Fright-tober at Crosstown Theater: Us
2021-10-23 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Concourse presents a matinee screening of Us at Crosstown Theater.
Throughout the month of October, Crosstown Concourse presents Fright-tober at Crosstown Theater! Join us every Saturday in October for spooky, kid-friendly matinees (2 pm) and even spookier adult-themed horror films in the evenings (7 pm). Films programmed by Crosstown Arts. Tickets are free, but capacity is limited so registration is required.
Register here
Us (2019, Rated R)
A family’s serene beach vacation turns to chaos when their doppelgängers appear and begin to terrorize them.
Director: Jordan Peele
Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elisabeth Moss

Crosstown Arthouse presents The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari w/ live score by The Pop Ritual
2021-10-28 14:30 - 16:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with a live score by The Pop Ritual at Crosstown Theater. 1920/75 minutes/Rated M
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
The Masterpiece of German Expressionism and horror, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the story of a megalomaniac doctor who uses a sleepwalker that he seems to control to carry out a series of murders. Crosstown Arts’ presentation of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari will feature a live score featuring the original music of The Pop Ritual, a Memphis-based industrial, psyche-pop trio.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

Don Lifted
2021-10-29 15:00 - 16:00
Crosstown Arts presents Lawrence Matthews, also known as Don Lifted, at Crosstown Theater.
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 8 pm
Tickets: $15 general admission
$10 student tickets (limited availability, available at the door)
Multidisciplinary artist Lawrence Matthews, also known as Don Lifted, will transform Crosstown Theater visually and sonically with new music from his Fat Possum debut “325i.” The performance, which will have limited capacity to ensure the health and safety of guests, features immersive visual installations following the narrative of the new record and staples from his previous releases, Alero and Contour (2017, 2018).
New merchandise will be available for purchase, as well as vinyl copies of the new album. After the performance, stop by Memphis Listening Lab for a meet-and-greet and vinyl signing with Don Lifted.
Production on his most recent album began in late 2019, after his first national tour. 325i finds the artist physically stuck, but emotionally and romantically expanding. Written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the album explores the artist’s navigation of his future, both romantic and physical, as well as their anxieties surrounding isolation, queerness, and past traumas. The album represents transition, not only artistically, but in the embracing of an identity suppressed by an outside world he can no longer touch. In 2021, the record was finished and mastered in Hollywood by Grammy Award-winning Engineer Mike Bozzi (Flower Boy, Ctrl, Good Kid, Maad City, To Pimp A Butterfly, IGOR, This is America).
All attendees are required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Seating will be socially distanced based on ticket grouping, and the show will start promptly at 8pm.
Artist Bio
Matthews is a multi-disciplined creative, predominantly working in music, visual arts, and film. Matthews’ style incorporates elements of hip-hop, alternative rock, and electronic music, resulting in emotionally vulnerable storytelling and eclectic production. After receiving his B.F.A. from The University of Memphis, Matthews carved out a career in fine art with his socially informed painting, photography, and non-profit work becoming a beacon for aspiring black youth in Memphis and resulting in multiple awards, collection acquisitions, and exhibitions spanning galleries and museums across the Mid-south. As Matthews maintained a successful visual art career and released various free albums under the name Don Lifted, he built the resources and fanbase to release his first two commercial projects, Alero and Contour in 2017 and 2018. In the fall of 2019, supported by EgglestonWorks, he booked his first tour; it started in Memphis before hitting Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. At a mid-tour hometown show, he caught the eye of famed producer Matt Ross-Spang, which led to Matthews signing a deal with Fat Possum Records. Matthews then spent 2020 in near-isolation crafting what would be his label debut “325i,” slated for release on October 22, 2021.

Fright-tober at Crosstown Theater - Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit
2021-10-30 09:00 - 11:00
Crosstown Concourse presents a matinee screening of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit at Crosstown Theater.
Throughout the month of October, Crosstown Concourse presents Fright-tober at Crosstown Theater! Join us every Saturday in October for spooky, kid-friendly matinees (2 pm) and even spookier adult-themed horror films in the evenings (7 pm). Films programmed by Crosstown Arts. Tickets are free, but capacity is limited so registration is required.
Register here
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit (2005, Rated G)
Wallace and his loyal dog, Gromit, set out to discover the mystery behind the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable-growing contest.
Directors: Steve Box, Nick Park
Starring Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham Carter, and Ralph Fiennes

Fright-tober at Crosstown Theater: Candyman
2021-10-30 14:00 - 16:00
Crosstown Concourse presents a matinee screening of Candyman at Crosstown Theater.
Throughout the month of October, Crosstown Concourse presents Fright-tober at Crosstown Theater! Join us every Saturday in October for spooky, kid-friendly matinees (2 pm) and even spookier adult-themed horror films in the evenings (7 pm). Films programmed by Crosstown Arts. Tickets are free, but capacity is limited so registration is required.
Register here
Candyman (1992, Rated R)
The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster’s myth.
Director: Bernard Rose
Starring Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, and Tony Todd

Crosstown Arthouse presents No Ordinary Man
2021-11-04 14:30 - 16:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Aisling Chin-Yee & Chase Joynt’s No Ordinary Man at Crosstown Theater. 2020/83 minutes/Rated M
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
American jazz musician Billy Tipton developed a reputable touring and recording career in the mid-twentieth century, along with his band The Billy Tipton Trio. After his death in the late 80s, it was revealed that Tipton was assigned female at birth, and his life was swiftly reframed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. The genre-defying documentary No Ordinary Man seeks to correct that misrepresentation by collaborating with trans artists. As they collectively celebrate Tipton’s story as a musician living his life according to his own terms, they paint a portrait of a trans culture icon. No Ordinary Man features leading voices and breakout stars in the trans community, including Marquise Vilsón, Scott Turner Schofield, Susan Stryker, C. Riley Snorton, and Thomas Page McBee, among others.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

Crosstown Arthouse presents Funeral Parade of Roses
2021-11-11 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses at Crosstown Theater. 1969/105 minutes/Rated R
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
A combination of art film, documentary, and narrative, Funeral Parade of Roses takes a deep dive into gay subculture in late 1960s Tokyo, Japan. In between the loose narrative, characters are interviewed about their lives and gender identity and occasionally the fourth wall is broken, revealing the crew making the film. A wild combination of film technique, documentation of ’60s Japanese pop culture and gay life, Funeral Parade of Roses is a CAN’T MISS!

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

Mempho presents The Wood Brothers
2021-11-12 13:00 - 16:00
A roots music trio featuring brothers Chris (upright bass, vocals) and Oliver Wood (guitars, vocals) along with multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix, the Wood Brothers bring a distinctive flair to their union of folk, blues, gospel, and jazz.

Featuring an opening performance by Sean McConnell
Doors at 6 pm | Sean McConnell 7 pm | The Wood Brothers 8 pm
Tickets: $30-$45
Will call at 5 pm
*Mempho Presents has requested proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required and must be worn unless actively eating or drinking.
* We will be conducting security checks upon entering the venue. Prepare to have your bags searched. No large bags. If your bag is too large, you will be asked to bring it back to your car.
“Everyone has these little kingdoms in their minds,” says Chris Wood, “and the songs on this album all explore the ways we find peace in them. They look at how we deal with our dreams and our regrets and our fears and our loves. They look at the stories we tell ourselves and the ways we balance the darkness and the light.”
That balance of darkness and light is at the heart of Kingdom In My Mind, The Wood Brothers’ seventh studio release and their most spontaneous and experimental collection yet. Recorded over a series of freewheeling, improvised sessions, the record is a reckoning with circumstance, mortality, and human nature, one that finds strength in accepting what lies beyond our control. Thoughtfully honing in on the bittersweet beauty that underlies our doubt and pain, the songs grapple with the power of our external surroundings to shape our internal worlds (and vice versa) through vivid character studies and unflinching self-examination. The lyrics dig deep here, but the arrangements always manage to remain buoyant, drawing from across a broad sonic spectrum to create a transportive, effervescent listening experience that’s indicative of the trio’s unique place in the modern musical landscape.
“My brother came to this band from the blues and gospel world, and my history was all over the map with jazz and R&B,” says Chris Wood, who first rose to fame with the pioneering trio Medeski Martin & Wood. “The idea for this group has always been to marry our backgrounds, to imagine what might happen if Robert Johnson and Charles Mingus had started a band.”
Kingdom In My Mind follows The Wood Brothers’ most recent studio release, 2018’s One Drop Of Truth, which hit #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and garnered the band their first GRAMMY Award-nomination for Best Americana Album. NPR praised the record’s “unexpected changes and kaleidoscopic array of influences,” while Uncut hailed its “virtuosic performances and subtly evocative lyrics,” and Blurt proclaimed it “a career-defining album.” Tracks from the record have racked up roughly 8 million streams on Spotify alone, and the band took the album on the road for extensive tour dates in the US and Europe, including their first-ever headline performance at Red Rocks, two nights at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore (captured on their 2019 release, Live At The Fillmore), and festival appearances everywhere from Bonnaroo to XPoNential.
On past records, the band — brothers Oliver and Chris Wood, and Jano Rix — would often write a large batch of songs and then deliberately capture them all at once, but when it came to making Kingdom In My Mind, The Wood Brothers began recording without even realizing it. At the time, the trio thought they were simply breaking in their new Nashville recording studio/rehearsal space, laying down a series of extended instrumental jam sessions with engineer Brook Sutton as a way to learn the lay of the land. Some rooms, they found, were spacious with natural reverb, others were tight and dry; some recording setups required a gentle touch, others encouraged blistering energy.
“We weren’t performing songs,” explains Oliver. “We were just improvising and letting the music dictate everything. Normally when you’re recording, you’re thinking about your parts and your performances, but with these sessions, we were just reacting to each other and having fun in the moment.”
There was something undeniably alive and uninhibited about those performances, and after listening back, the band realized they’d never be able to recreate such spontaneous magic. So, like a sculptor chipping away at a block of marble, Chris took the band’s sprawling improvisations and carefully chiseled out verses and choruses and bridges and solos until distinctive songs began to take shape, songs that reflected influences and elements of the band (like Jano’s smoldering piano work and Chris’s affinity for Latin and African music) that had never shone through in quite the same way before. From there, the brothers divvied up the material that spoke to them most, penning lyrics both separately and together as they pondered what it takes to know contentment in our chaotic and confusing world.
The jaunty “Little Bit Sweet,” which was born from the band’s very first session, learns to appreciate the ups and downs in the circle of life, while the soulful “Cry Over Nothing” and hypnotic “Little Blue” playfully meditate on ego and perspective, and the funky “Little Bit Broken” celebrates the imperfections that make us human. Tracks like the bluesy “A Dream’s A Dream” and hypnotic “Don’t Think About My Death,” meanwhile, grapple with separating truth from fiction, ultimately coming to terms with the fact that our brains will always find new ways to blur those lines. Though the album advocates for acceptance, it’s not a passive brand the brothers sing about, but rather one rooted in strength and empowerment. To understand exactly what that means, look no further than album opener “Alabaster,” which paints a deeply empathetic portrait of a woman who’s broken free from the shackles of her old life and started over fresh.
“At the same time we were making this album, we were looking for some sort of philanthropic organization we could support with our music and in a bit of synchronicity, we came across this great group called Thistle Farms, which was based just down the street from our studio,” says Oliver. “Their goal is to help women who have been victims of sex trafficking or prostitution or addiction to get off the street and into safe housing where they can participate in therapy and job training. The work they were doing was so inspiring and it felt like such a fit with the kind of album we were writing that we teamed up with them to donate a portion of ticket sales from all our shows. It’s our way of using what we’ve got to do whatever good we can in the world.”
More than anything, it’s that mindset, that recognition that we’ve all been dealt our own particular hand of cards and life is in the way we play them, that defines Kingdom In My Mind. As Oliver sings on the captivating “Satisfied,” which finds its narrator wondering about the glories of the afterlife before ultimately deciding to make the most of his time on Earth, “I’ve got nothing left to be afraid of / Because I will be satisfied.” With an album this remarkable, The Wood Brothers have plenty to be satisfied about.

Mahogany Chamber Performances: A Night of Brass
2021-11-15 13:30 - 15:00
Join us for A Night of Brass chamber music with a program curated by Artina McCain, featuring works by local composer Evan Williams, the swinging tunes of David Wilborn, Gershwin, and more at Crosstown Theater!
Tickets $15
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Internationally acclaimed pianist Artina McCain will share the stage with special guest artists Burt Mason, Courtney D. Jones, Martin McCain, Robert Fant, and David Spencer.
ARTINA MCCAIN, piano
Described as a pianist with “power and finesse” (Dallas Arts Society), “beautiful and fiery” (KMFA Austin), and having a “sense of color, balance and texture” (Austin Chamber Music Center), Artina McCain has a built a three-fold career as a performer, educator, and speaker. Recent performance highlights include guest appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Oregon East Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist, her credits include performances at the Mahidol University in Bangkok, Hatch Recital Hall in Rochester, and in 2022, her debut at Wigmore Hall in London.
Dedicated to promoting the works of Black and other underrepresented composers, McCain curates Black Composers Concerts for multiple arts organizations and is an American Prize winner for her solo piano recordings of these works. Recently, she won a Gold Global Music Award for her recent solo album project Heritage. Currently, she is Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at the University of Memphis. Artina McCain is a Yamaha Artist.
BURT MASON, trombone
Burt Mason performs regularly with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, serves on faculty at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program and is principal trombone of the Chamber Orchestra of New York. He has appeared as guest artist with the NY Philharmonic and as soloist with numerous ensembles, performing worldwide. As an advocate for diversity in the arts, he is founder and director of Ovation Concerts, an organization dedicated to balanced diversity in orchestral music. He has appeared as a guest on WQXR’s “Conducting Business” with Naomi Lewin to discuss the history and future of classical music and American orchestras.
Mr. Mason holds a BA in Music from the Crane School of Music studying with Mark Hartman, an MBA in Arts Administration from Binghamton University, and an MM in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music studying with David Finlayson. He has had additional studies with Joseph Alessi and Weston Sprott. Mr. Mason is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician and will make his Carnegie Hall solo debut in March 2018.
COURTNEY D. JONES, trumpet
The newest directions in 21st Century trumpet performance are being explored and defined by Courtney D. Jones, an award-winning Bach-performing and recording artist who has also emerged as a leading figure in contemporary performance and pedagogy, conducting, and service to inner-city youth through music outreach programs. An artist who transcends stylistic boundaries, Courtney has performed with classical ensembles and orchestras throughout the United States and internationally and has won multiple solo awards and accolades through regional and national trumpet competitions.
Besides performing with well-known jazz and popular artists, he has shared the stage with famous artists or groups such as Kenny Burrell, B.B. King, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Rihanna, Lalo Schifrin, Vanessa Williams, Boy George and The Culture Club, and Stevie Wonder. In addition to his solo performance career, Courtney has performed classical music as a featured soloist or collaborative artist with the Golden States Pop Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony Orchestra, the Macao Orchestra (China), the Pasadena Orchestra, the Debut Orchestra, the Inspiravi Chamber Orchestra, the Orchid City Brass Band, the Oslo Philharmonic (Norway), the Long Beach Opera, Symphony of the Americas, the Los Angeles Trombone Collective in collaboration with James Miller, the Salt-River Brass Band, the Gateways Festival Orchestra, and was appointed Musical Director of the Orchid City Brass Band of South Florida. Courtney is also represented by the Naxos and Summit Music labels and his feature film and television credits include music performed for Glee, Notes from Dad, Cougar Town, and Criminal Minds, among other works mentioned on his personal website’s media category.
MARTIN MCCAIN, trombone
Bass trombonist Martin McCain’s career spans an impressive range of musical genres. He is a four-time winner of the Global Music Awards and was featured as their “Emerging Artist” in Billboard magazine. A third-generation musician, Martin maintains a versatile performance schedule as a soloist, recording artist, chamber, orchestral, jazz/commercial musician, and educator. His performances have been described as “solid and masterful,” (International Trombone Association Journal) with a “warm and beautiful” tone (Glissando Magazine).
McCain’s international recital credits include concerts at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (Singapore), Mahidol University in (Thailand), the Zagreb Academy of Music in (Croatia), and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. His performances and arrangements have been broadcast on CKWR Toronto, Radio Television Hong Kong, and NPR’s “Performance Today.”
As a soloist, Martin has performed with the Croatian Army Wind Band, United States Army Concert Band “Pershing’s Own” and the United States Army Brass Quintet. He is a prizewinner in multiple competitions including the International Trombone Association’s Donald Yaxley Solo Bass Trombone Competition, the Kai Winding Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition, in addition to the American Trombone Workshop’s National Bass Trombone Solo Competition and Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition.
DAVID SPENCER, trumpet
David Spencer is one of the few musicians of his generation to enjoy international acclaim in so many diverse areas of the profession. His orchestral career as principal trumpet has spanned the continents of Asia, Europe, and the Americas in addition to the numerous guest principal posts he has served in worldwide. He is active as a soloist on almost every continent and enjoys a rich body of collaborative work with chamber ensembles, singers and in television and film. In the late ’80s, he was a fixture on the K-Pop scene, arranging and recording numerous number-one selling singles in Asia, fusing his abilities as a jazz musician with a keen sense of regional tastes and popular forms. Today, he continues to inspire with an increased focus on teaching the musicians of the 21st century. His ongoing appointments as a visiting artist and professor in both China and Brazil, have attracted countless students to his studio. A passionate advocate for music education, Dr. Spencer serves as a mentor and consultant to numerous international schools focused on developing innovative curricula, it’s implementation, and assessments. Trained in the best of both European and American pedagogical traditions, Dr. Spencer began his musical studies as a young boy while living in Western Scotland. His research interests are currently focused on the delivery of high-quality applied music instruction and synchronous performance in innovative ways across networks, integrating the latest and best technologies.
ROBERT FANT, French horn
Dr. Robert Fant is a highly sought after teacher, musician, and composer who brings a world perspective to his work. He is currently the Assistant Professor of Horn at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee. Previous positions include Assistant Professor of Horn at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Professor of Horn at MidWestern State University in Texas, and scholar, teaching, guest, or assistant positions at the University of North Texas, Trinity College London (guest), Royal Northern College of Music (ABRSM Scholar), University of Wisconsin, and the College Conservatory of Music – University of Cincinnati. He has regularly maintained a studio of private students during his performance career and strives to always inspire students to reach their goals. He has guided students to further study programs, full-time employment in performing ensembles, and increased their joy of horn and music. Early development of horn players is a particular education goal. For example, while in Texas he maintained a large studio of private students in Texas and had multiple “All-Staters” in the competitive state audition system at all levels from 7th to 12th grade. Robert spends most summers teaching children in India and performing around the country for a charity.

Crosstown Arthouse presents Million Dollar Mermaid
2021-11-18 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Mervyn LeRoy’s Million Dollar Mermaid at Crosstown Theater. 1952/115 minutes/Rated G
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
Swimmer and actress Esther Williams wanted to tell the life story of Australian swimmer and actress Annette Kellerman, and Million Dollar Mermaid is that film! A feast for the eyes with choreography by Busby Berkeley! Esther Williams broke her neck and was temporarily paralyzed for this entertainment!! With Victor Mature (Head: The Monkees Movie) and Jesse White (The Maytag Repair Man!).

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

Crosstown Arthouse presents Chungking Express
2021-12-02 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Chungking Express at Crosstown Theater. Wong Kar-wai / 1994 / 102 minutes / Rated PG-13
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
From JANUS: The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express is one of the defining works of ’90s cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye (Faye Wong) works. Anything goes in Wong’s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” into tokens of romantic longing.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

An Evening of Sacred Soul with Elizabeth King and Elder Jack Ward
2021-12-03 13:00 - 14:30
A special evening showcasing Memphis sacred soul from the late 1960s to present day at Crosstown Theater. With an exclusive showing of The D-Vine Spirituals story documentary followed by performances by Elizabeth King and Elder Jack Ward, supported by the Sacred Soul Sound Section. A meet-and-greet/record signing with the artists will be held at Memphis Listening Lab at 6 pm, prior to the show.
Tickets: $25
Doors at 6 pm | Show at 7 pm
About Elizabeth King:
Memphis soul gospel queen Elizabeth King recorded her first single in 1970, and if all had gone as planned, she would have made her first album a few years later. Instead, it took another half century, but Living In The Last Days, the latest sacred soul long player from Memphis’ Bible and Tire imprint, captures King at the height of her powers, with the intervening decades only serving to stoke the flames of one of the most memorable voices in modern gospel music.
Bible and Tire’s third release, 2019’s The D-Vine Spirituals Recordings, collected a handful of King’s singles, beginning with her biggest hit, 1972’s instantly infectious “I Heard The Voice,” and served as an inspiration for the new album in more ways than one. “When we went in and did ‘I Heard The Voice,’ we recorded sixteen songs,” says King. But lack of sponsorship — often the lynchpin for commercial success in the gospel world — kept King and her group the Gospel Souls solidly in the singles field.
In 1973, having made her name with “I Heard The Voice,” as well as a pair of earlier singles on the Designer label, King won the Gospel Gold Cup, a prestigious award presented by the city’s gospel disc jockeys, one of whom was D-Vine founder Juan D. Shipp. King and the Gospel Souls were soon headlining a concert at Memphis’ legendary Overton Park Shell that starred D-Vine label mates the Traveling Stars, the Steptor Four, and Willie Harris and the Sensational Six, who would take the Cup five years later.
The Overton Park program was but a tiny testament to the incredible array of talent that Shipp had taken under his wing when he started the label in 1972, in the wake of spinning one too many Style Wooten-produced Designer records. The problem wasn’t the spirit; it was the sub-standard sound. “When Reverend Shipp took over from Style Wooten, everybody was coming to him,” details King. The two producers contrasted not only in quality control but in production values. “With Style, you’d do one or two takes and that was it. But Reverend Shipp would make you stay in there all night. If it was in you, he was gonna get it.”
“I want you to sing it like you’re making love to God!” Shipp once thunderously urged King. She did just that on her four D-Vine singles, and the same spirit permeates Living In The Last Days, co-produced by Shipp and Bible and Tire founder Bruce Watson. It’s the first in a series of albums spawned by the label’s exploration of the D-Vine Spirituals catalog and a rebirth not only for King but for Shipp as well. When he deactivated D-Vine, Shipp explains, it wasn’t because he no longer wanted to produce records. “It got from the point of singing for the Lord to singing for money. And I said, ‘That’s too much for me.’ But Liz King wouldn’t go nowhere. Many companies tried to get her to sign with them, but she wouldn’t budge.”
Shipp and King were of a piece, she explains, it was just that simple. “If he wasn’t gonna do nothing, I wasn’t gonna do nothing. I just wasn’t gonna record with anybody else.” Shipp had been just begun to expand into the album world when he closed up shop in 1986, and King’s LP would have been one of the first ones to be released. Twenty-five years later, music historian Michael Hurtt was in the midst of writing liner notes for Watson’s ninety-nine track compilation, The Soul Of Designer Records, when he tracked down Shipp. Together, the pair recovered the D-Vine master tapes from a moldering shed in Olive Branch, Mississippi, intent on bringing them to life again.
While the Designer project had been a fulfilling four-disc set that finally brought the late Style Wooten’s activities into some focus, Shipp was not only alive but active and ever-ready to spring back into action: an even more expansive approach to telling the D-Vine story seemed a foregone conclusion. Over the next few years, as Watson built a new studio in Memphis, he became increasingly interested in recording what he termed the “sacred soul” of the Mid-South. As one half of Fat Possum Records, he’d brought the grit of the juke joint back into the Delta blues; perhaps he could bring the soul back to the forefront of the spiritual music of Memphis.
In 2019, Watson threw down the gauntlet, establishing the Bible and Tire imprint with the Sensational Barnes Brothers’ Nobody’s Fault But My Own, a stirring blend of warm, inspiring old-school singing delivered by two young siblings and backed skillfully by the Sacred Soul Sound Section, a percolating trio anchored by guitarist Will Sexton. Meanwhile, as Watson and Shipp began to transfer the D-Vine tape archive, Shipp detailed the current status of the incredible voices that filled Watson’s Delta Sonic Sound Studio. Not only were many of his artists still around, but Elizabeth King was still singing on the radio every week. A phone call later, she was singing live in the studio.
Living In The Last Days is a triumph from the very first intimate vocal notes of the arresting opening track, “No Ways Tired,” to the similarly moving closer, “You’ve Got To Move,” dual studies in intensity that each build to a burning climax, bookending a searing selection of songs burnished by the down-home grooves of the Sacred Soul Sound Section. Additionally, the Sensational Barnes Brothers are on board for harmony vocals as are King’s old D-Vine Spirituals label mates the Vaughn Sisters and the D-Vine Spiritualettes.
King switches gears seamlessly between the moody, almost minor key swing of “Mighty Good God” to the horn-heavy Stax-style “Call On Him” to the roof-raising gospel rocker “Reach Out And Touch Me.” In between, she reimagines a trio of her Designer sides (“Testify,” “A Long Journey,” and “Walk With Me”) with D-Vine’s trademark wah-wah guitar, lays down a tremelo-drenched treatment of the Shaw Singers’ trance-like “He Touched Me” and demonstrates how hauntingly apropos the eternally timely lyrics of the title track (originally adapted from an old hymnal spiritual by the Hewlett Sisters on D-Vine subsidiary JCR) are today. The entirely a cappella “Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord” comes straight “from the book of Job,” says King. “The verses came strictly from the Bible.”
She couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out, and that includes an unexpected tour of France in the midst of recording. “There was a lady in Corinth, Mississippi, Nannie Dammons, who wrote a song called ‘It’s Amazing What God Can Do.’ It was about a tornado that came through Corinth and killed four people. She called Style Wooten, and she wanted me to sing the song, so she sent the song to Style, and he called us in and I did the song. It just brought it back to my mind what the lady had wrote — ‘It’s Amazing What God Can Do.’ Because after all these years, at my age, I never thought I would have another chance. It gives me the chance to tell people it’s never too late. I never dreamed that I’d be able to go to Paris. Me? But you never know what God is gonna do for you. So just keep striving.”

About Elder Jack Ward:
Memphis gospel singer Elder Jack Ward was born in the land where the blues began, the often mythologized Mississippi Delta, but as his new Bible and Tire album Already Made aptly demonstrates, the area’s gospel heritage is every bit as rich as its secular counterpart. “I was born in the country, and I would hear Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, all of them guys, and I used to patronize them, and sing like them a little bit, but I came back to my roots. I used to do a lot of blues singing but I broke from that and got into the gospel.
“I grew up around Itta Bena, Mississippi. That’s about six miles from Greenwood, and I used to sing with a group there called the Kings Of The South. I did a lot of singing, but I was a farm boy, worked on the farm. I chopped cotton, picked cotton, drove mules with a one row planter. But music’s been in me since I was about seven or eight years old when I first tried to sing. My mother, my father ,and my two sisters would be in the cotton field, and I did a little song called ‘I Woke Up This Morning.’ I didn’t know how to put it together but my mother said, ‘Hey, boy! I don’t want you singin’ no blues.’”
What she couldn’t have known then was that a journey to Memphis when Ward was a teenager would inadvertently ensure that he would take the right road. “My mom came up here to see her grandmother. I was sixteen at the time. And I said to myself, ‘When I turn eighteen I’m coming back to Memphis and make me a hit record.’ And I did.”
That disc was 1964’s “Don’t Need No Doctor” by the Christian Harmonizers, a group comprised of old friends from Ward’s hometown. “I knew the Brooks brothers, who organized the Christian Harmonizers, from Itta Bena,” he explains. “And I had my mind set to come to Memphis to sing blues or rock ’n’ roll. But I found them and they said, ‘Look, man, we need you to sing gospel.’ Ward got down to business with the brothers and even briefly replaced soul sensation O.V. Wright in the Sunset Travelers during one of Wright’s secular sabbaticals. Nicknamed Jumping Jack Ward for his in-the-anointing antics, he soon came to the attention of Stax Records, and the Christian Harmonizers christened Chalice, Soulsville’s sacred subsidiary, with its debut record. Isaac Hayes was on piano and Ward was on lead vocals.
“Don’t Need No Doctor,” in Ward’s words, “went every whichaway. That record was on the chart for two years. Oris Mays was a producer in Memphis and he said, ‘Jack, I’m gonna put you on a big label.’ He told us to get a couple of songs together and we did a thing called ‘Another Day’s Journey,’ then we did another record, ‘God’s Going To Blow Out The Sun.’ The singles were released on Peacock Records’ Song Bird imprint. “We just went to bigger things, higher exaltations.”
In 1968, Ward and David Hart formed the Gospel Four, whose haunting harmonies were bolstered by the grooving guitar and bass of brothers George and Robert Dean. Memphis disc jockey Juan D. Shipp soon approached them about recording for his newly-founded D-Vine Spirituals label. “I knew him from the broadcast,” says Ward of Shipp, “and he knew some of my former material. And so I went and we sat down and talked and he said, ‘How would you like to record with D-Vine?’” The results, as soulful as they were sacred, were among the absolute highlights of Shipp’s ever-impressive catalog. The Gospel Four had an altogether different sound and style than the Christian Harmonizers, as exemplified by the gripping testimonial “The Last Road” and the mid-tempo, minor-keyed “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
Breaking new ground, it seems, is a Ward hallmark and Already Made — which focuses on Ward front and center — is no exception. But like Elizabeth King’s critically acclaimed Living In The Last Days, it’s a direct outgrowth of D-Vine’s heyday. Bible and Tire’s Bruce Watson was transferring Shipp’s tape archive for an ambitious D-Vine Spirituals reissue project when he asked Shipp how many of the artists from his old label were still around and active. Aside from King, Elder Jack Ward was one of the first he named. King’s Living In The Last Days was the first result of that conversation; now Ward’s Already Made takes its rightful place as the second. Produced by Watson and Sacred Soul Sound Section leader Will Sexton at Memphis’s Delta-Sonic Sound Studio, the ten-song program features the warmly recorded winning ingredients that are becoming a trademark of Bible and Tire’s patented Sacred Soul sound, from Ward’s spirited vocals to the crack studio band laying down the grooves behind him.
The title track sets the mood with Ward’s daughters providing background harmony and — along with Bible and Tire label mates the Sensational Barnes Brothers — they make several encore appearances, adding an inextricable magic to the proceedings. “I trained them starting when they were about six or seven years old,” says Ward, adding how much he enjoyed working with guitarists Will Sexton and Matt Ross-Spang, who switch styles seamlessly from the distorted crunch of “He’s Got Great Things” to the splashy reverb of “Shout Trouble’s Over” to the shimmering vibrato of “God’s Love.” While the album has its share of pile-driving uptempo numbers, its slow-burning ballads are particularly moving, and a bridge seems crossed once Ward breaks into his quiet falsetto midway through “Someone Who Is Greater Than Me.” The songs’ Muscle Shoals-style country soul vibe sets up a remaining trio of ballads, closing with Ward’s favorite, the redemptively autobiographical “I Feel Better Since I Prayed.”
Watson feels that Already Made is one of the best albums he’s ever produced, and after re-defining the dismal blues scene of the ‘90s with the Delta juke joint sounds of R.L Burnside and Junior Kimbrough for Fat Possum Records, that’s saying quite a bit. Ward might have been right there with them were it not for that trip to Memphis back in the late ’50s. “I have pretty good talent, I can just about sing anything anyone else sings. I never bragged on myself but this was a gift from God and the Bible says, ‘A gift comes without repentance.’ In other words, you don’t have to be a Christian to be able to sing. If you’ve got that God-given gift you can do it — your choice if you want to sing rock ’n’ roll, blues, gospel — but I choose the right side.” And thank God he did.
Michael Hurtt – March 2021

Shoot & Splice Movie Trivia
2021-12-07 13:00 - 15:00
Throughout the year, Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts bring cinematographers, directors, editors, writers, actors, and technicians to Shoot & Splice, the monthly filmmaking forum. Come help us celebrate the end of another wild year with the return of the annual Shoot & Splice Movie Trivia extravaganza!
Test your film knowledge against returning Trivia Masters John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal and Chris McCoy of the Memphis Flyer. The trivia masters will take full advantage of the theater, so be prepared for some fun video and audio rounds!
PRIZES! HOLIDAY COCKTAILS! AND DID WE SAY, FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC?
Rules:

No more than 4 people per team
5 rounds w/ 10 questions per round
Bonus questions between rounds for Indie Memphis swag prizes
The top 3 teams will win some fun, film-related prizes!

Crosstown Arthouse presents Blood and Black Lace
2021-12-09 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Blood and Black Lace at Crosstown Theater. Mario Bava / 1965 / 86 minutes / Rated R
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
If you loved Last Night in Soho, come to the Crosstown Theater to catch Blood and Black Lace! From AGFA: Before Dario Argento’s Deep Red, there was Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace. At the Cristiana Haute Couture fashion house, models and their boyfriends excel at the art of backstabbing, blackmail, and snorting cocaine. That is, until a faceless maniac embarks on a mission of death! After the one-two punch of Black Sunday and Black Sabbath, Mario Bava unleashed Blood and Black Lace — the movie that perfected the ultra-violent sub-genre that would come to be known as “giallo.” With a mood that mashes together the elegance of a quiet rain on a summer night with the luridness of a trashy paperback, it’s no wonder why Martin Scorsese once referred to this movie as “an incredible moment for cinema.”

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

POSTPONED Crosstown Arthouse presents A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
2021-12-16 13:30 - 15:30
Sorry for the inconvenience, but this film is being postponed until further notice.
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at Crosstown Theater. Elia Kazan / 1945 / 128 minutes / Rated M
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn tells the story of an Irish immigrant family, the Nolans, living out their lives in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1912, about 100 years before Williamsburg got to be the gentrified hell-hole that it currently is. This story takes place when the neighborhood was filled with thousands of first-generation immigrants from all different parts of the world, crammed together in tenements and hustling every day to put food on the table and maybe a little liquor down their gullet! With Dorthy McGuire (Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson) as the perpetually pregnant Katie Nolan! Joan Blondell (Glenda in Stay Away, Joe) as sassy Aunt Sissy!! Come out and get in the spirit with us!! A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a CAN’T MISS!!!

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

POSTPONED: Citizen Cope
2022-01-06 13:30 - 15:00
Out of an abundance of caution, with Covid cases on the rise, Citizen Cope has made the tough decision to postpone the planned January 6 show at Crosstown Theater. We’re issuing full refunds to all who have purchased tickets. We’re so sorry for any inconvenience!

Crosstown Arts presents Citizen Cope on the Kemmons Wilson Family Stage at Crosstown Theater.
Doors at 6:30 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Citizen Cope, a.k.a. Clarence Greenwood, is an American songwriter and producer. He has released seven studio LPs that have garnered him a loyal following despite never being fully embraced by mainstream media and commercial radio.
Describing his music is difficult; he’s been inspired by artists such as John Lennon and Stevie Wonder to Bob Marley and Outkast. Citizen Cope’s compositions have been recorded by Carlos Santana, Dido, and Richie Havens. In 20 years of touring, he has built a devout following, performing at sold-out theaters and ballrooms across the country.
Over time, Cope’s music has become the soundtrack to the lives of those who have embraced it, and he continues to inspire audiences through what can only be described as deep personal connection.

Microcinema: Southern Foodways Alliance Shorts - Land, Water, and Sky
2022-01-11 13:00 - 15:00
In partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance and Indie Memphis, we are excited to be starting off Microcinema in the new year with a selection of films from Southern Foodways’ incredible catalog of films that document various Southern food cultures, traditions, and practices that have shaped the past, present, and future of the South. This program features short films that consider farmers’ (particularly Black farmers’) relationship to the land, water, and sky that they steward and the lineages that make it possible to consider the future in farming and food.
The Southern Foodways Alliance documents, studies, and explores the diverse food cultures of the changing American South. Based at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, they share oral histories, produce films and podcasts, publish great writing, sponsor scholarship, mentor students, and stage events that serve as progressive and inclusive catalysts for the greater South. SFA’s film program is led by Pihakis Documentary Filmmaker Zaire Love, an award-winning filmmaker who aims to honor, amplify, and archive the stories and voices of the Black South.
Free (or pay what you can) and open to the public
*Due to Covid-19 safety precautions, we are limiting theater capacity and implementing social distancing seating. Please be prepared to wear your mask at all times during the event. Food and drink will not be permitted.

Crosstown Arthouse presents Walking Tall
2022-01-13 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Walking Tall at Crosstown Theater.
Phil Karlson / 1973 / 125 minutes / Rated R
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
Crosstown Arts tried this before back in series 6, but we got pandemic-ed before we could actually screen it, so we are trying again! The legend(s) surrounding Buford Pusser loom large over both Memphis and McNairy County, where he was sheriff from 1964 to 1970. Buford was a professional wrestler who became a sheriff in an area overrun by the Dixie Mafia. He went to war with and killed Louise Hathcock, the operator of The Shamrock Motel, where the Babushka lady was supposedly seen hanging out a week or so before JFK got popped.
Buford’s star really started to shine when his friend, country and rockabilly singer Eddie Bond, started singing about him. One story has it that when Buford got ambushed by the Dixie Mafia (and his wife was killed and his face was shot off), he hid out in Memphis at a nightclub on Madison that Eddie Bond owned with “The Fabulous One,” Jackie Fargo. Buford’s legend and story was interesting enough that they made THREE movies about him and the first is Walking Tall. Walking Tall fictionalizes Buford’s journey from bear wrestler to one man crime crusader. The movie stars character actor Jo Don Baker (Joysticks, Fletch) as Buford Pusser and Elizabeth Hartman (A Patch of Blue, The Secret of NIMH) as his wife Pauline. Lief Garrett (Macon Count Line, Walking Tall Part II, Final Chapter: Walking Tall, Tiger Beat Cover Model) and Lief’s real-life sister Dawn Lyn as the Pusser kids!! Walking Tall is BACK ON THE BIG SCREEN IN MEMPHIS FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY!! YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO SEE IT!!!!

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

POSTPONED Musical Journalism: Continuing a Legacy through the Flute
2022-01-15 13:30 - 15:00
Due to rising Covid cases, the artist has asked to postpone his planned January 15th Musical Journalism: Continuing a Legacy Through the Flute performance at Crosstown Theater. Crosstown Arts is issuing full refunds to ticket holders.
Stay tuned to crosstownarts.org or our social media channels for an announcement about a new date.
Thank you for understanding!
Crosstown Arts presents Memphis Symphony acting principal flutist Adam Sadberry with pianist Artina McCain and clarinetist Andre Dyachenko.

TICKETS: $15 (students $5 with student ID at the door)
Doors at 7 pm | Performance at 7:30 pm
*The artist has requested proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in.
Adam Sadberry continues the legacy of his grandfather, the late journalist L. Alex Wilson, through “musical journalism,” which he defines as “performing music that tells stories of the world.” This specific concert will feature pieces by composers of African descent that Adam is pairing with articles from L. Alex Wilson’s newspaper, The Tri-State Defender.
Adam will be joined on stage by pianist Dr. Artina McCain, clarinetist Dr. Andre Dyachenko clarinetist, and a guest narrator.
Music is always telling us something regardless of whether it is a specific message or not, and in the case of this concert, the music tells us stories that are rooted in the African diaspora and the legacy of the late journalist, L. Alex Wilson. L. Alex Wilson was the general manager and editor of The Tri-State Defender here in Memphis during the Civil Rights Era, and during 2019, his grandson and flutist Adam Sadberry moved from Detroit to Memphis to join the Memphis Symphony Orchestra during “the modern Civil Rights Era.”
Adam Sadberry is a winner of the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and is represented by Concert Artists Guild.

About Adam Sadberry:
Memphis Symphony Orchestra acting principal flutist Adam Sadberry is known for his radiant, lyrical playing, and he’s committed to expanding the Black diaspora in the classical music world through promoting equity, representation, music education, and commissioning music that tells stories of the Black diaspora – in other words, creating musical journalism. Adam is motivated to continue the legacy of his late grandfather L. Alex Wilson, an important journalist and unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement.
Adam has performed with orchestras around the country, including the St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. As a concerto soloist, he has performed with the Clear Lake Symphony, Conroe Symphony Orchestra, Cordancia Chamber Orchestra, and the Detroit Chamber Orchestra, and he has also made guest appearances at Oakland University, University of Memphis, University of South Florida, National Flute Association, and the New York Flute Club to give recitals, masterclasses, and presentations. Adam’s presentation, Using Your Identity to Create a Relevant Voice in Music, lays a foundation for using one’s experiences and perspectives as a catalyst for generating change through music.
Along with maintaining a private flute studio, Adam teaches and mentors through non-profit organizations that provide free private lessons and resources to underserved communities including The Key Change and Raise the Bar. He is also proud to formerly teach through the Memphis Music Initiative, an organization that “invest[s] in youth through transformative music engagement, creating equitable opportunities for black and brown youth in Memphis.” Adam is on the boards of the Umoja Flute Institute and the International Society of Black Musicians, organizations that provide resources to musicians of African descent.
Adam’s education includes receiving a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a fellowship with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He is indebted to all of his former teachers and mentors including Bonita Boyd, Anne Harrow, Jennifer Keeney, Amanda Blaikie, Sharon Sparrow, and Jeff Zook. He currently receives coaching from Keith Underwood. In his spare time, Adam enjoys roller skating, being in nature, and eating as much food as his body can handle.
Adam can be heard playing on the soundtrack of Disney’s The Lion King (2019).

Crosstown Arthouse presents Mirror
2022-01-20 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Mirror at Crosstown Theater.
Andrei Tarkovsky / 1975 / 106 minutes / Rated R
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
2K Restoration! From Janus: A senses-ravishing odyssey through the halls of time and memory, Andrei Tarkovsky’s sublime reflection on 20th century Russian history is as much a film as it is a poem composed in images, as much a work of cinema as it is a hypnagogic hallucination. In a richly textured collage of varying film stocks and newsreel footage, the recollections of a dying poet flash before our eyes, dreams mingling with scenes of childhood, wartime, and marriage, all imbued with the mystic power of a trance. Largely dismissed by Soviet critics upon its release due to its elusive narrative structure, Mirror has since taken its place as one of the titan director’s most renowned and influential works, a stunning personal statement from an artist transmitting his innermost thoughts and feelings directly from psyche to screen.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

Crosstown Arthouse presents The Holy Mountain
2022-01-27 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents The Holy Mountain at Crosstown Theater.
Alejandro Jodorowsky / 1973 / 114 minutes / Rated HARD R
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
If you know, you know! Come see The Holy Mountain on the Crosstown Theater’s giant screen in deep, full color!!!! From ABKCO: The scandal of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s flood of sacrilegious imagery and existential symbolism in The Holy Mountain is a spiritual quest for enlightenment pitting illusion against truth. The Alchemist (Jodorowsky) assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept’s intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.

Sundance Satellite Screenings
2022-01-28 05:00 - 2022-01-30 15:00
Indie Memphis is an official Sundance Satellite screen partner for 2022. In collaboration with Crosstown Arts, they will be screening a specially curated selection of 2022 Sundance Film Festival Films during the festival’s closing weekend, Friday, January 28 – Sunday, January 30, 2022, at Crosstown Theater.
Lean more and check out the film lineup/schedule HERE.

Crosstown Arthouse presents Foxes
2022-02-03 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Foxes at Crosstown Theater.
Adrian Lyne / 1980 / 106 minutes / Rated R
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
The story of four teenage girls living in LA in 1980, mostly doing what they hell they want, anytime they want, with hardly any supervision or input by any sensible adult. Foxes takes place in a world and a time when being a teenager was fun, free, and DANGEROUS. Directed by Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction, Flashdance)!! With a cameo concert by Kiss proteges and fellow Casablanca Records artist Angel (Punky Meadows!!!). Also with Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver, Bugsy Malone, The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, Freaky Friday – and that was JUST WHAT SHE WAS IN THAT WAS RELEASED IN 1976!!!!!), Cherie Currie (THE RUNAWAYS LEAD SINGER YA’LL!!!), Randy Quaid (Midnight Express, The Long Riders, Independence Day) in an early, super-creepy role and HOT LIPS Sally Kellerman (MASH, A Little Romance), as Jodie Foster’s uptight but distant mother!!

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.

Mempho Presents Todd Snider at Crosstown Theater
2022-02-04 13:30 - 2022-02-05 16:00
Mempho Presents Todd Snider on the Kemmons Wilson Family Stage at Crosstown Theater on Friday, February 4, 2022 and Saturday, February 5, 2022. Opening performance by Will Kimbrough.
TICKETS: Tickets $38-$42 (plus fees)
Doors at 6:30 pm | Show at 7:30 pm (both nights)
Purchase Tickets Here

*Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in.

*Tickets for this event are non-refundable with less than 72 hours before the event.

You don’t often hear about an artist reinventing their sound eighteen albums into a celebrated career. But for Todd Snider, his latest release, First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder, isn’t so much a sudden change in direction as an arrival after years of searching.
“After my last album, Agnostic Hymns, I felt like I was out of ideas, and I just didn’t know where to go next,” Snider says. “So I did a side project with the Hard Working Americans, and I learned a ton. I tried to study music by other people and come to this record hoping that I’d have something new to say. I wanted to do what I was calling ‘funk in back and busking up front, with White Album-y shit scattered about.’ I had done a lot of listening to Parliament and James Brown and lots of reggae music, too. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I’ve been trying to think of this sound all my life. This is the closest I’ve come to thinking, ‘Man, I don’t know that I’ve heard anything like this before.’”
Especially within the often too-purist context of Americana, the record’s sound is refreshingly experimental. More funk than folk, more Sly Stone than singer-songwriter, it’s fatback-style grooves, full of ghost notes and disparate syncopated elements, slither and slide around Snider’s acoustic guitar with caduceus-like precision. The arrangements are given extra texture and atmosphere by ace mixer/multi-instrumentalist Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello). On songs like “Never Let A Day Go By,” “Stoner Yodel Number One,” and “The Get Together,” there is a taut, dry snap, an intimacy that invites you inside and best of all, opens up space for Snider’s husky voice and thought-provoking lyrics to breathe and connect. It’s music that makes you move, smile and think all at once.
“My main collaborator on all the grooves was Robbie Crowell,” Snider says. “He’d played one show with [my band] the Bulldogs, and he and I started hanging and listening to funk songs. He gave me an education on drummers. Most of the time, I started with a basic kick and snare pattern, and I’d sing. Then he would add more groove, and I’d chisel more melody out of that. Robbie knew that I wanted to do something idiosyncratic, without any reference to other records. So a snare might not go with the kick drum in a logical way. We were trying to get drum sounds and grooves that made their own kind of sense. We’d build it up, add parts, tear it apart, build it back up. The songs went through a lot of different incarnations. But we had so much fun trying to find the grooves.”
Since debuting in 1994, Snider has gone through his own incarnations. His first single “Talking Seattle Blues” was a head fake that might’ve pointed to goofy novelty songs. But he quickly showed that his artistic quiver was much deeper and more interesting. A storyteller who works a similar creative soil to John Prine and Shel Silverstein, Snider’s best songs are both sad and funny, political and entertaining, and always written with a poet’s eye and a stand-up comedian’s sensibility about the follies of human condition. While he’s made eighteen fine albums, it’s on stage where Snider is even more potent, with between-song banter that weaves subtle emotional threads through his sets. A road dog who loves the road, Snider has toured with Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Jimmy Buffett, and appeared at festivals like Farm Aid, Newport Folk Fest, Lockn’ and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.
“I miss banging around America like it’s my yard,” Snider says of the lost, last year. “I like to play for people. Staying home, I gardened, I got a boat, I played guitar a lot. But then I usually don’t make up ten songs in one year, so that’s one good thing about the pandemic.”
The other key framing device for the new songs is the album’s colorful title. “If the gods of folk didn’t want no funk, they shouldn’t have started none,” Snider says with a chuckle. “2020 was a terrible year, and it kept taking people that I loved. So I kept feeling funky, and the church idea came out of that. I’ve always had the First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder in mind. Aren’t we always hoping for something and wondering ‘What the fuck?’ We hope there’s a God. We wonder if there is. We hope you’re coming. We wonder if you will.”
“I started realizing because I had this church, in my mind, that I could make up different kinds of songs,” he continues. “I don’t usually like bossy kinds of songs, where someone tells you to breathe. Me and Neal Casal used to say, ‘I don’t have to know when to fold ’em. I don’t have to live like I’m dying.’ I’m always telling the radio when I’m listening to it, ‘No, I don’t!’ But this is a reverend thing. I have a reverend license. I married Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, and my tour manager and his wife. So it just felt like this natural thing for it to be on Sunday mornings where I can do like these pseudo-sermons.”
He playfully undermines typical sermon themes like faith can move mountains – on “Turn Me Loose (I’ll Never Be the Same”), he reckons “Mountains can get around just fine on their own – and finding meaning on mystical sojourns – “Oh, shit, I quit my job,” the truth seeker on “The Get Together” realizes in a panic.
“The record is the story of a preacher who starts this church that is total bullshit,” Todd says. “People start giving him money anyway, but then they start asking him questions. So then he prays to God and God helps him. But the moral of the story is that God’s hilarious.”
Like all preachers, Snider manipulates language, riffling and sleight-of-handing it like a deck of cards. “I love lyrics, but I don’t think the alphabet is this magic thing that I thought it used to be,” he says. “Mostly, I think the alphabet was a bad idea. I know, because I use it. It’s a shell game. It feels okay to use this jive language thing that I’ve been learning over the years on the Sunday shows. There are ways to not say stuff. You can go for a great long chunks of time without saying anything. Politicians do it all the time. I’ve been getting into that. I still like making up lyrics. I don’t know that I think there’s anything to say.”
Amidst the groovier, more playful songs are two somber centerpieces that have much to say about mortality – “Sail On, My Friend” and “Handsome John” – the latter a gorgeous tribute to John Prine. Nobody was as important to Snider as a friend and mentor.
Snider says. “I started singing that song about him almost right after he died. Nobody had ever been kinder to me, more vulnerable with me. He’d take the time to sit down and generously explain something that he believed was not serving you. I was young when I met John, so I’m embarrassed to tell you that the lecture that I got from him was a painful one, but it saved my life. It changed my songs completely. I remember I was withdrawing on a plane, and he said, ‘You’re doing this wrong.’ And I had seventeen songs, and he was the only who’d heard them, and he said, ‘You’ve got two songs here.’ And I said, ‘What about the others? And he said, ‘Yeah, let’s talk about those.’ Those conversations changed everything about the way I approached my life. People don’t want to tell everybody what the therapist said, so I’ll leave it there. But very compassionately, he said, ‘Here’s why you’re not happy.’ Of all the people I know who wrote songs and sang, he was the happiest and the one who’d most dialed the troubadour life in and made peace with it. I loved him.”
It feels appropriate that with his latest album, Snider may play a similar inspirational role for the parishioners in his church. “I’d like it to feel like a drum circle or a revival for listeners. I’d like it to feel like a hippie summer, where you take acid and listen to the songs by a beautiful lake. There’s a thing called effervescence – that feeling that you’re present, alive. I’d like for people to have a moment with this record. I think about records that will come into my life and they’ll help put a little more salt on the moment. That’s what I’m going for. But then, who knows if anyone will like the record. I dig it. I know it’s a cliché for people to say, ‘This is how I’ve been meaning to sound forever.’ But I swear, that’s how it feels.”

Crosstown Arthouse presents The Apartment
2022-02-10 13:30 - 15:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents The Apartment at Crosstown Theater.
Billy Wilder / 1960 / 125 minutes / Rated M
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
Restored in 4K from the 35mm original picture negative and 35mm duplicate picture negative! Park Circus in collaboration with Metro Goldwyn Mayer presents The Apartment. From Park Circus: C.C. Baxter is an office clerk who courts favor with the executives in his office by giving them the key to his small apartment for their extramarital flings. Among them is his callous boss, J.D. Sheldrake, who Baxter eventually learns is using his place to sleep with Miss Kubelik, the sweet elevator operator the clerk has loved from afar. When Sheldrake coldly dumps the vulnerable young woman, she tries to commit suicide in Baxter’s apartment, giving the clerk the opportunity to save the woman of his dreams but possibly lose his job.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra presents Wagner's Tristan and Isolde
2022-02-11 12:30 - 14:30
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra presents a program titled Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, featuring works by Wagner, Joseph Boulogne de Chevalier de St. George, Villa-Lobos, and Haydn at Crosstown Theater. Featuring cellist Brant Taylor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets: $35
Robert Moody, conductor
Brant Taylor, cello

BOULOGNE Symphony No. 1
HAYDN Cello Concerto No. 1
VILLA-LOBOS Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde (arranged for chamber orchestra)
Wagner changed the direction of love music forever with Tristan and Isolde. Joseph Boulogne de Chevalier de St. George was a black French contemporary of Mozart, who was one of France’s most celebrated composers during his life. Brant Taylor, a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and an accomplished soloist, performs Haydn’s First Cello Concerto.

Shoot & Splice: Case Study of 'The Devil Will Run' w/ Noah Glenn & IMAKEMADBEATS
2022-02-15 13:00 - 15:00
Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts are excited to present a case study of the 2021 Indie Memphis Film Festival Jury & Audience award-winning short film, ‘The Devil Will Run.’ Join writer/director Noah Glenn and producer IMAKEMADBEATS as they share insights and stories from each stage of the production process — from receiving an IndieGrant in 2019 all the way through production and into festival distribution.

The case study will also feature a screening of the 10-minute film, ‘The Devil Will Run’.

Doors open 6:30 pm
Begins at 7:00 pm

Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.

Shoot & Splice is a FREE filmmaker forum presented by Crosstown Arts and Indie Memphis, featuring a wide variety of technical, educational, and unique topics of interest to the Memphis filmmaking community.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
2022-02-17 13:30 - 15:45
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents A Tree Grows In Brooklyn at Crosstown Theater.
Elia Kazen / 1945 / 128 minutes / Rated PG
Tickets: $5 at the door
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)
We were originally going to show A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at Christmas as it is is one our favorite Christmas movies here at the Arthouse series!! It was postponed but it is still cold so come see this film and you won’t ever think about Christmas the same way again! A gut punch of a film, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn tells the story of an Irish immigrant family, the Nolans, living out their lives in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1912. About 100 years before Williamsburg got to be the gentrified Hell hole it currently is, this story takes place when the neighborhood was filled with thousands of first generation immigrants from all different parts of the world, crammed together in tenements and hustling every day to put food on the table and maybe a little liquor down their gullet! With Dorthy McGuire (Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson) as stern mom Katie Nolan! Joan Blondell (Glenda in Stay Away, Joe) as sassy Aunt Sissy!! Come out and get in the spirit with us!! A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, CAN’T MISS!!!

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in. Masks are required.

The Barnes Family at Crosstown Theater
2022-02-19 13:30 - 15:00
Gospel group The Barnes Family presents a special show at Crosstown Theater.
TICKETS: $30 first-level seating | $20 balcony seating
Doors at 6:30 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Purchase Tickets Here
*Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in.

With more than 30 years in the music industry, The Barnes Family has been called “one of the most influential Gospel families in Memphis, TN.” They’re reuniting on-stage after a five year hiatus.
Chris and Courtney of the Sensational Barnes Brothers released their critically acclaimed debut album Nobody’s Fault But My Own in 2019. The following year, in 2020, Calvin J. Barnes II and Carla Barnes-Anderson released James Anderson, an album with more R&B influences centered around inspiration and motivation. The success of these projects were the missing piece in reuniting the family on stage and shifting their time and energy on the revival of the Barnes family.
This show gives the family an opportunity to have fun and create music on their terms. Since their time apart, each member of the family has toured and performed with acts, such as the Bar-Kays, and in solo ventures in Las Vegas. However, this time around they are looking forward to sharing their favorite songs in their own way. And more importantly, they’ll be revisiting the moments that have gotten away from them over the years.
The Barnes family has deep ties to gospel, often bridging the gap between soul and non-secular music. There is a familiarity in the way this family performs as it teeters the line of both fervid and faithful. Although the Barnes family got its start in gospel music, this concert will be a melting pot of old and new. It will be a raw look at the life that each of them has experienced individually over the last couple of years and how that translates into the way they will perform together.
This holiday production will be an elevation of where the Barnes family left off in 2015 after the release of their family album, Family Tree.

Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA
2022-02-24 13:30 - 16:30
The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA at Crosstown Theater.
In advance of the Memphis release of Sony Pictures Classics’ “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America,” the focus of the documentary Jeffery Robinson and the directors (Emily and Sarah Kunstler) will be hosting an exclusive showing and Q&A at the Crosstown Theater on Thurs., Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m.

Emily & Sarah Kunstler / 2022 / 118 minutes / Rated PG-13
Tickets: $5 at the door (or purchase presale tickets HERE)
Films begin at 7:30 pm (sharp!)

Interweaving lecture, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations, in WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA, criminal defense/civil rights lawyer Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series showcases a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Crosstown Arts is requesting proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for this event. Please be prepared to present your vaccination card or a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours at check-in.
