Category: Uncategorized

There was an article in the Commercial Appeal today about South Main being the most likely area for Artspace, a project that has been successful in other cities but has not yet made its way to Memphis. The goal of Artspace is to provide live/work spaces for artists in the community at affordable rents. With several galleries and Memphis College of Art already in South Main, the area would be perfect for this kind of development. Check out the article for more info about Artspace.

Shelton Clothiers has announced that they and Christine’s by Shelton Clothiers will be open both Saturday (10-6) and Sunday (1-5) this weekend. (Normally they’re not open on Sunday). If you come by either day, they’ll have Bloody Marys and mimosas for you, and Sunday they’ll be serving a light brunch. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. They’ll have storewide specials and free gift wrap, so come on by and support a local business for your holiday shopping.

If you can’t make it, this weekend, call them with your shopping list and they’ll deliver. Number is 901-522-9995 for Shelton, 901-791-2192 for Christine’s.

If you have kids, the Redbirds have a good deal. Kids can join Rockey’s Kids Club for $10. That gets them bluff seating to 11 Sunday games for the 2011 season, a T-shirt, 5 Boardwalk tokens, and fun activities at each game. The club also gets to lead the Sunday post-game running of the bases. Some of the fun Sunday activities include an Easter egg hunt, free Popsicle day, and the chance to high-five the Redbirds players while running the bases. Click this link to sign up for Rockey’s club.

Wow I’ve posted a lot of stuff for kids lately… when did this turn into a family-friendly blog? Not sure I like that. Time to start drunk posting again I guess.

The Hungry Memphis blog posted this pic of brisket pizza at Frank’s Deli on South Main. $1.50 for that slice? That’s worth a walk down there, even in the cold.

YoLo out in East Memphis is donating 10% of its proceeds today to MIFA. If you’ve never tried YoLo before, this would be an excellent day to do it!

If you want a list of must-do Memphis venues and events composed by locals, there’s a #MemphisBucketList thread on Twitter right now.

Plans for tonight… hmmm really not sure. It’s a little cold to walk or trolley to poker at Max’s Sports Bar, and poker at Bar None doesn’t start until next week. Probably I’ll just hit the Saucer as usual to start, then go from there.

I saw a very interesting post by Bar None, the new chef’s pub in the former Downtown Circa location, this afternoon. Here’s what it said, with the most interesting part (to me, anyway), highlighted for emphasis.

“Happy hour from 4-7! Check our our terrific menu, too! $4 well drinks, $1 off all beers and $5 house wine.. Poker night in private room on Thursdays. See you there. More to come! Stay tuned!”

Poker night? Hmmmm really… I will definitely be checking that out in the near future. Not sure if it will become my regular Thursday stop, because I’m a big fan of the poker night at Max’s Sports Bar on Thursdays. I’ll give Bar None a chance though. It’s significantly closer to both home and to my other home (the Saucer), a good thing when the temperatures are too cold to be conducive for long walks.

It begins next Thursday… not tomorrow night, or tonight, depending on when you read this… but next week.

Damn. I just realized, that means the 30th is the earliest I’ll play poker at Bar None. May be some easy money for those who go on the 16th, because it’s new and because I have previous plans.

Home from the Saucer and Bardog on a cold Wednesday. Good night all.

Last night I walked in the Saucer and Lil’ Kim (pictured at left) was standing at the door. She stuck her arm out and blocked my entrance. “What’s the password?” she said.

Lil’ Kim and I had recently had a football rivalry. She’s an LSU fan; I’m an Arkansas fan. The Hogs defeated LSU in the final game of the regular season, propelling the Razorbacks into a BCS bowl – the Sugar Bowl vs. Ohio State.

So, in response to her password request, I said, “Go Hogs.”

“No. That’s incorrect,” Lil’ Kim said.

“Wooooo pig sooooieeeeee?” I tried again.

“No,” said Lil’ Kim, and she continued to hold her arm up.

I just walked past her, because by that point I’d been in the Saucer 56 seconds and didn’t have a beer yet. “You know what the password was?” said Lil’ Kim, “Meghan’s a douche.”

She said it, I didn’t. Whose side is Lil’ Kim on?

Sorry for those of you who didn’t get this inside joke. Informative content will be back tomorrow.

Unless I’m still drunk tomorrow. Then, Friday.

The Memphis Farmers Market normally runs at the Central Station Pavilion from April until October, but this Saturday, December 11, they’re back for one week only for “Harvesting the Holidays.” Over 40 vendors will be at the pavilion offering holiday gift ideas. Items for sale will include baked goods, seasonal produce and locally produced stocking stuffers. There will be hot cocoa and sweet treats.

Good news for those of us who wanted to support the market but couldn’t bear to get up at the ungodly hour of 7 AM for its opening… this week it opens at 10 AM, much more reasonable. It will be open until 3 in the afternoon. At 11 there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the pavilion and the market.

Bring the kids in the afternoon, because they can get their photo taken with Santa from 1 to 3.

That evening at the Trolley Stop Market at 704 Madison, there will be a concert to benefit the Farmers Market. $10 donation goes to MFM. Star & Micey will perform, and there will be dinner and drink specials all evening. 7:30 to 11 PM.

If you’re looking for a way to give to the less fortunate this holiday season, I have an idea for you.

The Hospitality Hub, located on Jefferson between Second and Third next to China restaurant, was established by the Downtown Churches Association to help the homeless navigate through the network of services offered throughout the city. They open three days a week and the homeless are invited in for coffee and conversation. Once inside, they can gain access to job training and placement, free vouchers to sleep at the Union Mission, and help for mental and addiction issues. The Hub also helps them get copies of birth certificates and other documentation they need to be able to work.

The CCC sent out an e-mail yesterday afternoon asking everyone to support the Hub. The e-mail didn’t say it, but I know the Hub has been in tough financial straits recently. The services it offers are too valuable to those who need it. No donation is too small, and this is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better use of your money than giving it to a panhandler on the street, who probably isn’t homeless and will use your money for alcohol and drugs.

You can visit the Hub’s giving page to donate to their PayPal account

or send your check to:
Hospitality HUB
146 Jefferson Avenue
Memphis, TN 38103

Any amount at all helps, but just to give you an idea, $35 pays for eight shelter vouchers. $50 pays for two job program participants to have work shoes. $75 pays for 50 MATA bus passes so participants can get to their jobs. $100 pays for eleven people to get the Tennessee state IDs they need to be legally hired.

Please consider supporting this most valuable program. Thank you.

If you had to guess what the Nuh-Uh Girl’s favorite ’80s video game was, what would you guess?

Yeah. You got it.

This weekend is a family-friendly one Downtown, because the circus is coming! The FedExForum is full of lions and elephants as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus makes a stop for the weekend. There will be five shows – 7 PM Thursday, 7 PM Friday, 1 PM and 5 PM Saturday, and 2 PM Sunday. It’s the circus’ Illuscination (Gold) tour, which you can read more about here.

You can buy tickets on their website.

A bonus tip if you attend the Friday, December 10 show: Stop by the Doubletree Hotel at Third and Union beforehand for Cookies and Milk with Santa. He’ll be there from 3 to 7 to benefit Porter-Leath. Santa will have candy canes and chocolate chip cookies, and for a $5 suggested donation to Porter-Leath, you can have your child’s photo taken with Santa.

Where to eat before or after the show? Three of the family-friendliest restaurants Downtown are nearby on Second. Kooky Canuck has huge ice cream sundaes, skillet cookies, and s’mores you make at the table. Flying Fish has all kinds of fun photos and fish on the wall, and is a neat place to take kids. Then, of course, there’s Huey’s, with great burgers and toothpicks to blow at the ceiling. Can’t go wrong with any of these.

My friends Dennis and Mary Pat were in town this past weekend for the Memphis Marathon. While they were here, they did some Christmas shopping, and reminded me of a very good place to pick up quality, inexpensive gifts: the Peanut Shop on Main Street.

I’ve shopped there in the past for gifts to take home with me to Little Rock. They have a huge selection of nuts, chocolates, and candy, and can package your purchases in decorative tins. The people who run the shop are SO nice; they still ask about my mother four years after I first shopped there for a gift for her. They’re known to remember people’s names a year later. If you want to support a Downtown neighborhood business that has been part of the community for years and years, it would be hard to think of a better one than the Peanut Shop.

This would be a great place to go if you’re a small business owner and you need to send out small holiday gifts to your most valued customers.

The shop is open until 5 weekdays, and (I think) 5:30 Saturdays. Closed Sundays. It’s located on the Main Street Mall between Madison and Monroe, next to Court House Deli and across from Brinkley Plaza and Felicia Suzanne’s.

In other news: My friends Dennis and Mary Pat told me the marathon raised a whopping $2.8 million for St. Jude. I know it’s a little inconvenient to have streets closed and people screaming at AutoZone Park at 7 AM, but you know what? If it raises almost three million for sick kids it’s worth it.

If you’re on Twitter, be careful when clicking on goo.gl shortened links the next few days – it’s a malware attack. More details here.

Big game on ESPN tonight: The #14 Memphis Tigers take on the #4 Kansas Jayhawks in the Jimmy V Classic. I hope the Tigers bring their A-game tonight and have learned how to rebound in the past couple of days. A win vs. Kansas would look real good to the NCAA tournament committee in March.

I’ll be at trivia at the Saucer (7 PM start time), but will be very distracted by the game. Usually I stand on the rail facing the trivia guy (whoever it is this week, Pete or Mikey), but this week I may have to stand on the opposite side of the rail so I can look at a TV. Go Tigers!

One of the nice things about having full-time earned income is that I can eat out now and then, take photos of my food, then blog what I ate in a “Paul’s Food Find” type of format. Yesterday, after starting with a few Bass Ales on Fire Sale at the Flying Saucer, I walked down the street to Rio Loco, where I had one of my favorite dishes, Tilapia Rio Loco.

There are five different tilapia preparations at the popular Mexican restaurant, but the Tilapia Rio Loco is by far my favorite. It’s topped with shrimp in a cream sauce, and served with an avocado salad and rice. Very tasty. I usually wash it down with a jumbo margarita, or sometimes a 25 oz. Dos Equis Lager.

In my lunchtime post, I included an address I found on Facebook where you can send Christmas cards to injured soldiers. I’ve since learned that the hospital which the address was for may not be able to receive the cards.

This Snopes.com article has an alternate location for sending the cards.