Month: January 2009

Yesterday I did a post asking if anyplace Downtown would be showing next Tuesday’s inauguration of Barack Obama on TV.  This morning, I got a response that the National Civil Rights Museum will have it on two giant-screen TVs.  The event is free to the public, and the gift shop will be selling inauguration merchandise.  No public tours of the museum will take place during this time.  Here’s a link to more info.

MIFA is soliciting restaurant partners for its March for Meals.  This is a fundraiser every march that raises over $30,000 for its Senior Meals program.  Details are explained in the letter below (click it to view in a readable size).  As you can see, there are many benefits and a lot of free publicity associated with being a MIFA partner in this program.  Currently only the Arcade has signed up among Downtown restaurants; they’d like to have more.  E-mail aword@mifa.org or call 529-4560 to sign up.

Restaurant/bar regulars are encouraged to forward this to their favorite hangouts.

Last night I attended the SMA meeting at Sole, and CCC president Jeff Sanford gave his “state of Downtown” address to a crowd of about 100 people.  Here’s a summary.

Jeff believes that “Downtown is uniquely equipped to ride out the economic storm,” and he went through ongoing projects neighborhood by neighborhood to explain why.  He said that St. Jude is completing a $1 billion expansion that will double its workforce from 2,000 to 4,000.  He also said that there’s a new facility for elderly care under construction in Uptown.

He said he absolutely supports Bass Pro in the Pyramid.  “There’s not a better bet on the table.  Take my word for it, Bass Pro has the money and the interest.  We will be lucky to get them.”  I have to say, such a strong personal endorsement from Jeff Sanford, whom I have always known to shoot straight from the hip, means a lot.  I was lukewarm to the Bass Pro deal before, associating it with corporate largesse and King Willie, but I feel better about it after hearing Jeff’s words.

In the Medical Center district, a UT/Baptist Research Park is under development.  It’s happening in phases that will take years, but when completed, the facility will employ 5,000 and the med center district will be stronger than it was before Baptist Hospital was demolished.  Once that happens, the Madison trolley line will no longer be viewed as a trolley to nowhere.

Then Jeff covered projects in the core – the Court Square Center, with one building already occupied and another nearly finished; the Marriott Courtyard at Main and Jefferson; market-rate apartments at 67 Madison near completion, across Front from the new law school; a parking garage with 400 spaces going in across Madison from that building.

There was a misunderstanding, Jeff said, that retail didn’t do well in Peabody Place.  That isn’t true, he said.  Businesses didn’t close due to lack of sales; they close because leases were not renewed, because Belz wants to do what they do best and turn Peabody Place into 150 Ritz-Carlton-level suites of 900 SF each.  40% of Peabody Place will remain retail after the reconfiguration.

Muvico wanted to stay, he said.  Maybe a 22-screen theater was overkill, but they wanted to have a presence in Peabody Place.  It just wasn’t possible under the reconfig.  However, he said, “there will be a movie theater in the Downtown area, and if I say more at this time, people in this room will probably have to kill me.”  Well, that’s interesting news.  Can’t wait to hear more about that project.

The Chisca Hotel has suffered the loss of financing for its renovations due to the economy.  Its developers are working with local lenders to try and get the project moving again.

Construction is finally happening at the big hole at Main and Gayoso.  A parking garage with 200 public spaces will be the first to go in.  Then, they’ve sold the air rights above the garage to developers who will add 96 new apartments to the Downtown core.

Jeff applauded the block of Main between Peabody Place and Gayoso and the enormous progress it has made over the past few years.  Yes, part of the progress is because of the Belz family, he said, but more importantly because of people like Tom and Christine (owners of Shelton Clothiers) and Patrick and Deni (owners of the Majestic Grille).

Jeff called the Farmers Market an “icon” of our life in Downtown Memphis.

While Jeff was talking, I was standing next to Sole’s glass doors overlooking the FedExForum.  Outside the cops were arresting a guy.  Couldn’t tell whether he was a panhandler or a scalper.  There were about 6 scalpers outside the Forum, on the sidewalk.  I thought they were supposed stay at least 300 feet away?

Jeff said the CCC is “hard at work” for “interesting retail categories” that he couldn’t comment on yet.  “What’s the one retail business everyone down here wants to see?” he asked, and the crowd mostly yelled “GROCERY STORE!”  (A few said “bookstore,” and Bicycle Bobby said “scooter shop.”)  “I don’t want to make any promises, but I’m working on it in South Main.”

Someone asked about opening the Main Street Mall to traffic.  Jeff said an 18-member task force is studying it, but right now the infrastructure falls so far short right now that opening Main to traffic is just one of many problems.  He said a report is coming in the spring.

Jeff complimented the Downtown holiday light program (and I extend huge compliments too).  “We asked the city for some lights Downtown, like they put up on Poplar.  They wouldn’t do it, so we said ‘let’s do it ourselves’ and we turned to our neighbors.  Private donations bought the lights.”  He said more such partnerships will be needed in the future, and the CCC will be turning to the SMA and our Downtown neighbors to pitch in.

Audience question: Any chance of the trolley being extended further south than GE Patterson?  Jeff: Honestly, probably no.  However, if the project can be deemed “shovel ready,” there may be money for it under Obama’s stimulus package.

Followup audience comment:  “I’d love to see the trolley extended, but first I’d like to see it run on a regular schedule.”  This drew applause from the audience.  Jeff agreed there are problems within MATA.  He told a story he’d heard of a trolley headed north on Main with 4 passengers.  A friend of the trolley driver’s got on.  Then the trolley abruptly stopped at Jack’s and waited while the friend went inside to pop a bag of microwave popcorn.  But Jack’s microwave wasn’t working, so the trolley stopped again so the friend could go to another business to pop his popcorn.  The passengers eventually got disgusted that they weren’t getting anywhere, and got off the trolley and walked.  That’s why I like Jeff; he has the candor to tell stories like that.  He’s not one to tell you that Downtown is perfect when it isn’t.  After the panhandlers I’d rate MATA as the number two reason Downtown looks bad to visitors.

More conventions are booked for ’09 than there were in ’08.  Jeff cited the Westin as a big reason for this, with its addition of many first-class hotel rooms.

A comment was made that the Downtown safety patrol does not extend to the Westin/FedExForum area.  Panhandlers have been observed moving into the Beale Entertainment District, actually going into bars to hit up tourists for money.  Also, there are complaints that the Downtown safety patrol (whose southern boundary is approximately Linden) has pushed panhandling into South Main.  Jeff:  “We don’t have funds to increase the coverage area, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need to get together to figure out how to improve.”  Jeff then said, “We want to get together with whoever SMA suggests.”  Attn Jeff, SMA, and CCC safety directory Larry Bloom:  I have an HOA president you should talk to, someone who is very concerned about changes he’s seen to his South Main neighborhood.

At that point Jeff sat down, and SMA president Brandon Herrington took the mic to talk about a neighborhood art project in the parking lot south of the Arcade.  Boards featuring song lyrics about trains will be installed to beautify the area.  The UrbanArt Commission and private donors are funding the project, and MCA students will do the lyrics, but SMA volunteers are needed to hang the boards and paint them a solid color.  Project will take place on an upcoming weekend, to be determined based on volunteers’ schedule.

The SMA’s holiday Food Bank drive turned in 88 boxes of food, and $2045 in donations.

Jay Sieleman, president of the Blues Foundation, came up to talk about the International Blues Challenge Feb. 4-7.  100 bands, 64 solo/duo acts, and for the first time 23 youth acts under 21.  36 states, 10 countries represented.  The IBC will be held in 16 clubs on Beale, with the finals in the Orpheum.

Because people come early for IBC, Jay said, there will be a Wed. night meet & greet at the New Daisy, followed by four IBC acts performing at the Grizzlies game that night.  Following that there will be a kickoff concert at the New Daisy featuring 5 past winners.

A very informative meeting, and thanks to Sole for the great food including mussels, shrimp lollipops, and beef skewers.  Here’s a pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating at the SMA meeting:

After the presentation part of the meeting, members were invited to stay and mingle as Di Anne Price played piano for another hour.  I decided to dart out and head to the Saucer, where the trivia team was already halfway through the second round.  We won, bringing our total winnings to $250 for the next party, and we got some BBQ team business discussed too.  An excellent night.  Thanks to Jeff, the SMA, and Sole.

By the way, you can e-mail membership@southmainmemphis.org if you’re interested in joining.  $25 individuals, $35 couples, $80 businesses.  Their website appears to be down currently, but someone should get back to you if you e-mail that address.

Is there anyplace Downtown that will show Barack Obama’s inauguration (preferably with sound) next Tuesday, January 20?  The question was raised on my trivia team’s e-mail list this afternoon and I thought I’d ask the readers of my blog.  If you know of a place that will be showing it, e-mail me at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll start a list for a future post.  True, the inauguration will be during the day while most people are at work, but thanks to the Bush economy many of us find ourselves laid off and unexpectedly free during daytime hours.

There’s a new Restaurant.com coupon code out today. Code EXCLUSIVE can be entered at checkout to get $25 face-value certificates, normally $10, for only $4.  The 60% discount also applies to their Dinner of the Month Club.  Over 80 Memphis-area restaurants are part of this program, including more than a dozen of Downtown’s most popular restaurants.

I just finished created College Logo Shopping sites for the ACC schools.  Here they are:

• Boston College Eagles
• Clemson Tigers
• Duke Blue Devils
• Florida State Seminoles
• Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
• Maryland Terrapins
• Miami Hurricanes
• North Carolina Tar Heels
• North Carolina State Wolfpack
• Virginia Cavaliers
• Virginia Tech Hokies
• Wake Forest Demon Deacons

As with all my College Logo Shopping Sites, these stores are convenient ways to find all merchandise on Amazon for a particular college.  Once you’ve got the items you want in your cart, you’re transferred over to Amazon for their state-of-the-art secure checkout process and shipping options.  I never see your name or credit card number, only a notification that an item was purchased and I made commission on it.

Only one BCS conference remaining for me to do – the Pac-10.  Glad I’m almost done, because it’s really boring building practically the same site over and over and over.  The other work I’m doing, revising the personal finance software, is not the most mentally challenging work either, mostly involving changing date formats and showing and hiding data on spreadsheets.  However, both projects may prove financially lucrative down the road, so I’ve got to keep at it.  The Pac-10 has some of the biggest name schools in the country – to name a few, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, and the university where I’ve always dreamed of doing a Ph.D., California.  Those schools should be online by the end of the week, and then I can finally do something different.

Looking forward to a great SMA meeting tonight at Sole, and a Rapscallions victory at trivia afterward.

I’ve had people e-mail me about tonight’s SMA meeting, asking how much it is to join.  It’s $25 for individuals, $35 for two-person households, $80 for businesses.  You can join at the door at tonight’s meeting, 6 PM at Sole in the Westin Hotel.  This is money well spent – if you go to most of the meetings and parties throughout the year, you’ll more than make your membership fee back in complimentary food and drinks.

The Nuh-Uh Girl has confirmed her attendance for the SMA meeting, so there may well be some new pics of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating on the blog tomorrow.

Looks like NYC Deli didn’t open yesterday as promised.  They’re still doing some work on the location on the ground floor of One Commerce Square.  On the other hand, I walked by A&R Bar-b-que and they are most definitely open and have a good lunch crowd.

I guess I owe Kooky Canuck bartender Meghan an apology for saying her car was illegally parked on Second the other day.  As I walked down Second last night, it appeared they had re-zoned the parking so that it’s now legal.  I still hate her Ole Miss license plate holder though.  If you’re Downtown, go by and give her your two cents’ worth on her license plate holder.  And by “give her your two cents’ worth,” I mean that’s the recommended tip to leave her next time she serves you.

Congrats to Circa, which won 8 awards in the Memphis Magazine readers’ poll:  Gold for best chef, best restaurant, best atmosphere, and best wine list; Silver for best business dinner and best martini; Bronze for best service and best French/continental.

Just got back from New York Suit Exchange at Union and Danny Thomas where I bought a new dress shirt to wear to interviews.  My old dress shirts don’t fit well anymore and make me feel like I’m choking.  That’s a hidden value in Downtown Memphis – I got an Italian dress shirt for $15, and they measured my neck and sleeves and I was in and out in under three minutes.  Very professional service.

Pint Night at Bardog Tavern from 7 to 3 tonight.  All pints $3.

For years, Mayor Herenton has been pushing to move the Greyhound bus station out of Downtown Memphis.  This would be great for Downtown, as many panhandlers, vagrants, and bums arrive here on the bus, and as soon as they get off they hit Downtown streets and start begging for money.  In early 2006, we heard of a plan to move the Greyhound station to the airport in a joint venture with MATA, as part of an intermodal transportation transfer point that may one day include light rail.  We were told it would be done by the end of the year, but it’s 2009 and the Greyhound station is still here.

Well, this article in today’s CA sheds some light into why it’s taken so long… the mayor held options to purchase the land, and eventually his privately held real estate company made more than $90,000 on the deal.  This is the subject of the latest federal probe investigating the mayor.

Once again, King Willie does what’s best for King Willie, not for the people who elected him to serve as mayor.

As I walked by Kooky Canuck last night, I saw a sign saying they’re celebrating the 3-day weekend (for some people) this weekend with $2 34 oz. beer all day Sunday.  I need to walk by again and get the details from the sign on the door, but I think it’s Super Cold Coors Light.

The Flying Saucer is going to give away this bike on Fat Tuesday, February 24:

Apologies for the hazy-looking pic… digital cameras need a setting to balance colors in pics taken in nasty, filthy, disgusting cigarette smoke.  The Saucer will have $2.75 Fat Tire pints every Tuesday between now and February 24, and every time you buy one you can ask your waitress or bartender for an entry form to fill out.  On the 24th a drawing will be done from the entry forms for the bike.  But here’s the catch – drawing will be at 10 PM, and you must be present to win.

I was at the bar for Pint Nite last night, and one of the people sitting at the bar with me nicknamed Lazy Magnolia beer “Brittney Magnolia.”  He came up with this name after bartender Brittney spent most of the first two hours of her shift standing around talking to people, while the other two bartenders ran around and poured beer and waited on customers.  So Britt joins the elite club of people who have a beer nicknamed after them – a club I’m already a member of, due to the “Paulie Lager” (Dos Equis Lager with extra limes).

Don’t forget the South Main Association meeting tonight at Sole, the restaurant in the Westin Hotel that used to be Daily Grill.  It’s an important meeting for two reasons:  1) Jeff Sanford, the president of the Center City Commission, will give a “State of Downtown” address; and 2) free wine and food for members!  Members can renew their memberships for 2009 tonight.  Mingling at 6 PM, with Di Anne Price on piano; the speech starts sometime after that, probably around 7.  Free food… wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up?

Anyone else find it interesting that Jeff is giving this speech to the SMA and not the DNA?

Attn my fellow BBQ team members:  I’ve updated our website so that you can now pay online via PayPal and download a copy of the 2009 membership application to fill out.

Fellow blogger Dr. Booze had an interesting post on Sunday:  He found an article explaining how to create your own flavored vodka using Skittles.  Yum!  Bet that would be a big hit at Downtown house parties.

If the person who ordered 17 party dresses from my Skank-o-ween costume store yesterday is a reader of this blog, thank you!  I’ll make over 50 bucks commission on those.  If you’re planning a costume party, Skank-o-ween is a great place to look for ideas.  It’s not just for Halloween!

Had some more weird dreams last night.  In one dream, I was living in a college dorm room, and the room was decorated with LSU Tigers furniture.  I like LSU, but in real life I’d probably decorate with Memphis or Arkansas stuff instead.  Also, my next-door neighbor in the dorm was a polar bear.

Then, I had a dream that a FedEx plane was flying extremely low through neighborhoods, just barely above rooftops, to avoid bad weather.  I’ve had this dream a couple of other times recently, but this time, the plan crashed and started a fire.  I hope that’s just a dream and not a premonition of an actual event.

Time to get the day started… I’ll be late for trivia tonight due to the SMA meeting.

Just a reminder that A&R Bar-b-que at Third and Court and NYC Deli in the SunTrust building are now open for lunch, so check them out if you haven’t already.

I’m going to throw in a mention for Bardog Tavern here as well.  I was in there last Wednesday and was shocked that place hadn’t built more of a lunch crowd than it already has.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• The spaghetti with Aldo’s grandmom’s meatballs.  I’d put their spaghetti & meatballs up against any Italian restaurant in the city.
• The saloon sliders, 3 mini-burgers cooked on the grill.  Comes with fries with ketchup and their Bourbon mayonnaise dipping sauce which is really good.
• The Woof Woof Chow Chow, the hot dog version of their sliders, also with fries.
• If you’re not very hungry you can get a single burger or hot dog slider without the fries.
• The Rambo, the sandwich I posted about last week with NY strip steak, pepperoncini, and red peppers.  It’s a little pricey for lunch (over $11) but it comes with fries and is enough for two friends or co-workers to split.

If you like Circa by John Bragg, click this link to go to the restaurant’s listing on UrbanSpoon.com and click the “I like it” button to vote for the place.

Last night I dreamed that I was back in college, living in a dorm which was called “New Dorm” at the time I attended.  (Meaning, no one had donated gobs of money to get their name on the dorm.)  Next door to my room was a Foot Locker which had a game room and food court inside.  I’m not really sure how to analyze this dream.  I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve ever dreamed about Foot Locker.

That’s all for now.  Got to go buy a shirt that fits that I can wear to job interviews.  Not excited about having to put on a tie again.  After I got the last job I hoped that interview would be the last time in my life I’d ever have to wear a tie.

I’ve been told that A&R Bar-B-Que at Third and Court, in the old Roma location, is now open (not sure if they’ll be open today, though, since it’s Sunday).  Here’s a link to their menu. Looks like I’m going to have to stop by for lunch one day next week.  I miss Roma’s lasagna but I’m happy to have another BBQ option for lunch.

The economy definitely hasn’t stopped people from going out in Downtown Memphis.  I started at the Saucer and by 10 it was PACKED, so much so that I got tired of bumping into people and having to move for them to get by.  “I’ll try Bardog,” I thought.  No, it was packed too.  Barely anyplace to stand upstairs, and downstairs was packed too, every table taken and people standing at the bar.  I’m happy to see them doing so well less than half a year after opening, and in the slow season no less.

So I ended up at Voodoo Room, aka Hoop’s new bar.  I didn’t get many more details about next Saturday night’s toga party other than it starts at 10 PM, which means it will be in the downstairs rather than up.  They’ll provide togas for the toga-challenged.  I’ve been asked to be a judge for the ugliest and sexiest toga costume contests.  Not surprised Hoop wanted me as a judge, after the fantastic job I did last summer at Pub Olympics, where I forgot the rules of beer pong, drank so much beer that I stumbled home and crashed before the event was over, and then forgot to bring their stopwatch back.  Looking forward to an equally stellar judging performance at the toga party.

I’ve added new colleges to College Logo Shopping.  I did most of the Big East schools, although I decided to hold off on some of the smaller, basketball-only schools until after I get the ACC and Pac-10 done.  What I’m learning while building these stores is, if you want a great merchandising deal for your university, you better be in a BCS conference and you better play football.  Here are the new additions.  Some of the basketball-only schools have a lot of empty categories I need to go back and remove, but I think you’ll still be able to find lots of good stuff.

• Cincinnati Bearcats
• Connecticut Huskies
• Georgetown Hoyas
• Louisville Cardinals
• Marquette Golden Eagles
• Pitt Panthers
• Rutgers Scarlet Knights
• South Florida Bulls
• Syracuse Orange
• Villanova Wildcats
• West Virginia Mountaineers

Brunch at the Majestic today, then the Saucer for a friend’s plate party.

It’s the slow season Downtown.  From New Year’s until St. Patrick’s Day, Downtown tends to be pretty dead, although the opening of FedExForum has turned around winters on Beale Street a little in recent years.  Only things I know of going on are the Baltimore Ravens vs. Tennessee Titans game on screens at various bars around Downtown (3:30 PM); the Tigers are at UCF (4 PM; on CBS College Sports and WREC 600); legendary bluesman Blind Mississippi Morris plays BB King’s tonight; and jam band FreeWorld plays the Saucer.

Pilsner Urquell is the Fire Sale.  Hmmm may have to partake of a few of those later today.