Wednesday update

From Lifehacker: What even is Ash Wednesday, anyway?

Foreigner comes to the Orpheum August 11. Tickets are $49.50-$125 and go on sale tomorrow at 10 AM.

Major League Baseball has canceled the first two series of the regular season. The teams’ owners failed to come to an agreement with the players’ association and the players remain locked out. The season was set to begin March 31. Once an agreement is reached, the teams will need approximately 4 weeks for spring training before they can start playing regular-season games.

The Redbirds released a statement yesterday stating that the Minor League Baseball schedule is not affected by Major League Baseball’s negotiations. The season is very much on and opening day is April 5.

POLITICO has a transcript of President Biden’s State of the Union address last night.

Aaron Frazer will perform a DJ set at Eight & Sand Saturday, March 5, with guest DJs Eric Hermeyer, Cadillac Zach, Scott Bomar, and Memphis Jones.

Country music artist Erin Enderlin comes to South Main Sounds Friday, March 11. Amber Rae Dunn will open at 7 PM.

Cordelia’s Market has a strawberry special through Tuesday, March 8: Buy two containers of strawberries for $5.

You’ve heard of the teenager who has a Twitter account dedicated to tracking Elon Musk’s jet? Well, now he has a new subject of interest: Russian oligarchs.

Longtime Downtowners will remember The Dempseys, a high-energy rockabilly band that performed at venues including Blues City Cafe, the Flying Saucer, and Downtown Huey’s. Bassist “Slick” Joe Fick, now a resident of Nashville, made an exciting announcement this week. He has a new 4-hour video course on DiscoverDoubleBass.com that will teach you how to play slap bass. The course will take you from beginner to advanced. Here’s a short video by Joe on the history of the upright slap bass:

The Center for Southern Folklore is now selling locally-built birdhouses. Check them out in the store at 119 S. Main behind the Belz Museum.

A cat cafe in Ukraine is staying open to keep its 20 residents safe, even during the war. What’s a cat cafe? It’s a place where you can grab a snack and a beverage and some of the restaurant’s 20 cats may choose to hang out with you while you dine. Why don’t we have one of these in Memphis? I know there’s a hang-up about animals in public dining spaces, but people bring their dogs into the restaurants I frequent all the damn time. If they can do that, why can’t we have a cat cafe?

Calvary Episcopal announced their plan to have an extended prelude by a local musician every Thursday at their Lenten preaching series. This week the music will be by Josh Keller, an adjunct music instructor at the U of M and the musical director at a church in Olive Branch. He will play the viola de gamba.

The South Main Association announced its next South Main Social on Tuesday, March 8 at 6 PM at the Arcade, Memphis’ oldest restaurant. Daryl Andrews of Walking Pants Curiosities and the new Dreamers’ Revival TV show will speak, as will Jani Rad from the What’s on Your Mind podcast. Free for SMA members to attend, $20 for non-members.

Tennessee is getting its first cannabis restaurant. Opening in Nashville in April or May, Buds & Brews will serve classic American dishes with cannabis-infused toppings. Just as I said with the cat cafe, why can’t Memphis have nice things?

Maybe we should combine the two ideas and have a cat cafe that serves cannabis-infused dishes. People would probably try to get the cats high, though.

From ABC 24: Momentum, growth continues in Uptown

From WREG: Police are considering adding cameras to deal with reckless driving and drag racing. One type of camera electronically marks cars so they can be located at a later time on a different camera.

If you have friends in Indiana or Missouri, tell them to be on the lookout for Memphis’ Wiseacre beer in the near future.

Two men with at least one handgun robbed the Malco Powerhouse theater in South Main Friday night at about 11:20.

Fox 13 has a look at the Alpha Kappa Alpha regional conference being held at the Renasant Convention Center this week.

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