What a fun weekend in Downtown Memphis. I’ve already blogged about Friday and my good experience at Dancin’ Jimmy’s. Saturday I watched the Tiger game at the Saucer, then wandered up to Reindeer Games in Court Square. Reindeer Games was more of a kids’ event than I had thought, and since I’m not a big fan of kids I didn’t stay too long. I did, however, buy a jingle bell necklace which was my admission to the post-Reindeer Games pub crawl.
The four stops on the crawl were Local, Blind Bear, Green Beetle, and Double J, and I made it to all the stops except Local, Green Beetle, and Double J. And at the Bear I drank PBR rather than the discounted beer for crawlers. So I paid $5 to not go on a pub crawl. Oops. It was for a kids’ trip to DC though, so I didn’t mind.
So I was sitting at the bar at the Blind Bear with two guys who play poker there on Tuesday. Down the bar, a guy was arguing with the bartender that his beer had been poured out by mistake. Then this guy slid down to talk to us.
“I saw you earlier,” he said. “You were at one of those bars. I think it may have been Silly Goose. Yeah, you were in there and you had a shot of something.” (It was Fireball.) “Is that what you do, go to bars all day long and do shots and get drunk all day?” The guy was trying to make conversation, but he went about it the wrong way and made a very bad first impression.
Then the guy started talking to my two poker friends about the officiating in the Tiger game. It was clear that no matter their opinion, he was going to disagree. I decided I wanted nothing to do with the conversation and folded my arms and leaned back in my chair, trying to be invisible. The guy asked my opinion a couple of times and I said I had no opinion. “Do you ever smile?” he asked me. “What, are you ‘somebody’ Downtown? All I know is you have long hair.” Then he went back to arguing about the game. The funny thing is, I could tell the guy was just trying to get to know us, but clearly he did not write How to Win Friends and Influence People. Every statement out of his mouth was an accusation, a challenge, or a disagreement.
So anyway, I was about to get up and leave for a friend’s Festivus party down the street when my friend Chad and about 5 other people came in. I had forgot it was Chad’s birthday party. He had the back room reserved and invited me to join.
We had a fun time hanging out in the back room, watching the Grizzlies game. My friend Misty had on a backless top:
One of the other girls asked how Misty handled the fact that the top didn’t allow the wearer to wear a bra. “There are stickers involved,” said Misty.
About an hour later, I got a text from a friend wanting to go to Paula and Raiford’s Disco. That’s the kind of invitation I gladly accept, so I wished Chad a happy birthday and walked over. There was a huge line due to two weddings, but we finally got in.
We danced until about 2:30 AM. An excellent Saturday night. The fog machine riled up my allergies the next day, but it was worth it.
Sunday I went over to River Row, a condo building on Front Street. I had agreed to be the judge of their holiday balcony decorating contest. There were prizes for the top three including Grizzlies tickets, a $25 gift certificate, and a bottle of wine. The people in the condos knew exactly what to do to get me to be a judge:
The judging was supposed to happen at 5:15, but we had to wait 40 minutes for one of the entrants, a suburbanite who technically still holds an address at River Row but is hardly ever there. I was lenient about enforcing the “must be present to win” rule, because it allowed more time for me to drink PBR.
My next stop was the Flying Saucer. Once a year, they have an appreciation party for Beerknurds, members of their UFO Club. They put a buffet out for us.
The ham and potato casserole was particularly good. We also each got a free pint of Shiner Cheer, a Christmassy beer that sort of tastes like plum pudding.
After the Saucer party wrapped up, I made the Blind Bear my final stop of the evening. I found my friend Beth sitting at the bar, along with the suburbanite who had delayed the balcony contest. I snapped their pic.
(Edit: Never mind, suburbanite whined it was a bad pic of her, asked for it to be taken down)
One phenomenon you’ll notice Downtown in December is “guest bartenders and staff,” especially on Sunday. This allows bars to have a Christmas party and let all their staff attend. Last night we found guest bartender Terry (from Purple Haze) behind the bar at the Bear – not a bad substitute at all. Over at the poker table, Muruako who runs the Silly Goose game filled in, allowing usual host Michael Bean to enjoy the party.
A VERY fun weekend that reminded me why I love living Downtown so much.
The only news I have to report is that Shop Girl New York will have an open house Sunday, December 23 from 3 to 5 PM. Select merchandise will be 40% off that day, and there’s always a 50% off rack as well. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be provided. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.
Poker league final table at the Silly Goose is tonight, for a $250 prize value. I am on the bubble for the final table, so if one of the people who qualified didn’t make it, I could still get in. If not, there will be a side game for the usual $50/$25 prizes at 8:30.
