Yesterday in the COVID-19 task force press conference, Shelby County Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph announced that Health Directive 17 will remain in place for a full four weeks, which would mean until Friday, February 19 at 11:59 PM. He said there were two reasons for not reconsidering restrictions sooner. For one, the numbers are headed in the right direction and the health department wants that trend to continue. Secondly, a “suspicious” case in Shelby County is being studied as possibly the first known case in the county of the super-contagious UK variant of COVID. (Update: Confirmed to be the UK strain)
Sigh… Dr. Randolph and the health department are absolutely making the proper call. I just feel bad for my friends who used to make $500 a night working an 8 PM-3 AM shift, and now they’re making $75 a night working a 6 PM-10 PM shift. It sucks for them. They are being asked to shoulder an unfair amount of financial burden compared to the rest of society.
Blind Bear has announced specials for the football game Sunday:
Loaded Chili Dog.- 1/4 pound Beef Hot Dog on a Dave’s Bagel Pretzel Bun topped with Homemade ChiliChili Cheese Fries- Seasoned Fries topped with Chili and loaded with Cheese and cheese sauce, Red Onions and tomatoesLoaded BBQ Nachos! Nachos topped with BBQ Pork, Lettuce, Tomato, shredded cheese, and BBQ sauce!
Sunrise Memphis will have two specials this weekend:
- Brady Benedict: Two fried crab cakes, arugula salad with capers and onions topped with lemon Hollandaise, poached eggs, on a house-made open-faced buttermilk biscuit
- Mahomes Hash: Pork belly burnt ends with Kansas City BBQ sauce, two easy eggs, and Tabasco onion straws over a sweet potato hash topped with scallions
From Lifehacker: Why you should never unsubscribe from illicit texts and emails. This advice is on point. When you click “unsubscribe,” you’re telling scammers “this is a valid email/phone number.” That’ll get you more unsolicited crap, not less.
The Daily Memphian has a look at Slim & Husky’s, the new hip-hop pizzeria out in The Edge, in New Eats. Notable: They have $10 pizza specials every Tuesday.
I saw a fabulous post on Medium yesterday, and it’s behind a paywall but you get a few free reads a month: Gaslighting phrases you aren’t paying attention to. Yes yes yes. I know people who use every one of the phrases listed in the article to deflect and dismiss, because they lack the depth to have anything more than superficial conversation. For instance:
- “You’re the only one who thinks that.”
- “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
- “It’s all in the past.”
- “I don’t see what I’ve done wrong.”
Sad to say that we lost another member of the Downtown extended family this week. I’ll miss your pizza, I’ll miss your nachos, but most of all I’ll miss your friendship. It warmed my heart when I’d come in and you’d tell me, “Paul, it’s good having you in here. It’s good having my regulars around.”
This month you can vote for what the official beer can of Memphis Tigers athletics will look like. Go by the Grind City Brewing Co. taproom off N. Second anytime this month and vote for the blue, black, or grey Tiger Tail can. I gotta tell you, if I get by there I’ll be voting for the blue!
Midtown news: There’s a report on Nextdoor that the 19th Century Club is now Red Hook and they’re attaching giant plastic lobsters to the outside of the historic building. Mmmm, lobster!
Cruise line American Queen, which makes stops at Beale Street Landing, will require COVID vaccination for passengers effective July 1.
The Memphis Grizzlies dropped to 6rh in the Western Conference (9-6, .563) following last night’s loss to Indiana.
Memphis hosts UCF at FedExForum tonight at 7. The game will be on the ESPN+ premium service.
The new DGX convenience store at Main and Gayoso. I’ll try to get by there today or tomorrow and bring back a report.
That’s it for today. Back tomorrow with more news.