Year: 2009

Somehow this event slipped through the cracks up ’til today… if you’re into rock climbing, you may want to head to BRIDGES, on Auction between Fourth and Fifth in Uptown, tonight.  Once a month they have a 35 foot high rock wall that covers 1400 square feet, with courses laid out by professionals, 8 top rope belay points, 3 auto belays, coffee, food, free Wi-Fi, and music.  Tonight’s the night – 6 to 9 PM, $15 adults, $10 under 18 and college students with ID.  Under 18 must have a waiver signed by an adult in order to climb.  Previous climbing experience is not required.

Wondering WTF a “belay” is… no need to e-mail me and tell me, I don’t really care.  My health guru AL will probably be disappointed that I’m picking the Rooster’s crawfish boil over ClimBRIDGES, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

The CA’s food critic reviewed Orleans on Front today. You can read the review here.  Good review, but she got the date of their Mardi Gras party wrong – it’s Saturday night, February 21, not Tuesday night.

Also, her article says that the bar is open from 10 PM to 3 AM.  That’s wrong too.  The upstairs bar is open the same hours the restaurant is open for lunch and dinner (11 AM to 2:30 PM and 4 PM to 10 PM).  The downstairs bar aka the Voodoo Room aka Hoop’s new place is open from 8 PM to 3 AM, and after they stop serving dinner at 10, there’s a late night bar food menu from 10 PM to 3 AM.

Their website has a 10% off coupon, so you may want to stop by there and print one out before you head to Orleans.  One of these days I need to get there while dinner is still being served and try those fried boudin bites.

Just a reminder that Mississippi brewery Lazy Magnolia will do a limited release of their Sweet Potato Stout beer at the Flying Saucer tonight at 7 PM.  If you’ve never tasted sweet potato-flavored beer before, this is your chance… but your window of opportunity will close quickly, because there’s only one keg.

Not normally a big fan of stouts myself, but this one should be very interesting.

Before I hit the Saucer, though, I’m doing the Red Rooster’s crawfish boil.  It’s set to happen from 5 PM to 9 PM tonight, but I’ve been to enough of these things to know they never start on time.  I plan on getting there about 5:30-5:45 and wouldn’t be surprised if the first batch of crawfish is just coming out.

In the last post I mentioned that Orleans on Front needed a Facebook presence to promote its events… turns out they do have one.  Search for “Orleans on Front” and become a fan.  Glad to see them online… they plan some cool events that deserve to be well attended.

I’m keeping my eye on two invitations I received to the same event, a party happening Downtown this weekend.  One invitation was sent via Evite, the other via Facebook.

So far there have been 7 replies on Evite:  5 yeses, 1 maybe, and 1 no.

On the Facebook invitation, there have been 49 replies:  22 yeses, 18 maybes and 9 nos.

Looks like Facebook is becoming the invitation mechanism of choice.  If you’re not on Facebook, you’re missing out on some of these invitations.  It’s not just for college kids anymore.

If your business throws events and you don’t have a Facebook presence, you’re probably losing business to those that do (I’m thinking specifically of Orleans on Front/Voodoo Room and their Mardi Gras party here, vs. Calhoun’s and their Mardi Gras party which is the Evite/Facebook invitation I’m talking about).

Then there’s MySpace.  MySpace is so yesterday’s news.  It’s a haven for spammers and webcam girls.  I’m considering deleting my account altogether.

Fourth post so far, and we’re only halfway through the day.  Will there be more?

The Memphis Business Journal reports that a new restaurant has already made a deal to open in the old Stella space at Main and Monroe.  It will be open by April.  You can read the full article here but this is a quick summary:

• Theme will be “flights.”  The idea comes from wine flights where you buy samples of several different wines for one price, and learn about them as you drink.
• However, there will also be flights of everything behind the bar, and food flights as well – for example, fish prepared three different ways.
• Lunch will have an airline theme and will feature specialty foods from particular cities, e.g. Miami, New Orleans.  (Airline theme?  Bet Air Traffic Mike will be in there a lot)
• Kitchen will close at 10, but the bar will remain open until 3 AM.

Another bar staying open late night… with Bardog Tavern steps down the street, that will make the block of Monroe between Front and Main a hub of late-night activity Downtown.

I just took my “What’s the Fire Sale” walk (it’s Labatt Blue) and then walked up Second to Elliott’s to get a cheeseburger and fries.  On the way I passed Automatic Slim’s and they had their March music menu on display, so I snapped a pic (click image below to see it full size):

Looks like they’re going to have live music every Friday night, and DJ Mark Anderson every Saturday.  Walrus on the 6th to kick it off… that should start things off with a bang.

And look at March 13… a new place to see THE DEMPSEYS!!!!  Actually, looking at their play dates, that is going to be a heck of a week for Downtown Dempsey fans.  On Sunday 3/8 they play Huey’s, followed by Blues City on Wednesday 3/11, then the Flying Saucer on Thursday 3/12, and Slim’s on Friday 3/13.  Whew… I’m going to be Dempseyed out by the end of that week.

Meanwhile, I’ll catch them at the Saucer tonight.  Looks like a fun March at Slim’s!

I’ll start off with reminders for a couple of things going on tonight… it’s the annual “Rock & Roll for Red” party tonight at the Red Rooster from 7 PM to midnight.  Your donation (I think they’re suggesting $10) raises money for the American Heart Association.  Great cause, great venue.

Meanwhile, over at the Saucer, the Dempseys take the stage at 9:30.  It’s been over two months since I last caught a Dempseys show Downtown… can’t wait.  If you’ve never seen this band, you’ve got to.  Wonder if they’ll do their “cities, states, counties and towns” song medley tonight… I have a special hand gesture I do during “Rocky Top” that I especially look forward to doing this time of year because Bruce Pearl is such a tool.

Automatic Slim’s is going to have live music and DJs on the weekends beginning in March… a good move now that they’re staying open until 3 AM every night.  Chef Michael Patrick said he’d e-mail the lineup and I’ll post it when he does.  I saw DJ Mark Anderson quite a bit on the listings they wrote on their outside sandwich board.  Good choice.

This Sunday is the annual Soup Sunday fundraiser for Youth Villages at FedExForum from 11 AM to 2 PM.  For a $20 donation ($10 children) you can sample soup from about 50 Memphis restaurants, and some will offer other treats as well.  This is a great event but I’ll offer the same advice I offer every year… GET THERE EARLY.  By “early” I mean, be waiting at the door at 10:55.  The lines get ridiculously long within a half hour of opening, and by 12:30 some of the restaurants start to run out of soup.

Note to Mountain Dew lovers:  Since the Forum carries Pepsi products, you get all-you-can-drink Mountain Dew as part of the bargain.  The two years I did Soup Sunday I walked out with a caffeine buzz that had me soaring for the rest of the day.

I’m probably not going to make it to Soup Sunday this year… promised John Bragg that I’d give Circa’s brunch a try.

Looks like there are several good Mardi Gras parties going on Saturday night the 21st.  The Phoenix Club will be Downtown at the Cadre Building (Second at Monroe) from 8 PM to 1 AM.  Party guests can play casino games for the chance to win prizes, and later in the evening Lord T and Eloise will take the stage.  Tickets are $40 per person and can be purchased at the Phoenix Club’s website.  Sauces and Red Rooster are among the sponsors, so I have reason to believe there will be some pretty good food there.  VIP Memphis is also a sponsor, so I have a feeling Ptolemy Kat and her friend Amanda will show up and badger the photographers to take their pictures all night.  Plus they’ll probably take their own pics and post on Facebook.  If I see one more Facebook pic of Amanda with her mouth open I just may delete my account.

Calhoun’s is having a party that night as well.  Jambalaya cookoff from 7 to 9 PM with guests tasting for free and participating in the judging, and guests are invited to “show their flair” and Calhoun’s staff will crown a king and queen of the “Calhoun’s Krewe” based on the best male and female costumes at 10.  $2.50 Abita specials throughout the night.  Mikey told me they recently acquired one of those all-in-one stand-up video games that has many of the classic ’80s games including Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaga.  I think he said it had 3-D golf too.

As I’ve blogged previously, Orleans on Front and its downstairs bar, the Voodoo Room, will also have a Mardi Gras party Saturday night.  Upstairs, Chef Clint will offer a special menu of Cajun dishes including stuffed bell peppers, shrimp Creole, jambalaya, red breans & rice, Gulf Coast Ribeye with lump crab and crawfish sauteed in creole butter, crawfish cakes with pepper jack cheese sauce, Mardi Gras pasta, parmesan fried green tomatoes with comeback sauce & grilled shrimp, and the traditional Mardi Gras dessert, king cakes (individually sized).  Clint will give away a bottle of Caymus Cabernet to the person wearing the best costume or mask for the evening.

Downstairs in the Voodoo Room, there will be a PBRtini and crawfish pie eating contest at 11 PM.  A maximum of 6 people can enter, and if you want to enter you need to let Hoop or Clint know right away – e-mail him at chefclint@orleansonfront.com.  A $50 bar gift will be the prize.  At 1 AM there will be a giveaway for a huge string of beads for the person who “best represents themselves” in true Mardi Gras fashion.  You can figure out for yourself what that means.

Then there’s Bardog Tavern, which is saving its Mardi Gras party for Tuesday night the 24th.  I’m sure that one will be fun.  Tuesdays are $3 Pint Night there.  Hmmm… thinking about taking a week off from trivia to bar-hop Tuesday night.

Time to get busy…  I’ll be at E&H for a party my apartment building is having for residents tonight (free Soul Burgers and the Nuh-Uh Girl lives in my building… hmmm wonder if she’ll show up).  After that it’ll be time for the Dempseys.

If you have web hosting on GoDaddy, and you have any sites that use subdomains, you may want to check them to make sure they’re working.  Yesterday I got an e-mail that GoDaddy was migrating my hosting to a new, faster server.  When they did it, apparently something happened that caused all my subdomains to point to the wrong place.  That’s kind of a problem because I have 72 of my websites (all the individual college shopping sites) set up to use subdomains.

I have a support ticket into GoDaddy asking about this.  Just wanted to let other web people know.

A rare period of more than 24 hours without a post… there just isn’t much to blog about this time of year.

Looks like there’s a new trivia night Downtown.  I just opened my weekly e-mail from the Red Rooster, and it says they’re doing a trivia night on Wednesdays (that’s tonight) from 7:30 to 10 PM.  Didn’t mention prize amounts though.  The Corner Bar has had a Wednesday trivia night for a while, but if you’re looking for an alternative, check out the Rooster.

A good night last night.  My trivia team beat the Weiss Asses in a tiebreaker to take second place and win $25.  The question was, “How many words were in George Washington’s second inaugural speech?”  The Nuh-Uh Sister came up with a guess of 176 and we went with it and won (correct answer was 135; we were the closer of the two teams).  Surprised we got that one, because a few of the Weiss Asses were there for Washington’s second inauguration.  “Washington D.C. was still being built at the time,” they told me, “so Philadelphia was the temporary capital.  We rode our dinosaurs up there to hear G.W. speak.”

Afterward I stopped by the Voodoo Room, where Chef Clint whipped me up a batch of his homemade cheese sticks.  They were huge – perhaps “logs” would be a better term than sticks.  Let me tell you, they put Huey’s cheese sticks to shame.  Clint asked if I wanted marinara or ranch for dipping, and I went with ranch.  A few minutes after he brought them out, he disappeared back into the kitchen, then came out and said, “Here – try this” and handed me another cup.  “Comeback sauce,” he said.  That went well with the cheese sticks too.

Clint asked if I plan on entering the crawfish pie eating and PBRtini drinking contest at the Mardi Gras party Saturday night.  Probably not… I like to savor my food and wouldn’t stand a chance.  Shame too, since I was party responsible for the invention of the PBRtini, which is PBR poured in a martini glass.  If the Nuh-Uh Girl enters the crawfish pie eating contest, she’s the odds-on favorite to win.

The Saucer now has Old Speckled Hen on tap.  It’s a traditional English ale brewed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the MG factory.  It has the same kind of pouring spout that Guinness and Boddington’s do, so I suspect it has the same kind of creamy foam as those beers.

Tentative plans for the rest of this week:

Tonight:  I’ll go somewhere to watch the Memphis vs. SMU Mustangs game.  It’s on CBS College Sports, channel 222 Comcast digital cable (not available on regular cable).  The Silly Goose finally managed to pick up that channel, so they’ll have the game.  The Saucer has that channel as well.  So does Calhoun’s.  Undecided where to watch it.

Tomorrow:  My apartment building is throwing a party for the residents at E&H.  Soul burgers – yay!  After that I’ll hit the Saucer for the Dempseys at 9:30.

Friday:  Crawfish boil at the Red Rooster in the early evening; after that I’ll hit the Saucer to try the Lazy Magnolia custom-cask sweet potato beer.  Not sure where I’ll end up later in the evening.  Bardog is always a possibility.

Saturday:  I’ll probably catch Aquanet’s first set at the Rooster and get my fill of hair-band music.  Then I’ll wander over to the Voodoo Room for their Mardi Gras celebration.  I definitely want to be there around 1 AM for the bead giveaway.

Time to get the day started.  Most of today will be spent creating screen captures and pasting them into a help file.  Fun fun fun.