Month: February 2015

Plans for One Beale are back on the table. Carlisle Corp. tried to start on this massive project eight years ago, but had to abandon it when the recession hit. Now they are ready to take another shot. One Beale is proposed to consist of two towers, one 30 stories tall, that would include 300 hotel rooms and 280 apartments, as well as office space and space for meetings and retail. It will be located at the corner of Riverside and Beale.

I don’t normally post a lot of Valentine’s Day-related events on account of the fact that Valentine’s Day sucks, but for beer dinners I will make an exception. The downtown Central BBQ and Wiseacre Brewing Co. are hosting “LoveMeatBeer: An Almost Valentine’s Day Dinner” on Thursday, February 12 at 6:30 PM. Seating is limited; call 901-672-7760 or email JC@cbqmemphis.com to reserve your seat.

Live music recommendation: The Eric Hughes Trio plays the Blind Bear Saturday night at 10. Great band, great venue. Note to self: My “halftime” nap on Saturday cannot last until 8 AM Sunday morning as has happened the last two Saturdays.

Bluff City Coffee is going to start doing “Bake Sale Fridays” starting not this Friday but next, February 13. The sale will start at 6:30 AM and last until they sell out.

Also on February 13, the Say Cheese gourmet grilled cheese food truck will make its debut, parked outside the High Cotton tap room from 4 to 9 PM. More info here.

If you go to South of Beale and like the art you see on the wall, their artist is giving away a painting. Go here for details on what you need to do to enter to win.

From Thrillist: Bad decision bars in Memphis. This is awesome even though a couple of my favorite Downtown joints made the list. I’d suggest that the author go to Silly Goose about 12:30 AM on a weekend night; she might have a 15th item on her list if she did. By the way, to clarify, going to these bars are not bad decisions in and of themselves; it’s that you tend to make a lot of bad decisions once you are inside.

Google is close to launching a ride-hailing app that would compete with Uber and Lyft.

Be careful if you’re out driving late tonight, because rain will fall early evening and it could turn into snow. No late-night driving for me, just some PBR. I’ll kick the evening off at the Silly Goose (where I hopefully won’t make any bad decisions) about 5:30 this afternoon.

On Monday, February 23, there will be a fundraiser for Cozy Corner. The popular BBQ restaurant on North Parkway caught on fire early last month. It will have to be rebuilt to meet current codes, and not all of the costs are covered by insurance. So, some of the city’s best chefs are stepping in to lend a hand, preparing delicious food to help Cozy Corner get its doors back open.

The Lion King begins its 4-week run at the Orpheum tonight.

Another day, another call for artists: The DMC is looking for artists to design new banners that hang from lamp posts on the Main Street Mall. Deadline to submit application and proposed sketches is March 3.

Chez Philippe will host a 5-course wine dinner on Wednesday, February 23 featuring food by Chef Andreas Kisler paired with wines from Silverado Vineyards in Napa Valley. Here’s the menu.

A judge in San Francisco has ruled that Lyft and Uber drivers should be treated as employees, not independent contractors, in what could be a setback for ride-sharing services.

Congratulations to Bleu on winning the Best Dessert award at Soup Sunday.

Libertyland’s Grand Carousel will reappear in 2017, at the Children’s Museum of Memphis.

Here’s a “You’re so Memphis if you…” story from the Memphis Flyer website: A new business called Chicken and Checks will offer payday loans and, presumably, sell chicken.

You just can’t make this shit up (pardon the pun): Mashable has an article about how to know if you’d be a good poop donor. No kidding, this is a thing. Donors are paid up to $13,000 a year.

That’ll do it for now. There may be enough news for an after-work second post today. We shall see. On the fence about whether I’ll play Blind Bear poker tonight at 8. Not really in a poker mood, but then, what else is there to do on Tuesday. Once again, we shall see.

This is awesome: Jimmy the groundhog bites the mayor of Sun Prarie, Wisconsin. Stupid mayor. Enjoy those rabies shots you’ve got coming!

From the Onion: Depressed groundhog sees the shadow of the rodent he once was

Capriccio Grille in the Peabody is doing a “Lion King” pre-theatre dinner tomorrow through March 1 from 5 PM to 7 PM. The menu features upscale cuisine from the African continent, served prior to the beginning of the shows at the Orpheum. You can view the menu here. $40 per person.

Several hundred people showed up for the first day of Bass Pro’s three-day job fair.

There’s a Groupon going on for Memphis Magazine subscriptions. You can get 50% off for one, two, or three years.

This month’s South Main Association meeting will be next Tuesday, February 10 at 6 PM, It will be at the new Rizzo’s Diner at the corner of South Main and Butler. Historian Jimmy Ogle will be the speaker, talking about the history behind the walls of South Main buildings. Rizzo’s will provide appetizers and there will he happy hour drink prices. Free for SMA members, $10 for non-members.

Artists are wanted to paint the kiosks on Main Street. Details here. You have until Tuesday, February 17 to apply.

FiveThirtyEight has a Super Bowl version of Significant Digits that is pretty interesting.

If you missed the Grizzlies Live pre-game show on Saturday night, you missed a special guest: THE NAIT’CHA BOY was stylin’ and profilin’. However, the show is on YouTube if you want to catch Ric Flair’s appearance.

Sorry there was no post on my lunchtime break. We had construction people in the office re-configuring cubicles and there was so much banging around and noise that I couldn’t hear myself think. Better late than never I guess. Back tomorrow with more news.