Went liquor and beer shopping today to get the supplies I need for TubeTopalooza. I had several people give excellent suggestions on where to buy liquor, but in the end I decided the thing was to do was to shop locally. So I headed to the Corkscrew on South Front next door to the new Blue Monkey. Scott gave me excellent advice on how much liquor and wine to buy, based on expected number of party guests. He also helped me pick out vodka, rum, bourbon, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and pinot grigio to serve. And, he gave me a discount because I bought so much. A great shopping experience and I’d recommend the Corkscrew to anyone planning a party. I got out of there for about $100 less than I expected, thanks to Scott’s liquor estimates and his recommendations of inexpensive white wines.
Then I headed over to West Memphis Walgreens to get beer for the party. I went with Miller High Life Light (Mikey the Camera Nazi serves it at his trolley tour porch parties – it’s not half bad) and Old Style (the PBR of Chicago, and we have Max from Calhoun’s to thank for turning me on to that one). They’re not exactly the finest beers ever made, but I’d take either one over crappy Bud Light. (John D: “Wha?… You’re not serving Bud Light at your party? I’M NOT COMING!”)
Last night I hit the Rooster to catch Snozberry. Got there at 9:30 right as they started. 9:30 is really too early to go to the Rooster… there were a grand total of six customers there when I walked in. I ordered some nachos, and the place started to fill up by the time I was done eating. Ended up hanging out with “Flo” (of “Glo” and “Flo” who agreed to be guest bloggers 4 months ago but never submitted anything). We talked about how to get involved in promoting Memphis, the BFF candidates for July, all kinds of stuff. “Flo” didn’t have a clear favorite for the July BFF, but she did have one suggestion: “Don’t bring BFF 1.0 back!” Yeah a lot of people tell me that. I forgot to invite “Flo” to TubeTopalooza, and she pointed out that she’d look hot in a tube top and needs to be there. So I invited her. “Glo” can also rock a tube top and is also invited as well.
After that, a friend of ours got us into The Shadows, the swanky club above 152 on Beale Street. First time I’d been in since they converted it. Very nice indeed… they did a good job. I was told we got there early (1:30), that the place starts to get packed later in the evening and is still going strong at 4:30. I didn’t stay up until 4:30 to find out. Had a PBR at Hoop’s Bar, discussed what I need to do to be a Pub Olympics judge tomorrow, came home.
Woke up today about 10, threw yesterday’s clothes on, stumbled to Jack’s for Mountain Dew. As I passed Court Square, I heard, “Sir, can I ask you something.” Oh no. Not even awake 5 minutes and I already had my first bum of the day. Although, I was a little surprised because I saw the bum patrol in the park on their bikes.
I soon wished the woman who approached me was a bum. She wasn’t there to ask for money… she wanted to know, “Have you been saved?”
I waved her off and kept walking, never breaking stride. “I’m just walking to the store,” I said to her.
“Do you know what ‘born again’ means?” she said. “Do you know where you’re going to spend eternity?” I walked faster and faster, hoping she’d get the hint. She didn’t. By this point she was running after me. When she caught up with me and said, “Can I give you some literature?” I lost it.
“I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU! I’M JUST TRYING TO WALK TO THE STORE AND GET A DRINK!!!” I yelled at her. She looked at me like I had just run over a kitten. I kept walking. She didn’t follow but she stared at me the entire next block until I made it to Jack’s. By the time I walked back she was engaged in conversation with people on park benches. I crossed over to the other side of Main Street Mall and avoided her.
While on the Main Street Mall, I snapped a photo of this poster listing the schedule of Memphis Farmers Market dinners for the summer (click to see the image in a size large enough to read the detail):
Every month a local chef holds a special dinner at his or her restaurant, featuring fare bought at the Memphis Farmers Market, which runs from 7 AM to 1 PM every Saturday next to the train station on GE Patterson. In addition to the dinner at Circa tomorrow night, there will be MFM dinners at Restaurant Iris, River Oaks, Felicia Suzanne’s, and Interim between now and October.
No idea what I’ll end up doing tonight… it’s after 8 PM and I haven’t made any plans. Oh, crap, I just missed the party at Shelton Clothiers! Sorry, Tom. I got so wrapped up in stuff I was doing online today (more on that in the next post) that I forgot about the party at 6 PM. The rest of the night is free… I’ll probably start at the usual place and migrate from there.
Brunch tomorrow at the Blue Monkey at 11, then Pub Olympics at Hoop’s Bar at 1.