The Early Word: Sawyer wins, school board resets and a Beale club closes
Cheers, Shelby County! It’s Friday, Aug. 2, and you can toast to high fashion tonight at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s champagne tasting to close out designer Christian Siriano’s “People Art People” exhibit. Also tonight, Friends of George’s takes a tiny break from fighting Tennessee’s “adult cabaret” ban to present a drag-themed whodunit play at Evergreen Theatre.
Most Shelby County students are back in class next week, and your last chance to get tax-free school supplies is Arkansas’ Tax-Free Weekend, which runs Saturday through Sunday. So, head on over to the West Memphis Walmart, and then come back across the bridge to cool off at Grind City Brewing Co.’s Lemonade Stand fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
On Saturday night, Hi-Tone owner Brian “Skinny” McCabe celebrates his birthday with an ironic tribute to 2000s testosterone-rock jams (think Nickelback and Creed). Hit up the Goodwill for an Affliction shirt and some of those tight jeans with rhinestones on the butt. For more weekend fun, check out The To-Do List.
Former Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer is now the General Sessions Court clerk. The Democrat beat out Republican Lisa Arnold, a retired clerk’s office employee, in Thursday’s county general election. That win came after attack ads from Arnold’s campaign compared Sawyer to Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert.ing Sawyer to Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert.
The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board is getting an overhaul after four newcomers — Natalie McKinney (2), Tamarques Porter (4), Sable Otey (5) and Towanna Murphy (7) — were elected Thursday night. Only one incumbent was reelected. Voters appeared to offer a referendum on the district’s drawn-out superintendent search with the ouster of District 2 incumbent Althea Greene, who chaired the board for the last two years. McKinney, who defeated Greene, called the first search — following former Superintendent Joris Ray’s resignation — an “abject failure.”
Jerry Lee Lewis’ Cafe & Honky Tonk on Beale Street closed abruptly on Wednesday, leaving more than 20 people without jobs. Employees arrived at work to find furniture being moved out. But sources say the building — originally built for the long-closed Pat O’Brien’s — is being leased by a new group and is expected to reopen this fall under a new name.
Plus, we’ve got an update on The Lake District and an Irish fast-fashion retailer that’s coming to Wolfchase.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian with two decades of experience in local journalism and public relations. She’s a diehard morning person who spends her free time training for marathons and ultras. And she’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South.”
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