Month: January 2013

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Opera Memphis is an innovative cultural asset in Memphis

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30 Days of Opera, a month of unexpected pop-up opera events in Memphis, illustrates the influence and innovation of Opera Memphis.  As the Memphis Daily News has noted, it has been featured in Opera America magazine, and replicated in Chicago.  “What we are becoming is a test lab for a lot of the business model innovations that much larger companies are trying to do,” said Ned Canty, director of Opera Memphis. “From the business perspective we really are out-innovating much larger companies and we’re getting national attention for what we are trying.” … “This is something that has picked up … Continue reading Opera Memphis is an innovative cultural asset in Memphis

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Saint Blues Guitar Workshop launches affordable line

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Saint Blues Guitar Workshop Launches Line St. Blues is a boutique guitar brand started in 1984 in Memphis.  Their guitars became highly sought after, but the production line shut down in 1989.  It was reborn in 2006, and is now located on Marshall down the street from Sun Studios. “It’s a stone’s throw from Sun Studio in an unassuming warehouse, a cavernous space where workers handcraft instruments that will be shipped around the world. The business has an attached storefront, where customers can peruse everything from cigar boxes and washboards to small, unique gifts like bottled gravel from the famed … Continue reading Saint Blues Guitar Workshop launches affordable line

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Welcome International Blues Challenge participants!

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The 29th annual International Blues Challenge came to town Tuesday, and will stay until Saturday.  Welcome to all participants!  Last year’s challenge drew 750 musicians from 14 countries over five days. “Of those Beale Street patrons, only 11 percent were from Tennessee and Mississippi. For the out-of-towners, 80 percent indicated that the International Blues Challenge is the only reason they come to Memphis, with 74 percent of the study participants indicating they would likely return.” (Memphis Daily News) Continue reading Welcome International Blues Challenge participants!

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Memphis neighbor Osceola in pursuit of $1 billion megadeal

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Osceola, Arkansas is a town on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi, north of Memphis.  I used to attend college in St. Louis, and made the 4 hr trip home about once a month.  I usually stopped at this gas station along I-55 that sold Pizza Inn pizzas and Baskin Robbins.  Why is Pizza Inn so striking to me?  Not to digress, but back when I was a wee tyke, around five or six, we had a Pizza Inn in Memphis on Mt. Moriah.  I used to think it was so cool to see pizzas being made.  /digression. Osceola is … Continue reading Memphis neighbor Osceola in pursuit of $1 billion megadeal

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Broad Avenue site finalist for arts grant

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From the CA: Broad Avenue’s Water Tower Art Depot makes short list for funding “The rejuvenation of Broad Avenue may now become two-sided with a project that embraces the street’s industrial buildings and redefines “loading dock.” The proposed Water Tower Art Depot is a finalist for a $400,000 to $600,000 grant from ArtPlace, a national collaboration that supports “place-making.” … The Water Tower Art Depot would not only make Broad’s well known, 140-foot-tall industrial water tower into a public art beacon, the project would transform exterior warehouse spaces into an amphitheater for performance and art exhibits. Power & Telephone Supplyleases … Continue reading Broad Avenue site finalist for arts grant

CREATIVES, Creatives, Events, Innovation, Quality of Life, StartupsLeave a comment

Memphis to host the largest startup conference in the country

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On February 9, Memphis will host the largest startup conference in the country.  Get ready to welcome visitors with open arms.  I’ll be making a surprise return home for my parents.  It should be fun.  Grizzlies game, meeting innovative people, and learning a ton.  Not to mention all the food. The Everywhere Else conference.  1700 entrepreneurs, startup founders, investors, designers, and developers. Over 130 startups from around the world. What are the odds that the Commercial Appeal embarrasses itself with its “journalism”?  If they print daily stories and welcomes to conventioneers, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. But, tell people to support … Continue reading Memphis to host the largest startup conference in the country

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“Opportunity Lost” thanks to Nashville and Tennessee

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Memphis has been home to one of the top-10 liver transplant programs in America.  Steve Jobs selected Memphis for his liver transplant. That status will likely end thanks to a state decision.  The state is Tennessee, and the capital is Nashville.  Unfortunate news, apparently petty politics.  This from the Memphis Flyer: “Eason, director of the center, did a life-saving liver transplant for Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2009 that extended his life two-and-a-half years. It was one of roughly 120 such transplants the center did each year under the old statewide organ-sharing agreement. When the Jobs story finally trickled out, … Continue reading “Opportunity Lost” thanks to Nashville and Tennessee

Broad Avenue, CREATIVES, Midtown, NEIGHBORHOODS, Quality of Life, Quality of Life, StartupsLeave a comment

More activity comes to Broad Avenue

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A couple years ago, Broad Avenue hosted an experiment.  Called A New Face for a New Broad, the experimental event consisted of pop-up businesses occupying empty spaces in buildings.  Broad is a pretty small, walkable stretch near Overton Park, East Parkway, etc. “It’s a two-day realization of a vision held, among others, by the Historic Broad Business District, Livable Memphis and Memphis Regional Design Center. It’s an attempt to show how neighborhood business districts can be made comfortable, human and real again. How they can provide the architecture where people can bump into old friends by chance and make accidental … Continue reading More activity comes to Broad Avenue

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Transformation around Lorraine Motel (Daily News)

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Today is MLK Day.  A day to remember the sacrifice and tragedy that occurred in Memphis, that changed the course of a city. Tuesday, Jan 15, would have been his birthday.   The ripples of the tragedy devastated Memphis’s civic self esteem.  It will be revisited on April 4. In the past 10-15 years, however, Memphis has seen not just a resurgence of civic pride, but tangible proof that optimism and vision can change — a person, a building, a neighborhood, a city.  There is evidence of good things people are doing every day, not relying on excuses, but taking … Continue reading Transformation around Lorraine Motel (Daily News)