Mike McCarthy, a filmmaker, artist, and musician, currently is working on a 10-foot-tall statue of David Bowie. McCarthy’s life-size bronze statue of Johnny Cash now stands in Cooper-Young. “Next to the church (the old Galloway United Methodist Church — now “Galloway House”) where Cash performed in 1954,” McCarthy says.
So, it’s no surprise McCarthy would throw a birthday party for Bowie. And, though he hasn’t yet done a statue of Elvis, McCarthy combines the party with the King, who shares his January 8th birthday with Bowie.
About 50 people gathered for McCarthy’s semi-annual “The Elvis-Bowie Birthday Party” January 6th at his Midtown home.
McCarthy, who began throwing the parties in 2017, hasn’t held one since 2019.
“My Elvis obsession has aways been my pop culture interest in my films, comic books, and music,” McCarthy says. “It’s always fueled them.”
When his “Bowie obsession grew,” McCarthy discovered Bowie loved Memphis and Elvis. “There were many similarities, including they shared the same birthday. But then, when my Bowie obsession grew and I found out that Bowie had a love for Memphis and Elvis and there were many similarities, it sort of blossomed into a party.
“For me, the true start of the New Year or my New Year’s Day is January 8th. Their birthday. That’s when I begin my year.”
Part of the attraction of the party is getting to tour McCarthy’s home, including his “Bowie-Elvis living room,” which features “photographs, rarities, and images of Bowie and Elvis that adorn my living room throughout the year.”
The living room includes a velvet Elvis painting and “rare photos from the Bowie fan club circa 1973.”
McCarthy features live music at the party, but he doesn’t “try to be literal or obvious with the music.”
“You won’t hear an Elvis or Bowie cover band at this party. You’ll hear other types of local living room punk rock music.”
Yesterday’s Trash, featuring Frank Bruno on guitar, Aaron Brame on accordion, and Hans Faulhaber on drums, performed at this year’s party. “A Replacements cover band. Which has a Memphis connection because they recorded here with (Jim) Dickinson and Bob Mehr wrote a book (Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements) on them.”
As for who he invites to the party, McCarthy says, “Generally, it’s almost sort of like an ‘office of the mind’ party because I don’t have a physical work space. I am self-employed. I do various art gigs. I’ve done them through the last year. So, anybody I worked with or had collaborations with or somebody I’ve communicated with or old friends, of course, were those I invited to the party. All connections and friends I made in the course of 2023.”
One of those projects was McCarthy’s Teenage Tupelo coffee table book, which was released last October. “It weighs six pounds — 360 pages.”
The book is based on McCarthy’s 1995 film of the same name. “It’s essentially a portrait of the Memphis film and punk scene circa 1995.”
McCarthy also released a Teenage Tupelo Blu-ray disc.
Another high point of his year was the release of Super Thrift, a film made by his son, John Marvel McCarthy. Mike had a bit part in the movie.
“And my daughter is back home from Korea. Hanna McCarthy. And she is living with me.”
In addition to working on the Bowie statue, Mike’s plans for the future include continuing to grow his company, Sculpt Memphis. “I’ve created small sculptures to pitch to clients and non-profits so we can have larger than life seven-foot-tall bronze sculptures of Memphis music legends, including Bowie and others because of Memphis influence to the music scene in the 20th century.”
McCarthy is collaborating with Geordan Lugar on the Bowie statue.
“I’ve created a new Shopify page called ‘Super Tupelo,’ where the Blu-ray and my art can be purchased.”
And, Mike adds, “I’m about to start up a new Rod Stewart cover band.”
John Marvel McCarthy, who invited friends as well as cast members from his movie to the party, says he currently is working on his next film. “We’ve been pretty much working on concepts, as of now, and scheduling,” John says.
Asked for hints about his next movie, John says, “We definitely want to explore different stories in the future, but now we want to do a Super Thrift 2 just out of popular demand.”
Also, John says, “I’ve started collaborating with some musicians and some rappers around Memphis to do behind-the-scenes things for them and make music videos for them in the future.”
As for what they served at The Elvis-Bowie Birthday Party, Mike says, “My girlfriend Anneliese Jones prepared all the food.”
Jones says her fare included “a meat-and-cheese platter with olives, spinach-artichoke dip, broccoli-cheese cornbread, spicy Chex snack mix, dark chocolate fondue with strawberries, and gluten-free animal crackers to dip.”
And, Mike says, “We always have a drink that’s served at my bar. And this time we went real heavy on the concept. One of Bowie’s personas was the ‘Thin White Duke.’ We combined ‘Thin White Duke’ with a ‘White Russian’ and had ‘Thin White Russians’ — vodka, Kahlua, and half and half.”
“Shaken with edible glitter for that added touch of glam,” Jones says.
