Thursday update

A big question got answered yesterday.

People from around the region come to Memphis for Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Fest, staying in Downtown hotels and walking to the festival.

Except this year, they can’t do that. Due to Tom Lee Park construction, the festival has been moved about 5 miles east to Tiger Lane. How are all of those people going to get out there, we all wondered?

There was sort of a precedent for solving this problem, looking back to 2011, the year BBQ Fest got moved to Tiger Lane. Free shuttles picked up people Downtown every 10 minutes at designated stops and dropped them off at the festival and took them back Downtown at the end of the day.

But those shuttles belonged to the casinos, which were closed at the time due to river flooding. The casinos are open this year and recovering from losses they incurred during the pandemic. Their shuttles wouldn’t be available for Memphis in May to rent this year.

So Memphis in May reached out to MATA and arranged a complimentary shuttle available to all Music Fest ticket-holders. It will run every 10 minutes. Its hours will be

Departing Downtown

  • Friday 4:00-9:00 PM
  • Saturday 12:00-9:00 PM
  • Sunday 12:00-7:00 PM

Departing the fairgrounds

  • Friday 9:00 PM-1:00 AM
  • Saturday 9:00 PM-1:00 AM
  • Sunday 8:00 PM-11:30 PM

The Downtown pick up locations will be

  • Exchange Avenue, in front of the Sheraton
  • Union Avenue, in front of the Peabody

To ride the shuttle, you must register by April 25. You will receive a registration confirmation email which you will need to show in order to board the shuttle.

Live at the Tracks, Central Station Hotel’s live music series, returns this evening. Join them on the upper deck from 6:30-10:00 for Turnstyles.

You can play pop culture trivia, hosted by Velvetina, Tuesday, April 5 at 7:30 PM at the Blind Bear. Velvetina is the organizer of the Friday night burlesque shows at the Bear.

I should have stayed later at the Blind Bear last night. I heard Zach Randolph came by and ordered food.

San Antonio nearly came back from trailing 18 points at home against the Grizzlies last night, but Memphis held on to grab a 112-111 victory. That victory meant two things:

  1. The Grizzlies, in 2nd place in the Western Conference, lead 3rd-place Dallas by 6 games – but there are only 5 games left in the regular season. The Mavericks cannot catch up, so the Grizzlies have clinched the 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They will have home-court advantage in the first two playoff rounds. If they reach the Western Conference finals and their opponent is not Phoenix, they’ll have home-court advantage there too.
  2. The Grizzlies also clinched the Southwest Division title last night, the first time they have earned that honor.

Next up: The Grizzlies host Phoenix tomorrow, April 1, at 7:00 in a battle of the NBA’s two best records – but it will be a meaningless game since both teams have clinched their seeds. The game will be broadcast on NBAtv. It will be Autism Awareness Night and the first 5000 fans will get a free Pop-It Stress Reliever.

The DM reports that construction will begin on the 24-story Grand Hyatt, the final piece of the One Beale project, in four to six weeks. One Beale’s first hotel, the Hyatt Centric, has been open for about a year now, and the second hotel, the Canopy, will open in June.

Another business that is part of the One Beale project, Fancy’s Fish House, will open next to The Landing Residences next week. It will offer seafood, a raw bar, and Gulf oysters when in season.

Lansky Bros. at the Peabody is looking for enthusiastic full-time and part-time employees to join their sales staff. Send a resume to sales@lanskybros.com or apply online if you’re interested in joining the team.

The Memphis Flyer reports that Chicken Champagne Caviar, currently a pop-up in 409 S. Main, is going permanent.

The Flyer profiles Josh McLane, master of the sandwich at South Point Grocery.

The Downtown Memphis Commission has a Development Project Manager position open.

A liquor store is for sale in Downtown Memphis. The listing does not indicate the name of the business, but it says it is on a corner lot (which would rule out Quench and Downtown Wines & Spirits) and it was established in 2012 (which would rule out Corkscrew). That leaves Pyramid Wine and Spirits at N. Second and A.W. Willis as the likely business.

It’s National Tater Day and I have a recommendation. Go to the food truck rodeo in Court Square and get you a pulled pork baked potato from Smurfey’s Smokehouse. You will not regret it.

Westy’s will host a Pinch District Artists’ Market beginning Sunday at 1:30.

The winner of the Downtown Cocktail Contest will be crowned at a special happy hour at Old Dominick Distillery today from 4 to 6. There will be $4 beers, $7 cocktails, and free samples of the winning drinks.

That’s it for today. It’s possible tomorrow’s post could be late. I have a friend’s birthday party to attend tonight and that may throw off my sleep schedule a little.