Yesterday I mentioned that I’d have to miss the Rendezvous alley party with the Dempseys and Soul Shockers, but I had a good reason… well, now I can reveal that reason. I was invited to the Memphis Flyer’s 2009 Best of Memphis party at Minglewood Hall. When the Best Of issue came out yesterday, I learned that I had won first place in the Best Local Blogger category.
A huge thank you to everyone who voted for me, and to those who check this blog regularly and find it useful. I truly enjoy writing for all of you. I wouldn’t win if I didn’t have such interesting subject matter – a great Downtown neighborhood and great friends.
Between my win for the blog, Michele from Calhoun’s second place in the Best Server category, and Mikey’s status as a former Flyer employee, we were able to get quite a few of the gang in. Here are a few pics.
Chuck, Robin, and Otto. Happy birthday Robin!
Harmony and me
Mikey, Harmony, Dave, and Ryan, with a cameo appearance by Otto
Jean from Bardog Tavern took third place for Best Server. Bardog also took first place for Best New Bar. Hey, you know what I don’t see on that dress? Straps. TUBE TOP DRESS! “Looks best in a tube top” could be the best category the Flyer left out.
Michele from Calhoun’s, second place Best Server.
David from Bardog, looking snazzy in a suit.
Shane uses interpretive dance to explain the meaning of the Best Of party.
The venue was fantastic. It was my first time in Minglewood Hall, and the bands sounded great no matter where I stood in their large room. A first-class facility all the way. Congratulations for their first-place in Best Place to See Live Music, and for all they’ve accomplished in their first year.
Then there was the FOOD! Chicken and pineapple skewers from Huey’s, BBQ from Corky’s, sushi from Bluefin, fried green tomatoes from the Cupboard, some really delicious dry-rub hot wings from Central BBQ, some coconut shrimp that were really good but I can’t remember where they came from, and many more food vendors who catered the party.
Oh – speaking of which – I’m sure everyone’s wondering, “Free food… did the Nuh-Uh Girl show up?” No, due to poor wristband management on our part. The Flyer really cracked down on freeloaders this year… you had to be an invited guest to get in. I had an extra wristband, but thought that birthday girl Robin needed it. Once at the party, I found out she already had one. There was another extra wristband as well. So the Nuh-Uh Girl could have got in and enjoyed free food. But she didn’t. Too bad. She actually kinda did deserve to be there – as much as she tweets and talks about Memphis restaurants and charity events, she really is sort of a stimulus to the economy.
About 9:30, the beer ran out, and not surprisingly, the party wound down about 9:31. Otto was our designated driver. “Want me to drive you home?” he said.
“Yeah, but not the home where I sleep and pay rent. The home where I drink beer.” So Otto dropped me off at the Saucer, where I hung out for about an hour more. A tip of the hat to night shift bartenders Brionne, Graycen, and Whitney – out of everyone working the bar last night, they stood out for providing particularly excellent service.
When I get time, I’m going to post about the winners in some of the Best Of categories and compare to my votes. There were some categories where the voters nailed it, and others where I thought “WTF” when I read the winners – not so much because of who was there, but who wasn’t. That will be an extremely long post, so it will probably be Saturday or Sunday before I have time to type it.
All right. Back to work. Not sure what my after-work plans will be.