Paul Ryburn’s Journal

Interesting flyer on Nextdoor this morning… it says not to feed bread to ducks. It can cause their feathers to grow too fast, which leads to problems flying. Lettuce, peas, and sweetcorn are suggested as alternatives.

There’s also an “Indy 500 in Downtown” post on Nextdoor. I agree – revving engines woke me up in the middle of the night, and I am a pretty sound sleeper. It kills me that cops can’t manage to get this under control, yet they seem to have plenty of time to sit on the north loop of I-40 and hand out tickets for going 73 in a 65.

Blind Bear regulars… don’t forget to vote for Mary today! We need to read about her in Yoga Journal a few months from now. You can vote for free once a day.

The DM reports (subscriber-only link) that the Memphis basketball program has a good chance of landing either Chandler or Johnathon Lawson or perhaps both. Chandler entered the transfer portal after being underused as a sophomore at Oregon, and Johnathon is the #1 prospect in the 2021 graduating class. They are the brothers of K.J. and Dedric who played here, and the sons of Keelon Lawson who had a job in the U of M basketball program when Tubby was coach. Penny coached Chandler and Johnathon when they were in high school.

A coveted rental unit in the Broadnax Building on the southwest corner of Main and Monroe is available. It’s a 2-level, 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit. It’s got a Manhattanesque monthly rate of $3400, but you’d have stellar views and a shorter walk to Bardog than I have.

Outside the Lorraine, a photography exhibit, is now open at the National Civil Rights Museum.

FEMA’s mass vaccine site is moving closer to its goal of 3000 a day. The sooner we all get vaccinated, the sooner we can kiss the remaining stupid restrictions goodbye.

It’s National Barbershop Quartet Day. Hey, does Rhodes College still have The Wool Socks, the double barbershop quartet? That concept was founded by classmates of mine.

I’m still in awe of the fact that I went to college with a Supreme Court justice, even if I barely knew her and disagree with a lot of the decisions she hands down.

Yesterday was one of the most fun days I had since the pandemic started. It took a couple of unexpected turns, but they were worthwhile. I led off at the Farmers Market, then walked over to Max’s Sports Bar. I planned to only stay for a beer or two, but plans changed.

That was the best time I had at Max’s since 2014!!!

With Bjarni, Jessica, and later Mike behind the bar, they had an all-star bartending lineup as good as any in town. They had their Saturday crawfish boil going on in the courtyard. My original plan was to eat at the Blind Bear, which was having a crawfish boil of its own later in the afternoon. However, once people began bringing in crawfish from the back of Max’s, I couldn’t wait any longer! Besides, Glaze’s crawfish are the gold standard.

Man! Those taters were covered in spice from the crawfish boil! So good. As for the crawfish, most of them have reached a size you usually don’t see until May.

I had a little teaching to do. I explained to Perjorie that the crawfish nearer the top of the photo was probably worth the time and energy investment digging around for claw meat. The crawfish at the bottom of the pic, just suck the head, eat the tail, and move on to the next one.

I finished up my crawfish and thought, “I could head back north now…

… or, I could stay and have a cup of Purple Drank!”

I had a cup of Purple Drank.

Purple Drank is the most lethal of the frozen drinks available there. Max used the pandemic downtime to rebuild his bar and expand the frozen drink machines to five.

Drink offerings change, but yesterday’s lineup, left to right:

• Purple Drank
• Mai Tai
• Blackberry (I think?) Sangria
• Blood Orange Margarita
• Dreamsicle

You can also get a mix. Guy down the bar from me got half Dreamsicle, half Purple Drank.

Interesting phenomenon… by mid-afternoon, the machines holding purple and red drank had ice on their front, which the machines holding orange and green drank did not. See photo above. A high school science teacher gave her opinion that it could have to do with the alcohol/contents of the drinks.

Absolutely stellar vibe in there yesterday. The restrictions are not totally gone yet and people are still being careful, but it was the first day that I really got the sense that the Roaring 2020s have arrived. I WILL BE BACK. Maybe not next week, because I need to catch up with my fellow Bardog Saturday morning regulars. But maybe the Saturday after that! Or maybe another day of the week.

Jessica was going to the Silly Goose after she got off and gave me a ride up there. The Goose is a PBR drinker’s paradise right now, even though they carry the 12-ounce cans as they wait for the 16s to come back in stock.

The trouble with having one of the most awesome days since COVID was that I ran up one of my largest bar tabs since COVID! Oh well, it was money well spent.

Blind Bear – I do apologize for not making it by there yesterday. That was my original plan. Of course, I will be up there this week, just haven’t figured out which are my going-out days yet.

Today will be a stay-home day, because I spent too much money yesterday and because it’s night 2 of Wrestlemania. Back tomorrow with more news.

I have a huge favor to ask my readers, especially those who hang out at Blind Bear. Mary, one of the bartenders there who is also a yoga teacher, is in the running to be featured in an upcoming issue of Yoga Journal. It’s determined by vote, and Mary won her group in the opening round. She’s now in the quarterfinals. Could you take a moment to vote for Mary?

Vote for Mary here

Check out the Memphis Flyer website – it got an updated look yesterday.

Despite a loss to the New York Knicks, the Grizzlies maintain a 2-game hold on 8th place in the Western Conference. They’ll be back on the home court tomorrow evening for a 7:00 game against the Indiana Pacers.

RIP Prince Philip. God I hope Meghan Markle doesn’t try to make this all about her. I have a feeling she will though.

The Atoka BBQ Festival is happening this weekend. That’s a popular regional as teams get ready to compete for the big prize at Memphis in May.

Ted Horrell & The Monday Night Card play Carolina Watershed today at 2. Music by Kota plays Watershed at 7.

That’s it for this post. My Bardog buddies are out of town so I will see what kind of adventure I can find solo today. I may have this thing to go to around 2 or 3, but the morning is totally TBD. Back tomorrow with more news.

Well, yesterday was not the day I ordered! About noon I heard fire engines and thought, “I hope that’s not my building.” Unfortunately it was. It was a false alarm but they hadn’t turned the elevators back on by the time I got off work at 1. I had to go to the Blind Bear in work clothes, and without my troll.

While there I watched the St. Louis Cardinals opening day festivities. It was their first opening day in recent memory without All-Star pitcher Bob Gibson and base thief Lou Brock. The Cards paid them an appropriate tribute.

Then they introduced living members of the Cardinals Hall of Fame. Man, former catcher Ted Simmons was rockin’ the hair. I wonder if Ted’s one of those people who’s waiting for COVID to be over to get a haircut, or if he prefers it long? Looks good, he should keep it.

A little later in the afternoon, I let the bartender change the channel off the Cardinals so my friends Jason and Nappin Ass Nate could watch golf. Never let it be said that I’m not agreeable. Once again I was disappointed that my troll wasn’t with me. The Masters is her favorite golf tournament because the winner’s jacket is the same color as her hair.

On to the news… DJ Siphne Aaye plays a lunchtime set today noon to 1 in Health Sciences Park. If you can’t make it out there, the event will be broadcast on Facebook Live.

The DMC has several business promotion opportunities available. These include

• Selling items at a river market on Riverside
• Hosting outdoor concerts at your business
• A social media video special (5-10 minutes in length) featuring a member of your staff and highlighting a few of your items

People on Nextdoor report a round of about 30 gunshots near the South Bluffs/South End area last night around 9.

Artists Maritza Davila and Carl E. Moore will host a reception for their show, “Assessments,” at 55 S. Main, Saturday from 1-3. Their art will reflect how artists have been forced to pivot during the quarantine.

Cheers to Tony Ludlow of Sgt. Tony’s Fitness Bootcamp. The former Marine staff sergeant was profiled in The Daily Memphian. Starting May 3, if you want to take his boot camp, you have to show proof of COVID vaccination. Sgt. Tony says that if you choose not to get the vaccine because of “freedom,” that’s your right, but he thinks that excuse is “bullshit” and you won’t be endangering his boot camp attendees.

Today would be a great day to sit upstairs at Nate’s bar at Earnestine & Hazel’s… it’s National Dive Bar Day.

Tennessee’s Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe said that if Tennessee is not fully open by June, it surely will be by July. I hope so. I’m ready to sing. I’m ready to dance. I’m ready to move my bar stool where I want without someone getting out a tape measure and verifying it’s within six feet of no more than one other bar stool. God that rule is stupid. Although, less stupid than previous rules.

The Land Use Control Board may have killed the environmentally racist Byhalia pipeline with an 8-0 vote yesterday. They voted that pipelines cannot be located within 1500 feet of homes, schools, parks, or family recreation centers.

You don’t need an appointment to get vaccinated at the Pipkin Building after 5 PM. This is part of the City’s and FEMA’s plan to get as many shots in arms as quickly as possible. Also, MATA is providing free fares for vaccine appointments.

An Ole Miss student is charged with aggravated assault after he sprayed bleach down a fraternity pledge’s throat. Now, what I want to know is, did the accused get the idea from the Trumpster’s ridiculous suggestion last spring that we should ingest disinfectants to fight COVID? If so, can Trump be charged as an accessory to the crime?

Grey’s Fine Cheese is hosting an event at Grind City Brewing Co. tomorrow. From 1 to 3 you can sample some of their cheeses paired with Grind City craft brews. This is not a ticketed event; just come on out and enjoy. They’ll have cheese stuffed Oreos, and I can’t say that sounds tasty in the least, but perhaps I should keep an open mind.

Ladies, get a workout and some Asian food… Shred415 and STIX, next-door neighbors in the Peabody Place building, have a combo deal this evening.

Downtown YMCA has a summer hiring event tomorrow 9 to 1. They’re looking for summer lifeguards, camp counselors, and child care workers.

That’s the news for this post. Off to work here in a bit. I’ve got my writing done for this week so this will become a going-out day, and this time I’ll have my troll with me. Back tomorrow with more news.

Folks, today I lead off with news of a developing crisis. This is not quite as bad as World War II when gasoline and food had to be rationed, but it’s close. The situation we face is truly tragic.

There’s a shortage of 16-ounce Pabst Blue Ribbon cans in the Memphis area. Bars are replacing them with the smaller 12-ounce cans, lowering the Value Drinking Index by 25% no matter what price is charged. I talked to a distributor yesterday and this sounds like a problem city-wide.

First COVID, now this. We just can’t catch a break.

SOB Downtown closed its doors Monday, in preparation for the opening of SOB Downtown in a larger space down the street middle of this month. The Flyer has a preview.

Momma’s will be closed over the weekend. They’ll use the time to staff up for a grand re-opening celebration as well as to renovate both inside and out.

There will be a reception for a new exhibit by sibling artists Kat and Sanford Gore, entitled Gore & Gore, at The Medicine Factory, 85 W. Virginia Ave. Saturday from 10 to noon.

A body was pulled from the water near Bass Pro Drive yesterday afternoon.

Paul Young, new CEO of Downtown Memphis Commission, talked about his plans recently on WREG Live at 9.

Thanks to last night’s win against the Atlanta Hawks, the Grizzlies now a 2-game lead over San Antonio for 8th in the Western Conference. Next up: The Grizzlies travel to New York to face the Knicks. That game will be nationally televised on NBATV at 6 PM Friday.

Plans for 7 Vance got rejected by the Design Review Board yesterday, and I am not surprised. The artist’s rendition (click the link to see it) looks like any other generic condo building you might find on Georgia Ave. or Carolina Ave. and is out of place among the boxy warehouses in the area of Vance and Wagner. On the other hand, the DRB heaped praise on The Walk on Union’s plans.

Fewer than 60 COVID cases were reported in Shelby County for the second day in a row. Since health directives generally last 4 weeks, Health Directive No. 19 should end at 11:59 PM a week from tomorrow. I wonder if Dr. Randolph will be at today’s COVID-19 task force press conference with info on whether they’ll loosen restrictions even more… or whether he’ll say “continue the course” a bunch of times and keep the restrictions in place for 4 more agonizing weeks.

As your number-one source of news and information about The Edge District, I would advise you to stop by Venezuelan restaurant Sabor Caribe on Madison Avenue to celebrate National Empanada Day. Their menu says they have beef, chicken, black bean, and cheese varieties available.

That’s the news for today. Time to go kick some ass at work then go out and enjoy this perfect April weather. Back tomorrow with more.

I had a Tuesday update post ready yesterday morning but wasn’t able to publish until moments ago. My Publish button was greyed out and the server was unresponsive… yet my blog was still readable. Weird.

U.S. News and World Report ranked the Doctor of Nursing program at UT Health Sciences Center number 26 in the country, placing it in the top 16% of all such programs.

From Local 24: Memphis church learns of a hurtful past, but works to find healing. Calvary Episcopal in its early days shared a city block with Nathan Bedford Forrest. Parishioners recently learned that Forrest bought and sold slaves on the corner.

Two Memphis Made beers are getting a refresh. RockBone IPA’s latest iteration uses Lemondrop hops for a citrus taste. Huggy Bear brown ale, with a chocolate finish, is getting upsized from 5% to 6.4% ABV. Did you know that brewers number their batches similar to how software developers number their product? This version of RockBone is version 2.021.

The Grizzlies improved to 25-23 with a win over the Miami Heat last night. They now hold 8th place in the Western Conference by a game, fending off the 9th-place San Antonio Spurs. Tonight the Grizzlies travel to Atlanta for a 7 PM tipoff time.

The CA has an article on the closing of Downtown Family Dollar. It has struggled for the past year because most Downtown office workers have worked remotely. Even if you don’t care about Family Dollar, this story is worth a click for the 187-photo Downtown Memphis Through The Years gallery.

Today’s National Beer Day, so get out and celebrate with the brew of your choice. May I recommend the PBR?

The Redbirds (May 4) and Memphis 901 FC (June 15) plan to open playing AutoZone Park at about 50% capacity. Of course, if people go get vaccinated, we may be able to loosen the numbers a bit more.

Real Good Dog Rescue will host an adoption event at Memphis Farmers Market this Saturday from 8 to 1.

Tuesday’s post was so late getting up, it wasn’t even Tuesday anymore. Keep scrolling if you haven’t seen it.

Sorry this is a day late… had problems publishing yesterday.

Memphis River Parks Partnership and the city have come up with a fantastic plan for Riverside Drive, allowing it to be shared by vehicles and pedestrians.

• Good news for vehicles – in the long term, Riverside will remain 2 lanes each direction (during park construction, it will be one lane each direction at Beale Street Landing)

BUT

• Good news for pedestrians – there will be three raised crossings at Vance, Huling, and Butler. The raised crossings will have speed bumps on either side, and cars’ undersides will be damaged if they don’t slow down to navigate over the crossings.

This sounds outstanding. Hopefully it will eliminate the ability to drag race on Riverside between Georgia and Beale without doing thousands of dollars of damage to the racers’ cars.

It’s not just the drag racers either. When I worked in Horn Lake and took Riverside to work in the mornings, drivers were honked at, cussed at, and flipped off if they didn’t maintain a speed of about 48 to 51 MPH on a stretch of road where the posted speed limit was 35. Prevailing traffic speed was way too high to be safe for pedestrians.

There will be flashing lights at the intersections, activated by pedestrians, as well as the “speed table” crossings. There will also be pods of parking spaces totaling about 60 on the west side of Riverside.

Cheers to all involved on coming up with a win for everybody. This is the kind of thinking we need more of in our city.

Fox 13 has updated info on the gunshots fired near Hyatt Centric Memphis at Front and Beale Sunday night about 10. The shooter was said to be a man standing on the southeast corner of Front Street firing a weapon. He hit a moving car as well as shot out windows in two hotel rooms. The hotel is scheduled to open this week.

Larger hotels in Memphis tend to employ their own PR person, and if Hyatt Centric has one, that person is certainly getting a baptism by fire in their new job.

I heard about 20 gunshots popping off in rapid succession at about 9:45 last night. It sounded to the south and west of my apartment. I guessed the location to be Riverside and Monroe, but a post on Nextdoor places the gunfire at Front and Beale. At least two vehicles were said to be exchanging shots at that location.

In other words, in a span of about 20 seconds, I heard more gunshots than I heard my first 17 years of living Downtown pre-pandemic. I also heard squealing tires and revving engines that sounded like people were drag racing on Riverside.

OK here we go. From WREG: Police investigating shooting outside new Downtown Memphis hotel. Shell casings were found all over the area. Welcome to the neighborhood, Hyatt Centric! Imagine what the TripAdvisor reviews are going to look like if you don’t use your influence with the city to get police to crack down hard.

I wonder how many tenants The Waterford will lose this year because of this bullshit.

I wonder how much the value of condos at 266 Lofts on Front will be depressed by the fact that there’s a war zone outside on the weekends.

I looked out my window about 9 last night and saw plenty of kids riding around on scooters. I wonder how long it will be before a second one gets caught in the crossfire.

I wonder if any conventions will bypass Memphis after their organizers read the headlines about Downtown Memphis and learn about the cruising and the shootings.

I wonder if any season ticket holders will decide not to renew their 2021-22 Orpheum plan because they feel it’s not safe to come to the Orpheum’s neighborhood.

AutoZone could certainly throw its corporate weight around with the city and request something be done… after all, this is happening in its Store Support Center’s backyard.

In other news…

The Grizzlies improved to 24-23 and 8th place in the Western Conference with a win over Philly last night.

The NCAA men’s basketball championship tips off tonight at 8:20 on CBS. All the Cinderellas are gone, leaving the two best teams in the country, Baylor and Gonzaga, to battle it out for a national title.

That’s all I’ve got for this Monday. I’ll keep my eye on the news for more info on the shooting last night. Back tomorrow.

I stopped by the opening day of Memphis Farmers Market yesterday. I took a notebook with me so I could jot down changes since last year – or, really, since the Market I remember in 2019, because I only went once last year.

• The biggest change is that you can’t eat under the pavilion where people are shopping. I would imagine that is because eating is an activity where you have to take off your mask. The rule was probably a Health Department requirement. There were people sitting on the curb outside the pavilion eating. They didn’t have tables set up, which indicates that the Health Department would prefer people take their food truck purchases to go.
• Dogs are allowed under the pavilion this year, though, and there were a lot of them out. Dogs have to be on leashes, of course, and if your dog has trouble getting along with strangers, either humans or other dogs, it should probably be left at home.
• They had a new (at least new to me) food truck, Eric’s Catering, selling inexpensive breakfast sandwiches. It’s nice to be able to get a bite to eat in the five-buck range.
• The other food truck was Fuel and it was parked under the pavilion, weird since you can’t eat under the pavilion. I guess that was done to make the pavilion look full – they’re up to 61 vendors but that’s still fewer than they had pre-pandemic.
• You can get your knives sharpened at the Market this year.
• They have a new vendor selling locally-made hummus for $12 a tub.
• Appropriately, they have a vendor selling face masks.

All right, I gotta call somebody out, and I hate doing this. I walked down to the Market at 10:40 and Earnestine & Hazel’s had their doors open. “Cool, they opened early, I’ll check them out after the Market!” I thought. I stayed at the Market until a minute or two past 11, catching up with friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

Then I walked over to E&H. I noticed one of the doors was propped open by a chalkboard that said, “We’re OPEN!”

However, when I walked in, one of the guys behind the bar told me they planned to open around noon. Needless to say, I was rather disappointed.

Restaurant owners and GMs – If you tell the Commercial Appeal and the Daily Memphian you’re going to open at a particular time, you need to do it. If you have it on your Facebook page that you’re going to open at a particular time, you need to do it.

If you can’t do it at the posted time, don’t open the doors and make it look like you’re open. That is negative marketing.

And if you do open the doors, don’t prop them open with a “We’re OPEN!” sign when you’re not actually open, for heaven’s sake!!!

Granted, we are in the middle of a pandemic, and E&H under the current ownership has been open for less than a month. So let’s cut ’em some slack. You never know what could have come up. Maybe they had trouble finding employees who want to work, which is a challenge for every restaurant in town these days. Maybe they’re still learning to operate the Soul Burger equipment and got a bit behind schedule. No big deal.

I had a good time catching up with my BBQ teammate Joan, and she asked if I planned to go down to BBQ Fest this year, given that our own team isn’t competing. I said I hadn’t thought about it, that I wasn’t sure which teams were competing. Joan told me that Memphis in May has a list on their website.

The National Civil Rights Museum will host a virtual commemoration of the 53rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tonight at 5 PM Central time online. Featured in the commemoration will be

• A conversation with Rev. James Lawson, who marched with Dr. King and did training on civil disobedience. Moderating the conversation will be NBC’s Tracie Potts.
• Dr. Bernard L. Richardson will provide the keynote speech on Dr. King’s legacy of altruism. Dr. Richardson is dean of the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel and executive officer for religious affairs at Howard University.
• There will be poetry and musical performances as well, including “Precious Lord,” which was Dr. King’s favorite gospel hymn.

I found out that the anniversary is part of the reason I have a 4-day weekend, so I will honor Dr. King by reading one of his speeches/sermons. Here’s a complete list if you want to do the same. Hmmm… I think I may read his speech “The Other America,” first delivered April 14, 1967 at Stanford and last delivered March 14, 1968 at Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to see how his views changed over the final year of his life.

Here’s a link to James Aycock’s COVID Week-in-Review for the week that just concluded.

Headline story on the DM this morning: Mud Island prepares for Memorial Day reopening

Hippity, hoppity, happy Easter day! The Bunny made an appearance at Blind Bear yesterday.

Speaking of Easter, don’t forget: The Peeps go on sale at 50% off at grocery stores and drugstores tomorrow morning.

Daaaaamn the top post on Nextdoor this morning is “Can we address how bad things have gotten at (2 restaurants).” I don’t frequent either of the restaurants (a bit far of a walk) but I sure do hate to hear they’re having problems. Once again, most restaurants Downtown are having trouble keeping adequately staffed. A server or bartender who makes tips can out-earn what they’d get on unemployment, but a cook or dishwasher in many cases cannot.

Today is not only Easter but a day of many other celebrations as well. It’s 404 Day, a celebration of the error you get when you request a web page and it’s not found.

It’s also National Cordon Bleu Day. The only place I can think of Downtown where you can get that dish is occasionally Hector puts Cordon Bleu sliders on special at Bardog.

It’s also National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day. Just don’t put it on top of a pizza.

And if you really want to live on the edge a bit, it’s National Tell a Lie Day. Of course, for some people, that’s every day. Every hour, pretty much.

There was an apartment fire in a vacant apartment in the 200 block of E. Butler yesterday. Arson is suspected.

The folks at The Dirty Crow Inn announced that their pop-up restaurant has ended at the 40et8 in West Memphis. Not to worry, they tell us, the Crow will fly again when the time is right.

The MemphisWeather.net forecast for Easter looks outstanding: Sunny and 71 today, clear and 50 tonight.

Yoga on the River has a new instructor, Candace from Yoga Kickback. Catch her free class at 5:30 every Tuesday at River Garden Park at 51 N. Riverside Drive or join virtually on Instagram Live. You’ll want to bring a mat, a towel, and water. This is an all-levels class. YOGA!

That’s it for today. Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. Back tomorrow with more news.

Porter-Leath’s Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest will go virtual this year since spring festivals are not quite yet safe to hold. You can pre-order your crawfish to be picked up between noon and 5

• Saturday, April 17: Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison
• Sunday, April 18: Malco Cinema Cordova, 1080 N. Germantown Parkway

If you don’t want to wait until the 17th-18th to get your crawfish, you don’t have to. Glaze will be back at Max’s Sports Bar cooking up crawfish today. They’re perfectly spiced with sides of corn, taters, and sausage. First batch comes out around noon. Seating inside is limited, but Max’s has a huge outdoor courtyard where you can social distance.

After you eat crawfish, stick around for basketball. Final Four games on CBS today:

• #2 Houston vs. #1 Baylor: 4:14 tip-off
• #11 UCLA vs. #1 Gonzaga: 7:34 tip-off

Paula’s daughter Keshia posted to Facebook last night that Paula & Raiford’s is back open. Hours for the time being are 9 PM-1 AM Friday and Saturday.

From the New York Times: What you need to know about your vaccine card

The Chisca is looking for a floor person who would be responsible for maintaining hard floor surfaces as well as carpets.

The Memphis Chess Club has a special going on this weekend: Spend $20 in their cafe and pick out a plastic Easter egg. Eggs contain prizes including free cafe items and chess events. The club is located on Madison just east of B.B. King Blvd. You do not have to be a club member to dine at their cafe.

StyleBlueprint has a list of hidden Memphis gems. If you’re a longtime Memphian, you probably know about most of these, but if you’re a recent transplant, this is a good list.

The Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. says he’ll be back this month.

You know a rule I would love to see? You can only sit at the bar if you have a completely filled-out COVID vaccine card. But because everyone else at the bar would have a filled-out card too, you wouldn’t have to social distance. I would gladly give up my bar stool for 15 days until I get my second shot if such a rule were implemented.

From WREG: A woman became upset at the wait time in the drive-thru at Burger King on Winchester. She extended her body into the drive-thru window and started shooting at employees. That’s the most Memphis thing I’ve heard in a while.

Chef Michael Patrick from Rizzo’s was interviewed by Fox 13 on the problems restaurants are having staffing open positions.

John Hay plays Momma’s tonight at 7.

The Alison Brown concert tonight at the Halloran Centre is sold out.

Rodell McCord plays acoustic country, rock, and blues tonight at 6:30 at Tin Roof.

That’s it for this post. My plan is still to hit the Farmers Market around 10:30 this morning then find someplace nearby that serves PBR. Back tomorrow with more news.

And it truly is a good Friday! That’s because a good Friday was preceded by a good Wednesday… the type of Wednesday when the boss came by and said, “Paul, in case no one’s told you, we’re closed Friday and Monday.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my job. However, I also love Bardog! My first opportunity to be there on a weekday morning since MLK Day… I don’t see how I can pass that up. I plan on being there at 8 sharp, hungry for an egg and cheese slider, add ham, and of course a cold PBR.

You know, every morning I do a gratitude practice, in which I see myself expanding my energy out into the universe, inviting my best future version in. The influence of that best future version caused me to not only kick ass at work this week, but also to have my most lucrative professional writing month ever in the month of March. However, that best future self likes to have fun as well, and I plan to have that experience, today in the Downtown core and tomorrow in South Main.

Talk about a system that will be working overtime: MPD has implemented its first gunshot detection system. It was installed in Orange Mound around noon on Wednesday, March 31. By 4 PM it had already detected a dozen gunshots. Analysts who receive the data determine whether the noise really was a gunshot – so yes, there are people who literally get paid to play “gunshots or fireworks.” A federal grant will pay for the system for 3 years. After that, if MPD finds it effective at fighting crime, it could be written into the city budget.

Developer Tom Intrator plans a new five-story structure at 386 S. Main. There will be commercial space, always in high demand in South Main, on the ground floor, and 30 apartments on the floors above. Some of the apartments will have balconies, which you don’t see much on that part of Main.

It’s The Daily Memphian’s turn to write an article about Memphis Farmers Market’s opening day tomorrow. 61 vendors will be on hand including 12 new ones. I was asked yesterday if they have fresh flowers… YES they absolutely do! Don’t forget your masks because they’re still required, and volunteers may remind people of the need to social distance.

The virus isn’t done with us yet… we got notified Wednesday night that there’s a COVID case in our building. So grateful that I found an opportunity to get vaccinated. If any of my readers are undecided about getting the vaccine, feel free to reach out to me at paul@paulryburn.com or on social media. I won’t preach at you or guilt-trip you… I will just respectfully lay out the reasons I decided that getting vaccinated was worth it.

If you won’t take my word on why you should get the vaccine, just ask Rev. Al Green, who got his second dose this week. From Action News 5: “He said the shot was painless, so much so that he didn’t even realize the nurse had given him the shot when it was over.” Yep, that’s exactly how mine was.

Ironic that today is National Walk to Work Day and it’s a day when I don’t get to do that. I suppose I could walk through my work building on the way to Bardog.

The Grizzlies host the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at 7. The Grizzlies currently sit in 9th place in the Western Conference. This year the 7 through 10 seeds play play-in games, although you’re in much better position with a higher seed. The way I understand it, the winner of the 7-8 game advances to the playoff, and the winner of (the loser of the 7-8 game) vs. (the winner of the 9-10 game) game advances. In other words, it’s double elimination if you’re a 7 or 8 seed and single elimination if you’re a 9 or 10 seed.

MATA routes 2 and 32 will provide rides to the Pipkin Building for vaccines next week. Action News 5 story Note that route 2 is the Madison line and is accessible from Downtown.

Bailey Bigger plays Momma’s tonight at 7. Prior to that she’ll play South Main Sounds 5:30-6:30.

Josh Waddell plays Carolina Watershed tonight at 7.

An interesting item I found in Morning Brew’s Sidekick newsletter: 100+ challenges to make you more focused, confident, happy, calm, or resilient.

Do I have any readers out there who are big-time into Reddit? I’m convinced it would be a great source of article ideas for me to write about professionally on Medium. I just never have been able to fit my mind around how to use Reddit effectively.

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner’s book will be out later this month. Bet that’ll be an interesting read. Excerpt in POLITICO Magazine

That’ll do it. Back tomorrow with more news.