Month: August 2007

The new convenience store, or “Convenient Store” as it says in the window, is now open on Second Street across from the Peabody, in the old Carabella gift shop location. Yesterday was its first day of business.

I went in and checked it out. The owner was very nice and told me that they would be open until 1 on the weekends. The inventory was a little bare-bones, but he says he has a lot more stuff coming in. I was pleased to see that there were not any 40s or tall-boy cans of beer in the coolers, which means the bums won’t have any incentive to hang out in front of Big Foot, the Flying Fish, and other nearby restaurants. They did have 20-ounce Mountain Dew in the coolers, which is the main thing I care about. Guess this’ll give people who hang out at the Saucer, McGuinness, and nearby bars a place to buy cigarettes without having to pay inflated bar prices.

Oh… speaking of the Saucer and cigs… I was in there last night and talked to one of the bartenders. I asked her if the current smoking policy (no smoking in the indoor room til 8 PM) would continue after October 1. She said no, after October 1 there will be no smoking in the indoor room, anytime. AWESOME!!!!!

Every Tuesday night trivia starts at 7 there, and for the past few weeks I’ve had to listen to a relatively new team member whine, “Is it 8 yet? Is it 8 yet? (Looks at the clock) 7:44. 16 more minutes!” At 7:59 as they set the first ashtray down at the bar, he runs over and grabs it and lights up. I tend to roll my eyes when he does this. “You’ve had all day!” he replies. “It’s MY TIME now!” and proceeds to fill the air with filthy, nasty smoke. Heh. It’ll only be his time for about 6 more weeks. I love it.

– In the news: More compliments for AutoZone Park. In a study of 130 ballparks, PETA ranked it number 5 of the most vegetarian-friendly.

Lots of work to do today… will probably pack up the laptop and hit some coffee shops in the Midtown area, maybe run to Target as well.

No, this isn’t a joke. There really is such a thing, and it’s showing at Playhouse on the Square through the first week of September. This sounds like a can’t miss – unless it’s sold out and you can’t get tickets, which I heard was the case with last night’s show. CA arts writer “Skippy” Blank has a review of Springer: The Opera in today’s paper.

Check it out.

The Memphis Flyer is doing their Third Thursday happy hour tonight at Swig from 5 to 7. There will be beer specials on Kirin Ichiban and Kirin Lite, and live music from Daniel Heacock from Energy D. Come on by and enjoy a cold beverage to escape from the heat for a little while.

Pic from Elvis “buy the beer, keep the glass” night at the Flying Saucer, for which all the bartenders and waitresses were required to wear Elvis glasses and sideburns (click it to see it full-sized):

Had a few beers at the Saucer tonight – Elvis night pic coming in the next post. Tonight’s drunk food after wandering home is beef jerky from J.R.’s BBQ.

Good Ol’ J.R. (Jim Ross) is the lead announcer on pro wrestling’s WWE Monday Night Raw, along with a color commentator Memphians may have heard of, Jerry “The King” Lawler. When I was a teenager growing up in Little Rock in the 1980s, Jim Ross was the lead announcer for Mid-South Wrestling featuring up-and-coming names like The Junkyard Dog, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Nikolai Volkoff, Ted DiBiase, as well as a 19-year-old kid named Shawn Michaels who lost every week.

So J.R. hit the big time, has been the WWE’s top announcer for years and years, and recently opened a BBQ restaurant in Norman, OK. He has a few to-go items, and I ordered a six-pack of his beef jerky. They arrived today and I tried all four varieties tonight – Original, Peppered, Chipotle, and Slobberknocker Heat. I would like to pronounce the Chipotle my favorite. Glad I ordered two packs of that one.

Got an extra $2275 to shell out? This computer can tend your bar if you do. Just what every downtowner needs. I’m especially fond of this story because it mentions tube tops.

Via the blog The Musings of Another Working Mom. If you know Elvis and you know movies, click here to see if you can win a prize.

Last night, someone with whom I worked in the past on Mpact Memphis projects approached me, and asked if I could help recruit volunteers for one of the best outdoor festivals of the year. The Center for Southern Folklore’s Memphis Music & Heritage Festival will be held Saturday-Sunday, September 1-2 and, only 2 weeks away, they are badly in need of volunteers. This festival is a lot of fun, you’ll get to hear some great local music, and you’ll be working with some wonderful people, including Judy who runs the Center and Memphis poet IQ who serves as the MC for the event. Festival will be Downtown on the Main Street Mall between Gayoso and Peabody Place. Details below. Please consider signing up as a volunteer.

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Founded in 1972, the Center for Southern Folklore is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve, defend, protect and promote the music, culture, arts, and rhythms of the South. The Center also offers music events and educational programs, maintains its multimedia archives, Folklore Store, and website.

For over two decades, the Center has produced its signature event, the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. This free event presents the best of our region to visitors and locals, celebrating the changing face of Memphis and the Mid-South:

* Artists whose music has defined our region to the world
* Traditional and contemporary folk artists and craftspeople
* Southern & ethnic cooks
* Dancers, storytellers and representatives of their cultural communities

The Memphis Music & Heritage Festival is held Labor Day Weekend in downtown Memphis.

We request volunteer assistance from your organization in producing these events. We need to fill, in all, about 350 four-hour volunteer shifts. We are grateful for any volunteers that your organization can provide. Volunteers will perform a variety of tasks including the following:

* Assist with musicians, artists, craftspeople, & talkers
* Providing festivalgoers with information
* Festival t-shirt and merchandise sales
* Set-up, maintenance and tear-down of site
* Security and trolley guard
* Beer & beverage sales
* Serve and prepare Southern dinners
* Hospitality

A strong volunteer base is the key to making the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival a success. This success is measured in a tangible way by the smooth operations during the event and the financial gains realized in merchandise, food & beverage sales and donations. The intangible is in the feelings elicited from the spectators and the participants, who are excited about sharing their talents, stories, and culture.

Thinking a little bit more about the Bill Saba sandwich I had for breakfast last week at Elliott’s – sausage, bacon, ham, egg and cheese on Texas toast.

Here’s what I’m thinking – you know what would be really good on that sandwich? Horsey Sauce from Arby’s. Yummmm.

Unfortunately I don’t have any Horsey Sauce in the apartment, and I doubt it’s a good idea to eat more than about one of those sandwiches a month, anyway, so I guess I won’t head over to Elliott’s this morning.

Congrats to the Rapscallions, who took another second-place finish in trivia tonight to score another $25 gift certificate. We had about 12 people playing. Yoko didn’t make it this week though. There was a 21-point bonus question: Name the seven countries that border Poland. I love Eastern Europe questions almost as much as I love Eastern European girls! The answer: Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Belarus, and the Ukraine.

Congrats also to the Nuh-Uh Girl, who finished her 199th beer last night, made the Saucer erase the leader board and put her name on it (because it’s all about the Nuh-Uh Girl), and then finished her 200th beer. So she’ll be in the Ring of Honor soon. Beers number 199 and 200 were extremely high-alcohol beers. I have a feeling the Nuh-Uh Girl is having a rough day at work today.

Don’t forget Elvis glass night at the Saucer, 7 PM (but you better get there early). Preview flyers they’ve put out indicate that they’re going with a G.I. Elvis theme this year.