Saturday update

As if it weren’t enough that we have a pandemic and a curfew going on, a tropical storm is heading our way. T.S. Cristobal, the third named storm of the 2020 season, is currently in the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to make landfall on the Louisiana coast Sunday morning, passing over Baton Rouge as a tropical storm and Monroe, Louisiana and Little Rock as a tropical depression. That will put Memphis on the east side, typically the hardest-hit.

I’ve been asked multiple times when the curfew will end. Even cops I have talked to have no idea. Mayor Strickland renews the curfew on a daily basis, and news didn’t come that it had been renewed yesterday until about 2 PM. That has made it hard on my friends in the service industry, who don’t know if they’re closing at 9 PM or 1 AM until they get to work. You can’t file for unemployment for four hours.

I’m receiving tips that Downtown parking officials are cracking down hard writing tickets for metered spaces. They had somewhat loosened up during the house arrest and the early phases of reopening.

Geoff Calkins’ columns alone are worth the cost of a $7/month subscription to The Daily Memphian. Yesterday he explained why the restructured NBA season is good for the Grizzlies. The 8 worst teams, the ones with no chance of making the playoffs, aren’t invited to Orlando. The Grizzlies only had one game against the bad teams on their remaining schedule. The teams trying to catch up to Memphis and take the 8 seed, had considerably more.

From Memphis River Parks Partnership:

Yup that exists: a socialist version of Monopoly.

I’ve been active on the Pabst Blue Ribbon group on Facebook this week. I asked if anyone else stands up and applauds when the delivery man wheels the PBR in. Several people responded that they did, and I also heard from delivery people who said they appreciated it. Thank you for your service.

I also answered a question asking, what is your second choice when PBR is not available? As a certified expert on beer, with 8 plates on the Flying Saucer’s ceiling to prove it, I can tell you that no beer tastes as much like PBR as the Irish lager Harp. If I have to pick a domestic beer, Miller High Life would be my runner-up.

Motown & Margaritas returns to Tin Roof tomorrow and every Sunday 6 to 9 PM. Wind down the weekend with some good music and $5 margarita specials.

Dylan whipped up a new dish at Silly Goose yesterday that may make it on to the menu: red bean hummus.

This was yummy and the color made me feel like I was eating meat when I actually wasn’t – wait, I was, those dark pieces are bacon. I’m sure you can ask for that to be left off if you’re a vegetarian though.

If you missed out on Memphis Chamber’s COVID-19 webinars, you can watch them here.

I’m going back to work on Monday! After two and a half months off I am ready to be productive. The blog may be hit-or-miss the first part of next week as I adjust to having a schedule again. Probably back tomorrow with more news.