Category: Uncategorized

Support St. Jude Wednesdays at the Flying Saucer this month

A year or two ago, I posted about my friends Dennis and MaryPat who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for St. Jude. They are regulars at the Downtown Flying Saucer, and the Saucer was very supportive of their cause, helping them to raise well over $10,000.

So anyway, this morning I was looking at my notes in Evernote, thinking, “I have NOTHING to post today.” Well, I have one item that would be fine among 10 other items in a daily update post, but isn’t significant or time-sensitive enough to warrant a post of its own. “What am I going to do? I already took Monday off. If I skip posting multiple days in one week, people start to worry about me.”

Right about then, I checked my phone, and there was a text from MaryPat. She said to see a copied text from Brandey, one of the managers at the Saucer, and to help get the word out.

Dennis is embarking on a new adventure, planning to conquer Mt. Everest this time, once again to raise money for St. Jude. The Saucer stepped up to support. Every Wednesday at the Saucer is glass night, where you can buy a special glass to keep along with your beer, usually from a brewery that supplies the Saucer. For the entire month of September, beginning tonight, a portion of the sales of every Wednesday night glass will be donated to St. Jude. Glass night starts at 7 PM, although if you’re a Master of the Universe (5 plates or more) you can buy them earlier than 7.

The money goes straight to St. Jude and Dennis and MaryPat do not take a cut – it all goes to the kids. If you like beer and are looking for a way to support this great cause, come on out to the Saucer tonight or one of the next three Wednesdays.

Tuesday update

The Phantom returns to the Orpheum tonight as the theater’s 2018-19 Broadway season kicks off this week. Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to Phantom of the Opera, runs tonight through Sunday. It’s set 10 years later, and the Phantom has escaped the Paris Opera House and has made his way to New York. The Flyer’s Chris Davis has more on the musical.

Beale Street’s historic Hunt-Phelan House is on the market. The 5 bedroom, 10 bath mansion was built in 1828 and is selling for $3.5 million.

The official team store of Memphis 901 FC is now open for business online.

Airbnb has generated $650,000 for the city of Memphis in the first year since the city started charging a short-term room occupancy tax.

There’s a job opening at the Redbirds. They are looking for a Director of Premium Sales.

Local Gastropub posted that it will carry NFL Sunday ticket this year at both locations. There will be beer bucket specials as well as burger and wing specials. During brunch they have bottomless mimosas.

The National Civil Rights Museum will host a storytime for kids ages 2-5 tomorrow from 10:30 to 11:30 AM. The theme will be the Underground Railroad.

The Commercial Appeal has the story behind the Memphis Tigers football team’s pro wrestling-inspired turnover robe.

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward has a new book coming out about life in the Trump White House. I didn’t buy Omarosa’s book but I will probably buy this one.

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

Sunday update

I don’t do a whole lot of shots anymore, but yesterday I made an exception and I am glad I did.

Ole Smoky has a new flavor of moonshine out. This is Butter Pecan Pie Moonshine and it just may be the best shot I have ever had. So yummy. They have it at Bardog.

Memphis 901 FC posted video of a very successful exhibition soccer match at AutoZone Park last night.

The Mississippi River Monsters catfishing tournament kicks off at Bass Pro at the Pyramid this Friday, September 7. Winner gets a $30,000 Tracker Grizzly boat, motor and trailer.

A friend of mine mentioned that he tried to go to Tailors’ Union/The Pocket, the new Downtown speakeasy that will become a private club on September 14, but was denied entry because he had shorts on. Keep that in mind if you plan a visit to the place. I wonder if the private club concept is going to make it in Memphis. I have heard almost no buzz about it in the circles in which I run. I personally have no interest in joining.

Check out Bluff City Coffee’s Sandwich of the Month for September:

I don’t know if I have any vegetarians who read this blog, but if I do, you could take a class at Downtown Yoga and then have a short walk up the street to Bluff City for this sandwich.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra, widely considered the most successful big band of all time, will perform at the Orpheum on Friday, February 8, 2019. Tickets are on sale now.

The New York Times has an interesting interactive article: How much hotter is your hometown than when you were born? I entered the place where I was born, Little Rock, Arkansas, and my year of birth. When I was born Little Rock averaged 59 days a year with temperatures of 90 degrees or higher. As of 2018 Little Rock averages 80 days with temps above 90. By the time I’m 80 years old, Little Rock is forecast to have a range of 81 to 112 days with temps above 90, with the most likely scenario being 103 days.

High Ground News has an article on the art of local craft beer. Breweries work with designers to come up with attractive can art that catches the eye of potential customers.

A new riverboat will launch at Beale Street Landing next month with cruises to New Orleans.

Most of my readers have tomorrow off, I would assume. If you’re trying to figure out what to do on a Sunday when you can stay out late, my suggestion would be to catch FreeWorld’s weekly gig at the Blues City Band Box on Beale. This is where they have the freedom to jam and do their most creative stuff, and the entire band is there, rather than Kaleidoscope or KaleidoWorld which are subsets of the band’s members. Showtime is 9:00 I believe. Might be a good idea to get there at 8 and have some Southern grub at Blues City Cafe next door.

Time to talk college football

Memphis 66, Mercer 14

The Tigers scored a record 56 points in the first half and must have put their third string and walk-ons in for the second – a smart coaching move even if it meant Memphis didn’t run up the score much more. This was a feel-good win that fired up the Tiger fan base, but let’s face it – this is what it’s supposed to look like when you face an FCS opponent. We won’t know if Memphis is truly good until next week’s road game vs. Navy. A win there and the Tigers belong in the Top 25 and can look toward another 10-win season and giving Boise State a run for its money as the best in the Group of Five.

By the way, I love the Ric Flair-inspired turnover robe that players get to put on after forcing a turnover. Whooooooo! It’s a heck of a lot better than a trash can.

Arkansas 55, Eastern Illinois 20

Same as above. The Hogs are supposed to blow out cupcake opponents, and they did. The Razorbacks have a ridiculously easy nonconference schedule, the toughest opponent being Tulsa. They’ll get 4 wins out of that. Can they get two more against SEC opponents and get bowl eligible? And how far has this program fallen where 6 wins and an appearance in the Taxslayer Bowl a desirable result?

West Virginia 40, Tennessee 14

Thank you, thank you, thank you to good ole West Virginny! There is nothing I hate worse than the Vols going on a winning streak the first few games, and we have to hear “IT’S GONNNN BEEEE ARRRRRR YEEEEAAARRRRRR” from their idiot fans. A loss to the Mountaineers will shut them up. Well, it will shut them up until they beat Eastern Tennessee State and UTEP, after which they’ll start going, “Well, hail, son, ’em one-loss teams, they get to the playoffs all the time! Hail yeah, all we got to do is run the table and we’re in! IT’S GONNNN BEEEE ARRRRRR YEEEEAAARRRRRR!” Then Florida will beat them by 21 and Tennessee fans will slither back under their rocks until 2019.

If you don’t want to read about politics, you can go now

A week ago I posted that some of my best Twitter sources indicated that it would rain indictments this past week (August 27-31), with the two biggest names to be indicted being Roger Stone and Don Jr. That didn’t happen. My sources say that’s because indictments at that level would have taken the spotlight off remembering an American hero, John McCain. They pushed back a week until his funeral was over. Tuesday and Wednesday could be wild days. They want to get this done no less than 60 days before the midterm elections. 60 days would be this Thursday.

Prediction: This will be the week Trump goes absolutely batshit, not only on Twitter, but on a live mic. Crazy to the point that even Republicans will start wondering if he is mentally healthy enough to be president. In my opinion, that discussion should have started when he referred to white supremacists as “some very fine people,” but better now than never.

U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen will host a town hall at Rhodes College on September 13. This was originally set to be a debate against his opponent, Marsha Blackburn, but Blackburn is too much of a coward to face the people who would be her West Tennessee constituents if she wins the seat.

All right. That’ll do it for now. Back tomorrow with more news.

Saturday update: Memphis 901 FC and more news

USL’s new soccer team in Memphis, debuting in 2019, has a name as of 9:01 this morning: Memphis 901 FC. The Memphis metro has long been referred to as “the 901” by Memphians, and I can’t think of a more appropriate name for the new team. The exhibition match featuring the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer (with Tim Howard) vs. the USL’s Tulsa Roughnecks FC is tonight at 7 at AutoZone Park. Pre-match alley party this afternoon nearby at the Brass Door.

I’m really happy for the Door. There have been times when they have struggled to get business, not through any fault of their own but because Monroe has long been perceived as the northern boundary of the scene in the Downtown core. Now Brass Door is going to be Memphis’ soccer pub. I don’t think Seamus and the staff there will have any problem packing the place now that professional soccer is here.

Here’s a photo that illustrates my distaste for the Bird scooters.

See it? This was taken about 3 PM at the Silly Goose. I can easily see someone going outside to take a phone call, walking down the steps, and tripping over that Bird.

It’s not that I think the Birds are inherently bad, and I wouldn’t be in favor of banning them as Nashville did. They help a lot of people get where they need to go, faster, without using a car, and in a very affordable fashion. It’s just that Memphis has a lot of careless, inconsiderate people, which leads to situations like the one photographed above.

In other Silly Goose news, the new patio is ready:

This is a second patio, in addition to the one they have always had. It is across the sidewalk from the original patio. It was installed to make up for the patio area lost when the pedestrian promenade on Peabody Place was removed. The patio space is necessary because the Goose will lose part of its original patio, as the kitchen expands to incorporate a new $65,000 pizza oven.

Over at the Goose’s sibling restaurant Pontotoc Lounge, there are some great lunch deals going on.

Mississippi pot roast. Get it. I haven’t had the cheeseburger yet but everyone I know who has tried it loves it. Any of those are a screaming value at $6.

Last night I went to South Main Trolley Night, and I mean, I actually walked around and visited the shops of South Main, rather than just sitting in Max’s Sports Bar all evening. I stopped by Stock & Belle because they always have great snacks. After that I wandered down to the 409 South Main food hall where the City Block butcher shop was open for business. I asked if I could take a photo of their case in order to show my readers what they’ve got. (Click for a larger size)

I did make a brief stop at Max’s Sports Bar, where I confirmed he will have the Arkansas-East Illinois game on today at 3. Got a stop at Nate’s bar at Earnestine & Hazel’s in too.

We have an opening date for the Germantown Trader Joe’s grocery: September 14. For those of you who have never been inside a Trader Joe’s, it is worth the drive out there. Great wine, great chocolate, great frozen food selection, great place to get ingredients if you like to cook.

This week, friends and I were discussing where Trader Joe’s might open a second Memphis location, and I have an idea for the perfect spot: There’s a building at Tennessee St. and Huling Ave. that formerly housed a Spaghetti Warehouse. It’s just about the size of the Trader Joe’s locations I have been to, and there is ample surface parking. That area of Downtown is about to go through a boom phase, with a hotel and a Malco movie theater going in nearby on G.E. Patterson. The Tennessee Brewery apartments right down the street are opening at full occupancy. The National Civil Rights Museum draws plenty of visitors to the area. The location is a short drive from Midtown, home to many vegetarians who would embrace Trader Joe’s.

I know Trader Joe’s corporate officials will be in town this month for the Germantown opening, and if any of my readers have connections to those officials, please pass along this offer: I would like to give you a tour of Downtown, and particularly the area within walking distance  of Tennessee and Huling. I would like to tell you why I love the area and can’t imagine living anywhere else. I would also like to explain to you why Trader Joe’s would be a natural fit for the neighborhood. I’d also be happy to address any criticisms you have heard about Downtown from the folks out in Germantown or elsewhere. Just to make it clear, I do not get paid to do this. I am not part of a marketing department that promotes Downtown. I am just a guy who has paid rent down here for 16+ years and who discovered the place where he best fits in. For that reason I think I am the ideal person to show you around. Hit me up at paul@paulryburn.com if you want to schedule a time.

College Football Saturday! Memphis opens with a home game against Mercer at the Liberty Bowl today at 6. Bet the tailgating at Tiger Lane will be off the chain this afternoon. Got a couple of games today where I will be cheering against the SEC. I’ll be rooting for Texas Tech against Ole Miss at 11 this morning. At 2:30 Tennessee hosts good ole West Virginny. Almost – almost – all WVU fans I’ve met have been extremely nice and down to earth, including a couple of my BBQ teammates. As for the Vols, I remember the night of Veterans’ Day 2016, when a very drunk Vols fan kept repeating an extremely vulgar two-word nickname (including a slang term for a part of the female body) he privately had for a female who hangs out with his group of friends. That kind of sums up my impression of UT fans. So I’ll root for the Mountaineers. Of course, it goes without saying that I will root for my Hogs against Eastern Illinois. Please don’t blow this, Arkansas.

I have a few more news items, but they’re not time sensitive, so I am going to defer them until tomorrow. See you then with more news.

Friday update

Yesterday I saw something I’ve never seen before. I was driving back from a grocery run at the Poplar-Cleveland Kroger. Just west of Manassas, there were UT Health Science Center police with radar guns, clocking eastbound traffic on Poplar. Can they really pull people over and write tickets for speeding on a public street that is not a part of their campus?

Oh dear Lord… the Bird scooters are back in the news, and not in a good way. Every night, people who want to make a little extra money can pick the Birds up and take them home to charge overnight, then put them back out on the streets. They make a small fee for each scooter charged. So Monday night, three people were collecting scooters near B.B. King and Madison, when a woman pulled up next to them, blocking their vehicle with hers. She pulled a gun and demanded they let her have the scooters. She was ID’d in a lineup and charged with two counts of aggravated assault.

Tonight is Toast the 901 at Old Dominick Distillery. It’s close enough to South Main Trolley Night where you could easily do both if you choose.

New Wing Order has created a Facebook event for their Downtown grand opening. The food truck will be at Ghost River from 4 to 8 on Saturday, September 8. View the food truck menu

Sunrise Memphis, with the help of Central BBQ, is celebrating 9/01 Day tomorrow with some special menu items. They’ll have a combo of a Central BBQ biscuit, hash browns, and coffee for $9.01. They’ll also have a Central BBQ burrito and Central BBQ avocado toast.

The Redbirds playoff game next Friday, September 7, will be a Bark in the Park game. $15 gets you and your dog in, and you also get a free hot dog, soda, Redbirds hat, and a Hollywood Feed goodie bag.

Grizzlies rookie Jaren Jackson Jr. has signed an endorsement deal with Nike.

Wiseacre Brewing Co. recently bought some Zuper Saaz hops, and decided to get an extra 30 pounds in case any home brewers want to give the hops a try. $7 a pound, on sale starting at 1 PM today until they run out. It’s BYOB (bring your own bag).

Phillip Ashley Chocolates and Whiskey Church Productions LLC are hosting The United States of Whiskey: A Chocolate Tasting on Saturday, November 17. You’ll be guided through 9 whiskeys paired with 9 chocolates. You’ll also get a cocktail hour with hors d’oeurves, a tour of the distillery, plus a bottle of whiskey and a chocolate gift to take home.

Ghost River’s Get Lit Book Club book of the month for September is Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. The book will be discussed Thursday, September 20 at Ghost River’s taproom. Nice to see one of our local breweries having success with a book club!

Did you notice a blimp flying over Downtown this week? It’s a Carnival Cruise promotion, but it’s also a fundraiser for St. Jude. Use the hashtag #ChooseFun on Facebook, Instragram, or Twitter, and Carnival will make a donation to St. Jude.

Sooner or later, one of the local breweries had to make a beer called Malfunction Junction. Crosstown Brewing Co. did. Bardog Tavern currently has it on tap.

You can buy right-field bluff tickets for tomorrow’s soccer exhibition at AutoZone Park for $9.01.

This is your brain on PBR and Jameson: Last night I posted to Facebook that more bars and restaurants need to carry green bean casserole as a side. If a lot of people don’t eat the green bean casserole, that’s fine, they can give it to me to take home at the end of the night.

Anyone else read the Daily Beast on your phone, and it drains your battery? I watch a percent tick off about every 10 seconds. It’s getting to the point where I have to make a “read later” note in Evernote and throw the URL to the article in there. Daily Beast mobile is just so overloaded with ads ‘n crap that it’s not worth the loss of battery life to read. Too bad because they write some really good stuff.

KFC will pay you $11,000 if you name your baby Harland after founder Colonel Sanders.

Visit us, just for the grill of it is the theme at the Memphis Farmers Market this Saturday. The market is the place to pick up meats, seafood, and veggies to throw on the grill for Labor Day. UTC College of Pharmacy students will be there dispelling “are they safe” questions about over-the-counter drugs. They will have interactive games to make the experience fun. The kids’ crafts corral (8 AM-noon) will be the place where kids learn which farm animals labor to provide us with nutritious food. Miss Sue with the Cossitt Library will be there with Labor Day reading recommendations for the kids. Want to volunteer for the Market’s fundraiser, Farm Fest, at 409 S. Main on Sunday, September 30? Stop by the information booth at the Market tomorrow and sign up.

Okay, if you don’t want to read what I have to say about politics, you can leave now… but I hope you’ll stick around.

Yesterday President Trump, with the support of House Republicans, announced the cancellation of a 2.1% cost of living raise for nearly 2 million federal workers. Trump cited budgetary concerns. Wait a minute… there was room in the budget for $1.5 trillion for tax cuts to the very wealthy, but there wasn’t room for a small increase for the average Joes and Janes who go to work every day to keep our government running?

Not to mention that those tax cuts for the wealthy are massively ballooning our deficit, although Trump lies and says they are not. Not that it matters to Trump… the next generation will be the one that has to deal with the deficit problem. By then he will have died of causes related to dementia, or he will have been whacked by the Russian mob because he couldn’t accomplish what they told him to do as President, or he will be imprisoned for life thanks to Mueller.

“With the support of House Republicans”… you all should remember that Marsha Blackburn is currently a House Republican. If it makes you mad that she’ll vote to make the rich richer but take money away from common folks like you and me, you need to get to the polls in November (or October if you early vote) and pull the lever for Phil Bredesen. Marsha is a lot like the Grinch who stole Christmas in that her heart is three sizes too small.

I remember a federal worker, on the day after Trump “won” the election (with Russia tallying up more assists than Mike Conley that night), was going on and on about how “when Trump gets in office, we’re going to start seeing the de-wussification of America.” Is this pay raise cancellation the kind of thing you were talking about?

Mad Dog Pac is selling Traitor Tot balloons for $20. Traitor Tot… that’s the best nickname for Trump I’ve seen yet.

Great Twitter account to follow: @LincolnsBible. Lincoln’s Bible has an excellent view on the Trump family’s ties to the mob. I have read that if you do construction in Manhattan worth more than $2 million, you pretty much have to do business with the mob. You have no choice. You do it or your building somehow doesn’t get built.

Lincoln’s Bible claims that the Trump family company has been mobbed up since the 1950s when The Prime Minister of the Underworld, Frank Costello, was the acting boss of the then-Luciano crime family. When Costello retired in 1957, it became the Genovese crime family. In a sense you could say Donald Trump was born into the mob lifestyle… and so were Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. (Thankfully Marla Maples has done a good job keeping Tiffany away,) When Trump became president of his father’s company in 1971, it was so mobbed up that he couldn’t change if he wanted to (and he didn’t want to – he wanted to get rich).

The Genoveses suffered a major blow in the 1990s when family boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante was convicted on RICO charges and sent to prison along with the other La Cosa Nostra bosses. At that point the Russian mob swooped in and took over, and the Trump Org has been tied to the Russian mob ever since. That’s how Trump came back from bankruptcy, using Russian money to crawl his way back at a time when no principled banker would loan him a dime. Trump was attractive to Russians because he’s a developer of real estate and casinos, both great places to launder  money.

Just some stuff to think about. Okay, if I were working, I would knock off early to start the Labor Day weekend. So I think I will knock off early today. There’s a seat at Bardog calling my name. Back tomorrow with more news.

Thursday update

The 2019 Battle of the Birds has been announced. The St. Louis Cardinals will travel to Memphis to play the Redbirds in an exhibition game on March 25, 2019. Ticket information is coming soon.

The new Lowes convention center hotel, proposed to be built on Civic Center Plaza a block from the Cook Convention Center, will look like a sleek and modern glass tower that will be a nice addition to the Downtown Memphis skyline.

Don’t forget that tonight is Exposure Memphis at AutoZone Park, 6 to 8 PM. Learn about 150 Memphis organizations and watch some celebrity kickball.

Memphis Entrepreneur Club will host a Memphis Entrepreneur Mastermind at Stock & Belle, 387 S. Main, on October 1.

Southwest Airlines is adding new daily nonstop flights from Memphis to Denver. Start date is October 3.

There will be free wrestling in Handy Park a week from today, Thursday, September 6. Dustin “Five” Starr vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler will be the main event.

FiveThirtyEight now has statistical forecasts for every House race. Rep. Steve Cohen is projected at greater than 99% to retain his seat.

I made a second post yesterday, so if you haven’t read it keep scrolling. It’s about how helpful the Tennessee Department of Labor website is for job seekers, even those with graduate degrees and years of professional experience. I’ve been told it’s already helped one person. Back tomorrow with more news.

Wed update #2 – tip for job hunters

Six weeks ago, my position got eliminated, and since then I have been job hunting – I have to admit, half-heartedly at times. Recently a friend of mine who is a manager at the Tennessee Department of Labor said, “Hey Pauly, shoot me a resume when you get a chance. I’ll get it in the hands of my specialist and we’ll see if we can find you something.”

I never thought about going through the Tennessee Department of Labor to look for a job, but my friend knows what he’s talking about, so I emailed him a resume.

Two days later, a specialist from the department contacted me and introduced himself. He asked me to create a profile on jobs4tn.gov because that was where employers would contact me. I did, although it took me a little while, because for some reason I had the “tn” and “jobs” part of the website address transposed in my head.  The specialist also asked me to specify the minimum salary I was looking for, so he could weed out any positions that did not meet my requirements. He was real friendly and told me he looked forward to working with me.

I replied back that I was looking for a minimum of $_____, although I might be willing to come down off that number a bit if there were unusual perks like the ability to work remotely part of the time. “Gotcha!” he replied.

A couple of days passed by, and he emailed to ask if I’d ever worked with Azure. I told him I had not, although I knew it was a cloud computing platform and I had worked with Amazon’s AWS before.  “Argh,” I thought. “Looks like he only had one job I might be qualified for, and now I have to tell him I don’t have the skill set for even that one.”

Then about a half hour later, I had another email come in. “Notice of Job Referral(s) Made.” Maybe he referred me for that one job, I thought, and told them I have cloud experience, not just Azure.

I logged into jobs4tn.gov and found the Message Center – which took me a minute to find. They offer a lot of services! They can help you with resume writing, a career plan, all kinds of stuff. I was very impressed.

I clicked the Message Center link and found that my resume had been referred to TEN companies! The positions for which those companies were looking to fill were good positions too. In addition, my specialist when looking over my resume picked up on the fact that I had experience in marketing in addition to IT, and referred my resume to several hiring managers looking for skills that cross over between the two fields.

I have to admit, when I’ve been looking before, I never thought of going to the Tennessee Department of Labor. I thought, that’s where people with GEDs go to find a job bagging groceries or paving streets. I was wrong! Well, I’m sure those kinds of jobs are there, but there are jobs for people like me with a Master’s and 10+ years of experience too. I got more leads from working with them than I have the entire 6 weeks I have been looking. If you ever find yourself hunting for a job, don’t hesitate to go to jobs4tn.gov and fill out a profile and upload a resume. They really look out for you there and are serious about wanting to help Tennesseans find work.

I can’t resist a side note before I go, an idea I had as I was typing about “unusual perks” above. There needs to be a job hunting website where employers post photos of the workspace in which the person hired will be working. To me, and I know to many others, it matters a lot. Show me a photo of a cubicle with walls at least 6 feet high on all sides (glass panes and other transparent materials don’t count toward the height) and that’s a plus. Show me a photo of a private office and that’s a plus-plus. Tell me my office is my home, a coffee shop or wherever I choose and that’s a plus-plus-plus.

Show me something that looks like the recent GEICO commercial where the meerkats are all popping their heads up in their cubicles – I’ll still apply, because that’s how most offices are these days, but I’ll be a little less enthusiastic.

I know some Start Co. people read this blog – if any of you entrepreneurs want to take up this job hunting site idea and run with it, feel free.

Anyway, just wanted to pass this info along. Back tomorrow with more news.

Wednesday update

My apologies for the lack of a post yesterday! My air conditioner wasn’t running well. I don’t really like being in my apartment when maintenance people are in there, so I took a shower, reported the problem, and then got out of the apartment for the day as quickly as I could.

The conversion at AutoZone Park has begun, transforming the park from a baseball field into a soccer pitch for Saturday’s exhibition game between Tim Howard’s Colorado Rapids and the USL’s Tulsa Roughnecks FC this Saturday. If they are going to have baseball and soccer games in the same time frame next year, I wonder what the turnaround time will be on the conversion? I imagine it’s not as simple as pulling up the Tigers floor and putting down the Grizzlies floor at FedExForum.

Buy tickets to Saturday’s game here. Start time is 7 PM. Memphis USL supporters the Bluff City Mafia are having a prematch party at the Brass Door at 2 Saturday.

In other Memphis sports news, G-League team the Memphis Hustle has announced their regular season schedule.

King Jerry Lawler’s Bar and Grill on Beale will be closed today and will reopen tomorrow, August 30. I don’t know the reason for the closure but I saw a tweet from Randy Hales saying he is no longer the GM of the restaurant. I hope they find somebody who can replace Randy’s deep knowledge of Memphis wrestling. Too bad I don’t know how to run a restaurant, or I would apply!

Yesterday the City Council voted to approve a variance that will allow a surface parking lot at Main and Beale, where the Tri-State Bank used to be. Belz owns that property and originally planned to put a hotel there, but with the recent spurt of hotel construction in the Downtown core they don’t feel the timing is ideal. The variance is for 10 years and can be extended another 5, giving Belz time to figure out the best use of the property. The Orpheum was a supporter, citing the need for more parking, although the Downtown Memphis Commission opposed, saying a surface lot in that location did not fit the master plan for Downtown.

Skate night is back at Tom Lee Park this Friday at 7:30 PM for River Glow Night. Skate rental is free.

The Memphis Union Mission has some rare opportunities for teams of people to volunteer to provide and prepare meals in the Men’s Emergency Shelter on various dates in 2019.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Live on Stage will come to the Orpheum on December 15. Tickets will go on sale this Friday.

Congratulations to Redbirds manager Stubby Clapp on being named the Pacific Coast League’s Manager of the Year for the second year in a row. It’s great for Memphis, but also possibly dangerous… Major League Baseball teams are paying attention to his success here and one of them may poach him away to manage their team. Then again, the Redbirds have a great record of grooming managers, as former ‘birds manager Mike Shildt had “interim” title removed and was named manager of the Cardinals yesterday.

The Flyer’s Michael Donahue has photos from Monroe Avenue Fest including the meatball eating contest.

From the Memphis Daily News: Bike share coincides with city’s 901 identity

The Broom Closet at 546 S. Main has announced that it has tarot readers on site every Friday and Saturday from noon to 6, and readings can be arranged on other days by appointment.

The world’s first beer hotel opened this week in Columbus, Ohio.

For those of you who have been missing beer on draft at the Blind Bear, it’s back. They got a new kegerator installed and are now pouring beers, including some locally made beers, from 5 taps. They are also making some other upgrades. The poker tables have been re-felted with some snazzy new purple felt. Next week they are getting a new pool table which will also have purple felt.

I had a very happy troll last night when her favorite candy showed up at the Blind Bear.

A quick poker story

I haven’t played bar poker in about a year, but Monday I decided to play the Silly Goose’s weekly 8:30 Texas hold’em game. I won a hand early on, bumping my initial 5000 stack up to 7200. Later, at blinds of 400/800, I was second to act, with my right-hand opponent folding to me. I looked at my cards.

My hand: Queen-Queen

With the third best starting hand in Texas Hold’em, I was quite happy to play. I bet 2500, slightly more than a third of my stack. By betting that amount I was more or less committing to go all the way with the hand.

Three people called. ARGH! Pocket pairs do not play well in multi-way pots. I was hoping with my strong bet of more than 3 times the big blind, combined with early position, people would believe I had something and I would get only one call. Even zero calls, picking up the 1200 in the pot, would have been acceptable. But this is bar poker and people call with a wide array of hands.

The flop: Ace-King-Ten (two spades, one club)

ARGH again! This is just about the worst flop possible for my hand. Two overcards, a flush draw, and if QJ is out it already has a very strong made hand.

I decided my best option was to represent that I liked the flop. Representing strength in early position before the flop, AA, KK and AK would all be within my range of hands, giving me a set or two pair. All the poker players at the table were regulars and skilled enough to know I didn’t have QJ.

I decided to take my chances and went all in for 4700.

My left-hand opponent called – I would not be surprised if I had a tell when I saw the flop, having been out of practice playing for a year. She had AJ for top pair. Turn and river were no help and I was out. Stupid overcards!

Now I’m looking back wondering if I played the hand right. I could have check-folded that bad flop, but it would have left me with less than 6 big blinds, putting me in a pretty desperate position. I think, given my pre-flop bet, I had no choice but to go all the way.

The trouble with the way I played the hand was, I was forcing my opponents to bet 4700 for a chance to win 15,900 (2500 times four plus my post-flop bet plus the blinds). That gives them more than 3-to-1 odds, and if they have anything they should probably call.

I think what I should have done was shoved the entire 7200 pre-flop. Shoving 9 big blinds is not ridiculous, and it would have communicated strength in a way a 3 big blind bet does not in bar poker.

Okay, that’ll do it for this post. Back tomorrow with more news.

Monday update: Beale street fight, Adam Wainwright pitching tonight, more

I love to use this blog to promote all that is good about Downtown Memphis, to get people from other parts of the city and people from other places to come down here and experience my neighborhood. Occasionally, though, I have to go negative. I regret that this is one of those days.

About 2:45 AM Saturday night/Sunday morning, a large brawl broke out on Beale Street between Rum Boogie and Silky’s. It resulted in a man being stabbed.

Think of all the tourists on the street who witnessed the fight and got the impression that, this is Memphis.

Go to YouTube and search for “Beale Street Fight.” You’ll find plenty to watch, and I don’t mean just this past weekend’s fight.

I hope this serves as an impetus for the City Council to implement the security recommendations for Beale in a recent consultant’s study. Reinstating Beale Street Bucks won’t eliminate all fights on the street, but it would decrease their likelihood. Former DMC president Paul Morris:

Also, we need more police officers on Beale. I don’t mean officers sitting in the comfort of their air-conditioned squad cars at the intersection of Beale and B.B. King. I mean officers on foot, visible, actively deterring crime. I know the force has been stretched thin lately, but with Mayor Strickland turning the numbers around and more graduating from the police academy, I hope this can be addressed in the coming years.

On to better news: St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has been sent to the Redbirds on a rehab assignment. He will pitch for Memphis in tonight’s final regular season home game at AutoZone Park. First pitch is 6:35. Get a ticket to the game that includes a Waino bobblehead here. 

Over the weekend, the Redbirds clinched their division title, the second in two years.

Grizzlies announcer Pete Pranica announced a change of plans. Instead of being sent to India to train local basketball announcers, he will be sent to Japan.

Sources I follow in the intelligence community suggest that Donald Trump’s eldest spawn Don Jr. might get indicted this week.

From what I’ve read, Ivanka and Eric will eventually be indicted too, but not before the midterm elections.

Usually, when a statesman with the stature of John McCain passes away, the flags at the White House are ordered to be flown at half staff. However, because Trump is a bitter, petty man who hated McCain, the flags remain at full staff today. Tea Pain had this to say about Trump’s decision:

That’s it for now. Back tomorrow with more

Goodbye to a true patriot / Sunday news

America lost a true hero, a man of service and principles yesterday, as Senator John McCain succumbed to brain cancer. McCain was a man who always put America’s best interests ahead of his own, in an era where too many politicians do the opposite. The Daily Beast has an excellent tribute to McCain’s life of service.

So now the Republican governor of Arizona will appoint someone to fill the seat until the next election cycle. Seems to me that the perfect way to honor The Maverick would be to appoint his daughter, Meghan McCain. Only thing is, I’m not sure she’s a resident of the state of Arizona.

Minh Nguyen has been named the new chef at Bleu, the restaurant in the Westin Hotel. Minh has some exciting ideas for “new sushi,” rolled with African couscous rather than traditional white rice. He also has ideas for cooking fish sous vide.

901 Day will be celebrated a day early at South Main Trolley Night this Friday. Come out and hang with your neighbors as most of the shops stay open until 9 or later.

The DNA is having a party on the Mississippi Sunday, September 16. From 3 to 5 there will be a day party on Beale Street Landing with a DJ, a drumline, four food trucks and a mobile bar truck, and a silent auction. At 5:30 there will be a riverboat cruise. $25 in advance until September 15, $30 at the dock.

There will be a Double J reunion Sunday, October 6 at The Vault. The Facebook post linked here is public, so please share with anyone who worked at, or was a regular of, the Double J.

After a year off, it’s back – the Memphis Grilled Cheese Fest will happen at the Hi-Tone starting at noon Sunday, November 4. Teams will compete to see who cooks the best grilled cheese sandwich in Memphis. In a year in which several food festivals have fallen by the wayside, I’m glad to see this one back on the calendar.

Definitely not a trend in which I will take a part, but there’s a company that makes lingerie for men. I remember how excited my friend Mary got when I told her about the upcoming Memphis Yoga Fest a couple of days ago. I bet my friends Rahul and Tony get equally excited about this piece of news.

I was surfing Kooky Canuck’s menu online yesterday and noticed that you can get beef stroganoff as a side. Not too often do you see a dish with meat in it offered as a side at restaurants.

That’s it for now. Going to work on my non-blog writing project for a bit then head out to brunch at 11. Back tomorrow with more news.