Month: February 2022

Last night I discovered the best item on Maciel’s Tortas and Tacos’ menu. That’s saying a lot, because everything on the menu is really, really good.

This is the gazpacho salad. It’s made with lettuce, mango, cilantro, tomato, onions, avocado, and grilled steak. Look at that photo. Could they have POSSIBLY fit any more steak in that box? All the flavors came together beautifully and the chipotle dressing was superb. 10 out 10, would get again, would strongly recommend. For those of you who never stray away from the tacos section of the menu, you’re missing out!

All right. On to the next thing. Mostly I’m preaching to the choir here. Feel free to show this to your friends who don’t eat out much and who therefore are not familiar with how things work.

Let’s talk about people who walk into a bar and sit down at a table. After two or three minutes, no one has come by to take their order. They get up and leave. The next day, they leave a one-star review of the bar on Yelp or Google Reviews and say, “The service here is trash.”

Applebee’s is a restaurant. Chili’s is a restaurant. O’Charley’s is a restaurant. At those places, you are greeted by a host or hostess. They walk you to a table and inform a server that they have a new customer. The server then comes over and takes care of you.

Bars, however, are different. Except during peak hours, they generally don’t have someone at the door to greet you. You seat yourself. If a server doesn’t come over to your table within about 5 minutes, then the bartender is most likely working by herself. In that case, you should go up to the bar area and place your order there.

How can you tell if an establishment is a restaurant or a bar? It’s most likely a bar if any of the following words appear in its name:

• Bar
• Pub (or “public house”)
• Lounge
• Tavern
• Saloon
• Speakeasy
• Beer
• Ale
• Any type of liquor (e.g. whiskey, gin, etc.)
• Roadhouse
• Joint
• Inn (if the business is not also a hotel)

If having to seat yourself and go to the bar to place your order bothers you, that’s totally understandable. Simply don’t visit these types of establishments. But don’t leave bad reviews on them simply for being what they are.

The Orpheum announced yesterday that one of the true legends in the world of music, Smokey Robinson, will be there April 7. This announcement is so new that they don’t even have the concert listing on their website yet. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

Bourbon fans, get ready: McEwen’s on Monroe will host a Buffalo Trace Advanced Tasting Class by Whiskey University. Buffalo Trace is the oldest continually operating distillery in North America and the third largest bourbon distiller in the world. In this class, you will sample nine ½-ounce shots of Buffalo Trace bourbons. These include

• Weller Special Reserve “McEwen’s Pick”
• Weller Antique 107
• Weller 12
• Blanton’s Single Barrel
• Hancock’s President’s Reserve
• Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel
• Stagg
• Jr. Barrel Proof
• Eagle Rare “McEwen’s Pick”

While sampling these bourbons, you’ll learn about the three bourbon mash bills offered by Buffalo Trace: Wheated, Mash Bill #1, and Mash Bill #2. Cost for the class is $125. If you have a bourbon lover in your life, tickets to this class would make an amazing Valentine’s Day gift.

The Downtown Neighborhood Association posted a construction alert yesterday: As work on Tom Lee Park continues, the temporary bluff walk connection at Vance Park will be closed through April when the new, permanent connection opens.

Bill Dries of the Daily Memphian is reporting that The Who will play FedExForum May 13. That’s Friday of BBQ Fest week (and Friday the 13th).

A Facebook friend of mine recently asked, what IT skills should I learn to be qualified for a lot of jobs? I’m not in IT anymore, but I still get newsletters from IT recruiters, and I’ll tell you what I am seeing – there are a lot of Microsoft SQL Server jobs open right now, both local and remote positions. SQL Server is an enterprise-level database server. If you have Windows, you can download it for free (go to this page and grab the Express version) and there are plenty of good free tutorials online. Even if you don’t learn the Microsoft-specific stuff, knowledge of the SQL database query language is a boost to any resume.

Also, one of my favorite tech writers, Flavio Copes, recently published a roadmap to becoming a web developer in 2022 that is worth a read.

The Grizzlies host the L.A. Clippers tonight at FedExForum at 7. Local TV coverage on Bally Sports Southeast.

The NBA trade deadline is Thursday and Grizzly Bear Blues has a trade deadline primer.

The DM’s Steven Johnson reports that Emoni Bates has returned to the Memphis Tigers after seeing a specialist about his back injury. Johnson also reports that my fellow November 18 baby Jalen Duren earned AAC Freshman of the Week honors and Josh Minott made the AAC honor roll.

You can learn to do soul line dances at the Hard Rock Cafe Wednesday at 6. This will be a recurring Wednesday event. Free to the public, free parking behind the building, hosted by the M10 Line Dancers. They’ll explore both the latest soul line dances and some classics.

I’ve been debating whether to mention this next item. I’ve had a few people saying, “We need to have a onesie bar crawl!” Turns out there’s one Downtown this Saturday but I have an important caveat: It’s organized by a national company – NOT locals. Bar crawls organized by out-of-towners have sometimes not lived up to their promises in the past (ask around about the New Year’s Eve bar crawl Downtown). I’m not recommending this crawl but I feel it’s worth a mention because

1. As I said, a onesie bar crawl has been requested, and this may be your only chance to participate in one this year; and
2. February 12 (Saturday) is at the peak of the slow season for bars. There aren’t likely to be a lot of people at the stops on the crawl that are not a part of the crawl. (None of the stops on the crawl are places that would be popular for early Valentine’s Day dates.) That makes it much more likely that the bars will honor what is advertised on the event’s Facebook listing.

Register and attend at your own risk. You won’t see me there.

I got up at 1:30 this morning to give myself time to get a full day of writing in while still going out at noon. Feels good to be back to being a morning person. Back tomorrow with more news.

Memphis Jookin: The Show Starring Lil Buck comes to the Orpheum Friday and Saturday. Lil Buck and his dancers will present a performance illustrating how the dance went from the streets into the clubs and became an international craze.

Tickets to the shows are $25-$55. Lil Buck and his crew will depart for a national tour following the Orpheum shows.

From TheNextWeb: The U.S. tech scene is becoming decentralized – the time is ripe for new startup cities. The 1990s are over and it’s no longer necessary to have your entire organization or infrastructure in one place. The article doesn’t specifically mention Memphis, but look at a few things we’ve got going for us:

• Start Co., an accelerator offering a variety of resources to help entrepreneurs grow their small businesses
• The FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis, producing cutting-edge research in technology
• Organizations like CodeCrew that rapidly develop the next generation of tech workers in Memphis
• A much lower cost of living than traditional tech hubs like Silicon Valley, Austin, or L.A.
• It’s easy to meet people and get connected to the community here

There’s no reason why Memphis could not be the next great startup city.

Olympic women’s ice hockey, USA vs. Canada, will be on the USA network at 10:10 tonight. That should be a good match.

MasterClass is offering a free video course on Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love this month. The class is described as “The history you weren’t taught in school.”

Everyone knows about Pi Day on 3/14. But did you know today is e Day?

If you’re looking for something to do Downtown tonight, the River Rat Rounders poker league hosts Texas Hold’em tonight at The Vault at 6:30. Free to play. Winner gets $125, and those who make the final table get points toward competing in the quarterly league championship for $1000.

That’s it for now. Mondays are not typically heavy news days and this one is no exception. Back tomorrow.

Ja Morant dropped 33 in only 33 quarters of play yesterday afternoon as the Grizzlies sailed to a road win over the Orlando Magic, 135-115. The Grizzlies are comfortably in third place in the West, with 4 games separating them from both second-place Golden State and fourth-place Utah.

The Memphis Tigers got some revenge against UCF last night at FedExForum with an 88-60 win. The Tigers improve to 12-8 and 6-4 in conference. The Tigers are 6th in the AAC, but there’s some good news – they’re only a half a game back from third-place Temple. The Tigers should be looking to move into a top-four seed in the AAC tournament next month.

Robusto by Havana Mix, the cigar bar on Peabody Place, will hold a Super Bowl Bash hosted by Gurkha Cigars next Sunday. There will be deals, raffles, and giveaways. Kickoff time is 5:30 but you’ll probably want to get there early to get a seat and some swag.

Insomnia Cookies has 20% off online orders of $20 or more this weekend when you use coupon code VAL20. The discount applies to in-store pickup, local delivery, or nationwide shipping, but the order must be placed online. Red Velvet cookies are back for a limited time.

Blind Bear has a cook position available. Must be able to close, which means leaving work at 3 AM. Message the Bear online or apply in person,

From Food & Wine: The world of whiskey has its first African-American Master Blender, Victoria Eady Butler. Butler is the great-great-granddaughter of Nathan “Nearest” Green, a slave until 1865, who mentored Jack Daniel in whiskey distilling. It’s believed Green taught Daniel the “Lincoln County” method of filtering unaged whiskey.

MakeUseOf has an article that’s, well, useful, showing 3 ways to instantly create a new email address for yourself. You can create aliases of your main Gmail address to filter your inbox by messages’ To: address, protect your main address from junk mail, and set up a dedicated temporary inbox, among other purposes.

There were reports of shots fired overnight at Front & A. W. Willis Ave. and at 250 Peabody Place.

Catherine & Mary’s is hiring a bartender. Full-time and part-time positions are available. Must have proven experience as a bartender and expertise in mixing drinks. If you know a second language, that’s a plus.

This DM article notes that the city has an agreement with Hospitality HUB that it will provide services as the city’s cooling and warming center in extreme temperatures, once its facility at 590 Washington is completed. So there will soon be cooling/warming facilities that are walkable from Downtown, as well as from the shelters at 393 and 600 Poplar. Mayor Strickland said he believes this is the last winter Memphis will have to use community centers as pop-up shelters.

Today is Dump Your Significant Jerk Day.

MLGW and Entergy employees, you can get 50% off at Huey’s today. You must show your company badge to claim your discount.

Here’s a link to James Aycock’s COVID Week-in-Review.

Today is the last day for Hadestown at the Orpheum. I’d link to the show’s page but I’m getting a “Server Error in ‘/’ Application” when I try to visit the Orpheum’s website.

Legendz of the Streetz is tonight at FedExForum. Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, and several other artists. Between that and Hadestown, traffic should be heavy on Downtown streets tonight. Allow extra time if you need to travel down here.

The Broom Closet will host a heart chakra-activated sound bath tomorrow at 6:30. The sound bath is said to inspire us to love more.

The Civil Axe Throwing on South Main has been softly open for a couple of months now, but Tuesday from 6 to 9 PM they will have their official grand opening AXE-travaganza.

• Music by DJ Mylon Webb
• Food and beer specials
• Throw for $20/hour
• Free giveaways: Grizzlies tickets, Civil Axe Throwing merchandise & gift certificates

Old Dominick will host a Super Bowl party next Sunday. There will be an open bar, stadium-style snacks, a mobile cigar bar, and giveaways.

Loflin Yard will host Galentine’s Day next Sunday at 6. DJ AD will provide the music and ladies can get half-priced wine and cheese boards.

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

The University of Memphis is offering this city’s residents a chance to warm up and be entertained this evening. Claim your free ticket to tonight’s Memphis Tigers game vs. UCF beginning at 6 PM in FedExForum’s grand lobby. One free ticket per person and tickets must be claimed in person.

Tip-off is 7 PM, but you’ll want to be one of the first ones there. The first 5000 fans through the gate get a Larry Finch/Penny Hardaway commemorative coin. Some coin boxes personally signed by Coach Penny have been mixed into the door giveaways.

If you’re a fan of the game Wordle, Lifehacker explains how to download its HTML file so you’ll be able to play Wordle free for years. The New York Times recently acquired rights to the game, and while they say they’ll keep the game free “for now,” you know sooner or later it’ll go behind the NYT paywall. This hack will ensure you don’t get thwarted by a paywall for years.

A friend of mine expressed this opinion yesterday, and I agree so I want to share it here: It should be the law that any restaurant that offers ketchup or marinara as a condiment/dipping sauce also has to offer ranch.

Social media advice for local businesses: If you post to Instagram and say, “Link in bio,” don’t let it automatically cross-post to Facebook or Twitter. Post to those platforms separately and put the link directly in the Facebook post or tweet. Yes, that requires additional work, but you want to make it as easy as possible for your fans to find your links.

Chef Tam of Chet Tam’s Underground Cafe out in The Edge posted that her entire website is 60% off when you use the coupon code BLKHISTORY. Tickets are now available for a Father-Daughter Brunch & Paint at the Cafe Sunday, February 13, 1-5 PM, and for a Couples’ Valentine Brunch & Paint Monday, February 14 7-10:30 PM.

The Broom Closet on South Main has some discounts today and tomorrow:

• 20% off all tarot and oracle decks
• 20% off all TBC Gemstone Collection jewelry
• WV amethyst clusters, crystal clusters, crystal points, dyed crystal points, and fluorite specimens $4
• Healing stone packs $5
• Love chakra packs $5
• Love healing packs $5

These prices are in-store only, while supplies last.

The Grizzlies play a road game at the Orlando Magic at 4. Local TV coverage on Bally Sports Southeast. I wonder if Nate will do a little twerking at Amway Center this afternoon before he returns to Memphis.

Coach Isaiah Thomas drafted Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane to Team Isaiah for the NBA’s Rising Stars Showcase. Former Memphis Tiger Precious Achiuwa will also be on the team. Four Rising Stars teams will compete in a semifinals and finals game, and there will also be a timed shooting competition. Catch the action on Friday, February 18 on TNT.

Bleacher Report has a mock draft simulating next Thursday’s draft of 2022 NBA All-Stars onto Team LeBron and Team KD. The draft has Ja Morant as the third player chosen overall and the second selection onto Team LeBron.

Bleacher Report also had some good news for Grizzlies fans: There’s dissension within the Utah Jazz, the team closest to catching the Grizz for 3rd place in the West. Donovan Michell and Rudy Gobert of the Jazz are said to be “under each other’s skin.” Utah has lost 8 of its last 12 games and isn’t really in the top tier of Western Conference teams anymore.

Over on Mud Island, River Inn, Terrace at River Inn, Paulette’s, and Tug’s are all hiring. Benefits include

• 1 week paid vacation every 6 months
• Merit raises within 6 months
• Health insurance
• 50% meal discounts
• Flexible schedules
• Year-end bonus
• Career advancement
• Free parking

You may have heard there’s a rather important football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams Sunday, February 13. Hard Rock Cafe has posted its tailgate menu for that rather important game.

Soul & Spirits, the brewery on the far end of North Main, has the following February specials:

• Cupid Chocolate Stout 4-pack $17
• The Love Pack: 2 Cupids, 1 Love Vibration, 1 Riverside $17
• 4-packs of Hopperbolic 25% off

The Michael Brothers play the Blind Bear tonight 8 to 12.

From WREG: Memphians without power are filling Downtown hotels

Fox 13 has an explainer about how Beijing, a city that typically doesn’t get a lot of snow, can host the Winter Olympics.

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the opening of St. Jude.

From WREG: How MLGW decides who gets power restored first. People who live on Mud Island have complained that they should be higher up the priority list. Think about it: Mud Island has zero traffic lights and its only real infrastructure is 1 grocery store and 1 pharmacy. That doesn’t sound like a priority area. MLGW advises that, much like drinking all day for four days at BBQ Fest, power restoration is a marathon, not a sprint.

There will be an artist reception for the Black Soliloquy exhibit at Urevu Gallery tonight 5:30-7:30. The exhibit spotlights the work of Black artists from Nigeria, Ethiopia, and the U.S.  You’ll be able to meet the artists at this drinks reception.

Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, scheduled for the Cannon Center next Wednesday, has been postponed. Pink Floyd’s drummer and his backing band will be rescheduled for the fall of 2022.

Phrase I am completely sick of hearing: “Out of an abundance of caution.” Can we retire that, please?

Forecast is sunny with a high of 38. Not great for February, but I will take it! I need the sun to melt all this ice on the Main Street Mall. Walking around has been dangerous the past two days! My plan is to lead off at Blind Bear, then mosey over to Bardog about 2. Back tomorrow with more news.

Check back in this space between now and noon as I will update Downtown business closings for today, Friday, February 4. (Disclaimer: I try as hard as I can to build an accurate and complete list, but once in a while I get incorrect info. Calling the business is recommended if you need to be 100% certain it’s open or closed.)

Closed:

• Atomic Rose (tonight but they plan to open Saturday and Sunday)
• Baron’s Man Cave
• Big River Crossing
• Brass Door
• Cordelia’s Market (closed due to power outages; they will update social media if anything changes)
• Paulette’s (closed due to power outages; they will update social media if anything changes)
• Rachel’s Salon and Day Spa
• River Time Market & Deli
• STIX
• Stock & Belle
• Tug’s Casual Grill (closed due to power outages; they will update social media if anything changes)

Open:

• Aldo’s Pizza Pies Downtown
• Arcade
• Automatic Slim’s, at 11, for brunch
• Bardog Tavern (opened at 8 AM – Underdog downstairs opens at 11)
• Blind Bear, at 11, for brunch
• Chef Tam’s Underground Kitchen, 11 AM-4:30 PM, half-off for MLGW workers
• Flying Saucer
• Green Beetle
• Huey’s
• Loflin Yard
• Majestic Grille
• McEwen’s
• Memphis Chess Club (for lunch; closing 1 PM)
• Paula & Raiford’s Disco (9 PM-3 AM)
• Pontotoc Lounge
• Robusto by Havana Mix
• Slider Inn Downtown (Slider Inn Midtown will be closed due to lack of power)

We got the expected ice storm yesterday. In the Downtown core, the surface-level temperature hovered around 33-34 all morning, making for a slushy walk when I got out at noon. However, the temperature higher up was a little colder, causing ice to form on tree branches.

This tree at Main and Gayoso had a large branch on the ground. It’s a good thing a car was not parked there.

Here’s a video by ABC 24 of a tree blocking lanes on Riverside Drive.

Around 1 PM the temperature dropped below freezing, and the Main Street Mall and roads iced up. Power lines started to be affected. The Downtown core never lost power but Mud Island did. At its peak, 137,000 in Memphis were without power and Mayor Strickland declared a state of emergency. Some people may be without power for several days,

MemphisWeather.net posted that early morning temps were in the mid-20s Friday. Temps will struggle to make it to freezing today, so what’s on the ground is likely to remain on the ground all day. I bet a lot of offices will remain closed or work-from-home today as this morning’s commute is more dangerous than yesterday morning’s.

Looking out the window, it appears that Second Street has been de-iced. Monroe Avenue has patches of ice but is passable.

Very few restaurants were open in the Downtown core yesterday. I didn’t go to Bardog Tavern but was told by lunchtime, there was barely room to stand in there.

Silly Goose missed out on a lot of money by not firing up their pizza oven until 4 PM. That’s especially the case on snow days but it’s true most weekdays, given that they’re located in the ground floor of an office tower, plus they’re a block walk from AutoZone headquarters store support center.

One especially bad result of the ice storm is that the PBR delivery truck couldn’t make it, causing the Blind Bear to run out of the greatest beer ever made. I switched to a local product, Grind City Tiger Tail, a malt liquor I found quite refreshing. At $6 per pint and a 7.5% ABV, you get plenty of bang for your buck with a Value Drinking Index of 20.

Thanks to wonderful friends who made sure I got home last night without having to traverse the icy Main Street Mall. And now, let’s get on to the news.

The reservation book that was taken from Rizzo’s several days ago has been returned.

Longshot is doing another all-inclusive special for the Cincinnati Bengals vs. L.A. Rams championship game happening on February 13. $56 gets you

• Frito pie
• Coconut curry cauliflower
• Honey gold fried chicken
• 3 drink tickets

Seats are limited, so call 901-701-7494 to make your reservation.

Tug’s Casual Grill fans, mark your calendars for Mardi Gras specials Tuesday, March 1. They’ll have gumbo, red beans & rice, shrimp & sausage jambalaya, a shrimp po’boy, and a muffalini. Drink specials will include a hurricane, a voodoo lemonade, and a Bourbon Street martini.

From Media Referee: Former NBA championship team member Richard Jefferson believes that Ja Morant can guide the Grizzlies to championship contention

From the DM: Jaren Jackson Jr. is no longer a longshot for Defensive Player of the Year. He leads the NBA in blocks this season with 121. His teammate Ja Morant praised Jackson for being able to guard all five positions and for often being assigned to guard the other team’s best shooter.

Today is National Quacker Day. Get your souvenir rubber duck at the Peabody gift shops.

The Breakfast Club will perform ’80s rock, New Wave, and dance tunes Saturday at the Hard Rock beginning at 7.

All right. I’ll update the list of closings (and late openings) that I’m aware of at the top of this blog until about noon. After that, I’ll post closings on Facebook and make the post public so you can see it even if we aren’t connected on there. Back tomorrow with more news.

SNOW DAY!!! Or rather, ice day. Here’s a list of Downtown closings.

• Baron’s Man Cave
• B.B. King’s
• Big River Crossing
• Brass Door
• Cadre Building
• Dr. Bean’s Coffee and Tea Emporium
• Elmwood Cemetery
• Flying Saucer
• Gould’s
• Green Beetle
• Harbor Town Pharmacy
• Huey’s
• Itta Bena
• Majestic Grille
• Old Dominick Distillery
• Paulette’s
• Rachel’s Salon
• River City Records
• River Time Market & Deli
• Robusto by Hava Mix
• Sage
• Slider Inn Downtown
• South Main Book Juggler
• STIX
• Sunrise Memphis
• Sun Studio
• The Vault

Cordelia’s Market will close at 6 PM with its cafe closing at 3 PM.

I’ll update this list through about noon today as I learn of more closings.

Here’s the updated ice forecast from the National Weather Service. Memphis has moved into the 0.5-0.75 inch band.

Some ice impacts rule-of-thumb:

0-0.25: Smaller limbs damaged, a coating on your car and minor power outages

0.25-0.5: Larger limbs damaged, roads starting to become slick. More power outages

0.5+: Numerous trees down, roads coated in ice and major power outages#BePrepared pic.twitter.com/3QCQdwBdru

— NWS Memphis (@NWSMemphis) February 3, 2022

Ice is already accumulating on power lines, trees, and overpasses. Out in Midtown, it’s reported that a massive tree has fallen at Central and McLean and is blocking the roadway.

The reserve players for the NBA All-Star Game will be announced today at 6 PM on TNT. Ja Morant is already in as a stater.

The Memphis Tigers’ road game, scheduled for tonight in Cincinnati, has been postponed until February 15 due to a winter storm warning in Cincy.

Sage has started doing WCW (Wine, Conversation & Whiskey) Wednesday evenings 5-10. Half off wine, $2 off whiskey, and DJ Alpha Whiskey supplying the tunes.

Very sad day in Memphis yesterday: A man shot his girlfriend late Tuesday night, killing her. He then kidnapped their 2-day-old daughter and threw her into the Mississippi River near the Mud Island boat ramp. The newborn drowned. The man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

The Majestic Grille is partnering with Enchante to offer Valentine’s Day bouquets delivered to your table at dinner. Simply order on Encante’s website and put in their address, 145 S. Main, for delivery and use the coupon code MAJESTIC for $15 off. The Majestic still has some seats available for their four-course wine dinner and optional wine pairing that night. Call 901-522-8555 to make reservations.

South Main restaurants Good Fortune Co., South of Beale, and Pontotoc Lounge are teaming up to offer a Lunar New Year pub crawl from February 4-28. You earn a pub crawl “dollar” by trying a themed drink from a participating bar. Once you earn six pub crawl dollars, take them to Good Fortune Co. for a Lunar New Year T-shirt. The pub crawl will have its official kickoff, including a traditional Lion Dance, at 4:30 PM Saturday at Good Fortune.

Action News 5 has a sneak peek of the newly-renovated Cossitt Library. Not only will you be able to check out books, you’ll be able to record a podcast or listen to music there. The library will offer meeting rooms and there will even be a cafe with patio seating. This all sounds excellent but I sure am sick of “soon” as the reopening date.

Memphians won’t get to see “Prime Time” Deion Sanders coach in the Southern Heritage Classic this year. Jackson State announced it is pulling out of the Classic due to a newly-adopted agreement with its conference. Its opponent, Tennessee State, was not happy with the announcement.

Stay home today if you can, and if you have to get out on the roads, take it REAL slow. There’s already been an accident with injuries this morning on Union near AutoZone Park. Back tomorrow with more news.

The National Weather Service has issued an Ice Storm Warning for Shelby County, as well as neighboring counties Tipton, Crittenden, and Desoto.

According to Weatherbug’s hourly forecast, snow will start falling around 2 AM Thursday, the temperature expected to be 37 at the time. There will be a chance of snow falling – heavy at times – through 2 AM Friday. The temperature will fall to freezing at 7 AM Thursday, then will briefly rise to 33 before falling back below freezing, allowing snow on the roads to melt and then re-freeze as ice.

Better make plans to work from home Thursday (unless you are an essential worker, for example a bartender).

Bob Dylan is bringing his Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour to the Orpheum Saturday, April 9. Tickets are $59.50 to $129.50. Tickets go on sale to the public Friday at 10 AM.

STIX, the fast casual Asian restaurant in Peabody Place, has a special combo meal going on for the month of February. Get a ginger salad, a Downtown Roll, and an order of teriyaki chicken with fried rice for $20.

Want to see Hadestown at the Orpheum this week? If you are a student, teacher, or hero, rush tickets will be available for $20 for these performances:

• Wednesday, 7:30 PM
• Thursday, 7:30 PM (if not canceled due to weather)
• Sunday, 6:30 PM

First come, first served, up to 2 tickets per valid ID, must be purchased at the box office. Rush starts at 10 AM and lasts until they run out of tickets or showtime. Credit card preferred. No choice in seats.

Soul & Spirits, the new brewery on the far end of North Main, has added Tuesdays to the list of days the taproom is open, and they will have trivia Tuesday evenings. They have a new limited-release beer called Cupid, a chocolate stout infused with 4 different types of chocolates.

Second-year Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane has been picked for the Rising Stars game that is part of the NBA’s All-Star week.

The team formerly known as the Washington Redskins and the Washington Football Team has chosen a new name: Washington Commanders. Makes sense, since the president, who is the commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, resides in Washington.

Grizzlies on national TV alert: The Grizz travel to New York to play the Knicks tonight. Tip-off is 6:30 and the game will be televised on ESPN.

Emoni Bates may be done with the Memphis Tigers. His father tweeted that Emoni’s status with the Tigers “has suddenly come into question” and he may pursue other opportunities in basketball until he is eligible for the NBA draft in 2023.

In its latest 5 Star Story, Action News 5 introduces the family behind Makeda’s Cookies. From their warehouse at 301 Jefferson, they’re able to supply cookies to 70 grocery stores.

The stupid large brown rodent didn’t see his shadow today, but who cares? Tater Tot Day is a much better way to celebrate February 2nd. My suggestion would be the cheese tots with bacon & scallions from Huey’s. Another good option would be Westy’s smothered tots with cheddar, bacon, and sour cream.

DJ Bizzle Bluebland AKA Jared “Jay B.” Boyd will perform at Wiseacre Downtown Saturday 3 to 7 PM. This a free event and they’ll have the Tigers and Grizzlies on their new big screens.

I want to clarify something. There were shots fired following an incident that started inside a Downtown bar Tuesday morning. I heard those shots from my apartment and they happened about 2:20-2:25 AM and a report was made to the police from someone at 272 S. Main at 2:31 AM. News stations are reporting the shooting happened just before 4 AM, which would imply the bar was open past its legal closing time of 3. That is absolutely incorrect.

Programming note: If tomorrow’s forecast holds up, I may take the day off from blogging if there is no urgent news. Back no later than Friday with more.

If you have a reservation at Rizzo’s anytime in the next few weeks – but particularly Saturday, February 12 or Monday, February 14 – please give the restaurant a call at 901-304-6985. Their reservation book got taken and they need to redo the upcoming reservations.

I heard about 15 gunshots around 2:25 this morning. Apparently they happened near South Main and MLK Avenue.

The 7-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases per day in Shelby County dropped to 985 yesterday, the first time the average has come in under 1000 since the last week of December. That’s still an average of 106 cases per day per 100,000 in the county, which is about 10 times higher than where we’d like it to be, but at least we’re heading in the right direction.

May I suggest you get outside and enjoy the great weather today, because the weather will be far from great later this week… MemphisWeather.net calls for a high of 65 and a low of only 51 today. (That means I’ll wear shorts when I go out! I haven’t worn shorts out since New Year’s Day.)

Tomorrow you better get out and buy BREAD AND MILK AND MILK AND BREAD AND BREAD AND MILK because a Winter Storm Watch has been extended to include Shelby County. Latest models show the temperature falling quickly during the day Thursday, causing the rain that will be falling to change over to ice and then snow. Hmmm… is it possible we’ll be put under a dreaded Ice Storm Warning on Thursday? @memphisweather1 is the Twitter account to follow for the latest updates.

It’s the first of the month, which means it’s time to take a look at upcoming non-basketball events at FedExForum:

• The “Legendz of the Streetz” Tour will stop here Sunday, February 6. Rick Ross, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, Fabolous, and Boosie Badazz will perform. DJ Drama will be the official tour DJ.
• The PBR Bluff City Classic returns Saturday, February 12. The event is part of the Professional Bull Riders Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour.
• Comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias will be Back on Tour at FedExForum Saturday, February 19.

Broadway musical Hadestown kicks off a six-day, eight-show run at the Orpheum tonight. If you’re attending, please note that masks are required.

The Mersey Beatles play the Halloran Centre Thursday night. There are many Beatles tribute bands, but this is the only one from Liverpool. The group had a decade-long residency at the Cavern Club, where the Beatles themselves were the resident band from 1961 to 1963.

From Basketball Network: 4 reasons Ja Morant should have been the number-one pick ahead of Zion Williamson

The article mentions that Zion has been putting on even more weight. Check this out:

Zion sighting pic.twitter.com/2IDgCwlWLB

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) October 31, 2021

Geez… was Zion’s diet plan designed by Charles Barkley?

As for the Grizzlies, they dropped a road game in overtime to the Philadelphia 76ers last night, 122-119. The Grizz are still comfortably in third place in the West by 4 games. If the Grizzlies were in the Eastern Conference, they’d be in first place by 2 games.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. From stats site FiveThirtyEight: Groundhogs do not make good meteorologists

From ABC 24: Tom Lee Park redesign accelerating. The park is on schedule to reopen to the public in the spring of 2023.

ParkMobile, a contactless payment system for on-street parking, is expanding citywide. The system had been tested in select spaces Downtown and in The Edge District for six months. You can download an app for your iPhone or Android and never again will you risk catching COVID from those dirty, filthy parking meters.

The first events of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics happen tomorrow. Here’s the Winter Olympics schedule. Click on any dot or medal for time and location info. Unfortunately they don’t list which TV network each event will be on, which would be nice to know. For those of you who love watching curling as much as I do, set your alarm before you go to bed tonight. Team USA has a mixed doubles match against Australia at 6:05 tomorrow morning.

Today is Spunky Old Broads Day. That brings a few people to mind. I guess I better keep that thought to myself though.

Tonight is Songwriter Night at Tin Roof. Things get started at 8 PM.

Downtown Hookahs is now taking pre-orders for pineapple hookahs for Valentine’s Day. It’s a unique gift and you’d be supporting a great local business.

I got a great suggestion from a friend yesterday: He said I should look into remote freelance editing work. That would be a great complement to my writing work. I have good spelling and grammar and I learned to follow the AP Stylebook for a previous job (although I still want to vomit when I have to refer to a handbill as a “flier” rather than a “flyer”). I’ll look into editing work later this week.

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