Paul Ryburn's Journal

Recently I was invited to join Nextdoor, a social networking service for neighborhoods. Once you join your neighborhood’s Nextdoor and get verified, you can see posts from your neighbors on your news feed which is similar in look to a Facebook or Google+ feed. Looking at Downtown Nextdoor’s feed, I see posts offering bar stools for sale, asking about a wandering dog on Mud Island, and asking for recommendations for a carpet and area rug cleaner. It seems to be a very useful way to connect with other Downtowners.

The site is still a trial site because we don’t have enough verified members. We need two more verified members in the next 21 days to make the site permanent. Nextdoor wanted me to send out a blanket invite to my Facebook friends, but that seems a little spammy and besides, 70% of my Facebook friends (estimated) don’t live Downtown. However, if Nextdoor sounds like something you would be interested in, hit me up and I will invite you. You can contact me on Facebook if we’re friends there; if not email paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll get you invited. (Allow me until Monday to work on the invites. On the weekend I spend long periods of time away from the computer.)

You have to be verified as a resident of the neighborhood you live in. There are multiple ways to do this, including calling a home or mobile phone registered to an address in the neighborhood. However, current members of the community can verify you as well. If I know you personally and know for a fact you live down here, I can verify you.

In addition to the website, I found a Nextdoor app for my iPhone and downloaded it. I could not find the Nextdoor app in the store for my Kindle Fire. Not sure if that’s because the Fire doesn’t have a GPS, or if there’s not an Android version yet. At any rate, you could still view Nextdoor on those devices via web browser.

So like I say, if this is of interest to you, hit me up; if not, I won’t keep bugging you about it. If you’re here for the Saturday news update, scroll down, because I’ve already posted it.

One of the fun things about living Downtown is giving tourists the locals’ perspective. Last night I was sitting at the bar at the Flying Saucer with my friend Air Traffic Mike. A few seats down, a couple from Chicago was asking the manager-in-training where would be a good place to eat. He told them he liked Double J Smokehouse. “This new guy is going to work out,” I thought. “Too bad they’re transferring him to Cordova when he’s done training, and out there he’ll be recommending Chili’s and Applebee’s.”

Ait Traffic Mike joined the conversation. “While you’re down near Double J, check out Earnestine & Hazel’s too. It’s a dive bar that used to be a pharmacy and then a brothel. They have a good burger, the Soul Burger. But if you want a burger that’s really unique, go to Dyer’s on Beale Street. Get a Double-Double and watch them wipe it through the grease. And if you want another great meal, check out the chicken at Gus’s. If you want to hang out at a place where the locals go, walk a few blocks the other way down Main and turn left on Monroe and look for a sign that says Bardog. Also, there’s another place on Main called the Blind Bear where I just had a great dirty martini with blue cheese-stuffed olives. They have all kinds of hand-crafted drinks. Pauly, jump in here.”

“I don’t need to jump in!” I replied. “You’re telling them pretty much exactly what I would tell them.” The only comment I had was that sometimes people miss the Blind Bear because, in keeping with their speakeasy theme, the sign is not super-huge and super-noticeable.

From what I saw on social media, not many people appeared to be out, so I called it an early night. I realized I have a new definition of “early night.” If I leave the bars in time to stop at City Market and get food to go, it’s an early night. If I stay out past the time City Market closes, it’s a late night. Last night I took home a bowl of their white bean and steak soup, which was delicious.

You know, looking back, it’s hard to believe I spent my first nine of my 11 ½ years Downtown griping that we didn’t have a real grocery store. We are so lucky to have City Market right in the heart of the core now. The only thing it’s missing is a meat section, although that doesn’t bother me since I rarely cook at home. If you shop at City Market but need a place to get fresh meat, go to the Memphis Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. Vendors from local farms show up with great cuts of meat to sell. Get there early, though – every chef in town knows about this, and they sell out the meat trucks by mid-morning some weeks.

I found a really good blog post about Wednesday night’s Dishcrawl in the Downtown core. (The organizers called it the “North of Beale crawl,” and I have no problem with that. Just please please please do not call my neighborhood “The NOB,” which is one of the stupidest names ever.) The stops, not revealed to crawlers in advance, were Automatic Slim’s, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, Local, and Tamp & Tap. Keep up with future Memphis Dishcrawls here.

The Downtown Neighborhood Association is conducting a food drive for the Mid-South Food Bank this month. Kids are out of school during July, and for many Memphis-area kids the school breakfast and lunch were the only nutritious meals they could count on. Bring non-perishable goods and help these kids stay healthy. The collection points are Bluf City Coffee, 505 S. Main; The Office at Uptown, 594 N. Second; and Little Cafe Eclectic, 111 Harbor Town Square on Mud Island.

A truck was stuck underneath the bridge on South Front Street, just north of the Blue Monkey, for many hours Wednesday-Thursday disrupting traffic. If you drive a tall truck, Front is not the way to get out of town heading south! Get over on Riverside.

BR:CK, a group of young architects, has won the South Main Design Challenge. They will receive $5000 to transform the Buffalo Mural lot into their vision, which is a short-term neighborhood gathering and performance space as a venue for artists, events and community groups. Their long-term goal for the space is Roam the Market, a year-round store that would serve as an extension of the Memphis Farmers Market.  The long-term concept would also include an art and sculpture garden, patio and deli. Congrats to the BR:CK folks and thanks for making Downtown an even better place to be!

Got another post coming, one more thing that I want to stand on it

Yesterday I tried Tamp & Tap for the first time. It is the new coffee and craft beer shop on Gayoso between Main and Second, in Van Vleet Flats. The place reminds me of coffee shops I visited when I was in Cambridge, MA as a corporate trainer years ago. I bought a Stone Levitation Ale for $4.92, which seemed like a very good value. It seemed like it would be a good place to bring a laptop or iPad to work while sipping on a beer and maybe eating a sandwich (I don’t drink coffee). I probably wouldn’t hang out there for hours drinking beer like I do at the Flying Saucer, but when a coffee shop environment works better than a bar, it’s a great space.

For those of you who have never seen the famous duck march at the Peabody Hotel, here’s a video that was shot by a guest.

Cash Saver on Madison in Midtown is having a Schlafly can sampling this afternoon until 4:00. They will be serving fresh Alaskan salmon with the beer. Free salmon? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

The Orpheum is having a Sound of Music sing-along tonight as part of its summer classic movie series. Before the movie there will be a concert by a capella quartet Decades at 6:30.

There will be a Dare Threads pop-up shop at Corked Carrot tonight, 314 S. Main.

The Swamp Katz have a CD release party tonight at the Brass Door, 9 PM.

More news than I have time to post, so I may do a second after-work post. If not I’ll get the rest of the news online tomorrow.

The Cavern, the underground performance area of the Brass Door Irish Pub, now has its own Facebook page. “Like” the Cavern to hear about upcoming bands and shows.

The Orpheum will show 1961 classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s as part of its summer movie series tonight. In other Orpheum news, Ultimate Thriller: A Michael Jackson Tribute Concert, scheduled for July 27, has been cancelled. Details on how to get a refund on your tickets here.

The annual COGIC convention won’t be returning to Memphis anytime soon. The church has voted to continue holding its convention in St. Louis for three more years.

Will Graves & Soul is the headliner for tonight’s Peabody rooftop party. $10 cover includes your first drink and a buffet of Pronto Pups and popcorn. Ladies free before 7. This week’s drink special is Cruzan black cherry rum for $4. Those in VIP will have a second buffet with a nacho station, soft baked pretzels, and Cracker Jack.

Keith Anderson plays The Rebel on Beale free country music series tonight at Handy Park, Third and Beale. Showtime is 7:30.

If anyone is in Chicago this Saturday, check out the Clandestino Dining event in the Secret Garden. Food prepared by Chef Willie Wagner. I got to attend one of these dinners when they came to Memphis a few years ago. Both the food and the experience are fabulous. Don’t worry if you don’t have anyone to go with – you will make friends fast at these events.

The office is closed today while an pole that supplies power to the building is replaced, so I have a rare day off. I’m finally going to try Cuban restaurant Havana’s Pilon for lunch. They posted photos of their food and it looks yummy. I’ll try to get a photo and do a food post later. If I get a chance I want to try Tamp & Tap too.

Voting has started for the Memphis Flyer’s Best of Memphis 2013 poll. There are several best-of polls conducted by newspapers and magazines throughout the year, but none of them has the clout the Flyer’s has. Vote here.

John Branston of the Memphis Flyer has a great idea: While the city is ramping up efforts to collect on parking tickets, he thinks we should get rid of parking meters Downtown altogether. He has a point. Just to pick an example, Shelton Clothiers has better stuff than what you’d find at Oak Court Mall, but you don’t have to pay to park at Oak Court. It puts Downtown businesses at a disadvantage.

Shelton Clothiers, by the way, is having a buy one, get one free sale through Saturday.

WMC has a good story and photo gallery of Tamp and Tap, the new coffee and beer spot on Gayoso. I’m a lot more interested in the “beer” aspect of their product line than the “coffee.” They’re already selling bottled beer, and they are under construction to have taps installed. They want to increase awareness of great craft beer. With Tamp and Tap, Aldo’s Pizza Pies (which carries 60 beers), and Flying Saucer (which carries 200 beers) all within about a block walk of each other, that part of the Downtown core is becoming the beer Mecca of Memphis.

Speaking of the Flying Saucer: On Saturday, July 20, they are doing a “Can Beer & Seafood Boil” event. For $30 you get a table full of shellfish, corn and potatoes, seasoned to perfection. Remember, the people who run the Saucer also run the Flying Fish down the street, so they do know a thing or two about seafood. They’ll have $3 Abita cans, and will also have six other craft beers in cans that day. Advance reservations are required; call 901-523-8536 to make them. They’re also doing it at the Cordova Saucer for those of you who made the unfortunate choice to live in suburbia.

Some of the top iOS apps have had their price reduced to zero temporarily in the iTunes Store. These include a popular DJ app, a diary/journal, a media organizer, and a world atlas for kids, as well as several games.

Today is an effective weekend night for me. Our office will be closed tomorrow for power line repairs, so I have the day off. Plan is to stay out late tonight, then tomorrow I will enjoy a rare Downtown weekday lunch and get the first haircut I have had since January. Most likely I’ll start off at the Silly Goose tonight a little after 5:30.

Tamp & Tap, the new coffeehouse in Van Vleet Flats, is open for business. It’s a soft opening, so please be patient as they work out the kinks. Hours are 7 AM to 9 PM. The coffeehouse is on Gayoso at November 6th Street, halfway between Main and Second. I hear that the people running Tamp & Tap are very open to suggestions on all aspects of their business, including products to carry and what hours to be open. If you have input, let them know.

Congratulations to Grizzlies center Marc Gasol, who got married yesterday in Spain.

There’s a Groupon for the Cotton Museum going on right now. You can get deals for admission for 2, 4, or 10.

Five groups have submitted bids for the 100,000 square feet of office space needed for 900 state workers who are being displaced from their building on the Civic Center Plaza. One of the bids is from One Commerce Square and I hope that bid turns out to be the winner.

Yesterday was a fun day Downtown. The Sunday afternoon pool games at the Flying Saucer seem to be making a big comeback among out group of friends. I’m thinking about going ahead and getting my 8th plate there done, and having the party on a Sunday Fun Day. Later in the day yesterday I sat down at the poker table at the Blind Bear, and won their Sunday tournament! I’d brag about my poker skills but they weren’t the reason I won… I simply caught a lot of good cards! I had pocket Kings three times and lots of Ace-face card-suited starting hands. Those will usually win a lot of chips.

That’ll do it for now. I’ll be out at Pint Nite this evening, getting the next three beers done for my plate.

Dishcrawl is planning a third Downtown event on August 24. For those not familiar, Dishcrawl is similar to a pub crawl, except that instead of going to a number of bars and drinking at each one, you go to a number of restaurants and eat at each one. They had a June 26 event in South Main that went over very well, and there’s another one planned in the Downtown core in a few days. The August 24 one will be called Downtown Neighborfood. Eight restaurants, all within walking distance of each other, will participate. You can visit as many or as few of them as you want between 2 and 6 PM that day, but you have to have a general admission ticket to be part of the Dishcrawl. You then need a Food/Drink ticket for every restaurant you want to visit. General Admission tickets will be $15 ($20 day-of) and come with one Food/Drink ticket; additional tickets can be purchased for $5. The crawl is a good way to get to know your neighbors, and part of the price of each General Admission ticket will be donated to a local charity.

There’s a Wimbledon watch party going on at Brass Door right now (opened 9 AM).

PRO TIP: Tomorrow when you get to work, request Monday, August 19 off. Why? Bardog’s 5th birthday alley party is Sunday, August 18. 5K race, dunking booth, meatball-eating contest, beer stands (may I recommend the PBR?), sliders and other goodies cooked outdoors on the grill. One of the best parties of the year and it is well worth taking Monday as a vacation/recovery day.

The Hard Rock is holding a “Jam for Jalysa” on Saturday, July 27. Jalysa is one of the restaurant’s employees. She was recently badly injured by a drunk driver who had no insurance. Doctors at two hospitals thought she would not survive, but she has proved them wrong. Show begins at 10 PM with 100% of the $5 cover benefitting Jalysa. They’re still putting the lineup together but they plan to have 7 bands total, each playing a 20-minute set. If your band is interested in playing, contact Julien at the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale. The event is non-genre specific, so whatever type of music you play, it’s all good.

The Redbirds play Nashville in a home game at 6:05 this evening. Now that we’re in the part of the year when the weather is typically super hot, they’ve moved the Sunday games from afternoon to evening for their fans’ comfort. Omaha arrives in town tomorrow for a 3-game series.

Plans for today: I’ll start with brunch at the Majestic Grille, and then it will be time for “quarters and excuses.” What do I mean by that? Well, last Sunday one of our friends left the Saucer after playing pool and forgot to take the $14 in quarters he still had sitting on the table. I scooped them up and will bring them back this Sunday. Then it will be time to hear my friend Pete’s excuses after he loses today. He always complains that I use the pool cue that is the only 21 in the bar, although he could easily walk over and get the 21 before I do. Now he’s decided we need a venue change, because there’s something funny about the tables at the Saucer that keeps his balls from going in the pockets, although it mysteriously doesn’t affect my balls or anyone else’s who is playing. Unfortunately for Pete, Blind Bear opens at 3 and Absinthe Room opens at 6, so there’s no place else nearby with a pool table.

Speaking of the Flying Saucer, shout-out to my friends G-Rock and Chad who had their plate parties Friday night. You get a plate on the wall for drinking 200 different beers. It was G-Rock’s 21st plate (leading the Memphis Saucer), and Chad joined the club with plate number 1.

Posting schedule may be a bit irregular this week. We have a consultant in town at work and are going to be hitting it hard. I really need to spend my lunch breaks somewhere other than in front of a computer, so news posts may be delayed until after work, and I may skip a day or two. Sorry about that but I gotta make that money! Outta here for now, time to get ready for mimosas and pool.

Yesterday after work, it was raining pretty hard, so I decided to dart into the nearest bar to my front door: Bardog. A few minutes I got there, my friend Mike texted me this photo:

A Jeep collided with a Blues City Tour bus, sending the bus into the Chapman Furniture store at Main and Vance. WREG has more details. The bus was pulled out and two people were taken to the hospital. There’s now a large hole in the South Main furniture store that will have to be repaired.

It’s hard to come up with an image that says “a celebration of Americana on the Fourth of July” better than this one does.

A food buffet on the back of a pickup truck in a parking lot in South Main. About a dozen of us gathered along with our four-legged friends Rufus and Bella. Rufus let us borrow his toy tennis ball and we played beer-can bowling. There was delicious food including bacon-wrapped venison filets, two types of potato salad, squash casserole, banana pudding made with Pepperidge Farm chess cookies, and pink lemonade pie. However, the star of the show on the back of the truck was Mexican corn.

The corn was brushed with mayonnaise and a three-cheese blend, then put on the grill. Easily the best ear of corn I have eaten in my life.

After taking shelter as heavy rain moved through, I caught a ride to Max’s Sports Bar. Michele immediately handed me a blue Buzztime game box and told me, “You’re Magic.” It was the weekly poker tournament, and whoever was playing under the handle “Magic” had left but still had chips in the game, heads-up against my friend Mikey. So we went back and forth for about 25 minutes and Mikey finally won. It is always a treat to play at Max’s, whose poker tournament I consider to have the best format Downtown. You start with 200 big blinds, you can’t rebuy, and you can’t show up late.

After poker ended I went out on the back deck, where Roser from the Chris Vernon Show called me “the ultimate bro.” Not sure how I feel about that but he meant it as a huge compliment.

I checked my phone and discovered that the Blind Bear was celebrating July 4 with dollar PBR. After sending out a “VERY IMPORTANT PBR NEWS” tweet, I tabbed out at Max’s and walked north. The fireworks were happening as I walked. A few PBRs at the Bear and I wrapped up a very good Thursday.

(Edit: I forgot to add that Air Traffic Mike and I led the crowd at the Bear in singing “God Bless America.”)

It wasn’t a good Thursday for everyone though. There were reports of shootings at Riverside and Beale, Wagner and Beale, and Wagner and Vance as crowds gathered to watch the fireworks. It seems like every July 4, large groups of teens roam Downtown harassing people and it’s the wild wild West. MPD should know this is going to happen, because it happens every year. The good news is, this only happens once a year; back in 2006, it seems like it happened every weekend.

That’ll do it for now. I’ll be out at the bars about 5:30.