This first item makes me really sad. A lot of people are very upset that an Indian-American woman won the Miss USA pageant. As soon as she was crowned, Twitter was flooded with racist tweets, including some calling her an Arab. Really people? Whatever happened to the idea of America being a melting pot of cultures? I guess that’s the great thing about Twitter, though; it gives everyone an equal opportunity to prove how stupid and closed-minded they are. Congratulations to the new Miss USA.
Festival season is in full gear for the fall. Let’s look ahead to the coming weekend. This isn’t a festival but worth mentioning anyway: Downtown Museum Day is Saturday. Many museums in the Downtown area will offer free or half-off admission. In addition, Memphis Hop, the bus that shuttles riders to popular tourist attractions, will have half-off fares Saturday, and historian Jimmy Ogle will give two free walking tours of Downtown.
Sunday is the second annual Best Memphis Burger Fest at Minglewood Hall. This event is the creation of Seth of the Best Memphis Burger blog. It kicks off with a Best Bloody Mary contest at 9 AM. After that there will be several burger competitions, including veggie, anything but beef, extreme burger, and Best Memphis Burger. There will also be a Team Kookamonga Challenge where teams of two try to eat as much of Kooky Canuck’s giant burger in the allotted time. Four bands will perform throughout the day.
Last year I experienced the burger fest as a judge; this year I’m going to pass up the opportunity to judge to experience the festival from a competition team point of view. My friends at Squeal Street BBQ have entered, and have invited me to hang out in their booth. They’ve always been one of the most well-organized teams at BBQ Fest and it will be a pleasure to watch them operate.
There’s a South Main Logo Design contest that you can enter. Download a logo in .jpg or vector format, and put in what South Main means to you. Selected logos will be put on display at Trolley Night in September. Trolley Night attendees will vote for their favorite logo, with the designer of the top vote-getter winning $500.
People wonder why I wear my BBQ team rubber bracelet months after the festival ended. It’s a conversation starter. Yesterday it led to two people inquiring about the team who would be awesome additions. I’ll mention them next time I see one of the board members. Later in the day yesterday I crashed and burned at Blind Bear poker. There are some nights where I just show up to get my point for being there and my point for checking in on Foursquare, and I don’t really play to win. If I keep getting the points for showing up and playing well on the nights when I feel like it, I should be headed toward the league final table.
I’ll be at Pint Nite at the Flying Saucer after work, enjoying some $3 draft beers. Dos Equis Lager and maybe a few beers toward my next plate.