Category: Uncategorized

(Edited 6:41 PM Wednesday, January 10: I have some updated information. See below in yellow type.)

Happy birthday to my friend Mike, who is also my trivia teammate and one of Downtown’s best home beer brewers. Last night after trivia (we won second place, adding a $25 gift certificate to our stash and bringing the total to $200) we took Mike to a birthday dinner at EP’s. He had attended the South Main Association meeting earlier in the evening and came back with lots of juicy information about Downtown happenings.

Some of what he told me is below. This is all hearsay based on what was said in a meeting I didn’t go to, so if anything isn’t accurate e-mail me and I’ll correct it. I suppose if I were a real journalist I’d make phone calls and confirm all this stuff, but that’s an awful lot of work.

– The restaurant on Monroe that used to be Mike’s is going to be converted into a neighborhood bar. I hear they’d particularly like to have the residents of the Shrine Building and Number 10 Main (both less than a block away) as regular customers. I asked Mike (my friend, not the restaurant namesake) if it sounded like it was going to be upscale (like, say, LoLo’s Table) or more casual (like Sleep Out Louie’s). He said he thought it would be more like Sleep Out’s. VERY cool… that is very much needed in the neighborhood.

Followup: Mike just sent me a Memphis Business Journal article about the new bar. It will be called Bardog Tavern, will seat 75, and will offer pub food and a full liquor bar. It will be open until 2 weekdays and 3 weekends.

– The shop at Main and Pontotoc, two blocks south of Beale, that used to be a tattoo shop, is going to be converted into an oyster bar. Wow… a new oyster bar and a new neighborhood bar… “businesses that will compete with Sleep Out’s” seems to be the theme of downtown development this month.

– Also, a new restaurant called Condo Club is going to open in the South Main area. I don’t have any more details on this one; if anyone’s got the 411 let me know. Hmmm… I don’t own a condo… I rent an apartment. Wonder if they’ll stop me at the door and say, “I’m sorry, sir, your type isn’t welcome here”? (Edit: Well, I heard the name wrong. It’s Congo Club, with a “g” not a “d.” So I guess I won’t have to worry about my renter status keeping me out.)

– Then Mike dropped the big news on me… up until two years ago there was a festival called Arts in the Park. It was held in October in Audubon Park, and it had the best arts and crafts of any Memphis festival. I could easily spend several hundred dollars there on cool stuff I couldn’t find anywhere else in town. Well, the word is that the festival will be renamed and moved to South Main. AWESOME. Not sure what time of year it will be held. Again, if anyone has more details let me know. Mike, who had never been to the old festival, asked me if it was a drinking/partying festival like Cooper-Young. “No, it wasn’t, not nearly as much,” I replied, “but I guarantee it will become one if they move it downtown.” (Edit: The Memphis Business Journal released a story about this festival today – it’s not a case of them moving Arts in the Park, but starting a new arts festival which will have some of the same characteristics. The fest has some big dogs on board, including Jay Etkin, so it’s off to a good start. They’re looking at the last week in October and the fest would extend from Huling to St.Paul.)

– Mike also e-mailed me this article from Slashdot, indicating that Bran Castle near Brasov, Romania may be up for sale. Legend has it that the castle was the home of Vlad Tepes, who inspired the Dracula character. Maybe I should buy it… it would be a real asset if I cruised the bars in Brasov to pick up beautiful Romanian girls… “Hey baby, let’s go back to my castle for a drink”… come on, no girl could say no to an offer like that.

– Good article in the Commercial Appeal today about Joe Cartwright, the chef at LoLo’s Table. He got his cooking experience in the kitchen with Hop Sing, cooking meals for his Pa and his brothers Hoss and Adam… wait, that’s a different Joe Cartwright. Maybe I need to quit watching so much TV. Anyway, it’s a good article, check it out. Says he went to Arkansas State University and is 26… wonder if Semi-Charmed Kat knows him?

– Speaking of which… looks like I’ll be hanging out with Semi-Charmed Kat Friday night. That will probably lead to some good blogging this weekend, as things tend to get interesting when SCK comes downtown.

– Saturday night I’ve been invited to a Democracy for America/Democracy for Tennessee mixer with the people attending the National Conference for Media Reform. Looking forward to that… not only to meet some of the people attending the conference, but also to meet some of the DFA/DFT members, whom I have not yet interacted with other than being on their mailing list.

– Speaking of the conference: In the next day or two I’m going to be posting some recommendations on what to see and do in Downtown Memphis, for the benefit of conference attendees. It may be up as soon as tonight, definitely no later than Friday lunchtime.

– The conference is the front-page article of this week’s Memphis Flyer, so be sure to grab a copy from one of the boxes.

– Holy crap! Someone finished the 4-pound Sasquatch burger at Big Foot Lodge! And they finished in 11 minutes! How in the world?

All right, tired of typing, so I guess I’ll publish. I have plenty more topics to blog about, so check back.

This month I plan to overhaul one of my other sites, Memphis Wallpaper. This is a site where I’ve posted images of Memphis for you to download and use as your desktop background. Unfortunately I haven’t added any new images in about 2 years. This is partly due to the fact that I didn’t have a working digital camera for much of 2005, and when I did get a new camera, I simply found it too much trouble to post new images… I had to resize them, create database entries, update the index pages, and then FTP everything up to the server.

Well, last night I had a brilliant idea… I’m going to turn Memphis Wallpaper into a blog. The concept will still be the same – Memphis images for your desktop – but I will be publishing the site in blog format, adding a new image (and descriptive text) every few days. I’ll post some of the best of the old images, and I’ll be taking new ones with my digital camera. Due to the fact that I can add search capabilities to a blog, the images should be easier to find than they are on the existing site. And, I’m going to allow comments on the Memphis Wallpaper blog, in order to make it easier for readers to leave feedback and suggest images they want to see.

One thing I’m not going to do on the new site is post the images in different sizes. With the variety of laptops and LCD monitors on the market now, there are simply too many resolutions. So I’m going to post the images at full-size only (5 megapixels) and leave it to the user to resize if they want/need to.

A good thing is that I’ll have a lot more space once I move Memphis Wallpaper to a new server – 100 GB rather than the current 100 MB – so I’ll be able to post a virtually unlimited number of images, whereas before I had to worry about running out of space.

If you want any of the current images on Memphis Wallpaper, grab ’em now. In less than a week the site should be down with an “under construction” label, then shortly after it will reappear as a blog and I’ll begin posting new images.

I’m not done yet! I have a second lunchtime post, with lots of gossip about Downtown bars and restaurants. It should be up within the hour.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got Sen. Barack Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream as a Christmas present. Currently I’m about halfway through it.

Today I was reading chapter 5 (“Opportunity”), and I absolutely loved what Obama had to say about education. Let’s start with this quote, where he says that building a 21st century school system means

“paying teachers what they’re worth. There’s no reason why an experienced, highly qualified, and effective teacher shouldn’t earn $100,000 annually at the peak of his or her career. Highly skilled teachers in such critical fields as math and science – as well as those willing to teach in the toughest urban schools – should be paid even more.”

BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well said, Senator!

Here are some other points he makes in the preceding and following paragraphs:

• We need to remove red tape in the certification process, so, for example, if a chemistry major wants to teach, he or she is able to do it without expensive additional course work;
• Proven teachers need to be given more control over what goes on in their classrooms;
• In exchange for more money, teachers need to become more accountable – and school districts need greater ability to get rid of ineffective teachers;
• Scores on standardized tests do not accurately reflect teacher performance. Therefore, unions, states and school districts should work together to come up with a system combining test scores and peer review that is a fair and accurate tool for evaluation.

Here we have a politician talking about education, and saying things that make sense. That’s refreshing. I also like it that he takes the attitude of “How can we do these things?” rather than “this is a nice wish list, but it’ll never happen because of A, B, C…”

I’m really starting to like this guy. I’m going to reserve judgment until I finish the book, but I will say that based on his views on education, I’m going to have to give him serious consideration if he does indeed run for president in 2008.

One other thing: Steve Cohen fans may want to read this book and pay special attention to Chapter 4 (“Politics”). Obama explains how, once you get to Washington, there are so many forces pulling you so many different directions – lobbyists, the media, your party, etc. – that it’s nearly impossible not to lose the sense of idealism that got you elected. Hopefully Steve will wade the political waters successfully, but it sure doesn’t look like he’ll have an easy time, given the picture Obama paints of the current situation.

And that’s all for now. Getting ready to head up to the Saucer for Tuesday night trivia. Hopefully I’ll be able to file a report tomorrow saying that the Rapscallions added to their accumulated winnings.

In the early 1930s, former president Gerald Ford played for two national championship teams. After graduating college, he received two offers to turn pro – from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers – each for $200 a game.

By contrast, Our Gang/Little Rascals star Farina (who was replaced in the early 30s by Stymie, who was in turn replaced in the mid 30s by Buckwheat) was getting $250 an episode.

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by the Saucer for a beer, and found that they were pulling out the old picture-tube TVs above the bar and installing two new Philips 42″ widescreen LCD HDTVs.

The TVs are up and running, and just in time for tonight’s Ohio State vs. Florida BCS national championship game. And it’s Pint Nite. Mmmmyeah there’s a good chance I’ll be up there.

Over on the left pane of my blog, underneath “How to contact me” and “Help keep Downtown safe,” I’ve added a “Free software” section. These software packs contain programs I’ve recommended in my blog over the past year.

Google Picasa is a program that will search your hard drive for photos and images, and will allow you to organize them however you choose. It also offers numerous options for retouching photos – there have been several photos over the past year that I thought have been unsalvageable, yet using Picasa’s editing options I was able to turn them into blog-worthy (there’s that word again) images. Picasa also allows you to upload your photos to the Web to share with friends, and provides free space for you to do so. My two most recent photo albums, my birthday album and Rapscallion Party II, were created with Picasa. To get it, click the button that reads, “Organize and share photos with friends. Google’s photo organizer.” Again, it’s on the left menu pane of this blog, under the “Free software” section.

Google Pack is an entire package of programs that will make your PC more useful. In addition to Picasa, it comes with a screen saver to display your photos, a tool to organize your desktop and the documents on your computer, and a tool that adds the Google search bar to your browser. Best of all, it comes with the incredible Google Earth application, which lets you browse and zoom in on satellite images all over the world (try “Manhattan” as a search term to get you started and see what it can do… or enter your own address and see what happens). You also get anti-virus software, anti-spyware software, and more. You have the option to remove any program you don’t want, and there are optional programs you can add – including Skype, which lets you make free phone calls anywhere in the world. To get it, click the “Make your PC more useful. Get the free Google Pack” button. The pack includes Picasa, so if you download the Pack, you don’t need to download Picasa.

Mozilla Firefox is a better browser than Internet Explorer. Plain and simple. It’s more secure, more sophisticated, and numerous add-ons allow you to extend your browsing experience. If you haven’t tried Firefox yet, what are you waiting for? It won’t harm your computer to have both Firefox and Internet Explorer installed at the same time, so if you don’t like Firefox it’s painless to switch back. Click the “Get Firefox with Google Toolbar for more secure browsing” button to get it.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll mention that these buttons are referral links – I get paid when you download these programs through my site. But these are all programs I personally use and enjoy, and if they weren’t I wouldn’t mention ’em here.

(Dammit… now blog reader “Stan” will probably be e-mailing me accusing Google of paying me off. This time, he’ll be right, though)

Coming this week to my blog: I have a challenge for Rhodes College, my alma mater; a significant upgrade at the downtown Flying Saucer; and who knows what else I’ll find to talk about. Check back often.

– This morning I was riding down the elevator, and I noticed a card advertising LoLo’s Table, a very good restaurant ’round the corner on Monroe between Main and Second. I noticed that they have a website now where you can check out their menu and special events like Wine Wednesday and Tuesday night wine dinners. They also have one of the best happy hours downtown. Great place. Glad to see them online.

– I also noticed the The Peanut Shoppe has a website now. The Peanut Shoppe, located on Main between Madison and Monroe, is one of the unknown treasures of downtown. Before I headed home for Christmas, I stopped by and picked up a pound of mixed nuts in a decorative tin and a pound of roasted-in-the-shell peanuts for my mother. The owners of this place are two of the kindest, most gentle people you’ll find downtown. They also have a good selection of candy (both regular and sugar free) if you have kids. Their products page has a complete list of the items they carry.

That’s all for now… having had two weeks off has affected my sleep schedule (sleeping until 11 every day lately) so I’m getting a relatively late start for a Sunday. Tomorrow it’s back to Cubicle World.

A couple of days ago a reader e-mailed me, asking me to list some places where a single woman in her late 40s could go to meet available men. I wasn’t sure, so I turned the question over to my readership, and got the response below, which seems to be really good.

I’m not in my 40s yet, but I’d recommend the First
Wednesdays at the Brooks and the Third Thursdays at
the Dixon. They tend to attract a slightly older,
often single crowd. And volunteering is a nice way to
meet people of any age. Why not sign up for some
Hands on Memphis activities? Or take some continuing
education classes or social dance classes or join a
gym? I think the library has a book club. Get active
in local politics? And there’s always internet
dating. Who knows? I’ve heard church is a good place
to meet people, if you’re so inclined. Several local
churches have singles ministries, but I doubt this is
the sort of advice this woman turned to you for.
Where do slightly older singles go to party down?

I enjoy being helpful, so I did a little web search.
The following was recommended for “older” singles in
Memphis. Notice the East Memphis bias:

• Ruth’s Chris for Wed. happy hour or Salsa right
across the parking lot
• Fleming Steakhouse’s wine bar, also right across the
street, also on Poplar
• Yia Yia’s in Germantown on a Tuesday or Wed
afternoon/early night
• Chinese restaurant and piano bar at the Park Place
Mall at the corner of Park and Ridgeway
• The Grove Grill’s bar area for happy hour
• Cockeyed Camel, 6000 block of Primacy Parkway
• Bonefish Grill for happy hour

As for downtown bars, Stella, LoLo’s Table, The Corner
Bar at the Peabody, or Grill 83 might work well.

Thanks for responding. Anyone else have comments? Shoot me an e-mail if you do. To the reader who asked, hope this list gets you started.

One of these days Queen Elizabeth II will die. And while I would normally place that event in the “can’t happen soon enough” category, I can’t, because at that time Prince Charles will ascend to the throne. And honestly, can anyone really see him as a king? The guy is a wimp. A wuss. He needs some serious image reform if he is ever going to make it as England’s top royal. And I have an idea for him.

You see, in modern times people can’t relate to images of great historical kings, like Henry VIII of England or Louis XIV of France. No, folks these days are spoon-fed by the media – they get their idea of what a “king” should be like from media outlets, television in particular.

And what king does the average guy on the street see most often on television? The Burger King, corporate mascot of fast-food restaurant Burger King. He’s been all over the place on commercials lately. And I have to admit, for the first time in my life I’ve wanted to buy an Xbox, because that “Sneak King” game BK released over the holiday season looks like so much fun. The Burger King sneaks around and tries to deliver tasty cheeseburgers to people before they die of hunger. He’s a hero!

Therefore, I think Prince Charles should grow a beard, to make himself look more like the Burger King. That would allow him to better fit into the image the public has of what “royalty” should look like. As a result, subjects of the UK would better accept him as their king, and he would be more likely to have a successful reign.

Yesterday I posted how the Flying Saucer won an award for being one of the 100 best bars/nightclubs in America, as recognized by its peers in a trade publication. And I wrote how they totally deserved that award. And, not surprisingly, I attributed much of their success to the girls who work there, the waitresses and bartenders.

But, thanks to a friend, I realized that I left someone out. When I come there between there between 7 pm and close, Monday through Thursday, there’s a big guy at the door named Will checking IDs. And as soon as he sees me, he gives me a generous handshake and says, “Welcome home, baby!” and waves me on through.

And I guess I never really thought about it until tonight, but half the time I come there, he’s the first face I see at the Saucer. And he does indeed make the place feel more like “home.” And that’s important. There are probably 10 other bars I could walk to as quick as or more quickly than I can walk to the Saucer. But Will makes me, and lots of other downtown locals, feel like we belong there.

So I just want to give him a shout-out. It’s easy to give the waitresses the credit but he deserves it too. I just don’t ever want to see him in a miniskirt. Not even on Halloween.