Month: December 2012

Attention artists, students, architects, urban designers, and South Main property and business owners: There is an exciting opportunity for you. Yesterday the Downtown Memphis Commission announced the South Main Design Challenge. They are looking for innovative and original ideas to reuse vacant spaces in the South Main district. The sites are

• Huling Parking Lot
• Talbot Lot
• Lyric Panel Lot
• Ambassador Hotel Site
• Army/Navy Park
• Russell Hardware Site
• Buffalo Mural Lot

Teams of up to six people have until January 14 to apply. Teams ideally should consist of at least one architect and one South Main community member. The goal will be to transform a site into a community asset on a limited budget of less than $5,000. More info and how to apply can be found on this site. Crowdsourcing ideas to improve the community. I like it. I like it a lot!

I’ve been asked to remind everyone that Downtown Night at the Grizzlies is a week from tonight. In addition to a game ticket, attendees get a private reception in Opus Lounge with food and beverages, and a T-shirt. Ticket options are $49 and $99. The event is limited to 200 people, so if you want to go, don’t hesitate to order your ticket.

The Civil Rights Museum was featured in a Huffington Post article today. The article talks about the renovations going on at the museum. Good to see it getting some national attention.

There’s a prime development opportunity Downtown. The Greyhound bus station has moved to the airport area (FINALLY!) and the site is ready to be redeveloped. It’s 1.37 acres in a very high-visibility location on Union Avenue across from AutoZone Park and half a block from the Peabody. More info here.

This is not Downtown news, but it’s really, really cool: Nirvana is reuniting to play the Hurricane Sandy benefit concert tonight at Madison Square Garden. Taking the place of late lead singer Kurt Cobain will be none other than Sir Paul McCartney. Is it just me or does Paul seem to be getting way cooler as he gets older, kinda the way Johnny Cash did?

Not long after the Blind Bear opened last December, I got a cup of their turkey chili and a cup of the pepper jack mac & cheese and made my own chili mac. It tasted okay but not good enough for me to want to do it again. Now that they’ve replaced the turkey chili with their thick, rich beef and bean Hibernation Chili, I decided to give it another go last night, combining a cup of that with the pepper jack mac & cheese. It was fantastic! The chili mac was enough to get two meals from, and the total cost was only $8.

That’ll do it for now. Possibly another post this evening.

I want to start this post with an observation about Reindeer Games, the festival that will happen this Saturday in Court Square from noon to 5. There’s a cornhole tournament at 1 PM. I know most of the talented cornholers Downtown, and I know their weekend habits. I would expect them to be either at the Tigers vs. Louisville game (1:30 tipoff) or at Max’s Sports Bar watching the game – and NOT at the cornhole tournament. So I expect a softer-than-average field. A decent but not great team could easily have a shot at winning the tournament. Don’t be shy about entering. Your chances of being beat probably aren’t as high as you think.

Also, note that the Post-Reindeer Games Pub Crawl begins earlier than most Downtown pub crawls. It will start at 5:30 PM, with Local as the first stop (then Blind Bear, Green Beetle, and Double J). I guess that means it will end earlier than most pub crawls too.

Current forecast for Saturday is scattered showers and thunderstorms with a high in the low 60s and low in the mid 40s. If the rain will just stay away, those temps are excellent for mid-December. Average is low 50s/mid 30s, but it seems like every December event I’ve attended in Court Square has actually seen windy weather with temperature around freezing. We’ve really lucked out on festival weather this year.

The Facebook event listing for the pub crawl requests, “DRESS UP this is Reindeer Games!” You know, I’ve put on a skirt and dressed up as a Saucer girl; I’ve put on an orange jacket and dressed up as Bruce Pearl, one of the biggest douches in Tennessee history; I’ve stumbled around Downtown as Santa, Elvis, and in a Snuggie. But putting on a pair of those silly reindeer antlers? Ugh. Every year around Christmas I see couples wearing matching reindeer antlers, and think 1) the girl talked the guy into doing it; and 2) the guy better have a 100% written guarantee that he will get laid at the end of the night. I don’t know why, but I’m just not down with the antlers. So probably not dressing up.

I just realized, all the stops along the pub crawl serve PBR. Well done.

All right, on to other news. The Silly Goose will have its 4th annual Naughty List Ball next Thursday, December 20, starting at 9 PM. Entertainment will be provided by the Dave Cousar Band, and there will be a special appearance by the Goose’s very own Bad Santa. This is the same night as the Blind Bear’s first anniversary party, and the two bars are only a block from each other so it will definitely be easy to attend both. This is the second time this month the two bars have booked parties on the same night. Wonder if that’s happening on purpose?

A huge asteroid will pass Earth over the next few days. It’s named 4179 Toutatis, is about 3 miles wide, and orbits the Sun once every four years. I wonder what former Goose/Saucer server Brick thinks about this. A few years ago she was worried that Obama had a plan to blow up the moon, and that would really screw shit up. Thank goodness that never came to fruition. I hope the asteroid doesn’t screw shit up when it passes by.

The Fuzzy Brew blog has information about the tappings of Hop Project batches 65, 66, and 68 tonight at the Flying Saucer. If you’re a fan of hoppy beers, give this IPA a try. No two batches are brewed the same way.

For the second time I’ve been asked to judge the balcony Christmas-light decorating contest at River Row on South Front Street. I had fun last time and after confirming important details (“Free beer for judges?”) I gladly agreed. See you Sunday! Between that and the Saucer’s Beerknurd Party, and now that I think about it my free daily mayoral beer at Blind Bear, it will be a good day for me scoring free beer Downtown.

WordPress users: Version 3.5 is out. They’ve completely rethought the way WordPress handles media, and they have a new default theme, Twenty Twelve, which is mobile-responsive and is a good base for a content management system.

Not Downtown news but too newsworthy not to report: The CA is reporting that popular Midtown music venue the Hi-Tone will close. Details here. I rarely post links to the CA because of their stupid paywall but this is noteworthy enough to make an exception.

Sitting here in Horn Lake browsing the delicious daily specials the Majestic, City Market, Brass Door, and Green Beetle have posted for lunch. And now I’m about to go to KFC and have a chicken pot pie. Ugh. Hope you’re eating better than I am this noontime.

Exciting news this morning. The world’s largest startup conference is coming to Downtown Memphis in February. EverywhereElse.co The Startup Conference will be held at the Peabody Sunday-Tuesday, February 10-12, 2013. The conference has attracted an all-star lineup of speakers, panelists, investors, startups and entrepreneurs. For three days there will be over 30 panels, keynote addresses, roundtable and fireside chats about the issues startups face “everywhere else,” meaning outside of Silicon Valley. Priceline CTO Scott Case will keynote the event. There will be pitch contests with over $100,000 in cash and prizes, and a “Startup Village” with over 100 startups exhibiting. Startup companies in the village come from all over the US, and from places as far away as Israel and ROMANIA!!!!!!!!! Attendee early bird tickets are on sale for $39 through December 31.

Amazon is having a one-day sale on the Kindle Fire HD 8.9″. Enter promo code FIREHD89 at checkout to get $50 off. If you’ve been thinking about buying one as a Christmas gift for someone, today just might be the day to place the order.

Kooky Canuck is having their annual half-off gift card sale this Thursday, December 13, from 11 AM to 7 PM. During that time you will be able to purchase $50 gift cards for only $25. In-store purchases only, no phone sales. Cards will not be active until January 1, 2013.

It’s been reported that Western Kentucky University will announce the hiring of Bobby Petrino as head football coach this afternoon at 4. It will be Petrino’s first job after being fired by Arkansas for lying about the status of his mistress, who he hired to work in his department. Ah, the world of college sports, where if you win you can always get another job no matter how bad you screw up. That’s why Bruce Pearl will be back in another year.

From Gizmodo: Insults found on shopping receipts. Yup, seen this one happen. Customers sit down at a restaurant or bar, and the server, not knowing their names, needs a way to keep track of which table is which. So they enter identifying information into the computer, not knowing that it will be printed out on the ticket… which results in customers receiving a check with “Fat Girls” or “Chink” printed on it.

200 kids are going on a shopping spree today thanks to the generosity of Grizzlies players Tony Allen and Zach Randolph. Each Boys & Girls Club participant will receive a $100 gift card to use on a one-hour shopping trip. Awesome Christmas gift by TA and Z-Bo. This kind of thing is why we Memphians love our Grizzlies so much.

That’s it for now. It’s Monday, so my usual lineup of Pint Nite and poker will be the agenda. If you want to play poker, it’s at the Silly Goose at 8:30 and you can buy in through the first four blind levels.

Earlier this week, I reported that the Flying Saucer had started carrying cinnamon whisky, specifically a brand called Early Times Fire Eater. Last night I decided to give it a try. I knew my buddy who is a liquor rep for Fireball, a cinnamon whisky I drink now and then and enjoy, would not be happy that I was ordering a competitor’s product. However, he wasn’t there, and I figured as “mayor” of the Saucer it’s sort of my duty to try their product offerings and report back.

I ordered a shot of Fire Eater, intending to take a sip to measure the taste, then shoot the rest. After one sip, I determined that I would not be able to shoot the rest. I would throw up if I did. This stuff was just nasty. There was cinnamon flavor, but it was way, way, way too sweet, and it did not burn at all. My liquor rep buddy warned me this was an inferior product, but I thought he was just trying to convince me to stick with his brand. He wasn’t lying at all though. There is nothing good I can say about Fire Eater. Congratulations Abita Turbo Dog, you are no longer the worst product the Saucer carries.

I shouldn’t be surprised either. I’ve seen lots of bottles of other Early Times products around Downtown. By that I mean that I have seen empty bottles of Early Times products on the sidewalk and in alleys, after the bums have finished them and thrown them away.

One other thing: Look at this bottle. If you ignored the words “Fire Eater,” what kind of liquor would you think this is? I would guess peppermint schnapps. I get it that they’re going for a late 1800s circus tent theme, but this just isn’t the best packaging for cinnamon whisky.

Let’s move on to something happening at the Saucer that I do recommend. This Tuesday, December 11 at 7:00, there will be a Yazoo vertical tasting. They will be serving Hop Project batches #65, 66, and 67. Yazoo Hop Project is kind of a unique IPA in that they never make two batches exactly the same way. Each batch has a number, which lets you search for that batch number on Yazoo’s blog and read about the beer you’re drinking and how it was made. There will be a special Yazoo taster flight that evening – on a flight, you get 5-ounce sample glasses of five different beers. In addition, Yazoo pints will be only $3 until the kegs blow. I assume Yazoo will have a rep or two on hand for the vertical tasting. Their reps are some of the nicest folks in the brewing industry, and good people to talk to if you want to learn about beer.

If you’re an animal lover, you might want to consider going to Mid-South Spay and Neuter‘s Spaytacular Gala. It will be tomorrow, Sunday, December 9, from 2 to 5 PM at Jack Robinson Gallery on Huling. Mimosas, wine and beer, bloody Mary bar, brunch food, silent auction. Tickets are $40 individual/$75 couple.

A few weeks ago, a Twitter account called the “South Side Supper Club” started following me. I assumed that some of the South Main folks had banded together to share dinners. No, I was wrong. South Side Supper Club is a band, and they perform at the Double J Loft Bar tonight from 11 PM to 2 AM. The band’s lineup includes Good Shane, front man for Dynaflow.  “We’re giving 3 hours of what we got at the Double J on Saturday night. We’ll be upstairs in the bar. Got a couple of new things to try out as well as several of our standards. Come out and give us a listen,” they posted to Facebook.

That’s all for now. I plan on hitting Panda’s bar at Bardog at 11; rest of day TBD. As fellow blogger Air Traffic Mike would say, until next time, y’all take care of yourselves.

Memphis in May is having its annual “Spend Like Scrooge, Give Like Santa” holiday sale next Wednesday-Friday, December 12-14, from 11 AM to 5 PM. You’ll be able to buy Music Fest, BBQ Fest, and other Memphis in May merchandise from previous years. T-shirts will start at $1, polos at $5. Hats, cookbooks, sweatshirts, and limited edition posters will be among other items for sale. The sale will happen at 45 S. Main, cash and credit cards accepted but no checks, all sales final with no exchanges.

Last night I went to Bardog to have a few beers with my buddy Duck Finkley, who is back in town and off the boat as of yesterday. There was an interesting announcement on one of the boards: On Sunday, December 9 from 5 PM to 3 AM, there will be guest chefs from McEwen’s performing live, “with heavy-handed guest bartending,” at Bardog.

The Flying Saucer will have its annual Beerknurd party on Sunday, December 16 at 7 PM. There will be a free Beerknurd Buffet, along with the tapping of a keg of rare beer. You must be a Beerknurd to attend. How do you become a Beerknurd? Ask a server or bartender about joining the Saucer’s UFO Club. It’s $18 and you get a T-shirt, a UFO Club card to use in their beer computer, a free birthday beer every year, the chance to take quizzes online and earn free bar bucks, and more benefits including the yearly party. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

A device similar to the medical tricorder used on Star Trek will be commercially available in late 2013. The Gizmodo article states, “You simply place it on the left temple and, in less than ten seconds, it will read your pulse transit time, heart rate, electrical heart activity, temperature, heart rate variability and blood oxygenation. Then it sends this information to an app on your iPhone or Android phone, which displays it for you. You can even store your vitals for tracking, which could prove fundamental to many health situations at home.” As someone who has an elderly parent who has had heart problems, this is REALLY cool. The tricorder will only cost about $150.

I’ve been asked to mention that Amy LaVere, John Paul Keith and Shawn Zorn played Mollie Fontaine’s Wednesday night and will be there for several more Wednesdays. Good place to chill out and hear some live music.

FedEx’s Fred Smith says that the idea that raising taxes on the rich will kill jobs is mythology. Warren Buffett said something similar a couple of weeks ago.

Big day at the FedExForum tomorrow. Tigers play at 12, Grizzlies at 7.

Tonight the Grizzlies have an away game at New Orleans. Not sure where I’ll watch it. “Grizzville” at Max’s Sports Bar is a possibility.

Normally I don’t lead off with non-Downtown news, but this is from a former calculus student of mine so I am making an exception. Her cat is missing in the Chickasaw Gardens area. The cat has one ear and a limp, so she should be easy to spot. See poster below:

Kerry made a post to the I Love Memphis Blog that is a must-bookmark: Where to find free Wi-Fi in Memphis

Trolley Stop Market is running a mini-farmers market until 3 today. Veggies, cookies, Christmas wreaths, take-home meals, and more.

There will be plenty to see and do at AutoZone Park’s Rockeyfeller Plaza Saturday afternoon. Starting at 1, there will be Christmas caroling by the Millington Girl Scouts. You’ll be able to get your photo taken with Rockey Redbird in front of the park’s 35-foot-tall Christmas tree. At 3 PM Star and Micey will take the stage.

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra will perform “Home for the Holidays,” featuring the most-loved and coziest holiday and Christmas melodies, on Saturday the 8th. There will be an afternoon and an evening performance in the Cannon Center. Tickets are $15. Get tickets here.

If you’re wondering what’s going on in the Twitter-Instagram war, here’s a summary. Thanks to local social media expert @alysdrake for tweeting this link. Short summary: If you use the Instagram photo-sharing service, you can no longer publish photos to Twitter from Instagram and have your followers see your photos in their Twitter feed. Instagram wants viewers to go to its own site to view photos, rather than Twitter.

I started last night at the Flying Saucer but didn’t stay long. My friend Kyla came in. Kyla bartends at Slider Inn, and before that she worked at Aldo’s Pizza Pies and the Saucer itself. She and I and another regular, Leo, were having a good time chatting and catching up, when a manager came over and told her, “You gotta go.” She looked puzzled and the manager said, “You screwed us over, so you can’t be in here.” You see, back in late May/early June, Kyla put in her two weeks notice at the Saucer when she got the job at Aldo’s. She worked all the way through the two weeks, only no-showing her final shift. And for that they’re still banning her six months later. I thought that was unnecessary, stupid, and petty, so I tabbed out too. I could understand it if she’d stolen from the company or served alcohol to a 14-year-old, but no-showing her final shift, in an industry where that kind of thing happens all the time? C’mon man.

Kyla and I went to Blind Bear and started shooting pool. It was their Prohibition repeal party and Charles was calling Prohibition trivia. We hadn’t intended to play trivia, but Charles needed us to play in order to have the minimum number of teams for him to start. We got the entire first two rounds perfect, and I began to wonder if I was about to see my first perfect score in seven years of playing trivia. We fell apart in round 3 though. Too bad, because that $50 gift card would have just about exactly covered the amount we drank.

I considered playing in the blackjack tournament that followed trivia, but I decided not to. I used to know when to hit, stand, split or double in every possible case, but that was 10 years ago. Kinda curious how blackjack works in a tournament format. I’ll have to ask Jamie or Colin to explain it to me next time I go in, which will likely be tonight.

I was also at the Silly Goose Prohibition party but missed the Nuh-Uh Girl standing on top of the Goose’s five-foot-tall giant Jenga game. Someone have must have offered her free food to get up there.

Meanwhile, the suburbanite who has been pictured on this blog several times lately had a big night too. She went Christmas shopping, and after that she went to the Chili’s on Craft-Goodman Road in Olive Branch. She got the appetizer trio, and she reported this morning that potato skins were among the appetizers she chose. Exciting! We miss out on so much leading our sheltered Downtown lives.

Time to go run errands. If more news comes in I’ll do a second post after work.

Today is the 79th anniversary of repeal of the stupidest thing Congress ever passed, Prohibition. To celebrate, two Downtown bars will throw repeal parties tonight.

The Silly Goose will have a party starting at 8. They will serve up classic cocktails and smooth jazz. The Goose used to have a long menu of Depression-era drinks, and it’s good to see some of them brought back for one night. They probably won’t be a dollar like they were when the Goose did Depression Mondays though.

Around the corner on Main Street, the Blind Bear speakeasy will start off at 7 with Prohibition trivia, followed by era music by a sextet. There will also be a blackjack tournament to benefit St. Jude, a costume contest, and drink specials throughout the night. Being a speakeasy, the Bear has a “Giggle Water” menu of 1933-era drinks. Winners of the costume contest and blackjack tournament will each receive a $100 gift card.

I plan on hitting both parties tonight. The Bear is asking guests to dress like it’s 1933. I have no idea what people wore in 1933. I guess I’ll wear my 1920s costume and explain that due to the Depression, I haven’t had money to buy new clothes in four years. Thinking about going “Marty style” and wearing a necktie with a T-shirt.

City Market is introducing the Bollywood Burger today. The burger is made with Indian secret spices, and it is said that “the bold flavor and spices will leave your mouth with heaty meaty explosion.” They are passing out free samples of the burger today. Free samples? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

The Memphis Tigers host Ohio tonight at the FedExForum at 6 PM. Ohio is not ranked, but this is a chance to get a win against a team that did well in the NCAA tournament last year. Due to the early start time, Double J Smokehouse and Saloon is starting their Happy Hour an hour early, at 3 PM. Their limo will start shuttling people to FedExForum for free beginning at 5:15. Let the limo take you back too, and play some poker… Muruako’s poker game in the loft bar starts at 8, but you can get in through the first four blind levels, so as long as you’re there by 9 you should be good.

Last week I posted about Reindeer Games, a new festival that will happen in Court Square Saturday, December 15 from noon to 5. The purpose of the festival is to raise money for Idlewild Elementary’s 5th grade class trip to Washington DC. I posted that after the festival there will be a pub crawl, and I now have more information on that. The pub crawl will visit Local, Blind Bear, Green Beetle, and Double J, and more stops may be added between now and then. A $5 wristband will get you drink specials at all the pub crawl bars. Wristband purchases will also go toward the class trip, and bands can be purchased at the festival or along the way on the pub crawl.

The Majestic Grille will show The Thin Man this Sunday, December 9 at 7:30 PM, on the big screen with sound. In addition to their regular menu, they will offer a special Sunday supper menu for $26.95. This week’s Sunday Supper menu: mixed greens salad, petite rib eye with bearnaise sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, broccolini, and choice of the Majestic’s signature desserts. Reservations are recommended; call 901-522-8555 to make reservations.

There’s a flu bug going around that I hear is nastier than usual and attacking people earlier than usual in the season. Several of my friends are fighting it right now. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: If you have the flu, STAY HOME. Do not go to work. You are not being a trooper if you go in to work, you are being an ass for potentially infecting all your co-workers. For the life of me I don’t understand people who think they’re cheating their company by taking sick days. Sick days are a benefit, just like vacation, 401(k) plans, and insurance. Use your benefit.

Plans for tonight: Quick mayorship defense at the Saucer around 6, then bouncing back and forth between Goose and Bear’s Prohibition parties for the remainder of the night. Should be a fun Wednesday evening. Come out and party like it’s 1933! What else are you going to do, put on your PJs at 6 PM like suburbanites do?

Drunk post, although I typed much of it after work and didn’t hit Publish. I went to the Flying Saucer and drank some high-alcohol beers toward my plate. In the restroom a dude bragged that he’d been there every day since Friday.

“I’ve been here every day since June,” I replied.

Now that Aldo’s Pizza Pies has established itself as one of the top places to get pizza in Memphis, the restaurant is looking to build its reputation as a place to drink beer. Today they tweeted, “guess who’s starting a Beer Club? With all sorts of perks!!!” Beer club? Perks? I like the sound of that!

Also, a couple of days ago, Aldo’s asked all its followers to keep an eye on Twitter in the coming weeks for info about their Beer of the Day. Aldo’s has 30 craft beers on tap, and another 20 in bottles.

How-to of the Day: How to make beer can Christmas ornaments. Follow the tips in this article and you will have the best looking Christmas tree in the trailer park! If you get really good at making them, perhaps you can strike a deal for them to be sold in the West Memphis Walmart.

Chefs/caterers: You have the chance to win the title of Culinary King/Queen of Memphis and represent the city on a new cable TV show. Details of the show are not complete, but it is said to not be a spinoff of another show, and the producers have worked with the Food Network before.

AP reports that Arkansas has hired Bret Bielema as its new head football coach. Bielema is currently the coach of the Wisconsin Badgers and has led them to three consecutive Rose Bowl appearances. He was coach of the team that beat the Hogs in the 2007 Capital One Bowl.

There’s going to be a Holiday Harmony Festival on Main Street between Union and Peabody Place this weekend, December 7-9. Plenty of shopping and dining. For details, see the image below (click it to view in a larger size).

Sleep in preparation for a long day tomorrow. Murphy’s Law is in full effect this week at work.

A couple of big events happen Downtown tonight. For one, the Grizzlies will host the Phoenix Suns at the FedExForum at 7. Insider tip: If you want to catch some authentic Memphis live music after the game, check out the Memphis Bluesmasters. They will play at the Blues Hall from 8 to midnight. The Blues Hall is on Beale Street just west of Third, next door to Rum Boogie Cafe.

The other big thing going on is the opening night of The Jersey Boys at the Orpheum. The show is a documentary of the 1960s musical group the Four Seasons. It had a run here a few years ago, and was so popular that the theatre decided to bring it back. The show will run through December 16.

The Memphis Farmers Market will hold a Holiday Market this Saturday, December 8, at the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson next to the train station. Plenty of locally-sourced gifts and goodies will be available for purchase from 10 AM to 2 PM.

America’s Got Talent will hold auditions next Tuesday, December 11 at the Cook Convention Center. More info and details on how to pre-register here.

The Humane Society will offer $5 pet vaccines near Downtown Saturday, December 15. They’ll be at the corner of Linden and Lauderdale from 9 AM to 1 PM. The idea is not to compete with local veterinarians, but rather to serve people who might not otherwise be able to afford to vaccinate their pets. However, there are no income or residency restrictions. Cats must be in carriers, and dogs must be on leashes.

The Blind Bear has announced its one-year anniversary party for the night of Thursday, December 20. There will be live music from multiple bands, line up TBA. Bean (with Rodney Phillips), Craig Davis, Back Road Syndicate (Dale Nolan’s band), and more. Specials and gift card giveaways to be announced.

Stella Artois is the featured glass for “buy the beer, collect the glass” night tomorrow at the Flying Saucer. The Stella glass is one of the best brewery glasses around. I’ve collected a set of four from previous glass nights.

In other Saucer news, they’ve listened to popular demand and started carrying cinnamon whisky. They’ve had it at the Cordova location for a while already, and now it’s Downtown too. Bar owners/managers, if you want to start carrying cinnamon whisky, shoot me an email at paul.ryburn@gmail.com. I have a friend in the liquor business who can get you set up.

Excellent AP column this morning about the college football postseason: Are you ready for some bowls? We aren’t. I do disagree with one point made in the column, when the writer called USC the most underachieving team in college football. Nope, that would be Arkansas.

That’s the news for now. Possibly a second post tonight.

If you’re Downtown for lunch and love spicy foods, check out Elliott’s restaurant on Second Street this week. For one week only they will have the Red Sea G on the menu. It’s a gyro with hummus and hot habanero curry sauce dressed with lettuce, tomato and onion. “Not for the weak,” owner Harry posted.

Around the corner at the Little Tea Shop, Miss Su is offering to make your holiday side dishes if you give her 48 hours’ notice. She’ll even make the dishes in your own cookware.

This coming Sunday, December 9, the Metal Museum will have an open house from noon to 5 with free admission. It will be a reception for Exhibition in Print: Gothic Jewelry and Tributaries: Lola Brooks. There will be a holiday treat contest and Godiva chocolate sales. Visitors can participate in the museum’s hands-on activities (regularly priced). Artist Lola Brooks will speak in the gallery at 4 PM.

The Majestic Grille is putting in a new draft beer system this week. In the meantime, draft beers will be off the menu. You can still choose from their bottled beer selection. May I recommend the PBR?

My friends Air Traffic Mike and Splitty the Maul have announced a food blogger named Pepe will be guest posting on Air Traffic Mike’s blog this week. Pepe’s specialty is said to be reviewing food from gas station delis.

Tulsa will play Iowa State in the Liberty BowllllllZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz……..

Following the Lakers’ loss last night, Kobe Byrant said that fellow Laker (and former Grizzly) Paul Gasol needs to “put his big-boy pants on.” Is there any doubt who the better Gasol is this year in the NBA?

Plans for tonight: Poker at the Silly Goose. The game starts at 8:30, but since you can show up late through the first four blind levels, I plan to show up around 9:30. That will let me get an extra hour in at Pint Nite next door, and I’ll also avoid some of the foolishness that players indulge in early on in the game.