Month: September 2010

I’m in a better mood today than on most Mondays… because for me, it’s a Wednesday. It will be a three day week for me, as I’m taking Thursday and Friday off. No particular reason, just wanted a long weekend in the late fall, and I have the vacation time, so why not?

The 7th Annual Garage Band Reunion will happen this Saturday, September 25, at The Warehouse on GE Patterson. Performers will include Memphis garage bands from the ’60s and ’70s such as Pat and Susanne Jerome Taylor, Interstate 55, the Reflections, Eddie Harrison and the ShortKuts, Down to Five and special guests Larry Raspberry and David “Flash” Fleischman, and Willie Mitchell will be honored for his contributions to the Memphis music scene. Proceeds will benefit Alzheimer’s Day Services, a nonprofit that provides stimulating activities and programs for those with Alzheimer’s. Tickets are $50; call Katie at 372-4585 for tickets or more information.

Victorian Village, the neighborhood full of beautiful 1800s mansions on Adams and Jefferson east of Danny Thomas, will have a “Homecoming” on Saturday, October 2. There will be a 5K starting at 9 AM, an antique auto show, a picnic lunch, speeches by Mayor Wharton and dignitaries, and tours of the historic homes and Juvenile Court. There will also be entertainment by Di Anne Price and Her Boyfriends, the Collins Chapel Choir, and the Wildflowers Bluegrass Band.

Congrats to Arkansas QB Ryan Mallet on being named SEC Offensive Player of the Week! The big game vs. Alabama is coming up this Saturday at 2:30. You know, although I’ll be rooting for the Hogs, I have a lot of respect for Bama fans. They tend to conduct themselves with a lot of class. Bear Bryant instilled it in them, I guess. Happy to be playing against them.

That’s all for now… going to grab a quick lunch before a 2:00 meeting. Pint Nite tonight, of course.

If you’re looking for something to do Downtown tonight, I’ve got a recommendation.  Jeffrey and the Pacemakers perform tonight at Downtown Huey’s from 8:30 to midnight.  This is the band that I’ve mentioned on this blog several times before, playing authentic ’60s British Invasion music – Beatles, Kinks, the Dave Clark Five, Animals, Yardbirds, etc.  Not only do they know the music, but they also have the gear – Rickenbacker guitars, Vox amps, Ludwig drums.  They sound great and they love to interact with their audience.

They played Downtown Huey’s once before, but I had conflicting plans and couldn’t make it.  I watched Huey’s website and saw them play the other locations time after time and wondered if they’d ever make it back Downtown.  Well, tonight’s the night.  I will be there and will try to hang on until midnight to catch their entire show.

Home from Cooper-Young Fest, and it was great this year as always.  One thing I learned though – Cooper-Young Fest when it’s in the 90s is totally different from C-Y Fest when it’s 78 degrees outside.  Man was I hot.

I left about 10:30 and walked to the Peabody, figuring there’d be a cab in their back lot.  Nope.  “Oh well,” I thought, “surely they’ll be a cab at Second and Beale.”  Nope again.  Nor at Third and Beale.  All my cab hotspots were failing me!  I mentioned this to a cop who was parked at Third and Beale, and he gave me a tip that he’d seen one outside the Westin about 10 minutes before.  I walked down there, found the cab, and I was on my way!

First order of business was buying a ticket to the Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest on October 9.  I found the CYCA booth and Andy got me all signed up and even gave me a Cooper-Young frisbee.  He told me that there are going to be some beers at the festival that are simply not seen in the Memphis area.  They’re only selling 400 tickets, and as of about 11 AM they were nearing the 200 mark.  If you want to attend this beer festival, you better get your ticket soon (click the link to order).  I really have a good feeling that this is going to be one of the best beer fests of the year.

Actually, the festival ticket was my second order of business – first was buying a PBR!  I found a stand outside Soul Fish that had 12 oz. cans for $3.  Later I learned that Sweetgrass had 16 oz. cans of PBR for $3, and started going there.  Actually, though, regular blog reader Susie found the best deal – she was drinking a 32 oz. bag’o’beer that she bought at the convenience store at Cooper and Elzey.  Way to keep it classy there, Susie.  Maybe you can come Downtown and drink a bag’o’beer with June Bug in Court Square.  Oh, wait, June Bug is in jail for probation violations, never mind.

I checked into Foursquare as soon as I got there, and there were already 16 people.  I kept an eye on it.  About 12:15 the festival was up to 50 people.  I checked my badges and sure enough… there was the Swarm badge!  I finally got it!  A few minutes later I saw on Twitter that a bunch of people I knew were simultaneously awarded the badge.

There were “spin the wheel, get free stuff” games at Southland Greyhound Park’s booth, the CA’s booth, and Lenny’s booth.  I didn’t see the Nuh-Uh Girl, but she did check in there and I’m sure she sniffed out all the free stuff like a bloodhound.

There was a “get your face painted like a drag queen” booth.  If the people running that booth are reading this, I would LOVE for you to take your booth to the Germantown Festival next year.  That would be hilarious, and I’d actually have a reason to want to go to Germantown Fest.  The same booth also had a “dunk a lesbian” booth.  As a friend of mine said, “If you’re not accepting of gays, Cooper-Young Fest is really not the place for you.”  Very true.  I’m straight but still think it’s a shame that the rest of the city isn’t as accepting of LGBT as the folks who attend Cooper-Young.

I ate twice while I was there.  First stop was Catfish Cabin, which had a booth there for the first time.  I used to work right down the street from them on Airways but never went there.  I decided to give them a try.  I had the fish kabobs (catfish and grilled onions on a stick) and it was quite good.  Later in the day, I had a beef and lamb Athenian gyro.  Gotta have a gyro every year.

The number of phones at C-Y Fest must have overwhelmed AT&T’s network… for about two hours mid-afternoon I couldn’t get Facebook or Twitter to update.  Which was a shame, because Ole Miss lost to Vandy at home and I really would have loved to have been on the social networks talking trash.  Also, congratulations to my Hogs on their touchdown with 14 seconds left to beat Georgia.  Thanks to the folks who texted me the score of the game.

As I started on my fifth PBR I noticed a brunette in a white tank top and jeans walking up Cooper about 20 feet in front of me.  “I’m really enjoying watching her walk,” I thought.  After about a block, she turned around and I realized – it was Brick!  I snapped this pic of her.

Heat and dehydration really caught up to me.  About 3:00 I ran into a group of my friends, and walked a loop around the festival with them while downing my sixth PBR.  “You know, it should probably concern me that I’m on my sixth beer and I haven’t had to use the restroom yet,” I commented to them.  An hour later, they went to a party down the street, and I decided it was time to hydrate.  I bought a 32 oz. orangeade and drank it, followed by a 32 oz. lemonade.  Still felt overheated, and more beer was not an option.  I walked to the Mapco at Cooper and Central and bought a Mountain Dew Throwback.  I followed that up with a cherry snow cone and finally felt normal again.  Still didn’t feel like starting on the beer again though.

One thing I forgot to do this year was mention my “festival rule,” which led some people to wonder where I was.  The festival rule is as follows:  When there’s a big outdoor street festival going on, I tend to want to be at the festival, not at side parties near the festival.  When Cooper-Young Fest is going on I remain at the festival all day.  When Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest is going on, I want to be down on the street in the crowd, not on a rooftop looking at the crowd.  When RiverArtsFest is going on, I want to be outside looking at the artwork, not sitting in Calhoun’s all day watching football.  Failure to make the festival rule clear cost me an opportunity to snap a tube top pic.  Dammit!

I said I was going to stay until 7, but about 5:45 I was getting hot and cranky enough that I knew it was time to go.  I was actually stupid enough to think I could walk home.  I have walked home from the Cooper-Young neighborhood before, but not after being on my feet for 8 hours, and not in 90+ degree temperatures.  I made it to Union and McLean and realized I needed to revise my plan.  I’d seen five Yellow Cabs (577-7777) and no Advantage Cabs (323-3333) as I walked up McLean, so I called Yellow Cab.  The dispatcher told me I’d get a call when the cab was on its way, and I thought, great, I’ll probably be loitering outside Walgreens for 40 minutes.  However, a cab arrived in less than 5, and I was happy to be on my way home.

One of my friends didn’t attend because of all the strollers.  I agree, they REALLY get in the way, and twice I had a front stroller wheel run over the back of my sandals.  I don’t think they can be banned though.  Cooper-Young is too kid-friendly a festival to attempt that.

So now I’m home catching up on Facebook, and I see that my friends at Squeal Street BBQ picked up four trophies at the Smokin’ Aces Regional BBQ Cooking Contest in Tunica.  I hope my friend Stevie G won’t mind that I stole this pic from his Facebook page, but here are the team and the trophies:

Congratulations to Squeal Street.  They’ll add these to their trophy case, already filled with a 4th place Patio Porker trophy from BBQ Fest.  In less than a year they’ve become a force to be reckoned with on the BBQ circuit.

(Updated: Just learned what trophies they won.  Second in wings, and fourth in mustard, beef and poultry.)

I was hoping a day in the sun would help fade my hair back more toward its old color – it did a little, but you know what?  I forgot to put on sunscreen.  Sunburned now.  At least I don’t turn bright orange like Bruce Pearl and Meghan.

I have the air on 65 and am drinking a Mountain Dew and feel myself coming back to life.  Time to go out in a little while.  David the Worm is opening for DJ Trashy at Rehab, but my legs are not in the shape for dancing after such a long day.  I may have to wait until Worm’s next show to catch up with him.  I do need to stop by the Saucer to defend my mayorship, and perhaps by Bardog as well to regain my mayorship from the Nuh-Uh Girl.  I’m sure Squeal Street will be celebrating at Calhoun’s after they load out.  Would like to go down there and party with them, although that much walking really doesn’t sound too good right now.

My legs will be sore tomorrow.  But tonight, we party.

The Eat Local Memphis blog had a post yesterday about Lunchbox Eats, a new lunch-only restaurant at 288 S. Fourth, just south of Linden near the FedExForum.  They have a variety of sandwiches and sides based on a school lunch theme, but the food sounds a lot better than what you’d find in a school cafeterial.

The post has a phoro of a “3rd Period Smoking Birds” sandwich, with turkey, duck and veggie slaw.  There’s also a pic of the “Homeroom Chicken & Grids” sandwich, made with chicken and waffles.  Check out the post for a complete review of Lunchbox Eats and a link to their menu.

Last night I hung out at the Saucer until about 9… thought about a trip to Bardog Tavern at that point, but I checked Foursquare and saw my friends checking into a location on Beale Street.  Since it’s Chad’s birthday weekend, I decided to join them.  Unfortunately that opened up the opportunity for the Nuh-Uh Girl to check into Bardog and steal my mayorship.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  She’s in there all the time.  She usually hangs out near the entrance to the kitchen, hoping for samples.  It’s kind of like the bar version of a dog begging for scraps at the kitchen table.

No worries, though… I will get the mayorship back.  I have vacation coming up, and a good portion of it will be spent at Bardog.

Today is one of my favorite days of the year – the annual Cooper-Young Festival.  Half a mile of arts, crafts, food and music.  It’s centered, of course, at the corner of Cooper and Young, but it’s gotten so huge that it now extends almost all the way up Cooper to Central.  If you’ve never been to this, you really need to experience it.

I was thinking last night… for Foursquare users, this may be an opportunity to get a Swarm badge (for checking in with 50 or more people) without being at an airport.  Cooper-Young Fest is popular enough to do it.  Remember, Foursquare only keeps you checked in for two hours, so if you plan on hanging out all day (as I do), check back in periodically throughout the day.  I’d guesstimate that the best chance at getting the badge will be somewhere between 1 and 4 PM.

Weather forecast is for a high in the 90s, so it would be a perfect day to wear a tube top.  Ladies, if you want your pic on the blog, wear a tube top and come find me.  I’ll have on my purple Ques Brothers T-shirt, and will have the camera with me.  I plan on getting to the festival by 11, and once I get there, at no point will I stray more than 50 feet from the festival’s boundaries until it ends at 7.

I’m even getting texted pics of tube tops now.  Last night I was hanging out with some friends on Beale, and I got this text from someone at Calhoun’s:

Nikki in a tube top.  Nice.  Who knows, maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get enough pics at Cooper-Young that we can do a mini-Tube Top Month for the remainder of September.

For the past week I’ve been hearing a rumor that a restaurant called Maria’s Cantina, which already has a location in Southaven, plans on opening a Downtown Memphis location in 5-6 months. I’m told that the space on the ground floor of Barboro Flats, at Main and Gayoso, is where they’re looking to put it. Since I work nearby in Horn Lake, I decided to visit the Southaven Maria’s yesterday at lunch and give the place a try.

I found a reason to like the place as soon as I walked in the door and saw a Memphis Flyer rack. Flyers are near impossible to find south of the TN-MS border. For that reason alone I’ll be back, especially on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

I don’t know how much the possible Downtown location will resemble the Southaven location, but I’ll describe what I saw: Large, open dining room, long bar in the back of the restaurant. I counted 10 beers on tap, including Dos Equis Amber and Lager, which are staples at most every Mexican restaurant. I didn’t see PBR. There were three HDTVs at the bar and an additional one in the dining area. There was a 2010 Golden Tee Live in the bar area.

Large chalkboards indicated that they have live music on the weekend – one of my favorites, Aquanet, performed last Saturday. They have a happy hour from 11-7 and there are also game day specials.

Menu consists of nachos, quesadillas, “build your own burrito,” and about 20 different Tex-Mex entrees. Entrees are in the $10-15 range. They also have a kids’ menu, and of course a margarita menu. Unlike most Mexican restaurants, they don’t provide complimentary chips and salsa. Based on a recommendation, I went with the chicken chile relleno, and paid an extra dollar for the Mexican dirty rice with it instead of the saffron lime rice. This is what came out:

It was unlike chile rellenos I’d been served at Rio Loco and most other Mexican restaurants… this thing was HUGE and was stuffed generously with chicken, topped off with dollops of salsa and sour cream and served on a bed of rice and black beans. It was excellent and more than enough food to fill me up.

As I was finishing up my meal, the manager came over and introduced himself. I wondered if maybe he’d recognized me from my blog, but no – he’s just familiar with all his customers and he didn’t recognize my face, so he wanted to come over and make sure my first time there was a good time. Restaurants where the managers have that kind of relationship with their customers tend to do very well – especially Downtown.

I hope the rumors are true. It would be huge for the Main Street Mall to have this restaurant. Would generate tons of foot traffic and would be good for all the business on the mall.

Tomorrow will be a big day at the Cooper-Young festival, but first, there’s some stuff going on tonight.

The second in the series of Alley Jams concerts happens at Main and Gayoso. Grace Askew and Venus Mission will perform. Vendor sales start at 4:30; bands at 5. Concert will be followed by “Curious Pictures,” a digital art projection by the UrbanArt Commission.

Also tonight, MPACT Memphis is having a “Late Night” event at Mesquite Chop House. Chef Michael Patrick is extending happy hour to 11 PM, and 20% of the proceeds from the whole night go back to MPACT. Come eat some of Mike’s excellent food and support this fine organization.

Tonight is also Game 3 of the PCL championship at AutoZone Park at 7:05 PM.

And then tomorrow is the big day… Cooper-Young Fest. Say hello if you see me… I plan on riding a cab down there 10:30ish, and after that I plan on being somewhere within the boundaries of the festival until it ends at 7. Probably going to wear my purple BBQ team shirt. Hopefully being out in the sun all day will lighten my hair and help toward getting it back to the color it was before I dyed it for Stumbling Elvis.

Here’s a link to the Action News 5 story featuring Bardog’s Jean as Server of the Week and Demitrie as Chef of the Week.

Got an e-mail from an old friend, David the Worm, this morning. He’ll be opening for DJ Trashy at Rehab Disco tomorrow night.

Diversity Memphis will host a 5K walk starting and ending at the National Civil Rights Museum on Sunday. It will be a celebration of the different cultures in the community, and before and after there will be entertainment including Los Cantadores, Winston Stewart, and the Bar-Kays. Registration opens at 12:30 PM, walk at 2. More info here.

There will be a pirate festival Downtown this weekend – Saturday at Mud Island and Sunday at the Metal Museum. Details here.

Poker last night at Calhoun’s took an unexpected turn… about 20 minutes into the game, my screen on my Buzztime Playmaker box got dimmer and dimmer… by the 30-minute mark my box had completely died, leaving me on the virtual poker table, sitting out with about 8,000 in chips. Kitty was kind enough to let me borrow her box and I was able to log back on about 15 minutes later. By that time the blinds had reduced my stack, and they came through again at 800/1600 before I could find anything even resembling a hand. Finally I shoved what was left all in with QJ suited, but it wasn’t good enough. Michele said “about 6” of the boxes are like that, dying in the middle of games. Time to replace the boxes maybe?

All in all, a very good time at Calhoun’s though… we celebrated Chad’s birthday, and it was good to see my BBQ teammate Kao who flew in from Mexico for the weekend.

Since we’re rumored to be getting a Maria’s Cantina Downtown, I’m going to check out the Southaven one for lunch… first though, let me check Foursquare and make sure there’s no douche checked in there… no, it appears to be safe. Will post a report of my experience there at a later time.

The Silly Goose once again has beer. Their permit expired, and for a few weeks they were selling mixed drinks only… but now the beer is back, and tonight is their trivia night at 8 PM.

Cockadoos is expanding their lunch menu. This is what they posted to Facebook today: “COMING SOON!! Turkey burgers, chili, chili cheese dogs, hot dogs, rotel chicken pasta, chili mac, and our very own club sandwich The Cockaclub!!”

Word on Twitter this morning is that the Downtown Blue Monkey is building a patio. That will be a nice addition.

Today’s Groupon is a half-off deal at the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum.

The finale of the Orpheum’s summer movie series, Casablanca, is scheduled for tomorrow… however, Orpheum president Pat Halloran has decided to extend the series to run throughout the year. Movie tickets are relatively cheap entertainment, he believes, and he hopes that the Orpheum’s movie patrons will become future patrons of the Broadway shows. The Orpheum makes the movies fun with trivia contests, costume contests, organ concerts, and other entertainment prior to start time.

Bruce Pearl and John Calipari have always had a rivalry, but this summer Pearl has really proven himself… he’s proven he’s every bit as big a douche as Coach Cal. Not only did he lie about high school juniors being at his house, but he lied about the reason he came clean – it wasn’t his conscience as he said, but the fact that he knew he’d been caught, and he was trying to do damage control. CBS national columnist Gregg Doyel says that it’s time for Tennessee to fire the Bruchebag. I agree. Taking away 25% of his salary is not enough. It’s time for Bruce to find employment at Taco Bell. Or, as my friend Air Traffic Mike said, a Conference USA school.

Also a good column in the CA today… if Tennessee had been sincere about wanting to punish Pearl and his staff, they would have banned them from recruiting immediately, rather than beginning the ban on September 24. Pearl was in town yesterday recruiting a top Memphis high school player, desperately trying to salvage next year’s recruiting class.

A very happy birthday to my friend Chad! He plans on celebrating all weekend long, kicking it off tonight at Calhoun’s. I will be there to wish him well, and hopefully to pick up another first-place prize at poker.

I’m going to let last night’s drunk post, with the rumor about Maria’s Cantina coming Downtown, stand as is.  The person I heard it from is not exactly the epitome of “credibility” (or “intelligence” or “common sense” or “maturity” or “fashion sense” or a lot of other things), but I’ve heard the Maria’s thing from others as well, so I’m going to let it remain on the blog.

Glad I’m not a real journalist and therefore don’t have to make phone calls to corroborate this stuff.  That would be a lot of f-ing work.