Recently, via the Marshall Memorial Fellowship, I was charged with showing Memphis to emerging leaders from Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Kosovo, and Portugal over a four day, four nght span. Naturally we hit Graceland, Beale Street, the National Civil Rights Museum, and we were even able to get in for the amazing hub tour at [...]
News headlines could lead you to believe that Memphis is just a matter of black and white, the outmoded lens through which some people view issues. In fact, because Memphis IS a City of Choice which attracts immigrants from all corners of the world, our city has a greater depth of diversity than many citizens [...]
What better way to sum up the diversity which makes America great – melting pot or salad bowl as you prefer – than to realize that each year 1 million people form 150 countries choose to become Americans and go through the naturalization process. We are talking legal immigrants, the kind of who came [...]
If you’re a jazz fan, you may already know about this…but then again you may not. Jazz Week is five nights of great music from students, faculty, and visiting artists. And four out of the five night are free: the final night with saxophonist Rahsaan Barber and El Movimiento is only $10. The jazz [...]
On March 3, 2011, Ed Glaeser will be the keynote speaker at the 7th annual Leadership Memphis Community Leadership Luncheon. He’ll be talking about the themes in his new book, Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier. In this book Glaeser travels through history and around [...]
You are excited about the potential of our city and you feel the urge to give back, help out, be a part of progress…BUT you aren’t exactly sure where to turn. There are a ton of great causes in our city, some well known, some less well known. One way to find out about a [...]
You can if you catch the Sons of Moriah, a blues band from Israel competing in the Blues Foundation’s 27th annual International Blues Challenge. Bands from Croatia, Norway, Australia, France, Canada, and every corner of the USA are all playing 30 minutes sets in a dozen clubs along Beale Street for three nights of preliminary [...]
I know, I know you hear “Shakespeare” and “opera” and you begin to have feeling of dread. Well put that out of your mind. What Michael Ching has composed is absolutely brilliant, musically pleasing for any number of taste (was that a snippet from Sound of Music, you heard? yep!), lends itself to engaging acting, [...]
While the weather was rainy , the Beale Street revelers were undeterred and big crowds enjoyed the clubs, the RockSugar show in Handy Park, and the Guitar drop beside the Hard Rock. Not only Mid-Southerners enjoyed the spectacle, but dozens of Public Broadcasting System television stations across Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, parts of Kentucky, and as [...]
The current issue of the Cotton Museum newsletter describes archival materials concerning the Maid of Cotton pageant (1939-93) which have been donated to the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian. In an entrepreneurial city which produced the first self-service grocery story, the rotary lift, the modern motel, and overnight air express, it is no [...]
