Month: May 2010

All right, let’s see what I’ve starred in my Inbox to blog about.  This is going to be an erratic week for “daily update” posts, but I’ll do the best I can.  Lots of BBQ Fest pics will go up, starting tomorrow morning.  If you’re on dial-up, expect to take my blog about an hour to load.

The Silly Goose will host a Masquerade for Make-a-Wish Wednesday, May 26 starting at 9 PM.  $200 gift certificate to the person with the best mask.  DJ BCON will provide the entertainment.

Nashville was not the only area devastated by floods weekend before last.  Our neighbors to the north, Millington, got it just as bad.  This Saturday, May 15, the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale will host “Musicians for Millington,” a fund-raiser to provide relief to the city’s residents, with 10 bands performing.  Starts at 8:30 PM.

Here’s a tidbit from young professionals organization Mpact Memphis’ Voice of Mpact survey:

Top 3 things employers can do to make young Memphis professionals happy:

1. Pay you more
2. Offer paid time off to volunteer, or offer more vacation and sick days
3. Let you work remotely some days

Here’s a unique event honoring the Memphis in May country of the year:  The Madison Hotel will host a Tunisian olive oil tasting Tuesday, May 18.  Expert knowledge and explanations of Tunisian olive oil; Mediterranean wines; Mirqaz (Tunisian lamb suasage); Briks (Tunisian tuna and egg stuffed turnovers); calamari and olive salad; falafel with chili sauce; lamb sliders with mint yogurt sauce.  333-1224 for reservations.  $35++ per person (I assume the ++ refers to tax and gratuity).

Been reading about Tunisia on Wikipedia this morning.  Damn it sounds like their government kinda sucks.  Remind me again why MIM picked this country?  I’ve been lobbying for Romania for many years to no avail.

Memphis Groupon Deal of the Day:  $20 for a one-year individual membership and three guest passes to the National Ornamental Metal Museum, a $55 value.

Damn!  I got ousted as the mayor of the Red Rooster on Foursquare.  I had the Rooster and Cockadoos for a while; I’d thought about getting Gus’s and Miss Polly’s, in order to have a mayoral lockdown on chicken in Downtown Memphis.

Busy day ahead.  The BBQ team met at the Saucer last night to distribute team materials.  Our inspirational leader/father figure said, “We could use some help in the booth tomorrow.  All the big items are in place, so there’s no heavy lifting.  But there’s lots of little stuff that needs to be done, decorating to make the booth look good.  So we need all the help we can get.”  Then he said, “And Paul, we need you to hold down the fort at the Saucer until Friends & Family Night opens at 5:30.”  At least I think I heard him say that.  I was pretty drunk last night so I could be imagining things.  Anyway, I’ll be holding down the fort, with a few breaks to go outside and chase bums away, and I may stop by Court Square at 11:45 AM for trivia.

As part of the CCC’s Downtown Alive! series, there will be team trivia at lunchtime in Court Square, hosted by Pete the Trivia Guy. It starts at 11:45.  Come show off your knowledge and win prizes.

I’ve had a lot of conversations about BBQ Fest and being on a BBQ team this week.  A number of females have asked me, “If the booths are all private parties, how do I get into them?”  Let me give you a best practice: Don’t bring douche with you.

I’m not referring to Summer’s Eve or similar products.  (If you bring those with you, we’d prefer not to know, thanks.)  By “douche” I mean a guy, or worse, more than one guy, displaying particular traits.  If you’re thinking about coming to BBQ Fest with a guy, ask yourself these questions.  The more “yeses,” the more likely it is that he’s a douche.

1) When he wears a polo shirt, does he pop the collar?

2) Does he spend more time on his hair than you do?

3) When he goes out, does he wear Affliction, Ed Hardy, or similar graphic tees?

4) Does he buy his shirts one size too small, to show off the fact that he works out?

5) Does he use the phrase “GTL” (gym, tanning, laundry) in a non-ironic way?

6) If you went with him to Music Fest, did he randomly yell out “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” for no reason?

7) Has he been in a fight in the past month?

8  ) When he wears a baseball cap, does he tilt it at an angle?

9) When you take pics with him, does he make stupid faces and throw hand signs?

If you’re still not clear on the concept of “douche,” I recommend you spend 15-20 reading posts on the Hot Chicks with Douchebags site.  Look at the pics of the guys there.  Then look at the guy you’re considering bringing with you to BBQ Fest and ask yourself honestly, is he a douche?  If he is, you’re going to have a much harder time getting in team booths.

I decided it was time to repost this classic footage from 2009.

Today I took a long walk, stopping by Beale Street (where I ran some bums off), the Saucer, Kooky Canuck, back to Beale to eat at Dyer’s (double-double combo), Tom Lee Park, and then back home.  Here are some pics I took and thoughts I had:

I saw this sandwich board listing BB King’s happy hour specials, and I figured I’d help spread the word.  Click the image to see the specials in a larger size.

They were putting up the Ground Zero sign on the old Pat O’s building.

After that I walked by the Elvis statue at Main and Beale, and one of our regular panhandlers, who has a rap sheet as long as my arm, approached me and told me he was looking for work.  Now, I’ll grant you, this is a better opening line than most use, but if he’s looking for work, wouldn’t he do better walking around and, maybe, talking to people who own businesses?  As opposed to sitting by a statue where most of the passersby will be tourists.

This dog has been wandering the streets of Downtown the past few days.  He seems pretty friendly – if you talk to him, he’ll follow you for a couple of blocks.

About 2:00 I went down to Tom Lee Park, and took some photos of the BBQ team booth under construction.  Here are a few:

All right, those are enough pics for now.  There will be many more later in the week.  Just got an e-mail from teammate Chad saying help is needed to decorate the booth from now until 7.  Of course, my responsibility is once again holding down the fort for the team at the Flying Saucer.  Trivia tonight at 7:00.

Apologies to those who came out to Beale based on misinformation I posted.  It was a trolley parade and therefore on Main.

Complete photo album (28 pics) here. As far as I know, I was the only member of any BBQ team photographing the parade, so, ANOTHER BIG WIN for the Ques Brothers!

I’ve been asked to make a public service announcement regarding BBQ Fest.  Ladies, if you’re trying to figure out what to wear, I have a suggestion:  Wear a tube top.  There is a lot of practical value in this suggestion – you’ll be out in the sun, and with a tube top on, you won’t get tan lines.  Also, find me and get your photo taken to appear on the blog sometime during Tube Top Month, which is only 21 days away.

Just in case any of my teammates haven’t checked their e-mail or followed the Twitter account… Chad will be at the Flying Saucer tonight with membership packets, and then later Calhoun’s.  “Later” probably means “after trivia,” so 9, 9:30ish.  If you can’t make it to either location, give Chad a call to arrange pick-up.

The Peabody has announced the menu for their Thursday night rooftop party this week, and if you’re not going to BBQ Fest, you can attend the party and get some BBQ anyway.

The buffet will consist of pulled pork sliders with coleslaw and BBQ sauce, BBQ beans, and miniature fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  In VIP there will be BBQ ribs, onion rings, and banana pudding shooters.  Coors Light and Miller Lite will be the featured beers, and the entertainment this week will be provided by Kevin and Bethany Paige.  (Wonder if their stalker will be there?)

Two important notes about this week’s party:

1)  This is a good week to get some food, because THE NUH-UH GIRL WILL NOT BE THERE.  She’s on the same BBQ team I am, so she’ll be at Tom Lee Park.  That means the food will last an extra long time.  I actually wouldn’t be surprised if the Peabody orders and prepares less food than usual, knowing she won’t be eating.

2) If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to VIP, you better do so this week, because the hotel will probably run out of VIP season passes this Thursday.  They cost $50 and get you into all of the season’s parties, so if you plan on attending 5 of them you’ll break even.  In addition to entry, you get access to a private VIP area, which is very nice when you want to get away from the crowds.  In the VIP area there is additional food, and beer samplings.  They gave me a free pass for being a blogger, but having used it so far, it’s my opinion that it’s absolutely worth the money if you go to a lot of the rooftop parties.

There’s a parade on Beale Street at 10 this morning, celebrating National Tourism Week.  Think I’ll head down there and take some pics.  Might as well do something other than hang out at the Saucer for at least one hour of my vacation.

When it’s 8 AM and my post title is “Drunk post,” you know it’s been a good week.

I’m here to announce YET ANOTHER victory for the Ques Brothers:  A record broken.  Last night at 11:25 PM, I downed my 16th Pint Nite beer, surpassing my previous record of 15.  See, this is the kind of thing that happens when I hold down the fort all day for the team.  Accomplishments happen.  This in addition to the two Foursquare mayorships I’ve picked up since my vacation began Friday afternoon.

Time to stumble across the street and buy my wake-up Mountain Dew.  More later.