One thing I want to do to celebrate Tube Top Month is create a tube top buying guide. Where are the best places to buy tube tops? Email me at paul@paulryburn.com. Downtown locations preferred but I’ll list anywhere in Memphis. Tube tops are worth traveling.
I posted the tube top question on Facebook yesterday. Originally I wanted it to be a “Shop Local” guide, listing only locally-owned businesses, kind of in the way that Seth has stated he will only review locally-owned businesses for Best Memphis Burger. However, after seeing the responses, I’m convinced that won’t work for my buyer’s guide. American Apparel and Urban Outfitters are just such powerhouses in the world of tube tops that they can’t be ignored. Besides, there are chain stores and “cool, hip” chain stores, and both of the ones I listed qualify as the latter. They’ve earned places on the list.
Friday night I had a question which is probably worth answering on the blog. Someone came up to me and said, “Paul, I know you do a lot of work in social media. I have a Facebook question. One of my friends posts a lot of really stupid stuff, and it shows up on my News Feed. Is there a way I can not see his stupid posts, without unfriending him and hurting his feelings?” Yes. Pull up his page on Facebook. Click the button in the upper right that says “Friends.” It should drop down a menu. One of the menu options should be “Show in News Feed.” Uncheck that option and voila! You’ll still nominally be friends on Facebook, but he’ll have no idea you’re not seeing the stupid crap he posts. (These instructions are for the web version of Facebook, rather than the mobile version.)
If only it were that easy to mute people in real life.
So, I started the day yesterday at Panda Manda’s bar at Bardog at noon. She confirmed that Tube Top Tuesday will indeed happen – for the summer months, every Tuesday during happy hour she’ll be wearing a tube top behind the bar. Attn Saucer: You won’t see me before about 10 PM on Tuesdays for a while.
Bardog has really become the place to be Saturday days. Nearly the entire gang has shown up the past two weeks. We watched the Euro 2012 soccer matches on TV, and I had a view out the window and watched Scratchy cross Monroe Avenue about 30 times. It’s amazing he never gets hit by cars.
About 3:30 the crowd started to dissipate, and I realized I needed to eat soon. I walked down Main and Union and Second, trying to decide. “Sushi sounds good but I’ll have to wait until the restaurant opens… Majestic is always good… hmm there’s chicken, but I’d rather have Gus’s and don’t know if I feel like walking that far… the Fish is good, but I just ate there the other day… hey, there’s the Saucer! Think I’ll have a beer!” So much for eating!
Harp was the Fire Sale yesterday. Now I think I have a better idea why the Memphis Saucer is reluctant to carry PBR. Why should they, when they can sell a beer that tastes exactly like PBR for $4.50, and occasionally discount it to $3 for Fire Sale and Pint Nite?
By about 7 the need for food was getting critical. By this point I had made up my mind to just stick with one of the classics – the Majestic Grille. I got there and ordered two of their appetizers, the calamari and the onion rings. Marla could see I was starving and brought me a basket of their yummy focaccia bread and butter while I waited on my food. Really, really good.
These were the onion rings. That’s a standard-sized plate they are sitting on. Look how big they are! Hiding behind them is a cup of horseradish dipping sauce.
I didn’t take a pic of the calamari, but I’m a big fan of it too. They use a cornmeal breading that adds a lot of flavor to the dish, and they cook it with cherry peppers for a little extra zing.
I watched the Celtics-Heat game as I ate my food. By early second quarter I was stuffed – even though I’d eaten maybe 25% of my food. I did something I rarely do, and asked for a to-go box. “If I don’t feel like taking it home, I’ll leave it in the alley for Scratchy,” I reasoned. The bartender asked if I wanted anything else. “You know, I guess I’ll watch the rest of the second quarter here,” I told her. “I think I’ll have a strawberry basil martini.”
One of Downtown’s hidden secrets – or, maybe it’s not so hidden because a lot of people already know this – is that the Majestic has a martini menu that can hold its own against cocktail bars like Alchemy or the Silly Goose. My favorite is the Strawberry Basil Martini, with pieces of strawberries right there in the glass. I hadn’t had one in over a year, and it was every bit as good as I remembered.
(For those who don’t think this drink is manly enough, let me point out that I also did a shot of Jameson with the chef.)
I finished my martini right as the third quarter was starting. Again, the bartender came over and asked if I wanted anything else. I thought to myself, You know, I could go to the Saucer or the Bear to watch the rest of the game. But honestly, I’m having just as good a time right here. So I ordered another strawberry martini, and that took me through the end of the game. The Heat won, so they’ll face the OKC Thunder in the NBA Finals, first game Tuesday. You know what? At first glance, it seems easy to want the Heat to lose, but I can’t totally hate a team that has Shane Battier on it. He’s just too good a guy. So I guess either way, a good guy gets a ring this year (how can you not like James Harden?)
Apologies to those who were wondering where I was at Mollie Fontaine’s for ’80s night, after I said I might cab it out there. By the end of the game, I was thinking to myself, “You know, I am going to get a really good night’s sleep if I just go home now.” After the amazing REM dream sleep I had last Monday morning, I kind of wanted some more. Plus the price of that plan (free) was appealing vs. the price of cab fare + drinks. Sure enough, I had several vivid dreams, although this time I didn’t levitate or create alternate versions of Downtown. I did dream I was back in the job I had 2004-06 programming rebate websites in VB.net. For some reason I dream about that job more than the current one or any past one. Not sure why. Anyway, I feel great this morning and am rarin’ to go.
Skipping brunch at the Majestic this morning, as I always do when there’s a big show at the Orpheum (Mamma Mia! today). Most likely I’ll hit the Saucer at noon, then evaluate plans for the rest of the day.