Month: February 2011

The annual Polar Bear Plunge and Chili Cook-off to benefit the Special Olympics happens this Saturday, February 5 on Mud Island. Some local celebrities will be doing the plunge, and if you do it and raise $50 in pledges, you get a free plunge T-shirt and complimentary lunch. The chili cook-off features a People’s Choice judging event where you can pay $5 and sample all the teams’ chili. People’s Choice tasting will happen from 10:30 to 2, and Polar Bear Plunge at 2. Complete event schedule here.

The next Brooks Museum “Warm up to Wine” event will be Downtown, at Sole Restaurant, Thursday, February 17 at 6 PM. Mark Stuart of Buster’s Liquors will host, and attendees will get to experience six different “Monster Zins.” Complimentary valet parking. $25 for Brooks members, $30 non-members. Advance reservations are required; call 901-544-6209 or visit theartofgoodtaste.org/tickets.

The Folk Alliance will have their annual concert for kids Friday, February 18 at the Downtown Marriott in the Nashville Room. At 10 AM there will be an “instrument petting zoo” with over 200 different instruments assembled for kids to play with. At 11 there will be a folk artist’s showcase, as artists perform songs specifically written for children. Show is free and all ages are welcome.

What a busy night Downtown last night for the IBC… I walked into the Saucer at 6:15 and the Garden was PACKED, as blues bands came on stage for 20-minute sets. Later I walked around Beale and nearly every club was packed. Quarterfinals continue tonight, with a $10 wristband getting you in 17 Beale clubs, the Saucer and the Westin lobby. More info about the IBC at Blues.org.

Just learned how to read The Daily for free without an iPad, so I guess I have something to read while I eat lunch.

I may take the night off from the blues tonight… music was great but I need a night off from the big crowds. If I go out, I’m thinking about doing happy hour at the Silly Goose, then over to Bar None for Thursday night poker. Then again, I may just stay home. If I stay home there may well be another post this evening, so check back.

Lonely Planet is giving away 14 of its city guide iPhone apps for free through tomorrow, February 4. They’re doing it to help people stranded in the snowstorm, but it’s not like they’re going to check weather conditions in your area before you download. Memphis is not one of the free apps, but two of the cities, New Orleans and Chicago, are a day’s drive away. Details here.

During the Super Bowl, Spindini will have $3 Peroni draft and half price pizzas. All the TVs will be tuned to “The Big Game” with sound on.

I had a question from a reader, and I think the answer is no but wanted to pass it on. Is the Jersey Shore pub crawl happening this year? One of my readers remembers it from around this time last year and wants to know it if will happen again. If you have an answer shoot it to paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll pass it along.

International Blues Challenge tonight was packed… naturally I started at the Saucer, and was shocked to walk in at 6:15 to find a standing-room-only crowd in the Garden listening to some authentic blues. Bands changed every 20 minutes or so. They’ll be back tomorrow. $10 wristband gets you into the Saucer, 17 clubs on Beale, and the Westin lobby. The Westin lobby would be kind of a cool place to hear blues.

Just got home from Bardog. I didn’t get it but one of their specials is a fried oyster tortilla with pico de gallo, black beans (I’m assuming that’s what “b bean” means on the board), and a sriracha cream sauce. Sounds interesting.

Early night in for me, got home at 10:15. 50/50 on whether I’ll do IBC tomorrow. Music is great but the crowds and the cold are a killer. I’ll see how I feel about it after work.

Bar None is the latest Downtown bar to publish details about their Super Bowl party. They’ll have the game on 7 TVs, and specials will include $2.50 pints and $5 half yards of Bud Light, dollar wings, and $3 cheeseburger sliders.

Looks like bars are really rolling out the specials to compete for Super Bowl watching business… we’ve already seen big specials from Kooky Canuck and BB King’s, and the Saucer is doing a bonus Pint Nite. Who else wants to step up with the specials? E-mail ’em to me at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll post.

Memphis-area Chick-Fil-A stores are giving away free spicy chicken biscuits all day today. A portion of proceeds from today’s sales will benefit MIFA, so stop by. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Last night several of us who were checked into Foursquare at Kooky Canuck were wondering, “How do we NOT show up when someone searches for a particular venue on Foursquare to see who’s here?” Here’s the answer: Go to http://foursquare.com/settings and under “Your privacy profile,” uncheck the box named “Show me in the ‘Who’s here’ list in the mobile app.” Your Foursquare friends will still see you when they look to see who’s at a venue, but those with whom you are not friends will not. If you need to remove someone as a friend so you will not show up in their venue searches, do it at http://foursquare.com/manage/friends. Keep in mind that if you tweet your checkin, they will still be able to see it if they follow you on Twitter, so you might want to turn off the “send to Twitter” button in those cases.

Tonight I’ll be doing $10 wristband night for the International Blues Challenge quarterfinals. The wristband gets you in 19 clubs to hear blues bands from around the world. It’s a two-block-long buffet of music! Memphis is so fortunate to have the IBC… come on down and take advantage of what your city has to offer!

(Editor’s note: Since one of my readers checks my blog every 6 hours, I’m defying sleep to get this online…)

Tonight after trivia at the Saucer, several of us snuck out to go to Kooky Canuck. As we got there, we saw a guy doing a Kookamonga Challenge, where if you eat a 4 lb. burger, plus about an additional 2 lb. of bun and fixins, you get the burger for free. He was about 45 minutes into it and was almost done. Then they realized he’d ordered the fixins (whole pickle, lettuce, tomato) on the side. They told him if he didn’t want to eat those, he had to eat extra fries which they brought out. So for the last 10 minutes of the 60 minute challenge we watched him roll up “fry balls,” dip them in a pitcher of water, and eat them. He got through it in time and got photographed as a winner with the empty platter.

All my friends wussed out because it was, after all, 10 PM (even John D stayed out until 9), and I went back to the Saucer for 3 more beers. Calling it a night now.

The Redbirds announced a big new perk for their season ticket holders this afternoon. They will become members of the ‘birds’ new Champions Club, and will be able to enjoy an exclusive VIP lounge at the club level. It will be a place to escape the heat on those summer days when the heat index is in the 100s, and more importantly, full members will also get their own personalized mug, which for $2 can be refilled with Coke products, or with BEER. Two dollar beer at AutoZone Park? I bet a lot of Downtowners just got more interested in season tickets.

Club members also get a membership card that gets them access to private autograph sessions, and to discounts at the Redbirds’ store.

Visit the Redbirds’ web site or call 901-722-0299 to get info on becoming a half or full Champions Club member.

The Memphis Daily News reports that a permit has been filed for a yogurt shop at 94 S. Main. That would be just south of Union, across the street from Local. Sounds good… a yogurt shop is one of the things missing in our Downtown neighborhood. DowntownMemphis.com posted on Facebook that it will be a Fro-Yo. Before the Nuh-Uh Girl e-mails to ask, no I don’t know if they’ll have a grand opening with free samples.

MemphisTravel.com is giving away a romantic Valentine’s Day weekend getaway in Memphis. Package includes deluxe accommodations for two at the Westin for Saturday night, February 12, with champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries and breakfast; tickets for two for Valentine Pops by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra at the Cannon Center for the 12th; and in-room chocolate gifts from Dinstuhl’s Fine Candy Company. Enter here.

Congratulations to the Grizzlies on getting above .500 last night! Check Sports 56 WHBQ’s site for post-game quotes from Coach Hollins, Mike Conley, Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, and Greivis Vasquez.

I’d like to propose legislation banning checkins to “Snowpocalypse 2011” on Foursquare and use of the #snOMG hashtag on Twitter until there is an inch of snow or half an inch of ice on the ground. Tweeting #snOMG when it’s 53 degrees out is kind of ridiculous.

I hate to miss the first night of the International Blues Challenge at the New Daisy, but it’s trivia night. After last week’s disaster – 2 points out of a possible 62 in the second round – it’s obvious our team needs all the help it can get. I’ll still have the rest of the week to enjoy IBC. Thinking about doing $10 wristband night (access to 19 clubs) tomorrow and Thursday.

Be safe and take it slow driving home this afternoon! It’s wet out there!