Every time there’s an 11 AM Tigers men’s basketball game on a Saturday, I get the same question: “Hey Paul, do any bars open before 11 so I can get a beer and pre-game for the Tigers?” Up until this season I really didn’t have a good answer. Now I do, one I discovered quite by accident. If you don’t mind a 10 minute walk to FedExForum, you can pre-game at Downtown’s most legendary dive bar, a place most people don’t think to go until about 1 AM.
The Saturday before BBQ Fest, I was running ahead of schedule and got my Farmers Market stuff done by 10:05 in the morning. “Hmmm, Bardog doesn’t open til 11, I’ve got 55 minutes to kill, guess I’ll walk home and see what’s on TV,” I thought. I crossed G.E. Patterson, turned left on Main, and started my walk north – for all of about 3 feet. The door to Earnestine & Hazel’s was open. Curious, I walked in. “Are you serving?” I asked the man behind the bar, figuring maybe he was just doing prep work to open in an hour or two.
“We are open!” he replied. “Come on in. My name’s Clarence. What can I get ya?” Since then I have returned to E&H nearly every Saturday following the Farmers Market. Now, I know what some of you are thinking – “OMG E&H in the daylight” – but trust me, the Soul Burgers are still just as good, and the great thing about being there at 10 is that you get to smell them prepping grilled onions for the burgers. They have the door to the second floor open in the mornings now, so if you’ve never been up there, you can see the rooms where the ladies took their customers. E&H was a brothel from 1960 to the early 1990s, and the rooms are largely unchanged from that era.
And, of course, they have the best jukebox in town. Maybe Saturday when I go down there, I’ll flip through the CDs and write down some recommendations for songs to play for a future blog post. Kinda in the mood to play some Eagles… I wonder if they have “Lyin’ Eyes” in the E&H jukebox. Might play some Ozzy too!
PRO TIP: If you take me up on my suggestion to pre-game at Earnestine & Hazel’s, take another page out of my book. Come a little early and before hitting up E&H, visit the Memphis Farmers Market half a block down G.E. Patterson. It’s the last market of the regular season. I haven’t received their weekly e-newsletter listing live music and special events, but when I do, I will post an update.
Three-day passes are now on sale for Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Fest, May 5-7, 2017. The passes are $95. No bands have been announced yet, so you’ll be going on blind faith that there will be music you will like.
Saturday you can apply for a new passport or get one renewed without an appointment at the post office at B.B. King at G.E. Patterson. To apply for one, you will need to bring photo ID and either birth certificate or naturalization papers.
From WREG: Watch out for fake shopping apps this holiday season. Shop at places you know – if you don’t keep it local, do your holiday shopping on apps like Amazon that you know you can trust.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, YOGA! I know that a lot of my readers will be off work on Friday the 25th, and will be looking for more to do than just eating leftover turkey. Instead of fighting all the Black Friday crazies at Target, why not do something to leave you feeling balanced and centered while supporting a local Downtown business? Downtown Yoga will offer two classes that afternoon. From 1:00 to 2:15 there will be a Gratitude Flow class with Amy, and from 3:00 to 4:15 a Restorative Sound Bath with Kristina. Sign up for classes here.
The Metal Museum’s 2016 Look Book and Holiday Guide has been released. View it here.
My birthday weekend starts in four hours! I will lead off at the Silly Goose as usual after work, then over to the Blind Bear. May throw a Belle Tavern stop in there somewhere since I had a good time there Tuesday. Got to stay up til midnight so I can ring my birthday in! No work tomorrow for me. There will be a blog post tomorrow but it will not necessarily happen at the expected time.