Author: paulryburn

I’ve been promising this for a while, and here it is, or at least Take 1 of it.  Here’s a look at what’s going on New Year’s Eve in Downtown Memphis.  Since different events appeal to different people, I’ll give my assessment as to who might enjoy each.  Venues listed in alphabetical order.

BARDOG TAVERN

Bardog will open at 11 AM on New Year’s Eve and serve its regular menu until 2 AM (they close at 3).  The party will kick off at 5 PM with two hours of happy hour, then continue until close.  No cover, bar open to all comers.  Their doormen will be in tuxedos, although this is a place where you can feel quite comfortable in jeans.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: People who want to party with the Downtown core neighborhood crowd.  It will be wild, but it will be friendly people who know how to party without acting stupid, getting in fights, etc.  If I didn’t already have plans (see below) this would likely be my pick.

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BEALE STREET

The annual New Year’s Eve countdown party broadcast on Channel 5.  No cover, just stand out on the street, watch the bands at the Pepsi Pavilion if you want, beer or drinks available from restaurant to-go windows.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: People who want to spend absolutely no money and still go to a New Year’s party, and people who want to possibly be seen on TV for a brief second, and who are willing to put up with the cold and an unruly crowd to do it.  Otherwise, avoid Beale.  Of all the Downtown parties, this gets my vote for the “sucks the most” award.

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CALHOUN’S

December 31 is Calhoun’s Sports Bar’s first birthday.  I haven’t heard about anything special yet, but I know they’ll be open and will have $1.50 PBR.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: The same people who are in Calhoun’s December 30, January 2, and all the other days of the year; people who like to hang with the South Main locals; people who want to drink PBR for a relatively cheap New Year’s bill.  Note:  If you’re hungry, eat somewhere else before coming to Calhoun’s (Harry’s Detour across the street is a good call, or see the Majestic Grille below).

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FLYING SAUCER

Party starts at 8 with a $10 cover for UFO members, $15 for non-members.  Champagne and party favors at midnight.  As always, 75 beers on draft, and another 120 in bottles.  Hot waitresses in miniskirts.  Pool, darts.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: People who want to celebrate New Year’s in a very crowded mainstream bar.  The Saucer tends to turn into amateur night on New Year’s Eve, full of douchebags who are there to “kick some ass” and “get some pussy.”  Downtown regulars avoid the Saucer like the plague on New Year’s Eve.

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HOLLYWOOD DISCO (formerly Raiford’s)

$15 cover, champagne at midnight, the usual disco tunes and 40s of beer.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: Anyone with a pulse.  Seriously, who doesn’t like Raiford’s?  Actually, I better qualify that for the benefit of people who’ve never been.  If clubs with fog machines make your allergies act up, this might not be the best bet.  Also, it’s a small club, and the music is LOUD.  That said, we love the place.  A top recommendation.

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KOOKY CANUCK (formerly Big Foot Lodge)

$2 Super Cold Coors Light all day (from opening at 11 AM).  At 9 the party starts with DJ Tree spinning until 2.  Champagne and party favors at midnight.  No cover.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: People who’ve been to this restaurant’s parties in the past and had a good time; people who like big, cheap beers.  The name may be different, but Shawn and Lana still know how to throw great parties.  One of my top recommendations for people who want to have a fun, crazy time, but away from the “amateur night” crowd.

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MAJESTIC GRILLE

The Majestic will have their regular menu at regular prices with no cover, but Patrick will also whip up a few special dishes to celebrate the evening.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: People who want a sit-down dinner; people who want something more elegant than a crowded bar; people who want to get a good meal then go to a party elsewhere.  That’s what my friends and I are doing:  We have reservations for 30 at the Majestic for 7:30, then we’re heading to a keg party in South Main.  If you like to “get buck” as my friend Johnny Mason likes to say, you may find the Majestic a little too sedate.

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PEABODY HOTEL

Their usual party with several bands playing in various ballrooms on the second floor.  I believe the cover is $50 this year.  The one year I went, it took 25 minutes to stand in line for drinks and 15 minutes for the men’s room line.  Drinks are about 200% of what you’d reasonably expect to pay at a bar.  The year I went, my group of friends and I seemed to be the only ones there over 23.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: People who want to spend a lot of money to brag that they were at the supposed “THE place to be” on New Year’s Eve; people who want to ogle barely legals in skimpy cocktail dresses; people who enjoy standing in long lines.  In my eyes, second only to Beale Street on my list of parties to avoid.

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RED ROOSTER

I haven’t heard exactly what they will be doing, but I know they will be open and plan to throw a big party.  More details to come.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS PARTY: This is the Rooster’s first New Year’s Eve, so I have no past record to look back upon.  My guess is, if you’ve enjoyed the Rooster on a very crowded Saturday night, you’ll probably like it for New Year’s Eve.  See “Flying Saucer” for my best guess as to what the crowd will be like.

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That’s my first draft of the NYE list.  There are also a few private parties I know about, but the hosts would probably prefer that I not blog about them.  Let me know (paul@paulryburn.com) if there are other parties Downtown that I should add to this list, and I’ll refresh it before the big day.  In particular, what will be going on at Earnestine & Hazel’s?  I’ll be a hop, skip, and a jump away later in the evening and may stop by.

Just got back in town.  Found a voice mail and text message from one of the other Saucer regulars.  The Dempseys are apparently not playing the Downtown Saucer tonight, as I’d announced twice this week on my blog.  “One of the managers can’t read a calendar,” said the text message.  I had posted they’d be playing after seeing it on the Saucer’s website calendar, although I thought it was a bit odd for them to play the day after Christmas, because they usually take an extended holiday in Seattle around that time.

The updated calendar says the “Sausage Assassins” will be playing.  Somehow I don’t have expectations for them to be as good as the Dempseys.

Among my Christmas presents were two biographies:

• The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
• Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I’ve been reading the Buffett biography tonight and am finding a lot in common with the greatest investor of our times. He was barred from his 8th grade graduation because he refused to put on a suit. He’s also fond of saying that he judges how well he’s doing using his Inner Scorecard, rather than the Outer Scorecard most people use.  In other words, his own assessment of his progress is far more important than what other people think of him.  I’ve read about 220 pages of it today and am currently on the late 1950s where he meets Charlie Munger for the first time.

Spent a good part of today at my mother’s new apartment.  We forgot to make reservations for lunch and ended up eating at a Chinese buffet, which at $11.99 was probably just as good as the $30 buffet we forgot to go to.  They had pieces of crabmeat wrapped in bacon… mmmm.

Back in Memphis late afternoon, will be at the Saucer by the time the Dempseys take the stage at 9:30.

In other news, I’ve learned there will be a beer pong tournament at Quetzal on January 8, with two-person teams and a $20 entry fee to benefit charity.  If you’re on Facebook search for “beer olympics at Quetzal” to read more about it.

This is going to be a different kind of post from my usual.

I’m home in Little Rock on Christmas Eve night.  It’s a more eventful Christmas than usual around here.  My mother is moving into an assisted living facility this month.  She’ll still have her own apartment and a normal life, but help will be a button away if she needs it, which is important because she’s had two minor strokes and some other health issues the past three years.  The movers came and moved the stuff she’s keeping into her new apartment yesterday.  The stuff she’s not taking, including the extra bed, is still in her old house.  So tonight we’re staying in separate places – she’s in the new place and I’m in the old.

The old house is about 1200 SF plus a good-sized attic.  The new place is less than 600 SF.  That means she’s having to leave a lot of stuff behind – sell the items that are worth money, and throw the rest out.  The movers have brought down everything from the attic, and I’ve been walking around tonight looking at memories from my childhood.  The box full of toys that made me so happy when I was 3.  The green watering can that my grandmother used to water the violets on the windowsill.  A bag full of stuffed bunnies that I received in Easter baskets over the years.  There’s a stuffed chick in there too.  I can’t remember the chick’s name but I distinctly remember that I loved it very much when I was only a couple of years old.  There’s the original Atari VCS that I spent many hours of 1982 playing.  I wonder if it still works.

Then there’s the silver place settings that my grandmother wanted me to have.  She died in 1999 and I guess she figured at some point after that, I’d turn into a normal person and get married and have a family.  I wonder if she ever looks in on me late night as I gobble down some to-go nachos from Huey’s with a plastic fork, and if so, what she thinks about the direction my life has taken.  Funny thing is, that silver is worth several thousands of dollars probably, but I’d rather have her old watering can which would probably sell for 50 cents at Goodwill.

I’m kind of glad all this stuff is being dispensed with though.  If my mother had stayed in the old house until she died and I had to deal with the removal of all of it, it would have sent me right over the edge.  I’ll grab a few souvenirs to take back with me to Memphis before I leave Friday afternoon.

The new apartment looks like it’s going to work out great.  My mother is already meeting “the girls” in the lunch room and making lots of new friends.  I have a feeling she’ll be a lot less lonely than she was in the house all by herself.  I think it will be the start of a whole new life for her.

One of the things she’s leaving behind is her computer.  The apartment building has a computer lab with Internet connections.  She’s going to use the lab until I get my employment situation straightened out, at which time I’ll buy her a laptop and she’ll get Internet in her apartment.  I went ahead and gave her a Christmas gift a day early, a 16 GB flash drive with PortableApps.com installed on it to use in the lab.  I gave her a computer when she retired in 1995 and taught her how to use e-mail and create her own web page.  Most of her neighbors don’t even know how to turn a computer on.  I predict she’s about to come upon a newfound popularity as “the one who knows about computers.”

So I spent the day at her new place, then drove back to the old place about 7.  On the porch I found 5 giftwrapped lawyer boxes full of food from my mother’s church.  “You are deeply loved,” said the note on the box.  They know she’s not been in the best health lately, and that she spent a lot of money on the move, and wanted to help.  I was really touched by that gesture.  Kind of made the “experiencing God’s love through the act of giving to others” thing strike home to me.

All right.  Enough rambling.  Merry Christmas to all my blog readers and friends.

(9:31 PM Wed night:  Had posting problems this morning, sorry.)

It’s Wednesday morning and I’m waiting for the rain to clear out of here so I can drive to Little Rock.  In the meantime, a few notes:

The owner of Calhoun’s Sports Bar e-mailed me and said that the bar will be open at 4:30 on Christmas Day.

Jennifer Biggs, who writes the Whining & Dining blog for the Commercial Appeal, has a list of restaurants that will be open on Christmas.

Kooky Canuck, the restaurant on Second formerly known as Big Foot Lodge, is having a party on New Year’s Eve.  No cover, $2 Super Cold Coors Light 34 oz. draft all day, DJ Tree spinning tunes from 9 PM to 2 AM, champagne and party favors at midnight.  Remember, if you have extra pennies lying around the house, they make great tips for bartender Meghan.  Big F- er, Kooky Canuck’s parties are always superb.

Finally clearing up… still raining but I can see to the Arkansas side of the river out my window now.  Guess it’s time to pack up and hit the road.  Hopefully I’ll have Internet access in Little Rock and will continue blogging.  Will be back Friday night the 26th.

Sitting here watching the weather.  I’m supposed to drive to Little Rock today, but it’s below freezing with ice and snow between here and there.  I’m going to wait until about 2 and see if it gets significantly above freezing all the way there.

In the meantime… time to launch my latest website.

College Logo Golf Bags is the place to find not only golf bags, but golf balls, golf towels, and other golf accessories with your favorite college logo.  You’ve seen me launch enough of these things to know how they work, secure checkout and shipping by Amazon, I never see your name or credit card number, blah blah blah.  There is a Memphis Tigers golf bag in the store, as well as Memphis golf balls, divot tools, and towels.

I’ve been asked what is open Christmas Eve/Day.  I haven’t compiled much of a list, since I’m heading out of town.  I know that you can usually count on Westy’s and Wang’s to always be open, and restaurants inside hotels pretty much have to be (although for the more popular you’ll need reservations).  Bardog Tavern will have its tree trimming party tomorrow, so it will be open for Christmas Eve, and will open at 5 Christmas Day.  Flying Saucer will be close at 4 PM Christmas Eve and reopen at 5 Christmas Day.  I’d guess most of the restaurant row along Union and Second will be closed on Christmas Day.  Not sure about Calhoun’s and Earnestine & Hazel’s.  If you know of a place Downtown that will be open, shoot me an e-mail (paul@paulryburn.com) and let me know and I’ll post it.

Temp still hovering around 33 here and 30 in Little Rock.  I’m going to wait until about 2 and then make a decision.  If conditions don’t improve by then, I’ll postpone my trip until morning and join the team at the Flying Saucer for trivia.  Back in town Friday night either way.

This morning I told you about two web stores my friend Buck Daddy had recently launched.  Well, now it’s time to launch another of my own:

College Logo Billiards is the latest in my series of “college logo” niche stores, organizing billiards and pool items sold through Amazon.com into an easy-to-find-things shopping experience.  There you’ll find items like logo pool balls, pool cues, pool felt, and pool lighting for about 70 top schools.  I’m sad to report that I couldn’t find Memphis Tigers merchandise for this store, although other area schools are represented.  As always, Amazon handles the secure checkout and shipping.  I never see your name or credit card number, just a report that I’ve received commission on items ordered.

I’ve been informed that I left something out of this morning’s post… I told you that there’s an 80% off coupon code for Restaurant.com good through Christmas, but I forgot to tell you what it was! Typical Monday morning for me, sorry. The coupon code is HOLIDAY.

Going to see if I can crank out another website this afternoon before I hit Pint Nite at 5… I’ve pretty much got them on a production line now.

There’s a new Restaurant.com coupon code good for 80% off restaurant gift certificates.  (Edit:  I forgot to post the code!  It’s HOLIDAY.) Heck if I know why they didn’t just continue last week’s coupon code, since it was also 80% off… maybe they wanted to separate the two weeks for reporting purposes.  Anyway, if you haven’t bought them yet, you still can at 80% off through Christmas Day.

I’ve been giving my friend and fellow blogger Buck Daddy some tutoring on how to build online stores, and he’s recently finished and launched his first two.  I wanted to give them a plug on my blog because he’s done a good job.  They are

• Tacky Christmas Sweater Store. I must have heard of four or five tacky sweater parties this holiday season – it’s definitely a popular Christmas fad right now.  Buck identified this fad and built a store around it.  Great job, and I’m mad at myself for not thinking of that one.
• Everything Barack Obama Store. We’re in the middle of Obama-mania.  People have high hopes for our new President – he’s young, he’s extremely intelligent and well-spoken, and he’s the first African-American President.  It makes sense that Obama merchandise would be flying off the shelves right now.  Another timely store idea.

The brunch crew visited Automatic Slim’s for the first time yesterday, to try Chef Michael Patrick’s new brunch menu.  There was a lot of excitement about this one – we had 14 people, filling the entire bar and a 5-top table.  I believe that’s the most people we’ve had at a brunch since the Sleep Out Louie’s days.  Great food.  I had the Automatic Omelet with jerk tenderloin, mushrooms, and cheese – delicious.  Others in the group tried the Creole Eggs Benedict (with fried green tomatoes instead of muffins), the Crawfish Eggs Benedict, and the Eggs Sardou, and were quite pleased with them.  Air Traffic Mike:  “That’s the first time I’ve had Eggs Sardou prepared correctly outside of New Orleans.”  The Nuh-Uh Girl ran around and sampled everyone’s food.  “I think you should get a crepe for dessert,” she told me, “so I can try it.”  Great food.  I’m sure I’ll be back there soon.

A reminder to everyone Downtown:  PLEASE DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS DOWN ALLEYS.  A bartender walked a patron to her car this weekend, and he cut through an alley on the way back and was pistol-whipped and robbed.  It is not worth the extra 30-60 seconds you’ll save by taking the alley.  As long as you stay where it is well-lit and well-traveled, Downtown is perfectly safe.  I’ve been down here 7 years without incident.  There are too many alleys for the police and Downtown Safety Patrol to be able to patrol all of them.  Also, if you have a video camera that looks down an alley, please register it with MPD.  It may help them solve robberies as well as car break-ins.

This is my only full day in town this week.  Tomorrow I leave town for Little Rock and will be gone until Friday.  Back Friday night to catch The Dempseys at the Saucer.

Time to build some websites and return some e-mails.  I’ll be at Pint Nite tonight about 5.  Someone just stuck some money in my Buy-Paul-a-Beer.net account and instructed me to share the holiday cheer with a couple of friends who frequent the Saucer, so I’ll be looking for them tonight.

A rare day without a post yesterday… that’s partly due to a big Friday night.  I had a party to go to at a condo in South Main.  We did an anonymous gift exchange were the point was to give a crap gift under $5.  I got one of those toilet bowl cleaner cakes as my gift, which I wore around my neck the rest of the evening.  About 1 I wandered back north, and at the Saucer I ran into the organizers of the New Year’s Eve party I’m attending.  We closed down the Saucer, then went to Calhoun’s and closed it down as well, then we went to the Green Beetle and watched people straggle in from Raiford’s.  About 4:30 I threw in the towel.  Latest I’ve stayed out in a while.

As a result I didn’t get up until noon yesterday, and just wasn’t in a state of mind to post.  I spent most of the afternoon feeding my Wikipedia addiction, reading about the American Mafia of the past 100 years.  Wow the major families have entries on Wikipedia listing their current leadership and all their caporegimes (captains).  That can’t be good for their business, considering that “no one really knows who we are” is one of their guiding principles.  With the rise of the Internet, it’s a lot harder to fly under the radar, no matter what you’re doing.

Interesting fact I learned:  If a Mafia member introduces you to another Mafia member, he’ll say “he’s a friend of mine,” unless you are a member as well, in which case the introduction will be “he’s a friend of ours.”  “Ours” indicates that business may be openly discussed around you.

I also learned that two names commonly associated with the mob, Meyer Lansky and Ben “Bugsy” Siegel, were apparently not members, but only associates.  You can only be a member if you are Italian, and Lansky and Siegel weren’t.

Late in the afternoon I wandered up to the Saucer, and was rewarded with an unusually good Fire Sale, Tennent’s.  Then I went to dinner with my friends Lee and Lauren at Pearl’s Oyster House.  With the holiday party season wrapped up, it was wonderful to just relax and spend some quality time with good friends.  After that I went back to the Saucer, but hadn’t recovered from Friday night and decided to call it quits after only two beers.

Today it will be time for something different.  After having a look at Automatic Slim’s brunch menu, I e-mailed the Sunday brunch crew and suggested a venue change to Slim’s today.  Response was so enthusiastic that even people who don’t normally show up for brunch have said they’re in.  I’m trying to decide whether to go with the Bananas Foster French toast or the Automatic Omelet with jerk tenderloin.

Correction to something I posted earlier… Restaurant.com has a coupon code SANTA that you can enter at checkout for 80% off restaurant gift certificates and the Dining of the Month Club. I’d previously reported that the coupon code is good through Monday the 22nd. I’ve since learned that the code cuts off at midnight tonight. So, if you want to pick some up, better do it today. It’s likely they’re release another coupon code this week, but I doubt it will be as big a discount as 80%.

That’s all for now… I’ll be at Slim’s about 11.

My College Logo Watches, College Logo Jewlery, and College Logo Cornhole web storefronts have all been wildly successful in the short time they’ve been up, so I decided to create another one:

College Logo Rugs sells rugs of all shapes and sizes with your favorite college’s logo on them.  In addition to rugs and carpets, you can also find door mats, car mats, and bath rugs there.

(Tennessee Vols fans:  Note which item I chose to display for you on the home page.  That wasn’t an accident.)

As with most of my stores, secure checkout and shipping is handled by the world’s most successful Internet retailer, Amazon.com. I receive a commission on each item sold, based on the total number of items all of my stores sell for a given month.  This month it looks like I’ll receive 7.5% commission per item.  I never see your name or credit card number, just a confirmation letting me know what items were purchased.

In other news… I received an e-mail saying that it’s not a done deal that the Silly Goose will be open on New Year’s Eve… it’s going to be a race to the finish to get their liquor license by then.  If they have it in hand, they’ll open.  If not, it won’t be long after.

I also got an e-mail from Hollywood Disco, or as everyone still calls it, Raiford’s, saying that they will be open on New Year’s Eve.  There will be a $15 cover and doors will open at 9 PM.  They expect the place to fill quickly, so they’re encouraging everyone to prepay on their website.  I’ve already lined up New Year’s plans (Majestic Grille for dinner, then a fun private party in South Main), but if I hadn’t Raiford’s would be at the top of my list.

Speaking of parties in South Main, got one of those tonight… sort of a holiday party combining my circle of friends and the Calhoun’s regulars (quite a bit of overlap there already).  That doesn’t start until 7:30.  Hmmm that gives me a few hours to kill… with almost 70 degree weather in December, I may have to grab me a window seat at the Saucer for happy hour.  I’m tempted to apply the “rule of 60” (if it’s over 60, I put on shorts), but with the low tonight revised to 42, maybe I better not.