Month: March 2011

MPACT Memphis’ Soul of the City Gala is tonight at Minglewood Hall. One of the best young professionals’ networking parties of the year, with music by Party Planet, complimentary wine and beer, heavy hors d’oeuvres, old school party pics and free parking. They’ll celebrate the winners of their “MPACT Maker” Awards, and they’ll also have a “wine pull” – pay $20 and pull a bottle of wine to take home. All the wines are worth at least $20, but some are worth as much as $100. Online ticket sales have closed, but you can purchase tickets at the door. Party starts at 7 PM.

Good news for people living in East Memphis: Gus’s is coming to the Poplar/Mendenhall area. Looking for a recommendation what to try once the restaurant opens? I suggest the chicken.

I’ve heard from someone who works there that the bar at Blue Fin is expanding and will open next week. I’ll try to stop in and snap some pics once it’s ready.

This weekend is your last chance to see the Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein at the Orpheum. They say the show will not disappoint if you love the movie or comedies like Blazing Saddles and Spaceballs. Details here.

Good CA article on Watoto de Afrika, the children’s dance studio on the Main Street Mall.

Tigers play ECU at 5:30, winner to advance to the C-USA championship game.

I’m attending a birthday pub crawl tonight, so I’ll have to miss the Soul of the City Gala. Five bars (at least) on the itinerary tonight. And then tomorrow is the St. Pat’s parade on Beale (4 PM), and Sunday is Selection Sunday! Shaping up to be a fun weekend.

I want to extend condolences to the family and friends of Rock 103 DJ John “Bad Dog” McCormack, who lost his battle with leukemia today. Even as he fought cancer, he still continued to give back to the community, raising millions for local charities. Memphis lost one of the good guys today.

Looking for a spot to watch the Tigers at 2:30? Bardog, Majestic Grille, and Max’s Sports Bar have all announced they will have the game. Majestic will start its happy hour at tip-off.

Yesterday the Peabody announced the lineup for the first two months of its Thursday night rooftop party season, which will begin April 14. Here are the bands:

April 14: Ingram Hill / special guest Finger Eleven
April 21: Dr. Zarr’s Amazing Funk Monster
April 28: The 17th Floor
May 5: Kevin & Bethany Paige
May 12: Andy Childs
May 19: Party Planet
May 26: The Venus Mission

The parties are from 6 to 11 PM, and admission is $10 ($15 on April 14) which includes one drink. Ladies get in free until 7:00. You can buy VIP passes at the door for $75; these get you into all 18 parties, plus free valet parking, 20% discount in the deli and logo shop, and 2-for-1 drinks at the Corner Bar. VIPs also get a private area on the rooftop with beer samplings and chef’s tastings.

If there’s anything you want to see at the parties, give them a shout on Twitter (@PeabodyMemphis) or on Facebook. The hotel has been very good about interacting with fans and guests on social media.

Speaking of the Peabody… there’s an After Hours networking event there tonight with the staff of the Memphis Business Journal. Space is limited to 150 people, so you’ll need to register in advance if you want to go. You can register here. There will be drink specials and complimentary appetizers. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. She’ll be in the building to walk the ducks anyway.

Trolley Stop Market has announced that they are selling Whitton Farms-grown daffodils for $4 a bunch.

There will be an adult marching band in Court Square today, a March Madness band from Louisville, that I’ve heard is really good. They are supposed to be there sometime between 4 and 5 PM.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to watch the Tigers game (stupid work schedule). However, I do plan to be at Max’s Sports Bar this evening for the Arkansas game and for Thursday night Buzztime poker. Let’s Go Tigers and Woooooo Pig Sooooieeeeeee!!!

You can tell by the look in her eyes that the Nuh-Uh Girl is very happy about being fed two sliders at Bar None.

Happy birthday to the Nuh-Uh Girl. She’s the honorary duckmaster at the Peabody this afternoon, and will be marching (and hopefully not eating) the ducks at 5.

MIFA has announced that its 12th annual Day of Reflection and Service will be Saturday, April 2. Volunteers can honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while participating in one of several projects. Options include an artistic board-up project, a neighborhood clean-up project, and mural painting. For the kids, there will be a Kids’ Club project of assembling birthday bags for seniors.

MemphisWeather.net has released its iPhone app. It has live weather from Memphis and Bartlett, live animated StormView radar (two views), forecasts, links, and a link to the @MemphisWeather1 Twitter feed. The 99 cent price tag is a small price to pay for all that Erik has done to provide valuable weather info to the community. “Buy local” has been the mantra the past couple of years; it should extend to apps too.

While you have the iPhone out, take a minute to upgrade to Foursquare 3.0. It offers many more specials than before (when I checked in at work this morning, I saw that there were 19 specials nearby). Business owners and managers need to check out this platform. Lori Turner has an excellent article in the Daily News this morning on how businesses can leverage FourSquare.

You can preorder the new Alcenia’s cookbook on their web site. It tells the story of how owner B.J. Tamayo dealt with her son’s death by cooking, and of course there are recipes. If you’ve never been to Alcenia’s, it’s a soul food restaurant on Main in the Pinch District, and you MUST go.

Opportunity to get a good price on a Downtown condo: Nine units in the One One o’Six condos have been foreclosed on and will be put up for sale on March 30. There’s commercial space available too. The condos are on the Main Street Mall, just south of Union. I have friends who live there and love the building. Good restaurants and shopping only steps away.

Yesterday I got a press release about an organization called Memphis Prom Closet, which provides financially limited teenage girls with prom dresses. Due to their donations, money does not have to stand in the way of girls attending one of the most memorable experience of their lives – senior prom. They are having a Dress Giveaway Party from 1 to 4 PM Saturday, March 26 at Northside High School. It will emulate a dress store and the girls will get etiquette, makeup and hair tips as well. If you want to donate or volunteer, e-mail girltalk.memphis@gmail.com or call 901-213-7648.

A for-profit salvage company apparently made a big mess stripping metal off an old barge, then left the remains in the Wolf River Harbor for the city to clean up. Details here.

Not a lot going on tonight… Grizz play the Knicks at the FedExForum at 7… I’m sure I’ll be out somewhere.

If you’ve ever wondered what the inside of a moose nostril looks like, wonder no more. My camera flash to the rescue.

Thanks to Kooky Canuck for a good time at their Mardi Gras party.

If you’re looking for Fat Tuesday entertainment tonight Downtown, here are a few options:

Felicia Suzanne’s will have a special menu and music tonight. They’ll serve Mardi Gras oysters, crawfish pies, and gumbo, with Louisiana drinks and gumbo.

Kooky Canuck will have $3 Hurricanes, Hand Grenades, and 34 oz. beers. Since it’s “Super Tuesday,” they’ll have their 34 oz. signature drinks for only $5 as well. Cajun menu including shrimp, catfish, and crawfish po-boys, Louisiana catfish over rice, Kick’s Cajun Pasta, seafood gumbo, bread pudding and beignets.

Tonight’s the night that the Flying Saucer will give away the Fat Tire bicycle that has been hanging from the ceiling for the past month. Every time you drink a New Belgium Fat Tire, you get an entry into the drawing. The sign says they will draw the winner at 9 PM, which, knowing the way the Saucer operates, will probably mean more like 10 PM. However, since you must be present to win, better be there by 9 if you want the bike.

The South Main Association is having their Mardi Gras party on the second floor of Beignet Cafe tonight. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and $1 domestics for members. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

My plans for tonight are yet to be determined… it’s trivia night at the Saucer, but the shenanigans at Kooky sound good enough that I might have to stop by there for a few drinks first, and show up late to trivia. Probably won’t make it to the SMA party due to the threat of rain.

In other news: There’s a Woot-off going on. Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

The Chris Vernon Show, the afternoon drive-time sports talk show on AM 730, is looking for an intern. As Verno notes in his blog, it’s not a paid gig, but it’s a great way to get your foot in the door for a career in radio/media. Plus, Verno and Roser would be fun guys to work with. You’ll also get to work with a guy named Mikey who likes to make life miserable for the bums who panhandle outside the Beale Street studio. Info on how to apply can be found on Verno’s blog.

If you’re Downtown late Thursday afternoon, come by the Peabody for the 5 PM duck march. Downtown’s very own Nuh-Uh Girl will be the honorary Duckmaster for the day.

The Nuh-Uh Girl, shown here on the business end of a cupcake (copyright Air Traffic Mike), celebrates her birthday Thursday. Since she’s a regular at the Peabody’s rooftop parties, they decided to honor her with the Duckmaster-for-a-day title.

If you see her out this week, I’m sure she won’t mind if you buy her some food to say happy birthday. She accepts drinks and beer too.

Last November, while in Savannah for the Geekend conference, I had lunch at Five Guys Burgers & Fries. At the time I rated the burger I had there as one of the best I’d ever tried, up there with In & Out Burger, Dyer’s, Tops Bar-B-Q and Whataburger. Well, Five Guys is coming to Memphis, according to this CA article.

Unfortunately Downtowners will have to drive to Five Guys, for now. The first location is at 1315 Ridgeway and it’s worth the drive. However, they plan to open up as many as seven more location, and Savannah is evidence that they do open in downtown areas. Hope there’s one down the street by the end of 2011.