Paul Ryburn’s Journal

A trolley on the Madison Avenue line caught fire this morning. It happened near Stop 345 at Madison near Danny Thomas. The fire was said to have started near the driver’s legs, and it rapidly spread. No one was injured, thank goodness. This is the second trolley fire in less than six months.

We’re getting closer to the end of the playoff race in the NBA’s Western Conference, and things are not looking good for the Grizzlies. Last night the Grizzlies got clobbered by San Antonio, and meanwhile Phoenix beat Oklahoma City. That leaves the Grizzlies in ninth place, a game behind Phoenix in eighth. If the season ended today, Memphis would be in the draft lottery with a 0.5 chance of drawing the first pick. A win at home Wednesday against the Miami Heat would be a good way to get back in the playoff hunt, but that is not going to be easy.

The RDC is thinking about opening a restaurant of its own at Beale Street Landing, since no Beale Street restaurant management company is willing to take the project on. The restaurant will be discussed at the RDC’s board meeting tomorrow.

There’s a Fundly campaign going on to raise money for outdoor furniture for the new South Main bocce court.

Stuff going on Downtown tonight: Crawfish night at Local, trivia night at Cafe Keough (7:30), $3 pint nite at Flying Saucer.

Beer lovers: Bernoulli Brew Werks, a homebrew shop at 2881 Poplar that supplies local home brewers with yeasts, grains, hops and the equipment to brew, is having an event this Saturday, April 12. It’s almost BBQ season, so they are having a trial run for their team “The BBQ Experiment.” The public is invited to come enjoy some BBQ and help them brew some beer. This will be a kid-friendly event.

Last night I used my WWE Network subscription to watch WrestleMania on my phone while playing poker. It got distracting, so I turned it off at the start of the Undertaker-Brock Lesnar match, figuring there was no doubt what would be the outcome of that one. About 25 minutes later, I got a shock. One of the other players told me, “They broke the streak.” I turned the WWE back on, and there was Undertaker walking up the ramp, dejected, with a “21-1″ graphic on the Jumbotron. For the first time ever, Taker had lost at WrestleMania. As Ron Simmons would say, DAMN.

That’ll wrap it up for now. Can’t wait to see what happens on Monday Night Raw. Undertaker-Sting at WrestleMania 31? Hope so.

(If you’re a web developer, you understand the title. Otherwise, don’t worry about it)

Since a lot of entrepreneurs read my blog, I thought I’d start today with an idea I had for an app or a website that maybe someone can pick up and run with. This morning I was looking forward to tomorrow, my usual Saturday at Bardog. Oftentimes on Saturday, Panda will decide “It’s too quiet in here” and take out a few dollars and hand them to customers to put in the jukebox. I never take Panda up on her offer of jukebox dollars – I don’t feel like flipping through 100 CDs to find 8 or 10 songs I’d like to play. That would take me away from my PBR for 15 or 20 minutes, an unacceptably long time.

Then I thought about what I do when I know I will be dining at a particular restaurant. I pull up the restaurant’s menu, either on its website or a third-party website that aggregates menus. I figure out what I want before I go. That way, I don’t waste a lot of time looking over the menu when I get there, and it lets me get excited in advance about the food. What if there were an app or website that aggregates what’s on the jukebox? If I could sit there in my desk chair at home and spend some time looking over what’s in Bardog’s jukebox, I’d be more likely to accept Panda’s money, or put my own in, and play some songs.

So there you go. If anyone wants to take that idea and run with it, be my guest. And now, on with the news.

The Grizzlies host the Denver Nuggets tonight at 6:00, and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN. If you can, get there early so the arena will be full at the start of the broadcast. This is a must-win game for the Grizzlies, who are locked in a tight struggle with Dallas and Phoenix for 7th, 8th, and 9th places in the Western Conference. At the end of the regular season, 7th and 8th places get seeds in the playoffs, while 9th place stays home. The Grizzlies must beat teams like Denver that they are expected to beat if they are to stay out of 9th.

Neighbors are worried that the building that once housed Prince Mongo’s nightclub could come crumbling down soon. The building is on Front Street and backs up to Center Lane, known to locals as Scratchy’s Alley. It is already leaning. Police have put up barricades in the alley but those only block vehicles from going through. Pedestrians use that alley as a shortcut all the time, and at least one homeless person (Jimmy AKA “Scratchy”) is known to sleep there.

New post on the Flyer’s Hungry Memphis blog: A visit to Cake Gallery Baketique, which has many more sweets than just cakes. It’s on Madison just east of the Brass Door. How could I have had no idea that place was there, when it’s so close to home?

Moody Ques BBQ teammates: An email just went out to the team. If you didn’t get it let me know and I’ll make sure the team has your address. Last day to pay is April 15. Our pitmaster Chef David Scott Walker and his team have decided to enter all the ancillary events: beef, poultry, seafood, exotic, sauces, and hot wings.

Last night I attended the second Thursday poker night at Cafe Keough. Several players who had not been in the cafe yet came with me, and one commented, “You weren’t kidding, Paul, this place is really cool.” Poker players, if you haven’t made it to Cafe Keough yet, you’re missing out on a good time.

That’s all for today. Just a few more hours until the weekend. I wish the 80-degree weather from yesterday had stuck around, but I’ll take whatever weekend I can get.

Yesterday I posted about an April 10 bocce tournament on South Main. It has since filled up, so a tournament for April 17 was opened up. That one has filled up too, so they’ve set up another tournament for April 24. Sign up here. I had no idea bocce had so much appeal in Memphis.

Here’s an article about the bocce court from this week’s High Ground News.

If you want to learn more about what our BBQ team sponsor Start Co. does, this article listing the top 5 reasons to intern at Start Co. is a good read.

The Memphis Made beer dinner is tomorrow night at 7 at the Flying Saucer. In March the brewery rolled out Junt, Bent Note IPA, Oaked Plaid Attack and Cocoa Reverberation. Tomorrow night they will be paired with locally-sourced food. Tickets are $30 for UFO Club members and $35 for non-members.

Amazon Local has a deal for tickets to the Cotton Museum, a $20 value, for $8.

Memphis Farmers Market has announced its live music schedule for its opening day on Saturday:

7:00-9:00: Paul Waits
9:00-11:00: Andrew Cabiago
11:00-noon: Opera Memphis

That’ll do it for now. I’ll be out at the Silly Goose for some $1.50 happy hour PBR after work.

Our BBQ team sponsor Start Co. got hooked up with lunch from Ultimate Foods today. Ultimate Foods is a healthy subscription meal service that has both meat and vegetarian options. They are located inside WellWorx at the northwest corner of Madison and Main.

If you want to get the scoop on what will be happening at BBQ Fest and the other Memphis in May events this year, put Tuesday, April 8 on your calendar. That is the date for April’s South Main Association meeting. Memphis in May representatives will speak about the music, the BBQ, host country Panama, and more. The meeting will be held at the Leadership Memphis Gallery at 365 S. Main. It is free for SMA members to attend, $10 for non-members.

There will be a spring cleaning of Downtown Saturday, April 12. If you want to volunteer, meet at Court Square at 9 AM that day. You’ll be given a cleaning assignment, then you’ll return to Court Square at noon to celebrate.

I found something interesting in this article on whether UT should match Marquette’s offer for Cuonzo Martin. It’s not that I care what UT does, but there is a list of the top 25 highest-paid college basketball coaches. Coming in at number 9 is our own Josh Pastner, at $2.65 million.

That’s it for now. Busy day at work, got to get back to it.

Mudbugs in March happens in Court Square this afternoon 2:30-7:30. Details here. Seems like a lot of people are excited about this festival. My regular Saturday bartender Panda is taking the day off from Bardog to go, and my favorite blogger/MILF tweeted that she will be there.

Dayton vs. Florida tips off at the FedExForum at 5:09 PM. It will be broadcast on TBS.

Harrah’s gave the River Rat Rounders poker club a nice gift: A $70 comp to Harrah’s poker room will be up for grabs at ever 7 PM RRR game. That would include the Monday game at the Mad Earl, so come play and you might get to play some real cash poker compliments of Harrah’s. Just make sure you use your comp before June 2 when the casino closes.

Holly has posted a no-frills guide to brunch in Downtown Memphis that is well worth a bookmark.

Panda may be taking the day off from Bardog, but I’m not. I’ll be at Bloom’s bar for PBR and Fireball in about 40 minutes. I’ll probably drop by the festival later today.