WICKED

October 13-31, 2010

Love it or loathe it there can be no doubt Wicked, an effects-laden musical about the witches of Oz brings the green to Main & Beale. It certainly cast a spell on Memphis theatergoers last season who turned out to see the show in big numbers. The Orpheum's aggressive pre-sale strategy also worked like magic as well making tickets disappear at an astonishing rate.

This Friday, March 12th, local heavy rock band The Unbeheld will unveil a debut full-length recording, In the Arms of Mother Chaos (self-released), with a CD-release party at the Hi-Tone Cafe. Joining them will be emerging locals the Dirty Streets and Little Rock's Iron Tongue.

The Unbeheld is a relatively new group comprised of ex-members of several prominent local metal acts, including Epoch of Unlight, Serapis, and Grandma, but, thankfully, tends to shy away from current trends in heavy/metal music, embracing a more eclectic and adventurous approach to making eardrums bleed. Combining elements of Southern rock, blues, and psychedelia along with black metal, the Unbeheld's brand of heavy music is musically approachable enough for non-metalheads, but still rocks hard enough to deliver the goods for those faithful to the genre.

In the Arms of Mother Chaos, produced by Ardent's Alan Burcham (albeit, not at Ardent), is currently available for pre-order via www.memphishatesyou.com, and should be in local stores and other online retailers after Friday's release show.

For advance tickets, visit www.hitonememphis.com.

Elliot Williams made only one of nine field-goal attempts for the Tigers, scoring eight of his 10 points from the free-throw line. Will Coleman added 14 and Kemp led the Tigers with 15.

The loss is the Tigers' first in C-USA tournament play since the 2005 championship. With a record of 23-9, Memphis will now have an agonizing wait until selections for the NCAA tournament are made Sunday afternoon. Having lost in the first round of their conference tourney to a team with an RPI well over 100, the Tigers are likely headed for the NIT.

Roburt Sallie leads the U of M with 7 points. Aubrey Coleman has 12 for the Cougars. The Tigers have been outrebounded, 26-17.

Memphis: 17 games, 8/9 home/road split. 10 against teams with winning records, 6 against teams with > .600 winning %, 5 against teams with > .650 winning %.

Portland: 16 games, 7/9 home/road split. 8 against teams with winning records, 7 against teams with > .600 winning %, 4 against teams with > .650 winning %.

San Antonio: 20 games, 8/12 home/road split. 14 against teams with winning records, 11 against teams with > .600 winning %, 7 against teams with > .650 winning %.

• Southern Bowling Lanes

Wow, that's really saying something, isn't it? But back then, you have to understand that bowling was a sport often undertaken in converted buildings and basements, with poor lighting, no air conditioning, and more inconveniences than a medieval torture chamber. Or so I gather from the glowing press releases about this establishment.

Thank goodness the Southern, built for a whopping $150,000, changed all that. Not only were its 24 gleaming hardwood lanes well-lighted and air-conditioned, it boasted the unheard of luxury of "having no posts to mar the beauty of the alleys." Despite a rather traditional Colonial Revival exterior (as shown on this old matchbook), the interior featured "the latest streamlined effects," including such marvels as spacious dressing rooms for men and women bowlers, a restaurant, a ladies powder room, and a gadget called a "teliscore" for keeping track of the games.

The Southern Bowling Lanes' grand opening took place on August 11, 1941, with "dignitaries of the city, sports world, and other walks of life" singing the "Star Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America." That was just to open the show. These various celebrities — who included the president of the Memphis Bowling League, the president of the American Bowling Congress, and a fellow named Jim Kelly, identified as "the South's oldest bowler" — then dedicated each alley, one at a time (all 24 of them!) with grandiose speeches and ribbon-cuttings.

The 93 minute documentary, from filmmaker Emmett Malloy, follows the duo Jack and Meg White on a 2007 Canadian tour. Featuring the band's own trademark color palette — black, white, and red — the film captures the band at concert halls and other traditional music venues, but also finds them performing on buses, in cafes, and in other non-traditional venues.

Extremely well-received so far, Under Great White Northern Lights debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall and has its American debut tomorrow night at the SXSW film festival in Austin. Indie Memphis will screen the film Tuesday, March 16th at Studio on the Square. Admission is $5 at the door or free for Indie Memphis members. You can also get in free by showing up dressed in White Stripes colors.

A preview:

In the southwest corner of the fairgrounds, heavy-equipment operators are grooming the former site of Libertyland, turning it into a shady, grassy grove suitable for pregame parties and picnics. Meanwhile, on the fifth floor of City Hall, heavy political operators are performing triage on the property and putting first things first. Which is to say, football and parking, all 5,372 spaces.

City councilman Reid Hedgepeth, a former college football player determined to move the ball on this project, gathered the main players Monday. They included University of Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson, Steve Ehrhart, representing the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Fred Jones, representing the Southern Heritage Classic, and Robert Lipscomb, representing the city administration.

(The full council was scheduled to take up the issue Tuesday after Flyer deadlines.)

The goal was to get an agreement on Phase One of the "clean and green" of the amusement park site and move on. The next phase includes demolition of the cattle barns and most of the other buildings west of the stadium so they can be replaced with a "Tiger Lawn" (aka "The Great Lawn") from the East Parkway entrance of the fairgrounds to the stadium. Hedgepeth and Lipscomb want to get that much done before the 2010 football season starts and the U of M takes the field under new head coach Larry Porter. The cost is approximately $2 million.

"We're not finalizing the fairgrounds. All we're tying to do is clean the place up," Lipscomb said.

Noting the recent flare-up, mainly by Jones, over fears of lost parking places, Lipscomb added, "If we have this kind of problem cleaning it up, imagine the problem we're going to have advancing the notion of what ought to be there."

Conspicuously absent at the table was Henry Turley, whose group Fair Ground LLC was chosen as developer of the fairgrounds by the city's appointed fairgrounds reuse committee and confirmed by then-mayor Willie Herenton in 2008. Turley, the developer of Harbor Town and Uptown (and a minority stockholder in Contemporary Media, Inc., the Flyer's parent company), has a national reputation as an expert in new urbanism. He has called Fair Ground "the best idea I ever had." But he can't get political support for his plan, which includes big-box retailers like Target and hotels like Hampton Inns to generate taxes that would pay for an amateur team-sports complex and fairgrounds and stadium improvements.

Also absent was anyone from the Memphis Park Commission, which operates the stadium.

Calling the shots, at least for now, are Lipscomb and former city councilman and architect Tom Marshall, who leads a fairgrounds redevelopment group that has the blessing of FedEx executives, the U of M, and most members of the City Council.

No matter who gets the job, it won't be easy. The lineup for the East Parkway side of the fairgrounds is set, with Fairview Middle School, the Salvation Army's Kroc Center for recreation, the grand entrance, and the greensward at the old amusement park. So is most of the north side, with the Children's Museum and the high school football field and track.

That leaves the stadium, the Mid-South Coliseum, and enough asphalt to land airplanes if Memphis International ever shuts down. At Monday's meeting, Marshall had a display board with six reasons to tear down the coliseum. Jones wants it to stay. He's a tough advocate, with friends on the council.

If the football crowd has its way, parking will reign, millions more dollars will be poured into the stadium for fans who don't come and for handicapped seating that isn't needed, and the U of M will cross its fingers that a new coach and players can turn the program around and get Memphis into a Bowl Championship Series conference — the latest Holy Grail.

Turley's mixed bag is also a long shot. A "Target tax" or "Trader Joe's tax" would probably pass in some affluent precincts in Midtown, but big-box retailers always run into resistance. His sports model is Bridges, the nonprofit that brings private and public schools together for season-opening football games, only he wants to do it regularly.

In a town where public more often than not means poor (schools, the Med, MATA, etc.), Memphis may not be ready for that leap of faith. We prefer our racial reconciliation and happy endings in small doses, à la The Blind Side — or on the sports page or the football field.