Paul Ryburn's Journal

The Memphis Redbirds are inviting the public to their annual “Bird Watching” event during lunchtime on Tuesday, April 2. From 11 to 2 the Redbirds will take open batting practice at AutoZone Park, in preparation for their season opener April 4. Come watch the future stars of the St. Louis Cardinals for free while enjoying free hot dogs, nachos, and soda. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

The Beale Street Strategic Planning Committee presented its findings to Mayor Wharton today. Find out about their recommendations for the street here.

Bleu Restaurant has announced that April 8-12 will be Out of the Bleu Week. Patrons will be able to try the chef’s new spring/summer menu for the low price of $26.75. The menu will soon be available here. Reservations through Bleu’s website are required.

Over the weekend I reported that the Silly Goose has installed a new draft beer system with two Ghost River beers and PBR. People asked me what two locally-made Ghost River beers are next to that beautiful PBR tap. The beers are Copperhead Red and Golden Ale.

First Church is doing free rooftop concerts every Thursday from April 11 to May 16. Concerts start at 7 PM and the Fuel food truck will be there at 6:30. Shows will be

April 11: Joyce Cobb
April 18: Beverly Brothers
April 25: Andy Tolmaci
May 2: Mike Dougherty
May 9: Steve Johnston
May 16: Diana Stein

Odd that they would book these concerts against the Peabody rooftop events, but I suppose the two concert series will appeal to different crowds.

Dates and sponsors have been announced for the 2014 EverywhereElse.co The Startup Conference. The 2013 conference was a big hit and proved so popular that the conference had to be moved to a larger venue.

That’ll do it for now. Time to hit Pint Nite at the Saucer for some $3 beers. Later in the evening I’ll show up fashionably late for Silly Goose poker.

The schedule for Memphis Beer Week has been released, and it is STACKED. Memphis Beer Week will run from Sunday, April 21 through Friday, April 26, and then the big event will be Memphis Brewfest at AutoZone Park on Saturday, April 27. Memphis Beer Week is a city-wide celebration of great craft beer, and bars, restaurants, liquor stores, and groceries are participating. Tastings, talks, beer dinners, glass nights, and more. I didn’t count the exact number of events that week, but it looks like around 60 total. This is going to be an awesome week for those who love beer.

There’s a new Facebook group called Support Memphis Coach Josh Pastner. Apparently Coach P is taking a beating on sports talk radio this morning. Let’s see: He won 30+ games, he won the Conference USA regular season title, he won the Conference USA tournament, he went undefeated in Conference USA, he recruited Austin Nichols, his players are doing well in class and graduating, he was named Conference USA Coach of the Year, his players were named Conference USA Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, and he won an NCAA tournament game. And people think he’s not doing enough? Come on. If you’re a Pastner supporter, join the group and share your kind words for our Tigers’ coach.

The Blue Suede Brigade, the helpful employees of the Downtown Memphis Commission who answer questions and pass out information on the streets, are wearing blue suede shoes for the first time in 8 years. For a long time the DMC couldn’t find anything suitable, but recently some blue suede shoes were located on Zappos.com and an order was placed. Looking sharp!

Congrats to Grizzlies guard Tony Allen on making TIME Magazine’s top 140 Twitter feeds of 2013.

MPD has released some info on logistics for Saturday’s KKK rally Downtown. I apologize for giving this hate group any publicity at all, but it will affect traffic so I want to at least post that. From 8 AM to 6 PM boundaries will be secured: Poplar to Jefferson north to south, and Front to Fourth east to west. During that time, no vehicular or pedestrian traffic will be allowed in that area. MATA transportation will be rerouted around the area. The site of the rally itself, the courthouse on Adams, will be fenced off and a checkpoint established. 300 MPD, Shelby Sheriff’s, and other local law enforcement officers will be present. I know some of you will be curious what a KKK rally is like, but please stay away from this display of idiocy. If you’re looking for something to do outdoors, there’s a Heart of Memphis celebration at Tiger Lane by the Liberty Bowl that would be a much better place to spend your time.

I want to share a story from Friday. Friday afternoon I tweeted that the Silly Goose now had PBR on draft, and was selling it at a very good price. Needless to say, after work I went straight there. A friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in a couple of months showed up about 20 minutes after I did. Her plans had changed and she was looking for people to hang out with. I offered the seat next to me and it was a treat to catch up with what was going on in her life.

About 15 minutes after that, a guy who rarely comes to the Goose showed up. The Flying Saucer, Bardog, and Max’s Sports Bar are much more his comfort zone. Four things to know about this guy: 1) I don’t like him; 2) He knows I don’t like him; 3) He’s hell-bent on proving that people who don’t like him are wrong to feel that way; and 4) He’s hell-bent on proving to people who don’t like him that he’s going to be around, whether they like it or not. He had seen my tweet and shown up at the Goose as a result. After saying hello to the couple of other people in the bar he knew, he took an open seat on the other side of my friend, who he does not know from Adam. He proceeded to sit there and listen intently to our conversation for the next hour. Seriously?

My friend and I ignored him. About 8 she said she wanted to go to the Blind Bear, and asked me to come along. I was happy to do so, both to get away from my “shadow” and because I like going to the Blind Bear. We walked over and got seats at the bar.

Ten minutes later, the same guy showed up at the Bear. The Bear is even less in his comfort zone than the Goose is, after a day last year when he didn’t have enough money to pay his tab there and one of the owners was none too happy. Nevertheless, there he was, and once again he proceeded to sit on the other side of my friend. And this time, he actually tried to strike up conversation with her, interrupting me. Again, seriously? Inappropriate and creepy MUCH??? Instead of looking for good situations for himself, he spent his Friday night (and many other nights) trying to prove something to people who don’t like him. The amount of time, energy, and especially money he spends doing this is staggering.

I’m not telling this story so he will read it and realize what a screw-up he is; he’ll never change. I’m writing this for the benefit of people who are around him maybe one day a month, and who defend him to me, saying things like “he’s really not that bad” and “he’s doing the best he can.” Because of the places I hang out, and because he looks at my blog and Twitter to find out where I’ll be, I have to be around this idiot 25-30 days a month. Until you’ve been around him that much, until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, YOU DON’T KNOW.

Plans for tonight: Pint Night at the Fl…

Wait, let’s try that again.

Plans for tonight: A couple of hours browsing the shelf at Memphis Public Library, followed by dinner at Imagine Vegan Cafe, then a couple of beers at the Downtown Hooters. But seriously, there may well be a second post tonight so check back.

The Orpheum has announced their 2013-2014 Broadway season. Shows will include Flashdance, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, West Side Story, Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy, Wicked, War Horse, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and The Book of Mormon. Descriptions of each show can be found here.

I’m astonished that I’m still leading the Memphis Twitter Brackets. Once again it felt like I had a bad day predicting games Saturday. I’m going to lose more points, with three dead teams in the Sweet Sixteen (Gonzaga, Kansas State, and Butler) and two dead teams in the Elite Eight (Gonzaga and Butler). All of my Final Four picks are still live.

I got my Michigan State pick correct. I hated not picking Memphis but I could tell Michigan State was the better team. Shaq’s got to learn not to give up fouls; Tarik’s got to learn how to hit a free throw; you never know if Chris Crawford will be hitting the threes; and you never know if D.J. will come down hard on his shoulder and be out of the game for a while. By the way, on the off-chance D.J. Stephens is reading this, it’s been a pleasure watching you, sir. I hope your heart, your energy, and your incredible leaping ability lead to the career you deserve.

By the way, my knowledge of college ball that produced my lead in the Twitter brackets is a product of my reading excellent columnists like CBS’s Gregg Doyel and Gary Parrish. Read what Gary had to say about yesterday’s games here.

I watched the game at the Flying Saucer. While there I snapped this pic:

The Nuh-Uh Girl and Jeremy shared a pretzel. Jeremy seems to be thinking, “This one bite I have in my hand is probably all I’m going to get before she inhales the rest of it.” Later in the day Nuh-Uh found out T.J. Mulligan’s had all-you-can-eat crawfish for $15, and you’d think she’d just hit the Powerball numbers by her reaction.

I was at the Saucer from about 12:30 through the end of the Tiger game. I said yesterday that it may be time to re-evaluate how much time I spend at my neighborhood bars. At Saucer, I spent about $20 more drinking my beer of choice there (Dos Equis Lager) than I would have if I’d gone to the Silly Goose and had my beer of choice there (PBR draft). Then again, the Saucer has its good points too. Christina who had day bar yesterday texted “Come see meeeeee,” and it’s nice to be wanted. That was probably the deciding factor in me staying for the entire game. Also, there seems to be a lot less drama among the Saucer’s regulars than the Goose’s, especially on weekend nights and Sundays, and I’m an anti-drama kind of guy.

By the way: There was a lady with a tube top on at the Saucer yesterday. I checked MemphisWeather.net on my phone and it was 51 degrees out. Now that’s what I call a trooper. Sometimes you have to suffer a bit for fashion. THIS IS HOW IT’S DONE, PEOPLE.

Just looked at the Weather Channel forecast. High of 49 today, 46 tomorrow, 46 Tuesday. What happened to March????? 46 is a normal low for today. The highs should be in the middle to upper 60s. Very unhappy about not being able to wear shorts for Sunday Fun Day today. Maybe tube top woman will make a return appearance at the Saucer.

Leonard Cohen performs at the Orpheum tonight at 8 PM. Details here.

Kicking it off at 11 with mimosas and good friends at the Majestic. After that I’ll hit all three of my mayorship bars, order TBD.

Yesterday about 4 PM I got a notification that I’d been tagged in a photo by Daniel, who owns the Silly Goose. I pulled up the photo and saw that they’d installed a new draft beer tap system at the Goose, including a BEAUTIFUL PBR tap. Well, that pretty much made my decision where to go after work!

Gracie poured me a beer and told me the pricing: Since I was there during happy hour, a pint of draft PBR was $1.50. Had I come there when it was not happy hour, I’d have had to pay the lofty sum of $2, Gracie said. That’s an incredible value and is bound to make me re-assess how much time I spend at each of my Downtown bars. If I can drink PBR at the Goose all day and have a tab of around $20, well, that’s just excellent. Some of my friends have been “value drinking” at other bars for a while now, but I haven’t joined them because I refuse to compromise quality; now I don’t have to.

The other two taps, by the way, were local Ghost River beers. Smart move by Daniel. Those are three beers you can’t get down the street. By the way, let’s see… in the two months that I’ve been “mayor” of the Goose, they’ve got a foosball table and local craft beers and PBR on tap. I must say I’m doing a pretty good job.

My next stop was the Blind Bear, where Jeannette told me they had a special. The Bear has never carried sliders on their menu, because they felt that was the domain of Bardog and Slider Inn. However, a meat delivery got screwed up this week and they got a bunch of 2-ounce burger patties rather than 8-ounce. The only thing they can do is sell them, so they’re running a special of two “cubs” and a side for $6 until they run out.

The Blind Bear will open at 1 today for the 1:45 Tigers-Spartans game. Silly Goose and Max’s Sports Bar will also open early. Of course, all the bars that normally open at 11 AM will be open for the game too. As of yet undecided where I’m going to watch it. As usual, I will start at Bardog at 11 with my “DAWG” John D and Panda behind the bar.

Stuff going on today: The Grizzlies play the Celtics at FedExForum at 7; at 8 there’s a night of songs and storytelling with Kate Campbell at the Center for Southern Folklore; the Hard Rock Rising finals I mentioned in a previous post.

“Million Dollar Quartet” returns to the Orpheum for one last run next week, March 26-30. This is the musical that chronicles the recording session that brought Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins together for the first and only time. 2011 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist winner Cody Slaughter plays the part of Elvis in the show. More info here.

Game time has been set for Memphis’ round-of-32 game in March Madness. We tip off against 3-seed Michigan State tomorrow at 1:45 PM on CBS. Now I have to figure out where I’m going to watch the game. I’ve been trying to retweet announcements of bars opening early for basketball from my @paulryburn Twitter account.

The Memphis Flyer has a good article on The Brass Door and The Mad Earl. The Brass Door has improved bangers and rashers for breakfast now, buying its products from a local company that carries the freshest meat, from pigs slaughtered the previous day. (Hey, Coffee John got mentioned in the article!) Meanwhile, the Mad Earl is in its soft-opening phase, open 4 PM to 3 AM every day. Passageways connect the Mad Earl to its next-door neighbor the Brass Door.

Are you involved in nonprofits? Might want to download this free e-book: How to Use Social Media for Social Good. It was posted today by the Cloud4Good team, and explores stories of nonprofits maximizing social media for awareness, fundraising, community growth, and engagement.

If you’re looking for a place to watch the games this afternoon, Max’s Sports Bar would be a good place. Retired bartender Lauren has returned for one day only. She had extra free time on her hands this week since she isn’t busy watching her Tennessee Vols in the NCAA tournament.

There’s an open house at the Church Health Center Wellness Center tomorrow at 1.

Good music at Hard Rock Cafe tomorrow. The local finals of Hard Rock Rising – the Global Battle of the Bands will happen tomorrow night at 9 PM. By the way, I’ve received a tip that Hard Rock has really good burgers, unexpectedly good for a chain. That’s really not too surprising considering everything in their kitchen is prepared from scratch. I need to follow up on that tip soon.

That’ll do it for this cloudy Friday. I’ll be out about 5:30 to watch March Madness, location TBD.

Yesterday the Peabody Hotel released details of its 2013 rooftop party season, including the band schedule from April through June. Every Thursday night, the South’s grand hotel throws a party on its huge rooftop deck. There is entertainment with top local/regional bands and bands on the rise with current radio hits. Between band sets there is entertainment by CJ and Liz from Q107.5 / 96.1 FM and house DJ Mark Anderson. Here’s the lineup for the April 11 premiere through June 27:

April 11: The 17th Floor with special guest Carly Rae Jepsen *
April 18: DJ Mark Andersonís MATV and the Kaleidophonix with special guest Hot Chelle Rae *
April 25: Dr. Zarrís Amazing Funk Monster
May 2: G3: The Garry Goin Group
May 9: Kevin & Bethany Paige
May 16: Party Planet
May 23: Gary Escoeís Atomic Dance Machine
May 30: Kid Ego
June 6: Seeing Red
June 13: Almost Famous
June 20: The Millionaires
June 27: 5th Kind

Cover is $10 except where noted by an asterisk above, in which case the cover is $15. You get a ticket for your first drink when you pay your cover charge. Hours are 6 to 11 PM, and ladies get in free until 7. You can take in sunset views over the Mississippi River as you party, and you can see the area where the world-famous Peabody Ducks live.

One change the hotel is making this year is carrying the parties into the fall. Although the regular season will wrap up on August 15, there will be additional parties on September 12 and 26 and October 17 and 31.

VIP passes will be available for sale for $125. These get you into all 23 parties of the season. VIPs also get an express path up the elevators and into the parties (new this year), one free drink ticket a week, chef tastings in a private VIP area, and beer specials from Budweiser. Other VIP perks include valet parking, a 20% discount on Peabody logo merchandise in Peabody Deli and Desserts, and a 10% discount in Capriccio Grill and Chez Philippe throughout the rooftop party season.

First party is three weeks away, on April 11, and features special guest Carly Rae Jepsen (“Call Me Maybe”).

Yesterday afternoon I was driving down Second Street on my way home from work, and I noticed the Hospitality HUB‘s logo on a building at 82 N. Second. Previously the HUB had been located around the corner on Jefferson next to China Restaurant that closed down. The HUB provides a warm welcome to the homeless people that walk through its doors, greeting them with refreshments, restrooms, and access to lockers and telephones. Workers at the HUB assess each person’s root cause for being homeless. They then help them get the services they need, including help acquiring birth certificates/IDs, shelter vouchers, transportation vouchers, a temporary mailing address, and help getting access to mental health counseling or drug and alcohol counseling.

WREG had a segment on the news last night urging people to just say no to panhandlers. Giving money to the Hospitality HUB is a much better idea. It will help those in need get the service listed above, whereas giving money to a panhandler on the street is likely to do nothing but to enable their dependence on alcohol and drugs. There will be a wine tasting at Jack Robinson Gallery on April 25th to benefit the Hospitality HUB.

Another asset for the homeless in Memphis is a new newspaper by and for the homeless, founded by Rhodes College students. The idea came from a similar, very successful paper in Nashville. Homeless not only write for the paper, but they can become certified as vendors. Vendors sell the paper for $1 apiece. They get 20 free copies to start, and after that they pay 25 cents a copy and get to keep the rest for every copy sold. Badges will identify the vendors to keep people from getting scammed. I’d buy a copy for sure, not only to help someone earn a living but to read it and get a better understanding of their daily lives.

OK, I have a question. Is there someplace where I can get a master list of all conventions going on in Downtown Memphis? The Cook Convention Center lists theirs on their website, but there are also conventions at the Peabody, the Marriott, and probably a few other hotels Downtown. Sometimes I just get curious who’s in town when the Flying Saucer and other bars get unexpectedly packed on the weeknights. Last night I expected it to be slow during the Grizzlies game, and instead it got so busy that I had to take my netbook home so beer wouldn’t get spilled on it.

The winter weather situation looks a lot better than it did yesterday. MemphisWeather.net posted a blog update this morning. Now they’re saying the precipitation won’t start falling until around 4, and the bulk of it will land between 6 and 9. It will change over to all rain before the night’s over. I also looked at the hourly forecast on the Weather Channel’s site, and they never had the temp falling below 36.

I filled out a March Madness bracket this year. I have the Tigers beating St. Mary’s today but losing to #3 seed Michigan State on Saturday (I’ll be quite happy if I get Saturday’s game wrong, though). I have Duke, Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan in the Final Four, with Ohio State beating Indiana for the championship.

That’ll wrap it up for now. GO TIGERS!

I just put the official 2013 Moody Ques BBQ team information post on the team website. (Of course, I did an unofficial info post here a few weeks ago.) If you’re a returning team member from 2012, check it out. It’s time to pay your team dues and we have a PayPal link ready for you to do that. We also have an email address (moodyques@gmail.com) where you can email any questions you have for the team leaders.

Not a 2012 member but interested in joining? Talk to any team member, or shoot an email to the address above. We’ve already added one person for 2013 and might be interested in talking to other potential members or sponsors. With our current sponsors WordPress and the Blind Bear, this is shaping up to be a good year.

The Memphis Daily News reported today that a new coffee lounge that will also serve sandwiches and beer is coming to the ground floor of Van Vleet Flats. It will tentatively be named Tamp and Tap. The focus will be on great coffee, but they will also serve a menu of sandwiches similar to Cheffie’s on Highland, and they will carry a couple of beers on tap in their vintage kegerator. The beer will be sourced from “some of the new guys coming online,” which is good to hear. The space will be designed to appeal to people who want to hang out, but in a more low-key environment than a bar or restaurant.

A new festival, Bluff City Oktoberfest, is coming to Riverside Drive the weekend of October 4. It will have two live stages of music, a beer garden with regional craft brews, food trucks, nonprofit booths, local artisans, and a Kansas City BBQ Society-sanctioned BBQ cooking contest. The event will benefit Samaritan Counseling Centers of the Mid-South. “Like” the festival’s Facebook page for updates. October weather varies but normal high temps on October 4 are still nearly pushing 80. Excellent festival weather and excellent tube top weather.

I wonder how the BBQ contest will go, given that it’s only two weeks after the already well-established Smokin’ Aces contest in Tunica. Will teams be able to turn around and do another one that quickly?

Oh, also, my friend and Daschund lover Air Traffic Mike will be pleased to hear there’s a dog race called “Running of the Weenies” as part of the festival’s events.

A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for the Mid-South starting tomorrow at 1 PM and ending Friday at 7 AM. On March 20? Seriously? One report said up to 3″ of snowfall accumulation is possible. However, winter storms in late March are very hard to predict. See the MemphisWeather.net blog for more details.

Time for beer. Will probably start at Silly Goose tonight to avoid the large pre-Grizzlies crowd next door at the Saucer.

The big college basketball news in Memphis last night was not the result of the Middle Tennessee-St. Mary’s game (St. Mary’s won), but the result of a game in a tournament no one usually cares about, the NIT. 8-seed Robert Morris defeated the 1-seed Kentucky Wildcats, coached by former Tigers coach John Calipari. It is now IMPERATIVE that we beat St. Mary’s tomorrow. Think of the message that would send recruits: Come to Memphis, win in the NCAA tournament. Come to Kentucky, lose in the NIT.

At least two bars in the Downtown core will open early tomorrow for your Tigers viewing pleasure. Blind Bear will open at 1 PM, and Silly Goose will open at 1:20. On the south end, Max’s Sports Bar will open at 10:30 tomorrow and Friday, and early all weekend for tournament games. Game time tomorrow is 1:45.

The Memphis Business Journal linked to the 15 most profitable programs in college basketball. The Tigers didn’t make the list, but maybe they will after moving to a better conference. My Arkansas Razorbacks checked in at number 14, despite not having had a season to brag about in several years.

You don’t have to wait until tomorrow to see good basketball. The Grizzlies host the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight in the FedExForum. It’s your chance to see two of the NBA’s best teams in a game that is of huge importance in playoff standings.

Someone get the folks at WMC-TV a map! They reported on a car fire at a “Downtown” auto dealership. The dealership in question is It’s All Good Auto (we don’t care about your credit, we care about you) at Third and Peebles. That is nowhere near Downtown. It’s about two miles south of Crump, which is usually considered Downtown’s southern boundary.

Probably a second post after work, check back.