LIVE FROM MEMPHIS

"Falling's easy, you just fall. And landing is a lot like falling, you just land."

Pensmoke is a Memphis native now residing in Alabama who is also part Native American. A fan of hip-hop since childhood, Pensmoke is also a born-again Christian who combines his love for God with his love of hip-hop, resulting in a very interesting album entitled Move Undetected.

I write this blog post to confess a bad habit. I know what some of you out there who know me are thinking, but I am talking about a really bad habit. You see, I read the comments on the articles posted on the Memphis Commercial Appeal site. It's some kind of weird compulsion. I don't slow down to rubberneck car wrecks on the interstate, or burn bugs with magnifying glasses, but this is just as bad. Sometimes, I even make comments myself.

2010 Memphis Addy Winner Brad Phelan of Live From Memphis and Jerry Lawler!

We had a blast at the 2010 Memphis Addys! I'm sure that 2 Golds, 5 Silvers, and a special Mosaic award contributed to that! I mean how could you go wrong with Jerry Lawler and and a few Ghost Rivers (our favorite local beer!) beers?

Check out the highlights: Jerry Lawler Battle for the flash drive and Best of Show winner JD Graffam from Click Boom!

However, I feel extremely confident that if there had been an award for overly-long blog title, I might be in competition.  Anyway...

Yes, we entered the Addy's this year.  A fairly laborious process (which is why we made Brad do it), but we think it paid off.  This is the first year Live From Memphis has entered the Addy's and we're pleased to say that out of the 15 entries we submitted (in 11 categories) we took home 9 (count them: NINE!) Addy Awards.

Here's what we won:

GOLD (2)
"Flipside Memphis - U Dig Dance Academy," produced in partnership with the Memphis Convention & Visitor's Bureau
"LFM TV," various webisodes (representing partnerships with ArtsMemphis, CVB, CCC, and the community at large)

MOSAIC AWARD!!
This is a special Judges Award given out to the organization or company for the best "integrated multicultural marketing and diversity efforts."  And we couldn't be prouder to have been honored in this way!  (Just scroll down for the photo!)

SILVER (5)
"ArtsMemphis TV - Yvonne Bobo," produced in partnership with ArtsMemphis
"Get Down" Web Series, produced in partnership with the Center City Commission!
"Love" Music Video produced for the band Snowglobe
LFM Promotional Videos (basically our reel and some other self-promotional stuff)
LFM TV, produced with various partners (ArtsMemphis, CVB, & CCC)

Below are a couple photos of the awards.  Thanks to the Memphis Ad Fed for putting on the show... Jerry Lawler was awesome!!  One suggestion - beer always taste better free ;)


Gold Addy for "UDig Dance Academy" Webisode!  Werd :)

It was a little bit like being in church. While debuting a series of promotional videos last Tuesday ArtsMemphis' CEO Susan Schadt mentioned Memphis' third-place ranking on Forbes “most miserable” cities list and the room erupted in shout-backs. “We are not,” affirmed Chris Reyes the founder of Live from Memphis, ArtsMemphis' multimedia collaborators. Schadt called for an antidote to all the negativity, a directory of all the people and things that give Memphians pleasure Then she introduced LFM's creative director Sarah Fleming who said a few words about the new spots which will appear on TV, the Internet, and on the big screen at Malco's Cinema Paradiso.

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This weekend I finally managed to do it. After all that gushing and several missed opportunities, at long last I was in the same room with Star and Micey. And they had instruments, and they played them and they sang songs and everything was right with the universe.

Skewby is a Memphis rapper that has made noise both in and out of Memphis.  He’s already been the subject of a 60 Seconds feature on this site, and he released his latest mixtape last year.  That mixtape, Proving You Wrong Since 1988, has already been featured on the popular hip-hop website 2dopeboyz.com . In addition, Skewby received an endorsement from veteran hip-hop producer 9^th Wonder after he visited town for the Indie Music Summit. With Proving You Wrong Since 1988, Skewby has delivered a mixtape worthy of the hype.

but you prolly won't see me, just the stuff i made.

so two days before shooting started on the feature film who's name has, i think, yet to be decided (it started as 'fandango', then switched to 'a horse tale', and most recently was rumored to be titled 'a fine step') i got a call from my friend, your friend, the lovely miss darian corley.  she told me that she had room for one more on her art department crew for the movie, and not having any good reason to say no, i quickly agreed to get on the team.

We weren't going to do this yet, but the overwhelming response to the Antenna documentary sneak preview we posted last week changed our minds.

Art Is is launched!!!!

Watch for these spots on TV and at the theaters!

Art Is Memphis is a set of five 30-second video spots highlighting the diversity, energy and power of our local arts scene. The video series was created by Live from Memphis and features many local artists and arts organizations. After the special sneak preview showing and launch party the spots will begin running on WKNO and at the Malco Paradiso movie theater.

The Art Is Memphis video series was created as part of ArtsMemphis’ Audience Development Initiative, which seeks to broaden, deepen and diversify arts engagement in Memphis. The videos feature local artists Stephanie Mei Hom, Wayne Smith, Jerre Dye, James Dale Green and Nadia Sophia with additional appearances by nearly 30 artists and 19 arts organizations.

“Innovation is at the heart of creation. As artists and arts administrators we must innovate in order to be relevant,” says Jerre Dye, artistic director of Voices of the South. “The Art Is Memphis video spots represent the kind of ‘smart thinking’ that we are all ready to embrace. I look forward to seeing what kind of impact they have in the community.”

“The arts are very much alive here,” says Dye. “They are vital to moving Memphis forward. These videos are a celebration of this vitality.”
The Art Is Memphis video series is funded by the Assisi Foundation of Memphis through the Audience Development Initiative with additional support from the Jeniam Foundation.

Since 1963, ArtsMemphis has raised funds to ensure excellence in the arts and build a vibrant cultural community for everyone. In 2009, ArtsMemphis allocated 95 percent of its annual campaign in addition to enhancement funds from the historic Memphis for the Arts campaign to award over $4 million to the Memphis arts community. Funds from ArtsMemphis are used to provide support for performing and visual arts organizations, community projects with an arts focus and to sustain our Arts for Children and Teachers (ACT) arts education program in the Memphis City Schools. For more information, visit www.artsmemphis.org

Within a half-hour after walking into the Downtown Marriott where the 22nd annual Folk Alliance conference was being held, I had heard no less than four languages being spoken or sang.

Images from the 2010 Folk Alliance Conference