Month: January 2022

Last night I watched SMU play a high school team on national TV. SMU beat the high school team, 70-62. Next up: The high school team travels to Tulsa for a nationally televised game on ESPN Sunday at 2.

The high school team asked its fans to stand until it scored its first point. The fans were left standing for more than 6 minutes. Suggestion to the coach: Next time, ask the fans to stand until the high school team commits its first turnover. Butts will be in seats in the first :20.

Charcuterie box company Feast & Graze will have a brick & mortar retail location beginning February 1 thanks to the DMC’s Open on Main program. The shop will be at 55 S. Main, right down the street from Ben Yay’s and Maciel’s. Cristina McCarter, proprietor of Feast & Graze, will get a year’s free rent, giving her time to test whether this is a retail store concept that will work.

Downtown bartenders: You can win recognition by submitting a cocktail in the Choose901 Downtown Cocktail Contest. You have until February 4 to turn in a recipe using Old Dominick spirits. Winners will be crowned in

• Best Overall
• Best Name
• Best Use of Garnish
• Best Presentation
• Best Gin Drink
• Best Whiskey Drink
• Best Vodka Drink

Now you can get Green Beetle food without coming Downtown. The Green Beetle food truck will be parked outside the Memphis Made taproom in Cooper-Young, Menu items include

• Boudin Balls
• Yard Bird Fries (topped with smoked chichen)
• Loaded Taco Fries
• Smoked Chicken Sandwich
• Smashed Burger
• Catfish Strips
• Chicken Tenders

River Time Market and Deli has a description, witness, and video of the man that smashed in their front door and stole their cash box this past weekend. The suspect is a man who is known to police and residents in the area. Yet police are telling the owners, “We have to have a name. We can’t pick him up without a name.” That is RIDICULOUS. We’re supposed to be on a first-name basis with our local criminals?

DJ AD spins at the Blind Bear Saturday night starting at 9 PM.

There’s a Senior Property Accountant job available Downtown.

Robot umpires will man home plate for some Triple-A Minor League Baseball teams in 2022, but the Memphis Redbirds are not one of those teams.

THe U of M Law School has several tenure-track faculty positions open and has a particular need for expertise in Torts.

On Wednesday, February 18, there will be a walk across Big River Crossing at sunset, just in time to watch the rise of the full Snow Moon from the Arkansas side. It’s free to participate in this event.

Tell a tree rat you appreciate them today, because it’s Squirrel Appreciation Day.

ABC 24’s Richard Ransom has an idea for fighting drag racing and reckless driving in Memphis: Start ticketing drivers of cars with modified mufflers that make them super loud. The law is already on the books.

RIP Meat Loaf.

Broke Tall Folk play The Vault tonight at 8.

There will be a blindfold poetry slam tonight at 7 at 488 S. Second. Note that tickets must be purchased in advance (they won’t be sold at the door) and there is a camouflage attire theme.

Lucas Carpenter, Eva Cassel, and David Adams play the 5 Spot in the back of Earnestine & Hazel’s tonight at 9. $10 cover.

It’s Bachateame Friday at the Rumba Room tonight 9 to 3.

Soup Sunday moves to a new venue this year. It will be at The Kent, the new Uptown event space at Front and Keel on Sunday, February 20. Because of COVID, they’re scaling back this year – they’ll limit the number of tickets sold and only 20 restaurants will participate with their finest soups and other goodies. A variety of beer, wine, and cocktails will be served alongside the food. Grab your early bird ticket for $75 while it’s still January. The annual event, in the past held at FedExForum, is a fundraiser for Youth Villages.

That’s it for today. Back tomorrow with more news.

Last night’s Grizzlies loss to Milwaukee was disappointing but expected. Playing on the road against one of the best teams in the league happens now and then, and when it does, the odds are not in Memphis’ favor. Let’s have a look at the updated standings:

• The Grizzlies (31-16) are in 3rd place in the Western Conference
• They’re 2.5 games back of 2nd-place Golden State (32-12)
• They’re 1 game ahead of 4th-place Utah (29-16)
• They’re avoiding play-in scenarios by 8 games

Next up: The Grizzlies play on the road at Denver at 8 PM Friday. If you go out to a bar to watch the game, make sure you choose a bar that won’t cut off the TVs midway through it.

The Memphis Tigers get a shot at a team that is likely to make the NCAA tournament tonight. SMU comes to FedExForum to play a 6 PM game televised on ESPN2.

In other Memphis Tigers news, Rasheed Wallace is no longer an assistant coach for the team. He has been reduced to a consulting role where he can work from home, and health & safety protocols are said to be the reason.

A team headed by Billy Orgel and Kevin Woods has been selected to redevelop 100 N. Main, the tallest building in the city and one that has been blighted for most of the past decade. Orgel has previously redeveloped the Tennessee Brewery and Uptown’s Snuff District. The redevelopment will include the entire block bordered by Main, Adams, Second, and Jefferson, and will include office space, apartments, a hotel, and retail and restaurant space.

A word of advice from someone who’s out a lot: If you go to the Downtown bars and pay with a credit card, do not let that card out of your sight until a bartender or server takes it. The second it comes back, put it in your wallet or purse. Do not leave your card unattended on the bar where someone can steal it. Sadly, I am not talking about the actions of some random thief. I am talking about a regular.

From Slate: The NBA’s electrifying new superhero. Ja Morant’s fearless, astonishing play has made the Memphis Grizzlies must-see TV.

Memphis Police Department will hold a hiring expo Saturday, January 29 from 11 AM to 3 PM at the 17u N. Main building. There will be free parking at the Mud Island parking garage, corner of Front and Poplar. If interested, bring your ID and fill out an application onsite. Wear athletic clothing for a basic agilities test. There’s a $15,000 signing bonus and up to $10,000 is available to assist with relocation.

The annual Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre party returns to the Blind Bear Saturday, February 12 beginning at 8 PM. Dress up like a gangster or flapper and let’s party like it’s 1929! FreeWorld – yes, the entire band, not a subset – will be back for a night. Jamie Harmon will take “mug shots” and pics for the dining room wall. The Amurica photo booth will be parked outside. They’ll have a special dinner menu that includes a bottle of champagne for $45/individual or $90/couple. Not familiar with the real, February 14, 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre? Wikipedia to the rescue.

Jon Taffer will announce a new show today. Jon is the star of Bar Rescue, in which he fixes and upgrades bars that have gotten themselves in financial and operational trouble. Jon says that Bar Rescue will be back for another season, but his announcement today will be a new concept. In 2017 Jon and his team of experts rescued several bars in the Memphis area, including Downtown cigar bar Robusto by Havana Mix.

Today is National Cheese Lovers’ Day.

The rolling 7-day average of new COVID cases continues to drop by 50 to 200 a day. Today it’s down to 1699, more than 800 down from the rolling average’s high. The Omicron variant is slowly burning itself out in the community. The county will hold its weekly COVID task force press conference today at noon.

That’ll do it for this post. Back tomorrow with more news.

 

 

The Union Mission has a couple of volunteer opportunities open.

Food server: This is someone who loves people and loves interacting with the Mission’s guests. There would be side work including cleaning the kitchen and dining room. No previous food service experience is required but must be willing to take direction from the kitchen manager. Shifts are 11 AM to 1 or 2 PM for lunch and 4:30 PM to 7 or 8 PM for dinner.

Food prep: Helps the kitchen manager prepare the meals. Enthusiastic about serving a hot meal to those in need without direct interaction with the guests. LIke the server role, no previous experience is required but must be willing to take direction from the kitchen manager. Shifts are 8 AM to 11 AM for lunch or 1 PM to 4 PM for dinner.

If interested in volunteering for either of these roles, email rdaniels@memphisunionmission.org or call 901-343-6769.

In a presentation to the city council yesterday, DA Amy Weirich explained that the majority of drag racing and reckless driving cases are nolle prossed, meaning that the prosecutors decide not to move forward with the case. Weirich said moving ahead with charges involves locating witnesses who will testify that a specific person was driving the vehicle.

As for what could be done from a legislative perspective to make streets safer, Weirich suggested a law allowing police to seize the car when a drag racer is arrested, rather than waiting for a conviction. She also suggested making reckless driving a more serious misdemeanor with a heavier maximum sentence.

Fourth Street between Union and Crump will be renamed for Ida B. Wells. This would be a full renaming, not an honorary one, meaning mailing addresses would change, new street signs would be made, and the street name would change on maps. Wells was a journalist on an anti-lynching crusade in Memphis in the 1880s and 1890s.

Dr. Bean’s Coffee and Tea Emporium on South Main is hiring. Email  info@drbeanscoffee.com for more information on open positions.

River City Records will host a meet & greet with Memphis guitarist Eric Gales on Saturday, January 29, with the time TBA. His latest album is set to be released the day before.

The Little Rock Central High basketball team got to use their Christmas present Monday – tickets to the Memphis Grizzlies MLK Day game. The Central team was invited to sit courtside for the Grizzlies’ warm-up. The Grizzlies gave them sweatshirts and other merchandise and a local business owner gave each Central player $100 to spend in the Grizzlies team store.

ZDnet has an article on how to protect yourself against various forms of stalkerware. You’ve probably heard of a stalker attaching an Apple AirTag to a victim’s car to track their location. This is just one of many tech-based stalking methods.

Desmond Bane has been setting basketball courts on fire lately, but he won’t be doing so tonight. He and Kyle Anderson have entered NBA health and safety protocols. The Grizzlies play an away game at the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at 7.

WREG reported on last weekend’s break-in at River Time Market & Deli.

Temperatures could fall this afternoon as much as 35 degrees in a couple of hours, Chelsea Chandler of ABC 24 reports. It’s quite possible we’ll see thunderstorms with hail, freezing rain, sleet, and snow all within 24 hours. The wind chill at 7 tomorrow morning is forecast to be 2. No I did not leave a digit out.

That’s it for now. Stay warm. Back tomorrow with more news.

Recently I had an email communication with a reader in which I listed reasons why having a home in Downtown Memphis was a good thing. I told him, most likely in 2023 or 2024, Downtowners will be able to walk to Western Conference Finals games.

After seeing what I saw on TNT yesterday, I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll be walking there in 2022. The Grizzlies are playing like a top four team in the NBA. They looked better than ever in their 119-106 win over Chicago.

The 3rd-place Grizzlies are now a game and a half away from catching Golden State for 2nd in the West. Memphis holds a 1-game lead over 4th-place Utah. The Grizz are 9 games ahead of 7th-place L.A. Lakers, which means it’s becoming pretty clear the Grizzlies will make the playoffs without having to fight through play-in games.

I saw an odd thing yesterday. The Race for Reconciliation was at noon and they had police guarding the intersections runners would pass. Main and Union was being guarded by the Memphis Harbor Police. I wonder if MPD had so many cops out with COVID that they had to call in a favor with the harbor police.

The DM has a look at the race, which drew more than 600 runners.

MemphisWeather.net has a recap of Sunday’s snow event.

Today at 9:45, DA Amy Weirich will walk City Council members through the process of how her office determines whether to charge a driver with drag racing or reckless driving.

The 7-day rolling average of new COVID cases per day in Shelby County continues to fall by about 100 a day. It’s down to 1950 from a high of over 2500 about a week ago.

Memphis Made Brewing Co. is organizing a trash pickup in Cooper-Young this coming Saturday. They’ll provide the bags and supplies. Pick up trash for 30 minutes and they’ll give you a free beer.

MATA will reduce its weekday bus schedule to a Saturday level of service beginning today because so many of its bus drivers are out with COVID.

Also starting today, Shelby County Schools students and staff can get free weekly COVID tests.

ABC 24’s Chelsea Chandler warns of another potential winter weather event Wednesday night. The high tomorrow will be in the 50s, but the temperature will drop FAST (her capitalization) into the 20s, causing the rain that will fall tomorrow to turn to rain, sleet, and snow as it departs the area. The biggest threat will be black ice on the roads Thursday morning. The high and low Thursday will be 29 and 19. Well that certainly sounds like a day that will suck.

This looks like the only somewhat nice day this week, so I’m gonna get out and run all my errands. Back tomorrow with more news.

 

Happy MLK Day! Every year I try to read a sermon, speech, or letter by Dr. King to further understand his message. The past few years, I’ve been reading his mid-and-late-1960s messages, so this year I decided to be different. I read Transformed Nonconformist, a sermon he gave not long after being installed as the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. He was only 25 and a year away from receiving his Ph.D.

Dr. King invoked a comparison between a thermometer and a thermostat. All a thermometer does is reflect current conditions. If you’re cold, a thermometer will tell you how cold it is, but it won’t do anything to change the temperature. A thermostat, on the other hand, has a needle you can move to make it warmer, to change current conditions for the better.

So many people, Dr. King went on to say, function as thermometers: They reflect back conventional societal conditions of the current time, but they don’t do anything to change those conditions for the better. Dr. King invited his listener to be a thermostat, to be someone who moves the needle in our society here on earth, inspiration coming from the knowledge that we are part of the society of heaven.

Being a thermostat includes the willingness to be a nonconformist. Dr. King brought up the many white people he knew who were sincere in their support of equality for all races. However, he said, those people were thermometers, not thermostats; they feared moving the needle of equality because they feared they’d stand alone.

All right. I’m not done talking about this, but I’m fixing to discuss modern American politics, and I prefer to do that at the end of my posts. Let’s get on with the news.

The big event of the day is the MLK game at FedExForum, the Grizzlies hosting the Chicago Bulls at 2:30. The game will be broadcast live on TNT. Prior to the game, sports legends will speak at the Earl Lloyd Sports Legacy Symposium, which will be broadcast live by Bally Sports. Memphis’ own Wendy Moten, recent contestant on The Voice, will sing the national anthem at the game.

Speaking of the Grizzlies – Bleacher Report has an interesting trade speculation as the NBA deadline approaches: Could Jerami Grant by on the way to the Grizzlies? They believe the Detroit Pistons forward could be grabbed in a trade for some assortment of Dillon Brooks, Ziaire Williams, Brandon Clarke, players with short-term medium salaries, and picks. Grant is in the prime of his career and can play the 3 or 4 position. Grant at the 4 might give Jaren Jackson Jr. the opportunity to spend more time at center.

Interestingly, Bleacher Report writer Dan Favale believes that Desmond Bane has accomplished enough by now that he would be considered untouchable, along with Ja and Jaren, in trade talks.

I suppose the question to be answered – and one to which I don’t know the answer, because I kmow very little about him – is, does Jerami Grant fit the profile of a Grizzlies player? Strong on defense, high basketball IQ, grit & grind mentality? If so, he might be worth a look.

I’m very unhappy to report that River Time Market & Deli was broken into over the weekend. A man used a brick or rock to smash through the deli’s door. He took their cash box (which contained only change) and a drink out of the cooler. Hardly worth the hundreds of dollars of repairs the small business will incur.

River Time, on the south side of Court Square, will be closed today and tomorrow to deal with the damage. When they reopen, I encourage all my readers to stop by for breakfast or lunch and support them. They are a mom-and-pop business – literally, they are. They are the kind of business that makes Downtown a true neighborhood, not just a city center.

The National CIvil Rights Museum will conduct a hybrid MLK Day celebration, with in-peerson as well as virtual options. If you attend in person, you must reserve passes in advance and wear a mask.

Here’s a link to James Aycock’s COVID Week-In-Review. Case numbers and positivity are still enormous… but they are starting to trend in the right direction. If we can just get through about another month, James believes, we’ll enjoy another period of relatively low infection in the community, as we had February-June and October-November 2021.

Starting Wednesday, you can order 4 free at-home COVID tests to be shipped to your home. There are no shipping fees and no credit card number is required.

The DM has a story on drag racing in Memphis and while, although there are laws on the books prohibiting it, it’s a tough charge to get to stick. Drag racing often gets charged down to reckless driving if it is believed the standard of evidence for the stronger charge cannot be met. However, when the DA does obtain a conviction for drag racing, they can request forfeiture of the car.

There’s a 5K walk/run departing from AutoZone Park today at noon. Keep that in mind if you plan to drive Downtown around that time. You may be delayed.

Back to my discussion of Dr. King’s Transformed Nonconformist speech… I know some of my readers follow the national news and some don’t, so let me fill you in on what’s going on in Congress. Several voting rights bills, most notably the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill, sit in Congress, waiting to be voted on. All 50 Senate Democrats say they support voting rights, and with VP Harris holding the tiebreaking vote, theoretically they could force the legislation through with a 50+VP/50 majority.

Except they can’t, under current Senate rules. Republicans will filibuster the bills endlessly, leaving them permanently in limbo. It takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, and the Dems will never get 10 Republicans to join them.

However, the Senate can vote to change its own rules. All 50 Dems + the VP could vote to relax filibuster rules, then they could vote to end the Republican filibuster and bring the bill to the floor. They could then vote the bill into law, protecting all the voting rights gains nonwhite races have achieved the past 70 years. It would send a strong message that the country continues to move strongly forward toward equality – not roll backward.

Why won’t this happen? Two Democratic Senators – Joe Manchin (West Virginia) and Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) won’t even hear of changing the filibuster rules. They are afraid if they do so, and the voting rights legislation passes, they will stand alone, just as Dr. King talks about in his sermon. Meaning, they’re afraid their voters will turn them out in the next election cycle. They lack the courage to do something extraordinary, right now, and send a message that passing the voting rights legislation is worth facing consqeuences at the ballot box at a later date.

If 100 years from now, history books look back at our generation as the one when American democracy came to an end, I hope Manchin and Sinema’s names are right there alongside Trump and Mitch McConnell as the reasons why. They’re earning that place in history right now.

That’s it for today. Back tomorrow with more news.

 

4 for 11 free throws.

That is all you need to know.

The Memphis Tigers led East Carolina by 10 or more for most of the game Saturday – but lost at the buzzer 72-71. The Tigers now have essentially no chance of getting to the NCAA tournament outside of winning the AAC tournament.

I don’t care how many times they turned the ball over, or how many times they allowed ECU to attempt wide-open threes. I don’t care that they started the game with only eight players.

If the Tigers were even 60% free throw shooters, they would have won that game.

I don’t think Penny should be fired, but I sure think Memphis AD Laird Veatch needs to check the “Fails to meet expectations” box when Penny comes in for his annual performance review.

The next game, if anyone cares, for the Tigers is a home game vs. SMU at 6 PM Thursday. The game will be on ESPN2 so you’ll be able to watch Memphis miss its free throws on national TV.

The NBA has a list of activities honoring Dr. Martin Luther KIng, Jr. leading up to the MLK Day game, Grizzlies vs. Bulls, at 2:30 Monday. I should have posted that link sooner because the activities have been going on all week.

For those of you who want to do a little reading tomorrow, here’s a list of Dr. King’s speeches, sermons, essays, and interviews. Some are in audio or video format.

Grind City Brewing Co. is now selling vegan chicken salad by @daveganguru.

The snow moved out at almost exactly the moment Weatherbug reported the temperature dropping to 32 Downtown. Disappointing. The streets I can see out my windows – Monroe, Second, and the Main Street Mall – are completely clear, although rooftops and awnings have snow cover. I hear that the eastern suburbs’ road conditions are rapidly deteriorating.

Lovefood.com recently named the Arcade as the most charming roadside diner in Tennessee.

Today is Prohibition Remembrance Day, commemorating the 103rd anniversary of the stupidest amendment ever. Go have a drink to celebrate the fact that Prohibition went away before you were born. Or, for those who sit at the corner table at Max’s Sports Bar, have a drink to celebrate that Prohibition was repealed in your lifetime.

Magician/comedian Mike Super will perform Friday at the Halloran Centre.

Cocktails made with Campbell’s soups are a thing now.

That’s the news for now. Back tomorrow if there’s anything to report.

The Grizzlies’ 11-game winning streak came to an end last night at FedExForum. The Dallas Mavericks took a 112-85 win over a tired Grizzlies team on the second night of a back-to-back. The Grizzlies (30-15) remain in 3rd place in the Western Conference, but the Utah Jazz are now 0 games behind Memphis rather than 1 game.

Next up for the Grizz: Hosting Chicago in the MLK Day game 2:30 Monday.

The Memphis Tigers travel to Greenville, NC today for a 3:00 came at ECU. This is a can’t-lose if they want to keep their hopes alive for an at-large bid to the big dance.

The big news this weekend is going to be the weather. Rain, sometimes heavy, is expected today with a high in the upper 40s. Late this afternoon, temps will start falling through the 30s and will reach the 20s by late evening, at which time the rain will convert over to freezing rain or sleet briefly, followed by several hours of heavy snow.

There will likely be bands of snow, meaning that Downtown could get 6 inches while Cordova only gets 3, or vice versa. It is very hard, given the dynamics of this particular winter weather system, to predict exactly where these bands will occur. For more information, I recommend you read the MemphisWeather.net blog and follow @memphisweather1 on Twitter.

Wow… I’m really concerned for my friends who work service industry jobs and don’t get off until 3 Sunday morning. Most office workers can call in and say, “I’m staying home today; road conditions could be too dangerous to drive by the time I get off,” and the boss will understand. You try that when you work at a restaurant or a bar, and you’ll get fired. Industry workers might want to consider getting a hotel room tonight. A $120 hotel room might be a decent price to pay to avoid $1200 in auto body repairs.

From Fox 13: How to winterize your car in anticipation of this weekend’s weather event

Would you believe, that’s ALL I have for today? On a Saturday??? We really are in the slow season. Maybe it’s a good thing that there aren’t many events going on tonight, because people need to be off the roads, especially after midnight. Stay safe, and if there’s any news to report tomorrow I’ll be back with it.

The Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-108 to improve their winning streak to 11 in a row. Let’s see what that does for the Western Conference standings:

• The Grizzlies (30-14) are in 3rd place
• They are 3 games back of the Phoenix Suns (31-9) and 1.5 games back of the Golden State Warriors (30-11)
• They are 1 game ahead of the 4th-place Utah Jazz (28-14)
• They are avoiding play-in scenarios by 8 games, ahead of the 7th-place L.A. Lakers (21-21) by that amount

The proprietor of The WKND Hang Suite is opening a restaurant called Supper Club at 85 S. Second across from the Peabody, the MBJ reports. It will take up two floors of the building and will be a 2022 spin on the supper clubs of the 1960s-70s.

Out in The Edge, Coleman-Taylor Transmissions is vacating, making room for what will likely be more apartments.

Terry and Olivia Harris, Jordan Mobley, and Priya Vani headline tonight’s edition of the South Main Songwriter Series at South Main Sounds at 550 S. Main. The music starts at 7 PM.

B.J. Chester-Tamayo, owner of Alcenia’s, will compete on Jay Leno’s game show You Bet Your Life. The show is a remake of a 1950s game show that was hosted by Groucho Marx.

Action News 5 has a sneak peek inside South Point Grocery, soon to open at 136 Webster.

Anchor Eyrn Rogers of ABC 24 recently visited Raw Girls for her latest Eryn Eats feature.

Today is Feast of the Ass.

Weekend weather update:

🚨Winter Storm Watch in effect Saturday evening through Sunday. ❄ Rain will change to heavy wet snow Saturday evening, tapering off Sunday morning. Widespread 2-4″ totals are expected, with potential for up to 6″ in locally heavier bands. Travel could become very difficult. pic.twitter.com/8fbUmEuxu9

— MemphisWeather.net (@memphisweather1) January 14, 2022

Grassfire Bluegrass Band plays Memphis Clover Club tonight at 8.

Local band The Pinch plays Hard Rock Cafe tonight at 7.

That’ll do it for today. See you tomorrow.

Snow!

Some places will underperform, but there is also likely to be a band of heavier snow some place in the region as well, which can’t be determined just yet. Check back for later updates! #memsnow. (2/2)

— MemphisWeather.net (@memphisweather1) January 13, 2022

Today marks the first day of back-to-back Grizzlies home games – and promotional giveaways.

• Tonight vs. Minnesota: Free Grizz Girls poster to the first 5000 fans. 7 PM, televised on Bally Sports Southeast.
• Tomorrow vs. Dallas: Free Grizz sleep masks to the first 5000 fans. Sponsored by Mid-South Pulmonary & Sleep Specialists. 9 PM, televised nationally on ESPN.

The Tigers took a bad loss on the road to UCF last night, 74-64. That makes their record 9-6 for the season. Remember pre-season, when we were saying if Penny doesn’t get his team to the Elite Eight at least, it will be a disappointment? Now we’re reduced to hoping for the 12-seed play-in game in the First Four.

Pappy Van Winkle bourbon has returned to the Peabody Corner Bar for a limited time.

Soul & Spirits, the new brewery at the far end of North Main, has started carrying Arbo’s cheese dip and Las Delicias chips in their taproom. They say that the cheese dip and chips pair well with their Mexican Lager.

Kids 12 and under can swap the jersey of an old player who is no longer with the Grizzlies for a brand-new Ja Morant or Jaren Jackson Jr. jersey.

Joe Austin & The Tallahatchies return to the Blind Bear Saturday at 9.

In world news: Senior officials, including some from his own party, are calling on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign. Johnson attended a garden party in May 2020, a time when the country was under strict lockdown and people could only meet with one other person from outside their household.

Bring your dog to bingo at Grind City tonight and get a bonus bingo card.

That’s all for right now. Back tomorrow with more.

The Grizzlies are must-watch TV these days. They made it 10 wins in a row last night, defeating the Golden State Warriors 116-108. A look at what this does for the Western Conference standings:

• The Grizzlies (29-14) are in 4th place
• They are 3.5 games behind conference leader Phoenix, 2.5 games behind 2nd-place Golden State, and 0 games behind 3rd-place Utah
• However, they are 5.5 games ahead of 5th-place Denver, meaning that Phoenix, Golden State, Utah, and Memphis are the clearly-established upper echelon of the Western Conference
• They are avoiding play-in scenarios by 7 games, that amount ahead of the 7th-place L.A. Lakers

Y’all who are on Twitter, please get on there and tweet #JaMorant #NBAAllStar. Our guy deserves it.

Memphis police and the DA’s office will hold a joint press conference today to discuss the arrest of two suspects in the Young Dolph case: Justin Johnson aka rapper Straight Dropp and Cornelius Smith.

The Tigers men’s basketball team plays UCF in Orlando tonight at 6. The game will be televised on ESPN+ and the radio broadcast will be on 98.9 The Roar of Memphis. I wonder if Nate and Julien will attend tonight’s game?

The January Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting has been announced. It will be at the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street Tuesday, January 25. The cafe recently reopened under new management. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris will speak at the meeting, and DNA president Jerred Price will perform a few songs in his “Almost Elton John” persona. Members will get one free drink and free appetizers.

Catherine & Mary’s posted that the EnjoyAM wine dinner series will be back next Wednesday, January 19. This dinner will feature Loire Valley wines. There will be a welcoming toast followed by 4 courses paired with wine and discussion by their sommelier and culinary team. Tickets are $75. Call 901-254-8600 or email courtney@enjoyam.com to grab your space at this limited-seating engagement.

Suspects in the Phil Trenary homicide will be back in court next month. Trenary, former CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber, was shot and killed in an apparent robbery near the site of the Memphis Farmers Market in 2018. He was walking home from an event at Loflin Yard.

Action News 5 has a look at Memphis’ trolley cars in its latest 5 Star Story.

That’ll wrap it up for this post. Back tomorrow.