The Ugliest Fascinating City in the World

No Depression dusted off this 2003 article today.  There’s a pretty good history of  Stax Records in the article, as well as descriptions of some of the best spots in town.  What I really admire though, is the author’s attempt at writing about Memphis as a social phenomenon, or the city’s “sense of place.”  Many people struggle to capture the character of places with strong identities.  Often such courageous attempts are met with criticism or complete rejection.  Trying to get at the meaning of a place is irresistible, though, perhaps because the real meaning of a place comes from our collective perception, and not anyone’s individual idea.  

Anyway, it’s a good article:
http://archives.nodepression.com/2003/07/memphis-in-the-meantime/

Just can’t wait.

Click on artwork (by Jillian Johnson of Work Agencies) for more info.

“Twenty-somethings with tattoos shared the floor with dancers in their 60s and 70s, all of them–no matter their age–swinging and swooping and hollering. Cajun culture, it would seem, is alive and well, and ready for another century.” Wayne Curtis for Smithsonian Magazine

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Memphis Farmers Market – Winter Dinner Tour

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Elizabowl

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This year Sarah K. O’Brien received the International Housewares Association’s Student Design award for her Elizabowl.  O’Brien created the fruit bowl while studying industrial design at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. Inspired by origami and ruffled Elizabethan collars, the Elizabowl folds and unfolds according the amount of fruit that it holds. The separate compartments keep the fruit from spoiling. Since winning the award, O’Brien has moved NYC where she is launching a product design department at the architectural firm 212box.

Read O’Brien’s design development document (very cool)
Read New York Times coverage

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Audubon Insectarium

On Monday The New York Times ran another article about New Orleans’ new Audubon Insectarium:

Read Monday’s article
Read August’s article
Visit Audubon Insectarium
Audubon Insectarium on Facebook (become a “fan” and watch some creepy, crawly videos)

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William Eggleston: Democratic Camera

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Photographer William Eggleston is being honored with a retrospective at The Whitney Museum of American Art. You can catch the tail end of the show if you get there before January 25th. Apparently the exhibit is going to travel throughout the US, but details are scarce. I’ll try to get to the bottom of it.

Eggleston is a pivotal figure in the color photography movement. He mostly photographs personal acquaintances and places close to home: Memphis, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Delta. What I find appealing is that Eggleston doesn’t particularly want to be known as a Southern artist and he never sets up a picture. He’s less about “place” and all the preconceptions that go with it, and more about time and the senses: light, form and feeling in a given moment. In abandoning “place,” Eggleston shows us that consciousness of the moment is always available to us. Anytime. Anywhere.

Exhibit site
Eggleston Artistic Trust

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Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird is featured in today’s New York Times Magazine.
Read article
Visit Bird’s site (to pre-order “Noble Beast,” which ships January 20th)
Visit Bird’s Myspace (to see tour dates and listen to his music)
Visit Fat Possum Records (Bird’s label)

UPDATE: listen to all of “Noble Beast” on npr.org

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Deep Fat Fried Twinkies

Fried Twinkies have become so ubiquitous that they’re no longer funny. Just downright disgusting. But this recipe from the White Trash Cookbook made me laugh:

Buy enough twinkies for your family.

You will need some used popcicle sticks or clean twigs.

Bowl of buttermilk
Bowl of unsalted cracker meal
Bowl of flour

First you have to freeze the twinkies. Once they freeze over, start to heat up your favorite oil to about 350 degrees. I use Goya lard because all the added saturated fat just adds more flavor. Next stick popcicle sticks or clean twigs into the ends of your frozen twinkies. Holding the twinkies by the stick, dip them one by one in your bowl of flour. Then one by one dip into the buttermilk. Finally the cracker meal. Dunk each Twinkie into the hot oil, holding it by the stick of course. Try not to be wearing your favorite tuxedo or silk shirt because the oil is going to be rocking and rolling with insanity. Some about deep frying twinkies does this. Anyway, let each Twinkie fry for five to seven minutes. Until golden brown and crispy.

OA Book of Great Music Writing

You know it, you love it, you wait for it every year in your mailbox…The Oxford American Music issue. Then every year some goose steals the magazine, or you leave it in a rental car, or the subscription your old boyfriend gave you runs out just before this issue. (That weasel.) Now ten years of the best writing around is available all in one place. Just in time. Wish they had the CDs, too. Click here to buy it straight from the source.

Delta Dream Express

Key Surgery

Mr. Jackson Returns

Tootie’s Turn

Po’ Teddy and Betty Boop

Farm near Rolling Fork, Mississippi

1. Click here. And click on the first song. Then come back here.
2. Now click here.
3. Listen and look.

Prospect.1 New Orleans

We are absolutely running behind on this. Haven’t even made it down there for a glimpse. Prospect.1 New Orleans claims to be the largest international contemporary art biennial ever organized in the US.  Like all good art biennials, venues are located throughout the city. Word is, building some of those yawning exhibition halls wasn’t in the budget and the result is a series of about 25 intimate settings. The exhibit is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 11 am-6 pm, until Sunday, January 18th.  Complimentary shuttle service leaves from the W Hotel (333 Poydras, map) every 30 minutes or so. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Be on the lookout as Cabinet of Seeds reports.

THE SKINNY:
Prospect.1 homepage
Artists
Venues
Maps (We recommend the “Official Navigation Map.” It lists artists by venue, satellite venues, other city art spaces, and shuttle schedule.)
Registration
New York Times review

If you get the art coma, we recommend reviving at El Gato Negro, 81 French Market Place, 504.525.9752, just behind the US Mint, a Prospect.1 venue.

Prospect.1 Welcome Center @ Hefler Warehouse, 851 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA, map, 504.715.3968

Hoots and Hellmouth

Hoots and Hellmouth is swooping down south from Philadelphia this week. They describe their music as indie/roots/experimental, but I think artist/musician TJ Black put it best when he called them “thrash bluegrass.” I’d say that the red-headed guy definitely channels some old bluesman business, too. What you can see in this picture is that there is no percussionist for the band. What you can’t see is that they stand on these old sagging platforms, plug a tambourine into an amp and put it on the platform, and then just stomp. Be sure to catch them if you’re in:

• Charleston on Tuesday (Charleston Pour House)
• Chapel Hill on Wednesday (Local 506)
  
• Asheville on Thursday (BoBo Gallery)
  
• Charlotte on Friday (Visulite Theater)
  
• Columbia on Saturday (5 Points Pub)
  

The Meaning of Tea

“The Meaning of Tea” by Scott Chamberlin-Hoyt is a beautiful film on the Southern Arts Federation’s Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers. The film visits 7 countries and explores the role that tea plays in various cultural rituals. Chamberlin-Hoyt explores the people, landscapes and rituals of England, India, China, Japan, Morrocco and France. He also includes one sort of embarassing clip about a town called Tea, South Dakota.

He should have included something better about the U.S. There are tea rituals here. I once saw a girl order a shot of vodka in her iced tea during lunch at the Ground Zero Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. There was definitely some kind of ritual involved in that. At the time I took it to be the age old ritual of impressing a guy. But maybe she wanted to impress his grandmother who was also with us. Maybe that’s just what they do at Ground Zero. Or maybe that’s just how Memphis girls do when they get out of town for lunch.

Southern Art Federation
Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers including tour schedule, filmmakers and venues
“The Meaning of Tea” website including trailers of the film

Rethinking Landscape: Contemporary Photography from the Allen G. Thomas, Jr. Collection

photo by Kerry Skarbakka

Blackpot Magic

This recipe is a good time. It comes from an old friend’s mother, who lives up in Virginia. We swampified it by adding rum, and took it to the Blackpot Festival (a good time in itself–one of my favorite things to do in October) over in Lafayette, Louisiana. With or without rum, it’s now a staple at all evening cold weather events, from festivals to 5K’s. Just don’t get all riled up when you read the tacky ingredients. It is what it is. And it is pretty fine:

Dry ingredients (can be pre-mixed and stored in the freezer):
1 + 2/3 cup TANG
1 package (19 oz.) lemonade drink mix
1 + 1/2 cup plain instant iced tea
2 + 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Wet ingredients:
Water
Rum (optional)

Mix the dry ingredients together in a big bowl and set aside. Boil some water in a pot. Use the TANG instructions for proportion. Stir in dry ingredient mixture until it dissolves. Add a little extra water. This stuff is sweet. Pour it into a thermos and go serve it up hot. Make sure to have some tin mugs like the one pictured above.

If you decide to swampify, just add rum to your liking. You may want to hold back on the extra water in this case, because the rum will cut the sweetness. And watch it! I am very serious. This is one of those deals where you can’t taste the liquor. Pay close attention to the amount of rum that you pour in, not whether you can taste it, or you’ll just end up on the kitchen floor and miss the party. Actually, I imagine that’s good  general advice about the use of rum.

Eudora Chair

A few weeks ago, a friend and I met Critz Campbell at a cocktail party in New Orleans. When we asked him what he does for a living, he just said he was a sculpture professor at Mississippi State University. When pressed, he said he designs furniture. When pressed further, he showed us this picture on his iPhone. It’s called “The Eudora Chair,” named after Eudora Welty, modeled after 1930’s armchairs, made out of resin-encased fiberglass, illuminated from within, and completely functional as a chair. You can get it covered in your choice of fabric (yes, that’s any fabric you want), but my mother has a couple of old club chairs that were once covered in this chintz, so this is my favorite. Will update when I figure out exactly where to order.

PS–Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum selected it for their Design Triennial, and it’s been covered by Smithsonian Magazine, New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post, Elle Magazine and the Discovery Channel

The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker

This post is from the future. I saw The Dynamites with Charles Walker twice last weekend (once at Chelsea’s Cafe in Baton Rouge and once at the Oxford American event at Tipitina’s) and they blew me straight into next month. Be sure not to miss it if you get the chance to see this soul/funk group from Nashville.

See tour dates and listen to songs: www.myspace.com/thedynamitesband
Read their good reviews (New York Times) and order t-shirts: www.thedynamites.net

Tallahatchie Flats

Tallahatchie Flats is a row of sharecropper cabins for rent on the Tallahatchie River just outside Greenwood, Mississippi. As mentioned in the Lusco’s post below, my friends and I recently opted for a good old country New Year’s Eve. We decided that the Flats would be a great break from the normal hoo-ha.

Our experience: After dinner at Lusco’s, we returned to the Flats to find that our host, the positively genteel Mr. Bubba, had a bonfire burning in the old sugar kettle out front. And it was just for us!  He had already gone to bed.  So we cooked up some winter punch (recipe is coming as soon as fall festival season gets here), got out the mugs and fireworks, and did it up. After midnight and toasts, we stumbled across turnrows and down to an old churchyard where they say Robert Johnson is buried. They also say he died in Tush Hog’s house, which is the cabin on the far left in the picture above. Who knows if it’s true. Who cares? It was a blast.

Forewarning: Upon check-in everyone is gently asked if they are “familiar with country living.” The floors have cracks and there are newspapers on the wall (which actually makes interesting reading if you’re just standing around bored for a minute or someone is talking too much or something.) There was also a report of mice in the night. But everything is impeccably clean, beds are comfortable, and fireplaces keep things warm in winter. And you couldn’t ask for a more peaceful setting or a more gracious host.

Tallahatchie Flats’ doppelganger in Clarksdale: The Shack-Up Inn

Tallahatchie Flats; 58458 County Road 518, Greenwood, MS; (ph) 662-453-1854 or 866-93FLATS

Marion Post Wolcott

A Marion Post Wolcott exhibit opens today at the Birmingham Museum of Art, and runs through December 21. Read more about this New Yorker who became a photographer for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression:

Interview with Wolcott (Smithsonian archives)
Wolcott biography (Wikipedia)

The Mighty Zebras

It’s been awhile since I spent Friday night at a high school football game. But I did it last weekend, and it was good for the soul. This is a blog about the culture of our place, the American South, and I think a section on offbeat high school mascots is in order. If you know of a good one, please send it this way. And now, here to kick this off, the one, the only, the inspiration for it all….the Pine Bluff High School Fightin’ Zebras!

Rural Studio

‘Hale County Animal Shelter’ (Alabama) by Rural Studio, 2006
(courtesy Timothy Hursley)

Auburn University’s Rural Studio is one of 16 projects representing the United States at the Venice Biennale’s 11th International Architecture Exhibition. The exhibition, titled Into the Open: Positioning Practice, explores the relationship between architecture and community.

Rural Studio is a highly acclaimed design/build program for Auburn architecture students. The program’s intention is to provide the rural poor with homes and community facilities that “aspire to the same set of architectural ideals and virtues as projects with substantial budgets and prosperous clientele.” Samuel Mockbee, the program’s legendary founder, is quoted as saying ““Everybody wants the same thing, rich or poor … not only a warm, dry room, but a shelter for the soul”. The best thing is that the students use local imagery for inspiration and local materials in construction. They also live in the community while they work on the project.

Beautiful, innovative, socially responsible planning and design combined with lessons on professionalism, volunteerism, and individual responsibility….right on, right on.

Rural Studio will also have an exhibit at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona this October. In March, Rural Studio won the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture from La Cite de l’architecture et du patrimoine.

RECAP
Rural Studio here: www.cadc.auburn.edu/soa/rural%2Dstudio/
Mockbee here: www.cadc.auburn.edu/soa/rural%2Dstudio/mockbee.htm
Venice Biennale here: www.labiennale.org/en/
US exhibit here: positioningpractice.us/

Oxford American Event

UPDATE: This event has been moved to Tipitina’s Uptown, 501 Napoleon Avenue, New Orleans.

Sure to be a good time:

Disfarmer

Disfarmer is going to blow your mind. I can’t help but wonder about his subjects’ lives and relationships. All the little details…the bandage on the lady’s leg in the second picture, the way the couple in the fourth picture holds each other and her shoes and twisted stocking, the tough little blonde and the mother’s deeply tanned arm in the last picture…To see the full collection (you can buy prints) and read more about this 1940’s Arkansas photographer, go to www.disfarmer.com

Yee-Haw Industries

Copyright 2001 * Yee-Haw Industries

Copyright 2007 * Yee-Haw Industries

Copyright 2006 * Yee-Haw Industries

Without a doubt, Yee-Haw Industries is the go-to for letterpress posters promoting special events and music acts. Partners Kevin Bradley and Julie Belcher became pioneers of the now ubiquitous band promo/art poster when musicians such as Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Buddy Guy and Trey Anastasio came knocking on their Kentucky barn door back in 1996. Now they’re set up in Knoxville and do everything from calendars and journals to greeting cards and apparel. But my favorites are their fine art pieces (what they set out doing), like ol’ Evel up above. All work is custom-to-order, designed, set, and pressed by hand.
Click here to shop their Etsy store. And their other store here.

Yee-Haw Industries, 413 South Gay Street, Knoxville, TN, 37902; Ph: 865.522.1812; Fax: 865.524.8897; mail@yeehawindustries.com; www.yeehawindustries.com

Tom Collins

The perfect summer drink. My friends and I are just absolutely having one of these on the porch whenever we get the chance…most recently to celebrate electricity in South Louisiana.

Here’s what you need:
gin
limes
sparkling water
simple syrup
ice

Here’s how you do it:
Fill the glass with ice
Pour in gin to your liking
Add the juice of one lime
Stir in a tablespoon of simple syrup (in a pinch, I just use about a half teaspoon of sugar)
Mix well
Top with sparkling water

Et voila, cher.

Richard Stephens

Home Place, Richard Stephens

My mother and I stumbled on a Richard Stephens exhibit yesterday at The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas.  Stephens’ color palette is really unusual, the colors never muddy, and he has the ability to make structures, such as old shrimp boats and industrial buildings, look lively.  His talented use of plain white portions of the canvas is impressive.  We especially like the chunky brush strokes and colors in Home Place, above, even though this picture doesn’t do it justice.  www.raswatercolors.com

American Dream Safari

I think this sounds grand.  American Dream Safari tours leave out of Memphis daily in a restored ’55 Cadillac, and include:  Delta Day Trip (“Highway 61 blues and blacktop”); Yards, Gardens, and Architecture (in Memphis); Juke Joint Full of Blues (good way to hit the town and cut loose, fee includes entrance to three clubs); Drive by Shooting (not a funny title, but allows one to pretend to be William Eggleston for a day); Road Therapy Tour (if you just need to get away and cruise through the Arkansas countryside); Gospel Church (fee includes tithe and lunch at the fantabulous Gus’s Fried Chicken); and Tupelo Day Trip (to you-know-who’s house.)  You just hop in the car and the driver whisks you away.  Perfect.
American Dream Safari; 9am – 5pm, 7 days a week; tad@americandreamsafari.com; 901.527.8870; PO Box 3129, Memphis, TN, 38173;  www.americandreamsafari.com

Viet Village Urban Farm

photo courtesy of Mossop+Michaels

Mossop+Michaels, a landscape architecture firm in New Orleans, has won a 2008 Professional Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. The award goes to Mossop+Michaels for the firm’s plan to help reestablish the Vietnamese farming community in New Orleans East. Long home to one of the most beloved farmers’ markets in New Orleans, New Orleans East was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The plan for an urban farm and market includes both family and commercial sized plots, a livestock area, rain collection gardens, and a bio-filtration canal. Developed in conjunction with Tulane City Center, Urban Landscape Lab LSU, Mary Queen of Vietnam Church, and the City of New Orleans, the plan is currently being implemented.

For a detailed tour of the plan, visit the ASLA 2008 Professional Awards page. For the quick version, click here.

Harlan

Somehow I haven’t gotten around to listening to Harlan’s new album, Spiderette, until this week. And I’m playing it just as obsessively as I did the Still Beat, their first album. These guys have come a long way in the past year or so, landing coverage from USA Today (“Really smart pop from a Baton Rouge, La., band — moments of weirdness mixed with classic pop and overall a killer.”) and NPR (click here for the story and a song.) I think music blogger BiBaBiDi really nails this outfit, though:

…Because listen to how great Harlan (MySpace) is! The Baton Rouge quartet is friggin’ spectacular … an amazing blend of this sort of psychedelic pop music and experimental-twinged folksier stuff. And the group’s all about the details … whether it’s a quirky synth line or warble-y guitar hook or concise, organic drumming, Harlan’s complete sound is awe-inspiring.

You can purchase Spiderette, hear some tunes and watch videos on the band’s MySpace Page: www.myspace.com/stillbeat. Also check out the band’s website: thestillbeat.com

PS–These guys are all established visual artists in their own right and take care of all of the band’s album covers, videos, and posters, which you’ll find on the two websites listed above. Check back for reviews on the artists as individuals.

Lusco’s

photo courtesy of Deep Fried Kudzu

This past New Year’s Eve, my friends and I had dinner at this Greenwood, Mississippi, restaurant and it was completely delightful. Housed in a nondescript downtown storefront, Lusco’s serves up steaks, Southern and Creole comfort food, and a few Italian dishes. What makes Lusco’s, Lusco’s, is that each table is set in its own little alcove with a curtain. The alcoves provide a clandestine feeling that’s just sort of exciting and allows everyone to relax, really connect, and cut loose a little more, too. It’s sort of difficult not to go completely Eloise and abuse the doorbell on the wall that calls your server, even though it’s probably not necessary. The service was pretty good for a packed house in a sleepy Southern town on New Year’s Eve. Bring your own wine, but if you forget, there’s a liquor store across the street with an adequate, and only slightly overpriced, selection. You have to make your choice and pay the clerk through a bullet proof glass wall. Just keep your expectations in the right place, and the whole experience is a ball. Read Michael Stern’s colorful and honest review here: www.roadfood.com
Lusco’s Restaurant, 722 Carrollton Avenue, Greenwood, MS, 601.453.5365

Jane Pope Jewelry

Sea Urchin Ring

Stackable Bracelets

Molten Ring

Jane Pope, founder, owner and head designer of Balboa Jewelry based in Charleston, South Carolina, has a fantastic new collection of jewelry. Recently featured in Vogue magazine, pieces are inspired by nature, yet have a luxurious feel to them. Shop the Jane Pope Collection here: www.janepopejewelry.com. Shop Balboa Jewelry here: www.balboajewelry.com.

The-week-before-I-got-dumped Salad

This recipe is from my friend Emily, and the salad is almost as fabulous as she is. It’s perfect: easy, cool, and refreshing, with a sassy tanginess to boot. Only a fool would walk out on such a fine concoction. Of course the poor fellow finally gathered his wits and came back. Then she gathered her wits and told him to scoot along. And then he came back again. And she took him back again. But now they’re over. We ate this salad a lot over the past few months, and I never got tired of it.

In a medium bowl, combine the following:
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, torn or chopped
1 T capers, roughly chopped
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1 t grated lemon zest
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Then add…
1 lb pkg baby peas, thawed
1/2 c crumbled goat cheese (I just use feta)

and toss gently.

That’s GENTLY — don’t mash those peas!

Serve at room temperature.