Tuesday update

Skinny, organizer of the Grilled Cheese Fest scheduled for November at the Hi-Tone, posted some bad news yesterday. Due to an unexpected and unavoidable oversight by the city permit office, the street closure that had been requested will not be possible. Therefore the festival has to be canceled. Ticket sales will be refunded as will money paid by teams, vendors, and food trucks. Although my team never competed in the event, I am sad to hear this news, knowing it was an event to which many of my friends looked forward.

The October Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting will be a good one. On Tuesday, October 24 at 6 PM, the meeting will be held at the new Pontotoc at 314 S. Main. The speaker will be Daniel Masters, new owner of Pontotoc and longtime owner of the Silly Goose. He will speak about his plans to carry on the tradition of the cafe. Catered hors d’oeurvres, DNA beer bar and wine bar.

In other festival news, Holly (@ilovememphis) tweeted that Southern Hot Wing Fest is moving to Tiger Lane and will be on April 21, 2018. Although I normally would hate to hear of Downtown losing a festival, the wing fest never really felt right on Riverside. Tiger Lane is a great spot for a food fest, and other festivals might want to consider moving there as well (BBQ Fest: I do NOT mean you).

South Main was recently named one of the most stylish streets in America by Thrillist.

Being a weather fan, and having taught math classes back in the ’90s that included a chapter on probability, I remember reading a statistic that in Memphis, there was a 1.4% chance of an October with at least one day with a high of 90 or above. What do you think that chance is now? 50% maybe?

Fun fact: In WWE 2K18, World Wrestling Entertainment’s next-generation video game scheduled for Friday release, you can play Colonel Sanders as a character.

What I learned today: If there have been several hours of heavy/torrential ran in the early morning, don’t take I-55 South out of Downtown. There was a foot of pooling water covering all three southbound lanes just south of the McLemore exit. I was amazed that no one had wrecked.

Don’t forget that the A. W. Willis bridge to Mud Island is closed through next Monday for work on the railroad tracks. There was said to be a 20 minute delay to get off the island via N. Mud Island Drive/Second Street this morning.

Burger teams: Best Memphis Burger Fest has posted complete score details where you can see how each judge graded each burger.

This week President Trump has said he has a higher IQ than his secretary of state, and has nicknamed the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “Liddle.” Way to be a statesman there, Mr. Trump.

That’s it for now. Back tomorrow with more news.