It’s a vacation day and I have a couple of hours to kill, so this is going to be a rather long post.
The last Friday of the month means that South Main Trolley Night is back tonight (minus the trolley). The shops and galleries along Main Street from Vance to St. Paul will stay open late (6 to 9 PM or later), many offering hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and specials and discounts. It’s a chance to not only shop but to get out and mingle with your neighbors. There will be live music up and down the street, including
- Short in the Sleeve
- History 901
- Tim Plunk
- Evan Farris
- Mara Danielle
- Shufflegrit
- Eric Crays
- Sing for Glenn
- Melinda Milligan
Also for Trolley Night, you can stop by Art Lounge on the Dock for free refreshments while you make your own art. Mama D’s Italian Ice and Frozen Pops will be vending at Trolley Night. Brittany Vega, 2013 Memphis College of Art graduate, will have a show at Leadership Memphis Gallery 363, at 363 S. Main. The gallery is curated by Jay Etkin and wine and appetizers will be served. Folks representing RiverArtsFest will be working the street, handing out info about the 8th annual arts celebration and recruiting volunteers.
There’s a Kill the Keg party today at Tamp & Tap beginning at 4 PM. $2.50 pints of local beers by Ghost River, Wiseacre, and High Cotton until they run out.
Tonight’s Memphis Jams on Beale concert is a Radio Ambiente Festival. The concert is at Handy Park, Third and Beale, beginning at 6:30 PM. It is free to attend.
MEAT-Loaf is the theme at Memphis Farmers Market tomorrow. It’s a celebration of the quality meats sold at the Farmers Market, including Black Angus beef, pork, chicken, catfish, and seafood. When you buy meat from MFM, you can be confident you are eating animals that were well-raised, and you’re also supporting the local economy. This week children can make back-to-school lunch sacks at a special workshop from 9 to 11 AM. Live music includes Bill Stanek at 7, Three Degrees at 8:30, Rick Williams at 10, and Michael Joyner at 11. Front at G.E. Patterson, 7 AM-1 PM tomorrow. There are not many farmers markets in the country that can claim to be better than this one.
Got a question for my readership. Is there a word for someone who friends you on Facebook not so much because they like you and consider you a friend, but because they want to keep tabs on what you’re up to? And you know this at the time they make the request, and they know that you know this… but it would be impolitic to ignore/refuse the request because of mutual friends. Yeah, I think I had one of those this summer. Can anyone out there relate? Is there a word in Urban Dictionary for this?
I went to the Southern Prohibition Brewery launch party last night at Blind Bear, but I didn’t get to try any of the featured beers. About 10 I was starving, so I figured I’d get some food, go home and eat, and come back. What really happened? I got food, went home to eat, fell asleep, and woke up at 2:54. I do want to try those beers, because I remembered Southern Prohibition’s beers being among the favorites I sampled at Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest last year. By the way, for new readers who haven’t heard me get on my soapbox about this… Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest is THE BEST BEER FESTIVAL IN MEMPHIS by a mile. It’s the only beer festival in Midtown that I like enough to pay for a cab ride out there and back. It happens October 11. Save the date. Yes I know there’s football that day… get some kind of mobile package where you can watch on your phone at the beerfest if you have to. If you like beer, you are missing out if you are not there.
Speaking of football, the annual tradition begins tomorrow… the annual tradition of me looking up whatever team is playing Arkansas to make sure I don’t accidentally wear that team’s colors.
Also in football news: A pink locker room awaits visiting teams that play Iowa.
Want to take a bike tour of urban chicken coops? Go here to learn how.
The In the South, It’s a Religion blog has coverage of Start Co. startup GemPhones for Fashion Find Friday.
LOLing at something I saw on Facebook today. One of my Downtown bartenders/servers took a “How many children should you have?” quiz on Buzzfeed or one of those sites. The result? It told her she should get a cat. If you know who I’m talking about, it’s totally true. Hint: Some of the beers she has served me have been served at a table covered in red or black felt. Second hint: Next time she sees me, she’s going to go, “I saw what you wrote on your blog about me. RUDE!”
Look for me if you go to the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival tomorrow. If I’m not out wandering around or at one of the stages, I’ll be inside the Blind Bear cooling off at Brad’s bar. I intend to get down there by 12:30, so my lead-off stint at Bardog will be an abbreviated one tomorrow morning.
All right, time to get the day started. I had two items on my agenda today: 1) Throw away the half eaten box of Easter candy that has been on my coffee table since April, and 2) Day drinking. However, a wise Facebook friend pointed out that I should hold on to the candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween. So I’m down to one agenda item. Better get started on it.