Author: paulryburn

The Memphis Daily News reported today that a new coffee lounge that will also serve sandwiches and beer is coming to the ground floor of Van Vleet Flats. It will tentatively be named Tamp and Tap. The focus will be on great coffee, but they will also serve a menu of sandwiches similar to Cheffie’s on Highland, and they will carry a couple of beers on tap in their vintage kegerator. The beer will be sourced from “some of the new guys coming online,” which is good to hear. The space will be designed to appeal to people who want to hang out, but in a more low-key environment than a bar or restaurant.

A new festival, Bluff City Oktoberfest, is coming to Riverside Drive the weekend of October 4. It will have two live stages of music, a beer garden with regional craft brews, food trucks, nonprofit booths, local artisans, and a Kansas City BBQ Society-sanctioned BBQ cooking contest. The event will benefit Samaritan Counseling Centers of the Mid-South. “Like” the festival’s Facebook page for updates. October weather varies but normal high temps on October 4 are still nearly pushing 80. Excellent festival weather and excellent tube top weather.

I wonder how the BBQ contest will go, given that it’s only two weeks after the already well-established Smokin’ Aces contest in Tunica. Will teams be able to turn around and do another one that quickly?

Oh, also, my friend and Daschund lover Air Traffic Mike will be pleased to hear there’s a dog race called “Running of the Weenies” as part of the festival’s events.

A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for the Mid-South starting tomorrow at 1 PM and ending Friday at 7 AM. On March 20? Seriously? One report said up to 3″ of snowfall accumulation is possible. However, winter storms in late March are very hard to predict. See the MemphisWeather.net blog for more details.

Time for beer. Will probably start at Silly Goose tonight to avoid the large pre-Grizzlies crowd next door at the Saucer.

The big college basketball news in Memphis last night was not the result of the Middle Tennessee-St. Mary’s game (St. Mary’s won), but the result of a game in a tournament no one usually cares about, the NIT. 8-seed Robert Morris defeated the 1-seed Kentucky Wildcats, coached by former Tigers coach John Calipari. It is now IMPERATIVE that we beat St. Mary’s tomorrow. Think of the message that would send recruits: Come to Memphis, win in the NCAA tournament. Come to Kentucky, lose in the NIT.

At least two bars in the Downtown core will open early tomorrow for your Tigers viewing pleasure. Blind Bear will open at 1 PM, and Silly Goose will open at 1:20. On the south end, Max’s Sports Bar will open at 10:30 tomorrow and Friday, and early all weekend for tournament games. Game time tomorrow is 1:45.

The Memphis Business Journal linked to the 15 most profitable programs in college basketball. The Tigers didn’t make the list, but maybe they will after moving to a better conference. My Arkansas Razorbacks checked in at number 14, despite not having had a season to brag about in several years.

You don’t have to wait until tomorrow to see good basketball. The Grizzlies host the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight in the FedExForum. It’s your chance to see two of the NBA’s best teams in a game that is of huge importance in playoff standings.

Someone get the folks at WMC-TV a map! They reported on a car fire at a “Downtown” auto dealership. The dealership in question is It’s All Good Auto (we don’t care about your credit, we care about you) at Third and Peebles. That is nowhere near Downtown. It’s about two miles south of Crump, which is usually considered Downtown’s southern boundary.

Probably a second post after work, check back.

Big news from the conference formerly known as the Big East, which will include Memphis in the fall, today. They’ve struck a comprehensive TV deal with the ESPN/ABC family of networks. Thanks to this deal, nearly 90 percent of conference-controlled football games (conference games and non-conference home games) will appear on national TV when the contract starts in 2014-15. 63 percent of conference-controlled men’s basketball games will appear on national TV. If you live out of town, it will soon be much easier to see your Tigers on a regular basis. This kind of thing makes our new conference feel like a big deal and not Conference USA version 2.0.

eighty3, the bar and grill inside the Madison Hotel, sent out its monthly newsletter today. The restaurant has some nice happy hour appetizer specials from 5 to 7 PM. They include $1 wings on Monday, $1 oysters on Tuesday, $2 tarragon balls on Wednesday, $2 yakatori on Thursday, and $2 sliders on Friday. They also have a nice menu of mixed drinks at affordable prices for happy hour.

Twinkies and other former Hostess brands should be back on the shelves soon. An investment group is acquiring the brands out of bankruptcy. This investment group already owns one of the greatest brands of all time: PBR.

That’ll do it for now. Time for beer.

Well, it looks like I really did predict the future in my Sunday morning blog post. If St. Mary’s beats Middle Tennessee State in their First Four game, they will play the Memphis Tigers on Thursday. I don’t think it’s a guaranteed loss for the Tigers if we get St. Mary’s. If we bring the energy we will wipe up the court with them. We just can’t be lethargic and sloppy, the way we were against Xavier, and we can’t let the other team come back, as we did with Louisville.

Revised prediction: If the Tigers get St. Mary’s in the round of 64, the Tigers will win if they score more than 70 points. We’ll find out our opponent tonight. MTSU vs. St. Mary’s tips off at 8:10 Central time. Game will be on TruTv.

In other Tiger news, John Martin of the CA (@johnmartinCA) tweeted a link this morning: If APR (Academic Progress Rate) were the measure, the Tigers would be a Final Four team. I’ve heard that Joe Jackson, Tarik Black and others have really made the most of their scholarships to get a fine education. Very smart. A lot of the guys probably have pro ball at some level (NBA, D-League, Europe, China) to look forward to, but it never hurts to have a sound education as a backup. Kudos to Coach Pastner on his players’ classroom achievements.

Sad news: The Downtown Thai Bistro has closed. “Tough strip to survive on,” commented the person who informed me. True. It’s odd how location, location, location is everything, even when it’s only a block difference. A business that would make a killing on Monroe or Union could be a ghost town on Madison. Restaurants that would make piles of money on Main or Second could be all but forgotten on Front or Third. However, I have to give thanks to Seamus, Clay, and all the people involved in the Brass Door and the Mad Earl on Madison. They understand that it will take a while to build Madison as a restaurant/bar destination. I’ll miss Thai Bistro. The times I ate there, they had delicious sushi and Thai entrees.

In more encouraging restaurant news: The Daily News reports that Bon Ton Cafe on Monroe will add dinner soon. They’re open to customer suggestions for items to include on the menu.

Did you know City Market makes smoothies? Saturday morning I ran into a friend of mine who was having a banana, spinach, celery, and pineapple smoothie. That sounded gross but he said it was really good, and that you don’t taste the spinach or celery at all.

The Church Health Center has internships available. There are opportunities in the clinic, child life, development, wellness education and more. This would be a most interesting place to build some work experience. Deadline for application for summer internships is March 30; for fall, June 30.

Looks like enough news is in the queue for a second, after-work post. Check back.

It’s about 8 hours from NCAA tournament selection time as I type this. All week long I’ve had a bad feeling that the Memphis Tigers are going to wind up in a 6/11 or 7/10 matchup against St. Mary’s. That’s the team I really don’t want see the Tigers face in the round of 64. The Gaels have been in Gonzaga’s shadow all season and I believe they’re better than most people give them credit for. I worry that they will be what Saint Louis was to the Tigers’ season last year.

I hope I’m wrong. I really want to see Josh get the NCAA tournament win he deserves.

First green PBR poured at Blind Bear. I went there at 10 AM to watch the Tigers.

Jamie in a kilt

OK people. Take notes. This is how it’s done. TUBE TOP. Warm weather is here and this is what to wear. Tube Top Month officially begins May 24 but you don’t have to wait. Let’s see those tube tops now.

What a great day yesterday. I started at the Blind Bear, and watched the Tigers’ thrilling victory over Southern Miss in two overtimes. Winning 30 games prior to the NCAA tournament is a huge accomplishment for Josh and the team. I hope Southern Miss gets in. They may not have a quality win but taking the #20 team in the country to two overtimes should be worth something.

After that I went to Mudbugs in March and got a box of crawfish. Of all the crawfish festivals, I think they make the best crawfish. They asked if I wanted taters or corn, both cooked in the crawfish boil. I chose taters. I found two huge new potatoes in my box, along with a slice of smoked sausage and a couple of mushrooms which had been cooked in the boil too. A few people asked, “Why did they have to schedule it the same day as the St. Pat’s parade?” Why WOULDN”T they? With a ton of people Downtown for the parade and the Brass Door party, it makes all the sense in the world.

I walked through Beale about 15 minutes prior to the parade. It was just super packed thanks to the gorgeous weather. I decided to skip the parade – I have an entire closet shelf full of beads already – and instead I took refuge at the Flying Saucer. As the parade let out the Saucer got super busy and I relocated to the Silly Goose, where I took the tube top pic shown above. Seriously, there are people who need to grab the remote control, put Curious George on pause, and take notes on how to dress for St. Patrick’s Day weekend. This is how it’s done.

My final stop was the Brass Door alley party, and I got to see the new bar next door, the Mad Earl. They didn’t have it totally finished so I didn’t take pics. The TVs have been set up, though – seven of them in the main room, and there is not a seat that does not have a good TV view.

Back at it today. I’m up early enough to start at the Majestic for brunch. Blind Bear opens at noon today, so that may be the next stop. I’ve heard that the DeLorentos are worth seeing, so I’ll hit the Brass Door alley party at 3. I also want to hear the Swamp Katz. Missed them yesterday. I’ll also fit the Flying Saucer into the schedule at some point, maybe to watch Selection Sunday at 6. Busy Irish Sunday Fun Day ahead.

One last reminder: Blind Bear opens at 10 AM this morning to show the C-USA tournament final. The bar’s “mayor” will be in the house for the game. St. Patrick’s Day specials from open to close today and tomorrow. $2 Green PBR, $3Celtic Harpoon Bottles, $4 Guinness Draft, $5 Shots of the best Irish Whisky, $5 Car Bombs. Also, the Bear will open early tomorrow, at noon rather than their usual start time of 3.

Tomorrow is Selection Sunday, and then it will be time to fill out our brackets for the NCAA tournament. Want to fill out a bracket while supporting a good cause that helps animals? Head on over to the Streetdog Foundation’s Bark Madness. Entry fee is $10 and you can enter four brackets. Prizes include gift packages at Grace Animal Hospital and Felicia Suzanne’s, gift cards for Hollywood Feed and Double J Smokehouse, and Grizzlies and Redbirds tickets. The foundation’s founders are South Main residents so you’ll be supporting your neighbors as well as animals that need a home.

Bardog will raffle off a Jameson sign tomorrow for St. Patrick’s Day. To enter, buy Jameson. It’s that simple. Here’s a pic of the sign.

There’s a special offer going on through tomorrow at Grizzliesstore.com: Free shipping on orders over $50. Use code GRIZZ13FAN. Question for the people who operate the store: How come there are no Grizzlies tube tops for sale?

Mudbugs in March, 2-8 PM, Court Square. St. Pat’s parade, Beale Street, 3:30. Alley party, Brass Door, 3-close. Mad Earl soft opening next door to the Brass Door. Lots to do today. Come get u some!

Jamie texted me during the semis and let me know. That’s 5 hours before their normal Saturday opening time. Come support a great local bar and your Memphis Tigers.

I’ve learned that another BBQ festival is in Memphis and is happening this weekend. It’s put on by Ducks Unlimited and is going on Thursday through tomorrow in Tiger Lane. Details here.

Add Blind Bear to the list of Downtown bars doing something special for St. Pat’s. From open to close Saturday and Sunday they will have $2 green PBR, $3 Celtic Harpoon bottles, $4 Guinness draft, $5 for shots of the best Irish whisky, and $5 car bombs. Jamie and Colin in kilts Saturday, Colin and Daniel in kilts Sunday, with the ladies dressed as Irish lassies.

If you’re looking for a music recommendation tonight, check out South Side Supper Club at the Center for Southern Folklore at 8 PM.

Short post today because I’ve got errands to run. If more news comes in I’ll do a 5:30 post.

A Downtown Memphis music legend has passed away: Pianist, singer, and songwriter Di Anne Price. There were many times when the 2003-era Sunday Fun Day crew would catch her show at Downtown Huey’s. Her interaction with her audience was second to none; she truly cared about the people who came to hear her sing. The Effin’ Memphis blog has a great post remembering Di Anne Price. Rest in peace, Diane, you made Downtown a welcoming place.

In more recent years, Di Anne had been performing at Mollie Fontaine Lounge. There will be a gathering of her “babies” at 8 PM tonight to remember her.

Blues City Thrift opens tomorrow at 6685 Quince, Suite 110. That’s not a Downtown address but Downtowners have been involved in making this happen the past three years. See the Blues City Thrift Facebook page for lots of photos of what you can find in the new store.

Google announced that it will shut down my favorite RSS reader, Google Reader, on July 1. They’ve already announced that their customizable iGoogle homepage will be shut down later this year too. I’ve been experimenting with NetVibes and am finding it a capable replacement for both.

Craft beer news: A special Lazy Magnolia firkin will be tapped tonight at the Green Beetle, 7 PM.

Conference USA tournament: Tigers tip off at 6 PM tonight vs. 8-seed Tulane. Game will be on CBS Sports Network and WREC AM 600. View the Conference USA tournament bracket here.

Any bars opening early if the Tigers make the 10:35 AM championship game Saturday? Shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com and let me know and I’ll post.

That’ll do it for now. Time for a quick lunch.