Friday update

The semifinal round of the International Blues Challenge happens at clubs on Beale Street tonight. Don’t have plans yet for Friday night? Come listen to some of the best blues in the world. This is a once-in-a-year opportunity in Memphis. There will be a wristband for sale on the street that will get you into all the participating clubs.

Toby Sells of the Memphis Flyer has news on three Downtown projects that will get underway in the months to come. I want to touch on each one.

I am super excited about the food hall going in at 409 S. Main. More and more this is starting to sound like the food hall where I ate at Little Rock’s River Market two days last week. It will be a hub where you and your friends can each get the type of food you want from different vendors and then sit down in a common place. This could get me to South Main more often if done well.

Also excited to see the boutique hotel in the former Memphis College of Art building. This will be the beginning of South Main becoming a tourist destination. Imagine visiting from out of town and having a one-block walk to Earnestine & Hazel’s for a Soul Burger!

A space for a cafe, coffee roaster, and micro-retailers will open at 600 Monroe next to High Cotton, bringing dining back to that neighborhood. Happy to see The Edge begin to evolve. I look forward to spending some time in Edge Alley once this space gets open!

Going to the Garth Brooks concert tonight or one of the concerts tomorrow? If you don’t want to deal with high parking prices and congested traffic around FedExForum, come park for free on the streets in the area around Main and G.E. Patterson and come to Max’s Sports Bar. A limo will shuttle you to and from the concert. If you want to pre- or post-game, Max’s has a full bar, great sandwiches, sports on 10 TVs and the PBR is always $2.50 a pint. Max’s is located in the easternmost end of the Arcade building at 115 G.E. Patterson.

Want to see an NBA D-League team come to the Mid-South in 2017? Vote with your dollars and let the NBA know! Put down your seating deposit here.

Front Street Deli is for sale. The deli at Front and Union has been owned by Carol and Lance Silkes since 2013. However, they also have a limo food tour business and Carol is an instructor at the University of Memphis, so it is all too much to handle. They’re looking for a prospective owner who loves Memphis, food, and people.

Save the date for what sounds like a very cool beer festival in the Broad Avenue district on Saturday, April 29. From 3 to 7 that day Taste the Rarity, an invitational beer fest involving 30 craft breweries, will happen in Wiseacre’s parking lot or if it rains, inside their taproom. Each attendee gets a commemorative taster class. The Mighty Souls Brass Band will provide the live music, and there will be backyard games and food trucks. For its part, Wiseacre will release UNICORNICOPIA that day. It is described as a paloma inspired Belgian Single aged in tequila barrels. Tickets will be $50 through the end of February, then will go up to $60. Buy tickets here.

This story about Heartsong Church and the Memphis Islamic Center makes me proud to be a Memphian, and an American.

Beer lovers/Grizzlies lovers: Get you a Grind City growler.

In other beer news, Ghost River has three new beers fresh on the market.

From the CA: John Beifuss crawls inside the 125-year-old pipe organ at Clayborn Temple to determine if it can be saved. (photos/video)

Miss Polly’s at 154 Beale is looking to hire two new cooks. You need to be able to pass a drug screen and come to work on time. They ask that you apply in person and do not have pajamas on when you apply (seriously, somebody did that).

Back tomorrow with more news. I’ve got some good stuff in the pipeline for tomorrow’s post.