Yesterday I found myself screaming obscenities at a computer that wasn’t doing what I wanted, and decided to turn on the TV and find something mindless to lighten my mood. The 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter was on. It’s a comedy about four students and their teacher in a Brooklyn high school.
In yesterday’s episode, one of the students, Vinnie Barbarino, played by John Travolta, was running for president of the student body. His social studies teacher, Mr. Kotter, was trying to prepare him to properly campaign. “Vinnie, you have to do this the right way,” Kotter advised. “You need to have a platform. If you were president, what would you want to do?”
Barbarino smiled and said, “Not get caught.” It’s amazing how a sitcom recorded 43 years ago can be so relevant today.
Yeah, yeah, I know I normally save anything political until the end of my posts… but this was humor, not politics. And now, let’s get on with the news.
There will be an ugly sweater party at Earnestine & Hazel’s this Friday. You can win some fabulous prizes, and the Fireball Girls will be there and Fireball will be on special for $3.
The last Songwriter Night of the year happens at South Main Sounds at 550 South Main this Friday at 7 PM. Casey Weston, Daniel McKinnon, Brandon Ingle, and Allie Keck will perform.
This is not Downtown news but it’s still news that is going to matter to a lot of people. Both locations of Fino’s on the Hill will close later this month. I lived in the Gilmore at Madison and McLean for two years, and it was so nice to be able to go in the back door and get quality food without ever leaving the building. The open-faced roast beef sandwich was my favorite.
The Memphis River Parks Partnership has a survey you can take about Tom Lee Park. They want to know how you use the park now, and what you would like to see in Tom Lee Park in the future.
There will be Labatt Blue specials during the Nashville Predators vs. Chicago Blackhawks game at Kooky Canuck Tuesday, December 18 6-11 PM. $7.50 for a 24 oz. can or $25 for a bucket of four. There will be Predators and Labatt Blue giveaways during that time.
If you want to help migrants passing through Memphis, there is an organization called Mariposas Collective where you can do that. Currently they are in need of non-perishable food snack foods like chips, granola bars, and cracker packs. They also need fruit, jackets of all sizes, bottled water, toothbrushes, travel toothpaste, and deodorant. These can be dropped off at the rear (hostel) entrance of First Congregational Church in Cooper-Young, 1000 S. Cooper. The Facebook post I saw said these can be dropped off “at” 6 PM. I think they mean “until” 6 PM? Anyway, this is a way you can show our migrant brethren that the spirit of Lady Liberty, of Ellis Island, of the great melting pot that is America still lives on in the hearts of many U.S. citizens.
700 jobs are coming to the Toyota Center in Downtown Memphis. Boston-based Indigo, an ag-tech company, will be hiring. Toyota Center will be renamed Indigo Plaza.
The Grizzlies return to FedExForum to host the Portland Trail Blazers tonight at 7.
The Orpheum will start offering regular tours beginning in January.
Watching Local 24 News as I type this. They’re reporting that first-team All-American running back Darrell Henderson will not play in the Birmingham Bowl for the Memphis Tigers, and he has already hired an agent. That’s disappointing but understandable. If he thinks he will go high in the NFL draft, an injury in the Birmingham Bowl could cost him a lot of money.
Michael Cohen has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for a variety of crimes, including felony campaign finance violations committed at the direction of President Trump. He will serve that sentence concurrenrly with a two-month sentence for lying to Congress.
That’ll do it for now. I may do a second post about the computer problems I am having, in case anyone has ideas.