Not a whole lot of news to report, but there’s a time-sensitive item so I wanted to go ahead and get this up.
The Grizzlies hold an open practice tomorrow at FedExForum from 1 to 2 PM. It is free to the public and you can get a sneak peek at the Grizzlies players and coaches in action. There will be a plaza party prior to the practice with food and drinks for sale, games, inflatables, and live music.
The Blind Bear is holding yet another charity poker tournament this week. This one will be for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer from 6 to 9 PM. The top two finishers will walk away with prizes including prizes from Downtown restaurants. Click through to the link to see how the tournament will be structured in terms of buy-in and rebuys.
The Downtown location of Local Gastropub and Memphis Made are having a beer dinner Thursday, October 27. Andy, Drew and all the Memphis Made folks will be there to talk about their beers. There will be a four-course meal prepared by Chef Russell Casey and expertly paired with Memphis Made beer. Here’s the menu:
Lucid Kolsch: Spinach and arugula salad with roasted beets, spiced pecans, goat cheese, croutons, and blood-orange vinaigrette
Fireside Amber: Prosciutto-wrapped and smoked asparagus with Maytag blue cheese, shiitake “bacon,” and lemon butter
Hundo IPA: Crisp paneed pork loin topped with sherry mustard demi-glace and honey chipotle-buttered spaghetti squash
Soulful Ginger: Chocolate-chili fudge brownie with rum poached peaches
The Peabody has been named Best Historic Hotel by Historic Hotels of America.
Home from work, time for beer. I’ll lead off at Melissa Monday at Bardog.
Bardog Tavern is once again raffling off a hearse at 11:59 PM on Halloween.
Buy raffle tickets and you could be the proud owner of a hearse as we roll into November. Perhaps you can sell it back to Aldo to raffle off again in 2016 and then it will be a re-hearse.
Scammer alert: There is a woman with an oxygen tank who panhandles with children on South Main. I have seen her as far back as April, on the day of Downtown Olympics when she tried to panhandle me. People who live in the area tell me that this is a scam and she panhandles with different children from day to day. There are much better ways to help the homeless than giving her money. Consider donating to, or volunteering with, Hospitality HUB instead.
There is a Facebook event listing for the Sinners for Saints Ball Halloween party I posted about yesterday, so you can check it out and see which of your friends are going. It’s at Stop 345 on Halloween at 9 PM. PBR MAN will be there!
This will be the the final year for the Blues Ball, to be held October 24.
Holly has discovered Maciel’s Tortas and Tacos and agrees with what everyone else has been saying: The place is outstanding. (She has a copy of the menu in her post, so it is worth a look for sure if you haven’t tried Maciel’s yet and aren’t sure what to order.)
That’ll do it for now. If I learn of more news I will post after work. My plan tonight is Melissa Monday at Bardog for happy hour, then over to Blind Bear. Might wrap up the evening with a Pint Nite visit to Flying Saucer as well.
We are less than three weeks away from Halloween. The week of, I will probably post a list of public Halloween parties Downtown. Or more likely, Holly will make a list of Memphis Halloween parties and I will link to it, since I’m lazy. (BTW: Damn Holly, the new website design looks awesome!)
But if you’re Downtown on Halloween, there is only one place to be: The Sinners for Saints Ball at Stop 345 (345 Madison Avenue, at Danny Thomas). Allow me to list the reasons why:
– Attendees will be supporting one of the best things going in Memphis, the Church Health Center.
– Lord T and Eloise will headline.
– Music by DJ Witnesse.
– Music by DJ Lil Egg Roll.
– Open bar with beer, liquor, wine, and mixers
– Hipner’s gourmet Jello shots
– “Zombified” gummi bears
– Costume contest with prizes
– Amurica photo booth
– Catered food. Not sure of the menu, but I notice that sponsors include Pete & Sam’s, the Blind Bear, Molly’s La Casita, and Double J.
– Legendary superhero PBR MAN will be there.
Tickets are $40 in advance and can be purchased here.
For the past several years, there have been two Halloween parties in the back room of Earnestine & Hazel’s that have been talked about for months afterward: Nightmare on Main Street (“Hipner’s party”) and the South Main Dirty Dozen Halloween party. Both of those parties were too popular for that space, and it was packed every year. This year they are combining forces for a good cause, and moving into a space that is large enough to hold them comfortably, Stop 345. The Dirty Dozen came in the Blind Bear yesterday while I was there. “How many people do you expect to attend?” I asked.
“Well, the capacity is 700, but we’re expecting 400 to 500,” they told me.
“You’re wrong. You’re going to get 700,” I told them.
This is going to be one of the best parties of the year and I cannot imagine being anywhere else on October 31. I hope to see you there!
I’ll be back tomorrow with a Downtown news post. Got a little work to do this morning, then D-RANKS with B-RAD at Blind Bear at 11. The Fire Haus, Max’s Sports Bar, and Saucer are also possible stops for me today. It’s a beautiful Sunday Fun Day, so let’s get this show on the road!
Maciel’s Tortas and Tacos has been open at 45 S. Main between Union and Monroe for less than two weeks. The first time I passed by the unassuming storefront, I thought, “Another restaurant that I’ll never try that will remain open for about four months and then close, just like everything else on this block not named DeJaVu.”
Then Deni from the Majestic Grille tried the place and loved it. That’s a hard endorsement to ignore.
Then Michael Patrick from Rizzo’s Diner agreed with what Deni said.
Then my favorite pair of librarian glasses told me, “I’ve eaten there three times already.” Maciel’s had been open less than a week at that point.
About 8:15 yesterday evening, I got knocked out of the Blind Bear/Wifflestock charity poker tournament for Ronald McDonald House. I made a classic poker blunder: I was a medium-sized stack who got involved in an all-in confrontation against a stack of similar size. That’s generally a no-no in tournament poker (obviously, if you’re holding two Aces or another premium hand, exceptions can be made). If you get all-in, you want to be a small stack fighting for your life, or a big stack bullying the stacks smaller than you. Anyway, I found myself free for the rest of the evening unexpectedly early – and hungry. Remembering that Maciel’s stays open until 10 Friday and Saturday nights (8 Monday-Thursday), I walked up there.
I was curious about the fried tacos. They explained that the shell is fried, making it hard, as opposed to their regular tacos which are soft tacos. You could get 3 fried tacos, mix-or-match, for $10, and I decided on that option, getting two frijoles tacos (on the left in the photo above) and one pollo taco. Since I live a block from Maciel’s I decided to get it to go and have dinner in the comfort of my own home.
The staff there was so nice. “Would you like a drink while you wait?”
“Oh no, I’m fine.”
“No, it’s on us,” they insisted. They handed me a cup and I poured myself a Coke.
“Would you like some avocado?” they asked. Of course I would like some avocado!
“Would you like some sauce?” they asked next.
“Whatever is the hottest sauce you have, I would like that,” I replied, and they poured some into a cup. They also gave me two cups of green sauce. They put the three tacos in a container along with rice and beans.
That was some of the best Mexican food I have had in my life, and I understand what my restaurant friends talk about when they said this is AUTHENTIC Mexican. It absolutely is. It not only reminds me of the places I ate when I lived in San Diego… it’s BETTER. Highest possible recommendation for you to visit this place as soon as you can.
All right, let’s get on to the news in this already-long post. One of the marketing authors I follow on Twitter has a new article called “Your Blog Post Is Too Long.” He was probably talking to me, but who cares, it’s not like I monetize this thing. If you’re still reading this, thanks for sticking with me.
The Brass Door will be showing rugby and soccer all weekend. Here’s the lineup, swiped from their Facebook page with “football” changed to “soccer” because I’m an American:
“We’ll be open 8am Saturday! World Cup Rugby 8:30am Scotland v Samoa 10:45am Australia v Wales 2pm England v Uruguay
Soccer All the action from the UEFA 2016 Euro Qualifiers
8:30pm USMNT v Mexico Come party with the American Outlaws in their official home in Memphis
Sunday Open at 8am World Cup Rugby 8:30am Italy v Romania 10:45 Ireland v France 2pm USA v Japan”
Visit stjude.org/halloween and help the kids forget about their treatments for one day and just be normal kids celebrating a holiday.
The White House is recognizing Kyle Wagenschutz, the bike and pedestrian program manager for the City of Memphis. Over the past several years he has played a role in turning Memphis into one of the most bike-friendly cities in the United States.
Jimmy Ogle’s free 10-hour tour of Downtown is today. Meet at Beale Street Landing at 10:10 if you want to join the fun.
The Blind Bear and Wifflestock raised $1890 for the Ronald McDonald House last night at the poker tournament. That is about double what I expected and everyone did a super job. The structure of the tournament was, $20 got you 3000 chips with starting blinds at 25/50. If you got knocked out you could rebuy through the end of the sixth round (1000/2000). There was a $10 add-on for 3000 extra chips at the start of the tournament, and another $10 add on for 3000 chips at the end of rebuys as the seventh level, 2000/4000, began.
Okay, a couple of comments on the add-ons for poker newbies. You have to think not in terms of how many chips you have, but how many chips you have relative to the blinds. The $10 add-on at the beginning was a fantastic bargain, giving you 120 big blinds starting off.
On the other hand, if you got the 3000-chip add-on at the beginning of the 2000/4000 level, I hope you were thinking “This is a chance to donate 10 extra dollars to the Ronald McDonald House,” not “this extra zero point seven five big blinds is going to make a significant difference where I finish in this tournament.”
I’ll wrap up this post with a song that has been stuck in my head lately:
“Fade to Grey” (1981) by Visage is not my usual taste in music, but I cannot argue that it is years ahead of its time. I discovered this song upon learning that frontman Steve Strange, one of the leaders of the New Romantic movement, passed away on February 12 of this year.
It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day, although it’s starting out a bit chilly. My first two stops will be the normal ones – brunch with Bloom at Bardog then Mary’s bar at Blind Bear – but I can definitely see myself getting outside, maybe at the Fire Haus this afternoon. If anyone wants to join, hit me up on text or Facebook.
Memphis will soon have a new mayor. Last night Jim Strickland prevailed over Mayor A.C. Wharton in a blowout, 42 percent to 22 percent. There are no runoffs in that election, so Strickland is Mayor-elect.
Mayor Wharton, if you’re reading this, thank you for your service and I have great respect for you. I didn’t vote for you because of the way your appointees bungled the animal shelter, but I recognize that you inherited a near-impossible financial situation from your predecessor. Memphis’ finances have been a mess dating back to the 1980s and no mayor would have been able to run the city in a way that pleased everyone.
Mayor-elect Strickland, congratulations. I hope you clean up the mess at the animal shelter and show our police and firefighters the respect they deserve.
Station 3: The Memphis Firehaus has announced its schedule for the weekend. Heart Memphis Duo will be the live entertainment tonight, and the Fuel Cafe and Food Geek food trucks will be on hand. Open at 4 PM.
Tomorrow the Fire Haus will open at 11 AM with college football on TV. Alexis Grace and Loveland Duren will provide the live entertainment. Food by the Stickem and Sin City food trucks.
Sunday the Fire Haus opens at noon with NFL games on TV. There will be an afternoon acoustic performance by Chris Johnson, and the El Mero Taco food truck will be selling food.
“‘Tis the Season for Late Bloomers” is the theme at the Memphis Farmers Market tomorrow, Saturday, October 10 from 7 AM to 1 PM at the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson. Pumpkins, squash, gourds, greens, beans, and cabbages are all in season and on sale at the Farmers Market. Master fruit and vegetable carver Carl Jones will give a demonstration at 9. Live music by Kris Acklen 8:30 to 10 and Bill Stanek 11-12:30. There are only 7 Markets left this year, the last the Saturday before Thanksgiving, with a holiday market December 12.
I just became a Friend of the Market and you can too! For a $35 donation, you can show your support for the best farmers market in Memphis and score a sweet “Truck Yeah, I’m a Friend of Memphis Farmers Market” T-shirt and MFM koozie. Become a Friend of the Market here or you can do it at the market itself.
Probably the most popular shot at the Silly Goose is the coffee-infused Joe shot. Yesterday Daniel announced that from now on, Joe shots will be made with locally-made coffee. The Goose is teaming up with Relevant Roasters coffee and using “Rise & Grind” coffee to make the shots.
“feet party” is one of the top searches leading people to my blog. Yeah I have no idea what to think about that one.
That’s it for now. I have not firmed up plans for tonight but most likely will be out at one of my “Big Five” bars or the Fire Haus.
Welcome to my second blog post of the day! My mood this afternoon:
Memphis has numerous beer festivals throughout the year (including the excellent Cooper-Young Beerfest a week from Saturday), but this coming Saturday it’s wine festival time. Wine on the River will happen from 5 to 9 PM at Mud Island River Park, 125 N. Front. There will be national and international tastings, with a focus on the culture and food of wine-growing regions. $45 ($55 day of) gets you a souvenir glass and all beverage samples within the park. Live music by Young Petty Thieves and the Eric Hughes Band. You must be 21 or up and bring valid ID to show at the door to attend. Proceeds benefit Youth Villages.
Speaking of wine… have you ever thought about having a career working with wine, but were not quite sure how to make that happen? You need to listen to this week’s Copeland Coaching podcast. Career coach Angela Copeland interviews Katie Delaney Owen, Wine Director at Club W in Los Angeles.
A whiskey festival is making its debut Downtown Friday, October 23. It will be at the Artspace Lofts at 138 St. Paul Avenue from 6 to 10 PM. Early bird tickets are on sale for $20 here.
High Ground News has an article about the Artspace project in other cities. Artists often become the backbone of the community, the writer asserts, but they need affordable spaces in which to live.
All righty! Post is done, and I’m ready for BEER! Time to whistle a little Jefferson Airplane as I saunter down the Main Street Mall to the Silly Goose. Happy Thursday and Go Grizz!
The Downtown Memphis Commission is planning some fun events at lunchtime in Court Square next week to encourage those who live and work Downtown to go to komenmemphis.org and register for the October 31 Race for the Cure. The events will happen from 11:30 AM to 1 PM Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week.
Karaoke for the Cure will happen Wednesday, October 14. It will be the ultimate corporate karaoke smackdown, with a winner chosen by a panel of discerning judges. The winner will take home $150.
Concert for the Cure will happen Thursday, October 15. The Mighty Souls Brass Band will perform, and it will be the monthly Court Square food truck rodeo, so come grab some lunch.
Recess for the Cure will happen Friday, October 16. Remember grade school when you went out to recess? There will be hippity hop races, basketball with University of Memphis mascot Pouncer, cornhole, golf chipping contest, Bardog slider eating contest, bubble suit soccer, and more. The Grizz Girls will be there and there will be complimentary cotton candy and pink lemonade. For the slider eating contest and bubble soccer, you must pre-register at DowntownMemphis.com, and a waiver will be required.
The Grizzlies host Maccabi Haifa tonight at FedExForum at 7. It is the second pre-season game of the year. Grizz Essentials will be at Station 3: The Memphis Fire Haus before the game giving away tickets and other Grizz items.
Travis Roman and Ryan Peel are this week’s entertainment for Tacos & Tunes on Felicia Suzanne’s patio. 7-10 PM tonight, $2 tacos, $5 margaritas.
The Green Beetle is beginning a new series called Beetle Sundays from 8 to 11 PM. This Sunday Chris Johnson and Landon Moore will perform, and there will be beer bucket and food specials all night long. They’re inviting everyone to come out, especially those in the service industry.
Advance alert for those who will be cooking on Thanksgiving: There is a pumpkin shortage this year. If you plan on baking pumpkin pie for the holiday, start looking for canned pumpkin on the shelves now, and buy it while you can. There may not be any in stores in late November.
A documentary called 1971 will be shown at the Orpheum’s Halloran Center on Wednesday, October 21 at 7 PM. On March 8, 1971, eight ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office near Philadelphia and stole hundreds of secret files and released them to the public. In doing so, they discovered that J. Edgar Hoover’s staff had done a vast amount of spying and intimidation on Americans just trying to exercise their First Amendment rights. The FBI conducted one of the largest investigations ever trying to uncover the eight citizens’ identities, but they never did. Price to see the documentary is $10 general admission.
This historic Clayborn Temple, home base for the sanitation strike of 1968, will be restored.
From Mashable: Facebook is testing Reactions, a possible emoji-based replacement for the “Like” button. There are seven reactions: Like, Love, Haha, Yay, Wow, Sad, and Angry.
I’m still seeing more and more photos from Best Memphis Burger Fest posted online. Gary from Squeal Street posted a photo of that team’s Bahn Mi burger that they entered in the Best Memphis Burger contest, and it looked amazing. Not surprised it made top 15 at all. (Guys, sorry about the comment about the veggie burger I made the other day. That was not cool and was not written on behalf of my team. Sorry for lashing out. I just feel very misunderstood down in your neck of the woods in recent months. Hope we can talk soon.)
I’m going to try leading off at Silly Goose this evening since that’s my normal Thursday spot, but if it’s too crowded with people pre-gaming for the Grizz I will bounce over to Blind Bear a bit earlier than normal. I may play poker at the Bear tonight (7:30 start time) to warm up for tomorrow’s Wifflestock-Ronald McDonald House charity tournament.
A couple of months ago I mentioned that my friends Dennis and Mary Pat, former Memphians and two of my regular blog readers who now live in Madison, Alabama, were participating in “A Mountain of Hope for St. Jude.” They pledged to climb Mount Kilimanjaro as a way to raise funds for the children’s cancer research hospital at which patients never receive a bill. On Monday, September 28 at 8:45 AM, Dennis and Mary Pat reached the mountain’s summit. Counting money raised and solid pledges for businesses, they have raised over $12,000 for St. Jude. You can still donate to their cause here.
Dennis and Mary Pat have plates at many of the Flying Saucers across the country. A plate on the wall signifies that the person whose name is on it has consumed 200 different beers at that Saucer location. Because Dennis and Mary Pat have been such loyal customers, the Flying Saucer donated over $1000 to their campaign. That’s pretty awesome.
Tomorrow is the second Thursday of the month, and that means it will be Memphis Made pint night at Central BBQ’s Downtown location Butler and St. Martin near the National Civil Rights Museum. $3 Memphis Made pints, pint glass giveaways, and of course great food. The folks who brew your beer will be there if you want to talk to them.
The Peabody’s Corner Bar has two special drinks this month, Pink Bubbles and Pink Lemonade Martinis. A portion of sales of these drinks goes to the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Memphis.
Interesting: How to weaponize your cat to hack your neighbors’ Wi-Fi. In a three-hour test, a cat mapped 23 wireless networks in a trip around the neighborhood. Four of the networks had routers that were completely open, and another four had routers using old, easily-broken encryption.
Wiseacre Brewery is having a different kind of taproom tour Wednesday, October 14 from 6 to 8 PM: Women in Beer: This Event Is Rated XX (Chromosomes). Don’t worry, men; you are as welcome to attend as women are, although topics will surround female brewers. Wiseacre’s resident Cicerone, Rebecca “Crebs” McQuary will host, with guest speakers Bailey Spaulding, brewer from Jackalope Brewing Co. and Meghan Story from the Brewers association. The tour includes beer samples, a 3-course dinner of Wiseacre and Jackalope beers, and a take home bottle of Holy Candy with a glass. Tickets are $45.
Downtown wine and liquor shop Quench has announced its October wine tasting on Friday, October 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. This will be an educational tasting where staff describes the wines and where they come from; an opportunity to relax, learn, and enjoy some wine before heading to South Main Trolley Bus Night.
The Foo Fighters come to FedExForum tonight with special guest Gary Clark Jr. It’s a stop on their “Sonic Highways” tour. Show starts at 7:00. Find ticket information here. Station 3: The Memphis Fire Haus will open tonight at 5 for those looking for a place to pre-game for the concert.
Tonight is the annual John Lennon pint glass night at the Flying Saucer. Glasses go on sale at 7 PM. These usually sell out, so best bet is to get there about 6:45 and let your server or bartender know that you want to order one as soon as they go on sale.
Robert Moody has been selected as the conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. He was a guest conductor the past 9 years. He will take over at the start of the 2016-17 season.
Canadians in Memphis: You can get your Thanksgiving dinner Monday at Kooky Canuck. Complete Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings $9.99 lunch $11.99 dinner. There’s no discrimination at Kooky so Americans and other nationalities are invited too.
Not a Downtown event but it seems worth mentioning to my readers: The Compassion Experience, happening October 23-26, is an interactive journey that lets you experience what it is like to be a child growing up in developing countries such as Kenya, the Philippines, Uganda, and the Dominican Republic. There will be over 2000 square feet of interactive space: homes, markets, and schools.
Have you ever forgotten your password for a website and had to answer security questions like “What is your mother’s maiden name?” to regain access to your account and reset your password? The challenge in designing those questions is to find ones that the account holder would know and a hacker wouldn’t. One of my co-workers found this list of nihilistic password security questions this morning and they’re pretty damn funny. “In what year did you abandon your dreams?” “What is your ex-wife’s newest last name?”
Not going to the Foo Fighters concert but a lot of people are. Normally I lead off at Silly Goose for happy hour on Wednesdays, but I anticipate that it will be more crowded than usual. Therefore, I think I will do happy hour at Blind Bear this evening. If any of my regular trivia team feels like playing, I could probably be talked into joining you. The trivia team has been on a serious roll lately and I wouldn’t mind keeping it going.
Another post after work is a possibility, so check back.
Want to support a local firefighter? Drink a beer. Firefighter/paramedic John Foote is having to travel for his cancer treatment, and travel expenses are adding up. At Station 3: The Memphis Fire Haus, you can add $1, $2, or $5 to your tab to help offset those expenses. Over $5000 has already been raised.
Last month I attended the DMC block party and got to tour the inside of the Chisca, particularly the back building, the former motor lodge that has been converted into apartments. It was a pretty neat space, and if you missed the party you have another opportunity to see it coming up. On Tuesday, October 13 at 6 PM, the monthly South Main Association will take place at the Chisca. Terry Lynch, one of the visionaries who made the restoration possible, will speak. You’ll be able to tour the new apartments, the restaurants, and a tribute to DJ Dewey Phillips who operated in the building in the 1950s. Complimentary appetizers and beverages. Free for SMA members, $10 non-members.
The 15th edition of South Main Sounds Night will take place this Friday night at 7 at 550 South Main. Kitty Dearing will return to welcome five new songwriters who will make their debut at this venue.
Radio host Kevin Cerrito reports that Memphis is in biscuit country for McDonald’s all-day breakfast. Not the entire breakfast menu is served all day, just the most popular items. For us (and most of the South) it means biscuits. The rest of the country gets McMuffins.
