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I paid my first visit to Paula & Raiford’s Disco at 14 S. Second last night, and it was everything I hoped it would be.  Here are a couple of pics:

These were taken about 10:45 before the club got super packed.  I hoped to take more pics, but the fog machine made it pretty much impossible to get decent images.

Be sure to keep an eye on the Commercial Appeal… Michael Donahue was there last night with a video camera, and he got video of Raiford dancing around as he DJed.  Raiford was just unbelievable… he danced all over the place and changed outfits at least 5 times.  Raiford is the Mick Jagger of Downtown Memphis, except with better hair and clothes.

Unfortunately I didn’t make it very late into the evening, because I thought it would be a good idea to start at the Saucer with a bottle of North Coast Brother Thelonious.  Brother Thelonious comes in a 25.4 ounce bottle and is 9.4% alcohol by volume.  Needless to say I was pretty well soused by the time I polished that bad boy off.  I made it to Paula & Raiford’s at 10:30, and after a couple of quarts of Bud Light I was near the point of passing out by 12:30.

As for the size of the new club… I wouldn’t say it’s 4 times as big as the old one as I’d heard, at least not the way they have it laid out.  I’d say more like two and a half times.  It’s still pretty big though.  Nevertheless, Paula & Raiford’s was pretty well packed by midnight.  I don’t think they’re going to have any problem drawing a crowd there.

Even King Willie showed up and busted a move on the dance floor for a few minutes.

Going back tonight… and this time I’m determined to make it a late night.  No pre-club high-alcohol beers.  I am, however, going to go on a bar tour of the Downtown core tonight.  This is what I’m thinking:

• 8:00: Saucer
• 9:00: Voodoo Room
• 10:00: Bardog
• 11:00: Paula & Raiford’s

Right now, though, I’m hungry for sausage biscuits, so I’m going to walk up the street and do a breakfast tour of Blue Plate Cafe.

Looks like I had incorrect info about the cover at Paula & Raiford’s Disco being $50 tonight.  A friend on Facebook, who talked to Paula, confirmed that the cover is $15 tonight AND tomorrow night.  So come on down to the Disco!

Going to clean house for a couple hours, then hit the Saucer about 8:30 and celebrate the end of the work week with a bottle of Brother Thelonious (25 oz., 9% ABV).  Then at 10 it will be time to head to the best club in the world.  Can’t wait!

Tonight’s the night – the grand opening of Paula & Raiford’s Disco at 14 S. Second. Raiford will DJ on a regular basis for the first time in almost a year, and one thing’s for sure, he’s going to make y’all feel more than welcome. Club opens at 10 PM. Normally it’s fashionable to arrive late (meaning, like 2 AM) at this type of club, but it’s opening night, so I bet the place fills up early. Maybe not though – I hear it’s 4 times the size of the old club.

I’ve heard that the opening night cover will be $50, and thereafter will be $15. (I heard this from a third party, though, not Paula, so I’m not 100% certain.) You know, if Senses or Alfred’s or any other club charged a $50 cover, I would go to great lengths in this blog to bash the place. But when I heard Paula & Raiford’s opening night would be $50, I thought, “Hmmmmm yeah that sounds about right.”

You’ll probably need to bring cash… at his old club, I don’t believe Raiford had a credit card machine or ATM.

Parking: Hmmmm I’m really not sure where to tell you where to park. I don’t recommend the garage across the street (9 S. Second) because it isn’t a 24-hour garage. Parking Can Be Fun on Union is the closest 24-hour garage that I know of. There are plenty of metered spaces on Second, Third, Monroe, and Court nearby – these are free after 6 PM and on weekends. If the bums try to charge you to park in metered spaces, tell them to get lost.

I’ll be there at 10 for the opening. I may go get a warm-up beer about 9, if I can find someplace that’s also on Second that serves beer… maybe someplace with hot waitresses in miniskirts.

In other news: Downtown merchants are looking for someone whose fashion sense is stuck in a rut. Muse, Delphinium, Runway, Lansky 126, Strut, Rachel’s Day Spa, and Energy Fitness are teaming up to offer one lucky person a free head-to-toe makeover with clothes, accessories, hair, makeup, and health tips. The winner’s new look will be featured on the May 29 edition of the “Definitely Downtown” TV show with “That Other Downtown Guy” Lee Warren. Complete details can be found here.

Hmmm I know a Brit (and I’m not referring to a subject of the Queen) who is desperately in need of a head-to-toe makeover. I’ll have to tell her about it… will probably see her tonight when I go out to get a beer.

Sad news to report this morning… James Hyter, who closed Sunset Symphony for 21 years with his rendition of “Ol’Man River,” passed away last night at age 87. He sang the closing song from 1978 to 1998 and was truly a Memphis icon. Thank you for all the great memories, Mr. Hyter.

The Memphis Farmers Market opens Saturday, April 18.  That’s going to be a very busy weekend… same day as the Hot Wing Festival and the same weekend as Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest.  They’re looking for volunteers.  Go here if you’re interested in volunteering or want more info about MFM.

If the fog machine isn’t blowing too heavily, I’ll try to get some pics of the new club.  I’ll be there both tonight and tomorrow, and for that matter pretty much every weekend night for the foreseeable future.  A 1-block walk from my front door to Raiford’s new club… JACKPOT!

Preston Laird’s chances of being a starter next year just improved 10,000%.

Saw something very cool in the Downtown Livin’ It Up bulletin today: The organization that puts on RiverArtsFest is starting a group called ARTitude for younger art lovers who love to attend parties. $50 membership gets you entry to at least 5 parties between now and RiverArtsFest, a poster, and a T-shirt. This sounds like a great idea! More info about ARTitude here.

Preservation Magazine, published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has an article on their site about the Lowenstein Building at Main and Jefferson.

WKNO is working on a new “Memphis Memoirs” show focusing on Downtown Memphis. They’re looking for memorabilia from Downtown from the 1900s through the 1970s to feature on the show. If you have something they might be interested in, give them a call at (901) 325-6525 or e-mail them at wknopi@wkno.org.

Home from work.  Hopefully I’ll make it to the bar before the rain starts…

For those expecting an April Fool’s Day spoof, sorry, couldn’t think of anything worth posting this year.  I wasn’t feeling well and took the night off from trivia and from the Silly Goose’s $2 drink night.  I’ve been told the team got third place.

A Little Rock radio station broadcast a rumor this morning that Nolan Richardson may come out of retirement to coach Memphis Tigers basketball.  That would be a great move.  Richardson took Arkansas to the national title in 1994, and is the kind of high-profile coach who could operate at the level Cal did.  He’s also an excellent recruiter and might be able to keep most of the 2009-10 recruiting class intact.  The downside is that Nolan is already in his 60s, so it’s not like he’d stick around for 15-20 years and build a dynasty.  If not Nolan, I agree, his protege Mike Anderson at Missouri is the man to get.

If we hire Bruce Pearl I may have to move to another city.

Got an update from the Madison Hotel… they’ll kick off their summer rooftop party series Thursday, April 9, same night the Peabody kicks off.  Elmo & the Shades will be the first week’s entertainment.

They’re also starting a “Madison 400” club.  Membership gets you and a guest entrance to all rooftop parties, access to the roof on Fridays and Saturdays, privileges to run a monthly tab at Grill 83 and the Madison (upon credit approval), 15% off published room rates, 10% off food at Grill 83, 10% off on-site catering, 24 valet parking passes, and one night in a Deluxe room at the Madison.  Entry fee is $400 per year.

One of my recruiter contacts is looking for a UI developer working with Silverlight and VB.NET.  If you’re interested e-mail me at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll put you in touch with her.

That’ll do it for now… off to work.

I must have been asked “How’s the new job?” 30 times last night. It got to the point where I was thinking, “Oh no, not the same conversation again.” So I guess I’ll answer it on here.

– As I mentioned earlier, the new job is at a nonprofit near the airport. Now I’ll say a little more… it’s an organization that organizes and promotes the card game bridge. As a webmaster in the Marketing department, it’s my role to help promote bridge via the web. I had never played a real bridge game at the time I was hired (and still haven’t), but have already become familiar enough with the terminology to be able to write articles about the game.

– I’ll probably learn to play bridge at some point, but I don’t see myself becoming seriously addicted.

– The job has been good so far. I’m doing more writing than I am programming. In fact, I’ve been told that I was hired mainly to be an idea person, and the heavy lifting related to web programming will be handled by someone else. I like that.

– When I do write code it’s generally PHP. I like that too. I was sure I was going to get stuck in another .NET environment. I like PHP better.

– Getting to work with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash, technologies I haven’t really used in a professional setting before.

– Commute is not too bad, about 15 minutes unless there are traffic snarls. I take the 240 loop to Airways. Going to work I’ll sometimes get off at Mill Branch and take Nonconnah Blvd. for the final mile to avoid traffic jams on the 240.

– Thanks to those who have e-mailed me with lunch suggestions. I’ve learned about the Italian Rebel, Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken, and the soul food place on Brooks (can’t think of its name right now but it contains the word “bistro”). Someone also recommended a Mexican restaurant on Lamar, not only for the food but because I can watch the hookers while I eat.

– I arranged for them to give me Thursday and Friday of BBQ Fest off, so I won’t miss any time with the team due to the new job.

– Schedule is 8:00 to 4:45. I’ll probably never get completely used to having to be at a job at 8 but I’m dealing with it. At least when I get to work, there’s usually a fun, creative challenge awaiting me, rather than a screen full of C# or VB.NET code.

So there ya go… now you have your answer. I’m still undecided whether I’ll do trivia tonight, or hit the first week of “Two-Buck Tuesdays” at the Silly Goose (see previous post for details).

As if dollar depression-era cocktails on Mondays 5-7 weren’t bad enough, now they had to go and do this.  Menu above is in effect 5-10 PM Tuesdays at the Goose.  I don’t know how I’m going to convince my trivia team to show up at the Saucer at 7 with this menu down the street.  Hell I’m not even sure I’ll show up.

Did you know that Downtown homeless icon Scratchy is part owner of the Silly Goose?  Abe told me so tonight.  Apparently Scratchy is not as hard up as we thought.

After Depression cocktails ended, I went over to the Saucer for a few Pint Nite Dos Equis Lagers.  Bartenders Marci, Jim, Brittany, Sarah, and Brittney were working, and I’d like to particularly single out Marci, Jim, Brittany, and Sarah for their excellent customer service.  Marci, Jim, Brittany, and Sarah truly went above and beyond the call of duty and I appreciate it and that’s why I’m a loyal Pint Nite customer.

Oh by the way Sarah is a very talented artist.  Check out MySpace page displaying her work here.

Paul’s Drunkass Food = Bardog chicken tenders tonight.  Home early, actually going to get 8 hours sleep.

I can see that, starting this weekend, there are going to be problems figuring out what people mean when they say they are going to Raiford’s.

“I’m going to Raiford’s this weekend, want to go?”

Such a question, up until now, would have referred to Hollywood Disco, the club in the same building at Mulberry and Vance where Robert Raiford ran his club from the 1970s until 2007. Even though Hollywood Disco has new owners and Raiford is no longer affiliated with the place, nearly everyone still calls it “Raiford’s,” as it’s very much a tribute to the club we remember.

However, Paula & Raiford’s Disco opens this weekend at 14 S. Second (just south of Madison). It’s being opened by Paula Raiford, Robert Raiford’s daughter, and Raiford himself will be the DJ.

So if someone tells you they’re going to Raiford’s, you’d just about have to ask for clarification… otherwise you’d risk meeting them at the wrong place.

“We’re meeting at the original Raiford’s” is vague too… would that mean the original building, which would be Hollywood Disco, or the club where you can find “the original” himself, which would be Paula & Raiford’s Disco?

“We’re going to the Disco” is also vague, because both clubs contain “Disco” in the name.

“We’re going to Hollywood’s”… nope, still vague. Hollywood Disco has that word in its name, but “Hollywood” has been Robert Raiford’s nickname for years. Still confusing.

I think we’re actually going to have to say the entire name of the club we’re going to, or at least the location – “Hollywood Disco, on Vance” or “Paula & Raiford’s, on Second.”

Funny how people tend to call a business by the first name by which they remember it. Most of my friends still call Kooky Canuck “Big Foot,” although the name changed 3 months ago. I even have friends who call the Second Street Shoppers convenience store “Carabella,” even though the two businesses shared absolutely nothing in common except location.

In other news… I continue to keep hearing how great the brunch is at Sauces. If I make it to brunch anywhere next Sunday, that’s where I’m going to be. The chorizo patty melt was especially recommended by those who went there. It doesn’t open until 12, an hour later than the time I usually head to brunch, but hey… extra hour sleep, not a bad thing.

Ate crawfish yesterday as I expected I would… but not at Orleans where I thought I would. I rode with some of the gang down to Calhoun’s, where I ate Benjie’s spicy crawfish while playing Buzztime Poker. Sunday afternoon is not a bad time to hang out there… ended up staying almost 6 hours.

Plans for tonight: Dollar depression-era cocktails at Silly Goose from 5 to 7. Pint Nite at the Saucer after that.

Several good newsbites in the Memphis Business Journal yesterday.  A “gastropub” called South of Beale is going to open at 361 S. Main.  According to the article, they’re going to take the concept of a neighborhood bar and make it more upscale, using local food products as much as possible, including products from the Memphis Farmers Market.

Also in the MBJ, flower shop Gestures has announced that it’s closing its South Main location and moving to Laurelwood in East Memphis.  I’ve heard rumors (but haven’t confirmed anything yet) that an Irish pub may be going into that location.

Speaking of businesses opening in South Main… last night at Trolley Tour I stopped in Beignet Cafe, on GE Patterson in the old Tri-State Defender Building, approximately across from Calhoun’s.  It’s not open for business yet – they were just giving Trolley Tour guests a sneak preview.  That is going to be a neat little spot – it feels like a French cafe inside.  I hear it’s going to be a coffee bar during the day and a wine bar at night.  The owner told me he’d let me come in and take some pics prior to opening.

The fabulous Hope Clayburn will take the stage at the Center for Southern Folklore next Saturday, April 4, with her band Soul Scrimmage.  Cover is $5 and the show starts at 9 PM.  It will be an evening of soul and funk with Hope on sax, flute, and vocals.

Story in the CA today:  Downtown stakeholders are using social media to drive visitors to the area.  The CCC, Southern Growth Studio, and Live from Memphis will partner on this, to use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and other social media as well as more conventional media to get a buzz going about Downtown.

The Zodiac Ball raising funds for the American Cancer Society is tonight at the Peabody.

Orleans on Front will have another crawfish boil tomorrow, Sunday, March 29.  This one will start at 2 PM and they will have crawfish and shrimp, the Budweiser truck, and DJ Tree in the parking lot next to the restaurant.

Early night for me last night. I started at the Saucer for happy hour, then did South Main Trolley Tour, enjoying some delicious hot dogs, chicken wings, and Boscos beer compliments of the SMA.  By 9 I was starting to feel the sleep deprivation effects of my first full-time work week in 5 months… headed north to Bardog for a couple of beers, then home.  Will stay out later tonight.  Not sure of plans yet though.