Spongebaby

From birth to age three, your baby’s brain is like a sponge, soaking up every experience of every second to develop and shape their understanding and early perceptions of the people, places and things around them. Who or what contributes to this early growth stage is a decision that all parents will have to make… Read more.

“Jimmy Ogle’s 5 Biggest Surprises in Memphis History ”

1. The three co-founders (John Overton, Andrew Jackson and James Winchester) never lived in Memphis.  The founding of Memphis on this strategic bluff in 1819 was purely a real estate venture from three powerful men from the Nashville area.  There were 362 lots laid out over 1,390.5 acres of land (with the street system still intact) and they were selling lots like current day folks sell timeshares in Florida.
2. Four Mayors in One Day on February 22, 1916.  The State has ousted Mayor Crump in 1915 (in our own Courthouse, no less) due to his lack of enforcing the state prohibition law.  Of course, the case was contested and Crump eventually won it and the next election.  During that time (Summer, 1915 to February, 1916) William Tyler McLain served as Interim Mayor.  The morning of February 22, 1916 began with William Tyler McLain as Interim Mayor, Ed Crump was sworn in (and resigned), Vice-Mayor R.A. Utley was sworn (and resigned) and the City Commission then had to vote for a replacement Mayor, who was Thomas Ashcroft.  Quite a day!  So, forget about three Mayors in two years (2009-10) or even four Mayors in one year (1982), the wacky political mojo for Memphis politics was set in 1916. 
3. Andrew Jackson Bust & Pedestal.  Located in the south hallway of the Shelby County Courthouse, this marble bust and pedestal was originally cast in 1835 in the White House– arguable the oldest known bust of a sitting President in the United States today. And it is located in a public hallway (not in a museum, or behind glass or even with theatre ropes and stanchions to protect it!).  Completed in 1851, placed in Court Square in 1859, defaced in 1862 and removed until being put back on public display in 1921 in the south hallway (91 years ago).  [There will a 245^th birthday anniversary for Andrew Jackson this March 15^th at the Courthouse, sponsored by the Piomingo Chapter of the United Daughters of 1812, and a subsequent event in the Autumn recognizing the veterans of the War of 1812 interred in Shelby County cemeteries, and our county’s namesake– Isaac Shelby, a general in the War of 1812 and negotiator (with Andrew Jackson) for all the lands of West Tennessee in 1818. 
4. More Jackson – 4-Cent Postage Stamp.  The nation’s first 4-cent postage stamp was designed by a Postmaster from Memphis (and former resident during the Civil War, which there is another story about that), by the name of Josiah Deloach (yes, that Deloach Street out by The University Of Memphis).  President U.S. Grant appointed Deloach as Postmaster.  The stamp is fashioned in the image of Andrew Jackson, based on the bust (mentioned above) that is now located in the Shelby County Courthouse (see attached). 
5. The MGM Lion:  When you see the MGM logo appear before every movie, think Memphis– dating back to 1937.  That is a resident tiger named Volney from the Memphis Zoo roaring across the front of the logo.

Historian and raconteur Jimmy Ogle is a familiar sight in downtown Memphis as his popular tours and historical talks about everything from Memphis history through its manhole covers to the Courthouse attract residents and visitors alike.   

Jimmy starts Tuesday Tours on April 10 and this year in April and May, on weekends, he is adding a Riverfront Park Series (covering all city-owned parks managed by RDC) and a walk across the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (sidewalk, the only legal bridge for pedestrians in Memphis across the Mississippi River) and a primer the parks of the south bluff and to the future introduction of the Harahan Greenline. 

To view a schedule of his tours and talks, click here.

In her two years in Memphis, she has lived up to her advance billing as “one of the most highly praised conducting talents of her generation,” according to the description of one reviewer.

When Ms. Chen selected Memphis from a number of opportunities, most of her knowledge  came from a University of Michigan class, “American Pop Music History,” and in her reliance on FedEx.  “I really thank FedEx for playing an important role in my career,” she said.  “When I applied for an important opportunity, I only trusted FedEx and I always saw Memphis when I tracked what I was sending.”

“It is destiny,” she said.  “There is a purpose for my gift.  I came to Memphis to make a difference.  I wanted to take what I learned and go to a smaller city and give back in the same way that people gave me opportunities along the way.”

Ms. Chen has injected new energy, enthusiasm, and joyfulness into the orchestra, reflecting qualities that she brings to her 12-hour work day.  In her first concert, she surprised the audience with a marching band and the next one featured 50 children from the Campus School singing “Simple Gifts,” the Shaker song made famous in Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring.

It’s the sort of jubilant musical embrace that she brings to every concert, not to mention to her life as a Memphian.  Her job didn’t require her to move to Memphis, but she did.  “To be an effective music director, I have to be committed,” Ms. Chen said. “I really wanted to know the city.”  In addition to serving as the Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s fourth music director, she will also serve as the Chicago Sinfonietta’s music director, beginning in its 2011-12 season.

Prior to accepting the job in Memphis, she was assistant conductor of the Baltimore Symphony, assistant conductor at the Atlanta Symphony from 2007-9, and prior to that, she was the widely celebrated leader of Portland Youth Symphony for five years.  Despite the recognition, she not only breaks the glass ceiling as one of the small number of women conductors but as one of the handful of conductors from a youth symphony background.

“As I pushed for them (youth symphony) to find their voice, they pushed me to find my calling,” Maestro Chen said.  “I could stay comfortable there or I could walk through the door where women are a minority.”  In addition, her musicality is rare in Asian culture where technical proficiency overrides personal interpretation and passion, she said.

“I never knew how proud I would be to be call myself an American musician,” she said.  She also is in a line of great Memphis musicians, and because of her distinctiveness, her innovation, and her ability to see things in new ways, she is the perfect model for Memphis leadership.

Friday, February 3 and Saturday, February 4, St. Blues is hosting an Open Jam at their workshop and showroom, 645 Marshall Avenue, just down the street from Sun Studio. General Manager Teri Cox says they hope anyone with interest in guitars, Memphis music and the region’s culture come out and share in the experience.

“I just hope visitors come out and hear our story, and then we’ll let them loose in the Workshop,” she says. “Word of mouth is better than a sales pitch to me. I just like introducing artists from all over the world to our instruments.”

Greg Mitchell, luthier and lead tech, says a slew of guitars will be laid out and ready for playing. “All the cool St. Blues guitars are out, all the different models,” he says. “We’ve got five guitar amps and effects rigs set up, a couple bass amps and an actual 1983 St. Blues bass, which is really part of our historic collection. That one is a pretty rare instrument.”

During the Open Jam, Mitchell and the other artisans will be assembling instruments at the Workshop’s Whammy Bar, a sort of open-air gathering spot allowing the public to watch the final stages of assembly and talk shop with the builders and other guitar enthusiasts.

St. Blues will be giving away T-Shirts every hour, and attendees can enter to win one of two Cigar Box Guitars, quirky but fully playable instruments crafted at the Workshop. These guitars are the modern cousins of a Delta tradition borne out of necessity; a cigar box acting as a resonator body, with a neck and strings attached. The St. Blues versions are fully wired for amplification, and tuned to an open chord and played with a slide, they produce an ancient, bluesy sound.

The Open House runs 10:00 to 6:00 on Friday and 11:00 to 5:00 on Saturday. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the St. Blues Guitar Workshop at 901-578-3588. 645 Marshall Avenue, Memphis, TN 38103.

Memphis Connect sat down with Anthony Gilbert, part of the third generation of musical Gilberts making a mark on our city’s musical culture.

MC: Did you always know you’d follow the family plan and become a Memphis musician?

AG: I grew up in Memphis playing music with my family, gigging, playing in my grandfather’s orchestra which became my father’s orchestra. But I didn’t intend to do music at all. I went to college to play basketball, actually. When I got to Oberlin (Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH – M.C.) and realized that the team wasn’t as good as my team at White Station had been, the music faculty started to win out. I lasted four weeks on the team.

MC: After college, did you rush back to play music in Memphis?

AG: No, I went to Chicago, where my brother Daniel played in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. I moved there and started playing music every day. I was playing in orchestra settings and worked as an usher for the Chicago Symphony, taking daily lessons.

Sort of by a fluke, I fell in with a rock n roll roommate, a guy who also played fiddle, and it opened up the musical underground for me. I started playing more improvised music, old-time fiddling, bluegrass. His aesthetic was more folkloric; punk music. The real essence of authenticity of expression, cutting out the crap. Dark, American creativity.

MC: How frequently did you come back to play in Memphis?

AG: I came back all the time, but not much of my time was spent playing music. Then, in the early 2000s, I came down to work with the Mitchells at Royal Studios on two Al Green projects (I Can’t Stop- 2003, Everything’s OK- 2005 –M.C.) The Gilbert/Mitchell bond was deep. It was a business relationship, too. When Willie called my grandfather, back in the day, it meant income, and that was part of it. But there was a great deal of mutual respect. They were both working musicians and bandleaders. They filled similar roles in different circles.

Mitchell wanted to capture an old school feel on the two comeback Al Green albums, wanted to get as many of the original guys as possible. My grandfather had died, but my aunt Joan had done session work back in the day, so Willie contacted her, and she brought my brother and me in on the project. Being in the studio at Royal was life changing.

The tracks were just piped into the studio; the rhythm, the vocals, the horns, everything but the string parts. It was 90% of the finished product and we were all hearing the final product as we played it. The Mitchells were as excited as we were, like kids at a candy store.

MC: What was it that finally lured you back to Memphis permanently?

AG: I came back to Memphis to have a brief respite after an extended time in Europe. While I was here, we started holding informal concerts at spaces around town, my brother Daniel, my uncle Michael and me. Totally informal at first, but the more we did and the more the audience grew, the idea crystalized that we organize this and make it something official. We founded Eroica Ensemble in 2009 and have been giving five to seven pairs of free concerts a year. It’s a non-profit funded solely by donations.

Memphis has more going on than I thought in my younger years. When we started organizing Eroica as a non-profit, I became aware of the many organizations in town devoted to the arts. It was overwhelming how much art and culture was happening in the city. Looking at calendars planning our season, I started realizing how much happens here. Traveling shows, ballet, opera, rock n roll, theatre. I’d sit at Otherlands and read the Commercial Appeal, the Flyer, the Daily News and I started to see how much was happening, so many different passionate people and their projects, all over the city.

I started going out to catch shows at the Hi-Tone, the Buccaneer, the Cove, dancing at Wild Bill’s and Memphis Sounds Lounge, sitting in with bands like Big Barton, recording with local bands. I’m freaking out on how fun it is to play country music. I guess I knew it was in my blood, but previously it wasn’t allowed to come out.

Eroica Ensemble holds their next free concerts February 4 at First Congregational Church, at 7:30 PM and February 5 at Germantown Performing Arts Center, at 2:30PM. Marc Desmons, principal violinist of the Paris Opera Orchestra, will join the ensemble, performing a piece by Bela Bartok and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2. Five Gilberts, including Anthony, will be performing, with a sixth conducting.

For some samples of the Gilberts in action, check out some of the following videos:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Big Star tune “Stroke It Noel”

Click here to view the embedded video.

William Bell’s “I Forgot to be Your Lover”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Al Green’s “You”

Memphis Connect is a strong supporter of The Urban Child Institute (TUCI), our local think tank on early childhood development and the importance of optimal brain development on the futures of our children. Bill Day is The Urban Child Institute’s award-winning artist. Memphis Connect hopes to help spread Bill’s powerful visual messages with the weekly feature: “Illustrations of Early Childhood.”

Tooth Fairy

Programs such as the Regional Intervention Program for parents dealing with children with mild to severe behavioral problems and home visitation programs offer parents free help in preventing the spread of child violence and maltreatment. Together, we can help decrease the spread of violence in our community through fostering the positive development of our youngest residents, creating a better and safer society for all children and families in Memphis… Read more.

“Erik Jambor’s 5 Indie Films Every Memphian Should Watch ”

Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch, 1989)

The Poor & The Hungry (Craig Brewer, 2000)

Forty Shades of Blue (Ira Sachs, 2005)

Team Picture/Open Five (Kentucker Audley, 2007/2010)

Undefeated (Dan Lindsay & TJ Martin, 2011)
Currently up for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature

Erik Jambor is executive director of Indie Memphis.

In about four years, Hattiloo Theatre, the black repertory theater at 656 Marshall moved from his idea for a venue that deepened multi-cultural understanding to a sold-out hub of creativity within walking distance of Sun Studio. It’s a dream that’s about to enter a new phase with plans for Hattiloo Theatre to move to the revitalized Overton Square as part of what developer Loeb Properties calls Memphis’ “theater arts district.”

“I wanted to create a black venue that all Memphians can own,” Bandele said.  “But we also want to give black Memphians pride that emboldens them to get the theater bug and to use Hattiloo as a passport to explore all of the Memphis I love and to expand the cultural boundaries of children.  I want the black community, especially entrepreneurs, to get more active so our kids don’t have to go to Atlanta to succeed.”

It is a lesson he has emphatically proven.  Plays at Hattiloo Theatre sell out six weeks in advance, donors have tripled each year, and his gospel about the arts as the vehicle for expression and curiosity for at-risk young people finds expression in the expanding social outreach of the theater.

Looking back, it seems that all roads were leading to Hattiloo Theatre, but if that was the case, it was a winding road with a few detours into entrepreneurism.  But even then, such as when he owned a vintage clothing store, he set up an in-the-round performance space called the Curtain Theater.  Later, he organized Speakeasy, a rotating group of poets, musicians, comedians, and actors that performed weekly at the Jack Robinson Gallery in South Main Historic District.

The result was some of the most captivating evenings in the local arts scene, with a black jazz singer performing with an opera singer or a black poet paired with Harlan T. Bobo.  “It was some of the most diverse audiences in Memphis,” he recalled.  “There were affluent people sitting next to gangsters.  From the moment we opened the door, we couldn’t get in.”

Somewhere along the way, someone asked him, “’Why don’t you open a black theater?’  I said no.  I had a lot going on.  Someone asked, ‘What would you call it?’  I was just daydreaming.  I said Hattiloo for my daughters (names).”

Bandele has written eight plays and he brings his playwright’s eye to his new hometown.  “What I’m learning in Memphis is the dynamics of race and the desire for the black community to be more involved culturally, politically, and business wise.  The black community here is different than any black community I’d experienced.  While Memphis has a microcosm of mistrust, one on one it doesn’t exist.  The heart of Memphis is so big and it’s open.  What I’m finding is that no one has taken the time to find the connection and the common bonds, like what do two Memphians meeting in Brooklyn talk about?  That’s what I want us all to discover.“

If his goal for his art can be summed up in sentence, it is in its ability to help people define themselves.
“I can empathize with anybody,” he said.  “I can understand both sides.  I don’t believe that you can be divisive in Memphis and be a leader.  Another thing is that you have to have a clear vision.  When I was in college, I knew that I was a writer.  I knew my path.  My vision is that I can go to Klondike and they will say that they can be a theater executive director, a business owner, an accountant, a CFO.  When we expand the cultural boundaries of a child, we know they can be whatever they want to be.”

When asked what advice he can give young leaders as a result of his Memphis experiences, he said: “Learn from the past. Learn from those who lived it, shaped it, or survived it. Seek out those who have done aspects of what you want to accomplish, and sit down and listen to their story and ask for their advice. And then act with innovation and courage. Failure is but an opportunity to learn how not to do something.”

These are lessons his work teaches every day at Hattiloo Theatre.

Cameron Mann, director of Memphis Music Resource Center, said: “It’s important that a new generation of Memphians take seriously our civic responsibility to make this city what we want it to be and keep it on the path of progress.  GiVE 365 is an innovative approach to choosing how and where charitable gifts are used in the nonprofit community.  I feel more personally involved and empowered in making my city a better place.”

Paige and Scott Walkup, respectively managing director of Caissa Public Strategy and community development manager for Shelby County Government, said: “When you are immersed in the nonprofit community day in and day out, you see how great the need is for different types of services.  We realized very quickly how many groups were struggling to leverage limited resources to start or even maintain existing programs.  We saw GiVE 365 as a way to increase the resources in our community and make a difference in someone’s life.”

Grace and Rob Thompson said: “Although the Community Foundation is a very established organization, the grant selection process seemed like a very grassroots, peer-led process.  We wanted to be part of because of how it strives to engage people in giving and investing in the future of Memphis.”

Patti Smith, vice-president of communications for the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, explained: “We started with the idea of getting young people involved, but we have gotten members of GiVE 365 that are in their nineties.  It’s appealed to a lot of people. There were 100 members last year and this year’s goal is 200.  We’re now at 165 people.”

The annual donation in GiVe 365 is $365.   The Community Foundation matches each new donation up to $20,000, and a number of companies and organizations, including Hyde Family Foundations, are matching employees’ contributions.  A Lifetime membership in GiVE is $3,650.  Half of the money goes directly out in community grants and half is contributed to the endowment fund.

The program is not only about broadening the reach of the Community Foundation and creating a new cadre of givers, it’s also about getting people involved.   Relying on Facebook and social media, the program is anchored in peer-to-peer recommendations and in its members being directly engaged in setting a theme for the year’s grants.

As part of the process, members review proposals from nonprofits, visit nonprofit organizations, compare notes with other members, and vote on who’ll receive grants.  Last year’s theme was Fostering Community, and dozens of proposals were submitted.  Members advocate for their favorites, and the list is narrowed to 15 potential grants.

From there, the final selections are made.  Last year’s grants went to Indie Memphis, Splinter Youth Inc. for portable skateboard ramps; Overton Park’s Levitt Shell; Dress for Success; New Ballet Ensemble and School; Hattiloo Theatre; Center for Southern Folklore, and Su Casa Family Ministries.

In the end, the best return on investment is that more people are more directly informed about some crucial local agencies, more directly involved in their community, and beginning what a lifetime of giving.

Originally posted on the Hyde Foundation website.