Paul Ryburn’s Journal

Maggie H. Isabel Street, the alley that runs from Monroe to Union on the block between Second and Third, will soon be renamed Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous Alley. This alley, of course, contains the hard-to-find entrance to legendary Downtown Memphis BBQ joint The Rendezvous.

More details on the Memphis Business [...]

Pulse, the Pink Floyd tribute band, will play Neil’s music room in Midtown (Madison at McLean) Saturday night. Their shows usually start at 9 and run until about 1. I don’t have a confirmed amount for the cover charge but it’s been $7 recent times they have played. If you’re into Floyd this [...]

I’m looking for one or two people to proofread my blog. Specifically, I’m looking for people who a) read this blog pretty regularly, at least once a day; and b) work in the service industry. There’s a specific kind of mistake I’m looking to be warned about, one I’ve made a couple of times [...]

So last Thursday I did an interview for the “Q&A” section of next month’s Memphis Magazine. We talked about all the stuff I expected – how Downtown has changed since I’ve been down here, the panhandling problem, those kinds of things. At the end, my interview complimented me on being one of her easiest [...]

(From Little Rock) Since I have to drive back to Memphis tomorrow, we did Christmas a day early. Among the presents I got:

- A spare battery for the digital camera. That’s a GOOD THING because I was down to one battery, which limited photo albums to about 125 pictures per event. This [...]

Just walked up to the Saucer to say Merry Christmas to the gang before heading to Little Rock. On the way down there, I saw the following sign on Bluefin’s door:

Open 5 PM – 12 AM Christmas Eve Monday 12/24$1 Jager shots
$2 Cosmos
$2 Featured beer

Dollar Jager. Oh my God. That crowd [...]

If you know of more places that will be open, e-mail me at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll add to this list.

Wang’s China Bistro will be open regular hours.

I believe Westy’s also stays open all day on Christmas. Westy’s delivers so that’s an option if you don’t feel like getting out.

The Flying Saucer will open at 5 [...]

Walking down the New Main block yesterday, on the Main Street Mall between Union and Gayoso, I noticed that two apartments had “for rent” signs in the window. All the apartments on that block are new conversions and are VERY nice. It’s quite rare indeed to see even one up for rent, much less [...]

Consider this scenario: It’s 3 AM on a Sunday morning/Saturday night, whichever you want to call it. You’re walking home, going north on Second, approaching Union. You see a guy crossing the street, approaching people, crossing back, changing direction, looking people over good, not appearing to have any destination in particular.

What could this [...]

Today I’m replacing all the light bulbs in the apartment with energy-saving EcoBulbs. An EcoBulb that burns as brightly as a 100-watt regular light bulb uses only 23 watts of energy.

Actually, being kind to the environment is only half the reason I’m changing bulbs. The other part of it is, EcoBulbs last 5 times [...]