Monday update

I had a good birthday yesterday. I led off at B-RAD’s bar at Pontotoc Lounge, where Full Metal Jackie brought me a warm brownie.

It was good! Perjorie T. Roll (herself with a birthday coming up soon) and I enjoyed it very much.

About 4:00 I moved on to the Blind Bear. My friend Stacey was eating some beer cheese soup, and thinking it was a special for the day, I ordered some. It turned out to be Stacey’s soup but she gave me a cup. 

I planned to make it a late night, but plans changed. My buddy Josh asked, “Can I buy you a birthday shot, Pauly?” I don’t do a lot of shots anymore but I’d been well behaved all day, so I agreed to one. A minute later I found a glass of clear liquid in front of me.

“Josh… what’s that?” I asked.

“That’s moonshine,” Josh replied. Now, the Bear has 7 flavors of moonshine, most of them a harmless 40 proof. The highest alcohol content of the flavored moonshines is the hunch punch at 80 proof. However, all the flavoted moonshines have color to them.

“Which moonshine?” I asked.

“Blue Flame,” Josh replied. Blue Flame is the Bear’s most potent Old Smoky moonshine, at a devastating 128 proof.

“And what’s that smaller glass next to the moonshine?” I then asked.

“It’s a pickle back,” Josh replied, meaning pickle juice. “You’re going to need it.” I had no doubt I would. I clinked glasses with Josh and did the shot, then the pickle back. Amazingly it didn’t come back up.

Thirty minutes later, I knew I had to call an early end to the night. I could barely order a ride home through my Lyft app.

It was a good birthday though. I got the one thing I wanted, which was to be with my friends. Thank you to all who celebrated with me and all who sent me good wishes.

The Memphis-Houston game to determine who will be champions of the AAC West has been set for 11 AM Friday. The game will be broadcast on ABC.

The River Rat Rounders free poker league are having a fun and unique event at Club 152 on Beale on Saturday, December 1 at 7 PM. It will be a tag team poker event. You and your partner start at separate tables, each with your own stack of chips. At various times the tournament director will announce “tag!” and when that happens, you have 30 seconds to trade places with your partner – even if you are in the middle of a hand.

The students of Visible Music College are putting together two free performances of A Visible Christmas – Too Much Christmas at the Halloran Centre on Tuesday, December 4 at 4:30 at 7:00. Caroling, trees, lights, elves, with Christmas music old, new, and original.

Most people know this, but from this past weekend it was clear some don’t: If you go to a bar to watch football on a local station, and the bar has Xfinity cable, add 800 to the channel number. So put 803 instead of 3 in the remote control; 805 instead of 5, and so on. That gets you the game in HD.

Firepit Fridays start this Friday at River Garden at Mississippi River Park. They will light a couple of fire pits and there will be s’mores, hot cocoa, and more. This will be a weekly event, presented by Memphis River Parks Partnership, through January 25.

Seen on Facebook: “If I see that elf on a shelf, I will probably unfriend you this holiday.”

All right, that’ll do it for today. Back tomorrow with more news.