Fri update: Chef interview, Casablanca, Blue Moon world record, college football, Farmers Market, Anchor beer, Skynyrd rescheduled

Eat Local Memphis has another “Meet the Chef” interview posted for this weekend’s heritage pork BBQ fest. Michigan’s Steven Grostick is interviewed. There’s a photo of him holding a very happy pig. The pig clearly has no idea that he’ll be coming to a dinner plate near you very soon.

Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman plays at The Orpheum tonight at 7:15. The 1942 romance is one of the last films in the theater’s Summer Movie Series. $7 adults, $5 12 and under. First 100 people receive a complimentary movie poster.

Is Hollywood Disco open again? I see in the weekly DowntownMemphis.com newsletter that it’s College Night there.

Also in the newsletter, I see that there will be an attempt on Beale Street tonight to set the world record for most pints of Blue Moon sold in a four-hour period. Why today? Because it’s a blue moon, the second full moon of the month. Since it takes the moon 29.5 days to orbit the Earth, this rarely happens, and it’s impossible to have a blue moon in February.

This week I posted on Facebook and Twitter asking if any bars would be showing the SEC games that are on pay-per-view this weekend. Unfortunately I got no response. I was told Double J will be showing the Alabama-Michigan game, but that’s on ABC so pretty much every bar will have it on.

Take a load off is the theme at the Memphis Farmers Market tomorrow. At 10:15 Chef Felicia Willett from Felicia Suzanne’s will demonstrate how to make cornmeal tarts with cornmeal from Delta Grind. Also, her locally made Flo’s products will be on sale at the market. Music will be Vic Reid 8-10 and Kenny Hays 11-1. There will be a bike ride leaving the market at 9, and there will be pet adoptions by the Tunica Humane Society 7-1.

Last night I went to the Flying Saucer after work, and two guys from San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing were there. Someone told them I’d written about their visit in my blog, and they came down and chatted and asked if they could buy me a beer. Instead of one of the Saucer’s usual offerings, I selected a bottle of Brekle’s Brown that they brought with them. Anchor keeps its beer lineup pretty stable, but they let their first brewmaster make his own creation, an all-malt, single-hop brown ale with a hint of citrus on the nose. Very tasty.

If you had plans for the Lynyrd Skynyrd show tonight at Live at the Garden, it’s been rescheduled to September 12 due to weather concerns. If that leaves you without plans, why not come down to South Main for Trolley Tour instead?

I may be at Trolley Tour myself, after a little pre-gaming at the Saucer starting at 4.

Paul’s Picks: Memphis Music & Heritage Festival

The Memphis Music & Heritage Festival, presented every year by the Center for Southern Folklore, happens Saturday and Sunday. It’s Downtown on the Main Street Mall between Union and Peabody Place. This is one of your best chances of the year to experience regional music, art, and cooking. You can view the music and performance schedule and also the cooking demo schedule on the festival’s website.

For those of you who have never been, here’s a starter list of “Paul’s Picks” to get you going:

Saturday, September 1

2:00 PM: Smoochy Smith, ArtsMemphis stage

3:30 PM: Los Cantadores, Comcast stage

7:15 PM: Star & Micey, Aldo’s Pizza Pies/TN Arts stage

7:45 PM: Bluff City Backsliders, Folklore stage

8:30 PM: FreeWorld featuring Herman Green and Nokie Taylor, Comcast stage

9:15 PM: Hope Clayburn, Aldo’s Pizza Pies/TN Arts stage

10:00 PM: Steve Anne DJ, SunTrust stage

10:15 PM: Exodus, Aldo’s Pizza Pies/TN Arts stage

10:15 PM: Al Kapone, ArtsMemphis stage

Sunday, September 2

1:30 PM: Barbara Blue, Comcast stage

2:00 PM: Yao Tan from Yao’s China Bistro, cooking Yao’s signature dish, cooking stage

5:00 PM: Craig Dorff from Bluefin, sushi rolls, cooking stage

6:00 PM: Michael Patrick from Rizzo’s Diner, skirt steak using Neola Farms corn-fed beef, cooking stage

7:00 PM: Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers, ArtsMemphis stage

8:00 PM: Susan Marshall, Comcast stage

9:45 PM: Brad Webb and Earl the Pearl, Folklore stage

10:15 PM: Joyce Cobb, Aldo’s Pizza Pies/TN Arts stage

Afterward: Walk down to Blues City Cafe’s Band Box (Second and Beale) for FreeWorld’s Sunday night performance

Note: This is just a starter list for people who have never been to the festival before. I am by no means a music critic; I’m just listing what I’ve liked at past Music & Heritage Festivals. By all means, walk around and take it all in, and decide for yourself what you like.

As for the food vendors: If you haven’t had Ella’s greens and hot water cornbread, they’re a must-try. Lemon chicken is good too if you’re in the mood for meat. You can get her food in the Folklore Hall. Look to the left of the stage and you’ll see a cash register.

Las Delicias will have a booth at the festival, and their guacamole is a must-try as well if you’ve never had it.

As for the restaurants in the area, my #1 food recommendation is the pepper jack mac & cheese at the Blind Bear. You can get it as a side with an entree, and no entree is more than $8. They open for at 3 both days. Not sure if they’ll open earlier for the festival. My #1 drink recommendation is the strawberry basil martini at the Majestic Grille. My #1 beer recommendation is PBR, which will be sold at outdoor stands.

What to wear: Labor Day weekend is considered the last weekend of summer, so tube tops are still very much in style.

All right, hope that gets you started. Off to work. The office closes at 3 today, so I’ll be at the Saucer around 4.

Thur update 2: Anchor Brewery @ Saucer today, Feed the Soul, Trolley Tour, cops have new weapon against drunk drivers, Burger Fest, Memphis in May exchange student applications, effects of Isaac

Flying Saucer news: The people from Anchor Brewery are at the bar today. There’s a one-day-only Anchor flight of 5 beer tasters, and they also have fish & chips on the menu.

The past two years I have been to this awesome party called Feed the Soul. It happens each year on a Thursday in October at The Warehouse at Front and G.E. Patterson. Bands and entertainment both indoors and outside on the patio, delicious food, silent auction, cigars, bourbon tastings, and a lot more. It’s a fundraiser for MIFA. This year’s party has been announced for Thursday, October 4, with entertainment including The Living Daylights Band and “The Bellringer” Stan Bell from V101. Tickets are $40 and you can get them here. I’ll post more details as the date gets closer, but it would be a good idea to go ahead and buy tickets now, because they will sell out at a capacity of 1000.

Performers at South Main Trolley Tour tomorrow night will include Red Planet, Fire Tribe, Danza Xochitquetzal, Michele Bush, Salsa Memphis, Sibela Band, and Jakeline Belly Dance. Shops of South Main open 6-9, free trolley rides from Linden to the south end.

Driving drunk is never a good idea, but especially not this weekend. The police have an additional weapon in the fight against drunk driving thanks to the state legislature. If you get pulled over and refuse to take a Breathalyzer test (which lawyers have said for years is the move that’s in your best interest), police can now obtain a search warrant and have blood drawn. If you go out this weekend, take a cab or designate a sober driver. Better yet, move Downtown and never have to worry about driving home drunk again!

If you win the Conference USA tournament, you get an automatic bid to the Big Dance, the NCAA Tournament. However, if you win the Best Memphis Burger Festival competition September 30 at Minglewood Hall, you get an automatic bid to the Big Dance of food. Winner will have a chance to compete at the World Food Championships featuring Adam Richman in Las Vegas, with $25,000 up for grabs.

Attn high school juniors and seniors, and their parents: Memphis in May is accepting applications for its student exchange program for 2013. Selected students get to visit the honored country, this year Sweden. Students get to stay 10-12 days, enough time to really experience the country, but not long enough to interfere with schoolwork. Students are selected on communication skills, grades, and community service.

The MemphisWeather.Net blog has speculations on what newly-downgraded Tropical Depression Isaac will mean for Memphis weather this weekend. Read the post here.

Time for beer. “Paul’s Picks” post for Memphis Music & Heritage Fest is still in the works.

Thur update: Music & Heritage Fest schedule, Shop Girl New York sale, politics, parking meters, sports trivia @ Green Beetle, Silly Goose Sundays, more CA layoffs, Sunset Atop the Madison, more on security

The Center for Southern Folklore has posted the schedule for the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival this Saturday and Sunday. View it here. This is a 2-day music fest on the Main Street Mall. If you haven’t made plans for the weekend, I highly recommend you check it out. In the next day or two, I’ll try to look at the schedule more closely and post some “Paul’s Picks.” Nice to see Aldo’s Pizza Pies co-sponsoring a music/arts stage. Also, here’s the schedule for the cooking demos that will happen at the festival. The demos usually end with audience sampling. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

South Main clothing boutique Shop Girl New York is moving to the core next month. The new location will be at 119 S. Main, in the former Christine by Shelton Clothiers space. In preparation for the move, they need to sell all of their current inventory. Therefore, they have discounted everything in their current South Main location 20-70% off. Friday only (the day of South Main Trolley Tour) everything in the store will be 50% off. If you’ve had your eye on something but have held off on buying it, now is the time. Their current location is at 515 S. Main between Butler and G.E. Patterson.

Representative/Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan gave his speech last night at the Republican National Convention. FactCheck.org has an analysis of his speech.

Meanwhile, President Obama engaged in a half-hour “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit yesterday. Here’s the transcript.

The city is close to installing more than 1200 new parking meters Downtown. The new meters will accept credit cards, so no more fumbling through your pocket for change or running to get change at a nearby business. You may pay more for parking soon. Consultants found that Memphis’ rate of $1/hour is among the cheapest in the country, and recommended the city raise rates.

A new 7-week league begins tonight at sports trivia with Kevin Cerrito at the Green Beetle. This time the 7-week grand prize will be Grizzlies tickets. There will be $10 buckets of Miller Lite punch top cans, and football will be on all the TVs with sound on between rounds.

In other sports news, if you’re part of a fantasy football league, the Silly Goose might be a good place to watch Sunday NFL games. They’re running a promotion where, for every member of your league who shows up, you get that many entries in a drawing, up to 10. Drawing will happen at the end of the season, and the winner will get a $300 gift certificate for the Goose. Also on Sundays there will be happy hour prices on domestic beers, and $4 Fireball shots (these are for everyone, not just people in fantasy leagues).

(Disclaimer: I think I’ve got the details about the Goose right, but due to Fireball consumption last night I’m not 100% sure. If I got anything wrong email me or text me and I’ll post a correction)

Mediaverse reports that more layoffs are coming to the Commercial Appeal. They plan to lay off 17 positions, 15 in customer service and 2 in advertising. The work formerly handled by these positions will be outsourced. Sinking ship, I tell ya. Sinking ship.

Tonight is the final night for Sunset atop the Madison, the Madison Hotel’s Thursday night rooftop party series. Elmo and the Shades will bring rhythm and blues to the roof. $7 cover, doors open at 7 PM, cash bar and small plates available.

Following up yesterday’s post about double authentication, today Lifehacker posted How Secure Are You: The Online Checklist. Worth a read. As I said yesterday, a lot of really smart people are getting hacked because their security standards are so 2011.

Still more news, so I’ll probably do a second post tonight after work. Going to take a week off from poker at Max’s Sports Bar due to the weather. I’ll hang out closer to home.

Wed update: Important info on keeping accounts secure, dragon trolley, PARK(ing) Day, Heritage BBQ Fest, Sunday Kooky beer special, ice cream fest, things going on tonight

I know several people who have been hacked lately. It’s not specific to one platform: They’ve been hacked on Facebook, WordPress, Gmail, Twitter, etc. Furthermore, these people are not dummies who use a 4-letter password or something guessable like their girlfriend’s name. The fact is, password guessing algorithms have gotten sophisticated enough to get you, even if you use strong passwords (usually defined as 12 letters or longer with at least one upper and lower case letter and digit). It’s getting scary out there.

For that reason, it’s important that you read this LifeHacker article on double authentication. Double authentication relies not only on something you know (a password) but also on something you have (in most cases your phone). Once set up, if you try to log in from a device that hasn’t previously been used to log into that account since setting up double-auth, a code will be sent to your phone. You have to enter that code before you can complete the login. It’s an extra step, but you only have to do it once per device, and it makes your identity much more secure. Double-auth hasn’t been implemented on every social network/cloud based platform, but it’s available on some of the big ones including Gmail, Dropbox, WordPress, and Facebook.

You may see a trolley Downtown wrapped as a dragon. It’s promoting the Duncan-Williams dragon boat races that will happen next month.

PARK(ing) Day is coming back Friday, September 21. You can submit proposals to the Downtown Memphis Commission to turn a metered parking space into a miniature park from 11 AM to 6 PM that day. Last year’s parks included a roller derby rink and an outdoor library.

Thomas from the Eat Local Memphis blog is back with two more posts about the Cochon 555 Heritage BBQ Fest happening Downtown this weekend. First of all, he has a “Meet the Chef” interview with Ryan Trimm of Sweet Grass, one of the competitors at the festival. Secondly, he has a post with general and ticket info about the festival. I’m very glad Thomas will be covering this festival this weekend, because I’ll be covering the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival happening at the same time and therefore I will miss the heritage pork fest.

Kooky Canuck has 99 cent Bud Light drafts all day Sunday, September 2. Sign doesn’t specify but the cups are most likely 12-ounce. That’s right around the corner from the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival, so it’s a good place to go if you need a quick break. It’s not within the festival boundaries, though, so I doubt to-go cups for the fest will be possible.

For the next three days, tickets to the Big Scoop ice cream Festival Saturday, September 29 at AutoZone Park are on sale for the half-off price of $5. Get tickets here. Proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House.

Mark (Marvelous) Baker performs at Bleu tonight, 7 PM. No cover.

It’s the last Wednesday of the Redbirds’ regular season, and therefore your last chance to get a field box ticket, 16 oz. PBR, and a PBR koozie for $10.

My plans for tonight are once again trivia at the Blind Bear at 8. I still need to get to bingo with Diamond Dave at the Brass Door, but the trivia team is so strong right now that I hate to miss it. Outta here for now, quick lunch then an afternoon of experimenting with WordPress categories.

Tue update: Isaac, South Main Trolley Tour (I miss the beer stands), Fullilove arrested, Facebook malware scam, heritage pork fest, DNA meeting, Tuesday happenings

Potential good or bad news for this weekend, depending on how you look at it: Channel 3 reports that Most of the rain from Hurricane Isaac is expected to go west of us. Little Rock will get hit hard, but according to Channel 3’s graphic, Memphis may see almost no rain at all.

That’s bad news for farmers, since we’ve been having drought conditions for much of the summer. However, it’s good news for those who plan to have fun Downtown this weekend. As I mentioned yesterday, the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival is this Saturday and Sunday, outdoors on the Main Street Mall between Union and Peabody Place. It would be nice to have it dry, so people will come out in numbers and enjoy the music, art, dance, and cooking demos. Saturday is also the first College Football Saturday of the season, and I’d like to make it south to Max’s Sports Bar for an hour or two without having to dodge thunder and lightning.

I’d also like the rain to be out of here for Friday night, which will be South Main Trolley Tour. Many businesses will be open from 6 to 9, and it would be nice if the skies were clear so a big crowd will show up and support the merchants of South Main.

You know what? I miss the beer stands at Trolley Tour though. Yeah I can go to Max’s and get a beer, but I thought it was kind of nice that the beer stands sold Ghost River, a true South Main product. Also, they were conveniently located, and I didn’t have to duck into a bar and stand in line.

In the news City Councilwoman Janis Fullilove and her husband were arrested after an alleged fight. Her husband alleges that she had been drinking when he got home, and she threw dishes at him and accused him of cheating on her. By the time the police arrived, it’s reported that Mrs. Fullilove passed out on the way to the squad car. MEMPHIS, WHY DO YOU KEEP VOTING FOR THIS WOMAN?????

Facebook users: If you get an email from Facebook with subject “Your friend added a new photo with you to the album,” with a ZIP file as an attachment, and a notification that you’re receiving the email because you’re a close friend, don’t open the attachment! It’s malware. More info here.

If you’re excited about the COCHON 555 Heritage Pork BBQ fest this weekend, the Eat Local Memphis blog would be a good one to follow. Thomas is posting a series of “Meet the Chef” articles, interviewing the chefs who will compete. The interviews really do a good job communicating their passion for heritage pork. Two are up already – Miles McMath and Harrison Keevil.

The monthly Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting is tonight at the Orpheum, 6 PM. Topics include Save the Chisca, the James Lee House, the Harahan Bridge Project, and the new Blues Trail. Free for DNA members, $5 for guests.

Other stuff going on tonight: “Super Tuesday” at Kooky Canuck with all their 34 oz. signature drinks only $5 (I recommend the Flying Moose); “Tie Tuesday” at Itta Bena with $2 off drinks for all men in ties (I think “Tube Top Tuesday” would be a better promotion); pint night at Bardog with all their drafts $3; trivia at the Saucer (7:30 and 10) and Ferraro’s (8:00); poker at Blind Bear (8:00); $5 spaghetti night at the Green Beetle; Redbirds vs. Omaha at AutoZone Park (7:05).

Fun day at work… I get to spend the afternoon tinkering under the hood with WordPress. I’ll be out about 6 tonight, most likely Saucer but maybe Aldo’s Pizza Pies. Later I’ll make the call on whether I feel like playing poker at the Blind Bear. Tonight is the beginning of a new 16-week league there.

Mon update: Isaac, Slider Inn, Foursquare change, Segway tours, Kooky gift card sale, pool tournament results

Tropical Storm Isaac, soon to be Hurricane Isaac, looks to be a weather factor this week. Intellicast’s latest storm track has the storm making a direct hit on New Orleans, then passing over Little Rock Friday morning as a tropical depression. We will surely get some rain out of it. Hopefully the rain will get out of here by the start of the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival this weekend.

The Slider Inn, the Midtown bar which is the sister restaurant to Bardog Tavern and Aldo’s Pizza Pies, has a really good special this week. All food and non-alcoholic drinks are 50% off from 11 AM to 3 PM.

The About Foursquare blog has info on a question that’s been on my mind recently: Why can’t I see everyone who’s checked in anymore? In the new update of the app, if you pull up a venue on your phone, you can only see which of your friends are checked in at that venue. You can’t see everyone else until you check in yourself. I’m not crazy about this update, but About Foursquare explains why it was necessary due to privacy concerns.

The Memphis Connect blog has a good article about the Segway tours of Downtown Memphis.

Just a reminder that the gift card sale happens all day Wednesday at Kooky Canuck. They’ll be selling them at a 50% discount. I don’t know if they’ll run out of cards, but it’s probably a good idea to get there as early as possible. Kooky opens at 11 AM.

Yesterday we decided to take our double-elimination pool tournament to the Blind Bear’s pool table: Here are the results:

Pete: 0-2
Josh: 0-2
Bean: 0-2
Me: 6-0

So glad I won and did not have to listen to Pete run his mouth. This is what Pete’s saying today:

After pool I went over to Aldo’s Pizza Pies and got an 18″ vodka pie to go. I’m having a slice for dinner as I type this. It didn’t really fit on the 10″ paper plate I put in the microwave, but I did the best I could. After dinner, it’ll be time to hit the Saucer for Pint Nite.

A good decision

Every bar has its off nights. Last night I started at the Flying Saucer around 6. By 7:30 I was bored out of my mind. It wasn’t that the bar was empty – it was actually fairly busy for a Friday night – but I didn’t know many people and was in the mood to go somewhere else.

I pulled up Foursquare on my phone, to see where people were. I discovered that I had several friends at the Silly Goose and Max’s Sports Bar. Being right next door, the Goose would be a natural choice for a place to relocate. However, I’d had a good time at Max’s Thursday night, and since the weather wasn’t stifling hot for once, I decided to walk down there.

It was a good decision. The entire gang was sitting at the patio tables outside. I went in, got a PBR in a plastic cup, and came back out. It was good catching up on what is happening in South Main. I’ve spent very little time there this summer, due to the heat and the fact that there are so many good places to go close to home in the core. Also, I didn’t renew my SMA membership this year, so I don’t have the meetings as a source of South Main news.

José, who had been training Thursday night, was back behind the bar and remembered my name and what I like to drink. Max is adding some new employees for football season and has made some awesome hires. He’s going to have Ciara from the Saucer working Saturday day during college football season. She is a perfect fit for the place because she’s such a big sports fan. Cayla from the Saucer will day-bartend on NFL Sundays. I hear there’s another new hire named Renee, who I haven’t met yet, but the regulars speak of her in the same light that they speak of Ciara and Cayla, which is a sure sign she’ll be a fine addition to Max’s. He’s not a hot girl, but after the past two days I’m a big José fan for sure. Then there’s Danny, the barback/cook who is the son of Chuck who used to run Harry’s Detour across the street. Super nice guy and hard worker. Max’s has hired himself a strong staff for football season.

After a couple of PBRs, my friends Mikey and Talley decided to go to “the loft bar,” and invited me to join them. I had seen people checking into “The Loft at the Double J” on Foursquare for the past three months, and couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about. I thought they were referring to the balcony overlooking the stage at the Double J, where I took photos of a BBQ team board meeting back in March. “That little place?” I thought. “It seats maybe 12. How can it hold as many people as I’ve seen checked in there, and have room for a full bar?”

Turns out I was totally wrong about the loft bar’s location. When the place was Beignet Cafe, there was an apartment in the back, with its own patio facing north toward the Civil Rights Museum. That has been converted into the loft bar. Because it has its own separate address and entrance, it can allow smoking while the Double J itself remains nonsmoking and family-friendly. Country music is not emphasized in the loft bar to the degree it is downstairs, unless someone chooses to play it on the jukebox. The full menu from Double J is available, though. There are several TVs including a couple of 60-inchers. Some of my friends like to go there on Saturdays and sit on the sectional sofa and watch NASCAR. They also have the large patio outside. What a great bar! I can’t believe that it’s been open 3 months and I’m just now discovering it.

With the opening of new spots in the core like Brass Door, Blind Bear, and Aldo’s Pizza Pies, I figured my trips south would be extremely limited this year. But now it’s becoming clear that I will spend a significant amount of time in South Main this fall. I want to spend more time at the loft bar. Also, with Max’s stepping it up not only in terms of good hires, but also drink specials, dollar happy hour dogs, and a full liquor bar, there’s plenty of reasons to go there too. And, of course, I have not yet mentioned the most important reason to hang out in South Main – the people. Lots of good folks down there, who are good to have a beer with, good to talk to, very comfortable to be around.

Thanks to my friend Shawn for offering me a ride back to the core. “You going home?” he asked.

“Yeah. Second and Peabody Place,” I told him. He dropped me off at the Saucer, and I wrapped up the night with a couple of Dos Equis Lagers. I managed to get to City Market right before they closed for Paul’s Drunkass Food. This morning I got to vacuum up all the rice I spilled. I need to think twice about taking home rice dishes when I’ve been drinking beer all evening.

Plan for today is Panda Manda’s bar at Bardog at noon. After that TBD.

Fri update: Dollar Dog @ Max’s, day care?, Facebook/iOS, Sugarland, Spaghetti Warehouse, free Redbirds hat, Farmers Market, Cochon BBQ and more

I want to start this post with a really good value I discovered last night. Max’s Sports Bar sells Dollar Dogs – hot dogs for $1 – during their happy hour from 4:30 to 7 PM on the weekdays. I ordered two of them, and Michele asked me, “Do you want them stuffed or puffed?” She had to explain. “Puffed” means you get the hot dog plain, cooked in their toaster oven, although you do get condiments of mustard, ketchup, and relish to add if you choose. “Stuffed” means that after the dog is cooked in the oven, it’s topped with cheese, jalapenos, and bacon.

Which did I choose? Well, I like my hot dogs the same way I like tube tops. And if you’ve paid attention to this blog the past 7 days or so, you know that I like tube tops well stuffed! Although I definitely didn’t confuse the hot dogs with cuisine from Felicia Suzanne’s – or for that matter, the Dog of the Day from Bardog – they were a filling evening meal for cheap, cheap, cheap. I had a PBR with my meal, and Michele had already taught new trainee Jose how to pour 17 ounces of beer into a 16 ounce glass.

A little after 7, Real 2 Reel Photography took a group picture for Max’s month of the 2013 South Main calendar. Glad I happened to be there for the photo, since Max’s is one of my favorite places to hang out. I haven’t been there much this summer, because I live so far away and the June and July weather was so freakin’ hot. As we move into fall, I plan to make more frequent appearances on South Main.

I have a reader asking for recommendations for a good Downtown day-care for his 1-year-old son. Since I don’t have kids, I’m not much help. Any suggestions? Send ’em to paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll pass on the info.

If you own an iPhone or iPad and haven’t updated your Facebook app in the past day or so, you need to. They released a new version and it’s much, much faster. For you computer nerds, it’s because they replaced the web-based HTML5 code with iOS native Objective C code. Huge improvement. When my friend from Mexico was in town, he would use Facebook to message me because texts on his phone were obscenely expensive. So I’d get notifications that I had a new message and refresh and refresh and refresh and it wouldn’t actually show the message until 10 minutes later. Glad Facebook has given up on HTML5 for mobile for now. I hear that the Android app still sucks balls and that Zuckerberg is making all his devs switch to Android so they can feel the users’ pain.

Sugarland plays the FedExForum tonight, with special guests Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and Canaan Smith. More info here.

There’s a 40th anniversary party at Spaghetti Warehouse today. Chance to win fun prizes, live music, free samples. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

If you’re one of the first 3000 fans through the gate at AutoZone Park tonight, you get a free Redbirds hat. Game time is 7:05. Also, tonight will be the first of three days the Cardinals’ world championship trophy from 2011 will be on display. You can bring your camera and take pictures. Donations to the Redbirds’ RBI and STRIPES programs in exchange for the photo opportunity are encouraged.

The theme at the Memphis Farmers Market tomorrow is Don’t Worry, BEE Happy. At 10:15 you can meet a beekeeper, learn what it’s like to raise bees, and learn about the importance of bees to our environment. Live music will be provided by Ron McDonald (7 AM), Michael Joyner (8 AM), and Ashley McBride (11 AM). Some of the last tomatoes of the season will be for sale.

The Memphis Flyer has a good article on what will happen at the Cochon Heritage BBQ next weekend.

Also on the Flyer site, Bruce V published a horrifying image of Hurricane Isaac as it approaches the Florida coast.

I missed the Gatsby Soiree last night at Blind Bear. I just didn’t have the clothes to wear. Can’t wait to see the pictures though.

Four more hours until the weekend. No definite plan for tonight so I guess I’ll just use Foursquare/Facebook text to figure out an agenda.