Cooper Young First Thursday Night Out is when area businesses stay open late and dish out a world of discounts on everything from sushi to antiques. People from all over Memphis come to Cooper Young to enjoy our little neighborhood’s quirky charm on this night once a month from 5 – 9 pm.

While some of the area restaurants and bars host live music, we also host live music at our gazebo area located at the corner of Cooper Street and Young Avenue. At this time, we are looking for singer-songwriters and bands to play from 6 – 9 pm starting in April.

If you are interested in playing at this event, please contact Tamara Cook at 276-7222 or cyba@bellsouth.net.

Barrett Hathcock will be reading an excerpt from his new book The Portable Son on Thursday January 19th beginning at 5:30 – 6:30. The reading will begin at 6 pm.  For more information, please visit the Burke’s Book Store website.

L’HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT

Igor Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat combines acting, symphonic music and dance to tell the story of a Soldier, who possesses a violin, and the Devil, with whom he exchanges it in return for a book which will show him how to obtain all that he can desire. Once the contract has been made, the Devil is hard to evade. Life has a habit of returning to beginnings.  You don’t want to miss the one-time performance of this rarely performed work.  The Memphis Chamber Players composed of members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joseph Montelione, bring Stravinsky’s score to life on the stage with dancers from the New Ballet Ensemble and actors from the Memphis Community.

$10.00 General Admission; $5.00 for Rhodes and CBU faculty and staff, and free to students with ID

To purchase tickets:  call Rhodes Music Office, 843-3775 or email wilsona@rhodes.edu

By Randall Hartzog

The 34rd annual production of A Christmas Carol at Theatre Memphis is coming back to the stage with the veteran stage actor Barry Fuller as Scrooge, the new re-envisioned set from last year, and the vision of four-time A Christmas Carol director Jason Spitzer. After a record breaking debut with the new set more than three decades after the original set was created, the 2011 cast will be scurrying around a London that Christopher McCollum, current resident scenic designer at Theatre Memphis, designed for the traditional holiday classic.
A family favorite tradition in Memphis, A Christmas Carol tells of Ebenezer Scrooge who is approached by the ghostly vision of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, and then sets out on a journey of exploration that ultimately results in Scrooge’s enlightenment. With Fuller returning to play Scrooge for his 11th time at Theatre Memphis, he has stated that “… each new production is as fulfilling as the last.” Fuller was the original Scrooge in the first TM production in 1978.

Spitzer, has traveled to other cities and theaters to see their productions of the show. “Having seen some of the other productions,” he says, “I am very confident and feel good about what we are doing and where we are with this concept. And I am pleased to be working with Barry, the original Scrooge. He is the Scrooge to end all Scrooges!”
Theatre Memphis Executive Producer Debbie Litch agrees. “What could be more special than to re-create a show that is so dear to so many Memphis families with the man that started it all for us as Scrooge? Barry is a true gentleman and professional, and we are very proud that we are able to continue to bring back this gift of ours to the community with him.”

Performance dates for A Christmas Carol are December 2 – 23, Thursdays and Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 7pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Added performances are scheduled for December 19, 20, and 21 (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) at 7pm. Tickets are $28 for adults, $15 for students with a valid ID, $10 for children under 12. Call 901-682-8323 to purchase tickets or go online to  HYPERLINK “http://www.theatrememphis.org” \t “_blank” theatrememphis.org.

By Katie Pemberton

What do Annie, holiday ornaments, and Zumba have in common? They’re all ways to support the Humane Society of Memphis & Shelby County this holiday season!

First up, take in a show at Playhouse on the Square! Now through Dec. 23, Annie will be showing at Playhouse at 66 S. Cooper St., and guess who plays Sandy the dog? One of the Humane Society’s very own residents – Hester. Just 10 months ago Hester was living with her seven puppies in a hole in the wall of a garage when the Humane Society rescued her from a hoarding situation. Now she’s healthy and happy and a part of Playhouse’s Annie cast. Performances will take place at Playhouse Fridays at 7pm and Saturdays at 2pm and 7pm. The Humane Society will be on hand offering merchandise, educating about its mission, and accepting donations at selected performances. For tickets, visit playhouseonthesquare.org or call the box office at 901-726-4656.

Up next, check a few items off your gift list by making a donation to the Humane Society in honor of your loved ones. The Humane Society is offering a special gift item for holiday donations. People wishing to make a donation for loved ones as a holiday gift will receive a commemorative holiday ornament for donations of $10 and up. The honorarium ornaments are available now through the end of the year at the Humane Society.

Lastly, shake your winter blues away at Zumba for a Paws to benefit the Humane Society of Memphis & Shelby County. Zumba for a Paws is a 2-hour Zumbathon featuring many of Memphis’ Zumba instructors, including Kimberly Hawkins, Deontario “Deejay” James, and more; drawings for prizes; healthy snacks; vendors and adoptable pets; plus an exclusive halftime performance by a talented Humane Society dog. Zumba for a Paws will take place Saturday, Dec. 10 from 10am to noon at Mullins United Methodist Church gymnasium at 4 N. Mendenhall Road. Participants who purchase tickets for the drawing, starting at just $1, will be eligible for prizes from The Wine Market, Hollywood Feed, Melanie’s Hallmark, Knick Knack Patty Whack Pet Services, the Humane Society of Memphis & Shelby County, Arbonne, Advocare, and more. There’s one more way participants can help raise money for the Humane Society with Zumba for a Paws – through sponsorships from family and friends. Zumba for a Paws will award prizes to participants who raised the most funds through sponsorships. For more information about Zumba for a Paws or to download the sponsorship form, visit memphishumane.org.

Most of us will remember our pets when the holidays come around; we’ll watch them “open” gifts of plush ducks, frogs, or hamburgers, rawhide bones, and new collars and leashes. The Humane Society hopes that during this time the community will also remember our pets still looking for their forever homes. You can help them by volunteering, donating, or adopting, of course, but also simply by becoming a fan on Facebook or a follower on Twitter and helping the Humane Society get the word out about its programs, fundraisers, and adoptable pets.

By Diana Owen

Cooper-Young’s very own Corey Mesler was kind enough to let me pick his brain after I was bowled over by his poetry. I am about to head to Burke’s Books to pick up his latest book, Gardner Remembers, and per Corey, it’s “a novel told in the form of an interview with (fictional) Memphis musician, Buddy Gardner. It’s small enough to carry in your back pocket or to fit into your Christmas stocking.” Sounds perfect. Now, onto the metaphysical meanderings and questions that surfaced after soaking up some of his poetry.

Q: Your poems radiate from your quest for enlightenment and speak to the intangible. Have there been any local places that have spoken to you and given you verse? If so, which places inspired what poems and how/why?

A: I don’t know if specific places in my hometown have spoken to the poet in me. Certainly the river runs like background soundtrack music to whatever happens in the city. And music runs like a backbeat to the river behind us, too. There really does seem to be something ultra-mundane about the music in this city. You can feel it if you spend any time here at all. You can feel it just walking our city streets. I think, for me, it’s more the whole ambiance of Memphis that fuels my writing. We live in a city of deep soul, a city that embraces funky as if it were a religion, and a city that not only tolerates but celebrates eccentricity. I feel free in Memphis, if that’s not an oxymoron coming from an agoraphobic writer who spends many hours of each day all by himself in front of a glowing screen trying to wring the ineffable out of the effable.

Q: Memphis is enmeshed in the matrix of your writing. How has its presence affected you as a writer? If you are a life-long Memphian, is this something that has been more noticeable as you have gotten older? Or, if you moved here at some point, did Memphis call out to you or have you had a slow and deliberate attachment to our city?

A: I was born in Niagara Falls, NY, but I moved to Memphis when I was 5, if you call suburban Raleigh “Memphis.” At that time, 1960, you did not. Probably the Memphis that is in my head is different from the Memphis that most of us walk around in. It’s a Memphis of myth, of a personal myth that is germane to me alone, that is part of the cloud cuckooland in my sconce. I think it would be impossible to live here and do something creative—write, paint, sing, dance, make pottery, design litter boxes—and not feel like the city has seeped into you, even like the city was part of your process. And living in Midtown, which is the heart of the city, and Cooper-Young, which is the heart of Midtown, I take great pleasure from my bohemian surroundings, with its unconventional denizens, quirky shops, and eateries. I love all my hip neighbors. Many of them actually read books.

Q: Having been a writer for quite some time, do you find yourself more of a poet or a novelist? Do you go through phases of each? When did you know that this was your form of connecting with other souls on this planet? If you would like to describe how your agoraphobia relates to this connection, I am very interested.

A: Some days I feel more like a poet than a novelist or short story writer. Some days I feel more like a bookseller than either. And some days I feel like I couldn’t get elected dog catcher. But, overall, I am most happy with my prose. Poems have become what I write when I can’t get my novel moving. When I was younger all I wrote was poetry…well, bad poetry. I came to prose later. But I am most happy when I am working on a novel, a writing project that takes a couple years. Then I am engaged for the duration of my entire waking existence with this other life, this imaginary one.

As far as connecting to other humans through my writing I suppose that would be the reason to keep doing it, wouldn’t it? Of course, we must keep in mind that my audience is only a dozen or so family members and friends. And only fairly recently did I realize that some people occasionally like something I’ve written. I am not being flippant here. I really didn’t understand that there were a few resilient souls who actually empathized, communed, connected with my writing.

As far as the agoraphobia is concerned, writing is my lifeline. As I’ve said elsewhere, my writing walks around in the world for me.

By Lisa Lynch

Annie

Playhouse on the Square begins the holiday season with the family-friendly classic, Annie. Annie is a spunky Depression-era orphan determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of a New York City Orphanage run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan. In adventure after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan’s evil machinations, befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and finds a new family and home in billionaire Oliver Warbucks.

Annie is directed by Dave Landis, choreographed by Courtney Oliver, and features Sydney Bell, Dani Chaum, Carla McDonald, Irene Crist, Ben Laxton, Kyle Blair, Kelsey Hopkins, Sarah Hoch, and Fred Harpell. Annie runs at Playhouse on the Square November 18 – December 23, Fridays at 7pm and Saturdays at 2pm and 7pm. There are no Thursday performances (except for the Pay-What-You-Can performance on December 22) and no Sunday performances.

Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge

When the Ghost of Christmas Past can’t quite get her supernatural powers to send herself and Scrooge to the right place in time, they wind up at the home of a boozy and disgruntled Mrs. Cratchit. It’s just one of many twists in this Christopher Durang comedy that turns every Christmas cliché on its head. This parody of A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life is, according to NY Theatre.com, “modern, funny, refreshing, and filled with spirit: the sassy kind.”

Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge is directed by Copeland Woodruff and features Claire D. Kolheim, Alice Berry, and Jim Palmer. Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge runs at The Circuit Playhouse, November 25 – December 23, Thursdays – Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm.

Aesop’s Fable-ous Christmas Tree

When Aesop is given a Christmas spin, you’ll find six birds a‘racing (a la The Tortoise and the Hare) and eight reindeer learning that necessity is the mother of invention. A dozen vignettes feature all of your favorite Christmas characters and blend humor, rhythmic elements, rapping, puppetry, poetry, song, and storytelling to create a fast-paced, fun-filled show that will delight the child in everyone.

Aesop’s Fable-ous Christmas Tree is written and directed by Resident Company Member Michael Gravois and features the Playhouse on the Square Theatre for Youth Touring Company. Aesop’s Fable-ous Christmas Tree runs at The Circuit Playhouse December 3 – December 18, Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm. The Pay-What-You-Can performance is Sunday, December 4.

Playhouse on the Square is located at 66 S. Cooper St., and The Circuit Playhouse is located at 51 S. Cooper St. For more information or to make reservations for any of these productions, please call 901-726-4656.

By Sarah Knowles

With their recent decision to expand to a year-round market season, the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market (CYCFM) has a lot to offer for the upcoming holiday season, including their artisan holiday series. If you are still searching for the perfect gift, or better yet, if you have not even started searching for the perfect gift, you will not want to miss this opportunity to purchase unique, affordable, and locally made products.

Memphis artists, makers, and crafters will be selling a wide variety of original, handmade items from fine art, jewelry, and purses to yard decorations, letterpress books, and birdhouses. The CYCFM has established a growing artisan community that you can be a part of by purchasing their creations and supporting the local movement. “It’s amazing how many talented and creative people the market has brought together with the artisan fair,” says local artist Page Baker. With such a diverse group of artisans and work, you are bound to find the thoughtful gift you are looking for.

Baker is a participating local jeweler and metal-smith, is a regular at the market, and has been “influential with the expansion in the artisan community,” says market manager Debbi La Rue. Baker says that making jewelry is a great way to incorporate her love of working with metal with her love of connecting with people. “When I make something that makes another person happy, it is very exciting to me. There is no better feeling than seeing someone wearing a piece that I made and seeing how they have incorporated it into their personal style.” Moreover, Baker praises the market for giving her the opportunity to “interact with shoppers and other artisans in a fun and relaxed environment.”

Avid supporter of the market and artist recruiter Penny Dodds says, “I feel better about giving my money to a local artisan, artist, or merchant. I know where my money goes – into their pockets to feed and support themselves and their families. We do have power to change the dynamics of our economy by making small steps every day. I think farmers markets, by including artisans, help all of us learn from scratch how to spend our money wisely and live well together.”

So don’t let the cold hold you back! Bundle up and come out to the CYCFM holiday series November 26 and December 3, 10, and 17 to experience the vibrant, laid-back artisan market, meet the vendors, and support the movement of shopping locally this holiday season. The market is located in the parking lot of First Congo (1000 S. Cooper) and runs on Saturdays from 9am-1pm.

By Matt Martin

When it comes to seasonal cinema offerings, they can’t all be so sweet. Of course, the winter months should be filled with all the classic Christmas movie moments, from Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas” in front of a roaring fireplace in Holiday Inn, to Jimmy Stewart running down the snowy street shouting holiday praise in It’s A Wonderful Life. No holiday is complete without nights filled with the Grinch, Clark Griswald, and Red Ryder BB guns (if you don’t get these references, you’ve never lived through an American Christmas). In fact, the winter holidays are inseparable from the cinema that came from it. Check out my history of holiday movies article from the December 2010 LampLighter for more on traditional Christmas movies.

But sometimes, as December rolls by, we need more than the standard seasonal film offerings to indulge our festivities. Sometimes we need more than the traditional, the sentimental, and the serious. There are times when cinema fans need something a little off the beaten path; something a little more chaotic and strange, bizarre and unusual. So when you’ve had your fill of the classic yuletide movies this season, here are 15 anti-holiday films to stuff your cinematic stocking. Turn your attention to the underside of “normal” Christmas movies and watch the whole seasonal spirit get turned upside down.

1. RARE EXPORTS – Straight from snowy Finland comes this hyper-dark and very funny holiday horror movie. On Christmas Eve, an archaeological dig unearths a very different and far more lethal Santa Claus. Soon after, children start disappearing. Trying to stop it, one young boy and his father capture Santa, and with the help of other hunters, hold him captive…until his army of “elves” come for their master. From fields filled with slain reindeers to unkillable naked elves, this disturbing yuletide gem is a warped masterpiece.

2. BAD SANTA – Directed by Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Ghost World), this hysterically bleak look at Christmas consumerism is quickly becoming a staple of modern seasonal cinema. Billy Bob Thornton is a thief and a safecracker who every year moonlights as a department store Santa – all the easier to grab the stores loot on Christmas Eve. All that stands in his way is a homicidal, untrustworthy sidekick elf, an out-of-control drinking problem, and a little boy who is convinced he’s the real St. Nick. With phenomenal final performances from John Ritter and Bernie Mac, it’s a bitter glass of eggnog but goes down so smooth.

3. THE REF – Denis Leary is a lowlife thief who specializes in home invasions. But when he takes an unstable and quickly disintegrating couple hostage (played with bitter, caustic insanity by Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis) on Christmas Eve, he becomes the couple’s unwilling therapist as well as their captor. All three leads are in top-of-their-game performances, turning every moment into twisted but honest explosions of unstable families and holiday desperation.

4. BLACK CHRISTMAS – Among all the Christmas horror films, none are as creepy and chilling as this, the original 1974 film (skip the poorly done remake from 2008). A small sorority is getting ready for the holiday break when a series of increasingly disturbing phone calls starts a chain of killings that not only threatens their lives, but turns them against each other. Truly haunting with an insanely dark ending.

5. GO! – Directed by Doug Liman (Swingers, Bourne Identity) and starring Katie Holmes, Timothy Olyphant, and Sarah Polley, this multi-storylined tale of twenty-something ecstasy dealers and players in the L.A. rave scene on Christmas Eve is a blast, tracing several characters as their holiday gets more interesting, even as it’s getting more dangerous. The pacing is fast, the music faster, and the drugged-out visuals are on overdrive. Give in to it.

6. TRADING PLACES – Few people remember that John Landis’ brilliant satire on class conflict and runaway greed in the go-go 80′s is set during a particularly cold Christmas season, with elaborate Christmas trees and festive lights in every shot, reminding us that holiday celebrations are a luxury of the rich. Dan Akyroyd is phenomenal as a millionaire snob who has his wealth and power stripped from him on a bet, but it’s Eddie Murphy in his breakout role that steals the show.

7. GREMLINS – So dark that it was one of the deciding factors in the creation of the PG-13 rating, this “children’s movie” was one of the biggest hits of the 1980′s. A small, sweetly innocent suburb (literally patterned after the iconic small town of It’s A Wonderful Life) is invaded by an army of mischievous beasts after a local teenager is given one as a Christmas gift. Anarchic, fun, and often very creepy, director Joe Dante (The Howling, Innerspace) and producer Steven Spielberg take great pleasure in destroying each and every holiday tradition of small-town life.

8. BRAZIL – Visionary director Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, Monty Python and The Holy Grail) unleashed this terrifying yet hilarious Orwellian nightmare in 1985 to rave reviews. Set during Christmas in a future fascistic society, not too different from our own, hapless low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowery descends into paranoia, fear, and insanity when his attempts to break free from society and chase the girl of his dreams is met with disastrous consequences. Hysterical and horrifying, chilling and unsettling, this absolutely pitch black comedy drowns us in a landscape dominated by runaway technology, state-sponsored terrorism, and blissfully zombified citizens. Sound familiar? Literally decades ahead of it’s time, Brazil is the ultimate dark holiday film. Nothing says Christmas like when your captors give you a Christmas gift…right before they torture you.

9. SCROOGED (with Bill Murray)

10. IN BRUGES

11. THE ICE HARVEST

12. SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT

13. JACK FROST (about a killer snowman…awesome!

14. SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS

15. SANTA VS. SATAN (yes, you are reading that right)

Now gather around the Christmas tree with a candy cane dipped in Arsenic and enjoy these morbid mistletoe masterpieces, guaranteed to add some sardonic spice to your cinematic seasonal feast.

Matt Martin has written movie reviews for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and is co-owner of Black Lodge Video, located on the corner of Cooper and Evelyn. Black Lodge is the largest video store in the eastern US and is a faithful CYCA membership sponsor.

By Renée Massey

I can think of several reasons why you or I might want to pick up a meal or a nice appetizer on our way home any time of the year – a friend just had a baby and could use a break from daily chores like cooking, a neighbor is ill and could use some help with dinners, or an acquaintance is having a potluck. In every case, we might want to help or participate, but we’re busy! During the chaos of the holiday season, that is even more true. However much we love the holidays, it leaves most of us with packed schedules and little time to prepare a meal for ourselves and our families, even when there’s not something special going on like a new baby, an illness, or a party. And as you’ve been learning all year, your Cooper-Young Community Association membership has more to offer than just supporting the mission of making Cooper-Young a safer and more desirable place to live, worship, work, and play. It can get you a discount on that meal that you pick up on the way home!

Fork It Over Catering at 2299 Young Avenue offers a 5% discount on any in-store food purchase when a CYCA membership card is presented. Perfect! Michelle Campbell, owner of Fork It Over, told me, “I am a firm believer that you should support the community that you are in. This community is very supportive of small, local businesses. It is a close-knit community with people who take great pride in where they live and who they are.”

She describes Fork It Over as a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to food. If you are not acquainted with Fork It Over, they provide prepared meals that are ready to heat and eat. Their menu, offering four entrées and six side dishes, changes weekly and is updated every week on their website, forkitovercatering.com. They carry frozen entrées, casseroles, and appetizers in their freezer case. They can cater large parties (think weddings or business cocktail parties) or small book club dinners at home. Catering menus are also on the website. As you head into the holiday season, think about Fork It Over for Christmas and New Year’s parties. They do fried turkeys, spiral hams, and all the fixin’s. In addition to being a membership sponsor, Fork It Over has provided food for CYCA events like the Art for Art’s Sake Auction art preview. So show your thanks for their support by supporting Fork It Over!

Now back to that holiday season. Part of what keeps us so busy during the holidays is, let’s be honest, holiday shopping. Keep it simple this season by shopping close to home. You will be supporting your neighborhood businesses, and at Burke’s Books that CYCA membership card gets you a discount again. Burke’s Books is at 936 South Cooper, and CYCA members get a 10% discount. Owner Cheryl Mesler says that after living in the neighborhood for nearly 20 years, she and husband Corey jumped at the chance to move Burke’s from Poplar Avenue to CY when the opportunity came up. They love the foot traffic in the neighborhood, which encourages patrons from other businesses and restaurants to come in and browse. Browsing at Burke’s Books is encouraged! The Meslers are especially excited about the new coffee-table book Memphians, which features over 200 notable Memphians (including some from Cooper-Young). Stop by Burke’s Books and let the staff show you the new book or maybe buy the Tsunami cookbook or the Cooper-Young history book as a Christmas gift for a friend or neighbor. Shop and give local this year and remember to thank Burke’s Books for being a CYCA sponsor when you go in.

The membership year is ending but a new one is right around the corner. If you are a CYCA member, you will be seeing a membership renewal in your mailbox soon. Please renew to support the unique things happening in this neighborhood. If you are not a member, consider joining us in 2012. You not only receive great discounts like the ones at Burke’s Books and Fork It Over Catering, but you will be supporting the Community Association whose mission is to make Cooper-Young a more desirable place to live, worship, work, and play. You can join by visiting us online at cooperyoung.org, by filling out the membership form on page ? of this paper, or by contacting our office at 2298 Young Ave or 901-272-2922. Thank you for your support!