One of Downtown’s true icons has passed away. Jay Hollingsworth was a friend and mentor to many who live here. His participation in Bardog’s 2011 alley party helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for St. Jude. Rest in peace, my friend. I am truly grateful for all you have done for this community.
Very sad that the next time I walk out of Number 10 Main, Jay won’t be standing outside, asking me, “Where you headed off to?”
Visitation for Jay will be 1-3 Saturday at the Forest Hill Funeral Home at 1661 Elvis Presley Blvd.
And now it’s time for me to rant about a business I wish would try harder to be part of the community. About 9:30 last night, I was lying in bed, reading the iPad, with fever of about 102.1. It’s a bad cold, and past experience has taught me that bombing myself with NyQuil and getting a quality night’s sleep is usually enough to kill a cold dead. So, I walked to the bathroom, opened the cabinet, and…
Oops! Out of NyQuil!
No, problem, right, considering I live a quarter of a block from Walgreens? WRONG!!! Downtown Walgreens closes at 8 PM. If they kept decent hours like every other Walgreens in town, I could have run over there and got my medicine. But, no such luck. I just didn’t have the energy to walk to the parking garage, get in the car, and drive to Union and 240 to the next closest Walgreens. So I put the iPad back on the charger, got back in bed, and lay there broiling wishing I could get to sleep. Last time I looked over at the clock it was past 3 AM and I was still awake.
By the way, I left a comment on Walgreens’ website back around 2005 asking why they didn’t lengthen their hours. They replied that their profitability studies did not indicate that it was worth staying open past 8 PM. Wish we had a locally-owned drugstore Downtown that wants to be part of the community and which has motivation beyond profits.
In the news: The Supreme Court ruled on Obamacare this morning, upholding it 5-4. For commentary by Constitutional experts, see Facebook.
Rooftop party news: Almost Famous plays the Peabody tonight. $10 cover includes your first drink, 6-11 PM. Ladies free before 7.
The Memphis All-Stars play the Madison rooftop tonight. 7-11 PM, $7 cover, cash bar, small plates.
An odd request, coming from me: If you go to the rooftop parties or go out anywhere else Downtown tonight, don’t wear a tube top. Save them for the weekend, when I’ll be fully recovered and back out.
In other Peabody news, there’s a report that the Little Rock Peabody is up for sale.
What have I been doing with my iPad while lying in bed the past two days? Being a classic 1980s pro wrestling fan, I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube footage. One interesting thing I found concerned the Von Erichs, a very popular family of fan favorites who wrestled in the 1980s, mainly in Texas. In late 1981-82 their father Fritz sent David Von Erich to wrestle as a heel (bad guy) in Florida under the tutelage of the hated Dory Funk Jr., a former World champion. The idea was that David was being groomed to be world champ himself in a year or two, and he needed experience working both sides of the coin. Here are links to David Von Erich in Florida, part 1, part 2, and part 3. There’s over an hour of footage total. Interesting thing I didn’t know until watching: David brought his younger brother Kerry with him a couple of times. I was unaware Kerry, later the Texas Tornado in the WWF, ever worked heel in his life. The footage also contains a famous moment when “Hacksaw” Butch Reed dragged World champ Ric Flair in the ring and ripped his expensive suit to pieces.
I’ve also been spending a lot of my sick time theorizing about the upcoming Presidential election, because I love electoral math. My basic theory is that Obama will win all the states that Kerry won in 2004. That accounts for 246 electoral votes (not as many as in 2004 because of reapportionment based on the 2010 census). So Obama would need 24 more to get to 270. Ways he could get there:
- Ohio + Nevada
- Ohio + New Mexico
- Florida
- Iowa + Colorado + Nevada + New Mexico
- Virginia + Iowa + New Mexico
- and a bunch of other combinations that all seem fairly realistic as of today
My takeaway from all this is, something drastic is going to have to happen for Romney to even have a chance – something that will swing one or more Kerry states into his column. We’ll see how people react to the Supreme Court ruling today, because that could be such an event.
As for me, I’m just waiting until November 2016 when I can vote for the most qualified eligible person to be President – Hillary Clinton.
Another thing about electoral math: California + Oregon + Washington + Hawaii = 78 electoral votes that are solidly Democratic. So if at any point Obama hits 192 electoral votes on Election Night, even before the polls have closed in the Western states, you might as well stick a fork in Romney, he’s done.
Looking for a job? MLGW has several openings. Odd that they need a Strategic Marketing Coordinator. Why would MLGW have to market itself? Unless you’re Amish, you need power (and I bet even the Amish are re-thinking it on a day like today).
It’s NBA draft day. First pick is at 6 PM, and each subsequent team has 5 minutes to pick after that. That means that Memphis, with the 25th pick, will pick no later than 8:30 PM. However, teams don’t have to use the full 5 minutes, so it may be earlier. Memphis Tiger sophomore Will Barton, projected at 25 +/- 10, will likely get his name called somewhere between 7:15 and 9:30.
As of 3:30 PM, my fever is below 100, my energy is back, and my coughing has mostly subsided. Chances of me returning to work tomorrow are pretty much 100%. If I continue to feel good, I may get out for a little while to watch the Grizzlies and Will Barton part of the draft. Will probably stick to drinking water though. I’d prefer to watch the draft at one of the places Jay hung out – Bardog or Blind Bear. If anyone plans on being at either of those places, hit me up with a text.