Author: paulryburn

This week is the International Blues Challenge, when blues musicians and bands from all over the world travel to Memphis to perform in front of live audiences and be heard by judges, with the winner receiving a recording contract. The way it works is, there are two nights (Wednesday-Thursday) where all the bands perform in the clubs of Beale Street and nearby, and you can buy a wristband and get into all the clubs to see them for one price. The next night (Friday) is the semifinals, where bands selected by the judges perform again, and there is once again a wristband at a slightly higher price. The finals, along with presentation of the award for best self-produced CD, happen at the Orpheum on Saturday.

However, the folks who run the Blues Foundation have told me in past years about a “sleeper” event that precedes the start of the competition, a hidden gem that folks either overlook or can’t attend because they have not yet arrived in town. That makes it a good chance for the locals to slip in and hear some excellent music before things swing into full gear. It’s the International Blues Showcase, happening Tuesday night at the New Daisy Theater on Beale. The doors open at 5:30 and throughout the evening you will hear blues acts from all over the world. You might catch a band from Poland, or Germany, or Australia… you never know. (Me personally, I’m hoping for an all-female Romanian band.) Tickets are $10 at the door.

Tomorrow is MLK Day, and there will be several events happening Downtown. As I mentioned earlier, there will be a parade down N. Main and Second Streets starting at 10 AM.  The Grizzlies will play their annual MLK Day game at 4 PM, wth a pre-game ceremony honoring NBA legends Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Chauncey Billups, and Jason Collins. Earlier in the day there will be other events including a high school classic (admission to which is free with your Grizzlies ticket) and an MLK Sports Legacy Symposium (also free with your ticket but space is limited). More details here.

You think after he retires, Zach Randolph will be honored in one of these celebrations? I certainly think there’s a case for it. He has paid many thousands of dollars keeping people’s lights on and providing toys for inner-city children’s Christmas. When elementary school kids in Memphis are given a “Who’s your hero?” writing assignment, I bet a lot of them write about Z-bo.

Of course, the National Civil Rights Museum will have a special all-day-long King Holiday Celebration from 8 AM to 5 PM. There will be tours of the newly renovated museum highlighting Dr. King’s involvement in the civil rights movement. Outside on the Founder’s Park stage there will be entertainment all day, including jazz, drums, dance, spoken word, gospel, and the recordings of Dr. King. $5 admission, reduced to $3 with a canned food donation, and free for up to four people with the donation of a pint of blood.

Last night I got some to-go food from Yao’s and climbed in bed for a two-hour nap. However, it turned into a 14 hour nap so I never got out. Not that I much care… it was cold outside and I doubt much interesting was going on. If I did that in April I’d be mad at myself, but January, not so much. Being fully rested for Sunday Fun Day seems like a good move. I’ll lead off at Bloom’s bar at Bardog at 11, then bounce over to Blind Bear at 1 for D-RANKS with B-RAD. No librarian glasses today though. I’m on the fence about playing poker at the Bear tonight. Lately the Sunday game has gone down the crapper, with people going all-in in the early blind levels rather than playing proper poker, not because they don’t know how to play but just because they’re drunk and want to be annoying. I may stick to the Tuesday night game only for a while. Anyway, it’s almost time for the first PBR of the day, so let’s hit Publish and get this thing going.

Do you like gumbo? Three weeks from now, you’ll be able to taste some of Memphis’ finest gumbos and vote for the one you like best. The Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) Gumbo Contest will happen at BRIDGES on A.W. Willis Ave. Sunday, February 8 from 4:30 to 7 PM. Tickets are $25 and include gumbo tasting, voting in the People’s Choice award, live jazz, craft beer, and soft drinks. For those under 21 there’s a $15 ticket that includes everything but the beer. If you want to go to this, better buy now, because the ticket prices go up by $5 on the 1st.

Click image to view in a larger, more readable size. Thanks to Fireball Joe for holding the poster while I took a picture.

Nordstrom is scouting a location in Memphis. The department store chain is famous for its customer service and already has a Nashville location.

Good news for the entrepreneurial scene here in Memphis: Start Co. is partnering with Innova Memphis, an early-stage venture capital firm. The partnership will make funding more accessible to startups that go through one of Start Co.’s four accelerator programs. If you have a startup you’d like to take through a 2015 accelerator program, here’s how to apply and you have until March 1.

The Daily news has Q&A with the Grizzlies’ Vince Carter.

To no one’s surprise, Kuran Iverson is done with U of M basketball and is transferring after spring semester. After getting suspended, Iverson retweeted criticism of his coach. Not smart. Some other coach will take a chance on Iverson, though. My prediction is Bruce Pearl brings him to Auburn.

On this day in 1987: Hulk Hogan was the guest on Piper’s Pit. Andre the Giant, up until that point a beloved fan favorite, crashed the interview.

Last night I made a trip south to my “home away from home” in the South Main District, Max’s Sports Bar. I hadn’t made it down there in four or five months and it was like I had never left. I’ve said for years that Max’s is probably the friendliest bar Downtown and I have sent newcomers there because it’s easy to get to know the locals. I plan to get to Max’s, as well as other South Main spots, a lot more than I did in 2014.

Today, though, I’m leading off with one of my favorite places in the Downtown core. Can’t go wrong with Panda Time at Bardog to kick off a Saturday. It’s PBR hoodie and shorts weather and this is going to be a great Saturday.

I didn’t do a post at lunchtime yesterday, but I had a very good reason: I used my lunch break to drive to the AT&T Store and upgrade to the iPhone 6. My 4S was over three years old and didn’t have enough space left to upgrade to iOS 8, so it was time. Let’s proceed with the news and then I will come back and talk about the phone.

Paula & Raiford’s Disco, recently featured in a New York Times article on what to do in 36 hours in Memphis, has added a disco photo booth so you can capture your moment at the best nightclub in the world. It’s on Second between Madison and Monroe and will open at 10 this evening.

The planning meeting for April’s MEMfix Pinch event is this afternoon at Ferraro’s at 3:30.

Memphis Magazine has a nice article about BBQ classes taught by pitmaster Troy Black.

Tomorrow is a doubleheader day at FedExForum: The Memphis Tigers host the UCF Knights at 1 PM, and then at 8 PM the Memphis Grizzlies host the Portland Trail Blazers. Former Grizzly Shane Battier will be back in FedExForum tomorrow to call the Grizzlies game on ESPN.

There will be a King National Holiday Parade Monday at 10 AM. The parade will start at Main and A.W. Willis, take Main south to Exchange then cut over to Second, then south on Second to the National Civil Rights Museum.

The Redbirds have five positions open including account executive, graphic designer, and manager of premium sales.

Lifehacker has tips on how to get around paywalls using either Incognito Mode or Private Browsing, depending on which web browser you use.

If you want to learn to play the ukulele, there’s a Groupon for that. $15 for $108 worth of lessons.

The Memphis Animal Shelter has killed six animals by mistake that had people ready to adopt them. Now that A.C. Wharton has competition in the mayoral election, maybe he’ll realize it’s time to remove his buddy as head of MAS and hire someone who knows how to run an animal shelter. If Strickland emphasizes animal shelter reform as part of his campaign platform, I will consider voting for him.

My new iPhone 6’s Health app told me that from the time I got the phone activated, about 1:30 yesterday, until the end of the day, I walked 2.32 miles. I had no idea I walked that much. That’s the advantage of the Downtown lifestyle. Downtowners walk to the place that most people drive to in their cars.

I want to thank the folks at the AT&T Store in Southaven on Goodman near Airways for the fine job they did yesterday taking care of me. I had told work that I was getting a new phone and might be gone longer than my 45-minute lunch break. However, AT&T had me in and out quickly and I got back to the office on time.

Rather than spending an extra $100 on the larger iPhone 6 Plus, I decided to stick with the iPhone 6 and get the 64 GB model rather than the base 16 GB. My iPhone 4S was 16GB and I had nearly filled it up. Seems like the 16 GB iPhone 6, with the large footprint of iOS8, would be practically useless. Thanks to my Facebook friends who confirmed that my decision to go 64GB was the right one.

I’m grandfathered into AT&T’s unlimited data plan. They make you go to the store to buy a phone if you want to keep it; you can’t keep it if you order online. Furthermore, I wonder if AT&T salespeople get a bonus for every unlimited data plan given up. The salesperson was very interested in finding out if unlimited was “too much” data for me and maybe I’d be better off with a different plan. No way, no how am I giving up my unlimited data!

Time to hit Publish and get back to playing with my new phone. I will be out at the usual spots after work. Possible second post later today.

Do you like beer so much that you wish you could bathe in it? Well, you can.

One of my Christmas presents was Beer Soap from AllThingsHerbal.com. The soaps smell really good, and you won’t come out of the shower smelling like beer (probably a good thing in case you get pulled over for speeding on your way to work). They do, however, have beer ingredients in them including hops. I got the Killian’s Red and Guinness Extra Stout soaps in a 2-pack.

One of my favorite websites, statistics site FiveThirtyEight, has started a new newsletter called Significant Digits that readers will soon be able to subscribe to via email. In today’s newsletter, I learned that the median American carries $22 cash, and that 62% of people who start reading a book complete it.

The University of Memphis suffered a great loss yesterday. Former provost Dr. Ralph Faudree passed away. When he was chairman of the Mathematics/Computer Science department, he hired me as a full-time instructor teaching undergrad math and computer literacy classes. I held the job for 5 years and it was the most fun job I ever had. My thoughts are with Dr. Faudree’s family and I cannot thank him enough for the opportunity he gave me.

MBQ has a great article on the redevelopment of South Front Street. It’s not just Gus’s anymore.

The Grizzlies play an away game against their former coach, Lionel Hollins, and the Brooklyn Nets tonight at 6:30. Couple of good articles from SBNation: a preview of tonight’s game and possibilities for Jeff Green, who plays his first game for the Grizzlies this evening.

From Mashable: Find out where your NBA team’s fans are, based on Twitter followers. Good news: The Grizzlies have a following in the northeast corner of British Columbia, Canada. Bad news: Almost no one lives there. I only found one small town called Fort Nelson, which according to Wikipedia has 3902 residents. According to Google Maps, the Alaska Highway runs through the town and they have a Domino’s Pizza and a Subway. To whomever it is in Fort Nelson supporting the Grizzlies, we thank you!

If you like playing trivia but don’t want to think too hard, try 50/50 trivia hosted by Kevin Cerrito tonight at Tamp & Tap at 7. Every question is true/false, yes/no, or similar, so at worst you have a 50% chance of being right.

High Cotton Brewery has an exclusive Raspberry Wheat available in their taproom at 598 Monroe. It’s open Thursday-Saturday 4 to 9. Growlers of the new beer will be available there, as well as pints. I haven’t been there since the opening… I need to find an excuse to get over to the taproom. It’s really no farther a walk from me than South Main is, and I walk to South Main all the time.

I’m going to lead off tonight at the Silly Goose like I usually do on Wednesday, but I may stop by Bardog later where I believe it is their poker league’s final table. I don’t play in that league much but I know people who do. That’s all for now, back this evening if there’s more news.

A friend who has been working internationally as of late is back in Memphis for a visit, and he came bearing gifts. “Are you a coffee man?” he asked. He had brought back gourmet coffee from one of the countries in which he has been working lately. “It’s a unique kind of coffee,” he told me. “They feed the coffee beans to a civet cat, and then after the cat craps them out they pick the beans out of the crap and wash them and bag them up. It has a different kind of taste, that’s for sure.”

I decided to decline his offer and will continue to turn to Mountain Dew as my caffeine source.

There will be a job fair next month to hire 600 employees to work in the new Bass Pro Shops store in the Pyramid, whose opening date is now officially set for May 1. Date of the job fair is TBA.

There’s a GoFundMe account where you can help raise money for repairs to legendary BBQ restaurant Cozy Corner, badly damaged in a January 8 fire.

Updated plans for the Tennessee brewery have been released. Read all about it on Choose901.

If you’re a Memphis Tiger football fan, you ought to go to the men’s basketball home game Thursday night against Cincinnati at the FedExForum… and you ought to get there early. You’ll be able to get your photo with the AAC football championship trophy and the Miami Beach Bowl trophy. Platinum Jewelers will provide free prints while they last. Line for the photo-op begins at 5 and will pictures will be taken until halftime. Tip-off is at 6. More info here.

Of course, if you’re a Tiger football fan, you’ve probably already heard that the Tigers finished in the Top 25 in the AP poll and the coaches’ poll as well. They were voted 25th in both. What a remarkable turnaround. Big congratulations to Coach Fuente and the entire team. Without a doubt the best season in the program’s history.

If you bring a canned good donation to the National Civil Rights Museum for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day next Monday, you will get a discounted price toward your ticket to the museum. Donations will go to the Mid-South Food Bank.

Attendees of Sunday’s Grizzlies game at the FedExForum saw ads for WWE’s Fast Lane pay-per-view, to be held at the arena next month, and the planned main event was revealed: John Cena and Roman Reigns vs. Big Show and Seth Rollins. I can’t say I’m very inclined to buy a ticket if the lumbering, past-his-prime, 43-year-old Big Slow will be part of the biggest match on the card. The card is subject to change, and I hope it does.

From Mashable: How to sneakily steal pizza without your friends hating you. This one went straight on the Nuh-Uh Girl’s Facebook timeline as soon as I saw it.

That’s all for now. Late getting a post up today because I was feeling a little under the weather. Should be back on regular schedule tomorrow. Stay warm and I’ll see you then.

It’s official: the Jeff Green trade has happened. The Flyer’s Kevin Lipe has an excellent piece on the trade for Jeff Green and what it could mean for the Grizzlies. Lipe believes it’s a sign that the Grizzlies are all-in for this season being The One where the team tries to go all the way to the NBA Finals. The trade comes with risks, though. By the end of the decade, the Grizzlies’ core will be old and not as productive, and right at the time when the team needs the help the most, they could have to ship Boston a lottery pick.

Meanwhile, SBNation has a farewell to Tayshaun Prince, looking back on his time with the Grizzlies.

Well this is unexpected: R.I.P. Urbanspoon. The restaurant review service has been acquired by Indian startup Zamato, and everything will be converted to Zamato’s branding.

If you missed the debut of the Memphis Beer Show Saturday on AM 600, you can listen here.

Several Memphis senior football players have been chosen for college all-star games.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of one of Downtown Memphis’ true comfort foods: The roasted half chicken from Majestic Grille. It’s a breast, wing, thigh and leg in pan juices along with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. It’s a great meal for a cold, blustery January day and it will satisfy even hearty appetites.

Nice to see my Hogs move up to 19 in the latest AP poll. Kentucky is not the only good team in the SEC.

It’s Monday, so I will be at Melissa Monday at Bardog for happy hour. Later in the evening I will decide where to watch the national championship game. Out for now, back tomorrow.

Today the Memphis Tigers travel to Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston to take on the Houston Cougars. The game is at 3 PM and it will be carried on the CBS Sports Network.  Memphis has a chance to beat the Cougars twice in a dozen days, after a 73-54 victory over the Cougars on New Year’s Eve that didn’t really even feel that close.

Meanwhile, the Memphis Grizzlies are back at home today, where they host the Phoenix Suns at 5. The Grizzlies are in the middle of trade speculation that would bring Boston Celtics swingman Jeff Green here. It would be a three-team trade in which Tayshaun Prince and a Grizzlies first-round pick would go to the Celtics, and Quincy Pondexter and a Grizzlies second-round pick would go to the New Orleans Pelicans. The deal likely won’t be done today so the Grizz won’t have Green available for tonight’s game.

Usually I start off my Saturdays at Panda’s bar at Bardog at 11, then wander over to the Blind Bear for D-RANKS with B-RAD around 1. However, when I got to the Bear yesterday, Brad wasn’t there, but I did get a welcome surprise. They finally filled the bartender/server position that had been open for a couple of weeks.

And they filled it with MY FAVORITE PAIR OF LIBRARIAN GLASSES!!!!!!!!!!

Having not worked Downtown since she parted ways with the Saucer a few months back, my favorite pair of librarian glasses was behind the bar training. I helped her out by ordering mixed drinks instead of PBR so she could learn to mix and muddle the Bear’s giggle water. She was having a blast, dancing behind the bar as she worked (as a customer she had been known to dance ON the bar). She will be in training for the next couple of weeks and finishing up shifts at her other job, then the plan is for her to take over the Saturday day bar shift and Brad will keep Sundays.

Good news for the Blind Bear poker players: My favorite pair of librarian glasses will be the Tuesday night server. Not sure if she will start this week, but definitely by the week after that. It will be nice for the poker players to have young, fun librarian glasses with a great personality. Needless to say I will not be taking any Tuesday nights off from poker anymore.

When she worked at the Flying Saucer, my favorite pair of librarian glasses was the day bartender on Fridays, and she built up a regular crowd who came in to see her for lunch. Recognizing that she has a following, the Blind Bear scheduled her to work day bar on Fridays.

She also has Thursday and Saturday evening server shifts. That means she will get to see her former co-workers since many of the Saucer girls go to the Bear for after-work drinks.

Icy weather is moving through western Arkansas as I type this on Sunday morning. The precip will soon get here, but as of 6:40 this morning the MemphisWeather.net folks were 90% confident that we stay all rain, although a little sleet is possible. Follow @MemphisWeather1 on Twitter for the best and most accurate local weather information, and check the “Winterize” checkbox at the top of StormView Radar to see where ice and snow are falling.

Having grown up with 1980s video games, this is really cool: Budweiser is building a life-size Pac-Man arena for the Super Bowl.

The PBR tap at Bardog has been fixed. It was broken much of the day yesterday.

Plan for today: D-ranks with B-rad may not have happened yesterday, but will today as he has the day bar shift at the Bear. I plan on getting there 12:30ish. Brad has some really cool regulars and I hope to see some of them today. Due to my status as “Mr. Load-in” I may have to step into the back for a few minutes to help with a planning session, but most of the afternoon I will be at the bar. I feel the need to verify that the Bardog PBR tap is indeed working (this kind of verification is one of the many services “Mr. Load-in” provides for the BBQ team) so I will stop by there at 11 for a couple of pulls from the tap. Stay safe if you’re traveling to Arkansas today, where the weather is going to get much icier than we will see here in Memphis.

If you’re looking for a job, you may want to get your resume and business clothes ready for an event at the Memphis Botanic Garden next Tuesday, 10 AM to 3 PM. Who’s Hiring Memphis is having their quarterly career fair. I found out about this thanks to a tweet from the Peabody, which is one of the participating hiring companies, with over 40 positions open.

In other job news, Leadership Memphis is hiring a Program Coordinator for the Memphis Talent Dividend program.

The Harlem Globetrotters perform at the FedExForum tomorrow at 3.

If you like local craft beer, tune into WREC AM 600 Saturdays at noon. Memphis Craft Beer has a new radio show on the station beginning tomorrow.

Wow this is really stupid… an Oklahoma legislator wants to introduce a bill banning hoodies. As someone who wears my PBR hoodie at least a couple of times a week to stay warm in the winter, I find this very offensive.

That’s all. Short update but the beer/radio news was time sensitive so I didn’t want to wait to post.

What a poor showing the Memphis Tigers had against the SMU Mustangs last night. I recently read a Bleacher Report post that Kobe Bryant is glad he grew up playing basketball in Europe because his game wasn’t tainted by the style of AAU ball in America. Last night’s game made me think Kobe has a point. It looked like Austin Nichols and a bunch of AAU players out there for Memphis.

What has happened to Shaq? It seems like he has regressed since last year.

Trahson Burrell, who had started the past 6 games, was a Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision last night due to “unacceptable behavior.” Burrell is said to be close to suspended player Kuran Iverson who caused a controversy on Twitter earlier this week.

The Tigers’ next game is Sunday at Houston. The Tigers beat the Cougars by a comfortable margin at FedExForum New Year’s Eve, but a road game may be a different story. Maybe I should get a guest blogger to post on what it’s like to step into a Cougar den. (Katie?)

In observation of Elvis’s 80th birthday, the Orpheum is showing an Elvis double feature tonight at 7. Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas will be shown back-to-back with an intermission in between. $22.50 ticket for both movies.

From the MBJ: The Redbirds’ GM is excited about changes being made to the ballpark but he also understands that it is important to retain the team’s identity.

The comet Lovejoy is now visible in cities. Follow the link for info on how to see it. Its closest approach to Earth will be Wednesday. The last time the comet passed by, woolly mammoths still roamed the Earth.

Here’s some fashion news for 2015… You can now own a poop emoji shirt.

That’s it for now. Maybe a second update post tonight if there’s more news.

There was a fire at Cozy Corner BBQ on North Parkway this afternoon. Fortunately, it did not burn the legendary restaurant to the ground. It was caused by electrical issues and the restaurant should only be closed a few days.

Congratulations to Miles McMath, chef at St. Jude, named by Southern Living magazine as one of 50 people changing the South. McMath uses local heritage farmers and an organic garden to provide patients with something far better than the average bland hospital meal. He commented that food is one of the few ways the hospital can offer patients a way to indulge themselves.

A MEMfix event will be coming to The Pinchon April 11. You may remember a successful MEMfix event in the Edge last October, with live music, performances, food trucks, and pop-up shops. The April 11 event will be a chance to re-imagine the Pinch and prepare it for the influx of visitors that May 1’s Bass Pro opening will bring. Community input will be key to the project’s success. The first of several public meetings in preparation for MEMfix will be held Friday, January 16 at Ferraro’s, Jackson at Main, at 3:30 PM, and feedback is sought from Pinch business owners, stakeholders, residents, and others who see potential in the neighborhood.

Texas de Brazil is selling a $21 gift card that entitles the holder to free dessert and coffee with the purchase of a meal up to 12 times this year.

From WREG Live at 9: Chef Terrrance Killon prepares Bon Ton Cafe’s blackened catfish

Choose901 has more on Dr. Bean’s Coffee and Tea Emporium, coming to 72 Madison.

Tweet “#NBABallot Marc Gasol” to vote for Marc Gasol to be selected as an All-Star. As of this morning Gasol was in third place among big men (forwards and centers). Of course, you can tweet other Grizzlies names too if you desire. Gasol is nearly to the point of overtaking the Clippers’ Blake Griffin for second place.

Tomorrow (Friday, January 9; this is an evening update) is your last day to sign up for the Grizzlies’ next Beer Tasting Night at the game against Portland on Saturday the 17th. The featured brewer that night will be Goose Island. Tickets are $105 for a Club seat and admission to the tasting, or $41 for a Terrace IV seat and admission to the tasting. Everyone at the tasting gets a free Grizzlies pint beer glass. Order tickets here.

That’ll do it for now. Home from work and ready for beer.