Hey, hey, hey, Memphis. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 2, and Downtown’s Design Review Board will review a project for the very nondescript Memphis Municipal Employee Credit Union. You’ve likely driven past the building on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard without ever noticing it.

But the credit union has a history that coincides with the Civil Rights Movement in Memphis, and the planned updates, which will include an “I Am a Man” statue in the lobby, are intended to shine more light on that story. 

THE NEED TO KNOW

The Memphis City Council voted 9-0 Tuesday to buy the Downtown Sheraton for $22 million — as part of a $30 million bond sale — and use $1.5 million from the Center City Revenue Finance Corp. as earnest money. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

You get a hotel, everybody gets a hotel: On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council approved Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s plan for the city to buy Downtown’s Sheraton hotel for $22 million. The unanimous vote came after council members took a little field trip from City Hall to the hotel a few blocks away. They toured the dilapidated rooms that the hotel’s current owners won’t pay to fix. Young has framed the purchase as a way to protect the city’s more than $300 million investment in the attached convention center. The council also approved on Tuesday $16 million in bonds for the mixed-use conversion of the 100 N. Main building and updates to AutoZone Park. 

Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins, flanked by Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner (left) and Memphis Police Interim Chief C.J. Davis, updated the community about threats that prompted mass school lockdowns on Sept. 18. (Screenshot Memphis-Shelby County Schools social media)

Call is coming from inside the house: Late last month, Memphis-Shelby County Schools went on a district-wide lockdown after threats of violence that (thankfully) never panned out. The volume of threats reported statewide to the Tennessee Homeland Security office “are higher than I’ve ever seen,” according to one department leader, but most of those threats aren’t credible. New state laws have upped the consequences for those who make threats, credible or not. As for those MSCS threats, three arrests were made: a teen in Nashville and two local students, one of whom police were able to track by calling a phone from inside the suspect’s house.

Longshoremen carried signs and chanted on Oct. 1 outside the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook, Texas. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP file)

How the longshoremen strike affects us: Thousands of workers walked off the job along the East and Gulf coasts early Tuesday during a strike by the International Longshoreman’s Association. The U.S. Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines, offered a 50% raise to the longshoreman on Monday to try and stave off a strike by their union, but that was rejected. So, what does that mean for Memphis? The 36 ports affected by the strike handle 57% of the goods coming into and out of the U.S., and depending on how long it lasts, it could create shortages of goods and drive up prices. But in the short term, it’s creating more business for Memphis-based FedEx.

MEET MEMPHIS

David Evans strummed his guitar outside his Millington home. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

If you enjoy the hill-country blues music of Jessie Mae Hemphill or R.L. Burnside, you should probably thank David Evans, professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Memphis. Evans went to work for the university (then-Memphis State) in 1978 to lead the musicology graduate program. He launched the school’s High Water Records label and recorded four nearly unknown blues artists, including Hemphill and Burnside. The now-retired Evans has been credited with defining the sound of hill-country blues, which is different from the more prevalent Delta blues. Evans, now 80, is also a performer in his own right. 

THE NICE TO KNOW

Ernie Mellor (right), owner of Hog Wild-Real Memphis Barbecue and A Moveable Feast, was named the 2024 Restaurateur of the Year. (Courtesy Odinn Media)

Caterer is Restaurateur of the Year: The winner of this year’s Tennessee Hospitality and Tourism Association’s highest honor doesn’t even own a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Ernie Mellor, who runs catering companies Hog Wild-Real Memphis Barbecue and A Moveable Feast, has been catering since 1997 and served as a past Memphis Restaurant Association Board chair. The TNHTA noted Mellor’s charitable contributions. Two other Memphis restaurants, both known for their burgers, were recognized during the awards ceremony. 

Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. brought the ball up court in a game against the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 26, in Memphis. (Brandon Dill/AP file)

Nope, nope, nope: One day after the Memphis Grizzlies shared all kinds of optimism on NBA media day, Coach Taylor Jenkins dropped some dreaded words on the first day of training camp Tuesday: “medical update.” Jaren Jackson Jr. is experiencing some tightness in his hamstring. But don’t cancel the season yet; maybe it’s no big deal. But if Jackson’s injury is serious, that’ll make three rotation players injured before the team begins the preseason. Other than that, day one of training camp was focused on the Grizzlies’ new offense strategy, which will give fans a little more movement from all players, rather than two-man pick-and-rolls.

The Daily Memphian will have a permanent office at Clark Tower. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

Truth in place: And that place is Clark Tower. “Truth in place” is our slogan, in case you’ve missed it, and The Daily Memphian is about to have a permanent home in East Memphis’ tallest building. The winter storm over MLK weekend in January flooded our old office in The Lofts Downtown, leaving us homeless for a bit. And we’ve been working in temporary office space in Clark Tower for a few months. But we’ve decided to stay. (Watch out, East Memphis.) Read more about that in Inked, plus news of a new home for local financial firm Red Door Wealth Management.

Joaquin Phoenix, left, and Lady Gaga star in “Joker: Folie à Deux.” (Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP file)

Joker’s on you: In his week’s Memphis Movies This Week column, our own Chris Herrington previews the new “Joker: Folie a Deux,” the second film in director Todd Phillips’ “Joker” series. It opens this week in local theaters and stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker (again) and Lady Gaga as his love interest Harley Quinn. Herrington didn’t love the first one, and it doesn’t sound like he has high hopes for the second. But he does recommend “The Outrun” (about a woman who goes to rehab and returns to her childhood home) and the 20th anniversary screening of “Mean Girls.”

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

Shout out to Marcus Dickerson (aka The Water Guy), who sells cold drinks at the corner of East Parkway and Poplar Avenue in Midtown. He’s out there rain or shine.

Hope you have a happy hump day, and I’ll see you soon. 

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