Thought-provoking article in The Daily Memphian this morning: Suburban mayors wait on Health Department following governor’s order. Gov. Bill Lee ordered this week that all capacity requirements be removed from businesses and gatherings, but the order does not apply to the six counties that have their own health departments, including Shelby County.
The mayor of Arlington assured his constituents that leaders are “working on solutions.” Bartlett mayor Keith McDonald believes the Shelby County Health Department should follow the state’s lead in the removal of restrictions, although he agrees “maybe we don’t jump quite as far” all at once.
I mean, think about it. If you go out to a bar in Tipton or Fayette County, you can stay as long as you want without any requirement to order food. You can sit at the bar. You can stay until the place closes at 3 AM. Whereas, in Shelby County, you can only stay two hours, you must order food to purchase alcohol, you can’t sit at the bar, and you can’t dine in after 10 PM. In other words, Shelby is No Fun County thanks to the joint COVID-19 task force.
Yesterday Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) proposed eliminating autonomy for the SCHD and the five other health departments that operate independently from state directives.
The DM article says the joint task force has a conference call Friday. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that one. Nothing moves a bureaucrat into action faster than threatening to take their power away.
Of course, the COVID-19 task force has a press conference at noon today, their final Thursday press conference before moving to a Tuesday-only schedule. I bet there will be questions about the governor’s order.
WMC Action News 5 has a story about the Rumba Room and its effect on the salsa scene and the Hispanic community here in Memphis.
Phish will release audio from its June 14, 1995 Mud Island concert today. It contains the longest version of “Tweezer” ever recorded, clocking in at just over 50 minutes. The gospel rarity “Don’t You Want To Go,” performed only a few times in concert, is also part of the set.
Memphis Music Month has launched. The events include Downtown Dinner + Music, a live, acoustic, safely distanced music series encouraging Memphians to support local restaurants. There will also be virtual tours of Memphis attractions, social media takeovers by local musicians, and many concerts, discounts, and giveaways. The Downtown Dinner + Music Series kicks off tonight at Cordelia’s Market 5-7 PM. Candy Fox will perform at Harbortown Bend Rd., Chris Milam will play Harbortown Circle, and Antonio Hobson will play the corner of Jackson Ave. and North Main.
A plan to renovate the historic Nylon Net building at 7 W. Vance into apartments now calls for its demolition. Developer Chance Carlisle calls it “the worst building I’ve seen in 20 years.” Materials from the original 1904-07 historic building will be reclaimed and will be used to reconstruct the facade, retaining the original architectural style.
Hearing rumors that another Downtown restaurant may expand its hours to include breakfast. Let me do a little more searching around to see if this story has wings, and if it does it’ll land here on this blog.
Classic rock band Smokestack Lightnin’ plays The Vault Friday from 6:30 to 9:30.
Well damn! The Cardinals made the playoffs! I guess I’ll have to start caring about baseball again. They play the San Diego Padres on ESPN at 6 tonight. It’ll be game 2 of the series with St. Louis up 1-0. Adam Wainwright and Zack Davies will be the starting pitchers.
From Grind City Brewing Co.:
Oh Happy Day!
We will OFFICIALLY be opening our doors to the public starting THIS Saturday & Sunday! Come by Saturday from 12pm-10pm & enjoy some Grind City Brews along with
Smashed Eats! Come back on Sunday from 12pm-7pm for some more brews & LadyBugg Meals On Wheels! As we will be following Covid guidelines, a mask will be required upon entry. We can’t wait to see y’all there! Cheers!
Grind City is at 76 Waterworks in the far north end of Uptown. To get there, take North Second Street. It’s about half a mile past the 3-way stop at Second and Chelsea. Hmmm… might have to make a trip up there this weekend… that’ll require a Lyft though. Walking there from the Downtown core is only an option if you have good sneakers and a concealed carry permit.
Tickets for the Thursday night movie series at the Mallory-Neely House are sold out. Because COVID RUINS EVERYTHING, they are limited to 45 guests per movie. The next showing will be Charade on Thursday, October 15. Tickets are $8 adults, $5 children, kids under 2 free. Food trucks will be on site.
That’s it for now. Most likely I will be back between 1 and 2 with a recap of the No Fun County COVID-19 joint task force press conference.