Author: paulryburn

Thursday update

I won First Place and Best Team Name at Blind Bear trivia last night. Nice little $50 prize haul on a Wednesday evening.

One of the other teams was headed by Nate who tends to follow me to bars around the Downtown area. Following good Agile design practices, Nate and his team did Scrum after trivia, a post-mortem to discuss the reasons they lost. This is what they came up with:

  • I’m smarter than Nate’s team
  • I have better hair than Nate
  • I have hair

Friends and I were reminiscing about the good old days yesterday… specifically, the Fish Races at Sleep Out Louie’s. They had a tank filled with goldfish there. On Friday nights they would bring in rain gutters, and each participant in the races would scoop a fish out of the tank. We’d drop them in the rain gutters and squirt them with water guns. First fish to the end of its rain gutter wins. The races were bracketed, much like the NCAA tournament, but fish instead of basketball.

A quick message for any readers living in Senate District 33: My friend Drew Daniel has filed a petition to run for Republican State Committeeman in the August 2 election. I don’t often recommend Republicans on here but I have known Drew for over 20 years. He took my algebra and computer literacy classes at the U of M and we have stayed in touch since. I know him to be a man of integrity and public service. If you live in that district I hope you will give him consideration when you cast your ballot.

Court House Deli is hiring. Brad who owns the place is an awesome guy (although his taste in college football teams is questionable) and he seems like he would be great to work for. It’s a Monday-Friday lunch-only restaurant so there wouldn’t be evenings and weekends. Apply after 2 PM. It’s on the Main Street Mall north of Monroe next to The Peanut Shop.

Congratulations to Meddlesome Brewing Co., whose 201 Hoplar beer was crowned the king of Memphis beers in the recent Memphis Flyer beer bracket vote.

You’ve heard of pub crawls, but there will be a Pub Prance this Saturday at 3 PM. It will start at Civil Pour at 409 S. Main and will hit South of Beale, Green Beetle, Pontotoc Lounge and will end at the Silly Goose. There will be Tattersall giveaways including a grill and cornhole boards. I think the difference between a pub crawl and a pub prance is that you have to get your ankles up higher as you walk. Imagine you are a Clydesdale entered in a horse show.

In related news, there will be a bar crawl on the south end on St. Patrick’s Day. It will start at noon at Carolina Watershed (live music TBA). At 2 the party moves to the Ghost River taproom with live music by the Memph Orleans Street Symphony. Next up is the Dirty Crow Inn where Shufflegrit plays at 4. Last stop is Loflin Yard at 7-8ish with live music TBA. Food specials and drink specials at all four places.

Yesterday I signed my offer letter for my new job, had it scanned (love the FedEx Office at the Peabody, they are so nice there) and emailed it. That left me with 8 weekdays left to enjoy the life of the unemployed without worry. I decided to embark on a farewell tour of my Downtown lunch spots that I will not see again for some time. I named the tour the Perjorie T. Roll Lunch Series. First stop on the tour yesterday was The Little Tea Shop, where my troll and I had chicken and dressing.

One of the specials on Wednesday, this is a smothered chicken breast, dressing, gravy and the Tea Shop’s famous corn sticks, along with one side. I chose turnip greens as my side. Note that this is a real chicken breast, not slices of chicken breast meat as you often see with this dish. More Southern and authentic, but watch out for bones. One of the secrets to life is to dip the corn sticks in the potlikker from the turnip greens.

Artists: Two Beale Street design competitions have been announced. One is for the entrance to Handy Park and the other is for the two new archways at Main Street and Fourth Street.

I had a #YouAreSoMemphis moment yesterday. Announcers on ESPN were discussing Paul George. The graphic read, “What can OKC do to make PG-13 want to stay?” I immediately thought, “What are Wolfie D and JC Ice doing in Oklahoma?”

The View rooftop bar atop the Residence Inn at Main and Monroe opens a week from today, Thursday, March 15. Holly has the details.

Dine at Mollie Fontaine’s on March 29 and mention Memphis Pets Alive and they will receive 15% of your purchase price.

Wicked, the untold story of the Witches of OZ, kicked off its Memphis run at the Orpheum last night. The show will be here through March 25.

Talibah Safiya performs at Old Dominick tonight. $10 cover.

Brain Candy Live comes to the Cannon Center tonight.

Moody Ques: We are still looking at March 24 for a full team meeting and cookout. Details are being arranged.

Plan for today: I’m taking the Perjorie T. Roll Lunch Series to Court Square for the Thursday food truck rodeo. I’m making a rule that I have to try a food truck I have not tried before – apologies to Sushi Jimmi, RAWK’n Grub, Moe’s and Stickem if those trucks are there, but I only have two Thursdays left to do this. After that I have the rest of the day free and will be out at the usual spots. Back tomorrow with more news.

 

Very newsy Wednesday

Yesterday while I was out at breakfast I heard a BIG rumor which a couple of different sources said was going to happen… a legendary Downtown Memphis bar is said to be making its return this spring. It won’t be back in its original location, but it will be within walking distance away from the original location in the Downtown core. For now I will withhold the name since it has not been officially announced. This bar is where I got my start in the Downtown scene and I will be very happy, as will a lot of other people, if it does indeed come back.

On to the next piece of big news, and this one is personal. I’m going back to work! I received the offer letter yesterday. I don’t like mentioning names of places where I work on the blog but it is a great company near Poplar and Kirby Parkway. I will be programming in C# and using some cutting-edge client-side frameworks. I have also been told there may be future opportunity to utilize my communication skills as well as my programming skills. My start date is Monday, March 19, so I still have a little time to wrap up side consulting projects and see my friends who are out during the day.

I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has been there for me in the 8 weeks since my old position got eliminated. The first few weeks it happened, I simply didn’t believe in myself. So I did the only thing I could do: I turned to my friends. All of you helped me find the strength within myself to fight back and recover fully from this unexpected setback. I couldn’t have done it without you.

One of the things I dreaded was having to go on 8, 10, 15 interviews before finding a company where there was mutual interest. As it turns out I only had to go on 3 interviews with 2 companies before I had a desirable offer. LinkedIn really is effective in getting yourself out there in front of recruiters and employers. There’s all kinds of things you can do to highlight your skill set and stand out in searches done by employers.

I have not touched Fireball since I gave it up on January 22. I feel so much better and have been told by many people I look better. I have done a handful of other shots (maybe five total) since then, but only quality liquor and only in celebration or special occasion (you just don’t turn down a Jameson with Aldo when offered), never to dull any pain.

Let’s get on to the news… Diana Krall plays the Orpheum on June 30. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketmaster.

Max’s Sports Bar is doing another crawfish boil this Sunday. Doors open at 11:30 with the first batch of crawfish coming out around 12:30. As always, the crawfish come with sausage, taters, corn and mushrooms. They’ve lowered their prices a bit – $9 for 1 pound or $16 for 2 pounds.

By the way… this will be the first time since 2009 I will be off for the Thursday-Friday first round games of March Madness. May have to do a little watchin’ at Max’s. In particular, I will be down there if Arkansas has a day game… ESPN Bubble Watch has the Hogs as a lock for the NCAAs, so even if they stumble against the winner of South Carolina/Ole Miss they should be in.

Drink-n-Draw returns to Ghost River this Friday 7-9. This event is part game show and part art class. Whether you are an artist or not, you will enjoy Drink-n-Draw. Prizes for best and worst drawing and there may even be a singalong during the activity. Of course there will be plenty of great craft beer too.

The airport is hiring an Airfield Maintenance Seasonal Utility Operator.

There’s a doubleheader at Landers Center Saturday featuring two great Memphis teams. The day starts off with basketball as the Hustle take the floor at noon. That evening the arena switches over to hockey with the RiverKings. For $30 you can get tickets to both games, a RiverKings hat, Hustle sunglasses, and a coupon for cheese dip at Maria’s Cantina.

Tennessee lawmakers are looking to clear the way for liquor and wine sales on Sundays and holidays. Welcome to the 21st century, Tennessee!

The new arch is up at Beale and Main:

The arch is meant to serve as a gateway for the Beale Entertainment District. There’s one at Beale and Fourth as well.

There will be a Timeout for Fitness with the Grizzlies Saturday and Sunday, March 17-18. You’ll get a ticket to Grizzlies-Nuggets on March 17, a Grizzlies/Methodist Health Care yoga mat, and the opportunity to win prizes, as well as the opportunity to work out on the arena floor on the 18th with up to 3 classes: Yoga at 2, an Ab Lab with Mark Akin from Envision Fitness at 3, and a GrizzFit bootcamp at 4. Each session is 45 minutes long. $5 from each ticket will be donated to the Methodist Healthcare Foundation.

I can’t resist a couple of comments about the web design on the Timeout for Fitness page: I shouldn’t have to click “View More” to learn what I get with my ticket purchase – after all, that’s what brought me to the page in the first place. Secondly, the pop-up “Why did you not decide to buy tickets today?” when my mouse leaves the viewport is annoying.

On Thursday, March 15 there will be a community forum to discuss improvements to be made to Dr. MLK Jr. Avenue including bike lanes.

I finally got around to trying dinner at Pontotoc Lounge last night. Since the Mississippi Pot Roast has already been pictured on other Memphis blogs, I decided to go with something different and simple: the Fettuccine with bacon cream, mushrooms, and arugula. Bartender Jonathan suggested that I add shrimp to the dish, which sounded like an excellent idea. He asked if I wanted the shrimp to be Cajun, and I did.

Oh man this was SO good! The fettuccine came out covered in Parmesan cheese. The bacon cream sauce was fantastic, and it wasn’t just a sauce – there were big chunks of bacon in there too. The shrimp were excellent. I wondered why they brought out a side plate with my bowl, but not for long – the shrimp still had their tails on, so keep that in mind before you dive into this dish too quickly and accidentally swallow one. The arugula gave the dish a nice texture and there were plenty of mushrooms too. This was completely outstanding and the service from Jonathan was outstanding as well.

Watch the U.S. Women’s National Team play England in soccer tonight at 6 at the Brass Door.

I’ve actually got 5 more news items but this post is getting long, and none of the news items are time-sensitive so I’ll save them for the next post. Check back for lots more news.

Monday Oysters @ Brass Door and other news

Every Monday from 3 PM until they run out, Brass Door has $1 oysters. You can get them either raw or the chargrilled flavor of the week  The oysters are Chesapeake Bay “Sweet Jesus” oysters and are so named because they are hard to shuck. They are worth it though.

Oysters on the raw with crackers and all the trimmings.

My troll jumped right in (in ice cold waters) and prepared herself an oyster with cocktail sauce and horseradish.

We also got 6 chargrilled oysters marinated in honey chipotle BBQ sauce.

Guinness is $4 on Mondays from 3 until the oysters run out. Yes I deviated from my PBR diet to have one.

I was still hungry after the oysters, so I ordered a bar snack (available at the bar only 3-6 PM weekdays): Irish sausage in puff pastry with Dijon.

During happy hour they have homemade chips. These are handmade potato chips, not hand-cut fries which are also called chips. Irish lingo can be confusing.

New Memphis Tigers license plate coming soon!

Dr. Rudd the U of M president is such a cool guy.

There will be street closings in The Edge related to renovation of the Wonder Bread building: Old Madison (exit off Danny Thomas) and Lauderdale from Old Madison to Monroe will be closed for a couple of years.

The Hamilton Law Firm is offering discounted St. Patrick’s Day Uber rides so you won’t have to use their DUI services. Sign up and get a code for $5 off an Uber that night.

Country music songwriters will have a showcase at the Orpheum April 27. Performers include Trent Tomlinson, Marshall Altman, and Matt Warren. They will be performing acoustic sets and talking about the hit singles they wrote in an intimate dialogue with the audience.

During Sunday brunch I was sitting next to a vegan and he was asked what his favorite things to eat Downtown were. The first item he named was Bardog’s Monster Vegetarian Burrito. Although not a vegan or vegetarian myself, I have to agree. It’s a huge meal, delicious, and full of protein and nutrients. It is also inexpensive.

My new vegan friend told me he runs a site called Tasteful Exotic Toys (caution: NSFW) and does fun parties around town. Check out his site if you’re into that kind of stuff.

Loflin Yard has posted its St. Patrick’s Day plans. Green beer, Irish food specials including corned beef, cornhole, mini-golf.

That’ll do it for now. I have reason to believe my days among the unemployed are numbered, so I need to get out there and get things done. Back tomorrow (hopefully) with more news.

Saturday recap/Sunday update

So this happened yesterday:

It was a surprise party that wasn’t a surprise but turned out to be a surprise anyway for Jasmine, in the back pictured above wearing that pink unicorn thing on her head. It has taken me a while to get to know Jasmine but she is a genuinely good person and I am glad she got to soak up every moment of happiness that came her way yesterday. Also I would like to add that she has an awesome best friend who loves her very much.

There was a unicorn photo booth and unicorn horns, and Jasmine got plenty of unicorn-themed presents. Even I put on a unicorn horn briefly. As for my troll, she got to ride a unicorn.

Beautiful sunny afternoon with friends on the back deck at Max’s Sports Bar. Thanks so much to Jasmine for inviting me.

I’ll make one other comment before I move on: I miss my second BBQ family.

Earlier in the day I ran into my BBQ teammate Drew at the Blind Bear, and he had walked through the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show and got some swag.

Drew got a plastic lid you can use to reseal a canned carbonated beverage (not pictured). To the left of my troll is a chip clip, and behind my troll is what’s known as a Jesus stick. It’s made of medium-weight wood, has a loop at the end with several beads (rosary beads maybe?) and is about four feet long. A lady was handing them out and Drew asked what had to be done to get one. “These are for people who have accepted our Lord Jesus Christ as their savior,” she replied. “Have you already accepted him?” Drew knew the expedient answer was to say yes. “Then you automatically get one,” she said. This isn’t exactly living as Jesus would live, but I sure would like to get one of those Jesus sticks and chase the bums off the corner of Main and Madison.

There was a recent panel discussion about the future direction of Downtown. How do we make rents affordable enough for new college graduates to move down here? How do we convince people not to move away once they get married and have a family? How do we convince people who work Downtown to stay past 5 and spend some time enjoying Downtown’s amenities? How can we make Beale appeal to locals as well as tourists?

Seen on Twitter yesterday:

Ernie: Time to practice my bugle.
Bert: Ernie!!! I am trying to sleep!

Anyone else wonder if the “bugle” is not an actual musical instrument, and if sound is not the sensation keeping Bert awake?

Downtown’s Irish pub The Brass Door has announced its lineup for St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities. Things kick off Friday night the 16th with The Blessing of the Kegs. Father Auggie of St. Peter’s will bless the kegs and all the revelers, getting them started on a safe St. Patrick’s weekend celebration. There will be live music 6-8 and food specials.

Saturday the 17th is the big day! There will be raffles for a Jameson Coleman grill and a PBR Adirondack chair with cooler. Here’s the full lineup:

The Pub
8AM Open for Kegs & Eggs – Breakfast Menu
8:45 Ireland v. England Six Nations Rugby Final Round – in the bar & on the BIG SCREEN in the Park
Halftime Rugby & Soccer Skills Contest in the Park benefiting Memphis Inner City Rugby
10AM Arsenal v. Leicester & Premiere League Matches

Madison Ave Park
Noon – 6PM Kid’s Art Station, Face Painting & Balloon Animals
12:30 Rice Drewry / 3 Degrees
2:45 Bluff City Backsliders
5PM Drew Erwin

The Pub
Bagpipers & Irish Dancers
Live Music & DJs
7PM Stereo Joe
9PM DJ Mylon

Tsunami will be hosting a beer dinner on March 27 consisting of passed hors d’oeuvres followed by three courses, each expertly paired with beer from their neighbor down the road Memphis Made. $55 per person plus tax and gratuity.

These are a great deal:

Given the price of a dinner at Texas de Brazil, you only have to use 3 of the 12 punches to turn a profit on this purchase. Many friends of mine buy these VIP cards and love them.

Looks like work is being done on the building at 64 S. Main immediately north of City Market. The ground floor has been long vacant despite being in a prime location. That building was going to be the home of Aldo’s Pizza Pies but the Barboro Flats location came along.

Silly Goose has added a turkey burger to its menu. Their beef burger, itself a recent addition, has proved popular. The turkey version will provide an option for people who like burgers but not ones that say moo.

Back tomorrow with more news… and I have a feeling it will be good news.

Friday update: 8-bit Mike Conley and more news

Tonight is a big night with the Grizzlies, and not because they’re going to, you know, win a game or anything. It’s a big night because it’s Video Game Night and the first 5000 fans in the arena get an 8-bit Mike Conley.

7 PM tip-off vs. the Denver Nuggets.

Half Pints for Half Pints, benefiting the PTA of Cooper-Young’s Peabody Elementary, happens tomorrow night at Memphis Made from 7 to 10. In addition to Memphis Made beer, you get food from Central BBQ, Sweetgrass, Aldo’s, Mulan and Celtic Crossing. DJ Zac Ives from Goner Records will be supplying the music, and there will be a silent auction.

Christian music tour Winter Jam plays FedExForum tomorrow night. Tour founders NewSong will perform, as will Skillet, Kari Jobe with Cody Carnes, Building 429, KB, and Jordan Feliz. There will be a Pre-Jam Party featuring Dan Bremnes, Mallery Hope, and Westover. There will be a gospel presentation by evangelist Nick Hall and a comedy session by comedian John Crist. $15, pay at the door, no ticketing. How are they paying all these artists for only $15 a head? I mean, I understand they do it for their love of Jesus, but paying the electric bill and buying food are nice too.

Guitarist Raul Midón will be on stage at the Halloran Centre tonight. This highly-acclaimed guitarist has influences in flamenco and jazz.

Phillip Beasley, Pls Pls Me, Kyle Bailey and Marcella René Simien play South Main Songwriter Night #79 at South Main Sounds, 550 S. Main, tonight at 7 PM.

Lifehacker is full of good stuff today. You can now watch UFC pay-per-view fights through Amazon. Very useful if you aren’t a cable subscriber and don’t want to go to a bar showing the PPV on the big screen.

Also linked from Lifehacker: Is it possible to homebrew beer in an Instant Pot?

Also from Lifehacker: How do I get out of an argument with an irrational person? This article may be useful if you know some of the same people I know.

President Trump tweeted this morning about “Alex” Baldwin and his “dieing” career. So nice to see him focused on the important things, and not worrying about minor details like Putin showing a video of what nuclear missiles hitting Florida would look like.

Sorry for no post yesterday but I was busy preparing for a second interview at a place I would really love to work for several reasons, one of which is that they have pie one day a week. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for me. Back tomorrow with more news.

I love air conditioning (Wed update)

What a great night’s sleep! They put Freon in my air conditioner yesterday and it made a huge difference. So nice to have icy cold air blowing through the apartment all night. If you’re wondering “Why does he have his air on in February?” it’s because I live in an upper floor of a high-rise with south-facing windows. If it’s sunny out and even 55 outside, the inside of my place starts to heat up.

The annual Mid-South Farm & Gin Show is this weekend at the Cook Convention Center. The ginners are awesome – kind, generous, great to talk to. If you get a chance to welcome them to Memphis, please do!

THIS SUCKS. Chris Reyes and his family are fighting eviction from the condo he bought 25 years ago on an upper floor of 1 S. Main. The Madison Hotel wants to take over the building. This is not a one little guy vs. vast corporate empire story. The thing is, Chris has been an integral part of promoting Downtown and promoting Memphis and creativity in Memphis for his entire time here. If not for people like him laying the groundwork, bigger projects like the Madison might not have happened. And now they are trying to remove him from his home. Do the right thing, Madison owners.

Random Twitter education:

No kidding: Elvis Presley is running for Congress in East Arkansas.

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, and business owners: A local author has a new book out that you might want to read. Online Success: 7 Steps to Building a Powerful Internet Presence by Beth Gramling Sanders will teach you how to use all the different tools – social media, email marketing, your blog, and more – to build a relationship with your readers and turn them into customers.

I had lunch at LYFE Kitchen at the Chisca yesterday. Wanting to branch out and try something new, I got the turkey meatloaf.

The flavor was there for sure, but the sauce on top of the meatloaf was a bit salty. Then again, I appreciated that they put in more effort than just squeezing a bottle of Hunt’s ketchup on the meatloaf as many places would have done. Those mashed potatoes on the left are actually not potatoes at all, but rather cauliflower. The bacon complemented the green beans well, and it’s nice to see bacon on a LYFE Kitchen plate – I understand the healthy eating concept, but we are in the South.

When the trolleys come back (why is “Someday Never Comes” by Creedence Clearwater Revival stuck in my head all of the sudden) we will be able to ride them for free the first two weeks.

Saw this as a promoted post on Facebook yesterday and it seems like a really good deal: A condo in the Claridge, 1100 SF, 16th floor, for under $120,000. Sounds like a great value investment. Prices in that area are likely to appreciate as the rebirth of Main Street makes its way farther north.

Whoa. Been a while since I’ve seen Memphis in the HIGH risk zone on one of these maps. Everyone be careful if you have to get out and drive tonight.

There will be a workout on Old Dominick’s roof tonight (not sure what will happen if it rains). HIT workout by Lauren Phelps followed by yoga with Amy of Sumits Yoga, and then it will be time to cool down with a cocktail.

Drinks with Dems happens tonight at the Brass Door at 6. Those who lean leftward are welcome to attend and talk about midterm elections, the orange shitgibbon in the White House, and whatever else is on your mind.

The Redbirds are hiring a public address announcer and a mascot. You could be the next Rockey!

Agave Maria is back March 12 and they will be hiring this week.

That’ll wrap it up for this post. I have a second interview tomorrow with the company with which I interviewed Monday, so it’s possible I won’t do a blog post tomorrow. Then again the interview is not until 2, so a morning post is possible. Back tomorrow or Friday with more news.

Bad restaurant experience + Tuesday news

When I was 8 years old, I badly wanted an Arkansas Travelers pennant. They were the Little Rock Double-A farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals and my mom and I had season tickets. Finally, one Friday payday she caved and gave me the money to run down to the souvenir stand at the game. She asked if I wanted her to accompany me, but I was 8. I was a big boy.

I got down there, and the lady who worked the souvenir stand – who I had bought from many times – had a friend in the booth. And despite me standing there holding my money, and the lady clearly seeing I wanted to buy something, she chose to ignore me and continue her conversation with her friend. The conversation continued on for 5, 10 minutes, as many kids – probably a line of 20 – piled up around the booth. All of us waving our money, all of use eager to make our transactions and get back to the game upstairs. Finally the conversation ended and I got my pennant.

“What took you so long?” my mom asked, having become concerned for me.

I told her what had happened. “I guess we didn’t matter since we’re just kids.” My mom disagreed and went to the front office and complained.

Last night I walked into a restaurant about 7:30 PM. I pulled up an empty chair at the bar, laid my jacket on the back of it, and proceeded to sit. The bartender was behind the bar at the time. We made eye contact. Clearly I intended to be her customer. She did not hand me a menu; she did not ask my drink order; she did not ask if she could start me off with an appetizer. Instead, she walked out from behind the bar and went to a table, where she remained for the next 5 minutes.

Not a big deal, I reasoned. Bartenders often double as servers on slow Monday nights when it’s winter and the Grizzlies are away. She’ll get to me when she can.

After a few minutes, the guy to my left asked how I was doing. “Well, I’d be better if I had a bartender,” I replied. I turned around and looked at the table the bartender was at. It was not a difficult table full of indecisive guests, taking some time to order, as I had guessed was the case. No, the bartender was chit-chatting with one of her co-workers, knowing full well I was waiting at the bar and had not been helped.

I got up out of my seat, put my jacket on and started walking. The bartender and her manager then both made eye contact with me. “Don’t even bother,” I said as I made my way to the door. I will not visit that restaurant again.

Footnote: I had nachos at Huey’s Downtown for my dinner. I was asked what I wanted to order within seconds of sitting down. When I left, I thanked the bartender for great service last night and dozens of other nights over the past 10 years. I left him a 50% tip.

It’s not OK to ignore your customers – kids or adults – to conduct your personal business. Those of you who have a similar experience, vote with your feet and your wallet.

The Orpheum has announced its 2018-19 Broadway season. Love Never Dies, sequel to Phantom of the Opera, will start things off. Next up will be School of Rock, Les Miserables, and Waitress. Following that will be On Your Feet!, Fiddler on the Roof, Anastasia, and Hamilton.

DNA president Will Norris will speak tonight about the DNA’s vision for 2018 at the monthly Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting. It will be held at the Brass Door. Light snacks compliments of the Brass Door, with happy hour prices on beer and wine. Social at 6, program at 6:30.

YOGA! Downtown Yoga is starting a new program at the 409 South Main food hall the first Thursday of every month.

Cosmic Hate Destroyers will play The Dirty Crow Inn deck Saturday at 9.

Sunrise Memphis on Jefferson is hiring both front of house and back of house. Apply at the restaurant.

USA TODAY has an excellent article about John Shuster, skip of the USA men’s curling team that recently won the USA’s first-ever Olympic gold in that sport.

Redbirds mini-membership packs are now on sale with guaranteed giveaways.

That’s it for now. My interview yesterday seemed to go very well. I have HVAC repair people coming so I am going to give myself the day off. Back tomorrow with more news.

Quick update for those needing BBQ Fest T-shirts

As most of you are aware by now, Sache is closing its doors April 1. That means they won’t be around to print team T-shirts for BBQ Fest this year, and I know many teams used their services. For those now having to look elsewhere, I would like to recommend my friend Josh Cottrell who operates his printing business at Winfield’s, the clothing store at Main and Madison across from Walgreens. He has printed shirts for my team the Moody Ques for several years now, and he does an excellent job at a quite reasonable price per shirt. Go by Winfield’s and ask for him, or if you prefer shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com and I will get you in touch.

Keeping it short today because I have a job interview this afternoon. Looking at their website now and this one looks like a great fit given past experience. Wish me luck!

Saturday update

Last night I ended up at the Blind Bear. At one point I looked at my phone. “12:08,” I thought. “Time to pay my tab and get home and get a good night’s rest.”

Then I looked at the TV. “Gold medal match in men’s curling starts in 22 minutes.” Argh! So much for getting a good night’s sleep. Like many, I have become addicted to curling the past two weeks. So much strategy. It’s a thinking person’s sport.

After 5 ends (ends are kind of like innings in baseball) I was so tired I couldn’t take it anymore. I paid up and walked home and went to bed. I wish I hadn’t. The Americans pulled off a miracle 5-stone score in the 8th end en route to winning the gold via a 10-7 upset of Sweden. What a win for the USA. This is nearly on the level of the 1980 Miracle on Ice for the U.S. hockey team.

There’s a Winter Festival of Lights Gala tonight in the upper ballroom of 409 South Main. Food from area restaurants, live music, a DJ, dancing, and cocktails. Proceeds will benefit an effort to turn 333 Adams at Danny Thomas into a facility for homeless women. It will be a live/work facility with the women being able to work in the on-site coffeehouse inside the building.

Soup Sunday is tomorrow at FedExForum, benefiting Youth Villages. Sorry for being a broken record but I am going to say this one last time. Doors open at 11 and you want to be standing outside at 10:55. When they let you in, don’t get in line behind everyone else at the first soup serving station past the door. Seek out the restaurants whose soups you want to try the most before the place gets busy. The most popular restaurants will run out of soup after about an hour to 75 minutes.

Which restaurants to seek out? Well, I admit I am partial to this place for more reasons than soup, but Bardog Tavern is a multi-time winner of the People’s Choice vote for best soup.

I was down at South Main Trolley Night yesterday and noticed that Sache, set to close April 1, has everything on sale. There were racks of $1 shirts and $3 shirts and there were 50% off signs all over the store. They posted to Facebook that they are liquidating everything – furniture, screen printing equipment, salon equipment, office equipment, hangers, clothing racks, shirts, even their T-shirt machine.

There’s a game that teaches people how to spread misinformation, how to spread fake news. Hmmm I can think of one person who would be a Grand Champion at this game.

Check out the City of Memphis’ new mobile-friendly website.

IHOP is giving away free short stacks this Tuesday 7 AM to 7 PM.

Here’s the official document spelling out the plea deal for Rick Gates, who was Paul Manafort’s right-hand man. Remember, Gates was hit with 32 new charges earlier this week. Yet, the government is willing to pursue only two of them if Gates cooperates. That tells us he has some good stuff that Mueller can use to reel in the big fish. I also read yesterday that three indictments are on their way to London. Betcha one of them is for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, currently hiding out in the Ecuadorean embassy there.

That’ll do it for now! Time to go out in the rain.

Friday update

Yesterday was National Margarita Day. I celebrated with some excellent margaritas at two of my favorite spots.

First up was Bardog, where I enjoyed catching up with two of my neighbors from my apartment building.

With rain in the forecast, my troll was grateful that an umbrella came with Bardog’s margarita.

After that I stopped by Silly Goose for their version of the Mexican cocktail.

Tonight is South Main Trolley Night, with restaurants and shops open until 9 PM or later so you can mingle with your neighbors. SMA members, there will be a table set up at the 409 South Main food hall and The Civil Pour will have drink specials for you and Megan Carolan will be performing. There will also be live music at South Main Sounds, The Vault, Earnestine & Hazel’s, The Dirty Crow Inn, and The Arcade.

Memphis Made Brewing Co. is releasing three new high-gravity beers, to be sold in 4-packs in locations around Shelby County. They are named The Kickdown, Slumber Party and Mr. Anderson and have ABVs of 9 to 9.2 percent.

Make sure you read the Memphis Flyer’s cover story this week. It’s an important one! It’s about cheese dip.

The CA has a First Bites look at Maciel’s new location on Highland. If you haven’t been yet, put it high up on your to-do list.

Enivronmental Court Judge Potter plans to retire soon. Thank you for your many years of service to our city, Judge. Memphis is a better place because of your efforts.

A new cocktail club called Tailor’s Union is coming by April at 115 Union. With 117 Prime steakhouse opening next door and Belle Tavern going strong in the back, business is soon to be booming on that block of Union.

The Flyer’s Meghan Stuthard has a great article about Memphis Sounds Lounge, on Third in the Econo Lodge building until recently. It has found a new home on Mud Island.

If you haven’t been to Carolina Watershed yet, this StyleBlueprint article will give you an idea what to expect.

LeBron comes to town as the Grizzlies host the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight at 7.

The performances of Guess Who Showed Up at Dinner tonight and tomorrow at the Orpheum have been canceled. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.

Rick Gates, Paul Manafort’s right-hand man, is expected to plead guilty to a number of charges including tax fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy against the United States today. Observers are comparing the way Mueller is running his investigation to the way he rolled up the Gambino crime family (that’s the one that was headed by John Gotti) and I would have to agree, that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s putting pressure on Manafort until Manafort finally flips and spills everything he knows about Trump’s ties to Russia.

All right. Time to study SQL for an interview I have next week, and then I’ll get out and about.