Terminix Drops Trademark Lawsuit Two weeks ago, Terminix, the Memphis-based pest-control company, voluntarily dropped a lawsuit alleging that a California woman violated the company's trademarked names by using them on a Web site critical of Terminix and its affiliated companies. The suit, filed last October in U.S. District Court in Memphis, claimed that Carla Virga of Yuba City had been illegally using the company's name to divert traffic to her site. "It was primarily a business decision," says Steve Good, Terminix' vice president for marketing. "At this time we think it's more important for us to turn our attention to better ways to serve our customers through the Internet rather than pursuing litigation at this time." Good says Terminix plans to launch a new site in coming months that will address customer concerns over the Web. "If anything, this has reinforced the importance for us of the performance of customer service," he says. Meanwhile, attorneys for Virga are claiming victory. "Speaking as a lawyer, it doesn't set much of a precedent when someone drops a case," says Virga's Memphis attorney Lucian Pera. "But these folks made a very public statement expressing their interests and then made a decision to drop the case. I think any observer would look at that and conclude that the case didn't have much merit." Virga's case was taken on pro bono by Ralph Nader's Public Citizen Litigation Group based on the fact that the Terminix suit, had it prevailed, might have served to suppress criticism of corporations on the Internet, although Terminix has steadfastly maintained that the suit was not an attempt to suppress such criticism. Terminix sued Virga once before, however, in an unsuccessful California suit that claimed her site was defamatory. "I'm very happy that the case was dismissed. I'm ecstatic and relieved," says Virga. She also says hits on her site have gone from 50 per day to 100 to 200 per day since the suit was filed. -- Jim Hanas Changes Ahead For Music Festival, Sunset Symphony On Monday afternoon, Rob Bentley, regional director of BellSouth Mobility, one of the sponsors of this year's Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival, called the regional Ticketmaster office and ordered tickets to this year's festival put on sale. It was a silly stunt, but it worked -- 15 minutes later the festival had already sold 30 three-day passes for the May 5-7 festival, which officials say, barring any unforeseen disasters, should top last year's attendance of 130,000. Two years after the financial debacle that marked the tenure of executive director Wes Brustad, the city's monthlong festival seems to be sitting pretty. An audit released earlier this month shows the nonprofit organization ended 1999 with assets of $934,000, a dramatic turnaround from the year before, in which MIM ran up a deficit of $592,375. Much of that deficit was made up by private donations and forgiven debts. Now, with financial troubles seemingly behind them, MIM officials are focusing on trying to stage the best festival they can. MIM executive director Jim Holt, an ex-music promoter whose former boss, the late Bob Kelley, had a very public split with Brustad over the booking of the festival, prides himself on taking a hands-on approach with the festival. He is working closely with New Orleans-based Beaver Productions, whose Memphis office also employs some of Kelley's former employees. Holt calls this year's festival a good mix of the old (John Lee Hooker, Little Richard, the Allman Brothers Band) and the new (alternative rockers Creed, the Foo Fighters, teen blues person Shannon Curfman), of Memphis music (Stax man William Bell, the Ike Turner Review, R.L. Burnside) and national and international acts (Canadian Bryan Adams and Indian rock group Euphoria). The festival will also see the return of the gospel stage on Sunday, and for the first time a rap act, old schoolers Run DMC, will play the BSMF. Some of the unpopular moves from the past years will remain in place at this year's festival, however, including the fencing off of the entire river side of Tom Lee Park, a move that was done last year, Holt says, for logistical reasons. "I was told that it took 45 minutes to get an artist from one side of the park to the other, which is just not acceptable," he says. This year's park layout, however, will try to address the bottleneck that developed last year in the middle of the park near the blues tent. Tickets for the BSMF are available at all Ticketmaster locations. Admission is $16 per day or $38 for a three-day pass until April 30th. After April 30th, tickets are $20 a day. MIM officials have at least two more press conferences planned for the coming weeks -- one to kick-off the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and another to officially announce the latest -- and what may prove to be the most controversial -- change in the festival's 23-year history. An expansion and redesign of the Sunset Symphony, Memphis in May's traditional coda, in the face of the retirements of the late Alan Balter and "Old Man River" vocalist James Hyter in 1998, the Great Southern Festival is a new two-day event that will, obviously, focus on regional cuisine, making extensive use of area food vendors. Various music acts will perform during the event, including such indelibly Southern artists as Bobby Rush and Buckwheat Zydeco. The Sunset Symphony will close out the festival's second day, though sources say that the Beale Street Divas -- the singing triumvirate of Ruby Wilson, Joyce Cobb, and Wendy Moten that was introduced last year in place of Hyter -- will not be returning this year. MIM executive director Jim Holt admits that he's already heard some gripes. "We've gotten a limited number of complaint calls," he says. "We'd like to ask people to reserve judgment until we announce everything. I think when we do everyone will respond favorably to what we've come up with." The tentative line-up includes: Friday, May 5th: Creed; George Thorogood; Bryan Adams; Run DMC; Percy Sledge; the Average White Band; Joe Louis Walker & Bosstalker; Guano Apes; Medeski, Martin & Wood; William Bell; Stir; Tommy Castro; Hubert Sumlin; John Mohead; Euphoria. Saturday, May 6th: Allman Brothers Band, the Foo Fighters, Isaac Hayes, Susan Tedeschi, Joan Jett, the Ike Turner Revue, Los Lobos, Taj Mahal, Billy Lee Riley & the Sun All-Stars, FreeWorld, Carl Weathersby, Euphoria. Sunday, May 7th: Widespread Panic, John Lee Hooker, Little Milton, Collective Soul, Foreigner, Randy Newman, Little Richard, Cowboy Mouth, R.L. Burnside, North Mississippi All-Stars, Carey Bell, Larry McCray, Big Jack Johnson, Teddy Morgan & the Pistolas, the Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Clarence Fountain, the Associates, the Tennessee Mass Choir, Euphoria. -- Mark Jordan Sunshine Law Affects School Superintendent Decision The Memphis Board of Education approved Johnnie B. Watson as interim superintendent Monday night, but things could have been different if it were not for the state Sunshine Law. While all nine board members voted for Watson, a former MCS assistant superintendent and current chairman of Rhodes College's education department, another top candidate could have just as easily been appointed if she had not taken her name out of the running shortly after a list of candidates appeared in The Commercial Appeal. Jane Walters, executive director of Partners in Public Education -- a fund-raising organization for the city schools, says she did not want the job if it meant being pitted against two good friends -- Watson and Ray Holt, a financial expert who has filled the interim post twice before. Both Walters and Holt have said they would not want the job without unanimous support from the board. "I'm just not interested, unless there was really a united effort . These people are my friends," says Walters, former Tennessee Commissioner of Education. "The bottom line is that I've worked hard all my life for the school district and at the state level, and I don't care to have my name bandied around. That's just not me." Board member Bill Todd was afraid of that at a committee meeting last week when five board members met to discuss possible interim candidates to fill in for superintendent Gerry House, who leaves for New York on April 3rd to head up a nonprofit educational institution. Todd was disappointed that reporters showed up at the open meeting, saying it made it difficult for board members to discuss the candidates freely without the names getting into the papers. "That's why I have a problem with the Sunshine laws, you can't always say what you want," he said. "We want to protect those people whose names come out. Professional people don't want their names batted around [in public]. They either want [the job] or they don't." Jim Brown and other commissioners even half-jokingly asked reporters not to print the candidates' names until after the board made a final decision Monday night. Tennessee's Open Meeting Act, commonly called the Sunshine Law, basically states that public business can't be done in secret behind closed doors and that the public must be informed when two or more members of a public body meet to discuss public policies and business. While he believes the public has a right to know the names of possible candidates, Todd said the school system lost a very qualified candidate in Walters, who had the support of at least three of five committee members, as a direct result of the open meeting law. "I know the public has a right to know, and they should. But it makes situations like these very difficult," he said. "You hate to put people as great as all these candidates up against each other. They're the ones doing us a service. It's tough I don't know how you solve it." In the end, all the board members say they are happy with their final decision. Watson, 60, spent more than 30 years with the city school system in various positions -- from Carver High School teacher to Willie Herenton-appointed assistant superintendent -- before retiring in 1992. Board members praised the strong academic background the Booker T. Washington High School graduate brings to the system. "I plan to be very active and start a dialogue with the board, the MEA, and other movers and shakers immediately," he said. "The needs of this system are too great to sit back in a luxury office and do nothing." Watson is still negotiating a contract, but the board committee that recommended him agreed that he should be paid House's current salary: $174,850 plus benefits. Watson says he will definitely keep his full-time position at Rhodes, but has not worked out the details of his schedule yet, since he could hold the position for a year or more while the board launches a national search for a permanent superintendent. Board members expect to hire a search firm by their April 10th meeting. -- Tanuja Surpuriya National Campaign Begins To Fight Youth Violence A massive project to curb youth violence is under way in Memphis. A month ago, the President's Initiative Against Youth Violence chose the Bluff City as its first model partner but kept mum about who would be involved and what specific crime problems the program hopes to lessen. Memphis was chosen primarily because it has a higher youth crime rate than many other cities its size, says Lisa Danzig with the National Campaign Against Youth Violence. On a more positive note, Memphis also has the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission and the new Truancy Center to ensure that the program stays organized and motivated. Hundreds of community leaders are taking part, including state U.S. Western District Attorney Veronica Coleman, vice president of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation Dr. La Don Jones, director of the Memphis Center for Safe and Drug Free Schools Ken Strong, and members of the Shelby County Crime Commission. The campaign's goal is to sustain long-term partnerships between the corporate sector and nonprofit neighborhood assistance groups. "I want to see tangible, practical strategies developed and maintained," says Barry Gildea, second in charge at the Crime Commission. "The people with the campaign did not ride in on a white horse and tell us what we would be doing." To grab the attention of teenagers, events have been planned, ranging from a Court TV-sponsored, produced, and televised youth forum with Janet Reno April 7th at Oak Court Mall to a Young Bloods rap concert sponsored by fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger. Eleventh- and twelfth-graders from Frayser, East, Whitehaven, Kirby, Craigmont, and Treadwell high schools will be prepped for the forum by Court TV representatives at the end of March. Booker T. Washington, Vance, Central, Bellevue, and Middle College high school students will paint a mural near the Martin Luther King Center with the help of local artist Larry Walker. The Memphis Arts Council is partly sponsoring the April 10th project. Time Warner is footing the bill for television and radio public-service announcements featuring Memphians. Hilfiger model and hip-hop artist Tyrese will visit Memphis to talk about the program. Strong says that although these are big splash events, he points out that involvement must continue after the Initiative moves on to help other cities in late April. But is the program going to reach the kids it really needs to reach? Are potential criminals likely to attend a forum with Reno or help paint a mural? "I don't know if it will have an impact on the lives of kids who are disconnected," Strong says. "I do see it as a positive, preventative approach." The campaign will also bring national attention to Teens for Peace, an organization found in most city schools. "Those kids will be directly involved in everything we do and they can take that message back to the people they hang out with, other students," Jones says. Last year, the Crime Commission released a comprehensive study on sexual assault which revealed that teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 are those most often assaulted. Their perpetrator is usually in their early 20s. The Commission opened its Truancy Center on Cleveland a few weeks ago. Gildea says that city and county principals have consistently reported truants to the center. By year's end, he estimates that at least 10,000 students will meet the legal definition of truant and 15,000 will be prosecutable -- although much fewer will actually face charges. "It's excellent timing for the campaign to come here now," says Gildea. "The crime commission is holding itself responsible for the success or failure of the campaign. That makes the difference -- if you can have an agency that's willing to make sure that it remains energized." -- Ashley Fantz Verbatim "I don't think it's any accident. The Bible Belt is also the 'Death Belt'." -- the Rev. Joe Ingle of Nashville, a death row minister since 1974 and a staunch opponent of the death penalty. Making A Difference In Millennial Memphis - 40 Andrew Allagree, a dancer with Ballet Memphis, has been working on a project called interiorworks. Based on successful projects in Seattle, Boston and San Francisco, interiorworks is a project designed to cultivate a new audience by making ballet more accessible by making it affordable (just 5 bucks!). interiorworks also offers the dancers of Ballet Memphis an opportunity to develop their choreographic skills, and to explore less traditional venues. Proceeds from performances of interiorworks have been earmarked for an artist's relief fund. Ironically, Allagree will be the first beneficiary of the fund. Last November, he was struck down by Bickerstaff Encephalitis, an extremely rare and terribly debilitating disease which left the promising young dancer wheelchair-bound. Shortly thereafter Allagree's house and all of his belongings were destroyed in an electrical fire. The 40th Making a Difference in Millennial Memphis grant will go to Ballet Memphis for the production of the first interiorworks scheduled for May 9th. As part of its 10th-anniversary celebration, The Memphis Flyer is giving away $50,000 in grants of $1,000 each. The money is provided by an anonymous Memphian who hopes to encourage what might be called good works little things that improve the quality of life in Memphis. The grants are disbursed by the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis. Grants are available to any nonprofit in the Memphis area. To apply, send a proposal on the organization's stationery to: Making A Difference, The Memphis Flyer, P.O. Box 687, Memphis, TN 38101

					Fly on the Wall Low (Deliciously Trashy) Expectations The grand literary tradition of the South lives on next month as Memphian and TV and movie star Cybill Shepherd's tell-all opus hits bookstore shelves. Titled Cybill Disobedience: How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, and Hollywood (my God, the title has more lines that she had in The Last Picture Show), the book was excerpted last week in that fine literary journal TV Guide. Actually, Cybill's book should make a great trashy summertime read, filled as it is with salacious details on the actress' trysts with her Moonlighting co-star Willis ("any time we had a kissing scene, he stuck a tongue halfway down my throat"), Don Johnson ("like wolfing down a candy bar when you're starving -- fast, furious, intense -- and it was all over in five minutes") and, of course, the Big E ("I had fun in Elvis' bed -- his kisses were so slow and deliberate, his skin so smooth"). Cybill also tells about an affair she had with two stuntmen -- at the same time. Actually, the more we think about this it seems a little unseemly, like your aunt getting drunk at Christmas dinner and telling about all her old boyfriends. It seems as if Jacy Farrow never grew up. Hey, save us a copy. Missing the Boat Every year, a few months before the festival begins, Memphis in May organizes a press junket to the honored country for VIPs and local journalists. This year's trip to India, scheduled to leave two weeks ago, was abruptly postponed, however, because a VIP came along who was a bit more of a VIP than the others. It seems that the trip was called off because of circumstances surrounding President Clinton's visit to India. Never fear, though. MIM officials have rescheduled the junket --for October, which seems a little beyond the point to us. Huh? "Tennessee is like Chinese food -- they leave a good taste in your mouth that makes you want to keep coming back for more." -- CBS sports commentator Clark Kellogg, commentating (incomprehensibly, we might add) the day before the University of Tennessee men's basketball team's Sunday game against the University of Connecticut. We have no idea what he meant, but the Vols won (as Kellogg predicted?) and will face the University of North Carolina Friday night. At the Whim of the TicketMaster "What they'll do is put him on hold for 15 minutes." -- Ticketmaster regional manager Charlie Ryan joking (sort of) in the crowd as BellSouth Mobility's Rob Bentley called his office to order Beale Street Music Festival tickets be put on sale (See "Changes Ahead For Music Festival, Sunset Symphony," on page 6). Also in the crowd for the official announcement of the BSMF line-up Monday was Ryan's friend Kevin Kane, president of the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, who, as Bentley's phone dialed, urged Ryan, "Pick up, Charlie. Pick up."
		Compiled by Mark Jordan Send items to: P.O. Box 1738 Memphis, TN 38101 FAX: 521-0129 e-mail: jordan@memphisflyer.com.