StoryBoard 30

“Somehow my performing created this safe place where they could talk and share their stories. . . and the conversations that came from that. . . it was really something. People were moved, not just by what I shared, but they were moved deeply by what each other shared, Black and White, about what it was like to grow up in Memphis, Black and White, and to know about racism and deal with that...

“Private wealth and public poverty . . . the notion is that while in America we’ve accumulated vast wealth in the private and corporate sector, that when we look at the public sector, in terms of public facilities it’s a status of real impoverishment. And that certainly would be the case with the loss of a facility like this . . . The church was everything. Like so many of us growing up in the South, the church is your second home. I lived on Summer Avenue growing up, and that was home...

“History’s not stuffy. And it’s not as far away as you think it is. And either looking at the images and wondering ‘where is this?’ and ‘why is it different?’ and ‘what does that mean?’ . . . makes you feel more connected to the city and with the past. You realize that ‘Oh, these are people like me, and they have the same concerns and the same fears and same challenges.’ I find it inspiring to see how people overcame these challenges in the past and how it informs the future...

“The Central Gardens Home & Garden Tour is an anticipated event every fall, we’ve been doing it annually for (40+) years, and it’s something that people in Memphis and the greater Mid-South really look forward to. We were on target to have an amazing tour, and then (after the pandemic shutdown in March) the committee got together and said Hey guys, we’re going to have to make a decision...

“I think I’ve asked every person that I’ve met here. Where do you find your truth? What do you read? What do you watch? Most people look at me blankly and can’t really answer me because, well, does it exist? I end up having to look for raw data because that can’t lie. So I guess you try and make your arguments out of the raw data, whether it’s FBI statistics or economic statistics, because everything is skewed...

“I became very verklempt. It was such a wonder to play it and hear it again. It’s hard to describe. When I was down here and the organ was being demonstrated, he (Tony Thomas) was playing ‘There Will Never Be Another You.’ And I had a flashback. All those hundreds of people who courted in this theatre, during the war . . . they were all around me. Funny how that happens. It’s amazing, really, when you think through all of this, all the things that have happened in this room . . ...

“We’ve never seen anything like this in our lifetime. It’s traumatizing. And some people have better coping skills than others and have a support system. If you don’t have a well-developed support system and then you’re isolated . . . some of the things that are happening with mental health and substance abuse . . . it’s really tragic. We’ve seen people that have been sober for a decade that relapsed and went back to using because they just didn’t know any other way to deal with the stress...

“Sometimes they see things I don’t see, like in this book. . . where the children know something the adults don’t. In this story that does happen, and I think it does sometimes happen in real life, and that children can clue us into things. There came a point in this story where mom realizes Josephine was already on to the truth in a way that mom had not yet come to...

“These venues provide a laboratory for growth. I’ve played some big gigs and a small gigs, but honestly some of the most substantial exponential growth I’ve ever had was here in town, like with regular gigs. It wouldn’t have happened were it not for those venues.” ~Steve Selvidge, Memphis musician

“If there hadn’t been independent venues, we wouldn’t have had a place to play — at the outset, and almost at any point along our arc of being a band, to the current day...

“Memphis is a city based on contradictions. And great things have happened because of cultural collisions and contradictions. And what makes it great is the fact that you can go to a small venue that’s doesn’t even have a stage and see some of the most amazing people making some of the most amazing music. I’ve been around a lot of places, seen a lot of people play. It’s not just Memphis pride. There’s something special here...