Author: paulryburn

The Memphis Flyer interviewed me about the foods I eat yesterday, and today the article appeared on their “Hungry Memphis” blog – you can read it here. I’m pretty proud of the article, and I’m especially happy that they mentioned my Buy-Paul-a-Beer.net site.

Last night I bought the Amstel Light glass at the Saucer’s “Buy the Beer, Keep the Glass” night. Usually I don’t care about the glasses but the Amstel Light one was pretty cool, comparable in quality to Stella Artois glasses. As usual, Brittney was standing around running her mouth while all the other bartenders worked hard pouring beer. I overheard her telling people that she spends a lot of money on her hair. Attn Brittney, here’s a beauty tip for you: Get a brown paper bag and a pair of scissors and cut out two eye holes. Also, a bonus tip: Shut up.

All right, let’s get on to today’s news. If you’re a fan of Robert Graham and Nat Nast shirts, Lansky at the Peabody is running a 30-40% off sale on select ones of those brands. That brings them down from the “ridiculously expensive” category to just “expensive,” but hey, they are nice shirts.

Capriccio Grill at the Peabody is offering a WICKED pre-theater dinner that is described as “gravity-defying” by their PR people. 3 courses with a glass of wine and complimentary valet parking for $45.

Old School Pictures will premiere the trailer for their full-length film, Daylight Fades, Friday night at South Main Trolley Tour. You’ll also be able to meet cast and crew and learn more about the film. Much of it was shot at Downtown locations including Earnestine & Hazel’s, Bluff City Coffee, houses on the bluffs, and the riverside.

Even though the Peabody rooftop party offers prime tube top watching, I think I’m going to take a week off to watch the NBA Draft. The possibilities are intriguing. Will we take Thabeet or Rubio? Will we trade down and take Tyreke? What will we do with our 27th and 36th picks? Will Robert Dozier get drafted? What about Antonio Anderson?  Taggart? I’m gonna have to watch the entire thing.

There’s a Grizz Draft Party at the FedExForum at 5 PM today. Free admission. Draft coverage begins at 6. The Grizz Girls and Grizz mascot will be on hand for chances to shoot free throws on the floor, play on Grizzlies inflatables, participate in text messaging games, and more. Hmmm… they didn’t mention the magic word – “beer” – so I’ll probably skip this one… will probably watch at either the Saucer or the Goose, depending on what I think of today’s Fire Sale (don’t know what it is yet).

As for today’s “big news”… I’m keeping my mouth shut on the matter until July 10. I will mention that Circa is serving their “haterade” cocktails that they first concoted in the aborted resignation attempt of 2008.

Another hot day. Memphis officially hit 100 for the first time this year yesterday. Today’s predicted high is a cool 95.

Calhoun’s e-mailed to let everyone know that they’ll have the NBA Draft tomorrow night on their big screen on the patio. They’ll also have three fans out there to try and cool everyone off. Hmmm… high 97 tomorrow… I’ll probably skip the Peabody rooftop party and watch the draft somewhere. This is gonna be an interesting one because no one has any idea what the Grizzlies are going to do… plus I want to see who drafts Tyreke.

Random quotes I saved in my “to blog” notes on my phone:

“I would not count my biscuits before they get brown” – Terry

“Nobody wins when headbutting is involved” – Sam

Random song stuck in my head this morning: Well Respected Man by The Kinks. Hmmm that would make a good theme song for Ptolemy… I’ll suggest it to Kat or Amanda next time I see them.

Attn Melissa from Sole: More tube top pics of you have been requested by my readers.

Last Sunday I had a couple of Bloody Marys at the make-your-own bar at the Silly Goose. They seem to have a different hot sauce every week… last Sunday they had Mike Ditka brand hot sauce. You know who they ought to partner with? A. Schwab on Beale. A. Schwab has about 40 different hot sauces… maybe the Goose could strike a deal to get some of those sauces on the Bloody Mary bar in exchange for publicity that you can buy them at Schwab. Just an idea…

Earlier this week I was told about a bar called the Wolf Bar that was a little before my time, but it sounds like it was awesome. It was in the current American Apparel space at Main and G.E. Patterson in the mid-1980s. I was told they sold PBR, Falstaff, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Old Style, and Blatz 40s for $3 each, and they gave you brown paper bags to put them in. Sounds perfect! Somebody bring back the Wolf Bar!

Another bar I want to try is The Port on Presidents Island, profiled in the CA today. It’s a neighborhood bar without a neighborhood and sounds like fun, a place to meet people from all walks of life. Only open on weekdays, though, and closes at 8. Maybe I could ride my bike down there and have a couple of beers one night before closing time. I think the owner’s daughter took my Computer Literacy class at the U of M 1999ish or so.

The Flying Saucer has a Twitter account at #FlyingSaucerMEM, but they don’t seem to be updating it on a regular basis. When they do update it, though, it’s a good source of info about the Fire Sale, bands that are playing, glass night, etc.

It’s Wednesday… about 50/50 on whether I’m going to do WTF Wednesday at the Red Rooster with 25 cent PBR/Miller Lite and bar games. Got some website work to do when I get home, so I probably won’t be out until about 7.

Congratulations to Shane Adams, who won the crossword puzzle contest.  There were two earlier entries, but not all the answers were correct.

A couple of people told me they never saw this morning’s post.  Weird because I pulled it up from my work computer just fine, and there were definitely people who saw it, because I got entries.  Something went wrong with the WordPress post scheduler maybe?  Apologies to anyone who couldn’t see it.

Anyway, if you still want to play the game, here’s the puzzle.  No need to fax or mail me the answers because I already have a winner.  I’ll give you a hint – one of the answers is “tube top.”

Shane, I owe you a beer.

Click here to view the crossword.

First one to fill it out correctly and fax it to my eFax number at (561) 760-6376 or scan or digitally photograph it and e-mail it to paul@paulryburn.com wins a beer at the Downtown Memphis Flying Saucer on my tab, maximum $6 value, to be redeemed at a mutually agreeable time.

Maintenance put Freon in my air conditioner today.  I have it on 66.  Good sleeping coming up.  It’s 11:44 PM Monday as I type this.  I have this set to auto-post at 10 AM.

And in keeping with the theme of the month, here’s a pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl in a tube top dress eating.

Ughhh… I’d hoped for some relief from the heat, but I just checked the Weather Channel’s 10 day forecast and the lowest high temperature was 96. Both Saturday and Sunday of this coming weekend show predicted highs of 101. Ladies, this is definitely a good week to stay cool by putting on a tube top when you go out.

I finally made it to Calhoun’s for their Sunday night shrimp boil last night. It was quite good. For $9 I got a half pound of spicy boiled shrimp, several big pieces of sausage, a couple of taters, corn on the cob, butter dipping sauce, and cocktail sauce. Definitely worth the money. I got there not long after 6 but the shrimp weren’t ready until 7:30… in the meantime, I played Buzztime Poker against the bots that play when no human players are on the channel. The bots aren’t very good. By the time my shrimp came, I had made the weekly and monthly high score list. I wish I could find real players like that on PokerStars.

This week is the beginning of Wicked‘s run at the Orpheum from June 24 to July 12. There will be a day-of-performance lottery for tickets each day. 2 1/2 hours prior to showtime, people who show up at the Orpheum’s box office will have their names placed in a lottery drum. Then 30 minutes later, names will be drawn, and each winner will have the option to purchase 1 or 2 orchestra seats at $25 each, until all 20 seats put up for lottery have been sold. So if the performance begins at 7:30, you’d want to be at the box office at 5 to get your name in the lottery.

Back to the weather… high 99 Friday, low 78. Trolley Tour may very well SUCK if it’s that hot. I have a feeling I may spend more time in the shops and galleries and less time outside than usual. I blogged earlier that the Music Resource Center is having its first birthday party that night, to coincide with trolley tour… hmmm they have air conditioning. May meet a lot of musicians that night.

High 101, low 80 Saturday… that likely would have been the night for my TubeTopalooza II rooftop party, if a few circumstances hadn’t forced me to postpone it. Looks like postponing it turned out to be a great move.

It’s Monday but at least I have Pint Nite to look forward to.  I have a business meeting at the Saucer at 5:30 but will undoubtedly stick around after it’s over for more beer.

First of all, I want to give everyone advance notice:  I’m going to run a contest here.  Contest will be posted Tuesday at 10 AM, with the winner to receive a beer on my tab at the Saucer.  You’ll need to be able to fax the entry to me at my eFax number (most likely an out of town call) or scan or digitally photograph the entry form and e-mail it to me.  First one to complete it correctly and get it back to me wins.  So check the blog at 10 AM Tuesday.

Now, on to the news:  I slept through brunch again today, but a few of my friends went to Sole in the Westin Hotel.  They said the food was outstanding (the ham & cheese omelet was raved about in particular).  Also, they told me that Melissa bartends at Sole for Sunday brunch.  I know several Melissas who work in the service industry Downtown, so I asked a question to clarify.  “You mean Melissa with the fantastic rack?”  Hang on, let me post a pic of Melissa.

I’m told she’s out of town next Sunday, but starting the Sunday after that, I think I may have to start doing brunch at Sole.

Last Thursday I rode the elevator up to the Peabody rooftop party, and as I strolled through the crowd, who did I see in the VIP section but Meghan from Kooky Canuck.

Meghan?  REALLY?  Meghan shouldn’t even be a VIP at the $29.95 King’s Court Motel down the street, much less the Peabody.  I guess the hotel let her in because she had a tube top dress on, in honor of Tube Top Month.  They also had to waive the rule about not allowing animals on the roof.

So I have a request for bands playing future Peabody rooftop parties:  If you look over at the VIP section and see Meghan, I request that you play “Jump” by Van Halen.  Maybe it will give her an idea.

This is last minute but I just got these – specials at the Majestic Grille for Father’s Day:

Summer Corn and Bacon Chowder $3 cup/$5 bowl

Panko Crusted Tilapia with buttered green beans and jasmine rice $18

Roasted Loin of Pork with creole mustard, potato and andouille sausage hash $18

Surf & Turf Benedict – Petit ribeye on English muffin topped with Hollandaise and lump crab $23

The US Open will be on the big screen.

Call 522-8555 to see if they have room for you… they serve brunch until 3.

Ladies, you can make dads around the world happy today by wearing a tube top.

I got asked a dumb question the other day.  I was telling someone that a week and a day from today, Sunday, June 28, I have a wedding to attend at the Cadre Building at 4 PM.

“So I guess you won’t be going to the Saucer like you usually do on Sundays, huh,” was the response.

Okay.  Let’s think about this.  The wedding is at FOUR.  The Saucer opens at NOON.  Both locations are less than a 5 minute walk from my front door.  Why wouldn’t I go to the Saucer?

Well, actually there may be one reason, but it has nothing to do with the wedding.  The 28th is Kooky Canuck’s Canada Day celebration.  They’ll have $3 34 oz. Molson, $2 Black Velvet ‘Canadian Whiskey’ shots, $3 Bloody Caesar shots, $12.99 Candian Burgers with Poutine and a Nainamo Bar, and $4.99 Montreal Steamie all dressed (mustard, onion, cabbage, and cayenne over the top) with fries.  I remember hanging out at Canada Day with Pete last year (not Pete the Trivia Guy, but Pete who I routinely beat at pool) and having a great time.  So it’s possible I may go there pre-wedding rather than the Saucer.  Then again, if I go to the Saucer I don’t have to put up with Meghan.

In other news: Sauces rolls out its new lunch menu Monday.  So if you work Downtown, you may want to make that part of your plans.

Ladies, tonight is a great night to wear a tube top.  It’ll get you in free at the Saucer, and will get you free Bud Light draft all night at the Voodoo Room.  Don’t forget, I’ll be judging a “best tube top” contest for a $50 certificate at Voodoo/Orleans on Front.  Not sure what time, but probably the contest will happen between midnight and 1 AM.

Busy night… got a party at the Saucer at 6.  Then at 9 I have ANOTHER party at the Saucer… it’s bartender Marci’s going -away party.  Dammit, if one of the bartenders is going to have a going-away party, why can’t it be Brittney?  I’ll hang out with them for an hour, then head to the Voodoo Room about 10.  I’m trying to encourage Marci’s party guests to wear tube tops and come to Voodoo at some point in the evening.

Got to go run errands… I’ll be in front of the computer most of the afternoon, so there may be another post.