Year: 2011

I installed the WPtouch mobile theme for WordPress, to make it easier for people on mobile devices to view the blog. Posts will load faster, and there are options to e-mail, tweet, Facebook post, or bookmark blog posts. I hope iPhone, Android and Blackberry users like it. If you don’t, there’s an option to turn off the mobile theme – just scroll down to the bottom of the index page and you’ll see an on/off switch.

Bardog Tavern has a new mayor on Foursquare. Mikey, pictured here, checked in and became the mayor yesterday afternoon right before the St. Pat’s parade. You become “mayor” of a venue on Foursquare if you check in more times (only one per day counts) than anyone else over the past two months.

Mikey also has the mayorship of Max’s Sports Bar. He’s building a nice little portfolio of mayorships. I wonder if he’ll go in Bardog today and order a “MAYORAL beer” and hint around that it would be nice to get it for free, like the former mayor used to do. Wonder if he’ll hint around that he’s available if the chefs in the kitchen need someone to do a food sampling, because, “after all, I AM the mayor.”

Foursquare has changed up their points system and I like the way they do it. Usually, you get 1 point for a checkin. However, if you check in where one of your Foursquare friends is mayor, it gives you 2 points. If you check in with the mayor, you get 3 points. You also get 3 if you check in as the mayor of a venue (so I get 3 points every day at the Saucer).

There are other bonuses. When I checked in at Bardog Friday night, Foursquare informed me that I’d checked in with birthday girl Ruchee, and awarded me 3 points because I hadn’t seen her since we last checked in together at Kooky Canuck two months ago. Wow. Location-based social media is a stalker’s paradise. Yesterday I checked in and the app awarded me +3 for checking in with someone I hadn’t seen since Cooper-Young Fest.

Sunday Fun Day today. Several reasons to celebrate: Selection Sunday at 5 PM, sun doesn’t set until 7 PM, and if driving weather in Tennessee/North Carolina is good, the return of Air Traffic Mike. Going to do a please-let-the-Fire-Sale-be-good dance, then head out for the first beer of the day.

LET’S DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huge win for the TIGERS!

When a “local” business unexpectedly goes above and beyond, I’ve got to call them out on it.

Last night was the “Blackout” pub crawl celebrating the birthdays of Ruchee and the Nuh-Uh Girl (pictured here). Everyone wore black (well, except the people who forgot or weren’t told about the theme).

The second stop was Local Gastropub. The Nuh-Uh Girl had told us she’d set up some “AWESOME drink specials” including $3 beer. Knowing the Nuh-Uh Girl’s tendency to exaggerate, I expected to be paying $3 for a Bud Light.

I was pleasantly surprised, though. The $3 special included delicious local Ghost River beers. Now we’re talking! I got out my money and got ready to enjoy a Ghost River Glacial Pale Ale.

Bad luck struck, though. Right as the customer ahead of me was being served, the CO₂ tank blew. All the beer lines were down. The bartender thought for a minute and said, “Well, I tell you what, I’ll give you a bottle for $3.” She listed my options and I went with a Red Stripe with a lime. Red Stripe for $3? Not bad at all.

Gotta give them kudos for overdelivering. They did indeed have an “awesome” beer special for the party, and then they made the best of a bad situation to make sure their customers left satisfied. Very pleased to see it. When the place first opened a year ago, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the service, but based on my experience last night it appears the problems have been corrected.

Also gotta give them props for what they did this morning. I’ve complained that they pander to UT fans too much, but this morning they opened at 10 for Tigers fans to watch the game. Good job on that.

They have crawfish boils every Sunday in March at 5 PM. I need to stop by for one of those.

I need to find out who won “Blackout Bingo” that was played last night at the pub crawl. People got squares for accomplishing certain tasks, like tweeting a photo of them taking a bar’s specialty shot, or tweeting a pic of a prominent feature of a bar, like the stripper pole at Raiford’s. My bingo card accidentally got misplaced in the garbage can at Bardog (not sure how that happened) so I didn’t win any prizes.

On to today… St. Patrick’s Day parade on Beale Street at 4. I’ll probably pre-game at the Saucer for an hour then head down there a little after 3. I’m bringing the camera and plan on wandering around a lot and taking pictures. First St. Pat’s parade in years that it’s been warm enough to wear a T-shirt and shorts. Should be a fun Saturday. Let’s get this party started!

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.