Author: paulryburn

I am delighted to extend a hearty WELCOME to my new neighbors, Pinnacle Airlines, who will be moving into 12 floors of One Commerce Square just down the street from me. Their lease in their current space on Nonconnah Blvd. expires next year, and they have been weighing their options – another building near the airport, space in Olive branch, or the Downtown location. Yesterday they announced that they’re coming Downtown! Great decision!

Since it will be a while before employees actually move in, I won’t mention that you have to eat lunch at the Little Tea Shop and meet Downtown icon Suhair… or that you will love the sliders and the spaghetti and meatballs at Bardog… or that Court House Deli makes delicious crawfish etoufee and jambalaya… or that Elliott’s has some of the best breakfasts you’ll find anywhere, and their burgers are really good too. Nope, won’t mention any of that, all of which is within a block walk of the new office.

Pinnacle will bring 600-650 jobs Downtown. The move will also increase demand for hotel rooms by about 21,000 annually, according to estimates.

Major, major kudos to the CCC, Mayor Wharton, the City Council, and everyone else who put together the incentive package that attracted Pinnacle down here.

There will be a pep rally tomorrow morning, Friday, October 8, from 8:45-9:15 AM to welcome our new neighbors.  Rally will be at One Commerce Square at Main and Monroe.  Let’s get out there and show Pinnacle we’re glad they’re coming!  The Beale Street Flippers, Rockey Redbird, cheerleaders, drummers and more will be on hand.

Check back later today… For a couple of months I’ve been saying that the Grizzlies have been planning something special for Downtowners. I now have permission to tell you what’s going on. I just have to get home and upload a PDF before I can make the post.

Pinnacle Airlines will announce its decision for its new headquarters location today at 1. I hope it’s Downtown. We’d love to have Pinnacle as our neighbor!

Drew Barton will be on the My Fox Memphis morning show tomorrow discussing this Saturday’s Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest. He should be on around 9:45. Tickets are still on sale. This beer fest will be a little different from most in that it will emphasize breweries that are within a day’s drive of Memphis.

Have you ever wanted to be a BBQ judge? Memphis in May will hold a judging seminar Saturday, November 6 at the Holiday Inn Select on Union. For more info or to register, go here.

Fun evening ahead… I have a brief meeting with the Grizzlies at 6:30, then I’m attending their first exhibition game at the FedExForum at 7. Plenty of seats remain, so come on down and see how the players have improved their game over the summer.

After I posted a link to a composite SEC schedule in the last post, one of my blog readers contacted me and told me he maintains a calendar of all SEC football games and scores that is iPhone-friendly.  Because game times are not always known in advance due to TV, he updates his calendar weekly.  He doesn’t make any money off this – he just does it because he’s a huge SEC fan.  Go here and click Subscribe if you’d like to have the calendar added to your Outlook, Apple iCal, or iPhone calendar.

The SMA meeting which I posted about at lunch now has a speaker:  Jimmy Ogle, who conducts the Downtown walking tours.  His topic will be “Historic South Main.”  Again, meeting is next Tuesday, October 13, at Earnestine & Hazel’s, social at 6, program at 6:30.

Good news for the Pinch, the area surrounding the Pyramid:  MHA announced that it will receive $9.9 million in federal dollars to improve that neighborhood.  Renovations will be completed without the use of city property taxes or general fund revenues.  That’s great news.  I’m telling you, I really think 2011 is going to be a big year for Downtown.  I’m seeing some key businesses going into some key locations.  Good things are about to happen.

I just checked the Hot Chicks with Douchebags site… excellent tube top on there today.

Waiting to throw the laundry in the dryer, then it’s off to trivia… I hope the bonus beer is something I need for my plate… down to my last 30.

If you’re Downtown this afternoon and can get away from work for a few minutes, stop by Shelton Clothiers between 1 and 3 PM. They’re having a thank-you event for our Downtown police officers, thanking them for all their hard work. Hot dogs and fixins will be served. Wish I could make it… MPD has really stepped up their efforts lately, and it’s made a huge difference. Thank you officers!

A fellow Hog fan sent me this link, which will be useful to all SEC fans… it’s a composite SEC football schedule. Very useful for planning out your game viewing for the rest of the fall.

Save the date for the next SMA meeting, which will be Tuesday, October 12 at Earnestine & Hazel’s. Featured speaker is yet to be determined, but I wanted to go aheaed and mention it because there will be complimentary Soul Burgers for SMA members! Social at 6, program at 6:30 and as soon as I get details about the speaker I’ll post. Free Soul Burgers? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Time to hit Wal-Mart and shop for props for my Halloween costume… really getting into the idea of being Bruce Pearl for a weekend. I enjoy costumes where I can become the character, and being Pearl gives me license to act like a complete douchebag in public, not to mention hit on 22 year old females.

Trivia tonight at the Saucer, 7 PM.

Writing about my Halloween costume in my last blog post makes me realize… we’re less than four weeks away! I guess it’s time for me to start compiling a list of who’s having a party when… as for parties Downtown that are open to the public, the only one I’ve heard of that is set in stone is Kooky Canuck which will be Sunday the 31st, the actual day of. That will prompt me to take a half-day off work Monday the 1st so I can stay out late.

Who else is having parties, and what days? Shoot me an e-mail at paul@paulryburn.com and let me know. I’ll start compiling a list and post an update every few days.

If memory serves, the last time we had Halloween on a Sunday was 2004, and it worked out well because the the parties were pretty well balanced between Friday the 29th and Saturday the 30th. Kind of worried that this time around, nearly everyone (except Kooky) will do their party on the 30th, which will scatter people this year the way we were last year when everyone did Saturday the 31st. I’m hoping that one or two places will see Friday the 29th as an opportunity.

It’s not Halloween, but it’s time for me to haunt the Saucer and have some Pint Nite beers. Some $3 Pint Nite beers.

The Greater Memphis Chamber has released results of a study about the Grizzlies and the FedExForum. For years, people have wondered if the Forum is worth what the city paid for it… well, now we have evidence that it is. The study shows that the team and arena bring $223 million a year into the local economy, and that the equivalent of 1,374 full-time jobs exist because the FedExForum is here. Sounds like the $250 million to build the FedExForum was not such a bad investment after all.

The study also indicates that 35-40% of the Forum’s visitors come from outside Shelby County. On average, each of those visitors spends $23.40 in Memphis outside of the FedExForum. $5.3 million in local tax revenue is generated annually by the team, arena, and visitor spending. You can read more details in this CA article.

Glad to see the Grizzlies pulling their weight financially… now they just need to win some games!

Having trouble putting together my Halloween costume. I was going to buy an orange blazer and orange tie and be Bruce Pearl. I figured I’d print up some papers reading “NCAA RECRUITING VIOLATION” and maybe carry a mini basketball and act like a douchebag all weekend. But there’s a problem… I can’t find a reasonably priced orange blazer. I’ve found several, but I really can’t see spending more than $100 for something I’ll wear 3 days and then never use again. There’s one on eBay for $19, but it’s Texas orange, not Tennessee orange, and it’s too big for me besides. Anyone have ideas how I can pull this costume off without spending an arm and a leg?

I’d like to propose a new rule in this great drinking game called life.  I’d like to propose that any time the tiny giraffe appears on TV, it should be a community drink.

If you are not familiar with this tiny giraffe of which I speak, watch the video below.

Just posted to Facebook by Bardog Tavern: “Aldo just bought a sweet 1986 Cadillac Coach funeral hearse that we will be giving away at our Halloween party on Sunday, October 31st at Midnight. You have a chance to win with every purchase… Win either the hearse or $500 in cash… Stop by for a chance to win. It only has 69,450 miles, and THEY’RE SOFT MILES…muahhahahahahahaha. Additional info and photos to come…”

Yesterday I watched the Alabama vs. “#7 Florida” game at the Saucer, thinking the whole time that Florida was in no way competitive with the #1 team in the country, yet the Razorbacks were the week before.  The Hogs deserve to be back in the top 10, and they should surely be ranked higher than LSU after that debacle they put on vs. Tennessee yesterday.  People were saying that LSU-Tenn was the worst coached game in the history of college football, on both sides.  I can’t disagree.

But, anyway.  The game ended and I was hungry.  Air Traffic Mike was there too, so we decided to walk down to South of Beale and grab a snack.  I had the brisket egg rolls, which were a bargain at $9.  Loaded with beef brisket and plenty of horseradish sauce for dipping.  This may be on their “bites” menu but it would be enough to fill most people up by itself.  If you’re really hungry you could supplement it with another app.

By the way, I checked – the brisket egg rolls will still be on the menu after the new Fall menu rolls out tomorrow, so get down to SOB at your leisure and enjoy.