Quote:Memphis... has a reputation among many Tennesseans as a sprawling, urban, dysfunctional mess that, by historical accident, the rest of the state is stuck having to deal with. These Tennesseans think that while Memphis has its charms, those charms should stay right there in Memphis where they belong.

- Roger Abramson in the Nashville Scene

This was the offhand crack that got it started.

Abramson was writing a story about U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis for the March 18-24 issue of the Scene (http://nashvillescene.com), taking a look at the Memphis congressman as a potential Senate candidate in 2006.

I asked you to respond

Quote:Debra Hall:

It is a shame that Roger Abramson has to hide his personal views of Memphis behind the rather transparent phrase of "many Tennesseans."

Mr. Abramson has a chip on his shoulder the size of, say, The Pyramid. He chooses to ignore a great deal of history and culture tied up in Memphis. He disregards the fact that around the world, Memphis is synonymous with the best entertainer ever seen, Elvis Presley. He discounts the Sun Studios-born musical movement that changed the world (could the same be said of country music?)

He must overlook the finest zoo in this area, certainly among the top five zoos in the country, thanks to Ya Ya and Le Le (and the many other quality exhibits).

And his description of Memphis omits reference to the area's finest college, Rhodes, whose beauty is passed only by its quality of education and reputation for excellence. Rhodes certainly has no rival in Nashville.

And obviously Mr. Abramson has never been to the Barbecue Festival as no one who has ever tasted the smoky sauced meat produced there can criticize Memphis to such a degree. Maybe he's even jealous he doesn't have tickets to a Grizzlies game (I'll take the Grizzlies over the Predators any day).

In fact, the only thing he gets right is the fact that Harold Ford Jr. is a benefit to this city. Perhaps we should invite Mr. Abramson down to Music Fest or the Sunset Symphony. I'll even save him a seat in the bleachers if the MTV Video Music Awards come to town. Then he can see another reason Memphis has a bright future: the ability to bring forth entertainers like Justin Timberlake.



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G. Chang:

For a city that tries to promote a cosmopolitan, progressive image, the Nashville media levies conclusions about its neighbor to the West that are the product of poor journalism - the small amount of cites to sources should often be dismissed as hearsay because of reliability issues. The media there has an agenda - to promote the city of Nashville at the expense of Memphis. It helps them sleep at night to denigrate Memphis, citing out-dated, long-defeated stereotypes of Tennessee's true great river city. And it helps promote pride in Nashville, reinforcing those long-held stereotypes, reassuring Nashvillians that their reactionary, knee-jerk negative reactions against Memphis have a modicum of merit and are warranted.

A Nashville sports reporter a while back took in a Grizzlies game, and used it to point out a single fan, a minority, who, the reporter claimed, made a comment that Memphis was the "most racist city in the South." I called him up on the questionable journalistic merit of 1) the relevance of such a quote in a sports story; and 2) the questionable tactic of using the quote to prove the subject matter of the quote.

You called out the Scene's reporter in this article as well: it's pretty easy for a reporter to cite "many people" in an anonymous fashion.

Memphis needs to promote itself. Become even more boosterish than it is already (which is quite a refreshing change from a few years ago). Promote itself to Nashvillians (and St. Louisans, and Atlantans, etc). More importantly, promote itself to Memphians. Memphians permit these false stereotypes and false negative images to persist in the minds of outsiders. Living in Tucson, Ariz., I promote Memphis. If I disagree with a Tusconan's perspective on Memphis, I'll enlighten them from an informed standpoint. When I return to Memphis, and Memphians bemoan their existence in Memphis, I share with them my experiences of living in St. Louis and Tucson, two cities often cited as great places to live, and tell them the truth - Memphis is competitive with each, and I prefer Memphis over either. Competition among cities is getting cutthroat, and Memphis needs to step up and actively defend itself against the assailants from Mississippi (Desoto County and Tunica), Nashville, Atlanta, Louisiana (see efforts to steal the Blues Foundation and efforts to lure the Johnny Cash film). I'd prefer a regionalistic approach, but I question Mississippi's enthusiasm in helping to promote Memphis, a place it evidently disdains, based on attitudes of a number of politicians and businessmen (see the Tunica airport, golf course, race track, and reluctance of Mississippi lawmakers in the past to support the direct I-69 route in reciprocity of Tennessee's support of the I-69 loop).

Memphis needs to promote itself. Strongly and persistently. And Memphians who are proud of being Memphians need to stand up in the crowd and say so, share their pride with informed opinions of their experiences.

I find Nashville media perspectives on Memphis to be ill-informed. Therefore, much of Nashvillians' perspectives are warped and skewed to a surreal, absurd degree. It's sad, and whenever a Memphian encounters a Nashvillian, they should take the opportunity to pop one of those delusion balloons about Memphis that are hanging around the Nashvillian's head.

The culture, entertainment, nightlife, and quality of life in Memphis is truly underappreciated by Memphians, much less the rest of Tennessee. It deserves even more respect than the CA gives it.

If we don't respect ourselves, why should we expect someone else to?



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Scott McNeil:

I attended a function in Nashville a while back and was surprised to learn that several folks had never been to Memphis. These folks had lived in Nashville for years and they were all well off enough to have visited Memphis at some point during their pretentious existence. When mentioning I was from Memphis they recoiled and wondered how I could be so unfortunate. These people were afraid of Memphis. And you know what? I sort of like it that way.



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Eric Thompson is a Memphian going to Auburn University:

When I read about this Nashville guy trying to snob Memphis it really hit home. There are quite a few kids down here from Tennessee, and it is always fun when you meet someone and they say they are from Nashville or Knoxville and then you proceed to tell them that you are from lovely ol' Memphis. The real truth is that these people have an inferiority complex born of the fact that they know their city isn't half as fun or half as interesting as our own.

Sure, Nashville has the Capitol and country music, and Knoxville has . . . well, only UT. But Memphis is known around the world for not only its music and food, but its mystique. I would almost guarantee that if you asked someone if they would rather visit Memphis or Nashville or Knoxville, the overwhelming answer would be Memphis.

I know no other students I've met from Tennessee that are near as proud as when I say, "I'm from Memphis!" The fact is they are just some Capitol snobs who really have nothing to be snobby about. If it makes them feel better to be snobby, then so be it. The truth remains that we are better people and more fun than they are!



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Nathan Tipton:

I think part of the reason that Nashville is taking such obvious broadsides at Memphis is because Memphis is (at long last!) giving Nashville a run for its money. While I certainly don't debate some of the Scene's talking points (Sprawling? Yep. Urban? Absolutely. Dysfunctional? Given the infighting of City Council and County Commission, sadly, yes), I also offer for the Scene a side-by-side comparison of our two burgs:


Professional Athletic Teams: Yes and Yes.

Triple-A Baseball Teams: Yes and Yes (and AutoZone Park is a far sight nicer than the Sounds' stadium).

Thriving Downtown Entertainment Districts: Yes and Yes.

Basketball Teams Who Made the NCAA Playoffs: Yes and Yes (although did anyone expect Vanderbilt to make it this far? Who knew?)

Distinctive Neighborhoods: Yes and Yes (and Midtown is far more charming and distinctive than Nashville's West End any day).

Tony Suburbs: Yes and Yes (and I defy Belle Meade to try and out-snooty Germantown!)

Arts and Culture: Yes and Yes (and now that Nashville has graciously decided to share the Tennessee Book Festival with the rest of the state, Memphis can really show our Capital City sister that it knows from culture).

Impressive Library Systems: Yes and Yes (Memphis still puts Nashville to shame on this one. This is an unrecognized gem in Memphis).

World-Class Amenities: Yes and Yes (two words: Madison Hotel. OK, two more: The Peabody. OK, two more: Westin Hotel).
Now granted, Nashville has some things Memphis would dearly love to have, namely Southwest Airlines and Opry Mills, but Nashville would also pay dearly to have a zoo on caliber with ours. And if Memphis could turn the Lakeland Factory Outlet Mall or the Fairgrounds into something like Opry Mills, we'd be just about dead-even with our mid-state sibling.

But really, when it comes down to it, Nashville's potshots at Memphis are just examples of boorish behavior that, because Memphians have more class, we should simply ignore. After all, without us, who would Nashville have to compare themselves to? Knoxville?



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Nathaniel Jones:

As a former Nashvillian I know what it is about certain people who live in Middle and East Tennessee when it comes to Memphis. Unfortunately, there is an underlying attitude of racism and jealousy when it comes to Memphis. . . . There has always been disdain for Memphis by Middle and East Tennesseans mainly because of its diversity.



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Nnaemeka Egwuekwe:

Tennessee is the worst thing to ever happen to Memphis.



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Joan Mahaffey:

Years ago I was working and living in Knoxville to help put my ex-husband through college and it was quite an eye-opener.

Those people believe they are totally separated from Memphis. I worked in a law office and I saw a lot of it in that area. There was one woman who said when the state was divided that was when the biggest mistake was made, that East Tennessee should have been part of North Carolina and never should have been a part of Tennessee. She was adamant about it. She said there were just too many people in Nashville and places like that that messed East Tennessee up.



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Bob Nelson:

I like Nashville. Nashville is a fine town. I am from Memphis. Memphis is a fine town. For a fact (not conjecture or supposition or simply self-justification), many people around the country and the world get Nashville and Memphis confused. These are - for the most part anyway - people who haven't been to either city. When I encounter such confusion in my neighbors and friends from you-name-it, I try, as a self-appointed Ambassador of Goodwill Southern Style, to remedy said condition. Here's how it usually goes: Denver Dan or Milwaukee Millie or Albuquerque Al asks, "OK, so tell me what you think is the difference between Memphis and Nashville." As a devout and authoritative fan of both cities, my obligatory reply is stock. "Simply put," I respond, "Everything about Nashville has come to it, and everything about Memphis comes from it."

"How so?" the unified voices of Dan, Millie and Al inquire. "Well," I pontificate, "you see, in the Modern World as we know it in the Post-Rock and Roll Era, Memphis could arguably be the Birthplace of Pop Culture" (getting this Roger?). A bold statement yes, but hear me out. Most of us are aware that Memphis is mentioned by name in more released musical recordings than any other city in the world (and it doesn't rhyme with anything).

This includes "Music City U.S.A." Most of us are also aware that, like most forms of popular music, country music is blues-derived. Now, if Memphis is the Home of the Blues and the Birthplace of Rock and Roll (and it is), and Nashville built itself on a foundation of country music (a fine American art form), then Memphis is the cultural and socio-economic parent of Nashville (a fine town). Pop Culture is the spawn of Rock and Roll.

Memphis is a cultural melting pot. Its geographic location places it just barely in Tennessee, nonetheless proudly so. We, as a community, are not a lily-white, derivative, filtered-down version of anything. Roots? Memphis's are in the rich brown dirt of the Mississippi Delta. Its citizens, for a large part, worked their hands in it. Sharecroppers, cottonpickers. Good, warm, real people. Nashville's in the hills, Roger. Hard to get things to take root in the hills.

Nashville's tremendous growth-rate over the last 25 years is testament to the fact that the general public likes things diluted, reconstituted and filtered. Memphis is juice. Nashville is Tang (also a fine beverage). "Sprawl," Roger? How much "sprawling" can we do? We're in a corner. Look at a map! Our city is a real, gritty, warts-and-all icon in the culture of the world. Many people from Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama regard Memphis as Their City. It is. Those who don't have the backbone and the objectivity to appreciate and embrace it would likely be more comfortable in a more sterile environment. Nashville can certanly offer them that. I love the Titans. I like the West End. I enjoy the Ryman and the Boundry. I like Nashville. We're family, for God's sake! Why do so many of you in the Nashville media reach for the negative ink whenever you write about your neighbor down the road?

Roger, Memphis's "charms" can't simply stay here. We've been exporting (not importing) our charm for a long time. It's a real, bold, rich urban brew - maybe a little strong for lightweights. More cream, Roger?



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Mark McKee:

Concerning the snooty Nashville journalist's comments, he's just mad because Nashvillians have to drink nasty semi-edible "pump water" every day. When engineers designed water filters they had Nashville water in mind.



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Vicki King:

Elvis Presley is probably the most famous Memphis "charm." He could have lived anywhere in the world yet he chose to make his home in Memphis, the hometown that he loved. Imagine what the music world would be like today if he had stayed "right where he belonged"?

Would Danny Thomas have chosen a "sprawling, urban, dysfunctional mess" for his beloved St. Jude Hospital?

Numerous songs refer to Memphis - how many can you name that mention Nashville?

Perhaps Mr. Abramson should question his "many Tennesseans" where they obtained their information and why they consider themselves above the residents of Memphis. No city is perfect. I don't know of anywhere that doesn't have both good and bad aspects to deal with. After all, Nashville has Mr. Abramson!



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Michelle Hill:

I know most of Tennessee resents Memphis and thinks we bring them down. Well I happened to be traveling in Pennsylvania last week (dreary, ugly and depressing place, by the way), and listening to the local afternoon DJ talk on current events, he brought up the recent decision of the Rhea County Commission on proposing STATE legislation against gay marriage and banning gays from living in their county!

Based on the obvious, the DJ lambasted the entire state as if it were in agreement with this one strange and twisted county in East Tennessee.

Memphis doesn't come close to resembling such a closed minded (non-Christian mindset).

Junior has a an uphill road to travel east of the Tennessee River. Besides the racial issue, those backward hillbillies in East Tennessee will never agree to have a Memphis native be senator.

Nashville, with its perceived cosmopolitan atmosphere and access to most of state government largesse thinks it's so superior because of geography and a better PR program.

When you get away from the Metro Davidson County issue, it is no better or worse off than Memphis in most categories.



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Teri Feigelson:

I'm from Memphis and have lived in Nashville. I've always been puzzled by the fact that Nashville thinks it is more sophisticated than Memphis.

I just can't figure it out. Nashville is the France of Tennessee: always looking down its nose at Memphis, while not having any backbone or any justification for being so snooty.

While I was living in Nashville I couldn't wait to get back home. I missed what was missing in Nashville: soul, grit, culture, really good music, a real river, and a Memphis groove that will never be felt on Printer's Alley, in Centennial Park, and certainly not during Fan Fair.

To the Nashville Scene: Here is an open invitation to come and visit for a while, and when you get back to Nashville you may just miss Memphis, too.

PS: I was going to say that Nashville is a televangelical, Wal-Mart "country with a K" type of town, with as much class as a toothless extra from the cast of "Deliverance" and as much soul as a saltine without the salt, but I recognized that would be stooping to conquer.



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Laura Stephenson:

If our charm should stay in Memphis, so should our taxes.

People come from all over the world to see Graceland, and eat at Corky's barbecue. Who comes to Nashville?



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L. B. Haddock:

Nashville has always been a tad jealous of our coolness, haven't they? To the Nashville Scene writer I say: Our river's bigger than yours.



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Dana Burkett:

I was so angered by your recent article referencing comments made in the Nashville Scene that I felt compelled to email most everyone I know and ask that they send an email to you or to the Scene to express their opinions. I guess they think that the only music heritage in this state is Country, or that basketball is not considered a professional sport, or furthermore that FedEx, Ducks Unlimited, AutoZone, or International Paper are not major corporations.



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Tom Hammond:

I would say the problem with Middle and East Tennesseeans is they take themselves too seriously and don't know how to have any fun. They couldn't put on a decent rock party much less a cotton carnival.

Their envy and small mindedness presumably originates from their background as showman farmers while aristocratic Memphians have their flourishing plantations and cotton brokerages.



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John Schroyer:

As far as I'm concerned Memphis should be its own state.

georgew Wrote:As many point out to me on a regular basis I'm not the sharpest pencil in the box, I have to ask the question, what's the point of your posting this on the OLE MISS board? :rolleyes:

georgew Wrote:Don't take offense FUT, I was just clueless as to what you were steamed about.

OLEGRAD Wrote:AS ONE OF THE THREE, I ONLY HAVE THIS TO SAY: GET RID OF YOUR
INFERIORITY COMPLEX AND JOIN THE HUMAN RACE.  MEMPHIS IS A FINE AND BEAUTIFUL CITY AND DOESN'T NEED YOUR COMING TO ITS
DEFENSE.

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OLE MISS: A CUT ABOVE

NewspaperRebel Wrote:There are a lot of Ole Miss alums here. How many times have you been on I-240 and not seen a car, truck or SUV with our distinctive Red and Blue Alumni Sticker in the back window?



I work with several of them, one being the Managing Editor of the CA.

Quote:A Nashville sports reporter a while back took in a Grizzlies game, and used it to point out a single fan, a minority, who, the reporter claimed, made a comment that Memphis was the "most racist city in the South." I called him up on the questionable journalistic merit of 1) the relevance of such a quote in a sports story; and 2) the questionable tactic of using the quote to prove the subject matter of the quote.

10MAN Wrote:Nashville is the best city in the South, in my opinion.

Rebel_Rx Wrote:

10MAN Wrote:Nashville is the best city in the South, in my opinion.

I'm hoping you had a brain fart or something. Because, I'm gonna have to smack you if you think Nashville is better than Oxford.

Rebel_Rx Wrote:

10MAN Wrote:Nashville is the best city in the South, in my opinion.

I'm hoping you had a brain fart or something. Because, I'm gonna have to smack you if you think Nashville is better than Oxford.

10MAN Wrote:

Rebel_Rx Wrote:

10MAN Wrote:Nashville is the best city in the South, in my opinion.

I'm hoping you had a brain fart or something. Because, I'm gonna have to smack you if you think Nashville is better than Oxford.

You got me, Mrs Lynne. Wow! That was a huge brain fart. Let me try and save myself by saying that Nashville is the best city in the South that is not exactly Heaven? Will that work? You know I know Oxford is the best place in the world, not just the South. Look at my sig, for crying out loud, it's been there since I've been a member here.