Category: Uncategorized

– This weekend I’m going to find out how good a judge of character I am. Last night I walked to Walgreens about 7:30. One of the local street people, who speaks whenever he sees me and has always seemed like a nice guy, called me over. “Hey man, I really need your help,” he said. “I need six dollars to be able to pay my rent. Please, man. PLEASE. It’s freezing outside.” I looked into his eyes, and I didn’t see the facial expressions and body language of a bum trying to “hustle” me. I saw the look of someone who was really suffering and needed help.

So I pulled a 5 and a 1 out of my wallet and handed them to him. I NEVER give money to panhandlers but this time, it just seemed like an exception needed to be made. Plus, in all the time I’ve seen this guy, I’ve never seen him on drugs or excessively drunk. I’ve seen him drink a beer, but then, how many people have seen me drink a beer?

I honestly didn’t expect to ever see the $6 again, but he said over and over, “Thank you. I’m gonna get it back to you this weekend. Promise. Thank you.”

So we’ll see if I get it back. I’ve developed a pretty good sense of people over the past few years. I think he’s honest. We’ll see if I’m right.

– Been getting a lot of hits on my blog today from people searching on the phrase “tube top pulled down.” I did a little searching of my own and found that it was a result of this article about Port of Seattle officers sending inappropriate material in their e-mail, including a video of a stranger yanking a woman’s tube top down. Unfortunately I don’t have the video itself. If anyone has a link to the video please share.

And just remember folks, 4 months and 12 days and we’ll be celebrating Tube Top Month again, right here in this very blog.

– Reason #147861 why I don’t hang out in Cordova: A band called Get U Some will be performing at the Cordova TJ Mulligan’s tomorrow night. I have a feeling that a significant percentage of the crowd that turns up to hear Get U Some will have also come downtown earlier in the weekend to see the Monster Truck Jam at the FedExForum.

– In the news today: There’s going to be a new fair competing with the Mid-South Fair this year. The Delta Fair and Music Fest will be held at the Agricenter out in East Bumblefuck, and it will take place September 21-30. The organizer said he put the event together because he doesn’t feel safe letting his daughter go to the Mid-South Fair. I really don’t like this… Memphis being the racially polarized city that it is, I worry that the Delta Fair (if it survives) will be seen as “the white fair” and the Mid-South Fair (if it survives) as “the black fair” within a few years. I hope I’m wrong, because we don’t need more racial division in the city. Since both events go on for 10 days, I guess it really doesn’t have to be an either/or thing; fair fans can go to both.

– Currently reading T.R.: The Last Romantic by H.W. Brands. Just starting the book, but I already find a lot in Teddy Roosevelt to be admired. A quote on the back of the book says it all – to paraphrase, he didn’t like who he was as a child (timid and frail), so he created a new character for himself (strong, full of energy, bold) and lived it and eventually became that character. Create yourself. That’s a great motto.

That’ll do it for now. Not sure what I’m getting into tonight. I hear Bobby Durango, Crash Kole, and Smokin’ Lemon will be playing Sleep Out Louie’s, so that’s an option. Will probably stop by the Saucer to see my waitresses at some point too. I’ll just see where the evening takes me. Have a good night everyone!

This weekend I plan to overhaul this blog, adding several new sections of links in order to make this site more useful to readers. One thing I plan on adding is a “Shopping” section. While I was finding businesses to add to “Shopping,” I came across an offer that is so good that I wanted to go ahead and mention it now.

It’s a site that sells gift certificates for popular restaurants: You can buy a $25 gift certificate to the restaurant for $10 (usually; for a few restaurants it’s $12.50 or some other amount). The certificate generally must be used on a purchase of $35 or more, so the restaurant makes a little money and you save some money. Some restaurants offer other amounts, like a $10 gift certificate for $3.

A LOT of restaurants in Memphis are part of this program. In Downtown Memphis, Big Foot Lodge, Blue Plate Cafe, Dan McGuinness Pub, the Gibson Lounge, Silky O’Sullivan’s, Stella, and Superior Bar are participating.

Some of the most recognizable restaurant names in other parts of the city show up as well: Bhan Thai, Cafe Ole, Caspian Persian Grill and Bar, Grove Grill, Hephzibah, Jim’s Place East, Lulu Grille, Mantia’s, Molly’s La Casita, Napa Cafe, Pig-n-Whistle and over 60 more.

Here’s the best part – when I was checking out their site, I noticed they were offering the certificates at 50% off through the 21st, when you enter a promotional code at checkout. So that would price the $25 certificates at $5, the $10 certificates at $1.50. Not bad!

One catch: The certificate is redeemable for food purchases only (no alcohol) at most of these restaurants – so the high-dollar certificates are probably something you’d want to redeem as a group. (Except for places like Stella, where you can easily run up a $25 food tab by yourself)

To get a deal on the certificates, click the link and follow the instructions below:

Make magic happen and save on dinner tonight! Save 50% on Dining Certificates! Use code MAGIC at checkout. Offer valid through 1/21/07.

There are plenty of restaurants nationwide in the program, so if you’re reading this from a location other than Memphis, it’s still worth checking out.

I really, really, really hope to have the new version of the blog up by this weekend at the latest (to the point where I’ll skip Sunday brunch at Sleep Out’s if it isn’t done). There are going to be some cool links for Downtowners, and also a section for people who are thinking of visiting Downtown and find my blog on the search engines. Hopefully you’ll find it useful. Back to work, have a good afternoon!

When I was growing up in Little Rock, the city council meetings (over there I think it was called Little Rock Board of Directors or something slightly different) were broadcast live on one of the public-access cable channels.

Does anyone know if the meetings of the Memphis City Council are broadcast on public-access cable TV, and if so what channel and time? If they are broadcast, I’m going to start setting my DVR. I’m sure the meetings would be among the most entertaining shows on television, considering that the City Council has more clowns than Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey.

In today’s news: Councilman Edmund Ford, facing federal bribery charges, throws a tantrum because the Council’s chairperson didn’t appoint him to head any committees. Meanwhile, Councilman and Beale Street Merchants Association president Rickey Peete pleads not guilty to his federal bribery charges. I can’t wait to see what Thaddeus Matthews has to say about all this.

This morning there was a story in the Commercial Appeal about Burke’s Books upcoming move. The bookstore will be moving to a location that will include 944 S. Cooper, the current home of House of Mews. This is definitely good news for Burke’s, which has experienced financial trouble in recent years. Having a storefront with heavy foot traffic may be just what is needed to save their business.

However, this is not such good news for House of Mews, an organization that has found homes for 7,000 homeless cats over the past 11 years. They found that their rent was being raised from $1,000 to $3,000 and they’re forced to vacate by March 1.

I remember going to visit House of Mews one Saturday when my mother was in town visiting. We walked in the front door and half a dozen cats came running up to greet us. As I reached down to pet one, another was so happy to see me that he jumped on my back and had to be lifted off. There were about 100 cats in the shop, including a pen full of cats who had lived their lives in the wild and were gradually being conditioned to human contact. Most of those kitties would likely have been put to sleep if House of Mews had not existed.

The owner of the building says he has found House of Mews “equivalent space” in a building at Central and Philadelphia. That “equivalent space” quote is the biggest load of BS I’ve heard in a long time. It may be the same square footage, but it isn’t in a high foot-traffic area. House of Mews survived all these years because people were walking by on their way to Dish, Blue Fish, Casablanca, Cafe Ole, etc. and saw the adorable kitties in the window and went in. That’s how I discovered it. Take away that foot traffic and their business – and community awareness of House of Mews – will dwindle.

So it sounds like House of Mews needs

1) People to adopt the cats, or even provide temporary housing for them during the transition;

2) Donations to help them stay afloat;

3) Retail space which is in a well-traveled commercial area.

Anyone who wants to help them can contact them through their web site.

Here’s a link to this morning’s Commercial Appeal article on Burke’s/House of Mews.

One of the advantages of having a blog is that you have readers. And sometimes your readers help you out in unexpected ways.

Earlier this week I checked out the MySpace page of one of my regular blog readers who e-mailed me a couple of times. Her headline read: “The Grey Goose… got the girl feelin loose.”

Well, tonight for some reason her MySpace page came to mind… and it made me think, hey, you know what? I bought a bottle of Grey Goose vodka back in May. I stuck it in the refrigerator and promptly forgot about it.

I thought to myself, I wonder if it’s still there?

So, when I got home tonight, I opened the refrigerator, and there it was. Stuffed in a dark back corner behind the empty pizza boxes from September. It’s like finding money in the pockets of your coat. Only not money, but alcohol.

Tonight the Rapscallions took second place in team trivia, earning a $25 gift certificate and bringing our total to $225.

One of the questions: What do restaurant menus call a pigeon that is not old enough to fly?

As a downtowner, you know I ain’t missing no damn pigeon question!

Correct answer: Squab.

Although, now that I think about it… restaurants serving pigeon on the menu, that’s just gross.

Yesterday was a big day at the FedExForum. The Memphis Grizzlies played the Phoenix Suns in a special Martin Luther King Day game. It was nationally televised on TNT, and there were awards and other special ceremonies before the start of the game.

I was down the street watching the game on TV, and I noticed that several top FedEx employees were at center court, presenting awards and affirming their commitment to MLK Day and all it stands for.

So, I have a question.

If FedEx is really so committed to MLK Day, why didn’t they give their employees the day off?

Just wondering.

This morning I was reading the World Almanac, something I do to prepare for my weekly trivia match. I happened upon a section that read, “20 largest endowments – U.S. Colleges.” Harvard, with an endowment of $25 billion, was ranked number 1, a good $10 billion ahead of second-place Yale, and the numbers quickly dropped down to the $3-4 billion range for most of the rest of the top 20.

An endowment is sort of a college/university’s nest egg. If all goes well, they fund their operations out of interest earned off the endowment. Think what kind of interest Harvard must be earning off a $25 billion endowment. No wonder they’re able to fund programs like offering free tuition to students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year.

I checked the website of my alma mater, Rhodes College, whom I challenged yesterday to create a program equivalent to Harvard’s. Rhodes has an endowment of $252 million. Hardly chump change, but it’s about 1/100th of Harvard’s. So maybe they legitimately couldn’t implement a similar program.

I still believe in the spirit of the challenge I made though. This society is becoming more and more polarized into haves and have-nots, and those lucky enough to be “haves” need to assume more responsibility to ensure that opportunity is available to all, not just other “haves.”

All right. End of rant. Got a lot to get done today, so my lunchtime posts are going to be short.

A couple of weeks ago, AngieDawn made a post to her blog that caught my attention. Harvard University is now offering free tuition to students whose families earn less than $60,000 per year. Harvard’s president noted that only 10% of students in elite higher education come from the lower half of the income distribution in this country, and when that’s the case, “we are not doing enough.” So Harvard adopted this policy in order to make a top-quality education accessible to all.

What a great program. I remember when I was 17 and applied to go to Rhodes College… the financial aid they offered me wasn’t enough to make ends meet. Only because of the generosity of my grandfather and my uncle did I get a hold of enough extra money to be able to afford Rhodes. And after I graduated, I had hundreds of dollars to pay each month in student loans. I didn’t get the last loan paid off until I was 29. And because I was sending so much to each month to student loan companies all those years, I had less disposable income to work with, and often had to resort to credit card debt to finance my lifestyle. The kids who qualify for this new program at Harvard won’t have to deal with any of that.

I’d like to extend an open challenge to my alma mater, Rhodes College. In all the years since I have graduated, I have not donated one dollar to their alumni fund. Some years I just didn’t have the money; other years I did but didn’t consider a donation to Rhodes to be the best use of my dollars.

However, if Rhodes implements a program exactly like Harvard’s, offering free tuition to students with family incomes under $60,000, I’ll do the following:

1) Write Rhodes a check for $5,000;

2) Get on the phone bank in Rhodes’ Alumni Center, call as many other alumni as possible, and challenge them to match or exceed my donation;

3) Promise to continue to donate as much as I can to Rhodes in future years.

I think enough alumni would get excited about this kind of program that it would end up paying for itself through increased donations. I think there are many alumni out there who believe, as I do, that a top-quality education should be accessible to everyone, not just kids who are lucky enough to be born into families who are upper-middle-class or above.

BUT… here’s the catch. I’ll only agree to do the three things listed above if Rhodes implements a program EXACTLY like the one at Harvard. No exceptions. No differences. No excuses. Just git ‘er done.

This idea has been bouncing around in my head for about a week now, but Dr. King’s day seemed to be the right time to post it. Speaking of which, I’m off work today for MLK day, and I’m sure it won’t surprise anyone to read that I’m posting this from the Flying Saucer. They have a flyer promoting Pint Nite, with a picture of Dr. King and text underneath that says, “The dream is here! $2.50 pints all day long.” Using Dr. King’s image and most famous quote to promote beer sales? Tacky, tacky, tacky.

If you want to get involved in the community, consider coming to the 2007 Nonprofit Expo, co-sponsored by Mpact Memphis and Volunteer Memphis, at the Botanic Gardens (on Cherry Road between Southern and Park), Thursday, January 25 from 5:30-8:30 PM. This event has been going on for the past several years, and is a great way to talk to representatives from a number of different nonprofits. It will help you figure out which volunteer opportunities in Memphis you would most enjoy.

This year they’ve expanded it. In past years they’ve limited participation to 35-40 nonprofits… but this year they’ve upped it to 75. So there will be plenty to see, plenty of people to talk to.

In addition to volunteer opportunities, some of the nonprofits will also have information about serving on their boards. Serving on a board is a great way to gain some leadership experience, and it looks great on a resume (I was told that one of the reasons I got my current job is that the manager liked my community involvement, having served on Mpact’s board).

The expo is open to the public, and there’s no charge and no reservations required. So come on down and see how you can help make Memphis better. Hope to see you there!