Trophies were awarded to teams from around the globe, like the Shed BBQ & Blues Joint, from Mobile, Alabama, who took home first place in both poultry and whole hog, and the Danish National Barbecue Team, who bagged a second place trophy in the ‘exotic’ category.

These and other new winners took home massive metal trophies to memorialize their big wins in the barbecue capital of the universe. Made by South Dakota based Innovative Fabricators, the manufacture process was state-of-the-art, involving extreme temperatures, composite alloys, robots and lasers.

In case you missed that last bit: the trophies were made by robots with lasers.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Today, he goes by Aaron James, and from an old farm in Arkansas, just across the swollen river from Memphis, he’s writing a book about his family. It’s a huge story that goes back centuries, a story filled with monarchs and soldiers, kidnappings and romance, injustice and compassion. He’s writing it because he has to, caught up in an urge that hooked him years ago, when he began digging into the histories of his ancestors.

James began his genealogical research while still living in Boston, and found evidence of Valentine Hollingsworth, a direct descendant of landed English Hollingsworths, who had helped William Penn found the state of Pennsylvania. This evidence of blue blood in the family DNA was at odds with the family identity James grew up knowing, hearing stories from his parents, who grew up two blocks from each other in Cooper Young.

Leonidas DeKalb Hollingsworth, one of many ancestors James has communed with in his research.

“Dad considered himself, for lack of a better term, poor white trash, almost reveling in it,” said James. “But we’re descended from kings! Knowing this stuff adds layers and layers of interest and fascination in life.”

“A person can easily be programmed to think of themselves as lesser than others. Once you start throwing that out and thinking about life objectively, you can almost become a different person.”

This year, on the eve of his fiftieth birthday, James put himself on sabbatical and headed into Arkansas to the family farm of his girlfriend, local singer-songwriter Nancy Apple. He’s launched a campaign on online crowd funding site GoFundMe to fund the publication of the book and spends his days in the rural wild, interspersing longs sessions at the keyboard with brush clearing, sod busting and goat tending.

“I’m writing a book that tells the story of America, using this family as the backbone,” said James.

He began researching in earnest last December, mixing ancient and modern techniques to gather information. He traveled to dusty old communities, poking around cemeteries and records offices, and took advantage of websites like Ancestry.com. The pieces of the mystery began to come together, voices gathering to tell a shared story.

The ancestral estate, which stood in the English village of Hollingsworth until 1942.

“One ancestor of mine was arrested in 1772, in London, for stealing a scarf,” said James. “I sat a desk and read the actual court records of his trial. I had another relative who lost a leg at Gettysburg. I was able to read the journal of the doctor who cut off the limb.”

The Confederate ancestor’s story was one of many James dug up that defied what history lessons tell us to expect. This man had fought for the south, lost his leg and returned home without many options for making a living.

“He used government money, given out during reconstruction, to open a school for freed slaves,” said James. “It was a practical choice, since he couldn’t do much to make money with only one leg. But, on the other side, if this guy had been a bigot to the core, he’d have hanged himself before opening a school for black kids.”

James has given himself until the end of the year to write the book, but he stresses he isn’t doing it for fortune and glory. He isn’t even doing it for himself.

“I hope it’s successful,” he said. “It’s my contribution. It’s as if all these people are sitting on a cloud, saying: ‘Write this story you lazy son-of-a-bitch! We lived it already, you just have to write it down!’”

While we usually reserve Lunch Break Video for music-related clips, this week the big-ticket cultural event in town is Barbecue Fest, as the locals call it. With so much of our collective attention turned to spice rubs and hickory chips, ditching the music in favor of ribs and butts seemed appropriate.

Watch this video on YouTube.

The event is a huge, three day celebration with hundreds of participants and thousands of attendees, and the folks at Memphis in May pull it off expertly year after year. But it’s also a pretty weird scene.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Ultimately, Barbecue Fest is a diverse city of people coming together to celebrate the stuff that makes life fun; food, friends, culture, social proximity. We do it year after year because it feels good to get together in the city center and celebrate the things that make our region unique.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Memphis Fashion Weekend:   During the month of April, ArtsMemphis hosts a fashion extravaganza that spreads over two nights and features both local and national designers.  This is a great way to recognize local talent, see trends for the upcoming seasons, and actually meet designers.  ArtsMemphis is very careful to choose eclectic, trendy venues for the festivities.  It’s the ultimate New York experience right in the Bluff City.

Spring Market:  Each March, vendors come from near and far to showcase products and jump-start spring shopping at the AgriCenter.  This event has quickly become my  “go to” destination for handmade cosmetics, one-of-a-kind jewelry, monogram gifts, and decorating ideas.  Caution: it’s a hazard to any wallet!

Ice Skating at the Memphis Zoo: Around the Christmas holiday, the Memphis Zoo has a large ice skating rink that will force even the most mature professional to channel their inner child.  I’m not the best skater, but I love a challenge.

Memphis Farmers Market:  From April to October, I love coming downtown to the outdoor market and picking fresh produce.  The variety of fruits and veggies inspires me to explore new recipes and actually use the appliances in my kitchen.

Memphis Wine & Food Series:  The Brooks Museum of Art hosts a series of wine pairings with special menus prepared by local chefs.  This combines two of my favorite things: adult beverages and exotic foods.  Add live music and the Wine & Food Series is hands down one of the best experiences in the city.

MemphisConnect occasionally publishes a piece by participants of the New Memphis Institute’s Fellows Program. Writing about what moves them to live and work in Memphis, their connections to the community are as diverse as the Fellows themselves. Learn more about the Fellows Program here.

If you’re a Memphian, surely you’ve driven past the mysterious structure, now near completion, located at the foot ofBeale Streetand wondered “What the heck is this thing?!” Sure we’ve seen its write-ups in the local papers, but the mystique surrounding this peculiar structure is still unbearable.  The colorful block that makes up the building’s centerpiece is so alluring that you just have to know what this building is being used for…exactly.  Well, your wandering minds can find rest here!

Beale Street Landing is essentially intended to connect Memphis to the Mississippi River.  To be so close to this massive body of water, we were really quite disconnected!  Well not any more! Now, Beale Street Landing allows citizens safe and fun access to the river’s edge.  What good is all that beautiful water, if we can’t picnic on it, exercise on it, host events on it, watch fireworks on it or simply watch it comfortably?  Memphians can now enjoy all of these simple joys and more, right on the river gracing our backyard.    

Beale Street Landing is now the home for the Memphis Queen Riverboat, and gift shops for tourists and travelers.  This river attraction also has event space available for party and gathering reservations and is available for performances as well.  Another key feature of the facility is the grass-covered roof, because you just can’t have enough green space!  This grass roof is a perfect spot for picnicking or watching the fireworks with family and friends.  And as for those colorful blocks, they actually make a pixilated image of a sun setting on the river, paying homage to the great Mississippi herself.

But we won’t be enjoying this little gem all alone.  Beale Street Landing is also purposed to provide a warm welcome to our riverboat visitors.  Several stops are made each year to Memphis by riverboaters and we can now give them a hospitable howdy, and greet them with a great place to rest their feet.

Contrary to the rumors, there will not be a restaurant in the facility, but this factor definitely does not take away from the ample opportunities to dine with your favorite people.  The large space inside the facility, labeled the Landing Room, and the two outdoors areas, the Breezeway and Patio are all available now to enjoy privately or publically.

So you no longer have to drive by this abnormal structure and scratch your heads in hopeless quandary, but you can now rest assured that this huge structure at the end of Beale Street is Memphis’ exciting, new connection to the Mississippi River!

For reservation inquiries, contact Dorchelle Spence at 901.312.9190.

Together with four other teammates from the New Memphis Institute program (better known as the “MIFA Maniacs”), they created a strategic and sustainable plan that will help MIFA expand their currently aging volunteer base through the targeted engagement of potential volunteers within the “3 C’s” – corporations, congregations, and communities. The final plan was presented to MIFA on April 19, 2013, but this was just the beginning. The team wanted to continue their involvement with the MIFA Meals on Wheels program, and with Vikram and Jeff both working at FedEx, this was a golden opportunity to start executing on the corporate side of the plan.

The first step was to raise awareness of the Meals on Wheels program with coworkers, and on April 26, they organized time for FedEx employees to do just this. Jeff was able to bring volunteers from the Communications team while Vikram brought volunteers from the Strategic Marketing team. The teams had not worked together previously, and the opportunity to spend a morning helping the community was a perfect way to for the teams to get to know one another. The 16 total volunteers then gathered at MIFA to learn about the history and impact of the Meals on Wheels program and how they could help support the program through the delivery of meals to nutritionally at-risk, homebound seniors in Shelby County and the surrounding areas. Coworkers were then paired up and received instructions on what to do when delivering meals. A few hours later, the FedEx teams had delivered meals to over 150 seniors in Memphis and surrounding areas!

The Meals on Wheels Program hits home because being nutritionally at-risk and the independence of homebound seniors are both issues that Memphis faces every day and we were able to personally help these individuals. We truly believe that everyone benefited from this morning of volunteering. The seniors were able to receive nutritious meals, and the FedEx team was able to personally help our local community while promoting an affable internal corporate community. FedEx teams participate in the Meals on Wheels program in the months to come.

If the Friends of the MIFA Maniacs win the 40th Anniversary Grant Contest the grant will help MIFA continue to help at-risk seniors with their nutritional needs, maintain their high-impact programs, and increase their volunteer base

Click the link below and vote for Friends of the MIFA Maniacs!

You can vote every 24 hours, visit 40yearsofservice.com/peoples-choice to vote.

About the New Memphis Institute Fellows program:

Launched in 2004, the Fellows program is a 12-month engagement that gives high-potential, emerging leaders the tools, experiences and connections needed to become change agents, inclusive leaders and qualified city ambassadors. This program moves beyond simply exposing participants to community challenges. The curriculum empowers Fellows to take action, driving progress around our city’s most pressing needs. Core to the curriculum is the development and implementation of Community Action Projects (CAPs), designed to build capacity of existing nonprofit organizations.

About MIFA:

Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, better known as MIFA, was founded in 1968. MIFA helps serve over 50,000 people annually and with the help of volunteers and donors are able to continue to keep their high-impact programs alive. MIFA’s vision is to unite the community though service and their mission is to support the independence of vulnerable seniors and families in crisis. Every weekday the MIFA Meals on Wheels program helps deliver 1,800 nutritional lunches for homebound, at-risk seniors in Memphis and surrounding areas. Nearly 18% of the senior population in Memphis and surrounding areas is at risk of hunger and over the last fiscal year, MIFA Meals on Wheels served over 440,000 meals to senior clients.

May 15

6 PM – 8 PM

Mud Island River Park

Unwind on the banks of the Mississippi River with wine, hors d’oeuvres, and live entertainment from The Jamaal Wicks Trio. While you’re there, enjoy after hours access to over 10,000 years of history of Ol’ Man River in the one-of-a-kind Mississippi River Museum. Adults Only.

Memphis in May: BBQ Festival

May 16-18

Tom Lee Park

Hundreds of teams compete for over $110,000 in prizes and supreme bragging rights. Teams adorn their areas with elaborate decoration, trophies attesting to their boasting rights, and as one can imagine, clever and creative team names. While grilling is the main theme, the contest wouldn’t be complete without the Ms. Piggie Idol competition where the finest swine tests their vocal skills, and grown men dress in tutus and snouts and women kick their heels (hooves) up. There is also a t-shirt competition and even a best booth contest.

Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus

May 17-19

Landers Center

The “Greatest Show on Earth” comes to town for three nights at the Landers Center in Southaven.

Porgy & Bess

May 18

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Cannon Center for the Performing Arts

The Memphis Symphony Chorus joins Conductor Mei-Ann Chen for an unparalleled musical celebration of Gershwin’s Suite from Porgy and Bess. The Porgy and Bess Suite, adapted from 1930’s opera, offers the perfect opportunity to listen to the original orchestral version of the magnificent music that earned the 2012 Tony Award for best Musical Revival. The evening begins with Florence Price’s Mississippi River Suite. Price, the first African-American woman composer to attain national recognition, takes listeners on a 30-minute musical journey down the Mississippi River.

Memphis in May Knockouts

May 18

6:00 PM

New Daisy Theatre

Pro Boxing and MMA presented by Mid-South Boxing. 12 Fights and MidSouthBoxing TV will be filming live. General Admission Tickets are $20, Reserved Seating $30, and VIP $50. For more info or to purchase tickets, call (901) 497-3726 or visit www.midsouthboxing.com

Oil Painting for Beginners

May 20 – 22

9:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Memphis Botanic Garden

The focus of this class is on the fundamentals of materials, color mixing, and basic painting application techniques in a fun, inviting, and stress free workshop. The instructor will be Judy Nocifora.   Judy is an award winning artist whose work has has been juried into local and regional exhibitions.  To view her paintings visit her website at:  www.judynocifora.com MBG members $75/non-members $90. Pre-payment due by May 16. Call 636-4128 for more information or to register.

Bike art, movies about bikes, bike games, bike merch and gear; Bikesploitation, the bike-centric Memphis event celebrating cycles, is back for its third year. The bike party cuts loose Friday, May 24 to Sunday, May 26, at Crosstown Arts.

This year Bikesploitation has partnered with fleets of the most creative local artists, the loudest and proudest local advocates and our city’s road-raging local cyclists to bring Memphis an awesome-packed weekend that’s all about perfection on two wheels.

Along with favorites like the popular bicycle-themed film screenings, the Mobile Music Machine, and live bike art, the organizers have added some cool stuff to the entertainment roster. This year, look out for the Bike Art Gallery, Bike Blender, Roller Races, and more.

As if there could be more awesomeness packed into the weekend, Stickem Food truck will be on hand to provide you with much needed nourishment, a quenching array of beverages will be for sale, and there will also be a handful of organized bike rides to and from the event. In fact, if you’d like to organize your own ride, you’re speaking their language. Visit Bikesploitation’s site to send them info about your route.

The event packs three days with pedal powered raditude Friday, May 24 to Sunday, May 26 at Crosstown Arts. Check out the schedule for details on programming.

The check was for funds raised at Bristerfest, the two-day celebration of Memphis music and culture held recently in Overton Park. GrowMemphis and Brister Street Productions have partnered on the event for the last two years, a relationship Peterson says represents a powerful force for growth at the grassroots level.

“Our partnership is important because it shows that you can build community from the ground up,” said Peterson.

Both organizations are relatively new entities, launched from a grassroots seed and guided toward smart growth by their youthful leadership.

Two years after separating from the Peace and Justice Center and becoming its own organization, GrowMemphis adds a handful of for-profit farms and gardens to the city each year. In 2013, the non-profit will bring their total above 40.

Brister Street’s most recent Bristerfest was only its third, but in that short span they’ve seen the event grow from a dozen bands playing for an afternoon to a two-day, 50-act bill with food trucks, fire-breathing acrobats and moonwalks for the kids. In addition to their flagship spring event, the company promotes smaller concerts and festivals across the region, cultural celebrations that grow in complexity and attendance each year.

“It can be easy to forget that the people who get excited about something work with it from the ground up, and that’s where community building begins,” said Peterson. “When two organizations who understand the power of grassroots activism can collaborate on something meaningful, you can do a lot of good.”

This week the focus is on the underground, Memphis acts that do their thing off the radar. In this modern digital age, record labels are unnecessary. A group of creative people can make musical art together, writing, recording the tracks and shooting the video guerrilla style. Let’s explore a few.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Clay Otis and the Showbiz Lights is a collection of some of the best songwriters and session players from Memphis’ rock n roll scene, fronted by local eccentric Clay Hardee. In this track we get some of everything, soul music, disco, synthy pop, and cool visuals in the video directed by guitarist Jake Vest. Check out Wind Vs. Sun front man Dirk Kitterlin riding the hotdog on the bridge. Classic Memphis, right?

Watch this video on YouTube.

Rumor has it Memphis instrumental duo Breaking the Cage will soon reunite for shows and a possible second album. This song was a micro-hit with audiophiles around the globe, moving substantial units in Japan, Europe, Australia and the US.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Pezz has been making noise for something like 20 years, delivering 100% pure punk rock to Memphis ears and others around the world. Check out the buzzsaw licks spewing from Rock N Romp and Church Health Center’s Marvin Stockwell, a good friend of Memphis Connect.