Opa! It’s Friday, May 9, and the Memphis Greek Festival kicks off today. Go get yourself some moussaka and baklava. Calvary Episcopal Church’s 1935 organ, which made headlines in 2023 when someone made off with the organ’s pipes, has been restored, and they’re celebrating with a concert tonight. 

On Saturday, Tom Lee’s home in Klondike-Smokey City will get an official historic designation during a centennial celebration of his heroic rescue. Also, Shangri-La Records will celebrate the life of late cofounder Jared McStay with Jugfest 2, and Soul & Spirits will bring the smoke (smoked beer, that is) at its Manes on Main Festival. 

Sunday is Mother’s Day, so here’s your reminder to get mom some flowers (or tequila, which is my mom’s preference). If she’s into football, there’s a Memphis Showboats game Sunday at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. For more weekend ideas, we’ve got you covered right here.

THE NEED TO KNOW

After the Madison Avenue location closes, the TJ Mulligan’s at 1817 Kirby Parkway, shown here, will be one of three locations. (Nick Lingerfelt/The Daily Memphian)

Midtown Mulligan’s to close: The TJ Mulligan’s near Overton Square will close after this Saturday, a decision owner Lee Adams blamed on crime. Earlier this month, a security guard at the bar exchanged gunfire with suspects who were apparently trying to steal a car. That followed a previous shooting at the bar in February. Adams claims the area near the bar “has declined as far as safety and security,” but Memphis crime numbers show otherwise.

Gas turbines visible from 3231 Paul R. Lowry Road in Southwest Memphis help power the xAI supercomputer. (Benjamin Naylor/The Daily Memphian file)

To turbine or not to turbine? Elon Musk’s AI company was apparently planning to use dozens of natural-gas turbines to power its second data center in Whitehaven. But now the Greater Memphis Chamber says xAI “has no plans to site any turbines at its Tulane location” and “is demobilizing turbines in Shelby County.” Memphis Light, Gas and Water said earlier this week that the site would need enough electricity to power 40% of Memphis, and the utility wasn’t even sure it could provide that. Turbines and Tesla battery packs can provide a back-up source of power instead, but residents are already concerned about the pollution from existing (and unpermitted) turbines at xAI’s OG location in Southwest Memphis.

DeAndre Brown, center, executive director of the Shelby County Office of Reentry, announced the Frayser Athletic League would restart this year during a rally on Thursday, May 8. (Jody Callahan/The Daily Memphian)

Frayser fights back: On Thursday, May 1, gunfire erupted in a Frayser park, just a block away from where more than 100 students from Libertas School were playing outside. A woman and her son were wounded, but no one was seriously injured. And then, days later, a mass shooting at a Frayser sports bar left two dead and three injured. The two incidents led the Frayser community to stage a rally against gun violence on Thursday. And residents there heard some good news that may give them a little hope.

QUOTED

Kareem Ali said the City of Memphis owes RowVaughn Wells an apology during a rally for Tyre Nichols at the National Civil Rights Museum on May 8. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

“It wasn’t just any jury. It was the most racist, redneck jury to preside over this matter for Tyre Nichols. ”

— Kareem Ali, legal investigator for attorney Ben Crump
Ali and others, including Nichols’ parents, spoke during a protest over Wednesday’s not-guilty verdict for three ex-Memphis police officers charged with killing Nichols. The jury that acquitted the ex-cops was an all-white jury from Hamilton County in East Tennessee. RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mom, called the verdict “devastating.”

THE NICE TO KNOW

Jaylen Wells, pictured here as a kid, told his mom Laketia Wells, “I don’t want to do gymnastics anymore. I just want to play basketball.” (Courtesy Laketia Wells)

Mama Bear Wells: With Mother’s Day just around the corner, we’re shining the spotlight on Memphis Grizzly moms. And today, that’s Laketia Wells, mother of rookie Jaylen Wells. Mama Wells says she got her son into sports just to keep him busy, and he did it all: gymnastics, football, tennis, tee-ball. But basketball was his passion, and that’s where he stuck it out. Wells recounts those early days, as well as her son’s scary fall during an April game against the Charlotte Hornets. And in other Grizz news, our own Chris Herrington ranks his top eight players in his annual post-season roster game.

The Tops Bar-B-Q location on Summer Avenue at National Street has reopened after an October fire that was caused by mechanical issues. (Courtesy Tops Bar-B-Q)

Still smoking: The Vatican wasn’t the only place giving off smoke this week. Tops Bar-B-Q & Burgers reopened the Summer Avenue location that caught fire last fall. It was the first of three locations to close due to fire over the past year, so the Tops CEO said the company did a “fresh, systemwide look at fire safety.” In this week’s Food Files, hot dogs and desserts come together at a pair of partner businesses in Cordova. And in the $15 Deal (inflation is real, y’all), freelance writer Erica Horton has a hot tip on a sweet potato waffle to fuel your Cooper-Young farmers market trip tomorrow morning. 

An artist from the University of Memphis took a selfie in front of the newly unveiled artwork at Ford’s BlueOval site on May 8. (Benjamin Naylor/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Peek inside BlueOval: BlueOval City, Ford Motor Co.’s $5.6 billion electric-vehicle campus, was supposed to begin production this year, but last August, that was pushed back to the second quarter of 2027. So, what’s the site look like now? Reporter Sophia Surrett went on the first media tour of the progress since March 2023. The 3,600-acre, six-square-mile campus is now home to five buildings for the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center and an additional three for future suppliers. A little fewer than 100 employees are now working in offices on the site. But there are still about 2,000 construction workers onsite every weekday.

Conceptual art shows the Medical Education & Research Institute’s plans for a dead-body storage facility on Forest Hill-Irene Road. (Courtesy MNB Architecture)

Over their dead bodies: If you think a warehouse filled with dead bodies sounds like something from a horror film, you might want to avoid this spot on Forest Hill-Irene Road. But it’s just for science! The Medical Education and Research Institute, a nonprofit medical teaching and training school, is planning a new facility there to store bodies that are donated to science. The project was approved by the Shelby County Land Use Control Board on Thursday. 

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

Have you tried driving on the new roundabout at Interstate 55 and Crump Boulevard yet? I can’t imagine that won’t be a hot mess for awhile as Memphians try to figure out all those exit options. 

Momma’s, the dive bar located just down the street, is even having a roundabout party on Saturday!

Good luck, drivers! And have a great weekend!

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