The Memphis Scene

In case you hadn't heard, the new Ground Zero Blues Club is cranking up from its April soft opening with a full lineup of top blues acts. The Downtown venue, right next door to the Red Rooster on Lt. George W. Lee Avenue, is the Memphis branch of the Clarksdale, Miss., club founded by actor Morgan Freeman and his partner Bill Luckett. It sports a top-notch sound system, well-appointed bar and walls you can write your name on. Check it out Saturday night when hill-country dynamo and former R.L. Burnside sideman Kenny Brown comes to town.

Members of one of my favorite Memphis bands of the past few years, The Grip, have formed a new outfit called City Champs, and it looks like this group will also be near to my heart and ears. Whereas The Grip -- featuring Art Edmiston on tenor sax, Al Gamble on Hammond organ, Joe Restivo on guitar, and a rotating cast of drummers -- specialized in the organ trio-plus sound of 1960s Blue Note jazz recordings, City Champs -- minus Edmiston, with sometime Grip drummer George Sluppick on the trapset -- are a stripped-down funk combo along the lines of Booker T. & the MGs or contemporary acts like Sugarman 3 (this is judging by the two tunes on their MySpace page). They've got an album on the way, cut on analog tape at Scott Bomar's studio. And they've got a full slate of gigs coming up, starting this Sunday at Huey's Downtown. (8:30 p.m.)

* Rootsy Memphis band Giant Bear plays on the terrace at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art on Thursday, May 22. Enjoy the nice view of Overton Park and enjoy some country-rock flavors -- with cello, of course. (8 p.m.; $8 for members, $10 for non-members.)

* An overview of the career of pop-art icon Andy Warhol opens June 14 at The Brooks. "The Prints of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again)" is one of a number of worldwide events being held during the 2007-08 commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the artist's death. Here's more information fresh off the press release ...

Organized by Margery King, associate curator at The Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this exhibition has continuously opened to rave reviews and has meant record-breaking attendance at the host museums and galleries all over the world. "Warhol's prints are fantastic," says King. "They aren't necessarily seen in the original as often as the paintings and they really need to be seen in person to appreciate their beauty."

Among the 63 prints and 5 paintings included in this exhibition are some of Warhol's most famous works – Jackie Kennedy, Campbell's Soup Cans, Mao, and Flowers – as well as some of his lesser-known works, such as the Hammer and Sickle series, and prints based on Italian Renaissance masters. The title for the exhibition is a play on Warhol's 1975 book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again).

Find out even more here at the ArtsMemphis site.

It has been a hot second since they've played a show together, but The Coach and Four are bringing their sophisticated indie-pop/rock sound out of hiatus for a show Friday night at the Hi-Tone. Let's hope they keep at it; I found The Coach and Four to be one of the more enjoyable bands in the Makeshift Music scene that ruled Midtown in the mid-00s. (10 p.m.; $5 cover)

Pictures from the FREEZE party a couple weeks ago at Club Shadows have been posted on the Cocks n Hens site. I stopped by after work and had an OK time. Lord T & Eloise were definitely in the house. Check out my Music Fest interview with the crunk aristocrats here.

* To update, this weekend's Rozelle warehouse rave is still on. Check out the nifty flier ...

* Next Saturday, join Memphis music writer/comedian/man-about-town Andrew Earles as he celebrates the release of "Just Farr a Laugh," an album of prank phone calls placed by Earles and his partner Jeffrey Jensen. It's coming out Tuesday on Matador Records. For the release party, Saturday at Goner Records, Earles will perform a little monologue and play a few selections from the album. Heck, he'll even answer some questions. Learn more about the project here on the Matador site, and here on Earles' very own blog. (5:30 p.m., no cover.)

After saving this image from one of the band's MySpace page, I'm finally able to post it for you. For some reason, it wasn't posting properly after I downloaded it from the initial e-mail I got. Enjoy -- it's an attractive flier, isn't it?

* I'm back from a three-day weekend, rested and refreshed, having caught a wonderful Monday-night acoustic-blues set from Steve Selvidge, Paul Taylor and Luther Dickinson, having savored maybe the best lunch ever, al fresco at The Brushmark, and having enjoyed "Married Life," the Hitchcockian new film by Memphis native Ira Sachs. Do all three things while they last.

* File this one in your date book: Jack O. always puts on a memorable show, and he tends to spread them out a bit. I would've posted the flyer here, but it's giving me trouble and the time is getting late.

Jack O & The Tearjerkers
Hi Electric
Jeffrey & The Pacemakers

10 p.m. Friday, April 26
Neil's, 1835 Madison
$5 cover

Fresh from high-profile gigs backing up Amy LaVere, Paul Taylor and Steve Selvidge will play an acoustic duo act every Monday in April at the Hi-Tone. These are two of the elite musicians in Memphis, so it's bound to be a can't-miss show -- and $1 PBRs and $4 Finlandia drinks are just the icing on the cake. (Show starts around 10 p.m.; no cover.)

It should be going ON later tonight at the Hi-Tone, as Antenna Shoes -- the Memphis supergroup fronted by Snowglobe veteran Tim Regan -- celebrates the release of its debut disc, "Generous Gambler."

Music aside, word has it the show will function as something of a Midtown pep rally for the Tigers. Observe the brand-new mural on the western wall of the club, featuring an Elvis-esque rocker with the head of a Tiger, rattlin' out in front of a club full of fans.

Read the preview here, courtesy of Commercial Appeal music writer Bob Mehr, who incidentally is from Los Angeles and roots for the Bruins.