for only one barbecue capitol.
Cover Photo Gov. Bill Haslam and First Lady Crissy Haslam at MED Night Photo by Baxter Buck
62 MED NIGHT Waletha Wasson and Arveal Turner
Volume XVIII
Number VIII
May 2013 PUBLISHER
Roy Haithcock EDITOR
Leah Fitzpatrick CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Kelly Cox Jonathan Devin Dennis Phillippi Eugene Pidgeon Suzanne Thompson Lesley Young ART DIRECTOR
Patrick Aker s PHOTOGRAPHERS
Baxter Buck Don Perry Steve Roberts ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
M AY 2 013
Chris Pugh Kristen Miller ACCOUNTING
Ruth Cassin EDITORIAL INTERN
R achel Warren
RSVP
6 RSVP Memphis is published monthly by Haithcock Communications, Inc. First class subscriptions are available for $55.00 per year. Send name and address with a check to: Haithcock Communications, Inc. 2282 Central Avenue Memphis, TN 38104 For advertising information contact Roy Haithcock Phone (901) 276-7787, ext. 101 Fax (901) 276-7785 e-mail publisher@rsvpmagazine.com WEB
www.rsvpmagazine.com For editorial information or to request coverage of an event, please contact RSVP Magazine one month prior to the event. Call 901-276-7787, ext. 105 or fax to 901-276-7785. e-mail editor@rsvpmagazine.com Follow us on & RSVP Memphis Magazine
Copyright 2013 Haithcock Communications, Inc.
R SV P S TA F F
CHRIS PUGH, ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE 901.276.7787, EXT. 103 chris@rsvpmagazine.com
KRISTEN MILLER, ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE 901.276.7787, EXT. 104 kristen@rsvpmagazine.com
M AY 2 013
Chris has been exercising his talent in the advertising world since 1999. He joined the RSVP team in 2009 and brought with him a love for laughter and creativity. Originally from New Albany, Mississippi, Chris has settled in Memphis and enjoys being active in the fashion community.
RACHEL WARREN, EDITORIAL INTERN 901.276.7787, EXT. 108 rachel@rsvpmagazine.com
Rachel is passionate about print media and has covered many local events in Jackson, Mississippi in the past. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Millsaps College, and in 2011, she moved back to her hometown of Memphis. She is delighted to be part of the RSVP team as an editorial intern. She loves writing about all the amazing people and places in Memphis, enjoying a great book and chasing a good story.
RSVP
7 Having worked in print advertising for nearly eight years, Kristen Miller felt it was a natural fit to join the RSVP team as an account executive. Kristen, who lives in Arlington with her husband and four children, loves to cook, fish, watch college and Arlington Tigers football, spend time with her family and advertising, of course.
From the Editor
M AY 2 013
T
RSVP
8
hree things come to mind when I think of May: horses, mothers and barbecue. I’m sure someone more clever than I can figure out how all of these are related other than the fact that the Kentucky Derby, Mother’s Day and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest all occur in the same month, but until that someone comes forward, I’m just satisfied knowing that each is mentioned in the pages of RSVP. For example, many of our advertisers are showing off an array of gift ideas in their ads that are worth considering for Mother’s Day, while the Kentucky Derby and the Barbecue Contest are topics respectively touched upon in the RSVP Crossword (page 67) and RSVPhillippi column (page 69), which is one of my favorites to date and laugh-out-loud funny. Another feature in the mag that completely fills me with glee is the too cool kitchen seen in the RSVP Room View on pages 48 and 50. Not only did the pictures make me stop in my tracks and drool when our photographer Steve Roberts sent them over, but I wanted to know how such an eclectic mix of furnishings and design elements could function so fluidly in a single space, especially in one that usually doesn’t contain as much personality as other rooms in a house. And, even though I had my own home kitchen redone a couple of months ago, I can still say I have kitchen envy. (It might be worth noting that my mom’s an antique store owner and interior designer back in Nashville, so a passion for home design rubbed off on me somewhere along the way.) The rest of the issue doesn’t disappoint either, as it boasts a mix of stories focused on completely unique individuals who are contributing greatly to this city in various ways. First, you’ll meet Kerry Crawford, whose I Love Memphis blog has become the go-to spot for anyone wanting to know what’s happening in this town, in the StreetSeen on page 22, and two pages later, you’ll get to know Cam Echols, a woman who has been at the forefront of an organization that’s “educating, encouraging and equipping” refugees with the tools they need to become productive citizens in the local community. Meanwhile, the Vox Popular on page 34 highlights Dr. James Downing of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and his quest to uncover the genetic mistakes that trigger many childhood cancers through the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project. Though he no longer calls Memphis home, thespian Chris Ellis, featured in The Ambassador Series on page 12, also has a story not to be missed, as he sheds light on the people and experiences that have made him the success he is today. To each of our loyal readers, I hope you have been enjoying springtime in Memphis, and I can’t close without giving a big shout-out to MIFA for graciously bestowing the Joe Birch Media Award upon me at the recent MIFA Day of Reflection and Service for RSVP’s coverage of the organization’s fund-raisers and features on employees Sally Jones Heinz, Charlie Nelson and Arnetta Stanton-Macklin. The award was truly unexpected and an honor, and all of us at RSVP want to thank you for the notable assistance you provide to seniors and families in crisis.
Leah Fitzpatrick editor@rsvpmagazine.com
SIGNATURE MEMPHIS
Jim Meeks Managing Partner, Northwestern Mutual/Art Lover/Family Man
Hometown: Paducah, Kentucky. Your Best Quality: Being driven. Place You Go to Think: The beach. Best Memphis Hangout: Beale Street. Best Dish You Cook: Strawberry cake. First Car You Drove: Chevrolet Camaro. Biggest Pet Peeve: People not giving excellence. Favorite Song: “Beach in Hawaii” by Ziggy Marley.
Proudest Moment of Your Life: The birth of my children.
10
Your Most Annoying Habit: When I want something, I want it now.
RSVP
Who Inspires You: My parents were amazing role models for me to follow. Best Advice You Ever Got: Always do what’s right, even if it costs you money. The Highlight of Your Day: When someone really understands what I’m trying to teach. Coolest Thing About Memphis: The people in Memphis are real (as opposed to fake). Something You’ll Never Live Down: Everyone seems to hate the fact I have lots of non-gray hair. Your Lucky Charm: My father’s silver dollar. It was on his keychain for my entire life and until he died in 2010. It’s now on my keychain and the face (image) is completely rubbed off. One Goal You’d Still Like to Accomplish: To be the founding member of a trust fund to where we give away all the money we can to people in need who are less fortunate.
Photo by Steve Roberts
M AY 2 013
Who Would Play You in a Movie: James Bond.
THE AMBASSADOR SERIES
The Ambassador Series By Eugene Pidgeon
ELLISTRATIONS
M AY 2 013
I
RSVP
12
t is another perfect day in Los Angeles. Or is it? The sun is out. No longer held in abeyance by the astral censorship of the ozone layer, the biggest star in Hollywood is roaming like a free agent without restriction over its cast of minions. But even in sunny L.A., it is not all sushi and tanning butter. There is a population of Angel-easies who are disappearing into the seismic fissures of invisibility and thus expanding the distance between the ALister and the non-exister. This is where Chris Ellis comes in. It is Friday. The weekend has arrived. And, the highways—an arterial infrastructure coursing through greater Los Angeles—are hopelessly clotted and in need of Lipitor. Yet, while impatient motorists try to cut out of town, Chris Ellis is in the thick of traffic…delivering Meals on Wheels. Meals on Wheels is the same in L.A. as it is everywhere else. It is not boutique catering or film studio craft services. Poverty is a woeful burden everywhere, and L.A., even with its je ne sais quoi is no different. Chris Ellis is quietly doing his “part” to ease that burden. Not one to gloat, he chuckles, “Yeah, I’m stuck in traffic, delivering Meals on Wheels to ladies in Brentwood. I’m just an old Christian martyr trying to buy my way into heaven!” He jests, but his remark warrants a double take. “I’ve actually been doing this for 15 years,” he says. “I’m the very guy they can call when they need somebody. I work as much as once or twice a week or every two weeks.” The name Chris Ellis resounds with a relative propulsion of celebrity in Memphis. Even those Memphians who don’t know him well have seen him on stage or owe him money. All debts and debtors aside, Ellis by natural invention can consume the air from a large room. But, he always brings his own big and warm light to the table and to the party. A thespian possessed of a wicked tongue (think Oscar Wilde or the Aristide Bruant of Montmartre in Paris) Ellis could have stayed in Memphis and become bigger than Elvis, if not portlier. He may have crafted a nice life frolicking across the clapboards of Theatre Memphis or Playhouse on the Square. He could always be found waxing an ever-excessive poet as the laureate of the P & H Café on Madison
Avenue in Midtown. Alas, Ellis heard the call and heeded it. He is an actor and a movie star. He has shared the spotlight and stolen it from a roster of Filmdom’s most formidable players. He bewildered Joe Pesci as the affable redneck antagonist J.T. in My Cousin Vinny. As flight director Clark, he stood with Billy Bob Thornton in Armageddon, improvising a classic line of
the movie to Liv Tyler. Upon learning how her moon rock driller boyfriend, Ben Affleck, had not, after all, been vanquished by the mean little old asteroid, Ellis chimes with wry salacity, “Your boyfriend’s back!” If Affleck survived to save the world, Ellis survived to save the picture. Ellis has enjoyed a substantial film career. He even has three credits with Tom Hanks, including Apollo 13, That Thing You Do! and the Tom/Leo biopic Catch Me If You Can. Apollo 13, in which he was cast as Deke Slayton to Hanks’ Jim Lovell, was the turning point in Ellis’ career and the one film he cites as having had the most positive impact on him. Every Thursday since Thanksgiving Day 1995, Ellis has met with his castmates from Apollo 13 for lunch. “We haven’t missed a Thursday in 18 years,” he says. At the table, he is often joined by Emmy
Award winner Christian Clemenson and TV veteran Joe Spano, now a regular on the CBS powerhouse “NCIS.” “Joe also officiated at my wedding,” Ellis gratefully acknowledges. He adds, “There is Andy Wilder from ‘Weeds’ and Googy Gress and the rest of us who are a little more anonymous! But, we don’t talk about work…we talk about food.” One could say that Ellis is also a blessed man. He has a beautiful family. His wife, Crystal, and his 13-year-old son, Johnny Mike, are the centrifuge of his rather large life force. Though, when questioned if he wants his son to follow in his footsteps and be an actor, he cackles joyfully, “Oh God, I hope not.” After working in Hollywood for more than 20 years, Ellis isn’t any more cynically humorous than he was before he came to L.A. from New York circa 1991. Asked if his audition process has changed in the interim years, he says, “Yes, my audition process has changed remarkably…not one bit. Most of the time I rise at the crack of 10 and spend the day waiting for the phone to ring!” Thankfully, it does. Even so, he laments, “They’re just not writing parts for old folks very often anymore.” Ellis champions three people who have been with him from the beginning. “Casting agents David Rubin and Debbie Zane in L.A. have really been great. And in New York, it is time I thank my friend Mari for putting me up when I was just starting out so many years ago. She deserves so much credit.” Maybe this is why Chris Ellis is stuck in traffic on a Friday afternoon delivering meals. In some ways, the gesture serves as gratitude for everything he has been given. How does he keep his head above it all? He says, “I told you before…I’m just an old Christian martyr!” Is that a union or a non-union gig? Recently, Ellis announced a new role with his “Ellistrations” project. This endeavor features his original silkscreen caricatures and artwork, which will soon be available online or by commission. E-mail TheChrisEllis@aol.com for information, and see the actor/artist’s representation of himself through the caricature accompanying this column. Move over headshots.
EVENT
Brooks Uncorked
BROOKS UNCORKED
ronically, the legal drinking age—21—matches the number of years the Memphis Wine and Food Series has been pouring up vino from notable vintners stateside and abroad. A fund-raiser for the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, the series brought the best of Oregon wines to museum supporters for its latest installment of Brooks Uncorked, and will keep doing so until the series’ finale, the Brooks Grand Auction on May 11; in the interim, the Private Winemakers Dinners and Vin-A-Que will also take place. Particularly exciting at Brooks Uncorked was the fact that it offered guests tastings from wineries recognized by Wine Spectator as some of the “Top 20 Oregon Wineries to Know,” a roster that includes Argyle, Adelsheim, Chehalem, Cooper Mountain, Elk Cove and Willamette Valley Vineyards. For convenience, Buster’s Liquors & Wines provided a list of featured wines with their respective bottle prices so that guests could keep a record of their favorites. Categories included American, Old World and New World whites and reds, and beer, like Brooklyn Brewery’s Sorachi Ace and East India Pale Ale, even made its way into the tasting lineup. A sold-out VIP area also featured special selections for the hardcore oenophile. Speaking on the variety of tastes available, one Buster’s employee pointed out, “We have 48 wines tonight—12 at each table.” Additionally, several area restaurants supplied hearty appetizers alongside the tasting stations and silent auction tables that were filled with many wine-friendly goodies, such as a Jack Binion’s Steakhouse wine cellar dinner for four. Edibles came in the form of curry beef empanadas and sushi from Mosa Asian Bistro, pork tenderloin sliders and lemon tartlets from Owen Brennan’s, guacamole and salsa with chips by Swanky’s Taco Shop and assorted pizza slices from Memphis Pizza Café, the last of which was located on the museum’s terrace—a spot that turned into dance party central for those looking to cut a rug. Other participating restaurants were the Brooks’ own Brushmark Restaurant, Café Society, Cheffie’s Cafe, Cortona, Eclectic Catering, eighty3 and the Grove Grill. The First Tennessee Foundation, whose logo was etched on all of the wine glasses, presented the benefit that museum staffers and many others will attest has become the “ultimate wine and food tasting experience.”
Wines from Oregon
I
M AY 2 013
Bunny Hill-Thomas and Stanton Thomas
Meredith Hennessy and Louis Stifter
RSVP
14
See all the party photos at rsvpmagazine.com Password: RSVP
Kye and Beth Lee
Story by Leah Fitzpatrick Photos by Don Perry
Dathan and Tennille Thomas
Jeff and Heather Klein
Nick and Mary Griffin
Martha Billions and Stefanie Smith Fisher
Samantha Holder, Kristen Cottingham, Kristina Aguirre and Felicia Powell
Matt Pertl and Kari Maffitt
EVENT BROOKS UNCORKED
Chris Pugh and Tiffany Brimhall
April and Phillip Stewart
Dorothy Brownlee and Geraldine Richardson
M AY 2 013
Lynn and Marsha Phillips
Tom and Constance Conley with Drs. Purvisha and Dharmesh Patel
Tate and Melissa Yawn with Karen and Kirk Johnston
RSVP
16
Ken Hall and Amy Nash
Johnna Tanner and Larry Jones
Derek Richardson and Mary Wilson
Michael Hughes and Kelly Robinson
Billy and Tiffany Boyd
Jay Thakkar and Courtenay Adams
Taylor Lackie, Catherine Talbot, Carol Ann Jordan and Eli Jones
EVENT BROOKS UNCORKED
Mike Meyer and Brenda Fleming
Billy and Lizzie Boywid
M AY 2 013
Shelly and Chris Burr
Shawn Mosby and Christina Chew
Alan and Brooke Balducci
RSVP
18
Christina Vranich and Jessica Toliuszis
Mary Hamner and Allen Stanford
Ryan Barnes and Jennings Pitts
Adrienne Bailey and Charlie Nelson
Chey Fulgham and Chris Curle
Caroline Cullum and Retha Moore
EVENT BROOKS UNCORKED M AY 2 013
Mike McLaren and Diane Vescovo
Traynor Jennings III and Mandy Shackelford
Mary Ruth Yates, Amanda Edmundson and Lauren Loeb
Amy Beth Dudley, Elizabeth Rouse, Julia McDonald and Sarah Henley
Erin Johnson and Patrick Newman
Joel and Emily Halpern
RSVP
20
Lane Molten and Nancy Willis
Nikki Montesi and Emily Long
Erin and Chris Avery, Stacey Brown and Stephanie Drouillard
David and Bonnie Thornton with Jim and Judy Baker
Chris Stuart and Erin Baker
Laurie and Charlie Durham
STREETSEEN
Kerry Crawford Presenting Memphis
M AY 2 013
K
RSVP
22
erry Crawford has a thing for Memphis—we’ve got that much from her aptly titled I Love Memphis blog—but what in particular about the Bluff City inspires the blogger and social media junkie day in and day out to write about it? For starters, Crawford says that Memphis has a lot of diverse offerings, including her beloved sport of roller derby, that can help people make the most of their time here, and luckily, she’s not afraid to try out any other experience that friends or blog followers suggest and, of course, blog about it to generate awareness. Secondly, she has a knack for finding the unique and admits, “I seek out the ridiculousness, like going in storm drains.” She adds, “I will not rest until I get to do the things I want to do. Most things I’ve been able to do because it seems I have a magical ‘I know a guy’ power.” A one-stop listing of sorts with tabs entitled “Eat, Hear, Do, See, Love, Meet, Shop and Live,” the I Love Memphis blog has blown up since hitting the online scene back in August 2009, when the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau was looking to create a social media strategy. Not knowing what direction they wanted to pursue, the CVB asked Crawford to submit a proposal, and the rest is history. As for the blog’s name, Crawford settled on I Love Memphis from the get-go because she felt it was what the city needed then, though she now says that the dynamics of the city have changed and that she doesn’t think we need a cheerleader so much anymore. Even better than choosing the name, Crawford has 95 percent content control, giving her near-limitless freedom in choosing topics, which she approaches as a news outlet would, and at any given time, she refers to an ever-growing spreadsheet of 30 categories of what to do next and keeps a bucket list on hand as well. “The live video chat with [Memphis Grizzlies player] Tony Allen was a big check off the bucket list, and eating all the cheese at Bari was another,” she notes. Other amusing topics that have popped up in her posts, as well as on the blog’s associated Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram accounts (Though not officially I Love Memphis branded, the blog also has a presence on Yelp, Urbanspoon and Vine.) have included “24 Hours at the Peabody,” a “Hidden Memphis: Big Daddy’s Bowling Alley” pic showing the sign of the former bowling alley that was once underneath the Poplar Plaza Kroger and “A.S. Barboro Celebrates Tax Day with Free Beer,” to name a few. Witty and authentic Crawford is, which might be the very reason that I Love Memphis has won the Memphis Flyer’s “Best Blog” and “Best Twitter” awards for three years running. That said, she does welcome guest submissions with the strict stipulation that they be Memphis related. Before posting any topic though, she asks, “Does this matter to my readership?” According to the numbers, I Love Memphis seems to, as Crawford points out that the traffic on the site has grown every year, with an average of 100,000 page views a month and more than 10,000 Twitter followers and 27,000 Facebook likes to boot. Making Memphis accessible to its citizens seems to be working for I Love Memphis, and Crawford importantly injects, “I’ve had a lot of people who have moved here tell me they really dreaded moving here till they read my blog.” Story by Leah Fitzpatrick Photo by Steve Roberts
STREETSEEN
Cam Echols Lifting Up Refugees
M AY 2 013
A
RSVP
24
s the Refugee Empowerment Program’s program director for 10 years, Cam Echols has been at the nonprofit’s helm nearly since a Sudanese refugee and an American volunteer founded it in 2002, however her role might change in the future, as she reveals that the ultimate vision for REP is to have refugees run it. Until that day comes, Echols, along with her roughly 50 volunteers, interns and two staff members (Liz Jarvis, a youth outreach specialist, and Rwandan refugee Jules Mucyoweza, a community outreach specialist), will continue to help ease the transition that refugees face when they step foot in the Memphis area. Echols says that 250-300 refugees actually relocate to Memphis each year, with REP currently serving around 400 refugees of 20 different nationalities, many of which are represented in the paper flags that appear in the group’s headquarters in the Center for Transforming Communities in Binghampton. With flags of countries like Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Vietnam hanging high in a classroom, one begins to wonder what the stories are behind the people who fled these places. REP’s program director then mentions that not only have many of its clients been living in camps that regulated when they could eat, see the doctor, etc., but now they are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and are facing challenges with obtaining education, jobs, housing and transportation. “There are lots of unspoken things refugees are dealing with when they come here...like how to deal with issues of anger because of the things they’ve seen,” she relays. Echols would know since throughout her tenure she’s seen about 5,000 refugees grace REP’s doors to participate in after-school tutoring, ESL classes for adults, pre-GED preparation, the youth summer program, leadership training and cultural acclimation seminars. REP also offers advocacy services, in-school support for students and provides translators for adults and kids. With REP beginning as an after-school program for 12 kids, it continues to be particularly invested in the successful incorporation of refugee children into the school system, which makes sense when Echols explains that the 10,000 refugee students in local public schools have been placed into grades based on age, rather than by skill level. She says, “It’s very difficult for those refugees of high school age, as they have to cram eight or nine years of American education in.” Wanting to focus on starting a refugee newcomer school through REP, Echols’ desire to hand over the organization’s leadership reins to refugees in coming years becomes clearer. While funding remains an issue in launching the school, REP plans to go ahead and take a small, albeit vital, step in the right direction by planning to home-school two refugee families’ children this fall. Why Memphians should care about this effort, as well as REP’s other ones, is a no-brainer for Echols. “What we do betters the Memphis community,” she says, “and by volunteering to help newly arrived individuals, you’re given an opportunity to show the world how great Memphis is since these refugees talk to their family members all around the world.” Story by Leah Fitzpatrick Photo by Steve Roberts
RSVP
25
M AY 2 013
M AY 2 013
GERMANTOWN CHARITY HORSE SHOW ROYAL BALL
EVENT
Germantown Charity Horse Show Royal Ball Equestrians Unite for Unveiling of Queen
A Ryan Badgley and Alex Tatum
Alex Huggins and Chandler Grace Michael
RSVP
26
bout 500 people packed the ballroom at Woodland Hills for the 2013 Germantown Charity Horse Show Royal Ball. Equestrian enthusiasts, family and friends of the princesses and queen, as well as supporters of the event, which has been a cornerstone of life in Germantown since 1948, came together to celebrate the presentation of this year’s royal court. Music from a string quartet drifted through the room as guests enjoyed cocktails and noshed on hors d’oeuvres served at a buffet that included bruschetta, spinach dip, fried wontons and sun-dried tomato cream cheese-topped crostinis. Once everyone settled at their tables, a hunt horn sounded to signify the beginning of the presentation of the princesses and queen. All eyes were on the semicircular staircases on each side of the ballroom, as they anticipated the appearance of the first of the 24 princesses. The young ladies who were introduced represented a variety of equestrian groups as well as community organizations, such as Pegasus of Germantown, the Germantown Arts Alliance and the Kimbrough Woods Home and Garden Club. The princesses, all wearing white evening gowns, walked down the stairs on the arms of their fathers while emcee Steve Conley told the crowd about each princess’ activities and interests. At the foot of the stairs, their escorts awaited and accompanied them to the center of the stage. Next came the crowning of the queen, Cameron Marie Kawell, who entered the room while Conley read an impressive list of her accomplishments. The crowd erupted in laughter as Conley concluded the queen’s introduction with a sentence that began “In her spare time,” and then exclaimed, “She has spare time?” After the queen made her remarks, she and the princesses met their fathers for a dance. The group joined family and friends at their tables for a dinner of salad, beef filet and chicken served with potatoes and asparagus, and a dessert of coconut or chocolate cake was available to satisfy those with a sweet tooth. Following dinner, more guests hit the dance floor to the tunes of Front & Beale. A special performance by IRIS Orchestra musicians finished out the night’s festivities. The actual Germantown Charity Horse Show will take place June 4-8 and will raise funds once again for the Exchange Club Family Center. See all the party photos at rsvpmagazine.com Password: RSVP
Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy and Tempe Chancellor
Story by Suzanne Thompson Photos by Don Perry
Evan Michael and Reagan Keppen
Benjamin Gallagher and Sophie Tatum
Richard Vollmer and Grace Anderson
Priscilla Veazey and Joey Bland
Robert Schutt, Catie Wilcheck, Lindsey Cayce and J. Morgan Harter
Jan McGaughey and Amy Beth Dudley
RSVP
27
M AY 2 013
EVENT GERMANTOWN CHARITY HORSE SHOW ROYAL BALL
Christine Stephens and Marty Coleman
M AY 2 013
Brynna Bartlett and Joseph Ramsey
Cristy Thrasher with Sharon, Tim and Luke Donovan RSVP
28
Brandon and Lori Miller with Wendy and Riley Bartlett
Katie Cresap, Brooke Powell and Bailey Cash
EVENT Robyn, Mary and Rachel Peete
Lida Kruchten and John Buttross
M AY 2 013
Kim and Ben Williams
GERMANTOWN CHARITY HORSE SHOW ROYAL BALL
Paula and John Buttross
RSVP
29
Amy Rainey and Martin Makowsky
Camille Cowart and Josh Shearin
Maggie Maples and Charlotte Nichols
Albert Markle and Lillie Kay Mitchell
EVENT GERMANTOWN CHARITY HORSE SHOW ROYAL BALL
Donna and Pat Hoffman
Gia Kawell and Haley Gould
M AY 2 013
Alexandria and Eddie Lyle
Anna Taylor and Kate Valk
Andrew Youngha Lee and Rebecca Ellen Siciliano
RSVP
30
Ann Elizabeth Vollmer and Doug Dertien
Garner Lesley and Trey Keppen
Queen Cameron Kawell and George Kawell
Matthew Seay and Kelsey Kennedy
Cassandra Moriarty and Lori Wehr
Eva Wehr and Tommy Peeler
RSVP
31
M AY 2 013
EVENT GERMANTOWN CHARITY HORSE SHOW ROYAL BALL M AY 2 013
Aimee and Paul Turner
Pam and Jack Michael
Charles, Ella, Logan and Angela Herrin
Kim Leonard and Jeff Box
Michelle Byrd with Jenny and Jessica Haste
Marti and Russell Kruchten
Michael Brennan and Mary Catherine Brennan
Karen and Jim Williams
RSVP
32
EVENT
Advanced Dermatology & Skin C ancer Associates, PLLC
Pur Purvisha rv visha Pa P Patel, atel, MD Board Bo ard Cer Certified rt tified Fellowship Fellowship T Trained ra r ained Mo Mohs hs & C Cosmetic osmetic Sur Surgeon geon
Advanced Dermatology Dermatology is pleased to announce and welcome Dr. Dr. Gary Waterman Water W aterman to our practice! ‡ 'HUPDWRORJLFDO 7UHDWPHQW RI 6NLQ &RQGLWLRQV +DLU DQG 1DLOV ‡ 'HUPDWRORJLFDO 7UHDWPHQW RI 6NLQ &RQGLWLRQV +DLU DQG 1DLOV ‡ ‡ %RWR[ '\VSRUW -XYHGHUP 5HVW\ODQH 5DGLHVVH 6FXOSWUD DQG $UWHILOO %RWR[ '\VSRUW -XYHGHUP 5HVW\ODQH 5DGLHVVH 6FXOSWUD DQG $UWHILOO &KHPLFDO 3HHOV /DWLVVH DQG /LTXLG /LIW &KHPLFDO 3HHOV /DWLVVH DQG /LTXLG /LIW ‡ 6NLQ &DQFHU 6FUHHQLQJV ‡ 6NLQ &DQFHU 6FUHHQLQJV ‡ 5HPRYDO RI &\VWV :DUWV DQG 0ROHV ‡ 5HPRYDO RI &\VWV :DUWV DQG 0ROHV ‡ 6NLQ &DQFHU 6XUJHU\ ‡ 6NLQ &DQFHU 6XUJHU\ \ (Mohs Micr Micrographic Surgery) ographic Sur gery) /DVHU 7UHDWPHQW 3L[HODWHG &2 ODVHU WLJKWHQLQJ DQG ODVHU IDFLDOV
‡ ‡ /DVHU 7UHDWPHQW 3L[HODWHG &2 ODVHU WLJKWHQLQJ DQG ODVHU IDFLDOV
May Special on Ar Artefill! tefill! Call For Details! P rroud oud Sp ponor onor Of
All Cosmetic Cosmetic Procedures Procedures Performed Performed by by the MD
t 1PQMBS 1JLF t 1 PQ M B S 1 J L F Across from Germantown er m a n to w n H High School A cross f rom G igh S c h o ol XXX BEWBODFEEFSNBUPMPHZNFNQIJT DPN X X X B E WB O D F E E F S N BU P M P H Z N F N Q I J T D P N Gene Nunez, Steve and Erika Cobb and Jordan Perry
Ben, Anne and Gary Blevins
/FX -PDBUJPO /PX 0QFO / F X - P D BU J P O / P X 0 Q F O 7203 goodman rd., Olive Branch, MS 7 203 g o od m a n r d., O live B ranch, M S
M AY 2 013
O Offering ffer i ng t the he f following ol lo w i n g t treatments r e at m e n t s
33 RSVP
Leah Hodgkiss, Erin Kalb and Ron and Karen Goss
GERMANTOWN CHARITY HORSE SHOW ROYAL BALL
Kim Michaelson, Tracey Carruthers, Christian Hettinger and Phillip Lawson
VOX POPULAR
Vox Popular Q&A with Dr. James Downing
M AY 2 013
RSVP: I know you were recently nominated for TIME magazine’s “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” list, so what does this nomination mean to you?
RSVP
34
Downing: It was a big surprise. I didn’t know about it, and I walked into the CEO’s office for a meeting, and he said, “Congratulations,” and I said, “For what?” There was a time about a year ago where we talked to the people at TIME about the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, and we’ve talked to them about a variety of other things through the years. I think they selected the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project as one of the top 100 discoveries made in the last year, so I think they understood the importance of it. To me, there’s a story in the importance of St. Jude, that a private institution did what normally only governments do. I think my nomination is really just as the front man for the organization and this project within the organization. So, we’re hoping we get in the final 100 and that that story can get out as a way to acknowledge the efforts of everyone here. Memphis should be proud of this. RSVP: How did the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project come about? Downing: A little over four years ago, we said it was time to go to the next level and to do really a base-pair resolution—let’s just sequence the entire genome of cancers and really find out what’s going on. The technology had become available, but the cost was still incredibly expensive. The federal government though had a big cancer genome sequencing project called The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and they were starting to apply this approach to adult cancers, but they weren’t going to apply it to pediatric cancer. It just wasn’t a high enough priority to them, so we started to think that we needed to do a pediatric project. We came to the conclusion that really we should do it—roll up our sleeves, use our resources, lead the project, do it independently with private dollars and do it quickly. RSVP: Didn’t some of those on board for the project attend a retreat to discuss the matter? Downing: Yes, we set up a retreat somewhere around December
Photos by Don Perry
T
hroughout his nearly 30 years working at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Dr. James Downing has held a number of roles, from starting out as what he calls a “glorified postdoc” to becoming the chair of the department of pathology and now the hospital’s scientific director, but perhaps no role could prepare him for his time in the spotlight as one of TIME magazine’s nominated individuals for its “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” list. When RSVP editor Leah Fitzpatrick interviewed Downing in his office on the St. Jude campus, he checked to see how the online voting was going to confirm his spot on the list, smiling and saying, “I think we’re still beating Hillary and Bill [Clinton], and David Bowie is right behind me.” Though the results for the TIME list won’t be announced until April 18, which falls after press time, Downing will most certainly have focused his thoughts back to the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, an effort he leads that is helping shed new light on cures for some of the most aggressive childhood cancers. According to Downing, “This is a foundational effort for the world that really will influence a lot of research in the future on pediatric cancer, but it is also influencing research on adult cancer and on other diseases. One of our investigators used info from the Genome Project to make discoveries on Lou Gehrig’s type diseases and accelerate his research.”
2009, or maybe the next January, and 85 percent of our faculty came to the retreat. We put on seminars about the field, and I got up and presented a straw dog of what the project might look like. We had one faculty member get up and say what’s good about it and another one say what’s bad about it. The next morning we came back and went into more detail, and in the end, the faculty was overwhelmingly in support of it. We spent several months planning it and decided to do it in collaboration with the Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis; there are three major sequencing centers in the world, and one of them happens to be in St. Louis. Then, we put it together and went to our board, and in relatively short order, they approved the project. It was $65 million, with $55 million coming from St. Jude and $10 million put in through Wash U’s foundation or donors. We said we were going to start this project and finish it in three years, and we were going to sequence 600 pediatric cancers and do whole genome sequencing. The Cancer Genome Atlas wasn’t doing whole genome sequencing; they were still doing partial sequencing. And, we were going to do 600 matched non-tumor tissues from every single patient so we could analyze them. At the time we announced it, only a single human cancer had been sequenced, and yet we said we were going to do 1,200 genomes—600 tumors, 600 non-tumors. RSVP: Did any problems arise once the project got under way? Downing: When we started the project, we had tremendous logistical problems to handle. What tumors are we going to sequence? How are we going to extract the DNA? What additional data do we need on those samples? How do we get the samples up to Wash U for the whole genome sequencing? How do we set up an infrastructure at Wash U that can handle our samples? How do we analyze that data? It’s a massive amount of data, so it’s hard to even move that data through the Web. There are no tools to analyze the data, so we had to develop our own tools. One of the key decisions we made up front was that we’d generate the whole genome sequence data on the tumor and the non-tumor tissue, and then Wash U and
RSVP: I know the project helps with discoveries in some of the most aggressive childhood cancers, so can you specify some of those? Downing: You know, our goal was 600 tumors, and we actually finished in February of this year with 700 tumors and did it under cost. We focused on the three major categories of tumors that children get, which are tumors of the blood, with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) being the most common cancer by far that we see in the pediatric population, brain tumors and then solid
M AY 2 013
VOX POPULAR
35 RSVP
their informatics team, which is probably 50 people strong, would analyze it, and we would analyze it completely independently. So, we would get on call with a computer hook-up and ask each other what we found and compare that. Then, we would go into another step and go back to the tumors, and every lesion we found, we would go validate it. The first tumor we analyzed, they sequenced it and said they got 13 mutations, but we got 12 mutations. When we compared the list, there was only one gene in common. All the rest were false positives and were wrong, and we were able to show that through the validation. We next started modifying our algorithms and our computational tools and developing new tools, which we made publicly available. I guess the other thing was I wondered if we were actually going to find anything. My worst nightmare was that we wouldn’t find anything of interest, nothing of biologic or clinical interest, nothing that would actually help the children. Addressing that, it’s been more successful than we possibly could have anticipated. Every tumor we looked at, we gained new fundamental insights. Some are just insights to help us understand what might be driving the tumors. Some are actually markers that help us to get better prognostic information: Is this a good or bad tumor? Some are direct targets for therapy, and some there are agents already available for and we can start moving those into models and then clinical trials. The second big worry was that when we make a discovery, are we correct? We spend a lot of time when we get a finding trying to see if we can prove that it’s wrong, and if we can’t, then it must be right.
38 RSVP
J A N U A R Y 2 0 11
VOX POPULAR 38 RSVP
M AY 2 013
tumors. We really shot for 200 brain tumors, 200 leukemias and 200 solid tumors, so we have cancer center programs focused on studying those specific kinds of tumors. The leukemias we focused on are sort of the bad actors. You know, if I had come down with ALL when I was a child, I would have had less than a 5 percent chance for a cure. A child walks in today, and it’s about a 90-plus percent chance for a cure. Ten percent of the kids though are still dying, so those are the ones we focused on. We focused on a particular type of ALL, but there are several types of ALL that are rare and decrease patients’ chances. We focused on a certain type of acute myeloid leukemia, again rare, but the children do very poorly. In the brain tumors, we focused on the major subtypes of brain tumors. One subtype, a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, today has a 95 percent chance of death if you have that tumor. We have a 5 percent chance for a cure, so we focused on that and sequenced that. Medulloblastoma, one of the most common types of pediatric brain tumors, is something we did a very important study on.
We are looking into ependymoma, another type of brain tumor, and made a major discovery on that which should be submitted for publication in the next several weeks. In the solid tumors, we looked at retinoblastoma, neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma, so a lot of the sarcomas we see in the pediatric population. RSVP: What has been one of the most exciting outcomes of the project?
Downing: I think the most exciting outcome of the project has been that it’s brought together researchers from very different backgrounds and focuses. In an organization like this, we have fundamental scientists who are working on fundamental problems of cell biology, biochemistry, structural biology and infectious diseases that aren’t really related to what we see in the clinic. They’re much more foundational efforts. We have clinicians who are taking care of patients and are worried about what they see in the clinic every single day and how to advance that. Then, you have translational scientists who are bridging that gap. This project has brought those three groups of people together like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We make a discovery in pediatric cancer that is chosen by the clinicians and the translational researchers, so they’re very interested in it and know what’s needed in a clinical perspective. But, we have this new observation that we don’t know what it does in a biological sense, so now the basic scientists jump in. It’s the ability of this broad look to define the landscape of mutations that’s actually serving as the ground layer of a whole new wave of research, which will advance our understanding of cancer so that we can better treat these children. Another important thing was that we made the data publicly available. It’s one of the major databases of genomic data available in the world, and it came from a single institution in Memphis. RSVP: What phase of the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project are you in now?
M AY 2 013
VOX POPULAR
39 RSVP
Downing: We’ve just decided to start a second phase of the project this month [April]. It’s $30 million over two years, and there are two focuses of the second phase. One of the focuses is discovery. We won’t generate a lot more sequencing, but part of it is there are three million base pairs, and the part of the genome that sits as a blueprint for making the body is about 5 percent of the genome. Ninety-five percent of the genome used to be called junk DNA, but we now know that’s not junk DNA and that it’s DNA that plays a critical role in regulating how the other parts of the gene are expressed and made into proteins. Now, one of the issues is how to find mutations in that old junk DNA. All that DNA sequence is there in our database, but the rules aren’t even built to figure out how to look at them, so the second phase will let us build those rules. The second component of the phase revolves around how medicine should move forward in this personalized medicine approach. If a patient comes into St. Jude, should we sequence their tumor and take some normal tissue from them to sequence it the day they walk in? Would that help us better develop a therapy approach for that specific child? Would that give us information on how they’re going to respond to the drugs we give them? Would it give us information on whether we have to worry about them getting certain infections? Would it give us information on what the long-term consequences of the drugs might be for the individual patient? I think everyone in the field sort of says, “Yes, that’s what needs to be done.” We’re going to set up a clinical laboratory at the institution that will allow us to start doing that on every single patient beginning in January 2014 for a one-year period. The goal will really be about how do you do this, and what’s the right way to do this. We won’t be using that information to tailor their therapy, but we will include it in our research protocol so it will give us this tremendous new data. The ultimate goal of this would be to see if we could actually do this on every child in the U.S. If you could do it on every child in the U.S., I think it would have a massive accelerating effect on our ability to make progress against pediatric cancer.
EVENT
Krewes for Kids
KREWES FOR KIDS
Benefiting the Carnival Memphis Children’s Charity Initiative
I
M AY 2 013
Carrie Howell and Nicole Robbins
Pat and Donna Hoffman
RSVP
40
t seemed like half the city’s residents were at the Memphis Botanic Garden during the fifth annual Krewes for Kids. All 10 of the Grand Krewes of Carnival Memphis got together for this blowout fund-raiser, which featured nearly 300 silent auction items. According to Ed Galfsky, executive director of Carnival Memphis, the event surpassed everyone’s expectations. Galfsky said, “It was incredible. This year’s was by far the most successful. We’ve never had anything quite like it.” As soon as the event got under way, the Soul Shockers took the stage, giving dancers a chance to get moving right away. During one break, auctioneer Jeff Morris worked his magic and got the crowd bidding on trips, artwork and a collector’s item–a guitar signed by Memphis music legends Isaac Hayes, Jim Dickinson, David Porter and Sid Selvidge. The final live auction item, a ride down Beale Street on the Boll Weevils’ bus during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, fetched a whopping $3,100. Many guests participated in the wine pull, and for a $20 donation, they selected wine from a group of wrapped bottles, adding a little mystery to their purchases. It took quite a while to browse the silent auction offerings, which included gift baskets filled with any and everything imaginable. Flying lessons, scuba lessons and a ride in a flight simulator also were up for grabs. Galfsky said his only regret was that he was too busy to place his bid for a Grizzlies package he noticed before the event began. The main room was lined with tables that were filled with dishes from some of the city’s notable eateries, including Jim’s Place, Pete & Sam’s, Interim Restaurant, Automatic Slim’s and many others. For those with more down-home tastes, Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, Hog Wild Barbecue and Memphis Dawgs served up their signature dishes. Malco Theatres even provided a popcorn cart so guests could nibble throughout the night. Galfsky said providing such a variety of food was a little challenging, but the goal was to have a little of something for everyone, which could not have been accomplished without the generous donations of so many restaurateurs. Members of the Carnival Memphis krewes outdid themselves throwing this shindig, and showed off just how much they “party with a purpose.” All the funds raised during this Carnival year will go to children’s charities: Perea Preschool, the Ronald McDonald House® Charities of Memphis and the YWCA. Story by Suzanne Thompson See all the party photos at Photos by Don Perry rsvpmagazine.com Password: RSVP
Walker and Jennie Robbins
Cindy and David Gambrell
Kirk and Karen Johnston
Beth and Sam Bomarito
Walter and Lida Bross
Sara and Kevin Adams, Katherine and John Dobbs and Kim and Johnny Pitts
Joanie and Michael Lightman
RSVP
41
M AY 2 013
EVENT KREWES FOR KIDS
Karen and John Davis
M AY 2 013
Buddy and Lanetta Lanier
Charles Humphreys, Bill McMurtray and Jerry Michie RSVP
42
Chantal and Jeff Johnson
Ronald Kent and Gwenn Evans
Rob and Rebecca Jolly with Matt and Melissa Saenger
EVENT Jay and Allison Morris
David and Peggy Everson
Bob and Eve Gammon
M AY 2 013
KREWES FOR KIDS Sandy and John Brewer
RSVP
43
Mace Gearhardt and Kathy Sapp
Odette McKenzie and Lorenzo Brown
Martha and Mike Hess
Gabrielle Lucchesi and Julian Prewitt Jr.
EVENT KREWES FOR KIDS M AY 2 013
Angie Stewart Forester with Chuck and Mary Stewart
Larry Maddox with Weezie and Margaret Steffner
RSVP
44
Amber Roettgen, Jeff Box and Kim Leonard
Lizzy Newton, Will Aldridge and Lizzy Holt
EVENT KREWES FOR KIDS James and Melinda Liles
Natalie Brown and Matt Swoboda
M AY 2 013
Cindy Hawthorne, John McCormick and Anne Wesberry
RSVP
45
Michelle and Todd Brown with Donna Melton and Ed Galfsky
Jennifer and Lance Kruchten
Robin Poston and Joseph Gordon
ONSITE
Onsite I
M AY 2 013
Mystic Krewe of Pegasus Mardi Gras Ball Memphis Symphony League’s Valentine’s Day Celebration
RSVP
46
No Mardi Gras celebration is complete without beads and, of course, costumes. The nearly 10year-old Mystic Krewe of Pegasus, considered to be the only official Mardi Gras krewe of Memphis, did not disappoint this year. The charitable organization held its annual Mardi Gras Ball, themed “Fire and Ice,” at Minglewood Hall, and it was a party replete with a parade of feathery ensembles, an abundance of beads bestowed on costumed bacchants, music, drinks and a zest fit for a first-class carnival celebration. Each year, the krewe chooses to honor and raise funds for a charity, with this year’s benefactor being Mid-South Spay and Neuter Services. Kym Clark of WMC-TV 5 served as the celebrity emcee, and guest entertainment was provided by Miss Gay Tennessee America 2012 Suzy Wong. Ashlyn Tyler and Shayne Rachels were coronated as Queen and King Pegasus X, both of whom will choose the honored charity for next year’s season. “Our annual Mardi Gras Ball is the big celebration here in Memphis,” said Rodney Brown, president of the Mystic Krewe of Pegasus. “It’s a chance for people to give money to a good cause and to celebrate in a large-scale Mardi Gras party style.” Story and Photos by Lesley Young
Love for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s conductor, Mei-Ann Chen, was in the air during the Memphis Symphony League’s Valentine’s Day Celebration at the Memphis Hunt and Polo Club. Before the luncheon began, guests mixed, mingled and browsed silent auction items, but their attention soon turned to Dr. Randall Rushing, who sang “Maria” from “West Side Story,” substituting “MeiAnn” for the song’s title. He was joined by his wife, Beth, for a duet, and Victor Asuncion provided piano accompaniment. As the group enjoyed lunch, models, wearing clothes provided by Seriously FUN! Apparel, moved between the tables. Later on, Chen spoke about the power of music connecting people, something she said she has known since age 10, when she first decided to become a conductor. Story and Photos by Suzanne Thompson
Youth Villages Soup Sunday
Memphis Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Gala
What’s better than hot soup on a cold day? Well, how about more than 25 soups prepared by some of the city’s tastiest eateries and served up all in one place to benefit the Youth Villages’ Mentoring Program? Yes, the 24th annual Youth Villages Soup Sunday again filled FedExForum with soup-seekers and Sunday fun. From beer cheese soup by Bardog Tavern (People’s Choice winner for best soup) to lobster and shrimp bruschetta by The Half Shell (winner for best specialty item) and strawberry layered cake by All American Sweets (winner for best dessert), there were plenty of flavors to savor. Entertainment included bouncy inflatables for the kids, a Konica Minolta photo booth with Antonio Anderson and Rockey the Rockin’ Redbird shaking a leg to the Memphis Doctors Dance Band. For those in the know, the mezzanine-level Souper Party offered special menu items from Owen Brennan’s, Felicia Suzanne’s and Phillip Ashley Chocolates, as well as cooking demonstrations, a silent auction and “adult beverages” like the Cran-Bellini-Tini. And, for those wishing to dine in the sunshine? Outside, a fleet of food trucks.
In 2010, Memphis was designated the food hunger capital of the country according to a survey conducted by Gallup and the Food Research Action Center. The Memphis Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, an organization of local registered dieticians, decided to combat the problem and gather the troops. The group, which includes private practice, community-based, educational nutritionists and culinarians who promote proper nutrition and diet by working with various organizations in the city such as hospitals and the Memphis VA Medical Center, recently held a fund-raiser in an effort to raise awareness of food insecurity in Memphis, as well as raise funds for the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, or MIFA. Inviting friends, colleagues and other advocates, MAND threw a party, “Eat Right to Fight Hunger,” at the Calliope Event Room that included cocktails, music performed by the 1-900 Band, a silent auction and, of course, food. L’École Culinaire partnered with MAND to offer food stations and quite the spread for an evening of style, fun and purpose. Angie Wallick, a registered dietician, member of MAND and gala chair, said, “We wanted to put something together to make our organization more visible in the community, make food awareness a priority and raise money for MIFA. A family who receives meals from MIFA improves their nutrition status, keeps them in the home and out of the hospital.”
Betty Green, Mei-Ann Chen and Nancy Lou Jones Story and Photos by Kelly Cox
Story and Photos by Lesley Young
Barb Poier, Carol Martin, Carol Duffy and Donna McManus Dalton Reeves, Anna Williams, Karen Mayes and Keith Roberts
Steve Vescovo and Pat Lawler Cathy and Gary Draper with Mary Kaye Welch
Breanna Dixson, Shani Patterson, BreAnna Boyd and Kim Adams
Barbara Jones Perkins and Lydia Gaillard
Heath Burns and Brenda Buckman
Christy, Leisa and Brooxie Davis
Shari Walker, Steve DeVore and Stacey McKnight
Deanna Vaughan, Asby Fulmer and Patty Calvert
Sevee Patterson and Mimi Wilson
Tom Bandler, Sara Estabrook, Leeanne McDonald and Leslie Portis
Kroc Center Donor Reception
Maternal League of Memphis Art Exhibition and Reception
Young at Art Art and Soul Party
Those passionate about the MakeA-Wish Foundation® of the MidSouth, specifically the Make-AWish of the Mid-South’s Associate Board, opted to spread their enthusiasm about the cause with others by throwing a fun-filled fund-raiser called Wine for Wishes. Festivities transpired at the Cadre Building, a beautiful spot brimming forth with partygoers ready to sample a variety of sensational food and wine pairings presented by A Moveable Feast. Adding to the ambiance was a performance by the popular Will Tucker Band, and the silent auction also captivated guests’ attention with tempting items, including courtside tickets to a Grizzlies game, four rounds of golf at Spring Creek Ranch, gift certificates to local dining establishments, spa packages, vacation rental packages to either the beach, the mountains or the river and a wedding coordinator package. One hundred percent of proceeds will help the local Make-AWish chapter grant wishes to children dealing with life-threatening medical conditions.
Before the Salvation Army Kroc Center officially opened its doors to the public on February 23, some of the center’s major donors got a first look at the finished facility during the Kroc Center Donor Reception, held the Thursday night before opening day. The 100,000-square-foot undertaking boasts arts, education, recreation and worship areas that serve to bring diverse communities together under one roof. Of the project’s completion, Arthur Oliver, chairman of the Kroc’s advisory board, exclaimed, “I want to welcome everyone to what is a long-awaited and great day for the Salvation Army!” Following tours of the space, Captain Jonathan Rich handed out donor gifts of artistic wire trees fastened in beds of moss—metaphors for the strong roots that donors are placing in the community. A special award, dubbed the Others Award, was bestowed upon Steve Nelson, who was said to have volunteered, on average, about 80 hours a week during the Kroc’s construction. Lt. Col. Mark Israel said, “We give you this award because you put others before yourself.”
It’s not often that an art exhibit is created to benefit mothers and babies, but that’s just what the Maternal League of Memphis’ Art Exhibition and Reception did, as the group used the opportunity to emphasize its fight against infant mortality through SIDS prevention. Longtime artist Mary Lawrence Allen, who is a former Maternal League of Memphis president, provided the art for the show that was appropriately themed “Art with a Heart for Mothers and Babies.” Held in the Kroc Center, the exhibit of Allen’s 36 works remained on display throughout the entirety of March, with nearly all proceeds from sales going back to the Maternal League, a volunteer-run organization often noted for its Layettes of Love program, which provides more than 500 layettes a year to families in need.
A Memphis-themed night was in store for the more than 150 people who turned up for the Dixon Gallery and Gardens’ Art and Soul Party. The institution’s young membership arm, Young at Art, hosted the party to give its members an after-hours peek of the “Present Tense” exhibit that highlighted works by local artists from the past decade. Some of the featured artists guest curator John Weeden selected pieces from included Hamlett Dobbins, Pinkney Herbert, George Hunt, John McIntire, Pixy Liao, Veda Reed, Lamar Sorrento, Andrew Williams and NJ Woods, to name a few of the 80-plus talents. Keeping with the vibe of the gathering, organizers set up a Raiford’s style dance floor and secured Southern fare from One & Only BBQ and sweet tea and lemonade from McAlister’s Deli, in addition to getting live entertainment from the Delta Cats and an Elvis impersonator. Guests also had a great time playing with the giant fatheads of the Grizzlies players that were part of a raffle, which inadvertently shed light on other cool parts of Memphis culture, like Sun Studio, which had two passes up for grabs. To stay up to date on Young at Art’s future happenings, check out the group’s Facebook page.
Story by Leah Fitzpatrick Photos by Chris Pugh
Story and Photos by Leah Fitzpatrick
Story and Photos by Leah Fitzpatrick
Bob Leopold and Kevin Kent
Story and Photos by Leah Fitzpatrick
Brad and Lauren Spicer Diana Brewer and Kynlon Sherrill
Ashley and Jonathan Cullum Lt. Colonels Mark and Carolee Israel, Phil Reed and Billie Jean Graham
Buzzy Hussey, Elizabeth Duncan and Hal Brunt
Midge Weinberg, Denise Fabian, Debby Stephens, Mary Lawrence Allen, Debbie Compton and Diane Leopold
Lindsey Osborne and Andrew Williams
Ashley Utley Walker, Rick Leet and Casey Tansey
Jessica Necaise, Allison Steward and Karen Shanahan
Pat and Hill Massengill with Nancy Barnhart
Gray Bowles, Ashley Compton, Jamie Kidd, Rebecca Bowers and Lauren and Chad Wilgenbusch
Joanna Foster, Tiffany Brimhall and Elizaeth Rouse
47 RSVP
Wine for Wishes
M AY 2 013
ONSITE
Onsite II
RSVP ROOM VIEW M AY 2 013 RSVP
48
RSVP ROOM VIEW Interview by Jonathan Devin | Photos by Steve Roberts ighteen years ago, Marty Acree and Mac Gardner built their
E
Mediterranean-style villa into the sweep of grand homes along a wooded Midtown Avenue. But, inside the style is anything goes!
The eclecticism of their style ranges from fairly formal to contemporary casual, and every color in the rainbow has its place. However, when it came to their kitchen, which is open to a living area and patio doors to the poolside, a few functional needs proved to be the catalyst for a room-wide facelift. “Creativity is seldom idle,” says Jackie Glisson of justadecorator.com, who took on Top: Acree and Gardner were fearless in choosing stainless steel for their trapezoidal kitchen bar counter. Though steel picks up its own patina of scrapes and scratches through the years, decorator Jackie Glisson said it can develop its own artistic personality while providing the functionality of a high-traffic party kitchen. Above: The subtle charm of milk glass tiles isn’t lost on visitors to the homeowners’ kitchen. The long slender tiles blend into white painted walls, however they still lend a warm iridescence. Glisson said he wanted the room to be contemporary, but not cold.
the four-month challenge, which involved tearing out a bar and replacing and repurposing much of the cabinetry.
RSVP ROOM VIEW M AY 2 013
Left: The homeowners chose a sheet of Pakistani green onyx with its naturally cloudy grain of shadowy purples and blues to create a stunning backlit facing for their new kitchen bar. A row of transparent Lucite bar stools makes guests comfortable without obstructing the view. Below: A custom-built sideboard and stainless steel shelves replace a furniture sideboard to house some of Gardner’s collection of 150 sunglasses. The Italian black granite countertop mixes pleasantly with emerald green French sycamore cabinetry, which has both vertical and horizontal grains. Gold trim and modern canvas sconces set the scene.
RSVP
50
RSVP: Why did the homeowners decide to make a change? Glisson: After they’d lived in the kitchen for a while, they discovered what they were missing. And, it was time for a change. We added a double oven, but then there was the question of “well, where do we put the microwave?” Then, they decided to just go for it. Now, it’s almost like a chef’s kitchen, and Mac is an awesome chef. RSVP: It looks like they wanted to create a real stunner with the bar. Glisson: The most striking piece is the backlit green onyx. It’s a Pakistani, two-centimeter green onyx. It came from Triton Stone Group in Southaven. It’s opaque enough that light can shine through it. This is the first piece I’ve done with it. Since then I’ve done vanity tops, and it’s nice to have them underlit, but you’ve got faucets and fixtures and things that impede the view. In this case, it’s like a piece of art. RSVP: Was the choice of bar stool based on the onyx? Glisson: Yes. They’re very contemporary Lucite stools. The thing I like about them is that they don’t impede the view of the onyx. They’re a version of the saddle seat. Then, we had this trapezoidal stainless steel bar with the elliptical leg custom made.
RSVP: So, no crystal teardrop chandelier for this kitchen? Glisson: No, they have a mobile instead. I think we were out shopping one day, and we came across it at Flashback. The modern sconces came from Flashback as well. They are huge entertainers and partygivers. There have been 150 people in this space. RSVP: What did they choose for the countertops? Glisson: The countertops are Italian black granite with a river-wash finish. The unique thing about the tile is that it’s milk glass tile. If you’re going to do white tile, you would typically just do ceramic tile, but I like the depth and interest that the glass has. And, we painted the walls to match the tile. The custom cabinet piece for the microwave was not there. There was a piece of furniture. We constructed it for their microwave, which is a drawer microwave. Then, we repurposed the doors. The cabinet doors are sycamore wood imported from France. The wood in the room is a mix of blond maple and green sycamore.
RSVP: Were they worried at all about taking care of the stainless steel?
RSVP: It looks like any color scheme could work in this house.
Glisson: The stainless steel was an element they were good with. Some people are apprehensive because of the scratch factor, but they were okay with that look. It just becomes an element of the design. It’s extremely durable and antibacterial.
Glisson: The teal and orange [in the sitting area] are perfect counterbalances for the green and gold. Particularly, the burned orange blends a real warmth. Contemporary can sometimes be cold, but I don’t think you have a cold feel in this room.
M AY 2 013
BRIDGES SCREEN ON THE GREEN
EVENT
BRIDGES Screen on the Green “The Wizard’s Ball”
T Melissa Wolowicz and Chaka Conway
Cynthia Ham and Jeff Sanford
RSVP
52
hough a tornado didn’t come through town, some 300 partygoers were still “off to see the wizard” at the BRIDGES Center during its annual Screen on the Green benefit, which raised more than $40,000. Themed “The Wizard’s Ball,” the event drew a convivial crowd of BRIDGES supporters, many of whom opted to dress as their favorite Wizard of Oz character. Unfortunately, no one came as Toto, but there still was a good showing of other characters from the flying monkeys and Munchkins to Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West, a character BRIDGES CEO and president Cynthia Ham embraced, even going to the lengths of dying her hair green. Amazingly, the entire facility had been transformed to reflect the movie’s notable settings. At the entrance, a rotating tornado made of dark tulle was positioned behind Dorothy’s bicycle, which had a stuffed animal that resembled Toto sitting in a basket, and up ahead, a signpost with arrows pointed to Oz, Munchkinland, the Lion’s Den, Emerald City, the Poppy Field and Kansas. As one guest prepared to follow the Yellow Brick Road decal on the floor, she asked her friend, “Did you know that the Wizard of Oz is the most watched movie ever?” Arguably it is, and the actual movie aired on numerous spots along the hallway and also in the main event space, which continued to impress décor-wise thanks to flying monkeys hanging from the ceiling, a “Surrender Dorothy” sign, a “Lion’s Den” bar, an Emerald City photo booth and a replica of Dorothy’s house. Tom Prestigiacomo, whose daughter, Katie, works as a BELC training specialist at BRIDGES, emceed the affair, welcoming all by saying, “We’re excited to see everyone who was here last year and even more so now that you’re here for the second year.” With that, Alexis Grace took the floor to belt out some powerful notes in songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and then, Ballet Memphis treated guests to a snippet of their “Wizard of Oz” ballet, delighting the crowd as they performed in Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion costumes. However, the entertainment didn’t end there, as DJ Buzz Bobby kept dance lovers moving until night’s end. To keep appetites in check, a cocktail buffet offered patrons shrimp and grits from Felicia Suzanne’s, cold soba noodles from Noodles, Amerigo’s tiramisu and P. Ashley’s caramel apple with Ghost River beer truffles, to name some of the delectables. University of Memphis colleagues Beverly Cross and Wanda Rushing enjoyed the eats as they discussed their connection to BRIDGES, of which Cross has been a board member of for five years and Rushing has written a book (Memphis and the Paradox of Place) that the nonprofit used in the past for staff training. It is special contributions like the one these ladies made to BRIDGES that helps the organization empower impressionable minds to “reach across, lead the way and build our community”…just not with yellow bricks.
See all the party photos at rsvpmagazine.com Password: RSVP
Jessie Walker and Christopher Wiley
Story by Leah Fitzpatrick Photos by Don Perry
Brian Johnson and Kimberly Ovitt
Greg and Sharon Kraus
Trudy Tyler and Rikki Anderson
Rick and Elizabeth Ferguson
Dylan G-Bowley, Kendall Britt Jr., Virginia Pilgrim and Travis Bradley
Chance and Jessica Carlisle
EVENT Drew and Emily Smith
Stacy Brown and Paula Rahme
Lisa and Brittani Rumsey
BRIDGES SCREEN ON THE GREEN
Sheila Whalum and Kenneth Whalum Jr.
M AY 2 013
Hunter Belk and Timorie Stewart
RSVP
53
Mary and Scott Morris
Dynisha and Kevin Woods
Kelley and Matt Morice with Ginger and Tony Graves
Erika Adair and John Cassidy
Bubba Buxton and Candice Cole
Dr. Kimberly Womback Rice and Alex Rice
EVENT BRIDGES SCREEN ON THE GREEN M AY 2 013
Jourdan Patton, Locke Isaacson and Shanette Renea
Susan Waits, Michael Kelley and Dr. Shelley Griffee
Trudi and Carlton Osborne
Doris and Bill Bolden
RSVP
54
Andrew Ball and Mariana Rizzo
Ron and Josie Walker
Sara and Jon Grizzle
Catarsha and Rodney Atkins
Chris Bonati, Kim Giewont, Katie Prestigiacomo and Tom Brezzini
Mark and Jan Wiygul
EVENT Fredrick and Trina Gillam
Ken Hall and Jeni Stephens
BRIDGES SCREEN ON THE GREEN
Jimmy Lewis, Sarla Nichols and Jordan Nichols
M AY 2 013
Beverly Cross, Mary Relling and Wanda Rushing
RSVP
55
Elijah Gann and Lana Wilcox
Felicia Nicholson and Dianne Taylor
Kyle Scott and Stephanie Bennett
Mikki and Darrell Cobbins
Louis Doss, Cheryl Sullivan and Tamara Hoffman
Rob and Lisa Clapper
M AY 2 013
PHOENIX CLUB MARDI GRAS PARTY
EVENT
Phoenix Club Mardi Gras Party Benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis
F Bethany Harrell and Cindy McRae
Michael Allen and Hannah Wilson
RSVP
56
at Tuesday may have come and gone, but the Phoenix Club of Memphis celebrated Mardi Gras one more time with its 16th annual Mardi Gras and Casino Party at the historic Cadre Building. More than 600 guests came together to support the Phoenix Club’s philanthropy, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Memphis, and to, of course, kick up their heels and indulge in the carnival spirit. Upon entrance, guests were immediately transported to Bourbon Street as they were handed shots from women wearing elaborate two-piece Mardi Gras costumes before they even hit the coat check. As attendees made their way into the Cadre’s stunning Grand Ballroom, they were greeted with the main course of the night: gambling with lots of cocktails. Upstairs, the clinking of chips and shuffling of cards was tempting enough for attendees to unleash their inner cardshark and play a round for a good cause. Guests traded their real money for “funny money” and in turn received gambling chips to bet with at the tables. With Harrah’s Casino’s premier dealers working the tables, this was no poker night with the guys—rather, the bets were high and the pressure was on. Winners received raffle tickets that were entered into a drawing for large package prizes from Grove Grill, Folk’s Folly Prime Steak House, Oak Hall and Tommy Bronson Sporting Goods, to name just a few. The party continued in the VIP section with more gambling, but with the added bonus of delicious grub from Central BBQ. Gambling is always easier with the aid of a few stiff libations. Thankfully, that was not a problem with Cathead Vodka, Budweiser of Memphis, Local Gastropub and Bardog Tavern serving up specialty concoctions and spirits. Local favorite Blind Bear Speakeasy brought the glamour of the 1920s back by handing out Prohibitionstyle cocktails like the Southern Hooch, made with either Blackberry Moonshine or Apple Pie Moonshine. Taking in the crowd’s obvious enjoyment, Chad Cunningham, the Phoenix Club party chairman, said that the party is just “a great way to get everyone together for a great cause year after year.” With a couple of great cocktails and many rounds of poker under their belts, men and women invoked the le bons temps rouler attitude of the night by hitting the dance floor, which DJ Mario kept hopping into the wee hours. More than $10,000 was raised for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis, with funds specifically earmarked for the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Camp Phoenix, which offers 300plus kids from the Memphis area a chance to experience the outdoors on the shores of Sardis Lake in Como, Mississippi.
See all the party photos at rsvpmagazine.com Password: RSVP
Leigha Francis and Mitchell Friener
Story by Rachel Warren Photos by Don Perry
Cate Tidwell and Teddy Klug
David Ridenhour and Bri Binnie
Julie Nelson and Chris Hopkins
Carlyle White and Renee Willis
Matt Rasberry, Aaron Munn and Mike Jones
Mallery Duncan and Ryan Freiden
EVENT Ben Campora and Jessica Shelton
Ashley McCullough and Kevin Sawicki
M AY 2 013
Mandy Gootzeit and Carl Johnson
PHOENIX CLUB MARDI GRAS PARTY
Elly Deyhle and Mark Awdeh
RSVP
57
S I N C E 1995
Advertising in RSVP Magazine places your message before an active, affluent market of Mid-Southerners who desire the best in quality and service.
More Than 120,000 Readers
Meredith Carrozza, Eric McEnerney and Cristina Jabbour
Average Household Income. . . . . . . . . . .$174,000 per year. Average Net Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,250,000 per year. Female Readers . . . 59.2% Male Readers . . 40.8% Marital Status . . . . . . . . . 62.2% married Home Owners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81.3% Education: Attended/Graduated College plus . . . . . .83.0% Have Post graduate degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21.6% 88.6% . . . . Purchased a Product or Visited a Store due to Advertising in RSVP. 42.6% . . . .Traveled Abroad during the past year. 52.% . . . .Eat out at least 3 times per week. 30,000 copies delivered monthly throughout the Affluent Shopping Areas of Greater Memphis From Harbor Town to Collierville.
Will Aldridge and Lizzy Holt
Albert Richer and Stephanie Johnson
For Information on How to put RSVP to Work for You Call 276-7787
EVENT PHOENIX CLUB MARDI GRAS PARTY M AY 2 013
Steve Balatros, Audrey Mosley, Ashley Hanson and James McKenzie
Matt Ricke, Jennifer Flanagan, Tiffany Stuart and Peyton Aven
Samantha Tweddell and Kaci Murley
Pamela Phillips and Patrick Mitchell
RSVP
58
Lamar Tidwell and Amanda Anno
Morgan Goldsmith, Mike Azzam and Maria Smith
Michael McCaffrey and April Tridente
Sara Gano and Colleen Cole
Caitlin Berry, Austin Easley and Lauren Loeb
EVENT Curt and Elizabeth Griffin with Lucas and Morgan Jane Warth
Lesley Goode and Kate Morrissee
Lane Varner and Stephen Cross
Jonathan Leonard, Brittany Bloom and Liane Williams
PHOENIX CLUB MARDI GRAS PARTY
Amy Doss and April Melton
M AY 2 013
Mary Catherine Lee and Patrick Colpitts
RSVP
59
Nicole Douglas, Ross Ridenhour and Jason Black
Marjorie Baker and Danny Knight
Carrie Neill and Steven Bell
Caitlin Gilen, Jenny Rosen and Emma Kromer
Laurie Bosshard, Jennifer Adams, Kim White and Ashley Covert
M AY 2 013
ONSITE
Onsite III
RSVP
60
“A Chorus Line” Gala Opening
Junior League of Collierville Blue Jean Ball
Fleming’s Wine Dinner
MED Foundation’s “Getting to Zero” Benefit
There’s nothing quite like the glamour and excitement of a theater party. With men and women dressed to the nines, Brennan Villines on the baby grand piano, flowers and a cocktail buffet, the opening night of “A Chorus Line” at Theatre Memphis was a gala affair. Pre-show festivities included a live auction featuring a trip to New York City and a chat with original “A Chorus Line” cast member and Tony Award winner Donna McKechnie. Presciently predating reality shows by more than two decades, “A Chorus Line” follows dancers as they audition for a spot on a chorus line, revealing personalities and personal struggles along the way. “The opportunity to talk personally with original cast members really helped the Memphis cast feel connected to this play,” remarked Theatre Memphis director of marketing Randall Hartzog. In a Theatre Memphis first, the opening night was live-Tweeted by behind-thescenes correspondent Rae Boller. And after the performance, theatergoers enjoyed drinks and desserts with the cast.
The Junior League of Collierville members and their husbands gathered at Memphis National Golf Club for their fourth annual Blue Jean Ball fund-raiser, this year themed “An Evening in Paris.” After perusing silent auction items, guests enjoyed a buffet dinner, and many participated in the “Wine Pull,” in which each person who donated $15 was allowed to pull one of more than 50 wrapped bottles of vino. “It’s a little bit of a game of chance,” said member Laura Edgerton. A live action followed dinner, and DJ Memphis Mike got the crowd on the dance floor, where partygoers partied the night away.
The wines of Oregon were featured at the Fleming’s Wine Dinner, part of the Memphis Wine and Food series, which serves as a fund-raiser for the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Guests were met at the door with flutes filled with 2009 Argyle Brut, and the wines, all from Elk Cove Vineyards, were each paired with a course of the dinner. The jumbo shrimp cocktail were served with a 2010 pinot gris, the mesclun salad was paired with 2010 Argyle Reserve pinot noir and a 2010 Mt. Richmond pinot noir accompanied the main course that featured slow-roasted prime rib. Finishing off the feast was a dark chocolate mousse, which was paired with a 2010 Ultima riesling. A live auction that offered groups of wine and other dining experiences completed the evening.
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing in 2012 that Memphis has the country’s fifth largest proportion of citizens newly infected with HIV, it seemed fitting that the MED Foundation’s Young Leadership Council host a fundraiser for the “Getting to Zero” campaign—a part of the United Nations’ HIV/AIDS effort to get to zero new infections, zero new deaths and zero discrimination. Held in the South Main Historic Arts District, the benefit raised more than $2,500 to help bolster the MED’s plans to get Shelby County HIV patients into a longterm treatment regime, as continual treatment for HIV-positive people can mean a long, healthy life for these individuals. To learn more about the work the MED Foundation is doing, visit theMEDFoundation.org.
Story and Photos by Kelly Cox
Bill Phillips and Barry Fuller
Story and Photos by Suzanne Thompson Story and Photos by Suzanne Thompson
Christy Brandon, Sasha Rutlin and Heather Brucks
Kimberly Hansen and Ami Tasker
Ward and Katie Collier
Stanton Thomas and Neville Williams
Story by Leah Fitzpatrick Photos by Whitney Henry
Jayna Kelly and Jeshenna Watkins
Vance Turner, Kontji Anthony and Christopher Wilson
Emily Capadalis and Tom Love
Debra and Patrick Boucher with Susan and Craig Williams
Jonathan and Erin Phillips with Rheagan and Philip Harris
Dana and Kent Farmer
Laura Edgerton, Melissa Gunter, Megan Vaughan and Gareth Tasker
Lori and Mark Huffstutler with Valerie and Jeff Morris
Kadeem Myrick, Edie McCants, Denise Parnell and Anjelicia Hardin
EVENT
MED Night “A Soul Celebr ation”
MED NIGHT
M
M AY 2 013
Mike Wilson and Lori Turner-Wilson
Cameron and April Parker
RSVP
62
ost people think of the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, also known as The MED, as caring for healthy bodies, but on a windy evening in late March it was all about the soul. Soul music, that is. For the third year, The MED presented “MED Night: A Soul Celebration” in which partygoers from far and wide gathered at The Peabody for cocktails, a fabulous dinner and an out-of-thisworld lineup of musicians to rival the Grammys. Organizers were celebrating even before the first chords were struck because this year’s party at $500 a ticket was “souled out” with 850 in attendance. Guests arrived in The Peabody’s Continental Ballroom in black tie and cocktail dresses for wine and spirits, as well as the first stirrings of music from the “Queen of Beale Street,” Ruby Wilson. Then, guests were whisked away to dinner and a full slate of danceable tunes from the Ohio Players, a horn-powered groove and funk band from late 1950s Dayton who backed notables such as the Falcons and Helena Ferguson. Their own hits include “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow,” “Pain” and “Funky Worm.” The Spinners followed next on stage with a flowing list of hit singles like “Mighty Love,” “Then Came You” and “I’ll Be Around.” The band has six Grammy® nominations to their name and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Commodores rounded out the night with Motown’s most well-known songs like “Brick House,” “Machine Gun” and “Nightshift.” Any partiers who hadn’t already made their way to the dance floor certainly did at that point. To add to the excitement, numerous travel packages were auctioned off, including a four-star trip to the Isle of Capri, an Alaskan cruise, an escape to Ireland and an African safari. Michael Detroit of Playhouse on the Square and The MED’s CEO and president, Dr. Reginald Coopwood, presided over the event. Best of all, funds raised from the evening will go to support the nonprofit hospital, which is known for its Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center, Firefighters Regional Burn Center, HighRisk Obstetrics Center and Sheldon B. Korones Newborn Center, proving once again that money donated from the heart can support the health of the body and the soul.
Sharon Loy and Ricky Wilkins
Donna and Steve Nash
Story by Jonathan Devin Photos by Baxter Buck See all the party photos at rsvpmagazine.com Password: RSVP Susan Arney and Tammie Ritchey
Dr. Reginald and Erica Coopwood
Josh and Joanna Lipman
Nikki Lekhy with Brad and Raakhi Phillips
Rod Pope and Mearl Purvis
EVENT MED NIGHT M AY 2 013
Tim Andrews and Jeanne Richardson
Gayle and Tom Sherry
Bonnie Thornton and Susan Wortham
Kristin Midgett and Amanda Bryant
Jamie and Christy Carter
RSVP
64
Adrienne and Lou Arrindell
Shaun Stickley and Melissa Dixon
Jonathan and Jeshenna Watkins
Lisa Guyton and Jenny Guyton
Page and Marla Inman
Emma Farris and John Farris
EVENT MED NIGHT Jenny and Jeff McIlvain
Luanne and Mike Donahue
Thomas and Valerie Long
Brenda and Robert Frank
Shannon and Hal Stanley
Jim and Jill Bishop
Karen and Kirk Johnston
M AY 2 013
Laura Talbot and Jeff Metter
RSVP
65
Jamie and Dustin Seessel
Phil Barbe and Alli Hughey
Chris and Steve Martin
Donna and Dr. Duane Harrison
Evelyn and James Morgan
Joanie and Michael Lightman
Edward and Deborah Alexander
George and Nayla Nassar
M AY 2 013
ONSITE
Onsite IV Grand Krewe of RaMet Coronation
Grand Krewe of Sphinx Coronation
Grand Krewe of Luxor Coronation
“A Taste of CBHS”
It was a night suitable for royalty, as the king and queen of the Grand Krewe of RaMet were announced in February at the Clark Opera Memphis Center. Women wearing full-length gowns graced the floor and were escorted by men in their finest black tie-attire in a grandeur deserving of nobility. Bill Ross and Cheryl Pennock were presented as king and queen, and the duchesses included Judy Winkler, Nancy Beck, Cindy Middleton. John Hawkins and Len Pennock served as flagmen. After an evening of cocktails and collation, royal revelers closed out the night to dancing to the sounds of Bullettown in an evening of majesty.
The Coronation Ball for the Grand Krewe of Sphinx, held at Chickasaw Country Club, paid homage the heyday of Las Vegas and its infamous Rat Pack. Fittingly, oversized martini glasses served as centerpieces, each adorned with a hand of cards. Ally Luciano was awarded Carnival’s Jim Crow Award, recognizing lifetime contribution to the charity group. The 2013 Sphinx king, Bill Raiford, queen, Linda Yoakum, and duchesses (Chrisann Conway, Linda Dever, Judy Jones, Annie Taylor, Jennifer Yoakum and Lauren Yoakum) were introduced before the royal dance began and the floor was soon filled with revelers. This year, Bob Bryant serves as Sphinx’s general chairman.
Story by Lesley Young Photos Submitted and by Lesley Young
Story and Photos by Suzanne Thompson
Guests at the Grand Krewe of Luxor’s Coronation Ball at Esplanade Memphis were greeted with beaded necklaces and medallions reflecting the theme “Sunset Over the Keys,” where flamingos ruled. Tables were even decorated with giant flamingos, each with a different personality. Hors d’oeuvres were sampled by guests prior to the introduction of the royal court, which included Kevin Bentley as queen, Pamela Smith as queen and several couples as dukes and duchesses (Patricia and Rob Bartlett, CC and Bill Brewer, Donna and Mike Honeycutt and Donna and Keith Renard). The Mighty Electric St. Jude Band then had guests filling the dance floor, and well into the night, partygoers enjoyed a breakfast buffet.
It was a family affair as folks flocked to Christian Brothers High School for the second annual “A Taste of CBHS.” Benefiting CBHS tuition assistance and presented by OrthoMemphis, the evening featured dishes from more than 25 chefs and restaurants with a connection to the school. From the Thai tastes of Bangkok Alley to the upscale American cuisine of Interim, it was like eating at two dozen restaurants on one ticket. Frank Grisanti dished up creamy ricotta-stuffed pasta shells in a Fra Diavolo sauce dotted with pancetta. The Grove Grill served sinfully delicious pimento cheese drizzled with bacon marmalade and gorgonzola with dried fig on toast. One & Only BBQ won hearts with tender, savory dry-rub ribs and twice-baked potato salad. Even the CBHS Culinary Club put its best food forward with meatball sliders. Add to all this a friendly, informal atmosphere and a wide selection of beer and wines from Buster’s Liquors & Wines, Victor L. Robilio Co. and others, and you’ve got one fun fund-raiser.
Story and Photos by Suzanne Thompson
66 RSVP
Story and Photos by Kelly Cox
Cheryl Pennock and Bill Ross
Bill Raiford and Linda Yoakum
Pamela Smith and Kevin Bentley Alicia Cunningham, Br. Chris Englert, the Purple Wave and Francis Cunningham
Julie Daniels and Steve Short
Sheila Wilson with Jack and Laurence Kenner
Chuck and Mary Stewart Barbara Evangelisti and Fr. Saji Ellickal
Sara and Colquett Van Dyke with Judy Looney
Bob Bryant and Judy Jones
Andrea Bowles and Ann Newell
Joyce Charbonnet and Kelly Fink
Bob and Eve Gammon and Gail and Mike Huey
Ken Hall and Ally Luciano
Chris Conway, Judy Jones, Annie Taylor, Jack Conway, Laura Alexander and Buddy Finley
Ray Phillips and Bryan Mulroy
24
28
29
35
36
40
41
45
46
50
59
30 37
31 38
52
53 57
61
65
66
70
71
73
65 66 68 70 71 72
34
44 49
54 58
62 67
63 68 72
74
52 54 55 57 59 62
33
39
48
56
32
43
47
60
www.CrosswordWeaver.com
25
42
51 55
DOWN
22
Scarlet Father’s sisters Foal’s mother Actress Day Fridge decoration Lope
Painter of melting clocks Tall candle Speck Actor Alda Fried bread Pecans
75
64 69
1 Digital audio tape 2 Throw out 3 Herr’s wife 4 Craftsman who shoes horses 5 Evening meal 6 Ancient 7 Exclusive group 8 WB TV series 9 Head bug 10 Malicious 11 Federal government (abr.) 13 Sense 14 12 month time period 20 Listlessness 22 Reverend (abbr.) 24 Taught 26 Adjust or modify 27 Dud 28 Ice house 30 Human 32 Hot corned beef sandwich 33 Astute 34 Chasm 36 North northwest
RSVP CROSSWORD
21
73 Floating ice 74 Set of supplies 75 Essence
38 __ Whizz 42 Sticky black substance 43 Killed 46 Elbowing 49 Wild horse of the American West 51 Summer skin color 53 Museum guide 56 NYC NL baseball team 58 Sparse 59 Boy 60 Winged 61 Horse riding equipment 63 Decorative needle case 64 Decays 65 Pat lightly 67 Luau dish 69 Mountain Time
i t ’ s j a zz!
Solution:
For underwriting information, call 901-678-2560 Visit us online at wumr wumr.memphis.edu .memphis.edu
E F V E I D L
cl a ssy
M AY 2 013
18
20 23
27
11
15
17 19
10
67 RSVP
14
9
A B Y S S
8
S M A R T
13
16
26
7
C L H I A C R R E E M V E R D U B E N
12
6
S L A I N
5
R O M T S S T
4
E T U I
3
M U S T A N G
2
Edited by Ruth Cassin
D O C F I L L Y E N D U E E E N B A N L E T R N R U M U N T A G I N T O N E W A R E T R E D D O R A M N E T C A T A P E R S C O N E K I T
1 Take off your hat 5 Doctor (slang) 8 Musical symbol 12 Nimbus 13 Female horse under age four 15 Honey storage 16 Russian ruler 17 Enable 18 LSD 19 Soup serving bowl 21 Area of a horse’s body between the forelegs and loins 23 Cove 25 Rapid eye movement 26 Strange 29 Strong drink 31 Vice __ 35 Kennel (2 wds.) 37 Price sticker 39 Stupid 40 Sign language 41 Utters melodiously 44 Horse’s coat color deep reddish brown 45 Drudge 47 Battle of nations 48 Glue brand 50 Rainbow fish
1
|
D O F F A U R A T S A R T U R I A L I E D O G R A S L P E O N T R O U D M A G D A L I A L A N B E R G
ACROSS
RSVP Crossword
RSV PHILLIPPI
By Dennis Phillippi
I’m certain that every single person reading this has at least one relative, for some reason it seems to usually be an uncle, who cares more about the ribs he cooks than he does about his gutters, his wife’s mother’s health and immigration reform all put together. Chances are that same guy is part of a barbecue team. Imagine how strange that sentence would read to someone from out of town. You know what I mean. He’s a member of a team at the Barbecue. That’s another sentence that would make no sense to them. Out-of-towners, every May we celebrate the other white meat with the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest down on the river. But, we just call it the Barbecue. You’re not
I’m certain that every single person reading this has at least one relative, for some reason it seems to usually be an uncle, who cares more about the ribs he cooks than he does about his gutters, his wife’s mother’s health and immigration reform all put together. truly a Memphian unless you’ve spent at least one long, damp, hot night in or near a tent with a bunch of other celebrants, drinking until dawn while cooking up some ribs. There’s nothing quite so purely Memphis as walking around the Barbecue on Friday, seeing all those glassy-eyed chefs recovering from their labors by drinking more beer and wearing ridiculous tee shirts. By the way, if you’ve never slowcooked pork over wood smoke, you’ve never had a barbecue. Cooking hot dogs and hamburgers is not a barbecue; it’s a cookout. Now, I love a cookout, with lots of kids running around and the host wearing a funny apron, and women showing a little leg, but it’s still not a barbecue. Barbecue is a thing, not an event. Except for The Barbecue, that’s an event.
If we’re not the barbecue capitol of the world, then ask yourself this: When was the last time you went to a gathering, a wedding, a funeral, a birthday, really anything, where barbecue was not served? When someone passes away, or when a couple has a baby, the first thing we do is decide who’s going to go get the barbecue. Any major moment in my life throughout the last three decades as an adopted Memphian has been marked by the presence of a large aluminum pan filled with pulled pork, beside another one filled with beans, beside another one brimming with cole slaw. My wife is such a purist she will scold someone if they put their slaw on before their sauce. Seriously, it drives her crazy. She’ll patiently explain the basic math of the meat to sauce ratio being carefully balanced before adding slaw to anyone who commits the infraction. During the years, I’ve written about plenty of sensitive topics on this page, and sometimes gotten very heated replies from readers, but this may be the most sensitive subject of all for Memphians. Before you get all worked up and fire off an e-mail about me making fun of barbecue, understand that I love Memphis and I love barbecue. Those guys wearing pig hats who stay up all night making perfect ribs aren’t to be mocked, they are heroes. I called a buddy of mine who happens to be one of these barbecue big shots to ask him why he thinks that pulled pork has come to symbolize Memphis cuisine, but he was too busy counting his barbecue riches to answer his phone. I left a message, but apparently the word “deadline” means even less to him than it does to me. I think that it’s because barbecue is many of the same things as this city; it’s simple, but messy. It’s commonplace, but at the same time unique. My friend Sandy may have put its appeal best a few years ago when she said that in May Memphis smells like honeysuckle and barbecue. I can’t put it better than that.
Awww Dennis, you made us feel a little more proud to be a Memphian this month, but you did us a bad disservice by not demonstrating some ’cue cooking skills up here on RSVP’s parking lot. Maybe “Phillippi’s Pork-Out” could become another annual event. Get back to us on that one.
69 RSVP
L
et’s get one thing straight: Memphis is the barbecue capitol of the world. This is not open to debate. I’ve been to the other so-called barbecue capitols, Kansas City and Texas, and as far as pure barbecue deliciousness goes, they got nothin’. Their barbecue is beef. How many times do we have to say it? Barbecue is pork. It is slowcooked pork, carefully watched over by a skilled artisan until it is the consistency of moist, heavenly tenderness unmatched by anything cooked up outside of the MidSouth. That’s why we have a barbecue joint on every corner. I looked up the history of Memphis barbecue, and it’s pretty vague. Most of the familiar places (I won’t name names here because I know pretty much all of the players in this and don’t want to forget anyone and have some barbecue mogul all mad at me.) opened shortly after World War II, but there isn’t any explanation as to why. They just started springing up when the fellas got back from the war. Why it’s pork here and not beef is simple; barbecue is pork. I thought we were clear on that. There are some disagreements on the specifics of barbecue, chiefly whether you are a dry or wet barbecue person, but we all agree that it has to be pork. In the interest of full disclosure, I will cop to the fact that I grew up in North Carolina, another place that claims to be a hotbed of barbecue, and one which at least has the decency to use pork, but in all my years growing up in the state, I don’t recall anyone particularly caring one way or the other about the stuff. Plus, their sauce is mustard based, which is just wrong. The tradition of barbecue in Memphis doesn’t just extend to the plethora of low buildings coughing out wood smoke and offering a sandwich at a reasonable price. We also have a proud legacy of making the stuff ourselves. True homecooked barbecue is the same slow-cooked pork, but instead of artisans watching over it, the overseers are at least two men, both of whom hold a can of beer, and not their first, while they discuss the intricacies of proper heating of meat…and SEC football.
M AY 2 013
PORKTASTIC
RSVPAST
The Pentecost-Garrison School for Boys
M AY 2 013
1 94 6
RSVP
70
he photograph above shows the 1946 second grade class at the Pentecost-Garrison School for Boys at 2485 Union Extended T“Pitt” and Hollywood. Pentecost produced many of Memphis’ most notable citizens through the years, including Fred Smith, J.R. Hyde, Bayard Bole, Webster Riggs Jr., Allen Morgan, Lewis Donelson III and many more. Pentecost closed in 1951 and was soon occupied by Lausanne Collegiate School students prior to its relocation to Massey Road. The building now houses the Memphis City Schools Teaching and Learning Academy. Pictured from left to right in the front row are Oliver Jamieson Jr., Jewett Cole, Mickey McCrory, Bob Kieffer, Jimmy Webb, Nick Gotten, Tony Lenzi and unidentified. Standing are Tommy Farnsworth, Henry Gotten Jr., Billy McIntosh, Lytle McKee, Warren Riggs, Harold Mansfield, Bill Thesmar, Mrs. Black (teacher), John David Hopkins, Don Morrow, Donnelley Hill, Lynn Vandiveer, Johnny Fleming, Steven Coleman, Edwin Stanton and Otis Warr. PHOTO COURTESY OF WARREN RIGGS If you have a past photo you would like to share with RSVP readers, please contact Leah Fitzpatrick at 276-7787 ext. 105 or e-mail the photo and caption to editor@rsvpmagazine.com All photos will be returned promptly.
DIVORCE THE RICES WROTE THE BOOK. They really did. Larry Rice and Nick Rice are co-authors of The Complete Guide to Divorce Practice. Published by the American Bar Association the book is recognized as the standard reference for divorce lawyers across the nation. This year’s 25th anniversary edition contains over 900 pages of insight, experience and techniques. Lawyers seek out Larry’s expertise. He has given over 200 lectures on divorce practice to lawyers both nationally and internationally. As the only Super Lawyer in the Mid-South certified as a Family Law Specialist, Larry spends most of his time practicing law with the Rice Divorce Team. A third generation lawyer, Nick Rice grew up with the law. After graduating from CBHS and UT-Knoxville, Nick clerked in the family firm while attending the University of Memphis Law School. Nick has lectured on several occasions and was recognized as one of Super Lawyers’ Rising Stars. The Rice Divorce Team is a practice group within Rice, Amundsen & Caperton, PLLC. The team is exclusively committed to family law - from prenuptial agreements to final decrees, from parenting time to property division and everything in-between. The team includes Jennifer Bellott, Jan Lentz, Erin O’Dea, Andrea Schultz CP, Teresa Brents, Carla Baker, Susan New ACP, Stacey Pipkin, Cyndy McCrory, Jessica Farmer, Tracy Cermack, Jennifer Bicknell, Cortney Sharp, Ada Askew, and Ken Schultz. The team applies generations of experience, nationally recognized expertise, and up-to-date technology to lead their clients through negotiations, mediation, arbitration or litigation. Hundreds of lawyers reviewed, contributed to and helped refine the system used by the Rice team. The depth of The Rice Divorce Team’s personnel provides the ability to tailor representation to each client’s individual needs and goals. While the team is proud of courtroom success, their greatest satisfaction often comes from obtaining a quiet settlement favorable to their client. Divorce is difficult. Divorce is made worse by misinformation. The Rices’ guide for clients, “About Divorce,” is available to you at aboutdivorce.com.
275 Jefferson Avenue Memphis, Tennessee 38103 901.526.6701 larry@ricelaw.com • aboutdivorce.com