In our final installment of Flipside, we give you a little taste of what it’s like to go behind the scenes with the Live From Memphis crew. We produce cool stuff and have fun doing it.

Check out some of our other programs:
60 Seconds
ArtsMemphis TV
Film Memphis TV
My Memphis
Art Poop!
Li’l Film Fest
Music Video Showcase
FlipOut

….and, as always, visit the WEBSITE for the latest news and events going on in the M-town….

Music: “Holliday” by The Angel Sluts

Located in Midtown, John and Beverly Lowe’s Xanadu Music and Books always has a hand-picked selection of rarities for sale. But Lowe’s other product is what sets the store apart from others in its niche. The Lowebow is a mutant, handmade musical instrument based on the classic cigar box guitar. Designed originally for one-man bands and named after the one-stringed “diddly bow” popular with the original Delta Blues players, the Lowebow allows musicians to play both bass and slide guitar parts at the same time. Since perfecting the design in 2000, Lowe has put the unique instruments into the hands of musicians such as the North Mississippi Allstars, as well as selling them at his own concerts.

Xanadu G-Maps
Daily News Article
CigarBoxGuitars.com
Memphis Flyer Article

The Church Health Center in Memphis provides health care for the working poor who fall between the cracks in our health care system. One of Memphis’ great success stories, their model of care has been emulated throughout the country. Many struggling Memphis musicians have sought care at the center, and three years ago, a group of them, led by Marvin Stockwell, the center’s public relations specialist who also happens to be in the punk band Pezz, and the bands of the Makeshift music label, decided to give back to the institution by putting on a benefit concert.

Rock for Love brings together some of the best bands in Memphis for a two-day, multi-venue concert to promote and raise funds for the Church Health Center. The first two were smashing successes, and this year’s edition, which comes at a time when the nation’s attention is focused on the problems the poor have in obtaining quality health care, will take place on August 21 and 22 at the Hi Tone and Shangri-La records.

churchhealthcenter.org
RFL 3 - The Deep Well
Al Kapone
Snowglobe
Two Way Radio
Lord T and Eloise
J.D. Reager and the Cold Blooded Three
Pezz

One of Memphis’ biggest problems continues to be its bicycle unfriendliness. Between the lack of bike lanes and greenways, the oblivious or downright hostile motorists, and the fragmented suburban sprawl, Memphis  has not lived up to its bicycling potential. But, as usual in this city, where the powers-that-be have failed, the grassroots take the lead.

Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop was founded in June of 2002 with the mission to promote the most energy efficient form of transportation known to science. From the weekend pedaler to the worker looking for a cheap commute, the shop has helped more than 1,500 people build or rehab a bike to fit their needs. The community that has grown up around the shop was given a huge boost this year when Memphis was chosen to be one of the hosts for the 2009 Bicycle Film Festival. Today, Revolutions stays true to its original mission: teach a man to ride, and he’ll go where he wants.

Music - “Never Enough” by Pezz

Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop
Bicycle Film Festival
Anthony Siracusa
Kyle Wagenschutz
Pezz

On a side note, when I went to film all this bike stuff, I felt compelled to make sure that I did all the filming on my bike. Woot!

Pimp out yer bike at Rock The Bike

It began more than a century ago with a single bear in Overton Park. Today, it covers 55 acres and is consistently cited as one of the best zoos in the country. The Memphis Zoo is a Midtown institution, and one of the city’s most valuable assets.

The Memphis Zoo has spent most of the 21st Century pursuing a program of upgrade and expansion. From the Northwest Passage, which brought polar bears and otters to the south; to the elaborate China, the $16 million zoogeographical extravaganza that puts giant pandas Ya Ya and Ling Ling in context with other Asian denizens, the zoo’s exhibits bring the animal’s worlds down home to the Bluff City. And while we Memphians may sometimes take the zoo for granted, the rest of the world knows how awesome it really is.

memphiszoo.org
twitter.com/MemphisZoo

Music: “Man on the Mountain” by Giant Bear

Art is about freedom—the freedom to think, create, and do what you want. When Michael Andrews and Alice Laskey-Castle started Vini Five In One, they wanted to create a space where they felt free to create experiential art, design objects and space, hold events, create and sell products, and host a weekly gathering of artistic types that has become known as the Social Club.

The spirit of Five in One is best represented by the huge, circular mural painted over the course of twelve hours by some of Memphis’ hottest artists. Since the piece was not associated with any one artist’s name, the painters and sketchers felt free to take chances, do something they had been reticent to try on their own, or just doodle. The time-lapse video of the mural’s creation, shot by Tommy Kha, is a one-of-a-kind document in Memphis arts history—a permanent record of what real artistic freedom looks like.

Social Club is every Monday at 8 PM, free of charge, but donations are welcome!

Five in One
LFM Profile
Art Poop Vini Mini
Tommy Kha
Alex Harrison
Shea Colburn

Folk is the music of the hills, front porches, and fields. It’s the hymns, work songs, and ballads that form the basis of the American music tradition. Founded in 1989, the Folk Alliance is a national organization committed to preserving and promoting the music of the people. Their annual conference, one of the biggest musical convocations in the world, brings thousands of performers together in Memphis every year for a long weekend of hoe-downs, picking parties, and sing-a-longs. It’s a unique opportunity for the myrid musicians to come together, share stories and tunes, rub shoulders with the industry, and lift up their voices in song. But the biggest beneficiaries are the audience, who are treated to an embarrassment of riches over the hundred-plus hours of performances.

22nd Annual Folk Alliance International Conference is February 17-21, 2010 in Memphis, TN.
The event promises four days/evenings of industry workshops, panels, exhibits, showcases, outreach concerts, etc. for members of the international music community. The event provides a networking opportunity for those in the industry to work hard and enjoy themselves while doing so

The FAI Conference offers official showcase space to 200+ artists in our Performance Alley Showcases. To apply for a showcase: entry forms are available at www.folk.org or enter digitally through www.sonicbids.com.  Official Showcase Deadline: November 19, 2009.

www.folkalliance.org
www.southernfolklore.com
Valerie June
Bluff City Backsliders
Hoots and Hellmouth
Emilia Dahlin
Guy Mendilow
Mushfig Ensemble

Located on historic Beale Street, the New Daisy Theater has been the venue for hundreds of great shows from up-and-coming artists who have outgrown small clubs but are not yet ready to fill arenas. The Daisy has also been supportive of local bands, particularly metal and roots rockers, whose grateful fans fill the hall. The New Daisy has hosted sports such as boxing and wrestling, and in 2001 briefly returned to its roots as a movie theater by hosting screenings for the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

And yes, there is an Old Daisy Theater—it’s a historic, century-old venue located right across Beale Street from the New.

newdaisy.com
New Daisy Event Calendar
Mrs. Fletcher
Muck Sticky
Amy LaVere
Lucero
North Mississippi Allstars
Sore Eyes

Soulsville was the name given to the neighborhood surrounding the Stax recording studio where dozens of soul musicians who created the first great golden age of Memphis soul music lived. But Tonya Dyson didn’t think that the Memphis music scene’s best days were behind it. The music and culture had changed—hip hop and slam poetry came to the forefront, and a new generation of musicians had added a “neo” to soul—but the spirit was still the same.

“The thing wasn’t that there was nothing to do in this city,” Dyson says. “It’s just that people didn’t know about it.” And so she founded Neosoulsville.com to get the word on out the positive, progressive, and funky aspects of Memphis music and culture. Since its founding, Neosoulsville has moved beyond just reporting on the scene to making it happen by booking and promoting shows and connecting artists and fans. Dyson’s inside connection to and passion for the music she loves is no accident. She is herself a fantastic soul singer who says she can’t remember when she wasn’t making music—which makes Neosoulsville yet another example of Memphis musicians doing it for themselves.

neosoulville.com
Tonya Dyson
Cafe Soul

A few years ago, the festival known as Arts in the Park was a celebration without a home. Even though it was a consistently popular festival for local, regional, and national artists of all stripes, the organizers found themselves bouncing between Overton and Audubon Parks. But they finally found an enduring home when they took on a new name and took to the streets.
RiverArtsFest is an annual fall gathering of painters, sculptors, photographers, crafters, and artisans who father to offer their wares among the galleries and shops of the South Main Arts District. The more permanent galleries and art spaces in the area open their doors to greet the flood of visitors, who are entertained by the multiple music stages and roving street musicians, and fed by the many South Main restaurants. But the RiverArtsFest is not just a gathering, it’s another sign that Downtown Memphis is a viable community again, where only a decade ago there was nothing but empty streets and urban blight.

RiverArtsFest.com
Folk Alliance
Valerie June
Deering and Down
The Modern Gentlemen
Jeffery James and the Haul