Author: paulryburn

AL, who I hung out with last night and who thinks I need to eat healthier, would be so proud of me today. I realized I have a full free-lunch card at the Saucer, and grabbed my laptop and headed down there. I’m having the smoked turkey salad with jalapeno vinaigrette. Not only did I order a salad, but I got a healthy dressing instead of the usual blue cheese!

Ryan who blogs about Midtown (mymidtownmemphis.blogspot.com) sent me the information below about a very cool event coming to STAX Museum next month – your chance to talk with the family of late music legend Otis Redding. This is a long press release so I’m just going to copy and paste it.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 17 & 18, 2008 the Soulsville Foundation will once again make history when Otis Redding’s family will be our special guests and events participants on two very exciting evenings. The family includes Otis Redding’s widow, Mrs. Zelma Redding, along with his three children, Otis III and Dexter Redding and Karla Redding-Andrews.

All will be special guests on Saturday, May 17th at the Stax Music Academy SNAP! After School Spring Concert at the University of Memphis’ Michael D. Rose Theater. Otis III and Dexter will perform with the students. All ensembles will be featured during the concert – Stax Music Academy Rhythm Section, StreetCorner Harmonies, Premier Percussionists, and the Soulsville Swing Band, as well as The Soulsville Charter School’s Soulsville Symphony Orchestra. Also starring as a speical guest is the academy’s Artist in Residence, internationally acclaimed saxophonist Kirk Whalum.

The concert is at 7 p.m. and admission is just $5!

On Sunday, May 18th, the entire Redding family will be our guests for our “Conversations With The Reddings” panel discussion/Q&A, along with others who knew Otis Redding well, including Ben Cauley, the only Bar-Kay band member on board the plane to survive the tragic crash on December 10, 1967 near Madison, Wisconsin, which took the life of Redding at the age of 26. This event will take place in the Stax Museum’s intimate Studio A. The discussion will not only focus on Otis Redding the phenomenal entertainer, but also Otis Redding the loving father and husband.

“Conversations With the Reddings” will take place from 5 – 7 p.m. $10 general admission and free to Stax Museum members.

This will be Zelma Redding’s and Karla Redding-Andrews’ first visit to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

THE STAX MUSEUM’S SPECIAL EXHIBIT IN STUDIO A, “OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS – AN EXHIBIT FROM THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF ZELMA REDDING,” HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL MAY 31ST.

All right, press release is over, I’m back. Plans for tonight: Trivia night at the Saucer. After the legendary Rapscallions take first place and get their first $50 to build toward Rapscallion Party VIII, I’ll head to Calhoun’s for the usual Tuesday night crunkness there.

That’s all I’ve got… time to hit Publish and eat my salad.

Just got an e-mail from Sauces saying that mothers eat free all day on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11.  They are preparing a special menu which they will send me in a few days, and which I will then post.  However, the place will fill up quickly, so if you like Sauces and would like to take your mother there, better go ahead and make reservations.  Phone number is 901-473-9573.

Tonight I had mojitos on Sauces’ patio with my friend AL (those are her first and middle initials, which is the reason they’re both in caps).  Conversation with her produced many new blog ideas.

AL has been on a health kick since I first met her in February.  She told me that she had an acai berry smoothie at Bluff City Coffee on South Main earlier.  The acai berry is apparently even higher in antioxidants than the blueberry.  She told me she wants to try the goji berry which is even higher in antioxidants still, but goji berries are something like 20 bucks a pound.

Then AL tried to get me on a health kick.  She asked me to describe what I eat and drink on a typical Monday.  “Well, I get up about 8, and head to work,” I told her.  “I check my e-mail, and if there are no major crises, I head to Jack’s and buy a liter bottle of Mountain Dew.”  AL frowned and told me Mountain Dew is full of high fructose corn syrup, which is apparently bad to drink.  She asked if I ate breakfast before work, and I told her typically no.

“Paul!” she said.  “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  It has the most affect on your metabolism.”  She proceeded to tell me what she eats for breakfast, including a bunch of foreign-sounding stuff (I think “kashi” was mentioned) and berries.

“Well, I do eat breakfast sometimes.  If it’s a slow day at work, I’ll walk over to Elliott’s after I bring my Mountain Dew back, and get a Tribute to Bill Saba breakfast sandwich.  It’s bacon, sausage, ham, egg, and cheese on toast.”

AL frowned again and then said, “Well, okay, at least you’re getting your protein.  And the toast isn’t so bad if it’s whole wheat.  Do they use white or wheat toast?”

“I don’t know, I don’t bother to stop and check what kind of toast it is,” I told her.  “But I know they cover it with butter.”  AL frowned again.

I continued, “For lunch I usually eat out.  Today I went to Big Foot because I have a friend working there.”

“Your BFF,” said AL, who reads my blog daily.  More on her later.

“Today I got the Asian egg roll salad, just to be different,” I said.  “But usually I get something like the Four Cheese Burger, add mushrooms.  Or sometimes bacon.  And fries.”  At least AL and I found something to agree upon as we discussed burgers.  We both hate ketchup.  Mustard is our condiment of choice.

“So after lunch I get back to the office, fill up the water bottle, and add one of those one-serving Wyler Light (imitation Crystal Light) packets they sell at Walgreens.”

AL lit up.  “Paul!  That’s great!” she complimented me.  “Go on.”

“And then about 2:45,” I continued, “I decide the Wyler Light is kind of boring, and go get another Mountain Dew.”  AL frowned again.  “But I only get the 20-ounce bottle in the afternoon.  Unless I’m having a really stressful day, in which case I get the liter again.”

That took me through the end of the work day.  “I get home from work about 5:00,” I told her, “and on a typical Monday I’m back out the door at 5:01 to head to Pint Nite at the Saucer to drink some beer.  My all-time record on a Pint Nite is 14 beers, but that’s atypical.  On a normal Monday I only drink somewhere between 8 and 13, with 10 being about average.”  AL frowned yet again.  “After I leave, half the time I’m so tired I just wander home.  The other half the time I stop at either Big Foot or Huey’s for Paul’s Drunkass Food.  If it’s Huey’s I usually get the nachos.”

AL told me, “I’m going to make you a health food basket of foods you should eat.”  She mentioned some type of oatmeal I had never heard of before, as well as turkey-flavored tofu lunchmeat (YUKKKK!!!!!!) that she eats on sandwiches, berries, and some other stuff that sounds no fun at all to eat.  Then she said she’s going to throw in a package of Boca burgers too.  “They taste just like real burgers,” she said.  I have a feeling I will never make fun of Krystal again after eating a Boca burger.

Conversation then turned back to my BFF.  AL asked what was the birthday present that I got for my BFF, and I told her.  “Paul!” she replied.  “That’s a really thoughtful present.  Maybe I should be your BFF.”  Hmmm.  Let’s examine that idea for a moment.  AL spent most of the two hours on the patio coming up with ways for me to improve my health (even if they do involve some weird foods), she picked up the tab for our drinks, and gave me a hug as we parted ways.  My current BFF on the other hand, never pays for any of my drinks, regularly asks me to buy her drinks, flips me off all the time, insults me, refuses to hug me two-thirds of the time… why is this girl my BFF again?

AL then had another idea.  “I know what you could do,” she said.  “BFF of the Month.  Every month, you could pick a new BFF.”  Hmmm, that’s not a bad suggestion at all.  Maybe I’ll select a new BFF on May 1.

Then AL followed it up with another suggestion.  “You could do a blog post called the BFF Commandments.  The rules of being a good BFF.”  I LIKE IT.

More good blog ideas followed.  “You could do a hotspot of the month,” she said.  “Every month you could pick one place Downtown, and spend the entire month writing about different items on the menu, its atmosphere, the crowd.”

“I kind of already do that,” I told her.  “It’s just that the Flying Saucer has been the Hotspot of the Month for the past 30 months.”

AL asked why I drink Mountain Dew rather than coffee, and I told her I hate coffee.  “What do you drink at Starbucks, then?” she asked.

“Strawberries and cream Frappucino,” I told her.

“Paul!  That’s a girl drink!” she laughed.  I pointed out that most drinks on Starbucks’ menu are girl drinks.  Then she came up with another idea.  “Everyone has a favorite drink at Starbucks,” she said.  “You could ask famous locals what their favorite Starbucks drink is.  You could ask Mayor Herenton.”

“I don’t think Mayor Herenton will be accepting my phone calls, after all the bashing I’ve given him on my blog,” I replied.

“Okay, then, what about people at Downtown restaurants?” she suggested.  Owners, managers, chefs.  Their favorite Starbucks drink.  You know, that’s a really good idea.  I know enough restaurant people to actually make that one work.

Then she came up with yet another one.  “We could do ‘eat this, not that’ restaurant reviews.  We could pick a particular restaurant, and then each of us look at the menu and say what menu items we’d be most likely to eat, and what menu items we’d be most likely to avoid.”  That could work really well, since we have totally different perspectives – she likes healthy food, and I like good food.  We tried it out using some crappy restaurants as test cases – we did it for McDonald’s and Burger King – and it seemed to work.  Don’t worry, we’ll pick better restaurants for the actual blog posts.

So AL gave me lots of health advice and blog ideas.  Don’t think the conversation was one-sided by any means though.  I gave her my ideas too.  She told me she occasionally eats red meat, and when she does she likes steak.  I told her she should bypass all the steakhouses Downtown and go straight to the place that cooks the best steaks down here – Majestic Grille.  She’s trying to plan a cool, funky fundraiser for a non-profit, and while I couldn’t come up with specifics I gave her a “meta” idea for how I’d figure out how to figure it out.

I made fun of her for having never eaten at Rio Loco, but then she pointed out that I’ve never eaten at Happy Mexican.  We agreed to try Happy Mexican sometime soon.

Meanwhile, we were drinking on Sauces’ patio.  Sauces has one of the best happy hours Downtown:  $1.50 domestics including Coors Light, Much Ultra, Bud, and Bud Light (John D:  “Wha… wha happened?  Paul, can you give me directions to Sauces?”); $2.50 wells including rum, bourbon, gin, and vodka, and $3.00 house merlot, cabernet, and chardonnay.  So what did I do?  Completely forgot there was a happy hour and ordered a $9.00 mojito.  Oops.

I had the Fried Mozzarella Caprese appetizer, consisting of fried mozzarella, Roma tomatoes and basil with a balsamic reduction.  Very good.

This getting to be a long post… but that’s okay.  Thought my readers might enjoy reading something different than “I went to the Saucer and got drunk.”

We finished our food and a second drink, paid up, and AL gave me a hug goodbye.  She walked home, and I went to the Saucer and got drunk.

And that’s about it… the only news item I have is that Itta Bena is starting a new happy hour, “Sundays with Sam.”  Oh goodness.  I can’t even imagine what he has in mind.  I heard about it from someone else so I don’t know.  I’ll have to get in there this week and find out what his plans are.  Darn it, that means I’ll have to pick between Sunday nights at Itta Bena with Sam and Sunday nights at Calhoun’s with Lauren.  Both of whom, now that I think of it, would be possible candidates for BFF of the Month if I decide to pull the trigger on that idea.

Time for bed.  Perhaps in the morning I’ll forego the Mountain Dew and have an acai berry smoothie instead.

But don’t count on it.

More info in this CA article.  It defaulted on a 2001 construction deed of trust.  A foreclosure sale is set for May 9.

My 30 GB iPod, which I bought with an unexpected Christmas 2005 bonus, has stopped working. It won’t turn on, and when I plug into my computer’s USB port, the computer does not recognize a new device.

So it looks like I’ll be buying a new MP3 player this week. I’m leaning toward the 80 GB iPod Classic, but I may shop around and see if there are other MP3 players that are better and/or a better value than an iPod. Does anyone have one they recommend? If I don’t get the 80 GB Classic, I’ll get something comparable in terms of storage. I’m not considering an iTouch, because I want something with enough storage to serve as a backup for my data as well as play songs. If you have a player you really like let me know.

Saturday afternoon I was walking around, and noticed that there’s a new restaurant called Wrapzody in the ground floor of the Renaissance Apartments (99 Tower) building at 99 N. Main.

Wrapsody sells “Gourmet Wrapz” including a buffalo chicken wrap, a smokey jack wrap, a veggie wrap, a chicken caesar wrap, a Santa Fe wrap, and a Greek chicken wrap.  If you don’t like any of those they also have a “build your own” option.  They also have salads:  Tuna salad, chicken salad, grilled chicken salad, Greek chicken salad, chicken caesar salad, and Santa Fe salad.  For dessert they have cookies, brownies, cake, pie, muffins, cinnamon rolls, and bagels with fruit spread.  The menu they gave me says that catering and box lunch services are available.  For those of you who work in the federal buildings or the north part of the Downtown core, this sounds like a good new option for lunch.

Crawfish fest yesterday was excellent.  Perfect weather.  The only thing was, TOO many people showed up.  I expected long lines for crawfish, but by 1 PM there were lines of about 30 deep for beer and for restrooms.  The restroom line was so ridiculous that I walked to the Saucer and used theirs.  By mid-afternoon it had thinned out a little.

I got video of the crawfish bobbing contest, which I will download from the camera sometime this week and put on YouTube and link from the blog.  It wasn’t as gory as I had heard.

Turns out the rumor that Unknown Hinson didn’t perform at the Rooster Sat. night because their drummer died of a heart attack isn’t true.  I talked to one of the Rooster’s owners at the crawfish fest and he said the guy had the flu or something like that.  Funny how rumors get out of hand.

And now it’s Monday again.  Coming up this week:

The CCC has three events in three days as part of their Downtown Alive! program.  Today at lunch, the CBHS jazz band “Walnut Groove” will perform in Court Square.  Tomorrow, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra will perform in Felicia Suzanne’s courtyard, and the restaurant will be selling box lunches.  Wednesday, the Orpheum will hold a spelling bee in Court Square to promote their musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

More good stuff to come later in the week.  Thursday night, April 24, The Dempseys play the Flying Saucer at 9:30.  Friday the 25th is South Main Trolley Art Tour and the annual Zombie March.  Saturday the 26th is the Hot Wing Festival in the South Main area from 10:30 to 6.  And Sunday the 27th is the annual Wine Race on Beale Street from noon to 4, where servers and bartenders from area restaurants participate in a day of competition and debauchery.

Speaking of servers, yesterday I ran into a server who will be working at the Downtown Blue Monkey, and she confirmed it is very, very close to opening.

Time for work.  Don’t know if there will be a lunchtime post today… we’ll see.

If you’re unsure of what the Zombie Attack, happening this Friday, April 25 on Beale and South Main, is all about, be sure to check the Commercial Appeal’s website.  In the “CA video” section on the right side of their homepage, arts writer Skipford M. “Christopher” Blank has a video describing the zombie event, and there are pics of him dressed as a zombie at Zombie Walk 2007.  There’s also video of the horde zombifying people.  It also tells you where to meet up if you want to be part of this year’s march.  Well worth 2 minutes and 10 seconds of your time.

… so don’t forget to apply sun block if you come to Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest today.  Latest forecast is sunny with a high of 76.  Perfect.

Rajun Cajun is on a little street called Wagner that runs parallel to Riverside Drive between Union and Beale.  Best bet is to take Riverside into the heart of Downtown, then either turn right on Union and park in the Parking Can Be Fun garage, or turn right on Monroe and Court and park in the metered spaces.  Metered parking is free on Sundays.  If the bums greet you and tell you otherwise, they’re scamming you.

500 lbs. of free crawfish at noon, although I bypass that line and go ahead and pay for a full bucket.  Once again… get there early… the lines get long quickly.  By about 12:10 you’ll find me on the grass outside AutoZone’s building eating.  Some of the gang is going to the rooftop of Barton Flats to eat, but I’m sticking to my rule – no side trips this year.  When there’s a festival going on, I want to be at the festival, not somewhere near the festival.  I also want to make sure I know where the crawfish-bobbing competition is, and get a good seat.

Someone told me that Unknown Hinson did not perform at the Rooster last night as planned, because the band’s drummer died of a heart attack.

For once I actually stuck to my plan of getting to Raiford’s early and staying late.  Got there about 11.  First 30 minutes were boring, then met a blog reader who lives in the Lofts and was having an engagement party at Raiford’s… talked to him for a while, then a couple of other people, then guest bloggers who never post anything Glo and Flo showed up.  They had been to some party where wigs were required.  Glo had on a strawberry blond wig, and Flo had on a blue wig.  Flo was looking hot in a low-cut dress.  Glo bitched me out for dissing their birthday gift ideas on the blog.  I told her that I had readers e-mail me and comment, “Glo and Flo are weird, those are the stupidest gift ideas ever,” and that just made Glo even madder.  Later in the evening I spent about 10,376 minutes in line for the bathroom, because some dude let 3 girls go in the men’s room and they spent forever in there fixing their hair, gossiping, texting a million different people on their cell phones, and whatever else girls do when they’re in the bathroom together.

Speaking of the birthday gift – bought it yesterday.  For once I actually bought my BFF a present that isn’t a joke or an insult or just plain stupid.  Thanks to the Nuh-Uh Girl for the recommendation.

My birthday is November 18.  Prediction:  Sometime around November 15 my BFF will invent a reason why she’s mad at me, and will tell me, “we’re not BFFs anymore,” conveniently getting out of having to buy me a present.

What I learned yesterday:  It’s a bad idea to wear my Rio Loco T-shirt to the Saucer.  It causes the waitresses to go, “Paaaaaaaul!  Go get me cheese dip from Rio Loco!”  I told one of the waitresses I’d get her cheese dip if she’d wear a tube top to the crawfish fest today.  She said she would, but I could tell she was lying, so no cheese dip.  Besides, doesn’t the Saucer have cheese dip?

Blue Moon’s spring beer Rising Moon was the Fire Sale yesterday until it ran out.  It’s supposed to come with a lime in it, and reminds me somewhat of Dos Equis Amber.

Time to get dressed, put on sun block, run by an ATM, and get ready for the festival.  No brunch for me this week.  Will do an abbreviated version of brunch before Wine Race next Sunday.\

Coming tomorrow:  New lunch spot Downtown.

Earlier today, I noted that a business called Ceriello was going to open in the first floor of the renovated Lincoln-American Tower at Court Square. I wondered what it was, and a reader e-mailed me that it’s a New York-based Italian food market. Cool! That will be a great addition to the neighborhood. Here are links to Memphis Flyer article about the Court Square Center project.

A very unusual musician named Unknown Hinson will perform at the Red Rooster tonight. Check out his website here to learn about him and decide if you want to catch his show.

I’ll have to miss Unknown Hinson, though, because as I noted in the previous post, my plan is to do the entire night at Raiford’s. Raiford’s, by the way, is a great place to wear a tube top. If you want to be famous in the blog, wear a tube top to Raiford’s tonight, find me and ask me to take a pic, and in June when Tube Top Month rolls around, I’ll post it.

Beautiful day! Time to go out in the sunshine.

Just got back from my morning Mountain Dew run to Jack’s.  As I walked back I noticed a new sign on the Lincoln-American Tower/Court Square Center:

Something called Ceriello is going in the space that used to be occupied by the Yellow Rose Cafe.  Anyone have any idea what this place is?  My guess would be either a clothing boutique or an Italian restaurant.  Hmmm, could Downtown handle another Italian place?  We already three good Italian restaurants in the 38103 zip code – Roma (for take-out), Pa Pa Pia’s (for sit-down dining), and Capriccio (Italian steakhouse).  Clothing boutiques, on the other hand, are something we can always use more of.  What’s the scoop on this place?  I know the developers of Court Square Center read this blog.

Last night someone handed me a flyer about Earnestine & Hazel’s new lunch hours.  Looks like lunch will be a permanent fixture there, rather than just for the home show.  Here’s a copy of the flyer:

Slaw dog???  Whoa!  Earnestine & Hazel’s menu just DOUBLED IN SIZE!!!

When I was at Itta Bena Wednesday night, one of the bartenders showed up drinking a new energy drink called Cocaine.  No kidding, that was its name.  It’s supposed to give you some of the same sensations as the real thing.  People who tried it said it made their teeth feel numb, which apparently one of the things cocaine the drug does.

Wonder if bars will start selling it… that could cause problems.  If you walked into a bar that doesn’t carry the drink and asked, “Can I get some Cocaine?”, you might find yourself in handcuffs.  Or you might get more than you bargained for and get a tiny bag of white powder.  There’s a bar on Beale Street that has to post “No illegal drugs allowed” signs because they got in trouble for that in the past.

There’s a convention for the blind going on Downtown this weekend.  That’s why, if you walk around down here, you’ll notice a lot of people with white canes.

The last semester I taught, I had a blind student with a seeing eye dog.  It was a Computer Literacy class and for her web page project, she built a page explaining how to interact with a person, how to interact with the dog, etc.  It was probably the best project out of all my 250 students.  One of my other students built a porn site.

Thanks to those of you who e-mailed with birthday gift suggestions for my BFF.  I now have a pretty good idea what I’m going to get her… the winning idea started with the VP of Marketing at work, who is my BFF’s former boss, and was improved upon by the Nuh-Uh Girl.  I’ll go purchase it today.

I also had a few people respond, “Wait, I thought you were going to kick your BFF to the curb.”  I nearly did.  When I polled my readers on the matter a couple of weeks ago, about 90% thought I should kick her, and I actually started a post announcing my intention to kick her, but never finished it.  She’s been a little nicer since I threatened to kick her, but that’s not the main reason I decided against it.  I watch people, observe them, observe the energy they give off.  So for a while I watched not her, but her friends.  And without exception they seemed to be really cool, interesting, unique people (although her mini-me can be a pain in the ass at times).  Usually when you see a person with a large number of cool friends, it’s a sign that there has to be something about them worth knowing.  So I decided to give her a second chance.  She’s still on probation, though.

Last night when I was at the Saucer for my plate party, one of the managers told me that Friday, May 9 will be a special day there.  It’s the Saucer’s 11th birthday, and they’re going to have a “Pajama Jam-a-Thon” to celebrate.  More details to come.  So the waitresses are going to have pajamas on?  I’m liking this idea already!

Still thinking I’m going to hit Raiford’s tonight, but I’m going to do it a little bit differently than usual.  The last time I went to Raiford’s, I did it the way going to Raiford’s is traditionally done:  I was at another bar (in this case, Hoop’s Bar) about 2 in the morning, ran into three people I knew, and we all decided, “Hey, let’s go to Raiford’s!” and we called King and the limo took us there.

Every now and then, however, I like to experience Raiford’s from a different angle.  I get there about 10:30 PM, which is only 30 minutes after opening and is normally considered WAY too early to go there.  But that allows me to watch the story of the night unfold.  I get to watch people come in who have never been to Raiford’s before, and I get to see that “oh my God” look on their faces.  It gives me time to just relax for a while and think how lucky I am to be one of the few people who lives close enough to walk to the greatest nightclub on the planet.  It gives me time to talk to the owners, get my butt grabbed by Paula, and drink a 40 or two without being bumped by dozens of people.  It may not be “cool” to get there at that hour, but I do what makes me happy, not what’s “cool.”

Planning to go there in advance will also allow me to step into my “Disco Paul” persona tonight, a persona that hasn’t been seen since a very drunken Thanksgiving night at Earnestine & Hazel’s.  I ended up slapping the Saucer waitress who called me “Paulie Pocket” on the ass multiple times on the dance floor.  It was great.

And just because I get there early does not mean I’ll be leaving early.  I intend to be there until closing time or very close to it.  Yeah I’ve said that in the past and haven’t made it.  But this time I went and purchased an insurance policy:

They sell those little “5-hour energy” bottles at Jack’s and I’ve always wanted to try one.  I have friends who swear by them.  Whatever’s in there, it’s not cheap.  Usually I buy 2 one-liter Mountain Dews at Jack’s and my total is $3.22.  Today I added the 5-hour energy drink and my total was $7.55.  I paid over four bucks for a 2-ounce bottle.  This stuff better work.

That’s all for now… later today I’ll get the plate party pics out of the camera and run them through Picasa and put them online.