Month: August 2008

Today’s issue of the Memphis Business Journal has an article about Frank’s Grocery, a new grocery store to go in at the corner of Main and Vance, in the old Frank’s Liquors location. It will be owned by Bud Chittom who is a principal in several of the businesses on Beale Street (Blues City Cafe, Club 152). He says that although it will not be the size of a big-box Kroger, care will be taken to address the needs of Downtowners. “It won’t just be a place for cigarettes and potato chips,” said Chittom. The store will also have a deli and bicycle delivery. That will be a great addition to Downtown, and right on the trolley line. Very nice.

Tomorrow there will be a chitlin’ cooking contest at Handy Park from 9 AM to 3 PM. Also, Dr. BBQ, whoever he is, will hand out free samples of pig tails. Why would you miss an event like that? Local luminaries such as John D have already hinted they will be there. No doubt John D will wash down his chitlins with a 32 oz. Bud Light.

MATA will offer free trolley rides next week during lunchtime. For more details see this Memphis Business Journal article. For those who work in the core, it’ll be a good chance to ride down to Earnestine & Hazel’s and try a soul burger or their new slaw dog for lunch.

The Memphis Flyer notes that AutoZone Park has been named one of the most vegetarian-friendly ballparks in the nation. Patrons can order grilled vegetable paninis, veggie dogs, crudites, hummus, and bruschetta at ballgames, and PETA likes that and ranks the Memphis park highly. What the hell is a “crudite?” I’ll stick to good old BBQ nachos. I’m sure my health guru AL will be happy though.

David Byrne from the Talking Heads will appear at the Orpheum with Brian Eno on September 23. They’ve been writing together since 1981, and are touring in the fall in support of their new album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Tickets are $52.50/$42.50 plus all of Ticketmaster’s usual bullshit fees, and you can get tickets at ticketmaster.com. You can download “Strange Overtones,” a song from the new album, at everythingthathappens.com.

Not sure what I’ll be getting into tonight.  I’ll probably go out in a little while.  The Dead Elvis Week people are starting to arrive in town, wonder if they’ll be on Beale.  They can be fun to talk to.

I’m at the Second Street Branch Office aka the Flying Saucer laptopping on my lunch hour.  The manager just told me that the Cordova Saucer or as we Downtowners call it, the East Bumblefuck Saucer, has its beer license back.  So they can now serve their full array of 200 beers, as well as liquor, wine, soft drinks and whatever else they serve.

My nachos are here.  More to come later.

While perusing the EXCELLENT recent posts on Memphis Limelight, I noticed that 5 Spot will re-open this weekend. 5 Spot was a little hole in the wall restaurant in the back of Earnestine & Hazel’s – and I mean hole in the wall only in terms of location. It’s a tiny little place that is hard to find unless you know it’s there, and it seats about 8. But, the FOOD. The food was on par with any fine-dining establishment Downtown. The neighborhood’s culinary experience is greatly enhanced with it back. Great place to take a date.

The Center for Southern Folklore’s Memphis Music & Heritage Festival happens in three weeks – Sat-Sun, August 30-31, over Labor Day weekend. This festival probably presents the most diverse line-up of music and entertainment of any outdoor festival in the city, from rock to bluegrass to country to blues to different types of ethnic music. There are also puppeteers, cooking demos, and lots of other great stuff. They need volunteers, so if you want to help out, go here to sign up, and plan to attend a volunteer orientation on Monday, August 18 at the Folklore Store (123 S. Main) at 6 PM.

Looks like I’ll be ordering a new book from Amazon soon. One of the most respected authors in the field of influence and persuasion has a new book out.
Robert Cialdini, author of the classic Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, has a new book out entitled Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. The book draws from a variety of examples, including modern advertising and pop culture, to illustrate priniciples of persuasion you can put to everyday use.  Looking forward to reading this one.

Didn’t go out tonight… well, I almost did.  I went to the Saucer after work, but the place was jam-packed full of suits, I mean like 10 PM on a Saturday night crowded.  So I came home and just decided to take it easy and watch the election results.  Congrats to Rep. Steve Cohen who handily beat challenger Nikki “No Substance” Tinker today.  On the news Tinker was asked if she’d run again, to which she replied, “Well, I am only 37.”  Nikki.  Please don’t.  You’ve made Memphis look bad enough already.

Hey, I just remembered!  I have BFF pictures on the camera from last night!

Here we are at Hoop’s Bar, where we ended up after the Rooster didn’t know what was going on with the 50 cent PBR promotion advertised on the front page of their own website.

EP’s had a surfing display (heck if I know why) and the girls gave it a try.

Another surfing pic

Feels good to stay home for an evening.  I’m going to lie in bed and read for a while.  Got a big weekend coming up, so I’m going to need my rest.

I got my hair cut at lunchtime, then went and voted.

I have to admit, the temptation to just skip voting was great.  To do it meant driving the car (which I hate doing), getting out in the rain (which I hate doing, and it was raining pretty hard at the time), and standing in line (which I hate more than anything).  I’ll admit, I thought, “surely Steve Cohen will win handily – he’ll do fine even without my vote.”

In the end, though, I made myself do it.  The thought of having Nikki Tinker represent me in Congress – or, more accurately, the thought of Nikki Tinker representing special interests in Congress while claiming to represent me – was too much to bear.  I don’t want to be in any way responsible for that.  So out in the rain I went, driving to a church at 538 Linden which was my designated polling place.  Actually, my worst fear, standing in a long line, turned out to be unfounded.  There was no line at all.

I do have to say, having the polling place way on the other side of Danny Thomas is extremely inconvenient for Downtowners who walk everywhere.  Yeah I have a car and was able to get there, but many Downtowners don’t.  Seems like there ought to be a voting location no more than 3 blocks from the trolley line.

Anyway, I voted.  Did you?

Last night I tried a new bottled beer after seeing an off-duty manager order one:  Abita Jockamo IPA.  It was very good, not as hoppy as some IPAs (Bridgeport, Avery), unique flavor.  Worth a try if you’re into pale ales or IPAs.

While drinking it, I thought, the taste reminded me of Caramel Overload, a Walgreens premium ice cream I became addicted to last weekend when I was sick.  I thought to myself, Caramel Overload ice cream and Abita Jockamo IPA would be a perfect match.  Hmmm I’m going to have to find Jockamo in six-packs and give that a try this weekend.  I bet I can create a beer float from those two that rivals the Saucer’s Young’s Double Chocolate beer float.

Today is the last day to get an additional 50% off those $25-for-$10 restaurant gift certificates (which would make them $25-for-$5 certificates).  To get them, scroll down to the end of the right sidebar of this blog, and look for the restaurant search box.  Load up your shopping cart with the certificates you want, then use the promotional code GAMES to get the discount.  Lots of Downtown restaurants are part of the program – search on 38103 to find out which ones.

Busy lunch hour today – gotta go get my hair cut and vote – so, relatively short lunchtime post.

Congressional candidate Nikki “No Substance” Tinker has made the “World’s Worst Person” list compiled by Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC’s “Countdown.”  She made the list for her attack ads against Rep. Steve Cohen using KKK imagery.  She shot to #1 on the list last night, and has since fallen to #2.

The website mistakenly refers to Tinker as “Congresswoman,” and let’s all hope that is one title she NEVER holds.  Go vote in the primary today!  Here’s a link to find your polling location.

Last Thursday, while putting together the “what’s going on Thursday” post, I hit the Red Rooster’s website, and noticed they were advertising 50 cent PBR drafts on Wednesday night for their country night.  So I did a post about it.

Last night, several people who read about it in my blog went down there, and were told that they didn’t have 50 cent PBR draft, and had never had 50 cent PBR draft on Wednesdays.  I went down there with my BFFs Darbi and Kristin and we were told the same thing.

And yet the 50-cent PBR promotion is STILL on the front page of their website, as of the time of this post (8:18 AM Thursday August 7).  Why bother to even have a website if the promotions listed there aren’t accurate?

(Edit:  Just received an update from one of the managers at the Saucer.  The license loss only affects the low-alcohol beer (under 6%).  Over 6% is considered liquor by the state, and is covered by a different license, so the Cordova Saucer can still legally sell the high-alcohol beers.  Just sip ’em a little slower than you would a Bud Light.  Also, the Downtown Saucer is not affected in any way by what happened this afternoon in Cordova.  That means I’ll be at the Downtown Saucer enjoying a Sunset Wheat in about 30).

This afternoon I received a phone call from a friend of mine who was at the East Bumblefuck Flying Saucer on Germantown Parkway for a business function.  Shortly before he got there, he was told, the police arrived and walked out with the business’s beer license.  They can only serve liquor until they get it back, which is not good considering they’re a beer bar.  He didn’t have details why the permit was pulled.  Not sure if this affects the Downtown Saucer, but I don’t think it does.  I certainly hope it doesn’t, with one of my favorite beers, Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat, on Fire Sale today.  Certainly does suck for Cordovans, who won’t be able to get their favorite beers, Coors Light for example, tonight at their Saucer.

Speaking of beer, the South Main Association’s monthly meeting will be this Tuesday, August 12, at the Boscos Beer brewery at 827 S. Main (Main at Crump).  There will be a tour of the brewery and a tasting.  Sounds like my kind of meeting!  It will start at 6 PM, free for SMA members, $5 for non-members.  Boscos are the ones brewing the delicious Ghost River beers that have shown up at the Saucer recently.

The owners of Calhoun’s Sports Bar & Grill on GE Patterson asked me to let everyone know about upcoming expanded football hours.  Starting August 30, the bar will open at 11 AM every Saturday for college football, and will have the ESPN College Football GamePlan.  Starting September 7, the bar will open at 11 AM every Sunday for NFL football, and will have the NFL Ticket.

Over on Memphis Limelight, another Downtown blogger chimes in with thoughts about the 50 cent PBR draft at the Red Rooster tonight, and having to endure country music to get it.  Lots of other good stuff there as well.

Downtown Huey’s just painted its walls.  I was in there last night getting Paul’s Drunkass Tamales after trivia, and the walls were white as snow.  Time to bring your markers down there and show the world your art skills.

If I’m not mistaken, this may have been the first time they painted since the place opened 11 years ago.

I stole this image off Thaddeus Matthews’ blog… Thad if you have a problem with it, e-mail me and I’ll gladly take it down… but I think we’re both coming from the same place here. It’s from a rogue organization calling itself the “Memphis Democratic Club” as though it somehow were endorsed by the Democratic Party.

Hang on, let’s zoom in on that image on the left:

Yep, these people who support Nikki Tinker COULD NOT EVEN SPELL BARACK OBAMA’S NAME RIGHT. “Barak.” My God.

I don’t even need to comment on this. The image says it all.