Month: April 2014

Tonight is the first fireworks night of the season at AutoZone Park. After the conclusion of the Redbirds game, there will be a fireworks display set to Memphis music. This is the first of 14 fireworks nights this season. Select Redbirds players will be in the plaza signing autographs from 5:00 to 5:30. PRO TIP: Get those autographs. From what I’ve been told, the Redbirds are loaded with talent this year, and many of the players would be called up to the majors except for the fact that the Cardinals are loaded with talent also. You could find yourself holding some major-league autographs within a year. Free 2014 Redbirds schedule magnet to the first 3000 fans. First pitch is at 6:05 PM.

If you feel like a trip to Midtown, the Overton Square crawfish festival is happening today from 12 to 6.

It’s also opening day at Mud Island River Park. Park opens at 10 and there will be a rock ‘n’ romp there this afternoon.

If you’re going to the Memphis Farmers Market, check out South Main Book Juggler afterward. At 1 PM they will have an after-the-market reading by Mississippi poets.

I want to send a shout-out to Tamp & Tap. A friend of mine is a member of a social organization that throws parties around Memphis, and he needed to set up its monthly happy hour. After not having calls returned by another Downtown business, he called Tamp & Tap. They told him repeatedly, “we’ll take good care of you” and indeed they did, reserving a private area with plenty of room for the 25+ attendees of the happy hour.

Shawn from Kooky Canuck tweeted that the restaurant is getting ready to launch some new menu items in the next two weeks: Maple Bacon Burger, Poutine Grilled Cheese, & Bacon Waffle Monte Cristo.

A bill has passed the Tennessee Senate allowing high-gravity beer to be sold in grocery stores. The House now has to pass a similar bill. The bill would allow beer with up to 8% ABV to be sold in groceries.

Time to start off my 3-day weekend right, at Panda’s bar at Bardog at 11. High of around 80 is predicted for today. Tube top weather!

Memphis Beer Week makes its return April 21-26. Events will be held at restaurants, bars, and other places in Memphis that sell beer that week. Here’s the complete list of events. I’ll say more about the events as time gets closer.

Yesterday I blogged that famous St. Louis restaurant Sweetie Pie’s will be coming to Beale Street. Since then I have learned the exact location: It will be in the old Have a Nice Day Cafe location at Fourth and Beale. The restaurant, by the way, has its own TV show on the Oprah network.

Yesterday I stopped by the Blind Bear to pick up a new T-shirt:

I’ll be supporting the Bear in my new T-shirt Sunday for Beale Street Wine Race. Events start at 1 with a parade into Handy Park. That will be followed by Queen of the Vine, a grape stomp, and a 4-person wine relay. This is an event that is a must-see. (Might not want to bring your kids unless they’ve grown up around the service industry.) The formal events end around 5 and then it’s a big party at all the Downtown bars will last into the night. Past experience has taught me that it’s a very good idea to take a vacation day the Monday after Wine Race, so this is a 3-day weekend for me.

Now this is very cool: Turn ice cream into muffins with only one extra ingredient

In France, it is now illegal to answer work emails after 6 PM.

Grizzlies play the Philadelphia 76ers at the FedExForum. As important as it was that the Grizzlies beat a good team, Miami, it’s equally important that we not lose to a dreadful team like Philly in order to make the playoffs. I hope Adonis Thomas gets put in and gets a nice ovation from the crowd.

A few more hours, then my three-day weekend begins. I will probably lead off at Bardog tonight and figure out the rest from there.

This morning Paul Morris, who runs DMC, made an announcement on Twitter: Sweetie Pie’s Kitchen has signed a lease on Beale Street. The restaurant serves Mississippi style cooking and is quite well-known in the St. Louis area.

Opening night for the Redbirds is tomorrow night, with the first pitch at 7:05. The plaza area will be open for a block party from 5 to 7, as it will be every Friday this season, with $2 beer specials and live music by the King Beez. First 3000 fans will receive a T-shirt commemorating AutoZone Park’s 15th anniversary.

The Bluff City Backsliders will play Cafe Keough tomorrow night at 8. There is no cover for this show, and they have a full liquor bar now.

The 19th annual Overton Square crawfish festival is Saturday, from noon to 6 PM, on Madison between Morrison and Cooper.

Congratulations to the Blind Bear, which won “Hippest Bar Setting” in Memphis Magazine’s recent restaurant poll. I like to think that my tenure as Foursquare mayor of the Bear had something to do with the “hippest” recognition. Just kidding.

This doesn’t surprise me one bit: Memphis ranked 6th among large cities for urban sprawl

Excellent win by the Grizzlies last night. By beating the Heat, a team we were expected to lose to, we’re back in the playoff conversation. We’re still in 9th place, a game behind Phoenix. However, Phoenix has a tougher schedule for their last four games than we do, and we own the tiebreaker if we finish with identical records.

Don’t forget that the first South Main bocce tournament happens at Main and Talbot tonight starting at 5:30.

That’s it for now. I’ll be out tonight as usual, leading off at the Silly Goose around 5ish.

 

In anticipation of Memphis in May and its honored country Panama, the South Main Dirty Dozen are coming together to throw a Carnaval de Panama on Saturday, April 25. The fun kicks off at 9 PM in The Warehouse, which is the green building on the northeast corner of Front and G.E. Patterson. You may have heard of the Dirty Dozen parties, which have been some of the best parties Downtown. In the past they have been invite-only, but now that they have expanded into a larger space, Carnaval de Panama will be open to the public. You don’t want to miss this!

I don’t normally mention East Memphis restaurants, but this one has a Downtown connection so I will make an exception. Lettuce Eat is a new restaurant serving healthy food that opens today at 6641 Poplar. If you work out East, check them out for lunch sometime.

The Front Street Deli will be closed for lunch this Friday.

The London Sunday Times reports that British royals will be in Memphis next month for a wedding, including Princes William and Harry and Kate Middleton.

This is cool: Grizzlies fan “Bongo Lady” has been named NBA Fan of the Year.

The MBJ reports that Memphis Area Legal Services will move into the top floor of the Falls Building at Front and Court.

I was shocked to come home last night and read that the Ultimate Warrior had passed away at the age of 54. Just this past weekend, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and he totally reshaped his image in his induction speech. To be frank, for most of his career and retirement, the Warrior had a reputation of being only out for himself, a complete prick, and batshit crazy. However, in his retirement speech he showed a lot of respect for the business, and was gracious to each and every person he worked with, from the guy who set up the ring all the way up to the main eventers. For years he had not been admitted to the Hall of Fame because of differences with WWE chairman Vince McMahon. However, they patched things up and signed a deal, and he went in as part of the class of ’14.

His final appearance was on Monday Night Raw, where he gave a speech that started, “No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe a final breath.” The next day, after taking photos with at least one fan in the New Orleans airport, he suffered a heart attack at the Phoenix airport and died a short time later. It’s like he called his own death with his speech on Raw.

RIP Warrior. I don’t think you could have possibly gone out on a higher note. And on that note, I will bring this Wednesday post to a close.

Looking around the Web this afternoon, it looks like enough info is out there to warrant a second post of the day. Let’s see what we’ve got:

Tamp & Tamp will host an Abita Cask-Conditioned Spring IPA Firkin Party this Friday, April 11 starting at 5 PM. If you don’t know what is so special about drinking beer that came out of a firkin as opposed to a keg, this article explains.

This isn’t a Downtown restaurant, but near enough that I’ll blog it anyway: There’s a Groupon for The Port restaurant on President’s Island that has about three days left to buy. You can get three $6 vouchers for $10, or six $6 vouchers for $18.

Memphis Trolley Unplugged will return Friday and Saturday, April 18 and 19. From 6 to 8 PM each night, local musicians will ride the trolley and perform on the Riverfront Loop trolleys. PRO TIP: Bring a fire extinguisher and sit as near the exit as possible.

The Madison Hotel has announced the return of its Beatles Breakfast atop its rooftop garden, Twilight Sky Terrace. Beginning April 26, you’ll be able to enjoy coffee and pastries with the sounds of the Beatles in the background. The breakfast will be held Saturdays and Sundays from 8 AM to 11:30 PM.

Speaking of the Madison, the hotel will begin its Thursday night rooftop party series on April 24, while the Peabody’s will begin on April 17. I will have more details on both parties in future blog posts.

Well, this is interesting: Rev. Al Sharpton was an FBI informant in the 1980s, and his spying work helped bring down Vincent “Chin” Gigante, don of the Genovese crime family in New York. Gigante was known to wander around in his pajamas and feign insanity, and Sharpton may have helped prove that he was sane and that he was the boss. Gigante, fearful of being wiretapped, forbade mafiosi to speak his name, with death the punishment. Mobsters were instead to point at their chin or make the letter “C” and say “that guy” when they needed to refer to him in conversation. However, I guess the good Reverend was exempt from Mafia rules.

Getting ready to play some poker tonight at Blind Bear. Free to play, game starts at 8. Plenty of time left to accumulate points in the Bear’s 16-week league that just started, plus nightly winner gets a $50 gift card.

The 5th annual Bark in the Ballpark happens this Sunday at 1:35 at AutoZone Park. This is the annual Redbirds game where you can purchase tickets to sit in a special section with your dog and watch the game. Dollar hot dogs for humans, free admission for dogs, Jake the Diamond Dog will perform and kids can run the bases after the game. Call 901-722-0270 and ask for Nathan to get tickets at a special discounted price of $12.

Yesterday I posted about a trolley fire on Madison, the second in five months. Yesterday MATA announced that it is suspending the Madison trolley line because of the fires. Buses will run in place of the trolleys. I wonder why MATA thinks the street the trolley is running on has anything to do with their safety.  I remember seeing one smoking at the Peabody Place trolley stop on Main Street within the past year, although thankfully it didn’t catch fire.

Congratulations to former Memphis Tiger men’s basketball player Adonis Thomas, who has signed with the Philadelphia 76ers for the remainder of the NBA season. We’ll get to see Adonis Friday night when the 76ers come to town.

The James Lee House, the Victorian mansion at 690 Adams that has been renovated into a bed & breakfast, is having an open house on Thursday, April 17. There will be a ribbon-cutting as well. The B&B already has bookings as far out as September.

Downtown is losing its only French crêperie. Monsieur Demarcus French Crêperie is moving to Midtown, in a location on Madison near Cleveland. The restaurant had been in the old Neely’s building on Jefferson, but the decision was made to move because of concerns about the building.

That’s it for this Tuesday. Congrats to our conference foe UConn for winning the NCAA championship last night.

A trolley on the Madison Avenue line caught fire this morning. It happened near Stop 345 at Madison near Danny Thomas. The fire was said to have started near the driver’s legs, and it rapidly spread. No one was injured, thank goodness. This is the second trolley fire in less than six months.

We’re getting closer to the end of the playoff race in the NBA’s Western Conference, and things are not looking good for the Grizzlies. Last night the Grizzlies got clobbered by San Antonio, and meanwhile Phoenix beat Oklahoma City. That leaves the Grizzlies in ninth place, a game behind Phoenix in eighth. If the season ended today, Memphis would be in the draft lottery with a 0.5 chance of drawing the first pick. A win at home Wednesday against the Miami Heat would be a good way to get back in the playoff hunt, but that is not going to be easy.

The RDC is thinking about opening a restaurant of its own at Beale Street Landing, since no Beale Street restaurant management company is willing to take the project on. The restaurant will be discussed at the RDC’s board meeting tomorrow.

There’s a Fundly campaign going on to raise money for outdoor furniture for the new South Main bocce court.

Stuff going on Downtown tonight: Crawfish night at Local, trivia night at Cafe Keough (7:30), $3 pint nite at Flying Saucer.

Beer lovers: Bernoulli Brew Werks, a homebrew shop at 2881 Poplar that supplies local home brewers with yeasts, grains, hops and the equipment to brew, is having an event this Saturday, April 12. It’s almost BBQ season, so they are having a trial run for their team “The BBQ Experiment.” The public is invited to come enjoy some BBQ and help them brew some beer. This will be a kid-friendly event.

Last night I used my WWE Network subscription to watch WrestleMania on my phone while playing poker. It got distracting, so I turned it off at the start of the Undertaker-Brock Lesnar match, figuring there was no doubt what would be the outcome of that one. About 25 minutes later, I got a shock. One of the other players told me, “They broke the streak.” I turned the WWE back on, and there was Undertaker walking up the ramp, dejected, with a “21-1” graphic on the Jumbotron. For the first time ever, Taker had lost at WrestleMania. As Ron Simmons would say, DAMN.

That’ll wrap it up for now. Can’t wait to see what happens on Monday Night Raw. Undertaker-Sting at WrestleMania 31? Hope so.

Not a whole lot to report today, but let’s get to it.

The Memphis Farmers Market is open and will be running until 1 PM at Front and G.E. Patterson. If you can’t make it today, the market will be there 7 AM-1 PM every Saturday through October.

I received a tip last night that I thought I would pass along. T.J. is back char-grilling oysters at Pearl’s Oyster House at S. Main and Pontotoc. The man is extremely talented. I have never had better grilled oysters. If you are a seafood fan at all, these are a must-try.

Good luck to a few Facebook friends of mine who are participating in the Atoka BBQ Fest today.

South Main got named one of 10 undercover stylish neighborhoods in the U.S.

Fun night at Bardog last night with my BBQ team president and one of the leaders of Squeal Street BBQ. Great conversation. I never got farther than Bardog, a 1-block walk from my front door.

Back at Bardog at 11 this morning for Saturday with Panda. Calendar is wide-open after that.

(If you’re a web developer, you understand the title. Otherwise, don’t worry about it)

Since a lot of entrepreneurs read my blog, I thought I’d start today with an idea I had for an app or a website that maybe someone can pick up and run with. This morning I was looking forward to tomorrow, my usual Saturday at Bardog. Oftentimes on Saturday, Panda will decide “It’s too quiet in here” and take out a few dollars and hand them to customers to put in the jukebox. I never take Panda up on her offer of jukebox dollars – I don’t feel like flipping through 100 CDs to find 8 or 10 songs I’d like to play. That would take me away from my PBR for 15 or 20 minutes, an unacceptably long time.

Then I thought about what I do when I know I will be dining at a particular restaurant. I pull up the restaurant’s menu, either on its website or a third-party website that aggregates menus. I figure out what I want before I go. That way, I don’t waste a lot of time looking over the menu when I get there, and it lets me get excited in advance about the food. What if there were an app or website that aggregates what’s on the jukebox? If I could sit there in my desk chair at home and spend some time looking over what’s in Bardog’s jukebox, I’d be more likely to accept Panda’s money, or put my own in, and play some songs.

So there you go. If anyone wants to take that idea and run with it, be my guest. And now, on with the news.

The Grizzlies host the Denver Nuggets tonight at 6:00, and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN. If you can, get there early so the arena will be full at the start of the broadcast. This is a must-win game for the Grizzlies, who are locked in a tight struggle with Dallas and Phoenix for 7th, 8th, and 9th places in the Western Conference. At the end of the regular season, 7th and 8th places get seeds in the playoffs, while 9th place stays home. The Grizzlies must beat teams like Denver that they are expected to beat if they are to stay out of 9th.

Neighbors are worried that the building that once housed Prince Mongo’s nightclub could come crumbling down soon. The building is on Front Street and backs up to Center Lane, known to locals as Scratchy’s Alley. It is already leaning. Police have put up barricades in the alley but those only block vehicles from going through. Pedestrians use that alley as a shortcut all the time, and at least one homeless person (Jimmy AKA “Scratchy”) is known to sleep there.

New post on the Flyer’s Hungry Memphis blog: A visit to Cake Gallery Baketique, which has many more sweets than just cakes. It’s on Madison just east of the Brass Door. How could I have had no idea that place was there, when it’s so close to home?

Moody Ques BBQ teammates: An email just went out to the team. If you didn’t get it let me know and I’ll make sure the team has your address. Last day to pay is April 15. Our pitmaster Chef David Scott Walker and his team have decided to enter all the ancillary events: beef, poultry, seafood, exotic, sauces, and hot wings.

Last night I attended the second Thursday poker night at Cafe Keough. Several players who had not been in the cafe yet came with me, and one commented, “You weren’t kidding, Paul, this place is really cool.” Poker players, if you haven’t made it to Cafe Keough yet, you’re missing out on a good time.

That’s all for today. Just a few more hours until the weekend. I wish the 80-degree weather from yesterday had stuck around, but I’ll take whatever weekend I can get.

Tennessee Brewery Untapped, the project of putting community-driven events in the Tennessee Brewery in April and May in hopes of raising awareness and finding a permanent buyer, has scheduled its first event. There will be live music the weekend of April 25-26, with Caleb Sweazy at 6 PM Friday the 25th, Apollo Mighty at 4 PM Saturday the 24th, and Josh Crosby and Jeremy Stanfill at 6 PM Saturday the 26th. The event series was granted a license to serve beer yesterday, and will serve only locally-made craft beers, including beers from High Cotton, Ghost River, Wiseacre, and Memphis Made.

Volunteer “community build” sessions will be held in the brewery Saturday, April 5, 12, and 19 at 10 AM. At these times the furniture, tables and seating for Untapped will be constructed. They have hit capacity for volunteers this Saturday, but still need people for the 12th and 19th. If you want to volunteer, email BreweryUntapped901@gmail.com.

Memphis in May is hiring for a variety of seasonal jobs that will run through April and May.

Brackets have been posted for the April 10 bocce tournament on South Main. My vote for best team name: “Bocce Told Me She Was 18 Officer”

That’s it for now. Short post today. I hate it that I am going to miss the Memphis Made beer dinner (7 PM) at the Flying Saucer but I want to support the second week of my friends’ Thursday poker night at Cafe Keough. First deal is 8 PM.