Author: paulryburn

There are lots of opportunities to hear music Downtown tonight. Tony Bennett performs at the Orpheum tonight with special guest Antonia Bennett. Show starts at 8 PM.

Meanwhile, over at the New Daisy, Who’s Bad? The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band takes the stage at 9.

Or, perhaps you would prefer to hear some local music… in that case, head to 550 S. Main at 7 to hear Paul Waits, Eric Hughes, Keturah A. Brown, Don McNatt, Karen McNatt and Tiffany Harmon in South Main Songwriter Night 20.

Memphis in May has extended its sale of all fine art posters through the end of the year. Use code HalfOff to save 50%.

Hungry Memphis checked out Sly’s South Main Burger at the Green Beetle. Hash browns are baked in the beef patty and it’s topped with bacon, cheddar cheese, and an egg cooked to order. Now that’s my kind of burger! It’s $12 but is big enough to have leftovers for a second meal.

Here’s a reason you should eat Sly’s South Main Burger: New research says that a vegetarian diet could actually be worse for the environment. Eggplant, celery, and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken, the study says. A professor notes that eating lettuce is three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon, and that common vegetables require more resources per calorie than most people realize.

“But when everything was tallied up, it wasn’t looking great for all the kale-munching, clean-eating freaks on Instagram,” the article notes. Hahahaha. Kale-munching freaks. Love it.

Memphis plays Ole Miss at FedExForum tonight. Radio personality/writer John Martin has Memphis as a 3-5 point favorite.

If you’re on Twitter, here’s a drinking game: Drink every time a photo or video of BB-8 appears in your feed. If you want to get really hammered, drink every time any Star Wars character appears. I suppose the same game could be played with Facebook as well.

Congrats to my alma mater Rhodes on being named a Best Value College by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

Congrats to One Commerce Square on their recent Leadership in Energy & Environment Design(LEED) Gold Certification. The building won the certification after a redesign by Looney Ricks Kiss.

Nearby, First Tennessee continues renovation of its main office building as well.

From MakeUseOf: Apps to help you connect with people and stop feeling lonely. This obviously isn’t a problem for me now, but when I was younger (particularly the six months I lived in San Diego) I was often lonely and didn’t know how to connect. I may sign up for the Party with a Local app; I would be a great Downtown Memphis tour guide. (Edit: I can’t find it in the App Store. WTF? Is it because I haven’t upgraded to iOS 9.2 yet? I have an iPhone 6 so my phone being too old can’t be the issue.)

Prayers for the students of Lausanne. A first-year teacher there was killed yesterday crossing Union Avenue at Cooper.

Plans for tonight: Undecided. All the bars in the Downtown core are likely to suck, filling up with Ole Miss fans and their horrible Hotty Toddy cheer. I guess I will find the bar that sucks least and hang out there. Possibly a Friday Update #2 about 5:30, so check back.

The Memphis Camerata vocal ensemble, conducted by Matthew Bowlin, will have their sixth annual Christmas concert tomorrow at 7 at St. Mary’s Episcopal, 700 Poplar. The ensemble will perform “Sure on This Shining Night” by Morten Lauridsen and other holiday classics. Tip: If you don’t want to drive there, take a Lyft or an Uber. 700 Poplar is theoretically walkable from the Downtown core but I don’t recommend it. Poplar east of Third is pretty rough.

Many of my readers own businesses that have websites, and if you are one of them you need to read this paragraph. Part of my job as webmaster for my company is to spend a little time each day reading web-related articles to make sure I stay current on my trade. Well, today I ran across one you need to know about. Unsecured websites are about to get hammered in Google’s new search rankings. If the URL of your site begins with http:// rather than https://, your site is unsecured and you may want to look into getting a security certificate. Contact your site’s hosting company to inquire how this can be done.

What’s the difference? If you use https://, information that comes to your web server from the user’s browser is encrypted before it is sent, making it harder for anyone coming across the data on the way to steal sensitive user information. Over http:// the data is unencrypted.

Wow… Bernie Sanders picked up an endorsement from Democracy for America. That’s the organization former presidential candidate formed in 2004, and it is very influential. I get an average of about 1 email a day from them. They asked DFA members to vote whether to endorse Hillary, Bernie or the third, irrelevant candidate. Sanders also picked up an endorsement from a 700,000 member communications union. Feel the Bern!

The Facebook Kroger 40% off coupon is a scam. Don’t fall for it.

The football Tigers have added Mississippi State to their schedule for 2021-22. I saw a comment that the Tigers are scheduling like they expect to be in the Big 12. That’s kind of what I thought too.

Bass Pro announced today that 2 million people have visited the Pyramid since its April 29 store grand opening.

Still planning on the Silly Goose Christmas party at 9. I’m giving myself permission to stay out a bit late on a school night for this one. See you tomorrow.

Are you going to see the new Star Wars movie this weekend? Better check out this article from Toyland on how to have better refreshments while you watch the movie. Basically it involves a flask disguised as a toy lightsaber. I approve.

130 new apartments have been approved for the southwest corner of Tennessee and Butler, across from the Tennessee Brewery. There was some concern that the high density could congest narrow Mina Avenue, but a study shows that Mina should be fine.

There will be a wine tasting at Quench tomorrow from 5:30-7:30. Come learn about wines and if you like what you taste, purchase a bottle or two to take home.

Holly has a list of places open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Memphis. (It’s a list in progress, so bookmark it and check back when these days get closer.)

Meanwhile, Choose901 has a growing list of ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve. I’m leaving the Christmas and New Year’s Eve lists to the other bloggers this year. The reason why is that I will be leaving town Christmas Eve and coming back on Christmas Day, and I typically hate New Year’s Eve so I don’t bother to do an event roundup. This year, however, I feel like I will be in the mood to celebrate, and have my eye on either Silly Goose or Max’s Sports Bar as possible destinations.

Beale Street remains unaffected by Overton Square’s success, with sales up 6% this year.

Appetite for Destruction, the premier Guns N’ Roses tribute band, plays Tin Roof on Beale Street Saturday at 10 PM.

Project: Motion will perform House Happening 3, a holiday dance performance, at the Woodruff-Fontaine Museum today through Sunday.

The annual STAX Music Academy holiday performance, Home for the Holidays, is tonight at the Cadre Building at 7:30. Tickets are $15 at the door.

Occasionally you will see a special cask of beer rolled out for one night only at the Flying Saucer. From Arkansas brewery Moody Brews (hey, you stole our name, almost): Why you should care about cask-conditioned beer

Memphis Firefighers (@mffa1784) tweeted that the application process is open, if you are interested in a career fighting fires.

Jennifer Biggs has a review of LYFE Kitchen in East Memphis. We will have one Downtown in the Chisca soon.

Aldo’s Pizza Pies is having some fun with Star Wars. Yesterday the Darth Maul was the Downtown Slice of the Day. Today it’s the Jango Fett. For those curious, the Jango Fett has a vodka cream base, with bacon, sausage, ham, and pepperoni. Now that sounds like my kind of pizza!

I probably am not going to make it to the Memphis City Football Club informational session this evening at the Brass Door (starts at 5:30), but I am in touch with the operators of the club and hope to have lots of information for you soon. My main plan tonight is the Silly Goose Christmas party with the John Paul Keith Trio and DJ Cody, which kicks off at 9. Come enjoy some Christmas cheer with Naughty Santa! Possibly a second post after work, so check back.

Before we begin, ADMINISTRATIVE ANNOUNCEMENT: This blog will look different, and at times “under construction,” at some point between now and January 3. I am going to switch to WordPress’ Twenty Sixteen theme, the template which determines the look and feel of my blog. I like my current Suffusion theme, but it hasn’t been updated since 2013. It also isn’t mobile-friendly, so I have to use the wp-mobile plugin for readers who read my blog on phones. Twenty Sixteen will let me use all of WordPress’s cutting-edge features and will make my blog look similar on both phones and screens. Saturday or Sunday may be the day I make the switch.

David Skypeck, longtime drummer for FreeWorld, has been suffering some medical setbacks from which it will take him a long time to recover. A benefit is being held to help with David’s medical bills this Sunday at Rum Boogie Cafe from 3 to 11 PM. The list of musicians playing is to long to put on here, so take a look at the Facebook event listing for a complete list. Clearly David is loved and respected by the Memphis music community. A $10 donation at the door is appreciated and encouraged.

First 5000 fans inside the FedExForum for Friday’s Memphis-Ole Miss men’s basketball game receive free pom-poms. In addition, if you bring a new, unwrapped toy, you will receive a voucher for a ticket to a future game.

The Daily News has more information on the Loflin Corner entertainment complex being planned for the corner of Carolina and Florida. Taylor Berger, who most recently helped get the Rec Room going, is involved. That is very exciting news. However, not everyone is excited. The owner of Bacchanal, the New Orleans restaurant and bar around which the Loflin concept is based, sent a letter to the DMC asking it to table any approvals related to the project, feeling that the developers of Loflin may not understand the Bacchanal concept. Mind your own business dude!

Did you know Donald Trump was in the WWE Hall of Fame? There’s a petition to remove him because of his recent idiotic, racist comments about Muslims.

Much respect for Terri the daytime bartender at Kooky Canuck Cordova, who stopped on Covington Pike to help crash victims out of a burning car on Covington Pike today.

Time for beer. Silly Goose, you’re first up. Trivia at Blind Bear later possibly.

Coinciding with the theater debut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there will be what sounds like a very cool art show at 444 Monroe this Friday from 6 to 9. A Force of ART will feature works of art celebrating the greatest blockbuster of all time.

Besides the Star Wars art, you should consider coming just to check out this space. 444 Monroe is the Holliday Flowers warehouse where the Moody Ques do our practice cooks. It is a converted 1961 motor lodge with a seafoam green color scheme that has been converted into a warehouse and event space. I love this building. Most Downtown residents have no idea it is there. It is on Monroe east of the ballpark, between Lauderdale and Marshall. The High Cotton brewery is next door, on the other side of a creek in between.

Speaking of the BBQ team, I know I have some readers from Chicago. For those of you up there, be sure to check out the Pilsen Winter Market this Sunday at Honky Tonk BBQ, owned by Willie who was our team cook 2007-2011.

Rizzo’s Diner is starting a Loyalty Lunch card program. Come in and get your card, and get it punched every time you have lunch at the restaurant. Get it punched 5 times, and your sixth lunch is on the house.

Ride the Roo, the shuttle which transports people from Overton Square to Cooper-Young and back, was sideswiped near the Beauty Shop Saturday night. Damage was pretty substantial. If anyone witnessed this or has information about who did it, please call 901-577-7700.

My friend Rodger, the Texan who loves chicken fried steak, is on a trip to San Antonio and tagged me in this photo:

Now that’s a nice-looking chicken fried steak! I like it when they take up the whole plate.

New blog that is worth checking out: One901, the adventures of a Memphian. Although barely a week old, this blog is off to a great start. Recent posts include photos from the DNA Christmas party and a review of the Sushi Jimmi food truck. Follow the blog on Twitter at @one901blog.

The new bar/restaurant and entertainment space to be renovated at Florida and Carolina (see yesterday’s post for details) has a name – Loflin Corner. The building used to be Loflin Safe & Lock Co.

As a web developer I love this tweet:

RT @KarenMN: 🎄 He’s making a database He’s sorting it twice SELECT * from contacts WHERE behavior = ‘nice’ SQL Clause is coming to town 🎄

— Amy Renee (@amyengineer) December 16, 2015

From Choose901: Meet the founders of Memphis City Football (soccer) Club

Time to drive up to Elvis Presley and get some Jack Pirtle’s. Possibly a second post after work for the third consecutive day. I will probably hit the Silly Goose for happy hour this evening.

This is pretty cool: Memphis is getting its own professionally managed soccer (futbol for you purists) club. The Memphis City Football Club will have an informational gathering at the Brass Door this Thursday at 6 PM. Tryouts and game schedule will be discussed, and they may have a couple of surprises for their future fans as well.

Indoor food markets are all the rage in nearby cities including Little Rock and Nashville. Now there are plans for Memphis’ first indoor food market at 409 South Main. The article describes the concept as “a farmers market on steroids,” with vendors selling everything from breakfast to flowers to soaps to cheese to bread. The person opening the market is also in talks with a very well-known chef who would use the place as an incubator for new items. For those of you who have never been to Little Rock’s River Market or something similar, it is a very neat place to be and I hope 409 S. Main will be just as good or better. Downtown’s offerings continue to get ever more diverse!

Rates are proposed to go up a quarter on Downtown parking meters, to $1.25 an hour. However, the hours will stay the same. Parking is free after 6 PM and on weekends and holidays. There had been discussion of extending hours to midnight. Glad that is off the table as it would hurt the revenue of my many friends who own businesses down here.

Job opportunity: Crosstown Arts is seeking a communications coordinator.

A source of light in a world of darkness: Artist Ephraim Urevbu has developed “Freedom” candles, a line of specialty candles designed to uplift and ignite a movement of peace in an effort to counter hate, bigotry and terror that is ravaging our global village. Get them at Art Village Gallery at 410 South Main.

There will be an ugly sweater party by Tasty Entertainment this Friday at Purple Haze from 9 PM to 5 AM. $500 in prizes will be given away for the best ugly sweaters. Entertainment by DJ Decepticon + Haf Def Tha Chef. High energy dance party with holiday attire encouraged but not required. 2 for 1 beer and $2 well drinks 9-10 PM.

Felicia Suzanne’s will be closed the 24th through the 28th of this month.

Home, time for beer. I’ve decided I don’t feel like making the trek to Max’s Sports Bar (but don’t worry, I plan on spending PLENTY of time there in 2016) so Blind Bear it is. Possible Saucer stop later in the evening.

Just one last reminder that the Downtown Neighborhood Association/South Main Association holiday party is tonight at Community Family Medical, 364 S. Front from 5 to 9 PM. You do not have to be a member of either organization to attend, although I’m sure it would make them happy if you considered joining. Complimentary food (by Rizzo’s Diner!) and beverages, along with live music.

This has been all over the news but in case you missed it: The only proton therapy center in the U.S. that accepts children has opened at St. Jude. Proton therapy is beneficial because it attacks tumors without harming normal tissue nearby. St. Jude’s beam is accurate down to 1-5 mm.

The Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team hosts the Southern Jaguars tonight at FedExForum at 7. Although schools with any kind of regional reference in their name are usually cupcakes, the Jaguars are not going to be easy to get by. They already hold wins over Mississippi State, Tulane, and Wyoming.

The Church Health Center tweeted that through December 31, all new monthly gifts will be matched dollar for dollar. Giving a monthly gift in someone’s name would be a great Christmas present if you know someone who is a big fan of the Center.

From Gizmodo: This Chrome extension blocks Star Wars spoilers

Here’s a little Liberty Bowl preview for you: Liberty Bowl brings Snyder, Bielema back together

Bluefin is closed again as of 1:10 yesterday, according to Jennifer Biggs of the CA. General manager Nick Scott had been asked to stay on to help with the transition, but on Friday new owner James Woo asked him to leave. When he did, most of the remaining staff did too. Woo wants to revamp Bluefin to make it more like the other places he owns in the New York area. Does anybody else think this has BAD IDEA written all over it? Just because a concept works in other cities does not mean it will work in Memphis. See Republic Nightclub for a fairly recent example. I was talking to a multiple-restaurant owner the other day about how you have to know your market. It doesn’t sound like James Woo does. Also, I have known Nick for years – my famous I LOVE ROMANIAN GIRLS/Santa hat photo was taken at his wife Laura’s baby shower – and I can tell you, anyone who lets Nick go does not know what they are doing.

For those of you who remember Prime Minister’s Steakhouse, this is the direction I see the new Bluefin going.

The Rendezvous will be closed January 3-11, as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Here are full results from this past weekend’s grilled cheese fest at the Hi-Tone. Whoa! Weekend at Porky’s hit top three in one of the categories! (That’s the team many of the members of my Sunday brunch crew are on. Also the team that used a George Foreman grill at Burger Fest.) Here’s a slideshow of the festival.

That’s it for now. Just rollin’ through the last full five-day work week of 2015. Next week will be eventful. Blind Bear is my likely first stop after work, although it’s a pretty day and I haven’t totally ruled out a walk south to Max’s Sports Bar. Time to go grab some sushi (not at Bluefin) then back to work.

The Daily News has big news about an entertainment destination planned for the South End neighborhood. A building at 7 W. Carolina will be renovated into a bar and restaurant. The bar, the Daily News article says, will be patterned after a bar called Bacchanal in the Lower Ninth of New Orleans, which describes itself as “a wine laboratory” and “Mediterranean living/New Orleans style.” The South End bar, the article reports, would have a well-stocked bar and domestic and craft beer. The restaurant will serve “cookout food.” This is great news for that neighborhood. Right now entertainment and food destinations don’t exist much south of G.E. Patterson, leaving South End residents a half-mile to walk or ride to get to much of anything interesting. Now they will have their own meeting place, what Tug’s is to the island, what Westy’s is to the Pinch, what Kudzu’s was to the Edge before it closed, what Sleep Out Louie’s was to the core 25 years ago.

Meanwhile, a building at 721 Florida will be renovated into a 5000 square foot rentable entertainment space. I have my friends ask me where to rent spaces like this all the time, and this gives Downtown one more option. Between the two buildings will be a large yard which can be used for bocce and other outdoor activities.

The developers of One Beale are considering adding a third tower to the two already planned to be built. There would be a 12-story office tower, a 22-story hotel, and a 30-story apartment tower.

The Matador Network has the top 11 hangover cures in Memphis. Many of them can be bought Downtown. I’ve had many a Majestic Mimosa to cure Saturday night hangovers. Bardog’s Daily Dog will do it, as will the Soul Burger at E&H and the Double-Double at Dyer’s. I have never had the Bloody Mary at the Peabody lobby bar but certainly agree about the atmosphere. The two I can’t personally vouch for, but would have to believe are very good, are the chicken & waffles at the Blind Bear (yes there are menu items there I have not tried) and the chicken skin BLT at the 5 Spot. There are hangover cures on the list from other parts of the city as well.

The Rendezvous has gift bags and stocking stuffers on sale for under $50. There is free shipping for non-perishable items ordered by December 17.

I told you Hog fans travel well: Razorback fans a force at box office. Arkansas has sold just under 17,000 tickets to the Liberty Bowl. Due to high demand, the school had to go back to the Liberty Bowl and request additional tickets beyond its allocation. The game is January 2 vs. Kansas State.

If you needed more proof Donald Trump is crazy: Trump has promised to appoint Sarah Palin to his cabinet. This alone should be enough to make you consider voting for anyone but him. Can you imagine Secretary of State Palin, or Director of Homeland Security Palin? That would be quite a Christmas gift for ISIS (wait, I guess they don’t celebrate Christmas, but you get what I mean). Director of the Interior Palin or Director of Energy Palin would speed up the end of our planet’s habitability by thousands of years.

Two tugboats crashed on the Mississippi just south of the I-55 bridge. One boat appears to be taking on water. The Coast Guard is there to assist.

Home from work, time for PBR. Grabbing a wooden nickel and heading to Melissa Monday at Bardog. Back tomorrow.

If you want a cheap, but good meal, I have a recommendation for you: The bean nachos at Maciel’s Tacos and Tortas. I ordered this as a side along with a huarache Saturday, and for $3.50 I wasn’t expecting much. “Probably just some beans thrown on tortilla chips, maybe with a little cheese,” I thought. I was wrong. They loaded it up with all the toppings you would expect on a large, pricey order of nachos, including a thick, generous covering of cheese. Unless you are extremely, extremely hungry, this is a meal in itself. If you have to have meat to make your nachos complete, there are chicken, steak and spicy pork versions of the nachos for $6.

There was a bad crash on Riverside Saturday when a car plowed into several motorcycles. Amazingly, no one was killed. The driver admitted to having fallen asleep at the wheel.

Choirs will sing Christmas carols at the Peabody all week. Horn Lake High School sings today, and Center Hill High School tomorrow. Wednesday is White Station Elementary, with Cordova Elementary on Thursday and Keystone Elementary on Friday.

The Liberty Bowl Parade has been announced for Beale Street 3:00-4:30 New Year’s Day. The fans of Arkansas and Kansas State will be out in large numbers, I am sure.

Wait a minute, I just realized something… where are the fans of those schools going to pre-game for the parade? I ask because last year, the parade wasn’t on New Year’s. It was on a Sunday and I led off at Bardog as was my custom at the time (B-RAD did not yet work Sundays at the Blind Bear). The place filled up with West Virginia fans by 11:20 and they drank with my BBQ teammate Mardoqueo and me. They were the nicest, most down-to-earth people ever and asked all the right questions about what the locals do Downtown. I was looking forward to pre-gaming with Liberty Bowl fans this year – naturally I am partial to my fellow Hogs fans – but will anyplace be open? Of my “Big Five,” Silly Goose and Blind Bear don’t normally open early on any day, and Saucer never opens until 5 New Year’s Day. Bardog? Max’s? Would out-of-state fans even know about Max’s, as far away as it is from all the hotels? If Bardog opens at 11, I will definitely do everything I can to herd Arkansas fans there.

Tickets for the February 2 WWE Smackdown taping at FedExForum are now on sale. RAW tends to be the show where there is more storyline development, but the wrestling is better on Smackdown.

From Distractify: How to find your Facebook friends who “Like” Donald Trump and delete them

The Silly Goose’s annual Christmas party is this Thursday beginning at 9 PM. There will be music by the John Paul Keith Trio and DJ Cody, and Naughty Santa will make an appearance. Come sit on his lap, ladies!

Congratulations to Downtown coffee shop Tamp & Tap on being voted grand champions at the first annual Memphis Grilled Cheese Festival yesterday in Crosstown.

I’ll be hitting Melissa Monday at Bardog after work about 5:30. Possibly a second post before I go out, so check back.

Lesouque, a socially conscious lifestyle brand offering jewelry, scarves, handbags, and home & house items, will have a pop-up shop this afternoon from 1 to 6 at High Cotton Brewery on Monroe. FREE BEER ALERT – Lesouque will buy the first 200 beers. The event is dog-friendly and the Hot Mess Burrito food truck will be on hand.

Not far away at 597 Madison, Garden Path Studio will have an open house, also from 1 to 6. Ceramics, mosaics, wearable art, cards, paintings, jewelry, living art terrariums, and live music.

The CA has a really good summary of the awesome work done by Paul Morris who ran DMC for five years. Under his management, the DMC saved the Chisca, made the Main-to-Main project a reality, and took over management of Beale, along with many other accomplishments.

Bardog has had trouble with its phones. This is the reason why:

Picture taken a week ago Thursday but still relevant. Workers dug a giant hole in Monroe. Don’t you love how they’re all standing around going, “Yup, that sure is a nice hole we dug” and none of them seem to be working? Thanks to AT&T, Bardog’s phone service is spotty. If you call and can’t get a hold of them, just walk over there to place your to-go order.

There will be a holiday gospel concert by The Bell Singers this afternoon at 4 at the Center for Southern Folklore. Their new CD will be on sale and they will sign it for you.

Opinion piece: Does Memphis need iconic riverfront skyscrapers?

Also from the CA: Bluefin closed after new owner comes in. The article says employees had to re-apply for their jobs, but from what I have heard nearly everyone quit and they are having trouble finding people who want to work there.

The DMC is considering an app that would take visitors on a walking tour of Beale Street.

Coyote Ugly is holding a Back to the Future fundraiser to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research today at 4. Drink specials, raffles, silent auction.

I’m leading off at D-RANKS with B-RAD at Blind Bear at 11. It’s possible I may hop a Lyft and go see my friends Weekend at Porky’s at the grilled cheese festival in Crosstown later this afternoon.