Month: December 2011

The St. Jude Marathon is taking place as I type this. I looked out my window this morning and saw the runners lined up down Fourth Street. Then, when I went on my Mountain Dew run to Walgreens, I looked down Madison and saw them running up Third Street. Best of luck to all the runners!

It’s a big day down here. This morning you’ll see runners all over Downtown. Tonight it’ll be Santas. Stumbling Santa starts at the Flying Saucer tonight. Hundreds of pub crawlers dressed as Santa will stumble from bar to bar over the course of the evening. If you want to participate, show up at 6:30 in a Santa suit with a toy to donate.

In between, there’s the SEC championship game. LSU vs. Georgia, on CBS at 3 PM. I guess I’ll show up early at the Saucer to watch. I’ll be cheering for LSU in this one. That’ll make my friends Zane, Air Traffic Mike and Lil’ Kim happy… not so much a certain MILF who I’m not sure still reads my blog.

There’s also a Tigers game tonight. Memphis hosts Austin Peay at the FedExForum, 7:30 PM. If you’re coming Downtown for this or any other event today, I’d allow a little extra time to get down here. Streets will be jammed.

Marathon runners: The Brass Door, the Irish pub on Madison across from the First Tennessee building, has happy hour prices for you all day, as well as free hot tea and coffee.

There’s another gift card sale coming to Downtown Memphis that is an incredibly awesome deal. On Monday, December 12, Kooky Canuck will sell $50 gift cards for $25 each. The format is very similar to the sale at the Majestic that happened last Wednesday: You have to be there in person to buy them (no phone orders), so if you can’t make it, find someone to go buy the cards for you. Cards can’t be used until after the first of the year. Sale starts at 11 AM. Well, I guess the Nuh-Uh Girl will be driving people crazy on the 12th, calling everyone she knows, going, “Can you buy some cards for meeeee?”

Insider tip: Kooky has a lot of menu items kids like, such as s’mores you make at the table, skillet cookies a la mode, and giant ice cream sundaes. You could spend $25 on one gift card and be able to take the family out for a fun dinner!

Tickets for the Red Hot Chili Peppers February 3 concert at FedExForum are now on sale. Get ’em here.

Resting up and hydrating this morning and early afternoon. According to the weatherman’s forecast, the probability of a shitshow is quite high tonight. Gotta get ready.

Multiple sources have confirmed that the Grizzlies will play one pre-season game at home, prior to the start of the shortened regular season on Christmas. On December 16 the Grizzlies will host the New Orleans Hornets at the FedExForum. The team will then travel to New Orleans for a pre-season road game on the 21st.

News you can use: Here’s a list of holiday shipping deadlines for many major stores, broken down into regular, express, and fastest shipping. I found the list in this post on Lifehacker, an excellent site to bookmark or subscribe to.

The Plaintiffs Trio will play a free concert in the Cavern, the Brass Door’s underground live music space, tonight at 9. However, don’t show up fashionably early: The Irish pub will be closed from 4:30 to 9:00 tonight.

One of the few vacant buildings left in the South Main Arts District was 498 S. Main. It’s a one-story building that had black finishing on the outside. I used to peek in the windows, and in between the blinds I could see a collapsed ceiling, and elements of a nautical theme. I always kinda hoped the owners of the Cove would buy the building and open a second location, but it’s not to be. The Memphis Business Journal is reporting that architecture firm UrbanArch has purchased the building. They will make it their office after repairing the ceiling and making other renovations. Always good to have more people working Downtown! Insider tip: After work, walk around the corner to Max’s Sports Bar to watch sports and enjoy one of the 10 beers on tap. May I recommend the PBR?

If you plan on driving Downtown tomorrow, keep in mind that it’s the St. Jude Marathon/Half Marathon and that many streets will be blocked. Expect delays.

Speaking of the race, if you’re running, there are a lot of “carb up” restaurant specials going on tonight. Here’s a list. If I had to make one pick from this list, it would be the Mardi Gras Pasta from King’s Palace Cafe. That is one of the best dinners on Beale. For value carbing, you can’t beat the deal at Kooky Canuck: $5.99 all you can eat spaghetti. (Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up for that special, claiming she’s running the race.)

This is the only day of the weekend for which I don’t have plans; nevertheless, I’ll be out somewhere. Time to grab a quick lunch and count down to the weekend.

So, I had the date wrong on that Twitter interview I mentioned yesterday. It happens today at 2 PM, not yesterday as I’d posted. It’s with Cardinals outfielder Jon Jay, presented by the Redbirds. Follow @memphisredbirds and @jonjayU to see the interview.

Big news from a radio station headquartered Downtown: Sports talk radio station AM 730, with studios located on Beale Street, will become Yahoo! Sports 730 next Monday. Several weeks ago, the station had its Fox Sports affiliation pulled out from under it, leaving 730 with exactly one program, the Chris Vernon Show. Determined to fight, Vernon looped his show (live 3-6 CST) night and day, giving advertisers and sponsors additional exposure. There was so much support for Verno that Yahoo! Sports saw an opportunity. AM 730 will benefit from the network’s programming, and Verno will keep his afternoon slot. Congratulations to all involved with the show – looks like things have worked out and the station will be stronger than ever! More info about the change on Verno’s blog.

The Memphis Business Journal reports that the Riverfront Development Corporation is making changes to Beale Street Landing to meet budget. Among the changes: Planned concrete terraces will be changed to grass. Glad to see they’re finding a way to get this done, so we don’t have a half-finished project sitting on the Mississippi welcoming visitors.

APG Office Furnishings, in the ground floor of Barboro Flats, has its grand opening and ribbon cutting party from 5 to 7 tonight. Always good to see new businesses opening Downtown! Now if only a certain bar owner would hurry up and open his pizza joint in the other half of Barboro’s ground floor!

I get to attend a mandatory benefits meeting this afternoon. Woohoo. I’m trying to look at the positive side: Could be worse, at least it’s not a mandatory karaoke meeting. Getting my hair cut after work (when’s the last time I had a haircut? July I think?), then will be out at the bars.