I have news about yet another tribute band: The Mersey Beatles are coming to the Halloran Center on Friday, March 4. This is not just any Beatles tribute band: They are from Liverpool and had a 10-year residency at the Cavern Club, the basement club where the Beatles themselves played from 1960 to 1963. They have played sellout shows in 20 countries, and their work spans the entire Beatles catalog, with four costume changes throughout the show. (Wow, they change costumes almost as much as Raiford does!)
The music, however, is not the only reason to attend this show. Julia Baird, John Lennon’s sister will be there. She will be selling and signing copies of her book, Imagine This: Growing Up with My Brother John Lennon at the merchandise table. Julia is the Director of the Cavern Club. Tickets are $35/$40, plus there is a $52 ticket that includes a meet & greet with the band and Julia Baird.
Felicia has posted Felicia Suzanne’s New Year’s Eve menu. The restaurant will fill up, so if you want to be there make reservations soon.
Cafe Keough is now taking orders for Bouche de Noel, which I think is fancy talk for Christmas cake. They have chocolate mousse, hazelnut, and caramel flavors. Each has 10-12 slices per cake. Get your orders in by Monday, to be picked up December 23 or 24.
Random fact I learned from @HistoryInPics on Twitter: In the 1930s people used the acronym CHINA over the phone. It stood for Come Home I’m Naked Already.
A Memphian won the PBA World Championship Thursday night.
The Grizzlies play the Indiana Pacers tonight at 7. The first 5000 fans in FedExForum receive a special Z-Bow gift package.
Up early this morning doing an extra load of laundry! A week from tomorrow, there’s a pajama party at the Blind Bear for Sunday Hung Over Like a Bear Brunch/D-RANKS with B-RAD. I don’t really have any pajamas but it’s a reason to bring out the Arkansas Razorbacks Snuggie. It’s in the dryer now. I miss the Snuggie Pub Crawls we used to do in November.
I just realized something – assuming I make it tomorrow and to the pajama party, I will have made it to all 52 Sunday brunches at Blind Bear this year. Do I get some kind of certificate for perfect attendance?
There’s an ugly sweater party tonight at Club 152 starting at 10 PM. Music by DJ Tubbz and DJ Crumbz.
Yesterday after work, I decided I wanted to be away from Ole Miss fans, and since the Tigers and Grizzlies would be playing at the same time, I wanted to be in a place where I could comfortably watch both. A trip to the south side to Max’s Sports Bar seemed like the perfect plan.
I explained my reasoning for coming down to Michele, the bartender. “You’re just here because it’s Fireball Friday,” Michele said.
Michele understands me.
About 6:30 the power went out. All of South Main was dark. Michele locked the door, since the conditions were prime for a robbery, and reverted to her old system of keeping tabs on note cards. The owner of Cheesecake Corner next door brought over some candles, and those of us with flashlight apps on our phones fired them up. I checked Twitter and discovered that Maciel’s Tortas and Tacos (halfway between Union and Monroe) and points north had power, and south of that did not. It was the same situation that occurred in July 2014 when the power went out on a Friday evening for many hours. I was lucky enough to be at Bardog that night, which had power. This time I had to face walking a mile home in the dark if the power didn’t come back. Scary.
Most of the people at Max’s were pre-gaming for the Tigers game, but the FedExForum lost power too. They fired back up with a generator, but they couldn’t start the game. It was to be broadcast on ESPNEWS. “They’re saying it will take 45 minutes to reboot the ESPN truck once power comes back on,” someone said.
After an hour of darkness, the power came back. The TVs at Max’s took about 5 minutes to reboot, and then we were notified that the Tigers had an 8:07 PM tip time. Those with tickets left for the game. I stayed behind and watched the game with Otto and his dad Larry and my dance partner Linda (oooh, Katie (not Mac) is going to be jealous). Given what happened with both the Tigers and the Grizzlies, I wish the power had just stayed out for a few more hours. Watching that was painful.
After the game, my friend Shane said, “Me and Leigh are about to jet, if you want to catch a ride with us.” That sounded great. Given the number of Fireballs Michele had pushed on me, walking home was out of the question, and I was about to call a Lyft anyway.
This morning I was snoozing leisurely in bed, when all of the sudden I jumped up. I thought to myself, I don’t remember paying my tab last night! It would have been one of my bigger tabs at Max’s too – I even ate dinner there. I have only walked out on a few bar tabs (accidentally, of course) in my 13 years Downtown, and I hate it when I do. The thing is, the bartenders down here are not just people who serve me alcohol, but my friends as well. I don’t like shortchanging my friends.
Then I remembered when Shane tabbed out, he said, “Let me get Paul’s too. Merry Christmas.”
Merry Christmas to you too, Shane and Leigh. Thanks not only for the tab and the ride, but the reminder that Downtown is full of wonderful people.
Plans for today: I had such a good time at Max’s last night that I’m gonna do it again! It will be either my third or fourth stop following brunch with Bloom at Bardog and dranks with librarian glasses at Blind Bear, and a possible stop for Mexican food at Maciel’s. I plan on getting to Max’s between 4 and 5 and may very well stay to watch the Grizzlies game. Time to check and see if the Snuggie is dry yet, then I will get this day started!