Bruce VanWyngarden

Memphis

Senior Editor and Columnist at Memphis Flyer

Memphis Flyer senior editor/columnist; author “Everything That’s True”; “Aquarius Revisited: Seven Who Created the 1960s"; music, humor, all things Memphis.

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Articles

Memphis Flyer | No Faux King

1 week ago | memphisflyer.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

Like millions of Americans, I ventured out to my local “No Kings” rally last Saturday. The Memphis version was held at the corner of Poplar and Highland, which to be honest, is a less than ideal site for a rally of 4,000 people. I get that it’s the spot where a group of dedicated folks goes to protest every Saturday, but the nature of the site — situated at the corner of two busy commercial streets — does not lend itself to a cohesive large rally. But enough kvetching.
Memphis Flyer | We Are Stardust

2 weeks ago | memphisflyer.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

By the time we got to WoodstockWe were half a million strongAnd everywhere was a songAnd a celebration. Mary sits on a bench in a small pocket park on Tinker Street, strumming a scratched and worn Guild guitar, singing her original songs for an audience of three. She is as weathered as her old guitar, dark from the sun, wearing a black dress and a floppy hat. A motorcycle cruises past, its sound system blaring “Sweet Home Alabama,” momentarily drowning out the street musician plying her trade.
Sips: Savoring the Moment

3 weeks ago | memphismagazine.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

“I did a lot of manual labor — construction and whatnot — after high school. Then I worked at AutoZone, where the older guys had me replacing a lot of headlights and batteries.
Memphis Flyer | The Poop Rule

1 month ago | memphisflyer.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

Sometimes I just get so tired of social media — tired of trying to have a reasonable discussion with someone who quotes Tulsi Gabbard unironically, tired of having to change “relevant comments” to “all comments” on every Facebook post, tired of seeing AI-created articles and pictures designed to get me to scroll endlessly (“21 Boomer Skills You Don’t Need Anymore”), tired of endless, intrusive “reels” designed to tweak my apparent algorithmic interests — guitar, chess, French, fly-fishing, etc.
The Ring of Truth

1 month ago | memphisflyer.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

“Revised National Parks Web Page Describes Harriet Tubman as Human Trafficker.”That was the headline of an email I got a few days ago. I opened it immediately, thinking surely it was a joke. And I was right. The email was from The Onion, a satirical publication that’s been around since 1988 and that is somehow still alive and kicking and sending out funny material in 2025. You have to admire their spunk. Satire can’t be easy these days.
Sips: A Place of Comfort at Bar Lumina

1 month ago | memphismagazine.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

When Jenna Abu-Khraybeh talks about growing up in the Bluff City, her face brightens with the memories. “I remember my mom taking us to Grizzlies games,” she says, “and afterward, we’d wait outside Earnestine & Hazel’s with the doorman while my mom went in to get us soul burgers. “I’m first-generation,” she says. “My dad is from Lebanon and my mom is from Canada. They both migrated here and met in Memphis and I had this lovely upbringing of diversity.
Driving While Brown

1 month ago | memphisflyer.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

In Nashville last week, Tennessee State Highway Patrol troopers conducted around 500 traffic stops in a sweep coordinated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in order to find undocumented immigrants. The troopers made 12 arrests and detained more than 100 people for “reasons related to immigration.”How do you conduct 500 traffic stops designed to detain undocumented immigrants? One can only assume the troopers looked for brown people and pulled them over.
A Toenail Is Better

1 month ago | memphisflyer.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

“‘Stink for a dime’ is an idiom that means to be extremely bad, unpleasant, or worthless. It’s often used to describe something that is so poor in quality or value that it’s not even worth the low cost of a dime.”Who among us has not fallen back on that popular saying, “stink for a dime”? It comes in handy now and then, right? What? You’ve never heard anyone say that? Well … okay, you got me. No one ever says that.
Turdus Migratorius

2 months ago | memphisflyer.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

I’m sitting on the deck, sipping a fresh-brewed cup of early coffee. It’s Easter, and the air is clear and bright and alive, offering the promise of another glorious Memphis spring day. The earth has resurrected itself and donned its finest vestments: Azaleas, dogwoods, irises, shamrocks, lantana — all manner of flowers large and small are in full bloom, turning the city, and my own backyard, into a celebration of color. There is a mixed chorus of birdsong coming from the trees above.
Sips: Finding Balance in Overton Square

2 months ago | memphismagazine.com | Bruce VanWyngarden

Rubén Tree has done a lot of living in the 13 years between his graduation from Germantown High School and his current gig tending bar at The Second Line in Midtown. But the first thing he had to do was learn to walk again. “I tore a meniscus in a sports accident in high school and was in a wheelchair for nine months afterward,” Tree says.