May the 4th be with you, Memphis! Today is Wednesday, May 4 — Star Wars Day — and it seems the force is, indeed, with us as we wake to the news of a Memphis Grizzlies triumph (more on that below). 

The Shelby County Commission will hold their bi-monthly committee meetings today. And the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Design Review Board will discuss an exterior design revision for a vacant apartment building at 1030 Poplar Ave.

THE NEED TO KNOW

Shelby County District Attorney Democratic primary candidate Steve Mulroy (left) and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris (right) celebrate election returns during Lee’s election watch party on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

County primary election update: About 11% of the county’s population turned out to vote in the primaries with almost double the amount of voters voting early or absentee than on election day. Among the primary winners was incumbent Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, who will now face Memphis City Councilman Worth Morgan in the county mayoral race in August. Law professor (and former Shelby County Commissioner) Steve Mulroy won the Democratic primary for District Attorney General and will face incumbent D.A. Amy Weirich this August. Incumbent Commissioner Brandon Morrison narrowly defeated Jordan Carpenter in the District 4 Republican primary for Shelby County Commission. And Shante Avant has won the Democratic nomination in the primary election for the newly formed County Commission District 5 of Cordova. Also, three incumbent Democratic clerks fell to primary challengers.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) drives to the basket on May 3, 2022, in a playoff game against the Golden State Warriors at FedExForum. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Speaking of winners: Working with just one good eye, star point guard Ja Morant stole game two of the playoff series from the Golden State Warriors, 106-101. “I can see in the middle. I can’t see on the outsides. I got punched trying to get the rebound. We won,” said Morant. He finished the game with 47 points, 15 of which came in the last six minutes. The Daily Memphian’s Chris Herrington called it “the best game of Ja Morant’s career.” Early on, Dillon Brooks was ejected for slamming the Warriors’ Gary Payton II to the ground. Steven Adams was still in COVID protocol, and Desmond Bane was slowed by a back injury. But no matter because Morant was all in, and he saved the series “in 273 seconds of brilliance,” as Geoff Calkins writes. 

Bobby O’Jay

Radio host Bobby O’Jay dies: Veteran WDIA 1070 AM radio host Bobby O’Jay died on Tuesday at the age of 68. O’Jay spent more than four decades working in the radio industry, most of which were at WDIA (the first radio station in the country programmed specifically for Black listeners). “For so many of us, our mornings were not complete without a dose of Bobbyology,” said Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris.

Jody Moyt

Bond raised for slaying suspect: The bond for Jonathan Brush, the man charged with second degree murder for the killing of Lafayette’s chef Jody Moyt, has been raised to $5 million. The bond was originally set at $1 million, but Judge Bill Anderson Jr. determined on Tuesday that it wasn’t set high enough. Brush claimed self-defense, but Anderson said he didn’t buy that argument. “I can’t wrap my head around, in any manner, shape or form, at this point, the self defense argument. The victim was seated in the vehicle,” Anderson said.

MEET MEMPHIS

When Memphis Grizzlies power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. was drafted to play for the team in 2018, his mother Terri and father Jaren Sr. moved to Memphis to support their son. (Courtesy of Terri Carmichael Jackson)

In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re featuring Memphis Grizzlies moms. Today, we meet Terri Carmichael Jackson, the mother of power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. and the executive director of the WNBA Players Association. When Jaren was growing up on their 10-acre property in Maryland, she and Jaren’s dad (former NBA star Jaren Walter Jackson Sr.) encouraged the young Jaren to explore trails on their land rather than play video games. “I wasn’t just a helicopter mom; I was a drone mom — in a good way,” Terri said. After Jaren Jr. was drafted to play for the Grizzlies in 2018, Terri and Jaren Sr. moved to Memphis to support their son.

THE NICE TO KNOW

Nicole Hughes’ debut stage production, “Graceland Too: The Building Elvis Never Left,” had its first performance Monday, May 2, at Teatro LATEA as part of this year’s New York Theater Festival. (Submitted)

Graceland Too returns: Well, kind of. The story of Paul MacLeod’s now-closed Graceland Too shrine in Holly Springs, Mississippi, will take to the stage as part of New York Theater Festival in a new play written by Memphis native Nicole Hughes. Hughes visited MacLeod’s 24-hour replica of Graceland back in 2008, several years before the eccentric MacLeod shot and killed a 28-year-old man (and then died the next day). Much about MacLeod’s bizarre death remains a mystery, but Hughes didn’t want his story to die with him.

Mark Resnick, shown here in 2021, is the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s interim director. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)

Brooks looks for new director: The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art announced on Tuesday that they’ve begun a national search for a new permanent executive director. Mark Resnick has served as the Brooks Museum’s acting director since the July 2021 resignation of former executive director Emily Ballew Neff.

Alderman Jeremy Biggs attends an Arlington Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting in March 2020. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian file)

In the budget: Arlington’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the first reading of their $13.67 million budget for the new fiscal year on Monday night. The new budget includes an increase in road maintenance funds and covers the cost of additional staff for some departments. “We were able to meet those needs while maintaining our current tax rate and preserving $15 million in our reserves,” said Alderman Jeremy Biggs. 

Gregory Realty bought the Corner Shops in Lakeland, located at 2961 Canada Road, for $7.8 million. (Submitted by Gill Properties)

Lakeland to Midtown: Memphis-based Gregory Realty has spent nearly $30 million on shopping centers in Lakeland and Germantown. And a new retail shop called Paradox at PeCo, described as “a dealer of oddities and unique treasures,” is planned for the old State Farm office at 248 S. Cooper St. in Midtown. The Daily Memphian’s Neil Strebig has details on these commercial real estate transactions and more in his Inked column.

Last year, 300,000 Memphis households received a package of Idahoan Buttery Homestyle mashed potatoes in the mail. (Jennifer Biggs/The Daily Memphian)

Mash made in heaven: What goes better with barbecue than potatoes? Idahoan Foods, the company that mailed all those free instant mashed potatoes to Memphians back in early 2021, is bringing their Mashed in America Tour to Memphis in May’s World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest next week, and they’re promising “the world’s first immersive mashed potato sampling experience.”

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

After news broke on Tuesday that veteran WDIA host Bobby O’Jay has died, Memphians began offering their condolences on Twitter.

That’s all for today, Memphis! Have a great one. 

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