Thursday night, Memphis took a bullet.

Phil Trenary was a friend who I met through work. I think this was probably true of many of Phil’s friends. They met him through work. That’s because Phil’s work, his passion for so many years, was to make Memphis, this city he loved, a better place.

Welcome back to The Memphis 10, the only place where you'll find Marsha Blackburn and the Oblivians hanging out together.

Really unique is really not. Memphis is.

If you believe the polls, Republican Bill Lee is steamrolling toward victory in the Tennessee governor’s race.

As developments across the Downtown Memphis landscape compound, desire for consumption by and connectivity between people is a universal sentiment. Our investors, architects and developers, funders and supporters believe that attracting people is the greatest indicator of a vibrant center city.

(This was my first column some 400-plus columns ago. I was looking for a word that most aptly describes Memphis. Just one word …)

The heritage of Hi Records brackets this first weekly list, with the sound of Al Green and the image of guitarist/songwriter Teenie Hodges making unexpected appearances. Elsewhere, our criminal justice system bears watching, next year’s mayor’s race gets weird, and our food trucks get some pub.

Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn is doing all she can to nationalize her race for the U.S. Senate.