Where have all the Young Professionals gone?

Where have all the Young Professionals gone? Well, nowhere, at least not necessarily and certainly not all of them. Memphis is full of Young Professionals, a thriving group who is active in making the city a better place.

But some of them do leave the city for reasons too many to count. Or maybe not. Maybe the reasons are simple and trivial. Discovering why YPs are leaving the city, that's the mission I now find myself on.

As a board member of MPACT Memphis, an organization devoted to fostering civic, social and cultural engagement in the Memphis community among YPs, I'm on a fact-finding mission to discover why these people important to the betterment of Memphis are leaving. YPs are leaving the city, whether it's for family, jobs, to be closer to the beach or who knows what other reason.

Some are quite valid. How could I possibly argue with someone who needs to live closer to a sick family member? Or maybe someone grew up in Memphis, attended college here and decided they just wanted to try out a different city for a while? I actually did that myself. But I came back.

What about those people out there who moved because of a perceived lack of jobs, lack of confidence in government, concerns over high taxes or unsure about property values? Maybe they were concerned about crime rates.

If we can discover some of the reasons YPs have been leaving Memphis, not to mention some of the reasons others have chosen to stay, maybe we can figure out ways to keep more YPs in town. After all, Memphis can use their creative juices and energy to make this city a better place.

I need your help on this mission. The only people who can tell us why Young Professionals leave Memphis are the YPs themselves. So I need contact information. Your friends, former coworkers, fraternity brothers, cousins, brothers, sisters -- anyone in the 20- to 40-year-old range who has moved from Memphis I need your help in getting in touch with them. If I could send them just a few questions asking their thoughts about leaving the city, it could go a long way in helping us find ways in the future to keep YPs like them here.

So post on this blog, tweet me or send me an e-mail at lawied13@bellsouth.net or lallan@memphisdailynews.com.

The importance of Arcade Fire's GRAMMY win

Good for Arcade Fire.

I’m reacting to Arcade Fire’s win for best album at last night’s GRAMMY Awards while I sample a live album of The Avett Brothers. Yes, I own and like Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” album. It’s really good, actually.

I’m not here to write about the quality of “The Suburbs” or anything against the artists’ work that Arcade Fire was up against. What I am here to say, and it is apropos as I listen to The Avett Brothers, is that this was a major win for independent music.

I refer to The Avett Brothers – and Mumford and Sons might fit this as well – because if you think about it, what radio station does a band like The Avett Brothers fit? It’s a bit folk, a bit rock at times, lots of banjo and some strings mixed in with wonderful lyrics and solid voices.

I wonder how many GRAMMY viewers were familiar with The Avett Brothers last night. But there’s a lot of great music out there that “mainstream” music listeners are never exposed to. And that’s too bad.

Let me say there is nothing wrong with listening to “mainstream” music if that’s what you enjoy. I mean, I love U2 and they’ve been pretty mainstream through the years.

But my point is by awarding this Best Album GRAMMY to Arcade Fire it opens the conversation to the many wonderful independent artists out there making great music.

Sure, some of it might seem pretty wacky. I certainly am not a fan of all indie music. But the majority of what I do listen to is not found on mainstream radio. I hear it on satellite radio – Sirius XMU and the Loft mostly – and read about it on music blogs and magazines.

The funny thing is I own Arcade Fire’s album and do enjoy it. But it was not my favorite of the year. But that’s OK. I’m just happy this band from Canada was recognized last night.

And while many people were asking on Twitter “who the hell are these guys” I bet at least some of those same people today are looking into the group. Who knows, maybe it will then turn those people onto some other “obscure” bands they’ve never heard of.

And discovering new artists and expanding our horizons is one of the great joys in life. Or at least I think so.

D#@mn I hate sports!

No, not really, but I often wonder why I suffer as a sports fan.

As I write this I'm watching my childhood university (and home state) University of Arkansas lose to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. Sure, I'm a Memphis grad, former Tiger athlete and current season ticket holder. But I grew up a Razorback, something that never leaves you.

And I must admit it's a little embarrassing that in the history of The Ohio State University, they've never won a bowl game against the SEC. Sure, it's still early in the second half and the Hogs are doing some nice things, but if the Buckeyes pull this out for their first bowl win against the SEC, yes, it's embarrassing.

It's been an interesting few months for me as a sports fan. The Tigers football team stinks, but at least it was the first time in 15 seasons that I did not attend the majority of their games. My beloved Dallas Cowboys are pathetic, my fantasy football teams stink, the Tigers basketball team is still trying to find its way, the Memphis Grizzlies ... well ... not a whole lot I can say there. They did beat the Thunder tonight after blowing out the Lakers in L.A. on Sunday.

That leaves my Texas Rangers, who miraculously made the World Series and gave me the greatest October as a sports fan I could ever dream to have. But then they only won one game in the World Series.

So why do I, and every other sports fan for that matter, put up with this? Well, I have no clue. But this time tomorrow night I will be in front of my TV, putting myself through more of this misery, as I watch the Tigers take on the UT Vols on the hardcourt.

And yes, the pessimist in me feels that they're headed for a loss. But I'll still come back for more.

A Memphian dreams of Buffalo on New Year's Eve

It's New Year's Eve, so what's on my mind?

Well, this Miami-Notre Dame game (I was a Hurricanes fan as a kid), this pint of Ghost River Golden (I love beer), the exhaustion in my legs (I ran nine miles today), the approaching thunderstorm (I sometimes obsess about the weather), an upcoming day trip to Nashville to celebrate my 34th birthday and the potential of an exciting trip this summer to Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York State and possibly Ontario.

Really, that last one is what has me most excited. We plan on visiting family in Columbus, Ohio, this summer and talked about a day trip to Cleveland to experience my biggest travel regret so far: not visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I got to thinking last night, though, about attempting to extend the trip to other areas: the UP of Michigan, maybe Detroit, the Finger Lakes region of New York, Niagra Falls and Buffalo, the wineries of Ontario, maybe even Toronto.

My mind is literally like a wheel chugging along at 100 miles per hour as I think about all those possibilities. I LOVE to travel, and possibly even more so, love to think about and plan those trips. I'm excited about the idea of visiting new places.

So as I watch bowl games before going to friends' to enjoy dinner tonight, the potential of this new trip has me most excited as I think about the new year. I'll keep you posted.

Happy New Year!

MSO Pops rings in Christmas season with 'Home for the Holidays'

I had my first experience with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra's "Home for the Holidays" Pops concert on Saturday. It was also my first MSO performance to attend with new conductor Mei-Ann Chen in charge.

Let me just say she's great. I won't pretend to be able to rate her performance as a conductor compared to other conductors. But I found her to be charming and fun. Yes, I said fun. I thought she was having a blast on stage while leading the MSO in several Christmas songs, from the traditional to some modern twists based on a couple of seasonal movies to a few sing-along songs. She even mixed in a Chanuka Suite.

Soloist Ashley Brown, who apparently originated the title role in "Mary Poppins" on Broadway, was enjoyable to listen to. I would gladly watch her in a Broadway show.

I look forward to attending again next year and maybe even bringing along our son, who will be 5 then. He's really starting to enjoy everything related to the Christmas season. And there were a number of kids in attendance.

I'm usually too stressed at the beginning of December planning for parties and the like so it was really great to start the Christmas season with a relaxing night of holiday music.

Here's a link to a survey I just received from MSO. I encourage you to take it if you attended on Saturday.

'Dreamgirls' reveals brilliance of stage performers

I so wanted to blog about "Dreamgirls," which closed at The Orpheum yesterday, at some point last week so those of you out there maybe would be swayed to go see it. But since it is now closed you'll just have to trust me when I say the performance was brilliant.

One thing I've learned recently with some solid shows at The Orpheum is that it doesn't matter if you've seen a show before, have seen the movie version of a production or even hated a previous performance. Don't let those past experiences have an impact on your decision to see a show.

"Dreamgirls" was tremendous. I really didn't remember that much about the movie to be able to make a smart comparison. But one idea I previously had floating around in my head about traveling Broadway productions is that they're not as strong. I mean, you normally see the big-name actors playing on Broadway or in London's West End. So that must mean the traveling show is much like a minor league system of actors, right?

Dead wrong. This fall's lineup of "Wicked," "9 to 5" and now "Dreamgirls" at The Orpheum showed that these traveling professionals are exactly that: pros. I was blown away last week. There were some tremendous voices on display.

Now I must admit that I'm not really looking forward to the idea of "Shrek: The Musical" coming to The Orpheum next month, but I might be willing to give it a try knowing that someone is sure to steal the show.

Christmas in Memphis

Christmas is one of those times of year that while we tend to be much busier with all the parties and events going on, it's also one of those times that it feels right to be busy. And one of the things we tend to make ourselves busier with is arts, from special concerts to season-themed ballet and theater performances.

The Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau has posted a great events guide here. There's some great things on there, including a couple that begin Friday: The annual Christmas lighting ceremony at Graceland and SunTrust Zoo Lights.

I've never experienced Zoo Lightsbut I have been a part of Graceland at Christmas. I worked there during college and also later visited for an evening tour to see the lights. Elvis was always known for his great light display and through the years it's only gotten bigger and better. I definitely encourage you to take your out-of-town guests by Graceland to see the lights.

There will be several other highlights this season, but one I'm looking forward to that will help set the season's mood will be the Memphis Symphony Orchestra's "Home for the Holiday's" concert on Saturday Dec. 4. We have Pops season tickets and this is the only show that new conductor Mei-Ann Chen will be conducting as part of that series.

And a quick shout out to my friends at ArtsMemphis who put together a book that might make an interesting Christmas present for any outdoor or cooking enthusiasts on your shopping list. "Wild Abundance - A Cookbook Anthology" is a 280-page, full-color book filled with photographs, stories and recipes.

I'm sure I'll have many more ideas, thoughts and random ramblings as we get closer to Christmas, but I just had to make this post after seeing the CVB's post on Twitter this morning.