I want to start off today’s post with a reminder of what a wonderful community we have Downtown.
One of my friends had a couple of people over to his first-floor Downtown condo Saturday night after Sunset Symphony was over. The guests left a little after midnight. My friend didn’t bother to get up to lock the door; his building is behind a security gate so he didn’t think anything of it. He fell asleep in his living room chair, and a little while later he was awakened by the slam of a door. He got up to investigate and found that his wallet and his phone were gone.
“I was shaken up,” he told me. “I was glad I wasn’t hurt, but still, the next morning, I was ready to move out of Memphis.” He was also wondering how he was going to get through the rest of Memorial Day weekend. He had no cash, and no ATM card to go get cash, and the banks wouldn’t be open until Tuesday.
Then a beautiful thing happened. His friends heard what happened, and showed up at his door, handing him cash, in some cases as much as $200, and some of them were people who really couldn’t afford to part with that money but offered it to him anyway. “I had access to $1000 if I needed it,” my friend said. “Also, all the bars and restaurants I go to offered to run me tabs. They said, ‘If you need food, anything, order it and pay us back when you can.'” The outpouring of kindness and generosity really restored his faith in our city. Our Downtown community is truly a special one.
Compliment for a Downtown restaurant tweeted by legendary WWE announcer/Hall of Famer Jim Ross today: “Blue Plate Cafe in #Memphis best breakfast I’ve had in years.” For those new to the city, the restaurant is on the south side of Court Square and they serve lunch too.
It’s the last weekend for Tennessee Brewery: Revival. The brewery is open 11-9 today, 11-11 tomorrow and Saturday, 11-9 Sunday. Craft beer (and PBR!), food trucks, live music, art for sale, a game room, good people, good times. Invest in good times!
Out in East Memphis, Memphis Italian Festival starts today. It’s like BBQ Fest in that there are cook teams in booths competing, but Italian food instead. It’s at Marquette Park at the corner of Park and Mt. Moriah. The festival runs through Saturday.
Swingin’ Leroy headlines tonight’s Peabody rooftop party. $10 cover, doors open at 6, ladies free until 7. Admission includes a buffet of Italian sausage and ravioli, and if you’re in VIP there’s an additional buffet of brushetta, mini pizzas, and gnocchi with pesto cream sauce. There’s a peach margarita special, a Malibu promo of rum sparklers, and a bar promo of Bellini.
The Flying Saucer is having its anniversary party June 19. Here’s a look at the rare beers that will be on tap.
From MakeUseOf: 10 Tinder Pick-up Lines that Actually Worked. Some of these are pretty clever. Example: “I forgot my password and for the hint it keeps telling me ‘Jordan’s phone number.’ Can you help me out?”
Pretty good night last night. I had a dinner of crawfish fritters and seaweed salad at Bluefin, then I wandered over to Blind Bear. My friend Zach was playing trivia as a team of one. The final question was, here are five news stories that TIME Magazine named the top five news stories in 2013. Charles listed the stories to be put in order: Government shutdown, Supreme Court finds for gay marriage, botched Obamacare rollout, Boston Marathon bombings, the Snowden leaks. I suspected Charles had done something clever: He had listed the stories in reverse order of their ranking. I told Zach, who went with my suspicion, and became the only player/team to take down the entire 45 points for the question, vaulting him into a second-place finish. That certainly worked out better than my “No idea” debacle at Saucer trivia last week!
Catching up with some old friends after work. Should be another fun evening. Outta here for now.