- Issue Archive for
- Feb 5-12, 2009
- Vol. 1, No. 1041
News
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Flyer Flashback
To mark the Flyer's 20th anniversary, we're looking back at stories from our first two decades.
Back to the Future
Can Lionel Hollins turn the Grizzlies around?
City Council Attorney Rebuts Commercial Appeal Article
Memphis City Council attorney Allan Wade says members should not take any action against Mayor Willie Herenton because the mayor has done nothing wrong.
In a letter dated February 6th ...
By the Numbers
MCS superintendent looks to data for dollars and sense.
News Conference Scheduled for Arkansas Doctor Car-Bombing
A news conference has been scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday on the bombing in West Memphis that seriously injured Dr. Trent Pierce.
West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert said agents of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms advised him of the press conference and told him to be there ...
Cash on Cash
431,232,142
431,232,142
That's the number Memphis City Schools superintendent Kriner Cash has burned into his brain -- 431,232,142 -- the one he recites from memory like Hurley, Lost's unlucky lottery winner.
Memphis at the Grammies: Al Green, B.B. King, Justin Timberlake, MGMT
At Sunday night's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Memphis soul icon Al Green won two awards (Best Performance by a Duo or Group; Best Traditional R&B); B.B. King took home another (Best Traditional Blues Album); and a song by the duo MGMT (with former Memphian Andrew VanWyngarden) won Best Remixed Recording. ...
Off the Tracks
A proposed rail yard could threaten the Wolf River and Memphis' drinking water.
MCA's Rust Hall Turns 50
Award-winning architect Roy Harrover was honored Monday at a reception for the 50th anniversary of Memphis College of Art's Rust Hall.
Uninsured Upsurge
When the Church Health Center, the city's largest clinic for working people without health insurance, was founded in 1987, about 27 million Americans didn't have health insurance. Today, that number is 46 million people nationally.
In Memphis, the trend is no different ...
Physician's Car Bombed in West Memphis
A bomb exploded on or near a West Memphis doctor's car in his driveway Wednesday morning and seriously injured him.
Trent Pierce, a family practice doctor whose patients include some of his neighbors and the local police chief, was airlifted to The Med and was listed in critical condition ...
"Memphis" (the musical) Garners Good Reviews in Seattle
There's more than rainy days and reflections of Hendrix and Cobain in Seattle these days. With Memphis: The Birth of Rock and Roll, the Emerald City presents the Bluff City (with all its bruises and glory) on stage. Here's a review (written by the sister of Memphis magazine's Frank Murtaugh).
What They Said
Comments from memphisflyer.com
Arkansas Car-Bombing Investigators Seek Leads
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms interviewed members of the Arkansas State Medical Board Thursday but still don't know why someone bombed West Memphis physician Trent Pierce.
"None of them reported anything personally suggesting that any of them are at risk" ...
Take the Plunge and Celebrate the Ox This Weekend
In years past, Polar Bear Plungers have ignored icy-cold temperatures to take the annual dip into the Mississippi River. But this year's participants lucked out with temps expected in the high 60s tomorrow. Folks will face slightly warmer waters as they plunge to raise funds for the Special Olympics. Join them or just watch while you nosh on chili from the event's chili cook-off tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Mud Island River Park. ...
District Attorney and MPD Close Four Drug Houses
Broken pieces of sheet rock and rusty nails litter the floor inside the derelict shotgun shack at 2387 Park Avenue in Orange Mound. There's not a piece of furniture in sight.
The abandoned home, which sits next door to the Orange Mound Development Corporation, served as a crack house until it was boarded up over the weekend in a joint effort by District Attorney Bill Gibbons' office and the Memphis Police Department's Blue Crush operation. ...
Out of Convenience
Last Saturday, with tension continuing between the African-American and immigrant communities in North Memphis, about 10 people picketed the Northside Food Market.
"Hey, they killed my brother, man. Don't give them any business," one protester yelled at a potential customer
Remembering Natalee Holloway
On Thursday evening, more than 300 people filled the gymnasium at Rossville Christian Academy to hear Beth Holloway talk about her daughter, Natalee, who vanished on the night of May 30, 2005, during a school outing to the Caribbean island of Aruba ...
PBS Show to Feature Shelby County Officials, Frayser Foreclosures
The PBS weekly newsmagazine NOW on PBS will document the catastrophic impact home foreclosures are having on Memphis and Shelby County communities.
The program will profile the joint Shelby County Board of Commissioners and Memphis City Council resolution authorizing litigation ...
Real Estate
Picture Perfect
Circa 1908 Colonial Revival four square.
We Recommend
Music
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International Blues Challenge on Beale This Weekend
There's been plenty of controversy in recent years about the centrality of blues music on Beale Street, but all that takes a hiatus this week as hundreds (do I hear thousands?) of blues lovers descend on Memphis for the 25th annual International Blues Challenge ...
Read more about Beale Street's IBC.
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Bad News for Bad People: RIP Lux Interior
Cramps front-thing Lux Interior died yesterday of heart failure. He was 60 ... something, depending on whose dates you believe.
The last time I saw Interior was some time in the late 1990s. He was sitting in a booth at the Arcade restaurant waiting on an early afternoon breakfast and looking as though he'd just walked off the stage. His black mascara was smeared and running down his face, making his long pale face look even more corpselike beneath a shock of spiky dyed black hair. ...
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Doing the Math
The bumpy journey of instrumental rockers Don Caballero.
Politics
Agitated State
Several Tennessee pols are going through some serious changes.
State GOP Ousts Speaker Williams, Who Says He's Still a Republican as Democrats Ask Him to Switch
It's official now -- on one side of the argument, anyhow. Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams of Elizabethton is no longer a Republican in good standing. The Tennessee Republican Party stated as much in a press release on Monday. Kent Williams, though, begs to differ, calling himself a "Carter County Republican" and extolling a "bigger tent" in a countering press release of his own. Meanwhile, the Democrats began officially courting him as a potential party-mate.
Bipartisanship and the Med
We are grateful for the good news, conveyed this past week by congressional representatives serving Tennessee's corner of the Mid-South area, that obstacles have been removed to the funding of The Med's uninsured patients by the adjoining states of Mississippi and Arkansas. But ...
Gibbons Favors State Law Abolishing Residency Requirements for Police
District Attorney General Bill Gibbons, a declared candidate for governor in the 2010 Republican primary, on Wednesday professed sympathy with the Memphis city council’s action in liberalizing residency requirements for new Memphis police recruits and said that, if elected, he would support legislation to abolish any and all residency restrictions for police hires statewide.
Eyes on the Prize(s): As Bredesen Assays the State of the State, He and Others Look to Move Up
Governor Bredesen's request for bipartisanship in his State of the State message was overshadowed by his -- and others' -- behind-the-scenes ambition.
Citizens at "Town Meeting" Call for More Action on Crime
On the eve of Monday night's State of the State address in Nashville, Governor Bredesen's ears might be burning. Several of the speakers at a weekend crime seminar at Crichton College saw Bredesen's role to be key in securing public safety.
Sports
Tigers Thump Zags; Griz Beat Raptors
It was a good night for roundball for the city of Memphis, as the 15th-ranked U of M Tigers trounced 18th-ranked Gonzaga in Spokane and the Grizzlies beat Toronto for their third win in the last four games ...
FROM MY SEAT: The 2009 Memphis Tigers Thrive on Toughness
The Memphis Tigers' nationally seen blowout of Gonzaga confirmed what previous games had demonstrated: The most consistent quality Calipari's ninth Memphis squad brings to the floor is the same quality that gives it a chance for another scintillating postseason run. It's toughness.
Beyond the Snark: Griz Lose to Clips
I'm sitting over by the Clippers bench tonight (alongside Verno), so we'll have an up-close look at NBA dysfunction. A couple of potential match-ups I'm looking forward to:
Zach Randolph vs. Darius Miles: Jailblazer Nostalgia Match-up; Hakim Warrick vs. Brian Skinner: Battle of the Wu-Tang Worthy Goatees.
It wasn't pretty, but Chris Herrington has the blow-by-blow (snark-by-snark?) at Beyond the Arc.
Theater
Black Is Black
The Colored Museum puts African-American history under glass.
Film
"Taken" is Slick and Nervy
The set-up for Taken is like a Snopes-tested urban legend à la razor blades in Halloween candy. This cautionary tale warns about the dangers of young women traveling alone in Europe. They are, apparently, subject to the imminent threat of being kidnapped, hooked on drugs, and prostituted in the ever-thriving sex trade ...
Check out Greg Akers' take on Taken.
Star Turn
Kristin Scott Thomas shines in French mystery/melodrama.
Opinion
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Letter from the Editor
I just took an 8 percent salary cut — and so did almost everyone else here at Contemporary Media ...
The Perils of Facebook
Sometimes, I scare myself. At the moment, I am blaming it on Facebook. I've always been loath to actually do what most people call "networking," and now I am smack in the middle of a global network of people who tell me what they are doing every day ...
Read Tim Sampson's latest confessional Rant.
Bianca Knows Best ... About "Bad Boys"
Dear Bianca,
I'm attracted to bad guys, but I think it's destroying any chances at finding real love. Many of the guys I'm attracted to don't have reliable jobs, and most recently, I dated a guy who commonly had violent freak-outs ...
"Billions" This, "Billions" That
Whatever happened to "millions" as a big-time unit of measure?
A-Roid Rage?
In the aftermath of last Saturday's report by Sports Illustrated that New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroid use during his days as a Texas Ranger (2001-03), more than a few journalists have taken the stance that Rodriguez was betrayed by Major League Baseball's player union ...
The Federal Grand Jury
A pair of ex-prosecutors discuss the powerful investigative tool.
Books
Crossroads
Memphis: off the page, on the scene.
Food & Wine
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Seeing Red
A colorful guide to Valentine's Day dining.
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