Paul Ryburn’s Journal

From Amy’s blog: The Daily Grind coffee shop at Main and Adams, in the ground floor of the Claridge, will close June 30. It will reopen as a pizza and coffee bar. Sounds good…we haven’t had a pizza place downtown since Joey’s and Pie in the [...]

- BREAKING NEWS: City Councilman Rickey “Re-” Peete, the City Council member who was indicted last November on federal bribery charges, has resigned his Council seat. Peete had previously done two years in prison for a 1989 extortion charge (hence the Re-Peete nickname). For more details, check the CA’s website. See ya [...]

This is a drunk post. I planned to make it to Pearl’s tonight but ended up staying at the Saucer. Useful information: Tomorrow night there’s a band called Tangerine Panties playing. It will not be the first time I’ve seen tangerine panties there.

So I left the Saucer about 9 and remembered that [...]

- The annual Italian Fest at Marquette Park is this weekend, running from Thursday, May 31 to Saturday, June 2. Italian Fest is a little like BBQ Fest in that there are cooking teams, and it’s more fun if you know people on the teams and get invited into their booths. However, it’s still [...]

Over the past week I’ve received a LOT of e-mails about the crime situation in Memphis – city-wide, not just downtown – and how it’s getting completely out of hand. People have asked me to post details of particular crimes, and use my blog to ask the people in power to do something.

I appreciate all [...]

(Before I get started: Apologies for not posting at lunchtime today. Over the weekend I’ve received several e-mails about the crime problem in Memphis, and I spent so long trying to figure out how to respond that I ended up not posting anything. My response to the crime e-mails will be posted later [...]

A few days ago, I mentioned that tonight, and the last Monday of every month, will be Downtown night at the Westin’s bar from 5:30 to 7:30 PM, a chance for Downtowners to socialize and get to know their neighbors, with happy hour drink prices and complimentary hors d’ouevres.

Well, I’ve since been given an update about [...]

I know that on this long Memorial Day weekend, many of my downtown neighbors who are good cooks plan on serving up a delicious meal for their family and friends. Well, for those cooks I have some valuable, important information for you.

Jack’s Food Store, on Main Street just north of Jefferson, is selling Cheese Enchilada [...]

According to the clock on my DVR, it’s 3:13 AM as I type this. I can see the corner of Second and Monroe from my living room window, and the intersection is jam-packed with cruisers. And they’ve all decided to honk their horns at each other. Now and then I can hear a [...]

Last summer, Beale Street security had the street blocked off on the weekends from 9 until close. Security personnel at the entrances checked every person’s ID and wanded them with a metal detector to make sure they weren’t carrying weapons. It was a little bit of a hassle and it made the lines to [...]