Paul Ryburn’s Journal

The Great Beale Street Wine Race happened yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, the rain held off, and many people gathered to watch the four Wine Race events. I haven’t been happy with my photo albums for recent years’ wine races, because I tended to drink multiple Call-a-Cabs from Wet Willie’s and have had to go home to take a nap before the last event, the wine relay, was under way. So I decided to take a different approach to Wine Race this year – I didn’t drink. As a result, I got a much more complete photo album in years past.

The race kicked off with a parade. (Note: The photos on the blog are going to be somewhat Blind Bear-centric, but I tried to get good photos of every team and especially the Downtown ones. At the end of this post I’ll provide a link to the entire photo album.)

The Blind Bear float pre-race

One of the most original outfits in the parade. I believe this was Fleming’s steakhouse.

Double J

Parade winners Club 152

Bella

The second event was the Queen of the Vine. Ladies from each participating restaurant dance on stage and try to impress the judges. Each contestant is asked a question to give her the chance to show that she possesses brains and talent as well as beauty.

The judges. That’s musician Muck Sticky on the end in pajama pants.

Hanin answering her interview question

Ruffin leading the cheers for Hanin

For the first time ever, the judges’ vote ended in a mathematical tie. The audience was asked to break the tie between these two. They were each given one final chance to show what they could do.

And the winner was…

She represented Mesquite Chop House Southaven, if I remember correctly.

I have to say I was impressed with the Queen of the Vine contestants this year. None of them were trashy, none of them were ghetto, none of them were pregnant (as far as I could tell). Big improvement over previous years.

The next event was the grape stomp. I didn’t get to take pictures of this one because I was catching up with an old friend who just moved back to Memphis. Each contestant gets a tub filled with grapes and is given a certain amount of time to stomp them. At the end, the juice is poured out, strained, and measured. The contestant who produced the most juice won. This one went to Huey’s.

The final event is the wine relay, where four runners from each team run wine bottles and glasses up and down Beale. It’s important to get a good spot to watch all the action. Some of my friends were upstairs on the balconies at Jerry Lee’s, but after going up there for a minute I decided it was a bad idea. I could get better photos from street level, especially the expressions on the runners’ faces. Also, if I stayed at Jerry Lee’s I’d be obligated to buy a drink, and as I said I was trying to avoid drinking until Wine Race was over. So a few friends and I went back to street level and staked out an excellent spot.

Jermaine getting a few dance moves in prior to the start of the race

Uncle Ray

Backey from the Silly Goose making his run

… and running back because he forgot the team corkscrew. At Wine Race, teams are scored not only by their finishing time. They are also scored on the volume of wine they bring back, and whether all the bottles, glasses, corks, and corkscrew are on the tray.

This guy had things well under control, until he decided to skip to the finish line. That turned out to be not such a good idea.

Spectators were asked to stay out of the relay lanes, a request ignored by the Jack Binion’s Steakhouse team.

Hoop making the run for Silky’s

Suzy’s leg of the race for Double J didn’t go very well. I think Suzy should have run the race in a tube top.

Note that the wine bottles are on their side. The wine relay was pretty much a disaster for Double J.

Wilbur

After dropping three of his bottles, this guy decided to pour the fourth bottle over his head.

Colin

Jamie

Jeannette

… and you saw what happened to the Blind Bear in the fourth leg of the race. Whitney was doing very well until she lost control of her tray about 20 feet from the finish line. Congratulations to Huey’s, who won the race. They must spend considerable time practicing. I don’t know if I could run that fast without carrying a tray and bottles.

After the last heat wrapped up, it was time for post-Wine Race festivities, or “the shitshow” as many Downtowners call it. However, I had to figure out which shitshow to take part in. Some of my friends from the Squeal Street BBQ team were going to the Beale Street Tap Room to watch the end of the Masters, but I couldn’t care less about golf so I looked for another option. Flying Saucer? Nope, I decided that would be too tame since they didn’t have a team in Wine Race. Since I had a Blind Bear shirt on, I figured I might as well go to the Bear and see what would develop.

Remember how I said I didn’t drink any Call-a-Cabs at Wine Race? Well, some other people didn’t have that plan. Here’s Daniel (on the left) having just woken up from a long nap on the Blind Bear’s couch in the back.

Why am I posting a photo of a glass? Well, here’s the deal. My friend Mike and I were hanging out at the Blind Bear’s bar with three folks who were off-duty after day shift at the Saucer. A round of car bombs came out. Four of the five of us finished their car bombs. Who didn’t? You might be inclined to guess me, if you know that I hate car bombs. But no, it was Mike who didn’t get the job done. Be sure to ask Mike about that the next time you see him.

After much heckling from the rest of the group, Mike finally finished off his car bomb, after it had gotten all curdled. Yuck!

Here I am with my BBQ teammate Gary and Naomi and Cassie from the Saucer. I seem to remember several shots of Fireball around this time.

I didn’t play the Bear’s Sunday poker game. I always skip poker when I have the day off the next day. It was much more well attended than I would have thought, to the point that they had three tables running and the blinds reached the rarely-seen 40,000/80,000 level.

An excellent Sunday with friends. Spring festival season for 2014 is now in full swing. Next weekend will be relatively slow due to Easter, but the weekend after that we’ll have the opening of Tennessee Brewery Untapped and South Main Dirty Dozen’s Carnaval de Panama on Friday, Memphis Brewfest and Hot Wing Fest on Saturday, and Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest on Sunday. We’ll probably have Grizzlies playoff games to watch too. It’s that time of year when things are getting exciting!

Tonight is the first fireworks night of the season at AutoZone Park. After the conclusion of the Redbirds game, there will be a fireworks display set to Memphis music. This is the first of 14 fireworks nights this season. Select Redbirds players will be in the plaza signing autographs from 5:00 to 5:30. PRO TIP: Get those autographs. From what I’ve been told, the Redbirds are loaded with talent this year, and many of the players would be called up to the majors except for the fact that the Cardinals are loaded with talent also. You could find yourself holding some major-league autographs within a year. Free 2014 Redbirds schedule magnet to the first 3000 fans. First pitch is at 6:05 PM.

If you feel like a trip to Midtown, the Overton Square crawfish festival is happening today from 12 to 6.

It’s also opening day at Mud Island River Park. Park opens at 10 and there will be a rock ‘n’ romp there this afternoon.

If you’re going to the Memphis Farmers Market, check out South Main Book Juggler afterward. At 1 PM they will have an after-the-market reading by Mississippi poets.

I want to send a shout-out to Tamp & Tap. A friend of mine is a member of a social organization that throws parties around Memphis, and he needed to set up its monthly happy hour. After not having calls returned by another Downtown business, he called Tamp & Tap. They told him repeatedly, “we’ll take good care of you” and indeed they did, reserving a private area with plenty of room for the 25+ attendees of the happy hour.

Shawn from Kooky Canuck tweeted that the restaurant is getting ready to launch some new menu items in the next two weeks: Maple Bacon Burger, Poutine Grilled Cheese, & Bacon Waffle Monte Cristo.

A bill has passed the Tennessee Senate allowing high-gravity beer to be sold in grocery stores. The House now has to pass a similar bill. The bill would allow beer with up to 8% ABV to be sold in groceries.

Time to start off my 3-day weekend right, at Panda’s bar at Bardog at 11. High of around 80 is predicted for today. Tube top weather!

This morning Paul Morris, who runs DMC, made an announcement on Twitter: Sweetie Pie’s Kitchen has signed a lease on Beale Street. The restaurant serves Mississippi style cooking and is quite well-known in the St. Louis area.

Opening night for the Redbirds is tomorrow night, with the first pitch at 7:05. The plaza area will be open for a block party from 5 to 7, as it will be every Friday this season, with $2 beer specials and live music by the King Beez. First 3000 fans will receive a T-shirt commemorating AutoZone Park’s 15th anniversary.

The Bluff City Backsliders will play Cafe Keough tomorrow night at 8. There is no cover for this show, and they have a full liquor bar now.

The 19th annual Overton Square crawfish festival is Saturday, from noon to 6 PM, on Madison between Morrison and Cooper.

Congratulations to the Blind Bear, which won “Hippest Bar Setting” in Memphis Magazine’s recent restaurant poll. I like to think that my tenure as Foursquare mayor of the Bear had something to do with the “hippest” recognition. Just kidding.

This doesn’t surprise me one bit: Memphis ranked 6th among large cities for urban sprawl

Excellent win by the Grizzlies last night. By beating the Heat, a team we were expected to lose to, we’re back in the playoff conversation. We’re still in 9th place, a game behind Phoenix. However, Phoenix has a tougher schedule for their last four games than we do, and we own the tiebreaker if we finish with identical records.

Don’t forget that the first South Main bocce tournament happens at Main and Talbot tonight starting at 5:30.

That’s it for now. I’ll be out tonight as usual, leading off at the Silly Goose around 5ish.

 

Looking around the Web this afternoon, it looks like enough info is out there to warrant a second post of the day. Let’s see what we’ve got:

Tamp & Tamp will host an Abita Cask-Conditioned Spring IPA Firkin Party this Friday, April 11 starting at 5 PM. If you don’t know what is so special about drinking beer that came out of a firkin as opposed to a keg, this article explains.

This isn’t a Downtown restaurant, but near enough that I’ll blog it anyway: There’s a Groupon for The Port restaurant on President’s Island that has about three days left to buy. You can get three $6 vouchers for $10, or six $6 vouchers for $18.

Memphis Trolley Unplugged will return Friday and Saturday, April 18 and 19. From 6 to 8 PM each night, local musicians will ride the trolley and perform on the Riverfront Loop trolleys. PRO TIP: Bring a fire extinguisher and sit as near the exit as possible.

The Madison Hotel has announced the return of its Beatles Breakfast atop its rooftop garden, Twilight Sky Terrace. Beginning April 26, you’ll be able to enjoy coffee and pastries with the sounds of the Beatles in the background. The breakfast will be held Saturdays and Sundays from 8 AM to 11:30 PM.

Speaking of the Madison, the hotel will begin its Thursday night rooftop party series on April 24, while the Peabody’s will begin on April 17. I will have more details on both parties in future blog posts.

Well, this is interesting: Rev. Al Sharpton was an FBI informant in the 1980s, and his spying work helped bring down Vincent “Chin” Gigante, don of the Genovese crime family in New York. Gigante was known to wander around in his pajamas and feign insanity, and Sharpton may have helped prove that he was sane and that he was the boss. Gigante, fearful of being wiretapped, forbade mafiosi to speak his name, with death the punishment. Mobsters were instead to point at their chin or make the letter “C” and say “that guy” when they needed to refer to him in conversation. However, I guess the good Reverend was exempt from Mafia rules.

Getting ready to play some poker tonight at Blind Bear. Free to play, game starts at 8. Plenty of time left to accumulate points in the Bear’s 16-week league that just started, plus nightly winner gets a $50 gift card.

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.