How to Leave Your Car at Home II: Talking Transit will take place at Loflin Yard Wednesday, March 22 from 6:00-7:30 PM. The second installment in the How to Leave Your Car at Home discussion, this event will explore how to secure funding to grow and improve our transportation system in Memphis. MATA commissioner Andre Gibson, Tom Jones of Smart City Memphis, and John Paul Shaffer of CD Council of Greater Memphis will share their thoughts on a panel facilitated by Suzanne Carlson of Innovate Memphis. There will be light refreshments. Free to attend but registration is required because of space limitations (Register here.)
Free pancakes at IHOP today (it’s National Pancake Day).
Police have new leads in the hit-and-run that killed Christopher Phillips a couple of weeks ago at Overton Square. Crime Stoppers tips have given them a possible identity of the owner, and they may also have learned of the location of the silver Ford Mustang that was involved.
SNOZberry rocks the Flying Saucer on St. Patrick’s Day at 9:30. Shennigans? Did you guys borrow a spelling book from Saucer management?
If you want some good eats on Mud Island, Rawk ‘n’ Grub and Joy Ride will be the trucks on hand for Food Truck Night at Miss Cordelia’s, tomorrow, Wednesday, March 8 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. Steve Schad will provide the live music.
This weekend I was looking at some of the to-go/to-heat casseroles and dishes that Lisa’s Lunchbox has to offer. Man, those sound good! Buffalo Chicken Ziti – buffalo chicken, ziti, ricotta and ranch topped with smoked Gouda? Yum! The chicken spaghetti and the Mexican lasagna sound yummy too. Definitely keep them in mind if you want a good dinner but don’t want the hard work of cooking. They have a breakfast casserole and a French toast casserole too, if you need something for the morning.
Random thing I learned this weekend: There’s a psychological term called flying monkeys.
Yesterday I got asked, where is the best place to stand at the Beale Street St. Patrick’s Day parade? The parade runs down Beale from Fourth to Second… where in that two-block stretch is the best to stand? If your primary goal is to catch a lot of beads and candy, you want to be on the block between Third and Fourth, and not in front of very popular businesses like Wet Willie’s and Tin Roof. That block doesn’t get as many people as the block between Second and Third. Also, Fourth to Third is the first block of the parade route, and some of the floats may start running out of the better beads and candy by the time they get west of Third.
One other note for bead-seekers: After the parade is over, the Boll Weevil bus usually parks outside of Silky’s, and they continue to throw beads from the bus for a while.
My personal favorite place to stand? In front of the King’s Palace Tap Room, halfway on Beale between Second and Third. Having been Downtown for 15 years, I already have more beads than I can shake a stick at. I am more interested in easy access to beer, and the Tap Room has PBR on draft. Plus, a lot of my South Main friends hang out there, and they are great people with whom to watch a parade.
In general, if you have a favorite drink that is sold on Beale Street, stand in front of the place that serves that drink. Note: If your favorite drink is a Call-a-Cab from Wet Willie’s, you definitely don’t need to be driving that day.
A lot of my BBQ teammates like to get up on the second floor of Jerry Lee’s and watch from the balconies that open onto the street. For me, the novelty of that was fun for a couple of years, but now I prefer to be at street level for the parade (same thing with Wine Race in April).
If you’ve never been to the Beale Street parade before, there is one other tradition that you must witness: The Raising of the Goat. This is a tradition that started when Silky was alive. They have a platform that raises up about 15 feet in the air. So they put a goat on it and raise it up in the air, along with a couple of dignitaries who throw beads. They used to raise one of the live goats that live in Silky’s side yard. In recent years, though, they have raised a stuffed billy goat. I have no idea what this has to do with St. Pat’s, but there are goats. Everyone should see this at least once.
That’s it for now. Off to work. Maybe another post later today.