All right, so when I complained about today’s crappy weather in the last post, I was looking at a temperature of 54 with a predicted high of 62 and cloudy. Clearly that didn’t happen. It was beautiful outside!
About 11:10 AM my friend Mikey texted me the Fire Sale. “Have they posted the sixth clue yet?” I texted back. The Flying Saucer hid an Easter Keg somewhere in Memphis this morning. From March through yesterday, they posted five clues, and from those I knew the keg was in Cooper-Young (three of the clues were Oliver, Nelson, and New York, all streets in that neighborhood). The last clue was a four-parter, and Mikey called me and read it to me over the phone. You had to piece together four sub-clues to come up with a word. Tenth letter of Thomas Hardy’s beer was a D for the first clue. First letter of the 36th tap at the Saucer was the third clue – Mikey counted them down and told me it was Sam Adams, and therefore S. So I had D_S_.
Second clue was ___ of the Hawk. I went through the letters and when I got to “I,” I realized that it spelled I of the Hawk – Eye of the Hawk – the name of a beer. So I was the second letter. Already knowing to look in Cooper-Young, that was enough. I called my friends Frank and Stephanie – “the keg’s at Dish!”
We knocked on the door. No answer, and the door was locked. Dish doesn’t open until 5. Then we spent the next 20 minutes going through the bushes, the garbage, everything in the area. “Maybe it’s a mini-keg the size of an Easter egg,” I told them. No luck. We were about ready to give up, but decided to knock on the door one more time. We saw someone moving around inside. Frank called Dish, and found that David Nestler who runs the place was inside. We finally got him to the door, and he handed us the keg pictured below:
We threw it in the trunk and hauled it back to the Saucer. Our prize: A party for 50 (it was a party for 100 but we downsized so people would get more beer).
I drank a few celebration beers, then hopped a cab to Midtown for the crawfish fest and immediately wished I hadn’t. They moved it to the parking lot on the north side of Madison. The lot was packed to the point of being cramped, and by the time I got there (3:05 PM) they were out of crawfish. Plus Bud and Bud Light were $4. WTF? I’ll pay $4 for a beer if it’s a great festival otherwise, but this one was a disappointment. I stayed 10 minutes then decided to head back Downtown. I walked to Dragon China and ate, then walked toward Downtown, figuring someone who knew me would see me and offer me a ride. That happened – thanks Rachel and Beth.
Changing clothes and heading back out… tentative plans are back to the Saucer, then Bardog, then Paula & Raiford’s. Plans can change though. Glad I don’t have to go to church tomorrow so I can make it a late night. If I get up in time I’ll be at brunch at Majestic in the morning.