To welcome Southwest Airlines to Memphis, I would like to use their stock ticker symbol in a sentence.

I just LUV those tube tops!!!!!

Work got out early yesterday, so I met my BBQ teammate Kao from Mexico for a few beers at the Saucer. After a while we migrated over to the Silly Goose. Daniel is getting a lot of new products in this week for the Goose’s new menu of hand-crafted cocktails. “Hey Paul, I want to show you something,” Daniel said.

He brought over a bottle of bitters. However, these were not just any bitters. They were “Memphis Barbeque Bitters.” Daniel opened the bottle. “Smell it,” he said. It smelled delicious. I would most certainly take a break from my customary PBR to have a drink made with those. Daniel also let me try his homemade Bloody Mary mix, and it is good. If you like BBQ I think you will like that mix.

I posted to Facebook about the bitters, and received a tip… At Muse at Main and Gayoso, you can get a Khakiman No. 901 candle that smells like BBQ.

The Metal Museum is doing a thing called Whet Tuesday on Tuesday, June 3. They say that it is part of a series of events to enjoy the museum’s grounds after hours. You can whet your appetite with a specialty drink from the cash bar or Caribbean food from Paul’s Cariflavor food truck while enjoying the sunset over the river. There will be live music by the string duet Scroll, foundry classes, and the museum’s new exhibition Protective Ornament. Hours were listed as 5-7 PM in the press release, but that can’t be right because the sun is nowhere near setting at 7 PM.

There will be an “Art Lounge on the Dock” at the future home of South Main ArtSpace Lofts (United Warehouse Building) from 6 to 9 PM next Friday, May 30, as part of South Main Trolley Night. There will be a live music, drama and comedy revue featuring Naomi Moody, Lost on Stage Comedy Troupe and others. Free and open to the public, free refreshments. Free food? Wonder if the… oh, wait, she’s in California now. The future loft building is at 138 St. Paul, one block south of G.E. Patterson.

Plans for today: As usual I will start off at Panda’s bar at Bardog at 11. I hope Panda got the memo that it’s Tube Top Month. After that I’ve got to stop by Jack’s Food Store to get PBR for tonight and then take a “halftime” break. I’m meeting up with some people for Sunset Symphony around 6ish. The meeting place is the south entrance of the park, so I have a mile and a half walk. I don’t mind though – it makes sense, because most of the people I’m meeting up with are coming from East Memphis and the parking situation is better down there than it is in the Downtown core. The group I’m meeting up with is not my usual Downtown group (although a few of them may come too), so I need to be on my best behavior and not turn into “BBQ Fest Paul.” (Although, I will bring a pen in case anyone from the group figures out I’m “Mr. Load-in” and wants an autograph.) Going to try to stay up late and watch the meteor shower if it isn’t too cloudy.

The free Fireball or moonshine shot for the first female 21 or over who comes up to me in a tube top and asks for it is still up for grabs. I’ve pretty much told you where I will be at 11 today, so someone come claim it. (Bartenders ARE eligible to claim the shot, by the way.)