Month: November 2010

Winter Warmer, the beer festival planned for Saturday, January 15 from 4:00-7:30 PM at Central Station, has announced that tickets are now on sale. You can buy them here. You can also buy tickets at the Blue Monkey’s Downtown location – the Monkey is the sponsor of the event. Tickets are $33 until January 5; after that they go up three dollars. They are limiting the event to 800 attendees, so if you want to go, buy tickets early.

There will be entertainment by Bob & Susie Salley and the Memphis Raqs belly dancers. More info about the event

View the beer list here.

A beer fest I can walk or trolley to? Yep, I think I just might have to go.

Sunday I went to brunch at the Majestic Grille, and noticed a new flatbread on their brunch menu – the breakfast flatbread. Spinach, egg, mozzarella, ham, bacon and vodka sauce on a flatbread. Given that ham, bacon and vodka sauce are three of my favorite things on the entire menu, I decided to give it a try. Sure enough, it lived up to my expectations. Delicious. It instantly became one of my favorite flatbreads on the Majestic’s menu, and one I am sure I will order again.

City Market, the new neighborhood grocery store going in at the northeast corner of Main and Union, looks like it’s got just about everything in place except the groceries. Hopefully it won’t be very much longer before it’s open. Here are a few pics I snapped as I walked down Main last night.

Meanwhile, no progress on Union Street Bath House, the new business going into the southwest corner of Main and Union, cat-a-corner from City Market. Owner Yuri had an illness in the family and had to fly back to Russia a couple of weeks ago. I hear things are better but I am not sure when he’s making his return to Memphis (or if he’s already back and I just don’t know it). Good to see business opening on this very important Downtown intersection.

Tired out today. Glad most Tiger games do not start at 11 PM. Congrats to the Tigers on a hard-fought win over Miami… they’ve got a lot of prep work to do before they face Kansas next month though.

The Peabody has announced its plans for New Year’s Eve. There will be two parties going on simultaneously. Here are the details:

One party will be a high-energy dance party called “The Wildside Party.” It will be hosted by Maney & Riley from Q107.5, and will feature Lord T & Eloise, Garry Goin & G3, Alexis Grace and DJ Mark Anderson. Tickets for this party are $35 in advance, $45 at the door.

The other party will be a sophisticated New Year’s celebration called “The Scene Party.” Andy Childs, DJ Cody Rogers, and the John Felix Trio will entertain. Tickets for this one are $25 in advance, $35 at the door.

There’s also a party package for $55 advance/$75 door that gets you into both parties. You can buy tickets on the Peabody’s website. In the coming weeks they’ll have a Facebook contest to win a party package and night’s stay. Become a fan of The Peabody Ducks and stay tuned for details.

In other Peabody news, their HR department was interviewed in yesterday’s Commercial Appeal article on job hunting. The Peabody is one of the few Memphis companies that is growing, and they expect to add 50 positions by the end of the year. Next week they will hold a job fair, so if you’re looking for a position, be sure to attend! Positions will range from management to security to server jobs, so there will be something for everyone.

I have more stuff to post, but it’s on my camera and I don’t bring my camera to work… hopefully will post it when I get home, before going to trivia.

If you’re looking for a snack that won’t set you back an arm and a leg, check out the blue cheese stuffed olives at the Silly Goose. Not a full meal by any means, but a bargain at only $4.

Here’s a bonus pic of Brick, who was obviously hard at work tonight.

Elbert Hubbard, a criminal I described in a post Friday who has been seen Downtown in the past few days, has been arrested on charges of criminal trespass and assault. He was booked into the Shelby County Jail at 4:35 PM.

Keep in mind that he may have the opportunity to bail out, and it’s not guaranteed that the arrest will lead to the D.A. pressing charges. But for now, we’re safe from him.

Will post a mug shot when it becomes available.

The Memphis Tigers have a home game against the Miami Hurricanes tonight at 11 PM. The reason for the late start time is that the game will be nationally televised, as part of ESPN’s 24 hours of hoops. If you’re attending the game, Coach P is asking that everyone wear blue for a “blue-out” as we appear on national TV. Go Tigers!

Weird thing happened yesterday at the Saucer. I was leaning against the door that connects the inner and outer rooms, just watching all my friends in their funny hats, when this guy I didn’t know came up and snapped a pic of me with his camera phone. Um, okay.

About 30 minutes later, I went to the restroom, did my business, and moved to the sink to wash my hands. Someone came in and went to the first urinal, the one nearest the sink. As I was washing my hands I saw the same camera phone appear from behind the wall separating the sink and urinal, and it snapped another pic of me.

“What the f…?” I said. “You don’t go around snapping pics of people in bathrooms.” The guy pretended not to know what I was talking about. A few minutes later I pulled one of his buddies aside and told him that if I saw the guy snapping any more pics, I’d have him thrown out. He and his friends left not long after that.

So if I appear on some blog or website today, that’s what was going on and the person posting the pics is a weirdo. He seemed to want to get pics of me when I was not standing around anyone else. Whatever. The things you have to deal with when you write a popular blog.

Anyway, on to my pics. Every year on the second Sunday in November, we gather at the window of the Saucer for Funny Hat Day. This was started about five years ago, when COGIC held their convention here the second week of November. The ladies of COGIC were known for their elaborate hats, so we put our hats on too. COGIC has moved to St. Louis now (have you noticed how happy the servers have been this week?), but Funny Hat Day lives on.

Ah, Monday, as unpleasant as it is to see you, it’s the start of a not-so-bad week for me. I have a three-day weekend coming up, the Snuggie Pub Crawl, and a trivia team party. It’s also Downtown Dining Week. This week won’t be so bad. Off to work.

Today marks the beginning of Downtown Dining Week, which continues through Sunday, November 21. Nineteen restaurants will offer a 3-course meal for $20.10, and another five will offer two meals for $20.10. This is an opportunity to dine outside the box, to try restaurants you don’t normally frequent. Click the logo above or the link to go to DDW’s website. Once there, click any restaurant logo to see what’s being offered.

Restaurants tend to be quite busy, so it’s for the ones that will be in the highest demand (Felicia’s, Chez Phillippe, Inn at Hunt Phelan) it’s a very good idea to call ahead and get reservations as far in advance as possible.

Happy dining!

Last weekend, I was in Savannah for a social media conference. Thursday night, we had an after-party at the Distillery, a beer bar similar to the Flying Saucer. I mingled with my fellow conference attendees on the outdoor patio.

Most of the attendees were from Georgia or South Carolina. I was telling them about my blog and how there’s a lot to do in Downtown Memphis. “… and I can walk to Grizzlies games at the FedExForum a few blocks from my apartment.”

“Grizzlies?” someone asked. “Who are they?”

“They’re our pro basketball team,” I replied.

“Memphis has a pro basketball team?” he said. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“We’ve had them for 10 years,” I explained. “They’re an NBA team.”

“Really? You mean like the developmental league?”

“No,” I said. “They’re a major league NBA team.”

He looked at me like he didn’t believe me.

“You’ve heard of Pau Gasol who plays for the Lakers? He played for us for six seasons before we traded him. His brother Marc plays for us now. Marc is becoming one of the best centers in the NBA.”

“Okay…” he said, and we moved on to other topics. But I still got the feeling he wasn’t completely sure I wasn’t just making the whole thing up.

Wow. Maybe the guy wasn’t a basketball fan. Or maybe he’s seen Hasheem Thabeet play and just assumed we were a developmental league team.