Opinion: Support radio that ‘just sounds like Memphis’
At WYXR, a cast of musicians with global name recognition see the station as a vehicle to express a fascination with not only Memphis’ music, but Memphis’ people.
Jared Boyd
Reporter
There are 319 articles by Jared Boyd :
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April 2021
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Opinion
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November 2020
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Special reprint
MusicSaxophonist’s 90 years told through the stories he shared
Ninety-year-old saxophonist Herman Green, who was featured in this article by Jared Boyd last May, died Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020 at his home. Memorial Park Funeral Home has charge.
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Arts & Culture Boyd: Afrofuturism, via 8Ball & MJG
In a career that spans nearly three decades, Marlon “MJG” Goodwin and Premro “8Ball” Smith, are known for their reality raps about the seedy underbelly of society in the Mid-South, but rarely given credit for their ability to pair those observations with a heavy dose of imagination and sobering social commentary.
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Arts & Culture Two Memphis DJs share their East African heritage
For Ramzi Abdoch and Allan Yongo, DJs on WYXR, “pop music” is filtered through their world views and inspired by their lineages.
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October 2020
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Arts & Culture Boyd: Memphis hip-hop is Halloween’s soundtrack
While the rest of the world bobs for apples, fans of hardcore Memphis rap bob their heads to a collection of artists in the 1990s who built a repertoire around slasher film samples, cartoonish descriptions of grotesque violence and occult imagery.
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Arts & Culture Boyd: From ‘Faithfully Memphis’ to ‘3 Black Chicks,’ a music station makes time to talk
WYXR was launched on Oct. 5 with a one-time, hours-long musical marathon.
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Music ‘At WYXR, Memphis is our format’
The vision for the new era of the radio station is to truly, purely and honestly represent Memphis and its surrounding area.
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September 2020
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Music GonerFest aims to shift festival atmosphere online
GonerFest, the internationally known purveyor of one of Memphis’ most famous exports, rock music, takes a step beyond livestreaming to replicate the intangibles that make each year’s event feel like a meeting place.
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Music Gospel collection proves ‘The Last Shall Be First’
Though initially regarded as the second-tier of talent in a stable of gospel acts led by record producer and DJ Juan Shipp, acts of the JCR Records label are enjoying a revival with the help of a new vinyl reissue.
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Subscribers only
Arts & CultureWendy Moten’s voice influenced Japan’s soul assembly line
Memphis soul singer Wendy Moten’s 1990s pop career left a lasting impression in Japan, where American commodities are often given a new context.
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Arts & Culture Ballet Memphis stretches into virtual dance season
"Arts matter, dance matters," Ballet Memphis CEO Gretchen Wollert McLennon says. "Arts are a respite and a celebration. They change lives, they employ people."
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Neighborhoods Levitt Shell, Graceland tagged with BLM, anti-police graffiti
Levitt Shell officials say the pandemic has left them in dire financial straights and vandalism is devastating. Graceland was also tagged with graffiti.
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August 2020
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Arts & Culture Shop owners reimagine Record Store Day with social distancing
Record Store Day will be several days this year, with stores varying how they let people in. The pandemic has forced retailers and store reps to find creative ways to package and promote records.
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Arts & Culture Mixer gives professionals virtual space to ‘Link Up’
Milton "Memphis" Howery's quarterly professional mixer, The Link Up, continues now as a virtual happy hour.
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Metro Coronavirus: Number of Tennessee tests tops 2 million
In addition to two real-time deaths from COVID-19 reported in the last 24 hours, the health department says 11 new deaths will be added to the total of Shelby County citizens who have died from complications of the novel coronavirus.
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Neighborhoods South Memphis community lines up to celebrate Charles Champion
Pioneering Black pharmacist Dr. Charles Champion was showered with adoration by motorists in South Memphis with a drive-thru celebration outside his neighborhood drug store.
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Subscribers only
Arts & CultureMemphis musicians continue protests in tradition of ‘message music’
Adopting Stax Records' approach to tackling Black liberation through song, several local artists responded to recent protests with lyrical activism.
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Arts & Culture Stax Music Academy uses technology to connect with students
On its 20th anniversary, the Stax Music Academy is using the break from in-person instruction to prioritize solo musicianship over live performance.
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Arts & Culture Fans mourn Elvis in abbreviated ceremony, livestream
Elvis Week ended with an abbreviated version of the annual candlelight vigil, commemorating the death of the iconic entertainer.
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Arts & Culture The Orpheum launches onstage golf course
Expecting to lose $2 million, due to the pandemic, The Orpheum Theatre Group launched a socially distant onstage golf course to earn money during the break from their performance schedule.
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Metro New case 7-day average falls to lowest point since June
Shelby County’s 7-day moving average of new coronavirus cases has fallen to its lowest point in nearly two months, while today’s newly reported cases came in at 256.
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Arts & Culture Soul festival celebrates Memphis music – in Italy
Memphis is the central focus of the Porretta Soul Festival held in Porretta Terme, Italy, an hour outside Bologna.
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Arts & Culture To reach the world, Jon Hassell first found himself in Memphis
Hassell, who has collaborated with Brian Eno, Talking Heads and Ry Cooder, remembers a transformative introduction to music in his hometown: “You just never forget the things that happened first in your life.”
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Arts & Culture Jerry Chipman’s stage was Memphis
From 1971 until his retirement in 2012, Chipman served over St. Jude’s communications and marketing sector, while also maintaining a presence first on stage, and later in television and film.
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Arts & Culture Meet Skinny Finsta: Germany’s premier ‘Memphis’ rapper
Some of the brightest stars of “Memphis rap” live on message boards and Twitter threads, instead of the banks of the Mississippi. Skinny Finsta's hometown is Heidelberg but it's the Bluff City sound that inspires him.
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