Month: September 2009

Encore in Peabody Place will close either after tonight’s dinner service or Friday’s.  Details here.

Don’t forget that the MPACT Outlet is tonight at Ground Zero – excellent opportunity to find out what’s going on in MPACT Memphis these days.  The executive director just posted that they will have free food.  Free food?  Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

The Woot-off is continuing for a second day, possibly due to problems with their servers yesterday.

Bardog Tavern now has a Facebook page for their Wednesday night poker tournaments. You can see it here. They’ve also expanded their breakfast menu to include breakfast burritos, and they’ll soon have hot chocolate, yogurt, bananas, and apples.

If anyone’s thinking about moving to Mud Island, there’s a really nice condo for lease – details here. 2 story, 2 BR, 2.5 bath, 3 balconies, whirlpool, both bedrooms have private baths, W/D, and a lot more.

Someone who works at AutoZone sent me this: There will be a 20 minute aerobatic demonstration by the Lucas Oil plane over the tip of Mud Island at 11 AM on Monday, September 28. Should be visible to most of Downtown.

It’s rock climbing wall night at BRIDGES, Auction at Fourth, from 6 to 9.

Check out this TIME magazine article on Detroit. There are some parallels to Memphis.

Yesterday all the new people at work got to go on a field trip to Sam’s Town to see a regional bridge tournament. It was very interesting… there was this big room that must have held 150 tables, maybe 200. It was absolute chaos until 2:00 as people were milling around, getting registered, finding their partners… and by 2:10 the room was quiet and everyone was playing cards. Before the tournament, we got a free buffet (Nuh-Uh Girl: “Free buffet? Paul, do you know if your company is hiring?”) and a free hour to do whatever we wanted. I wandered upstairs to the poker room. There was a table but it was something like $1/3 blinds for No-Limit Hold’em, and that sounded like a good way to leave the casino several hundred dollars poorer. So I played a 25 cent video poker machine and lost about $5.

After work I attended the Alley Jams alley party in Gayoso Alley and it was a lot of fun. Good music, good beer (Dos Equis Lager? good call!), and I got to talk to a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while. Next Wednesday’s party will be in the Rendezvous alley, and the Dempseys will play – sadly, I have to miss this one due to a conflicting event. I saw on Twitter that these things are going on until 9 in the evening, so plenty of time to get out there and enjoy.

Plans for tonight:  Not sure, beyond the fact that beer will surely be involved.

This is a drunk post.  Let me pull up the “Notes” app on my iPhone and see what I’m supposed to talk about.  Please forgive spelling/grammar mistakes.

Saucer has New Belgium Hoptober on draft.  Awesome beer.  I had it at Circa’s party last month.  They also just got Sam Adams Oktoberfest.  Wait til Pint Nite to drink those two if you’re going for UFO credit.  They also have Dogfish Head Punkin Ale in bottles.

Question:  I’m 15 beers away from my 3rd plate, what should my saying on it be?  “I Love Romanian Girls” is out of date.  It’s been 3 years since we had Romanians here.  Shoot me an e-mail at paul@paulryburn.com with suggestions

I was informed tonight that if you get on Facebook and search for “DTO 2009” and are willing to waste 15+ minutes of your life watching the Downtown Olympics video, you can see Sweaty McDrippy who accused Calhoun’s of lying about free wireless (when he did not know how to configure his computer) and Michele chasing him out/cussing him out.  He’s at the beginning of Benjie’s segment.

Alley Jams party was fantastic tonight.  Kudos on having Dos Equis Lager on tap.  I thought I saw the world’s largest rodent in the alley, but it had on a light blue T-shirt and camo shorts, and rodents usually don’t dress up for concerts.  It headed in the direction of restaurant row on Second.

Daisy of Daisy of Love will be at Republic Nightclub Saturday night.  “THE ULTIMATE BAD GIRL INVADES MEMPHIS!  THIS WILL BE THE PARTY WHO MEMPHIS TALKS ABOUT ALL YEAR!” says the club’s Facebook post.

I posted about the iHog application for Arkansas fans the other day.  Secret fact:  If you open the app and shake the phone 5 times, you’ll get a surprise.

Congrats to Kacy on her move into the Downtown core.

Mpact Memphis is having their “Outlet” at Ground Zero tomorrow, Thursday September 24.  It was originally scheduled for the Red Rooster but was moved next door.  Details why later.  Networking, orientation to what Mpact has going on, all kinds of good stuff.

Drunk. Going to bed.

Very quick and early lunchtime post today… I’m back at work, but I’m going on a field trip in a few minutes.  There’s a regional bridge tournament going on at one of the casinos in Tunica, and the company wants the new hires to see what a bridge tournament is like.  We get a free buffet out of it, so it sounds like a good deal to me.

If it doesn’t rain, the weekly Alley Jams party will happen tonight in Gayoso Alley off Peabody Place.  The theme tonight is Neosoulville with The City Champs, Candace Ashir, Tim Terry, Tonya Dyson, and Cassie Bonner.

There’s a Woot-Off going on today.

Tonight is Oktoberfest glass night at the Saucer.  I’ve seen the glass – it’s an extra tall one which is a take-off on Google’s logo (“Brewgle”), and is pretty cool looking.  I’ve heard that the fall seasonal beers are on their way in – pumpkin ales and stuff.  I love a good pumpkin ale.

Here’s an article on how to act if you attend the real Oktoberfest in Munich.

Time to go eat and watch people play bridge.  Will be away from the computer for most of the rest of the day.

The ArtsMemphis app is now available if you have an iPhone.  Just go to the app store and search for “artsmemphis.”

Hmmm one of the menu options is “Free Events.”  Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will scroll through it to see which ones are putting out food.  Oh, wait, she has a Blackberry, never mind.

If you live or work Downtown, check out this Daily News article about the Downtown Neighborhood Association.  After two and a half years of ineffective leadership, new people are in charge and the DNA is making a comeback.  The next meeting is at Harbor Landing on Mud Island River Park at 6:30 PM on October 15.  Speakers will be Benny Lendermon, president of the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC), and David Figiel, associate director of Hospitality Hub.  If you’ve thought about getting active in DNA but haven’t yet, now would be a great time.

Yesterday I asked if any bars were showing the AAA championship game on ESPN tonight.  I’ve learned of two places that are.

Deni from the Majestic Grille e-mailed me – they will show the game on their giant movie screen, with sound.  “Specials to come,” she wrote.

Calhoun’s will also have the game on.  Not aware of any specials, but $2 PBR is always special.

Going to take a walk, then take the laptop to the Second Street Branch Office for an afternoon of blogging and PokerStars.  Probably more posts to come.

Jimmy Ogle’s Downtown walking history tours start today.  Schedule is below.  Click for a larger sized image.  He does tours every Tuesday, and for those who don’t work Downtown there are three super-sized Saturday tours this fall.  His infamous “manhole cover” tour is today.  Tours are free to the public.

The Redbirds are in the AAA championship game tomorrow night, Tuesday, September 22.  It will be nationally televised on ESPN.  I had a blog reader e-mail and ask if any bars will have the sound on, or will run specials.  If you know of any let me know at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll blog them.

Yay vacation.  I’m at the Second Street Branch Office with the laptop.  Going to get these pics posted then fire up PokerStars.

Aldo getting dunked

Ashley couldn’t hit the side of a barn.  Funny thing is, her boyfriend is a professional baseball player.  A PITCHER.  Maybe she can get some lessons before Bardog’s second birthday.

Happy bartenders

Amanda in the dunking booth

Amanda in the dunking booth, part 2

Nice pic, but it would have been better without the tank top.

Terry’s happy about having a big bone in his mouth.  Free ribs?  Where was the Nuh-Uh Girl?

Jean and friend in the dunk tank

Amanda, all dry, gets ready to dunk Jean.

Jean and Bicycle Bobby

Emily came down to the party after her day shift at the Saucer ended.  A little birdie told me that Emily got pretty wasted last night.

Meatball eating contest

Jeremiah won.  No one was able to finish all 40 meatballs, but Jeremiah was declared the winner, having finished 37 when everyone else had either puked or given up.  Post-contest, Aldo interviews the winner.

Complete photo album (145 pics) available here.  Note:  There are 9 pics and and 2 videos I’m not posting publicly, but they will be made available to a few select friends.

Outstanding party.  Thanks to Aldo and all the gang at Bardog.  Can’t wait for next year.