I want to say this again… I enjoy meeting my readers and talking to them. So if you see me out, don’t be afraid to approach me.
The reason I bring this up is that I ran into a former co-worker of mine from 15 years ago at the Blind Bear Saturday. He said, “I’ve seen you in here for a while, and I’ve wanted to talk to you, but I thought I might be bugging you.” I assured him he was not bugging me.
He said, “Well, I wasn’t sure. It’s like, you were busy on your phone.” And then my friend sitting on the other side said, “Yeah Paul, you do kind of look like you have the male equivalent of don’t-approach-me resting bitch-face when you’re doing stuff on your phone.” HAHAHA! Let me explain that.
Most of the time when I’m doing stuff on my phone when I’m out, I’m cultivating material for my next blog post. I’ll be on social media and I’ll see an event that I need to tell my readers about. So I’ll throw the link into Evernote and type a short description so I remember to come back and post about it later. But it’s not that important! Don’t feel like you’re interrupting me.
As for the expression on my face… the past year and a half or so has been somewhat difficult for me. Many lies have been told about me in certain parts of Downtown. Now and then a reminder of that chapter of my life will pop up on social media and I will scowl for a minute. But I promise you I’m generally not an unhappy or angry person! I’m just a person who learned about “alternative facts” a year before the rest of the country did! 
With that out of the way, let’s get on to the news. The South Main Association has announced its February meeting, to be held at Art Village Gallery at 410 South Main on Tuesday, February 14. The speaker will be Meagan Nichols, lead reporter at the Memphis Business Journal. Topics will include the background of the MBJ, how the MBJ approaches reporting, commercial real estate trends and developments in the area, and a Q & A. There will be Valentine’s Day appetizers by “a secret admirer” and beverages by the SMA. 6:00 social, 6:30 program. The meeting is free for members and $10 for non-members.
For the fourth post in a row, I have another awesome event to tell you about that will be happening at Wiseacre this month. Everybody loves Oktoberfest, so why wait until October to celebrate? Febtoberfest will happen at the brewery Saturday from 1 to 10 PM. It will be a “fill your stein” party – fill your own for $7, or purchase a Wiseacre stein and fill it for $6. Costumes are encouraged, and if you don’t have traditional German garb, you can wear any costume. Polka band The Mighty Souls Brass Band will perform 6:30-9 PM and food trucks will be there serving German fare.
Sad news for movie fans today. IMDb, the repository of information about pretty much every movie ever made, is shutting down its message boards effective February 20. Trolls have ruined the message board experience, so IMDb is doing away with the boards and switching to other forms of social media. Don’tcha just hate those crazy trolls?
inferno has a list of the brand winners and losers from last night’s Super Bowl ads. Of course, brands that paid for overtime advertising were the biggest winners of all.
Front Street Deli’s future is uncertain no more. It’s going to become a Lisa’s Lunchbox and will open on Presidents Day. There will be a large picture of longtime Front Street Deli owner Lee Busby in Lisa’s Lunchbox, along with a plaque about the history of the building.
The CA’s John Beifuss was there to report on the America’s Got Talent auditions that happened this past weekend at the Cook Convention Center.
The Grizzlies host the San Antonio Spurs tonight at 8:30 at FedExForum. First 3000 fans get a National Civil Rights Museum Pride scarf. Bring a food or monetary donation to the Mid-South Food Bank and receive a voucher for a 2-for-1 ticket purchase at an upcoming Grizzlies game.
That’s it for now. Probably I will hit Bardog after work for Melissa Monday. Back tomorrow with more.