The Early Word: Why billionaire Musk chose us; where to get a millionaire pie
Donut worry, Memphis, the weekend is here. It’s Friday, June 7, National Doughnut Day. The Salvation Army of Memphis and Collierville’s Donut Hutt are giving out free pastries to first responders. Tonight, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” will open at Theatre Memphis, and local playwright Ann Perry Wallace presents her one-woman tribute to Zora Neale Hurston at Voices of the South theater.
On Saturday, there’s a free fest with live music, spoken word and more in the South City neighborhood. And Novel is hosting the annual martini-themed Literatini fundraiser for Literacy Mid-South.
If you need to drive to Arkansas on Sunday, avoid the “old bridge.” It’ll close for two weeks on Sunday. And if you need more ideas, check out The To-Do List.
Just a day after news broke that Elon Musk plans to build an xAI supercomputer at the former Electrolux site, The Daily Memphian’s Samuel Hardiman and Sophia Surrett learned that other Musk-tied firms may consider moving to Memphis, too. And that’s not all they learned: The pair sat down with an anonymous source close to the xAI project, who said the so-called “gigafactory of compute” would use 100,000 H100 Nvidia semiconductor chips. The source also revealed long-terms plans for the site’s massive electric and power needs and shared insight on why Musk chose Memphis (the answer may surprise you). Oh, and if you were thinking the gigafactory would bring a ton of jobs to the city, think again.
If you’ve been dreaming of Seessel’s famous Millionaire Pie for, well, as long as Seessel’s has been closed, you’re in luck. Ronnie Grisanti’s now offers this decadent, icebox pie that’s loaded high with pineapple, pecans and whipped cream. Turns out the restaurant has been sitting on the original Seessel’s recipe for two years, but it took more than math to pare the commercial-sized recipe down to a workable size.
Plus, the University of Memphis jumps on the AI train, the Liberty Bowl needs answers and Zinnie’s is closing (but not forever).
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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