The Early Word: A look at city spending and how to buy Corky’s BBQ on TV
Hope you’re ready to swing on into the weekend, friends. It’s Friday, Aug. 16, and the FedEx St. Jude Championship continues. We’ve got a look at today’s pairings (and Thursday’s scores). And as Elvis Week draws to an end, the quirky, kitschy Graceland Too museum, which has been closed since 2014, reopens today in Holly Springs.
It’s a big night for theater, as “Grease” opens at Theatre Memphis, TikTok-famous musical “Ride the Cyclone” opens at Germantown Community Theatre and “Waitress” opens at Playhouse on the Square.
On Saturday, lords, ladies, wenches and knaves will gather at Wiseacre Brewing Co. for the Memphis Renaissance Faire. (Yes, there will be turkey legs, but there will also be tacos. Pick your poison.) That night, you’ll want to swap the hoop skirt for a hula skirt (and some fake blood), as Black Lodge closes out its last Saturday with a zombie luau. The last-ever Black Lodge event is a matinee show by the Bluff City Liars on Sunday.
Remember back in July when Fitch Ratings revised the City of Memphis’ bond outlook to negative over the city’s spending from its fund balance? The Daily Memphian filed a public-records request to figure out how the city spent the $74.5 million in the previous fiscal year that sparked bond-agency worry. About $40 million of it was spent from the city’s rainy-day fund, so our own Samuel Hardiman explains how that fund works and why most of money spent from the city’s fund balances went to public safety employees and the Memphis Area Transit Authority.
The TV station that convinced you to order a night light for your toilet at 3 a.m. is also the reason Corky’s BBQ owner Jimmy Stovall has supposedly sold more barbecue than any other person alive. Stovall has been selling Corky’s Memphis-style ribs on QVC since 2001, sometimes selling 120,000 to 140,000 racks of ribs in a single day. Restaurant patrons got a special treat this week as QVC’s Foodie Travel Series filmed a live episode from the Poplar Avenue location in honor of the restaurant’s 40th anniversary.
Plus, Chris Kirk leads the FedEx St. Jude Championship with a hole-in-one, the Memphis Grizzlies schedule drops and the Baklava Lady gets her own place.
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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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