Every time I’m in an airport, I think I’ll see somebody I know. This morning in Chicago, though, things are especially blurry, and they all look about the same. Trying to pick out individuals in the predawn terminal is like trying to tell one tree from another when you’re driving down a highway. Still, sitting […]
Posted inMusic, Record Reviews
Short Cuts :: RECORD REVIEWS
Cellar Door John Vanderslice (Barsuk) A lifetime indie-rocker who fronted the college-radio band MK Ultra in the mid-’90s and now owns the San Francisco studio Tiny Telephone (which birthed records from bands such as Creeper Lagoon, Death Cab for Cutie, and the Stratford 4), John Vanderslice certainly sounds the part. His warbly voice is often […]
Posted inNews, The Fly-By
Silenced
Leon Gray ended his talk show Thursday night with his weekly health segment. Moments later, he was handed a letter by the program director telling him he had been fired. For almost three decades, Gray has been associated with WLOK-AM 1340, the long-standing gospel music station owned by Gilliam Communications. In addition to co-hosting a […]
Posted inOpinion, Viewpoint
[City Beat] Secession of the Successful
The biggest problem facing Memphis over the next decade is the secession of the successful. It’s already happened to neighborhoods, parks, hospitals, churches, schools, and businesses. Now it’s spread to public libraries and Memphis Light, Gas and Water. The haves up and leave. Families move from Whitehaven and Hickory Hill to DeSoto County, or from […]
Posted inFilm Features, Film/TV
What a Night
Early on in Friday Night Lights, a film about high school football culture in Texas, we witness a preseason practice of Odessa’s Permian Panthers. Parents and college scouts litter the stands, media crowd the perimeter of the field, and the players form a huge circle. In the middle of the circle, players, two at a […]
Posted inCover Feature, News
Under Cover
The What: From October 8th to the 10th, Memphis celebrates the written word by hosting the Southern Festival of Books. The annual event, now in its 16th year and normally held in Nashville, is one of the longest-running and best-know book festivals in the country. Humanities Tennessee, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for […]
Posted inMusic, Record Reviews
Short Cuts
Doing the Distance Snowglobe (Makeshift Music) It’s been more than two years since young local band Snowglobe released their great debut album, Our Land Brains. But fans can rejoice that, with the follow-up Doing the Distance, the band has not grown out of the palpable camaraderie or excited creativity that made them such a refreshing […]
Posted inNews, The Fly-By
Logan Young Headed to Trial
Businessman and University of Alabama football booster Logan Young is set to go to trial in federal court in Memphis on January 10th in the nearly four-year-old Albert Means case. Young is charged in a three-count indictment with bribery of a public servant. The government alleges that he paid $150,000 to former high school football […]
Posted inNews, The Fly-By
Highly Visible
By August next year the South Main Arts District will be getting a new tenant, actually about 120 tenants, when a Shelby County performing-arts school relocates to the area. The Visible School, currently in Lakeland, has about 100 students and 27 staff members. South Main residents and business owners were told of the school’s relocation […]
Posted inBook Features, Books
Augusten Again
Magical Thinking By Augusten Burroughs St. Martin’s Press, 268 pp., $23.95 By the age of 7, Augusten Burroughs was already earmarked for success but headed for disaster. He’d been specially picked from Mrs. Ames’ penmanship class for a Tang Instant Breakfast Drink commercial, but he froze in front of the camera, too tongue-tied to utter […]
Posted inFilm Features, Film/TV
Down and Dirty
The innocent perversion of A Dirty Shame and the dark sadness of Mean Creek.
Posted inCover Feature, News
2004 Winners
GOODS & SERVICES • FOOD & DRINK NIGHTLIFE • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT • MEDIA GOODS & SERVICES top Best Grocery Store 1. Kroger 2. Schnucks 3. Fresh Market Best Liquor Store 1. Buster’s Liquors & Wine 2. Joe’s Wines & Liquor 3. Kimbrough Tower Fine Wine & Spirits Best Department Store 1. Goldsmith’s-Macy’s — Best […]