Plugged In

From the war in Iraq to the Old South — two Power House exhibitions run the gamut.

• by Carol Knowles

Rock 'n Roll for For Red on Beale Street

Thursday night at EP's on Beale, the Memphis Flyer, Macy's, and other fine sponsors are holding a fund-raising party for "Go Red for Women," a program of the American Heart Association.

Five bucks gets you in the door for complementary cocktails and appetizers. If you wear red ...

• by John Branston

Still a Struggle

National Civil Rights Museum board meeting is anything but boring.

• by Preston Lauterbach

Thompson's Guilty Plea Leaves Some Questions Unanswered

Former Shelby County commissioner Bruce Thompson, who proclaimed his innocence and determination to go to trial at a news conference in November, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in federal court Wednesday. But almost nobody thought all of the story has yet been told. Example: Just what did happen with a mysterious $7,000 in shakedown money?

• by John Branston

Storms are Approaching. Batten Down the Hatches.

AccuWeather.com reports severe storms will continue to push eastward toward the Mississippi Valley today, ahead of a strong cold front. As a cold front shifts eastward today, the line of storms will progress eastward, causing destructive weather in its path. The greatest threats will be damaging winds and a few tornadoes Heavy downpours and large hail will also be possible with the strongest storms.

Storms today will occur from East Texas northeastward to west Tennessee...

• by John Branston

Grizzlies Sale?

Contract recognizes the possibility but is full of restrictions.

• by John Branston

Art at Memphis' Power House: From Iraq to the Old South

For Tom Lee's exhibition "Into the Fire," there is a perfect pairing of art and venue. Inside Power House's small, sooty gallery, the Fuel Room, Lee has drawn, whittled, and painted a savagely wry 21st-century version of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. Instead of surrounding God with cherubim, Lee depicts the Almighty flanked by a circular saw with an image of George W. Bush imprinted on each tooth of the blade ...

• by John Branston

Fly on the Wall

• by Chris Davis

The Memphis Week That Was

No good deed goes unpunished. Beale Street promoters thought they would honor the Tigretts with a note on the sidewalk. But the gesture drew a scathing letter from Isaac Tigrett on the subject of self-promotion. Takes one to know one. Pat Tigrett deserves a note on Beale Street and another one on Riverside Drive and another one on the mall. ...

• by John Branston

Signs of the Times

Public art transforms Central Station's "Gray Mile" into something more.

• by Shara Clark

Now YOU Can Fix the Shelby County Budget!

Local gadfly and humorist Tom Guleff has come up with another good one. He's created an avatar of Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton, so all of us can "play" mayor and take a shot at fixing the $16 million budget shortfall ...

• by John Branston

Policing Panhandling

Center City Commission approves panhandling security force; homeless people protest.

• by Bianca Phillips

Tennessee GOP Issues Stupid, Racist Press Release

From a press release issued this afternoon: "The Tennessee Republican Party today joins a growing chorus of Americans concerned about the future of the nation of Israel, the only stable democracy in the Middle East, if Sen. Barack Hussein Obama is elected president of the United States.

It's time to set the record straight about Barack Obama and where he really stands on vital issues such as national security and the security of Israel," said Robin Smith, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party ...

• by Flyer Staff

The Cheat Sheet

• by Michael Finger

Almost Perfect

The two best college basketball teams in the country made for one memorable weekend in the Bluff City.

• by Frank Murtaugh

Eye on the Prize

Was it the worst Oscars ever?

• by Tom Shales

Learning To Work

• by Mary Cashiola

Vanity Fair

Why can't we quite quit the Oscars?

• by Greg Beato

Local Record Reviews

• by Chris Herrington

Raising the Bar

Present crises and future elections are altering politicians' behavior.

• by Jackson Baker

Ryder Ousts Hilleary as Republican National Committeeman; GOP Takes No Action on Bill Hobbs

Memphis lawyer John Ryder has regained the post of Republican national committeeman which he lost to former 4th District congressman Van Hilleary four years ago on the eve of Hilleary’s unsuccessful race for the U.S. Senate. And state GOP spokesman Bill Hobbs has kept his job -- at least for now.

• by Jackson Baker

Entrepreneur Ericson Advances Pyramid Plan in Sit-Down with Council and Commission Members

From beginning to end, it lasted only three hours, but Wednesday's joint session of the city council and county commission had the feel of a marathon, and, by the end of it entrepreneur Greg Ericson had moved his proposal for a theme park in The Pyramid a considerable distance indeed.

• by Jackson Baker

Former Tiger Shawne Williams In Trouble in Indy ... Again

From the Indianapolis Star: Indiana Pacers forward Shawne Williams did not assist a man arrested near his home Wednesday on a murder warrant and did not invite him to be a house guest, the player's attorney said.

"We've got to do the things necessary to get back the public trust and get fans supporting our team," Pacers President Larry Bird told the media today ...

• by John Branston

A Valedictory to Two Stars -- Dorsey and Allen

Having played central roles in the most successful three-year stretch in University of Memphis basketball history, seniors Joey Dorsey and Andre Allen will be honored this Saturday at FexEx Forum -- a conclusion to two of the most ambivalent Tiger careers in recent memory.

• by John Branston

Are the Memphis Grizzlies the NBA's Washington Generals?

This is just wrong, but people are saying it, so we'll pass it along. From Craig Kwasniewski's NBA blog: "Is it me or does it seem like the Memphis Grizzlies are always playing teams after bad trades or bad injuries? Did David Stern install a flex schedule for the Grizz? So maybe the Grizz are his Bizarro Justice League, sent out to help the needy by losing big ...

• by John Branston

Memphis Beats Southern Miss, 76-67

It wasn't easy or pretty, but the Memphis Tigers held off a late Southern Miss run to win in Hattiesburg Saturday afternoon, 76-67, clinching the CUSA regular season championship.

Derrick Rose scored 22 of his 23 points in the second half to lead the Tigers' scoring, along with Chris Douglas-Roberts, who also had 23. Jeremy Wise led Southern Miss ...

• by John Branston

FROM MY SEAT: Goodbye, and Good Luck

Having played central roles in the most successful three-year stretch in University of Memphis basketball history, seniors Joey Dorsey and Andre Allen will be honored this Saturday at FexEx Forum -- a conclusion to two of the most ambivalent Tiger careers in recent memory.

• by Frank Murtaugh

British Invasion

Theatre Memphis and the University of Memphis pay respects to Austen and Dickens.

• by Chris Davis

"Pride and Prejudice" at Theatre Memphis Offers A Little of Both

Theatre Memphis' current interpretation of Jane Austen's seminal romance novel Pride and Prejudice exceeds three hours. That may be the most useful piece of information I can offer, because if devoting the best eighth of your day to a barrage of class- and gender-conscious barbs traded with restraint in a variety of picturesque settings sounds at all like a little slice of heaven, then the play will probably be a delightful experience. If it sounds like a hellish torture ingeniously conceived by your worst enemies, it's probably that too ...

• by John Branston

Movies as Memories

Michel Gondry's weird Be Kind Rewind is a lo-fi, movie-mad reverie.

• by Greg Akers

"Be Kind Rewind" is a Lo-Fi, Movie-Mad Reverie

There just aren't enough weird movies being made. That's the conclusion I came to after seeing Be Kind Rewind, French filmmaker Michel Gondry's ode to VHS and Fats Waller.

Jack Black and Mos Def star as Jerry and Mike, two dopey New Jersey video-store denizens. After Jerry (Black) is magnetized in a power-plant accident, he erases all the tapes in the store, leading Jerry and Mike (Mos Def) to remake the films themselves to replenish the stock. (That's the straightforward part...

• by John Branston

Documentary warns of an educational divide.

• by Chris Herrington

Memphian Screens Doc on American Education System

Memphis venture capitalist Bob Compton isn't a filmmaker by trade, but a visit to India and China inspired the father of two to utilize the medium to explore what he saw as a worrisome divide between the quality and intensity of the education American students are receiving relative to students in those countries....

Compton hired journalists Chad Heeter and Adam Raney and then conceived, produced, and financed Two Million Minutes, an ambitious hour-long documentary about this divide. He'll debut it locally with a screening Thursday, February 28th at 6 p.m., at Malco's Paradiso theater.

Book of Depressing Lists

Financial flops put Memphis banks on a key list of leading laggards.

• by John Branston

The Big Game

• by Flyer Staff

Straight Talk?

John McCain is no "chicken hawk," but his economics on the war don't add up.

• by Joe Conason