Month: February 2010

Typing this while I eat a sausage & black olive pizza from Domino’s.  Nice to have a location next door to work.

Got two pieces of very good news this morning from the Memphis Business Journal. First of all, the Red Rooster is coming back Downtown! The MBJ reports that they’ve signed a lease for the space at 340 Beale, formerly the Double Deuce. The Rooster was a great place to hear live music, dance, and watch sports. Thrilled to hear they will be back.

Also, good news for those of us who live in the Downtown core – we may be getting a new grocery and deli. City Market has applied to the CCC for a retail forgivable loan. If they get it, they’ll sign a lease for the ground floor of Radio Center Flats at Main and Union, and open a grocery/deli. According to the MBJ, the market will sell grocery and specialty foods, as well as prepared dishes, and will have a small dining area for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I really hope that works out. Not only will it be nice to have an upscale deli and grocery less than two blocks from my front door, but it will fill one of Downtown’s most visible street corners. That will lead to increased foot traffic and the perception that Downtown is booming.

The beer dinner at the Saucer last night was fantastic. It was fun to sit with people who’d never been to a beer dinner before, some of whom were undoubtedly thinking, “Yeah right, you say beer pairs with food better than wine does, but you’re a beer bar, you’re supposed to say that.” I thought the same thing when I attended my first beer dinner there in 2007. The courses came out, and everyone tasted how well the Yazoo Dos Perros complemented the bacon potato soup; how the Orval trappist ale enhanced the flavor of the cheese on the salad. The pork tenderloin, eaten with a bite of apple and a sip of the beer served with it, was amazing. I could tell some of my table-mates were beginning to see beer in a whole new light. Thanks to Drew from French Broad brewery for hosting, and to the staff at the Saucer. We want more dinners!

Kooky Canuck has rescheduled their “Stetsons and Stars Kick-Off Party” which got messed up due to bad weather a couple of weeks ago. New date will be Friday, February 19. Starting at 8 PM, you can join Brian Elder of KIX 106 for $1.06 Bud Light drafts until 2 AM. There will be no cover, and the headlining band for the upcoming Stetsons and Stars event, The Mulch Brothers from Nashville, will take the stage at 10.

Di Anne Price and Her Boyfriends will perform in a special “Love and All That Jazz” service Sunday at 11 at the First Unitarian Church of the River. In addition to the music, there will be special V-Day readings.

Wow did I just recommend a church service in my blog? Hell truly has frozen over. Well, I don’t know about hell, but Mississippi is frozen over today, and that’s pretty damn close.

This isn’t a Downtown event, but I know Downtowners who have attended it in the past, and they’ve said it’s really neat: Chinese New Year celebration tomorrow at the Rose Theatre at the U of M. Performances at 2-4 and 7-9.

Webmasters/web designers: Follow @jameshutto on Twitter for good SEO tips.

Calhoun’s will have their annual Mardi Gras party Saturday night starting after the Tiger game (around 8ish). Gumbo cookoff where you can pay $5 to judge the entries, and for every $5 beer you buy (note: this means PBR does not count) you get an entry to win prize packs full of shirts, beads, gift certificates, and Mardi Gras stuff. These will be given away every 30 minutes. Also a “king and queen of Calhoun’s” will be selected based on who is wearing the most festive Mardi Gras attire.

I’m in the same precarious situation as last week… it’s Friday already and I do not yet have a BQotW for Sunday yet. Anyone got any suggestions for conversational topics that could lead to a quote from Brick? I think we’ve pretty much exhausted the topic of the moon.

Air Traffic Mike is coming home. Cool. See you at trivia Tuesday, ATM. Hope you have safe travel home.

John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats host Bruce Pearl’s Tennessee Volunteers tomorrow night. People are calling this game the Jersey Shore of college basketball because both coaches are such douchebags. Up until this year I rooted for Kentucky to win this matchup, but I just can’t cheer for Coach Cal after what he did to our Tigers. Nor can I pull for a team led by the Bruchebag. So I’ll be neutral for this game and make a prediction: Arkansas will upset the winner of this game in the finals of the SEC tournament, to win an unlikely bid into March Madness.

Winter Olympics start today.  Good TV watching for the rest of February.  Hope this doesn’t lead to the creation of a winter version of DTO.  Go USA (because that’s us), go Canada (because they’re the host country), and go Romania (because the girls there are hot).

Plans for this evening:  Don’t know.  Beer will be involved though.

You may have heard that two ordinances will be proposed to the City Council that will affect the experience people have in Downtown Memphis.  One will increase panhandling restrictions and declare part of Downtown a no-panhandling zone, except for designated areas where passive panhandling will be allowed.  The other will eliminate the sale of single-serve beers by convenience and similar stores in much of the Downtown core and Uptown.  The sale of these single-serve beers has been found to be the link between panhandling and crimes such as disorderly conduct that occur frequently Downtown.

Please take a minute to follow this link to read what the Memphis CVB has to say on the subject.

(Edit:  I’d posted about a breakfast here, but I’ve since learned it’s not a public breakfast.  Sorry for the confusion.)

I want to reinforce what’s being said here:  These ordinances are not meant to chase the homeless out of Downtown.  Rather, they are intended to curb the behavior of a few troublemakers who come Downtown every day to scam and hustle people.  These troublemakers get drunk, aggressively panhandle, get in fights, and generally create a horrible perception of Downtown.  These people are generally not homeless and have made a career of hustling people.

Activist groups would mislead you to believe that enacting these proposals would simply diffuse the troublemakers to surrounding neighborhoods – North Memphis, Med Center, South Memphis.  Other cities that have enacted similar ordinances have found that this does not happen.  Surrounding neighborhoods simply do not have the necessary combination of heavy foot traffic and tourists to be profitable to the panhandlers.

These ordinances are also facing heavy oppositions from the beer companies, who are bringing in lobbyists and lawyers from Washington, real heavy-hitters, to pressure the City Council.  We cannot allow outsiders to determine the fate of our neighborhood.

Please take the time to learn about these proposed ordinances, and if you support them, please do the following:

1) Take a few minutes to e-mail or call the members of the Memphis City Council and let them know how you feel.  It is imperative that they see widespread public support for these measures.  Here’s a link to bios of each council member.  The bios contain e-mail and other contact info.

2) We need as many people as possible to show up for the City Council meeting on Tuesday, February 23 at (Edit: Time TBA, I’d posted 3:30 but that’s the full Council meeting, see below) at City Hall, 125 N. Main.  Again, it is imperative that they see our support in numbers.  The ordinances will be considered by the public safety and homeland security committee chaired by Myron Lowery.  Proposals can die in committee at the Council just as they can in Congress.  We need to do everything we can to encourage them to move forward and take these proposals before the entire Council at the next meeting.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard feedback from out-of-towners or people from other parts of Memphis, saying, Downtown has so much to offer but I’ll never come back.  So many stories of people being followed, aggressively panhandled, cussed out, lewd comments made to women, etc.  I love my neighborhood and want people to come down here and enjoy it as much as I do.  If you feel the same way, please take the time to voice your support for these measures.

The Majestic Grille has rescheduled its event ‘Student & Teacher’ The Art of Blas Blanco Cuenca & Paul C. Clements, originally scheduled for this Monday but postponed due to inclement weather. New date will be Monday, February 22, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM, with the artists in attendance and cash bar and hors d’oeuvres. However, the artwork is already up in the Majestic’s Innovators Room, so come on by if you want a sneak peek.

Don’t forget to stop by one of the Memphis Flyer’s green boxes today and pick up an issue. The annual “Hotties” issue is now on the streets. I haven’t seen it yet because Flyers are hard to come by in the neighborhood where I work.

Good site to bookmark if you like deals: Memphis Groupon, which uses collective buying power to offer its followers a discount at a local business every day. The way it works is, if enough people agree to buy at the discount price, then everyone who signed up gets it. If not enough people sign up, nobody gets the discount and nobody is charged. Kind of a cool concept. Today’s deal is for Seize the Clay ceramics studio.

Shelton Clothiers just got some new Visconti shirts in. They’re offering a Valentine’s Day special: $25 off any two sport shirts, or $25 off any shirt and tie combination.

For those of you who enjoyed Dynaflow as the post-Downtown Olympics band or at Calhoun’s on New Year’s Eve, they’ve got an upcoming gig at Earnestine & Hazel’s on Thursday, February 18 at 9 PM. I’ve been wanting to catch their show for a while and it looks like this just may be the opportunity… perhaps I’ll show up at Calhoun’s Thursday night poker game beforehand and win another gift certificate before I head over to E&H.

Tonight, on the other hand, I’m not sure what I’ll do… should stay home for a night of laundry and poker, but I have a feeling I’ll go out instead.

Just got home.  As of 5 PM there was ice on the Second/Third exit ramp off westbound I-40.  There’s also ice on the underpass under I-40.  If you take that route home be careful and slow down on that ramp.

The temperature did not get above freezing all day, so whatever ice patches were there this morning are still there.  Be extra careful on the drive home.

Skipping the SMA meeting and going to trivia tonight.  Should be there by 6, trivia starts at 7.

The monthly South Main Association meeting is tonight at See the Difference Interiors at 431 S. Main.  Jodie Vance of Downtowner Magazine will be the featured speaker, with social at 6, and program at 6:30.  They’ve announced that the March meeting will be at Local Gastropub, featuring top cop Larry Godwin.

Otherwise, if you were expecting a long, newsy post… sorry, that’s it for today.  Stupid temperatures yesterday… if it had been 5 degrees colder outside, all that rain would have fallen as snow, and we likely would have had another day off.

Shocked to hear that Pierre Henderson-Niles is no longer a member of the Memphis Tigers team.  It sounds like it was not due to any kind of NCAA or team rules violations, but rather a mutual decision between Henderson-Niles and Coach Pastner.  Best wishes to both the team and to Pierre… I always enjoyed watching him play.

Kind of leaning toward skipping the SMA meeting and just going to trivia tonight… more in the mood for a low-key night with friends.  Besides, it’s our last chance to win another gift certificate before we cash in.

That’s all for now… I think I have stuff on the camera to post, but the camera’s at home and I’m at work.

It’s a yearly tradition at Barton Flats… our friends Chad, Chuck and Robin open their condos and everyone gathers for food, friends, and football… and, of course, beer.

Everyone picked blue and white, or black and gold, beads on their way in.  Most of the people had on black and gold beads.  Nice to see a group with such good taste in football teams.

Most people were drinking beer, but Frank went straight for bourbon.

Chuck was really excited about the guacamole.

There was time for a little Texas Hold’em before the Super Bowl came on.  Fabian and the Nuh-Uh Girl were the winners.

Italian roast beef sandwich

Here’s a pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating.

The gang watching Peyton throw away a Super Bowl championship.  I’m just sayin’.

Chad picks his squares for the Super Bowl pool.  Congrats to Gokben, Joe, the Nuh-Uh Girl and Chad, who were the eventual winners.  Geez, does the Nuh-Uh Girl have to win everything?

Full photo album (58 pictures) here.  Thanks to Chuck, Robin and Chad for an awesome party that just seems to get better every year.

With the party pics posted and snow on the ground, it’s time for PINT NITE!!!!!  Normally I don’t want to see Peyton on TV because the guy is massively overexposed, but I hope they replay that interception 50 times this afternoon on SportsCenter.

As I was enjoying the beginning of my snow day, I checked Twitter and Bardog said they’d be open for breakfast at 9.  So I went in and had a great breakfast burrito and hash browns.  Outstanding.  When it’s not snowing they’re open for breakfast at 8 on weekdays.

While I was there, Aldo told me that Luke Perry, who played Dylan on 90210, was in Bardog for dinner last night.

The Majestic Grille has announced that they are closed because of the snow.  Tonight’s art show will be rescheduled.

You may have heard that the individual members of the Dempseys have moved on to other projects.  Wednesday through Saturday, “Slick” Joe Fick will be playing bass with his new band, The Travis Mann Band, at Blues City.  I’ll have to stop by there one day this week and check them out.

Denny’s is giving away free Grand Slam breakfasts tomorrow, February 9, from 6 AM to 2 PM.  Free food?  Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.  Hmmm… large-scale food giveaways Downtown can get out of hand… I remember when Wendy’s introduced the Baconator and gave them away for free in Court Square.  It seemed like every bum in a 100-mile radius showed up.  The guy in line in front of me asked if they were giving away free beer with the burger.  The guy behind me kept yelling, “I WANT THAT BURGENATOR!”  I have a feeling that’s what Denny’s will be like tomorrow.

Here’s a great blog post from marketing guru Seth Godin: The relentless search for “tell me what to do.”

The Silly Goose is having their second annual anti-Valentine’s Day party next Sunday, February 14.  Everyone is encouraged to bring a picture of their ex to stick on their dart board of shame.

American Apparel is having a search for the best bottom in the world.  This may be the greatest contest in history.

That’ll do it for the news this Monday… I’ll try to tweet what places in the Downtown core are open/closed to my @paulryburn account.

Up next:  Super Bowl party pics.

I hate the “WHO DAT” thing but I’m going to run with it just this one time.  Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on a fine Super Bowl victory.

Attn Peyton:  Chin up, lil’ buckaroo.  True, you threw an interception that dashed the hope of your team, your town, my friends Clay and Lee who borrowed Colts ponchos from our friend Terry.  But there will be more football games.  You have plenty of time to practice throwing the football to the guys in the blue jerseys.  BLUE jerseys.

I’m just sayin’.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO just called into the office and it’s CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!  SNOW DAY!!!! Wish I’d done that before I jumped in the shower though.  Pint Nite begins at 11 AM today!

I guess I’ll download yesterday’s Super Bowl pics from the camera, since I now have unexpected time on my hands.  Look for a post later today.

I know that many of you have been waiting a long time for today.  No, not because of some stupid football game, but because it’s time for a new “Brick” Quote of the Week.

The Earth revolves around the sun, the moon revolves around the Earth, and many of Brick’s best quotes revolve around the moon.  This week’s quote is no exception.

The path to this week’s quote began when my friend Bicycle Bobby posted to his Facebook page, “How do we know that the moon is a moon?  Could the moon be a planet, and the Earth a moon for that planet?”  A lively discussion broke out, and many comments were made.  I replied that we’d probably have different definitions of “moon” and “planet” if we all lived on a celestial body which is what we currently consider a moon.  Otto told everyone they’re full of shit and went into a long-winded scientific explanation.

“You know whose opinion needs to be sought on this matter?” I thought.  “World-famous astronomer/waitress Brick.”  That night I asked her, and she didn’t disappoint.

“The moon is the moon because the sun is behind it, and the sun lights up the moon,” Brick explained.

Brick saw me typing that quote into my phone and decided to explain further, which in most cases means digging an even deeper hole for herself.  “I mean, if you’re on the moon and you look at the earth, it doesn’t look like the moon.  That’s why the moon is the moon.”  OK.  Thanks Brick.  Why hasn’t this girl written an astronomy textbook?  It would be the best selling textbook in that category of all time, although it would probably be placed in the “humor” section of the bookstore rather than “science.”

Whew… dragging this morning… I was about to go home last night when I checked Foursquare and saw that my friends Shawn and Joe had just returned from their ski trip and were at Kooky Canuck.  Hung out with them and Shawn and Lana until almost 3.  I think I did shots.  Ouch.  Terry and Nice Magan were at the bar… now that’s an all-star bartending combo.

I had a wonderful sushi dinner at Bangkok Alley last night.  They have a salmon roll on sushi special for $7.50.  If you go to Bangkok Alley you must get it… one of the best sushi rolls I’ve ever had.

Time to load the PBR into the cooler and head out… after a brief stop at the Second Street Branch Office, it will be time to head to the Super Bowl party… I’ve heard that there may be a poker game, giving me the chance to not only enjoy the party but turn a profit on it as well.  Lots of news to report, but it will probably have to wait until tomorrow.  Or maybe even Tuesday, because tomorrow will probably be party pic upload day.

I’ve now got updated info on what the Flying Saucer will be doing for the game tomorrow.  It will be a Home Team Huddle fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity.  There will be beer specials and $1 hot dogs at the Downtown location; at the Cordova location, there will be beer specials and a $9.99 All-U-Can-Eat taco bar.  Halftime trivia with giveaways from the Saucer and Memphis Habitat.  The Saucer will be collecting donations for Memphis Habitat, so you can support a good cause and enjoy the game at the same time.

Probably a smart move not doing an all-you-can-eat promotion at the Downtown Saucer, since the Nuh-Uh Girl lives down here.