House arrest day 37 (Sat)

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has extended the Safer at Home order that applies to unincorporated areas of Shelby County, but only until April 30. Harris says that the data indicated we are entering Phase 2 of the fight against the coronavirus, and while Phase 1 was about saving lives, Phase 2 is about saving livelihoods as well. Restrictions won’t be lifted completely, but will be eased in some areas.

Chris Herrington of the DM hopes that the governors of Arkansas and Mississippi will keep in mind that their states border the Memphis metro when loosening their restrictions on restaurants next week. News flash: They won’t.

I don’t envy Jim Strickland. No matter how tight or loose his plan is to ease Safer at Home regulations, he’s going to have one subset of citizens or another saying he’s irresponsible. I also don’t envy the medical experts advising Strickland, who will face the same criticism – especially in the case of Dr. Manoj Jain, who will probably have racial epithets thrown at him.

Flying Saucer is offering a $5 burger when you purchase a six-pack or growler fill today.

Other Saucer news:

Attention Beerknurds!
You asked and we listened! We’ve tapped a new limited beer for you and also brought back some sought after favorites! We’ve got Founders Devil Dancer, their 12% triple IPA, on draft for $15 per 32ounces! We also re-tapped @newhollandbrew Dragons Milk, @foundersbrewing Frangelic Mountain Brown, and @4handsbrewingco Absence of Light Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout. Come stock up for the freakin weekend!

From the Green Beetle:

Starting Monday April 27th we are reopening for curbside and to go orders!! We are serving a limited menu of our fan favs and will be serving from 11am-8pm 7 days a week. We will also be offering delivery through Ubereats so starting Monday give us a shout at (901) 527-7337, hop on Ubereats, or come on by to get your grub on!!

The Orpheum presents a virtual edition of its Memphis Songwriters Series featuring Savannah Brister Saturday, April 25 at 7:30 PM. She was on The Voice last year, where she was offered a spot with John Legend’s team.

Here’s a pic of those Hog & Hominy pizzas for which you can get bake-at-home kits at Catherine & Mary’s:

Idea for college football 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic: State championships. Arkansas vs. Arkansas State for the first time ever. Memphis vs. the Vols and Vanderbilt. Florida vs. UCF. I could get behind that.

My friends at the Blind Bear got their photos in the Daily Memphian, but I’m sure they wish it was for a different reason: They are one of many restaurants having trouble getting employees to come back to work because the federal government is subsidizing unemployment payments so well. The Bear is now open for take-out every day from 11 AM to 9 PM, so if you miss the Bear Balls, the Hibernation Fries, the crawfish mac or another favorite, come and get them.

Devan Yanik plays a live stream today 3 to 5.

The DM has a list of bands unable to appear at Music Fest, rescheduled for October 16-18: The Lumineers, The 1975, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liam Gallagher, Louis the Child and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Not that it matters much, because I would put the probability that Music Fest actually happens at about 15%.

Catch a webcast of quarantunes with Charvey Mac, broadcast from Saddle Creek tonight 7:30-8:30.

Wild Bill’s will be back with another live stream tonight at 8:30.

From the Peabody:

It is with heavy hearts that we’re announcing the 2020 Peabody Rooftop Party season has been cancelled. We will miss seeing everyone this year, but we look forward to partying on the roof with you in the Spring of 2021!

This is sad news but the right move… throngs of people, dancing, and buffets probably aren’t the best thing right now. Thanks to the Peabody for their sacrifice to keep Memphis safe.

The DMC awarded 13 more forgivable loans to Downtown businesses yesterday. More than half the loans went to businesses run by women and minorities.

I had a dream last night that I went grocery shopping with my mom at Target. She had a shopping list as long as her arm. She had to stop every time there was a baby and tell the parents how cute it was. We practically circumnavigated the globe looking for the toilet paper aisle. There was a shelf of generic-looking trophies, and my mom asked if Memphis in May bought my BBQ team’s trophy at Target. She refused to use the wide-open shelf-checkout lanes in favor of standing in line for an hour waiting for a cashier. In other words, the dream was exactly like shopping with her in real life when she was alive.

Big thanks to my neighbors who texted me and asked if I wanted an extra face mask yesterday. Now I’m rockin’ the PPE when I go out.

With the Safer at Home order likely to be lifted in waves, I will have to figure out at what point to discontinue the “House arrest day __” post titles. The criterion will be this: When I am able to sit inside one of my three favorite bars (doesn’t have to be at the bar area) and drink a PBR without also having to order food, at that point I will consider my house arrest to be over.

By the way: Drinking at home is boring AF. I got some PBR to drink as I watched WWE Smackdown last night, and I thought, what does this accomplish other than waste money and move my bedtime forward by hours? I pulled up the Lightclub and Wild Bill’s virtual events for a little while and they were good, but it just isn’t the same as being out. I understand the need for staying at home and social distancing, but I refuse to be all rah-rah about it the way many in the media are. It sucks, I can’t wait for it to be over, and I refuse to pretend otherwise to set an example for the public.

On that note, I’ll sign off for now. Back when there’s more news to share.