The (blank) Dicks present "Come, Christmas! Cumback!"
2021-12-17 13:30 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Your favorite queer country band, The (blank) Dicks, present “Come, Christmas! Cumback!” in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts.

TICKETS: $10 advance | $15 day of show
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
Fire up the prayer chain and clutch your pearls, because Christmas is coming and so are The (blank) Dicks! After a long medical hiatus (we’re not saying who, but someone had an “incident” at the bathhouse that required a full restringing of their guitar, if you know what I mean), your favorite queer country band is back for their first show under a new name, to be revealed for the first time at the show! They’ll ruin your favorite holiday songs, unload some special gifts and guests from Santa’s big ole sack, and make the yuletide gay, gay, gay, gay, gay. So gather up the family, tell them all to leave you alone and stay home for at least one night for the love of God, and then skip on down to Crosstown for the holiday show you deserve!
Regionally notorious, five-time Grammy ineligible, and generally just filthy, The (blank) Dicks are the queer country band your whole youth group is praying about. Formerly known as the D*xie Dicks and currently known as a big disappointment to all their families, they’re Charlotte Watson, Brandon Ticer, Brandon Pugh, and Joel Parsons, and they love each other very much.

Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night in Memphis
2021-12-21 13:00 - 15:00 | Crosstown Brewing Co., 1264 Concourse Ave., Memphis TN 38104
Crosstown Arts invites you to join us for Boombox Holiday Caroling with Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night!
RSVP for FREE
Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night is a free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CDs, and mp3s, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets every December. People bring their own boomboxes (phones with Bluetooth speakers are fine, too!) and drift peacefully through a cloud of sound, which is different from every listener’s perspective. Since 1992, this 45-minute work has grown into a worldwide annual communal event that has become an essential part of many winter holiday celebrations. This is the first time for the event to take place in Memphis!
With your help, we will create this roving sound installation, where boomboxes replace voices in a holiday caroling event like no other! You bring a boombox, cassette tape player, iPod/iPhone/iPad with speakers, or any other media-playing device you wish, and Crosstown Arts will supply a CD or digital download of one of the four parts of the piece. We all press play together and walk around the Concourse campus and through the neighborhood, creating a cacophony of bells, voices, and reverberant joy that will make heads turn on every corner.
All ages are welcome to participate! We do ask that all participants who are able to carry a boombox or other sound-making device bring one.
How to participate:
1. Sign up for free on Eventbrite. Participants are also welcome to arrive without signing up, but registering in advance helps us have an idea of how many carolers to expect!
2. Go to http://unsilentnight.com/participate.html to learn more about the piece and download the free App if you want to use an electronic device.
3. We will meet at 7 pm at Crosstown Brewery. We will get organized, then walk at 7:30, ending at Art Bar at Crosstown Arts!
4. Join our Facebook event, share it with your friends, and help spread the word!
Note: The success of the piece very much depends on having quality speakers (either line-connected to your device or battery-powered devices). Please do not plan to simply play the audio off of your iPhone/iPad/laptop speakers. Thanks!

BOOMBOXES & PORTABLE SPEAKERS

Unsilent Night sounds best with boomboxes or powerful speakers. As more and more participants are using smartphones, we strongly recommend the use of external or bluetooth speakers to enhance the phone’s fairly weak sound output. Many powerful bluetooth speakers are available online for quite cheap. The louder the better. Be creative— anything goes! We’ve seen speakers mounted on a wagon, golf cart, backpack, custom-made as helmets, covered in sparkling lights … Austin does their Unsilent Night on bicycles!

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT USING THE APP
Because the iOS or Android mobile apps include downloaded copies of all four tracks, the size of the apps is fairly substantial. For this reason, the app may only be downloaded using a WiFi connection. This means that your participants must download the app before coming to the event! For those who haven’t downloaded the app, they can stream or download individual tracks by visiting unsilentnight.com/participate.

POSTPONED: Citizen Cope
2022-01-06 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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.

POSTPONED Peter Bernstein
2022-01-11 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Due to rising Covid cases, Peter Bernstein’s January 11th performance in the Green Room at Crosstown Arts has been postponed. Crosstown Arts is issuing full refunds to ticket holders. Thank you for understanding!

Crosstown Arts presents Peter Bernstein in The Green Room, performing with several of the finest musicians from the Memphis jazz scene.

TICKETS: $18 advance | $22 door | $10 student ticket (with student ID)
Doors at 7 pm | Show 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.
Jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein (b. 1967, New York City) has been a part of the jazz scene in New York and abroad since 1989. During that time, he has participated in over 200 recordings and numerous festival, concert, and club performances with musicians from all generations. As a leader, Peter has released 12 albums and a DVD, Live at Smoke.
He got his first break while attending the New School when he met the legendary guitarist Jim Hall. Hall asked Peter to participate in his Invitational Concert as part of the 1990 JVC Jazz Festival. The event featured such guitarists as John Scofield and Pat Metheny and was released as “Live at Town Hall Vol. 2” by Music Masters. Hall noted that Peter “…has paid attention to the past as well as the future. He is the most impressive guitarist I’ve heard. He plays the best of them all for swing, logic, feel and taste.” Also in 1990, Peter Bernstein was discovered by alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and took part in the first of four recordings with him. He was a regular member of his group throughout the 1990s. “Some people just have it.” Donaldson said. “…most of the time you have to teach someone what to do, but Peter knows it all.”
Peter has also enjoyed long musical associations with legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb (Cobb’s Mob), as well as organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart as a member of their highly acclaimed trio. The New York Times called them “the best organ trio of the last decade”. Together they recorded a dozen of records, all of which display their distinctive sound, whether exploring the depths of jazz standards or playing their original compositions. From 1995 through 1997, Peter was a member of Joshua Redman’s band and played on Redman’s Freedom in the Groove CD. He played with Diana Krall’s quartet from 1999 through 2001 and with Dr. Lonnie Smith, the legendary organist who made his debut on the George Benson Cookbook albums. He has also recorded five CDs with organist Melvin Rhyne, known for his association with Wes Montgomery. In addition, Peter has appeared in groups led by Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, George Coleman, David Fathead Newman, Etta Jones and Nicholas Payton.
Current Projects include a solo record, “Solo Guitar – Live at Smalls” in 2013, the albums “Let Loose” w/ Gerald Clayton, Doug Weiss, and Bill Stewart in 2016 and “Signs LIVE!”, featuring pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, in 2017, both released on Smoke Session Records as well as the highly acclaimed organ trio with organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart with whom he has released numerous albums and toured world wide for almost 30 years. The most recent releases are “Ramshackle Serenade” (2014) and “Toy Tunes” (2018), both on Pirouet records.
“Peter’s an extremely elegant musician with a gorgeous tone that seems to relax you when you hear it.” – The Jazz Bakery, Los Angeles
“The jazz guitarist, among the most sought after in the New York area, has a feather-light touch, an encyclopedic knowledge of chords and the ability to play standards like he’s inventing them on the spot.” – The Los Angeles Daily News
“Mr. Bernstein is a fluidly improvising guitarist in the post-bop tradition, with control over harmony and a beautiful sound.” – The New York Times

Crosstown Arthouse presents Walking Tall
2022-01-13 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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.

Reba Russell Band: Blues in 22
2022-01-14 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Memphis blues singer-songwriter Reba Russell will perform in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts.
TICKETS: $10 advance | $12 day of show
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 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.

Reba Russell and The Reba Russell Band are names synonymous with the Memphis music scene and the blues.
Reba Russell got her start in the early 1980s with bands Visions, Portrait, and Reba Russell and the Portables. These days, she’s fronting The Reba Russell Band, and she’s covered most bases in the music industry.
Reba is a published songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, backing vocalist, bandleader and producer, as well as a touring and recording artist. She and her band have toured throughout the United States and Europe and have released eight independent original blues albums. Reba and her band members have countless recording credits with a multitude of various artists.
In 2018, The Reba Russell Band was honored to receive a brass note on Beale Street.
Current members of the Reba Russell Band are Wayne Russell (bass), Robert Nighthawk Tooms (keys and harp), James Cunningham (drums), Jeff Jensen (guitar), and Reba Russell (vocals and acoustic guitar).

POSTPONED Musical Journalism: Continuing a Legacy through the Flute
2022-01-15 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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).

Raneem + Better in Color at Crosstown Arts
2022-01-20 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents Raneem + Better in Color in an evening full of original music and colorful covers.
TICKETS: $10 advance | $15 day of show
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 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.

Raneem Imam is a singer/songwriter and producer from Memphis, Tennessee. She graduated cum laude from Rhodes College with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. Throughout college, she began to hone in on her songwriting, co-producing her first mixtape “DIALOGUE.” in 2017 and, later, her solo debut “Wise Up” in 2018. Toward the end of 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Robert H. Buckman Fellowship to spend a semester abroad in England studying music production and performance at the University of Kent Medway. The Rhodes College Music Department also granted her the Jane Hyde Summer Fellowship award to fund her first solo project during the 2019-2020 academic year.
Her recent single “Nothing Lasts Forever” timely debuted a week before the COVID-19 crisis hit the U.S. and rapidly progressed into a pandemic. A nostalgic pop tune that bittersweetly reminisces on memories from the past, the music and lyrics have become somewhat of an anthem to her senior year of college being cut short and having to say an abrupt goodbye to friends, teachers, and also to the last days of being a carefree college student. Though some days are happier than others, life is constantly balancing out the good and the bad. Just as nothing good can last forever, neither can the bad. “Nothing Lasts Forever” reassures the listener of this balance with an upbeat digital production juxtaposing a somber melodic line.

Crosstown Arthouse presents Mirror
2022-01-20 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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.

Joshua Espinoza Trio
2022-01-21 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents the Joshua Espinoza Trio live in The Green Room.

TICKETS: $10 advance | $15 day of show
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 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.

Possessing a wide color palette, the Joshua Espinoza Trio (Joshua Espinoza, Kris Monson, and Jaron Lamar Davis) explores shimmering harmonies and shifting orchestral contours with the aesthetic of a chamber ensemble as much as a jazz trio. Influenced by artists as disparate as Herbie Hancock, bassist Avishai Cohen, Gerald Clayton, and composer Maurice Ravel, the Joshua Espinoza Trio takes listeners on a journey for the ears and the mind. Through their genre-bending approach to songwriting, they’ve built a cross-generational audience of diverse backgrounds bound together by their love of good music. Their debut album “Journey Into Night” was released in June 2019.
With a style that is tastefully modern yet firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, Latino-American pianist Joshua Espinoza blends and bends genres into original compositions and arrangements that are immediately relatable, yet hard to define. Recently, Espinoza has performed alongside such notable artists as Sean Jones, Warren Wolf, Miho Hazama, Dezron Douglas, Jerome Jennings, Paul Bollenback, Alex Norris, John D’earth, Mike Pope, Kris Funn, Todd Marcus, and Chuck Redd. A finalist in the 2018 Ellis Marsalis International Jazz Piano Competition, his playing has been heard on stages large and small including the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Jazz Kitchen, the Barns at Wolftrap, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the DC Jazz Festival. His debut album “Journey Into Night” is available on all platforms. To read and hear more, visit www.JoshuaEspinoza.com.

POSTPONED Paul Taylor and The PRVLG
2022-01-25 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Due to the recent surge in Covid cases, Paul Taylor & The PRVLG’s January 25th performance in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts has been postponed. Crosstown Arts is issuing full refunds to ticket holders. Thank you for understanding!
Crosstown Arts presents a night of original music by Paul Taylor with very special guests, The PRVLG.
TICKETS: $12 advance | $15 day of show
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 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.

A note from Paul:
”Hello, PT here. I’m just dropping a line to say how glad I am to make a brief return visit to my hometown of Memphis, and to play music once again at The Green Room. Coincidentally, this will fall almost two years to the day since my last Memphis performance, the record release show for (my alias) New Memphis Colorways, “The Music Stands,” which was also held at The Green Room back in late January 2020.
The world drastically changed very shortly thereafter, and I had no idea at the time I would be moving far far away.
As most of you know, I’ve been on the Memphis music scene for my entire life, and I’ve made many different kinds of music with many different folks. The last year-plus of living in Door County, WI has been a major contrast to that reality, and I’ve found myself inspired by the solitude and rural environment to write a great many new instrumental solo acoustic guitar pieces.
So, I’d like to start the show by playing some of this new music for you. Then, I’m going to be reunited with my dear friends, the incredibly gifted twins The PRVLG, for an adventurous set of experimental funk improv! We also haven’t been on stage together in just over two years now, and something special, dare I say even magical, always seems to happen when we join up. So, don’t miss it!
We’d love to see you there, and who knows when I’ll be able to make it back?!”

About Paul Taylor:
Paul Taylor has been a mainstay on the Memphis music scene for over 30 years and has put out several critically acclaimed records over the past decade, including last year’s instrumental offering under the nom de plume New Memphis Colorways “It Is What It Isn’t,” which earned an editor’s pick in Downbeat and favorable reviews internationally. He relocated to Door County, Wisconsin in 2020.

About The PRVLG:
After touring as the backing musicians for rising hip-hop artist Healy, up-and-coming R&B and soul singer-songwriters The PRVLG have released their very own debut single “What You’re Missing,” a rhythmic and soulful masterpiece.
The duo, consisting of twin brothers Christian and Christopher Underwood, began playing music together at a young age and have hence developed a musical connection that can be heard not only through this single release but also in their live performances. As bass and drum players, the pair have the ability to lock in a powerful rhythm and bass foundation to their music, effortlessly making up for each other’s shortcomings and complimenting one another’s strengths.
Growing up in a musical family and listening to their father – a guitarist – play classics by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Isley Brothers, and Earth Wind & Fire, it was only natural for them to begin writing together at the age of 16 and continue to develop their writing talent from then. Since officially forming in early 2017, the duo named themselves The PRVLG, chosen due to the privilege they feel having the opportunity to grow up playing music together and to connect with others through the universal language.
Their debut release “What You’re Missing” (September 2017) presents mature and polished raw talent that has been continuously developed and improved throughout their musical career together. Inspired by the likes of Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, and Al Green, the track is a feel-good single with a catchy groove that makes it impossible to sit still. Lyrically, the duo took their inspiration during a night out after seeing a group of beautiful women, but surprisingly the chorus was written at a vacation Bible school, allowing the song to take on multiple meanings and become interpreted in various ways by the listener.
The release of What You’re Missing will surely mark the indie-soul duo as a new force in the industry.

Crosstown Arthouse presents The Holy Mountain
2022-01-27 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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.

Bailey Bigger
2022-01-28 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents a night of original music by Bailey Bigger and her bluegrass band, featuring Mark Edgar Stuart, Eric Lewis, Andy Ratliff, and Wyly Bigger, plus special guest Rowdy Franks who will open. Bailey is promoting her new full-length album “Coyote Red,” which will be released in the spring. Come out and support your local Memphis folk scene!
TICKETS: $12 advance | $15 at the door
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 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.

About Bailey Bigger:
Born and raised in small town Marion, Arkansas, just outside of the musically historic city of Memphis, Tennessee, Bailey has always had a passion for songwriting. Picking up the guitar at only nine years old, she began to write songs within the first week of playing. With early influences including John Denver, Joni Mitchell, and John Prine, Bailey’s songs represent an era of authentic sound and songwriting that sometimes seems lost in today’s music industry.
At the age of 17, Bailey won “Memphis’ Best Song of 2017” for her original song “Wildflower.” Since then, she has performed at many festivals and venues, including Celebrate Memphis, AmericanaFest, and many more. She has also recorded at studios such as Dark Horse Studios, Sun Studios, and Ardent Studios, and she signed a record deal with Big Legal Mess Records at the age of 20. She has also been recognized as a top ten up-and-coming Americana artist you should be listening to by Ditty TV, a songwriter you should be listening to by Memphis Magazine, and was most recently named Memphis’ 2020 “Newcomer of the Year” by The Commercial Appeal. Bailey is working on her new release, the full-lenth “Coyote Red” album, with Madjack Records, and it will be released in the spring of 2022.
“Every now and again, one of those quintessentially shining voices appears, and now is definitely one of those times.” — Melissa Clarke (Americana Highways)
“… certainly her skills as a songwriter and vocalist were obvious. Her unaffected alto, reminiscent of Buffy Sainte-Marie, was the perfect vehicle for her simple, deft turns of phrase.” — Alex Greene (Memphis Flyer)

About Rowdy Franks:
Rowdy Franks is a West Tennessee native with a passionate and soulful voice. Raised on a mixing pot of genres, he has a unique musical style. His songs (original and cover) combine a blend of rock, soul, blues, and country. Rowdy currently plays throughout the Mid-south as a solo act and with his band “Rowdy Franks and the Strays.”

The Fourth Wall Hybrid Arts Ensemble
2022-01-29 10:00 - 11:30 | Crosstown Arts, East Atrium, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, United States
Crosstown Arts presents The Fourth Wall Hybrid Arts Ensemble’s one-of-a-kind family-friendly variety show, Fruit Flies Like a Banana.
TICKETS: $10 plus fees ($5 plus fees with student ID at check-in)
The Fourth Wall blends music, theater, dance, and acrobatics into a new hybrid art form. This trio of musicians creates new interdisciplinary works and reinterprets classic repertoire to make music that leaps off the stage. On Saturday, January 29, The Fourth Wall presents their one-of-a-kind family-friendly variety show, Fruit Flies Like a Banana, in the East Atrium at Crosstown Arts.
The Fourth Wall puts a vaudevillian twist on classical chamber music with their one-of-a-kind variety show, Fruit Flies Like a Banana. Chopin on hoverboards, Satie performed while hanging upside down, Joplin on plastic boomwhacker tubes, and tangos where the musicians are also the dancers! The audience chooses the order of over 20 pieces specially chosen for each show in this fast-paced hybrid arts experience that’s a fan favorite across North America. Interactive online performances of Fruit Flies Like a Banana: Virtual Style put everyone in a front-row seat, and all are invited to help create a show that leaps off the screen.
Few musical ensembles earn top marks for their “deft choreography” (The Wall Street Journal), but this is no ordinary ensemble. Part chamber music group, part theatre company, part modern dance troupe, part circus act, The Fourth Wall blends music, theatre, dance, and acrobatics into a new hybrid art form. This trio of musicians creates new interdisciplinary works and reinterprets classic repertoire to make music that leaps off the stage.
The Fourth Wall is a 501c3 nonprofit with a mission to create programming that engages everyone from elementary school children to classical performance connoisseurs through a new hybrid of the performing arts in which musicians are also actors, dancers, and acrobats. In a theater, breaking the fourth wall brings the world on stage directly into the audience; as an ensemble, The Fourth Wall breaks the barrier between serious art and serious fun.

Crosstown Arthouse presents Foxes
2022-02-03 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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.”

SOLD OUT | Keenan Shotwell presents Notez&Flow
2022-02-06 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
This event is sold out.
Crosstown Arts presents jazz pianist Keenan Shotwell and guests for special performance of music and spoken word titled Notez&Flow.
TICKETS: $15 in advance | $20 at the door (plus fees)
Doors at 7 pm | Performance 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.
Prepare to be immersed in an atmosphere of artistic freedom that will take you on a journey through the striking melodies and uncharacteristic rhythms of jazz intertwined with spoken word. This platform will showcase a collaborative experience of the music, art, culture, heritage, and forms of jazz including renaissance jazz, be-bop, cool, and more. Experience the electrifying sounds of various legends such as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakely, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, and others. Get ready to be caught up in the mix of Notez&Flow!
Keenan Shotwell is a Memphis native known throughout the region for his striking creative ear for the musical arts. Jumpstarting his legacy, Shotwell practiced music at a young age with Jackson Studios during the early 90s. He graduated from Whitehaven High School in 1993, then mastered the piano and organ as a young adult while attending the University of Memphis. The two-time Verizon Wireless How Sweet the Sound winner has mastered evolution within the art of music. His impeccable gift for the piano has made way for his renowned reputation as the master of his abilities. Shotwell has orchestrated and played for The Herbie Hancock Tribute, A Night with Joe Sample, the MLK50 Tribute, and shared the stage with many national artists such as Melba Moore and Kirk Whalum. Keenan has also taken his talent to the movie screen by arranging and performing piano for the 2010 film, The Grace Card. He is also a seasoned producer and is the co-founder and CEO of WalkWell Productions. Keenan Shotwell has definitely brought nostalgia and excellence to the world of music and has done it flawlessly!

POSTPONED John Ellis
2022-02-08 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
John Ellis’ February 8th performance in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts has been postponed. Stay tuned to Crosstown Arts’ socials for a new date. Thank you for understanding!
Crosstown Arts presents John Ellis in The Green Room, performing with several of the finest musicians on the Memphis jazz scene.
TICKETS: $18 advance | $22 day of show
$10 student tickets available at the door with student ID
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
If that Dickens chap hadn’t already snagged it, “A Tale of Two Cities” would make the ideal title for the John Ellis story. The gifted, versatile saxophonist/clarinetist/composer occupies an imaginary (and extremely imaginative) space directly between the celebratory, welcoming spirit of New Orleans and the edgy, frantic streets of New York City. Both as the leader of his own eclectic projects and as an in-demand sideman for a mind-boggling number and variety of artists, Ellis expresses a keen intellect and easy virtuosity while maintaining a mischievous gleam in his eye and never letting tongue stray far from cheek.
That combination is best showcased in Ellis’ eccentric combo Double-Wide, which recently released its third album, Charm, on Ellis’ own Parade Light Records. While the title is an apt descriptor of the band’s inviting, joyous vibe, its soul is even better captured by the song that gives the album its name: “Charm is Nearly Always Sinister.” That dichotomy perfectly encapsulates Double-Wide’s split metropolitan personality, with a chainsaw-juggling balance of bayou brass, raucous gospel, and devil-may-care modern jazz. Ellis’ band of merry pranksters includes Gary Versace (organ/piano/accordion), Alan Ferber (trombone), Matt Perrine (sousaphone), and Jason Marsalis (drums).
Ellis also leads his own quintet of A-list players, whose most recent album was the 2012 Criss Cross release It’s You I Like. Featuring Mike Moreno (guitar), Aaron Goldberg (piano), Matt Penman (bass), and Rodney Green (drums), the album definitely leans more toward the NYC end of Ellis’ playing spectrum, though its two dedicatees still show off his “serious fun” duality: the repertoire includes songs by moody singer-songwriter Elliott Smith and legendary kids’ TV host Mr. Rogers.
An ambitious composer as well as an agile musician, Ellis in recent years has composed three large-scale narrative pieces commissioned by The Jazz Gallery in collaboration with playwright Andy Bragen. The most recent, MOBRO (released in 2014 on Parade Light), looks at environmental issues through the story of the infamous MOBRO 4000 trash barge.
As if those three wide-ranging projects weren’t enough to occupy his time and talents, Ellis also maintains an impossibly busy schedule as a first-call sideman. Having established himself as one of New York’s premier tenor saxophonists since his arrival in 1997, he’s since worked with artists as diverse as bass great John Patitucci, organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith, MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón, the Brooklyn-bred big band led by composer Darcy James Argue, guitar groove master Charlie Hunter, and pop icon Sting. His discography lists more than 100 album credits as a sideman, with more than a dozen released in 2014 alone, including acclaimed albums by Zenón, drummer Otis Brown III, pianists Helen Sung and Edward Simon, and blues/gospel/soul trio The Holmes Brothers.
While New Orleans and New York are Ellis’ two spiritual (and, over the last 22 years, actual) homes, he doesn’t hail from either city – or any city at all, for that matter. He grew up in rural North Carolina, two and a half miles outside of a tiny town populated by only 200 people. But his mother, an English teacher at the local community college, insisted that her sons be exposed to culture, and the love of music took hold in young John, who pursued that love to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in the relatively big city of Winston-Salem.
In 1993, Ellis moved to New Orleans to study with renowned jazz family patriarch Ellis Marsalis, eventually playing in the pianist’s band while jamming with local peers like trumpeter Nicholas Payton. He released his debut album, The Language of Love, in 1996 and a year later relocated to New York City. Despite the move, the name of his 2005 album One Foot in the Swamp captures his continuing ties to the Bayou, which shines through in the southern-accented, gospel-tinged funk grooves of his music. Ellis has released nine albums as a leader, three of those featuring his urban carnival band Double-Wide, which has toured extensively and was featured on the Main Stage of the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival.
While his presence on countless recordings and stages attests to the esteem in which Ellis is held by his peers, he’s also received numerous more official accolades. Most prominently, he was the second place winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition in 2002. He was the recipient of three composition grants through The Jazz Gallery for his collaborations with playwright Andy Bragen (“Dreamscapes”, “The Ice Siren”, and “MOBRO”) and was selected as the 2014 Make Jazz Fellow by the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, leading to the composition of music for Charm.

The City of Tomorrow: Waves, Breaths, Dead Cities
2022-02-10 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents The City of Tomorrow: Waves, Breaths, Dead Cities in The Green Room.
TICKETS: $15 plus fees ($5 student ticket with ID at the door)
Doors open at 7pm | Performance begins at 7:30pm
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.

Featuring works by J.S. Bach, Olof Cornéer, Adam Scott Neal, Jacob Druckman, Luciano Berio, Leander Star, and Daniel Cueto.
Elise Blatchford, flute
Stuart Breczinski, oboe
Rane Moore, clarinet
Nanci Belmont, bassoon
Leander Star, horn
The City of Tomorrow is a wind quintet that is always more than a wind quintet. Live shows feature lighting, staging and set pieces, electronics, and the kind of ritualistic feel reminiscent of a Yoko Ono or Marina Abramović conceptual performance. The City of Tomorrow: Waves, Breaths, Dead Cities is no exception, featuring a custom set by Memphis carpenter Celeste Von Ahnen, video work by Breezy Lucia, also of Memphis, and choreography by the ensemble’s horn player, Leander Star.
The first half of the show recalls the shutdown and the long months of quarantine, starting with a blithe reworking of a Vivaldi Concerto and concluding with Jacob Druckman’s mournful Delizie Contente Che L’Alme Beate, a work for electronics and live winds that quotes liberally from Francesco Cavalli’s 1649 aria of the same name. Olof Cornéer’s minimalist work, Waves, Breaths, Dead Cities and Leander Star’s quarantine project Shoulder to Shoulder take the audience through memories of empty streets and monotonous days.
The second half begins with Luciano Berio’s intricate and vibrant work, riccorenze. Appropriately, the score calls for the musicians to be spread out as far as possible from each other on the stage, the perfect music for social distancing. As the musicians become situated closely again, the concert comes to a powerful and hopeful ending with Puma by the young Peruvian composer Daniel Cueto.

About The City of Tomorrow:
The City of Tomorrow is an experimental wind quintet with a fearless aesthetic and a commitment to 21st-century music. Their U.S. tours have included concerts at Trinity Wall Street, Spectrum, and INTER/SECT, (co-presented by Bryant Park and Chamber Music America) as well as the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series in Chicago, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Michigan, and Red Note New Music Festival in Illinois. The quintet’s work has been supported by residencies at the Banff Center for the Arts & Creativity and the Avaloch Farm Music Institute.
In 2015, the quintet began exploring physical movement and spatial relationships in their concert programming. Collaborating with lighting designer Alex Deahl, the quintet has experimented with an ensemble-controlled lighting setup and choreography to create a seamless and immersive musical experience.
From 2012 to 2014, the quintet was engaged in a musical exploration of climate change, which culminated in the commissioning of major new works from composers Hannah Lash, Nat Evans, and John Aylward. The City of Tomorrow’s first album, Nature, released on PARMA/Ravello in 2014, further wrestled with questions of human involvement in the natural world. Exploration of these natural themes resulted in a new work from Hannah Lash, which was supported by a 2014 Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant.
The City of Tomorrow’s members are based in New York, Boston, and Memphis and are in demand as new music specialists, curators, collaborators, and teachers. As an ensemble, they have recently given residencies at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Berklee College of Music, Indiana University, Tufts, and Yale. Members of the ensemble can also be heard with some of the finest ensembles in New York and beyond, including Talea Ensemble and the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Crosstown Arthouse presents The Apartment
2022-02-10 13:30 - 15:30 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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.

Fireside Collective
2022-02-16 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents the progressive folk band Fireside Collective in The Green Room.
TICKETS: $12 advance | $15 day of show
Doors at 7 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.

Quickly blazing a name for themselves with their progressive approach to American folk music, Fireside Collective delights listeners with memorable melodies and contemporary songwriting. Formed in the mountain city of Asheville, North Carolina, the band plays original songs on stringed instruments, intended for a modern audience. Following the release of their debut album “Shadows and Dreams,” the band hit the road seeking to engage audiences with their energetic live show built on instrumental proficiency, colorful harmonies, and innovative musical arrangements.
Well what do you call it?
“Bluegrass, Newgrass, perhaps Progressive folk…” These are some descriptions mandolinist and songwriter Jesse Iaquinto chooses to identify with. “Depending on where you come from and your experience with folk music, you may think we’re very traditional, or on the other hand, consider us a progressive act. We appreciate both ends of the spectrum and may lie on a different end on any given night.” While roots music lies at the core of the Collective’s songs, a willingness to explore the boundaries and present relevant new material remains fundamental.
The band burst onto the scene in early 2014 following the release of “Shadows and Dreams.” The album weaves bluegrass, funk, rock, and blues influences into a refreshing representation of modern folk music. From the opening track “Poor Soul” with it’s energetic bluegrass overtones to the closer “Shine the Way Home”, the album takes listeners on a journey through simple love songs to complex themes such as metaphysics and coexistence. The album, recorded in Asheville at Sound Temple Studios, features guest musicians from Asheville’s rich acoustic music scene alongside members of the Fireside Collective.

POSTPONED Lisa Nobumoto & Jazz Masters: Tribute to the Music of Diana Ross
2022-02-17 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
This event is postponed until further notice.

Crosstown Arts presents Lisa Nobumoto & Jazz Masters 20-piece Orchestra: Tribute to the Music of Diana Ross in The Green Room.

TICKETS: $15 plus fees
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 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.

This unique show encompasses the essence of singer Diana Ross’ 1973 album “Touch Me In The Morning.” A tribute to the Diva, this performance extends the music into the various sounds of a 20-piece orchestra with a special one-of-a-kind visual presentation. The Jazz Masters Orchestra features a genuinely diverse group of exciting instrumentalists who offer fiery and inspiring solos, paying tribute to the legacy of Diana Ross.
About Lisa Nobumoto:
A California native, Lisa Nobumoto is a Memphis-based jazz singer who has worked with be-bop pioneers such as Teddy Edwards, Jimmy Cleveland, Al “Tootie” Heath, Larry Gales, Conti Condoli, Billy Higgins, George Gaffney, and Gerald Wiggins in an abundance of tours and festivals.

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
2022-02-17 13:30 - 15:45 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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.

Memphis Quarantine
2022-02-18 - 2022-04-10 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents an exhibition of photographer Jamie Harmon’s Memphis Quarantine photographs.

From March 13-May 31, 2020, Jamie Harmon photographed more than 2,000 people at more than 800 homes in the Greater Memphis area to document life during the quarantine period of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Through portraiture, the images document Memphis residents’ shared isolation anxieties and bonds renewed by survival, hope, and solidarity.

About Jamie Harmon:
Jamie Harmon is a Memphis-based photographer with decades of experience in documenting both found objects and human subjects through film and digital media. A visual anthropologist, Harmon’s photographs have been featured in the New York Times, CBS News, Bitter Southerner and Memphis Magazine. His latest project “Quarantine Memphis” offers an intimate, early record of life during the 2020 global pandemic through showcasing home-bound notable local figures and everyday Memphians. Through portraiture, the images document Memphis residents’ shared isolation anxieties and bonds renewed by survival, hope and solidarity. His other work includes an ongoing portable studio called “Amurica,” a renovated midcentury Airstream trailer lit with bright, whimsical props that help visitors come alive with color in the shutter. Grounded in an exploration of place from community to individual to object, Harmon’s work breathes in a sincere interest in capturing human emotion and character as story.
Artist Statement:
The Memphis Quarantine Project started on March 13, 2020, when I, along with many others, officially started distancing from one another. I thought I needed something to keep me busy but still be safe. I assumed this would only be for a few weeks and asked a friend if I could photograph them from outside their home. This led to posting an open invitation on social media, and the project quickly grew to hundreds of people. I eventually reached over 1,200 people on the sign up link before I had to put a freeze on it.
From March 13 through May 31, 2020, I photographed over 800 dwellings and 2,000 people with an average of 13 photoshoots a day, each lasting between 15 -30 minutes. Leah Keys, my partner, sorted and scheduled all 800 requests by zip code and surrounding cities in the greater Memphis area with daily efficiency routes, which made it possible to keep such a tight schedule. After the photos were taken, there was still editing and sorting to do. Generally 8 hours of shooting would lead to another 8 hours of editing. So even though the shooting stopped at the end of May, the editing continued every day until July.
The project was free for participants. Each home, person, or family received a private web link with edited images that they could download at no charge. Although many people donated to the project, it was never advertised as a requirement in efforts to keep participation equitable.

The Barnes Family at Crosstown Theater
2022-02-19 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Theater, 1350 Concourse Ave., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
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.

Sound Fuzion
2022-02-19 13:30 - 15:00 | Crosstown Arts, The Green Room, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Crosstown Arts presents Sound Fuzion, a University of Memphis band, in The Green Room.
TICKETS: $10 plus fees (free with student ID for University of Memphis students and faculty)
Doors at 7 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.
Sound Fuzion is a University of Memphis band composed of students from all majors and musical backgrounds. In its 30+ year legacy, this band has been known for performing covers of popular songs locally as a way to recruit for and represent the university. Most recently, this band has also released a single, “Say Nothing,” on all streaming platforms, soon to be followed by their seven song debut album, “Insight.”
The diversity of Sound Fuzion members’ majors and musical backgrounds allow for a blend of genres, often pop and R&B, but always a few surprises.
Opening performance by Blu Jay
