Monday update

I heard more about that shooting near Beale and Wagner Saturday night as I was out and about yesterday.

Someone who was on the rooftop (the Beck & Call bar) of the new Hyatt Centric hotel told me that around midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning, they heard POP – POP – POP – POP – POP. On the street near Wagner Place was a man who had clearly been hit by gunfire, in a pool of his own blood, but who at the time was still alive. Police arrived and marked off a crime scene. Guests at the Hyatt Centric’s restaurants and bars who wanted to leave were held up by the police for more than an hour so as not to taint the crime scene.

Yesterday afternoon I heard from someone who’d been at the hotel Saturday night that the victim in the shooting died.

I can’t find any reports about this shooting on any of the local media. I’m not sure if that’s because there were other stories that took precedence over this one, or because someone requested the media to embargo the story. But anyway, that’s what I have been told. I’m not a professional journalist. If I have any detail here incorrect, email me (paul@paulryburn.com) and I will change it.

Yesterday about 8 PM, a black Dodge Challenger slammed into The Vault at 124 G.E. Patterson. According to witnesses who posted to social media, the car turned left onto G.E. Patterson from South Main St., accelerated, lost control of the vehicle, tires were heard squealing, and then, BAM – right into the front corner of the business. Vault 1, Challenger 0. The hood of the car was all smashed in and the airbag was deployed. It’s believed the driver of the Challenger may have been a female.

What’s a Challenger cost these days? 40 thousand? Tens of thousands of dollars in value destroyed in seconds. And how are people able to be successful enough to afford these cars without ever developing enough common sense not to do stupid, reckless things with them?

I wonder if the Challenger had collision insurance on it – the type that pays for damage to your own vehicle, as opposed to liability insurance that pays for damage to the other party. I wonder what that driver’s insurance premiums are going to be following this accident.

Then again, I wonder if the driver had insurance at all. In Memphis there’s a good chance the answer is “no.”

The last time the news in Downtown Memphis was this negative was 2006, when panhandling was out of control and people were getting knocked out and robbed in parking garages. At that time I got nastygrams from real estate agents, who wanted me to tone down what I wrote about crime because I was making it hard for them to sell properties Downtown. I wonder if the next generation of real estate agents will come @ me in 2021. Of course, the difference is, Nextdoor is popular now. Shutting me up (which they won’t do) won’t put a lid on the bad news.

Also reading reports of people who live on South Front who can’t sleep because of the revving engines. They wish Front could be closed until the cruising/drag racing goes away. That’s not a practical solution, but I understand what they’re saying. I live on an upper floor of a high-rise building, half a block from city streets open to vehicle traffic, and the engines woke me up a couple of times Saturday night. I can’t imagine living on the first floor, only feet away from the street.

All right. You ready for something positive and happy and uplifting?

The experts said, the Utah Jazz will sweep the Grizzlies. They said, the Grizzlies are growing into a title contender – but this year, they would pay their dues, drop 4 in a row to the Jazz, and make an early exit from the playoffs.

The Grizz, particularly Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks, weren’t havin’ it. They controlled most of the game, the opponent constantly playing catch-up, just as they forced the Warriors to do in the second play-in game. The Jazz staged a comeback, and once again, the fear was that the Grizzlies would fall behind in the closing moments.

But the new Grizzlies have a lot more grit & grind than they’re given credit for. They regained the lead and closed the game out strong on both ends of the floor.

As soon as Rudy Gobert picked up his 5th foul, I knew the writing was on the wall. 112-109, Grizzlies, giving Memphis a 1-0 lead in the series.

Those of you who turned in early because you didn’t think the game would justify staying up until 11:15 PM, don’t make that mistake Wednesday. Every moment from tip-off to final buzzer was stellar basketball. So happy I took a nap Sunday afternoon so I could be up to watch the game.

Got next: Grizzlies @ Utah, game 2. Wednesday, May 26, 9 PM on TNT.

Attendance at the home games Friday and Sunday for Memphis will be bumped to 55%, FedExForum officials announced. The Grizzlies consulted with the Shelby County Health Department and the NBA office before making that move.

There’s a server position open at Beck & Call that has a $500 signing bonus.

Hotel Indigo seeks a Chief Engineer – Maintenance.

It’s National Escargot Day if you’re looking for a reason to go to Bishop French Brasserie in the Central Station Hotel.

That’s it for now. Time to get this week started.