Paul Ryburn's Journal

Bruce V of the Memphis Flyer has a very interesting editorial about the planned closing of the I-55 bridge for nine months in 2017 by the Tennessee Department of Transportation. He points out that the closing affects commerce and transportation in three states, and will leave only one way to get across the Mississippi, the I-40 bridge. That’s practically an invitation to terrorists to try and disrupt interstate commerce across the region, and besides that there are other possibilities, such as a barge accident, that could close the only remaining bridge.

By the way, there’s a public meeting to discuss the I-55/Crump/Riverside interchange that is planned to be built and is the reason for closing the bridge.

Did you know that Thursdays are College Nights at the Redbirds? Show a college ID and you can get a ticket for the left field bluff for only $5. In addition, the left field bar has $2 domestic drafts throughout the game.

Summer Movie Series: Top Gun plays at the Orpheum tonight at 7. If you’re in the military, show your ID for a discounted $5 ticket.

Frankie Hollie & the Noise headlines tonight’s Peabody rooftop party. Doors open at 6, ladies free until 7, $10 admission. Admission includes a buffet of beef tacos and chips & salsa (7-8 PM). If you’re in VIP you get an additional buffet of cheese quesadillas, chicken quesadillas, taquitos, corn salsa and chips. Traditional margaritas are on special, and there will be a Malibu promo of rum sparklers. Memphis Flyer Fall Fashion casting call 6-8 on the rooftop.

I’ve mentioned several times how my “DAWG” John D has a subscription to Loot Crate, where once a month he gets a box filled with geek-themed items. Well, the Grizzlies have taken that idea and run with it. You can get a monthly or annual subscription to Grizz-entials, and get a box once a month filled with Grizzlies merchandise and goodies. Check this week’s Memphis Flyer for more details.

Shelby County Schools officials are exploring moving their headquarters Downtown. More jobs Downtown = more revenue for area businesses and restaurants = a good thing.

Hungry Memphis tried Burrito Blues recently. I will look for that Beale Street Bad Blues City hot sauce next time I go in.

Senses is going to reopen in August. The nightclub just east of Midtown has been closed for several years.

Amazon will now ship items weighing 8 ounces or less for free. You have to accept a 4-8 day wait though.

My spam folder continues to entertain me. “Share some little drops of cum with Seka Crickmore” was the subject of one of this morning’s emails. Again, are there really men who are stupid and desperate enough to think that’s legit? If you are, here, have some malware!

Pretty sure there will be a second post going up around 5:30, so check back this evening.

Brides Against Breast Cancer is an organization that contributes to programs for cancer patients, their families and caregivers. Part of their outreach is a Nationwide Tour of Gowns bridal show. On Wednesday, June 17, this charity bridal event comes to Memphis, at the Cadre Building at Second and Monroe. There will be a VIP event – with first pick of the gowns – from 5 to 7 which is $10, and from 7 to 10 there will be general admission, free to the public.

Note to people who friend-request me on Facebook: I am totally happy to become friends with my blog readers who I have not met in person, but do me a favor. If we have less than 10 friends in common (unless they’re my close friends) and I don’t recognize the name I tend to be a bit skeptical. So, if we don’t have many friends in common, Facebook message me first (you don’t have to be friends with someone to send them a message) and tell me “hey I read your blog” and if you have met me previously, tell me how you met me.

People whose requests I have left in limbo are welcome to message me and say “hey I read your blog/hey I know you/or whatever” and I will go find you and add you. Just trying to protect my account from potential scammers.

Midtown: You’re getting a party bike similar to Downtown’s River City Pedalers. It’s called Sprock n’ Roll.

Are you hungry for some crawfish? The Green Beetle will hold a crawfish boil this Sunday from 2 until 6 in the afternoon.

Brothers Pau and Marc Gasol have received the Princess Asturias Award. This is the highest civil honor in Spain.

St. Jude is launching a national walk/run to end childhood cancer. Needless to say, Memphis will be one of the participating cities.

Deering and Down performs tomorrow on Felicia Suzanne’s patio as this week’s installment of their Tacos and Tunes event.

PBR time. I’ll lead off at Silly Goose then figure out stops after that.

General registration is now open for the St. Jude Marathon that is held the first Saturday in December. When I checked yesterday, they were already at 85% for the half marathon, so if you want to run the half you better sign up soon.

The Bus Riders Union is asking for improvements for the MATA terminal on North Main. The conditions are said to be “third world” and the bathrooms are said to be in particularly bad shape.

Random discovery I made yesterday: There’s a Facebook fan page for pudding shots. I’m sure my friends on Squeal Street BBQ will want to “Like” that page since they were doing so much bragging about having pudding shots in their booth. My team the Moody Ques didn’t have pudding shots in our booth; however, we did have Saucer girls and a trophy.

Makeda’s Cookies is now open at 488 S. Second. They make homemade butter cookies.

John Oros, COO of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau who has been with the bureau for 22 years, is leaving to take a job as CEO of the Birmingham CVB.

Holy utility bill, Batman: The owner of 100 N. Main missed payment by the cutoff date for their MLGW bill. The amount owed is SEVENTY-NINE THOUSAND dollars.

Heh. The Redbirds have me on their media list, so I get emails listing all the things going on for each homestand. Each day has several Bullet Points: in bold listing promotions. Well, each day except for today. For today there’s no bold and just “The Redbirds and 51s continue their series on Wednesday evening at AutoZone Park.” In other words, there ain’t shit happening there tonight except for a baseball game. Still a good time though, first pitch 7:05 if you feel like going. The 51s are Las Vegas’ AAA team.

YMCA of Memphis has bought the building that houses its Downtown location.

Take a look at these actual complaints received from dissatisfied customers of a travel agency. Example: We didn’t expect all that sand at the beach and it got in our clothes. Damn, people are stupid.

Fact from FiveThirtyEight’s Significant Digits newsletter: Median monthly rent in San Francisco is $4225. How does anyone afford to live there?

From my hometown of Little Rock: Insurance agency has two dogs and two cats as vice-presidents

Time for a quick errand run then back to work. I’ll be out at the usual places a little after 5:45.

Congratulations to my friends Justin and Roglly, who got engaged this weekend. I wish them many years of happiness together.

BREAKING: Sepp Blatter, boss of the FIFA crime family, has resigned. Good riddance, long overdue.

The Redbirds have new premium 4-top tables for which tickets are available as a gameday purchase. The table tickets come with a buffet that starts one hour prior to game time.

There’s going to be an event called “Drink a beer, save a river” at the Downtown Central BBQ on Tuesday, June 9 from 5 to 8 PM (and it will happen the second Tuesday of every month). A portion of every Ghost River beer purchased during this time will go to the Wolf River Conservancy.

In other beer news, High Cotton is brewing a Peach Saison.

I’m not a pet owner, but I have to say it’s kind of cool that my apartment building, Number 10 Main, has doggie play dates at The Barking Lot every Saturday morning at 10. Glad my building is pet-friendly even if I myself don’t have animals. The Barking Lot is a small dog park at the corner of Main and Jefferson.

This is cool: Charge your phone as you ride your bike

More bike news: Bike sharing program could be coming to Memphis

The Midtown Aldo’s Pizza Pies now has slices for lunch. That has been very popular in the Downtown location and should draw a lot of business to the new restaurant.

Data site FiveThirtyEight has released projections for the Women’s World Cup, and it looks pretty promising that the USA team will make it out of Group D.

Pandora station recommendation: Earth, Wind & Fire. That’s the station B-RAD was playing Sunday during D-RANKS with B-RAD at Blind Bear. One of the Saucer girls challenged me to a chair dance-off – that’s when you dance as you are sitting on your bar stool and can’t use your body below your waist – Sunday but I was down the street at Bardog and couldn’t get there in time. I am considered the king of chair dancing Downtown.

Sunday I had my 2015 BBQ team shirt on, and I had a couple of people commented, “I’m surprised you have that on. Didn’t expect to see you in it for another 11 1/2 months.” Why wouldn’t I wear it year-round? I’m damn proud of my BBQ team, and besides the team shirt doesn’t look any worse than the other shirts I wear. One thing I am not known as down here is a fashion icon.

If you didn’t know there was a color run Downtown yesterday, and you parked on Front Street, you are going to have a rude awakening the next time you see your car.

Credit to Lana Danko from Kooky Canuck for the photo. Get by Kooky for some great Canadian food and drinks. The Yonge St. Burger and the poutine are two of my favorites.

Last day for Brewery Revival. I’ve been there every day this week. Ah, the drunk conversations there are the best. Here are a couple of samples from yesterday:

We were discussing the free yoga class that happened earlier in the day, and the conversation turned to this: “Out in San Francisco they have classes to teach women how to have an orgasm. For women who have never had one. Men don’t need classes, they know how.”

Looking at the beer selection: “Do you know what Memphis Made product they carry?” “No, but I know what Milwaukee Made product they carry, and it’s PBR.”

Congratulations to Sepp Blatter on being re-elected as FIFA’s president. The election kind of reminds me of the 1957 Apalachin Meeting where Don Vito was confirmed as the head of the Genovese crime family.

The groups for the Women’s World Cup have been announced. USA is in group D along with Australia, Sweden, and Nigeria. I’m not the world’s biggest soccer fan but I will be watching this. Abby Wambach is a legend in her own time. If you were too young to see Michael Jordan play basketball or Muhammad Ali box, watch Abby.

The Redbirds play Salt Lake at 1:35 at AutoZone Park. There’s a special Sunglass Sunday ticket available that gets you a pair of Cardinals sunglasses as well as a seat. First 2500 kids 12 and under get a free ice cream treat, and kids can run the bases after the game.

Historian Jimmy Ogle is conducting one of his free tours this afternoon at 2, walking from Martyrs Park to Ashburn-Coppock Park. Martyrs Park is beautiful and is one of the hidden gems of Downtown. Go down FOUR-LANE (!!!!!! ) Riverside Drive and turn right on Virginia Ave. right before Riverside turns into I-55 to get there.

If you want to avoid me at all costs, these are the places you don’t want to be today, and the approximate times you don’t want to be there, because if you are there you’ll have to run from me and hide from me and badly hurt my feelings for doing so: Brunch with Bloom at Bardog at 11, D-RANKS with B-RAD at Blind Bear at 1, Brewery Revival at some point after that.

At the Bear I will probably get to have drinks with my groupie, who is a large Indian man who puts fruit in his drinks. Where did my life go wrong?

When I left you yesterday, I was trying to decide whether to hit Italian Fest out east or do South Main Green Bus Night. Thinking it over in the afternoon, I decided Uber fare + admission to the park + tipping in the booths I visited would make Italian Fest more expensive than it was worth. So, Green Bus Night won. I got out about 6:10 – late start for me – and headed south down the Main Street Mall. I hurried to make up for time, although something caught my eye at City Market momentarily and I nearly went in.

I caught up with my friends Gary, Boo, Mike, and Bad Shane on the south side (thanks Bad Shane for the sangria) and they said, “Want to come to the yoga studio with us?” I asked, “what yoga studio?” and they said “come see.” There’s a new yoga place called Downtown Yoga at 515 S. Main. I picked up a couple of flyers and took photos (click for larger-sized images; it’s not easy to take good pictures of flyers with this super-thin iPhone 6).

Here’s a link to the studio’s website.

Today is Amtrak Train Day at the Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum at Central Station. Trains, a vintage cab bus, and a fire truck will be on display. There will be food by Double J and live music. Free food? Too bad the Nuh-Uh Girl had to leave town the day after BBQ Fest.

The Peabody announced the second half of its Thursday night rooftop party lineup this week. Here it is:

June 18: The DMP Band
June 25: Transit
July 2: The 17th Floor
July 9: Star & Micey with Tyrannosaurus Chicken
July 16: The 5th Kind
July 23: Your Girlfriend
July 30: The Dantones
August 6: The M80s
August 13: Ingram Hill

I saw a tweet from the Memphis Tin Roof that they have Nashville hot chicken on the menu. I have always wanted to try that. I sampled it at a Yazoo beer dinner at Flying Saucer a couple of years ago and liked what I ate.

Kevin and Bethany Page are giving up their gig at Alfred’s that they have had for years and years and years.

There will be fireworks after tonight’s Redbirds game vs. Salt Lake. First pitch 6:05.

100 N. Main could lose utilities if it does not pay at least part of the money it owes MLGW by the end of the month.

All right. Time to hit the Farmers Market. Knowing that there’s a yoga class at the brewery that will let out about 11, and a lot of those people are potential Farmers Market customers, I may push my stay at the market past what would normally be the start of Panda Time at Bardog. Panda Time will happen, although it could be as late as 1:30. Saturday!

Yesterday I went down to Brewery Revival to see two friends of mine who were in town from Chicago for the day. I will really miss the brewery after Revival ends this Sunday. Such a unique and fantastic concept. If you haven’t been yet, you really need to go see it for yourself while you still can. Even if you just walk through the place and leave (there’s no admission charge), you need to see it.

What a beautiful crowd, I thought. The place was full of beautiful women in their 20s and 30s. Where do these people hang out when they’re not at the brewery? Of the roughly 150 people in the place, I knew maybe 20. The guy/girl ratio was far better than at any of the bars where I hang out. I wondered why I’ve been going anywhere else but the brewery the past 7 weeks.

I’ve mentioned the craft beer, food trucks, game room, and art, but I have been forgetting to mention the mobile T-shirt vendor booth that operates in there. You can buy Revival T-shirts and many more printed T-shirts. One of the best shirts (although I didn’t buy it) reads:

“CHICKENPOTPIE
My 3 favorite things”

The brewery is the only place where I will pay $10 for 28 ounces of PBR, but after two of them I was ready for a change. I bounced over to Max’s Sports Bar. Lately on Facebook there has been a debate about how long you should cook a steak. Some people (myself included) believe that cooking a steak well done ruins it. Last night we learned that you shouldn’t cook school lunchroom pizza well done either.

I grabbed a seat next to my BBQ teammate Otto, who pulled up my blog on his phone. “There’s yoga at the brewery Saturday at 9:30? You should go,” he commented.

“Dude, no one wants to see me do yoga, believe me,” I replied.

“Damn straight no one wants to see you do yoga, son!” said Otto. “But you need to go and take pictures.”

About 10 I headed back north, stopping at the Blind Bear. To my pleasant surprise, Pam & Terry were playing.

I had forgotten they play the last Thursday of the month at the Bear. I talked to the talented duo and confirmed they will be back next month.

Lots going on tonight. Jerry Seinfeld performs live at the Orpheum this evening, and I have no doubt the place will be packed.

Then there’s the nationally televised championship boxing match at Handy Park, Third and Beale, starting at 7. That should pack a lot of people in too.

It’s also South Main Green Bus Night, formerly South Main Trolley Night. Many of the shops and galleries will be open until 9 or later. Some will have specials or discounts, some will have free hors d’oeuvres and/or booze. Great way to meet your neighbors. If you go down there, check out the singer-songwriter night at 550 South Main.

The Redbirds are back in town and play the Salt Lake Bees at 7:05. Fans will get a coupon for a free Whopper from Burger King with the purchase of fries and a drink as they exit the park.

It’s Kill the Keg night at Tamp & Tap beginning at 4. All pints $2.50 plus tax.

As for my plans for the evening, I am undecided. One option is to split an Uber ride with two of my friends out to Italian Fest. We have a couple of booths we can get into, and it would be something fun and different. If I go out there I will get pictures. Paul Ryburn east of Danny Thomas on a weekend night is one of the signs of the Apocalypse.

The other option is to do Trol… er, Green Bus Night on South Main, which would probably include a visit to the brewery. (By the way, I’m KIDDING about going down there and taking yoga pics tomorrow, just in case anyone is irrational enough to believe I would do that.) This would be less adventurous than Italian Fest but there are some advantages: No Uber charge, no admission charge, I wouldn’t be in East Memphis, and I’d get to squeeze an extra brewery visit into the weekend.

Leaning in the direction of Italian Fest, but we shall see. Time to get back to work. So ready for the weekend.

The blog was off to a slow start this week, but things are rolling now. Got some pretty interesting news items for this second Thursday post.

The biggest news is that Beale Street will be on national TV tomorrow evening. Championship women’s boxing in Handy Park will be broadcast on CBS at 7 PM. It marks the return of women’s boxing to the major national networks.

There will be a free yoga class at Tennessee Brewery Revival Saturday morning at 9:30. It’s hosted by Luluemon Athletics and looking at the Facebook event listing, I see that more than FOUR HUNDRED people are listed as attending. Can the brewery even hold that many people? Class will happen rain or shine.

My BBQ teammate Otto made a good point about TDOT closing the I-55 river bridge for nine months in 2017, a point I hadn’t previously thought of: That is going to jam up Riverside Drive. Southbound will be jammed with people getting off 40 trying to get to 55 South. Northbound will be jammed with people coming off 55 South trying to get to 40. City planners: I suggest you keep Riverside 4 lanes until that construction is over.

Know who I bet will be real happy about the I-55 bridge closing? Bass Pro.

However, the MBJ thinks the French Fort neighborhood will be the big winner of the bridge closure. A roundabout will be built that will connect the neighborhood, south of Crump and including the Metal Museum, to the rest of Downtown.

The Flyer has a great article about the final Sunset Symphony.

Random fact I learned from @HistoryInPix today: The most flowers sold in one day in United States history were sold the day after Elvis died.

The Grizzlies will have a social media tent at Italian Fest where you can get your photo taken with life-size cutouts of the starting five.

I tried a beginner yoga class at Midtown Yoga in 2003, and let’s just say the result was pretty damn ugly, so don’t expect to see me at the brewery Saturday morning. However, DO expect to see me at the brewery in about 45 minutes! Friends of mine in town from Chicago are having a little get-together with their Memphis friends. Not only do I want to see them, but it doesn’t take much of a reason to get me to the brewery (provided beer is involved and exercise is not). If you’re headed that way, I will see you down there!

I want to start off today’s post with a reminder of what a wonderful community we have Downtown.

One of my friends had a couple of people over to his first-floor Downtown condo Saturday night after Sunset Symphony was over. The guests left a little after midnight. My friend didn’t bother to get up to lock the door; his building is behind a security gate so he didn’t think anything of it. He fell asleep in his living room chair, and a little while later he was awakened by the slam of a door. He got up to investigate and found that his wallet and his phone were gone.

“I was shaken up,” he told me. “I was glad I wasn’t hurt, but still, the next morning, I was ready to move out of Memphis.” He was also wondering how he was going to get through the rest of Memorial Day weekend. He had no cash, and no ATM card to go get cash, and the banks wouldn’t be open until Tuesday.

Then a beautiful thing happened. His friends heard what happened, and showed up at his door, handing him cash, in some cases as much as $200, and some of them were people who really couldn’t afford to part with that money but offered it to him anyway. “I had access to $1000 if I needed it,” my friend said. “Also, all the bars and restaurants I go to offered to run me tabs. They said, ‘If you need food, anything, order it and pay us back when you can.'” The outpouring of kindness and generosity really restored his faith in our city. Our Downtown community is truly a special one.

Compliment for a Downtown restaurant tweeted by legendary WWE announcer/Hall of Famer Jim Ross today: “Blue Plate Cafe in #Memphis best breakfast I’ve had in years.” For those new to the city, the restaurant is on the south side of Court Square and they serve lunch too.

It’s the last weekend for Tennessee Brewery: Revival. The brewery is open 11-9 today, 11-11 tomorrow and Saturday, 11-9 Sunday. Craft beer (and PBR!), food trucks, live music, art for sale, a game room, good people, good times. Invest in good times!

Out in East Memphis, Memphis Italian Festival starts today. It’s like BBQ Fest in that there are cook teams in booths competing, but Italian food instead. It’s at Marquette Park at the corner of Park and Mt. Moriah. The festival runs through Saturday.

Swingin’ Leroy headlines tonight’s Peabody rooftop party. $10 cover, doors open at 6, ladies free until 7. Admission includes a buffet of Italian sausage and ravioli, and if you’re in VIP there’s an additional buffet of brushetta, mini pizzas, and gnocchi with pesto cream sauce. There’s a peach margarita special, a Malibu promo of rum sparklers, and a bar promo of Bellini.

The Flying Saucer is having its anniversary party June 19. Here’s a look at the rare beers that will be on tap.

From MakeUseOf: 10 Tinder Pick-up Lines that Actually Worked. Some of these are pretty clever. Example: “I forgot my password and for the hint it keeps telling me ‘Jordan’s phone number.’ Can you help me out?”

Pretty good night last night. I had a dinner of crawfish fritters and seaweed salad at Bluefin, then I wandered over to Blind Bear. My friend Zach was playing trivia as a team of one. The final question was, here are five news stories that TIME Magazine named the top five news stories in 2013. Charles listed the stories to be put in order: Government shutdown, Supreme Court finds for gay marriage, botched Obamacare rollout, Boston Marathon bombings, the Snowden leaks. I suspected Charles had done something clever: He had listed the stories in reverse order of their ranking. I told Zach, who went with my suspicion, and became the only player/team to take down the entire 45 points for the question, vaulting him into a second-place finish. That certainly worked out better than my “No idea” debacle at Saucer trivia last week!

Catching up with some old friends after work. Should be another fun evening. Outta here for now.

Enough news for a second post today. Let’s do this…

Beale Street said goodbye to B.B. King today.

A naked man was found swimming in the Mississippi today. He refused several life preservers and made it several hours and 7 miles before he was finally pulled out.

Memphis Tigers football will be on national TV at least 3 times this fall and very likely 4. That’s what a good season will do for you.

The I-55 bridge across the Mississippi is scheduled to close for 9 months. Won’t happen until 2017 though.

Robocallers and text-message spammers may soon be a thing of the past. The FCC votes next month to strengthen the rules against these nuisances.

High schoolers: The Orpheum is accepting applications for its STAR (Students Take A Role) Council. Council members help plan and coordinate events throughout the year. This would look great on a college application, especially if you’re planning on being a theater major.

Work is over for the day. PBR time.