Author: paulryburn

For those who haven’t been following sports blogs and talk radio, word from the rumor mill is that the Grizzlies are looking to trade starting small forward Rudy Gay. If the Grizzlies don’t reduce their payroll by the end of the season, they will be forced to pay luxury tax. The Memphis Flyer’s Chris Herrington has a fantastic blog post on why Rudy is the team member most likely to be traded, and which teams would be most likely to work out a deal. Read it here.

First of all, a very happy birthday to my friend Air Traffic Mike. ATM retired three years ago after 25 years as an air traffic controller here. He now spends most of his time in South Jersey, but his Memphis friends keep up to date with what’s going on in his life via his blog. Since today is his birthday, ATM took the day off and a guest food blogger is filling in. “Pepe’ El Desatascador” likes to review the foods in the gas station deli. Yeesh. I don’t know if this is the worst food blog I have ever read, but it’s definitely in the top two.

There’s a Groupon for a Downtown bar and restaurant today. Kudzu’s is on the eastern edge of Downtown, on Monroe Avenue east of Danny Thomas. It’s a locally owned neighborhood bar with sandwiches and live music. The Groupon will get you $16 worth of food at Kudzu’s for $8. You know, I have lived Downtown for almost 11 years now and have never made it to Kudzu’s. I need to do something about that soon. It’s only about a 2 minute cab ride away.

Kudzu’s will soon have a new neighbor. Action News 5 reports that construction continues at High Cotton Brewing Company at 598 Monroe.

Grizzlies have an away game at Phoenix tonight. Tip-off is at 7 and the game will be on SportSouth. If you want to keep track of game times, follow @MemphisOnTV on Twitter.

Bardog has announced that there will be new menu items in the coming week. They’re also close to finalizing plans to have the Underdog (downstairs) room open for brunch Saturday and Sunday. That’s a good thing. At times I’ve seen it so busy in there for brunch in the upstairs that they’ve had to turn people away.

In other Bardog news, they closed for the first few days in January to make some improvements to the place. Here’s Panda showing off one of the improvements:

The employees complained that they couldn’t hear the phone ring because of the jukebox, so Aldo installed this antique red pay phone above the bar. It rings when the regular phone rings. You can hear this thing in West Memphis, I’m pretty sure, so no more missed calls.

All right, time to read the Sunday comics. Or maybe I’ll just read Pepe’s blog post again. I’m going to take a week off from brunch at the Majestic, but I’ll be out about noon.

Finally, a day with a decent amount of news to report. Let’s get started.

It’s a big basketball night for Memphis. The Grizzlies host the Portland Trail Blazers tonight at the FedExForum. Game time is 7 PM. Meanwhile, the Tigers are on the road for a game vs. the Tennessee Vols. Game time is also 7. If you’re a former Memphian now living in another city, this is a rare chance to see your Tigers on TV. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

The Blind Bear is starting its basketball special an hour early tonight. Normally from one hour prior to the start of game time through the end of the game, you can get $2.50 domestic bottles, 1/2 off appetizers (so $3.50 apps) & $5 Chili Cheese Dawgs. Tonight they’re extending the start time to two hours before tip-off, or 5 PM which is also their opening time. You have to ask your bartender or server for “the basketball special” to get the discounts. I had a sausage & cheese plate last week for $3.50 on the basketball special. That is a seriously good deal.

Downtown Memphis Commission president Paul Morris will give his annual “State of Downtown” speech Tuesday, January 8 at the South Main Association meeting. In past years, this speech has been a fantastic way to get the scoop on all that is going on Downtown. Even if you’re not an SMA member, it’s worth attending (free for members, $10 non-members). The meeting will be in Bleu, in the Westin Hotel across Third from the FedExForum. Bleu will provide appetizers and there will be a cash bar. 6:00 social, with the program to start at 6:30.

The Cardinals Caravan returns to AutoZone Park for its annual visit to Memphis on Sunday, January 20. Special guests include former Redbirds Matt Adams, Tony Cruz, Sam Freeman, and Brad Thompson. Former Memphis Chick and National League All-Star Ryan Franklin and Cardinals’ 2012 first round pick Michael Wacha will also join the Caravan along with broadcaster Dan McLaughlin. There will be an Autograph Ticket system this year where the first 400 kids under 15 are guaranteed an autograph from all the current and former players. Event will begin at 6:30 PM in the Champions Club on the Club Level. Seating will be first-come, first-served and the doors will open at 5:30. Admission is free and there will be complimentary food and soft drinks. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

In other Redbirds news, today the team announced that Ron “Pop” Warner will return for his second year as the team’s manager in 2013.

Two friends and I went to Blues City Cafe for dinner last night. We were going to sit at the back bar (George Paul’s Last Call) and watch the Fiesta Bowl, but a private party had it rented out. I had no idea that could be done. Something to keep in mind if you want to give out-of-towners a unique taste of Memphis. I don’t know the exact capacity, but it looks like that back room could hold about 30. I had the tamales and chili and my friends split a rack of ribs. My friends confirmed my belief that Blues City has the best ribs on Beale. PRO TIP: They have hot sauce on the tables – I forget the exact name but it’s New Orleans Bourbon Street Hot Sauce or something like that. It is delicious sprinkled on top of the tamales.

Bardog Tavern has reopened after a week of paint and polish. Only the upstairs is open today, though.

Plans for tonight: It’s a friend’s last night in town, so there will probably be some shots done. Location TBD. Of course, we’ll have to keep an eye on ESPN2. Go Tigers and suck it Vols!

No news post yesterday, and very little news today. It’s not that I’m ignoring my blog. It’s just that there isn’t all that much news out there. Have a look at the DowntownMemphis.com events page, which is one of my sources of blog material. Normally you’d see 10-20 event listings per day. Now we’re seeing 2-4 listings per day and none at all for some days. New Year’s Day through St. Pat’s tends to be the slow season Downtown, except when there are Grizzlies or Tigers home games.

One of the few things I have is some beer news. South of Beale will host a Yazoo Brew promo on Wednesday, January 16. They will have a limited supply of Yazoo barrel-aged Porter, and when you buy the beer you will be able to keep the glass.

One other piece of South of Beale news: Every month, they donate a portion of their profits to a local charity. January’s charity is a good one: Door of Hope. From Door of Hope’s programs & services page: “The Door of Hope works to end homelessness by helping our guests access whatever they need to reintegrate into the community: mental health benefits, addiction counseling, money management, food, friendship, activities, listening, support and caring.”

Lots of jobs open at the Peabody right now, including bell person, restaurant server, security officer, line cook, valet parker, and general maintenance.

Also, Terminix is having a job fair today from 4 to 7. They are looking to fill 40 positions.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Maybe the volume of news will pick up as the weekend approaches.

Just grabbing what I see on Facebook and Twitter here….

Brass Door will be closed today.

Flying Saucer will open at 5.

Aldo’s Pizza Pies will open at 5.

Bardog will be closed until 8 AM Friday for a little paint and polish.

Blue Monkey (Downtown) is open.

South of Beale is open.

Local is open.

Rio Loco is open.

Flying Fish is open.

Kooky Canuck is open.

Double J (loft bar only) is open.

Gus’s is open.

Green Beetle is open (blackeyed peas and collard greens served).

Trolley Stop Market is open (blackeyed peas and collard greens served).

eighty3 is open (traditional dish of ham, cabbage, blackeyed peas and cornbread served).

McEwen’s on Monroe will be closed for lunch every day this week. They will be closed for dinner through Thursday and will re-open for dinner Friday.

Majestic Grille will be closed today.

Huey’s is open.

Beale Street Tap Room is closed today.

Just confirmed: Blind Bear will open at regular hours today (which would be 5 PM) with poker at 8.

I don’t have this one confirmed either but I’m reasonably sure Silly Goose will be open by 5.

I’ll update this post if I learn of more. General rule of thumb: Most bars will open around 5 if they threw a big New Year’s Eve bash. Those that didn’t are generally open regular hours. Restaurants are hit-or-miss, best to call and ask if there’s a particular place you want to eat today.

I remember having a dream one night sometime around 1985. I dreamed that I had a clock-radio, but it was a SUPER clock radio. Not only could it tell time and play radio stations, but it could make phone calls, play cassette tapes, tell you the weather, and do one or two other things which escape my memory all these years later. “If I had one of those,” I thought when I woke up, “there really wouldn’t be any need to get out of bed all day.”

So, last night I went to bed about 2. I took my iPad with me and read stuff on it until about 2:30, then turned out the lights. For the next several hours, I drifted in and out of sleep as participants in Amateur Night/New Year’s Eve yelled and screamed as they walked down the Main Street Mall.

About 5:45 something else woke me up. Fire engines. A lot of them. From my 13th floor perch, it sounded like they headed down Second, stopping 2-4 blocks south of where I live, possibly with a turn onto a side street.

I didn’t like the sound of that AT ALL. When the old Downtown Blue Monkey burned in 2005, the call came to the fire stations about 5:45. What if another restaurant or bar had an employee accidentally leave the stove on, and the place caught on fire? And from the sound of the sirens, it sounded like the fire engines had stopped in the vicinity of many of my favorite bars and restaurants. What if the Majestic had caught fire? Or the Blind Bear, only a year into its life as a speakeasy? Or the Silly Goose? Or (and I really shuttered to think about this one) what if the fire happened at the Flying Saucer?

I looked out the window trying to pinpoint where the fire engines were. However, my windows face south, and the nearly 30-story One Commerce Square building blocks a large swath of my view. “I guess I’ll just have to give up and go back to bed, and check the news in the morning,” I thought.

Then I remembered that my iPad was lying on the nightstand next to me. It has the TuneIn Radio app installed, and one of the local radio channels is Memphis Fire Department dispatch. I pulled it up. The fire trucks were confirming that they had arrived “on the scene,” although no one said where “the scene” was. Then one of the firefighters reported, “We got someone to come to the door. It was an alarm that got tripped in the basement. You can release everyone. We’re going to stay here and try to get this alarm reset.”

I breathed a sign of relief, closed the app, and turned off the iPad. As I did, I thought to myself, I own that super clock radio I dreamed about back in the 1980s. I own it times about 100.

There are so many things we can do now that we couldn’t do even a few years ago that we take for granted. The last time, before this year, that I got a substantial Christmas bonus at work was 2005. It was about $300 and I decided I was going to use that money to buy myself an iPod. I got the 30 GB iPod Classic, with the wheel-based menu. The first iPod Touch was still about a year away from release. I listened to music, downloaded podcasts, and played games on it, all the standard stuff. But I discovered a hack that allowed me to copy text from a web page and paste it into a text file, then move the text file onto the iPod. Thanks to this hack, I was able to read in bed!!! Without a book!!! How cutting-edge was that? Now, mind you, I could only transfer a limit of about 5 KB to the iPod, which translated to only about 5 minutes worth of reading material. Also, no pictures. But, I was reading in bed!!! How cool!!!

Seven years later, I have my choice of iPad, Kindle Fire, or iPhone to put on the nightstand. I can read entire books on my Kindle app, and if I get tired of the books I already have, I can buy a new one without even getting up to go get my wallet. I can surf Wikipedia for hours, which is one of my addictions. I can read news stories via AP Mobile, the Daily Beast, and tons of other apps. As I was reading Wikipedia last night, an alert from AP let me know that the ass clowns in the Senate had passed legislation to avert the fiscal cliff, and the legislation was now waiting on the ass clowns in the House to pass it. How far e-reading has come in the past 7 years.

Who knows what new technology we’ll take for granted by the end of 2013? With the advances being made, it should be an exciting year.

Happy 2013 everyone. It’s about 1 AM, and although I didn’t go out tonight, I’ve been living vicariously through Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Instagram.

The biggest news Downtown is that Action News 5 reporter Jason Miles got arrested for disorderly conduct while on assignment. He parked the station’s van down by the river. MPD didn’t care for his choice of parking spot, and Miles got “cuffed and stuffed,” taken to 201, and charged. Within hours there was a @freejasonmiles Twitter account and #vandownbytheriver became a trending hashtag on Twitter. Best local Twitter meme since Memphis Pipe Kitty.

This kind of thing is a prime example why I don’t bother with New Year’s Eve. Random stupid shit like this happens.

Happy New Year and I’ll be out at 5 this afternoon.

I have to give a tip of my hat to the fans of Iowa State University. In all my years Downtown I have never seen fans of a team turn out to support them for the Liberty Bowl the way the Cyclones fans have this year – not even my Arkansas Razorbacks, who have a reputation for traveling well, and not even Ole Miss, only an hour away. When I got out yesterday at 11 there was a sea of red and yellow on the Main Street Mall. I did my usual Sunday routine of brunch at the Majestic, then over to the Blind Bear. About 1:30 PM I was getting ready to tab out at the Bear and walk over to the Flying Saucer. Then I started to notice that some of the usual Saucer Sunday afternoon regulars were showing up at the Bear. They advised me not to go over until the Liberty Bowl parade started at 3. Apparently the Saucer was busier at 1:30 on Sunday afternoon than on a typical Saturday night, full of Iowa State fans. Welcome to Memphis, ISU fans, and good luck in your game against Tulsa this afternoon.

The Commercial Appeal has published a set of interactive maps that show votes for Obama and Romney in the 2012 presidential election, broken down by precinct for Shelby County. The maps are quite fascinating. My precinct, consisting of the Downtown core south of Poplar and most of South Main, voted for Obama over Romney 65% to 33%. The precinct consisting of Uptown and Mud Island preferred Obama 62% to 37%. As you look east and get farther and farther toward suburbia, the map gets more red, with some Germantown precincts only showing Obama in the teens for percent of vote.

One of the blogs I’ve started reading, which I found through a Facebook link, is called If You Can’t Afford to Tip, You Can’t Afford to Go Out and Eat. It’s basically the lives of servers and what they go through working at bars and restaurants. This morning they posted a hilarious animated image: When the “creepy” customer finds you on Facebook. LOL! I can remember several times where servers have shown me friend requests on their phone, and said, “What do I do, Paul? He comes in here four or five times a week so I can’t be rude to him. But the thought of him seeing where I check in, seeing who my friends are, looking at my photos… ewwwww!” I guess this is a case where Google+ is better than Facebook. You can put those people in a circle where you don’t share anything but the most basic, mundane stuff.

If you’re looking for stuff to do tonight, here are links to Kerry’s blog post and the Memphis Flyer list of events for New Year’s Eve. Oh and there’s also the Downtown Memphis Events page. As for me, I’m a lot more interested in being out at the bars on 5 PM on New Year’s than I am at 12 AM.

I’m off today, so I’m going to head to the Saucer about 2 to watch the Grizzlies. They have an away game at the Pacers. If I don’t post again before midnight, happy new year everyone.

Many people in the South believe that eating a bowl of black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day will bring good luck in the coming year. What if you’re not a fan of cooking, though? Where can you go to get your good luck?

Trolley Stop Market has you covered. They will open at 10:30 for brunch on New Year’s Day, and they will have a dish of black-eyed peas, collard greens, ham hock, and cornbread for $7.99. It just doesn’t get much more Southern than that! They will have other New Year’s brunch specials as well, including

New Yorker Bagel with Smoked Salmon, Herb Cream Cheese, and Capers for $7.99
Hangar Steak & Eggs for $11.99
Huevos Rancheros for $7.99
Famous Jillbilly Breakfast for $7.99
Farmer’s Omelette for $8.99
Eggs Benedict for $9.99

In addition, the market is going to start opening Saturdays (beginning in the new year) at 8 AM and will serve brunch until 3 PM. Trolley Stop Market is in the 700 block of Madison and is accessible via the Madison Avenue trolley line.

If other restaurants are serving black-eyed peas on New Year’s, shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll make an updated list.