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10/27/11

Memphis the Musical Breaks Records

Nearly 27,000 patrons saw the award-winning Broadway show Memphis during its 13-show run in October at The Orpheum Theatre. President and CEO Pat Halloran called it "a significant event" and added, "It's not every day that a Tony Award winner, bearing the name of your city, launches an international tour from your city." The production, which won a 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical,was very loosely based on the life of Memphis deejay Dewey Phillips and set on Beale Street in the 1950s. Halloran says that when performer Bryan Fenkart sang "Memphis Lives in Me," he received a four-minute ovation from the audience. The song was written by David Bryan, the Grammy-winning keyboard player and founding member of Bon Jovi. Playwright was Joe...

Posted at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

10/26/11

Candlelight Gathering at Memphis Animal Services

Two years ago this week, the Shelby County Sheriff's Department and the ASPCA raided Memphis Animal Services, better known — ironically — as the Shelter. In addition to filth and overcrowding, investigators found ailing and injured animals, and three dogs near death from starvation. On Thursday, October 27th, at 7 p.m., a candlelight gathering, at the new MAS building at 2350 Appling, will commemorate this tragic event, It's sponsored by SOSMEMPHIS.COM (Save Our Shelter). Although the raid resulted in 16 counts of felony animal cruelty against the shelter administrator, Ernest Alexander, as well as the veterinarian and kennel supervisor, no case has appeared in court. That's right: Two years later, thanks to one continuance after another,...

Posted at 09:53 AM | Permalink | Comments

10/19/11

Don't Miss "Dyersburg" Book-Signing Thursday at The Booksellers of Laurelwood

Memphians who leave their comfort zone whenever they drive outside the Parkways have probably never thought about the life and times of Dyersburg, the town of some 17,000 in the northwest corner of Tennessee. But that’s a shame, because a 70-mile drive out Highway 51 would take them to a thriving community with a compelling history — home to one of America’s largest training facilities for B-17 bombers and one of this country’s largest cotton mills, among other accomplishments on a national and regional scale. Historian Bonnie Daws Kourvelas has captured the life and times of what has been called “the classic Southern town” in her book Dyersburg, the latest offering from Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series....

Posted at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1

10/06/11

STOP Whatever You Are Doing, and VOTE in the Memphis Magazine Restaurant Poll

Okay, you've finally discovered who serves the most mouth-watering dessert in the city. It was so incredibly good, in fact, that you're thinking of going back tomorrow for more. And more. Or maybe you've finally found that perfect spot for breakfast, with omelets to die for. Or you've decided that brand-new eatery in — oh, it could be anywhere — is absolutely the best place in town. Well, don't keep all these opinions to yourself. Eleven months of the year, we tell you about the people, places, events, and issues of Memphis. Now it's your turn to tell us a few things — more than 30 things actually — in our annual Readers Restaurant Poll. We want you to tell us the best places in town to eat, drink, and be merry. And by doing so,...

Posted at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments: 2

10/05/11

Habitat Bags Grant for $20K

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis has won a $20,000 "Coming Back Home" grant from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency and Habitat for Humanity of Tennessee. The grant will be used to pay for new construction in Trinity Park, a local development with 38 eco-friendly homes. Under the Coming Back Home program, 45 homes will be built statewide in the next two years, serving an estimated 165 people. Each of the participating families is required to meet an interest-free mortgage payment each month. That money then goes toward helping other potential Habitat clients. To learn more about Habitat, visit www.memphishabitat.com.

Posted at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments

10/03/11

2011 Fiction Contest Winners Announced

Courtney Miller Santo has been named the grand-prize winner of the 2011 Memphis Magazine Fiction Contest for her story "Wind Gap." It will be published in the magazine's June 2012 Culture Issue. Santo, who lives in Midtown with her husband, two children, and a dog, has an MFA in creative writing and teaches at the University of Memphis. Her first novel, Roots of the Olive Tree, will be published in 2012 by William Morrow. Most recently she was a semifinalist for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and placed third in Sunstone's 2010 Brookie and D.K. Brown Fiction Contest. Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in The Los Angeles Review and Segullah. Though she grew up in Oregon, Santo has lived most of her adult life in the South and says that instead of...

Posted at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments: 3

09/28/11

Humane Society Fundraiser Coming up on Saturday

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a consummate animal person, so I'm writing this blog posting to help drum up attendance for Saturday's Paw Prints 2011 fundraiser to benefit the Humane Society. The event will take place at the Memphis Botanic Garden on Cherry Road, and will feature live performances by opera singer Kallen Esperian, vocalist Susan Marshall, and classical guitarist Lily Afshar. It's from 7-11 p.m. and is the largest fundraiser the Humane Society holds each year. Tickets are $100 per person and $150 per couple in advance, or $100 per person and $200 per couple at the door. Visit www.memphishumane.org for more information. And please support the fuzzy creatures!

Posted at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

09/27/11

Mark Your Calendars: Bookstock Is This Weekend at the Main Library

In 1969, more than 100,000 people converged on a dairy farm in upstate New York for "three days of peace and music" that came to be known as Woodstock. This weekend in Memphis, more than 100,000 people — okay, that number may be a bit high — will converge on the Benjamin Hooks Central Library for Bookstock, a one-day event that will let guests meet their favorite local authors, purchase books, and attend seminars on book publishing. And yes, our very own Vance Lauderdale will be making a rare public appearance, signing books and talking with fans of his "Ask Vance" books, magazine column, and blog. Here's how the library is describing the event: This one-day event is sure to be music to the ears of book-lovers across the...

Posted at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

09/16/11

Frayser Fights Back Against Latest Murder

What does it sound like when a heart breaks? Is it the tearing of an organ's fibers or the anguish of a mind in the face of loss? For Mae Smith, whose 32-year-0ld son was shot dead Tuesday in Frayser, it's neither. Resignation is all she has now besides friends, family, and unsettled neighbors. "I'm angry, but it's not a hostile anger," Smith said today at a community rally. "I just want the judge to know not to send [the killer] out onto the streets. I don't want another mother to feel this way." Her son, Antoine Farris, himself the father of nine children, was working as a barber at Black's Exclusive Cuts & Design on Frayser Boulevard when someone started chasing him Tuesday. He ran around the block and later was...

Posted at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

09/15/11

The Memphis Airshow Is This Weekend at the Millington Regional Jetport

With today’s sophisticated video games, and just about every movie these days offering special effects or even 3-D viewing, it’s easy for people to become jaded with their entertainment options — whether they take place indoors or out.But let me tell you from personal experience, that you haven't seen (or heard) anything yet — and certainly nothing like it on a computer screen — until you have experienced a heart-stopping flyover by the famous Blue Angels aerial stunt team. These are not CGI special effects, folks; that’s the real thing, as fighter planes blast through the skies at speeds that can break the sound barrier, grouped into incredibly tight, complicated formations. And Memphis readers will get a rare chance to see these...

Posted at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments: 3

	10/27/11 Memphis the Musical Breaks Records Nearly 27,000 patrons saw the award-winning Broadway show Memphis during its 13-show run in October at The Orpheum Theatre. President and CEO Pat Halloran called it "a significant event" and added, "It's not every day that a Tony Award winner, bearing the name of your city, launches an international tour from your city." The production, which won a 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical,was very loosely based on the life of Memphis deejay Dewey Phillips and set on Beale Street in the 1950s. Halloran says that when performer Bryan Fenkart sang "Memphis Lives in Me," he received a four-minute ovation from the audience. The song was written by David Bryan, the Grammy-winning keyboard player and founding member of Bon Jovi. Playwright was Joe... Posted at 11:23 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	10/26/11 Candlelight Gathering at Memphis Animal Services Two years ago this week, the Shelby County Sheriff's Department and the ASPCA raided Memphis Animal Services, better known — ironically — as the Shelter. In addition to filth and overcrowding, investigators found ailing and injured animals, and three dogs near death from starvation. On Thursday, October 27th, at 7 p.m., a candlelight gathering, at the new MAS building at 2350 Appling, will commemorate this tragic event, It's sponsored by SOSMEMPHIS.COM (Save Our Shelter). Although the raid resulted in 16 counts of felony animal cruelty against the shelter administrator, Ernest Alexander, as well as the veterinarian and kennel supervisor, no case has appeared in court. That's right: Two years later, thanks to one continuance after another,... Posted at 09:53 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	10/19/11 Don't Miss "Dyersburg" Book-Signing Thursday at The Booksellers of Laurelwood Memphians who leave their comfort zone whenever they drive outside the Parkways have probably never thought about the life and times of Dyersburg, the town of some 17,000 in the northwest corner of Tennessee. But that’s a shame, because a 70-mile drive out Highway 51 would take them to a thriving community with a compelling history — home to one of America’s largest training facilities for B-17 bombers and one of this country’s largest cotton mills, among other accomplishments on a national and regional scale. Historian Bonnie Daws Kourvelas has captured the life and times of what has been called “the classic Southern town” in her book Dyersburg, the latest offering from Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series.... Posted at 10:54 AM \| Permalink \| Comments: 1
	10/06/11 STOP Whatever You Are Doing, and VOTE in the Memphis Magazine Restaurant Poll Okay, you've finally discovered who serves the most mouth-watering dessert in the city. It was so incredibly good, in fact, that you're thinking of going back tomorrow for more. And more. Or maybe you've finally found that perfect spot for breakfast, with omelets to die for. Or you've decided that brand-new eatery in — oh, it could be anywhere — is absolutely the best place in town. Well, don't keep all these opinions to yourself. Eleven months of the year, we tell you about the people, places, events, and issues of Memphis. Now it's your turn to tell us a few things — more than 30 things actually — in our annual Readers Restaurant Poll. We want you to tell us the best places in town to eat, drink, and be merry. And by doing so,... Posted at 07:42 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 2
	10/05/11 Habitat Bags Grant for $20K Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis has won a $20,000 "Coming Back Home" grant from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency and Habitat for Humanity of Tennessee. The grant will be used to pay for new construction in Trinity Park, a local development with 38 eco-friendly homes. Under the Coming Back Home program, 45 homes will be built statewide in the next two years, serving an estimated 165 people. Each of the participating families is required to meet an interest-free mortgage payment each month. That money then goes toward helping other potential Habitat clients. To learn more about Habitat, visit www.memphishabitat.com. Posted at 03:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	10/03/11 2011 Fiction Contest Winners Announced Courtney Miller Santo has been named the grand-prize winner of the 2011 Memphis Magazine Fiction Contest for her story "Wind Gap." It will be published in the magazine's June 2012 Culture Issue. Santo, who lives in Midtown with her husband, two children, and a dog, has an MFA in creative writing and teaches at the University of Memphis. Her first novel, Roots of the Olive Tree, will be published in 2012 by William Morrow. Most recently she was a semifinalist for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and placed third in Sunstone's 2010 Brookie and D.K. Brown Fiction Contest. Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in The Los Angeles Review and Segullah. Though she grew up in Oregon, Santo has lived most of her adult life in the South and says that instead of... Posted at 03:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 3
	09/28/11 Humane Society Fundraiser Coming up on Saturday Anyone who knows me knows I'm a consummate animal person, so I'm writing this blog posting to help drum up attendance for Saturday's Paw Prints 2011 fundraiser to benefit the Humane Society. The event will take place at the Memphis Botanic Garden on Cherry Road, and will feature live performances by opera singer Kallen Esperian, vocalist Susan Marshall, and classical guitarist Lily Afshar. It's from 7-11 p.m. and is the largest fundraiser the Humane Society holds each year. Tickets are $100 per person and $150 per couple in advance, or $100 per person and $200 per couple at the door. Visit www.memphishumane.org for more information. And please support the fuzzy creatures! Posted at 03:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	09/27/11 Mark Your Calendars: Bookstock Is This Weekend at the Main Library In 1969, more than 100,000 people converged on a dairy farm in upstate New York for "three days of peace and music" that came to be known as Woodstock. This weekend in Memphis, more than 100,000 people — okay, that number may be a bit high — will converge on the Benjamin Hooks Central Library for Bookstock, a one-day event that will let guests meet their favorite local authors, purchase books, and attend seminars on book publishing. And yes, our very own Vance Lauderdale will be making a rare public appearance, signing books and talking with fans of his "Ask Vance" books, magazine column, and blog. Here's how the library is describing the event: This one-day event is sure to be music to the ears of book-lovers across the... Posted at 10:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	09/16/11 Frayser Fights Back Against Latest Murder What does it sound like when a heart breaks? Is it the tearing of an organ's fibers or the anguish of a mind in the face of loss? For Mae Smith, whose 32-year-0ld son was shot dead Tuesday in Frayser, it's neither. Resignation is all she has now besides friends, family, and unsettled neighbors. "I'm angry, but it's not a hostile anger," Smith said today at a community rally. "I just want the judge to know not to send [the killer] out onto the streets. I don't want another mother to feel this way." Her son, Antoine Farris, himself the father of nine children, was working as a barber at Black's Exclusive Cuts & Design on Frayser Boulevard when someone started chasing him Tuesday. He ran around the block and later was... Posted at 04:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	09/15/11 The Memphis Airshow Is This Weekend at the Millington Regional Jetport With today’s sophisticated video games, and just about every movie these days offering special effects or even 3-D viewing, it’s easy for people to become jaded with their entertainment options — whether they take place indoors or out.But let me tell you from personal experience, that you haven't seen (or heard) anything yet — and certainly nothing like it on a computer screen — until you have experienced a heart-stopping flyover by the famous Blue Angels aerial stunt team. These are not CGI special effects, folks; that’s the real thing, as fighter planes blast through the skies at speeds that can break the sound barrier, grouped into incredibly tight, complicated formations. And Memphis readers will get a rare chance to see these... Posted at 02:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 3