A day after the Fourth of July, fireworks were still flying at City Council, as council member and utilities committee chair Joe Brown exploded at MLGW president Joseph Lee. Brown denounced Lee’s leadership in no uncertain terms, saying that the utility chief was “circumventing the council” in various hiring and operational practices. Brown also cited […]
Posted inCover Feature, News
A Bird Named Elvis
Somewhere in the Big Woods of eastern Arkansas, 70 miles from downtown Memphis, a large but wary woodpecker tours its shady, swampy home. He’s indifferent to the 60 Minutes helicopter that’s flying overhead, giving a TV cameraman what he thinks is a brief glimpse. Oblivious to the shock, tears, worry, and thrills he’s caused, to […]
Posted inFood & Wine, Food & Drink
Worth His Salt
It’s 10:45 in the morning, and Sonny Reese is hungry. Over a double-bacon BLT at the Arcade restaurant on South Main, Reese tells me about his time in the Army. While stationed in Missouri, he met another soldier who liked to eat as much as he did. “On the weekends, we would go AWOL to […]
Posted inMusic, Record Reviews
Short Cuts
Dinosaur/You’re Living All Over Me/Bug Dinosaur Jr. (Merge Records) In 1988, the little-known Amherst, Massachusetts, trio Dinosaur was forced to change their band name after a group of California rock has-beens called the Dinosaurs threatened legal action. Thus, Dinosaur became Dinosaur Jr., an amendment that many fans considered a travesty. But the new name proved […]
Posted inNews, The Fly-By
F-Stop
“Graffiti is built around the notion of fame,” says Adam Smith, aka Codak, a local graffiti writer. How do you know you’re famous? When people driving to work or waiting to catch the trolley suddenly find your name on their lips. And so it is with TM, a spraypainted tag on walls and sign posts […]
Posted inNews, Television
Blaze Up
Stop! Before you read beyond this paragraph, put down the paper and go buy a copy of Rescue Me: The Complete First Season on DVD — and while you’re at it, grab The Job: The Complete Series too. Go ahead. I’ll be waiting right here until you return. I’ve sussed out how some of you […]
Posted inMusic, Music Features
local beat
Rock Around the Clock: With four solid nights of shows, Midtown’s Buccaneer Lounge will be ground zero for local music fans this week. For starters, garage-rockers will be able to get a full dose of various Oblivians offspring: Thursday night, Jack Yarber (fresh off South Filthy’s recent European tour) and The Tennessee Tearjerkers are performing […]
Posted inNews, Television
I Know You
Is there a subject more tiresome or overexposed than fame? Magazines report more public interest than ever in stars — at a time when many of those stars are bores. Consumers can rig their cell phones to deliver the latest poop and piffle about instant icons whose expiration date may be mere weeks away, and […]
Posted inNews, The Fly-By
F-Stop
Last week, the Land Use Control Board (LUCB) indefinitely postponed a vote to allow a nuclear waste incinerator to operate on Presidents Island. But employees of Radiological Assistance, Consulting, and Engineering (RACE) — the company that wants the permit — as well as members of Memphis Truth, the Riverview Collaborative Community Association, and the Sierra […]
