Author: paulryburn

Downtown restaurant/pub Kudzu’s has had their logo T-shirt selected to be part of the Dive Bar Shirt Club. Members of this club pay $22 every month to receive a T-shirt featuring one of America’s best dives.

There’s a great post on a Wall Street Journal blog about how on how Memphis is becoming an innovation community, with more and more pieces in place to help entrepreneurs develop their ideas into viable businesses. One of the businesses co-founded by the author, Meg Crosby, is Downtown’s very own Brass Door Irish pub.

The Church Health Center will start a 4-week Commit to Quit class on Tuesday, February 5 at 6 PM. This smoking cessation course at 1115 Union could change your life.

The Redbirds have Valentine’s Day packs on sale now. For $40, fans can purchase their valentine an exclusive ticket package that includes two Dugout Box ticket vouchers, $10.00 in Redbirds Bucks, and a flower arrangement from Lynn Doyle Flowers. For an additional $35, fans can have mascot Rockey the Redbirds personally deliver this package to their sweetheartís home or office on Wednesday, February 13 or Thursday, February 14. Only ten Rockey delivery packages are offered (Rockey deliveries must be located within 30 miles of AutoZone Park). Please call for availability. Number is 901-722-0295 and last day to order is Monday, February 11.

Mesquite Chop House started a Sunday brunch this week. Check Kerry’s blog post for details and photos.

Exhausted for a second long day (of 12!) of software training. Going to grab a few beers before the storm hits.

Kevin Cerrito, host of Tuesday night trivia at Ferraro’s Pizzeria and Pub and Thursday night trivia at the Green Beetle, has added a new event to his lineup. Every Wednesday he will host trivia in the 1884 Lounge inside Minglewood Hall. Starts at 8, doors open at 7. Limit 8 per team. Prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and best team name. This is the only trivia night in town where you can win Minglewood concert tickets as your prize. More details at facebook.com/cerritotrivia

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre party will return to the Blind Bear Saturday, February 9. This year the party will benefit Ronald McDonald House and FedEx Family House. $10 at the door. Roaring ’20s costume contest, live music, silent auction, blackjack tournament. http://www.fepwa.com/ to buy advance tickets or donate.

Also, look for news about live music at the Bear Thursday the 7th and 21st of next month. Waiting on an email from Jamie for details, but there will be some names you might know if you’re familiar with the local music scene.

It’s National Free Thinker Day! Here’s a WikiHow article on how to think for yourself: http://www.wikihow.com/Think-for-Yourself

The Downtown Memphis Commission’s 2012 year-end report has been released. Read it here.

30-minute lunch break, that’s all I have time to post now, more after work.

Very late notice on this but Zac’s Bar and Grill, the restaurant in the Hampton Inn at Peabody Place and Third, is doing Margarita Monday. Buy one, get one on margaritas.

There’s a cooking class at Urban Workspace tomorrow night from 6 to 8. It’s called “Date Night French Bistro” and it’s a virtual visit to France with a delicious meal. Winter squash bisque, roasted tenderloin with a bordelaise sauce, and root vegetables confit. They posted about it to social media this morning. That means there are probably still seats available, even though they like to keep class size small. Visit the website for more info or to sign up, or to find out about the many other cooking classes they offer. (BBQ fans: There’s a class on Memphis BBQ sauces and dry rubs coming up in Fabruary and March.)

The Brass Door will show the USA vs. Canada soccer match tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 8. They will also have 2 for 1 fish and chips after 5, and Diamond Dave will be cooking up his famous curry.

Be careful if you get out tomorrow night, though. We could have our first severe weather event of 2013, most likely between 9 PM and 3 AM. The MemphisWeather.net blog has the details.

Whew… this training at work is killing me. Today at lunch I had 35 minutes to run and get gas, make a brief blog post, and do the web updates that I normally have all day to do. I’m learning tons of good stuff though, and I certainly see the value of soaking up every minute of instructor time we can get. Home for the day, and I certainly feel that I’ve earned a beer or two. On my way to Pint Nite now.

Please excuse brevity and any spelling mistakes in my posts this week. On a VERY tight schedule.

The Daily News reports that EverywhereElse.co the Startup Conference will move from the Peabody to the Convention Center. They need additional space. Unfortunately the training I’m going through at work will cause me to be unable to attend the conference.

Central BBQ has announced a kids’ night at its Downtown location. It will happen every Monday and Tuesday, starting at 5 PM.

That’ll do it for now, perhaps a second post after work. I’ll be at the 8:30 poker game at the Silly Goose tonight, with beers at Saucer beforehand.

Action News 5 reports that the Ecology and Conservation of North American Waterfowl Symposium will take place today through Thursday, January 31 at the Peabody. Held at the home of the famous Peabody ducks, the conference will focus on understanding and sustaining the habitats of ducks, geese, and swans. Those of you in town for the symposium, welcome to Memphis!

Up until a couple of days ago, I would have had a question for symposium goers. Where I work in Horn Lake, we have a large pond. This time of year, anywhere from two to six mallard ducks show up to swim in our pond during the day. However, lately another bird has been showing up too. It’s about half the size of the mallards. I wondered if it was a duckling, but it didn’t have the yellow feathers that are typical of a baby. Also, this “baby” swims faster than any of the mallards – it reminds me of a motorboat as it speedily travels from one side of the pond to the other. I noticed that it has markings similar to those of a Canada goose, but it was way too small to be a goose.

Wikipedia to the rescue. The tiny, speedy swimmer is a female Bufflehead, one of the smallest of the duck species.

I hope it sticks around our pond for a while. I sure do like that Bufflehead!

The Memphis Business Journal reports that backfilling the Pinnacle Airlines office space in One Commerce Square will be a tall order. That’s true, but the building has some advantages that it didn’t have a few years ago. For one thing, the Pinnacle Airlines space on floors 2-14 was renovated into Class A office space before the airline moved in. Whoever takes over those floors is going to get some very nice space. Also, because the building was bought at a very reasonable price, the owners are able to keep the rents reasonable. They’re looking to rent a floor or two at a time, rather than find a big tenant who wants all 13 floors.

The Grizzlies have a home game at the FedExForum today. They play the New Orleans Hornets at 5 PM. Come see All-Star Zach Randolph and the rest of the team!

I wonder if the waterfowl symposium people will go out for a drink at the Silly Goose after they finish their day’s proceedings? Seems like the logical choice.

Yesterday a friend and I were hanging out at Bardog, and we relocated to the Blind Bear right as it opened at 3 PM. “Do you want appetizers? Better order them now!” bartender Amanda exclaimed. I looked at the TV and saw that there was :06 left in the Tiger game. The Blind Bear has half-priced appetizers during all Grizzlies and Tiger games (special starts one hour before tip-off). I hurriedly ordered a sausage and cheese plate, barely beating the buzzer. I got a huge plate of smoked sausage, three kinds of cheese, pickle spears, honey mustard and fruit for $3.50. One of Downtown’s best deals!

Looks like the “Rule of 60” will apply this Sunday Fun Day: If at any point in the day, the temperature is expected to reach 60, I wear shorts. It’s a good rule. As usual, I’ll kick it off with mimosas at the Majestic at 11. Since Blind Bear has reverted to its 3 PM opening time, I’ll probably make the Flying Saucer my bar of choice from noon to 3.

A quick reminder that my lunchtime post schedule will be interrupted Monday-Thursday because I’ll be in training with a short lunch break. I’ll find alternate times to post. All right, that’ll wrap it up, happy Sunday Fun Day.

The Internet connection was out at our office yesterday, and I had things to do after work, so no post since Thursday lunch. Sorry about that but it couldn’t be helped.

The big news Downtown is that Pinnacle Airlines is moving its headquarters out of One Commerce Square to Minneapolis. Some people are spinning it like this is a failure for Downtown, and I completely disagree. It was business, pure and simple. Pinnacle went into bankruptcy, got bought out by Delta, and Delta did what it needed to do to turn Pinnacle into a profitable business. As Paul Morris who runs DMC pointed out, two years ago One Commerce Square could have easily gone the way of the Sterick Building and become a huge vacant building on the Downtown skyline. But instead, Pinnacle’s relocation Downtown attracted other businesses, including the Great American Steamboat Co. and Electrolux. It’s now a viable, premium office building and we will get that space filled. We will miss Pinnacle but we are grateful for what they did Downtown while they were here.

The other big news Downtown is that Zach Randolph is going to the All-Star Game! He was selected as a reserve big man. Congratulations to Z-Bo. He also recently donated $20,000 to help people keep their electricity on this cold winter.

The Memphis Flyer City Beat column has a great article about the top 10 Downtown Memphis myths, dispelled by historian Jimmy Ogle. Even I was wrong about a couple of these.

Congrats to Downtown’s Chez Philippe on being named one of the 100 most romantic restaurants in the country.

The Memphis Daily News blog has a post about ARTjamN, a new South Main tenant that is bringing “paintertainment” to the area. According to the article, ARTjamN provides you with all the tools you need to have fun while unleashing your inner Picasso.

There really is an app for everything. In my last post I wrote about the International Blues Challenge app available in smartphone app stores. Well, now I’ve learned that there’s an app for the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show that will happen in Memphis March 1-2. Why are you still reading this post? Go download the app NOW!!!

All right, now that we’re caught up on Downtown news, let’s get on to personal matters. Last night this happened:

I had my 7th plate party, celebrating seven times around the Ring of Honor at the Flying Saucer. That means I’ve had 200 different beers at the Saucer seven times over. Doorman Graham did an excellent job making the announcement (see, Graham? I mention the door guys too). Since my plate is covered by a big-screen projection TV, I did the unveiling at halftime to avoid pissing people off as much as I could. Apologies for the thumbnail image but smartphone cams can’t do much with the Saucer’s lighting. I don’t actually have 7 plates at the Saucer. Rather, I have one plate and the plate changes color every time. Red is the color for 7th plate.

By the way: I heard someone commented that Gary Smith is the real mayor of the Saucer. Although it was said in an attempt to discredit me, I actually agree with that statement. I’ve only been around the Ring of Honor seven times. Gary has done it nineteen times. That’s certainly a more notable achievement than having checked in on Foursquare more than anybody else in the past 60 days. Cheers to Gary, and happy birthday!

By the time the Grizzlies game ended, we had about $30 left on the tab. We decided to order a “Mayor’s Choice” round of beers, which of course meant Dos Equis Lager with extra limes.

Our server, Ciara, gave me a bonus tip that I thought I’d pass along. “I had the Gary Parrish Roll the other night at Bluefin,” she told me. “I can’t remember what all was on it, but it was the fire.” I listen to Gary Parrish, the afternoon drive-time sports talk host on 92.9 FM, now and then, and I decided to do some research and find out what was on his sushi roll. I pulled up Bluefin’s website and went to the sushi menu. The roll is actually named the “G. Parrish Anxiety Disorder.” It comes with shrimp tempura, crab stick, and cream cheese inside, topped with smoked salmon, avocado, sriracha, and eel sauce. Mmmm that does sound good! I need to plan a trip to Bluefin soon.

After the Grizzlies got done beating the Brooklyn Nets at the FedExForum, the Saucer got PACKED. Typical Friday night when the Grizzlies are in town. We had our own table, and I was glad because the line at the bar was 3-4 deep at times.

After we spent the $150 tab, my friend Joe and I wandered down the street to Kooky Canuck. We posted “Paging Lana Danko” all over social media but no luck. However, the Nuh-Uh Mom and the Nuh-Uh Girl did show up.

After that it was back to the Saucer for ONE…more and I called it a night. Fun plate party. Thanks to everyone who came, and to Ciara for taking excellent care of us.

Up and at ’em on Saturday morning. I plan to be at Bardog at 11 for panda time.

The Redbirds have announced their 2013 promotional calendar. On many game dates this year, Redbirds fans will be entitled to free giveaways as they enter AutoZone Park. This year’s giveaways include cool stuff like a home plate doormat, a pack of Redbirds trading cards, and a Memphis Belle 70th anniversary T-shirt.

Foursquare was down for several hours this morning. However, it appears to be working again now. Glad it didn’t happen in the evening hours, when I’d be out at the bars!

Local Gastropub announced that their Downtown location renovations are taking longer than expected. They will re-open tomorrow, Friday the 25th, for happy hour. They had hoped to be open for happy hour today.

Good thing it’s not a very newsy day, because I have to go run the errands that I won’t have time to run next week. If more news comes in. I’ll do a second post after work.

First of all, a programming note: Starting Monday, this blog will be on a different publishing schedule for the next three weeks. I will be in training at work learning some cool new software tools, and the training only allows a 30 minute lunch break. Usually I get an hour for lunch and have time to blog, but with only 30 minutes, I’ll likely need to use the time for other things, for example eating. Not sure when I’ll post. Perhaps I’ll get up early and do the blog before work. Or maybe I’ll take the netbook out with me after work and blog from one of my “branch offices.” All three bars where I’m mayor on Foursquare – Flying Saucer, Blind Bear, and Silly Goose – have free Wi-Fi, so it’s definitely an option.

Are you getting excited about the International Blues Challenge, which happens on and around Beale Street next week? There’s an app for that! Search for “international blues challenge” in your smartphone’s app store. The app will have competition and event information and maps. It will notify you when schedules and results have been posted, so you’re always up to date with the latest info. You’ll also be able to live-tweet from IBC using the official #ibc2013 hashtag, and if you’re in a giving mood you can donate to the Blues Foundation right from your phone. iPhone users: The app requires iOS 6. (Dammit, I guess I can’t put off upgrading any longer.)

Vote for Josh Pastner in the Infinity Coaches’ Charity Challenge. Winning coach will get $100,000 for the charity of his choice. Coach Pastner’s choice is LeBonheur. You can vote once per day. The coaches are in four brackets of 12, and Pastner is in the South bracket. Top four from each region will advance to the semifinals.

As mayor of the Silly Goose, I consider it my duty to keep my readers informed of new happenings there. I came in last night for a PBR or two and found new lounge furniture in the back right corner.

Comfy wraparound couches, similar to the ones at Blue Fin. Looks like they will make that corner a great spot to chill out, relax, and enjoy a cocktail.

Chris Herrington of the Flyer posted a thorough breakdown of the Grizzlies trade situation. What he wrote makes sense. I liked Marreese Speights a lot, but with Z-Bo and Darrell Arthur healthy, we were simply paying too much money for him to be the #4 option in the frontcourt, even more so if it meant crossing the luxury tax line.

The first South Main Trolley Night of 2013 is this Friday, January 25. Come shop, eat, and check out the art at South Main venues from 6-9. There will be live performances at Grawemeyer’s, the Russian Cultural Center, K’presha, Midtown Bikes, Douglas and Associates, Art Jam’n, and D’Edge.

That’s all for now. Time to go grab lunch while I still can.

The big news this morning is that the Grizzlies have made an unexpected trade. Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington and Josh Selby will be shipped to the Cleveland Cavaliers along with a draft pick, and in return we will get power forward Jon Leuer. The Flyer’s Chris Herrington has the story. I will definitely miss Speights, but the deal allows us to keep the Gay-Randolph-Gasol core together for the rest of the season. It also gives us more leverage to trade Rudy in the summer, because we won’t be desperate to get under the luxury tax. We’ll also have a $6.4 million trade exception to use sometime in the next year.

The trade creates a problem, though. We only have 11 players for the game tomorrow night, two short of the league-minimum 13. We must sign someone at the NBA minimum salary by tomorrow night to get to 12, and then we’ll have two weeks to sign another to get to 13. Radio host Chris Vernon reports that (Edit: Never mind, those names are no longer possibilities.)

In other Grizzlies news, the Memphis Grizzlies organization schedules watch parties around town so fans can meet up and cheer their team as they watch away games. The next watch party will be at a venue familiar to Downtowners: The Blind Bear. It will be next Thursday, January 30, at 7 PM. You’ll be able to enjoy food and beverage specials, prizes, games, and more as you watch the Grizzlies take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Speaking of food at the Bear, two more people have tried my Blind Bear Chili Mac recipe (order a cup of Hibernation Chili and mix it with Pepper Jack Mac & Cheese in a bowl) and have given it their stamp of approval.

That’ll do it for now. Time for a quick lunch, a few more hours at work, and then it will be time for the National Tailgating Championship AKA the drive home on I-240 northbound.