The Memphis Scene

Yeah, I reckon. Year 2 of The Memphis Scene ends here. I wish everyone a happy, healthful and wholesome New Year.

I happen to detest New Year's Eve, if only because I generally go out about 345 or so nights of the year and resent having to deal with teeming throngs of non-professionals on one designated night at the end (I feel similarly about Halloween these days). Then there's the expectations game: Don't want to disappoint, right? Having said that, I still haven't settled on plans for tomorrow night for myself and my associates. I have plenty of ideas, but nothing has grabbed me. Leave suggestions in comments, and I'll see y'all in the 06.

P.S. Congratulations to the Independence Bowl champion Missouri Tigers on their uplifting come-from-behind victory over the South Carolina 'Cocks and the Ol' Ball Coach. My only disappointment was that Steve Spurrier never threw his visor to the turf in disgust as his boys blew a 21-point lead. All together now ... M-I-Z ...

Behold the comedy stylings of funnymen Alex Blagg and Andrew Earles on Wednesday night at the Hi-Tone. The death disco stylings of Esque follow. Show starts at 9; $5 cover.

Meet Wafah Dufour (she took her mother's maiden name after the Sept. 11 attacks). She's the California-born daughter of Carmen Dufour and Yeslam bin Laden, a half-brother of Osama. She appears in the January 2006 issue of GQ. Turn-ons? Making music, American values. Turn-offs? Austere prudes, homicidal fanatics.

I just discovered Paul Ryburn's nightlife blog, and I've been tracking back through it on and off throughout the day. It's mostly downtown-centric, with a few asides thrown in. Check it out, and enjoy.

Apologies to all the bloggers for being a no-show at the Wednesday night get-together. I just ran out of time to get there. Maybe next time we could arrange a remote video hookup?

The classic Memphis instrumental garage/surf band reunited to show the kids how it's done at this past fall's second installment of GonerFest. Now Impala returns to action Friday night at Automatic Slim's to celebrate the release of "Night Full of Sirens: Anthology '93-'97." Memphix Records deejays Redeye Jedi and Chase One man the controls. The party starts at 10; cover is $5.

Among the members of Impala, of course, is Scott Bomar, who composed the score for "Hustle and Flow" and is producing the soundtrack for the forthcoming "Black Snake Moan." Read more about him and his various projects here.

Hear and purchase digital recordings of Impala tunes here.

Once again, I'm very late in announcing something, but that's how it goes this time of year.

Anyone with a blog -- even a LiveJournal or MySpace blog -- is welcome to join us. We'll be at Quetzal, which is the new cafe right across from the Death Star, I mean The Commercial Appeal building. Thanks to Mike at HalfBakered for getting this together.

Dish continues to tweak its weekly music programming. New on Saturday nights, deejay Justin Hand -- who recently wrapped up a long engagement on the top floor of Club 152 -- mixes up dancefloor fillers and remixed Top 40 hits. No cover, as usual.

Also at Dish, my crew, The Memphis FEEL-HARMONIC DJ Symphony Orchestra, returns to action this Thursday for a funky Christmas extravaganza. DJ Witnesse and I select the funk, disco and boogie killers, while Carlos Moore and DJ Hydro add crucial cut-and-scratch techniques. Taylor Dawson, Azenty Sun and Brandon Thornburg provide deejay support. This should be a big one. (Party starts at 10; no cover.)

Rachelandthecity would have been cross.

This goes down tonight at The Vault, which is right inside/beside R.P. Billiard's on Highland. I'll be there around midnight!

This will be a huge retail addition to the South Main district. I have stacks of American Apparel tees and collared golf-type shirts. They use very soft non-preshrunk cotton and have untold numbers of colors. Plus, it's all sweatshop-free! Keep the cool shops coming, please!

I'm sure many of you spend quite a bit of time wondering what Hollywood producer extraordinaire, lifelong Michael Jackson friend and Memphis resident David Gest has been up to. Maybe you were even aware that he's been cooking up a star-studded tribute to the diva herself, Dionne Warwick. Well, the lineup came out today, and it's actually pretty interesting, quite a far cry from the cavalcade of one-hit oddities and Golden Age fossils Gest assembled for last year's holiday extravaganza.

Here we go, from PRNewsWire ...

Those confirmed to perform at the Kodak Theatre on January 26, 2006 celebrating her 45th Anniversary in the entertainment business are (alphabetically): Yolanda Adams, Ashford & Simpson, Vanessa Bell-Armstrong, Shirley Caesar, Richard Carpenter, Deborah Cox, Andre Crouch, Sandra Crouch, The Emotions, Gloria Estefan, Edwin Hawkins, Lynette Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Walter Hawkins, Cissy Houston, Olivia Newton-John, Kashif, Gladys Knight, Gerald Levert, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin, Brian McKnight, Mya, Milton Nascimento, The O’Jays, Jeffrey Osborne, Della Reese, Sir Cliff Richard, Smokey Robinson, Jill Scott, Richard Smallwood, The Spinners, Candi Staton, Angie Stone, B.J. Thomas, Leslie Uggams, Dee Dee Warwick, Nancy Wilson, BeBe Winans, Cece Winans, Stevie Wonder and that’s just the beginning! There will also be a segment with Dionne performing for the first time with all of the legendary composers of her many hit tunes, including songwriters Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Thom Bell, Isaac Hayes, Holland-Dozier-Holland and Richard Kerr.

Milton f***ing Nascimento, I'm sayin'! Stevie m***********g Wonder!!! Your boy Bubbly! And who knew Cliff Richard had a peerage? This should be cool. It will be filmed Jan. 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles; no word yet on when it will air on TV.