Hoop’s Bar opened last night, and we were there. Due to its opening I pulled one of my shortest stays at the Saucer in a long while (4:30 to 9). The place is the brainchild of Hooper, pictured above. I first met Hoop back in 2003ish when he bartended Huey’s on Sunday nights when I’d come in to see The Dempseys. After that he moved on to McGuinness, EP’s, and then got his own bar inside EP’s. Some more pics:
Mikey, John D, Chris B and I headed down there right at 9 when the place opened. We ran into our friend Kennedy, DJ at Q107.5, who wants to let everyone know to listen to the radio station on Thursdays to get on the “VEP” list, which gets you free drinks and food at EP’s from 8 to 9 Thursday nights.
I was told several times that Downtowners are invited to bring in stuff that is “weird or funky” to hang on the walls.
S: Great talking with you last night. You’re a good guy. Will do everything I can with this blog to help your future ventures. I’ll stop by your bar sometime.
The hours of the place are still yet to be determined. Bathrooms are out the fire door and around the corner on the second floor of EP’s. I hear the place will have its own kitchen and a separate menu from EP’s.
In other news: Yesterday I walked up to the shopping mall that has sprung up across Main Street from the Convention Center for COGIC week. There were several food vendors and you can always count on getting excellent food when COGIC is in town. Here’s a pic of the BBQ ribs I bought:
Street-People.com has a good story on Trashcan Willie, one of the Downtown bums who has staked out the garbage cans near the Convention Center for COGIC week. Actually, a number of the bums have been pilfering COGIC’s garbage cans and selling what they find on the street. Estes in particular (he’s the one with the pregnant girlfriend, she may have had the baby by now) seems to be having a profitable week.
Played The Window Game yesterday during my extremely short 4 1/2 hour stint at the Saucer. Counted 191 COGIC cars. One of the buses advertised something called The Statue of Liberation Through Christ, which is a Christian tourist attraction, a replica of The Statue of Liberty holding a cross. How fortunate are we to have that, Graceland, and Summer Avenue all in one town? Ain’t no place like Memphis.
That’s enough for one post. I think I’ll take my laptop to the Second Street Branch Office today for my last weekday of freedom. I filled up a free lunch card so it’ll be a cheap day.