Yesterday was bowl invitation day, and the Memphis Tigers are heading to the Birmingham Bowl where they will play the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest on Saturday, December 22 at 11 AM. The game will be televised on ESPN.
Two days after the St. Jude Marathon, the hospital has received the largest donation it is history, $50 million. The donation will fund Family Commons, a new treatment-free floor in the hospital where families can get away from everything medical and just go be families.
MemphisWeather.net has its 2019 calendar on sale. This is a way to support a great local business.
Regina’s Cajun Kitchen will have a Cajun Christmas buffet Saturday, December 15 at 7 PM. Cost is $35 for adults and includes ham, roast beef, Cornish hen, gumbo, yams, traditional New Orleans desserts and more.
The Blind Bear has its annual Repeal Day Party Wednesday, celebrating the 85th anniversary of the end of Prohibition. Dress up in yout 1920s attire and enjoy $3 moonshine and $6 Manhattans, Old Fashioneds, American Mules, and Dark & Stormys. Trivia at 7:30, and live music by the Handy Band at 9.
Automatic Slim’s is looking for experienced bartenders, servers, and hostesses. Apply in person 2-4 Monday-Friday.
Aziz Ansari performs at the Cannon Center on April 17, but get this: You have to put yout phones and smart watches in something called a Yondr pouch which is locked for the duration of the show. In case of an emergency where you must have access to your phone, you take it to a Yondr unlocking station. Is this normal at comedy shows now? I mean, I get it that the artists don’t want their shows recorded, but this seems like a gigantic pain in the ass.
Okay. Rant time.
The Downtown inconvenience tax
This is not a monetary tax.
The first Friday of May, I have to ask if I can leave work early, because if I don’t get in my parking garage by 5:00 I worry I might not get a space. That night and the next two, I get woken up in the middle of the night by people screaming “WOOOOOOOO!” as they walk down Main Street. I wouldn’t have it any other way, though; I’d rather have those problems than not have Music Fest here.
On the weekdays, I like to get out and see my friends during happy hour, walking home about 9:30-10:30. Oftentimes I will stop at one of my favorite restaurants on the way and get a burger to take home. However, 40-something nights between October and April, I find it near impossible to get a seat at the bar of my favorite restaurants during that time frame. Inconvenient? Yes, but worth it to have the Grizzlies here. It’s so worth it that I root for the inconvenience to extend to 50-something nights and into May and even June.
Saturday there was about a 30-minute stretch when it was impossible to cross Monroe at Main Street. However, there was a good reason why: The street was jammed with St. Jude marathon and half-marathon runners. I’d rather wait to cross Monroe than not have an event here that raises $10 million to make children well.
When you move Downtown, you know these kinds of events are going to happen. You can’t always just walk out to the driveway and back your car out and be on your merry way as you could if you lived in Bartlett or Cordova or Olive Branch. However, paying the inconvenience tax is worth it to live in a neighborhood that doesn’t suck.
However…
I don’t agree with people who reply “You obviously HATE sick children!!!” if anyone complains about the inconvenience they went through. I saw quite a bit of that on Facebook this weekend.
I have a friend who left her apartment on Mud Island at 8:30, thinking that would allow plenty of time to drive to her job in the Downtown core, where she was supposed to be at 9:30. Nope. After being redirected down street after street after street, she finally found a parking place nearly a mile from her job at 10:15 and got out and walked the rest of the way. I know several other people who had similar problems getting into and out of the neighborhood. The struggle for these people was very real. As much as I admire and respect all the runners and volunteers who raised money for the kids of St. Jude this weekend, that “you obviously hate sick kids if you complain” stuff needs to stop.
All right, rant over. Back tomorrow with more news.