Author: paulryburn

I’ve seen Sharp Dressed Bum walking around downtown this week. This year he isn’t so sharp dressed… instead of neatly pressed linen club clothes, he has a black T-shirt and jeans. I’ve been trying to get a look at what T-shirt (without getting close enough to actually talk to him) he’s been wearing. Today I finally did.

It’s an NSYNC concert shirt. That’s right, Sharp Dressed Bum is an NSYNC fan.

I didn’t think it was possible to respect him any less but… now I do.

– Trying to decide my plans for the early evening. It’s Wednesday, which means it’s 25-cent Bud Light at Pat O’Brien’s from 6 to 8. On the other hand, this is one of the few times of the year the Flying Saucer has a “buy the beer, keep the glass” night that I care about – this week it’s Lienenkugel Sunset Wheat, probably my favorite beer there. “Keep the glass” night starts at 7… I guess I could do 25-cent beer from 6 to 7 and then walk up there. If any regular blog readers are heading to Pat O’s tonight, shoot me an e-mail.

My BBQ team has a meeting at 5:30, but I already have my assignment, so I’ll probably skip it, lest I show up and get handed additional work.

– Speaking of my BBQ team… I met the people from our team’s sponsor, Terex, a couple of weeks ago. Really good guys and they have been extremely generous with us. I checked out one of their promotions too, King of the Dirt, and it looks like they’re generous with their customers as well… if you’re a contractor who uses heavy equipment, they’ll put you up at the Peabody for 3 days/2 nights, feed you BBQ, take you to a reception on Beale Street (with free drinks – I got to go to one of these at BB’s), and take you racing in a NASCAR. Pretty sweet deal. I look forward to working with the Terex guys as we get our team up and running.

– Almost got to meet my favorite blogger/MILF Sunday night… looks like she considered coming Downtown to catch the Dempseys at Huey’s, but it didn’t work out. Dammit… she could caught a cab or something, surely a cab from East Bumblefuck to Downtown Memphis wouldn’t have cost more than 50, 60 bucks or so.

– I definitely won’t be in any condition to head out to HER Huey’s (the Cordova one) the next time the Dempseys play there, because it will be April 22, which is the day of the downtown Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest. Put that one on your calendar… one of the best festivals of the year. I have friends at Barton Flats with balconies facing the festival for a bird’s eye view… hmmm, I’d kinda rather be on the street itself for most of it though. I would rate Rajun Cajun as the third best outdoor festival of the year, after Cooper-Young and BBQ Fest.

– The Midtown (Bayou Bar and Grill) crawfish fest will also be happening soon – Saturday, April 14. Although not as good as the downtown one (it used to be better, but Rajun Cajun has gotten HUGE the past couple of years) I’ll most likely attend it as well.

– South Main Trolley Art Tour is this Friday night, March 30. According to the Weather Channel, we can expect a high of 84 and a low of 63, with almost no chance of rain. When the weather’s nice trolley tour is usually PACKED – get there no later than 7 (and 6 is better) if you want to take advantage of the free wine the galleries put out. If you show up fashionably late (8ish) it will be gone.

– Pulse, the Pink Floyd tribute band, will return to Neil’s (Madison at McLean) Saturday nights from 9 to 1. These guys and gals do such a great job that you’d swear that Roger, Dave, Rick, and Nick are right there in the room (I’d add Syd, but I can’t remember if they do any pre-1968 stuff). 8-piece band with a light show; cover is $7 I believe.

– Regular blog reader Josh reports that tube tops are mentioned in the crossword puzzle today. I’m guessing he means the one in the Commercial Appeal. I don’t have a copy of the paper handy so I’m not sure. Two months and three days until Tube Top Month.

– Congrats to fellow Sleep Out Louie’s refugee Matt Singer, who made the front page of the Memphis Flyer today with his invention, a silicone “flexiglass” prosthetic eye. That pic on the cover is kinda freaky though.

– The Rapscallions were shut out of the money at trivia last night, with the Mormons for Gay Polygamy again scoring the first-place victory. We need to find a way to distract those guys so they’ll start missing questions… maybe the Majestic would let us borrow Tifaney for a couple of hours. Wait, she’d distract me too, never mind.

I was the last person to tab out last night after trivia. Mikey and I were the first people to arrive, and subsequent team members were rung up as “Mikey/(number),” like “Mikey/6” and “Mikey/10” for example. Now, that’s fine for the other team members, but I’m at the Saucer more than Mikey is and have a plate on the wall… I felt I had reason to be a bit annoyed if I were rung up as a random member of Mikey’s party. My ticket came and I took a look… it read “Paul/1.” I tipped the waitress a couple extra $$$ for that.

– If you’re a fan of PBR like I am, then today is a special day for you… today is the birthday of Frederick Pabst (1836-1904), whose brew won a “Blue Ribbon” at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition.

All right, that’s enough news for one lunch hour… back later in the day or tomorrow with more.

This morning I received an e-mail from the undead, asking me to let my blog readers know that a Zombie Massacre is coming to Downtown Memphis Friday, May 25. I certainly wouldn’t want to offend the undead, so I’m happy to post the links they sent me.

http://www.myspace.com/memphiszombies
http://memphiszombies.110mb.com/
http://zombiesinvadememphis.blogspot.com/

Their latest blog entry explains how you can become a part of the zombie attack. They tell me that more details will be dribbling out in the weeks to come – “it’s a slow tease,” the undead explain.

So let’s see here… a couple of weeks ago we raised a stuffed billy goat up on a platform and drank beer. Last night we had a rock-paper-scissors tournament. We used to have a bar that did fish races in rain gutters. And now we have a zombie massacre. You can’t say there’s not plenty to do here in Downtown Memphis.

I just realized, last week I said I’d post some personal/professional news and then I forgot to do it. So here it is. As many of you know, for the past year I’ve been working for the city schools as a contract web developer. Well, a permanent, full-time position opened up and they offered it to me. So, starting on April 16, I’ll officially be a city school employee, with the title of Senior Applications Programmer.

Really, there won’t be much difference in my job duties from what I’m doing now as a contractor. Same projects, same cubicle, same hours, everything.

Funny, I think some of the people I’ve told are more excited for me than I am for myself. “Oh, Paul, they’re hiring you permanently? That’s great, because now you’ll get BENEFITS.” And they look at me like I’m golden… I’ve finally made it.

I’ve never understood why benefits are the Holy Grail that everyone strives for. Yeah, I’ll get health insurance, but I’ll also get paid about 20% less than I got as a contractor, which means I had enough extra money to buy my own insurance. And yeah, they’ll contribute to my retirement, which is nice, but I’ve had a Roth IRA for several years on my own so it’s not a big deal.

I’ll also get vacation, but honestly, I kinda liked that part of it better as a contractor. If I didn’t feel like coming in, I just wouldn’t come in, and they didn’t pay me. Under that system I could take as little or as much time off as I wanted. Now I’ll have to start carefully planning my vacation days. There’s also the problem of not having ANY vacation days as of BBQ Fest, which means I’ll have to talk to them and see if it’s a big deal to take unpaid time as an employee.

So, if being a contractor was an OK deal, why did I agree to give it up and go permanent? Two reasons. One is the title – “Senior Applications Programmer.” The word “Senior” on a resume is worth an extra $10-20K a year. The other thing is, the city schools really aren’t a bad place to work – laid-back environment, the people are easy to get along with, casual dress, plenty of opportunities for training. If I were to remain a contractor, I’d have to constantly worry that the budget could be reshuffled, eliminating my position, and potentially forcing me back into the stressful corporate world. The city schools job is about as good as office jobs get. I can’t see myself quitting, unless it’s for a job that gives me the freedom to work when and where I want, or the chance to start my own company – but neither of those opportunities is currently on the horizon.

Am I excited about going permanent? Yeah, but I’m equally as excited about advancing to the next round of the Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament (see last night’s post). That’s a case of misplaced priorities, huh?

Tonight was the second of two Rock-Paper-Scissors tournaments at the Flying Saucer, with the top two from tonight’s tournament to advance to a larger tournament Downtown, and the winner of that to go to Las Vegas for 4 nights and 3 days, all expenses paid, for a $50,000 national tournament.

I dedicated the first round (in a field of 32) to my beautiful waitresses and won in two straight (all matches were two out of three). Then things got interesting in the round of sixteen when I, the Downtown blogger, went head to head with Ryan Jones, the Midtown blogger. First time I had ever met him face to face… what a way to meet! It went to the third and deciding round and I took him down… Downtown defeats Midtown, but I did have the home court advantage.

As they called me up for the Elite Eight I pointed to the sky and said, “Grandmama, I know you’re not here in person to see this, but you’re looking down on me somewhere and I know you’re proud.” And sure enough, I advanced to the Final Four. My opponent, I quickly realized, was sitting next to me on the couch, and his friends tried to pump me for strategy and I gave them misinformation. I went on to defeat him to make it to the final two.

I lost the championship round, but since the top two were invited it didn’t matter…. I’m still in. The next round is tentatively at TJ Mulligan’s on Saturday, April 7. I don’t have a time but will post it when I get it, and from talking to the Bud Light people who ran the tournament, it sounds like event the location isn’t 100% confirmed. Winner of that tournament goes to Vegas the second weekend in May, all expenses paid, for the chance for 50 grand.

Fellow blogger Ptolemy Kat has a 3-year-old male cat she’s looking to give away. He’s a white cat with black markings named Baylor. If anyone wants to adopt a cat you can contact her through her blog.

Note to PK: You’d probably have an easier time getting rid of him if you didn’t refer to him as “the crazy-ass cat” in your post

I found the website of Blues City Pastry, the pastry and coffee shop coming to the corner of Main Street and Peabody Place, this morning. There’s not a whole lot there right now but it says they hope to have the place open by Memphis in May.

Tonight I attended the first “Dinner Blues” dance lesson, dinner and dance at the Blue Worm on Airways. Here’s a report, and I’m going to break this down into two sections, reporting on NewVo Blues and the club separately.

NewVo Blues: The lesson started a little after 7. We all warmed up by learning the basics – in particular “the frame,” which consists of keeping your elbows forward, your chin up, and your shoulders rolled back. We also learned some basic steps. Then we began to partner up, and we learned how to lead and basic partner steps. They had us rotate around the room so that every guy got to dance with every girl several times – I found that to be a good thing, because everyone knew everyone by the end of the lesson.

I’m a big fan of reading the energy that people give off, and found that dancing was a great way to get a sense of people’s energy. My favorite partners were the ones who gave off an “it’s really nice to meet you” energy, or a “maybe I don’t know all the steps, but I’m going to have fun anyway” energy. You could just kind of tell where each person was coming from within about 5 seconds, if you were open to it. We were told that a big part of the dance is finding that connection with your partner, so I guess I succeeded at least on that part of it. I felt like I did most of the moves competently but was by no means the best in the room.

I think about half the attendees had formal dance training, some from the Red Hot Lindy Hop or Argentine Tango groups or others, and the rest were newbies like me. People would ask if I had previous dance experience, and I pondered for a minute whether “grinding with random drunk sorority girls at Raiford’s” counted as dance experience, then said “no.” It was good to get advice from partners who had danced before on how to improve, how to lead more strongly, etc.

I kept up until the last 10 minutes, when they showed us a complete routine and added so many additional moves at the end that I got lost. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I feel like I learned some moves I’ll retain for the future. Living downtown, I think it could be advantageous to have some training in blues dance, so I can show off for the tourists who visit Beale Street. I commented that the only visitors to Beale who seem to know how to dance to the street bands are the homeless. Maybe NewVo can help change that.

Instructors were very kind and knew how to correct us in the right way… they encouraged us to get to know one another and think of ourselves as a “family” for the evening. I’d definitely take classes from them again.

After the lesson we sat down to a chicken dinner (more on that in a minute) and an informal discussion of blues dancing. The instructors and some of the more advanced attendees put on a show out on the dance floor while we ate.

Their next event is a class and road trip on April 14. The class will be at Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale Street – 9:30 AM registration, 10 AM to noon class. Class is $15, or $12 for members. Afterward there will be lunch at Rum Boogie from noon to 1. After that the group will head to Clarksdale, MS, 90 miles to the south for the annual Juke Joint Festival. A $10 wristband (purchased on-site) gets you in all the clubs. You can pick and choose whichever of the class, lunch and festival you’d like to attend, but they say you’ll have the most fun if you attend all three.

For more info you can visit NewVo’s website. Thanks S and C for a great evening… if you want to write up a little somethin’ about the 14th, I’ll be happy to post it.

Now on to the club itself, The Blue Worm. It’s at 1405 Airways, on the right side of the street if you’re heading south toward the airport, left side if you’re heading north toward Midtown. It’s located between Park and Lamar. There is no signage on the street so you have to remember to look for the numbers getting close to 1405 – it’s in a complex with several other businesses and is in the back right corner. A flyer I took with me says it’s just behind the Save-A-Lot grocery store. I know some people will get all frightened about driving to a club in Orange Mound at night, but they have a big, well-lit parking lot with security and I felt pretty safe.

It’s a $5 cover to get in most nights. Relatively large space with tables, a dance floor, two pool tables, a DJ booth and a stage for the band. They sell Cokes and other soft drinks at the bar (in cans), as well as bottled water. They have a selection of beer ($2-3) or you can BYOB. You can also buy a ticket for $5 for a plate of home cooking, which on this particular night was chicken, rice, peas, and a brownie. The cook told me that on other nights, she makes a chili with 3 different meats and serves it over nachos. The cook and all the Blue Worm staff I talked to were just super-friendly (even went out of their way to introduce themselves) and made me feel right at home.

Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling all that hot (I learned earlier this week why you should never order a burger less than medium well, and am still dealing with the effects) so I left before the dancing really got going. I want to come back though. I like this place. The DJ was playing some great music – I remember a lot of BB King – and although I left before the band came on, I had heard nothing but good things about them. This place seems to play the REAL blues, and maybe if I meet people on Beale who really seem to “get it” about music, I’ll invite them to take a ride with me out to the Worm.

(Attn J: If the Romanians come back for ’07, we should take them to the Worm one night)

The flyer I picked up says the Blue Worm is having a special “Diva-Bash” next Saturday, March 31, with Queen Ernestine “the Diva-Stine.” They told me there would be a food buffet, and there will also be drawings, surprises, and of course great music, all for a $10 cover. Music by The Fieldstones, The Universal Players, and Country Girl Band. The flyer also says, “Oh! Rumor has it that Queen Ernestine is doing a set… you don’t want to miss this!” Might want to check it out if you’re looking for something different and fun to do next Saturday.

One note about the Worm: Dress comfortably. You WILL work up a sweat on the dance floor, doubly so if you take a NewVo class. I made the mistake of wearing my embroidered guayabera shirt – wanted to look nice and make a good first impression – but the shirt was made of polyester and I was a sweaty mess by 9:00. There were plenty of people in T-shirts and jeans. The club wasn’t hot to the point of being uncomfortable, but it didn’t feel like they had the A/C on and it was a little warm.

All in all, thumbs up to the Blue Worm, I think it’s one of those places to hear real, authentic blues that hasn’t been “discovered” by the fraternity/Germantown crowd the way Wild Bill’s has. Thumbs up also to NewVo Blues, awesome first event, well organized. An evening well spent, and I wish I had had the energy to stay longer.

Whew… gonna get a few things done around the apartment then go to bed. An advantage of driving to an event in another part of town is that I’m completely sober (not a big fan of drinking and driving), and so I should get a great night’s sleep, especially after all the exercise I got dancing.

A reader who lives in the Claridge House e-mailed me and posed the question below:

Do you know of anyone who will run errands and pick up/deliver stuff in the Downtown area? I’m thinking stuff like dry cleaning, prescription refills, booze, stuff from Schnuck’s, and so on.

Surely some enterprising soul has found that need and filled it by now………?

I saw flyers for such a service around six months ago, but they’ve long since disappeared. If anyone knows of such a service, please e-mail me and I’ll pass along the info and post it to my blog.

What a weekend we have coming up… according to my computer’s WeatherBug, we’re looking at highs of 85 and lows of 62 Saturday and Sunday, sunny both days, no mention of rain. For those of you not familiar with Memphis weather, that’s more typical for the end of May than the end of March.

Due to the great weather, I’ve decided to go into “nomad mode” Saturday and Sunday. I’m not committing to be in any particular place at any particular time, and I probably won’t stay in one place more than an hour or two. I’m placing the word “tentative” in front of any plans I do make, so I’m free to go outside and roam around.

I’m sure I’ll roam someplace about 3:40 tomorrow to see (1) Ohio State vs. (2) Memphis, winner goes to the Final Four. Go Tigers! I’m sitting here at High Point Coffee on Union typing this post, and Channel 5 is in here shooting video of their “Go Tigers” posters, so it’s possible I may show up on the news tonight.

Got some good news of a personal/professional nature yesterday; I’ll save it for a future post.

Back to work for a thrilling afternoon of cubicle sitting, then off to the Blue Worm for NewVo Blues‘ event tonight at 7.

About 7:00 last night I hit 25-cent beer night at Pat O’Brien’s, and it was pretty fun. Beer was served at the small bar (they call it the locals’ bar) to the left when you first walk in, and you can either drink it there or take it to the piano room (where they had 2 players) or the fountain room. Kennedy and Q107.5 were there promoting. Crowd was about 50 people and was pretty diverse, I’d estimate 1/3 Downtowners, 1/3 from other parts of the city, and 1/3 tourists. The college crowd didn’t seem to have a lot of representation – guess that’s too early for them to go out.

The draft beer was Bud Light. They were very efficient handing it out – unless they were in the process of changing a keg, it usually took no more than 1 minute to get a fresh beer. Like most bars, they set their clock ahead so that their 8:00 (and the end of cheap beer) came at what appeared to be 7:50 to everyone else.

Before hitting Pat O’s I stopped at the Saucer, and asked one of the waitresses for advice on tipping on 25-cent beer: Is it enough to hand the bartender a dollar and say, “Keep the change”? Her reply: “I’d still be pissed.” She advised tipping on the full price of the beer rather than the discounted price. Hmmm. Guessing that Bud Light draft is probably around 3 bucks at regular prices, 75 cents is still a 25% tip, not bad. She thought I should tip $2 on each 25-cent beer. That seems a little excessive. I get the feeling her advice really had little to do with tipping at Pat O’s, and was actually a hint that I should tip her more than the 30% I’ve been leaving her at the Saucer.

Anyway, I ran into some of the Sleep Out Louie’s refugees and we worked out a system. One guy stood at the bar, and left a generous tip (I didn’t see it but I think it was $10) on the first round. Because of that tip we were guaranteed prompt service the rest of the time. He continued to stand at the bar, and we’d stand behind him in our group, near the bar but not at it. Every few minutes he’d buy a new 25-cent beer and then use it to refill our cups.

I hear that they’re doing this to try and build a regular crowd during the week – the place is busy weekends but has been pretty dead Sunday-Thursday. They’re hoping people stick around after 8 (or, really, 7:50) and order full-price drinks and food. I get the feeling this promotion will continue for the short term but won’t be permanent.

Fun night. Even if Pat O’s is not normally your place, it’s worth getting a posse together and showing up on a future Wednesday.