Year: 2011

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.

File this in the “random cool event I found while surfing Facebook yesterday” file… there will be an event called “The Hidden Art II” at the Rumba Room, 303 S. Main, this Saturday from 7:00 to 8:30. It’s presented by The Dancing Fire, a troupe of belly dancers/fire performers “in the Cirque style of entertainment.” Here’s their summary of this event, quoted from Facebook:

“Saturday night, March 12th, finds this ensemble in downtown Memphis at the Rumba Room. ‘The Hidden Art II’ is a show of belly dancers, fire dancers, circus style performers, manipulating fire with staves, hoops and poi on fire. All the while these dramatic performers are practicing their craft, add to the mix continuous DJ music from all around the world and live drummers and you have an evening that is both a departure from the usual and exciting!”

Doors at 6:30, show at 7:30. “Like” The Dancing Fire on Facebook here.

I saw on Kerry’s blog this morning that Earnestine & Hazel’s is now giving tours of their haunted bar Thursday-Sunday nights. Call 901-523-9754 to make reservations.

Big game Thursday evening: Arkansas plays Tennessee in the first round of the SEC tourney. I’m in the process of verifying that Max’s Sports Bar will have the game on. If they will, that’s where I’ll be. Game at 6:30 Thursday. Go Hogs!

Quiet day at work today… most of the managers have left for a board meeting and then a national tournament that starts later this week. That reminds me, need to make this announcement: I’m on call during national tournaments, so I have to take it easy this weekend. I’m not saying I won’t go out and drink at all, because I will, but I have to be able to get home, log into a computer and move files around if things get messed up. No shots for me this weekend, just beer. Maybe shots once we get to the wee hours and I’m confident the tournament is over for the night…

Just beer tonight too. Pint Nite at the Saucer, of course. It’s also trivia night at Bar None, Huey’s and the Blue Monkey; poker night at the Silly Goose; half off wine and pizza at Spindini; Grizzlies host the OKC Thunder at the FedExForum at 7.

So, let’s say you’re Mikey, pictured above playing Buzztime Poker. You tell everyone you meet that Max’s Sports Bar is the best sports bar in Memphis. You spend so much time there that you earned a trophy for attendance. You’ve consumed your own weight in PBR there. What kind of VIP treatment do you get?

You get your place reserved at the bar.

And, unfortunately, you get your name misspelled. “Mickey.”

I asked him if the malt liquor Mickey’s Big Mouth was named after him. “If it’s not, it should be.” The response was an evil glare Mikey normally reserves only for the panhandlers on Beale Street.

In other Max’s news, there will be a “buy the beer, keep the glass” party on Saturday with $4 Stella. Details below:

That’s right in the middle of SEC Tournament Saturday and there should be a lot of good games on. Stella makes some of the nicest beer glasses around, and they’re worth collecting. I have a set of four at home. Should be a fun Saturday at Max’s.

Most people know I’m not normally a fan of karaoke. I recently commented that I will never attend the Saturday crappyoke night that some of my friends go to, even if offered free PBR for life.

However, I will admit that karaoke is OK when the Grizzlies are involved. Friday night they had a halftime karaoke contest, and Stephanie, pictured below, who will do pretty much anything for free Grizzlies tickets, won.

Stephanie is holding the big bag of Grizzlies merchandise she got for her victory. Ironically, she doesn’t like karaoke much more than I do, but again, she’s willing to overlook it when free Grizzlies stuff is on the line. Congratulations to Stephanie on her win.

(Anyone get video of her singing? If so, wanna stick it on YouTube and send me a link?)

I’ve been asked to post a list of all the festivals that will happen Downtown this spring, with dates. Here ya go.

Saturday, March 26
River City Brewers Festival
Handy Park at Third and Beale
Two sessions, noon-4 and 6-10; $30 per session

Sunday, April 10
Beale Street Wine Race
Beale Street and Handy Park; free

Saturday, April 16
Southern Hot Wing Festival
Main Street between G.E. Patterson and St. Paul

Memphis Brewfest
AutoZone Park
4-7:30 PM; tickets $36 before April 9, $39 after

Sunday, April 17
Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest
Wagner Street between Union and Beale

Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1
Memphis in May Beale Street Music Fest
Tom Lee Park

Thursday-Saturday, May 12-14
Memphis in May BBQ Fest
Tom Lee Park

Saturday, May 28
Sunset Symphony
Tom Lee Park

And although it’s not a Downtown event, a lot of Downtowners attend Memphis Italian Fest, which will be June 2-4.

If I missed anything let me know…