Fun night last night. I started at the Silly Goose for the first full day of the Mayor Paul era. Drank PBR, watched video of my friends trying to sled down the top level of the frozen Peabody Place parking garage on Monday, first using Woody A. Long as a sled and then a large baking sheet. It seems that my friends don’t always have the best ideas when they’ve been shooting Fireball.
Over to the Saucer at 7, where they were tapping a cask of Lazy Magnolia Indian Summer.
It was flavored with amaretto, cinnamon, and holiday spice. If they have any left today it’s worth a try if you’re into winter warmer-style beers (no idea why they’d name a winter beer Indian Summer). Pretty tasty. One of my former co-workers apparently didn’t think much of it and tried to get me to admit it’s the worst beer at the Saucer. Even if I didn’t like it, it would be hard to make that judgment as long as Turbo Dog is on tap. Different strokes for different folks, dude.
As I blogged yesterday, my friend Karen was having her birthday party at 8 at Double J. I wasn’t particularly excited about the half-mile walk south, or standing in the cold waiting on a trolley. Turns out I didn’t have to. My friend Mikey drives the Double J limo that shuttles people to Grizzlies/Tigers games and back. He’d dropped off his last load of passengers at 7:30 and picked me up at the Saucer.
It’s hard to take a decent photo of black leather limo interior. The image above really doesn’t do it justice. I’ll say this, it’s as nice as Raiford’s limo and everyone should have the experience of riding it to the FedExForum and back at least once. Get there early and grab you a meal at the Double J, maybe one of their specials:
You never know what the J will be cooking up for their specials. Last night they had gator tail in a Cajun Creole sauce for $15. I almost ordered it just out of curiosity, but I decided I wasn’t hungry enough to tackle the gator.
The great thing about the start of a new year Downtown is that you never know what new friends you’re going to make in the next 12 months. In early 2012, I met Karen’s husband Dennis at the poker table at the Blind Bear. A few weeks later I met Karen, the birthday girl, pictured above.
Christine and Tom Shelton were among the party guests. Fun party. I hung around for a while and listened to Southern Edition on the Front Porch Stage. You know, although I’m not normally the biggest fan of country music, I can appreciate most any genre if it’s music done well. The bands at the Double J do music well.
After that it was back to the core, one beer at the Saucer, then City Market for Indian food to take home.
Random quote of the day: Yesterday driving home from work, I turned on the radio. The Gary Parrish Show was on 92.9 and Gary said something that I totally agree with. “Stupid people who realize they’re stupid, and just roll with it and have fun with it, are a blast to hang out with. Stupid people who don’t accept that they’re stupid and try to act smart are annoying.” INDEED!
Random video of the day: Thursday night it was time for another pro wrestling wedding. Bully Ray, known as Bubba Ray Dudley when he was in the WWE, was in the ring to wed Brooke Hogan, Hulk’s daughter. Hulk, although he hasn’t always seen eye to eye with Bully, was there to give his daughter away. Bully had his “extreme groomsmen,” three alumni from the old ECW promotion: Taz, now an announcer for TNA; Brother Runt, also known as Spike Dudley; and Tommy Dreamer, for years the face of ECW. Pro wrestling weddings almost never go off without a hitch, and this one was no exception. However, this one went a different direction than everyone thought it would. Very well written, and worth a watch if you were an ECW fan in the ’90s.
All right. Time to hit Publish, put laundry in the dryer, and head to Bardog at 11 to hang out at Panda’s bar. Panda posted a pic of herself in a tube top about 2 in the morning, and let me just say it will be just fine with me if she doesn’t change clothes before coming to work.