Author: paulryburn

WMC-TV reports that casting is underway for a BBQ reality show that will be filmed in Memphis. They’re looking for candidates between 25 and 45 with big personalities who love their neighborhood. Winner of the show gets $10,000.

Earlier this week I mentioned that Smokin’ Aces, the BBQ festival that has taken place in Tunica the third weekend of September the past several years, will not happen this year. A lot of local BBQ teams are understandably disappointed. If they’re looking for something else to do now that they have the weekend free, I have a suggestion: Enter Best Memphis Burger Fest. A few of my friends were asking about this last night. You can enter the burger competition whether you’re a guy with a backyard grill or a corporate chain with 5000 restaurants. They take all comers, so if you think you cook a mean burger, bring it. My recap of last year will give you an idea of what the judges are told to look for.

Speaking of Best Memphis Burger, the blog that led to the festival: Seth recently gave a restaurant in Hernando five stars for their burger. As many of you know, I work in Horn Lake. My lunchtime choices are mostly suburban hell filled with Chili’s, Applebee’s, O’Charley’s and every fast food restaurant that exists. Not much opportunity to get real food, good food. But now that I think about it, Hernando is within driving distance on lunch break, and Seth is not the first person to highly recommend a restaurant there. One day at the Saucer my friend Steve O told me about a number of good restaurants, but I’d been drinking since 11 AM that day and forgot to take notes. My friend MILF2B hangs out in Hernando a lot, but she has the most boring Foursquare timeline on Earth so I never took her recommendations seriously. But now the evidence is starting to build up. Maybe I need to give Hernando a chance.

Lansky at the Peabody, along with its sibling stores Lansky Accessories and Lucky Duck Gifts, is looking to fill open full-time sales positions. They need someone who is energetic, loves to meet new people, and can work nights and weekends. Resumes can be emailed to sales@lanskybros.com. Refer a friend and get a $250 gift card. Refer a friend and have them mention my blog, and both you and I get a $250 gift card.

South of Beale is now serving wine ice cream. Last night they had Chocolate Cabernet and Cherry Merlot.

Foursquare provided unexpected entertainment last night when several of my friends checked in at Southland Greyhound Park. I knew why they were there and commented “Poker?” and got a reply of “Yeh.” As far as I know, none of them have much experience with poker beyond the bar games at Silly Goose and Blind Bear. Based on comments later in the evening, I got the feeling that they didn’t have a good time. In cash games you can’t play hands like Q-5 and J-7 where 50% of your hand is garbage. And if you’re the first to enter the pot pre-flop and you call rather than raise, you’re advertising that you’re a bad player. And if you bust out and rebuy, guess what, you’re rebuying with real money. Also, if you’re playing for cash, it’s advisable to stay sober, something my friends are not known for doing on the weekend. Southland has video screens rather than real cards and I bet my friends hated them. I can’t wait to hear the stories.

I’ll be at Panda’s bar at Bardog as usual at 11. It’s been a long week at work and I’m glad I’ll get to stare at tube tops rather than PHP code today.

If you haven’t voted in the Memphis Flyer Best of Memphis poll yet, you have until Sunday.

IMPORTANT BEER NEWS: From 4 PM until they run out (into the weekend if necessary), all of the beers on tap at Tamp & Tap will be $2.50.

It’s July Trolley Night on South Main. Tonight many of the shops and galleries will be open from 6 to 9 as people mill around and shop. There will also be artist and vendor booths set up along the street including an info booth for the Dixon, a sculpture and jewelry booth, dance demos by the Rumba Room, glass jewelry, the Memphis Roller Derby, and Miss Birdsong’s Sweet Tooth Desserts. There will also be live music in many South Main venues. Weather is unusually mild for this time of year, so I have a feeling this month’s Trolley Night will be well-attended.

There will also be a pop-up store at Trolley Night. Phillip Ashley Chocolates will be selling at Charlotte Fine Jewelry, 526 S. Main.

There’s a scary ’80s movie double feature at the Orpheum tonight with Ghostbusters and Poltergeist. First movie is at 7, but come early at 6:30 for a discussion with Memphis filmmaker Chris McCoy and WKNO’s Professor Ghoul.

The Memphis Farmers Market’s Rock’n Wild Picnic is tomorrow night, Saturday, July 27. Bring your lawn chair or blanket for pizza by the slice on the lawn. Music by Faith Evans Ruch 5 and Misti Rae Holton with Jimmy Arnold. Pizza + 4 wine tickets $25; pizza with no wine $15.

If you have fond memories of roast for Sunday dinner, head on down to the Brass Door this Sunday. From 11 until they run out they will have a Sunday roast special of beef and Yorkshire puddings.

A $200 million hospital for woman and infants has been proposed for the corner of Adams and Dunlap. It has been said that the hospital will be world-class and state-of-the-art.

That’s all for now. After work I’ll make a last-minute decision whether to start at the Saucer as usual or check out Tamp & Tap.

Well, that was one of my longest post titles ever. Lots of news.

Grizzlies fans got some great news last night. Multiple sources have reported that former Grizzly Mike Miller has said he plans to return to Memphis. Miller played here from 2003 to 2008, and then we traded him in one of several bad personnel decisions made around that time. He has since won two championship rings in Miami, but the Heat had to amnesty him to save money. His shooting abilities will be valuable to the Grizzlies in 2013-14. Welcome back Mike!

Cash Saver on Madison Avenue in Midtown is having a beer sampling this afternoon. You can sample Palm and Rodenbach beers from 4 to 6 PM.

Orpheum Summer Movie Series: Classic movie Dirty Dancing plays tonight at 7. Come early for a free dance lesson by Salsa Memphis at 6.

Crossin Dixon plays the Peabody rooftop party tonight. Included in admission is first drink at a buffet of tuna salad sandwiches, ham & cheese sandwiches and potato chips. The buffet in the VIP area will have deli sandwiches, chicken salad croissants, pasta salad, corn chips, and dill pickles. $10 cover, ladies free before 7.

There’s a Masquerade Ball at Blind Bear tonight beginning at 9 PM. Wear your masks, wigs, and crazy outfits, because five $20 gift cards will be rewarded to the best costumes. The Davis Coen Blues Band will perform 9 to 12.

Jerry Lee Lewis plays Jerry Lee Lewis Cafe and Honky Tonk on Beale Saturday night. Tickets are $100 and are limited to 100 people, chosen by lottery. Find out how to enter the lottery here.

Bluefin has a pretty awesome summer special going on right now. From 5-7 PM Sunday through Thursday, they have buy one, get one free apps. Hmmm I wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will cut her workout short to get there by 7. They will also have 2-for-1 sake and $1 off all domestics during that time.

Elvis Week is coming August 10-17. There’s an app for that.

Last night I was in the Silly Goose and a rerun of Man v. Food was on TV. It featured my hometown of Little Rock, showing the Clinton Library, River Market, and trolley. The first stop was a huge outdoor barbecue, where now-deceased philanthropist Jennings Osborne fed firefighters. Next was a visit to The Mean Pig, a BBQ restaurant in Cabot, about 10 miles north of Little Rock. The host attempted to finish a BBQ sandwich covered in “Shut Up Juice,” a BBQ sauce so hot that he had to wear gloves while eating it to avoid burning his hands. I see that you can purchase Shut Up Juice in The Mean Pig’s online store. You have to agree to a waiver to order it, though, and it’s $30 for a 5-ounce bottle!

Quick lunch break then back to an afternoon of programming. I’ll probably be out at the usual spots around 5:30.

I have updated information on the Bardog Alley Party, to be held in the alley next to Bardog (“Scratchy’s Alley”) on Sunday, August 18. A couple of new events have been added, and when I read about them, I thought, “Aldo must have thought ‘How can I make Paul Ryburn like this party even more’ when planning them.” The first new event is an “All Around the World” beer tent where you can pay $20 to sample 10-15 beers from 11:30 to 5 PM. The second, which I mentioned yesterday, is a poker tournament in the Underdog Room. It will start at 3 PM, there will be a $30 buy-in, and some great prizes will be awarded.

Events which will be coming back from last year are the Bardog 5K at 9 AM, post-race party afterward, dunk tank, food from Bardog, live music, and a meatball eating contest. The raffle will be back, with many big prizes to be given away, including two Fat Tire bikes. All money raised goes to St.Jude. Aldo hopes to hit the $35-45K range this year. Complete details of the party and race registration can be found here.

The Silly Goose will provide signature cocktails at the Phoenix Club’s 4th annual “Party at the Palace” at the Pink Palace Museum. The party will be Saturday, August 24 from 6 to 11 PM. There will also be a DJ, food trucks, and beer trucks. Tickets are $25 in advance, $35 at the door and can be purchased here.

Chef Gary Williams blogged that the Downtown Dejavu location at 51 S. Main will open in a few weeks. The Creole restaurant’s original Florida Street location will remain open. The new restaurant will have extended hours (11 to 10). It will also have a few new additions, including beignets and cocktails. When it opens, Downtowners won’t have to go to Beale Street to get a Hurricane.

Grizz is on his way to Manila, capital of the Philippines. The Grizz Girls are currently touring China.

My friend Air Traffic Mike was working the Italian ice stand at Main and Union last night and I snapped this pic.

Mike is on the left with the Santa Claus beard, serving Uncle Ray. He had lemon, mango, blue raspberry, and orange-vanilla swirl flavors yesterday. Not sure if the flavors rotate by day. I had the lemon and it was very good. Mike told me the mango is a big hit too. He’s watching the stand for friends who are out of town, and he will be at Main and Union for the next week.

The Memphis Public Library will host a JobLINC Career Fair tomorrow from 10 AM to 3 PM. It will be at the main library at 3030 Poplar, in Meeting Rooms A, B, and C and the Gallery. The library advises job seekers to bring plenty of resumes and dress for success.

I’ll be out after work as usual. Silly Goose will be the likely first stop tonight.

Lots of festival news this Tuesday. The Best Memphis Burger Festival has announced a new judging category, one that is very appropriate considering the fest is held on Sunday Fun Day. If you think you make a good Bloody Mary, this year you’ll be able to compete for the title of Best Bloody Mary. Get an entry form here. The festival will be at Minglewood Hall on September 22.

The people who organize Bardog’s alley party are gathering complete information to send me, but I’ve already heard of one new event to be added this year: A poker tournament. All money raised at the alley party (except alcohol sales) goes to St. Jude. The party is August 18.

One of my BBQ team leaders confirmed last night that the Smokin’ Aces BBQ Festival will not be happening in Tunica this year. In past years it had happened the third weekend of September. I’m sad to hear of the cancellation, because my team the Moody Ques had hoped to compete this year. I guess we will have to look for another regional event.

One correction from yesterday: My friend Air Traffic Mike will be working at an Italian ice stand starting tomorrow at Main and Union, not a shaved ice stand as I previously reported. Italian ice is made by a different process, where fruit juice is blended into a liquid and finely frozen.

Looking for a job? There’s a new board called MemphisJobFever that you might want to check out. It lets job hunters make a direct connection with prospective employers.

That’ll wrap it up for today. I’ll be out at the usual bars tonight.

The Memphis to Moore online auction is now open. You can buy items from a vendor or make a donation to support the rebuilding of the Moore, Oklahoma public schools.

There’s a Groupon for Havana’s Pilon today. $6 for $12 worth of food, or $18 for three $12 Groupons. This is the new Cuban restaurant on Madison near second. I had the ropa vieja a couple of weeks ago and it was fantastic, as were the rice and beans and plantains I got as side items.

I know a fair number of people only read my blog on weekdays, so I want to mention again an event I talked about in Saturday’s post. On Saturday, August 17, the Stumblin’ Elvis pub crawl will return. A group of us will dress like The King and stumble our way to some of the best bars on Main, Second, and Beale. You have four weeks to get your costume and join us! We’ll be raising non-perishable food donations for the Ronald McDonald House.

Good time lapse video of Beale Street that is making its way around social media today: Beale Street Revealed

If you need a Downtown job, check out page 42 of the current issue of the Memphis Flyer. Lit, a very well-established restaurant supply company on Union, is hiring.

On that same page, I see that a Downtown restaurant is for sale.

Want to beat the summer heat? Starting Wednesday, for seven days my friend Air Traffic Mike and his assistant Splitty the Maul will be selling shaved ice at the stand at Union and Main. You’ve read about ATM in this blog (and in his) for years, and now you can come meet the man in person.

Another way to beat the summer heat is to enjoy an ice cold, refreshing Buckler’s beer. At 0.5% alcohol by volume, Buckler’s will help you stay alert, whether your plans are to stare at a waitress for hours or to try really really extra extra hard to be a part of other people’s conversations. Buckler’s: A great way to spend your hard-earned dollars. Or your unemployment check, whichever.

Plans for tonight: Pint Nite at the Flying Saucer, to knock off beers 147-149 for my next plate at $3 a pint. I will probably play poker at the Silly Goose tonight, since the game there seems to have gotten a lot better. 8:30 start time for Goose poker.

A few days ago, I posted a link to an article about MATA’s proposed plan to cut trolley hours. The cut that seemed like it would hurt Downtown the most was a cut to the Main Street Trolley’s morning hours. They plan to change the trolley’s start time from 6:25 AM to 9:00 AM. That seemed like a horrible thing because one of the selling points of Downtown is “move down here and ride the trolley to work.” You can’t do that when the trolley starts running a half hour or more after you have to be at the office.

Since I made that post, I have received several pieces of feedback in email and on Facebook. Most of the feedback came from South Mainers, and they all said pretty much the same thing: The trolley is completely unreliable as a means for commuting to work. People said they could walk to work faster than they could wait on a trolley to show up. It seems to operate on no schedule whatsoever, they said, and one person commented that the northbound trolley is particularly unreliable in the mornings. Most of them said that the trolley is only useful as a tourist attraction and nothing more.

Surprised to hear it but maybe I shouldn’t be. Is there any other city in the U.S. the size of Memphis with a public transportation system as bad as MATA?

The flyers are up and the announcement has been made… the Stumblin’ Elvis pub crawl will return to the streets of Downtown Memphis the evening of Saturday, August 17. Every year a bunch of us get dressed up like Elvis and wander from bar to bar, while participating in a food drive for charity. There are drink specials at the participating bars and it’s a whole lot of fun, although tourists will ask if they can take your picture about seventy thousand times over the course of the evening. That’s the way it works though. You are the spectacle.

You have plenty of time to find a costume, since the event is four weeks away. I did a search at Costume Craze and it returned 100 Elvis-related items, so you should be able to find what you need. Amazon also has many Elvis costumes, and then there are local costume shops where you can rent. The gift shops on Beale have Elvis scarves, glasses, sideburns and wigs.

This year’s list of bars has yet to be announced, but the lineup is typically some of the best bars on Main Street and Beale Street. I seem to remember a peanut butter and banana shot at one of the bars last year. It’s bound to be a fun night, so save the date and start planning your costume!

Singer DiAnne Price, who passed away a few months ago, will receive a Brass Note on Beale Street to honor her contribution to Memphis music. The ceremony will be at 3 PM Sunday in front of B.B. King’s. It’s a shame she didn’t receive this honor while she was alive, but it will be a good opportunity for her many friends and fans to come together to remember her.

The first 3000 fans through the gate tonight at AutoZone Park will receive an Allen Craig replica jersey T-shirt. Craig is a former National League All-Star and Redbird. First pitch vs. Oklahoma City is tonight at 7:05, but the gates open at 5 for the Friday block party.

Rocky Horror Picture Show is tonight at the Orpheum. Highly recommended if you’re a fan of audience-participation movies. Even if you’ve seen it a dozen times, there is no experience like seeing this movie at the Orpheum.

The annual Bardog 5K benefitting St. Jude is less than a month away. The Girls Run the 901 blog has a list of 10 reasons to run the Bardog 5K. It’s Sunday, August 18 and there will be a huge all-day party after the run.

The MBJ reports that Downtown could get a new hotel at the site of the former Greyhound station across Union from AutoZone Park.

Time to grab a quick lunch. Normally I’m not a huge fan of fast food but those new Hot Shot Bites at KFC are really good. Few more hours at work after that and then I’ll be out at the usual spots.

Scary drive home in the pouring rain. Water tends to pool in the right lane of northbound 240 right before the I-40 exit in Midtown. I had to slow way down to get through. I bet someone spins out in the next hour.

You may have heard that MATA plans to cut back city bus hours to reduce spending. Well, they want to cut back trolley hours too. This MBJ article has a complete list of proposed reductions in hours, but there’s one reduction that’s particularly troubling. MATA wants to change the start time of the Main Street Trolley from its current 6:25 AM time to 9 AM. That is terrible news for people who bought houses or condos or rented apartments down here planning on using the trolley to commute to work. If that change (or any of the others) affects you and you want to protest, the MBJ article linked here has info about two public meetings next week.

There will be a “Justice for Trayvon” vigil taking place at the National Civil Rights Museum this Saturday, July 20 from 11 AM to 12:30 PM. This is one of 100 vigils that will be taking place across the country at the same time.

Want to get paid to make Downtown even better? The Downtown Memphis Commission is hiring a planning and development analyst.

Three-time All-Star Chris Carpenter is set to rehab with the Redbirds this weekend. He’ll be the starting pitcher for the 6:05 game. He’s on the Cardinals’ 60-day disabled list.

I have a spare poncho left over from Memphis in May, so I’m heading out. Silly Goose is my likely first stop.