Category: Uncategorized

I want to start off today’s post by asking a question that is so, so, SO Memphis, but you’ll never see it asked in a commercial blog like I Love Memphis or Choose901.

What’s the longest street in Memphis that is NEVER not in the hood? Meaning, every single block of it is sketchy?

Let’s throw in a kicker that the street must operate under the same name at all points. So Stage/Delano/James/Scenic Hwy/Stage-James/James/Stage doesn’t count, nor does Frayser Blvd/Raleigh-Frayser/Yale.

This question came to mind yesterday afternoon. My friend Randy and I were hanging out at Bardog as per usual for Saturday brunch. We were coming up on the end of the incredibly stupid two-hour window for service dictated by the health directive, so we had to figure out our next move. “Why don’t we check out Grind City Brewing?” I suggested.

I showed Randy the way there. “The flashing red light is Chelsea,” I told him as we drove north on Second. “Once we pass that, we’re looking for Waterworks Drive about five blocks away, on the left.”

That made me think: Is there a street longer than Chelsea that is 100% in the hood?

(I’m probably going to get nastygrams from real estate agents trying to sell properties in Uptown, but I don’t care. They can come over and listen to the police scanner some weekend night.)

Lamar? Runs through sort of a nice neighborhood – the Annesdale Historic District – between Bellevue and Willett. Yes, there are some skeevy hotels, but if you have hipsters looking to buy houses in the neighborhood because they have hardwood floors and “character,” I think that disqualifies it.

Winchester? It’s hood for a long time, but when you get out by FedEx HQ it turns into a sort-of nice part of town.

Shelby Drive? Hmmm, never driven the entire length of it. I’ll have to get on Google StreetView and check it out, but I suspect it loses its hood distinction if you go far enough east.

Anyway… back to our trip to Grind City Brewery. It was a bit of a drive, but man, was it ever worth it. The place is spacious and beautiful. Best brewery taproom in Memphis by a mile (that I’ve been to; note that I haven’t been to Wiseacre 2 yet).

That’s a cherry hard cider Perjorie T. Roll is drinking. They had a citrus hard cider too along with about 15 different beers. I tried a lager with a lime as well (didn’t get a pic) and it was quite tasty.

What a gorgeous space! There were easily 150 people there, yet there was enough room for everyone to properly social distance. They had vendors on hand and Randy and I ordered a pizza and a quesadilla. Plenty of room for food trucks to set up out there.

I have to admit I was kind of surprised that Randy and I did not know a soul there. It was mostly a younger crowd, although I have seen photos of people from the corner table at Max’s Sports Bar hanging out at Grind City, so the geriatrics like the brewery as well.

I heard plenty of people griping about the new regulations that go into effect at midnight: At restaurants, bars, and taprooms you can only sit with people from your household, and you must keep your mask on even at the table, only pulling it down to take a bite of food or a sip of your beverage. To the people doing the griping, yes, the new regulations are unreasonable, untenable, and downright stupid, but look for the opportunity in them. There would not be names like Al Capone or Lucky Luciano in the history books had an unreasonable, untenable, and downright stupid regulation called Prohibition not existed 100 years ago. Channel your inner Capone. Channel your inner Lucky. Be the Meyer Lansky of your neighborhood. The Bugsy Siegel.

Here’s a link to James Aycock’s COVID week in review for November 21. Always a good read if you’re into data analysis.

WREG interviewed Halsey from Pontotoc Lounge/Silly Goose about the stupid new regulation that diners in restaurants wear masks between bites and sips. I guess restaurant employees are expected to be school lunchroom monitors now. Pull that mask up or I’ll send a Behavior Document home for mommy to sign!

From USA TODAY: How we celebrated Thanksgiving 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic

The Memphis Tigers rolled to a 56-14 win over Stephen F. Austin University yesterday.

Good news for Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers basketball team: Center Moussa Cisse has been cleared for eligibility. Cisse was one of the top recruits in the class of 2020.

There’s a Fun Cow Painting Class in Millington this afternoon if you’re looking for something to do with your Sunday. I think they mean you paint a picture of a cow, rather than actually brushing paint onto a real, live cow. But it’s Millington so you never know.

Yesterday on Medium, where I write professionally, my stories had the fewest views of any day in November. Yet my payout was the highest of any day in November. I don’t get it. I wonder if they spin a roulette wheel to determine how much to pay their writers.

WWE Survivor Series is tonight, and it’s the official retirement of The Undertaker, who debuted on Survivor Series 30 years ago. Predictions:

• Kickoff Show Dual-Brand Battle Royal: Big E wins
• U.S. Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn: Zayn finds some way to cheat to win, possibly by claiming interference from other members of The Hurt Business to get Lashley disqualified
• Women’s Survivor Series match: Shayna Bayzler, Nia Jax, Lana, Peyton Royce, and Lacey Evans (Team RAW) vs. Bianca Belair, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Bayley, and Natalya (Team Smackdown): The Riott Squad survives to set up a future tag team title match with Bayzler and Jax. Post-match Nia Jax puts Lana through a table. A lot of people think Bianca goes over here, but I think they have her win the women’s Royal Rumble in January instead.
• Street Profits (RAW tag team champions) vs. The New Day (Smackdown tag team champions): I love New Day but I have to pick the Street Profits to go over. Montez Ford is the most talented male performer on the roster.
• Men’s Survivor Series match: A.J. Styles, Braun Strowman, Sheamus, Matt Riddle, and Keith Lee (Team RAW) vs. Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, King Corbin, and Otis (Team Smackdown): This is the toughest match to predict. I’ll take a guess that Sheamus and Keith Lee survive.
• RAW Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Smackdown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks: Carmella attacks Sasha, causing Asuka to be disqualified. Following the match, Asuka joins in the beating of Sasha, turning heel.
• WWE World Champion Drew McIntyre vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns w/Special Advisor to the Tribal Chief Paul Heyman: McIntyre gets a fluke win with a roll-up or some other unexpected move. Reigns and his cousin Jey Uso beat down McIntyre relentlessly after the match. As they walk away, The Miz runs to the ring to cash in his Money In The Bank contract on a nearly unconscious McIntyre. Sheamus prevents the match from happening. Tomorrow night Sheamus asks McIntyre for a shot at the Universal title to repay the favor.

That’s all for now. I could go out to Sunday brunch, but most likely I’ll stay home so I can value-signal all over Facebook that #IDidTheRightThing. I do need to get out to Walgreens because I’m out of sweets at home and that is clearly not acceptable. I hope they put the Christmas cookie flavored Blue Bell ice cream on sale this week. Back tomorrow with more news.

I case you missed it last night… and you probably did because who expects a post from me at 6 PM on a Friday?… the health department dropped Health Directive No. 15. Gotta love how they drop this thing at an hour in which they won’t be answering the phones, will be out of the office for two days after, and won’t be at a press conference in front of a microphone until half a week later.

Given what we had heard might happen, this wasn’t near as bad as it could have been. Restaurants, even limited-service restaurants, will still be allowed to stay open, even for indoor dining. The main things they will have to do differently are close at 10 (previously it was midnight) and only seat parties of no more than 6 together, and only 4 of those 6 can be adults and they must be from the same household (which is completely unenforceable; are we going to have to start bringing MLGW bills when we eat out to establish proof of residency?) Capacity is limited to 50%, but social distancing effectively did that anyway prior to the directive.

The big change for patrons, and I missed this when I did my update last night, is that masks have to remain on even at the table when dining at a restaurant. You can only take them off when eating a bite of food or taking a sip of your beverage. To me, that sounds like the task force is trying to make it as inconvenient as possible to go to restaurants so more people will stay home. The GM of Tin Roof commented that you’d need a “hall monitor” to enforce that rule. Yep, that was about what this has come to.

I noticed that smoking indoors is prohibited in all establishments in the directive; is that new for No. 15 or has that been in there and I missed it? Of the Downtown spots that’ll affect only Bardog. As a nonsmoker, I have no problem with this regulation whatsoever.

Gyms remain open too, but you must have your mask on at all times unless using the swimming pool or shower.

This could have been much, much worse, but I still feel bad for my bartender friends who make a big chunk of their money from 10 PM to midnight. Obviously they’re not happy with the new directive. Of course, I also feel for those who’ve lost a loved one to COVID or who have come close.

Here’s how I think we’ve got to look at it: 100 days from now will be March 1. Things won’t be cured then, but we will be well on our way. Vaccination will be fairly far along and we’ll have a president who is not nutsy cuckoo. We just gotta hunker down and remember We Are All One and we’re all in this together. That includes the bartender who just saw her income get clipped by 40%. That includes the teachers who badly want to see their children in person. That includes people like me who want to be fairly safe while retaining some semblance of normalcy. That even includes people on the far ends, the anti-maskers who think this is all a hoax and the preachy preachies who think we should be in lockdown until next summer because #PeopleBeforeProfits.

Enough about COVID. It’s Saturday and that means college football. Let’s see what we’ve got:

• Memphis hosts Stephen F. Austin at 11, carried on premium subscription service ESPN+
• In a game with CFP implications, #3 Ohio State hosts #9 Indiana at 11 AM on FOX
• Not ranked vs. ranked but still a big game: #4 Clemson travels to Florida State. Here’s hoping the ‘Noles end Clemson’s playoff hopes for the year.
• #7 Cincinnati goes on the road to UCF in a make-or-break game for the Bearcats’ playoff chances. ESPN, 2:30.
• #10 Wisconsin vs. #19 Northwestern in a big game to establish the pecking order in the Big 10, ABC, 2:30
• #23 Auburn gets a turn at the doormat of the SEC, Tennessee, this week at home. ESPN, 6:00.
• Huge rivalry game: #14 Oklahoma State at #18 Oklahoma, 6:30, ABC

No shortage of good games today. As always, if you’re looking for a place to watch multiple games at once, my top recommendation would be Max’s Sports Bar. He has outdoor TVs and a really nice patio with heaters, although you won’t need those today.

The Memphis Tigers basketball team has announced its full 2020-21 schedule. Notable nonconference games:

• November 25-27 – Bad Boy Mowers Classic in Sioux Falls, SD – Tigers could face three NCAA tournament teams in three days – but more on that in a minute
• December 2 – first home game of the season vs. Arkansas State
• December 5 – at Ole Miss
• December 12 – vs. Auburn

Certainly a better nonconference schedule than the Tubby years, when the Tigers could expect to see names like Xavier and Samford on their list of opponents.

Geoff Calkins thinks the Tigers should do what millions of Americans are doing and change their Thanksgiving plans, meaning the Tigers should give up the chance to travel to South Dakota and play up to 3 March Madness-caliber teams. Calkins is right. It positively sucks that he’s right, but he’s right. Chances are too great the Tigers could bring back COVID with them. Also there’s the “role models setting an example” kind of thing. Kids and adults who look up to Penny will be more likely to give up their holiday plans if he gives up his.

For those who don’t want to take the time to read Calkins’ article, South Dakota has the second-highest number of new cases per day per 100K of any state (145.8 according to COVID Act Now; Harvard says stay-home orders should be considered above 25 per 100K).

From Insomnia Cookies:

BOGO 12-Packs are BACK in action all weekend-long! http://bit.ly/37AV6jZ

today through Sunday, get your BOGO 12-Packs – filled with warm, melty Classic cookies – delivered or pick up in-store, no code needed. not available for nationwide shipping orders. exp. 3am, 11/23

The Flyer’s Hungry Memphis blog has a look at King & Union Bar Grocery in the former TGI Friday’s space in the Doubletree. Man, that food looks scrumptious. I gotta get in there!

The news stations reported this earlier in the week, but now the fabulous local crime website Scoop Memphis has picked it up: Intoxicated man leads police in 10-15 MPH chase down trolley tracks

5:25 and I already have this post ready to go. I’ve been an extreme morning person since I started writing professionally; let’s face it, there’s not much reason to be up late at night anymore. Back tomorrow with more news.

Health Directive No. 15

Effective Monday at 12:01 AM. THANK YOU to the Shelby County Health Department for no longer using midnight as the effective minute, making it unclear which day was meant. I have the sneaking suspicion someone on the task force reads this blog.

For restaurants, this is not nearly as bad as it could have been. Changes from Health Directive No. 14:

• Closing time is moved back to 10 PM
• Capacity is reduced to 50%; of course, with social distancing, most restaurants were near 50% already
• Groups at the same table are limited to a maximum of 6 (4 adults) who must all be from the same household
• Smoking indoors at any establishment is prohibited

No distinction is made between full-service and limited-service restaurants.

It sounds like my friends in the industry have largely dodged a bullet. This is nowhere as bad as it could have been. The bureaucrats found a way to say they did something (which is the reason their jobs exist) without inflicting severe economic harm to an entire industry.

The gyms dodged a bullet too. I thought they were looking at certain closure.

I made one additional comment above but then deleted it because I think someone on the task force reads my blog. Ask me in person about it if you see me.

Back in the morning with more news.

Man, I gotta feel bad for Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Alisa Haushalter, Assistant Director David Sweat, and County Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph. They have some difficult choices to make this week.

I’m gonna say what no one wants to hear… from purely a fighting-the-coronavirus standpoint, not taking economics or sentiment into it at all, the appropriate course of action would be a 4-week Safer at Home order.

If it were January 6 or January 23 or February 12, I think they would do that. However, doing it now means casting themselves as The Grinch Who Stole Christmas… or Thanksgiving. Yet the virus doesn’t care what holidays we celebrate.

The health officials presented their recommendations to mayors of Shelby County municipalities yesterday morning… and the suburban mayors fought back. So, if you’re able to spend next Friday off work at a bar, thank Germantown mayor Mike Palazzolo and Bartlett mayor Keith McDonald.

In the press conference yesterday, Dr. Randolph saying they are trying to find a middle path between shutting everything down and letting the virus rage with no restrictions in place. He talked like there would be some kind of limit on the number of people in restaurants, but I did not get the sense that any would be closed down. He said a new health directive would be issued no later than Monday, and could be issued today if agreement is reached. WREG reports that several mayors and business leaders think it will be issued today.

Here’s a link to James Aycock’s excellent mid-week COVID data analysis.

The marketing staff at the Memphis Zoo finally got to do something they’ve been wanting to do for a year: Name a baby animal after Grizzlies breakout star point-guard Ja Morant. The baby’s name is Ja Raffe. I will leave it up to you to figure out what kind of animal the baby is.

Happy birthday to President-Elect Joe Biden!

The rescheduled performance of Farewell Angelina takes place tonight at the Halloran Centre. The country trio will perform in a socially distanced setting. Tickets for the original October date will be honored.

The Memphis Farmers Market presents a Turkey Day Market tomorrow from 9 AM to 1 PM. Late fall produce will be available, as will packaged foods and crafts. If you get hungry, food trucks will be on hand. The MemphisWeather.net forecast has the low dropping to only 53 tonight with a high of 70 tomorrow, so it should be a beautiful day to shop outdoors. The Market is located under the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson behind the Power House movie theater.

Big River Crossing Half Marathon and 5K is tomorrow.

Memphis Symphony Orchestra will perform a free show at Wiseacre Downtown tomorrow 2-3 PM. Limited indoor seating is available, unless a new health directive goes into effect.

The MBJ has a slideshow of the Museum Lofts Apartments, just north of the National Civil Rights Museum.

I did not know there was a style of design called Memphis… see this Financial Times article.

Stacks & Rowell take the stage at 7:30 tonight at Momma’s.

Rodell McCord plays Tin Roof at 8 tonight.

In case you missed it… Donald Trump’s number-one flying monkey sweated hair dye at a press conference this week.

Georgia has completed its recount and has declared Joe Biden the winner of its 16 electoral votes. With that announcement, Joe Biden has defeated Donald Trump 306 electoral votes to 232.

We shall see whether a health directive gets issued today… I kinda hope they wait until Monday, just so the Facebook “health experts” have something to whine about all weekend. Back later today or tomorrow with more news.

Memphis-related draft results:

• Former Tigers center James Wiseman was selected with the number 3 pick by the Golden State Warriors. That was where he expected and wanted to go. Get ready for Steph, Klay, Dray, and Big Ticket next season.
• Former Tigers power forward Precious Achiuwa was selected number 20 by the Miami Heat. Geoff Calkins of the DM notes that although he fell a few places below expectations, Miami is the perfect place to develop a player like Achiuwa.
• The Grizzlies traded two future second-round picks to the Boston Celtics to move up to #30 and selected 6’5″ TCU shooting guard Desmond Bane with the final first-round pick.
• The Grizzlies traded a future second-rounder and the 2020 #40 pick to Sacramento to select 6’9″ Michigan State center Xavier Tillman. Jaren Jackson Jr. went to college with Tillman and is said to be ecstatic about his former teammate joining him in Beale Street Blue.

Downtown Wiseacre’s taproom will soon house a pizza and snack bar called Little Bettie, the latest brainchild of Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman. Parker Rose will run the kitchen. He was Hog & Hominy’s pizza chef, and Downtowners will remember him as the original pizza chef at the Silly Goose.

From the CA: Where to get a free meal this Thanksgiving

People who shopped using Amazon Smile donated $10 million to St. Jude last year, and I’m proud to report I was one of them. It’s easy to set up, and Amazon makes a donation to St. Jude (or other charity of your choice) every time you shop with them.

Handy Park at B.B. King and Beale will host A Holly Jolly Holiday Celebration 4:30-6:30 PM December 4 and 11. Santa will be available for pictures in his socially distanced snowglobe, and there will be hot chocolate and holiday music in the newly renovated park. Anyone over the age of 2 must wear a mask.

From the Memphis Business Journal: What you need to know about Ray Brown, the man who will soon run DMC.

One more reminder to follow the City of Memphis on Facebook to get a notification when the noon COVID-19 task force press conference is about to begin. This could be a big press conference for all the wrong reasons. “People are too stupid to wear masks and stay home when they have symptoms, so we’re going to punish restaurants and gyms” is going to be the message, I’m afraid. Government bureaucrats have to be able to say they did something.

Daniel Masters, owner of Silly Goose, was interviewed by Fox 13, where he quite correctly pointed out that the going-out crowd won’t stop going out if the bars are shut down. They’ll go to house parties instead, where there will be no enforcement of COVID regulations whatsoever.

Tonight is the Mighty Wurlitzer Homecoming at the Orpheum. This is a free show and there will be social distanced seating.

Worth a click just for the photo: Man arrested after stealing $12 of incense. I can’t figure out which one he is, Violent J or Shaggy 2 Dope.

Construction on the Loews convention center hotel Downtown has been put on hold because of the pandemic. COVID RUINS EVERYTHING.

Tug’s will be open for Thanksgiving, unless the health department says otherwise:

If you are making Thanksgiving plans – Tug’s Casual Grill will be open and ready to serve you 11 a.m. – 9 p.m on Thanksgiving day. We will have a limited version of our regular menu, and a special 3-course dinner offering.
Menu: https://t.co/9MhyaAEvWZ pic.twitter.com/FwBHxpxUDf

— Paulette’s Memphis (@paulettesmem) November 18, 2020

That’s it for this post. We will wait and see what the COVID task force says. Possibly back this afternoon with more news.

I tuned into the Shelby County COVID-19 task force press conference yesterday, and oh boy, things did not sound promising. 835 cases, from test dates ranging from November 11 through yesterday, were reported yesterday. According to a report in the Daily Memphian, that swells the 7-day rolling average of new cases to 402.

Michigan and Washington reimposed strict restrictions on businesses over the weekend to fight COVID, and yesterday Gov. Gavin Newsom of California did the same for 40 counties. That brought the question, “Will restrictions be reintroduced to Shelby County?” Health Department Director Dr. Haushalter’s response was to look at the tripwires in Health Directive No. 14. So let’s do just that and see where we stand.

Restrictions will be reimposed if

• Rolling one-week average of new cases/day exceeds 450 (currently 402)
• Rate of new cases increasing by 40% or more over two weeks: So, two weeks ago, were we below 402 / 1.4 = 287 new cases/day? The 11/3/2020 7-day moving average was 294. See data dashboard. So very close, but no cigar. Could very well hit the 40% wire this week.
• R-nought, the reproductive rate, greater than 1.4. COVID Act Now has R-nought at 1.22 for Shelby County this morning.
• Positivity rate greater than 18%. Okay, now that there are case positivity rates and test positivity rates, it’s unclear which that statistic refers to. COVID Act Now has the rate at 11.1% and I believe that is a test positivity rate. The data dashboard shows a 19.9% case positivity rate for the most recent period reported.

Now we’ve heard from the task force that the tripwires are not joined by an AND, or an OR. They are taken as a universe of criteria, and other external factors can be considered as well. Two external factors play an important role.

David Sweat, the assistant director of the health department, said that contact tracing has found that transmission is most likely to occur in three settings: Gatherings of friends or non-household members, gyms, and restaurants. The common denominator is that masks tend to be off in all three. As for restaurants, he said it wasn’t a case of identifying clusters at particular restaurants, but just a general trend linking dining in to spread of COVID-19.

The second external factor is that Thanksgiving is next week. That’s a holiday that leads to many gatherings outside people’s households. Also, many people (myself included) don’t cook at home and dine out at restaurants – and, as I mentioned, Thanksgiving Eve is traditionally one of the biggest party nights of the year.

So, the Health Department could glom on to the 19.9% case positivity rate, declare that a wire has been tripped, and shut things down in tomorrow’s press conference. Or, they could take a wait-and-see approach over the weekend – but announcing a shutdown the week of Thanksgiving could be a financial burden to the restaurants, who would have already put food orders into their distributors to cover the holiday period.

My best advice to my readers? Start coming up with a Plan B for Thanksgiving, just in case they do go ahead and shut it all down tomorrow.

If you’re on Twitter and don’t already follow independent Shelby County COVID data analyst James Aycock, do so now. He usually releases a mid-week data analysis update on Wednesdays and I will be very interested to read his take later today. Nobody (except a few people on Facebook) really wants us to shut down sectors of business again, but it’s looking inevitable.

Look what I found at the Silly Goose yesterday!

PBR Extra is Pabst Blue Ribbon’s high-alcohol beer, the Pabst equivalent of Bud Ice. It clocks in at 6.5%, 1.5% more than the standard PBR. At first, Extra tasted just like regular PBR to me, but as time went on I began to notice a sugary aftertaste, similar to that of Jolt Cola, screaming, “This is really bad for you.” I couldn’t finish the second one. I will switch back to regular PBR today. There’s about a case left, so get by the Goose while they still have it.

Jeannette is polling her customers on whether to open the Blind Bear regular hours on Thanksgiving for those who won’t be spending the holiday with their families. As long as it doesn’t inconvenience any employees I would be all for it. To me, that would be spending Thanksgiving with family.

In other Blind Bear news, they have hoodies for $35. Most of the first print batch is spoken for, but if you’re interested in one, let Jeannette know and maybe they’ll do another run.

NBA trade season is getting interesting… James Harden declined his $50M/year extension with the Rockets yesterday and appears to be headed to the Brooklyn Nets to join Kyrie Irving and his former teammate Kevin Durant. Daaaamn that’s going to be a superteam. I must say it will be a relief to have The Beard out of the Western Conference and therefore farther removed from the Grizzlies.

The NBA draft is tonight and the Grizzlies have the #40 pick. Grizzly Bear Blues has a draft roundtable.

Action News 5 has a sneak peek at the new Renasant Convention Center. The goal with the new center is to host more than one 1000-1500 person convention at a time. That’ll bring badly-needed dollars to the Downtown economy.

Sad to hear that Tommy Pacello, an enthusiastic developer in the Memphis Medical District, passed away from pancreatic cancer this week. Pacello had a hand in such projects as Boxlot and the Tennessee Brewery revival. He was also on MATA’s Board of Commissioners.

Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum on N. Second is featured in this week’s 5 Star Story on WMC Action News 5.

That’s it for now. Off to work, then I will get out and enjoy Memphis’ restaurants while I still can – although I will do it safely, social distanced and with my mask on whenever not at my table. Back tomorrow with more news.

So, listen up, folks. I want to have a talk with my readers this morning. I know I have a lot of people keep up with this blog to find out the best places to go out Downtown on a given night of the week. I’m sure many of you have your eye on Thanksgiving Eve, the Wednesday that is one of the biggest going-out nights of the year.

Now, understand… I’m not one of the preachy preachies when it comes to COVID. I don’t change my Twitter display name to “Paul Ryburn says wear a mask!” in times like these. I don’t get on Facebook and imply that you’re selfish and you don’t care about human life if you go do anything fun. I can’t stand that kind of judgmental attitude.

However, two states have gone back into lockdown, and more could follow. Washington state shut most everything down with numbers not close to as bad as Shelby County (click links for comparison). Now, I don’t see the Health Department shutting us down before the holiday weekend is over, but it’s worth acknowledging that the numbers are bad enough where it wouldn’t be a horrible decision.

So, I wanna run something by ya. The bars and restaurants will be as packed as they legally can be Wednesday night, teeming with people and potentially COVID. And they have to shut down at midnight, so the party will be over before it really gets started. So I have a suggestion…

Why not day drink instead?

Most people who work 8-to-5 rat race jobs have Friday off, and some have Wednesday as well. If you’ve never experienced the joy of hanging out at the bars in the morning, it’s a lot of fun. Why not make an adventure of it?

Momma’s, the Aldo restaurant at Crump and Kentucky, opens at 6:30 AM for breakfast (I don’t believe they can serve alcohol until 8).

Bardog opens at 8:00 AM.

Blind Bear opens at 10:00 AM with full brunch menu every day.

These places will not be crowded and you’ll be able to space out from others. As long as you keep your mask on until seated and put it on anytime you get up from your table, your potential exposure to the virus should be low (disclaimer, though: I am not a licensed physician and this is not medical advice).

There’s a business philosophy out there – you can be better than, you can be less than, or you can be different than. Going out Wednesday night of next week is not going to be better than most years, so why not turn your holiday partying into a different-than kind of experience?

On to the news. Here’s Jimbo from Mempho with info.

Memphis has a well deserved reputation for a strong musical heritage,& it all began with W.C. Handy. Today, on his birthday, we reopened a renovated Handy Park on @BealeStreetMphs, & his grandson Dr. Carlos Handy joined us. It looks great and befitting of the Father of the Blues. pic.twitter.com/ke5bocscca

— Mayor Jim Strickland (@MayorMemphis) November 16, 2020

FedExForum has had its 2021 hosting of part of March Madness taken away, specifically a weekend of the South Regional. The NCAA wants to centralize the tournament in one location due to COVID, which is smart. March Madness will return to Memphis in 2024.

From Scoop Memphis: A man was charged with urinating on the freezer door at the Checkers in the Medical District

Musician Amber Rae Dunn performs a Tuesday Telethon online tonight at 6:30 from South Main Sounds, hoping to raise money to get her to a studio in Nashville so she can cut 3-4 new songs.

I took the Enneagram personality test yesterday, just for kicks. I’m primarily a 5, then a 4, then an 8. Still trying to fully comprehend what that means.

That’s it for now. Back tomorrow with more news.

If you’ve got $9 million burning a hole in your back pocket, you can own a gas station and convenience store. The gas station at 300 Poplar is for sale. That’s at the corner of Poplar and N. Lauderdale, just west of Danny Thomas Blvd. It looks like a Chester’s Fried Chicken franchise comes as part of the package; just ask the owner of Bluefin what a sweet deal that is. And just think, your store would be the first place people would stop after getting out of 201. You’re pulling out the checkbook, aren’t you?

From Action News 5: A drunk driver crashed his vehicle into a trolley station on the Main Street Mall. This happened Saturday night and the driver had been involved in a previous accident at Poplar and Danny Thomas.

Let’s hear it for the good guys: Chef Tam of Chef Tam’s Underground Cafe out in The Edge District fed the homeless in Morris Park this past weekend.

New South Main-area restaurant to follow on Facebook: By the Brewery. Looks like they’ve got breakfast and lunch sandwiches including a chicken biscuit sandwich and a Reuben, both with homemade pickles. 496 Tennessee Street.

Pro wrestling fans, here is a Twitter account you need to follow.

pic.twitter.com/Uetp3Dxj5X

— rick rude getting atomic drops (@RickRudeSells) November 15, 2020

Slow news day, as Mondays often are. Back tomorrow.

This is not going to be the most exciting blog post, I’ll warn you. There just isn’t much going on, and what is going on either is stuff I’ve previously blogged about already, or it just isn’t that interesting.

Tomorrow’s Willie Nelson concert at the Orpheum has been postponed.

WREG has coverage of the march to end gun violence that happened Downtown yesterday.

Another vintage Memphis item has popped up on eBay. It’s an authentic 1980s Mud Island T-shirt. They’re asking $36.99 for it.

Shelby County Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph said Thursday that if you are in a crowd of 100 people in Shelby County, 3 or 4 of them could be infected with COVID-19. Those of you in the process of deciding whether to attend large family holiday gatherings or Friendsgiving events might want to keep that statistic in mind.

I still want to get a group together to Lyft down to Hernando’s Hideaway in Whitehaven to check out Chicken Shit Bingo one of these Sundays. Probably not gonna be today though.

Here’s the weekly link to James Aycock’s COVID week in review. Notable: In two weeks, we are on track to surpass our highest COVID numbers from the summer. Also notable: Thanksgiving, when lots of family gatherings will occur, is two weeks away.

Thanks to Rep. Steve Cohen for tweeting this video:

Ran out of clairol? pic.twitter.com/g6nearcfbA

— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) November 15, 2020

I had heard about it but hadn’t seen it. It appears that the Trumpster is no longer bothering to dye his hair orange. He knows it’s game over and just doesn’t care anymore. This is a sign of narcissistic collapse.

This could be why Trump’s mood is so glum: USA TODAY reports that Republican electors in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin won’t participate in a Trump-devised scheme to flip their states to vote for Trump.

The AP electoral map now has called North Carolina for Trump, making the race Biden 290, Trump 232 with 270 electoral votes needed to win and Georgia’s 16 electoral votes still unclaimed but leaning Biden.

Those who I talk to about my professional writing know that I’ve struggled to come up with an idea recipe. I finally hit it this morning, one that will allow me to generate a writing topic whenever I need. Pretty damn jazzed because I’ve been going through a major case of writer’s block since the beginning of October.

That’s it. Back tomorrow with more news.

I like doing Motivational Saturdays on my blog a lot more than Motivational Mondays. They may not have the alliteration but you can day-drink while you read my post.

Yesterday, I read another writer’s article and by the time I got done, I thought it far over-delivered on the value promised in the title. I commented. “Your article made me feel like I just got home from the fast-food restaurant and found an extra order of fries in my bag.”

That’s my challenge to you, my reader, for the coming week. Whatever it is you do, make someone feel like you gave them an extra order of fries.

The big news of the past 24 hours is that the Memphis Grizzlies will allow some fans in FedExForum for the NBA season that tips off December 22. FedExForum has published a list of policy changes that will allow it to successfully reopen in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes include a full move to paperless ticketing and only prepackaged individual concessions to be sold. Grizzlies game attendance is expected to be around 20% of building capacity.

For those ready to get in the Grizzlies spirit, Grizzly Bear Blues has a story on how the Grizzlies can benefit by helping other teams out of the luxury tax this season. Doing so last season led to the acquisition of Andre Iguodala and Dwight Howard, which the team eventually flipped for draft picks and assets.

If you want to be on the cutting edge of science, Memphians are sought to participate in a trial of a COVID-19 vaccine produced by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Would you believe there are no ranked vs. ranked college football games on today? Memphis-Navy, Bama-LSU, and Texas A&M-Tennessee are all postponed due to COVID outbreaks. That moved the Arkansas-Florida game into the 6 PM primetime spot on ESPN this evening. Should be a good game, and I’m hoping the Hogs will at least be competitive. I’m not forecasting an Arkansas win on the road by any means, though.

The MBJ has a look at Golden Hour, the new plant and home-goods store in the Pinch District.

There will be a two-mile walk against gun violence departing from Juvenile Court, 616 Adams, at 10 this morning. Dr. Haushalter, Shelby County health department director, has said gun violence is every bit as much a public health threat as illnesses.

Oh, FFS: Tropical Storm Iota forms. Haven’t we had enough of this?

All right, y’all ready to have a little fun?

It’s time to go through the entire Lexicon of Narcissism as seen through Donald Trump.

If you want to learn more about any term in bold in this post, pull up Quora and search for “narcissism (word or term)” and read the questions and answers that come back. You will get an education, that’s for sure.

Trump has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to feel empathy (for example, when he responded to John McCain by saying “I like people who weren’t captured”). That is one of the defining traits of a narcissist.

Narcissists initially love-bomb their targets by appearing as exactly the person the target wanted to see. Trump started love-bombing his base in 2012 with dubious claims that Obama wasn’t an American citizen. He continued with “some very fine people on both sides” (Charlottesville, 2017) and “proud boys, stand back and stand by.” (first debate, 2020) Usually the target of a narcissist is an individual, but with Trump it is the American people, or at least the subset of America that buys what Trump is selling.

Narcissists seek approval from those they admire. This can be seen in Trump’s interactions with Russia’s Putin, Turkey’s Erdogan, North Korea’s Kim.

Lies, lies, and more lies. See link

Exaggeration. It’s certainly probable that somewhere, in some county in the U.S., there was a voter who voted illegally on November 3. That kind of thing can never be stomped out 100%. Narcissists take something that has a tiny basis in truth and blow it up to massive proportions, as Trump is doing accusing Democrats of stealing the election.

Projection: As I mentioned yesterday, Trump is using every legal avenue to try to be deemed the winner of an election in which he likely won only 232 electoral votes with 270 needed to win. He’s trying to steal an election, so he accuses others of trying to steal an election. The best way to learn who a narcissist really is, is to listen to them talk about the people they disdain.

Moving the goalposts: This is how Trump has avoided paying so many contractors over the years. Once the work is complete, he lawyers up on them and claims the work was of shoddy quality, leaving them to go bankrupt fighting it out in court.

Gaslighting: Trying to get you to accept a false reality as true. Trump claiming he was on top of the COVID-19 pandemic from day one is a prime example of gaslighting.

Narcissists need constant sources of attention and admiration, known as supply. This is why Trump’s presidential daily briefings have been reduced to complimentary tweets and news articles and photos of him looking presidential.  Without constant supply, the narcissist will see his own reflection in the mirror and will go into a state of narcissistic collapse.

Types of narcissist:

• Overt / malignant – these narcissists are bold and completely open about who they are. They take pleasure in the suffering of perceived enemies and are unapologetic about it. If they know they have been called a “narcissist” they may well see it as a compliment, perceiving everyone else as weak, as losers.
• Covert – this type is much more likely to fly under the radar, because they tend to be wallflowers, your average Joe or Jane type, and can have a sense of humor that is self-deprecating at times.
• White Knight – this type spends a large amount of time in the service of others, but this is how they draw their supply. Fail to give them the attention and admiration they believe they’ve earned, and you find out real quick that you’re dealing with a narcissist.

Trump is without a doubt the overt type.

Flying monkeys are pawns of the narcissist, those enlisted (either knowingly or unknowingly) to do the narcissist’s dirty work. Rudy Giuliani is Trump’s most notable current flying monkey. Michael Cohen was a flying monkey when he was Trump’s “fixer.”

Narcissists are known to use baseless personal attacks to get their victims to respond emotionally and appear crazy or off-kilter. Trump tried this during the debates. It didn’t work.

Narcissists are known to abuse the legal system to keep things tilted in their favor. Wikipedia: List of lawsuits involving Donald Trump

Now, you ready for the scariest term of them all?

When a narcissist has no more use for a former source of supply, he discards them. A source of supply for a narcissist is usually an individual. For Trump, it’s the American people. If Trump truly understands he lost the election between now and January 20, he could discard America… while holding the nuclear football and pardon power. This is frightening.

One more:

Narcissists often come back later and try to hoover former sources of supply, try to suck them back in, try to re-entangle them in their web of deceit. That’s why Trump is leaving the door open for a 2024 run. It’s the beginning of a hoover.

Once again, if you want to learn more, spend some time on Quora. There is nothing that will make narcissists slither back under their rocks quicker than an educated public.

All right, that’s it for today. The MWN forecast is sunny with a high of 73, although the wind will kick up. If you stay out tonight, take a jacket because there’s a chance of rain. Back tomorrow with more news.