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Yesterday at RiverArtsFest couldn’t have been nicer… not a cloud in the sky, high was 74 degrees but it felt more like 80 on the street.  Tasty food, good music, and lots of art you can buy to decorate your home.  If you missed it yesterday, it’s going on from 10 to 5 today.

My picks for food at the festival:  Crepe Maker, which is toward the northern end of the festival (around Main and Nettleton I think).  Also, Central BBQ, at the far south end of the festival past all the artists’ booths.  Central BBQ was where I ate yesterday, getting a heaping pile of BBQ nachos for only $5 – that’s a bargain.  There’s also a vendor down there selling Italian roast beef sandwiches and Philly cheese steak sandwiches for $6, and that’ll probably be my lunch today.

My pick for art:  Shane Paris Art.  Shane got lucky and got one of the best booth locations at the festival.  It’s right in front of Gestures, and it’s also unusual in that it’s a brown tent rather than white like most of them.  In addition to the digital artwork he sells, you can talk to him about custom photo collages, pet photos, logo design, and ad layout.  Also, if you need a website with custom logos and artwork for your business, Shane and I can team up to do it for you.

My pick for beer:  Calhoun’s!  Everyone was talking about the $5 32 oz. Bud and Bud Lights they were selling at the window, how that’s a better deal at the festival beer (and you don’t have to deal with stupid drink tickets).  However, that’s not even the best deal.  Go inside, to the bar, and order a PBR in a to-go cup for $1.50.  Don’t forget to tell them it’s to go.  They have several other beers on tap (I saw a lot of people buying Yuengling) that can be put in a cup.

There are 183 artists and I could easily spend several thousand dollars decorating my apartment with the great stuff they have there.  Probably your best chance of the year to see so many different artists’ work in one location in Memphis.  Great weather again today.  The Weather Channel is predicting a sunny day, 10% chance of rain, high 80.

I’ll be back down there around noon, and will be there until it ends at 5.

Halloween was the expected clustermess and I didn’t make it to any of the expected parties.  Got to the Saucer early to “wait tables,” and after drinking a couple of Roaring Lions (fake Red Bulls on tap) to wake up, I was about to leave to head to my own apartment building’s party… but then, they brought out one of the great promotions of the past.  Mystery beer.  You pay $2 to stick your hand in a tub full of bottled beer, many of them worth way more than $2, and you drink whatever you pull out.  So, for example, you might find yourself drinking a stout followed by a Mexican beer followed by an IPA.  “Drinking all those different beers right after one another is a good way to get really sick,” commented Bicycle Bobby.  Yeah.  No kidding.  By the time I walked back to my apartment building I was feeling a little dizzy, and having to walk in those 4 1/2 inch platform shoes didn’t help.  There will definitely be a new costume next year, one that doesn’t involve platform shoes.

The building’s Halloween party didn’t look like it had drawn that big a crowd.  “I’ll run upstairs and eat something, then come back down,” I thought.  So I heated up a frozen dinner and surfed the web for a few minutes.  By the time I was done eating, I thought, “You know, three of the next four days are going to be big days, with RiverArtsFest Saturday and Sunday and a big Election Night celebration on Tuesday (unless McCain somehow pulls a rabbit out of his hat).  I’m not that into Halloween this year, I’m going to get a good night’s sleep and be rested for the coming week.”  And I did.

RiverArtsFest today and tomorrow during the day… be sure to look for my friend’s booth Shane Paris Art, and remember that you can find $1.50 PBR and hot bartenders at Calhoun’s.

I’ve heard some interesting info this weekend that makes me think I’m going to have some new places to hang out.  I’ve learned that Automatic Slim’s is going through a makeover… more details to come soon, but suffice to say that they’ve hired some of the best people from the recently departed McGuinness Pub and Hoop’s Bar.  Slim’s has never been on my radar before, but from what I heard this weekend, it now will be.  I also learned that Melis’ who used to bartend at Itta Bena is now working several nights a week at LoLo’s Table.  LoLo’s has always had one of the best happy hours Downtown, so I’ll probably be showing up there more in the future.  They’ve always tended to put exceptionally cool people behind the bar, and Melis’ certainly fits right in.  Besides, I like to start at her boobies.

On the RealClearPolitics map this morning, even more bad news for John McCain… his home state of Arizona has moved into the “toss up” column.  Obama has 311 electoral votes projected solid or leaning, with 132 for McCain and 95 toss up.  270 are needed to win the election, which means McCain will not only have to win all the toss-ups, but pull some states out of Obama’s “leaning” column.

Also, Ronald Reagan’s son has officially endorsed Obama.

You’ve probably heard by now that there’s going to be a white supremacist convention in town next weekend – actually, just over the border in Mississippi, but still, in the Memphis metro area.  Next weekend is also the COGIC convention.  Imagine having both of those groups in town at the same time.

Time to head to RiverArtsFest… PBR, here I come!

Here are some more pics of “Killer,” a gray, tan, and black male Yorkie lost last Saturday at the Famers Market (Front at GE Patterson).  He’s wearing a tan jacket.  There’s a $1000 reward.  Call 262-6367 or 493-4387 if you find him.

Use extreme caution in your attempts to rescue this animal.  One need only take one look at this dog to realize he is a killing machine.  This blog cannot be responsible if you are mangled beyond recognition as you try to return Killer to his owner.

Seriously, though – the owner misses him very much and would like to have him back, so please keep your eyes peeled, especially around the Farmers Market area.

Wouldn’t it be funny if celebrity panhandler “J.J.” who works the South Main area found Killer and collected the reward?

I’m sitting here eating a crawfish dinner that I got from On the River Seafood & More at 51 S. Main.  It came with hushpuppies, and I chose spaghetti with meat sauce and fried okra as my sides.  It is DELICIOUS.  Check this place out, if you haven’t yet.  They’re open until 8 (10 weekends) so you still have a chance to try them if you can’t be Downtown for lunch.

Ughhhh… didn’t sleep well last night.  I had a nightmare where I went to a bar and Godzilla was behind the bar in a bee costume, serving beers.  At least they were Godzilla-sized beers.  It seemed so REAL, like it actually happened.

Lost dog pics to come in the next post.

The Commercial Appeal’s arts writer Skiptopher M. Blank has a good article about this weekend’s RiverArtsFest in the South Main district, including a schedule of the acts that will perform on various stages.  Check it out if you plan on heading down there.

As with most festivals, there will be beer stands, and although I haven’t heard the prices yet, most festivals run them in the $3-4 range for domestics.  However, you should know that there is a value beer drinking option on the festival route:  Calhoun’s, which sells PBR for $1.50.  By the way, that’s not a festival price, that’s an every-day price.  Calhoun’s is on G.E. Patterson Avenue, in the same building that houses the Arcade, all the way to the east end of the building next to the cheesecake place.

Furthermore, when you buy your beer at Calhoun’s, it will be served to you by hotties.  My BFF and former Saucer girl Lauren is the day bartender on the weekends, and she’ll be there pouring PBR (and other beers, if your tastes aren’t as exquisite as mine).  Furthermore, since the owner Max anticipates a high sales volume for the festival, he asked Lauren to recommend a second bartender to help out on Saturday, and she recruited another former Saucer girl, Jamie.  Looks like I’ll be spending a lot of time at Calhoun’s during RiverArtsFest.  This kind of violates my “no side trips during festivals” rule that I’ve had the past year or so, but this is an unusual circumstance worthy of an exception.

See you at RiverArtsFest tomorrow.  Another post to come later today with pics of “Killer” the lost dog.

Big Foot’s party last night was a blast as always.  Best costume of the night was definitely my buddy Frank, who is trying to get on the Hot Chicks with Douchebags site.  He dressed up in three shirts with popped collars, the outer one, of course, being pink.  He also had spiked gelled hair, douchey sunglasses, and bandana around his head.  He carried a backpack with him that had “Summer’s Eve” printed on it, so he was a douchebag carrying a douchebag.  Well done!  I didn’t do a very good job snapping pics last night… if anyone has a pic of Frank I can post, please send it to me.

That site continues to provide hours and hours of entertainment for me as I make my way backward in time through the archives… late Wednesday night I was reading the November 2007 archives, when I came across this post explaining why Jeffy from the Family Circus is a douchebag.  Great stuff.

I’ve wasted so much time reading the HCwDB site that I’ve come up with my own unit of measure for it.  You may have heard of the erg, a physics term that measures work.  Specifically, one erg is equal to the work done by the force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimenter.  Well, I think it’s time to invent a new unit of measure, the brittney, which measures laziness.  One brittney equals the amount of laziness needed to sit on one’s ass for one hour and not work.  I’d estimate that I exerted 3.23 brittneys Wednesday night reading HCwDB.

As for my own costume… meh.  I’m definitely getting bored with the Saucer Girl costume, and tonight will surely be its swan song.  I honestly wasn’t thrilled about bringing it back for a fourth year, but girls love it for some reason (at least some of them do), it doesn’t cost me anything since I already own it, and I make tips.  Reminds me… let’s see how much tip money I made last night… $6.47, not bad for a night’s work.

Still unsure what I’ll end up doing tonight.  Having Halloween on a Friday is a total clusterf**k because everyone tries to do their parties the same night (except Big Foot, which was a smart move).  I’m scheduled to work the 4:00 shift on the floor at the Saucer, so I’ll probably show up there about 4:35.  It’s trolley tour night but I don’t know if I’m excited enough about it to go down there.  My apartment building’s party starts at 8, and I definitely plan to make it to that one for a while.  After that, completely undecided.  One option is a large party about a mile south of where I live.  Another option is a party about a mile to the east.  Or I may just remain at my own building for the duration.  I’ll know more people if I go south, but I suspect that the very important “hot girls in skimpy costumes” quotient will be higher at my own building’s party and the one to the east.  After 8 I’m going to play it by ear and spontaneously decide where to go.

More to come today – info on cheap beer and hot girls at RiverArtsFest tomorrow, and I have more photos of “Killer” the lost dog to post.  I’ll wrap this up with a couple of questions:

Q:  What would you call it if Big Foot bartender Meghan put on a Frankenstein mask for Halloween?

A:  A big improvement.

Q:  What would you call it if Meghan dressed up as a mime for Halloween?

A:  An even bigger improvement.  Mimes don’t talk.

Is it possible for bloggers to suffer from manic depression, but only as it relates to blogging?  If so, I must be in my manic phase right now.  What is this, the 7th or 8th post within 24 hours, after what was admittedly several days of subpar blogging to start the week?

Just got back from the Second Street Branch Office where I had my business meeting.  On the way back, I saw a sign advertising Cafe 61’s Halloween plans for Friday night, and figured I’d pass on the info:

The manager at the Saucer was in the back doing inventory, so I didn’t get a chance to ask him what election night festivities will be going on in place of trivia.  There were signs saying “watch election night results here,” so that’s encouraging.  If I can verify that they’ll have the results on with sound, and won’t change the channel if some putz comes in and goes, “D-UH, ME LIKE FOOTBALL, ME WANT TO WATCH THE MIAMI-BUFFALO GAME” which is that night, and if they can promise a good Fire Sale, I’ll likely be there for at least a while that night.

All right, time to get my costume together.  Will be at Jillian’s/Saucer between 7:30 and 9, then will head to Big Foot.  Wishing I had a “PIMP” goblet to carry on my Halloween costume server tray for some reason.

This week’s Livin’ it Up in Downtown Memphis is out.  Check it out to learn about all the Halloween parties that will be going on Downtown Friday night, as well as for info about RiverArtsFest and other Downtown events happening within the next 7 days.  They have a blurb about Alcenia’s appearance on the Food Network next Monday at 9.  Wonder where they learned about that?  Don’t forget that you can subscribe to Livin’ it Up to have it delivered to your Inbox every Thursday.

BLAST IT ALL!!!  I missed the CCC’s tour of Downtown manhole covers today at lunchtime!  I wanted to go on that, but got so wrapped up in last night’s website discovery that I totally forgot!

I just heard a rumor that a vegan restaurant may be coming to Downtown Memphis.  Needless to say, that does not appeal to me at all, but I’ll get the info for my vegan readers.  My health guru AL is probably jumping up and down clapping her hands right now.

Also, I just learned that trivia at the Flying Saucer is canceled next Tuesday due to election night.  Not sure if the Saucer plans on putting the sound on for the results or running any kind of specials, but I’m here right now, having just got done with a business meeting, and will find out.

Lazy, do-nothing, sit-on-her-ass Brittney is bartending today.  Normally that’d be enough to drive me straight out the door after my business meeting, but I can’t wait to show Brittney what I found on a certain website’s archives last night, since Brittney and Meghan are good friends.

Oh and the fire sale is Yazoo Pale Ale.  I haven’t used Twitter to update the “what’s the fire sale” box yet today.

Good how-to link I found yesterday – How to deal with a mooching friend.  It doesn’t take a genius-level IQ to know when someone is trying to freeload off you.  This article gives useful tips to help you curb their mooching behavior.

Yay!  I scheduled another meeting at the Second Street Branch Office for this afternoon.  I like working from the branch office.  Hmmm the Weather Channel says it’s going to 70 today.  Is it unprofessional to wear shorts to a business meeting?

Got a question for everyone… we’ve all been so busy making Halloween plans, that it’s been easy to lose sight of the fact that Election Day is only 5 days away.  Question for restaurant/bar owners and managers reading this – who will be showing the election returns on their TVs, and will you have sound on?  Let me know and I’ll post a list of places where you can watch returns.

Getting fired up for Big Foot Lodge’s Halloween party tonight at 9.  It looks like I may have to work before the party… one of the girls at the Saucer asked if I could pick up her shift, so I may have to go in and work for about an hour, hour and a half.  Management has promised me I’ll be off by 9 so I can go to Big Foot.  I’m grateful for the chance to make some money, but the thing is, in this economy I’m really going to have to work it to get good tips.  I won’t be able to just sit on my ass and run my mouth all night, like Meghan and Brittney did before Meghan got hired by Big Foot and Brittney got moved behind the bar.

It’s trivia night at Jillian’s with $2 Bud and Bud Light and $3 grape, cherry and Jager bombs.  I probably won’t make it this week, but maybe some Rapscallions will show up and win some more money and continue our perfect winning streak.

All right, time to get a couple of hours work done before I go to my meeting.  Which means, time to get 10 minutes of work done, and spend the rest of the time laughing at the photo I found on one of my favorite websites last night.

RiverArtsFest happens this Saturday and Sunday in the South Main Arts District, with music on 5 stages, food, and more than 150 artists selling their work.  South Main from Huling to St. Paul will be closed off for the event, which will run from 10 AM to 6 PM Saturday, and 10 AM to 5 PM Friday.  This is the descendant of the South Main Arts Festival and Arts in the Park, and drew 40,000 people in its first year last year.

I want to personally recommend the work of one of the artists who will have a booth there:  Shane Paris Art.  I’ve known Shane for 5 years and have seen his work in several galleries during previous South Main Trolley Art Tours.  His premise is that everyone should be able to afford art, not just the rich.  You can check out some of his artwork here.  He also can be hired to create a custom photo montage of your favorite images.  Shane also does logo design, and he custom-designed the logo I currently use on my business cards to reflect a “Downtown” feel.  He does freelance ad layout design too.  Also, he can take an ordinary photo of your pet and turn it into a truly unique and special memory.

Furthermore, Shane is not only an artist I highly respect, but a true friend as well.  When I was invited to come to Sunday brunch at Sleep Out Louie’s one day in early 2003, Shane was one of the first people I met, and he and his girlfriend Leigh immediately made me feel welcome and part of the group.  Since then he’s always been there with advice when I needed it, and has just been a real good person to sit at a bar and drink a beer with.  He’s a good person for Downtowners to hire to do custom work, because he lives and breathes Downtown Memphis.

Be sure to look for his booth this weekend.  Look for me too – I’ll be at RiverArtsFest both days, probably getting there around noon and staying until close.