Tue update: Beale Street cover charge hurting merchants, DejaVu pasta demo, Redbirds, Orpheum’s Pat Halloran to lead trip to New York City, new sauces from Fireball

Today at lunchtime I posted about Beale Street’s new cover charge on late Saturday nights. The MBJ reports that Beale Street merchants suffered when the cover was charged for the first time Saturday, with a big drop in people coming onto the street between midnight and 2:30. As the article points out, Beale is normally very safe, but Saturday night is when the street gets the majority of its troublemakers: people looking to pick fights, catcall women, and bring their own alcohol onto the street rather than buying drinks.

DejaVu had a cooking demo on WREG Live at 9 today. Learn how to make the Creole restaurant’s Big Easy Pasta.

The Redbirds return home tomorrow for their final homestand of the season, in first place and very possibly playoff-bound. They play the Sacramento River Cats tomorrow at 7:05 and will be here through Wednesday the 27th. They will wrap up the season in New Orleans for five games.

Pat Halloran of the Orpheum is taking up to 30 people on a very cool trip December 4-7. It’s a trip to Manhattan for a tour of Broadway. Trip includes 4 days, 3 nights at a Times Square hotel, round-trip coach airfare, transportation to and from the airport, two Broadway tickets per person, and Sunday brunch at Sardi’s. $1,975 per person, double occupancy. More details here.

Fireball, a cinnamon whisky which is a popular shot among Downtowners, has added a line of sauces. There is an original hot sauce, a wing sauce, and a BBQ sauce. Get them here.

Home from work and it’s happy hour. I think I will kick things off at Panda’s bar at Bardog and then figure out the rest. I haven’t ruled out playing poker at Blind Bear tonight but if I do I will likely come in late.