Category: Uncategorized

I just got a hold of the specials the Red Rooster will be running for football season.  Here they are:

Yesterday I wrote that I had heard there was a death related to the Bon Tom Cafe.  I’m sad to have since learned that it was Sam, the owner.  Thanks to one of my readers for sending this to me.

Sammy Zambelis, owner & manager of the Bon Ton Cafe, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday morning.  He was 50 years old.  He has been at the Bon Ton almost every day for as long as I have been working downtown, at least 17 years.  His family owns and runs the restaurant, and they are devastated at this loss.  I do not know the family’s plans for the restaurant.  He will be missed by all that knew him.    Funeral arrangements were sent to everyone at our office, and I have included them below.

For those of you who are interested, visitation will be on Friday from 5-8 PM at the Family Funeral Home on 4925 Summer Ave. The funeral will be held on Saturday at 11 AM at St. George Greek Orthodox Church at 6984 US Hwy 70. Burial will be at Memorial Park Cemetery on Poplar and Yates.

Fellow blogger Buck Daddy saw my “Where to watch college football Downtown” post and linked to it.  He then typed up his own list of places to watch college football in East Memphis and East Bumblefuck.  Here’s his list.

A reader sent me a link to convention watch parties in Memphis that will happen tomorrow night.  People will gather to listen to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.  There are a few Downtown, including one at Stop 345.  I’ve been told that in Midtown, the Overton Park clubhouse will be the place to be to watch the speech.

With all the Labor Day stuff going on this weekend – people coming in town, people going out of town, the Center for Southern Folklore’s festival, college football – it’s easy to forget that this Friday is the last Friday of the month, and therefore South Main Trolley Art Tour.  Many of the art galleries and shops will be open from 6 to 9 PM Friday and some will be serving beer and wine.  There will likely be musicians performing on the street as well.  So, come on down if you’re looking for something to do Friday night.  Always a lot of fun.

If you’re a South Main Association member, you get free burgers, hot dogs, and Boscos beer, sponsored by Boscos and Shelton Clothiers.

’80s hair band cover band Aquanet plays the Red Rooster this Friday night.  Aquanet is one of the most unique bands ever to perform in Downtown Memphis – it’s not just music, it’s a show.  Could be a great way to start off a 3-day weekend.

So, about a month ago I met two St. Jude scientists, postdocs at St. Jude, at the window at the Saucer.

Hung out with them several times and they were very cool girls.  They told me they go to trivia nights around Downtown – recently they’ve been doing the Corner Bar at the Peabody.  Up until this week, though, they’ve known better than to challenge the Rapscallions at the Saucer.  Tonight they finally decided to give it a try, bringing 14 of their closest friends with them, including Stephanie from the CCC who named her cat June Bug after a bum.  Now, you’d think with all those Ph.D.s (and Stephanie) on the team, they’d get the job done.

They didn’t.  The Rapscallions coasted to first place.

Oh, man.  I’ve always considered the MBA to be the most worthless degree in the history of mankind, but after seeing how these Ph.D.s performed, I’m rethinking it.

The new three-month expiration period on the certificates begins today, so we’re looking at November 26 or before with a 50 in the bank.

There’s a new promotional code for the restaurant discount gift certificates accepted by many restaurants Downtown – enter LABOR at checkout for 60% off.  You can scroll to the bottom of the right sidebar of this blog to get them.  Enter 38103 (or your zip code) in the box to search, or use the link that’s there to get to their website.  The $25 value certificates, which normally sell for $10, are now $4 with the LABOR coupon code through August 31.

I don’t have all the details, but apparently one of the people who worked at Bon Ton Cafe passed away.  A reader reported that there was much sadness and crying there today.  I’ll try to get more details.  My condolences to the staff at Bon Ton.

The Coors Light at Big Foot Lodge is apparently a bigger deal than I realized.  I knew it was a good deal – $3.99 for 34 oz. – but I didn’t know they exclusively have “super cold” Coors Light in this area.  It’s served below freezing.  Also, Bud Select is back on tap for people (me included) who prefer that to Coors Light.

The Peabody Hotel is making a unique offer – “Amnesty for Artifacts.”  Those who pilfered something from the hotel over the years have the chance to return it, no questions asked.  They figure there have been a lot of well-intentioned guests over the years who just wanted a souvenir to take home with them, and that some of those guests might like to give their souvenirs back to decorate the hotel’s new Memorabilia Room.  Artifacts can be sent to the Peabody Hotel, attn: Public Relations, 149 Union Ave., Memphis, TN 38103.  Call 901-529-4179 if you have questions.

Website I found the other day – Dial a Human.  It’s a guide for how to get past the automated phone directory and get straight to a human operator at many major corporations.

I’ll be at trivia tonight at the Saucer, 7:00.

Neither of the two projects I’ve been working on is ready for launch this morning, but I’m ready to go ahead and tell you what they are.

Last Thursday I made the walk to Calhoun’s and stayed there for several hours.  “It’s a shame more people don’t know about this place,” I thought.  “Once in the door, people will find lots of reasons to stay… but I know what will get them there in the first place.  $1.50 PBR all day, every day.”

So the following morning I took a break from work and took a short walk, and as I did an idea came to me – how about a search engine for bars that sell beer for $2 or less all day, every day?  Hence my post around noon Friday asking people to recommend them.  That seemed like something that would be very useful – college students and people who drink on a budget would love to have that information at their fingertips.  And since the Internet is worldwide, I thought, there’s no reason to restrict the listings to just Memphis.  (I did decide to restrict it to the US, since prices will be listed in US dollars.)

So, Saturday I decided to take an entire day off from going out, and I started to program it.  About 6 hours in, I realized something:  It wouldn’t be terribly harder to program a second search engine, a happy hour/drink special search engine.  One that would let you input, for example, “Memphis, TN” and “38103” and check a “Monday” box, and find out that Sauces has a happy hour from 2 to 7, the Saucer has Pint Nite, the Tap Room has $1 PBR, Rio Loco has $6.50 jumbo margaritas 4 to 10, etc.  So I started work on that one.

I’ve thought about doing these before.  The reason I never finished them is, I’d basically be creating an unpaid full-time job for myself, entering the listings and keeping them up to date.  Even locally to Downtown that hasn’t worked too well; my existing Downtown happy hour page needs to be updated badly.

But then I thought of one of my favorite websites… Wikipedia.  Wikipedia works so well because every page is world-editable.  Every person can add new pages and update existing ones.  Why not do the same for the search engines, I thought?  Yes, I’m sure some problems will arise with immature people editing drink special listings for bars they don’t like, and with immature bar owners editing the competition’s specials (I’m purposely not giving users a “delete” option for this reason).  But, if the bar or restaurant has fans, they’ll see the altered listing and edit it to put the incorrect info back on there.  Wikipedia isn’t perfect but overall, it works.  I think these search engines will have about the same accuracy in the long run.

So, that’s why I haven’t been around as much lately – for the first time in a long time, I missed a Pint Nite in order to work on the bar search engines.  As of this morning, they’re both about 90% done.  I’m not going to miss trivia tonight, but I’ll load the laptop in the backpack and use the Saucer’s Wi-Fi to continue work on them after trivia is over.  I’m committed to rolling them both out before the end of the week.

I know I have a lot of calls and e-mails to return.  If you’ve contacted me over the past few days, sorry for the delay getting back to you, and I will eventually.  These two ideas were just so good that I had to put everything else aside and get rolling with them.

The cool thing is, I’m programming it in PHP and MySQL, which is exactly the platform I’m now using at work.  So my side projects are improving my skills on the job, and vice versa.  Shout-out to Otto, who I’ve learned a lot from about PHP and MySQL since he and I became co-workers a few months ago.

I have several items on my “to blog” list, so check back.

I had a reader e-mail me, asking if any bars will be running food or drink specials for college football this Saturday, and also asking for my recommendations on where Downtown to watch college football.

As of yet I don’t know of any specials.  If you do, e-mail me at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll post ’em.

As for my recommendations, here they are:

1) Calhoun’s Sports Bar. 5 LCD TVs, they’re getting the ESPN college game package, and they’re opening early for the games (11 AM; normally they open at 4:30 PM).  $1.50 PBR all day.  Free bar snacks all day.  It’s a small bar so get there a little while before the game to get a good seat.  At least one LCD TV is visible from every seat in the house.  Friendliest crowd of any bar listed here.

2) Red Rooster. They have the most big-screen TVs in Downtown Memphis, cold beer, and great food served in huge portions.

3) Flying Saucer. 3 LCD TVs and 2 CRT TVs; I hear the remaining CRTs will be replaced soon.  Largest selection of beers Downtown, hot waitresses in miniskirts, pool table, dart boards.

4) (tie) Jillian’s and Hooters. These places have a lot of big TVs, and are usually known to get all the game packages.  The only reason I don’t rank them #1 above Calhoun’s is that, quite honestly, these places both suck.  Mediocre food, high prices.

5) (tie) The bar at Big Foot Lodge. Note: The TVs are all CRTs, so if you have to see the game in HD, avoid this one.  Also, the TVs are not visible from the restaurant area.  Also, you have to put up with Meghan if she’s bartending.  So why would I bother recommending this as an option?  34 oz. Big Foot Coors Lights to drink while you watch the game, and a better food menu than any of the places listed above.

5) (tie) Downtown Blue Monkey. TVs are visible from most seats in the house, although if you’re sitting at the bar you’ll have to crane your neck to the left or right.  TVs are HDTVs.  Reasonable beer and drink prices, very good food menu.

That should be a good list to get you started.  Go Tigers!  Go Hogs!