Paul Ryburn's Journal

Sitting at Blind Bear with the netbook waiting to do my thing. In the meantime, here’s a pic of Christie in a tube top.

I have just learned that one of Memphis’ best mobile food vendors, Memphis Dawgs, will be at Downtown dog park The Barking Lot from 10 to 2 today. There is a pup pool party going on there with pools for dogs and ice sculptures for dogs to lick. While your dog is running around enjoying the great outdoors, you can enjoy Memphis’ best hot dog. They’re made with Nathan’s franks and you will have a variety of toppings from which to choose. Even if you’re not a pet owner, come give Memphis Dawgs a try.

Follow @Memphisdawgs on Twitter to find out where they’ll be selling hot dogs in the future.

BREAKING NEWS AND IT’S GREAT NEWS: A contract to purchase the Tennessee Brewery has been signed, saving the building for demolition.

I saw a quote on Twitter today that describes my job to a T: “This is front-end dev… 10 hours of fun times building cool things, 10 hours of making it work in IE.” Exactly! Is there a web developer out there who cannot relate to that?

New event at Bardog’s alley party/fundraiser for St. Jude which is set for Sunday, August 17: For $10 you can race a Yuengling motorized cooler for the chance to win one to take home. Sounds like fun and a prize that many Downtowners will have an interest in. Seriously, don’t miss this party, and taking a vacation day on the 18th would not be a bad idea.

The Flyer has a good article about Riverfront Bar and Grill in Beale Street Landing. It will give you a good idea what to expect at this new restaurant, which recently obtained its liquor license.

Here’s info on a wine tasting dinner happening at Paulette’s on Tuesday, August 5.

From Lifehacker: There are some websites that will not let you use your fingers to zoom in when you’re using iOS. Here’s a workaround that lets you zoom in on those sites anyway.

Off to Bardog. I’m on call for work so I’ll be in and out tonight.

Yesterday afternoon, the Old Dominick distillery was being discussed on Twitter. It will be on Front Street near Gus’s, and it was suggested that the area be named the Front Street Chicken District. That would be awesome. Let’s make this happen. #FrontStreetChickenDistrict

The Grifters play this week’s free concert in Handy Park. Tonight, 6:30 PM.

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, the second movie in the Harry Potter series, will be shown at the Orpheum at 7 tonight. Doors open at 6, and you can come early for drink specials and movie-themed activities. Tip: If you show your ticket at BB King’s club, they’ll give you a free appetizer with the purchase of two entrees.

A special this week at the Flying Saucer is “Owen’s Flight,” a manager’s pick of three high-gravity and two low-gravity beers. Owen used to bartend the other Saucer out in Cordova and he knows a lot about beers, so I bet he’d pick some good ones for you.

Just Peachy is the theme for the Memphis Farmers Market tomorrow. Peaches are in season, and they freeze well, so you can buy a case and have them year ’round. Saturday is National Dance Day and New Ballet Ensemble & School alum and NYU graduate Frankie Fernandez will be teaching the “easy” dance at 10:15. Music by South Side Supper Club at 7, Kris Acklen at 8:30 and Steven Schad at 11. 7 AM-1 PM, Front at G.E. Patterson. Also don’t forget that the MFM’s Rock ‘n WIld Picnic is tomorrow evening at the pavilion. Buy tickets here.

From Vine: Video of Silly Goose house cola being made. That’s right, they use house-made cola for their hand-crafted mixed drinks.

From the CA: Memphis women are the heaviest female drinkers in America. I can think of a few Downtowners who resemble that remark.

Prince Mongo’s episode of American Pickers will be on the History Channel next Wednesday at 8 PM.

Tickets to the September 22 WWE Monday Night Raw, which will be live from Memphis, go on sale at the FedExForum tomorrow at 10 AM.

Plans for tonight: I’m still on call for work. I’ll be out, but I need to stay in locations where I can get home quickly to post tournament results as they come in. Therefore, I won’t be able to attend South Main Trolley Night or a party I’ve been invited to in that area – I’d really like to, but it would take me 30+ minutes to get home and that’s too long. So I’ll remain close to home – probably Bardog, which is right around the corner.

I will still be at Bardog brunch tomorrow at 11 AM. Panda is out of town, not sure who will be filling in for her.

Time to get a few things done then it’s the weekend. Outta here!

Circus headlines the Peabody rooftop party tonight. The cover is $10, but if you’re female or a hotel guest you can get in free before 7:00. Admission includes a buffet of smoked Polish sausage, sauerkraut, peppers & onions, and rolls. If you’re in VIP there’s a second buffet of weiner schnitzel sliders, bratwurst, and German potato salad.

Steel Magnolias will be on the big screen tonight at the Orpheum. Movie at 7, but doors open at 6 and you can come early for drink specials and pre-movie activities.

Memphis Made Brewing Co. is expanding. They have added three new fermenters to more than double their beer production. This move happened faster than expected, but demand for Memphis Made beer is high. The brewery currently distributes beer in kegs and bottles to more than 60 restaurants, bars, grocery stores, and liquor stores. Visit the brewery’s website here.

There will be a summer pup pool party this Saturday, beginning at 10 AM, at Downtown dog park The Barking Lot at N. Main and Jefferson. In addition to pools for splashing, your dog will be able to enjoy licking ice sculptures made especially for pets. Donations to Mid-South Spay and Neuter will be accepted, either monetary donations or in-kind. Top in-kind needs are distilled water, paper towels, stamps, and copy paper.

The Iron Sheik the real, he not the jabroni like the Tito Santana. He in Rolling Stone, you read or otherwise go f*** yourself.

Funny moment at the Silly Goose last night. One of my friends asked, “So what’s up with that weird guy who follows you around everywhere? I guess he didn’t follow you today?”

“No, that’s him, sitting six seats down the bar from you, eating Thai meatballs and pita points and taking pictures of his food,” I said. Then I showed her a picture of him that has gone viral lately, of him holding a beer at Bardog after he got drunk at a beer festival and fell down in the mud. He had on his still-muddy shirt and a red, white and blue headband in the pic. ‘Merica!

Plans for tonight: If you didn’t see this morning’s post, Jessica will be tending bar at Silly Goose in a tube top at happy hour today, so I guess I don’t need to tell you where I will be. Most likely you can expect a tube top pic on the blog tomorrow.

Jessica, who bartends the 4:00-7:30 happy hour shift at the Silly Goose today, has informed me that she will have a tube top on for this evening’s shift.

Still at work, waiting for very heavy rain to move out of Horn Lake and points north on I-55 before I drive home. I have an absolute phobia of driving in the rain. Since it’s past official quitting time, I might as well type up a post while I wait.

The first of several Food Truck Fridays will happen on the FedExForum Plaza this Friday, June 25 from 11 AM to 1 PM. Several food trucks will be on hand. There will be Grizzlies and FedExForum promotions each week. This Friday, you’ll have the chance to win Michael Buble tickets for the 30th. Arena escorts will be there to assist those who would like to test-drive season tickets.

I haven’t officially confirmed this, but I have seen from a lot of folks on Twitter that Frank’s Deli at Main and Vance is closing. That’s a shame for South Main because it’s the only place within walking distance to get basic grocery needs. I haven’t yet heard about anything going into that space after Frank’s leaves, but it’s on a prime corner and next to the Green Beetle so I doubt it will stay empty long.

AutoZone Park has been recognized by PETA for its vegan offerings. Choices include dogs, wraps, spicy black bean burgers, fruit cups, and pasta primavera salad.

The Daily News has an article by Andre Fowlkes of Start Co. on how Teach for America is leveraging Start Co.’s services.

Want to work at Main and Union? RocketFuel is looking for a web designer.

All right. Rain is finally letting up. I’ll be out at the usual spots in a little while, with trips home to post results as they come in from work.

“This is my place, and these, these are my people.” – Barbarino, as he met Mr. Kotter for the first time on Welcome Back, Kotter

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m on call for work this week. Yesterday evening, I was catching up with some friends at the Silly Goose and refreshing my work email every 10 minutes or so to see if I needed to go home and post some result files. About 7:50 I got the notification that a file was ready. So I started my walk north up the Main Street Mall toward home.

I got about a block north when someone came running out of a bar wanting to do a shot with me. I had to explain I was on call for work, but it was a nice offer. Half a block later, I ran into someone I frequently see at Blind Bear poker. She gave me a hug and said, “Aren’t you going to play?” (There was a game starting in 10 minutes.) Half a block further up the street, another poker buddy called out to me, “Paul! You’re going the wrong direction!”

It’s really nice to take an evening walk and see a familiar face every half block. That’s how life Downtown is. This is my place, and these, these are my people.

On to the news.

From the Flyer: AshleyMadison.com, the hook-up site for married people who are looking to have affairs, released a study revealing which Shelby County neighborhoods have the most adulterers. Downtown came in third at 8.6%. Collierville led the way at 9.1%.

This is a cool deal: A one-time $5 payment gets you lifetime access to the walking track at Church Health Center. They want to make it affordable for everyone, even those out of work, to stay fit.

The Daily News has a great article on South Main, with lots of information about Cafe Pontotoc. The article also mentions South Main Book Juggler, a bookstore that opened on South Main (just south of G.E. Patterson) a few months ago. Friends of mine own it, and I forgot to mention that I was in there Saturday after I visited the Farmers Market. They mainly sell used books, but they also have a NICE collection of new books about Memphis as well. They also have an assortment of gifts. It was my first time there and I will definitely send tourists/people who want to learn more about Memphis down there.

From the CA: An intimate live music lounge that will seat 40 called The Dizzy Bird will open in the former Hattiloo Theater in The Edge. It will have live concerts Wednesday through Saturday, with wine and a tapas menu, and a gospel brunch on Sunday. Visit The Dizzy Bird’s website to learn more about the lounge.

The ALSAC-St.Jude Collegiate Convention is this weekend at the Cook Convention Center. Student leaders from college campuses across the nation, who raise awareness and fundraise for St. Jude at their colleges, will come together. They will tour the hospital, meet patients, and get ideas for how to strengthen awareness of St. Jude. Last year these student leaders raised $39 million.

Tetris tater tots. Awesome.

I found a pretty large list of nonprofit jobs in Memphis this morning. Check it out if you’re looking for work in that sector.

Tonight I’ll do the same deal as last night after work: Hang out at the Silly Goose, then run home when there’s something for me to post. Should be out around 5:30.

Friday, July 25 will be the last Friday of the month. That means it will be time for South Main Trolley Night. There will be live music on South Main by Jason Middlekauff, Steve Reid, Jimmy Vachon, Vanessa Winter, Chelsea Chandler and the Crystal Crown Band, RB Stone, Bobby O’Neal, Nick Parr, Steve Meteor Smith, Shufflegrit, Tim Plunk, and The Pistol & the Queen. Sue Layman will have a wine reception in her gallery at 125 G.E. Patterson. Other vendors will include Earthly Riches Jewelry, ArtHouse Memphis, and Kari Fleskes Jewelry. Come on out and shop and eat and meet your neighbors.

The Daily News reports that now that the initial curiosity about Beale Street Landing is over, the RDC is planning a calendar of events that will appeal to Memphians and bring them to the landing. They would like to do dancing on the docks, in partnership with the Rumba Room, in the fall. Other fall events could include movie night or Thursday night football on the big screen.

From Choose901’s Instagram: Five of the trolleys are done with inspection and are just waiting on parts before they return to their routes. Very good news indeed!

There’s a Groupon for German restaurant Grawemeyer’s on South Main. You can get $20 of food and nonalcoholic drinks for parties of at least two for $11, or $40 worth of food and nonalcoholic drinks for parties of at least four for $21.

Something I saw on Twitter a couple of times: Memphis police chief removed after city council vote, as reported by a Detroit TV station. I thought, wait, Toney Armstrong got fired? And why are no local TV stations reporting this but Detroit is? I looked at the story and saw why. The police chief of Memphis, MICHIGAN had been removed. That’s the trouble with following Twitter accounts that auto-tweet news. They get it wrong sometimes!

The MBJ has more information about the French Fort neighborhood redevelopment, including artist’s renderings. Planned uses include a hotel, an event center, restaurants, a tavern, a coffee shop, 695 residential units, a grocery, an urban market, and commercial/retail space.

I’m on call for work through Sunday. That doesn’t mean I won’t be out this week, but please forgive me if I have to cut a conversation short to run home and post stuff. Work’s gotta come first.

(Edit: Forgot to hit Publish before I went out)

No Melissa Monday for me after all. My company is having one of its three big yearly national tournaments out in Las Vegas this week. I have to upload the results of the afternoon games before I can go out, and of course Las Vegas is two hours behind Memphis. Since I’ll be here a while and there’s news, I might as well do an evening post.

Next Tuesday, July 29, the city will host its first Riverside Drive community meeting. This is the first meeting of a 12- to 18-month test period in which Riverside has been reduced to two lanes for vehicular traffic, with the other two lanes re-striped for pedestrian and bike use. Feedback from this and future meetings will be used by the city to figure out how to best permanently reconfigure Riverside from Carolina Avenue to Bass Pro Drive. The meeting will be at Beale Street Landing from 6 to 7:30 PM that day.

A master plan for the French Fort area was unveiled Saturday. The plan for the neighborhood across Crump from Downtown calls for not only 67 new apartments in the old Marine Hospital, but phases beyond that to firmly establish the French Fort community.

Development is happening on other outskirts of Downtown as well. The MBJ reports that the building across the street from Cozy Corner on North Parkway will be renovated to include a production studio, school, and a coffee shop-like cafe that will serve healthy food.

Tamp & Tap is celebrating its first birthday this Friday. There will be a Kill the Keg party beginning at 4 with $2.50 drafts. There will also be live music beginning at 6, and birthday cake at 7.

This next item is not a Downtown item, but I want to mention it anyway because it is a great idea by someone for whom I have a lot of respect. There is a crowdfunding campaign going on to fund FORGE, a Broad Avenue art space and fabrication shop. According to the crowdfunding page, FORGE will be a place “where visionaries produce prototypes, artists explore new media, hobbyists complete personal projects and entrepreneurs build solid models around their products. FORGE your vision into reality.” FORGE is the brainchild of Elizabeth Lemmonds. The other day I commented that I have a network of really awesome people because of a young professionals’ organization I was in about ten years ago. Elizabeth is one of those people. If her project sounds to you like something that would be good for Memphis, please consider helping her forge her vision with a donation. Her goal is $6000 and she’s currently about halfway there.

(Edit: insert paragraph about where I’m about to go out. Been out. Huey burger with Swiss for dinner. Shoulda added bacon.)