Month: August 2008

Tonight’s National Night Out, and the police will throw a party for Downtowners at the South Main substation at Main and GE Patterson.  Food, games for kids, MPD head honcho Larry Godwin speaks at 5:30.  If they do it in the same spot as last year, it’ll be in the big, empty parking lot next door to the train station, where they hold the Farmers Market on Saturdays.

My Eyewitness News has a good story on former Sleep Out Louie’s regular Matt Singer, a former Hollywood special-effects guy who now makes prosthetic eyes that are much more comfortable than traditional glass eyes.  He donated one of his eyes to a 7-year-old girl who was born blind and who recently lost her right eye due to complications from surgery.  Yay for Matt, he’s one of the good guys.

A couple of days ago, I added a search box to my blog (scroll to the bottom of the right sidebar) that lets you buy $25 restaurant gift certificates for $10.  I just got an e-mail that they’re doing a 50% off sale through August 7; use promotional code GAMES at checkout and you’ll be able to get $25 gift certificates for $5.  Over a dozen Downtown restaurants and over 70 within the city participate in this promotion, so enter your zip code in the search box and see which are near you.

This morning I mentioned that bartender Meghan who works at Canadian-themed Big Foot Lodge likes being tipped with Canadian money.  More information:  She also appreciates being tipped with 2 dollar bills, Susan B. Anthony dollars, Sacajawea dollars, Kennedy half-dollars, wooden nickels, Monopoly money, travelers’ checks, and IOUs.  Many ways to make Meghan happy.

That’s all for today… don’t forget to check the Memphis Limelight blog now and then for another blogger’s perspective on Downtown Memphis.

Last night was Pint Nite, and since the Ghost River beer distributor stuck money in my Buy-Paul-a-Beer.net account, I was pretty much obligated to take a break from my usual Dos Equis Special Lager and try Ghost River’s beers.  I tried the Glacial Pale Ale and the Brown Ale.  They also have a Hefe but were out of it.

The main comment I have about these two beers is how fresh they tasted.  Friends of mine have toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, and at the end of the tour have sampled fresh batches of the beer.  (John D:  “WHAAAAAA?  They give you free samples of Bud Light?  Paul, let’s get the gang together and take a field trip to St. Louis!”)  “It’s entirely different than drinking it out of a can or bottle that’s been on the shelf for a month,” they’ve told me.  “So fresh and crisp and new.”  That’s how the Ghost River beers were last night… the Brown Ale in particular.  Usually I avoid brown ales at the Saucer… they’re just really boring beers to me.  But, after some coaxing, I tried the Ghost River Brown, and it tasted like it had just been born.  The Pale Ale was good too, crisp and about medium hoppiness.  I recommend both of them.  Can’t wait to try the Hefe, as Paulaner Hefe-Weizen is one of my favorites at the Saucer and I want to see how the Ghost River version stacks up against it.

I couldn’t get my laptop to connect to the Saucer’s router, so I had to do a venue change to Big Foot so I could mooch off their neighbor who has an unsecured wireless network.  While there I had an idea… do you ever get change at a store or restaurant, and you look at it and one of the quarters looks funny, and you realize they gave you a CANADIAN quarter?  It happens more than you think.  Over the past couple of years I bet I’ve picked up $2-3 in Canadian change, perhaps not surprising, this being a tourist city and all.

So, what to do with that change?  I could give it to a bum, but he’d probably turn around and try to sell it to wannabe coin collectors at a premium.  So, I got a better idea… why not use the Canadian money to tip the bartender next time you’re at a Canadian-themed bar?  I’m sure Meghan at Big Foot Lodge would be delighted to receive your Canadian money as her tip.  (You still have to pay American for your tab though.)  See, this blog is full of helpful ideas!

All right, time for another exciting day at work.  Back at lunchtime if I find any news to report between now and then.

It now reads:  “Paul Ryburn is Kristin and Darbi’s BFF.”

The Commercial Appeal had an article this morning on South Main gym Energy Fitness’ summer bikini boot camp. Participants work out from 5:45 to 6:45 AM two days a week, on Downtown parking lots, steps, and other unconventional exercise equipment. I can’t imagine getting out of bed to exercise at 5:45 AM, but I guess it works for some people. The article also has some tips from the class instructor to stay motivated, as well as some basic exercises to try.

The Memphis Business Journal reports that Memphis could be named the host of Red Bull’s annual Flugtag event, which would bring thousands of people to the Mississippi River. Flugtag means “flight day” in German, and the event consists of teams building non-mechanical aircraft and then flying them off a ramp. The event is free to the host city, and Red Bull alone would use 1,000 area hotel rooms for the event, which would probably be held in the Wolf River Harbor.

Dr. Booze reports in his blog that Schlitz beer has reverted back to its original formula, rather than the nasty, cut-as-many-corners-as-possible formula their beer has employed since the late 1970s. Schlitz under the original formula was the top-selling beer in the US until 1955, when surpassed by Bud. The new Schlitz is on the market already in Milwaukee, and grocers are having trouble keeping it on the shelves because it’s so popular. Wonder if the Saucer will carry it one day.

Speaking of the Saucer, that’s where I’ll be after work for Pint Nite. I’ll probably have my laptop with me, using their free Wi-Fi to do maintenance on my sites while I drink. Due to being sick I didn’t get to try Ghost River’s beers Saturday when the Hefe was the Fire Sale, so I’ll catch up tonight. Will also have to have a Woodchuck Pear since I was also out sick Friday when that was the Fire Sale. I’m sure there will be a few of my favorite Dos Equis Lagers in the mix too.  Maybe I’ll see you there.  Right now it’s time to microwave a piece of pizza and head back to work…

I had a reader e-mail me and ask, “You used to have an Amazon search box and Restaurant.com links on your blog. Can you put those back on?” So I did. I added a Google search box too. They’re on the right sidebar, scroll all the way to the bottom (unless you’re reading this in the archives and I’ve found even more crap to stick on my sidebars since I wrote this).

Google and Amazon searches are pretty self-explanatory. Restaurant.com is a search engine that lets you order $25 gift certificates to local restaurants for only $10 (and sometimes they do specials even below that). There are restrictions, the most common one being that the certificates cannot be redeemed for alcohol, but rather for food only. Some of the lower-cost restaurants also have a $10 certificate for $3 option.

If you enter 38103 in the Restaurant.com search box, as of this writing you’ll find listings for the following Downtown listings: Big Foot Lodge, Blue Fin, Blue Plate Cafe, Cafe 61, Circa, EP Delta Kitchen, Green Beetle, Ground Zero, Lolo’s Table, Majestic Grille, McEwen’s on Monroe, Papa Pia’s, Sauces, Silky O’Sullivan’s, Stella, TGI Friday’s, and The Superior Bar.

Last Thursday, I was checking all the websites to compile my “Thursday night, what’s going on” post.  While at the Red Rooster’s site, I noticed something verrrrrrrry interesting… on Wednesdays they have 50 cent PBR draft.  I’m a big fan of PBR, especially at that kind of price.

However, there’s a catch.  It’s country music night.  So now I have a decision to make.  Can I tolerate country music for the sake of 50 cent PBR?  If I drink enough PBR, will country music actually start to sound good?

Actually, while watching the Dempseys, who have some classic country in their set, friends and I were discussing the question:  Exactly when did country music start to suck?  The classic Johnny Cash/George Jones/Merle Haggard stuff from the ’60s is fine.  Then in the ’70s you had Willie and Waylon and Jerry Reed… that was okay too.  I pegged 1979 as the year country started to suck, but then I remembered that Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” came out in 1980.  So it was after that.  And Dolly Parton sang that “9 to 5” song in 1981, that was okay too.  So it was after 1981.

When did that song “All my exes live in Texas/And Texas is the place I really love to be/But all my exes live in Texas/That’s why I hang my hat in Tennessee” come out?  That wasn’t bad.

On the other hand, Garth Brooks became a big star in the late 1980s, so the official date when country music started to suck has to be before then.

Anyway, I’m going to have to think about whether I can handle country music for the sake of 50 cent PBR.  Maybe I can bring my iPod to the Rooster and turn my headphones up all the way while I drink.

I was still recovering from being sick, so I got on Papa John’s website to order pizza.  The spinach alfredo pizza sounded like exactly like what I wanted, but then, right below it, I saw the spinach alfredo deluxe pizza, with mushrooms, onions, and bacon.  I’ve found that “everything’s better with bacon” is a good motto to live by, so I ordered the deluxe.  It was GOOOOD.  I haven’t had Papa John’s in a while, and had forgotten they give you a tub of garlic butter to dip the crusts in.  Mmmmm garlic butter.  Health guru AL is probably letting out a loud sigh as she reads this.

The good news is, I feel significantly better, so I probably will go out tonight.  I kind of have to start at the usual place, because Ghost River Hefe is the Fire Sale, and the distributor left some money in my Buy Paul a Beer account to try a beer on them.  At some point after that I’ll probably wander somewhere else.  Not sure where.  BFF Kristin is at the Dave show and I may meet up with her after that.

If I have my calendar right, tomorrow’s brunch crew gathering is at the Majestic, for those who check my blog to find that kind of stuff out.

Yesterday, after a run home to do some stuff on my laptop, I decided to walk up to Roma at Third and Court to get their lasagna to take back to work.  As I walked up Third, I saw this at the entrance of the parking garage next door to Roma:

Looks like a new club is about to open up… the sign to the right of the entrance says, “Coming soon – Memphis Sounds – Hot Blues, Cool Jazz.”  Always good to see new music venues in the area.  The location is going to be something of a disadvantage – it’s on Third between Court and Madison, not near any other clubs, and the fact that it’s inside the entrance to a parking garage won’t help either.  However, if they bring quality entertainment, people will hear about it and come.  We’ll see.  I’m hoping for the best.

If you read the Memphis Business Journal print edition and website, you already know the rest of the news.  Dunkin’ Donuts is moving into Memphis, and according to this week’s print MBJ, they’re looking at 66 S. Main (corner of Main and Union, the Radio Flats) as a location, possibly a joint Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins location.  Dunkin’ Donuts is looking at itself as direct competition to Starbucks in the Memphis neighborhoods it’s invading.  The Downtown store is said to be the flagship store for the city (2800 SF) and could open as early as January 2009.

Earlier in the week, I walked down to McAlister’s in the SunTrust building to pick up lunch… but there was a sign that said, “Closed for remodeling.”  However, according to the MBJ it’s not just for remodeling – they’re closed permanently.  That’s a loss for people who work in the area.  They had good food there, and they were so professional, too.  I always enjoyed lunches at McAlister’s.

Another big loss is a store we never even knew – Ceriello, the New York-based Italian deli that was scheduled to go into the first floor of the Lincoln-American Tower, has decided to pull out.  The MBJ could not reach their corporate management for further comment.

Facebook users, were you in the middle of a Scrabulous game when it was shut down? Want to finish it, and start new games? The LifeHacker blog (which is quickly moving to the top of my list of blogs to read every morning) has posted a way to do that. You install Firefox and its FoxyProxy extension, then use the extension to convince Facebook that you’re not in the US or Canada (the only countries in which it’s been removed).

Then I surfed over to the blog of author Tim Ferriss, who wrote The Four Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. He had a fascinating 2-part interview with a woman who graduated from Columbia University at age 27, after growing up Amish and escaping at age 15.  The interview provides an interesting look at who the Amish are, and what it takes to “escape.”  Part 1 Part 2

That should give you something to get you started… I’ll be back later today with news about business openings and closings Downtown.  Came down with a fever of 101 last night and had to get in bed and skip both birthday parties I planned on attending last night.  Guess I pushed myself too hard during the week.  I really hated to miss the later one, which was for new co-BFF Darbi at Quetzal.  I just knew, though, that staying out ’til 3 and drinking beer the entire time, was not what I needed – it’s what got me sick in the first place, as a matter of fact.  I got some sleep and feel a little better this morning.

My newest online store, Skank-o-ween.com, is now open for business. This is a store that sells slutty, sexy costumes for Halloween, as well as for costume parties year ’round. The store carries slutty costumes in over 200 different categories.

As with most of my stores, this is an Amazon.com storefront, meaning Amazon handles the payment with their state-of-the-art secure payment processing system (I never even see your credit card number), and they also handle the shipping. This seemed like a perfect niche store to create – there’s so much on Amazon that you’d probably never see three-fourths of these if you browsed their site on your own. This way, all the slutty costumes are right there for you, in one convenient location.

Why only slutty costumes and not all costumes? All Halloween costumes is too big a niche – I never would have got it done, and I couldn’t target keywords as well. If you’re a guy, or if you’re a female who doesn’t want to dress up in a slutty costume, you can find what you need at Amazon’s costume store.

The name for the store was one my former BFF Suzy (it makes me sad to call her that) came up with last year when we were brainstorming Halloween costume ideas for her.  I think it makes a great name for a slutty costume store.

Back this weekend with plenty of news.  Gotta update a few sites with links to Skank-o-ween, then it’ll be time to go drink some Fire Sales.  Happy birthday to one of my new BFFs Darbi.  I’ll be going to her birthday party later tonight.