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So tonight I was hanging out on the rail at the Saucer, watching the one TV in there that carried the Tigers game (really guys?). One of my drinking buddies came in and asked, “Have you heard who’s headlining the Sunflower Blues Festival in Clarksdale this year?”

“What’s the Sunflower Blues Festival?” I replied. I had never heard of it.

He answered his own question instead of mine. “Robert Plant.”

No kidding. Here’s the info.

Downtown friends: A preliminary plan may be in the works to arrange transportation if you’re interested.

Everyone be sure to read the lead story in the Memphis Flyer this week, in which they put local bartenders to the test. MICHELE’S BASEBALL BAT GOT MENTIONED!!! The article states that Michele has a bat behind the bar at Max’s Sports Bar, but she keeps things under control and rarely has to use it. Heh. I remember her almost using it one day, when obnoxious customer Sweaty McDrippy decided he didn’t want to pay for a beer he ordered. Two other Downtown bartenders, Erin from the Monkey and Jeannette from the Blind Bear, were also put to the test.

Warning to those of you who take I-240: The cops are cracking down on speeders. There’s a debate whether this is being done to generate revenue or to actually control speeding. As someone who drives home on 240, from I-55 north to the midtown I-40 interchange, I can tell you the cops have a very good reason for cracking down. Lots of reckless drivers, lots of drivers who don’t care at all if they rear-end you if you don’t speed up and get out of their way. Lots of drivers who weave from the center lane into the left, then back across two lanes for a last-minute exit (usually the Lamar exit).

Felicia Suzanne’s is having a 4-course vegan and vegetarian dinner on Thursday, March 22. Courses are paired with sustainable wines. Details here.

The Redbirds will have an open practice Tuesday, April 3 at AutoZone Park from 11 AM to 2 PM. The public is invited to come watch. Free hot dogs, nachos, and soda. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

There’s another ticket giveaway going on for the River City Brewers Fest. See the Fuzzy Brew blog for details.

Teams to root against in conference tournaments this weekend: Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, New Mexico, Murray State, St. Mary’s, San Diego State, and Creighton. Why? Joe Lunardi of ESPN’s Bracketology has those teams projected as #6 and #7 seeds in the NCAA tournament. Memphis (projected 8 seed) stands to move up if those teams lose.

Plans for tonight: Drive home in the rain. Walk to a bar in the rain. Drink beer. Walk home from the bar in the rain.

At least I’m not sick anymore.

Back in the saddle today. Too much work to do to be sick any longer.

Are you a fan of bowties? The first-ever meeting of two local bowtie makers will happen today at Shelton Clothers from 4:30 to 5:30 PM. Moziah Bridges of Mo’s Bows will come and meet Randy Hanauer of Randy Hanauer’s Finishing Touches. Both will have swatches available so you can come and pick out your own custom bowtie.

Double J SmokeHouse and Saloon has announced their happy hour: 4-7 PM Monday-Friday, with all domestics $3, Ghost River $3, PBR $2. Lance Strode will take the stage Friday from 10 AM to 2 PM. You can check out a video of his here. They’re open for lunch too.

Want to live across the street from Gus’s Fried Chicken? You’ll soon have the chance. Investors are converting 347 S. Front, at Front and Talbot, into 20 loft-style units, and they plan to build 9 new townhomes. There will also be 750 SF of retail space. The MBJ has more details here.

If you missed my ticket giveaway to River City Brewers Festival last week, Jarman at 98.1 the Max is giving away tickets at 2:10 PM today. Listen to the station to find out how to win.

B.B. King’s is holding a fundraiser for server Gerald Jones. He’s fighting stage 4 T-cell lymphoma, and the club is raising money for chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. There are donation buckets on the stage, the three bars, and at the front door, and diners can also add a donation to their check. More info on the Flyer’s site. They’re accepting donations through Saturday, March 10.

Still not much better than yesterday. NyQuil seemed to help last night, but then I deteriorated through the day. Let’s get a quick post done then I’m going back to bed.

The Memphis Redbirds are demolishing their old video screen to make room for a new one. They’re posting photos of the demolition on Twitter @memphisredbirds.

I’ve received two confirmations for Downtown bars that will open early Saturday for the C-USA final, assuming Memphis is in: Max’s Sports Bar and Brass Door. Tiger game times, assuming they go through, are 6:30 Thursday (CBS Sports Network), 5:30 Friday (CBS Sports Network), 10:30 AM Saturday (CBS).

There’s a public meeting about the Harahan Bridge Project Monday the 12th, 5:30, Memphis College of Art, 477 S. Main. The meeting is to discuss an awesome plan to transform the Harahan Bridge, built in 1917 and taken out of commission in 1949 after the I-55 bridge was completed. The Harahan was a railroad bridge, but since the popularity of automobiles was on the rise, lanes were added on either side for cars. The Project wants to turn those side lanes, unused in 60 years, into pedestrian and bike pathways connecting Memphis and West Memphis.

Apologies that this post isn’t up to my usual writing style. Going to shoot some NyQuil, go to bed, and do my best to feel like going to work in the morning. Good luck to all my friends playing poker at the Blind Bear tonight.

I like it when blog material comes in that I can just copy and paste. I’m not feeling any better. Things I normally do that I haven’t done today: Shower, shave, eat, drink a Mountain Dew, go to work, go to a bar, check Twitter (until just now when I saw a get-well wish). Oh, and add sleep to that list, although I sure have been trying. Pretty sure this is the flu and I’d estimate my chances of making it to work in the morning at about 20%.

Anyway, here’s an email Diamond Dave send me about the Brass Door’s new schedule.

Hey Paul

Sorry I didn’t have all the details of this, this morning but as there
is no trivia this week it’s probably better being posted tomorrow to
avoid confusion. Feel free to add/take away from any of it or stagger
it.

Just saw you were ill to so I hope you feel better soon. Take care mate.

So here is the new schedule for the Brass Door.

Wednesdays is Wine Down Wednesday and Pint Night with $3 House Wine,
$3 Pints and $3 Wells.

Along with this Dave and Seamus are starting open mic nights down in
the Cavern at 8pm on Wednesdays. Any questions you can call Dave on
901-336-2738 but this is a great opportunity for musicians to get a
chance to play and test out songs, play covers or whatever they like.
The PA is set up along with a piano and a couple of instruments down
there so people can turn up and play.

Thursday is Jersey night so if you wear your Jersey you get happy hour
prices all night.

Starting Monday 12th of March at 7pm is Trivia Night hosted by Seamus
himself. Details of prizes and format to follow.

Sunday is Service Industry Night with $2 domestic pints and $2 wells (with ID)

The special event for this week is Diamond Dave’s birthday
extravaganza on Friday 9th March. This should be a fun night open to
everyone.

Kicking off at 7pm the night is going to include Dave blasting out
some of his favourite tunes, live music, a burlesque dancer and a fire
dancer from the Sock It To Me Burlesque troop. There also be cake from
Mid South Fair prize winner Michael Knox.

The event page is here so feel free to spread the word and check for updates

http://www.facebook.com/events/307618519301428/

I woke up this morning about 2:30 AM unable to stop coughing. I felt hot, and took my temperature – 100.8. I called in to work and have been in bed all day. Sorry for no lunchtime blog post and for not answering emails. I haven’t been in front of the computer since 8 this morning. My fever has since risen to the 102 range. This is either a bad cold, or a medium case of the flu, not sure which.

This was a terrible time to call in to work, because my backup on the company website is in India getting married. So the company has no webmaster. If the way I feel right now is the way I wake up feeling tomorrow morning, I’ll have no choice to but call in sick again.

It goes without saying that I won’t be at Pint Nite at the Saucer or poker at the Goose tonight. Even if I get to feeling better and go to work, I’m skipping poker tomorrow at Blind Bear. Out of respect for my opponents, I don’t want to be passing around cards with them in case I have anything contagious.

Going back to bed. I may try to do a Monday news post this evening, but don’t count on it.

If you came here expecting a recap of all the exciting things I did last night, you’re about to be disappointed. Last night I realized I hadn’t had a good, full night’s sleep free from alarm clocks in a long, long time. I decided to sacrifice my Saturday night to make that happen. If it had been a warm summer Saturday night I’d be mad at myself for that decision, but missing a chilly 45-degree night is not something I mind too much. It was so nice to wake up about 7 and not need or want to sleep any more. I feel fantastic today. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually kind of wish I was at work, because I would be on fire today. Oh well. I’ll be on fire for Sunday Fun Day instead.

Not much news to report today. One of Brass Door’s regulars told me they may start a pint night soon. If I hear more news about that I’ll post it. Also, I heard that not only Amanda will be dressing up in tiny green shorts at Bardog for St. Pat’s, but Jeannie as well. That certainly sounds like a better plan than going to Beale Street and looking at a stuffed goat on a platform.

Although, a note to new Memphians: If you haven’t seen The Raising of the Goat at Silky’s on St. Pat’s, you do need to go down there and see it at least once. There’s this stuffed goat. And they put it on a platform and raise the platform. And people drink. Yeah. Anyway, you’re not a Memphian until you’ve seen it.

I see that Double J SmokeHouse and Saloon has their website up. Check it out to see the menu, an entertainment schedule, and the story of how the place came to be. They have an article about Big Stamm’s Ribs which are served at the Double J. I also wasn’t aware they they have a party room that you can rent out which holds up to 150. They do catering too.

Congratulations to the Tigers on winning the Conference USA title outright with a thrashing of Tulsa yesterday. We’re the #1 seed in the Conference USA tournament this week. Even if we don’t win the tournament, we’re almost certainly an at-large team in the Big Dance.

Are any bars opening early for the C-USA final on Saturday, assuming Memphis makes it that far? The usual start time is 10:30 I think. If you’re opening early, shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll make a list. I’m going to have to figure out where I want to watch the game. I usually start Saturday at Bardog, but it doesn’t open until 12 and it isn’t the best venue for watching sports on TV.

My plan for today is to celebrate the fact that I don’t observe Lent. I can eat and drink whatever I want, and I will. I’ll kick it off at Majestic at 11 for mimosas. Unless I find a good reason to alter plans, probably Saucer and Bear after that.

My BBQ teammate Otto did. He got the BBQ sandwich. Here’s a pic.

“Damn fine sandwich,” he tweeted. He said he had some PBR with it and the total was only $9, which is a really good value. One of my other BBQ teammates posted a pic of a steak, baked potato, and asparagus that he ordered (sorry, forgot to ask him for permission to use it here) and it looked delicious too. I have got to get in there SOON and try their food. All these years, when tourists have asked me the best place to go Downtown for BBQ that’s walkable/trolleyable, I’ve always said Blues City. I have a feeling I may have a different recommendation after trying the vittles at the Double J.

I want to apologize to Jeff, John and everyone at the saloon for not making it by for opening night. The thing is, I’m just not a huge fan of opening night crowds. I prefer to try new places for the first time when they’re not too busy and I can enjoy the place and get a feel for it. Jeff and John have a ton of friends so I knew the Double J would be packed to the rafters last night. I started the evening at my usual happy hour spot, the Saucer, and was 50/50 on heading south. Then I overheard one of the most annoying people I’ve ever met say he was about to “check out the new spot,” and that was enough to convince me to wait for another night. Besides, I’d already seen the place at the meet & greet last Friday. Will be in there soon, I promise.

I texted friends who’d checked in at the Blind Bear and confirmed they’d be there for a while. As I drank my first beer, we started to hear reports of a dead horse at Main and Union. There were all kinds of rumors flying around that it had been hit by a trolley, by a car, etc. I told the doorman I’d be right back and walked that way.

Sure enough, there was a dead horse lying in the Union trolley stop. About 10 police cars were there and they had all of Main Street taped off at Union. It was one of the carriage horses that are used to give people tours of Downtown. It did not appear that the horse had been struck by a vehicle. There was a trolley waiting for Main to re-open, but it was a distance away.

I posted the news to Facebook. One of my Facebook friends, who is a carriage driver, said that she believed the horse had an aneurism. She said that he was one of the younger horses in the stable. Just like people sometimes die young – like that conservative/Tea Party guy who died of a heart attack at 43 earlier this week – sometimes horses die young too. Another of my Facebook friends, who works at the FedExForum, joined the conversation and offered a fork lift if they needed a way to move the horse. That may sound silly but I doubt Memphis has had a standard plan for horse removal since 1910 or so. Anyway, I thought that was an extremely classy move for the Forum folks to make that offer. They do a lot more to be good neighbors Downtown than most people realize.

I stayed at the Bear for a while, then timed my walk home to get to City Market just before close. They had Nawabi Gosh spicy beef in the prepacked food refrigerator. SCORE! I took it home and had a good late-night snack. I’ve decided that 11:30-midnight is the dead zone for eating in the Downtown core on the weekends – it’s the period when City Market is closed and Cockadoos has not yet opened. Of course, when I say that, I overlook the fact that there are a number of other good places to eat nearby that are open during that time frame.

Plans for today: None really, other than I need to stop by Tater Red’s. My NO BUMS shirt has a tear in it so I need a new one. Of course, there will be plenty of beer involved too, and possibly a trip south to Double J.

Attention artists: Work has begun on a walkable art experience in Downtown Memphis called “Unveil Downtown.” 20 artists will be given exhibit space in makeshift galleries in 20 active shops and restaurants for 20 days. Each selected artist will be able to exhibit and sell up to 10 pieces, and keep 100% of the proceeds. Artists will be required to donate one piece to the Downtown Neighborhood Association to be part of a silent auction. Artist proposals due March 23; selections made March 30. Silent auction May 25, and work will be exhibited June 1-20. More information here.

Itta Bena, the restaurant on the third floor of BB King’s, has posted photos of their food and of the restaurant’s elegant atmosphere. If you’ve never been in Itta Bena before, take a look at what you’ve been missing.

Double J SmokeHouse and Saloon is looking for a 1960s-70s Cadillac convertible. They want to put their logo and longhorns on it. If you know of one for sale, contact the saloon. If you don’t know how to contact the saloon, contact me (paul@paulryburn.com) and I’ll pass it on.

Ladies, if you’re not sports fans, here’s something you can do while your guys are watching the first night of March Madness. On Thursday, March 15, eighty3 will host Ladies Night In, a four-course dinner utilizing chocolate in every course. Here’s the menu:

Mole
Grilled shrimp basted in chocolate mole with crispy kohlrabi slaw on a mushu corn pancake

The Salad
White chocolate-topped scallop on raspberry-dressed micro greens

The Main
Mocha-crusted roasted beef tenderloin with bittersweet chocolate demi
Or
Pan-seared sea bass with white chocolate beurre blanc and sweet potatoes

The Flight
A tasting of chocolates (chili, salted and semi-sweet) with fresh berries and cheese

Cost is $59 per person. Make reservations for your group of friends by calling 901-333-1224 or visiting www.eighty3memphis.com. 83 Madison Ave.

If you’re a fan of the Chris Vernon Show on Yahoo! Sports 730, his first show for Sirius/XM will be Sunday night, 7-10 PM, on Sirius/XM College, channel 91. As with his main show, Roser will be the producer.

All right. After the day I’ve had, I deserve a BEER! Weather is looking like it will hold up, so I’ll try to make it south to Double J tonight.

The waiting is finally over. Today at 4 PM, Double J Smokehouse and Saloon opens its doors to the public. They’ll kick things off with an atmosphere of fun, excitement, great food, and cold beer. Demitrie and his staff will be in the kitchen, with Jeff and John on the smoker.

From 10 PM to 2 AM the Eddie Smith Band will play the Front Porch Stage with special guest Russell Scott. They were the band who played the meet & greet last Friday, and if you weren’t there, let me assure you, they were excellent. Also, you never know who might come up on stage to sit in with them.

Parking is not a problem. There’s street parking, the Double J lot, and at night there are plenty of spaces available in the nearby Civil Rights Museum lot.

Really excited to have this new venue. Not only will it be a place where the locals feel comfortable, but I suspect it will draw people from other parts of Memphis who otherwise wouldn’t come down here. I can even see it becoming a regional attraction.

As they said on their Facebook page, “Hollar and swallar!” Weather permitting, I’ll pop in there sometime tonight. If not tonight, sometime this weekend.