Here’s this week’s review of stuff in the Memphis Flyer of interest to Downtowners:
p.6: Orleans on Front, formerly Cayenne Moon, by chef/owner Clint Boutwell, has an ad this week with details of their new operation. They serve lunch Tue-Fri and dinner Tue-Sat. Specials include 2 for 1 shrimp & grits Tuesday nights (bet that’ll make Ken skip trivia one of these weeks) and $2 cup o’ gumbo Wednesdays. Happy hour starting at 4 PM (I wish they had stated what specials are on happy hour so I could add them to the search engine though). They have a website, although it looks like a web designer from 1997 looked into a crystal ball, saw Orleans on Front 11 years in the future, and created them a site with 1997-era tools. If I were teaching a class on web design and a student turned that in as their final project, I’d give them a D minus. I’m sure the food’s good, though, and will give it a try soon.
p.8: The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is back in Memphis December 23 at the FedExForum. Tickets go on sale this Saturday.
p.9: Info on the rebuilding of the First United Methodist Church, and the new CA2 building which will replace the old Court Annex Building that burned down. Wow… the CA2 building looks awfully modern compared to the buildings that will surround it. I hope it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
Also on p.9: The MSPJC is starting a letter-writing campaign to ask Downtown businesses not to fund the Downtown Safety Patrol that protects those businesses’ customers from aggressive panhandling. (Dammit, I can’t get the “rolleyes” smiley icon to work in WordPress) The MSPJC agrees that action should be taken against aggressive panhandlers who threaten people or otherwise break the law, but thinks it should not take the form of jail time, but rather getting them needed mental help and addiction treatment. What they don’t offer is specifics. If they’d put together a plan on how this could be accomplished, that would be guaranteed to be as effective or more effective removing aggressive panhandlers from the streets as the current safety patrol is (and I mean removing them NOW, as the violations occur, not years from now after we’ve “studied the root causes of panhandling and poverty”), I’d be open to supporting it. Let’s see some output from them other than complaining.
p.26: Oh, cool, the Broad Avenue Art Walk is Friday night! This is similar to the South Main Trolley Art Tour, but for the hip, new neighborhood-in-revival along Broad Avenue, a thoroughfare rarely used anymore now that traffic has been re-routed to Sam Cooper. There are all kinds of neat art galleries and living spaces throughout the area. There’s also an excellent pizza joint (Broadway) and one of the coolest bars in the city (The Cove). Hmmm… if I could find people to hang with, I’d cab it out there, do the art walk, and then hang out at The Cove after it’s over. Trouble is, this is a bad weekend to round up people… half my group is out of town for a bachelor party, and most of the other half is planning an event for Saturday that I’m not involved in. We’ll see… still got two days to figure it out.
p.27: This isn’t a Downtown event, but I’ll mention it anyway… the Pink Palace Crafts Fair is this weekend, Thursday-Sunday. Good place to pick up cool stuff for your Downtown loft, condo, apartment or home. Note for those who’ve never been before: Despite the name, the crafts fair is at Audubon Park, not the Pink Palace.
p.30: It’s that time of year again… the annual John Lennon Pint Glass night at the Flying Saucer, next Wednesday, October 8, at 7 PM. Blast! That’s right in the middle of the Downtown Alive! concert. I’ll have a decision to make next Wednesday.
By the way, you can still buy Presidential glasses for $5 too. Last I checked, Obama was leading the glass tally, 498 to 474. Not a good sign for John McCain at all. I can’t ever remember a Democrat holding a substantial lead in any glass count from any prior year. The Saucer, full of suits from Morgan Keegan on weeknights and conservative frat-boy types on weekends, tends to skew Republican. Geez, it almost makes me wonder why I bother with the place… oh yeah, the girls in the skirts. And the beer.
p.42: Saba Fest, celebrating the life of Bill Saba, will be Friday, October 17 at the Cadre Building at Second and Monroe. Music by Walrus and Punching Nicholas, food by Notorious PIG, silent auction, full bar. $15 cover at the door with proceeds benefitting St. Jude, which by the way is where my new BFFs work. This is a good event for a good cause, and not a far commute for me (I can see the entrance to the Cadre from my living room window). I’ll likely be there.
Also p.42: Bardog’s ad mentions that it is “home of the slider.” Those sliders are really good, by the way. I tried one of their regular hamburger sliders when they were handing out free food during opening weekend, and it was fantastic. I hear there’s a shrimp slider that’s pretty amazing too.
p.43: There’s an article on Safari, the new tapas restaurant on Main near the Huling Street trolley stop. It talks about the different types of cuisine they serve, and interviews the owner and a regular named “Carlos” who is a big fan of the place. The article points out that a portion of Safari’s profits go to Urban Family Ministries.
p.46: There’s a photo of the S’Mores you cook at your table at Big Foot Lodge. They’re made with Hershey’s chocolate bars, double-wide graham crackers, and marshmallows.
… and that’ll wrap up this week’s Flyer review. Headed to South Main for the Downtown Alive!/mini-Folk Alliance concert. After that I may hit Bardog Tavern to see what an 8:30ish mid-week crowd looks like.