Thanks a lot, Nate

Thanks a lot, Nate. Up until yesterday, the weather was looking perfect for this weekend. However, Tropical Storm Nate is strengthening in the Gulf and should make landfall near New Orleans as a Cat 1 hurricane early Sunday. Showers are possible Saturday, although it doesn’t look bad enough to affect Burger Fest. The heaviest and most constant rain appears to be coming through here on Sunday. For anyone planning on attending an outdoor event that day, that’s certainly going to suck! Thank goodness Mempho Fest is only today and tomorrow. Keep an eye on the MemphisWeather.net forecast for the latest.

For the people who run in the same circles I do, don’t forget that B-RAD is behind the bar at Blind Bear on a Sunday once again this weekend! He’ll be there from 11 AM to 6 PM. Come see him! It’s dry, there’s air conditioning, and you don’t have to worry about transportation to things going on in other parts of town.

Lisa Michaels plays Sunday Evening Slowdown at the Ghost River taproom this Sunday. This weekly series, hosted by Tiffany Harmon, is all about relaxation, singer/songwriters, and great local craft beer. (The event listing adds “preparation for the work week,” but really, who wants to think about Monday on Sunday?) Lisa will be joined by the Midtown Queers (Paul Crum, Darcie Polson, and Drew Sherrod). This is a family-friendly event. Another event Sunday that will keep you out of the rain bands from tropical storm/hurricane Nate, it’s air conditioned, and the price is right: FREE!

Speaking of Ghost River, the Dock Party Concert Series kicks off tonight with Kelley Anderson and Suavo J the Hip-Hop Trombonist. Just Wraps food truck will be on site. $5 cover, family-friendly, dog-friendly patio.

The Po’ Boys make their debut at The Vault on G.E. Patterson tonight at 9.

Local Talent: Memphis, Tennessee opens tonight at Marshall Arts gallery, 639 Marshall.

It’s the first weekend of Flocktoberfest at Bass Pro at the Pyramid, “the world’s greatest hunting expo and sale.” Moon Pie eating contest, duck calling contests, retriever competition, seminars with the pros, and much, much more.

Trolley Stop Market will host a kid’s brunch and story time featuring the new book Memphis Boo Saturday, October 21 from 11 AM to 2 PM. Beale Street bluesman Mojo Bones will be your tour guide through historical Memphis, and on the way you will meet a few ghosts.

Soccer fans may want to start planning a road trip for 2026: Nashville is under consideration to be a World Cup host city.

Meet the Grizzlies’ new PA announcer Marcus Tucker in this video introduction by Grind City Media’s Alexis Morgan.

That’s it for now. Off to work. Possibly a second post at lunchtime, so check back.

Thursday update #2

Kooky Canuck will be serving Canadian Thanksgiving dinner this coming Monday, October 9. Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving a month and a half earlier than Americans, but the fare is much the same – turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, potatoes. If you don’t feel like waiting for November to get your turkey on, you don’t have to.

There will be a celebration of the opening of the Downtown section of the Wolf River Greenway Saturday, October 21 from 10 AM to 2 PM where the Wolf River meets the Mississippi. The Greenway, when complete, will be 23 miles of trail for non-motorized transportation connecting Downtown, the neighborhoods of north central Memphis, Shelby Farms, Germantown and Collierville.

There will be lots going on at the Wolf River Greenway celebration. Historian Jimmy Ogle will lead tours at 10:30, 11:30, and 12:30. There will be two free yoga sessions – 10 AM yoga with Laurie Allen Hedges of Evergreen Yoga, and a 1 PM hip-hop yoga session with Kandace Stewart of Your Inner Yogi. There will also be a stroller strides class, remarks from officials, chalk art by MCA students, beer by the TapBox, Amurica photo booth, food trucks, and more.

Loflin (Grave)Yard will happen at Loflin Yard (well, duh) Saturday, October 28 from noon to midnight. No cover, spooky specials, DJ in the Coach House, costume contest at 9. Bring a decorated Jack-O-Loflin to the Yard by the 28th and get a spooky treat.

Seen on Twitter this morning: “Bitch, is your name Bellhop, because you sure come with a lot of baggage.” LOL!

The FedExForum floor is being iced down to make way for Disney on Ice performances this weekend.

TDOT will close the two inner lanes of I-40 between Second and Third Friday 8 PM to Monday 5 PM for bridge deck repairs, as reported by @MEMtraffic.

RAWK ‘n GRUB food truck is bringing lunch back 11 AM-2 PM at CANVAS, 1737 Madison, beginning next Tuesday, October 10.

That’s it for now. A few more hours at work then out to happy hour at the Silly Goose. Back tomorrow with more.

“A quesadilla without cheese, that’s like, an egg roll”

That’s the kind of intellectual banter you’re missing if you’re not at the bar at the Blind Bear on Wednesday evening.

It’s also the annual AutoZone convention this week, and I was talking to a headquarters employee who has to give a brief speech today. I dared him to refer to his office as “corporate headquarters” in the speech instead of the “store support center.” He declined. Apparently that would be like the Doors being told they can’t sing “girl we couldn’t get much higher” on the Ed Sullivan Show and then doing it anyway.

More details about memorial plans for legendary Memphis wrestling announcer Lance Russell have been announced. His memorial service at Memorial Park on Poplar will be 11 to 1 Saturday and the public is invited. The time of Saturday at 11 AM was chosen because that’s when Lance was on TV calling matches for many, many years. It seemed appropriate for him to be with his fans at that time one last time, his family said.

Following the memorial service, there will be a memorial for Lance at Jerry Lawler’s Bar & Grill on Beale Street Saturday from 3 to 6 PM. The public is invited to that as well, and many Memphis wrestling stars will be there to pay their respects to the announcer who many feel is the greatest of all time.

Travel alert: Beginning Monday, October 9 at 9 AM and lasting for about a week, A.W. Willis Ave. will be closed between Front Street and Island Drive for railroad track repairs. During that time, Mud Island residents will need to use N. Mud Island Rd. for access.

Celtic Woman will return to the Orpheum with a show on April 28, 2018. Tickets will go on sale Friday, October 13.

Game Night returns to Memphis Made Brewing Co. on Sunday, October 22.

Memphis’ best beer festival, Cooper-Young Beerfest, returns on Saturday, October 14 from 1 to 5 PM in the Midtown Autowerks parking lot at 795 South Cooper. Why is this beer fest the best? Each brewery is required to send a rep from the brewery, rather than just have the distributor send someone. This ensures that you get to talk to the very people who made the beer you’re drinking, and there is an awesome education tent. Tickets are capped to ensure that you have time to enjoy your beer while talking to the brewers. CY Beerfest only accepts breweries (31 total this year) that are within a day’s drive of Memphis, so if you like what you taste you can road-trip for more. All of these things make the experience enjoyable for the brewers as well as the people attending. Buy tickets here with every cent of the proceeds benefiting the Cooper-Young Community Association. As I have said many times, if you attend one beer fest a year in Memphis, make it this one. This isn’t about getting your photo in a society magazine. This is about the beer, as it should be.

Time to go to work. Possibly back at lunchtime with a second post.

Good Buddy Day update #2

When I was in high school, we all installed CB radios in our cars so we could communicate when on caravans to football games or other trips. We learned to use the vernacular of the CB. There were “10-” calls which had various meanings. “10-4” was slang for “OK” or “affirmative.”

“That’s a big 10-4, good buddy!”

So 10-4, October 4, is Good Buddy Day. Hey, it isn’t any stupider than May the Fourth Be with You…

Good Buddy is also a starting hand in Texas Hold’em, a 10 and a 4. It isn’t a very good hand. It has no straight potential, and if you pair either card there’s a good chance you’re losing to a hand with a better kicker (this is known as a hand with reverse implied odds). Even suited, I would throw Good Buddy away most of the time, occasionally bluffing hard if I’m the dealer or in the small blind with action folded to me.

There’s a whiskey tasting tomorrow night at Belle Tavern at 7. It will feature J. W. Kelly, the first such tasting in Memphis. Pours start at 7 until supplies last. They will be making specialty cocktails with J. W. Kelly, and there will be snacks.

Memorial service for Memphis wrestling host Lance Russell will take place Saturday at 11 AM at Memorial Park on Poplar.

The Memphis Business Journal has details on Memphis’ plan to attract Amazon’s planned HQ2. This would be a game-changer for Memphis with $10 million invested to improve workforce readiness, to improve public transportation offered by MATA, and to attract direct flights from the Memphis Airport to desired cities not currently serviced.

Big Cypress Lodge at Bass Pro now has a bike rental program available to all guests.

The Grizzlies are looking to hire a Box Office Manager, Ticket Operations. This person would oversee the day-to-day operations of the box office, including sales of tickets to Grizzlies and Tigers games as well as concerts and family events.

Games on Wheels is tomorrow night from 6 to 7:30 on the bike lane outside the Silly Goose on Peabody Place. Cargo Bike Slow Races, Tiny Bike Sprints, and a Memphis Roller Derby performance. Come grab a drink and watch. If you need to park, there are bike racks out front, and the Goose will validate discounted parking in the garage.

Ghost River has announced that, after seeing the recent successes of two Ono Poke Pop-up Lunches, they will now offer the pop-up lunch every Friday from noon to 3.

Keep an eye on the weather this weekend. A tropical depression is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Nate, and current track has it to hit the Panama City, FL area Sunday morning with all the force and fury of a man who’s had a few too many shots of moonshine.

Interesting… Ivanka and Don Jr. were nearly indicted in 2012. Things were not looking good for them when a top donor influenced the D.A. to decide the case was not worth pursuing. The Trump children were using inflated numbers to lie to potential Trump SoHo buyers.

That’ll do it for now. An afternoon of work then headed out to the Silly Goose happy hour. Back tomorrow with more news.

Wednesday update: Koozies for Boobies and more

Wet Willie’s is having Koozies for Boobies in October. A percentage of sales from pink drinks benefits The Cure all month long. On October 6 and 7, a percentage of ALL sales will go to The Cure. Last year they raised over $41,000. Come get hammered to fight breast cancer!

Blue October plays the New Daisy tonight as part of their I Want It Tour. This is an all-ages concert with doors opening at 7 and show at 8. Tickets $25-35. I wonder what they do the other 11 months of the year?

Why do people have to suck?

There’s going to be free wrestling coming to Downtown Memphis in a “Downtown Meltdown” at Handy Park, Beale at B.B. King Blvd., Thursday, October 19 starting at 7 PM. In the main event, Jerry “The King” Lawler will battle Buff Bagwell. Among Bagwell’s accolades is being voted Most Embarrassing Wrestler of 2001 by the readers of Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Oden & Associates will relocate their corporate HQ to South City early next year, in a building at 158 Vance that previously housed Color Craft Printing. The building is two blocks south of FedExForum.

More bad news for the Tennessee Vols: Since the 2013 class was signed, 32 players have transferred under head coach Butch Jones. OL Venzell Boulware became the latest, announcing his intent to transfer Monday.

The Commercial Appeal’s “Outside the Loop” blog might want to include this in their next post. Info for suburbanites who drink:

All right. Time to get to work. This morning I will check with my teammates and find out how the cooks’ meeting for Best Memphis Burger Fest went. I am getting so excited for this Saturday. Our burger game has never been tighter. Our Veggie Burger was ready to go by the end of our first cooking practice. In late September we turned down an invitation to piddle around in a parking lot with a few other teams, in favor of getting a third practice in, and plans for Classic Cheeseburger and Anything Goes came together nicely. Note that turn-in times have been adjusted to accommodate the addition of the steak competition. If you want to watch us cook a particular burger, I recommend showing up about 45 minutes before turn-in time. So, for example, turn-in for Classic Cheeseburger is 1:25-1:35, so we’ll probably start on that one around 12:40. I can’t promise we’ll have extras of our competition burgers to hand out, but we will be cooking regular burgers (maybe dressed up a bit because after all we are a BBQ team) for the public to sample. Be sure to bring a donation for Memphis Paws!

Okay this is weird… part of the steak cookoff is a hot dog cooking contest… WTF? I mean, nothing against hot dogs but it seems weird that they’d be part of a steak competition. Wonder if it’s too late for Weekend at Porky’s to throw their hat in the ring… they could bring the George Foreman for the steak and Rahul & Tony’s Special Sauce for the hot dogs.

Possibly back at lunchtime with another post… got a couple more news items in the queue already.

Tuesday update

Well, I think yesterday is a day we’d all like to forget. I just really don’t know what to say about the mass shooting in Las Vegas. It seems like the 2010s will go down as the decade when humans were terrible to each other. As for Tom Petty, his death was tough to read about because it happened the same way my mom’s did: Cardiac arrest, no brain activity, had to be taken off life support. Also sad to read an article where Petty said that 2016 was the last big Heartbreakers tour because he had a granddaughter now, and wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

And now there was news this morning that longtime Memphis wrestling commentator Lance Russell has died. RIP Lance and prayers to his family and friends. He helped so many realize their potential, the two most obvious examples being Dave Brown and Jerry Lawler.

The 40th anniversary Downtown Memphis Commission meeting happens tomorrow, Wednesday, October 4, on the Civic Center Plaza and at the DMC building at Main and Adams. Open to the public and admission is free but you need to click the link and RSVP. Open house tour 5:00-5:30 PM, opening remarks from Mayors Luttrell and Strickland 5:30-5:45, and then awards presentation 5:45-7:00. From 7 to 9 there will be live music by the Nick Black band, free photos in the Amurica booth, food, drinks, games, and more. The awards will honor Old Dominick, the Madison Avenue pocket park, and Hotel Napoleon.

The 3rd annual Sinners for Saints Ball will happen Saturday, October 28. Stop 345 and Tad Pierson’s Indoor Trailer Park are back as event venues, and this year they have added Brinson’s for even more event space. Hair band cover band Aquanet will headline, along with Charvey Mac, DJ SuperBrad, a songwriters’ showcase, and karaoke at Brinson’s hosted by DJ Lil’ Eggroll. Your $50 admission ($60 at the door) includes beer, mixed drinks, punches, and Hipner’s craft Jello shots. Costume contest with lots of prizes. Food by local restaurants including Stanley BBQ and Pete and Sam’s. Costumes strongly encouraged. Proceeds benefit the Church Health Center.

Peppa Pig Live visits the Orpheum tonight at 6 PM. This was said to be the #1 family show of 2016. Tickets are $29.50-$139.50

The MBJ has a slideshow of progress on the Tennessee Brewery redevelopment.

There will be a Creative Works Market at the Halloran Centre Friday and Saturday from 10 to 6. Over 30 makers, designers, and artists are in town for a creative conference, and Friday and Saturday they will sell their works to the public. Might be a good chance to pick up a unique Christmas gift. Click the link to see a list of vendors.

Michael Butler, guest blogger for I Love Memphis, has an article about Two Girls and a Whip, the new cakery at Front and Huling. They sell delicious cakes in shop, but if you need a custom cake, definitely give them a call! They can do amazing things with custom cakes. Hmmm I bet they could make a custom cake that looks exactly like my troll. Hopefully not scaled to size though, because that wouldn’t be much of a cake. (Edit: Now hearing that they are not quite open yet. Shouldn’t be long thouigh.)

The New Daisy announced that tonight’s Morgan James event has been canceled.

Cooks’ meeting for Best Memphis Burger Fest is tonight at 6:30. I’m not a cook and therefore not attending the meeting; however, if any of my teammates want to meet up for delicious and affordable $2 PBRs prior to going over the meeting venue, I will be at the Silly Goose tonight around 5:30. Back tomorrow with more news.

A visit to the Memphis Made taproom

Yesterday was a slow day Downtown, so I decided to hop into a Lyft and go visit my friend Hannah who bartends at Aldo’s Midtown. Having had pizza four times in the past 7 days, I wasn’t in the mood for more of the same. So, after putting down a PBR, I decided to wander next door and see what food truck was at the Memphis Made taproom.


What a great place they have there. High quality brews on tap, pinball machines. Fun place to be.

Eddy’s Pepper was the food truck.

I ordered the Cotton Mouth Quesadilla with ground beef.

They had a vast array of hot sauces to apply to your food.

Perhaps the scariest pepper sauce of all is the clear one. I stayed away from this sauce.

I was impressed by the prices at Eddy’s Pepper. A good portion of food for not a lot of money. And I like the food truck concept at breweries. You get something different every day, so you never get bored with the food. The one day Memphis Made is open that they don’t have food trucks, you can grab a snack from Aldo’s next door.

A fun little Sunday excursion. If you like great beer, give the Memphis Made taproom a try.

Sunday update

I have a recommendation for my readers… go to City Market on a Friday night and get a piece of tiramisu for $7.99. It’s a huge piece and I have resisted the temptation to buy one for quite some time because it seemed like a lot to spend for dessert. But, do it. You can snack on it over the course of a weekend and it is so good. If you’re a couple you can take it out of the plastic box and put it on a plate and get two forks and share it. I didn’t bother taking it out of the plastic box.

Speaking of sweets, Two Girls and a Whip opens Tuesday. This is a cakery/cupcakery that has been talked about for a while. Any idea for what you want a cake to be, no matter how off the wall, these women can make it happen. Go talk to them next time you have a birthday, anniversary or whatever to plan for. They’re at 383 S. Front at Huling.

Little Rock blog The Mighty Rib made a stop in Memphis to visit The Dirty Crow Inn, just about a half a mile from the Mississippi bridge. Read what they had to say.

Couple of photos from yesterday:

Tony celebrated Pride Week yesterday at the Blind Bear. He was looking butch in his lumberjack shirt, always a good choice when it’s 80 outside. He commented “this is how the men dress in Portland.” Okay then.

Guess who’s coming to Best Memphis Burger Fest this Saturday!

Yep! B-RAD is off work Saturday! Although an invited guest of the Moody Ques, I am sure Brad will visit other teams as well. Feel free to ask him anything you want about me. He knows me well and I have nothing to hide. Also, other teams, notice if any of your invited guests scurry away like bugs running for a crack in the asphalt when they see him. Some people just can’t handle the truth. People have actually unfriended him because he’s too vocal about me.

Just in time for Halloween, there will be a class about potions on Sunday, October 15 at 7 N. Main.

Here’s a cooking blog post about goose eggs. And speaking of goose eggs, how bout dem Tennessee Vols! Not all the orange shoelaces in the world could save the Vols from the special needs adult known as their head coach. The Dawgs of Georgia put a 41-0 whoopin’ on Tennessee. First shutout since 1994. We sure didn’t see much of that trash can yesterday!

That’ll do it for now! Off to Sunday brunch. Back tomorrow with more news.

Majestic folks to take over Brass Door + more Saturday news

Big news on Madison Avenue, as reported by Hungry Memphis: The Majestic Grille folks are taking over the Brass Door. The deal was recently finalized for Patrick and Deni Reilly, owners of the Majestic Grille and the folks responsible for the recent success of the restaurant in Beale Street Landing, to take over operations. The Irish pub will retain its name, and they hope to have the side bar open for sports watching in as little as a couple of weeks. The Brass Door itself will be open by the end of 2017.

Hmmm I don’t know about this. Has Patrick Reilly ever been in an Irish pub in his life? What does he know about fine Irish whiskys? Or Irish stouts? Can you really see him designing a menu of authentic pub food? Man… this could be the biggest flop since Ricky Martin released “She Bang.”

Just kidding, of course. :mrgreen: The Reillys are the perfect people to offer their perspective on how to make the Brass Door prosper. It is a beautiful pub with a beautiful bar and three stories. It’s just slightly hidden away in a Downtown district where most people incorrectly think of Monroe as the northern boundary of the bar and restaurant scene.

I will offer one piece of advice: You have got to be consistent with the hours. If your posted closing time is 11, you can’t shut down at 8:15 because it’s a 35-degree misty November night and you currently have no customers. You have got to stay open until 11. If someone walks up to your door at 9 and sees the “closed” sign, guess what: They’re probably never coming back.

Truth:

There will be a Goldcrest bock party tonight at Westy’s starting at 7 PM. Free tastings of Bock, the latest addition to Goldcrest 51’s family of beers. Live music on the patio by The Breeze featuring Jerry Lucas of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Southern rock, country and bluegrass.

The Circuit Market pop-up market returns to Peabody Place at Main Street today 11-3. Here’s a look at some of the vendors.

The Flyer is back with more tumbleweaves spotted around Memphis.

Photos from the Memphis Farmers Market’s Farm Fest are now online.

Politico recently did an article about controversial Nashville radio host Clay Travis. If that name sounds familiar, he is the one whose recent commentary on CNN was cut short after he said the two things he believes in are “the First Amendment and boobs.” After months of wondering “why would anybody tune in to this guy’s show?”, I’ve figured out his audience: People who will go on and on about sports for hours because they lack the intellectual and emotional depth to discuss topics of substance. When a topic comes up that requires thought and introspection and examination of one’s inner values, they go, “Hey, did you see that Ortiz hit in the top of the ninth?” to return the conversation to waters that are sufficiently shallow. Those are the kind of people who are fans of Clay Travis.

Bardog is once again having a burlesque show on Halloween night. Start time is 9 PM.

Business Insider has a comparison of “cheap” domestic beers. See which beer won. Technically, Yuengling had a higher score than the winner, but it isn’t a beer you can drink a lot of in a short time, and it’s not a cheap beer except on the east coast.

Memphis Type History has a podcast about the histories of the Peabody and Hotel Pontotoc.

Bracketology!

The New York Times has an article on how Rick Pitino can’t escape being held accountable this time. I can’t stand people who see lying as just a normal part of day-to-day life.

Time to kick things off at Bardog! Best Bartender winner Bloom has the day off, so I guess it will be Panda Time. After that I’ll walk over to Blind Bear for D-RANKS with B-RAD. Yep, he’s working Saturdays now, and they have Hung Over Like a Bear brunch until 6 PM, with $3 cinnamon whiskey, moonshine, mimosas, and Bloody Marys, as well as $15 bottles of bubbly. Come see him. B-RAD, I have a story for you today that is going to blow your mind.

Back tomorrow with more news and possibly a photo or two of the troll.

Friday update

The final event in the event in the Fall Concert Series happens tonight at the pocket park at 151 Madison across from the Brass Door. Tonya Dyson and Thomas Crivens will perform and beer will be available for purchase. 4-6 PM.

Happy Friday, YOGA! Downtown Yoga is holding free yoga classes all day today. They will be collecting donations for hurricane relief.

Memphis Pride Fest kicks off today at Handy Park near Fourth and Beale.

Don’t forget that Fridays in the fall are Fourth Bluff Dance Parties. From 6 to 9 this evening there will be a dance floor set up just west of the University of Memphis law school at 1 N. Front. The dance parties are free to attend. Beer and wine will be sold on site, and the Arepa 901 food truck will be there to sell food.

Important: Depending on your phone and your provider, you have options for thwarting scam calls.

Tonight at South Main Trolley Night, Stock & Belle (387 S. Main) will have a meet and greet with Dil & Kali of The Ekata Collection. Ekata teaches refugee women how to make jewelry. At this event, two refugee women from Nepal will show off the skills they have learned. They will have a bead bar and will make custom pieces for you. Light refreshments will be served and the Sushicide Squad food truck will be outside.

Down the street at South Main Book Juggler (548 S. Main) there will be The End of Healing book signing. I’m just going to paste in the description from Facebook: “DR. JIM BAILEY has dedicated his career to empowering people to take charge of their health. But after working as a physician, professor, community health advocate, and healthcare researcher for ten years, he realized that his scientific papers on improving health care quality were not likely to reach the general public. For Americans to get safe, effective and affordable health care, they first had to know why and how they were getting scammed. An avid reader of novels and lover of the classics, Dr. Bailey became convinced that America needed a story to point the way to the true healing Americans need most.”

From ESPN: Find out where Grizzlies guard Mike Conley gets his sense of style

Off to work for a half day, then an afternoon and evening of mischief! I am in a no-filter kind of mood, so we shall see where the day takes me. Back tomorrow with more news.