Month: July 2010

If you go to the TweetForHabitat.com website and make a direct donation between 12 AM and 11:59 PM this Thursday, your donation will be matched.

TweetForHabitat is a program that plans to use Twitter to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity to build a house for a family in Memphis.  The program was launched by Brian Swanson of the Purple Ant software/web dev company, and on Thursday Purple Ant will match donations made to the website.

Note that only donations made through their website will be matched.  They have an ongoing corporate sponsorship program where every tweet containing the #Tweet4Habitat hashtag raises .09 in funds.  Those won’t be matched, but what you could do is tweet the address of the website (www.TweetForHabitat.com) to direct people there, and then include the hashtag to kick in an extra 9 cents.

The Flying Saucer has announced their next beer dinner.  It will be Friday, July 23 at 7 PM, hosted by a certified cicerone.  Hell if I know what a cicerone is, but I guess it’s an expert in beer.  I’ve been to several beer dinners at the Saucer, and every one of them was EXCELLENT.  I particularly recommend it to people who enjoy pairing wine with food, but have never taken the notion of beer-food pairing seriously.  You will be surprised.  Amazed, even.  These things do sell out, so if you plan to go, run by the Saucer ASAP and ask to buy a ticket.

Our friend Stevie G hosted a World Cup watch party this afternoon, and Sarah cooked chicken curry.  When more people showed up than expected, she called her mom (who reads my blog from England) for advice, and she said to cook Bombay potatoes.  Here are some pics.

Last night I developed a new unit of measure – a beer’s “value factor.”  It is measured as (ounces per beer) * (% ABV) / cost.  It’s a way of determining which beer gives you the most bang for your buck.

To give an example of the value factor of a well known beer, let’s use John D’s favorite, the Bud Light bottle.  It would compute to 12 * 4.2% / $3.25 = 0.16.

Victory Hop Wallop at the Saucer has a high value factor.  It would be 16 * 8.25% / $5.50 = 0.24.

Foster’s Oil Can at the Saucer also scores high.  Its value factor is 25 * 5.1% / $5.50 = 0.23.

For the best value factor though, go to Calhoun’s.  PBR there: 16 * 5.0% / $2 = 0.4.

Hop Wallop’s value factor did the trick last night.  I got to the Saucer at 10:30, absolutely fuming.  I’d just busted out of a poker tournament, and it was one of the few times I actually got mad about a hand, as my Aces over Fours full house lost to a better full house of Aces over Sevens.  Hop Wallop did the trick, and three beers later I had forgotten that poker even existed.  As I walked out of the Saucer I ran into some people and went to Rehab Disco, where I had a very good time at their downstairs bar, Rockbottom.  They told me they have a beer pong tournament every Thursday night.  I’ll have to check that out.

Ah. Sunday morning.  Getting ready to pack the PBR in a cooler and head to a friend’s place to watch the World Cup final.  Of course, the Saucer is kinda sorta on the way, so I may have to make a stop there.

If you got a notification that I accepted your LinkedIn invitation from 6 months ago, sorry it took me so long.  Lately I’ve been all over Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare, and have just completely forgotten about LinkedIn.

I guess my thinking about LinkedIn fell into a common trap for the first half of this year – “I’m not job hunting, so why should I spend a lot of time on it.”  That was dumb.  By being active on LinkedIn I could

• Learn about job openings that my friends might be interested in – the “hidden job market.”  We gotta help each other out.
• Learn about groups I can join where I could obtain knowledge that would make me more effective at work.  Or would make me more effective at building affiliate sites after-hours.  Or would make me a more effective blogger.
• Keep in touch with my colleagues from past jobs.  Good to know what they’re up to, so I can help them out if I see an opportunity.
• And who knows what else…

In the coming weeks and months, I’ll pay more attention to LinkedIn.  Now, if you’re wondering, “I bet the next thing is, he’ll get active on MySpace again…”, don’t hold your breath.

I have a recommendation for the World Cup final, and it’s not a particular bar.  Rather, the recommendation is, if you’re going to watch the game at a small bar (meaning Bardog, Calhoun’s, or Local), get there about 12:30, an hour before game time.  If you come much later, you risk not getting a seat and becoming part of the standing-room-only crowd.  If you’re someone who prefers standing (like me) it’s not a problem, but if you need to sit to be comfortable, go early.

I guess I’m for the Netherlands, but as always, with the World Cup in South Africa, you can’t lose if you root for vuvuzela.

Today I was walking down Beale Street and I saw this sign:

B.B. King will return to his club on Beale Street September 26-27 for two performances.  To buy tickets, stop by the club’s gift shop or call (901) 524-5464.  When B.B. played the club last year, it was thought those might be his last performances due to diabetes.  Glad to hear he’s recovered and is coming back.  Should be two good shows.

Last night I walked up to Escape Alley Sundry to see Jeffrey and the Pacemakers.  They are a band that plays ’60s British Invasion music, with a few covers from American bands from the same period mixed in.  Here’s a pic:

To give you an idea what they play, I copied down as much of their set list as I could.  I knew about half the songs, which means there’s still plenty of music from that era for me to discover.  Although they cover all British Invasion music, the sets were Beatles-heavy, and I have no problem with that at all.

The songs I recognized:

Beatles – Hard Day’s Night
Searchers – didn’t catch the name of the song
Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man
Animals – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Beatles – Rain
Donovan – Mellow Yellow
Beatles – Eight Days a Week
Yardbirds – For Your Love
Gloria
Hippy Hippy Shakes
Beatles – I Saw Her Standing There
Kinks song, didn’t catch the name
Mersey Beats song that was covered later by David Bowie
Beatles – We Can Work It Out
Manfred Mann – Do Wah Diddy Diddy
Beatles – Nowhere Man
Encore:  Beatles – Helter Skelter

I had a good time.  These guys were professionals playing quality instruments and amps, and they knew how to involve the audience in the performance (they turned down a request for “Free Bird” though).  For those of you who live in Collierville, they’ll play Huey’s out there at 8:30 Sunday night.  After that the band will take a little break, as the drummer goes on tour to Europe with Jerry Lee Lewis.

I enjoyed the venue too.  It’s a little tiny bar with a lot of character, great art and great music.  Furthermore, they have cheap PBR!!!  $1.50 for a 12 oz. can, or $2.50 for a 16 oz. can.  Tip from the math guy:  The 12 oz. can is a better value.

They have good food too.  Here’s a pic of the chili cheese nachos I had.

I’ve heard great things about the hot dogs too, from a number of people… you can pick from a list of about 20 toppings to put on them.

I did discover that Escape Alley Sundry is a little far to walk from where I live at Madison and Main.  Next time I may have to rely on the trolley.  Driving isn’t really an option now that I know about the cheap PBR.

1960s British Invasion cover band Jeffrey and the Pacemakers play Escape Alley Sundry tonight from 7-9 PM, with a $5 cover.  If you’re into the Kinks, Beatles, Who, Animals, Stones, etc. this band should be a lot of fun.  I’m going to try to make it down there.  The Sundry is at the corner of Marshall and Orleans in the Edge neighborhood… you could catch the Madison Avenue trolley to get there… or just walk when the trolley fails to show up on time as usual.

If you’re looking for other entertainment options, the Orpheum is showing Caddyshack tonight at 7:15, and the Redbirds have a doubleheader with first game beginning at 6:05.

I haven’t.  I’ve been monitoring Twitter, and all I’ve seen is talk about LeBron, and whether a CVS should be approved for Midtown.

Quick list of stuff to do tonight:

• Tom Schlafly of Schlafly brewery at the Saucer, 5 PM
• Hip Kitty and “Christmas in July” on the Peabody rooftop
• Elmo and the Shades on the Madison rooftop
• Backstage tour of the Orpheum, 5:30 pm, $25
• Kooky Canuck to give away a cruise at 8 PM.  $2.50 34 oz Bud Light.
• Country on Beale
• Country on Beale after-party at Hollywood Disco

Ratt and Scorpion play the Mud Island Ampitheatre on Sunday!  Nice!  ’80s hair bands!