Thur update: Kooky Canuck Halloween party, Bloody Mary contest winners, Rendezvous BBQ @ FedExForum, Bear specials, Colin Powell endorses Obama, Iron Sheik on Mitt Romney, Max’s outside the festival boundary this weekend, and more

BREAKING NEWS: The NBA owners have unanimously approved the sale of the Grizzlies to Robert Pera’s group.

Tonight is the start of Downtown’s Halloween party season. Kooky Canuck kicks it off tonight from 8 PM to 3 AM. There will be $2 Kamikazes, $3 34 oz. Bud Light, $4 Jager Bombs, and $4 Vodka Red Bull. Bobby Smith will DJ and the Jagermeister and Bud Girls will be there. There will be a costume contest with $400 cash to the winner, and $200 and $100 gift cards to second and third place. No cover, 21 and up.

Jennifer Biggs reports on a statewide Bloody Mary contest in her Whining and Dining blog. The contest was sponsored by Absolut. All five winners were Memphis restaurants, and four of the five were Downtown Memphis restaurants. Congratulations to Automatic Slim’s, Majestic Grille, Silly Goose, and Bluefin for representing Downtown well! Also congrats to the Bayou on their first-place win.

The MBJ reports that Rendezvous BBQ will be on sale at the FedExForum for Grizzlies games beginning with the regular-season opener November 5. Previously Neely’s had the contract, but pulled out when they recently closed all their locations for renovation.

Speaking of the Grizzlies, the Blind Bear will offer apps for half price, $2.50 selected bottled dometics, and $5 chili cheese Bear Dawgs from one hour prior to the start of all games to game’s end. These specials apply to Tigers games as well.

Political news: Colin Powell endorses Obama. He notes that moderate Republicans like himself, those who push conservative values but realize compromise is necessary at the end of the day, are a dying breed.

In other political news, former WWF champion The Iron Sheik weighed in on the subject of Mitt Romney this morning on Twitter: “for christmas the Mitt Romney either get raped by dead dog or have sex with the big bird. no matter what he dumb son of a bitch.” If I ever get hired as news director by a national cable network, the first thing I will do is give Sheikie baby a job as political commentator.

Last night I had an absolutely fantastic dinner at Central BBQ, which I’ll write about in a separate post. Then I went to Double J for Muruako’s poker game. I got stuck at a table where people were going all-in pre-flop on a lot of hands, sometimes without even looking at their cards. I hate that. At least after I got knocked out I got to catch up with some of the South Mainers at the bar.

One thing I asked them was, “Why haven’t I heard about any Halloween parties this weekend at South Main bars?” The answer should have been obvious – they’ll have their hands full with RiverArtsFest. Makes sense. They don’t need to do anything special to attract tons of people.

By the way – I’ve confirmed that Max’s Sports Bar will be outside the fenced-in area of the festival. That means you won’t have to pay the fest’s $5 admission fee if you just want to go to Max’s to watch football. Excellent, because I plan to be there Saturday, to watch the Ole Miss douchebags stink up my home town of Little Rock for a game at War Memorial Stadium. I feel sorry for Little Rock residents who have to deal with them. Ole Miss has the most obnoxious fans in college football, even worse than the Vols. Anyway, come watch the game with me at Max’s and hang out with Ciara and Ranee. Kickoff is 11:21. Take Mulberry to get there while dodging the festival. Mulberry is the street to the east of Main, on which the Civil Rights Museum is located.

Back after work with the Central BBQ post.