Paul Ryburn’s Journal

Congratulations to my friends at Culinary Productions, who have their new restaurant open at 22 S. Main, on the Main Street Mall between Madison and Monroe, in the location that used to be Memphis Grits.

Long-time readers of my blog will recall my writing last summer about a chef who moved into my building and started a [...]

“Paul, it’s 7:05.” said my mother as though it was the end of the world.

It was a summer morning in 1984, and I was lying in bed in a hotel room in Dyersburg, Tennessee. We were there on a trip to visit my grandparents, who lived in a small town about 14 miles to the [...]

Thursday 12/29: The Dempseys at the Flying Saucer. Show starts at 9:30. I plan to be there for all three sets.

I was in the Saucer Monday afternoon, and they were having a cattle-call type interview for positions at their new Cordova location, scheduled to open mid-January. I didn’t see any Romanians applying [...]

Finally, almost a week after the Bloggers’ Bash at Quetzal, I’m getting around to posting my report.

First of all, Quetzal. VERY nice place. Big room, free wi-fi, good selection of coffee, beer and non-coffee drinks. They have a pool table and lounge area in the back, and a meeting room which we used. [...]

While in Little Rock for the Christmas holidays, I read an article that said Bill Clinton had visited several galleries in the River Market district to buy Christmas presents. Made me think… it must suck to be Bill Clinton sometimes.

Here’s why… I wander through art galleries all the time. And 99% of the time [...]

As I mentioned in a recent post, I’m in the market for an MP3 player. Now, part of the reason I want an iPod or similar player is the reason most people do – to be able to rip all my CDs to digital format and take my music with me when I’m at work, [...]

So tonight I was walking down Second Street and discovered that Big Foot Lodge was having a private Christmas party, red carpet and all. I was about to continue on to my intended destination, to the Saucer to see my waitresses, but something about Big Foot just drew me in. Perhaps it was Sean, [...]

There’s a Bloggers’ Bash tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 21 at Quetzal at 668 Union. Anyone who writes a blog, LiveJournal, MySpace or similar is invited.

In preparation for the event, I went out and read some of the other Memphis blogs. You know, it’s funny, they talk about actual useful stuff. Like, some of [...]

Tonight I was driving home from work down Second Street, and as I passed the light at Madison I noticed an “OPEN” sign in the Italian restaurant, Conte’s, in the space that used to be The Cupboard Too (on Madison between Second and Third, a couple of doors down from King of Wings). So I [...]

During the past couple of months, I’ve gone from “why do people need portable MP3 players?” to “I want an MP3 player” to “I need an MP3 player” to “I have to have an MP3 player.” It’s not so much for listening to music, although that would be a bonus. It’s more that I’d [...]