The Early Word: xAI powers up next month, and Evergreen eatery expands
Morning, Memphis. It’s Tuesday, July 16, and Memphis-born tombstone etcher and artist John Roberts (not the chief justice of the Supreme Court, mind you) has an art opening tonight at David Lusk Gallery. His hyperrealistic paintings feature farm scenes — and lots and lots of cats.
Elon Musk’s supercomputer is set to turn on Aug. 15. A source close to xAI confirmed the company has received all 100,000 of the chips it needs, and now it’s just a matter of installing those chips. And if you thought your aging Macbook’s fan was loud, you might be concerned that something called a “supercomputer” that’s powered by gas turbines would be, well, super loud. But that same source says nearby neighbors should have nothing to worry about.
Midtown’s Ecco is about to double in size. The Italian eatery in the Evergreen Historic District is taking over the now-closed Diane’s Art, Gift & Home space next door. And that means Ecco will get an additional dining room and event venue, and the bar will be more than twice as long. During the week, the extra space can be rented out for events, but on busy weekends, it’ll be open for dining. Another benefit to the expansion? The larger kitchen means new menu items are coming.
Plus, the city’s bond rating is on shaky ground, Southwest hackers demanded ransom and Scotty Pippen Jr. is playing by the rules.
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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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