Story Time & Music with Jamie Purnell
2019-05-11 05:30 - 06:30 (America/Chicago) | Crosstown Concourse, Big Stair, 1350 Concourse Ave., 2nd floor Central Atrium, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
From award-winning singer-songwriter Jamie Purnell, Proud Penguin tells the feel-good tale of a penguin whose spirits are lifted from building a new friendship with a seagull. Proud Penguin will delight and entertain families as they read and sing along to the free downloadable song and story that embodies a universal message of kindness and self-acceptance.
This interactive event includes a discussion of penguins and seagulls, a reading of the story, singing and dancing to a live performance of the “Proud Penguin” song by Jamie Purnell, and a booksigning, all promoting the message of Proud Penguin: BE HAPPY TO BE YOU. A fun event for all ages.

Art Quilts Unfolding
2019-05-11 08:00 - 09:00 | TN
Informative and inspiring presentation by Martha Sielman, the Executive Director of Studio Art Quilt Associates, the world’s largest organization dedicated to the art quilt. Sielman is the author and curator of “Masterworks: Abstract & Geometric,” a traveling exhibit which comes to Crosstown as part of STITCHED. She will talk about the Art Quilt Movement, based on the research for her highly-acclaimed book, Art Quilts Unfolding: 50 Years of Innovation.
Fifty years is both a long and a short time. The quilting industry has changed. Sewing machines have changed. Computers and the internet have changed. Time and technology have influenced the evolution of art quilting as it has grown to embrace thousands of makers worldwide. These include leading artists who are featured in her book such as Jean Ray Laury, Nancy Crow, Michael James, Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Katie Pasquini Masopust, and many more from around the world.
This event is in conjunction with Stitched: Celebrating the Art of Quilting — a festival at Crosstown Arts with art exhibitions, public quilting workshops, and a Gathering of the Guilds showcase. Stitched runs from May 10-July 28, 2019.

TN Screamers at The Green Room
2019-05-11 15:00 - 18:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join for in The Green Room for “real-deal country music” by the TN Screamers. Featuring Jesse Davis (aka Yesse Yavis), Keith Cooper, Frank McLallen, and Graham Winchester. Also featuring DJ Andrew McCalla.
Tickets: Pay what you can
Doors open at 7 pm | Performance starts at 8 pm

Double Feature: The Lock-In 1 & 2
2019-05-13 05:30 - 06:15 | Northwest Prep Academy, 1266 Poplar, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Students from Northwest Prep Academy High School are some of the most brilliant, unheard voices in Memphis. Watch their creative minds and talents on display at this intimate screening of their new film, THE LOCK-IN 2. This is a sequel to the 2017 film THE LOCK-IN, which was created by Northwest Prep students, in collaboration with Crosstown Arts, that year. Both films will be shown in a double-feature.
Light refreshments available at 10 am.

Open Crit
2019-05-14 13:00 - 15:00 | TN
Crosstown Arts’ Open Crit series is a monthly critique event where visual artists are invited to bring new and/or in-progress studio work for critical feedback and group discussion particular to each artist’s practice.
Facilitator: Curator Kimberly Jacobs
Presenting artists: Kaitlin Haven, Lance Layman, Rory Golden
A dedicated facilitator with experience in a group critique setting will guide discussion for each critique event, which will include up to 4 artists’ work, with 15-25 minutes devoted to the work of each.
All visual artists and anyone interested in joining the discussion are welcome to participate regardless of their level of expertise, prior professional art experience or background/education in fine art. Participation is free and open to the public. Input during the critiques from everyone in attendance is welcomed and encouraged.
No formal preparation is necessary for participating artists, who will have an opportunity to introduce and contextualize their work on view at the beginning of each critique. Participating artists are only asked to be open to (and interested in) considering reactions to their work by the group, which will always be done in a supportive, constructive and casual environment, but could at the same time be challenging.
Special thanks to Art Center Supply Store for donating a $25 gift certificate for each participating artist.

To participate, artists can sign up here:
Open Crit Request form

Contact Mary Jo at maryjo@crosstownarts.org with any questions!
Artists are asked to bring no more than 8 individual pieces (in any medium). Maximum run time for time-based work(s) is 10 minutes.
Participating artists are encouraged to invite friends, peers and colleagues to the open crits, both to see their work in progress and to give constructive feedback.

Ted Ludwig Trio at The Green Room
2019-05-14 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Enjoy an evening with New Orleans-based seven-string jazz guitarist Ted Ludwig with drummer Brian Brown and bassist Joe Vick at the Green Room at Crosstown Arts.
Tickets: $10
Doors open at 7 pm | Performance at 7:30 pm

Acclaimed seven-string jazz guitarist Ted Ludwig (b. 1974, New Orleans, LA) has been a part of the jazz scene in New Orleans since 1997. Throughout that time period, he has performed for numerous club performances, festivals, and recordings. He has released 4 albums as a leader and many more as a versatile sideman and co leader.
Ted earned his Bachelor and Masters Degrees from the University of New Orleans Jazz Studies Program, under the direction of the legendary pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr. He received an ASCAP award, the Louis Armstrong award, and the Overture to the Cultural Season award for his outstanding musicianship and creativity. Inspired by the recordings of Joe Pass, Pat Martino, and Wes Montgomery, Ludwig soon became one of the most sought after guitarists in the New Orleans jazz scene, working professionally as a soloist, and accompanist.
He has performed with notable contemporaries such as; Ellis Marsalis, Peter Bernstein, Bob Dorough, Larry Coryell, Nathan East, Nicholas Payton, Howard Alden, Mundell Lowe, Rick Margitza, Julian Labro, Steve Masakowski, John Ellis, Tony Dagradi, Mike Pellera, Jason Marsalis, Ron Eschete’, Johnny Vidacovich, Herlin Riley, and many more.
In 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Ludwig created his own eclectic Jazz Trio gaining instant accolades from critics and musicians alike for his astonishing virtuosity and prolific originality.
Since 2007, Ted has maintained a fruitful association with the Infrared Record Label. He has recorded, produced, and released four albums as a leader and has continuously performed on many other recordings as a co-leader and sideman. In 2016, Ludwig had the great opportunity to perform with orchestra an original Jazz Guitar Concerto entitled “Katrina”. The piece was composed by D.J. Sparr and commissioned by The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Ted received rave reviews for his performances of the concerto.
In 2016, Ted was the youngest inductee into The Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame.
He continues to dazzle audiences from around the world.

Green Room Sessions — BiSOULtennial: 200 Soul Classics for 200 Years of Memphis
2019-05-15 14:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music is celebrating the Memphis Bicentennial with BiSOULtennial, a unique list of 200 indelible soul songs recorded in Memphis between 1957 and 1975. From Stax stars Otis Redding and Sam & Dave to Hi Records royalty Al Green and Ann Peebles, and all artists, labels, and studios in between, the list covers dozens of artists who recorded at studios throughout Memphis during that golden era of soul music.
The museum invites everyone to participate and vote for their Top Ten.

Listen to the Top 200: http://tiny.cc/MemSoul200Playlist
Vote for your Top 10: http://tiny.cc/MemSoul200
Join us for a special ballot release and conversation event taking place on May 15. The listening party and conversation event will feature an all-star panel of Memphis musicians, fans, DJs, scholars, and writers will discuss the song selections. Panelists include Dr. Charles Hughes (Rhodes College), DJ Eddie Hankins (WEVL-FM), Tonya Dyson (Memphis Slim House), Kameron Whalum (Stax Music Academy artist in residence and Bruno Mars’ trombone player), and Jared Boyd (The Daily Memphian newspaper). Each panelist will select and discuss two songs from their choices for Top Ten.

Crosstown Arts Weekly Film Series: Ladies and Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains
2019-05-16 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Crosstown Arts Weekly Film Series is an arthouse-style film series showcasing a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Films begin at 7:30 pm sharp.
Tickets are $5 (at the door only)
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS (NARRATIVE, 1982)
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is the story of Corinne Burns (Diane Lane), a recently orphaned 17-year-old girl whose life is almost instantly changed through a happenstance interview with the local news. Corinne attends a concert to self-promote her band The Stains, which is made up of her, her sister, and cousin. The Stains end up going on tour, radically changing their look and proclaiming on stage, “We’re the Stains, and we don’t put out.”
Along the way, the girls get famous, manipulate the pre-internet news media in their favor (for a moment at least) and steal a song and sound from their less interesting male tour mates. Featuring appearances by Steve Jones and Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols and Paul Simonon from the Clash, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains was a box-office failure but gained a large cult following on late-night cable television.
Watch the trailer

Songwriters in the Round
2019-05-16 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us in The Green Room for Songwriters in the Round, featuring Will Sexton, Marcella Simien, and Delta Joe Sanders.

Tickets: $10
Doors open at 7:00pm
Performance at 7:30pm

About the musicians:

Will Sexton
Will is a respected artist, songwriter, and producer with a list of acclaimed solo albums to his name. Keeping his old ties deep in the heart of Texas, Will now calls Memphis home with his wife, singer-songwriter Amy LaVere. Will and Amy have been touring and playing together for a couple of years and have a full schedule playing in the U.S. and Europe in the coming months. Their new CD, Hallelujah, I’m A Dreamer is spare and tight, showcasing Will and Amy’s fine playing styles and beautiful harmonies.

Marcella Simien
As Willie Mitchell’s son, the Memphis legend Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell puts it, “[Simien is] one of the most soulful artists I’ve heard since the glory days of Memphis soul music. Her sound and stage presence are constant reminders that soul music is still alive and well.”
In 2015, Bill Bentley (L.A. Weekly, Warner Bros. Records, Vanguard Records) reviewed Marcella and Her Lovers debut EP release on themortonreport.com. Bentley said “Marcella Simien heard it all as a youngster, no doubt, and once she double-downed with the Memphis sound, she found a totally striking new attack on Southern soul.”

Delta Joe
“Joe Sander’s heart is shaped like Mississippi. Through it runs a Big Blue River spawning tributaries and capillaries like snakes, gentle but dangerous — above which hands kudzu, wisteria, and other strange vegetation unnameable except by some half-mad, half-genius horticulturist. His tunes are rare Delta Thundersong birds (endangered and exotic) rising from the mud Byhalian and Greenwooded, strong meat for most of us who lift our beaks for the plastic manna in squared cellophane. Some of his brilliance pops up unnoticed – queer mushrooms grafted amongst our quotidian grapes, teaching our souls to say ‘more’ while our understanding reels backward. Joe offers no gratuitous sanctuary. Listening, one must braid one’s own thread into rope and knead one’s own bread into baked buckets – then dip into th eliving water of Joe’s Big Blue River.” Grace and Peace – John Kilzer
Delta Joe Sanders has been a regular in the Memphis music scene for the past 30 years. From the church house to the out house, he plays every venue from the Whiskey A-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip to the Sugar Ditch Social Club in Tunica County. Delta Joe has kept country blues alive. A consummate story teller, Joe sometimes uses common Blues themes to spin his yarns. Songs of lost love, liquor, and bad behavior fill his repertoire. Some are romantic odes colored with southern imagery often with a skewed nostalgic sentiment —“I never did like this beautiful old place.” Some make bold statements of pious, prophetic poignancy,” I am gonna quit drinking after the Super Bowl.”

NUJAS Roll Call Pop-Up & Film Screening
2019-05-17 13:00 - 16:00 | TN
Roll Call is a pop-up exhibition and film screening devoted to offering a platform for women and queer artists of color, who often have trouble finding space or platforms for their work. A majority of the artists represented are Memphis based. This event is curated by NuJas, a multi-disciplinary co-operative dedicated to creating programing and content that is relevant to black women and LGBTQA + Memphians.
Doors at 5 pm | film at 6 pm
Pay what you can
Organized by the artist

Voices of the Mississippi with William Ferris
2019-05-17 13:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Short films based on the life’s work of William Ferris, an audio recordist, filmmaker, folklorist, and teacher with an unwavering commitment to establish and to expand the study of the American South.
** Featuring Q&A with Filmmaker William Ferris
*** FREE RSVP REQUIRED HERE: http://bit.ly/2vxRDSs
William Ferris was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1942. Growing up on a working farm, Ferris began at a young age documenting the artwork, music, and lives of the people on the farm and in his local community. The archive of recordings that he created and the documentary films that he had a hand in producing have served as powerful tools in institutions of higher learning for decades.
Featured in this screening:
GRAVEL SPRINGS FIFE AND DRUM (10 mins)
RAY LUM: MULE TRADER (18 mins)
FOUR WOMEN ARTISTS (24 mins)
BOTTLE UP AND GO (18 mins)
HUSH HOGGIES HUSH (4 mins)
Indie Memphis Nights presented by Orion FCU
Presented with Crosstown Arts

Grace Askew feat. Marcella Simien
2019-05-17 14:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join Crosstown Arts in welcoming Memphis’ own Grace Askew, in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts. This will be a fully curated, Southwestern/Southern-Gothic full-band show, including all musicians featured on the much-anticipated Summer 2019 album release, plus a screening of old road footage and many more aesthetic surprises. The Swamp-Soul queen herself, Marcella Simien, to kick things off.
Other featured musicians:
Cello (Jana Misener) Violin (Krista Combest), Bass (Landon Moore), Drums (Stephen Chopek), John Asbell (dobro, pedal steel, lap steel), Logan Hanna (lead guitar), Marcella Simien (Accordian), Erin Bakken (harmonies/backup vocals).

Tickets: $15
Doors open at 6:30 pm | Performance at 7 pm

About Grace Askew:

Spin calls Grace Askew “astoundingly defiant.” Rolling Stone calls her “sultry” while praising her “raw, real and righteous” songwriting.
With six studio albums and nearly a decade of touring under her belt, Grace has solidified herself as a relentlessly creative artist and a powerhouse of talent. She cut her first records at the legendary Ardent Studios & Sun Studios in Memphis, and has been a regular on the singer-songwriter circuit. She mostly hits the road accompanied only by her truck, Wanda, though she has also joined the likes of James McMurtry, Leon Russell, Marty Stuart, T-Model Ford, Jesse Winchester, Lisa Marie Presley, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Colter Wall, and Hayes Carll. She took home 1st place in the Unsigned Only, International, and John Lennon Songwriting Contests and made it to the final 32 on Season 4 of The Voice in 2013.

Family Crest Workshop
2019-05-18 05:00 - 10:00 | TN
What makes your family special? Tell the story of your family by creating a hand-sewn crest. Family groups will work together to design and stitch a one-of-a-kind appliquéd wall hanging. Family groups can be up to 6 people and must include at least 1 adult. All materials will be provided and no prior sewing experience is needed.
Two sessions:
10-11:30 am
1:30-3 pm
Sign up here
Amie Petronis Plumley is the co-author of Sewing School: 21 Sewing Projects Kids Will Love to Make and School 2: Lessons in Machine Sewing, Sewing School Quilts, and the upcoming Sewing School Fashion Design published by Storey Publishing. The books sell worldwide and have a combined total of more than 150,000 copies in print. Amie is an elementary school teacher at Grace-St Luke’s Episcopal School in Memphis, TN where she inspires students to sew in the classroom, in an after-school sewing club, and at a wildly popular summer sewing camp.
This event is in conjunction with Stitched: Celebrating the Art of Quilting — a festival at Crosstown Arts with art exhibitions, public quilting workshops, and a Gathering of the Guilds showcase. Stitched runs from May 10-July 28, 2019.

Babu Press presents Once Upon a Star
2019-05-18 06:00 - 07:00 | Crosstown Concourse, Big Stair, 1350 Concourse Ave., 2nd floor Central Atrium, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Come enjoy Once Upon a Star, an original children’s story featuring audience participation and musical accompaniment by members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Created by MSO principal oboist Joseph Salvalaggio, Babu Press performances use classical music to help kids develop an appreciation for the arts and foster a love of reading. The performances are entertaining for audiences of all ages, from toddlers to adults.
This performance features MSO musicians Barrie Cooper (violin), Nobuko Igarashi (clarinet), and Joseph Salvalaggio (oboe). Narrated by Todd Berry.
Free and open to the public
About Once Upon a Star:
When Nate wishes on a star for a shiny new spaceship, he gets more than he bargained for. Between a narrow escape from a hundred cranky Martians and almost getting flattened by a rolling planet, he has a lot to tell his mother when he gets home. Join Babu Press on a fantastic journey through the solar system set to excerpts from Gustav Holst’s The Planets and Mozart’s Ah! Vous Dirai-Je, Maman, otherwise known as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Workshop Series — Simultaneous Contrast: Experiments with Color
2019-05-19 05:30 - 11:30 | Crosstown Arts at Crosstown Concourse, 1350 Concourse Avenue, Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Lifeworks, in conjunction with Crosstown Arts, is pleased to host Los Angeles-based artist, Pamela Jorden, to lead a painting workshop. In Simultaneous Contrast: Experiments with Color, Jorden will guide participants through considerations of color, texture, and unexpected juxtapositions that inspire experimentation with paint and process.
Registration fee $125 (materials not included). Lunch will be provided.
Space is limited. To register please email laurel@crosstownarts.org.
Workshop Description:
At Black Mountain College, Joseph Albers gave his students an exercise called the matière inviting them to explore their surroundings and collect materials, paying close attention to their visual and tactile qualities. Matières are ephemeral sculptural arrangements comprised of found materials. Amy Sillman and Munro Galloway created an assignment called Color Walk that asks participants to wander within their environment following a color or colors considering the use, context, and associations related to specific colors or combinations. Both exercises encourage careful consideration of what might usually be overlooked and ask the observer to notice context and contrast, similarity and difference.

Inspired by these prompts, participants in this workshop will be asked to take a walk in a particular location that influences how they think about their artwork. Participants will be asked to observe color and texture and the material qualities of this location and to bring found materials back into the studio. Consideration of color, texture, and unexpected juxtapositions will inspire our experimentations with paint and process. Further instruction and suggested reading to follow.
This event is supported by Lifeworks in conjunction with Crosstown Arts.
About the artist:
Pamela Jorden (b. 1969, Knoxville, TN) received her BFA from University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1992 and her MFA from California Institute of the Arts in 1996. Recent exhibitions include The Day in the Night with Katy Cowan at Philip Martin Gallery in Los Angeles. Jorden has had solo exhibitions at Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery (New York, NY); Romer Young Gallery (San Francisco, CA); David Patton Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA); and Mason Gross Art Gallery, Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ).
Selected group exhibitions include Around Flat, Knockdown Center (Maspeth, NY); NOW-ISM: Abstraction Today at the Pizzuti Collection (Columbus, Ohio); Alice Konitz, Pamela Jorden, Jeff Ono at Samuel Freeman Gallery (Los Angeles, CA); Forms of Abstraction at the Irvine Fine Arts Center (Irvine, CA). Her work has been reviewed in numerous print and online publications including Art Forum, Art in America, ArtNews, and ArtPractical.
A monograph, Pamela Jorden 2004-2014, with an essay by Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer and a conversation with Kaveri Nair and Alice Könitz has been released through Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery and Black Dog Publishing. She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Michael Shults Quartet at The Green Room
2019-05-19 14:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us for a very special evening with award-winning improv saxophonist Michael Shults with Carl Maguire, Alan Maguire, and Alvie Givhan.
Tickets: $10
Doors open at 6:30 pm | Performance at 7 pm

About Michael Shults:
Saxophonist Michael Shults has been praised for his “strong, imaginative” improvisations (Downbeat Magazine) and “fresh and intelligent musical ideas” (The Pitch). A first-call musician on the Kansas City jazz scene for nearly a decade, Shults remains an active performer in the Fountain City and beyond, and has twice appeared as a sideman on the Jazzweek National Radio Airplay Charts. In 2018, Dr. Shults was selected to perform at the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference Friday night headline concert as a featured soloist along with Branford Marsalis. As a graduate student at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Michael was a finalist in the 2012 North American Saxophone Alliance Jazz Artist Competition, and was the winner of the Graduate College Soloist category in the 2012 Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards Issue.

As a concert saxophonist Michael Shults has been praised for his “jaw-dropping” and “authoritative” technique (Bill Brownlee of theKansas City Star) and has recently performed by invitation at the College Band Director’s National Association conference, the North American Saxophone Alliance biennial conference, the Minnesota Music Educator’s Association Conference, and the University of Iowa Festival for New Music. Dr. Shults is a founding faculty member of the Kansas City Saxophone Workshop along with Zach Shemon, alto saxophonist of the PRISM Quartet. He has also served on the faculty of the Eugene Rousseau Saxophone Workshop at Shell Lake Arts Center and the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. He is currently the alto saxophone chair in the Coalescent Quartet. Michael is Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Memphis and previously held the same position at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
He is a Yamaha and D’Addario performing artist and performs on their instruments and reeds exclusively.

Garrison Starr & LOLO at The Green Room
2019-05-20 14:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The secret is out! Join us in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts for an intimate, acoustic performance from Garrison Starr and LOLO.
Tickets: $15
Doors at 6:30 pm | Performance at 7 pm

About Garrison Starr:
Memphian Garrison Starr is a full-time songwriter now living in Los Angeles. Her songs have been featured on numerous films, TV shows, and commercials. In 2016, Starr collaborated with long time friend, Margaret Cho, and produced “American Myth.” The album was nominated for a Grammy in the Comedy category.
Garrison’s love for truth-telling, good whiskey, and human connection has made her a darling of the singer-songwriter world.
About LOLO:
From Jackson, TN, LOLO is a show-stopping singer who has “so much music flowing through [her] that it fills two people” (Associated Press). She has proven herself a venerable songwriter, from penning hits for Panic! At The Disco’s recent #1 blockbuster album to writing a New York Times raved about off-Broadway musical, “Songbird”.
Her album, In Loving Memory of When I Gave a Shit, is a come-to-Jesus moment for the songstress who moved back to Tennessee after exploring her path on the stages of New York and time in London – a literal reflection of LOLO’s journey on the road back home. With a daring and emotionally charged voice, her music evokes a hot southern night – rough around the edges but with a velvety quality that soothes the soul.

Micro Cinema: Memphis Women in Film
2019-05-21 14:00 - 16:00 | TN
Monthly short film screening series, presented by Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts. This month is a Memphis in May salute to Memphis presented with the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission.
This month: Memphis Women in Film
Join us as we focus on Memphis women filmmakers with a retrospective of their work in short films over the years.
Doors at 6:30 pm | Screening at 7 pm. Admission is pay-what-you-can.

Spotlight Concert Series ft. Andrew Crust and Members of the MSO
2019-05-21 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join Andrew Crust, Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and a chamber orchestra comprised of members of the MSO for a special evening of music at the Green Room at Crosstown Arts. The program was selected by Andrew Crust and features works by Gustav Mahler, Alma Mahler, and Richard Wagner. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Doche will perform as soloist for the Mahler selections. Also a talented visual artist, Andrew Crust will be displaying some of his artwork available for purchase at the concert.
Doors open at 7 pm | performance starts at 7:30 pm
Tickets: $10 | $5 at the door with Student ID

Program:
Gustav Mahler, arr. Riehn – Kindertotenlieder
Alma Mahler, arr. Crust – Die Stille Stadt
Richard Wagner – Siegfried Idyll
Stephanie Doche, soloist
The Spotlight Concert Series showcases members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra in the intimate Green Room at Crosstown Arts. The series provides the Memphis community the opportunity to get to know and learn more about the talented musicians that make up the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Each month will feature a different musician or small chamber group as soloist or featured ensemble.

Artist Bios:
ANDREW CRUST is the newly-appointed Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (beginning in 19/20) where he will conduct a large number of subscription concerts, Kids concerts, Pops, as well as the innovative Annex Series and Tea and Trumpets Series each season. He is a versatile conductor with broad experience conducting orchestras, ballet and opera across North and South America and Europe.
Crust was Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019 where he conducted over thirty-five concerts each season. He also served as Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program. As the Assistant Conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Maine from 2016-2018, he conducted a variety of concert series, helped coordinate the orchestra’s extensive educational programs, and helped lead a program for concertgoers under 40 called “Symphony and Spirits”.
Crust was the Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYO-USA) in the summers of 2017 and 2018, assisting Michael Tilson Thomas on an Asian tour, as well as Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop and James Ross at Carnegie Hall and in a side-by-side performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also served as Cover Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony and Nashville Symphony, Assistant/Cover Conductor of the Boulder Philharmonic and Assistant Conductor of Opera McGill. As a winner of the 2018 Ansbacher Fellowship, selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic, Crust was invited to the Salzburger Festspiele throughout August 2018 with full access to all Festival performances and rehearsals. Furthermore, Crust was the only American invited as a semi-finalist for the 2018 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival‘s Young Conductors Award, and worked with the Austrian Ensemble for New Music in May of 2018.
Praised for her “fervent, commanding vocal prowess,” French-American mezzo-soprano STEPHANIE DOCHE (rhymes with posh) was a Handorf Company Artist with Opera Memphis for the 2018-2019 season. While in Memphis she sang the roles of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Cousin Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore, and Toledo in the professional premiere of new American opera, The Falling & the Rising. Stephanie is also an Encouragement Award recipient for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, West Tennessee district.
In 2018, Stephanie garnered recognition for her “boldly convincing” performance as Idamante in Idomeneo with Opera NEO in San Diego. Other operatic highlights include Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Mére Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, and La Suora Zelatrice in Suor Angelica. Stephanie performed as Meg March in Little Women with UT Austin Butler Opera Center under the guidance and praise of the opera’s composer, Mark Adamo.
Impassioned with a desire to connect through creativity, Stephanie loves introducing opera to new audiences. As a Handorf Company Artist, Stephanie was a core member of 30 Days of Opera, an annual event that presents free opera in Memphis and its surrounding areas every day in September. Also in 2018, Stephanie performed in the premiere of the new children’s opera, Jack and Jill and the Happening Hill, with Salt Marsh Opera. During this community outreach, Stephanie and company presented the opera to over 5,000 students in Eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Stephanie has been a featured soloist with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, University of Texas Wind Symphony, Rocky Ridge Music Center, and the Austin based chamber ensemble, prismatx, with whom she performed Schoenberg’s ‘Pierrot Lunaire.’
Stephanie was born in France to an American mother and Canadian father. When she was four years old, Stephanie and her family moved to Rochester, New York, where she was raised.

Spit and Image
2019-05-23 13:00 - 16:00 | TN
A one-night art event featuring new works by Jeshua Schuster, Meredith Lones, Sara Moseley, and Stacy Kiehl. With DJ Damp Velour.

Chris Milam
2019-05-23 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Doors at 7:00pm | show at 7:30pm
$15 at the door | $10 in advance (purchase on Eventbrite)
Chris Milam’s Kids These Days (2017) debuted in the iTunes Top 40 amid critical acclaim. The album’s stunning poetry, infectious melodies, and innovative sonic landscape earned the Memphis artist a wider audience and rapturous reviews:
“Invites–and earns–the Paul Simon comparisons.” –American Songwriter
“Offers something deeper.” –Paste
“A world class set of songs…Best of 2017″ –Skin Back Alley (UK)”Highly recommended…beautifully-layered, dark, dynamic, and close to overwhelming.” –No Depression
“Pure poetry…heralding fine things from a songwriter who should be heard.” –Popshifter”Top 20 at SXSW…an introduction to America’s finest.” –Concentus (UK)
The momentum of Kids These Days took Milam from clubs to festivals, from Los Angeles to Liverpool, and all points between. Now, after a year on the road, Chris Milam’s back in his favorite place (Memphis), doing his favorite thing (writing new songs). With the next album in mind–and pen in hand–Milam’s 2019 performances will offer a sneak peek at what this acclaimed songwriter has in store.

Crosstown Arts Weekly Film Series: Stranded in Canton
2019-05-23 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
The Crosstown Arts Weekly Film Series is an arthouse-style film series showcasing a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.
Films begin at 7:30 pm sharp.
Tickets are $5 (at the door only)
STRANDED IN CANTON (DOCUMENTARY, 1974)
Stranded in Canton is photographer Wiliam Eggleston’s infamous, shot-on-video document of what was happening in and around his world in 1974. Described as “strange, otherworldly, and Southern Gothic,” for those of us who spend our nights in Memphis bars, the scenes will seem uncomfortably familiar — long nights of drugs and drink and conversation.
The film features a slew of Memphis Midtown notables like Alex Chilton, Lesa Aldridge, Randall Lyon, legendary tough guy Cambbell Kensinger, bluesman Furry Lewis, and the for-real outlaw country singer Jerry McGill. Stranded in Canton is pieced together from over 30 hours of footage by Eggleston and directed by Robert Gordon, whose MUST-READ It Came From Memphis covers the wild life and times of some of the very people featured in this documentary.
Watch the trailer

Join us for an after-party in The Green Room with The Thank You Friends Alex Chilton Revue Band. Celebrate the chaos, the cacophony, the characters and the music of a time and place that only William Eggleston and Alex Chilton could create and capture in sound and vision. Screen the film, Stranded in Canton, at Crosstown Theater and then re-live the music with Ross Johnson, The Klitz (Amy Starks, Gail and Marcia Clifton), Adam Hill, and others at an after-party in The Green Room. More info here.

Stranded in Canton After-Party
2019-05-23 16:30 - 18:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join us for a Stranded in Canton after-party with The Thank You Friends Alex Chilton Revue Band. Celebrate the chaos, the cacophony, the characters and the music of a time and place that only William Eggleston and Alex Chilton could create and capture in sound and vision. Screen the film, Stranded in Canton, at Crosstown Theater and then re-live the music with Ross Johnson, The Klitz (Amy Starks, Gail and Marcia Clifton), Adam Hill, and others at an after-party in The Green Room.
Free with Stranded Canton ticket | $10 without
Tickets to Stranded in Canton are $5 and are only sold at the door at Crosstown Theater (7:30 pm)
Doors at 9 pm | Performance at 9:30 pm

About The Klitz:
Los Angeles had the Go-Go’s and the Runaways. New York had the Angels and the Shangri-Las. In Memphis, the most talked about girl group was The Klitz. The band sprang onto the Midtown scene in 1978 and quickly worked its way into local rock-and-roll lore with Alex Chilton serving as their impresario.
About Ross Johnson:
Ross Johnson’s name may only be familiar to a cult of faithful followers, but he’s one of the true heroes of the Southern alt and punk rock underground. From his days riding shotgun with Chilton, to his efforts helping found the Panther Burns to his work with outfits like the Gibson Bros. and ’68 Comeback, Ross has been a dedicated soldier in the trash rock trenches for four decades – while creating a catalog of truly brilliant and bizarre solo recordings on the side.

LIVE from The Green Room feat. Kyle Pruzina
2019-05-24 14:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Kyle Pruzina is a soul/pop singer-songwriter based in Nashville, TN. His voice and melodic style show elements of soul and pop while being influenced by folk and rock. For fans of Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Allen Stone, and Vance Joy, Kyle is sure to bring something both fresh and familiar.
The LIVE from THE GREEN ROOM music series offers an intimate experience featuring some the best up-and-coming artists in the region. Every month will feature performances in the premier listening environment The Green Room, the new venue for live music at Crosstown Arts. Enjoy an inviting lounge setting highlighting an array of artists — some you may know and others you’ll discover.
Tickets: $10
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm

The Music of Sonny Rollins
2019-05-25 14:00 - 16:00 | Crosstown Arts, East Atrium, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, United States
Jazz tribute to American jazz tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins featuring Bryant Lockhart (tenor sax), Alvie Givhan (piano), Sylvester Sample (bass), and Mike Assad (drums).
Tickets: $15
Doors at 6:30 pm | performance at 7 pm
Location: Crosstown Arts East Atrium
The Crosstown Jazz Series, presented by Strictly Jazz Entertainment in collaboration with Crosstown Arts, is designed to salute classic jazz music as contemporary musicians perform the work of the legends.

About Bryant Lockhart:
Bryant Lockhart is a gospel and jazz saxophonist/arranger/composer from Memphis, TN. His sound and style is greatly influenced by the artistry of musicians like Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, Charlie Parker, and Joshua Redman to name a few. Yet the core of his music is deeply rooted in the spiritual from his upbringing in the church. Bryant splits his time as an educator at Southwest TN Community College tutoring in math and science, a private music instructor at Christian Brothers High School, and touring with jazz legend Dee Dee Bridgewater.
Music is a passion and a release for Bryant. He has been part of a number of ensembles over the years as a member and featured soloist. These ensembles include The University of Memphis Southern Comfort Jazz Ensemble, The New Memphis Hepcats, The Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra, Revelation Instrumental Band, The Underground Band, The Charles Pender Quartet, the Northern Mississippi Jurisdictional Orchestra, and the J.O. Patterson Fine Arts Orchestra of the Church of God in Christ. He has been featured on several CD projects and has worked with numerous local artists such as Billy Gibson, Bryant Swearingen, Reginald Harris, and Candice Ivory.

About Strictly Jazz:
Strictly Jazz Entertainment is committed to cultivating a growing community in the knowledge and appreciation of jazz. We facilitate dialogue and collaboration between the devoted supporters of jazz and the brand new constituents – those new to the genre – for the furthering of the jazz community. We provide a bridge between leading artists and a community that typically does not embrace jazz by promoting concerts in various venues to generate an atmosphere that is viable for the absorption of pure jazz.

Grind City Pre-Meet
2019-05-25 14:00 - 18:00 | TN
In order to honor the legacy and works of avid Memphis photographer Eric Janssen, Crosstown Arts has partnered with Grind City Meet to host a “Benefit Art Show” with a goal of supporting the Janssen Family.
Photos from local Memphis photographers such as Alex Cruz, Adarryll Jackson Sr., Connor Ryan Photo & Film, David Roseberry, Ariel Aleks Antonío, Josh Johnson, Erica Haskett, and several others will be available for sale. Proceeds will benefit Eric Janssen’s children’s college fund.

SPINS feat. QEMIST
2019-05-25 16:00 - 19:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
A live monthly DJ series at Crosstown Arts
This month: Qemist (house/electronic/dance)
Cost: $5
Location: The Green Room at Crosstown Arts
The SPINS series will feature music as diverse as the City of Memphis. Each month, a rotating line-up of DJs will play everything from old-school Hip-Hop and House to Ultra Lounge and Afrobeat. There’s something for everyone to enjoy. So, come chill. Come hang. Come party!

About Qemist:
From a young age, Memphis-based producer and DJ Qemist has had a taste for innovative electronic dance music. Blending genres like underground house, jersey club, ballroom house, and footwork, Qemist is carving out his niche and finding a place in the vast utopia of internet producer/DJs while also leaving his mark.
Taking influence from a plethora of artists such as Geotheory, DJ Rashad, Jungle, Kaytranada, and LSDXOXO, Qemist has honed into his own lane of genre-bending electronica. His first project ‘9 Club’ released under Rare Nnudes Music was a pivotal shift in his overall style of music making. It was then that Qemist really started to experiment with more off-kilter sounds, smooth melodies, and deconstructed beat patterns. The EP has earned him numerous accolades and has even been compared to the works of Clams Casino and Aphex Twin.
Since its release, Qemist has continued to hone his sound and create genre-breaking music. In 2017, Qemist released his ‘Warm. Volume. Theory’ EP on Future-Everything and continues to release mixes through the label.

The Mystic
2019-05-28 13:00 - 14:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
On the last Tuesday of each month join Crosstown Concourse neighbors and friends for The Mystic.
The Mystic is a time set aside each month to experience the undefinable together through music, dialogue and silence. The Mystic is not affiliated with any defined belief system, but is a shared listening experience intended to deepen our understand of one another.
The Mystic is hosted by a rotated panel including Rabbi Micah Greenstein, Chris Miner, Dr. Scott Morris, Dr. Sonia Walker, and Kirk Whalum, with a variety of musical guests.

Artist Residency Information Session
2019-05-29 13:00 - 15:00 | Classroom Glass Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Need information on how to submit a competitive residency application? Crosstown Arts Residency Manager Mary Jo Karimnia will answer your burning questions about what a residency is, where to find the right one for you, and how to present your work and write a strong application.
Crosstown Arts offers multidisciplinary residencies to visiting and Memphis-based artists and curators, working in any creative discipline including visual and performing arts, music, film, and writing in all genres. All residencies include a private studio workspace, a furnished, temporary live space in the Concourse building (if needed), meals five days a week in the cafe at Crosstown Arts and free access, during the residency period, to the Crosstown Arts shared art-making facility. Applications for all 2020 residencies will be open from May 15 – July 15.

The McCain Duo at the Green Room
2019-05-29 14:30 - 16:30 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join pianist Artina McCain and trombonist Martin McCain for a special performance in the Green Room at Crosstown Arts.
The McCain duo will perform an eclectic concert from composers around the world. The evening will be filled with personal musings and facts about the works by David Wilborn, Plog, Lebedev, and Marcus Wilcher. Featuring music from spirituals to classical, ragtime to jazz there is something for every musical palette. Come enjoy these rare gems of the repertoire for bass trombone and piano.
$10 General Admission | $5 with student ID
Doors open at 7 pm | Performance at 7:30 pm

About the Artists:
Artina McCain
Described as a pianist with “power and finesse” (Dallas Arts Society), Artina McCain, enjoys an active career as a solo and chamber performer, educator and lecturer. She has performed nationally and internationally throughout Europe, China, and the United States. McCain’s solo and chamber performances have been heard on radio shows in Chicago, Austin, Toronto, and Hong Kong.
Recent performance highlights include guest appearances with Oregon East Symphony, Memphis Symphony and Austin Civic Orchestra. Television appearance include features on CSPAN and a featured inspirational leader in the PBS documentary series “Roadtrip Nation: Degree of Impact”. An American Prize winner for her solo piano recordings, she will release an album of works entitled “Heritage: The American Composer” on the MSR label. She has won performance awards from the Austin Critics Table and is a three time Global Music Awards winner for the album I, Too (Naxos), a collaboration with soprano Icy Monroe, and the albums Shades and Trombone Czar with husband and bass trombonist, Martin McCain.
A strong advocate of performance injury prevention and alternative care, she has presented numerous lectures at conferences, universities, and hosts an annual Musicians Wellness Forum in Austin TX. She graduated from Southern Methodist University (BM), Cleveland Institute of Music (MM) and University of Texas at Austin (DMA). Currently, Dr. McCain is an Assistant Professor of Piano at University of Memphis. More info at www.artinamccain.com
Martin McCain
“He commands technical facility as a bass trombonist…executes the material on both discs with conviction…his attack is agile and his sound robust…” Textura Magazine (Canada)
Bass trombonist Martin McCain’s career as a musician spans an impressive scope of genres. A third-generation musician, he maintains a versatile performance schedule as a soloist, chamber, orchestral and jazz/commercial musician. Martin has appeared with numerous ensembles and has been a performer and clinician throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
As an orchestral musician, Martin is a member of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, PRIZM Chamber Orchestra and regularly performs with the IRIS Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony and Memphis Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony, Charleston Symphony Orchestra and many regional orchestras. As a jazz musician, Martin is a member of the NOW Jazz Orchestra, Memphis Jazz Orchestra and performs with national touring ensembles. He was recently named a Global Music Awards Gold Medal winner and was featured in the Billboard magazine.
Martin McCain is an Artist/Teacher of Trombone at Texas State University. For more information, visit www.martinmccain.com.
