I’m heading out of town this weekend for my high school reunion, so I’ve kept up with what’s going on this weekend a little less than usual. Here are a few notes:
– The Orpheum will show Gone with the Wind Friday night as part of its classic movie series. This week there won’t be a special post-party planned at the Westin, simply because the movie is so blasted long. However, the Westin wants everyone to know that their lobby bar will be open and you’re invited to stop by.
– Also, don’t forget that this coming Monday is the last Monday of the month… which means it will be time for Downtowners’ Night at the Westin again. Free appetizer buffet (and it is a NICE spread they put on), happy hour drink prices.
– Friday night is the Rock for Love festival at the Gibson Lounge.
$8 cover in advance, or $10 at the door, with all proceeds benefiting the Church Health Center, one of the most deserving charities on town. Eight bands will perform, including Snowglobe, Two Way Radio, the Third Man, Pezz, The Subteens, Joey Whitlock, Holly Cole, and Jump Back Jake. There will be a silent auction by Rachel Hurley, who writes Rachel and the City. The show will also serve as the release party for Makeshift Music’s latest compilation, Makeshift 5.
– Musician Jeff Golightly e-mailed to let me know that his band The Everyday Parade will perform at The Memphis Pops Festival, an all-day event at the Hi-Tone on Saturday. Jeff is best known for doing Beatles and British Invasion covers, but The Everyday Parade is different – all originals. The Pops Fest runs all day long and celebrates over 100 years of Memphis pops music. “Come early and get your eat on,” says the festival’s MySpace page, nothing that they’ll be serving the finest hot dogs and hamburgers in town.
– Hmmm… what else is going on… I see that my favorite blogger/MILF is interviewing for a job Downtown next week. I hope she gets it… maybe I can get her in the habit of stopping by for “nooners” during her lunch break. I’ve decided I don’t care if she pretends she’s with Peyton Manning… because I’ll pretend she’s Romanian.
– Speaking of Romania… Eastern Europe is experiencing some record hot weather. Romania’s capital Bucharest (the answer to a Tuesday night trivia question) has had highs of 99 or above for the past nine days, including one day at 106. Their normal high is only 84. Meanwhile, the mountain town of Cluj-Napoca, where the ’05 and ’06 Romanians were from, has been above 90 the past week, and normal for them is only the mid-70s.
Now, Memphians can handle 90s-106, but there’s a difference: We’re used to it, and more importantly, we have air conditioning. Most towns over there don’t, because usually they don’t need it, and besides, it’s a poor country. That kind of heat is a much more serious crisis over there than it would be here. Hmmm… I bet the girls in Romania aren’t wearing a whole lot in the way of clothes right now… kind of makes me wish I was in Romania.
– Party lineup tonight according to the websites: Mean Green Music Machine at the Peabody, Daddy Mack Blues Band at the Madison, Garry Goin and G3 with Q107.5 at EP’s, Danielle Peck and Carolina Rain at Country on Beale with KIX 106. Lineup subject to change – these places need to update their websites when it does, but as we found out last week, they don’t.
– Bands, Beer, and Bums: The Court Square Concert Series, featuring bands every Wednesday night in Court Square, returns August 15 and runs through October 17. They’ve shifted it to later in the year because of the heat, I guess. Good idea.
– The Handling-Panhandling Google group is up to 78 members. We’ve already had one major success: We’ve uncovered Sharp Dressed Bum’s identity and discovered that he has an outstanding warrant. So, hopefully SDB will trade in his snazzy outfit for the standard uniform at Club 201 in the days to come. If you’re fed up with the aggressive career panhandlers in Downtown Memphis or other parts of the city, click the link and tell us your experiences and we’ll invite you to join.
… That’s all for now. Leaving for Little Rock tomorrow morning. I’ll be back early Sunday afternoon, which means I’ll miss John D’s pearls of wisdom about Formula One racing at brunch at the Majestic. However, I should get back in time to watch John drink his usual Bud Light at the Saucer.
I’ll have Internet access from the road, so most likely I’ll be blogging this weekend.